Cambodian News

Civic groups in Cambodia working in social development are urging the authorities to immediately close gambling facilities, which are taking away the daily incomes of simple people and high-ranking officials alike.
Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, called gambling a social virus that leads to theft, domestic violence and increased poverty.
“I suggest [...]

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday expressed regret over the passing of Keng Vansak, the man who invented the Khmer typewriter and was hailed as a Cambodian scholar.
Keng Vansak died last week in a hospital in Paris of lung failure, at 84.
“There is much regret that he passed away,” Hun Sen told a group of [...]

The government of China opened a radio service in Phnom Penh on Thursday, with plans to broadcast 18 hours a day in three languages.
China-Cambodia Friendship Radio will broadcast programs in Khmer, Chinese and English, from 6 am to midnight each day on FM96.5. It’s opening marked 50 years of cooperation between the two countries and [...]

PHNOM PENH, 5 December 2008 (IRIN) – When Sok Sopheap could not pay his daily bribe, his secondary school teacher refused to let him attend class.
The teacher demanded he stand for an hour by the door until the class finished.
“It was humiliating, but it happens a lot to students,” said the 19-year-old son of a [...]

Prime Minister Hun Sen lost a strong ally within the Interior Ministry when the plane carrying late police chief Hok Lundy crashed Nov. 9, but officials say the prime minister’s power will not be affected by a replacement.
Officials said last week that the loss of Hok Lundy, who led the national police since 1994, would [...]

Cambodia’s western provinces have been developing a resistance to the only anti-malaria medication the government uses, a worried health official said Monday.
“I’m worried so much about malaria,” said Duong Socheat, director of the National Malaria Center. “Artemisinin is the No. 1 drug. Its ability is decreasing.”
The National Malaria Center had taken measures to [...]

Cambodia’s economic growth rate will be slashed by more than half compared to 2007, as a financial slowdown continues to plague world markets, the International Monetary Fund said Friday.
Cambodia’s economic growth rate will be around 6.5 percent for 2008 and will decrease to 4.25 percent next year, the IMF said, reporting findings of a visit [...]

A human rights group is concerned that the upcoming Water Festival in Cambodia could see another surge of illegal detentions and hidden abuses for the capital Phnom Penh’s homeless and sex workers.
Writing etched into the walls of one so-called “social rehabilitation center” suggests that people are being detained against their will and abused, according to [...]

Cambodian supporters of John McCain were left upset Wednesday, as his opponent, Barack Obama, won the next US presidency. Obama supporters, meanwhile, celebrated.
“I appreciate Barack Obama’s win in the election, because he was determined to eliminate the American and global economic crisis, and strengthen peace in the world,” said Sary Phirum, a 25-year-old university student.
She [...]

Prime Minister Hun Sen left for Hanoi Tuesday for a two-day official visit, where he is expected to improve cross-border trade with visa exemptions for Cambodians.
The premier will discuss the economy, trade, investment and the acceleration of border demarcation with his counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung.
During Hun Sen’s visit, his first since the July elections, the [...]