A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the US and Europe – including Gap, H&M and ASOS – expressed “growing concern” on Tuesday over several controversial labour laws and ongoing court cases against unionists described as restrictive and unjust. ...

Business leaders from the Lower Mekong region are urging their respective governments to use local currencies for trading in border regions instead of the US dollar, arguing that this would facilitate business transactions and reduce exchange costs, a Thai newspaper reported yesterday. ...

Top executives from foreign firms have spoken out about the constraints of doing business in Cambodia, citing high electricity and infrastructure costs, unskilled local workers, limited transparency, a lack of local manufacturing suppliers and limited sources of raw materials as impediments to progress. ...

Minister for Mines and Energy Suy Sem will appear at the National Assembly on Thursday to answer questions about a more than $700 million discrepancy in data on sand exports to Singapore, according to a letter signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Almost 200 people protested yesterday in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet City, demanding the release of Mang Puthy, president of the Cambodia Informal Economy Reinforced Association (CIERA), who says he was arrested after officials framed him for attempted murder. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture is calling on rice millers to apply for a second round of quality checks for exports to China after only 28 local rice mills, out of 60 which applied for inspection in the first round, passed last year. ...

Despite initial hopes that the man who tortured her 2-year-old son last year would face trial in Cambodia, the child’s mother said on Tuesday that Vietnamese police have informed her that the abuser would not be extradited from Vietnam. ...

Cambodia’s top election body will take legal action against groups that conduct or publish opinion polls in the two weeks leading up to June 4 commune elections, its spokesman said on Sunday, warning that the surveys could lead to “social instability.” ...

The steep increase in Angkor Wat ticket prices on February 1 did not discourage tourists from visiting the country’s chief tourist draw, as some feared, but it also did not reap any significant material gains for the government coffers, new data shows. ...

A group of about 1,000 families living in Siem Reap province’s Phnom Kulen National Park will be relocated to prevent them from continuing an environmentally detrimental trend of clearing land, building homes, selling and repeating, the environment minister said on Thursday. ...

Land prices along one of Cambodia’s main highways have seen a slight increase in the first half of 2017, thanks to road improvements and residential developments, insiders say. ...

Cambodia’s economic growth will remain on course this year but will likely slow in the coming years to 6 percent as investment tapers off and credit growth tightens, according to an updated note by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Friday. ...

The last families refusing to relocate from two communes near the Lower Sesan II dam are considering asking the authorities to establish a new village on ancestral lands close to their original homes as flood waters in the area continue to rise. ...

A massive centralised rice drying facility in Battambang province being developed by Thaneakea Srov (Kampuchea) Plc will soon be operational, while its adjacent rice storage operations are on track to be completed early next year, the CEO of the company said yesterday. ...

A slew of new health and maternity benefits for workers took effect at the stroke of midnight yesterday in a dramatic expansion of the country’s social security framework, even as labour advocates and business experts raised concerns about cost and quality. ...

The Environment Ministry, partner organisations and a Japanese company expect that implementation of a $1.5 million forest conservation project for three years will help prevent forest crime, biodiversity loss and improve the livelihoods of community members in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

They represented 6,822 families on a total area of more than 19,145 hectares of land in Tbong Khmum, Svay Rieng, Kandal and Preah Sihanouk provinces. They submitted petitions to the National Assembly, Council of Ministers and Ministry of Land Management. ...

Samdech PM Hun Sen this week met with I, I 00 voluntary students, who will help survey the land for local people. The government set policy to offer land for real poor and landless people in a form of helping poor and social equity. ...

Swedish fashion retailer H&M has hit back at accusations that it fails to pay adequate wages to workers in Cambodian factories making its clothes – and says instead that the situation would be a lot worse if it didn’t source from the country ...

Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister yesterday reiterated his commitment to criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing in the Kingdom. Sok An reassured delegates at the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering of Cambodia’s commitment to implementing comprehensive procedures to stop illegal monetary transactions. ...