The Phnom Penh Post
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
Water authority eyes new station for 2017
The Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) announced the construction of a fifth water treatment station yesterday, saying that without an additional plant, the capital could face a severe clean-water shortage as soon as 2017. Speaking at a press conference organised by the Japanese International Cooperation ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/water-authority-eyes-new-station-2017
Hot season on the way
The hot season is set to roll through Cambodia in earnest beginning on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hot-season-way
‘Big Man rule’ taken to task by UN envoy
UN special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly Maina Kiai, who visited Cambodia two weeks ago, has called on the Kingdom to embrace regular changes in leadership and to take lessons from Africa’s strongman-riddled history, in a column published in Kenya’s Daily Union newspaper on ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98big-man-rule%E2%80%99-taken-task-un-envoy
Irrawaddy dolphin found dead
Villagers along the Mekong river found a dead freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin floating with the current yesterday near Prek Chik village in Kratie province’s Prek Presap district. Fishery officials said the male dolphin weighs about 100kg. Sean Kin, a fishery official in Kratie province, said his team took ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/irrawaddy-dolphin-found-dead
Exporters of rice now subject to origin test
Stringent rules to prove that rice exported from Cambodia is actually from Cambodia will be detailed today, according to a copy of a joint agreement between the Ministry of Commerce and industry associations. The Code of Conduct seeks to reassure the European Union that rice is ...
Daniel de Carteret and Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exporters-rice-now-subject-origin-test
Ratanakkiri jail director reposted
Ratanakkiri’s prison director has been moved to a new post after 20 years on the job. In a ceremony held on Thursday, the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons officially replaced Ngin Nel, transferring him to the Ministry of Interior, where he will serve as ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ratanakkiri-jail-director-reposted
Faintings halved in 2013: gov’t
The number of workers fainting in garment and footwear factories halved in 2013, a National Social Security Fund (NSSF) report released last week claims – a decline the Ministry of Labour puts down to increased education. The NSSF, which is part of the ministry, recorded 823 ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/faintings-halved-2013-gov%E2%80%99t
Youth told demo can’t be on street
A youth demonstration planned for Sunday has been downgraded to a press conference after the government refused to lift its ban on public assemblies. Five hundred youth intended to deliver petitions calling for an amended election law that would allow for the direct election of district, ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/youth-told-demo-can%E2%80%99t-be-street
Detainee speaks out online
As lawyers for 21 defendants denied bail by the Court of Appeal last week wait for the Supreme Court to respond to their appeals, the most high-profile of the detainees is speaking out via social media. On Friday night, Prak Sovannary, wife of Vorn Pov – ...
Sean Teehan and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/detainee-speaks-out-online
Plot thickens for evictees
Scores of families in Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila community tore down a corrugated metal fence and took up temporary residence in developer Phan Imex’s unfinished Building 9 as anger over smaller-than-promised relocation plots boiled over yesterday morning. The occupation began after local and municipal authorities came ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/plot-thickens-evictees