Cambodia | GlobalPost

Cambodia's dark past clouds minds

Aubrey BelfordMarch 18, 2010 12:54Updated May 30, 2010 13:22

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Psychiatrist Sotheara Chhim has given more thought than most to the mental burdens carried by Cambodians. Pointing to a glass of water on his table, he describes how the legacy of decades marred by war, genocide and enduring poverty still help push so many here over the edge. “I think every Cambodian is like a glass carrying some water, meaning the traumatic past,” he said. “If more water is put in, the glass fills easier than an empty glass.”

Cambodia factory collapse: How did inspectors miss it?

Dene-Hern ChenMay 18, 2013 06:01

PHNOM PENH — Hem Navy lies on a stretcher in the emergency room of a local hospital, hours after she was pulled out from under the collapsed ceiling of an Asics factory in the southwestern province of Kompong Speu. Half her face is severely bruised with signs of internal bleeding around her eyes, and her left foot is bundled in a bloody bandage. “When the ceiling fell, I ran to try and escape it,” she said.

Cambodia Asics shoe factory collapse kills 2

Kaitlin FunaroMay 16, 2013 10:29

The accident comes just weeks after the deadliest disaster in garment industry history.

How the World Bank funds illegal logging in Cambodia and Laos

Denise HrubyMay 14, 2013 06:12

PHNOM PENH — Five-months pregnant, Im Chanthy was told that her husband's body had been found in the trunk of his car, brutally hacked to death for reporting on illegal logging and land concessions in Cambodia. Most of these concessions, a new report by environmental watchdog Global Witness found, are owned by two Vietnamese rubber companies, which, with the financial support of Deutsche Bank, an arm of the World Bank and local governments, have acquired more than 500,000 acres of land in Cambodia and neighboring Laos.

In isolated Myanmar, sanctions breed bogus US franchises

Patrick WinnMay 13, 2013 06:01

YANGON — Those who have wandered the fluorescent-lit aisles of America’s largest superstore would hardly recognize the “Wal Mart” in Myanmar’s crumbling city of Yangon. For starters, the store is scarcely larger than a typical Wal-Mart parking spot. Only two incongruous items are sold there: cellphones and washing machines. The teen clerks must shoo out intrusive stray mutts and, by the showroom, a half-exposed sewer gurgles under the tropical sun.

May Day: Workers protest around the world

Daniel DeFraiaMay 1, 2013 08:05

In France, Greece, Moscow, Cambodia and other countries around the world, workers took to the streets on May Day, also known as International Workers' Day, a pro-labor holiday used to demand workers' rights. About 3,000 people gathered in Singapore to urge the government to curb immigration, and over 20,000 workers protested in Taipei against President Ma Ying-jeou's pension reforms.

UN court hears Thai-Cambodia dispute

Patrick Winn and Amy SilversteinApril 16, 2013 12:15

"Authorities are concerned that politicians are going to use the dispute to try to out-do each other’s nationalist fervor."

Nuon Chea: Khmer Rouge leader declared fit for trial

Jill LangloisMarch 30, 2013 19:33

The right-hand man to the late leader Khmer Rouge Pol Pot and a former Cambodian prime minister, 86-year-old Nuon is accused of murder and torture.

Cambodia orphanage shut down after reports of abuse

Jill LangloisMarch 26, 2013 13:02

Local officials and staff from Australian anti-trafficking group South East Asia Investigations into Social and Humanitarian Activities (SISHA) raided the Love in Action orphanage in Phnom Penh Friday.

Cambodia: Demining in the depths

Denise HrubyMarch 24, 2013 06:01

PHNOM PENH — In pitch-black waters, with only their hands to guide them, Cambodia’s first batch of salvage divers will soon start to recover the thousands of tons of unexploded artillery shells and munitions that lie at the bottom of the country’s lakes and rivers. But before they begin their perilous dives 30 meters below the water's surface, the volunteers must address first things first — and learn how to swim.