Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana met on Friday with the National Assembly’s opposition-led human rights commission to discuss issues related to judicial independence and court procedure, including government interference in the court system and abuse of the pretrial detention system.   ...

Two defrocked monks were handed prison sentences at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday, with one of them found guilty of drug possession and making a death threat and the other of using fake documents and improperly wearing monks’ robes.   ...

The World Bank on Monday said it still predicted strong growth from the Cambodian economy—led by garment exports—and only a moderate cooling over the next few years despite a “faster than expected” slowdown in China, Cambodia’s biggest foreign investor.   ...

A Montagnard asylum seeker was found dead on Wednesday morning in a Phnom Penh residence provided by the U.N.’s refugee agency, having committed suicide in his room, according to police. ...

Construction on a $3 billion oil refining plant, the Kingdom’s first, will start in October this year and is expected to be finished by the end of 2018, according to a senior executive at the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday. ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has asked the European Union (EU) to decrease imports of clothing from Cambodia in an effort to put economic pressure on the government into respecting human rights and freedom of speech, saying he believed the act would not affect workers.   ...

A visiting U.S. human rights envoy on Tuesday urged the government to release and drop charges against five current and former rights workers arrested in April amid what he called a deteriorating political situation in which the courts have disproportionately targeted state critics. ...

Young people in Cambodia are often taken advantage of by factories because of their inexperience and lack of understanding about labor rights, but the Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP) is trying to change that by educating young people on unions and dispute management in the ...

The Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department on Monday questioned an administrator at a maritime school over complaints lodged in September by seven former students who claim they were forced to flee a pair of Chinese-owned cargo ships after working in slave-like conditions. ...

Two government-run emergency food assistance projects will be extended after evaluations found that they had significant impacts on reducing poverty in 200 communes in eight provinces, although the projects – which received financial support from developmental partners – have been completed, an official said yesterday. ...

A high-speed police chase across Stung Treng province early Monday morning led to the confiscation of more than 1.5 tons of rosewood, but only after an SUV plowed into a police truck blocking the road, with two suspects eventually fleeing on foot. ...

The ‘entertainment resort’ that Hong Kong-listed casino junket investor Jimei International Entertainment Group Ltd wants to develop in Cambodia is likely to be located in the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville (pictured), on the Gulf of Thailand, says Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd. ...

Revenue from ticket sales to foreign tourists visiting Cambodia’s famed Angkor archaeological park reached 20.3 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2016, up 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year, according to an official statement on Friday. ...

More than 300 families in Kompong Speu province this week signed a deal with Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company aimed at ending their long-running land dispute, though several of the families have yet to agree on compensation.   ...

Teachers at Toul Mead Primary School in Siem Reap province tell students to bring drinking water from home to keep them hydrated in the scorching heat. But water is increasingly hard to come by as the worst drought in decades drags on.   ...

Cambodia’s population of spotted Indochinese leopards will be extinct by 2018 unless action is taken to deal with the “snaring crisis” in Mondolkiri province, where the few remaining leopards live, according to the author of a forthcoming paper on the issue.   ...

A judge postponed the start of a defamation trial against National Election Committee official Ny Chakrya on Monday after the two Siem Reap court officials who brought the case against him failed to show up at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.   ...

Industrial parks that offer special privileges to companies that operate inside them play a dominant role in attracting investment in the region, but countries must focus more on building up their infrastructure and human resources to take advantage of increased connectivity, development experts said yesterday. ...

The U.S. is continuing to urge the government to change and clarify key parts of a controversial trade union law that took effect in April, including an amendment to cover civil servants, the U.S.’s international labor affairs representative said on Tuesday. ...

Persisting dry conditions have affected approximately 234,695 hectares of rice seedlings in 16 Cambodian provinces and cities, according to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday.   ...