News

Criticism of two draft laws aimed at reforming Cambodia’s electoral system continues to grow. On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch issued a statement saying the draft laws “violate basic human rights and democratic norms and should be substantially revised before being presented to the National Assembly for ...

First Lady Michelle Obama embarks on a five-day Asia trip Wednesday to launch the Obama Administration’s initiative “Let Girls Learn,” promoting the education of millions of girls worldwide. Ahead of her stops in Japan and Cambodia, Obama and her husband said the inability of an ...

Two soldiers in northwest Cambodia’s Battambang province fired assault rifles at two local forestry officials on Friday after the officials reported them to a local opposition party lawmaker for illegal fishing. ...

Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance has confirmed the country’s intention to become a member of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), despite pressure from the US on its western allies not to join. ...

Representatives of 163 families from Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district submitted a request to the Agriculture Ministry on Monday to meet with Minister Ouk Rabun over his request that the Phnom Penh Municipal Court delay the allocation of nearly a hectare of land the families ...

The Ministry of Justice has established a working group to examine a draft extradition treaty with Russia, the latest step in a process that could ultimately see prominent fugitives deported, a ministry spokesman said yesterday. ...

CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha said in a speech in the U.S. last week that he was unhappy with the opposition party’s decision to end its boycott of the National Assembly last year but was prepared to “swallow gravel and rocks” to maintain unity with ...

Following a directive by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon to the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation to improve their monitoring of overloaded vehicles, a ministry official said they will build more vehicle scales. ...

The Cambodian government will introduce a food-safety law later this year that would see the Kingdom adopt a set of national food safety standards and ensure greater coordination across ministries, according to a health official. Aing Hoksrun, chief of the food bureau at the Department of ...

Capital police yesterday revealed the identities of five men who had allegedly been posing as Flying Tigers – an elite Ministry of Interior rapid-response unit – and extorting money from victims who believed they were in danger of being jailed. ...

Daun Penh district governor Kuoch Chamroeun on Monday negotiated a truce between two rival groups of tuk-tuk drivers who clashed violently earlier this month in a dispute over passengers. ...

Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) will spend $167 million to install a 350-km-long high-voltage transmission line connecting four provinces around the Tonle Sap lake, the state-owned utility announced in a press release Monday. ...

Chuon Phang, the 79-year-old chief of Tasanh commune in Battambang’s Samlot district, has always handed out free cotton kramas to local villagers about a month ahead of elections. But the ruling Cambodian People’s Party representative does not characterise the practice as vote-buying. He says he gives ...

The son of a high-ranking customs official suspected in a nightclub shooting that left one man injured was questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday but has yet to be charged, officials said. ...

More than 160 families in Banteay Meanchey province’s O’Chrou district filed a complaint on Monday with local officials calling for the removal of their village chief, whom they blame for the loss of 835 hectares of farmland to a rubber plantation. ...

The names of more than 900 prisoners have been put forward to receive pardons and sentence reductions during next month’s Khmer New Year festivities, officials said yesterday. The inmates were selected by the Ministry of Interior and their cases are now being assessed by the Ministry ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday returned from an international disaster management conference in Japan, where he secured a promise from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to help Cambodia with voter registration once new election laws come into effect, an official said. ...

Five men who regularly masqueraded as members of the state security services to extort cash and belongings from civilians were arrested in Phnom Penh on Friday and Saturday, a police official said Monday. ...

As the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin population steadily declines, conservation groups have voiced concern that the critically endangered species may be swimming toward extinction if drastic measures are not soon taken to protect them. The numbers tell a depressing tale: From 2011 to 2014, 23 dolphins were ...

More than 200 striking workers demonstrated in front of Siko Phnom Penh Garment Factory in the capital’s Dangkor district yesterday after management fired an employee who founded a new labour union there, according to a union representative. ...

Hong Kong-based company Plaza Premium Lounge Management Limited (Plaza Premium), will design and operate airports lounges at the newly built terminal extensions of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap international airports. Both terminals will be fully operational next year. ...

Defense ministers from the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) agreed here Monday to cooperate in tackling the grave security threat from the Islamic State (IS). At the end of the two-day 9th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting, the ministers signed a joint declaration ...

Forest and community activists in a northwestern province in Cambodia have expressed concerns about illegal loggers who have started producing charcoal for export to Thailand,destroying protected areas of community forests in the process. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe agreed Sunday to strengthen economic relations between the two countries, Jiji Press reported. ...