Just months ahead of local elections, the Cambodian government has ordered the microfinance industry to cap interest rates on new and refinanced loans at 18 percent a year starting April 1. ...

Apparent CPP Commune Chief-elect Chhay Thy yesterday pledged to tackle ongoing forestry crimes in Ratanakkiri’s Pate commune – a cause he strongly advocated for during his tenure as a human rights staffer at Adhoc. ...

Sixteen families in Kandal have accused a purported Interior Ministry official of sending soldiers to intimidate them to take their land, though the official denied the claims and said no such dispute existed at all. ...

A 26-year-old disabled man who was struggling to find work and was featured in Khmer Times in July has passed an exam to become an official at the Information Department in Battambang province. ...

Conservation NGOs yesterday raised the issue of alleged land grabs in the country’s protected areas by the military and local authorities at a resources protection forum, asking Environment Minister Say Sam Al to intervene.​ ...

A draft United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report released at a workshop on Monday praises efforts to crack down on sexual abuse of children but calls for measures to curb child pornography.​​ ...

A task force to curb natural resources crimes has cracked down on an illegal mine in Kratie province and is proposing to fill it in after there were four deaths at the site last year. ...

The Ministry of Education has included a business training programme at 25 high schools across the country to give students the soft skills necessary to create their own jobs or find suitable jobs upon graduation. ...

After claiming for weeks that a controversial party slogan was not actually official, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party decided to remove the phrase from its official party platform yesterday in an attempt at “reconciliation”. ...

A stockpile of illegal timber was reportedly found on the land of a district military police chief in Kampong Speu province, while his son-in-law and alleged timber trader Sy Sar remains at large. ...

A team of researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that the loss of dense forest in Cambodia is associated with higher risk of diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and fever in children. ...

Cambodian workers may soon be headed to Lebanon, the latest country that the Ministry of Labour is targeting as a destination for thousands of underemployed Cambodians looking for work amid stagnant job opportunities at home. ...

The government’s strict enforcement efforts against oversized trucks are starting to ensnare legal trucks at checkpoints, further hampering the time-sensitive garment industry, according to the head of the country’s largest trucking federation. ...

A sacked union official at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Beanteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town said yesterday hundreds of workers would strike again if he and a colleague were not reinstated after negotiations on Sunday. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng ordered cities and provincial authorities to take action to prevent rallies, following a violent clash at the Freedom Park, injuring dozens of security guards and protesters. ...

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Wednesday presented the result of the 25th ASEAN Summit in Myanmar to foreign diplomats to Cambodia, aiming at disseminating the ASEAN’s latest news to Cambodia’s friendly countries, a spokesman said. ...

Just before the regional consultation period for Laos’ Don Sahong dam comes to a head at a final meeting in Vietnam on Sunday, Laos government officials are already espousing plans and timelines for the project’s completion. ...

During a meeting with Lord James Sasson, Executive Director of Jardine Matheson Holdings, at Phnom Penh’s Peace Palace, on Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Sen confirmed that the electricity price in Cambodia will be down from now on. ...

After negotiations between vendors and management at Phnom Penh’s Sorya Mall ended without a solution on Wednesday, hundreds of disgruntled shopkeepers shut their shops on Thursday, effectively closing one of the city’s biggest shopping centers. ...

Hundreds of workers at a new factory in Kampong Speu province continued yesterday to strike for better working conditions after one of their colleagues was allegedly struck with an electroshock weapon on Friday by their Chinese boss. ...