News
Hundreds of Workers Detained Crossing Thai Border
Police in Banteay Meanchey province detained 298 people for trying to illegally cross the border to Thailand last week in Thma Puok district’s Kork Romiet commune, police said yesterday. During questioning, all 298 detainees admitted that they were trying to cross the border in order to ...
Telecom Cambodia set to list early next year
State-owned communications provider Telecom Cambodia is planning to list on the local bourse by June next year Telecom Cambodia was originally scheduled to list by the end of this year but the company did not meet listing requirements in time. ...
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/telecom-cambodia-set-to-list-early-next-year--907924
Japanses Police Arrest Ten for Defrauding Investors
Tokyo police arrested 10 Japanese nationals earlier this month for allegedly defrauding more than 1,000 investors out of $20 millions using fictitious investment projects in Cambodia, according to Japanese media reports. “The Metropolitan Police Department found no evidence that the amount of money raised was ...
From Alibaba, a Trove of Cambodian Treasures
From large tracts of rural land to sand from the country’s rivers to human hair, a host of Cambodia’s natural resources are on display in the shop window of China’s largest online trading website. Alibaba.com – which claims more than 80 million users worldwide and is ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/from-alibaba-a-trove-of-cambodian-treasures-5698/
Maids find local Champion
The abuse of Cambodian maids overseas has become one of the most documented human rights violation here. But as the Government, media, NGOs and aid agencies focus their energies on domestic laborer living abroad, advocates have begun to urge that closer attention be paid to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012111359705/National-news/maids-find-local-champion.html
Evictees still awaiting Obama
As more than 100 protesters continued to spend their days camped outside the US embassy appealing for the release of two land activists, a delegation from Amnesty International visited the Boeung Kak Community yesterday to offer support for their fight Amnesty International would continue to monitor ...
Boutique hotels on the rise
Local company VLK Royal Tourism Group has embarked on a joint venture with a Thai partner to build OC Hotel, a four-star boutique hotel in Sihanoukville. The venture was prompted by rising demand as well as increasing tourist numbers to the coastal area off the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012111359696/Business/boutique-hotels-on-the-rise.html
Visa agreement gets delayed
DESPITE some reports, Cambodian officials said Cambodia and Thailand have not yet set a date for implementing the Irrawaddy-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) single visa. Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said a single visa scheme for all five ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012111359702/Business/visa-agreement-gets-delayed.html
AK Shots provoke complaints
Villagers in Ratanakirri province filed complaints to the provincial court and rights group Adhoc yesterday, claiming three security guards patrolling former state forest in O’Chum district threatened them and fired an AK-47 to scare them away. Kreung ethnic villager Travh Khambon, 37 of La’ak commune Kam ...
Construction comeback- After an overheated rise and thundering crash, the building sector returns to stable growth
Back in 2007 and 2008, Phnom Penh was positively abuzz with the sound of drills, hammers and cranes. Construction sites were found all over the city and it seemed that every day new projects were being announced in the media—a skyscraper here, a retail development ...
Laos hydro dam upsets Mekong River neighbors
Laos began construction last week on a multi-billion dollar hydro dam project that is opposed by other countries along the Mekong River, and activists who say the project will significantly impact the environment and the economies of four countries that rely on the river for ...
Insight: Land conflict, impunity dims Cambodia's awakening
Cambodia’s transformation from war-torn basket-case to one of Asia’s most promising emerging economies is being overshadowed by a backwards lurch in human rights and land policies that critics say are entrenching poverty. ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/12/us-cambodia-protests-idUSBRE8AB17J20121112
Cambodia Bourse Sees End to IPO Drought
Cambodia’s stock market is set for a revival early next year when initial public offerings are expected by at least four local companies, ending a drought for a bourse that has hosted just one listing since its trading debut in April. State-owned Telecom Cambodia and Sihanoukville ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323894704578114560882515832.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Hanging by a Thread
Cambodia’s tradition of silk production is one that dates back as far as the 13th century. A long-standing symbol of status for the rich and the country, ancient Angkorian silk producing Cambodia bore unique weaving and reeling techniques that have been passed down from generation ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/320823/hanging-by-a-thread
Cambodia: shrinking forests breed violence
Hang Serei Oudom told his 7-month pregnant wife that he was going out to meet a source. A journalist for Vorakchun Khmer Daily, he was investigating illegal logging for luxury woods in the jungles of Cambodia’s northeastern Ratanakkiri province. Three days later, on Sept. 11, he ...
Maruhan Japan Bank buys stake in MFI – Sathapana
Maruhan Japan Bank yesterday became the first commercial bank in Cambodia to make a direct equity investment into a microfinance institution by becoming Sathapana’s majority shareholder, with a 95.1 per cent stake. Financial details were not disclosed. The shareholders who sold out to Maruhan were FMO, ...
http://www.cbre.com.kh/2012/11/maruhan-japan-bank-buys-stake-mfi-sathapana/
2013 National Budget to Rise Above $3B
Government spending next year will total more than $3 billion, a 16.2 percent increase from the $2.6 billion set aside for 2012, according to a draft of the national budget obtained Friday. The budget states that the government will allocate some $400 million, or 13.32 ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/2013-national-budget-to-rise-above-3b-5428/
Ratings Agency Retains Stable Growth Outlook for Cambodia
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on Friday reaffirmed Cambodia’s long-term sovereign credit rating of “B” due to the country’s positive growth outlook, but again warned of risks related to the country’s narrow economic base. “Economic output growth is vulnerable due to the still large ...
Decorative plants are more popular than ever, but most are imported
Sar Botra has always liked gardening. The front yard of his house, an explosion of flowers and plants, makes it clear that he’s got a very green thumb. He used to spend a lot of time with his plants after work or on the weekends, ...
Ahead of High-Level Meetings, City Sweeps More Than Streets
Authorities in Daun Penh district have rounded up more than 120 so-called homeless people, drug users and sex workers ahead of next week’s high-level meetings for Asean and international delegates in Phnom Penh, a district official said yesterday. Phnom Penh City Hall has also focused ...
Regional, Local Activists Plan Forums to Coincide With Summits
Activist groups are planning to hold two separate forums this week in Phnom Penh to call attention to human rights issues and other problems in Asean countries as a meeting of regional and world leaders begin in the city. The assembly will meet ahead of ...
Senator Offers Cash Compensation to Evictees
CPP Senator and business tycoon Ly Yong Phat last week continued to offer families in Koh Kong province cash compensation to get them to drop out of a lawsuit against two sugar cane plantations he once owned, according to villagers. But villager Phann Khly yesterday ...
Obama steers US towards focus on Asia
On his first foreign trip since Tuesday’s election, US President Barack Obama is planning a historic visit to encourage reforms in Myanmar – seen as a key success during his first term – and he’ll also go to Thailand and Cambodia. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ...
Cambodian legislators, officials talk to enhance migrant worker rights
Approximately 150 parliamentarians, government officials, recruitment agency representatives, trade unions leaders, and development partners gathered here on Monday to discuss ways and measures to promote and protect the rights of Cambodian migrant workers. Speaking at the opening of the parliamentary forum on the promotion and protection ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-11/12/c_131967978.htm