Malaysia beats Cambodia 1-0 in U23 friendly match

   PHNOM PENH, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian U23 football squad beat Cambodia’s national team 1-0 in a friendly tournament at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

   During the match, Mohd Izuan Solahuddin, wore T-shirt No. 19, scored one goal at the 43rd minute.

   “The match is just a move to learn about mutual techniques,” according to a press release of the Football Federation of Cambodia. 

   The friendly match was held ahead of the AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) Suzuki cup 2012, which will be co-hosted by Malaysia and Thailand. The tournament will take place on Nov. 24 to Dec. 22 this year. 

Cambodian PM's 2nd son appointed as deputy chief of military intelligence unit

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hun Manit, the second eldest son of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, was promoted from the military rank of lieutenant colonel to colonel and appointed as the deputy chief of the Defense Ministry's intelligence department on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Gen. Chea Dara, deputy commander-in-chief of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) in charge of Preah Vihear Direction, was appointed as the chief of the Defense Ministry's intelligence department replacing the recent deceased Gen. Mol Roeup.
There were also the appointments of Maj. Gen. Siek Socheat, deputy commander of the front-battle region 3, as the chief of the RCAF's border affairs office instead of Maj. Gen. Sok Pheap, who took a new position as the undersecretary of state of the Defense Ministry.
Speaking during the appointment ceremony at the Headquarters of the RCAF, Gen. Pol Saroeun, the RCAF's commander-in-chief, said that the appointments were made based on their merits and expertise in commanding military.
"The two institutions -- the military intelligence department and the border affairs office -- have achieved a lot of good results, especially relevant to the past military confrontation along the border line," he said.
Hun Manit, 30, was the second eldest son of Prime Minister Hun Sen. His first eldest son Hun Manet, 34, currently holds the military rank of a Major General and is the deputy commander of the Headquarter of Infantry, deputy commander of Prime Minister Hun Sen's Bodyguard Unit and the head of the Anti-Terrorism Unit.

Sino-Cambodian ties see remarkable progress in past year: Chinese ambassador

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The relations between China and Cambodia have seen significant progress in 2011 in terms of political, economic, trade and humanitarian cooperation, the Chinese ambassador to Cambodia Pan Guangxue highlighted on Thursday evening.
Addressing at a reception ceremony to greet the upcoming Chinese New Year at the embassy residence, the ambassador said that the Sino-Cambodian political ties had rapidly developed in the past year.
"Top leaders of the two countries had exchanged visits to strengthen and expand the bilateral ties," he said.
In terms of trade, he said, the two-way trade volume was over 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2011 and it is believed that the volume will hit 2.5 billion U.S. dollars before the year 2015.
Pan also noted that last year, many investors had come to do businesses in Cambodia and an eminent achievement of Sino- Cambodian economic tie was the launch of the China-invested 193 megawatt Kamchay hydroelectric dam in December.
On the humanitarian cooperation, the ambassador said that China had provided nearly 10 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia during the period that Cambodia had been hit the worst from the floods between August and October.
"In the past year, we had achieved a great success to flourish our bilateral ties and I believe that the good ties will continue to be stronger and stronger in years to come for the interests of the two countries' peoples," he said.

Cambodian court convicts U.S. doctor to 10 years in jail for child sexual abuse

 PHNOM PENH, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Phnom Penh Municipal Court of First Instance on Wednesday convicted a United  States national doctor Phillip Bruce Shepard, 68, of child prostitution and sentenced him to 10 years in jail, according to a verdict  read by presiding judge Oeung Sieng.
  The verdict said that Shepard will be deported after he has served his jail term.
  He was charged in connection to the sexual abuse of two Cambodian brothers, aged 13 and 16 between 2008 and 2010.
  Shepard, a doctor at a private clinic in Phnom Penh, was arrested by anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection police in  July last year for purchasing child prostitution.
  Speaking to reporters after the verdict delivery, Shepard shortly said the court gave the wrong charge. He did not say if he  would appeal against the verdict.

Justice officials in GMS countries meet in Cambodia to strengthen human trafficking co-op

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Criminal justice practitioners from the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries gathered here on Wednesday to strengthen international cooperation on human trafficking investigations and prosecutions.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ang Vong Vathana, Cambodia's minister of justice, said that the meeting was very important to accelerate inter-governmental efforts in collaboration with local and international organizations to fight against human trafficking in persons.
"It is essential to develop realistic and effective cooperation in the criminal justice system to remove impunity for traffickers and to provide justice for victims," he said.
"It was also crucial to urge member states to strengthen cross- border cooperation in law enforcement among the six GMS countries to combat trafficking through criminal justice process," he added.
The minister said that the meeting was held under the framework of the COMMIT (Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking) Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in 2004 by the ministers representing the six member states of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) including China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The 3-day meeting was attended by senior justice officials from the GMS countries including Han Xiaofeng, division chief of the investigation department of China's Supreme People's Prosecutoriate, police captain Soe Tint at the department of transnational crime of Myanmar Police Force, Police Lt. Col. Paisith Sungkgahapong, senior special case inquiry official at the Supervising Anti-Human Trafficking Center of Thai ministry of justice.
Also attending the meeting were Thoummaly Vongphachan, director of Lao's Counseling and Protection Center for Women and Children, Ith Rady, undersecretary of state at Cambodia's ministry of justice, and Truong Thi Huong Mai, deputy head of section at Vietnam's department of prosecution service for felony cases.

ASEAN FMs end meeting with agreements on regional, international issues

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers concluded a meeting here Wednesday with agreements on a number of regional and international issues of common concern, said a press release issued after the event.
Those issues included the Korean Peninsula, the implementation of the declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DoC), the progress of democratization in Myanmar, and others, according to the press release.
On the issue of the Korean Peninsula, the foreign ministers deliberated on the leadership change in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and looked forward to the participation of the DPRK's foreign minister at the upcoming ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh in July, 2012, as well as the early resumption of the six-party talks about the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
"Cambodia will try all its best to negotiate and lobby the DPRK to return to the six-party talks that have been halted for a long time," Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said during a press briefing.
He said that the initiative of the six-party talks was made by China and the meetings were always held in China, so Cambodia had no intention to host the future six-party talks. The country, as ASEAN chair, just wanted to see the resumption of the talks, he said.
Regarding the issue of the South China Sea, the foreign ministers stressed on the need to intensify efforts to ensure the effective and full implementation of the DoC in order to maintain peace, security and stability in the South China Sea, said the press release.
On Myanmar, the ASEAN foreign ministers agreed to reiterate their call for the lifting of economic sanctions against Myanmar, saying lifting the sanctions would significantly contribute to the country's socio-economic development.
The ministers also agreed to call for an end of the role of good offices of the United Nations Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, since Myanmar has pledged to continue to work closely with the U.N.
"We, ASEAN foreign ministers, hailed the good progress of the democratization process in Myanmar, so it is no longer necessary to convene any international conference on Myanmar outside this country," said Hor Namhong.
The foreign ministers vowed to finalize the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration in 2012. They have also discussed disaster prevention, assistance cooperation, maritime security and other issues.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Cambodia achieves significant development since fall of DK regime: ruling party

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has achieved significant national development in all fields in the past thirty three years since the fall of the Democratic Kampuchea, or known as Khmer Rouge regime, Chea Sim, president of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), said on Saturday.
  “Since the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, we have started to restore the nation from the scratch,” he said in speech in commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of January 7 victory day.
  “Over the past thirty three years, Cambodia has transformed from being a land of deaths to a land of development full of energy and hope,” said Chea Sim, who is also the president of the Senate.
  Cambodia that was plagued with protracted war, division, violence, destruction and insult has now become a motherland of peace, stability, unity, democracy and development, he said.
  Meanwhile, Chea Sim said the ruling CPP would continue to strengthen and expand cooperation with all political forces and circles with patriotic wills in order to construct the nation and defend the motherland.
  The commemoration, held at the CPP’s headquarters, was also presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the party’s Vice-President, and President of National Assembly Heng Samrin, the party’s Honorary President. It was attended by approximately 12,000 supporters.
  Cambodia saw January 7 as the victory day over the Democratic Kampuchea regime. On Jan. 7, 1979, the troops of Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation with the cooperation and support from the Vietnamese troops had toppled the DK regime after it had controlled the country for three years, eight months and 20 days.
  During the period, over three millions of Cambodian compatriots died from execution, disease, starvation and overwork, Chea Sim said.
  However, critics said Jan. 7 marked an anniversary of an invasion by Vietnamese troops in Cambodia.