The Cambodia Daily
Officials Urge NGOs to Respect Rule of Law in Sonando Case
As criticism continues to mount over the arrest of outspoken Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando, a government spokesman shot back yesterday, accusing NGOs of undermining the country’s rule of law. “NGOs are not a judge and [the] rule of law reflects from the people,” said ...
Water Supply Shares Fall Below Launch Price
The share price of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) fell 50 riel yesterday to 6,250 riel, or about $1.52, bringing the authority’s share price lower than its initial public offering (IPO) in April. The decline matches views expressed by investors here that the authority’s ...
National Rail Project Heralded by Eviction Notices in Poipet
Poipet City authorities have given dozens of families living along a section of railway slated for renovation 10 days to move or face forcible eviction. Poipet City Deputy Governor An Vanak said that the eviction notice was sent Monday to about 40 families, only eight of ...
Years After Eviction, Families Return In Search of Land Titles
More than 100 families in Stung Treng province have returned to land they were evicted from in 2007, hoping to acquire property titles after student volunteers arrived in the area to demarcate land under the titling program announced last month by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Stung ...
Homes Razed to Stop ‘Secession,’ Officials Say
The homes of nearly 200 families living in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district were demolished yesterday and Monday after officials accused the residents of being involved in a secessionist plot, local officials and villagers said. District governor Chhe Chhiv said that authorities had demolished 191 homes ...
No Plan to Shut Beehive Radio, Gov’t Says
As questions linger over the fate of the independent Beehive Radio station in the wake of its owner’s arrest, a government official yesterday insisted there were no plans to stop it from broadcasting, despite its often critical stance toward the ruling party. “No plan to shut ...
Malaysia Firm Buys Majority In Yellow Pages
The owner of Cambodia Yellow Pages has agreed in principle to sell a 51 percent stake to the subsidiary of Malaysian technology firm CBSA Bhd. in a deal worth $2.04 million, an official at the company said Monday. According to a disclosure last week from CBSA ...
Devillers Departs on Late Night Flight to China
Detained French architect Patrick Henri Devillers boarded a flight to China late last night after being held in custody in Cambodia for more than a month for his links to the biggest political scandal to hit China in decades, a government spokesman said. At Phnom Penh ...
Acleda Applies To Open Banks In Burma
Acleda Bank has filed an application to start banking operations in Burma with the central bank and is on track to open its first microfinance branch in the country by January, Acleda President In Channy said yesterday. Mr. Channy said the bank submitted its application for ...
Mam Sonando Charged, Jailed Ahead of Trial
After two hours of questioning, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sent independent radio station owner Mam Sonando to Prey Sar prison for pretrial detention, where he will await a hearing on allegations that he tried to foment a secessionist movement in Kratie province. As Mr. Sonando was being questioned, ...
Adidas Denies Allegations of Low Wages for Factory Workers
German sports brand Adidas yesterday denied allegations that its Cambodian factory, which produces Olympic merchandise, was not paying workers a sustainable living wage. The London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games (Locog) said on Sunday it would investigate claims that Adidas has violated its agreement ...
Bangkok Airways Says Plane Was On Course
Bangkok Airways passenger plane that was shot at by a Cambodian soldier Wednesday night had been flying on its normal flight path from Siem Reap City to Bangkok, a representative of the airline said yesterday, contradicting earlier reports by Cambodian military officials that the aircraft ...
Families of South Korean Crash Victims Settle With Travel Agency
After failing to receive compensation from the airline, relatives of the 13 South Korean nationals who died in the 2007 PMT Air flight U4 241 crash have been reimbursed for their loss by the travel agency that issued the tickets, a law firm said yesterday. According ...
Reported Cases of Land Grabbing Decrease
The number of new land disputes reported in the first six months of this year decreased by 38 percent compared to the same period in 2011, according to data released by rights group Licadho last week. According to the figures, which represent 15 of the country’s ...
Boeng Kak Women Meet US Ambassador for Women’s Affairs
Five women from the Boeng Kak lake community met with the U.S. ambassador-at-large for women’s affairs on Saturday in Siem Reap City, asking the U.S. to intervene in their case and put pressure on the Cambodian government to stop violence against women. Meeting on the sidelines ...
Mam Sonando Arrested for ‘Insurrection’
Mam Sonando, beleaguered owner of the independent Beehive Radio station, was arrested at his Phnom Penh home yesterday morning on a raft of charges relating to a so-called secessionist movement that authorities supposedly disbanded in Kratie earlier this year. More than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed ...
Officials in Detention for Questioning of Students
The Stung Treng Provincial Court charged a Council of Ministers official and her husband on Saturday with threatening public officials after they questioned the authority of students working on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-measuring program. They are currently being held in pre-trial detention, their defense lawyer ...
As US Economy Slows, Investment in Asean Nations Necessary
Siem Reap City – With a host of uncertainties still hanging over the U.S. economy, more than 100 American businesses—the largest delegation to ever visit Cambodia—gathered here over the weekend, and all of them were in agreement about one thing: The slowdown in the U.S. ...
Rats Good Business for Cambodians, Food for Vietnamese
Koh Thom district, Kandal province – On a quiet stretch of road in this sleepy border town, there are some telltale signs of an unusual trade: A trail of discarded dead rats, some upturned with their paws stiff in the air, others covered with a ...
Olympic Organizing Committee to Investigate Cambodian Factory
The London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (Locog) plans to investigate allegations that a Cambodian factory producing Olympic merchandise for Adidas is not paying workers a sustainable living wage, a spokesman for Locog said yesterday. The investigation is a response to an article published Saturday ...
Boeng Kak Women Attempt to Meet US Official
Siem Reap City – Four women evicted from the Boeng Kak lake community and released from jail last month arrived here Friday in an attempt to meet Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for women’s affairs, who is part of a delegation visiting the country with ...
Union Members Beaten During Factory Protest
Three union members were beaten by a gang of men during a protest outside a factory in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district on Friday, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU) said. CCAWDU members Nei Buthoeurn, Chim Khheang and Chan Poeu, were beaten by a ...
Did Clinton Draw Parallel With China in Discussing US Aid?
Outlining America’s position on territorial disputes between Asean members and China over the South China Sea, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday also expressed views on a matter a little closer to home: the benefits Cambodia gains from U.S. development assistance. Speaking to reporters ...
Cambodia Criticized for Asean Meeting Failure
The “one community, one destiny” motto Cambodia adopted when it took over the rotating chairmanship of Asean this year could not have sounded more hollow as it did Friday when the 10-member bloc failed to produce a joint closing statement for the first time in ...