Opposition party whip son Chhay reiterated his call at a press conference yesterday for the government to raise taxes on economic land concessions from $5 to $7 a hectare up to $70 through an amendment to the draft of the 2013 budget. The sam Rainsy Party ss='cambodia-color'>...

An absence of public transport, improved roads and the economic development of Cambodia’s rural areas was reflected in an increase in vehicle registrations by 7.7 per cent from 2011 to 2012, official data shows. However, as an insider said yesterday, many cars and motorcycles will ss='cambodia-color'>...

Agricultural experts are urging Cambodian rice growers to choose seeds that can withstand drought and submersion in deep water in an attempt to make the country’s rice industry more competitive. Awareness of rice-seed selection was limited among farmers in the Kingdom, despite the importance of the ss='cambodia-color'>...

Improved quality coupled with growing international demand has sent crab prices escalating over the past year, officials said on Wednesday. In some provinces, the price has jumped as much as 66 percent during the past 12 months. Lang Kery, chief of the Koh Kong provincial Fishery Administration’s ss='cambodia-color'>...

Ninety-one NGOs put their names to a statement yesterday condemning the government’s escalating use of armed force against peaceful protesters and urged the authorities to engage with them to “break the current cycle of violence and impunity.” Joined by local human rights groups such as Adhoc ss='cambodia-color'>...

Almost 3,400 new businesses were registered in Cambodia in 2012, an increase of 9 percent on the previous year, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce. In 2012, the ministry’s business registration department recorded some 3,385 new companies, compared with 3,104 new companies in 2011, ss='cambodia-color'>...

Pursat Provincial Court yesterday sentenced a military official, Poung Puthearith, to two years in jail – suspended to six months – on charges of threatening and obstructing the works of a forestry official, a court official said. Puthearith was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit ss='cambodia-color'>...

Beehive radio owner Mam Sonando, along with two otherS appeared in the Court of AppealS ThurSday to liSten to their verdictS. The Sentence waS changed from five yearS to eight monthS impriSonment, but will be releaSed on March 16, 2013 for having Spent the Same amount SS='cambodia-color'>...

The number of large-scale factories in Cambodia has increased by 29 percent to 907 in 2012, Minister of Industry, Mine and Energy suy sen said Thursday. Those large-scale enterprises employed 559,600 employees last year, a 38 percent increase from 403,560 a year earlier, he said ss='cambodia-color'>...

A commune official in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district has filed a lawsuit accusing a human rights worker of incitement and disinformation after villagers the NGO staffer spoke to traveled to Phnom Penh to protest over a land dispute involving a well-known businessman Try Pheap. Pursat ss='cambodia-color'>...

Police have cracked down on illegal large-scale rosewood smuggling at the Cambodia-Thai border in the district of Malai. In the sting operation Tuesday night, led by Banteay Meanchey prosecutor, Phan Pirom, the authorities have seized around three tons of rosewood, hidden in the truck bed used ss='cambodia-color'>...

VimpelCom, the parent company of local mobile operator Beeline, is looking to sell the majority share of its Cambodian assets and has entered into negations with a possible buyer, according to a document obtained yesterday. “VimpelCom intends to dispose its entire indirect 90.0 percent stake in ss='cambodia-color'>...

A Lao government delegation visiting the Kingdom’s capital last week anticipates that a joint visa scheme that would allow entry to both countries on a single visa will take at least two to three years to implement. Manoxay Vilayhane, second secretary at the Lao embassy in ss='cambodia-color'>...

Community forest patrollers in Oddar Meanchey’s samrong district say they were forced to return saws and timber they seized from illegal loggers after soldiers detained and threatened them on sunday. The 27-member patrol, funded by development NGO Pact as part of the REDD+ carbon credit program, ss='cambodia-color'>...

While tourism in Cambodia has historically slowed in advance of general elections, tourism leaders in the government and private sector have said they expect this year’s July elections to have little impact on tourist arrivals.  Tourism numbers dipped by 10.9 per cent for the 2003 ss='cambodia-color'>...

More than 300 protesters seized two company trucks outside the Kratie office of Korean-owned timber company Think Biotech Co yesterday as protests by villagers who allege land-grabbing continued for a second day. “We have seized the company’s two trucks to ask the company to come ss='cambodia-color'>...

Phnom Penh municipal governor Pa Socheatvong haS ordered a complete SuSpenSion of all Sand-dredging activitieS while the municipality inveStigateS whether the companieS are operating illegally, a SpokeSman Said. The order came during a meeting yeSterday between the governor and hiS SubordinateS, City Hall SpokeSman Long Dimanche SS='cambodia-color'>...

In the latest instalment of a project designed to revamp Phnom Penh’s drainage system, officials have begun work expanding a sediment chamber near the Royal Palace to Wat Botum. Phase three of the ongoing $350 million drainage system project spearheaded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency ss='cambodia-color'>...

An investigation by BBC news program Panorama into the misuse of Global Fund aid to Cambodia has claimed that the Fund “watered down” a report released last month, which exposed a network of corruption in Cambodia’s health sector. But Panorama, which obtained a leaked copy of the original ss='cambodia-color'>...

More than 500 students and teachers from two high schools in Banteay Meanchey province’s sisophon district took to the streets on Friday demanding better safety around schools after a truck crashed into a rice mill near one of the schools, injuring a man. The students and ss='cambodia-color'>...