A recent survey in Thailand showed that Thais are more concerned about their safety than ever before and most say the economic slump the country is going through is the cause for this.The survey by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll, was conducted from 15 to 18, January on 1,365 people throughout the country following a spate of serious crime news – including rapes, robberies and drug dealing – culminating in a gold shop heist in Lop Buri province.On 9 January, a man shot and

Philippine authorities ordered a crackdown Monday on evacuees' daily visits to their homes in the danger zone around Taal volcano as scientists warned it could be "recharging" for a more powerful explosion.More than 110,000 people have taken refuge in evacuation centres since Taal burst to life a week ago, but many hard-hit towns have let residents back for hours each day to fetch items, feed livestock and clean up their houses."We are directing DRRMCs (civil defence offic

The recent Gender Gap Report 2020 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Philippines 16th globally. The country boasts the smallest gender gap in Asia by far, even surpassing first world nations like Japan, Australia, Canada, and Switzerland. Among the four dimensions in which the report was based on, the Philippines performed strongly in three of them. In the Economic Participation and Opportunity dimension, 80 percent of the gender gap has been closed.

Last week, Malaysian media reported that the country’s finance minister, Lim Guan Eng had handed over an allocation of RM100 million (US$24,646,124) to the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mujahid Yusof Rawa for the purpose of upgrading and maintaining registered Islamic schools.The allocation is divided into RM50 million (US$12,323,062) for religious Muslim schools (tahfiz schools), RM25 million (US$6,161,801) for public and private Islamic schools and RM25 million (US$6,161,801)

Ash spewed by a Philippine volcano is being mixed with plastic waste to make bricks in an inventive response to the country's persistent problems of pollution and frequent natural disasters.The Taal volcano burst into life nearly a week ago, sending towering dust columns into the sky and leaving nearby Binan city coated in fine grey powder.Environment officials did not just clean up the mess but decided to combine the ash with sand, cement and discarded plastic to form about 5,000 bricks

Decimated fish, scarred coffee plants and vanished tourists: the Taal volcano eruption in the Philippines has inflicted significant damage on the livelihoods of tens of thousands and is expected to cause more.When Taal exploded to life last Sunday it spewed towering columns of fine grey ash, which officials said destroyed crops and killed off potentially tonnes of fish raised in the lake that rings the volcano."We lost a lot of money because all our fish are gone," said Cesario Rodr

The true scale of the outbreak of a mysterious SARS-like virus in China is likely far bigger than officially reported, scientists have warned, as countries ramp up measures to prevent the disease from spreading.Fears that the virus will spread are growing ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese move around the country and many others host or visit extended family members living overseas.Authorities in China say two people have died and at least 45 have been i

A recent report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) evaluated economic projections against climate models and found a high magnitude of physical risks that 105 countries will experience in the next three decades. The study suggests that in order to address climate risks, both – adaptation measures and decarbonisation – is necessary.Today, at least 20 million people have been forced from their homes due to extreme weather according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The former chief police enforcer of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs will be charged with corruption for allegedly protecting officers linked to the narcotics trade, the justice department said Thursday.Oscar Albayalde resigned in October after serving as Philippine police chief for more than a year, having presided over an anti-narcotics crackdown that left thousands of drug suspects dead.The episode that led to his sudden fall from grace cast an unwelcome ligh

Thailand is famous for many things, one of which is its sandy beaches. But apart from being a huge draw for tourists from all over the world, the Land of Smiles’ over 3,000 kilometres of coastline and 8,000 islands also paint another picture, one that’s much more sinister.In August, the World Health Organization (WHO) was reported as saying that Thailand is still "number one" for deaths by drowning in ASEAN among children.