The Cambodian government on Thursday dismissed media reports in australia linking Prime Minister Hun Sen to a mining company under investigation there for corruption. Earlier this week, The age newspaper reported on australian documents that described officials from BHP Billiton seeking a special meeting with Hun <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/government-denies-reports-on-mining-corruption-and-hun-sen/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Fifty Tampuon ethnic minority families protested yesterday in front of the Soeung Commune Hall in Bakeo district against their commune chief, who they allege sold land that belonged to the Ratanakkiri community. In a complaint filed to rights group adhoc yesterday, the families claim that commune <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/rkiri-minorities-say-lands-sale-improper/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

VimpelCom, the parent company of local mobile operator Beeline, is looking to sell the majority share of its Cambodian assets and has entered into negations with a possible buyer, according to a document obtained yesterday. “VimpelCom intends to dispose its entire indirect 90.0 percent stake in <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/beeline-in-negotiations-with-potential-buyer/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The government announced Monday that it will open a new passport office in the northwest province of Battambang, the first such office outside Phnom Penh. In a statement, posted to the Ministry of Interior website, the ministry said that the new passport office will serve people <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-battambang-passport-office-caters-to-migrant-workers-2/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Ratanakkiri Provincial Court yesterday charged two staffers of Vietnamese rubber concessionaire Hoang anh Ratanakkiri (CRD) with causing intentional damage for allegedly setting fire to several homes belonging to a landowner with whom they were embroiled in a land dispute, deputy prosecutor Mom Vanda said. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/charges-in-ratanakkiri-arson/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Members of the AssociAtion of SoutheAst AsiAn NAtions (ASEAN) hAve become mAgnets for Chinese investment Amid the globAl economic slump. Among the most recent deAls, HunAn Province-bAsed XinyuAn Mining Co Ltd bought A license to exploit A 28 million squAre meter gold mine in CAmbodiA, And <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/bewAre-risk-with-AseAn-investment/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

In the latest instalment of a project designed to revamp Phnom Penh’s drainage system, officials have begun work expanding a sediment chamber near the Royal Palace to Wat Botum. Phase three of the ongoing $350 million drainage system project spearheaded by the Japanese International Cooperation agency <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/botum-park-dug-up-to-extend-city-sewer/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

More than 500 students and teachers from two high schools in Banteay Meanchey province’s Sisophon district took to the streets on Friday demanding better safety around schools after a truck crashed into a rice mill near one of the schools, injuring a man. The students and <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/students-in-safety-protest/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the bloc’s executive body to urgently act on an EU preferential trade scheme found to have carried high risks of human rights violations in Cambodia through land evictions for industrial sugar development. In a January 16 resolution, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/eu-resolution-passed-against-sugar-abuses/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

With a number of homeless, beggars and street sellers who were rounded up in caged vans last week still unaccounted for, several of those targeted by the street sweep claimed yesterday that they had been held in Phnom Penh’s notorious Prey Speu social affairs centre. Homeless <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/homeless-went-to-prey-speu/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

About 50 fAmilies gAthered under A timber roof here SundAy Among muddy fields grAnted to them As compensAtion After ChinA’s Union Development Group (UDG) begAn to turn their coAstAl homelAnd into A $3.8-billion tourist meccA. The fAmilies, who now live in timber houses dotting the bArren <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/un-visits-evictees-site-of-3-8b-tourism-project/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Villagers in Kompong Chhnang province involved in a long-running land dispute with a minister’s wife took their grievances to the spirit world this weekend, staging a two-day ceremony during which they cast traditional curses on company officials and local authorities they say have wronged them. The <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-hold-ceremony-to-curse-ministers-wife-officials/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Representatives from 25 trade unions Monday sent a request to the Ministry of Labor seeking several changes to a controversial draft union law and asking that a new $160 monthly minimum wage for the country’s volatile garment sector take effect in October. Garment factory owners say <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/trade-unions-approve-minimum-wage-draft-law-proposals/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

After more thAn hAlf A yeAr with only one Acid AttAck recorded in CAmbodiA, police in BAnteAy MeAnchey’s Poipet town Are At A loss to explAin An incident yesterdAy in which three women were Allegedly doused with the chemicAl while eAting noodles At A locAl <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/Acid-AttAck-leAves-3-injured/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Stringent rules to prove that rice exported from Cambodia is actually from Cambodia will be detailed today, according to a copy of a joint agreement between the Ministry of Commerce and industry associations. The Code of Conduct seeks to reassure the European Union that rice is <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/exporters-of-rice-now-subject-to-origin-test/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Democracy is in retreat since July’s national election as the ruling CPP has increasingly used armed forces to protect its grip on power and stubbornly refused to reform state institutions, the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) said in a new report <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/democratization-in-cambodia-in-retreat-following-violent-2013/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

At the site where security forces shot deAd At leAst four people during A nAtionwide strike on JAnuAry 3, union leAders yesterdAy pAssed out fliers encourAging workers to join A stAy-At-home strike After Khmer New YeAr. When workers filed out of CAnAdiA IndustriAl PArk’s gAtes for <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/unions-drum-up-strike-support/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The deputy governor of Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district was slightly injured yesterday in a clash that broke out during a remembrance ceremony to mark the day 39 years ago the Khmer Rouge seized the capital in 1975. Prach Seyha, Dangkor’s deputy governor, was injured in the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cops-cnrp-clash-at-service/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

CAMBODIA NAtionAl Rescue PArty deputy leAder Kem SokhA pledged his pArty’s foreign policy AllegiAnce to the United StAtes over ChinA in no uncertAin terms to top officiAls in WAshington, lAst week, According to A summAry of his meetings posted online. A document releAsed by the US-bAsed <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/sokhA-snubs-chinA-for-us/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

A glAss-mAnufActuring tycoon on SAturdAy threAtened to shoot deAd two locAl journAlists As they were covering A dispute he wAs hAving with Another businessmAn in Phnom Penh, According to A report posted on the NAtionAl Police website. The journAlists, from CAmbodiA Express News And BAyon TV, <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/tycoon-threAtens-to-hAve-journAlists-shot-deAd/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>