News

For three days last week, the Preah Roka forest in Preah Vihear province was silent, the usual cacophony of chainsaws notably absent. The buzz of trucks arriving empty and later leaving heavily loaded with timber had been replaced by ethnic Kuoy villagers, about 300 in all, ...

Executives from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and local partner Royal Group of Companies (RGC) both went into damage control yesterday after comments by ANZ chief executive officer Mike Smith suggesting the joint banking venture between the two was on the rocks. Royal ...

The government today will begin strict inspections of agencies that recruit workers to send overseas, Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said Tuesday. The labor minister has previously threatened to suspend or revoke the licenses of agencies that do not comply with labor laws. Speaking at a workshop ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday heard the case of three people who were charged with fraudulently obtaining passports for four Cambodian women in an attempt to send them to China for marriage. ...

Judges are now required to write a reasoned explanation when placing citizens in pre-trial detention, instead of simply checking a box as was previously practiced, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana said Tuesday. But the Ministry of Justice is also considering amending the criminal procedure code to ...

Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said Tuesday that he has sent a letter responding to 30 international clothing brands who recently wrote to the government expressing their concerns over a draft union law which could allow for the arbitrary breakup of unions. Speaking outside a conference ...

Forty families in Kampong Chhnang province’s Peani commune complained yesterday that a local factory has been polluting their land with toxic liquid waste. Kong Yom, 40, a representative of the 40 families in Krang Ta Ekh village, said yesterday that this is not the first time ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) will join with the Ministry of Education this year to curb cheating during national-level high school and junior high exams, according to ACU chairman Om Yentieng. In order to eliminate old habits of purchasing answer sheets and paying bribes to exam monitors, ...

Cambodia’s European aid donors said Tuesday they are working on a new five-year “cooperation strategy” designed to increase the impact of the millions of dollars in loans and grants they give the country each year. With a combined $209 million in aid to Cambodia in 2012, ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy says he is prepared to call for more mass demonstrations if negotiations over election reform fail with the ruling party. Speaking to reporters from Australia, where he is traveling, the president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party said he was willing to ...

It is almost four years since the UN General Assembly declared that water was a human right, meaning every person should have access to safe water and basic sanitation, yet 6.3 million Cambodians do not have this basic necessity, UNICEF said to mark World Water ...

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank by assets, said on Tuesday it has been approved by National Bank of Cambodia as a clearing bank for the Chinese yuan currency in the country. ...

Some 625 prisoners could be released or see their jail terms reduced on the occasion of Khmer New Year, which falls on April 14-16, according to the Ministry of Justice. ...

The United States government on Tuesday organized an intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement workshop for some 50 Cambodian and Lao law enforcement officials. ...

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, the country’s third-biggest lender, is keen to exit its holding in Cambodia and will look at wholly owned business models wherever regulations allow. “We got out of a relationship, a small relationship, in Vietnam. We would like to ...

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) were engaged in war of words, accusing each other for the failure of yesterday’s election reform talks. ...

Thai rice millers are lining up to build mills in Cambodia to cash in on imminent regional economic integration, with experts warning Cambodian rice is likely to flood Thailand. An industry source said several millers from Thailand’s central and northeastern regions are preparing to set up ...

Moments after Prak Sovannary heard the Court of Appeal denied her husband’s request for bail, she sobbed over a speaker affixed to the top of a tuk-tuk, condemning the decision to about 150 supporters. “Release him! Release him!” said Sovannary, the wife of Independent Democracy of ...

Police and human rights workers are investigating claims that a Chinese-owned sugarcane plantation in Preah Vihear province has been employing child workers since December. Oeu Bunthany said the Y Heng Company fired her on Saturday after she complained to local police that up to 20 children ...

A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research” for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals or gems. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval on ...

A group of European Union parliamentarians will arrive in the Kingdom today to “study and research” the organisation of elections, the resolution of land disputes, democratic development and EU development projects, according to a statement issued by the National Assembly yesterday. ...

Drug seizures jumped last year, while drug arrests remained relatively steady, according to the annual report from the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) released Monday. As in 2012, methamphetamine retained its position as the most commonly seized type of drug. Police confiscated 17.3 kg of methamphetamine ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit revealed that a district police chief and his deputy in Kampot province who were arrested last week made more than $64,000 by embezzling money, taking bribes and stealing from his subordinates. Srun Lam, Banteay Meas district police chief, and his deputy, Mok Hort, ...

Three families involved in a bitter land dispute with a powerful land developer in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district on Monday rejected City Hall’s offer of new housing, saying the apartments being offered were far too small. They also said they planned to file a complaint ...