A deal cut by Cambodia’s feuding parties to form a government after a year-long power struggle will create a bloated political elite that threatens a new wave of infighting, analysts say. A slew of new top-ranking posts and a ministry were announced under a power-sharing agreement struck Friday to end a stalemate between long-serving Prime…
Read moreDespite year of drama, Cambodia’s political scene flips back to square one
After a year of drama and intrigue, a coalition deal snared at the weekend allows Cambodia’s politicians to get back to work but the power balance has barely changed, diplomats and analysts say. A deal between Prime Minister Hun Sen and his coalition partner in two previous administrations, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, was snared Friday, finally…
Read moreCambodia’s dangerous roads exact a heavy toll as fatalities soar
Cambodia’s traffic fatality rate is double the Southeast Asian average and as more vehicles squeeze onto the kingdom’s roads, deaths are expected to soar still further, experts say. Large numbers of motorcycles jostling with creaking agricultural vehicles, cars smuggled from Thailand with steering wheels on the "wrong side", and huge trucks on a rapidly developing…
Read moreCambodian capital fraught with danger for migrating women jobseekers
Lured by the hope of a better future, young women are flooding into the Cambodian capital, where experts note they are vulnerable to being trafficked into the sex trade or winding up on the streets. Among the many impoverished Cambodians shifting to Phnom Penh, the kingdom’s only major city, women are drawn in large numbers…
Read moreCambodia’s beach resort gambles on international tourism boom
With pristine beaches rivalling Asia’s best holiday destinations, a five-star hotel, a reopened airport and a planned golf course, Cambodia’s Sihanoukville is poised to jump into the global tourism arena. Thousands of tourists are already lured to Cambodia by the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex but few other sights attract their attention or their desperately…
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