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No Autopsy, No Charges in Vang Vieng Methanol Deaths

Twenty months after six tourists died from suspected methanol poisoning at the Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng, police have closed the case without any charges against the hostel's owner or staff. At a press conference kept closed to foreign media, Police Colonel Khamphong Vongdalasene said investigators lacked evidence that any individual had caused the deaths. The gap was basic and brutal. No autopsies were performed on the victims, who included Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles and British lawyer Simone White. A local vodka maker was charged only with running an illegal business and selling products “harmful to health.” Only Australian, UK and Danish diplomats were admitted to the briefing, in addition to local media. Shaun Bowles, Morton-Bowles' father, said the findings were "an excuse." Karsten Sorensen, whose daughter Freja also died, was harsher, saying authorities were trying to cover something up and calling the process corrupt and incompetent.

Read more: ABC

Luang Prabang Dam Almost 3/4 Complete

The Luang Prabang dam is almost three-quarters complete, keeping it on track for a 2030 startup and 1,460 megawatts of run-of-river capacity by way of its seven turbines. Thailand's CK Power owns half the project, Gulf Hydropower holds a fifth, and CH. Karnchang, TTW, and PT Sole split the rest. Most of the electricity will be bound for Thailand. The $5 billion project is about 25 kilometers from Luang Prabang's UNESCO old town, which has been cause for years of heritage warnings. At a recent site visit, officials said the fears had been addressed, without saying how. If the dam is finished as planned, it will become the Mekong mainstream's third dam after Xayabouly and Don Sahong. Six more are planned.

Read more: Laotian Times

Electricity Exports to Vietnam Up 120 Percent

Electricity exports to Vietnam more than doubled in a 120 percent year-on-year increase to a record 2.92 billion kilowatt-hours in Q1 2026. By the end of 2025, Hanoi had approved imports from 47 power projects with a combined capacity of more than 8,260 megawatts. Of that, 2,379 MW is already feeding into the grid. Vientiane also signed a concession for an 80 MW Xekaman 4 hydropower project in Sekong, with all of its output planned to be sent to Vietnam. Bilateral trade was $1.305 billion in the first half, led by gold, potassium chloride, and electrical machinery. Hanoi has also broken ground on the 60-kilometer Vinh-Thanh Thuy Expressway to the border, the first stretch of a planned Vientiane-Hanoi corridor.

Read more: Laotian Times

Hotel Raid Nets 51 in Furniture Scam

Police nabbed 51 foreigners, including Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese citizens, at a Xieng Khouang hotel, and have accused them of running an online furniture and home-appliance scam. Officers took more than 100 phones, computers, and other call-center fraud kit from the rooms. The raid came after a tip from a local resident.

Read more: News on Japan

Squishy Toys Pulled From Shelves Over Benzene

Laos ordered a stop on imports and sales of non-certified Squishy toys after inspections found excessive benzene levels in the TikTok-popular stress toys. Authorities say at least three children got rashes, blister-like burns, eye irritation, fever and vomiting after playing with them.

Read more: Laotian Times

Storms Swamp Khammouane's Rice Paddies

Storms Maysak and Bavi dumped ten days of rain on Khammouane's Khounkham district, flooding 3,234 hectares of paddy in 19 villages and leaving 1,365 families evaluating the damage. The district's Disaster Management Committee put losses at LAK 39.7 billion (~$1.75M). Cassava and rubber plantations, irrigation canals, and livestock were also hit. The 2026 flood response plan is tightening oversight of almost a hundred hydropower operators and putting local coordinators on-site at dams.

Read more: Laotian Times

Vientiane Tells Online Sellers to Register

Vientiane's Department of Industry and Commerce says the rule isn’t new, but it’s time to comply. Online sellers have needed a business registration and e-commerce license since 2023, with fines up to LAK 10 million (~$440). Nationwide E-Trust registration became mandatory on February 1, 2026, letting even home-based sellers in remote provinces file online. Rules also require Lao-language labels, pricing in the kip, and a ban on unapproved pyramid or fundraising schemes. The notice draws no distinction between domestic and foreign operators.

Read more: Laotian Times

Gas Pumps Get an Electric Makeover

The State Fuel Company and Electricite du Laos are looking into whether state-owned petrol stations can become EV fast-charging hubs, with chargers built for both the international CCS Type 2 standard and China's GB/T plug. The study also investigates the viability of turning old fuel stops into energy hubs with cafés, restaurants and convenience stores. Petrol and diesel vehicle imports are mostly banned through the end of 2026, and even though Laos runs largely on hydropower, it still pays for every drop of fuel in foreign currency. No cost estimate or rollout date was provided.

Read more: The Star (agreements), Fuel Cells Works (import ban)

Government-Majority Venture to Certify Its Own Products

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has given inspection and certification duties to a new outfit called State-owned Enterprises for Checking Standards and Certifying Product Quality Limited. Fifty one percent of the company is held by the government and 49 percent by Lao Standard Control Co. The company will test goods against national standards and issue certificates of legality before they hit shelves or cross borders. Officials say that consumer complaints filed through the National Assembly hotline as the trigger. No fee schedule or testing timeline was published.

Read more: Laotian Times

Party Turns Heritage Into a Tourism Line Item

The Party Central Committee wants more money out of culture. It approved the Lao Cultural Values Promotion Association, tasking it with turning heritage into a creative economy for artists, performers, and cultural entrepreneurs. Association president Savanhkhone Razmountry says cultural attractions already pull in four to five million visitors a year. The launch came in the wake of Vientiane's first khaen festival, tying the UNESCO-listed instrument to the government's 2026-2030 cultural and tourism strategy. That strategy also covers a pending UNESCO bid for Larb (the food) and a planned nomination for the Su Khuan blessing ceremony. The association's first job will be a national inventory of intangible cultural assets. In a separate development, ASEAN assessors are arriving in mid-August to inspect Nakai-Nam Theun’s 4,000 sq km for Heritage Park status, which officials hope to secure in 2028. UNESCO World Heritage inscription is queued for 2029, with an IUCN Green List bid running alongside. The park is more than four-fifths forest and home to the critically endangered saola. It was added to UNESCO’s tentative list in 2025 and completed its Green List gap analysis last October.

Read more: TravelMole (tourism target), VietnamPlus (khaen), The Star (heritage park)

Southern Laos Development Wish List

Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone told officials in Champasak to stop shipping raw minerals and start processing, branding and selling them to export standards. He’s pushing a regional plan for the regions of Champasak, Salavan, Xekong and Attapeu that also calls for dry ports, cold storage, solar-powered irrigation and simplified customs procedures.

Read more: Asian News Network

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Tiger Vodka Owner Could Get a Year in Jail

Lao prosecutors charged the owner of the Tiger Vodka distillery with selling food harmful to health and running an illegal business, charges that together carry up to one year in jail and an A$1,600 fine, after the November 2024 methanol poisoning that killed two Australians, two Danes, a Briton, and an American in Vang Vieng. The Ministry of Public Security says it’s unable to pin the deaths on any one person because no autopsies were done, even though the Food and Drug Research Center found excessive methanol in Tiger Vodka and a Thai hospital confirmed methanol in the two Australian victims' blood. Canberra raised its travel advisory to "exercise a high degree of caution," sent special envoy Pablo Kang, and summoned the Lao ambassador. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the outcome was "bitterly disappointing" and is going to press Vientiane again at ASEAN talks in Manila. There is still room for a negligent homicide charge.

Read more: NewsNation (travel warning), BBC (MethaKnow campaign), Laotian Times (charges), CP24 (autopsy dispute), The Guardian (Australia response)

Heroin Trail Runs to Melbourne

Authorities arrested two people over a network that was moving product across the Mekong into Thailand, then on to Australia and Taiwan, hidden in silk clothing, coffee sachets, handicrafts, and winter jackets. The case is connected to the 26-year-old Thai Airways flight attendant caught at Melbourne Airport with 1.8 kilograms of heroin stitched into two elephant-embroidered tote bags. Five of six suspects are now in custody in Thailand and Laos; a third suspect is still at large.

Read more: Laotian Times

Decree No. 112 Puts Teeth Behind Late Payments

Miss a land lease or concession payment now and the meter starts ticking up 10% a month, then 20% on a second offense and 30% on the third, under Decree No. 112. Miners will get the same escalating scale on unpaid royalties. Forestry operators and industrial water users also get hit (even harder), with penalties of 200% of the unpaid royalty on a first violation, 300% on a second, and 400% on the third. The same rates will apply to anyone who misreports the amount, quality, category, or type of resource extracted. The decree fills a gap where lease contract law previously didn’t have much to say about penalties, treating nonpayment as a contractual breach rather than a regulatory one.

Read more: VDB Loi

Hong Kong Signs Up to Refine and Trade Gold

Hong Kong's Christopher Hui Ching-yu signed an MOU in Vientiane with Deputy PM and Finance Minister Santiphab Phomvihane, giving "qualified" gold owners access to Hong Kong's accredited refining network and capital markets for pricing and liquidity. The deal is part of Hong Kong's gold buildout, including a central clearing and settlement system that began trial runs earlier this month, plans to push vault capacity past 2,000 tonnes in the next three years, and a new HAU price ticker. Hui suggested it as a way to turn "natural gold endowment" into "investable, transparent assets." The announcement gave no figures for current gold output or export volumes. The agreement also covers work with the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

Read more: The Standard (market), Asian News Network (AML work)

Poverty Falls Nationally, Rises in Cities

The World Bank's new poverty profile puts the national rate at 15% in 2024, down from almost a quarter in 2012, meaning there are about 500,000 fewer poor people despite a growing population. More than four-fifths of poor workers still farm for a living, and urban poverty has been on the rise since 2018, with the urban share of the country's poor rising to almost one-fifth. Hydropower and mining have driven GDP growth without creating many jobs, and young people are more likely than older workers to be economically inactive or stuck in unpaid family labor. The share of households getting remittances has more than doubled since 2018, from about one in eleven to more than one in five.

Read more: World Bank

Permits Before Plug-ins

Homeowners installing EV chargers now need technical approval from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, under rules from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Public stations are going under the microscope too, with developers required to submit site, safety, and grid-capacity plans before starting work. Existing stations built without prior approval need to register with provincial authorities for inspection, but the announcement did not specify a timeframe. New stations are going to be limited to approved sites, shopping centers, hotels, office buildings, transport hubs, airports, petrol stations, and large residential developments.

Read more: Laotian Times

Attapeu Court Orders Nine to Repay $1.26M

Nine defendants convicted by the Attapeu Provincial People's Court must return nearly LAK 28 billion (~$1.26M), to the state for illegal currency trading, unlawful lending, and usury. Each also got a suspended one-year prison sentence and a LAK 10 million fine, (~$455). The nine will also have to cover investigation and court costs.

Read more: Laotian Times

Lavrov Meets Vientiane First in Manila

Sergey Lavrov opened his ASEAN sideline meetings with counterpart Thongsavanh Phomvihane before anyone else (including the hosts), ahead of the 15th anniversary of Russia's strategic partnership declaration with Vientiane. He made a point of mentioning President Thongloun Sisoulith's turn at Moscow's Victory Day parade and Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone's appearance at the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan. Both sides claimed "similar positions" on regional and global matters but offered no detail on substance.

Read more: Anadolu Agency

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The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

ADB and WB Cut Growth Forecasts

The Asian Development Bank expects Lao growth to slow to four percent in 2026 (vs 4.4% last year). The World Bank has a gloomier outlook with a 3.8% expectation. Vientiane is taking the figures in stride while talking a bigger game. Officials said growth was five percent in the first half and are sticking with their 5.5% target for the year. ADB thinks will be 9.8% though 2026 and will slow to a more palatable (but still high) 6.7% next year. Bank of the Lao PDR Governor Bounkham Vorachit told the National Assembly that he wants the full-year average under seven percent, which is a lovely target but will still be a stretch after price increases averaged almost eight percent through the first half of the year.

Read more: The Star

Chinese Buy Pangolin Scales on Railway

Guardian reporters working undercover found shops along the Laos-China railway selling pangolin scales by the bowl, as well as bear bile, tiger bone and ivory chopsticks. Some of the shops were disguised as tea shops or cultural centers that for “some reason” needed CCTV and electric gates. A Chinese-owned restaurant in Vientiane's Xaysettha district has been serving wildlife dishes to foreign tour groups as "special" menu items "that cannot legally be served in neighboring countries." Officers were able to take some of the illicit product, including pangolin carcasses and bear paws, as they arrested a Chinese citizen.

Read more: The Guardian (wildlife trade), The Guardian (undercover video), Laotian Times (restaurant raid)

Sweep Nets Scammers in Vientiane Homes

Police raided seven rented houses in Vientiane's Sisattanak district and arrested 122 foreigners from China, Malaysia, Brazil, Myanmar, Uruguay and Pakistan. All seven properties, in Buengkhayong village, belonged to CAMCE Investment (Lao) Co., Ltd. One house was stuffed with 34 Chinese; another held 31 people, including 26 Brazilians; a third yielded 19 Malaysians and a small stash of drugs. A Chinese citizen who came on the scene to try and arrange bail was also arrested. The sweep is perhaps the crescendo event in a month that has now produced more than 170 arrests in four other raids. More than 4,400 people have been arrested for cybercrime, online scams and illegal gambling in the first half of 2026, including almost 1,000 in June.

Read more: Laotian Times

Corporate Tax Rulebook Gets Rewrite

Laos has replaced its 2019 Income Tax Law with a new one that took effect on the first of July. The new rules introduce formal transfer pricing rules and set a 15 percent minimum corporate tax for multinationals for the first time. Permanent establishments of multinationals will now have to compute taxable profits as if they were standalone businesses, and the tax authority is allowed to adjust or disregard related-party transactions that they think don’t have an arm's-length rationale. The law also limits deductible net interest to 20 percent of EBITDA, disallows depreciation on administrative vehicles of more than LAK 1 billion each, and excludes already-taxed dividends from taxable revenue. Law No. 88/NA will apply to tax years beginning on or after July 1.

Read more: VDB Loi

4k+ Drug Arrests in Six Months

Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone told the National Assembly that police opened 1,786 drug cases and arrested 4,025 suspects nationwide in the first half of 2026. The hauls are still piling up. Police found 1.2 million meth tablets abandoned in a pickup truck during a Bolikhamxay chase and intercepted 1.5 metric tons of meth tablets plus 500 kilograms of crystal meth on a Vientiane Province highway earlier this year. Bokeo police destroyed more than 17.3 metric tons of old evidence. Interestingly, Lao rehab centers reportedly took in 7,046 people; 2,769 have finished treatment and gone home. Seems like big business.

Read more: Laotian Times

Savannakhet Sinkholes From Erosion, Not Mining

Eight sinkholes, each 2 to 4 meters wide, have formed in Nongkadang village near irrigation canals and rice paddies in Vilabouly district. The area is Laos' main gold belt and not far from Lane Xang Minerals' Sepone operation. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has now pinned the blame on limestone erosion and heavy rain, not mining, saying a nearly identical cluster opened in the same spot four or five years ago and another appeared in Khammouane's Thongkhanoy village in May. A January sinkhole that was connected to potash extraction in Xaythany district resulted in four people missing and required 38 homes to evacuate. A provincial technical team is reportedly now on site with Lane Xang Minerals to continue investigations.

Read more: Laotian Times

Typhoon Displaces 21,000

Typhoon Maysak's rains have displaced 3,822 households, or about 21,000 people, in Luang Namtha, Bokeo, Phongsali, Vientiane, Bolikhamxai, Khammouane and Savannakhet. Khammouane took the worst of it. In Koun Kham, 14 households were moved to temporary shelters, and authorities put up stranded travelers after roads were cut. The Lao Red Cross has installed an AP700 water treatment unit in Na Hang village to keep drinking water available as damage assessments continue. So far there have been no requests for any international assistance.

Read more: ReliefWeb

Wolbachia Mosquitoes Arrive in Five Provinces

The Wolbachia release program is now in effect for Vientiane, Oudomxay, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and Champasak, after 336 village health volunteers in 197 villages spent April to June explaining bacteria-carrying mosquitoes door to door. Acceptance is reportedly at almost nine in ten households. The pitch is that the mosquitos are good for locals since a previous trial in India reduced dengue cases by more than three-quarters, and North Queensland has reportedly more-or-less eliminated local transmission. Laos reported 1,494 cases of dengue between 2025 and mid-2026.

Read more: The Star

Sign On as SCO Dialogue Partner

Ten months after a Tianjin summit resulted in the go-ahead, Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane put his pen to the paperwork in Beijing to bring Laos in to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a Dialogue Partner. The status is short of full membership but opens the door to SCO meetings on trade, transport, digital transformation and tourism. Transport is the obvious bit, given the China-Laos Railway which has become a pillar of the Belt and Road and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnerships. With this move, Laos joins 14 other Dialogue Partners who are working together on access to Central Asian, South Asian and Eurasian markets through a bloc of 10 members built around Beijing and Moscow. No new financing was announced.

Read more: Laotian Times (SCO status), CGTN (bloc lineup)

Assembly Debates Infrastructure, Civil Service

The 10th National Assembly's first session moved from poverty hearings to specifics. Champasak lawmaker Alounxay Sounnalath pushed for extending the railway to southern Laos, arguing it would support trade and regional growth. Public Works Minister Leklai Sivilay said road and water projects will put signed contracts and already-funded deals first, with the rest drawing on road maintenance funds, state investment, ODA and public-private partnerships. The PM confirmed that a “6+3+3” education overhaul will start with Grade 6 in the 2028-2029 academic year. The plan will lengthen primary schooling from five years to six and reduce lower secondary school (middle school) from four to three year. Also being considered are a new national teacher training university, Lao-Vietnam and Lao-Russia schools, and 2,500 new civil service posts, mostly for workers in healthcare and education.

Read more: Laotian Times

Lao Telecom Gets Flood Warnings on Speed Dial

Lao Telecommunications and People in Need Laos have agreee to send flood warnings by SMS and interactive voice response systems to the Lao public. The deal is aligned with the UN's Early Warning for All Roadmap 2024-2027 and was overseen by Director General Alounnadeth Barnchit and PIN Head of Programs Tomas Durana, along with officials from the Ministry of Technology and Communications, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, and other UN agencies.

Read more: Asia Insurance Review

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

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The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Thai Hydropower Financier Gets Life in $24.8M Sweep

The Vientiane Capital People's Court closed four corruption cases by sentencing at least ten of 17 defendants to life sentences and ordering the confiscation of $24.8 million in cash, vehicles, land, and bank accounts. The biggest name is Thai businessman Aphichart Vannakul, the only foreign national named, who got life for his role in a hydropower corruption deal connected to former Electricity of Laos executives, including Thongphet Duangngeun. The other three cases involved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Agricultural Promotion Bank, the State Inspection Authority, and the Bank of the Lao PDR, where officials were convicted of misappropriating funds, taking bribes, and forging documents.

Read more: Laotian Times

Thongloun Tells Inspectors There Are No Exceptions

The day after the life sentences above were handed down, President Thongloun Sisoulith told Party and state bodies there would be "no restricted zones and no exceptions" in anti-corruption enforcement. He referred to cases that sometimes sit for years without resolution and court rulings that go unenforced, then told inspection, prosecution, and judicial agencies to work better together so that violations can go straight to prosecution instead of stalling out. He also gave a warning to inspectors by telling them that they shouldn’t turn oversight into a place for "bargaining, compromise or shielding wrongdoing." He wants reports published so the public can see consequences, though he gave no case numbers and no target date for clearing the backlog.

Read more: Asian News Network (inspection review), VietnamPlus (official protections)

PM Reports 4,482 Cybercrime Arrests This Year

Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone told the National Assembly that 44 cybercrime operations since January have resulted in 4,482 arrests (25 nationalities, including 779 Lao nationals). June made up almost 900 of the arrests, the year's biggest single month. A raid in Vientiane's Naxaithong district snagged 9 Chinese and 14 Vietnamese suspects, and police later swept a hotel complex near Xang Jieng Market and netted 28 Chinese nationals who authorities say were involved with online gambling. In Phongsaly, officers arrested seven Lao nationals and one Chinese national; the Chinese suspect was passed to Chinese officials.

Read more: Laotian Times

Vientiane, Naypyidaw Paired as Sister Cities

Three days of talks about defense, trade, energy, transport, and labor cooperation between Lao and Myanmar officials ended with just two signed documents. One was a tourism MOU between the culture ministries and the other was a "friendship city" pact twinning Vientiane with Naypyidaw. Min Aung Hlaing, on his first state visit since Myanmar's much-derided election, got a full honors welcome at the Presidential Palace and a sit-down with Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, who added cross-border air pollution to the agenda. President Thongloun Sisoulith congratulated him on the election victory and the formation of a new government. Thin paperwork but warm optics.

Read more: VietnamPlus (ASEAN framework), Khmer Times (humanitarian affairs)

National Assembly Opens Session on Poverty

Laos's 10th National Assembly opened a five-day special session with lawmakers taking up a National Agenda on Rural Development and Poverty Reduction. It’s being billed as a top governmental development priority. National Assembly President Xaysomphone Phomvihane connected the session to the push to graduate from Least Developed Country status this year, and the government is already talking about a 2055 target for middle- to high-income status. Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone told the chamber that the country has continued to grow through the first half of 2026. The sitting is also expected to pass a new State Treasury Law and make some amendments to the State Budget Law.

Read more: The Star (GDP growth), VietnamPlus (session agenda)

Single Warehouse Fire Does Half the Damage

Fire crews in Laos reported 144 fires YTD, eight people dead and LAK 319.6 billion ($14.3 million) in damages, from 101 burned homes and 18 torched vehicles. One blaze did most of the damage. A June 11 fire at a four-story auto parts warehouse in Vientiane's Pakthang village took firefighters eight hours to wrestle under control and resulted in costs of an estimated $6.3 million. A second warehouse fire in Bokeo's Tonpheung district added $4.1 million more.

Read more: Laotian Times

Vientiane Adds 9.3 km of Korean-Funded Riverfront

Vientiane's Mekong promenade has been extended by more than 9,000 meters, running from Wat Nak village in Sisattanak District to Hatdokkeo in Hadsayfong and serving 19 villages along the way. The $67.56 million project was reliant on a $57.6 million low-interest loan from South Korea, and the Lao government ponied up the remaining $9.96 million. Built since 2022 using a riprap design meant to survive “once-in-a-century floods”, the new stretch adds 13 parks, boat landings, drainage, and cycling paths to a riverside system that began with a first 12-kilometer phase in 2014. Several of the new parks opened to joggers and cyclists before the ribbon-cutting.

Read more: Laotian Times

Lao Telecom Wires Up Flood Alerts as Rains Hit

Lao Telecommunication Public Company and the NGO People in Need signed an agreement to roll out an SMS and voice-response flood warning system in nine provinces and 33 high-risk districts, funded by Switzerland's SDC, the GSMA, and the UK's FCDO. The southwest monsoon is expected to keep hammering northern and central Laos, with Phongsaly, Houaphanh, Bolikhamxay, Champasak, Salavan, Sekong, and Attapeu all flagged for more flooding and landslides.

Read more: The Star (signatory names), Laotian Times (risk provinces)

Vientiane Exporter Shipped Cancer Drugs as Coolant

Customs officers at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport opened three packages labeled as “coolant.” The formulations, marketed under the Luci/Lucius brand line, were reportedly molecules including sotorasib, capivasertib, vandetanib, selpercatinib, belzutifan, and elacestrant. Investigators say the drugs were bound for resale through WhatsApp and Telegram groups at prices well below branded rates. CDSCO tested the samples and confirmed them as anti-cancer drugs.

Read more: Times of India

ILO Workshop Drafts Harassment Rules

Garment sector employers and union representatives spent two days in Vientiane working through harassment and discrimination policy with the ILO, the Lao Federation of Trade Unions, and the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Canada's Employment and Social Development agency funded the project. Equal pay, dispute resolution, and women's participation in decision-making were all on the agenda. No enforcement deadline was mentioned.

Read more: Funds for NGOs

FAO Backs Chilli Exports to China and Korea

The FAO is teaming with Vientiane to crack open chilli exports to China and South Korea, starting with a value chain workshop under its Hand-in-Hand Initiative. The country has about 15.4 million hectares suitable for the crop, but smallholders still dominate production, which makes hitting international quality standards a stretch. Contract farming with foreign investors has shown that better varieties and technology can help to lift yields.

Read more: VietnamPlus

Saysettha Low-Carbon Zone Still Hunting $5 Billion

Solar streetlights, electric buses, and new-energy trucks now run in the 11.5 square kilometer Vientiane-Saysettha zone, one of ten pilot projects under China's South-South climate program. CIDCA expects yearly emissions cuts topping 1,200 tons and is still counting on $5 billion in investment to fill out the industrial park and new urban area inaugurated in 2022. Ambitious.

Read more: Laotian Times

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

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The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

The Dark Room

A Guardian investigation shines a light on what happens inside the Golden Triangle's cyberscam compounds after the shifts end. The story features “Sarah,” a 39-year-old former shopkeeper from Uganda, was lured to Laos in 2022 with the promise of a social media management job, then sold between three compounds in the Golden Triangle. A few months in, she and three other women endured days of sexual abuse in what workers called the "dark room," where men were forced to rape them as punishment for refusing to scam more victims. She eventually escaped while in labor, sneaking past an absent guard one night in October 2023, her pregnancy hidden from the Chinese bosses she feared would kill her if they found out. The investigation says women inside these compounds, run mostly by Chinese and Taiwanese syndicates, have sexual violence and coerced fake-profile photos stacked on top of the forced labor and beatings male workers also endure.

Read more: The Guardian

Police Phone a Friend on Scam Centers

Lao police have arrested more than 900 people connected to scam operations since June 1, with raids running almost daily from Bokeo in the north to Sekong in the south. Officials sent 170 Chinese nationals back through the Boten checkpoint on June 24. The sweep has turned up a strange cast, including Ukrainian and Ethiopian nationals caught at a karaoke venue in Khammouane and a romance-scam ring in Vientiane Capital working Chinese women online. Lao Public Security Minister Vanthong Kongmany met Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Sokha in Phnom Penh and asked Cambodia to send officials to share what they know. Sokha had a warning, saying that after Cambodia's big enforcement pushes, syndicates changed tack to renting small guesthouses and private homes in residential neighborhoods. Vanthong said that this change is already happening in Laos too.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (Cambodia advice), Laotian Times (arrests), Laotian Times (Sekong raids)

Kip Catches a Break

June inflation came in at 7.4 percent, down from 10.2 percent in April and below the government's eight percent ceiling, as lower fuel prices and a steadier kip took pressure off household budgets. The figures came with a 5 percent GDP reading for the first half of 2026 and foreign reserves enough to cover more than five months of imports. Revenue collection is now ahead of the full-year target with half a year still to run. The government also nearly doubled the monthly tax-free income threshold to LAK 2.5 million, about USD 113, up from LAK 1.3 million. Rates above the line still run from 5 to 25 percent.

Read more: Laotian Times (cabinet figures), Laotian Times (tax brackets)

Fuel Holiday Ends at the Pump

Regular gasoline excise increased to 25 percent on June 24, reversing the emergency cut to 15 percent that had been in place since March. Diesel picked up a new 5 percent after three months at zero. The expiry was baked in from the start, as the March relief was always scheduled to expire at the end of June. Pump prices in Vientiane are LAK 30,690 per liter for regular, USD 1.38, and LAK 24,560 for diesel, USD 1.11. Premium gasoline is trading for LAK 35,840 and priced off its own CIF value. The country is still getting almost all of its refined fuel from Thailand, by way of a PTT supply deal signed in June, but some Russian petroleum has been tentatively routed through Vietnamese ports that Moscow says it is still only "considering."

Read more: Laotian Times

Mining Equipment Nabbed

Authorities have impounded 72 excavators, three dump trucks, a loader, 10 boats, and five pick-up trucks so far this year while breaking up illegal mining operations in 12 provinces. Both Lao and foreign nationals were arrested along the way. The reveal came out of a two-day government meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone; Deputy Minister Kheungkham Keonouchanh briefed reporters afterward.

Read more: The Star

Zoo on Paper, Bile Factory in Practice

Lao authorities and Free the Bears rescued 27 Asiatic black bears from a Chinese-owned facility that was registered as a zoo but was running as a commercial bile extraction setup. The rescue, possibly the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, found bears aged one to three, almost certainly poached as cubs from the wild. The site was built to hold up to 200 animals, so the shutdown is of an industrial-scale operation that was still growing. All 27 animals have been moved to the Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, where they will join more than 150 other bears Free the Bears has rescued over nearly a quarter century. Laos has since closed the legal loopholes that long protected older bile farms, though the trade is moving to Facebook and other platforms that are harder to police.

Read more: Mongabay

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The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

A New Route North

Cambodian durians now have a faster route to China that avoids both Thailand and Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia opened a new transit corridor for agricultural products on Monday, though exporters were already moving in that direction. Refrigerated trains on the Laos-China Railway can get Southeast Asian fruit to Chinese buyers in as little as three days, and Cambodian media say the new route cuts transit times from 15-20 days to about a week. China has already imported more than 185,000 tons of fruit by way of the railway this year, up 73 percent from the same period in 2025.

Read more: Laotian Times

Putin Comes Bearing Reactors, Reassurances

At the ASEAN-Russia summit in Kazan on Thursday, Vladimir Putin showed up with an energy offer for almost every delegation he met. Rosatom signed a nuclear cooperation framework with Laos, including discussions around a Russian-designed power plant that could help the country reach its 2050 net-zero target. Malaysia came away with promises on fuel, oil, and gas supplies, and PM Anwar Ibrahim said that a long-term agreement is being worked out. Indonesia is looking at nuclear too. Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev said Jakarta has shown “tremendous interest” in Russian nuclear technology as it explores the idea of floating power plants. If there was a theme to Russia’s week in Kazan, it was that Moscow still has plenty to sell.

Read more: SCMP

The Boom Arrives With Baggage

More than 824,000 visitors passed through Luang Prabang in the first four months of 2026, with international arrivals outnumbering domestic tourists by better than two to one. The city is now on track to hit its full-year target of 2.3 million visitors and $1.27 billion in tourism revenue. The tourists are arriving faster than some of the headaches that come with them can be managed (as, perhaps, could have been anticipated). Officials recently came together talk about the 381 restaurants, bars, spas, and entertainment venues now operating inside the UNESCO World Heritage town, as well as continuing (growing, even, if that’s possible?) concerns of drug trafficking, prostitution, price gouging, and theft.

Read more: Asian News Network

Beijing Brings Batteries

Chinese green tech firm Envision Energy has signed a partnership with Impact Electrons Siam to grow the cross-border Monsoon Wind Power Project in Laos, adding solar generation and battery storage to the wind farms that are already being built. Envision says the package will be wired up with an AI-managed system designed to balance supply and improve grid stability. Asia-Pacific president Edward Hou says the technology will help optimize Laos’ energy mix, and IES executive chairman Peck Khamkanist says the project is an important part of the country’s move from a traditional power exporter to a clean energy hub. The turbines were only the beginning, the batteries are coming next.

Read more: Evertiq

Europe Pays to Pave the Road to Tay Trang

A nearly 300-kilometer corridor connecting Thailand to Vietnam is slowly taking shape through northern Laos. National Road 2 runs from Thailand’s Nan Province through Oudomxay and Phongsaly to the Tay Trang border crossing, with the benefit of EUR 150 million in backing from the World Bank, European Investment Bank, EU, and the Lao government. Your view on the work’s progress may depend on which end of the road you’re standing on. The western 136-kilometer stretch between Xay and Pak Beng is already more than 20 percent done, but the eastern 99-kilometer section is barely underway, with its third phase signed only on May 30 and final details remain on the drawing board. The contracts are for 10 years, three for construction and seven for maintenance. Once finished, the route will also connect with the Laos-China Railway at Oudomxay.

Read more: Laotian Times

Japan Grant Rebuilds Chao Anouvong Stadium

Vientiane’s Chao Anouvong Stadium renovation is now more than 70 percent complete and still on track for an October 2026 handover. The JPY 4.171 billion JICA-funded project will deliver two amphitheaters with seating for 2,767 people, as well as wheelchair access, braille handrails, and elevators throughout the venue. The number of yearly users is expected to rise from about 100,000 to 140,000. The immediate deadline is October, but the more important one is five years further out, when Laos hosts the 2031 SEA Games and Chao Anouvong is expected to serve as a supporting venue beside the handsomely named “National Stadium KM16.”

Read more: Laotian Times

Ivory, Gallbladders, and a Bus to Bangkok

Lao authorities had a busy week in the wildlife trade. A June 13 raid on a property in Luang Prabang turned up more than 60 kilograms of suspected wildlife products, including 968 ivory-like objects, 559 rhino horn-like items, and 112 suspected animal gallbladders. Four days later, inspectors at the Vang Tao checkpoint in Champasak stopped a Pakse-Bangkok passenger bus carrying 294 live turtles, pythons, and lizards. None were native to Laos, so heads are being scratched diligently to figure our where they came from and where they were headed.

Read more: Laotian Times

Getting Research Off the Shelf

ASEAN's science ministers and officials met in Vientiane on yesterday for COSTI-89, bringing together delegates from all 10 member states (and Timor-Leste) to figure out how to implement the bloc's science and innovation framework. Lao co-chair Souksavath Sihapanya, Director General at the Ministry of Education and Sports, kept the conversation on practical problems and safe AI adoption, cybersecurity, smart cities, food security, climate resilience, renewable energy, and the challenge of getting research out of laboratories and into commercial use.

Read more: VietnamPlus

A Different Kind of Training

The Academy of Politics of the Lao People’s Public Security took first prize at Vientiane’s second “Future Vietnamese Language Ambassadors” contest, beating eight other teams that came from armed forces agencies, military academies, and Vietnamese language schools. The Vietnamese Embassy-supported competition is only in its second edition, but the participant list is demonstrative of who is most eager to learn the language. Lao officials, lecturers, military officers, and security personnel have been some of its most active supporters. Second prize went to the Vietnamese language class at Phat Tich Pagoda in Vientiane, and the remaining seven teams shared third place.

Read more: VietnamPlus

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

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The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Oil Shock Reaches Laos

The energy import bill in Southeast Asia could triple to $245 billion by 2035, the IEA said, after the Iran war showed how badly the region bet on the Strait of Hormuz staying placid. For Laos, however, that is not a 2035 problem - it is much more urgent. Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone told Nikkei Asia that development projects are already starting to stall as oil prices rise, and the Lao government is looking at getting reliable supply from neighboring countries. Sonexay said that stable fuel imports was a “top” government priority. Within the region, the war is also pushing coal back into fashion, which isn’t the energy transition anyone outside of the industry was hoping for. EV sales more than doubled in 2025 to about half a million units, but oil’s still got the region by the throat.

Read more: CNA (import bill), Nikkei Asia (Sonexay)

Rosatom Pencils In a Reactor for Vientiane

Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev and Lao Industry Minister Malaithong Kommasith agreed to a framework nuclear cooperation agreement in Moscow mid June, with both prime ministers looking on. The deal formalizes a conversation the two sides have been having since 2016. The first step will be to figure out where a reactor could go and how it might fit into a power grid built around hydropower. Rosatom is coming with options; floating and land-based small modular reactors are both on the table. That is the same RITM family it sold Myanmar in March 2025, Vietnam has signed up for the larger VVER-1200. The economics are still catching up to the ambition - bilateral trade almost doubled last year but is still only about $50 million. Russia also wants access to Lao bauxite for its aluminum industry. Direct flights and Russian petroleum products remain topics of discussion.

Read more: The Star (PMs), Jakarta Globe (Vietnam), United24 Media (petroleum)

Beijing Reminds Vientiane Who's Family

Xi Jinping met Lao leader Thongloun Sisoulith in Beijing on June 5, ending a five-day state visit with the full menu of party-state friendship. The two agreed on a promise to defend the socialist system and the Communist Party's ruling status, set up a new "3+3" dialogue for diplomacy, defense and public security, and try to figure out how to speed up the construction of the China-Laos-Thailand railway.

Read more: China Daily Asia

A $3 Billion Wind Bet

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Vietnam's FECON are looking at a one thousand megawatt onshore wind farm in Savannakhet Province that would support electricity exports to Vietnam beginning sometime between now and 2028. CIP manages about $40 billion in green energy investments worldwide and plans to put roughly $3 billion into Vietnam by 2030. The Savannakhet site is part of a 2.5GW portfolio for wind, solar, cross-border exports and battery storage in both countries.

Read more: ScandAsia

Landlocked Laos Buys a Ticket to the Baltic

Deputy Minister Ngampasong Muongmany signed Laos into the OSJD railway organization at a 3 day summit in Dushanbe which began onJune 9th, giving the country formalized access to a 13-corridor freight network reaching from Southeast Asia to the Baltic coast. One corridor runs from the Capital through to China, Kazakhstan and Russia, then on to Estonia. Between Southeast Asian nations, only Vietnam is also a member. The accession gives the planned Laos-Vietnam line a recognized international network to plug into before it is expected to start running in 2030.

Read more: Laotian Times

Vientiane Tightens the Rulebook

Decision 1338, published by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce on May 13 and taking effect on June 27, does what the Enterprise Law never got around to doing properly in that it finally tells companies exactly what a violation will cost. The decision at long last connects 17 categories of misdeeds to specific fines. Corporate governance basics, including holding an annual general meeting, keeping shareholder registers and keeping articles of association are included in the new list. Authorities are expected to enforce the rules through complaints, inspections and application triggers.

Read more: VDB Loi

The EV Push Rolls On

The price of a liter of gasoline in Vientiane is LAK 31,300 after six price adjustments since the beginning of May. The government isn’t exactly cheering at the pump though. A March order from the Prime Minister is pushing authorities to try and push the shift away from fossil-fuel vehicles, given the low 3 percent excise tax on EVs against 25 to 90 percent on conventional cars. Public charging stations are still thin on the ground, and poor charging infrastructure mean drivers can’t always rely on the station they find working with the plug that their car demands.

Read more: Laotian Times

Old Friends Block Out the 2027 Calendar

Lao PM Sonexay Siphandone called on Vietnamese President and Party General Secretary To Lam in Hanoi on June 9, after the 3rd ASEAN Future Forum, with 2027 looking like its going to be a good year for the relationship. Next year will be the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, and it’s already being labelled as the Laos-Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year.

Read more: Asian News Network

Vientiane Pays a Visit on Naypyidaw

Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane spent June 12-13 in Naypyidaw, congratulating Min Aung Hlaing on his inauguration in April and reviewing plans for the 13th session of the Laos-Myanmar Joint Commission. He also met his counterpart U Than Swe. Thongsavanh was not alone in heading to the capital, as Indonesia's foreign minister sat down with Min Aung Hlaing days earlier, after separate calls by Malaysia's top diplomat and an adviser to Thailand's.

Read more: Asian News Network (70-year anniversary), Laotian Times (border cooperation)

The Mountain Keeps Two Souls

The Xaisomboun cave rescue that brought international divers to Laos ended on June 6 with five of the seven trapped miners out and two still unfound. A 4.2 magnitude earthquake and a partial entrance collapse unfortunately made the cave too unstable to keep diving. The eight gold-seekers had squeezed single-file into an old mining tunnel on May 20 before rains flooded the entrance. One escaped to raise the alarm, four eventually swam out with the help of divers through air pockets opened by pumps, and a fifth was guided through a flooded passage on May 29. Local volunteers are still pumping water from outside.

Read more: DOGOnews

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

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The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

All-Weather Friends, Whatever the Forecast

Thongloun Sisoulith finished his Beijing visit on June 6, having signed 32 cooperation agreements. The relationship also got an upgrade to what Xi Jinping is calling an "all-weather China-Laos community with a shared future in the new era," a phrase that does a lot of diplomatic work for a country that's carrying more than $18 billion in cumulative Chinese investment. The deals run the gamut of trade, finance, agriculture, energy, and human resources (training, mostly). Xi is also pushing a new "3+3" dialogue on diplomacy, defense, and public security that both sides say will help to tamp down on cross-border fraud. The last item is probably the most interesting - Vientiane handed nearly 500 telecom and online fraud suspects to Beijing in May. On the economic side, bilateral trade was $9.82 billion in 2025, up more than 19 percent year on year, and Xi is making noise about faster railway connectivity through to Thailand. Thongloun, for his part, said China's development was a "valuable reference" for Laos as it modernizes.

Read more: Asian News Network (AI corridor), CCTV (Li Qiang meeting), Laotian Times (visit timeline), CCTV (3+3 dialogue), CGTN (railway cargo)

Vientiane and Beijing Pencil In Twenty Billion

Bilateral trade between Laos and China has doubled since 2021, reaching $8.8 billion in 2024 (and then the aforementioned $9.82 billion in 2025). Both countries are now looking at a $20 billion target by 2030. The roadmap was hammered out in Suzhou on May 21, when Industry and Commerce Minister Malaythong Kommasith met his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao. It covers energy security (especially timely since March's fuel crunch), electric vehicles, a domestic NPK fertilizer industry built on Lao potash reserves, and mineral processing. The fertilizer play is the sleeper story. Laos supplies the potash, China ships in phosphorus and nitrogen, and the finished product will remain mostly in-house. Beijing and Vientiane also renewed their currency swap agreement, which greases the payment rails that the Suzhou meeting had flagged as a priority.

Read more: Laotian Times (four pillars), TradingView (currency swap)

Vientiane's Villa Problem

Police raided a rented villa in Xaythany District on June 3 and hauled out 24 Chinese nationals, along with electronics tied to alleged telecom scam work. That was the cap on a week in which 73 foreign suspects were detained in both Vientiane Capital and Vientiane Province. The June 1-2 sweep through Vang Vieng, Keo Oudom, and Viengkham netted about four dozen more. Passports and equipment was taken from nationals of China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. The arrests come as part of a campaign that Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone ordered in late April and that’s racked up more than 1,000 detentions across the country in just the month of May, from 605 suspects shipped from Savannakhet to Vientiane on May 7 to a 27-person bust in Chanthabouly on May 26. On June 5, UNODC and the UK government brought partners together in Vientiane to talk about trafficking links, cybercrime, and illicit finance. British expert Rob Clark shared regional notes.

Read more: Laotian Times (arrest breakdown), The Lao Times (UNODC meeting)

Graduating Poor, Still Paying Tuition

Forest cover was reduced by 2.9 percent between 2000 and 2015, public debt tipped 131 percent of GDP in 2022, and only a third of Vientiane's estimated 970 daily tons of waste gets collected and properly taken care of. That's the balance sheet behind this year's UN least-developed-country graduation, an achievement that Vientiane’s been on the heels of since the early 2000s. Debt has since been reduced to 88 percent of GDP (year-end 2025), and poverty is down to 15 percent. The 2055 target to get to “upper-middle-income status” was set in January 2026.

Read more: Fulcrum

Potash Pit Swallows a Village

Vientiane authorities met June 3 to start coming up with compensation rates for land, crops, and structures that were wrecked by sinkholes in Thongmang village, Xaythany district, though no figures have become public yet. Five holes have opened since May 2025, the biggest/ worse one on January 2, when one swallowed four villagers whose bodies were never recovered. Thirty-eight households have been evacuated, mining was stopped in July 2025, and ground stabilization work continues.

Read more: Laotian Times

Thai Cavers Answer the Call Next Door

Lao PM Sonexay Siphandone sent a thank-you letter to his Thai counterpart Anutin Charnvirakul on June 7 and credited three Thai rescue units with helping pull five of seven villagers from a flooded cave in Xaysomboun Province's Longchaeng District. The men had been trapped by flash floods on May 20. The survivors were able to make an exit between May 29 and 30, after rescuers ferried supplies in and pumped water out. Teams stopped work inside the cave on June 6 after they thought that there were signs of a collapse forming at the entrance. Two villagers are still missing after more than ten days.

Read more: Laotian Times

Bombs Outlast the Bombmakers

Michael Boddington, the British consultant who set up COPE in Vientiane in 1997, has passed away at the age of 84. What began as a small operation that made fitted prosthetics for amputees now treats about 1,500 patients each year. Lao staff have run it since Boddington previously stepped back from regular work in 2016. The problem of UXO continues to plague the nation. On March 27, a clearance team destroyed a 500-pound American MK82 bomb in a village near Luang Prabang; three days earlier, another team had taken out a similar one in Xiengkhouang province.

Read more: The Guardian (Boddington biography), Nikkei Asia (MK82 clearance)

Toyota Tsusho Brings the Factory to the Customer

Toyota Tsusho has set up a vehicle assembly subsidiary in Laos called Toyota Tsusho Manufacturing Laos. Production is scheduled to start in April 2028 and output is expected to best 5,000 vehicles a year. The trader has run Toyota's authorized dealership in the country since September 2018, and is now moving past finished-vehicle imports to knock-down assembly. It expects to have components shipped in before it puts them together locally. The Hilux pickup and Fortuner SUV will be the anchor models. Toyota Tsusho says the expansion is about price competitiveness and supply stability, since import costs and logistics have been squeezing margins. About 150 local jobs are expected to be created once the line is running.

Read more: Toyota Tsusho

Vientiane Swats Malaria Down to 269 Cases

Indigenous malaria cases in Laos fell from 15,497 in 2016 to 269 in 2025, a remarkable reduction of more than 98 percent. The success was shared at the 10th Asia Pacific Leaders' Summit on Malaria Elimination in Vientiane on Friday. Deputy Health Minister Phayvanh Keopaseuth has further ambitions, saying he wants zero indigenous cases by 2030. Throughout the Greater Mekong Subregion, confirmed cases fell by more than a third between 2015 and 2024.

Read more: Asian News Network

Not Wine Vats After All

When archaeologists excavated a squat, collapsed stone jar on the Xieng Khouang Plateau in the winter of 2022, they weren't expecting to find ancient rice wine, but they also were not expecting to find what they did find: the jumbled remains of at least 37 people. Skulls were stacked around the rim, thigh bones laid across the edges, infants and adults together in a single multigenerational crypt. The find, published in the journal *Antiquity*, backs what scientists have long suspected. The Plain of Jars megaliths were communal ossuaries, used by Indigenous communities that first let bodies decompose elsewhere before gathering the bones for collective burial. Lead archaeologist Nicholas Skopal of James Cook University said it was a dig that left the team in silence.

Read more: Seattle Times

EDL Pulls the Plug on Vientiane

Three Vientiane districts are losing power for stretches between June 5 and 9 as Electricité du Laos runs maintenance, equipment installs, and pole relocations. Sikhottabong gets the worst of it, with nine straight hours on June 7 in Nahae, Nonsawang, Dankham, and several other villages, from 8 AM to 5 PM. Soknoy village along the 450-Year Road in Xaysettha is getting eight-hour cuts from 8 AM to 4 PM on June 5, 6, 7, and 9. Near Patuxay Monument in Chanthabouly, residents will lose four hours on June 7.

Read more: Laotian Times

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