The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday that Cambodia should improve its business climate and enhance competitiveness by upgrading infrastructure, improving the quality of labor, and strengthening governance as China changes its trade pattern by moving up the value chain. ...

A mixed force of 7,000 military and security personnel will be deployed to protect Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visits Cambodia later this month for his first visit since coming to power, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. ...

As floods have been raging on in many provinces, especially in the outskirts of the capital, locals are demanding the government inspect all boreys, factories and other developments in affected areas to ensure that there are proper drainage and road systems. ...

Despite having access to other sources of information about the election process, including television and smartphones, Cambodia’s urban poor remain heavily reliant on potentially biased village-level officials when it comes to voter registration, according to a new report. ...

A local subsidiary of a South Korean confectionary giant is investing $40 million to develop what it claims will be the world’s largest pepper plantation on a sprawling 1,000-hectare estate in eastern Cambodia, a company executive said yesterday. ...

The French Agency for Development has granted a 30 million euro, or $31.1 million, loan for the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) to expand one of its four water plants and increase its water distribution in the capital. ...

In what some are calling one of the most significant threats to democracy that Cambodia has faced in a generation, the CPP-controlled National Assembly on Monday voted to give the government and courts sweeping new powers over political parties. ...

Members of Mekong River Commission and civil society groups will be heading to Luang Prabang in Laos to attend the regional stakeholder meeting on Wednesday to discuss Laos’ proposal to build a third dam on the Mekong mainstream, the Pak Beng. ...

Four senior officials for rights group Adhoc will remain behind bars after the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Court of Appeal’s ruling that they should be held in detention while awaiting trial, but gave no reason for the decision. ...

Chinese locomotive and railway equipment giant CRRC Zelc is to conduct a feasibility study into the investment potential of Cambodia to help improve the kingdom’s railway system while contributing to the One Belt; One Road initiative.   ...

The Australian-listed mining firm behind Cambodia’s Okvau gold project in Mondulkiri province released its definitive feasibility study (DFS) yesterday, confirming its predictions of 1.14 million ounces in gold reserves while reducing its projected investment costs for extraction. ...

Cambodia’s agricultural sector must improve post-harvest processing to increase the value of its products, while increased knowledge sharing could help farmers better understand the different value chains and identify opportunities, agricultural experts participating in the Grow Asia Forum said yesterday. ...

Residents of Takeo province’s Trapeang Thom Khang Cheung commune turned out to their local pagoda yesterday to experience something common during elections the world over but rarer in Cambodia: a public debate between the people seeking to govern them. ...

Aceleda Bank, Cambodia’s largest bank by assets, reported a net profit of $28.39 million in first quarter this year, down slightly from $30.19 million in the same period in 2016, according to the bank’s latest financial report. ...

An official in Stung Treng province said there was no way to grant a last-minute reprieve requested on Thursday by villagers whose homes could be flooded within days once testing of the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam begins on Saturday. ...

A newly leaked document attesting to a $15,000 deal between representatives of Ratanakkiri’s Samut Krom village and a timber trader to allow Vietnamese-backed logging in the community’s forest appears to add further weight to its critique. ...

Political fixture and former Co-Defence Minister Nhek Bun Chhay was officially charged yesterday with conspiracy to produce drugs and importing drug components after being linked to a decade-old bust by one of the men convicted in the original case. ...

The state-run Rural Development Bank (RDB) received a total of 10 proposals from Cambodian agricultural firms expressing interest in developing rice storage and drying facilities across three provinces using government-backed low-interest loans, a bank official said yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that China will begin funding demining efforts, just days after the US said it would pull financial support for a removal project with the Cambodian Mine Action Centre in the eastern part of the country. ...

A National Police officer who beat up a traffic policeman on Tuesday for reprimanding him for running a red light was sent to pre-trial detention by Phnom Penh Municipal Court this afternoon and faces the preliminary charge of “intentional violence”. ...