Khmer translated by ODC

The National Assembly’s permanent committee yesterday put forward Sam Promnea, a former Tourism Ministry secretary of state, as a new member of Cambodia’s Constitutional Council.   ...

The government decided to drop a 10 percent value added-tax (VAT) for rice products during a meeting on Wednesday between representatives of the rice sector and government officials at the Council for the Development of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, officials said.   ...

The U.S. pledged $35 million in development aid to Cambodia in the first part of a three-year, $137 million package announced on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon and U.S. Ambassador William Heidt, according to a U.S. Embassy statement.   ...

A cache of anti-tank weapons, including mines and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were discovered by authorities near the Cambodia-Thai border in Oddar Meanchey province’s Trapaing Prasat district on Tuesday, according to officials. ...

State-owned Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), one of three companies listed on the stock exchange, will pay out more than $3 million in dividends for 2015 on April 18, a 50 percent increase on 2014, reflecting its improved performance, company officials said. ...

A truck transporting corn from Battambang to Prey Vang province was seized by forestry officials on Monday evening after hundreds of turtles and pythons were found stashed inside, according to officials. ...

Representatives of employers from Cambodia’s industrial sector called for changes to the contentious draft union law yesterday. They criticized the government’s enforcement of strike regulations while requesting changes to the law that include higher thresholds for forming unions and more powers for dissolving unions. ...

Sun Chanthol, the Minister of Commerce, was in Bangkok yesterday telling Thai business leaders and investors about the benefits of doing business in the Kingdom. ...

Korea will provide a $13.3 million concessional loan to renovate the Stung Siem Reap Phase II flood mitigation project after a deal signed yesterday between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Korea Export and Import Bank. ...

The newly established special industry committee to deal with the crisis confronting the rice sector will meet Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon today to discuss urgent solutions to the problems they face. ...

In a two-day closed-door meeting, the government asked its counterpart in the Russian Federation to provide assistance to renovate the historic Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and continue supporting Cambodian tour guide training, according to a Foreign Affairs Ministry statement released yesterday. ...

The Cambodia-Japan Association for Business and Investment (CJBI) was officially launched yesterday in order to bring the business groups between the two countries together. ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong called for Malaysian businessmen to invest in rice mills and high-quality milling technology during a farewell meeting with the Malaysian ambassador to Cambodia, whose mission in the Kingdom ended yesterday. ...

A routine morning of planting vegetables and trees was interrupted on Sunday when a group of farmers in Kandal province’s Saang district unearthed a 227 kilogram, US-made MK82 bomb left over from the country’s war, according to police. ...

Police in Tbong Khmum province found more than 4,000 pieces of undocumented rosewood after raiding the home of a commune chief over the weekend but chose not to arrest the official pending further investigation.​ ...

A visiting representative of JSC Russian Railways, the state-run firm that manages rail infrastructure and operates passenger and freight services in Russia, met executives of Cambodia’s railway operator yesterday to discuss possible cooperation between the two companies. ...

For generations, the indigenous Bunong were famous as the great elephant keepers and masters of the forests in eastern Cambodia. They called the fertile, rolling hills of their ancestral homeland “meh ne,” or mother – a source of food, livelihoods and self-identity. ...

The U.S.’s Denver Art Museum on Monday officially returned a 10th century sandstone sculpture taken from a Cambodian temple during civil-war era to Cambodia. ...

A Cambodian man was deported from Thailand through the Choam Sangam border checkpoint on Saturday after allegedly attempting to enter Thai territory, according to a Banteay Meanchey provincial immigration police officer. ...

Representatives of 526 Koh Kong families hopped on their motos on Friday morning to deliver petitions to their district town halls calling for the return of land taken from them by a 2006 economic land concession (ELC), as well as compensation for lost crops.   ...

Four French Companies have received the first 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) awards in areas of economic governance, environment and social impact. ...

The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia on Sunday promised villagers in Stung Treng province who are set to be displaced by the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 hydropower dam that she would raise their plight with the government, a village representative said.    ...

Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha on Saturday brushed off protests from a group of students demanding he respond to claims that he had a series of extramarital affairs, telling CNRP faithful to prepare for next year’s commune elections.   ...

A Defense Ministry spokesman yesterday denied Thai media reports that Cambodian Minister of Defence Tea Banh had discussed the potential reopening of access to Preah Vihear temple from the Thai side of the border during recent talks. ...