News
Bringing order to tuk-tuk services in Laos
It has been observed that the drivers of some tuk-tuks and jumbos in Vientiane are rude to foreigners when they question the often exorbitant charges cited by drivers. While most Lao people prefer not to use tuk-tuks and jumbos, visitors often have no choice but to ...
Lao Government renews award policy for veterans
The Lao government has renewed a policy that rewards veterans who excelled in the revolutionary fight for national liberation, with targeted groups to be awarded under the new system. Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong last month inked the eight-page governmental decree to replace the previous one promulgated ...
35 percent of Lao budget for debt repayment
The Lao government has instructed central and local state organisations to use up to 35 percent of the annual total budget allocated to them to repay debt they have accumulated. The instruction was part of debt payment measures resolved by the annual government meeting where the ...
Urgent action needed to offset Mekong Delta climate change
The Mekong Delta, one of the most vulnerable deltas in the world in regard to climate change, must begin to take urgent measures to deal with the continuing consequences of changing weather patterns, experts at a seminar held on 27 October in Can Tho urged. The seminar ...
Low-cost housing project in Yangon struggles to secure water supply
Supplying water to the estimated 100,000 residents of a new housing development in Yangon could put supplies to the rest of the city at risk, the Myanmar government has warned. Next year, the first 6000 of the 19,600 apartments now being built in the Ayeyarwun and Yadanar ...
Mandalay jade traders say worst year ‘ever’ for sales
Jade traders in Mandalay say this could be the worst year ever for business. The main cause they cite is the absence of Chinese buyers, possibly nervous about the outcome of next month’s election. In interviews on 25 October at the Maha Aung Myay Gem Trading ...
Letpadan students set to expand hunger strikes
Legal proceedings at Tharyarwady District Court against students arrested last March have been at a standstill for the past several weeks, but that did not stop a crowd from appearing there on 27 October. Most had come to show their support for Ko Aung Hmine San, ...
Ratanakkiri minorities say land stolen
Ethnic minorities in Ratanakkiri province have accused local authorities of selling community forest land to a provincial court official and threatening to put them in jail, according to a complaint filed on 27 October. The complaint was filed to the provincial office of rights group Adhoc ...
UK backs STEM push in Cambodia
Young Cambodians will be urged to consider a career in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), through a joint initiative launched on 27 October by the Ministry of Education, the British Embassy and the international employment and training organisation IDP Education. Keep reading ...
Vietnam Rubber Group stripped of accreditation
A giant Vietnamese rubber company that has faced repeated accusations of illegal land and forest grabbing in Cambodia has been stripped of its accreditation as a sustainable forestry product supplier by the world’s leading forest certification body. In a damning report, the Forest Stewardship Council claims ...
