Inflation fuels protest over petrol prices
More than 200 factory workers gathered at Freedom Park near Wat Phnom yesterday to urge the government to cut taxes on petrol, saying fuel prices were driving food prices beyond what they could afford. But the government is doing all it can to curb inflation ...
Forests Are Key to Climate Protection, UN Says
Destruction of Cambodia’s forests is one of the biggest threats to the country’s ability to effectively deal with the effects of climate change, the UN warned in a new report to be released today. Cambodia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the region ...
Trade unions demand change to draft law
A group of independent trade unions yesterday put forth a list of demands for changes to Cambodia’s first trade union law, which will be finalised by the government in the coming months. Unionists said the revisions were necessary, as the current draft law would undermine unions ...
Welfare plan full of goals, short on details
Cash transfers to the poor and public works programs for the unemployed are spelled out in a new five-year plan the government launched yesterday in a bid to expand the country’s threadbare social welfare programs. Though full of ambitious targets and budgets, the ‘National Social Protection ...
Oz Minerals Sells M'Kiri Gold Assets
After more than three years of disappointment in its search for large gold deposits in Mondolkiri province, Australian mining firm OZ Minerals has decided to sell its Cambodian assets to another Australian company In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, OZ Minerals said that it ...
Hundreds Protest Dam Plans
More than 500 ethnic minority residents of riparian communities in northeastern Cambodia held a peaceful protest Tuesday against the construction of a Vietnamese-led hydroelectric dam that will relocate them from their ancestral land. The villagers, who live along the Se San River in Stung Treng and ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/dam-02282012135535.html
Beer Promoters Allege Bias Following Strike
Beer promoters in Phnom Penh claimed Monday that they are Being discriminated against for staging a month-long strike last summer, and their livelihoods are under threat. In July and August, hundreds of promoters for Cambrew Ltd – which produces and distributes Angkor Beer – went ...
Hun Sen bans industry fishing at Tonle Sap lake permanently
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday extended indefinitely a ban on commercial fishing in Tonle Sap lake, citing ongoing illegal fishing to the detriment of local villagers. The premier had first imposed the ban on 35 fishing lots in the lake in August, as a result of ...
PPWSA sets an IPO date
Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority aimed to raise US$20.4 million in a long-awaited initial public offering scheduled for mid-April, the company said yesterday during its first pitch to investors. “We’ve targeted trading for the 18th of April,” said Han Kyung-tae, managing director of Tong Yang ...
Indigenous land exploited
The Royal Government of Cambodia and private land developers were exploiting indigenous communities in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri provinces by signing concession deals for the communities’ land without prior consultation, advocates said yesterday. “We urge the government as well as the private sector to respect [indigenous peoples’] ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030254821/National-news/indigenous-land-exploited.html
Sub-Decree to Require Licenses fro Tour Guides
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a sub-decree requiring tour guides to obtain licenses from the government in an effort to regulate and improve quality of service in the tourism sector. The sub-decree aims “to define the procedure to manage tourist guides,”and requires current ...
Strong Rains Hasten Rice Planting Across Country
Good rains have boosted rice cultivation across the country, and nearly 90 percent of farmers have completed planting their paddies, although planting in Svay Rieng province is lagging due to drought, and agriculture official said yesterday. Chan Heng, administration bureau chief of the Agriculture Ministry’s administration ...
Thai trade fair pushed back to 2012
The postponed 2nd Thailand Trade Exhibition 2011 will not be reorganised this year due to budget restrictions, according to Jiranan Wongmongkol, commercial counsellor based at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. The trade fair was originally scheduled for May 19 to 22 at Phnom Penh’s ...
Fainting link to Canadian cold
Women who had fainted in a poorly ventilated garment factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh on Wednesday morning were making winter coats to be sold at Walmart stores in Canada, it was revealed yesterday. Executives with Taiwanese-owned Heart Enterprise (Cambodia) Ltd also confirmed reports ...
Garment Factory Lease Issues Cause Protests Over Severance
Afraid that the Dai Young Cambodia Co garment factory in Phnom Penh would not be renewing its land lease, more than 800 workers protested on Saturday at the factory in Russei Keo district demanding that the owner sign a guarantee of severance pay, labor unions ...
Mobile market still growing
Cambodian mobile operators added more than 1 million new subscribers between May and July, with Smart Mobile seeing the largest percentage increase for the period, according to Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications figures obtained by the Post. Marc Einstein, a Tokyo-based analyst at research and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011090751483/Business/mobile-market-still-growing.html
Maid recruits routinely deceived, report finds
Job recruitment agencies that send workers overseas often deceive young women through misleading job advertisements by using brokers that have “a position of authority” within the community, according to a new report by the Asia Foundation. According to the report, agencies also inflate migration costs that ...
New project aims to lower levels of industrial pollution
Industrial pollution ‘hot-spots’ have been identified in waterways in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kompong Cham provinces following a five-month period of research as part of a UN-backed effort to encourage companies to adopt cleaner practices. The hot spots – defined as a source of pollution where ...
Workers Call For Factory Official to Go
More than 1000 factory workers protested in Phnom Penh yesterday outside the Sun Well Shoes Company factory in Pur Senchey district, demanding higher wages and the dismissal of the factory’s administration chief, union representatives said. Tep Saroeun, a union representative at Sun Well Shoes Company in ...
Pailin Looks to Put Longan Fruit on GI Map
Pailin’s juicy longans, a small beige-colored fruit renowned for its sweet taste, is on the way to becoming Cambodia’s third food product to attain Geographic Indicator (GI) status. The longan will join Cambodia’s only other GI-recognized food products: Kompong Speu palm sugar and Kampot ...