The Cambodia Daily
As two prisons are built, use of funds is questioned
Samraong City, Oddar Meanchey province – In December, Kuy Bunsorn, director-general of the General Department of Prisons (GDP), announced that ground would be broken on two new prisons in Pailin and Oddar Meanchey provinces to alleviate chronic overcrowding. Mr. Bunsorn said that the Ministry of Finance ...
Lauren Crothers and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-two-prisons-are-built-use-of-funds-is-questioned-67582/
National Audit Authority moves after land swap
The National Audit Authority (NAA), located on prime real estate on Phnom Penh’s Street 240, is in the midst of moving to a new location in Sen Sok district after a property swap with a company owned by a military general, according to officials at ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-audit-authority-moves-after-land-swap-67586/
Villagers pushed to accept land deal from KDC
Kompong Chhnang provincial authorities on Thursday urged villagers locked in a land dispute with KDC International to accept compensation from the development firm, promising to request that a social land concession be granted to them. ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-pushed-to-accept-land-deal-from-kdc-67590/
Gov’t urges sauce makers to increase iron content
Manufacturers of soy and fish sauces should fortify the products with iron in order to improve Cambodians’ health, government officials said yesterday. During a workshop on iron fortification, Sat Samy, secretary of state at the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts, called on producers to help combat ...
Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-urges-sauce-makers-to-increase-iron-content-67579/
City Hall backtracks amid White Building outcry
With momentum gathering behind a movement to renovate rather than raze Phnom Penh’s famous White Building, City Hall on Thursday backtracked on its assertion earlier this week that the building was destined for demolition. On Tuesday, Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said the iconic apartment block ...
Hul Reaksmey and Chan Cheuk Yin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-backtracks-amid-white-building-outcry-67556/
Cash-strapped S’ville casino looks to expand
The Israeli gaming firm behind Sihanoukville’s Queenco Casino is seeking investors to expand its operations in the seaside town, according to a report released by the company last week, but after six months of “cash flow distress” and losses of more than $1 million, those ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/cash-strapped-sville-casino-looks-to-expand-67596/
ADB gives update on aid for railway families
The government has finished calculating the additional compensation it will pay out to some of the families forced to move for a $143 million railway rehabilitation project being funded mostly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to a new report. The report, released this week ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-gives-update-on-aid-for-railway-families-67520/
Thailand arrests 33 Cambodians for illegal logging
Thirty-three Cambodian nationals were arrested for illegally logging rare rosewood trees in Thailand, where they are currently awaiting trial, officials said Wednesday. The arrests marked a long-called-for shift in tactics by Thai authorities: In the past, Thai soldiers and border police have often dealt with illegal ...
Saing Soenthrith and Van Roeun
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thailand-arrests-33-cambodians-for-illegal-logging-67514/
Tenants of white building in dark on demolition
A sense of panic is growing inside Phnom Penh’s iconic White Building, with residents unsure of their fate after Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said on Tuesday that the iconic apartment block was condemned and would be torn down. Most residents spoken to Wednesday say they ...
Hul Reaksmey and Chan Cheuk Yin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tenants-of-white-building-in-dark-on-demolition-67516/
Government plans to regulate online content
The Ministry of Information is planning to begin regulating the Internet in the country to prevent offensive content from being posted online, ostensibly to prevent defamation and provocations to violence, according to a ministry official. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-plans-to-regulate-online-content-67524/
Prime Minister says test scores warning to students
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said the pass rate of 25 percent in last month’s grade 12 national exam served as a warning that students could no longer pay their way through school and urged students who failed the exam to embrace their second ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prime-minister-says-test-scores-warning-to-students-67414/
Lawmakers promise end to KDC land row
The National Assembly’s newly formed bipartisan Human Rights Commission met with representatives from the embattled Lor Peang village on Monday, promising a prompt resolution to their 12-year-old dispute over 145 hectares of land in Kompong Chhnang province. Lork Kheng, deputy chair of the commission, vowed that ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/parliamentarians-promise-end-to-kdc-land-row-67390/
Anti-eviction activists band together at City Hall
More than 30 activists from two communities impacted by land-grabbing demonstrated together in front of Phnom Penh City Hall on Monday to demand that authorities intervene in their cases. ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-eviction-activists-band-together-at-city-hall-67412/
Hun Sen gives hope to villagers in land fight
Last month, Prime Minister Hun Sen was mocked for claiming in a speech on August 18 that he was unaware of a land dispute in Kratie province’s Snuol district over which villagers had repeatedly petitioned his cabinet. But Mr. Hun Sen’s admission that he was unaware ...
Mech Dara and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-gives-hope-to-villagers-in-land-fight-67416/
Thousands strike over pay at Kompong Cham garment factory
More than 5,000 workers from a footwear factory in Kompong Cham province went on strike Monday, calling on factory management to increase their benefits. The lively crowd rallied outside the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Choeung Prey district, dancing to music pumped out of loudspeakers as ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-strike-over-pay-at-kompong-cham-garment-factory-67397/
Villagers hand out leaflets in fight with sugar firm
About 100 villagers marched through Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district on Saturday, handing out leaflets in an effort to inform the public about their land dispute with Thailand’s Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Limited (KSL). ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-hand-out-leaflets-in-fight-with-sugar-firm-67359/
Tea Banh says more soldiers are headed for Phnom Penh
Defense Minister Tea Banh on Saturday said he would add some 700 additional soldiers to the ranks of the military’s Phnom Penh-based Brigade 70 next year so the unit can better help local military police quell protests. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tea-banh-says-more-soldiers-are-headed-for-phnom-penh-67346/
Sihanoukville construction sites scaled back
Preah Sihanouk provincial governor Chhit Sokhon ordered three construction sites near Sihanoukville’s O’Tres Beach to scale back their projects on Friday after the owners overstepped building limitations, officials said Sunday. Mr. Sokhon ordered three construction sites along the O’Tres stream, an inlet that stretches about 2 ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sihanoukville-construction-sites-scaled-back-67371/
After prolonged protest, villagers win back land
Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim intervened in a high-profile land dispute between villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district and a South Korean agribusiness firm over the weekend, announcing Saturday that the contested 1,562-hectare tract would be taken back from the company and awarded to ...
Aun Pheap and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-prolonged-protest-villagers-win-back-land-67344/
KDC protests to go on
One of five villagers arrested in a land dispute with politically connected company KDC International told the Post after their release on Friday that he would keep protesting “until our community obtains a resolution from the government”. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/kdc-protests-go
CNRP, Comfrel call for delay to new voter list
The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) and the opposition CNRP on Sunday called on the National Election Committee (NEC) to suspend its annual update of the voter list until the new bipartisan election committee is created. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-comfrel-call-for-delay-to-new-voter-list-67355/
Preah Vihear on the agenda for visiting Thai general
A senior Thai military official is visiting Cambodia with plans to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen and possibly discuss the two countries’ military standoff near the border-hugging Preah Vihear temple, according to Thai media. ...
Eang Mengleng and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/preah-vihear-on-the-agenda-for-visiting-thai-general-67348/
Cambodia vulnerable to money laundering
Cambodia is the third most at-risk country to money laundering and terrorist financing in the world, according to a global index released last month, trailing only Iran and Afghanistan. The Anti-Money Laundering Index, first published by the Swiss-based Basel Institute on Governance in 2012, assigns the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-vulnerable-to-money-laundering-67363/
In Stung Treng, forests fall before they’re washed away
On the Sesan and Srepok rivers in the northeast, boats of all shapes and sizes lug timber back and forth between the banks. Men wait on craggy land alongside the water with jerry-rigged winches and homemade vehicles to drag precious cargo up steep inclines. Fallen ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-stung-treng-province-communities-fell-their-forests-before-they-are-washed-away-67369/