VOA

Cambodian Leader Orders Shutdown of Independent Media Outlet

There were tears at Cambodia’s Voice of Democracy on Monday as journalist Khan Leakhena reacted to the sudden order to close the news website. “I worked here not for money, but due to my love,” said Khan Leakhena, as others comforted the reporter. Khan Leakhena is one ...

Sun Narin

Heavy Rains Improve Mekong Life, But Concerns Remain

Heavy rains and a bumper fish crop have improved life along the Mekong River after a nearly four-year drought, poor harvests and the pandemic took a heavy toll on some 65 million people who rely on the waterway for their daily livelihoods. According to the Laos-based ...

Luke Hunt

Heavy Rains Improve Mekong Life, But Concerns Remain

Heavy rains and a bumper fish crop have improved life along the Mekong River after a nearly four-year drought, poor harvests and the pandemic took a heavy toll on some 65 million people who rely on the waterway for their daily livelihoods. According to the Laos-based ...

Myanmar Releases Nearly 6,000, Including 4 Foreigners in Prisoner Amnesty

Myanmar’s military-controlled government announced Thursday it was releasing nearly 6,000 prisoners under a broad amnesty. Major General Zaw Min Tun, Myanmar junta’s spokesperson, confirmed to VOA Burmese the release of artists, activists, one minister, a top election commission official and one minister chief from the ousted ...

VOA News

Thailand Sets Long-Awaited Rules for Vetting Asylum Seekers

Rights groups say the long-awaited rules Thailand’s government approved this month for screening foreigners seeking refuge from persecution in their home countries are likely to leave many worthy applicants in the lurch. The United Nations refugee agency says Thailand currently hosts about 5,000 “urban refugees and ...

Zsombor Peter

UN Warns of Growing Criminal Threat from Mekong Region Casinos, SEZs

The unchecked growth of freewheeling business enclaves and casinos in and around Laos is opening new money laundering and drug trafficking options for crime networks using the country to push spiraling volumes of narcotics across Asia, the United Nations warns. As China and Thailand tighten their ...

Zsombor Peter

Rising Salinity Threatens Rice Crops on Southeast Asia’s Sinking Coast

Prak Nhorn has no hope for his rice crop this year. “When I transplant seedlings, they die out. The salt is still in the soil,” said the farmer from Slab Ta Aon village, a riverside settlement roughly 150 kilometers southwest of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, and ...

Elise Cutts

Thai Rice Demand Predicted to Rise as Ukraine War Continues

The early morning sun peaks over the leafy Thai hillside as a crew of 20 migrant workers toss fresh rice seedlings into the soaked paddy fields, signifying the start of the rice season in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai Province. Speed and agility are the driving forces ...

Steve Sandford

Future Remains Cloudy for Exiled Myanmar Journalists in Thailand

It has been more than a year since Myanmar’s military seized power in a putsch that sent thousands fleeing the country. Among them were scores of media professionals who took up refuge here in Thailand. Some have since moved on or resettled elsewhere, but others stayed ...

Teeranai Charuvastra

Vietnamese Refugees in Thailand Facing Delays for UN ID Cards

Vietnamese refugees in Thailand are facing delays in renewing identity cards issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Bangkok, and the pandemic-related suspension of processing has exposed many to the possibility of arrest by Thai authorities. Tran Van Long, 64, originally from ...

An Hai

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