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In Cambodia, there is talk of change. Not just from Hun Sen, the prime minister, who has promised reforms after his party suffered a significant blow in recent elections, but from environmental activists and campaigners, who say there has never before been such an opportunity ...

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 ...

Group Lease plans to raise Bt3.4 billion from shareholders to expand its main motorcycle-leasing business aggressively and enter other types of “small credit” businesses here and in neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia, over the next two years. The company is reportedly negotiating to take over a ...

Thousands of students were unable to attend classes yesterday after returning from holiday, as more than 500 schools remained closed due to flooding that has claimed 50 lives so far this year. According to a report released by the National Committee for Disaster Management, 513 schools ...

A mob of 500 villagers beat a man to death in Kampong Cham province yesterday after he allegedly slaughtered his wife and stepdaughter with a pair of scythes and reportedly taunted the assembled crowd with his wife’s severed hand. Police said Laing Pises, 48, used the ...

The head of the Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program said yesterday that consultations on its new public-disclosure initiative have been going on for more than a year, contrary to claims by a garment factory representative who characterised the process as hasty. Jill Tucker, chief technical adviser ...

More than two weeks after the slaying of 29-year-old Mao Sok Chan in clashes at Phnom Penh’s Kbal Thnal overpass, police have yet to launch an internal investigation into the use of force, officials said yesterday. National military police spokesman Kheng Tito said he had no ...

A fleet of five speedboats set off from Sisowath Quay on Tuesday afternoon carrying Phnom Penh’s governor, 19 local officials, several bodyguards and a press team, as the municipal authorities’ plan to deal with flooding in several districts of the city switched into first gear. Over ...

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday began hearing the appeal of six men sentenced to between 15 and 17 years jail in 2011 for forming an armed anti-government force called the Sovanna Phum, or Golden Village, in 2006. The men‚ Chea Sarann, 51; Liv Soksovann, 51; ...

After a five-year break, Lao Airlines will revive the Phnom Penh-Vientiane route with direct flights three times a week starting in November, the company’s representative said yesterday. Ek Narun, assistant to the general manager of Lao Airlines in Phnom Penh, said tickets will be available for ...

As much of the country grapples with crippling floods, a comprehensive report on global climate change released yesterday predicts the situation could be poised to get even worse. According to the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as the planet grows warmer, cyclones making ...

TBONG KHUM DISTRICT, Kompong Cham province – From November to May, the Mekong River is quiet. So is life for the hundreds of thousands of people who live along its banks, which in Cambodia forms a 155,000 square km basin covering six provinces and Phnom ...

It’s one of the world’s 49 least developed countries and almost half of the voting population is unhappy with the current government. But 72 percent of Cambodians are generally happy and spend large amounts of their time laughing, smiling and generally enjoying life. That’s the conclusion ...

ODC Director Thy TryWe are happy to introduce Thy Try, Open Development Cambodia’s new director as of today. Try has been involved with ODC as a member of the advisory board since 2011. He previously coordinated a project of Development and Partnership in Action (DPA). ...

Greg Bem and Penhleak ChanOn September 25-26, ODC representatives Penhleak Chan and Greg Bem attended TechCamp Phnom Penh at the Royal University of Phnom Penh’s Cambodia-Korea Cooperation Center. Part think tank and part networking party, TechCamp brought minds from all sectors to work together and ...

Cambodia will meet some of the Millennium Development Goals by the end of 2015 and will continue to deal with landmine threats, said a Cambodian envoy to UN Tuesday at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly. The number of people below the poverty line ...

Vietnam Dairy Products Joint-Stock Co., the nation’s largest dairy producer, is building a milk factory in Cambodia as it plans a global expansion to more than double annual revenue to $3 billion by 2017. The company known as Vinamilk is opening a plant in the capital ...

During the first half of 2013 the import of bicycles in the 27 European Union member states dropped with a big 11%. Almost all EU bike supplying countries saw their export drop; except for one. Cambodia stands out as their export of bicycles to the ...

Cambodian housing rights activist Tep Vanny is in Washington this week, seeking to increase international pressure on Cambodian authorities to end forced evictions and find resolutions to longstanding land disputes. Tep Vanny, a housewife who has emerged as a leader for Cambodian victims of forced evictions, ...

Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha joined dozens of monks and hundreds of supporters on Monday for a Pchum Ben ceremony at the memorial stupa in Phnom Penh honoring the 16 people who were killed by a grenade attack on an opposition rally in ...

In the first six months of 2013, the total amount of government-approved investment in Cambodia jumped more than 200 per cent year-on-year, according to the most recent statistics from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Released on Friday, the numbers show that $2.3 billion was earmarked ...

Activists are skeptical that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will follow through on a pledge to stop a contentious practice of appropriating rural land for commercial use, an issue that hurt the leader and his party in elections in July. In its new five-year political platform ...

Following the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) announcement that its Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program will from January name and shame firms that contravene Cambodian labor laws, the Garment Manufacturers Asso­ciation in Cambodia (GMAC) has urged factory operators to refuse entry to ILO monitors, unless they ...

Still agitated 20 minutes after the rally in front of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd had dispersed yesterday, Choem Som Im held up seven fingers as she jerked her arms forward and spoke in an equally sharp tone. The dilemma, faced by many garment workers, ...