Tropical Rainstorm Vamco will bring flooding rain to portions of Indochina through at least 16 September. Keep reading ...

Ministries are examining the route of the planned Vientiane expressway to ensure that it avoids densely populated communities after the government recently approved construction of the 14-km expressway in the city centre. Government bodies are carrying out a thorough study and analysis to verify that ...

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 policymakers plan to purchase an additional power from two hydroelectric plants in Laos with a combined  capacity of 1,318 megawatts, according to the Energy Policy and Planning Office (Eppo). They are the Nam Thuen 1 and Pak Beng hydropower project. Director-general Twarath Sutbutr said Eppo also ...

Vietnamese businesses still think Laos is an attractive destination and will continue to invest in the country despite a slowdown in out-bound investment, Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung told Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith in Vientiane on December 16.Keep reading   ...

Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam have urged Laos to better assess transboundary impacts, and strengthen proposed measures to reduce any negative effect as it moves ahead with the construction of a dam. At a special joint committee session of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) earlier this week, ...

Farms, market gardens, packaging units and companies that export plants and other agricultural products to the EU are required to register with the relevant authorities. This will enable them to obtain certification from district agriculture and forestry offices, according to a recent announcement by the Ministry ...

Earlier this week, authorities in Laos announced the seizure of a record haul of methamphetamine, the latest indication of the massive amounts of illegal narcotics now flowing through the lower Mekong region. As per the state-run Vientiane Times, an official at the Public Security Office reported that ...

The year—and the decade—in environmental terms, is coming to its end, with some species and entire ecosystems in their death throes. For starters, Malaysia recently lost its last Sumatran rhino, the poaching of Sabah’s pygmy elephants is rapidly increasing, Australia’s koala bears are being incinerated in wildfires, dugongs are dying in ...

Thailand has reportedly rejected a new technical report on Laos’ Sanakham hydropower project – the latest sign of the growing consternation about the impact of mega-dams on the ecology of the Mekong River basin. On January 15, the country’s Chinese contractor submitted a revised technical report ...

Decision to continue work on two huge dams calls into question how serious the government is about reviewing numerous multibillion-dollar hydropower projects after last month’s disaster. Keep reading   ...

The government has given the green light for a Chinese company to conduct a feasibility study on developing the Khonphapheng Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Champassak province. The Chinese company had informed authorities that it wants to invest US$10 billion to develop the SEZ, the ...

Mae Sengchan and Mae Kham meandered down the banks of the Mekong River in Laos, munching on bunches of bananas and piles of sugarcane. In their mid-to-late-fifties, the rescued pair of endangered Asian elephants are far past their logging days. The two are now in the ...

Continuation of the existing tough measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak is essential, Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh has said in a clear reference to the nationwide lockdown. The government has extended the lockdown for another 15 days until May 20. The Overall number of Covid-19 cases ...

Lao media on November 30 quoted a report by the country’s Minister of Energy and Mines Khammani Inthilath as saying that it is looking to increase electricity export in the time to come. The article said the minister pointed out at the ongoing session of ...

The Lao economy is on course for moderately improved growth in 2021, despite the second wave of COVID-19 denting the promising economic recovery made early in the year. The World Bank’s latest Economic Monitor for Lao PDR — A Path to Recovery — predicts that GDP growth ...

Thousands of Lao migrant workers who recently returned from Thailand after losing their jobs to COVID-19 have been facing fresh hardships in crowded, undersupplied quarantine camps,, Lao officials and migrants told RFA. During the coronavirus pandemic hundreds of thousands of the 2.8 million foreign workers in ...

The official coronavirus death toll in the South-East Asian nation of Laos remained at zero until this month. Amid a rapidly spreading outbreak in neighbouring Thailand, the Laotian government sealed its borders and imposed a lockdown on April 22.  Everybody except for essential workers was required to stay home ...

Fishermen in delta and Northeast Thailand say dams in China and Laos have hit breeding and yields, forcing many to quit. Mekong River fishermen have already suffered dramatically from dams and irrigation works, which have decimated fish stocks and undermined livelihoods that supported families for generations.Nguyen Anh ...

Laos’ garment exports reached US$165 million in 2016, a reduction of 5 percent compared to 2015, the Association of Lao Garment Industry has reported. The shortage of workers is still a chronic problem in the sector resulting in a reduction of garment exports, President of ...