The Cambodia Daily
Gov’t still considering taking refugees from Australia
Interior Minister Sar Kheng said Thursday that the government is still considering an Australian government proposal to take in asylum seekers intercepted while trying to reach the country. Speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony to swear in the heads of the new general departments of ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-still-considering-taking-refugees-from-australia-57347/
Acid attack wife charged, imprisoned
A 26-year-old woman who allegedly disfigured her husband’s face and body in an acid attack Tuesday has been charged and sent to pre-trial detention in Banteay Meanchey province, police said Thursday. Tor Rachany is accused of pouring half a liter of strong acid over her husband, ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acid-attack-wife-charged-imprisoned-57370/
Heads of new departments of immigration, identification sworn in
Interior Minister Sar Kheng presided over a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Thursday to appoint the directors of his ministry’s new general departments of immigration and identification, who have both stood down as National Police deputy commissioners to take up the positions. At the ceremony, General ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/heads-of-new-departments-of-immigration-identification-sworn-in-57344/
Factories mostly skip minimum wage meeting
Government officials and union representatives met behind closed doors Thursday to start hashing out a better way to set the minimum wage for the country’s all-important but troubled garment sector at a workshop brokered by the International Labor Organization (ILO). But what was supposed to be ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-mostly-skip-minimum-wage-meeting-57337/
Thousands expected at municipal court in support of 23
Union leaders say they expect upwards of 1,000 people to jam the streets around Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday in a show of support for 23 unionists, workers and bystanders who are on trial for their alleged part in violent protests in Pur Senchey ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-expected-at-municipal-court-in-support-of-23-57342/
Cambodia route reopens for Uighur refugees
Recent arrests by Thai authorities of groups of suspected Uighur refugees along the Cambodian border have experts convinced that Cambodia has once again become a transit hub for members of the minority group fleeing religious and political persecution in China. Last week, 14 Uighurs were reportedly ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-route-reopens-for-uighur-refugees-57340/
Concern over migration chief’s family connections
The appointment of General Sok Phal to head the Interior Ministry’s newly formed department to monitor migrant workers has raised concerns over his close familial connection to a labor recruitment industry fraught with human rights abuses. Gen. Phal’s sister, Ung Seang Rithy, is the owner of ...
Matt Blomberg and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/concern-over-migration-chiefs-family-connections-57202/
Cambodia asks for help in oil and gas industry
Cambodia has invited resource-rich Azerbaijan to help develop Cambodia’s prospective oil and gas industry, Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol announced during a high-level visit to the Caucasian country on Tuesday, according to Azerbaijani media reports. Mr. Chanthol laid out a goal to achieve an overall trade ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/cambodia-asks-for-help-in-oil-and-gas-industry-57237/
UN critical of pending asylum seeker deal
Officials with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday spoke out for the first time against Australia’s plans to send some of the asylum seekers trying to reach its shores to Cambodia, saying the pending deal was not a “real ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/concern-over-migration-chiefs-family-connections-57202/
CNRP tries to balance foreign powers
A heightened global profile for the opposition CNRP since last year’s disputed election has brought with it a new challenge: balancing multiple foreign relations. The party’s campaign to delegitimize the CPP government has taken on multiple faces over the past nine months as opposition leader Sam ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-tries-to-balance-foreign-powers-57074/
Trucks hauling luxury wood busted
Police in Kompong Speu province on Monday night stopped three container trucks on National Road 4 bound for Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, seizing more than 100 logs of illegal luxury wood, officials said. Provincial economic police chief Nhem Sao said that his officers and police from Chbar ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/trucks-hauling-luxury-wood-busted-57090/
Secretariat of Civil Aviation to ‘swap’ headquarters
The State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) has swapped its headquarters on Norodom Boulevard and will move to a location adjacent to Phnom Penh International Airport by next year, civil aviation officials confirmed Tuesday. Sinn Chanserey Vutha, deputy director-general of the SSCA, said construction on the ...
Khy Sovuthy and Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/secretariat-of-civil-aviation-to-swap-headquarters-57076/
Harsh restrictions imposed on union leader
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday ordered embattled union leader Ath Thorn to stay away from the SL garment factory and its workers and to avoid any public gatherings that could “damage public order,” drawing a tight circle around one of the country’s most ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/harsh-restrictions-imposed-on-union-leader-57067/
Free HPV tests target married women, nearly 500 screened
Nearly 500 women were tested this month in a screening drive at Phnom Penh’s Calmette Hospital for human papillomavirus (HPV), two strains of which are known to cause cervical cancer, but the free Pap smear was advertised as being available only to married women. Hav Monirath, ...
Hay Pisey and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/free-hpv-tests-target-married-women-nearly-500-screened-57082/
CNRP to file lawsuit against deputy governor
Officials from the opposition CNRP announced Tuesday that they will file lawsuits against deputy Daun Penh district governor Sok Penhvuth, who on Monday ordered district security guards to attack a small and peaceful group of CNRP supporters near Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park. Speaking at a press ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-to-file-lawsuit-against-deputy-governor-57086/
Conviction against ‘Grandma Crocodile’ upheld
The Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld a 2012 conviction of encroaching on public land, but significantly reduced the sentence, against businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary for illegally filling in part of a Phnom Penh lake. Ms. Sokountheary—also known as Grandma Crocodile for the crocodile farm she owns—was ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/conviction-against-grandma-crocodile-upheld-57088/
Sacked bus drivers petition Labor Minster
A group of bus drivers and representatives of the Cambodian Labor Confederation (CLC) on Tuesday submitted a petition to Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng to intervene in their dispute with the Sorya Bus Transportation Company. At least eight drivers were fired last week shortly after they ...
Ben Sokhean and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sacked-bus-drivers-petition-labor-minster-57092/
Sihanouk statue waves down on Royal Palace
A familiar figure has popped up atop a building that authorities in Phnom Penh ordered demolished in October for violating height restrictions around the Royal Palace: a statue of late King Father Norodom Sihanouk. “I have built a King statue on the top of my building ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sihanouk-statue-waves-down-on-royal-palace-56896/
B Meanchey Court chief moved to Phnom Penh
Ang Mealatey, the former president of Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court, was appointed president of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday, ending the eight-year tenure of Chiv Keng. Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana and Supreme Court President Dith Munty presided over the ceremony of around 100 ...
Eang Mengleng and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/b-meanchey-court-chief-moved-to-phnom-penh-56905/
Stay-at-home strike a bust as workers return to factories
The vast majority of the country’s 600,000-strong garment factory workforce appeared to be back on the job Monday despite a call from unions to continue a stay-at-home strike until Tuesday. Eight unions had spent weeks urging workers to stay home after the Khmer New Year from ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/stay-at-home-strike-a-bust-as-workers-return-to-factories-56888/
UN concerned about detainees’ presence at trials
The U.N.’s human rights office in Cambodia expressed concern Monday that 22 detained protesters may not be allowed to attend their trials on Friday, while the government insisted that the prisoners will be transported to the court. Two minors were arrested for intentional violence for their ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-concerned-about-detainees-presence-at-trials-56914/
Unrest among disabled security guards at SL Garment Factory
A team of disabled security guards hired to protect the embattled SL Garment Factory in Phnom Penh is seeking the formalization of their employment and an end to what they claim is the factory’s exploitation of their impairments. In November—at the height of an occasionally violent, ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unrest-among-disabled-security-guards-at-sl-garment-factory-56892/
Wood confiscated in Stung Treng Province
Military police and local forestry officials in Stung Treng province confiscated more than 90 pieces of luxury-grade Thnong wood from a private farm on Sunday, but only after the suspected owner escaped, according to officials. Provincial court prosecutor Chroeng Khmao said a joint force of military ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wood-confiscated-in-stung-treng-province-56919/
Police invite hit-and-run officer to ‘solve problem’
A police officer who has been implicated in a fatal hit-and-run has been asked by local police in Kandal province to come to their office and negotiate a settlement for the victims’ families, police said Sunday. Ek Sovannara—the son of Ek Krit, a former Kandal provincial ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-invite-hit-and-run-officer-to-solve-problem-56770/