During the COVID-19 lockdowns in Vietnam last year, blogger Bui Van Thuan took to Facebook to criticise a government plan to use soldiers to deliver groceries to people confined to their homes in Ho Chi Minh City.

While the Maldives is the first country to officially impose a generational smoking ban, similar proposals have been considered by other countries, including New Zealand, which passed a law in 2022 that would have prohibited tobacco sales to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009, starting in 2024.

South Asia is one of the most water-stressed regions in the world, with water in short supply in many parts of it, at least for a good part of the year. A study published this year by researchers at Ludong University in China confirms that regions where water scarcity is a problem are more likely to experience disputes.

A growing global push to safeguard nature by pledging to protect about a third of the planet's land and oceans by 2030 will fall short unless biodiversity-rich Southeast Asian nations get behind the ambitious proposal,

Vietnam has solidified its position as Southeast Asia's leading buyer of international TV formats, a Taiwan Creative Content Fest session revealed.

A total of 48 contestants in eight teams representing eight countries, with six participants each, compete in Physical: Asia, the first international spinoff of South Korea’s famous Physical: 100.