Social development

Ho Chi Minh City will need VND13.5 trillion (US$602.678 million) more for its programme to improve water bodies, which started in 2001 with the aim of cleaning up all canals, the People’s Committee has said. Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the money would be used for ...

As a Kandal village braces for an investigation into a cluster of HIV cases, the US Centers for Disease Control on 19 February published a new report on the now-infamous HIV outbreak in Battambang’s Roka commune, pointing to high demand for medical injections and a lack ...

A patient who has been confirmed to have swine flu is receiving treatment at Cambodia’s Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, though hospital and Health Ministry officials on 20 February downplayed the significance of the case. A 2009 swine flu pandemic saw close to 500 people infected in Cambodia, with five ...

A reporter for local television station MSJ TV was briefly de­tained and questioned by police on 20 February for allegedly inciting residents who are facing eviction from their riverside homes in Kom­pong Chhnang City, a journalist and officials said on 21 February. Ngunly Theara, a news reader ...

Fol­lowing the discovery of an apparent outbreak of HIV in Peam village, Kandal province, Cambodia, the head of the Ponhea Leu district referral hospital refuted accusations from infected residents that he was the source of the virus. Kouy Bunthoeun, director of the provincial health department, said ...

Refugees from fighting between two ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State are still flowing into the government-controlled town of Kyaukme amid reports that the Tatmadaw is stepping up its presence in the conflict zone. Relief workers are sending vehicles to war-torn villages to help civilians – ...

With a Nobel Peace Laureate poised to lead the next government, human rights activists are concerned they are in line for a major disappointment. Andrew MacGregor, from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he feared “we are in a honeymoon period”. Keep reading ...

Two young women who were the focus of a Myanmar Times investigation this month into mass abductions of civilians by ethnic armed groups have been freed by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Ma Nang Htwe Yin and Nang Kyan Kham, both 20-year-old ethnic Shan pre-school teachers, were ...

Thy Sovantha, Cambodia’s youngest political star, is still seething. A charismatic student, she rocketed to fame during the 2013 elections when she backed the opposition’s effort to unseat Cambodia’s authoritarian ruler. Her Facebook page drew hundreds of thousands of followers, making her, at 18, perhaps the ...

Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Narong Pipatanasai has approved budget disbursements for some projects under the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) after about 1.64 billion baht was earlier frozen due to suspected misspending. Adm Narong signed off on the budget allocation for some of the foundation’s projects ...