Mekong River flooding

Rain and floods killed more than 130 people in northern Vietnam and Laos last week and more bad weather is expected along the Mekong River until the end of September, according to the Mekong River Commission.

Laos: Witnesses dispute accounts of ‘voluntary’ repatriation

The Lao Hmong asylum-seekers dragged onto trucks this week to be sent back to Laos were lucky, according to a senior Thai military official. “It was a good opportunity for them because they are the first group who wholeheartedly volunteered to go back to their country, without any kind of pressure,” Department of Border [...]

Thailand urged to free 149 Lao Hmong

The United Nations’ refugee agency is calling on Thailand to free 149 ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers from Laos whom it has detained at an immigration center for more than a year. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Erika Feller said the group of 149 minority Hmong should be released to third countries. “These 149 Hmong [...]

Laos: Illegal logging still goes on

RFA’s Lao service has found that Lao officials are still turning a blind eye to the illegal trade in timber, despite tought new restrictions and loud cries of alarm at massive deforestation in the impoverished Southeast Asian country. A highly placed source said the export of black-market timber remains widespread, thanks to systemic corruption among [...]

Lao women in the Southeast Asian sex trade

This report was aired on RFA’s Lao service on Jan. 8, 2007. It’s interesting to note the change in angle when the same story is reported for listeners in Laos, as opposed to readers on the English Web. RFA is supposed to be filling gaps in domestic news coverage in its target areas, not bringing [...]

The world’s worst dictators

Parade Magazine, syndicated to more than 380 Sunday newspapers in the
United States, just published its annual list of the worst dictators. Out of 20 oppressive, non law abiding rulers, four of them govern the affairs of Radio Free Asia target countries.
This rather distressing list includes: 
North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il who makes it to number 2 on the [...]

Whistleblower site to protect leakers of sensitive documents

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and [...]

Can you hear me, Major Yang?

Problems accessing the Internet in many parts of Northeast Asia following the snapping of undersea data and phone cables in Tuesday’s quakes off Taiwan look set to continue. Repair work on the ocean floor is technically tricky, and some telecoms providers are warning that it won’t be a matter of days.
Weiai Xu, writing on OhMyNews, [...]