Disasters and emergency response
Thailand plans to reopen borders to foreign workers amid shortage
Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said on Tuesday (Nov 9), in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy. Pairote Chotikasathien, from the Ministry of Labor, said ...
Reuters/aj
Dams and droughts, data and diplomacy in the Mekong
As the Mekong Region faces more intense floods and droughts every year, data sharing and water diplomacy are emerging as new narratives for transboundary water governance. “This year, every country in the Lancang-Mekong Region is facing severe floods. But our challenge is now compounded by Covid-19. ...
Rajesh Daniel
Vietnam Faces Watershed Moment ahead of COP26
In a speech at the UN Security Council, Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam, reminded member nations that sea level rise is a major threat for coastal nations, including the lowlands of China, Bangladesh, Indonesian islands, Philippine archipelagos and Vietnam. Other delegates lauded Quy’s ...
James Borton
Thailand reopens to vaccinated tourists from over 60 nations
Tens of thousands of travellers are expected to arrive in Thailand today as the country reopens to tourists after 18 months of Covid restrictions. Vaccinated tourists from more than 60 “low-risk” nations are allowed to enter the country and avoid hotel quarantine. Tourist numbers are forecast to ...
Mekong Delta takes utmost preventative measures to ensure success of fight
Nguyen Van Dung, Director of the Department of Health in Ca Mau Province in the southern tip of Vietnam, had signed an announcement of Covid-19 level in districts/ communes in the province. According to the Center for Disease Control of Ca Mau province, Ca Mau Province recorded ...
Villagers fear losing land as riverbanks continue to collapse
Some 50 years ago, Dul Han’s parents gave her and each of her four brothers and sisters a plot of land measuring 12 metres wide by 40 metres long in Kampong Cham province’s Sdao commune after they got married and had their own families. Unfortunately, like ...
Moeun Chhean Nariddh
Online child abuse spikes amid pandemic
Vietnamese children face greater risks of sexual abuse with prolonged school closures and online classes exposing them to exploitation via social networks. A month before graduating, Khanh Ngoc, a high school student in Hanoi, received a message from a strange Facebook account. Opening it, she encountered ...
Phan Duong
Rising river sparks Phnom Penh evacuations
People in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district were evacuated on Monday from their houses to temporary shelters on the dike of Prampi Makara Dam until the floods recede. Sak Sampov commune chief Tith Sam On yesterday told Khmer Times that many families can stay on first floor of their ...
Chhun Sunly
Thailand inmates are taking green chiretta to fight mild COVID – here’s what we know about this herbal drug
The news that inmates in Thailand are being handed capsules of a herbal medicine called green chiretta (Andrographis paniculata) to treat asymptomatic and mild COVID is unlikely to come as a surprise to the average Thai citizen. In Thailand, healthcare professionals and the public alike are familiar with ...
Jose Prieto Garcia
Myanmar’s hidden hunger
Khin, a 59-year-old rice farmer, faced a distressing choice at the height of Myanmar’s monsoon season three months ago: sell a cow, a prized asset for agricultural households, or go hungry. She sold the animal for half its value. The proceeds went to buy food for ...
Thin Lei Win