Law and judiciary
Police to protect Kachin poppy destroyers
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More than 1000 activists of a Christian-based anti-narcotics group are to have police protection after getting the go-ahead from the Kachin State government to destroy over 1600 hectares (4000 acres) of opium poppy fields. Permission was received on 21 January to mount the mass operation in Waingmaw ...
Independent bar association aims to usher in new era
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Myanmar’s legal profession is aiming to come clean. Lawyers have launched the industry’s first independent, national bar association in Myanmar with the help of a London-based human rights training group and the rule of law committee. The Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar was launched in Nay Pyi ...
Political prisoners hope for NLD help
With so many supporters soon to be in high places, the Former Political Prisoner Society has high expectations of the incoming National League for Democracy government. About 100 of the MPs preparing to take their seats on 1 February, including NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu ...
Youths missing since New Year
Ethnic armed groups or militia may have abducted 15 young men and women who went missing in late December, local residents fear. The men, from the Shan and Ta’ang communities in Nant Onn village, Muse township, Shan State, had gone out celebrating the Shan New ...
Ma Ba Tha continues to lead charge against Thai verdict
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Hard-line Buddhist monks and their supporters again took to the streets on 17 January to protest the conviction of the two Myanmar migrant workers condemned to death for murder and rape on Koh Tao island in Thailand. The Committee to Protect Race and Religion, better known by ...
Thai Government eyes high-tech response to hackers
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The Defence Ministry will invest in high-technology devices to protect state agencies’ websites from being hacked again, says Gen Prawit Wongsuwan. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit said on 14 January the government is looking at various high-tech options to protect the websites from hackers ...
Traffic Law enforcement to step up
The Cambodian government has announced several amendments to the troubled Traffic Law which, according to National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith, will be fully enforced starting 15 March. Keep reading ...
Court of Justice says cyber attacks will not change verdict
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The Court of Justice (CoJ) has insisted that the cyber attacks taking Thai court websites offline on 13 January would not force the court to change the guilty verdict in the Koh Tao murders case. The attackers also got away with cyber-theft of extensive legal records, including ...
Vietnam computer users lose $387 million to viruses: report
Each of Vietnam’s seven million computer users suffered an average loss of VND1.25 million (US$55) due to viruses last year, a new report said. The report, released by Hanoi-based online security firm BKAV, found that up to 83 percent of more than 9.1 million computers in ...
Rescues of trafficked migrant workers surge
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More than 500 trafficked Cambodian migrant workers were rescued abroad and sent home in 2015, a huge increase compared to 2014 numbers, though largely attributable to a handful of mass repatriations from Indonesia. According to a report by the Foreign Ministry, 573 workers were returned home ...