Asia

Laos is in the interesting position of remaining aligned with the increasingly-shut out North Korea and forging closer ties with South Korea and the U.S.

Obama is in Laos as part of his final trip to Asia as president. Some 60 percent of the population in Southeast Asia is under the age of 35. On Wednesday he held a town hall with college students.

Koreans have been lining up for hours to sample the food at the Seoul outlet of this American burger chain. A South Korean sociologist looks at the factors behind the frenzy.

For decades, a rare disease crawled across Papua New Guinea. When scientists realized what was behind kuru, it caught everyone by surprise. But similar diseases can still be transmitted through food.

China's government has gone after human rights lawyers — questioning and arresting hundreds of them — in what many say is an attempt to prevent them from challenging the government's authority.

President Obama cancelled a meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte after the Filipino leader insulted Obama's mother. The U.S. has been critical of the Filipino government's crackdown on drugs with more than 2,000 people killed in the last two months.

In a historic visit, the president pledges to double funding to clear the many unexploded bombs that are leftovers from the Vietnam War.

The White House has been critical of Rodrigo Duterte for the killing of thousands of suspected drug dealers since he took office. A planned meeting between the two leaders was canceled.