Malaysian-owned company VW Win Holdings Plc launched lottery operation Camloto in the Kingdom this week, making it the second to go live in as many months. Camloto CEO Jimmy Kong unveiled the new start-up, which will draw its first ball tonight on all major TV stations, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-lottery-bets-on-success/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy says the international community is now pushing hard for serious human rights reforms in Cambodia. Sam Rainsy, head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was this week in Geneva, where a UN human rights review of Cambodia took place. The UN’s Human Rights href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/un-rights-officials-want-serious-rights-reforms-opposition-says/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Anti-human trafficking police in Phnom Penh arrested three Cambodians and two Chinese nationals after the group tried to traffic two young women—who had been promised wealthy husbands—to work as prostitutes in China, police said Monday. Keo Thea, chief of the municipal anti-human trafficking police, said the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/five-arrested-for-trying-to-traffic-women-to-china/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam increased only about 3.4 per cent last year compared to 2012, data from the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh showed yesterday. An embassy official said the sluggish growth could be attributed to the political deadlock between the Cambodian People’s Party href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/vietnam-cambodia-trade-volume-grows-but-slightly/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Police in Kratie province on Wednesday demolished the makeshift tents of about 300 families accused of squatting on public land inside a conservation area, two weeks after they forced many of the same families out of the area. Some of the families say they have lived href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/police-demolish-shelters-of-kratie-families-for-second-time/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia may soon have new standardised exams to hold its students, teachers and education system accountable. “Everyone agrees that the improved enrolment rates in primary school is an accomplishment; at the same time, everyone also calls for quality-control improvement [which] means better testing,” said Jan href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/national-testing-could-widen/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

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'>...

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'>...

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'>...

We, the undersigned civil society groups, condemn the actions of the Oddar Meanchey authorities who have, since September 2014, been engaged in the obstruction, harassment, intimidation, and assault of rights workers (see Annex 1: Timeline of Events). Most recently, a four-person team from Equitable Cambodia (“EC”) was in href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/announcements/joint-statement-regarding-the-oddar-meanchey-authorities-continued-illegal-conduct-towards-equitable-cambodias-staff/ ' 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'>...