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Meet the US’s drug running friends: A history of narcotics involvement
Trump claims to be cracking down on drug gangs in Venezuela but pardoned a Honduran drug lord serving time in the US.
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![US Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes part in a memorandum of understanding signing with Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamad Hasan during the 58th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. [Mandel Ngan/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/000_66CV4BR-1752133033.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
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ASEAN kicks off summits with China, Gulf states amid US tariff threat
Southeast Asian regional bloc holds its first-ever three-way summit with China and six Gulf countries.
Laos’ methanol poisoning deaths send chill through backpacker paradise
Backpacker hotspot Vang Vieng is in the spotlight following six deaths blamed on tainted alcohol.
Laos pledges justice after suspected tainted alcohol kills tourists
Australia presses Laotian authorities for a full and transparent probe after the deaths of two 19-year-old backpackers.
US ‘Secret War’ remembered as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits Laos
Al Jazeera looks back at the most devastating period in Laos’s history, when the US waged a years-long ‘Secret War’.
Blinken condemns China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful’ moves in South China Sea
Top US diplomat says Beijing has ‘injured people’ and ‘harmed vessels’ of rival nations in the disputed waters.
UNICEF says six million children in Southeast Asia affected by Typhoon Yagi
UN’s children’s agency says there’s an urgent need for access to clean water, sanitation as Red Cross mobilises relief.
ASEAN top diplomats discuss South China Sea disputes, Myanmar fighting
US Secretary of State Blinken, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang are seeking to expand their countries’ influence in region.
‘Refuge of the last dreamers’: Luang Prabang, a city suspended in time
Once a royal city in ancient Laos, Luang Prabang is home to Buddhist temples nestled in a valley on the Mekong River.
Thailand, Laos try to ‘make junta presentable’ amid ASEAN Myanmar inertia
With Laos as chair, the 10 members of ASEAN appear to be becoming more accommodative of reviled military regime.
ASEAN urges ‘Myanmar-owned and led solution’ to crisis triggered by coup
Laos, which is chairing group this year, stresses need for engagement as thousands killed in three years of violence.
