The Phnom Penh Post

Chuon Phang, the 79-year-old chief of Tasanh commune in Battambang’s Samlot district, has always handed out free cotton kramas to local villagers about a month ahead of elections. But the ruling Cambodian People’s Party representative does not characterise the practice as vote-buying. He says he gives ...

The names of more than 900 prisoners have been put forward to receive pardons and sentence reductions during next month’s Khmer New Year festivities, officials said yesterday. The inmates were selected by the Ministry of Interior and their cases are now being assessed by the Ministry ...

As the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin population steadily declines, conservation groups have voiced concern that the critically endangered species may be swimming toward extinction if drastic measures are not soon taken to protect them. The numbers tell a depressing tale: From 2011 to 2014, 23 dolphins were ...

More than 200 striking workers demonstrated in front of Siko Phnom Penh Garment Factory in the capital’s Dangkor district yesterday after management fired an employee who founded a new labour union there, according to a union representative. ...

Luxembourg-based Advans SA Group and two other foreign investors have increased their share holdings in local microfinance institution Amret, giving Advans a controlling stake in the company. Claude Falgon, executive director of Advans SA SICAR, said that since the first stake acquisition, the business had acquired ...

Cambodia’s National Police chief Neth Savoeun has told foreign embassies that it won’t tolerate “foreign mafia” in the Kingdom, in what appears to be a thinly veiled message to Russia concerning recent conflict between Russian nationals in Sihanoukville. According to the statement, Savoeun has been ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on citizens to report the illegal use of army, police and civil servant licence plates, while at the same time defending the government’s regulation of the plates – a response that an opposition parliamentarian said was insufficient to combat ...

Two Vietnamese nationals were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for concealing nearly 40 kilograms of powdered ketamine in a Phnom Penh condo last year. ...

Cambodia was the only country in the Greater Mekong subregion to have increased its rate of exports following the 2008 global financial crisis, thanks largely to garments accounting for the majority of its manufacturing exports, a new report has found. The Greater Mekong 5 – Cambodia, ...

Between 40 and 80 tonnes of charcoal, made from trees logged inside protected areas of community forests in Battambang’s Samlot district, have been illegally exported to Thailand over the last year, an NGO officer said yesterday. ...

Following talks with indigenous villagers over the weekend, which saw promises of jobs and English language lessons, there are high hopes that a foreign company looking to extract gold in Ratanakkiri will be awarded the first-ever mining licence in the province. Representatives of Mesco Gold met ...

Two new laws governing elections and the functioning of the National Election Committee are expected to be passed without further debate during a session of parliament later this week. ...

Prime Minister and self-proclaimed “e-premier” Hun Sen shamed technological troglodytes throughout the government yesterday for their laggardly embrace of new communication tools, which he maintained would quicken the government’s work if properly applied. ...

Teachers at Koki Som secondary school in Svay Rieng’s Svay Tiep district yesterday asked the Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate the school’s principal, who, they claim, embezzled thousands of dollars from the school budget. ...

Feasibility studies on achieving Geographical Indication status for Thma Koul rice, Kampot durian and Cambodian golden silk have been completed, officials said yesterday. Ouk Prachea, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said the ministry was waiting for the results of the studies done by ...

The Phnom Penh municipality is finalising plans for a potential $1 million renovation of Wat Phnom, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said yesterday. The project, which will commence at an unspecified date, will focus on combating hillside erosion while restoring worn-out structures. ...

A senior refugee department official has said that ethnic Jarai Montagnards fleeing alleged persecution in neighbouring Vietnam need to enter Cambodia via official checkpoints in order to register as asylum seekers on arrival. ...

Sousdey Finance, a subsidiary of Thitikorn Limited in Thailand, will start a financial hire-leasing service for motorbikes in Phnom Penh, with an initial start-up fund of $100,000. ...

Cambodia’s energy minister promised lawmakers from the National Assembly’s public works and energy commission yesterday that the country will be weaned off of foreign electricity imports within three years, the commission’s vice chairman said in a press conference after the meeting. According to Mao Monyvann, a ...

The chairman of parliament’s banking and finance commission yesterday rejected allegations of misuse of state funds at the National Assembly, which were raised on Tuesday by opposition lawmaker Son Chhay. Cheam Yeap, a ruling Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker who heads the commission, said Chhay was wrong ...

The European Union yesterday pledged an additional €6 million to the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance Programme, as the 10-year plan, first implemented in 2010, entered its second phase of development. ...

Thirty-two families in Kampong Chhnang’s Teuk Phos district filed a complaint to rights group Adhoc yesterday, reporting they had been pressured by local authorities to sell their land for just $150 per hectare. ...

Four of the 36 Jarai Montagnards deported last month have “disappeared” from their village in Vietnam’s central highlands, prompting fears among villagers that they may have been detained by the authorities. The group of 36 Montagnards was deported on the night of February 24 after attempting ...

The number of abortions performed in 2014 increased nearly 51 per cent from the year before, according to the Ministry of Health. A report released March 9 showed that the total number of miscarriages and abortions for the year were up by more than 4,000 cases ...