VOA
Rights Groups Deplore Arrest of Vietnam Writer and Activist Pham Doan Trang
Outspoken Vietnamese democracy activist and author Pham Doan Trang has been arrested on anti-state propaganda charges, police and state media said Wednesday, as rights groups condemned her apprehension just hours after annual U.S.-Vietnam human rights talks and warned that the blogger faced the risk of ...
RFA Vietnamese Service
New US Aid for Southeast Asia Takes Aim at Chinese Influence
The U.S. government aims to take another bite out of Chinese influence in Southeast Asia with a partnership to aid five countries that traditionally tap Beijing for help, experts in the region say. The Mekong-U.S. Partnership, formed September 11, will give Washington more clout in Cambodia, ...
Ralph Jennings
Why Vietnam Is Asking Other Asian Countries to Help Squelch Fake News
A surge in fake news around Southeast Asia, particularly bogus COVID-19 information, has prompted leaders to explore a regional crackdown after a suggestion from a Vietnamese security official. Police agencies in the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries – which represent a total population ...
Ralph Jennings
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
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
Praying for Rain by the Mekong as Monsoon Season Begins
As the monsoon gets underway across Indochina, farmers and fishermen are praying for rain after a lengthy drought — aggravated by climate change and dam construction. This year the Mekong River has seen its lowest levels since record keeping began 60 years ago. According to the Mekong River Commission, ...
Arrests, Suspension of Vietnam Media Signal Crackdown
A wave of arrests and a one-month publishing ban on a news site over its investigations into environmental damage signal that Vietnam is suppressing criticism ahead of the country’s Party Congress, press freedom groups said. On June 12, authorities charged Le Huu Minh Tuan, from ...
An Hai
Thai Activists Raise Alarm Over New Proposed Lao Mekong Dam
Thai activists and organizations have raised alarm bells following last month’s announcement that the Mekong River Commission will begin its prior consultation process on the Sanakham hydropower plant, a new Mekong River dam project in northern Laos. The plant would be the sixth dam in Laos, costing more than $2 billion, and would follow Laos’ Xayaburi Dam, farther upstream, which began operation in November. The MRC prior consultation ...
Steve Sandford
Vietnam, Despite Low Coronavirus Caseload, Will Take Months to Recover Economically
Vietnam has reported few new coronavirus cases every day since mid-April. Now schools are reopening, smaller restaurants are back in business and traffic jams are forming again in the financial center, Ho Chi Minh City, as commuters head to work. The Southeast Asian country has controlled its coronavirus caseload at ...
Ralph Jennings
Thailand Faces Record Drought
The monsoon season, which usually runs from about May to October, came two weeks late in 2019 and ended three weeks early, leaving Thailand with less rainfall than usual, according to the Mekong River Commission. That is contributing to a drought that is drying up ...
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