News

Two of the leading microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia said yesterday that they have identified a relatively small fraction of borrowers who were affected by flooding and would provide relief on their repayment schedules if necessary. The comments come after both Prime Minister Hun Sen and ...

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for urgent fortification of Cambodia’s resistance to climate change, singling out recent flooding as evidence of the severe consequences the country faces. But at a press conference yesterday, opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua accused the Prime Minister of weakening ...

It’s taken years of waiting – and protesting – but families in the capital’s Boeung Kak community yesterday saw City Hall officials measure land in their villages. Representatives of the city were deployed yesterday to villages 24, 22 and 6 to demarcate land as a step ...

Provincial military police confiscated three tractors transporting three metres of luxury wood and two circular saws travelling out of Kampong Speu’s protected Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday. Chea Hean, director of Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organisation (NRWPO), arrived to investigate illegal logging in the sanctuary ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that climate change has now become a strategic challenge to development that requires urgent and joint attention. “Climate change is no longer a remote case, but is affecting all of us in the present and become one of the ...

Logging tycoon Try Pheap has come under fire from two separate reports alleging that he is using his vast network of concessions and licences to decimate protected forests across Cambodia. One of the reports, an exhaustive four-month investigation by a local NGO, also looked at the ...

The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces have evicted nearly 1,000 families in 14 provinces in the past five years, ostensibly to build military bases, according to a report released by rights group Adhoc yesterday. The report outlined Adhoc’s concerns over ongoing land disputes between local communities and ...

The government will today submit its second report to the UN Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process that takes stock of human rights progress in each UN member state. Governments are required to report to the council every four and ...

The Ministry of Information has swapped an 11-hectare plot of land in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, which was previously the site of National Radio AM 918, with a property development firm in exchange for the construction of a new radio tower and transmitter on a ...

Phnom Penh’s governor on Thursday refused to confirm whether two buildings close to the Royal Palace will be pulled down after local district and commune officials said Wednesday that their demolition due to height violations was imminent. Governor Pa Socheatvong de­clined to comment on the reports ...

Government officials have ordered the immediate demolition of two buildings located within blocks of the Royal Palace because the structures are taller than the allowed limit for buildings surrounding the palace, officials said Wednesday. One building, owned by Vat­tanac Properties, is located a block from the ...

Though authorities have called on residents to move to higher ground, those in some of the worst flooded areas of Cambodia said yesterday that they had neither the means nor the ability to do so. Instead, they said, they will remain in their rapidly flooding ...

The government’s latest five-year strategy calls for a complete halt to economic land concessions (ELCs) and an inquiry into those still in the pipeline. But the plan has drawn scepticism from conservationists and rights groups, who pointed out that loopholes have been liberally applied after the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the role of the newly christened Ministry of Public Function, explaining that the body would oversee the reform of the Kingdom’s civil service, including the salaries of its employees – a major plank in the opposition’s campaign platform. As a ...

The Cambodian government has privately pledged that it will pass the long-awaited “three fundamental laws” aimed at reforming the judiciary during the first session of parliament in early 2014, UN rights envoy Surya Subedi said. The laws – which focus on codifying the court’s jurisdiction, laying ...

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) — Floods have killed at least 20 Cambodian people, including 11 children in the last two weeks, a disaster control official said Thursday. Keo Vy, chief of the Cabinet of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), said nearly 5,000 families ...

In an apparent bid to reassure jittery visitors watching the country’s political scene, the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA) said in a statement yesterday that post-election tensions would not harm tourists. Addressing its members – tour operators and travel agencies – as well as national ...

KAMPONG SPEU PROVINCE— Three years ago, Pao had a farm and a charcoal stove near a stream in a community called Omlaing in western Cambodia. The farm gave her rice, charcoal sales gave her extra income and the nearby forest provided edible and medicinal plants. Pao ...

Early on Monday morning, at about 1am, two trucks carrying roughly 10 cubic metres of illegally felled timber were bouncing down the road between Oddar Meanchey and Siem Reap. Police stopped the trucks – one of which bore military plates – and seized the haul, but ...

The Cambodian People’s Party is prepared to make sweeping changes during its fifth government mandate, including improving the often-criticised judiciary and prioritising social justice, a government spokesman said. This “period of reform” would see deep-seated changes across a number of ministries in response to grievances expressed ...

Tep Bopha Prasidh, a wealthy businesswoman and wife of Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh, has been anointed with the sought-after royal title of oknha. According to an August edition of the Royal Gazette, King Norodom Sihamoni signed off on the new title on July 11. Roughly translated as tycoon, oknha is a ...

The Pursat Provincial Court has issued a summons to a soldier based on the Thai border for allegedly clearing protected land in Veal Veng district, a move the man believes was orchestrated by a company owned by tycoon Try Pheap, which is embroiled in an ...

In response to a growing number of strikes in the country’s highly profitable garment sector, the government trained 15 handpicked commune officials yesterday to mediate and resolve factory disputes. The training was designed to teach commune councillors to defuse and resolve conflict, Buth Ji, director of ...

Sok Ren’s eyes dart from side to side as he explains in a hushed tone why he’s been detained at military barracks in Preah Vihear province, rarely allowed to leave and under near constant surveillance, since July 31. While casting his ballot for the Cambodian People’s ...