News
Illegal trafficking of baby elephants to China and Dubai for tourism must be stopped, say activists
An investigator has called on the international body that polices trade in wildlife to crack down on the illegal trafficking of young elephants across borders in south-east Asia. Secretive agents in Laos are sending dozens of animals each year across the country’s land border with China and fly others to the Middle East, earning up ...
All eyes on Lao dam tragedy probe
In the wake of the tragic collapse last month of an auxiliary dam of the Xe-Pian-Xe-Namnoy hydropower project in southern Laos, the Lao government on Aug 7 announced a major review of hydropower projects ...
NGOs Lambaste Myanmar Government For Failure to Issue Flood Warning
NGOS and a local government disaster management worker took the Myanmar government to task on Thursday for failing to issue a warning that a breach in a spillway of the Swar dam in Bago region would flood dozens of villages, a day after the catastrophe ...
HCM City seeks ways to curb CO2 emissions from vehicles
Air pollution in HCM City caused by vehicles has become even more serious than the level of pollution emitted by industrial zones, environmental experts say. The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the city is estimated to be 38.5 million tonnes per year, making up ...
Trade of coastal sand is damaging wildlife of poorer nations, study finds
The secretive trade of coastal sand to wealthy countries such as China is seriously damaging the wildlife of poorer nations whose resources are being plundered, according to a new study. Sand and gravel are the most extracted groups of materials worldwide after water, with sand used in ...
Climate change will make hundreds of millions more people nutrient deficient
Rising levels of carbon dioxide could make crops less nutritious and damage the health of hundreds of millions of people, research has revealed, with those living in some of the world’s poorest regions likely to be hardest hit. Previous research has shown that many food crops become ...
Mekong River flooding communities throughout the northeast
The rising Mekong River has resulted in flooding in Mukdaharn province and brought flood warnings to all riverside communities. A rise of 10 centimeters in the Mekong River in Mukdaharn province has allowed it to 0verflow its 12.5 meter high banks for a second time this ...
Cybercrime surges above $120-bn in Southeast Asia
THE RAPID growth of Bitcoin-related scams and other cybercrimes has prompted the United Nations to urge member countries, including Thailand, to step up their legal safeguards against potential economic losses. Cybercrime-related losses worldwide top US$600 billion (Bt19.6 trillion), said Julien Garsany, deputy regional representative of ...
Mekong Military Ties in Focus with Border Exchange
Last week, the countries of the Mekong subregion kicked off another iteration of a key friendship border exchange program in Vietnam. Though the event was just one among many developments within the management of border relations between these countries, its significance nonetheless bears noting within ...
Samlot rife with land grabs
Authorities are facing mounting pressure to safeguard the Samlot Protected Area, where villagers and wealthy land-grabbers continue to trespass to start orchards and claim ownership of the plots. The area, which straddles Battambang and Pailin provinces, is jointly protected by the Ministry of Environment and ...
