The Phnom Penh Post
Thais arrest 21 in border logging bust
In the latest series of arrests involving illegal logging on the Cambodian-Thai border, 21 Cambodians were picked up by Thai authorities on Friday while attempting to smuggle rosewood into Oddar Meanchey province, a rights group said yesterday. Srey Naren, provincial coordinator for rights groups Adhoc, ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-arrest-21-border-logging-bust
National health survey ready
International donors along with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Planning kick-started the Kingdom’s fourth Demographic and Health Survey in the capital yesterday. ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/national-health-survey-ready
PM, Rainsy meet nailed down: gov’t
Two days after opposition calls for renewed negotiations, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith announced yesterday evening that the ruling party will sit down with its opposition counterparts on Thursday to talk election reform, though opposition leaders last night weren’t so sure. Speaking at a gathering of journalists ...
Stuart White and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-rainsy-meet-nailed-down-gov%E2%80%99t
Protesters take aim at prices
Tuk-tuk, motorbike and taxi drivers were among hundreds of workers from Cambodia’s “informal economy” who called on the government yesterday to cap fuel prices at 4,000 riel ($1) per litre, amid claims that the current 5,000 riel price leaves them unable to cover any more ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/protesters-take-aim-prices
Year's crime ranged from brutal to bizarre
Law and order in Cambodia this year has been a strange mix of the brutal and the bizarre. From horrific murders to the police’s decision to deliver crystal meth to phony hostage-takers during a bank heist, crime has continually made headlines in a year when the ...
Shane Worrell and Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/years-crime-ranged-brutal-bizarre
Royal Group makes deal during PM’s official visit
A Royal Group subsidiary has signed a deal with two Vietnamese firms to import fertiliser, a senior official with the company said yesterday. Among several deals agreed to during Prime Minister Hun Sen’s trip to Vietnam this weekend, Nitrogen Chemicals and Fertilizer Cambodia Ltd, the subsidiary ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/royal-group-makes-deal-during-pm%E2%80%99s-official-visit
Sonando postpones protest for TV licence
Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando said yesterday that he was forced to postpone a planned demonstration in support of his bid for a television license as he had given authorities insufficient notice of what he hoped would be an ongoing protest. On Friday, Sonando – whose ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sonando-postpones-protest-tv-licence
CNRP calls a timeout
After garment workers swelled turnout at the opposition’s ongoing demonstrations yesterday to what some estimated to be double the number seen at any previous rally, party leadership announced a weeklong moratorium on the marches. Demonstrators will continue to assemble at Freedom Park each day, said Cambodia ...
Mom Kunthear, Sean Teehan and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-calls-timeout
Boeung Kak protesters regroup
A combined group of protesters from the capital’s Boeung Kak lake community yesterday ended their blockade of Monivong Boulevard with some disappointment after Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy broke a promise to meet them at City Hall. Protesters have been blocking the road outside ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boeung-kak-protesters-regroup
New districts signed into being by PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen approved the creation of three new districts for Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Four existing districts are being divided to create the new areas, dubbed Chbar Ampov, Prek Pnov and Chroy Changva. Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche told the Post last ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-districts-signed-being-pm
Factories to lose millions
The economic fallout from garment worker protests and the industry’s response is expected to cost the key sector millions of dollars while tarnishing the country’s reputation among international buyers, interviews with suppliers and figures from previous periods of labour unrest show. Disputes over wages came to ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factories-lose-millions
New election ‘cannot be done’: watchdog
Election monitor Comfrel released its final assessment of the 2013 national elections yesterday, detailing a raft of irregularities, while at the same time acknowledging that the opposition’s claims of having won the election were undermined by its reluctance to provide concrete evidence. The 147-page report makes ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-election-%E2%80%98cannot-be-done%E2%80%99-watchdog
Indigenous woes probed
Ethnic minority groups in Ratanakkiri province are facing widespread human rights violations, land loss and the exploitation of their natural resources, an indigenous peoples conference was told yesterday. More than 300 villagers from the province’s Tum Poun, Kreng, Prov, Kavet, Jarai, Kachok and Lun communities hosted ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/indigenous-woes-probed
Funcinpec leaders ‘to sell off headquarters’
High-ranking members of the royalist Funcinpec party have said they are set to file a court complaint against the party’s senior leaders for allegedly attempting to sell the party’s headquarters for their own personal gain. Sok Sa Vann, a member of the party’s steering committee, maintained ...
Vong Sokheng
http://Funcinpec leaders ‘to sell off headquarters’
Chainsaws stayed busy in past year
The extent of the devastation of Cambodia’s forests was brought into sharp relief as 2013 drew to a close, with a series of detailed maps and satellite data released by NGOs showing the drastic depletion of the Kingdom’s woodland ecosystems. Images released by Open Development Cambodia ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chainsaws-stayed-busy-past-year
Number of women in politics back in focus
Finding out why women’s voices are not being listened to is imperative to increasing the proportion of female political representation in Cambodia, a meeting heard yesterday. The Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP) – which is made up of 12 organisations – hosted discussions in ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/number-women-politics-back-focus
‘An act of coup d’etat’
Dozens of ruling party lawmakers have signed a letter calling opposition demands for a re-election or the resignation of Prime Minister Hun Sen an attempted coup. The letter, signed by 54 Cambodian People’s Party lawmakers including senior MP Cheam Yeap on Friday and released to the ...
Daniel Pye and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98-act-coup-d%E2%80%99etat%E2%80%99
French give $26 million for irrigation
The French Agency for Development will provide $26 million in loans to the Cambodian government to rehabilitate irrigation systems across three provinces in the northwest. Speaking at the signing ceremony for the deal yesterday, Aun Pornmoniroth, the Minister of Economy and Finance, said the new systems ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/french-give-26-million-irrigation
Low awareness of AEC pact
The Asean Economic Community (AEC) will cut red tape and allow freer trade between the bloc’s 10 member states. But many companies in the region aren’t even aware of the AEC blueprint, a sobering report from the Asia Development Bank has found. The bank also ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/low-awareness-aec-pact
Illegal logs submerged in canal
A crackdown on illegal logging in Mondulkiri has yielded more than 50 cubic metres of luxury wood found submerged in a canal and stashed throughout the forest. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/illegal-logs-submerged-canal
Turmoil marks year in labour
When unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) signed a memorandum of understanding in October last year, both sides were confident strikes in the Kingdom’s biggest export sector could be kept to a minimum. Not counting December, GMAC has recorded 131 strikes this ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/turmoil-marks-year-labour
Keep striking for $160, Rainsy urges
Ahead of today’s Ministry of Labour announcement of a minimum wage increase for Cambodia’s apparel sector, opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday urged striking workers in Svay Rieng province to hold out until their monthly salary is raised to $160. “[Garment] workers should not return to work ...
Mom Kunthear, Sean Teehan and James Hall
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/keep-striking-160-rainsy-urges
Unionist firings inspire walkout
About 1,000 workers at a Kandal province garment factory walked off the job on Saturday after management there fired eight employees who attempted to start a new union. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unionist-firings-inspire-walkout
Journos claim officials are involved in logging
A group of local journalists in Preah Vihear province allege, in a complaint filed with a rights group, that authorities are involved in the sale of illegally logged timber. Seven journalists, who asked that their names and respective outlets not be identified for fear of retribution ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/journos-claim-officials-are-involved-logging