Mekong Media Roundup

Ineffective ASEAN Mekong Basin Council Shut Down

KUALA LUMPUR - The Asean Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC) council is to be dissolved and its functions will return to the Asean Economic Ministers (AEM) agenda, Minister of
International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz in late August.

One-third of China's Dams 'Unsafe'

BEIJING - More than a third of China's 85,000 dams suffer defects from aging and could
be threatened by flooding, the chief of China's flood-fighting agency said on Aug. 7,
as the country continues to be whipped by storms.

Environmentalists See Red Over Teak Imports

CHIANG RAI - Conversationists are protesting Chiang Rai's decision to  allow teak logs imported from Burma to pass through the northern Thai  province. They said that this will lead to an increase in illegal  logging activities in Thai forests.

Thai-Lao Border a Hotspot for Bird-flu Outbreak

BANGKOK — The H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in the Thai north- east bordering Laos, prompting the culling of 310,000 hens after the  virus killed a teenager elsewhere in the country last week, the  Agriculture Ministry said on Jul. 30.

More Thai Investors Flock to Cambodia

BANGKOK — There has been a marked increase in the number of Thai  investors coming to do business in Cambodia, said a Phnom Penh Post  report.

Highway to Link Bangladesh, China, Burma

DHAKA — China, Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to construct a  highway from the Chinese city of Kunming to Bangladesh's south-east  city of Chittagong through Myanmar's Mandalay.

Mandalay Sees Internet Boom

MANDALAY, Burma — The number of internet users in Mandalay has  increased fourfold in the past three years, according to IT industry  experts in the city.

Site for 3rd Mekong Bridge Identified

  

KHAMMOUNE, Laos - The construction sites of the 3rd Mekong  International Bridge have been agreed upon by Khammouane province of  Laos and Nakhon Phanom province of Thailand in an early April meeting.

Thailand Joins Censure of Burma's Junta

UBUD, Indonesia - Thailand joined other ASEAN members in expressing  disappointment over the slow pace of national reconciliation and  democratisation in Burma.

Vietnam Dam Not Affecting Water Quality - Minister

PHNOM PENH - A hydropower plant in Vietnam  has not affected water  quality in the SeSan river, which villagers in Cambodia's Rattanakiri  province have blamed for intestinal and skin infections, Foreign  Minister Hor Namhong wrote in an letter to Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker  Son Chhay in April.