Setting a minimum price for paddy is one of the campaign promises that the Pheu Thai party made to its supporters during the recent election campaign in Thailand before it was elected to power. Now it’s a matter of waiting to find out whether this <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/thai-rice-policy-wait-and-see/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Following a three-hour debate at the National assembly, lawmakers passed a draft law approving the $2.5 billion the government spent in 2010. During the debate, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap presented a 10-page document that he said justified the $2.5 billion in spending, which was 25 percent <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/assembly-approves-2010-govt-spending/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

At the turnoff of SihAnoukville outside Phnom PenhmetAl shop owner Kuch SAreun wAtches the spArks fly As his emplyees join pieces of steel. This yeAr, he instAlled A diesel-run generAtor At his business since the frequent electricity outAges were hurting his bottom line. Electricity is <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/energy-mix/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Heng Hak wore a blank expression yesterday, her hair recently dyed a shade of blonde. Though her appearance suggested composure, a lift of her pant leg revealed the manifestation of the trauma she tried to escape last year. In March 2011, Hak jumped from the third <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/firms-hostage-awaits-justice/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

With different talents but similar passions, Small World is a small enterprise that brings talented young Cambodians together to learn, work and network in the new world of business. Small World is a collaborative workplace created to ensure that young people passionate about business have access <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/youths-seek-to-create-jobs/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A biofuel compAny is currently under investigAtion for frAud in the U.K. After millions of dollArs of investors’ money wAs spent on A jAtrophA plAntAtion in BAnteAy MeAnchey province thAt never produced even A single drop of biodiesel. The compAny, London-bAsed SustAinAble Agro Energy PLC, hAd <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/britAins-frAud-office-probes-biofuel-scheme/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

KOH KONG, CAMBODIA &mdAsh; A ThAi force dubbed the “RAmbo Army” couldn’t stop the gAngs, Armed with bAttlefield weAponry, As they scoured the forests. Neither could A brAve Activist, gunned down when he cAme to investigAte. Nor, AppArently, cAn governments Across SoutheAst AsiA. The root of the <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/rAre-hArdwood-spArks-gunfights-corruption-in-AsiA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Prey Lang Community Network yesterday delivered a letter to authorities in Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district calling for the postponement of a Vietnamese concessionaire’s forest clearing and notifying authorities of their intention to deliver a lawsuit to the provincial hall tomorrow, network activists said. according <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/forest-activists-firm-facing-off-once-again/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&amp;M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hm-slammed-over-wages/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Anco WAter Supply, A privAte compAny thAt is supplying SihAnoukville with Access to fresh wAter hAs AlleviAted A wAter shortAge thAt begAn when A stAte-owned reservoir dried up more thAn A week Ago. PreAh SihAnouk provinciAl governor Sbuon SArAth sAid thAt running wAter hAd been restored <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/wAter-supply-begins-to-return-to-sihAnoukville/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Naza Bikes Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Malaysia-based Naza Group of Companies, will enter Cambodia’s crowded motorbike sector, according to the local brand manager. “[Business] will probably be launched on the first of next month,” Hay Chamreoun, the manager, said yesterday, adding that construction for the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/malaysian-motos-to-enter-market/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

It was not the hero’s welcome that greeted Mam Sonando when more than a thousand boisterous supporters cheered his release from Prey Sar prison Friday and lifted the popular radio station owner onto their shoulders for an impromptu parade. But for the three unheralded farmers caught <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/last-three-kratie-province-secessionists-released-from-prison/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Hennes &amp; Mauritz aB, Europe’s second-biggest clothing retailer, said some H&amp;M garments were produced without its knowledge or approval at a factory in Cambodia where workers were injured in a partial building collapse this week. a supplier of the Stockholm-based company placed two minor orders with <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hm-says-garments-made-in-cambodian-factory-without-approval/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A mAssive power outAge thAt left lArge AreAs of Phnom Penh without electricity And wAter And plunged southern VietnAm into dArkness on WednesdAy wAs cAused by A crAne operAtor knocking A tree onto A high voltAge power line, VietnAm’s stAte-owned energy provider sAid yesterdAy. “A <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/mAssive-power-outAge-triggered-by-fAlling-tree/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Cambodia’s strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned garment workers that protests demanding higher wages could push manufacturers to quit the country. His appeal came after unions last week said hundreds of workers had been fired from a factory making sportswear for US giant Nike <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-pm-says-garment-firms-may-quit-over-wage-rows/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday rebuked the opposition for urging foreign donors to refrain from signing any new agreements with the government until after the election and boasted of a new $26 million handed over last week by the European Union (E.U.) E.U. ambassador <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hun-sen-mocks-opposition-request-for-donors-to-freeze-aid/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Caffe Bene, South Korea’s second-largest coffee chain, on Tuesday announced plans to open in Cambodia, according to a Korean media report. But while its entrance adds one more competitor to the more than half-a-dozen coffee chains already in the country, local franchises said the market is <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-cafe-to-enter-growing-cambodian-market/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

In a remote part of Ratanakkiri, Lan Yorn ekes out an existence mining for gems. In his quest to provide for his family, Yorn engages in highly dangerous work illegally digging mines as deep as 12 metres with only the most basic of equipment. Government officials <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/illegal-miners-tread-carefully/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

At 5Am, without Any AlArm clock going off, A dozen CAmbodiAn mAids wAke up with neAr-militAry precision. Over the next hour, the women sweep, wAsh And scrub spotless their two-storey trAining centre in the CAmbodiAn cApitAl Phnom Penh. They All wAnt to be mAids in SingApore, eAger <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/cAmbodiAn-mAids-rAring-to-go/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

During Pchum Ben, a Cambodian religious holiday that came to a close last week, Venerable Keo Somaly got up before dawn. By 5 a.m. each day, the 32-year-old monk was dressed in his saffron robe and chanting prayers. Not long after, with the sun still hanging <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/in-cambodia-monks-get-political-after-unpopular-elections/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>