Two sisters from Preah Vihear’s Kulen district hired to work in Malaysia as maids by Mey Yorn Services have not been heard from in more than two years, their mother said yesterday. Sok Noun, 45, hasn’t spoken to her daughters Bien Phok, 17, and Bien Phoun, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/maids-not-heard-from-since-2011/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodian manufacturers are at risk of being blocked from exporting to the United States for using pirated software, IT industry bodies warned yesterday. Speaking at a seminar that was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh, Michael Mudd, the secretary general of the Asia-Pacific Open href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/khmer-cambodia-warned-again-on-intellecual-property-regulation/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The Mondolkiri Provincial Court on Tuesday charged 15 Vietnamese nationals with illegally crossing the border and logging protected forest, four days after the group was de­tained by members of the ethnic Bunong minority in a community forest 20 km from the border. Ya Narin, director of href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/vietnamese-charged-with-illegal-logging/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s garment sector has the highest rate of unionization of any industry in Asia, Cambodia Federation of Employers and Business Associations Van Sou Leng said Tuesday. “Major efforts are needed to improve the quality of workplace relations,” Van said in a statement posted on the Camfeba href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-garment-sector-has-asias-highest-rate-of-unionization/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s newest demining employee comes with an impressive resume, years of experience – and four legs. Rambo touched down in Phnom Penh yesterday, then was driven to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) training facility in Kampong Chhnang province. He is the first of 18 trained href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-hound-joins-mine-battle/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

About 50 residents evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood in 2008 and 2009 to make way for a senator’s real estate project once again protested in front of City Hall Monday to demand better compensation. They are among some 3,000 families who were forced href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/former-boeng-kak-activists-protest-at-city-hall/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Four Cambodian nationals who had been incarcerated in Thailand for logging and illegally crossing the border were released on Monday after completing their prison terms, officials said yesterday. Touch Ra, deputy director of the Chaom-Sa Ngaom international border checkpoint in Oddar Meanchey province, said two of href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/thailand-releases-loggers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Residents in the vicinity of Kab Ko market in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district found themselves fumbling in the dark yet again yesterday on the second consecutive day of hours-long power outages. According to locals, electricity to the street failed around noon on Wednesday and was restored href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/residents-left-in-dark-again/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Union leader Ath Thorn has been granted an Appeal Court appearance on July 1, in which he will argue against conditions that required him to pay $25,000 bail over an ongoing court case. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president is due to href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/union-boss-to-appeal-25k-bail/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Makers of food- and beverage-related products are for the first time facing mandatory health regulations, with the unveiling of 10 national standards by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. The announcement comes after the National Standard Council, a government-run committee, finally approved the standards in May href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ten-commandments-govt-lays-out-food-standards/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than a year after it was established, the National Commercial Arbitration Centre (NCAC), Cambodia’s first third-party dispute resolution body, is finally ready to take on its first case. During its first annual assembly in Phnom Penh on Friday, the NCAC confirmed that it had finalised href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/arbitrator-ready-to-hear-cases/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

About 250 villagers protested against development firm Phanimex on Thursday as their commune chief faced questioning in Kandal provincial court over an ongoing land dispute. For the fourth consecutive day, villagers from Ponhea Leu commune rallied in front of the court, accusing Phanimex of grabbing 63 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/protests-continue-for-4th-day-over-land-dispute/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

International labour organisations Industrial Global Union, UNI Global Union and ITUC are seeking international support for a day of action in support of garment workers arrested during recent strikes in Cambodia. The groups are calling on people to demonstrate outside Cambodian embassies and deliver protest letters href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-unions-plan-day-of-action-for-arrested-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Some 300 workers from CINTRI, a garbage collection company, protested on Monday to ask for better pay and working condition. The workers demanded the minimum wage shall be increased to $150 per month. They also asked for other benefits such as bonuses for health care, rent, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/garbage-workers-protest-for-better-pay/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Forty villagers on Tuesday were forcibly removed from outside the Pursat provincial office, where they have been camping for the past five days to protest what they say was the burning down of their homes by district officials, villagers and a rights group said. “This morning, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-protesting-eviction-forcibly-removed/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy Lord Puttnam will visit Cambodia from March 4 to 7 to strengthen bilateral trade and investment relations, according to a press statement from the British Embassy here on Monday. During his visit, Lord Puttnam will call on Prime Minister Hun href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/british-pms-trade-envoy-to-visit-cambodia-to-boost-trade-investment-ties/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The director of the Lumphat district forestry department in Ratanakkiri province was charged and put in pre-trial detention on Monday for allegedly logging on protected land around Ou’Sinlair waterfall, police and court officials revealed yesterday. Deputy Police Chief Klol Thoeun said that Meung Bunthin was picked href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/district-forestry-boss-charged-over-logging/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Two major conservation groups yesterday said that the proposed Stung Cheay Areng dam in Koh Kong province should be scrapped, while protesters who have blocked developer Sinohydro Group from entering the site for several days headed to Phnom Penh to voice their concerns and discontent. Conservation href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/eco-groups-slam-areng-dam/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia earned $2.5 billion from the tourism sector last year, a senior government official said Monday. Last year’s income from tourism accounted for around 16 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and provided jobs directly to about 400,000 people, Sok An said. The Cambodian government href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-earns-2-5-billion-from-tourism-in-2013/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) will scrap customs fees for rice exporters from May 1 in an effort to reduce production costs and boost Cambodia’s competitiveness in the sector, according to a letter obtained by the Post. “[The ministry] has agreed to eliminate charges href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/rice-customs-fees-dropped/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...