Social development

An Economy and Finance Ministry spokesman denied any political motive for investigating NGOs and media outlets over tax payments on Tuesday, saying private enterprises were also under scrutiny. ...

Activists rejected an apology on Monday from a prominent television news host for remarks he made that a rapist and murderer should have kept his victim alive to “keep her for using again,” saying he was not genuinely sorry. ...

Tep Vanny stood beside four effigies on a dusky evening last August, marshalling other Boeung Kak residents to light incense sticks, hold lotus stems and throw rice at the four life-size dummies while shouting curses.​ ...

At least three local NGOs have been called for questioning by the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Taxation Department to clarify their tax payments, amid an aggressive tax collection campaign that has recently gone after media outlets the Cambodia Daily, Voice of America and Radio ...

A senior Vietnamese leader has met with Cambodia’s National Assembly to request the continued acknowledgement of Cambodian-born Vietnamese, Vietnamese investors and to request that young Vietnamese born in the country be allowed to study in Cambodian public schools. ...

About 4,500 observers will be deployed for this year’s National Exam to prevent cheating and to continue reforms to the Education Ministry, the Anti-Corruption Unit said yesterday. ...

A local television presenter is facing heavy criticism for an inflammatory on-air suggestion that rape victims should not resist their attackers, and should instead accept sexual assault to avoid being killed – a reference to a brutal rape and murder of an 18-year-old woman in ...

Khmer Power Party head and former convicted “terrorist” Sourn Serey Ratha was arrested yesterday over a Facebook post criticising the deployment of troops to the Laos border by suggesting that grunts in the field would suffer while the military’s leaders hung back to enjoy “money” ...

Representatives of the Pu Nong indigenous community in Mondulkiri province’s Bou Sra commune have accused the director of the Provincial Rural Development Department of forcing them to withdraw a complaint over the prevention of their indigenous peoples’ day celebration last year. ...

Despite killing some 800 people in the Kingdom each year, rabies has been largely off the public health radar. Plans are in the works for a nationwide response, but can funding catch up? ...

Political commentator Kim Sok was sentenced to 18 months in prison this afternoon on charges of incitement and defamation for appearing to suggest that the ruling party was behind the killing of popular analyst Kem Ley. ...

As the Apsara Authority knocked down seven illegal structures in the Angkor Archeological Park yesterday, other residents expressed confusion over why they were first granted permission to build homes but are now being evicted. ...

A ground-breaking ceremony will be held today to mark the start of construction of a $6 million treatment centre for drug addicts in Sihanoukville. ...

The Indigenous People Network and civil society organizations yesterday asked the government to speed up registration of indigenous collective lands. ...

Plan International Cambodia has launched a three-year project to help young children living in remote and disadvantaged areas in Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng provinces receive education and health care services. ...

In a decision roundly criticised by rights observers, the Appeal Court yesterday upheld a two-and-a-half-year sentence for Boeung Kak activist Tep Vanny for her alleged involvement in a 2013 protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s residence in Phnom Penh that turned violent. ...

UN Special Rapporteur Rhona Smith kicked off an official visit to the Kingdom yesterday by raising concerns over ruling party officials’ increased use of violent rhetoric, singling out Social Affairs Minister Vong Soth’s recent threats to bludgeon protesters with bamboo rods, during a meeting with ...

Senior Ministry of Health officials and health experts have warned an increase in non-communicable diseases is posing a threat to public health and the nation’s development. ...

Government officials have claimed the country could see an end to malnutrition and hunger following a decade of food security improvements and increased rice yields. ...

Authorities from four provinces, along with the Ministry of Justice, set more than 100 kilograms of drugs ablaze at the Preah Vihear provincial hall on Monday. ...

Only 200 of some 5,000 domestic NGOs have submitted required banking details to the Interior Ministry, its spokesman said on Monday, as the government steps up enforcement of tax requirements on organizations that may have racked up huge unpaid bills. ...

Government-aligned media outlet Fresh News has published a leaked letter from the Taxation Department to the Cambodia Daily claiming that it owes $6.3 million in back taxes, a disclosure accompanied by scathing anonymous “letters” attacking the English-language newspaper and prominent NGOs. ...

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia will pay her fourth visit to the country from August 8 to 18 to examine children’s rights, among other issues. ...

Ministry of Health has confirmed that Cambodia has no case of swine flu or H1N1, yet encouraged the public to take appropriate precaution to protect themselves and their families from the disease. ...