News
I’ll shake hands with protesters: Hun Sen
In an address to ruling party supporters in California on 15 February, Prime Minister Hun Sen wasted little time in taking several pot shots at US foreign policy and telling attendees he planned to confront anti-government protesters at the US-ASEAN summit head-on. Speaking at his hotel ...
Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar in line for US$180m loan
The Climate-Friendly Agribusiness Value Chains Sector Project will provide a US$180 million loan to finance initiatives in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to boost the capacity of commercial production in the three countries. A senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Vinoth Vansy, told ...
Families displaced by dam get new houses
Some 14 families of 85 people who recently moved to make way for the construction of the Don Sahong hydropower project in Champassak province have received new houses. The houses were handed over on 15 February in Don Sahong village, Khong district, in the presence of provincial ...
Jokowi conveys words of wisdom to new ASEAN chair Laos
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has congratulated Laos on its selection for the ASEAN chairmanship in 2016, saying that this year is an important milestone for ASEAN, as the ASEAN Economic Community was coming into effect.At a courtesy call with President Choumaly Sayasone of Laos in ...
Children of Vietnamese expats in Laos receive scholarships
Sixty-two scholarships were awarded on 15 February to children of Vietnamese expats living in Laos who wish to study in Vietnam, taking the total number of such grants this year to a record 92, according to newswire VietnamPlus. The scholarships are jointly sponsored by the Vietnamese Embassy ...
ANZ still owes villagers over sugar loan: Oxfam
Australian banking giant ANZ has come under fire for its response to a scandal over its financing of a sugar plantation previously linked to forced evictions and child labour in Kampong Speu province. Titled Still Banking on Land Grabs, Oxfam’s Australia branch released a report on ...
Fighting infant mortality with phone alerts
A new Cambodian maternal-health initiative is seeking to patch a persistent knowledge gap among new mothers by providing information via mobile phone alerts on optimal post-natal care during the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life. Cambodia’s national infant mortality rate, despite improvements, remains stubbornly high ...
Vietnamese language website for diaspora to be upgraded
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has approved the education and training ministry’s plan to upgrade the website tiengvietonline.com.vn, meant for teaching of the mother tongue to the Vietnamese disapora. Dam said the upgrade work would meet the increasing demand for learning of the mother tongue ...
Lao people fighting for change 'deserve better than silence'
Anne-Sophie Gindroz, a former Swiss humanitarian worker in Laos, observed forced displacement and evictions of rural populations to make way for dams and other controversial infrastructure and plantation projects in the impoverished Southeast Asian country. Gindroz, who was the country director for Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, ...
Seven community-based tourism projects planned in Myanmar
Myanmar’s first community-based tourism (CBT) project, one of seven planned, is up and running in Magway region, much to the delight of local residents. At a recent launch event here, community leader San Htun said the members of four villages joining the scheme threw full support ...
