A 5-year-old Cambodian girl turned the fifth person to lost life from bird flu in the country during the existing year on Thursday.

In a combined declaration, the health department and WHO stated that the kid, from southeastern Prey Veng province, lost her life on April 16.

As per blood samples report, the kid had contracted H5N1 avian influenza.

The small girl become the fifteenth Cambodian resident known to have become infected with the deadly virus and the thirteenth to lost live from complication of the infection since the year 2003.

According to health ministry, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and five other government representatives have been infected with the A(H1N1) virus, also called swine flu.

Health Minister Mam Bunheng stated that PM has received treatment and is on recovery.

Mam Bunheng stated that the six were likely exposed to the deadly virus at the weekly cabinet meeting on last Friday.

Among the other representatives infected include Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly and two senior ministers.

Phnom Penh, Jan 6 - Cambodian authorities used a bulldozer to crush 400,000 CDs and DVDs in a crackdown on piracy, national media reported Wednesday.

Police drove the machine over the pile of counterfeit discs that were stacked on the road outside Wat Phnom, the capital's landmark Buddhist temple.

The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported that the discs were either pirated copies of local music and films, or foreign pornographic movies. Most were confiscated from shops in and around Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh, Dec 20 - The Cambodian government deported 20 Uighur asylum seekers to China on the eve of the Chinese vice president's arrival in Phnom Penh on a state visit Sunday, drawing immediate criticism from the UN.

The 20 Chinese Muslims, who arrived in Cambodia last month from the far western Xinjiang region, were deported to China Saturday night, officials confirmed.

"Those refugees came to Cambodia illegally so they had to be sent back to their country," Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said.

Phnom Penh, Dec 16 : At least two more senior leaders detained at the Khmer Rouge tribunal will be charged with genocide, officials said Wednesday.

Nuon Chea, who was former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's lieutenant and an influential ideologue, and former foreign minister Ieng Sary are to be charged with the crime in their upcoming trials.

Both already face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Phnom Penh, Nov 28 - As some 200 artists and media practitioners gathered here for the week-long Mekong Arts Festival, their attention has gone far beyond "art for art's sake". What they are advocating is how to promote arts as a catalyst for social change.

Through workshops, performances, forums, conferences, film shows and visual arts, these artists from the Mekong sub-region, which is composed of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, showcased their understanding of life in the era of globalisation.

Phnom Penh, Nov 25 - The prosecution at Cambodia's war crimes tribunal called Wednesday for judges to hand down a 40-year jail term to Comrade Duch, the former commander of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison known as S-21.

Co-prosecutor William Smith said Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, was the Khmer Rouge regime's "loyal and dedicated agent" in running S-21, where thousands of people were tortured and executed between 1975 and 1979, and must be punished accordingly.

Phnom Penh  - Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of the former Khmer Rouge prison camp commander Duch, who is charged with crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, ran the infamous torture and execution centre known as S-21 in Phnom Penh between 1975 and 1979. At least 15,000 people died at S-21 during that time, and just a handful survived.

Bangkok - A Thai labourer allegedly killed a Cambodian co-worker with an axe early Friday after a heated and inebriated argument over the two countries' deteriorating diplomatic relations, police said.

Thai national Sinchai Namnon, 44, was the chief suspect in the slaying of Cambodian national Dieng, 40, who died shortly after midnight from a gash in the head and a nearly severed arm. Both injuries were inflicted with an axe.

Siew Reap (Cambodia), Nov 19 : Golfer Vikrant Chopra drained three birdies on the back nine to bring home the best card among the four Indians with a three-under
69 that placed him tied for eighth at the end of the first round of the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open here Thursday.

Chopra was two shots behind Australia's David Gleeson (67) and in tied second place was a bunch of six players, including three little known Thais, a Malaysian, Filipino and one Chinese Taipei.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has decreed that only he and two other senior politicians may use sirens to clear the streets for their motorcades, local media reported Thursday.

In a sub-decree promulgated Monday, the prime minister specifically banned the country's ten deputy prime ministers and other politicians from using sirens to allow easier passage through the capital's sometimes congested roads.

Phnom Penh - At least eight Cambodian villagers were beaten and a number of them were hospitalized after a violent stand-off with soldiers and armed police over a disputed land concession, a local human rights group said Tuesday.

The villagers have long contested an 8,000-hectare land concession awarded to a Vietnamese rubber-plantation company.

Phnom Penh  - A Swedish businessman visiting Cambodia has been murdered and his body dumped outside Phnom Penh, reportedly after he met a woman with whom he had corresponded online, national media reported Monday.

The Swedish embassy in Phnom Penh confirmed the victim was Jan Ola Jordansson, 45.

The embassy's counsellor, Karl-Anders Larsson, said he believed Jordansson was visiting the country when he was killed, but had previously lived in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh  - The leader of Cambodia's main opposition party lost his legal immunity for the second time this year following a vote Monday in parliament that was boycotted by the opposition.

Sam Rainsy, who leads the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), is accused of involvement in uprooting boundary markers along the country's eastern border with Vietnam. A provincial court had requested that his immunity be stripped so it could investigate the alleged offence.

Phnom Penh  - Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra flew out of tourist town of Siem Reap on Saturday, the Cambodian government confirmed, bringing to an end a controversial visit.

"He left at 10 o'clock," said government spokesman Phay Siphan, adding that he did not know Thaksin's destination.

Thaksin's appointment as adviser to the Cambodian government and subsequent visit led relations between Phnom Penh and Bangkok to a new low, and sparked diplomatic concerns in the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations.

Phnom Penh  - Thailand's fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said at a seminar in Phnom Penh Thursday that his domestic political opponents are suffering from "false patriotism" in their disagreements with Cambodia.

Addressing a mix of 250 government officials and businesspeople at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Thaksin said a more prosperous Cambodia would mean opportunities for Thailand as well.

Phnom Penh - Cambodia on Wednesday formally rejected an extradition request from the Thai government for its fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

A spokesman for the Cambodian Foreign Ministry, Koy Koung, said the government's response had been handed directly to Thai embassy staff.

"This morning, the people from the Thai embassy submitted a note requesting the provisional arrest for the purposes of extradition of Mr Thaksin Shinawatra," he said. "The response note [states that] we reject the request."

Phnom Penh - Ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra landed in Cambodia Tuesday, the Cambodian government said amid an escalating diplomatic spat over the fugitive politician.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan told reporters that Thaksin, who last week was appointed as an adviser to the Cambodian government and Prime Minister Hun Sen, was in the country.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodia has formally offered Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra a position as an adviser to the government and to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The annoucement, which was made late Wednesday on national television, is likely to annoy Bangkok following weeks of verbal spats between the two nations over Thaksin.

Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan told the German Press Agency dpa Thursday that the reason for the offer was that the country needed skilled people like Thaksin.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday welcomed his country's appointment as a member of the World Heritage Committee (WHC), the decision-making body of the UN's cultural body UNESCO.

The committee decides what sites will be awarded World Heritage status, and asks member states to take action when listed properties are not properly managed.