News
Mekong River levels drop but floodwaters fail to drain from Nong Khai district
Even though the level of the Mekong River in Nong Khai’s Phon Pisai district is dropping, farmland, 20 homes and a school along Lam Suay Creek in Tambon Wat Luang remain submerged, as the river continues to block the drainage of floodwater from the creek. Keep ...
Vietnam detains senior official for global rights group
A senior executive for an international human rights group was detained by Vietnamese authorities on Sunday as she arrived in the capital to attend a World Economic Forum meeting and is expected to be deported. Debbie Stothard, secretary general of the International Federation for Human Rights, ...
Expert questions need for major irrigation projects in Mekong Delta
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with local governments in the Mekong Delta, have continued to voice support for construction of the Cai Lon-Cai Be irrigation project, though one expert has raised questions about the plans. Keep reading ...
Getting high in the drug-riddled mountains of Laos
UN drug agency is leading a coffee cultivation programme across 10 former opium growing villages in Houaphan province, which borders Vietnam. Keep reading ...
Mekong region's boutique hotels raise the bar
With its seemingly endless tropical summers, increasingly vibrant urban centers and relatively low living costs, the so-called Mekong region — comprising Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — is drawing a rapidly growing share of Southeast Asian tourism. Keep reading ...
Environmental Defenders Under Pressure Across Southeast Asia
A lack of U.S. engagement is contributing to a “declining, dictatorial and more dangerous environment” in Southeast Asia, where the abuse of fundamental rights is increasing alongside the killing of land activists, Human Rights Watch says. Keep reading ...
GMS 6 discusses reducing trade barriers
A meeting on trade value within Greater Mekong Sub region (GMS) 6, has acknowledged the need to reduce barriers to cross-border trade to pave the way for regional connections. Keep reading ...
Thailand Needs Criminal Law to Shield Migrant Workers from Abuse: HRW
As Thailand prepares to extend work permits for 11,000 foreign migrant workers, including many in the fishing industry, a Human Rights Watch official called on the government Tuesday to outlaw forced labor. Phil Robertson, a deputy Asia director for the global rights watchdog, praised the ...
Successfully hosting WEF ASEAN, a focus of Vietnam's foreign policy in 2018
The World Economic Forum ASEAN (WEF ASEAN) is scheduled to take place in Hanoi in mid-September. []In 2016, at the initiative of Vietnam, the first WEF on the Mekong region was held in Hanoi to connect and promote the Mekong region with the world’s largest corporations. Keep ...
Border-crossing rules in Mekong subregion ‘need to be standardised’
Setting standards for the crossing of borders is an urgent requirement for logistics in the Mekong sub-region, the former chief of World Trade Organisation (WTO), Supachai Panitchpakdi, said yesterday. Keep reading ...
