A major new airport to serve Cambodia's capital and boost tourism is due to open in July
KANDAL, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia expects that its new airport serving the capital will open in July, a project official said Friday, in a major step forward in boosting the country's lucrative tourism sector, whose growth was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Work on Phnom Penh's new airport, officially known as the Techo International Airport, began in 2019, covering an area of 2,600 hectares (6,425 acres) located at the border of Kandal and Takeo provinces, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the capital.
'I think the TIA airport here is going to be launched in the soft opening in July 2025, and we believe that so many passengers are waiting and they really want to come in to see this new airport,' said Charles Vann, director of the airport's project steering committee, during a media tour.
The new airport is a $1.5 billion joint venture between the Cambodian government and the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corp. It's being built by the China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd.
The architects for the airport are the British firm Foster + Partners, whose website says its 'design embodies a strong sense of place' and is 'responsive to the tropical climate.' The terminal building sits under what is described as a single overarching roof canopy that is a lightweight steel grid shell, 'with an innovative screen that filters daylight and illuminates the vast terminal space.'
Construction is being undertaken in three phases. Initially, the airport is expected to be capable of handling up to 13 million passengers a year, with capacity increased up to 30 million passengers after 2030, and then up to 50 million passengers in 2050.
It will be the second major airport in Cambodia to open in the space of two years. In 2023, the Chinese-financed Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport began operations in the northwestern province of Siem Reap, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the centuries-old Angkor Wat temple complex, the country's major tourist attraction.
Tourism is one of the main pillars supporting Cambodia's economy. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia received around 6.7 million international tourists in 2024, a 23% increase over 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Brazil's Supreme Court justices agree to make social media companies liable for user content
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The majority of justices on Brazil's Supreme Court have agreed to make social media companies liable for illegal postings by their users. Gilmar Mendes on Wednesday became the sixth of the court's 11 justices to vote to open a path for companies like Meta, X and Microsoft to be sued and pay fines for content published by their users. Voting is ongoing but a simple majority is all that is needed for the measure to pass. The ruling will come after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned of possible visa restrictions against foreign officials allegedly involved in censoring American citizens. The only dissenting Brazilian justice so far is André Mendonça and his vote was made public last week. The social media proposal would become law once voting is finished and the result is published. But Brazil's Congress could still pass another law to reverse the measure. The current legislation states social media companies can only be held responsible in those cases if they do not remove hazardous content after a court order. Mauricio Savarese, The Associated Press
Los Angeles Times
29 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Rubio vowed to revoke Chinese student visas. Trump now says Chinese students are welcome
In a potential pullback after U.S. officials said two weeks ago that they would 'aggressively' revoke visas for Chinese students enrolled at U.S. universities and increase vetting of student visa applicants, President Trump said Wednesday that he had come to an agreement with China on students 'using our colleges and universities.' The president offered no details on the students in the announcement posted to his Truth Social platform as part of a brief outline of a trade deal with China that he said was pending approval by each side. But the decision appeared to relax a clampdown on America's second-largest international student group that has been under increased scrutiny since May 28, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the U.S. would broadly revoke Chinese student visas and target individuals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or who studied unnamed 'critical fields.' On Wednesday, Trump said that having Chinese students at U.S schools 'has always been good with me!' 'Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me. Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!). We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%. Relationship is excellent! Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Trump said in his all-caps post. The State Department did not respond to a request for clarification on the visa matter, including the question of whether Rubio's comments still applied. The May policy to aggressively cancel Chinese student visas has roiled higher education nationally and in California. Universities depend on the full tuition fees paid by international students and see Chinese and other foreign students as integral to their academic operations and missions to foster diverse campuses. The May 28 Rubio announcement — and now the potential relaxing of it — has exacerbated growing uncertainty at universities, which have been dealt a barrage of actions under Trump, including grant cancellations, federal investigations into alleged antisemitism and investigations into admissions policies. International students have especially been in the crosshairs. There have been thousands of student visa cancellations over the spring for violations as minor as speeding tickets and attempted deportations of pro-Palestinian college activists who are international students. There is a pause of new student visa application appointments while the State Department increases security vetting procedures, including probing social media profiles for pro-Palestinian language and imagery. Trump's new travel ban, which went into place Monday, has also led some universities to advise incoming students from countries on the list to defer enrollment. Of the 1.1 million foreign students enrolled at U.S. universities, roughly 277,000 are Chinese — second only to Indians. The 51,000 Chinese nationals in California make up more than a third of the state's nearly 141,000 foreign students. The University of California has 17,832 Chinese students across all of its campuses. Locally, USC has nearly 6,000 and UCLA has 2,208. A UC spokesperson declined to comment on Trump's social media post and pointed The Times to the university's prior statement on Chinese student visa restrictions that said it was 'concerned about the U.S. State Department's announcement to revoke visas of Chinese students.' 'Chinese students, as well as all our international students, scholars, faculty and staff, are vital members of our university community and contribute greatly to our research, teaching, patient care and public service mission,' the statement said. A USC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. While there are no data pointing to widespread security concerns over Chinese students and scholars, there have been incidents in recent years. This week, the U.S. said it arrested a Chinese scientist who was arriving in Detroit to pursue research at the University of Michigan. The scientist, from University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, is accused of illegally smuggling biological material related to worms that require a government permit. In an interview, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), a member of the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce, called the potential Trump shift on Chinese student visas an example of 'TACO,' a phrase some Democrats are using to say 'Trump always chickens out,' reflecting the president's policy shifts. Republicans have argued that the president's shifts are a negotiation strength. 'In allowing Chinese students to come here, it's part of the importance of the United States being a draw for students from everywhere,' Takano said. 'But his overreach, his interference in the operations of universities ... endangers the higher education enterprise of America.' There is also political value to the U.S. in having Chinese students here, experts said. 'For the United States, bringing Chinese students [here] isn't just about educating them in subjects like math and science — it is about educating them in American values, like democracy and freedom of speech,' said Emily Baum, an associate professor of modern Chinese history at UC Irvine. 'And the expectation is that either they will stay in the United States because they enjoy life here or take those values back to China and influence the political system.' It could be that some Chinese students are turned off by the vacillations of the Trump administration and decide to stay in China for university, one expert added. Gaurav Khanna, an associate professor of economics at UC San Diego, said that around the year 2000, China began a major campaign to build new universities. Within about half a decade, it had doubled the number of institutions in the country, he said. 'They invested heavily,' Khanna said. 'In some ways, they are well-suited to say, 'Hey, don't risk your future going to a second-tier American university. Why don't you stay back here in China and go to this really good university where ... there is funding for research?''
Los Angeles Times
31 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Wall Street's rally stalls as US stocks dip for their 1st loss in 4 days
NEW YORK — Wall Street's rally stalled on Wednesday after U.S. stocks climbed back within 2% of their all-time high. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.3% for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged after edging down by 1 point, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.5%. Several Big Tech stocks led the way lower, and a 1.9% drop for Apple was the heaviest weight on the market. It's been listless this week after unveiling several modest upcoming changes to the software that runs its devices. The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields eased after a report suggested President Trump's tariffs are not pushing inflation much higher, at least not yet. U.S. consumers had to pay prices for food, gasoline and other costs of living that were 2.4% higher overall in May than a year earlier. That was up from April's 2.3% inflation rate, but it wasn't as bad as the 2.5% that Wall Street was expecting. A fear has been that Trump's wide-ranging tariffs could ignite an acceleration in inflation, just when it had seemed to get nearly all the way back to the Federal Reserve's 2% target from more than 9% three summers ago. It hasn't happened, though economists warn it may take months more to feel the full effect of Trump's tariffs. 'Another month goes by with little evidence of tariffs, but the longer-term inflation challenge they pose remain,' according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Financial markets also had only modest reactions to the conclusion of two days of trade talks between the United States and China in London. Trump said Wednesday that China will supply rare-earth minerals and magnets to the United States, while his government will allow Chinese students into U.S. universities in a deal that still needs an agreement by him and by China's leader. Trump also said that 'President XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!' Investors are still hoping for a more sweeping trade deal that would ease tensions between the world's two largest economies. Hopes for such deals between the United States and countries around the world have been one of the main reasons the S&P 500 has charged nearly all the way back to its all-time high after dropping roughly 20% below a couple months ago. Without them, the fear is that Trump's high tariffs could drive the economy into a recession while pushing inflation higher. The S&P 500 is now sitting 2% below its record. On Wall Street, Chewy dropped 11% after the seller of pet supplies reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts had forecast. Expectations were high after its stock had already rallied nearly 37% coming into the day for the year so far. Tesla swung between gains and losses before finishing with a rise of 0.1% to continue its shaky run. It's been recovering much of its big losses taken last week after Elon Musk's relationship with Trump imploded, which in turn raised fears about a loss of business for the electric-vehicle company. Musk on Wednesday backed away from some of his earlier comments and said they went 'too far.' All told, the S&P 500 fell 16.57 points to 6,022.24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1.10 to 42,865.77, and the Nasdaq composite sank 99.11 to 19,615.88. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.41% from 4.47% late Tuesday. Shorter-term yields, which more closely track expectations for what the Fed will do with overnight interest rates, fell more. Wednesday's better-than-expected reading on inflation raised expectations along Wall Street that the Fed could cut its main interest rate at least twice by the end of the year. The Fed has been keeping interest rates steady so far this year, going on pause after cutting rates at the end of last year. It has been waiting to see how much Trump's tariffs raise inflation because cutting interest rates could push inflation up even more, in addition to giving the economy a boost. 'The Fed could be justified in doing some preemptive rate cuts,' said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. 'They were afraid that inflation would rise before growth would slow, but the script has been flipped and they will likely change their tune.' In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe after rising in Asia. South Korea's Kospi was one of the best performers and jumped 1.2%. Choe writes for the Associated Press. AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed.
