AN HOUR’S drive south of Phnom Penh, deep in rural Cambodia, Chrek Heang is doing the rounds of his rapidly expanding poultry and fisheries business. Just four years ago he was living, like most of his countrymen, in a small wooden hut with a tin ...

In Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district there is a 133-hectare mound of sand that was once a lake. It took nearly four years to fill Boeng Kak with that sand. On the southern perimeter of the massive sand pit sit two large billboards. On those billboards there ...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted rules that would make it a legal requirement for listed companies operating in the extractive industries and doing business in Cambodia to disclose all major payments they make to the government. The rules, which were adopted in ...

A group of opposition lawmakers have written to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urging action against a sugar factory owned by a ruling party official accused of exploiting child labor and grabbing land from villagers. Six Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarians sent a letter dated Jan. ...

At 9 a.m. yesterday, more than 200 soldiers, police and military police officers were gAthered outside a large mansion on Street 55 in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district. All were waiting for their promised “ang pao” – red envelopes containing cash usually handed out during ...

While Cambodian handicrafts such as silk clothing, stone and wood carvings and rattan furniture are popular with tourists, who snap up the articles at gift shops and airports, the size of the sector is nowhere near what it might be, according to industry insiders. They ...

When ministers from the four member countries of the Mekong River Commission and donors meet in Luang Prabang, Laos this week, the future role of the agency will be on the table. Questions about the effectiveness of the Mekong River Commission, set up in 1995 to ...

The U.N.’s expert on housing rights has cited the World Bank’s failure to help thousands of families evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood as a prime example of why the bank needs to make human rights a focus of its land sector programs worldwide. At ...

The British chairman of an embattled agricultural investment firm was arrested Saturday by Cambodian authorities over charges of forging documents and using them in an attempt to illegally purchase thousands of hectares of land, a court prosecutor said. Greg Fryett, the main shareholder of Sustainable Agro ...

The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has revoked the operating licence of bankrupt phone operator Mfone, which went out of business two months ago, while more than 1,000 employees had their jobs officially terminated yesterday. The revocation of the licence and the mass dismissal of the ...

Despite fears that a warning to users of social media and Internet blogs will dampen free speech, the head of National Election Committee (NEC) has insisted the intention was not to limit expression ahead of July’s national election. The NEC last week issued a statement requesting ...

Government revenues totalled more than $700 million over the first four months of the year, an 11 per cent year-on-year increase, data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) show. In total, the revenue made by the General Department of Taxation (GDT) rose by about ...

The European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) held its first annual general meeting Thursday at the Sofitel Hotel in Phnom Penh where a board of directors was elected and the French and German chambers merged with EuroCham in order to reinforce the interests of European companies ...

In light of ongoing disputes over working conditions in the garment sector, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) released yesterday details on hundreds of factories it believes will offer greater transparency along the garment supply chain – from producers to buyers – and shine ...

China’s expanding investment portfolio in Cambodia has brought into sharper focus the darker side of the Asian giant’s “development projects” in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation. And it is in the southwestern corner of Cambodia—known for its rich biodiversity, forest covered hills and bubbling rivers—where this ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday issued extensive orders to unions, factories, workers and authorities to rid the garment industry of violent strikes, roadblocks and rights violations he says are threatening public order. “There have been many strikes and demonstrations at factories recently, and, in some cases, ...

The uncle of a man who died in Thursday’s ceiling collapse at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province claimed yesterday that the company had threatened to give the family nothing if they did not agree to an on-the-spot payout. It came as a ...

The U.S. has downgraded Cambodia in its latest global Trafficking in Persons Report for showing no discernable improvements in its efforts to combat human trafficking over the past year, the country’s first demotion in five years. The 2013 report cites an increase in the number ...

Hui Tien Jien has eaten at a Chinese restaurant called Old Place Seafood two times – and he’s been in Phnom Penh for only two days. Chinese restaurants in Phnom Penh are spreading in response to a flood of tourists from China: tourists who insist ...

A private VIP terminal costing $15 million is being planned at Phnom Penh International Airport by NagaCorp, which hopes that once it is ready – likely by early next year – high-rollers would flock to its casino and double their spending to $8 billion. NagaWorld, the ...