‘Endless record heat’ in Asia as highest April temperatures recorded

Record figures for month recorded in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, China and South Asia

Asia is experiencing weeks of “endless record heat”, with sweltering temperatures causing school closures and surges in energy use.

Record April temperatures have been recorded at monitoring stations across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, as well as in China and South Asia.

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Weather tracker: heatwave grips parts of Asia and heavy snow hits Scandinavia

Record heat in Thailand and Laos is forecast to ease this week as snow sweeps Norway and Sweden

A prolonged heatwave that has been affecting many parts of Asia this month continued to batter the region last week. Much of the south-east, including Thailand and Laos, has been experiencing record heat: in Tak, north-west Thailand, the temperature soared to 45.4C (113.7F) on 15 April, while in Luang Prabang, Laos, it reached 42.7C.

Temperatures in Thailand continued to exceed 40C into the weekend, prompting the authorities to issue warnings for extreme heat and advise residents in many parts of the country, including the capital, Bangkok, to stay indoors.

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Severe heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close

Extreme temperatures described as ‘worst April heatwave in Asian history’ as records threatened in India, China, Thailand and Laos

A severe heatwave has swept across much of Asia, causing deaths and school closures in India and record-breaking temperatures in China.

Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, described the unusually high temperatures as the “worst April heatwave in Asian history”.

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Albanese meeting with Chinese premier heralds potential thaw in diplomatic freeze

Meeting with Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, is first between leaders of Australia and China since 2019

Anthony Albanese has met the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, at a gala dinner in Cambodia, opening the first leader-to-leader dialogue between the two countries since 2019.

The Australian prime minister’s office confirmed on Sunday the two leaders had a brief exchange after arriving at the dinner in Phnom Penh. The last conversation between the leaders of the two countries occurred when Scott Morrison and Li met in 2019.

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Child’s 130,000-year-old tooth could offer clues to extinct human relative

Researchers believe the discovery in a Laos cave proves that Denisovans lived in the warm tropics of southeast Asia

A child’s tooth at least 130,000 years old found in a Laos cave could help scientists uncover more information about an early human cousin, according to a new study.

Researchers believe the discovery proves that Denisovans – a now-extinct branch of humanity – lived in the warm tropics of southeast Asia.

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Thai government pressed over missing Lao activist Od Sayavong

Human Rights Watch calls for information on fate of 34-year-old amid a spate of disappearances of activists

Rights groups in Thailand have urged the government to investigate the apparent enforced disappearance of Od Sayavong, a prominent pro-democracy activist from Laos who has been missing for almost two weeks.

The 34-year-old Laotian activist was last seen at his Bangkok home on 26 August, sparking fears for his safety in a region where there has been a spate of enforced disappearances of political activists.

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Thai police arrest man suspected of smuggling semen for surrogacy across Laos border

Bangkok: Several times customs officials noticed a man carrying a strange-looking case across the border from north-eastern Thailand to Laos, a known smuggling route.When they confronted 25-year-old Nithinon Srithaniyanan and asked him to open the case they found six tubes of human semen in a nitrogen tank. Cambodia's surrogacy scandal Inside this poor village in Cambodia, Melbourne nurse Tammy Davis-Charles illegally recruited commercial surrogates before she was jailed.

Duterte to visit China amid strained Philippine ties with US

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit China next week, China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as the Southeast Asian leader's relationship with its traditional ally the United States frays. President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a meeting with banana production businessmen in Davao city, in southern Philippines, October 7, 2016.

Duterte: After tough talk, damage control prevails

The new Philippine president uses an expletive to warn key ally Barack Obama not to lecture him on human rights and, in another impromptu speech, declares a dramatic policy change in policy such as removing U.S. counterterrorism forces out of his country's volatile south. His key officials walk back the remarks and say everything is normal.

Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte to Abu Sayyaf: ‘I will eat you alive’

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte used some explicit language in a vow to revenge a bombing that left 15 people dead, threatening to eat those responsible alive. The outspoken leader, in Vientiane, Laos, to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit conference, spoke about the terrorist bombing in Davao City, where he was mayor for 22 years before becoming president.

80 million unexploded bombs: Obama pledges help for Laos

Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachit, left, and U.S. President Barack Obama toast during an official state luncheon at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos, on Tuesday. VIENTIANE, LAOS >> Declaring a "moral obligation" to heal the wounds of a secret war, President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged help to clear away the 80 million unexploded bombs the U.S. dropped on Laos a generation ago - more than 10 for every one of the country's 7 million people.

Obama aide to meet with missing Laotian activist’s wife

A top aide of President Barack Obama said Tuesday he will meet with the wife of a missing Laotian activist, whose case has been repeatedly highlighted by human rights groups as an example of authoritarian excesses of Laos' one-party Communist government. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters he will meet with Shui Meng Ng on Thursday while Obama is visiting Laos.

Obama says the US has a ‘moral obligation’ to clean up the scars of war in Laos

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