The Cambodia Daily
More Effort Needed for Asean Unity, Hun Sen Says
Countries in the region need to move faster to reduce the economic gaps between Asean nations if they are to successfully integrate and establish the Asean Economic Community by 2015, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. Speaking at the 44th Asean Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Siem ...
Telecom Firms Say Mobitel Owes $1.5M in Connection Fees
Cambodia’s largest mobile phone company CamGSM Co. Ltd., which operates under the MobiTel brand name, has been accused by three other firms in the market of refusing to pay more than $1.5 million owed to them in interconnection fees. In a letter to Telecommunications Minister So Khun dated ...
Villagers Dig for Treasure as Gold Fever Hits Takeo Province
a gold rush came to Angkor Borei district over the weekend, with dozens of villagers trying their hand at treasure hunting after word got out that there was gold to be found in the soil of a newly dug road in Prek Phtorl commune. The area ...
Date Set for Mam Sonando's Court Hearing
A hearing date has been scheduled next month at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando, who has been detained on charges related to insurrection, his lawyer said yesterday. The trial is set for Sept. 11, Mr. Sonando’s lawyer, Sok Sam Oeun, said ...
Provocative Posters Spark Renewed Protests
More than 2,000 garment factory workers protested Saturday and plan to strike today in support of union organizers who face prosecution in court for alleged “incitement” over demonstrations at the plant, a union representative said yesterday. The workers at Ocean Garment factory began demonstrating on Aug. ...
Official Arrested After Blocking Land Program
The former deputy administration director from Kratie province was arrested yesterday, accused of incitement for interfering with the work of student volunteers in Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-titling project, an official said. Chin Hongsry, 60, is accused of undermining the volunteers by telling the villagers to ...
Stocks Slow as CSX Sees First Day Without Trades
For the first time since the bourse went alive in April, no trading took place on the Cambodian Securities Exchange on Friday. The share price of the bourse’s sole listing, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), remained flat at 6,450 riel ($1.58) at the end ...
Officials to Be Questioned Over Destruction of Flooded Forest
A district governor and two fisheries officials are among 10 people who will be questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court next week over the destruction of flooded forest to make way for dry-season rice fields in Kampong Thom province, an official said yesterday. On July 27, ...
Council of Ministers Approves Draft Report on Human Rights
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a draft report on political rights in Cambodia, which made outline efforts being made by the government to reduce poverty and secure land titles for millions across the country, a measure that Cambodia must complete as a signatory ...
Thai Insurgency Claims Outrage Cham Muslims
Cambodia’s Muslim community hit back on Friday at claims made in the media this week by Thailand’s army chief Prayuth Chanocha that members of the Cham minority group were joining the insurgency that has raged in Thailand’s southern provinces since 2004. Speaking at a press conference ...
Monks to School Migrant Workers on Malaria
More than 60 monks will march across Pailin province next week in an effort to educate migrant workers on ways to protect themselves from being infected by malaria, health workers and officials said yesterday. Migrant workers are particularly at risk for malaria because they often sleep ...
Rights Worker Leaves Cambodia; Court Questioning Postponed
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday agreed to delay today’s scheduled questioning of well-known rights investigator Chan Soveth, who has been charged with aiding an unnamed perpetrator in an unnamed crime. Local human rights group Adhoc requested a delay of the court appearance on the grounds that Mr. Soveth is ...
US Extractive Firms Obliged to Disclose Overseas Payments
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted rules that would make it a legal requirement for listed companies operating in the extractive industries and doing business in Cambodia to disclose all major payments they make to the government. The rules, which were adopted in ...
Cambodia Wants More Information on Taiwan's Heroin Haul
Police yesterday said they were seeking more information about a massive haul of heroin-allegedly transited through Cambodia-that was seized from a boat off the coast of Taiwan this week. The Taiwanese Justice Ministry’s Investigation Bureau says it found 70 kg of heroin hidden in a fishing ...
Trade With Vietnam Grows Through Seven Months
Trade between Vietnam and Cambodia grew 22.36 percent in the first seven months of the year to reach $1.96 billion compared to the same period last year, a Vietnamese official said yesterday. Vu Thinh Cuong, commercial counselor at the Vietnam Trade Office, said imports from Vietnam ...
Accused Manager Put on Leave; Workers Lodge Complaints
The manager accused of abusing female workers at the Ocean Garment factory in Phnom Penh, and who provoked days of public demonstrations by thousands of workers to have him fired, has been put on leave, while his alleged victims have lodged complaints against him with ...
Mining Firm With Local Licenses Sees Investment
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest investment firm, has purchased a multi-million dollar stake in a mining firm with a gold exploration licenses in Cambodia. Stephen Promnitz, CEO of Indochine Mining, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and holds a gold exploration license in Kratie ...
Seoul Court Releases CEOs Tied to Local Projects
The chief executives of two companies behind major developments in Cambodia-who were jailed in Seoul in February for their part in a major South Korean financial scandal-have been partially cleared and released, according to a court official. Lee Sang-ho – the CEO of World City Co. ...
Quote 'Out of Context' Says Women's Minister
Women’s Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi said yesterday that comments she made in a radio broadcast last week, in which she appeared to blame female Boeng Kak protesters for bringing police violence on themselves, were taken out of context from a radio interview given some ...
Customs to Give Preference to Trusted Firms
The department of customs and excise will begin certifying companies it deems trustworthy so that their goods have easier passage across Cambodia’s borders, an official said yesterday. Traders will receive ranks based on compliance with customs rules, he [Nuom Chanrith, the director of planning at the Finance Ministry’s general ...
Workforce Must Improve to Compete in Asean Bloc
Cambodia’s workforce must quickly improve its skills base if it is to compete with other countries in the region when the Asean bloc becomes a single market in 2015, officials said yesterday at a seminar held in Phnom Penh. When the Asean Economic Community goes ahead in ...
Garment Workers Rally for Third Day to Sack Factory Manager
More than 2,00 female workers from a factory in Phnom Penh that makes clothes for the U.S. brand Gap protested yesterday for a third straight day demanding that the firm sack a manager at the factory for allegedly abusing workers. Lining Russian Boulevard near the Ocean ...
Rail Operator Restarts Train Services to Kampot
Toll Royal Railways (TRR), the current operator of Cambodia’s dilapidated rail network, restarted freight services to Kampot province yesterday, four months after it suspended its work. TRR’s resumption comes on the heals of a rival proposal to manage the train network by a consortium that includes one ...
Thai Press Gives Conflicting Reports on Chams
Thai media reports yesterday offered conflicting information on whether members of Cambodia’s Cham community were joining a long-running Muslim insurgency in Thailand’s southern provinces. According to the [Bangkok] Post, General Prayuth said most of the Cambodian Muslims were traveling on to other countries in search ...