Laos

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Hostel Staff Held Over Tourist Deaths in Laos

Methanol poisoning is believed to have killed 6 in Vang Vieng

(Newser) - Eight staffers at a hostel in Laos have been detained after a rash of tourist deaths and illnesses last week. Two 19-year-old Australians, two Danish women in their early 20s, and a 57-year-old American man all died of suspected methanol poisoning during their stay at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in...

Tourist Deaths in Laos Are Part of a Bigger Problem

Diplomats say poisonings from tainted alcohol in Southeast Asia are common but awareness is low

(Newser) - A second Australian teenager has died from suspected methanol poisoning after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos, bringing the death toll to six in what is believed to be a mass poisoning. The deaths have drawn attention to the longstanding problem of tainted alcohol in Southeast Asia, where despite warnings from...

4 Tourists Die in Laos
Fifth Tourist Dies in Laos
updated
Nov 21, 2024 4:15 PM CST

Fifth Tourist Dies in Laos

American, Australian, Danish, UK tourists apparently drank tainted cocktails

(Newser) - Another tourist has died in Laos in what authorities suspect is a mass poisoning. The UK's Foreign Office reported Thursday that Simone White, a 28-year-old London lawyer, is the fifth person killed in the tourist town of Vang Vieng, the BBC reports. At least seven people are hospitalized, per...

Emerging Form of Trafficking Turns People Into Scammers

Rights group says 700 Malaysians are trapped in Laos right now

(Newser) - It's a form of human-trafficking with a high-tech twist: Young men and women who respond to a job offer and end up forced into running online love and investment scams. Voice of America zeroes in on one alleged instance of this involving Malaysia and Laos. The Malaysian International Humanitarian...

It's 'One of the Last Untold Stories' of the Vietnam War

Secret spraying of Agent Orange in Laos continues to take a heavy toll

(Newser) - It is, writes George Black in the New York Times , "one of the last untold stories of the American war in Southeast Asia." He's referring to the scope of the United States' secret and illegal spraying of Agent Orange—and the even more toxic Agent Purple—on...

Hundreds Missing, Feared Dead After Laos Dam Gives Out

More than 6K people have been left homeless after reported collapse of Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam

(Newser) - Hundreds of people are missing, more than 6,000 have been left homeless, and an unknown number are thought dead after a portion of a still-under-construction hydroelectric dam in Laos' Attapeu province reportedly collapsed Monday night, per the AP . The country's KPL news agency, via the BBC , reports that...

MIA Vietnam Soldier Turns Up 40 Years Later—Sort Of

MIA Vietnam Soldier
Turns Up 40 Years
Later—Sort Of
in case you missed it
Feb 5, 2017 7:10 AM CST

MIA Vietnam Soldier Turns Up 40 Years Later—Sort Of

People really wanted to believe Dang Tan Ngoc was John Robertson, and so they did

(Newser) - The year was 1968, and John Hartley Robertson, a 36-year-old US Green Beret who worked in a top-secret unit, was in a chopper over the jungles of Laos when a Vietcong rocket shot into the sky and straight into the helicopter, which plummeted and exploded in a valley. Robertson's...

How Escape From N. Korea Leads to Online Sex Work in China


How Escape From
N. Korea Leads
to Online Sex
Work in China
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 23, 2016 4:37 PM CDT

How Escape From N. Korea Leads to Online Sex Work in China

'WaPo' details lives of women fleeing from one bad situation to another as online sex 'video chatters'

(Newser) - "Why are our lives so different, just because of where we are born?" That's the question posed to the Washington Post by Suh, a 30-year-old North Korean woman now being held in a Bangkok detention center after being busted by local cops while trying to cross from Laos...

Obama, Duterte Meet Face-to-Face
Obama, Duterte
Meet Face-to-Face
Sep 8, 2016 3:46 AM CDT

Obama, Duterte Meet Face-to-Face

They exchanged 'pleasantries' before dinner

(Newser) - President Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met informally on Wednesday in a holding room before attending a gala dinner at a regional summit, Philippine officials say. The brief meeting took a little sting out of the soured relations caused by Duterte's intemperate language in referring to Obama earlier...

Obama's Visit to Laos the First for Sitting President

He acknowledges secret war, pledges money to clear bombs

(Newser) - President Obama did something on Tuesday that no other US president has done: He visited the tiny nation of Laos. And while he did not explicitly apologize for America's secret bombing of the nation during the Vietnam War, he acknowledged it and said the US has a "moral...

Were Laos' Huge Stone Jars Used to Decompose Bodies?

February find provides a new clue

(Newser) - The discovery in February of an ancient burial site could provide a clue for unraveling the mystery of the Plain of Jars—a region in central Laos that is littered with thousands of stone jars, Live Science reports. There are more than 90 jar sites (some with up to 400...

All Passengers Killed in Laos Plane Crash

Thai official puts death toll at 44

(Newser) - A Laos Airlines flight crashed today in the Southeast Asian country, killing all 44 people aboard, an official in neighboring Thailand said. Sek Wannamethee said the flight from the Lao capital of Vientiane to Pakse in southern Laos crashed at about 4pm local time. He said the flight crashed 4...

Worst for Wildlife: Vietnam
 Worst for Wildlife: Vietnam 
Jul 23, 2012 8:07 AM CDT

Worst for Wildlife: Vietnam

New WWF report ranks China second, Laos third

(Newser) - Rhinos, tigers, and elephants don't fare so well in Vietnam: The Asian country is the worst when it comes to wildlife crime, says the WWF in its first report on the matter. Rhinos are in danger there because citizens believe the horns have medicinal value; legalized tiger farms also...

Clinton Makes Historic Visit to Laos

She's the first US secretary of state there in five decades

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton just keeps racking up the miles , today becoming the first US secretary of state to visit Laos in more than five decades, in a test of whether a place the United States pummeled with bombs during the Vietnam War could evolve into a new foothold of American...

Pocket of Asia Yields 208 New Species—in 1 Year

Mekong region's amazing biodiversity under threat, WWF warns

(Newser) - It's a region that produces a new species every other day: Carnivorous plants that can eat mice, birds, and lizards. An all-female species of lizard that reproduces by self-cloning. Brightly colored geckos bathed in orange, yellow, blue, and green markings. A noseless monkey that looks like it's wearing...

In Laos, Bringing Books to Children—Via Elephant

The story of one American expatriate's local publishing company

(Newser) - In Laos, many children had never seen a book until “Uncle Sasha” came to town. American Sasha Alyson first visited the impoverished country in 2003, and was struck by the lack of books for children. “Many [kids] don't even know what a book is. Sometimes you have to...

Vietnam Vet Receives Medal of Honor Posthumously

Bravery in Laos was a secret for decades

(Newser) - President Obama awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor today for an act of bravery the military had covered up for decades. Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger was killed while helping three wounded comrades onto an evacuation helicopter during an attack on a US outpost in Laos. But for years, the...

Endangered Species: Rare Saola, or 'Asian Unicorn,' Dies After Being Captured in Laos

 Rare 'Asian 
 Unicorn' 
 Captured 
 in Laos 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 19, 2010 2:30 PM CDT

Rare 'Asian Unicorn' Captured in Laos

Sadly, it died shortly after capture

(Newser) - Laos villagers caught a rare animal known as the “Asian unicorn,” only to have it die while in their care. No biologist has reported seeing a Saola, which actually has two horns, in the wild; all existing pictures have been taken by villagers or automatic cameras, the BBC...

Pregnant Brit Gets Life Sentence in Laos

Convicted of trafficking 1.5 pounds of heroin

(Newser) - A pregnant British woman convicted of drug trafficking in Laos last year has been handed a life sentence, AFP reports. Samantha Orobator, 20, who was nabbed while trying to board a plane to Thailand, had been found found guilty of trafficking 1.5 pounds of heroin, said a UK embassy...

Laos May Send Pregnant Brit to UK Prison

20-year-old accused of drug smuggling denies she was raped in prison

(Newser) - A pregnant British woman jailed in Laos could be allowed to serve her sentence in the UK if she is found guilty of drug smuggling, CNN reports. British and Laotian officials signed a prisoner transfer agreement yesterday after meeting in London to discuss the case of Samantha Orobator, 20, who...

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