News
Mixed feelings over COP21 agreement
Cambodia’s delegates are returning with mixed feelings about the agreement to try and save the planet from catastrophic climate change that was adopted on 12 December at the UN Climate Talks in Paris, known as COP21. In an email sent just before the treaty was adopted, government ...
Cambodia ranks low on gender equality
In spite of gains, gender inequality in Cambodia remains significant, particularly in education and political empowerment, according to the World Economic Forum’s recently released 2015 Global Gender Gap Report. While the Kingdom is ranked 109 out of 145 countries in the world, slipping one place compared with ...
Minister encourages food, drink safety following deaths
Minister of Health Mam Bunheng on 13 December asked the public to stop drinking rice wine and eating sick animals after 19 people died and 170 fell ill in Kratie province over the past month. Improperly fermented booze can contain methyl alcohol or methanol, which is harmful ...
Cambodia's labour market unfazed by AEC
As ASEAN member states race to get ready for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) integration later this month, one of the pillars of the new economic bloc is the free flow of skilled labour across borders, with Cambodian industry experts unperturbed by the possibility of ...
Packed cities, empty villages: Vietnam's migration dilemma
When Vu Thi Linh moved her family from their spacious rural home to a tiny rented room in Hanoi, she hoped her children would be able to get the education she never had. The Linhs are among hundreds of thousands of people moving to Vietnam’s bulging ...
South Korean PM leaves for Laos, Mongolia
South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn left for Laos on 13 December to discuss enhancing bilateral ties and South Korea’s possible participation in constructing a power plant in the Southeast Asian country. Hwang’s trip to Laos is on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment ...
Police mull defamation suit against asylum-seeking officer
Police on 11 December said they were considering suing a former officer investigating human trafficking for defamation over comments he made implicating senior officials in the trade. Pol Maj Gen Paween Pongsirin arrived in Melbourne a few days ago and told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on 10 ...
Northwest residents struggle to escape from prolonged poverty
The level of poverty in the northwest region of Vietnam is 2.7 times higher than in the rest of the country. This was announced at a conference on 10 December to discuss rapid and sustainable poverty reduction measures in the six northwest provinces of Ha Giang, Cao ...
National Assembly stands firm on timber tax
Valuable woods are not subject to a resource tax decrease for fears it might unintentionally trigger worsening deforestation, voted the National Assembly’s Standing Committee (NASC) on 10 December. The debate on wood taxes was sparked as the NASC weighed in on the draft of the amended ...
Activist groups look to next government to solve human rights abuses
Activists marked International Human Rights Day on 10 December by setting an agenda for the next government. Land rights topped the list in an online poll for rights and business priority issues conducted by the Institute for Human Rights and Business, a co-founder of the Myanmar Centre ...
