H&M under fire for low Cambodia wages
H&M workers in Cambodia are only paid 3 kronor ($0.45) an hour, forcing many into debt to feed their families, according to a report on the TV4 documentary Kalla Fakta (The Cold Facts) Many textile workers therefore borrow money for food, leading to considerable debts with ...
Despite Environmental Concerns, Xayaburi Breaks Ground
Lao officials and executives of a Thai construction company conducted a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday in Xayaburi to inaugurate the first dam to be built on the lower mainstream Mekong, putting to one side concerns that the dam could devastate fisheries in Cambodia and Vietnam. Prior to ...
Government Bank Gives Loan for Rice Milling
The government-backed Rural Development Bank has handed a $4.5 million loan to a company planning to invest in Cambodia’s efforts to export more milled rice. Rural Development Bank chairman Son Kuon Thor said yesterday that the bank was giving the loan to a new company ...
Million-dollar rosewood bust
Five men allegedly caught with 10 cubic meters of illegal rosewood worth more than $1 million on Wednesday were being questioned in Stung Treng provincial court yesterday, officials said. Chroeung Khmao, the provincial prosecutor, said the men – four Chinese citizens and one Cambodian – were ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022261563/National/million-dollar-rosewood-bust.html
Cambodia, Vietnam Trade Rises
Two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia in the first four months of the year reached nearly US$1.3 billion, a 10 per cent rise over the same period last year. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia fetched over $1 billion while ...
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YzA1YWUwMDU3OTh
Thai and Cambodian trade fair on the road
In a joint effort to promote trade ties, government officials in Cambodia and Thailand have organised the first “Caravan Fair” in which producers within the neighbouring countries will showcase their products to one another. The Cambodia-Thailand Caravan Fair 2013, a travelling event starting on June 25 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061966350/Business/thai-and-cambodian-trade-fair-on-the-road.html
Villagers Make Heady Claims Against NGO
Families living in Koh Kong province have called on the provincial governor to intervene in what they claim are ongoing land disputes with Forestry Administration authorities and conservation NGO Wildlife Alliance. Thirty-eight families from Mondul Seima and Khemarak Pumin districts have 110 hectares of land between ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051065550/National/villagers-make-heady-claims-against-ngo.html
Insurance premiums on the rise
The Kingdom’s total insurance premiums rose sharply in the first quarter of the year, compared with the same period the previous year, thanks largely to the growth of the economy and an influx of foreign direct investment, industry insiders said. Official data from the General insurance ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052765846/Business/insurance-premiums-on-the-rise.html
Security to Be Boosted on Final Day of Election Campaigning
Phnom Penh authorities said Thursday that all necessary security measures were in place to ensure that today’s final burst of campaigning would be peaceful and cause limited disruption in the city and that Sunday’s national election vote goes ahead without incident. Municipal police chief Heng Chantheary ...
Killing of endangered gaur prompts arrests
Four unidentified men were arrested yesterday for allegedly killing an endangered and pregnant gaur – a species of wild bovine – in a protected wildlife reserve in Mondulkiri province, provincial officials said. After villagers discovered the carcass on Wednesday, provincial authorities along with conservationists in charge ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/killing-endangered-gaur-prompts-arrests
Vietnamese Shops Worry Over Possible Violence
Vietnamese business owners and managers in Phnom Penh on Tuesday said they were concerned their shops could become potential targets of ethnically motivated violence as anti-Vietnamese sentiment among protesters increases, but added they would continue to operate as normal—for now. In recent weeks, there has ...
Ben Sokhean and Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/vietnamese-shops-worry-over-possible-violence-50301/
Preah Vihear overnight tourist stays a hard sell
Despite a noticeable increase in daily tourist arrivals in Preah Vihear province – home of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple – overnight stays remain low, tourism officials and guesthouse owners say. Preah Vihear tourism department figures show that from January to March, foreign tourist arrivals reached ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/preah-vihear-overnight-tourist-stays-hard-sell
Police presence has strikers on edge
A day after police in Kampong Speu province arrested six striking workers, the unexpected presence of about 100 military police officers at a garment factory in Takeo province had some union activists fearing the worst. Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW) president Pav Sina yesterday ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-presence-has-strikers-edge
Migrants flee Thai instability
Thousands of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand are rushing back across the border, voluntarily repatriating themselves in the face of increasingly hostile rhetoric towards undocumented labourers. In the wake of Thailand’s coup d’état last month, army chief General Prayuth Chan-o-Cha urged better regulation of the workforce ...
Cheang Sokha and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrants-flee-thai-instability
NCPO to thank Cambodia for release of Wira Somkhwamkhit
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has indicated it will send a letter thanking the Cambodian government for the release of political activist Wira Somkhwamkhit, who spent more than 3 years in a Cambodian prison. According to Colonel Winthai Suwari, the spokesman for the ...
Thailand National News Bureau Staff
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNFOR5707030010001
Cracking down 101
A deal to end the political deadlock may reduce demonstrations in the streets, but the authorities are leaving nothing to chance – Daun Penh’s notorious district security guards are finally receiving proper government training. City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche, who has previously said the baton-wielding district ...
Daniel Pye and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cracking-down-101
Avian flu worst at borders
Cambodia’s porous borders are creating one of several headaches for health officials working to minimise outbreaks of avian influenza, officials revealed yesterday at a symposium on emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia. The border provinces of Takeo and Kampong Cham have been witness to the highest ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/avian-flu-worst-borders
Safe water lowers absenteeism
Reducing absenteeism in schools in developing countries may be as simple as providing students with safe drinking water. A new study indicates that, but researchers are not sure why. The study was done at eight schools in Cambodia where the attendance records of more than 3,500 ...
Joe Decapua
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/water-absenteeism-18mar14/1874739.html
Classroom talk remains barrier
Sgnoun Vita can’t communicate with most of her kindergarten students. She teaches them colours and numbers, but can’t understand their questions or chatter. Most of Vita’s students at the Kater Primary School in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district speak Jarai, one of Cambodia’s 24 ethnic minority languages. A ...
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/classroom-talk-remains-barrier
Police given $50k for keeping order post-election
Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong and municipal police chief Chuon Sovann hosted a ceremony at Olympic Stadium on Wednesday to award about $25 to each of the city’s police for keeping order in the year following last July’s disputed national election. About 2,000 police officers filed ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-given-50k-for-keeping-order-post-election-65403/