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Landmines are always a factor in Cambodia. Here's a story about children injured, and here's another that reports seven deminers killed.

"Cambodia's Landmine Legacy Pervades Present" provides details and personal looks into a world that can blow your legs off just about anywhere, any time.

"It hit me here," he says tapping his chest with his only hand, "and knocked me over."

Van was just 6 years old when he accidentally triggered a landmine near the Thai-Cambodian border while planting rice with his now deceased dad, one of the tens of thousands of victims of subterranean explosives that litter the countryside.

According to the government-run Cambodian Mine Action Center, anywhere between four and six million mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance are still laying in wait. Others estimate the real number to be much lower, around one million.

Here's a report on the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) and their plans for demining. They expect to clear 28 million square meters this year.

Interested in the Cambodian oil situation? This article gives a decent who's who and what's what.

The ILO is asking the Cambodian government to clarify accusations made against the organization by Hun Sen.

Hun Sen, who is known for lashing out at uncomplimentary comments by international agencies, went so far as to suggest that some ILO staffers may be using blackmail tactics in their work.

"ILO is a good organization, but there could also be some bad people working for it," Hun Sen said. "Sometimes, some of its staffers may even try to extort money from factory owners, like, 'If you give me money, I will write a good report about you."'

There are about 320,000 people working in the Cambodian garment industry.

Here's a no-new-news bit: the Khmer Rouge trails are still going nowhere.

Officials at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia [official website] said Friday that after two weeks of renewed discussion of the procedural rules to govern the trials of Khmer Rouge suspects accused of involvement in the "killing fields" genocide of the 1970s, "several major issues" remain unresolved. The tribunal did say, however, that "solid" progress had been made in the latest round of talks involving the Cambodian and foreign judges [list] who will take part in the proceedings.

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