A government officiAl hAs denied informAtion recently releAsed by the CAmbodiAn Centre for Independent MediA (CCIM) About the impAct of investment in lAnd concessions in severAl provinces.​He considered the informAtion to be dAted And the problem AlreAdy solved, but welcomed the investigAtion of complAints, if <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/govt-denies-ccim-lAnd-concessions-report/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Contract farming between community producers and rice millers or buyers brings growers great benefits, with an expanded market and more favourable prices, industry insiders have said. Contract farming refers to an agreement between a company and an agricultural community regarding prices, quantities and standards of quality. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/contract-farming-paying-off-for-growers-millers-say-industry-insiders/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Joint UN Programme on HIV/aIDS (UNaIDS) said new HIV infections have been reduced by 95 per cent in Cambodia since their peak in 1997. a report by UNaIDS pointed out that 880 people were newly infected with aIDS last year, compared to 16,500 in 1997. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/unaids-infections-of-hiv-down-95-from-1997-peak/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Brunei and Cambodia who need to shuttle between these countries and the Philippines can now avail themselves of the multiple travel exit clearance (MTEC), according to the Philippine Overseas Employment administration (POEa). The Memorandum Circular No. 7 issued by POEa <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/re-hired-ofws-for-hk-brunei-cambodia-may-use-multiple-exit-clearances/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Five brokers saw their convictions upheld yesterday at Phnom Penh’s Court of appeal for trafficking 20 Cambodian nationals into Thailand, but legal experts say such convictions for trafficking in Cambodia are still far too rare. While Judge Chan Madyna upheld the men’s 2010 convictions, he shaved <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/trafficking-convictions-upheld/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodian police have yet to receive information about last week’s massive heroin haul by Taiwanese authorities, who indicated that the drugs were sourced from Cambodia, said Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry. according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice, 70 kg of heroin were <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/no-probe-yet-of-link-to-taiwan-heroin-shipment/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Senate yesterday approved a law making way for Cambodians to travel to Qatar for work, an official said. The 52 senators present passed the law unanimously and without amendments, said Oum Sarith, Senate cabinet chief. The agreement lets Cambodians work in the oil-rich emirate’s service <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/senate-approves-law-allowing-cambodians-to-work-in-qatar/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Borei Keila protesters, including many who live in squalor under staircases at the site, have already been compensated for losing their homes and have no right to demand more, Suy Sophan, the owner of developer Phan Imex, told the Post yesterday. about 200 supporters from the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fellow-villagers-pray-for-land-rights-activists/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Global food prices remained high in august according to the UN’s Food and agriculture Organisation (FaO) food price index, maintaining the high level achieved last month as corn prices jumped in the US and rice prices increased in Cambodia. With 213 points in august the food <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/food-prices-remain-high/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The president of the Free Trade Union yesterday sent a letter to the Ministry of Labour’s inspection department to monitor working conditions at M&amp;V factories in Kampong Chhnang province, alleging excessive overtime is causing workers to faint. “They have to work both in day and night <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/union-president-calls-for-inspectors/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Community groups have aborted their coordinated patrol of Prey Long forest in search of illegal logging because of heavy rain, a community member said yesterday. The Prey Long People’s Network had planned to continue its patrol-which began Friday and had already found at least 65 cubic <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/prey-long-forest-patrols-cut-short-by-torrential-rain/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Villagers have found more than 100 cubic metres of timber and three chainsaws in Prey Lang forest during a six-day patrol for illegal logging, community officials said yesterday. Scouring the forest on motorcycles and on foot, more than 300 villagers from four provinces found 100 cubic <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villager-efforts-reveal-illegal-timber-activities/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Unprovoked violence by government and private security guards, the use of weapons to quell protests, and communities resorting to violent means in land disputes is a growing cause for concern in Cambodia, the U.N.’s Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in its <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/un-concerned-by-authorities-use-of-violence/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

With a loan from Japan, the government will begin laying more than 400 km of fiber-optic cable early next year to connect Phnom Penh with five provinces, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) said yesterday. Telecommunication Minister So Khun said the cable-which will connect Phnom Penh with <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/govs-to-lay-more-than-400-km-of-fiber-optic-cable/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Thailand has to revise its strategy concerning a regional single visa scheme, or it could lose millions of tourists to neighbouring countries, which are kicking off the “CLMV Single Visa” next year without the Kingdom’s participation. Five countries &ndash; Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar &ndash; <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/reluctance-to-join-single-visa-scheme-could-prove-to-be-costly/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Rann Boroth, the only man convicted in the double killing six months ago of the country’s leading environmental activist, Chut Wutty, and military police officer, walked free from prison on Friday after the Koh Kong Provincial Court issued an order for his release. On October <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/killer-in-chut-wutty-case-walks-free-six-months-later/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The ArbitrAtion Council heArd About 230 collective lAbor disputes in the gArment And footweAr industry involving ApproximAtely 98,000 workers in 2012, A 38 percent increAse from 2011, which sAw 161 cAses hAndled, According to the council. Y SAmphy, trAining And communicAtions mAnAger for the council’s ArbitrAtion <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/lAbor-dispute-cAses-rise-in-gArment-footweAr-industry/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

AsiA Forestry MAnAgement, An integrAted plAntAtion-mAnAgement compAny with A focus on cultivAting AquilAriA crAssnA, Aims to become ThAilAnd’s biggest producer of oud oil this yeAr And SoutheAst AsiA’s in five yeArs. The compAny’s plAnt in TrAt province will be expAnded to produce 280 kilogrAms of <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/plAntAtion-mAnAger-Aims-to-be-top-oud-oil-producer/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Workers at the shuttered Yung Wah I and II factories in Kandal province will continue protesting today, despite the government already agreeing to pay them using company funds. Worker Soy Sokchea said yesterday that he and his colleagues would keep demanding benefits and seniority bonuses. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/factory-pay-protest-continues/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Pharmaceutical giant Thai Nakorn Patana plans to invest $30 million over the next two years in a three- to four-star hotel in Phnom Penh, as it hopes to cash in on the lack of big names in the capital’s mid-tier hotels market. For the new 200-room <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/nakorn-plans-to-invest-30mln-in-hotel-in-phnom-penh/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>