Government

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries yesterday cancelled an import permit for a Cambodian company after it came to light that “natural fertilizer” it had ordered from Ukraine was composed largely of cigarette butts, a ministry statement said. ...

An opposition lawmaker in Siem Reap province is planning to file a complaint to the Constitutional Council to review National Assembly President Heng Samrin’s decision not to forward his request to terminate Sokimex’s Angkor Wat ticket collection licence. ...

The founder of Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), Thierry Darnaudet, this week dismissed child sex abuse claims made against him by the anti-pedophile NGO’s former director, Hang Vibol, and said their feud had created a quandary for the organization when it was asked to investigate ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday chided a group of NGOs who boycotted a seminar on a pair of proposed election laws, saying the groups suffered from “main character syndrome.” ...

A man wanted by police for shooting 33 times in the air with a handgun after he was given a $3 speeding ticket turned himself into police Tuesday morning in Phnom Penh. ...

A military general charged in connection with a high-profile corruption scandal at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which led to the removal of its top judge last month, on Tuesday denied the allegations against him after being questioned at the court. ...

The secretary-general of the National Assembly, who has been accused of allowing gross misspending and nepotism in parliament, spent two hours Tuesday refusing to answer questions over allegations from lawmakers on the Assembly’s commission on finance and audits, according to the commission’s vice chairman. ...

The opposition hailed the rewriting of Cambodia’s election laws a success on Monday, with the completion of the bills coming eight months after it ended its parliamentary boycott for pledges of a comprehensive overhaul of the National Election Committee (NEC). ...

The ruling party and opposition on Monday held a workshop to discuss two draft laws on election reform, but many civil society groups refused to attend, claiming parts of the bills fall short and are unconstitutional. Koul Panha, executive director for Comfrel, told VOA Khmer on Monday that more ...

The first Singapore patent has been granted protection and recognised in Cambodia, less than two months after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts (MIH). ...

Police arrested four men in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district on Sunday on suspicion of smuggling drugs from Laos, confiscating more than half a kilogram of crystal methamphetamine in the bust, officials said Monday. ...

The ruling CPP has denied that an article in the new election law that lays down strict penalties for politicians that incite racial discrimination during election campaigning is targeted at the opposition party. However, a CPP source familiar with election reform negotiations has disclosed that ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen last week issued a directive ordering all government bodies to hold off on new hires for the rest of the year except to fill existing positions being vacated, in an apparent bid to keep spending in line with the current state ...

The Ministry of Environment is set to join the Ministry of Labour in the monitoring of garment factory workplaces, after creating a working group that will probe the environmental safety of all plants in Cambodia. At a press conference at the ministry yesterday, Minister of Environment ...

Thai authorities deported 20 Cambodian monks through the Poipet International Checkpoint on Saturday after they illegally crossed into Thailand to seek alms, an immigration official said Monday. ...

The National Assembly’s Seventh Commission, which oversees tourism and culture, summoned four government ministers to answer questions yesterday regarding the development and future of Kampot province’s Bokor Mountain. ...

A four-story crack in the south-facing side of Phnom Penh’s aging “White Building”—which first appeared in early February as a pile driver broke up earth inside an adjacent construction site—widened over the weekend, shortly after a meeting between worried tenants and the firms behind a ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Monday said that more than 9,000 hectares granted to companies as economic land concessions (ELCs) were recently taken back from the owners because local villagers had been farming the land first, and announced that 14 companies had been put ...

In the coming weeks, a task force composed of officials from the ministries of tourism, religion, culture and education will lead an expedition to a remote patch of forest on Kampot province’s Bokor Mountain where Vietnamese tourists pray, the education minister said Monday. ...

Due to a lack of funding, the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts has delayed publishing guidelines that are meant to increase clarity on inspection procedures for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). ...

Families in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district have been protesting since Friday against wealthy businessman Khun Sear’s plan to build a brick wall that will effectively block access to their village. ...

Representatives of more than 60 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and an electoral reform group on Monday boycotted a national workshop held Cambodia’s ruling and opposition parties on the electoral reform draft law, saying they did not have enough time to review the documents. ...

The Transport Ministry is speeding up work on a joint plan for bus services that would link the far South and Malaysia to meet the needs of commuters between the two countries. Thailand also plans to hold talks with Cambodian authorities this month over increasing ...

Environment Minister, Say Sam Al, said on Monday that the Royal Government of Cambodia has cut off over 14,000 hectares of land and handed over to citizens, and military forces. ...