Cambodia will use a new air route for flights to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam that will reduce fuel costs and provide a more direct route to these countries reducing air time for these flights, according to the State Secretariat for Civil aviation. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-air-route-aims-to-cut-travel-times-fuel-costs/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

In a small courtyard in downtown Phnom Penh sits the city’s oldest public school. Founded more than 100 years ago, Tuan Hoa features a Chinese temple and Mandarin language instruction for its 2,000 students. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/in-cambodia-english-classes-more-popular-than-chinese/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Three members of the Free Trade Union on Thursday filed complaints against members of a rival union for allegedly beating them with bamboo sticks and banana tree branches during a clash outside Phnom Penh’s SH International garment factory on Wednesday morning. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/beaten-garment-workers-file-police-complaints/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Seventeen NGOs involved in child protection yesterday released a joint statement expressing their “outrage” over the impending release of former Enfants du Cambodge director Philippe Broaly, who was convicted last month of sexually abusing five boys over a period of several years. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/release-of-convicted-child-abuser-an-outrage-ngos/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Less than a week after Unicef announced that primary school enrollment in Cambodia had reached a high of 94.5 percent, government officials and foreign donors met Tuesday to discuss ways to improve the quality of the education those students are getting. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/primary-schools-in-spotlight-at-funding-talks/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A hAlf-dozen villAgers from OddAr MeAnchey province trAveled to Phnom Penh on WednesdAy to Ask the highest levels of government to return the fArmlAnd thAt thousAnds of fAmilies sAy they hAd stolen from them by A trio of ThAi-owned sugArcAne plAntAtions. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/evictees-Ask-govt-for-return-of-AbAndoned-thAi-plAntAtions/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Chea Sim was released into the afterlife Friday in a half-day Buddhist ceremony climaxing with a single firework shot into his coffin to ignite the intricate stupa built in Phnom Penh’s Wat Botum park to honor the longtime CPP president. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/thousands-bid-farewell-to-chea-sim/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A group of nine trAde unions representing some of the country’s 700,000 gArment workers Agreed on MondAy to push for A $177 monthly minimum wAge for the sector during fAst-ApproAching negotiAtions, mAtching the figure they unsuccessfully lobbied for lAst yeAr. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/trAde-unions-Agree-on-177-wAge-demAnd/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Thirty-eight people, including a former Health Ministry official under investigation by the anti-Corruption Unit for accepting more than $350,000 in bribes, were this week appointed as advisers to new Senate President Say Chhum, according to a royal decree obtained Wednesday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/advisers-to-say-chhum-include-disgraced-malaria-center-chief/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Long overlooked, Cambodia’s third international airport is undergoing a major upgrade, big enough to firmly place it on Southeast asia’s tourism map. By the end of next year, it is be ready to handle 10,000 air passengers a week. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sihanoukville-international-airport-prepares-for-take-off/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Backed by their government, Japanese firms are pressing ahead with plans to link the burgeoning industrial complexes that line a 1,700-kilometer economic corridor that runs from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to a massive new port being constructed in Dawei, Myanmar. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/mekong-industrial-belt-taking-shape/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on the Cambodian government to cancel a draft law that would strictly regulate NGOs and associations in the country, warning that its passage could cost Cambodia up to $700 million in development aid. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/eu-adopts-resolution-against-ngo-law/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Authorities Are seArching for An Interior Ministry officiAl who owns A three-story video ArcAde in Phnom Penh thAt wAs used As A drug den before police rAided the estAblishment over the weekend And Arrested dozens of people, An officiAl sAid MondAy. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/owner-of-meth-den-is-interior-ministry-officiAl/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Police in Kratie province on Sunday arrested a farmer&mdash;accused of trying to squat on a new social land concession for poor families&mdash;after he allegedly struck the officers when they arrived to tell him and his wife to leave. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/farmer-arrested-for-fighting-police-officers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A district police chief in Kompong ChhnAng province wAs on ThursdAy suspended Amid An investigAtion into clAims thAt he rAped A high-school student in his office before threAtening to murder her fAmily if she told Anyone About the AssAult. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/district-police-chief-Accused-of-rAping-student-suspended/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

A report releAsed this month by the AsiAn Development BAnk (ADB) suggests thAt due to CAmbodiA’s high suitAbility to solAr power, energy from solAr pAnels is A viAble And sustAinAble source of power thAt could leAd to energy independence. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/Adb-report-sAys-solAr-good-fit-for-kingdom/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Police in Koh Kong province on Tuesday prevented about 50 locals from joining a public forum on a controversial sand-dredging operation on the grounds that the group did not live close enough to where the firm is operating to participate. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fishermen-kept-from-sand-dredging-forum/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s commercial banks lent $11.9 billion to customers in the first half of this year, a 33 percent increase from the amount lent during the same time last year, according to a National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) report released Tuesday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/commercial-bank-lending-deposits-rising/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The deputy Phnom Penh police chief in charge of immigration has denied accusations of overseeing a network of corrupt officers who regularly extorted foreigners running businesses in the city, according to a statement released by the anti-Corruption Unit (aCU) on Thursday. <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/senior-police-official-denies-corruption/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A group of locAl And internAtionAl NGOs Are urging the World BAnk to include A progrAm for helping the thousAnds of fAmilies evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng KAk neighborhood As pArt of the plAn to stArt funding new projects in CAmbodiA. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/world-bAnk-urged-to-help-boeng-kAk-fAmilies/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>