Barricades led to chaos: NGOs
Following two dramatic incidents of violence in the capital on Sunday evening, rights groups yesterday pointed to heavy police blockades at dozens of streets around Phnom Penh, including at several city arteries, as being partly to blame. Clashes broke out at Sisowath Quay on Sunday afternoon ...
Kevin Ponniah and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/barricades-led-chaos-ngos
ILO-BFC unveils worker mobile phone call-in project report
The International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories Cambodia program (BFC) releases the first report from its mobile phone call-in project aimed at educating garment and footwear workers. The mobile phone project entitled Kamako Chhnoeum (‘Outstanding Worker’ in Khmer) received 3,245 valid phone calls in its first two ...
Fibre2Fashion News Staff
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=154799
A confronting force on streets
As protests against land grabbing have increased in Phnom Penh in the past five years, so too have violent crackdowns by the authorities. Police have been criticised for their treatment of protesters – which has included beatings with electric batons and kicks to the stomach of ...
Shane Worrell and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/confronting-force-streets
CPP wants leash on watchdogs
The ruling party wants “biased” election watchdogs to be on a tight leash by the next election and wants the opposition to agree to it, senior Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap said yesterday ahead of the third meeting of a bipartisan election reform committee ...
Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cpp-wants-leash-watchdogs
Buddha relic at palace: gov’t
A golden urn police maintain was the one stolen from Oudong mountain in December – sparking a furore and police investigation – was taken to the Royal Palace on Friday, police have said. Deputy Prime Minister Kong Sam Ol on Friday transported the relics – said ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/buddha-relic-palace-gov%E2%80%99t
‘Gangsters’ target rights worker
A land dispute in the capital’s Tuol Kork district escalated further on Friday when a group of “gangsters” allegedly threatened the life of a human rights worker taking video footage for a documentary on the conflict. “Six men pushed me off the site. One screamed: ‘I ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98gangsters%E2%80%99-target-rights-worker
Y Chhien to be replaced as Pailin Governor
Y Chhien, who has served as the governor of Pailin province since former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary led his rebel forces in the area to defect to the government in 1996, will step down from his position on Saturday, his cabinet chief said ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/y-chhien-to-be-replaced-as-pailin-governor-after-18-years-60027/
After jail, Pov gains following
Before he was arrested in January, Vorn Pov and the union he created were not widely known outside of activist circles. But when he emerged from Phnom Penh’s CC1 prison on Friday, he walked away as one of the highest-profile unionists in the country, and a ...
Kevin Ponniah, May Titthara and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-jail-pov-gains-following
Chinese firm takes over bus service, no bid needed
The Chinese-owned Global (Cambodia) Trade Development company takes over today as Phnom Penh’s new municipal bus operator, although City Hall said Tuesday that the company did not have to go through a bidding process to get the contract. The creation of a permanent public bus system ...
Simon Henderson and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chinese-firm-takes-over-bus-service-no-bid-needed-53513/
De Castle Royal partners with The Place for first-class gym workout
The management of the 32-storey De Castle Royal condominium project in BKK1 has announced that the The Place, widely regarded as Phnom Penh’s only independent five-star gym, will manage the development’s fitness centre. This means the air-conditioned De Castle Royal gym will be fully fitted out ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/de-castle-royal-partners-place-first-class-gym-workout
Gov’t as legit as junta: premier
In a bid to reinforce the legitimacy of his government amid an ongoing parliamentary boycott by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday looked west for an analogy. He chose one that didn’t involve a ballot box. Instead, he pointed to Thailand’s National ...
Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-legit-junta-premier
Kandal villagers burn tyres to fight dredging
Nearly a hundred villagers living along a river located in Sa’ang district’s Koh Anlong Chin commune in Kandal province recently protested against the plans of one company to dredge sand in the area. On Sunday, employees of sand-dredging company Sok Teang Import Export, which has been ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kandal-villagers-burn-tyres-fight-dredging
Chhay aims to purge Nat'l Assembly of ‘ghosts’
Senior opposition lawmaker Son Chhay has formally requested that the entire staff list of the National Assembly’s more than 1,000-strong secretariat be turned over to him for investigation as part of a bid to root out “ghost” workers and nepotistic appointments. As part of his one-man ...
Pech Sotheary and Kevin Ponniah
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/chhay-aims-purge-natl-assembly-%E2%80%98ghosts%E2%80%99
Grand Twins revenue plunges
Grand Twins International (GTI), one of two listed firms on the Cambodian Stock Exchange, has blamed third-quarter revenue losses on garment-worker demonstrations in December and January. On November 21, GTI posted a 40 per cent decline in revenue to $10.9 million for the three-month period ending ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/grand-twins-revenue-plunges
Kingdom’s fuel prices fixed despite US-Iran row
Increase tensions between the US and Iran, one of the world’s largest oil producers, could cause prices to fluctuate, the Ministry of Commerce warned on Thursday. However, the ministry said fuel prices in the Kingdom will stick to those announced every 15 days, which are ...
Hin Pisei
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/kingdoms-fuel-prices-fixed-despite-us-iran-row
EU partially withdraws EBA
The EU Commission on Wednesday announced the partial withdrawal of the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, citing a serious and systematic violation by Cambodia of principles in the four core human and labour rights. The suspension affects one-fifth or €1 billion ($1.08 billion) of Cambodia’s ...
Niem Chheng
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/eu-partially-withdraws-eba
Tobacco tax increase likely
Increasing the tobacco retail tax — one of the world’s lowest at 10 per cent of unit price for domestically produced cigarettes — would deter smokers and increase government revenue while having minimal effect on tobacco producers, Ayda Yurekli, co-ordinator for the World Health Organization’s ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012091858767/National-news/tobacco-tax-increase-likely.html
Striking the right balance
The number of strikes in Cambodia’s garment industry could be set to dip and workers could be on their way to free lunches after both sides of the industry signed a two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday. The MoU – inked by the Garment Manufacturers Association (GMAC) in ...
Chut Wutty slain: another chapter in bloody history
With his slaying yesterday in the jungles of Koh Kong province, Chut Wutty becomes one of the highest-profile members yet on a dark list of Cambodian activists who have been killed for making a stand against greed and corruption. Although the details of his death remain ...
Cambodia: amid human rights progress, UN expert calls for more reform
Cambodia may be on the verge of a new era in human rights protection, an independent United Nations human rights expert declared today, adding that while the political momentum in the country was headed in a “positive direction,” a strong human rights infrastructure was still ...
UN News Centre Staff
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48815#.VCkNr_mSxqU