ODC English Site

Gliding through the water almost soundlessly, the MS AmaLotus docked for only its second time in Phnom Penh last week At 92 meters in length and capable of holding 124 passengers, the AmaLotus is the latest cruise ship to start transporting tourists between Siem Reap and ...

Top government officials yesterday either declined to comment or said they had no knowledge of a letter from Finance Minister Keat Chhon to Prime Minister Hun Sen proposing to bar all foreign NGOs from “advocacy” work in the country, as well as stopping foreigners from ...

The company constructing a dam in Koh Kong province, where seven workers were swept away in floodwaters earlier this month, has paid US$1,000 to the families of each of the men for funeral expenses, but is denying responsibility for the incident, an official said yesterday. Sok ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen held talks with President of the Thai National Assembly Somsak Kiatsuranot in the capital yesterday, paving the way for the extraction of contested oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand Yesterday’s talks between Hun Sen and Somsak focused on restoring ...

Amid forecasts that provinces around the Mekong River could see further flooding, government officials, donors and NGO workers met yesterday to discuss the risks posed by natural disasters and climate change. Rafael Dochao Moreno, charge d’affaires of the European Union Delegation, warned that Cambodia is already ...

Amnesty International has called on the government to halt forced evictions at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake, and urged the authorities to punish the police officials responsible for the beating of an opposition Sam Rainsy Party member and Boeng Kak residents during a protest at ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen received a proposal from Finance Minister Keat Chhon in June seeking to bar “foreign NGOs” from advocacy work in Cambodia, as well as preventing foreigners from working with local advocacy groups because of activism around the rehabilitation of the nation’s railway, ...

Job recruitment agencies that send workers overseas often deceive young women through misleading job advertisements by using brokers that have “a position of authority” within the community, according to a new report by the Asia Foundation. According to the report, agencies also inflate migration costs that ...

Mining concession buy-outs will make Brighton Mining Limited one of the Kingdom’s largest miners by concession size in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province, according to a company statement released yesterday. Brighton, an ASX-listed company, has completed negotiations with Summer Gold Investment Pty Limited for mining concessions in Mondulkiri ...

Surveys conducted by the World Wildlife Foundation have revealed that the world’s largest population of banteng, an endangered species of cattle that once thrived in the Kingdom, remains at risk due to economic land concessions and poaching inside protected areas The number of banteng in Cambodia ...

A draft sub-decree sent to the Council of Ministers last week aims to strengthen the protection of the critically endangered Mekong dolphin population by designating key protection zones in the 180km stretch of Mekong River where the dolphins live. Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the Commission ...

Brighton Mining Group (ASX: BTN) has completed negotiations for the acquisition of a major interest in gold mining assets held directly or indirectly by Brighton Mining Limited (BML), boosting its concession holdings in Cambodia. These include the interest of BML in the Cambodian concessions held by ...

Singapore’s decades-long effort to reclaim land from the ocean has expanded the nation’s coastline and fueled its building boom. But it has also depleted its supply of sand.  In recent years, the massive sand shortage has been worsened by export bans by neighboring countries, driving ...

Zhen Yong Garment Factory Co Ltd has agreed to some of the demands of about 400 workers who went on strike last week, including paying annual bonuses early next month Prum Veasna, deputy of the labor dispute department at the labor ministry, said yesterday that the ...

About 500 villagers from six districts in Kratie’s Snoul district protested on National Road 7 yesterday, in a bid to find a solution to their land dispute with two Vietnamese rubber companies. Cars, trucks and buses were gridlocked from 8:00am to 12:00pm along National Road 7 ...

Three families have lodged complaints against China National Heavy Machinery Co after a storm at the company’s hydropower dam project in Koh Kong province on September 10 swept away a group of workers, leaving two dead and five missing, rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Neang Boratino, ...

Hours after arriving for his latest visit to the country, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday urged Cambodia to increase state spending in infrastructure and education and to modernize the country’s financial system, according to media reports. Local reporters were quickly ushered out of ...

Opposition party members and a human rights group yesterday condemned the demolition of eight homes and businesses at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake on Friday, calling the act a violation of the law. Two excavators belonging to Shukaku Inc tore down homes as riot police pushed ...

Excavators flattened eight houses and shops at the north end of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake on Friday as baton-wielding riot police pushed back distraught residents and badly beat one protestor who was among hundreds of locals who rallied against the latest round of demolitions. The ...

Unlicensed real estate developers may find their projects blacklisted if they fail to register with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), a ministry official said yesterday. The MEF published the names of three developers in a local paper last week and has promised to warn ...

Tractors carried members of 50 families from Lor Peang village in Kampong Chhnang province’s Kampong Tralach district to the provincial courthouse early yesterday morning, where their hopes faded as they waited for court officials to accept their latest complaint against a company they accuse of ...

A villager living at Boeung Kak lake claimed yesterday that staff from Shukaku Inc, owned by ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin, threatened to demolish her home if she rejected an alleged US$80,000 offer to purchase the property Lao Vann, deputy director-general of Shukaku Inc, yesterday ...

Preah Vihear temple may have been the scene of the country’s heaviest military engagement in recent years, but visitors have not been scared off by the confrontation, according to local tourism officials. Kong Vibol, Preah Vihear provincial director of the department of tourism, claimed that his ...

Provincial authorities in Siem Reap will demand that the Angkor Village Hotel and Resort respect an Arbitration Council decision, which it has so far baulked at, ordering to reinstate more than 60 workers fired since July. Following protests outside the hotel and at a court hearing ...