For the second year in a row, some of the planet’s most toxic smog has choked Bangkok.The Thai capital’s air turned grey and thick in recent days, particularly during mornings, as seasonal weather changes prevented pollutants such as exhaust fumes and factory smoke from dissipating.
In Tokyo’s Ginza, Seoul’s Gangnam and Beijing’s Chaoyang financial district a familiar scene plays out almost every night of the work week. As dusk falls, businessmen flock to karaoke and hostess clubs to close deals and build relationships in the liquor-lubricated intimacy of young women.Call it bonding over vice. It’s a culture that sits uneasily with the #MeToo movement that has swept across Europe and the United States (US).
The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from an Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October has been recovered, officials said Monday, a discovery that could be critical to explaining why the brand-new plane fell out of the sky just after take-off.The Boeing 737 MAX vanished from radar about 13 minutes after departing Jakarta, slamming into the Java Sea moments after pilots had asked to return to the capital and killing all 189 people onboard.The bright orange voice recorder was discovered early
Kenaf is a plant that most people may not have heard about but is used to produce many types of eco-friendly materials. These materials are already being used by most of us unknowingly on a daily basis.From paper to furniture and from biofuel to textiles, kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L) has been grown for over 3,000 years and can be harvested in just four to five months, alleviating the shortage of forest based raw materials and countering deforestation.
Last week, researchers urged conservationists and palm oil companies tackling deforestation and forest fires to rely less on satellite imagery and to start “listening” to the sounds of the forest instead.
Bopha should be in school but instead toils seven days a week in a searing brick kiln on the outskirts of Phnom Penh – a 14-year-old trapped in debt bondage in a boom industry preying on the poverty of Cambodia's farmers.Unpredictable weather linked to climate change is laying waste to Cambodian fields.Saddled with debt from failed harvests, tens of thousands of farmers are turning to brick factories, where owners pay off their bills in exchange for labour.The factories feed a surging co
Malaysia has become the latest ASEAN member state to establish more smoke-free zones; rolling out a divisive smoking ban on 1 January which prohibits smoking in all restaurants, open-air eateries, coffee shops and hawker centres.Those who smoke in these areas can now be fined RM10,000 (US$2,415) or jailed up to two years – though smokers can still light up three metres (10 feet) away from these establishments.
Tourists marooned on Thai islands hunkered down Friday as Tropical Storm Pabuk struck the kingdom, forcing airports and ferries to close and bringing power blackouts, heavy rains and massive sea swells.Boats were recalled to shore across the Gulf of Thailand, while three key southern airports were shut until Saturday, leaving tourists who remain on islands now cut off from the mainland."Ten thousand tourists are still on Koh Phangan," said Krikkrai Songthanee, district chief of the
The Indonesian volcano which caused a tsunami that killed more than 400 people last week lost more than two-thirds of its height following the eruption which triggered the killer waves.A section of Anak Krakatoa's crater collapsed after an eruption and slid into the ocean, generating the tsunami last Saturday night.A visual analysis by the Indonesian volcanology agency found the volcano has lost more than two-thirds of its height, an official said Saturday.
Recently, The ASEAN Post wrote two articles on child marriages with a special focus on Indonesia and Thailand.For the story on Thailand, named “Regulation seeks to end child marriages, but…” statistics gathered by the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) were cited. However, data for Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore were unavailable.
The number of people evacuated after Indonesia's deadly tsunami has nearly doubled to some 40,000 while more than 7,000 were injured in the disaster, officials said Friday, as they trimmed the official death toll.Authorities said 426 people had been killed - down from a previous tally of 430 - with double-counting by different districts blamed for the change.
Hundreds of panicked residents, many sobbing and clutching small children, tried to flee Sumber Jaya village Tuesday as word spread that another tsunami was about to smash into the shattered Indonesian community.At a busy intersection several hundred meters back from the beach, people clambered onto the back of trucks and motorbikes or ran through the traffic in a bid to reach the safety of higher ground, as the water level rose in the sea."Run up to the hills - water!" they screame
