Social development
Meet the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
Seven grassroots environmental activists will receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize today, on May 25. Known as the Green Nobel Prize, the Goldman Prize honors environmental activists from each of the six continental regions. The prize was founded in 1989 by U.S. philanthropists Rhoda and ...
Liz Kimbrough
Indigenous activists among Goldman environmental prize winners
Indigenous activists and lawyers who took on transnational corporations and their own governments to force climate action are among the 2022 winners of the world’s pre-eminent environmental award. Taking on powerful vested interests is a risky business, and the recipients of this year’s Goldman prize demonstrate ...
Nina Lakhani
A win for Kru Ti and the Mekong River
Over the past 20 years, Niwat Roykaew, a teacher, activist and founder of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group in Chiang Rai province has been campaigning to bolster the grassroots movement he initiated to protect the Mekong River, a crucial lifeline for countries in the Mekong ...
PASKORN JUMLONGRACH
Mekong News Agency journalist Maung Maung Myo jailed on terrorism charges in Myanmar
Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Maung Maung Myo and stop jailing members of the press for reporting the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Around 6 p.m. on May 10, Maung Myo, a contributor to the local Mekong News Agency, was traveling ...
CPJ
We need new weapons against packaging waste
Last month, researchers found microplastics — small, microscopic pieces of plastic fragments — within human lungs for the first time. This comes on the heels of news that microplastics were found in human blood, which may travel around the body and enter organs. Microplastics find their ...
SIMON BALDWIN
Sustainability and security concerns feed Southeast Asia’s rice conundrum
The balance of food sustainability and national security of Southeast Asia hangs on a tiny white grain. Rice is the daily staple of 3.5 billion people globally, providing about one-fifth of their calorie needs. It is the main food crop in Asia, which includes the world’s ...
PAUL TENG
One million free cannabis plants handed out from next month: Anutin
From June 9, people in Thailand will be able to grow “as many cannabis plants” as they like in their own homes, according to Anutin. The cannabis grown must be of medical grade and used for medicinal purposes only. Official registration is not required for growing ...
The Nation
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
PM acknowledges challenges of the media, encourages them to keep up
Prime Minister Hun Sen acknowledged challenges faced by journalists and media agencies, reaffirmed the government’s support for the sector, and urged continuous capacity building among them. Mr Hun Sen made the point in his open message to during the 29th World Press Freedom Day on May ...
AKP-Lim Nary
Freelance reporter Soe Yarzar Tun faces up to 7 years in prison under anti-terror law
A court in Insein Prison last week indicted freelance journalist Soe Yarzar Tun under Section 52a of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which carries a prison sentence of up to seven years, lawyers have told Myanmar Now. The reporter was detained in Bago Region’s Thone Sel Township on ...
Aung Naing