Ministries and other national bodies

The Ministry of Land Management has again accused rights group Licadho of spreading false data that shows that the number of families embroiled in new or intensifying land disputes jumped threefold last year. ...

After about 100 villagers on Sunday burned effigies of officials involved in a land dispute in Kompong Chhnang province that has dragged on for nearly a decade, the provincial governor said the protest was “contrary to the law” and gave authorities a reason to arrest ...

Cambodia has deported 1,484 illegal immigrants to their birth countries within the first seven months of 2015, the National Police’s website reported Saturday, citing a senior immigration police officer. ...

Starting in August, the Labor Ministry plans to focus its work permit crackdown on “Western companies.” ...

Military, government and ruling party officials on Thursday distanced themselves from deputy military commander Chea Dara’s comments this week that the “army belongs to the Cambodian People’s Party,” insisting that the military remains neutral. ...

Cambodian human trafficking authorities charged a Chinese national on Thursday with attempting to illegally transport 18 men to work in China in what one government official said was the first such case of trafficking Cambodian men to the country. ...

Representatives of about 100 villagers and activists in Koh Kong province on Wednesday said they decided to temporarily halt their campaign against two sand-dredging companies because a group of suspected agitators had appeared in the area. ...

The Interior Ministry on Wednesday signed an agreement with a Chinese media company to launch its own radio and digital television stations next year, with the firm planning to invest more than $30 million into the joint venture. ...

Cambodia’s armed forces belong to the country’s ruling party and must prevent a “color revolution” from overtaking the Southeast Asian nation, a four-star general said Wednesday, drawing criticism from an opposition official who called his understanding of the military’s role “limited.” ...

Cambodia’s Commerce Ministry has agreed to invest $450,000 as a one time seed capital in the country’s rice sector to help boost exports, local sources quoted an official from the Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF). ...

Another group of 33 Cambodian laborers, who were trafficked to work as illegal fishermen on fishing boats in Indonesia, returned home on Tuesday afternoon, Xinhua quoted Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said. ...

Drivers in Cambodia have a lot to contend with: cavernous potholes, weaving motorcycles kicking up clouds of choking dust and noodle hawkers trundling down the “fast” lane. Now motorists may find their pockets as ravaged as their nerves, after officials announced a fivefold bump in ...

Demand for driving lessons is growing along with car ownership in Cambodia. ...

The government is strengthening the quality of the civil service, warning that staff who fall short of standards will be let go and that so-called “ghost workers” will be eliminated, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said yesterday. ...

Concerned Koh Kong residents, joined by environmental activists from the campaign group Mother Nature, began an ambitious protest last weekend in the province’s Andong Teuk commune. ...

A group of Cambodia’s businessmen will attend the upcoming trade exhibition in Macau this year, said ministry of commerce. ...

The European Chamber of Commerce on Monday signed an agreement with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction to help it come up with development standards to increase investment in the Kingdom. ...

About 80 villagers and activists in Koh Kong province on Monday boarded and attempted to tow away five sand-dredging barges as part of their ongoing campaign against two firms they accuse of polluting a local waterway and causing riverbank collapses, activists and officials said. ...

Cambodia may not achieve its goal of attracting 5 million tourists this year due to the slowdown in the global economy, according to the Ministry of Tourism. ...

The effort to reduce violence against children in Cambodia is gaining speed, with a boost from the Religion Ministry, which will highlight the Buddhist value of nonviolence as well as the practice of meditation in the country’s schools, according to ministry officials. ...

The Cambodian Rice Federation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday to receive $450,000 in financial support from the government to increase Cambodia’s rice exports, according to a federation official. ...

Alcohol consumption in Cambodia is high enough that authorities are now drafting legislation for a drinking age. But as the country and its economy develop, many here say it has become an essential part of their social—and professional—lives. ...

The government has set aside some $33 million to finish rebuilding Cambodia’s northern rail line by late next year, according to the Transportation Ministry, reanimating a long-delayed and over-budget project that had been one of the Asian Development Bank’s priorities in the country. ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction had granted licenses to 915 construction projects with a total investment of 808 million U.S. dollars in the first six months of 2015, an official said Thursday.       ...