News

Global development group Oxfam on Wednesday called on the World Bank to suspend financing for large-scale land acquisitions to ensure that its practices do not encourage foreign land grabs in developing countries. Oxfam urged Jim Yong Kim, the lender’s new president, to announce a six-month moratorium ...

Three of the Cambodia’s most important donors have now condemned the 20-year jail term handed down to independent radio station owner Mam Sonando for alleged insurrection activities-a verdict branded as politically motivated by many local and international human rights groups. Despite the tough words from the normally very ...

Workers at shuttered plush-toy company First & Main claimed yesterday their bosses had forced them to thumbprint resignation letters they had not written, a plan they feared could deny them severance pay. Mech Mom, a representative of the 357 workers at the US-owned factory, in the ...

Families in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district face a tense morning as they prepare for the familiar sound of authorities moving in to evict them. Nineteen families in Andong village were told in a letter from district authorities that today was the deadline for them ...

An outstanding court warrant for Phnom Penh International University rector Tep Kolap was dropped after the intervention of the premier and his wife, according to Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth. Declining to comment on the extent of the premier’s intervention, deputy commander of ...

The United States says it will give Vietnam a loan of more than $100 million to buy a telecommunications satellite from a U.S. companyLockheed Martin Ex-Im says the satellite will provide coverage to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. It says President Barack Obama was required to ...

A UN envoy has called on the international community to pay more attention to human rights issues in Cambodia. The call comes amid ongoing land disputes and legal harassment of activists. Surya Subedi is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia and has submitted ...

In a move that stunned his supporters and drew ire from rights groups and foreign embassies alike, independent radio station owner Mam Sonando was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday on charges of insurrection. Sonando, owner of broadcaster Beehive Radio and president of the rights ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that there was a lack of staff at the Ministry of Land Management, and suggested that the students in his land measuring program be utilized to rectify the shortage. Mr. Hun Sen made the comments while visiting Pursat province’s Phnom ...

Cambodia will receive most of the income derived from a joint project to exploit promising offshore oil reserves, official sources have confirmed here. Ek Tha, spokesman for the Cabinet Office said that in negotiations with Chevron, the government proposed reaping 70 to 80 percent of the ...

Due to rising water level in Thailand’s reservoirs caused by heavy rainfall, the Thai government announced the opening of a dam in Sa Kaeo province, located about 20 km from the Cambodian border. This decision will potentially affect 10,000 Cambodian families in Poipet, Serei Sophorn ...

Cambodia’s total milled rice exports increased just two percent to 131,064 tons over the first nine months of this year in comparison to the same period last year, according to data released from the Ministry of Agriculture ...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considering investing in halal food production and rice milling in Cambodia, visiting UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi said here on Tuesday. Speaking in a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace ...

Direct daily flights between Phnom Penh and Singapore started yesterday with the first Tiger Airways flight departing at 8:30am and landing in Singapore at 11:30am, kicking off a seven-days-a-week low-cost service. The company is offering a special price of US$38 one-way from Phnom Penh to Singapore ...

Tiger Airways inaugural flight from Singapore to Cambodia touched down at Phnom Penh International Airport yesterday morning, making the low-cost carrier the 21st airline to offer daily flights to the capital. Mao Havanall, secretary of state at the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said yesterday ...

The value of garment and shoe exports to the European Union are expected to reach the same level as those sent to the U.S. by 2013, an official from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said yesterday. Garment, textile and shoe exports to the E.U. ...

Vietnamese Bank Sacombak (Cambodia) Plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sacombank in Vietnam, will extend its operation in the Cambodian financial market, according to a bank official. Nguyen Nhi Thanh, CEO and President of Sacombank in Cambodia, said during the first anniversary celebration after the bank’s transformation ...

Cambodia exported just 78,000 tons of milled rice through the first eight months of 2012, and if the government is to reach its target of exporting 1 million tons each year by 2015 the agriculture sector needs more access to financing, participants at the Cambodian ...

Thai authorities yesterday opened a dam near the Cambodian border, a move that could worsen flooding and affect thousands of people in Banteay Meanchey province, according to Cambodian officials. Mr. Vanda [vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM)] said the excess water ...

Disputed figures surround the flood death toll in Banteay Meanchey province. Yesterday, Banteay Mean­chey city hall spokesman Keo Ratanak rejected reports that more than 10 people had drowned in the province as a result of the flooding, saying: “The exact number is seven.” But according to numbers ...

As part of its plan to become of the world’s top exporters of rice, Cambodia is looking to increase its rice shipments to the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s main milled rice importers. Cham Prasidh, Minister of Commerce, met with delegates and businessmen led ...

Ratanakkiri Provincial Court yesterday summonsed three well-known rights workers and a journalist to appear for questioning next week over years-old incitement charges in connection with a long-standing land dispute. In a summons signed by deputy provincial prosecutor Chea Sopheak, the court ordered Radio Free Asia journalist Sok Ratha, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that he has requested a $140 million loan from China to build a 190 km road that would branch off National Road 5 and allow easier access to Thailand. The request comes just one month after Mr. Hun Sen returned ...

Cambodia’s total export of milled rice via the single window office slightly increased by two per cent over the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. Speaking at the Cambodian Rice Forum ...