Mong Reththy Group (MRG) will begin construction on a US$16 million crude palm oil refinery next month in Preah Sihanouk province, where several thousand hectares of palm trees are grown, insiders said yesterday. Mong Reththy, president of the eponymous firm, told the Post that his company <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-palm-oil-plant-for-16m/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

More than 40 families from Koh Kong province gathered on Friday outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom Penh home to ask him to intervene in their land dispute with provincial forestry administration, village representatives said yesterday. according to one villager, 37-year-old Sam Sary, 47 families delivered <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/koh-kong-families-ask-hun-sen-for-help-in-dispute/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The number of complaints filed in Kampong Chhnang province by the families of maids working in Malaysia has jumped exponentially compared to the same period last year, a rights worker told the Post yesterday. Provincial adhoc coordinator Soum Chankea said 39 requests for the NGO’s intervention <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/maid-complaints-on-the-rise/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

During the final day of testimony by Sar Kimlomouth at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, the defence team for co-accused Khieu Samphan sought to weaken the ties between their client and the Ministry of Commerce, within which Sar Kimlomouth, a former banker within Democratic Kampuchea, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/defence-homes-in-on-assumptions-of-rank/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday 700 volunteers from the Cambodian People’s Party had fanned out across eight provinces to measure properties and provide titles to villagers who have been displaced by land disputes. Speaking to about 10,000 villagers in the Kroch Chhmar district of Kampong <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/land-volunteers-on-way-pm/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The European Union should immediately remove trade preferences it gives to Cambodian sugar companies accused of human-rights violations including land grabs, representatives of the affected communities told a press conference in Phnom Penh yesterday. Community representatives from Koh Kong, Kampong Speu and Oddar Meanchey provinces said <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/tales-of-blood-stained-sugar/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Khmer Brewery (KB), a locally owned company that produces Cambodia Beer, has made its first export to Japan, partly in response to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s call in mid-May for local food and beverage producers to push their products abroad. KB public-relations manager Sok Chantha said <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/brewery-answers-pms-call-for-product-exports/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

About 200 vendors from Phnom Penh’s Tomnup MArket gAthered in front of the AppeAl Court yesterdAy morning to protest An eArlier ruling by the Phnom Penh MunicipAl Court thAt pAved the wAy for the mArket’s reconstruction. In 2011, the mArket’s owner, New Rich CAmbodiA <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/vendors-protest-mArket-rebuilding-At-AppeAl-court/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) has requested adding four trading sessions in the hopes of increasing trade volumes. The request, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia, could see new sessions added within a month. The CSX has seen low trading volumes over the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/csx-wants-more-trading-sessions-2/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Phnom Penh Court of AppeAl ruled FridAy thAt Beehive RAdio owner MAm SonAndo should continue serving his 20-yeAr sentence for sedition. On October 1, the rAdio stAtion owner wAs sentenced to 20 yeArs in jAil And fined 10 million riel in relAtion to A <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/beehive-rAdio-owner-loses-AppeAl/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Prime Minister appealed Wednesday to australian investors to increase their investments in Cambodia, especially in the agriculture and the tourism sectors. The comments were made during a meeting with the outgoing australian ambassador to Cambodia, Penny Richards, at the Peace Palace. He said, because of <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hun-sen-wants-more-australian-investors/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Blackouts in Phnom Penh will no longer be a problem after an energy source near Sihanoukville starts providing an extra 50 megawatts of coal-fired power to the city next month, the director-general of Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) said. Keo Rottanak said by mid-June at the latest <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/blackouts-to-end-soon-edc/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Oddar Meanchey province deputy governor Lon an yesterday confirmed CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s involvement in a trio of sugar cane plantations that rights groups took to the National Human rights Commission of Thailand last week, but denied their allegations of rights abuses. The deputy <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/authorities-deny-abuses-at-thai-plantation-tied-to-cpp-senator/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Soldiers stationed around the Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border on Election Day won’t have to forgo the opportunity to vote, military officials in Preah Vihear province said. Men Sophea, a military official posted at Phnom Trop, several kilometres away from the temple complex, said <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/polling-stations-set-for-soldiers-at-preah-vihear/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Property experts say the Camko City project has a great deal of potential, after visiting and studying the satellite city last week. Kim Heang, general manager of Khmer Real Estate Co, said that he is very interested in Camko City because he has seen that it <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/camko-citys-potential-seen/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

llegall migration is on the rise, but human trafficking cases appear to be declining, according to the government’s annual labor migration report, released yesterday. Speaking at the start of a three-day workshop held at the Ministry of Interior that involving embassies, NGOs and government officials, Chou <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/illegal-migration-ticking-up/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s General Department of Taxation unveiled on Friday that the country collected 395 million U.S. dollars of tax in the first five months of this year, up 24 percent year on year. In May alone, the department collected 73 million U.S. dollars, up 4 percent <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/tax-collection-in-cambodia-up-24-pct-in-5-months/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia was host to a two-day information and communication technology conference and expo held by the The National ICT association of Malaysia on Friday. By 2012, 19.1 million SIM cards for mobile phones have been sold while on the internet side, around 2.7 million people <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-host-to-malaysias-ict-conference-expo/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Diminishing populations of hoofed animals in Southeast asia have hit Cambodia hard, with numbers of one of the Kingdom’s indigenous species dropping by 90 per cent. The current banteng census shows an 80 per cent drop in the world’s banteng population and a 90 per <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/kingdoms-hoofed-species-need-conservation-wwf/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd and its joint venture partner has secured two contracts valued at US$87mil (RM276mil) to build and expand two airports in Cambodia. Muhibbah has a 30% stake in SCa [Societe Concessionnaire de L’aeroport]. The duration for the Phnom Penh airport and Siem <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/muhibbah-jv-bags-rm276m-projects-for-cambodias-airports/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>