A Chinese firm that plans to invest $2 billion into developing the Kingdom’s first special economic zone (sEZ) dedicated solely to agricultural processing and storage has signed on a new partner to help jumpstart the stalled project, a top agriculture official said yesterday. ss='cambodia-color'>...

The industry body representing the Kingdom’s myriad microfinance institutions (MFIs) threw down the gauntlet yesterday, announcing that its members had categorically rejected a government directive that orders them to charge a value-added tax (VAT) on financial services fees and would not apply it. ss='cambodia-color'>...

A series of letters issued by the Ministry of Interior on Tuesday night – one chastising two election monitors, and another offering a blanket warning to NGOs – have again raised the spectre of the Kingdom’s controversial and widely criticised Law on Associations and NGOs ss='cambodia-color'>...

Over a hundred families in stung Treng province’s srekor and Kbal Romea communes said yesterday that they have located around 2,000 hectares to relocate to when a scheduled test run for the Lower sesan II dam this week leaves their villages flooded. ss='cambodia-color'>...

More than 100 residents living in Por sen Chey district’s Ka Kab commune yesterday burned tyres while protesting over the construction of a railway that will lead to the Phnom Penh International Airport, claiming that people were not given notice of the construction. ss='cambodia-color'>...

The Kingdom’s investment authority signed an agreement yesterday to promote and protect investments between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Cambodia, a move government officials hope will attract foreign direct investment from the oil-rich Gulf state, which currently stands at almost zero. ss='cambodia-color'>...

International condemnation of the government’s aggressive pursuit of a tax dispute with the Cambodia Daily continued to pour in yesterday, with the Us Embassy in Phnom Penh calling the closure of the hard-hitting newspaper a “sad day for the press and for Cambodia”. ss='cambodia-color'>...

The National Election Committee (NEC) said only four political parties had registered to contest the February senate elections, from which the country’s main opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, will be excluded following its widely condemned dissolution by the supreme Court in November. ss='cambodia-color'>...

Almost a year after the last arrival of a refugee under Cambodia’s controversial plan with Australia to resettle those it is holding on the island nation of Nauru, another three have volunteered to make the trip to Cambodia, an official said on sunday. ss='cambodia-color'>...

Prospective voters ran into problems yesterday during the first publication of the country’s new voter lists. Citizens will have until January 14 to check their names and information on voter lists to confirm they are correct, either in person, at registration offices or online. ss='cambodia-color'>...

Frustrated with the lack of compliance, the government has given the Kingdom’s mobile operators an ultimatum: declare their company revenue shares and settle all outstanding debts owed to the government by the end of the month or face swift and severe punitive action. ss='cambodia-color'>...

Political parties are scrambling to complete their internal processes and register ahead of this year’s commune elections, which are to be held in June. The National Election Committee (NEC) will be accepting registration applications for all parties’ candidates from March 3 to 5. ss='cambodia-color'>...

A hacker behind a series of leaks smearing senior government officials and their relatives on Thursday warned that the government’s online list of registered voters for the June 4 commune elections was vulnerable to hacking and urged experts to make the site more secure. ss='cambodia-color'>...

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. ss='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s National Election Committee yesterday concluded that its indelible ink – whose indelibility was called into question earlier this month when samples were reportedly washed off – is acceptable for use in the upcoming June 4 commune elections after publicly testing it on 16 people. ss='cambodia-color'>...

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. ss='cambodia-color'>...

This is a typical morning for many villagers in Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district, where almost 400 families are members of Kampot Pepper Promotion Association. Black Kampot pepper currently sells for $15 per kilogramme, while red fetches $25 and white $28 per kg. ss='cambodia-color'>...

About 30 villagers escorted two environmental activists from Kandal province’s sa’ang district to the relative safety of Phnom Penh yesterday after the pair were allegedly harassed by local police for helping coordinate a protest against sand dredging in the area the day before. ss='cambodia-color'>...

The temporary detention and questioning of 24 people travelling to the reservoir area of the Lower sesan II dam prompted a three-hour confrontation between Military Police and provincial police officials and more than 100 villagers in stung Treng’s Kbal Romea village yesterday. ss='cambodia-color'>...

Three villagers exposed to a chemical bomb in svay Rieng province’s Korki commune have returned to hospital for further treatment after being discharged on saturday. Deputy district governor sour Mol said the three victims were readmitted because their conditions deteriorated. ss='cambodia-color'>...