HELLOCAMBODIA

With commune election approaching ... the CPP plays the game of "returning grabbed land" - How about Boeung Kak, Borei Keila and elsewhere???

2012-01-24T11:02:00.000-08:00

Decho's circus policy: why not return lands in Dey Krahorm, Boeung Kak, Borei Keila, Phnom Sruoch, etc... also?

A man stands near construction equipment on cleared land last week in Kratie province’s Snuol district, where security guards hired by TTY Co Ltd shot four villagers during a protest. Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Land to be returned (... until the election is over?)

Tuesday, 24 January 2012
May Titthara The Phnom Penh Post

Wary villagers in Kratie province’s Snuol district – where four of their own were shot last week by guards working for agro-development firm TTY – saw the first concrete step toward the promised return of their land yesterday.

In a meeting with villagers, Environment Minister Mok Mareth delivered the news that land in Pi Thnou commune’s Veal Bei village – seized in an economic land concession – would be returned to families who had previously harvested cassava on it.

“All villagers have to be honest and cooperate with the joint committee to provide their true land size,” he said.

Those who lay claim to between one and five hectares will have their land returned first, he added.

The Ministry of Interior issued a statement last week promising to return land to about 380 families in Kratie province, many of whom had blocked national road 76a after Wednesday’s shootings.

The TTY company received an economic land concession in 2008 covering more than 9,000 hectares of land in Snuol district.

Villager No Sos said the minister had given Hun Sen’s word yesterday that their land would be given back.

“At first, I didn’t think they would find a resolution as promised,” No Sos said. “I thought they had just cheated villagers to open the road – now I believe the promise.”

Land with houses on it will be measured first, followed by farmland, he said.

Sar Cham Rong, deputy governor of Kratie, said his joint committee will begin measuring land tomorrow. “We will provide the land to people who lived and planted there, but we will not provide the land to villagers who just say the land belongs to them, but who do nothing on that land,” he said.

Sar Cham Rong said that villagers who had lived in the area’s wildlife sanctuary had never possessed official documents, but the government would return their land and issue land titles.

Yon Phorn, the uncle of 22-year-old Mong Toch, who was taken to Vietnam for medical treatment after security guards armed with AK-47s shot him, said a joint committee that included the provincial governor, a police representative, a land management official and an environment ministry official would begin preparing land titles from February 4.

“Mok Makreth said that after his joint committee finished working, he would give the land title to all villagers; it is a just resolution that villagers can accept,” he said.

“Now we have confidence in the government’s policy. We think they will honour their promise.” Mong Toch was scheduled to marry on February 2, but his wedding has been delayed because he condition remained critical, Yon Phorn said.

Two other villagers seriously injured when security guards opened fire last Wednesday were treated at Kampong Cham referral hospital and one was taken to Snuol district hospital.

Villagers say a fifth person remains missing after the protest, but is not clear whether he was shot.

Mok Mareth, who emphasized that the government had no involvement with the security guards decision to shoot, pledged 2 million riel of his own money to Mong Toch and 1 million riel to the other victims yesterday, while the provincial governor pledged 2 million riel to each victim.

“Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered me and Minister Sar Kheng, the interior minister, to arrest the perpetrators who shot the villagers and those who provided the guns,” he said. “It is the company’s fault that security guards shot the villagers.”

Heng Sarath, deputy general of TTY, said his company expects to receive a sub-decree outlining how many hectares it will lose.

“We planned to cut about 700 hectares of land for villagers, but now maybe we cut about 800 hectares.”

He was still looking for the security guards, he said.

“They did not shoot villagers – they shot the ground and the bullets ricocheted up and hit villagers. If they had aimed for the villagers, a lot of people would have died.”

Police have yet to arrest anyone over the shootings.

Rights groups urge Cambodia to end mass evictio ns

2012-01-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Cambodian police walk in line during the eviction of residents at a slum village in the centre of Phnom Penh, on January 4

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
AFP

Five leading human rights groups on Tuesday urgedASEAN chair Cambodia to end all forced evictions in the country and free seven people who were detained after a recent land protest turned violent.

"As the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for 2012, Cambodia should abide by its legal obligation to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms... and end the practice of forced evictions that is a blot on the country's reputation internationally," the campaigners said in an open letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Cambodia recently took over the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member regional ASEAN bloc.

The signatories of the letter, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Witness, also called for the release, "pending further investigation", of seven residents who were arrested during an eviction of some 300 families from an area in the capital Phnom Penh on January 3.

Locals in the Borei Keila neighbourhood reacted to the demolition of their homes by throwing rocks and bottles at police, who fired back with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The five rights groups also voiced their "serious concern" over the treatment of 22 women and six children who were sent to a notorious rehabilitation centre more commonly used to hold sex workers and drug users, after they protested peacefully on January 11 against the eviction.

Four were freed after reaching a deal with the private company that is responsible for their resettlement, while the remaining women and children escaped by climbing over the facility's walls last week.

"In today's Cambodia, it's clear that one of the most dangerous places for an ordinary Cambodian to be is living on a piece of land that a rich man and his government cronies want," Phil Robertson, HRW's deputy Asia director, told AFP.

There was no immediate comment from the Cambodian government, which has faced mounting criticism in recent years over a spate of evictions nationwide that have displaced tens of thousands of mostly poor people.

Land ownership was abolished and many legal documents were lost during the 1975-1979 rule of the communist Khmer Rouge, complicating land titling efforts.

Cambodia needs to see real change

2012-01-24T10:57:00.001-08:00

Jan. 25, 2012
Written by A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

Many readers emailed me following my series of articles on replacing Cambodia's dictatorship with a democratic form of government. As many emails contained similar concerns, I have grouped those with similar themes and will use this column to deal with two.

I agree with readers who argued that what Cambodia needs -- "first and foremost," as a respected Khmer reader and author put it -- is for the people to have "a filled stomach and stability."

My "teachings" in this column mirror the substance of the "Introduction to Government and Politics" manual I wrote during my tenure at the University of Guam -- that most of the world's nation-states aspire to some common goals by giving government the task of providing for independence (free from outside control), stability (order and security) and economic and social well-being for all citizens. Cambodians should aspire to nothing less.

The fundamental philosophical conflicts between Western and Eastern civilizations -- the West believes in the individual and his/her basic rights and freedom first; the East believes in the community and its security-stability first -- have evolved.

Historically, Eastern philosophy has posited there cannot be human rights and freedom in an insecure, unstable and disorderly world and has made primary the institution of security, stability and order. In the West, there is strong opposition to compromising individual rights and freedom.

Evolution brings change -- a constant, which, if applied wisely, can avoid disastrous collision.

In today's world, Eastern nations that embrace community and stability also acknowledge the values of basic human rights and freedom, and Western nations that oppose compromising individual rights and freedom also acknowledge the value of a secure and stable society to build and strengthen the rights and freedom they cherish.

At the University of Guam, I wrote and I taught the necessity for balancing the two conflicting philosophies to build a more harmonious world.

In the real world, people aspire to similar things: To experience a level of contentment in life, to enjoy a level of good health, and to be able to meet basic life necessities -- food, clothing, shelter. While a government cannot make people content, healthy or economically and socially well, it can help by providing an environment and conditions that facilitate the meeting of those needs and desires.

Cambodia's current leadership has been in control since Vietnam's eviction of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime from power in 1979. It was legitimized by the 1991 Paris Peace Accords and the first U.N.-supervised elections of 1993.Since a coup d'etat against the royalist partners in 1997, the current leadership has ruled the country unchallenged and autocratically.

Cambodia should be the envy of developing countries, as the government reports the economy has experienced a 10-percent annual growth rate for the past decade, and the country is quickly being developed -- physically and materially. Yet, Cambodia owes a debt to foreign countries and development partners of an amount between $3.3 billion (or 29 percent of the country's gross domestic product) and $7 billion (63 percent of the GDP), depending on which government source provides the figure.

The government also acknowledges that 35 percent of Cambodia's total 14 million, or 5 million, live below the poverty level.Photos and videos of the miserable lives led by these poor and the violations of their rights and properties by the governmentinundate the Internet.

Compared to life under the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge, when it is generally agreed that more than 2 million Cambodians were brutally killed, contemporary Cambodia is a far better place. However, political calm masquerades as stability at the price of rights, freedom and the rule of law. Many seem content to accept it in place of the atrocities that preceded this government.

Four years ago, Tibet's spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, told the world that even if "food, shelter and clothing" have been provided the people, these latter "remain only half human" because those things do not sustain human beings' "deep nature" that requires "the precious air of liberty."

He sees in the positive political changes brought about by nonviolent approaches -- India's Mahatma Gandhi, America's Martin Luther King Jr., the Philippine People Power movement, the Czech Velvet Revolution, the Tibetan and Burmese protests -- as revealing of the "truth" that "freedom is the very source of creativity and human development."

His vision of the future of humanity may be related to another theme in the emails, asking for my comments on how Cambodians can avoid replacing an autocratic regime with one that is similar.

The Dalai Lama, who sees the roots of many problems as manmade, when humans are unable to "control their agitated minds and hearts," advises people to reduce their "emotions of suspicion, hatred and hostility toward other human beings." He calls for "an attitude shift" in society through educating the "human heart" and redressing the "imbalance" between the development of the brain and that of the heart.

A regime change is changing a regime of individuals with other individuals, who come from the same society and traditions -- changing the license plate without changing the car. Cambodian opponents to the status quo must begin with a change in attitude; to begin with each of us individually ... a topic for another day.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Cambodian per capita GDP likely to reach 1,000 USD in 2013: PM

2012-01-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that the country's per capita GDP is expected to reach 1,000 U.S. dollars in 2013 from merely 830 U.S. dollars at the end of 2010.

In the medium term, the country's economic growth is expected to be at least 6 percent annually and the poverty rate will decline at least one percent a year, he said in a meeting with 26 Cambodian ambassadors and eight consuls general to foreign countries.

By the end of 2010, Cambodia's poverty rate stood at 25.8 percent, according to the government statistics.

The country's GDP growth in 2011 was estimated at 6.4 percent ( equivalent to 12.02 billion U.S. dollars), Cambodia's Finance Minister Keat Chhon said last month.

The main sectors driving economic growth are garment industry, tourism, agriculture and construction.

Director Sees Potential in Wide Range of Cambodian Art

2011-08-15T03:47:00.000-07:00

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer | Washington

Suon Bunrith, country director for Amrita Performing Arts, visits VOA Khmer. He is in his second year of a three-summer fellowship at the John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts in Washington.

“We perform onstage to show the real stories of people who survived the Khmer Rouge regime in

Cambodia [...]. We do not want to see these stories continue to evolve today, and you are invited to imagine the future of the people in these stories.”

Suon Bunrith is the country director for Amrita Performing Arts and is now in his second year of a three-summer fellowship at the John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts in Washington.

The program gives attendees from 24 countries skills that help them improve the development of the arts at home, he told “Hello VOA” recently.

Funded by major US donors and local businesses, Amrita was established in 2003 as an independent production company, which collaborates with the government and independent artists in the research and performance of traditional Cambodian performances.

It also encourages artists to explore contemporary theater, dance and music through workshops, regional exchange programs and international tours.

One of its latest initiatives is a traveling theater production called “Breaking the Silence,” which encourages victims and perpetrators of Khmer Rouge atrocities to speak out about their experiences as a move toward national reconciliation.

Suon Bunrith said the performance was a play about regaining hope and healing.

“We perform onstage to show the real stories of people who survived the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, a time when people were divided by ruined lives, betrayals, guilt, abuse, illness, grief or stress,” he said. “We do not want to see these stories continue to evolve today, and you are invited to imagine the future of the people in these stories.”

In November, the performance is expected to move to Rwanda, where an estimated 800,000 people were massacred in a 1994 genocide.

Cambodia has wide range of performance art, he said, which Amrita tries to perpetuate.

Shadow theater has seen a decline in popularity thanks to the advent of modern entertainment, he said.

“We want to bring shadow theater, or ‘nang sbek,’ to show abroad,” he said. “Nang sbek is an art that involves mime, song, music and having to dance, as well as narration to the accompaniment of the ‘pinpeat’ orchestra, and it is now a dying art form.”

Suon Bunrith graduated from the Royal University of Phnom Penh in 1995 and was a cultural specialist at Unesco. He has undertaken internships at New York’s Dance Theater Workshop, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Boston’s Leveraging Investments in Creativity.

Trouble Brewing in Thailand?

2011-08-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

By Tim LaRocco

With news breaking this week that a Cambodian solider was killed on the border with Thailand, the site of a dispute that was recently adjudicated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), it’s worth looking at how serious this development could turn out to be.

The Phnom Penh Post reported that Cambodian military officials claimed that Thai soldiers initiated the hostilities from their side of the border:

‘Pok Sophal, a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces commander for Oddar Meanchey’s Trapaing Prasat district, about 100 kilometres from the Preah Vihear temple, claimed that Thai soldiers had opened fire on the soldiers.

‘”We had an appointment for the meeting (between Cambodian and Thai soldiers), and when we were walking, they opened fire at our soldiers,” he said. “They were already prepared to intentionally open fire at us in advance.”’

However, the article then goes on to note that the Cambodian government had a different account of what they believed to have transpired:

‘Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, yesterday said government officials were still investigating the issue, but that reports of an armed clash were “not accurate”.

‘“Officially, (there was) no confrontation between Cambodian soldiers and Thai soldiers. The casualty that happened was not involved with an armed clash at all,” he said. “The situation on the border is calm, and both sides, they build confidence.”’

If one is to believe the account given by Sophal, the significance of this incident sadly transcends the loss of life of one Cambodian soldier. Instead, the focus would have to be on the aggressive behaviour of the Thai military. This isn’t just because of the recent legal decision by the ICJ – which called for the removal of military personnel on both sides from the site of the Preah Vihear temple and the establishment of an independently monitored demilitarized zone – but because it could foreshadow a potential conflict between the Thai military establishment and the new Pheu Thai government.

Additionally, there’s a question over the role of the outgoing Abhisit administration and what function Thailand’s Democrat Party may have played if it’s determined that Thai soldiers instigated an attack.

As I reported earlier this month, relations between Thailand and Cambodia could be expected to improve considerably when Yingluck Shinawatra assumes the role of prime minister. The Thai military, the fiercely nationalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (Yellow Shirts), and other segments of the Bangkok elite were the biggest losers of Thailand’s elections this month, which swept the Pheu Thai party into power on a swell of support from the country’s poor, rural constituencies. The possibility for dissidence between the various actors within Thailand’s domestic political system is very real, highlighted by myriad coups orchestrated by the military in the past. However, the army did announce that it would accept the latest results in the aftermath of Pheu Thai's landslide victory.

It may, of course, turn out that this is much ado about nothing, and it’s possible that certain Cambodian military leaders are attempting to extract some sort of personal or professional benefit by fabricating a story. We need more details about exactly what happened, but it’s a story worth keeping an eye on in the coming days and weeks.

Tim LaRocco is a graduate student of international relations at The City College of New York. He has travelled throughout the developing world, including stints as a volunteer worker in the Public Parks Department in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and as a researcher for the South African Human Rights Commission in Cape Town. He currently lives in Long Island, New York.

Police identify brokers

2011-08-15T03:42:00.000-07:00

Monday, 15 August 2011 15:02

Sen David

Photo by: Meng Kimlong

Migrant worker Nouv Vuthy (left), 21, holds hands with his mother on returning to Cambodia from Malaysia last month after escaping from a fishing vessel.

Police say they have discovered the identities of all the brokers responsible for the trafficking of seven Cambod-ian men, who were forced into slave labour aboard Thai fishing boats.

Last week, police revealed they had made one arrest and were tracking three more suspects following the return of the fishermen to the Kingdom on July 29.

The victims were rescued in May and early June during raids carried out on a plywood factory in Malaysia after they swam to shore to escape the boats. They described being forced into back-breaking labour and witnessing shootings and beatings.

Yesterday, officials revealed additional information had been sourced.

“We know there are a total of seven brokers involved. One has already been arrested, one has died and others have fled,” Chiv Phally, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking and juvenile protect-ion department, said.

Although he could not reveal all the wanted men and women’s identities because “it might spoil the investigation”, Chiv Phally did confirm that one suspect was already dead.

One of the alleged brokers, 40-year-old Sean Han, died at some point this year in Malaysia. He is thought to have fallen from a boat and drowned.

Police are now hunting for the remaining suspects. “Pol-ice believe they are in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey,” Chiv Phally said.

Trafficking victim Nouv Vuthy is supportive of the ongoing investigation.

“I hope it will be successful,” he said yesterday.

Yingluck: No plan to get Thaksin a new passport

2011-08-15T03:41:00.001-07:00

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday that giving a diplomatic passport back to her brother, fugitive ex-premier Thaksin, was not one of her government's plans.

Yingluck said that she would not get involved in the process and the matter would depend on Foreign Ministry regulations and procedures.

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul yesterday dismissed media reports that the government planned to reissue a diplomatic passport to Thaksin, because he was a former prime minister.

The new foreign minister said he had not investigated the feasibility of reinstating a "red passport" or diplomatic passport to the former premier, as he had not officially startedwork at the ministry.

"I'm not prepared to return the red passport to Thaksin but I will consider the case based on principles and fairness," Surapong said.

The foreign minister denied he had initiated a process to re-issue a passport, saying he would start work on Wednesday. He said if the Foreign Ministry wanted to bring the issue up, he would look at it and adhere to righteousness.

"What the previous government did by politicising the issue, we should not follow suit. The Foreign Ministry always acts in line with good protocol," he said.

Democrat Party spokesman Chavanont Intarakomalsut said, however, the Foreign Ministry did not have authority to re-issue a passport to Thaksin, who was sentenced to two years jail in late 2008 over a scandal involving a deal to buy a prime plot of land on Ratchadapisek. The ministry could not issue a new passport. Only the court, police or prosecutors could make a new decision on the matter.

"I want the new Foreign Minister or the PM to think of her acceptance statement - that she would not work for any particular person or group," Chavanont said.

Asked if a move by Japan to allow Thaksin to enter their country would be a slap on the face of the government or not, Chavanont said the Democrat government never banned Japan from allowing Thaksin to enter the country.

Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn said any Foreign Ministry move to return a Thai passport to Thaksin would cut the Yingluck administration short, because the new government was being closely watched on whether it worked for a particular group or person.

He also believed that the Pheu Thai led-government would be able to amend the Constitution - and remove appointed Senators - because it had a majority of votes in Parliament.

Pheu Thai Nonthaburi MP Chalong Riewraeng said Thaksin could get his Thai passport back because the Court has already nullified the purchase of the Ratchadapisek land and refunded Thaksin and ex-wife Pojaman Damapong the money with interest.

"The Ratchadapisek case was not corruption but political case. Thaksin delivered great achievements during his administration, he deserved to get it back," he said.

Yesterday, Surapong said he had met with the Japanese ambassador to Thailand, Seiji Kojima. He said Japan wanted to know about the Pheu Thai policy on travel restrictions that Thaksin faced. Surapong said he told the ambassador the country had no restriction and that Thaksin had travelled to many countries. He said it depend entirely on Japan whether to grant Thaksin a visa.

Thaksin is said to be planning a visit to Japan from August 22 to 28 to look at areas in Miyagi prefecture in the north, which were devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's immigration law forbids any foreigner convicted of breaking a law and sentenced to a jail term of one year or more from entering the country. But, the law also makes an exception for people who may have been convicted for political reasons. The justice minister has the final say in each individual case.

Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said yesterday that the ex-premier had received an invitation from a Japanese academic institution to give a lecture and visit an area affected by the tsunami.

Meanwhile, Surapong said he expected relations with Cambodia to improve because Phnom Penh was the first to send a congratulatory note when the Yingluck Cabinet was sworn in. He said he would look into details if there was a chance to co-register historical sites near Preah Vihear Temple as World Heritage sites. He insisted that there was no conflict of interest in this move, despite the fact there has been grave concerns about demarcation of the border, both on land and sea.

Children step in to cover for Indian priest shortage

2011-08-08T05:46:00.001-07:00

By Zubair Ahmed BBC News, Mumbai

Some 700 children are training to be priests
In a crowded neighbourhood building in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), 30-odd teenagers are chanting Hindu scriptures and singing religious songs.

These children, along with several hundred others, are training in batches to become priests for the city's biggest religious festival.

The 10-day Ganesh Utsav - when the elephant god is worshipped - begins this month and there are not enough priests available to handle the rush of ceremonies: More than 12,000 in different neighbourhoods, and several thousand private ceremonies in homes.

According to one estimate, there are barely 3,500 priests in the city when it needs at least eight times the number.

So the festival organisers have decided to train 700 young boys and girls this year so that more priests can be made available.

'Crash course'

Interestingly, many of the children taking the "crash course" in priesthood are girls.

"I know there will be some hesitation [to hire us] in the beginning because we are so young and then we are girls. But once [the clients] know that we are as good as traditional priests, they will hire us," says a visibly excited 15-year-old Neha.

And Manohar, also 15, says he has "stopped lying" ever since he began attending the classes.

"I am learning to be pious which would help me being accepted by those who need the services of a priest."

Pandit Vishwanath, one of the trainers, is confident that his young charges will be ready to become priests.

"They have been in training for over a month. They will have learnt all the scriptures in time to preside over the ceremonies," he says.

The Ganesh Utsav is Mumbai's biggest festival

But will the people accept the teenage priests?

The organisers are confident they will.

"If the children learn the scriptures which are available in a condensed form and take their job seriously they will be accepted," says Ganesh Pandey, a veteran priest.

The organisers plan to train more children every year to meet the rising demand for priests.

It is not clear why there is such a severe shortage of priests, but one of the organisers says children of priests are not taking up their father's vocations.

The upshot: the city's biggest festival simply doesn't have enough priests to carry out the ceremonies.

"They get so busy," says Naresh Dahibhavkar, one of the organisers, "that they don't even spend more than five minutes at one place for the ceremonies."

Markets volatile following European Central Bank move

2011-08-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

Market Data

Last Updated at 12:43 GMT

Dow Jones	11444.61	Up	60.93	0.54%
Nasdaq	2532.41	Down	-23.98	-0.94%
FTSE 100	5164.54	Down	-82.45	-1.57%
Dax	6097.60	Down	-138.56	-2.22%
Cac 40	3221.82	Down	-56.74	-1.73%
BBC Global 30	5200.82	Down	-44.90	-0.86%

Global Economy

European stock markets have given up early gains, which had been triggered by the European Central Bank saying it intended to buy up government debt.

Spanish and Italian markets jumped in early trading before slipping back, while major European indexes slid sharply in mid-morning trading.

Markets tumbled last week, forcing the ECB to intervene to address concerns the debt crisis is spreading.

Yields on Spanish and Italian bonds fell sharply after the bank's move.

The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds - an indication of the risk associated with lending Spain money - fell from more than 6% to about 5.2%. Yields on Italian bonds fell by a similar amount.

"Thanks to the ECB's intervention, [yields have] collapsed dramatically. I can't remember the last time I saw such a big move down," said Louise Cooper at BGC Partners.

Stock market investors appeared to be less enthusiastic about the ECB's bond purchases, as they continue to worry about the US economy following Friday's downgrade of US debt by ratings agency Standard and Poor's.

“Start Quote

From the sidelines, many voices say that the answer to all of this is to launch a eurobond that would essentially turn nation's debts into common European debt. But in order to get close to selling this idea to the German public, the weaker countries would have to agree to a massive loss of sovereignty. Germany, France etc. would essentially want to manage the tax and spending of countries like Greece and Italy.”

Gavin Hewitt BBC Europe editor

In London and Paris the FTSE 100 and Cac 40 indexes lost almost 2%, while Frankfurt's Dax was down almost 3%.

Earlier, Asian shares had fallen due to that downgrade of US debt.

Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indexes lost 2.2%, while South Korea's Kospi dropped 3.8%.

Last week saw trillions of dollars wiped from the value of global markets, with the Dax losing about 13% of its value, the FTSE 100 dropping 10% and the Dow ending the week 5.8% lower.

More wobbles?

On Sunday, the ECB indicated that it would start buying the bonds of eurozone governments, hoping to instil confidence that some of its biggest economies would not default on their debt obligations.

Bonds are essentially IOUs issued by governments, or companies, to raise cash. Governments issue new bonds to help pay maturing bonds, which is why it is so important that investors continue to buy them - if they do not, governments are unable to pay their outstanding debts.

View from the trading floor

Joe Lynam BBC News, at BGC Partners

On days like this, blood pressure, adrenalin and voices can rise dramatically.

That's been the case so far today as the FTSE has gone from badly down to solidly up to dramatically back down again.

I gauge the intensity of trading by the number of men on their feet shouting into their phones.

By that yardstick, the market - like a flock of swallows - could be about to turn in one direction or the other and take the whole gang with it.

Lunch here is not just for wimps but worse - for those who aren't busy.

Not busy equals no money. No money equals no house hunting in Surrey or car buying with HR Owen.

On days like this, reputations and millions are made and shed on trading floors.

In a separate statement, the G7 group of developed countries said members were "determined to react in a co-ordinated manner" to preserve financial stability.

Analysts were mixed in their reaction to the ECB's move, and said the markets would be hoping to see more action from European policymakers.

"The markets are looking for a concrete plan out of Europe and the US in terms of how they are going to deal with their deficits and those plans need to be implemented," said Richard Hunter at broker Hargreaves Lansdown.

"Until the market can get comfort on these matters, there is going to be more volatility."

The intervention by the ECB is seen as a short-term measure to help calm stock markets, but what investors want to see most of all is highly-indebted countries reducing their levels of debt, by spending less and raising more in revenues.

On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced plans to balance the country's budget by 2013, a year earlier than planned, while Spain has also promised to speed up cost-saving measures.

Knock-on effects

“Start Quote

Many will see the ECB as taking a serious credit risk in bailing out two financially over-stretched governments and as behaving contrary to the rules of prudent central banking”

Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News

Peston: The ECB's risky strategy

S&P's downgrade of US debt has also underminded investors' confidence.

"The ratings downgrade has been an unprecedented event," said Alvin Liew of UOB Bank in Singapore.

Standard & Poor's cut the US's top-notch AAA rating for the first time, citing concerns about the size of the country's budget deficit and the acrimonious and protracted battle in Congress to raise the country's debt ceiling at the eleventh hour. It has graded the US at AA+.

The fear for many investors is that the US economy will slow further, and even enter a double-dip recession.

This in turn would hurt Asia, which relies on the US, the world's biggest economy, to buy billions of dollars of exports every month.

It would also hamper efforts of governments to reduce their debt load, as it would cut tax revenues.

Click to play

BBC correspondents assess the financial markets

The downgrade was heavily criticised by the US administration, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner telling NBC news S&P had shown "terrible judgement" and a "stunning lack of knowledge about basic US fiscal budget maths".

But China, which is the world's biggest investor in US debt, has told Washington to address its high levels of debt rather than blaming S&P.

An editorial in Monday's China People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, called on the US not to "become blind to the great risks that a weak greenback could pose to the world's fragile economic recovery by lifting dollar-denominated commodities prices".

"It is time for the US to tighten its belt and solve its structural problems, in order to resume its reputation and restore world confidence," the paper said.

Gold standard

Fears of renewed global slowdown were reflected in the price of gold and oil.

Gold, which is seen as a safe investment in times of economic uncertainty, jumped to a new record high of $1,706 an ounce on increased demand.

Meanwhile the price of oil slipped further, reflecting concerns that weak global growth could lead to a fall in demand. US light crude fell 3.3% to $83.59 a barrel, while Brent crude lost 3.4% to $105.96.

"There are few places you can obviously hide," said Greg Gibbs of RBS in Sydney. "And the ones that you can hide in are doing very well. Gold is the beneficiary because there is no central bank to sell it."

London riots: Theresa May to meet police chiefs

2011-08-08T05:40:00.000-07:00

Police clashed with youths in Enfield as violence spread across London

London Riots

Home Secretary Theresa May is to return from her summer holiday following a second night of violence in London.

More than 100 people have so far been arrested and 35 officers injured. Police vehicles were damaged and shops looted in parts of the capital.

Following riots in Tottenham on Saturday, disorder spread to Enfield in the north, Walthamstow in east London and Brixton in the south of the city.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called the rioting "opportunistic theft".

Mrs May, who has been in contact with other senior politicians and senior police officers while overseas, is meeting Acting Metropolitan Police (Met)Commissioner Tim Godwin and other officers on Monday afternoon.

A Home Office spokesman could not confirm whether Mrs May has cut short her holiday to come back to the UK, or whether she was already due to return on Monday.

Earlier the home secretary said: "Last night, police officers again put themselves in harm's way to protect Londoners and their property.

"Londoners have made clear that there are no excuses for violence, and I call on all members of local communities to work constructively with the police to help them bring these criminals to justice."

A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, who is on holiday in Italy, said: "We are very clear that those responsible for that violence and looting will be made to face the consequences for their actions."

'Copycat criminals'

On Sunday night, three officers were hurt when a vehicle hit them as they tried to make an arrest in Chingford Mount, north London.

Clashes later broke out in Enfield where shop windows were smashed and a police car damaged.

Travel disruption

Brixton Tube station is closed
Tottenham High Road and Bruce Grove closed between Monument Way and the Roundway
Lordship Lane closed between the A1010 High Road and Bruce Grove
Church Street in Enfield closed between Chase Side and Willow Road
Bus routes 67, 123, 141, 243, 259, 279, 349, 318, 341 and W4 are on diversion

Up to 200 youths looted shops and charged police in Coldharbour Lane and the High Street in Brixton.

The disorder followed rioting in Tottenham which began on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning.

A peaceful protest over the fatal shooting by police on Thursday of 29-year-old Mark Duggan was followed by violence later in the evening.

The unrest spread into nearby Wood Green and Tottenham Hale.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described the second night of rioting as "needless opportunistic theft and violence" which he said had "absolutely nothing to do with the death of Mark Duggan".

The Met said it had dealt with several incidents of "copycat criminal activity" across London on Sunday night:

These included:

Three officers injured after being hit by a vehicle in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, at about 00:45 BST
More than 30 youths vandalising and looting a number of shops in Walthamstow
About 50 youths gathered in Oxford Circus, central London, and threw objects at shops
A police vehicle being attacked in Islington, north London
A shop on the King's Road in Chelsea damaged
A Tesco store in Ponders End being attacked and items stolen

Click to play

Nick Clegg: "People indulging in violence, looting and theft have absolutely no excuse."

Metropolitan Police Commander Adrian Hanstock said: "This is not groups of people acting on behalf of communities or with any consent.

"This is individuals who are actually attacking communities, businesses, properties and houses and actually causing a huge amount of upset and criminality."

Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London and Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, described the scenes of the last two nights as "disgusting and shocking" and said the police did a good job.

He added: "Obviously there are people in this city, sadly, who are intent on violence, who are looking for the opportunity to steal and set fire to buildings and create a sense of mayhem, whether they're anarchists or part of organised gangs or just feral youth, frankly, who fancy a new pair of trainers."

Talking about the impact on the capital's image, one year ahead of the Olympic Games, he said: "It's pretty rotten for London, it does not look good.

"What we need to do over the next few months is to underline to people the fundamental truth about London which is that it is one of the safest, great big cities on earth."

He said the Mayor Boris Johnson, who is on holiday, was in touch with events and "all over this issue".

'Rocks and bottles'

BBC London's Paraic O'Brien said he had witnessed widespread looting in Brixton.

He said: "What really struck me was the small number of police officers that there actually seem to be on Brixton High Street responding to this."

Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in Tottenham

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme there were too few officers in Tottenham on Saturday night.

But he said: "Social media and other methods have been used to organise these levels of greed and criminality."

Mr Kavanagh pledged that more officers would be on London's streets on Monday night to prevent or tackle further outbreaks.

Press Association photographer Lewis Whyld saw looters battle police at a Currys store in Brixton.

He said: "A couple of hundred youths were rioting and looting. Riot police went in to get them out and there was a big fight in the street.

"Youths were throwing rocks and bottles and there was a bin on fire. They used a fire extinguisher to push the police back so they could get back into Currys and continue taking things out."

Tube closed

Parts of Tottenham are still cordoned off, as officers and forensic specialists continue to examine Saturday's riot scene.

A total of 61 arrests have been made in connection with the first night of rioting.

The majority were for burglary, and other offences including violent disorder, robbery, theft and handling stolen goods.

Sixteen people have been charged with offences including burglary, violent disorder and possession of a pointed or bladed weapon following the Tottenham riots.

A police officer was also shot in Thursday's incident where Mr Duggan lost his life, which happened in what was called a "pre-planned" event under Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime in London's African and Caribbean communities.

Police had stopped a minicab which Mr Duggan had been travelling in.

An inquest into Mr Duggan's death is due to open at High Barnet Coroner's Court on Tuesday.

The violence has also affected public transport and the roads. This includes:

Brixton London Underground station closed
Tottenham High Road and Bruce Grove closed between Monument Way and the Roundway
Lordship Lane shut between the A1010 High Road and Bruce Grove
Church Street in Enfield closed between Chase Side and Willow Road
Bus routes 67, 123, 141, 243, 259, 279, 349, 318, 341 and W4 are on diversion

Are you in London? Have you been affected by the unrest this weekend? Send us your comments using the form below.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Yingluck denies approaching outsiders

2011-07-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

The Pheu Thai Party had not yet offered any outsider a seat on the incoming government's cabinet, prime minister-in-waiting Yingluck Shinawatra said on Tuesday.

Prime minister-in-waiting Yingluck Shinawatra (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)

Ms Yingluck was responding to reports that her party had invited Vichit Surapongchai, executive chairman of the Siam Commercial Bank, to lead the economic team in the Pheu Thai-led coalition government.

The reports said Mr Vichit would be deputy prime minister for economic affairs and finance minister.

"No decisions have been made at this time on the final cabinet lineup, but approaching outsiders is an option," she said.

The youngest sister of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin said the selection of cabinet members will be decided by the party's executive members, based on the capability and suitability of the nominees, including competent outsiders.

She insisted that the selection would not be a benefit sharing process, or reciprocation for political faction support inside the Pheu Thai Party, as has been suggested.

Ms Yingluck said the formation of the cabinet would not be completed this month. Her party and the other coalition partners would wait until the Election Commission had endorsed at least 95 per cent (475) of the 500 MPs.

EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond yesterday reaffirmed that the EC could endorse the required 95 per cent of MPs this week.

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said a meeting of the party's executive has passed a resolution giving the authority to select the new speaker of the House of Representatives to Ms Yingluck and party leader Yongyuth Wichaidit.

Mr Prompong said the selection of the new House speaker, who is also ex-officio parliament president, will be jointly decided by Ms Yingluck and Mr Yongyuth within the next week.

He said the meeting also gave them final authority in selecting individuals for other political positions such as deputy House speaker, chairs of various parliamentary committees and the panel members, cabinet ministers and advisers to ministers.

Ms Yingluck and Mr Yongyuth were both appointed the party's representatives for coordinating with other coalition partners, the spokesman added.

Democrat Party member and outgoing Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

Outgoing Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the next financial minister should not be an outsider because non-MPs might not truly understand the people's problems and the economic policies might not be sustainable.

"The new finance minister should have a good knowledge of financial and monetary issues as well as macro and micro economics.

"The public must be able to rely on and have confidence in the person.

"The new finance minister has to work honestly and transparently, maintains financial discipline, is ready to speak the truth for the best interests of the country and have enough standing to be able to halt some projects," Mr Korn said.

He said the next government should not only be immersed in macroeconomic figures, as this would not solve cost of living problems.

The state sector would likely collect about 100 billion baht in revenue for fiscal year 2012, giving the next government to more money to spend, he said.

"I hope the new government under the Pheu Thai Party will maintain financial discipline and keep the budget deficit at 350 billion baht," the Democrat Party key member said.

Helicopter crash kills three: Myanmar official

2011-07-12T07:04:00.001-07:00

YANGON - THREE Myanmar nationals were killed when a helicopter chartered by Malaysian energy firm Petronas crashed into the Andaman Sea after taking off from an offshore gas field, an official said on Tuesday.

The helicopter suffered engine trouble soon after leaving the southern Myanmar Yetagun field, which is operated by Petronas, the Myanmar government official said.

Nine other passengers, including foreigners, were rescued but the official declined to give details of their condition.

Another official confirmed the crash and said a second helicopter was dispatched immediately to pick up survivors.

The US made Sikorsky S-76 helicopter was owned by French firm Heli-Union and hired by Petronas, Malaysia's state oil and gas company, for its operations in southern Myanmar, the first official said.

The 56-year-old pilot was a retired Myanmar Air Force lieutenant colonel. -- AFP

Media watchdog criticises Vietnam harassment

2011-07-12T07:03:00.001-07:00

Vietnamese protesters walk past the Opera House during an anti-China rally in downtown Hanoi on July 3, 2011 amid an ongoing territorial row in the South China Sea. -- PHOTO: AFP

HANOI - VIETNAM must stop harassing media reporting on public protests, an independent US-based press watchdog said on Tuesday, after three correspondents were briefly detained at an anti-China rally.

'Journalists are not pawns to be used in Vietnam's dealings with China,' Shawn Crispin, the senior South-east Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in a statement.

'Vietnam should allow free reporting of these protests.' The Vietnamese journalists, working for the Associated Press of the United States and Japan's NHK television and Asahi Shimbun, were among at least 10 people detained when police dispersed a rally on Sunday in Hanoi sparked by tensions in the South China Sea.

'Reporters had previously been permitted to photograph and film the small rallies which had been held in the national capital on five consecutive Sundays,' CPJ said.

Political protests are not common in authoritarian Vietnam, but the unprecedented rallies against China occurred after Hanoi in late May accused Chinese marine surveillance vessels of cutting the exploration cables of an oil survey ship inside Hanoi's exclusive economic zone.

The two communist neighbours have long been at odds over the potentially oil-rich Paracel and Spratly island groups, which straddle vital commercial shipping lanes in the South China Sea. -- AFP

Thai cabinet extends emergency rule on south

2011-07-12T07:02:00.001-07:00

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S outgoing government extended a state of emergency across the restive Muslim-majority deep south during its last cabinet meeting on Tuesday following its election loss to the opposition.

The next cabinet is set to be headed by Yingluck Shinawatra, the youngest sister of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whose Puea Thai Party swept to victory in the July 3 poll on a wave of support among rural voters.

One of the final acts of outgoing prime minister's Abhisit Vejjajiva's cabinet was to extend emergency rule, introduced in 2005, in an area covering most of Thailand's three southernmost provinces for a further two months.

Critics accuse the government of failing to address the grievances of Thailand's Malay Muslim minority, including alleged abuses by the military and a perceived lack of respect for their ethnic identity, language and religion.

The attacks appear to become more brazen in recent months, with car bombs and assaults on military bases or outposts.

Three bomb blasts on Monday left 13 people injured, including 11 policemen who were hurt in an explosion at the site of an earlier attack at a rubber plantation in Yala province. -- AFP

UN rights disappointed by Malaysian police crackdown

2011-07-12T07:01:00.001-07:00

Malaysian police fire tear gas onto protestors prior to a mass rally organised by Bersih 2.0 calling for electoral reform in Kuala Lumpur on July 9, 2011. -- PHOTO: AFP

GENEVA - THE UN human rights office expressed disappointment on Tuesday at Malaysia's crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, saying that police appeared to have used excessive force.

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon and arrested more than 1,600 people to end a rally to demand electoral changes on Saturday, drawing intense criticism from human rights groups.

'We are very concerned by the recent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators by the government in Malaysia,' said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The office is 'particularly disappointed to see the apparent use of excessive force by the police against so many peaceful demonstrators in an established democracy like Malaysia,' he added.

While police said they have released the detained protestors, the UN rights office 'remain concerned about retaliation against these individuals' and others who were arrested in the run up to Saturday's rally.

'We are alarmed at the targeting of individuals for championing the rights of Malaysian citizens to express their opinions and to peacefully assemble,' said Mr Colville. -- AFP

Cambodia's ancient wonders suffer modern ills

2011-07-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

In this photo taken on May 11, 2011, western tourist and others gather on the top of the 10th century temple Bakheng in the Angkor Wat complex near Siem Reap, Cambodia, to view the setting sun. -- PHOTO: AP

SIEM REAP - THE blistering heat at Cambodia's Angkor temples eases, and the sun's last soft shimmer will soon brush some of the most wondrous monuments ever created by man. A moment for peaceful reverence? Hardly.

A traffic jam of up to 3,000 tourists surges up a steep hillside, trampling over vulnerable stonework and quaffing beer at a sacred hilltop that provides spectacular sunset views of the massive beehive-like towers rising from the main temple in this ancient city: Angkor Wat.

Below, guides describe its wonders through blaring loudspeakers in a host of tongues as buses circle what is said to be the world's largest religious edifice, one of hundreds erected by Angkor's kings between the 9th and 14th centuries.

'Nobody should be allowed to walk on 1,000-year-old stones,' says Jeff Morgan, executive director of the US-based Global Heritage Fund. He says limits on tourists at the temples are decades overdue.

The influx hastens the deterioration of edifices already buffeted by invasive tropical vegetation and monsoon rains. The relentless tread of feet and the fumes from heavy traffic wear away the soft sandstone. Oily fingers harm the magnificent bas reliefs. Noisy crowds rob visitors of near-mystical moments of quiet contemplation or the chance to imagine they are jungle explorers discovering a lost city.

Too many tourists are not Angkor's only woe. The Unesco World Heritage Site and its gateway town of Siem Reap are also beset by crass development, alleged corruption and endlessly delayed plans on how best to preserve the temples. -- AP

Lift your look with drops of colour sent from over the rainbow

2011-07-07T20:24:00.001-07:00

By Justine Knight, Photography by Jonathan Fenn

The electric eye

Match bold-as-brass peepers with nude lips for an eye-catching look that's easy-peasy to achieve

Step 1

Start by brushing a little long-lasting foundation on to your eyelids. Rimmel Match Perfection Cream Gel Foundation, £6.99 helps neutralise any redness and puts eyeshadow on lockdown.

Bright eyes!

Step 2

Use a medium-sized eyeshadow brush to apply colour - we heart Rimmel Glam Eyes Mono Eye Shadow in Posh Peacock, £4.49 (1). Press over your eyelid, from your lashes to just above your socket line.

Step 3

Frame eyes with liner, like Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner, £18 (2). Finally, add a slick of lengthening mascara - try Rimmel Day 2 Night Mascara, £7.99.

The power pout

Make a statement by painting lips hot pink, for a sizzlin' summer look straight off the catwalk

Step 1

Soft lips are the key to long-lasting colour, so prep with a hydrating, non-greasy balm, such as Figs & Rouge Balm Lip Repair, £3.29 (3).

Step 2

Line the edge of your pout with Mac Cherry Lip Pencil, £10.50. Then fill the entire lip area for a polished finish that'll really go the distance.

Step 3

Using a lip brush and Rimmel's Lasting Finish Lipstick in Indulgence, £4.99 (4), make like Rimmel's make-up artist, Kirstin Piggot. She says: "Follow your natural lip shape with a thin layer of colour, then repeat for extra clout." Mwah-some!

The flipped French mani

Take one classic look, two punchy polishes and a pair of steady hands to rock this summer's colour-blocking trend

Step 1

Choose your base colour - Rimmel Lycra Pro Nail Polish in Aqua Cool, £4.59 (5) is a beachy blue. Apply a thin coat, and leave 10-15 minutes for it to dry.

Step 2

Our secret tip to hassle-free manis comes straight from Ryman the stationer! Snip one of their Ring Reinforcements, £1.39 for 500, in half, and place over the base of the nail to create a template.

Step 3

Apply two coats of Nail Girls Pink #20 Nail Polish, £10.50 (6) to the exposed nail. Dry, and peel off rings, then finish with Rimmel Pro Superwear top coat, £4.59.

'I just wanted to make something of my life'

2011-07-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

She vowed to "live the dream" after winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, but fame has been hard on Chantelle Houghton. So why does she continue to dance with the devil?

By Beth Neil, photography by Barnaby Wilshier

July 3, 2011

Chantelle Houghton is nothing if not resilient. Five and a half years on from winning Celebrity Big Brother and still, here she is, valiantly eking every last drop of mileage from her 15 minutes of fame.

It seems she's always lurching from one doomed relationship to another, stumbling from one emotional trauma to the next. And with each incident comes a new opportunity to be in the headlines.

The latest event is her very public split with Rav Wilding after those rowing pictures were publicised. This is the first time the former Paris Hilton lookalike has spoken publicly since the split, and we're keen for her to set the record straight.

Many are cynical about the media attention the break-up received and rightly so - after all, Chantelle's job is to be professionally famous. It's a dubious career choice perhaps, but one which has, nonetheless, made her fabulously wealthy (FYI, she made £1million in the first year of fame).

"I've invested well and saved a lot," she says. "Best of all, I've been able to buy my house and look after my family. All I've ever wanted is to better myself."

Addicted to Fame

Chantelle, 27, arrives at our shoot in high spirits, her blonde hair extensions bouncing as she teeters around in skyscraper heels. Chattering away about Keeping Up With The Kardashians, she's the same sweet, fun-loving, self-deprecating Essex girl she's always been.

"I don't have any celebrity friends and my family keep me sane," she says.

"I do have a normal life. I know it looks like everything is crazy the whole time, but when I come home from work and shut the door, I go back to normality."

We've followed her through every spit and cough of her whirlwind marriage to fellow CBB star and former Ordinary Boys singer, Preston, 29, and their subsequent divorce a year later. We've watched her undergo drastic changes to her looks (hello, 32Fs!) as she sought solace from depression via the surgeon's knife. And we've seen the shocking effects of the eating disorder that gripped her after the marriage split.

She's also dated footballer Jermain Defoe, 28, Jennifer Ellison's ex Tony Richardson, 30, and been spotted holding hands with, erm, Dane Bowers, 31.

And then we fell in love with her all over again as she played out her lingering heartache over the split with Preston - in front of the cameras, natch - on Ultimate Big Brother last September.

After they both emerged from the house, after 10 years of the reality show, Chantelle confessed she was still in love with her ex-husband. Cue more drama.

Over the course of the next few weeks, she and Preston didn't miss a trick as they milked the will-they-won't-they (eventually-they-didn't) saga dry.

And once that was dead in the water, Chantelle hooked up with Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding, 33, ensuring more cheesy photos and column inches.

Fittingly, their break-up was captured on camera as the couple rowed during a picnic in Richmond Park, Surrey, in April. Rav was said to be furious that Chantelle, with her lust for publicity, had tipped the paparazzi off about their date.

And now? Now she's dating Alex Reid, 35, the latest Katie Price cast-off, and not the sort of guy who is going to offer an opportunity for a quiet life.

But that's not what she wants, anyway. Despite everything she's been through, Chantelle has no desire to head back down Obscurity Avenue. We put her under the Fabulous spotlight to find out just why she craves fame so much.

Is being well known everything you thought it would be?

I've been shocked at how amazing the high points are and how awful the low points are. There's no middle ground. And when I am occasionally in the middle I start to panic and think I should be really low or totally buzzing. I'm like: "What's going on?" But this is my life now.

So, is fame addictive?

I think it's dangerous. It's easy to start believing the hype and that you're this special person. But I'd never go around demanding champagne and caviar.

Would you ever want to go back to anonymity?

No, not for a minute. I'm so grateful for everything I've got, the people I've met and the things I've experienced. I'd go through the whole lot again.

Chantelle admits she's hooked on fame

Does the attention make you feel validated?

Yeah. Everyone likes to feel special, don't they? It's exciting. It's like actually living in a soap opera. There's always something going on. I'm just going to try to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Do you like getting approval from the public?

Yeah. So many people come up to me in the street and ask for a cuddle or a photograph. I had a really lovely hug with a girl in Bluewater shopping centre in Kent the other week! It's really nice.

Did you want to be famous when you were younger?

I wanted to be someone. I always wanted to make something of my life. I was never academic, I'm not Einstein. I could never have gone to university - I think they'd have shut the door in my face! And so this was a way of making something of my life. My way. I said I'd live the dream and that's what I've done.

But you've said yourself there have been dreadful, crashing low points. When did that dream first start turning into a nightmare?

With Preston I was young and vulnerable and my management were making me do things I didn't want to.

Like what?

The glamour modelling. I felt uneasy doing those topless shoots, but I was advised to do them.

I didn't need to have my boobs done. It was a cry for attention

Do you regret that now?

Oh, God yeah. But I thought I was taking the right path.

What made you and Preston get married so quickly? Was it the need to keep yourselves in the public eye?

Well, yeah. All of a sudden I was famous, everyone knew my name and Princess Diana's dressmaker was offering to make my wedding gown. It seemed like the right end to what I felt was a fairy tale.

But it was, in fact, the entirely wrong ending...

Yes, but I wouldn't change a thing. Not a thing. Because now I know even better what I want from life and also from my next marriage. I learned so much from it.

You went through quite a transformation in the aftermath of the split with Preston.

I know. I had my boobs done, my lips done, hair extensions, I piled on the fake tan. I think I was trying to cover something up. I look back at pictures of me from that time and feel sorry for that girl. What was I thinking? I was going out and getting drunk and spending the whole of the next day hungover. It was horrible. I'd hate to go back there now.

And there was the battle with bulimia, too?

Yeah. The issues with food will always be with me. It started when I was around 14 but I managed to keep it under control until the split from Preston.

Was it the pressure of life in the spotlight that brought it back?

It's definitely a way I cope with stress.

Do you think you went too far with the surgery?

If I had my time over I would never have my boobs done. I didn't need to have them done, it was a cry for attention. And I think I got addicted to lip fillers. I'd get them done and then be back within three or four weeks asking for them to be done again. I wanted to keep doing it and keep doing it and see how far I could push myself.

Did that stem from your low self-esteem?

Oh, definitely. Definitely. And now if I feel myself slipping back to feeling that low I try to keep occupied with something I enjoy doing to take my mind off things.

Did you find it difficult that your personal problems were played out in public? Or did you like the attention?

You know, weirdly, I think it helped me. I'm not a private person and knowing that everyone knew was a comfort.

Have you ever had therapy?

I did go to see someone, yeah. And I was going to carry on with it, but I didn't want to sit there and talk to some stranger about stuff. That's what my friends and family are there for.

There's a lot written about your break-up with Rav. Do you want to give us your side of the story?

If you're in a relationship, you don't want it to fail. But there were elements of Rav's character that wouldn't let me be myself. He found the fact I had an ex-husband very hard to handle. But that's my past and I can't change that. I wouldn't want to.

It all ends in tears when Chantelle and Rav have a very public row

What caused the argument that day in Richmond Park?

Basically, the animal charity PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] had asked me to do a shoot which involved me taking my clothes off and Rav didn't like me doing anything like that. I work very closely with PETA and I feel really strongly about it. I'd do anything for them. It's not a terrible thing to want to do charity work is it?

Of course not. But is that really all that set him off?

Well, we were planning on going on holiday on the Monday which was the same day as the shoot. So it was going to mean delaying leaving until the Tuesday.

And he just blew up?

Uh-huh. That was it.

Do you think he liked the attention that came with the relationship at the start...

Yeah. I think everything he loved about me in the beginning he actually came to hate. I don't know, it's really hard to describe. All of a sudden he was in this world and he didn't want that any more. He just wanted me to himself. That doesn't make him a horrible person, but it's part of his character that I couldn't adjust to because I believe so passionately in what I do.

When did you first start to realise that things weren't quite right with the relationship?

Very early on. But when you first meet someone and you like them, you ignore those warning signs. Because who doesn't want to be happy? But it got worse. He wouldn't let me be me.

Did you stick at it because you have a need to feel loved?

Yes. I want the whole "happily ever after" thing.

There have been whispers from his side that the paps who captured the row were tipped off by you...

The thing is, a lot of celebrities live near Richmond Park, so there are always going to be photographers there. But the argument wasn't about that. It was about the shoot I wanted to do which was going to delay our holiday by a day.

But it's important we get this established. Did you tip the paps off that day?

We were going for a picnic. We had strawberries and champagne and it was meant to be lovely. And it was all ruined by the argument over the photo shoot.

OK, so it was pure chance the photographers happened to be there?

Everything Rav loved about me at the start, he came to hate

Richmond Park is always full of paps.

Richmond Park is vast. It was pure coincidence they were in that particular spot?

Well, yeah. I picked Rav up in Soho which is media central so we could have been followed. It happens to a lot of people.

Were you aware that the pictures were being taken?

I didn't have a clue. Not until I saw the pictures in the paper. It was really upsetting because obviously he then randomly dumped me on Twitter. I think he panicked. I still don't know why he finished with me.

Have you ever tipped the paps off?

[Looks uneasy]

Come on, you wouldn't be the first celeb to have done that!

OK, exactly! Who hasn't? Yeah. I'd be dishonest if I said I'd never done that.

Have you spoken to Rav since?

We've exchanged texts but that's it. I'll never know. It's just completely messed up, a head****. I don't understand it and I went through a really bad couple of weeks.

Your relationship with Alex Reid is another one that'll be played out in public. Don't you think you'd be better off with a Mr Ordinary?

I've dated people who aren't in the public eye and all they do is ask: "Do you know such and such?", "Can we go to this party?", "Why can't I be in the magazines with you?"

When you're with someone in the public eye, they just get it. It's 100 per cent easier to be with a celebrity - there's an instant trust between you. There aren't any hidden agendas, there won't be a kiss and tell in the papers.

Chantelle wears: dress, Love at Topshop, belt, Warehouse; shoes, River Island

How serious is it really with Alex?

I like him, he likes me and we've spent some really normal dates together where there haven't been any photographers present.

What made you fall for him?

I met him at a number of events and we just hit it off. We've got loads in common. We were both shoved into the limelight really quickly, we fell in love and got married really quickly, then got divorced really quickly. Also we both won Celebrity Big Brother! Plus Alex is absolutely gorgeous! He's been a shoulder to cry on and he's so fun and energetic. I can be myself around him.

He's been through the mill as well.

Exactly. That's why we're taking the relationship slowly.

That makes a refreshing change! You do seem to live life on fast forward.

Actually I'm pregnant and I'm getting married next week! [Laughs]

Are you still in love with Preston?

No. I've really let that go. And Preston's got a girlfriend right now who he's madly in love with.

I can be myself with Alex Reid. Plus, he's gorgeous!

Just like he was the last time. And the time before that.

[Laughs hard] Very true!

What would you like to go on and do in the future?

I'd absolutely love to do another reality show.

Really? You're a glutton for punishment.

I know, I know! But I'd really love to go on I'm A Celebrity! Also I've just opened a clothing boutique, Vardo, in Essex, and having my own business is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. I'm happiest when I'm working, so it's fantastic to have something I feel really passionate about to focus on.

Is it the money or the fame that drives you? Or both?

I just enjoy the job. I love coming on shoots, getting my hair and make-up done and trying on lovely outfits. And if I wasn't doing this I don't know what the hell I'd be doing. So thank God for Celebrity Big Brother. I left my mum's house that morning and never went home again. It freaks me out sometimes.

How much money have you made since CBB?

I've been really sensible with my money. I'm comfortable for life and that's all I ever wanted. I wanted a better life and I feel like I've achieved that.

Are you still living the dream?

I've had my ups and downs. I've had my heart broken. But I've got a great life and I couldn't be happier.

Karis The Little Helper

2011-07-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

... now she's helping five people to live after she died

Caring... Karis on her 12th birthday

Pictures: WORLDWIDEFEATURES.COM

Exclusive by Lucy Laing

IN her short life, nothing gave kind-hearted schoolgirl Karis Darling more pleasure than looking after others.

Karis (right)... with mum Kerri and older sister Kristi

Known by her loving family as the Little Helper, she ran errands for her housebound gran and nursed her mum Kerri when she had breast cancer.

And when a killer bug tragically took caring Karis's life at the age of 12, she went on helping others after her death.

Her grieving father John revealed how her organs have saved the lives of FIVE people - including young children like herself - and said: "She would have been so proud,"

He added: "Whether it was family or strangers, Karis had such a big heart. That's why we called her the Little Helper.

"Her dream was to go to India to help people in poverty. That was Karis. She didn't have a bad bone in her body."

The bubbly drama-loving youngster began earning her nickname at the tender age of nine. "Her gran had dementia and she would help around the house or run errands for her," said John, 44.

"And when her mum got breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy, Karis would help change her dressings after the operation.

"She also would tell her mum how beautiful she was, to help her feel better. She would even change all the beds and do all the washing up so her mum wouldn't have to."

Her dream was to go to India to help people in poverty

Then one morning in April this year, Karis complained of earache and was given antibiotics. The pain seemed to clear up but a week later she took a turn for the worse.

At Basildon Hospital, Essex, she was diagnosed with blood infection Streptococcus A, which can develop into meningitis. J

ohn said: "They pumped antibiotics into her. Karis said she had a headache, and she was bleeding from her ear."

Within 30 minutes her brain began to swell as worried John and Kerri, 44, sat by her bedside. "She deteriorated before our eyes," said John.

Tragic... Karis fights for her life

Karis was stabilised on life support and transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital, but the swelling in her head was so bad it had crushed her brain stem. John said: "The doctor took us into a room and told us what had happened.

"They turned the life support machine off to see if she could breathe on her own, but she couldn't. She was brain dead. We were numb with shock."

But despite their grief, John and Kerri were determined to honour their daughter's caring spirit and agreed to donate her organs.

"Karis was always helping others and it gave us some comfort that she would be able to save people in her death," said John. Karis's heart was donated to a teenage girl waiting for a transplant. Parts of her liver went to save a baby girl and a young boy. Her kidneys helped another girl and a man who was also given her pancreas.

All have their lives back thanks to Karis

John, who has three other children, Johnnie, seven, Kristi, 15, and Emma, 23, said: "We've been told all these transplants were a success.

"For the little boy who had Karis's liver it had been his last chance. The others have all been given their lives back, thanks to Karis."

The family have set up the Karis May Darling Foundation in their daughter's memory to provide professional drama and sports coaching for underprivileged children.

"Karis had been signed up by a drama agent and was set for auditions in London," said John. "She shone on stage and would have wanted to help other children.

"We will always be so proud of her."

For more details visit www.karismaydarlingfoundation.org.uk

Guardian girl mocks dead gap year boys

2011-07-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

THE grieving mum of a British teenager killed in a Thai coach crash has blasted a Guardian newspaper journalist who cruelly mocked his death on Twitter.

Devastated Madeleine Boomgaarden said columnist Kia Abdullah had caused the family "much pain" and urged the newspaper to ban her.

Cruel... columnist Kia Abdullah

Gap year students Max Boomgaarden-Cook, Bruno Melling-Firth and Conrad Quashie, all 19, died instantly when the coach they were travelling in was hit by another bus as they travelled from Bangkok on Tuesday.

Within minutes Abdullah tweeted: "Is it really awful that I don't feel any sympathy for anyone killed on a gap year?"

Unbelievably, she then added: "I actually smiled when I saw that they had double-barrelled surnames. Sociopathic?"

Cruel... columnist Kia Abdullah

Max's mum used Twitter to reply: "Your words have caused much pain. As the stepmother of one of the boys whose Thai bus coach deaths you laughed at, hope you regret the pain & your career dented.

"Didn't you realise that double-barrelled names mean a modern family coming together? We had a wonderful family with 4 boys."

Masterchef judge Jay Rayner, who also writes for The Guardian, wrote: "Max Boomgaarden-Cook's parents are friends of mine. The pain and hurt she has caused is appalling."

As a Twitter campaign was launched to get Abdullah banned from The Guardian website she writes for, she was forced to apologise and deleted the tweets. She wrote: "What I said was very stupid and heartless and I really should know better. I'm sorry."

A statement by The Guardian stopped short of declaring a ban on Abdullah, insisting it "is not responsible for what occasional contributors write on Twitter".

Solved puzzle reveals fabled Cambodian temple

2011-06-30T10:06:00.001-07:00

By Suy Se (AFP) –

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — It has taken half a century, but archaeologists in Cambodia have finally completed the renovation of an ancient Angkor temple described as the world's largest three dimensional puzzle.

The restoration of the 11th-century Baphuon ruin is the result of decades of painstaking work, hampered by tropical rains and civil war, to take apart hundreds of thousands of sandstone blocks and piece them back together again.

"When I first saw how devastated the monument was, I never thought we would be able to put it back together," said Cambodian restorer Ieng Te, who joined the project as a young student in 1960 and was tasked with numbering stones.

"I am so happy and excited that we were able to rebuild our historic temple," the now 66-year-old said as he oversaw the final construction activities at the site.

On a recent rainy morning workers were adding a final layer of paint to newly-installed wooden staircases at Baphuon, one of the country's biggest temples after Angkor Wat, the largest structure in the famed Angkor complex.

It is one of the last jobs to be done before the temple reopens to the public next week, finally revealing itself in full glory after spending decades in pieces.

Cambodian King Sihamoni and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon will be among the first to tour the impressive three-tier temple during an inauguration ceremony on July 3.

The story of the 10-million-euro ($14m) renovation began in the 1960s when a French-led team of archaeologists dismantled the pyramidal building because it was falling apart, largely due to its heavy, sand-filled core that was putting pressure on the thin walls.

The workers numbered some 300,000 of the sandstone blocks and laid them out in the surrounding jungle.

But efforts to rebuild the crumbling towers and lavishly ornamented facades abruptly came to a halt when Cambodia was convulsed by civil war in 1970.

The records to reassemble Baphuon, including the numbering system, were then destroyed by the hardline communist Khmer Rouge which took power in 1975.

In 1995, when the area in northwestern Cambodia was again safe to work in, the French government-funded project was restarted under the leadership of architect Pascal Royere from the Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient (EFEO).

"It has been said, probably rightly so, that it is the largest-ever 3D puzzle," Royere told AFP.

The team carefully measured and weighed each block and then relied on archive photos stored in Paris, drawings and the recollections of Cambodian workers to figure out where each part fits.

"We were facing a three-dimensional puzzle, a 300,000-piece puzzle to which we had lost the picture. And that was the main difficulty of this project," Royere said.

"There is no mortar that fills the cracks which means that each stone has its own place. You will not find two blocks that have the same dimensions."

The restoration of Baphuon, one of Angkor's oldest ruins, was completed in April and Royere said it was a moment of joy for the 250-strong, mainly Cambodian, team.

Finishing the "unique" undertaking was "a collective satisfaction because it was a complicated project," he said.

Built around 1060 by King Udayadityavarman II in honour of the Hindu god Shiva, Baphuon was the country's largest religious building at the time, 35 metres high (114 feet) and measuring 130 by 104 metres (426 x 340 feet).

In the 16th century, a 70-metre long reclining Buddha statue was built into a wall on the second level using stones from the top of the temple.

These two phases of construction, hundreds of years apart, further complicated the restoration, said Royere, and working during the rainy season proved another major challenge.

But those struggles are behind him now and as the Frenchman watched camera-toting tourists amble along the long elevated walkway that leads to the temple, he said he was confident the site would become a top attraction.

Located at the heart of the Angkor park, it "certainly promises to be a great success," he said.

Gazing up at Baphuon, first-time visitor to Cambodia Gayle Sienicki from Washington DC marvelled at the temple's long journey to recovery.

"It's just amazing, I mean truly amazing, that they could take these bits of stones and figure out how to put them all back together," she said. "I'm in awe. I think this is just the coolest thing."

Cambodia’s ruling party marks founding anniversary

2011-06-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) held a meeting in Phnom Penh on June 28 to mark its 60th founding anniversary (June 28).

Addressing the meeting, CPP President Chea Sim affirmed his Party’s consistent ideal and goal of tirelessly striving for the Cambodian people since the CPP, formerly known as the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea, was established 60 years ago.

He stressed that the CPP gathered the people to overthrow the Khmer Rouge genocide regime (1975-1979) and win the victory on January 7, 1979.

The CPP leader said attributed the victory and national recovery associate with great national unity strength, patriotism and impartial, timely and effective assistance of friend countries and the peace-loving force on the world.

Chea Sim also reviewed Cambodia ’s achievements in process of the national concord and rebuilding under the CPP’s leadership.

The country posted an economic growth rate of 5.9 percent in 2010, which is expected to be 6 percent in 2011 and 7 percent in the following years, he said. Cambodia ’s poverty reduction rate dropped to 26 percent last year, and it is likely to decrease to 19.5 percent by 2015.

At the meeting, the CPP leader voiced his Party’s support for the tribunal on the Khmer Rouge’s crimes.

The CPP will continue to enter in league with the FUNCINPEC and cooperate with other patriotic forces in the society, he said.

He expressed his belief that elections of senate, lower house and localities in the coming time will be conducted freely and equally.

The CPP continues to support its Vice President and Prime Minister Hun Sen to stand for the post as prime minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia for the fifth term, Chea Sim added.

From: http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/International/2011/6/94050/

KRouge defendant vows to help court find 'truth'

2011-06-30T10:03:00.001-07:00

(AFP) –

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A top ex-Khmer Rouge leader on trial for genocide on Thursday vowed to cooperate with Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court to reveal the truth about the country's "Killing Fields" era.

"I personally am not fully knowledgeable about everything, but I will try from the bottom of my heart to make sure that everything is fully revealed," said Khieu Samphan, the former head of state of the brutal regime.

"This is the most important moment for me and for my compatriots who are eager to know and understand what happened between 1975 and 1979."

Along with "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, one-time social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, Khieu Samphan faces charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The elderly defendants are the most senior surviving members of a regime whose reign of terror led to the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork or execution. The four deny the accusations against them.

As their trial entered its fourth day with a debate about witness and expert lists, the defence complained that the court had failed to admit many of their proposed witnesses.

Khieu Samphan, dressed casually and reading a brief prepared statement, urged judges to accept his key witnesses "in order to have a fair trial and so that the truth and my honesty and fairness can be revealed".

The 79-year-old also paid his respects to the hundreds of Cambodians, including many monks, who packed the court's public gallery, and acknowledged them with a traditional greeting -- the first suspect to do so.

The public face of the Khmer Rouge, Khieu Samphan has never denied the horrors suffered by the Cambodian people.

But he claims he was an intellectual and a nationalist and knew little, until long afterwards, of the devastation that was wrought under the regime.

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the movement emptied Cambodia's cities and abolished money and schools in a bid to create an agrarian utopia before they were ousted from the capital by Vietnamese forces.

The initial hearing is set to conclude on Thursday, with full testimony to follow in the coming months.

Greek parliament approves austerity programme

2011-06-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

Parliament passes second vote on austerity package following overnight clashes that rocked the capital.

Greece's ruling socialist party has passed a second austerity bill needed to implement an austerity package to secure more funds from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The vote saw 155 members of parliament voting in favour of the bill, 136 voting against and five abstentions.

Politicians voted on Thursday on the second of two austerity bills that are key to receiving funding, after endorsing an initial law on Wednesday to slash $40bn off the national debt.

The government of Prime Minister George Papandreou won the first vote by 155 to 138 votes.

But the package of taxes, spending cuts and privatisations has angered many Greeks, with thousands taking to the streets, and police clashing overnight with protesters ahead of Thursday's vote.

Clean-up operation

Central Athens, grounded to a halt during violent protests and a 48-hour strike by powerful public and private sector unions. Teams of street cleaners on Thursday swept up broken masonry and shattered glass after the night of clashes.

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips reporting from Athenssaid: "Syntagma square was a battleground for two days; the air thick with acrid tear-gas."

"They [police] are certainly on alert," Philips said. "But at the moment it's all about a clean up in the city centre after two days of violence and a two day general strike," he added.

The five-year austerity package will allow Greece to secure a second bailout of $17bn of emergency loan funds from the EU and the IMF on top of last year's $157bn bailout.

Papandreou, who reshuffled his cabinet earlier this month to secure support for the bills, said he was determined to push through reforms.

"Today, I am more determined than ever," he said earlier. "Now is the time to tackle everything that is wrong with everything that hurts us, that holds us back."

European reaction

Across Europe, officials hailed the first vote as an act of "national responsibility."

"That's really good news," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on her way out of an economic forum in Berlin. Germany is Greece's biggest creditor.

Relief was the main response from the markets. Soon after the vote, the euro rose against other world currencies, including the American dollar.

Investors around the world cheered the news, but protesters, fighting tear gas, hurled whatever they could find at riot police and tried to blockade the parliament building.

Christine Lagarde - named the next head of the IMF - called on Greece's opposition parties to offer support. The IMF provides about 30 per cent of Greece's bailout fund.

European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, said in a statement that the Greek parliament's approval of the bill is a "vital step back" from a debt default.

Unions to continue agitation

Thursday's vote enables individual budget measures and creates a privatisation agency, but unions have vowed to oppose privatisations and other austerity steps.

Clashes between police and protesters broke out outside parliament, with the booms of stun grenades and tear gas resonating across the square outside the parliament on Wednesday.

Riot police fired volleys of tear gas at swarms of young men who were hurling rocks and other debris as well as setting fire to rubbish containers.

Most of the anti-government protesters who marched to the square stayed clear of the fighting, but they vented their anger at the political establishment with chants and insults.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Matina Stevis, a Greek journalist, said: "I can almost hear the sighs of relief from the rest of Europe, but this is not good news, it has been an incredibly dramatic day in Athens."

Stevis said that she was worried that the austerity package was too harsh and unimplementable.

Cambodia a capital success

2011-06-23T05:05:00.001-07:00

By Julie Masis

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia's capital today is unrecognizable compared with five years ago. Then the tallest structure was a seven-story hotel and vast areas of the city would have appeared dark due to a lack of reliable electricity.

Now there are nine buildings of 20 or more stories and 55 structures of between 10 and 19 stories, according to the city's department of construction. More high-rises are on the way: projects have been approved to build at least 200 additional buildings with more than 10 floors, including a 60-story skyscraper.

New apartment blocks are proliferating and land prices are

soaring, to as high as US$3,000 a square meter from around $100 five years ago.

The building spree has propelled Cambodia's recent fast economic growth, the second-highest in Asia after China over the past decade, and increased consumer spending power. Prime Minister Hun Sen has presided over the country's rapid capitalist transformation after decades of debilitating civil war - although about one third of the population still subsists under the poverty line.

Jean-Michel Filippi, a university professor who leads guided tours of Phnom Penh, says that when he first arrived in the city it looked like "a giant village". Streets were unpaved and muddy; chickens, pigs, and ox carts roamed freely across the city; residents often threw their garbage right out of their windows; there were few motorbikes and even fewer cars.

His impression was that the city than was populated with "non-urban dwellers" who "reproduced the structure of the village in an urban place". This was not far from the truth. In 1975, when the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh, the radical Maoists expelled the city's population to the countryside to build an agrarian utopia. Nearly two millions lives were lost in the process over the next four years. After the Vietnamese invasion ousted the regime, Phnom Penh was repopulated with people who had never lived in a city.

In recent years, Phnom Penh has been transformed into a bustling urban metropolis. Ox carts have disappeared and dusty roads have been paved and are regulated by traffic lights. Once quiet streets are now packed with rush-hour traffic jams.

The number of vehicles in Cambodia has tripled in the past five years, reaching more than 1.5 million for the country's nearly 15 million population, according to the government. The vast majority of those vehicles have been registered in the capital. Every day about 80 new cars are registered in Phnom Penh, compared with only one car per day in all of Cambodia's provinces, according to Ung Chun Hour, director general of transport at the ministry of public works and transport.

"The number of motorbikes and cars is still going up, and it's going up faster in Phnom Penh than in the provinces," he said.

The growing gridlock is indicative of rising prosperity. Annual growth of around 9% over the past decade has been driven by services and manufacturing, centered around the capital.

"If we look at the drivers of growth - mainly garment exports - the factories are based around Phnom Penh or in Phnom Penh," says Neak Samsen, a poverty specialist at the World Bank office in Cambodia. "There's a lot of development in Phnom Penh City compared to other parts of the country."

Until recently, Phnom Penh's economy was entirely cash-based. The first ATM machine in Cambodia opened here in 2004. Now there are more than 500, with one on almost every corner of the city. Of the 35 different banks that operate here, only three maintain branches outside of the capital, says World Bank economist Huot Chea.

For the city's residents, the rapid development has translated into a significant improvement in their standard of living. While the average income in Cambodia is still around $1 a day, the average monthly income in Phnom Penh is three times higher, or about $100 per month, according to National Institute of Statistics' Cambodia's Socio-Economic Survey for 2010.

While around 30% of the population still lives under the poverty line (defined by the government as subsisting on a little less than 75 cents per day), fewer than 1% of Phnom Penh residents are poor by this definition, according to a joint World Bank - National Institute of Statistics Study.

Heng Sinet, a Phnom Penh college student, said that 10 years ago her family had no phone or computer, and relied on an old black and white television set for news and information. Now, her seven-member household owns two computers and nine mobile phones.

Sovan Chanrathana, another Cambodian college student, said that in 2003 she just had one pair of shoes, two shirts and two skirts to last her a whole year - and bought her clothing second-hand. Now she purchases new clothes, owns three pairs of shoes, rides a motorbike instead of a bicycle, and can afford to go out to eat.

"Before, when I went to school, I never bought something to eat," she said. "Now when I'm hungry, I eat out."

New businesses, meanwhile, have mushroomed to meet rising consumer demand. Air-conditioned supermarkets, 24-hour convenience stores attached, and high-end restaurants and clothing boutiques have sprung up over the past five years. The past year has seen an explosion in Western style coffee-shops offering up wireless Internet, $3 iced coffees and freshly baked pastries.

Ten years ago most people in Phnom Penh didn't even know what a muffin was, says Dana Langlois, who owns Cambodia's first American-style cafe, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary earlier this year. She estimates that the city is now home to at least a hundred upscale cafes and says all the new competition has not hurt her business.

"Now the market is times ten," she says. "Before you were dealing with 10,000 expatriates, now you've got a million Cambodians as a potential customer."

Julie Masis is a Cambodia-based journalist.

(Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

UQ’s Engineering students Make it So in Cambodia

2011-06-23T05:04:00.001-07:00

University of Queensland undergraduate engineering students will apply their innovation and skills to ensure a floating village in South East Asia has access to a sanitary waste management system.

The project is being conducted as part of 2011's Year of Humanitarian Engineering and the Make it So campaign.

The Tonie Sap is a combined lake and river system of major importance to Cambodia.

As the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia, Tonle Sap is home to a number of communities who live in floating villages on and around it, who do not have access to appropriate lavatory facilities.

This has resulted in widespread contamination of the lake and a range of health issues affecting locals within the region.

In collaboration with Engineers Without Borders, UQ's Innovate Team (UQIT), consisting of five engineering students, intend to rectify this situation through the development of a floating bio-digester which will enable local communities to produce useable methane gas and fertilizer from their sanitary waste.

Senior Lecturer Dr Timothy Nicholson said that the Make it So Campaign, in conjunction with courses undertaken at UQ, had allowed students to work on the conceptual design of a new cutting-edge engineering product in multidisciplinary teams.

“The bio-digester project involves students in both technical and business oriented aspects of development such as: clarification of customer requirements; formal product specifications; cost estimation and risk assessment methods; project management plans and business skills,” Dr Nicholson said.

The Make it So Campaign began as a competition in 2010, allowing people to share their visions about what they wanted to see “made so” by engineering teams.

UQ's bio-digester project is a direct result from an idea which was submitted during last year's Make it So Campaign.

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering student and UQIT Operations Manager Mr Daniel Gillick said that the Make it So campaign was a great opportunity for the participating students to sharpen the skills they had learned in the classroom and improve the lives of others.

“Conventional engineering projects are commercially motivated, with heavy interests on generating return," Mr Gillick said.

“Shifting the focus towards humanitarian engineering that is community oriented has been an insightful and rewarding challenge.”

Media: Dr Timothy Nicholson (t.m.nicholson@uq.edu.au or 3365 4081) or Madelene Flanagan (m.flanagan@uq.edu.au or 3365 8525)

Thailand rejects Cambodia’s conditions to defer Preah Vihear management plan

2011-06-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

PARIS, June 23 – Thailand has refused to accept a draft resolution proposed by Cambodia with conditions that the consideration on the Preah Vihear management plan could be postponed until next year if Thailand allows international observers into the contested area around the temple and restoration of the ancient Hindu temple damaged in recent border clashes, according to the head of Thailand’s delegation to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting.

Thai Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti heading the Thai delegation at the heritage committee's 35th session at the agency’s Paris headquarters told reporters that a representative of UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova gave Cambodia’s draft resolution to Thailand on Wednesday. Cambodia stated in its draft that Thailand fired at Preah Vihear temple and caused damage to the ruins. Thailand refutes the claim.

Thailand resolved that the Cambodia’s conditions were unacceptable after it reviewed details of the draft, according to Mr Suwit.

The Thai team is scheduled to meet the UNESCO director-general’s representative again at 11pm Thursday (Thailand time).

Thailand wants the meeting to defer considering the Cambodian management plan until the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rules on its complaint, and not until Thailand and Cambodia finish demarcating the common border.

Ties between the neighbours have been strained since Preah Vihear temple was granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.

In April, Cambodia asked the court to clarify its1962 ruling on the ancient Hindu temple on its disputed border with Thailand following recent deadly armed clashes between the two neighbouring countries.

The world court, based in The Hague, ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claim ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) surrounding area. (MCOT online news)

ambodian Gold Rush Lures Foreign Giants

2011-06-23T04:55:00.000-07:00

A Cambodian man looking for gold at O'Clor village in Mondulkiri province, some 550 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh. (AFP Photo)

O'Clor, Cambodia. Squinting in the harsh midday sun, Ry Kuok emerges slowly with a bag of rocks on his back from a hand-dug mine in a remote corner of Cambodia known as the "Gold Forest".

He's one of hundreds of prospectors searching for the yellow metal in the isolated village of O'Clor in northeast Mondulkiri province, where a modern-day gold rush is threatened by the arrival of foreign mining giants.

On a good day, the 29-year-old can earn about $12.50. Not bad in a country where a third of the population survives on less than a dollar a day.

The work is dangerous, difficult — and completely illegal.

Carried out by tens of thousands of Cambodians across the impoverished country, the practice has been quietly tolerated by the government for decades.

But that is about to change as companies move in and invest millions of dollars to develop a gold mining industry, leaving no room for illegal prospectors.

"I don't expect we can mine here for much longer," said Kuok as he sifted through his dirty rocks looking for any glints of gold.

"We have been told that a company has bought the area and we are not allowed to dig deeper tunnels."

Cambodia is known to host at least 19 gold deposits that have attracted the interest of mining firms from Australia, China, South Korea and Vietnam.

Industry experts estimate the country is about five years away from large-scale gold extraction but the true extent of the nation's gold assets remains unclear.

In what was hailed as a promising discovery, Australian miner OZ Minerals last year announced a 605,000-ounce gold find in Mondulkiri province but it recently said further drilling projects had disappointed.

Even so, Richard Stanger, president of the Cambodian Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, said the mining industry "could be a major contribution to the economy of Cambodia in the future."

The illegal O'Clor mine is located in Prey Meas, which translates as the "Gold Forest", and is a treacherous five-hour drive from the province's main town of Sen Monorom.

Stripped of its vegetation to make way for a large pit, the mining village's brown, barren landscape is dotted with wooden shacks, piles of litter and shallow pools — a sharp contrast to the green and hilly surroundings.

But to miners like Kuok, whose family moved to the area in 1981, it is home. For now.

The government has granted a Chinese firm the rights to search for the precious metal in the forest and it has already begun its exploration work right next to the O'Clor mine, which lies in the firm's concession area.

A guard at the site said the company's name was Rong Chheng but few details have been made public about the firm or its concession agreement, a lack of transparency that critics say is typical for the country's mining sector.

"There is still very little information about the process of allocation of mining rights in Cambodia and what payments are made for their receipt," said George Boden from environmental watchdog Global Witness.

Gold prices have struck record highs on international markets and even broke through the $1,500 an ounce barrier in April as investors sought a safe haven in the face of economic uncertainty and high inflation.

Most of the illegal miners in the "Gold Forest" earn several hundred dollars a month selling their specks of gold to local traders, income that has been boosted by the soaring bullion price.

"We can survive because gold is expensive now," said 51-year-old Sum Sokhon, raising his voice over the noise of his stone-crushing machine.

But life in an illegal gold mine town is far from easy. "The area is so dirty," said Sokhon. "We worry about our health. People get sick a lot."

Hazardous materials such as mercury or cyanide are often used in the gold extraction process in illegal mines and can pose serious health risks, said Glenn Kendall, an advisor for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Cambodia.

The chemicals can cause anything from headaches to damage to the nervous system, according to experts.

There are also few safety measures in place and mine blasts and tunnel collapses have claimed lives in O'Clor over the years.

"Small-scale mining is a dangerous occupation," said Kendall, adding that the choice to become an illegal miner was usually driven by poverty.

He said the fate of the illegal workers was in the hands of the government, but with the right regulation, small--scale miners could co-exist with the professional mining companies.

Kong Pisith, chief of Mondulkiri's industry, mining and energy office, said the "Gold Forest" miners would eventually have to halt their activities.

"When the extraction starts, they can't mine here anymore. They may become workers for the companies or they will have to change jobs," he said.

Prospectors like Sokhon fear the Chinese mining firm will reap the rewards of their hard work.

"Cambodian people found the gold, but the company is getting the gold," he said.

Annual Forum at Ohio University Attracts Wider Audience

2011-05-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

Soeung Sophat, VOA Khmer | Ohio

Photo: VOA Khmer

Dr. Chhany Sak-Humphry, a Cambodian language professor, talks about Khmer language teaching in Hawaii during the 3rd Annual Khmer Studies Forum at Ohio University on Friday, April 29, 2011. She is among the more than one hundred participants who have gathered for the two-day conference which has seen increased popularity.

“Because there are only three Cambodians on campus, and no student association, this forum can help open the eyes of international students about Cambodia..."

After three years, Ohio University’s Khmer Studies Forum has evolved into a full-fledged conference. Last month, around 100 people gathered at the forum to discuss a variety of Cambodian topics, reflecting an increased interest compared to previous years.

Christine Su, assistant director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the university, told VOA Khmer the forum had grown into a two-day event, “and not only does it include Ohio University students, but also people interested in Khmer studies from all over the country.”

This year’s conference saw participants from the cities of Boston, New York and Seattle and states as far away as California and Hawaii, she said.

Su, whose father is Cambodian, said the main purpose is to provide opportunities for anyone interested in discussing Cambodian issues, either historical or contemporary.

Topics ranged from the teaching of Khmer language in Hawaii to the use of mobile phones for distance learning in rural Cambodia.

Language, literature, migration, identity, justice for and healing from the Khmer Rouge, technology and development were all discussed. Issues for Cambodian-Americans, including the US policy of forced deportations, were also included.

And although the event was held on the university campus, many guests came from outside academe, including writers, students and community activists.

Him Chanrithy, author of the award-winning memoir “When Broken Glass Floats,” gave the keynote address. She told VOA Khmer this year’s forum was the best she had been to, citing its broad range of topics and guests.

Trent Walker, an American research fellow at the Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University, said the forum encouraged him to continue with Cambodian studies.

“When I was studying at Stanford and other places, I was the only one who majored in Khmer studies, so others couldn’t understand my research,” he said. “But when I am at this forum, I meet many people, Cambodians and other nationals, that share an interest for Khmer studies.”

Huyen Nguyen, a Vietnamese master’s student at Ohio University, said she learned about the event from a Cambodian friend. She decided to talk about love affairs in the Cambodian folktale “Tum Teav” and presented a Vietnamese folktale that many in the Cambodian audience may have been unaware of, a story called “The Durian Tale,” which tells about an 18^th-century relationship between a Cambodian woman and a Vietnamese man.

She had come in part as a neighbor to Cambodia, she said.

“I want to show how much I admire their culture, and I want to have mutual understanding between the Vietnamese and Cambodian people,” she said.

Only two Cambodian students are enrolled at the university. One of them, Borei Sylyvan, a master’s student in communications and development, presented a documentary on a Cambodian orphanage.

“Because there are only three Cambodians on campus, and no student association, this forum can help open the eyes of international students about Cambodia, as well as allowing me to meet other Cambodians,” he said.

Tanvir Tanim, a Bangladeshi master’s student in mechanical engineering, said he was impressed that a small number of Cambodians had been able to organize the event. Him Chanrithy’s talk about the Khmer Rouge resonated with a similar tragic history in his country, he said.

Paige Alexis Walters, an American student, said she had read “When Broken Glass Floats” and wanted to hear its author speak. She was pleasantly surprised with the rest of the forum, she said, and planned to come again.

“I really enjoyed it,” she said. “It’s so refreshing to be around people who are interested in global topics and who are so informed about a region of the world that I have no idea about.”

Donald Jameson, a US diplomat in Cambodia during the 1970s who discussed the country’s “bumpy” development, said the forum’s popularity reflected an increased academic interest in a country growing more stable.

However, he said, that interest goes unmatched in Washington, except in geopolitical discussions, such as China’s expanding influence or the conflict on the Thai border.

The conference wrapped up with presentation in Cambodian cooking, fashion and martial arts.

Su said she was happy the forum went well and had heard more Cambodian students will be coming next year. So it looks like there will be a fourth.

Team Finds Widespread Cluster Munitions Near Border

2011-05-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

Photo: AP

A Cambodian army soldier takes photographs of the damaged section of Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province.

“Between 5,000 and 10,000 people will be directly impacted by the cluster munitions.”

The Cambodian Mine Action Center has found more than 300 hectares of land peppered with cluster munitions, believed to be fired by Thailand during border fighting in February.

Clearance of the unexploded ordnance could take up to a year or more, demining officials said, following an assessment of the area by CMAC and Norwegian People’s Aid.

“We are searching for more areas affected with submunitions of cluster munitions,” CMAC Secretary-General Heng Ratana told VOA Khmer Wednesday.

Jan Erik Stea, program manager for mines at Norwegian People’s Aid, told reporters Wednesday the munitions were found druing a two-day assessment in April. Twelve areas, including four in villages, spread over more than 1.5 million square meters in Preah Vihear province’s Choam Khsant district were identified, he said.

“Between 5,000 and 10,000 people will be directly impacted by the cluster munitions,” he said. “They have small submunitions between the houses, which is of course a danger for the people living there.”

Two types of submunitions—M42 and M85—were identified, he said.

Cambodian activist says UN risks failing Khmer Rouge victims

2011-05-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian rights activist warned the United Nations on Wednesday it would fail the victims of the Khmer Rouge unless it ensured that two controversial cases at the war crimes tribunal were properly investigated.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, made his comments in a public letter to Clint Williamson, who acts as liaison between UN headquarters and the government, during his trip to Phnom Penh.

Ou Virak's comments come amid fears the UN is working to shut down the third and fourth cases at the behest of the government. Prime Minister Hun Sen has long said he would not permit either case to go to trial, citing a risk of civil war.

Ou Virak, whose father was killed by the Khmer Rouge, warned against any decision to close the UN-backed tribunal at the conclusion of its second case, which is due to start on June 27.

'If such a decision is indeed effected, it will fatally undermine the integrity of the (tribunal) and the justice which it seeks to dispense in all cases, including Cases 001 and 002,' he wrote.

In its first case, the tribunal last year convicted the Khmer Rouge's head of security, Comrade Duch, of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court's second case is against four senior surviving leaders of the movement.

The next two cases reportedly involve five former members thought responsible for tens of thousands of deaths during 1975-79.

But observers have said political opposition and UN inaction mean they have little chance of getting to trial.

Ou Virak singled out the tribunal's international investigating judge, Siegfried Blunk, a German national, whose office closed the file in the third case last month without interviewing the suspects or investigating alleged crime sites.

Subsequent public comments by the international prosecutor, Andrew Cayley, seemed to confirm long-standing rumours that Blunk's office had done little work on the case.

Ou Virak said that while the government's opposition to cases three and four was well-known, Blunk's role as the international investigating judge 'is a matter of utmost concern.'

'(Blunk's) actions raise the question of whether the United Nations has conceded to the demands of the (Cambodian government) and is now acting to prevent any further cases from going to trial and to ensure the closure of the (tribunal) with the conclusion of Case 002,' he wrote.

Both the tribunal and UN headquarters have refused to answer questions about the controversial cases. When asked earlier this month whether the court was trying to bury cases three and four, Blunk, who took up his post in December, responded with a threat.

'The use of the word 'bury' is insolent, for which you are given leave to apologize within two days,' Blunk wrote in an email without specifying a penalty.

Blunk has since refused to answer any questions from the German Press Agency dpa.

The UN has also repeatedly refused to answer any questions on the next cases.

Case Four is still with the investigating judges' office, which is led jointly by Blunk and Cambodian judge You Bunleng.

More than 2 million people are thought to have died during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia.

Cambodian Experts to Join ICJ's Hearing on Preah Vihear Temple Issue

2011-05-26T05:23:00.001-07:00

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia will send a team of experts to join the public hearing on the issue of Preah Vihear temple at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on May 30-31 in Hague, The Netherlands, according to a press release on Thursday.

The team will be led by Cambodian deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, China's Xinhua news agency cited the ministry's statement.

"The public hearing will focus on the conservatory measures for Preah Vihear Temple," it added.

The upcoming public hearing is held after Cambodia, on April 28, submitted a request to the Court for interpretation of the Court's judgment of 1962 on the case concerning the temple of Preah Vihear temple.

Also, it submitted a request to the ICJ to take conservatory measures for the temple.

"Cambodia considered conservatory measures as unavoidable for engendering a permanent ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand over border dispute, thus stopping the loss of lives and preserving the temple of Preah Vihear temple from serious damages, until the interpretation of the ICJ's 1962 judgment is finalized," said the statement of the ministry of foreign affairs on April 29.

The ICJ awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962 and the temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

The border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand occurred just a week after the enlistment as Thailand claims the ownership of 4. 6 square kilometers of scrub next to the temple.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulting in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.

Thailand border case to ICJ Monday

2011-05-26T05:22:00.001-07:00

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has asked the Thai government to present its case on the issue of the Preah Vihear temple ruins next Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said on Thursday.

The Cambodian government has asked the ICJ to interpret its 1962 verdict on the ownership of Preah Vihear and the disputed surrounding area.

The court ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear temple was on Cambodian soil, but its ruling was not clear about ownership of the immediately surrounding, disputed area of 4.6 square kilometres. Thai and Cambodian troops have clashed repeatedly as each side attempted to assert sovreignty.

Mr Thani said the court is expected to spend up to two years considering Cambodia's case.

Cambodia has also asked the ICJ to issue an injunction ordering Thailand to withdraw Thai troops from the disputed area around the Preah Vihear Temple.

The ICJ is expected to rule on the injunction request next month, said Mr Thani.

Thailand's case on Preah Vihear to ICJ on Monday

2011-05-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has asked the government to present its case on the issue of the Preah Vihear temple ruins next Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said on Thursday.

The Cambodian government has asked the ICJ to interpret its 1962 verdict on the ownership of Preah Vihear and the disputed surrounding area.

The court ruled in 1962 that the ancient temple was on Cambodian soil, but its ruling was not clear about ownership of the immediately surrounding, disputed area of 4.6 square kilometres. Thai and Cambodian troops have clashed repeatedly as each side attempted to assert sovereignty.

Mr Thani said the court is expected to spend up to two years considering Cambodia's case.

Cambodia has also asked the ICJ to issue an injunction ordering Thailand to withdraw Thai troops from the disputed area around the Preah Vihear Temple.

caretaker Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan

The ICJ is expected to rule on the injunction request next month, said Mr Thani.

Caretaker Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee (GBC) meeting will defintely be held in Cambodia, but only after a three-party joint survey of the disputed areas, including a team from Indonesia.

Gen Prawit said the Cambodian government was ready to host the meeting.

He brushed aside news reports that the GBC meeting had been cancelled, saying Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to a meeting in Cambodia at the recent meeting of Asean defence ministers.

He said that the survey and the positioning of Indonesian observers in and around the disputed areas were two different procedures.

First of all, a team of Indonesian officers would come to survey the spots where their outposts would be located.

The minister said he did not know when or if the observers would actually be deployed to the disputed areas.

The Indonesian government would make the decision later on a date to deploy observers to the disputed areas, the minister said.

The initial survey team would comprise three representatives from Indonesia, three from Cambodia and three from Thailand. The team would spend up to two days in the areas.

Gen Prawit said the Indonesian observers would not be allowed to enter the 4.6 square kilometer disputed area.

UNESCO to assess damage to Hindu temple in Cambodia

2011-02-09T03:34:00.000-08:00

APA weapon is placed on the stone at the entrance of Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia.

UNESCO plans plans to send a mission to assess the damage caused to the 11th century Shiva temple, a World Heritage site, by the recent armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia

The United Nations cultural agency plans to send a mission to assess the damage caused to the Preah Vihear Temple, a World Heritage site, by the recent armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.

Tensions first escalated between the South-East Asian neighbours in July 2008 following the build-up of military forces near the temple, which dates back to the 11th century and is located on the Cambodian side of the border.

The temple, dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva, was inscribed on the World Heritage List of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) earlier that year.

The temple is composed of a series of sanctuaries linked by a system of pavements and staircases over an 800-metre-long axis.

The site is exceptional for the quality of its carved stone ornamentation and its architecture, adapted to the natural environment and the religious function of the temple, according to UNESCO.

There have been renewed armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia in recent days, prompting calls for restraint by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on Tuesday reiterated her call for calm and restraint around the temple.

“World Heritage sites are the heritage of all humanity and the international community has a special responsibility to safeguard them. This requires a collective effort that must be undertaken in a spirit of consultation and dialogue,” she stated in a news release.

“Heritage should unite people and serve as an instrument of dialogue and mutual understanding and not of conflict.”

Avian Flu Results in the Death of a Five Year Old Cambodian Girl

2011-02-09T03:30:00.000-08:00

An announcement made by the World Health Organization on Wednesday has informed that the dreaded bird flu has resulted in the death of a girl. The deceased has been identified as a five-year old girl from the African country of Cambodia. The death is the first fatality caused by the virus, since the last fatality, which was reported in the beginning of 2010.

The girl had fallen ill on the 30th of January in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. The girl was hospitalized immediately and was taken to a hospital with coughing and shortness of breath. Following the suffering, she breathed her last on the 4th of January.

A joint statement released by the Cambodian Government and the WHO has stated that the girl was receiving treatment in an ICU, but, died 12-hours after she was admitted because of complications that arose because of the illness. The girl has been identified as the 9th fatality caused by the virus since 2003 and is also the 11th Cambodian to be inflicted with the virus.

The Cambodian authorities have already started to look out for people, who might have been exposed to the virus and has started to take preventive measures among those identified.

Meanwhile, the Cambodian Health Minister, Mam Bun Heng, has requested people with underlying ailments to seek medical help, if they have come in contact with a dead or sick poultry bird.

2 die as Thai, Cambodian troops battle at border

2011-02-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian and Thai troops battled for two hours Friday along a disputed stretch of their shared border, trading artillery fire that killed at least two people near an 11th century temple that is a UN World Heritage Site.

The fighting was some of the fiercest in years between the two southeast Asian countries. Tensions between the neighbors have been exacerbated in recent days by pressure from powerful Thai nationalist groups, which have been staging protests in Bangkok urging the government to reclaim the land.

While a cease-fire was quickly reached and full-blown war unlikely, the territorial dispute remains volatile, with nationalist passions inflamed on both sides — and no clear way to settle it.

One Thai villager was killed and four Thai troops were slightly injured, Thai army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. In Cambodia, privately owned Bayon TV reported that one Cambodian soldier was killed and five were wounded.

Cambodian, Thai troops exchange gunfire at border area

2011-02-04T04:28:00.000-08:00

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Clash between Cambodian and Thai troops near the 11th century temple was still on at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and the Cambodian troops have arrested 5-6 Thai troops, said military sources.

"Now, we have arrested 5-6 Thai troops and some raised hands to defect," said a soldier standby at the area of Preah Vihear temple. "Thai side has asked us to do negotiation."

Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh told Xinhua through phone on Friday that "We have warned them not to enter our territory, but they still violated and entered, so we opened fire to defend our territory."

He added that heavy weapons including rockets, machine guns, mortars and artillery have been used in the exchange of fire.

"It's too early to report about the deaths and wounds in the clash," said Tea Banh.

The clash started at 3:15 p.m. on Friday afternoon as Thai bulldozers tried to clear the way at the border and enter Cambodia territory and Cambodian troops prevented them from moving into Cambodia at Beehive area in front of Preah Vihear temple, but they did not listen to, "so military clash happened to protect our territory," said the soldier.

The incident was the latest in a long-festering dispute over the cliff-top Preah Vihear temple.

The incident coincided with the visit of Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya in Cambodia to attend the 7th meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation.

The re-tension between Cambodia and Thailand over the border happened on Jan. 27 after Thailand asked Cambodia to remove a national flag over Wat Keo Sikha Kiri Svarak pagoda near Preah Vihear temple, claiming that the pagoda is on the disputed area, but the Cambodian side rejected it.

Cambodia has the Preah Vihear temple enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand had border conflict over the Thai claim of ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.

Troops exchange fire on Thai-Cambodia border

2011-02-04T04:27:00.000-08:00

Cambodia secured the World Heritage listing of the ancient Preah Vihear temple in 2008

Thai and Cambodian soldiers have exchanged fire on a disputed stretch of their border near an ancient Hindu temple, claimed by both countries.

A Thai military spokesman confirmed that "sporadic shelling" had taken place in the disputed zone.

Tension has been rising in the region in recent days - with both sides moving in more troops.

It is the latest in a series of shooting incidents in the Preah Vihear region over the past three years.

A Cambodian government spokesman told the BBC that the shooting started at about 1500 local time (0800 GMT).

He blamed the encroachment of Thai soldiers on Cambodian territory for the fighting - and said a similar incident had only narrowly been avoided on Thursday.

Witnesses in the area said that Thai troops had attacked a Cambodian Buddhist pagoda in a border area claimed by both sides.

There has been tension in the region ever since Cambodia secured the World Heritage listing of the ancient Preah Vihear temple in 2008.

This caused joy in Cambodia, and anguish in Thailand - which once claimed the temple.

This week there has been a build-up of troops and armoured vehicles along the border, as both sides have accused one another of encroachment.

Fighting breaks out between Thai and Cambodian troops (1st Lead)

2011-02-04T04:26:00.000-08:00

Bangkok/Phnom Penh - The Thai military said Friday that Cambodian forces had fired artillery rounds into Thailand near Preah Vihear temple on the joint border, while the Cambodian side blamed Thai troops.

Thai radio reports said an estimated 20 shells landed on Thailand's side of the border in Kantalarak district in Si Sa Ket province, 350 kilometres east of Bangkok.

'We can confirm that there has been a clash, but we are still checking the details,' said army spokesman Colonel Sansern Keowkhamnerd.

The Thai army was reportedly bulldozing a road in the border area, which has been the subject of numerous spats over the past two and a half years.

A spokesman for the Cambodian government blamed fighting on Thai troops.

Phay Siphan claimed Thai soldiers had crossed 500 metres into Cambodian territory and opened fire despite the efforts of Cambodian troops to avoid violence.

He said fighting had begun at 3 pm (0800 GMT) and was ongoing more than an hour later.

Phay Siphan said fighting was underway near Keo Sikha Kirisvara temple, which Thailand claims stands on disputed territory.

There was no word on casualties.

Bangkok recently insisted that Cambodia remove a flag flying over the temple, a demand that Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong rejected earlier on Friday after a meeting with his Thai counterpart.

The clashes come hours after Hor Namhong and Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya wrapped up a meeting stating that a recent build-up of troops would not lead to violence.

Thai and Cambodian forces have faced off along the mountain range around the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple since July 2008, when UNESCO declared the edifice a World Heritage Site despite Thai objections.

Although the World Court in 1962 ruled that the temple belonged to Cambodia, Thailand claims a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjacent to the temple, and has blocked Cambodian's efforts to turn the site into a tourism attraction until the border dispute is settled.

Let's deal with this calmly

2011-01-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

The last time Thai and Cambodian forces fought their worst sporadic battle over the disputed area surrounding the ancient Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn as it is called in Thailand, was in October 2008. Several clashes were reported and both sides suffered death and injury among their men. Although further skirmishes occurred in the years following, they were deemed minor and insignificant. From bangkok post

The hostilities are believed to stem from Cambodia's unilateral effort to have the ancient temple registered as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, which it succeeded in doing, and also from the Cambodian government's appointment of Thailand's deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as its special economic adviser. Only after Thaksin's resignation from the post last August did relations between the two countries gradually take a turn for the better.

Prime Minister Hun Sen told Cambodian and foreign press on Dec 6 that relations between Thailand and Cambodia had returned to normal. This was further reinforced by a visit to Phnom Penh on Dec 20-21 by Thai army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha. On the occasion of that visit, Hun Sen handed over to Gen Prayuth and the Thai ambassador to Phnom Penh, Prasas Prasasvinitchai, three Thais who had been granted a royal pardon after they were sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for illegal entry.

The rapprochement appeared to go smoothly until shortly before the year ended, when seven Thais, including Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth and Veera Somkwamkid, a leading member of the Thai Patriots Network, a splinter faction of the People's Alliance for Democracy, were arrested in Cambodia on charges of illegal entry and trespass in a military zone, while on an inspection trip to investigate alleged border encroachment by Cambodian civilians. Though the Thai government tried to play down the event, the Cambodian government seemed to blow it out of proportion by charging Mr Veera and his secretary with spying.

The release and return home last week of Mr Panich and his four colleagues was a welcome move from Cambodia and a hopeful sign that ties would improve. But they did not. Thai media revealed that a small stone tablet had been put up by Cambodians at Wat Kaew Sikha Khiri Sawara temple which is located in the disputed area. The tablet, inscribed in the Khmer language, proclaimed ownership of the disputed land and denounced Thais as "invaders".

The message was definitely provocative and unfriendly and the Cambodian government should have known better. If Cambodia values good neighbourly relations with Thailand, this is no way to show it.

Also, the massing of troops for "routine drilling" by both sides as a show of force only serves to intensify the conflict unnecessarily. This is a time for cool heads to prevail, not a flexing of muscles. And both sides know that the right channel to resolve their border dispute is through the Joint Boundary Commission.

Any decent Cambodian and Thai will know that, by geography and destiny, we are neighbours and must live side by side together. Wouldn't it be much better if we lived in peace and harmony as friends, leaving behind our bitter history?

Thai Nationalists Begin Bangkok Protest Over Cambodia Dispute

2011-01-27T17:52:00.001-08:00

VOA News

Photo: Reuters

A supporter of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gestures during a rally outside the Government House in Bangkok, 25 Jan 2011

Thai nationalists have begun what they call an indefinite protest in Bangkok to urge the government to take a tougher line in its border dispute with Cambodia.

At least 2,000 supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy, also known as Yellow Shirts, gathered Tuesday on a major Bangkok street near Government House and set up an encampment with a stage, tents and other facilities.

A Yellow Shirt leader, Chamlong Srimuang, said PAD members and their allies will remain at the site until Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva meets their demands. Thai authorities deployed almost 4,000 security personnel to the protest zone to maintain order.

The PAD accuses Mr. Abhisit of not responding strongly enough to Cambodia's arrest of seven Thai nationalists in a contested border region last month. The Yellow Shirts previously were supportive of the government, which is backed by the military and the monarchy.

The nationalists want the Thai prime minister to revoke an agreement with Cambodia on settling border disputes, pressure Cambodians to move out of disputed border areas, and withdraw Thailand from the U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO. Mr. Abhisit has rejected those demands as impractical.

UNESCO angered Thai nationalists in 2008 by approving Cambodia's request to grant World Heritage Status to the Cambodian-controlled Preah Vihear temple in a border area claimed by Thailand.

Thai police arrested five men Monday night on suspicion of plotting to bomb Tuesday's Yellow Shirt rally. Authorities say the suspects were in possession of weapons and explosives. The identities of the men were not revealed.

Bangkok has seen a series of prolonged and sometimes violent street protests in recent years by the Yellow Shirts and their arch-rivals, the Red Shirts. The Red Shirt movement is composed of mostly of rural and working class supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted by the military in 2006 for alleged corruption.

Red Shirt activists staged a major anti-government rally in Bangkok Sunday, drawing almost 30,000 people.

Military muscle forces Cambodia's hand

2011-01-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

It was essentially an exercise in "sabre-rattling", but the military's show of strength near the Cambodian border in Si Sa Ket province this week involved a complex set of military and political manoeuvring.

Abhisit: Supported show of strength

The intriguing part of this mission was to make Cambodia remove a stone tablet declaring ownership of the disputed border area around Preah Vihear temple.

For reasons that might have more substance than has been revealed, the Cambodians quickly acquiesced and smashed the tablet that had been erected on the orders of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

A high-level source said the show of force to pressure Cambodia to remove the tablet, erected in front of Kaew Sikha Khiri Sawara temple, received the green light from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Cambodia built the temple in 1999 in the disputed area and ignored protests to dismantle it. Monks, who included ordained soldiers, stayed at the temple to reinforce Cambodia's claim to the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area.

But after the stone tablet was erected declaring "Here! is Cambodia", Lt Gen Tawatchai Samutsakhon, the commander of the 2nd Army, met Cambodian senior military officers at Wat Kaew Sikha Khiri Sawara and asked them in no uncertain terms to remove it.

But while talks were going on, the military was devising a more ambitious and proactive plan to persuade the Cambodians.

First, a company of soldiers was moved to the border to conduct an exercise with heavy weaponry. This put them in a position to confront Cambodian soldiers who were being deployed in greater numbers across the border.

The second step was to mobilise four companies of soldiers who would take action if Cambodia refused to remove the tablet.

Then, army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered the relocation of three new multiple rocket launchers to the border area in Si Sa Ket as part of the military exercise. They would be used to fire warning shots if necessary.

"The plan was to aim the weapons at a local mountain if Cambodia did not remove the tablet," the source said.

As Cambodia became more aware of Thailand's plans, it kept civilians at military bases to act as a human shield, according to the source.

The fourth step was for the air force to send fighter jets to the area and create sonic booms close to the border.

But there was no need to go to the third step as Cambodia decided to demolish the tablet.

"It is believed [Cambodian authorities] may be upset and frustrated and will find ways to avenge this," the source said.

"They may complain and accuse Thailand of treating them badly. But the show of force was to show ownership of the land and protect the dignity and reputation of our soldiers who have been blamed for being weak or too lenient towards Cambodia.

"I admire Prime Minister Abhisit for giving the military the freedom to devise the show of force."

He said a fifth step to ban Thais from crossing to gamble at 10 Cambodian casinos in Poipet was a part of the plan. From Bangkok post

Restrictions lifted on man convicted of sex crimes abroad

2011-01-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

Orville Mader, convicted of sex crimes against young boys in Asia, tries to block photographers from taking his picture after making an appearance in provincial court in Abbortsford, B.C. Monday, December 3, 2007. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Jonathan Hayward)

VANCOUVER — A man convicted in absentia of sex crimes against children in Cambodia has been allowed unrestricted freedom in Canada, even though the Crown expressed concerns when he was arrested that he was a danger to children.

While a judge granted a restraining order against Orville Mader meant to protect children back in 2007, that order has been allowed to lapse.

Now, it's unclear whether the man who has not been charged with offences is Canada will be free to travel to other countries.

Mader faces a 15-year jail term in Cambodia for sex crimes against children and was accused of sex crimes against a 13-year-old boy in Thailand, but travelled back to Canada shortly after the charges were laid.

When he arrived in Vancouver in late 2007 carrying nothing but his laptop computer, he was arrested and held.

At the time, the Crown said investigators were working on sex-tourism charges against Mader. In the meantime a judge granted an order under Section 810.1 of the Criminal Code when prosecutor Wendy van Tongeren Harvey said there were concerns he was a danger to children.

"He's attracted to not only boys, but young boys. We're seeking conditions where children are safe," she told the provincial court judge in 2007.

Details of the court proceedings that day were protected by a publication ban that has now expired.

Among his many restrictions, Mader was ordered to stay away from children and anywhere they might congregate, to stay off the Internet, to give up his passport and to report on a regular basis to the authorities near where he was staying in Surrey, B.C.

While the order was renewed against him annually in 2008 and 2009, it wasn't renewed in November 2010.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Ed Boettcher said police did a lot of work on the Mader file both in Canada and internationally.

"There came a time in 2009 where investigators met with Crown and said this is what we've compiled, Crown looked at it and said it doesn't meet the standards of Canadian evidence."

He said satisfying the evidence threshold would have taken a massive effort.

Neil MacKenzie, spokesman with the B.C. Crown prosecutors office, said his office wasn't involved in the decision not to reapply for the 810 restrictions for Mader.

He said Mader fully complied and co-operated with Corrections B.C. while under the peace bond restrictions.

"In view of the circumstances of his time under supervision, Corrections did not believe there was an adequate basis to seek renewal of the peace bond. That would have been a decision made by Corrections."

Van Tongeren Harvey told the judge during the November 2007 hearing that Mader detailed his tastes for young boys during email conversations found on his computer.

"He described boys coming into his room, his sexual preferences," she told the court. "He had eight boys over 11 days ... including one tiny 11-year-old boy he called a 'sweetie pie."'

No pictures were found but van Tongeren Harvey said several emails found in Mader's computer from a hotmail account detail his sexual encounters with boys in Asia.

None of the allegations have been proven in a Canadian court.

Van Tongeren Harvey told the court Mader escaped to Vietnam the day after the accusation in Thailand was made.

Mader's lawyer at the time, Brian Coleman, said his client denies the allegations involving the boy and that he fled from Thailand.

Coleman also noted that Mader was originally acquitted in Cambodia of the debauchery charge and had stayed to face the accusation, but a second trial resulted in a conviction even though Mader wasn't there to defend himself.

He said there was no justice involved in the debauchery conviction.

"Cambodia, the last time I checked, isn't known as a bastion of democracy."

Brian McConaghy, of the Cambodian aide organization Ratanak International, was disappointed to hear Mader wouldn't be charged, saying it simply shores up Canada's reputation on the issue.

"I think (Canada) is perceived as being fairly weak on this," said McConaghy, who spent decades with the RCMP before founding Ratanak.

"Canadian police do not have the resources, these are international files that by definition are expensive and they're complex."

McConaghy agreed Cambodia's justice system is corrupt, but said that usually falls in the offender's favour if they can purchase their way out of a police investigation or charges.

Boettcher said officers have watched Mader in B.C.'s Lower Mainland while he was under restrictions.

"There had been checks done. There was no indication of non-compliance."

Boettcher said Mader last checked in with officials in Surrey as required at the end of his term in late 2010, but he's not sure if Mader still lives in the area.

He couldn't say if Mader's passport was returned and an official with Passport Canada could not give any information in connection to Mader because of privacy concerns.

Under its regulations, Passport Canada is allowed to revoke travel documents if the person has been charged with an indictable offence in Canada or a similar offence abroad.

Mader is presumed innocent because no charges will be laid here in Canada, and McConaghy said there would be no reason his passport wouldn't be returned.

"Which I believe is in error ...," he said.

Canada's sex-tourism law was enacted in 1997, but has been rarely used since then and has just a few convictions to its credit.

Mader was arrested not long after a world-wide manhunt was launched for Christopher Neil, a former resident of Maple Ridge, B.C.

Neil was picked up in Thailand on charges of sexually assaulting children and posting the acts on the Internet while disguising his face with a digital swirl.

Neil pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy and a Thai court sentenced him to three years and three months in prison.

Desperately seeking a sense of balance

2011-01-17T17:31:00.000-08:00

Neth Pheaktra: Has ‘‘never exaggerated the news’’

18/01/2011
Bangkok Post

The media has been a factor in Thai-Cambodian relations since they became strained in 2008 whenthe dispute over the Preah Vihear temple resurfaced. The coverage in Thailand and Cambodia of sensitive incidents, including the recent arrest of seven Thais oncharges of trespassing on Cambodianterritory, could improve or damage relations between the neighbouring countries. ANUCHA CHAROENPO spoke to Neth Pheaktra, managing editor of the Khmer-language edition of the Phnom Penh Post newspaper, on its reporting policy.

What's your newspaper's policy on reporting the arrest of the seven Thais and other issues that could affect Thai-Cambodian relations?

This is a crucial story for us because the Cambodian people are watching developments closely.

We have run a lot of the stories relating to border disputes between the two countries since the [Preah Vihear] conflict flared up in 2008. The matter has also been reported by other local newspapers.

Do you agree with critics saying the press is partly to blame for the escalation of Thai-Cambodian tensions?

The stories that we publish are based on facts and are well-balanced. We have never exaggerated the news. Cambodian people pay a lot of attention to the Thai-Cambodian relations issue because we are neighbours.

Nationalist sentiment always runs high when it comes to Thai-Cambodian relations. How do you view this trend?

Both Thai and Cambodian people feel the same way - they love their country. Whenever our country has problems, the people will unite to protect our beloved nation.

Neither the Cambodian people nor the government want to lose a square inch of our land, but we don't want even a square inch of Thai soil.

The best way to improve relations between our two nations is to respect one another.

There is an argument that the seven Thais were arrested on Thai soil.

According to a video clip posted on YouTube, this group of people said themselves they were in Cambodia. They walked 500 to 600 metres into Cambodia. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has been quoted as saying the seven Thais entered Cambodia by accident.

However, the detainees' lawyers have the right to produce evidence and fight for them in court, which, I think, will complete the hearing by the end of this month. Once the Phnom Penh Municipal Court hands down its verdict, the seven Thais can appeal to a higher court if they disagree [with the verdict].

If the defendants have any evidence to back their claims that the area where they were arrested is in Thailand, they can submit it to the court. We should let the law take its course.

Are there any political motivations surrounding this case?

This case is related to politics. So, both governments need to hold urgent talks to solve the problem. Coordination is needed at all levels to reduce tensions between the two countries. The seven Thais should confess to the court [that they entered Cambodia illegally] and prove that they had no intention of trespassing.

How can Thai-Cambodian relations return to normal?

We have bilateral mechanisms. [Cambodian] Prime Minister Hun Sen and Mr Abhisit have emphasised that when problems emerge between the two countries, the two sides will hold talks. Negotiations, not military action, will help solve the problems.The two countries should also press ahead with collaboration to solve the border demarcation disputes.

Boeung Kak Lake outrage!

2011-01-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

A Cambodian woman holds her baby during a protest near the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh January 17, 2011. About 60 residents of Boeung Kak Lake appealed to the Chinese embassy for help in getting fair compensation from a Chinese firm involved in a real estate development at the lake. The protesters were representatives of at least 2,000 remaining families, who are facing eviction from the lake, a local rights group said. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Cambodian women react during a protest near the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh January 17, 2011. About 60 residents of Boeung Kak Lake appealed to the Chinese embassy for help in getting fair compensation from a Chinese firm involved in a real estate development at the lake. The protesters were representatives of at least 2,000 remaining families, who are facing eviction from the lake, a local rights group said. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Obama readies new focus on education

2011-01-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is putting education overhaul at the forefront of his agenda as he prepares for his State of the Union address and adjusts to the new reality of a divided government. But trouble signs are already emerging.

Despite a bipartisan consensus in favor of more flexibility for students and teachers, political pressures from the coming 2012 presidential campaign and disputes over timing, money and scope loom over a debate affecting millions — the overdue renewal of the nation's governing education law, known as No Child Left Behind.

For all the talk in Washington that education might offer the best chance for the White House to work with Republicans, any consensus could swiftly evaporate in the capital's pitiless political crosscurrents, leaving the debate for another day, perhaps even another presidency.

American parents, teachers and students would be left laboring under a burdensome set of testing guidelines and other rules that many agree are pushing standards lower instead of bringing them up. And frightening statistics would continue to pile up about how American students are being outpaced by their foreign counterparts in key areas like math and science.

It's that specter that Obama and members of his administration intend to use to try to marshal public support and spur balky lawmakers and quarreling interest groups into action against long odds.

"No one I'm talking to is defending the status quo," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview. "Everyone I talk to really shares my sense of urgency that we have to do better for our children. We're fighting for our country here."

Duncan said Obama's commitment to education reform will be reflected in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25. Obama has already spoken of the dangers to the U.S. economy and future competitiveness from lagging student test scores, and lawmakers and advocates will be watching closely to see whether he keeps the issue in the spotlight in the months ahead. They say aggressive advocacy from the president is key.

"I don't think there's any substitute but for him to be out front," said Rep. George Miller of California, top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Some in the GOP, wary of another giant bill like health care, would prefer a series of small measures to the sweeping rewrite of No Child Left Behind favored by the administration. Democrats and many outside advocates say Congress must enact any major education overhaul this year, before the 2012 campaign swings into gear. But some Republicans say getting it right is more important than getting it fast, and they refuse to spend any new money to do it.

"There's room to make cuts, and I think pretty substantial cuts, that would enable us to use some of those savings on things we think work," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California conservative who's the new chairman of an Education and Workforce subcommittee. "I like the piecemeal approach. ... If you do it in bite-size pieces, you can tell what needs to be tweaked as you go."

No Child Left Behind would not have passed without President George W. Bush's strong advocacy in the first year of his administration. In the years since, many Democrats and Republicans have concluded that the law failed to meet its overall objectives of raising student achievement, instead resulting in an over-reliance on test results and arbitrary measurements that don't help students learn. Yet no major rewrite of the law has happened since.

The Obama administration produced a framework for a new law last year that would soften many of No Child Left Behind's onerous testing requirements, put a new focus on teacher performance and the lowest-performing schools, and replace unwieldy proficiency requirements with loftier goals of boosting college graduation rates.

The document generated predictable controversy, but Duncan has worked painstakingly with lawmakers of both parties over the past two years to lay the groundwork for a reform bill. Republican and Democratic leaders of the education committees in the House and Senate say they want to move forward. "Everyone agrees this law needs reform," said Education and Workforce Chairman John Kline, R-Minn.

Obama focused on health care at the start of his administration, when Democrats controlled Congress. Now, after the November elections, Republicans control the House and are more powerful in the Senate and have the political capital to burn. It's not clear they'll be spending it on improving education, even if their committee leaders support it.

The "Pledge to America" the House GOP unveiled before taking power in the November elections never mentions the education. Brendan Buck, a spokesman for new House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that Boehner's focus is on "addressing the top priorities of the American people — creating jobs and cutting spending.

PM optimistic detained Thais will be freed by Cambodia; urges army chief to be patient

2011-01-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK, Jan 15 -- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday he is optimistic that all seven Thai detainees being held in Phnom Penh will be free on bail soon, yet urged army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha to both use restraint and speed up the process of resolving border problems with the neighbouring country amid slanders by the so-called Thailand Patriots Network (TPN) group.

The group said that senior Thai military officers were somehow profiting from the border troubles and the slow action in helping the detainees.

“I understand the army chief’s feeling," the prime minister said."I wish to ask him to be patient.”.

On Friday, TPN activists rallied at Thailand's defense ministry, calling for the resignation of the prime minister, Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

They charged that senior military officers chose to stay idle regarding the jailed Thais as they believed the seven were on Thai soil when they were taken into custody by the Cambodian authorities and that several Thai military officers had received payoffs on the border.

Urging Gen Prayuth to be patient, Mr Abhisit said he had ordered Defense Minister Gen Prawit to help resolve the problem of Thai villagers who have rightfully possession of land deeds, but work near the disputed border. The prime minister was responding to concerns that the border problem might affect Thailand’s sovereignty.

Asda Jayanama, the new chairman of Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), went to Cambodia earlier this week for talks with his Cambodian counterparts on the border problem, said Mr Abhisit, adding that he was told the talks went smoothly.

At this stage finding ways to return the seven detainees is the most important issue, Mr Abhisit said.

The Thais were captured by Cambodian soldiers on Dec 29. At present, five are still in custody and have been denied bail by the Cambodian court while two, including Panich Vikitsreth, an MP representing Bangkok and member of the ruling Democrat Party, have been released on bail but are not allowed to leave the country, as they must attend court hearings when they take place.

Some Democrat MPs plan to go to Phnom Penh to visit Mr Panich. The prime minister, however, said he had instructed them to wait until the situation has improved as the Cambodian court announced Friday that the entire issue should be resolved in the near future.

Mr Abhisit said he hoped that the remaining five Thais would also be freed on bail as their lawyers are working to help release them. (MCOT online news)
From www.mcot.net

Thailand Tries to Project Normality

2011-01-15T05:05:00.001-08:00

But unresolved grievances likely to impede efforts to end civil conflict.

Ryan Pierse / Getty Images (left); Vivek Prakash / Reuters-Landov

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (left) and current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Following a year of violent antigovernment protest and military backlash in Bangkok, and with elections likely soon, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva appears eager to show that Thailand is on the mend. In late December, the government lifted the state of emergency that had been in place in the capital for more than eight months, and Abhisit then gave an optimistic end-of-year speech promising stability. As one indication, the cabinet also lifted a much older state of emergency in three districts of Thailand’s troubled Deep South—where successive administrations have been unable to quell an insurgency that since 2004 has claimed more than 4,400 lives. “It shows that the government is making progress,” Abhisit said of the move.

Yet analysts familiar with the region, where parts of the Muslim and ethnic-Malay majority have long clamored for a political voice, say the conflict is far from easing. In fact, while violence in the three districts in question has traditionally been low, it has risen overall during Abhisit’s two-year tenure, according to analysts. “The violence isn’t down,” says Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College who has done extensive fieldwork in the area. “People just accept that violence as the new normal.”

The conflict has been simmering since 1902, when Thailand annexed what had historically been parts of the Kingdom of Pattani, but flared up in 2004 following the heavy-handed approach to the region by the then-prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. Insurgent demands now range from more political say to a fully independent state and implementation of Sharia.

Abuza says there’s no end to the conflict in sight: Thai authorities have yet to get a handle on what is a hard-to-pinpoint, low-grade insurgency that has no clear-cut message, central command, or even identifiable leaders. Harsh military and police tactics, meanwhile, such as detaining suspected insurgents without charge and allegedly using torture, seem only to make things worse. And even lifting the state of emergency represents no significant policy shift—many of the measure’s stipulations remain in effect through the Internal Security Act. Conventional wisdom holds that the government must settle its problems in Bangkok before it can properly address the trouble in the South.

The core issue is legitimacy, says Duncan McCargo, a professor of Southeast Asian politics at the University of Leeds. Thailand’s government is extremely centralized, with even regional governors appointed by Bangkok, where the military and monarchy sit. In the South, many residents feel estranged from the power structure, and the notion has been exacerbated by the military presence and decades of neglect. The red-shirt protesters who occupied part of central Bangkok for two months last year were supporters of Shinawatra, a populist billionaire who went into exile after being deposed in a 2006 military coup—and was the first prime minister to begin shifting some power from Bangkok to the country’s North, which is his base. “What you see in the Deep South is just an extreme version of the national problem in Thailand, which is that power is overly concentrated in Bangkok,” McCargo says. The red shirts took to the streets again in the capital this month following the lifting of the emergency decree.

Devolution of power is the only long-term answer, both in the Deep South and countrywide, according to Michael Montesano of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. Yet the controversial subject is unlikely to be broached any time soon: the Bangkok elite are reluctant to cede real power, while Abhisit’s government is backed by Thailand’s most centralized powers—the military and the crown. “It would be hard to do this even if there weren’t a political crisis,” says Montesano. Until the country’s leaders are willing to address the longstanding grievances held by Thais outside the traditional power structure, unrest, both in the South and in Bangkok, will likely continue to be the norm.

No bail for 5 Thais in Cambodia

2011-01-15T05:03:00.000-08:00

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Five Thai nationalists being held in a Cambodian jail were denied bail Friday but the government said they appealing the denial.

The detained include Veera Somkwamkid, a coordinator for the Thai Patriots Network, and his secretary, the Bangkok Post reported. Thani Thongpakdi, a government spokesman in Bangkok, said lawyers for the five are appealing the decision.

Panich Vikitsreth, a member of the Thai Parliament, and another detainee were released Thursday. The Phnom Penh municipal court set conditions including a reuirement that the two men remain in Cambodia until their cases are resolved.

Supporters of the seven say they were kidnapped on the Thai side of the border as they investigated claims the Cambodians have been encroaching into Thailand. They have been accused of offenses including illegally crossing the border.

Veera and his secretary have also been charged with espionage.

British man in Cambodia charged with sexual abuse of 4 teenage boys

2011-01-11T19:53:00.001-08:00

By: The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A British man in Cambodia has been charged with sexually abusing four teenage boys.

Sok Keo Bandit, a prosecutor in Siem Reap province, says Robert Layland was charged Tuesday with paying to procure a child for prostitution and indecent acts with a minor.

He alleges the 54-year-old Layland, who runs a souvenir shop in the province, had sex with four boys, ranging from 14 to 18 years old. He says the boys worked in Layland's shop.

The anti-child sex group Action Pour Les Enfants says Layland was arrested Monday. Layland is in custody and was not available for comment.

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles, but in recent years has cracked down on offenders.

Siem Reap is popular with tourists for its Angkor temple

3 generations of women murdered in new multiple killing in Cambodia

2011-01-11T19:52:00.001-08:00

Phnom Penh - Three Cambodian women from the same family were killed in their home in the country's second multiple murder in as many days, local media reported Tuesday.

Police said the three victims - 70-year-old Eng Ly, her daughter and her 20-year-old granddaughter - were killed early Monday in Siem Reap province in the country's north-west.

The attackers slit their throats after raping the youngest woman, The Phnom Penh Post newspaper reported.

The police chief of Siem Reap town said robbery was likely behind the killings.

'This is the cruellest murder I have seen since I became police chief over 10 years ago,' Thoeung Chantharith told the newspaper.

'We are working to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice,' he said.

A vendor discovered the bodies in the early morning as he delivered ice to the home where the family ran a small grocery business.

On Sunday, a Cambodian man was shot dead by police in the north-eastern province of Ratanakkiri after allegedly stabbing to death his brother-in-law and three unrelated children in two attacks.

Australian gunned down in Cambodia

2011-01-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Cambodian police said Monday they were investigating the killing of an Australian man shot dead at the weekend at a guesthouse in the capital Phnom Penh.

Australian gunned down in Cambodia

The 44-year-old, who flew into Cambodia on Saturday evening, was shot in the chest in the guesthouse's reception area. He died in hospital the same day.

"He has a Cambodian fiancee. After he landed, he met with his fiancee and they went to a guesthouse where he was shot by two suspects," national police spokesman Kirt Chantharith told AFP, declining to give more details.

Police refused to speculate on the motive for the killing. Officials at the Australian Embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

Top Glove to invest RM160mil in Cambodian rubber plantation

2011-01-11T19:47:00.000-08:00

By DANNY YAP
danny@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Top Glove Corp Bhd, the world's largest rubber glove manufacturer, is investing RM160mil in Cambodia to plant rubber trees to reduce its dependency on latex which is bought at market prices.

Chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai said the company was targetting to obtain 20% of its latex requirement from the plantation over time.

“We have about 8,000 ha of net plantable land for rubber trees,” he said at a briefing for analysts and reporters on Top Glove's first quarter results ended Nov 30, 2010 here yesterday.

By owning its own rubber plantation, Top Glove would be able to mitigate the rising cost of buying latex at market prices in future.

Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai (right) says the company is targeting to obtain 20% of its latex requirement from the plantation. On his right is managing director Lee Kim Meow.

“We had to revise our rubber glove prices several times in the last quarter due to the volatility of latex prices,” he said.

The average latex prices rose by 57% from RM4.58 per kg in the first quarter of 2010 to about RM7.20 per kg currently.

Lim said about 80% of the company's profit was still in manufacturing latex glove.

Top Glove would focus more on producing nitrile gloves as they command better margins and were not subjected to the volatility in latex prices.

In its first quarter ended Nov 30, 2010, the group's production mix for nitrile was 7%, while its nitrile production for December last year stood at 10%.

“We have a large number of nitrile raw material manufacturers in Malaysia, so we have better cost advantages over China in terms of raw materials and labour,” he said.

“Because of the higher prices of latex glove, customers have kept their inventory levels at a minimum level,” he said.

For the first quarter ended Nov 30, Top Glove posted a 44.6% drop in net profit to RM36mil compared with RM65mil in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

Revenue stood at RM491.5mil against RM472.3mil previously.

Lim said the company had exceptional sales up till the third quarter of last year, due to concerns of A(HINI) and other factors.

“This year will be challenging but we hope to do better than the previous financial year,” he said.

He added that the company was planning to size up by acquiring smaller rubber plants to improve on its economies of scale and synergy.

Lim said the company had RM343mil in cash reserves to undertake such acquisition activities.

“We are in talks with several parties and hope to secure a deal before year end or earlier,” he said, adding that timing of the acquisition was important.

Lim pointed out that this adverse situation of higher latex prices would possibly lead to further consolidation among the industry players,

“We are in a good position to further enlarge our business when opportunities arise,” he noted.

Top Glove currently has 14 plants in Malaysia, four in Thailand, and two in China, with a total capacity of 33 billion pieces of glove per annum, which is nearly one fifth of the world's demand.

Nurse volunteering in Cambodia

2010-12-28T03:34:00.000-08:00

Josephine Gillespie | 28th December 2010

University of Queensland Ipswich nursing student Elissa Jackson will volunteer at a Cambodian military clinic at the foot of Phnom Bok Mountain from January 5.

Sarah Harvey

IT is a world away from the quiet streets of Flinders View, but for nursing student Elissa Jackson, spending her holiday volunteering in a Cambodian health clinic is a dream come true.

The 23-year-old is among a group of 15 University of Queensland (UQ) students who, accompanied by three clinical lecturers, will depart on January 5 for a new military clinic at the foot of Phnom Bok Mountain, near Siem Reap in Cambodia’s north-west.

For Elissa, the trip will be her first overseas.

“I think it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Ms Jackson said.

“Not everyone gets the chance to go to a developing country and help them in a medical way.”

Ms Jackson, who hopes to work in paediatric or community health, said the placement would help her gain valuable skills.

“It is all the basic skills nursing is about,” she said.

“Generally in the clinic where we will work the equipment will be pretty basic.

“We will be using basic equipment such as thermometer and stethoscopes to diagnose and treat.”

Clinical lecturer Peta Crompton said the students would attend the official opening of the clinic by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen before beginning a four-week community health placement.

“Given the history of the site as a military camp, the students are expecting to treat many returned soldiers, their wives and children as well as local villagers,” she said.

“We envisage the most common health issues will include chronic pain and infections associated with older wounds such as amputations and landmine injuries as well as tropical illnesses.”

In January this year, the first group of UQ nursing students volunteered at the New Hope Cambodia community centre and orphanage in one of Siem Reap’s poorest areas.

Vietnam, Cambodia to open more border gates

2010-12-28T03:32:00.000-08:00

CAN THO - Viet Nam and Cambodia will open three new international border gates early next year to fulfil an agreement on road transportation between the two countries.

They will be in Le Thanh (Gia Lai Province, Viet Nam) - Oyadav (Andong Pich-Rattanakiri, Cambodia), Hoa Lu (Binh Phuoc) - Trapeang Sre (Snoul-Kratie), and Bu Prang (Dak Nong) - O Raing (Mundulkiri).

The plan was agreed upon at an annual conference between the leaders of Viet Nam's Directorate for Roads and Cambodia's General Department of Transport yesterday in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

With this development, there will be a total of seven international border gates linking the two countries, a target set by a bilateral Agreement on Road Transport signed in 1998.

At the conference, officials also signed an agreement to double the number of vehicles allowed to travel through the two countries' common border gates from 150 to 300 to boost bilateral trade and tourism.

They also agreed to expand the types of non-commercial vehicles allowed to travel through the border gates, and a plan to co-operate on route management projects.

A total of 32 transportation enterprises and units with 150 vehicles currently operate on Viet Nam-Cambodia routes. Of the 150 vehicles, 60 run the four major routes from Viet Nam's provinces of Tra Vinh, An Giang, Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia. VNS

Evangelicals offer redemption at Cambodia's girlie bars

2010-12-28T03:27:00.000-08:00

Western men looking for love in Cambodian girlie bars deserve redemption, too, volunteers say.

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By Andrew Burmon — Special to Globalpost
Published: December 27, 2010 06:07 ET in Asia

Women and motorbike taxi drivers wait outside one of Phnom Penh's many hostess bars on Street 136. (Vinh Dao/GlobalPost)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Jesus, who gained notoriety ministering to the poor and wayward in the worst parts of Judea, might feel at home among the brothels and karaoke parlors of Phnom Penh. So say ministry volunteers who have begun reaching out to “wayward” Westerners in the city’s red-light districts.

"[Jesus'] biggest beef was with religious people," said John Yoder, a volunteer with the MST Project, which stands for Men and the Sex Trade. "He never minded people who'd made mistakes."

According to Yoder, the MST Project presents Western men looking for company at hostess bars with the opportunity to avoid falling into the cliched role of aging lecher or sex tourist.

The MST Project was founded several years ago in Bangkok, where a group of preachers took to the city's red-light districts in the hopes of educating male tourists about the dangers faced by working women, and perhaps winning a few converts on the side.

Every other week, Yoder and his team of about 20 volunteers break into three groups. One group sets up a table outside Heart of Darkness, a dance hall popular with prostitutes; another across from Candy Bar, a prominent hostess establishment. The third team stays behind at a church center and prays for the success of the street team and for the men whose names the MST workers text them.

Outside the bars, the MST teams — made up of male and female volunteers — try to engage passing men in conversation. Some of these chats drag on or become confessional while others are extremely short.

"Our ministry is unique because it is not about numbers, but about reaching out to a part of the population that has been rejected by many community organizations," Yoder said.

There are many anti-sex trafficking organizations in Phnom Penh, but few if any reach out to the Western men who are often perceived as fueling the trade in young women. This may not seem like a problem, but Yoder says it shows the persistence of a social stigma.

Experts are quick to point out that the demand driving the most reprehensible sectors of the sex trade in Cambodia is predominantly Asian and domestic patrons, as opposed to Western tourists.

Of the 141 arrests for debauchery and indecent acts made in the last seven years, 26 percent of the suspects were Cambodian and 13 percent were Asian men, according to Joerg Langelotz, project assistant at Action Pour Les Enfants, a nonprofit group that combats the sexual exploitation of children by Westerners. The Christian charity World Vision found in 2001 that nearly 50 percent of foreigners seen taking home young girls in Phnom Penh were of Chinese, Japanese or Korean ethnicity.

The racial profiling of Western men is doing more harm than good, according to Steve Morrish, an Australian detective who runs the anti-trafficking group SISHA.

"I think there are a number of NGOs that see Western men as the main issue, which is tremendously misinformed," Morrish said. "I'd prefer that Khmer women worked at the bars if they have to prostitute themselves because it offers a potentially safer environment. In the worst-case scenario, that is the best case." Most of the brothels catering to pedophiles are far away from the touristy strips, and many of the hostess bars are female-run, he added.

MST targets Western men because its volunteers believe they can make a difference, said Frank, a volunteer who asked that his last name be withheld. "We aim for these [Western] men because they speak English and because we honestly believe we can change their hearts," Frank said. "They may not be the ones getting abused, but they still need love in their lives."

Vietnam, Cambodia to open three more border gates

2010-12-28T03:22:00.000-08:00

Vietnam and Cambodia will open the last three border gates of the seven international ones at the beginning of next year under an agreement on road transportation between the two countries.

At an annual conference between the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam and the Cambodian General Department of Transport on December 27 in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, the two sides agreed to open the border gates of Le Thanh (Gia Lai) – Oyadav (Andong Pich-Rattanakiri), Hoa Lu (Binh Phuoc) – Trapeang Sre (Snoul-Kratie) and Bu Prang (Dak Nong)- O Raing (Mundulkiri).

Over the years, the two countries have effectively carried out the agreement to ensure the flow of traffic through the border gates between Tay Ninh province of Vietnam and Svay Rieng province of Cambodia. They have recently opened three border gates linking Tay Ninh and Kampong Cham, An Giang and Takeo, and Kien Giang and Lork-Kam Pot.

Leaders from the two ministries of transport also signed an agreement to double the number of vehicles through border gates to boost bilateral trade with the aim of raising two-way trade by 40 percent to US$2billion in the near future.

Nearly 800 Cambodian garment workers fired over strike

2010-12-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Sixteen Cambodian factories producing clothing for big brands such as Adidas AG and Gap Inc have dismissed nearly 800 employees for taking part in a nationwide strike, a union leader said on Friday.

Unions were preparing to issue demands to the factories to reinstate the 799 sacked workers by Dec. 15 or face legal action and possibly more strikes, which could further disrupt a sector that is a big currency earner for the impoverished country.

"We will take action in accordance with the law and we are trying to avoid a strike," Kong Athit, deputy president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), told Reuters.

"The government and the courts have already ordered that these workers be reinstated, so these dismissals are illegal," added Kong Athit, whose union represents 40,000 workers.

The union said the factories that dismissed the workers produced clothing for major Western companies including Marks and Spencer Group PLC , Tesco PLC , H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB , Puma , Next Plc and Inditex , the world's biggest clothing retailer and owner of Zara.

Those sacked were among the estimated 210,000 garment workers -- about two-thirds of the sector's workforce -- from 95 factories who took part in the September strike to demand better working conditions and a wage increase to $93 a month from $56.

The strike was halted after three days when the government agreed to hold more talks to avoid damage to the industry, which is Cambodia's third-largest foreign currency earner after agriculture and tourism.

Garments also provide a vital source of income for rural families, and the sector is credited with helping to reduce poverty in a country where about a third of the population live on less than $1 a day.

The country's garment exports rose 12 percent in the first half of 2010 from a year earlier, hitting $1.25 billion, according to the Economic Institute of Cambodia, an independent think tank.

Worker disputes this year in China, mostly at foreign-owned factories, have raised questions over whether other low-cost Asian manufacturing centres would also have to pay higher wages as their workers became more assertive. (Editing by Martin Petty) ((prak.chanthul@thomsonreuters.com; +855 23 99 2102; Reuters Messaging: prak.chanthul.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, e-mail to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com

Japanese photographer arrested over photo festival images

2010-12-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

Phnom Penh - Cambodian police have charged a Japanese photographer with pornography after they claimed he took pictures of sex workers in the tourist city of Siem Reap, local media reported Friday.

Go Takayama, a 28-year-old participant in a workshop at the Angkor Photo Festival, was arrested in late November and charged Thursday.

He faces up to one year in prison, said Siem Reap provincial prosecutor Ty Soveinthal.

'Making or publishing pornographic pictures is absolutely prohibited in Cambodia and is in violation of Cambodian law, so the court will make a decision on this next week,' Ty Soveinthal told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

The police said he had taken dozens of photographs of sex workers at a brothel in the city.

However Jessica Lim, who helped to coordinate the festival, said Takayama had not sought out sex workers, adding that the photographs depicted a married couple and contained no naked images.

She said Takayama was arrested immediately after leaving the building where the shoot of the couple had taken place.

'The couple, in some of the pictures, they're posing next to each other, as in a portrait shot, and in others they're standing there hugging each other,' she said.

'There's absolutely no nudity,' she said, adding that she had seen thumbnail shots of the images taken.

Takayama's photographs were taken as part of his involvement in a workshop at the week-long festival, which closed on November 27.

It remained unclear whether the charges could relate to different pictures Takayama may have shot at another time.

37 years after escaping killing fields, a Cambodian returns as US Navy commander

2010-12-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

US Navy Commander Michael Misiewicz docked the USS Mustin in Cambodia Friday. He last saw his homeland, and many of his relatives, as a boy fleeing the murderous Khmer Rouge.

By Clancy McGilligan, Contributor / December 3, 2010

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

US Navy Cmdr. Michael Misiewicz watched today as relatives prepared to board his destroyer, which was docked a few miles off the shore of Cambodia. He had not seen any of them since he left the Southeast Asian nation as a boy 37 years ago, escaping civil war and the murderous Khmer Rouge.

This photo released by the US embassy in Cambodia shows US Navy Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, who fled Cambodia 37 years ago to escape the Khmer Rouge. He returned to Cambodia with the USS Mustin on Friday.

The commander’s face was impassive at first, but it softened as more and more extended family members were helped onto the barge below him. Then he saw his aunt, now 72, who had helped him leave for the US so many years ago. Commander Misiewicz walked slowly down the metal stairs and they embraced, weeping.

“When I saw her this morning,” he later told reporters on the ship, “I just couldn’t hold back the tears, I was so happy that she was here. It’s been a very long time.”

The USS Mustin, which arrived in Cambodia Friday, is on a four-day goodwill mission that includes meetings with the Cambodian Navy and community service projects. Misiewicz made it clear that he places his duties as captain first, but also said that he had been “overwhelmed” by emotions upon his return.

Escaping the Khmer Rouge

Now 43, Misiewicz was born Vannak Khem in the rice fields outside Phnom Penh. As a child, he spent some days watching movies and playing games at the house of his future adoptive mother, Maryna Lee Misiewicz, a US embassy employee for whom his aunt worked as a maid. As the civil war between the Cambodian government and the Khmer Rouge worsened, his aunt and father arranged for her to adopt him, and they left for the US in 1973.

“I liked the person I worked for very much,” says the now-frail aunt, Samrith Mol, referring to Ms. Misiewicz. “That’s why I decided to send my nephew for adoption. And I had the feeling that I would send him first and then I would follow him later. But unfortunately the war happened, so I could not go with my nephew.”

Misiewicz, who describes himself as “happy go lucky” as a child, remembers the tearful goodbyes of his mother, and said he promised to buy her a “big white house.” He recalls being excited by the prospect of a trip to America, which to a 6-year-old boy meant watching movies and eating limitless popcorn there. When he arrived, the absence of his family set in.

"I cried a lot when I first came,” he told the Monitor in an interview on the ship. “It had hit me: This is not just a fun trip, this is separation that’s permanent from your family.”

Cambodian in the American Midwest

Misiewicz, who speaks English with a Midwestern accent (he doesn’t remember how to speak Khmer, the language of Cambodia), went to high school in Lanark, a town in northern Illinois with a population of about 1,500. He was the only non-Caucasian.

He says he decided to go into the Navy partly to spare his adoptive mother, a single parent, the expense of college. After enlisting in 1985, he received a commission in 1992, and says he has learned to love his career. Officers on board the USS Mustin, a 510-foot missile destroyer, spoke highly of their commander.

“Now the ultimate joy is being able to lead sailors who are like me, who just wanted to have an opportunity,” Misiewicz says.

Yet as he rose through the ranks of the US Navy, Misiewicz was haunted by memories of his family. The Khmer Rouge sealed off Cambodia to the outside world, and for 16 years after moving to the US Misiewicz did not know what had become of his parents and siblings.

Long awaited reunion

As it turned out, his mother and three siblings had survived the regime, under which an estimated 1.7 million people died of executions, starvation, disease, and overwork. They fled to refugee camps along the Thai border and in 1983 received asylum in America. They then moved to Texas, but it took another six years to find the boy they knew as Vannak Khem. The search included a lot of phonebooks and the aid of a graduate student in Southeast Asian studies at the University of Texas.

“We knew he was alive, but we just didn’t know where he was,” says his younger brother, Rithy Khem, who lives in Austin but traveled to Cambodia for his brother’s first return.

The 1989 phone call that reunited them was bittersweet: Misiewicz learned that his father and a younger sister had died in Cambodia's “killing fields.”

Misiewicz, who is now married with four children, stays in touch with his Cambodian mother and siblings, although he says the “Navy lifestyle” restricts visits. And he has bought his mom a house, although he said, “It wasn’t quite a big white house.”

“For years I’ve been feeling a lot of guilt because my whole family did go through the killing fields,” he says. “My father was executed, and so I feel very sad, but I think coming home will bring a little bit of closure. I don’t think it’s going to really heal any wounds that I feel about it, but it’s going to help me bring closure to the loss of my father.”

Cambodia mourns stampede victims

2010-11-26T19:44:00.001-08:00

Cambodia marked a national day of mourning Thursday, grieving the more than 300 people who were killed in Monday's stampede at a water festival in the capital of Phnom Penh.

Gneth Srey Keang, 18, the sister of Gneth Srey Neang, who was killed in the bridge stampede on Nov. 22, attends a ceremony Thursday for the victims during a national day of mourning in Phnom Penh. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany wiped away tears as they lit incense in memory of the at least 347 people who were killed. At least 395 more were injured and some people are still missing.

Police now estimate that there were between 7,000 and 8,000 people on the suspension bridge at the time of the stampede. The bridge started to sway, people began to yell, and the stampede started, crushing some and forcing others into the Bassac River below.

"People became panicked when they saw other people fall down, and they started running when they heard cries that the bridge was going to collapse," city police chief Touch Naroth told AP Television News on Wednesday.

In the wake of public anger, police said they may have concentrated too much on pickpockets and overcrowded boats, and lost sight of the size of the crowd. Some earlier reports had the death toll higher than current estimates, but authorities say that was because of overlapping numbers from different institutions.

Country at near standstill

Flags flew at half-mast and many schools and businesses throughout the country were closed so people could take part in the memorial or watch it on television. A military band played sombre music and uniformed school children carried flowers as the victims' families looked on.

Later in the day, members of the public were allowed to come up to an altar that had been set up for the memorial, laying gifts of fruit, rice and water, which are considered sustenance for the spirits of the dead.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife, Bun Rany, pay their respects to stampede victims on a day of mourning in Phnom Penh. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

The stampede happened during an annual water festival marking the end of the monsoon season that attracts approximately two million people to the city.

Officials announced Thursday that a permanent memorial will be created either on or near the bridge, to mark the biggest tragedy since the reign of the communist Khmer Rouge, which killed an estimated 1.7-million in the late 1970s.

Some early reports had suggested that some of the dead had been electrocuted, but a member of the government's investigating committee said there were no signs of that. The committee is expected to release its final report next week.

Cambodian anger over stampede management

2010-11-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

Zoe Daniel reported this story on Sunday, November 28, 2010 08:05:00

Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes)

Alternate WMA version | MP3 download

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Cambodia is still coming to terms with the deaths of hundreds of people killed in a stampede on Monday at Phnom Penh's annual Water Festival. Most of the bodies have been identified and some funerals have been held, but anger over the management of the event and the lack of control over the huge crowd has grown.

Here's our South-East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel.

ZOE DANIEL: Cambodian people are extraordinarily resilient, possibly as a result of the country's horrific past. But Monday's stampede shocked the nation, the mass death a grim reminder of the dark days of the Khmer Rouge and an image that Cambodia is trying desperately to shake.

Outside hospitals across the city the confusion and devastation was raw as people searched for the missing and found the dead.

(Sounds of anguished people)

Hundreds lay in makeshift morgues and hundreds more laid inside hospital rooms, battered and bruised but alive. Fifteen-year-old Moeum told me through a translator that he was pinned under a pile of bodies for two hours before he was pulled out by rescuers.

(Moeum speaking)

TRANSLATOR: He says it was too crowded, there was no space to move at all. People just getting closer and closer until they, none of them could move.

ZOE DANIEL: Paul Hurford is an Australian fireman who runs an NGO in Phnom Penh to help train and advise Cambodian authorities on the management of disasters. He and his team from Australian Firefighters International Relief and Education were on the scene with local rescue workers after the stampede.

PAUL HURFORD: The scene was fairly well organised at the time that we arrived, the police had established a secure area for the casualties and were holding the general public out. As it was concerns of so many people within the area.

The ambulance system was working quite well, transporting people to and from, to the hospitals and keeping the people flowing from the site where there wasn't many resources. But there was still a lot of casualties and it wasn't a very pretty sight.

ZOE DANIEL: The scene was horrific - hundreds dead from suffocation and crush injuries and others drowned in the river.

PAUL HURFORD: Personally I found it quite challenging, it's, it was a very large incident and as we see now we've got over 345 fatalities from the event and another 300-plus people seriously injured.

So, I mean, in any scale, whether we're here in Cambodia or in a developed country in a big city, it's still a major incident and still quite challenging for anyone to deal with.

ZOE DANIEL: Dr Tim Keenan is an orthopaedic surgeon from Perth who frequently travels to Cambodia to assist with the Australian Orthopaedic Association's outreach program. He was working in the Kossamak Hospital - one of the places where the dead were brought for identification and the injured were brought for treatment.

DR TIM KEENAN: The people were intertwined and jammed into each other for a number of hours on the bridge and there was really no broken bones but there was what we call these crush injuries where your limbs get sort of under pressure for some period of time and they you get what's called a compartment syndrome where the muscle builds up a lot of pressure and stops the circulation and the sensation to that limb.

ZOE DANIEL: Television footage showed desperate rescuers pulling those who were still alive out of the crush of bodies.

Dr Keenan says the way they were extracted was understandable but not ideal.

DR TIM KEENAN: They're not really skilled or rehearsed at disaster management so a lot of these people were being extracted under quite difficult circumstances and probably the way they were extracted wasn't the correct way to do it.

But still, that's in the circumstances, people extract people the best way they can and then they're brought by an ambulance which isn't really what we would consider an ambulance, without any oxygen or facilities.

One of the big problems in Phnom Penh and the hospital is that the intensive care facilities are very primitive and the staff are not trained in the management of these involved cases so sadly a lot of patients who perhaps in the western situation may have been managed better cannot be managed at that high level here in Phnom Penh.

ZOE DANIEL: The first funerals have been held for the dead, but they haven't given closure to relatives who want to know why crowd control wasn't better. Three million people came to Phnom Penh for the Water Festival, yet the government admits it overlooked the potential for this kind of incident.

Early police investigations indicate that the overloaded bridge was shaking and that probably triggered the stampede.

This is Zoe Daniel reporting for Correspondents Report.

Thai PM sends condolences to families of victims in Cambodian festival tragedy

2010-11-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK, Nov 23 - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Tuesday extended condolences to Cambodian premier Hun Sen to the families of hundreds of lives lost in a stampede at the annual water festival in Cambodia.

The stampede occurred Monday on a narrow bridge, greatly overcrowded, in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

"On behalf of the Government and people of Thailand, I wish to extend my sincere condolences and sympathy to you and, through you, to the bereaved families of the victims in this tragic incident.

"My thoughts are with the people of Cambodia in this difficult time. The Thai Government is ready to provide support and assistance to our friends in Cambodia,” Mr Abhisit said in the statement to his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen.

Thailand Tuesday offered an initial 30,000 dollars in emergency aid to Cambodia following the deadly tragedy.

At least 378 people were killed in a stampede on Koh Pich Bridge at the annual festival for the Great Lake, a Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan said Tuesday, adding that the number of casualties was still rising.

Many of the deaths were caused by suffocation and internal injuries, reports indicated, some 755 more people injured in Monday’s tragedy. (MCOT online news)

Probe finds bridge sway set off Cambodian stampede

2010-11-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

Bun Oun, who lost his daughter in Monday's stampede, cries during her cremation at Sombourmeas temple in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Wednesday. Photo: AP.

An investigation into a stampede at a festival in the Cambodian capital that killed hundreds of revelers has initially concluded that it was set off when a crowded bridge started swaying, local media reported on Wednesday.

Bayon TV, which serves as a mouthpiece for the government, said that the high—level committee set up to probe the Monday night tragedy found that many of the people on the bridge were from the countryside and unaware that it was normal for a suspension bridge to sway. In their fear it was collapsing, they tried to run off.

Officials have said that 378 people were killed and at least 755 others injured in the stampede. The TV report, however, amended the number of casualties to 750, of whom 350 died. The reason for the discrepancy in the figures was not immediately clear.

The report said the committee based its conclusion on the cause of the stampede from investigations and testimony of witnesses. It happened when tens of thousands of panicked people tried to flee an island in the Bassac River in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Witnesses have criticized authorities for causing congestion by blocking a second bridge across the river despite the huge crowds that had gathered for the festival, and for a slow and confused emergency response.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has described the stampede as the biggest tragedy since the communist Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror, which left an estimated 1.7 million people dead in the late 1970s. He has declared a day of national mourning on Thursday.

Scenes of grief amid Cambodia crush carnage

2010-11-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

By Guy De Launey BBC News, Phnom Penh

Relatives are searching picture boards outside hospitals for missing loved ones

Calmette Hospital is rarely a happy place at the best of times. It may be Phnom Penh's flagship healthcare centre but facilities are basic.

Now the Diamond Island bridge disaster may have turned it into the saddest corner of Cambodia.

Most of those injured in the crush on Diamond Island bridge were brought there, more than 700 of them - a serious challenge for the limited facilities of Calmette and several other Phnom Penh hospitals.

Patients and staff were forced to improvise. The injured lay on the floor if no bed was available, or stayed in the corridors if there was no room in the wards.

But it was not only the wounded who were brought to Calmette. Many of the hundreds who died came as well.

“START QUOTE

I have looked all over and we haven't heard from him. I am losing hope that he is alive”

End Quote Doun Searching for brother

They were laid out in rows inside a number of the city's hospitals. There were also picture boards outside, where people could perform the potentially heart-breaking task of looking for missing friends and relatives.

The boards made for gruesome viewing. The bodies had been laid on bamboo mats, and head-and-shoulders photos taken. Most of the victims had their eyes closed, but a few of them stared blankly into the lens - suggesting life when it had already been extinguished.

Doun was looking for her younger brother, who had not returned home. She had already been to several other hospitals. Now she was scanning the picture board of the dead outside Calmette Hospital.

She looked in vain. A measure of relief for Doun - perhaps her brother was still alive - but frustration and despair as well.

"I have looked all over and we haven't heard from him," she said. "I am losing hope that he is alive."

Others have already discovered their worst fears are true.

On the night of the disaster, a convoy of emergency vehicles shuttled the dead and injured to Calmette. Now the traffic is going the other way, as the bodies are being claimed and taken away in coffins by funeral vehicles.

Srey Luch visited the scene of the disaster to pay her respects

At sunset on the evening following the disaster, police barriers held scores of people back from the scene at Diamond Island. The crowd seemed to be a mixture of the curious, the distressed and those who simply wished to pay their respects to the dead.

Srey Luch arrived at the barrier bearing flowers, incense and prayer candles. She was from Kandal province, close to Phnom Penh, and she knew a number of people who were hurt or missing.

"I want to bless the people who died and those who were injured," she said.

The bridge which was the focus of the carnage looks like an illustration from a fairytale - all turrets and twinkling fairy-lights. But it is barely wide enough to accommodate two cars side by side - and woefully inadequate for the numbers celebrating the Water Festival on Diamond Island.

On the night of the disaster the bridge was closed to vehicles. But the human traffic proved overwhelming.

Witnesses say the bridge was overcrowded but what triggered the stampede is not clear

The cause of the panic was not immediately apparent. Electric shocks from the lights, fights among young people and fears that the structure was about to collapse have all been put forward.

Prime Minster Hun Sen has promised a thorough investigation and the authorities may be helped by footage from a TV network which was broadcasting a live music performance from a stage just yards from the bridge.

Thanks to its three decades of civil war and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge era, Cambodia has a reputation as a place where awful things happen. But many of its mostly young population have grown up with peace and relative prosperity, and have never experienced a disaster before.

A waiter in a local cafe feared the anguish may be about to spread. Most of the visitors to the Water Festival are from the rural provinces and some families would only realise their daughters or sons might have been caught in the crush when they failed to return home.

That raises the possibility of bodies going unclaimed for days and the agony of loss continuing as families arrive in the capital in search of the missing.

Families seek Cambodia stampede victims

2010-11-23T19:03:00.001-08:00

Alastair Leithead: "Suddenly everyone was stampeding, trying to get out of that very confined space"

Families in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh have been scouring morgues and hospitals in search of relatives missing after a deadly stampede.

Search teams have also been trawling a river for bodies after the crush on a footbridge left at least 378 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Prime Minister Hun Sen declared Thursday a day of mourning and promised an investigation into the disaster.

The stampede happened on the final day of the traditional Water Festival.

Witnesses said the bridge had become overcrowded.

Hun Sen described the stampede as the "biggest tragedy" to hit Cambodia since the mass killings carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

He has ordered all government ministries to fly the national flag at half-mast.

At the Preah Kossamak hospital, San Supa told how she discovered that her daughter and son-in-law had died in the stampede.

"They both told me that they wanted to watch the light boat parade at night and then they went missing and I came straight away to the hospital and I found out that they died," she said.

Another woman, Sem Sreyleak, said she had been scouring makeshift morgues and the city's hospitals looking for her niece.

"She came to Phnom Penh a day before the Water Festival started. There is still no news about her," she said.

The bridge crosses the Bassac river, which on Tuesday was being searched for victims believed to have drowned after falling into the water.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said 755 people had been injured and warned that the death toll could rise further. No foreigners were said to be among those killed.

'Sudden panic'

Authorities had estimated that more than two million people would attend the three-day festival, one of the main events of the year in Cambodia.

Panic broke out after a concert on Diamond Island, which followed a boat race on the Tonle Sap river regarded as a highlight of the festivities.

Timeline: Deadliest stampedes

Sean Ngu, an Australian who was visiting family and friends in Cambodia, told the BBC too many people had been on the bridge.

He said some of the victims were electrocuted.

"There were too many people on the bridge and then both ends were pushing," he said.

"This caused a sudden panic. The pushing caused those in the middle to fall to the ground, then [get] crushed.

"Panic started and at least 50 people jumped in the river. People tried to climb on to the bridge, grabbing and pulling [electric] cables which came loose and electrical shock caused more deaths."

Funerals have already been held for some of those killed in the stampede

Khon Sros told Reuters news agency from her hospital bed that the area had been packed.

"People were pushing each other and I fell," she said. "People were shouting 'go, go'."

The 19-year-old said she had been pinned in the crowd from her waist down until police pulled her out.

"One man died near me. He was weak and didn't have enough air."

A day after the disasters, sunglasses, flip-flops and brightly coloured clothes lay scattered on the bridge.

Revellers watched as the bodies of youths in party clothes were carried away from the bridge, which was still decked with bright lights from the festival.

Many of the dead appeared to be teenagers.

The stampede is the world's worst since August 2005, when more than 1,000 Shia pilgrims were crushed to death or drowned in the Tigris river in Baghdad, Iraq, after rumours of a suicide bomb attack sparked a panic.

Officials probe fatal stampede in Cambodia

2010-11-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

HUNDREDS KILLED AFTER MAYHEM ON BRIDGE AFTER WATER FESTIVAL

Relatives cry at Preah Kossamak Hospital, where the bodies of stampede victims are laid, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Tuesday. (Associated Press)

By Richard S. Ehrlich

The Washington Times

8:02 p.m., Tuesday, November 23, 2010

BANGKOK | Cambodian officials are investigating why thousands of revelers panicked during a festival in Phnom Penh on Monday and stampeded across a narrow bridge, killing at least 378 people and injuring scores more.

Emergency teams, survivors and distraught relatives and friends desperately searched on Tuesday among corpses strewn on the bridge and floating in the river.

Many of the dead were later laid on the ground in rows, under white cloth, at hospitals before being packed into coffins for cremation.

Police wearing white rubber gloves gently lifted the hands of the dead and pushed their limp fingertips onto blackened ink pads and then onto paper, for identification records.

Authorities also posted photographs of victims for public viewing, hoping to identify the dead and injured.

A Cambodian woman looks for her missing relative at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. The prime minister called the disaster the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge. (Associated Press)

The tragedy occurred Monday night during the final celebration of the three-day Water Festival, which marks the end of the tropical rainy season in the impoverished Buddhist-majority country.

Trapped on a 250-acre island in the Tonle Bassac River where the festival was staged, hundreds of people tried to flee across the short, narrow bridge, but began shoving and trampling each other in a melee, while others jumped or fell into the murky water below.

Phnom Penh police Chief Touch Naroth said investigators were still trying to determine the cause but suggested that the bridge's small size may have contributed to the tragedy, the Associated Press reported. "This is a lesson for us," he said on state TV.

Some witnesses said trouble began when a handful of people fainted because of the heat and physical pressure of the large crowd, causing others to nervously try to escape.

Some of the crushed victims writhed in agony, too weak to free themselves from the corpses and injured people who were piled on top of them on the bridge, but rescuers were able to yank some people out alive.

Cause of deadly Cambodia stampede still unknown

2010-11-23T18:59:00.000-08:00

A Cambodian man carries the body of his son killed in a stampede, at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. (AP / Sakchai Lalit)

Updated: Tue Nov. 23 2010 5:08:21 PM

The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — At the bridge where investigators poked though the debris of a disaster -- abandoned flip-flops and sneakers, water bottles, pieces of sugar cane -- Chea Chan lit a Buddhist memorial offering of incense, coconut and lotus flowers, and wept.

The 28-year-old had tried to grab his younger brother during the riverside stampede that left at least 378 dead Monday night, but he was pushed against the support poles of the narrow suspension bridge. His little brother fell down and immediately was crushed under four or five other falling people.

He found his dead sibling at a local hospital, with a broken neck and crushed face. "I'm totally in shock," he said.

The victims were trampled when a crowd celebrating a holiday panicked for reasons that remained unknown Tuesday. The prime minister's special adviser, Om Yentieng, denied reports that it was sparked by a mass food poisoning, or by people being electrocuted by lighting cables.

Don Saron, 26, said she was walking across the bridge when people began shouting that it was going to collapse. She tripped and felt the crowds trampling over her face and chest.

"People were just walking here and there and all of sudden, people started to run," she said as she awaited treatment Tuesday at Calmette Hospital. She grimaced in pain as she leaned against a gurney on which she had just woken up nearly 20 hours after being caught in the stampede.

"I shouldn't have been there. Why did I come to this festival, this ceremony?" she said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen described the stampede on Koh Pich -- Diamond Island -- as the biggest tragedy since the communist Khmer Rouge's reign of terror, which left an estimated 1.7 million people dead in the late 1970s.

He declared Thursday a day of national mourning.

City police chief Touch Naroth said investigators were still trying to determine the cause but suggested that the bridge's small size may have contributed to the tragedy. "This is a lesson for us," he said on state TV.

State television showed horrific footage of the stampede, with thousands of twisted bodies -- both dead and alive -- piled atop each other, some screaming for help and grasping for hands as rescuers struggled to pull limp bodies out of the pile. Other rescuers fanned them with cardboard boxes.

On Tuesday, crowds jammed the sidewalk outside Calmette Hospital, looking for familiar faces in photos posted of unidentified victims.

Survivors recounted desperate struggles on the bridge to the island in one of the rivers running past Phnom Penh, where a huge crowd had come to celebrate the last night of a three-day holiday marking the end of rainy season. As many as 2 million people are believed to have come to the capital, and many sought to grab a final few hours of fun at a concert following the traditional boat races.

The crush of people was intense. A witness, soft drink vendor So Cheata, said about 10 people suddenly fell unconscious. Panic surged through the crowd, which pushed onto the gaily lit yellow-and-grey bridge, which was already packed with people.

Imran, an events planner from Sri Lanka who asked not to use his last name for fear of angering Cambodian clients, said he pulled at least 12 bodies from the crush. People began handing him limp children as young as 5 or 6, and bodies -- dead or unconscious -- covered so much of the ground in front of his stand that people had to walk over them.

Some victims complained of being electrocuted, Imran said, possibly from the wiring for the lights on the bridge, though it was unclear if the electricity had killed people or merely shocked them.

At least 755 people were injured, but government spokesman Phay Siphan said that number and the death toll could rise. Authorities said there were no foreigners among the dead or injured.

Rescuers were overwhelmed as they had to quickly pick out the dead from the living, and try to help the survivors.

"I've never come across something with such mass casualties ... in such a small area," said Paul Hurford, an Australian firefighter who runs a charity training firefighters in Cambodia and was among those called to help. "This was a devastating situation, no matter how you look at it."

Imran complained of a slow and confused response from police and medical services. He said that at one point when the cityside part of the bridge was still choked with victims, military police yelled through loudspeakers that the bridge was on fire. Some police officers also carried away unconscious victims with their heads banging against the pavement, he said.

Hun Sen ordered an investigation into the disaster and said the government would pay the families of each dead victim 5 million riel ($1,250) for funeral expenses and provide 1 million riel ($250) for each injured person.

Located on the Tonle Bassac river in southeastern Phnom Penh, Koh Pich is a former slum community that was handed over in 2006 to a company controlled by Pung Khiav Se, a tycoon connected to Hun Sen. The development, budgeted at hundreds of millions of dollars, is planned to have high-rise buildings, including what is supposed to be Asia's tallest skyscraper. It is currently much more modest, with cafes, amusement park rides and other structures.

Charles Vann, a spokesman for Pung Khiav Se, called the stampede "an accident, nothing more than an accident."

"This is no one's fault," he said. "No one could have expected this to happen."

Death Toll at Cambodia's Water Festival Rises as Nation Mourns

2010-11-23T06:24:00.000-08:00

Photo: VOA - Robert Carmichael

Buddhist monks chant prayers for the dead at bridge where less than 24 hours earlier more than 370 people died in a stampede, Nov. 23, 2010.

The Cambodian government says more than 378 people died and hundreds more were injured in a stampede at the end of the annual Water Festival late Monday in Phnom Penh. On Tuesday afternoon, five hundred Buddhist monks chanted prayers in a ceremony for those who died, many of them on a bridge during the celebration.

Less than 24 hours after the tragedy, Cambodia's most serious loss of life in decades, the government established a committee to find out how so many died on what was meant to be one of the nation's most joyous occasions.

Most of the victims were young people in their teens and twenties. They were some of the estimated two million who had flocked to Phnom Penh for the annual Water Festival, which marks the end of the rainy season.

Most suffocated on the bridge, which thousands of people were using to leave Diamond Island, an entertainment area in the middle of the river. Others drowned after jumping from the bridge into the water.

Nineteen-year-old Buot Panha was at the grounds of Phnom Penh's Calmette Hospital, where several hundred people were taken. He was waiting for two injured friends to be released.

VOA - Robert Carmichael

Buot Panha, left, who jumped off the bridge to safety, and his friend Ra, right, both of whom survived the stampede.

He said shortly after 9:30 on Monday evening he ended up trapped with his friends in the middle of the bridge, fighting to breathe while terrified people struggled all around him.

Being tall saved his life, since he could stretch his neck to take in oxygen. Shorter people were unable to do that, he says, which may be why two-thirds of the victims were women.

He says this was his first time for the Water Festival in Phnom Penh, and he cannot believe something like this could happen. It is unbelievable that so many people died, he says.

He tried to help a woman who was trapped with two children near him. She was screaming for people to help. Being tall, Buot Panha grabbed one child and pushed him above the crowd to help him breathe.

But then some of the young men were told to jump off the bridge into the river to make room. So he handed back the child, squirmed his way to the edge, and jumped.

Some like Buot Panha were fortunate, jumping into the river below and swimming for the shore. But many simply could not move, and died where they lay.

He fears for the mother and two children.

The children probably died, he says, and the mother, too. She was yelling for people to help, but he could only help one. He was in the middle of the bridge and fortunate to be tall. But he says he could not move, unable to go forward or backward.

In the parking lot at Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, the authorities have erected two large tents.

In one, around 50 unidentified bodies are laid out under white sheets on mats. Police move silently between them, taking their fingerprints.

Nearby hundreds of relatives sit and wait, many weeping, as the authorities fill out forms to identify and release the bodies.

Buot Panha says his first Water Festival will be his last. He vows to never come back.

Hundreds Die in Stampede on Cambodian Island

2010-11-22T17:12:00.000-08:00

Heng Sinith/Associated Press

People were pushed onto a bridge in Phnom Penh on Monday.

By SETH MYDANS

BANGKOK — More than 300 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in a stampede at an annual water festival in Cambodia that the prime minister on Tuesday called the nation’s worst tragedy since the murderous Khmer Rouge regime more than three decades ago.

The New York Times

Witnesses in Phnom Penh, the capital, said the stampede began Monday night when people panicked in a dense crowd on a small island close to the shore of the Bassac River.

Hundreds of people tried to escape over a short suspension bridge. Many died of suffocation or were crushed underfoot or were electrocuted by loose wires. Many drowned when they leaped from the suspension bridge into the water.

The night was filled with the constant sound of sirens and, at the scene and in the hospital, with the wailing of people discovering dead friends or relatives.

“This is the biggest tragedy in more than 31 years since the Pol Pot regime,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said in one of several television announcements through the night, referring to the mass killings of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979.

Millions of people pour into the capital each year and line the river’s shores and islands in densely packed crowds for a boat race that is the climax of the water festival. The last boat race ended early Monday evening, the final night of the holiday, and a concert was being held on the island, called Diamond Island, a long spit of land close to the royal palace on the shore.

There was no confirmation of the cause of the stampede, but Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said it began when what he said were one million people became “scared of something.”

The police and rescuers had to fight their way through crowds, sometimes beating people with their belts to get through, according to reports from the scene.

Video from the site showed scenes of horror with bodies lying here and there and frantic rescuers rushing among them.

People staggered from the scene either alone or supported on both sides by rescuers. Some sat on the ground, holding their hands to their chests and breathing with difficulty.

Other people carried bodies, both the dead and the badly injured, by their arms and legs; they knelt on the ground fanning those who were still alive or trying to perform CPR; they loaded the dead and badly injured onto flatbed trucks or the backs of motorcycles and packed them into ambulances.

People searched, weeping, through the corridors of the hospital, where bodies lay on the floor wrapped in woven mats or under sarongs. Hospital workers threw white sheets over groups of bodies on the floor. White coated hospital personnel hurried through rooms jammed with cots.

The brightly lit suspension bridge with its delicate fretwork was carpeted with the shoes and bits of clothes of those who had been crushed or fled.

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