DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “China, Russia launch joint monitoring over cross-border water quality” plus 9 more

HARBIN, Feb. 25 -- China and Russia Friday started a new round of joint monitoring over the water quality of four cross-border rivers and one cross-border lake.

Twelve Chinese environmental experts and five Russian experts took water samples from a section of the ice-covered Heilongjiang River, or Amur River, in Heihe City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The samples will be tested for 40 types of pollutants, said Sheng Shuzhong, deputy director of the city environmental protection bureau in Heihe.

The experts are also scheduled to take water samples in May, June and August this year.

The five-year joint monitoring operation also covers the Wusuli River, Ergune River, Suifen River and Xingkai Lake.

The two countries launched a four-year joint water-quality monitoring of the boundary waters in 2007 following a chemical spill into the Songhua River, a major tributary of the Heilongjiang River, in northeast China in late 2005.

"The joint monitoring showed the water quality in the cross-border waters has improved markedly," said Sun Qingmin, a deputy inspector of the Heilongjiang Provincial Bureau of Environmental Protection.(Xinhua/sp)

KIEV, Feb. 25 -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made an official visit to Ukraine on Thursday in an attempt to persuade Ukraine into participating in a European anti-missile system.

Although both sides agreed to set up an expert group to assess the issue, analysts said this was only a delaying tactic adopted by Kiev and whether Ukraine joined the system would completely depend on Russia.

NATO INVITATION

NATO invited Russia and Ukraine to be part of its missile shield in Europe in November 2010 at the NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal.

Before traveling to Kiev, Rasmussen told reporters that he hoped to reach consensus with Ukraine on this issue. After his talks with Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych, Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryschenko, Rasmussen told reporters in Kiev that Ukraine was interested in the European anti-missile system.

He said the European anti-missile system was still in its infancy. "We have not yet completed the final design of the architecture, and we are at the initial stage of this process. Only two or three months have passed after NATO decided to develop a system on the basis of NATO," he said.

Recalling that Russia has also been invited to cooperate in this project, he stressed the future architecture of the anti-missile system would depend on contributions of Ukraine and other partners.

Yanukovych took office in February last year and completely discarded the bid of former President Viktor Yushchenko to join NATO. The parliament has passed a law, ruling out the possibility of the nation joining NATO and declaring the country's non-aligned status.

But Ukraine does not refuse to cooperate with NATO in order to maintain normal relations with the United States and Europe, attract more foreign investments and have a say in European affairs.

Analysts said there was a huge gap between "willingness to join NATO" and "willingness to cooperate with NATO." Ukraine now wants to work with NATO within the existing framework, but it is not interested in raising bilateral relations to a new level.

As it is still unclear how to build the anti-missile system in Europe and Russia's stance on this issue is unknown, Ukraine has to take a wait-and-see stance, analysts said.

NOTHING NEW

Rasmussen and Yanukovych talked for more than two hours instead of the planned 30 minutes. After the meeting, Yunukovych told the press that Ukraine was willing to strengthen effective cooperation with NATO under the existing mechanisms. He welcomed NATO's bid to make bilateral partnership more specific and results-oriented.

Yanukovych said Ukraine pays great attention to NATO's reforms under the new situation. "Ukraine regarded participation in creating a new European collective security system as its obligation," he said.

Analysts noted that the collective security system in Yanukovych's words is different from NATO's plan.

Ukraine believes that the new European collective security system should include all European countries in the principle of equality and security of every country in the region. In fact, Ukraine's stance is identical with Russia's plan to construct a new European security architecture.

Although aware of that Ukraine has lost its enthusiasm to join NATO, Rasmussen stressed that NATO respected Kiev's non-aligned position, but NATO's door remained open to all democratic countries.

He pledged to continue to help Ukraine in its military reforms and its integration into the European Union, calling on Kiev to take an active role in combating terrorism, piracy, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other transnational crimes. He also asked Ukraine to send more military instructors to Afghanistan.

Experts pointed out nothing new really happened during Rasmussen's visit to Ukraine and that the main issues concerning NATO were not responded by the Ukrainian side positively.

RUSSIAN ATTITUDE IS ESSENTIAL

Ukraine's foreign policy underwent a profound adjustment after Yanukovych took office. To enhance good ties with Russia became a key priority of Ukraine's diplomacy.

Kiev is, of course, willing to develop relations with the European Union, the United States and NATO to pursue maximization of national interests, but at a premise -- no damage to relations with Russia.

After the Lisbon summit, Moscow found that NATO's plan on the anti-missile system in Europe was deviating from Russia's expectations.

During his meeting with Russia's permanent representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, President Dmitry Medvedev warned of a new arms race if it was not given an equal say in creating the missile shield for Europe.

In fact, the alliance plans to create separate but coordinated Russian and NATO missile defense systems, but the Kremlin seeks an integrated European missile shield.

Experts believed it was very difficult for NATO and Russia to reach a compromise on this issue due to each side's concerns on safeguarding its own strategic interests. Ukraine is acutely aware of its own situation in the squeeze, so the best choice is to keep its attitude ambiguous, analysts said.(Xinhua/sp)

BRUSSELS, Feb. 25 -- NATO will convene an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss unfolding situations in Libya.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who is in Hungary to attend an informal meeting of EU defense ministers, called for an emergency session on Libya.

"The situation in Libya is of great concern. NATO can act as an enabler and coordinator if and when member states will take action," he said in Godollo, a town near Budapest.

But any intervention must be based on a United Nations mandate, he added.

The UN Security Council will also meet Friday in New York to mull possible actions against Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi's regime.

Many nations continued their efforts on Friday to evacuate their citizens from the North African country, as Gaddafi loyalties engaged in fierce fight with opposition forces.(Xinhua/sp)

VIENNA, Feb. 25  -- The daily oil price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) jumped 5.13 dollars, breaching 110 U.S. dollars a barrel, the Vienna-based cartel said on Friday.

OPEC's benchmark basket of 12 crude oils stood at 111.01 U.S. dollars a barrel on Thursday, a sharp increase compared with 105.88 dollars the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

With the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, OPEC daily price was driven above 100 U.S. dollars per barrel on Monday and continued jumping as investors are increasingly worried about the interruption of oil supply from the oil-rich region.(Xinhua/sp)

MANILA, Feb. 25  -- Some 134 Filipinos are now out of Libya and on their way home while 13,000 more will be repatriated in light of escalating tensions in the North African state, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday.

Around 300 Filipino workers were also evacuated to a safe area in Tripoli from Brega, Jalo and the Zahara Desert, but three Filipinos decided to stay on in Benghazi for personal reasons. Their company has a plane that can carry 100 passengers, the DFA said.

Ninety-seven Filipinos from the OEA Grands Project already took a plane bound to Paris, en route to Manila while 11 from the Benghazi-based Al Nahr Engineering Limited are being evacuated by their employer, the DFA said. A number of them are due for evacuation anytime via the British Naval Fleet to Malta.

The DFA has also made arrangements for ferry ships to take Filipinos from Tripoli to Malta and those from Benghazi to Crete. The Philippine Honorary Consul in Malta is also making arrangements for them to enter the country.

On Wednesday, the first batch of 13 Filipinos were moved safely out of Libya.  Twelve Filipinos from Korean Construction firm Won Company arrived in Egypt, while another joined her employer via land from Tobruk in Libya to Asalum in Egypt.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the DFA is on a full relocation and repatriation mode for 30,000 Filipinos in Libya.

"Our objective is to do this as quickly as possible," Del Rosario said.

The newly-appointed DFA Chief said the Philippine embassy in Libya has set up relocation centers in capital Tripoli and Benghazi for Filipino evacuees.

The DFA said Filipinos are being repatriated by their employers out of Libya, in tandem with the DFA and the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also extended assistance to the Philippines in arranging commercial flights. IOM assured Manila that Filipinos will be included in any IOM-sponsored evacuation of migrant workers out of Libya.

Flag-carrier Philippine Airlines said it is prepared to operate emergency flights to evacuate Filipinos fleeing the civil unrest in Libya.(Xinhua/sp)

ISTANBUL, Feb. 25  -- Five passengers were killed and five others wounded when a bus coming from Athens, Greece, overturned in Turkey's northwestern province of Tekirdag on Friday.

The semi-official Anatolia news agency reported that the passenger bus on Athens-Istanbul service overturned on Tekirdag- Malkara highway in Turkey due to icy road.

Greek passengers Solakidis Minos, Moysidis Arkmdros, Mitakidis Fofor and Mariradz Sorfra, and Turkish passenger Yasar Demirer lost their lives. The injured have been taken to Tekirdag and Malkara state hospitals.(Xinhua/sp)

MOSUL, Iraq, Feb. 25  -- Three protestors were killed and five others wounded in a demonstration in Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Friday, a Xinhua correspondent said.

The incident took place when hundreds of protestors tried to storm the Nineveh provincial government building in central Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, the correspondent said.

The shootout erupted when an unknown protestor threw a hand- grenade near the government building, setting fire to one of its rooms, prompting the guards to open fire killing three people and wounding at least five others, he said.

The security forces used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators and prevent them from storming the government building.

The demonstrators demanded resignation of the provincial governor Athel al-Nujafi and the provincial council members.

They also demanded better public services, fighting unemployment and corruption.

Earlier in the day, angry protestors in Mosul stoned the convoy of the provincial parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and his brother the governor of the province when they tried to reach the government building in the morning.

The demonstration is a part of nation-wide protests called by Iraqi groups on the social networking website Facebook to be held on February 25, asking Iraqis to hold what they named "Revolution of Iraqi Rage", or "Day of Rage" across the country, in a move widely seen inspired by the protests in Tunisia and Egypt.

Recently, several thousands of Iraqis sporadically took to the streets in several provinces across the country protesting unemployment and a sharp rise in the prices of food staples, as well as demanding better public services.(Xinhua/sp)

ANKARA, Feb. 25 -- Turkey's air forces brought back 434 Turkish citizens from Libya on four military airplanes on Friday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

The planes landed at the Dalaman Airport of southwest Turkey's Mugla Province earlier on Friday, said the report.

Turkey, with some 25,000 nationals working or living in Libya, is carrying out its largest evacuation effort in the North African country.

The government has moved Turks out by plane, boat and by land via Egypt.

Seven Turkish workers returned to Turkey from Libya on Thursday night by crossing the Mediterranean Sea on their own boat without any electronic navigation equipment onboard, Anatolia reported in a separate report.

The workers left Libyan city Darnah on Wednesday and arrived at southwest Turkey's Datca town of Mugla Province, though their original plan was to reach the Greek island of Crete, which was to the southwest of Turkey, the agency quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying.(Xinhua/sp)

TRIPOLI, Feb. 25  -- Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's cousin and one of his closest aides, Ahmed Gaddafi al-Dam, said he resigned from his all posts in Libya, the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV said, citing an e-mail sent from al-Dam's office on Friday.

Belonged to Gaddafi's inner circle, Al-Dam is one of the high- ranking Libyan officials and has served as a liaison with Egypt.

The Libyan government has reportedly seen defection of its security forces and resignation of diplomats since the protests broke out on Feb. 16.(Xinhua/sp)

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 25 -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday reminded his troops stationed at the frontline of Cambodian-Thai border, especially at the area near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple to be "high alert and utmost restraints" to comply with the permanent ceasefire.

The premier's remark was made during the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers.

Cambodia and Thailand agreed a permanent ceasefire on Feb. 22 during the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta, Indonesia.

To monitor the ceasefire, thirty Indonesian observers will be dispatched to the Cambodian-Thai border disputed area.

The two countries has the border conflict just a week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, since then periodic clashes between both sides' troops happened, resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.

The latest clashes, on Feb. 4-7, had killed and wounded many soldiers and citizens of both sides, and caused tens of thousands of the two countries' villagers nearby the disputed areas fleeing for safe shelters.(Xinhua/sp)