Ministries and other national bodies

A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research” for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals or gems. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval on ...

Drug seizures jumped last year, while drug arrests remained relatively steady, according to the annual report from the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) released Monday. As in 2012, methamphetamine retained its position as the most commonly seized type of drug. Police confiscated 17.3 kg of methamphetamine ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit revealed that a district police chief and his deputy in Kampot province who were arrested last week made more than $64,000 by embezzling money, taking bribes and stealing from his subordinates. Srun Lam, Banteay Meas district police chief, and his deputy, Mok Hort, ...

The Education Ministry will reconfigure how it ranks high school graduates seeking placement at state universities as part of its campaign to promote accountability in the school system, Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron announced on Friday. Delivering closing remarks at the Education Ministry’s annual meeting, Mr. ...

Phnom Penh residents should experience blackouts less frequently this dry season, as state-run Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) now has enough power to avoid a repeat of last year’s rolling blackouts, a senior company official said yesterday. The amount of electricity Cambodia will receive from several hydropower ...

Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando yesterday promised to once again defy Phnom Penh Municipal Hall and go ahead with an unsanctioned March 31 protest against the Ministry of Information’s refusal to give him a television licence and more relay frequencies to extend the reach of ...

A 120-megawatt hydropower plant in western Cambodian province of Pursat will come into operation on Thursday after a Chinese developer completed five- year construction, a senior energy official said Monday. ...

Cambodia on Monday called on all religious leaders to help stop violence against children by making their followers fully aware of children’s rights, officials said. “We urge all religious leaders to use their religious texts and teachings to stop parents from using violence against children and ...

The European Commission (E.C.) will today ban all fish imports from Cambodia, carrying through on its threat made in November to punish the country for failing to show genuine commitment to tackling the global problem of illegal fishing, according to a memo released Friday. The ban, ...

A group of 54 local and international non-government groups said Sunday that the state may be behind the disappearance of a 16-year-old boy last seen bleeding from a bullet wound at a garment worker protest in January, and urged the government to investigate. Five garment workers ...

A Chinese developer with a “family-like” relationship to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has accelerated construction at its $5 billion resort – ostensibly cancelled by royal decree in 2010 – in a protected national park in Preah Sihanouk province. The 3,300-hectare Golden Silver Gulf resort ...

Thailand’s ambassador to Cambodia was formally summoned on Friday to the Foreign Affairs Ministry over the shooting death last week of a Cambodian man who was among nine allegedly caught by soldiers cutting down forest across the country’s northwestern border with Thailand. ...

Military police in Svay Rieng province on Friday seized more than 250 kg of elephant tusks stashed inside 10 suitcases in a van heading for the Vietnamese border, officials said. This is the second such haul in the space of a month, leading to fears Cambodia ...

Cheating on national grade nine and 12 exams – which has been rampant in the past – just got harder. The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) announced yesterday that it will enlist the services of independent NGOs, civil society groups and private companies to monitor the more than ...

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei is to attend the inauguration of a tractor assembly in Cambodia next week, according to the Belarusian Telegraphic Agency. “There are plans to discuss a wide range of issues of the bilateral agenda with the emphasis on the prospects of ...

In its race to cash in on hydropower without first addressing its downstream implications, Laos could pitch the region into a water crisis and jeopardise millions of Cambodian’s food security, conservation groups and Cambodian government officials said yesterday. “Lao PDR is exploiting the Mekong River to ...

Cambodia’s central bank won’t recognise bitcoin as a form of payment, making the Kingdom the latest Asian country to reject the digital currency. National Bank of Cambodia director-general Chea Serey confirmed the regulator’s stance on the issue on Wednesday, citing the absence of any e-commerce law ...

More than 600 of the Kingdom’s inmates could be released or see their sentences reduced this Khmer New Year if the King responds favourably to a request made yesterday by the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons, officials said. Kuy Bunsorn, director general of the ...

A majority government-owned life insurance company has stopped paying out benefits to policy holders who die while taking part in protests and demonstrations, the company confirmed yesterday. The Cambodian Life Insurance Company – 51 per cent owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 49 ...

The last of three draft laws written with the aim of cleaning up the courts establishes four new judicial chambers, but legal and political experts worry that it does little to loosen the grip of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Justice Ministry over the courts. The draft ...

A CPP official said that Sam Rainsy’s recent comments over amnesty law were inaccurate. Yeap said that it was completely wrong because Prime Minister Hun Sen didn’t propose this law [amnesty law] during the summit on September 16 at the National Assembly. ...

Villagers emerge from the shade of their homes and gingerly roll up their sleeves, turning their palms upwards to reveal skin braided with dark lesions, ulcers and decaying tissue. They point to houses up and down the street where people have died of symptoms like ...

A day after a bipartisan election reform committee put the neutrality of proposed areas of reform, Defence Minister Tea Banh reiterated that the armed forced would not tolerate opposition supporters calling for Hun Sen to step down. ...

Amid a continually rising rate of industrial accidents and deaths, the Ministry of Labour introduced a campaign focused on identifying workplace hazards before tragedy strikes. Since the ministry began keeping track of 960 Cambodian factories in 2009, workplace accidents have risen by nearly 375 per cent, ...