These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.
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Drones a big help during recent flood disaster
Drones were used in many aspects of crisis management during the recent flood disaster.
At the height of the floods last month, a public-private partnership saw at least 20 drones being used for surveillance and to supply essentials with payloads of up to 10kg per delivery.
The technology was also used to survey hard-to-reach areas during the disaster. - New Straits Times
Fear cases may hit 20k a day
New cases of Covid-19 could jump to 20,000 a day by the end of the month unless precautionary measures are taken seriously, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Monday.
Sumanee Wacharasint, assistant spokeswoman for the CCSA, said that the current situation corresponds with an earlier prediction made by the Public Health Ministry that daily cases may surge to 20,000 by the end of this January, and 30,000 by the end of next month.
Regarding earlier forecasts of a higher fatality rate, the CCSA spokeswoman said that deaths are still low due to large numbers of people having now been vaccinated. - Bangkok Post
2 NegOcc LGUs seen as ‘areas of concern’ anew in May polls
Two local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental have again been identified as possible “areas of concern” during the May 9 national and local elections.
Outgoing Provincial Election Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria, set to be transferred to Iloilo province this week, on Tuesday identified the areas as Moises Padilla town and Escalante City, both with histories of election-related incidents in the previous local polls.
Ananoria said the two LGUs could be added to the list although the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has yet to establish the parameters on how to declare certain areas as “hotspots”. - Philippine News Agency
HCM City businesses ready to welcome back foreign tourists
HCM City tourism businesses are ready to welcome foreign tourists back as the city received approval from the Government to reopen to visitors this month.
Nguyen Quoc Ky, chairman of Board of Directors of Vietravel Holdings, told a seminar on January 5 that although travelling was postponed due to the pandemic, his company had still maintained operations.
“We have promoted digital marketing to approach new customers, created new tourism products and built a human resources plan to be ready for reopening,” he said, adding that the pandemic was an opportunity for them to restructure. - Vietnam News
PM calls for ‘immediate action’ against growing community cases of Omicron as 10 more community cases announced Monday evening
Prime Minister Hun Sen has instructed authorities to take ‘immediate action’ after more community cases of Omicron were detected, bringing the community total to 14 – as well as 24 new imported cases, making a total of 229 Omicron cases in Cambodia
In a special voice message (below) yesterday evening, the Premier said 34 more Omicron cases were confirmed today, of which 24 were imported and 10 were locally transmitted; bringing the total Omicron community cases in the Kingdom to 14.
It appears that these new cases are in addition to the daily figures released by the Ministry of Health on Monday morning, which stated that there were 4 community cases in total. - Khmer Times
Myanmar junta sentences Suu Kyi to four more years in prison
A junta court in Naypyitaw sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison on Monday for possessing “illegally imported” walkie-talkies and violating Covid-19 restrictions, court sources said.
Judge Maung Maung Lwin handed her two years under the Export-Import Law and one year under the Telecommunications Law, both charges relating to the walkie-talkies seized during a pre-dawn raid on her home as the military coup unfolded on February 1 last year.
Those sentences will be served concurrently, the judge said. - Myanmar NOW
Women play important role in MSMEs: Indrawati
Indonesian women are playing a crucial and big role in the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.
Speaking at a national working meeting on the empowerment of women in MSMEs in Jakarta on the weekend, she said that the majority of MSME players are women, based on data from the Ministry of Cooperatives, Small and Medium Businesses.
"Based on the data, women are really very important and even main players at small and micro levels," she said in a written statement released on Monday. - AntaraNews.Com
First Tourists Arrive in Laos After Reopening
Vientiane Times reports that the group of 17 students and six teachers from Ipo High School in Seoul, Korea, arrived at Wattay International Airport on Monday.
The group will be undertaking cultural exchange activities and playing golf with students and staff from Faseekham Secondary School in Vientiane’s Naxaithong District.
The school’s travel arrangements were organized by Family Tour Co Ltd. – The Laotian Times