The Cambodia Daily
Court releases activist, former capitol tours bus driver on bail
Former Capitol Tours bus driver Nan Vanna and labor activist Ros Siphay were released on bail Wednesday, nearly two months after they were arrested for taking part in a demonstration against the company during which protesters were attacked by a mob of angry tuk-tuk drivers. ...
Expressway plans scrapped amid eviction fears
Ambitious plans for an elevated expressway above a set of derelict railway tracks linking central Phnom Penh to the airport have been scrapped, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Tuesday, two months after senior government officials warned that it would negatively impact at least a ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/expressway-plans-scrapped-amid-eviction-fears-110916/
Ministry hits back at rebuke of contentious telecoms law
The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has defended the controversial new Telecommunications Law following a biting legal analysis by rights group Licadho, which says the legislation is a veiled tool to silence critics and potentially criminalize private expression. ...
Sonia Kohlbacher and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-hits-back-at-rebuke-of-contentious-telecoms-law-110921/
As elections loom, voter registration stalled
A group of election-monitoring NGOs have expressed alarm at what they say are inexplicable delays in starting to rebuild the national voter list, with concerns that the National Election Committee (NEC) may be leaving things too late for the 2017 commune elections. ...
Alex Willemyns and Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-elections-loom-voter-registration-stalled-110905/
Hun Sen vows to arrest civil servants who tarnish government
Prime Minister Hun Sen vowed on Tuesday to arrest civil servants who gave the government a bad name and skewered political commentators for criticizing his cabinet reshuffle. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-vows-to-arrest-civil-servants-who-tarnish-government-110903/
Justice minister denies shares in shadowy offshore firm
Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana had a stake in a shadowy offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, according to data made public on Sunday in what is being called the largest leak of secret documents in history. ...
Taylor O'Connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/justice-minister-denies-shares-in-offshore-firm-110852/
For commerce minister, feud preceded move
When the National Assembly meets today to approve the prime minister’s second cabinet reshuffle since the last election, it will be a case of back to the future for outgoing Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol. ...
Alex Willemyns and Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-commerce-minister-feud-preceded-move-110777/
Ambassador to South Korea grilled over corruption
Cambodia’s ambassador to South Korea was summoned to appear before the Anti-Corruption Unit on Monday morning for questioning over allegations of corruption, and was expected to be arrested later in the day, the unit’s chief said. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ambassador-to-south-korea-grilled-over-corruption-110855/
Ratanakkiri running out of water amid worst drought in years
With a severe drought choking the northeast, it’s only a matter of weeks before many residents of Ratanakkiri province run dry, according to villagers, local officials and organizations working in the province. ...
Aisha Down
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rkiri-running-out-of-water-amid-worst-drought-in-years-110781/
Scammers pretend to be senior officials, threaten governors
The Ministry of Interior has ordered National Police to investigate a scam in which unidentified callers claimed to be senior officials at the ministry and the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in an attempt to extort money from district governors, according to a letter issued on April ...
Chhorn Chansy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/scammers-pretend-to-be-senior-officials-threaten-governors-110794/
Cambodia faltering on road to democracy, EU cautions
The government’s suppression of human rights poses a serious threat to Cambodia’s democratic progress, visiting members of the European Parliament’s human rights subcommittee warned on Friday. ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/110765-110765/
Activist monks found guilty of drug possession, death threat
Two defrocked monks were handed prison sentences at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday, with one of them found guilty of drug possession and making a death threat and the other of using fake documents and improperly wearing monks’ robes. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activist-monks-found-guilty-of-drug-possession-death-threat-110771/
Attacked Prey Lang activist vows to keep up the fight
Sleeping in a hammock strung between two tall trees, deep inside Prey Lang forest, environmental activist Phorn Sopheak was startled awake at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning when her parked motorbike toppled over onto her body. ...
George Wright and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/attacked-prey-lang-activist-vows-to-keep-up-the-fight-110769/
UN envoy sees rights deteriorate in absence
The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia said the political climate had clearly deteriorated in the six months since her first fact-finding mission and that the country remained at a “dangerous tipping point” ahead of commune and national elections. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-sees-rights-deteriorate-in-absence-110703/
Residents, activists call for city to stop filling in lakes
Protesters from Phnom Penh’s lakeside communities spent an hour facing off with police on Thursday on a road on the former Boeng Kak lake before turning around and taking a different route to the National Assembly, where they demanded an end to the infilling and ...
Police block families of mother nature activists during march
Security forces on Thursday blocked two mothers and a wife of jailed activists from the environmental group Mother Nature from walking to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house to protest their family members’ imprisonment, before a representative of the premier’s cabinet chastised them for using the ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-block-families-of-mother-nature-activists-during-march-110706/
City police chief announces measures to rein in weapons
Phnom Penh’s police chief on Thursday blasted his subordinates for doing an inadequate job of controlling weapons issued to officers, and announced that police had begun a “weapons census” in an effort to deal with the problem. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-police-chief-announces-measures-to-rein-in-weapons-110730/
Government waives 10 percent VAT for rice
The government decided to drop a 10 percent value added-tax (VAT) for rice products during a meeting on Wednesday between representatives of the rice sector and government officials at the Council for the Development of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, officials said. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-waives-10-percent-vat-for-rice-110676/
UN envoy meets interior minister Sar Kheng
After police in Preah Vihear province blocked the U.N.’s human rights envoy from meeting with indigenous villagers earlier this week, Rhona Smith sat down with Interior Minister Sar Kheng in Phnom Penh on Wednesday and called for better communication between national and local government officials. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-meets-interior-minister-sar-kheng-110656/
Rainsy says french investigating grenade attack
Speaking via video-link at a ceremony on Wednesday marking the 19th anniversary of the 1997 grenade attack in Phnom Penh, self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy announced that a French court had re-opened an investigation into the deadly attack he has long blamed on Prime Minister ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rainsy-says-french-investigating-grenade-110637/
US signs $35 million aid package with government
The U.S. pledged $35 million in development aid to Cambodia in the first part of a three-year, $137 million package announced on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon and U.S. Ambassador William Heidt, according to a U.S. Embassy statement. ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-signs-35-million-aid-package-with-government-110667/
Commune chief found with over 17 tons of illegal rosewood
Police in Tbong Khmum province found more than 4,000 pieces of undocumented rosewood after raiding the home of a commune chief over the weekend but chose not to arrest the official pending further investigation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/commune-chief-found-with-over-17-tons-of-illegal-rosewood-110526/
Armed soldiers storm forestry office to retake truck
A group of 10 armed soldiers stormed a Forestry Administration office in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday and attempted to seize a military truck that had been confiscated from them after they used it to transport illegal timber, leading to an hourslong standoff, officials said. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/armed-soldiers-storm-forestry-office-to-retake-truck-110515/
Government cancels concession run by Vietnamese army
One of four rubber plantations operated by the Vietnamese military in Ratanakkiri province had its contract with the government canceled last month amid accusations that it had engaged in illegal logging and had allowed Vietnamese farmers to encroach on Cambodian land, the director of the ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-cancels-concession-run-by-vietnamese-army-110524/