DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Big Cleaning Day held in flood-hit Thai province” plus 9 more

BANGKOK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Central Ayutthaya province, Thailand's old capital and world heritage site, held 'Big Cleaning Day' on Monday in the Bang Pa-In Industrial Estate after flood water receded.

Some 2,000 staff of those factories in Bang Pa-In industrial park joined in the cleaning work in order to help flood-hit manufacturers resume their production by the end of this month.

Home to over 100 manufacturing plants, Bang Pa-In is one of the seven industrial estates in central Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani provinces which were inundated by heavy deluge in October.

More than one million workers have been suspended due to the worst floods in over 50 years and initial loss for submerged seven industrial estates has been estimated at about 3.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains and back-to-back tropical storms have ravaged the country since late July, killing more than 600 and affecting 13 million residents nationwide.

AKWA IBOM, Nigeria, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police in southeast Akwa Ibom has confirmed the killing of two unidentified persons in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of the state by unknown gunmen.

State police spokesperson Onyeka Orji disclosed this to reporters in Eket area of the state on Sunday, saying that the gunmen killed  two unidentified persons during the operation.

Orji said two members of the gang had been arrested while others fled with gunshot wounds.

According to him, the police have recovered an AK 47 riffle and 22 rounds of ammunition as well as the Hiace bus used for the operation.

The incident was said to have occurred a few meters from Akwa Ibom State University in Ikot Apanen, Mkpat Enin council area.

Security sources said there was a gun battle between the gunmen and the police lasting several minutes and scaring away people from the crime scene.

The sources said it remained unclear if the unidentified gunmen were armed robbers or hired assassins.

KABUL, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan national police backed by the army and NATO-led troops have killed five anti-government militants and captured five others over the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a press release issued on Monday.

"The Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army and Coalition Forces during two coordinated operations in Helmand and Ghazni provinces have killed five armed insurgents and arrested five others," the press release said.

A number of arms and ammunitions including four assault rifles AK-47 and 40 kg explosive materials have also been seized during the operations, it added.

HANOI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam exported 6.38 million tons of rice, worth 3.22 billion U.S. dollars, in the first 10 months of this year, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Monday, quoting figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ( MARD).

Asia was the largest consumer of Vietnam's rice, making up around 64 percent of the country's exports, followed by Africa, with 25 percent and America, seven percent.

The Mekong delta - the country's rice basket - has so far this year shipped abroad 5.8 million tons of rice for more than 2.8 billion U.S. dollars.

The country's rice output is estimated at 22.8 million tons this year, almost 1.3 million tons more than the 2010 figure, said the MARD.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The New Delhi government has ordered a probe into the fire which broke out at a community hall in the national capital Sunday evening, killing at least 15 people and injuring over 50 others, police said on Monday.

A probe has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the incident. The Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikhsit will visit the injured recuperating in various hospitals, where the condition of some are said to be serious.

The fire first broke out in the kitchen of the community hall and the flames later engulfed adjoining tents in Nand Nagri in east Delhi where 2,000 eunuchs or transsexuals gathered for a three-day convention.

Police said the cause of the fire could be an electric short circuit. They said electrical glitch started the fire which was subsequently triggered by gas cylinders that started blasting due to the impact of the fire.

Over 20 fire tenders were pressed into service as local TV channels beamed footage of the raging flames and the dead bodies being carried away. The fire was brought into control after two to three hours.

The transsexuals in India are socially marginalized people feeding themselves by providing entertainment, funeral, marriage and ritual services.

URUMQI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Flights of more than 4,000 travelers were disrupted Monday after heavy fog grounded dozens of planes at the airport of Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Urumqi International Airport had confirmed that 45 flights were delayed by 1 p.m., and another six Urumqi-bound flights were diverted to neighboring airports in Dunhuang city, Gansu province, and Xinjiang's Karamay city.

Fog has blanketed the airport since 8 a.m., reducing the visibility to less than 50 meters, and has lingered since.

BANGKOK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) - Projection of Thailand's economic growth in 2011 has been adjusted to only 1.5 percent, down from the previous 3.5-4.0 percent as a result of the devastating floods, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board ( NESDB) said on Monday.

The gross domestic product (GDP) growth for third quarter of the year was up 3.5 percent from the same quarter last year, thanks to the expansion of the export sector, the recovery of automobiles industries after the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the increase in investment of the private sector, said Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, secretary general of NESDB.

However, the economic performance for the fourth quarter would be hard-hit by the widespread floods and the GDP growth for the whole year would be largely trimmed to 1.5 percent, he added.

Prasarn Trairatvorakul, Bank of Thailand governor, said last month that GDP growth in the fourth quarter could be a negative figure because of the flood's impact. He expected the economic growth for the whole year to be 3.1 percent.

KABUL, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed in a blast in restive Afghanistan's southern region on Sunday, the military alliance confirmed on Monday.

"An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan yesterday," ISAF said in a statement.

However, the brief statement did not reveal the nationality of the victim under ISAF policy.

Troops mainly from the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia have been stationed in the restive southern Afghan provinces within the framework of ISAF to fight Taliban militants there.

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

Over 520 NATO soldiers, most of them Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan since beginning this year.

BANGKOK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- In total, nine people -- two Buddhist monks, three police and four civilians -- were injured in an explosion Monday's morning in Mueang district, southern Patthani province.

Four monks were collecting alms under the protection of three police early morning when the home-made bomb went off.

Police said the 3-kg bomb was hidden under a flowerpot on the road. Bomb shrapnel hurt nine people who were then admitted to a nearby hospital already.

There have been over 11,000 violent incidents in the southernmost provinces from January 2004 to August 2011. Altogether over 4,800 people, mostly villagers, have been killed in violent incidents instigated by suspected secessionists in the Muslim-dominant southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat which were once independent sultanate of Pattani before being annexed by predominantly Buddhist state in 1909.

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian court with the support from the United Nations opened hearing on Monday  against three former leaders of Democratic Kampuchea (or Khmer Rouge) who are charged with crimes against humanity and  war crimes.

At the start of the hearing, Nil Nonn, president of the Trial Chamber  of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia  announced that "May I now declare the hearing opened."

The three leaders who were present along with their defense team are Khieu Samphan, former head of state; Nuon Chea,  former head of the parliament or known as Brother No. 2 and former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary.

Ieng Thirith, wife of Ieng Sary who was supposed to include in today's hearing was excluded several days ago by the court. She is suffering mental problem and that she is classified as unfit to the trial.

The court is known in full as Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and has to date concluded with the case  concerning Kaing Guek Ieu, who is known as Duch, who was convicted last year to 19 years in prison in addition to time already  served.

The hearing on Monday started with the opening statements by co- prosecutors and responses by the accused's defense team  while the substantive hearing will begin early next month.

It remains unclear when the hearing against these three leaders will conclude, but many believe that it will not end in any time  less than a year as experienced with the first case against Duch.

Leaders of the Democratic Kampuchea have been blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million Cambodians under their rule between 1975 and 1979.