DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodian court charges woman from China's Taiwan with trafficking fishermen” plus 3 more

PHNOM PENH, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday welcomed the kingdom's opposition party Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) for its final decision to register for July's general election.

"I congratulate the opposition party for having its party and candidates registered with the National Election Committee (NEC) in order to join race in the general election on July 28," the premier said during the inauguration of a praying hall in a Buddhist pagoda in northern Kampong Chhnang province. "Previously, the opposition party threatened to boycott the election, but now, it showed clearly that they joined it."

The opposition party has repeatedly accused the NEC of being biased towards the ruling Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen and failing to accurately register voters for the upcoming election.

Ho Vann, deputy chief of the CNRP's disciplinary committee, said Saturday that the CNRP officially registered with the NEC on Friday to contest in the upcoming poll, but the name of its self- exiled leader Sam Rainsy has been omitted from its registration because the election body has deleted Sam Rainsy's name from the voter registry since November on the grounds that he is a convicted criminal.

Sam Rainsy, 63, fled the country in late 2009 before Cambodian court sentenced him to 11 years in prison in absentia for two charges--removing border poles and publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam and accusing Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong of being a member of the Democratic Kampuchea, or known as Khmer Rouge.

Ho Vann said, "However, the CNRP still keeps the name of Sam Rainsy as the candidate of Prime Minister if the party wins the upcoming election."

The CNRP was formed in September last year by the amalgamation of two opposition parties--the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party.

NEC's Secretary General Tep Nytha said Friday that six political parties have registered with the NEC to run in the upcoming election, adding the exact number will be released next Monday, which is the deadline of the registration for political parties.

The country is scheduled to hold a general election for the 123- seat parliament on July 28. Some 9.67 million Cambodians are eligible to cast their ballots.

Analysts predict that the ruling Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen will dominantly win the forthcoming election.

Hun Sen, 61, has been in power for 28 years.

YANGON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Six signatory nations to a pact on drug control cooperation -- Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam reaffirmed in a declaration on Thursday their commitment to overcome and eliminate drug problems in the East Asian region.

The Nay Pyi Taw Declaration on drug control cooperation among the six nations was issued at the end of a one-day meeting held in the Myanmar capital, attended by ministers and representatives from the six countries as well as representatives from the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC).

The declaration expressed satisfaction over the efforts and progress made by the signatories through fruitful cooperation within various existing bilateral, sub-regional, regional and international drug control cooperation mechanisms.

The declaration appreciated the joint accomplishments of the signatories to the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding on Drug Control and of the UNODC in the areas of drug demand reduction, HIV prevention, alternative development, law enforcement, in particular cross border cooperation, criminal justice and international collaboration.

The declaration took note of the increasing manufacture and consumption of amphetamine-type stimulants along with rising opium cultivation which have undermined regional development at a significant cost to governments and citizens.

It also acknowledged that the combination of drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crime has posed a particular challenge to the stability and rule of law in border areas.

The MoU on drug control was first signed by four nations namely Myanmar, China, Laos and Thailand in 1993 through the coordination of the UNODC and the MoU was extended to Cambodia and Vietnam in 1995.

Liu Yuejin, Chinese delegation leader and permanent deputy secretary general of China's National Narcotics Control Commission, vowed at the meeting to continue cooperation with regional countries in drug elimination.

Lieutenant-General Ko Ko, who is chairman of Myanmar's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control and minister of home affairs, warned that opium cultivation rebounded again in 2007 due to its basic changing trend.

Myanmar has declared that it will continue to fight drug in 2013 under a revised 15-year drug eradication plan (1999-2014) which has been extended for another five years until 2019 to maintain the momentum of war against drug.

Myanmar has been implementing the 15-year original plan since 1999 in three five-year phases to fight against drug and the plan has now reached the fourth year of the final five-year phase before it was extended.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and the United States have also signed a letter of agreement on resuming joint opium yield survey this year after such cooperation was halted for nine years since 2004.

The letter of agreement, signed in February, signified Myanmar' s continued efforts in strengthening cooperation with the international community in drug elimination.

Myanmar and the U.S. had conducted joint opium yield survey for 10 times before 2004.

In recent years, drug trafficking, once viewed largely as a social and criminal problem, has transformed into a major threat to the health and security of people and regions.

The cooperation of law enforcement agencies of the four countries -- Myanmar, China, Laos and Thailand has resulted in the arrest of drug trafficker and fugitive Sa Naw Kham in Laos in April 2012 who committed ambush attacks in the Mekong River, killing 12 personnel undertaking law enforcement duties and five civilians in 2011.

Naw Kham and three of his accomplices were executed by lethal injection in the city of Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province in accordance with law on March 1, 2013.

PHNOM PENH, May 10 (Xinhua) -- India will provide 40,000 bottles of indelible ink to the National Election Committee (NEC) of Cambodia that will be used in the general election on July 28, a NEC's statement said Friday.

The ink, which costs about 830,000 U.S. dollars, will be airlifted to Cambodia in mid-June, said the statement, citing Indian Ambassador to Cambodia Dinesk K. Patnaik.

NEC's secretary general Tep Nytha said the NEC has already issued a letter of appreciation to the government of India for the donation. He said the indelible ink will be used to mark voters' fingers and it will be unable to be washed off for 7 to 15 days.

The country is scheduled to hold a general election for the 123- seat parliament on July 28. Some 9.67 million Cambodians are eligible to cast their ballots in the upcoming election, said the NEC.

Tep Nytha said as of Friday, 6 political parties have registered with the NEC to run in the upcoming election, adding that the exact number will be released next Monday, which is the deadline of the registration for political parties.

Analysts project that the ruling Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen will dominantly win the forthcoming election.

Hun Sen, 61, has been in power for 28 years and vowed to stay in the office until he is 74.