Three activists from Mother Nature Cambodia have been detained by the provincial court of Koh Kong, after launching a campaign to stop sand dredging along a river there. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/three-environmental-activists-arrested-in-koh-kong-province/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Authorities in RAtAnAkkiri’s BAnlung town crAcked down on A luxury timber storAge fAcility over the weekend, confiscAting two trucks And hundreds of pieces of illegAl timber, A court officiAl sAid yesterdAy. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/illegAl-timber-seized-in-rkiri/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Commercial occupancy rates stayed almost flat in the first half of this year, with vacancy rates seeing only a marginal decline, according to a new semi-annual report from property consultancy firm Knight Frank. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/office-properties-show-tepid-growth/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

When the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) was officially launched on Jul. 11 there were no companies listed because of a drive to ensure that everything was above board. “We want to assure full transparency,” says Huot Pum, the deputy director-general of the Securities and Exchange <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-stock-exchange-to-push-transparency/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012 ranked the Philippines 75th out of 142 economies, up from 85th out of 139 in the 2010-2011 report. Last year’s placing marked a reversal of 2009’s slide to 87th in a list of 133, from 71st <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/competitiveness-improves/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Construction on a US$2 billion oil refining plant, the Kingdom’s first, will start in april, according to officials close to the project. The plant, which will be built on 365 hectares across Kampot and Sihanoukville provinces and is expected to be completed in 2014, is a <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/oil-refinery-to-be-built/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Faced with the rapid loss of vast tracts of forest across Cambodia, local communities have begun to fight back, and a growing number of villagers are now organizing their own aggressive forest patrols in order to save the forests on which they have relied for <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/local-forest-patrols-challenge-illegal-logging/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Gliding through the water almost soundlessly, the MS amaLotus docked for only its second time in Phnom Penh last week at 92 meters in length and capable of holding 124 passengers, the amaLotus is the latest cruise ship to start transporting tourists between Siem Reap and <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/luxury-cruises-take-to-the-tonle-sap-mekong/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Garment factories run the risk of having their cargo confiscated by U.S. customs authorities if they continue using pirated computer software in their administrative operations, and may be prosecuted under a law that requires all manufacturers to use licensed digital software, according to a local <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/pirated-software-may-threaten-garment-firms/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Japan International Cooperation agency (JICa) met with Phnom Penh municipal authorities last month to present the first stage of a “master plan” for the construction of a much-needed public transport system for the capital. Masato Koto, chief of mission for JICa’s transportation planning group in <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/master-plan-drawn-for-phnom-penh-public-transport-system/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy appears to have run out of options in his bid to contest in Cambodia’s national polls, as the country’s political parties prepared to wrap up their election campaign amid allegations by independent observers of “arrests, threats and intimidation” by the ruling <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodias-opposition-leader-runs-out-of-options-to-contest-polls/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Civil society groups yesterday hit back at the government after a Ministry of Interior statement released on Wednesday warned NGOs that they would be breaking ministry protocols on political neutrality by “directly or indirectly” supporting an unnamed political party or its protests. The Cambodia National Rescue <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ngos-defend-right-to-aid-rally/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A senior US StAte DepArtment officiAl visiting the kingdom sAid yesterdAy thAt Any solution to the current politicAl deAdlock would hAve to come from within CAmbodiA And not from foreign powers. Scot MArciel, principle deputy AssistAnt secretAry At the BureAu of EAst AsiAn And PAcific AffAirs, <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/deAdlock-yours-to-fix-us-officiAl/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

More than 200 villagers involved in three different land disputes gathered in front of Cambodia’s top court in the capital Tuesday to demand the release of jailed rights campaigner Yorm Bopha ahead of her final appeal against a criminal conviction later this week. Yorm Bopha’s impending <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodian-villagers-demand-land-activists-release-ahead-of-appeal/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Villagers and local authorities continued to argue over a 4-hectare plot of land in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district on Monday, a day after officials promised to measure and issue a title for it. District council chief Prak Channa on Sunday promised to issue a land <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/despite-promise-of-title-authorities-refuse-to-measure-land/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s capital on Thursday, arresting five monks and 10 others in a display of force that has been described by a rights group as unprecedented. The soldiers from Special Command Unit 911 were deployed to crush the demonstration over minimum wages near the Yak Jin <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodian-military-cracks-down-on-striking-garment-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Impunity reigns in Cambodia on the back of two consecutive years of fatal shootings by state forces for which perpetrators have evaded justice, local rights group Licadho said Friday in a statement to mark International Day to End Impunity on Saturday. Since the start of 2012, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/impunity-reigns-as-fatal-shootings-continue-to-go-unpunished/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Acting on the orders of the ConstitutionAl Council, the NAtionAl Election Committee yesterdAy opened the pAckAges contAining bAllots And originAl documents used to tAlly votes from eight BAttAmbAng province polling stAtions. In contrAst to A similAr exAminAtion of 13 “SAfety PAckAges A” from KrAtie on SundAy <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/nec-checks-continue/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Cambodia’s political dispute deepened on Sunday as the opposition planned a three-day mass protest against the final election results that handed victory to the long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party. The nation held a general election on July 28. The National Election Committee (NEC) issued <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodias-political-row-deepens-as-opposition-plans-larger-protest-against-poll-results/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Land covering an area the size of Italy has been taken from indigenous communities around the world by suppliers to the biggest names in the food and drinks industry, according to a major new report. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are among the companies criticised by Oxfam for <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/oxfam-accuses-coke-and-pepsi-of-taking-land-from-the-poor/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>