The Phnom Penh Post

A coalition of watchdogs and other civil society groups yesterday announced their intention to form a “situation room” for the 2017 commune elections in order to monitor the voting process for irregularities. ...

The growing number of foreign visitors arriving by sea represents a promising source of tourism revenue for Cambodia, though limited port and tourism infrastructure has hampered its realisation, tourism stakeholders said yesterday. ...

Phnom Penh deputy governor Ieng Aunny yesterday acknowledged that the capital continues to struggle with waste management despite recent decentralisation measures, laying the blame with districts’ and communes’ lack of awareness of their new responsibilities, as well as what he characterised as contractor CINTRI’s ongoing ...

Phnom Penh and Beijing are in talks to become “sister cities”, chief of the Chinese Embassy’s political section Wang De Xin confirmed yesterday. ...

Sweden’s development agency will provide $7 million to foster the development of small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Cambodia, according to state-run news agency AKP. ...

The Cambodian government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with officials from China’s Shaanxi province aimed at bolstering trade and tourism, according to a release yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce. ...

Cambodian mobile operator Smart Axiata launched a $5 million venture capital fund yesterday that will seek to identify, fund and nurture local digital services companies and startups. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture is working to develop a procedural framework for the trade and use of biological control agents (BCAs) in agriculture in an effort to improve crop yields, protect consumer health and ensure continued access to key export markets. Regulation could also create ...

Preah Sihanouk province welcomed nearly 2.4 million tourists in 2016, generating $96 million in revenue, following a significant rise in domestic and international tourist arrivals, a tourism official said yesterday. . ...

A Poipet venue offering online gambling and affiliated with nearby Crown Casino was closed by authorities over the weekend, according to a company security official.​ ...

At least 70 timber smugglers transporting some 200 cubic metres of illegal first- and second-grade wood were stopped by authorities in the Phnom O’ral Wildlife Sanctuary over the weekend, before being allowed to leave without charges and still in possession of the illegal timber. ...

One home collapsed into the Tonle Bassac river on Saturday in Kandal’s Sa’ang district, while two others are at risk of collapse and eight others had to be dismantled and moved across the road, away from the riverbank, officials said yesterday. ...

Eleven wild elephants were rescued on Saturday in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima protected area after becoming trapped in a former bomb crater without food for four days, though rangers will continue to monitor the herd to ensure it reaccepts one juvenile who was handled by humans ...

Vietnamese state-owned dairy giant Vinamilk intends to spend almost $11 million to buy its Cambodian partner’s entire stake in Angkor Dairy Products Co Ltd, better known as Angkormilk, according to Vietnamese media. ...

Malaysian-owned energy firm Cambodian Energy II Co Ltd (CEL2) will invest a total of $600 million into building its 150-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Sihanoukville, which is set to become the Kingdom’s third coal-fired power station. ...

The company behind Cambodia’s first industrial slaughterhouse has refuted local media reports that claimed the government intends to shut down the company, insisting that remarks made by the minister of agriculture last week were taken out of context. ...

The apex body for the nation’s microfinance industry announced yesterday that the central bank had tentatively agreed to a number of measures it had requested to ease the burden on microfinance lenders following last week’s unilateral decision to cap annual interest rates at 18 percent ...

Almost one in every 100 children in Cambodia is living in a residential care institution, a number far higher than previous estimates, according to a new report in the British Medical Journal. ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday released a strongly worded, albeit vague, rebuttal to a harsh report released by ASEAN parliamentarians on Monday, which chided the government for its legal onslaught against the opposition and alleged the “systematic dismantling [of] democracy” in the Kingdom. ...

Two military commanders, a military police commander and a provincial police chief in Mondulkiri were questioned by the national military police’s anti-logging task force yesterday for their alleged involvement in a Vietnamese timber smuggling operation. ...

Cambodia’s capital market regulator announced yesterday that it would suspend the issuance of new central counterparty licences to derivatives trading firms, claiming that capping the market at four was sufficient to serve current demand. ...

For the second straight year Cambodia has proven to be one of the world’s most dynamic markets for air freight shipments, with growth in cargo volume exceeding both global and regional averages. ...

While Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly expressed his distaste for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was dealt a critical blow by US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement, economists say there has been little visible progress in cementing ...

Significantly fewer upper secondary students dropped out of school in 2016 compared to the previous year, but Cambodian education authorities say they still want to halve the rate to improve graduation rates and students’ chances of success in life. ...