Cambodia's first rock opera will premiere in Phnom Penh next month, a cultural milestone in the Southeast Asian country where performing arts were banned during the brutal Khmer Rouge years.

"Where Elephants Weep" is an East-meets-West blend of traditional Cambodian music and Western rock that is modeled after "Romeo and Juliet" and inspired by the Broadway musical "Rent."

Organizers say the show will open a 10-day run Nov. 28 in a converted movie theater in the capital, Phnom Penh, a year later than its planned premiere at the end of 2007.

The show was commissioned by Cambodian Living Arts, a project of the Boston nonprofit organization World Education, which seeks to revive traditional Cambodian performing arts and inspire contemporary artistic expression among Cambodians.

Charley Todd, a co-president of the arts group's governing board, said the opera had a successful preview last year in Lowell, Mass., which has a sizable community of Cambodian refugees. But producers needed extra time for fine-tuning.

The dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over an ancient temple complex continues to challenge both countries. Cambodia says Thai troops damaged an ancient temple during a recent military clash. The allegation comes after the two governments promised that negotiations to resolve a dispute will resume next month. Rory Byrne has this report from Phnom Penh.

Thailand says its troops are not responsible for damage at the Preah Vihear temple, which sits just inside Cambodia. Soldiers from the two countries clashed there almost two weeks ago.

Cambodia officials say the Thais damaged the temple with rockets.

The dispute over ownership of land leading up to the 900-year-old complex has heated up since July, when Cambodia successfully asked that it be designated a United Nations World Heritage site. On October 15, several soldiers on both sides were injured or killed when fighting erupted.

Girls as young as 14 work in brothels' around Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, and while the industry is often shown as serving predatory foreign tourists, local men have been found to be the mainstay of clients.

Thousands of children are bought and sold for sex every day in Cambodia an investigation by Al Jazeera found.

Al Jazeera filmed secretly at several brothels, and in each case found much the same thing - rooms full of young women in their early twenties, as well as teenagers.

"For my virginity they gave me $200," Ya Da, a 16-year-old former prostitute, said.

Ya Da worked in a brothel for two years before she ran away. Now, she lives in a safe house with other former prostitutes and abused children.

"There were just a few foreign customers [at the brothel]," she said. "I never slept with any, I slept only with Cambodian men."

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to introduce joint patrols in disputed areas along their border after deadly clashes between the two countries threatened to escalate into war.

 "We will introduce the joint patrol to avoid this kind of incident happening again," said Lieutenant General Wiboonsak Neeparn, Thailand's northeastern army commander, after meeting with a Cambodian counterpart.

Two Cambodian soldiers were killed and seven Thai troops injured on Wednesday when a three-month long dispute over land near the ancient Preah Vihear temple boiled over into a shootout.

Gen Wiboonsak said the atmosphere at the meeting had been good, but said that little headway was made on the deeper issues of ending the stand-off and withdrawing troops from a number of disputed border areas.

"The meeting has not made much progress, but the two sides agreed to stay where they are," he told reporters, adding that Thailand had no plans to remove any of the heavy weaponry along the border.

Gen Wiboonsak said talks between senior military officials would resume on Oct 21 in Cambodia's Siem Reap, but cautioned that more fighting was possible.