The Cambodia Daily
Another toll road contract canceled by prime minister
For the third time in as many months, the government has canceled a contract with a private company operating a toll road in response to complaints from motorists. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/another-toll-road-contract-canceled-by-prime-minister-107691/
Researcher says border posts misplaced in Eastern Cambodia
Presenting the initial findings of months of research trips along Cambodia’s eastern border, academic Sok Touch said on Thursday that a stretch of land in Tbong Khmum province had been occupied by Vietnam due to border posts being misplaced during the French colonial era. ...
Breakaway party becomes country’s 10th in past year
A breakaway faction from the Cambodian National Justice Party—itself a recent breakaway from the Beehive Social Democratic Party—has formed a new political party, its founder announced on Friday. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/breakaway-party-becomes-countrys-10th-in-past-year-107666/
Two Cambodians convicted following Thailand market melee
Officials are attempting to secure the release of two Cambodian men who were sentenced to three months in a Thai prison on Thursday after being summarily convicted of attacking government inspectors at a market in Sa Kaeo province the day before, according to the Ministry ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-cambodians-convicted-following-thailand-market-melee-107655/
Police reinvestigating case of local journalist killed by mob
Prosecutors in Kompong Speu province have ordered police to reinvestigate the demise of a newspaper reporter who was reportedly bludgeoned to death by an angry mob on Sunday, while the victim’s family and employer cast doubt on the official version of events. ...
Niem Chheng
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-reinvestigating-case-of-local-journalist-killed-by-mob-107540/
Ex-military commander leaves prince, launches new party
Nhek Bun Chhay, who commanded the country’s military under the Funcinpec-led government in the 1990s and has remained a prominent figure in the royalist party, on Wednesday announced that he had launched a new political party due to his dissatisfaction with Prince Norodom Ranariddh. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ex-military-commander-leaves-prince-launches-new-party-107408/
Sihanoukville beach to be cleared of fences, says gov’t
The government yesterday ordered all fences blocking public access along Independence Beach in Sihanoukville to be dismantled as part of a continuing campaign to remove private encroachments on the coastal city’s public beaches. ...
Sor Chandara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/sihanoukville-beach-be-cleared-fences-says-govt
Timberland parent company investigating cleaver attack claims
The parent company of U.S. apparel giant Timberland has launched an investigation into claims that security guards at a special economic zone in Kandal province viciously attacked the workers that make the brand’s clothing and footwear, a company representative said Wednesday. ...
George Wright and Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/timberland-parent-company-investigating-cleaver-attack-claims-107414/
Samrin blocks letter about Vietnamese army ELCs
National Assembly President Heng Samrin has refused to forward to Prime Minister Hun Sen a letter from an opposition lawmaker asking that a group of rubber plantations owned by Vietnamese Army commanders be canceled because they violate the Constitution. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/samrin-blocks-letter-about-vietnamese-army-elcs-107250/
Corruption keeping economy ‘mostly unfree’
Cambodia’s “Economic Freedom”—a broad measure of how well individuals and businesses can create and protect their wealth —was classed as “mostly unfree” in a new report released by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, which identified corruption and bureaucracy as impediments to free markets. ...
Tej Parikh
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/corruption-keeping-economy-mostly-unfree-107266/
Foreign affairs minister dodges defamation case
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has thrown out a defamation case against Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong that was filed by Khmer Power Party (KPP) President Sourn Serey Ratha in December after Mr. Namhong called the politician’s supporters terrorists. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/foreign-affairs-minister-dodges-defamation-case-107255/
Police boss blames Malaysia, Singapore for influx of drugs
National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun on Tuesday blamed weak border controls in Malaysia and Singapore for an influx of cocaine, methamphetamine and other dangerous narcotics into Cambodia. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-boss-blames-malaysia-singapore-for-influx-of-drugs-107258/
Government blocks alleged letter granting logs to try pheap
The government is refusing to release copies of letters it claims to have sent to timber traders Try Pheap and Lim Bunna giving them permission to collect already felled wood on a pair of canceled economic land concessions (ELCs) inside a wildlife sanctuary. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-blocks-alleged-letter-granting-logs-to-try-pheap-107118/
Microfinance growth slows in final quarter
Growth in the country’s expanding microfinance sector slowed slightly in the last quarter of 2015, but both loans and deposits finished the year about 45 percent higher than at the end of 2014, according to figures from the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA). ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/microfinance-growth-slows-in-final-quarter-107138/
HRW says PM’s bodyguards beat lawmakers
In a report released last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) came to the predictable—and mostly well-supported—conclusion that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government was failing in its duty to protect its people. ...
Ben Sokhean and Colin Meyn
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hrw-says-pms-bodyguards-beat-lawmakers-106974/
Cambodian youth party to register for official status
The Cambodian Youth Party has gathered the 400 members and 3 million riel necessary to register as a political party, its founder said on Friday, adding that he planned to file paperwork with the Interior Ministry on Monday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodian-youth-party-to-register-for-official-status-106952/
Cambodian-American naval officer pleads guilty
Nearly four decades after fleeing Cambodia as a child, a tearful Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz returned to his home country in December 2010 on the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer he commanded; his fall from grace has been equally dramatic. ...
George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodian-american-naval-officer-pleads-guilty-106934/
Rights group blasts government over events in 2015
Human Rights Watch (HRW), long one of the most strident critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling party, again slammed the government on Wednesday for its failure to uphold human rights in Cambodia, with the release of its World Report 2016. ...
Colin Meyn
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-group-blasts-government-over-events-in-2015-106656/
Cambodia perceived as most corrupt in region
Cambodia is now perceived to be the most corrupt country in Southeast Asia, according to Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which was released on Wednesday and promptly dismissed by the country’s anti-graft chief. ...
Anthony Jensen and Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-perceived-as-most-corrupt-in-region-106639/
Takeo governor says historic village is not lost to Vietnam
Takeo provincial governor Lay Vannak on Wednesday threatened to arrest anyone who claims that officials surrendered to Vietnam two of the boulders that constitute the historic “Three Rocks Village” on the eastern border of Borei Cholsar district. ...
Health ministry confirms first case of measles in four years
Three months after the Health Ministry proclaimed Cambodia measles-free—after tests on a child suspected to be carrying the disease came back negative—it announced on Wednesday that a 7-month-old in Kompong Speu province has contracted the highly contagious virus. It is the first confirmed case in ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/health-ministry-confirms-first-case-of-measles-in-four-years-106654/
After dispute, ACU to monitor judicial exams
Following a long delay due to a dispute between the Royal Academy for Judicial Professionals and the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), the annual exam for prospective judges has been rescheduled for next month, officials said on Tuesday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-dispute-acu-to-monitor-judicial-exams-106507/
Provincial court summons association directors for alleged scam
A group of over 50 protesters gathered in front of Takeo Provincial Court on Monday demanding government intervention after allegedly being scammed out of $160,000 by a provincial savings association, 30 of whom were summoned to provincial court yesterday in response to their case being ...
Apparel companies cite union concerns
A visiting delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong met with relevant ministries and stakeholders yesterday to discuss the progress of Cambodia’s trade union law and the issues surrounding industrial relations in the Kingdom. ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/apparel-companies-cite-union-concerns