News
A ride worth the weight
North of the Sesan River, in protected forests that stretch to the border with Laos and Vietnam, illegal timber traders describe a network of bribery that leaves them counting their riels, despite the multimillion-dollar nature of the industry. In contrast to the large flat-bed trucks owned ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ride-worth-weight
Maids forced into debt bondage in Singapore
In August last year, the government launched a pilot project that sent 220 women to work as maids in Singapore, the first major effort to open up a new market for Cambodia’s domestic workers after the government halted sending maids to Malaysia due to persistent ...
Matt Blomberg and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maids-forced-into-debt-bondage-in-singapore-63194/
Scores of Chinese arrested for phone scam
The Interior Ministry’s internal security department arrested 78 Chinese nationals Thursday for their alleged involvement in a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) extortion scam in coordinated raids in Phnom Penh and two provinces. The men and women were arrested in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/scores-of-chinese-arrested-for-phone-scam-63216/
Rice export target a big task
The pace of Cambodia’s rice exports are expected to slow this year. Unable to maintain the steady rate of previous years, the export volume for the first half of 2014 is much the same as it was this time last year. At the end of June, ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-export-target-big-task
Man arrested, shots fired at land dispute protest
A villager was arrested and authorities fired shots Thursday in an attempt to quell a protest against the pending eviction in Preah Vihear province of more than 80 families at the hands of timber magnate Try Pheap, villagers said. Lor Chan, provincial coordinator for rights ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/man-arrested-shots-fired-at-land-dispute-protest-63224/
ILO says shaming factories leading to improved standards
Naming and shaming factories that fail to ensure a basic standard of conditions for their workers is starting to improve standards in the crucial garment sector, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), but persistent offenders remain. Nine factories are included in the “lowest compliance” category ...
Holly Robertson and Sun Heng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ilo-says-shaming-factories-leading-to-improved-standards-63202/
Gov’t as legit as junta: premier
In a bid to reinforce the legitimacy of his government amid an ongoing parliamentary boycott by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday looked west for an analogy. He chose one that didn’t involve a ballot box. Instead, he pointed to Thailand’s National ...
Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-legit-junta-premier
Workers protest at Siem Reap’s Ta Prohm temple
Sixty restoration workers at Ta Prohm temple in Siem Reap province put down their tools Thursday and protested in front of the temple alongside 31 former workers who lost their jobs last year and are demanding to be rehired by the Archaeological Survey of India ...
Sek Odom and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-protest-at-siem-reaps-ta-prohm-temple-63212/
Thais free 14 Cambodian workers
Charges against 14 Cambodia migrant workers arrested in Thailand last month have been dropped and the group will return to the Kingdom tomorrow, government officials have told the Post. A hearing at the Sa Kaeo provincial court in Thailand this morning determined that the workers had been ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-free-14-cambodian-workers
‘No backroom deals’ in Veera release
Permanent secretary for foreign affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said the release was not made in response to Cambodia’s request for the release of 14 migrant workers being held in Thailand on visa fraud charges. “Cambodia has not asked for any favours,” Mr Sihasak said, adding that Thailand ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/418611/no-backroom-deals-in-veera-release
Labor committee details schedule for wage talks: report
The Labor Advisory Committee has asked unions and employers to start separate internal talks on wages this month under a schedule it approved in June, an industry source says. In a report late Wednesday, Fibre2fashion.com said the 28-member committee had agreed that the talks would be ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MzMxODViNmRhMzh
NCPO to thank Cambodia for release of Wira Somkhwamkhit
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has indicated it will send a letter thanking the Cambodian government for the release of political activist Wira Somkhwamkhit, who spent more than 3 years in a Cambodian prison. According to Colonel Winthai Suwari, the spokesman for the ...
Thailand National News Bureau Staff
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNFOR5707030010001
Joint patrols on agenda
In response to a spate of Cambodian illegal loggers being shot dead by Thai soldiers near the border, the government on Tuesday urged a Thai delegation to consider border patrols composed of representatives from the two countries, the foreign minister said. “I would like to request ...
Chhay Channyda and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/joint-patrols-agenda
Puny plants perturb Kampot pepper producers
Kampot pepper farmers saw a bumper crop this year with harvest levels up more than 36 per cent, but rain shortages have diminished the producers’ chances of exporting their haul. According to Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA), more than 30 tonnes ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/puny-plants-perturb-kampot-pepper-producers
Deadlock longest in history
Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha yesterday asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to show more flexibility in negotiations in order to break the political deadlock. His request comes at a symbolic juncture: The political impasse following last July’s national election has now become the longest ever since ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deadlock-longest-history
Officials ‘take cut’ of dam compensation
Officials involved in negotiating compensation offers between the developers of the Lower Sesan II dam and affected villagers have kept a portion of the money paid out to 12 families for themselves, according to an official. Duong Pov, Stung Treng provincial administration director, claimed that a ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-%E2%80%98take-cut%E2%80%99-dam-compensation
Court urged to suspend garment union leader
Two former board members of the country’s largest independent garment sector union asked the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday to suspend president Ath Thorn and two fellow officials over allegations of embezzlement. Oum Visal and Roeung Chanthorn, founding board members of the Coalition of Cambodian ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-urged-to-suspend-garment-union-leader-63083/
Six months on, no justice for shootings
Six months ago today, security forces opened fire on garment workers protesting for a doubling of their minimum wage on Phnom Penh’s factory-lined Veng Sreng Boulevard. At least five people were killed in what rights groups called the worst state violence against citizens in 15 ...
Vong Sokheng and Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/six-months-no-justice-shootings
Villagers agree to remeasuring of disputed land
Villagers caught in a land dispute with an agribusiness firm in Kompong Speu province Wednesday attempted to reclaim farmland they say is theirs, but were thwarted by provincial authorities, who appeased them by promising to measure the land again. About 250 families in Phnom Sruoch district ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-agree-to-remeasuring-of-disputed-land-63077/
Urban planning needed: ADB
With a rapidly rising population exacerbating the country’s existing infrastructure, the Asia Development Bank (ADB) has highlighted in a new study the Cambodian government’s failure to install effective planning policies in its most densely populated urban centres. The ADB estimates that, driven by work opportunities and ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/urban-planning-needed-adb
Electricity provider to offer Wing payments
Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) on Monday announced it will offer customers in Sihanoukville, Battambang and Siem Reap the option to pay their bills via mobile payment provider Wing. EdC and Wing officials signed an agreement on July 1 at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh authorising ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/electricity-provider-offer-wing-payments
200 workers protest against forced overtime
About 200 workers from the Chinese-owned Pollysa (Cambodia) Home Textile factory in Sihanoukville protested Wednesday against the overtime they were being forced to work and the firing of 20 employees earlier this week who refused the extra hours, workers and a union representative said. Starting at ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/200-factory-workers-protest-against-forced-overtime-63085/
Will AEON mall succeed in one of the poorest countries in the world?
The presence of AEON Mall in Cambodia has stirred a lot of questions revolving around the future success of this Japanese giant mall. Since the official opening of the mall, thousands of people have flocked to visit this new mall. Not only people in general ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZmMxZmI4MTA1Mjg
Developer ordered to halt work on disputed land
The governor of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district Wednesday ordered the private firm heading a $3-billion real estate project on the peninsula to temporarily stop pumping sand onto land being contested by about 40 local families, but urged the families to reconsider the compensation on ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/developer-ordered-to-halt-work-on-disputed-land-63087/