Sea Clashes Loom Over Southeast Asia Summit
Tiny Cambodia is emerging as a key pawn in the diplomatic struggle over one of the world’s busiest stretches of water: the potentially energy-rich South China Sea. The country of 15 million people is this year hosting a series of regional summits in which China’s claims ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577308972320988892.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Chinese Credit Cache
Prime Minister Hun Sen has returned home from his trip to China a wealthier leader having secured upwards of US$2.5 billion in Chinese investment and loans over the next year alone, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The package includes a $2 billion ...
Senator's Wife Showers Police, Military With New Year Cash
At 9 a.m. yesterday, more than 200 soldiers, police and military police officers were gathered outside a large mansion on Street 55 in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district. All were waiting for their promised “ang pao” – red envelopes containing cash usually handed out during ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/senators-wife-showers-police-military-with-new-year-cash-9831/
Handicraft handicap
While Cambodian handicrafts such as silk clothing, stone and wood carvings and rattan furniture are popular with tourists, who snap up the articles at gift shops and airports, the size of the sector is nowhere near what it might be, according to industry insiders. They ...
Villagers Protest Eviction by Chinese Company
More than 100 villagers living on a 20-hectare swath of a rubber plantation in Ratanakkirri province gathered outside O’Chum commune hall yesterday to protest their eviction at the hands of a Chinese company, local officials and rights activists said. About 120 families from Trang Churng Village ...
NEC Says Statement on Bloggers Not an Attack on Free Speech
Despite fears that a warning to users of social media and Internet blogs will dampen free speech, the head of National Election Committee (NEC) has insisted the intention was not to limit expression ahead of July’s national election. The NEC last week issued a statement requesting ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nec-says-statement-on-bloggers-not-attack-on-free-speech-26791/
‘Take it or leave it’
The uncle of a man who died in Thursday’s ceiling collapse at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province claimed yesterday that the company had threatened to give the family nothing if they did not agree to an on-the-spot payout. It came as a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065719/National/take-it-or-leave-it.html
Singaporean Startup to Install Streetlamps in Rural Villages
A Singaporean startup is planning to install streetlamps in three villages in Kompong Chhnang province later this year in an effort to enhance safety for people making their way home at night. Fosera Lighting is raising money through an online campaign to construct 75 solar-powered streetlights ...
Cambodian govt warns foreign diplomats not to interfer in internal affairs over election dispute
The Cambodian government on Monday issued a statement, warning foreign diplomats against interfering in the country’s internal affairs over the contested July 28 election that handed victory to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party. “Cambodia does not need to resort to laws from other countries. ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/813413.shtml#.UkDwI9KBmN8
Cambodian trade unions urge garment workers not to join opposition’s mass protest next week
A Cambodian trade unions leader on Saturday called on garment workers not to participate in the opposition party-planned mass demonstration next week against the results of July’s election that handed victory to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party. “I would like to appeal to all workers ...
Nzweek News Staff
http://www.nzweek.com/world/cambodian-trade-unions-urge-garment-workers-not-to-join-oppositions-mass-protest-next-week-90198/
Cambodian Opposition Leader Declares Political 'Stalemate'
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy said his country has reached a political “stalemate” and is calling for a halt in international aid to the Phnom Penh government. Rainsy spoke to VOA during a visit to Washington, where he is trying to convince U.S. officials and others ...
VOA Khmer News Staff
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodian-opposition-leader-declares-political-stalemate/1772674.html
Helicopters to ‘Protect’ government
As political deadlock continues, Minister of Defence Tea Banh yesterday used the unveiling of 12 Chinese-made military helicopters to announce that the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces stand “ready to protect” the government and constitution, following what he called “free and fair” elections in July. Speaking in ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/helicopters-%E2%80%98protect%E2%80%99-government
Increase in Customs Taxes Raises Retail Prices in Cambodia
Customs officers along Cambodia’s border have been instructed to increase their efforts to properly inspect and tax products coming into the country, which has increased the cost of imports and led to a rise in retail prices for a host of goods, government officials, businessmen ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/increase-in-customs-taxes-raises-retail-prices-in-cambodia-48461/
Rule hanging over NA
A ruling party lawmaker and parliamentary spokesman said yesterday that the National Assembly will consider invoking an internal rule that could force the opposition party to replace its elected lawmakers with lower-ranked candidates from within the party if their boycott continues beyond a deadline. Principle 83 ...
Kevin Ponniah and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rule-hanging-over-na
Cambodian dam feeding false hopes
RATANAKIRI PROVINCE, Cambodia – “I prefer the dam to the fish,” says middle-aged farmer Ton Noun, when asked his opinion on a proposed 400 megawatt dam on the Sesan river near his home in northeastern Cambodia. Then he chuckles and asks, “What fish?” That’s because ...
Michelle Tolson
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-02-181213.html
Banks Urged to Divest From Ratanakkiri-Based Rubber Firm
Environmental campaign group Global Witness on Thursday called on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Deutsche Bank to divest immediately from a Vietnamese firm whose rubber plantations in Cambodia are accused of rampant illegal logging and forced evictions of indigenous communities. The call came exactly six ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/banks-urged-to-divest-from-ratanakkiri-based-rubber-firm-47045/
Report Says Election Results Not Reflective of People’s Will
Transparency International Cambodia (TIC) on Thursday concluded in a report that official results of the July 28 national election released by the National Election Committee (NEC) do not reflect the will of the people due to widespread irregularities occurring both before and on election day. The ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/report-says-election-results-not-reflective-of-peoples-will-42808/
Sok An, US Ambassador Discuss Formation of National Assembly
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An met with the top U.S. diplomat in Cambodia on Friday to discuss the formation of the country’s National Assembly following the disputed July 28 election. Both the ruling CPP and opposition CNRP claim to have won the ballot, and the opposition ...
Simon Lewis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/sok-an-us-ambassador-discuss-formation-of-national%E2%80%88assembly-39090/
Feature: Slum dwellers in Cambodian capital want to benefit from development
Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital and largest city, has seen rapid development in the last decade — numerous high-rises, large shopping malls and business centres as well as public parks are beautifying this city — in the meantime, slum-dwellers are also on the rise. According to the ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/18/c_132641165.htm
Rubber Farmers Accuse Big Firm of Encroaching on Their Land
Roughly 100 rubber farmers in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Chum district blocked National Road 78A on Wednesday, demanding that authorities take action against a pair of laborers they accuse of stealing resin from their land. The laborers—Math Las, 40, and his wife, Nos Yas, 38—who are reportedly employed ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rubber-farmers-accuse-big-firm-of-encroaching-on-their-land-41712/