DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “At least 4 killed in U.S. drone strike in NW Pakistan” plus 9 more

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least four persons were killed on Sunday in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan, local Urdu TV ARY reported.

KABUL, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Eleven insurgents have been killed and 12 others injured when Afghan and NATO-led Coalition forces launched 12 joint operations in different Afghan provinces over the past 24 hours, Afghan Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

"Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan army and Coalition forces carried out 12 joint operations in Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Zabul, Logar, and Paktika province over the past 24 hours, killing 11 armed insurgents and wounding 12 other armed insurgents," the ministry said in a statement.

ANP also detained 18 suspected militants besides seizing a handful of weapons and ammunition in the same operations, the statement added.

Separately, ANP also discovered and defused 15 anti-vehicle mines and 25 mortar mine fuses as a result of separate operations in southern Zabul and eastern Paktia province.

Afghan officials often use the word "insurgents" referring to Taliban, however, Taliban militants have yet to make comments.

Taliban militants claimed of responsibility for a suicide car bomb on a coalition convoy in capital city of Kabul on Sunday that left 13 U.S. soldiers and civilian employees with the NATO-led Coalition forces and four Afghans dead in a deadliest attack on foreign troops in Afghan capital of Kabul.

BANGKOK, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- A total of 381 people were confirmed dead and two people were missing in Thailand's worst floods that have inundated many provinces since July 25, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said on Sunday.

Floods which affected 62 of 77 provinces started receding in some provinces. Currently, the deluge still prevails in 144 districts of 26 provinces in northeastern and central regions, affecting 2,035,119 people, the department said.

Bangkok, the country's capital city, is on the edge of flooding as its outer areas were inundated and one of the airports swamped this week. In the eastern part of Bangkok, a total of 27 communities outside floodwalls were inundated by the northern runoff. People along Chao Praya River have been warned of overflow.

Bangkokians have rushed out of the city during the five-day special holiday from October 27-31 declared by the cabinet on last Tuesday.

Since the most severe floods in over half a century caused by heavy monsoon rains and tropical storms have lashed the country, over 9.4 million people affected and hundreds of roads and highways were under water, some 75 out of these were so damaged that they became impassable. Ten thousands of factories inundated, putting over 600,000 employees at the risk of loosing their jobs.

TAIPEI, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- A 6.5-magnitude earthquake jolted sea area off northeast Taiwan at 11:23 Beijing Time (3:23 GMT) on Sunday,  according to Taiwan's meteorological department.

The epicenter, with a depth of 221.4 km, was determined to be at 25.29 degrees north latitude and 123.14 degrees east longitude, is about 141.4 km from the port city of Keelung, Taiwan's meteorological department said.

Residents in Taipei did not feel the quake. There is no casualties report as of the press time.

The quake was measured as 5.7 magnitude on the Richter scale by the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Sunday celebrated the 20th anniversary of ailing former retired  King Norodom Sihanouk's return from exile and his 89-year-old birthday turning to 90 on Oct. 31.

The auspicious ceremony was held in front of the Royal Palace with the high presence from King Norodom Sihamoni, Sihanouk 's son, Senate acting-President Prince Sisowath Chivan Monirak, President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin, Prime  Minister Hun Sen, and foreign diplomatic corps.

In his first public appearance since his abdication in October 2004 in favour of his son Norodom Sihamoni, the former King was  warmly greeted by throng of about 40,000 people from all walks of life.

Traditional dance has been performed to bless the former King with good health and longevity.

In his remarks, Sihanouk said he was very happy to have an honor to address to his beloved compatriots and highly appreciated Prime Minister Hun Sen for his tireless efforts and achievements to develop the country.

"Also, I admire the government of Cambodia and the parliament for their joint efforts to develop the nation," he said in a speech and live televised by the state-owned National Television of Cambodia.

The former King and Queen returned to Cambodia on November 14, 1991 from their exile in China's Beijing at the invitation  of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, said Prime Minister Hun Sen in a speech during the celebration.

He said the celebration was to reflect the sincere hearts of Cambodian people towards the former King Norodom Sihanouk and  Queen Norodom Monineath for their tireless efforts and achievements in national construction.

"We, all Cambodian people, wish the king father for good health and longevity in order to stay as a cold shadow for peace, political stability and prosperity of Cambodia and Cambodian people," he said.

Hun Sen said in the history of Cambodian Kings, there have never had any ex-kings who had as long life as the former King  Norodom Sihanouk.

"In the past and in the future, the government of Cambodia vows to protect monarchic regime, constitutional law, full peace, political stability and national unification," he said.

During the celebrations, there is an exhibition displaying former King Norodom Sihanouk's royal crusades and achievements in his efforts to develop the nation.

Also, at the night of Oct. 30, there will be fireworks and concerts.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Australian flag carrier Qantas, hit by labor disputes, canceled all its flights to and from Singapore's Changi Airport on Saturday evening, local media reported on Sunday.

Changi Airport Group advised affected passengers not to go to the airport and check the website of Qantas for options available.

Qantas Airways grounded all aircraft and canceled its domestic and international flights on Saturday as an intensifying labor dispute disrupted travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Qantas announced that it had locked out workers represented by three of its employee unions, including those that represent pilots and baggage handlers.

The decision of Qantas to ground all aircraft affect 108 planes at 22 airports.

Changi Airport Group said that it was working closely with Qantas to help affected passengers and that "the airline will try to put affected passengers on other airlines as far as possible, on a case-by-case basis. Unfortunately the situation is very tight. "

The labor dispute is the worst Qantas has faced since 2008.

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- China Everbright Bank's profit jumped 40.65 percent year on year to reach 14.15 billion yuan (2.23 billion U.S. dollars) for the first three quarters of the year, the mid-sized lender said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The bank attributed the profit growth to an increase in net interest income, which rose 30.68 percent year on year to 28.98 billion yuan in the nine-month period, according to the statement.

The lender's income from fee-based services and commissions increased by 43.86 percent to hit 5.35 billion yuan for the first three quarters.

By the end of September, the value of the bank's total assets increased 12.54 percent to 1.67 trillion yuan from the beginning of this year, it said.

During the same period, the lender's non-performing loan ratio dropped 0.1 percentage pointd to 0.65 percent, the statement said.

By the end of September, the lender's capital adequacy ratio, which measures a bank's ability to deal with risk assets, stood at 10.93 percent, down 0.09 percentage pointd from nine months ago.

Meanwhile, its core capital adequacy ratio rose 0.09 percentage pointd to 8.24 percent, the statement said.

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's police arrested 12,125 suspects during a recent nationwide campaign against Internet-based drug addiction and sale, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced Sunday.

Police across the country busted 144 rings involved in drug production and trafficking and 22 secret drug-producing sites, and confiscated 308.3 kg of illicit drugs.

The battle was conducted after some criminal suspects were found to be  using online video platform to conduct sales and gather drug addicts, said Liu Yujing, a senior narcotics control official with the MPS.

In March, police in the cities of Lanzhou and Xi'an in west China found some people were getting and selling drugs through chatting in online chatting room, which were usually inaccessible to outsiders.

New comers could only be allowed to enter the online chatting room after being introduced by "acquaintances" and performing drug-addiction through the online video, Liu said.

The MPS soon launched a nationwide battle to fight against online drug-related activities on Aug. 31, and started tightening the net to seize the suspects on Sept. 2.

Among the 12,125 arrested suspects, 66.2 percent are young people under 35 years old, and 2.6 percent are under 18, with the youngest being 14 years old, according to Liu.

Criminal suspects turned to the Internet for drug addiction and distribution for it is harder for them to be detected in such way, said Liu, urging websites and those concerned to take their responsibility in fighting such illegal activities.

Meanwhile, Liu said China's existing laws and regulations should be upgraded to facilitate the legal handling of such cases involving Internet-based drug-related crimes.

MANILA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Five people died and 38 others were injured when the truck they were riding on fell into a deep ravine in a northern province late Saturday, police said Sunday.

Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said the vehicular accident occurred along the Halsema Highway in Monamon Sur village, Bauko town, Mt. Province at around 7:45 p.m.

An Elf truck with 43 passengers fell into an about 80-meter deep ravine, Cruz said, "As a result, five died while 38 others were injured."

The case was still under investigation, he added.

Bad roads, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless driving are among the common causes for traffic accidents that kill hundreds on Philippine highways every year.

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and five Southeast Asian nations in the Mekong region on Friday held the first-ever talks on expanding economic cooperation, the foreign ministry said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and his counterparts of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand agreed to strengthen their economic ties in areas including infrastructure, agricultural and rural development and environmentally sustainable growth.

The countries will support exchanges between public and private sectors on development projects and encourage the private sector to participate in such projects, according to the foreign ministry.

The foreign ministers of the six countries plan to meet annually and review these issues on a regular basis.

The meeting was proposed last year by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, as South Korea seeks to expand economic ties with the five countries and launch various development projects there.

South Korea also plans to sharply increase its aid to the Mekong region.

Trade between South Korea and the five countries reached 25 billion U.S. dollars last year.