News

Officials from four government bodies along with a personal adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday urged two US government-funded radio stations to be more professional and law-abiding during a closed-door meeting at the Council of Ministers. While little information was forthcoming regarding the content of ...

Danish marine fuel company Go4 Bunker Denmark yesterday launched the first company in Cambodia to supply ship fuel to  vessels traveling through Cambodia’s waters, according to officials. The launch ceremony for the newly established Go4 Bunker Cambodia Co Ltd yesterday was presided over by Danish Princess ...

The Cambodian government has developed six prakases related to a controversial sub-decree that regulates the recruitment of migrant workers, but it cannot yet release the details, a Labor Ministry official said yesterday. On the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Siem Reap aimed at curtailing migrant worker abuses, Seng Sakada, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday lashed out at critics of the Mam Sonando verdict, saying outsiders shouldn’t be seeking the release of a prisoner. Speaking to hundreds of villagers at a land title ceremony held in Chhuok district of Kampot province, Hun Sen defended the guilty verdict handed ...

Tens of thousands of garment workers will enjoy an early start to the Pchum Ben holiday today as they trek back to their homeland. Their excitement, however, is not shared by their bosses, who will be left to rue a week-long halt in production. Enterprise and establishment ...

Land governance policies in Asia, especially concessions made to private companies, are leaving the region’s poorest vulnerable to human rights abuses, experts say. “Land-grabbing by the rich and powerful continues,” Suson Bunsak, executive secretary of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, said at the recent Asia ...

Thai Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has called on neighbouring Cambodia to consult with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on its reported plan to develop a nuclear power project. General Prayuth said the Cambodian nuclear power project has “pros and cons” ...

Thailand’s rice intervention scheme is distorting trade around Southeast Asia, attracting rice smuggled from neighbouring countries into Thai government stockpiles, but genuine business remains slack and Thai prices have fallen this week. Cheap rice from Cambodia and Myanmar is finding its way into Thai government warehouses ...

Tiger Airways has launched two new routes from its Singapore (SIN) base, using its single fleet of 180-seat A320s. On 27 September, the low-cost airline began operating five times weekly to Hyderabad (HYD) in southeast India – the airline’s sixth destination in India ...

A project to rebuild Cambodia’s decrepit rail-system appears on track for completion, despite delays and difficulties relocating residents The ABC has been told of the $26 million originally allocated through AusAID, just over $14 million remains, and will go towards finishing tracks and building a bridge ...

Villagers on Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia, who depend on fishing for subsistence, say their livelihoods are threatened by illegal commercial fishing, which continues after a government ban. And they say authorities in charge of enforcing the ban are being bribed to look the other ...

Preparations are in place to evacuate some 13,000 people if flooding worsens in Purst province after the Pursat River burst its banks on Monday nights leading to the evacuation of 27 families in Kandieng district. Pursat provincial governor Khoy Sokha said that floodwater, which ...

The Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association in Battambang province will establish a biomass-generated electricity plant in Battambang, an insider said. The plant will cost up to US$10 million and generate 10 megawatts of electricity. Phou Puy, president of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association (CRMA) and the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet yesterday said it would take no action on a request from about 100 villagers living inside a social land concession in Preah Vihear province seeking a resolution to an ongoing dispute over 5,000 hectares of land. Since 2007, villagers have protested ...

More investment is needed as well as additional assistance for farmers if the government wants to meet its export goal of 1 million tons of rice a year by 2015, according to experts at a recent rice sector meeting in Phnom Penh. Participants said rice millers would need substantial access ...

Residents in Phnom Penh have been warned to expect a buildup of garbage as at least half of the city’s garbage collectors will be on holidays for nine days beginning Thursday. An announcement on the Phnom Penh Municipality’s website, posted Friday, said residents should expect disruptions ...

A Commerce Ministry official yesterday denied that Cambodia was exporting luxury wood logs to China, insisting that any wood leaving the country was in a “processed” form. The China Customs data also states that each year, just under 10,000 cubic meters of “logs” and about ...

Cambodia’s branded Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) market might double in value to US$1 billion over the next seven years, according to Unilever Indochina. Factors influencing this are the increasing urbanization of Cambodian society and the desire for more choice, said Maks Mukundan, Unilever Indochina’s managing director. Cambodia’s open ...

Thailand has committed to supplying additional energy to provinces on the Thai-Cambodia border, an official says. Tun Lean, director of the General Energy Department at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said on Monday its Thai counterpart would supply an additional 40 megawatts of energy. For ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen again addressed recent criticism from [Surya Subedi] the U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia , during a speech yesterday in Bateay Meanchey province that focused on land disputes. Mr. Hun Sen was speaking in Thma Puok district’s Banteay Chhmar commune, where he ...

The country cannot afford to further increase the salaries of civil servants such as teachers and members of the armed forces, as to do so would require tax increases—a move that has already sparked protests across Europe, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. Speaking at a ...

About 600 Tae Young factory workers are back on the job thanks to a court injunction – and the desire to pocket a little cash in time for Pchum Ben – but the return will only be temporary, workers said yesterday. The decision followed a Kandal ...

The Ministry of Information and Council of Ministers has summoned representatives from US government-funded radio stations for an unprecedented meeting to discuss the stations’ content, goals and level of professionalism, government officials said yesterday. In a letter dated Monday and signed by Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen mockingly declared that opposition pledges to increase the salaries of civil servants marked the arrival of “the season of promises” ahead of next year’s elections, during a speech yesterday. The premier deemed boosting salaries by reducing tax losses attributed to graft unfeasible  because ...