The Phnom Penh Post
Hopes high for maid program
In one corner of the cavernous training centre, a woman patiently strips the baby blue sheets off a queen-size bed, removing the flower-patterned pillowcases and folding them neatly to one side. Under the watchful eye of an instructor, she then remakes the bed, carefully fluffing the ...
Kevin Ponniah and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hopes-high-maid-program
Brands tell GMAC to dial it down
Some of the world’s largest clothing brands have warned the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia of possible business ramifications should the factory representative continue with plans to impede labour monitoring. Thirteen major buyers, including Gap, H&M, Levi’s, Nike and Puma, have signed a letter to GMAC ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/brands-tell-gmac-dial-it-down
Land-titling process ‘urgent’, Oxfam says
Accelerating the mapping and titling of rural farmland should be an “urgent” priority of the government and civil society, particularly when it comes to protecting indigenous peoples’ and women’s rights, Oxfam representatives said yesterday. The remarks followed the release of an EU-funded survey of rural communities’ ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-titling-process-%E2%80%98urgent%E2%80%99-oxfam-says
Profits dip for water authority
Second-quarter net profit for the exchange-listed Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority dropped nearly 26 per cent to $2 million from the same quarter a year ago, according to the most recent financial report released on October 11. Sim Sitha, the director-general of PPWSA, said the decrease ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/profits-dip-water-authority
School buildings ‘failing test’
Two years out from the 2015 Millennium Development Goals’ target of universal access to education, Cambodia remains plagued by school infrastructure shortages, with a scarcity of classrooms and decrepit facilities that threaten students’ safety, NGOs and teachers say. At Slorkram Primary School in Battambang, teachers ...
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/school-buildings-%E2%80%98failing-test%E2%80%99
New highway to run through Boeung Tompong
A new highway that is being built is expected to not only reduce traffic jams, but to also open up a large area for real estate development. The new highway, called Samdech Techo Hun Sen Blvd, runs from the intersection of Road 271 and Monivong Blvd ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/new-highway-run-through-boeung-tompong
A raft of complications
Riun Pau ran out of food last week. For the 13-year-old and her family, that moment was the culmination of weeks of distress caused by flooding that had already ravaged their Battambang home and farmland. Pau’s neighbours are experiencing similar problems. In Battambang, 67.3 per cent ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/raft-complications
Flooding damage escalates
Flooding has affected close to 287,000 hectares of rice fields, with about 27,800 considered damaged beyond repair, according to government statistics released on Monday. The data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reveal that rising waters have affected about 11 per cent of the ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/flooding-damage-escalates
Former Mfone staff to get paid
Over eight months after Cambodian mobile operator Mfone filed for bankruptcy, the defunct provider’s former staffers should get their outstanding salaries in November, according to the case’s court-appointed administrator. Bankruptcy administrator Ouk Ry said yesterday that deals have been made on many of the failed telecom’s ...
Anne Renzenbrink and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/former-mfone-staff-get-paid
CNRP thumbprints confiscated in Poipet
Opposition officials in Poipet have requested the provincial government intervene after a village chief on Monday confiscated a book of Cambodia National Rescue Party supporters’ thumbprints. Mean Sarith, chief of the CNRP working group in the border town, said Seng Long, the Cambodian People’s Party village ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-thumbprints-confiscated-poipet
Authorities ‘ignoring’ children behind bars
Eight-year-old Sokun* spent almost the first seven years of his life in prison. Unlike other Cambodian children who have the freedom to play and run free, countless hours of his early life were spent in a hot, squalid and teeming cell in the prison where his ...
Kevin Ponniah and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-%E2%80%98ignoring%E2%80%99-children-behind-bars
Sick children swamp hospital
As flood victims surge to the capital to receive medical treatment, doctors at Phnom Penh’s Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital say they’ve never seen such overcrowding. Parents holding their sick children and infants line the perimeter of the complex, spending up to seven hours crouched on hot ...
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sick-children-swamp-hospital
CPP keeps Funcinpec close, despite no seats
The former president and current party secretary of the struggling Funcinpec party, Nhek Bun Chhay, has been nominated as a government adviser – a position the government ranks equivalent to that of a deputy prime minister. Senior ruling Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cpp-keeps-funcinpec-close-despite-no-seats
CPP hints at NEC reforms
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party has reiterated its commitment to carry out electoral reforms ahead of the 2017 poll in an apparent bid to appease key demands of the opposition, civil society and the international community following July’s disputed election. With rare frankness, the party says ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cpp-hints-nec-reforms
Youths to march for justice over shooting
More than 300 youth from around Cambodia plan to rally on Friday to demand justice for the man killed during the opposition party’s three-day demonstration last month. Participants from a variety of universities, high schools, youth clubs, civil societies and other groups will march from Wat ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/youths-march-justice-over-shooting
Monks feeling policed
During a small press conference yesterday, the founder of the Independent Monk Network said about 30 police officers came to Wat Botum two nights in one week, asking to search the premises for “bad men” who may be hiding there. The visits occurred on the nights ...
Sean Teehan and Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/monks-feeling-policed
Suspects to wear saffron
Suspects on trial already detained by authorities will now be forced to wear a prison uniform to court, a director at the General Department of Prisons at the Ministry of Interior said yesterday. About 7,000 of the new uniforms will be distributed to prisons nationwide, he ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/suspects-wear-saffron
Elephants at centre of tourism tiff
For the ethnic Bunong people in this northeastern province, animals are an integral part of the local economy. Pigs, chickens and water buffaloes offer a variety of sustenance and labour. But it’s the elephants that bring foreigners – and foreigners bring cash. “When I get tours, the ...
Laura Ma
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/elephants-centre-tourism-tiff
Labour Ministry told to keep SL talks alive
In a letter sent to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training last week, the Council of Ministers encourages the ministry to facilitate talks between garment factory management and the union representing thousands of workers on strike for nearly two months. The letter, written by Council ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/labour-ministry-told-keep-sl-talks-alive
Third arrest from alleged robbery gang
Another alleged member of the gang suspected of being responsible for last month’s shootings of a Japanese tourist and an American expatriate was arrested following a shoot-out on Saturday. Sok Hok, 28, was apprehended in the capital’s Prampi Makara district. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/third-arrest-alleged-robbery-gang
Sar Kheng alleges split within CNRP
Interior Minister Sar Kheng, the ruling party’s chief negotiator with the opposition, has released a statement accusing the Cambodia National Rescue Party of an internal split over what concessions could induce its 55 lawmakers to take their seats at the National Assembly. A statement released on ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sar-kheng-alleges-split-within-cnrp
Floods damage cassava crop
The coming cassava harvest is increasingly threatened by flooding as about 25 per cent of the crop in prime growing provinces is or has been submerged, according to authorities. Taking up more cultivated area than any other crop in Cambodia except for rice, cassava is especially ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/floods-damage-cassava-crop
Thousands flee reservoir
Surging floodwaters led officials to declare a state of emergency at a commune in Banteay Meanchey province on Saturday night after the Trapaing Thma reservoir expanded an estimated 200 metres. Many of some 2,000 families living close to the Khmer Rouge-era reservoir in Phnom Srok district ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thousands-flee-reservoir
Unexploded mines found
Seven unexploded landmines were discovered last week by construction workers building a highway through Banteay Meanchey province, police said yesterday. The mines, which include an anti-tank mine and six Russian-made devices, were found buried in Thma Puok district, Banteay Chhmar commune, after heavy rains helped expose ...
Lieng Sarith
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unexploded-mines-found