Battle of the bulge ahead in bloated new Cambodian government

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…

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Cambodia’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…

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Cambodia’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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Cambodia’s crucial garment industry braces for end to quota system

Cambodia’s crucial garment sector is bracing for the end of a 30-year-old global textile quota system in December, hoping to position itself as a labour-friendly alternative to China. The highly mobile garment manufacturing industry contributes more than 90 percent of Cambodia’s export earnings and employs an estimated 240,000 mostly female workers, making it the linchpin…

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Cambodia’s fashion designers create tropical chic

Fashion designers in Cambodia are tapping into the kingdom’s stunning fabrics, affordable workmanship and tropical inspiration, making for a vibrant although still-tiny industry. While the impoverished country is better known for its garment exports fuelled by more than 200 mass-producing factories, a handful of designers are focusing on the domestic market of moneyed Khmers, expatriates…

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Ill-prepared Cambodia grapples with mounting drug crisis

Slumped across a bag of rubbish near a busy Phnom Penh market as he awaits his first heroin hit of the day, Yim is one of a soaring number of drug addicts in Cambodia. He is the human face of a crisis threatening to unwind development progress in this war-scarred society. Wearing a long-sleeved shirt…

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Cambodia’s traditional music fuses with the West in bold album project

In a tiny Phnom Penh studio, US teenagers with musical backgrounds ranging from jazz to punk are collaborating with traditionally trained Cambodian musicians on a unique project. The four Americans, after studying traditional Khmer instruments for several months here, hatched a plan to record an album with their teachers and friends, blending Western and Khmer…

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