Day: October 20, 2022

A signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding for the nutritional integration programme to be carried out in two districts of Ngommalat and Xaybouathong, Khammouan province was held here on Tuesday.
Khammouan’s Vice Governor Keo-Udon Boutsingkhone, Director of Provincial Health Department Kenchan Thongsavath, Acting Director of Suphanimit International Organization to Laos Ashit Kumar and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Health officials witnessed the signing ceremony.
The nutritional integration program was supported by the International Organization in Laos, targeting in two districts of Ngommalat and Xaybouathong covering 13 villages in each district.
The main objective of the program is to contribute to the 9th Socio-Economic Development Plan (2021-2025) by speeding up the improvement of maternal and child health and ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture and the national program on improving nutrition in the field of the Ministry of Health to create convenient conditions for households and increase nutrition in the targeted villages and towns of the project.
The project will run 2022-2025 starting from the date of signing the memorandum of understanding has a total value of 983,209 US dollars, of which Xaybouathong is 533,008 US dollars and Ngommalat is 450,201 US dollars.

Source: Lao News Agency

A consultation meeting between the committees for external relations of the National Assemblies (NAs) of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (CLV) took place in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, in Vietnam on October 18.
Chairmen of the Vietnamese NA’s Foreign Affairs Committee; the Lao NA’s Foreign Affairs Committee; and the Cambodian NA’s Commission on Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, Propaganda and Information Vu Hai Ha, Sanya Praseuth, and Sous Yara co-chaired the event.
This is the first cooperation activity between the three committees to prepare for the NA chairmen’s meeting of the CLV countries, which is slated for 2023.
In his opening remarks, Ha said the event aims to concretise the policy agreed upon by the Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese NA leaders, and to complete a draft plan on organising the NA chairmen’s meeting.
He spoke highly of the close and effective cooperation between the committees, expressing his belief that the traditional friendship between the three countries and their NAs will become stronger and more effective, for the sake of the three peoples, and for peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region.
Praseuth said the consultation meeting is an important step that contributes to further promoting the cooperation relationship between the three NAs, deepening the good traditional friendship between the three countries and strengthening the supervision over the implementation of cooperation agreements in the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area.

Source: Lao News Agency

Works by Ukrainian artists will be the highlight of the world’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition, starting Friday in Sydney.
The annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, near Bondi beach in Sydney, will raise money for the Australian-Ukrainian community’s humanitarian aid charity. The seaside gallery will show more than 100 exhibits from 16 countries from Oct. 21-Nov. 7.
Organizers of the event have said sculptures that are part of the Ukraine Showcase in Sydney are symbols of solidarity and resistance.
Colossus Holds Up the World by artist Egor Zigura is about the fragility of life and refers to Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014. Another exhibit warns of the dangers of global warming.
The Ukrainian sculptures are curated by Viktoria Kulikova, the art director at the Abramovych Art Agency in Kyiv.
She told VOA the exhibition sends powerful messages of support to the people of Ukraine.
“It is very important for us because it is about a relationship with Ukraine and Australia also,” she said. “It is also about solidarity with Ukraine, about culture, about resistance, about our unity, also.”
Organizers of the exhibition on cliffs near Bondi beach say they want to remind Australians of the plight of Ukrainian refugees forced to flee Russia’s invasion.
About 400,000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition, which has been held since 1997.
About 9,000 people displaced by the conflict have been granted visas in Australia. Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor of military aid to Ukraine.
It has sent missiles and armored personnel carriers as well as humanitarian supplies. The government has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russian institutions and its political and military leaders, including President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this month, campaigners from the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations again called on Australia to declare the Russian government, military and its Federal Security Service, the FSB, terrorist organizations under Australian law.

Source: Voice of America

Canberra scientists are researching a mysterious new recreational drug not seen before in Australia. The Australian National University says the substance is a “close cousin” of ketamine, a controlled anesthetic used by doctors and veterinarians.
The new substance is known as “CanKet” — a Canberra ketamine. It was discovered at Australia’s first government-supported pill-testing center that started as a trial in the national capital earlier this year.
The research team says the new drug was handed in at Australia’s first pill-checking center in Canberra. The user thought it was ketamine but said its effects were unusual and wanted it checked by experts at the pill-monitoring service. The drug was presented in a “small plastic bag of crystals and powder.”
Australian National University scientists believe the new drug was probably imported from overseas. It is not known whether CanKet has side effects. It is chemically similar to ketamine but has characteristics that have not been seen previously.
Associate professor Malcolm McLeod of the Australian National University Research School of Chemistry told VOA that ketamine and its derivatives are becoming increasingly popular illicit drugs.
Ketamine is used in medicine and as a horse tranquilizer. It is also a popular recreational drug linked to a phenomenon known as the “k-hole” — a type of out-of-body experience. Common side effects include nightmares, hallucinations, high blood pressure and confusion.
It is typically injected, snorted, or taken orally.
In 2019, an estimated 9 million Australians — or more than 40% of the population aged over 14 — had illicitly used a drug, according to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. The survey is a government-funded project that has been collecting data about alcohol, tobacco and drug consumption in Australia every two to three years since 1985.
The most popular illicit drugs were cannabis and cocaine. The survey showed that ketamine use rose from 0.4% of respondents in 2016 to 0.9% in 2019.

Source: Voice of America