News
EU asks gov’t to cancel Mondulkiri border crossing plan
The EU has called on the government to kill plans for a controversial border checkpoint in the Mondulkiri Protected Forest that has drawn the ire of conservationists since it was first mooted two years ago. At a meeting with Interior Minister Sar Kheng on August 9, ...
More than 9,000 people in Singapore are ‘modern-day slaves’: study
Among nearly 46 million people living and working in slave-like conditions worldwide, an estimated 9,200 are in Singapore, according to a global index on 167 countries compiled by a human rights group. The lower the ranking, the less prevalence of “modern slavery” in a country. The ...
Floods affect hundreds of thousands in Irrawaddy division
More than 350,000 people from some 700 villages have been affected by flooding in three of the Irrawaddy Division’s districts, said the divisional government. Floods hit Hinthada, Maubin, and Pathein districts in early August and have forced more than 38,000 people into relief camps. “Hinthada district was ...
Bangladesh frees 92 Myanmar fishermen
The Bangladesh government pardoned 92 fishermen of Myanmar out of a good neighbourliness, who were caught for illegally entering into the Bangladesh territorial waters in December last year. According to the Bangladesh embassy in Yangoon, the authorities concerned in Myanmar were notified when the fishermen entered ...
Vietnam dealbook: Malaysia’s Mitra Energy, Thai Union strike M&As
Malaysia’s Southeast Asia-focused oil and gas group Mitra Energy has reached a sales and purchase agreement with Japan’s Teikoku Oil to acquire a 30 per cent interest in Vietnam’s oilfields in the Nam Con Son basin. Meanwhile, Songkla Canning, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai Union ...
There is ‘no room’ for the gay community, Indonesia says
Indonesia said on August 10 there was “no room” for the gay community in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, as activists blasted officials for an unprecedented series of LGBT attacks. A wave of angry rhetoric directed at homosexuals earlier this year – including a call to ...
How La Niña could affect the spread of Zika
La Niña is characterized by the cooling of ocean surface waters in the equatorial Pacific and affects many of the same regions as El Niño. Based on previous years, this means above-average rainfall and potential flooding in southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and northern South America, ...
Many more species at risk from Southeast Asia tree plantations, study finds
As more of Southeast Asia’s forests are cleared for tree plantations, a study finds that 42 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species endemic to the region’s forests face a higher risk of extinction from habitat loss than previously thought. Many of the species inhabit ...
Vietnam's fast economic growth is quietly slipping, but no one cares
In central Ho Chi Minh City, financial hub of the fast-growing Vietnamese economy, 20-somethings with designer hairdos jump out of polished black sedans to pack the coffeehouses on every block and fill restaurants serving sushi and chicken in passion fruit sauce. It’s odd then that ...
Thai regulator backs sim card plan to track tourists
Thailand’s telecommunications regulator has approved in principle a plan to issue special sim cards to foreign tourists so they can be tracked via their mobile phones. Officials at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said the plan would apply to tourists only, backtracking on an earlier ...
