DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Statement of Spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense” plus 9 more

A talk was held on 4 May 2011, from 9:30 to 10:00 am, between Cambodian Maj General Chea Mon, Commander of 4th Military Region and Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakorn, Commander of Thai 2nd Army Region. Both sides reached agreements on the following six points:

1. Normalizing the situation at the temples of Ta Moan and Ta Krabey to that before 22 April, 2011.

2. Normalizing the situation at Thmo Daun and Chub Korki.

3. Creating a safe environment for villagers to return homes to resume their daily life' s activities.

4. Reopening of the border checkpoints at O'Smach and Along Veng from 10:00 am onwards.

5. Building mutual trust between both sides.

6. Refraining from the dissemination of falsified and misleading information.

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon will embark on travels Wednesday to Bulgaria, and Geneva, Switzerland, as well as Istanbul, Turkey, where he will attend the 4th UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters here Monday.
Ban will begin his trip in Sofia, Bulgaria, the note explained, where he will meet the country's president and prime minister as well as members of its parliament. He will then speak to a conference there.
"The secretary-general will address the 'Sofia Platform,' a conference that will bring together politicians, non-governmental organizations, journalists and practitioners from Europe, the Middle East and the United States to look at the experience of Central and Eastern Europe since 1989 and the current changes in North Africa and the Middle East," Nesirky said. "The secretary- general will also give an address to students and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the University of Sofia."
After his official visit to Bulgaria, Ban will proceed to Istanbul, Turkey, where he will meet with the Turkish president and prime minister in addition to heads of state and government attending the 4th UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries ( LDCs).
Ban will open the conference, which runs from May 9-13 and will be an opportunity for both developed countries and LDCs to evaluate development progress since the 3rd conference was held in 2001. It will also endeavor to adopt strategies and measures to help boost sustainable development of LDCs.
"The world's 48 most economically vulnerable nations are making a bid for economic self sufficiency and big gains against poverty at the first major development conference of the new decade," Nesirky told reporters at a daily news briefing. "The conference takes place at a critical juncture."
Ban will also receive the 2011 Global Women's Leadership Award while in Istanbul.
"Before coming back to New York, the secretary-general will stop in Geneva where he will open the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and launch the 2011 Global Assessment Report," he said. "The secretary-general will deliver a keynote address at the Global Platform whose theme this year is ' Invest Today for a Safer Tomorrow - Increase Investment in Local Action.'"
The session will run from May 8-13 and focus on sharing knowledge about how to decrease disaster risk and recover from disasters.
"The secretary-general has called for a round table discussion on strengthening preparedness for nuclear accidents on the opening day," he said.
While in Geneva, Ban will also attend the opening of the 2nd International Forum on Sport for Peace and Development, he said.

PARIS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Revenue of Areva, French leading nuclear group rose by 2.2 percent to 1.98 billion euros (2.94 billion U.S. dollars) for the January-March period this year from last year, the group said Monday.
According to the state-run company's financial report, mining activities witnessed a positive trend over the period after growing by 18.9 percent to 802 million euros  "due to a favorable contract mix that yielded a significant improvement in our average uranium sales price over the quarter."
However, renewable energies and reactors and services showed a weak performance as they fell by 13.9 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.
The French nuclear group noted its plan to review the impact of Japan earthquake "on its operations, and consequently on its forecasts" adding that the Japanese disaster has "no significant impact on the group's performance in the 1st quarter of 2011."
Areva's quarterly financial data failed to back investors confidence on the group's shares, which closed Monday session in red and stood at 31 euros, down by 0.10 percent from last session.

LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The United States still faces " significant threats" from terrorists despite the killing of al- Qaida's leader Osama bin Laden, Los Angeles Police Department ( LAPD) Chief Charlie Beck warned on Monday.
"Yesterday was a great day for America," Beck said at a news conference at the county Emergency Operations Center. "But while we savor that victory, we have to be ever mindful that taking away the leader does not remove the organization."
But he stressed that there were no specific threats of retaliation.
"We still face significant threats. But while there are no specific threats to Los Angeles, (there is) a general threat, and our obligation is to keep the city safe."
President Barack Obama announced Sunday night that bin Laden was killed by a U.S. special force in Pakistan.
While welcoming the news, Beck urged people to remain vigilant, saying people who see suspicious activity that doesn't "fit" in their neighborhoods -- or in their business dealings -- to alert ( 877) A-THREAT. However, if there is a crime in progress, people should call 911, Beck said.
"When you see something, you must say something," Beck said.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said that the Emergency Operations Center was staffed by representatives of numerous public safety organizations, including the LAPD, the sheriff's department, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and fire departments.
"So, we are in a seamless agreement in practice with our federal, state, and local resources, in a large area involving a total of 14 million people, (and) that means Los Angeles County and Orange County," Baca said.
Security efforts were being beefed up at various public venues in Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles International Airport ( LAX) and Staples Center, which will play host to the opening game of the Los Angeles Lakers-Dallas Mavericks playoff series Monday night.
"While we don't have any direct threat as a result of recent events, we will continue to provide infrastructure protection and high visibility law enforcement and security protection to the many passengers who travel through the airport every day," said Airport Police Chief George R. Centeno.
"We will continue to monitor global events and stay in contact with our federal partners as the situation evolves through the next 24 to 48 hours," Centeno said.
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti said he had spoken with Beck Monday morning to focus on safety for the NBA playoffs, and to review procedures for various "hardened targets" such as Dodger Stadium, the port and the airport "and other places where people gather or which have been targets in the past."
"We want to make sure that we are safe here,'' Garcetti said.
American officials have warned the operation against the al- Qaida leader could lead to more terror threats against the United States.
The State Department has issued warnings to Americans traveling abroad in sensitive areas to limit their travels outside their homes and hotel.

(ESU)  Monday urged all European government to increase their funding for college education as the ESU 60th Board opened its first of a series of meetings and seminars Tallinn with the theme of " Financing the Students' Future."
Some 150 student representatives from 45 student organizations all over Europe and some Asian countries like Azerbaijan,  Armenia and Kurdistan, will come together to Tallinn in the  following four days to discuss how they can improve the system  of European education and financial system.
The ESU international conference will focus on the future financial situation of European students and the potentials of private funding of higher education.
ESU Chairperson Bert Vandenkendelaere said at the opening ceremony that the reason they came together in Tallinn is because there were student protests last year all over Europe to defend youth's rights of education.
He said that the policies that some European government adopted had restricted students' access to highest education, saying that these governments are transferring education expenses to students to cut their welfare spending.
"Although we would rather turn this tide instantly, we should for now learn how to swim with it and look for possible  solutions, " he said.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Rice originated in China, a team of U.S. genome researchers has concluded in a study tracing back thousands of years of evolutionary history through large-scale gene re-sequencing.
Their findings, which appear Monday in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), indicate that domesticated rice may have first appeared as far back as approximately 9,000 years ago in the Yangtze Valley of China. Previous research suggested domesticated rice may have two points of origin -- India as well as China.
Asian rice, Oryza sativa, is one of world's oldest crop species. It is also a very diverse crop, with tens of thousands of varieties known throughout the world. Two major subspecies of rice -- japonica and indica -- represent most of the world's varieties. Sushi rice, for example, is a type of japonica, while most of the long-grain rice in risottos are indica.
Because rice is so diverse, its origins have been the subject of scientific debate. One theory -- a single-origin model -- suggests that indica and japonica were domesticated once from the wild rice O. rufipogon.
Another -- a multiple-origin model -- proposes that these two major rice types were domesticated separately and in different parts of Asia. The multiple-origin model has gained currency in recent years as biologists have observed significant genetic differences between indica and japonica, and several studies examining the evolutionary relationships among rice varieties supported more than domestication in both India and China.
In the PNAS study, the researchers re-assessed the evolutionary history, or phylogeny, of domesticated rice using previously published datasets, some of which have been used to argue that indica and japonica rice have separate origins. Using more modern computer algorithms, however, the researchers concluded these two species have the same origin because they have a closer genetic relationship to each other than to any wild rice species found in either India or China.
In addition, the study's authors examined the phylogeny of domesticated rice by re-sequencing 630 gene fragments on selected chromosomes from a diverse set of wild and domesticated rice varieties. Using new modeling techniques, which had previously been used to look at genomic data in human evolution, their results showed that the gene sequence data was more consistent with a single origin of rice.
In the study, the investigators also used a "molecular clock" of rice genes to see when rice evolved. Depending on how the researchers calibrated their clock, they pinpointed the origin of rice at possibly 8,200 years ago, while japonica and indica split apart from each other about 3,900 years ago. The study's authors pointed out that these molecular dates were consistent with archaeological studies.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence in the last decade for rice domestication in the Yangtze Valley beginning approximately 8, 000 to 9,000 years ago while domestication of rice in the India's Ganges region was around about 4,000 years ago.
"As rice was brought in from China to India by traders and migrant farmers, it likely hybridized extensively with local wild rice," explained New York University biologist Michael Purugganan, one of the study's co-authors. "So domesticated rice that we may have once thought originated in India actually has its beginnings in China."

NEW YORK, May 2 (Xinhua) -- After being rejected by NYSE Euronext several times, Nasdaq OMX and Intercontinental Exchange on Monday decided to bring their takeover offer directly to the exchange operator's shareholders.
In joint announcement, the two companies said each of their respective Boards of Directors have approved their intent to commence an exchange offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of NYSE Euronext common stock in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately 11 billion dollars.
According to the announcement, they would pay NYSE Euronext investors 14.24 dollars in cash, 0.4069 shares of NASDAQ OMX common stock and 0.1436 shares of ICE common stock for each of their NYSE Euronext shares.
Nasdaq and ICE had offered a 11.3 billion dollar bid for NYSE Euronext on April 1, which NYSE said no and reiterated to stick with previous merger agreement with Germany's Deutsche Boerse, which was valued 10.2 billion dollars.
The two partners later called on discussions of the deal which they thought were more beneficial for the shareholders of both sides, with the board of NYSE Eruonext, but was also turned down.
The NYSE board members were urged by its shareholders to meet with the Nasdaq and ICE to discuss the bid in its annual shareholder meeting last week.
Robert Greifeld, the CEO of Nasdaq OMX, pressured on NYSE Euronext by saying that its Board challenged the "seriousness" of their proposal and refused to discuss the deal despite " positive feedback" they have received from NYSE Euronext's stockholders.
However, a discussion by the two side still could happen as Greifeld said they continued to welcome the opportunity to enter into meaningful discussion with the NYSE Euronext Board in order to achieve a transaction that is in the best interests of their stockholders.
The Chairman and CEO of ICE Jeffrey C. Sprecher hoped that the direct proposal to NYSE Euronext stockholders would let the Board decide to consider this transaction.  
NYSE Euronext shares were up 1.21 percent to close at 40.53 dollars per share, Nasdaq OMX shed 0.15 percent to close at 27.08 dollars per share, and ICE dipped 1.89 percent to settle at 118.07 dollars per share on Monday.

BRATISLAVA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Interior Ministry said Monday it has enhanced security measures for the U.S. embassy after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces, ministry spokesman Gabor Grendel said at a press release.
"As of today and until further notice, members of the Police Corps have tightened up measures aimed at protecting the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava and the U.S. national team during the Ice- hockey World Championships in Slovakia," said Grendel.
"Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic discussed the matter by telephone with U.S. Ambassador Theodor Sedgwick, who welcomed the information," said the spokesman, adding that the police will evaluate the situation as it develops and adjust measures to current needs.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Osama bin Laden was buried by the U.S. military at sea in accordance with the terror mastermind's own religious customs, as no country would accept his remains, a senior U.S. officials said Monday.
The burial was conducted aboard aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea, an official said on the conditions of anonymity during a background briefing with media. It took place within 24 hours of the al-Qaida leader's death, he said.
"Preparations for at-sea [burial] began at 1:10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (0510 GMT) and were completed at 2 a.m. (0600 GMT)," the official said.
"The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker," he added.
Afterward, bin Laden's body was placed onto a flat board, which was then elevated upward on one side and the body slid off into the sea.
CIA and Defense Department officials are sure it was the body of bin Laden. CIA specialists compared photos of the body with known photos of bin Laden and said with 95-percent certainty it was the terrorist leader, a senior intelligence official said.
In addition, the intelligence official said, bin Laden's wife identified him by name while the strike team was still in the compound.
Specialists "performed the initial DNA analysis matching a virtually 100-percent DNA match of the body against the DNA of several of bin Laden's family members."
John Brennan, Assistant to the President for homeland security and counterterrorism, also confirmed in a White House briefing the burial of bin Laden's remains "was done in strict conformance with Islamist precepts and practices."
"It was prepared in accordance with the Islamic requirements. We early on made provisions for that type of burial, and we wanted to make sure that it was going to be done, again, in strict conformance," said Brennan.