Foreign firms avoid Lao workers because they ‘have no skills,’ labor official says
A top lawmaker wants the companies to hire locally, but observers say the situation is complicated.
‘Free education’ in Southeast Asia often isn’t free
Additional fees can eat up a family’s daily wages and force some to pull their children out of school.
‘I started to cry seeing the baby taken away’
A Lao surrogate for Chinese parents gives rare insight into an illegal industry that continues to thrive.
Laos to send soldiers to teach at schools amid teacher shortage
The soldiers will be trained and deployed to rural elementary schools.
Radio Free Asia files lawsuit against US administration to restore funding
RFA’s federal grant was terminated on March 15 putting in doubt its future reporting on China and other authoritari
Public servants kept in dark as Laos merges government ministries
The ruling communist party called the cuts necessary, but state employees said they haven’t seen an official order.
Laos investigates executives who oversaw long-delayed hydro dam
Ruling Communist Party publication said state funds for construction of Nam Him Boun dam were embezzled.
Rise in HIV/AIDS cases in Laos tied to dam and mine projects, NGO official says
Health officials worry about unsafe sexual practices and a lack of knowledge on how the disease is transmitted.
Families hit by shop explosion in Laos are repairing damage at their own expense
They don’t expect aid from the provincial government, though officials are taking stock of the destruction.
2 Lao women warn of pitfalls of agreeing to ‘sham marriages’ in China
In interviews with RFA, the women said promised payments for their arranged marriages never materialized.
