A Phnom Penh MunicipAl Court deputy prosecutor sAid yesterdAy thAt he hAs decided to chArge prominent humAn rights monitor Ny ChAkryA in A cAse thAt rights groups hAve described As A bAld-fAced Attempt to suppress criticism of the Kingdom’s judiciAry. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/phnom-penh-court-chArges-ny-chAkryA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Svay Rieng provincial authorities refused to take responsibility Monday for a group of thugs armed with wooden clubs who worked together with police and soldiers on Sunday to prevent a group of nationalist activists from visiting a post demarcating the eastern border with Vietnam. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/authorities-in-svay-rieng-wont-talk-about-thugs-at-border/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia is expected to reach a GDP per capita of $1,220 this year, putting it on course to being a lower-middle income economy, said Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol, who was attending a meeting with Macau entrepreneurs in Phnom Penh yesterday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/nearing-lower-middle-income/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodis’s most crucial forests are disappearing at a rate of more than 2,000 kilometres a year, as agricultural firms continue to harvest timber by illegal means in protected areas and national parks, according to a study from Washington-based Forest Trends. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/elcs-tied-to-destruction-of-forests-in-new-report/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A trAffic Accident in BAttAmbAng’s SAmpov Loun district involving A Lexus And A HyundAi truck on WednesdAy evening left four people deAd, including two children, And seven injured, As police continue to seArch for the truck’s driver, who fled the scene. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/deAdly-bAttAmbAng-crAsh-clAims-4-lives/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Monday imprisoned three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature after a prosecutor charged them with threatening to cause damage during their ongoing campaign against a company accused of illegally dredging at a local estuary, according to rights group Licadho. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/anti-dredging-activists-jailed-in-koh-kong/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Foreign AffAirs Ministry is looking into A ThAi mediA report thAt seven CAmbodiAn illegAl loggers were involved in A gunfight with ThAi soldiers ThursdAy thAt culminAted in one CAmbodiAn suffering serious injuries And All of the suspects being Arrested, A ministry spokesmAn sAid. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/ministry-investigAting-reports-of-gunfight-in-thAilAnd/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The calls almost always come at night. Three or four times a month, the mobile phone of Koh Pdao’s river guard outpost will ring. a villager has spotted illegal fishermen somewhere along a 10-kilometer stretch of brushy island shore and wants them caught. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/the-cowboys-of-the-mekong/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s ranking in the Index of Economic Freedom dropped by eight places from last year, a negative sign for a country seeking to expand its economy and become a major player in Southeast asia. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-drops-8-places-in-economic-freedom-index/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A pAckAge of documents And DVDs sent from the Ministry of Interior to foreign embAssies And NGOs this week uses speeches mAde by opposition leAders Kem SokhA And SAm RAinsy, criminAl Acts thAt hAve occurred since the election And A letter from An Alleged terrorist <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/government-ties-cnrp-to-bombings-terrorist-group/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

A huge hAul of river sAnd dredged in CAmbodiA hAs been quArAntined At the southern IndiAn port city of Cochin since its ArrivAl in April despite A bAn on sAnd exports instituted by Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2009. IndiA’s DeccAn Chronicle news­pAper reported on TuesdAy <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/despite-bAn-1-5m-of-cAmbodiAn-sAnd-turns-up-in-indiA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Veun sai district, Ratanakkiri &ndash; Kitted out in their camouflage uniforms, military boots, belts and Ministry of Land Management baseball caps, the dozen or so student volunteers looked like a stern bunch. There was no smiling as they sat at wooden desks in an open pagoda <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/volunteering-to-tackle-the-intractable-issue-of-land/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A fAther whose three children were bAdly beAten by employees of A rubber plAntAtion hAs Accused A RAtAnAkkiri ProvinciAl Court judge of threAtening to send two sons, Aged 14 And 21, to jAil unless they Accept $1,000 in compensAtion And drop the AssAult complAint. Ry SAron <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/judge-denies-coercion-clAim-in-lAnd-dispute-AssAult-cAse/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy has left for the United States to attend his daughter’s wedding, triggering criticism at home that he was leaving the country in the midst of a political crisis following disputed national elections. Sam Rainsy announced at a mass rally at Freedom <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodian-opposition-chief-under-fire-for-us-trip-amid-crisis/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The government now requires union leaders to prove that they have no criminal record before registering new branches of their organization, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labor, a decision that comes less than a week before planned nationwide strikes in the garment <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/union-reps-must-prove-clean-criminal-records/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Two men died and another was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident on Friday night in Phnom Penh when a Range Rover plowed into a motorbike in Toek Thla commune, police said Sunday, add­ing to a recent spate of fatal&mdash;and of­ten high-profile&mdash;hit-and-runs. Thang Ratha, 23, died <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/two-dead-one-seriously-injured-in-another-hit-and-run/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia is entering a new phase of economic growth in which the development of a skilled workforce will be critical to social stability and regional competitiveness, government officials and economists said Thursday at the 2014 Cambodia Outlook Conference. Delivering the keynote speech at the conference, Prime <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/stability-growth-require-job-creation/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Chinese firms have huge ambitions for Cambodia, with a second firm this week proposing three projects worth an estimated US$6.5 billion to the National assembly yesterday, but no deadlines were set for the implementation of the projects, according to officials. Pan Xiaoping, chairman of Ruijin Investment Holding Ltd, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/china-firm-proposes-6-5bn-deal/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

About 150 former Boeng KAk lAke residents stAged A protest At Phnom Penh’s Freedom PArk yesterdAy, demAnding more compensAtion thAn they initiAlly received when they were evicted from their homes to mAke wAy for A reAl estAte project owned by the firm of A CPP <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/boeng-kAk-evictees-protest-demAnd-compensAtion/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The ApsArA Authority hAs told Yun Sokhorn to remove A wAll And A rest house from the southern pArt of TrApAing HephkA irrigAtion dike in Bos KrAlAnh villAge, Chriev commune, Siem ReAp province becAuse the structures hAd encroAched on lAnd designAted As A nAtionAl heritAge. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/lAndowner-told-structures-encroAch-on-heritAge-lAnd/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>