Regional

Timor-Leste Moves to Join Cluster Munition Ban at Vientiane Conference

Timor-Leste has taken a formal step toward joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions, signing a declaration of accession in Vientiane on 15 September during the treaty’s Third Review Conference. Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas signed the Declaration of Accession, and handed to Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister...

Seven-Year-Old Becomes Laos’ Youngest Internationally Rated Chess Player

Seven-year-old Bounthiengtham “Jayson” Sengphachan has already done something no Lao chess player his age...

Thailand’s HIV Cases Pass 550,000, Laos Reports Rising Infections Among Young People

Thailand has recorded 557,993 cumulative HIV cases, health authorities say, even as new infections...

Laos, Vietnam Set USD 4 Billion Trade Goal as Economic Ties Grow

Laos and Vietnam are pushing to take their economic partnership to the next level,...

Former MRC Chief Anoulak Kittikhoun Named First Lao Head of Mekong Institute

Former Mekong River Commission (MRC) Chief Executive Officer Anoulak Kittikhoun has been appointed Executive...

Thailand, Cambodia Clash With Jets and Rockets in Deadly Border Row

By Montira Rungjirajittranon with Suy Se in Phnom Penh/AFP - Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodian military targets on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets...

Clashes Erupt Along Thai-Cambodian Border Following Landmine Incident

On 24 July, Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire near the Ta Muen Thom Sanctuary, following a series of escalating incidents along the disputed...

Cambodia Targets Cross-Border Crime with Mass Arrests, Signs Pact with Laos to Combat Scams, Drug Trafficking

Cambodian authorities have arrested more than 1,362 individuals, including hundreds of foreign nationals, in a sweeping 20-day crackdown on online scam operations across seven...

Misbehaving Monks: Sex Scandal Shakes Thai Buddhist Faithful

By Montira RUNGJIRAJITTRANON/AFP - Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the...

Cambodia Bans Thai Imports Amid Escalating Border Tensions

The General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia has announced the latest temporary ban on specific goods imported from Thailand, in a notice...

Laos Wind Farm to Begin Full Operation in Late August, Says Sekong’s Deputy Governor

Commercial operations of the Monsoon Wind Project, Laos’s first and Southeast Asia’s largest onshore wind farm, are expected to begin by late August or...