The Phnom Penh Post
Classroom talk remains barrier
Sgnoun Vita can’t communicate with most of her kindergarten students. She teaches them colours and numbers, but can’t understand their questions or chatter. Most of Vita’s students at the Kater Primary School in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district speak Jarai, one of Cambodia’s 24 ethnic minority languages. A ...
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/classroom-talk-remains-barrier
Cross at your own risk
Since he began making the perilous journey to Thailand to log rosewood 10 years ago, Sao Sophon* has had plenty of time to calculate the cost of dying. “When we cross the border to Thailand, our lives are equal to $80 or $90, because that is ...
May Titthara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cross-your-own-risk
Families in Kampong Speu await payments
Representatives of some 250 families who lost their land to a company in Kampong Speu province filed a complaint with Adhoc yesterday, saying they have yet to receive compensation, even after land measurement volunteers allegedly promised a resolution if villagers voted for the ruling party ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-kampong-speu-await-payments
Rice industry caught in flux
The rice industry’s quest for greater quality at lower cost reached a dead end yesterday at a conference in Phnom Penh, with exporters and farmers polarised on how to achieve greater returns for the industry. The workshop, titled “Improving Rice Value Chain and Enhancing Farmers’ Livelihoods”, ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-industry-caught-flux
Rice exports to Thailand dive
Rice exports to Thailand plummeted in the first four months of the year as a result of that country’s surplus, which reached record levels at the end of 2013. Between January and April, Cambodia exported just 1,550 tonnes of rice to Thailand, down 89 per cent ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-exports-thailand-dive
ILO attacks trade union law
An International Labour Organization official yesterday called the draft of a Ministry of Labour trade union law “a step backwards” during the opening of a two-day workshop meant to hear concerns of both labour unions and employers. In a speech to worker representatives, members of the ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ilo-attacks-trade-union-law
Borey River Town developer eyes second, $100 million property investment
Following the success of Borey River Town, the investor behind it has announced plans to inject $100 million into developing a new project. General manager Teng Rith says that construction of Borey River Town is now 50 per cent complete, with some 80 per cent of ...
South Korea and Japan provide aid
The Japanese and South Korean governments yesterday announced millions of dollars in aid to Cambodia for a scholarship program and a number of rural development projects. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong and Japanese Ambassador Kumamaru Yuji signed for a $2.85 million grant yesterday to fund ...
Vong Sokheng and Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/south-korea-and-japan-provide-aid
De Castle Royal partners with The Place for first-class gym workout
The management of the 32-storey De Castle Royal condominium project in BKK1 has announced that the The Place, widely regarded as Phnom Penh’s only independent five-star gym, will manage the development’s fitness centre. This means the air-conditioned De Castle Royal gym will be fully fitted out ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/de-castle-royal-partners-place-first-class-gym-workout
App aims to report bribes
Cambodians may soon find it easier than ever to report official corruption, and not just to the authorities or their friends and neighbours, but to the whole world, thanks to the impending launch of a Khmer-language version of the graft-reporting smartphone app Bribespot. Already popular in ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/app-aims-report-bribes
Electronics workers call for child care
About 700 workers at a Svay Rieng province electronics factory were to demonstrate for the third day today after management refused their demands for access to child care and the reinstatement of five union leaders. The provincial department of labour yesterday proved unable to sway management ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/electronics-workers-call-child-care
Construction, sales of Casa Meridian to get under way this weekend
The Hong Kong-invested Casa Meridian project plans to launch sales and start construction at the end of this month. Casa Meridian is a skyscraper condominium development on Diamond Island (Koh Pich), which developers there hope will become a modern commercial and residential area of Phnom Penh ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/construction-sales-casa-meridian-get-under-way-weekend
Villagers await water
Hundreds of families in Koh Kong province have since early May been affected by drought and a lack of clean water, which is supposed to be provided by tycoon and ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat. Due to the annual drought in the province, two reservoirs ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-await-water
By 2020, $9 billion needed for road funding: report
Cambodia needs $9 billion to be invested into 850 kilometres of roadways by 2020, according to a study by Henan Provincial Communications Planning Survey and Design Institute. From the Chinese province of Henan, officials from the state-owned engineering institute went to great lengths yesterday to explain ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/2020-9-billion-needed-road-funding-report
Australian firm bets on Bavet
Australian-listed Cell Aquaculture (CAQ) – a onetime a marine technology company – has purchased a casino on the Cambodia-Vietnam border in a bid to generate much-needed revenue after nearing bankruptcy in 2013. On May 26, CAQ announced in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange that ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/australian-firm-bets-bavet
Remains ‘bound for NGO’
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party said yesterday that charred human remains retrieved by a local party member in Kampong Speu province on Saturday would be handed over to human rights organisations for examination. Despite a seeming lack of evidence or investigation, opposition activists have speculated ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/remains-%E2%80%98bound-ngo%E2%80%99
Short-lived retirement for Sambo?
Two years after she was walked out of the city in the middle of the night to a quiet life of retirement on the outskirts of the capital, Sambo, Phnom Penh’s iconic and much-beloved elephant, might soon be back at work entertaining tourists. With funding for ...
Kevin Ponniah and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/short-lived-retirement-sambo
Criticism of judicial law grows
Surya Subedi, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, added his voice yesterday to the growing chorus of criticism aimed at three draft laws on Cambodia’s judiciary that sailed through the National Assembly last week. Subedi – who had previously championed the laws as ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/criticism-judicial-law-grows
Northeast primed for colonisation: Rainsy
Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy yesterday called on residents in the northeast provinces to defend their land lest the area be turned into a Vietnamese “colony”. Rainsy’s comments were quickly condemned by both the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments. Speaking to hundreds of people in Mondulkiri ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/northeast-primed-colonisation-rainsy
PM ends exile gov’t talk
Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that his government will work with the Thai junta that came to power in a coup last week, and quashed speculation that the ousted Shinawatra clan may be allowed to set up a government in exile in Cambodia. In a ...
Vong Sokheng and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-ends-exile-gov%E2%80%99t-talk
Cassava fuel plant study now one year in
Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Oil & Gas is considering building a biomass plant in Battambang province to use cassava to produce fuel, a Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC) official says. Leng Chreang, director of mine risk education at CMAC, said the Japanese firm is one year ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cassava-fuel-plant-study-now-one-year
CIMB the latest to add local insurer
CIMB Bank, Malaysia’s second-largest, has entered the insurance market via a partnership agreement signed yesterday with Cambodia Life Insurance Company (CLIC). In Meatra, director general of CLIC, said that under the partnership, CIMB had received full access to offer their insurance products to customers. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cimb-latest-add-local-insurer
Institute land not leased: gov’t
Responding to reported fears among staff that the destruction of a wall at Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute could herald the piecemeal sale of the grounds to adjacent casino operator NagaCorp, the government yesterday chalked the alarm up to a simple misunderstanding. According to the Ministry of ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/institute-land-not-leased-gov%E2%80%99t
Cambodia’s tobacco tax to go up, slightly
In less than two months, smokers indulging in Cambodia’s inexpensive cigarettes will have to reach a little deeper into their wallets. Starting in July, the tax on cigarettes will jump from 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the retail price, with a tax base ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia%E2%80%99s-tobacco-tax-go-slightly