The rumour mill has been in overdrive regarding the arrest of The Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg; however, various government officials yesterday shunned the conspiracy theories. Tom abrahamsson, head of administrative and consular matters at the Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh, refuted speculation that Svartholm <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/officials-deny-arrest-has-links-to-new-loans/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Road rage was the likely motive of the driver of a luxury suburban utility vehicle (SUV) who opened fire on the driver of another SUV Friday afternoon in Phnom Penh in what appears to be the latest incidence of random gun violence involving the country’s <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/road-rage-case-latest-gun-play-by-the-powerful/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak and Borei Keila neighborhoods yesterday sprinkled a concoction of chili, salt and black rice into flames of a small fire in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to “curse” the court officials they accuse of unjustly charging and <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/anti-eviction-activists-conjure-up-curses-to-bolster-cause/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Less than a month before asean heads of state are expected to approve the first-ever human rights declaration for the regional group, Cambodian and Indonesian NGOs yesterday urged member states to give their organizations a larger role in the process. In the works for more than <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/ngos-ask-asean-for-more-say-on-human-rights/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

PHNOM PENH&mdash;In its home country, the Cambodian riel has long played second fiddle to the U.S. dollar&mdash;but a new stock exchange and government de-dollarization policies could bolster it in coming years, policy makers and experts say. Dollars change hands with greater frequency than riel in the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/cambodia-takes-aim-at-the-dominant-dollar/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A HeAlth Ministry officiAl sAid yesterdAy the government wAs still hoping to recoup the lAst $20 million of A GlobAl Fund grAnt for fighting mAlAriA thAt the internAtionAl chArity hAs held bAck becAuse of CAmbodiA’s poor use of fund dollArs. LAst week, A spokesmAn for the <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/govt-Asks-globAl-fund-to-unblock-20-million-mAlAriA-grAnt-2/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

When 41-year-old Pheng Seng’s brick-making business was ravaged by flood in Kratie province a year ago, he lost about US$5,000. Kratie town also flooded this time a year ago. It was so bad that speedboats were seen zipping through the streets past submerged motorcycles with <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/floods-lessons-linger-in-kratie/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Police targeting of sex workers for arrest has made them vulnerable to contracting or spreading HIV, according to a U.N. report released yesterday. The U.N. report, Sex Work and Law in asia and the Pacific-Laws, HIV and human rights in the context of sex work, states that <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/un-report-says-law-marginalizes-sex-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

About 600,000 workers in the lucrAtive gArment And footweAr industries, roughly 95 per cent of the sector’s work force, will soon tAke home An extrA US$10 A month, the Ministry of LAbour sAid yesterdAy. BArely An hour After A protest involving gArment workers At the cApitAl’s <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/ministry-fActories-strike-deAl/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Entertainment Gaming asia Inc. (EGa), which owns a number of casinos in Cambodia, as well as provides gaming machines to other local gambling venues, announced on Tuesday that quarterly revenues from april through June reached a record $5.2 million, up 14 percent compared to the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/gaming-company-posts-record-quarter-of-5-2m/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A new reAl estAte joint venture between locAl SonAtrA Group And JApAn’s GrAnd Corp lAunched A $6.5 million condominium project in BKK1 yesterdAy. The 26-storey tower, with 50 units, will be built with high-quAlity, energy-sAving JApAnese equipment, According to the new firm’s chief executive, Jun TAkeguchi. <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/new-condominium-lAunched/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The country cannot afford to further increase the salaries of civil servants such as teachers and members of the armed forces, as to do so would require tax increases&mdash;a move that has already sparked protests across Europe, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. Speaking at a <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/hun-sen-says-pay-rise-for-civil-servants-impossible/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

About 600 TAe Young fActory workers Are bAck on the job thAnks to A court injunction &ndAsh; And the desire to pocket A little cAsh in time for Pchum Ben &ndAsh; but the return will only be temporAry, workers sAid yesterdAy. The decision followed A KAndAl <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/strike-tAkes-pchum-ben-breAk/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

After months spent surveying lAnd for An Ambitious lAnd-titling project, thousAnds of student volunteers hAve been grAnted A short reprieve to return home over the Pchum Ben holidAy, the prime minister Announced yesterdAy. At A grAduAtion ceremony in the cApitAl yesterdAy, Prime Minister Hun Sen sAid <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/student-surveyors-home-for-holidAys/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Free Trade Union has vowed to stage a mass strike in the garment and footwear industries if its demands for an extra US$30 per month of bonuses for workers are not met, union president Chea Mony said yesterday. The union sent a letter to Minister <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/massive-strike-nearing-union/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The government and the asian Development Bank (aDB) will start drafting a new resettlement plan this month that could improve the compensation on offer for some of the roughly 200 Phnom Penh families losing their homes because of rehabilitation of the country’s railway network in <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/railway-family-payouts-could-be-increased/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Kandal Provincial Court yesterday questioned labor leader Rong Chhun over allegations he incited garment factory workers to stage an illegal strike, a court official said. a director at the Tai Yang garment factory in ang Snuol district- which supplies apparel to U.S. brands Levi Strauss, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/court-questions-unionist-on-incitement-charges/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Ministry of Labor on Sunday launched an educational campaign aimed at preventing further mass faintings in garment factories, a ministry official said yesterday. Meng Hong, director of the ministry’s inspection and legal affairs department, said that the campaign would target more than 30,000 garment workers <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/ministry-of-labor-launches-anti-fainting-campaign/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The National Election Committee (NEC) has removed opposition leader Sam Rainsy from the voter list for next year’s national election on the grounds that he is a convicted criminal, an NEC official said yesterday. The decision means that even if Mr. Rainsy is granted a royal <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/sam-rainsy-deleted-from-voter-registration/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

PHNOM PENH &ndash; as more and more Cambodians enter the job market, with a growing population of young people, there still remain plenty of job opportunities with foreign investors at home, according to a new study by the Ministry of Labor. But people either don’t <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/major-gap-emerging-between-labor-market-and-job-seekers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>