Myanmar authorities have confirmed at least 144 deaths and over 700 injuries after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the country's central region Friday afternoon.

The agriculture authorities in Ben Tre Province, southern Vietnam have released 285 million parasitic wasps into the environment to combat the coconut black-headed caterpillar (Opisina arenosella), a pest that has plagued coconut trees in the Mekong Delta for years.

Asylum seekers from Vietnam in Thailand, including ethnic minority Christians from Vietnam’s Central Highlands, are hoping the stern U.S. response to the deportation of the Uyghurs might save them from the same fate at the hands of Thai officials, campaigners and refugees say.

A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday, with tremors felt in several parts of Vietnam, but experts say the country is unlikely to suffer any damage.

As part of the Thailand Trade Representative’s visit to Vietnam, on March 18 Umesh Pandey met with the management board of MM Mega Market Vietnam (MM), a strategic retail brand belonging to BJC BIGC Group,

But that heritage is under threat, and not only from giant conglomerates that mass-produce fish sauce in factories. Climate change and overfishing are making it harder to catch the anchovies essential to the condiment that underlies so much of Vietnam and southeast Asia's food.

LIVE: According to the Red Cross, buildings and public infrastructure have been damaged and collapsed in Myanmar due to the earthquake. "Public infrastructure has been damaged, including roads, bridges and public buildings.