Vientiane

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Laos opens railway to China as debt to Beijing rises

December 4, 2021 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — After a blessing by Buddhist monks, Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh on Friday rode the first run of a $5.9 billion Chinese-built railway that links isolated, mountainous Laos with southern China in an effort to increase trade.

Laos-China railway to launch as debt to Beijing mounts

By JOE McDONALD, SAM McNEIL and ELAINE KURTENBACHDecember 2, 2021 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Laos, a nation of 7 million people wedged between China, Vietnam and Thailand, is opening a $5.9 billion Chinese-built railway that links China's poor southwest to foreign markets but piles on potentially risky debt.

Laos reports seizing huge amount of methamphetamine

October 29, 2021 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in the Southeast Asian nation of Laos have made one of Asia’s biggest-ever drug busts, seizing more than 55.6 million methamphetamine pills in a single raid. The drugs were found in the northern province of Bokeo, the state-run Vientiane Times newspaper reported Thursday.

Laos locks down capital over virus outbreak tied to Thailand

April 22, 2021 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Laos locked down its capital and closed its international borders to most traffic Thursday after identifying a COVID-19 cluster connected to its bigger neighbor Thailand...

Starbucks targets new market, in coffee exporting Laos

November 2, 2020 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Starbucks said Monday it plans to open an outlet in Laos as it expands its network of more than 10,000 stores in Asian countries...

China’s top diplomat assures Southeast Asia on epidemic

By JIM GOMEZFebruary 19, 2020 GMT

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — China’s top diplomat assured his Southeast Asian counterparts on Wednesday that the situation in a central Chinese province where the outbreak of a new virus began has “been brought under effective control...

Flooding from Laos hydroelectric dam leaves hundreds missing

By ELAINE KURTENBACH and YOUKYUNG LEEJuly 24, 2018 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Massive flooding from a South Korean-constructed hydroelectric dam in Laos left several people dead and hundreds missing, state media said Tuesday...