DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodian king leaves for Beijing for medical checkup” plus 9 more

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni departed for Beijing for "routine medical check-up" on Saturday morning.

The king accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Kong Sam Ol, minister of the Royal Palace.

At the Phnom Penh International Airport, he was seen off by Senate President Chea Sim, Prime Minister Hun Sen, other government officials, royal family members and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Pan Guangxue.

During his stay in Beijing, besides the medical checkup, the king will pay a visit to his parents -- ailing former king Norodom Sihanouk and former queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk.

The king's last medical checkup in China was in April.

According to the constitutional law, when the king is absent, Cambodian President of the Senate Chea Sim will assume the title of the acting Head of State.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Michael Jackson's personal physician told investigator two days after the singer's death that he had given powerful anesthetic propofol to him before his death, in a two-hour recording played in court on Friday.

But Conrad Murray insisted that he did so at the star's request.

At the involuntary manslaughter trial against Murray at Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, a seven-man, five-woman jury listened to an audiotape which was played in public for the first time. It contained an interview held between Murray and police investigators on June 27, 2009 at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, Southern California.

In describing the circumstances in the hours leading up to the pop superstar's death, Murray said that after various medications including a valium pill, a small amount of lorazepam and midazolam failed to work to help Jackson fall asleep, the singer complained he would have to cancel that day's rehearsal if he could not sleep.

The singer then said he wanted his "milk" -- propofol, a substance that Jackson was familiar with, according to Murray.

"Please, please give me some milk, so I can sleep," Murray quoted the pop icon as saying.

Eventually, at Jackson's request, Murray agreed to give him a 25-milligram dose of propofol, which was infused over about three to five minutes, beginning at around 10:40 a.m.

Murray said he needed to go to the bathroom, and left the bedroom for two minutes.

"Then I came back to his bedside and was stunned in the sense that he wasn't breathing," Murray told the police investigators.

The cardiologist said he started immediately to perform ultimately unsuccessful attempts through CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, using one hand to compress Jackson's chest, and also tried to raise his leg in hopes of giving him "an auto-transfusion."

Murray also gave the singer a dose of flumazenil, which he called an "antidote" that could reverse the effects of the earlier drugs he had given him.

Noting that none of the telephones in the house worked, Murray told the police that he grabbed his cell phone and called Jackson's assistant, telling him to send someone up to the room.

The singer's doctor ran out of the room and walked down toward the kitchen, telling somebody to get help when nobody came immediately.

According to the police interview, Murray said he had given Jackson propofol virtually every day.

The King of Pop also told Murray that Dr. David Adams in Las Vegas had given him propofol before, Murray said.

Prosecutors seek to prove that Murray, 58, failed to properly monitor Jackson after giving him a lethal dose of propofol. The cardiologist "repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied care, appropriate care to his patient, Michael Jackson, and that it was Dr. Murray's repeated incompetence and unskilled acts that led to Mr. Jackson's death on June 25, 2009." the prosecutors contend.

Defense attorneys argued Murray was weaning Jackson off the medication, but that the singer "self-administered" a lethal dose. The cardiologist was hired by Jackon to care for him a little more than two months before his death.

The trial is expected to last four to five weeks. Murray, who was set free on a bail of 75,000 U.S. dollars, faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the felony charge.

The playback of the audiotape will resume when the session continues early next week.

KABUL, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The largest coordinated insurgent attack since 2009 against NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) bases was foiled Friday morning, said an ISAF news release issued late Friday night.

"At least 25 insurgents were confirmed killed during the attacks" near the border with Pakistan, according to the news release.

Insurgents unsuccessfully used indirect fire from multiple locations in the Gormal, Sarobi and Barmal districts of Paktika province, some 160 km south of Afghan capital Kabul. ISAF troops in Paktika, bordering Pakistan in the east, is under the command of Regional Command-East (RC-East).

"One Coalition member was slightly wounded," said the news release issued by ISAF RC-East.

Troops stationed at Combat Outpost Margah "positively identified and destroyed an insurgent vehicle bomb before it could get close enough to the base."

Coalition aircraft provided close air support with precision guided bombs against insurgent targets. "There were no reports of civilian damage or casualties," said the news release.

So far, no comment from Afghan Taliban, which has been active in Paktika in recent years, is available.

The Taliban stepped up their attacks on Afghan and NATO-led troops since a spring rebel offensive was launched in May this year in the war-ravaged country.

TIANJIN, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- An expressway accident that occurred in north China's port city of Tianjin on Friday afternoon has left 35 dead and 19 others injured, police said.

The accident occurred around 4 p.m. when a coach rolled over after rear-ending a car on the Tianjin section of an expressway linking the city's Binhai New Area with the city of Baoding in neighboring Hebei province.

Most of the coach's passengers were students from Hebei's Tangshan College who were on their way back to school on the last day of the week-long National Day holiday, police said.

The injured have been taken to local hospitals for treatment. The driver of the coach is currently in a coma, according to the police.

The identities of the 19 injured have been confirmed and police are still trying to ascertain the identities of the deceased.

An investigatory team composed of members of the State Administration of Work Safety and the Ministry of Public Security have been dispatched to the scene to look into the accident.

Wang Qiang, an official with the city's traffic management bureau, said the coach was speeding and many of the passengers were thrown out of the vehicle when it hit the car and rolled over.

The coach, which belongs to the Tangshan Traffic and Transportation Group, has a maximum capacity of 53 people. However, 55 people were in the vehicle when the accident occurred.

Traffic on the expressway was resumed by 8 a.m. Saturday after the road was blocked off by the accident, police said.

Tianjin's crash was the most deadly of three major road accidents that occurred on the last day of the holiday. Traffic is often high on the last day, as many people are traveling after visiting their families or taking vacations.

Eleven people died when a truck crashed into a mini-van at about 6:30 a.m. on a highway in Sheqi County in central China's Henan province.

Local officials said all of the mini-van's passengers were killed instantly, and the truck driver was detained after fleeing the scene.

Low visibility caused by heavy morning fog triggered a pile-up that involved 24 cars on an expressway in east China's Anhui province, killing at least six people and injuring 19 others, police said.

KABUL, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The largest coordinated insurgent attack since 2009 against NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) bases was foiled Friday morning, said an ISAF news release issued late Friday night. "At least 25 insurgents were confirmed killed during the attacks" near the border with Pakistan, according to the news release.

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, Oct 07, 2011- 9 Cambodians died of wine poisoning and 76 others hospitalized in serious condition after they drank the local wine, which was refined from white rice.

Sarun Chnthy, police chief of purat province urged local people to stop drinking wine and ordered all owners of home-made wine to ask the permission of license for opening business from department of mine, energy and industry to ensure the quality of wine.

 Health minister Mum Bunheng inspected the victims at local hospital in the province. The health ministry is investigating case as it took sample to test for the element of the wine.  In the last few months, in the same district, 6 local people also died of wine poisoning after they used unclean jar to store wine.

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, Oct 07, 2011-Thai delegates including 11 members for rice mil fields on Friday met with president of Rice Mill Association of Cambodia on the talks of rice market and exporting to foreign markets.

"Thai delegates are on topic of understanding of rice market in Cambodia and they also plan to open the rice mills to boost rice product from Cambodia to global market," Phu Poy, head of rice mills association of Cambodia said.  "They talked about the standard of rice product for exporting," he added.

Today we have about 4 million tons of rice products while our rice product has been exported to neighboring countries. We must buy from local farmers to foster the exports and next year the investment of rice field will increase three or four times, "he expected.

The flood has hit Cambodia but it destroyed about three per cent of total rice harvest in 2011, he guessed. Cambodia considers rice as white gold while tourism industry called " Green gold" but oil and gas called "black gold" in the seabed and the country plans to get first drop of petroleum on 12 December 2012.

BANGKOK, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- As the death toll in Thailand's worst floods in five decades rose to 252, Ayutthaya is now coping with various problems caused by floods.

The historical city of Thailand Ayutthaya, only 76 km from Bangkok, is a former capital of Siam and homes 400-year-old castles and temples.

The flood has threatened the 370-year-old Chaiwatthanaram Temple, one of the country's most famous tourist attractions, across the Chao Phraya River.

Local authorities are struggling to fight severe flooding to save the historic site.

Under the plan to save the World Heritage sites and its 32 acre surroundings, the authorities are trying first to block further water intrusions by reinforcing the sandbag embankments and plugging the section of breached dyke before pumping out the flood water, according to the Mass Communication of Thailand.

However, the attempt is tedious and time-consuming, a process obstructed by the swift, strong waterflow as flat-bottomed boats are able to reach the damaged dyke and carry only one sand bag at a time.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Friday offered help to Thai government to help protect Thailand's World Heritage site in flood-hit province.

UNESCO notified the Thai government through its office in Bangkok that it is ready to help Ayutthaya in central region of Thailand to cope with floods and provide emergency assistance to help save other listed World Heritage sites in the province if requested.

The former capital of Siam is also home to a few industrial plants.

Factories from Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. in industrial parks in Ayutthaya province are at risk after floods caused nearby plants to shut down.

The authority on Friday warned the industrial plants to temporary close from Friday until next Tuesday as the floods has inundated the province.

Moreover, dozens of crocodiles have escaped from a farm in Ayutthaya's Bang Ban district after it was inundated by months of severe flooding and heavy rain, reports said on Friday.

Authorities have warned people in tambon Ban Kum of the inundated province to watch out for about 25 escaped crocodiles.

Reports said most of the missing reptiles were about one metre in length. The authority warned that people should not try to catch the crocodiles.

Although the city has to cope with about 20 centimetres high flood, plus crocodiles, officials said people still refused to evacuate as they are worried about their belongings.