An elephant mahout (trainer) lies on his elephant his feet resting on its ears as it rests and eats prior to opening day's play at the King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament 2014 held near Bangkok, in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, 28 August 2014. The annual charity tournament runs until 31 August and involves 51 elephants who normally live on the streets and are used for begging. Sixteen competing elephant polo teams from 40 different nations take part in the charity event directed at raising funds to improve the lives of the elephants and elephant conservation in general. (Photo by Barbara Walton/EPA)

In this October 6, 1976, file photo, a right-wing student, center foreground, draws his arm back to strike a captured and wounded leftist student being taken by police to an ambulance in during a student massacre in Bangkok, Thailand. This year’s anti-government protests are seeking new elections, a more democratic constitution and an end to intimidation of political activists. Their speeches have repeatedly highlighted the 1976 tragedy, piquing the interest of the current generation in what their forebears faced. (Photo by Neal Ulevich/AP Photo/File)

People assist a woman who was exposed to tear gas by pouring milk over her face after police fired tear gas and water canon to try and disperse protesters outside Parliament on November 17, 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. The demonstrators gathered outside parliament, on Tuesday, as the Thai government met to discuss amendments to the country's constitution. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

The Wildscreen festival is the world’s biggest celebration of screen-based natural history storytelling which takes place every two years in Bristol. Here: “Walrus in Midnight Sun”. Walrus feed mostly on bivalves in productive, shallow and often sandy habitats in the Arctic. This individual, though, arrived on a beach outside Tromsø, northern Norway, and found comfort on a stranded dead sperm whale. After two weeks he approached Audun, and only half a metre away he stretched his tusk forward and touched his hand gently. “This was one of the most memorable moments of my life”, Rikardsen says. He named the 500kg male Buddy. After two months, the dead whale was decomposed and Buddy suddenly disappeared. (Photo by Audun Rikardsen/Wildscreen 2016)

Lido cabaret dancers perform during a demonstration outside the cabaret as dancers, other employees and union activists are gathering to try to save their jobs and the history of the cabaret, known for its dinner theater and its “Bluebell Girls” revue, Saturday, May 28, 2022 in Paris. Amid financial troubles and changing times, the venue's new corporate owner is ditching most of the Lido's staff and its high-kicking, high-glamour dance shows – which date back decades and inspired copycats from Las Vegas to Beirut – in favor of more modest musical revues. (Photo by Thomas Padilla/AP 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.

Yingluck Shinawatra reaches out to shakes hands with supporters after speaking at a rally during her election campaign June 29, 2011 in Burirum, Thailand. Thais go to the polls on July 3 to vote in a tight race between Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrats and the red shirt followers of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

A mahout removes the prosthetic from Motala, age 50, at the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) elephant hospital in the Mae Yao National Reserve August 29, 2011 Lampang,Thailand. Motala lost a foot many years back after stepping on a land mine and now is on her third prosthetic, as they need to be changed according to the weight of the elephant. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)