JAKARTA - INDONESIAN smokers and the country's tobacco industry have slammed a move by the nation's top Islamic body to place restrictions on tobacco use by Muslims, calling it an interference in private lives.
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at preventing another blockade of its main airport, as they tried to restore confidence after the week-long siege of Bangkok's hubs last year.
Protesters trying to topple the previous government seized Suvarnabhumi International Airport and the smaller domestic hub just over two months ago, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers and stunning the world.
MANILA - UP TO 300,000 people could lose their jobs in the Philippines over the next six months as the global financial crisis deepens, Labour Secretary Marianito Roque warned pn Wednesday.
BANGKOK - MYANMAR faces food shortages in many parts of the country, largely due to last year's cyclone and a rat infestation that destroyed crops elsewhere in the impoverished country, according to a UN report released on Wednesday.
The report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program forecasts that 85,000 tons of emergency food relief will be needed this year in the cyclone-affected Irrawaddy delta.
