People and government

The next Party National Congress of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is scheduled for early next year and, through this process, new leaders and a new politburo will be elected. While a cloak of secrecy makes it is extremely difficult to predict what ...

Representatives from six countries located in the Lancang-Mekong river basin joined an online meeting for the first time after the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic on Thursday to facilitate dialogue on establishing an information sharing platform to boost transparency and cooperation in water resources management.  The ...

Myanmar is planning to take a US$60 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to establish a Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC), U Maung Maung Win, the Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Industry, said in Parliament on May 21. The proposal ...

Kyaw Thu* waited until night fell before taking his family to the bank of a river not far from their village. While millions across the world were told to remain at home to stay safe from the coronavirus pandemic, he and his neighbours were forced ...

149 cases of dengue fever have been reported in the last nine days, with two deaths attributed to the disease. According to a report by Lao Post, more than 1,000 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed in Laos this year. The Centre of Information and Education for Health, ...

The United Nations will support the Lao Government’s preparedness and response to Covid-19 under the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund with two UN projects approved under the Fund last week. The Fund was launched by the UN Secretary-General to support low- and middle-income countries overcome the ...

In the mid-1970s, when the city crashed and burned in a warped socialist uprising led by Communist Party of Kampuchea leader Pol Pot, untold fear gripped the people. Today, although less menacing, the fear is surreal as Covid-19 does a number on the economy. It has resulted ...

Authorities in Vietnam and Laos have arrested several Facebook users on charges related to the coronavirus, with Hanoi punishing posts that challenge official reporting on the pandemic and Vientiane acting against a lockdown violation streamed live. The two arrests in Vietnam come as the Communist Party ...

Thai Airways International (THAI) is headed for bankruptcy court to pave the way for a much-needed rehabilitation for the octogenarian, near moribund national carrier, which in its glory days operated under the smug “Smooth as Silk” logo. Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s Cabinet approved the plan ...

Police in Myanmar have seized South East Asia’s biggest ever haul of synthetic drugs, the scale of which they described as “off the charts”. More than 200m methamphetamine tablets, 500kg of crystal methamphetamine and 300kg of heroin were found in raids in north-east Shan state. Thirty-three people ...