Fifty-eight Cambodian migrant workers, 40 of whom who were reportedly arrested and beaten by the police in Thailand’s Songkla province last month, returned to their home provinces on Saturday after their employer gave back their passports, said a worker representative yesterday. “We don’t know yet if ...

Even as its controversial Xayaburi Dam project is still drawing protest from Mekong river downstream countries such as Cambodia, Laos has inked a deal with South Korean firms to build and operate another large hydropower plant on the Mekong River network. According to the Phnom Penh ...

Ethnic Jarai villagers and a local rights worker yesterday discovered about 3,000 more logs that have been illegally cut by the Vietnamese owners of a rubber concession in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, according to rights group Adhoc. The logs were found stockpiled in dense forest inside ...

Cambodian-Japanese bank Maruhan Japan opened an office in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on Saturday, making it the second Cambodian bank and the first Japanese bank to come to that country. Maruhan’s presence in Laos would boost economic and investment ties between the two ASEAN member ...

The government launched Thursday a $200 million project to divert water from the Mekong River to irrigate 300,000 hectares of rice fields in Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Kampong Cham provinces. Under the first phase, estimated to cost $100 million, canals will be restored between ...

Authorities in Battambang province’s Phnom Proek district shut down eight unlicensed gold mines Saturday and Sunday after a study revealed they were producing toxic runoff blamed for the deaths of three cattle last week, officials said. Deputy governor Pech Choun said four mines in the area ...

Tourism officials in the Kingdom have suggested that the Kuwaiti ambassador should push for direct flights between Cambodia and Kuwait, and invited Kuwaitis to invest in Cambodia’s soaring tourism sector. “We need more and more investment in the tourism sector,” said tourism minister Thong Khon. He ...

A radio competition organized by the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia will enable garment workers to showcase their knowledge and teach the public about the country’s Labor Law, an ILO representative said yesterday. “The objective is not only to allow workers to express their ...

Democratic Kampuchea’s commerce committee was under the leadership of co-accused Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary, testimony by former national bank deputy director Sar Kimlomouth revealed yesterday at the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Although the Khmer Rouge regime had eliminated currency and attempted to turn the nation into ...

Boeung Kak demonstrators left the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh disappointed yesterday after their petition calling for the release of 15 Boeung Kak lake residents locked in Prey Sar prison was not accepted. About 50 villagers, flanked by supporters, marched to the palace from the National ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court yesterday questioned the seventh and final witness to the April 26 shooting death of well-known environmental activist Chut Wutty by provincial military police officer In Ratana, court officials said. Srey Makny, the court’s deputy prosecutor, said witness Bou An was questioned ...

Housing development company the Ly Hour Group said it has begun work on its second major project, called Vimean Phnom Penh The Commercial Zone, after its first project Vimean Phnom Penh was successfully completed. The company said the amount of traffic along Phnom Penh’s Chea Sophara ...

About 200 former Mfone employees gathered in front of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh yesterday in protest over claims that Thaicom, the failed telco’s parent company, had paid Thai staff even though Cambodian staff were still owed compensation. Noun Sam Ath, a former sales executive, ...

More than 25 families living on the site of the long-disused airfield in Preah Vihear province have been ordered to move off the land, a district official said yesterday. “The authorities are forcing residents to leave without compensation and this eviction is illegal because they ...

A well-known community representative who has long battled alleged land-grabbing by economic land concessionaire Pheapimex Group was arrested on fraud accusations and jailed in Pursat province’s Krakor district yesterday.Fellow community representative Lun Sivy, 42, said Kuch Veng, a member of the Cambodian Peace Network, was ...

Nine South Koreans and four Cambodian nationals allegedly participating in an illegal gambling operation in Siem Reap City were sent to the provincial court for questioning Monday, police officials said. The suspects were arrested Saturday night along with 21 Cambodian women when police raided an illegal ...

A 31-year-old man was killed on Monday when part of an illegally dug gold mine collapsed in Battambang’s Phnom Proek district, commune officials said yesterday. Bon Boern, 31, died at the scene, while Ath Kri, 21, was treated at the provincial hospital for a head injury, ...

Clothing giant H&M is testing the garment production waters by entering into exclusivity agreements with factories in Cambodia and Bangladesh, according to a report from Bloomberg News yesterday. This means that Sweden-based H&M would buy all of the factory’s output. H&M, it seems, would still be ...

Twelve representatives of 50 families in Preah Vihear’s Kulen district filed an appeal yesterday after being summonsed to court over a land dispute with a Malaysian company. The villagers gathered in Adhoc’s office in Srayrong commune to draft and submit a letter requesting that their court ...

Five political parties have registered to take part in provincial and district elections in May, officials said Tuesday. The elections are approaching despite a deadlock in national politics between the ruling party and the opposition—which wants election reform and a recall national vote. Only members of local ...