A fisher in Cambodia has caught what scientists say is the world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray.Captured on 13 June, the stingray measured almost four metres (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly less than 300kg (660lbs), according to a statement on Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-United States (US) research project.
At a ceremony this week, Cambodian and Chinese officials proclaimed their friendship as they announced a new construction project. Holding spades decorated with red bows, they turned over soil to signal the start of building work at Cambodia’s biggest naval base, Ream.
Cambodia and Beijing on Tuesday denied a report that they are building a secret naval facility for the Chinese fleet, as Australia's new prime minister voiced concern and called for transparency.The Washington Post, citing unnamed Western officials, said a new facility at Cambodia's Ream base – strategically located on the Gulf of Thailand – was being built for the "exclusive" use of the Chinese navy.The base has been a running sore spot in United States (US)-Cambodian rel
Cambodians voted in local polls on Sunday as a revived opposition party attempted to dent Prime Minister Hun Sen's decades-long grip on power ahead of national elections next year.Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, has ruled Cambodia for more than 37 years and turned the country into a one-party state in 2018 when his party won every seat in a national election.The prime minister was all smiles early in the day, voting in a polling station at a school on Phnom Penh
Cambodia goes to the polls on Sunday in nationwide local elections after a two-week campaign that hinted at a return to a more contested political environment in the Southeast Asian country.The opening rally on 21 May was a familiar one in the capital of Phnom Penh: noisy processions of cars, trucks, motorised rickshaws and motorbikes, with people on loudhailers calling for everyone to vote in the elections. Cambodians will be selecting local leaders in each of the country’s 1,652 co
When Sam’s hard-up relatives needed money to buy a plot of land and start their own business several years ago, they turned to Sathapana Bank in Siem Reap to borrow about US$20,000.Now the Siem Reap tuk-tuk driver and his wife are struggling to make monthly repayments of about US$500. “We do not have the capacity to pay, so we missed payments,” Sam, who asked to use a pseudonym, said.
When Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen became the first head of state to visit Myanmar since the military seized power in a coup last year, he seemed to think he would be able to bring the generals back into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) despite the country’s worsening humanitarian crisis.“I am thinking whether we should keep ASEAN nine or ASEAN 10, because, in the recent ASEAN Summit, we have only nine, this is a problem,” he said ahead of the January trip.
A China-style internet gateway scheduled to be imposed in Cambodia this week would grant the government far greater powers to conduct mass surveillance, censor and control the country’s internet, rights groups have warned.Human rights experts and media advocates fear the gateway could be a step towards the kind of censorship enforced through China’s Great Firewall – though some question what technical capacity Cambodia’s systems currently have, and say the process has lacked transparency.Unde
Myanmar's junta suffered a fresh diplomatic blow Thursday as regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) barred its top diplomat from attending an upcoming meeting of foreign ministers.Cambodia, which currently holds the bloc's rotating chairmanship, said there had been too little progress on a "five-point consensus" agreed by leaders last year to try to defuse the crisis gripping Myanmar.The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted Aung
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) urged an "immediate" end to violence in Myanmar on Wednesday and for the junta to allow a special envoy tasked with facilitating talks to visit as soon as possible.The 10-nation regional bloc has led diplomatic efforts to end the chaos unleashed in Myanmar by the coup last year, which triggered mass protests and a deadly crackdown on dissent.But violence has continued, with anti-junta groups clashing regularly with the military and
Cambodia's strongman ruler Hun Sen held talks Friday with the Myanmar junta – the first foreign leader to visit since the generals seized power almost a year ago.Myanmar has been in chaos since the 1 February coup which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government and ended the country's decade-long dalliance with democracy.More than 1,400 civilians have been killed as the military cracks down on dissent, according to a local monitoring group, and numerous anti-junta militias
Chheut Dina was only a few days into her reduced shift cleaning Siem Reap International Airport when she was told not to come back to work.After 10 months with practically no tourism, the airport dropped its contract with Dina’s employer in December 2020, forcing her to cut spending on her family of seven and refinance a US$11,000 loan she took out before the pandemic.
