RFA
Cambodia Approves Law on State of Emergency Despite Warnings From Rights Groups
Cambodia’s National Assembly approved legislation on Friday authorizing a state of emergency to contain the spread of the coronavirus despite widespread concerns that it would give unchecked power to Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has rolled back democratic freedoms in the country. The parliament’s 125 lawmakers, ...
Poor, Rural Students in Laos Lack Tech to Learn From Home
COVID-19 has forced Laos to join countries around the world in closing schools and using online distance learning. But rural and urban poor students in the Southeast Asian country not only lack computers and access to the internet — some even live in homes without ...
Rakhine Internet Shutdown Makes Relief Efforts More Difficult, Refugees And Aid Workers Say
The cutoff of internet service to conflict-affected areas of western Myanmar’s war-torn Rakhine and Chin states has created a difficult situation for civilians who cannot access donors online to make aid requests, though the state government said it will step in to fill the void ...
Villagers in Laos and Thailand Suffer as China Opens the Floodgates on Mekong River Dams
Villagers living near the Mekong River in Thailand and Laos are finding it difficult to cope with sudden releases of water from dams upstream in China. More than 200 famililes living in Laos’ Bokeo province have suffered because of sudden increases in the height of the ...
Laos Stops Chinese-backed Tourism Development After Villagers Complain
A Chinese development project in Laos has been suspended indefinitely after pushback from local villagers and merchants. Project would affect 22 villages near Vang Vieng tourism district. In mid-January, developers had begun initial surveys in Phoudindeng, Huai Sa-ngoa and Pakpo villages, located near scenic Vang Vieng. Keep reading ...
New Year Opens With Fighting, Attack on Top Official in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
Myanmar government troops opened 2019 with exchanges of gunfire with an ethnic armed organization in Rakhine state’s Buthidaung township, while police accused the same rebel group of attacking a convoy transporting the regional chief. The Myanmar Army engaged in clashes with the Arakan Army (AA) all ...
Workers in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia call for better pay, benefits
Hundreds of workers took to the streets in Myanmar on Tuesday to call for a living wage, while in Laos marchers asked for social welfare benefits and better protection for citizens working abroad, sources said. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, workers gathered but were forbidden to ...
