This week marked the official kickoff of campaigning for the June 4 commune elections, with Cambodians taking to the streets to show support for their favourite party decked out in T-shirts, hats and stickers emblazoned with party logos. ...

The government body charged with managing the Angkor Archaeological Park on Monday started tearing down the first of more than 500 homes and shophouses illegally built within the park in the weeks before the June 4 commune elections. ...

Two village officials from Oddar Meanchey province filed complaints on Friday against one-star General Duong Sina, accusing him of using violence against them and two other villagers, though Military Police yesterday said the general appeared to have fled. ...

International condemnation for the government’s continued clampdown on NGOs and independent media organisations continued to flow in over the weekend, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) calling it an “escalating campaign of politically-motivated harassment, intimidation, and legal action”. ...

Move over, Cintri – there’s a new garbage collector in town. For the first time in a dozen years, Sihanoukville has a new waste management company, and it has already started collecting trash ahead of the Pchum Ben holiday. ...

Australian mining firm Emerald Resources announced yesterday that it was making positive progress towards full licensing and funding of its Okvau gold mine project in Mondulkiri province, with the licence expected as early as the next few weeks. ...

Heng Ratana said yesterday that CMAC would also carry out minefield information research and education programmes this year, as well as strengthen volunteer networks in 700 villages and provide job training to people disabled as a result of landmines. ...

The New Year brought a new wave of evictions and development to more than 5 square kilometres on Preah Sihanouk province’s Ochheuteal Beach, though local authorities remain in the dark about what company is behind the development. ...

A project in Stung Treng province is giving women the opportunity to participate in one of the fastest-growing food-production sectors in Cambodia: aquaculture fisheries – a field that has also traditionally been among its most male-dominated. ...

Hundreds of leading Chinese companies will come together with hundreds more local companies today at the first Cambodia-China Business Forum and Financial Development Forum in Phnom Penh, aimed at expanding trade and investment between the two countries. ...

At a press conference yesterday, NEC member and spokesman Hang Puthea said that in the process of posting the voter list to the website, the committee encountered two major problems – a slow access speed and an invasion by hackers. ...

Locals in Siem Reap province’s Kralanh district and Banteay Meanchey’s Preah Netr Preah district yesterday alleged that a sand-dredging company is polluting a river that straddles the two districts and stoking fears of bank collapse. ...

A lawyer for Eurth Ang, the man accused of murdering political analyst Kem Ley, has asked for his March 1 trial to be delayed because he has not received the case file or spoken to his new client yet. ...

Mondulkiri provincial environment officials and National Military Police early yesterday morning confiscated a seemingly abandoned Toyota Land Cruiser loaded with more than 10 poles of luxury thnong timber in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, though no arrests were made. ...

Female construction workers earn on average about $2.50 less per day than their male counterparts, are given fewer opportunities to learn new skills and are victims of outdated gender stereotypes, a new report says.   ...

Officials are still investigating an arson attack on a Mondolkiri province community forestry monitoring Office by dozens Of masked farmers on Friday, in what they suspect was retaliation for preventing the farmers from growing cassava in a protected area. ...

Police in Ratanakkiri province Thursday’stopped a bus and arrested two Vietnamese men—the driver and a bus company employee—who were attempting to transport about 300 kg of luxury-grade timber across the border to Vietnam, officials said. ...

According to the boats’ inhabitants, who raise fish underneath their floating homes in Russei Keo district’s Chraing Chamreh I commune, the move was prompted by a mass die-off of fish last weekend due to increasing water temperatures.  ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked Land Minister Chea Sophara and the Cambodia Veterans Association to make a success of the social land concession scheme for men and women who have served the nation. ...

Following the popularity of Cambodia’s first-ever container night market, the company behind the project said it is investing an additional $500,000 to expand the open-air facility with an annex scheduled to open next month. ...