News

Between 40 and 80 tonnes of charcoal, made from trees logged inside protected areas of community forests in Battambang’s Samlot district, have been illegally exported to Thailand over the last year, an NGO officer said yesterday. ...

Following talks with indigenous villagers over the weekend, which saw promises of jobs and English language lessons, there are high hopes that a foreign company looking to extract gold in Ratanakkiri will be awarded the first-ever mining licence in the province. Representatives of Mesco Gold met ...

Two new laws governing elections and the functioning of the National Election Committee are expected to be passed without further debate during a session of parliament later this week. ...

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Tea Banh left for Langkawi, Malaysia on Sunday to attend the 9th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting to be held from Monday. “The ASEAN defense ministers will review the latest development of security and defense situation in ASEAN,” ...

Cambodia has rejected a U.S.- based Human Rights Watch’s “labor abuse” report, saying the report is groundless, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Labor late on Friday. ...

Kandal Provincial Court sentenced an opposition lawmaker, a lawyer and district councilor to between 18 months and two years for providing assistance to prisoners to help them escape from the police custody. ...

A representative of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet yesterday advised 163 families involved in a 6-year land dispute with a businesswoman in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district to seek the Justice Ministry’s expertise after the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday it had swapped the contested ...

In 2001, Australia’s then-Conservative government first introduced its “Pacific Solution” as a way of stopping an influx of asylum seekers attempting to reach its shores by boat—and as a way of winning votes during an election defined by wedge politics. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday questioned the jailed daughter of a family locked in a bitter land dispute with tycoon Khun Sear over a complaint alleging that the businessman’s company was involved in an attack in October 2013, when a canvas bag containing ...

The impending visit of First Lady Michelle Obama to Cambodia will serve as an opportunity for people and officials to revisit their attitude towards girls’ education, a lawmaker says. ...

Survivors of human trafficking in South-East Asia require better access to health services, especially related to mental health, a study says. ...

Keo Chkriya was pregnant when she was sentenced to prison, on charges of drug distribution. By the time she left, she had been caring for her son in a cell for nearly two years. ...

Prime Minister and self-proclaimed “e-premier” Hun Sen shamed technological troglodytes throughout the government yesterday for their laggardly embrace of new communication tools, which he maintained would quicken the government’s work if properly applied. ...

A CNRP lawmaker’s lawyers asked the Kandal Provincial Court this week not to issue a verdict due Friday in their client’s aiding-and-abetting case, effectively urging the judges to drop the charge. ...

Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha said on Thursday that the National Assembly will meet next week to debate and pass the country’s two new election laws in order for the new National Election Committee (NEC) to be established before the Khmer New Year. ...

Teachers at Koki Som secondary school in Svay Rieng’s Svay Tiep district yesterday asked the Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate the school’s principal, who, they claim, embezzled thousands of dollars from the school budget. ...

Feasibility studies on achieving Geographical Indication status for Thma Koul rice, Kampot durian and Cambodian golden silk have been completed, officials said yesterday. Ouk Prachea, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said the ministry was waiting for the results of the studies done by ...

The Phnom Penh municipality is finalising plans for a potential $1 million renovation of Wat Phnom, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said yesterday. The project, which will commence at an unspecified date, will focus on combating hillside erosion while restoring worn-out structures. ...

Prince Norodom Ranariddh completed his takeover of the royalist Funcinpec party on Thursday, with a national party congress granting him absolute control of the party following a power struggle with the man who engineered his removal as leader in 2006. ...

Sousdey Finance, a subsidiary of Thitikorn Limited in Thailand, will start a financial hire-leasing service for motorbikes in Phnom Penh, with an initial start-up fund of $100,000. ...

A senior refugee department official has said that ethnic Jarai Montagnards fleeing alleged persecution in neighbouring Vietnam need to enter Cambodia via official checkpoints in order to register as asylum seekers on arrival. ...

Nearly 200 rubber plantation workers in Mondolkiri province on Thursday ended a three-day strike over wages and working conditions, despite not having resolved their concerns with Socfin KCD, the controversial French firm that owns the plantation. ...

Cambodia’s energy minister promised lawmakers from the National Assembly’s public works and energy commission yesterday that the country will be weaned off of foreign electricity imports within three years, the commission’s vice chairman said in a press conference after the meeting. According to Mao Monyvann, a ...

The chairman of parliament’s banking and finance commission yesterday rejected allegations of misuse of state funds at the National Assembly, which were raised on Tuesday by opposition lawmaker Son Chhay. Cheam Yeap, a ruling Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker who heads the commission, said Chhay was wrong ...