Hong Kong Customs reported it had seized seven containers containing HK$1.1 million (US$140,000) worth of wood that arrived from Cambodia between April 29 and May 5, saying it was the largest cache of protected wood the department had caught in the last five years.
Gold exports through “private transactions” jumped some 676 percent, from $388 million to $3 billion last year, with some attributing the surge to investors selling their holdings due to a price rise, and others suggesting a potential link to gold smuggling to Vietnam.
Casino staff in Poipet say workers in the sector get little support or protection from Covid-19, and amid the lockdown living is getting tough.
Garment factories outside the strictest lockdown zones are looking to reopen with half their workforce and Covid-19 preventions as Phnom Penh eases lockdowns, but the restrictions have still had an impact on cash flow and production for several garment industry players as well as workers.
More than 1,600 workers from 206 factories have tested positive across the country, the government said at a press conference Wednesday, with thousands of others placed in quarantine.
Cambodia’s first oil field is estimated to produce only a “small fraction” of expected oil, according to an independent review, putting its developer, KrisEnergy, in further financial peril, the company said.
NagaWorld earned $102.3 million in net profit last year despite the pandemic and expects a rosier outlook in 2021, according to its latest annual report, though a union leader said workers are concerned about whether they can keep their jobs or receive financial assistance during the pandemic.
Brick walls and barbed wire divide Pu Rang village now, says Tha Vy. When an outsider buys up the peak of a hillside, the local predominantly Bunong residents often can no longer even get to their traditional farmlands.
“I love this fishing boat so much. Every time I sleep on it I feel like I have [another] house,” says Suong Rang in Kampong Phluk. But the fisherman has recently turned to making flower pots instead amid declining water levels and fish stocks.
Phnom Penh casino NagaWorld plans to lay off more than 1,300 workers this month amid its temporary closure due to Covid-19 — a plan its union will contest as a violation of the Labor Law.
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