The USDA increAsed its rice export forecAsts for IndiA, CAmbodiA And the U.S. mAinly due to higher production estimAtes in these countries. CAmbodiA’s 2013 rice export estimAtes wAs increAsed 150,000 tons to A record 975,000 tons, up About 21% from lAst yeAr, sAid the USDA in <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/usdA-hikes-2013-export-projections-for-cAmbodiA-indiA-u-s/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

NagaCorp, the owner of Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, launched the sale of tickets for a new national lottery on Friday with the inaugural draw to take place on July 12 and a top prize of $218,000. In a statement, NagaCorp said 30 percent of net <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/slice-of-new-casino-lottery-to-fund-red-cross/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Sixteen ethnic minority families in Ratanakkiri province have claimed that they are being forced from their land after a commune chief signed it away, and that commune borders have been redrawn to dispossess them. On Friday, the families, who have been living on 30 hectares of <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/villagers-claim-chief-signed-away-their-land/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Police in Battambang arrested six villagers embroiled in a land dispute with a local businessman on Wednesday after 10 other villagers accused them of defrauding families in the area, deputy provincial governor Uy Ry said yesterday. However, villagers and rights workers in Kors Kralor district said <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/police-arrest-six-villagers-accused-of-fraud/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

More than 100 Cham families living in boats on the banks of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Chongva peninsula have agreed to relocate upriver after they celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan over the weekend, a community representative said on Friday. Matt Kriya, a representative <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/cham-families-agree-to-move-from-the-riverbank/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The AsiAn Development BAnk is considering providing funds to A controversiAl 400 megAwAtt dAm project in LAos thAt could hAve Adverse impActs on the Mekong River in downstreAm CAmbodiA. ConservAtion group InternAtionAl Rivers wAnts the LAo government to pull the plug on the $1 billion Xe <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/Adb-mAy-bAck-disputed-dAm/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Masahiro Kawai, dean of the asia Development Bank Institute, believes too great a focus is being placed on the realization of the 2015 aSEaN Economic Community at the cost of considering middle- and longer-term issues in the aSEaN region. “Economic community-building is not going to be completed in <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/adb-institute-too-much-focus-on-2015/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Ethnic minority villagers expecting to be displaced by a proposed Chinese-built hydroelectric dam in northeastern Cambodia are asking the country’s parliament not to approve a law providing financial guarantees for the project. Villagers living along three rivers that will be affected by the dam spoke <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/villagers-petition-against-dam/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Representatives of 171 Pursat families who claim to have been unfairly left out of the government’s land-titling process said they have reached a tentative agreement with the minister of Industry, Mines and Energy to continue farming on the Bakan district land they have occupied for <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/villagers-may-get-land-titles/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

One hundred and thirteen Jarai families from Ratanakkiri’s Bakeo district are sending a letter of protest to the provincial fishery administration today, after a Vietnamese rubber company  started filling in a lake that they had promised last month to preserve for villagers. Rochom Ven, chief of <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/ethnic-villagers-fight-lake-fill-in/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

In Sihanoukville, just north of Cambodia’s only deep-water port, stands the headquarters of Chenla Seafood. a uniformed guard stands watch at the gate, which opens on to manicured grounds and a two-building facility that houses what will likely become the country’s premier seafood processor. a few <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/leopard-capital-allegedly-sank-seafood-firm/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Provincial Election Committee (PEC) on Monday fined opposition leader Sam Rainsy $2,500 for verbally attacking Prime Minister Hun Sen from afar during a video-link speech beamed to supporters in Phnom Penh, officials said yesterday. Mr. Rainsy, who currently lives in self-imposed exile in Paris, was <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/virtual-sam-rainsy-slapped-with-actual-fine/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

About 10 workers were beAten by police And militAry police during A protest over severAnce pAyments yesterdAy in KAndAl province, workers And union representAtives sAid. Protests At TAi YAng Enterprises&mdAsh;which supplies clothing to U.S. brAnds Levi StrAuss And Old NAvy&mdAsh;in Ang Snuol district hAve been ongoing <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/workers-clAim-police-beAt-them-during-fActory-protest/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The sole provider of water and electricity in Koh Kong province’s Khemerak Phumin town, LYP group, was demanding that all rental buildings install water meters at exorbitant rates for the region, residents said yesterday. Building managers sent intervention papers to provincial governor Bun Leut on July <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/meters-mean-money-down-drain/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A dAy After well-known humAn rights worker ChAn Soveth wAs summoned by the Phnom Penh MunicipAl Court over chArges of Aiding An unnAmed perpetrAtor in An unnAmed crime, humAn rights groups issued A stAtement brAnding the chArged As politicAlly-motivAted And intended to intimidAte government critics. “We <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/groups-rAlly-behind-Adhoc-Aid-rights-worker/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Despite the government embarking on a nationwide land-titling program, there is still little space for communities affected by economic land concessions to voice their concerns with the government, members of civil society said at a conference in Phnom Penh yesterday. “We’ve observed that there is limited <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/no-effective-voice-for-those-facing-land-issues/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Three men arrested over a plan to smuggle millions of dollars worth of counterfeit US banknotes into Cambodia with the help of Thai criminals used the name of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s chief bodyguard to secure the deal, a provincial court heard yesterday. Pin Tipelo, 38, <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/fake-dollars-stopped-cops/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A new bAnking settlements system cAlled CHANCES, deAling exclusively in the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB), Aims to mAke trAde between ChinA And the ASEAN countries eAsier And less expensive. Owned And operAted by the IndustriAl And CommerciAl BAnk of ChinA (ICBC), the CHANCES system stAnds for <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/km/news/chinAs-icbc-offers-rmb-trAnsfers/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Twelve families from Koh Kong province on Nov. 6  filed a complaint with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers and the Department of Land Management, requesting assistance in a land dispute with businessman, Heng Huy. Pok Yon, the families’ representative, said that earlier this year, Heng <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/families-complain-to-volunteers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia’s nascent life insurance market grew slightly after Manulife Cambodia launched the Manulife Savings Protector yesterday. Combining savings and protection, it will provide life protection for 10 or 15 years to create an estate for relatives in case of untimely death and offer benefits from <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/km/news/new-life-insurance-product-launched/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>