Reporters Investigating Drug Lords in Mexico and Pol Pot Atrocities in Cambodia to Receive Prestigious Journalism Award

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Two Mexican reporters who have investigated violent drug cartels and a Cambodian journalist who uncovered secrets of the Pol Pot regime will receive the 2011 Knight International Journalism Awards, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) announced.

Rocio Idalia Gallegos Rodriguez and Sandra Rodriguez Nieto are fearless investigative reporters in what may be the most dangerous city in the world. Despite tremendous risks, they have probed the drug wars that are wreaking havoc in Ciudad Juarez and other places along the U.S.-Mexican border.

US-Based Victims Group Questions Tribunal’s Independence

Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC 

Photo: by Pin Sisovann Dr. Nou Leakhena, founding director of Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia

The latest flares at the Khmer Rouge tribunal have drawn sharp criticism from the Cambodian-American Diasporas and added to their suspicion over the court’s independence.

“The controversies surrounding case 003 clearly show the Court’s inability at this point to remain independent and transparent,” said Dr. Nou Leakhena in an interview with VOA Khmer last week.

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal is caught up in a spat between its investigating judges and international prosecutor over case 003 which could involve two more prominent suspects in the Khmer Rouge regime.

Vietnamese invading soldiers’ remains repatriated from Cambodia

Vietnamese volunteer remains repatriated from Cambodia

VOVNews

Cambodian military police and students sent off the remains of Vietnamese soldiers.

A solemn ceremony was held in Kampong Chnang province, Cambodia, on June 21 to repatriate 11 sets of remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers, who had laid down their lives in an international mission during the past war in Cambodia.

The remains were the final batch found by joint search teams from Cambodia’s Kampong Chnang province and Vietnam’s Military Zone 9 and An Giang province from 2003-2011, implementing an agreement signed between the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments.

Signs of building recovery [in Cambodia]

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

May Kunmakara
Phnom Penh Post

Workers constructing a highrise building in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia’s imports of construction materials increased substantially in the first five months when compared year on year, though insiders say the sector still sits below pre-crisis highs.

Some US$307 million worth of material such assteel, tiles, and cement were imported in 2011 to the end of May, from $76 million in the same period last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce’s Camcontrol Department.

Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Director General Im Cham Rong said the government has noticed a recent uptick in construction projects.

“This shows the improvement of the sector reflecting our economic growth and peoples’ rising living standards especially in Phnom Penh city,” he said.

“We need to import [construction materials] to complement what we lack, and meet the increase in demand.”

Although the sector is showing signs of recovery, insiders say the construction industry still faces challenges.

Cambodia construction industry rebounding

Jun 22, 2011
Property-Report.com

A construction site in the capital Phnom Penh.

Cambodia’s construction industry has experienced an 87 per cent increase in government-approvedinvestment in the first five months of 2011 compared to the previous year.

Officials have approved 868 projects worth roughly US$505 million up to the end of May this year, up from the 889 projects worth US$270 million in the same period of 2010, according to figures just released from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning, and Construction.

Despite the decrease in the number of projects approved, larger projects have more than made up for it in terms of revenue.

ACU probe ends but no arrests, says PM [It means the Anti-Corruption Unit is useless]

Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Vong Sokheng

Phnom Penh Post

The government’s Anticorruption Unit has completed an investigation of officials at the Ministry of Social Affairs accused of stealingmoney from the pensions ofretired civil servants, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday.

Speaking to hundreds of government officials yesterday in Phnom Penh, the premier said the probe had uncovered corruption on the part of a number of people, but that no arrests will be made at this time.

“From the investigation, [the ACU] now knows everything about the graft, but has not taken any measures for arrests,” Hun Sen said. “If you want to try it again, you’ll be in trouble.”

The mystery death of the son of a legend Hollywood star in Cambodia nearly solved

Progress near on missing Vietnam War journalists

Wed Jun 22 2011
Arabian StandardTime,Oman Time

Sean Flynn (middle) and Dana Stone (right) set to cover a Cambodian war on the battlefield where they went missing in 1971.

Vietnam (AFP): Military investigators could be a step nearersolving the mystery of Hollywood legend Errol Flynn’sjournalist son, who disappeared inCambodia during the Vietnam War.

The fate of war photographer Sean Flynn and his colleague Dana Stone has been unclear since they went missing in southeast Cambodia while covering the conflict in 1970.

A US official said Wednesday that investigators hoped talks with former North Vietnamese soldiers would lead to progress on the fate of two American journalists captured in the area, though he declined to name those involved.

South China Sea Turbulence – A treat for Vietnam, a trick for the World

By Khmer Academy
Wednesday 22nd June, 2011

This file photo showsChinese Navy vessels during militaryexercises. China is staging three days of military exercises in the South China Sea and plans to boost its offshore maritime patrol force, state media said, as tensions with its neighbours simmer.

(AFP/XINHUA/File/Zha Chunming)

The rising tensions in South China Sea spark a renewed concern over the regional stability and global implications. Clearly, it is no longer just a matter of the territorial claims and counter-claims among neighboring countries in the region, but also a complex anddangerous arm wrestling between Eastern and Western superpowers.

Whether justified or not, the West views South China Sea tensions as China’s increasing assertiveness in the region. Along with that view, the West has directly and indirectly incited the countries involved in the dispute to stand up to China. Such maneuver does not in any way contribute to a peaceful resolution; on the contrary, it only serves to escalate the tensions and hostility. It is not by coincident that some concerned countries in the region, Vietnam in particular, are already using the dispute and capitalizing on the waves of China-bashing sentiment in the West to advance their own hidden agendas.