The Phnom Penh Post

While financial inclusion is a top priority for emerging economies, new research suggests more stringent enforcement of anti-money regulations in recent years has resulted in major Western banks disconnecting from these regions, leaving local businesses without access to the international financial system. ...

Authorities intercepted four trucks carrying 81 pieces of illegal luxury timber at a checkpoint in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district last Friday, District Military Police Commader Sok Min said yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen returned to Cambodia yesterday after an urgent medical examination in Singapore due to exhaustion. The premier was forced to cancel diplomatic meetings and ceremonies last week and was rushed abroad for treatment. ...

Speaking at a pagoda inauguration on Saturday, Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said City Hall is looking to move warehouses and automobile repair shops out of the city centre to the outskirts to reduce pollution and traffic congestion – a move Hun Sen’s sister Hun ...

The Mekong River Commission held its second stakeholder meeting on Laos’s controversial proposed Pak Beng dam on Friday, giving involved parties the opportunity to hear responses to concerns raised at the first meeting in February. ...

Half of the residents of Mondulkiri’s Norng Buor village fell ill during a mass flu outbreak this weekend, prompting a rapid mobilisation of the province’s health authorities, who ascribed the flu’s rapid spread to poor hygiene. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has publicly announced that companies can bid for four mining exploration permits in both Kratie and Kampot provinces, marking the first time since the ministry was formed in 2013 to issue fresh licences for private companies to investigate mineral ...

Cambodia has been asked to more than double its yearly contribution toward the fight against HIV/AIDS to at least $3.2 million in each of the next three years, an official from the National AIDS Authority said yesterday. ...

Some 100 villagers in Koh Kong province’s Thma Bang district removed warning posts put up by environmental rangers and a conservation NGO around land that had been allegedly cleared by the residents since 2013 for farming, filing a complaint against the NGO for allegedly destroying ...

Cambodian and Vietnamese officials have received millions of dollars in bribes from Vietnamese timber traders as part of a cross-border “conspiracy” to log vast swathes of Ratanakkiri province and funnel the timber to Vietnam, according to a damning report by the Environmental Investigation Agency released ...

Several international and local coffee industry representatives gathered yesterday for the start of a three-day event promoting partnerships and franchising opportunities to satisfy Cambodia’s growing coffee cravings. ...

Villagers in Preah Vihear’s Choam Ksan district confronted a group of soldiers, preventing them from felling timber in their community forest by confiscating one of their trucks, a local official said yesterday. ...

The National Election Committee yesterday defended its decision to print 1.5 million extra ballots for the upcoming commune elections, saying the chances of misuse were minimal given better identification systems – though the opposition and civil society remained unconvinced. ...

After years of delays and setbacks, the Cambodian firm set to operate the Kingdom’s landmark oil refinery finally broke ground yesterday on a $1.62 billion project with an updated completion date set for the middle of 2019. ...

Siem Reap is renowned for its overwhelming number of hotels and guest houses. However, the city is also starting to witness a growing number of residential properties being built, specifically boreys. ...

Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) aims to begin construction work on a sidewalk at the Neang Kong Hing roundabout near the Olympic Stadium in the third quarter of 2017, in a move it says could cut traffic accidents. ...

International commodity prices for cashew nuts are rapidly increasing due to lower supply from Cambodia and Vietnam which is driving up profits for the Kingdom’s farmers, according to industry stakeholders. ...

Two new life insurance companies will launch operations in Cambodia by the end of this week, aiming to grab hold of a market that has seen rapid expansion in recent years while also creating stronger competition in the emerging industry. ...

With the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Asean less than a week away, government officials yesterday said that the theme of the three-day event would focus on “Youth, Technology and Growth”, while providing an opportunity to raise Cambodia’s international profile and attract more investors and ...

Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) aims to begin construction work on a sidewalk at the Neang Kong Hing roundabout near the Olympic Stadium in the third quarter of 2017, in a move it says could cut traffic accidents. ...

An election official warned Facebook users not to make any politically charged posts the day before the election yesterday during a three-day training session on campaign monitoring, with observers accusing him of overstepping the bounds of a rule forbidding parties from campaigning on that day. ...

Authorities yesterday dismantled fences and filled in a ditch in order to reopen a road, allegedly disconnected by two real estate companies several years ago, to public access in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district. ...

A conservation NGO official yesterday said he planned to ask microfinance lenders to better scrutinise their loans after a spate of cases over the last month showed that such loans had been used by illegal loggers to purchase chainsaws and tractors for transporting timber. ...

According to the boats’ inhabitants, who raise fish underneath their floating homes in Russei Keo district’s Chraing Chamreh I commune, the move was prompted by a mass die-off of fish last weekend due to increasing water temperatures.  ...