News
Cattle feeders in Vietnam feel sting of fast changing market
Vietnam cattle feeders spent millions of US dollars importing 311,523 head of Australian young beef calves last year— betting that retail prices for beef on the supermarket shelves had nowhere to go but up. Now the feeders, who buy calves and fatten them for sale to ...
ASEAN struggles to protect labourers
The ASEAN Community, which took effect at the end of last year, has expressed concern about the movement of skilled workers around the region. But its interest in the unskilled labour remains poor, despite the fact that this group provides the real workforce that dominates ...
Timber exports to Vietnam way up
Legal timber exports to Vietnam – the bulk of them rosewood – soared between 2013 and 2015, with the volume of logs exported increasing by a factor of 142 and seven times as much sawn wood passing across the border, according to a report by ...
VN’s cashew industry booming
Viet Nam’s cashew industry is expected to enjoy strong export growth in the coming years, especially shipments to the US, according to the Viet Nam Cashew Association. Viet Nam has been the world’s largest cashew nut exporter for many years, with exports reaching US$2.5 billion last ...
China provides 21billion kip to build new block at 103 Hospital
The Chinese government has provided a grant of more than 21 billion kip to build a new nine-storey building at the 103 Hospital in Vientiane, which is operated by the Lao Ministry of National Defence. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place on 29 May, ...
Dam firm hasn’t made good on pledge: locals
Some 100 people from five villages in Oddar Meanchey’s Chongkal district, Cambodia protested over the weekend against a hydropower dam project built by Chinese firm Sinohydro, claiming they have yet to be compensated for their eventual displacement when the flood gates close in the next ...
MPs from 1990 to form draft committee for new constitution
More than 25 years on, MPs elected in the 1990 election that was set aside by the military regime are taking another crack at changing the constitution. The Members of Parliament Union 1990 want to make radical changes to the military-drafted 2008 charter. Both President U ...
Health ministry looks for 1000 doctors
The Ministry of Health in Myanmar is direly short on doctors, and a new plan to recruit 1000 more will barely begin to staunch the gap, according to government officials. As part of its 100-day priority agenda, the ministry has put out a call for 1000 ...
Posing for ‘poverty porn’: The murky ethics of NGO fundraising ‘hero shots’
The young girl in Sunrise Cambodia’s recent fundraising campaign has been labelled a “sex worker” in glossy typeface. Her face is smeared with dirt. She is accompanied by a “trafficked kid” and a “homeless teen” on the page. “Just because it raises money, it doesn’t ...
Move to grow artificial forest in Nan dubbed unsustainable
Critics claim an all-star conservation group set up to tackle deforestation has missed the mark by advocating an artificially grown forest, which they say will not result in sustainability and rich biodiversity. Many people have welcomed the plan by the Plook Loei Group, which is led ...
