Archive August 2, 2025

Khon, a Laotian fisherman who lives in a floating house made of plastic drums, scrap metal, and wood on the Mekong River, had a successful day today.

“I caught two catfish”, the 52-year-old tells Al Jazeera proudly, lifting his catch for inspection.

On this powerful river, Khon’s simple houseboat has everything he needs, including some nets, a fire to cook food on, and a few clothes to keep warm at night.

Fish is something Khon doesn’t always have.

“There are days when I catch nothing. He remarked, “It’s frustrating.”

“The dams cause the water levels to fluctuate constantly. And now they say the river is polluted, too. They dig in the mountains up there in Myanmar. or something similar. And all that toxic stuff ends up here”, he adds.

As it meanders through the heart of the Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar borderlands, Khon lives in Laos’ northwestern Bokeo province, on one of the most picturesque Mekong River meanders.

This remote area has long been renowned for its drug trafficking and production.

Now it is caught up in the global scramble for gold and rare earth minerals, crucial for the production of new technologies and used in everything from smartphones to electric cars.

According to Thailand’s Pollution Control Department, rivers in this region, including the Ruak, Sai, and Kok, which are all Mekong tributaries, have abnormal levels of arsenic, lead, nickel, and manganese.

Arsenic, in particular, has exceeded World Health Organization safety limits, prompting health warnings for riverside communities.

These tributaries directly feed the Mekong, and some of the river’s mainstream has been contaminated. The Mekong River Commission has since declared the situation “modely serious” because of the effects being observed in Laos.

“Recent official water quality testing clearly indicates that the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao border is contaminated with arsenic”, Pianporn Deetes, Southeast Asia campaigns director for the advocacy group International Rivers, told Al Jazeera.

If the mining continues, Pianporn said, “This is alarming and just the first chapter of the crisis.”

“Fishmen have just recently caught young, ill catfish.” This is a matter of regional public health, and it needs urgent action from governments”, she added.

In Myanmar’s Shan State, where dozens of unregulated mines have sprung up as the search for rare earth minerals gets more sophisticated, it is thought that the heavy metals are being contaminated upriver.

Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington and an expert on Southeast Asia, said at least a dozen, and possibly as many as 20, mines focused on gold and rare earth extraction have been established in southern Shan State over the past year alone.

The border region, which is controlled by two powerful ethnic armed groups, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), is now four years into a civil war.

Apart from maintaining Tachileik town, the region’s main border crossing between Thailand and Myanmar, the military government of Myanmar has “no real control,” according to Abuza.

Neither the RCSS nor the UWSA are “fighting the junta”, he said, explaining how both are busy enriching themselves from the chaos in the region and the rush to open mines.

“Mining has exploded in this vacuum, most likely with Chinese traders involved. Although the military retains control over the profits, Abuza said, they cannot issue permits or enforce environmental regulations.

‘ Alarming decline ‘

The Mekong River’s only health issue is mining-related pollution.

A growing number of hydropower dams have severely altered the river’s health for years, severely affecting its natural rhythm and ecology.

In the Mekong’s upper reaches, inside China, almost a dozen huge hydropower dams have been built, including the Xiaowan and Nuozhadu dams, which are said to be capable of holding back a huge amount of the river’s flow.

Further downstream, Laos has skewed hydropower’s economic viability.

At least 75 dams are currently operating on the Mekong’s tributaries, according to the Mekong Dam Monitor, which is hosted by the Stimson Centre think tank in Washington, DC, and two are directly on the mainstream river in Laos.

As a rule, hydropower is a cleaner alternative to coal.

Another type of environmental crisis is being caused by the Mekong dam’s rush.

The Mekong River basin once supported about 60 million people and managed up to 25% of the world’s freshwater fish catch, according to WWF and the Mekong River Commission.

Today, one in five fish species in the Mekong is at risk of extinction, and the river’s sediment and nutrient flows have been severely reduced, as documented in a 2023–2024 Mekong Dam Monitor report and research by International Rivers.

At the launch of a 2024 report titled The Mekong’s Forgotten Fishes, the WWF’s Asia Pacific Regional Director Lan Mercado remarked, “The alarming decline in fish populations in the Mekong is an urgent wake-up call for action to save these extraordinary – and extraordinarily important – species.

During a recent visit, the fish markets in Houayxay, the provincial capital, appeared largely unstocked.

At Kad Wang View, the town’s main market, the fish stalls were nearly deserted.

“Maybe this afternoon, or perhaps tomorrow,” said Mali, a 60-year-old vendor. Mali had circled her small stock of fish in front of her to make the display appear larger to potential customers.

At another market, Sydonemy, just outside Houayxay town, the story was the same. The fish stalls were bare.

“Some fish come, some don’t, and sometimes they don’t.” We just wait”, another vendor said.

The 53-year-old Vilasai, who is a member of a fishing family but currently works as a taxi driver, recalls that “there used to be giant fish here.”

The river now offers little for us. Even the water for irrigation – people are scared to use it. No one knows whether the environment is still clean, he told Al Jazeera, referring to the mine pollution in Myanmar.

‘ The river used to be predictable ‘

Upstream dams, especially those in China, have had significant downstream effects in northern Thailand and Laos, according to Ian G. Baird, professor of geography and Southeast Asian studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

According to Baird, “The ecosystem and the lives that depend on the river evolved to adapt to particular hydrological conditions.”

“But since the dams were built, those conditions have changed dramatically. He said that the rapid water level fluctuations of the dry season, which were once uncommon, now have a negative effect on both the river and the population.

The natural cycle of the river reverses, which is another significant factor.

“Now there is more water in the dry season and less during the rainy season. That lessens flooding and the annual flood pulse’s beneficial ecological effects, Baird said.

“To maximize energy output and profits, the dams hold water during the rainy season and release it during the dry season. But that also kills seasonally flooded forests and disrupts the river’s ecological function”, he said.

Bun Chan, 45, and his 40-year-old wife Nanna Kuhd reside on a floating home close to Houayxay. He fishes while his wife sells what he catches at the local market.

On a recent morning, he cast his net again and again – but for nothing.

As he raised his empty net, Bun Chan said, “Looks like I won’t catch anything today.”

“We didn’t sell them, but I caught a few the other day.” We’re keeping them in cages in the water, so at least we have something to eat if I don’t catch more”, he said.

Hom Phan has spent his entire life fishing in the Mekong.

He steers his wooden boat across the river, following a route he knows by instinct. The 67-year-old claims that the current is strong enough to dragged everything under in some of the river’s edges.

Only the chug of his small outboard engine and distant bird calls break the silence in his immediate vicinity.

“The river used to be predictable. We are currently unsure of whether it will rise or fall, Hom Phan said.

Fish are unable to locate their spawning grounds. They’re disappearing. If nothing is changed, we might as well, he said, citing Al Jazeera.

In Houayxay, Khon, the fisherman, rolls up his nets and prepares dinner in his floating home as evening rolls around.

As he waits for the fire to catch to cook a meal, he quietly contemplates the great river he lives on.

Khon was contemplating his next day of fishing with a smile on his face as he considered the dams in China, the pollution from the mines in neighboring Myanmar, and the growing difficulty in catching the catch he relies on to survive.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a nonprofit that distributes federal funds to American public radio and television stations, announced that it would be closing down as a result of President Donald Trump’s funding cuts.

In response to recent legislation that would reduce nearly $1.1 billion of its funding, the organization announced in a statement on Friday that it had “orderly wind-down of its operations.”

Our current situation, according to its president, Patricia Harrison, “encouraging the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB.”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would operate for the following six months, but with fewer employees, according to the statement.

On September 30th, the majority of its employees will leave. A “small transition team” will then be in place through January 2026 to “ensure a responsible and orderly closeout.”

The nonprofit received its last-minute death knell through two legislative initiatives.

The Rescission Act of 2025, which was intended to revoke funding that Congress had previously approved, was the first. Trump sought to put federal programs on the cutting block, including federal funding for public broadcasters and foreign aid.

The House then approved the act by a vote of 216 to 213 and the Senate voted to pass it by a margin of 51 to 48.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s 2026 funding bill for labor, health and human services, education, and related agencies was unveiled on July 31.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting received no of the $ 97 billion in discretionary funding allocated in that bill.

The nonprofit claims that the corporation has never been left out of the appropriations bill in a long time.

Republicans control both of Congress, and their membership has largely aligned with Trump’s legislative priorities.

Republicans have long prioritized defunding the public media, dating back to Sander Vanocur’s conflict with the government in the 1970s.

Nixon vetoed a bill that would have allowed Congress to return with a more conservative version of its funding in 1972 because he and Trump had a hostile relationship with the media. That action aided Republicans in stifling down federal funding for non-commercial, public television and radio.

In his second term, Trump has made it a top priority to reduce what he sees as “bloat” in the government, including reducing federal spending.

He and his supporters have accused left-wing soapboxes like PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) of being.

NPR and PBS affiliate stations receive funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 43 million viewers tune in to NPR each week. PBS, by contrast, only has an online presence that accounts for its annual television sales, which reach 130 million people annually.

Trump threatened to withdraw his support from any Republican who would not support his efforts to defund the corporation in the days leading up to the Rescissions Act’s passage.

Trump also claimed that public television was worse than its commercial counterparts, including MSNBC, which he frequently misspelled in order to imply alleged bias against the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Trump wrote on social media on July 10 that it is “very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, especially, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN &amp, MSDNC put together.

“I will not support or endorse any Republican who votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting.” I appreciate you paying attention to this issue.

However, Harrison, the corporation’s president, portrayed the closure as a loss for civic engagement and education.

According to Harrison, “Public media has been one of the most reliable institutions in American life, providing educational opportunities, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connections to every corner of the country.”

The family of a US citizen who was killed in a settler attack in the occupied West Bank is asking for President Donald Trump’s administration to launch a separate investigation into the incident.

Khamis Ayyad’s 40-year-old relative confirmed his citizenship on Friday and demanded justice in the case in the town of Silwad, north of Ramallah, on Thursday.

Ayyad, a father of five and former resident of Chicago, was the second US citizen to die in the West Bank in July. Sayfollah Musallet, 20, was fatally shot by Israeli settlers in Sinjil, a town that borders Silwad earlier that month.

The killing was described as “murder,” according to William Asfour, the operations coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s Chicago chapter, standing alongside Ayyad’s relatives.

According to Asfour, “We demand that the Department of Justice conduct an in-depth investigation.” “An American was killed,” Where is the “impossibility”?

Around dawn on Thursday, settlers tore up cars outside Ayyad’s home, according to Mahmoud Issa, the 40-year-old’s cousin.

Ayyad woke up to start the fire, but an Israeli army showed up and began to tear tear at him.

Ayyad died, according to the family, after exhaling the smoke and tear gas from the burning cars.

“How many more?”

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, which US officials have characterized as “terrorism,” have been on the rise for months.

Palestinian communities have been ravaged by Israeli residents who have established illegal settlements and set cars and homes on fire.

The Israeli military frequently employs settlers who are armed and can fire at will at Palestinians who attempt to stop them.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces have increased their deadly raids, home demolitions, and displacement campaigns.

A non-binding motion to annex the West Bank was approved just this past month by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.

And on Thursday, Yariv Levin and Israel Katz, two top Israeli ministers, called the current situation “a moment of opportunity” to assert “Israeli sovereignty” over the area.

In the meantime, Israel continues to brutally assault Gaza, which human rights groups claim amounts to a genocide.

Asfour, a CAIR-Chicago representative, made it clear on Friday that Ayyad’s death was not a one-off.

He claimed that Musallet was the victim of another American’s murder in the West Bank just weeks ago.

“How many more before the US takes action to protect its citizens living abroad?” Our government sends billions to finance all of this, and soldiers defend homes that are destroyed.

By the time of publication, Al Jazeera’s request for comment had been ignored by the US Department of State.

Musallet’s case hasn’t been made yet.

Musallet’s family urged a US-based investigation into his death last month.

Washington has argued that Israeli authorities are best suited to investigate their own military installations and settlers, despite calls for an investigation into Israel’s abuses of American citizens.

US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, demanded that Israel “investigate the murder of Musallet in July with aggressiveness.”

In a social media post, he wrote that “this criminal and terrorist act must be held accountable.”

There hasn’t been an arrest in the case more than 21 days after the incident. At least 10 US citizens have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers since 2022. None of the cases have led to criminal charges.

Mohammed Ibrahim is being held by Israeli forces without trial or access to his family, killing Ayyad.

Mohammed, 16, has been in jail since February, and his family claims to have been informed that he is losing weight in significant amounts and having a skin infection.

Abdelnasser Rashid, a representative for the Illinois State, claimed Ayyad’s death was a “ugly pattern of settler colonial violence” in Palestine on Friday.

He advocated for the repeal of Illinois’s state law that forbids Israeli firm boycotts.

“We need to take action,” According to Rashid, Illinois, a law prohibits businesses from boycotting Israel and forbids them from doing so.