Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP - Getty Images

Cambodian royal family members travel on a royal boat as they drop ashes of former king Norodom Sihanouk in the Mekong river in Phnom Penh on Feb. 5, 2013 following his cremation on Feb. 4.

Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP - Getty Images

The ashes of Cambodia's former king were scattered in the Mekong river on Tuesday, bringing to a close months of mourning for the revered monarch who died on October 15 last year. Reuters reports:

Tens of thousands of Cambodians gathered on Monday to pay their last respects to former King Norodom Sihanouk, a quixotic and much-loved figure who reigned during the country's struggle for independence but was powerless to prevent decades of war.

The current King Norodom Sihamoni and Sihanouk's widow, Queen Monineath, wept during the cremation as Cambodians poured into the capital to mourn the "king father," as Sihanouk is known.

"This is the most sorrowful moment," said Pal Ho, 58, a villager from the western province of Pursat, who carried with her six pictures of Sihanouk. Read the full story.

See more images from the past four months of mourning for King Sihanouk.

Nicolas Asfouri / AFP - Getty Images

Fireworks are lit at the crematorium to mark the beginning of the cremation of Norodom Sihanouk, near the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on Febr. 4, 2013.

David Guttenfelder / AP

Mourners cry and pray as the late king is cremated, in Phnom Penh on Feb. 4, 2013.

Nicolas Asfouri / AFP - Getty Images

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni (2nd right) and Queen Monique (3rd right) pay their last respects inside the crematorium minutes before the late king's cremation on Feb. 4, 2013.

Wong Maye-E / AP

A young boy walks past a puddle with a reflection of a portrait of King Norodom Sihanouk in Phnom Penh on Feb. 4, 2013.

Wong Maye-E / AP

A woman sits in prayer while her head is shaved to mourn the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk ahead of his funeral, Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Wong Maye-E / AP

Mourners gather in front of the Royal Palace and pay their respects to the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk ahead of his funeral on Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Chris McGrath / Getty Images

Crowds gather in front of the Royal Palace to pay their respects to former King Norodom Sihanouk on Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Chris McGrath / Getty Images

A street vendor sells ribbons showing a portrait of former King Norodom Sihanouk outside the Royal Palace on Jan, 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Former King Norodom Sihanouk died of a heart attack last October in Beijing at the age of 89. For the past three months his body has been lying in state at the Royal Palace. Officials expect more than one million people to line the streets tomorrow to witness the funeral procession. The former king's body will be transported to a cremation site where it will be kept for three days before his wife and son are expected to light the pyre. 

-- Getty Images

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• Cambodians flock to palace to pay tribute to former king Sihanouk
  
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Chris McGrath / Getty Images

A young boy runs through a group of pigeons in front of the Royal Palace on Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Samrang Pring / Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama yawns as he sits between Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, right, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during the plenary session of the 21st ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 20, 2012. In his first meeting with a Chinese leader since his re-election, Obama said on Tuesday Washington and its chief economic rival must work together to "establish clear rules of the road" for trade and investment.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

President Barack Obama, who was in Cambodia for a summit of Asian leaders, spoke on the phone with Israeli and Egyptian leaders until 2:30 a.m. Tuesday local time, NBC News reports, to try to find a way to end the deadly Gaza crisis.

Later Tuesday, Obama met separately with Chinese and Japanese leaders before taking his seat at the East Asia Summit, at which point his busy schedule appeared to catch up with him. 

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Hand-gripping diplomacy as Obama visits Cambodia
• Obama makes historic trip to Myanmar
• Obama, McKayla Maroney 'not impressed' during White House visit

Slideshow: As it happens: Obama's fourth year in office

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The president's fourth year at the White House in pictures — follow along as it happens.

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Wong Maye-e / AP

A elderly woman mourns the death of former king Norodom Sihanouk at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 18.

Cambodians gathered to pray at the Royal Palace on Thursday, the day after the body of their former king Norodom Sihanouk was returned to the palace. It will lie in state for the next three months before a traditional cremation ceremony is held. The former king, a revered figure who ruled through the triumph of independence to the tragedy of Cambodia's brutal civil war, died of a heart attack in Beijing on Monday at the age of 89. 

Wong Maye-e / AP

Candles are reflected on a portrait of Cambodia's former king Norodom Sihanouk at the Royal Palace on Oct. 18.

Wong Maye-e / AP

A man mourns former king Norodom Sihanouk at the Royal Palace.

Stephen Morrison / EPA

A young woman holds incense sticks while praying.

Chris Mcgrath / Getty Images

A portrait of former king Norodom Sihanouk hangs at the entrance to the Royal Palace.

Earlier on PhotoBlog:
Cambodia mourns as ex-king's body comes home

Samrang Pring / Reuters

A Buddhist monk and a woman with a portrait of the late Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk in Phnom Penh on October 17, 2012.

Wong Maye-E / AP

People gather at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh to mourn their former king, whose body of Sihanouk returned to his homeland on a plane from China on Wednesday.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

A mourner cries as the king's coffin arrives at the Royal Palace.

Reuters reports — Tens of thousands poured into Cambodia's capital to witness the procession on Wednesday of the body of former king Norodom Sihanouk, a revered figure who ruled through the triumph of independence to the tragedy of its brutal civil war.

Mourners dressed in white lined the 6-mile route to welcome the return of Sihanouk, who died of heart failure on Monday in Beijing.

"I feel very sorry, I want to see him one last time," said Mon Met, 48, who waited at the Royal Palace for his body to arrive.

"I only remember him as the person that brought happiness to the country. Now I feel scared of what happens next." Read the full story.

Heng Sinith / AP

The casket containing the body of King Norodom Sihanouk is carried on a float shaped like a phoenix in the procession through Phnom Penh.

Samrang Pring / Reuters

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk greet people during the arrival of former king Norodom Sihanouk's coffin at Phnom Penh international airport.

Chris McGrath / Getty Images

People light candles and pray to honur former King Norodom Sihanouk in front of the Royal Palace.

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Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Mourners take pictures of a large portrait of the late former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk that was placed in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh Oct.16.

Samrang Pring / Reuters

Mourners gather to pay respects to the late former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh Oct. 16.

Wong Maye-e / AP

People mourn the death of former King Norodom Sihanouk at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Oct. 16.

Cambodia’s former king, Norodom Sihanouk, who freed the country from colonialism before becoming a tragic pawn through decades of turmoil, died on Monday in a Beijing hospital at the age of 89.  Officials expect at least 100,000 people to line the route on Wednesday from the Phnom Penh airport to the Royal Palace where his body will lay in state during a week of official mourning. 

Mak Remissa / EPA

A journalist takes pictures from a TV screen broadcasting the live feed showing former Chief S-21 prison Kaing Guek Eav alias 'Duch' (top), in the courtroom at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

AP reports: The Khmer Rouge tribunal's Supreme Court has ordered the regime's chief jailer to serve life imprisonment, a surprise ruling that stiffens a 19-year sentence imposed by a lower court.

Kaing Guek Eav — also known as Duch — was commander of the notorious S-21 prison where thousands of Cambodians were tortured before execution.

In 2010, the tribunal's lower court convicted him of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder.

Samrang Pring / Reuters

A riot police officer fires tear gas at residents during a forced eviction at the Borei Keila complex in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Jan. 3, 2012.

Mak Remissa / EPA

A resident looks at her destroyed house at a squatter area in Phnom Penh on Jan. 3, 2012. More than 200 houses were demolished.

Reuters reports:

Cambodian human rights group Licadho said that police officers and residents were injured in a face-off when hundreds of armed authorities tried to evict families from their homes in Borei Keila, Phnom Penh, as part of a long running dispute with a local real estate firm well-connected with the government.

The firm, Phanimex, plans to convert the residential complex into a commercial building. Licadho said that at least 12 people had also been detained following the violent clashes. 

Samrang Pring / Reuters

A riot police officer throws stones at residents during clashes that erupted in the midst of a forced eviction at the Borei Keila complex on Jan. 3, 2012.

Samrang Pring / Reuters

A woman cries as an excavator demolishes her home during a forced eviction at the Borei Keila complex on Jan. 3, 2012.

The Phnom Penh Post has more on the background to the dispute:

In 2003, Phan Imex Company signed an agreement with the government to construct 10 six-floor buildings on two hectares of land to house 1,776 displaced families, in exchange for the right to develop the remaining 2.6 hectares.

The company has constructed only eight buildings, leaving nearly 400 families without housing. Read the full story.

Handout / Reuters

Former Khmer Rouge leader "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea sits in the court room at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh in this handout picture taken and provided by the ECCC on Monday, Dec. 5, 2011.

AP reports:

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The No. 2 leader of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime told a court he and his comrades were not "bad people," denying responsibility Monday for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians during their 1970s rule.

Nuon Chea's defiant statements came as the U.N.-backed tribunal began questioning him for the first time since the long-awaited trial of three top regime leaders began late last month. Nuon Chea and two other Khmer Rouge leaders are accused of crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture stemming from the group's 1975-79 reign of terror. All have denied wrongdoing.

Read the full story.