Filipino singer Carmelle has won the first Eurovision Song Contest Asia, held in Bangkok on Saturday. She performed the dance-pop song Sobra-Sobra and took 211 points, combining 93 from national juries with 118 from viewers. She beat ten other competitors. Thai duo Mang x Daou placed second with 170 points, and Vietnam's Tóc Tiên finished third with 164 points.
Laos
3 stories since 29 October 2026, newest first
14 November 2026
8 November 2026
The Asian music contest will take place on 14 Nov in Bangkok, featuring eleven participating nations. Ticket sales are reported as slow, while India, Japan and China will not join the event. Executive producer Assaf Blecher says three years of preparation have built public interest. The competition will be shown live on television in the participating countries and streamed on YouTube. Eurovision, the world’s largest televised live music show, attracted 131 million viewers in 2026.
29 October 2026
A study published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation says several large mammals have disappeared from Laos and that earlier conservation action could have prevented some of these losses. The species named include the Javan rhino, Sumatran rhino, Indochinese tiger, wild water buffalo and kouprey. The Javan and Sumatran rhinos were no longer present in Laos by the 1990s, and the last confirmed tiger sighting there was in 2013. The study says Laos still supports 24 distinct populations of Asian elephant. It recommends that authorities reconnect movement corridors and transboundary landscapes to help elephant recovery. Experts say the future of large mammals in the country depends on political will to enforce existing plans and secure long-term funding.