HANOI: Torrential rains and overflowing rivers have brought some of the worst flooding in decades to Vietnam and its neighbors, flooding cities and farmlands in five nations.

At least 130 people were killed, dozens were missing and thousands were driven from their homes in northern Vietnam and hundreds of tourists were evacuated near the hill tribe resort area of Sapa.

Flooding has also hit parts of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos as well as Myanmar, where waters rose in the Irrawaddy Delta, which is still recovering from a cyclone that left 38,000 people dead or missing in May.

Renewable energy pioneers from Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Tanzania were among the winners of this year's Ashden Awards for Sustainable Development. Kerala-based ngo Biotech was adjudged the

After sustained lobbying by non-governmental organisations, ( ngo s) the Asian Development Bank ( adb ) has admitted that

As the Laos government basks in the glory of building a model dam, thousands of villagers are unlikely to be compensated

laos will build a 680- mw hydroelectric dam across the Nam Theun, tributary of the mighty Mekong river. About 450 sq km of land in the Nakai plateau - 40 per cent of the area - will be