US Support to Cambodian Military Under Scrutiny
As military police began a 10-day training program with the U.S. military in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, questions are being raised again over Washington’s ongoing support to Cambodian security forces involved in serious human rights abuses. On January 3, military police officers opened fire with AK-47 ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-support-to-cambodian-military-under-scrutiny-50670/
Unions threaten nationwide strike if 21 prisoners not released
Sixteen unions threatened Monday to organize a nationwide strike if the 21 activists and protesters jailed following garment industry protests on January 2 and 3 are not released on bail Tuesday. The unions also called for charges against the 21 prisoners, 16 of whom began a ...
Mech Dara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-threaten-nationwide-strike-if-21-prisoners-not-released-51864/
New owners, old story
An existing moratorium on economic land concessions should be no impediment to pouring more cash into the Kingdom’s booming, and highly criticised, rubber trade, industry executives in the capital heard yesterday, as many current ELCs can simply be recycled to a new crop of investors. Ly ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-owners-old-story
Labor minister says solution to Bavet strike in the works
On the sidelines of a government event marking International Labor Day, Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng on Thursday blamed recent strikes in Bavet City on unnamed provocateurs, but said efforts were underway to resolve the dispute. He also said that a government-ordered shutdown of the 30-plus ...
Aun Pheap and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-minister-says-solution-to-bavet-strike-in-the-works-57942/
Hun Sen Promotes 29 to Four-Star General
Prime Minister Hun Sen approved a request from Defense Minister Tea Banh last week to promote 29 lieutenant generals to the rank of four-star general, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense. The promotions, which follow repeated calls from General Banh last month for ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-promotes-29-to-four-star-general-51430/
Angry villagers block dusty quarry road in Takeo province
About 300 angry villagers blocked a dusty road in Takeo province’s Bati district on Friday, demanding that three quarrying firms follow through on promises to pave it, a local official said Sunday. The villagers are unhappy that the quarrying firms’ trucks kick up massive amounts of ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/angry-villagers-block-dusty-quarry-road-in-takeo-province-53403/
Kheng queries Sokha’s validity
Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday, after becoming the latest ruling party official to weigh in on the CNRP’s embattled campaign slogan, went on to question the validity of the recent extraordinary congress that elevated Kem Sokha to party president.At the inauguration of a new road ...
Meas Sokchea and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kheng-queries-sokhas-validity
Report shows lack of information on Chinese-Funded Railway
With locals demanding dialogue with the Chinese firms behind a proposed multibillion dollar rail line to Preah Vihear province, an NGO report released yesterday highlights the dearth of information that has been made available on the project. Chinese company Cambodia Iron Steel Mining Industry Group (CISMIG) ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/report-shows-lack-of-information-on-chinese-funded-railway-12723/
High Floodwaters Spread to Siem Reap, Battambang and Pailin
Flooding spread over the weekend as storms hit the country meaning Siem Reap, Battambang and Pailin have all been added to the list of provinces affected by high waters. In Siem Reap province, Nuon Krisna, director of the provincial department of water resources and meteorology, said ...
Ben Sokhean and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/high-floodwaters-spread-to-siem-reap-battambang-and-pailin-44466/
HIV/AIDS prevalence in Cambodia drops to 0.7 pct in 2013: official
The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS infections in Cambodia has declined to 0.7 percent in 2013, down from 0.8 percent two years ago, a senior government official said Sunday. “According to scientific estimation, in 2013, HIV carrier rate among adults aged between 15 and 49 years is ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/131201/hivaids-prevalence-cambodia-drops-07-pct-2013-official
Compensation for Falsely Jailed Men Unlikely in Cambodia
After spending 2,073 days in prison, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were exonerated on Wednesday by the Supreme Court of having killed popular union leader Chea Vichea in 2004. Legal expert Sok Sam Oeun of the Cambodian Defenders Project said that although the two ...
Denise Hruby and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/compensation-for-falsely-jailed-men-unlikely-in-cambodia-43684/
Levi Strauss Pulls Out From Embattled SL Garment Factory
A Singaporean-owned garment factory whose workers have been on strike since early August is no longer producing clothes for American denim giant Levi Strauss, a brand representative and a factory worker said Monday. The workers of SL Garment Factory in Meanchey district—which still makes clothes for ...
Aun Pheap and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/levi-strauss-pulls-out-from-embattled-sl-garment-factory-44015/
Poll anger simmers in Kandal
Two weeks ago, Kandal erupted. Skirmishes broke out at multiple polling stations where voters were left off the list, and at least one was forced to shut down as locals blocked what they claimed were outsiders from voting. In the end, this hotly contested province swung ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/poll-anger-simmers-kandal
Cambodia copes with double-digit traffic growth
The Cambodian government recently awarded the operator of its three international airports more than $100 million for upgrades in an effort to accommodate strong passenger growth driven by the country’s nascent tourism industry. Cambodia Airports—the subsidiary of Italian firm Vinci, which serves as the concession ...
Jennifer Meszaros
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/2014-02-05/cambodia-copes-double-digit-traffic-growth
For poor, eating dead poultry is a calculated risk
In late January, five of the 10 chickens owned by Leng Lal, a subsistence rice farmer in Kratie province, suddenly died. Although Mr. Lal, 40, said he knew the dead birds might be dangerous and he should burn and bury the carcasses, he instructed his 8-year-old ...
Sek Odom and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-poor-eating-dead-poultry-is-a-calculated-risk-52076/
After Chinese company’s visit, villagers fear dam construction
Following a visit by representatives of the Chinese company planning to build a controversial 108-MW hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, local officials and residents say they fear that construction on the project, which will require the evacuation of an estimated 1,500 villagers, ...
Sani Sinary
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-chinese-companys-visit-villagers-fear-dam-construction-53409/
NGO: Data shows ‘wholesale sell-off’
Cambodia should urgently disclose all information about land ownership and rethink its “wholesale sell-off” of the country’s natural resources, a local rights group said yesterday. The call to release information about Cambodia’s land sector, including a declaration of revenues, came as Licadho released an analysis of ...
Daniel Pye and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ngo-data-shows-wholesale-sell
New Kampot Salt Farm Has Big Ambitions
TOEK CHHOU DISTRICT, Kampot province – A donor-backed project launched here on Saturday aims to produce Cambodia’s first export-quality sea salt and invigorate the struggling local salt industry. In a ceremony among Kampot’s vast fields of coastal saltpans and low levees, company representatives from Asia Salt ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-kampot-salt-farm-has-big-ambitions-20505/
Government’s Limits on Information Leaving Voters in the Dark
Reporters in Cambodia seeking statistics from government ministries and departments are used to being given the brush-off from time to time, but in the run-up to the July 28 national election, things appear to have worsened. The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has for ...
Unlike Past Elections, Property Investors Remain Buoyant
Ahead of elections 10 years ago, people across the country would hoard rice in case the vote sent the country spiraling into a state of turmoil. Businesses across the country would bide their time before making any major investments. And those who could afford to ...