News
Myanmar must listen to those protesting internet shutdowns, not persecute them
Access Now, Article 19, Fortify Rights, and seven others are calling on authorities in Myanmar to immediately end criminal proceedings against, and release from detention, all those charged in relation to recent protests shining a spotlight on human rights violations and internet shutdowns in Rakhine and Chin ...
Myanmar implementing 14 projects with Mekong-Lancang Cooperation special fund
Myanmar has received four projects in the third batch to be implemented with Mekong-Lancang Cooperation special fund in the current 2020-2021 fiscal year, bringing to the total number of ongoing projects to 14, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation on 23 November. Myanmar ...
Fight for the Mekong gathers pace
More than 20 years ago, when two Chiang Rai-based environmentalists, Niwat Roikaew and Somkiat Kuenwongsa, learned that the Chinese government were blasting rapids in the upper Mekong River from Yunnan to Myanmar and Laos to clear the way for large commercial vessels, they started worrying. Back ...
PASSAKORN JUMLONGRACH
Vietnam to become a technology powerhouse with open platforms
To accelerate the country’s national digital transformation programme, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) organised the Vietnam Open Summit, last week. The summit gathered 200 participants, including senior officials of ministries and agencies, as well as IT experts from large high-tech corporations. MIC Minister Nguyen ...
Samaya Dharmaraj
Accelerating Mini-Grids In Myanmar And Expanding Energy Access To Villagers
Only 50% of households in Myanmar, one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, are connected to the public grid. Five years ago, the government set a goal of electrifying 100% of the country by 2030. With that in mind, in June, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, together ...
Anne Field
Govt warns over Lao dam plan
The government threatened on Tuesday not to buy electricity from Sanakham dam in Laos after it learned the project might affect the Mekong River. “The country’s territory is our paramount concern,” Somkiat Prajamwong, secretary-general to the Office of National Water Resources, said on Tuesday after a seminar ...
APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Thailand: Police Violence Against Democracy Demonstrators
Thai police unnecessarily used water cannons and teargas against peaceful democracy demonstrators outside the parliament in Bangkok on November 17, 2020, in violation of international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said today. At about 2:25 p.m., police attempted to prevent a demonstration organized by the People’s ...
HRW
Can Tho, EU forge cooperation in climate change response
Leaders of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and the EU Delegation to Vietnam on November 23 shared a hope for multilateral cooperation in climate change response. At a reception for the EU Delegation, Tran Viet Truong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said Can ...
VNA
Thailand Brings NASA Air Quality Data Down to Earth
For decades, NASA has used the vantage point of space, combined with airborne and ground-based field campaigns, to decipher the impact of air pollution and help other agencies protect people when unhealthy air threatens the places they live, work, and play. Now, government agencies in Thailand are harnessing the power ...
Molly Porter
Laos, partners launch agriculture innovation systems
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the EU Delegation and the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) last week launched a new project to boost food security and nutrition. The project on Developing Capacities in Agriculture Innovation Systems of Scaling up ...
Times Reporters