The Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen will attempt to renegotiate the $1.5 billion of Soviet-era debt Cambodia accrued during the 1980s when he visits Russia in May, according to a post on the premier’s Facebook page.   ...

The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) has called on schools to adopt a flexible school uniform policy to help transgender students and for the government to introduce(CCHR) anti-discrimination laws, in partnership with a USAID program worth almost $300,000.   ...

Judge and prosecutors were called to a two-day workshop to address the sector’s pervasive ethics challenges, but legal experts said change could not occur until there were concrete rules, instead of vague moral guidelines. ...

Cambodia’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) earned $1.9 billion in revenue last year from the tourism sector, and could increase this amount further by reducing imports, an industry spokesman said yesterday.   ...

An obscure Malaysian company has obtained approval from Cambodia’s Council of Ministers to develop hotels and casinos in Sihanoukville, with an online promotional video claiming the firm will transform the coastal city into the “Macau of Southeast Asia.”     ...

The General Department of Taxation has asked alcohol and cigarette firms to implement proposed increases in special tax on their products, as per a subdecree issued last December. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture has rejected a request from private-sector rubber firms – led by agricultural tycoon Mong Reththy – for a meeting to discuss the floundering fortunes of the nation’s rubber sector, claiming the ministry was busy and was already addressing the issue. ...

Up to 4,000 mostly ethnic minority people in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district are facing a water shortage after the local supplier announced service would be suspended due to impending widescale drought. ...

After fleeing religious persecution in Myanmar, Mohammed Rashid found himself on a circuitous route to Phnom Penh. ...

Failing to receive a response to a letter submitted to Prime Minister Hun Sen via his Facebook page last week, a group of unions yesterday took their cause to the Council of Ministers, this time submitting a formal letter requesting a sit-down with the premier ...

Visitors to Cambodia’s premiere tourist destination, Angkor Wat, can expect better mobile network coverage come June, after Apsara Authority signed an agreement with local telecom services firm Camtowerlink Communications to install six camouflaged mobile towers across the vast temple site. ...

In the wake of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) clearing him of any wrongdoing, a Phnom Penh commune police chief yesterday refuted allegations that he had accepted protection pay-offs from neighbourhood drug dealers. ...

The independence of the country’s judiciary was among the issues that UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Rhona Smith raised yesterday during a meeting with the minister of justice as part of her 10-day visit. ...

As a two-day ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) summit on terrorism and organised crime held in Siem Reap closed yesterday, Interior Ministry counter-terrorism director General Em Sam An highlighted the growing toll transnational crime was exacting upon ASEAN members. ...

Cambodia’s garment sector – a key driver of the economy – exhibited modest growth last year, with total exports topping $6.3 billion in 2015, up from $5.8 billion one year earlier, according to an industry report released yesterday. ...

Though praised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China’s release of Mekong River water from the Jinghong dam on March 15 is unlikely to bring much relief to downstream countries like Cambodia, water experts said yesterday.   ...

The government issued its first scheduled recalculation of the fuel-pricing mechanism it rolled out on March 15, increasing the price cap on gasoline by 100 riel. ...

A forest fire near the Preah Vihear temple complex caused decades-old landmines and other unexploded ordnance to explode on Sunday, according to regional military commander Duong Sam Neang.   ...

A transparency advocate yesterday cautiously greeted a plan for consultation between judges, prosecutors and Justice Ministry officials handling land dispute and other controversial cases, though an international lawyer said it could compromise judicial independence.   ...

In a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen, government ministers have recommended a Chinese-owned company take the reins of the multi-million dollar Phnom Penh airport expressway, amid ongoing frustrations from residents who may be impacted by the development.   ...

The U.S. Army is looking to store a mobile emergency field hospital in Cambodia to be used in the case of a regional disaster, a defense industry news website reported last week.   ...

The Ministry of Labour is bringing back a beauty pageant for garment workers, which unions and commentators have deemed a “regressive” distraction from deep-seeded inequalities in the sector. ...

Local rights group Adhoc has cried foul after roughly 1,200 square metres on 2 hectares of land that used to be home to an airport in Preah Vihear province have been granted to a local official to build a house. ...

A new government sub-decree addressing the regulation of working hours and attendance for civil servants and government contract employees was submitted to the Council of Ministers on Friday in an effort to increase productivity, but is still short on oversight and accountability, one observer said ...