News
Last Group of Families Displaced by Laos’ Nam Theun 1 Dam Accept Compensation
More than a hundred families in central Laos’ Bolikhamxay province who were displaced by the Nam Theun 1 dam have decided to accept compensation, putting an end to a standoff that lasted 17 months, sources in Laos told RFA. Disputes over compensation by displaced villagers have ...
RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
UN Condemns Atrocities Against Myanmar’s Rohingya, Other Minorities
The UN Human Rights office reports the Myanmar military continues to attack, persecute and commit gross violations against the Rohingya Muslims three years after similar actions triggered a mass exodus of more than 750,000 Rohingya to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The report has been submitted to ...
Lisa Schlein
Elephant shot dead, head ripped off ‘for ivory’ at Narathiwat national park
Sipo Waterfall National Park officials believe a carcass of a headless elephant that was found in the park in Narathiwat was the ghastly work of ivory traders. On September 14, park officials were notified of the appalling incident by the Ban Chue Ko village headman in ...
Myanmar Gears Up for November Election
Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy party will almost certainly dominate the country’s November 8 general elections but could lose the majority it has and needs in parliament to keep governing alone after a bruising first term, analysts say. New and old insurgencies, disenfranchised Rohingya and ...
Zsombor Peter
Vietnam to invest $1.8bn in Mekong seafood development
The Vietnamese province of Kien Giang intends to invest VND 43 trillion ($1.85 billion) in boosting seafood production in the Mekong Delta region, reports Vietnam Plus, citing the provincial department of agriculture and rural development. It wants to transform inefficient rice fields to the model of rice-shrimp production. Kien ...
Undercurrent News
Covid and the climate crisis in SE Asia
‘A global reset”, “a sick planet”, “health security” are huge, heavy phrases that have been swirling in the global psyche for most of this Covid-19-marked year. They speak of the “must-do-something” type of issues that weigh on the minds of people everywhere, including in Southeast ...
JOHANNA SON
Germany supplies equipment to monitor Mekong River dam impacts
Germany has provided equipment to the Mekong River Commission to monitor the environmental impacts of two mainstream dams on the lower reaches of the Mekong River. The equipment, worth around $600,000, meant to help monitor the impacts of Laos’s Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams, was handed ...
Viet Anh
How Meaningful is the New US-Mekong Partnership?
On September 11, the United States and the five lower Mekong nations launched a new framework for multilateral cooperation amid rising concerns about China’s expanding influence in mainland Southeast Asia. In announcing the new Mekong-U.S. Partnership at a meeting in Hanoi, the U.S. State Department pledged at ...
Sebastian Strangio
Vietnam receives support for smart sensors to combat flooding
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) awarded a $400,000 grant to Griffith University researchers to develop a network of energy-efficient smart sensors that will help Vietnam combat flooding. The project aims to create a web of micro-sensors spread throughout Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City to ...
Samaya Dharmaraj
Power sector seeking ways to grow further
Vietnam is striving for a commercial electricity output of 337.5 billion kWh by 2025 and 478.1 billion kWh by 2030, down 15 billion kWh and nearly 230 billion kWh compared with those in the adjusted Power Planning VII. The revision was contained in a report from ...
