The Phnom Penh Post
Major irrigation project underway
Officials on Saturday kicked off a large irrigation project to provide water to farmers in Takeo and Kampot provinces in hopes of enabling them to harvest rice three times a year. The project is part of an $82 million irrigation effort funded by the Asian ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/major-irrigation-project-underway
Religion ministry plans to sue activist monk But Buntenh under lèse majesté
The Ministry of Cults and Religion has said it will consider lodging a complaint against activist monk But Buntenh following his remarks that Cambodians, including the King, drink contaminated water. Cambodian Youth Party President Pich Sros, who initially had said he was thinking about lodging ...
Leonie Kijewski and Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/religion-ministry-plans-sue-activist-monk-buntenh-under-lese-majeste
Payouts to mothers to ‘combat malnutrition’
In what may become yet another populist pledge, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said he is considering giving $50 to every woman who gives birth in Cambodia to decrease child mortality and tackle malnutrition of mothers. ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/payouts-mothers-combat-malnutrition
Lèse majesté law now in effect
A set of controversial laws and constitutional amendments was quietly signed by Senate President Say Chhum in place of the King last week, going into effect immediately despite the Justice Ministry previously claiming there would be a promulgation period. ...
Niem Chheng and Andrew Nachemson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/lese-majeste-law-now-effect
Information Ministry claims press freedom supporters are ‘killing’ democracy
Cambodia’s Ministry of Information has chalked up 2017 as a “huge success for the government”, saying supporters of jailed journalists were “killing” democracy and the closure of multiple media outlets was necessary. ...
Mech Dara and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/information-ministry-claims-press-freedom-supporters-are-killing-democracy
Window closes for deal on mine project in Kratie
A deadline for an earn-in agreement involving Australian-listed Medusa Mining and Sea Resources to explore the Prek Kampi region of Kratie province passed on Thursday with no deal being reached, according to a UK-based news website. ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/window-closes-deal-mine-project-kratie
PM blames Cambodia’s logging problem on opposition
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday blamed Cambodia’s rampant deforestation on local villagers who he claimed had been “incited” by the opposition to clear the forestland, though conservationists were quick to point out that those behind illegal logging are actually often powerful tycoons connected to the ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-blames-cambodias-logging-problem-opposition
More than 300 RCAF officers promoted, including 178 new generals
The King has signed off on promotions for more than 300 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces officers in December and January, including at least six generals who recently joined the ruling CPP’s Central Committee. The mass military promotion – the second so far this year – brings ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/more-300-rcaf-officers-promoted-including-178-new-generals
Phnom Penh airport train to start on April 10
The new rail line between Phnom Penh International Airport and the railway station on Monivong Boulevard is scheduled to open on April 10, according to government and Royal Railways officials. Hoeurn Somnieng, deputy director of the cabinet at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/phnom-penh-airport-train-start-april-10
Foreigners working in Cambodia face permit fines
About 100,000 foreigners working without permits will be fined after Khmer New Year and potentially face jail time and deportation if they fail to get paperwork or pay their fines, the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labour announced yesterday. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/foreigners-working-cambodia-face-permit-fines
Government defers logging permits
The Council of Ministers has ordered a temporary suspension to permits for clearing and transporting timber from the reservoir area of the Lower Sesan II Dam until after the upcoming elections in July, with a government official yesterday saying illegal logging was “out of control”, ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-defers-logging-permits
Spokesman vows Cambodia will fight against ‘colonisation’ after US cuts aid
The Cambodian government expressed “dismay” yet remained defiant yesterday in the face of a US decision to cut aid to the Kingdom in response to its ongoing political crackdown, saying it would not comply with demands to restore the forcibly dissolved opposition CNRP. In a statement, ...
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/spokesman-vows-cambodia-will-fight-against-colonisation-after-us-cuts-aid
Duong Sruoch Group denies clearing in wildlife sanctuary
A representative with Duong Sruoch Group in Preah Vihear yesterday denied allegations that that the company had been illegally clearing forest outside the boundaries of social land concessions it had been licensed to log. Duong Sruoch Group was specifically named in a directive issued Monday by ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/duong-sruoch-group-denies-clearing-wildlife-sanctuary
Official releases EU trade data amid spat
Cambodia exported about $3 billion worth of goods to the EU in the first nine months of last year, according to Ouch Borith, a secretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Borith’s remarks came at the ministry’s annual meeting and were in response to a ...
Brendan O’Byrne
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/official-releases-eu-trade-data-amid-spat
Probe into Chinese investment to Sihanoukville still idle
A task force established a month ago to address problems stemming from an influx of Chinese investment to Sihanoukville has not received a single report of illegal businesses or taken any enforcement action, with one official maintaining it was impossible to take “serious” action for ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/probe-chinese-investment-sihanoukville-still-idle
UN releases memos on concerns
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday published a batch of communications held with the Cambodian government since June last year, showing that the international body has voiced its concern about a range of issues from the arrest of ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-releases-memos-concerns
Man arrested, timber seized in Kampong Thom raid
One man has been arrested and more than 100 planks of second-grade luxury timber seized by authorities in Kampong Thom yesterday. Hang Vunn, 22, was arrested by Sandan district police after he was found to be operating an illegal sawmill in Sochetr commune. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/man-arrested-timber-seized-kampong-thom-raid
Battambang, Siem Reap and Kampot among nation’s cleanest
The cities of Battambang, Kampot, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Kep, Kampong Cham, in addition to Doun Penh, a district of Phnom Penh, all received the top accolade, three romdul flowers, in the second edition of the country’s Clean City Contest. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50111141/battambang-siem-reap-kampot-among-nations-cleanest/
‘Thousands of tonnes’ of weapons imported: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen bragged yesterday about importing “thousands or tens of thousands” of tonnes of weaponry overnight in the run-up to a major joint military exercise with China. “Samdech Tea Banh, the minister of defence, he does not transport flowers,” the premier said to an ...
Ben Sokhean and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thousands-tonnes-weapons-imported-pm
Analysis: The government has announced plans to cover workers’ severance, but is it the best solution to factory disputes?
The government will begin to pay out of pocket for severance wages for labourers at abruptly shuttered factories whose owners have fled, effectively enacting a pro-worker policy without further burdening private businesses – albeit at the risk of discouraging good corporate citizenship, experts say. ...
Yon Sineat and Brendan O’Byrne
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-depth-business/analysis-government-has-announced-plans-cover-workers-severance-it-best-solution
US cuts aid to Cambodia with aim to ‘urge government to reconsider its current course’
The White House is cutting aid to several assistance programs in Cambodia due to “recent setbacks to democracy”, it announced late Tuesday. Some programs supporting Cambodia’s Tax Department, military and local government will be cut or reduced “to ensure that American taxpayer funds are not being ...
Daphne Chen and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/us-cuts-aid-cambodia-aim-urge-government-reconsider-its-current-course
Licences to log SLCs are ordered revoked
The Council of Ministers has ordered licences granted to private companies to log and collect timber from social land concessions (SLC) and state-owned land revoked, following years of allegations that some companies were exploiting the permits to carry out illegal logging. The council on Monday released ...
Phak Seangly and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/licences-log-slcs-are-ordered-revoked
Freeze ordered on CNRP offices
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday ordered a freeze placed on the former headquarters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Phnom Penh, warning that the property may be sold to pay fines and compensation incurred by its owner, former party President Sam Rainsy, in ...
Ben Sokhean and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/freeze-ordered-cnrp-offices
Government pledges documentation for ethnic Vietnamese
The government yesterday maintained it was opening a path to citizenship for roughly 70,000 ethnic Vietnamese people living in Cambodia, though many have lived here for generations, and advocates say a current drive to revoke “irregular” government documents is effectively rendering many stateless. ...
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-pledges-documentation-ethnic-vietnamese