Luxury timber seized in Pursat, Ratanakkiri
Authorities have seized large amounts of luxury wood following busts on two separate illegal timber transporters in Pursat and Ratanakkiri provinces.Local Forestry Administration officials together with Phnom Kravanh district police forces on Friday reported intercepting some five tractor loads containing 29 tbeng logs. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/luxury-timber-seized-pursat-ratanakkiri
Ethnic ninority villagers in Eastern Cambodia file court case over land grab
Indigenous villagers in eastern Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province have filed a complaint in local court against military officers and a land speculator who forcibly confiscated more than 80 hectares (198 acres) of their land, an official from a rights group said Thursday. ...
Races hung out to dry
Citing low water levels of the Tonle Sap as the cause, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday justified his decision to call off the upcoming Water Festival in Phnom Penh in a speech in Kampot, even as some observers suggested political concerns motivated the event’s abrupt ...
Mom Kunthear and Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/races-hung-out-dry
Fresh summons for Rainsy
Senior opposition officials met with party president Sam Rainsy in Manila yesterday, even as the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a fresh summons to the embattled opposition leader calling him for questioning in apparent connection with the case of jailed Sam Rainsy Party Senator Hong ...
Phak Seangly and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fresh-summons-rainsy
Rainsy hit with third court case in three weeks
National Assembly President Heng Samrin has become the latest government official to accuse opposition leader Sam Rainsy of defamation, with a lawyer for the ex-president filing a complaint against Mr. Rainsy over false claims that the 1980s communist regime sentenced King Norodom Sihanouk to death. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rainsy-hit-with-third-court-case-in-three-weeks-101823/
ADB boosts climate funds
The pool of climate finances available to Southeast Asia is set to expand following an announcement by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that it plans to double its climate funding to the region by 2020 – a move welcomed by the Cambodian government and climate ...
Zoe Holman
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/adb-boosts-climate-funds
Sweet step forward for Kampong Speu palm sugar
Palm sugar from Kampong Speu, which has been registered for geographical indication (GI) status, is in the processing stage of being granted protected geographical indication (PGI) status in Thailand and Vietnam. This comes after Kampot pepper was recently certified as PGI in the European Union ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22734/sweet-step-forward-for-kampong-speu-palm-sugar/
Tunnels, overpasses to be built in capital
A section of road built beneath the ground and a renovated Kbal Thnal overpass may be on the way for the capital’s drivers, according to Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatevong, although other officials close to the projects say construction could start as early as next ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25863/tunnels--overpasses-to-be-built-in-capital/
Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit marks seven years
Pol Saroeun, commander-in-chief of the military, said his forces were “absolutely loyal” to Prime Minister Hun Sen and his family on Sunday at an event marking seven years since Mr. Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit was formed as a distinct entity from Brigade 70. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-bodyguard-unit-marks-seven-years-117578/
ICC move fuels debate on Cambodian case
A new paper from the International Criminal Court laying out a shift in focus to crimes linked to environmental destruction and the unlawful dispossession of land has rekindled the debate over whether the court will launch an investigation into a case highlighting land-grabbing in Cambodia. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/icc-move-fuels-debate-cambodian-case
Amid $1.9M gift, CMAC boss tempers US aid comments
Seemingly backing away from previous criticism, Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC), expressed gratitude to the US on Friday for pledging another $1.9 million to the organisation, while still implying that Cambodia is not treated as well as its neighbouring countries. ...
Andrew Nachemson and Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/amid-19m-gift-cmac-boss-tempers-us-aid-comments
Two arrested for felling spirit tree
Two Apsara Authority officials were arrested yesterday morning after it was discovered they were in charge of felling a centuries-old spirit tree in Siem Reap province’s Kauk Chak commune on Saturday, enraging residents who had worshipped it for years, according to the provincial governor. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31894/two-arrested-for-felling-spirit-tree/
Power line project threatens highly endangered bird: org
A proposed power transmission line to be constructed at the edge of the Tonle Sap Floodplain Protected Landscape as early as next year will pose a new threat to a critically endangered bird species known as the Bengal Florican, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/power-line-project-threatens-highly-endangered-bird-org
App boosting Prey Lang network’s data collection
The number of illegal logging sites discovered within Prey Lang forest between April and July was 14 percent higher than the previous four-month period, according to a report released yesterday by the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) based on data collected with a novel smartphone ...
Cristina Maza and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/app-boosting-prey-lang-networks-data-collection
CPP touts populist policies at party congress, promises a win
At its 40th party congress over the weekend, the ruling CPP predicted another victory in commune elections next year and national elections the year after on the back of recent populist policies including cheaper electricity and more land for the poor. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-touts-populist-policies-party-congress-promises-win-122159/
Japanese investment in light industry desired
Cambodia hopes to see Japanese investment in the light industry sector, which will help develop the kingdom’s labor force. Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak, in a meeting last week with Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Hidehisa Horinouchi, asked Japan to consider investing in the light industry sector. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34342/japanese-investment-in-light-industry-desired/
Sugar mill to resume operation
A $360 million sugarcane factory will start operating next month after stopping last June due to a shortage of raw material. The Rui Feng sugarcane mill opened last April with capacity to produce nearly half a million tons a year for export, mainly to Europe and ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34341/sugar-mill-to-resume-operation/
‘Completely forsaken’: Sokha and NGOs ask France and Indonesia to help save Paris Peace Accords
Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha, exiled former opposition leader Sam Rainsy and more than 50 human rights NGOs called on France and Indonesia to reconvene the signatories to the Paris Peace Accords yesterday amid fears that the historic treaty is in danger of being “completely ...
Leonie Kijewski, Ben Sokhean and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/completely-forsaken-sokha-and-ngos-ask-france-and-indonesia-help-save-paris-peace-accords
Ex-deputy PM flees after threat
Former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Funcinpec official Lu Lay Sreng left the country for Thailand yesterday morning, the day after the royalist party and Prime Minister Hun Sen vowed to file lawsuits against him for disparaging the King and accusing the government of bribing Funcinpec. ...
Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ex-deputy-pm-flees-after-threat
US says more sanctions on table in response to political crackdown
Visiting US State Department official W Patrick Murphy yesterday warned that further punitive action could be forthcoming in response to the government’s recent crackdown on the main opposition, while repeatedly pointing to the US’s warm relationship with the people of Cambodia – if not their ...
Andrew Nachemson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/us-says-more-sanctions-table-response-political-crackdown