News
Defender of Cambodia's dwindling forests wins goldman prize
The latest crackdown on illegal logging in Cambodia is “just a game” and big timber traders are winning, says Ouch Leng, a former government official who has spent two decades helping poor villagers fight poaching of precious tropical forests. Leng’s tenacious and perilous crusade to stop ...
Elaine Kurtenbach
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/defender-cambodias-dwindling-forests-wins-goldman-prize-38473467
Rainsy alleges Khmer Rouge culture still pervades Cambodia
Although the Khmer Rouge no longer holds power, self exiled Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy alleged that the regime’s residue pervades Cambodian society and culture. He made these claims via Skype at the Choeung Ek Genocide Center – also known as the Killing Fields – yesterday. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23888/rainsy-alleges-khmer-rouge-culture-still-pervades-cambodia/
Gov't thanks Chinese for keeping dam open
Phnom Penh has welcomed a decision by China to continue releasing water into the Mekong from the Jinhong Dam – even though it is likely to do little to alleviate drought conditions. ...
Bun Sengkong and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-thanks-chinese-keeping-dam-open
Former SRP president slams arrest of Um Sam An
As the opposition marked the 41st anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge, one of its senior officials yesterday lashed out at the imprisonment of a CNRP lawmaker for criticising the government’s handling of the Vietnamese border issue. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/former-srp-president-slams-arrest-um-sam
Australian police expand Cambodia probe of OZ minerals
Authorities in Australia have expanded the scope of their investigation into bribery allegations involving the relatives of Cambodian government officials and the former Cambodian operations of Australian miner OZ Minerals, the firm has announced. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/australian-police-expand-cambodia-probe-of-oz-minerals-111397/
Case opened into claims of assault by Manet’s guard
Police in Long Beach, California, said on Saturday that they had opened an investigation into the alleged assault of an American man by a bodyguard of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son Hun Manet. ...
Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/case-opened-into-claims-of-assault-by-manets-guard-111394/
New year stats show roads safer, police say
National Police on Sunday said Khmer New Year traffic figures were evidence that the new traffic law has been a success, with 98 traffic accidents reported over the four-day holiday this year, a drop from 123 in 2015, when it was a three-day holiday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-year-stats-show-roads-safer-police-say-111402/
Kampong Chhnang forest fires out of control
About 130 hectares of protected wetlands in three villages in Kampong Chhnang province’s Boribor district were consumed in forest fires last week, according to a police report issued by the Interior Ministry. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23878/kampong-chhnang-forest-fires-out-of-control/
Traffic deaths rise, injuries fall over new year
Although 254 people were either killed or injured in traffic accidents across the Kingdom during this year’s Khmer New Year, and the fatality rate rose, the rate of injury over the four-day celebration decreased when compared with the same period last year, according to a ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23881/traffic-deaths-rise--injuries-fall-over-new-year/
Tax registration deadline pushed back
The tax department issued a notice yesterday extending the deadline for businesses to finish their tax registration until May 31, the latest in a long string of delays that followed the introduction of strict new rules on tax registration in 2014. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23887/tax-registration-deadline-pushed-back/
Tourist numbers in Siem Reap up 9 percent
Siem Reap’s Angkor Sangkranti festival this year was a big success with foreign tourist arrivals up almost nine percent to 29,500 over the four-day holiday from last year, the provincial tourism department said. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23870/tourist-numbers-in-siem-reap-up-9-percent/
Push on for ‘bio-sand’ water filters
Large-scale “bio-sand” filters have been found to be among the most cost-effective water cleaning methods in the Kingdom, according to a recent evaluation by the Trailblazer Foundation, which hopes to start installing them in villages soon. ...
Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/push-bio-sand-water-filters
ElCs earn just $5M for gov’t
The bulk of Cambodia’s economic land concessions (ELCs) – at the centre of numerous land disputes and human rights concerns over the past two decades – generated just $5 million for state coffers last year, with critics attributing the meagre returns to a lack of ...
Ananth Baliga and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/elcs-earn-just-5m-govt
VNese firms concern exporting prospects into Cambodian market
In the past years, Vietnamese products had been exported most to Cambodia among countries in the ASEAN but recently they have faced cutthroat competition from the same kinds of products in Cambodia. ...
Thuy Doan
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2016/4/118445/
Cassava in south-east Asia under threat from witches' broom disease
Climate change and globalisation are fuelling an explosion in the pests and diseases that afflict south-east Asia’s cassava crops, threatening a multi-billion dollar industry and the staple food of millions of people, a report warns. ...
In Phnom Penh, a looming sewage crisis
Renderings of Casa Meridian, a new condominium complex, suggest that its wealthy buyers are investing in a glistening 414-unit skyscraper overlooking a placid, ocean-blue body of water surrounding Koh Pich island, which is sprouting a number of luxury towers developed by the Overseas Cambodian Investment ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111364-111364/
Fire razes dozens of homes in city’s South
Key Sokha was preparing dinner for her family at their home in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Thursday night when a chorus of shouts broke out nearby. ...
Buth Kimsay and Sonia Kohlbacher
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111367-111367/
UN asked to help imprisoned rights activists
Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, the outspoken director of the environmental group Mother Nature, has written to the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to request that he pressure the government to release three Mother Nature activists imprisoned on charges stemming from an anti-sand ...
Kuch Naren and George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111370-111370/
Expert says tiger reintroduction plan sure to fail
A leading Indian conservationist and tiger expert is warning that a multimillion-dollar scheme to reintroduce the big cat to Cambodia will be a “tragic failure” that could cost lives, and that its advocates will come to rue the attempt. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/expert-says-tiger-reintroduction-plan-sure-to-fail-111330/
Phnom Penh to get new $23 million domestic airport terminal
A Malaysian company will begin construction on a new domestic terminal at Phnom Penh International Airport soon, at a cost of about $23 million, the firm announced in a filing to the Malaysian stock exchange on Wednesday. ...
Kang Sothear and Peter Ford
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-to-get-new-23m-domestic-airport-terminal-111342/
US report critical of government’s treatment of opposition
The U.S. State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, released on Wednesday, highlights poor treatment of Cambodia’s political opposition in 2015, and raises concerns about the judiciary’s “broad interpretation” of the crime of incitement. ...
Peter Ford
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-report-critical-of-governments-treatment-of-opposition-111340/
Authorities clear furniture from Sihanoukville beach—again
Outdoor tables and chairs belonging to bars and restaurants on Sihanoukville’s Serendipity Beach were removed by local authorities on Tuesday as part of a campaign to beautify the city’s beaches by ridding them of illegal commercial activity, an official said on Wednesday. ...
Peter Ford and Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/authorities-clear-furniture-from-sihanoukville-beach-again-111301/
Police officer sued over alleged threat to shoot journalist
A journalist in Pailin province yesterday filed a lawsuit against a local police officer for allegedly threatening to kill him if he published a story about a drunken shooting spree the officer went on last week. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-officer-sued-over-alleged-threat-111209/
In Cambodia, calls for Panama papers probe
Civil society groups and anti-corruption experts have urged Cambodia’s government to open an investigation into why Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana was named in the so-called Panama Papers. ...
Neou Vannarin
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodia-panama-papers-probe-justice-minister-ang-vong-vathana/3280296.html