News

For millennia, rice has been the backbone of Cambodia’s all-encompassing agricultural sector. But with global rice prices falling and neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam mobilising their vast resources and workforces to boost domestic production, experts say the crop that has underpinned the nation’s ...

Cambodia’s economy relies heavily on textile manufacturing, tourism, real estate and construction, which are all easily impacted by political upheaval, analysts said. ...

National and Provincial Military Police in Kampong Speu seized hauls of illicit timber and arrested two suspects in separate cases over the weekend. A Provincial Military Police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the press, said the ...

Cambodian authorities last week arrested an alleged drug mule attempting to smuggle cocaine into the Kingdom by hiding it in his stomach. 
South African national Blignaut Chan, 26, was seized on September 13 at Phnom Penh International Airport in a joint operation between the National ...

Move over, Cintri – there’s a new garbage collector in town. For the first time in a dozen years, Sihanoukville has a new waste management company, and it has already started collecting trash ahead of the Pchum Ben holiday. ...

The Interior Ministry on Friday announced it had stricken critical environmental NGO Mother Nature from its registry, effective immediately, with the group saying it had requested the move and would continue to investigate sand dredging and export violations in the country’s southwest despite the de-registration. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday ratcheted up his attacks on the United States, announcing that he had instructed the Immigration Department to check for American “spies” and suggesting the US Embassy pull out its Peace Corps volunteers. ...

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha’s lawyers have said that they are under surveillance during meetings with their client in Tbong Khmum’s Trapaing Thlong prison, which they yesterday called a violation of their rights ensuring client-attorney conversations are confidential. ...

US-based energy giant General Electric (GE) hopes to finalise an agreement with the Ministry of Mines and Energy by November that would see the Kingdom’s coal and gas plants using emissions-monitoring technology for the first time, company executives said yesterday. ...

The National Election Committee yesterday said voter registration was progressing slower than expected, largely due to migrant workers not registering – an issue that advocates have urged the electoral body to remedy for months. ...

A small community in Siem Reap province’s Chong Kneas commune is adamant about getting global recognition for their unique fermented fish paste, or prahoc, after the government endorsed a national standard for the most distinctive ingredient in Khmer cooking. ...

Stung Treng provincial authorities held a meeting with the Mines and Energy Ministry on Wednesday to find ways to convince people refusing to leave their homes near the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam to accept compensation and vacate their land before Prime Minister Hun Sen ...

The Transport Ministry has asked all transportation companies not to hike fees over the Pchum Ben festival next week. The request was accompanied by a plea for all drivers to obey the rules of the road over the festival, which sees thousands of Cambodians return to ...

For the city’s homeless, Phnom Penh’s busy intersections, pagodas, markets and tourist sites are places of work, where many beg for money, and often lay their heads. Others drag carts or bags around the capital, collecting recyclable waste and scrap materials to sell. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen hit back yesterday in response to United States visa sanctions by saying Cambodia would no longer assist in finding and repatriating the remains of American soldiers who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. ...

The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) heaped praise upon China yesterday for its continual support of the Kingdom, claiming that without its investment the local economy would never have managed to take off. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen returned from a three-day trip to China yesterday, all but confirming in a statement what observers have long theorised: that Cambodia now sees China’s backing as a bulwark against Western criticisms over its rights record. ...

A Ministry of Interior directive requiring provincial approval for work done on commune halls prompted a thinly veiled threat from a ministry spokesman yesterday that a popular opposition commune chief could be arrested if she didn’t comply. ...

Two Mother Nature activists arrested after filming suspected sand-bearing vessels have been charged with incitement and making unauthorised recordings of a person in “a private place” – an offence that drew skepticism yesterday, given they were in their own boat in the open ocean when ...

Disgraced former Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Heng Pov yesterday called for a speedy appeal trial before the Supreme Court in two of his cases – which relate to the possession of fake currency and to the illegal detention of a suspect – despite lamenting ...

Despite a diplomatic row with the United States, the trade relationship between Cambodia and the US remains normal, said the Ministry of Commerce’s spokesperson yesterday. ...

he Kingdom’s biggest industrial park is moving beyond its initial development stage and looking to attract nearly 200 new tenants in the next five years as it doubles its footprint. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese agricultural company to provide technical assistance in developing pig production in Cambodia. ...

Kep and Pursat provinces were granted Asean environmental awards in Brunei on Tuesday evening, a first for Cambodia. According to the Environment Ministry, a committee consisting of all Asean member countries evaluated and chose Kep for the Asean Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award, while Pursat was granted ...