The Straits Times
President Tan arrives in Laos for state visit
Fresh off his state visit to Cambodia, President Tony Tan Keng Yam arrived on January 11 in Vientiane, the capital city of neighbouring Laos. Dr Tan, in Laos for a state visit until Saturday, was received at the Wattay International Airport by Lao Health Minister ...
A better way to assess harm to environment
Conservation groups used to fight for environmental impact assessments or EIAs to be carried out before big government development projects. Today, that fight has been partly won with government agencies commissioning such assessments to scope out the environmental impact of big projects, such as the ...
China needs 'lose-win' diplomacy in ASEAN
Scanning the regional landscape on November 3, South-east Asian states ought to be quite optimistic about the state of ASEAN-China relations just as the year closes on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of their dialogue partnership. ASEAN and China have agreed to a series of ...
One in nine has no access to clean water
Every year during the wet season, millions of Cambodians are surrounded by water as the Mekong River floods. Yet the water is unsafe to drink, fouled by sewage and agricultural and industrial pollution. Living in villages on stilts, Cambodians bathe, fish and defecate in the flooded ...
Japan to help transform Laos
Japan and Laos have agreed on a joint plan to spur development in the landlocked Southeast Asian country during a meeting between their leaders. At their meeting held on the sidelines of the ASEAN summits here this week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Lao ...
India gives Vietnam $680 million for defence spending
India said on September 3 it is giving Vietnam US$500 million in credit to boost defence ties, the latest security deal between the two nations seeking to counter Beijing’s muscle-flexing in the South China Sea. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement during a visit ...
South-east Asian countries need to step up cooperation to fight extremist terrorism
Countries in South-east Asia need to step up cooperation to fight the threat of extremist terrorism, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said at the International Meeting on Counter-Terrorism in Bali. “We need to establish a common understanding of the security threats facing us, the challenge ...
Indian pills fuel drug boom in Myanmar
Five years ago, when cold pills first trickled across Myanmar’s untamed border with India, many local officials were baffled. Where was this medicine going, and why were smugglers so interested in it? Today, the cross-border trickle has become a torrent and everyone knows why the Indian-made ...
