The Phnom Penh Post
Mob breaks evictee into home
A PROTEST on the fifth storey of a residential high-rise in Borei Keila ended with authorities fleeing the scene and incensed villagers breaking down a door yesterday. About 50 villagers converged on the site to protest against Phan Imex and authorities evicting a man from his ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122253561/National-news/mob-breaks-evictee-into-home.html
Prey Lang protesters on run after police allegedly pay a visit
TWO activists involved in last month’s Prey Lang forest protest against illegal logging fled their houses yesterday in Sandan district in an attempt to evade local authorities, villagers reported. Roeun Sopheap, village representative in Sandan commune, said he fled his home yesterday after finding several police ...
ADB offers $15m loan for financial-sector growth
Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank have signed their latest loan agreement of US$15 million for the development of the Kingdom’s financial sector, according to ADB. The money would be used for a number of development programs, including the improvement of regulatory regimes, creation of an ...
Called to court: Summonsed woman brings crowd of 150
A woman summonsed to Kampong Speu provincial court over a land dispute yesterday returned home without being arrested after about 150 protesting villagers turned out to support her. Rath Thavy, provincial monitor for human rights group Adhoc, speculated that the court decided not to arrest Khem ...
Gathering of youths makes case for forests
Cambodia’s National Youth Congress called on the government yesterday to act to protect the country’s natural resources from illegal traders. About 100 young people from 30 colleges in Phnom Penh, Kratie and Kampong Thom Chhnang provinces attended a discussion about protecting natural resources – with a ...
Logging in the wild west
Illegal logging of staggering proportions abetted by military personnel is decimating stocks of luxury rosewood in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest, while the conversation group tasked with protecting the area and its government counterparts deny the trade is even happening. In a period of several hours ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122153536/National-news/logging-in-the-wild-west.html
Telecom Cambodia finds Vietnamese ISP partner
State-owned Telecom Cambodia has signed a business cooperation agreement with Vietnam National Post and Telecommunications Corp in order to bolster TC’s product portfolio and coverage area, company officials said yesterday. Telecom Cambodia offers both fixed-line phone and internet services in the Kingdom. Vietnam National Post and ...
Kingdom pushes power grid
The Cambodian government yesterday offered a subsidy on equipment to private electricity distributors in an effort to expand the Kingdom’s limited power grid. Private power suppliers who have completed between 70 to 80 per cent of their planned investments in electricity networks can request subsidies on ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122053502/Business/kingdom-pushes-power-grid.html
Incitement claim: monk called to court over land protest
A Kampuchea Krom monk was issued a summons yesterday to appear in a Phnom Penh court tomorrow to face accusations of incitement. In a letter obtained by the Post yesterday, the investigating municipal judge, Duch Kimson, ordered Sieng Sovannra, a monk at the Samaki Raingsey pagoda, ...
Unions cry foul on temp contracts
Union leaders gathered in the capital yesterday to discuss strategies to curb the garment industry’s widespread use of temporary contracts for hiring workers, saying employers were using them to discourage unions and ensure their workforce remained docile and easy to exploit. They also accused employers of ...
SAP sees growth in shipments
Sihanoukville Autonomous Port saw a 10 per cent year-on-year shipment increase in the first 11 months of the year, according to data provided by the Port’s general director. The shipment of cargo across the port during the time period reached 2.2 million tons, a 9.94 per ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353314/Business/sap-sees-growth-in-shipments.html
Air Asia expands services, flights
Malaysia-based Air Asia will begin offering travel services in Cambodia, and may expand its flights to neighbouring countries, company officials said. The airline launched its first Air Asia Travel and Service Center in Phnom Penh yesterday. Air Asia will partner with tour operator Mekong Discovery. So Mara, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353316/Business/air-asia-expands-services-flights.html
$6bn in projects approved in 2011
Investment approved between January and October surpassed those last year by US$160 million, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia. The 126 local and foreign investment projects through October, worth about $6 billion, overshadowed the $5.8 billion in the whole of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353317/Business/6bn-in-projects-approved-in-2011.html
Thai rail link back on track
Representatives from Cambodia and Thailand yesterday agreed to a 2013 completion date for a railway link from Phnom Penh across the Cambodia-Thailand border crossing at Poipet. Outdated agreements had delayed the project, Thai officials said. Insiders have also said disagreements over cross-border trade have kept the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353318/Business/thai-rail-link-back-on-track.html
More fishermen repatriated
Another 30 Cambodian men among 65 rescued in Indonesia after being trafficked into work on fishing boats in Thailand were repatriated to the Kingdom yesterday, following the return of 30 such workers last week. The remaining five workers are set to be repatriated next month, Chiv ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353326/National-news/more-fishermen-repatriated.html
Relocated and living on the edge
Years after their eviction from central Phnom Penh, families continue to trickle back into the city from their relocation sites on the city’s outskirts. They search for cheap rental rooms instead of houses like the ones they were driven out of, in some cases, by ...
Visitors fill hotels in Sihanoukville
Year-end travelers have fully booked Sihanoukville province’s hotels and guesthouses for the first-ever Sea Festival, which is expected to attract thousands of visitors this year, tourism officials said. Tith Chantha, general director at the Ministry of Tourism, confirmed that all hotel and guesthouse rooms were booked ...
Cambodia to send labour to Qatar
The government has approved Qatar as a destination for the growing number of Cambodian labourers seeking employment overseas. Workers will not be recruited for housekeeping services, however, private sector officials said. The abuse of maids in Malaysia – many of whom were reportedly under-aged – has ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121253300/Business/cambodia-to-send-labour-to-qatar.html
Push to uncover fainting cause
The International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories program is seeking funding for a campaign to prevent “future fainting incidents” at the garment factories it monitors, following the release on Friday of the results of its investigation into them, according to a document obtained by the Post. The ...
Prison move may unravel
Human rights groups are warning that Cambodia’s new Prison Law will create financial incentives for violations of human rights within the Kingdom’s prisons and tarnish the image of the country’s most lucrative export industry: footwear and garments. They point to Article 71 of the new law, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121253306/National-news/prison-move-may-unravel.html
Laos dam looms over fish quota
A new government plan has set a goal for an annual 1.2 million tonnes of fish by 2019, but officials and environmentalist have said the construction of Xayaburi dam in Laos could stymie Mekong fisheries. The plan would push fish exports to 500,000 tonnes of fish ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011120953255/Business/laos-dam-looms-over-fish-quota.html
False alarms trigger fainting
Three false alarms at a garment factory triggered another mass fainting incident yesterday morning, sending 59 female staff, including one security guard, to hospitals and clinics, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labour. The first alarm went off about 7:40am in a sewing section, ...
Kingdom sees boost in foreign reserves
Cambodia’s total foreign reserves jumped to US$3 billion in the first half of 2011, up from $2.7 billion at the end of last year, according to the National Bank of Cambodia. The reserves help to bolster the Kingdom’s financial standing, which in turn draws investor interest ...
Land dispute: threatened villagers protect land
Roughly 100 villagers were allegedly threatened by soldiers brandishing AK-47s yesterday, while attempting to block a company from bulldozing their farms in Kratie province’s Snuol district. Soun Vicheka, a representative of 136 families in Snuol commune’s Krasaing village, said villagers formed a human chain to prevent Horizon ...