Factory’s contracts seen as ‘test case’ for brands
A garment factory’s alleged efforts to wipe workers’ contract histories clean could be a “test case” for how much international buyers tolerate factories negotiating outside of legal requirements, a labour-rights advocate has said. After effectively being bought out of their contracts, about 300 employees of USA ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory%E2%80%99s-contracts-seen-%E2%80%98test-case%E2%80%99-brands
Japan's Orix to Buy 6% Stake in Cambodia's Acleda Bank
Orix Corp., Japan’s top leasing company, has agreed to buy a 6% stake in Cambodia’s largest bank by assets, Acleda Bank PLC, according to people close to the matter. It would be the first investment by a major Japanese financial institution in the Southeast Asian country, ...
Atsuko Fukase and Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304644104579191612248592376
Cambodian maids raring to go
At 5am, without any alarm clock going off, a dozen Cambodian maids wake up with near-military precision. Over the next hour, the women sweep, wash and scrub spotless their two-storey training centre in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. They all want to be maids in Singapore, eager ...
The Star Online Staff
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Regional/2013/09/23/Cambodian-maids-raring-to-go.aspx
New weapon in battle with drug-resistant TB
Researchers at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases have isolated a new class of drugs that could be used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis, a disease that affects thousands of Cambodians, according to a report published in the journal Science Translational Medicine last week. The drugs, called indolcarboxamides, work ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-weapon-battle-drug-resistant-tb
CNRP to Hold Ceremony for Grenade Victims
Supporters of the opposition CNRP and relatives of the 16 men, women and children killed in a grenade attack during a protest rally in 1997, will hold a Buddhist ceremony today at the scene of the blasts in front of the old National Assembly in ...
Aun Pheap and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cnrp-to-hold-ceremony-for-grenade-victims-43867/
US Senator Calls for Suspension of Military Aid to Cambodia
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham last week submitted a resolution to the U.S. Committee on Foreign Relations requesting the suspension of U.S. military assistance to Cambodia until an independent investigation into July’s national election is conducted. The resolution was submitted on Wednesday to express “the sense of ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-senator-calls-for-suspension-of-military-aid-to-cambodia-45672/
Debtors need mercy: CNRP
The opposition party has called on microfinance institutions to renegotiate payment terms with flood-affected loan holders. This year’s floods have affected 20 provinces and more than 1.7 million people, with 31,314 households evacuated, according to the Humanitarian Response Forum. The Cambodia National Rescue Party has asked that ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/debtors-need-mercy-cnrp
Rainsy’s speech under fire
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has landed in hot water with women’s rights activists after publicly questioning whether Prime Minister Hun Sen was being “weaker than a woman” by not calling for a new election like Thai leader Yingluck Shinawatra in the face of popular protests. Speaking ...
Kevin Ponniah and Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy%E2%80%99s-speech-under-fire
Top Cambodian Court Wants Election Staff Punished for Ballot Foul-Up
Cambodia’s top court has ordered staff of the government-appointed national election body to be punished for mishandling secured ballot records but dismissed opposition complaints of irregularities in the July 28 national polls. The decision by the Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC) on Thursday came as the ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/ballot-09052013223949.html
Cambodian King opens new parliament despite opposition boycott
Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Monday presided over the opening session of the fifth legislature of the National Assembly, which was attended by only the ruling party’s elected lawmakers as the opposition’s elected legislators boycotted it. Sixty-eight elected lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) ...
Nzweek News Staff
http://www.nzweek.com/world/cambodian-king-opens-new-parliament-despite-opposition-boycott-81975/
Villagers in Land Row Complain of Death Threat
Four representatives of villagers locked in a land dispute with the well-connected KDC company have filed a complaint with the Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court after they received death threats. “The anonymous letter was a threat against our lives,” said Reach Seima, one of the representatives, adding ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-land-row-complain-of-death-threat-44714/
CNRP to Hold Second 3-Day Mass Protest
The opposition CNRP has sent a letter to municipal authorities informing them that a mass demonstration planned for Wednesday at Freedom Park to coincide with the anniversary of the 1991 signing of the Paris Peace Agreement will now be a three-day affair and include marches ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cnrp-to-hold-second-3-day-mass-protest-45412/
Projects ‘threaten mangroves’
Mangrove forests along Cambodia’s coast in Kampot support more than 100,000 families and create a diverse ecosystem that is home to hundreds of unique species. But coastal development projects, coupled with locals’ reliance on the forest for their livelihoods, threaten to decimate more than 1,000 hectares ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/projects-%E2%80%98threaten-mangroves%E2%80%99
Tea Banh Tells Armed Forces to Defend Government
Defense Minister Tea Banh used the annual meeting of national military police in Phnom Penh on Wednesday to reiterate that the armed forces would remain committed to defending Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government in the ongoing political dispute with the opposition CNRP, local media and ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tea-banh-tells-armed-forces-to-defend-government-50987/
Borei Keila villagers cast curse on adversaries
Borei Keila residents on Thursday cast a symbolic curse on the people they say are responsible for making their lives a misery since violently evicting them from their homes two years ago. In the latest development in the long-running dispute, security guards and riot police last ...
Aun Pheap and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/borei-keila-villagers-cast-curse-on-adversaries-52897/
Sar Kheng bans rally, gives police $54K in bonuses
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Friday warned that a union-led public forum scheduled for Freedom Park on Saturday morning would not be allowed to proceed, adding that a fresh wave of union marches next week are also banned. The security minister’s comments came during a talk ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sar-kheng-bans-rally-gives-police-54k%E2%80%88in-bonuses-53735/
Staying at home not a strike, factories say
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) warned garment workers on Thursday that they risk losing their jobs if they extend their Khmer New Year vacation by joining a stay-at-home strike. Aiming to avoid police suppression of street protests for a higher garment sector minimum wage, ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/staying-at-home-not-a-strike-factories-say-56440/
Bodies found after Mekong riverbank collapse
The bodies of a 39-year-old woman and her 18-month-old nephew were recovered Thursday two days after a riverbank collapse caused their home in Kandal Province’s Khsach Kandal district to plunge into the Mekong River while they slept, but the woman’s 3-year-old son has not yet ...
Simon Henderson and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bodies-found-after-mekong-riverbank-collapse-52895/
Police confirm arrest of villagers in dispute with Pailin Governor
Police officials confirmed Tuesday that the villagers involved in a land dispute with a company allegedly owned by Pailin Governor Y Chhien were arrested late Monday and said that one more villager was detained Tuesday. Sath Sin, deputy police chief of Pailin province’s Sala Krao district, ...
Capturing corruption in modern Cambodia
Towering temples and graceful apsaras are missing from a new Cambodia-themed photo show. Instead, camera lenses focused on corruption. The photos show poverty, inadequate sewage systems and parking squeezes at markets. Contest rules allowed photos to be staged—as long as contestants clarified that a photo was ...
Emily Wilkins
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/capturing-corruption-in-modern-cambodia-55812/