Government

Cambodia passed a key Millennium Development Goal milestone last year with half of rural areas now having access to clean drinking water, according to a Ministry of Rural Development annual report released yesterday. ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) yesterday appointed Tep Nytha to another term as secretary general, in a selection process that civil society and opposition party members have criticized as fraudulent and closed from public scrutiny. ...

Just a quarter of Cambodian voters are fully satisfied with the government’s efforts to deliver on its promises thus far in the fifth mandate, though more than half rated themselves partly so, according to the results of a nationwide survey conducted by election watchdog Comfrel. ...

Reported rape cases increased by 12 percent last year compared to 2014, despite an overall drop in crime in 2015, according to an Interior Ministry report released on Tuesday. ...

Kasikornbank, Thailand’s fourth-largest lender by assets, plans to open its first branch in Phnom Penh by August, according to a report from Nikkei Asian Review. ...

Two Chinese guided-missile frigates docked at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port on Monday for a five-day goodwill visit to Cambodia. ...

Political leaders from both parties have once again taken their grievances to Facebook as they fight to take credit for the decision to remove the tolls on National Road 4. ...

The Interior Ministry has struck a deal with China to buy 200 fire­trucks this year, nearly doubling Cam­bodia’s current fleet in a bid to bet­ter serve the country’s rural reach­es, officials said on Monday. ...

Indonesian firm Sri Rejeki signed a $50 million deal with the Min­istry of Interior last week to sup­ply Cambodia’s police and armed forces with new uniforms, ac­cording to the Indonesian Em­bassy and media reports. ...

The Ministry of Labour is eyeing the creation of a draft law that would codify the sometimes-nebulous process that determines the garment industry’s minimum wage, attendees at the ministry’s annual meeting were told last week. ...

The government will consider suspending its $50 per ton export duty on rubber following lobbying by local producers who say they are operating at a loss due to the sharp fall in global prices for the commodity, Agriculture Ministry secretary of state Eang Sophalleth said ...

Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirin­dhorn flew from Phnom Penh to Ratanakkiri province and back again on Monday, alighting for a lakeside lunch and the open­ing of a health center on the first day of her three-day visit to the country. ...

Cambodia and Thailand are set to have a new international border crossing on National Road 5, linking Banteay Meanchey province and Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province. ...

Mobile SIM card sales slowed to a crawl in 2015 while the number of new subscribers using mobile internet services leaped by 30 per cent, according to a Ministry of Telecommunications factsheet. ...

The number of fires in Cambodia increased by 14.7 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, killing 35 people and consuming almost 600 homes. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday sent his condolences to the government and people of Egypt over the death of former Egyptian Foreign Minister and Secretary-General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who passed away on February 16 at the age of 93. Along with ...

The Cambodian Embassy in Kuwait successfully rescued a Cambodian woman working as a maid in Saudi Arabia who complained of abusive working conditions, lack of food and of having pay withheld. Him Srey, a Cham Muslim from Kampong Cham province who went to Saudi Arabia ...

Six senior police officials were last week promoted to the rank of four-star general, the highest possible title bestowed to a member of the security forces by the Ministry of Interior. ...

The director-general of state-run phone and Internet operator Tele­com Cambodia has been fired amid an investigation into alleged embezzlement within the firm, a spokesman for the Min­istry of Posts and Tele­com­mun­ications confirmed on Sunday. ...

The director of Transparency International Cambodia on Friday called for all political parties to incorporate anti-corruption measures into their platforms before next year’s commune elections. ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance has raised concerns about the rapid growth of credit and real estate sectors, which it says could pose risks to Cambodia’s economic growth, while emphasising that policy measures were being taken to mitigate these risks. ...

Sitting in a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama and fellow Asean leaders in California on Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen seemed to have his mind on what Cambodians would think of his participation in this week’s U.S.-Asean Summit. ...

Government officials are encouraging Japanese investors to channel more funding into the country’s booming construction and property development market, with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction rolling out the red carpet for them. ...

As Latin American countries reel from a spike in the number of microcephaly cases, believed to be linked to the mosquito-borne virus Zika, the Cambodian Ministry of Health has urged citizens to take precautions against the spread of the disease here. ...