More than two weeks after a ban on sending maids to Malaysia began, work on a bilateral agreement that would protect Cambodian maids working in Malaysia has not begun, officials said yesterday. Ho Vuthy, deputy director general at the Ministry of Labor’s department of labor, said <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/talks-yet-to-begin-with-malaysia-on-maid-ban/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

After A yeAr of mounting concern over the treAtment of migrAnt workers both within And outside CAmbodiA, the Ministry of LAbor, NGOs And recruitment Agencies yesterdAy reAched An Agreement on stAndArdized contrActs Aimed At minimizing the possibility for exploitAtion. The groups Agreed on A contrAct between <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/govt-ngos-firms-finAlize-migrAnt-contrAct/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Government authorities are investigating the death of a migrant domestic worker in Malaysia after her family and rights groups raised questions about the stated cause of death from a lung infection, a relative of the deceased woman said yesterday. Na Rith, 42, said his cousin Ouk <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/maids-cause-of-death-sparks/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Kratie Provincial Court yesterday charged a truck driver with illegally collecting and transporting luxury wood after forestry officers last week confiscated 148 pieces of luxury wood totalling 31.2 cubic meters from his truck, which had been transporting the timber along National Road 7 <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/illegally-logged-rosewood-seized-in-kratie-operation/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Government officials and a representative at Unesco in Phnom Penh yesterday said that Sotheby’s in New York had no right to a 10th-century Khmer statue worth more than $2 million that US federal agents were expected to seize from the auction house today. On Wednesday, New <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/us-agents-poised-to-seize-khmer-statue/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

After A suit And tie gAlA event At Sofitel this month thAt Aimed to drum up locAl support for the newly lAunched luxury residence The PeAk &ndAsh; the most expensive condominium project to dAte At A tune of $580 million, Rithy SeAr, WorldBridge ChAirmAn, Announced <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/investors-show-confidence-in-the-peAk/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Japanese developer aeon Mall (Cambodia) Co. Ltd. will break ground on a 68,400 square meter high-end shopping mall in Phnom Penh in November, the firm said yesterday. Speaking during an introductory workshop for potential tenants, Kuniaki Minohara, general manager of aeon’s leasing department, said the mall <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/aeon-mall-to-break-ground-in-november/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A Borei KeilA protester received A summons yesterdAy to come to Phnom Penh MunicipAl Court to Address A complAint of “incitement to commit A crime” filed by Suy SophAn, director of the PhAnimex compAny, which evicted the Borei KeilA fAmilies in JAnuAry. Borei KeilA resident Tim <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/borei-keilA-protester-summonsed-to-court/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday urged Cambodia to increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products-currently the lowest in the world-in order to raise revenue and deter smokers. ayda Yurekli, coordinator of the WHO’s tobacco control economics unit, said during a workshop in Phnom Penh <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/who-urges-higher-taxes-on-tobacco/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

With a proposed telecommunications law yet to be approved, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications yesterday launched the Telcom Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) to handle disputes between mobile phone companies and Internet providers, although officials admitted that the body will have limited powers. .. But unless <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/telecommunications-regulatory-body-launched/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A fAmily of three, including An 18-yeAr old girl, died when the driver of A militAry truck cArrying illegAlly cut wood slAmmed into their motorbike in Siem ReAp province, officiAls sAid yesterdAy. The fAmily died At the scene while the occupAnts of the militAry truck, seen <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/Army-truck-cArrying-illegAl-timber-kills-fAmily/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Cambodia ranks among the lowest in the region on its ability to reform; corruption, political stasis and a rapidly widening income gap are hindering its progress, according to a recent survey of the country’s democratic institutions. Transformation Index, which every two years ranks countries considered <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/democracy-on-the-decline-think-tank/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has summoned four villagers embroiled in a long-running land dispute over charges of alleged incitement  and violence involving a company owned by the wife of government minister, a court official said yesterday. Two summoned vllagers, from Kompong Tralach district’s Ta Ches commune, faced similar <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/firm-owned-by-ministrys-wife-files-suit-against-four-villagers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Tuol Kork district has been showing its potential through infrastructure development, and is changing from a residential into a commercial area, according to property experts. Moreover, Tuol Kork will become a more central area because it is located in the middle of the old Phnom <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/tuol-kork-on-the-rise/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The mother of a domestic maid allegedly stranded in Malaysia has become the latest Cambodian claimant to file an official complaint to the Ministry of Interior over labor abuse in the country. Em Sokhum said her 24-year-old daughter Chher Sophorn left to pursue work in Malaysia more than <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/maid-may-be-stuck-in-malaysia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Inside a gleaming white-and-blue garment factory in Cambodia stand rows of second-hand Singers &mdash; weathered sewing machines transported from a plant in China that closed last year. The Hong Kong-headquartered Top Form, which has 700 workers at the plant, is one of many businesses that have <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodias-low-wages-lure-manufacturers-away-from-china-other-countries/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Chased out of the house by her Malaysian employer, fresh-faced Tieng SaSa, 18, found shelter with an NGO, escaping alleged abuse at the hands of her employer that included binding her hands and beating her feet with a metal club until her bones broke. Three months <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/maids-seek-justice-in-malaysia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Two men from Kratie province who were removed from a vehicle on Tuesday while traveling to Phnom Penh to demonstrate at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house over a land dispute, have been arrested by internal security police and charged with fraud, an official said yesterday. Sless <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/missing-land-protesters-were-arrested-charged-with-fraud/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

PTT Plc, the national energy conglomerate, is moving forward with plans to establish a retail oil business in Myanmar by working with a local partner Currently, oil consumption per head in the neighbouring country is very low at 38 litres annually, compared to 140 litres in <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ptt-signs-agreement-to-set-up-retail-oil-venture-in-myanmar/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and neighboring Vietnam grew by 17 per cent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, a decrease from previous years, the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia said yesterday. The data showed a total trade volume <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/trade-with-vietnam-slows/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>