Hun Sen grants four economic land concessions
Prime Minister Hun Sen has signed off on four more economic land concessions (ELCs), all in protected areas, despite placing a moratorium on granting such leases on May 7. Since the May 7 sub-decree, the premier has now signed off on seven concessions totalling 56,586 hectares ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062557006/National-news/hun-sen-grants-elcs.html
‘Master Plan’ Drawn for Phnom Penh Public Transport System
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) met with Phnom Penh municipal authorities last month to present the first stage of a “master plan” for the construction of a much-needed public transport system for the capital. Masato Koto, chief of mission for JICA’s transportation planning group in ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/master-plan-drawn-for-phnom-penh-public-transport-system-32712/
GI benefits yet to be fully realised
While Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar carry the brand-building Geographical Indication (GI) status, newcomers seeking the same tag continue to wait for funding to get their products off the ground. In 2010, Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar were the first Cambodian goods ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gi-benefits-yet-be-fully-realised
Cambodia’s Opposition Leader Runs Out of Options To Contest Polls
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy appears to have run out of options in his bid to contest in Cambodia’s national polls, as the country’s political parties prepared to wrap up their election campaign amid allegations by independent observers of “arrests, threats and intimidation” by the ruling ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/rejections-07252013164156.html
Land-Titling Project Denied Minorities of Property Rights
Hundreds of indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province are being made worse off by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-titling scheme which, rather than securing their property rights, is contributing to the loss of their ancestral lands, according to a new report. The report supports complaints aired since ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-titling-project-denied-minorities-of-property-rights-19528/
Rail gets rice exports on move
For the first time since a railway rehabilitation project was launched in 2006, Cambodian rice is now being transported from Phnom Penh to the Sihanoukville port along the country’s southern line for export, operators Toll said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Phnom Penh cargo loading station, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rail-gets-rice-exports-move
Listeners Wary as Hun Sen Changes His Tone
Residents of Phnom Penh on Sunday reacted with resignation and weariness to Prime Minster Hun Sen’s latest post-election speech, in which he prophesied chaos on the streets of Phnom Penh should opposition supporters protest the National Election Committee’s official election result, widely expected to be ...
The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/listeners-wary-as-hun-sen-changes-his-tone-38273/
Cambodian Military Cracks Down on Striking Garment Workers
Cambodia’s capital on Thursday, arresting five monks and 10 others in a display of force that has been described by a rights group as unprecedented. The soldiers from Special Command Unit 911 were deployed to crush the demonstration over minimum wages near the Yak Jin ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/strike-01022014190125.html
Cambodian to meet some MDG goals, deal landmine issues: envoy
Cambodia will meet some of the Millennium Development Goals by the end of 2015 and will continue to deal with landmine threats, said a Cambodian envoy to UN Tuesday at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly. The number of people below the poverty line ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-10/02/c_132767290.htm
Cambodia Urged to Do More to Protect Women, Advance Rights
The government needs to do more to protect migrant workers, ensure that women have access to legal aid, bring cases of violence against women to court and draft an anti-discrimination law, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) said in a ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-urged-to-do-more-to-protect-women-advance-rights-45975/
One-Party Parliament Effortlessly Passes $3.56 Billion Budget
Sixty-six National Assembly members of the ruling CPP on Tuesday unanimously approved Cambodia’s $3.56 billion draft budget for 2014 without debate and without even the hint of an opposition, whose 55 lawmakers-elect are boycotting parliament in protest over July’s still-disputed national election result. The ruling party ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one-party-parliament-effortlessly-passes-3-56-billion-budget-46913/
Landmark Hopeful of Future Retail Agreements
A 20-story retail and office building development opposite Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park by U.K.-based Hongkong Land Ltd. (HKL) is being built without pre-existing rental agreements, the company’s general manager, Daniel Parkes, said Thursday. Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim last Friday hosted the groundbreaking of the ...
Alex Willemyns and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/landmark-hopeful-of-future-retail%E2%80%88agreements-42254/
Opposition Gives Hard Deadline for Political Negotiations
The Cambodia opposition says it is holding firm to a threat to boycott the Sept. 23 opening session of parliament, potentially stalling the formation of a new government, if a political solution is not found by Sept. 22, as leaders from both sides met for ...
VOA Khmer Staff
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/opposition-gives-hard-deadline-for-political-negotiations/1751659.html
Oxfam accuses Coke and Pepsi of taking land from the poor
Land covering an area the size of Italy has been taken from indigenous communities around the world by suppliers to the biggest names in the food and drinks industry, according to a major new report. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are among the companies criticised by Oxfam for ...
Jamie Merrill
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/oxfam-accuses-coke-and-pepsi-of-taking-land-from-the-poor-8852161.html
Firms urged to tap growing middle-class market in GMS
Bangkok Bank has urged Thai businesses to have a more active role in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) in terms of trading activities and investment, in order to tap the growing middle-class market in those countries. Speaking at the bank’s “Trade Logistics in Greater Mekong Sub-region: ...
Sucheera Pinijparakarn
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Firms-urged-to-tap-growing-middle-class-market-in--30218244.html
Spending on Defense and Security up 17% in 2014
The country’s draft $3.4 billion national budget for 2014 proposes yet another $920 million in new debt to make ends meet, the same amount taken on this year, according to a copy of the spending bill obtained Thursday. The draft budget calls for nearly $400 million—or ...
Kuch Naren and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/spending-on-defense-and-security-up-17-in-2014-46747/
Cambodia Opposition Party To Demand Re-Election
The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) will push for a re-election if Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government continues to refuse calls for an independent probe into widespread irregularities in the July polls, the opposition party’s deputy president, Kem Sokha, said Tuesday. He warned that the ...
Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cnrp-11262013192513.html
City bus operation awarded on basis of ‘verbal’ contract
The Chinese-owned company that began operating Phnom Penh’s new public bus service Wednesday secured its five-year deal on the basis of a verbal agreement and has not yet signed a formal contract with City Hall, the company’s CEO said. Lim Andre, the CEO of Global (Cambodia) ...
Simon Henderson and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-bus-operation-awarded-on-basis-of-verbal-contract-53627/
Democracy, rights NGOs face tough conditions, report finds
NGOs working in democracy, human rights and transparency all say they face a lack of cooperation from Cambodian authorities, especially in the provinces, a new report finds. The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia conducted research on Cambodia’s overall climate for civil society organizations, finding that those dealing ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/democracy-rights-ngo-face-tough-conditions-report-finds/1865609.html
Kreung protest for release of charged arsonist
Dozens of ethnic minority Kreung villagers protested outside the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court on Monday, demanding the release of a fellow Kreung man presently in pretrial detention for setting fire to a pile of wood on land the community sold in 2007 but claims it was ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kreung-protest-for-release-of-charged-arsonist-54429/