One of two 9-month old Cheetahs is seen after it was released into a quarantine facility at Zoo Miami on November 29, 2012 in Miami, Florida. The two sub-adult brothers who arrived today were captive-born on March 6th of this year at the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre just outside of Pretoria, South Africa. The Cheetahs, after being monitored and examined for a minimum of 30 days to insure that they are healthy and stable, will be featured in Zoo Miami's Wildlife Show at the newly constructed amphitheater and will continue the work of Zoo Miami's Cheetah Ambassador Program by making appearances off Zoo grounds at a variety of venues including schools and civic organizations. (Photo by Joe Raedle)

An employee in a bookshop adjusts packaged cigarettes which have to be sold in identical olive-brown packets bearing the same typeface and largely covered with graphic health warnings, with the same style of writing so the only identifier of a brand will be the name on the packet, in Sydney on December 1, 2012. A new world-first law forcing tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in identical packets came into effect Saturday in Australia in an effort to strip any glamour from smoking and prevent young people from taking up the habit. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

Deputies of the opposition fight with deputies of the majority for a second time in two days, during the second session of the newly elected Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on December 13, 2012. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

Sulphur miners haul sulphur up an arduous path out of Indonesia’s Ijen volcano. The average carry out of the volcano is 70 kilograms per load per miner. The all-time record carry was 120 kilograms in one load. Extraordinary numbers given most of the miners only weigh around 55 kilograms. Ijen volcano, Indonesia, 2012. (Photo by Hugh Brown/South West News Service)

A woman takes part in a global March for marijuana in Medellin, Colombia, May 7, 2016. The Global Marijuana March (GMM) is an annual rally held at different locations across the planet. It refers to cannabis-related events that occur on the first Saturday in May, or thereabouts, and may include marches, meetings, rallies, raves, concerts, festivals and information tables. (Photo by Fredy Builes/Reuters)

A woman looks at model of the Cathedral Mosque in Kazan, during the 28th International Exhibition – Forum of Architecture and Design “Arch Moscow” in Moscow, Russia, 24 May 2023. Arch Moscow is one of the oldest architectural and construction exhibitions in Moscow. The 28th International Exhibition – Forum of Architecture and Design takes place from 24 May to 27 May 2023. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A villager offers prayer to a dead body of an elephant, which is killed by lightning at atop of Bamuni hill in Assam's Nagaon district, on May 14, 2021. 18 wild elephants were found dead atop Bamuni Hills in Assam's Nagaon district today after lightning struck them during the showers in the area on May 12, 2021. At least 18 elephants are suspected to have been killed by lightning in northeastern India, officials said on May 13 as they launched a probe into the incident. (Photo by Biju Boro/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.