National government

The National Assembly’s Seventh Commission is to summon the minister of cult and religion for questioning regarding “illegal” religious statues erected last week and subsequently destroyed by authorities in Siem Reap’s Svay Leu district. ...

Thailand has invested $100 million in Cambodia’s construction sector, according to the latest figures issued by the Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. ...

Following an outbreak in South Korea of a deadly respiratory disease which has killed three people and infected 36 in that country since late last month, Cambodian health officials on Friday asked travelers coming from infected regions to be vigilant to avoid its spread here. ...

The $1.6-billion Untac mission of the early 1990s injected a huge amount of money into Cambodia’s economy. Now, the U.N. wants to pump millions more into the country—this time by buying up the offerings of local businesses. ...

The company that has been given production rights over a 5,500-square-km area off the coast of Sihanoukville known as Block D has been given 10 days to submit their exploration plans to be reviewed by the Mines and Energy Ministry, a spokesman said Thursday. ...

Human rights activists are calling for more transparency in any potential agreement to send Cambodian workers to Qatar. ...

Eleven more Montagnard asylum seekers arrived in Phnom Penh this week, bringing to 85 the number waiting to apply for refugee status, the U.N. said Tuesday. ...

Cambodian natural rubber prices rose by about 20 percent last month compared to the same time last year as a result of major global producers reducing supply to the international market, officials and rubber producers said Monday. ...

In a few weeks, Cambodian high school seniors will sit down to take the national college entrance exam. Last August, Cambodia’s Minister Hang Chuon Naron pulled off a revolution. He cracked down on cheating. Pass and fail rates neatly flipped, with only 25 percent passing ...

In their latest crackdown on shisha, Phnom Penh police detained, “educated” and informed the parents of 80 people found smoking the flavored tobacco out of water pipes at two separate establishments over the weekend, officials said Sunday. ...

More than 30,000 people are expected to turn out for CPP President Chea Sim’s funeral procession in Phnom Penh on Friday, with security around the city to be ramped up accordingly, a festival official said Wednesday. ...

The Tourism Ministry has downgraded the one-year operating licenses of two hotels where children recently drowned in swimming pools in an effort to make them compensate the victims’ families and carry out safety upgrades. ...

Phnom Penh, Siem Reap City and Sihanoukville will each be divided into 10 zones to allow for easier management, according to the Ministry of Land Management. ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management is in the initial phase of a project to build affordable housing for the Kingdom’s low-income population. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday resumed its questioning of Major General Thong Sarath, a Defense Ministry official charged with orchestrating the murder of tycoon Ung Meng Chue in November. ...

The Ministry of Environment said it is working to make eco-friendly and green technologies tax-free, in order to reduce the cost barriers associated with importing and implementing these technologies, such as the use of solar panels. Speaking at EuroCham’s Green Business Forum in Phnom Penh, Environment ...

Representatives of 29 families involved in a land dispute with the Defense Ministry in Phnom Penh visited the National Assembly on Thursday, seeking a response to a petition they submitted last month asking for intervention. ...

A group of activists and villagers from southwestern Cambodia’s Koh Kong province petitioned outside the country’s parliament Thursday, calling on lawmakers to intervene against a sand dredging company they say is operating in the area without a license. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday morning denied a bail request from former municipal penal police officer Hang Vuthy and in the afternoon retried him over his role in a 2003 conspiracy to murder national military police commander Sao Sokha. ...

Tuy Thida, a 28-year-old traffic police officer, says she doesn’t take bribes. Surveying traffic at the intersection of Sihanouk Boulevard and Street 63 in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, Ms. Thida could be the face of the Interior Ministry’s push to increase female representation among the nation’s ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy will hold an auction next month putting up for sale four licenses to dredge sand along a stretch of the Mekong River, according to a statement posted to the ministry’s website on Tuesday. ...

A Cambodian rice exporter is expected to take part in an Iraqi bid for 30,000 tons of milled rice late this month, a company’s representative said Wednesday. ...

Ten jailed members of the Khmer National Liberation Front (KNLF), an advocacy group that vocally opposes the ruling CPP, were questioned at the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh on Tuesday over their bid to secure bail. ...

An environmental nongovernmental organization and young Cambodians opposed to sand dredging will petition the country’s parliament and relevant ministries to stop companies from digging up sand in a southwestern province, activists said. ...