News
Kratie conspiracy: Rebels are still being hunted: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday expressed his condolences for the family of a 14-year-old girl shot dead by government security forces in Kratie last month, but stopped short of calling for an investigation. ...
Sweden Donates $3.97M to Khmer Rouge Tribunal
The international side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has had its financial woes briefly allayed by a $3.97 million pledge from Sweden to fund operations for the next two years. ...
Migrant Worker Complaints Rise as Families Lose Touch
Rights group Adhoc yesterday said it had seen a spike in complaints from families of migrant workers since last year’s government-ordered freeze on recruitment agencies sending maids to Malaysia. At a press conference in Phnom Penh, Adhoc said it had received 141 complaints from the relatives ...
Migrant abuse trending up
Human rights group Adhoc released a report on the state of Cambodian migrant workers yesterday, saying that tales of abuse from migrant workers and their families have increased five-fold compared to the same period last year. Seventy per cent of this year’s 141 complaints concerned domestic ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061556814/National-news/migrant-abuse-trending-up.html
Hun Sen Takes Aim at US During Speech
Addressing the killing of 14-year-old Heng Chantha for the first time since she was shot dead last month by government security forces, Prime Minister Hun Sen offered his condolences before declaring that the killing of the teenager was not as serious as the U.S. bombing ...
Witness duo no-show amid safety concerns
Two witnesses to the Bavet town factory shooting in February failed to show up at Svay Rieng Provincial Court yesterday despite being summoned by an investigating judge, with one citing fears for his safety. Sok Vuthy, a 28 year-old worker, told the Post yesterday that he ...
Cambodian-Flagged Vessel Delivers Missile Trucks to N Korea
A Cambodian-flagged cargo ship was used last year to deliver four missile-launching vehicles to North Korea in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits the sale of weapons to Pyongyang, according to media reports. The 84-meter long “Harmony Wish,” which flies a so-called Cambodian ...
Passenger Traffic At International Airports Continues Upward Trend
Passenger traffic at Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanouk international airports saw a combined 18.9% growth in May 2012, with passenger numbers totaling 283,000, the report from SCA, society concession airport said on June 7. It adds: ‘This brings the year-to-date passenger arrivals and departures to 1.89 million, a sterling 21.8% jump.’ ...
Migrants stuffed into two homes
More than 100 Cambodian migrant workers were discovered in rented houses this week near Rong Kleu market in Thailand’s Sakaeo province, officials said yesterday. Banteay Meanchey provincial spokesman Ouk Keo Ratanak said Thai authorites found the workers on Wednesday crammed into two houses, and sent them ...
Cambodia takes $430m China loan
Cambodia yesterday signed deals for about US$430 million in loans from China, the latest in a number of high-profile borrowing deals with its northern neighbour. The bulk of the loans, from Export-Import Bank of China, would go towards two national road projects and a multipurpose dam ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061456790/Business/cambodia-takes-430m-china-loan.html
Satellite Shots to Help Settle Deforestation Claims
New satellite images of Oddar Meanchey province promise to help settle wildly conflicting deforestation estimates inside a 64,000-hectare area, which is set to anchor the country’s first forest-based carbon trading scheme. With the project potentially ready to sell carbon credits to foreign firms in a matter ...
Telcos still vie for subscribers
The battle for subscriber numbers rages on in the still-clustered Cambodian mobile market. Smart Mobile this week announced it passed the 3 million-subscriber mark, which would make it Cambodia’s second-largest operator by subscriber numbers after Vietnam’s Metfone. Numbers obtained by the Post showed Cellcard with a consecutive ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061456789/Business/telcos-still-vie-for-subscribers.html
Rubber Prices Plummet Despite Increase in Exports
Revenues generated from rubber exports dropped 25 percent to $41 million in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2011, as rubber prices on the international market plummeted, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce. While rubber ...
Britain’s Fraud Office Probes Biofuel Scheme
A biofuel company is currently under investigation for fraud in the U.K. after millions of dollars of investors’ money was spent on a jatropha plantation in Banteay Meanchey province that never produced even a single drop of biodiesel. The company, London-based Sustainable Agro Energy PLC, had ...
Direct Bangkok-Phnom Penh Bus Route Officially Opens Commences
Starting today, 22 Cambodian buses and a truck will be allowed to transport passengers and goods directly between Phnom Penh and Bangkok, an official said yesterday. “We will officially open the Poipet International Checkpoint [to buses and trucks] on the Thai border,” said Suon Vanhong, deputy ...
Cambodian-Americans Protest Minister’s US Visit
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong’s visit to meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington was met with a small protest Tuesday from Cambodian-Americans voicing a number of grievances. Video footage posted online shows a cluster of protesters outside the State Department building in Washington ...
After brawl, workers can go
Cambodian workers seeking to leave a seafood factory in Thailand following a lethal brawl with counterparts from Myanmar were given their passports and salaries on Monday, a representative said. Phon Jam said 800 Cambodian workers at the Siam International Food Co Ltd factory in Songkhla province ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061456796/National-news/after-brawl-workers-can-go.html
Court to Question SEZ Shooting Witnesses Today
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court is scheduled to question two witnesses today over the shooting of three workers at a special economic zone (SEZ) on Feb. 20, investigating Judge Pech Chhoeut said yesterday. “We will question two more witnesses on Thursday,” Judge Chhoeut said. ...
Cambodia PM vows to fix land disputes
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday gave authorities six months to end a spate of land disputes pitting developers against villagers that have sparked increasingly violent protests. Hun Sen ordered officials to visit contested areas and issue deeds to families facing illegal evictions, a move ...
http://www.brecorder.com/world/southeast-asia/62295-cambodia-pm-vows-to-fix-land-disputes-.html
Activists’ Jail Sentences Under Review
A Cambodian court is asked to re-examine the jailing of Boeung Kak land activists. Cambodian authorities have asked a court to review the jailing of 13 women involved in a land dispute as protests over their sentences escalated with over 100 demonstrators threatening Thursday to march ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/boeung-kak-06142012183002.html
Final Witness Questioned Over Chut Wutty’s Death
The Koh Kong Provincial Court yesterday questioned the seventh and final witness to the April 26 shooting death of well-known environmental activist Chut Wutty by provincial military police officer In Ratana, court officials said. Srey Makny, the court’s deputy prosecutor, said witness Bou An was questioned ...
Bearing Gifts, Chinese Heads Visit Hun Sen
A delegation of Chinese officials yesterday donated two airplanes and signed an agreement to provide Cambodia with loans for a new hydropower dam in Battambang and the renovation of two national roads. The deals were made during a meeting in Phnom Penh between He Guoqiang, a ...
Boeung Kak 13 case shifts to Appeal Court
The case of the 13 imprisoned Boeung Kak women is in the hands of the Appeal Court now, the women’s defence lawyer said yesterday. Lawyer Harm Sunrith said that Phnom Penh Municipal Court had sent the case to the Appeal Court on Tuesday, adding that he ...
Cambodian Pawnshop Revenues Drop as Industry Expands
The number of licensed pawnshops in the country has surged since the government began registering them in 2010, leaving some pawnbrokers claiming revenue losses of 30 to 50 percent due to oversaturation in the market. Ly Seng Cheng, a pawnbroker at the Khlaing Rum Sev pawnshop ...