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Lost Israeli Tourists Evacuated After Fleeing Fire in Luang Prabang

Authorities in Luang Prabang rescue Israeli tourists on Thursday.
Authorities in Luang Prabang rescue Israeli tourists on Thursday.

A group of Israeli tourists was rescued in Luang Prabang on Thursday after fleeing a fire while camping near Pha Ngoy mountain. 

Laos, Cambodia Strengthen Relations During Cambodian PM Visit

Prime ministers of Laos (right) and Cambodia (left).

Lao and Cambodian Prime Ministers intend on deepening the relations between their two countries following the official visit of the Cambodian Prime Minister to Laos this week.

Five Unique Romantic Hideaways to Take Your Partner in Laos

Five Unique Romantic Hideaways to Take Your Partner in Laos
Woman walking at Nam Kat Yorla Pa ( Photo : Lao Thiao Lao )

Amid the celebration of all things love and romance, here are five uniquely beautiful destinations in Laos you can take your special someone for an unforgettable romantic getaway.

Sin Kang TCM Singapore Expands Its Outlets Islandwide

Trusted by many with a wealth of experience accumulated over its two decades of operations, Sin Kang TCM Clinic plans to expand to 8 clinics islandwide by the end of 2023.

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 14 February 2023 – With health and wellness at the forefront of the public consciousness, Sin Kang TCM is proud to announce that it will expand up to 8 clinics islandwide by the end of 2023, with a new outlet having opened just at the end of 2022 in the bustling heart of Orchard. The other locations will be established by the end of 2023, creating greater accessibility to the reliable and trustworthy service that Sin Kang TCM Clinic has come to be regarded as.

A Renewed Interest In Healthcare

Recently, there has been a significant rise in the public’s efforts to maintain good health. This comes in the wake of the preventive mindsets that the public has adopted to guard themselves against the spread of Covid-19. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has proven reliable and effective for improving overall health and wellness. With a history dating back over a thousand years, TCM has stood the test of time as a valuable means of promoting wellness. As such, Sin Kang TCM’s management believed it was time to expand their services to be more accessible throughout Singapore so that more people could benefit from the time-honoured practices of TCM and experience its efficacy for themselves.

Suite of Specialised Offerings

Understanding the importance of a thorough diagnosis to address their clients’ health concerns effectively, Sin Kang TCM only takes a prescriptive approach that privileges proper consultation first. Furthermore, Sin Kang TCM offers a whole suite of specialised health treatments and services to promote wellness for its clientele. Take its prescribed massage, for instance. Unlike regular massages, a licensed medical practitioner from Sin Kang TCM will carefully customise and prescribe the necessary massage techniques required to stimulate specific acupressure points, lymphatic system, and meridian channels. The result is a range of benefits, including slimming, improved sleep, and pain management/relief. What’s more, Sin Kang TCM plays host to a team of licensed TCM physicians and experienced therapists who also provide consultation and therapy services. These clinics have also incorporated modern elements such as hospital–grade curtains and ventilation systems to set them apart from traditional TCM clinics and enhance the patient experience, ensuring the best possible outcomes for their clientele.

Prevention is Better than Cure

TCM should be considered a complementary treatment to any existing solutions, and not a replacement of Western Medicine, as the two fields can exist concurrently in improving the health of its patients. At its core, TCM takes a proactive approach to healthcare. It is through the understanding that when it comes to matters of health, it is better to address and solve any issues before the troubles compound and get worse. Sin Kang TCM strives to empower its clientele to proactively maintain their health and well-being with the same mindset. With the pending expansion, Sin Kang TCM expects that more of the public will be able to experience the effectiveness and benefits of TCM firsthand with the increased accessibility.

Hashtag: #sinkangtcm #painmanagement #healthcare #slimming #sleepimprovement #therapy


The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Sin Kang TCM

Sin Kang TCM Clinic is the trusted provider of customised healthcare based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) wisdom and modern medicine advances with a range of treatments including signature NO-PAIN , , ,, and more. The clinic has received numerous prominent healthcare accolades, including the Leading Women’s Health Specialists of the Year in 2022, the SME500 Award in 2021, and the Top 25 Prestige Award in 2014. The clinic’s team of board-certified and highly qualified physicians and therapists have a wealth of clinical and practical experience in treating conditions such as sprains, migraines, obesity, sleeping disorders, sports injuries, and more.

Deputy PM Visits Injured Officers in Hospital After Gunfight Last Week

Deputy PM Visits Shot Officers in Hospital Following Gun Fight Last Week
Deputy PM and other officers visit an injured office, laying on the bed at 103 Military Hospital (photo: Lao Public Security)

Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Security, General Vilay Lakhamfong paid a visit to two injured officers who were involved in a gunfight with an armed assailant, at 103 Military Hospital last week.

UNODC Launches Contest to Raise Awareness about Online Scams in SE Asia

UNODC Launches #KnowScam Silent Comic Contest to Raise Awareness about Online Scams in South East Asia

The #KnowScam Silent Comic Contest invites artists aged 18 years and older residing in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, and Malaysia to join.

From excessive pessimism to excessive optimism – Coface Barometer Q4 2022

Hong Kong S.A.R – Media OutReach – 14 February 2023 The year 2023 starts with good news on the macroeconomic front. First, Europe has avoided a recession that looked long promised. Efficiency gains and the slowdown in activity have led to a sharp drop in energy prices and thus a welcome slowdown in inflation. Finally, the prospect of a rebound in China in the second half of the year, albeit very uncertain, also raises hopes for the global economy. This was enough for the financial markets to go wild, reassured by the fact that the worst-case scenario is for the time being, at bay.

While we fundamentally concur, we must be careful not to become complacent. The challenges facing the global economy last year remain relevant and the multidimensional crisis we are experiencing is not about to disappear: geopolitical fragmentation, the energy crisis, climate change, epidemic risks… The transformation of the world is accelerating and generating risks that could derail the best-crafted scenarios.

In this context, Coface’s risk assessments have changed only slightly, with 5 changes for country risks and 16 changes for sector risks. In net terms, the trend remains towards downgrades.

Recession retreats, stagflation takes hold

2022 ended on a positive economic note. Mild temperatures and substantial gas reserves have removed the specter of forced rationing for Europe this winter and European economies should thus avoid a sharp contraction in activity. This has led Coface to keep its global growth forecast for 2023 unchanged at 1.9%. Our scenario of stagflation in the advanced economies and the overall resilience of the emerging countries has also been confirmed.

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This continuity is reflected in our risk assessments: only 3 countries and 10 sectors are downgraded this quarter, after 95 in June 2022 and over 50 in October 2022. Meanwhile, Coface has also revised positively the assessments for India and Burundi, and six sector assessments, mainly in the automotive industry, thanks to the gradual easing of tensions in the supply chains.

Towards a (mechanical) decrease in inflation in the first half of 2023

While the surge in energy prices was at the root of the spike in consumer prices in the advanced economies, their moderation led to a mechanical decline in inflation by the end of 2022. Inflation thus seems to have passed its peak in the euro zone. This is also the case in the United States, where it reached 6.5% in December after peaking at 9.1%. Beyond the moderation of commodity prices, the fall in inflation is also attributable to the lower contribution of goods. The slowdown in inflation is expected to continue in the first half of 2023 simply due to base effects, insofar as commodity prices will remain below the levels recorded the previous year.

Against this backdrop of relative resistance in activity, labor markets continue to show resilience, with unemployment levels still historically low. The unemployment rate even continued to fall at the end of 2022 in the Eurozone, while remaining at its lowest level for over 50 years in the US (3.5%), and has risen only slightly (from 3.5% to 3.7%) in the UK. This resilience could continue in the first half of 2023: companies, having faced historically high recruitment difficulties in 2022, may be tempted to keep their employees in spite of sluggish demand, while waiting for activity to pick up.

Risks to the global economy remain

The outlook for the global economy remains bleak for 2023, in an environment that remains both risky and uncertain. The main source of concern is the inflation trajectory. While a disinflationary trend seems to be underway, the crucial question of its landing remains. The scenario of a return to the 2% target set by the central banks in the advanced countries has not been completely buried, but the possibility of inflation stabilizing at a higher level is looming. The disinflation expected in the first part of the year could be interrupted before it reaches the levels targeted by the monetary authorities, and a resurgence of inflation in the second half of the year cannot be excluded.

The recovery in China is also a source of uncertainty. The easing of restrictions against COVID-19 in the country should lead to a recovery in Chinese consumption. But, as the sudden reopening was accompanied by a surge in infections, the rebound should be gradual. The normalization of activity could thus start at the end of the first quarter of 2023 and a firmer recovery should take place in the second half of the year, creating the perfect conditions for a new storm on the energy front and, hence, on inflation.

Sector reclassifications are back

Our sectoral assessments have changed little compared to the last barometers. However, if there are few negative changes, we have also decided to make a few upgrades that reflect the relative improvement in our economic scenario. These upgrades are in the Middle East automotive sector, where demand remains strong. In India, the improvement in the country’s economic situation has led to a reclassification of the country risk assessment.

Some companies in sectors previously considered resilient – ICT and pharmaceuticals – are also experiencing difficulties. The structural issues facing pharmaceutical companies in Europe are becoming more pronounced, partly as a result of increasing pressure on government finances. ICT companies are being “caught up” by the global economic situation and remain at the heart of the trade tensions between China and the United States.

Finally, Western Europe is once again the region with the highest number of sector downgrades (5 out of 11 in total). While the near-term outlook appears less bleak, it is clearly not yet time for upgrades.

Hashtag: #Coface

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

COFACE: FOR TRADE

With 75 years of experience and an extensive international network, Coface is a leader in trade credit insurance and adjacent specialty services, including Factoring, Debt Collection, Single Risk insurance, Bonding and Information services. Coface’s experts work to the beat of the global economy, helping ~100,000 clients in 100 countries build successful, growing, and dynamic businesses across the world. Coface helps companies in their credit decisions. The Group’s services and solutions strengthen their ability to sell by protecting them against the risks of non-payment in their domestic and export markets. In 2021, Coface employed ~4,538 people and registered a turnover of €1.57 billion.

SIBUR secures international verification of certified emission reductions (CERs) earned by its climate project at ZapSibNeftekhim

SIBUR has secured international verification of a climate project completed at ZapSibNeftekhim, Russia’s largest petrochemical facility.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – Media OutReach – 14 February 2023 – Verico SCE, Europe’s leading validation and verification body, has confirmed that SIBUR’s climate project meets ISO 14064-2:2019. This helped SIBUR earn certified emission reductions (CERs) totalling some 3 million tonnes of CO2-eq. by 2022.

Under the climate project, by-products of ZapSibNeftekhim will be recycled for heat and power generation. Feedstock residues that cannot be brought back into the core production cycle are fed to HPPs’ power boilers rather than flared, thus significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the project, SIBUR has built a gas-mixing unit for making a fuel mixture.

This is Russia’s first GHG emission reduction project verified by an international body for compliance with ISO 14064-2:2019 and requirements pertaining to quantification, monitoring, and reporting. The climate project development and validation process was supported by Kept, an audit and advisory firm.

Mikhail Karisalov, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of SIBUR: “Decarbonisation is a priority area of SIBUR’s Sustainable Development Strategy, which sets out the Company’s targets to reduce GHG emissions and achieve carbon neutrality of at least one of our facilities by 2025. For some years now, we have been assessing the impact of our investment projects on GHG emissions of each facility and the Company as a whole. We expect the implementation of this internationally validated climate project in Tobolsk to help our Group facilities intensify their decarbonisation efforts, and make a major contribution to solidifying SIBUR’s position among leaders of the national climate agenda.”

Vladimir Lukin, Partner, Operational Risks and Sustainability, Kept: “The validation of the ZapSibNeftekhim project for compliance with ISO 14064-2:2019 is a milestone for the national carbon market development as it basically recognises the quality of Russian climate projects. This opens up opportunities for further integration of Russia’s climate policy into the global climate action. The validation process confirmed the project’s compliance with international requirements and also, importantly, with the practical criteria applied to climate projects by verifying and validating bodies, including additionality, baseline justification, and monitoring approaches.”

Vyacheslav Vekovtsev, Verico SCE representative in Russia and director general in Ecopolis Certification & Service: “Despite the current situation we continue working on the Russian market and contribute to improving the quality of verification institutions in the Russian Federation as we as acknowledgement of Russian climate projects and carbon credits on the international level. We are very pleased to take part in the project of examination and certification of the first gas emission reduction project in Russia, in accordance with the ISO 14064-2:2019 standard. Congratulations to the SIBUR and ZapSibNeftekhim team on the successful positive verification!”

Hashtag: #SIBUR

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

For Editors:

SIBUR is Russia’s largest integrated petrochemical company and one of the fastest growing global petrochemical players, with approximately 50,000 employees. The Company’s unique vertically integrated business model enables it to deliver highly competitive products used in the consumer goods and automotive industries, as well as construction, energy, chemistry and other industries across 100 countries.

SIBUR helps to reduce CO2 emissions stemming from the burning of oil and gas extraction by-products by processing them into valuable petrochemical products.

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