Government

The son of a police lieutenant colonel and a member of a commune council were among four people arrested Thursday in Kom­pong Thom province for dealing drugs and were remanded in custody, a court prosecutor said Friday. ...

The country’s two major political parties signed off on the final draft of a revised and highly controversial election law on Friday, with civil society groups arguing that the bill is unconstitutional due to a provision that restricts their activity during the election campaign period. ...

A 20-year-old woman suffered serious burns to her face and body after being doused with acid in Phnom Penh on Friday in an attack allegedly carried out by a jealous wife who suspected the victim was sleeping with her husband. ...

The National Assembly’s banking and finance commission has called parliament’s chief administrator for questioning on Tuesday over alleged spending irregularities in a 2015 budget that included buying 30 new cars at $200,000 each and spending $25,000 on a flagpole. ...

A former official at the National Aids Authority (NAA) alleged this week that the organization falsified letters authorizing missions to three different provinces so that fraudulent expenses could be claimed. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen last week appointed 14 high-ranking officials to a working group that is now responsible for overseeing his bodyguard unit during all events that he and his wife attend, the unit’s commander said Thursday. ...

The revised national election law—expected to come before parliament this month—includes a provision that allows National Assembly seats to be taken away from any political party that attempts to boycott parliament following an election, according to a draft of the law made public Thursday. ...

Police shut down the Our Home orphanage and school in Phnom Penh on Thursday, two days after child sex abuse allegations led to the arrest of its director—a former head of the anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), which carried out the investigation. ...

In a meeting Thursday in Siem Reap province with about 270 provincial officials and members of the opposition CNRP, party President Sam Rainsy promised to find a “win-win solution” to the members’ demands that the provincial CNRP chief be removed from her post. ...

There are now more than 1 million estimated Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand. This could be a threat to Cambodia’s economy and politics in the future, an analyst says. ...

As police closed in on Montagnard asylum seekers hiding in the forests of Ratanakkiri province last week, Klan Hoeun, 42, said Wednesday that he knew he had to at least try to get the group to Phnom Penh, to safety. ...

More than 600 military police will be sent as reinforcements all over Cambodia today to aid the National Police, Ministry of Mines and Energy authorities and court officials as they inspect and crack down on illegal mining in the Kingdom. ...

Two local journalist associations are planning to file a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) this week accusing the Preah Vihear Provincial Court’s acting chief prosecutor of charging journalists with extortion because they reported on an illegal-logging racket inside his family. ...

A defrocked monk who was handed a one-year jail sentence for obstructing officials during a wave of arrests of activists and opposition figures in Phnom Penh last year was on Wednesday questioned over an additional charge of “joining a criminal association,” a human rights monitor ...

Following a bail hearing for CNRP information department chief Meach Sovannara at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the opposition party’s spokesman said he was “optimistic” that the court would decide to release the official when it announces a verdict on March 11. ...

The Tbong Khmum Provincial Court has not issued an arrest warrant for the nephew of a senior Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) general despite police naming him as the suspect in the shooting of another man more than five months ago, according to officials and ...

The body of a fisherman was discovered floating in the Tonle Sap lake in Kompong Chhnang province’s Boribor district on Tuesday after a vicious boating attack, police said Wednesday, in what is the fourth such incident on the lake this year. ...

Two Nigerians and three Cambodians were arrested Wednesday for attempting to rob $2,000 from a mobile-payment kiosk in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, police said. ...

Chin Sarin has been removed as Sihanoukville’s governor, according to the Interior Ministry, less than four months after the city’s police chief was sacked amid criticism that he was sleeping on the job as a violent crime wave swept through the seaside tourist hub. ...

Russia and Cambodia are in the final stages of drafting an extradition treaty that would clear the way for Moscow to have fugitive developer Sergei Polonsky sent home to face multimillion-dollar embezzlement charges, Russian media reported Wednesday. ...

Kem Sokha, first vice-president of Cambodia’s National Assembly, on Wednesday lent his support to Chinese investors in Cambodia and urged them to focus on quality and transparency in their projects. ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned to take action against any ill-willed groups that have attempted to topple the government. ...

National Police chief Neth Savoeun on Tuesday rebuked police in Kompong Speu province for allowing a man in a Mercedes-Benz SUV to escape after he fired a handgun 33 times in the air in apparent protest at a $3 speeding fine. ...

For the second time in as many weeks, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction has asked rights group Licadho to provide data collected on the identity of land dispute complainants. ...