For many Southeast Asian countries, Japanese developmental aid may be synonymous with building bridges, roads and public facilities. But besides its infrastructure-building capacity, Japan is also boosting one of the strategic tools of diplomacy at its disposal: human resource development. ...

A small-scale sand dredging business on the banks of Sraeng lake in Banteay Meanchey’s Teuk Cho commune was shut down yesterday by Preah Net Preah district authorities after it was found to be operating without a license, according to district governor Ly Sovannarith. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son, Hun Manet, announced on Sunday that he would not be attending a Khmer New Year parade he was invited to in Long beach, California, in the face of vocal opposition from some of the community’s Cambodian-Americans. ...

Another four government officials will be promoted to senior secretarial positions in three ministries as part of the upcoming cabinet reshuffle, which Prime Minister Hun Sen claims will increase government efficiency, according to a letter to the president of the National Assembly last Friday. ...

Foreign diplomatic missions in Phnom Penh say they are closely watching the handling of the cases of human rights monitors and a national election official charged and jailed on Monday in connection with a sex scandal being prosecuted against an opposition leader.    ...

Construction on a $3 billion oil refining plant, the Kingdom’s first, will start in October this year and is expected to be finished by the end of 2018, according to a senior executive at the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday. ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has started the process of drafting two laws aimed at protecting witnesses and whistleblowers in an effort to increase their efficiency in fighting corruption. The ACU plans for drafts of the two laws to be finished later this year. ...

Two government-run emergency food assistance projects will be extended after evaluations found that they had significant impacts on reducing poverty in 200 communes in eight provinces, although the projects – which received financial support from developmental partners – have been completed, an official said yesterday. ...

About 50 Phnom Penh residents gathered On Sunday to rally against a planned road on Chroy Changva peninsula that will run alongside a massive $3 billion development project. The 12-meter-wide road will be located just 100 meters behind National Road 6A. ...

Human trafficking out of Cambodia is on the rise, according to an Interior Ministry report released on Thursday, and is being fueled by relaxed border controls and economic disparity in the region, according to a separate U.N. report.    ...

The ‘entertainment resort’ that Hong Kong-listed casino junket investor Jimei International Entertainment Group Ltd wants to develop in Cambodia is likely to be located in the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville (pictured), on the Gulf of Thailand, says Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd. ...

A vending machine dispensing driver’s licenses will be installed at Aeon Mall, according to the Public Works and Transport Ministry’s website, as part of newly appointed Minister Sun Chanthol’s plan to bring in serious reform within his first 100 days in office. ...

Military police have identified the suspected leader of what they believe to be a sex trafficking ring masquerading as a masseuse-training agency as a 40-year-old businesswoman with Cambodian and Thai citizenship who owns karaoke parlors in both countries.   ...

The owner of a luxury timber shop in Phnom Penh was fined 64.189 million riel (about $16,047) in absentia yesterday after being convicted of transporting, trading and stocking timber without authorization from the Forest Administration, according to court officials.     ...

Cambodia’s population of spotted Indochinese leopards will be extinct by 2018 unless action is taken to deal with the “snaring crisis” in Mondolkiri province, where the few remaining leopards live, according to the author of a forthcoming paper on the issue.   ...

More than 60 percent of rural homes in the Kingdom will have electricity by the end of this month and all villages in the country will no longer be engulfed in pitch darkness at night when they are connected to the national grid by 2020. ...

Unions meeting on Friday arrived at an estimated cost-of-living salary for garment workers ahead of minimum wage talks, one remarkably similar to the monthly wage they’ve demanded two years running, though suggested the final number they push for will be higher. ...

Indonesia is willing to offer Cambodia’s navy ships at a discount and would like the Kingdom to be involved in joint patrols in the region, Indonesia’s Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu yesterday told the Post, amid his meetings with government leaders. ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Monday that it was reviewing a diplomatic request from Turkey to close Zaman-operated schools in Phnom Penh because of their alleged ties to an organization being blamed for last month’s failed coup in the country. ...

The Royal Group, Cambodia’s biggest conglomerate, will be involved in funding future phases of a massive coal-fired power plant under construction in Preah Sihanouk province, a government official said yesterday, although details of the size of the investment or its timeline remain hazy. ...