Former US first lady Michelle Obama and Hollywood A-lister Julia Roberts toured a high school in rural Vietnam on Monday, urging a classroom of teenage girls to stay focused on their education to transform their lives. The promotion of girls' schooling has been the cornerstone of Obama's charitable work since her husband Barack Obama left office in 2017 after two terms as US president. "When you educate a girl you give them power and a voice and an opportunity

Earlier this year, in June, Save the Children released its Global Childhood Report 2019. The report involved a total of 176 countries, and took a look at indicators such as children’s healthcare, education, nutrition and protection.

Malaysia has reported its first polio case in 27 years, health authorities said Sunday, announcing a three-month-old baby had been diagnosed on Borneo island.The Malaysian health ministry's director-general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said the baby from Tuaran in eastern Sabah state had been admitted into intensive care after experiencing fever and muscle weakness."The patient is currently undergoing treatment in an isolation ward and is in a stable condition but needs respiratory suppor

While Southeast Asia is working hard for the shift into completely embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and its citizens are getting excited about such things as blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT), the region is still struggling with something that mankind has been trying to fight off since the dawn of time – hunger.When the Global Hunger Organisation (GHO) revealed its 2019 results for the Global Hunger Index (GHI) it was painfully obvious that ASEAN member states are still r

An Indonesian activist, who is also a doctor, recently revealed that people who have contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country still face rampant stigmatisation and discrimination in the workplace.

Southeast Asia is known for its vast rainforests which constitute about almost 20 percent of forest cover with the richest biodiversity in the world. What the region is also known for is its alarming rate of deforestation. Southeast Asia has the highest rate of deforestation of any major tropical region followed by Latin America and Africa.

An Indonesian man who fainted as he was being whipped for pre-marital sex Thursday was revived to receive the rest of his punishment before being rushed to hospital. Despite international condemnation, public flogging is common for a range of offences banned under local Islamic law in the conservative Aceh region on Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.Aceh is the only region in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority cou

E-sports took a step into the sporting mainstream on Thursday as it made its debut at the Southeast Asian Games, becoming a medal event for the first time at an Olympic-recognised multi-sport competition.As the typhoon-hit Games, spread across dozens of venues in the northern Philippines, neared the halfway stage, e-sports made its grand entrance at a darkened arena in Manila.It represents progress for video gaming, which was a demonstration sport at last year's Asian Games but has been

Thailand’s Digital Economy and Society Minister, Buddhipongse Punnakanta revealed recently that about 500,000 items of suspected fake news were spread on social media over the past month alone. The biggest culprits? The country’s elderly.Buddhipongse said that it was the ministry’s anti-fake news centre that detected the approximately half a million items of possible fake news.

Six Malaysian Muslims have reportedly been handed one-month jail terms for skipping prayers in violation of Islamic laws, sparking fresh concern Wednesday about rising religious conservatism in the multi-ethnic country.Attending Friday prayers is obligatory for Muslim men in Malaysia, but it is rare for such harsh punishments to be meted out for missing them.Aged 17 to 35, the men had been caught having a picnic by a waterfall instead of taking part in prayers on a Friday, the holiest day of