Government
International relations
Rubber prices tumble as industry panics
Cambodia’s steadily declining rubber prices have hit critically low levels that are destined to only get worse as Thailand prepares to offload huge rubber stocks, the secretary-general of the Association for Rubber Development of Cambodia said Thursday. As the price of natural rubber has paralleled a ...
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/rubber-prices-tumble-as-industry-panics-58889/
Maids set to work abroad, but safety fears linger
After a three-year moratorium on sending maids overseas—sparked by a spate of serious abuses by recruiters and employers—momentum is building to once again send hundreds of thousands of Cambodian women to work overseas as domestic servants. Since Prime Minister Hun Sen shut down the industry in ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maids-set-to-work-abroad-but-safety-fears-linger-58853/
Aus called out on railway
Rights groups are calling out the Australian government for being “curiously absent” from discussions about further compensation for thousands of families affected by a railway rehabilitation project that it co-funded with the Asian Development Bank. The bank has borne the brunt of criticism over botched resettlement ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/aus-called-out-railway
Hundreds of Chinese enter Cambodia, fleeing Vietnam violence
Hundreds of Chinese nationals have fled to Cambodia to escape anti-China riots in Vietnam in which at least 20 people are reported to have been killed, Cambodian police said on Thursday. “Yesterday more than 600 Chinese people from Vietnam crossed at Bavet international checkpoint into Cambodia,” ...
Alan Raybould
http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=84785
Cambodia rethinks passport life
A decision to extend the validity of Cambodian passports from three to 10 years should encourage more Cambodians to travel, claims the Ministry of Interior. The ministry’s General Directorate of Identification head, General Mao Chandara, was quoted by local media as saying, the department would begin ...
Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2014/05/cambodia-rethinks-passport-life/
Cambodia bars Vietnamese protest
The Cambodian government said Thursday it will not allow Vietnamese living in the country to protest Chinese incursions in the South China Sea. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said Cambodia does not allow any foreigners to protest other nationalities. The spokesman made the statement ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/409925/cambodia-bars-vietnamese-protest
Mining industry looks to Aus
A mining delegation from Cambodia has left for a fact-finding tour of Australia in a bid to glean knowledge from one of the world’s largest minerals exploration countries. The trip is being coordinated by the International Mining for Development Centre of the Western Australia state government. The ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mining-industry-looks-aus
Country’s first Japanese news website launched
Thmey Thmey online news website on Wednesday launched a Japanese-language version of the site to help illuminate the world of Cambodian politics and business for Japanese residents here, as well as those considering relocating or investing in the country. The news site, which was set up ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/countrys-first-japanese-news-website-launched-58743/
As free man, Polonsky plans tourism mecca
Sergei Polonsky, a Russian fugitive and former billionaire real estate magnate who was recently released from prison in Cambodia, has grand plans for a string of islands off the coast of Sihanoukville. Less than a month after the Supreme Court refused to extradite him to Russia ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-free-man-polonsky-plans-tourism-mecca-58726/
Cambodia exports to US rise by over 10 pct
Driven by a slowly recovering American economy, Cambodian exports to the US increased 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same period last year, according to the latest US government data. Cambodian exports from January to March totalled $771 million, up ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-exports-us-rise-over-10-pct
Women targeted at protests, Rapporteur says
The U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, has sent his third thematic report to the U.N. Human Rights Council following trips to various countries, including a three-day visit to Cambodia in February. The report focuses on groups that Mr. Kiai, a ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/women-targeted-at-protests-rapporteur-says-58735/
"Third water" prawn farming project to kick off in Cambodia
An onshore prawn farming project using water known as “third water” developed by Toshimasa Yamamoto, associate professor at Okayama University of Science, will start in August in a mountain village in Cambodia, Japan’s Jiji Press reported. Aquaculture on land is expected to improve nutrition and alleviate ...
Bernama News Staff
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1038151
Hun Sen to visit China next week
Prime Minister Hun Sen will lead Cambodian delegation to attend the 4th Summit of Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CIAC) in China next week, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The delegation companying Hun Sen will ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ODExYWI3MDRkMWN
Caltex loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars, striking workers say
Chevron’s Caltex gas stations are potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in Cambodia, striking employees say. Workers say Caltex, a subsidiary of US-based multinational Chevron, sells between 5,000 to 10,000 liters per station per day, putting its losses between $350,000 to $700,000 ...
Khoun Theara,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/caltex-loosing-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-striking-workers-say/1914429.html
Strike by Cambodian Caltex staff enters 3rd day after wage talks fail
Cambodian workers for the U.S.- owned Caltex petrol stations in Phnom Penh continued their strike for higher wages Wednesday after wage negotiations late Tuesday failed to reach any agreement. Strike leader Sar Mora, president of the Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation, said some 300 Caltex ...
Xinhuanet News
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/14/c_133332966.htm
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
Standard forms aim for public bid transparency
The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday announced the release of standardised bidding forms for public contracts, a measure it said would increase transparency and accountability, though the opposition and Transparency International Cambodia offered more cautious assessments yesterday. According to a state media announcement, the ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/standard-forms-aim-public-bid-transparency
Baby formula brands place profit above health
Dara Raksmey, the owner of a pharmacy of the same name on Phnom Penh’s Street 294, keeps a record of every can of Dumex baby formula she sells. “If you buy six large cans you get a scooter and if you buy 12 large cans you ...
Ouch Sony and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/baby-formula-brands-place-profit-above-health-58635/
Tea Banh denies supporting Russia
Minister of Defence Tea Banh yesterday denied allegations that Cambodia supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Local media reported yesterday that during a meeting with the defence minister on Monday, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Tsvetkov thanked the Kingdom for supporting Moscow in the recent secession crisis in Ukraine ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tea-banh-denies-supporting-russia
Deal would send workers to Saudi Arabia
Cambodia is nearing a deal that would open a pipeline of workers to Saudi Arabia, a country where Southeast Asian migrants have in the past been abused and even executed for crimes that include “sorcery”. Following a meeting in Hanoi last week with Saudi Ambassador Salah ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deal-would-send-workers-saudi-arabia
After strong start, city bus’ future unclear
After a monthlong test run saw 10 buses often filled with passengers, a Chinese-owned company promised in early March to inject millions into the project and add hundreds of new buses. But Global Trade Development left the project last month after the municipality refused to grant ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-strong-start-city-bus-future-unclear-58640/
Cambodian PM due on Friday
Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen is expected to pay a 3-day official visit to Dhaka from Friday to further expanding and strengthening trade relations and cooperation in agriculture sector between the two countries. During the visit, sources said Dhaka is expected to seek long-term ...
The Daily Star
http://www.thedailystar.net/cambodian-pm-due-on-friday-23869
MEA, WAPCOS sign agreements for assisting Cambodia in water resources management
The Ministry of External Affairs today signed two agreements with the public sector WAPCOS Limited for assisting Cambodia in water resources management. One of the agreements is on Study of Ground Water Resources of Kampong Spue Province in Cambodia and the other on Development of ...
NetIndian News Network
http://netindian.in/news/2014/05/14/00029084/mea-wapcos-sign-agreements-assisting-cambodia-water-resources-management
Court temporarily halts lease transfer for victory beach
Russian businessmen Nikolai Doroshenko and Sergei Polonsky are locked in a legal dispute over Sihanoukville’s Victory Beach following Mr. Polonsky’s release from prison last month, according to copies of court documents obtained Monday. The Preah Sihanouk provincial court has temporarily prevented Mr. Doroshenko from transferring the ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-temporarily-halts-lease-transfer-for-victory-beach-58598/