Ministries and other national bodies

The Cambodian government moved on Friday to sharply restrict the airing of foreign movies on television, calling the move a necessary step to encourage the work of local filmmakers and promote national culture. ...

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan expressed support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Cambodia yesterday, responding to Nepal’s new constitution – which has been described as the first in Asia to enshrine protection for the rights of LGBT people. ...

From a simple stall on a street corner in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district, Khuon Andy sells SIM cards, between 40 and 60 per month. Half of his customers provide identification to make their purchase, and half of them do not. ...

The Interior Ministry has reiterated its claims that a new law requiring NGOs and associations to register with the government does not apply to small community-based groups, despite recent efforts by police to apply the legislation to a group of families in Kratie province. ...

Vietnam has accused Thailand of violating international law after the shooting of four Vietnamese fishermen, one of whom was killed, by Thai maritime police in the Gulf of Thailand. ...

Cambodia is now free of “blue-ear” pig disease, which had infected more than 4,000 pigs in five provinces last month, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. ...

The National Museum will undergo a massive expansion, but this will not include removing the Royal University of Fine Arts which sits behind it, officials at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts told a public forum yesterday. ...

The Labor Ministry on Tuesday warned unions that if they failed to reach a consensus on a new minimum wage for the garment sector ahead of Friday’s Labor Advisory Committee meeting on the issue, the committee would not consider any proposal from the unions at ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen called for all gasoline local companies to cut their prices in line with falling world prices for oil. ...

Construction of a 10-kilometer elevated highway connecting Phnom Penh and the airport is slated to begin next year, Minister of Public Works and Transport Tram Iv Tek said yesterday. ...

The government has pardoned and released three men convicted alongside self-exiled dissident Sourn Serey Ratha in January on terrorism charges that were characterized by rights groups as baseless and politically motivated. ...

The government plans to build two vocational training centers in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville in an effort to strengthen the competitiveness of the tourism sector in Cambodia, the minister of tourism said Monday. ...

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has received so far more than 100 complaints from students and students’ parents requesting the ministry to review the exam scores after they failed this year’s exam.   ...

Cambodian health officials say they remain on alert for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS. Cambodia has trained hundreds of health workers to respond to the disease, though no infections have yet been reported in Cambodia, Ly Sovann, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, ...

Less than two weeks after Australia’s immigration minister met with Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh following media reports that a controversial refugee deal had collapsed, a spokesman for an organization that monitors refugees on Nauru said that asylum seekers there are again being ...

The greatest barrier to bringing solar power to Cambodia’s villages is not the cost, the lack of trained engineers, or the lack of equipment, analysts say. The SNV is only funded for the next three years. Mr. Barbian said he hopes the government will be ...

Cambodia’s Arbitration Council will share its experiences in settling labor disputes at a series of workshops in Myanmar, a nation with a growing garment industry. ...

Cambodian environmental leaders came together yesterday to discuss the country’s contributions to the upcoming Paris Climate Conference in December. ...

More than 30 non-government groups have recently applied to register with the state or asked for changes to their current registration records, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry that hailed the requests as broad endorsement of Cambodia’s highly controversial new NGO law. ...

Cambodia and Malaysia have reached an agreement to collaborate on renewable energy and green technology, officials confirmed yesterday. ...

The Interior Ministry held a ceremony to promote 119 generals on Tuesday, according to secretary of state Em Sam An, who presided over the meeting. ...

A sub-decree being drafted by the Interior Ministry would give far-reaching powers to the ministry to potentially expand the surveillance of citizens. ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong on Monday told Unicef’s new country representative to focus on helping street children and refrain from criticizing a controversial new law regulating the country’s NGOs and associations, an official said Monday. ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has asked UNICEF for more help for the poor and street children, on top of the $10 million it already gives for education and health. ...