Government
US Ambassador Advises More Labor Skills as Asean Integrates
US Ambassador William Todd on Thursday urged the Cambodian government to strengthen the skills of its laborers, in order to meet the needs of an integrated Asean in 2015. The 10 Southeast Asian countries that comprise Asean are all moving toward an integrated economic block, which ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/us-ambassador-advises-more-labor-skills-as-asean-integrates/1785729.html
Military winner in draft budget
Government officials were still tight-lipped about the 2014 draft budget yesterday, though some details did continue to trickle out, such as the announcement of a sizeable increase in national defence spending. Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker and banking and finance committee member Cheam Yeap said yesterday that ...
Vong Sokheng and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/military-winner-draft-budget
Despite Ban, $1.5M of Cambodian Sand Turns Up in India
A huge haul of river sand dredged in Cambodia has been quarantined at the southern Indian port city of Cochin since its arrival in April despite a ban on sand exports instituted by Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2009. India’s Deccan Chronicle newspaper reported on Tuesday ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-ban-1-5m-of-cambodian-sand-turns-up-in-india-46753/
No politics, more pay: teachers
Teachers across Cambodia are insisting pay raises aren’t just an election year issue. More than 30 representative teachers gathered for the start of a three-day seminar in Phnom Penh yesterday to continue demanding living wages. The teacher are asking for 250$ per month, according to seminar ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-politics-more-pay-teachers
Eco-tourists made to leave
An eco-tourism initiative in Mondulkiri hit a snag this week when authorities asked management to vacate overnight guests while provincial officials determine whether the project is properly licensed to operate a guesthouse. Guests of the Elephant Valley Project (EVP), which is located in a Forestry Administration ...
Sean Teehan and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eco-tourists-made-leave
Spending on Defense and Security up 17% in 2014
The country’s draft $3.4 billion national budget for 2014 proposes yet another $920 million in new debt to make ends meet, the same amount taken on this year, according to a copy of the spending bill obtained Thursday. The draft budget calls for nearly $400 million—or ...
Kuch Naren and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/spending-on-defense-and-security-up-17-in-2014-46747/
Council elections will lack democracy: NGOs
The National Election Committee yesterday announced a date for the election of district and city-provincial council members, a vote that will only be open to current commune council members, a vote that will only be open to current commune council members. NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha took ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com
Withdrawals top hundreds of millions
More than $600 million flooded out of Cambodia’s entire banking system during the third quarter of this year, as fears of post-election chaos set off panic and mass withdrawals, new figures from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) reveal. The figures, obtained yesterday, were the first ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/withdrawals-top-hundreds-millions
Cambodia's Parliament to Question Polls Watchdog Over Reports
Cambodia’s parliament will question the director of a local election watchdog to determine whether the organization should “face consequences” for its claims of irregularities in recent national polls, a spokesman for the legislative body said Thursday. Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) chief ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/comfrel-11072013163622.html
VN donates rice to victims of Cambodian floods
The National Assembly of Viet Nam presented 1,000 tonnes of rice to Cambodian flood victims at a ceremony held in Phnom Penh yesterday. The latest floods took the lives of 80 people and resulted in economic losses of around US$1 billion. ...
Saigon-GP Daily News Staff
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/National/2013/11/106808/
CPP Lawmaker Says Deforestation Is Good for Economy
CPP lawmaker Chheang Vun on Wednesday lauded the economic and social benefits of the widespread clearing of Cambodia’s forests for development projects. Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly after a meeting with the Vietnamese Ambassador Ngo Anh Dzung, Mr. Vun, who is also the spokesman ...
Mech Dara and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-lawmaker-says-deforestation-is-good-for-economy-46721/
CPP Lawmaker Says Election Monitor Could Face Legal Action
CPP lawmaker Chheang Vun said Wednesday that the National Assembly will take legal action against the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) for causing “chaos” in society by reporting the day before the national election that the indelible voter ink could be ...
Mech Dara and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cpp-lawmaker-says-election-monitor-could-face-legal-action-46712/
Opposition tells CPP: Agree, or talks off
Opposition leaders have given the ruling party an ultimatum: Agree to our demands by the end of the year or the talks are over. Kem Sokha, Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president, said yesterday that after discussing the matter with party president Sam Rainsy, they had ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/opposition-tells-cpp-agree-or-talks
National Assembly’s Finance Committee Approves 2014 Budget
The National Assembly’s CPP-run finance committee approved the country’s $3.54 billion draft budget for 2014 Wednesday, its last hurdle before debate and a possible vote can be held by the full Assembly, where the opposition is still refusing to take nearly half the seats. “After the ...
Kuch Naren and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-assemblys-finance-committee-approves-2014-budget-46714/
CNRP Launches Online TV to Break CPP’s Media Stranglehold
Amid the ruling CPP’s continuing stranglehold on the country’s nine terrestrial television stations, the opposition CNRP on Monday launched an online television station that it describes as a “test,” CNRP director of public affairs Mu Sochua said Wednesday. The station, called CNRP TV, follows requests from ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cnrp-launches-online-tv-to-break-cpps-media-stranglehold-46710/
EU aids Cambodia in combating illicit trafficking, use of nuclear, radiological materials
The European Union (EU) signs Wednesday to provide Cambodia with equipment to detect illicit trafficking and criminal use of nuclear and radiological materials. The agreement was inked between EU Ambassador to Cambodia Jean Francois Cautain and Om Yentieng, vice-chairman of the Secretariat of National Counter-Terrorism Committee. Under the deal, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/06/c_132863880.htm
Rise of the bureaucrats
When the ruling Cambodian People’s Party promised civil servants a pay rise earlier this year, some suggested it was also trying to give them a reason to vote for it in July’s national election. The 20 per cent increase came amid the opposition Cambodia National Rescue ...
Daniel Pye and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rise-bureaucrats
World Bank Says Freeze on Lending Remains
After repeatedly equivocating about whether it has lifted a 2011 freeze on new lending to Cambodia in response to the government’s forced evictions of families in Phnom Penh, the World Bank has said that the suspension is still firmly in place. “The World Bank has not ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-bank-says-freeze-on-lending-remains-46681/
WHO Asks for $15M More to Fight Malaria
The World Health Organization (WHO) is requesting that $15 million be allocated to Cambodia from a new $100 million grant to stop the spread of resistance to the best available drugs currently used to fight malaria. Eva Christophel, the WHO’s regional malaria adviser in Manila, said ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/who-asks-for-15m-more-to-fight-malaria-46693/
Transparency Needed to Follow Aid Money
The aid sector needs more transparency to ensure that the public knows exactly where and how money is being spent, a consortium of NGOs said Tuesday. Tek Vannara, deputy executive director of the NGO Forum, said at a workshop in Phnom Penh that while the Council ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/transparency-needed-to-follow-aid-money-46691/
SL strike ‘bad’ for industry’s rep, says union
A labour union representing a minority of workers who have been striking at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd for nearly three months released a statement yesterday, calling the strike bad for the industry’s reputation. Without specifically mentioning the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-strike-%E2%80%98bad%E2%80%99-industry%E2%80%99s-rep-says-union
Bar Association Requests Set Price for Copies of Case Files
The Bar Association of Cambodia has written to Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana requesting that an official price be set for photocopies of court case files, claiming that court clerks are taking advantage of the current system by charging lawyers extortionate amounts. The letter, dated October ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bar-association-requests-set-price-for-copies-of-case-files-46689/
Cambodian Political Parties Remain Deadlocked
Cambodia’s ruling and opposition parties returned to the negotiating table Tuesday in Phnom Penh seeking to end a political impasse over disputed elections. The two sides met for three hours at the National Assembly, the legislative body boycotted by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) ...
Heng Reaksmey and Sok Khemara
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodian-political-parties-remain-deadlocked/1784317.html
Next year fine for helmet penalties
Road-safety advocates will likely continue banging their heads against the walls as police in Cambodia wait until early next year to enforce a new traffic law relating to helmets. fines under a yet-to-be passed law will charge drivers and passengers $3.75, about five times the previous ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/next-year-fine-helmet-penalties