News

(Bangkok) – The Myanmar junta’s increasing obstruction of humanitarian aid in the month since Cyclone Mocha has put thousands of lives at immediate risk and endangered millions of people, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the cyclone made landfall on May 14, 2023, junta authorities have refused ...

The Swiss ambassador, Thomas Gass, met with National Assembly Chairman, Vuong Dinh Hue earlier this week ahead of the 52nd anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Vietnam later this year. The two officials discussed bilateral trade and investment with progress on negotiations of a free ...

Australia and Laos have been cooperating on water resources management for nearly two decades. Key milestones in recent years include the Sekong Groundwater Management Plan approved earlier this year, the revision of the Water Law endorsed by National Assembly in 2017, the development of key ...

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM — Vietnam’s long-awaited national power development plan, aimed at achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050, was approved by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 16, but faces obstacles in implementation and funding. Delayed by more than two years, the plan, known ...

BANGKOK – An isolated murder, a brutal attempted killing and a murky disappearance: Laotian activists have been caught up in a series of alarming incidents recently that have spooked the reclusive communist state’s embattled dissident community. Landlocked, poor and deeply tied to China, Laos is one of ...

In an exclusive interview with the Laotian Times, John Pearson, outgoing British Ambassador to Laos, reflects on his four-year diplomatic mission in Laos, sharing insights into his overall experience and shedding light on the environmental challenges faced by the country. As a diplomat, British Ambassador John ...

A recent warning from Thailand’s government deputy spokesperson, Trisuree Trisaranakul, has alerted the public to the rapidly growing dengue fever outbreak. With nearly 20,000 reported cases and 15 deaths in the past five months, the epidemic reached its highest level in three years. Citizens are urged to take precautions to protect ...

Concerns have been raised by migrant workers that the Thai government will expel Cambodian and Laotian migrant workers. Although there is no explicit policy as such, the concerns are not groundless, because Thailand did in face expel some 200,000 Cambodian workers in June 2014 after the May ...

KOH KONG, Cambodia — “I think there’s a 30% chance we’ll have trouble with the police,” said Ly Chandaravuth, an environmental activist with the outlawed group Mother Nature Cambodia. This was in August 2022, when Mother Nature Cambodia was planning a trip to Koh Kong Krao, ...

The United States and United Nations has criticised Vietnam’s detention of a prominent climate activist, saying such actions were part of a broader trend towards curbing free speech. Hoang Thi Minh Hong, the founder of now-defunct NGO CHANGE, which aimed to tackle some of the country’s most ...