News
Disasters present big risks for small GDPs
Cambodia’s small economy leaves it especially vulnerable to devastation in the face of large-scale natural disasters, United Nations agencies and Cambodian officials warned last week. “The relative size of an economy adds to the vulnerability as seen particularly in the case of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic ...
By Khouth Sophak Chakrya, P. 4
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959444/National-news/disasters-present-big-risks-for-small-gdps.html
H&M slammed over wages
Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959442/National-news/ham-slammed-over-wages.html
PM pledges pay boost
The government on Friday pledged a 20 per cent increase to the base salary of civil servants year-on-year in a move one government official insisted was based on economics, not politics. The announcement was made in a statement released over the weekend outlining government spending for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959455/National-news/government-pledges-pay-boost.html
Europe Adopts Resolution on Cambodian Rights Situation
Drawing from a long list of human rights abuses, the European Parliament has urged the Cambodian government to stop forced evictions, called on the European Commission (E.C.) to investigate the country’s controversial land concessions policy, and raised the prospect of sanctions. In a resolution passed Friday ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/europe-adopts-resolution-on-cambodian-rights-situation-4862/
European body sends a message
The European Parliament, representing one of the country’s largest donors, on Friday called for a moratorium on forced evictions, an overhaul of elections and even went so far as to suggest to the European Union that it suspend tariff-free imports of agricultural goods linked to ...
Cooperatives Key to Help Farmers, Combat Hunger
The key to lifting people out of poverty could be found in the setting up of farming cooperatives, the country director of the World Food Program said on Friday, which was also World Food Day. Jean-Pierre de Margerie, country director of the World Food Program, said ...
Government Allocates More Than $3 Billion in 2013 Budget
The government has allocated more than $3 billion for total government spending in 2013, an increase of 19.2 percent on the $2.6 billion the government planned to spend in 2012, according to a statement issued by the Council of Ministers on Friday. The statement did not ...
Three More Airlines to Offer Flights to Cambodia
Three more international airlines will soon begin operating flights to Cambodia’s two main airports, according to Cambodia Airports, which owns and operates the facilities. Lao Central Airlines and Qatar Airways will offer flights to Phnom Penh, and Frankfurt-based Condor Air will fly direct to Siem Reap, ...
Maid Company Offers Alternative to Migration
A new made-service company that claims to be the only one of its kind in Cambodia is offering an alternative employment option for the country’s many domestic workers who face insecure, and often abusive, workplace conditions overseas. Ming Hour Home Service, which opened in July, employs ...
Missing girl feared trafficked
Meas Bopha, 47, sits in an outdoor pagoda over a lotus-filled pond on her property in Kampong Speu, home to 10 of her 12 children, and wipes back tears as she talks about her missing teenage daughter, Bophea, who vanished one morning last week. Bophea ...
Too few businesses registered
A majority of small and medium enterprises in Cambodia were not registered, despite the advantages it offered to businesses, participants at a workshop on business registration procedure, intellectual property and business etiquette for women heard yesterday. Referring to 2011 statistics, Chan Sorey, vice-minister of the Ministry ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102659433/Business/too-few-businesses-registered.html
Mobile Phone Firms Threaten to Sue Mfone
Mobile phone operators Hello Axiata Co. Ltd. and Latelz Co. Ltd. are threatening to take legal action against the Thai-owned firm Mfone for allegedly refusing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly owed to them in interconnection fees. In a letter dated October 12 to ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mobile-phone-firms-threaten-to-sue-mfone-4811/
Factory boss tried for crumpling moon pic
The Kandal Provincial Court yesterday tried and convicted a Chinese factory supervisor for damaging a photograph of the moon in which the likeness of the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk is believed to have been seen. Judge Lim Sokuntha said the court had sentenced Leav Kuyseang, ...
Politics 'behind journo deaths'
Twelve journalists have been killed in Cambodia since 1993, according to a report from the rights group Adhoc, which believes much of the bloodshed was politically motivated. The body count was included in a round-up of abuses against the media in a report the group released ...
PM urges migrant protection
Some 285 million workers will migrate for employment when ASEAN countries open their borders to each other in 2015, Prime Minister Hun Sen predicted yesterday, as he urged speedier regional legislative action to ensure they could travel safely. At an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council meeting, the premier warned ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102659423/National-news/pm-urges-migrant-protection.html
Factory Manager Handed Suspended Sentence
A Chinese garment factory manager was handed a three-month suspended sentence and released yesterday after she was found guilty of folding up a photograph of King Father Norodom Sihanouk in front of workers in Kandal province, officials said. Liv Kuy Chheang, 45, was charged with intentionally ...
Trade with Vietnam slows
Bilateral trade between Cambodia and neighboring Vietnam grew by 17 per cent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, a decrease from previous years, the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia said yesterday. The data showed a total trade volume ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102659432/Business/trade-with-vietnam-slows.html
Ratanakiri deaths 'avoidable'
Better communication from authorities in Cambodia and Vietnam might have prevented the deaths of villagers and the destruction of homes in Ratanakkiri at times when water has been released from Vietnam’s Yali Falls dam, researchers said yesterday. Speaking at a national workshop about the Yali Falls ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102559406/National-news/ratanakkiri-deaths-avoidable.html
ADB may back disputed dam
The Asian Development Bank is considering providing funds to a controversial 400 megawatt dam project in Laos that could have adverse impacts on the Mekong River in downstream Cambodia. Conservation group International Rivers wants the Lao government to pull the plug on the $1 billion Xe ...
Major boulevards increasing in price
The sale and purchase of land along the four major boulevards in Phnom Penh climbed up to 40 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, while the construction of offices is gradually on the rise, according to real estate experts. The growth of land prices ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/Real-Estate/land-price-along-boulevards-on-the-rise.html
Cambodia Airports Funds Study of Five Airstrips
Cambodia Airports, which operates the country’s three international airports, has financed a study of five of the country’s unused domestic airstrips ahead of government plans to rehabilitate the facilities, a representative of the company said yesterday. Khek Norinda, communications manager at the Cambodia Airports, said that ...
More Houses Torn Down In Canal Clean-Up
Authorities in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district continued to demolish houses in Niroth commune yesterday, despite 46 families appealing to the municipality and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet to intervene. On Tuesday, three houses were torn down as part of efforts to clean up a stretch of ...
Foreigners entering the condo market in Phnom Penh
The number of foreign owners of houses in Cambodia has soared in recent years after the government permitted foreigners to have rights over owning real estate in the Kingdom, according to officials of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. Speaking at the opening of ...
Dangerous chemicals still found in foodstuffs
Some Cambodian foodstuffs contained potentially harmful preservatives used to extend the shelf life of the products and ensure profits, an official said yesterday. Pork Sovannarith, secretary of state for the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said some food producers continued to use preservatives that could ...