The Cambodia Daily
Police free garment workers locked in at night by factory
Police in Phnom Penh were called up Friday night to order a Chinese-owned garment factory to release a group of employees it had locked inside in a failed attempt to make them work late into the night, officials said Sunday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-free-garment-workers-locked-in-at-night-by-factory-85157/
Nauru refugees settle into new neighborhood
In a sprawling villa down a quiet dirt road in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district, four refugees have reached what not so long ago would have seemed like a inconceivable end destination. ...
Khy Sovuthy and Holly Robertson
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nauru-refugees-settle-into-new-neighborhood-85106/
Striking workers call for Phnom Penh court to revoke order
About 20 representatives for more than 2,000 striking workers—accused by the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia of damaging the industry’s reputation—marched to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday asking it to revoke an injunction ordering them back to work. ...
Travelers asked to be vigilant to prevent spread of MERS
Following an outbreak in South Korea of a deadly respiratory disease which has killed three people and infected 36 in that country since late last month, Cambodian health officials on Friday asked travelers coming from infected regions to be vigilant to avoid its spread here. ...
Maria Paula Brito
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/travelers-asked-to-be-vigilant-to-prevent-spread-of-mers-85112/
First refugees from Nauru arrive in Cambodia
After months of fraught negotiations and secretive planning with Cambodia, Australia on Thursday flew the first four refugees into Phnom Penh under a highly controversial deal that could bring dozens—or hundreds—more in their wake. ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/first-refugees-from-nauru-arrive-in-cambodia-85026/
We want your business, UN tells local firms
The $1.6-billion Untac mission of the early 1990s injected a huge amount of money into Cambodia’s economy. Now, the U.N. wants to pump millions more into the country—this time by buying up the offerings of local businesses. ...
Kang Sothear and Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/we-want-your-business-un-tells-local-firms-85035/
Angkor Wat is no. 1 landmark, but Indian copy inspires fear
Angkor Wat in Siem Reap City topped another tourism poll this week, named as the world’s No. 1 landmark by TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice awards on Tuesday. But a massive temple under construction in India is once again stirring fears that Cambodia’s iconic monument will be ...
Simon Henderson
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/angkor-wat-is-no-1-landmark-but-indian-copy-inspires-fear-85053/
Soldiers, Singaporean firm to plant 6 million trees
The Ministry of Defense plans to work with a Singaporean company to plant six million trees in Cambodia that will eventually be turned into high-end perfume, medicine, tea, incense and furniture, an official said Thursday. One Plantation Holdings signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last month ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/soldiers-singaporean-firm-to-plant-6-million-trees-85039/
K Krom mark 66 years since Cochinchine pact
Some 10 months after leading protests during which Vietnamese flags were burned outside the country’s embassy in Phnom Penh, members of the Khmer Krom community took a more conciliatory approach Thursday as they marked the 66th anniversary of France’s formal splitting of Cochinchine. Thousands of monks ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/k-krom-mark-66-years-since-cochinchine-pact-85037/
Ministry to review oil company’s plans
The company that has been given production rights over a 5,500-square-km area off the coast of Sihanoukville known as Block D has been given 10 days to submit their exploration plans to be reviewed by the Mines and Energy Ministry, a spokesman said Thursday. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/ministry-to-review-oil-companys-plans-85061/
Lawmakers debate disaster management law
The National Assembly on Thursday debated and easily passed two chapters of a law that aims to improve responses to natural and man-made disasters, partly by imposing fines and jail time for incompetent officials and citizens who know of, but fail to report, a coming ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmakers-debate-disaster-management-law-85043/
Boeng Kak protesters curse ex-city governor
More than 30 former residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak community protested outside the National Assembly on Thursday, calling for CPP lawmaker Kep Chuktema to be removed from his post for the suffering he caused thousands of families during a decade as municipal governor. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kak-protesters-curse-ex-city-governor-85055/
Thai Rights body censures firm over Koh Kong sugar plantations
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand has accused the country’s Khon Kaen Sugar of “serious human rights violations” at its two Cambodian plantations in a new report that urges the firm to return the land to the hundreds of families forced off their farms—some ...
Zsombor Peter and Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thai-rights-body-censures-firm-over-koh-kong-sugar-plantations-84968/
PM rebuffs calls for Areng to serve as Eco-tour site
Prime Minister Hun Sen has dismissed calls from opposition lawmakers to ensure that Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley is turned into an eco-tour destination, saying in a letter that he had already twice addressed the future of the valley. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pm-rebuffs-calls-for-areng-to-serve-as-eco-tour-site-84976/
Wildlife smugglers snared, parts confiscated
Forestry officials in the provinces of Kratie and Stung Treng confiscated more than 40 pieces of horns and bones, along with over 40 live animals, in raids against wildlife smugglers on Tuesday with the help of the NGO Wildlife Alliance. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wildlife-smugglers-snared-parts-confiscated-84962/
Minister to finalize return of artifacts from Thailand
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong will visit Thailand in the near future to finalize an agreement with Bangkok that will see 16 ancient Khmer artifacts returned to Cambodia, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-to-finalize-return-of-artifacts-from-thailand-84972/
Japan provides $25 million to upgrade city water in Kampot
The Japanese government will extend $25 million in aid to rehabilitate the dilapidated water system in Kampot, an old French colonial river port which is attracting more and more tourists. ...
Donald Lee and Nov Sivutha
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/11925/japan-provides--25-million-to-upgrade-city-water-in-kampot/
Border chief says locals to blame for land loss
The head of the government’s border committee said Tuesday that villagers in Tbong Khmum province who are angry about Vietnam claiming 16.6 hectares of land they had farmed failed to inform authorities that they used the land before the countries signed a 2011 border agreement. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/border-chief-says-locals-to-blame-for-land-loss-84978/
PM’s cabinet refuses Khmer Krom petition
A cabinet secretary for Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday refused to accept a petition from a Khmer Krom activist group because, he said, it was “not my job.” ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pms-cabinet-refuses-khmer-krom-petition-84960/
Cambodia hedges its bets as sea tensions rise
As Ashton Carter toured Asia this week amid rising tensions over the South China Sea, Cambodia once again backed China’s position in the dispute, warning that recent remarks by the U.S. defense secretary were “provocative” and threatened the very peace the U.S. claims to be ...
Simon Henderson
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-hedges-its-bets-as-sea-tensions-rise-84954/
Ten Indonesians return home after ambassador’s intervention
Following the intervention of Indonesia’s ambassador to Cambodia last week, 10 Indonesian nationals left the country Sunday after being released by police in Kandal province, where they were being held over a $161,000 theft at a local casino, an embassy official said. ...
Chris Mueller and Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ten-indonesians-return-home-after-ambassadors-intervention-84673/
Cambodia ranks poorly in rule of law index
Cambodia received one of the lowest scores in the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index 2015, released Tuesday, ranking 99 out of 102 countries surveyed. ...
Holly Robertson
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-ranks-poorly-in-rule-of-law-index-84889/
More montagnards arrive in Phnom Penh
Eleven more Montagnard asylum seekers arrived in Phnom Penh this week, bringing to 85 the number waiting to apply for refugee status, the U.N. said Tuesday. ...
Chris Mueller and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-montagnards-arrive-in-phnom-penh-84895/
Three new Czech-funded takeo health centers
The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand has accused the country’s Khon Kaen Sugar of “serious human rights violations” at its two Cambodian plantations in a new report that urges the firm to return the land to the hundreds of families forced off their farms—some ...
Zsombor Peter and Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thai-rights-body-censures-firm-over-koh-kong-sugar-plantations-84968/