Two more new human cases of avian influenza H5N1 have been confirmed in Cambodia, and one of them, an 11-year-old boy died on Friday in Phnom Penh’s Kantha Bopha Children Hospital, a hospital representative confirmed Monday. “An 11-year-old boy from Kampong Chhnang province was admitted to href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-reports-two-new-bird-flu-cases-one-dies/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodians need to be more courageous in challenging endemic corruption, a development expert says. Preap Kol, head of Transparency International Cambodia, told “Hello VOA” last week that the more people challenge corruption, the more likely it is they will free themselves from it. Cambodia remains one href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/courage-needed-to-fight-corruption-advocate-says/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Drug seizures jumped last year, while drug arrests remained relatively steady, according to the annual report from the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) released Monday. As in 2012, methamphetamine retained its position as the most commonly seized type of drug. Police confiscated 17.3 kg of methamphetamine href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/government-says-drug-seizures-trafficking-rose-in-2013/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Police and human rights workers are investigating claims that a Chinese-owned sugarcane plantation in Preah Vihear province has been employing child workers since December. Oeu Bunthany said the Y Heng Company fired her on Saturday after she complained to local police that up to 20 children href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sugar-plantation-under-investigation-for-using-child-labor/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Like mob deals and black market trades, the Cambodian school budget is dealt in suitcases of cash. Four times a year, the school operating budget is dispersed in stacks of cash transferred from the central bank to the Ministry of Education, eventually ending up with the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/schools-take-funding-plan-to-the-bank/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The Interior Ministry is seeking 478 students to work in prisons and offices across the country, according to an announcement posted online Monday. The ministry’s message, posted to the website of the National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development, calls for 80 candidates to work as prison href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/interior-ministry-seeks-new-recruits/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia is considering to develop two expressways in order to serve the growing extents of economy and trade, Tram Iv Tek, Minister of Public Works and Transport, said Tuesday. The first line will be from capital Phnom Penh to coastal Preah Sihanouk province in length of href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-mulls-expressway-development-from-capital-to-seaport-vietnam/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The former director of the Preah Vihear provincial financial department has denied allegations that he embezzled an estimated $72,045 over the course of 2013, according to his defense posted on the Anti-Corruption Unit website Thursday. Meas Rathavuth, who was ordered into retirement on March 1, said href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/official-denies-allegations-of-embezzlement/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than 200,000 Cambodian migrant workers have been either deported from or fled Thailand since early this month in the wake of a junta-led clampdown on illegal migrant laborers, Major General Pich Vanna, chief of Cambodia-Thailand Border Relation Affairs Office, said Monday. “As of Monday evening, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/over-200000-cambodian-migrants-leave-thailand-as-junta-rounds-up-illegal-foreign-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Phnom Penh City Hall said Tuesday it would revoke the licenses of companies whose subcontractors are accused of routinely overcharging motorists for parking at some of the city’s markets unless the problem is fixed, according to a news release posted Wednesday on the municipality’s website. “If href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-hall-threatens-to-revoke-parking-licenses/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Despite a number of agencies dispatched to solve land dispute, rights workers say people continue to face forced evictions and rights abuses by land developments. These problems are not being handled at the local level, fueling mistrust in local government, rights workers say. Rights workers from myriad href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/land-issues-creating-mistrust-of-local-officials-observers-say/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The tax imposed on the export of acacia chips is to be abolished to help boost exports of the locally grown raw product, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Monday. Speaking at the grand opening of Aeon Mall, Hun Sen said that acacia chips exported to href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/acacia-chip-exports-to-receive-tax-break-pm/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Charges against 14 Cambodia migrant workers arrested in Thailand last month have been dropped and the group will return to the Kingdom tomorrow, government officials have told the Post. A hearing at the Sa Kaeo provincial court in Thailand this morning determined that the workers had been href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/thais-free-14-cambodian-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

About 200 people from Ponhea Leu district protested outside the Kandal provincial court Monday as questioning began of residents summoned last month in an ongoing land dispute. The court summoned 12 villagers on June 30, shortly after Phanimex Development company filed a complaint against the families, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/protest-outside-kandal-court-as-questioning-starts-in-land-case/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

With the country’s longest post-election deadlock now over and the opposition parliamentarians ready to take their seats, at least some of the CNRP’s most lucrative supporters – those overseas – are struggling to swallow the new concessions. “Join[ing] the CPP [in the National Assembly] is the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/deal-making-waves-abroad/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A deal to end the political deadlock may reduce demonstrations in the streets, but the authorities are leaving nothing to chance – Daun Penh’s notorious district security guards are finally receiving proper government training. City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche, who has previously said the baton-wielding district href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cracking-down-101/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A Cambodian human rights group today asked the caretaker government of Thailand to end executions of Cambodia civilians after 15 Cambodians were shot dead this month. In its statement released today, The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) expresses its deep concern regarding the continued arbitrary href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodian-human-rights-group-asks-thailand-to-end-killing-cambodian-civilians/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Reducing absenteeism in schools in developing countries may be as simple as providing students with safe drinking water. A new study indicates that, but researchers are not sure why. The study was done at eight schools in Cambodia where the attendance records of more than 3,500 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/safe-water-lowers-absenteeism/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A forest patrol in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district spotted five loggers clearing the community’s ancestral forest on Tuesday, villagers and rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Adhoc provincial coordinator Chhay Thy said that three representatives of nearly 200 ethnic Jarai families in Pak Nhai commune asked for help href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/patrol-detains-loggers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Following a break over Khmer New Year, opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua continued her campaign to bring freedom to Freedom Park yesterday morning and was once again met with force, this time metres outside of the park. At about 8am yesterday, the Cambodia National Rescue Party member href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/once-again-sochua-denied/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...