Cambodia's Defense Ministry says a huge explosion at a military base in the southwest that killed 20 soldiers and injured many others was an accident caused by a “technical issue” from the old and degraded ammunition that was being moved.

The son of longtime autocratic Cambodian leader Hun Sen has been approved as the country’s new prime minister, part of a change in top positions in the Southeast Asian nation.

A Cambodian court has convicted a Cambodian-American lawyer and dozens of members of a now-dissolved opposition party on charges of treason.

Cambodians are voting in local elections that are their first chance to go to the polls since the ruling party of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen swept a 2018 general election that was widely criticized as unfair.

Cambodian security forces have briefly detained a Cambodian-American lawyer who is a prominent rights activist as she walked barefoot near the prime minister’s residence in the capital of Phnom Penh.

Theary Seng, center, a Cambodian-American lawyer gestures as she enters the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. Theary Seng, who has long been one of the most outspoken critics of Hun Sen and his government, is one of the best known defendants living in Cambodia. Hun Sen has been in power for 35 years and has often been accused of heading an authoritarian regime. On Wednesday, the U.N. human rights expert on Cambodia expressed serious concerns about the trial. “The mass trials of CNRP activists appear to be politically motivated, lacking clear legal grounds and constitute a serious violation of the due process rights, firmly established by international human rights law,” said Rhona Smith.