BELGIUM’S politicians were getting down to the business of trying to form a government last night, ending a world record-breaking spell in a political vacuum.

THE top four surviving members of the brutal Khmer Rouge went on trial yesterday before a tribunal aimed at finding justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia’s “Killing Fields” of the 1970s.

Thai and Cambodian troops have broken a brief ceasefire in new clashes which left one Thai solider dead.

Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia spread to a third temple today as they exchanged artillery fire in border clashes that have turned 50,000 villagers into refugees.

THAI and Cambodian troops clashed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades yesterday after a nearly full-day break in fighting that has killed at least 12 people in four days and sent nearly 50,000 into evacuation centres.

THAI and Cambodian troops clashed for a third straight day yesterday over their disputed border, with gunfire and explosions echoing through mountainous jungle for several hours despite a call for a ceasefire by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

Renewed fighting between Cambodian and Thai troops along the countries’ disputed border killed a Thai soldier today and sent thousands of people fleeing before military commanders agreed on the second ceasefire in two days.

A STAMPEDE in the Cambodian capital has left more than 340 people dead and hundreds injured after panic erupted at a water festival that had attracted millions of revellers.

Cambodia will not allow the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal to prosecute former low-ranking officers of the genocidal regime because it would endanger national peace, the country’s leader told the UN chief today.

Cambodia’s genocide tribunal today indicted the four top surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths in the 1970s, paving the way for the panel’s long-awaited second trial next year.

Britain’s annual road deaths tally is the lowest out of 33 countries surveyed by an international transport watchdog which has declared the last 10 years “a record decade for road safety”.

Cambodia has forcibly sent a group of 20 Muslim asylum-seekers back to China, despite protests from the UN, whose staff intervened to try to prevent the expulsions.

Thailand’s fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Cambodia today following his appointment as economic adviser to the government, fuelling tensions between the neighbouring countries.

Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has thanked Cambodia for appointing him as an economic adviser but tweeted that it “won’t be as fun” as doing the job in his native country.

Malaysia is considering a mediation role in the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia that has killed two soldiers and led to fears of outright war.

A gunfight broke out between Thai and Cambodian troops at a disputed border zone today, escalating a conflict that officials from both sides fear could result in a war between the neighbours.

A Thai air force official says Thailand has put jet fighters and C-130 aircraft on standby as war rhetoric heated up with Cambodia in a tense border dispute.

Cambodia’s prime minister issued an ultimatum to Thailand to withdraw troops from a disputed border area today or face a “life-and-death battle zone”.

Cambodia is seeking regional intervention in its territorial dispute with Thailand after talks between the two neighbours failed to end a military stand-off around an ancient cliff-side temple.

Soldiers from Cambodia and Thailand came close to opening fire on each other today in a border confrontation over land surrounding an ancient temple.

THE former Khmer Rouge foreign minister is so ill that staying in jail could kill him, his lawyers said yesterday as they argued for his release from detention at Cambodia’s UN genocide court.

Asian countries today proposed forming an OPEC-style group to gain control over spiralling rice prices.

The Vietnamese prime minister will today sign a tax pact with the Irish Government during a two-day official visit.

Cambodian police blocked American actress Mia Farrow from holding a rally at a former Khmer Rouge prison today, pushing her group away from a barricade as they tried to lay flowers to commemorate victims of genocide.

Burma’s ruling military junta must release detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi if it is serious about making the democratic reforms demanded by the international community, a UN envoy said today.

The UN-backed genocide tribunal in Cambodia arrested the former Khmer Rouge head of state today following his release from a hospital, officials said.

One of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge leaders was brought before a UN-backed genocide tribunal today.

Cambodian police detained the ex-foreign minister of the brutal 1970s Khmer Rouge regime and his wife and took them to a UN-backed genocide tribunal to face charges.

Nuon Chea, the top surviving leader of Cambodia’s notorious Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, was charged today with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

A notorious Khmer Rouge prison chief is facing questioning at the Cambodian genocide tribunal headquarters today.

Prosecutors for an international tribunal reviewing genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s submitted a list yesterday of former top Khmer Rouge leaders they say should stand trial.

A passenger plane flying between two popular tourist destinations in Cambodia has crashed today, with at least 27 people on board feared killed, an aviation officials said.

Some 1.5 million children aged 7 to 17 years old are being put to work in Cambodia, the World Bank said today, calling on the government to curb the practice.

Cambodia’s royalist party today voted to remove prince Norodom Ranariddh as its leader, saying he was unable to lead the fractious party because he is out of the country too often.

IN recent years Cambodia has developed a thriving tourist industry which draws thousands of visitors to its temples, particularly the vast Angkor complex.

A British girl and two Irish youngsters are recovering tonight after a terrifying armed school siege in Cambodia in which a fellow kindergarten pupil was killed, officials confirmed.

Cambodia’s government has said it was not being negligent in defending against terrorism, after a UN official warned the country could become a breeding ground for terrorists unless it gets international help quickly.

CAMBODIA’S King Norodom Sihanouk declared yesterday that his son, Prince Norodom Sihamoni, is ready to accept the crown to resolve a political crisis triggered last week when the 81-year-old monarch announced he would abdicate.

Glamrocker Gary Glitter is living in an opulent river front mansion in Cambodia’s capital despite being on a list of suspected paedophiles banned from entering the country, it was reported today.

A 27-year-old man whose family kept chickens in Vietnam died today, becoming Asia’s 19th bird flu fatality, while Malaysian authorities quarantined a pet-store owner on fears he may also have caught the virus striking the region’s poultry.

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is funding a programme to donate cows to poverty-stricken Cambodian farmers.

Cambodia and the United Nations signed an agreement today to hold a genocide trial for former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, whose brutal rule claimed about 1.7 million lives.

Cambodia charged three Muslim foreigners today with being members of the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.