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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

Almost 100 people from Boeung Snor village gathered at Banteay Meanchey’s Provincial Hall yesterday, demanding that provincial authorities resolve a 13-year-old dispute involving land promised to a group of Khmer Rouge defectors by the government in 1997. ...

Asian election monitor Anfrel yesterday commended authorities, citizens and political parties for Sunday’s smooth commune elections, but stopped short of calling the ballot “free and fair”, raising concerns over the heightened political rhetoric in the run-up to June 4. ...

The Thai government on Wednesday publicly announced that nationals of five countries, including Cambodia, can visit Thailand for up to 90 days without a visa to seek medical treatment, an official at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh said yesterday. ...

Parents of children born to surrogate mothers in Cambodia will be required to provide the government with yearly updates of their child’s mental and physical development, according to new guidelines officially disseminated to embassies for the first time yesterday. ...

Phnom Penh Governor Khoung Sreng said the municipality was half-way through a two-week crack-down on pawn shops in order to prevent the sale of stolen goods at the increasing number of second-hand establishments across the capital. ...

U.S. companies doing business in Cambodia are optimistic about the country’s overall investment environment, but remain dissatisfied with the supply of cheap and skilled labor, corruption, tax structure, and attitudes toward the U.S., according to a new survey. ...

The Tax Department yesterday escalated its attack on the Cambodia Daily by filing a legal complaint accusing its founder and two directors of obstructing the tax process and tax evasion, which could see them face up to six years in prison. ...

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha’s lawyers have said that they are under surveillance during meetings with their client in Tbong Khmum’s Trapaing Thlong prison, which they yesterday called a violation of their rights ensuring client-attorney conversations are confidential. ...

In spite of recent pledges to expand social protections, the Cambodian government has failed to prioritise spending on services that reduce poverty and improve quality of life among vulnerable populations, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization. ...

A REDD Programme representative yesterday said it would be concerning if recent claims of the military systematically clearing protected forest in Oddar Meanchey province covered under the scheme proved true – though a third-party company has dismissed the claims as outdated. ...

The Japanese government on Tuesday pledged to donate two patrol boats to the General Department of Customs and Excise. The announcement was made in a meeting between Economy Minister Aun Ponmonirath and Iizuka Atsushi, director-general of Japan’s Customs Bureau. ...

Australian mining firm Medusa Mining has announced plans to begin exploration for gold, copper and oil in Kratie province’s Prek Kampi commune, about 35 kilometres west of a stretch of the Mekong River that is home to endangered river dolphins. ...