Vehicles cannot start as fuel becomes ice
Many cars in the northern parts of Laos appear not to have started in the cold weather and some people have speculated that maybe the stranded motorists were using low grade fuels. Last week saw many vehicles in the northern provinces of Phongsaly, Huaphan and Xieng ...
Lao officials investigate massive increase in illegal logging
A leaked report by an international environmental group revealing huge increases in illegal logging in Laos with an implication of government collusion has prompted officials in the small Southeast Asian nation to take action to examine discrepancies in timber export and import figures with China ...
In the Face of Criticism, Laos Pushes Ahead With Four Mekong Dams
As a struggling least developed country, Laos stands alone when it comes to ignoring common sense and pushing ahead with infrastructure development that it can ill-afford and is unlikely to deliver its much hoped-for rags to riches outcome. Energy and Mines Minister Sinavav Souphanouvong made that ...
Luke Hunt
More houses evacuated after landslide in Borikhamxay
Houses along the Mekong River in Borikhamxay province have been evacuated after five of them were undermined by a landslide at about 2am on 11 October. People in six or seven houses in the Phonson area of Phabath village in Thaphabath district quickly gathered their pets ...
Bounnhang Vorachit new President of the Lao PDR
Members of the National Assembly’s 8th Legislature elected Mr Bounnhang Vorachit as the new President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic at the Assembly’s inaugural session on 20 April. Keep reading ...
Laos prepares for timber trade agreement with EU
The Technical Working Group of the Lao Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process has elaborated a first draft Timber Legality Definition in preparation for the first face-to-face FLEGT/Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) negotiations between Laos and the European Union. The two-day workshop brought together 50 ...
Lao authorities charge woman with ‘slander’ for alleged extortion photos
Authorities in Laos have formally charged a young woman who has been detained since May after a photo she took was posted on Facebook, allegedly showing police officers extorting money from her brother during a stop for a traffic violation, according to an official source. Phout ...
Floods damage Vientiane rice crop
Farmers in two districts of Vientiane are unable to replant their rice after seedlings in thousands of low-lying plots recently disappeared under floodwater. Parts of Sangthong and Naxaithong districts were inundated following torrential rain earlier this month and farmers are dismayed because they say it is ...
US supports UXO clearance in Xieng Khuang
The United States’ Department of State Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement has provided more than US$2.17 million for a project supporting rural development through unexploded ordnance clearance in Xieng Khuang province. The total funding of US$2,178,865 will be used for survey and clearance in the ...
Open defecation still of great concern in Laos
Sixty two percent of people in Phongsaly province continue to practice open defecation which is higher than the national-level average rate of 40 percent. “Even where you are improving dietary intake and you have more diversified crops, where there is still open defecation, it has ...
Lao researchers seeking to introduce faster growing rice varieties
The Naphok Agricultural Research Centre is seeking to produce early maturing varieties of rice seed for Lao farmers to plant in the coming years, as part of efforts to reduce the disaster related impacts of climate change. Researchers at the centre are currently conducting ongoing research into ...
Rubber oversupply causes price slump in Laos
As rubber plantations mature and the trees are ready to be tapped, Lao growers stand to face a substantial loss amid a slump in the rubber price on the world market. A respected Lao researcher says poor assessment of the market prior to planting the trees ...
China and Laos say their rail project is on track
China and Laos are both committed to a high-speed rail project linking the Chinese southwestern city of Kunming with the Lao capital of Vientiane, officials from both countries said, and the project will go ahead despite delays. The line should eventually stretch through Thailand and Malaysia ...
Lao election candidate numbers announced
The total number of candidates standing to be potential members of Laos’ National Assembly (NA) and Provincial/capital Assemblies (PAs) has been announced for the March 20 election. But a list of their names has yet to be declared with all details of candidates for the NA and ...
Japan provides grant for bridge reconstruction
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided a grant of over 4.6 billion kip (70 million Japanese yen) for the detailed design component of the reconstruction of two bridges on National Road No. 9. The project will be carried out under a cooperation agreement between JICA ...
Agriculture experts review northern uplands development
Agricultural experts met in Vientiane to review the Northern Uplands Development Programme for 2014-15 and discuss the plans for 2015-16. Participants reported on progress and noted the content of future plans comprising the systematic registration of land, legal awareness creation, local governance and planning, and facilitating ...
Low yields sour Savannakhet sugarcane farmers' prospects
Some individual sugarcane growers in Savannakhet province now owe the milling company as much as 174 million kip following their poor harvests, it was recently revealed. According to a workshop on reducing debt risks for farmers in Vientiane, some families in Savannakhet’s Xaybouly district are in ...
Pig farmers in Laos face debt and bankruptcy due to falling pork prices
A Lao government program that provided loans to farmers to raise pigs in the run-up to the Southeast Asian Games held in the country seven years ago has bankrupted several farmers who have become mired in debt as pork prices have fallen, pushing a few ...
One thousand prisoners released on Laos' anniversary year
Over 1,000 prisoners were released nationwide this year, according to Laos’ Ministry of Public Security on 2 December. Officials from the Prison and Rehabilitation Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security reported to Vientiane Times that across the country they released about 1,029 prisoners, including 232 ...
Party advises Youth Union on its political role
The Party Central Committee has called on the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union’s (Youth Union) committees at all levels to uphold their political responsibilities and actively implement the Party’s directives, to ensure today’s youth develop strong political attributes. Member of the Politburo and Party Central Committee ...
