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.

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  - 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 - 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, Nov 4 : Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was appointed as economic advisor to the Cambodian government, officials said Wednesday.

He will also be a private advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Xinhua reported.

King Norodom Sihamoni has formally appointed Thaksin to the posts on Oct 27 at the request of prime minister and in accordance with the country's constitution, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

Thaksin has been living in self-exile in foreign countries since he was toppled from power in 2006.

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.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodia ratcheted up the war of words over Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with an announcement Friday that it would not permit Thaksin's extradition in the event he comes to Cambodia.

The Council of Ministers said in a statement that Cambodia would not extradite Thaksin even if the Thai government requested it.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodia's National Assembly on Friday unanimously approved legislation that would regulate the adoption of Cambodian children.

The passage followed years of allegations of a lucrative and largely unregulated trade in Cambodian children with unscrupulous officials and middlemen pocketing thousands of dollars for each adoption.

The head of the National Assembly's social affairs committee, Ho Naun, welcomed the legislation, which applies to both foreign and Cambodian nationals wishing to adopt Cambodian children.

Phnom Penh  - Two men were beaten up after their car crashed into a river of sewerage in the capital Phnom Penh, local media reported Friday.

The two occupants of the car were "deeply drunk", the Phnom Penh Post newspaper reported, when the driver lost control of the vehicle which then plunged into the open sewer that runs alongside the road.

When helpful local residents rushed to their aid, the driver pulled out his gun and threatened the crowd of would-be rescuers.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodian authorities released final figures Thursday showing that 43 people died in the kingdom when Typhoon Ketsana swept through the country in late September.

The National Committee for Disaster Management said the typhoon injured 67 people and affected more than 66,000 families. Around 10,000 homes were damaged.

"More people died during the floods that followed the storm," said the committee's deputy director for information, Keo Vy, explaining the agency's increased figures.

Phnom Penh  - South Korean President Lee Myung Bak arrived in Phnom Penh Thursday on an official two-day visit focused on economic matters.

"His visit will strengthen relations and cooperation between the countries," Cambodia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Thursday. "[A number of] documents will be signed today, especially on economics and investment."

Lee was first due to meet King Norodom Sihamoni and later Thursday was to hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, during which the two nations plan to sign several agreements.

Among those deals is one mapping out further loans to Cambodia from South Korea's Economic Development Cooperation Fund over the next three years.

Phnom Penh  - A Cambodian official accused Thai troops of fatally shooting a Cambodian national who tried to cross the border illegally, local media reported Wednesday.

The incident marked the second time in two months that Thai troops have been accused of killing Cambodians along the border in north-western Cambodia.

Phnom Penh  - The head of Phnom Penh's anti-drugs police team has been charged with illegal possession of drugs and taking bribes from arrested drug dealers, national media reported Monday.

Lieutenant-Colonel Touch Muysor was suspended earlier this month after police found thousands of amphetamine tablets in his office.

A court prosecutor told the Cambodia Daily newspaper that Lt-Col Touch was formally charged over the weekend, but had been under suspicion since 2005.