Cambodia’s economic growth is expected to remain stable this year with inflation rising slightly on increases in the costs of global fuel and food prices, the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) concluded following its annual consultation visit to the Kingdom. ...

A draft five-year strategy for promoting safe and environment-friendly agriculture products in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) that would enhance regional food safety and promote trade is expected to be finalised today, according to the Asian Development Bank. ...

Hundreds of riverside families in Tbong Khmum province were on Monday evacuated away from the flooding Mekong River, even as the provinces hit hardest by tropical storm ‘Sonca’ last week returned to normalcy and evacuees shuffled back to their homes. ...

The CNRP was forced to hold a downsized version of a seminar for incoming elected officials led by party president Kem Sokha at its headquarters in Kompong Chhnang province on Monday after provincial authorities refused to allow a larger gathering. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen returned from a three-day trip to China yesterday, all but confirming in a statement what observers have long theorised: that Cambodia now sees China’s backing as a bulwark against Western criticisms over its rights record. ...

The Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that the ongoing detention of opposition leader Kem Sokha was legal, despite claims his parliamentary immunity had been violated – and in spite of the fact that neither the accused nor his representatives were present. ...

More than 300 families in Banteay Meanchey province’s Malai district were evacuated yesterday after their houses were inundated by floods. Other provinces were also affected by flooding as a low-pressure weather system crosses the country. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s middle son, Hun Manith, was among 28 officers to receive high-level promotions in the military, with the now three-star general continuing his rise through the ranks of the armed forces and ruling party. ...

Local diversified company Jet’s Group has launched a new collateral option that allows would-be homeowners to buy gold bullion from Hong Kong that can be used to secure investments in its Cambodian property developments, a company executive said yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen approved the establishment of a new interministerial task force yesterday that will work to develop and manage community-based ecotourism locations in a bid to find sustainable ways to draw tourists to destinations across the Kingdom. ...

UN special Rapporteur Rhona Smith’s request to meet with jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha in a Tbong Khmum prison was rejected by an investigating judge who cited “important tasks” that needed to be completed before outsiders were allowed such access. ...

About 50 Boeng Kak residents protested outside Prime Minister Hun Sne’s Peace Palace yesterday and submitted a petition to the Council of Minister asking for land titles in their long-running dispute with a company part-owned by CPP senator Lao Meng Khin. ...

The leaders of seven major unions and labor confederations announced yesterday in a joint statement that they will form an inter-union committee to rally the government on raising the country’s minimum wage of $61, with the unions believe is too low. ...

Displaced villagers from two Phnom Penh neighborhoods on Wednesday submitted a petition to the UN’s human rights envoy, who is in Cambodia on a routine fact-finding mission. The envoy, Surya Subedi, was visiting the Phnom Penh eviction site of Borei Keila ...

The families of two maids working in Malaysia asked Preah Vihear’s anti-human trafficking office and the human rights group Adhoc yesterday to intervene on behalf of their daughters, whom they haven’t seen or heard from since last year, officials said. ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court summonsed 23 villagers from Chikor Leu commune to present themselves – and any relevant documents – at a July 12 hearing with representatives of the two sugar companies that bulldozed their farmland and evicted them from their homes in 2006. ...

Svay Rieng Provincial Court has summonsed the three female workers wounded during a protest at Kao Ve Garment Factory in Manhattan Special Economic Zone for one more round of questioning before the case against the former Bavet city governor is sent for trial. ...

The Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) has requested adding four trading sessions to its two current sessions in the hopes of increasing trade volumes.  The request, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia, could see new sessions added within a month. . ...

The Kandal Provincial Court issued an injunction yesterday against Yung Wah Industrial Co. Ltd., preventing the company from selling assets at its two garment factories in Takhmao City where thousands of workers have been protesting the past two days over unpaid wages. ...

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia media reported that the country would soon begin to receive maids from both Cambodia and Vietnam, but Cambodia has denied the reports, saying they have no intention of sending maids to anywhere in the Middle East and Arab world. ...