Khmer translated by ODC
Mammoth year in kingdom’s microfinance sector
Cambodia’s microfinance sector experienced another year of explosive growth, with both lending and deposits surging over 40 per cent in 2015, according to new data by an industry association. ...
Cam McGrath and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mammoth-year-kingdoms-microfinance-sector
MEF sounds warning bell over credit growth risk
The Ministry of Economy and Finance has raised concerns about the rapid growth of credit and real estate sectors, which it says could pose risks to Cambodia’s economic growth, while emphasising that policy measures were being taken to mitigate these risks. ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mef-sounds-warning-bell-over-credit-growth-risk
Controversial study says violence works
Indigenous peoples fighting economic land concessions (ELCs) in Cambodia are more likely to get results with violent protest than lodging their complaints through legitimate channels, a controversial study published this month argues. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/controversial-study-says-violence-works
Program to deal with LGBT issues in works
The Ministry of Information says it is working with LGBT rights groups to create a regular radio program that discusses LGBT issues, with the aim of making society more welcoming. ...
Morn Vanntey
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/program-deal-lgbt-issues-works
Labor leader wants unionists’ charges dropped
A prosecutor at the Kompong Speu Provincial Court said on Wednesday that charges would stand against five union officials who were released on bail last month after they were arrested during a brawl with a rival association, despite calls by a prominent labor leader to ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-leader-wants-unionists-charges-dropped-108658/
133-story twin towers get initial approval
The government is reviewing a mammoth $1-billion proposal by the Thai Boon Roong Group to build twin commercial skyscrapers in Phnom Penh which, if constructed, would be among the world’s tallest buildings. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/133_story_towers_approved-108645/
New youth party signed into being
The Cambodia Youth Party (CYP), a new coalition targeting the vote of Cambodia’s burgeoning under-30 population, became official this week after receiving its licence from the Ministry of Interior. ...
Lay Samean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-youth-party-signed-being
Over ninety poisoned by noodles; vendor shut down
More than 90 people had been hospitalized in Takeo province as of Tuesday evening after eating tainted noodles during a Buddhist ceremony at a pagoda on Monday, officials said. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ninety-poisoned-noodles-vendor-shut-108624/
Forty faint at Svay Rieng SEZ factory
Officials blamed food poisoning for sparking the mass fainting of about 40 garment workers in a factory in the Svay Rieng border town of Bavet on Monday afternoon. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/forty-faint-svay-rieng-sez-factory
Workers at Japanese company launch strike
More than 100 workers from Japanese-owned quality control firm Kuwahara, whose office is located in the Cambodiana Hotel, gathered in a park across the street from the hotel yesterday morning to boycott their employer and demand they institute a litany of conditions that were born ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21477/workers-at-japanese-company-launch-strike/
Protesters hurl eggs at world bank office, promise to return
Residents and evictees from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak and Borei Keila neighborhoods returned to the World Bank’s country headquarters on Norodom Boulevard on Monday to hurl eggs at the front gate and demand that the international lender leave Cambodia. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protesters-hurl-eggs-at-world-bank-office-promise-to-return-108550/
Another Korean ministry says it didn’t help envoy
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has become the second of that nation’s ministries to deny it is working with Cambodia’s ambassador to the country, Suth Dina, to clamp down on illegal migrants and political dissent. ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/another-korean-ministry-says-it-didnt-help-envoy
In bribery, knowledge is power, says paper
A Cambodian-American political scientist has proposed a novel way to tackle corruption in the Kingdom: force bribe-taking bureaucrats to compete with each other. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bribery-knowledge-power-says-paper
ANZ still owes villagers over sugar loan: Oxfam
Australian banking giant ANZ has come under fire for its response to a scandal over its financing of a sugar plantation previously linked to forced evictions and child labour in Kampong Speu province. ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anz-still-owes-villagers-over-sugar-loan-oxfam
Bourse urges small firms to consider listing
In September, the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) announced a new initiative to improve access to financing for cash-strapped small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). ...
Tej Parikh
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bourse-urges-small-firms-to-consider-listing-108559/
Barriers remain for Southeast Asia’s economic integration plans
Efforts to integrate of Southeast Asia’s economies are beginning to bear fruit, experts say, although there is some way to go before the goal of turning the region into a single market and production base can be reached. ...
Ten Soksreinith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/barriers-remain-for-southeast-asia-economic-integration-plans/3190571.html
US seeks to continue funding for Khmer Rouge tribunal, ambassador says
The new US ambassador to Cambodia, William A. Heidt, says the US is currently looking at how much it can contribute to the Khmer Rouge tribunal. ...
Pin Sisovann
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/us-seeks-to-continue-funding-for-khmer-rouge-tribunal-ambassador-says/3188530.html
Dueling missives press Obama, Cambodian PM on human rights
More than 100 Southeast Asian parliamentarians are urging President Barack Obama to address regional human rights issues during his meetings with ASEAN leaders next week, according to an open letter posted online Thursday. ...
Otres ditch dwellers still fighting for ‘their land’
Police and military officials violently evicted more than 100 families from their homes in Burnt Bridge village, just south of Sihanoukville, in 2007. Many of the families made temporary shelters with wood, plastic, and corrugated metal on a road behind Otres Beach. Almost nine ...
Jonathan Cox and Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21380/otres-ditch-dwellers-still-fighting-for----their-land---/
Two Cambodian merchants denied bail in Thai court
The two Cambodian merchants arrested at Rong Kluea Market during a Thai Department of Special Investigation (DSI) raid that turned violent earlier this month were denied bail on Friday by the Thai Court of Appeals, according to a statement released by the Cambodian Foreign Affairs ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21374/two-cambodian-merchants-denied-bail-in-thai-court/
Satellite navigation system ready for take-off
Cambodian airports are preparing to install a satellite-guided performance-based navigation (PBN) system that will save carriers time and fuel, and reduce air pollution, according to the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21362/satellite-navigation-system-ready-for-take-off/
Ministry makes it easier for the little guys to dig
It will get easier for small, rural mining operations to register with the government this month, thanks to a change in the Ministry of Energy and Mines’ policy of issuing licenses, according to a ministry statement released last week. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21376/ministry-makes-it-easier-for-the-little-guys-to-dig/
Fumes blamed as 20 garment workers faint
Twenty female garment workers at Evergreen Apparel factory in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district fainted yesterday because of toilet fumes funnelled through the ventilation system, though heat stress and heavy workloads were also possible factors. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fumes-blamed-20-garment-workers-faint
Cambodia near bottom in global list of children’s access to justice
The Child Rights International Network (CRIN) has released its worldwide rankings of countries’ protection of children’s legal rights, with Cambodia coming in at a lowly 166th place out of 197, just ahead of Libya and just behind Tongo. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21373/cambodia-near-bottom-in-global-list-of-children---s-access-to-justice/