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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/controversial-judiciary-laws-pass-without-change/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/coup-reorients-relations-with-cambodia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/four-offices-to-open-for-thailand-bound-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/indigenous-people-day-march-blocked-in-mondolkiri/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-hall-blocks-bike-ride-against-hydro-project/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-has-1-9-mln-agricultural-households-census/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/nagacorp-commissions-independent-report-on-aml-risk/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cnrp-youth-well-fight-isis/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ministry-facing-teacher-shortage/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodian-students-win-out-on-asean-stock-markets/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/presence-of-vietnamese-goods-limited-in-regional-market/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/phnom-penh-governor-wants-separation-of-pagodas-politics/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hasty-hydropower-critiqued/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/time-for-business-to-step-up/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-near-bottom-in-govt-openness-index/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/media-agencies-warned-about-gambling-ads/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

As more than 90,000 students across the country sweat over results that will rule them in or out of university, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday announced that those who failed the tightly monitored 2014 national exam would be given a second chance to pass. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/students-who-failed-exam-get-second-chance/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Rights groups are calling for the release of three opposition activists who have been held in detention since violent clashes with security forces in July. The activists have been held despite a political deal last month between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/three-opposition-activists-remain-in-detention-after-july-violence/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A sense of panic is growing inside Phnom Penh’s iconic White Building, with residents unsure of their fate after Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said on Tuesday that the iconic apartment block was condemned and would be torn down. Most residents spoken to Wednesday say they href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/tenants-of-white-building-in-dark-on-demolition/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The last of 16 shacks that once clung to the edge of a mammoth development project in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district were demolished by the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) on Monday. Seven families in Doeum Kor 2 village—where marshlands are quickly being pumped full href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ocic-razes-last-shacks-families-move-on/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...