Community forests fall short
A newly leaked document attesting to a $15,000 deal between representatives of Ratanakkiri’s Samut Krom village and a timber trader to allow Vietnamese-backed logging in the community’s forest appears to add further weight to its critique. ...
Phak Seangly and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/community-forests-fall-short
KNUP leader Nhek Bun Chhay charged over 2007 drugs case
Political fixture and former Co-Defence Minister Nhek Bun Chhay was officially charged yesterday with conspiracy to produce drugs and importing drug components after being linked to a decade-old bust by one of the men convicted in the original case. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/knup-leader-nhek-bun-chhay-charged-over-2007-drugs-case
Loans offer for rice harvest
The government has injected another $23 million through the Rural Development Bank (RDB) to provide loans to rice mills and exporters who lack working capital to buy rice from farmers in the up-coming harvest season and stabilise the rice price. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5077015/loans-offer-rice-harvest/
Hundreds of Mekong giant catfish released
Two hundred juvenile specimens of the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish were released by the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Fisheries Administration into freshwater reservoirs on Sunday evening in an effort to help preserve the species – which can grow up to 300 kilograms. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-mekong-giant-catfish-released
Kem Sokha officially charged with ‘treason’
Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha was officially charged with treason this morning, about 36 hours after he was arrested from his Phnom Penh residence in a midnight raid by more than 100 police and sent to a Tbong Khmum prison. ...
Leonie Kijewski and Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/breaking-kem-sokha-officially-charged-treason
$400m solar project launched
Global Purify Power (GPP), a joint venture behind $400 million worth of solar powered projects, started groundbreaking work on Friday with more than $10 million worth of investment in Kampong Speu province. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5082184/400m-solar-project-launched/
US envoy calls government claims ‘absurd’
United States Ambassador William Heidt yesterday said allegations of US interference in Cambodia’s internal affairs were “absurd” and made without a “shred of serious or credible evidence”, but stopped short of speculating on any potential repercussions from the superpower. ...
Ananth Baliga and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/us-envoy-calls-government-claims-absurd
RDB closes bidding on rice storage facilities
The state-run Rural Development Bank (RDB) received a total of 10 proposals from Cambodian agricultural firms expressing interest in developing rice storage and drying facilities across three provinces using government-backed low-interest loans, a bank official said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rdb-closes-bidding-rice-storage-facilities
China pledges UXO funding days after US spat
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that China will begin funding demining efforts, just days after the US said it would pull financial support for a removal project with the Cambodian Mine Action Centre in the eastern part of the country. ...
Andrew Nachemson and Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/china-pledges-uxo-funding-days-after-us-spat
GDP to focus on government efficiency
The Grassroots Democracy Party yesterday suggested taking a pin to Cambodia’s inflated bureaucracy, saying it would campaign on a proposal to reduce the number of ministries from 23 to just 15 in order to improve efficiency and cut wasteful spending. ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/gdp-focus-government-efficiency
More than 140 unexploded mortar rounds found at Pursat school
A farmer preparing a plot of land for a vegetable garden found a cache of unexploded 60mm mortar rounds from the 1970s on the campus of a secondary school in Pursat province’s Kandieng district over the weekend. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/more-140-unexploded-mortar-rounds-found-pursat-school
Germany puts pressure on Cambodia, ending preferential visa treatment for Hun family and high-ranking officials
In a response to a parliamentary inquiry, the German government on Wednesday laid out a number of measures it has quietly taken over recent months to pressure the Cambodian government following its crackdown on media outlets, NGOs and the political opposition. ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/germany-puts-pressure-cambodia-ending-preferential-visa-treatment-hun-family-and
Bamboo train blocked as land dispute erupts
A part of the new bamboo railway in Battambang province was blocked yesterday over of a dispute between the owner of the construction company that built the line and a man claiming the railway ran through his land near Banan mountain. ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/109301/bamboo-train-blocked-land-dispute-erupts/
Coal-fired plant tests new power generator
Structural testing of the third unit of a 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant under development in Preah Sihanouk province has begun, with the new unit expected to go online by the end of the quarter, a government official said yesterday. ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/coal-fired-plant-tests-new-power-generator
Mystery blazes destroy more seized timber
Government officials say they are investigating the causes of two separate weekend fires in Mondolkiri province that reportedly burned through hundreds of high-value logs the government had sold to a businessman after confiscating them from a pair of rubber plantations. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mystery-blazes-destroy-more-seized-timber-124313/
Villagers accuse official of logging shakedown
Two hundred ethnic Phnong villagers in Mondulkiri’s Koh Nhek district launched a protest on Friday after the deputy district governor and an armed escort seized timber from their homes, before allegedly attempting to extort a bribe for its return. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-accuse-official-logging-shakedown
NEC to host daily party panel discussions on television, radio
The National Election Committee will broadcast daily interview panels featuring all political parties that are running in upcoming local elections on state-run television and radio stations during the 14-day election campaign period, spokesman Hang Puthea said on Tuesday. ...
Vietnam stops nine overloaded trucks with illegal lumber
Authorities in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province have recently stopped at least nine overloaded timber trucks crossing into the country from the Kingdom, despite the Cambodian government ostensibly banning wood exports to its eastern neighbour, according to a Vietnamese news report. ...
Shaun Turton and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vietnam-stops-nine-overloaded-trucks-illegal-lumber
Prime minister’s brother Hun San requests ‘serious action’ against top cop
The prime minister’s older brother Hun San has sent a letter to the Interior Ministry asking for “serious action” to be taken against a deputy National Police chief over an alleged dispute on his land in Banteay Meanchey province. ...
Gov’t funds return of ‘Shadow’ election monitors
A group accused of rubber-stamping autocratic elections in 2013 said on Tuesday it would return to observe the June 4 commune elections, with the airfare, accommodation and an excursion to Siem Reap province covered by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-funds-return-of-shadow-election-monitors-130302/