Woman enjoying the sun on one of Maui's black sand beaches, Hawaii, United States of America, North America on February 25, 2022. (Photo by Laura Grier/Robert Harding RF via AFP Photo)
A woman takes a picture as a super moon, known as the Blue Moon, rises above Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on August 30, 2023. (Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
Holloways Beach resident Lisa Methven watches the storm across the Coral Sea as Cyclone Jasper approaches landfall in Cairns in far north Queensland on December 13, 2023. A tropical cyclone was building strength as it rolled towards northeastern Australia on December 13, with authorities warning “life-threatening” floods could swamp coastal regions for days. (Photo by Brian Cassey/AFP Photo)
Revellers shield themselves as they celebrate in the rain near Stonehenge stone circle, despite official Summer Solstice celebrations being cancelled due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near Amesbury, Britain, June 21, 2020. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)
Gina Di Meo, journalist from ANSA sits during a media preview of Summit at One Vanderbilt in New York, October 1, 2021. The Summit viewing deck is spread across the top four floors on One Vanderbilt in Manhattan, the fourth tallest building in the city. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)
A man from the Ogiek community harvests honey in Mount Elgon game reserve, where they have reached an agreement with the government allowing them to remain in their ancestral lands in western Kenya, April 26, 2016. (Photo by Katy Migiro/Reuters)
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.