People and government
South Korea-Mekong foreign ministers’ meeting to begin
Ministers from South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam will meet virtually today at the 10th Mekong-Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Ministers meeting. Today’s ministerial meeting will evaluate the development of Mekong-ROK relations since the establishment of the 2019 Mekong-ROK Summit. The Summit elevated relations from ...
Trey Marks
India to aid water management projects in Mekong Delta
India will fund seven water management projects at a cost of around $350,000 in four Mekong Delta provinces. They are part of a non-refundable aid program for quick-impact projects under the framework of the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC), which aims to provide direct socio-economic benefits to communities ...
Phan Anh, Hoang Nam
Land to lose: coronavirus compounds debt crisis in Cambodia
As dark clouds approached her village in northwestern Cambodia one afternoon in July, Set Sreylon prepared for the monsoon that threatened to flood her new family home. While the rains were a concern, the 37-year-old feared a bigger threat to her property – the daily visits ...
Matt Blomberg, Mech Dara
Alcohol banned at national parks after complaints of trash and drunk tourists
Alcohol is now banned at national parks after tourists allegedly got drunk at a waterfall and others left a load of trash by their campsite. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has updated other park rules to make sure parks are kept ...
Caitlin Ashworth
Vietnamese Police Detain Man for Facebook Criticism of Government in Land Rights Case
Authorities in Vietnam have arrested a Facebook user for sharing his grievances about how the local government has handled a dispute over his family’s land, RFA has learned. Le Van Hai, from Binh Dinh province in the country’s South Central Coast region was charged with “abusing ...
RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
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
Elephant shot dead, head ripped off ‘for ivory’ at Narathiwat national park
Sipo Waterfall National Park officials believe a carcass of a headless elephant that was found in the park in Narathiwat was the ghastly work of ivory traders. On September 14, park officials were notified of the appalling incident by the Ban Chue Ko village headman in ...
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
Vietnam to invest $1.8bn in Mekong seafood development
The Vietnamese province of Kien Giang intends to invest VND 43 trillion ($1.85 billion) in boosting seafood production in the Mekong Delta region, reports Vietnam Plus, citing the provincial department of agriculture and rural development. It wants to transform inefficient rice fields to the model of rice-shrimp production. Kien ...
Undercurrent News
How Meaningful is the New US-Mekong Partnership?
On September 11, the United States and the five lower Mekong nations launched a new framework for multilateral cooperation amid rising concerns about China’s expanding influence in mainland Southeast Asia. In announcing the new Mekong-U.S. Partnership at a meeting in Hanoi, the U.S. State Department pledged at ...
Sebastian Strangio