The Cambodia Daily
Free Lunch Comes at a Cost for City Soup Kitchen Founder
Since its first day of operation in early December, the non-profit kitchen “Buckhunger” has provided nearly 22,00 lunchtime meals to hundreds of needy children and adults for free. There is no record of who comes and goes, and no condition to being fed. If you ...
Hun Sen Defends Pardon for Fisheries Crimes
During a speech lasting more than three hours, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday sought to clarify his recent blanket amnesty of fisheries crimes, and called on fisheries officials to reform the law that criminalizes certain means of fishing. In his speech, Mr. Hun Sen provided ...
Two More Set Schools Could Close
Eight SET international (SI) schools have closed nationwide over the past two months because of financial problems, and the remaining two schools in Phnom Penh and Kompong Chhnang provinces also appear poised to shut their doors soon, a Ministry of Education official said. The abrupt closings ...
Cashew Prices Down 40% as Demand sinks
New limitations on Vietnamese exports of processed cashews and slowing demand on the international markets is expected to decrease the price of raw cashews by roughly 40 percent this year, sparking concerns among Cambodian farmers, who are now midway through the harvest season, traders and ...
US-Asean Delegation to visit Cambodia this month
A US-Asean Business Council delegation will visit Phnom Penh on March 19 and 20 to meet with government officials about current or potential investments in the country, American Cambodian Business Council President Bretton Sciaroni said. The meeting comes after a delegation of 11 Fortune 500 ...
Japan Asks for Tax Breaks, Better Regulations
The Japanese Embassy in Phnom Penh appealed to the Cambodian government Tuesday to help encourage Japanese investment here by providing corporate tax holidays and reducing notoriously high customs tariffs by adopting more transparent and efficient practices. According to a set of requests prepared by the ...
Workers Faint Daily in Sihanoukville, NGO says
The Cambodian Legal Education Center (CLEC) is “extremely concerned” after an investigation following a mass fainting last month at Nanguo garment factory in Preah Sihanouk province last month found that at least one to two workers are fainting daily in eight factories in the province. ...
Release of ‘Small Fish’ Continues Amid Fishing Lots Cancellation
Days after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a blanket pardon for all suspects and convicts jailed for small-time fisheries crimes, the premier yesterday signed into effect an expected sub-decree canceling fishing lots across the country. Last month, Mr. Hun Sen announced that he would cancel ...
Six Months on, No Response to Experts’ Sesan Dam Letter
More than two dozen fisheries experts from across the world have sent a letter of concern to the prime minister and Council of Ministers warning that if construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam goes ahead as planned, it would negatively impact hundreds of thousands ...
Motorcycles, Money Offered to SEZ Victims
Bavet city officials ordered a deputy village chief to offer two victims of the Feb. 20 shooting in Svay Rieng province cash or a motorcycle in return for them not filing a court complaint against the man who shot them inside a special economic zone. ...
Appeal Court Upholds Guilty Verdict in Land Dispute
The Appeal Court on Tuesday upheld its own previous guilty verdict against a farmer from Kompong Chhnang province for defaming KDC, the agri-business firm owned by Chea Kheng, the wife of Industry, Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem. Pheng Rom is a member of one ...
Farmers with HIV/AIDS Gain Confidence, Skills With Program
Leng Sopheap used to wake up before the crack of dawn and walk with crates of vegetables from her farm to the nearby market underneath a blanket so her neighbors wouldn’t know they were buying produce from someone infected with HIV/AIDS. Not long after her ...
Police Detain Three Mobile Phone Promoters
Enforcing a new ban against hanging posters and distributing promotional leaflets in Phnom Penh, police detained three Smart Mobile promoters while they were distributing flyers ahead of a music concert Tuesday, a company representative said. Boeng Trabek commune police chief Nheng Samoeun said that he ...
Water Protests Continue After Failed Talks
Protests continued in Prey Veng City yesterday for the second day as more than 1000 residents demonstrated in front of the provincial offices over increases to water prices instituted by a private company that recently took over the city’s water supply, residents said. The Kim ...
Lower Sesan 2 Dam Would be 'Catastrophic'
Hydropower dams planned for the tributaries of the Mekong River, particularly the Lower Sesan 2, will have a “catastrophic” impact on fish stocks throughout the country, according to new research that calls for several planned dams to be reconsidered. Authored by an international group of ...
Borei Keila Residents File Criminal Suit Against Phanimex
One hundred and twenty families evicted from the Borei Keila community filed a criminal lawsuit with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday against Phanimex, the company that ordered the demolition of their homes, seeking a total of $360,000 in damages, residents said. Former resident In ...
China Looks to Increase Media Presence
The Chinese Information Minister met Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on Sunday to discuss introducing more of a Chinese perspective to the media in Cambodia. The two men also agreed to send a delegation from the Council of Ministers Press and Quick Reaction Unit (PQRU) ...
Jailed Fishermen Released After Hun Sen Order
Within days of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s announced amnesty for those detained and jailed for fisheries crimes, the Ministry of Justice responded and has already freed dozens of suspects from provincial prisons around the country, judicial officials said yesterday. Independent analysts, however, said the order ...
Last of Boeung Kak Land Titles Handed Out, but Dispute Lingers
When Chhin Theang picked up the long-awaited title to her Boeung Kak home during a low-key ceremony at the Daun Penh district office on Monday, the moment was bittersweet. “We always had hope because we protested. We had to get land titles,” Ms. Theang said ...
Japanese Ambassador Airs Concerns Over SEZ Shooting
Japanese Ambassador Masafumi Kuroki yesterday said he hoped the government arrests the gunman behind the Feb. 20 triple shooting of protesting workers in Svay Rieng province, and that safety must be ensured for investors in the special economic zone (SEZ) where the incident took place. ...
Riverbank Collapse Prompts Dredging Complaint
More than 300 Kandal province villagers have filed a complaint with Sa’ang district officials over sand dredging along the Bassac river after riverbanks in their village collapsed, district governor Khim Chankiri said yesterday. Mr. Chankiri said, however, that the sand dredging operation along the Bassac ...
Ban on Thesis Topics Needed, Scholars Say
Academics at the Royal University of Law and Economics defended banning thesis topics for fourth-year students, arguing that subjects such as illegal drug use and land disputes are written about too often at the school. In a Feb. 2 letter posted online and signed by the ...
Government Probes 2,000 Hectare Land Grab
Government officials in Kompong Thom province said yesterday that they are investigating the ownership of more than 2,000 hectares of land currently being held by an unknown number of individuals who are suspected of illegal land grabbing. An Agriculture Ministry official pointed the finger of ...
One-Stop Office for Rice Exports to Open by April
Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun announced yesterday that the government would establish its first one-stop service office for rice millers and exporters by the end of the month. The announcement comes two months after Hun Sen signed off on the idea, which is meant to cut ...