Showing 1 - 10 of 14
Kabul's traffickers are in for the long haul
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 17/11/2013
» Kabul's black market for illegal travel is still doing a brisk trade despite the crackdown from Australia's newly installed government on people smuggling. However, the logistics required to circumvent the authorities and ensure a safe trip have become more complex and smugglers are under pressure to maximise profits. Fake passports, forged visas, tickets to Southeast Asia, sometimes via the Middle East, and boats to Australia and elsewhere are often available for about US$25,000 (788,000 baht) a head, more than double the costs the smugglers first charged when they began plying the Kangaroo Route in the late 1990s.
Savvy former PM looks set to stir up the hornet's nest
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 25/08/2013
» After decades in the political wilderness, former Cambodian prime minister Pen Sovann will make his political comeback in late September when the National Assembly sits. He'll be seated opposite politicians he once worked with and some who deserted and betrayed him.
Youthful daring challenges the status quo and dirty tricks
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 28/07/2013
» Throughout Cambodia's election campaign the politically outgunned opposition has put in an astonishing performance. Fuelled by youthful exuberance, flash mobs of up to 3,000 form and trumpet the virtues of change as supporters ride in twos, threes and fours, through the capital on motorbikes.
Gambling with Kampot's colonial charm
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 05/05/2013
» Hidden in the clouds on a mountain overlooking the provincial capital of Kampot in Cambodia's south sits a relic of a long-gone French colonial era. For decades a Catholic church, possibly the oldest in the country, remained abandoned here as wars were waged for decades on the flat lands below.
Truth seeking's terrible toll: Seventies war reporters remembered
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 17/02/2013
» The thinning ranks of war correspondents who covered the Indochinese conflicts prior to the communist takeovers of 1975, have rounded out a rare pilgrimage to Cambodia through a series of reunions and twin dedications to the fallen.
Ly Yong Phat, the King of Koh Kong
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 03/02/2013
» Thai-Cambodian relations have been defined high in the Dangrek Mountains ever since troops from both sides began clashing over the 12th century ruins at Preah Vihear five years ago. Further south, where the Kaoh Pao meets the Gulf of Thailand, it's a very different story.
2012 - When Asean felt Beijing's bite
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 30/12/2012
» Twenty-twelve should be remembered as the year in which China acted on its long-standing claims in the South China Sea, took off the gloves and arraigned its intimidating military and diplomatic arsenal against its neighbours to the south. Gone were the usual glib lines that China only gives foreign aid and soft loans to countries in need, with no strings attached. Cambodia _ for years a benefactor of Beijing's largesse _ was bullied onto China's political front lines, acting as a spoiler against fellow Asean countries attempting to forge a united front against Beijing's territorial and maritime ambitions.
Furious foreign investment driving land grab scourge
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 07/10/2012
» Land grabbing has emerged as the biggest blight to afflict Cambodia in recent years. Thousands of villagers have been pushed off their family plots for what they say is too little compensation as big corporations move in with the government's blessing.
New faces with a look from antiquity rise at Angkor Wat
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 10/06/2012
» When French archaeologists began their first digs around the temple ruins of Angkor Wat in the early 20th century, few would have appreciated the magnitude of what lay ahead.
Khmer Rouge justice a race against time
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 27/05/2012
» Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal has been dogged by controversy since the first public hearings were held in November 2007, including allegations of corruption, funding issues and disputes over the scope of the tribunals.