Cambodia

Cambodian authorities said on Tuesday that they have acted to combat a growing mouse plague by offering a government bounty of about two cents for every mouse tail farmers can muster. The offer of a bounty on only the severed tails of the mice is meant to encourage people not to waste the rest of the mouse after they receive their reward.

Cambodian authorities have taken a strong step towards making the red-light district of the northern tourist town of Siem Reap more anonymous — by literally banning red lights, a police official said on Monday. The action was taken a few days ago as part of a concerted crackdown on thriving prostitution in the town.

Enraged at his ex-wife’s remarriage, a Cambodian man dug up her daughter’s decomposing body and placed the exhumed corpse on his former wife’s doorstep, police said on Monday. The daughter, who was 25 when she died, had been buried for about six months, Pursat district police chief Pen Tung said.

A lovesick teen landed himself in jail after he stole a motorcycle from his neighbour to get money to pay a sorcerer for love potions that would make his errant girlfriend return, Cambodian police said on Friday. Nuon Ra (18) had visited a ”love magician” in desperation after his girlfriend dumped him.

A recent spate of reports of magic cows in Cambodian provinces prompted Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday to beg the public to be more rational in what they believe. The prime minister pointed out two recent reports of people worshipping purportedly magic cows and said it is a trend that concerns him.

Two Buddhist monks abandoned their vows after they fell in love with a pair of teenage girls who sold beer across from their temple in central Cambodia, a newspaper reported on Monday. The two monks — Nang Pong and Vom Vong, both 19 — gave up their monastic lives on Thursday.

Cambodia’s notorious underwear thieves have struck again, shooting and seriously wounding a motorbike taxi driver just outside the capital, local media said on Monday. The gang earned its name because its members wear nothing but underpants, but wield AK-47s.

A 2m-long python welcomed into a Phnom Penh home because the family believes it is a reincarnation of their dead grandmother should be treated with extreme caution and cannot be trusted, police said on Wednesday. Police have warned the family that the snake may not be satisfied with their offerings of bananas and vegetables.

Panhandlers who fake disabilities to glean cash from kindly picnickers at the popular weekend getaway destination of Kien Svay, just outside the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, will have to outwit police and locals determined to end their charades. Last week, police said they rounded up five people faking disabilities.

An ambulance rushing a dying man to hospital in an outlying suburb of the capital lost control and hit and killed his elder brother, district police said on Saturday by telephone. Police said that the family tragedy began when Khut Vit (34) was shot by unknown assailants as he rode his motorbike home at about midnight.

Michael Hayes knew nothing about running a newspaper. Nor did his wife, Kathleen O’Keefe, who had more expertise in fixing computer glitches than bad grammar.