Latest Laos News
Japan's new PM dissolves the lower house of parliament to set up a snap election
TOKYO (AP) — New Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba dissolved the lower house of parliament Wednesday to set up an Oct. 27 snap election, asking people to trust the governing party's policies even as critics said the vote comes far too soon. Ishiba took office last week as...
Southeast Asian leaders meet in Laos to discuss Myanmar war and disputed sea
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders gathered Wednesday for an annual forum that will focus on the civil war in Myanmar and territorial tensions in the South China Sea, two key challenges that have tested the bloc's credibility. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations...
Blinken heads to Asia this week for a summit of regional leaders
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make his 19th trip in office to Asia this week when he leads the U.S. delegation to a meeting of East Asian leaders in Laos. The State Department said Tuesday that Blinken would fill in for President Joe Biden at the annual...
Cambodia pulls out of a regional development pact after protests
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said he was pulling his country out of a development agreement with neighboring Vietnam and Laos following protests that it was benefiting foreign interests. Critics on social media have focused on land concessions in...
An American pastor detained in China for nearly 20 years has been released
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Christian pastor from California has been freed from China after nearly 20 years behind bars and is back home in the U.S., the State Department said Monday. David Lin, 68, was detained after he entered China in 2006, later convicted of contract fraud and...
Cambodia's leader says arrested protesters were trying to overthrow the government
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s leader on Thursday condemned international human rights groups for criticizing the arrest of nearly 100 people for protesting against a decades-old regional development agreement with neighboring countries. London-based Amnesty International...
Searchers recover 3 bodies from Thai rail tunnel that collapsed during construction
BANGKOK (AP) — The bodies of three foreign workers who were trapped for days in a railway tunnel in northeastern Thailand that collapsed during construction have been retrieved after an intensive rescue effort, Thai officials said Friday The tunnel is a part of a Thai-Chinese...
Southeast Asian diplomats meet with China as friction mounts over Beijing's sweeping maritime claims
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Top diplomats from Southeast Asia met Friday in Laos with China’s foreign minister for talks that come as friction escalates over Beijing’s growing effort to press its sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea. Several members of the Association of...
Myanmar violence, South China Sea tensions are top issues as Southeast Asian diplomats meet in Laos
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers and top diplomats from key partners including the United States and China are gathering in the Laotian capital on Thursday for the start of three days of talks expected to focus on the increasingly violent civil war in Myanmar, tensions in...
UN cultural agency calls for Laos, Cambodia to invite monitoring teams to contentious UNESCO sites
BANGKOK (AP) — The United Nations' cultural agency recommended Thursday that Laos invite a monitoring mission to the historic city of Luang Prabang, a World Heritage Site where a nearby dam project on the Mekong River has raised concerns it could lose the coveted status. While the...
