News
Koh Kong sand dredging impact studies due
The Ministry of Mines and Energy plans to release the environmental impact assessments of two controversial sand-dredging companies in Koh Kong “soon”, ministry spokesman Meng Saktheara said on 15 February. Activists from NGO Mother Nature – three of whom have been arrested for interfering with the ...
Voting abroad impossible: Cambodian PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen has dismissed calls to allow Cambodians living abroad to vote in the next election, claiming it would be impossible under the Kingdom’s proportional representative electoral system. But a vast string of other countries – including Indonesia and several European nations – operate ...
Tycoon Sok Bun to serve 10 months
Sok Bun, the real estate tycoon whose savage beating of TV personality Ek Socheata was caught on camera in July, was sentenced to three years in jail yesterday, with all but 10 months of that suspended. Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Sor Lina also ordered the ...
I’ll shake hands with protesters: Hun Sen
In an address to ruling party supporters in California on 15 February, Prime Minister Hun Sen wasted little time in taking several pot shots at US foreign policy and telling attendees he planned to confront anti-government protesters at the US-ASEAN summit head-on. Speaking at his hotel ...
Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar in line for US$180m loan
The Climate-Friendly Agribusiness Value Chains Sector Project will provide a US$180 million loan to finance initiatives in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to boost the capacity of commercial production in the three countries. A senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Vinoth Vansy, told ...
ANZ still owes villagers over sugar loan: Oxfam
Australian banking giant ANZ has come under fire for its response to a scandal over its financing of a sugar plantation previously linked to forced evictions and child labour in Kampong Speu province. Titled Still Banking on Land Grabs, Oxfam’s Australia branch released a report on ...
Fighting infant mortality with phone alerts
A new Cambodian maternal-health initiative is seeking to patch a persistent knowledge gap among new mothers by providing information via mobile phone alerts on optimal post-natal care during the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life. Cambodia’s national infant mortality rate, despite improvements, remains stubbornly high ...
Veggie farming to trim Cambodia's import bill
Government officials, economists and businesses discussed the implementation of a draft program to invigorate vegetable farming in Cambodia and cut imports from neighbouring countries in half by 2018. The workshop, organised by the Center for Policy Studies and Agriculture Ministry last week, revolved around the Cambodian ...
US trade treaty to aid Cambodia's TPP ambitions
As Prime Minister Hun Sen attends the US-ASEAN Summit in California on 15 February, government officials are in the midst of ongoing negotiations with their American counterparts to formulate a trade and investment agreement, which analysts say could be a stepping stone towards one day ...
Volunteers, fishermen clash in ‘naval battle’ off Kep’s coast
A group of foreign conservation volunteers sailing off the coast of Kep province late on 12 February were set upon by a flotilla of illegal fishermen who attempted to pelt them with rocks and other projectiles, only disbanding after Cambodian maritime police fired warning shots into ...
