Khmer translated by ODC
Illegal logging has become more violent than ever
Criminal loggers and land snatchers are committing more murders around the world, but they almost always escape justice. ...
Rachel Nuwer
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160202-Illegal-loggers-murders-violence-defending-land/
Cambodia gets about 320 mln USD investment from ASEAN last year
Cambodia attracted the fixed asset investment of 319.4 million U.S. dollars from its ASEAN member states in 2015, up 56 percent from a year earlier, according to a government report on Tuesday. ...
Song Miou
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-02/02/c_135068319.htm
Upgraded training program for elite forest rangers
The first graduates of a special training program for elite forest rangers began work this month in Preah Vihear’s protected forest.The 29 newly-minted rangers will be responsible for leading efforts to stop illegal logging, land clearance, and poaching in a forest that is home to ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20991/upgraded-training-program-for-elite-forest-rangers/
Corruption keeping economy ‘mostly unfree’
Cambodia’s “Economic Freedom”—a broad measure of how well individuals and businesses can create and protect their wealth —was classed as “mostly unfree” in a new report released by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, which identified corruption and bureaucracy as impediments to free markets. ...
Tej Parikh
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/corruption-keeping-economy-mostly-unfree-107266/
Health centres lag on NCD treatments
A study of the Kingdom’s district health system has found it “unable to manage” non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, which are estimated to be responsible for more than half of adult deaths. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/health-centres-lag-ncd-treatments
Interior ministry takes aim at illegal guns
Following a nationwide spate of violent gun crime over the past few months, the government has called on City Hall for help in its crackdown on illegal firearms, a problem one Ministry of Interior official laid at the feet of authorities themselves. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/interior-ministry-takes-aim-illegal-guns
Price wars to subvert gains made by SMEs
Cambodian entrepreneurs and business leaders on Saturday stressed the challenges for firms in the hospitality and retail sectors that adopt an aggressive pricing policy, suggesting a more value-added approach instead. ...
Ayanna Runcie
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/price-wars-subvert-gains-made-smes
Cambodian-American naval officer pleads guilty
Nearly four decades after fleeing Cambodia as a child, a tearful Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz returned to his home country in December 2010 on the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer he commanded; his fall from grace has been equally dramatic. ...
George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodian-american-naval-officer-pleads-guilty-106934/
Workers from shuttered garment factory demand wages
More than 500 garment workers from a shuttered garment factory in the capital’s Dangkor district are demanding their salaries after the firm’s owner ran away.According to its website, the Chinese-owned Muse Garment (Cambodia) Factory Limited produced pants and shorts exclusively for the European market. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-shuttered-garment-factory-demand-wages
GIZ pumps euros into workplace inspections
In a bid to reassure European shoppers concerned with unfair labour practices, Germany’s state aid agency GIZ has pledged €1.2 million ($1.3 million) to a new program focused on enhancing Cambodia’s labour inspections system for the garment sector. ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/giz-pumps-euros-workplace-inspections
Rights group blasts government over events in 2015
Human Rights Watch (HRW), long one of the most strident critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling party, again slammed the government on Wednesday for its failure to uphold human rights in Cambodia, with the release of its World Report 2016. ...
Colin Meyn
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-group-blasts-government-over-events-in-2015-106656/
Garment workers rally against Starlight, labor ministry to step in
After roughly 300 garment workers from the Starlight Apparel manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Kandal province’s Khsach Kandal district gathered in front of the Ministry of Labor yesterday, officials promised to meet today to address their demands, according to a representative of the workers. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20658/garment-workers-rally-against-starlight--labor-ministry-to-step-in/
Cambodia perceived as most corrupt in region
Cambodia is now perceived to be the most corrupt country in Southeast Asia, according to Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which was released on Wednesday and promptly dismissed by the country’s anti-graft chief. ...
Anthony Jensen and Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-perceived-as-most-corrupt-in-region-106639/
Report that new ELCs were granted to logging barons ‘false’
In an open letter to the Ministry of Environment, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) asked yesterday for confirmation of a January 19 report in the Cambodia Daily that said new economic land concessions (ELCs) had been given to two tycoons despite a ban ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20653/report-that-new-elcs-were-granted-to-logging-barons----false---/
Health ministry confirms first case of measles in four years
Three months after the Health Ministry proclaimed Cambodia measles-free—after tests on a child suspected to be carrying the disease came back negative—it announced on Wednesday that a 7-month-old in Kompong Speu province has contracted the highly contagious virus. It is the first confirmed case in ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/health-ministry-confirms-first-case-of-measles-in-four-years-106654/
Cambodia-Thai border to be discussed in Bangkok
Cambodian Secretary of State Neang Phat will lead a delegation to Thailand this morning for the 11th General Border Committee (GBC) meeting, according to an announcement from the Defense Ministry. ...
Ban Sokrith and Phun Chan Ousaphea
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20650/cambodia-thai-border-to-be-discussed-in-bangkok/
ACU probes high-ranking corruption case, warn official
The director of the Anti-Terrorism Police Department has been warned by the Anti-Corruption Unit following the lodging of a corruption complaint against him, according to officials at the ACU. Y Sok Khy has allegedly been illegally collecting so-called ‘voluntary funds’ from his subordinates on a ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20654/acu-probes-high-ranking-corruption-case--warn-official/
Thai financial major Krungsri buys out Cambodian micro-lender HKL
Bank of Ayudhya Pcl (Krungsri), Thailand’s fifth largest financial group and a subsidiary of Japan’s leading financial group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, has acquired a 100-per-cent stake of Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), one of the leading microfinance institutions in Cambodia, for an undisclosed amount. ...
Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul
http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/krungsri-acquires-cambodian-micro-financial-group-hkl-28704/
Kerry presses for reform in talks with PM
US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday pushed Prime Minister Hun Sen and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on the need for greater political freedom in Cambodia during meetings in Phnom Penh but also praised the Kingdom’s “extraordinary” development since his first visit as a senator ...
Mech Dara, Vong Sokheng and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kerry-presses-reform-talks-pm
Hun Sen foresees rise in demand for Cambodian rice
Prime Minister Hun Sen is pushing government institutions and businesses to improve the country’s rice production. Investment is required in machinery and warehouses to dry and store rice for export, something Cambodia is discussing with China, Hun Sen said. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/hun-sen-foresees-rise-in-demand-for-cambodian-rice/3163238.html
In Cambodia, John Kerry balances trade ties with warning on human rights
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Cambodia’s leaders Tuesday, the second in a three-country swing through Southeast Asia meant to deepen U.S. partnerships ahead of a key summit with the region’s leaders next month.Kerry met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, now Asia’s ...
Elise Labott
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/26/asia/kerry-cambodia-human-rights/index.html
U.S. Secretary of State hails Cambodia for rapid development
Visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday hailed Cambodia for its rapid development and said the United States is committed to further enhancing ties with the Southeast Asian country. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-01/26/c_135047515.htm
Cambodia, Singapore ratify ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons
Cambodia and Singapore have deposited their respective instruments of ratification for the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons (ACTIP) with ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh, it was learned. ...
InterAksyon.com
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/123256/cambodia-singapore-ratify-asean-convention-against-trafficking-in-persons
Mekong diversion under way in Thailand
The Thai government’s planned diversion of billions of cubic metres of water from the Mekong River, described last week by a Thai Ministry of Water Resources representative as being as far as two years away, has already begun. ...
Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mekong-diversion-under-way-thailand