KUALA LUMPUR: The United StAtes is considering new meAsures to pressure the MyAnmAr juntA to return to A “democrAtic trAjectory”, SecretAry of StAte Antony Blinken sAid WednesdAy, As AlArm grows over An escAlAting crAckdown on dissent. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/cAmbodiA-prepAres-to-engAge-myAnmAr-As-us-threAtens-new-meAsures-AgAinst-juntA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Cambodia ended last week’s three-day holiday of Khmer New Year, when 4.58 million people toured nationwide, a positive move benefiting local tourism-related businesses that have been recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/khmer-new-year-celebration-lifts-economic-recovery-hopes/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s famed angkor archaeological Park received 110,570 foreign tourists in the first eight months of 2022, up 17.6 times compared to the same period last year, said a press statement on Saturday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-sees-big-jump-in-number-of-foreign-tourists-to-famed-angkor/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Boeung Tonle Chhmar is an important foraging habitat for waterbirds in Tonle Sap, according to a news release of NatureLife Cambodia. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/boeung-tonle-chhmar-an-important-foraging-habitat-for-waterbirds-in-tonle-sap/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prahok is being reprocessed by a local company to reduce its pungent smell to make it ready for export. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/prahok-being-primed-for-export/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Election for the fifth Senate will be held on February 25, 2024, according to a decision taken by the government yesterday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/date-set-for-next-years-senate-election/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has given green light to three new investment projects with a total capital of $23.2 million. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cdc-approves-three-new-investment-projects-worth-over-23-million/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Ministry of Health announced yesterday the discovery of a man infected with Monkey Pox in Phnom Penh. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/monkey-pox-case-identified-in-pp/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The National Election Committee today begins registering candidates from political parties to contest the upcoming national election while former opposition leader Sam Rainsy has reiterated his call for a boycott. NEC spokesman Hang Puthea said the committee would accept applications from parties contesting the July 29 <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/nec-begins-accepting-candidates/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Amru Rice Group, one of CAmbodiA’s lArgest rice exporters, on ThursdAy signed A contrAct purchAse Agreement with 4,000 orgAnic rice fArmers in PreAh ViheAr province. The Agreement effectively meAns thAt the compAny will reserve neArly $10 million to purchAse Around 30,000 tonnes of orgAnic pAddy <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/Amru-bAgs-rice-deAls-worth-Almost-10m/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The ruling CPP held its first rally for the national election here on Saturday with the aim of drumming up enough support to reclaim the two seats that it lost to the former opposition in 2013. The rally was led by Deputy Prime Minister Men <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cpp-aims-to-regain-svay-rieng-seats/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The research branch of the NGO Khana has argued in a new peer-reviewed study that livelihood programs for people living with HIV &ndash; which address recipients’ economic rather than medical needs &ndash; could be the key to significant improvements in quality of life for the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/livelihoods-key-in-hiv-fight/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

An executive At Sokimex, the firm thAt hAs held the right to sell tickets to the Angkor ArchAeologicAl PArk since 1999, sAid on SundAy thAt the decision to end its contrAct next yeAr wAs mAde by the government, contrAdicting A stAtement sAying thAt it wAs <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/sokimex-sAys-contrAct-terminAtion-is-government-decision/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Sourn Serey Ratha, the formerly self-exiled president of the new Khmer Power Party, said yesterday that he was preparing to sue Foreign Minister Hor Namhong for defamation for insinuating last week that Ratha was a “terrorist”, an accusation the government had long levelled at the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/kpp-boss-plans-to-sue-namhong-over-terrorist-jab/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Doubts have been cast on long-standing plans for a 34-hectare dumpsite in Pailin’s Samlot Protected Forest following an inspection by the environment minister on Saturday. Ministry spokesman Sao Sopheap yesterday said that following the inspection, the minister has called for further research before the project <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/dumpsite-at-samlot-still-awaits-green-light/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s corruption czar was again on the defensive on Tuesday about the government’s controversial decision not to prosecute the former head of the National Malaria Center over revelations that he took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to secure million-dollar mosquito net contracts for <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/acu-chief-slams-global-fund-over-bribe-case/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday declared an end to the government’s review of Cambodia’s economic land concessions (ELCs), pledging that nearly 1 million hec­tares of reappropriated property would be handed over to poor families. He also announced a major reorganization of the two ministries <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/pm-pledges-1m-hectares-of-elc-land-to-poor/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Twenty families lost their homes when a riverbank collapsed into the Mekong yesterday in Kandal’s Loeuk Dek district, according to local authorities. Nov Samnang, Loeuk Dek district governor, said yesterday that three houses were partially submerged in the river, while 17 others were intentionally dismantled <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/homes-lost-in-kandal-to-riverbank-collapse/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Over 1,000 hectares of agricultural land granted as compensation to more than 300 ethnic Lao families displaced from Sre Kor village in Stung Treng province by the Lower Sesan II dam project have not been cleared for cultivation, threatening the families with a food shortage, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/relocation-land-not-cleared/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The UN’s special rapporteur for human rights yesterday told Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn that Cambodia is the top ranking country in terms of freedom of expression in the asean region, but must improve in other areas of human rights which have been raised by the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/rights-must-improve-un/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>