A Cambodian court has charged four environmental activists with insulting the king and plotting against the government, an official said Monday, after three of them were arrested for documenting waste run-off into a river.Use of royal defamation laws in Cambodia is a relatively new phenomenon, with the legislation only enacted in 2018.The three activists – Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth and Yim Leanghy of advocacy group Mother Nature – were arrested Wednesday for documenting the draining of waste

Train travel has largely ground to a halt in Cambodia due to the coronavirus but railway fans can still get their fix aboard a stationary carriage converted into a hipster cafe.The country has more than 600 kilometres of track extending from its northern border with Thailand to the southern coast, but decades of war and neglect have left vast stretches damaged and coronavirus has shut many remaining services.A new airport rail link was closed last year and passenger trains to the seaport of S

A giant African pouched rat called Magawa who spent years sniffing out landmines in the Cambodian countryside has stopped working and will enjoy a well-earned retirement eating bananas and peanuts, his employers said. Magawa, originally from Tanzania, was trained by the Belgian charity APOPO which says the rodent helped clear mines from 225,000 square metres of land in his five-year career, the equivalent of 42 football pitches.But after detecting 71 landmines and 38 items of unexplo

They're called "red zones" – COVID hotspots in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh that have gone into lockdown.

An elderly French-Vietnamese woman failed Monday in her bid to sue Monsanto and other makers of the toxic chemical Agent Orange over its use by the United States (US) as a weapon during the Vietnam War, after a French court ruled that the companies had legal immunity because they were working for a sovereign government.Tran To Nga, born in 1942 in what was then French Indochina, accused 14 agrochemicals firms of causing grievous harm to her and others by selling Agent Orange to the American m

Cambodia on Tuesday ordered journalists to stop reporting from blockaded coronavirus "red zones" and from chasing ambulances as the country battles against a record surge in infections.The country has seen COVID-19 cases surge since February, when an outbreak was first detected among its Chinese expatriate community.On Tuesday, officials announced a record 938 new infections, bringing the total cases to 16,299 with 107 deaths.Authorities have transformed schools and wedding party ha

Iv Sovann has been in lockdown with her family in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh since 5 April when the government imposed a raft of stringent measures to curb a sudden surge of coronavirus cases.The 36-year-old’s family of six has no income. Her husband, a teacher, lost his job when the school where he worked shut down a year ago.Sovann has been keeping the family afloat by working as an accounts assistant for a local transport company.“We are not rich. We live hand to mouth.

Vietnam has detected four cases of a COVID-19 variant believed to be behind a devastating surge of the virus in India, state media said Thursday.Separately, the country also reported its first community outbreak in weeks on Thursday.Vietnam has so far kept case numbers low – reporting 2,910 of them and 35 deaths – thanks to mass quarantines and extensive contact tracing.All four of those infected with the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, which was first found in India, had recently travelled from

Thailand's prime minister was fined for not wearing a mask Monday after new COVID-19 restrictions came into force to try to halt the country's spiralling outbreak.Wearing masks is now compulsory in public spaces in 49 provinces and the capital, Bangkok – where the latest outbreak has been traced back to a nightlife district. Some locations are backing up that requirement with a 20,000 baht (US$640) fine.After a picture of a maskless Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha attendin

Spiralling COVID-19 cases have put Cambodia "on the brink of death", its strongman premier Hun Sen has warned, as the country imposed lockdowns in the capital city of Phnom Penh as well as in a nearby city.The Southeast Asian kingdom has seen COVID-19 cases surge since February, when an outbreak was first detected among its Chinese expatriate community. Authorities said last week that hospitals in Phnom Penh were running out of beds and that they had transformed schools and