Small food and beverage makers are at risk of being uncertified when the aSEaN economic community takes shape in 2015, with the vast majority far from achieving international quality and safety standards, a government official says. Him Phanith, the deputy director of National Productivity Center, said <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/standards-must-improve-official/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia on Friday reported 71 landmine casualties in the first four months of 2014, an increase of 61 percent from 44 casualties for the same period last year. The report by the Cambodian Mine action and Victim assistance authority showed that during the January-april period, 10 <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/landmines-kill-10-cambodians-injure-61-in-4-months/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

With all 11 senators from the opposition boycotting their seats, the Senate on Thursday passed three controversial judiciary laws which critics say will tighten government control of the courts. The ruling CPP’s 44 senators passed the laws without change, said CPP senator and Senate spokesman Mam <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/controversial-judiciary-laws-pass-without-change/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Thailand’s military coup has reoriented Thai-Cambodian relations with surprising effects. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s overt enmity and confrontation towards Thailand over the past several years have become conciliatory and accommodating for the time being. Whether this new pattern of bilateral ties is solidified depends <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/coup-reorients-relations-with-cambodia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

After yeArs of ever-brisker sAles, the smArtphone mArket mAy be plAteAuing. CAmbodiAns spent more thAn $300 million on smArtphones lAst yeAr, A 38 per cent increAse from 2012’s figure of About $220 million, According to dAtA from SingApore-bAsed reseArch firm GfK. Some 907,000 smArtphones were sold in <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/smArtphone-sAles-slowing/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Four “one-stop” offices to process documentation for Cambodians seeking legal work in Thailand will open on Tuesday after the Ministry of Labor issued a directive last week outlining how the migration process will operate, according to the head of the Ministry of Interior’s passport department. Mao <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/four-offices-to-open-for-thailand-bound-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Authorities in Mondolkiri province prevented hundreds of ethnic minority members from mArching through Sen Monorom City to mArk InternAtionAl DAy of the World’s Indigenous People on SAturdAy, clAiming it would confuse tourists. MArches elsewhere were Allowed to go AheAd. Doung Pen sAid SundAy thAt he wAs <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/indigenous-people-dAy-mArch-blocked-in-mondolkiri/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Phnom Penh security forces on Sunday blocked activists from riding their bicycles around the city to promote their campaign against the pending construction of a hydropower dam in Koh Kong province, claiming the organizers failed to ask City Hall for permission. The NGO Mother Nature has <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-hall-blocks-bike-ride-against-hydro-project/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia has approximately 1.9 million agricultural households with about 8.5 million people, or 57 percent of the country’s 14.96 million people, according to the first-ever agriculture census report released on Wednesday. “The 1.9 million agricultural households were engaged in growing of crops that were undertaken in <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-has-1-9-mln-agricultural-households-census/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

NagaCorp Ltd, the operator of the NagaWorld casino resort (pictured) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, says it has commissioned “an independent professional party to review the internal controls of the company and its subsidiarieswith a focus on anti-money laundering”. The firm gives the information in its interim <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/nagacorp-commissions-independent-report-on-aml-risk/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

At leAst 50 opposition pArty youth members And supporters Are Asking for permission to join the US-led fight AgAinst IslAmic StAte militAnts, A leAding Activist sAid yesterdAy. In return, they hope the US will help them fight VietnAmese encroAchment in CAmbodiA And tAke bAck the islAnd <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/cnrp-youth-well-fight-isis/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Less than a week away from the start of the new school year, the government is short on teachers. Every year, the government struggles to recruit enough instructors to keep pace with enrollment rates and replace those who have retired, left teaching or passed away. The <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ministry-facing-teacher-shortage/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Despite the Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX) getting off to a sluggish start over the past three years, local university students are seemingly already on the way to becoming good stock-pickers. The winners, two students from Zaman University who went by the team name of Dark <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodian-students-win-out-on-asean-stock-markets/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Many types of Vietnamese goods have faced strong competition of imported products from nations in the Southeast asian region, while local businesses have met difficulties in broadening the presence of their products in these markets. For the last ten years, many businesses in Ho Chi Minh <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/presence-of-vietnamese-goods-limited-in-regional-market/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong used an inauguration ceremony for new buildings at Wat Sras Chak on Tuesday to call on politicians and civil society groups to stop distracting Buddhist monks with activities unrelated to religion. Speaking to hundreds of people at a ceremony to inaugurate <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/phnom-penh-governor-wants-separation-of-pagodas-politics/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Less than a week after Laos declared its “sovereign right” to develop hydropower regardless of neighbouring countries’ objections, the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) gathered an “extraordinary meeting” to stress the importance of sustainable waterways. During the two-day discussions in Pakse, Laos which concluded yesterday, the US <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hasty-hydropower-critiqued/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol called on business owners to clean up their activities in the Kingdom, in order to remain competitive, especially in light of the aSEaN Economic Community integration due to be realised at the end of the year. Private sector companies have traditionally raised <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/time-for-business-to-step-up/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The number of abortions performed in 2014 increased nearly 51 per cent from the year before, according to the Ministry of Health. a report released March 9 showed that the total number of miscarriages and abortions for the year were up by more than 4,000 cases <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/year-sees-significant-increase-in-abortions/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia ranks near the bottom of 102 countries surveyed in a new index of government openness, scoring dead last in mechanisms through which complaints can be lodged against government officials and 98th in sanctions for officials’ misconduct. Overall, the Kingdom placed 98th in the World Justice <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-near-bottom-in-govt-openness-index/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Ministry of Information last week warned media organizations not to publish or broadcast advertisements from gambling outlets unless they have permission from the government to do so, according to a ministry notice obtained Tuesday. “The ministry previously advised [media outlets] to stop all types <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/media-agencies-warned-about-gambling-ads/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>