The slump in global markets has depressed demand for Cambodian products, leading to reduced growth forecasts by the asian Development Bank (aDB) for 2012 and 2013. “Falling global demand, especially in Europe and the US, means that the industry sector will grow at a slower pace <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/slowdown-in-garment-exports-from-cambodia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Laos has contracted firms to build and operate another significant hydro-power plant on the Mekong River system, adding to the existing furor over potential effects on downstream countries such as Cambodia from the controversial Xayaburi dam. The contracts, reportedly worth $1 billion, are for a series of three dams making <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/more-lao-land-deals-inked/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Profits at Cambodia’s largest banks continued to grow through the first nine months of the year as loan disbursals across the sector increased by about 30 percent compared to the same period in 2011, bankers said yesterday. acleda Bank, the largest bank in the country, this week posted <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/banking-sector-sees-growth-in-first-9-months/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday that in order to manage future tourist numbers, the government will construct a new international airport on the site of the Kampong Chhnang airbase, which was built by slave labor during the Khmer Rouge regime. Mr. Hun Sen said that <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/pol-pot-era-airbase-earmarked-as-future-tourist-gateway/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

THIRTY workers involved in the restoration of the angkor complex’s Ta Prohm temple were barred by their manager from entering the work site yesterday because of their unionism, labour representatives said. The stand-off followed the manager’s announcement that on February 1, he would dismiss the 30 <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/stonewalling-at-angkor-complexs-temple/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The number of subscribers to the mobile operator Beeline plummeted by more than 400,000 in the fourth quarter of last year&mdash;the single-largest drop for the carrier since it entered the Cambodian market in mid-2009&mdash;while the average revenue per user (aRPU) increased slightly, the company’s quarterly <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/mobile-operator-reports-drop-in-subscribers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

As the region’s top brAss gAthered in Phnom Penh for the Sixth AseAn Defense Ministers Meeting, it wAs Beijing thAt once AgAin stole the show with Chinese Defense Minister LiAng GuAnglie signing off on neArly $19 million in militAry Aid to CAmbodiA. In the country on <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/chinA-donAtes-19m-during-AseAn-defense-meet/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Land governance policies in asia, especially concessions made to private companies, are leaving the region’s poorest vulnerable to human rights abuses, experts say. “Land-grabbing by the rich and powerful continues,” Suson Bunsak, executive secretary of the Cambodian Human Rights action Committee, said at the recent asia <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-rural-poor-lose-out-in-land-deals-2/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The AustrAliAn SenAte yesterdAy urged the CAmbodiAn government to run free And fAir nAtionAl elections next yeAr without the “hArAssment or intimidAtion” of opposition leAder SAm RAinsy, who remAins in self-imposed exile Avoiding An 11-yeAr jAil sentence. The AppeAl comes only dAys After the EuropeAn PArliAment <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/AustrAliAn-senAte-pushes-for-fAir-elections-in-cAmbodiA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

More than 30 families living in Pursat province’s Dangkeab village have filed complaints with their village chief against environmental officials, whom they claim extorted money from them to pass illegal checkpoints as they transported firewood from a nearby forest to the village, authorities said yesterday. “Since <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/families-claim-officials-extort-fees-at-checkpoints/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The AsiAn Development BAnk (ADB) on TuesdAy unveiled its new three-yeAr AssistAnce plAn of 525 million U.S. dollArs to CAmbodiA in order to help the country reduce poverty, promote growth And mitigAte climAte chAnge, the bAnk sAid. The plAn for 2013-2015 mArked the bAnk’s strAtegic focus <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/Adb-Announces-3-yeAr-pipeline-to-boost-develpment-in-cAmbodiA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Ministry of Information ordered local radio stations not to transmit programs from U.S.-backed broadcasters over the election weekend, an official said. Voice of america (VOa), the U.S. government’s official broadcaster overseas, and Radio Free asia (RFa), a station funded in part by the U.S. government, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ministry-bans-us-backed-radio-broadcasts-for-election-weekend/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday marked National Fish Day by urging the public to report anyone fishing inside the Tonle Sap conservation area he established earlier this year to help protect and revive the lake’s vital fish stocks. “People have to dare to stand up and <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hun-sen-calls-on-public-to-help-protect-tonle-sap-fisheries/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Despite being downgraded by Moody’s just over two months ago, profits at Cambodian Public Bank (Campu) and acleda Bank&mdash;two of the largest banks in the country&mdash;increased by about 50 percent during the first half of the year, according to figures provided by the banks yesterday. In <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/campu-and-acleda-post-strong-earnings-for-first-six-months/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

For the past several days, Boonma and seven other Houay Souy villagers have travelled back to their homes near the Xayaburi Dam building site on the Lao side of the Mekong River. Since the beginning of the year they have been relocated to a new <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-home-not-where-the-heart-is-for-xayaburi-locals/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The 20-year jail sentence for independent radio station owner Mam Sonando made headlines around the world yesterday, but coverage of Mr. Sonando’s case was markedly different in local Khmer-language media yesterday, particularly national TV where not a mention was made. While the three major Khmer-language newspapers- <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/reporting-on-sonando-case-shows-differences-in-local-media/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

More than 600 workers from Kandal province’s Tae Young Co factory yesterday continued to strike, insisting on the return of 16 dismissed workers. Yesterday’s strikes came a day after the Kandal Provincial Court delayed questioning eight of the fired workers over charges that they incited an illegal <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/strikes-at-two-factories-stretch-into-weekend/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Owners of the upscale 240 Phnom Penh condo development said yesterday that they have stopped construction, for the time being, in order to ensure the security of the nearby US ambassador’s residence. “Construction at ‘240 Phnom Penh’ luxury apartments has been temporarily suspended whilst our <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/security-puts-construction-on-hiatus/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Villagers in the Prey Lang forest in Kompong Thom province have filed the complaint with the provincial court and the Forestry administration accusing a commune police chief of involvement in logging high-grade timber, officials and villagers said yesterday. The complaint, thumbprinted by 210 people, alleges that <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-accuse-police-chief-of-illegal-logging/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines are the three Southeast asian countries most heavily exposed to fiscal risks from disasters, the World Bank warned Wednesday. In its annual economic update on East asia and the Pacific, the bank said the region was the most disaster-stricken in <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-exposed-to-large-fiscal-risks-from-disasters/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>