Numerous members of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), the body tasked with lobbying on the sectors behalf, have stopped paying membership dues and export fees, claiming that they cannot afford to as the industry continues to struggle with high production costs and regional export competition. ...

The Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday celebrated its top female candidates before the upcoming communal elections at an event under the slogan “Thousands of Lights for Women”, though women’s rights activists criticised the strategy as lacking teeth in fostering greater representation for women. ...

Turning away from the traditional tools of providing information about weather forecasts, people now can access real-time weather alerts on their smartphones and mobile phones via SMS and voice messages to better help them prepare to avert disasters caused by severe climatic events. ...

This is a typical morning for many villagers in Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district, where almost 400 families are members of Kampot Pepper Promotion Association. Black Kampot pepper currently sells for $15 per kilogramme, while red fetches $25 and white $28 per kg. ...

About 30 villagers escorted two environmental activists from Kandal province’s Sa’ang district to the relative safety of Phnom Penh yesterday after the pair were allegedly harassed by local police for helping coordinate a protest against sand dredging in the area the day before. ...

A senior Vietnamese leader has met with Cambodia’s National Assembly to request the continued acknowledgement of Cambodian-born Vietnamese, Vietnamese investors and to request that young Vietnamese born in the country be allowed to study in Cambodian public schools. ...

Following the recent agreement to increase the minimum wage in the garment sector, a productivity fair is due to start on Friday in Phnom Penh, organised by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT) and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC). ...

Italy, along with six other European Union countries, has filed a fresh request to European Commission to limit the volume of rice imported from the Kingdom by activating a “safeguard clause” that allows EU member states to impose barriers to protect against trade imbalances. ...

Cambodia’s economic growth is expected to remain stable this year and the next, but structural reforms and a rebalancing of the budget is critical in the medium term to sustain economic growth, the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research office (AMRO) said yesterday in a report. ...

A little-known Chinese company is investing $200 million in a massive timber plantation in Stung Treng that the government has equated to “replanting the forest”, despite concerns among environmental protection groups that existing forest will be destroyed in favour of non-native commercial species. ...

Tiger Airways has launched two new routes from its Singapore (SIN) base, using its single fleet of 180-seat A320s. On 27 September, the low-cost airline began operating five times weekly to Hyderabad (HYD) in southeast India – the airline’s sixth destination in India ...

Phnom Penh International Airport last Thursday hit the two-million-passenger mark in a year for the first time. The figure included all international and domestic passengers arriving at, and departing from, Phnom Penh International Airport since the beginning of this year, a press release said. ...

The number of customers subscribing to the mobile operator Beeline has dropped by more than 100,000 in the last quarter, and its average revenue per user has sunk to its lowest in more than a year, the company announced in its third-quarter financial report. ...

Cambodia will earn about $50 million a year from exports of dried cassava to China through Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly said Thursday. Cambodia’s agricultural exports previously went through Vietnam and Thailand, amounting to between 7,000 and 8,000 tons a year. ...

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with Senator Jim Webb, of Virginia, this week, to discuss how Cambodia might be forgiven war-era debt to the US or find a better way to pay it off. Cambodia owes nearly $450 million on pre-Khmer Rouge borrowing. ...

Cambodian Investment Management’s social-media marketing and advertising business has launched Dynamo Innovative Digital Advertising, the group said last week. Dynamo will inherit 10 clients, managing 20 social-media pages, 90 per cent of which are on Facebook and 10 per cent on LinkedIn. ...

Cambodia’s first verified carbon credit program is up and running in the remote province of Oddar Meanchey. But experts say there are limited carbon credit buyers, and illegal deforestation remains a major threat to the stability to the project. ...

Seven people were injured Monday when opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua clashed with security forces outside Freedom Park in the Phnom Penh. Mu Sochua is leading a non-violent campaign by attempting to enter the park in protest of the government’s current ban on public gatherings. ...

Australia has signaled that it is about to cut a deal with Cambodia to resettle refugees now in Nauru, media reported Thursday. It comes after both Nauru and Papua New Guinea determined the refugees status of some asylum seekers sent to each country by Australian authorities. ...

Kem Sokha, Vice President of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, hinted about talks with Cambodia People’s Party to find peaceful solution. However, he did not elaborate how to move ahead and what options should be made for the breakthrough. ...