News
Thailand's 'train-the-trainer' English course kicks off in March
Thailand’s Education Ministry plans to kick off its six-week “train-the-trainer” programme for the first group of 500 Thai teachers to teach English in state-run schools in March next year. Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, who oversees the programme, said on 17 November the teachers will be trained ...
UN criticises Cambodia, China rights violations
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on 17 November that an arrest warrant issued against Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy was a worrisome development and called for dialogue. Meanwhile, in Geneva, a UN watchdog questioned Chinese officials over alleged widespread use of torture in the country’s prisons, deaths ...
Vietnam, New Zealand sign four agreements
Vietnamese and New Zealand businesses signed four agreements on 15 November during the official visit by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to Vietnam. The four business-to-business arrangements – between Global Trust Alliance, AsureQuality and Vinamilk, Airways International and the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation, Airways International ...
Complaints filed against Thai workers in Dawei, Myanmar
Local residents of Myanmar’s Dawei Township, Taninthayi Region, complained to the Immigration Officer on 16 November about Thai citizens who have been working at the Banchaung coal mining project without legal work permits since 8 November. May Flower Mining Enterprises was granted permission to implement the Banchaung ...
Thailand, Japan to sign emissions-offset agreement
Japan plans to sign an agreement with Thailand as part of a programme to offset its emissions in exchange for clean-energy and energy-saving technologies. Keep reading ...
Myanmar's outgoing MPs ease back in to work
As parliamentarians arrived at the vast entrance hall to the Pyithu Hluttaw on 16 November morning, they were doing their best to keep their expressions neutral – none more so than the last to arrive. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is known for maintaining a steely expression ...
Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City maps out special economic zone
Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is considering the formation of a special economic zone in four of its districts, the municipal authorities announced on their website on 16 November. Keep reading ...
US pledges $259m to SE Asian allies for maritime security
The United States said on 16 November it would provide US$259 million to its Southeast Asian allies for maritime security, as tensions rise over Beijing’s island-building in the disputed South China Sea. The pledges of support to the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia came shortly after US ...
Indonesia opens trials of Thais accused of enslaving fishermen
An Indonesian court has begun hearing trials of five Thais and an Indonesian charged with human trafficking connected with slavery in the seafood industry. The suspects were arrested in the remote island village of Benjina in May after the slavery was revealed by The Associated Press ...
Two girls dead after landmine blast in Shan State village
Two young girls, aged 13 and 8, have died after accidentally detonating a landmine near a small village in central Shan State. The victims died at the bank of the Tein Creek, on the outskirts of Mat Lan village in Laihka Township. According to a third child, ...
