Work was recently completed on a water filtration project for the 315 students at a rural Cambodian charity school with help from the Rotary Club of Jamestown.

By Sakina Mohamed TAKEO -- In rural Cambodia, poverty can be so rife that in their bid to find a job, destitute young women would fall prey to human trafficking, sexual assault and harsh labour conditions. When the Maybank Foundation set up its first-ever silk weaving training centre at the Takeo province, its main goal was to create local business opportunities for underprivileged women so that they would no longer fall victim to such fate in their desperation to make an income.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday ratcheted up his attacks on the United States, announcing that he had instructed the Immigration Department to check for American "spies" and suggesting the US Embassy pull out its Peace Corps volunteers. The premier's anti-US rhetoric has intensified in the past few weeks following the arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha , a move widely condemned by civil society and foreign governments.

The film, Jolie's fourth as a director, was a passion project for the director, who holds dual citizenship in Cambodia and adopted one of her children there. It's official: Angelina Jolie's fourth film as a director, First They Killed My Father , is Cambodia's submission for the best foreign-language film Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards.

Cambodian authorities last week arrested an alleged drug mule attempting to smuggle cocaine into the Kingdom by hiding it in his stomach. a South African national Blignaut Chan, 26, was seized on September 13 at Phnom Penh International Airport in a joint operation between the National Authority for Combating Drugs , Customs Department and immigration officers, according to NACD spokesman Meas Virith.

Picasso said that "the purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls", but how do you restore art when its creators have been reduced to dust? The Khmer Rouge, who tyrannised Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, killed an estimated two million people. Literally taking the country back to "Year Zero", they abolished money, schooling, private property and religion; and created a nation of slave labourers who were not allowed to cry, laugh or even smile without permission.

Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia has been in power for more than 30 years. He recently vowed to stay in power and resist foreign interference.

Cambodian-Americans from Southern California held a peaceful protest in front of Long Beach City Hall on Saturday to urge the Cambodian government to release opposition leader Kem Sokha and to call for the United Nations to intervene in the country's currently tense political situation ahead of next year's national elections. Boone Ran, 45, who fled to the US with his mother after his father was killed during the Khmer Rouge era, was among those who took part in the demonstration, which drew hundreds of protesters.

Information Ministry spokesman Ouk Kimseng on Friday made a thinly veiled threat to jail Radio Free Asia reporters if they continued to work in the Kingdom, following the broadcaster's announcement last week that it had ceased in-country operations. The outlet shut down its Cambodian operations after its reach was severely limited by the government's recent shuttering of more than 30 frequencies, many of which broadcast RFA shows.

A Cambodian court on Sunday decided to detain a woman for insulting the country's King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen in Facebook posts. Fruit vendor Moeun Lihor, 20, was arrested on Friday in Banteay Meanchey Province, northwest Cambodia after she posted to her Facebook doctored photographs along with messages that insulted the monarch and the prime minister.

Nearly 130 Cambodian rally and march around City Hall in Long Beach on Saturday, September 16, 2017. The local Cambodian population is protesting the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's crackdown on free speech and arrest of a prominent opposition leader.

Sreymoch Sareum plays Loung Ung in "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers." - Photo courtesy of Netflix By now, there should be no debating that Angelina Jolie is a talented director, capable of handling the most challenging subject matter with assurance and sensitivity.

Norry, a home-made bamboo train which has delighted tourists for nearly two decades, is on the brink of disappearance as Cambodia has started to restore the rail line for a train service. "It felt more like a roller coaster, but it's really nice, and I think it is a good way to transport really heavy things from one to another place, so yes, it's nice," German tourist Theresa Kessemeier said after she completed a ride.

A small community in Siem Reap province's Chong Kneas commune is adamant about getting global recognition for their unique fermented fish paste, or prahoc, after the government endorsed a national standard for the most distinctive ingredient in Khmer cooking. The push for Siem Reap prahoc fish paste to get geographical indication status came soon after the Association of Prahoc Fish Paste in Chong Kneas commune was established with 10 members drawn from prahoc producers.

The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security have finally moved to punish countries that refuse to accept their citizens being deported from the United States. This was a move a long time coming, and should have happened months ago.

Xi Jinping, president of China and the Communist Party, and Prime Minister Hun Sen shake hands in October last year at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh. When a senior government official on Wednesday said Cambodia would form a joint "think tank" with China to investigate the root causes of "colour revolutions", he appeared to betray not only the Kingdom's accelerating shift away from Western democratic norms, but also an apparent misunderstanding of the movements themselves.

FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER Netflix Director: Angelina Jolie Written by: Loung Ung, Angelina Jolie based on Loung Ung's book Cast: Kompheak Phoeung, Soceata Sveng, Dara Heng, Chenda Run, Kimhak Mun, Sreyneang Oun, Sothea Khoun, Nika Sarum, Nita Sarun, Sreymoch Sareum Screened at: Critics' link, NYC, 9/14/17 Opens: September 15, 2017 Barry Goldwater, a unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. presidency, once justified his ultra-conservative positions with the statement "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vicea and moderation in defense of justice is no virtue." Given his hostility to communist regimes such as we found in the Soviet Union and China, the statement is ironic.