News
Concerns accounted for in Xayaboury hydropower development, EU told
All concerns have been taken into account in the development of the Xayaboury run-off-river hydropower plant the project developer recently relayed to European Union Ambassador to Laos, Leon Paul Faber. The ambassador, who took office in September last year, and his delegates visited the construction ...
Illegal land titles emerge as outstanding issue in Vientiane
Illegal issuance of land titles has emerged as an outstanding problem in Vientiane over the past year with the illegal titles involved in a total land area of 506,662 square metres, an official report has suggested. The finding was discovered after authorities carried out inspections ...
Road construction in Donnokkhoum behind schedule
The 11 km stretch of road construction from Donnokkhoum village in Sisattanak district to Nakhuay village in Xaysettha district is now about 65 percent complete. The road slated is actually 11.66 km long and its construction has come at a cost of more than US$76 ...
New era of big dam building on the Mekong?
More than 50 years have passed since Australian engineers from the Snowy Hydroelectric Authority did site studies for the huge Sambor Dam on the Mekong River in Cambodia, but the mega project is now back on the drawing board. The Cambodian Government has signalled it ...
All imported raw prawns to be pulled for white spot testing; fears that prices will rise
There are fears the price of prawns is about to go “through the roof” following a decision by the Federal Government to recall all imported raw prawns. The importation of green, or uncooked, prawns into Australia was suspended in January, but prawn farmers have expressed ...
White spot in prawns the latest in biosecurity failures highlighting impact of cuts to staff, research
After a huge increase in exotic pests and diseases, Australian agriculture and environmentalists are demanding more focus on biosecurity. The past five years of failures ranges from the attacking red fire ants, banana diseases, myrtle rust and a melon disease to an exotic disease in ...
East Asia’s agreement to keep the world economy open
What the Trump administration will ultimately do to the shape of the global trade regime is difficult to foretell but there’s no question that it will change it forever, even if there is strong global push-back against Trump’s threat to unravel trade agreements and carry ...
Fukushima peach exports recover in Southeast Asia, sparking hope for other produce
Fukushima peaches are making inroads into Southeast Asian markets in what prefectural officials see as a model case of recovery in its farm produce. Fukushima grabbed the top share of Japanese peach exports to three Southeast Asian countries last year — 73.9 percent in Thailand, ...
Risk and the public balance sheet in Asia: a work in progress
While there are natural catastrophes all over the world, Asia is a unique confluence of people and perils. More than half of the world’s population lives in Eastern, Southern and Southeast Asia. The region hosts more than 1.6 billion urban inhabitants and seven of the ...
Three fish species known as ‘sea monsters’ in danger of extinction
Ca ho (Catlocarpio siamensis), vo co (Pangaius sannitwongsei) and tra dau (Pangasianodon gigas) living in the Mekong Delta are all large-size fish which can reach 300 kilos in weight and three meters in length. They are all in danger of extinction. As they have enormous ...
