News

Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest claimed yesterday that about 600 resin trees they found inside a sawmill in the Kampong Thom province had been cut down illegally – an allegation government officials quickly denied. After resistance from police and soldiers monitoring their actions this ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), one of the two major financiers of the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railways, yesterday rejected criticism that they were providing insufficient resettlement packages to residents displaced by the project. On Friday, the ADB released a cost study that showed that the compensation ...

Tiny Cambodia is emerging as a key pawn in the diplomatic struggle over one of the world’s busiest stretches of water: the potentially energy-rich South China Sea. The country of 15 million people is this year hosting a series of regional summits in which China’s claims ...

China’s presence in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh is obvious. The city skyline is dotted by Chinese-funded projects. But the full extent of Beijing’s influence here will be tested when President Hu Jintao visits this week ahead of a regional summit. The timing of Hu’s visit ...

In addition to security and public order initiatives in the lead-up to next week’s Asean Summit, Phnom Penh authorities said yesterday they would be redoubling their “clean city” efforts. “We’re keeping security and order, and we asked Cintri [waste disposal company] to double the numbers of ...

ASEAN finance officials and the heads of regional central banks yesterday homed in on the possibility of economic crisis as well as potential means of averting contagion in fledgling Southeast Asian economies. The officials have also agreed “in principle” to doubling a regional currency fund to ...

The government is finalizing a draft law that will aim to prevent importers from price dumping and protect local producers by allowing authorities to raise tariffs on goods, according to a copy of the draft law. In the past, local producers have been negatively affected by ...

Green Trade, a state-owned, milled-rice exporter, had not been updated on a government-to-government rice deal with the Philippines despite recent media reports that claimed a deal was near. ...

More than 500 residents of Pursat City have signed a letter addressed to Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem threatening to take to the streets in protest if the town’s privately owned electricity distributor does not reduce prices. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian ...

As expected, the book-building phase for Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s initial public offering was significantly oversubscribed, the estimate being 17 times. Interested investors had the opportunity to bid at a price  no lower than 4,050 riel a share, and at a maximum of 6,350 riel ...

Chinese Ambassador Pan Guangxue yesterday said that China opposes the contentious issue of the South China Sea being discussed by countries that are not directly involved in the regional maritime dispute. Speaking at a news conference at the Chinese Embassy to discuss Chinese President Hu Jintao’s ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew Hun To hit back strongly yesterday at allegations published in a leading Australian newspaper, The Age, which linked him to an international drug smuggling and money laundering ring, demanding that the publisher print a retraction. Mr. To sent a letter to ...

Three factory workers were injured yesterday during a protest in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district when more than 500 workers clashed with about 100 police officers, according to eyewitnesses and union representatives. Workers from Win Shingtex (Cambodia) Co Ltd had originally planned to march from the ...

Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest on motorbikes yesterday defended their decision to burn more than 360 cubic metres of timber, tear down 10 huts used by “illegal loggers” and confiscate a chainsaw, a villager representative said. “All the villagers who provide evidence about ...

Hundreds of villagers patrolling Prey Long forest for illegal logging discovered and burned more than 370 cubic meters of wood during the first four days of their campaign, an organizer said yesterday. About 400 villagers from Kompong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces who ...

Police are accused of breaking a 21-year-old woman’s nose and injuring two other women as about 900 workers marched from the Win Shing-tex Cambodia garment factory in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district yesterday. San Sopha said, adding he would file a complaint against the ...

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr chose Cambodia as his first official overseas trip since his March 2 appointment to the top foreign policy job. The Australian Labor Party politician, former journalist and longtime premier of New South Wales sat down on Monday evening with the ...

Seven fishermen who were trafficked to work on trawlers in waters off Micronesia were repatriated to Cambodia yesterday, the fishermen and a rights worker said. The men, who left Cambodia in 2010 and 2011 to work for Giant Ocean International as fishermen in Singapore, were trafficked ...

More than five weeks after three female garment factory workers were shot in Svay Rieng province, the provincial prosecutor has delayed the questioning of the victims, all of whom have filed complaints against Bavet City Governor Chhuk Bundith in connection with the shooting. ...

Top military officials from all 10 Asean countries yesterday attended the second Asean Military Operations Informal Meeting in Phnom Penh, an event aimed primarily at enhancing cooperation between the countries in terms of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. ...

The Philippines is close to signing a government-to-government rice supply agreement that would make Cambodia a potential supplier of the grain staple to Manila, along with Vietnam and Thailand, agriculture officials said on Monday. The Southeast Asian neighbours aimed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) ...

BETAGRO Group, one of Thailand’s largest integrated agro-industry businesses, announced this week that its US$16.3 million animal feed plant in Cambodia is 95 percent complete. The plant, 12 kilometers from Phnom Penh, will initially produce 12,000 tonnes of animal feed per year, but that number ...

A price has been set for Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s initial public offering, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia, after what was reported to be a significantly oversubscribed book-building process. PPWSA will sell for 6,300 riel, or US$1.57, a share, putting the ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong said yesterday that the contentious issue of the South China Sea should not become an international issue, but must be solved among the region’s neighbors. Speaking to reporters at the Foreign Affairs Ministry alongside visiting Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, ...