Laos

Luang Prabang will organise the Boun Hor Khaopadapdin, with boat racing activities along the Namkhan River, after two years of pandemic; the annual festival is held to feed the spirits with homemade food parcels

About 7.000 people die every year in Laos from smoking-related diseases, 19 individuals a day, including non-smokers who inhale second-hand smoke, in figures presented by the Minister of Health

The Mines Advisory Group's Unlock the Land appeal, supported by actress Rosamund Pike, aims to fund a team of women to remove the deadly explosives, which continue to contaminate the country after being dropped during the Indochina War

A highway linking the capital Vientiane with Houaphanh province is closer to reality after a feasibility study for the project was launched in the presence of the Ministry of Planning and Investment

The government has issued new legislation authorising the export of natural wood products, with the aim of increasing wood production and processing, as well as providing favourable conditions for the export of natural wood abroad

Authorities in the capital are trialling the use of electric rubbish trucks, equipped with a sophisticated rubbish collection system able to compress rubbish to 3 m3, and will distribute more than 1.000 rubbish collection bins to target villages

The last freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin living in a stretch of the Mekong River bordering northeast Cambodia and Laos has reportedly died as a result of becoming entangled in a fishing net

More than 70.000 people were affected by floods and other natural disasters in 2021; the figure was presented at a disaster management committee meeting together with the report on the disaster preparedness plan for 2022