Cambodian PM's message opens new academic year for 2009-2010

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urged all the students to love themselves and their parents, as well as distance themselves from drug-related chemical materials, official news agency AKP reported on Thursday.

The premier made the remarks in a message sent to the students across the country on the new school-year 2009-2010 starting today.

On behalf of the royal government, he said, he was pleased with the countrymen, teachers, educational staff and students to celebrate the new school-year 2009-2010 in the whole country.

However, he said, the challenge faced by the education field in the country is the balance between the strengthening of the quality and the widening of the quantity.

In order to get to the planning of the national education in 2015 and the planning of educational strategy, and respond to the implementation of the child rights, Hun Sen said, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports should pay not only attention to implicating Article 68 of the Cambodian Constitution and educational law, but also motivated the local and international communities to join the development of education in the country.

The premier said for the new academic year, the royal government will made a further effort to implement the child rights to draw the parties involved, mainly students' parents to form a studying environment in a comfortable way.

In his message, he also raised a Teacher Day to be held on Oct.5, asking students to adhere to the gratitude to those who educated them, which is a good tradition for a long time.

Opposition Amendments to Penal Law Denied

The National Assembly voted against amendments to a new penal code that opposition proponents said would increase freedom of expression and improve justice and democracy.

Eighty-three of 101 lawmakers present voted against the amendments, to 43 of 672 different articles, in an Assembly heavily dominated by the Cambodian People’s Party.

The penal code, drafted with the help of the French government, seeks to update a combination of 1995 laws, tradition, the constitution and principles of international law.

Yim Sovann, a Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker who supported the changes, told the Assembly session: “The amendments aim to open the possibility of pulling some articles that affect the rights and freedoms of expression for people, and to provide a clear definition of each offense, because we worry there are some negative points in the draft of the penal code.”

He later said he regretted the amendments were not approved, but he hoped the president of the Assembly, Heng Samrin, would allow a full-session debate.

Sam Rainsy Party officials said certain articles in the draft law tighten the freedom of expression and public assembly, while allowing for complaints of defamation and insult that are open for abuse.

Cheam Yiep, head of the Assembly’s finance commission, told the session the amendment requests were “illegal.”

“The amendment requests contradict the internal rules of the National Assembly,” he said.

Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vatana told the session the penal code was written “to serve human rights.”

“Nothing we did is to pressure or close human rights,” he said.

Some human rights organizations have said the penal code’s negative points can be corrected during Assembly debate.

Source: VOA

Strong Indonesia quake kills hundreds, traps more

PADANG, Indonesia – A powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia trapped thousands of people under collapsed buildings — including hospitals, a hotel and a classroom, officials said. At least 200 bodies were found in one coastal city and the toll was expected to be far higher.

The temblor Wednesday started fires, severed roads and cut off power and communications to Padang, a coastal city of 900,000 on Sumatra island. Thousands fled in panic, fearing a tsunami. It was felt hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in Malaysia and Singapore, causing buildings there to sway.

The undersea quake of 7.6 magnitude was followed by a powerful, shallow inland earthquake on Thursday morning with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It hit about 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Padang at a depth of just under 20 miles (24 kilometers).

Shallow, inland earthquakes generally are more destructive. There were reports that the second quake badly damaged dozens of additional buildings.

In Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, the shaking was so intense from Wednesday's temblor that people crouched or sat on the street to avoid falling. Children screamed as an exodus of thousands of frantic residents fled the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.

At least 500 buildings in Padang collapsed or were badly damaged, said Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono, adding that 200 bodies had been pulled from the rubble there. The extent of damage in surrounding areas was still unclear due to poor communications. Indonesia, a poor, sprawling nation with limited resources, was cobbling together an emergency aid response, and the government was preparing for the possibility of thousands of deaths. Read more...........

Source: Yahoo News

Asia typhoon toll 350, floods in Vietnam, Cambodia

HOI AN, Vietnam (Reuters) – Floods and landslides were expected to hit Vietnam and nearby nations on Thursday after a typhoon cut a destructive path through South East Asia, killing nearly 350 people.

State media in Vietnam said 85 people had died and 12 were missing after typhoon Ketsana swept through the country late on Tuesday. The government initially estimated damages in five of 12 affected provinces at more than $120 million.

Eleven people died in Cambodia and the Philippines where the typhoon first struck last weekend, with 246 reported deaths. Thailand was sending troops to provide humanitarian assistance in anticipation of floods.

River waters in Vietnam's eight coastal and central highland provinces were receding on Thursday, but the national weather bureau warned of more flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas and high waters in low-lying areas.

Military rescue teams rushed medicine, food and blankets to flood victims and in several areas people were airlifted from marooned houses, a Reuters witness said.

Floodwaters submerged many old houses in Hoi An city, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Transport was restricted to boats.

The region hit by Ketsana lies far north of Vietnam's Mekong Delta rice basket. Farmers in Vietnam, the world's largest robusta coffee producer, struggled to dry beans after heavy rains battered the country's growing area, raising quality concern.

Ketsana damaged 740 hectares of rubber and coffee in Daklak, Vietnam's top coffee-growing province where 180,000 hectares of coffee has been planted, a government report said.

U.S. hosts regional meeting in Cambodia on energy development

The United States Embassy in Phnom Penh on Tuesday hosted a two-day conference in Cambodia on energy development in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

In the opening speech, U.S. Ambassador Carol A. Rodley said "the challenges facing the GMS in the energy sector are not unique: high economic growth of the region is driving the demand for energy whereas almost 50 million people in the GMS lack access to electricity."

"Under this GMS Economic Cooperation program, development of the energy sector in one country will be able to benefit the development of all countries through the most efficient use of the natural resources within the region," she added.

Participants for the forum are the representatives from some of the world's most well-known publicly traded American companies such as Chevron, GE, AES, Shlumberger, Conoco Phillips, Dupont, and Rockwell Automation as well as scores of other American, Cambodian, Thai, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian, Chinese, and other companies that are interested to contribute to the development of the GMS energy sector.

The two-day conference includes speakers from the public and private sectors in the United States, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Conference topics will range from understanding energy policies and opportunities in member countries to a case study of energy trading in relationship to the expanding GMS market.

The Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation (GMS-EC) program is a regional effort among the countries of the Mekong river basin including Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, to develop energy infrastructure with the goal of expanding trade and growth in the region.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement that "steady supplies of energy will be a critical element of future GMS trade and growth."

The GMS-EC program envisions regional production and distribution of energy, creating new opportunities for energy related technology producers, distributors, and traders.

Priorities of the GMS-EC Program include cooperation on developing energy, transportation, telecommunications, tourism, environment, and human resources for expanded business opportunities.

An Asian Development Bank (ADB) evaluation of the GMS Energy Program found that investor confidence in undertaking regional power export projects has risen strongly due to greater regional integration.

Source: Xinhua

Typhoon kills nearly 50 in Vietnam, Cambodia

HOI AN, Vietnam (AFP) – Typhoon Ketsana left a trail of destruction across Southeast Asia Wednesday, killing at least 49 people in Vietnam and Cambodia and churning towards Laos, officials said.

Tens of thousands of people had fled their homes to escape flooding caused by Ketsana, which had already killed 246 when it struck the Philippines over the weekend as a weaker tropical storm. Related article: Philippines destruction

Floodwaters hit swathes of Vietnam including ancient UN World Heritage sites, and aid workers across the region were trying to evacuate stranded people and get supplies to other survivors.

The death toll in Vietnam rose overnight to at least 38 people with another 10 people missing, and could climb higher, said an official from the flood and storm control committee in the central Vietnam city of Danang.

Ketsana made landfall in Vietnam on Tuesday afternoon and weakened in the night to become a tropical depression which had reached the border of Laos early Wednesday, an official from the national storm centre in Hanoi told AFP.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Laos, a government spokesman there said, but Cambodian police and government officials said at least 11 had died in that country's northeastern and central regions.

"At least nine people were crushed last night when their houses fell down," said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in central Kampong Thom province.

Chea Cheat added that at least 78 houses in his province were destroyed Tuesday evening and that heavy rain and rising floods were continuing.

International organisations and government officials in Cambodia said they were distributing tents and food while assessing damage across at least five of the country's provinces.

Central Vietnam bore the brunt of the typhoon's impact, with the country's flood and storm control committee saying that 168,585 people in six coastal provinces had been evacuated. Many areas were without power.

In Vietnam, the ancient town of Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage site close to the South China Sea, was flooded Wednesday morning, AFP reporters observed.

On Tuesday flooding hit parts of Danang as well as Hue, the former capital and another World Heritage site, where residents used small wooden and steel boats to move around.

State-run Vietnam News carried a front-page photograph of houses almost submerged by brown floodwaters in Kon Tum province. Flooding also struck 20,000 hectares (about 50,000 acres) of agricultural land, the storm committee said.

Military helicopters may join the rescue effort, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said late Tuesday.

"We will focus on rescuing those who are isolated," particularly in Kon Tum and Quang Ngai provinces, he said. "We have to immediately evacuate households on the banks of three rivers and areas that may suffer from landslides."

An update on the rescue effort was not immediately available Wednesday.

"We want the defence ministry to send armoured vehicles or trucks that can go in water to help people because we don't have enough boats," the chairman of the People's Committee in Kon Tum said Tuesday night.

"Several people are now sitting on the top of their house or on the top of trees. We cannot reach them."

Vietnam suffers annually from tropical storms and typhoons. At least 41 people died in September 2008 when Typhoon Hagupit struck the country's north.

Source: AP

Thai PM Comments on Hun Sen's Harsh Reaction on Preah Vihear Conflict

The Prime Minister says the harsh statement by Cambodia's Prime Minister is a normal reaction, while the deputy prime minister in charge of national security believes the news may have been distorted.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva deems the harsh statement by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is a usual reaction. The PM's comment followed Hun Sen apparent threat that Thai intruders would be shot if they entered the disputed Thai-Cambodia common border area.
The PM further said that Thailand should not be concerned about this, as we have to reserve our country's rights as well. He insisted that Cambodia does not hold rights over Thailand, and the government will continue to proceed with peaceful means regarding this matter.

The PM said there is no need to send the deputy prime minister in charge of national security, Suthep Thaugsuban, to negotiate with Hun Sen. Abhisit added that he is confident that Hun Sen will attend the 15th ASEAN Summit in October.

Meanwhile, Suthep said he is not yet aware of the facts regarding the matter. However, he believes the news may have been distorted and that the Cambodian PM did not intend to make such a comment. Suthep added that the facts should first be confirmed by intelligence and the Foreign Minister before further assumptions are made. He added that the government's policy does not include violence, and it will not give up on protecting the nation's land.

Some have said that Hun Sen's remark may have been grounded by a close relationship with fugitive ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In response, Suthep has stated that Hun Sen is a professional politician, so he would not link his personal issues to his political movements.

Source: Thai-Asean News Network

PREAH VIHEAR CONTROVERSY -Four square km land belongs to Cambodia : Hun Sen

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said with strong words that Cambodia and Thailand do not have overlapping land of 4.6 square km near 11th century Khmer Preah Vihear temple.

"That area is Cambodian soil," Hun Sen said at a opening ceremony of the new Tourism Ministry building in Phnom Penh downtown.
"Thailand is using their own map which was drawn unilaterally to take land from Cambodia such as 4.6 km square near Preah Vihear Temple," Xinhua quoted Hun Sen as saying.
Hun Sen had said that Thai "yellow T-shirt" protesters rallied at the area near Preah Vihear temple to demand Cambodian troops and villagers to move out from the land of 4.6 square km near the temple. "They are extremists and have ambitions," he said.
State-run Xinhua said Hun Sen warned that he has told his military commander that if the Thai "yellow T-shirt" protesters forced their way into the area, Cambodian troops could use force.
He said he has ordered his troops to shoot anyone found illegally crossing a disputed border with Thailand.
His remarks came a little over a week after Thai protesters rallied at the site near the Preah Vihear temple, where seven soldiers were killed when tensions flared last year.
"If they enter again, they will be shot," Hun Sen told officials.
"Troops, police and all armed forces must adhere to the order ... for invaders, shields are not used but bullets are used," the said in the speech at the opening ceremony for Cambodia's new Ministry of Tourism building.
The Prime Minister also rejected the declaration by Thai leaders that the road Cambodia built to Preah Vihear temple is joint sharing for using. "This road was built on Cambodian soil and it did not have joint share with Thai side. I am so sorry for your comment," he said, adding "you have confused the matter of this street."
However, Hun Sen stressed that even though "we will not avoid to use force, our stance is still to deal with the issues with peaceful way, Cambodia does not need war."
Cambodian and Thai troops have confronted each other since July 15, 2008 at the areas near Khmer Preah Vihear temple after Cambodia registered the temple as the World Heritage Site in July 7, 2008.

Capreol woman collecting money to help Cambodia's poor

A Greater Sudbury woman will hold a pair of events in early October to help raise funds for a school for children, including many orphans, in a small Cambodian village.
Tammy Durand will first hold a licenced dance entitled Crank it Up in Cape-Town in the Capreol Arena upstairs hall on Saturday, Oct. 3. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.
"I have 150 (tickets) sold so far," said the Capreol native. "It's going to be good. It can hold a maximum 275 people."
Advance tickets can be purchased at the Northern Credit Union Capreol branch, Joan's Variety and Ace Hardware.
On Monday, Oct. 5, Durand plans to bicycle to Toronto via North Bay, taking Highway 11 and many back roads, to both collect money for and raise awareness about her campaign.
"I'm going to take four nights to do it," she said. "My rationale is the promotion of this. It's a 509-kilometre trip. Children would walk that in 40 days if there was a food bank at the other end. Awareness is a big thing, too. I've had 31 years of living in a bubble."
The proceeds from the fundraisers will go to Durand's "ABCs and Rice Campaign" in aid of the Supporting the Orphans and Indigent People of Cambodia for Development (SOID).
Durand met the man behind SOID, a former monk named Sok Vana, while visiting Cambodia as part of a tourist group in June. She was taking a much-needed vacation after 10 years of working in the transportation field.
SOID runs an orphanage, as well as a free school for the impoverished children of Veal, a small village near Siem Reap, a city located northwest of the capital of Phnom Penh.
"If you have seen Foster Parents Plan or World Vision commercials, that's exactly what it is -- except it means so much more when you are there," she said.
Families of students at the school are given a ration of rice each month, while students get a nourishing meal each morning, five days a week.

There is a first TypeA/H1N1- Death Case in Cambodia

A Cambodian Woman, Mrs.Eng Heng, 41 years, had died in Calmetre Hospital on Sunday, 27 September, 2009 in the afternoon. This is the first death case of Type A/H1N1 in Cambodia. The Preminister, Samdach Hun Sen has called today to all Cambodian people to pay high attention to this virus.

Notice from the Govement to prevent in advance about the storm

Swine flu kills three more in Vietnam

Vietnam reported three more influenza A deaths late Friday, raising the H1N1-related casualties in the country to 14, including one just a day earlier.

The two deaths reported by the HCMC Health Department were a 13-year-old from the Mekong Delta province of Long An and a 49-year-old Australian. The child, who was overweight and also had kidney failure, died from a lung infection caused by the H1N1 virus while the Australian died from severe respiration failure.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Ministry of Health reported another death in the Central Highlands’ Dak Lak Province, where a 23-year-old pregnant woman died from pneumonia caused by the virus.
Vietnam reported 175 new cases of swine flu on Friday, raising the country’s tally to 8,014 since the end of May, with 6,495 discharged from hospitals in good health.
Fourteen have died of the flu, with the first two cases in August and 12 this month alone.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff

Telecoms told to abide by limits on promotions

Mobile phone operators cannot offer customers bonuses worth more than 50 percent of a prepaid card’s value, a senior official has said.

The statement comes as the government tightens control over sales promotions.
Do Thang Hai, head of Trade Promotion Agency at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said Vietnam’s Trade Law stipulates that a bonus offered by businesses cannot exceed 50 percent of the value of the product they are selling, which means local telecom companies have violated the law in the huge promotions they have offered so far.
The agency has warned telecom firms against violating the regulation and asked them to stop all illegitimate sales promotions in October, Hai said in an interview with local newswire VnExpress Friday.
The intense competition between seven telecom firms offering mobile phone services in the country has threatened to get out of hand with some companies even offering a complementary 200 percent of the value of a prepaid card to attract subscribers. Between 5,000-8,000 new mobile phone subscribers are signed up every day, according to the VnExpress newswire.
“It’s hard to know when the competition will end as a company always tries to do better than its rivals,” a manager at Vinaphone said, according to VnExpress.
“The number of mobile phone subscribers has grown really fast in Vietnam, but not in a stable manner,” the Vietnam Economic Times quoted Hai as saying Friday. “Many people just want to enjoy the huge promotions, and then they throw the SIM cards away.”
“In other countries telecom companies focus on postpaid subscribers because they are the real active phone users. But it’s not the case in Vietnam.”
The Ministry of Information and Communications said last Wednesday that mobile phone users account for 87.9 percent of Vietnam’s 110 million phone subcribers.
According to a regulation that took effect on August 10, each person is allowed to subscribe to three numbers per mobile network. This means a person in Vietnam can register a maximum of 21 numbers with the seven service providers.

Source: Thanh Nien

Cambodia to send 42 peacekeeping forces to Central African Republic and Chad: officials

Cambodia will dispatch 42 peacekeeping forces to Central African Republic and Chad under the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, the local media said on Sunday. "Our forces will depart for these countries in November after Prime Minister agreed to send our soldiers," DAP News quoted Nhim Savat, director general for general department of politics and international relations of Ministry of National Defense, as saying. "And in earlier mid-2010, we will send other 80 armed forces of light engineering Unit for the two countries under the U.N. peacekeeping mission," he added. Cambodia and the U.N. have already signed on MOU of deploying the peacekeeping armed forces in Chad and Central African Republic," he said. "The UN side will not send their monitors to train our armed forces for this time after they have confidence in the abilities and capacities of forces training and our experiences in previous times," said Sem Sovanny, director general of the national center for peacekeeping forces management, mine clearance, unexploded ordnance waste of post war. "Five senior military officials from National Defense Ministry will also accompany our Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to these countries," Sem said. Cambodia is used to take part in joint military exercises in several countries, such as Indonesia, Mongolia, Bangladesh, and also Sudan's de-mining activities under the U.N. peacekeeping mission. Cambodia will also host the military exercise which is to be supported by the United States under a program titled "Global Peace Operations Initiative or GPOI" which will take place in June or July in 2010.

Source: Xinhua

Three new Vietnam-Cambodia border gates to be opened

Vietnam and Cambodia will open three new border gates by early next month to facilitate increasing passenger and freight traffic between the two countries, Cambodian spokesperson Phan Siphan said Sunday.

Two of the three new border gates will be in An Giang Province and the other in Tay Ninh.
According to Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, trade between the two countries reached US$1.7 billion last year, up $400 million from 2007.
Vietnam said in July it plans to implement hydropower, tourism, agriculture and forestry projects in the 10 provinces bordering Cambodia through 2020. The 10 border provinces have a population of 12.65 million, the government said.

Source: VNA