Telephone users in Takhmau town, Kandal province, will finally be able to call Phnom Penh and overseas, thanks to a new phone exchange and tower. 

The top RCAF general responsible for the mass defections at Anlong Veng said Sunday he does not know if the killer of a British deminer has defected the government. 

The National Election Com­mittee on Monday viewed the ballot boxes that will be used in elections scheduled for July 26. 

A band of Khmer Rouge fighters in Battambang province de­fected to the government last week, but top hard-line commanders in the area of Sam­lot district are stubbornly resisting RCAF overtures, top military officials said this weekend. 

Thai and Cambodian authorities have agreed to open a border crossing in Battambang province next month, provincial officials said Sunday. 

A multinational project setting up the world’s first global wireless telecommunications system is negotiating for a license to make Cam­bodia part of its network, company officials said Friday. 

International Children’s Day will be marked across Cambodia today with rallies, panel discussions and children’s games, organizers said. 

Funcinpec could still be de­clared ineligible for upcoming elections if the Ministry of In­terior were to withdraw its stamp of approval, the secretary-general of the National Election Com­mittee said Saturday. 

Former finance minister and opposition politician Sam Rainsy has written to the dean of the as-yet-unconvened Constitutional Council, asking for the body to consider the legality of his 1995 expulsion from parliament. 

The environmental watchdog Global Witness said it “welcomes” the findings contained in a World Bank-funded forestry re­form report, but questioned some of the proposed solutions. 

Three letters are adding flavor to the 1998 elections. No, they’re not CPP, KNP or the KSP. They’re MSG, or monosodium glutamate, the chemical flavor enhancer that’s putting some politicians in hot soup. 

Funcinpec officials called Sun­day for the speedy return of the estimated 80,000 Cambodian re­fugees in Thailand so they can vote in upcoming elections. 

A US oil company this week vowed to fight a Supreme Court ruling in a complex land dispute that has sparked a confrontation between the government and judiciary.

National Assembly President Chea Sim on Thursday inaugurated the $500,000 Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh, calling it “a priceless gift” from the Japanese organizations that subsidized it.

National Election Committee President Chheng Phon said Thursday that the electoral pro­cess may be hampered if the NEC cannot get more funding.

Sambok Kmoum (Bee Hive) can usually be found at No 105 on the FM radio dial, but this July voters will find Sambok Kmoum, the political party, at No 1 on the ballot for parliamentary elections.

An Anlong Veng killing field revealed by defecting Khmer Rouge soldiers has not been found by government forces and it likely will be some time before it is reached, a senior military official and a local genocide re­searcher said this week.

Aid workers and military officials reported Thursday that a steady stream of displaced Khmer Rouge defectors have been leaving squatter camps and returning to Anlong Veng.

The Ministry of Post and Tele­communications has ordered Cam­bodia-Shinawatra to stop using the GSM designation for its new digital system.

Khmer Rouge defectors from the former rebel stronghold of Anlong Veng are getting help this week to fight malaria.