The Phnom Penh Post
Loggers tell of Thai jails
The logger’s teeth were smashed with the butt of a rifle and his friend fatally shot by a Thai paramilitary force formed to provide support to the Khmer Rouge. Chakrya*, 24, had ventured across the Dangrek Mountains in Cambodia’s far north to log Siamese rosewood, a ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/loggers-tell-thai-jails
Flight control: Foreigners told not to drone on
Two foreigners were let off with a warning yesterday after flying a camera-equipped drone near Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house in central Phnom Penh. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/flight-control-foreigners-told-not-drone
Silk board looks to revive flagging sector
The recently established National Silk Board is looking to tighten regulations and boost investor confidence in Cambodia’s silk industry, as well as create a policy for silk promotion in the future. ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/silk-board-looks-revive-flagging-sector
Sweep targets still in lockup
More than 100 men, women and children rounded up from Phnom Penh’s streets last week remained in detention yesterday at the notorious Prey Speu Social Affairs Centre, with orders from City Hall to keep them there indefinitely. The detainees – who authorities say are either homeless, ...
Alice Cuddy and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sweep-targets-still-lockup
Railway families seek more cash from ADB
Some 50 people gathered in front of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) office yesterday to demand $8,000 per family in additional compensation for hardships suffered after being relocated from their homes in Phnom Penh to make way for a railway rehabilitation project in 2011. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/railway-families-seek-more-cash-adb
Costs thwart potential exports
Following Cambodia’s loss of a hefty Filipino rice tender to Vietnam last week, industry insiders say logistics and production costs are hampering the competitiveness of the Kingdom’s rice exports. Cambodia lost a 100,000-tonne tender for the fourth time running after its final price of $455.50 per ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/costs-thwart-potential-exports
Logging’s roots deep
Hun Sen’s Cambodia has been shaped by the collection of illegal timber dollars, profiting a politically connected elite and in turn ensuring the ruling party’s grip on the state apparatus, a leading Australian researcher has said. Sarah Milne, a research fellow at the Australian National University, ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/loggings-roots-deep
Gov’t slams edict pushback
Council of Ministers Secretary of State Tek Reth Samrach yesterday rebuked opposition lawmakers Ho Vann and Son Chhay over their criticism of a government directive forbidding ministry employees from dealing directly with lawmakers on corruption issues, calling both misinformed and accusing Chhay of “incitement and ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-slams-edict-pushback
Homes for ‘sorcerers’ in short supply: Cops
Authorities in Ratanakkiri province are struggling to find a plot of land that could safely house an accused sorcerer who has been held in protective custody at a district police station for the past two months. Forty-eight-year-old ethnic Jarai Rocham Kin fled his home in the ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/homes-sorcerers-short-supply-cops
Cambodia priced out of Filipino rice tender again
Cambodia has lost a 100,000-tonne Filipino rice bid to Vietnam, on account of a higher costs as compared to regional competitors, marking the fourth time the Kingdom has failed to win a rice tender issued by the Philippines. The Philippines National Food Authority last week awarded ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-priced-out-filipino-rice-tender-again
Host of groups call for scrapping the NGO law
More than a dozen international advocacy groups wrote to National Assembly President Heng Samrin asking him to withdraw a controversial draft law on NGOs and associations. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/host-groups-call-scrapping-ngo-law
Farmers cry foul on excavation
Four families in Kandal province’s Muk Kampoul district have sued a local official who they accuse of colluding with a village chief to excavate their rice fields without their permission. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/farmers-cry-foul-excavation
R’kiri asylum seekers get to the capital
After spending five days hiding out in the forest in Ratanakkiri province, two teenage Montagnard asylum seekers made their way to Phnom Penh on Friday where they joined more than 100 others waiting to be registered. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rkiri-asylum-seekers-get-capital
Floating community clears out before date
Forty four families living in Kandal’s Akrei Khsat commune, characterised by its ethnic Vietnamese population and floating homes, have jumped ship prior to their June 22 eviction deadline, moving to other parts of the country out of fear they would be forcibly removed. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/floating-community-clears-out-date
Judge says probe yields no evidence
No evidence was found to incriminate a woman suspected of killing her own mother and stealing more than 370 grams of gold, according to Koh Kong Provincial Court’s investigating judge. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/judge-says-probe-yields-no-evidence
Women repatriated from China, Malaysia
Three Cambodian women were repatriated this weekend after being duped by brokers and sent to into inhumane circumstances abroad, including forced marriage and unpaid labour, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/women-repatriated-china-malaysia
Reporters briefly held for filming at crossing
Two SEATV reporters were allegedly detained for several hours on Saturday by border police officials in Banteay Meanchey after capturing photos and footage of the flow of illegal workers and smuggled goods at the Cambodia-Thailand border checkpoint in Poipet town’s Kbal Koh village. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/reporters-briefly-held-filming-crossing
Kids stumble on lost artefacts
Children taking their cows out to pasture in Kampong Chhnang town last week stumbled upon what appear to be the remains of a long-buried 10th-century temple, local authorities said yesterday. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kids-stumble-lost-artefacts
Nary a drop to drink
As a light rain peppered the dry earth in Kampong Thom province’s O’Dong village on Friday afternoon, residents rejoiced. Having scrambled around for pots and bowls, they hoped the drizzle would yield enough water to cover their basic needs. But after just 15 minutes, hope turned ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nary-drop-drink
Official arrested for botched op
The director of the Stung Treng Provincial Health Department and owner of the Stung Treng Sekong Clinic was arrested and sent to court yesterday after a doctor under his charge performed a botched abortion that resulted in a woman’s death. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/official-arrested-botched-op
ELC land should go to villagers: governor
The governor of Kratie province this week sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries requesting the reallocation of more than 3,000 hectares of economic land concession (ELC) property to villagers. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/elc-land-should-go-villagers-governor
Union Law ‘close to finished’
Ministry of Labour officials said this week that a controversial draft trade union law is “90 per cent” complete and they are now waiting for inter-ministerial review of the language before they submit it for approval. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-law-close-finished
Right to remain silent
Opposition lawmakers and transparency groups have slammed a recent Council of Ministers directive ordering government employees to deny access to parliamentary commissions investigating corruption, saying it severely undermines democracy. Released yesterday by Secretary of State Tek Reth Samrach, the letter dictates public employees must follow the ...
Taing Vida and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/right-remain-silent-0
Rent law heads to assembly
The draft of a rent-control law aimed at regulating rising housing prices and sudden rental hikes for low-income workers and students is expected to go before the National Assembly by the end of June, officials from the bipartisan working group in charge of the law ...
Sarah Taguiam and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rent-law-heads-assembly