AI & STEM Push: Cambodia’s Minister of Post and Telecommunications Chea Vandeth toured WAIC 2026’s AI exhibition in Shanghai and met Huawei, ZTE, China Telecom and Alibaba, urging deeper digital and AI collaboration. Space Coding for Youth: MPTC launched the 7th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge, inviting Cambodian students to code robot missions using an ISS simulator, with beginner and intermediate categories. Water Research Partnership: MOWRAM and CDRI signed an MoU to expand water-resources R&D, linking research to policy on river basins, climate resilience, and flood/drought risk. Education Tech Links: India’s Embassy and Samdech Preah Mahasangharajah Bour Kry University agreed to set up a tele-conference facility and modernize the electrical engineering lab. Early Literacy Monitoring: A classroom pilot in 120 Grade 2 Khmer lessons across 8 provinces used monitoring and textbook analysis to support Cambodia’s Early Grade Learning scale-up. Public Health: A landmark study found smoking among Cambodian men is strongly tied to poverty, limited education, manual/agricultural work and alcohol use. Trade & Industry: Cambodia’s trade with ASEAN and the EU hit $13.3B in H1 2026, while large-scale industrial factories rose 25% by June as manufacturing shifts toward higher value. Digital Safety Warning: The Philippines’ DMW warned Filipinos not to accept job offers tied to Cambodia-based online scam hubs, with 51 detained and 32 sheltered as authorities sort victims from participants. Aviation Upgrade: Air Cambodia ordered 20 Comac C909 regional jets and signed civil aviation cooperation with COMAC, including tech transfer and training.