Work Begins on Controversial Cambodian Dam
As work begins on Cambodia’s biggest dam, those advocating against its construction have warned that the region’s rush for hydropower will have a disastrous effect on millions of people who rely on the Mekong River to survive. Last month, workers began preparing an area in northeastern ...
http://www.voanews.com/content/work-begins-on-controversial-hydropower-dam/1656035.html
Judge Denies Coercion Claim in Land Dispute Assault Case
A father whose three children were badly beaten by employees of a rubber plantation has accused a Ratanakkiri Provincial Court judge of threatening to send two sons, aged 14 and 21, to jail unless they accept $1,000 in compensation and drop the assault complaint. Ry Saron ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/judge-denies-coercion-claim-in-assault-case-26546/
Cambodian Opposition Chief Under Fire for US Trip Amid Crisis
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy has left for the United States to attend his daughter’s wedding, triggering criticism at home that he was leaving the country in the midst of a political crisis following disputed national elections. Sam Rainsy announced at a mass rally at Freedom ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/trip-08072013184422.html
Government Must Work With Farmers to Combat Climate Change
Some 9.5 million Cambodians who directly engage in agriculture must adopt new techniques in order to counter dynamic weather patterns caused by climate change, and the government must work with farmers to ensure that it happens, an agricultural conference was told last week. Flown in from ...
Matt Blomberg and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-must-work-with-farmers-to-combat-climate-change-45678/
Moody's: Cambodia's rating constrained by narrow economic base, policy limitations
Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday that despite rapid growth, the small size and the narrow diversification of Cambodia’s economy constrained its B2 rating. The limited effectiveness of monetary policy due to a high rate of dollarization was also a rating constraint, the rating ...
Xinhua News Staff
http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2013-08/22/content_29799938.htm
Cambodian Opposition Refuses to Call Off Parliament Boycott
Cambodia’s opposition said it will not attend the scheduled opening of parliament next week despite a request by the king to call off their boycott. The opposition continues to insist that the ruling party agree to an independent investigation into allegations of massive voting fraud ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodias-opposition-rejects-offer-to-attend-parliaments-opening/1752326.html
Brands tell GMAC to dial it down
Some of the world’s largest clothing brands have warned the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia of possible business ramifications should the factory representative continue with plans to impede labour monitoring. Thirteen major buyers, including Gap, H&M, Levi’s, Nike and Puma, have signed a letter to GMAC ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/brands-tell-gmac-dial-it-down
Education to Receive 20% Boost in 2014 Budget
The Education Ministry on Monday said it was in line for a near 20 percent hike from the government’s $3.52 billion draft budget for 2014, approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet on Friday, though other details of how money was to be allocated remained ...
Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/education-to-receive-20-boost-in-2014-budget-46127/
New fees, political crisis mean fewer businesses
The number of new businesses registering in Cambodia continued to plummet through the third quarter of this year amid tightened rules for start-ups and waning investor confidence following the still-unresolved national elections. Data from the Ministry of Commerce yesterday showed that 853 new businesses registered with ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-fees-political-crisis-mean-fewer-businesses
Evening the odds with Mother Nature
About 20 people grinned for the camera as they posed in front of a flagpole-like structure located just off a muddy dirt road in Kampong Chhnang province’s Samaki Meanchey district on Thursday morning. While a rather unimpressive visual, the agrometerological station is a first-of-its-kind device in ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evening-odds-mother-nature
Cambodian Sommeliers Head to Singapore for Regional Contest
Beer, whisky and strong, home-brewed moonshine have long been Cambodians’ favorite tipples, but with an ever-growing middle class, tastes are changing and if you’re part of the new elite, it is increasingly important to know your Pinot Gris from your Pinot Noir. To help enhance one’s ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodian-sommeliers-head-to-singapore-for-regional-contest-40504/
B’bang ballots to be examined
The Constitutional Council yesterday ordered the opening of another batch of ballots and original documents, this time from eight contested polling stations in Battambang town, even as opposition members expressed doubt the council had the will to seriously investigate their complaints. Coming a day after the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/b%E2%80%99bang-ballots-be-examined
Police pledge ‘no guns’ at today’s rallies
National Police and military police officers deployed to International Human Rights Day events and an opposition rally in the capital today will not carry guns or live ammunition, spokesmen for the respective authorities said yesterday. Effectively vowing to avoid a repeat of two fatal police shootings ...
Shane Worrell and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-pledge-%E2%80%98no-guns%E2%80%99-today%E2%80%99s-rallies
Uneasy calm in Bavet as factories ordered shut
BAVET CITY, Svay Rieng province – The government has ordered all factories here to shut down until Thursday at the earliest in a bid to keep escalating strikes from spiraling out of control and spreading nationwide. “[Provincial] Governor Chieng Am said in a meeting yesterday [Monday] ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uneasy-calm-in-bavet-as-factories-ordered-shut-57723/
Flying squirrel and eyeless spider discovered in Greater Mekong
A series of high-flying creatures, including giant flying frogs and squirrels and a parachute gecko, are among the hundreds of exotic new species recently discovered in the greater Mekong region in southeast Asia. A new eyeless spider and a fish that mates head-to-head are also highlighted ...
Damian Carrington
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/04/flying-squirrel-and-eyeless-spider-discovered-in-greater-mekong?CMP=fb_gu
Sexual abuse among claims against HAGL
Sexual assault and the annihilation of sacred graveyards are among the many claims levelled at Vietnamese Rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) by villagers in Ratanakkiri province, a report by the World Bank’s investment arm reveals. In February, 17 indigenous communities that accused HAGL of ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sexual-abuse-among-claims-against-hagl
Two dead, one seriously injured in another hit and run
Two men died and another was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident on Friday night in Phnom Penh when a Range Rover plowed into a motorbike in Toek Thla commune, police said Sunday, adding to a recent spate of fatal—and often high-profile—hit-and-runs. Thang Ratha, 23, died ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-dead-one-seriously-injured-in-another-hit-and-run-59553/
The bitter aftertaste of a sugar deal gone bad
Houy Mai has lost everything to the global demand for cheap sugar and biofuel. The 54-year-old mother-of-eight has fought a years-long battle with Mitr Phol, Asia’s biggest sugar producer and one of three major suppliers to Coca-Cola. Her family was left homeless and without a sustainable ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/bitter-aftertaste-sugar-deal-gone-bad
For festival, any water will do
This year’s subdued Water Festival festivities in the capital, where traditional boat races were cancelled, has resulted in a bump in tourism in the provinces as Cambodians use the three-day holiday to visit their families, enjoy cultural activities and lounge on beaches.“It was unusually quiet ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/festival-any-water-will-do
China, Cambodia Ink 29 Agreements for Economic and Trade Ties
The relations between People’s Republic of China and Cambodia have become closer in the way of culture, in which China is the most important strategic development partner in improving Cambodia’s economic growth through both financial and technical grant aids,” Mr. Eang Sophalet, assistant to Samdech ...