Bangladesh signs big rice deal
Two weeks after Bangladesh and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Phnom Penh to purchase rice from Cambodia, on Monday of this week Bangladesh signed a deal to buy 250,000 tonnes of milled rice from Cambodia. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5078380/bangladesh-signs-big-rice-deal/
Ministry supports informal saving groups
The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) announced yesterday that it plans to support the growth of NGO-backed community saving groups in a move to help members of these currently unregulated groups establish funding pools that can be accessed without the need for collateral. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ministry-supports-informal-saving-groups
Amid strife, the CNRP is a party on pause
When Cambodia National Rescue Party President Kem Sokha stood arm-in-arm with three newly minted deputies earlier this year, the quartet seemed eager and ready to address the party’s next challenge at hand: critical commune elections that could greatly bolster grassroots support. ...
Mech Dara and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/amid-strife-cnrp-party-pause
Families regain land as claims given approval
More than 200 families who have been locked in land disputes with sugar firms will have at least some of their land returned to them after the Ministry of Land Management approved their claims yesterday, though hundreds more families are still waiting for resolution. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-regain-land-claims-given-approval
Proposed law to ban insulting monarchy prompts free speech fears
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng held a meeting with other top ministry officials yesterday to discuss introducing a legal amendment banning insults to the King, similar to so-called “lèse-majesté” laws in Thailand, which critics have characterised as a cudgel to suppress dissent. ...
Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/proposed-law-ban-insulting-monarchy-prompts-free-speech-fears
Teacher training video released
The Education Ministry has produced a short video and posted it to its YouTube channel to help teachers educate students in grades one to three. The video, which runs less than 20 minutes, shows methods of teaching Khmer literature, mathematics and other subjects. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50101660/teacher-training-video-released/
Sokha’s witness request denied
An investigating judge has rejected Kem Sokha’s request that he interview a representative from the US government in connection with the former opposition leader’s “treason” case, despite the fact that Sokha stands accused of plotting a US-backed overthrow of the Cambodian government. ...
Mech Dara and Andrew Nachemson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sokhas-witness-request-denied
Ministry meets with protesting garment workers following factory closures
Officials from the Ministry of Labour met with former workers from three garment factories in the capital’s Por Senchey district this morning after the owner absconded without warning last week, leaving 2,000 workers without their severance or salary for the month of January. ...
Yon Sineat and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-meets-protesting-garment-workers-following-factory-closures
Strikes down, but advocates, officials differ on significance
Strikes in Cambodia plummeted by more than half last year, according to the Ministry of Labour’s annual report – a statistic lauded by the government as evidence that worker conditions had improved but rejected by labour advocates as a sign that dissent was being suppressed. ...
Yon Sineat and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikes-down-advocates-officials-differ-significance
Women’s Day plea for Vanny
Communities affected by land disputes have used the occasion of International Women’s Day today to urge the government to free activist Tep Vanny. They also called for the release of civil society organization officials and an NEC official who are being held in prison. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36220/women---s-day-plea-for-vanny/
Kingdom mourns for Sok An
With the passing of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on Wednesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen has lost one of his closest right hand men, someone who has been by his side for more than three decades since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1980. ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36584/kingdom-mourns-for-sok-an/
Sesan residents settle on new relocation site
Over a hundred families in Stung Treng province’s Srekor and Kbal Romea communes said yesterday that they have located around 2,000 hectares to relocate to when a scheduled test run for the Lower Sesan II dam this week leaves their villages flooded. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sesan-residents-settle-new-relocation-site
NEC plans meeting to review elections
The National Election Committee plans to hold a two-day meeting in Preah Sihanouk province to review the June 4 commune elections, with members of the election monitoring coalition the “Situation Room” saying yesterday they plan to table recommendations to improve certain electoral procedures. ...
Ananth Baliga and Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-plans-meeting-review-elections
Railway protesters seek talks
More than 100 residents living in Por Sen Chey district’s Ka Kab commune yesterday burned tyres while protesting over the construction of a railway that will lead to the Phnom Penh International Airport, claiming that people were not given notice of the construction. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5073738/railway-protesters-seek-talks/
After Cambodia Daily’s $6M bill, tax authority targets RFA, VOA
Popular media outlets Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have become the latest to draw the attention of the government for allegedly not paying taxes, one week after a letter to the Cambodia Daily demanding more than $6 million in back taxes was leaked. ...
Niem Chheng and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-cambodia-dailys-6m-bill-tax-authority-targets-rfa-voa
Emergency summit called over tear gas bomb crisis
The Ministry of Defence will today hold an emergency meeting on what to do with two tear gas barrel bombs found in Svay Rieng province. The bombs are believed to have been dropped by the United States during the Vietnam War. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5083637/emergency-summit-called-tear-gas-bomb-crisis/
Six sanctuaries proposed
The Environment Ministry is to request the creation of six new protected areas to safeguard biodiversity and boost conservation in the country. Tim Sitha, deputy director of the general department of conservation, said the ministry has been studying the potential to establish the new areas. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5087603/six-sanctuaries-proposed/
Fresh calls for Sokha’s release
With Cambodia’s former opposition leader Kem Sokha languishing in a remote jail for more than three months now, international organisations and parliamentarians have renewed their calls for his immediate release and for the reversal of the controversial dissolution of his Cambodia National Rescue Party. ...
Niem Chheng and Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fresh-calls-sokhas-release
Malaysia firm to bring Oddar Meanchey onto national power grid
Malaysian-owned power infrastructure provider Pestech (Cambodia) Ltd has won a $26 million job to start on a new electricity project in Cambodia that will see Oddar Meanchey province connected to the national power grid, according to a filing on the Malaysian stock exchange. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/malaysia-firm-bring-oddar-meanchey-national-power-grid
Poipet locals get passes to Thailand
Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities yesterday began issuing a new border pass for residents who wish to cross into Thailand for business. The statement said the new border pass will cost $5 and be valid for two years for multiple entries in and out of Thailand. ...
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5099633/poipet-locals-get-passes-thailand/