Government

The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology issued a statement yesterday encouraging the Kingdom’s citizens to be cautious around lightning storms, which occur frequently between March and July. ...

With members still languishing in jail and under fresh attack via a now two-week-old infidelity scandal, the Cambodia National Rescue Party emerged from a two-day meeting in Manila yesterday to announce it will not be hitting back, instead opting to focus on  the upcoming elections. ...

Cambodia’s Immigration Police raided a Phnom Penh construction site yesterday, detaining 65 out of 109 Vietnamese laborers who were found to be working illegally in Niroth commune, Chbar Ampov district. ...

Tractor sales continued to grow last year, driven by a shortage of labour in the agricultural sector and farmer cooperatives increasingly pooling their resources to buy farm equipment to serve their members. ...

At least 700 applicants have signed up to join the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), with the successful recruits to be trained to operate new Chinese-built artillery, a senior military source said yesterday.   ...

The Kingdom exported 9,379.29 tons of sesame last year, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, with Vietnam buying the lion’s share. ...

The Swiss government signed its first framework agreement with Cambodia during a meeting between Swiss Ambassador Ivo Sieber and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong yesterday. ...

Australian gaming firm Tabcorp on Tuesday confirmed that it was under investigation by Australian police over a possible bribe it paid in 2009 to a Cambodian consultancy connected to a sister of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been expanding their financial services to include the use of mobile phones, a move aimed at boosting services for people in rural areas who find it difficult or expensive to travel to offices in towns or villages. ...

Cambodian and U.S. military personnel on Monday kicked off a joint military exercise dubbed “Angkor Sentinel 2016,” aimed to strengthen bilateral military ties and cooperation. ...

Since early this year, commentators and the public alike have spent a great deal of time and effort to analyze Cambodia-US relations against the backdrop of the recent US-ASEAN Summit. Less focus has been made on one of the most important bilateral relationships of Cambodia ...

The government announced a set of price caps on retail petroleum products yesterday based on the application of its new fuel-pricing mechanism. Sor Chandara ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen told a summit on micro-finance development yesterday that stricter rules needed to be applied to organizations and institutions lending money as many people were being cheated, embezzled and losing their collateral to unscrupulous lenders. ...

The Ministry of Interior on Friday threatened legal action against lawbreaking auto shops that work without a licence or illegally assemble vehicles from scrap parts. ...

A campaign will be launched country-wide to educate the public about how to properly use financial services, a forum on microfinance in Phnom Penh was told yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday threatened to have any politician arrested on the spot for promising to erase people’s debt if elected, revisiting criticism that he leveled against the opposition CNRP prior to the 2013 national election. ...

The General Department of Taxation (GDT) collected almost $212.49 million in tax revenue in the first two months of this year, up 14.49 percent over the same period last year, thanks to strong growth across all segments, according to official data.​ ...

Cambodia’s health regulation system is in need of deep reform, not just minor adjustments, as it is failing to meet its national needs and ASEAN obligations, according to a new report. ...

About 20 members of the opposition party’s permanent committee traveled to Manila on Saturday night for a two-day conference with CNRP President Sam Rainsy, who remains in exile, party spokesman Yem Ponhearith said on Sunday. ...

Trade between Cambodia and Hong Kong is rising fast, expanding from about $1 billion in 2014 to $1.3 billion last year year, Veng Sothy, an Undersecretary of State at the Commerce Ministry, told a meeting in Siem Reap Friday. ...

Cambodian and Australian officials on Sunday denied claims made by a Rohingya refugee from Burma over the weekend that he was being poorly treated in Phnom Penh, with the Interior Ministry’s refugee director calling the man “a liar.” ...

Local rights groups have raised major concerns about Cambodia’s sweeping new Telecommunications Law, which gives the government virtually unchecked spying powers and criminalizes any electronic communication deemed to cause “national insecurity.” ...

Opposition lawmaker Kong Saphea – one of the two parliamentarians brutally beaten by anti-CNRP protesters outside of the National Assembly last year – has been summonsed to appear for questioning over a complaint regarding property stolen from him during the attack. ...

More than 250 Preah Vihear families who have been living under the threat of eviction since 2010 are to be allowed to keep their homes, according to a letter from the Interior Ministry obtained yesterday. ...