The number of fixed-line telephone subscribers in Cambodia increased by four per cent in 2012 compared to 2011, standing in sharp contrast to a mobile phone subscriber growth of 22 per cent in the same period, statistics show. According to figures from the Ministry of Posts href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fixed-line-users-rise/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s National Assembly is lacking, compared to other countries’ parliaments, in the oversight it exercises over new loans taken out by the government from international financial institutions, according to a new report. The study, published Tuesday by Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the World Bank, found href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ipu-finds-assembly-has-little-loans-oversight/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The National Committee for Disaster Management is meeting with officials from throughout the country in Phnom Penh this week in the wake of a slew of destructive storms that have wreaked havoc in the first four months of 2013. Officials will gather for the second and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/officials-talk-disaster-plan/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The government will today submit its second report to the UN Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process that takes stock of human rights progress in each UN member state. Governments are required to report to the council every four and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/govt-rights-report-to-be-sent-to-un/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Authorities issued an arrest warrant last week for the director of a local NGO involved with an operation that allegedly bilked thousands out of money by claiming the company could find them work in South Korea. Warrants for the arrests of Theun Samnang, head of NGO href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ngo-pair-sought-over-korea-work-scam/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday rejected opposition calls for him to dissolve the National Assembly to pave the way for a new election and to step down from power. “I want to stress that there is no re-election, no one dissolves the legislature and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hun-sen-rejects-opposition-calls-to-hold-new-election-step-down/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Months ago, Chinese engineers were posting markers for a hydropower dam opposed by villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley. This week, in marked contrast, monks draped trees in iconic saffron sashes as they blessed the very forest the dam would destroy. The saffron robes href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/monks-enter-forest-fray/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Two men were arrested and charged on Sunday with smuggling more than 2,000 kilograms of luxury-grade rosewood from Kampong Thom to Siem Reap town, anti-crime officials said yesterday. Thanh Ti, 21, and Viet Thy Thanh, 19, were caught manning a truck transferring 2,400 kilograms of rosewood href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/illegal-logging-suspects-arrested/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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'>...

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'>...

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'>...

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'>...