Economy and industry

Thai authorities must step up witness protection for a major human trafficking trial with the accused including an army general and one investigator fleeing the country fearing for his life, activists said on 24 December as the first witnesses gave evidence. The case includes 88 defendants allegedly ...

The Bank of Thailand trimmed its 2016 economic growth forecast on Friday, reflecting expectations of zero export growth and suggesting the military government will continue to struggle with a sluggish economy. At the same time, the central bank nudged its growth estimate for this year up ...

The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has been formally established and is expected to be operational early next year, and its head reaffirmed the lender will be “lean, clean and green”, Xinhua news agency said on 25 December. The setting up of the bank came after ...

Thailand’s Administrative Court on 25 December dismissed complaints over the Xayaburi Dam against five state agencies. However, the 37 plaintiffs, from eight Mekong provinces, say they will appeal further. The judge, who read the verdict, said the defendants had fully complied with their obligation according to the law, ...

A group of seven Vietnamese and Cambodian girls were freed during a raid on a brothel in Battambang province on 23 December in which three suspected brokers were arrested, according to anti-human trafficking police. Officers entered the nameless “massage parlor” in Kamrieng district’s Boeng Raing commune at ...

More than 160 families in Kratie province’s Snuol district have alleged that the Memot Rubber Plantation company has been using excavators to clear their land. The families from Pi Thnou commune filed a complaint to the provincial office of local rights group Adhoc on 23 December, ...

Individual ministries will not be called to parliament to explain their budget requests for 2016-17 until debate begins in January in an effort to speed up the approval process, Myanmar MPs were told on 23 December. Parliamentarians arrived yesterday expecting to hear representatives from the ministries ...

Academics have slammed the military’s iron grip on cyberspace following the 2014 coup. Surveillance and crackdown measures are creating a climate of fear and self-censorship, they argued. Since last year’s coup, the army has taken many steps to tackle content deemed sensitive or critical of the ...

Vietnam’s annual credit growth this year is expected to quicken to 18 percent, beating a previous government target of 17 percent, the State Bank of Vietnam said on 24 December. Keep reading ...

The manager of a highway project linking Hanoi with Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, has estimated the cost for the 707-kilometer route at US$4.52 billion.    In its latest plan submitted to the transport ministry, the project’s manager Unit 85 said the six-lane highway will go through ...