News

The state-run Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank) has pushed back the application deadline for its 15-billion-baht policy loan scheme to the end of June after only a third of the money was taken out. Keep reading ...

Striking what they hope will be a death blow against polio, Myanmar health officials are preparing for a nationwide assault. The Supplementary Polio Immunisation Campaign will take place from 20 to 22 February, National Immunisation Day. The campaign will target 4.6 million under-fives, administering both oral ...

More than 2400 Myanmar workers left in the lurch while Malaysia and Myanmar dispute a visa fee will have their applications processed under the previous – much cheaper – payment schedule, according to the Ministry of Labour. Myanmar recruitment agencies have been boycotting Malaysia – long ...

The United Nations World Food Programme will support flood-affected people in Chin State with 500 tonnes of rice, as they continue to struggle after landslides and flood waters ravaged swathes of land in the country’s poorest state last year. More than 9 million people were affected ...

A majority of people buying condo apartments at That Luang Marsh Specific Economic Zone (SEZ) in Vientiane are Lao or of Lao origin living in France, officials in charge of the project have said.  Vice President of the zone’s management board Mr Pheng Inthilath told Vientiane ...

The wind speeds in some parts of Attapeu province are sufficient for the development of wind power in the neighbourhood however wind turbines are not yet seen there. Director of the provincial Energy and Mines Department Mr Vithaya Phommachanh told Vientiane Times on 10 February that there ...

Save the Children has agreed to support two projects for the Ministry of Education and Sports, aiming to develop education for Lao children. The first project is entitled ‘School Quality Improvement Programme II in Borikhamxay, Xayaboury and Luang Prabang provinces.’ It aims to improve the quality of ...

Less than a month after the government announced that more than 170 Montagnard asylum seek­ers would have their refugee applications processed, an Interior Min­istry spokesman said on 10 February that the group had not met the criteria for refugee status and would be returned to Vietnam. However, ...

Countries in the Mekong region have launched the third phase of drug crackdowns along the Mekong River and in the Golden Triangle. Narong Rattanakul, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, on 10 February revealed progress in the Safe Mekong Joint Operation to combat drug trafficking in the ...

After more than 40 men broke out of a Phnom Penh drug rehabilitation cen­ter on 5 February, officials said this week that they have called off efforts to arrest 18 es­capees who remain at large, in­stead asking for their families to re­turn them voluntarily. A total ...