The Cambodia Daily
As fish stocks vanish, locals flout law to survive
Khan Thea, a subsistence fisherman who lives and works along this sprawling, 7,000-hectare lake fed by the Mekong River, was not having a good day on the water. Struggling to net even a single fish, he finally resorted to a dangerous—and illegal—technique: fishing with electric current. ...
Phorn Bopha and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-fish-stocks%E2%80%88vanish-locals-flout-law-to-survive-63567/
Wealthy residents protest lake reclamation
About 30 residents of a planned community on the eastern outskirts of Phnom Penh gathered around the picturesque lake that forms the center of their neighborhood Monday to prevent its developer, a former opposition lawmaker, from reclaiming the land to construct condos. The residents, many of ...
Khuon Narim and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wealthy-residents-protest-lake-reclamation-63474/
Cintri drivers strike for second time this year
Phnom Penh’s trash collectors have again gone on strike over salaries and conditions in a move that could see them stop clearing the city’s streets of garbage for an extended period for the second time this year. About 100 employees of the waste disposal firm Cintri ...
Ben Sokhean and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cintri-drivers-strike-for-second-time-this-year-63462/
Tensions flare in minister’s wife’s land dispute
About 100 military and provincial police descended upon the rural village of Lor Peang on Monday morning, acting on what they said was a court order to arrest three villagers standing in the way of an agro-development project. More than 70 local residents involved in a ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tensions-flare-in-ministers-wifes-land-dispute-63446/
Sokha Hotel expected to open by september
The $100 million Sokha Hotel and Residence on Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva peninsula will be ready to receive its first guest by September, and recruitment is under way for more than 1,000 employees, the hotel’s owner said Monday. “We plan to open in September as a ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/sokha-hotel-expected-to-open-by-september-63481/
FBI to assist ‘Crackdown’ on dissident, police say
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has agreed to Cambodia’s request for greater assistance as it attempts to “crack down” on U.S.-based dissidents, according to the National Police Commissariat website. A delegation led by National Police Chief Neth Savoeun returned Saturday from a three-day visit ...
Simon Henderson and Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fbi-to-assist-crackdown-on-dissident-police-say-63470/
Commerce minister, US Ambassador swap praise after trade trip
U.S. Ambassador William Todd and Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol praised each other for their dedication to the development of the Cambodian economy at a press conference in Phnom Penh on Monday, following a joint trade mission last month to the U.S. Mr. Todd and Mr. Chanthol, ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/commerce-minister-us-ambassador-swap-praise-after-trade-trip-63458/
Boeng Kak families ask ACU to probe Senator’s land sale
Residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood lodged a formal complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Monday, asking it to investigate 12 current and former government officials and Senator Lao Meng Khin over the senator’s plans to sell land they say was stolen from ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kak-families-ask-acu-to-probe-senators-land-sale-63453/
Constitutional council approves judicial laws, sends to king
The approval of King Norodom Sihamoni is all that is needed for three controversial judicial bills to be passed into law after they were declared constitutional this week by the CPP-stacked Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC). Despite an outcry from rights and legal advocacy groups over ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/constitutional-council-approves-judicial-laws-sends-to-king-63282/
Violence breaks out in land dispute with minister’s wife
A long-simmering land dispute between a group of villagers and a high-ranking minister’s wife turned violent this weekend as 10 people were injured while trying to block the KDC company from building a warehouse on contested land in Kompong Chhnang province, villagers and police said ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/violence-breaks-out-in-land-dispute-with-ministers-wife-63298/
Workers continue strike over change to pay day
About 1,000 workers from the Canteran factory in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district continued to strike on Saturday over a decision to push back the day they are paid. The workers have been on strike since Thursday after being told they will be paid on the 10th ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-continue-strike-over-change-to-pay-day-63314/
Protest continues as company fills in lake, threatens livelihoods
More than 300 villagers who live around Boeng Samraong lake in Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov district protested for a third day straight Sunday against a private company they say has been filling the lake with sand, threatening the livelihoods of local rice farmers and fishermen. The ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-continues-as-company-fills-in-lake-threatens-livelihoods-63310/
Disability initiatives launched as jobs quota not met
For Cambodians with disabilities, the launch of two major initiatives in the past two days designed to improve their lives has brought some optimism about the future—tempered by a note of caution. At Koh Pich island on Thursday, in front of a crowd of more than ...
Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/disability-initiatives-launched-as-jobs-quota-not-met-63276/
Cities, provinces ordered to report on illegal logging, fishing
In yet another attempt to stem the looting of Cambodia’s forests, lakes and rivers, the Interior Ministry has given all cities and provinces until July 20 to submit detailed reports on all the illegal logging and fishing taking place in their jurisdictions. The latest initiative comes ...
Chemicals in war-era barrels tested and confirmed as tear gas
The head of the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAC) said Thursday that field testing of a pair of war-era barrels found by villagers in Mondolkiri province earlier this week identified the contents as CS, a tear gas-like powder or aerosol that was used by the ...
Zsombor Peter and Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chemicals-in-war-era-barrels-tested-and-confirmed-as-tear-gas-63226/
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/
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/
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/
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/
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/
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/
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/