The Phnom Penh Post
Budget leaves $1.5b unassigned
Transparency watchdogs have warned that $1.5 billion of unallocated funds in next year’s budget will only encourage nepotism and embezzlement. The Draft Budget Law was approved at the National Assembly on Tuesday in a unanimous vote of 66 ruling Cambodian People’s Party MPs. The $3.4 billion ...
Daniel Pye and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/budget-leaves-15b-unassigned
French offer forensics 101
In the past two years, the French embassy in Phnom Penh has been drawn into at least two high-profile cases in which their nationals have died in suspicious circumstances in Cambodia. In an attempt to improve forensic investigations in the Kingdom, the French embassy announced ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/french-offer-forensics-101
Strikers, police clash
A woman was killed and at least six others shot yesterday morning when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of hundreds of rioting garment workers in the capital’s Stung Meanchey district. UN reports said police also arrested 37 people, including seven monks, as a result ...
Sean Teehan, Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-police-clash
Thailand agrees to withdraw its troops
Cambodian and Thai military officials met yesterday morning to discuss the implementation of the International Court of Justice’s ruling on Preah Vihear, with both sides pledging to keep the peace and the Thais agreeing to withdraw to the new line of demarcation. Monday’s judgment declared that ...
May Titthara and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thailand-agrees-withdraw-its-troops
CPP lawmakers vote to create new ministries
Lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party yesterday unanimously voted to pass legislation which will create three new government ministries. Sixty-six CPP representatives voted to create a Ministry of Public Function, which will oversee the affairs of civil servants. The MPs also followed through on a floated ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cpp-lawmakers-vote-create-new-ministries
Mondulkiri elephant row continues
An Eco-tourism initiative in Mondulkiri province will remain open for daytime visits only for the time being, after authorities heard from officials at the Elephant Valley Project (EVP) and locals who complain the NGO siphons tourism money. EVP officials met with people who filed complaints with ...
Sean Teehan and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mondulkiri-elephant-row-continues
At Preah Vihear, tourists undeterred
Not even the imminent threat of war could quell tourists’ appetite for historical sites – at least at Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple, which was the subject of a highly contentious ruling at the International Court of Justice yesterday. While government figures show that local tourism to ...
Stuart White and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/preah-vihear-tourists-undeterred
Partial victory at the ICJ
The International Court of Justice yesterday unanimously declared that its 1962 judgment awarding the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia also gave the Kingdom sovereignty over the promontory that the temple sits on. But while the announcement was initially greeted as a resounding victory by some in ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/partial-victory-icj
Laos chided for ‘Selling’ dam project
An environmental group has hit out at the Lao government for organising a tour of the proposed Don Sahong hydropower dam site, saying it should not be trying to “sell” a project that has not been regionally approved. Other NGOs have also warned of the ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/laos-chided-%E2%80%98selling%E2%80%99-dam-project
Ethnic minorities to receive bilingual education: gov’t
The government affirmed its commitment to bilingual education for ethnic minority children in Cambodia’s northern provinces at a UNESCO conference in Bangkok last week. Speaking at the fourth International Conference on Language and Education: Multilingual Education for all in Asia and the Pacific, Ton Sa Im, ...
Emily Wight
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle/ethnic-minorities-receive-bilingual-education-gov%E2%80%99t
Police detain luxury wood ‘Smugglers’
Three males attempting to smuggle luxury wood on Saturday evening were thwarted by authorities in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district, provincial forestry officials confirmed yesterday. The suspects now being detained at the provincial police station are Vor Vanser, 16, Le Fy, 16, and Cheurng Vanseurn, 18. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-detain-luxury-wood-%E2%80%98smugglers%E2%80%99
Acleda debuts its credit card
ACLEDA officially launched its first credit card on Friday as Cambodia’s largest bank eyes the country’s rising middle income bracket, president and CEO In Channy said yesterday. “This is the right time for us to start this Visa credit card product. By 2020, Cambodia will change ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/acleda-debuts-its-credit-card
New local carrier to launch flights
A new local airline is applying to fly in Cambodia, according to aviation officials, at a time when the market is monopolised by national flag carrier Cambodia Angkor Air and a handful of carriers offering chartered routes. Royal Spirit Airlines last Friday met with the State ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-local-carrier-launch-flights
Malaysian company selling its local bank
Malaysian financial services group Hwang-DBS Bhd is selling its eponymous bank in Cambodia for $40 million, the company has announced on the Bursa Malaysia. The sale is to Phillip MFIs Pte Ltd, a member of the Singapore-based PhillipCapital Group. PhillipCapital has an existing presence in ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/malaysian-company-selling-its-local-bank
Projects ‘threaten mangroves’
Mangrove forests along Cambodia’s coast in Kampot support more than 100,000 families and create a diverse ecosystem that is home to hundreds of unique species. But coastal development projects, coupled with locals’ reliance on the forest for their livelihoods, threaten to decimate more than 1,000 hectares ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/projects-%E2%80%98threaten-mangroves%E2%80%99
Speed up FOI law, PM says
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on the Ministry of Information to accelerate the drafting of a long-awaited freedom of information law that could see more transparency in the Kingdom’s government. According to a press release issued by the Council of Ministers after a cabinet meeting ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/speed-foi-law-pm-says
Lender singled out after documentary
Some 1,000 employees from one of Cambodia’s largest microfinance institutions gathered in the Koh Pich exhibition hall yesterday to watch A River Changes Course, the award-winning documentary about three Cambodians from different backgrounds all struggling to eke out a living in fast-changing times. Why Angkor Mikroheranhvatho (Kampuchea) ...
Joe Freeman
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/lender-singled-out-after-documentary
Villagers prepare for storm
Cambodians in the northern provinces are preparing for the remnants of super-storm Typhoon Haiyan, though forecasts now predict it will only mildly affect the Kingdom. In a warning issued on Friday, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology said high winds and heavy rainfall would likely ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-prepare-storm
MFIs downplay debts
Two of the leading microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia said yesterday that they have identified a relatively small fraction of borrowers who were affected by flooding and would provide relief on their repayment schedules if necessary. The comments come after both Prime Minister Hun Sen and ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfis-downplay-debts
Dolphin found dead
A wounded female Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead in the Mekong River in Kampong Cham on Saturday. The 130-kilogram dolphin was discovered by residents in Kampong Siem town, significantly south of the species’ protected area, according to fishery administration officials. ...
Sen David and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dolphin-found-dead
Military winner in draft budget
Government officials were still tight-lipped about the 2014 draft budget yesterday, though some details did continue to trickle out, such as the announcement of a sizeable increase in national defence spending. Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker and banking and finance committee member Cheam Yeap said yesterday that ...
Vong Sokheng and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/military-winner-draft-budget
Hun Sen to blame, says lawmaker
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for urgent fortification of Cambodia’s resistance to climate change, singling out recent flooding as evidence of the severe consequences the country faces. But at a press conference yesterday, opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua accused the Prime Minister of weakening ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/climate-woes-hun-sen-blame-says-lawmaker
Court asked to cancel warrant for 'Crocodile Grandma'
Defence lawyers representing well-known businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary, also known as the “Crocodile Grandma”, requested the Court of Appeal to consider voiding the tycoon’s warrant for arrest yesterday. Sokountheary was convicted for encroaching on public land and sentenced in absentia to four years and six months in ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-asked-cancel-warrant-crocodile-grandma
No politics, more pay: teachers
Teachers across Cambodia are insisting pay raises aren’t just an election year issue. More than 30 representative teachers gathered for the start of a three-day seminar in Phnom Penh yesterday to continue demanding living wages. The teacher are asking for 250$ per month, according to seminar ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-politics-more-pay-teachers