People and government

Nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition organised by nationalist groups against the death penalty verdict given to two Rakhine State natives. Ko Zaw Linn and Ko Wai Phyo were convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of two British backpackers in Thailand in 2014. The ...

Religious leaders from four major faiths in Myanmar called for an end to violence and discrimination against women during an International Women’s Day debate in Yangon over the weekend. The three-hour discussion was organised by UN Women and Religions for Peace, a Yangon-based interfaith group bringing together ...

Thailand’s Finance Ministry plans to offer 70 billion baht in pre- and post-financing loans for its affordable housing scheme under the Pracha Rat (People’s State) initiative, finance permanent secretary Somchai Sujjapongse said. Of the total, 40 billion baht will be for post-financing and the remaining 30 billion ...

Hanoi air pollution is at hazardous levels, threatening the health of those with respiratory diseases and endangering public health in general, according to Air Quality Index statistics.The index is published on the website  and provides real time air quality and pollution monitoring of cities worldwide. Keep ...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a message to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, has called for the empowerment of women as “agents of change” to address pressing problems. In poor parts of the world today, women still risk death in the process of giving ...

Cambodia’s National Police chief had said he wants to increase female recruitment into the force this year, in part to reduce “inappropriate” clashes between male police and female protesters, though observers were sceptical that simply hiring more women would solve endemic problems in the force. In ...

Rubber producers said on 6 March the Cambodian government’s decision to amend the export tax scheme on natural rubber fell short of expectations and would do little to stem the losses of farmers as rubber prices hover near a six-year low. Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a ...

The Laotian government has issued an urgent order for officials to get stricter on foreigners entering the country. Everyone entering Laos from 7 March must have complete documents, said a source at the 1st Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge border checkpoint on 5 March. Keep reading   ...

Far from the bustle of booming Chiang Mai, pockets of poppies are still being cultivated in the remote hills of this northern province, defying years of intensive efforts to eradicate them. Periodically, Thailand’s drug enforcement officials backed by foreign powers sweep through the area, but ...

Laos is the latest country to report a local transmission of Zika virus, according to the World Health Organization, as fears mount over the mosquito-borne illness that has been linked to birth defects. Asia has seen only a sprinkling of cases of the virus, but a ...