Government
Special Economic Zone Strike in Svay Rieng Ends—For Now
An estimated 30,000 garment factory workers will resume work this morning after three days of strike action ended Wednesday when Svay Rieng provincial officials promised to help the strikers achieve their demands from factory owners. The mass strike led the owner of the Tai Seng Special ...
Aun Pheap and Phann Ana
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/special-economic-zone-strike-in-svay-rieng-ends-for-now-49469/
Despite Ban, Operators Offer Bonuses
Two of the country’s largest mobile phone operators are again offering attractive deals on calls, despite the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia’s (TRC) recent order to mobile operators to follow the government’s minimum prices for calls and to scale back customer promotions. On Sunday, Smart, which is ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-ban-operators-offer-bonuses-49483/
GMS Countries To Explore Tourism Linkages In Annual Meeting
Member states of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) will meet at an annual meeting in Hanoi on Dec 19 to explore measures to embrace tourism linkages, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. Cao Van Ban, development assistance committee head of Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Association for Economic Cooperation Development (VILACAED), ...
Bernama News Staff
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1001973
Myanmar, Cambodia Sign Visa Exemption Agreement
Myanmar and Cambodia have signed an agreement on visa exemption for ordinary passport holders travelling between both countries, Xinhua news agency reported. The agreement was signed by Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Tin Oo Lwin and Cambodian Ambassador to Myanmar Sieng Burvuthin Nay Pyi Taw on ...
Bernama News Staff
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1001919
CPP to Make Move Over Boycott of Parliament
The CPP-controlled National Assembly will soon send the National Election Committee (NEC) a letter officially informing the body of a boycott of parliament by the CNRP’s 55 members of parliament, in what appears to be the first step in the ruling party’s threat to have ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-to-make-move-over-boycott-of-parliament-49416/
Three New Districts in Phnom Penh Approved
The Ministry of Interior has approved the creation of three new districts in Phnom Penh following a proposal from City Hall to create five new districts before district and city council elections are held in May. Sak Setha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-new-districts-in-phnom-penh-approved-49424/
Hun Sen’s Niece Opens Tax Consulting Firm
Local law and consulting firm HML, whose chairperson and founding partner is Hun Kimleng, a niece of Prime Minister Hun Sen and wife of National Police chief Neth Savoeun, has teamed up with Tokyo-based XAT Tax Corp. to form a consulting agency focused solely on ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/hun-sens-niece-opens-tax-consulting-firm-49420/
Official Says ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Japan Won’t Irk China
Returning from a state visit to Japan on Tuesday, a member of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government dismissed the possibility that newly upgraded ties with Japan and Cambodia’s decision to join its Asean neighbors in a “freedom of overflight” pact with Tokyo might strain its ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-strategic-partnership-with-japan-wont-irk-china-49410/
Prison oversight lags: UN
Five years after first ratifying the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), Cambodia remains delinquent in honouring some of its commitments under the treaty, UN representatives said yesterday. Under the OPCAT, Cambodia was obliged to create an independent National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-oversight-lags-un
Cambodia seeks collaboration despite criticism of Lower Se San 2 hydro project
Cambodia is moving forward with development of the Lower Se San 2 hydropower project and is seeking support from surrounding nations. A spirit of collaboration was established on Tuesday at a meeting between Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, Tourism Minister Dr. Thong Khon and ...
HydroWorld News Staff
http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2013/12/cambodia-seeks-collaboration-despite-criticism-of-lower-se-san-2-hydro-project.html
Cambodian Opposition Gives Government Three-month Deadline
Cambodian opposition officials said Tuesday they will give the government three months to hold a new election, or they will lead a movement in hopes of toppling its leadership. Kem Sokha, vice president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, said the government is harming its citizens ...
Theara Khoun
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodian-opposition-gives-government-threemonth-deadline/1812433.html
Putting hospitals on lockdown
The government plans to extend the country’s still-limited capacity to treat ailing prisoners by building more secure rooms inside provincial hospitals. As part of the General Department of Prisons’ 2014-2018 strategic plan, the Ministry of Interior hopes to have rooms specifically designated for prisoners in each ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/putting-hospitals-lockdown
Garment workers’ patience wearing thin
Taking part in daily demonstrations outside the shuttered factory where she once worked is beginning to weigh on Bou Narith and her co-workers. Government officials this morning will sit down with representatives of employees and a representative from USA Fully Field (Cambodia) Garment factory, which, ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-workers%E2%80%99-patience-wearing-thin
Disability Groups Put Focus on Speech Therapy
The government’s Disability Action Council (DAC) on Monday announced that it would be including speech therapy in its strategic plan for the next four years to address the problem of speech and swallowing disorders. DAC Secretary-General Em Chan Makara said the decision comes after research, conducted ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/disability-groups-put-focus-on-speech-therapy-49400/
Cambodia Upgrades Diplomatic Relations With Japan
Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed to upgrade Cambodia’s diplomatic relations with Japan to a “strategic level” during talks in Tokyo on Sunday, but also thanked his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, for making efforts to mend relations with neighbor China, according to media reports. During a state ...
Phorn Bopha and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-upgrades-diplomatic-relations-with-japan-49386/
Mekong Countries Agree to Expedite Dam Study
The Mekong River Commission’s (MRC) study on the potential long-term effects of large-scale dam building on the Mekong River needs to be expedited, members of the MRC agreed at the Fifth Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo on Saturday. However, they did not set a date for the ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mekong-countries-agree-to-expedite-dam-study-49360/
NGO alleges bribery over titles
An environmental protection NGO is preparing to file a lawsuit with the Kampong Speu provincial court and a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit against an Agriculture Department official who was allegedly paid by a development firm to issue land titles to villagers squatting on state ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-alleges-bribery-over-titles
Interior minister says opposition divided over negotiations
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Monday blamed stalled negotiations over the disputed results of July’s national election on divisions within the opposition CNRP, whose leaders he said were of two minds about resuming talks. Top-level talks between Prime Minister Hun Sen and CNRP President Sam Rainsy, ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/interior-minister-says-opposition-divided-over-negotiations-49394/
Government Proposes 100% Hike in Minimum Wage by 2018
The government proposed doubling the minimum wage for garment workers—from $80 to $160—within five years during a meeting with labor unions and garment manufacturers on Monday at the Ministry of Labor. “We have a plan to raise the minimum wage up to $160 for garment workers, ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-proposes-100-hike-in-minimum-wage-by-2018-49396/
Cambodia sends 4th batch of troops to Lebanon for U.N. peacekeeping mission
Cambodia on Tuesday dispatched the fourth batch of 184 soldiers to Lebanon to replace the third batch’s forces, whose one-year United Nations peacekeeping duties have come to an end. The civil engineering group would perform their one-year duties by clearing landmines, constructing roads, bridges, shelters and ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/17/c_132974000.htm
Via Motorbikes, Cambodian Opposition Protest Winds Through Capital
Cambodian government opposition leaders led around 1,000 protesters, most of them on motor scooters, through Phnom Penh on Monday, part of an ongoing weekly call for demonstrations over July’s election results. The rally was the second day in a row that opposition supporters gathered to demand ...
Voice of America News Staff
http://www.voanews.com/content/via-motorbikes-cambodian-opposition-protest-winds-through-capital/1811618.html
CPP to Inform King, NEC of Opposition’s Assembly Boycott
National Assembly President Heng Samrin will in the coming days send the National Election Committee (NEC) an official letter informing it of the opposition party’s boycott of parliament, according to local media, possibly the first step in the ruling party’s plan to have the opposition’s ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-to-inform-king-nec-of-oppositions-assembly-boycott-49348/
ILO hails better protection for Cambodian migrant workers
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic for is pleased to support the official launch of measures to better protect Cambodian migrant workers. On 16 December 2013, ahead of International Migrants Day on 18 December, the Cambodian Ministry ...
Fibre2Fashion News Staff
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=157264
Cambodian garment manufacturers, trade unionists talk over pay rise with no agreement
Cambodia’s garment manufacturers and trade unionists on Monday began a negotiation on pay rise for garment workers in 2014 but reached no any agreement because the union representatives demanded to double the current wage. The talk was made between the employers represented by Nang Sothy, co-chair ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/16/c_132972280.htm