About 400 parishioners at the Christian Evangelical International Ministry in Phnom Penh were singing hymns when 15 armed police officers rushed through the doors on Saturday and rounded up all of the Nigerian men present, according to Peter Ike, a preacher’s assistant at the church. ...

New reports of border officials at Poipet International Checkpoint demanding extra from travellers crossing the border between Cambodia and Thailand have again thrown the spotlight on the oft-maligned western gateway to the Kingdom, with an opposition lawmaker pledging action to stop the “anarchy”. ...

Facing threats of retaliation if Prime Minister Hun Sen is met by protests during his first official visit to the U.S. next week, the opposition CNRP said on Monday that it would seek a meeting with government officials this week over security concerns. ...

About 70 residents from a village in Siem Reap’s Ampil commune yesterday submitted a petition to provincial officials requesting that they not be switched to the authority of neighbouring Nokor Thom commune, though at least one local official claimed the matter was long decided. ...

Tourism industry executives and government officials from Thailand and Cambodia gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday for a roadshow on the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) segment of the tourism industry to find ways to work together to drive new business.   ...

Next year’s commune council elections will be held on June 4, according to a decision signed on Tuesday by Prime Minister Hun Sen, marking the first nationwide ballot since the 2013 election that led to the reform of the National Election Committee (NEC). ...

German-backed online job recruitment portal Everjobs officially announced plans yesterday to conduct its first career fair in Cambodia. The company, which entered into Cambodia a year ago, joins the ranks of numerous online job portals aiming to dominate the recruitment market.   ...

As Cambodia inches closer to the 2017 commune elections, the Interior Ministry has implored all of the Kingdom’s political parties to get their affairs in order and finish the necessary paperwork so their organization is listed on the ballot. ...

With mobile money transfer services such as Wing and True Money continuing to spread their agent-based networks into rural parts of the country, local banks are increasingly leveraging their branch locations and ATM presence to provide a similar service through “Cash by Code”. ...

Envoys of major clothing brands and retailers visited Phnom Penh this week to discuss how to achieve a “living wage” for Cambodia’s garment workers, while the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) contends the “uncompetitive” industry is slowing down as buyers pull out. ...

Cambodia has decided to establish a special economic zone in Preah Sihanouk province in an attempt to attract investment and develop its economy as the ASEAN Economic Community forms by the end of this year, reports Vietnam News Agency (VNA). ...

Farmers hit by drought in Battambang this year are already benefitting from a new crop insurance product for rice farmers introduced by Forte Insurance, with at least 60 families in two districts of the country’s main rice-growing province collecting payments so far. ...

Cambodia’s former deputy consul-general to Ho Chi Minh City, who was arrested last year on suspicion of forging documents to allow luxury-grade wood to be exported into Vietnam, was sentenced to three years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday. ...

A police officer and a Forestry Administration official were shot dead by illegal loggers in Preah Vihear province early Saturday morning in an attack that also left a second officer injured, according to a local official who gave two different versions of the incident. ...

The government has handed out the first 250 land titles to the more than 3,000 families in a World Bank-funded project for poor Cambodians that has been criticized by a local rights group for sticking many of those families with unusable land. ...

A ceremony here on Saturday, attended by some of the country’s most powerful officials, laid out Royal Group’s $30 million plan to develop Koh Rong’s previously pristine Sok San beach into a luxury resort, complete with houses, piers, hotels and facilities for helicopters. ...

A small-scale sand dredging business on the banks of Sraeng lake in Banteay Meanchey’s Teuk Cho commune was shut down yesterday by Preah Net Preah district authorities after it was found to be operating without a license, according to district governor Ly Sovannarith. ...

The country’s political and business elite dug deep into their pockets on Sunday for the Cambodian Red Cross’ (CRC) annual fundraising drive in Phnom Penh, contributing a total of $13.43 million during an event marking World Red Cross Day.   ...

The first quarter earnings of the publicly listed Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) were up by more than 10 percent in comparison to the same period last year thanks to the Kingdom’s steady economic growth and the company’s efforts in streamlining its expansion. ...

Despite some appearances to the contrary, things in Cambodia are looking pretty rosy at least according to the World Bank. In its latest revision of world economies the Bank raised Cambodia’s status from a low-income economy to a lower-middle income country. ...