Government
Plot thickens for evictees
Scores of families in Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila community tore down a corrugated metal fence and took up temporary residence in developer Phan Imex’s unfinished Building 9 as anger over smaller-than-promised relocation plots boiled over yesterday morning. The occupation began after local and municipal authorities came ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/plot-thickens-evictees
Villagers in limbo as dam starts
Construction at the controversial Lower Sesan II dam site in Stung Treng province has already begun, according to villagers, who will today petition several ministries, the Chinese embassy and the headquarters of the Royal Group to open negotiations with them. According to the villagers, who travelled ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-limbo-dam-starts
Firm ordered to stop clearing land
Authorities in Pursat’s Krakor district yesterday ordered a cassava company to stop clearing land on which more than 60 families claim they have planted rice and other crops since 1997, villagers and a company official said. Following protests in Anlong Tnort commune on Tuesday, villager Lim ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/firm-ordered-stop-clearing-land
Exports to the US see slight rise
Cambodia’s exports to the United States, the country’s biggest market, were valued at about $2.8 billion last year, a three per cent rise from $2.7 billion in 2012, according to fresh statistics from the US Department of Commerce. Ken Ratha, a spokesman for Cambodia’s Ministry of ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-us-see-slight-rise
Youth vote pushes for direct council election
Hundreds of youth activists have deployed to the provinces to collect signatures for a petition calling for an amendment to the election law that would allow direct elections for district, city and provincial councillors. The current system sees the Kingdom’s more than 11,000 sitting commune councillors ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/youth-vote-pushes-direct-council-election
Authorities Burn 60 Homes in Pursat Province
More than 60 wooden homes in Pursat province were burned to the ground Wednesday by officials in Veal Veng district, who claimed that the owners were living on state land, rights group Licadho said. “On Wednesday morning, police, military police, RCAF soldiers and the deputy provincial ...
Ben Sokhean and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/authorities-burn-60-homes-in-pursat-province-52093/
Dam site still logged: NGOs
NGOS have accused logging tycoon Try Pheap’s MDS Import-Export Company – which had a licence to clear forest during the construction of the Stung Atai hydropower dam in Pursat – of continuing to log the area despite the dam being finished. Ouch Leng, director of the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-site-still-logged-ngos
Tourism revenues increase but taxes remain flat
Overall revenue from Cambodia’s booming tourism sector reached $2.5 billion last year, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon. Khon said in an interview on Tuesday that the figure, which does not reflect the amount the state collected in taxes on the sector, marked a 15 per ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tourism-revenues-increase-taxes-remain-flat
Borei Keila residents ‘occupy’ unfinished apartment block
Residents embroiled in a long-running land dispute in the Borei Keila area of Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district on Wednesday tore down three metal fences and occupied an unfinished apartment block at the site. The fences were felled with axes by irate residents, who took the ...
Khuon Narim and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/borei-keila-residents-occupy-unfinished-apartment-block-52083/
Officials to head to US for adoption training
Cambodia’s long-awaited resumption of international adoptions will soon take another tenuous step forward with a US State Department program that will see local adoption officials flown to the United States for training. The initiative, pegged an “informational visitor’s program”, follows on the heels of a January ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-head-us-adoption-training
Unions plan 2nd round of mass strikes
After the Court of Appeal denied bail to 21 jailed protesters on Tuesday, 16 labor unions and associations announced Wednesday that they will retaliate by calling a nationwide labor strike in the middle of March. The unions, which mainly represent workers in the garment industry, said ...
Mech Dara and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-plan-2nd-round-of-mass-strikes-52078/
In Cambodia, culture shapes identity, spurs economic growth
Last year, the United Nations called for culture to be given top priority in the post-2015 global development agenda, citing its importance to economic growth, social inclusion, equality, and sustainable development. It is difficult to quantify the impact culture has on a nation, particularly for a developing ...
Julia Chen
http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2014/02/12/in-cambodia-culture-shapes-identity-spurs-economic-growth/
Tea Banh denies troop entry
Cambodia’s Defence Minister Tea Banh insists neither Cambodian armed men nor soldiers had entered Thailand to carry out violence in Thailand during the political crisis. Defence Ministry spokesman Phapathip Sawangsaeng yesterday said Gen Tea Banh made his remark during a meeting with caretaker Defence Minister Yuthasak ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/394545/tea-banh-denies-troop-entry
Cambodian govt making efforts at minimum wage reform
The Government of Cambodia is making efforts at minimum wage reform, and it has set up a committee to study the minimum wage at garment manufacturing units as a way of continually working to increase it, Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng while unveiling the Ministry’s ...
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=159685
Indian cultural week to kick off in Cambodia Thursday
The Festivals of India including a photo show and dance performances will be held in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh and Siem Reap cities from Feb. 13 to Feb. 19, according to a media statement from the Indian Embassy in Cambodia on Wednesday. Speaking at a press ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/culture/2014-02/12/c_133109966.htm
Cambodia: Rainsy returns as court keeps protesters in jail
Anguished cries from supporters and family members echoed outside the Appeals Court in Phnom Penh yesterday as they received the news bail had been denied. They had been hoping for the release of 21 people detained since a brutal government crackdown in early January. On ...
Daniel Quinlan
http://asiancorrespondent.com/119494/cambodia-rainsy-returns-as-court-keeps-protesters-in-jail/
Sam Rainsy to write a letter to Hun Sen
Sam Rainsy is preparing a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen to seek negotiation between the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), an opposition official told The Cambodia Herald on Wednesday. The political deadlock in Cambodia has been lasting for ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NzExZmM1MTNiNWU
Almost half of Cambodian households have access to electricity
Cambodia’s electricity sector made notable progress in 2013 in terms of its sources, connection lines, and supplies, according to the Cambodian Electricity Authority. There was an increasing usage of 4297 million Kwh or 22 per cent in 2013 from 3527 million Kwh in 2012, according to ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MjEyYWY2MjNjODY
Bird flu kills two siblings in northeastern Cambodia
A seven-year-old boy and his three-year-old sister from Cambodia’s northeastern Kratie Province died from H5N1 human avian influenza on Friday bring the death number of the cases to three so far this year, a health official confirmed Wednesday. H5N1 influenza is a flu that normally ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2014-02/12/c_133109100.htm
Railway leaves area in limbo
In 2009, a railway project official arrived at 45-year-old Ry Preng’s home in Por Sen Chey district and spray-painted “1.042” in red on the side of his house. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but was told that at some point he would need to ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/railway-leaves-area-limbo
Vets protest unpaid pensions
After protesting in front of government offices yesterday, more than 60 retired soldiers received pensions that had been withheld for close to a year. The 64 Preah Sihanouk veterans gathered in front of the Department of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation told the Post that ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vets-protest-unpaid-pensions
Ministries to Help Farmers Hurt by Sugar Plantations
The government on Monday agreed to a comprehensive solution for rural families who have lost their land to well-connected agricultural plantations exporting sugar to the European Union (E.U.) duty free and will meet again early next month to discuss details. The decision was made at a ...
Hul Reaksmey and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministries-to-help-farmers-hurt-by-sugar-plantations-51971/
Warrant for missing tax man
The Anti-Corruption Unit on Monday ordered the arrest and imprisonment of a former Preah Vihear province tax official who was convicted in absentia in December and sentenced to three years in prison for exploiting his position for personal gain. According to the ACU’s announcement, former provincial ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/warrant-missing-tax-man
Detainees not being used for leverage: Yeap
A senior ruling party lawmaker has rejected allegations that the group of 21 activists, unionists and workers arrested during protests last month and denied bail for a second time yesterday are being used as a political tool by the government to force the opposition party ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/detainees-not-being-used-leverage-yeap