The Phnom Penh Post
More suspects in Thailand arms smuggling case sought
Banteay Meanchey Provincial Police are hunting four more suspects believed to be connected to a recent case of smuggling weapons to Thailand, with an official saying the group is accused of transporting the ordnance across the border. ...
Niem Chheng and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/more-suspects-thailand-arms-smuggling-case-sought
PM announces plan for social security system
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday announced that the government has plans to have a functioning social security system operational in the country by 2025, including universal health care, unemployment insurance and old-aged pensions. ...
Touch Sokha and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-announces-plan-social-security-system
Migrant worker protections ‘lacking’, reports find
Cambodia lacks effective mechanisms to protect its citizens working both as legal and undocumented migrants abroad, where such workers also face insufficient protection from the countries that receive them, according to two new reports published last week. ...
Leonie Kijewski and Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrant-worker-protections-lacking-reports-find
Cambodia’s Facebook crackdown: Police are monitoring site for ‘enemies’ and ‘rebel movements’
National Police are monitoring Facebook to repress attempts to create a “rebel movement against the government” through negative posts and are working to better control civil society groups that have “opposition trends” and try to cause instability in society, a semiannual police report issued yesterday ...
US dollar used to curb inflation
Cambodia’s central bank purchased a total of $479.4 million worth of cash during the first half of this year to convert to riel, utilising one of the few tools the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has to stabilise the value of the local currency and ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/us-dollar-used-curb-inflation
Activist ‘threatened’ for tip over land clearing
An ethnic Kuoy activist in Stung Treng province says his life was threatened after he tipped authorities off to an alleged land grab on Saturday involving two suspects who remain at large. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activist-threatened-tip-over-land-clearing
Bond to funnel benefits to women
An $8 million bond set to debut on Singapore’s stock exchange will mobilise private capital to support social enterprises and microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines, providing nearly half a million women in these countries with more access to credit in order ...
Brian Ng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/bond-funnel-benefits-women
Deminer among three Cambodians arrested for arms sale
Banteay Meanchey police have arrested three men, including a deminer from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), for their alleged involvement in selling three mortars seized last week by Thai authorities, who, in a separate raid in Thailand near the country’s border with Myanmar, detained ...
Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deminer-among-three-cambodians-arrested-arms-sale
Sesan locals protest over supporters’ detention
The temporary detention and questioning of 24 people travelling to the reservoir area of the Lower Sesan II dam prompted a three-hour confrontation between Military Police and provincial police officials and more than 100 villagers in Stung Treng’s Kbal Romea village yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sesan-locals-protest-over-supporters-detention
King again in Beijing for contested Party Law’s signing
King Norodom Sihamoni will once again be out of Cambodia on the day that widely condemned new laws are due to be signed into force, prompting some observers to suggest he is abstaining from affixing his signature to politically questionable legislation. ...
Meas Sokchea and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/king-again-beijing-contested-party-laws-signing
NGO report finds banned exports of logs to Vietnam still increasing
The ostensibly-outlawed export of logs to Vietnam increased in May, while the trade in sawn timber, also supposedly banned, remained substantial, new Vietnamese customs data shows. ...
Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-report-finds-banned-exports-logs-vietnam-still-increasing
Decree puts riel prices into focus
The government has issued a decree that requires all businesses to put price tags on their products and services in riel to increase transparency for consumers and boost the use of the local currency. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/decree-puts-riel-prices-focus
Rubber exports bounce higher
Cambodian rubber exports surged 37 percent during the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2016, as the Kingdom’s rising harvest capacity coincided with firmer global demand for rubber products. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rubber-exports-bounce-higher
Parties lambast legal changes
Two of Cambodia’s minor parties yesterday railed against the adoption of amendments to the Law on Political Parties, saying their rapid push through parliament waylaid important legislation and served only the political interests of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/parties-lambast-legal-changes
Corn farmers welcome government action
As the government used the untapped funds of an emergency rice loan package to support struggling corn farmers , people in the sector considered this action as a good solution although there was not much success proved. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://bit.ly/2teim3G
As region cracks down on migrants, agencies provide costly, illegal passport service
Amid crackdowns on undocumented migrants in Malaysia and Thailand, demand for passports among Cambodian migrants has seen large spikes in recent weeks, with many making the costly journey to Phnom Penh to get their paperwork in order. ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/region-cracks-down-migrants-agencies-provide-costly-illegal-passport-service
PM donates $10,000 to Kem Ley’s family to cover memorial costs
Prime Minister Hun Sen donated $10,000 to Kem Ley’s family yesterday to help with the costs of a ceremony commemorating the one-year anniversary of the murdered political analyst’s assassination. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-donates-10000-kem-leys-family-cover-memorial-costs
Party law changes clear Senate
The Senate, as predicted, passed contentious changes to the Law on Political Parties yesterday in a bid to erase – in some cases literally – opposition figure Sam Rainsy from Cambodia’s political scene. ...
Meas Sokchea and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/party-law-changes-clear-senate
Fourth held in Thailand weapons case
Thai police have arrested a fourth suspect in the weapons smuggling case linked to a Cambodian immigration officer, according to Thai media, while a senior Cambodian Defence Ministry official said yesterday that any suggestions that the weapons came from Cambodia’s military arsenal had been ruled ...
Niem Chheng, Koam Chanrasmey and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fourth-held-thailand-weapons-case
Telecom cable to run from coast to Kampong Cham
State-owned Telecom Cambodia yesterday inaugurated its Greater Mekong Telecom Backbone Network Project, which includes the installation of a 467-kilometre fibre-optic cable connection between Sihanoukville and Kampong Cham, the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia said in a news release. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/telecom-cable-run-coast-kampong-cham
Government to tap emergency rice fund to help corn farmers
The government will use the untapped funds of an emergency rice loan package to support struggling corn farmers who have protested the low market prices for their crop this season, state officials said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/government-tap-emergency-rice-fund-help-corn-farmers
Hundreds of Cambodian workers repatriated so far in 2017
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted the repatriation of more than 450 Cambodian workers in the first six months of the year, according to figures released Saturday. ...
Leonie Kijewski and Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-cambodian-workers-repatriated-so-far-2017
Number of building projects up in 1H
The number of construction projects approved in Cambodia during the first half of the year increased 28 percent compared with the same period last year, amounting to a total value of around $4.9 billion, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Land Management, ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/number-building-projects-1h
Sesan residents brace for floods
The doors of the Lower Sesan II dam were closed on Saturday for a monthlong test run, forcing more than 100 families holding out in Stung Treng’s Srekor and Kbal Romea communes to prepare for floods. Since the doors’ closure on Saturday morning, water levels ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sesan-residents-brace-floods