The Phnom Penh Post
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
Crocodile farmers feel bite as demand continues to fall
The price of crocodile hatchlings in Siem Reap province has dropped drastically, and many local farmers are worrying about the future viability of crocodile farming. Tim Bunseng, a crocodile farmer in Siem Reap with around 200 female hatchlings, said the price he can get has dropped ...
Phnom Penh's restaurant landscape changing
With the arrival of many new restaurants and coffee shops in Phnom Penh, the complexion of the food and beverage market is swiftly changing, according to restaurant owners. Tea Club owner SP Loh said existing restaurants had to work harder to retain their customers in light ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052156270/Business/restaurant-landscape-changing.html
Mourning villagers flee
Hundreds of people fled in fear yesterday from the village in Kratie province where a bloody security forces crackdown the previous morning left a 14-year-old girl dead. Joint police and military police forces locked down the area where a land dispute has raged this year, and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051856248/National-news/mourning-villagers-flee.html
UK to open investment office
The United Kingdom Trade and Investment Office would establish a permanent branch in Phnom Penh in the expectation that economic ties between the two countries would continue to grow, Cambodian and UK officials said yesterday. Bilateral trade has risen by 300 per cent during the past ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051856232/Business/uk-to-open-investment-office.html
Koh Kong judge queries reporter in Wutty case
One of the journalists on the scene when environmentalist Chut Wutty was gunned down last month appeared in a Koh Kong provincial court yesterday to answer questions about the shooting incident, which also led to the death of military police officer In Rattana. According to human ...
Brands proving free lunches might exist
Major international garment and shoe brands have expressed interest in funding a food program that would feed Cambodian factory workers lunches in an effort to improve health and productivity, a labour advocate said on Wednesday. Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor ...
Trio face forest-clearing charge
A married couple and another man were called before a judge yesterday after being charged with clearing protected forest in Koh Kong province’s Kandorl commune. Kry Deuy, his wife, Moeung Yan, and a man named Soun Sareth cleared about 16 hectares of state-protected forest to cultivate ...