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Cambodia’s production of paddy rice is forecast at about 9.3 million tonnes this year, unchanged from last year’s estimate but up from 8.8 million tonnes in 2011, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said Thursday. In its latest quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, the UN ...

Cambodia registered steady growth in international tourist arrivals in the first nine months of the year although the political dispute between the ruling and opposition parties over contested elections in July remains unsolved, officials said Thursday. Tith Chantha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Tourism, ...

Phnom Penh’s National Blood Transfusion Center (NBTC) has dropped to its lowest level of the year, with only 10 units in stock and doctors relying heavily on patients’ family members and friends to donate in emergency situations, health officials said Thursday. NBTC Director Dr. Hok Kim ...

Hundreds of police and soldiers have been working around the clock since Wednesday to prevent a major dam built during the Khmer Rouge period in Banteay Meanchey province from breaking and flooding as many as eight surrounding villages, officials said Thursday. Heavy rains, compounded by floodwaters ...

The former manager of Canadia Bank’s credit section, along with two accomplices at the bank, were charged Thursday with theft and forgery for allegedly embezzling about $2.3 million from ABA and SBC banks, according to municipal court and police officials. “The deputy [municipal court] prosecutor has ...

A clerk at the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of corruption and bribe-taking, police and Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) officials said, but rights groups said clerks alone are not in a position to determine the course of court cases and that more ...

Every year, tens of thousands of people cross the Mekong River from Kandal to Prey Veng province to celebrate the Pchum Ben festival with their families. For some, queuing at the Neak Leung ferry terminal breathing in the exhaust fumes of thousands of vehicles can ...

Energy demand in Southeast Asia is expected to increase by more than 80 per cent by 2035, fuelling some $240 billion in oil spending, a new report from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) shows. In its “Southeast Asia Energy Outlook” published yesterday, the Paris-based IAEA ...

Officials, business professionals and political analysts have mixed opinions on the leadership of the single-party Cambodian government and what the future hold for the next five years. Sok Touch, a professor of political science at Khemarak University, said the political deadlock won’t help the nation become ...

Cambodia’s economic growth rate is expected to exceed 7 percent both this year and next, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday. The ADB maintained its forecast for this year’s economic growth at 7.2 percent, supported by strong exports and robust construction and service sectors. The ...

Wishing you a great holiday with religious festivities and celebrations. From the management and staff of ODC. ...

In Cambodia, there is talk of change. Not just from Hun Sen, the prime minister, who has promised reforms after his party suffered a significant blow in recent elections, but from environmental activists and campaigners, who say there has never before been such an opportunity ...

Land covering an area the size of Italy has been taken from indigenous communities around the world by suppliers to the biggest names in the food and drinks industry, according to a major new report. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are among the companies criticised by Oxfam for ...

Group Lease plans to raise Bt3.4 billion from shareholders to expand its main motorcycle-leasing business aggressively and enter other types of “small credit” businesses here and in neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia, over the next two years. The company is reportedly negotiating to take over a ...

Thousands of students were unable to attend classes yesterday after returning from holiday, as more than 500 schools remained closed due to flooding that has claimed 50 lives so far this year. According to a report released by the National Committee for Disaster Management, 513 schools ...

A mob of 500 villagers beat a man to death in Kampong Cham province yesterday after he allegedly slaughtered his wife and stepdaughter with a pair of scythes and reportedly taunted the assembled crowd with his wife’s severed hand. Police said Laing Pises, 48, used the ...

The head of the Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program said yesterday that consultations on its new public-disclosure initiative have been going on for more than a year, contrary to claims by a garment factory representative who characterised the process as hasty. Jill Tucker, chief technical adviser ...

A fleet of five speedboats set off from Sisowath Quay on Tuesday afternoon carrying Phnom Penh’s governor, 19 local officials, several bodyguards and a press team, as the municipal authorities’ plan to deal with flooding in several districts of the city switched into first gear. Over ...

More than two weeks after the slaying of 29-year-old Mao Sok Chan in clashes at Phnom Penh’s Kbal Thnal overpass, police have yet to launch an internal investigation into the use of force, officials said yesterday. National military police spokesman Kheng Tito said he had no ...

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday began hearing the appeal of six men sentenced to between 15 and 17 years jail in 2011 for forming an armed anti-government force called the Sovanna Phum, or Golden Village, in 2006. The men‚ Chea Sarann, 51; Liv Soksovann, 51; ...

After a five-year break, Lao Airlines will revive the Phnom Penh-Vientiane route with direct flights three times a week starting in November, the company’s representative said yesterday. Ek Narun, assistant to the general manager of Lao Airlines in Phnom Penh, said tickets will be available for ...

As much of the country grapples with crippling floods, a comprehensive report on global climate change released yesterday predicts the situation could be poised to get even worse. According to the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as the planet grows warmer, cyclones making ...

TBONG KHUM DISTRICT, Kompong Cham province – From November to May, the Mekong River is quiet. So is life for the hundreds of thousands of people who live along its banks, which in Cambodia forms a 155,000 square km basin covering six provinces and Phnom ...

It’s one of the world’s 49 least developed countries and almost half of the voting population is unhappy with the current government. But 72 percent of Cambodians are generally happy and spend large amounts of their time laughing, smiling and generally enjoying life. That’s the conclusion ...