The sun is barely up when Thoeun Theap pulls into a clearing in the thick Cambodian bush with a giant African rat on the seat beside him. In a few minutes the two will be out there beyond the treeline, scouring the earth for the remnants of a war Mr Theap fled almost 40 years ago.

Women who work in Asian factories making clothes for the global retail giant Walmart are at "daily risk" of slapping, sexual abuse and other harassment, rights groups said on Friday. Based on interviews with about 250 workers in 60 Walmart supplier factories in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia, a coalition of charities said women were "systematically exposed to violence" and faced retaliation if they reported the attacks.

A Cambodian court has wrapped up its investigation into allegations an Australian filmmaker spied for a foreign entity, but is yet to decide whether the case will go to trial. Under Cambodia's French-based legal system an investigative judge collects evidence and testimonies about the case, then decides whether to drop the charges or go ahead with a trial, overseen by a different judge.

DEMOCRACY'S worldwide retreat makes no exception for South-East Asia. In the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has thrown the law to the wind in his war on drugs.

Guo Qirui, 30, says it's a lonely journey when he goes home to his rented luxury condominium in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, the country where the Chinese retail executive has lived for nearly half a decade. A construction worker cleans at the construction side in Diamond Island also known as 'Koh Pich' in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 23, 2018.

Capital city Phnom Penh expected to have about 30,000 condo units by 2020, but property consultants already say they are seeing oversupply in the market Guo Qirui, 30, says it's a lonely journey when he goes home to his rented luxury condominium in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, the country where the Chinese retail executive has lived for nearly half a decade. Guo now lives on Diamond Island, also known as Koh Pich, a neighbourhood in the city where five condominium projects are underway or have been built.

A 17th lava fissure erupts hundreds of feet in the air during a volcano outbreak in Pahoa, Hawaii. Courtesy John Linzmeier/U.S. Air National Guard/via REUTERS A 17th lava fissure erupts hundreds of feet in the air during a volcano outbreak in Pahoa, Hawaii.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has met with supporters of James Ricketson - an Australian filmmaker detained in Cambodia on spying charges - and called for his release. The Liberal Party backbencher later added a message of support to Ms Holmes's online petition campaign, that has gathered more than 74,000 signatures.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Mars Food and Battambang Rice Investment Co., Ltd , launched a partnership to promote sustainable development of Cambodia's rice industry. The partnership will work toward improving rice production and enhancing linkages with the global rice value chain and will help Cambodia's agri-sector expand market access and increase export value.

FILE PHOTO: A supporter of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party campaigns in Phnom Penh. Amnesty International says the government has ramped up use of the courts to harass political activists and rights defenders ahead of elections AFP/TANG CHHIN SOTHY PHNOM PENH: Having been dissolved and its 118 senior officials banned from politics for five years by Cambodia's Supreme Court last November, the Cambodia National Rescue Party will not be a participant in the nation's upcoming election .

Three North Korean restaurants are operating in Cambodia's capital in apparent violation of United Nations sanctions that took effect earlier this year. The restaurants in Phnom Penh, which all have names including the word Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, are staffed by North Korean workers and offer products from that country, including blueberry wine and ginseng.

Police are investigating a bizarre incident where a tourist was attacked by a 'jealous' husband after catching his wife walking with him after a night out. The violent brawl was witnessed by a number of onlookers on Preah Norodom Boulevard in Cambodia at 6am local time.

A testimony of human rights abuses occurring in Southeast Asia is charted in The Dead Eye and the Deep Blue Sea: A Graphic Memoir of Modern Slavery . Cambodian artist Vannak Anan Prum has an incredible story to tell - even before being forced into slavery.

Phnom Penh has been in Sioux Falls for seven years. It's a family-owned restaurant on Minnesota Avenue.

A possible move by the US to sanction Cambodian officials found to have undermined democracy has prompted an angry response from Phnom Penh. The Cambodian government has responded angrily to a possible move by the United States to sanction officials found to have "undermined democracy," local media reports say.

An artist's rendering of Sa Kaeo Industrial Estate, the first scheduled to open under the government's SEZ scheme. Sa Kaeo Industrial Estate is poised to become the first project to commence under the government's special economic zone initiative, with operations expected to start in December, says the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand .

Prime ministers and former soldiers Prayut Chan-o-cha of the Royal Thai Army and Hun Sen of the Khmer Rouge have met frequently and share similar political tactics. A string of legislative attacks by Cambodia's ruling regime against its critics and the opposition party since last year have baffled me, not only for their senselessness and brutality, but for the similarity they share with political tactics invented here in Thailand.

A Coos Bay, Oregon man, who was a Christian missionary running an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was found guilty by a federal jury of six counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and aggravated sexual abuse. Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams of the District of Oregon, and Special Agent in Charge Loren G. Cannon of the FBI, Portland Division, made the announcement after the verdict was accepted by U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane of the District of Oregon.

PHANOM PENH: Five people, including a four-year-old child, were killed instantly in a lightning strike in southwestern Cambodia, officials said Friday, as the onset of the rainy season draws near. The group was sheltering from a downpour in a mountainous area of Koh Kong province's Thmar Baing district on Thursday, police chief for minor crimes Lay Meng Laing told AFP, adding that three victims were from the same family.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the opening of the eponymous Hun Sen Boulevard in Phnom Penh in 2017. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is one of those strongmen.