Vietnam Airlines has 60 days to challenge the report on the crash of Flight 815 last September before the findings are finalized, Sok Sam­baur, the chief of the investigation board, said Wednes­day.

Cambodia’s minister of culture on Wednesday accused a legal affairs adviser of Second Prime Minister Hun Sen of swindling the government out of $1.25 million in a secret real-estate deal.

Private security consultants warned local business leaders Wednesday to stay alert and refrain from “loose talk,” or they run a greater risk of be­coming kidnapping victims.

A UN human rights report up­dating alleged cases of political killings has slammed the authorities here for dismissing the murders as ordinary crimes without proper investigation.

takhmau – In his first public appearance outside Phnom Penh since returning from exile, de­posed first prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh said Wed­nes­­day that conditions in Cam­bodia are “quite far away from free and fair elections.”

The US government has decided to donate $2.3 million for upcoming elections, but none of the funds will go to the National Election Committee nor to any agency linked to the government, officials said Wednesday. The de­­cision was seen as a message of US concern over the polls’ credibility.

A new UN report lambastes the government for failing to in­vestigate alleged politically motivated killings, saying its efforts to solve the crimes have lacked “vigor and determination” due to weak political will at the highest levels of government.

Cambodia’s central bank and key ministers are scrambling to figure out ways to stabilize the country’s currency in the run-up to the scheduled July 26 elections.

The Ministry of Health has put off a crackdown on about 600 un­licensed pharmacies in Phnom Penh until a new government is el­ected, health officials said Monday.

Staff members at Agence Khmere de Presse are threatening to demonstrate if they do not receive $200 each from the sale of Ministry of Information land.

About 700 disabled athletes will compete in a two-day athletic meet starting today at Olympic Stadium, according to event organizers.

More than 20 Ministry of Cul­ture employees demonstrated in front of the ministry’s headquarters on Monivong Boulevard on Monday and Tuesday, accusing their boss of selling the state-owned building and pocketing the money.

Former Military Region 4 Commander Khann Savoeun will stand for election to the National Assembly as a Funcinpec candidate in Kompong Cham, a party spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

The National Election Com­mittee issued regulations on media access Monday, banning political advertisements from the airwaves except on state-run media during the 30-day campaign period.

Imagine 700 well-armed and well-trained rangers in camouflage uniforms patrolling Cam­bodia’s forests for illegal loggers.

The daughter of a prominent French-Cambodian businessman was kidnapped and freed last week, the latest in a spate of abductions terrorizing the capital’s affluent.

More than 100 workers at a South Korean garment factory with a history of labor problems staged a one-day strike Monday, claiming they had been punished for taking time off to register for the elections.

More than two years after his disappearance, the British For­eign Offiice finally has concluded that deminer Christopher Howes was murdered in the then-rebel stronghold of Anlong Veng.

Four hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the Ministry of Interior on Monday, saying they were cheated out of $20 to $250 each when falsely promised election staff jobs from three em­ployment associations.

Son Sann, a member of the Constit­utional Council, has written to King Norodom Sihanouk to decry the country’s highest appeals body as illegal.