PAPER EDITIONS-TOP STORIES |1.2.24 – Tuesday | Asean foreign ministers worried by SCS tensions
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CAMBODIA: Call for calm: Cambodia urges parties in South China Sea dispute to stick to dialogue, avoid confrontation
Ben Sokhean / Khmer Times
Amid ASEAN member states voicing concern over rising tension between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea dispute, Cambodia has called for all parties concerned to stick to dialogue and avoid confrontation.
In recent months, China and the Philippines have exchanged accusations over a disputed water, part of the sea, prompting the ASEAN Foreign Ministers on Saturday to express concern over recent developments.
There were a series of reports of incidents between Chinese and Philippines vessels in the disputed water. China also claimed that a US naval ship had “illegally intruded” into its territorial waters.
China has warned the Philippines against “causing trouble and chaos” in the South China Sea, as tensions continue to boil over the disputed waters.
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LAOS: Inflation remains high in December despite govt’s attempts to control it
The government seeks to boost productivities for domestic consumption and export.
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The inflation rate in Laos averaged 31.2 percent for the whole of 2023 despite the government’s attempts to lower the cost of goods and services to single-digit figure
The weak kip is seen as one of the main factors driving inflation. At the beginning of December, the value of the kip fell by 20.8 percent and 22.7 percent against the US dollar and Thai baht respectively, when compared to the same period of 2022, according to the Lao Statistics Bureau.
Memento Maxima Digital MarketingMYANMAR: Myanmar to participate in ASEAN Tourism Forum 2024
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SINGAPORE: Illegal wildlife trade in Singapore detected on Telegram doubled from 2021 to 2023: Report
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ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – The illegal wildlife market in Singapore flourished on Telegram over the past three years, despite enforcement action taken against sellers, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) has found.
The number of banned wild animals that Acres found for sale on the messaging platform almost doubled from 333 in 2021 to 660 in 2023, according to the charity’s report released in December. The number of sellers offering prohibited wildlife for sale also rose from 66 in 2021 to 387 in 2023.
Indian star tortoises, leopard tortoises and scorpions were among wildlife that saw the greatest increase in demand among Telegram groups tracked.
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THAILAND: Thai medical faculty reiterates warning against use of e-cigarettes
Excessive use of e-cigarettes can potentially be fatal because most contain nicotine as well as other harmful substances, while young people
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VIET NAM: Việt Nam welcomed 12.6 million foreign tourists, revenue hits $1.5b in 2023: Statistics Office
 Foreign tourists on cyclo rides in the Old Quarter area of Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng
. HÀ NỘI — International arrivals to Việt Nam in December reached nearly 1.4 million people, an increase of 11.2 per cent compared to the previous month and a 93.9 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, according to the year-end report from the General Statistics Office released on Friday. |
For the entire year, the total number of foreign tourists coming to the country hit 12.6 million, 3.4 times higher than in 2022, vastly surpassing the conservative target of eight million visitors set at the beginning of the year, before China, which represented nearly a third of foreign tourists to Việt Nam in the pre-pandemic years, officially announced its resumption of international tourism.
The 12.6 million figure is still only 70 per cent of the figure in 2019, right before COVID-19.
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