Cambodia’s total exports increased more than 13 per cent in the first nine months of this year, with a year-on-year comparison indicating a widening trade deficit. A private-sector representative, an exporter and an independent economist said the slow growth was mainly due to the slowing of href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/kingdoms-trade-deficit-widens/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The custodians of a community forest in Ratanakkiri have accused a company of illegally bulldozing their protected jungle. Sen Youn, a representative of the Jarai ethnic minority in O’Yadav district’s Lumchor commune, said yesterday an investigation with rights groups had uncovered that the Chea Chanrith Development href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/jarai-ethnic-minority-claim-forest-razed/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The open-source mapping website Urban Voice launched a campaign yesterday against a government order banning Internet cafes withing 500 meters of schools that will effectively make it illegal to operate such businesses in much of Phnom Penh. “Implementation of this order would mean the closure of href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/government-order-may-close-many-of-citys-internet-cafes/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than 400 activists fighting the destruction of the Prey Lang forest held a ceremony yesterday in which they tied Buddhist monk’s robes around the trunks of trees – a gesture of protection – to stop them from being cut down. Six monks and villagers from href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/activists-tie-saffron-robes-to-trees-to-protect5-forest/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

In a land dispute with overtones of last week’s deadly eviction in Kratie province, villagers in Mondolkiri province yesterday said dozens of police were surrounding their houses and threatening to force them out of a private land concession. Sen Sophon, one of about 200 families in href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/mondolkiri-villagers-fear-imminent-eviction/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s inflation rate had increased by 1.6 percent in November 2012 if compared with November 2011 due to moderate increases in food and petroleum prices, according to the latest statistics of the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) on Tuesday. The statistics said the total consumer price href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodias-inflation-increases-by-1-6-pct-in-november/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Government officials have suggested the widow of the man crushed to death last month at the Wing Star Shoes factory, a supplier to Asics, will still be denied compensation from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), a labour rights worker said yesterday. American Center for International href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/wing-star-widow-in-limbo/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A 3-year-old boy from Prey Veng province’s Kompong Trabek district has contracted avian influenza, a deadly disease that has killed seven children and two men so far this year in the largest outbreak the country has seen, the Ministry of Health said in a statement href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/prey-veng-boy-confirmed-as-14th-bird-flu-case-this-year/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A Malaysia-Japan joint-venture company, Hitachi Sunway Information Systems Sdn Bhd, is making a foray into Cambodia after securing a deal with Aeon Co to supply point-of-sales (POS) systems to the Japanese retailer. The POS systems will be used to facilitate transactions for the tenants of the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hitachi-sunway-making-inroads-into-cambodia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A long-abandoned Pepsi bottling factory that became a part of the tourist trail in Battambang province has been razed to make way for a water-treatment facility, according to officials. On June 19, JICA signed off on a $33.5 million water-supply-system project in Kampong Cham and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/battambang-pepsi-factory-torn-down-to-make-facility/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Local law and consulting firm HML, whose chairperson and founding partner is Hun Kimleng, a niece of Prime Minister Hun Sen and wife of National Police chief Neth Savoeun, has teamed up with Tokyo-based XAT Tax Corp. to form a consulting agency focused solely on href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hun-sens-niece-opens-tax-consulting-firm/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

In anticipation of today’s scheduled Municipal Court verdict for six men facing charges of violence and property damage in connection with a September clash on Phnom Penh’s Kbal Thnal overpass, rights groups yesterday called for their acquittal. A statement from Human Rights Watch (HRW) released yesterday href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/verdict-today-for-kbal-thnal-six/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Landmine explosions in Koh Kong and Kampot provinces on Monday and Tuesday seriously injured a man and a teenage girl, according to local officials. On Tuesday, Suot Matimas, 14, climbed a fruit tree in Koh Kong province’s Mondol Seima district, near the Thai border. Upon jumping href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/two-injured-by-mines-in-kampot-and-koh-kong/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The opposition yesterday accused a senior army general of having ordered plainclothes soldiers to block the party from entering the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng on Sunday, where they were set to hold a public forum. But Defence Minister Tea Banh strongly rejected the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/army-did-not-move-to-stop-cnrp-tea-banh/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Despite a stubborn refusal by the government to act upon his electoral reform recommendations over the past two years, U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi walked away from his meeting with National Election Committee chairman Im Suosdey on Tuesday espousing optimism. “The process of reform is href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/un-envoy-optimistic-despite-necs-refusal-to-reform/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Malaysia’s Mega First Corp Bhd says it increased spending on a controversial dam project in Laos and a new rubber project in Cambodia by 45 percent to MYR 50.4 million ($15.7 million) in 2013. Project development expenditure on the Don Sahong dam on the Cambodian border href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/mega-first-boosts-spending-on-lao-dam-cambodian-rubber-project/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Security guards working for a firm building a resort in Koh Kong province beat a woman who was trying to farm the land from which she had been evicted, she has told police. Khun Phall, 40, said that on Monday evening, she and family members returned href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/security-guards-accused-of-beating/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A long-simmering land dispute between a group of villagers and a high-ranking minister’s wife turned violent this weekend as 10 people were injured while trying to block the KDC company from building a warehouse on contested land in Kompong Chhnang province, villagers and police said href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/violence-breaks-out-in-land-dispute-with-ministers-wife/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy announced on his Facebook page late last night that the CNRP has accepted a February 2018 national election in exchange for a new electoral commission and that “final talks” to end the political crisis will take place at 9 a.m. on href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/parties-to-meet-for-final-talks-on%e2%80%88basis-of-2018-election/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The roughly 900 employees of a Phnom Penh garment factory gutted by a fire that killed a Chinese supervisor on Monday protested in front of their old workplace on Thursday to demand a quick payout of their final paychecks and severance. The Chinese-owned Cheng Sheng Garment href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/workers-protest-for-speedy-pay-after-fire-destroys-factory/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...