Cables From Bangkok, Phnom Penh Show Varying Analyses
According to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks US officials in Bangkok believed that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decision to name former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser in 2009 backfired after it increased support of the opposition. The Premier at the time of href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cables-from-bangkok-phnom-penh-show-varying-analyses/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Fears over island fish stocks
Villagers on Koh Kyong island in Preah Sihanouk province are preparing a complaint over more than 300 allegedly unlicensed fishermen who they say are illegally operating in local waters. Loung Bunny, chief of the Association for Natural Protection in Ochroy commune, said yesterday that fishermen from href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fears-over-island-fish-stocks/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
About 400 Chickens Inspected for Bird Flu
About 400 chickens suspected of being infected with bird flu were culled Friday in Banteay Meanchey province’s Monkol Borei district after a died of the virus less than two weeks ago, officials said. Meanwhile, last week the Agriculture Ministry reported that H5N1, or avian influenza, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/about-400-chickens-inspected-for-bird-flu/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
More than 1,800 families seek help
About 60 people representing 1,850 families from seven villages in Battambang province’s Sampov Loun district yesterday petitioned Interior Minister Sar Kheng and Prime Minister Hun Sen for intervention in a land dispute. Villagers claim that district authorities leased 4,095 hectares of their land in Chrey href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/more-than-1800-families-seek-help/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Fainting factory told to act
Another garment factory within the International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories program was hit by a mass fainting incident yesterday. More than 50 employees of Heart Enterprise (Cambodia) Co Ltd began collapsing soon after starting their shift at the facility, in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district. An href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fainting-factory-told-to-act/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011090151398/National-news/fainting-factory-told-to-act.html
24 More Faint at Dangkao District Garment Factory
Continuing the spate of mass fainting at Phnom Penh garment factories, 24 workers fainted at the Heart Enterprise factory on Friday, prompting the factory to shut down for the second time in a week, officials said. The Dangkao district garment factory had reopened on Friday href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/24-more-faint-at-dangkao-district-garment-factory/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Labour draft law revamped
The government has dropped controversial criminal penalties targeting unionists in its latest draft of the union law, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said yesterday. Addressing a meeting of representatives of international apparel brands, including Nike, Adidas and PUMA, unions, government officials and the International Labour Organisation, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/labour-draft-law-revamped/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011090751499/National-news/labour-draft-law-revamped.html
Land for Rubber Farms to Nearly Double by 2020
Cambodia expects to almost double the amount of land used to cultivate rubber between now and 2020, a move that rights groups say could result in more evictions across Cambodia. Ly Phalla, director general of General Directorate of Rubber Plantations, said yesterday that there are href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/land-for-rubber-farms-to-nearly-double-by-2020/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Trade with Singapore soars
The Kingdom’s total trade with Singapore soared 148 percent in the first half of the year, while exports to Hong Kong increased 80 percent in the same period, according to Ministry of Commerce figures. The data showed that Cambodia’s exports to Hong Kong totalled in excess href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/trade-with-singapore-soars/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Phnom Penh orders rice sell-off to fight price gouges
City Hall coordinated the release of 120 tons of rice in cooperation with the state-run Rural Development Bank yesterday to keep prices in the city stable amid reports that vendors were using the current floods to gouge customers. Last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/phnom-penh-orders-rice-sell-off-to-fight-price-gouges/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Vietnam trade passes $2bn
Trade between Cambodia and Vietnam surpassed a US$2 billion trade target for 2011 in just the first nine months of the year, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Phnom Penh. Trade between the two countries hit the higher-than-projected $2.07 billion in September, up from about href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/vietnam-trade-passes-2bn/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011102852398/Business/vietnam-trade-passes-2bn.html
Regional bank meets with evicted railway families
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) met yesterday with the representatives of families evicted or facing eviction to make way for an ADB-funded railway project, and defended itself against complaints that the project was pushing some of them deeper into poverty. The ADB has billed the $142 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/regional-bank-meets-with-evicted-railway-families/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Three more shot dead logging on border
Three Oddar Meanchey province villagers were shot to death on Monday while logging on the Thai-Cambodian border, officials said yesterday, bringing the total number of border killings so far this year to 14 and drawing concern from human rights groups over the continuing bloodshed around href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/three-more-shot-dead-logging-on-border/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Railway impact reports nowhere to be seen
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has not made public the last two quarterly reports on the impact of resettling families who are being evicted for a $142 million railway rehabilitation project. The reports, which are required under an ADM loan agreement with the government, haven’t been href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/railway-impact-reports-nowhere-to-be-seen/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Company backtracks, says villagers will now get land
The director of TTY rubber company, whose guards shot four land protestors in Kratie province last week, said he will give land back to the protesting villagers, backtracking on his vow Friday not to give up any of the land granted to him by the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/company-backtracks-says-villagers-will-now-get-land/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Ease Flood Victims' Debts, Hun Sen Tells MFIs
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on microfinance institutions to reduce interest rates and expand repayment periods for the tens of thousands of families affected by last year’s devastating floods. Addressing microfinance institutions (MFIs) on Tuesday during a conference at the Ministry of Rural Development, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ease-flood-victims-debts-hun-sen-tells-mfis/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Tech businesses among Cambodia’s fastest-growing sectors
More than one-sixth of Cambodian businesses in 2011 were part of the Kingdom’s information and communications sector, a government census showed. Of the 182,439 new enterprises that sprang up in the country between June 2009 and March 2011, some 95,590 serviced the sector, according to the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/tech-businesses-among-cambodias-fastest-growing-sectors-10/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Construction material imports on the increase
A return to work on larger construction projects in Cambodia is leading to an increase in the impartation of construction materials, experts said yesterday. Cambodia’s construction materials are generally imported from China, Vietnam and Thailand, and also as far afield as Europe, said Khuon Savuth, Statistics href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/construction-material-imports-on-the-increase/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Police Seize Equipment at Sisowath Quay Site
Vattanac Properties’ construction equipment has been seized by the police after the firm ignored an order to cease work as it has damaged adjacent historic buildings while digging. The work began in mid-April and Vattanac was in the process of removing soil in order to href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/police-seize-equipment-at-sisowath-quay-site/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Cambodia eyes solar future for rural power
Cambodian officials yesterday touted the potential for green energy to meet its goal of bringing electricity to 100 percent of households by 2020. The Kingdom was looking to develop solar energy, small-scale hydropower and biomass-fuelled power to meet the target, said Ministry of Industry, Mines and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-eyes-solar-future-for-rural-power/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...