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Ministry fires back over EU resolution
A week after the European Parliament issued a damning resolution on Cambodia’s human-rights situation and called for a revoking of trade privileges, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has shot back. “It is essential for the EU parliament to study and better understand the situation before passing ...
Alleged rosewood loggers shot dead by Thai troops
Three Cambodians were shot and killed early on Saturday morning after engaging in a firefight while illegally logging along the Thai border, officials said yesterday. The three are believed to have been shot after crossing from Battambang’s Samlot district into Thai territory while logging luxury rosewood “The ...
Award for Boeung Kak lake activist
Boeung Kak lake land evictions protester Tep Vanny has been honoured for years of activism by receiving an award from an international organisation that recognises the role of women in promoting human rights. Vanny, 32, who has been imprisoned, assaulted and threatened for fighting evictions at ...
Last link in Wutty case freed
The only man convicted in relation to a murder case that made global headlines, the killing of environmentalist Chut Wutty and military police officer, In Rattana, walked free on Friday, less than two weeks after his sentencing, rights group Licadho said. Ran Boroth, who was ...
By David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110559571/National-news/last-link-in-wutty-case-freed.html
Sam Rainsy deleted from Voter Registration
The National Election Committee (NEC) has removed opposition leader Sam Rainsy from the voter list for next year’s national election on the grounds that he is a convicted criminal, an NEC official said yesterday. The decision means that even if Mr. Rainsy is granted a royal ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sam-rainsy-deleted-from-voter-list-for-election-5229/
Trade with Thailand increases
Trade between Cambodia and Thailand increased by about 40 per cent to US$3 billion in the first nine months of this year in comparison with the same period last year, according to figures provided by the Royal Embassy of Thailand in Cambodia. According to Nat Vimonchandra, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110559559/Business/trade-with-thailand-increases.html
Thai soldiers kill 3 Cambodian loggers
Thai soldiers have shot dead three Cambodian men for illegally cutting rosewood on the frontier of Thai territory He [Prach Chan, governor of Cambodia’ s Battambang province] said the Thai side claimed that the men illegally entered Thai territory for logging purposes on Saturday, in an ...
Workshop Calls for Revenue Transparency in Oil, Gas Sector
The government and private companies are being encouraged to adopt a voluntary initiative in order to make revenues generated by the extractives sector more transparent. The workshop on the Best Practice of Governance in Extractive Industries and Revenue Management, which was held in Phnom Penh on Friday by ...
Japanese Investment Grows; Hurdles Remain
Japanese investment in Cambodia is steadily increasing as a result of sharply rising wages in China and other Southeast Asian nations. But experts warned this week that for sustained investment growth—and to avoid driving Japanese companies to other attractive investment destinations such as Burma —the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/japanese-investment-grows-hurdles-remain-5144/
Asian bloggers discuss Internet freedom at Cambodia conference
Bloggers from across Asia came together in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap this weekend to discuss blogging, technology and Internet freedom at 2012’s Blogfest Asia festival, a gathering of over 160 opinionated and distinctly geeky participants. Tops on the agenda? Internet freedom. The Cambodian contingent ...
German airline Condor launches direct flight to Cambodia
The German airline Condor Air launched its first direct flight from Frankfurt to Cambodia’s Siem Reap province famous for its world heritage site on Saturday morning. Landing at the Siem Reap International Airport, the aircraft was cordially greeted by Cambodian government officials including Mao Havannall, secretary ...
http://www.nzweek.com/business/german-airline-condor-launches-direct-flight-to-cambodia-20833/
Government Approves Dam On Lower Sesan
The Council of Ministers on Friday signed off on the Lower Sesan 2 dam project in Stung Treng province, despite long-standing criticism leveled against the project by environmental groups who say it would adversely affect 100,000 people as a consequence of reduced access to fish. The ...
Killer in Chut Wutty Case Walks Free Six Months Later
Rann Boroth, the only man convicted in the double killing six months ago of the country’s leading environmental activist, Chut Wutty, and military police officer, walked free from prison on Friday after the Koh Kong Provincial Court issued an order for his release. On October ...
October 2012 Maps Update
– Economic Land Concessions (Government Data Complete 16 items) Click here to download – Mining ( Secondary Source Data 19 items) Click here to download ...
Cambodia approves Lower Sesan 2 hydroelectric dam
Cambodia’s government has approved a controversial hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Mekong River. The joint venture involves Cambodian, Chinese and Vietnamese investment of $781m (£488m) and is due to be completed within five years. The project in northern Stung Treng province is known as Lower ...
Protected forest reclassified as private land
The entirety of three protected forests are now classified as private land, an investigation from rights group Adhoc has found, along with tens of thousands of additional hectares of what has once been state public land In three cases, Adhoc’s findings show that entire protected forests ...
Five workers injured as lift plummets from third floor
Five workers riding a lift meant to carry animal carcasses up to the fifth floor of a meat roasting facility were left with serious injuries when their metal cage plummeted from the third floor. The five victims, aged from 25 to 38, suffered broken legs ...
Court Charges General Denounced by Hun Sen Over Land Claim
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday charged a Ministry of Interior police general with intimidation and unlawful interference in the discharge of a public function for allegedly attempting to use Prime Minister Hun Sen’s student volunteer program to settle a personal land dispute. Mr. ...
Scrutiny over Finnish firm’s ties to Xayaburi
The Finnish government will investigate multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry over its involvement in Laos’s Xayaburi dam project, a letter obtained by the Post yesterday reveals. According to the letter from Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy, dated October 16, a complaint filed by ...
Flood money runneth over
Flooding this year cost the government significantly less than expected due to better preparation and lower water levels than in previous years, first vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management Nhim Vanda announced yesterday. The NCDM could not yet report the precise amount spent on flood ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103159481/National-news/flood-money-runneth-over.html
Swedish outcry has royal voice in midst
Growing calls in Sweden for multinational clothing giant H&M to increase wages for Cambodian garment workers have taken a royal twist. Cambodia’s Prince Charin Norodom, 38, who has lived in Sweden for more than 30 years, told the Post yesterday that he had been working behind ...
Bunong Minority Villagers Protest Against Rubber Company
About 80 ethnic Bunong villagers living in Mondolkiri’s Pech Chreada district staged a protest against the Socfin-KCD rubber company Monday, demanding that the firm honor its long-standing pledge to return 1,000 hectares of farmland located inside its concession. Socfin-KCD, a join venture between Socfin, a ...
NGO Says Dispatch of Troops Against Protesters Unjustifiable
Soldiers should not have been deployed in support of a warrant to arrest land dispute protesters in Kratie province in May—an operation that led to the killing of a 14-year-old girl by armed forces, a Japanese human rights group said in a new report. The report ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-says-dispatch-of-troops-against-protesters-unjustifiable-4971/
Another major Xayaburi pact
The inking of a €300 million contract for water turbines, and job advertisements marked “urgent” appear to be the latest signs that Laos is powering forward with the Xayaburi hydroelectric dam project on the Mekong River. Assurances the $3.8 billion project was on hold pending further ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103159486/National-news/another-major-xayaburi-pact.html