News

Amid a hail of 20,000 bullets, the thud of eight helicopters, a hostage rescue demonstration and choreographed martial arts performances, the joint Chinese-Cambodian Golden Dragon military exercises concluded yesterday as officials from both sides praised the expanding relationship between the two countries. ...

Environmental officials in Pursat are questioning rangers over how a group of local journalists discovered nearly 100 logs of luxury timber inside a wildlife sanctuary. After receiving a tip, the journalists, representing 24 small online media outlets, teamed up with five local policemen on Tuesday ...

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction yesterday issued land titles to nearly 800 families living on social land concessions in Kampong Thom province’s Santuk district. The ministry said the land concessions and following land titles have contributed to a reduction in poverty and ...

The National Election Committee announced yesterday that the number of National Assembly seats for the upcoming national election will increase by two, bringing the total to 125. NEC spokesman Dim Sovannarom said that two more seats were added to the 123-seat National Assembly in compliance with ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Chuon Sovann on Wednesday ordered authorities in Phnom Penh to tighten their grip on a broad cross-section of groups, including civil society organisations and communities with “opposition tendencies”, that attempt to cause “social instability” and “political turmoil”. ...

About 40 families in Sihanoukville’s Koh Rong commune who fear losing their land have requested intervention from provincial authorities in order to stop the activities of tycoon Sok Bun and officials from the Ministry of Land Management. ...

An Areng Valley representative on Monday visited the Chumnoab commune office in Koh Kong province to plead with authorities not to remove a community office that has been slated for demolition to make way for a new commune office. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday asked all taxi drivers and transportation companies to not increase prices during the Khmer New Year and said public buses in Phnom Penh would be free for citizens during that time. ...

Customers at shopping centres and supermarkets will be charged 400 riel per plastic bag beginning April 10. Heng Nareth, the director of environmental protection at the Ministry of Environment, said the aim is to reduce wasteful use of plastic bags. ...

A complaint filed at the Preah Vihear Provincial Court accuses four Kuoy ethnic villagers of goading some 70 others into confiscating tractors being used to clear community land by a subsidiary of the Chinese sugar company Rui Feng, which has been involved in a series ...

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is forecasting that 44 percent of Cambodia’s total rice exports will be smuggled out of the country through informal channels this year, a persistent problem that weighs down profits and threatens to cripple the industry. ...

Cambodia should continue to see steady economic growth at about 7 percent this year despite potential investor caution that could arise ahead of July’s national election, officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) said on Wednesday. ...

A 20-year-old land dispute in Kandal province between residents of Por Miev village and the Phan Imex construction company hit a new snag on Wednesday when villagers discovered that workers had brought excavation equipment to a parcel of land that borders communal property at the ...

In a boast reminiscent of US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Hun Sen went on a tangent on Wednesday before thousands of garment workers in Por Sen Chey district extolling his negotiating prowess, calling himself one of the top negotiators in the “history of world ...

Some 80 villagers embroiled in a long-running land dispute vowed on Tuesday to continue to protest outside the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court until the release of their community representative, who was arrested on Monday for allegedly “affecting private ownership”. ...

Germany’s international development agency (GIZ) held a workshop on Tuesday that promoted Cambodian agricultural exports to China, focusing on the necessary export guidelines and the sanitation standards that are often lacking in the Kingdom’s agricultural value chains. ...

A series of quarterly reports from the National Bank of Cambodia raises questions about the government’s ban on timber exports, as they show that last year, more than $5 million in sawn timber was exported from the Kingdom. The latest report, released earlier this month ...

Former Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha is to remain in jail while awaiting his trial after the Appeal Court on Tuesday (Mar 27) upheld the decision of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to extend his pre-trial detention by an additional six months. ...

The Agriculture Ministry last week accused slaughterhouses across Cambodia of conspiring to form a cartel and engaging in price fixing while local authorities turned a blind eye, but has since said it has no plans to punish or even name the alleged perpetrators. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday announced that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono will visit Cambodia soon to sign an aid agreement, dismissing reports that the Japanese would pressure him to negotiate with former CNRP officials. ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn met with newly appointed United Nations Development Programme representative Pauline Tamesis yesterday. After the meeting, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said Ms Tamesis confirmed UNDP’s commitment to continue cooperating with Cambodia and supporting policies of the government. ...

Some 100 people representing more than 600 families from Kratie province’s Snuol district who have a land dispute with the Memot Rubber Plantation Company returned home yesterday after sending petitions to relevant ministries. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday that a meeting with Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono next week would not include discussions of the dissolved CNRP, affirming his commitment to holding this year’s elections while rejecting the possibility of negotiations or pardons for the ...

Following a meeting in which a Japanese emissary urged the government to open negotiations with the now-dissolved opposition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested Japan’s concerns were based on a “misunderstanding” and said Cambodia is too small to fight against an alleged “strong propaganda machine”. ...