The Phnom Penh Post
Strikers move protest to Phnom Penh
Thousands of workers from Tai Yang Enterprise, a supplier for major brands including Levis and the Gap, will move their nearly three-week-old strike from their factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district to Freedom Park in Phnom Penh tomorrow in order to bring their petition ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071057320/National-news/strikers-move-to-phnom-penh.html
Looking back at riel history
For the past decade, Cambodia’s economy has steadily grown with GDP growth surpassing 5% on a compounded annual basis for the past twelve years. Nearly 58% of the populace is engaged in agriculture, while the service sector employs 26% and industry accounts for the remaining ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071057308/Business/history-of-the-riel.html
Maid in landmark abuse case returns to Cambodia
The first Cambodian maid to successfully sue her employer in a Malaysian court came home on Sunday, and is leveraging her landmark case to insist that more victims seek compensation through the legal system. ...
ANZ report shows a vulnerable Cambodia
Cambodia and Thailand’s financial exposure to Europe would make the two counties the most vulnerable regionally, an ANZ Bank report showed. The Kingdom’s exports and tourism sectors were on increasingly unstable ground as Europe’s debt crisis advanced. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957290/Business/anz-report-vulnerable-cambodia.html
Laos only ‘surveying’ Xayaburi
Laos has denied it is pushing forward with the controversial Xayaburi hydropower dam in violation of international legal obligations, the country’s state media reported on Friday. Under a 1995 agreement with Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, Laos was obligated to not begin construction without a prior ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957302/National-news/laos-only-surveying-xayaburi.html
Trade with Vietnam increases
A pledge in mid-June by Cambodia and Vietnam to increase bilateral trade by more than US$2.5 billion by 2015 may lead to decreased trade with Thailand, market analysts have said. The pledge made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957288/Business/trade-with-vietnam-increases.html
South China Sea centre of ASEAN talks again
There was a sense of déjà vu at the Peace Palace yesterday as a week of largely closed-door ASEAN meetings kicked off in earnest with the same contentious issue that so dominated April’s ASEAN Summit: a code of conduct for the South China Sea. With China ...
Electric bill hike gets thumbs down
More than 200 villagers in Preah Vihear town thumb-printed a joint complaint to rights group Adhoc over the weekend asking them to appeal to provincial authorities to intervene after their private electricity company raised its prices by more than 1,000 riel per kilowatt hour, NGO ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957295/National-news/electric-bill-hike.html
Bank now offers gold accounts
Cambodians can now invest in gold through one of the Kingdom’s Malaysian-owned banks, CIMB. The investment product has been met with mixed reviews from experts, but could tap a popular and traditional means of investment. CIMB’s Gold Deposit Account would give customers a gold-backed investment option without ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957291/Business/cimb-offers-gold-accounts.html
Strike will continue for thousands
Thousands of workers from the Tai Yang Enterprise garment factories, which supply major US brands Levis and Gap, have vowed to continue a two-week strike today after negotiations between the company, union and Labour Ministry officials broke down on Friday. “The minister did not protect ...
‘Secessionists’ no-show event
A Friday press conference meant to be an act of defiance and a call for justice from the so-called Kratie “secessionists” was conspicuously short on both, as two accused secessionists failed to appear as promised to demand that the government present credible evidence against them. Instead, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957296/National-news/kratie-secessionists-no-show.html
NGOs feel ignored by ASEAN rights council
Despite renewed criticism from civil society and a call for its drafting to be postponed, finalisation of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) was well under way, officials said yesterday at the beginning of a week of ASEAN meetings. Speaking to reporters after a meeting between ...
Ninth Master Suki Soup opens in Phnom Penh
The family hotpot-style restaurant Master Suki Soup has opened its ninth restaurant in Cambodia, on Sothearos Boulevard adjacent to Hun Sen Park, with the newly relocated German Fresh Beer brew pub and German menu upstairs. The soft opening took place on Thursday night as Master Suki ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957286/Business/ninth-master-suki-soup-in-pp.html
PM's land titling scheme full of ambiguity
Adorned in new military uniforms, about 400 more young volunteers who have been enlisted into Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ambitious national land-titling scheme departed from Diamond Island yesterday armed with measuring tapes, computers and GPS units. The budding surveyors are the latest group of some 2,000 ...
Cambodian goods to be certified
The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) will begin promoting the Institute of Standards of Cambodia (ISC) certifications by the end of 2012 in an effort to educate people about certified goods, according to ministry officials. The program is in order to boost consumer confidence ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070657245/Business/cambodian-goods-to-be-certified.html
Clash thwarts union’s march
Police clashed with strikers as thousands of garment workers from factories that sell to Levi’s and Gap were blocked as they marched from Kandal province towards the capital yesterday, union representatives said. The 4,000-strong group’s march, as threatened by Cambodian Confederation of Trade Unions president Rong ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070657253/National-news/clash-thwarts-unions-march.html
Real estate firm ready for CSX listing
Bonna Realty Group will prepare to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange, the company’s president said this week. The real estate firm joins a small but growing group of private companies that say they are gearing up for initial public offerings on the new exchange. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070657246/Business/real-estate-ready-for-csx.html
Migrant abuse claims skyrocket five fold
Complaints of rights violations of migrant workers had increased more than 500 per cent in the first four months of 2012 compared with the same period last year, rights group Adhoc said yesterday. The number of individual victims of rights violations, mainly migrant workers in Malaysia ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070657258/National-news/migrant-abuse-claims-mount.html
Government to cut power subsidies
The government will drop subsidies for high electricity use, after the Electricity Authority of Cambodia (EAC) reported losses of US$3 million between January and May this year. Households consuming more than 200 KW/h per month will no longer receive a 100 to 200 riel per KW/h ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070657247/Business/govt-to-cut-power-subsidies.html
Unions reject bonus bargain
Union leaders yesterday rejected a proposal from Cambodian garment makers to provide US$9 a month for a worker’s housing and transport fees, demanding an additional $1. The benefits were announced last week after unions said they would lead a large-scale protest ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070657244/Business/unions-reject-bonus-bargain.html
Not all economic land concessions listed
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ latest list of economic land concessions reveals some peculiar discrepancies with known records of ELCs. Some that have recently been granted are missing, while others known to have been cancelled remain. The June 8 MAFF list makes no mention ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070557236/National-news/not-all-elc-listed.html
Rice exports facing challenges
Pou Puy, president of the Cambodian Rice Millers Association, said that the export of Cambodia’s white rice faces challenges in terms of both quantity and competitive pricing, as exports of milled rice dropped about 35 per cent for the first half of 2012 compared to ...
Emaxx, Excell deal long dead
The collapse of Digital Star Media’s acquisition of mobile operator Excell emerged yesterday, nearly a year after the firms announced the potential buy-out. Digital Star Media, branded under the name Emaxx, announced in late July last year it was in talks to buy GT-TELL’s Excell. The ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070557224/Business/emaxx-excell-deal-long-dead.html
Cambodia, Vietnam united on Xayaburi
Cambodia and Vietnam will write a joint letter to the Lao and Thai governments urging that construction of the Xayaburi dam, in northern Laos, be halted, a spokesman for the government’s Mekong committee said yesterday. Minister of Water Resources Lim Kean Hor met with Vietnam’s Minister ...