Social development
Huaphan suffers return of locust plague
Almost 200 hectares of bamboo in 40 villages of eight districts in Huaphan province are under attack by the yellow-spined bamboo locust, with the area being sprayed with insecticide to prevent the locusts spreading to croplands. Head of the province’s agriculture sector, Mr Siviengsab Phengphomma, ...
Users’ services feeling USAID cut
Taing Phoeuk, the Khmer-American director of Korsang, glumly brushed the ash from his cigarette on a restaurant balcony overlooking Sihanouk Boulevard. “It’s going to kill us,” he said, contemplating the prospect of his organisation’s demise as its USAID funding evaporates. Founded in 2004 by American ...
False alarm over disease in pigs
Reports that 40 pigs smuggled into the country from Vietnam had been diagnosed with blue-ear disease were incorrect, according to Banteay Meanchey province’s agriculture department. The pigs were being taken to be resold in Poipet town on Saturday when police stopped the vehicle carrying them. ...
PM okays funds for social support system
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has approved a target programme to develop a social support system for the 2016-20 period. The programme is aimed to create a safe, friendly and healthy living environment for children and reduce the rate of increase in the number of ...
Boeung Kak lake dispute ‘closed’
Phnom Penh City Hall on April 27 washed its hands of the decade long contentious Boeung Kak lake issue, saying it was closing its conflict resolution process, leaving seven families who had refused to accept the government’s offers in the lurch. Following the signing of a ...
PM calls on US to revise law
Prime Minister Hun Sen on April 27 defended himself from critics who claim the massive flow of workers leaving the country is indicative of a lack of development at home, and sought to clarify any misunderstanding on Cambodia’s recent request to amend a repatriation agreement with ...
Indigenous communities resisting dams in Indonesia claim they face repression, rights abuses
In October 2014, when developers entered Seko and Central Seko to begin preliminary work on a 480-megawatt hydroelectric dam, the communities living there say no one asked their permission. The area, in the Seko Subdistrict of North Luwu, in the southern part of Indonesia’s Sulawesi ...
Press freedom declines: RSF report
Cambodia’s press freedom ranking has fallen four spots compared to last year, to 132 out of 180 countries, according to Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index. The 2017 index, published on April 26, cited the high-profile killing of political commentator Kem Ley as ...
No immediate plan to change returnee policy
Despite the Foreign Ministry reiterating its request to suspend and renegotiate its repatriation agreement with the US – which allows for the deportation of Cambodians with criminal convictions living in the States back to the Kingdom – the timetable for such a plan remains uncertain. ...
NA members push gov’t on addressing national issues
Revenue collection system modernisation, investment authorisation procedure improvement, and poverty reduction have topped the list of issues at the debate at the National Assembly session on April 25. NA members called on the government to accelerate its realisation of the plan for closing the leakage ...