People and government

Myanmar’s first community-based tourism (CBT) project, one of seven planned, is up and running in Magway region, much to the delight of local residents. At a recent launch event here, community leader San Htun said the members of four villages joining the scheme threw full support ...

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is drawing up additional regulations to raise the standards of car park safety barriers and to control the brightness levels on electronic billboards. Taiwut Khankaew, director of the BMA’s Building Control Division, said discussions were under way about the new regulations ...

Vietnam’s Prime Minister has approved the Government’s overall programme to practice thrift and avoid wasteful expenditure in 2016. The programme is one of the key tasks in 2016, the first year in which the resolution of the 12th National Party Congress and the socio-economic development plan for ...

UNICEF will continue to expand its partnership with government counterparts, development partners and UN agencies, INGO/CSOs under the umbrella of the Vientiane Declaration on Aid effectiveness. The agency will work closely with all related partners to develop a new country programme of cooperation for 2017-2021 within ...

A group of foreign conservation volunteers sailing off the coast of Kep province late on 12 February were set upon by a flotilla of illegal fishermen who attempted to pelt them with rocks and other projectiles, only disbanding after Cambodian maritime police fired warning shots into ...

When U.S. President Barack Obama hosts a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in California this week, his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein will be notably absent. Myanmar’s outgoing president abruptly pulled out of the summit as secretive talks continued between his country’s powerful military and the incoming ...

The United States issued a warning on 12 February urging Americans to avoid a central Laos province popular with adventure travelers after a sudden spate of deadly bomb and gun attacks. Two roadside attacks killed three people last month in Xaisomboun province. Those attacks followed a series ...

A year ago, a mentally ill man was beaten to death by villagers who had mistaken him for a thief. Despite only four of those involved being sentenced, it was a harsher punishment than expected – in almost all instances of mob killings, no questions ...

A traffic accident occurred 12 February in northern Lao Luang Namtha province, injuring 13 people including one Chinese, the Chinese consulate-general in Luang Phrabang confirmed on 13 February. Keep reading ...

Products of a popular Thai cosmetics brand were found to be “unfit for use,” according to an official announcement by Myanmar’s Ministry of Health on 10 February. “Two products of ‘Forever Young’ cosmetics were found to contain prohibited chemical ingredients that can harm people’s health and [we] ...