News

The last known endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin on a stretch the Mekong River near Cambodia’s border with Laos died this week, after it was reported snagged in a fishing net, wildlife officials and villagers in the Southeast Asian countries said. “We are deeply saddened by the ...

Mainland Southeast Asia is entering its fourth year of drought, with climate change and unrelenting dam construction taking an unprecedented toll on the Mekong River and the 65 million people who rely on the waterway for their livelihoods. In Cambodia, the drought has prompted a government ...

Corruption is seen as widespread across much of Southeast Asia, with Singapore and Cambodia’s public sectors respectively perceived as among the least and most corrupt nations worldwide, an international watchdog group reported. The 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, released 25 January by Berlin-based Transparency International, evaluates 180 countries ...

Twenty years ago, the streams that run through the remote village of Totim in Preah Vihear’s Rovieng district, sparkled with gold. Those flecks drew poor farmers to the Romdeng community, looking to sift for gold and improve their livelihood. Before long, it also brought a ...

Long Sokha was technically farming in a flooded forest, but there was no hint of that on a recent, sun-soaked afternoon. The fields of the plot in Kampong Leng district of Kampong Chhnang province looked neat and orderly, planted with rows of rice plants soaking in ...

Forest watchers in 2020 filed 90 percent fewer reports of illegal logging amid officials’ threats against community patrols, according to an international research report, as one advocate said young people were refraining from joining patrols out of fear of repercussions. Using a combination of satellite data ...

When Cambodian university student Kong Bunrith claimed on Facebook that dozens of his classmates paid bribes to pass their exams and named the government officials allegedly involved, authorities promptly began an investigation.   But the Ministry of Justice chose to focus its investigation on Bunrith, who found ...

As the Biden administration begins its second year in office, it is evident that its focus on the Indo-Pacific and geopolitical competition against China remains uneven. There are two small but strategically important countries that have been all but ignored by the administration so far: ...

India has pledged to work closely with Cambodia, the 2022 chair of ASEAN, in addressing issues of common concerns including the Myanmar crisis. The pledge was made during a telephone conversation between Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam ...

Chhim Sithar knew she would be arrested when she arrived at the site of a protest organised by employees of the NagaWorld casino.  Police violently grabbed and arrested the union leader when she attempted to join the demonstration by striking workers in Phnom Penh on 4 ...