A group of NGOs from the education sector yesterday urged the government to boost education spending to at least 20 percent of the country’s budget – a benchmark the Ministry of Education had hoped, and failed, to hit last year under its strategic plan. ...

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. ...

Denis Hew, director of the policy support unit at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat said that Cambodia and Laos, in particular, should seek to chart a different course in Asean rather than following growth models of more developed economies, such as Malaysia or Thailand. ...

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. ...

Major clothing brands sourcing from Cambodia’s garment factories have expressed concern about the growing number of strikes in the country and called for the renewal of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at preventing strikes, a representative from the International Labor Organization (ILO) said yesterday. ...

In 2012, the number of phone users in Cambodia would stand at about 17.56 million and by 2015, about 21.31 million. And internet users in 2012 will reach to 1,739,618 by 2015, an increase of 1.89 million, His Excellency, Sarak Khansaid. ...

Cambodia on Friday inaugurated a food industry laboratory with Chinese aid, aiming at assisting food quality improvement, research and technology development, officials said. The China-Cambodia Food Industry Laboratory is situated in the complex of the Industrial Laboratory Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district. ...

The third edition of CAMBUILD, one of the country’s biggest international building and construction conferences, is scheduled for September 10-12 on Koh Pich. Three hundred participants are expected to exhibit at the event. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s younger sister, Hun Sinath, has been nominated to the position of Under-Secretary of State for the Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection. She was nominated, at the age of 57, by King Norodom Sihamoni on December 9, 2013. .. ...

Three males attempting to smuggle luxury wood on Saturday evening were thwarted by authorities in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district, provincial forestry officials confirmed yesterday. The suspects now being detained at the provincial police station are Vor Vanser, 16, Le Fy, 16, and Cheurng Vanseurn, 18. ...

Cambodian Jasmine rice wins the award for world’s best rice at the 2013 Rice Traders World Rice Conference held in Hong Kong. This is the second time that Cambodian rice had been awarded world’s best rice, the first award came last year in Bali, Indonesia. ...

Possible remains of three missing U.S. soldiers recovered in Cambodia was repatriated to Hawaii on Wednesday for testing, officials said. During a ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport, American soldiers carried three white coffins draped with U.S. flags onto a C-17 military cargo plane. ...

Lightning struck three men dead as they stood under a tree in Kampong Cham province on Friday evening, police said. Sok Suon, 53, Vy Ponlork, 37, and Yam Khen, 27, died at the scene, said Long Thy, police chief in Srei Santhor district’s Prek Por commune. ...

About 100 indigenous villagers from Ratanakkiri’s Veun Sai district took the opportunity at a public forum yesterday to demand a solution from the district governor, Chum Ngel, over a land dispute they are locked in with SK Plantation, after protesting several times without getting a ...

The Ministry of Culture steamrolled 300,000 bootlegged DVDs Monday in its annual celebration of efforts to stamp out piracy. But at DVD shops across Phnom Penh, where pirated movies are sold for $1.50 or less, owners said they see little threat to their businesses. ...

A new payment system for retired soldiers in Oddar Meanchey province has resulted in late payments for nearly 50 retirees. Government officials recently opened Acleda Bank accounts for retired soldiers, who used to pick up pension payments at the provincial social affairs department, said Mok Vanvuthy, ...

Takeo Provincial Court released eight unionists yesterday after they were questioned for several hours. The unionists from the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) were arrested on May 23 after they led workers to protest at JSD Textile (Cambodia) to demand better work condition. ...

Opposition officials say they want to return to the negotiating table with the ruling party to continue talks on election reform. Both sides are at odds over how the National Election Committee, a critical government body that oversees elections, would be selected and approved in parliament. ...

The Labor Ministry laid out the ground rules for unions and factories Monday at the first meeting of a new working group charged with getting the two sides to agree on a new minimum wage for garment workers, including a condition that they address each ...

The head monks of Phnom Penh’s Wat Samakki Raingsey on Tuesday drafted a letter rebutting City Hall’s claims of illicit and immoral behavior at the pagoda, which has drawn the government’s ire over the past year by supporting evicted villagers from across the country. ...