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The death of an environmental activist, shot dead by police, has galvanised his campaign against deforestation and illegal logging in a scenic part of Cambodia.

Among piles of cut timber, there was a group of young men who did not look thrilled to see us. Several were dressed in military fatigues – and at least a couple were toting AK-47 rifles. The only way out was behind us.

How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent:

BBC Radio 4: A 30-minute programme on Saturdays, 11:30 BST.

Second 30-minute programme on Thursdays, 11:00 BST (some weeks only).

Listen online or download the podcast

BBC World Service:

Hear daily 10-minute editions Monday to Friday, repeated through the day, also available to listen online.

Read more or explore the archive at the programme website.

Free prescriptions, school breakfasts and hospital car parking schemes should be thoroughly reassessed and dropped if they are found not to boost prosperity and jobs, a business expert has said.

Prof Morgan believes it is time to consider what such schemes mean for the economy.

Sunday Politics is broadcast on BBC1 at 11:00 BST on 13 May.

The Whale Alert App was launched at the start of April and produces up to the minute data regarding sightings of right whales near busy shipping lanes off the north east coast of America.

The program is a collaborative effort between 13 different organizations including the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

See also: How Flickr can help save the whales

Although there are only a handful of incidents between ships and the giant mammals each year, any collision that leads to a right whale fatality can have a major impact on the species status due to its severely depleted numbers.

“The right whale is one of the most endangered large animals on the planet, there are only between 350 to 550 of them left” says David Wiley of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

“If a ship strikes a reproductive female then the mortality impact could be very large in terms of what it means for the overall population,” adds Wiley.

The Whale Alert App works by collating up to the minute reports from all the organizations involved in tracking or researching right whales in the United States.

See also: Rare dolphins boosted by sea sanctuary

This information is then used to pinpoint right whales straying within a five kilometer radius of major shipping lanes.

Ship captains with access to the free app via their iPhone or iPad can then reduce their speed, change course or increase their vigilance so as to avoid a potential collision.

“By increasing mariners ability to comply with regulations and protective measures, you increase protection for the right whales (as well as) decreasing the chance that mariners will be fined for violating (those) regulations,” says Wiley

“NOAA has fined some ships up to $92,000 dollars for going too fast repeatedly in seasonal management (conservation) areas,” he adds.

See also: Activists using drones against Japanese whalers

So far there has been 9,600 downloads of the Whale Alert App from iTunes and Wiley believes the idea could also be extended to reduce shipping collisions with whales in other areas of the world.

He cites the Mediterranean Sea strait where sperm whales frequently cross busy shipping lanes as well as off the coast of New Zealand where collisions with Bryde’s whales are common.

“We’ve invented this on our own,” says Wylie. “But we expect it to be extremely influential in terms of creating a model for a lot of other conservation efforts.”

The 800-plus volcanic and coral islands that make up the Pacific nation of Fiji enjoy a tropical climate and host a significant tourism industry.

However, since 1987 racial and political tensions have been a steady source of instability and international isolation.

In 1987 a coup by indigenous Fijians overthrew the elected, Indian-dominated coalition. This triggered a series of adverse events, including the introduction – and subsequent withdrawal – of a constitution enshrining indigenous Fijian political supremacy.

A further coup in 2000, led by businessman George Speight, saw the country's first ethnic Indian prime minister, his cabinet and several MPs held hostage for several weeks.

These events caused great harm to the economy – the tourism industry in particular – and Fiji's international reputation.

Rancour over the 2000 coup persisted, with bitter divisions over plans to grant an amnesty to those behind it. The continuing tensions generated by these disputes culminated in a bloodless military takeover in 2006 – Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years.

In September 2009, Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth over its lack of progress towards democracy. It was only the second full suspension in the organisation's history.

Fiji's population, which resides mostly on the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, is divided between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians, the descendents of indentured labourers brought from India.

The two groups were of roughly equal numbers until the mid-2000s, by which time coups and agitation had prompted thousands of Indo-Fijians to flee. Indigenous Fijians now make up small overall majority.

Mixing between the two groups is minimal, and informal segregation runs deep at almost every level of society.

There are also very small non-Indo-Fijian, non-Fijian minority communities, such as Chinese and Rotumans.

Although the former British colony relies heavily on the sugar and tourism industries for its foreign exchange, its economy is diverse. Gold, silver and limestone are mined, and there is a strong services sector and some light manufacturing.

Nonetheless, Fiji has been hampered by persistent trade and budget deficits, making it one of the world's largest per capita recipients of aid.

Welcome to the Puente Hills Landfill, the largest rubbish dump in America. Over 150 meters of garbage has risen from the ground since the area became a designated dumping site in 1957.

Now, six days a week, an army of 1,500 trucks delivers a heaving 12,000 tons of municipal solid waste from the homes and offices of L.A. County’s millions of inhabitants.

“This used to be a dairy farm; a valley filled with cows producing milk. And now it’s a geological feature made out of trash,” said Edward Humes, author of “Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash” — a book that charts the history of garbage in America.

Humes says most of the waste arrives straight from the bins of local residents.

“If you’re like most of us — most Americans — you’re making seven pounds of trash a day. Across a lifetime that adds up to 102 tons of trash per person,” he said.

In 2010 alone, Americans accumulated 250 million tons of garbage, and although recycling in the U.S. has increased by 34% since 1960, Humes believes the country’s attitude to waste is still not sustainable.

“It’s very convenient to roll your trash to the curb every week and have it disappear, but it’s a magic trick — and really there’s not very much magic,” he said. “We need to have less packaging; use less disposable items; (use) things that last longer; make purchasing decisions that are more studied and less wasteful.”

The environmental impact of landfill sites varies depending on how well they’re managed and resourced. However, typical problems include the contamination of soil and groundwater from toxic residues; the release of methane, a greenhouse gas produced during the decaying process that is more potent than carbon dioxide; and disease-carrying pests.

Tom Freyberg, chief editor of industry publication Waste Management World agrees with Humes that we should all be trying to reduce waste and increase the amount we recycle. However, he says it’s likely there will always be a need for landfill, and we should applaud those sites that are well managed.

“What’s happening now compared to years ago is that the technology and practices around waste management have vastly improved. It might be hard to see it from the outside, but they (Puente Hills) have a state of the art landfill site,” he said.

Indeed, the layers of waste at Puente Hills are meticulously separated by plastic membranes, designed to contain the brew of noxious chemicals that would otherwise leak out into the groundwater. The “leachate” is then collected and filtered to make it safe.

The slums of Mumbai: A model of urban sustainability?

In addition, the methane produced by the natural decomposition of materials inside the tower of trash is collected through a network of pipes and burned to generate electricity. The emitted methane from Puente Hills alone produces about 50 megawatts of power — enough energy for 70,000 homes, according to Los Angeles County authorities.

At present, just over half of all U.S. garbage is buried in landfills, a third is recycled and the rest is incinerated to produce electricity, a process known as waste-to-energy.

A recent study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded that incinerating a ton of trash emits at least 35% less greenhouse gas and yields 10 times more electricity than burying it and capturing the methane. So why does America still seem so in love with landfill?

“Quite simply, it’s the most cost-effective option across most of the U.S.,” said Peter Borkey, head of the OECD’s waste division. “Incineration plants require a large critical mass of waste to be financially worthwhile. This is easy to accomplish in densely populated areas, but the costs associated with processing and transporting garbage rise very quickly as the population density lowers.”

Borkey believes that landfill reduction will prove difficult until producers of waste and the municipal authorities responsible for handling it are given the right incentives.

He says that in Europe — where an EU directive on waste management has decreed landfill a disposal method of last resort — large rubbish dumps are dwindling.

“In places like Germany and Scandinavia, landfill now constitutes less than 5% of total waste management,” he said.

But some landfill is unavoidable: “At present residual waste that can neither be burned nor recycled — hazardous waste and incineration ash — can only be confined in well-managed landfill.”

In Freyberg’s view, the public attitude surrounding the very idea of “waste” should be reformed.

“The term doesn’t do the industry any favors. Most of what we call waste can be reused, turned into fuel or new products altogether. We should instead think of it as a great resource.”

Story By: Talk of the Nation

In a remarkable shift, Iraq’s oil exports jumped by 20 percent since January, and the country exported more oil in April than in any month since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Energy expert Daniel Yergin discusses how Iraq’s oil wealth is driving the Iraqi economy and reshaping the global oil market.

Almost hidden on the border between France and Spain, the tiny principality of Andorra is a land of narrow valleys and mountainous landscapes.

The mainstay of the economy is tourism.

An estimated 10 million people visit each year, drawn by the winter sports, summer climate and duty-free goods.

For more than 700 years Andorra has been ruled jointly by the leader of France and the Spanish Bishop of Urgel.

The first Andorran Constitution was passed in 1993, establishing a parliamentary co-principality.

The co-princes remain Andorra's heads of state but the roles are largely honorary.

The country's banking sector enjoys partial tax-haven status.

Andorra is not a member of the EU, but enjoys a special relationship with it and uses the euro.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tables have turned in U.S. divorce courts with more women paying their former husbands alimony and child support than ever before, according to U.S. lawyers.

As women climb higher up the career ladder and outpace their exes in salary, when love goes wrong and marriages break up they are being compelled to contribute to the livelihood of their former spouses.

And some are not happy about it.

More than half, 56 percent, of divorce lawyers across the United States have seen an increase in mothers paying child support in the last three years and 47 percent have noted a hike in the number of women paying alimony, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

“It shows that women have really moved up financially and that in many instances they are the major bread winners in a lot of families,” said Alton Abramowitz, the president-elect of the academy.

“The glass ceiling has been pierced and more and more women have taken over the financial responsibilities and have been saddled with them as well. It is a fact of the way our society has evolved over the last number of years.”

Abramowitz, who has been practicing law for 39 years, described the findings of the survey and the changed role of women in the workforce as a sea change.

In his graduating law school class of 135, there were just six women. Data from the Digest of Education Statistics show that the number of men and women receiving medical degrees in the U.S. is almost equal, unlike 1980 when only about a third of medical degrees were awarded to women.

The number of women getting law degrees has nearly doubled.

“You are seeing the results of that, the impact, now in terms of the professions,” Abramowitz said.

Although women have made strides professionally, the divorce rate in the United States has remained fairly constant. About half of marriages in the United States end in divorce. The rate has hovered between 46 and 53 percent for decades, he added.

Just as many men grumbled about paying alimony to their former wives, women are not pleased with the turnaround.

“We see women who are every bit as angry as their male counterparts, maybe more so, when they are confronted with the concept of paying spousal support to a man,” said Abramowitz.

The gender switch in alimony payments is just one of many changes he has seen during his four decades as a lawyer.

“When I started practicing in 1973 there was no equitable distribution of property,” he said.

The 1,600 members of the Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers handle separations, prenuptial agreements, custody battles, property evaluation and division, the rights of unmarried couples, as well as divorce and child support.

(Editing by Christine Kearney)