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Floods Force Evacuations in Northeast
Hundreds of families in Banteay Meanchey province were evacuated from their homes yesterday due to severe flooding, with authorities warning that more than 1,000 additional families may have to be rescued if torrential rains continue as expected over the course of next week. The rains that ...
Bad weather affects border trade, seafood prices
Thailand’s border trade at Chanthaburi has dropped by half due to the heavy rain in many eastern provinces, while erratic changes of weather in the southern provinces has caused the increased price of seafood. Thai-Cambodian Business and Tourism Association vice chairman Sombat Juengtrakul said that ...
http://www.pattayamail.com/business/bad-weather-affects-border-trade-seafood-prices-16869
Chinese Delegates Visit Environment Minister, Officials
A Chinese parliamentary delegation arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday to hold talks with various Cambodian officials including the environment minister, Chinese state media reported. The delegation from the National People’s Congress is headed by Huang Xianzhong, vice chairman of the Environment Protection and Resource Conservation Committee and a ...
Journalist and forestry officer released in deal
A local journalist and a forestry officer who were arrested by military police forces in Kratie province last week for beating a man and firing a gun into the air were released on Monday as part of a compromise between the victim and his attackers. Srey ...
Luxury Hotel Resort Threatens Bokor Mountain's Biodiversity
An ongoing project to build hotels, luxury villas and a casino on Kampot province’s Bokor Mountain is a threat to the area’s unique animal and plant species, according to two new studies. Local conglomerate Sokimex Group has been granted property development rights on the entire mountain, ...
Construction sector investment soars
Investment in the Cambodian construction sector reached US$1.38 billion in the first seven months of 2012, an 85-percent rise over the same period last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. During the January to July period this year, the ministry ...
Court to Summon Witnesses in Journalist's Killing
The Ratanakkiri Provincial Court will soon summon a number of people for questioning in its investigation into the brutal murder of journalist Hang Serei Odom earlier this month, a court official said yesterday. Former military police Captain An Bunheng and his wife, Sim Vy, were ...
Activists see freedom of expression on wane
Threats, intimidation and, in extreme cases, even murder were endangering freedom of expression in Cambodia and leaving human rights at the crossroads, activists and NGO representatives said during a round-table meeting yesterday. The slaying of environmental activist Chut Wutty, the arrest of Beehive radio director Mam ...
Changing a culture of impunity
Despite the recent spate of high-profile arrests and deportations, analysts, attorneys and civil society groups are divided on whether the Kingdom is finally beginning to live down its reputation as a haven for the fugitives and criminals who have long been drawn to the country ...
Thais eye 2001 Gulf blueprint
Cambodia and Thailand yesterday reiterated their commitment to restart negotiations over an expansive and resource-rich section of the Gulf of Thailand known as the Overlapping Claims Area – but the two countries have yet to set a date for the talks. In 2001, officials from ...
Officials urge maritime talks be resumed using 2001 MoU
Legal experts and officials agree that negotiations with Cambodia about overlapping maritime claims should resume under the 2001 memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Thailand. The MoU was revoked by the previous Abhisit Vejjajiva government. Vasin Teeravechyan, head of the Thai-Cambodian joint boundary sub-committee, said many related officials ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/312802/officials-urge-maritime-talks-be-resumed-using-2001-mou
Wildlife at odds with ELCs
Economic land concessions strewn over the remote Western Siem Pang forest, in Stung Treng province, are threatening the survival of Cambodia’s national bird, the giant ibis, a report reveals. The forest, flanking the Kingdom’s border with Laos, is home to five critically endangered bird species, yet ...
Payment demanded for journalist's death
A journalist murdered in Ratanakkiri last week took a call from his accused killer on the night of his disappearance, his family has claimed in a complaint to the rights group Adhoc. Ken Sovann, 63, the mother of slain journalist Hang Serei Oudom, whose body was found in his car in O’Chum district ...
Villager efforts reveal illegal timber activities
Villagers have found more than 100 cubic metres of timber and three chainsaws in Prey Lang forest during a six-day patrol for illegal logging, community officials said yesterday. Scouring the forest on motorcycles and on foot, more than 300 villagers from four provinces found 100 cubic ...
Prey Long Forest Patrols Cut Short by Torrential Rain
Community groups have aborted their coordinated patrol of Prey Long forest in search of illegal logging because of heavy rain, a community member said yesterday. The Prey Long People’s Network had planned to continue its patrol-which began Friday and had already found at least 65 cubic ...
'Morality' clause still worries rights group
A coalition of women’s groups have lashed out at Malaysia for continuing to endorse a “public morality” clause in the draft ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights. They claim the clause is subjective and discriminates against women and sexual minorities and should be ditched. Currently being drafted by ...
Japanese investors looking to Cambodia
Prime Minister Hun Sen received a visiting delegation of Japanese investors on Friday, according to the national news agency Agence Kampuchea Presse. Led by Fujino Takashi from the Keidanren Japan Business Federation and a member of the Board of Directors at Asahi Glass, the delegation’s visit ...
At ASEAN energy summit, green energy and investment were in focus
In his talk at the ASEAN energy ministers meeting held in Phnom Penh last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen emphasized the need for the ten-member bloc to work together to bolster its regional energy connectivity to meet a rapidly growing demand for energy. He also ...
Flash Floods, Heavy Rains Expected in 14 Provinces This Week
The government warned residents of 14 provinces yesterday to take precautions against possible flash floods caused by heavy rain, while the homes of almost 1,000 families have already been flooded in Banteay Meanchey province. The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology issued a statement yesterday calling ...
Cambodians protest Xayaburi in Bangkok
Cambodians were among anti-Xayaburi dam protesters who demonstrated outside Thai Parliament in Bangkok yesterday, urging Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to halt construction and tear up an agreement to buy the proposed dam’s power. A group of Cambodians travelled to Bangkok especially to raise their concerns about ...
Cambodia spends 1 bln USD for oil imports in 7 months
Cambodia had spent 1 billion U. S. dollars to buy petroleum from foreign suppliers in the first seven months of this year, up 22 percent from 817 million U.S. dollars at the same period a year ago, a report of the Commerce Ministry showed Saturday. The ...
Villagers Say Preservation of Pond Is Worth Fighting For
The future of a pond that sparked controversy last Monday, when about 400 people stopped authorities from filling it with sand in preparation for the construction of a military police base, remains in question, locals said yesterday. The residents of 10 villages protested last week in ...
Patrols in Prey Long Forest Find Signs of Illegal Logging
Community patrols of Prey Long forest by local villagers over the last few days have uncovered at least 65 cubic meters of illicitly cut timber and three chainsaws believed to belong to the illegal loggers. Soem Sean, a member of the Prey Long People’s Network, dedicated ...
R'Kiri duo charged in death of reporter
A Ratanakkiri provincial court has charged a married couple with premeditated murder in the grisly killing of Vorakchun Khmer newspaper reporter Hang Serei Oudom, whose body was found axed to death in the back of a car last week. The suspects, An Bunheng and his wife, ...