Refugees are taking shelter in camps in five townships: Namtu, Kutkai, Mongyai, Namhkam and Kyaukme.

Over 80 refugees are staying in makeshift tents in Namtu. The two camps in Kutkai shelter more than 700 refugees. Some 500 refugees take shelter in camps in Kyaukme. Some refugees escaped to Mogok and urban areas of Kyaukme in which the Thiho Monastery shelters hundreds of refugees.

“Some refugees returned to their homes but when they saw there was nothing to go back to, they decided to return to the camps,” said Lo Poe Kyinti from the Ta’ang Women Organisation.

Rebels reportedly kidnapped the villagers and burned houses in Lanaw village, Namhkam.

The battles started on February 7 and are still raging.

Refugees are in immediate need of warm clothes, blankets, food and other essentials.

The first tranche of the EU support of 11.5 million euros will be added to the 48 million euro Australian-Initiated Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos (BEQUAL) programme, which aims to enable more disadvantaged children to complete good quality basic education and achieve literacy, numeracy and other life skills.

This programme is expected to benefit 450,000 primary school children in 66 most disadvantaged districts. Programme activities include renewing the curriculum, developing new materials, upgrading teacher skills, sponsoring pre-service scholarships to villages suffering from a tea cher shortage, and improving school based management.

The programme also aims to improve school infrastructure, provide school meals, and undertake a range of other activities with the intention of improving the quality of primary education and improving the participation of children and their communities in primary education.

The second tranche of 3.5 million euros will be used to continue strengthening education sector governance, particularly planning and budgeting, according to a joint statement on the project.

This information was revealed during the launch of the programme in Vientiane yesterday.

Deputy Minister of Education and Sports Sengdeuane Lachanthaboun, EU Chargé d’Affaires to Laos Mr Michel Goffin, and Acting Head of Mission of the Australian Embassy in Laos Mr Andreas Zurbrugg took turns to address the ceremony.

The event was also attended by representatives of the government’s line agencies, diplomatic corps, international organisations and development partners to officially launch the EU financial support programme.

Speaking at the event, Sengdeuane said that improving the quality of education was one of the top priorities of the Lao government and was critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and helping Laos to graduate from Least Developed country status.

The BEQuA-BasED programme is well aligned with the priorities of the Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP 2016-2020) and will also actively contribute to implementation of the National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP 2016-2020).

“Education is a strategic sector for poverty reduction and sustainable development but first and foremost ‘Education for All’ is a main cornerstone of a fair society. BEQuA-BasED was built upon on the EU Agenda for Change and the strategic priorities of the 8th NSEDP 2016-20 and the ESDP 2016-2020. The EU will work closely with the Ministry of Education and Sports and Australia to deliver this programme fruitfully,” Goffin said.

Education is one of the EU’s three priority sectors under its development strategy for Laos from 2014-2020.

Other key sectors include nutrition and governance and human rights, while its support for the areas of trade and private sector assistance, agriculture and rural development, health, environment and natural resources and UXO assistance are also maintained.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the latest economic policy package was the government’s largest package yet.

He admitted, however, that bureaucratic problems continued to plague Indonesia and had become a serious obstacle to attracting investment. In response, the government would simplify the nation’s bureaucracies in forthcoming packages.

“Maybe a month from now, there will be more packages designed to tweak licensing procedures and bureaucratic matters,” he said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.

The sluggish economy, Darmin continued, had weakened investment. Therefore, Indonesia had undertaken special emergency measures such as deregulations and the issuance of various economic policy packages.

According to Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) executive director Enny Sri Hartati, negative investment list (DNI) revisions must be viewed from two sides; how to attract investment and how to make sure that changes contribute to the national interest.

“At the same time, the government must provide legal certainty to the investors,” she said.

On Thursday, the government revealed its tenth economic policy package, designed to boost investment by revising the DNI. Thirty five sectors have been removed from the negative list and became open to foreign investment up to 100 percent ownership, while 20 others have been added.

“It’s a package that the world has been waiting for. I can tell you that it is the biggest package yet of all the ten economic policy packages delivered so far,” Darmin claimed.

The emojis — which are available on the popular apps LINE and Whatsapp as well as Facebook and Twitter — depict same-sex couples holding hands and the rainbow flag, commonly used to symbolise the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

“Such contents are not allowed in Indonesia based on our cultural law and the religious norms and the operators must respect that,” Ismail Cawidu, spokesman for the Communication and Information Ministry, told AFP Friday.

He said of particular concern was that the colourful emojis and stickers could appeal to children.

“Those things might be considered normal in some Western countries, while in Indonesia it’s practically impossible,” he said.

Cawidu said the ministry had contacted all companies that used such content, including Twitter and Facebook, and failure to comply with the request to remove the emojis could lead to the apps being banned in Indonesia.

LINE Indonesia has already removed its gay emojis from online stores and issued an apology.

“LINE regrets the incidents of some stickers which are considered sensitive by many people,” the messaging app said in a statement.

“We ask for your understanding because at the moment we are working on this issue to remove the stickers.”

While homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, the topic remains a controversial subject.

In January, the University of Indonesia told a support group providing sex education and counselling for LGBT students that they did not have permission to hold meetings on campus.

And last year Aceh, the only province in Indonesia which implements sharia law, introduced caning as a punishment for gay sex.

Prominent gay activist Hartoyo said the move to ban the emojis was symptomatic of a wider crackdown on LGBT rights.

“This is just the latest in a series of incidents that have happened recently,” he said. “The government has let this ignorance go on for far too long and it has put our nation in danger.”

Valentine’s Day has become something of a favourite among young people in many Southeast Asian countries in recent years, with bunches of red roses and heart-shaped chocolates cropping up in stores and on street stalls each February.

But that has left some officials rattled, particularly in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand — both of which have become renowned in recent years for issuing warnings about the pitfalls of young love and premarital sex ahead of the 14 February holiday.

The Cambodian Ministry of Education directive, which was sent to private and public schools on on Tuesday, ordered teachers to “take measures to prevent inappropriate activities on Valentine’s Day”.

The ministry said the increasingly popular holiday was driving young people “to overjoy, to forget about studying and to lose the reputation and dignity of themselves and their families”.

“It is not a traditional event of our Khmer people,” the statement said according to a copy seen by AFP.

Social conservatives in both countries see the day as a foreign import which represents a moral threat to traditional Buddhist beliefs.

Cambodian women in particular are under intense pressure to retain their virginity until marriage.

At the same time the country has become notorious in recent years as a regional hub for selling young women’s virginity to wealthy men, something rights groups say underlines intense double standards over sexuality and gender.

Last year officials in junta-run Thailand also sounded a note of caution over Valentine’s day, calling on young people to have a special meal or visit temples instead of having sex.

While both Cambodia and Thailand have a seemingly anything-goes image among holiday makers and thriving sex work industries, they also have a conservative streak.

Health workers say sex education in both nations remains underfunded and of poor quality, partly because the subject of sex is so taboo.

According to the United Nations, the birthrate among Thai teenagers was 47 per 1,000 girls from 2006 to 2010 — roughly in line with neighbouring Cambodia, but significantly higher than Malaysia’s 14.

– AFP

In the video, Mr Chan says: “Please you must help me to stop electro-fishing, and you must all protect the Irrawaddy dolphin Give the baby dolphin a chance to live like all the children of the world.”

He said he also hopes to visit Myanmar and see the Irrawaddy dolphin one day.

Surveys by the commission over the last five years have shown that the number of dolphins living in the river between Mandalay and Bhamo is declining.

“The survey is conducted every year. The dolphins are mainly living in the river course between Mandalay and Bhamo. According to our statistics, there has been a gradual decrease in the number of dolphins,” said Han Win, the director of the Irrawaddy River Conservation Commission.

“We study the number of dolphins living between Mandalay and Bhamo along the Irrawaddy River, dividing it into three sections. The number of dolphins decreased mostly near Bhamo. In 2010, we found 15 to 16 dolphins near Bhamo. Now we see about eight there. About 10 dolphins are missing near Katha, Shwegu and Htigyaing,” Han Win said.

The survey showed that there were 73 dolphins in 2010, 72 in 2011, 67 in 2012, 51 in 2013, 63 in 2014 and 58 in 2015.

One of the main challenges to conservation tasks for the dolphins is the use of electro-fishing techniques in the Irrawaddy River.

“In the past, electro-fishing was only done at night, but now it is done all day due to the lack of effective actions against the fishermen,” Han Win added.

Fishing nets and waste disposal in the river also pose serious threats to Myanmar’s Irrawaddy dolphins.

Three candidates – Senator Grace Poe, Vice-President Jejomar Binay, and former mayor Rodrigo Duterte, all with agendas appealing to the masses – held political rallies in Manila’s poorest districts.

Former interior minister Mar Roxas retreated to his family’s bailiwick, Capiz province, 400km south of Manila, where Mr Aquino led a rally for his preferred successor.

Senator Miriam Santiago, 70, meanwhile, flew to the Ilocos region, a solid voting bloc of nine million north of the capital that has for decades remained loyal to the family of her running mate Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the 58-year-old son and namesake of the late dictator.

Some 56 million voting-age Filipinos are expected to troop to polling stations on May 9 to elect more than 18,000 national and local officials – from president down to city and town councillors.

“From now to May, the country may be witness to a wide-open, no- holds-barred presidential brawl not seen for quite a while,” said the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an editorial.

Ms Poe, 47, the adopted daughter of movie icon Fernando Poe, is leading in the latest surveys on who voters prefer to succeed Mr Aquino. But the Supreme Court could knock her out of the race if it rules that she is ineligible to run.

The elections commission has already disqualified her. Ms Poe lived in the United States for most of her adult life and had once taken up US citizenship.

Statistically tied in second place are Mr Binay, 73, Mr Roxas, 58, and Mr Duterte, 70.

With the race this close and unpredictable, pundits warn that massive fraud and violence could again soil the outcome of the elections. “With no runoff elections, the next Philippine leader could dangerously end up as a minority president, with limited mandate and a lot of tenuous allies,” political analyst Richard Javad Heydarian of De La Salle University told The Straits Times.

Already, there are concerns that vote-counting machines, still plagued with programming glitches, could be compromised.

Mr Aquino, 56, has presided over a period of robust growth since he assumed office in 2010. He has also managed to conclude a historic pact with Muslim rebels to bring peace to the war-torn southern island of Mindanao.

These gains “could evaporate if the elections end up in mayhem”, said Mr Heydarian.

Yesterday’s rallies began early in the morning and dragged on till late in the evening.

Popular singers, actors, TV celebrities and comedians shared the stage with the senatorial bets and political showmen of Ms Poe’s and Mr Binay’s political parties, keeping the audience entertained in between drawn-out speeches.

Boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao, 37, a candidate for senator, lent his celebrity star power to Mr Binay’s rally.

Spacious tents were erected around the circle-shaped lake, which mirrors the shape of an ink pot, allowing both, master calligraphers to showcase their style with decorations and visitors to admire the masters’ works.

Calligrapher Pham Van Khoi, 75, said he fell in love with calligraphy at the age of 50. He said he managed to master the art mainly by self-studying.

For the last 25 years, he has practiced calligraphy for 2 to 3 hours every day, still aiming at improving his writing skills.

Khoi said he is proud of Nom calligraphy, citing the origin of the art as the effort of Vietnamese forefathers to retain their roots and to resist strong Chinese cultural influences.

Calligrapher Le Chi Trung said this is the third year he was participating in the festival. Trung was happy with decision of the organisers to move all the tents inside the Lake of Literature this year,

noting the festival was better organised this way compared to before when they had to stay on the sidewalks around the Temple of Literature under poorly constructed tents.

For the capital’s youngsters, the festival offers an opportunity to learn about one of the oldest and most revered cultural arts of the country.

Tran Manh Hung, a student from the Ha Noi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said he learnt a lot about calligraphy at the festival on top of being able to enjoy the tranquil and warm air of spring.

“I feel connected to the past that our forefathers built just being around the tents. Just watching these masters at work makes me feel like I am in the past, where humans lived together in harmony and always strove to better themselves,” he said.

Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, a student from the Ha Noi University, said this was the first time she had visited the festival. She said that she was very impressed with the calligraphy tents and enjoyed listing to the masters’’ discussion of old Vietnamese proverbs and poetry.

As it is the beginning of a new year, we all hope for the best to come to our friends and families. The ancient art of calligraphy, beautifully displayed on the crimson-red paper, conveys just that, the air of spring and warmth of human heart in every Vietnamese house during the Lunar New Year.

The festival will last until February 15.

According to Tetsuya Otsuru, director of economic policy division at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the global sporting event is expected to attract many Muslim visitors to Japan. This will increase demand for halal food, pushing Japan to learn from countries like Brunei that have developed their own halal certification systems.

But Otsuru said Japanese restaurant owners may first focus adopting the standards of Middle East countries which are more experienced in terms of halal certification.

This is because Middle East nations are known to implement more stringent halal regulations and standards than Asean countries.

“So they (Japanese restaurant businesses) may think such Middle East certification for example from the UAE would mean something and will ease the process of obtaining halal certificates from Muslim countries in Asean including Brunei and Malaysia,” he told foreign journalists during a recent briefing.

He said this can be included in a bilateral discussion with Brunei.

“But at the moment, there have not been any concrete steps yet (from the respective governments) but we do need to create and increase dialogue even with our private sector companies for example on Brunei halal certificate in the future,” Otsuru said.

Mie Katsun, head of Traditional Dietary Cultures Office at the Food Industry Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said “there will be a cost” for Japanese companies to obtain halal certifications.

“So we (the Japanese government) will try to give them financial support. And also we try to support them so that they can set up facilities for the processing or treatment of halal meat,” she said.

The strength of Brunei Halal’s product branding is widely attributed to its certification system which is recognised worldwide and has the advantage of a single accreditation body under Brunei’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, industry players have said.

The brand was launched in cooperation with the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (formerly known as MIPR).

This is in line with the nation’s plan to diversify its economy.

Brunei’s halal accreditation starts at the source and only producers that meet the standards of halal and the high quality and safety associated with it will be awarded the Brunei Halal certification.

Brunei Wafirah Holdings Sdn Bhd, the company that owns the Brunei Halal brand, set up an office, a warehouse and a distribution centre in the UK called Brunei Wafirah UK in 2011.

The UK operation focuses on retail products catering mainly to UK and European markets.

Brunei Halal products, which include frozen meals, sauces and bread and are distributed in Singapore and the UK.

So it’s quite touching when someone does what Mohamad Shahril Sabari, better known as Victor Engku Shah is doing – selling off his Star Wars Lego collection every Sunday at the Amcorp Mall flea market to raise funds for the cancer treatments of his wife, Noor Azra Kamaruddin.

I’d heard about Victor and his stall through LCMLUG, a Lego group I’m part of on Facebook. His love and sacrifice for Noor Azra is certainly admirable, respectable and definitely worth supporting.

I met up with him through Daniel Goh of Brick Sanctuary and learned why he comes up from Seremban to Petaling Jaya every Sunday to sell off his prized collection

“I began collecting Star Wars Lego sets in 2010, and I married Noor Azra on April 24, 2015. Two weeks later, she noticed a bump on her neck and went to get it checked out at a clinic. The clinic referred her to a hospital for follow-up checks, and we went to KPJ Seremban where a CT scan was done.

The CT scan found a lump in her neck and a follow-up biopsy determined that she had lymphoma,” said Victor.

He added that doctors advised Noor Azra to begin chemotherapy treatments – and with the treatments, more challenges were in store for the couple in July 2015

“Noor Azra was two months pregnant. We were so happy, but our happiness was short-lived. Doctors advised Noor Azra to have an abortion prior to chemotherapy as the risks were too great for her and the child. She went through the abortion with a very heavy heart and then began her chemotherapy,” said Victor.

Victor ultimately had to leave his job as a finance officer in the private sector to help Noor Azra full-time with her cancer treatments, adding that this was when he began selling off his collection at Amcorp Mall.

“Each dose of the chemotherapy drugs is about 5,000 ringgit (US$1,200). Noor Azra needs 12 sessions – once every two weeks – and the estimated total cost comes up to 60,000 ringgit ($14,400),” said Victor.

He added that he had to raise funds because their insurance only covered 70,000 ringgit worth of treatments per year, while the biopsy cost 25,000 ringgit.

“Thankfully, I have been able to work things out with the help from my friends in LBK Malaysia, Lego Auction Group MY and LCMLUG. They have helped out with contributions of financial support and even Lego items for me to auction off,” said Victor.

So, with Lego now being touted as a “better investment than gold” – why not help out Victor Engku Shah while buying a possibly profitable wallet-booster while you’re at it?

He can be found on Amcorp Mall’s second floor every Sunday, or contacted via his Facebook account, Victor Engku Shah.

US$1 = 4.16 ringgit