ព័ត៌មាន​

Seeing is believing—particularly in a country where the government controls the broadcast media and current affairs news, aired on pro-ruling par­ty TV and radio, is of­ten at odds with the country’s few independent media outlets. But in the aftermath of a violent clash between striking garment ...

The country’s draft $3.4 billion national budget for 2014 proposes yet another $920 million in new debt to make ends meet, the same amount taken on this year, according to a copy of the spending bill obtained Thursday. The draft budget calls for nearly $400 million—or ...

The United States embassy in Phnom Penh contains an intelligence-gathering operation that amasses information about Cambodia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday, citing a map first published in Germany’s Der Spiegel. The Herald article referenced some 90 international surveillance sites, including ones housed in embassies in neighbouring Jakarta, Yangon, Bangkok and ...

The Cambodian government has entered into a public-private partnership with a little-known company named ALEX Corporation Co Ltd to develop power lines from plants in Preah Sihanouk province to Phnom Penh, according to the Council of Ministers. The private firm will invest $119.1 million in a ...

The Cambodian People’s Party is prepared to make sweeping changes during its fifth government mandate, including improving the often-criticised judiciary and prioritising social justice, a government spokesman said. This “period of reform” would see deep-seated changes across a number of ministries in response to grievances expressed ...

The head of a construction firm that was involved in a massive land swap with Siem Reap’s provincial government in 2010 defended the deal on Friday saying orders for the move of government offices and civil servants—which is now being reversed—came directly from the national ...

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights yesterday expressed concern at a recent spate of land disputes coming on the heels of last month’s vote, and questioned whether campaign promises of resolving the Kingdom’s ongoing land issues had been forgotten now that the election has passed. The ...

Cambodia postponed U.S.-backed military assistance programs immediately after the July 28 national election, officials of both countries confirmed Tuesday, in a move that analysts said reflects a strain in relations after years of strengthening military ties. The U.S. has in recent years expanded training and other ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has signed off on a Royal Pardon, which would allow for opposition leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia ahead of the national election on July 28, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said. Mr. Rainsy has been in self-imposed exile ...

A controversial land titling program set up by Prime Minister Hun Sen has been suspended ahead of the July 28 elections, but critics say the program should not be restarted. The titling program itself began in December 2012 and is expected to end after elections scheduled ...

In the past few years, the explosive events at Boeung Kak lake – including violent evictions and arrests – have gone largely unreported outside the Kingdom’s independent media outlets. Outspoken community representative Tep Vanny has been under attack from her fellow Boeung Kak residents, who ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a sub-decree designed to regulate the performance of the government’s administration by chastising institutions that fail to properly carry out their work in delivering public services. Though the legislation does not carry any punishment for officials that fail in ...

When activists Mom Sakin and Sorn Siyan took a stand against illegal logging in Kratie province last month, they were allegedly threatened with violence and lawsuits from officials. “Powerful people who wanted to intimidate us shot their guns into the air to prevent us from going ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a draft law amending three articles in the law on anti-money laundering and the financing of terrorism in order to make Cambodia more investment-friendly. Last month, the National Bank of Cambodia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), law enforcement officials ...

Faced with widespread evictions and opaque private sector deals, activists in Cambodia are calling on the government to be more open and transparent about land concessions, beef up mechanisms for resolving land disputes, and abide by the rule of law. It is estimated that ...

Siamese Rosewood, which is illegally logged and exported from Cambodia in large quantities, will be protected internally as a threatened species following a decision taken in Bangkok yesterday. A meeting of the 177 countries party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild ...

Speaking to hundreds of garment workers yesterday in Phnom Penh, Kem Sokha, deputy president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), appealed to those in attendance to vote for the newly formed opposition party, promising higher wages, social security and free access to schools and ...

The government’s brand-new Airbus A320 jet took off on official state business for the first time yesterday, when it departed from Phnom Penh International Airport en route to Beijing with King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath. “It is the government’s plane and is for ...

Economic land concessions remain a major concern, with more than 230 people arrested in 2012, an increase of more than 150 percent from the year before, according to an annual report by the rights group Adhoc. That means land conflicts have increased, Thun Saray, president ...

The government has slashed about 250,000 hectares of land from 79 economic land concessions (ELCs), forest concessions and wildlife protection concessions and will return it, replete with land titles, to “poor people”, January’s Royal Book says. The publication, issued on January 17 and obtained yesterday, says ...

The U.S. will address human rights abuses in Cambodia and urge Prime Minister Hun Sen to conduct free and fair elections and end a culture of land grabbing during President Barack Obama’s visit to Phnom Penh next week. Samantha Power, senior director for Multilateral Affairs and ...

Cambodia’s transformation from war-torn basket-case to one of Asia’s most promising emerging economies is being overshadowed by a backwards lurch in human rights and land policies that critics say are entrenching poverty. ...

Hang Serei Oudom told his 7-month pregnant wife that he was going out to meet a source. A journalist for Vorakchun Khmer Daily, he was investigating illegal logging for luxury woods in the jungles of Cambodia’s northeastern Ratanakkiri province. Three days later, on Sept. 11, he ...

The entirety of three protected forests are now classified as private land, an investigation from rights group Adhoc has found, along with tens of thousands of additional hectares of what has once been state public land In three cases, Adhoc’s findings show that entire protected forests ...