DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “ASEAN poised to raise its profile amid global economic turmoil” plus 6 more

The epicenter of the earthquake, , was located 23 kilometers northwest of Calayan islands.

The U.S. Geological survey said the earthquake has a depth 20. 8 kilometers. The tremor was of tectonic origin.

Phivolcs said intensity two earthquake was felt in the province of Ilocos Norte.

Phivolcs said there were no reports of loss of lives or damaged to property due to earthquake. The agency doesn't expect any aftershocks.

Indonesian Police Chief General Timur Pradopo said that Patek arrived in Jakarta on Thursday morning and was placed in the prison at mobile police headquarters in East Jakarta.

"Patek arrived today at seven o'clock and afterward he was brought to the Marko Brimob Kelapa Dua (prison)," the police chief said at the State Palace.

Ansyaad Mbai, head of anti-terrorist agency, has said that Umar Patek would be charged with murder and possession of explosive materials as the country's anti-terrorism law of 2003 cannot be implemented retrospectively.

The alleged bomb-maker for militant group of Jemaah Islamiyah, Patek was suspected of playing key roles in suicide bombings in two night clubs in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, most of them Australian holidaymakers.

He was also suspected of involving in churches blasts on Christmas in Jakarta in 2000.

Patek, allias Abu Syaeikh or Umar Arab, escaped from Indonesia in 2003. The U.S. government had put one million U.S. dollars bounty on his head. He has also been included in the United Nations' consolidated list.

He was captured by the Pakistani security authorities in January in Pakistan after a decade of escape. Since his arrest the Indonesian police had reportedly been negotiating with the government of Pakistan for bringing back one of the most wanted militants in Southeast Asia.

The Jemaah Islamiyah has been accused of conducting a series of major suicide bombings in Indonesia since 2000 that killed over 270 people. Indonesian police have paralyzed scores of top terrorist-figures and sent some others to legal process.

What would actually happen to the world's largest economy in the coming months is hard to predict, but past experience may suggest post-financial crisis recovery is usually a slow and bumpy process.

TURBULENT MARKETS

After the first-ever downgrade of U.S. credit rating last Friday, the U.S. stock markets went significantly volatile in the first three trading days this week.

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 5.55 percent to 10,809.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 tumbled 79.92 points, or 6.66 percent, to 1,119.46, its largest drop in nearly three years. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 174.72 points, or 6.90 percent, to 2,357.69.

On Tuesday, the Dow gained 429 points, or 4.6 percent after the Fed said it planned to keep super low interest rates at least through the middle of 2013. It was the first time the Fed announced such a timetable and the move eliminated some uncertainty regarding the Fed's monetary policy.

However, stocks plunged again Wednesday as investors refocused their attention on the weak economy and Europe's debt problems. All three major indexes fell more than 4 percent.

SLUGGISH RECOVERY PROSPECT

Market wildness reflects economic fundamentals. Three years after the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers and two years after the recession officially ended, the U.S. economy remains weak. Even worse, it is sliding again to the edge of a double-dip recession.

The U.S. Federal Reserve made it clear Tuesday that economic growth so far this year has been "considerably slower" than the central bank had expected.

It also saw "a deterioration in overall labor market conditions in recent months". Household spending has flattened out, investment in nonresidential structures is "still weak", and the housing sector remains "depressed".h Analysts say that they see no growth engine at least in the short term as far-reaching fiscal consolidation policies are being implemented across the advanced economies.

"It is a paradox of growth," Sun Tao, economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told Xinhua. "On one hand, the economy is still depending on public spending to keep growing, while on the other, the heavy debt burden is becoming more dangerous if not taking bold reduction."

On top of concerns about the U.S. economy, attention is still on Europe, where investors worry that Italy and Spain may be the next countries unable to repay their debts. There are concerns that the worsening sovereign debt crisis in Europe may infect the U.S. financial system in this highly interconnected world.

CRISIS OF CREDIBILITY

Besides all the economic concerns it has sparked, the current debt crisis essentially shows that this round of global crisis is a crisis of credibility.

"Four years into the financial crisis, it is becoming increasingly clear that the biggest deficit is not in credit, but credibility," Kenneth Rogoff, professor of Harvard University and former chief economist of the IMF said in an article on Monday.

He said that markets can adjust to a downgrade of global growth, but they cannot cope with a spiraling loss of confidence in leadership and a growing sense that policymakers are disconnected from reality.

This is also the key reason why rating agency Standard & Poor's insisted on downgrading the U.S. credit rating. The agency emphasized that the U.S. governance and policy making is becoming less stable, less effective and less predictable.

Market players are obviously skeptical that the U.S. policymakers could provide credible and practical measures to stimulate the economy as a huge overhanging of debt creates headwinds to faster normalization of growth.

According to a research by Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, senior fellow of Washington-based think tank Peterson Institute of International Economics, when a country's debt to GDP ratio surpasses 90 percent, the economy will drop into a slower track of growth.

Latest data from the IMF showed that the U.S. public debt to GDP ratio is now at 99 percent and will hit 103 percent in 2012. It also predicted that the U.S. growth would be hovering at about 2.5 percent through at least 2016. Endite

Cambodia starts to build memorial stupa for 353 victims in last year's stampede

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Thursday broke ground for the construction of a memorial monument to commemorate the 353 people who died during the stampede in November last year.

The stupa is located about 5 meters northwest of the Diamond Bridge, where the stampede occurred.

"The memorial monument is to commemorate the dead in a tragic stampede on November 22 last year during the final day of the Water Festival," said the Governor of Phnom Penh Kep Chuk Tema during the ground breaking ceremony.

"The construction is scheduled to complete before the one-year anniversary of the deaths from the tragic stampede," he added.

The stupa, designed in the style of the Angkorian Bayon temple, will bear four faces; it is expected to cost 120,000 U.S. dollars, donated by the Diamond Island developer Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation, Bayon TV, CTN and the City Hall.

Last year's stampede accident was caused by the panic which soon after led to the stampede during the final day of the water festival.

Cambodia's Water Festival is the largest annual festival in the Southeast Asian nations, around three million Cambodians, especially those from rural areas converged to the city to enjoy the regatta. (Xinhua)