The Phnom Penh Post

The Thai government’s planned diversion of billions of cubic metres of water from the Mekong River, described last week by a Thai Ministry of Water Resources representative as being as far as two years away, has already begun. ...

Cambodian democracy regressed last year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2015 Democracy Index, which indicates that the Kingdom is “on the cusp of the ‘authoritarian regime’ category”. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen urged logistics companies transporting heavy goods to switch from container truck shipping to rail shipments, increasing cost efficiency while sparing the nation’s roads from load damage. ...

A farm in Kompong Thom province that supplies Thai agro-industry giant Charoen Pokphand (CP) dumped the carcasses of 11,500 diseased chickens into an irrigation canal on Sunday, poisoning the waterway and endangering local livestock, according to officials. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned opposition leaders they will face ruling party rallies at home if he is met with anti-government demonstrations during his high-profile trip to the US next month, a threat that raised the spectre of pro-government protests in October that ended ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has sent a new set of procedures to local authorities aimed at speeding up the sluggish process of issuing new IDs. ...

Hundreds of logs of timber, including luxury wood, as well as sawmill camps were torched at a controversial Vietnamese-owned economic land concession in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district in an apparent bid to destroy evidence of illegal logging ahead of a raid by a new ...

Thirty-one evicted Borei Keila community families received flats and another four families got $15,000 buyouts on Saturday as part of a “lucky draw” organised to resolve their years-long land dispute. ...

Water bird numbers are making a big comeback in the Prek Toal conservation area on the Tonle Sap lake in Battambang province, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a report released on Saturday. ...

The Ministry of Labour on Saturday issued a 12-point set of standards for recruitment agencies sending workers abroad, warning operators they have just over a month to comply. ...

Driver’s licence and vehicle inspection fees have been cut nearly in half, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation announced late last week. ...

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. ...

The maker of a new tuk-tuk prototype retrofitted with a wheelchair ramp hopes to usher in a new era of wheelchair-friendly travel in Phnom Penh. ...

The ministries of health and information are working together to put some teeth into last year’s law restricting the advertisement of tobacco products to sale locations. ...

A pilot project to bring clean-burning portable stoves to Cambodia was announced on Monday by the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), which hopes to expand the venture to neighboring Laos and Vietnam. ...

In a move to crack down on future illegal logging, the government has created a special Commission, led by human rights group Adhoc, which will review and cancel any licenses of companies that violate forestry laws. ...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation in an announcement yesterday warned that action would be taken against those who illegally construct on the shoulders of, or fill in canals along, National Road 4 between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. ...

Unions yesterday called for further discussion of the draft trade union law after a bipartisan committee tasked with examining the controversial legislation concluded on Tuesday having agreed to few substantive changes. ...

A trade facilitation manual aimed at increasing the size of Cambodia’s seafood products will be ready by April and looks to help producers and exporters improve their export readiness and take advantage of ASEAN integration. ...

After seeing a signing ceremony interrupted by protesters on Tuesday, officials from the joint committee for Borei Keila housing solutions yesterday inked compensation deals with 32 out of 56 evicted families. ...

Authorities from the government’s new anti-logging task force swooped into Stung Treng yesterday and inspected timber stockpiles belonging to the Kingdom’s most prominent logging magnate, Try Pheap, who has been accused of reaping immense profits from the clear-cutting of Cambodian forests for years. ...

The Ministry of Rural Development, UNICEF and NGO Plan International Cambodia on Monday launched a new project to improve access to sanitation for 2,000 families in Ratanakkiri province. ...

In a seeming about-face, the government has backed away from its looming deadline to deport more than 100 Montagnards currently seeking asylum in Cambodia, instead pledging to “expedite” the process of assessing their refugee status. ...

Five shouting protesters yesterday morning shut down a meeting of the joint committee for housing solutions in Borei Keila before it could sign cash compensation deals with 56 evicted families. ...