ភ្នំពេញប៉ុស្តិ៍

Government officials were still tight-lipped about the 2014 draft budget yesterday, though some details did continue to trickle out, such as the announcement of a sizeable increase in national defence spending. Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker and banking and finance committee member Cheam Yeap said yesterday that ...

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for urgent fortification of Cambodia’s resistance to climate change, singling out recent flooding as evidence of the severe consequences the country faces. But at a press conference yesterday, opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua accused the Prime Minister of weakening ...

Defence lawyers representing well-known businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary, also known as the “Crocodile Grandma”, requested the Court of Appeal to consider voiding the tycoon’s warrant for arrest yesterday. Sokountheary was convicted for encroaching on public land and sentenced in absentia to four years and six months in ...

Teachers across Cambodia are insisting pay raises aren’t just an election year issue. More than 30 representative teachers gathered for the start of a three-day seminar in Phnom Penh yesterday to continue demanding living wages. The teacher are asking for 250$ per month, according to seminar ...

Three people have died, six remain missing and more than 100 homes have been affected by heavy rains that began on Wednesday in Kampong Chhnang and Kandal provinces, local authorities said yesterday. Prak Sophorn, director of the Kampong Chnnang provincial Cambodian Red Cross office, said yesterday ...

An eco-tourism initiative in Mondulkiri hit a snag this week when authorities asked management to vacate overnight guests while provincial officials determine whether the project is properly licensed to operate a guesthouse. Guests of the Elephant Valley Project (EVP), which is located in a Forestry Administration ...

Months ago, Chinese engineers were posting markers for a hydropower dam opposed by villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley. This week, in marked contrast, monks draped trees in iconic saffron sashes as they blessed the very forest the dam would destroy. The saffron robes ...

More than $600 million flooded out of Cambodia’s entire banking system during the third quarter of this year, as fears of post-election chaos set off panic and mass withdrawals, new figures from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) reveal. The figures, obtained yesterday, were the first ...

Environmentalists and NGOs are threatening to sue developers of a controversial hydropower dam, claiming the project would cause irreversible damage to the Mekong River. The Don Sahong dam, a 260-megawatt project proposed on a site less than two kilometres north of the Cambodian-Lao border, is expected ...

It’s taken years of waiting – and protesting – but families in the capital’s Boeung Kak community yesterday saw City Hall officials measure land in their villages. Representatives of the city were deployed yesterday to villages 24, 22 and 6 to demarcate land as a step ...

Three more unionists have been suspended as a result of the violent strikes at a Kampong Speu garment factory in May and June, a Free Trade Union official said yesterday. Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing factory’s FTU president Sun Vanny, vice-president Sem Sopheak and general secretary Chi ...

Opposition leaders have given the ruling party an ultimatum: Agree to our demands by the end of the year or the talks are over. Kem Sokha, Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president, said yesterday that after discussing the matter with party president Sam Rainsy, they had ...

The opposition party has called on microfinance institutions to renegotiate payment terms with flood-affected loan holders. This year’s floods have affected 20 provinces and more than 1.7 million people, with 31,314 households evacuated, according to the Humanitarian Response Forum. The Cambodia National Rescue Party has asked that ...

Forestry Administration officers sent two suspected wildlife smugglers to court in Stung Treng province yesterday after they were arrested while allegedly smuggling disembodied heads and hooves of the increasingly rare Chinese serow – a type of wild goat – into Cambodia from Laos, officials said. Provincial ...

The house always wins, except when there’s a disputed election scaring gamblers away from the tables. That’s the message from Entertainment Gaming Asia Inc, which operates casinos in Poipet town and Pailin province as well as supplying NagaWorld casino with slot machines. According to the company, Cambodia’s ...

Provincial military police confiscated three tractors transporting three metres of luxury wood and two circular saws travelling out of Kampong Speu’s protected Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday. Chea Hean, director of Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organisation (NRWPO), arrived to investigate illegal logging in the sanctuary ...

Chief Cambodia Specialized Bank, a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based brokerage firm, will begin operations in Cambodia next month, its management said on Monday. Sokun Chakriya, head of marketing and sales at Chief Cambodia, said the bank aims to increase access to finance in Cambodia’s agricultural ...

After two and a half years, Chevron’s Cambodia country manager, Steve Glick, will move on from his position in what the oil and gas giant called a routine rotation, according to a statement released yesterday. Glick, who came to the job in 2011, will be “taking ...

When the ruling Cambodian People’s Party promised civil servants a pay rise earlier this year, some suggested it was also trying to give them a reason to vote for it in July’s national election. The 20 per cent increase came amid the opposition Cambodia National Rescue ...

German luxury car manufacturer Audi has expanded into Cambodia, joining the recent entry of higher-end automobile producers into a small but growing market. At a signing ceremony in Phnom Penh yesterday, Audi AG appointed Automotive Asia (Cambodia) Ltd as its official distributor in the country. The ...

Loggers in Prey Lang forest are under scrutiny once again, after a 21-year-old man was charged with illegally clearing and occupying state-owned land. Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday put suspect Ven Nak of Sandan district’s Dang Kambet commune under pre-trial detention, said Khin Vannak, a deputy ...

A labour union representing a minority of workers who have been striking at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd for nearly three months released a statement yesterday, calling the strike bad for the industry’s reputation. Without specifically mentioning the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) ...

Road-safety advocates will likely continue banging their heads against the walls as police in Cambodia wait until early next year to enforce a new traffic law relating to helmets. fines under a yet-to-be passed law will charge drivers and passengers $3.75, about five times the previous ...

Ratanakkiri’s deputy provincial governor called local authorities and community representatives last week to explain the alleged deforestation of eight hectars of preserved land around the Ou’Sinlair waterfall. Situated in Lumphat district, Ou’Sinlair is a popular eco-tourism destination in the province. But logging over the years has ...