News

  China has lodged a diplomatic protest with Myanmar after a court in the southeast Asian nation sentenced 153 Chinese nationals to life imprisonment for illegal logging. China’s voracious demand for Myanmar’s raw materials has fuelled resentment in Myanmar towards its giant northern neighbor. Regions along Myanmar’s porous border with China have ...

Residents near the Xebangfay River between the two provinces of Khammuan and Savannakhet are still being spared from the flooding which has started since the river began overflowing on 21 July. A Xebangfay district official Mr Sisomphone Innoula told Vientiane Times that the four branches of ...

Cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand has been comprehensively flourishing, demonstrating the growing efficiency and importance of their strategic partnership, said leaders of the two countries.   Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan-ocha said at their retreat talks and the joint Cabinet ...

Thaicom Plc’s mobile operating unit in Laos has seen its licence extended for another 25 years, six years before the expiry of the original contract. Thailand’s sole satellite service provider expects the extension granted to its joint venture company, Lao Telecom, to cement its leadership in the ...

Protected areas and other biodiversity hotspots across Southeast Asia are increasingly under threat from expanding rubber plantations, with Cambodia at risk of losing more ecologically important land than any of its neighbours, a recent study reports. According to the study, if current trends continue, Cambodia stands ...

Plans to build an 800-megawatt coal power plant near some of Thailand’s most popular beaches have sparked protests and a hunger strike by activists who say officials aren’t considering its impact on the pristine environment that makes the area an international tourist destination. More than 100 members ...

At a time when little is going right for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, Thailand is being hit hard by weak global demand for its major agricultural exports. Among the people most affected are the country’s rubber producers, suffering depressed prices since January 2014. After surging to more ...

A lack of rainfall and scorching heat is destroying the livelihoods of Lao farmers, who say their crops are dying amid an ongoing drought in the Southeast Asian region linked to the El Niño phenomenon. The drought since May has left those in Laos who rely on ...

Tens of thousands of residents in the Sagaing Region, Myanmar, remain displaced as a result of recent flooding, which has still not subsided despite a halt to the rain. Local officials in the worst-hit regions of Kawlin and Wuntho townships said the water level had dropped ...

A Myanmar court has fined two journalists 1 million kyat ($800; £514) each, after finding them guilty of defaming the president. Nine other staff from the Myanmar Herald were acquitted in the case, which was filed by the information ministry last November. Keep reading ...