Factories in svay Rieng province’s Manhattan special Economic Zone have fired or suspended at least 50 workers – and are pursuing legal action against some – for participating in a strike last month that saw some 30,000 walk off the job. Heads of the Collective Union ss='cambodia-color'>...

Minor Hotel Group Ltd (MHG), a wholly owned subsidiary of Thailand-listed Minor International Public Company Limited (MINT), has acquired majority ownership of siem Reap-based sothea Boutique Resort to strengthen MINT’s presence in southeast Asia. After the $6.4 million deal, the sothea Resort will be rebranded ss='cambodia-color'>...

Clothing giant H&M is testing the garment production waters by entering into exclusivity agreements with factories in Cambodia and Bangladesh, according to a report from Bloomberg News yesterday. This means that sweden-based H&M would buy all of the factory’s output. H&M, it seems, would still be ss='cambodia-color'>...

The KeyBridge International (Hong Kong) Investment Company has acquired 65 percent shares of a Cambodian telecommunications company EMAXX in an amount of 15 million U.s. dollars, officials of the two companies announced Wednesday. “EMAXX has converted from a family business into a joint venture,” Ai Min, ss='cambodia-color'>...

Five men in Koh Kong province could be prosecuted for stealing from a construction crew after the group allegedly seized tools in January, preventing the construction team from building fences in their village. Police summonsed the villagers from Kiri sakor district’s Prek Khsach commune for questioning ss='cambodia-color'>...

Aeon Co, the Japanese firm developing the soon-to-be-opened Aeon Mall on Phnom Penh’s sothearos Boulevard, has reported a record $62.3 billion in revenue for its financial year ending February 28. The company, which has more than 260 subsidiaries, including the shopping centre development arm Aeon Mall ss='cambodia-color'>...

Phnom Penh City Hall has purchased 40 secondhand buses from south Korea for an expansion of the city’s fledgling public bus service, said a municipal official who declined to reveal the details of the order. City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said the buses are slotted to ss='cambodia-color'>...

An ongoing land dispute may become more than just an embittered ordeal for three Khmer Krom villagers after officials requested yesterday that a Takeo court levy them huge fines. According to representatives from Borei Choslar district’s sangkum Meanchey village, they are only farming barren land that ss='cambodia-color'>...

Kandal province’s Tuol Reachea pagoda has been ordered shut for a week after authorities yesterday broke into the living quarters of Thean Vuthy, a man who claims to be the next Buddha, and found jewellery and other “irregular” items. The joint force from the Ministry of ss='cambodia-color'>...

Four of six men arrested on Thursday for allegedly clearing more than three hectares of protected forest within Mondulkiri’s seima Biodiversity Conservation Area were charged on saturday, court officials and rights monitors said yesterday. sou sovichea, provincial deputy prosecutor, confirmed yesterday that the four suspects charged ss='cambodia-color'>...

In a new report highlighting abuse in Cambodia’s garment industry, Human Rights Watch has called on the Cambodian government to cease “intimidation and threats” against workers. The group interviewed nearly 200 factory workers from 55 different factories, and found that anti-union discrimination and poor workers conditions ss='cambodia-color'>...

Officials from the Ministry of Interior will meet tomorrow to review the results of an investigation into a crackdown that left four dead on Veng sreng Boulevard in Phnom Penh last month, a police spokesman said. After saying on Tuesday that a report on the investigation’s ss='cambodia-color'>...

Representatives for a detainee held since his arrest at a strike in early January say the window to operate on his broken hand is closing. Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday will hear a special temporary bail request for sokun sombath Piseth, 31, one of 21 ss='cambodia-color'>...

In anticipation of a regional summit this weekend, government officials and civil society have their sights locked on a controversial hydropower development just across the Cambodian border in Laos. NGO Forum submitted an open letter yesterday urging Prime Minister Hun sen to confront Laos about its ss='cambodia-color'>...

Representatives of 50 families in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc yesterday alleging that a Vietnamese concessionaire is responsible for destroying about 50 hectares of cashew plantations. sorl Penh, 58, a representative for the villagers from Nhang commune, said yesterday that ss='cambodia-color'>...

Exclusive use of short-term contracts continues to impede progress in Cambodia’s garment sector, with major brands still sourcing from factories violating the statutory two-year limit on temporary employment, labour rights groups have warned. According to a report released last week by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), ss='cambodia-color'>...

After Caltex managers allegedly reneged on an agreement to pay workers a $20 bonus to suspend a strike for two months, employees say they would only return if the deal is in writing. In a Friday meeting, the Cambodian Food and service Workers Federation agreed with ss='cambodia-color'>...

Education officials yesterday shifted the onus of pirated and illegally sold state textbooks onto students, faulting the teenage pupils for fuelling demand. “If there are no buyers, there will be no sellers,” Lim sotharith, director of the Education Ministry’s textbook department, said during a forum on ss='cambodia-color'>...

Nine of the group of 23 workers and labour activists who were released from custody and given suspended sentences on Friday over January’s garment employee protests will receive medical care in Thailand, rights group Licadho said yesterday. A number of the men were beaten by security ss='cambodia-color'>...

Being placed on consecutive short-term contracts in Cambodia’s predominantly female-staffed garment sector is forcing many women to choose between a family and a factory job, unionists and rights groups said yesterday. Ken Chenglang, acting president of the National Independent Federation Textile Union of Cambodia, said many ss='cambodia-color'>...