National government
Ministries and other national bodies
Stung Treng villagers caught in forestry racket
SIEM PANG DISTRICT, Stung Treng province – For the elite few granted the right to level swathes of woodland in the north of this remote province, the timber trade is worth a fortune. For the Forestry Administration—the government body charged with policing logging—business is also booming. While ...
Phann Ana and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/stung-treng-villagers-caught-in-forestry-racket-60017/
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
Villagers defy ban, march to Gov’t buildings
More than 200 people from the group Land Communities for Peace marched from the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) to the National Assembly on Thursday in defiance of a ban issued by City Hall. Phnom Penh deputy governor Khuong Sreng said the protest would not be allowed after ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-defy-ban-march-to-govt-buildings-60037/
Cross at your own risk
Since he began making the perilous journey to Thailand to log rosewood 10 years ago, Sao Sophon* has had plenty of time to calculate the cost of dying. “When we cross the border to Thailand, our lives are equal to $80 or $90, because that is ...
May Titthara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cross-your-own-risk
Y Chhien to be replaced as Pailin Governor
Y Chhien, who has served as the governor of Pailin province since former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary led his rebel forces in the area to defect to the government in 1996, will step down from his position on Saturday, his cabinet chief said ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/y-chhien-to-be-replaced-as-pailin-governor-after-18-years-60027/
Cambodia aiming for road connectivity in 2015
Cambodia says it hopes to have road connectivity to Vietnam and Thailand by 2015. The connection would be part of Asean integration, a process where Cambodia lags behind its neighbors. Six countries of the Mekong River delta have worked toward linking by road since 1998, in an ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-aiming-for-road-connectivity-in-2015/1924443.html
Villagers vow to defy fresh ban on marches
More than 1,500 villagers plan to march to the Anti-Corruption Unit and National Assembly in Phnom Penh on Thursday in defiance of a fresh ban issued by City Hall prohibiting them from doing so. The villagers form a group known as the Land Communities for Peace ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-vow-to-defy-fresh-ban-on-marches-59966/
ILO attacks trade union law
An International Labour Organization official yesterday called the draft of a Ministry of Labour trade union law “a step backwards” during the opening of a two-day workshop meant to hear concerns of both labour unions and employers. In a speech to worker representatives, members of the ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ilo-attacks-trade-union-law
South Korea and Japan provide aid
The Japanese and South Korean governments yesterday announced millions of dollars in aid to Cambodia for a scholarship program and a number of rural development projects. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong and Japanese Ambassador Kumamaru Yuji signed for a $2.85 million grant yesterday to fund ...
Vong Sokheng and Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/south-korea-and-japan-provide-aid
Gunawadh back as TVK director eleven days after resignation
Kem Gunawadh was reinstated as director-general of state broadcaster TVK on Wednesday, less than two weeks after his highly publicized resignation for failing to live broadcast the annual Royal Plowing Ceremony, according to a statement signed by Information Minister Khieu Kanharith. Acting Director-General Pang Nath denied ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/gunawadh-back-as-tvk-director-eleven-days-after-resignation-59948/
Cambodia says to accept only voluntary refugees from Australia
Cambodia will take in only voluntary refugees from Australia, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Wednesday. “We will only receive refugees, who voluntarily agree to come to Cambodia, not by force,” he said in a response to questions raised by journalists. “This is ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/28/c_133367869.htm
National TV director general not allowed to resign
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith didn’t allow director general of National Television of Kampuchea (KTV) to resign from his post and asked him to fulfill his duty as usual. Kim Kunwath wrote a resignation letter immediately after the KTV failed to broadcast live the Royal Ploughing ceremony ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YzNiYzRhNWMyM2M
Villagers await water
Hundreds of families in Koh Kong province have since early May been affected by drought and a lack of clean water, which is supposed to be provided by tycoon and ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat. Due to the annual drought in the province, two reservoirs ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-await-water
By 2020, $9 billion needed for road funding: report
Cambodia needs $9 billion to be invested into 850 kilometres of roadways by 2020, according to a study by Henan Provincial Communications Planning Survey and Design Institute. From the Chinese province of Henan, officials from the state-owned engineering institute went to great lengths yesterday to explain ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/2020-9-billion-needed-road-funding-report
State regulator warned Smart over luring qb subscribers
The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) last week warned mobile operator Smart that it could face legal action for attempting to lure customers away from rival operator qb, and ordered Smart to resolve the issue “immediately,” according to a letter from TRC to Smart’s CEO ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/state-regulator-warned-smart-over-qb-dispute-59813/
Short-lived retirement for Sambo?
Two years after she was walked out of the city in the middle of the night to a quiet life of retirement on the outskirts of the capital, Sambo, Phnom Penh’s iconic and much-beloved elephant, might soon be back at work entertaining tourists. With funding for ...
Kevin Ponniah and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/short-lived-retirement-sambo
Villager in land row denied character statement by police
A villager involved in a long-running land dispute in Kompong Chhnang province with the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem has accused his commune police chief of discrimination after he was refused a character statement he needed to apply for a garment factory ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villager-in-land-row-denied-character-statement-by-police-59726/
Police raid store, seize fake beauty products
Police raided a discount store in Phnom Penh and seized more than 1,000 bottles of beauty products on Monday after receiving a tip that the shop was selling counterfeit goods, an official said. Police confiscated 872 bottles of shower gel and 280 bottles of whitening cream ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-raid-store-seize-fake-beauty-products-59803/
Northeast primed for colonisation: Rainsy
Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy yesterday called on residents in the northeast provinces to defend their land lest the area be turned into a Vietnamese “colony”. Rainsy’s comments were quickly condemned by both the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments. Speaking to hundreds of people in Mondulkiri ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/northeast-primed-colonisation-rainsy
Villager travels to Parliament over land row
A representative of villagers involved in a land dispute in Mondolkiri province appealed to the government Tuesday to address their displacement after their shelters were destroyed by police and soldiers in a forced eviction Monday. Chan Rithy stood outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villager-travels-to-parliament-over-land-dispute-59795/
Institute land not leased: gov’t
Responding to reported fears among staff that the destruction of a wall at Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute could herald the piecemeal sale of the grounds to adjacent casino operator NagaCorp, the government yesterday chalked the alarm up to a simple misunderstanding. According to the Ministry of ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/institute-land-not-leased-gov%E2%80%99t
Cambodia mulls expressway development from capital to seaport, Vietnam
Cambodia is considering to develop two expressways in order to serve the growing extents of economy and trade, Tram Iv Tek, Minister of Public Works and Transport, said Tuesday. The first line will be from capital Phnom Penh to coastal Preah Sihanouk province in length of ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140527/cambodia-mulls-expressway-development-capital-seaport-vietna
Brands, international unions press Cambodian government on labor issues
Representatives from some of the world’s largest fashion brands and the leader of one of the world’s biggest union organizations met this week with Cambodian officials and local clothing manufacturers to demand better treatment and improve workplace safety for the country’s estimated 600,000 garment workers. Garment ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/brands-international-unions-press-government-on-labor-issues/1923596.html
Lack of judiciary consultation on key Cambodian laws draws concern of UN rights expert
The lack of consultative process on three draft laws has set a worrying precedent for future key legislation, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi. “For many years in my capacity as the Special RapporteurI ...
UN News Centre
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47904#.U4WD6PmSxqV