The Third Annual Hallowbaloo Music + Arts Festival promises to be the biggest ever as it converts the downtown arts district into a big costume party on Saturday, Oct.

Ritual dancers perform at the peak of the sacred Preah Vihear. Photo supplied by Nginn Karet Foundation A T 4am on a Tuesday last month, two police cars escorting the two buses bound for Preah Vihear arrived at the Nginn Karet Foundation for Cambodia office in Siem Reap to pick us up.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen look set to hold talks later this month to build on the improving ties between the two countries.

Sculptor Blake with some sculptures from his Fragments series. H OTEL de la Paix's Arts Lounge is going international, and the artist known as "Blake" is coming, in what is an art-world first for Asia, let alone Siem Reap.

Sim Loeuth, aka Louis, a 43-year-old Cambodian national deported from Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, talks to reporters outside the gates of the immigration police offices after arriving across the street at Phnom Penh International Airport yesterday.

A former resident of Phnom Penha s Dey Krahorm community carries her sick child past the shack where she now lives at a relocation site in Kandal provincea s Ponhea Leu district.

Thach Le prays after his hearing at Takeo provincial court earlier this week. T HIS week's conviction of four men for distributing anti-government leaflets in Takeo province may have come at the behest of the Vietnamese government, an opposition lawmaker said yesterday.

OCAL rights groups plan to meet with European Union officials this week to warn that an EU scheme aimed at fostering trade from developing countries might be fuelling evictions in the Kingdom.

AMBODIA Television Network says it is raising money to construct concrete bunkers for troops stationed along the Thai border as part of a controversial programme in which private businesses provide charitable support to the military.

AMBODIA has seen over 13 percent more tourists during the first seven months of this year, becoming one of five ASEAN countries to see an increase in 2010, according to a Ministry of Tourism report.

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Thursday that he has quit his advisory posts for the Cambodian government and Cambodian prime minister out of annoyance.

OUTH Korean garment industry investors are eager to leave behind higher labour costs in China, but plans to set up shop in the Kingdom are hindered by a lack of information, officials visiting Phnom Penh said yesterday.

NDUSTRY experts from around the world said yesterday that a proposed 555-metre tower on Phnom Penh's Koh Pich was technically possible, but raised questions about the economics of the plan.

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at the National Institute of Education yesterday. P RIME Minister Hun Sen chided the Thai government yesterday for its inaction in resolving an ongoing border dispute with Cambodia, taking up a familiar rhetorical pose in remarks before a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh.

HE Kingdoma s newly formed Anticorruption Unit potentially faces a busy start, as two local organisations are preparing to file more than 50 corruption complaints to the body this month.

HREE Cambodian men were assaulted at a market in Thailand after a confrontation with market security guards, Cambodian officials said.

Nguon Re, 32 , and Kim Sinoun, 20 , say they fled a Phnom Penh training centre last month because of poor conditions.

Om Yentieng, head of the government's newly established Anticorruption Unit, presides over a swearing-in ceremony for ACU officials at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh yesterday.

A farmer in Kampong Cham provides feed for his cattle. A N Australian aid programme designed to improve economic circumstances and prospects for subsistence farmers in Kampong Cham province has been so successful that other farmers throughout Cambodia are beginning to implement its key element: growing fodder crops to feed their cattle.

A poultry farmer feeds his chickens in Koh Kong province's Sre Ambel district. Koh Kong province I N a small village in Koh Kong province, poultry farmer Keo Sok is learning that healthy practices can be good for business.