The Phnom Penh Post
Direct Japan flights set to take off later in year: PM
Japan will introduce direct flights to and from Cambodia this year in an effort to bolster trade, investment and tourism between the two nations, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday. Hun Sen announced the plan at a meeting with a delegation led by Hideo ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/direct-japan-flights-set-take-later-year-pm
Illegal book hawkers warned
Market vendors hawking pirated government textbooks have a month to get their shops in order if they want to avoid an authority-led crackdown, a statement released on Friday by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport warns. Selling or buying textbooks labelled “not for sale” or ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/illegal-book-hawkers-warned
New ICC filing in works
The opposition party’s planned complaint to the International Criminal Court against government officials for long-term rights abuses will likely be beaten to the punch by a US lawyer and rights activist, Voice of America reported on Friday. According to VOA, Morton Sklar, executive director of the ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-icc-filing-works
RFA, VOA agency fires back
The Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent US agency that oversees government-sponsored stations Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, has hit back after the Cambodian government accused the broadcasters of being tools of the opposition. In a statement released Thursday, BBG chair Jeffrey Shell rejected ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rfa-voa-agency-fires-back
CMAC eyes budget bump of $13 million
The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) is looking to increase its annual budget to $33 million this year amid a need to upgrade its life-saving equipment, an official said yesterday. Approximately $10 million has already been raised, according to CMAC director Heng Ratana, who expressed confidence ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cmac-eyes-budget-bump-13-million
UN envoy making informal visit
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association will arrive in Cambodia on February 5, his office announced on Friday. ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-envoy-making-informal-visit
Journalist beaten to death in K Chhnang
A local journalist was beaten to death in Kampong Chhnang province’s Cholkiri district on Saturday night in an attack that authorities believe may have been related to his reporting on illegal fishing, police said yesterday. District police officer Tith Reth said that Suon Chan, 44, a ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/journalist-beaten-death-k-chhnang
Made here, owned there
At the end of a well-paved road just past the city’s airport sits a cluster of factories. Each one is barely discernible from the next – grey concrete walls and blue aluminium roofs. But one factory in the lot, MAG (Cambodia), is different. In a country ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/made-here-owned-there
One airline is enough: report
Cambodia’s aviation sector doesn’t need a second domestic carrier, according to a new report from the Australia-based Centre for Aviation (CAPA). The report, published yesterday, is the latest instalment in a two-part analysis of the country’s aviation industry, and focuses on Cambodia Airlines, the Royal Group ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/one-airline-enough-report
More houses razed in dispute
Authorities burned one house and demolished three others in the past two days in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts in the latest development in the long-running land dispute between villagers and Tianjin Union Development Group, community representatives and the rights group Adhoc ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/more-houses-razed-dispute
Sanctuary bridge ‘Torched’
The burning of a bridge that provided access to the Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary in Ratanakkiri is the handiwork of two oknhas and local environment officers, villagers have claimed. In a complaint to rights group Adhoc, members of the ethnic Lao community in Kon Mom district say ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sanctuary-bridge-%E2%80%98torched%E2%80%99
Social land concessions climb
More than 40 fresh land rows have emerged across the country – and many more could be going unreported, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) said yesterday. A study CCHR conducted into land conflicts between 2011 and 2013 has resulted in the rights group publishing ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/social-land-concessions-climb
British dignitary to meet with CPP, CNRP
British Secretary of State for Asia Hugo Swire was due to arrive in Cambodia last night for a two-day diplomatic visit to the country where he will meet Prime Minister Hun Sen as well as members of the opposition. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/british-dignitary-meet-cpp-cnrp
‘Forced’ confessions have cops in hot seat
Five police from Phnom Penh’s Dangkor and Russey Keo districts could face charges for allegedly beating false confessions out of three suspects, a technique human rights observers say is pervasive in Cambodia. Judges and lawyers at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday questioned the three Russey Keo ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98forced%E2%80%99-confessions-have-cops-hot-seat
Politics not quite all in the family
Kem Sokhon, the brother of Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president Kem Sokha, is continuing to progress through government ranks. Sokhon – who has been openly critical of his brother’s policies since defecting from the opposition – told the Post yesterday he is now an adviser to senior ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/politics-not-quite-all-family
Gov’t: village feedback to be used for reform
Hundreds of senior government officials will be dispatched to the provinces in the coming months to gauge public opinion on reforming state institutions. Almost 800 senior officials from all ministries will begin the project on February 15, state broadcaster TVK reported yesterday, following a meeting at ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-village-feedback-be-used-reform
RFA, VOA accused of ‘Serving’ opposition
The government has slammed broadcasters Radio Free Asia and Voice of America as “political instruments serving the interests of the opposition party” and accused them of fabricating news in a speech delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on Tuesday. The US-government-funded broadcasters have been taken ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rfa-voa-accused-%E2%80%98serving%E2%80%99-opposition
Right to strike ‘Fundamental’
A labour law expert from the International Labour Organization yesterday rejected claims made by Cambodian factories and employers associations that workers in the Kingdom have no fundamental right to strike. In a paid advertisement in the Post yesterday, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/right-strike-%E2%80%98fundamental%E2%80%99
NGOs say bank must remain to clean mess
Rights groups yesterday called on ANZ bank to help address alleged labour and environmental violations at Phnom Penh Sugar Company instead of walking away from the problem. A joint statement released yesterday by Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International said it would be wrong for the ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ngos-say-bank-must-remain-clean-mess
India urges more trade action
The Indian ambassador to Cambodia is calling on the government to reduce exorbitant shipping costs and take better advantage of a tariff scheme that India offers, two obstacles that the diplomat says are discouraging bilateral trade. Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik said on Tuesday that Indian businesses exporting ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/india-urges-more-trade-action
Video can’t be trusted: district gov
Video footage of Daun Penh district deputy governor Sok Penh Vuth bashing a defenceless man with a bullhorn on Monday has sparked outrage and demands for his ouster, but his boss told the Post yesterday that people shouldn’t be too hasty to judge, suggesting the footage may ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/video-can%E2%80%99t-be-trusted-district-gov
Chinese TV deal edged out Sonando: minister
Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando will not be granted a digital TV licence because up to 80 channels have been allocated to a Chinese state television network. Khieu Kanharith, the minister of information, said in an interview on TVK on Tuesday night that the allocation of ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chinese-tv-deal-edged-out-sonando-minister
Authorities break up gathering
Police and soldiers in Mondulkiri province broke up a gathering of ethnic minority villagers yesterday as they planned to hold prayers and call on the government to stop illegal logging. The ceremony, held in Mondulkiri province‘s Sen Monorom district, was to be attended by an estimated ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-break-gathering
March proceeds peacefully
Taking a markedly different approach from Monday’s violent breakup of a peaceful demonstration at Freedom Park, authorities yesterday stood back as about 100 activists marched around central Phnom Penh, delivering a petition to embassies and the United Nations. District security guards and riot police initially seemed ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/march-proceeds-peacefully