Boeung Kak and Borei Keila villagers embroiled in longstanding land disputes with two private companies in Phnom Penh say the authorities are protecting business interests over the public, as thousands of families lose their homes under forced evictions. This has turned the protesters and government officials ...

New European legislation passed last month could help transparency in the extractive industries, by forcing companies to declare payments to foreign governments rich in resources For resource-rich countries like Cambodia, that means much more transparency, she said. More than 95 percent of the world’s major extractive ...

Cambodia’s largest bank is ready to launch its first micro-finance institution (MFI) in Myanmar, but one final barrier remains: an operating licence from Myanmar’s government. Acleda Bank’s chief executive, In Channy, expects the licence to be granted by the end of this month. Once that is done, ...

More than 5,000 workers went on strike in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district yesterday after discovering the owners had changed the name of their factory almost two years ago, a union representative said. Concerned that the name change from Tai Yeng to Tai Nan in 2010 ...

More than 60 families will have their homes destroyed to make way for a new overpass in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district once construction begins in June, according to a statement posted Saturday on the city’s website. The overpass spanning Monireth Boulevard will displace 66 families and ...

Kampong Thom provincial authorities have confiscated more than two dozen dirt excavators in Stoung district over the past week after the machinery had been allegedly used to dig up land for development in a protected area used primarily for breeding fish. Hang Thol, a military police ...

Prasac, a leading micro-finance institution in Cambodia, had increased its registered capital from US$3.8 million to $20 million in preparation for its transformation into a commercial bank by 2014, the institution said yesterday. “The registration requirement of $37.5 million is a very small amount to ...

A UN envoy has called on the international community to pay more attention to human rights issues in Cambodia. The call comes amid ongoing land disputes and legal harassment of activists. Surya Subedi is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia and has submitted ...

Thailand’s rice intervention scheme is distorting trade around Southeast Asia, attracting rice smuggled from neighbouring countries into Thai government stockpiles, but genuine business remains slack and Thai prices have fallen this week. Cheap rice from Cambodia and Myanmar is finding its way into Thai government warehouses ...

Cambodia’s GDP is projected to grow by 7 percent this year even though the global economy remains fragile and high risk due to persisting sovereign debt crisis in Europe and sluggish economic recovery in the United States, a commerce official said Monday. Last Tuesday, the ...

For the second time, court officials want to question three female workers who say they were shot and wounded by former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith at a labour protest earlier this year. The second summons, which has outraged the women, stems from a complaint that ...

Garment employees who have refused to return to work after striking for three weeks no longer have jobs at Tai Yang Enterprise, which supplies Levi’s and Gap, management said yesterday. Tired of strikes the company claims are costing it US$10,000 per day, administrative manager Ou Meng ...

A coalition of about 30 soldiers, police, forestry officials and military police armed with chainsaws razed some 40 houses belonging to villagers in Pursat province’s Santre commune yesterday, claiming the villagers were illegally living in a state forest, villagers and officials said. According to resident Chin ...

Residents in Kompong Cham province’s Kompong Siem district yesterday continued to protest in front of a commune official’s house for a second straight day over a private electricity provider whose rates they say are too high. Protesters say that Loun Sopheap Electric Company is still charging ...

The price of Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) stock varied only slightly between June 14 to June 21-hovering between KHR 6,600 (US$1.62) and KHR 6,700 (US$1.64). The relative stability tells investors that the stock is approaching its fundamental price, which experts say is between KHR 4,050 (US$0.99) and KHR 6,350 (US$1.56). ...

The growing market for timber in China is leading to widespread logging around the world, including in Cambodia, according to a report released yesterday. The report from London-based NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) – entitled Appetite for Destruction: China’s trade in illegal timber – outlines ...

With Thailand threatening to oust undocumented workers, Asean must do more as a region to protect its migrant workers, a leading rights advocate says. More and more workers are crossing the borders between Asean countries, and the region looking to lower trade barriers, so workers need ...

The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) is opening two plantations in Cambodia, its director-general Datuk Wan Mohamad Zuki Mohamad said Wednesday. He said discussions had been held with the companies that would be tasked with managing the plantations last week. “We are now awaiting approval ...

Villagers who confiscated land-clearing equipment during a forest patrol yesterday in Khsuem commune in Kratie province’s Snuol district are claiming the equipment belongs to a rubber concessionaire attempting to expand into state land, an allegation local authorities denied. Villager representative Mom Sokkin said the Binh ...

Royal Thai Navy ships intercepted a Cambodian fishing boat illegally smuggling 10 million baht in Siamese rosewood out of the kingdom. The HTMS Chao Phraya staffed with military, customs and forestry office personnel captured the 18-meter-long fishing vessel carrying 296 logs in its fish holds ...