Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Sixty-eight organisations sign letter amid fears Lu Siwei could be deported at request of Chinese authorities
Sixty-eight human rights groups have signed an open letter calling on the Laos government to release Lu Siwei, a Chinese former human rights lawyer detained by Laotian police near Vientiane last week.
Lu was seized by police on Friday as he attempted to board a train from Laos to Thailand, where he planned to catch a flight to the US to join his wife and daughter. Nearly one week later, he appears to still be held in Laotian immigration detention, despite reportedly being told that he would be deported to China.
Activists and family members fear Lu Siwei will be deported back to China, where he could be sent to prison
A Chinese rights lawyer stripped of his licence for taking on sensitive cases has been arrested in Laos, and activists and family members are worried he will be deported back to China, where he could be jailed.
Lu Siwei was seized by Laotian police on Friday morning while boarding a train for Thailand. He was on his way to Bangkok to catch a flight to the US to join his wife and daughter.
Temperatures up to 45C recorded in April in parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos
A searing heatwave in parts of southern Asia in April was made at least 30 times more likely by climate breakdown, according to a study by international scientists.
Unusually high temperatures of up to 45C (113F) were recorded last month in monitoring stations in parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos.
Records for countries broken just weeks after temperature in Thailand rose above 45C for the first time
All-time temperature records were broken in Vietnam and Laos last week. On 6 May, Hoi Xuan in Vietnam reached a scorching 44.1C, breaking the previous record for the country of 43.4C, set in 2019. On the same day, Laos recorded its highest-ever temperature, , which reached 43.5C in Luang Prabang. These records were set just a few weeks after temperatures in Thailand rose above 45C for the first time.
A breakdown of the heat in south-east Asia is expected to occur in the next few days as a tropical disturbance is likely to develop nearby. Forecast models suggest that, over the coming days, the Bay of Bengal will have the perfect conditions for cyclogenesis to occur. By later this week, several factors, including enhanced vorticity and very high sea surface temperatures, will enhance the chance that a tropical storm will edge north-eastwards into parts of Myanmar. This will bring some strong winds and significant rainfall to south-east Asia, including the areas that have recently seen their temperature records broken.
Rights groups call for urgent and independent investigation into killing of government critic
A prominent activist and critic of the government in Laos has been shot dead in an attack at a coffee shop in the capital, Vientiane.
Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom, 25, who runs a Facebook page where people share criticism of the government, was sitting in a cafe in Vientiane on 29 April when the attack happened.
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.
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.
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.
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.
People are seen on a vehicle on Thursday as they travel during the flood after the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy hydropower dam collapsed in Attapeu province. Relief supplies from His Majesty the King and the government have arrived in southern Laos as more are on the way to help Laotians affected by a dam collapse.
Ten Southeast Asian leaders watched a parade and stunt performances as India celebrated Friday's anniversary of its national constitution taking effect. Marching bands, floats, military hardware, camels and stunt performers on motorbikes were paraded from the president's palace through the tree-lined roads of central Delhi.
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.
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.
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.
U.S. President Barack Obama clasps his hands to bid farewell as he boards Air Force One at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, Laos, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, en route to Washington after attending the ASEAN Summit.
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.
President Barack Obama says Americans can get "lazy" and insular, and he hopes his presidency has helped broaden their worldview. Speaking to a group of young leaders from across Southeast Asia, Obama says the U.S. "is and can be a great force for good in the world."
King Ogabe graced the Laotian people with his omniscient presence, a pleasant distraction from the oppressive Marxist thugs they normally have to applaud for, I'm sure. And in all of you here today - and especially the young people of Laos - we see the diversity that is the strength of this nation.