People and government
Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi under the microscope at Southeast Asia summit
The customary cordiality of Southeast Asian summits may be missing when the region’s leaders meet next week due to sharp differences over Myanmar, whose military has been accused of genocide against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Keep reading ...
China Focus: Wider opening-up brings closer ties with Asian neighbors
A grain of jasmine rice “jumps” to a freighter in Cambodia. It, together with thousands of its companions, will arrive in China in about a week. The jasmine rice from Cambodia sells very well in Yunnan, a border province in southwestern China. As a gateway ...
Burmese Migrant Women at Risk in Thailand
Discriminatory practices are holding Burmese migrant women back. “The Burma government doesn’t care that people come to Thailand for work. Sometimes I feel like I want to go home but it’s not any better in Burma. It’s difficult in Thailand, but in Burma there is ...
Myanmar-Laos border gate receives international status
The border gate between Myanmar and Laos has been upgraded and given international status, according to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. The ministry has upgraded the Wan Pong check point in Tachilek, Shan State, making it an international border entry point for Myanmar ...
Over 10,000 have stroke in Mekong delta annually
Mekong delta has more than 10,000 stroke patients of 200,000 stroke cases, making up 5 percent of the cases reported in the whole country, said founder of the Stroke International Services Dr. Tran Chi Cuong. The founder made the statement at the international seminar “ Updating ...
Myanmar: EU mission assesses human rights and labour rights situation
A monitoring mission of experts from the European Commission and the European External Action Service visited Myanmar from 28 to 31 October. This follows deeply worrying developments highlighted in various United Nations reports, in particular as regards human rights violations in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan ...
What does Chinese ‘reciprocity’ mean for Mekong’s dams?
China is exploring new ways to cooperate over water with Mekong countries, but any agreement must address civil society and environmental concerns, argues Carl Middleton. Keep reading ...
Thailand wants to be the first Asian nation to legalize medical marijuana
“Thailand has the best marijuana in the world.” So claims Jet Sirathraanon, chairman of the country’s National Legislative Assembly’s standing committee of public health, who is pushing to legalize cannabis for medical use. A draft bill to permit medical marijuana had been sent to the ...
Malaria Cases in Myanmar See Huge Drop, Thanks to Efforts by Community Health Workers
Instances of malaria in remote and rural locations in Myanmar have fallen dramatically during a six-year period as a result of trained community health care workers providing a wider package of services along with screenings for the disease transmitted by mosquitoes in tropical regions, a ...
Why the Mekong matters
China’s growing influence – through its new multilateral institution – is reshaping the environmental and economic future of Southeast Asia. The countries of the Mekong should build a “community of shared future”, said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in December last year. Keep reading ...