VIENTIANE - It is a secretive communist state with a sprawling security apparatus, but Laos has turned to a less menacing demographic to protect visiting dignitaries this week: bookish students. Students from the National University of Laos -- armed with little more than walkie talkies and patience -- have been drafted in as volunteer security guards to keep the peace elsewhere. As ministers hustle through the wide corridors of the Chinese-built National Convention Centre, lines of students, mostly petite women in traditional sinh wrap skirts, link arms to keep the hordes of reporters back. Dreaming bigFor many, it is a rare opportunity to socialise with foreigners who are not backpackers, the most frequent western visitor to tropical Laos. The journalist apparently came off worst, suffering injuries to his face, according to his Seoul-based employer news agency Yonhap.

Source: Bangkok Post July 26, 2016 04:41 UTC