The Phnom Penh Post
Official talks future of traffic
City Hall has revealed its three-pronged plan to tackle the chronic congestion on Phnom Penh’s roads, by reducing second-hand vehicle imports, introducing more one-way roads and changing the working hours of government employees. ...
Chhay Channyda and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/official-talks-future-traffic
Labour Ministry vows to investigate recruiter
Responding to parliament’s order to investigate allegations against a recruitment agency with a record of mistreating its workers, the Ministry of Labour dispatched a team today to meet with a group of defrauded labourers. ...
Pech Sotheary and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/labour-ministry-vows-investigate-recruiter
Commerce Ministry takes AEC on the road
The Ministry of Commerce will lead a series of provincial forums next week aimed at promoting greater awareness of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) among rural businesses. Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol is to talk about both the challenges and opportunities that deeper regional economic integration will ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/commerce-ministry-takes-aec-road
Refugees should be treated fairly: Todd
US Ambassador William Todd has spoken out about ongoing arrivals of Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam, saying that the international community is concerned about their treatment and urging the government to give the fleeing Christian minority unimpeded access to “internationally accepted asylum procedures”. ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/refugees-should-be-treated-fairly-todd
Retail boom at holiday time
As millions of Cambodians prepare for Lunar New Year celebrations, Phnom Penh retailers say residents are spending more on the 2015 festivities than ever before. Independent economist Srey Chanthy told the Post that a dip in petrol prices had helped lower-income Cambodians increase their purchasing ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/retail-boom-holiday-time
Pyrotechnics pariahs for New Year festivities
Authorities have vowed to seize fireworks and punish anyone caught letting off explosives as Lunar New Year celebrations get under way today. The warning by the Phnom Penh municipality came as the Interior Ministry revealed plans to station more than 20 fire trucks around the city ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/pyrotechnics-pariahs-new-year-festivities
Ten-year sentences follow 1kg meth bust
Five men were sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for selling nearly 1 kilogram of crystal methamphetamine to undercover police officers in the capital’s Tuol Kork district last April. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http:/http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ten-year-sentences-follow-1kg-meth-bust
Arrested Montagnard emerges after 12 days
A Montagnard asylum seeker who was arrested and deported earlier this month along with his wife and three children has returned to a heavily guarded home after being detained and interrogated for 12 days by Vietnamese authorities. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/arrested-montagnard-emerges-after-12-days
Strikers accuse management of using shock weapon
Hundreds of workers at a new factory in Kampong Speu province continued yesterday to strike for better working conditions after one of their colleagues was allegedly struck with an electroshock weapon on Friday by their Chinese boss. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/strikers-accuse-management-using-shock-weapon
Mothers could see pardons
In an unanticipated act of leniency yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen established a new committee to deliver pardons to mothers jailed with their children, according to several attendees of the conference where the announcement was made. ...
Vong Sokheng and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/mothers-could-see-pardons
Land swap fears at hospital
More than 100 staff members of the Phnom Penh Referral Hospital and 7 Makara Health Care Center met the capital’s health director yesterday to discuss concerns about a land swap after a recent announcement that part of the hospitals lost their land title. The meeting came ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-swap-fears-hospital
Somaly Mam 2.0 gets green light from US
Disgraced anti-sex trafficking activist Somaly Mam’s new charity – which is headed by former staff of her fallen foundation, a Hollywood actress and a PR guru – announced yesterday that it has been given the green light in the US. ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/somaly-mam-20-gets-green-light-us
Ministry halts business ed licences
Aiming to address a skills mismatch in the Cambodian economy, the government has put a hold on new licences for higher education courses in the fields of business and finance. In response to a growing need for science and engineering skills, as well as trade-qualified workers, ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ministry-halts-business-ed-licences
Delivery firms expand operations
Kerry Worldbridge Logistics Ltd, a joint venture between Hong Kong-listed Kerry Logistic Network Limited and Worldbridge International Group (WIG), last week acquired the majority share of Cambodia Express Group, a local door-to-door logistics firm. ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/delivery-firms-expand-operations
Asylum seekers fall ill in forest
As security forces in Ratanakkiri province continued to seek the arrest yesterday of 32 Montagnards hiding there, villagers and a local rights worker said the harsh conditions had taken their toll on two of the asylum seekers. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/asylum-seekers-fall-ill-forest
Elderly deaths in ‘HIV village’
The death toll is increasing in Battambang’s Roka commune, which has been plagued by a massive HIV outbreak, as health officials confirmed yesterday that two more HIV-positive villagers succumbed to illnesses despite undergoing antiretroviral treatment (ART). The two elderly women, aged 74 and 75, died on ...
Sarah Taguiam
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/elderly-deaths-hiv-village
Hard life for kids in jail: report
Having begun life in an overcrowded cell with nowhere to play, little to eat and surrounded by abuse, when Dara* left prison at nearly 4 years old, he had not yet spoken a single word. According to the report, which was released on Saturday, Dara’s ...
Alice Cuddy and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/hard-life-kids-jail-report
SME policy needed by AEC
Public and private sector representatives have urged the Cambodian government to fast-track policies to foster a more “formalised”, compliant and productive small- to medium-size enterprise (SME) sector. Chea Serey, director general at the National Bank of Cambodia said the high cost of regulatory compliance, a ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/sme-policy-needed-aec
Activist ‘thorn in govt’s side’
As opposition grew yesterday over plans to remove Areng dam activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson from the country when his visa expires later this week, analysts said the government was hoping to clear the way to develop the valley. ...
Alice Cuddy and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/activist-thorn-govts-side
Business hub set to tackle key challenges before listing
The Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone has 77 tenants from nine countries and 80 per cent occupancy, but high electricity costs and corruption remain a drag on profits. The main issue is electricity costs, says PPSEZ chief executive Hiroshi Umaetsu. “If [electricity] goes from 19 ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business-hub-set-tackle-key-challenges-listing
Signing up: Poll monitors try out digital registration
A coalition of election watchdogs and rights groups known as the Electoral Reform Alliance (ERA) have tested a new “modernised voter registration” system that they hope the soon-to-be overhauled National Election Committee will use during forthcoming elections. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/signing-poll-monitors-try-out-digital-registration
Land swap in Kampot scrutinised
A group of opposition lawmakers on Wednesday began an investigation into a proposed government land swap in Kampot they fear may have questionable motivations. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-swap-kampot-scrutinised
Opposition slams Thai gov’t
More than a dozen opposition party officials have accused Thailand of encouraging extrajudicial killings of Cambodians along the border. In a strongly worded letter sent to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday, the Cambodia National Rescue Party MPs asked for an independent investigation into an ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/opposition-slams-thai-govt
IFAD to pledge $52M for program
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) yesterday unveiled a $52 million plan to help Cambodia’s government develop policies to assist poor farmers to improve agricultural productivity. ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ifad-pledge-52m-program