News
Chinese Support Gives Laos an Edge Over Powerful Neighbor Vietnam
A Mekong River hydropower dam scheduled to open this month worries Vietnam because the country sits just downriver from it and would be threatened by lower water flows. Officials in Hanoi aren’t wildly protesting to the dam’s host country, Laos, however, because Vietnam knows Laos has ...
Ralph Jennings
Trade union bill changes passed
The Council of Ministers approved draft amendments to 10 articles of the Law on Trade Unions without modification on Friday, leaving some unions disappointed and claiming that the majority of their suggestions had not been included. Articles 3, 17, 20, 21, 27, 28, 29, 54, 55 ...
Long Kimmarita
Japan pouring US$17.8 million into Luang Prabang water supply upgrade
The Japanese government is funding a grant aid project worth US$17.8 million to improve the water supply system in Luang Prabang city, under a grant agreement signed in Vientiane on Thursday. The agreement was signed by the Director General of the Department of International Cooperation of ...
‘Our River Was Like a God’: How Dams and China’s Might Imperil the Mekong
ON THE MEKONG RIVER — When the Chinese came to the village of Lat Thahae, perched on a muddy bend of a Mekong River tributary, they scrawled a Chinese character on the walls of homes, schools and Buddhist temples. No one in this isolated hamlet in ...
Hannah Beech
Second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge to open Oct 30
The second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge across the Moei River in Tak’s Mae Sot district will be officially opened on Oct 30, according to a press release from the Highways Department. The opening ceremony will be co-chaired by Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob and Myanmar’s Minister of Construction ...
Assawin Pinitwong
Land subsidence a big threat to Mekong Delta
Land subsidence is worsening in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, and experts told a recent seminar in Can Tho city that over-exploitation of groundwater is one of the factors causing it. Do Duc Dung, head of the Southern Institute of Water Resources Planning, told the seminar organised by Can ...
Mekong Delta, HCMC warned of tidal flooding in lowland, riverside areas
According to the center, water level in the Saigon and Dong Nai rivers on October 12 highly increased. It is predicted to continue surging in the next few days. The peak of the high tide might occur on October 15-16, the 17th and 18th day ...
Cambodia improves in WEF global competitiveness ranking
Cambodia, which has shed its status of ‘Sick man of Asia’ is becoming more competitive economically, and the world is starting to notice it. The 2019 Global Competitiveness Report, which was released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Oct 8, ranked Cambodia 106th out of ...
Jose Rodriguez T. Senase
Better protection sought for Thailand's helmeted hornbill
Time is running out for Thailand’s dwindling population of helmeted hornbills thanks to poaching of the exotic birds for the ivory-like casques atop their big red and yellow beaks. The species, known by the scientific name Rhinoplax vigil, is listed as “critically endangered” by the International ...
Busaba Sivasomboon
Mekong Coffee Growers Struggle with Drought and a Warming Climate
In villages around the city of Buon Ma Thuot, Vietnamese farmers wait for the monsoon that normally arrives in April or May. “The fruits look ripe outside, but the bean is crispy and small because there was not enough rain,” says 28-year-old Y Bel Eban from Krong village, ...
Karoline Kan
