The lawyer of a 19-year-old high school student who has accused a district police chief in Kompong Chhnang province of raping her says her client will appeal a prosecutor’s decision to close the case without explanation. ...

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which will become a reality at the end of this year, would boost the ten- nation bloc’s influence and prestige in the global stage, according to Cambodian scholars here. ...

The United Kingdom sees Cambodia as a strategic location at the heart of a transportation network through Thailand, Vietnam and Laos to reach China and other countries in the region and the world, a senior UK trade official said yesterday. ...

Local innovations have catapulted Cambodia, which has long had dire toilet use numbers, to be a leader in sanitation. On World Toilet Day, the country gears up to attain ambitious new targets, Joanna Mayhew reports. ...

Senate spokesman Mam Bun Neang issued a statement Monday describing as “shameful” the decision by the chamber’s 10 opposition senators to boycott the day’s vote in protest of the arrest warrant issued for opposition leader Sam Rainsy. ...

Union​ and​ clothing​ brand​ representatives​ from​ around​ the​ world​ met​ in​ Cambodia’s​ capital​ Wednesday,​ aiming​ to​ address​ the​ country’s​ minimum​ wage​ and​ push​ for​ the​ establishment​ of​ a​ proper​ system​ of​ collective​ bargaining.​ ​ ...

Economists say Cambodia is not facing the risk of an aging population, as is happening in richer countries around the region, but it must still plan for a future when its younger generations grow old. ...

The volume of fish harvested from the Tonle Sap Lake is likely to rise in the fishing season that starts today due to better weather conditions, a senior official from Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry told Khmer Times yesterday. ...

Em Chan Makara, president of the Disability Action Council (DAC), told reporters that his group will issue drivers licenses for people with disabilities in conjunction with the government. The council will also discuss appropriate vehicles for disabled people with other stakeholders. ...

Hun Sen will spend two days in Bangkok and is scheduled to meet the leader of Thailand’s military government, Prayuth Chan-ocha, for talks on border issues, agriculture, trade and investment, and regional connectivity. ...

Cambodia was one of the few bright spots for the air cargo industry last year with a modest increase in year-on-year air freight shipments as other regions experienced weak growth due to the cooling global economy. ...

Around 50 people representing 83 households from Lor Peang village in Kampong Chhnang yesterday refused concessions offered to them during a meeting with the National Assembly’s Commission on Human Rights, Complaints, and Investigation. ...

Police officials yesterday called for tougher sentencing of drug dealers and for the government to make it “easier and faster [for police] to seize their property”, as the Interior Ministry’s annual drugs conference wrapped in the capital. ...

Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) has signed an agreement with a Singaporean clean energy firm to install and operate a solar panel system inside the 357-hectare industrial park, the company said yesterday in a press release. ...

It will get easier for small, rural mining operations to register with the government this month, thanks to a change in the Ministry of Energy and Mines’ policy of issuing licenses, according to a ministry statement released last week. ...

Honeybees have a huge role in tropical ecosystems, but illegal logging and unsustainable honey harvesting are hurting their population. Honeybees have co-evolved with flowering plants and their overall health is an indicator of an ecosystem’s wellbeing. ...

Local authorities in Preah Vihear province are teaming up with the Apsara Authority to protect the 8,100 hectares of land surrounding the Koh Ker archaeological site, which they say is under threat from illegal loggers and intrusive settlers. ...

In order to aid waterway transport, sand-dredging – largely banned since a 2011 decree – will soon begin reappearing at dozens of locations along the Tonle Bassac river, a spokesman from the Ministry of Mines and Energy confirmed yesterday. ...

Government officials on Wednesday applauded China’s decision to take emergency measures to counter the impact of a regional drought by releasing water into the Mekong River from the Jinghong Hydropower Station in China’s southwestern Yunnan province. ...

A visiting representative of JSC Russian Railways, the state-run firm that manages rail infrastructure and operates passenger and freight services in Russia, met executives of Cambodia’s railway operator yesterday to discuss possible cooperation between the two companies. ...