News

Malaysia-based Axiata announced yesterday that its Cambodian operator Smart had increased its data user base by 135 per cent, taking its data subscriber base to 1.8 million and feeding Cambodian consumers’ insatiable appetite for social media sites. ...

Physicians are scrambling to update treatments to combat the growing threat caused by a new strain of malaria that is unique to Cambodia and resistant to the drug that dictates whether patients are ultimately cured. ...

Minister for Social Affairs Vong Soth yesterday vowed to cut the amount of children in orphanages by 30 per cent within two years through a joint campaign with NGOs. Dubbed “Keep Families Together”, the initiative, backed by USAID, UNICEF and Friends International, will urge parents to ...

Workers striking at Phnom Penh’s Quantum Clothing factory have filed a complaint against their managers for allegedly attacking two workers during a protest Wednesday outside the factory, according to a union representative and police official. ...

Son Chhay, the deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s banking and finance commission, on Tuesday accused commission chairman Cheam Yeap of deliberately avoiding summoning the chief administrator of the parliament for questioning over alleged gross spending irregularities. ...

Brunei Crown Prince Haji Al- Muhtadee Billah will pay an official visit to Cambodia from March 2 to 4 in order to further enhance bilateral ties and cooperation, according to a statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday. ...

The border with Cambodia still sits as the core of a dispute between the two countries – although things look calm on the surface, as politically “viral” groups in Thailand remain busy with other issues. However, feelings could heat up if the power arrangement in Bangkok ...

Conservation groups have called on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to press Lao President Choummaly Sayasone to postpone the construction of the much-criticized Don Sahong dam project on the Mekong River in Laos. ...

A group of nine Montagnard asylum seekers hiding out in Ratanakkiri province had a close brush with law enforcement officials yesterday, even as a new group of the Vietnamese ethnic minority crossed the border into Cambodia, a rights group and a villager helping the hiding ...

Authorities in Kratie province moved to stop a convoy of trucks belonging to tycoon Try Pheap overloaded with first-grade timber on Sunday, but were only able to pull over five of the vehicles, which were found to be carrying nearly double the amount of cargo ...

Amid an ongoing investigation into the massive HIV outbreak in Battambang’s Roka commune, health officials yesterday said that they are requesting that auto-disabled syringes be exclusively used for administering injections in Cambodia. ...

The economic impact of climate change in Cambodia could be highly damaging to rural areas and worker productivity, according to a report from American development agency USAID, which applied climate projections for 2050 to today’s Mekong Basin economies. ...

Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the newly elected president of the royalist Funcinpec party, and Nhiek Bun Chhay, its new second vice president, continued to spar Tuesday over the validity of former Preah Sihanouk provincial governor Say Hak’s appointment as the party’s secretary-general. ...

In a statement released Tuesday to mark Cambodia’s 16th National Mine Awareness Day, Prime Minister Hun Sen warns all Cambodians to be vigilant of an increase in anti-tank mine casualties. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday personally backed the review of government contracts with private waste removal companies, two weeks after the Council of Ministers signed an order indicating they will review the capital’s contract with garbage collector Cintri. ...

Prison overcrowding continues to be a major issue plaguing Cambodia, Ministry of Interior officials said on Monday, as they revealed a 3 per cent increase in population at correctional facilities and prisons nationwide. In 2014, the number of prisoners rose from 14,702 in 2013 to 15,165 ...

More than 100 workers at a Kandal province footwear factory fainted on Monday, according to a report on the National Police website. ...

Referring to Cambodia as “my country”, Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, a vocal environmental activist and Spanish national who was deported Monday, yesterday vowed to return and continue his struggle to save the Areng Valley. ...

About 100 villagers representing 19 communities in Preah Sihanouk province marched to the provincial hall in Sihanoukville on Tuesday, demanding intervention in their land disputes. ...

Cambodia’s central bank will use its upcoming Second Macroeconomic Conference to discuss how best to promote the use of the riel and hasten de-dollarisation in the economy, according to an official release yesterday. ...

The day after the government deported a foreign activist opposed to a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday invited activists in the valley to secede from Cambodia, but warned that rocket launchers could be deployed if ...

A day after opposition leader Sam Rainsy publicly took up their cause, a young Cham Muslim woman and girl were repatriated Tuesday after being trafficked into the Malaysian sex trade and were greeted by Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong. ...

Cambodia received roughly $4 billion in foreign direct investment last year—roughly the same amount as in 2013, the secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) said after a meeting with the National Assembly’s environment and rural development commission. ...

Malaysian budget airline AirAsia launched on Monday “AirAsia ASEAN Pass” in a bid to grab the ASEAN market ahead of the open sky policy that will be implemented next year. AirAsia ASEAN Pass is a travel pass that allows passengers to enjoy flights at a fixed ...