News

The Phnom Penh municipality defended itself for the first time this weekend against sustained criticism from rights groups over the jailing of 13 female protesters from Boeng Kak, blaming the backlash on the “insanity” of unnamed foreign provocateurs. SRP lawmakers, meanwhile, met with the women in ...

For six hours yesterday at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, Sar Kimlomouth, who served as deputy director general of the state bank, consistently downplayed both his level of authority within the department and his ability to recall information from so long ago. Throughout the day’s proceedings, lawyers ...

While observers yesterday accused the government of censorship for ordering radio stations not to transmit international broadcasters over the election weekend, a government spokesman defended the move. On Sunday, a Ministry of Information official said the ministry had ordered local F.M. stations not to transmit Voice ...

The two US-backed media outlets and a local NGO’s news service whose broadcasts in Khmer were yanked off the airwaves by government officials before Sunday’s elections aren’t staying silent about the effect of such a move, with one calling it a giant step backward for ...

The Supreme Court yesterday conducted another hearing into the decade-old case of a three-star RCAF general found guilty in 2002 of owing more than US$50,000 for construction work. Presiding judge and vice-pres­­­ident of the Supreme Court Kong Srim said the court would make a final ruling ...

On his second day of questioning by prosecutors at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, the deputy director of the foreign commerce bank during the Pol Pot regime, Sar Kim Lomouth, said he feared for his safety following the purging of several superiors at the Ministry ...

OSK Holdings Berhad and RHB Capital Berhad have announced the signing of a conditional share purchase agreement to merge their investment banking operations, creating the largest investment bank by assets in Malaysia, an official press release said.   ...

The real growth rate of the service sector has been revised upwardly by half a percentage point against our previous prediction to 5.4 percent year-on-year in 2012, on the back of higher growth expected in the local trade and transport subsectors. The growth outlook of this sector in 2013 is quite ...

Dr. Tim Killeen, author of The Cardamom Conundrum, Reconciling Development and Conservation in the Kingdom of Cambodia, discusses his recently released book, which argues that Cambodia is well positioned to reap the benefits of ‘green development’. Why did you select the Cardamom Mountains as the area ...

The Ministry of Agriculture’s fisheries administration announced yesterday that the seasonal nationwide ban on commercial fishing is now in effect, according to a statement. Signed by the director general of the fisheries administration, Nao Thuok, the announcement states that the fishing ban north of Phnom Penh’s ...

Just under three weeks ago, residents in Pro Ma village were running for their lives as security forces opened fire on them with automatic weapons, killing a 14-year-old girl. About 1,000 police, military police and soldiers stormed their village, fired at them indiscriminately, evicted hundreds of ...

Members of the opposition SRP on Saturday sent a petition to King Norodom Sihamoni asking him to pardon the 13 Boeng Kak residents who were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail on May 24 after holding a peaceful protest against CPP senator Lao Meng Khin’s ...

The supply of shopping centre space in Phnom Penh is set to triple in the next five years, according to a CBRE Cambodia report, and one insider said the jump in higher-end retail venues would come even sooner. A Parkson Corporation Sdn Bhd shopping centre, one ...

The 24,000 Cambodians who visited South Korea during 2011 included about 100 people going for medical services, most of them high-ranking Cambodian government officials, according to Charm Lee, President of the Korea Tourism Organization. At a Korean Medical Tourism conference on Saturday at Sofitel in Phnom ...

The Ministry of Information ordered local radio stations not to transmit programs from U.S.-backed broadcasters over the election weekend, an official said. Voice of America (VOA), the U.S. government’s official broadcaster overseas, and Radio Free Asia (RFA), a station funded in part by the U.S. government, ...

Hermann Otto Solms, vice president of the German Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, Monday pledged to encourage German investors and tourists to Cambodia in order to cement the bi-lateral ties. Hermann made his remarks during a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the ...

Often vilified for paying low wages in less than optimum work environments, Cambodia’s garment factory owners got into the swing of the commune elections this week, with many companies providing loans to help their workers travel home to vote. With about 400,000 employees, the garment industry’s ...

Just days ahead of Sunday’s commune elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen again broke his pledge to remain silent during his party’s campaign period and sought to ease the concerns of communities whose livelihoods have been threatened by land disputes. Speaking to villagers through a mobile telephone, ...

Phnom Penh City Hall has installed five new surveillance cameras at major intersections around the city in order to help traffic police monitor increasingly congested roads, police and an official at an Internet service provider (ISP) said this week. Paul Blanche-Horgan, CEO of ISP Ezecom—the firm which set up the ...

Hoping to end the cycle of violence in land disputes in Cambodia, and to garner public support for people who are the victims of land grabbing, five concerned citizens held a press conference Friday to announce the launch of their own online petition whose results ...

Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to the world to harmonize energy prices to food prices as food production shouldn’t outstrip the consumption of volatile fuels while food price remains stable, at the 4th workshop on food security and nutrition. Calling it “The Phnom Penh Initiative,” Prime Minister Hun Sen requested that the issue be ...

Cambodia and the United States on Friday reconfirmed the good bilateral ties as president Barack Obama plans to visit Cambodia in November and this year, Cambodia chairs ASEAN. The two sides welcomed the improved ties between Cambodia and America, Koy Kuong, spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said ...

In an effort to increase fish stocks, the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday adopted a sub-decree to create four conservation areas in Kandal, Kompong Cham, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces where all fishing activities will be prohibited. Signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on April 6, ...

Local rice miller Mega Green said it planned to export about 240 tons of milled rice to the Chinese market by the end of June – a second round of test exports to Cambodia’s northern neighbour. Renne Outh, owner of Mega Green Imex Cambodia, told the ...