News
'Cleaner' image for Thai fish industry

Thai authorities are preparing to clean up the image of the country’s fishing industry ahead of the EU’s decision on illegal, unregulated and unreported (UUI) fishing, due to be announced in the coming weeks. “We look forward to rebuilding the Thai fishing industry’s image and showing ...
Ho Chi Minh City toughens penalties for street food safety violations

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health instructed relevant agencies to severely penalise small food stores and vendors on streets who continue to flout safety and hygiene regulations. Speaking at a workshop on this issue in Ho Chi Minh City on 13 January, its deputy ...
Thai Government sets rubber price limit at B45

The Thai government plans to buy rubber from farmers at a purchase price not exceeding 45 baht per kg. The projected price is about 15 baht lower than the set price demanded by groups of rubber farmers who are calling for 60 baht per kg, roughly ...
Court of Justice says cyber attacks will not change verdict

The Court of Justice (CoJ) has insisted that the cyber attacks taking Thai court websites offline on 13 January would not force the court to change the guilty verdict in the Koh Tao murders case. The attackers also got away with cyber-theft of extensive legal records, including ...
Rakhine villagers flee Tatmadaw attacks

Rakhine residents in two northern townships say they are living in fear and do not dare go out after dark after government troops forced locals to work as porters during ongoing operations against Arakan Army militants. Relief workers say more than 300 civilians, mostly Rakhine Buddhists, ...
Tea brews female empowerment in Lai Chau

Lo Thi Thom is happily looking forward to moving with her family into their new spacious house before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. She is a 30-year old Thai woman from Kun Ha Commune in Tam Duong District. Her new two-storey house, which is near ...
AEC could provide 14.5% more jobs for Vietnam by 2025: ILO

Vietnam’s participation in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will create 14.5 per cent more jobs by 2025, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) found in a survey. Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep said at a workshop on 13 January in Hanoi that ...
Lack of ethnic party MPs ‘serious weakness’ in parliament
During the 8 November election, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide, crushing the army-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and surprising many by also winning big in ethnic minority-dominated areas where ethnic political parties had expected ...
Series of small quakes near Yangon under watch

Seismologists are keeping a close eye on a series of small earthquakes shaking Yangon, with the Myanmar Earthquake Committee suspecting they are aftershocks of a larger jolt that occurred on the evening of 12 January, blacking out wide areas of the city. That quake, widely felt ...
No bounce in Luang Namtha rubber price
The rubber price in Luang Namtha province has fallen continually since 2013 causing a large number of growers to plant other crops instead. The rubber price in the province is currently 3,000-3,500 kip per kilogramme, down from 4,000-4,500 kip per kg over the past year, an ...