The Cambodia Daily

Cambodia’s rice industry faces a ple­thora of challenges—both internal and external—that have led to low prices and prevented ex­porters from achieving a lofty tonnage target set by the government in 2010, Prime Minister Hun­ Sen said on Monday. ...

A farmer from Battambang province took this year’s honor of growing the country’s top rice paddy on Sunday as industry heavyweights gathered in Phnom Penh for the first of the three-day Cambodia Rice Forum. ...

An estimated 4.8 million tourists visited Cambodia in 2015, up 6 percent from the 4.5 million visitors last year, Ministry of Tourism Under­secretary of State Top Sopheak said on Sunday. ...

Ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s planned visit to Cambodia this week, local and international NGOs have urged Mr. Kerry not to sign any new bilateral agreements unless Cambodia vows to improve its human rights and democracy efforts. ...

A disease expert in Cambodia said on Friday that although the Zika virus—which has recently been linked to birth defects and paralysis in South America—had circulated in Cambodia in the past, there had been no reported cases of the virus here for three years, though ...

Cambodia’s National Police have joined the fray in an ongoing crackdown against illegal logging, starting their own “mission group” following the creation of a military police task force last week. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy generated a four-fold increase in non-tax revenues from extractive industries last year, collecting just over $17 million, a ministry official said yesterday. ...

Six months after it started construction, Kith Meng’s Royal Group has been ordered to demolish a nearly finished jetty on O’Tres Beach near Sihanoukville, with local officials saying the tycoon’s company was never granted permission to build it in the first place. ...

About 300 vendors from the Tumnup market in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district protested in front of the municipal court on Wednesday to demand that two of their colleagues who were arrested amid a dispute over market fees be released. ...

Experts on Wednesday urged Cambodia to move away from large-scale hydropower and coal projects and toward more environmentally friendly sources of power or risk long-term energy insecurity, following the launch of a report by investment and advisory firm Mekong Strategic Partners in Phnom Penh. ...

Authorities raided yet another rubber plantation on Tuesday as part of a new dragnet to catch illegal loggers in eastern Cambodia, said Eng Hy, spokesman for the National Military Police. ...

The Interior Ministry has asked Interpol to help arrest a “Cambodian living abroad” it believes is responsible for doctoring and circulating an image of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s wife, according to a ministry spokesman. ...

Global brands rely on a hidden workforce within their supply chains to avoid responsibility for poor working conditions and abuse, according to a new report from the International Trade Union Confederation. ...

Traffic police will not fine road users for offenses related to licenses and vehicle documentation until March 15, while other provisions of the new Land Traffic Law will continue to be enforced as usual, officials said on Tuesday. ...

Though it’s extremely early days, experts this week welcomed Cambodia’s membership to the nascent China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), saying it would provide much-needed diversity of funding for the nation’s infrastructure and connectivity needs. ...

Timber magnate Try Pheap and businessman Lim Bunna were granted economic land concessions (ELCs) on property inside a wildlife sanctuary confiscated from two other companies for violating their government contracts, a provincial governor told a meeting of officials on Monday. ...

Six months after the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Cambodian government to scrap a draft NGO law that came into effect in August, the E.U. announced on Monday that it had pledged 8.2 million euros (about $8.9 million) to local and international ...

Some of the country’s top business leaders laid out their main concerns with a controversial draft union law during a meeting with CPP lawmakers on Monday, including a stipulation that would let only 10 people form a union at a workplace. ...

The advent of Cambodia’s much-criticized NGO law was among the top “troubling” developments to take place across the globe last year, the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association said in a report released Friday.   ...

Cambodia signed an agreement with Vietnam and Laos during a meeting on Thursday to enhance efforts to fight human trafficking—with Vietnam reporting at the meeting that police discovered nearly 90 human trafficking rings along its border with Cambodia last year. ...

The Siem Reap provincial department of mines and energy on Thursday ordered the temporary suspension of operations of a Chinese copper-mining firm that was caught transporting 40 tons of copper to Phnom Penh, though their licenses expired more than a year ago.   ...

The National Assembly on Thursday passed an accounting and auditing law that aims to bring financial reporting procedures for the government, NGOs and the private sector in line with international standards. ...

With social media increasingly becoming the focal point of political discourse in the country, and the prime minister threatening to take legal action against those who insult him online, the opposition CNRP has issued an appeal to its supporters urging them not to publicly insult ...

Almost a year after the creation of the new National Election Committee (NEC), its nine members will meet on Friday to select a new secretary-general, the person who will implement its reform agenda ahead of elections in 2017 and 2018. . ...