DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “19 killed in road mishap in western India” plus 9 more

NEW DELHI, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 people were killed and 20 others injured in a major road mishap in the western Indian state of Gujarat late Thursday night, said police Friday.

The mishap happened when a truck and a tractor, in which the victims were traveling collided head-on in the state's Panchmahal district.

While 19 people were killed on the spot, those injured have been admitted to a local hospital where the condition of some are said to be serious.

Most of the victims were devotees and were on the tractor en route to their native village when the mishap too place.

Road accident rate in India is very high, with at least 110,000 people killed on the road each year.

NEW DELHI, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and six injured after they were run over by a speeding jeep when watching a mythological Hindu play in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, reported Indo-Asian News Service Friday.

The accident took place Thursday night when the speeding jeep spun out of control and ran over villagers watching a Ramlila play at a roadside ground in Kaptanganj town, some 300 km from state capital Lucknow, said the news service.

While five people died on the spot, three others succumbed to their injuries Friday in hospital. The jeep driver escaped soon after the accident.

NEW DELHI, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Indian military has found the wreckage of a Mig-29 fighter in a mountainous area of the northern state Himachal Pradesh nine days after it crashed on Oct. 18 and a massive search operation was launched, reported the local daily The Times of India Friday in its electronic edition.

However, while the wreckage was found at the Lahaul Spiti area of Himachal Pradesh, no trace of the missing pilot, Squadron Leader D. S. Tomar was spotted, said the report.

The report quoted Indian Air Force officials as saying search task force commander Group Captain P. K. Sharma has confirmed that the Mig-29 crash site had been located at 15,000-feet over the Chokhang village in Lahaul area on Wednesday.

The crash site was located by serial search and imageries received from remotely-piloted aircraft (spy drones) and other aircraft deployed for photo reconnaissance of the area.

The air force clocked over 150 sorties for the mission, with Sukhoi-30MKIs, Jaguars, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), Cheetah and Cheetal helicopters searching the "probable areas of the crash " with high-tech electro-optical equipment, supplemented by search operations on the ground by specially-trained and acclimatized troops, said the report.

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Libya is moving toward civil engagement as the United Nations has decided to lift the no-fly zone over Libya next Monday and NATO said it would end its military operations in the North African country.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to pass a resolution that will terminate on Oct. 31 the no-fly zone and civilian protection mandates adopted earlier this year for Libya.

Resolution 2016, submitted by Russia and Britain and approved by all 15 council members, will revoke at the end of October the provisions prescribed by Resolution 1973, which was adopted by the council on March 17 and led to a no-fly zone enforcement by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The resolution passed on Thursday welcomed "the positive developments in Libya which will improve the prospects for a democratic, peaceful and prosperous future there."

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Berlin on Thursday that NATO will wrap up its operations in Libya on Oct. 31, but he expected the alliance to play a role in the country in the post-conflict period.

Addressing a press conference after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Rasmussen said NATO would make a formal decision on ending the Libya mission when its decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, meets Friday in Brussels.

"If requested we can assist the new Libyan government in the transformation to democracy, for instance with defense and security sector reform, but I wouldn't expect new tasks beyond that," he said.

Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) declared the liberation of the entire libya on Oct. 23 after former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed at his hometown Sirte, ending the fighting between the Gaddafi regime and NATO-backed NTC forces since February.

The NTC also said that Libya has stepped into a new stage with a new interim government.

Libya's new ruling authorities said on Thursday that whoever killed Gaddafi will be put on trial.

The Libyan authorities have already started investigations on the death of Gaddafi, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the NTC, said at a press conference held in Libya's second largest city Benghazi, adding that they have "the code of ethics" concerning how to deal with war criminals.

Whoever killed Gaddafi "will be brought to justice," said Ghoga.

Gaddafi died shortly after he was captured alive a week ago in his hometown of Sirte in northern Libya, before his corpse was transferred to Misrata, some 200 km east of the capital of Tripoli, where it was put on public display for almost five days.

NTC leaders have said that Gaddafi was killed in the crossfire between his loyalists and the NTC fighters after his capture. But speculations have been circulating that he was intentionally shot dead by NTC fighters.

Ghoga has said that it must be "an individual act" if Gaddafi is proved to have been killed by NTC fighters.

The whereabouts of Gaddafi's sons, who might have been the inheritors of the country's conflict, have drawn concerns after Gaddafi's death. Most of Gaddadi's sons were reportedly killed during the conflict in the country. However, his second son Saif al-Islam was spotted in the Nigerien territory on Wednesday.

Saif was allegedly being escorted by pro-Gaddafi fighters and had already established contact with the Nigerien Armed Forces (FAN) in the Agadez region.

Saif and his brother-in-law Abdallah al-Senoussi, Gaddafi's intelligence chief, are being sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for committing crimes against humanity.

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Two new foreign airlines, Tiger Airways Singapore and South Korea's Eastar Jet, will launch their regular flights to Cambodia in this winter season, from November to March, a senior official at Socit  Concessionaire d'A roport (SCA), the operator of Cambodia's airports, said on Friday.

The Tiger Airways will start its daily flights between Singapore and Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, by A320 (180 seats) and  one flight a week from Singapore to Siem Reap, Cambodia's largest cultural tourism destination, Emmanuel Menanteau, Chief  Executive of SCA, said during a press briefing on the promotion of the winter season flights schedule.

He said the Eastar Jet is due to operate four weekly flights for the winter season between Seoul and Siem Reap with a B-737  ( 149 seats).

Including the two airlines, there have been 23 airlines operating regular flights at Cambodia's airports, said Emmanuel.

Cambodia has three international airports, one is Phnom Penh International Airport, another is Siem Reap International Airport, and the other is Sihanoukville International Airport. So far, only two airports have been in full operations as the Sihanoukville  International Airport has no plane landing due to the low number of passengers to the area.

According to the passenger records by the SCA, in the first ten months of this year, the Phnom Penh International Airport had  received 1.47 million passengers, up 11 percent compared to the same period last year, and the Siem Reap International Airport  got 1.39 million travelers, up 14 percent.

BANGKOK, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- A total of 377 people were confirmed dead and two people were missing in the floods that have inundated the upper part of the country for almost three months, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported on Friday morning.

Four more people were confirmed dead on Thursday in central provinces of Phichit (2) and Sing Buri (2).

Central province of Nakhon Sawan has the highest death toll of 55 people, following by central province of Phichit, of which 50 people killed by flood.

Flash floods caused by the heavy monsoon "Nock-Ten" hit the country since mid July.

Floods still prevail in 27 of 77 provinces, affecting about 730, 000 households and 2.2 million people.

The situation in 36 provinces, mostly in the north, have slowly been recovering, the report said.

About 50 main highways in many provinces are flooded and cannot be passed and 18 north-bound train routes were cancelled.

CHICAGO, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Seven people were killed and four others  injured on Thursday in a car crash on a toll road of Indiana state, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The police said that a minivan, carrying 10 people, was struck from behind by a semitrailer truck on a toll road in north Indiana. Seven of the people in the minivan were confirmed dead, while three others from the van and the truck driver were hospitalized.

The van might have hit a deer and slowed or stopped in a driving lane when the accident happened, according to the police.

The police officials are investigating the details of the accident.

URUMQI, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen people, including 10 children, were injured when a school bus hit a van in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region Thursday evening, said local police on Friday.

The school bus carrying children home from Heshuo country's No. 2 Kindergarten collided with a van around 6:40 p.m. Thursday in the Mongolian autonomous prefecture of Bayingolin, said county police.

The injured are receiving treatment at Heshuo County People's Hospital. None of them had sustained life-threatening injuries, police said.

An investigation into the accident is under way.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian firms inked 10- billion-U.S.dollar economic cooperation agreements with Chinese companies during a roundtable dialogue at the recently-concluded China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning of south China's Guangxi.

Malaysia's state news agency Bernama reported on Thursday that Malaysian and Chinese firms signed engineering and construction contracts for a hybrid power project in Sri Lanka and a thermal power plant in Vietnam.

Malaysian public transport consortium, Perak Transit and automaker Proton also sealed agreements with Chinese passenger car- maker, Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. and China's Hawtai Motor Group, according to the report.

Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, witnessed the signing ceremony on Oct. 21.

Organizers said the total trade volume at the annual six-day China-ASEAN expo, which concluded on Wednesday, reached 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 5.6 percent from the previous one.

The expo was meant to improve economic and diplomatic ties between China and ASEAN.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Najib were among the state leaders who attended the expo and meetings held on the sidelines.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

MANILA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Poverty reduction is the key to success behind ASEAN's plan become an integrated regional market by 2015.

A senior economist of the Asian Development Bank said that ASEAN governments need to promote cross border trade and investments to slash poverty levels, close the "development" gap between wealthy and poorer nations and keep the region resilient amid a possible global downturn.

"In ASEAN, (regional economic cooperation) is about jobs, prosperity and keeping peace and stability," said Ganeshan Wignaraja, principal economist for ADB's Regional Economic Integration department.

Poverty reduction, he said, is good from a "development point of view but it also helps with social stability."

"If we can't provide jobs, especially with a scenario of a possible world recession next year, then inequality rises, poverty incidence goes up and social tensions will be very strong," Wignaraja said in an interview with Xinhua.

Leaders of Southeast Asian countries announced in 2003 their plan to create the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) which will serve as an integrated regional market for the 10 ASEAN member states including Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Laos, Brunei and Myanmar.

The AEC is envisioned to be in place by 2015. ASEAN member countries believe that an AEC will promote free flow of goods, services, capital and skilled labor in the region. This will make the region a greater economic clout as it stands to compete with Asian economic juggernauts like China and India.

Wignaraja believes "the future is bright" for such regional integration. That said, ASEAN need to resolve several challenges before it can accomplish its goal of regional integration.

The immediate concern is the threat of another global recession on back of economic uncertainties in the U.S. and the European debt crisis.

The U.S. and EU are the main export markets for ASEAN products. This will affect regional integration and Wignaraja said it's essential that ASEAN countries boost regional domestic and demand.

Over the long term, however, Wignaraja said there also needs to be continued integration in trade and investments especially. He sees a "major opportunity" in liberalizing services like finance, health, education and information technology.

Wignaraja noted that a "mutual recognition of professional standards" can help in opening up the flow of skilled labor within the region.

"For example, right now, a lawyer trained in Singapore can't practice in Vietnam or vice versa," he said.

Wignaraja said ASEAN members need to reduce non-tariff measures to promote cross border investments.

"Within ASEAN countries, there's still strong local ownership that's discouraging entry foreign investments," he said.

ASEAN governments also need to work on cross border roads and railways to reduce cost, he added.

So far, there's this plan to build a massive railway line from Singapore to Kuming in southwest China. Known as the Singapore- Kunming Rail Link (SKRL), the SKRL, which covers 3,000 miles, will connect domestic lines within several Southeast Asian nations. The ADB is putting in 84 million U.S. dollars and the Australian government is putting in another 21.5 million U.S. dollars to help finance its construction.

Wignaraja said ASEAN's move towards expansion like ASEAN Plus Three (ASEAN +3) - a regional cooperation that includes the three East Asian nations of China, Japan, and South Korea.

Such cooperation is "critical to ASEAN prosperity," according to Wignaraja, noting that trade between ASEAN and China, for instance, is now valued at 300 billion U.S. dollars.

This bode well for ASEAN's plan for 2015. But Wignaraja said China, Japan and South Korea also need to create a similar agreement to make it work over the long term.

"At the moment, you have ASEAN + 3. But there's no similar agreement among the three East Asian countries," he said.

Another issue crucial to ASEAN integration is the inclusion of Russia and the U.S. in the East Asia Summit (EAS) - a regional cooperation among 16 countries in the East Asian region plus Australia.

The U.S. and Russia will formally join the group in the sixth East Asia Summit (EAS) that will be held next month in Indonesia.

"For the U.S., this will open a door to trade and investment to Asia" and will formally link East Asian economies with that of the U.S., Wignaraja said.

He added that Russia's membership is "mutually beneficial" for both East Asia and Russia.

"Russia is now the world's largest energy producer. So energy cooperation is critical," he said, stressing the growing demand for energy from fast growing Asian economies. On the other hand, this will give Russia more access to East Asian markets.

That said, Wignaraja said, ASEAN leaders should not forget the "centrality of ASEAN" and how linking the region with global economy can promote development in the region.

"The ASEAN cooperation project has been impressive but the region has to solve critical challenges first so that it can move forward," he said.