News
Mekong levels to drop due to Jinghong power station testing
Water levels in the Mekong River that traverses Cambodia, Thailand, and Lao PDR are expected to drop due to outflows from China’s Jinghong hydropower station, which would be decreased by more than 50 per cent for dam equipment testing from January 1-4, the Mekong River ...
Ry Sochan
Thai official warns of water shortages due to weather, dams
Thailand should brace for serious water shortages when the hot season begins in March after a year with unusually little rainfall, one of the country’s top water management officials said Monday. Retention of water by dams in upstream areas of the Mekong River also is seen ...
Grant Peck
Japan offers $5m for refugee resettlement in Myanmar's Kachin
The Japanese government announced in late December that it will launch an aid program to help internally displaced people in a conflict zone in Myanmar’s northern state of Kachin to return home. China has strong influence in northern Myanmar, including Kachin. Countrywide, Japan and China are ...
Yuichi Nitta
Thanathorn vows to fight for the basic rights of Thailand’s ethnic minorities
The opposition Future Forward party will, next year, press for state recognition of the basic rights of Thailand’s ethnic minorities, which include rights of access to state welfare and ancestral land rights, says Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. The embattled party leader, party spokeswoman Pannika ...
INDUSTRY 4.0: Get with the times
That was the basic translation of the JapanCorp company slogan, and while Chantrea thought it was a bit cheesy, she had to admit it seemed accurate enough. Chantrea had been an industrial engineer for more than a decade now, managing the systems that kept Cambodia’s manufacturing ...
Andrew Haffner
New power plants blamed for turning Mekong River blue
The Mekong River has turned a bright and striking blue, but this eye-catching sight has raised concerns about the environment and the livelihoods of those living in the region. The Mekong runs for nearly 3,100 miles and flows through China, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Cambodia, filling a ...
Simon Roughneen
Thailand helps Myanmar develop infrastructure
The Thai Cabinet has approved a preferential loan worth 777 million THB (over 25.76 million USD) under a 30-year contract for Myanmar for infrastructure development in Myawaddy city. Government deputy spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said the Cabinet meeting on December 24 endorsed a proposal for the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation ...
Reintegration shelter for human trafficking victims in Lao Cai
Nguyen Thi Van (not her real name) from the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai was lured across the border to China and sold off as a wife when she was 16 years old. Three months later, she escaped from her husband and returned to Vietnam, but it ...
Locals wary as Laos powers ahead with hydroelectric goals
With one palm on his shaven head, Phra Khamsee Manivong stares at a backhoe levelling dunes of compacted mud by his temple. All around the ornate red and gold edifice, crumbled remnants of a boundary wall tangle with fresh creepers. It has been 17 months since ...
Tan Hui Yee
Dam testing in China to affect eight Mekong River provinces
Eight provinces along the Mekong River have been told to brace themselves for a dip in water levels between Jan 1-4 as tests at Jinghong hydroelectric power station in China’s Yunnan province are expected decrease of water outflows. According to the Office of National Water Resources ...