The Phnom Penh Post
Families say firm cleared land, graves
More than 100 families in Rattanakkiri’s O’Chum district are demanding a solution after a Chinese company allegedly bulldozed their land and nearby family graves to create a rubber plantation. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-say-firm-cleared-land-graves
Hasty hydropower critiqued
Less than a week after Laos declared its “sovereign right” to develop hydropower regardless of neighbouring countries’ objections, the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) gathered an “extraordinary meeting” to stress the importance of sustainable waterways. During the two-day discussions in Pakse, Laos which concluded yesterday, the US ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hasty-hydropower-critiqued
Unlicensed lenders called out
Officials have released a public statement warning against a rise in unlicensed lenders they say are dangerously operating outside of Cambodian regulations and threatening financial stability. In a joint declaration from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Bank of Cambodia on Monday, authorities ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/unlicensed-lenders-called-out
Montagnard presence denied
Government spokesman and four-star General Khieu Sopheak has threatened to sue an NGO worker over his “false allegations” about Montagnard asylum seekers. Sopheak said authorities had only arrested “illegal Vietnamese immigrants”, and called on Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc and the ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/montagnard-presence-denied
Workers seek passports
The Interior Ministry is rushing to print passports for thousands of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand before a March 31 deadline set by the neighbouring junta. So far, the Interior Ministry has received a list of just 60,000 workers in need of passports, according to the ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-seek-passports
Cracks leave tenants in fear
Residents of Phnom Penh’s historic White Building fled from their homes on Sunday night after large cracks suddenly appeared in the structure, which have been widely attributed to nearby construction work, sparking fears for their safety. A group of officials from City Hall and the Ministry ...
Sen David and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cracks-leave-tenants-fear
EU seeks negotiation on timber agreement
As Vietnam and Laos negotiate to enter a European Union trade agreement aimed at improving forestry governance, the EU – one of the world’s top timber importers – is urging Cambodia to join the scheme. ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/eu-seeks-negotiation-timber-agreement
Teachers union worried textbooks may be sold
A district education official in Preah Vihear may be hoarding state textbooks to sell at the market rather than distributing them to perennially book-strapped schools, according to the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA). ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/teachers-union-worried-textbooks-may-be-sold
Wage wait: Unionists not impressed with promise
Labor leaders sniffed at the government’s stated commitment yesterday to hike the wage in the garment industry to $160 – by 2018. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wage-wait-unionists-not-impressed-promise
Apsara summoned to account for ticket sales
The Apsara Authority will be summoned to the National Assembly next month to defend its stance in an embittered spat over revenue collected from ticket sales at Angkor Archaeological Park, according to opposition party lawmakers. Apsara, which manages the historical site of Angkorian temples, will be ...
Meas Sokchea and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/apsara-summoned-account-ticket-sales
MFI deposits double in 2014
The total amount of savings at Cambodia’s deposit-taking microfinance institutions (MFIs) reached $897 million by the end of 2014, more than doubling from its 2013 base of $445 million, according to figures from the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA). Prasac is the largest MFI with deposits ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfi-deposits-double-2014
New plan to tackle fake drugs
The ministries of health and interior introduced a joint strategy yesterday to curb illegal medical practices and the use of fraudulent health products. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-plan-tackle-fake-drugs
Gov’t says ‘nyet’ to fest
Still eager after recent events to shield Cambodian culture from indecency, government officials yesterday said they had become increasingly wary of the imminent kaZantip music festival in Sihanoukville, with high-ranking tourism officials reporting that the event had already been cancelled. KaZantip, which was scheduled to take ...
Chhay Channyda and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-says-nyet-fest
Aus firm buys Poipet casino
Australian-listed firm Donaco International, which currently has operations in Vietnam, has confirmed it is entering Cambodia’s already-crowded casino and gaming industry. The company announced on Friday that it had entered into an acquisition agreement to purchase the Star Vegas Resort and Club casino in Cambodia’s Poipet ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/aus-firm-buys-poipet-casino
Permit penalty: New fine in works for workers
Starting on April 1, the government will charge $5 a day for every day that a staff member of a company in Cambodia is without a work permit, according to a senior immigration official. The census is part of an overall tightening of labour laws ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/permit-penalty-new-fine-works-workers
Timber found in sanctuary
More than 100 cubic metres of luxury timber were found inside the Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary near a Vietnamese-owned economic land concession on Saturday in Ratanakkiri province, according to Adhoc and a local resident, who suspect the timber was taken out of the protected area. Nearly ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/timber-found-sanctuary
Bridge closing for inspection
The Cambodian-Japanese Friendship Bridge – also known as the Chroy Changvar Bridge – will be closed until Friday starting today, to allow a team of Japanese experts to examine damage to support columns discovered last year, the city announced. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bridge-closing-inspection
Road could affect future tiger habitat
A recently approved road project leading to the border with Vietnam in Mondulkiri would do irreversible damage to the province’s protected forest and threaten future attempts to reintroduce tigers to the Kingdom, according to the World Wildlife Fund. ...
Sean Teehan and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/road-could-affect-future-tiger-habitat
2014 one of the ‘worst years’ for human rights
Human Rights Watch says that 2014 was one of Cambodia’s worst years in recent history in terms of human rights violations, citing “killings by security forces, arrests of activists and opposition politicians, summary trials and crackdowns on peaceful protest”. The Cambodia section of its World Report ...
Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/2014-one-worst-years-human-rights
Unions wary of energy plan
Some labour unions are suggesting reforms to state energy provider Electricite du Cambodge’s (EdC) plan to grant energy discounts to garment workers in Phnom Penh, saying yesterday that the current arrangement is “too complex to implement”. According to the new plan, workers are entitled to ...
Sarah Taguiam and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-wary-energy-plan
Dreams not panning out
In the shadow of Anlong Mountain in Preah Vihear province, the whir of engines pierces the tranquil scrubland. Here, in the midday heat, a group of workers scour the earth for traces of gold. A licence granted to Malaysian gold miner Delcom, which first began ...
May Titthara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dreams-not-panning-out
Asylum rush: New group arrives from Vietnam
Eighteen more Montagnards arrived in Ratanakkiri yesterday morning, bringing the total number of the Christian asylum seekers in hiding in the northeastern province to 32, villagers and a local rights group said last night. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/asylum-rush-new-group-arrives-vietnam
CNRP calls for government intervention in agriculture
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has called on the government to intervene in the softening prices of Cambodian agricultural commodities. In a letter passed to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday, via National Assembly president Heng Samrin, a group of opposition lawmakers has raised concerns ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cnrp-calls-government-intervention-agriculture
Cambodia ‘not free’: report
Following reports of endemic corruption and suppression of dissent in the Kingdom last year, Cambodia was once again classified by global watchdog Freedom House as “not free” in a generally bleak report released yesterday. In Freedom of the World 2015, Freedom House’s assessment of the real-world ...
Sarah Taguiam
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-not-free-report