The Phnom Penh Post
Mondulkiri villagers face eviction deadline
Authorities set a May 25 deadline yesterday for residents of Mondulkiri province’s Rayum commune in Koh Nhek district to leave their homes, prompting the deployment of additional provincial forces to the area. Villager Seng Channy, 52, said that the coalition of about 300 police, soldiers and ...
Rail looks for new funding
It’s a nearly 300-kilometre stretch of rail in disrepair. More than 60 bridges – some crumbling, some dotted with landmines at the base – lie on the line between the towns of Bat Deong, northwest of Phnom Penh, and Sisophan near the Thai border. The ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052356314/Business/rail-looks-for-new-funding.html
Eviction force’s garb curious
Observers on site in the aftermath of a Kratie province military operation last week that lead to the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl noticed something odd about the attire of some soldiers. It was their helmets. Crude replicas of what appeared to be American flags ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052356332/National-news/eviction-forces-garb-curious.html
PM announces oil-food equation hurting poor
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday blamed soaring food prices on fuel prices set by oil cartels like OPEC, appealing to oil-producing countries to pay attention to the connection between food security and energy. Cambodia imports 100 per cent of its oil, and the majority of agriculture ...
Capital port delayed until early next year
Quashing hopes of opening the Phnom Penh Port for the high trade season that begins in July, the port’s director said the pace of construction would push the official launch date into next year. ...
Lake protestors take ‘homes’ to City Hall
Nearly 100 Boeung Kak lake villagers took to city hall yesterday carrying mattresses, umbrellas and food to protest what they called government inaction on the long-standing land dispute over their eviction from the lake. ...
Storms swamp capital streets in drain strain
Despite recent efforts by the authorities to improve drainage systems around the capital, heavy flooding and swamped roads were the norm over the past week as the kick-off to the rainy season saw pelting rain almost every afternoon, residents say. Old drainage systems put in place ...
Mondulkiri villagers decry torching of homes by police
More than 60 families in Mondulkiri province’s Roveak village in Rayum commune are worried about their safety and that of their housing after authorities deployed forces to surround their village on Sunday following eviction orders from the government. Bun Sokchea, 49, said that on Saturday, Koh ...
Malnutrition affecting Cambodia’s development
A 50 per cent stunting rate among Cambodian children contributed to lower-skilled labour and slower economic development for the Kingdom, a senior government economist said yesterday at a workshop on food security. Stunted growth as a result of malnutrition led to ineffective learning among children and ...
Factory allegedly hires thugs to hurt strikers
A garment factory in the capital’s Meanchey district yesterday denied hiring a group of 10 “gangsters” to beat and injure workers as they protested. Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) official Ney Bunthoeun said a gang of thugs hired by Haiyun garment factory bosses ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052256309/National-news/factory-thugs-hurt-strikers.html
Two injured after steel mill accident in capital
An explosion at a steel mill in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district left two employees seriously injured over the weekend, authorities said. Mao Saroeun, Stung Meanchey commune police chief, said that around 10pm on Sunday there was a small, loud explosion at a mill owned by the ...
Standards out for tourism officials
Housekeeping and front offices at hotels around Cambodia are set to change as the country prepares to adopt regional standards that all ASEAN nations are trying to put in place. The draft document on housekeeping and front-office standards, and related training courses, had been finalised by Tourism ...
Security forces strip, handcuff women in Kratie amid eviction
Villagers detained during a bloody crackdown in Kratie province last week in which a 14-year-old was shot dead have accused security forces of brutal acts of cruelty, including forcing pregnant women to stand naked in the sun for hours. The villagers from Pro Ma village in ...
Women in upper union positions vital
Female union leaders in the garment industry – where women constitute 90 per cent of the work force – are effective at bargaining for better working conditions, but their voices aren’t being heard in a union landscape dominated by men, a labour expert said yesterday. Veasna ...
First life insurance company launches in Cambodia
The Kingdom’s first life insurance company, Cambodian Life, launched yesterday, courting a market almost entirely unfamiliar with the service. Industry insiders said demand for the products would need time to grow. The establishment of Cambodian Life in the Kingdom would develop confidence in the market and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052256297/Business/life-insurance-opens-doors.html
Oil factory fire causes significant damage
A worker was slightly injured and more than US$100,000 in property destroyed yesterday in a fire at an oil factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district, police said. Thach Phalla, Ang Snuol district deputy police chief, said the fire started at noon when some oil overflowed ...
Gold vendors rally to free compatriots
Three Banteay Meanchey gold vendors accused of buying stolen goods were arrested yesterday then released four hours later after about 200 fellow gold sellers demonstrated on their behalf outside Mongkol Borei district police headquarters. The district governor personally intervened and mediated the release, district police chief ...
Visitors from Vietnam up 18 per cent in Q1
The number of Vietnamese tourists visiting Cambodia and Cambodians visiting Vietnam has increased recently, according to new data released by the Cambodian tourism ministry. Vietnam has the largest number of tourists visiting Cambodia at 600,000, or 21 per cent, of all international visitors. ...
Accused secessionist in Kratie to meet with the press
The man police allege was behind a so-called secession plan in Kratie province – an accusation used to justify a crackdown in which a teenager was killed last week – plans to hold a press conference to defend himself in the next two days, his ...
Xayaburi study questioned
A study the Lao government has used to claim the Xayaburi dam would be harmless if redesigned has been criticised for not addressing concerns about the project’s effect on fish in the Lower Mekong river. Lao Vice Minister of Energy and Mines Viraponh Viravong was reported ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052156277/National-news/xayaburi-study-questioned.html
MOUs to tighten Chinese trade ties
Cambodia’s Power Partner Profit Group has signed 10 memoranda of understanding with Chinese companies for cooperation on agriculture, mineral resources and electronics. Insiders said the penning of the MoUs, which do not guarantee a final agreement, was another step toward realising a US$5 billion bilateral trade ...
Villagers vs bulldozers
One hundred and thirty-five ethnic Kouy families from the Brame, Srae Preang and Bos Tom villages in Preah Vihear’s Tbeng Meanchey district gathered on Saturday and yesterday to protest the Lan Feng Company’s alleged bulldozing of their farmland. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052156285/National-news/villagers-vs-bulldozers.html
Three new witnesses called in Chut Wutty case
Three more witnesses have been summonsed for questioning over the fatal shooting of prominent environmentalist Chut Wutty and military police officer In Rattana, rights groups said yesterday. In Kongchit, Koh Kong provincial coordinator for rights group Licadho, said yesterday that deputy prosecutor Srey Mak Ny had ...
New governor in Kratie
Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed former Kratie deputy governor Sar Chamrong, one of his personal advisers, as the new governor of the province in a ceremony there on Friday, the government’s official news agency said over the weekend. The Post reported earlier this month that Kratie ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052156281/National-news/new-governor-in-kratie.html