Aiming for closer ties to Laos, Obama honors its culture

LUANG PRABANG, Laos (AP) — Aiming to cement closer ties to Laos and its people, President Barack Obama toured a Buddhist temple Wednesday and paid tribute to Lao culture after pledging the U.S. would fulfill its "profound moral and humanitarian obligation" to clean up millions of unexploded bombs. Obama is one of several world leaders going to Laos, where the one-party communist state tightly controls public expression among the country's nearly 7 million people and is using its moment in the spotlight as host of the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to open up to outsiders.
Barack Obama pledges US$90 million to clear Laos of unexploded ordnance dropped by the United States during the Vietnam War.