University researcher Sok Touch yesterday took the government’s oft-used “colour revolution” narrative one step further by characterising practically every major political development since the 2013 post-election protests as part of one concerted attempt to foment insurrection in the Kingdom. ...

Despite better than predicted overall growth for global economies, the World Bank has slightly downgraded its 2017 forecast for Cambodia due to wage and price concerns in the Kingdom’s the garment industry as well as uncertainty surrounding next year’s national election. ...

Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak has announced that the government will be spearheading a new National Cassava Policy which aims to address challenges in the industry and work towards ensuring a sustainable and resilient crop, strong value chains and greater regional market presence. ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) has approved new candidates to fill National Assembly seats left vacant by the dissolution of the opposition, drastically changing the composition of Cambodia’s parliament and providing a shot in the arm for the ailing royalist Funcinpec party. ...

Garment workers from the Gawon Apparel factory in Kandal province’s Takhmao town have agreed to stop blocking a road leading to the factory for the next 15 days as they await a solution to their labour dispute from the Arbitration Council. ...

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) boss Om Yentieng has said the Kingdom’s whistleblower and witness protection draft law was nearly complete, while at the same time lashing out at Transparency international Cambodia for not assisting in the process, something the group flatly denied. ...

Kem Monovithya, the daughter of jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha and a CNRP official, met with United States officials yesterday to discuss the possibility of further sanctions on the Cambodian government if measures taken in an ongoing political crackdown are not reversed. ...

Taking place on the 21 and 22 on this month, the JTC meeting will focus on bilateral trade promotion. On the sidelines of the meeting, investors from both countries will participate in business matching events to enhance trade ties between the two countries.​ ...

A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the US and Europe – including Gap, H&M and ASOS – expressed “growing concern” on Tuesday over several controversial labour laws and ongoing court cases against unionists described as restrictive and unjust. ...

Business leaders from the Lower Mekong region are urging their respective governments to use local currencies for trading in border regions instead of the US dollar, arguing that this would facilitate business transactions and reduce exchange costs, a Thai newspaper reported yesterday. ...

Top executives from foreign firms have spoken out about the constraints of doing business in Cambodia, citing high electricity and infrastructure costs, unskilled local workers, limited transparency, a lack of local manufacturing suppliers and limited sources of raw materials as impediments to progress. ...

Minister for Mines and Energy Suy Sem will appear at the National Assembly on Thursday to answer questions about a more than $700 million discrepancy in data on sand exports to Singapore, according to a letter signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Almost 200 people protested yesterday in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet City, demanding the release of Mang Puthy, president of the Cambodia informal Economy Reinforced Association (CIERA), who says he was arrested after officials framed him for attempted murder. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture is calling on rice millers to apply for a second round of quality checks for exports to China after only 28 local rice mills, out of 60 which applied for inspection in the first round, passed last year. ...

Despite initial hopes that the man who tortured her 2-year-old son last year would face trial in Cambodia, the child’s mother said on Tuesday that Vietnamese police have informed her that the abuser would not be extradited from Vietnam. ...

Cambodia’s top election body will take legal action against groups that conduct or publish opinion polls in the two weeks leading up to June 4 commune elections, its spokesman said on Sunday, warning that the surveys could lead to “social instability.” ...

The steep increase in Angkor Wat ticket prices on February 1 did not discourage tourists from visiting the country’s chief tourist draw, as some feared, but it also did not reap any significant material gains for the government coffers, new data shows. ...

A group of about 1,000 families living in Siem Reap province’s Phnom Kulen National Park will be relocated to prevent them from continuing an environmentally detrimental trend of clearing land, building homes, selling and repeating, the environment minister said on Thursday. ...

Land prices along one of Cambodia’s main highways have seen a slight increase in the first half of 2017, thanks to road improvements and residential developments, insiders say. ...

Cambodia’s economic growth will remain on course this year but will likely slow in the coming years to 6 percent as investment tapers off and credit growth tightens, according to an updated note by the international Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Friday. ...