Top court upholds decision to deny bail for Adhoc officials
Four senior officials for rights group Adhoc will remain behind bars after the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Court of Appeal’s ruling that they should be held in detention while awaiting trial, but gave no reason for the decision. ...
Fears hover over plan to collect data on all Cambodians
Every Cambodian will be assigned a 10-digit identification number under which information from various government departments, as well as the private sector, will be collected in a central database, Interior Minister Sar Kheng announced on Thursday. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fears-hover-over-plan-to-collect-data-on-all-cambodians-126693/
US cuts funding to UN women’s health fund
The US government has pulled any future funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a group focused on reproductive rights for women and girls, over claims it has practiced coercive abortions and involuntary sterilizations in China. ...
Mark Tilly
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/37230/us-cuts-funding-to-un-women---s-health-fund/
Kith Meng company secures timber release
Customs officers have released a pair of trucks that local officials said were seized late last month while being used to smuggle timber belonging to business mogul Kith Meng into Vietnam in breach of a government ban, according to police. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kith-meng-company-secures-timber-release-128163/
Cambodia-China cooperation
Cambodia and China reiterated their commitment to speed up the construction of the Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville super highway and the building of a new airport in Siem Reap, according to the government’s Press and Quick Reaction Unit yesterday. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/37923/cambodia-china-cooperation/
Foreign Minister on US mission
Foreign Minister Park Sokhornn will be at the White House on Thursday for the first meeting between Asean foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson since the new administration of President Donald Trump took office in January. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/37938/foreign-minister-on-us-mission/
Cambodia says Laos lacks documents on transboundary impacts of proposed Pak Beng dam
So Sophort, deputy secretary-general of the Cambodia National Mekong Committee, said Cambodia would attend the meeting of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in Vientiane, which is part of a six month prior consultation process for the 921-megawatt dam. ...
Ministry defends sand exports; Mother Nature stands by claims
The Mines and Energy Ministry on Friday defended sand exports reported last week by an environmental NGO, saying Cambodia’s sand ban did not include the type seen in a video being loaded onto vessels off the coast of Sihanoukville. ...
Van Roeun and George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-defends-sand-exports-mother-nature-stands-by-claims-129204/
Roadside families protest at City Hall
Nearly 100 residents living along a stretch of land running from a railway in Boeung Kak to National Road 5 have gathered again outside City Hall to demand information about the development of a new road threatening to destroy their homes. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/38081/roadside-families--protest-at-city-hall/
Grow Asia to focus on value chain projects
Cambodia’s agricultural sector must improve post-harvest processing to increase the value of its products, while increased knowledge sharing could help farmers better understand the different value chains and identify opportunities, agricultural experts participating in the Grow Asia Forum said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/grow-asia-focus-value-chain-projects
Training centre to help locals climb ladder at garment firms
The Garment Manufacturer Association of Cambodia (GMAC) will launch its new vocational training centre next month, providing courses aimed at upgrading the skills of Cambodian workers in a bid to replace the middle-management positions currently occupied predominantly by foreigners. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/training-centre-help-locals-climb-ladder-garment-firms
Business outlook still positive
Bun Mony, advisor to the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA) noted that though the interest rate cap could lower revenue and cut profit margins in the sector, overall neither the election nor the cap would have a lasting impact for the industry. ...
Hor Kimsay and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/business-outlook-still-positive
NEC to probe invalid ballots
The National Election Committee will hold a meeting with political parties and civil society organisations next month to discuss the high number of invalid ballots in the commune elections. Of more than 7 million ballots cast, 133,484 were deemed invalid. ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/39698/nec-to-probe-invalid-ballots/
White Building holdouts
More than 430 of the 493 families who formerly resided in Phnom Penh’s White Building have vacated the premises, but around 15 families have yet to accept compensation packages for their apartments, according to a Land Management Ministry official. ...
Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/white-building-holdouts
Dredging boats spotted off Koh Kong
An activist and villagers yesterday said that sand dredging boats had been spotted off the coast of Koh Kong, prompting fears that they were set to begin operations, despite a standing ban on sand exports from companies operating in coastal areas. ...
Yon Sineat and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dredging-boats-spotted-koh-kong
Gov’t rejects 11th-hour reprieve for Sesan dam families
An official in Stung Treng province said there was no way to grant a last-minute reprieve requested on Thursday by villagers whose homes could be flooded within days once testing of the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam begins on Saturday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-rejects-11th-hour-reprieve-for-sesan-dam-families-132499/
Car window smashed after dropping off activist monks
A large rock smashed through the side window of a car that had just dropped off members of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice in Kandal province on Tuesday night, the group’s leader But Buntenh said on Wednesday. ...
George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/second2/car-window-smashed-dropping-off-activist-monks-132465/
Telecom cable to run from coast to Kampong Cham
State-owned Telecom Cambodia yesterday inaugurated its Greater Mekong Telecom Backbone Network Project, which includes the installation of a 467-kilometre fibre-optic cable connection between Sihanoukville and Kampong Cham, the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia said in a news release. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/telecom-cable-run-coast-kampong-cham
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