The Phnom Penh Post
Maruhan adds yuan services for customers
MARUHAN Japan Bank will be the next to join a growing list of Cambodian banks that provide cross-border remittance in Chinese yuan. The move by the Japanese-owned bank is part of a greater push to promote trade with China throughout the region, according to a statement ...
Ministry says rice exports to double
Despite a slow start for milled-rice exports in 2012 brought on by falling regional prices, officials yesterday predicted Cambodian shipments would more than double to 400,000 tonnes this year. Tax exemptions from Europe, which boosted milled-rice exports to about 173,000 tonnes last year, would continue to ...
Government eyes fuel taxes
The government plans to review fuel import taxes in the wake of soaring prices at the pump over the past few weeks, an official said yesterday. Cheam Yeap, Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker and chairman of the finance and banking commission, said the government will look into ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012041055530/National-news/government-eyes-fuel-taxes.html
Firm cautious after faintings
Workers deemed at risk of fainting were sent home yesterday morning after arriving at the gates of Sabrina (Cambodia) Manufacturing in Kampong Speu province, following two mass fainting incidents at the facility last week, union officials said. Ouk Lina, an administrative officer at the Free Trade ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012041055526/National-news/phnom-penh-cambodia-news.html
Bavet governor did it, shooting victim says
One of three women shot during a protest outside the Kaoway Sports factory in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet town on February 20 accused deposed town governor Chhouk Bandith of the crime yesterday, but told a judge she hadn’t been sure until seeing a media report ...
Villager freed after road block
Provincial authorities released land protester Bun Ratha, who was detained on Friday and sent to Kratie prison, after his supporters blocked traffic on National Road 73 yesterday. More than 500 villagers from Chhlong district’s Kampong Damrei commune, who are in a dispute with rubber company Kasotim ...
Strikers claim shots fired
Police threatened workers and fired shots into the air as a dispute involving about 800 Cambodian workers at Phatthana Seafood Co Ltd in Thailand’s Songkhla province escalated yesterday, a workers’ representative said. Sok Sorng said “many police” had threatened workers with guns as more than 1,000 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012041055531/National-news/strikers-claim-shots-fired.html
Evictees’ plea: New petition chugging along to ADB
Families evicted from their homes by the rehabilitation of Phnom Penh’s stretch of the national railway said they had filed their second petition in two weeks to the Asia Development Bank yesterday, seeking help to improve living conditions at their resettlement site. ...
Strike at seafood giant
About 800 Cambodian workers in Thailand went on strike yesterday against a major global seafood exporter they accuse of exploiting them. The factory, which has been identified by workers and rights groups as Phatthana Seafood Co Ltd in Thailand’s Songkhla province, allegedly scrapped a 20 baht ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040955512/National-news/strike-at-seafood-giant.html
China quick to act on trade promise
An across-the-board trade and investment deal signed with China’s Yunnan province on Friday was a jump-start to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s pledge a week earlier to double bilateral trade with the Kingdom to US$5 billion by 2017. The package signing, which brought a delegation of 45 ...
Boycott Nike, says Mu Sochua
Opposition MP Mu Sochua yesterday called for a boycott of global sports brand Nike, following two fainting incidents at a factory that supplies it last week. She also warned that global brands and the Cambodian government were taking a huge gamble by failing to address the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040955513/National-news/boycott-nike-says-mu-sochua.html
Villagers to continue road block
About 700 villagers in Kratie province’s Kampong Damrei commune will continue their protests today to persuade provincial authorities to release one of their representatives, villagers said yesterday. Representative Bun Sithet said the villagers, who are involved in a land dispute with Kasotim company, would protest outside ...
Omlaing villagers set to attend court
About 100 residents of Kampong Speu’s Omlaing commune will accompany five fellow villagers to the provincial court today after receiving summonses last week. ...
Storm levels Kampong Thom homes
Nine villagers were injured and about 270 homes damaged when a storm ravaged Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district on Friday, police said yesterday. Sandan district governor Sim Vanna told the Post that gale-force winds and heavy rain had swept across the region, leaving a trail of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040955509/National-news/storm-levels-k-thom-homes.html
10th-century statue found under tree
An ancient statue of a Hindu god believed to be more than 1,000 years old was discovered on Thursday at Koh Ker National Park’s Prasat Chen temple, a conservationist told the Post yesterday. ...
Sihanoukville port revenues up 22% on economic growth
Revenues earned by the Sihanouk Autonomous Port for the first quarter of this year jumped 22 per cent year-on-year to US$8.3 million, according to figures released yesterday by SAP. Exports of the Kingdom’s rice, garments and timber, coupled with imports of textiles, electronics and construction materials, ...
Tourism wins in China trade deal
Unless Cambodian exporters find new routes to China, a proposed doubling of bilateral trade to US$5 billion by 2017 would mean little more than increased Chinese goods and investment flooding into the Kingdom. Chinese investments and imports dominated bilateral trade with Cambodia, which was worth about ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040655456/Business/tourism-wins-in-china-trade-deal.html
Senior official hit with corruption complaint
Allegations that a senior government official in the Ministry of Planning stole thousands of dollars have been levelled in a complaint signed by more than 20 officials. But the director of the National Institute of Statistics, San Sy Than, defended Mech Kanthul, claiming the officials ...
Two-day respite: Factory shut for repairs after fainting
The Sabrina Garment factory, where 107 workers fainted on Wednesday morning, was ordered yesterday to close for two days to clean and repair its ventilation system, a Ministry of Labour official said yesterday. ...
Maid’s family seeks justice
The family of a Cambodian maid that officials suspect was tortured to death in Malaysia will fly there shortly to file a complaint against her employers, a government spokesperson said yesterday. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Koy Kuong said the family of Mey Sichan, 22, from ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040655463/National-news/maids-family-seeks-justice.html
‘Maid brokers’ on the stand
A teenager was one of 13 girls locked inside a recruitment company’s offices in the capital last year after being promised work as a maid in Malaysia, she told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. The court yesterday tried three people over alleged illegal detention and human ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040655461/National-news/maid-brokers-on-the-stand.html
HIV dollars stretching far: study
A dollar invested in aiding HIV patients was worth almost twice that to the people it was targeting with help, according to a new study by the NGO KHANA. ...
Analysis: Confronting the age crisis
Today is World Health Day, marking the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation in 1948. Each year, a theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area of concern for the WHO. This year’s priority area is ageing and health, ...
‘New deal’ eyed for migrant workers
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s call on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN members to protect the rights of migrant workers echoed recent comments by rights groups who say further protections are necessary as the 2015 deadline for an integrated economic community looms. As that deadline approaches, ...