News

The new 500 kV and 230 kV transmission lines to be installed in Laos’ capital Vientiane, a joint project between Lao and Chinese companies, will ensure more Lao people to have sufficient power, officials here have said. The new power lines will transmit electricity from hydropower ...

Thailand has made scant progress over the past three decades in spreading power and national budgets outside of the capital Bangkok, a core issue behind the nation’s yawning wealth divide. But now there is a slim hope that the decentralization process has begun, and it has ...

The depletion of mangroves in southern Myanmar is impacting local fisheries near the island villages and playing havoc with the mangrove forest that protect the coastline from extreme weather events. The illegal charcoal trade persists due to a lack of law enforcement and oversight in Myanmar ...

The toughening of China’s policies in the South and East China Seas is widely regarded as a defining characteristic of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy. But while it is true that the PRC has become more assertive in its maritime disputes under Xi, China had already ...

The waters of the South China Sea face environmental peril that is ‘inseparable from the territorial disputes that plague it’. As claimants solidify their positions through artificial island construction, with China driving the most ambitious builds, habitats with wide-ranging ecological and economic value are being ...

Due to a prolonged drought, seawater has intruded deep into rivers in the Mekong Delta, leaving thousands of households facing a water shortage. Freshwater is sold in certain areas for VND200,000 ($8.6) per cubic metre, and local authorities use tanker trucks to deliver water to households.  For ...

Thailand looks set to re-establish a rail link with Cambodia 45 years after the two countries terminated cross-border train service. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Cambodian Premier Hun Sen will will preside over a ceremony to reopen the track connecting Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo with Cambodia’s ...

Thai people believe politics and corruption are the most severe problems facing the country, followed by the lack of democracy and a weak economy, according to the result of an opinion survey by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll. The poll was conducted on ...

When photographer Marieke van der Velden was asked by the Dutch charity Down to Zero to do an awareness-raising project on Thai children who had been victims of commercial sexual exploitation, she was uncertain how to proceed. For obvious reasons, her subjects’ faces could not be shown. In Thailand, Van der ...

Việt Nam’s tra fish (pangasius) industry has been urged to strongly improve its quality so as to compete with not only traditional rivals, but also its biggest tra fish importer – China. According to the Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the domestic tra fish sector faces ...