Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Mar 3, 2011 (IPS) – The first in a new series of 11 dams planned across the Mekong, South-east Asia’s largest river, could break a special bond between two communist-ruled countries. Critics in Vietnam see red over a 1,260-megawatt hydropower project planned by their [...]
LAOS: For Cluster Bomb Survivors, War Far From Over
November 10, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Irwin Loy VIENTIANE, Nov 10, 2010 (IPS) – Eighteen-year-old Phongsavath Manithong rubbed his eyes with the back of his arms as he described how his life changed forever. He was not even born yet when U.S. military pilots dropped millions of tiny explosives onto Laos. But almost [...]
SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Activists Vow To Take On First Dam on Lower Mekong
October 14, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Oct 14, 2010 (IPS) – A hydropower dam project in Laos that could permanently scar South-east Asia’s largest river, the Mekong, faces a strong wall of opposition from local and regional green groups determined to protect its pristine environment. This defiance comes in the [...]
Laos Burns Drugs – Criminal Syndicates Survive
July 7, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Taro Ichikawa IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis TOKYO (IDN) – Laos, a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, has made significant strides in combating the scourge of illicit opium production and addiction, says a new report by the United Nations, but warns of serious problems arising from the country becoming a [...]
DEVELOPMENT-LAOS: Water Flows from Villagers’ Own Toil
July 6, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Vannaphone Sitthirath XIENG NGEUN, Laos, Jul 6 (IPS) – With just 13.4 percent of the country’s 6.3 million people having access to piped water at present, Lao authorities would have to work more than double time if the rest of the population are to have clean and safe [...]
RIGHTS-LAOS: How Women Cope With Disability – Part 1
November 20, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Melody Kemp VIENTIANE, Nov 20 (IPS) – Before 2002, Chanhpheng Sivila held training workshops for the many Lao disabled women and men at her own house. Now she presides over the sprawling Lao Disabled Women’s Development Centre fronting the Mekong, 20 km from Vientiane. Traffic thunders over the nearby [...]
ASIA: Region Lags Behind in Reducing Maternal Mortality Rates
September 16, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Sep 16 (IPS) – In landlocked Laos, pregnancy brings with it the spectre of death. South-east Asia’s poorest country has recorded over 700 women dying every year due to complications during childbirth. "We have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in South-east Asia," admits [...]
