Social development

An angry mob stormed a military police compound in Kratie province on Wednesday to retrieve two trucks loaded with wood that were confiscated for not having proper licenses, and two villagers were seriously injured, a rights worker claimed. ...

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said yesterday that about $4 million was being spent on the upcoming national exam and that strict rules will ensure a fair contest. “Each candidate costs an estimated 140,000 riel [$35] that the ministry will spend for whole process of the ...

The Ministry of Health (MoH) intends to discuss with Dr. Beat Richner the possibility of organizing a test for doctors in private clinics throughout the Kingdom about their professional knowledge, a spokesman confirmed yesterday. ...

Financial literacy, for students to make effective and informed money management decisions, will now be in the general education curriculum due to joint efforts by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS). ...

Forty-six-year-old Phon Chet, who lost his left leg to cluster bombs 14 years ago, sits with other impaired people at a rehabilitation center in Kampong Cham province during a media tour on Thursday. Due to unexploded ordnance left over from the civil war in the 1970s, ...

The international community should put “maximum pressure” on the Cambodian government to improve the country’s human rights situation, including possible sanctions on top officials, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said on Friday.   ...

The local arm of tobacco giant Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which makes Camel, Winston and Mevius cigarettes, has blasted the Association of the Tobacco Industry of Cambodia (ATIC) for failing to ensure its members adhere to new regulations mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packages. ...

Families living next to Phnom Penh International Airport filed a petition with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Wednesday to find out why City Hall has not yet issued them land titles now that Prime Minister Hun Sen had promised to protect them from eviction.   ...

Days after a law went into effect requiring all cigarette packages sold in Cambodia to be plastered with graphic images of the health effects of smoking—blackened lungs and an infant on a respirator—there was little evidence of the new packaging in the capital. ...

An annual reporting requirement under the contentious Law on Associations and NGOs, or LANGO, is being intentionally misinterpreted by local police, according to a group of NGOs in Oddar Meanchey province. ...

Australia and Cambodia have agreed to enhance cooperation in the health sector, with Australia pledging $36 million for health improvements in the Kingdom. The commitment was made on Monday at the Health Ministry in a meeting between Minister Mam Bun Heng and newly appointed Australian Ambassador ...

The roar of engines from tourist buses and cars drowns out the nearby sounds of crickets and flowing water as 39-year-old souvenir seller Touy Samoeurn spoke about the situation plaguing her. Ms. Samoeurn has spent more than 10 years calling Kulen Mountain home, residing in ...

Defense Ministry spokesman Chhum Sucheat said on Monday that 10 tanks being transported from the north to the south of Phnom Penh on Sunday night were on the way to be repaired, but would not say where they went. ...

UN Special Rapporteur Rhona Smith has responded to growing concerns among the human rights community that she is not fulfilling her mandate. ...

An international human rights umbrella says the Southeast Asian region faces the threat of growing conflicts over land between investors and local people unless legal and institutional reforms are put in place. ...

The murder of popular political analyst Kem Ley earlier this month, and the fallout from the killing, could push more Cambodians to question the actions of authorities and even to stand up against the ruling party, local observers say. ...

Twelve students of the Classic Orchestra Music School (COMS) wowed Cambodian royalty, making them forces to be reckoned with in the international music scene. ...

Marie Eckstein, of Charlevoix, and her business partner Lin Alessio, of Interlochen, founded the nonprofit Red Dirt Road in 2012 to empower Cambodian women by teaching them business and sewing skills. ...

Cambodia has the highest rate of untreated cleft lip and palate in infants, out of more than 100 low- and middle-income countries, a new global study has found.   ...

The tobacco industry has urged the government to crack down on cigarette smuggling ahead of new laws mandating graphic health warnings, saying failure to do so gave smuggled products a competitive edge. ...

The number of new HIV infections in Cambodia nearly doubled over the past decade—the greatest increase in Asia—while less than a third of Cambodians living with the virus are receiving medication to slow its development, according to a report released this week. ...

Cambodian police say they are investigating the declaration of a coup against the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, but have laughed off any suggestion of the threat being serious.   ...

Four members of a forest patrol were ambushed in Preah Vihear’s Cheam Pen community forest on Tuesday afternoon, according to deputy forest chief Ros Lim. ...

A majority of the more than 2,500 children hospitalized by illnesses in the Kantha Bopha hospital network between Sunday and yesterday were critically poor and could not survive without free treatment, Kantha Bopha hospital founder and head Dr. Beat Richner said. ...