Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

Four Vietnamese men were charged yesterday with obstructing the work of police officers and threatening to beat them in anger over the closure of their fish-farming operation on a state lake. Captain Mao Leang, Prek Pnov district penal police officer, said those charged were Ho Yainghong, 52; Nguven Yaingdang, 34; Choeung Voeunglin, 29; and Yor Taing Toeung, 28. All were fish-farmers in Prek Pnov commune, in Phnom Penh’s Prek Phnov district. Cap Leang said that they were charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor with obstruction of public officials. They face up to a year in jail each and a fine up to about $500 (N180,425)each if convicted. He said that at about 3.30pm on Friday, police inspected the accused’s fish-farming areas which had been constructed in Samrong lake in Prek Phnov district and which were on prohibited public land. He said after the inspection, police tried to confiscate their farming materials. But the accused did not allow police to sei...

Google has recently signed its first green deal in Asia, a solar project to be built above fishing ponds in Taiwan.  Building solar projects over water is becoming more common in Asia due to population density and competition for available land. Worldwide, the floating solar market is expected to reach 400 gigawatts, according to World bank.  The Google project development team has not yet decided how the solar panels will be situated above the water, according to a company spokeswoman, but the company is currently focused on poles that would have solar panels hoisted on top of them, a concept known as a "canopy" system.  Google's fishing pond project may differ from many water-based solar efforts that use structures like pontoons to float the solar panels directly on the water. While it is possible to float solar panels directly on the surface of fish farms — it has been done on projects overseas.  Shade has been presented as a key benefit of floating pho...