News
Thai justice minister suggests Cambodia and Vietnam join “safe Mekong” anti-drug operation

Thai Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya says Thailand and Laos are considering inviting Cambodia and Vietnam to join the “Safe Mekong” anti-drug operation. Gen Paiboon was speaking after attending the 15th bilateral meeting between Thai and Lao delegates on the joint effort to prevent and combat drug ...
Southeast Asia’s biggest-ever drug warehouse raided by Vietnamese, Laotian detectives

After months of tracing and identifying the baron of a drug smuggling ring, forces from Vietnam and Laos raided the organization last month, seizing 5.5 metric tons of drugs – the biggest smuggling case ever uncovered in Southeast Asia. Noticeably, the swoop on the huge drug ...
Laos, destination in illegal ivory trade, so far eludes global crackdown

When the authorities in Thailand recently intercepted huge stashes of ivory stuffed inside shipments of beans and tea leaves, the seizures were described as groundbreaking international police work. But there was a major omission in the operation, which took place over the past four months and uncovered ...
Jungle Vegas: How China's gamblers are pouring into a casino in Laos' notorious Golden Triangle

Kings Romans, a Chinese-owned casino complex in Ton Pheung district, Bokeo, is the centrepiece of a 10,000-square metre “Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone” set up by communist-ruled Laos with investment from its giant neighbour. The other Golden Triangle nations, Thailand and Myanmar sit just across river, ...
Over US$180 million invested at That Luang Marsh project, Laos

Over US$180 million has been spent so far on building infrastructure facilities and condos at That Luang Marsh Specific Economic Zone (SEZ) in Vientiane, officials in charge of the project have said. Construction began in December 2012, with the US$1.6 billion project being developed as a ...
All 23 people aboard crashed Lao helicopter confirmed dead

All 23 people on a Lao military helicopter that crashed earlier this week while traveling to northern Laos have been confirmed dead, military officials and state media said 30 July, though the cause of the accident remains unknown. Air traffic control in Vientiane lost contact with the ...
Missing Lao military helicopter found crashed, weather hampers rescue

A military transport helicopter carrying 19 passengers and four crew members to Houaphan and Xieng Khuang provinces in northern Laos which went missing two days ago has been found crashed, official sources have said, adding that a “high-ranking military patient” had been on board the ...
Villagers call for suspension of dam resettlement program

Cambodians who have accepted relocation from the future reservoir zone of the Lower Sesan II hydropower project have called for the suspension of the resettlement program for one year and help to repair homes built by the Cambodian-Chinese energy firm constructing the dam. Villagers who held negotiations ...
Military helicopter carrying 19 passengers, four crew ‘missing’ in Laos

A military transport helicopter carrying 19 passengers and four crew members in northern Laos is missing more than 36 hours after it departed an airport in the capital Vientiane, an Air Force official has said. Air traffic control in Vientiane lost contact with the MI-17 helicopter ...
Experts tell Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia to study border issues

Delegates from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos discussed the ASEAN Economic Community’s effects on transnational natural resources at an annual international conference on cross-border economic co-operation. Speaking at the meeting in Da Lat, chairman of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, said Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia should ...