People and government
ASEAN integration concerns aired at grassroots event

Hundreds gathered on 16 November in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park for the fifth Cambodian Grassroots People’s Assembly, where they called for issues ranging from deforestation to democracy to be addressed ahead of ASEAN integration. About 700 people from the Cambodian Cross Sector Network, a group made up ...
Stripped of immunity, Rainsy delays return

Three days after a warrant was issued for his arrest, Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy on 16 November backed off a pledge to return to the Kingdom and face the prospect of jail, but insisted he would arrive soon. A day of drama that began ...
Mekong locals seek a voice on Don Sahong

More than 6,400 residents of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia have signed and thumb-printed a statement on the Don Sahong Dam project, airing concerns ranging from the river’s diminishing fish stocks to the lack of transparency of the Mekong River Commission. The statement, presented last week at ...
Myanmar poll raises internet usage
Internet usage in Myanmar rose by 300 per cent on 8 November when the nation hosted the general election, according to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Keep reading ...
Thai Deputy PM insists on using administrative order in rice cases

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has reiterated the government is not bullying ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra when it demands compensation from her for damages from the rice-pledging programme using using the 1996 administrative tort law instead of the Civil Code. Damages can be claimed in one of the ...
Women in central Vietnam work hard at sea to keep families afloat

In the coastal Hoang Hoa District in the central province of Thanh Hoa, fishing is no longer a male preserve like it is in most places. Hundreds of women, many of whom suffered from severe seasickness once, accompany their husbands out to sea to make their ...
Vietnam sees 44,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease
The Ministry of Health has reported 44,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease nationwide this year, including five fatalities, all in the south. “The number of cases is down 30 percent from last year,” Tran Dac Phu, director of the ministry’s Centre for Preventive Health, said. Keep reading ...
FIFA ethics committee bans executives from Nepal, Laos

The ethics committee at world soccer body FIFA has banned two officials from Nepal and Laos for taking cash during elections, it said on 16 November. Keep reading ...
President to parties: Stability during transition is responsibility of all

As if to reflect the sea change that has overtaken the country’s politics in the past week, representatives of the National League for Democracy – still officially the opposition party – were seated at the head of the table at a meeting with President U Thein ...
Rainsy vows to return amid threats of arrest

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is scheduled to return to Phnom Penh on 16 November where he could face arrest and a two-year prison sentence over a defamation case dating back to 2008, his party said on 15 November. Eng Chhay Eang, a spokesman of the opposition Cambodia ...