One month after the capital’s power provider promised to end chronic city blackouts for good this hot season, residents and businesses continue to find themselves sweltering in the heat and throwing away any spoilable goods due to the unpredictable losses of electricity. In March, Electricite du href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/edc-under-pressure/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Three of Cambodia’s most iconic natural products – Thma Koul rice, Kampot durian and Cambodian silk – have been earmarked by the government to obtain the World Trade Organization’s Geographical Indication (GI) status. Speaking to reporters after a press conference on GI registration at the Ministry href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/gi-products-closer-to-fruition/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith has pledged to meet with Daun Penh District Governor Sok Sambath to discuss the targeting of journalists by hired district security guards, said UNESCO country representative Anne Lemaistre, who met with the minister on Friday. The minister is also keen on href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/minister-to-address-beatings/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Sacred burial grounds and community forests should be granted more protection under a new government proclamation issued this month, but rights groups and land-grab victims are wary that, without proper enforcement, it will amount to little in practice. An interministerial proclamation, or prakas, signed by href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/directive-aims-to-stop-elc-abuses/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated Cambodia’s 2014 rice exports to increase slightly to 1.2 million tons over that in 2013 due to increased production. The FAO reports that its exports estimate includes unofficial exports of milled as well as paddy rice href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fao-estimates-cambodia-2014-rice-exports-to-increase-slightly-to-1-2-million-tons/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Negotiations between the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party and ruling Cambodian People’s Party looked like they might screech to an abrupt halt yesterday, as opposition leaders visiting supporters in Tbong Khmum province said they will “cut off” talks. Speaking to about 1,000 supporters in the province’s href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cnrp-to-walk-away-from-talks/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than 200 striking workers at Cambodia’s largest brewer, Cambrew Ltd., resumed work on Saturday after the company agreed to lift their monthly salary from $120 to $150 as they had been demanding. The workers at the company, which produces Angkor beer and Black Panther stout, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/angkor-brewery-agrees-to-strikers-demands/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A group of about 100 people, including 50 or so monks, attempted to march yesterday to protest outside Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute, but were thwarted by droves of military police and district security guards on Sisowath Quay. No violence occurred as Independent Monk Network leader But href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/monks-protest-over-institute/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Since he began making the perilous journey to Thailand to log rosewood 10 years ago, Sao Sophon* has had plenty of time to calculate the cost of dying. “When we cross the border to Thailand, our lives are equal to $80 or $90, because that is href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cross-at-your-own-risk/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Just before the sun sets over the enchanting Angkor temples in northern Cambodia, a group of children gets ready for their big show. Every day, according to fliers at restaurants and hotels around town, the children perform an hour-long “charity show” for tourists visiting the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/in-cambodia-fake-orphanages-soak-up-donations-by-duping-tourists/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The Japanese embassy is reporting a $280 million drop in Japanese investment last year, but officials were quick to say that the numbers don’t necessarily reflect slumping investor confidence in Cambodia. Japanese investment in the Kingdom reached about $47.5 million in 2013, compared to $328 million href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/slow-year-for-japanese-investment/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Mobile internet speeds in Cambodia are ratcheting up a notch. Smart Mobile, the country’s second largest operator by subscribers, is making 4G LTE internet available to customers this week, the company announced yesterday during the launch of the service at NagaWorld Casino. Thomas Hundt, CEO of Smart, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/smart-rolls-out-4g-network/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, is currently in Geneva, where the UN Human Rights Committee is reviewing the country’s rights record. Cambodian government officials are defending their rights record for the second time in four years at the Universal Periodic Review. Sam Rainsy, who heads the Cambodia href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-at-un-to-defend-rights-record/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Following last week’s street sweep, children as young as 7 years old were kept in Phnom Penh’s notorious Prey Speu social affairs centre, eyewitnesses, staff and those targeted by the initiative have told the Post, directly contradicting government denials offered earlier this week. Standing at the centre’s href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/prey-speu-tales-conflict/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The European Union’s delegation to Cambodia will almost triple its funding to the Kingdom over the next five years because the bloc’s aid policy has shifted its focus to least developed countries. Jean-François Cautain, ambassador for the European Union’s delegation to Cambodia, announced the EU would href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/eu-funding-to-the-kingdom-rises-threefold/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

US Ambassador Patrick Murphy on Monday held a meeting with Land Management Minister Chea Sophara to discuss the need for transparency in development projects to attract more American investments. Mr Murphy tweeted after the meeting the United States wants to see that all development projects in href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/transparency-key-to-attract-us-investments-ambassador/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The Mekong River Commission on Tuesday reported dam equipment tests in China will affect water levels in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos in the middle of this month. In a press release obtained yesterday, the MRC said the tests are being conducted in China’s Jinghong hydropower station href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/mekong-levels-to-drop-as-china-conducts-equipment-tests/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than 700 people affected by land disputes gathered in Phnom Penh on Monday to protest in front of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning, and Construction. The protesters who came from Koh Kong, Kampong Speu, Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provinces demanded a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/protesters-demand-speedy-land-dispute-resolution-at-ministry/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Specialists from Battambang province’s Forestry Administration, along with Samlot district authorities, are conducting a joint search for arsonists responsible for the recent forest fire in the Dos Kramom mountain area located in Ta Sanh commune. The suspects are presumed to have secretly burned the forest to href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/local-authorities-searching-for-forest-arsonists-in-battambang/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Korean investors are looking forward to investing in the local stock market as it prepares to welcome Acleda Bank Plc into its main board. With Acleda Bank, one of the largest banks in the Kingdom, scheduled to go public in upcoming weeks, hundreds of Korean businesspeople href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/koreans-eyeing-bank-ipo/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...