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Facing Chinese Dam, Monks Fight for Temple
Monks residing in Koh Kong’s remote Areng Valley have begun raising funds online to renovate their local temple, despite plans in store for a large Chinese backed hydropower dam that would leave the site completely inundated. The 108-MW hydropower dam, to be built by ...
Kuch Naren and Kene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/facing-chinese-dam-monks-fight-for-temple-31987/
Bets keep flowing as NagaWorld Employee Protest Continues
Gambling went on as usual at NagaWorld, Phnom Penh’s only licensed hotel-casino, Monday, despite an ongoing strike by employees who claim that more than 400 of them have been fired following weeks of protest. About 300 workers sat outside the casino with banners on Monday in ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Lewis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bets-keep-flowing-as-nagaworld-employee-protest-continues-31881/
Illegal cosmetics chemicals trashed
Government officials yesterday disposed of some 30 tonnes of chemical substances they said Chinese nationals had intended to sell illegally as cosmetics. Long Sreng, deputy chief of the Interior Ministry’s anti-economic crime department, said authorities seized the chemicals – some of which already were falsely packaged ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062566459/National/illegal-cosmetics-chemicals-trashed.html
Fraud Case Highlights Bribery Around Requests for Citizenship
The Court of Appeal on Monday acquitted a South Korean businessman who allegedly stole $50,000 that was supposed to be used to acquire Cambodian citizenship for his boss in 2007. Koo Bonkwang, the former president of Commerce Central Finance, a microlender, said he paid the money ...
Airline will offer more China trips
Cambodia Angkor Air plans to launch chartered flights between Siem Reap and the southeastern coastal Chinese city of Xiamen next month. The national flag carrier plans to take off for China for the first time on July 11, CAA Chairman Tek Reth Samrach said yesterday, the ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062566453/Business/airline-will-offer-more-china-trips.html
NagaWorld strikers fired en masse
Nagaworld casino has fired more than 400 workers who have spent about 10 days striking to demand a wage increase, union leaders, workers and a leaked internal memo have revealed. A list of names, obtained by the Post yesterday, was emailed to management and senior staff ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062466447/National/nagaworld-strikers-fired-en-masse.html
In carbon, gains for agriculture
Paying Cambodian farmers to capture carbon by not removing mulch during planting and harvesting would help support climate change mitigation, reduce soil deterioration and return higher yields in the long term, say leading agriculture experts. Speaking at a conference in Phnom Penh last Friday, Professor Rattan ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062466434/Business/in-carbon-gains-for-agriculture.html
Govt and UN to save coasts
The Fisheries Administration and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Friday officially launched a program to protect Cambodia’s coastline from over-fishing, erosion and other damage to coastal environments and livelihoods. Since the beginning of the year, the program has been training local officials ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062466440/National/govt-and-un-to-save-coasts.html
Six Cambodian Loggers Killed in One Month
The Ministry of Interior has said six Cambodians were shot dead by Thai forces in the course of a month, in a rare report outlining the impact of the ongoing trade in luxury rosewood, and authorities’ efforts to curb it. The report also says that ...
Cambodia Drops on US Global Human Trafficking Ranking
The U.S. has downgraded Cambodia in its latest global Trafficking in Persons Report for showing no discernable improvements in its efforts to combat human trafficking over the past year, the country’s first demotion in five years. The 2013 report cites an increase in the number ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-drops-on-us-global-human-trafficking-ranking-31423/
Thai rice cuts pose problems
Thailand’s recent announcement of a 20 per cent price cut within the government rice-pledging scheme will have little impact for Cambodian exports, but farmers may feel the effects, say industry insiders. In an article published in the Bangkok Post on June 19, Thailand’s cabinet had agreed ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062166407/Business/thai-rice-cuts-pose-problems.html
Kingdom’s bourse missing some magic
At the headquarters of the Cambodia Securities Exchange on the 25th floor of Canadia Tower, something seems to be missing. Here, in Phnom Penh’s business heart, the sights typically associated with trading shares – gesticulating, shouting traders, the confusing hand signals, the buzz in the air ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062166422/Business/kingdom-s-bourse-missing-some-magic.html
Opposition Asks Donors to Stop Work With Government
Lawmakers from the opposition SRP and Human Rights Party who were expelled from Parliament earlier this month have called on the foreign diplomatic corps and international donors to stop signing agreements and conducting other business with the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. In a letter ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/opposition-asks-donors-to-stop-work-with-government-31421/
Villagers call for state electricity
About 200 protesters clamoured yesterday in front of a Kandal province commune chief’s office, demanding the state take control of providing their electricity. Yong Phany, a 32-year-old protester from Ang Snuol district’s Poeuk commune said Peoun Sambat, the private company contracted to provide electricity to the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062166410/National/villagers-call-for-state-electricity.html
Despite Law, Minority Rights Receive Very Few Protections
The government does little to protect the rights and livelihoods of the country’s many ethnic minorities who are under constant threat from rapid development, representatives of indigenous groups said yesterday. “We have polices laws and guidelines to protect indigenous people, but we see that it doesn’t ...
Cambodia PM says garment firms may quit over wage rows
Cambodia’s strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned garment workers that protests demanding higher wages could push manufacturers to quit the country. His appeal came after unions last week said hundreds of workers had been fired from a factory making sportswear for US giant Nike ...
In Mondolkiri, Political Candidates Address Ethnic Minority Concerns
Human rights workers and other civil society groups on Wednesday urged the competing political parties for July’s election to address the ongoing land crises and illegal deforestation that are hurting indigenous populations. About 100 people from various ethnic minority groups from five provinces attended a forum ...
Cambodia posts sharpest increase in rice output among major producers
Cambodia posted the sharpest increase in production among the world’s major rice producers between 2000 and 2010, the Food and Agricultural Organization said in a report released Wednesday. The 2013 edition of the UN agency’s Statistical Yearbook showed that Cambodia was the world’s 12th largest rice ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OTRlZjk2Yzg3OTd
Demand for cheap rentals outnumbers supply
The boom in high-rise buildings in Phnom Penh indicates the robust economic growth of the Kingdom, but this trend does not include the lower-end accommodation where most economic migrants to Phnom Penh rent.“Cheap rental accommodation plays a crucial role in providing appropriate settlements to those ...
Sam Sopanharith
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/demand-cheap-rentals-outnumbers-supply
Housing development on Cambodian islands not the right time yet
Although currently there are a lot of development projects for resorts and guesthouses on various islands off Cambodia’s coast, experts say it is not the right time for such developments. Po Eavkong, managing director of Asia Real Estate Cambodia, said the development activities on islands in ...
Mekong Dams Threaten Extinction of Giant Catfish
The elusive Mekong giant catfish, which the U.S.-based World Wildlife Fund (WWF) called “one of the world’s largest and rarest freshwater fish,” can reach up to three meters (10 feet) and weigh up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds). The Xayaburi dam would prove an “impassable barrier” ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/dams-06192013184629.html
A Troubled Start for Cambodia’s Carbon Credits
Since 2007, the NGO Pact has been working with the government to turn 68,000 hectares of forest in Oddar Meanchey province into a moneymaking venture for the state just by keeping trees in the area standing. ...
Zsombor Peter and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/a-troubled-start-for-cambodias-carbon-credits-31277/
Judge forces sparse settlement on family of beaten children
The Ratanakkiri Provincial Court yesterday forced a family whose three children were allegedly beaten by DM Group firm employees last month to accept only $1,000 in compensation in place of the $40,000 the family initially had demanded, the children’s father claimed. Ry Sarun, 52, said that ...
Police Detain Protesting NagaWorld Staff
Nineteen NagaWorld casino employees were detained Tuesday afternoon as police attempted to break up a protest of more than 500 workers who had picketed in front of the casino for the past six days, demanding the company increase their salaries. The workers had been striking non-violently ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-detain-protesting-nagaworld-staff-31336/