Author: Pyae Soe

The Government Savings Bank (GSB) is launching a loan scheme targeting small-scale self-employed individuals, such as taxi drivers, motorcycle taxi drivers, riders, and online sellers. The bank is offering loans of up to 100,000 baht, repayable over eight years, to support these workers who have been adversely affected by the rising cost of living, resulting in reduced income and financial hardship. GSB’s director, Witthaya Rattanakorn, revealed that this initiative is in response to the government’s directive to aid taxi drivers and those in public transport or self-employment who are struggling due to the current economic climate. The loan scheme is designed to provide working capital or boost liquidity,…

HANOI (Voetnam News/ANN): Vietnam opposes any use of force against its fishing vessels operating normally at sea, threatening the life and safety as well as causing damage to the property and interests of fishermen, running counter to international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), said spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang. Responding to reporters’ queries regarding the information about a Vietnamese fishing boat attacked while operating in the waters of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel), Hang said competent Vietnamese agencies are urgently verifying the case. Vietnam has…

Though super typhoon Saola is threatening Hong Kong and China’s Guangdong Province, meteorological agencies said it was less likely to enter the Gulf of Tonkin and affect mainland Vietnam. At 2 p.m. Friday, the typhoon’s center was in the northern waters north of the East Sea, about 250 km southeast of Hong Kong, with the strongest wind speed of 183 kph, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. In the next 24 hours, the typhoon is heading west-northwest at a speed of 10-15 kph. At 7 a.m. on Saturday, the storm’s center will be in the southern sea of…

Touchstone Partners, a Vietnam-based VC firm, and Temasek Foundation have co-launched a global climate innovations competition in partnership with the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies. Called Net Zero Challenge 2023, the program seeks to support climate solutions in Vietnam, which have received less funding compared to other tech sectors, according to a joint statement. The competition covers three main climate issues: renewables and carbon removal, food systems and sustainable agriculture, as well as circular economy and waste management. Its investor partners include the likes of Singapore-based Pavilion Capital and Indonesia-focused East Ventures. Participating teams will vie for equity-free grants worth a…

Myanmar’s resistance groups have stepped up attacks near the capital Naypyitaw, directly threatening the military regime. Resistance attacks have been reported within an hour’s drive of the regime’s nerve center. On Sunday, a clash broke out on the border of Myothit Township in Magwe Region and Tatkon Township in Naypyitaw when groups attacked troops on motorbikes traveling to extort money from businesses, said the Oppressed People’s Revolutionary Force that conducted the attack. Four junta soldiers were injured and three motorbikes, arms and ammunition were seized by the resistance group in the north of Naypyitaw. Clashes broke out between junta forces and…

The leaders of three of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic rebel groups fighting the junta recently claimed that the regime will be toppled soon as it is losing its multi-front war. The junta is losing ground across the country, except in Rakhine State where the Arakan Army agreed a temporary ceasefire after intense clashes across the state. Now the junta is losing bases in attacks by resistance groups and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the country’s oldest revolutionary group Karen Nation Union, and even around the capital, Naypyitaw. The regime is also losing diplomatically with increasing…

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has thanked HSBC Holdings Plc and HSBC Vietnam for their assistance and contributions to the development of the banking – financial industry in particular and the economy of Vietnam in general. Receiving Group Chairman of the UK-based HSBC Holdings Plc Mark Tucker in Hanoi on August 2, PM Chinh believed that the presence of British banks in Vietnam such as HSBC and Standard Chartered will make positive contributions to fostering friendship and effective cooperation between the two countries. He applauded HSBC Vietnam’s efforts in expanding operations and forming strategic partnerships and collaboration with various Vietnamese State-owned and private businesses…

Vietnam on Friday called on the country’s food association to ensure sufficient domestic rice supplies and food security after India’s move to curb its exports. India, which accounts for 40% of world rice exports, on Thursday ordered a halt to its largest rice export category to reduce domestic prices. “India’s move to curb its rice exports will affect the global rice market,” Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a document sent to the Vietnam Food Association and reviewed by Reuters. The ministry asked the association, which represents rice exporters and processors, to order its members to strictly follow…

Colombo (25/7 – 30.77) In his book “Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community,” terrorism expert Dr. Rohan Gunaratna emphasizes the importance of de-radicalizing Islamic ideology to effectively combat Islamic terrorism. He identifies Wahhabism or Salafism as the root of Islamic terrorism, rapidly spreading worldwide through modern communication tools. Gunaratna warns that merely arresting perpetrators after attacks is insufficient; the focus should be on preventing radicalization in the first place. The Easter Sunday bombings in April 2019, which claimed over 200 lives, were fuelled by extremist ideologies inspired by events in the Middle East and Islamic extremists…

The lack of progress on the 555-kilometer railway linking Vung Ang to the Lao capital Vientiane contrasts starkly with the recently completed Kunming-Vientiane line. For a number of years, Vietnam and Laos have attempted to get a railway project rolling to little fanfare and less success. The construction for the planned 555-kilometer Vientiane–Vung Ang railway, which would connect the Lao capital to the Vietnamese seaport where Laos has privileged access, was supposed to begin in November 2022, then in March 2023, and now by the end of 2023 or early next year, “if things go as expected.” As is tradition for Vietnamese railway developments, things…