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Mercedes halts imports over luxury tax
The sole retailer of Mercedes-Benz cars into the country, Hung Hiep (Cambodia) Co., has suspended imports since January over what it claims is a new import duty on luxury cars coming into the country. Other luxury car importers including Porsche, Audi, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mercedes-halts-imports-over-luxury-tax-56050/
Factories not monitoring chemicals, says ministry
Following the mass fainting of hundreds of workers at garment factories last week, an official at the Ministry of Labour has raised concerns over the control of toxic chemicals. Leng Tong, director of the Labour Ministry’s occupational health and safety department, said factories should be providing ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factories-not-monitoring-chemicals-says-ministry
Villagers make plea over crocs
A group of villagers from Koh Kong’s Areng Valley gathered outside the offices of Flora & Fauna International (FFI) in Phnom Penh yesterday, demanding a say in a project designed to relocate endangered Siamese crocodiles from the site of the planned Stung Cheay Areng dam. ...
Phak Seangly and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-make-plea-over-crocs
Businesses warned not to increase holiday rate
With Khmer New Year arriving next week, Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned tourism-related businesses against increasing service prices during the three-day holiday. Speaking at a graduation ceremony for students at Vanda Institute of Accounting in Koh Pich yesterday, the prime minister appealed to hotels, guesthouses, ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/businesses-warned-not-increase-holiday-rate
Pardons given to 70
Seventy prisoners are to be released during Khmer New Year next week in an amnesty that will also see hundreds of prison sentences reduced by up to a year. The Ministry of Justice approved 555 applications for sentence reductions and pardons following a request by its ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pardons-given-70
Cambodia: UN expert concerned over curbs affecting human rights, democratic processes
The United Nations independent expert on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, expressed concern today that the country’s National Assembly held its second session last week without the opposition representatives taking up their seat, and urged the legislature to upkeep the key principles of ...
UN News Center Staff
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47525&Cr=cambodia&Cr1=
Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014 in Cambodia opens in May
The Vietnam-Cambodia International Trade Fair and Exhibitions 2014, also known as Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014, will be held at Koh Pich Convention Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 7-11. ...
Thao Tien
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2014/4/108657/
World Bank raises growth forecast for Cambodia in 2014
The World Bank upwardly revised Monday its GDP growth forecast for Cambodia this year to 7.2 percent, up from its October projection of 7.0 percent. In explaining the higher forecast, the bank’s East Asia and Pacific Economic Update pointed to “the expectation of renewed confidence and ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjY5Zjc3MTUwZDg
World Bank says Cambodia has most liberal foreign investment regime in ASEAN
The World Bank says Cambodia has the most open foreign direct investment regime in ASEAN while Thailand has the most restrictive. In a report released Monday, the bank also said that Cambodia had recently emerged as ASEAN’s second-biggest recipient of foreign direct investment in the agricultural ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGM2MTVmYTQ0NTM
Cambodia leads doubts over AEC
In a rare moment of honesty a Cambodian official has admitted his doubts about his country’s ability to meet regional expectations in time for the launch of the much vaunted ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. “If you talk about short-term: Yes, we ...
Luke Hunt
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/cambodia-leads-doubts-over-aec/
Python peddler arrested
Police in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district seized a shipment of live pythons en route to market in Vietnam on Friday, arresting the accused smuggler and turning the snakes over to conservation group Wildlife Alliance, police said yesterday. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/python-peddler-arrested
Angkor ready for surge of tourists
Siem Reap hotel operators are preparing for a deluge of tourists this Khmer New Year season the likes of which is not often seen, tourism officials say. Chheuy Chhorn, deputy director of Siem Reap’s tourism department, said after attracting 170,000 visitors to the first annual Angkor ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/angkor-ready-surge-tourists
Man injured by landmine while illegally logging
A man was seriously injured on Saturday by an anti-personnel landmine that exploded under him as he tried to sneak across the Thai-Cambodian border to illegally log rosewood, local officials said. [O’Smach commune chief] Mr. [Phang] Sam Ath said the border area where the men ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/man-injured-by-landmine-while-illegally-logging-55854/
Australian PM confirms asylum seeker request
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday confirmed that Cambodia was in talks with his government to take in some of the refugees trying to reach his country’s shores, according to Australian media. Mr. Abbott’s statement was the first official admission from his administration that Australia ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/australian-pm-confirms-asylum-seeker-request-55850/
Leaflets get unionist in hot water
Police in Svay Rieng province yesterday afternoon arrested a union worker who was delivering flyers supporting a stay-at-home strike scheduled to begin after Khmer New Year. While delivering about 1,100 fliers to union members at Full Fortune Knitting, Kem Chamroeun, a 25-year-old Collective Union of Movement ...
Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/leaflets-get-unionist-hot-water
Compensation demanded for 5 killed in blast
Cambodia asked Thailand Friday to compensate the families of five Cambodians killed when a World War II bomb exploded in a scrap metal shop in Bangkok. The explosion on Wednesday killed a total of seven people, injured 20 others and destroyed or damaged 10 buildings. “Our ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/compensation-demanded-for-5-killed-in-blast-55814/
Paddy rice farms curb losses from lost land
Cambodian paddy rice production fell only slightly during the first half of this year’s dry season, despite 12,000 hectares of usually productive land deemed unusable due to last year’s floods. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, dry season paddy rice production between December ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/paddy-rice-farms-curb-losses-lost-land
Linking the worst factories with the labels
The building that housed USA Fully Field Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district stands empty now. The grounds are littered with garbage and boxes full of dusty brand labels that were stitched onto clothes by almost 400 workers before the factory owner fled in ...
Simon Henderson and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/linking-the-worst-factories-with-the-labels-55839/
Labor Ministry, ILO set out plan for minimum wage reforms
Facing public pressure from major garment brands and labor unions, the Ministry of Labor and the International Labor Organization (ILO) will cooperate in the coming months to reform the current system of setting the minimum wage in the garment sector. The reform process will begin with ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-ilo-set-out-plan-for-minimum-wage-reforms-55869/
Weekend storms take heavy toll
A weekend storm surge that saw torrential downpours hit the capital had far more dire consequences outside of Phnom Penh, where hundreds of families were affected and at least one man was killed. At least 675 homes in eight provinces were damaged in sudden thunderstorms that ...
Khoun Leakhana
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/weekend-storms-take-heavy-toll
Capturing corruption in modern Cambodia
Towering temples and graceful apsaras are missing from a new Cambodia-themed photo show. Instead, camera lenses focused on corruption. The photos show poverty, inadequate sewage systems and parking squeezes at markets. Contest rules allowed photos to be staged—as long as contestants clarified that a photo was ...
Emily Wilkins
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/capturing-corruption-in-modern-cambodia-55812/
Activists dismayed at mekong summit outcome
Environmentalists have expressed disappointment at the outcome of the second Mekong River Commission (MRC) summit, which wrapped up yesterday. International Rivers, an environmental and human rights organisation, yesterday released a statement slamming regional leaders’ failure to address concerns over the proliferation of dams on the mainstream ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/403657/activists-dismayed-at-mekong-summit-outcome
Union leader: Workers to hold protest after New Year
Labor union leader expressed pleasure and welcomed the study of minimum wage for footwear and garment factory workers. However, he said that the workers will hold protest after the New Year. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGFhNDE1N2Q3ZTZ
Cambodia sees 87 pct drop in dengue fever cases in Q1
Cambodia had recorded 179 dengue fever cases in the first three months of this year, a 87 percent decrease from 1,393 cases over the same period last year, a health official said Friday. ...
ASEAN - China Center News Staff
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2014-04/05/c_133240824.htm