The Phnom Penh Post
Kratie meet pushes dolphin protection
Residents of Kratie province had an education in conservation yesterday as the government and outside partners reiterated a September sub-decree banning gill nets on a sizable stretch of the Mekong in a bid to protect the badly endangered Mekong River dolphin. Touch Seang Tana, head of the Commission ...
Deported home in disgrace
A Chinese woman found guilty of intentionally causing damage after tearing up photos of the late King Father was deported yesterday morning – a mere two days after the crime occurred. Wang Zia Chao, 43, who on Tuesday was given a suspended one-year prison sentence, left ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102559412/National-news/deported-home-in-disgrace.html
More Lao land deals inked
Laos has contracted firms to build and operate another significant hydro-power plant on the Mekong River system, adding to the existing furor over potential effects on downstream countries such as Cambodia from the controversial Xayaburi dam. The contracts, reportedly worth $1 billion, are for a series of three dams making ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102559403/National-news/more-lao-dam-deals-inked.html
Fish output likely to drop
Fishery resources could fall this year because of a lack of flooding along rivers and waterways impeding fish from travelling freely or finding food to encourage their growth, a fishery official says. Sam Nov, deputy general director of Fishery Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102459389/Business/fish-output-likely-to-drop.html
Sentencing swift in pic ripping case
Less than 36 hours after Wang Zia Chao provoked a strike by destroying two photos of the late King Father in front of hundreds of Cambodian garment workers, the Chinese factory manager was booked, charged and convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which last ...
Export diversity induces growth
In order for Cambodia to maintain the same rate of growth it has enjoyed in the past few years, exports need to diversify from textiles and tourism to modern services, said the World Bank’s country manager yesterday in Phnom Penh. “Cambodian firms are already tentatively exporting ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102459390/Business/export-diversity-induces-growth.html
Residents not budging
About 40 families in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district are disputing local authorities’ demand that they abandon their homes without compensation so the government can increase a nearby canal’s capacity. The residents, who were asked on September 28 to vacate their homes within a week by Meanchey ...
Record dogs new ACRA chief
The owner of a labor firm repeatedly accused of human trafficking, who is also the sister of one of the country’s top police officials, has been appointed head of the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA). Grave concerns have been expressed by rights groups over the appointment of Ung Seang ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102459382/National-news/record-dogs-new-acra-chief.html
China's ICBC offers RMB transfers
A new banking settlements system called CHANCES, dealing exclusively in the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB), aims to make trade between China and the ASEAN countries easier and less expensive. Owned and operated by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the CHANCES system stands for ...
Reserve rate doesn't worry local banks
Bankers have raised no concerns over the National Bank of Cambodia’s increase to the reserve requirement rate in order to maintain the stabilization of cash flow and inflation during a time of global financial difficulty. The increase, from 12 to 12.5 per cent, issued late last month, was ...
Questions over China dams
Some questions remain about whether hydro dams on the upper Mekong River in China exacerbated conditions during Cambodia’s devastating drought of 2010, environmental groups say, as China’s dam program powers ahead. When the first power-generating unit was switched on last month at China’s giant 262-metre tall ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102359350/National-news/questions-over-china-dams.html
Fake dollars stopped: cops
Three men arrested over a plan to smuggle millions of dollars worth of counterfeit US banknotes into Cambodia with the help of Thai criminals used the name of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s chief bodyguard to secure the deal, a provincial court heard yesterday. Pin Tipelo, 38, ...
First & Main gear goes cheap
Workers from bankrupt plush-toy factory First & Main are still owed money after the Ministry of Social Affairs auctioned $200,000 worth of factory equipment for just $21,000, a labor rights advocate said Sunday. More than 350 workers were left stranded when the US-owned teddy bear factory closed in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102359360/National-news/first-a-main-gear-goes-cheap.html
Boss commits royal blunder
A Chinese factory manager sparked a near-riot in Phnom Penh yesterday morning after publicly destroying two photos of the late King Father in front of hundreds of workers. More than a thousand employees of the Top World garment factory launched an immediate strike, and threatened to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102359368/National-news/boss-commits-royal-blunder.html
Thailand cracks down on exploitative factory
In a rare intervention, the Thai Labor Ministry has stepped in to stop the exploitation of migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar at a seafood factory in the country’s south, correspondence obtained by the Post reveals. The ministry found the Phatthana Seafood factory, in Songkhla province, which employs ...
Wutty Case wraps with sentencing
At the close of a case that remained shrouded in controversy until the end, Koh Kong Provincial Court yesterday found former security guard Ran Boroth guilty of the unintentional killing of military police officer In Rattana, the man on whom authorities pinned the murder of ...
Window closing on AHRD: NGOs
Time is running out to rid the proposed ASEAN Human Rights Declaration of clauses that would restrict peoples’ rights rather than protect and enhance them, civil society groups said yesterday. Nay Vanda, deputy head of the monitoring section of rights group Adhoc, said civil society groups needed more ...
'Threats' made over farmland
About 200 families in Koh Kong province’s Botum Sakor district were threatened with legal action yesterday by the district governor, who told them their 100-hectare plantation had been earmarked for development by a Chinese firm, a village representative alleged. Two days later, Botum Sakor district ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102259338/National-news/threats-made-over-farmland.html
Disgraced ambassador’s property is a hard sell
The seized property of fugitive former ambassador Nan Sy has so far failed to fetch bidders, denying state coffers some $400,000 embezzled by the disgraced official. The undeveloped 10 by 20 meter plot in Tuol Kork district was put up for auction last week in an effort to ...
Exports hold up despite EU slowdown
Cambodia has coped well in terms of exports despite the slowdown in some European economies, said the head of the IMF’s Asia-Pacific department last week. Anoop Singh, director for the department, said Cambodia has enjoyed many years of economic growth at about 6 per cent or ...
Cambodia has potential for social businesses
Despite challenges, Cambodia has potential for the establishment and expansion of social businesses, participants of the Microfinance & Social Business Conference in Phnom Penh said yesterday. While social business in Cambodia is still in an early phase compared to micro-finance “Cambodia is a promising land” for such ...
CSX: Six months down the line
Trading on the Cambodian Securities Exchange remained low yesterday, which also marked six months of operation for the bourse. An official said this is due to a lack of public awareness and listed companies. Ming Bankosal, General Director of the CSX, said that as listed companies ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012101959319/Business/csx-six-months-down-the-line.html
Strikes put on pause for King Father
The Free Trade Union expects thousands of workers from across the country to join FTU president Chea Mony in paying respects to the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk on Tuesday. To make up for the lost day of work, workers will instead work on October ...
UN Security Council bid falls short
After more than a year of bitter campaigning, Cambodia saw its efforts to win one of five non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council fall flat early this morning after the vote went to South Korea. In an election held at the UN General Assembly in ...