The Phnom Penh Post

Pursat Provincial Court yesterday sentenced a military official, Poung Puthearith, to two years in jail – suspended to six months – on charges of threatening and obstructing the works of a forestry official, a court official said. Puthearith was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit ...

The Appeal Court has set a hearing date in a case against former Bavet town Governor Chhouk Bandith, who stands accused of shooting three protesting garment workers last year. In December, the Svay Rieng Provincial Court dropped charges against the official, only to see the case ...

Cambodia’s cashew-nut exports increased sharply from 443 tonnes in 2011 to 4,453 tonnes last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. But observers say these figures do not reflect reality, as a large percentage of exports had not been recorded. An expert in cashew nut production, ...

More than 4,000 people attended a ceremony in December last year that saw Japan’s largest shopping mall developer and operator, Aeon, breaking ground on its three-storey mall in Phnom Penh, and the company says it is already considering building more in the capital. Aeon Mall ...

The entire work force of the Ta Prohm temple restoration project in Siem Reap – more than 100 people – gathered at the temple yesterday to demand the reinstatement of 30 of their number [sic] who were dismissed at the start of the month. The 145 ...

A track of land once farmed by 1,000 families in Kratie province — families violently evicted amid claims they were part of a separatist movement — is now home to a military base. Unit 9 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces base, which will be finished later this ...

Import duties and limits, as well as rising wages in neighbouring countries, made Cambodia the second largest exporter of bicycles to the European Union after Taiwan, an industry newsletter reports. According to Bike-EU.com, which quoted data from Eurostat, Cambodia exported 519,389 units to EU countries between ...

Villagers facing relocation from the site of the planned Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province were told last week that they would be moved 15 kilometres from the river they rely on for fishing, a commune chief said yesterday. Seak Mekong, commune chief in ...

Rice millers and exporters are optimistic that they will see an increase in exports this year after they received higher orders toward the end of 2012, producers said yesterday. Toch Tepech, president of the Svay Rieng Rice Millers Association, told the Post he had exported over ...

Rajah & Tann, Southeast Asia’s largest law firm, has expanded to Cambodia through a tie-up with local law firm Sok & Heng, which has taken on a new name, RT Sok & Heng Law Office. Rajah & Tann’s deputy managing partner, Patrick Ang, estimates that there ...

In what’s believed to be an unprecedented move, the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court has ordered two companies holding economic land concessions to face court questioning on accusations of illegal logging and land clearing. Deputy prosecutor Ros Saram said he summonsed Vietnamese-owned Company 72 last week and will ...

The area of cassava under cultivation fell by 11.5 per cent across the country this season, while the price of cassava chips remained the same as last season’s price. Officials blamed an unstable price during the previous season (from April to April) for the drop. According ...

Old Place Seafood, a Chinese restaurant that cost $4 million, has opened in Phnom Penh. A representative of the restaurant, which is opposite the Chinese embassy, said the growing number of Chinese people in the Kingdom had justified such an investment. Luu Meng, president of the ...

Cambodia has asked India to provide more assistance in the development of human resources to promote economic growth and enhance bilateral co-operation. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An made the request during a meeting with Indian human resource development minister Mangapati Pallam Raju in Phnom Penh on ...

Revoking its decision to sack the vast majority of its work force for a prolonged strike, the Winson International garment factory agreed to allow the 868 workers back to work following negotiations late last month, worker representatives said yesterday. After mediation by officials from the Ministry ...

Loans and deposits at Cambodia’s 32 micro-finance institutions and four NGOs, as well as small loans from Acleda Bank, rose sharply last year compared with a year earlier. Industry players say this is a result of the Kingdom’s rapid economic improvement and political stability. Official data from ...

Hong Kong has banned egg imports from Cambodia due to the country’s recent avian influenza outbreak, which claimed four lives last month. “Hong Kong does not import live poultry or poultry meat from Cambodia, but 170,000 poultry eggs were imported from there last year,” the ...

Cambodia will soon boast its first tractor assembly plant, with operations expected to begin by the third quarter of this year. The one-hectare plant, in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district, is a joint venture by Belarus-based Minsk Tractor Works, one of the world’s biggest tractor producers, ...

Against the backdrop of the ongoing Thai government’s rice-pledging policy, Thai rice exports are expected to further decline this year. While it may provide opportunities for Cambodia, the country has not yet benefitted much from the policy, industry experts said. “I think the Thai rice scheme ...

Four hundred Cambodian women could be sent to Singapore  as soon as the middle of this year to work as maids  under a pilot scheme by the governments of Cambodia and Singapore. The Post has obtained an internal circular the Singapore Ministry of Manpower sent to ...

Sales of plants and flowers will reach a high during the Lunar New Year celebrations in Phnom Penh, which start on Sunday, as more customers than ever before buy floral decorations for their houses, flower shop owners in Phnom Penh predicted. “During the weekend many people ...

Pirated computer software accounted for about $50 million in losses to the Cambodian economy every year, an industry expert said yesterday. According to Pily Wong, president of the ICT Business Association, about 95 per cent of the computer software used in Cambodia is counterfeit, crippling the ...

A national policy on science, technology and innovation is being drafted to boost Cambodia’s development in the competitive field, as the Kingdom endeavours to catch up with its regional neighbours and internationally. Officials met for the first-ever consultation workshop yesterday to draft a national policy document ...

A lobby group says three separate mass fainting incidents this week that took place at two Cambodian garment factories “speaks volumes” about the issue, because both workplaces have relatively good reputations for worker’s rights. More than 140 workers fainted on Wednesday and Thursday at Kandal’s QMI ...