The Phnom Penh Post
Cambodia’s pepper takes off
Through a canopy of palm leaves, sunlight falls onto 1,000 four-month-old pepper plants, each one climbing about two feet up a wooden pole in the ground. “We will be ready to harvest pepper from here in about 18 to 20 months,” says one of Kep ...
Daniel de Carteret and Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia%E2%80%99s-pepper-takes
Smart acquisition paid off for Malaysian firm
Axiata, the Malaysia-based parent company of Cambodia’s second-largest telecommunications provider, Smart, posted a rise in total revenues for 2013 to $5.5 billion. The boost represents a 4.1 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of the previous year. Driven by its Malaysian, Bangladeshi and Cambodian operations, ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/smart-acquisition-paid-malaysian-firm
Verdict today for Kbal Thnal six
In anticipation of today’s scheduled Municipal Court verdict for six men facing charges of violence and property damage in connection with a September clash on Phnom Penh’s Kbal Thnal overpass, rights groups yesterday called for their acquittal. A statement from Human Rights Watch (HRW) released yesterday ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/verdict-today-kbal-thnal-six
Man protests ‘unjust arrests’, is detained
A man who intended to release birds at Freedom Park yesterday as a way of calling for those wrongfully imprisoned to be freed was himself detained on the way to the ceremony, rights group Adhoc said. The man, identified as Pheakdey, 35, was among nine people ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/man-protests-%E2%80%98unjust-arrests%E2%80%99-detained
Tourist deaths up 50 per cent over past year
Cambodia saw a dramatic increase in the number of tourist deaths in the past year, an annual report released by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has revealed. Twenty-one foreign visitors died in 2013, up from 14 deaths the year prior to that, a 50 per cent ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tourist-deaths-50-cent-over-past-year
Dam ‘dire for dolphins’
Construction of the Don Sahong hydropower project in southern Laos is likely to decimate an already dwindling population of critically endangered Mekong dolphins, according to a World Wildlife Fund science brief published today. About 85 dolphins inhabit a deep-water pool restricted to a stretch of the ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-%E2%80%98dire-dolphins%E2%80%99
Councilors to Get Payouts Before Vote in Upcoming Elections
The ruling CPP will pay a bonus of 500,000 riel (about $125) to each of its commune councilors just weeks before they go to the polls to vote in the next elections for district, city and provincial councilors in May. According to a copy of a ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/councilors-to-get-payouts-before-vote-in-upcoming-elections-52704/
Improved infrastructure leads to boom in apartments, condos
Infrastructure development and new condominium and apartment construction growth are boosting land prices in Toul Tompong and Deoum Thkov communes, and in Chamkarmon district by as much as 30 per cent. Kuy Vat, president and CEO of Vtrust Group, said that increased land prices in Boeung ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/improved-infrastructure-leads-boom-apartments-condos
Trafficking fight goes on: gov’t
Although human-trafficking cases dealt with by the Ministry of Interior decreased significantly in 2013, suggesting progress was being made in tackling the crime, trafficking in persons continues to be a major challenge for the government, the ministry said in its annual report on Tuesday. According to ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trafficking-fight-goes-gov%E2%80%99t
Blood on the border
Sixty-nine Cambodians were shot dead by Thai soldiers while crossing the border illegally last year, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Tuesday at the launch of its annual report. “Cambodians were shot dead by Thai soldiers in 55 [incidents] last year in which ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/blood-border
Thai rice failure hitting Cambodia
While last year was full of good news for Cambodian rice exports, which hit a record-breaking 378,800 tons, 2014 is getting off to a much slower start. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s controversial pledge to pay farmers above market rates for their rice is coming ...
Chan Muy Hong and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/thai-rice-failure-hitting-cambodia
Inmate died after hours without aid, prisoners say
A 41-year-old prisoner died of a heart attack in Prey Sar prison’s Correctional Center 1 on February 15, but only after he spent more than two hours stuck in his overcrowded cell waiting for medical treatment, his fellow prisoners allege. CC1 administrator Khuth Vuthy, who confirmed ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/inmate-died-after-hours-without-aid-prisoners-say
Printing shops’ refusal to print strike leaflets delays unions
A coalition of labor unions will today begin distributing leaflets calling on supporters to attend a nationwide strike in March, two days after the planned distribution date due to the fact the majority of printing houses in the city refused to print the flyers. Union representatives ...
Matt Blomberg and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/printing-shops-refusal-to-print-strike-leaflets-delays-unions-52708/
Diamond Island complex reveals towering ambitions
Construction of the luxury Diamond Island Riviera residential project on Koh Pich is under way after a groundbreaking ceremony last month. The Western-themed, all-modern residential project – a $700 million joint-venture between the Overseas Chinese Investment Company (OCIC) and Chinese Jixiang Investment – is just one ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/diamond-island-complex-reveals-towering-ambitions
Increased residential, office and retail demand fueling rise in construction imports
Cambodia spent more than $414 million on imported construction materials to meet increasing demand in the local construction and property sectors last year – a rise of 7 per cent compared to 2012. According to officials and industry insiders, the increased value of imports reflected steady ...
Protests ‘degrading security’
High-ranking government officials expounded on the detrimental effect political and labour demonstrations are having on Cambodia’s security during an annual meeting of police officials yesterday. In a speech to about 500 police in leadership positions, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said demonstrations, which have exploded since July’s ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protests-%E2%80%98degrading-security%E2%80%99
Agriculture insurance a hard sell
About a year after offering the country’s sole agriculture policy, Forte Insurance is struggling to sell coverage. “We still need time to get farmers to understand the benefits of agricultural insurance,” said Youk Chamroenrith, director and general manager of Forte. “We have four clients signed up ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/agriculture-insurance-hard-sell
Raises pending, prices soaring
Since Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng announced in late-December that the ministry would hike the minimum monthly wage for the garment sector to $100, Nuch Sdoeung has, at times, questioned if he could even afford beef. The wage boost from the prior minimum wage ...
Sean Teehan and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/raises-pending-prices-soaring
Court grills villagers on fence suit
Twelve Preah Vihear villagers were called to court this week regarding an ongoing land dispute they claim has resulted in the bulldozing of their family land and livelihood. The villagers are among some 67 families in Kulen district’s Srayong Cheung village who say the government sold ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-grills-villagers-fence-suit
Buses Attract 20,000 Passengers in Two Weeks
About 20,000 passengers have traveled on Phnom Penh’s limited city bus service since a month-long public transport experiment began two weeks ago, which bodes well for a citywide expansion of the service once the trial ends on March 4, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said ...
Sek Odom and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/buses-attract-20000-passengers-in-two-weeks-52465/
US turns to Cambodia rice market
Cambodia’s rice exporters are eager to sell more of their goods in the United States and tap into the world’s largest economy. Speaking at the International Export Market Research for Cambodian Rice seminar in Phnom Penh yesterday, Song Saran, CEO of Amru Rice Cambodia, one of ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/us-turns-cambodia-rice-market
Rein in market thuggery: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took a stand against intimidation and harassment at markets, ordering municipal and provincial governors to crack down on aggressive fee collectors they employ. Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the capital’s Royal School of Administration, Hun Sen distanced himself from what ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rein-market-thuggery-pm
Villagers nab logging truck
In the latest case involving illegal logging in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom district, two indigenous communities filed a lawsuit against three unidentified illegal loggers after confiscating a truck laden with luxury wood on Saturday, a rights monitor and villagers said yesterday. About 50 villagers turned over the ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-nab-logging-truck
Alarm over workers to Emirates
Cambodian labourers may soon be recruited to construction sites in the United Arab Emirates, where conditions are described as “tragic” by human rights groups. The Lebanon-based company that would hire the workers under the prospective scheme, Agostine & Raphael Group, is run by Middle Eastern tycoon ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/alarm-over-workers-emirates