Quetta hospital bombing: Pakistan Taliban claim attack

A faction of the Pakistani Taliban has said it carried out a suicide bombing that killed at least 70 people at a hospital in the city of Quetta.

The attacker targeted a crowd that had gathered as the body of a prominent lawyer murdered earlier on Monday, Bilal Kasi, was being brought in.

Lawyers and journalists were among the dead. About 120 people were injured.

Vietnamese structure on border draws ire

Wed, 10 August 2016

The construction of a police station in undemarcated border land between Cambodia and Vietnam has prompted Cambodia’s Border Affairs Committee to call a meeting with its counterpart across the border, a senior government official confirmed.

Vietnam secretly built the new police station last month on the disputed land in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district, said Var Kimhong, senior minister for border affairs.

Desperate Times for Cambodia's Farmers

After facing a long drought, Cambodian farmers now fear the arrival of La Niña and possible floods.

The Diplomat, By Ana Salvá, August 9, 2016

A man works at a dried up pond at the drought-hit Kandal province, Cambodia (April 26, 2016).
Image Credit: REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Pursat, Cambodia: The first rainfall this year did not arrive until early June to Pursat, a province located in the northwest of the country, where land looked bare and thirsty at the height of the planting season. The devastating drought, which the government has described as the worst since 1979, adds to poor rainfall last year, when peasants had to dip into the drinking water dispensed by the government to irrigate their crops.

China launches first mobile telecoms satellite from Beijing

China has launched its first mobile telecommunications satellite.

The Tiantong-01 satellite will establish a mobile network serving China, the Middle East, Africa and other areas, the state run Xinhua news agency reported.

It was sent into space after midnight local time in Beijing (16:00 GMT) on Sunday.

The ground service will be operated by China Telecom, which is owned by the Chinese state.

New counter-terror troops on way

Tue, 9 August 2016

The Ministry of Defence’s counter-terrorism force, headed by the prime minister’s eldest son, Hun Manet, will get an injection of several dozen new troops, according to a decree signed last month by the premier.

The document, which Hun Sen signed on July 8 and which has circulated in local media, said

PM: Vote Near Your Work

Tuesday, 09 August 2016

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that citizens working far from their homes can register to vote near their places of employment, a change that could save many citizens from a lengthy and costly trip to their home province.

At a ceremony commemorating a new bridge in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district, Mr. Hun Sen told the crowd that voter registration, which will start on September 1 and last until

Laos' thirst for Mekong River dams imperils fishing, farming

In this June 20, 2016, photo, a fishing boat passes near a construction site of the Don Sahong dam, near Cambodia-Laos borders, in Preah Romkel village, Stung Treng province, northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Landlocked Laos is the poorest state in Southeast Asia but by virtue of geography and growing Chinese influence, its secretive authoritarian leaders wield a huge and unaccountable power over a river that winds through six countries.

Chiang Khong, Thailand (AP) — Dismissing its neighbors' pleas, impoverished Laos is rapidly building a Mekong River dam that threatens fisheries crucial to millions of Southeast Asia's poorest people.

The site of the Don Sahong dam, less than 2 kilometers (1 mile) from the Lao-Cambodian border, is in an area famous for spectacular waterfalls and deep pools that is among the few habitats of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. A "coffer dam" blocks one of the Mekong's main channels to allow construction of the hydropower project, which will suck in as much as half of the river's water during the dry season.

Mu Sochua: Message to Cambodian Migrant Workers

Fishing Trap (Human Trafficking at Sea)

Cambodia Rejects NGO Call for Independent Investigation into Kem Ley Killing

The execution-style killing of popular government critic Kem Ley last month requires an independent investigation to overcome widespread suspicions in Cambodia and abroad that another political killing in the country will go unpunished, a British NGO said on Wednesday in an open letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The letter by the London-based Global Witness, which a Hun Sen spokesman swiftly rejected, said the murder of Kem Ley is “the most recent in a long line of violence against members of the opposition, activists and journalists, and is a damning indictment of the democratic process and rule of law in Cambodia.”

‘Soliciting’ law flawed, say rights advocates

Erin Handley, The Phnom Penh Post
Mon, 8 August 2016

Gender and rights advocates have called for the overhaul of “soliciting” and prostitution laws in Cambodia in the wake of last week’s detention of several sex workers at the notorious Prey Speu rehabilitation centre.

Researcher Kasumi Nakagawa said, based on a small survey of 31 sex workers she conducted in March and compiled last month, 74 per cent had been arrested while “soliciting”

Rith Mony bus blaze kills passenger in Battambang

Mech Dara, The Phnom Penh Post
Mon, 8 August 2016

One man died and five people were injured, three critically, when a Rith Mony bus carrying about 20 passengers burst into flames that swept through the cabin on Saturday night in Battambang’s O’Mal commune, provincial authorities said yesterday.

MFI branch boss arrested in fraud case

Niem Chheng, The Phnom Penh Post
Mon, 8 August 2016

The former chief executive of a local branch of microfinance institution Prasac in Kandal province has been arrested for allegedly defrauding victims out of roughly $160,000, according to a local official.

Vietnam Wants its Citizens Protected

Khmer Times / Ros Chanveasna Monday, 08 August 2016

In the wake of startling deportation numbers released by the general department of immigration last week showing that more than 85 percent of those deported since 2014 were Vietnamese, the government in Hanoi has asked Cambodia to ensure that the rights of those being sent back are respected.

Gov’t seeks apology over Australian politician’s attack

Shaun Turton, The Phnom Penh Post
Mon, 8 August 2016

Government supporters will today deliver a petition to the Australian Embassy and National Assembly requesting an apology from an Australian-Khmer politician who called Cambodia’s regime a “beast” while discussing the murder of political analyst Kem Ley.

Facebook lands passport department official in jam

Touch Sokha and Mech Dara
The Phnom Penh Post, Mon, 8 August 2016

An official at the government’s passport department has found herself in hot water after a video of her checking Facebook rather than servicing customers went viral.

In a letter sent on Friday, General Prumh Chansokha, director of the passport department, removed Lieutenant Kheng Sokanha from her position at the office where she helped issue passports a day after the video clip surfaced showing her using her smartphone during

A street-food vendor battens down the hatches during a deluge. Pha Lina Profits for street vendors dry up in wet season

The Phnom Penh Post

While getting caught in the rain going from place to place can be a major hassle, spare a thought for those whose livelihoods depends on fine weather.

Wet season is a miserable time for Cambodia’s street-food vendors – both uncomfortable and unprofitable, says Vorn Pao, president of the NGO Independent Democratic of Informal Economic Association (IDEA).

“The numbers show that street vendors’ income drops by about half in rainy season. From January to May, they make profit, but from June to November, they cannot make money,” said

Crony In the Forest: Try Pheap--Another Beneficiary Of The Cambodian Strongmen's Web

On Google Maps the Boeng Per Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia is marked by a patch of theoretical green, like each of the country’s 32 national parks and protected areas. On the ground, however, there’s little to distinguish the zone from any old swath of Cambodian countryside.

Along National Road 62, a sealed highway that bisects the sanctuary from north to south, there are square wooden houses alongside rice paddies. There are black market vendors selling gasoline in old Pepsi bottles, and muddy sidings where cars and motorbikes stop for

Interview: 'What my husband did was for the sake of the nation. I always supported him.'

Since Bou Rachana’s husband, the popular government critic and scholar Kem Ley was murdered on July 10, the country and the family have been struggling to come to grips with his death. While the government has arrested a former soldier for his murder, there appears to be little confidence in the ability of authorities to solve the crime.

In an interview with the RFA Khmer Service journalist Chun Chanboth of the RFA Radio Call-In Show on Friday, Bou Rachan, who is six-months pregnant, discussed the difficulties the killing has caused for her and her family, their need for

The Diplomat: Are Southeast Asia’s Strongmen Here to Stay?

Across the region, inequality, globalization, and nationalism have given a boost to more authoritarian leaders.

By Hunter Marston
August 06, 2016

Image Credit: Flickr/Prachatai

From the sultanate of Brunei to the single-party socialist republic of Laos, Southeast Asian strongmen appear to have a firm grasp on political power across the region. As countries like Myanmar and Indonesia have offered powerful examples of democratic transition in their neighborhood, are these powerful autarchs here to stay, or is this their last hurrah?

Several background indicators indicate that, despite appearances, the strongmen trend will not last.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is battling pervasive corruption charges from all sides but has managed to hold onto power while quashing the opposition with dirty tactics; Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen rules with an iron thumb and resorts to government thugs to openly attack opposition politicians in the street; Thailand’s military junta, now more than two years in power, has dug in and appears here to stay; the Philippines recently elected a president who has openly voiced his support for extrajudicial killings and made crude jokes about the rape of an Australian woman.

Chinese Activist Gou Gets Three-Year Suspended Sentence on Subversion Charges

China convicted another rights activist for subversion on Friday, sentencing church leader Gou Hongguo to a three-year suspended sentence as Beijing continued to process the cases of lawyers and rights defenders arrested in a mass crackdown that began in July 2015.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Gou, 54, “was convicted of subverting state power and sentenced to three years in prison with a three-year reprieve” after a trial at the No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in Tianjin, a northern port city close to Beijing.

Gou pled guilty and said at the court he would not appeal, Xinhua said.

Gou was affiliated with Beijing's Fengrui Law Firm, the main target of a nationwide crackdown that saw more than 300

Cambodian Opposition Party Members Accused of Playing Politics with Kem Ley Killing

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s lawyer on Friday accused opposition party leaders of  using the murder of popular government critic Kem Ley for political purposes.

Following an appearance in Phnom Penh Municipal Court, attorney Ky Tech told reporters that Sam Rainsy Party Senator Thak Lany and Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Sam Rainsy saw an opportunity to stir up public feelings after the July 10 murder and they took it.

“By placing the blame on Hun Sen it was [Thak Lany's] intention to trigger public anger that may lead to social unrest,” Ky Tech told reporters. “Such an ill-intentioned act is intended to twist the truth and create a misperception about Samdech

Monk-turned-soldier recalls purges in KRT testimony

Erin Handley, The Phnom Penh Post
Thu, 4 August 2016

A former monk who was compelled to swap his robes for a rifle during the communist revolution told the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday that he had come to “hate” the regime he had so faithfully served.

Witness Chin Saroeun, 57, went on to testify on internal intrigue later fuelling purges of high-level cadre – a key topic in the current Case 002/02 against former regime leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

Saroeun said he was disrobed by Angkar – the omnipresent organisation that fostered

Families disappointed after PM meet scuttled

Touch Sokha and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post, Thu, 4 August 2016

Community members from two Preah Sihanouk districts embroiled in land disputes expressed disappointment yesterday after a promised audience with Prime Minister Hun Sen failed to come to fruition.

Hour Sino, a community representative from Prey Nop district, said he went to the provincial hall believing the prime minister would intervene in a dispute between 306 families in his community and a water supply company.

“We did not meet with the prime minister as the authority promised,” Sino said, adding that

Life sentence handed to Sihanoukville axe murderer

Niem Chheng and Jack Davies
The Phnom Penh Post, Thu, 4 August 2016

The man behind an axe attack on a family of seven that left a mother and daughter dead last December was handed a life sentence by the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court yesterday morning.

Defendant Loi Sopheak was arrested barefooted in January after a nine-day manhunt that saw police officers and investigators from the Child Protection Unit (CPU) trailing him through several provinces.

“The hearing was held this morning and the verdict announced after the hearing. The accused

Open Letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen

Open Letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen
Press release / August 3, 2016

Dear Prime Minister Hun Sen,

Less than a month since activist and political commentator Kem Ley was gunned down in broad daylight in Phnom Penh, reports have surfaced that his friends and colleagues have been threatened and intimidated. Two activists, Chum Hour and Chum Hout, have reportedly fled to Thailand in fear for their lives.

It is the duty of a democratic government to protect the rights and security of its citizens, including those who criticise it. As a signatory of numerous human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, we call on your government to guarantee the safety of these individuals and those who support them, and respect their right to freedom of speech.

Kem Ley’s murder is the most recent in a long line of violence against members of the opposition, activists and journalists, and is a damning indictment of the democratic process and rule of law in Cambodia. The early stages of the investigation into Kem Ley’s killing have done nothing to allay fears that, like the others before it, this investigation will fail to identify or prosecute those who ordered the crime.

Your government must urgently commission an independent and thorough investigation into Kem Ley’s murder. The hundreds of thousands of Cambodian citizens who took to the streets for his funeral procession, together with the widespread international condemnation of the killing, should leave you in no doubt that anything short of an independent investigation will lack any credibility.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Alley
Co-Founder & Director
Global Witness

Preah Vihear police collect 300 homemade rifles

Phak Seangly, The Phnom Penh Post

Thu, 4 August 2016

More than 300 illegal homemade rifles have been collected by authorities in Preah Vihear province already this year, provincial police chief Si Kiry said yesterday.

Local authorities handed over the consolidated collection to provincial officials yesterday.

“We are running a campaign to encourage the people to voluntarily hand over their homemade rifles to the authorities,” Kiry said.

The weapons would be burned in September, he said.

Cambodia introduces new passport with ten-year validity

PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- Cambodia on Tuesday announced that it would introduce new E-Passport with ten-year validity to make it more convenient for the Cambodian people.

We started to issue new E-Passport from July 15 , said Ke Sovath, deputy director of Department of Identification's department of passport.

He said  the E-Passport is of 10-year validity and costs USD 100. Children under five years are also required to make their passports, which cost USD 80 and have five-year validity.

Sovath said that it would take one month to issue a passport after the application.

Cambodian PM threatens key rival with prison

PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen, accused of intensifying a crackdown on dissent before Cambodia's 2018 election, threatened on Wednesday (Jun 29) to jail an opposition leader who has refused to come forward over an alleged sex scandal.

Political tensions have risen in recent months, with rights groups accusing Hun Sen's government of arresting scores of critics and tying up other opponents in legal cases.

The main opposition party's deputy leader Kem Sokha has spent the past month holed up inside his party's headquarters after armed police tried to arrest him in late May.

He is wanted for questioning in a prostitution investigation launched against a woman who claims to be his mistress. But the lawmaker has refused to be interviewed, arguing that the police probe is politically motivated.

"You (Kem Sokha) said Hun Sen is scared of losing an election, but I send you a message: You could be jailed without release. A prisoner! Don't be rude," Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for

CMAC clears US bomb from quarry in Kampong Speu

Thu, 4 August 2016
Specialist divers from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre recovered a 227-kilo American-made Mk-82 bomb from a quarry in Kampong Speu province yesterday.

Mike Nisi, chief of underwater operations at the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, which trained the divers, said people at the quarry had apparently removed the bomb from a pond in recent days and placed it on a nearby ledge.

32 Vietnamese arrested in Phnom Penh immigration raids

Bun Sengkong, The Phnom Penh Post
Wed, 3 August 2016

Thirty-two Vietnamese nationals were arrested during raids by immigration police in Phnom Penh’s Toul Kork district yesterday morning, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Keo Vanthorn.

“They live illegally, meaning that they don’t have passports. They have been sent to the Department of Immigration,” Vanthorn said.

Authorities have been cracking down on undocumented foreigners since the start of 2015.

Vanthorn insisted Vietnamese were not being targeted. “We don’t discriminate against any race. We must implement the law for every foreigner who lives in Cambodia illegally,” he said, adding that 5,502 foreign nationals from 35 countries been deported since the start of the year, “most of them Vietnamese”.

Activists chided after leading worker protest

Sen David, The Phnom Penh Post
Mon, 1 August 2016

The Labour Ministry has chided social media celebrity Thy Sovantha and student leader Srey Chamroeun for claiming to represent unions and workers at a recent protest, and threatening legal action if it happens again.

The two led 100 garment workers in a July 24 protest of a speech made by CNRP leader Sam Rainsy at the European Parliament asking the bloc to use garment imports as a bargaining chip to improve human rights in Cambodia. Their letter to City Hall seeking permission for the

Svay Rieng health workers tell ACU of ‘bribes for jobs’

Niem Chheng, The Phnom Penh Post
Mon, 1 August 2016

Health workers in Svay Rieng have filed a complaint accusing the province’s health department of demanding bribes of short-term contracts employees and freelance workers hoping for full-time government jobs.

The complaint, delivered to the Anti-Corruption Unit, prime minister’s office and Health Ministry, alleges that the director of the province’s health department, Ke Rotha, demanded $5,000 in exchange for permanent civil servant positions.

“The application process to request becoming a government civil servant for the Ministry of Health involved many irregularities, such as bribery, faking and changing names of contracted staff,” the July 21 complaint reads.

The transitioning of contract workers – including nurses, midwives and doctors – to permanent government employees has come in response to a June Facebook announcement in which

Ministry Slams Fake Unionists

“I and my legal team are working on this case. If the law specifies that I’m not guilty, I will protest to the Labor Ministry. I’m not a coward like Mr. Sam Rainsy and Mr. Kem Sokha,” Ms. Sovantha wrote.

Khmer Times/Mom Kunthear Monday, 01 August 2016

Labor Ministry officials on Friday issued warnings to two people who have been calling themselves “union representatives” without the actual backing of any union after a number of unionists asked the ministry to investigate the pair.

The Labor Ministry said they would take further action under the Labor Law if the two did not stop.

Srey Chamroeun, a student leader known for his dogged pursuit of opposition leader Kem Sokha during his alleged sex scandal, and Thy Sovantha, a pro-government activist, were strongly rebuked by Kuy Tepdaravuth, director of the Labor Ministry’s dispute department, in a warning letter on Friday.

Two weeks ago, the two were in the news for organizing a protest against opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) president Sam Rainsy’s suggestion to the European Union that Cambodian garment imports should be used as a bargaining chip for human rights in the country.



They claimed to be union representatives of 110,000 workers in 10 factories and said they would lead a demonstration in favor of annulling the CNRP if the EU cuts garment imports from Cambodia.

Hun Sen to sue opposition senator over alleged Kem Ley remarks

Meas Sokchea and Mech Dara
The Phnom Penh Post, Mon, 1 August 2016

Prime Minister Hun Sen is preparing to launch a legal case against an opposition senator for suggesting he was behind the murder of political analyst Kem Ley, according to a government lawyer and the premier’s own comments to CPP-friendly local media.

Ky Tech, an attorney who represents top Cambodian People’s Party officials, said a complaint would be filed against Sam Rainsy Party Senator Thak Lany today or Tuesday for remarks she made while addressing supporters in Ratanakkiri province on Friday.

According to video posted to Facebook, Lany – who has told local radio that the footage was

China to foot bill for new National Assembly offices

Vong Sokheng, The Phnom Penh Post
Mon, 1 August 2016

Just days after Cambodia was accused of watering down an ASEAN statement on the South China Sea, China promised to pay for a $16 million, 12-floor administration building for the National Assembly during a visit of delegates to the country led by Assembly President Heng Samrin last week.

Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long said yesterday that China would donate the funds, but said details were still being finalised and a formal agreement had not yet been signed.

“Because of the development of democracy in Cambodia and [the expectation that] a new