Publications

VIENTIANE, Apr 2 (Newsmekong) - On the banks of a remote section of the Mekong River in southern Laos, an area known as Siphandone, villagers quietly debate the question, which is more important to Laos: fisheries or building dams?

Female employees at a Chinese garment factory. 

PHNOM PENH (Imaging Our Mekong)- The air was choking hot; the sun shone brightly. Motorcycles were weaving their way through the busy traffic of vehicles and pedestrians as dust flew around on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital. Row upon row of establishments flashed by, before we came upon an inconspicuous sign with five Chinese characters: ‘Jia Hua Gong Ye Yuan’, or the Jiahua Industrial Park.

Whether in Bangkok or in Beijing, many people in the Mekong region find avian flu something far removed from their everyday lives. Yet the signs are all around, as the disease, which affects animals and humans, continues to spread in the region.

A selection of photographs -- the work of photojournalists and writers under the Imaging Our Mekong programme -- will be on exhibit at the Second International Forum on Water and Food in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from Nov. 10-14, 2008.

MANILA, Oct 8 (IPS) - So where is the pandemic? This is a question most often asked of health experts years after they warned about a pandemic influenza that could infect up to 35 percent of the world's population.

BANGKOK, Oct 7 – A short article by Agence France Presse on the front page of Thailand’s English-language daily ‘The Nation’ (Oct 4) reported that Cambodian and Thai troops stationed to guard the contested border around the Preah Vihear temple exchanged gunfire, wounding at least three soldiers.

VIENTIANE (Newsmekong/IPS) -Avian flu poses a mix of challenges for a Least Developing Country like Laos, which also to watch transboundary movement of fowl with the four countries it shares borders with, according to Dr Bounkhouang Khambounheuang, Director General of the Livestock and Fisheries Department of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Vientiane, Laos. He is also with the National Committee for Communicable Disease Control, the body responsible for overseeing efforts at controlling avian flu.

BANGKOK, Jul 18 (IPS) - Amornchai Sirisai has been a regular visitor to the Thai-Cambodian border, close to where a 10th century Hindu temple sits atop a steep cliff. But it is not tourism that brings the Thai national to the ancient site.

Two Cambodian journalists who were part of the Imaging Our Mekong programme, Leang Delux and Ung Chansophea, won prizes in the Investigative Journalism Awards Competition organised by the Club of Cambodian Journalists with the support of the U.S. Embassy. Our congratulations to both of them!

RATANAKIRI, Cambodia, Jul 10 (IPS) - In thick forest in the north-east Cambodian province of Ratanakiri, a team of lawyers uses a global positioning satellite handset to mark the location of traditional spirit forests and gravesites belonging to local Jarai villagers.