They save for months, borrowing from family and friends, even taking out loans, to pour as much as a year’s worth of earnings into the hands of recruiters that may have no intention and certainly have no guarantee of procuring overseas employment. Recruitment agencies, several of <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/in-debt-out-of-work/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Ten buses set off Wednesday morning along Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh on a month-long test-run to determine if the public is ready to jettison their motorbikes and luxury cars and hop on board mass transport. This is the second attempt by the Japanese International Cooperation <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/test-drive-begins-for-new-city-bus-service/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The World Bank on Thursday asked Phnom Penh municipal officials to do more to help the thousands of families the city evicted from the Boeng Kak neighborhood to make way for a CPP senator’s private real estate project, and is now waiting for a reply, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/world-bank-meets-phnom-penh-governor-boeng-kak-evictees/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Interior Minister Sar Kheng and opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Tuesday that preparations are underway for a meeting between Mr. Rainsy and Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss the country’s ongoing political deadlock. On the sidelines of the second session of the National assembly since the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sam-rainsy-sar-kheng-say-plans-underway-for-top-level-talks/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Police said Sunday that they will not pursue charges against Ek Sovannara&mdash;the son of a former Kandal provincial police chief&mdash;whose Lexus SUV on april 12 crashed into a motorbike carrying three men, killing one and causing the other two to have their left legs amputated. The <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/no-criminal-charges-against-hit-and-run-officer/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodian police broke up a rally in the capital on Tuesday and briefly detained 11 activists who were calling for international assistance to secure the release of protesters arrested in a recent crackdown. The detentions came as the country’s main opposition party called off a planned <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodian-police-in-new-protest-crackdown/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Education Ministry’s crusade to clean up the national high school exam continued Wednesday, with the anti-Corruption Unit (aCU) releasing a statement inviting concerned parties to monitor exams in august and warning that cheats would be failed and effectively banned from sitting again for two <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ministry-acu-continue-campaign-for-clean-high-school-exam/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

AustrAliAn ImmigrAtion Minister Scott Morrison sAid ThursdAy thAt CAmbodiA mAy soon Agree to tAke in Asylum seekers who Are now detAined on the South PAcific islAnd nAtion of NAuru After being diverted while trying to reAch AustrAliA. Mr. Morrison told the AustrAliAn BroAdcAsting CorporAtion thAt next <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/AustrAliAn-minister-sAys-cAmbodiA-could-tAke-refugees-on-nAuru/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Government officials and union representatives met behind closed doors Thursday to start hashing out a better way to set the minimum wage for the country’s all-important but troubled garment sector at a workshop brokered by the International Labor Organization (ILO). But what was supposed to be <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/factories-mostly-skip-minimum-wage-meeting/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

About 30 villAgers in Phnom Penh’s MeAnchey district stAged A protest TuesdAy morning AgAinst tycoon Sok Kong, whom they Accuse of piping dredged sAnd into their fArmlAnd And fishing ponds. Fourteen fAmilies occupying 21 hectAres of lAnd in Prek PrA commune hAve been locked in A <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/villAgers-protest-After-sAnd-dumped-on-lAnd/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Municipal and military police on Wednesday blocked a group of about 100 displaced farmers from Kratie province who were attempting to deliver a petition to the Cambodian Red Cross’ Phnom Penh headquarters calling on the group to help them in their land dispute with a <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/farmers-blocked-from-petitioning-red-cross/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Businesses with supply chains and operations in Burma, Bangladesh and Cambodia are benefiting from the world’s lowest labour costs, according to a new global ranking. Risk analytics company Verisk Maplecroft’s Labour Costs Index measures a combination of wages, employment regulations, social security contributions and labor productivity <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/burma-bangladesh-and-cambodia-have-worlds-lowest-labour-costs/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Bangladesh and Cambodia have decided to set up a “joint commission” to promote bilateral ties as the two countries eye to deepen cooperation for regional peace, stability and prosperity. according to a joint statement issued after the talks between the two prime ministers in Dhaka on <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/bangladesh-cambodia-seek-new-areas-of-cooperation/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A yeAr After violent clAshes broke out between workers from the SL GArment FActory And gun-wielding security forces, leAding to the shooting deAth of A bystAnder, representAtives for workers And mAnAgement At the fActory signed off on A list of Agreements this week to end the <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/unions-bosses-ink-deAl-to-end-sl-gArment-fActory-dispute/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that Cambodia will have a very low inflationary rate to 3.5 per cent this year, which is 0.1 per cent below the goverment’s new revision but 0.5 per cent higher than the asian Development Bank (aDB). Cambodia’s government in august also revised inflation <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/inflation-low-in-2012-imf/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A decAde-old rubber plAntAtion project beset with disputes with locAl residents hAs hAd its 9,000 hectAres relocAted to An intAct forest in Stung Treng. A sub-decree signed by the Council of Ministers in MArch sAid 9,787 hectAres would be provided to Horizon Agriculture Development As “compensAtion” <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/conflict-ridden-lAnd-concession-moved-to-new-forest-AreA/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

About 90 gArment fActory workers fAinted over A two-dAy period lAst week At Zhen TAi gArment fActory in Sen Sok district’s Phnom Penh Thmei commune, union officiAls And police sAid yesterdAy, though Accounts of whAt cAused the mAss fAinting differed. Thirty workers first fAinted on <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/90-gArment-fActory-workers-fAint-over-two-dAy-period/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Cambodia’s draft budget law for 2012 will seek to increase concessional borrowing by about 75 per cent compared to 2011, according to a copy of the draft obtained by the Post. a lack of aid commitment may have led to the increase in proposed borrowing, experts <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/state-borrowing-may-spike/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Just over a year since the World Bank froze its funds to the government, the bank yesterday reiterated that a decision on whether or not it would start providing loans again remains nowhere in sight. In august, the World Bank announced that it would not provide <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/no-sign-world-bank-will-renew-funds/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

AsiA Golden Rice (AGR), ThAilAnd’s second-lArgest rice exporter, will invest $47 million to build milling plAnts in CAmbodiA cApAble of processing up to 1 million tons of rice per yeAr, According to A compAny representAtive And reports from the ThAi news mediA yesterdAy. “This will be <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/thAilAnds-second-lArgest-rice-exporter-invests-47m-in-mills/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>