Local and foreign firms have a high level of confidence in the current economic climate in Cambodia despite the political deadlock in the country since last year’s disputed election, and are optimistic about business over the next year, according to a study to be released <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/survey-says-firms-confident-despite-deadlock/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Four hundred Kandal villagers locked in a land dispute in Ponhea Leu district with development company Phanimex submitted a petition Wednesday to district authorities and rights group adhoc calling for a solution. The petition came a day after villagers blocked National Road 5 for more than <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-in-land-dispute-with-phanimex-petition-authorities/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Labour union leaders denounced the government yesterday, alleging unfair treatment in the wake of nine union worker arrests last week and a hefty bail payment by a union president yesterday. ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CaWDU), yesterday paid $25,000 <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/labour-leaders-decry-bail-payment-and-nine-arrests/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Nearly a hundred villagers living along a river located in Sa’ang district’s Koh anlong Chin commune in Kandal province recently protested against the plans of one company to dredge sand in the area. On Sunday, employees of sand-dredging company Sok Teang Import Export, which has been <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/kandal-villagers-burn-tyres-to-fight-dredging/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Adding to A growing list of foreign groups to censure the CAmbodiAn government in the leAd-up to the ASEAN Summit, the InternAtionAl LAbour OrgAnizAtion yesterdAy rAnked CAmbodiA Among the biggest violAtors of the right to freedom of AssociAtion. The CAmbodiA section of the report, which collAted <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/ilo-slAms-kingdom-on-union-record/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

A report releAsed by the World BAnk on TuesdAy highlighted CAmbodiA As the most improved country in terms of businesses getting credit, due to the estAblishment of the country’s first credit bureAu in MArch. CAmbodiA rAnked 133 out of 185 in the World BAnk’s report, up from 141 <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/credit-bureAu-mAkes-doing-business-eAsier/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

A new US$10.9 million grAnt from the Bill &Amp; MelindA GAtes FoundAtion will fund A three-yeAr project by internAtionAl development NGO EAst Meets West (EMW) to improve sAnitAtion And hygiene Among the poor in rurAl CAmbodiA And VietnAm. According to EMW, the progrAm seeks to combAt the negAtive effects of <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/project-Aims-to-build-lAtrines-in-rurAl-AreAs/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Villagers along the Koh Kong province’s coastline have been relocated by a Chinese development company as they have not been granted access to their farm land which falls within the development area and are running short of food. 20 tons of rice have been delivered <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-struggle-in-face-of-chinese-tourism-project/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The government has given a Chinese mining company the right to extract gold from 28 square km of land in Kratie province’s Sambor district, a provincial official said yesterday. On July 5, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy granted Hing Yuan Hanng Yeak Co Ltd <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/chinese-company-given-license-to-go-for-gold-in-kratie/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Speaking at the UN General assembly in New York on Monday, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong backed the Palestinians’ bid for full UN membership and called for the lifting of a decades-old US embargo on Cuba, one of the countries backing Cambodia’s bid for a seat <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/foreign-minister-backs-full-un-membership-for-palestinians/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s education sector needs a complete overhaul in order to reduce unemployment and successfully diversify the economy beyond garment manufacturing, according to a World Bank report released today. The report’s release came after investors and economists said at a trade and investment conference in Phnom Penh <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/education-overhaul-needed-to-grow-economy/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

An AustrAliAn nAtionAl Airline would lAunch dAily direct flights between CAmbodiA And AustrAliA eArly next yeAr, the SecretAriAt of StAte of Civil AviAtion sAid yesterdAy. The Airline hAd conducted A feAsibility study And A mArket survey in co-operAtion with A CAmbodiAn technicAl teAm, Long Chheng, deputy <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/AustrAliAn-Airline-will-lAunch-direct-flights-to-kingdom/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Daun Penh district deputy governor Sok Penhvuth said yesterday that he had ent Phnom Penh Municipality a time line of events at a Vattanac Properties construction project that has severely damaged buildings along Phnom Penh’s Sisowath Quay. The report was sent ahead of the creation <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-to-assess-damage-to-riverside-buildings/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Families protesting encroachment onto their land by a tycoon who is expanding a road in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district filed a complaint to the Prime Minister’s cabinet and the Municipal Court on Tuesday. On Friday, employees working for tycoon Thong Sarath demolished fences on eight <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/residents-tell-tycoon-to-back-off/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Moody’s Investors Service announced yesterday  it had downgraded the credit rating of aCLEDa Bank, citing the departure of two of  the bank’s major investors in as many years. The loss of a second big sharehol-der in the first half of this year had led to <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/major-bank-downgrade/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

In a landmark ruling, the Siem Reap Municipal Court yesterday ordered a luxury hotel to reinstate 67 sacked workers &ndash; a legally binding decision that unionists have hailed as a great moment for the judicial system. The decision comes after more than two months of protests, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/union-lands-court-ko/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The dispute that grounded a Tonlesap airlines plane on Tuesday and stranded more than 200 passengers in Siem Reap and Taipei, Taiwain, continued yesterday, as plane owner Far Eastern Transport upped the sum it claimed Tonlesap owed for fuel. Far Eastern grounded a plane it had <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/airline-ups-stake-in-fuel-fight/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Mony yesterday wrote to Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema, reiterating a request to set a date for talks over the construction of a statue honoring his assassinated brother, the late FTU leader Chea Vichea. Permission to build the statue was <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/union-leader-asks-governor-to-set-statue-discussion-dates/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday urged the economic leaders of the asean bloc to go through with a plan to double a bailout pool, funded largely by China, Japan and South Korea, to prevent future financial crises in the region. Opening the asean Finance <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hun-sen-urges-action-to-double-regions-bailout-fund/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has urged all relevant departments to use the Criminal Code to prosecute brick kiln owners who use child labour. and the owner of a Kandal facility at which a young girl lost her arm will be among the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/criminal-code-to-be-used-in-brick-kiln-child-labour-cases/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>