Garment and footwear industry, Cambodia’s largest income earner, saw a 16 percent increase in exports in the first six months of 2014, according to a commerce ministry’s report on Sunday. The country exported apparel and footwear products worth 2.92 billion U.S. dollars during the January-June period <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-sees-16-pct-rise-in-garment-footwear-exports-in-6-months/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

More than 30 garment workers fainted at H&amp;L apparel in Pur Senchey district’s Kakab commune, management at the factory said. “There were 32 workers who fainted, one of the was male, and we too them to Preak Kossomak Hospital yesterday afternoon,” factory administrator Phen Bora said. Mr. Bora <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/more-than-30-garment-workers-faint-in-factory/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Phnom Penh City Hall has turned down two requests by non-governmental groups to hold rallies and marches to mark both International Teachers’ Day and the international day for housing rights. Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), a local NGO, was denied permission to organize a rally at <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-hall-denies-teachers-day-international-habitat-day-rallies/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Svay Rieng provincial police Thursday publicly defended a district police official accused of corruption after conducting their own investigation into the claims. according to a report published by the local news website CEN on april 7, Svay Chrum district deputy police chief Meas Soeun embezzled money <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/police-embezzlement-claims-baseless-police-official-says/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Amid the fAll in globAl demAnd, CAmbodiA eArned $121 million from the exports of rubber Articles in the first month of this yeAr, An increAse of 123.5 percent compAred to the sAme period lAst yeAr, According to the lAtest trAde dAtA of the GenerAl DepArtment <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/cAmbodiAs-rubber-exports-rise-by-123-percent/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

A union representAtive is Accused of beAting A rivAl over the heAd with A wAlkie-tAlkie during A fActory protest yesterdAy in the lAtest burst of violence in one of CAmbodiA’s speciAl economic zones. Bou SokrAy, 25, A representAtive for the CoAlition of AppArel Workers’ DemocrAtic Union <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/blows-At-cApitAl-protest/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

High school students are increasingly using methamphetamines and other stimulants to relax or help them study, according to the UN. a spike in trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants (aTS) across the borders with Thailand and Laos over the past two years has gone hand-in-hand with a rise <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/high-school-meth-use-up-un/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Internet use in Cambodia grew a staggering 414 per cent since January 2014, but penetration still remains relatively low at 25 per cent, according to a new report from a Singapore-based consultancy firm. The Digital, Social and Mobile in aPaC 2015 report, published yesterday by We <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodians-flock-to-the-net/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

ApproximAtely 2,000 Chinese businesspeople And tourists hAve crossed the VietnAmese border into CAmbodiA these dAys to escApe Anti-ChinA riots in VietnAm, A senior CAmbodiAn officiAl sAid TuesdAy. “Some 2,000 Chinese nAtionAls hAve fled VietnAm to CAmbodiA,” Deputy Prime Minister And Interior Minister SAr Kheng told reporters. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/some-2000-chinese-flee-vietnAm-to-cAmbodiA-cAmbodiAn-deputy-pm/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Lawyer and government advisor Sok Siphana has made his law firm, Sok Siphana &amp; associates, a member of ZICOlaw, a leading regional law firm based in Kuala Lumpur and focused on the aSEaN region. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sok-siphanas-law-firm-joins-zicolaw/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Unilever is looking to source 2,000 tons of organic palm sugar a year from Cambodia, a senior manager said yesterday. Monica Soy, senior external affairs manager at Unilever Cambodia, told Khmer Times yesterday that Unilever requires about 2,000 tons a year, to be exported from Cambodia <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/unilever-eyes-cambodian-palm-sugar/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Vietnam agriculture and Forestry Investment and Development Company in Hanoi is one of the two enterprises that signed a contract on importing 20,000 cubic meters of wood from Cambodia. Cambodian authorities approved the export of the volume of wood to Vietnam in 2011-2012. The <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ministries-different-interpretations-wood-imports-get-stuck/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Fish yields have supposedly dropped by 20 to 30 percent according to fisherman, as a result of the destruction of natural marine environments such as mangroves and the increase in the number of people fishing. Ministry of agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries estimated the total number <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fishermen-catch-a-rough-deal/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

With civil society, the opposition and even the ruling party talking more and more about the subject of electoral and judicial reforms in the wake of July’s contested national elections, some groups yesterday gathered to call for reforms in a more modest sector &ndash; parking <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/putting-parking-reform-in-gear/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Human rights groups are warning that Cambodia’s new Prison Law will create financial incentives for violations of human rights within the Kingdom’s prisons and tarnish the image of the country’s most lucrative export industry: footwear and garments. They point to article 71 of the new law, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/prison-move-may-unravel/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Union reps and government officials are offering significantly different &ndash; if both substantial &ndash; numbers in their year-end tallies of garment workers who fainted on the job in 2012. The Free Trade Union yesterday announced that the number of workers to faint in factories rose to <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodias-unions-cry-foul-on-fainting-figures/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Despite sustained levels of high economic growth, most people in Cambodia are still eating rice at every meal, with little meat, fish or vegetables, meaning undernutrition will remain high and stunting common among children if the government does not scale up targeted health programs, a <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/nutrition-projects-need-funds/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Recent events, triggered by Singapore-based KrisEnergy Ltd.’s acquisition of Chevron Corp.’s entire stake in Cambodia’s Block a in the Gulf of Thailand, may possibly end the stalemate to develop the country’s only oil discovery to date. The prospect has also rekindled hopes in Cambodia to <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/offshore-block-a-provides-buzz-to-cambodias-petroleum-industry/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Tboung Khmum Provincial administration will designate “Kade lake” in Krouch Chhmar district as a protected area soon following consultations with the relevant ministries and a detailed study. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/kade-lake-to-be-designated-a-protected-area/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Ministry of Education next week will launch a new online system for students to practice for the high-stakes grade-12 national exam, though one observer noted it would do little to help students who lack internet access. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/practice-for-grade-12-test-goes-online/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>