The Cambodia Daily
Families watch as land flattened for road
Helmeted state security guards on Thursday blocked landowners from entering their plots in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district as heavy machinery razed crude structures and leveled the earth to make way for a hotly disputed road construction project. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-watch-as-land-flattened-for-road-111621/
NEC says commune elections likely for June 2017
National Election Committee (NEC) Secretary-General Tep Nytha said on Thursday that next year’s crucial commune council elections would likely be held in June but that the decision must ultimately come from the government. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nec-says-commune-elections-likely-for-june-2017-111642/
Ministry wants snakehead fish farms again
The Ministry of Agriculture will ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to lift a ban on snakehead fish farms to reduce reliance on foreign food sources and raise the income of farmers, officials said on Thursday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-wants-snakehead-fish-farms-again-111619/
Governments halt migration to Thailand for four months
The Cambodian government has agreed to a request from the Thai Labor Ministry to temporarily block migrant workers from traveling to Thailand for the next four months as it conducts a census into migrants in the country, according to a statement released on Thursday. ...
Sek Odom and George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/governments-halt-migration-to-thailand-for-four-months-111634/
Big tobacco shaped smoking laws, policies
In 2008, British American Tobacco (BAT) was awarded its third straight “Gold Medal” from Prime Minister Hun Sen in recognition of good corporate stewardship, according to the company’s July newsletter. ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/big-tobacco-shaped-smoking-laws-policies-111556/
Car chase results in capture of notorious timber trafficker
Police in Mondolkiri province yesterday arrested a former military police officer with two outstanding warrants after chasing down his SUV and finding a cache of illegally sourced luxury wood inside. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/car-chase-results-in-capture-of-notorious-timber-trafficker-111568/
Montagnard asylum seeker kills himself
A Montagnard asylum seeker was found dead on Wednesday morning in a Phnom Penh residence provided by the U.N.’s refugee agency, having committed suicide in his room, according to police. ...
Kang Sothear and Peter Ford
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111572-111572/
Transgender Cambodians at higher risk for HIV infection
The rate of HIV infection among Cambodia’s transgender women is nearly six times higher than the national average, according to the results of a 2012 survey published in the online journal PLOS ONE this month. ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/transgender-cambodians-at-higher-risk-for-hiv-infection-111517/
Wanted monk says Sweden granted him asylum
Soeung Hai, a dissident former monk wanted for arrest by the government, said on Tuesday that he had been living in Sweden since February after the U.N.’s refugee agency helped him secure political asylum there. ...
Ben Sokhean and Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wanted-monk-says-sweden-granted-him-asylum-111498/
Restaurant workers rehired after new year leave dispute
More than a dozen employees fired from a Phnom Penh eatery on Monday after a dispute over pay during the Khmer New Year holiday were rehired on Tuesday following a protest that prompted negotiations with their employer, according to union representatives and Labor Ministry officials. ...
Buth Kimsay and Sonia Kohlbacher
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/restaurant-workers-rehired-after-new-year-leave-dispute-111519/
Hun Manet, ‘son of communism,’ distances himself from father
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son Hun Manet has long been touted as his father’s chosen successor, an impression only strengthened by the searing “Never Manet” campaign launched by Cambodian-American opponents during his current trip to the U.S. ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-manet-son-of-communism-distances-self-from-father-111520/
Severe storms destroy homes, injure children in 2 provinces
Four children were injured and 136 homes were damaged in tempestuous weather conditions that thrashed villages on opposite sides of the country on Sunday, officials said on Monday. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/severe-storms-destroy-homes-injure-children-in-2-provinces-111468/
Everything ‘OK’ on border, government says as Laos army base proceeds
The Stung Treng provincial government will once again allow trucks to transport building materials across the border into Laos, where a military base is under construction by Laotian authorities against the wishes of Phnom Penh and despite the area not being properly demarcated, officials said ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/everything-ok-on-border-government-says-as-laos-army-base-proceeds-111471/
Offshore holdings are up for grabs, justice minister jokes
Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana quipped over the weekend that anyone who can find his offshore financial holdings—revealed earlier this month as part of the “Panama Papers” leak—can keep the money, according to Information Minister Khieu Kanharith. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/offshore-holdings-are-up-for-grabs-justice-minister-jokes-111464/
Australian police expand Cambodia probe of OZ minerals
Authorities in Australia have expanded the scope of their investigation into bribery allegations involving the relatives of Cambodian government officials and the former Cambodian operations of Australian miner OZ Minerals, the firm has announced. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/australian-police-expand-cambodia-probe-of-oz-minerals-111397/
Case opened into claims of assault by Manet’s guard
Police in Long Beach, California, said on Saturday that they had opened an investigation into the alleged assault of an American man by a bodyguard of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son Hun Manet. ...
Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/case-opened-into-claims-of-assault-by-manets-guard-111394/
New year stats show roads safer, police say
National Police on Sunday said Khmer New Year traffic figures were evidence that the new traffic law has been a success, with 98 traffic accidents reported over the four-day holiday this year, a drop from 123 in 2015, when it was a three-day holiday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-year-stats-show-roads-safer-police-say-111402/
Push on for ‘bio-sand’ water filters
Large-scale “bio-sand” filters have been found to be among the most cost-effective water cleaning methods in the Kingdom, according to a recent evaluation by the Trailblazer Foundation, which hopes to start installing them in villages soon. ...
Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/push-bio-sand-water-filters
In Phnom Penh, a looming sewage crisis
Renderings of Casa Meridian, a new condominium complex, suggest that its wealthy buyers are investing in a glistening 414-unit skyscraper overlooking a placid, ocean-blue body of water surrounding Koh Pich island, which is sprouting a number of luxury towers developed by the Overseas Cambodian Investment ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111364-111364/
Fire razes dozens of homes in city’s South
Key Sokha was preparing dinner for her family at their home in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Thursday night when a chorus of shouts broke out nearby. ...
Buth Kimsay and Sonia Kohlbacher
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111367-111367/
UN asked to help imprisoned rights activists
Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, the outspoken director of the environmental group Mother Nature, has written to the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to request that he pressure the government to release three Mother Nature activists imprisoned on charges stemming from an anti-sand ...
Kuch Naren and George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111370-111370/
Expert says tiger reintroduction plan sure to fail
A leading Indian conservationist and tiger expert is warning that a multimillion-dollar scheme to reintroduce the big cat to Cambodia will be a “tragic failure” that could cost lives, and that its advocates will come to rue the attempt. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/expert-says-tiger-reintroduction-plan-sure-to-fail-111330/
Phnom Penh to get new $23 million domestic airport terminal
A Malaysian company will begin construction on a new domestic terminal at Phnom Penh International Airport soon, at a cost of about $23 million, the firm announced in a filing to the Malaysian stock exchange on Wednesday. ...
Kang Sothear and Peter Ford
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-to-get-new-23m-domestic-airport-terminal-111342/
US report critical of government’s treatment of opposition
The U.S. State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, released on Wednesday, highlights poor treatment of Cambodia’s political opposition in 2015, and raises concerns about the judiciary’s “broad interpretation” of the crime of incitement. ...
Peter Ford
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-report-critical-of-governments-treatment-of-opposition-111340/