News
China-South Korea competition grows in Vietnam
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — A Vietnamese delegation’s visit to China last week has underscored increasingly close economic ties between the territorial rivals, which analysts say is posing a challenge to the dominance of South Korean investment in Vietnam. Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue led the high-level ...
Peh Hong Lim
Ousted Myanmar leader Suu Kyi moved from prison to house arrest
BANGKOK — Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as a health measure due to a heat wave, the military government said. On Wednesday it also granted amnesty for over 3,000 prisoners to mark this week’s ...
Associated Press
Vietnam heatwave threatens farmers' livelihoods, worsens challenges for Mekong
HO CHI MINH CITY — A heatwave in Vietnam is worsening environmental conditions in the Mekong Delta region, and farmers and gig workers have told VOA the heat is causing grueling working conditions and cutting crop yields. The heatwave is fueled by the El Nino weather pattern ...
VOA News
Where Have All the Mekong River’s Fish Gone?
The Mekong was once a river teeming with fish, providing food security for millions of poor farmers as well urban centers. These days, that river of abundance has disappeared, replaced by forlorn fishers who say they’re lucky if they can secure a catch at all, ...
Tom Fawthrop
Mercury rising: Why a Thai community believes it is being poisoned across the international border
NAN, Thailand: On clear mornings, at dawn, Ms Kanchanaporn Paeng-ud stands on a hillcrest where her family processes tapioca and looks out beyond the sweeping valleys across to neighbouring country Laos. On the horizon, some 20 km away, she can see what resembles billowing columns of ...
Jack Board
One-fifth of Mekong river fish species face extinction, report says
BANGKOK, March 4 (Reuters) – Unsustainable development threatens the health and diverse fish populations of the Mekong river, with one-fifth of fish species in Southeast Asia’s main artery facing extinction, a report by conservation groups said on Monday. The Mekong, stretching nearly 5,000 km (3,000 miles) ...
REUTERS
Special Report: Under the Haze - Demystifying the Flames
Under last year’s haze that shrouded the region and sent over two million people to hospital, concerned authorities and policymakers have started to dispel the myth that has lasted for over 16 years, demystifying it and discovering the root causes; the vastly burned forests and ...
Piyaporn W.
Dance moves and deepfakes: Indonesia presidential candidates duke it out on TikTok
JAKARTA, Feb 12 (Reuters) – At an Indonesian presidential campaign event, 22-year-old voter Irene Putri Aisyah was busy uploading everything she saw – from cute dances to cooking demonstrations – to short video app TikTok. To court young voters like Irene, all three candidates in the Feb. ...
Stanley Widianto
Mekong Delta crossroads experiences chaos due to high tide
A high tide caused many houses and restaurants to be flooded, leading to prolonged congestion at the Trung Luong junction, where Highway 1A crosses Highway 60 in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang. By 4 p.m. on Sunday, many streets within a radius of one ...
Hoang Nam
Hundreds of Myanmar anti-junta protesters rally in Bangkok
Bangkok – Hundreds of protesters screamed and wept as they demonstrated against Myanmar’s junta in Thailand’s capital on Thursday, the third anniversary of an army coup that ended the country’s brief spell of democracy. Young and old gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Bangkok, wearing T-shirts showing ...
Agence France-Presse