Residents of Takeo province’s Trapeang Thom Khang Cheung commune turned out to their local pagoda yesterday to experience something common during elections the world over but rarer in Cambodia: a public debate between the people seeking to govern them. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hopefuls-duel-for-votes-in-takeo/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen accused the World Trade Organization (WTO) of operating under a double standard yesterday, claiming the international trade body was applying pressure on small developing economies while overlooking the regulatory breaches of its more developed member states. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/level-the-playing-field-pm-to-world-trade-organization/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Phnom Penh Special Economics Zone (PPSEZ) showed its decline of revenue to 42 percents in 2016 which causes 65 percent of net profit’s downfall comparing to the year of 2015,  it said in a filing to the Cambodia Securities Exchange yesterday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ppsezs-profits-falls-42/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

AlreAdy looking AheAd to 2018, Prime Minister Hun Sen hAs told his CAmbodiAn People’s PArty thAt hAd SundAy’s commune elections been A nAtionAl election, they would hAve won even more NAtionAl Assembly seAts thAn they did in 2013. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/spinning-the-poll-results/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The government through the Ministry of Tourism is set to give a major boost to the country’s tourism sector to bolster the economy, said Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/pm-wants-to-boost-tourism/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

UN special Rapporteur Rhona Smith’s request to meet with jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha in a Tbong Khmum prison was rejected by an investigating judge who cited “important tasks” that needed to be completed before outsiders were allowed such access. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/un-rapporteur-denied-prison-meeting-with-kem-sokha/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Thirty residents of Banteay Meanchey province gathered in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house Friday to seek intervention over a land dispute. The residents, representing 51 families in Ou Chrov district, said they had sued provincial authorities for seizing their land. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/banteay-meanchey-residents-protest-over-land-dispute/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday that the country is projected to receive about 5 million international visitors this year, a rise of 11 percent from 4.5 million last year. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-expects-5-mln-foreign-tourists-in-2015-pm-2/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The National assembly’s anti-Corruption Commission will visit Siem Reap this month to further probe claims angkor archaeological Park’s manager, the apsara authority, underreported ticket sales, as new figures show a drop in visitors to the World Heritage site last month. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/angkor-scrutiny-commission-to-investigate-park-figures/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia has performed better than last year in its effort to fight corruption, but it is still slow, an international anti-corruption watchdog said Wednesday.   The index ranks Cambodia 156 out of 175 countries this year, up from a 160 ranking last year. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-inches-up-corruption-index/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

After months of negAtive publicity surrounding its disgrAced founder SomAly MAm, Anti-trAfficking NGO Afesip hAs tAken the first tAngible steps to resurrect itself, with A hAndful of remAining internAtionAl donors trAveling to CAmbodiA over the pAst week for “future strAtegy meetings.” <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/strAtegy-meetings-held-over-Anti-trAfficking-ngos-revivAl/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Three female garment workers who were shot by former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith during a February 2012 factory demonstration called on the government yesterday to imprison the former politician, who has been on the run for three years as of today. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/chhouk-bandith-still-at-large-three-years-on/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s first opposition-aligned television station will begin broadcasting around the country by the year’s end, with a group of investors close to the CNRP now raising the $3 million needed to launch operations, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Sunday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/opposition-tv-station-to-launch-this-year/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Nine senior police officers were yesterday officially promoted following the signing of a Royal Decree by acting head of state Chea Sim. The decree, dated april 13, was signed by Sim due to King Norodom Sihamoni being in Beijing for medical treatment. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/starry-eyed-promotions-handed-out-to-top-cops/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party yesterday held a religious ceremony to commemorate the lives lost in two days of factional fighting that saw then-second prime minister Hun Sen wrest power from then-first prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh in 1997. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cnrp-commemorates-1997-factional-fighting/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Hoping to settle internal arguments over alleged territorial encroachment by Vietnam, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen asked the U.N. on Monday for the loan of a map prepared decades ago by France to compare with maps currently used to demarcate the border. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodias-hun-sen-asks-for-un-map-to-help-end-domestic-dispute-over-border-with-vietnam/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A new AwArd honoring the mediA’s role in combAting corruption wAs on WednesdAy presented to five locAl journAlists, whose stories uncovering vArious corrupt Activities show how investigAtive reporting cAn help breAk the shAckles holding bAck CAmbodiA’s development.   <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/At-AwArds-ceremony-chief-of-Acu-discusses-role-of-mediA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Actress AngelinA Jolie Pitt is set to direct An AdAptAtion of bestselling memoir “First They Killed My FAther” by Khmer Rouge survivor Loung Ung, As An originAl feAture film for Netflix, the online streAming compAny sAid in A stAtement on FridAy. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/AngelinA-jolie-to-direct-khmer-rouge-trAgedy-for-netflix/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The country’s second most senior border affairs official on Sunday warned against oversimplifying territorial disputes after opposition leader Sam Rainsy claimed that Vietnam has flagrantly annexed land on Cambodia’s side of a demarcated border area in Svay Rieng province. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/official-warns-against-rainsys-most-recent-border-claims/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a directive on Thursday for the formation of an ad hoc committee of government officials to review maps loaned to Cambodia by the U.N. in order to check them against maps being used by “concerned parties.” <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/committee-established-to-review-maps-from-un/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>