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Parents, Teachers Lose Out in Closing of International Schools
Two more Set International Schools (SIS) have closed due to financial troubles, leaving hundreds of primary school students looking for a place to study, parents and a teacher’s union official said yesterday. The closing of the two SIS schools – in Kompong Cham and Pursat provinces ...
Bavet Governor Summoned Over Shooting
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court yesterday summoned Bavet city governor Chhuk Bundith for questioning over his alleged role in the shooting of three female garment workers at a special economic zone (SEZ) in the province two weeks ago, court officials said. Human rights groups continued ...
Commander Says Prosecutor Deployed Troops
Armed troops that were deployed last month to quell a land dispute protest outside the Kompong Speu Provincial Court were ordered to do so by a court prosecutor, a commander in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) said yesterday. On Feb. 9, a detachment of ...
Thailand’s gem industry may move to Cambodia
Cambodia could overtake Thailand’s gem export market to the United States within five years, officials said yesterday. Thailand’s growing economic status could soon disqualify it for tax exemption when exporting gems to the US market, but Cambodia’s standing as a Least Developed Country would allow it ...
Kingdom's first gem-testing lab opens
London-based checker of rare gems and jewellery Intertek has established a laboratory in Cambodia to help regulate and provide guidelines for the gem trade. Officially opening today, it is the Kingdom’s first gem laboratory. Intertek director in Cambodia Khut Sothy said the country had been ...
Fishermen to be freed
Two days after extending indefinitely a ban on commercial fishing in Tonle Sap Lake, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday called for the release of all prisoners detained during the government crackdown, officials close to the premier said yesterday. Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhayli told the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030654880/National-news/fishermen-to-be-freed.html
Hun Sen Orders Fishing Criminals Released
Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the release of all prisoners serving sentences and suspects facing charges related to illegal fishing, officials said yesterday, though it was unclear when the directive would take effect. Nao Thuok, director general of the Fisheries Administration, said the prime ...
Students Demand More Information on Resource Extraction
Most Cambodian university students have heard of their country’s fledging extractive industry. But with little access to information, few are aware of how revenue from this industry is being managed. Most of this information remains unavailable, and some are now voicing their concerns about corruption ...
Kampot dredging escalates
Dredging in Kampot has escalated in the face of community concerns, with more boats now mining sand right in front of the provincial capital and dumping vast amounts of it directly outside the provincial land management authority. The Post counted a total of 17 boats ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030554851/National-news/kampot-dredging-only-grows.html
Garment factories: Minimum wage raise scrutinised
The presidents of three unions have appealed to the Garment Manufacturing Association of Cambodia to improve the “miserable” living conditions of its workers by providing higher wages and better benefits, a letter received by the Post yesterday shows. The letter is dated March 2 and signed ...
Chea Mony sued over strike
Kampong Chhnang Provincial Court has summonsed Free Trade Union president Chea Mony and two of his officers to answer incitement charges at the court tomorrow relating to his alleged involvement in a mass strike at a garment factory last year, officials said yesterday. M&V garment factory ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030554857/National-news/chea-mony-sued-over-strike.html
Police Confiscate Trucks Smuggling Thai Gasoline
Police in Siem Reap province said yesterday that they confiscated two trucks in Varin district Friday morning carrying 24,228 liters of gasoline believed to have been smuggled from Thailand. Soeun Sem, chief of the Siem Reap economic police, said that officers apprehended the two ...
Mystery Surrounds SEZ Triple Shooting Case
Confusion continued to swirl around the fate of Bavet city Governor Chhuk Bundith yesterday after the Interior Ministry last week identified him as the sole suspect in the Feb. 20 triple shooting of protesters at a special economic zone (SEZ). While human rights groups claimed yesterday ...
Corn sales fall, profits sought in cassava
Revenues from Cambodian corn exports fell by 52 per cent last year as farmers scrapped the crop for the more lucrative, but less stable, cassava plant. The Kingdom exported 35,381 tonnes of corn, worth US$2.2 million, in 2011, down from 86,533 tonnes worth $4.57 million the ...
Conference Highlights the Country's Math Deficiency
Education experts and professors from around the world gathered over the weekend in Phnom Penh to discuss ways to strengthen mathematics in Cambodia and other developing countries. the problem is not a lack of student capability, said Lin Mongkolsery, a mathematics teacher at the Institute ...
Minorities Seek Land Dispute March Approval
Local human rights group Adhoc has requested provincial approval to stage a large-scale march later this month involving hundreds of indigenous minorities embroiled in a land dispute in Ratanakiri province. The demonstration is being organized to bring attention to what minority villagers claim is judicial ...
$100m fund to target Kingdom’s growth
Vietnam-based Dragon Capital is raising up to US$100 million for a new Indochina fund, some of which the private equity firm would invest in Cambodian agriculture and infra-structure, Dragon’s chief information officer Bill Stoops said yesterday. Dragon Capital has a 20 per cent stake ...
Bavet governor implicated
Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith is the man who gunned down three unarmed women at a protest last week, Interior Minister Sar Kheng alleged yesterday, saying an official complaint had been filed against him. Outside an unrelated conference, the minister told reporters the governor would ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030254828/National-news/bavet-governor-implicated.html
Certification Quandry Stunts Sugar Exports
In April 2010, Kampot Pepper and Kompong Speu palm sugar both gained a geographical indication (GI) from the Ministry of Commerce that recognized their unique qualities and protected their name. But while Kampot pepper producers export almost all of their 17-ton annual production at high ...
Authorities Fire Weapons During Seziure of Rosewood
Forestry officials and police in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district seized a car transporting more than 100 pieces of illegally logged rosewood on Wednesday night, the 10th haul of the luxury wood in the province since January, according to a court official. Despite the efforts ...
World Bank Still Searching for Country Manager
The World Bank said yesterday that it is continuing to search for a new country manager following the departure of Quimiao Fann last month for a new role in the former Soviet Union. A Chinese national and economist by training, Mr. Fan has been ...
Cambodia-Linked Investors Sentenced in Seoul
The chief executives of the firms behind two large-scale real-estate projects in Cambodia have been sentenced to jail in Seoul for obtaining illegal loans and using the money to finance fictitious companies abroad, according to a South Korean court official. The two executives were among a ...
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
Relocation fears for Siem Reap families
About 90 Siem Reap families have rejected what they say is a preliminary move by the provincial authority to have them moved off land declared part of Kulen Mountain National Park in 2002. The families, in Banteay Srei district’s Tbeng commune, said yesterday they had rejected ...