Aisha Down
Villagers Allege Tycoon Burned Down Spirit Forest
Bunong villagers representing hundreds of families in Mondolkiri province’s O’Reang district have demanded a meeting today with officials after accusing men working for a CPP-linked tycoon of burning down a sacred forest.
Activists Alarmed After PM Promotes Don Sahong
As construction on the Don Sahong dam near the Cambodia-Laos border passes its halfway point, activists and locals are increasingly concerned over the disappearance of Irawaddy dolphins and incidences of illness they suspect are caused by the muddied water.
Primates and Bushmeat Seized From Stung Treng City Market
Military police and forestry officials working with Wildlife Alliance seized more than 100 kg of bushmeat, along with live monitor lizards, pygmy slow lorises and elongated tortoises that were being sold openly in Stung Treng City market on Wednesday.
Cuban-Trained Doctors Remember Castro’s Communism
It’s been more than 20 years since Ouk Reth returned to Cambodia from Cuba, but upon hearing about the death of Fidel Castro late last month, the heart surgeon’s thoughts returned to his days as a student in Havana.
Tale Follows Overworn Path But Emerges With True Heart
In “A River and a Valley Far Away,” the Cambodia that author Wayne McCallum renders is a place that’s recognizable and deeply lived—a rural village in the coastal heartland, where he spent a year of his life volunteering for a local conservation NGO.
Carrying a Stranger’s Child Through an Uncertain Time
Ly Raksmey left her home in the heart of the country’s rice bowl in January and headed to a hospital on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. The 34-year-old stayed there several nights, in a facility that was better and cleaner than any hospital she had slept in before.
Sweden Pledges $5.3M to Mekong River Body
As bitter protests continue over ongoing Mekong River dam projects, Sweden has pledged $5.3 million to a controversial multinational body monitoring development in the basin.
Cambodia to Open Ports to Laos Exports
Cambodia will soon open both its roads and ports for Laos to use in exporting goods abroad, according to an announcement posted on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook page on Sunday.
Touting Cheap Power, Hun Sen Denies Damage From Dam
Cambodia has seen no ill effects from a dam built 2 km from its border with Laos, Prime Minister Hun Sen asserted this week as he thanked the Laotian government for its offer to sell cheap electricity to border provinces.
New Legal Code Proposes Plan for Environmental Courts
Rural Cambodians faced with rubber plantations polluting their water or businessmen cutting down their forests could have a new path to justice as early as next year if implementation of the new Environment Code goes according to plan.
Forests the Focus as Climate Pact Adopted
The National Assembly unanimously approved a draft law ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change on Tuesday morning, leaving the rubber-stamp Senate and king to sign off on the bill before Cambodia joins 112 other nations in adopting the accords.
Pregnant Surrogates Flee as Brokers Charged
As an Australian nurse was charged on Monday for her role in connecting surrogate mothers with childless couples, tens of pregnant Cambodian women carrying the children of other parents had been moved to Thailand, according to a surrogate who recently gave birth.
Mekong Dams Fish Passages ‘Problematic,’ Experts Say
As Laos forges ahead with plans to build 134 dams on the Mekong River and its tributaries over the next two decades, international experts have cast doubt on its proposals for averting devastation for the waterway’s estimated 850 species of fish.
New Code to Protect Environment, in Theory
After four years and five drafts, environmental groups will have one last chance to make their voices heard on what will become the most broad-ranging and aggressive environmental law Cambodia has ever enacted.
For Rural Minorities, Land Remains in Limbo
Their request was straightforward. They wanted a title to their land, some 2,600 hectares, on which—as a community—they planted brown upland rice, sacrificed buffalo to their gods and buried their dead.
Third Mekong Dam Puts Livelihoods at Risk
A third Mekong hydropower project—in Pak Beng, northern Laos—is now officially moving forward, bringing a massive, 912-megawatt project into a river that is second only to the Amazon in its level of biodiversity, and upon which the livelihoods of millions depend.
Making History, Two Cambodians Vie for Same U.S. Legislative Seat
Two years after the first Cambodian-born candidate was elected as a U.S. legislator, the seat—to be the state representative for Massachusetts’ 18th district—is once again up for grabs.
In Largely Untapped Market, Life Insurance Companies Eye New Models
While enthusiasm is picking up four years after two global insurance providers—Manulife and Prudential—entered the country, the Cambodian market remains tiny, a mere fraction of that seen in neighboring countries.
Rhino Horn Valued at up to $7 Million Seized at Airport
A Chinese woman carrying 35 kg of cut rhinoceros horns valued at up to $7 million was arrested on Tuesday at Phnom Penh International Airport, officials said on Wednesday.
Telecoms Ministry Promises Punishment for Non-Registration of Phone Users
The government has pledged to punish mobile telephone operators that do not register the identities of their users—or fail to shut down anonymous numbers—by the middle of the month, threatening fines or suspensions for non-complying companies.
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Remembering Cambodia’s brutal Brother No 2
Nuon Chea, recently deceased chief organizer and ideologue of the murderous Khmer Rouge, epitomized the ‘banality of evil’.
