The Phnom Penh Post
Villagers in Phnom Penh's Russey Keo meet with governor to discuss road
The governor of Phnom Penh’s northern Russey Keo district met yesterday with hundreds of villagers to hear their grievances over the planned construction of a road – and potential displacement of residents – along an existing unused stretch of railroad track. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-phnom-penhs-russey-keo-meet-governor-discuss-road
Kem Sokha’s pre-trial detention extended by six months
Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha may not face trial until after the July elections, after a Phnom Penh Municipal Court decision on Monday to extend his pre-trial detention up to another six months. Meng Sopheary, Sokha’s lawyer, confirmed that Investigating Judge Ky Rithy extended the ...
Niem Chheng and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kem-sokhas-pre-trial-detention-extended-six-months
More crocodile farms given Cites recognition
Sixteen additional crocodile farms have been approved under an international conservation treaty to export Siamese crocodiles, bringing the total number of recognised farms in Cambodia to 21, according to a government official. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/more-crocodile-farms-given-cites-recognition
Few women in upper ranks
Cambodian women make up less than 3 percent of the military’s upper echelons, the ministries of defence and women’s affairs confirmed yesterday. Just 88 women hold ranks of one-star general and above, with one solitary woman ranked a four-star general and a deputy commander-in-chief of ...
Erin Handley and Ben Sokhean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/few-women-upper-ranks
Hun Sen tells jailed opposition figures not to expect pardons
Prime Minister Hun Sen rejected the possibility of negotiating with the former CNRP yesterday, maintaining that jailed opposition figures Kem Sokha and Um Sam An will not be pardoned, and that there would “be no second Paris peace agreement”. ...
Mech Dara and Ben Sokhean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen-tells-jailed-opposition-figures-not-expect-pardons
Brick prices climb to towering highs on demand from Sihanoukville
Brick prices in Cambodia have risen sharply in the last year, a trend that has accelerated over the first two months of this year due to growing demand from the rapidly developing coastal town of Sihanoukville. The price of 10,000 bricks hovered around $180 early ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/brick-prices-climb-towering-highs-demand-sihanoukville
Hun Sen, tax chief accuse US of lying about cuts to aid
Prime Minister Hun Sen and tax chief Kong Vibol accused the US of lying about cutting assistance to Cambodia, claiming that one of the programs on the chopping block hasn’t existed since 2016. In a speech to garment workers in the Sihanoukville SEZ on Saturday, ...
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen-tax-chief-accuse-us-lying-about-cuts-aid
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