Rights Groups Call on Thai, Lao Leaders to Halt Dam
A group of Cambodian NGOs sent a letter to the prime ministers of Thailand and Laos on Friday calling on them to stop the construction of a controversial dam on the Mekong River and respect the 1995 Mekong Agreement. “We would like to urgently call ...
Laos Dam Construction Going Ahead, Company Says
Thai construction company Ch Karnchang has continued work on the controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos, even as the Lao government has assured other Mekong River nations that the project is postponed pending further environmental studies, the company’s CEO said yesterday. Ch Karnchang’s CEO Plew Trivisvavet told ...
Rice exports up 2 percent over last year
Cambodia’s total export of milled rice via the single window office slightly increased by two per cent over the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. Speaking at the Cambodian Rice Forum ...
Officials Halt Construction on 240 Apartment Project
Police and Phnom Penh municipality officials yesterday halted construction on a seven-story high-end apartment complex on Street 240 in Daun Penh district. Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema was accompanied by police officials who entered the 240 apartment complex, which has been under construction for several ...
Last Tai Yang Strikers Hoping for Resolution
Workers who were left stranded after protests at three Tai Yang Enterprises garment factories dragged on for months earlier this year were waiting for a long awaited resolution when they attended the arbitration yesterday. The 53 employees of the Kandal provincial factory, which supplies Levi’s and ...
Bribery a challenge for Cambodia's tourism sector
The tourism sector has complained about the attempted extortion and bribery by officials at the international border checkpoints that still upset tourists coming into Cambodia. The issue was raised yesterday during a meeting of the Interministerial Committee for Facilitating the Travel and Transport of Tourists and ...
Dam firm violated law
The parent company behind a firm constructing the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng has repeatedly violated Chinese law by building “massive” power projects without prior approval, China’s national auditor has found. State-owned China Huaneng Group, of which Lower Sesan 2 partner Hydrolancang International Energy ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060566083/National/dam-firm-violated-law.html
Shops to close, limit hours
Many restaurants, shops, supermarkets and tourist sites in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap will operate at a limited capacity or close entirely this Sunday as Cambodians line up at voting stations to elect a new government. Despite the closures, Ang Kim Eang, president of the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/shops-close-limit-hours
Rice miller plans to export 10,000 tonnes
State-owned rice miller Green Trade plans to export about 10,000 tonnes of milled rice to Libya this year, an insider has revealed. Thon Virak, director of state-owned rice exporter Green Trade, told the Post yesterday that he had signed an export deal with a private company ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031461931/Business/rice-miller-plans-to-export-10-000-tonnes.html
Court Questions Chinese National’s Over Chemical Seizure
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday questioned five Chinese nationals after they were arrested during a seizure of more than 106 tons of chemicals police suspect were intended for the production of illegal drugs. The four men and one woman who were arrested on Tuesday, claimed ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-questions-chinese-nationals-over-chemical-seizure-15642/
Govts agree to intensify logging fight
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to intensify the suppression of the illegal logging of Phayung, or Siamese rosewood, along their border areas. Thai ambassador to Cambodia Touchayoot Pakdi said officials of the two countries have agreed to increase cooperation on the suppression of local gangs in ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/351937/govts-agree-to-intensify-logging-fight
Evictees sick as rubbish piles up
Evictees of Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila community appealed yet again to municipal authorities for alternative housing yesterday, saying garbage and waste has inundated their current settlement and is making it increasingly difficult to enter and exit the area. Borei Keila residents were evicted from their land ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evictees-sick-rubbish-piles
Lumber Tycoon Denies Allegations of Illegal Deforestation
The assistant of a lumber tycoon accused of major deforestation and forced evictions rejected Thursday the findings of a recent report by local rights groups. The Cambodian Human Rights Task Force said in its report that some 1,400 families had been pushed from their land by ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/lumber-tycoon-denies-allegations-of-illegal-deforestation-cambodia/1794954.html
‘Political Inheritance’ a Brewing Problem, Rights Activist Says
Cambodia needs to build new leaders to take over the country in the next generation, a leading rights activist says. “This means the party is ready to let their children take over, family style,” he [Cambodian Center for Human Rights head Ou Virak]. “But this younger ...
Men Kimseng
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/political-inheritance-a-brewing-problem-rights-activist-says/1804399.html
Cambodia-U.S. bilateral trade up 2 pct
Trade between Cambodia and the United States was valued at 2.55 billion U.S. dollars in the first ten months of 2013, up 2 percent from 2.49 billion U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the figures of the U.S. Department of Commerce showed Friday. Cambodia’s ...
The Global Post
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/131206/cambodia-us-bilateral-trade-2-pct
Defence minister warns against general strike
Defence Minister Tea Banh yesterday said the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces are ready to protect the Kingdom’s constitution should the opposition’s threatened general strike fall on the wrong side of the law. “A nationwide general strike or mass demonstration must be held under the framework of ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/defence-minister-warns-against-general-strike
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
Inmates watch as waters near
Prisons in Banteay Meanchey and Battambang province have been seriously affected by flooding but have not yet been evacuated, according to local rights groups and prison officials. A clogged sewage system has plagued Battambang’s provincial prison, according to Bun Sorn, but extra pumps have alleviated ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/inmates-watch-waters-near
Inmates to return to soaked cells
All 842 prisoners evacuated from Banteay Meanchey provincial prison after water pressure caused a wall to collapse in early October will be sent back there next week – despite only minimal repairs having been undertaken to the flood-damaged building, a rights worker said yesterday said ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/inmates-return-soaked-cells
CPP Lawmaker Says Deforestation Is Good for Economy
CPP lawmaker Chheang Vun on Wednesday lauded the economic and social benefits of the widespread clearing of Cambodia’s forests for development projects. Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly after a meeting with the Vietnamese Ambassador Ngo Anh Dzung, Mr. Vun, who is also the spokesman ...
Mech Dara and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-lawmaker-says-deforestation-is-good-for-economy-46721/