News
Cambodia, Brazil ink broad new agreement
Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday with Brazil, the largest Latin American economy, to boost cooperation in areas that include agriculture, technology and diplomatic ties, officials said. The MoU was signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by secretary of state Ouch Borith and ...
Mystery Surrounds SEZ Triple Shooting Case
Confusion continued to swirl around the fate of Bavet city Governor Chhuk Bundith yesterday after the Interior Ministry last week identified him as the sole suspect in the Feb. 20 triple shooting of protesters at a special economic zone (SEZ). While human rights groups claimed yesterday ...
Corn sales fall, profits sought in cassava
Revenues from Cambodian corn exports fell by 52 per cent last year as farmers scrapped the crop for the more lucrative, but less stable, cassava plant. The Kingdom exported 35,381 tonnes of corn, worth US$2.2 million, in 2011, down from 86,533 tonnes worth $4.57 million the ...
Conference Highlights the Country's Math Deficiency
Education experts and professors from around the world gathered over the weekend in Phnom Penh to discuss ways to strengthen mathematics in Cambodia and other developing countries. the problem is not a lack of student capability, said Lin Mongkolsery, a mathematics teacher at the Institute ...
Broadcast Bias Means CPP Dominates Airtime
The ruling CPP recieved nearly twice as much television and radio airtime last year than any other political party, and access to the broadcast media continues to be constrained by bias toward Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party, an election-monitoring group said in its annual report. ...
Bavet Governor's Arrest Reported in Svay Rieng
Bavet City Governor Chhuk Bundith was arrested on Friday afternoon for his alleged role in the triple shooting in Svay Rieng province, local rights group Licadho said late Friday night. “[Chhuk Bandith]” was arrested this afternoon at 4:30 p.m., and is now being detained in ...
Photo Said to Show SEZ Shooter With Police
A week and a half after a uniformed man opened fire on three female protesters at a special economic zone in Svay Rieng province, a photograph surfaced in a local newspaper on Friday showing the alleged gunman brandishing a pistol and surrounded by police and ...
Minorities Seek Land Dispute March Approval
Local human rights group Adhoc has requested provincial approval to stage a large-scale march later this month involving hundreds of indigenous minorities embroiled in a land dispute in Ratanakiri province. The demonstration is being organized to bring attention to what minority villagers claim is judicial ...
Prasac seeks commercial bank status
PRASAC, Cambodia’s largest microfinance institution by outstanding loans, planned to become a licensed commercial bank in the Kingdom, company officials said yesterday. The news comes despite calls from insiders and experts – most recently the International Monetary Fund and World Bank – for the National ...
$100m fund to target Kingdom’s growth
Vietnam-based Dragon Capital is raising up to US$100 million for a new Indochina fund, some of which the private equity firm would invest in Cambodian agriculture and infra-structure, Dragon’s chief information officer Bill Stoops said yesterday. Dragon Capital has a 20 per cent stake ...
Bavet governor implicated
Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith is the man who gunned down three unarmed women at a protest last week, Interior Minister Sar Kheng alleged yesterday, saying an official complaint had been filed against him. Outside an unrelated conference, the minister told reporters the governor would ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030254828/National-news/bavet-governor-implicated.html
Certification Quandry Stunts Sugar Exports
In April 2010, Kampot Pepper and Kompong Speu palm sugar both gained a geographical indication (GI) from the Ministry of Commerce that recognized their unique qualities and protected their name. But while Kampot pepper producers export almost all of their 17-ton annual production at high ...
Informal Pharmacies Continue To Operate Despite Crackdown
There are no reliable figures on the number of illegal pharmacies operating nationwide, but the government insists that the problem is a thing of the past. At the launch of an anti-drug campaign at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh on Monday, Chou Yin Sim, secretary ...
Appeal Court Rehears case of $60 Million Embezzlement
The former deputy director general of Anco Groups and his wife yesterday defended themselves against convictions handed down by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for embezzling nearly $60 million dollars from the firm – owned by CPP Senator and tycoon Kok An – during the ...
Authorities Fire Weapons During Seziure of Rosewood
Forestry officials and police in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district seized a car transporting more than 100 pieces of illegally logged rosewood on Wednesday night, the 10th haul of the luxury wood in the province since January, according to a court official. Despite the efforts ...
Truck Accident Leaves 1 Garment Worker Dead, 30 Badly Injured
One garment worker was killed and 30 others seriously injured on Wednesday when the truck in which they were travelling crashed in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district, a police official said yesterday. Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Mony said all 58 women were workers ...
Report Notes Major Increase in Migrant Workers Abused
The number of migrant workers abused by their foreign employers abroad more than doubled in 2011, rights group Adhoc announced yesterday before calling on the government to improve its efforts to protect both migrant and repatriated workers. “It’s a dangerous sign,” said Adhoc president Thun Saray ...
World Bank Still Searching for Country Manager
The World Bank said yesterday that it is continuing to search for a new country manager following the departure of Quimiao Fann last month for a new role in the former Soviet Union. A Chinese national and economist by training, Mr. Fan has been ...
Cambodia-Linked Investors Sentenced in Seoul
The chief executives of the firms behind two large-scale real-estate projects in Cambodia have been sentenced to jail in Seoul for obtaining illegal loans and using the money to finance fictitious companies abroad, according to a South Korean court official. The two executives were among a ...
At least debate FOI draft: SRP lawmaker
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay has sent an amended version of his draft freedom-of-information law to the National Assembly this morning and urged the parliament to at least debate the legislation. Son Chhay said yesterday his revised law had taken into account amendments requested ...
Indigenous land exploited
The Royal Government of Cambodia and private land developers were exploiting indigenous communities in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri provinces by signing concession deals for the communities’ land without prior consultation, advocates said yesterday. “We urge the government as well as the private sector to respect [indigenous peoples’] ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030254821/National-news/indigenous-land-exploited.html
Relocation fears for Siem Reap families
About 90 Siem Reap families have rejected what they say is a preliminary move by the provincial authority to have them moved off land declared part of Kulen Mountain National Park in 2002. The families, in Banteay Srei district’s Tbeng commune, said yesterday they had rejected ...
ILO program pushes dialogue
In the wake of several violent garment-factory protests last week, the International Labour Office yesterday launched a five-year, US$5 million Decent Work Country Program in Cambodia to focus on improving industrial relations. “[This] marks the beginning of a new body of work for the ILO in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030254818/National-news/ilo-program-pushes-dialogue.html
Doubt lingers despite Kratie dispute accord
About 160 villagers from Kratie province’s Meanchey village cancelled plans to block National Road 7 yesterday after provincial authorities and a Vietnamese rubber company agreed to their requests regarding an ongoing land dispute, but some expressed skepticism that the agreement would last. Village representative Saren ...