An Anti-Balaka fighter, member of a militia opposed to the Seleka rebel group, puts a knife to his throat showing what he would do to any Seleka, on the outskirts of the Boy-Rabe neighborhood in Bangui on December 14, 2013. France raised alarm on December 13 over worsening violence in the Central African Republic, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged warring Christians and Muslims to stop the bloodshed that has left more than 600 dead in the past week. (Photo by Ivan Lieman/AFP Photo)

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be around 6.5 million in 2012. A third (33%) of the country's population lives below the international poverty line which means living on less than U.S. $1.25 per day.

School children celebrate after being rewarded for their dance performance during India's Independence Day celebrations in Chandigarh, India, August 15, 2015. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's independence day speech focused on measures his “Team India” had rolled out to include millions of poor Indians in the banking and insurance systems, policies for workers and farmers and successes in the fights against inflation and corruption. (Photo by Ajay Verma/Reuters)

Alexa Cinton marches up Fifth Avenue in the Puerto Rican Day Parade on June 12, 2011 in New York City. The Puerto Rican Day Parade draws hundreds of thousands and was first celebrated in New York City in 1958. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The Kung Fu Panda balloon is lifted before the 86th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade November 22, 2012 in New York City. Macy's donated tickets and transportation to this year's Thanksgiving Day Parade to 5,000 people from neighborhoods hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Associated Press)

Donny Golden shares a laugh with dancers from the Irish American Society during the 250th annual St. Patrick's Day parade March 17, 2011 in New York City. The parade honors the patron saint of Ireland and marched for the first time in the U.S. on March 17, 1762, fourteen years before the Declaration of Independence.

Men dressed as traditional Greek warriors participate in the annual Greek Independence Day Parade on Fifth Avenue on March 25, 2012 in New York City. It was the 191st annual parade which ran from 64th Street to 79th Street on Fifth Avenue and celebrates Greek heritage. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

People climb on an artificial ice-wall in Liberec, about 100 km north of Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, January 23, 2015. The wall was prepared in a former quarry just near the centre of the city. (Photo by Radek Petrasek/CTK via AP Photo)