News
Vietnam on track to replace China as new manufacturing hub: experts
With increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into its manufacturing sector, Vietnam stands a great chance of leaping ahead and replace China as the new production center, experts have said. They were speaking at a conference recently organized by the State Bank of Vietnam in collaboration ...
Global warming to decrease productivity in Thailand - report
Rising temperatures and humidity due to climate change are likely to increase the number of days with unsafe “heat stress,” putting Thailand at risk of a significant drop in productivity, a research firm said on 28 October. Thailand – with three of the 50 highest-risk cities ...
The Vietnam War's 'time bomb' legacy for Laos
The confrontation is immediate — a hundred cluster bombs suspended from the ceiling on fishing wire. This is the display that greets visitors to the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) centre in Vientiane. Between 1964 and 1973, more than 580,000 US bombing missions made the once-tranquil ...
Korea signs US$80.8 million loan for hydropower project with Laos
The Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund from the Republic of Korea has signed a loan agreement for US$80.8 million (about 658 billion kip) with the Lao government. The funds will be used for the development of the Xepian-Xenamnoy hydropower plant in Champassak province. The loan agreement was ...
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 ...
