DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia's malaria death toll halves in 2012: health official” plus 3 more

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Forty-seven Cambodian people were killed by malaria last year, down 50 percent compared with 94 deaths in a year earlier, a health official said Friday.

"This is the first largest drop in the last decade," Dr. Char Meng Chuor, head of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, told Xinhua. "We are saving many live now."

During the 2000-2010 period, the average decrease in each year was only around 6 percent per year, he said, attributing the sharp decline last year to the National Strategic Plan on Elimination of Malaria, which was announced by Prime Minister Hun Sen in March, 2011.

He said through the strategic plan, the Health Ministry has invested a lot of money on health education by producing spots and advertising them on TVs, Radios and print media.

Moreover, over a million of mosquito nets were distributed last year to the vulnerable groups of people.

He said that based on the figures, it is believed that the country will be able to eradicate the death from malaria by 2015.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease. In Cambodia, the disease is often found in rainy season and mostly happens in border provinces, and forest and mountainous provinces.

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The last 23 suspects from the Chinese mainland arrived in Beijing in custody Thursday via a flight from Cambodia, marking the downfall of a transnational telecom fraud ring.

According to a statement released Thursday by the Ministry of Public Security, mainland and Taiwanese police, with the help of police forces from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, detained a total of 505 suspects believed to be connected with the ring.

Police became aware of the group after fraudsters who pretended to be employees of police departments, courts and a domestic cable service provider defrauded a Beijing resident for 1 million yuan (160,000 U.S. dollars).

While offering no further details on their methods, the statement said the group operated out of the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and the above-mentioned six countries, while the illicit money was received in Taiwan.

The group's criminal activity spanned 30 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The money involved amounted to more than 83 million yuan.

Of the 505 suspects, 436 came from Taiwan, 66 from the Chinese mainland and three from other countries, the statement said.

Liu Ancheng, head of the ministry's criminal investigation department, vowed to maintain a "high-voltage" crackdown on such crimes while warning citizens against providing bank account information to strangers.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian and the U.S. military personnel on Thursday successfully concluded a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief planning and coordination exercise after two weeks in action.

The exercise, which was participated in by 36 U.S. military personnel from the 37th Combat Logistics Regiment of the U.S. Marines and 60 Cambodian military officials, is a computer simulation that allows all participants to focus on Crisis Action Planning and Consequence Management, said a press release from the U.S. embassy to Cambodia.

"The participants are exchanging expertise on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief response techniques in order to enhance the professional relationships and interoperability between Cambodia and the U.S. organizations," the press release said.

"This exercise improves the ability of Asia-Pacific nations to work together effectively to provide relief and assistance in the event of natural disasters and crises," it said.

Terry Murphree, acting deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy to Cambodia, said at the closing ceremony that the United States remains committed to deepening its relations with the countries of the region, including Cambodia.

He said the exercise was very vital for developing disaster relief capacity for Cambodian military personnel.

Brigadier General Tat Chantha, deputy chief of Cambodian Military Police's planning department, agreed that the exercise was very important to build up capacity for Cambodian military officials on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief expertise.

"The exercise has also created friendlier relations and closer cooperation between Cambodian armed forces and their U.S. counterparts," he said at the closing ceremony.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday signed up to provide 230 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia for six development projects, aiming at promoting inclusive growth and reducing poverty in Cambodia, according to the bank's media statement.

The financing agreements were inked between Eric Sidgwick, country director of ADB to Cambodia, and Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and finance minister Keat Chhon.

The 230 million U.S. dollar assistance includes 218.46 million U.S. dollar concessional loan and 11.7 million U.S. dollar grant, the statement said, adding that the six projects are focused on education, decentralized public service and financial management sector, economic diversification promotion, flood and drought risk management and mitigation, power sub-transmission line construction, and Southern economic corridor town development project.

"The assistance demonstrates an excellent partnership between Cambodia and ADB," Keat Chhon said at the signing ceremony. "The financing support to these projects is a timely response to our need for development in the current global context to achieve high economic growth and forms the basis for long-term development."

To date, he said, the bank's cumulative amount of project loans and grants extended to Cambodia has reached 1.85 billion U.S. dollars, of which ADB has financed 1.5 billion U.S. dollars as loans for 63 projects and 350 million U.S. dollars as grants for 33 projects.

"This has contributed considerably to the development of Cambodia," the minister said.

Eric Sidgwick said the projects would improve the quality of life for poor and vulnerable people, further develop the economy by helping the government roll out a series of policy reforms and measures to expand trade and investment, diversify the country's economic base, and help transform Cambodia into an open and market- based economy.

"They reflect ADB's ongoing efforts to achieve inclusive growth through harnessing the synergies between a range of interventions," he said.