Condo sales up but glut looms
Some 13,730 condominium units were sold in Phnom Penh in the first half of this year compared to 13,050 units in the same period last year representing an approximate five percent increase in sales, according to figures from a real estate company. However, insiders believe <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/condo-sales-up-but-glut-looms/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27004/condo-sales-up-but-glut-looms/
Wildlife smuggler arrested
A VietnAmese nAtionAl wAs chArged yesterdAy with smuggling elephAnt tusks And pArts into CAmbodiA in whAt wildlife AdvocAtes hAve dubbed A lAndmArk cAse.ReAm ChAn Mony, A deputy prosecutor At Siem ReAp ProvinciAl Court, sAid 43-yeAr-old Vu Le Thuy wAs chArged with “smuggling illegAl wildlife And <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/wildlife-smuggler-Arrested/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>
Sen David and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wildlife-smuggler-arrested
Construction law being built
A drAft construction lAw hAs been completed And will soon be submitted to the Council of Ministers And mAy be enActed by the end of the yeAr, but there needs to be A discussion And more feedbAck before sending it to the government to be <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/construction-lAw-being-built/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25469/construction-law-being-built/
AIIB urged to fast-track loans
Cambodia’s Minister of Economy and Finance last week made a request to a visiting senior official from the asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (aIIB) to speed up loan approvals for least development countries (LDCs) in order to spur infrastructure development. aun Pormoniroth made the request to aIIB <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/aiib-urged-to-fast-track-loans/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28195/aiib-urged-to-fast-track-loans/
Direct Jakarta flights mooted
Direct flights between Phnom Penh and Indonesia’s capital Jakarta may soon be a reality, if a current feasibility study by the country’s national airline, Garuda Indonesia, suggests it is viable. While a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries concerning direct flights has already been <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/direct-jakarta-flights-mooted/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28843/direct-jakarta-flights-mooted/
Slave labor victim speaks out
Keo Rotha was sitting in his small brick house in a quiet village in Pursat province, surrounded by coconut trees and a bamboo fence, looking at his old phone while waiting for a call to tell him the results of the court case he and <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/slave-labor-victim-speaks-out/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26439/slave-labor-victim-speaks-out/
Saudi loan to develop workforce
The Ministry of Labour hopes to use a new $20 million loan from Saudi arabia to develop the country’s workforce. Yousef Ibrahim al-Bassam, vice president and managing director of the Saudi Fund for Development, led a delegation to Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss plans for <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/saudi-loan-to-develop-workforce/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Yon Sineat
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/saudi-loan-develop-workforce
Minister agrees to final talk on draft minimum wage law
The government has accepted a request from a senior officer of the US State Department to hold another discussion on the draft minimum wage law before it is approved. after meeting with Sarah Morgan, an official with the US Office of International Labour affairs, Labour Minister <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/minister-agrees-to-final-talk-on-draft-minimum-wage-law/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50114873/minister-agrees-to-final-talk-on-draft-minimum-wage-law/
Railway families deliver petition to PM seeking reduction in land takeover
The protesters represent a community of over 1,000 families living along a railway in the capital’s Russey Keo district. Plans to replace the track with a new, broader road will displace people in three communes. The new road and accompanying sidewalks would be 60 metres <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/railway-families-deliver-petition-to-pm-seeking-reduction-in-land-takeover/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Soth Koemsoeun
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/railway-families-deliver-petition-pm-seeking-reduction-land-takeover
Garment workers continue protest
Nearly 1,700 garment factory workers in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet town entered day five of their protest yesterday against a factory over wage cuts as well as allegations that the factory was responsible for the assault of a union representative. Protestors accused Lu Thai (Cambodia) of <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/garment-workers-continue-protest/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33115/garment-workers-continue-protest/
Government warns of bird flu
The Ministry of Health has called on all travelers to beware of a new strain of bird flu that is now spreading in South Korea and Japan. In a notice released yesterday, the Health Ministry said the discovery of H5N6, a new strain of the bird <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/government-warns-of-bird-flu/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33918/government-warns-of-bird-flu/
Villagers hit with charges to use local road
Villagers in Mondulkiri province have pleaded with local authorities to intervene after a company behind a nearby rubber plantation began charging them 20,000 riel ($5) to use a local road. Security guards at the Tong Min Group property told villagers from Pech Chreada district’s Pou <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-hit-with-charges-to-use-local-road/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/38528/villagers-hit-with--charges-to-use-local-road/
Cambodia has sole objective for US
Cambodia intends to submit a petition to the United States government to extend the duty-free privileges of its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme to include footwear, giving local manufacturers a competitive advantage in the world’s biggest consumer market. But hopes are dimming as the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-has-sole-objective-for-us/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-has-sole-objective-us
China pledges more investment in Cambodia, but is Phnom Penh selling itself short?
Li’s visit comes at a time when Cambodia’s government, under Prime Minister Hun Sen, is facing rising pressure from the United States and the European Union over its human rights record. Both have threatened sanctions in response to a ruling by the nation’s top court <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/china-pledges-more-investment-in-cambodia-but-is-phnom-penh-selling-itself-short/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Laura Zhou and Sarah Zheng
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2128118/china-pledges-more-investment-cambodia-phnom-penh#comments
‘Fake news’ being investigated
The Ministry of National Defence is cooperating with involved authorities to investigate a case of alleged fake news that said a well-known deputy commander supported the Cambodia National Rescue Movement. Ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said the Ministry of National Defence was cooperating with authorities to investigate <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fake-news-being-investigated/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50106512/fake-news-investigated/
Spokesman vows Cambodia will fight against ‘colonisation’ after US cuts aid
The Cambodian government expressed “dismay” yet remained defiant yesterday in the face of a US decision to cut aid to the Kingdom in response to its ongoing political crackdown, saying it would not comply with demands to restore the forcibly dissolved opposition CNRP. In a statement, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/spokesman-vows-cambodia-will-fight-against-colonisation-after-us-cuts-aid/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/spokesman-vows-cambodia-will-fight-against-colonisation-after-us-cuts-aid
City Hall considering relocating warehouses
Speaking at a pagoda inauguration on Saturday, Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said City Hall is looking to move warehouses and automobile repair shops out of the city centre to the outskirts to reduce pollution and traffic congestion – a move Hun Sen’s sister Hun <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-hall-considering-relocating-warehouses/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/city-hall-considering-relocating-warehouses
Sesan locals set up ‘illegal’ village
Families living in a commune flooded by the Lower Sesan II dam have set up a new village on their community forest without the permission of local authorities. Residents of Sre Ko commune were offered new homes in a different area and compensation to leave <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sesan-locals-set-up-illegal-village/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5090324/sesan-locals-set-illegal-village/
South Korea to help build bridge across Mekong
The government of South Korea will help to build a Cambodia-Korea Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River in the future, according to a statement from the Foreign affairs Ministry yesterday. The announcement came after a meeting on Friday between Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and newly-appointed <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/south-korea-to-help-build-bridge-across-mekong/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Mom Sophon
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50113678/south-korea-to-help-build-bridge-across-mekong/
Areng community office forced to relocate
The Chumnoab commune authority in Koh Kong province’s Thmar Baing district yesterday ordered areng Valley residents to move their community office to a new location to make way for its new office. according to a letter released yesterday by Chumnoab commune, commune officials asked areng residents <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/areng-community-office-forced-to-relocate/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50115265/areng-community-office-forced-to-relocate/