News
Myanmar military arrests more journalists
Myanmar’s military government has arrested two more local journalists, army-owned television reported on Saturday, the latest among dozens of detentions in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a Feb. 1 coup. Sithu Aung Myint, a columnist for news site Frontier Myanmar and commentator with Voice ...
Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Mike Harrison and William Mallard
Chinese dams cloud Mekong River relations
The new Chinese Ambassador to Thailand, Han Zhiqiang compares relations between the two countries and their collective effort to combat Covid-19 pandemic as being “one family”. The ambassador insists he is not exaggerating and said his sentiments resonate with what is happening on the ground. He ...
MONTREE CHANTAWONG
Lao PDR: Economy Recovers then Falters Again under COVID-19
The Lao economy is on course for moderately improved growth in 2021, despite the second wave of COVID-19 denting the promising economic recovery made early in the year. The World Bank’s latest Economic Monitor for Lao PDR — A Path to Recovery — predicts that GDP growth ...
World Bank
Illegal logging on the rise in Arakan amid political instability: environmental group
Despite the depletion of forest resources in Arakan State and the need for timely conservation efforts, illegal logging has been increasing during Myanmar’s current political unrest, said Dr. Maung Maung Kyi, chairman of the Rakhine Coastal Region Conservation Association (RCA). He continued that while forest resources ...
Development Media Group
Cambodian dam a ‘disaster’ for local communities, rights group says
The Lower Sesan 2 hydroelectric scheme was completed in northeast Cambodia in 2018. The reservoir flooded 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) upstream of the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong. Villages, places of worship, ancestral burial grounds and ...
Carolyn Cowan
Asean sees jump in new Covid cases and deaths
Asean countries confirmed 95,081 new cases, higher than Wednesday’s 82,265, while deaths rose to 2,786 from the previous day’s 2,300. The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 9.04 million across the region with 198,480 deaths Philippines reported 14,895 new cases and 258 deaths on Thursday, bringing cumulative cases ...
The Nation
Mekong talks not inclusive
Arriving late is always better than never. So, after years of witnessing the ecology of the Mekong River being choked by the development of hydro-powered dams, communities in this region can have some hope after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the Mekong ...
Editorial
MoIT proposes two solutions to resolve rice congestion in Mekong Delta
The office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), on the afternoon of August 16, informed that its leader had signed an official dispatch to the Prime Minister, reporting on the consumption of paddy and commodity rice in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in the ...
SGGP
Thailand Starts Factory Worker Vaccine Drive to Protect Exports
Thailand has launched a pilot program to test, vaccinate and isolate factory workers to limit Covid-related disruptions to its export-driven manufacturing industry, one of the few bright spots in an economy crushed by the virus. The “Factory Sandbox” initiative aims to protect 3 million jobs and ...
Randy Thanthong-Knight
ASEAN, Mekong River Commission to convene water security dialogue
ASEAN and the Mekong River Commission will hold a Water Security Dialogue to address the region’s emerging challenges on water security. A first of its kind, the dialogue is slated for Aug. 19 and 20, hosted online by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat, in cooperation ...
Minh Nga
