US Secretary of State John Kerry starts his two-day visit to Cambodia today with the objective of further strengthening bilateral relations. Mr. Kerry will meet Prime Minister Hun Sen, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, and informally exchange views with leaders from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party and representatives of civil society.

Cambodian police on Monday fired smoke canisters to break up an anti-government demonstration calling for a license to be issued for an opposition TV channel. At least eight people were injured. Several hundred people gathered in the capital to press demand for a government critic to be allowed a TV license.

Belying his hard-earned reputation as his country's strongman, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said years ago that his prowess in overcoming adversaries did not lie in his strength, but in their weakness. Hun Sen, 61, has ruled Cambodia for close to 30 years, but now he faces the first real test of his strength in a decade and a half.

Tens of thousands of antigovernment demonstrators marched through Phnom Penh on Sunday in one of the biggest acts of defiance against the nearly three decades of rule by Cambodia’s authoritarian prime minister, Hun Sen. The procession, which was peaceful and stretched for several miles through a commercial district of Phnom Penh, the capital, brought together protesters with a diverse list of grievances: Buddhist monks, garment workers, farmers and supporters of the main opposition party.

In the largest demonstration since the disputed July elections, hundreds of thousands of Cambodia's opposition party supporters marched through the streets of the capital Phnom Penh on Sunday calling for Prime Minister Hun to step down and to announce new polls.