King Sihamoni and Queen Mother Donate to Sunday’s Victims
Two days after the killing of an unarmed man near Phnom Penh’s Monivong Bridge, officials on Tuesday offered little information on the progress of an investigation into the killing, and rights workers expressed concerns that the inquiry would lack credibility. King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother ...
Monks and Cash Rewards Save Softshell Turtles
SAMBOR DISTRICT, Kratie Province – A sharply dressed usher in a crisp black shirt, black pants and a shiny black tie escorted guests to one of several bungalow-style, private booths at the Mloub Dong restaurant on a recent evening. While the privacy the restaurant offers is ...
Khy Sovuthy and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/monks-and-cash-rewards-save-softshell-turtles-49329/
Security Guards Disrupt Memorial Ceremony for Slain Man
There were ugly scenes on Friday at Phnom Penh’s hill-temple Wat Phnom when district security guards scuffled, shouted abuse and punched a group of mostly women and monks who had gathered to hold a memorial ceremony for Mao Sok Chan—the 29-year-old man shot dead by ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/security-guards-disrupt-memorial-ceremony-for-slain-man-45479/
National Rail Project on Hold ‘Indefinitely’
Work on a $143 million donor project to renovate the country’s creaking railway system, which is already over budget and years behind schedule, is now indefinitely postponed due to a lack of funds, with more than 300 km of rail still to be laid, a ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-rail-project-on-hold-indefinitely-51323/
Cambodia’s parliament OKs dam compensation plan
Cambodia’s energy minister allayed concerns in parliament over inadequate compensation offered to villagers who face relocation for a proposed China-backed dam on a Mekong River tributary, saying the government has allocated to villagers more than four times the area taken over for the project. Minister of ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/dam-06192014195419.html
Lao Dam troubles Mekong waters
Being landlocked and poor has always placed Laos at a disadvantage to its more powerful neighbors. The only body of water that offers Vientiane an international reach is the Mekong River, which flows through the heartland of Southeast Asia. Now, that river, which laps the western ...
Marwaan Macan-Markar
http://www.irrawaddy.org/asia/magazine-regional/lao-dam-troubles-mekong-waters.html
Aeon microfinance booms with mall on horizon
When Sor Songheng, a manager for an accountancy firm, wanted to replace his cheap Nokia phone a few months ago, he set his heart on a top-of-the-line iPhone 5S worth $780—nearly his entire monthly salary of $800. But instead of scrimping and saving for months to ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/aeon-microfinance-booms-with-mall-on-horizon-58122/
NGOs begin to stop the rot of Cambodian teeth
Every day for weeks on end, 6-year-old Srey Nuch was tormented by severe pain caused by several of her teeth rotting away. Her mother, Lay Vicheka, despaired when she heard her daughter’s cries, knowing the family was far too poor to pay a dentist to fix ...
Holly Robertson and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/ngos-starting-to-stop-the-rot-of-cambodian-teeth-59490/
NGO Forum Breaks Silence on 'Warning'
NGO Forum confirmed yesterday it had received a “warning letter” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over its advocacy on behalf of communities affected by a railway rehabilitation project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and AusAID. The warning to the umbrella group of 88 ...
Climate Change Considered as Flooding Hits Cambodia
The wet season had come and gone with almost no rain. Despite the best efforts of the farmers from Tralach commune, in Takeo province’s Traing district, widespread crop failures two years ago brought the community to the economic, and dietary, brinkThis week, farmers in Kratie ...
Boeng Kak families sue - and sued by - government officials
Two-and-a-half weeks after excavators belonging to a CPP senator’s real estate firm demolished the homes of eight families fighting eviction from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake community, those families and the government officials charged with evicting them have taken their battle to court. A pair of ...
Integration of Southeast Asian Stock Exchanges Hits Snag
Just months before stock exchanges in Southeast Asia plan to link up their trading, key players remain divided, with one top bourse official saying the region may be going through a “reality check” on the many hurdles facing further economic integration. The plan for cross-border trading ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203961204577270760343324718.html
ASEAN hits troubled waters
Prime Minister Hun Sen pushed regional unity at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit yesterday, but criticism directed at Cambodia over the South China Sea ensured the dispute remained front and centre. As heavily armed guards lined the streets outside the Peace Palace in Phnom ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040455423/National-news/asean-hits-troubled-waters.html
ASEAN senior officials meet ahead of 30th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting
ASEAN senior officials on energy gathered here on Monday to discuss and prepare documents for the 30th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting and related meetings to be held on Sept. 12. The two-day preparatory meeting, under the theme “ASEAN Green Connectivity”, was chaired by Tun ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/10/c_131841006.htm
Hundreds of Taxi Drivers Protest for Third Time
More than 200 motorcycle-taxi drivers gathered in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park yesterday, for the third time, to protest against human rights groups who have characterized the recent arrest of two anti-eviction activists as politically motivated. The little known taxi drivers’ union, Cambodia for Confederation Development Association ...
Dozens sentenced in forest-clearing ring
Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced 28 people – including several government officials – to between two and five years in jail on charges of clearing state-protected flooded mangrove forest in Kampong Thom province in July of 2012. Presiding Judge Keo Mony said that Cheath Sivutha, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011860868/National/dozens-sentenced-in-forest-clearing-ring.html
Shadow Cast Over Future of Forest Patrols
More than two weeks after the murder of conservationist Chut Wutty in the forests of the Cardamom Mountains, the future of his small NGO remains in doubt. But NGOs and communities who worked with Chut Wutty over the years say the larger fate of his ...
Prey Lang activists halted on road
More than 300 activists from Kampong Thom province’s Prey Lang Community Network were stopped by district police yesterday as they were marching from the Vietnamese-owned CRCK Company to deliver a lawsuit in Sandan district calling for the postponement of alleged forest clearing and the “invasion” ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013021461350/National/prey-lang-activists-halted-on-road.html
Mondolkiri, Kompong Thom Face Climate Threat
Mondolkiri and Kompong Thom provinces could suffer some of the most extreme effects of climate change in the Lower Mekong Basin region, such as a high incidence of flash floods and droughts by 2050, according to a new study. Analyzing temperature and rainfall from 84 provinces ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mondolkiri-kompong-thom-face-climate-threat-17224/
Hun Sen Thanks Student Land-Titling Volunteers
Student volunteers from across the country yesterday took a break from their land-measuring duties to attend a pre-Khmer New Year ceremony at Phnom Penh’s Koh Pitch where they were presented with a thank-you letter from Mr. Hun Sen. Since Mr. Hun Sen launched the land titling ...