ភ្នំពេញប៉ុស្តិ៍
Chut Wutty slaying puts Timbergreen logging in spotlight
Community activists and conservationists commemorating slain environment activist Chut Wutty on the weekend used the occasion to shed light on what they allege are the shadowy practices of a logging company in the southwestern Cardamom forests. Activists amongst the hundreds of people who travelled to Koh ...
Garment workers will return, still seek resolution
More than 800 workers from Su Tong Fang factory in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district will end their two-week protest and return to work on Thursday after reaching an agreement with their bosses, their union representative said yesterday. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051456148/National-news/mixed-fortunes-for-strikers.html
Roadblock ends as protesters succumb to drivers' demands
It took angry motorists rather than government officials or police officers to persuade more than 200 protesting villagers to clear road 48 in Koh Kong province yesterday morning after they blocked it for almost 24 hours, a human rights group representative said. The villagers, involved in ...
Solving problems brings in wealth
One of Cambodia’s true rags-to-riches success stories is that of Din Somethearith, co-founder and executive director of Frangipani Villa Hotels. Frangipani, named for the blossoming tree, is a chain of boutique hotels, one of which is located just off Street 178 at number 43, down a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051456140/Business/solving-problems-brings-in-wealth.html
TTY tycoon owes potato debt, villagers say
TTY director-general Na Marady, a well-known Cambodian tycoon, has been accused of owing money to farmers from whom he bought potatoes on credit more than a year ago in Memot district’s Koki and Kompoan communes in Kampong Cham province. The villagers complained on Friday that Na ...
Subedi ‘shocked’ by evictions
One of the first things UN Special Rapporteur Surya Subedi did on his week-long fact-finding mission in Cambodia was visit the grave of slain environmentalist Chut Wutty. It wasn’t on the itinerary, but Subedi, rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, said he wanted ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051156113/National-news/subedi-shocked-by-evictions.html
Anti-loggers held back by FA officials
Forestry Administration officials reportedly blocked vehicles in three provinces from travelling to Koh Kong town yesterday on their way to the site where prominent environmental activist Chut Wutty was shot last month. But hundreds of others from six provinces in a convoy of 27 vans made it ...
Guesthouses rebut calls for fair prices
Hotel and guesthouse operators have pushed back against government calls to avoid price increases during holidays, claiming group booking, as well as supply and demand, dictated the price of accommodation. Government officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, have recently tried to dissuade operators from raising the ...
Laos postpones construction on Xayaburi Dam
Laos has postponed construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam project on the Lower Mekong River, a spokesman for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quoted saying on Wednesday. “No construction is going on. It’s discontinued, postponed,” Sithong Chitgnothin told Radio Free Asia in Laos. ...
Beeline manager exits
The general manager of Cambodian mobile operator Beeline has left the company, following brand-owner Vimpelcom’s selloff of Vietnamese assets and a more than US$500 million over-valuation of its Cambodia and Vietnam markets. General manager Gael Campan’s departure raised questions about Amsterdam-based Vimpelcom’s future in the Kingdom, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051156103/Business/beeline-manager-exits.html
IRI survey finds Cambodian majority optimistic over future
The vast majority of Cambodians – 81 per cent – believe the Kingdom is headed in the right direction, according to an International Republican Institute survey on democratic governance released yesterday. Key reasons respondents gave for their upbeat assessment included the building of more roads, bridges, health clinics ...
Workers waiting for a bargain
Informal workers, a class that includes beer promoters, tuk tuk drivers and farmers, are among those who stand to benefit most from the upcoming trade-union law, observers say – and workers say it can’t come soon enough. Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for ...
Cedac report to help farmers
As the rainy season approaches, Cedac, a Cambodian agricultural organisation, is appealing to farmers this week to increase their rice yields, according to a Cedac report directed toward growers. The report established a six-step order of operations that would ensure increased output during the most intense growing ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051156101/Business/report-to-help-farmers.html
Insurance claims drop in Q1
Claims on Cambodia’s six biggest insurance companies declined year on year by more than 90 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, data from the General Insurance Association of Cambodia (GIAC) shows. The value of claims in 2011 was raised by fires that gutted two ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051156100/Business/insurance-claims-drop-in-q1.html
Corporate social responsibility in Cambodia
Frontier and emerging economies such as Cambodia present companies with a specific set of challenges and risk, both real and perceived, beyond those found in more developed markets. A risk category getting ever- increasing attention is that of “social risk”, roughly defined as the risk of ...
Prison labour still a threat: rights group
Prisoners still face being exploited for labour, despite the government’s March prakas banning goods made behind bars from being exported, rights group Licadho has said. Although Licadho believes the prakas will help protect the image of Cambodia’s garment industry, it says inmates still face exploitation under ...
Passport fee latest wrinkle in factory workers’ Thai plight
A rights group has raised concerns that up to 100 Cambodian migrant workers at a Thai seafood processing factory will be stranded abroad in less than a week without any income because they cannot afford to pay a passport fee demanded by their employer. Of the ...
Exports to Korea jump 80pc
Cambodia’s first-quarter exports to South Korea soared nearly 80 per cent year-on-year, driven mostly by garments and agriculture products, but imports still accounted for most of the trade between the two countries. Total exports to South Korea jumped to US$30 million for the first three months of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051056080/Business/exports-to-korea-jump-80pc.html
Oz aid cuts won’t touch Cambodia
Despite major foreign aid budget cuts at home, Australia had upped its assistance to Cambodia by about US$17.4 million for 2012-2013, the embassy here said yesterday. Australia would provide a total of $95.3 million in “official development assistance to Cambodia”, the embassy said in a statement. ...
Cambodia ‘ripe’ for money laundering
Cambodia is ripe for money-laundering and terrorist financing activities due to rampant corruption, banking-sector secrecy and an overall lack of financial transparency, a governance institute says in a report released this week. The Switzerland-based Basel Institute on Governance has ranked Cambodia the third “highest-risk” country out of 144 ...
Dragon building roars to life
Champagne greeted the movers and shakers at the highest level of Cambodia’s tallest building yesterday in a ceremony that marked substantial completion of the structure of Vattanac Capital Tower. Designed in the shape of a dragon with particular attention to the Chinese art of placement for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051056079/Business/dragon-building-roars-to-life.html
Regional health insider talks Cambodian medical care
A French doctor established International SOS between Jakarta and Singapore 27 years ago. The company conducted emergency airlifts for patients to Singapore due to the lack of quality health services available in Indonesia at the time. The French-owned company now has a presence in 74 countries ...
Thailand's allure is strong in Srei Snam
Dry, parched ground – evidence of severe dry season drought – stretches for miles in Siem Reap’s Srei Snam district. In a couple of months, the rains will flood these fields. Both conditions make it equally impossible to produce a good harvest. Srei Snam was a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051056096/National-news/looking-for-a-better-life.html
ACU takes aim at bribes
The Anti-Corruption Unit has set its sights on illegal fees paid at the commune level and intends to stamp out a decades-old culture of bribery within the next four months, ACU officials announced yesterday. At a press conference, acting ACU president Chhay Savuth said that 22 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956060/National-news/acu-takes-aim-at-bribes.html