News
Thai farmers brave bullets, prison for community land titles
Somruedee Bunthonglek has not repaired the bullet holes in the pickup truck her husband was driving when he survived an assassination attempt barely a year after her father was shot dead on the same communal farm in southern Thailand. The grey truck, with about half a ...
Reporting by Rina Chandran @rinachandran; Editing by Zoe Tabary.
Vietnam conservation regulations improving, but much work remains
Earlier this year, Vietnam’s prime minister called for a ban of the wildlife trade in the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several months later, the government released a directive on the wildlife trade. Hailed as a ban in some media coverage, the move fell short of that, ...
Michael Tatarski
City takes steps to control noise levels
Vientiane authorities will impose a new legal measure designed to control noise as part of efforts to transform the capital into a more peaceful and socially-ordered city. Mayor of Vientiane, Dr Sinlavong Khoutphaythoune, on September 19 endorsed the capital’s decision to limit the noise emanating from ...
Myanmar’s Effort to Trace COVID-19 Spread Treads on Sensitive Territory
Myanmar’s second wave of coronavirus may have been triggered by “returnees” from neighboring Bangladesh, who brought the illness back with them when they illegally entered Rakhine state, which is now a COVID-19 hotspot, according to a senior government health official. But other experts say the evidence ...
Moe Myint and Nay Myo Htun for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Than Than Win and Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Zoo agency sets up board to investigate illegal trade
The Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand (ZPO) board on Tuesday set up a panel to investigate the illegal wildlife trade across zoos nationwide in the wake of the disappearance of rare albino barking deer at Songkhla Zoo. Chavalit Chookajorn, the former permanent secretary of the Ministry ...
APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Myanmar: Election Fundamentally Flawed
Myanmar’s electoral process is undermined by systemic problems and rights abuses that will deprive people of their right to fairly elect their government, Human Rights Watch said today. Parliamentary, state, and local elections are scheduled for November 8, 2020. The national elections will be Myanmar’s first since ...
Learning lessons from COVID-19 in Myanmar
Thaw Lay, a high school student from Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, knew that this school year would be unlike any other. “I was excited, but I also knew that things would be a little different, when school reopened later this year”, he recalls. Thaw Lay ...
Anguish as Mekong Delta’s annual floods continue to dry up
It is time for the annual floods in the Mekong Delta, but the flooding season these days is more a cherished memory than a practical phenomenon. One day in mid-September Cao Van Bi, 50, was rowing a boat with his wife across a paddy field that ...
Hoang Nam
Environment ministry looks into illegal posts in M’kiri sanctuary
The Ministry of Environment is investigating a group that erected more than 50 stone and wooden posts and built fences on State land in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province. Its spokesman Neth Pheaktra said he recently inspected the activities while leading a delegation ...
Voun Dara
Why Vietnam Is Asking Other Asian Countries to Help Squelch Fake News
A surge in fake news around Southeast Asia, particularly bogus COVID-19 information, has prompted leaders to explore a regional crackdown after a suggestion from a Vietnamese security official. Police agencies in the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries – which represent a total population ...
Ralph Jennings
