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Prey Veng Villagers Protest Mounting Electricity Costs
More than 200 families in Prey Veng province protested outside the Pea Reang district police office on Wednesday against electricity providers Elisa Hour and Electricite du Cambodge (EdC), which have both refused to lower electricity rates, despite having made a promise to do so three ...
Phnom Penh Residents Asked To Reduce Electricity Usage
State-run Electricite du Cambodge (EdC), the main provider of electricity in the country, has appealed to residents of Phnom Penh to reduce electricity use due to a power shortage, an EdC official said yesterday. The company is only able to produce 70 percent of the city’s ...
Companies given right to develop wildlife land
The Cambodian government has reclassified 12,000 hectares of wildlife sanctuary to make way for agro-industry concessions for three companies, according to the royal book issued on March 19. The land has been cut from the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest protected area in Cambodia, which ...
Lost Opportunities as Cambodian Labor Goes Abroad: Advocate
Even with an improved domestic job market, many Cambodian workers are seeking jobs overseas, despite the risks. This is mainly due to the government’s failure to get the word out, Moeun Tola, a labor advocate at the Community Legal Education Center, told “Hello VOA” Thursday. “We see ...
China’s Hu Visits Cambodia as Asean Leaders Eye Sea Disputes
President Hu Jintao today becomes the first Chinese head of state to visit Cambodia in 12 years, in a trip days before Southeast Asian leaders gather for talks that may touch on territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Hu’s visit, which lasts until April 2, ...
Worker Shortage Biggest Threat to Economy
A shortage of workers, particularly those with skills, is the biggest threat to economic growth in Cambodia today, Sok Chenda, secretary general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), said yesterday. Speaking at the Greater Mekong Subregion Investment Policy Forum organized by the Organization ...
EU Launches Food Security Program Aimed at Minorities
The European Union has launched a $4.5 million program aimed at increasing food security among indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province, including those whose land has been affected by the growing number of economic land concessions in the area. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch in ...
Koh Kong power to go to Thais
Cambodian tycoon Ly Yong Phat has signed a US$3 billion joint-venture agreement with Thai energy firm Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Plc on what would be the Kingdom’s largest power station. Just under 90 per cent of the power, however, would be sold to Thailand. The 1,800 megawatt ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032955308/Business/koh-kong-power-to-go-to-thais.html
Borei Keila Residents File Land Transfer Complaint
One hundred and thirty-five families evicted from the Borei Keila community filed a complaint with the Council of Ministers and Finance Ministry yesterday against Phnom Penh Municipality for trying to transfer to the Phanimex company land belonging to the community, a resident said. ...
Supreme Court Wants $200K Cash Deposit in Renakse Case
The Supreme Court has requested that the owner of Phnom Penh’s shuttered Renakse Hotel deposit $200,000 with the court as proof that it is able to pay compensation to the hotel’s former manager, a lawyer said yesterday. In 2008, the ruling CPP sold the French colonial-era ...
Voices divided pre-ASEAN
Protecting human rights, especially those of Cambodian migrant workers traversing borders to countries such as Malaysia, dominated discussions at yesterday’s ASEAN Peoples’ Forum, one of two competing pre-summit forums that claim to be giving a voice to Cambodians. Speaking at yesterday’s forum, Seng Sakda, director-general ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032955323/National-news/voices-divided-pre-asean.html
Svay Rieng shooting victims get their say
The three young women wounded in last month’s factory shooting in Svay Rieng province will meet with provincial prosecutor Hing Bunchea today to give their account of the February 20 incident that has yet to produce an arrest warrant. Bun Chinda, 21, Nuth Sokhorn, 23, and ...
Villagers take sawmill to task
Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest claimed yesterday that about 600 resin trees they found inside a sawmill in the Kampong Thom province had been cut down illegally – an allegation government officials quickly denied. After resistance from police and soldiers monitoring their actions this ...
Sea Clashes Loom Over Southeast Asia Summit
Tiny Cambodia is emerging as a key pawn in the diplomatic struggle over one of the world’s busiest stretches of water: the potentially energy-rich South China Sea. The country of 15 million people is this year hosting a series of regional summits in which China’s claims ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577308972320988892.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Phnom Penh Cleans Up Prior To Next Week’s Asean Summit
In addition to security and public order initiatives in the lead-up to next week’s Asean Summit, Phnom Penh authorities said yesterday they would be redoubling their “clean city” efforts. “We’re keeping security and order, and we asked Cintri [waste disposal company] to double the numbers of ...
Pursat City Residents Threaten To Protest Electricity Prices
More than 500 residents of Pursat City have signed a letter addressed to Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem threatening to take to the streets in protest if the town’s privately owned electricity distributor does not reduce prices. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian ...
Three Injured by Police During Factory Protest
Three factory workers were injured yesterday during a protest in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district when more than 500 workers clashed with about 100 police officers, according to eyewitnesses and union representatives. Workers from Win Shingtex (Cambodia) Co Ltd had originally planned to march from the ...
Activists arm with fire, photos
Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest on motorbikes yesterday defended their decision to burn more than 360 cubic metres of timber, tear down 10 huts used by “illegal loggers” and confiscate a chainsaw, a villager representative said. “All the villagers who provide evidence about ...
Villagers Seize Large Hauls of Illegal Timber
Hundreds of villagers patrolling Prey Long forest for illegal logging discovered and burned more than 370 cubic meters of wood during the first four days of their campaign, an organizer said yesterday. About 400 villagers from Kompong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces who ...
A ‘good neighbour’ policy
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr chose Cambodia as his first official overseas trip since his March 2 appointment to the top foreign policy job. The Australian Labor Party politician, former journalist and longtime premier of New South Wales sat down on Monday evening with the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032855289/National-news/a-good-neighbour-policy.html
Villagers Protest Gov’t Plans To Turn Farmland Into SEZ
About 50 people protested in front of Pailin Provincial Hall yesterday against a government plan to turn their farmland in Sala Krao district into a special economic zone (SEZ), villagers and officials said. “It is the villagers that abuse the government land. They took the ...
Police to ‘monitor’ activists
Kampong Thom province Police and soldiers have been deployed to Prey Lang forest to monitor the activities of about 500 villagers patrolling for illegal loggers, a police official said yesterday. The police and military officers gathered along a road leading to the CRCK rubber company, which has ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032755262/National-news/police-to-monitor-activists.html
NGO Representatives Chosen Months Ago, Statement Claims
An NGO director and a youth leader from two little-known organizations were elected by 2,779 NGO and youth association members at a meeting on March 15 to represent civil society at a meeting with Asean leaders next week, according to a statement released by state-run ...
Authorities nab loggers at border
Cambodia border police arrested 12 people last week who attempted to cross illegally from Preah Vihear province into Thailand to log rosewood, officials said yesterday. .. ...