The Phnom Penh Post
UXO injuries, deaths up in ’14
Landmine casualties more than doubled in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period in 2013, according to officials, who are pointing to the wider use of industrial agricultural equipment – such as tractors – as the reason for the uptick ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/uxo-injuries-deaths-14
Buddha statue not wanted
Ethnic Tumpoun residents from Ratanakkiri’s Banlung district sent petitions to authorities yesterday to protest plans to erect a Buddha statue at Yeak Loam Lake, saying it will bring bad luck to their villages. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/buddha-statue-not-wanted
Justice for journalists sought
Local and international NGOs yesterday rallied behind the inaugural United Nations-declared International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists by urging the government to bring perpetrators to justice. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that the government was not responsible for any ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/justice-journalists-sought
Parliament set to mull $3.75b budget
Education and health are set to receive large boosts in funding next year, according to the draft budget waiting approval at the National Assembly, which outlines total government spending of $3.75 billion. The draft budget allocates $324 million to the health ministry, up 24.7 per ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/parliament-set-mull-375b-budget
Impact assessment for Areng dam nears final steps as project looms
Companies contracted to carry out social and environmental studies of the proposed Stung Cheay Areng dam in Koh Kong province yesterday confirmed that the Sinohydro Group is set to renew work in the Areng Valley in the coming days. The studies, which would pave the way ...
Daniel Pye and Alice Cuddy
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/impact-assessment-areng-dam-nears-final-steps-project-looms
Cambodia tax system worse off
Cambodia’s taxation system fell five places on the World Bank’s 2015 Doing Business index (DBI). The index, which tallied up 230 business reforms from 189 economies, showed the ease of paying taxes in Cambodia has declined from position 85 in 2014 to 90 this year. Cambodia’s ...
Eddie Morton
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-tax-system-worse
Coastal concerns: Teamwork pledged on climate issue
Eight coastal provinces across Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam signed a declaration last week, announcing their intention to work more closely together to better adapt residents of the low-lying communities to the effects of climate change. ...
Charles Rollet
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/coastal-concerns-teamwork-pledged-climate-issue
France to train garment firms
French textile and garment association Evalliance yesterday signed an agreement with the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) to provide training for middle-management workers in the industry. Speaking at the signing ceremony in Phnom Penh, Van Sou Ieng, chairman of GMAC said the agreement aims to ...
Chan Muyhong
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/france-train-garment-firms
Villagers demand millions
More than 200 ethnic families in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom town filed complaints to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet and the provincial court yesterday, asking for the cancellation of Villa Development’s land concession and demanding $500 million for allegedly destroying their resin trees. The complaint is the ...
Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-demand-millions
Chhay presses graft case
Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay will send letters to National Assembly President Heng Samrin and First Deputy President Kem Sokha this week urging the leaders to take legal action against the parliament’s secretary-general, Leng Peng Long. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/chhay-presses-graft-case
Trash to double over festival
The heaps of fly-covered refuse known to accumulate around the capital are set to grow a whole lot worse as millions of visitors arrive for the upcoming Water Festival and tax the city’s overburdened trash collector. More than two million additional people are expected to crowd ...
Laignee Barron and Pech Sotheary
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/trash-double-over-festival
Recruitment boss arrested
The manager of a recruitment firm in Kampong Speu province was arrested this week for allegedly duping 50 workers out of $150 each on the unfulfilled promise of getting them work in Thailand. ...
Sen David
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/recruitment-boss-arrested
Factory’s workers ordered back
Thousands of employees at Grand Twins International, Cambodia’s only publicly listed garment factory, will be back at the assembly line today after nearly two weeks on strike, accepting a court order to return to work. Workers will follow the order the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/factory%E2%80%99s-workers-ordered-back
Journo killings condemned
A report from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has decried the killing of journalists with no consequences, listing Cambodia as one of several countries where members of the press have been killed since 2004 “with complete impunity”. From 2004 to 2013, 370 journalists ...
Charles Rollet and Chhay Channyda
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/journo-killings-condemned
Swap deal struck: Families to move for city development
More than 130 families will be relocated to make way for a multibillion-dollar development project in the capital’s Chroy Changva district after an agreement was signed yesterday by villagers, district officials and the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC ) said. ...
Kim Sarom
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/swap-deal-struck-families-move-city-development
Meeting suggests dam project moving ahead
Despite reports that Prime Minister Hun Sen recently offered assurances that construction of the controversial Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam would not be allowed to begin in the near future, local officials are allegedly pushing forward with plans to relocate villagers. Multiple provincial, district and village ...
Alice Cuddy and May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/meeting-suggests-dam-project-moving-ahead
Garment wage talks fall apart
The tripartite working group set up to negotiate and advise the Ministry of Labour’s Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) on next year’s minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment sector has stopped meeting after reaching a stalemate. Made up of 27 members – nine each from employers, the government ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-wage-talks-fall-apart
Ministry facing teacher shortage
Less than a week away from the start of the new school year, the government is short on teachers. Every year, the government struggles to recruit enough instructors to keep pace with enrollment rates and replace those who have retired, left teaching or passed away. The ...
Laignee Barron and Pech Sotheary
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-facing-teacher-shortage
Strikers to be held in prison
The Kampong Cham Provincial Court yesterday ordered that five workers who were arrested during a violent protest at Juhui Footwear on Saturday be held in prison while charges against them are investigated. Two of them, Khun Sokhom and Mon Sarem, officials from the Coalition of Cambodian ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-be-held-prison
Calls to protect work of citizen journalists
Media experts are asking the government to consider granting citizen journalists the same safeguards as professional journalists under Cambodia’s Press Law. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/calls-protect-work-citizen-journalists
Foreign nationals held in drug raid
Anti-drug police officers arrested nine foreign nationals in a sting on a rental house on Sunday, accusing the men of involvement in a drug-trafficking ring catering to other foreigners in the vicinity of Phnom Penh’s Central Market, police said yesterday. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/foreign-nationals-held-drug-raid
Prison time for garment heist
A former chief security guard at the Roo Hsing Garment Co factory was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for conspiring with two thieves to steal more than 1,000 items of clothing from the factory in April. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-time-garment-heist
Cambodia rice industry fears, cheers Thai policy
The Thai government’s move to stabilise rice prices for the 2014 harvest season has prompted mixed reactions from local rice industry representatives. Sok Puthyvuth, president of the Cambodia Rice Federation said yesterday the policy would impact Cambodia negatively when Thailand is forced to sell ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-rice-industry-fears-cheers-thai-policy
Hundreds to seek pardon from King
About 800 prisoners will be considered for Royal pardons or reduced sentences as part of Water Festival events, Such Sophan Nara, director of the Ministry of Justice’s penal department, said yesterday. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-seek-pardon-king