Cambodia’s first coal-fired power plant, which is expected to fill shortages in demand by producing an additional 100 megawatts of electricity every year, commenced full-time operations yesterday. Representatives from Malaysian company Leader Universal Ltd (LU), which built the plant, joined Prime Minister Hun Sen and ...

Almost 850 demonstrations or strikes have occurred nationwide since the year began – a seemingly anarchic average of more than six a day, the General Commissariat of National Police announced this week, blaming politicians, NGOs and trade unions for helping to incite demonstrators and “complicating ...

Cambodia’s human rights record was assessed Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 47 member states in Geneva, many of which cited concerns about the recent violent suppression of protests by the government, and a judiciary beholden to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP. The U.N. ...

Initially a status reserved for a privileged few, the number of businesspeople bearing the honorific “oknha” has ballooned from an estimated 20 individuals in 2004 to some 200 in 2008 and more than 700 today. Traditionally a title of nobility bestowed by the king to honor ...

TV news viewers in Cambodia are fed a steady diet of praise for the government and top officials. Whether they’re giving speeches that go on for hours, cutting a ribbon at a new development project, or shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, government leaders are presented ...

With the spectre of potential garment-sector unrest on the horizon and emboldened communities protesting land disputes, the National Police is buying what appear to be the authorities’ first water-cannon trucks designed specifically to control demonstrations. In advertisements in yesterday’s Post and Post Khmer newspapers, the ...

Cambodia has become increasingly reliant on China for aid. But critics warn that financial support from China is not well tracked and likely means the country has undue influence over the government, and that could mean more trouble down the road as Cambodia looks toward ...

Cambodia’s Prime Minister is calling for more investments on agriculture processing and technology industry in the Kingdom. Speaking at a graduation ceremony yesterday, Mr Hun Sen said that more than 2 million hectares of paddy were harvested among the 2.7 million hectares of cultivated land ...

Floods and droughts destroyed some 67,000ha of paddy fields in the Kingdom last year, resulting in minimal declines to yields and land available for cultivation, the Ministry of Agriculture reported on Monday. Ministry spokesman Srey Vuthy joined a government press unit briefing on Monday to ...

More than 100 NGOs and human rights groups yesterday urged foreign donors to flag issues regarding land policies, democratic processes and human rights during today’s Government-Development Partner Coordinating Committee (GDCC) meeting.   Intended as a preparatory meeting for Cambodia’s main government and donor summit, the GDCC is generally ...

Embattled Ratanakkiri prison director Tin Sovanny yesterday issued a warning – but no lawsuit – against staff members who have accused him of a slew of crimes, including having sex with an inmate, using prison land to build a house and using prison labour for ...

The public has been urged to stop using fires to collect bees, catch animals or clear land in forests. In a letter dated January 20, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said burning grasses and other unsanctioned activities like harvesting forests or clearing them for ...

Last month, the government has approved five renewable energy projects totalling 520 MW to increase power supply to the national grid. The latest to hit the energy circuit is Royal Group of Companies that sealed the deal with Panna Energy, Samaiden Energy and Management Venture ...

Many Cambodian women arrive in South Korea or China for marriage, only to find themselves being chosen as mistresses, say labour rights activists. While young Cambodian men, who travel to Thailand to work on fishing boats, often fall prey to drug abuse. Loss of land, debt, ...

The Cambodian government expects U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. CVX +0.77% to begin developing the country’s first offshore oil field early next year, and hopes the nation will become a regional hot spot for oil and gas investment, a government official said Wednesday. Cambodia has vast untapped oil and gas resources ...

Cambodian developers are betting that casinos can make the tiny Southeast Asian country a bigger draw for high-spending tourists. The nation of 15 million people has more than 25 casinos, but most are small affairs in rough-and-tumble border towns that cater to hard-core Thai, Chinese and ...

Rural Cambodian communities are seeing economic benefits as a result of a biomass and farming resilience project run by GERES, a French NGO. As part of the AREA project, 200 households in Kampong Chhnang province are growing 22 varieties of trees to negate the effects of ...

Sketchy details that fail to specify when construction of the Lower Sesan 2 hydro dam will begin, or name the Chinese company involved, have villagers fearing for their future, representatives and environmental groups say. Since the Council of Ministers announced on Friday it had signed off ...

Patrick Devillers, the French national and associate of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, seemed to be putting down roots in Cambodia. The architect – whose shadowy presence has been on the fringes of one of modern China’s largest political scandals – owned land and a restaurant ...

SIEM REAP CITY/KOMPONG THOM CITY – Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha led a parade of more than 20,000 supporters on Wednesday through the streets of Siem Reap City in what was the second-largest turnout for an opposition rally since Mr. Rainsy landed in ...