DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia imports 151,000 tons of fertilizer in first 6 months” plus 9 more

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Cambodian People's Party (CPP) agreed here to promote inter-party cooperation on Saturday.

At a meeting with Chea Sim, CPP Chairman and also President of the Senate of Cambodia, visiting CPC senior official Zhou Yongkang conveyed best regards from Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo.

Zhou highly spoke of the CPP's achievement in leading Cambodian people to develop economy, reduce poverty, promote ethnic reconciliation, secure national stability and play an increasingly active role in regional and international affairs.

The CPC is willing to carry out more active inter-party exchanges with the CPP to share experience in state governance and administration, and further upgrade the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Chea Sim said Cambodia would deepen mutual-beneficial cooperation with China in politics, economy, culture and other areas. He said he believes Zhou's visit will be an opportunity to enhance the Cambodia-China ties and benefit both peoples.

After the meeting, Zhou and Chea Sim attended a signing ceremony of a document on inter-party exchanges between the CPC and CPP.

Zhou, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and also secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, arrived here on late Friday to pay an official good- will visit at the invitation of the CPP and the Funcinpec Party.

Cambodia is the third leg of Zhou's five-nation Asian tour after Nepal and Laos. He is set to leave Cambodia on Sunday and continue his visit to Tajikistan and Mongolia

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Ministry of Defense on Saturday evening issued a statement rejecting a Thai media report that the Indonesian observers may not be needed to deploy in the newly defined demilitarized zone surrounding the 11 century Preah Vihear to ensure a ceasefire.

"Cambodia sticks to its ground to straightly comply with the order of the International Court of Justice issued on July 18," said the statement.

The ICJ ordered Cambodia and Thailand to immediately withdraw their military personnel currently present in the provisional demilitarized zone (PDZ) around the area of Preah Vihear temple and also ordered both parties to continue cooperating within ASEAN and allow appointed observers access to the PDZ.

"Cambodia's stance has been clearly announced by Prime Minister Hun Sen and Defense Minister Tea Banh already," it said. "There is nothing changed."

Hun Sen earlier this month said that the pullouts of troops from the area of about 17-kilometer PDZ surrounding Preah Vihear temple must be done simultaneously and with the presence of Indonesian observers to monitor a ceasefire until the ICJ interprets the verdict in 1962 concerning the ruling of the temple to Cambodia.

The defense statement was made after the Bangkok Post online newspaper reported on Saturday that Thai Defense Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa said that Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh told him that if Cambodia can reach an agreement in bilateral talks with Thailand on the withdrawal of troops from both sides, Indonesian observers may not be needed to monitor a ceasefire.

"The spokesman of Cambodian Defense Ministry totally rejects this fabricated information that Gen. Tea Banh has either talked with Gen. Yutthasak Sasiprapa, or said Indonesian observers may not be needed to monitor a ceasefire," it said.

Cambodia and Thailand have had sporadic border conflict over territorial dispute near the Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulting in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.

However, the military tension has been eased since the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in the general elections on July 3.

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Saturday withdrew its troops for the fifth time from the disputed border areas with Thailand.

The troops of the Brigade No. 9 stationed at the foot of Chak Chreng area, on the left side of the Preah Vihear temple, have been pulled back to their barracks in Chorm Kasan district of Preah Vihear province on Saturday morning.

Speaking during the troop withdrawal, Gen. Kun Kim, deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, said the troop redeployments have been made at the order of Prime Minister Hun Sen as the military tension with Thailand has eased since the Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in the general elections on July 3.

However, he said the pull-backs had been made at border areas outside the provisional demilitarized zone that was defined by the International Court of Justice's order on July 18 only.

It's estimated that about 1,800 troops were pulled back from Chak Chreng area on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Gen. Chea Dara, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces for Preah Vihear Direction, said it was the fifth time Cambodia has moved back its troops from the border with Thailand since July 26.

Cambodia and Thailand have had sporadic border conflict over the territorial dispute near the Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulting in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.

However, the military tension has been eased since the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in a July's general election.

CHICAGO, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended sharply higher on Friday, notching a new record-settlement high for the fourth time this week, as investors remained cautious about stocks and held more of the precious metal in search of safety.

The most active gold contract for December delivery hiked 30.2 dollars, or 1.7 percent, to 1,852.2 dollars per ounce. It traded as high as 1,881.40 dollars an ounce, an intraday record for the metal.

The precious metal registered a weekly gain of 6.3 percent. It also climbed 14 percent this month, having ended July at 1,631.2 dollars an ounce.

Market analysts mentioned that gold and silver were among the very few markets that managed to post gains this week, as spiking concerns that the global economy will fall back into recession gripped investors, with exporter stocks in many markets tumbling on concerns about weakening demand.

"It has become apparent that the fragility in the European Union's debt crisis have the New York Federal reserve questioning the stability of the Euro Region Banks," said Mike Daly, a gold specialist with PFBbest here in Chicago, "This along with the U.S. dollar notching a new record low versus the yen has investors questioning the stability of the world's economy," Daly added.

Meanwhile, gold also gained strength as the a slew of macroeconomic data, including Thursday's downbeat reading on factory activity in the Philadelphia region, showed the U.S. economy is showing new signs of fatigue, unsettling consumers and discouraging business

And many traders agreed that this week's rally has been supported by a huge underlying demand to buy physical bullion.

But Daly also warned that gold market remains technically overbought and very top heavy, investors should be cautious that any U.S. dollar friendly news could start a profit taking sell-off in the gold market.

Silver for Sept. delivery soared 1.744 dollars, or 4.3 percent, to 42.432 dollars per ounce. Platinum for Oct. delivery rose 27.2 dollars, or 1.5 percent, to 1,874.9 dollars per ounce.

Related:

Wall Street down for fourth week on economic fears

NEW YORK, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The sell-off in Wall Street continued on Friday, with major indexes suffering losses for the fourth straight week, as concerns over European debt problems and U.S. economic strength haunted the market.

Investors were depressed after the Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 400 points in a single day, a reminder of the big turmoil in the market last week.  

Oil edges down, posting fourth straight weekly loss

NEW YORK, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil price edged down on Friday, ending the week with a 3.65-percent loss, the fourth straight drop in the week.

With absence of major macro-economic news, crude prices on Friday mainly followed the dollar's steps. As the dollar dipped to its historic low against the Japanese yen while dropping also against the euro, oil rallied for most of the trading session.

BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- US stocks have been slammed with another wave of late-day selling. Disappointing news from Hewlett-Packard, the lingering issue of Europe's debt crisis and the future of the US economy stranded investors.

US stocks bounced back and forth Friday before ending with a loss. Concerns over European banks and fears the US would fall into another recession, kept volatility high.

The manager of PIMCO, the world's largest bond fund, said the rally in Treasury yields to 60-year lows suggests a recession is likely.

Bill Gross, Co-Chief Investment Officer, PIMCO, said, "They certainly reflect in terms of their yields, the, not only the potential for a recession, but the almost high probability of a recession and the resultant lowering of inflation."

Investors and traders have been on edge for weeks. Morningstar's Sumit Desai blames much of the uncertainty on Washington's lack of direction.

Sumit Desai, Associate Director, Equity Research Dept. Morningstar, said, "A little more clarity on where spending cuts will appear, where tax cuts will fall I think would help ease some uncertainty in the market."

Adding to uncertainty Friday was Hewlett-Packard's weaker outlook and corporate shakeup. HP shares fell 20% and were the biggest drag on the Dow.

But there's a positive side to the big drop in stock prices. It creates buying opportunities.

Sumit Desai, Associate Director, Equity Research Dept. Morningstar, said, "Now is an excellent opportunity to really start looking for high quality companies that are trading at pretty, fire-sale prices."

Gold was the winner Friday as investors continued to seek the safety of the precious metal. It reached a record high of $1881 an ounce, but closed at $1,852.

In Europe, stocks ended Friday and the week firmly in the red as banks there fell to a two-year low.

On Wall Street the Dow lost 172 points and the Nasdaq fell 38. That brings the losses for the week to four percent on the Dow and nearly seven percent for the Nasdaq.

BAGHDAD, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraq denied what the U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said about agreeing to allow some U.S. troops to stay in the country after the 2011 withdrawal deadline, official television reported on Saturday.

"The Iraqi government denies what the American Defense Minister Leon Panetta said that Iraq agreed to extend the presence of U.S. troops in the country after 2011," the state-run television of Iraqia quoted government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh as saying.

"No official talks have taken place with the American side to discuss the quality, the period and the number of troops needed to train the Iraqi forces," Dabbagh said.

Dabbagh's remarks came after Panetta said in interview on Friday with two U.S. newspapers that Iraqis had made up their mind to extend the presence of U.S. troops beyond the year-end withdrawal deadline.

"My view is that they finally did say, 'Yes,'" Panetta said.

On August 3, the Iraqi political leaders agreed to give green light to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to start talks with the United States about stationing some of its troops in Iraq beyond the end of 2011 deadline for training the Iraqi security forces on new weapons that Iraq proposed to purchase mainly from the United States to arm its fragile forces.

U.S. military forces are to pull out completely from Iraq by the end of 2011, according to a security pact, named Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed late in 2008 between Baghdad and Washington.

Related:

U.S. defense chief says Iraq has consensus on extended U.S. presence

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi leaders have reached political consensus that could lead to an extended U.S. military presence in the country, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Friday, stressing the United States would keep its commitment to continue the drawdown.

During a roundtable with military media outlets, Panetta was asked if there had been progress in discussions with the Iraqi government since his visit six weeks ago, said Pentagon spokesman George Little. 

U.S. to "listen" if Iraq requests troops to stay

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said the administration will "listen" if the Iraqi government requests U.S. troops to stay longer.

"We are going to maintain long-term relationship with Iraq to make sure they remain stable, whether it's diplomatic or military, " said Panetta, who participated alongside Clinton in a televised conversation at the National Defense University. He stressed despite recent bloodshed in that country, Iraq has a relatively stable democracy in that part of the world, and "it's very important for us to make it right."