News
Asia-Pacific leaders seek unity on war, economic ills, virus
Pacific Rim leaders were striving to find common ground on the war in Ukraine and other dire threats to humankind in an annual meeting that began Friday at a heavily guarded venue in Thailand’s capital. The annual summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is ...
ELAINE KURTENBACH and CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL
China, Vietnam, Laos are hotspots for the criminal wildlife trade: does Asia really care about biodiversity?
Pangolin scales at US$160 a kilogram, monkeys and wild cats for sale – the online trade in protected and rare species is thriving in Laos, a key Southeast Asian gateway to the insatiable Chinese and Vietnamese markets for animal products. As world leaders gather in Egypt ...
Aidan Jones
China Announces New ASEAN Belt & Road Initiative Projects Centered Around Cambodia
The Phnom Penh-Bavet Highway which will ultimately link the Cambodian and Vietnamese capital cities The 2022 ASEAN summit took place at the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, this past weekend, with China as an official guest. At the event, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced Beijing’s approval of Chinese investment ...
Chris Devonshire-Ellis
India Should Exercise Caution Over Myanmar Timber Imports
The confusion over Myanmar timber exports to India was laid to rest last month when the central government in New Delhi informed the Indian border state of Mizoram that timber was not on the restricted list of commodities from Myanmar. New Delhi’s directive was in response to a ...
RAJEEV BHATTACHARYYA
Illegal gold mining threatens freshwater lake in Myanmar
Illegal gold mining is threatening Myanmar’s largest inland freshwater lake – which ethnic people in Kachin state depend on for their livelihoods – due to the increasing demand for the precious metal as the country’s economy teeters towards collapse. U Aung Ko, a 60-year-old ethnic Shan ...
Maran
Thai media highlights significance of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit
Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s upcoming official visit to Thailand marks a new milestone in the relationship between the two countries, according to an article published on ThaiPBSWorld, an English news website by the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS). President Phuc, his spouse, and a high-ranking ...
Flooding thwarted by dams, Mekong Delta flood-resistant houses stand unused for decades
Around 100 flood-resistant houses built in the Mekong Delta have not been used for two decades as upstream dams have disrupted the eagerly awaited flooding season. One afternoon in November, Nguyen Thi Diem, 32, and her husband took advantage of the sunny weather to fix the ...
Hoang Nam
Climate change: efforts to halt rise in global temperatures may be too late to save key glaciers, report warns
Glaciers in UN World Heritage sites are among those likely to disappear by 2050 as a result of global warming – regardless of efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures, scientists have warned. Researchers fear their loss is likely to have a devastating impact on vital waterways ...
Holly Chik
Women in Rohingya camps face an epidemic of gender based violence
The world’s largest refugee camp is no haven for women and girls. Previously viewed as a safe place of refuge from persecution in Myanmar, Rohingya women and girls face daily risks of violence and abuse. The Rohingya camps braced for, were hit, and have largely recovered ...
DAYNA SANTANA PÉREZ
Vietnam’s minorities lose right to farm forests
One afternoon at the end of 2017, officials in Dakrong district in Central Vietnam’s Quang Tri province visited Ho Thi Nieng’s house. They claimed she and her husband had “burned the protected forest to do farming.” “We had been cultivating that land for a long time ...
Nguyen Dac Thanh