People and government
Indigenous communities resisting dams in Indonesia claim they face repression, rights abuses
In October 2014, when developers entered Seko and Central Seko to begin preliminary work on a 480-megawatt hydroelectric dam, the communities living there say no one asked their permission. The area, in the Seko Subdistrict of North Luwu, in the southern part of Indonesia’s Sulawesi ...
Press freedom declines: RSF report
Cambodia’s press freedom ranking has fallen four spots compared to last year, to 132 out of 180 countries, according to Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index. The 2017 index, published on April 26, cited the high-profile killing of political commentator Kem Ley as ...
No immediate plan to change returnee policy
Despite the Foreign Ministry reiterating its request to suspend and renegotiate its repatriation agreement with the US – which allows for the deportation of Cambodians with criminal convictions living in the States back to the Kingdom – the timetable for such a plan remains uncertain. ...
NA members push gov’t on addressing national issues
Revenue collection system modernisation, investment authorisation procedure improvement, and poverty reduction have topped the list of issues at the debate at the National Assembly session on April 25. NA members called on the government to accelerate its realisation of the plan for closing the leakage ...
Laos registers trade surplus in first quarter
Laos has registered a US$95 million trade surplus in the first quarter of 2017 following an historic trade surplus over the 2015-2016 fiscal year, the government told the National Assembly this week. Officially-recorded export over 2017’s first three months was valued at US$1,212 million, while ...
KOICA pledges US$5m for skill development in Laos
The Korea International Cooperation Agency will provide grant aid of over 40 billion kip (US$ 5 million) to facilitate skills development in Laos. The funding is in support of the Project for Improvement of Lao-Korea Institute for Skills Development from 2017 to 2020. A signing ...
Experts push for inquisitorial system of justice
Experts at a seminar on constitutional procedure in the organic law related to the Constitutional Court expressed the need to emphasise on the inquisitorial system over the adversarial legal system as well as allow the public to bring constitutional dispute cases to the Court. The ...
Education Ministry confident about new enrollment measures
While Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung is concerned about the surplus of bachelor’s degree graduates, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha is confident about the ministry’s efficiency of measures to streamline student enrollment. Dung, answering inquiries from National ...
NPT low-cost housing project to open in May
The Ministry of Construction is going to open the Shwe Nant Thar low-cost housing project, which will give priority to government employees, in Nay Pyi Taw in coming May, according to Permanent Secretary of that ministry U Kyaw Lin at the press conference for one-year ...
Experts urge caution when buying drugs on Facebook
Health experts have advised consumers to be extra cautious when purchasing drugs on social media sites such as Facebook. People should check whether the drugs sold on Facebook pages are legal before buying them, U Zaw Zaw Myo Lwin, CEO of Yangon Heartz Media, a local ...
