Government

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith took to Facebook on Saturday to remind drivers of vehicles with illegal “press” licence plates that “it will not be a fine, but prison” if police catch them. ...

Cambodia’s civil servants and security forces must be politically neutral, and will be if the Cambodia National Rescue Party takes power after the 2018 election, acting opposition leader Kem Sokha told supporters in Banteay Meanchey on Saturday. ...

It will get easier for small, rural mining operations to register with the government this month, thanks to a change in the Ministry of Energy and Mines’ policy of issuing licenses, according to a ministry statement released last week. ...

After weeks of build up—including threats of protests in the U.S. and counterprotests at home—Prime Minister Hun Sen will join regional leaders today for the U.S.-Asean Sum­mit in Rancho Mirage, California. ...

Cambodia and Saudi Arabia on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to begin work on opening a pipeline for Cambodians to work in the gulf nation, which has been routinely criticised for failing to protect migrant domestic workers from abysmal treatment and slave-like conditions. ...

Eleven opposition activists who have been jailed since 2014 for supposedly participating in an “insurrection” will have their appeal against their conviction heard on March 17, their lawyer said on Friday. ...

Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks Cambodia as the ‘Most Corrupt’ country in Southeast Asia. Cambodia score was 21 out a possible 100 points, which is the same as the country’s score in 2014. ...

Immigration officials yesterday sought to dial back public remarks by Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak, who on Wednesday appeared to tell reporters that the more than 100 Montagnard asylum seekers currently waiting to have their claims assessed would be summarily deported. ...

The final two weeks of February will feature visits to Sihanoukville from both the Japanese and Chinese navies to conduct goodwill and training exercises, as the two powers vie for influence and allies in Southeast Asia amid increasing Asian nautical tensions. ...

A high official from the Japanese Defense Ministry (JDM) has lobbied for Cambodia and another ASEAN members to support the creation of a meeting between their defense ministers and the JDM to be held next year in Laos, according to officials at a meeting at ...

A journalist who accused a military police commander of accepting bribes from illegal loggers in Mondolkiri province was arrested and briefly detained on Thursday on the commander’s orders, a move that was criticized by the Ministry of Information. ...

The National Police has hired more than 4,500 new officials into its ranks, according to a sub-decree dated Wednesday. ...

Kerry Express, a subsidiary of WorldBridge International (Cambodia), yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)  with  state-owned Cambodia Post to expand delivery services in the Kingdom, executives and officials said after signing the MoU yesterday. ...

Less than a month after the government announced that more than 170 Montagnard asylum seek­ers would have their refugee applications processed, an Interior Min­istry spokesman said on Wednesday that the group had not met the criteria for refugee status and would be returned to Vietnam. ...

The government is planning to boost Cambodia’s attractiveness as a second-home tourist destination for foreign retirees, according to a draft policy obtained from the Ministry of Tourism Wednesday. ...

The European Union pledged €10 million in preparation of the upcoming 2017 and 2018 elections yesterday, which the National Election Committee (NEC) hopes to add to in a new budget they will be submitting to the government, according to NEC officials. ...

Amid fears of a potential reprise of anti-opposition violence that flared in October, a US Embassy spokesman yesterday called on the government “to ensure that no one is threatened, punished, or harmed in Cambodia” if a planned anti-Hun Sen rally takes place as scheduled next ...

With a surge in visitors from the world’s most populous nation, the government is preparing a “second-home policy” to encourage more Chinese tourists to visit and stay longer, and for those who have already visited to do so more often, Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon ...

Twelve civil society organizations submitted a joint statement asking the US government and heads of democratic ASEAN members to raise issues of human rights violations in Cambodia and the misuse of courts to stifle the opposition at next week’s US-ASEAN Summit in California, in order ...

The Ministry of Agriculture’s departments of Forestry and Fisheries will be placed under the control of the provincial agricultural administrations, according to an official letter released by Agricultural Minister Ouk Rabun on Monday. The move is part of an effort to decentralize government responsibilities and ...

An academic tasked with re­searching the country’s border with Vietnam visited the latest flashpoint of political tension—the “Three Rocks” village in Takeo province—on Wednesday and determined that the boulders were still under Cambodian control. ...

More than 30 workers fainted at a garment factory in Kandal prov­ince over the past two days after inhaling noxious fumes circulated by a ventilation fan located near the facility’s toilets, an official said.   ...

Consular officials yesterday were working to repatriate a Cambodian maid fleeing what she described as unfair working conditions in Saudi Arabia, even as Cambodia’s minister of labour was en route to seal a long-awaited deal to open a pipeline of workers to the Gulf nation. ...

Facing threats of retaliation if Prime Minister Hun Sen is met by protests during his first official visit to the U.S. next week, the opposition CNRP said on Monday that it would seek a meeting with government officials this week over security concerns. ...