The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia’s total rice production this year will exceed 9.2 million tonnes, according preliminary estimates of rice harvested in 24 provinces and compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture. ...

Sixteen members of the US Congress have signed a joint letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen calling on the premier to “immediately cease the harassment and persecution” of the opposition.The letter, sent late last week, pointed to the National Assembly’s decision last month to expel ...

The Preah Vihear Provincial Court has ordered nine villagers to appear on Wednesday to respond to allegations that they dismantled the office of a Malaysian rubber plantation company five months ago. ...

A Vietnamese woman imprisoned on child sex trafficking charges in 2009 received a humanitarian royal pardon last month, but only after she had been dead for more than a month, the rights NGO Licadho said yesterday. ...

A Stanford University study conducted in Cambodia has shed new light on the natural introduction of the poison arsenic into groundwater – an established problem in Cambodia that could be exacerbated by hydrological development, particularly dams, researchers say.According to a report on their findings, published ...

Environmental activists and community members in Koh Kong province were yesterday detained by guards from a sand dredging company while documenting the firm’s activities. ...

The National Assembly passed the government’s $4.3 billion budget for 2016 this week, which includes a plan to take on nearly $1 billion in foreign debt. The Post’s Siv Meng sat down with Aun Porn Moniroth, Minister of Economy and Finance, to discuss the revenue ...

In a bid to increase tourist arrivals and promote Sihanoukville as a beach destination, Cambodia Airports, the private company that manages the Kingdom’s three international airports, announced yesterday that it will provide monetary incentives to airlines that bring in foreign visitors to the coastal city.Speaking ...

Convicted tycoon Thong Sarath yesterday began an appeal of his June conviction for possessing and using illegal weapons.He was arrested in April after allegedly masterminding the assassination of another construction magnate, Ung Meng Cheu, in November last year. ...

The former Battambang High School student who a local news website claimed earlier this week bribed education officials to secure a passing exam grade said yesterday that the certificate the website published is not his. ...

An unlicensed doctor was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday after being found guilty by Battambang Provincial Court of “torture with aggravating circumstances” for infecting hundreds of people with HIV.Yem Chroeum, 56, stared at the ground as presiding judge Yich Chheanavy read out the ...

Government officials defended the Kingdom’s record on internet freedom yesterday, despite concerns that recent and proposed legislation could curtail the rights of those speaking out online. ...

The Fisheries Administration (FA) plans to strengthen its presence in Kep province with the opening of a new cantonment there, officials announced in an official ceremony yesterday morning.The move comes after what conservationists say has been a steady increase in illegal trawling in Kep Bay, ...

The government has agreed to delay the passage of a controversial law governing the trade union sector, announcing it would set up a national workshop to work out the legislation’s thornier clauses on December 15. ...

The Electoral Reform Alliance yesterday held a roundtable discussion to pore over the results of a two-week trial of a new voter registration system. ...

Fast approaching six months since its creation, a special commission to investigate the cold-case killings of three union figures, including Free Trade Union president Chea Vichea, has nothing to report. ...

The Ministry of Education yesterday said it is creating a committee to investigate an alleged case of a student bribing education officials in Battambang with $650 to give him a passing grade 12 exam score in 2014. ...

Angkor Wat is to receive significant new restorations in 2017, according to the Apsara Authority, which manages the historic temple complex.The announcement came following yesterday’s 24th session of the International Coordinating Committee for Angkor (ICC-Angkor) at which conservation, restoration, sustainable development and tourism were discussed. ...

Local rubber producers yesterday expressed little enthusiasm to attend this year’s Global Rubber Conference, which opens today in Ho Chi Minh City, voicing pessimism about the gloomy market for natural rubber and scepticism on whether the conference would yield any solutions to producers’ pricing problems.Among ...

A year-long crackdown on illegal immigration equated to a threefold increase in deportations in the first 11 months of 2015, with 4,312 foreigners sent home versus just 1,307 in the same period last year, according to a Department of Immigration report obtained yesterday. ...

About 150 villagers, enraged by the conviction and imprisonment of three of their community representatives, yesterday destroyed the gates of Ratanakkiri Provincial Court, bursting into the courtroom only to find that the three men had already been sent to jail.The representatives – Chroeung Touch, Em ...

Lucky Air has launched direct flights from Kunming to Sihanoukville, becoming the first Chinese carrier to offer year-round regular scheduled service to the coastal Cambodian city, an airline executive said yesterday.Kunming-based Lucky Air, part of Hainan Airlines Group, has a fleet of 25 aircraft. It ...

The Global Fund, provider of the lion’s share of money for Cambodia’s $12 million-a-year HIV treatment and prevention program, has told the government it expects it to begin footing more of the bill itself, a push that is prompting worries among local health-care providers. However, ...

A prolonged regional drought is expected to push Thai and Vietnamese rice prices up by 10 to 15 per cent, narrowing the price gap that has kept Cambodian rice exporters from securing major international supply orders, one of the Kingdom’s biggest rice exporters said yesterday. ...