News
Law change may allow drug abusers to choose rehab
Thai Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya said on 2 March that Thailand was amending the law to allow drug abusers serving less than four years in prison for other crimes to volunteer for a rehabilitation programme. Keep reading ...
Int'l hydro conference highlights need for sustainability
The Lao government is hosting the sixth International Conference and Exhibition on Water Resources and Hydropower Development in Asia, aiming to promote the balance of the role of hydropower in the world and highlight challenges. The three-day event runs from March 1-3 in Vientiane. It gathers ...
Thailand kept near bottom of political risk index
Despite a return of political stability after the May 2014 coup, Thailand is kept near the bottom of an Asian political risk index due to its “fundamental divisions” and concerns over the king’s health, a research unit of Fitch Group said. BMI Research gave Thailand the ...
Mission to Seafarers expands with new center in Myanmar
The city of Yangon in Myanmar is home to the Mission to Seafarers’ newest port facility. The Anglican mission agency’s newest mission centre was dedicated on 28 February during a service at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon). The new facility is located ...
Myanmar brings forward presidential vote
The vote to appoint a new president in Myanmar has been brought forward by a week, to 10 March. The move likely means an end to negotiations on whether the constitution could be amended so Aung San Suu Kyi could take the top job. Ms Suu Kyi’s ...
Gender underplayed in KRT’s 002/01: report
The Khmer Rouge’s forced evacuation of Phnom Penh in 1975 and its fallout carried unique and at-times harsher consequences for women, a phenomenon that the Khmer Rouge tribunal missed a valuable opportunity to explore in Case 002/01, according to a new scholarly report. In Recognition of ...
Crop insurance takes root
A pilot project that offers micro-insurance to help rice farmers cope with the risks of flooding and drought is looking to build on the success of its first season by scaling up beyond three existing provinces. The Cambodia Micro Agriculture Insurance Scheme (CAMAIS), launched in the ...
Sihanoukville beach vendors’ hopes hinge on PM
About 60 business representatives from three Sihanoukville beaches gathered at Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s beachside home in Sihanoukville on 29 February, in a second attempt to deliver a petition calling on him to intervene on a government directive for them to vacate the beach. The ...
Yangon stock exchange on track for March trading debut
The Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) is expected to begin shares trading by the second week of March, with dry-run testing already underway, an official from the Securities Exchange Commission of Myanmar (SECM) told The Irrawaddy on 29 February. Though the YSX officially “launched” late last year ...
Interest rate race has Vietnamese businesses on edge
In anticipation of the central bank’s possible move to further limit the use of short-term deposits for loans, banks in Vietnam have rushed to attract savings with higher interest rates, starting a competitive race that might soon hurt many borrowers. Latest figures from the central bank’s ...
