DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Thai-Cambodia general border meeting to be held next month” plus 9 more

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Tuesday inaugurated a 9-kilometer section of the national road No. 1, which is the main road in the ASEAN highway scheme, connecting Phnom Penh and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City.

The 9-kilometer section has been built since December 2009 under the Japanese grant aid of 25 million U.S. dollars.

Speaking during the inauguration ceremony in Phnom Penh, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the national road No. 1 is an international arterial road in Cambodia connecting Phnom Penh and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, constituting an important part of the Southern Economic Corridor and the ASEAN highway connecting Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh and Bangkok.

"It plays an important role for the movement of people and the transportation of goods in the region," he said.

He added that when the construction of Japan-funded Neak Loeung Bridge, a part of ASEAN highway, is completed in 2015, the ASEAN highway in Cambodia's part will be fully operational.

The premier said that so far, Japan has provided about two billion U.S. dollars to Cambodia, mostly are grant aid.

The ambassador of Japan to Cambodia Masafumi Kuroki said during the event that Japan hopes that the assistance will further strengthen the long standing friendship between Japan and Cambodia and the people of the two countries.

"We hope that the road will help Cambodia to boost its economic development and alleviate poverty," he said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consist of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday he has cancelled the licenses of all 35 fishing lots around Tonle Sap Lake in five provinces, saying that the lots have caused a great destruction to the country's fish resources.

The license revocation was made after the premier's public announcement on July 1 to sack fishery chiefs in five provinces around Tonle Sap Lake in order to make way for an investigation into fishery offences.

The five provinces around the lake are Battambang, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom.

"After the investigation, we found that fishing lot operators had used banned fishing nets to catch the fish, they caught even small fish; moreover, they used chemical substance to drive fish away from flooded forest into their lots in order to catch them," he said.

"It's a great destruction to the fish resources," he said. "The suspension of fishing in the Lake will be in effective at least 3 years in order to increase fish population."

The premier added that despite their great destruction to the fish resources, the government has not taken any fishing lot operators or fisheries officials to court for punishment.

Fishing as family condition is still allowed around the lake, he added.

The government has earned the revenues of merely more than 2 million U.S. dollars a year from the fishing lots, he said.

"We do not need it if it costs great destruction to the fish resources."

Tonle Sap Lake, also known as Great Lake, is the largest lake in the Southeast Asian nations. During the monsoon season, the lake swells to cover nearly one-fifth of the country.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. media on Monday quoted defense officials as saying the Libyan government forces have fired the first Scud missile in its conflict with rebel forces.

The report said the missile launch was detected by U.S. forces participating in the NATO mission in Libya shortly after midnight Sunday. The Scud landed in the desert about 50 miles outside Brega, a strategic port on the Mediterranean coast Southeast of Tripoli.

The control of Brega has shifted back and forth between government forces and rebels throughout the conflict. The report quoted anonymous officials as saying they cannot determine whether this was a one-off incident or signals a new phase of fighting in Libya.

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The following are Chinese economic news briefs.

S CHINA TO BUILD SINO-ASEAN TRADE BASE IN FIVE YEARS

A Sino-ASEAN trade base will be built in five years in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in an effort to speed up business communication with neighbor areas, said the regional authorities.

The regional government plans to invest 150 billion yuan (23.46 billion dollars) to build ten comprehensive trading markets, ten capital trading markets, ten agricultural products terminal markets and ten retail business centers, a regional government spokesman said.

The government is also encouraging traditional retail enterprises to set up online sales platforms that can promote traditional markets and generate more income, he said.

XINJIANG SIGNS A TWO-MILLION-YUAN HYDRO PROJECT CONTRACT

The government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced it has signed a contract with an electric power company in south Guangdong Province to build a hydro power station over the Santun River.

The hydro power station will be completed in five years, with a total investment of 20 million yuan (3.12 million U.S. dollars). The annual capacity of the station is expected to reach 600 million kwh, which will generate 20 million yuan in tax revenue for the local government, according to a government spokesman.

The Santun River area is rich in water resources, and the construction of the power station can improve the electricity supply, create more jobs and enhance local economic development, the spokesman said.

S CHINA ISLAND PROVINCE TO INVEST 980 MLN YUAN TO ENSURE VEGETABLE SUPPLY

Hainan Province plans to allocate 980 million yuan (153 million U.S. dollars) by the end of this year to underpin a "vegetable basket project," and to stabilize vegetable prices and ensure supplies, according the provincial government.

The provincial government has already spent 800 million yuan so far to subsidize the vegetable base and greenhouse construction, irrigation and water conservancy, and pest and weed control.

Local authorities are also promoting standardized production, establishing channels for farmers to sell agricultural products directly to supermarkets in order to coordinate supply and demand.

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the United States launched Tuesday an annual joint military exercise aimed at enhancing their interoperability in defense.

The 10-day computer-assisted command post exercise, dubbed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, brought together some 530,000 South Korean and U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula and at U.S. military headquarters in the Pacific and the U.S., according to the Combined Forces Command (CFC) here.

The U.S.-led United Nations Command has informed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of the defensive nature of the routine drill, according to the CFC.

The drill is "focused on preparing, preventing and prevailing against the full range of current and future external threats" to South Korea and the region, Gen. James D. Thurman, Combined Forces Command Commander, said.

"We are applying lessons learned out of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those garnered by the alliance's recent experiences with North Korean (DPRK) provocations on the peninsula and past exercises," he added.

The DPRK demanded last week the allies cancel the joint exercise, which it sees as a plot against Pyongyang.

SANAA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni Higher Security Committee on Monday urged anti-government protesters in major cities to leave the squares where they had been staging sit-in for months to demand President Ali Abdullah Saleh's outer, state media reported.

"We call on the protesters to go back homes and follow those who have already left the squares to avoid unrest, as those who insist on camping are wanted by the ministry," the committee said in a statement, quoted by official Saba news agency.

"We warn all citizens not to be misled by the opposition entities that incite protestors to carry out riots, chaos and sedition," said the committee, adding that "the security services have managed to foil a number of terrorist attacks plotted inside the squares targeting people, government and private interests."

Yemen has been embroiled in a severe political crisis since the eruption of anti-government protests against Saleh's 33-year rule in late January.

The armed supporters of Saleh, who is recuperating in Riyadh, and the protesters backed by opposition and defected army forces are gearing up confrontations on Wednesday, when the opposition coalition will declare a transitional ruling council despite the government's warning, according to sources affiliated with the rivals.

Western embassies in the capital are on high alert, asking the Yemeni Interior Ministry to reinforce security as a precautionary measure to deal with any possible conflicts, an official of the ministry told Xinhua.

YANGON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has pledged to build a society of its own flourishing with democratic practices through increasing knowledge about human rights and correct practice of freedom, discipline and responsibility, an official media reported Tuesday.

The pledge was made by Chairman of Myanmar Human Rights Committee Lieutenant-General Ko Ko, who is also Union Home Minister, said the New Light of Myanmar.

Telling trainees of a training course of Myanmar Human Rights Promotion and Protection course in Nay Phi Taw Monday, Ko Ko called for practice of knowledge gained from the course in real life in accordance with rules and regulations and cultural practices of Myanmar without deviating international norms.

Myanmar's Human Rights Committee was formed in 2000.

The country signed UN Charter and four Geneva Conventions on international human rights in 1992, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Convention on the Rights of Child.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Hollywood-based Relativity Media announced Monday it has joined Huaxia Film, SAIF Partners and IDG China Media to become what is billed as the first China/U.S. distribution company, SkyLand Entertainment.

Looking to find a platform for all their future China film endeavors, Relativity, which has produced or financed such recent films as Limitless, The Fighter and The Social Network, made the agreement aiming to develop, produce, acquire and distribute Chinese material with worldwide appeal.

Their new partners in this strategic alliance to promote U.S.-Chinese co-productions are among China's leading production, finance and distribution of Chinese content films in the past few years. SAIF Partners is an Asian private equity firm and IDG China Media, is the China-focused investment arm of Boston's International Data Group.

While its titles will still be subject to China's annual quota of 20 foreign films distributed on a revenue sharing basis, Relativity will now distribute all its future films in China including Haywire, Immortals, Act of Valor, an untitled Snow White project and The Raven through the new venture SkyLand. SkyLand has functioned as SAIF and IDG's entertainment arm, and most recently co-produced Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, inspired by a novel by Lisa See.

One of the enticements to expanding into China is the very robust growth of the number of theaters being built throughout the country. There are now over 6,000 screens in China which brought in over 1.5 billion dollars in box office revenue in 2010, an increase of over 60 percent last year alone.

"We're excited to be entering into this ground breaking partnership. With six new screens added daily in China and a business which has been tripling in revenue every three years, it is unquestionable that China and the United States must work closely together to build an entertainment business for the future, which strives to make and release global product appealing to worldwide audiences. This is a critical first step in achieving just that," said Relativity Media CEO Ryan Kavanaugh.

Distribution will still technically be through Huaxia, which, along with China Film Group, is one of only two state-run companies authorized to import and distribute foreign films. SkyLand, is a fully-funded, vertically-integrated film and multimedia production, distribution and financing company.

The other side of the deal calls for plans to produce higher-budgeted China-themed movies, with the aim of appealing to both Chinese and Western audiences alike thus offering international audiences a better understanding of the Chinese culture.

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The China National Food Industry (Group) Corp and Cambodia's Le Ye Rubber Co. on Sunday signed a cassava purchase deal.

The agreement was signed between Cai Yongfeng, the president of China National Food Industry Group, and Gao Hong Zhi, CEO of Le Ye Rubber Co.

"If the quality of Cambodian cassava chips is standard enough for Chinese market, we will purchase up to one million tons of dried cassava chips a year from Cambodia," Cai said.

Currently, China needs more than 8 million tons of tapioca chips per year. 6.5 million tons are imported from Thailand and the rest from Vietnam, he said.

Kith Seng, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Agriculture, said the government of Cambodia fully supported the agreement between the two companies.

"It's a good step toward the development of cassava crop in Cambodia and the two companies' cooperation agreement will rid Cambodian farmers of concerns about the market for their cassava product," he told the signing ceremony.

"The agreement also helps to boost Cambodian agriculture and to develop Cambodian economy," he added.

According to the ministry of agriculture, Cambodia yielded 3.78 million tons of cassava last year.