MUMBAI, India (CNN) -- The Mumbai gunmen who killed more than 120 people and took scores of hostages fired at people "with no remorse" and "obviously had to be trained somewhere," a member of the Indian navy's commando unit said Friday.
An unidentified guest gives a thumb's up sign Friday inside a bus after being rescued from the Oberoi Trident hotel complex.
As the Indian forces continued to battle the remaining attackers, the commando said they knew the layout of the hotels -- the Oberoi and Taj Mahal -- well enough to "vanish" after confronting security forces.
The commando, his identity concealed behind sunglasses and a scarf, spoke Friday afternoon to reporters outside the Taj -- one of three locations where gunmen continued their tense standoff more than 40 hours after launching a series of deadly attacks.
"Not everybody can fire the AK series of weapons, not everybody can throw a grenade like that," the commando said. "It is obvious that they were trained somewhere." Minutes after he spoke, fresh firing broke out at the Taj, sending reporters and onlookers ducking for cover.
Elsewhere, in a city already on edge, false rumors of shots fired at a railway station and a nearby hospital sent panicked people scrambling while police with guns converged en masse.
Meanwhile, sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the building housing the Chabad House, where several Jewish people are believed to be held hostage.
Hours earlier, a shell-shocked city awoke to television images of Indian soldiers rappelling down ropes from military choppers on to the roofs of Chabad House.
Authorities said the death toll from the coordinated attacks carried out on at least seven sites Wednesday night was 125, including at least six foreigners and 14 police officers, with 327 people wounded.
At the Taj and Oberoi hotels police -- despite claiming the standoffs were in their last stages -- could not definitively say how many gunmen or guests remained inside.
Army Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj said at least one gunman -- possibly more -- could still be inside the Taj, holding two or more hostages. All remaining hostages and guests would be rescued by midday, he said.
"It is possible that some of the hotel guests have locked themselves in and for their own security and safety -- even though we have identified ourselves -- they are not opening the doors."
Outside the Oberoi hotel, onlookers cheered as about 90 guests, including at least one infant, were escorted out from the hotel premises and quickly herded into waiting vans. Many of them appeared to be foreigners.
But the euphoria was short-lived as a hotel spokesman clarified that the evacuees were guests at the Trident hotel, which is connected to the Oberoi by a common corridor.
The Italian foreign ministry said among the group were five of seven Italians who had been held hostage, including the wife of the hotel's Italian chef and her infant. Also in the group were several flight attendants working for Lufthansa and Air France, the foreign ministry said.
Two dozen soldiers landed on the rooftop of the Chabad House building Friday morning, with gunfire and at least 10 explosions heard soon after.
Police did not have a clear picture of how many gunmen remained or how many hostages they were holding inside the building, also known as the Nariman House. It is the Mumbai headquarters of the Chabad, an Hasidic Jewish movement.
Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, the city's envoy for the Chabad community, and his wife were believed inside. A cook at the center, who had barricaded herself in a room, grabbed the couple's 2-year-old son and escaped with another person, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the attackers were foreigners but did not specify where they were from.
The identity of the attackers remains a mystery. Police say the attackers came by boats to the waterfront near the Gateway of India monument and the two hotels.
Interpol said it would send a delegation to India.
"When such coordinated and planned terrorist attacks are carried out against international targets and when a country's head of government states there are suspected 'external linkages', the police in the country concerned require international assistance," said Interpol's Secretary
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Mumbai beset by skirmishes, standoffs
Recovered identity: Cambodian community in Portland moves beyond the horror of Khmer Rouge killing fields
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Mardine Mao came to Oregon as a Cambodian refugee in 1981 and spent part of her teenage years in Milwaukie. She has blossomed from a behind-the-scenes helper to president of the Cambodian-American Community of Oregon. "We've seen what she's capable of, and we know she will inspire so many people," says Chanly Bob, the group's board chairman. (FREDRICK D. JOE/THE OREGONIAN)
The years are like shadows she could never really grasp:
Growing up in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Her brother forever separated from her family. Her sister dying. Forced labor in rice fields. Then, at age 14, escaping to Oregon with her mother.
As a teenager in Milwaukie, Mardine Mao was happy to forget. She yearned to say she was from Hawaii or the Philippines, anywhere but Cambodia and the darkness she associated with it.
But as she matured, Mao, now 41, discovered that embracing her identity and sharing the details of that painful time is the road to empowerment.
Cambodians in the Portland area are coming to the same realization as a community. Most of Oregon's more than 5,000 Cambodians fled the Khmer Rouge; many have suffered silently with the rage and anxiety of post-traumatic stress, some struggling to assimilate and nurture American-born children and grandchildren.
Now refugees such as Mao -- a child during the Cambodian genocide and so best able to move on -- are leading the cause to build the community's future by unburdening its past.
Mao this summer became president of the Cambodian-American Community of Oregon and has launched an oral history project. As a U.N. tribunal in Cambodia finally brings members of despot Pol Pot's killing machine to justice, Cambodian youths in the metro area will record their elders' experiences under the Khmer Rouge.
Portland has gotten behind the project with a small grant and has asked the Cambodian participants to share the documentary they produce with neighborhood associations, educating a wider audience about the genocide, recovery and resilience.
For Mao, a Washington County resident and Beaverton High School graduate, the project offers a chance to unlock her own story and tell it to her teenage sons for the first time. The story of how she came to lead this project shows not only her blossoming but the blossoming of her community.
"We're not excited about opening up," says Mao. "But I think we have a responsibility to educate the general public and the world -- and especially our own children."
Mao sits at a friend's coffee shop in a blue silk top and jeans. Her calm face, framed by dark hair, offers little hint of her troubled past.
She is still piecing her story together, drawing out her stepfather, in whom her mother confided. Mao's mother died in 2002 before Mao had the courage to ask about their time in Cambodia.
Mao was born Mardine Ung in 1967 in Phnom Penh, the capital, where her father directed a government-owned news agency. Her father hoped to move the family to Oregon but died before it was possible, leaving his wife to fend for three children when Khmer Rouge troops took over in April 1975.
Mao's mother gathered Mao and her younger sister, Srey Touch, for the forced march to a village 30 miles away. Mao's older brother, Sovathara, was with relatives. They never saw him again.
Mao, just 8 then, believes she was sent to a school to learn the regime's philosophy and work in a rice field. Her mother was also pressed into field work. Mao learned from her stepdad that when she was allowed to visit her mother, she brought ambok (rice cereal) that she had squirreled away. Mao knew her mother was starving.
The only clear memory Mao has is of lying ill on the floor of a thatched hut with many other sick people. Someone gave her a pink pill.
"I'm like blank," she says. "I keep asking people, 'When you're 8 or 9 years old, do you remember everything at that age?'"
The regime targeted the educated and upper classes. An estimated 1.5 million Cambodians -- one-fifth of the country's population -- were starved, worked or shot to death in what became known as the killing fields.
The Vietnamese invasion in 1979 plunged the country into chaos. Mao's mother fled the village with Mao and Srey Touch. They returned to the city only to find that their relatives had all perished.
Returning to the village, the family squatted in a machine shed. Srey Touch fell ill. When she died, they rolled her small body in a woven mat and buried her.
With nothing left, Mao and her mother followed others to the Thai border, fearful of Khmer Rouge soldiers hiding from the Vietnamese.
"I imagine her holding my hand and running at the same time, barefoot in the jungle," Mao says, a flicker of pain passing through her dark eyes.
A friend of Mao's father from Oregon traveled to the refugee camps and found Mao and her mother.
Mao arrived at her uncle's home in Southeast Portland knowing no English. But at 14, she knew one thing: She wanted to put the past behind her.
"I think for a long time I thought I was a bad person," she says, "because I wanted to erase my identity and, as a result, my memory."
Mao and her mom settled with another relative in Milwaukie.
Mao kept quiet in class at Milwaukie Junior High, afraid to ask questions. She remembers scrambling to look up words such as "cell" and "dissection" in science class while her peers cruised through the text.
Yet she took in a lot. She looked in awe at women driving cars with one hand on the steering wheel. She had never seen women drive.
Mao pursued accounting after high school. She felt comfortable in the background.
She married Mony Mao, a civil engineer and fellow refugee, in 1987. Two years later, Mony helped form the Cambodian-American Community of Oregon.
Mardine Mao steered clear of leadership roles. Speaking up in Cambodia was never rewarded. Politics meant corruption and power-seeking. So when her husband rose in the late 1990s to chair the Cambodian community's board, she stayed on the sidelines, buying raffle prizes, cooking and cleaning up after events while raising the couple's sons, Perrin, an eighth-grader and Davin, a high school senior.
"I still had the mentality that this is something that is a job for a man," she says.
Then something changed.
In 2006, the state removed a young Cambodian girl from her parents in Washington County and thrust her into foster care. The family didn't know where she was taken or how to get her back.
Community leaders asked Mao to help the family. Mao learned that the girl had gone to school with a bruise after an older brother threw a Coke can at her. Authorities got involved when the girl, bright and precocious, told a school counselor that her parents disciplined her by smacking her hand with chopsticks.
Mao explained to the social worker that this is common in Cambodia and that the parents didn't understand that it was considered abuse in the United States. After three months, the state let the girl go home.
The family's attorney, Ronault "Polo" Catalani, says Mao made all the difference in the emotional, adversarial process.
"She listens carefully. She lets them get all of that breath out and then she'll talk," Catalani says. "She doesn't shout. She just tells you. There's something just very factual about the way she presents and very fair."
Mao shared the experience during Khmer Heritage Night at a Southeast 82nd Avenue banquet hall in December 2006. She was a minor speaker on a roster that included former Gov. Barbara Roberts and Portland Mayor Tom Potter. She read a prepared speech and says no one expected much until she opened her mouth.
"Something happened to me earlier this year that changed how I feel about volunteering and my outlook on life," she told the hundreds gathered. She relived for her audience the moment when the little girl walked back through her family's front door.
"Her whole face lit up the entire room. She couldn't stop smiling," Mao told them. "I was overcome with joy."
The experience, she said, crystallized her realization that she could make a difference and helped her see that embracing -- not shunning -- her heritage is what emboldened her.
"Now I am more confident and more outspoken than ever," she told them. "Ladies and gentleman, we have a community that provides all these opportunities."
The audience burst into applause.
Mao still carried a burden.
She never got to process with her mother those years in Cambodia. She never got to ask her mother how she survived.
She shared that regret last year at Portland's Khmer Rouge Tribunal Forum at Portland State University, an event that Mao and the community group helped to organize.
The event gave local refugees a chance to talk about their memories, many for the first time. Mao encouraged attendees to pass on the stories to their children before it's too late. The children need to know their family history, she told them, to know who they are.
"That's what I was struggling a long time with in my early days," Mao says now. "I wanted to be somebody else. Now, with just being part of the community, I kind of found myself. I'm a Cambodian American."
Mao also believes that a wider audience can benefit from knowing the stories of immigrants in their midst. She challenged herself to broaden her audience in classes this year at PSU. For one project, she told classmates about her mother's struggle in Cambodia and how hard her life was compared with Mao's.
Afterward, classmates surrounded her with praise. Instructor Vicki Reitenauer says some didn't know about the Khmer Rouge atrocities.
"They left knowing some bit of it and, in a more subtle way, being more enlarged human beings than they were when they went in," Reitenauer says, "and Mardine was a big part of that."
Mao will graduate from PSU in the spring after 20 years of taking classes. She changed her major from accounting to human resources. She says she wants to work more with people.
And she is ready to help more members of her community tell their stories.
The community will begin the oral history project this winter with 20 youths and elders. More will follow. A PSU history professor is training participants to elicit memories sensitively.
Catalani, the attorney, co-chaired a Portland committee that chose the project for a $10,000 grant. The Northwest Health Foundation is considering a $50,000 grant.
"Cambodians have done an incredible job of caring for their own as the tension of their experiences simmers as depression or boils over into rage," he says. "Now they can share what they endured with a larger audience. ... We are all humanized by the sorrow of these people and the persistence of people. We recognize in those faces our beauty and our pain."
Mao hopes the project will provide an important piece of family history for her own sons. Her oldest, Davin, is president of the community's youth organization and will be among the first to conduct interviews, drawing out his parents, his mom's stepfather and his dad's parents.
Davin says he has always thought his father's experience under the Khmer Rouge was more difficult than his mother's. But he admits he doesn't really know much about what his mother endured because she doesn't talk about it.
He has, however, noticed the change in his mom. He remembers her speech at Khmer Heritage Night.
"Maybe," he says, "she's found her calling."
Thailand braced for bloody night to break airport siege
Thailand is braced for a potentially violent end to the three-day blockade of Bangkok's main international airport as the government declared a state of emergency and rumours of an imminent army coup spread. The Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, unable to return to Bangkok because of the protest, gave security forces powers to oust 4,000 People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters who hold Suvarnabhumi airport.
Last night, more than 40 police vans moved into position around the terminal and officers set up roadblocks at all entrance routes to the airport, searching all vehicles going in and out. There was no immediate sign of a move to forcibly remove the protesters although one PAD source said they were preparing for an attempt to evict them early today.
Inside the departure lounge, beside the main airport information screen still showing Wednesday's cancellations, someone had put up a yellow sign in English. "Our only aim is to fight until the PM resigns," it read. "If in doing so we have caused you any inconvenience we sincerely apologise."
The Prime Minister's declaration empowers the government to suspend some civil liberties, restrict the movement of people and prohibits mass assembly in certain places. Mr Somchai accused the right-wing and essentially anti-democracy PAD of "holding the country and the public hostage". He added: "I do not have any intention to hurt any members of the public." But the emergency measures raise the possibility of violent clashes if the authorities move on Suvarnabhumi and the city's older, smaller Don Muang airport which is also held by protesters.
The Public Health Minister, Chalerm Yoombamrung, said he had 30 emergency medical teams on standby to deal with the aftermath of any crackdown. He added that police would try to negotiate first. "But if the negotiations fail, let's keep our fingers crossed," Mr Chalerm said. "I want them to be successful because I don't want to see bloodshed."
Earlier, Mr Somchai urged the army to stay in its barracks as coup rumours swirled. A government spokesman, Nattawut Saikuar, denied Mr Somchai planned to sack the army chief, Anupong Paochina, a day after the general called for a snap election to defuse the crisis. "Troops should stay in their barracks and the Prime Minister is not going to sack anybody," Mr Nattawut said after a cabinet meeting in the northern city of Chiang Mai.
PAD, which has been demanding the resignation of Mr Somchai and his government, seized the airport on Tuesday, forcing cancellation of all flights in and out. They accuse Mr Somchai of being a proxy for the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr Thaksin, who is Mr Somchai's brother-in-law, and former owner of Manchester City football club, is in exile and wanted in Thailand for violating a conflict-of-interest law. Mr Somchai took over as Prime Minister last December after winning elections called after the previous military coup in 2006 in which Mr Thaksin was ousted. Although the right-wing PAD is demanding new elections, it also argues for less democracy, believing that poor Thais should be disenfranchised and the country controlled by the middle and upper classes. The blockade has already cost the country millions in lost revenue and next week is the start of the main tourist season. But the army is unlikely to want to act rashly. Having transferred power to a democratically elected government less than 12 months ago, they do not want to be seen to be overthrowing it and supporting the protesters. But by doing nothing they appear impotent, encouraging the government and the opposition to further entrench their positions.
Yesterday appeared to be more of a carnival mood. Outside the terminal, a band had set up on the concourse playing Thai pop songs, and small stalls sold mats, flags and rattles shaped like hands. Many protesters had brought food, bottled water, and even first-aid kits for those staying overnight.
Don Dualai, 52, had arrived earlier in the day with bags full of toiletries. He was planning to stay for a few hours but had to go home later to look after his young son. "You wait till Friday and the weekend and there will be 200,000 people here," said the business consultant. "Everyone is angry; Thaksin is a traitor and Somchai is his puppet. No one here will leave until they are gone."
Many Western travellers had left for the poolside of the nearby airport hotel. "If it's not open tomorrow we're going to hire a van and drive to Penang and fly to Kuala Lumpur," said Dick Matthews, 62, from Minnesota, who had been on a golfing holiday with his wife. "We've had enough now. We can't wait here forever."
Thailand 'Land of Smiles'
* Thailand has a population of 63 million, slightly more than Britain.
* Almost four-fifths of the population are ethnic Thais. About a fifth are Chinese. The remainder are Malay or from hill tribes or other minorities.
* The national religion is Theravada Buddhism which is practised by more than 95 per cent of Thais.
* Thais pride themselves on their friendliness to strangers (if not necessarily to one another). The country calls itself the "Land of Smiles".
* Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. King Rama IX Bhumibol Adulyadej is the longest reigning Thai monarch, having reigned for more than half a century.
* Thailand is the only country in South-east Asia that has not been a European colony.
* Beaches, temples and the Bangkok nightlife make Thailand a popular tourist destination – it attracted14.5 million visitors last year.
* The tourism authority hoped that 15.5 million people would visit this year and 16 million in 2009, but the recession has lowered expectations.
* The average foreign tourist stayed for nine days in 2007 and spent over 4,000 baht (£75) a day, earning the country more than £9bn.
* Japan and Malaysia provide the most visitors. Britain is the biggest Western market. Officials are targeting the Middle East and eastern Europe as potential growth areas.
* During an upsurge in protests two months ago, nearly two dozen countries issued warnings to their citizens to avoid travelling to Thailand.
* Bird flu, a dispute with Cambodia and violence in the Islamic south have also hit tourism.
The Cambodian ambassador to the UK talked about “provocation” after a NGO appealed to donor countries by raising issues about the management of oil revenue.
The Global Witness communiqué warning donor countries about the use of natural gas and oil resource is a “villain campaign to discredit the image of Cambodia,” the Cambodian embassy in London said in its communiqué issued on Tuesday 25 November.
“It is naive from Global Witness to think Cambodia's international donors do not well aware of their ill-intentioned purpose of damaging Cambodia’ past and recent economic developments.” the Cambodian embassy communiqué added.
According to Global Witness, Cambodia almost did not keep up with any of its promises regarding the fight against corruption, the management of natural resources and human rights. According to Global Witness, “Cambodia is on the verge of a petroleum and minerals windfall, but both sectors are already exhibiting early warning signs of the corruption, nepotism and state capture…”
The Cambodian embassy in London retorted by quoting a recent speech given by vice-PM Sok An who said “We do not want to be mere spectators in our petroleum industry,” and that he was involved in the setting up of efficient legal mechanism for the management of the oil sector.
The Cambodian embassy also warned donor countries against Global Witness, in particular it addressed its message to the Netherland, Canadian and Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) “to ask for an urgent review of Global Witness’ program of activities and policies and, a strict control to poor management and leadership of Global Witness.”
Student demonstration in Phnom Penh
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A dispute led to the confrontation between students and the management of the Phnom Penh Health Science University. The problem: a lower number of students were allowed to attend their first year of study.
About 200 demonstrators, all of them students, were standing in front of the entrance to their university since Wednesday 26 November. They denounced the fact that the university management reneged on its promises. The university promised to accept 1,000 out of the 1,500 students who are currently taking preparation classes. However, only 300 students were admitted this year.
A student denounced these false promises and she argued: “These results were announced late in the year. This prevented us from registering somewhere else in case of failure.” The students wished to see “an acceptable resolution to this problem.”
When reached over phone by Cambodge Soir Hebdo on Thursday 27 November, Oum Sophal, the dean of the university declared that: “up to now, no decision has been made yet. The management committee is currently holding a meeting to discuss this problem.”
Pregnant for third time? Angelina Jolie: Not true.
Angelina Jolie has been forced to deny she is pregnant again following tabloid reports suggesting the actress is expecting her fourth biological child with Brad Pitt, according to World Entertainment News Network.
Speculation surrounding a reported pregnancy has dogged the Hollywood supercouple in recent months - rumors which were denied by the Oscar winner's publicist earlier this month.
Publication In Touch magazine - who broke the news Jolie was expecting twins earlier this year - has most recently claimed Jolie is pregnant again, reporting that the actress announced the happy news to a waiter in a London restaurant after he tried to pour her an alcoholic drink.
But the Tomb Raider star's representative, Geyer Kosinski, refutes the reports, telling Usweekly.com the claims are "not true".
However, Jolie continuously refused to confirm she was pregnant with her twins, Knox and Vivienne - even when she was sporting a huge pregnancy bump.
The news was later confirmed at the Kung Fu Panda premiere in Cannes in May after co-star Jack Black revealed all during a TV interview.
Chinese FM: President Hu's participation in APEC meeting, state visits successful, fruitful
During his visits to the three Latin American countries, Hu had exchanges of views in an in-depth manner with their leaders on promoting relations and cooperation with their countries in all fields.
He also met with people from political, economic and media communities, highlighting China's readiness to work with Latin American and Caribbean nations in establishing comprehensive cooperative partnership of mutual benefit and common development.
During Hu's visit to Costa Rica, the two sides expressed satisfaction over the development of bilateral ties since they established diplomatic ties more than one year ago.
Both sides expressed their resolve to deepen mutual trust and cooperation, and conduct pragmatic cooperation in such priority fields as infrastructure, agriculture, telecommunication and energy. They also announced the start of the free trade agreement (FTA) talks between the two countries.
During Hu's Cuba visit, the two sides agreed that maintaining and developing bilateral long-term cooperation is the needs of the current international situation and the common wish of the two peoples.
The two sides vowed to expand practical cooperation in the fields of trade and investment, as well as to enhance exchange and cooperation in culture, education, health, sports and tourism.
During Hu's visit to Peru, the two sides announced the successful conclusion of the FTA talks and the formal establishment of strategic partnership between the two countries.
They agreed to give priority to cooperation in the fields of trade, investment in mining industry, infrastructure-construction, hi-tech, and poverty reduction.
In his address to the Peruvian Congress, Hu expounded on China's position on promoting Sino-Latin America relations and put forward concrete proposals to boost Sino-Latin America ties.
Hu's proposals included continuously deepening political relations, enhancing mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation, strengthening communication and coordination in international affairs, promote interaction and learn from each other in all fields of social development, and promoting cultural dialogues.
During Hu's stay in Greece, the two sides spoke highly of their traditional friendship and their comprehensive strategic partnership. They agreed to join hands to raise bilateral relations to a new height for the benefits of the two peoples.
Both sides agreed that pragmatic cooperation in economy, trade and culture should be the pillar of the two countries' overall cooperation, and vowed to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation in telecommunication, energy and environmental protection.
They also agreed to advance cooperation in ocean shipping that integrate shipping, harbor and logistics, expand cooperation to the fields of infrastructure construction, investment, financing and harbor administration. They will also strengthen cooperation in language-teaching, the protection of cultural relics, and cooperation between their media and publication industries.
ENHANCING COORDINATION, COOPERATION WITH RELEVANT NATIONS
During the visit, President Hu has met with U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Michael Somare in bilateral meetings and reached wide-ranging agreements with these leaders on enhancing China's relations with their nations and expand their cooperation in all fields.
At his meeting with Bush, Hu reviewed the development of China-U.S. ties in the past seven years and shared with his U.S. counterpart his views on political and economic links between the two countries as well as on regional and international issues.
Bush appreciated China's active participation in the G-20 summit and lauded the constructive role that China played at the meeting. He also thanked China for its vital contribution to the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Bush shared Hu's views on the importance of the U.S.-China economic and trade relations, and pledged to continue to help promote the development of bilateral ties after he leaves office early next year.
Hu and Medvedev spoke highly of the China-Russian strategic cooperative partnership during their meeting, and exchanged views and reached agreements in deepening the pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia and boosting their cooperation in the Asian-Pacific region.
During Hu's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Aso, the two leasers agreed on efforts to maintain the good momentum of the bilateral ties between their countries and push foreword their strategic mutual-beneficial relations.
Hu also reached agreements with Uribe and Somare on friendly and mutual-beneficial cooperation with their countries and in international affairs.
Yang noted that during the visit Hu has discussed with world leaders ways to tackle the challenges facing the world, and ways to deepen friendly cooperation with these countries.
He described the visit as fruitful and successful, adding that it succeeded in deepening friendship, enhancing mutual trust, expanding cooperation and promoting common development.
2nd Bangkok airport closed
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BANGKOK - THAI authorities shut down Bangkok's second airport on Thursday after it was overrun by anti-government protesters, completely cutting off the capital from air traffic as the prime minister rejected their demands to resign, deepening the country's crisis.
Thailand's powerful army commander, who has remained neutral in the conflict, stepped into the fray on Wednesday, urging Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to step down.
He also asked thousands of protesters to end their siege of the main international Suwarnabhumi airport since Tuesday night, which has forced authorities to shut down the facility and cancel hundreds of flights, drawing world attention to a turmoil that has reduced Thailand to a dysfunctional nation.
The anti-government protests, which gathered pace four months ago, have paralysed the government, battered the stock market, spooked foreign investors and dealt a serious blow to the tourism industry.
The crisis worsened on early Thursday as authorities shut down the Don Muang domestic airport, which had been receiving some diverted flights from Suwarnabhumi.
Mr Serirat Prasutanont, chief of Thailand Airport Authority, said authorities feared that protesters who stormed the terminal building late on Wednesday might harm passengers and aircraft.
He said authorities might consider using the U Ta Pao air force base, 140 km southeast of Bangkok.
'We will also alert all of airports nationwide to be ready to receive more diverted flights,' he said.
The protests are being led by a loose coalition known as the People's Alliance for Democracy. It accuses Somchai of acting as the puppet for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a September 2006 military coup after being accused of corruptionand abuse of power.
Mr Thaksin is in exile, a fugitive from a conviction for violating a conflict of interest law. Mr Somchai is Thaksin's brother-in-law.
But Mr Somchai, who returned from Peru on Wednesday but was forced to land in the northern city of Chiang Mai, remained defiant.
Mr Somchai said in an address to the nation that he came to power through elections and has 'a job to protect democracy for the people of Thailand.'
The statement amounted to a rejection of Army General Anupong Paochinda's suggestion to quit, which seemed to put him on a collision course with the military, although the general has said he would not launch a coup.
Mr Somsak Kosaisuk, a key protest alliance leader, said protesters stormed Don Muang airport because they want to prevent members of Somchai's Cabinet from flying to Chiang Mai for a proposed emergency Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The drive from Bangkok to Chiang Mai takes about eight hours.
Still, government spokesman Nattawut Saikau said the emergency meeting would go ahead.
'The key issue is how to deal with escalating violence in the country,' he told The Associated Press.
The People's Alliance for Democracy insists it would continue its airport occupation and other protest activities until Somchai resigns. It rejected the general's proposal for new elections, pushing instead for the appointment of a temporary government.
As the deadlock continued, political violence spread on Wednesday to Chiang Mai, where government supporters attacked a radio station aligned with the protesters. Separately, there were unconfirmed reports that one man was killed and several people assaulted in an attack on the city's local airport.
Thousands of travellers were stranded in Bangkok when members of the alliance swarmed the airport on Tuesday night, forcing a halt to virtually all outgoing flights.
Several thousands passengers were bused to city hotels on Wednesday to await developments, but many other passengers spent a second night at the airport after a day of behind-the-scenes negotiations failed. All flights have been suspended until further notice.
Among those stranded were Americans trying to get home for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
Cheryl Turner, 63, of Scottsdale, Arizona, had asked neighbours to pull an 18-pound turkey from her freezer a day ahead of time to defrost so she could cook it for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
'My turkey is sitting in the sink at home,' she said.
The protest alliance launched its current campaign in late August, storming the grounds of the prime minister's office, which they continue to use as their stronghold. The group has also tried twice to blockade Parliament, in one case setting off a daylong street battle with police that left two people dead and hundreds injured.
Skirmishes on Bangkok streets on Tuesday and Wednesday left more than a dozen people hurt. The action came as the protest alliance's public support seemed to wane, and they appeared to be seeking confrontations to up the ante in their struggle.
Opposition Concerned Over Economy
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Tuesday he was concerned Cambodians will face severe livelihood degradation in the wake of the global economic crisis.
“I say that because of the economic crisis and also because of the lack of country management in general,” he said. People were worse off than they were 15 or 20 years ago, he said.
Sam Rainsy spoke to VOA Khmer following a private meeting with former king Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing earlier this week.
Joblessness, the loss of production in forests and fisheries and depreciating value of goods in the months ahead could lead to “turmoil,” he said, and people “protesting for solutions to their living.”
Sam Rainsy’s remarks come as the International Monetary Fund adjusted Cambodia’s expected growth rate for 2009, down to 4.25 percent from a height of 10 percent in recent years.
Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yiep said he trusted Prime Minister Hun Sen’s plan to weather the economic storm.
6 foreigners among 101 dead in terror attacks in Mumbai
At least six foreigners have been killed and the death figure has gone up to 101 now," Ramesh Tayde, a senior police officer, said from Mumbai's control room.
Blood stains the floor amid scattered luggage after an attack at the Chattrapati Shivaji train station in Mumbai.
In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as militants used heavy machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high-profile targets, killing at least 101 and injuring hundreds of others, according to latest reports.
The places under attack include the hyper-busy CST rail terminus, the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point, the domestic airport at Santa Cruz, the Cama and GT hospitals near CST, the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard.
The attacks have taken a tragic toll on the city's top police brass: The high-profile chief of the anti-terror squad Hemant Karkare was killed, Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte was gunned down outside the Metro, and celebrated encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar was also killed.
The attacks appeared to be aimed at getting international attention as the attackers took up to 40 British nationals and other foreigners hostage. The chairman of Hindustan Unilever Harish Manwani and CEO of the company Nitin Paranjpe were among the guests trapped at the Oberoi. All the internal board members of the multinational giant were reported to be holed up in the Oberoi hotel.
Two attackers were reported holed up inside the Oberoi Hotel. Fresh firing has been reported at Oberoi and the Army has entered the hotel to flush out the militants.
An unknown outfit, Deccan Mujahideen, has sent an email to news organizations claiming that it carried out the Mumbai attacks.
The Army and Navy in Mumbai were put on alert. Some 65 Army commandos and 200 NSG commandos were being rushed to Mumbai, said Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
The Navy commandos too have been asked to assist the police. Special secretary M L Kumawat is in constant touch with the state police.
Some media reports attributed the attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the largest militant organizations in South Asia. There were also unconfirmed reports that some of the attackers came in by sea. A boat laden with explosives was recovered later at night off the Gateway of India.
Situation in the disputed borders near Preah Vihear on 26th November, 2008
The military situation in the Preah Vihear areas has been on high alert, despite calm, because of occasional accidental gun fires.
A Khmer military officer from Intervention Force of Division 12 said on 26th November that the situation until now remain calm but on high alert and a few days ago the Cambodian troops have warned the Thai troops when they were drunk and fired shots (into the air), but the Thai side explained that the gun fires were accidental.
The officer said: “Today, there is no change. The night before yesterday, 20 of us slept on the mountain. They got drunk and they fired shots, but they explained that the gun shots were accidental. We warned them. Both sides are on high alert but we still talk to each other.”
Members of parliament have urged the government to resolve the border disputes as soon as possible in order to save defence budget.
Mr Son Chhay said: “We cannot delay this dispute because we will lose in two fronts. First, the longer the dispute is delayed, the more rights the Thai have the claims to our territories. Secondly, we have to spend more time and money to defend the areas that can drain our military budget.”
Mr. Son Chhay said that he has requested the government to put the Khmer-Thai disputes on the agenda of the ASEAN Meeting in Chiangmai in December. And on Tuesday he has written to a letter requesting PM Hun Sen to explain to the parliament of the reasons why the government refused to lodge a complaint to the United Nations regarding Cambodian border disputes with Thailand.
Mr. Khieu Kanharith, spokesman for the government, said that the government has made great efforts to resolve the disputes and he has dismissed the ideas that urged the government to lodge a complaint to the United Nations.
Mr. Kanharith said: “If they want to help solving the disputes, just tell us how we can do it? We have made numerous complaints to them (the UN) and they just told us to be patient by trying to resolve the disputes bilaterally. If we ask them to come to lecture us, we already knew the answers. So why should we ask them? The persons who said like this (urge to lodge a complaint) does not understand foreign affairs and don’t know anything.”
Please note that the meeting held between Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers in Siem Reap on the 12th of November did not yield any substantial results because of the Thai insistence on the use of the word “Phra Viharn” to call the temple name and due to the Thai side refusing to commit to a troop withdrawal because they have to wait for an approval from the Thai parliament.
Cambodia will not raise the issues of border disputes with Thailand during the Asean Summit
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A Cambodian official has said that Cambodia will not put the Khmer-Thai border disputes on the agenda of the upcoming 14th Asean Summit.
The Secretary of State and the spokesman for the Council of Ministers, Mr. Phay Siphan, said that Cambodia wants to leave the Khmer-Thai border disputes to be resolved in bilateral talks by using the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2000.
Mr. Phay Siphan said: “The foundation of this policy has been proclaimed by Samdech Decho (Hun Sen) since the beginning of the new mandate (of this government). The international community as well as the United Nations and other countries have urged us (Cambodia and Thailand), even the messages from ASEAN, to resolve the disputes bilaterally.”
But Mr. Son Chhay, leader of a group of opposition parliamentarians, has urged the government to put the Khmer-Thai border disputes on the agenda of the Asean Summit, hoping that Asean can help to resolve these disputes.
Mr. Son Chhay said: “It is necessary that we put these disputes on the agenda of this summit in order to have a participation from other members of Asean to push for a resolution. In this way, the Cambodian side has an aspect of a legal victory if we involve the international community in this case.”
Please note that, in the past, some members of Asean such as Malaysia and Indonesia, wanted to mediate but the Cambodian government has refused to accept their offers of mediation.
Mr. Son Chhay said that, if the government did not put the Khmer-Thai border disputes on the agenda of the Asean Summit, he will write a letter requesting the government to come to explain to the parliament.
Mr. Son Chhay said: “If there is any secrets that cannot be revealed publicly, they (the government) can just reveal them to the parliament when we summon them to explain to the parliament about the Preah Vihear issues.”
VJ អាណូ បង្ហាញមុខតាមកញ្ចក់ទូរទស្សន៍ក្នុងស្រុក (ព័ត៌មានបន្ថែម)
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តារាកំប្លែងដ៏ល្បីម្នាក់លោក អ៊ូ ប៊ុណ្ណារ៉ាត ហៅ ក្រឹម បានថ្លែងថា វាជាកំហុសរបស់អ្នកសារព័ត៌មានដែលមិនបានតាមដានរឿងឲ្យបានច្បាស់ ៖ «ការសរសេរកាសែតអីហ្នឹង វាច្រើនតែអ្នកកាសែតមួយចំនួនច្រើនតែសរសេរមិនពិត មិនចាំឲ្យច្បាស់សិន សឹមចុះ[ផ្សាយ]ទៅ ដើម្បីឲ្យសិល្បករ សិល្បការិនីក្រោយៗទៀតទុកចិត្ត ពីព្រោះគ្នាល្បីដោយសារអ្នកកាសែត អាប់កិត្តិយសក៏ដោយសារអ្នកកាសែតដែរ។ អ៊ីចឹង សូមមេត្តាអ្នកកាសែតទាំងអស់ជួយសម្រួលនិងសរសេរអត្ថបទយ៉ាងម៉េច ដើម្បីឲ្យប្រជាពលរដ្ឋយល់ច្បាស់កុំឲ្យមានការភាន់ច្រលំ...»។
កញ្ញា អាណូ ដែលបានវិលមកប្រទេសវិញកាលពីសប្តាហ៍មុនបានថ្លែងថា នាងនឹងប្តឹងចំពោះជនណាដែលបាននិយាយថា អ្នកបានរងគ្រោះដោយសាររឿងប្រចណ្ឌស្នេហានោះ៕
ប្រមុខដឹកនាំ Al Qaïda ជេរប្រមាថលោក Obama
Ayman al-Zawahiri មេដឹកនាំជាន់ខ្ពស់លំដាប់ទីពីររបស់ក្រុមភេរវនិយម Al Qaïda បានព្រមានដល់លោក Barack Obama ប្រធានាធិបតីថ្មីអាមេរិកថា ភាពបរាជ័យដែលជាកេរមរតកនៃនយោបាយរបស់លោក Bush កំពុងតែរង់ចាំប្រធានាធិបតីថ្មី។ ប្រមុខដឹកនាំ Al Qaïda រូបនេះថែមទាំងបានប្រើពាក្យជេរប្រមាថយ៉ាងធ្ងន់ៗដល់លោក Obama ទៀតផង។
នៅក្នុងសារជាសម្លេង ចុះផ្សាយលើគេហទំព័រជាភាសាអារ៉ាប់មួយ អ្នកដែលអះអាងថាខ្លួនគឺជា Ayman al-Zawahiri ប្រមុខដឹកនាំ Al Qaïda បានរិះគន់ខ្លាំងៗលើនយោបាយការបរទេសរបស់លោក Barack Obama ប្រធានាធិបតីដែលទើបនឹងជាប់ឆ្នោតរបស់សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក។ ការរិះគន់ផ្តោតជាពិសេសទៅលើនយោបាយរបស់លោក Obama ចំពោះប្រទេសអាហ្វហ្កានីស្តង់ និងអ៊ីស្រាអែល។
Al-Zawahiri ក៏បានរិះគន់ផងដែរដល់លោក Obama ថា បានភ្លេចកំណើតខ្លួនជាអ្នកកាន់សាសនាអ៊ីស្លាម ហើយមកបម្រើសត្រូវទៅវិញ ពីព្រោះឳពុករបស់លោក Obama គឺជាជនជាតិ Kenya ហើយជាអ្នកកាន់សាសនាអ៊ីស្លាម ប៉ុន្តែ លោក Obama គឺជាអ្នកកាន់សាសនាគ្រីស្ត។ ប្រមុខដឹកនាំ Al Qaïda រូបនេះថែមទាំងបានប្រៀបប្រដូចប្រធានាធិបតីថ្មីរបស់អាមេរិកថា ជា “ទាសករ” ទៀតផង ដោយបានប្រើពាក្យថា “House Negro” ជាភាសាអង់គ្លេស ដែលសំដៅលើជនជាតិស្បែកខ្មៅដែលត្រូវបានពួកស្បែក ស យកមកធ្វើជាទាសករ។
ការជេរប្រមាថដោយប្រើពាក្យសម្តីធ្ងន់ៗនេះ មិនសំដៅលើត្រឹមតែលោក Obama ម្នាក់នោះទេ តែ Ayman al-Zawahiri ក៏ បានលើកឡើងអំពីជនជាតិអាមេរិកស្បែកខ្មៅ ដែលកន្លងមកធ្លាប់កាន់តំណែងខ្ពស់នៅក្នុងរដ្ឋាភិបាលអាមេរិកដែរ ក្នុងនោះរួមមានលោក Collin Powel អតីតរដ្ឋមន្រ្តីក្រសួងការបរទេស និងលោកស្រី Condoleezza Rice រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីក្រសួងការបរទេសបច្ចុប្បន្នរបស់អាមេរិក។
ការដែលមេដឹកនាំ Al Qaïda រិះគន់លោក Obama ធ្ងន់ៗបែបនេះ ពីព្រោះលោក Obama ធ្លាប់បានប្រកាសច្បាស់ៗហើយថា នៅក្នុងនយោបាយប្រឆាំងភេរវកម្មរបស់លោក គឺនឹងផ្តោតអាទិភាពទៅលើការកម្ទេចក្រុម Al Qaïda និងចាប់ខ្លួន Osama bin Laden ព្រមទាំងគូកនឲ្យបាន។
ប៉ុន្តែ បើយើងវិភាគឲ្យស៊ីជម្រៅជាងនេះទៀតទៅ យើងអាចឃើញថា សាររបស់មេដឹកនាំ Al Qaïda នៅ ពេលនេះ កំពុងតែបង្ហាញថា ពួកគេកំពុងតែភ័យព្រួយនឹងប្រជាប្រិយភាពរបស់ប្រធានាធិបតីអាមេរិក ដែលទើបនឹងជាប់ឆ្នោតថ្មីនេះ។ លោក Barack Obama បាន ជាប់ឆ្នោត កាលពីថ្ងៃទី៤ វិច្ឆិកា កន្លងទៅនេះ ដោយមានការអបអរសាទយ៉ាងគគ្រឹកគគ្រេងពីគ្រប់មជ្ឈដ្ឋាន ទាំងនៅអាមេរិក និងនៅពាសពេញពិភពលោក។ លោក Obama កំពុងតែធ្វើឲ្យអាមេរិក ដែលកាលនៅក្រោមអំណាចលោក Bush មិនសូវមានគេចូលចិត្ត ឥឡូវបានផ្លាស់ប្តូរមុខមាត់ថ្មីវិញ។
ជាងនេះទៅទៀត អង្គការ Al Qaïda កន្លងមក តែងតែធ្វើការវាយប្រហារលើអាមេរិក ដោយចោទប្រកាន់ថា ជាប្រទេសចក្រពត្តិនិយម ជាអ្នកចូលចិត្តជិះជាន់ កេងប្រវ័ញ្ចលើជនជាតិទន់ខ្សោយ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ នៅពេលនេះ ជនជាតិអាមេរិកដដែលនេះ បែរជាបាននាំគ្នាបោះឆ្នោតគាំទ្រយ៉ាងគគ្រឹកគគ្រេងឲ្យជនជាតិស្បែក ខ្មៅម្នាក់ ដែលជាជនជាតិភាគតិចប៉ុណ្ណោះរបស់អាមេរិក ឡើងមកធ្វើជាប្រធានាធិបតីទៅវិញ។
ប្រជាប្រិយភាពរបស់លោក Obama ប្រហែលជាកំពុងតែធ្វើឲ្យ Al Qaïda ភ័យ ស្លន់ស្លោ ខ្លាចបាត់បង់ធម្មានុរូបភាព និយាយអ្វីលែងមានន័យ គ្មានអ្នកណាស្តាប់ គ្មានអ្នកណាជឿ សូម្បីតែក្នុងចំនោមអ្នកកាន់សាសនាអ៊ីស្លាមដូចគ្នា។
The good news: inflation rate dropped; The bad news: it's still at 18%
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Cambodia's consumer price index grew by 18.12 percent from October 2007 to October 2008, marking a decrease of inflation rate this year, national media said on Tuesday.
The inflation rate stood at 22 percent in August and 20 percent in September, according to official figures.
While prices remain high compared with last year, some price changes that occurred month to month recently have slowed or reversed compared with previous trends, English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily quoted official report as saying.
The financial crisis and the falling value of U.S. dollars have take a toll on the Cambodian economy, it quoted experts saying.
The high inflation seems to be decreasing in Cambodia, it quoted a bank source as saying.
From 2005 to 2007, Cambodia experienced double-digit economic growth and inflation became apparent at the beginning of this year.
ឱសថក្លែងក្លាយ២៦មុខ
មនុស្ស
២៧នាក់និងឱសថក្លែងក្លាយចំនួន ១៦លាន គ្រាប់ដែលមានតម្លៃស្មើ ៦.៦លាន ដុល្លារត្រូវបានឃាត់ខ្លួននិងរឹបអូសនៅក្នុងប្រតិបត្តិការជាអន្តរជាតិបង្រ្កាបឱសថក្លែងក្លាយទ្រង់ទ្រាយធំមួយកាលក្នុងចន្លោះថ្ងៃទី១៥មេសាដល់ថ្ងៃទី១៥កញ្ញាឆ្នាំ២០០៨នេះ។ ប្រតិបត្តិការនេះត្រូវបានធ្វើជាបន្តបន្ទាប់ឆ្លងកាត់ប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ចិន ឡាវ ភូមា សឹង្ហបុរី ថៃ និងវៀតណាម។ លទ្ធផលនេះត្រូវបានបញ្ចេញឲ្យដឹងនៅក្នុងសិក្ខាសាលាមួយ កាលពីថ្ងៃច័ន្ទទី១៧វច្ឆិកានេះនៅកម្ពុជាស្តីពីការបណ្តុះបណ្តាលការអនុវត្តិច្បាប់អន្តរជាតិលើការប្រយុទ្ធប្រឆាំងឱសថក្លែងក្លាយ។ នៅកម្ពុជាមានឱសថ២៦មុខត្រូវបានរកឃើញថាមិនមានគុណភាពត្រឹមត្រូវ។
Hok Lundy’s grave is 10-meter away from his lavish villa
The body of General Hok Lundy was buried by his family under the Chinese tradition in a grave located about 10-meter from his lavish villa. This villa is located in Bavet commune, near the Cambodian-Vietnamese border in Svay Rieng province, and it occupies an area of about 1 hectare. Prior to his burial, the rain was pouring down gradually while his 4 children and wife were sitting in front of his grave site. The Chinese MC told the family to slowly drop sand on top of the coffin before the workers would completely bury it. Suddenly, the downpour became torrential. Hok Lundy’s burial site is decorated with a nice surrounding garden, along one corner of the lavish villa where 2 large access roads reach it. In the back of Hok Lundy’s villa, a concrete fence separates it from a helicopter pad capable of receiving 4 helicopters transporting passengers for the Sokha company.
Cambodia's Khmer Rouge executioner
In early 1999, in a village in northwest Cambodia, an elderly man introduced himself to a journalist.
He was Hong Pen, he said, a former teacher from the capital, Phnom Penh. He spoke good English and was wearing the T-shirt of an American aid organisation.
But the journalist recognised his face - it matched a photograph he had carried with him for several months.
The picture was of Comrade Duch, the former head of Tuol Sleng prison.
There, during the four years of Khmer Rouge rule, 17,000 men, women and children were interrogated and tortured. Then they were killed, their bodies tossed into mass graves.
The chance meeting with the journalist led to Duch's detention.
Tomorrow he becomes the first of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders to go on trial at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court.
Police say no investigation into DJ Ano 'disappearance'
Local magazine claims the popular TV presenter returned to Cambodia last week unharmed despite reported razor attack
POLICE have no plans to investigate the alleged attack on popular television presenter DJ Ano and her subsequent disappearance from public view since no complaint has been filed in the case, senior police officials told the Post.
"How can we investigate it?" said Interior Ministry Penal Police Chief Mok Chito, adding that neither Ano, whose real name is Suon Pheakdei, nor her family have lodged a formal complaint.
Rumours have been swirling that Ano was attacked with razor blades by the wife of a high-ranking official and that, fearing for her life and in desperate need of medical treatment, she fled to Vietnam.
But the Khmer-language newspaper Rasmey Kampuchea reported Monday that the starlet has denied ever being attacked and would file a lawsuit against anyone claiming that she was the victim of an assault.
Seng Sitheang, the publisher of Angkor Thom magazine, said that his colleague met with Ano last week and that he took 85 photos of her that showed no evidence of an attack.
Him Vichet, a reporter at Angkor Thom magazine, said Ano returned to Cambodia on November 9 without any visible injuries and that he interviewed her the following day.
"I looked at her, and her face and body are still the same. There were no scars on her. Her face is still nice," Him Vichet said.
Ano told Him Vichet that she did not go to Vietnam, but instead went on a three-country tour, he said.
Ano's employer, TV3 Director General Kham Poun Keomony, called her case "her own personal story" and did not know details of her disappearance.
He said, however, that he had heard that Ano was healthy.
"I do not know her whereabouts, but I have heard that she is well. If she is well, we will welcome her back at TV3," Kham Poun Keomony said.
Obituary: General Saukam Khoy, the last acting president of the Khmer Republic, passed away
. General Saukam Khoy, the former acting president of the Khmer Republic regime in 1975, passed away on Friday 14 November at the age of 95. He was hospitalized in Stockton, California, USA. General Saukam Khoy is survived by 6 children. Saukam Vanchan, his fourth son who currently lives in Houston, Texas, told RFA that the funeral for the general will be held on Friday 21 November 2008, in Stockton, California. Saukam Vanchan also gave a brief biography of General Saukam Khoy: During the Lon Nol Khmer Republic regime, General Saukam Khoy was the President of the Senate, however, when General Lon Nol was hit by a stroke and transported out of Cambodia to Hawaii for medical care, General Saukam Khoy assumed the acting president position to replace Lon Nol for a few months until Cambodia fell into the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Saukam Vanchan added that General Saukam Khoy left Cambodia on 12 April 1975 to seek refuge in Bangkok for one month before he was whisked to the US by the US government along with his family. The General and his family originally lived in Texas before moving to California.
Opposition complaints irk premier [-Once a cheater, always a cheater]
Hun Sen warns Sam Rainsy lawmakers their seats at risk
PRIME Minister Hun Sen has threatened to expel Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers from the National Assembly if they continue accusing him of backing out of an agreement to formally recognise the role of the political opposition.
Hun Sen had earlier said parliamentary rules would be modified to accommodate the Sam Rainsy Party, in exchange for their last-minute promise to attend the swearing-in of the new National Assembly.
The opposition was threatening to boycott the ceremony - a move that could have delayed the formation of the new government following July's general elections - over alleged vote irregularities.
"Hun Sen did not cheat you to come to the [inauguration]. Whether you want to come or not is your right," he said during the opening of a Korean ethanol factory in Kandal province Monday, warning the SRP lawmakers that they "do not yet have parliamentary immunity" and could lose their seats
4 dead, 17 missing from E China subway tunnel collapse
Rescuers have confirmed four people were killed and 17 others missing following Saturday's collapse at a subway construction site in east China's Zhejiang Province.
Search is continuing for the 17 trapped in the provincial capital Hangzhou, said the rescue headquarters chief Wang Guangrong.
Rescuers had updated the number of the missing workers from the previous 18 to 17 after they recovered another body at about 10 p.m. on Sunday, which brought the death toll from three to four.
The accident happened at 3:20 p.m. on Saturday when a 75-meter-long section of the subway tunnel under construction collapsed at the Fengqing Avenue in Xiaoshan District, trapping at least 50 workers and creating a huge crater where 11 vehicles were trapped.
Most of the trapped workers were taken out safely and 26 injured workers were hospitalized. Nine of the injured had been discharged from hospital and the other 15 are still receiving treatment.
More than 1,000 policemen and fire fighters participated in the rescue work. They are pumping water from the tunnel as water from a nearby river flowed into the tunnel soon after the cave-in.
"There is a slim chance for the trapped workers to survive because of heavy flooding in the crater," said Wang, adding that the water level once reached six meters at its highest.
The construction undertaker, China Railway Construction Group Co., Ltd., has halted all the subway construction works in the city for safety checks, said the group's vice president Bai Zhongren.
The provincial work safety bureau and construction bureau have set up an investigation group to find out cause of the accident.
And a panel, composed of experts from Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing Urban Engineering Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang University, is working on the rescue operation scheme.
Under the expert panel's advise, authorities have evacuated three households living near the cave-in site. Their houses will be dismantled to make way for the mechanical operation in rescue and repair work, Bai said.
The families of the dead and the trapped workers are heading to the rescue site.
Gaza homemade rockets wound 6 Israelis
GAZA, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Six Israeli citizens of Sderot town in southern Israel were injured on Sunday night by two homemade rockets fired from Gaza, Israeli Radio reported.
The report quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying that two were physically injured and four were treated of panic and shock. They were taken to the hospital for medical treatment, adding that the rockets also hit several houses in the town.
A Palestinian militant group called the Brigades of al-Mujahidin, one the armed wings loyal to Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade rockets from northern Gaza Strip at the Israeli town.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has also claimed responsibility for attacking the town of Sderot with one rocket.
The Israeli television channel II reported that the Israeli government is studying all possible options, including a large-scale military operations on Gaza militant groups.
Early this month, violence between Israel and Gaza militant groups broke out in spite of a six-month Egyptian-brokered truce which came into effect in June 19 between the two sides. The Gaza Strip is ruled by Islamic Hamas movement.
In response to homemade rockets attacks, the Israeli army killed 15 Palestinians, most of them Hamas militants, and shut down all Gaza Strip commercial crossing points on the borders with Israel.
Channel II reported on Sunday night that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would decide on Wednesday what would be the fate of the fragile truce.
Egyptian sources had earlier revealed that Egypt informed Israel that Hamas movement is still committed to the truce and wish to renew it with Israel after Israel threatened to target senior Hamas leaders in Gaza if rocket attacks go on.
Chinese president arrives in Costa Rica for state visit
SAN JOSE, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao, who arrived here on Sunday for a state visit to Costa Rica, expressed his hope that the visit would further China's cooperative relations with the Central American nation.
In a written speech issued upon his arrival at the airport, Hu said Costa Rica is an important country in Central America and also an important cooperation partner of China in the region.
Since China and Costa Rica established diplomatic ties in June 2007, bilateral relations have developed rapidly and friendly cooperation has been expanded in various fields, he said.
"China and Costa Rica, both as developing nations, share the common task of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development," Hu said.
The Chinese leader said that during his visit he will exchange views with President Oscar Arias Sanchez and other Costa Rican leaders on bilateral ties and major international issues of common concern.
Hu expressed his belief that his visit would fulfill the goal of deepening friendship, strengthening mutual trust, enhancing cooperation and seeking common development.
During his visit, the two countries are expected to sign agreements on cooperation in the economic, trade and technological sectors.
This is the first state visit to Costa Rica by a Chinese head of state since the two countries set up diplomatic ties last year.
President Oscar Arias Sanchez visited China in October 2007, laying a solid foundation for the mutually beneficial and friendly cooperative relations between the two countries.
China is Costa Rica's second biggest trade partner. In 2007, bilateral trade registered a 33-percent increase over the previous year, totaling 2.8 billion U.S. dollars.
The Chinese president, who is on a five-nation trip, flew into San Jose from Washington, where he attended a Group of 20 summit on the current international financial crisis.
He will later visit Cuba, Peru and Greece, and attend the Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in the Peruvian cap.
Strong quake rocks eastern Indonesia
A shallow powerful quake with magnitude of 7.5 struck eastern parts of Indonesia on Monday morning, the country's meteorology agency said here.
The quake damaged several buildings and injured one person in Gorontalo province, but there was no fatality, meteorology agency said.
The quake jolted after midnight with epicenter at 138 kilometers northwest of the province and 10 kilometers in depth, an official of the agency said.
Then the quake was followed by two strong after shocks of 6.0 and 5.7 magnitudes, said the official.
The agency issued a warning of tsunami but then lifted it.
Indonesia has just launched high-tech faster tsunami warning system cost over 130 million U.S. dollars to prevent a repeat of massive death as it was on December 2004, when tsunami killed over170,000 people in Aceh, Indonesia.
The catastrophe also killed those on coastal areas of Asia, from Sri Lanka and India to Thailand, the Maldives, bringing the total death toll to about 230,000 people.
កម្ពុជានឹងធ្វើជាម្ចាស់ផ្ទះ
កម្ពុជានឹងធ្វើជាម្ចាស់ផ្ទះកិច្ចប្រជុំរដ្ឋមន្រ្តីពាណិជ្ជកម្ម និងឩស្សាហកម្មនៃប្រទេសមានការអភិវឌ្ឍន៌តិចតួចរដ្ឋាភិបាលខ្មែរបានប្រកាសឲ្យដឹងនៅចុងសប្តាហ៌នេះ ថាកម្ពុជានឹងធ្វើជាម្ចាស់ផ្ទះក្នុងការរៀបចំកិច្ចប្រជុំថ្នាក់ រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីក្រសួងពាណិជ្ជកម្ម និងក្រសួងឩស្សាហកម្ម ដោយ មានការចូលរួមពីសមាជិកចំនួន៤៩ប្រទេសដែលមានការអភិវឌ្ឍន៌តិចនៅ ក្នុងពិភពលោក។ចាប់ផ្តើមធ្វើពីថ្ងៃទី១៩ដល់ថ្ងៃទី២០ខែវិច្ឆិកា នៅខេត្តសៀមរាប។កិច្ចប្រជុំនេះធ្វើ
ឡើងបំណងដើម្បី ស្វែងរកដំណោះស្រាយចំពោះបញ្ហារួមដែលប្រទេសក្រីក្រជួបប្រទះនៅ ក្នុងការធ្វើសមាហរណកម្មរបស់ពួកគេទៅក្នុងពាណិជ្ជកម្មអន្តរជាតិ។
រុស្ស៊ីប្រកាសផ្សារភ្ជាប់ទំនាក់ទំនង ជាមួយសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក
ជំហរនយោបាយរុស្ស៊ីបានផ្លាស់ប្តូរទាំងស្រុងកាលពីម្សិលមិញ។ ប្រធានាធិបតីរុស្ស៊ី លោក Dmitri Medvedev បានលាដៃបើកបេះដូងទទួលស្វាគមសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិករបស់លោក Obama ។
ប្រធានាធិបតីអាមេរិកទើបជាប់ឆ្នោតថ្មីដោយប្រកាសពីចេតនាចង់ផ្សារភ្ជាប់ទំនាក់ទំនងរវាងទីក្រុង Moscou និងទីក្រុង Washington ឲ្យបានល្អដូចទំនាក់ទំនងជាមួយនឹងទីក្រុងប៉េកាំងដែរ។
រុស្ស៊ីប្រាថ្នាចង់ឃើញសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិចក្លាយជាដៃគូ យុទ្ធសាស្ត្ររបស់ខ្លួន!” នេះជាប្រសាសន៍របស់ប្រធានាធិបតីរុស្ស៊ី ក្នុងសន្និសិទ្ធនាទីក្រុង
Washington រៀបចំឡើងដោយអង្គការឯករាជ្យពិចារណាអំពីទំនាក់ទំនងអន្តរជាតិ។ លោកប្រធានាធិបតី Dmitri Medvedev បានអះអាងថាប្រទេសរុស្ស៊ីមានដៃគូយុទ្ធសាស្ត្រមួយហើយគឺប្រទេសចិន។ រាល់ការពិភាក្សាតែងតែប្រព្រឹត្តទៅដោយរលូន ដោយពេញលេញ និងប្រកបដោយភាតរភាព។ ជាការពិតណាស់ដែលថាប្រទេសរុស្ស៊ីចង់ឃើញទំនាក់ទំនងរុស្ស៊ី-សហរដ្ឋ អាមេរិចប្រព្រឹត្តទៅយ៉ាងល្អូកល្អើនដូចចិនដែរនោះ។ រហូតមកទល់ពេលនេះអាមេរិច និងរុស្ស៊ីមិនដែលមានទំនុកចិត្តលើគ្នាគ្រប់គ្រាន់សំរាប់បង្កើត ទំនាក់ទំនងល្អនឹងគ្នាទេ។ ដូច្នេះក្រុងMoscouសង្ឃឹមទាំងស្រុងលើរដ្ឋបាលអាមេរិចថ្មីដែលដឹក នាំដោយលោកBarack Obama ហើយ។ លោកបានសំដែងការគោរពនិងសាទរយ៉ាងខ្លាំងចំពោះជ័យជម្នះរបស់លោកObama ។ សំរាប់ប្រទេសរុស្ស៊ី ជម្រើសរបស់បណ្តាជនអាមេរិចមានន័យស្មើនឹងជម្រើសនៃ ការផ្លាស់ប្តូរ ដែលនឹងអាចបើកផ្លូវនាំឲ្យមានដំណោះស្រាយលើបញ្ហាជាប់គាំងជាច្រើន ក្នុងសម័យកាលដឹកនាំរបស់ប្រធានាធិបតីអាមេរិក នារយៈពេលចុងក្រោយនេះ។
តុល្យកានៃជំនួបG២០នៅសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក
កាលពីម្សិលមិញនៅទីក្រុងWashingtonប្រមុខដឹកនាំប្រទេសមហាឧស្សហកម្មនិងប្រទេសកំពុងរីកចម្រើនហៅកាត់ថាក្រុម G20 បានសំរេចចុះហត្ថលេខាទៅលើផែនការណ៍សកម្មមួយនិងទៅលើគោលការណ៍មួយចំនួនដើម្បីដោះស្រាយវិបត្តិសេដ្ឋកិច្ចពិភពលោកដែលកំពុងត្រដខ្យល់ ។
ដើម្បីស្រោចស្រង់វិបត្តីសេដ្ឋកិច្ចពិភពលោកក្រុមប្រទេសហៅថា
G20បានព្រមព្រៀងគ្នាថានឹងស្តាសេដ្ឋកិច្ចឡើងវិញនិងធ្វើកំណែទម្រង់ទៅលើប្រព័ន្ធគ្រប់គ្រងសេដ្ឋកិច្ចយោងទៅតាមគោលការណ៍ចំនួន៤។
គោលការណ៍ទី១៖ ផ្តល់សន្ទុះថ្មីឲ្យដល់សេដ្ឋកិច្ចពិភពលោកតាមរយៈការបង្កើនថវិការ ដើម្បីគាំទ្រតម្រូវការរបស់ទីផ្សារជាមួយការបង្កើនជំនួយនៃអង្គការ មូលនិធិរូបិយវត្ថុអន្តរជាតិនិងធនាគារអភិឌ្ឍន៍ឲ្យដល់ប្រទេសកំពុង លូតលាស់។
គោលការណ៍ទី២៖ ផ្តល់របៀបរបបថ្មីមួយឲ្យដល់ផ្សារសេដ្ឋកិច្ចពិភពលោក។ នៅក្នុងចំណុចនេះប្រទេសទាំងអស់តម្រូវរៀបចំសំណើរៀងៗខ្លួនឲ្យបាន ច្បាស់លាស់មុនថ្ងៃ៣១មិនាឆ្នាំ២០០៩។
គោលការណ៍ទី៣៖ ធ្វើកំណែទម្រង់លើប្រព័ន្ធរដ្ឋបាលសេដ្ឋកិច្ចពិភពលោកជាពិសេស ផ្តល់ភ័ព្វសំណាងដល់បណ្តាប្រទេសដែលកំពុងមានឧស្សាហកម្មជឿនលឿន។
គោលការណ៍ទី៤ ជាសេចក្តីប្រកាសចេតនារួមគ្នា។ ប្រទេសជាសមាជិកG20ទាំង អស់សន្យាថា មិនបណ្តោយខ្លួនទៅក្នុងគំនិតការពារនិយមនិងគោរពគោលការណ៍ សេដ្ឋកិច្ចនៃផ្សារទំនិញ។ជាចំណុចមួយដែលធ្លាប់មានការខ្វែងគំនិត គ្នាព្រោះប្រទេសនិមួយៗចង់ការពារផលប្រយោជន៍រៀងខ្លួន។ជាសរុបអង្គ ប្រជុំG20បានតាំងចិត្តថានឹងបង្កើនសហការរវាងគ្នាដើម្បីស្រោចស្រង់សេដ្ឋកិច្ចពិភពលោកដោយគោរពតាមគោលការណ៍ដូចពោលខាងលើ។
មុនបិទអង្គប្រជុំប្រមុខដឹកនាំក្រុមប្រទេសG20 យល់ ព្រមព្រៀងចូលរួមជំនួបកំពូលមួយទៀតដែលគ្រោងប្រព្រឹត្តទៅនៅថ្ងៃ៣០ មេសាឆ្នាំ២០០៩ដើម្បីពិនិត្យការអនុវត្តន៍គោលការណ៍ទាំងនេះជាមួយ ការសំរេចចិត្ត។
វិធានការណ៍មួយទៀតរបស់អង្គប្រជុំG20ដែលគួរឲ្យចាប់អារម្មណ៍ដែរទាក់ទងតួនាទីកាន់តែសំខាន់របស់អង្គការមូលនិធិរូបិយវត្ថុអន្តរជាតិហៅកាត់ថាFMI។ អំណឹះតទៅអង្គការFMIមានសិទ្ធកាន់តែច្រើននៅក្នុងការត្រួតពិនិត្យហិរញ្ញវត្ថុពិភពលោក។ ក្រៅពីនេះអង្គការFMI ត្រូវធ្វើកំណែទម្រង់ដើម្បីឲ្យអាទិភាពដល់ប្រទេសកំពុងមានឧស្សហកម្ម លូតលាស់។ នៅក្នុងចំណុចនេះនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីជប៉ុនសំដែងចេតនាចង់ឲ្យប្រទេសចិនយក តម្រាប់តាមខ្លួនគឺផ្តល់ថវិការជាបន្ថែមឲ្យដល់អង្គការ FMIដើម្បីជួយប្រទេសអាស៊ីណាដែលកំពុងជួបវិបត្តិដូចករណីប្រទេស Indonesie ជាដើម។
នៅថ្ងៃនេះប្រធានាធិបតីបារាំងលោក SARKOZYនិងប្រធានាធិបតីអាមេរិកលោក George BUSHបាន ប្រកាសសរសើរអង្គប្រជុំG20កាលពីម្សិលមិញថាជាជោគជ័យ មួយនៅចំពោះមុខសហការនៃប្រទេសជាសមាជិកទាំងអស់ដែលស្រុះគ្នាសុខចិត្តទទួលយកគោលការណ៍ ប៉ុន្តែ ពិភពអ្នកសេដ្ឋកិច្ចនិងអ្នកកាសែតសំដែងទុទិដ្ឋិនិយមថាវិបត្តិ សេដ្ឋកិច្ចពិភពលោកជាផលវិបាកហូរចេញមកពីប្រព័ន្ធមូលធននិយមដែលហួស សម័យរាប់សិបឆ្នាំមកហើយដូច្នេះមិនអាចដោះស្រាយចេញរួចដោយសារអង្គ ប្រជុំតែប៉ន្មានម៉ោងនោះទេ។ពួកគេសន្និដ្ឋានថាការសន្យានិងការ អនុម័តគោលការណ៍ជារឿងងាយស្រួលមួយប៉ុន្តែនៅពេលអនុវត្តចាត់ទុកជា រឿងពិបាកមួយទៀត។
ប្រវត្តិនៃពិធីបុណ្យបណ្ដែតប្រទីប
ជាទូទៅពិធីបុណ្យបណ្តែតប្រទីប ដែលប្រារព្ធធ្វើរួមគ្នាជាមួយពិធីបុណ្យអុំទូក សំពះព្រះខែនិងអកអំបុក តែងប្រព្រឹត្តទៅរយៈពេល ៣យប់ ៣ថ្ងៃ តាមប្រតិទិនច័ន្ទគតិ គឺចាប់ផ្តើមពីថ្ងៃ១៤កើត រហូតដល់ថ្ងៃ១រោច ខែកត្តិក។
ការបណ្ដែត ប្រទីបនៅក្នុងថ្ងៃចុងក្រោយនៃពិធីបុណ្យអុំទូក បណ្ដែតប្រទីប សំពះព្រះខែនិងអកអំបុក នាថ្ងៃទី៦ វិច្ឆិកា ២០០៦។
សៀវភៅ «ព្រះរាជពិធីទ្វារទសមាសនិងពិធីសង្ក្រានចូលឆ្នាំ» បោះពុម្ពផ្សាយក្នុងឆ្នាំ១៩៦៩ ដែលនិពន្ធចងក្រងដោយលោកឧកញ៉ា ទេពពិទូរ -ក្រសេម បណ្ឌិតទី១ នៃវិទ្យាស្ថានពុទ្ធសាសនបណ្ឌិត្យ បានកត់ត្រាឲ្យដឹងថា តាមកំណត់ព្រះរាជពិធីក្នុងរជ្ជកាលព្រះករុណាព្រះបាទសម្តេចព្រះ នរោត្តម សុរាម្រិត ព.ស. ២៥០១ ឬ គ.ស. ១៩៥៨ ពិធីបុណ្យអុំទូក បណ្តែតប្រទីប សំពះព្រះខែ និងអកអំបុក នៅក្នុងខែកត្តិកនេះ គឺជាព្រះរាជពិធីមួយ ដែលព្រះរាជាខ្មែរ តែងប្រារព្ធធ្វើនៅក្នុងទន្លេចតុមុខនិងកំពង់ព្រះដំណាក់ផែខាងមុខ ព្រះបរមរាជវាំងក្នុងរាជធានីភ្នំពេញ ក្នុងនោះ មានការបណ្តែតប្រទីបជា្វលា នៅគ្រប់ទាំងបីថ្ងៃនៃពិធីបុណ្យ។
ប៉ុន្តែលោកឧកញ៉ា ទេពពិទូរ ក្រសេម ក៏បានសរសេរបញ្ជាក់ឲ្យដឹងបន្ថែមផងដែរថា ចំពោះខាងប្រជារាស្ត្រ ពុទ្ធបរិស័ទ នៅតាមវត្តអារាមទូទាំងព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជាវិញ ជាប្រពៃណីនៅរៀងរាល់ឆ្នាំ តែងធ្វើពិធីបណ្តែតប្រទីបនៅវេលាយប់១៥ កើតពេញបូណ៌មី ខែអស្សុជ ដែលជាថ្ងៃព្រះសង្ឃបវារណាចេញវស្សា ឬហៅថាពិធីបុណ្យចេញព្រះវស្សា ពោលគឺធ្វើមុន១ខែ។
ព្រះតេជគុណ ហួរ សុខរ័ត្ន សិក្ខាលង្ការោ គង់នៅវត្ត «លង្កាព្រះកុសុមារាម» ក្នុងរាជធានីភ្នំពេញ បានមានថេរដីកាអំពីដំណើរនៃការប្រារព្ធពិធីបុណ្យបណ្តែតប្រទីបនេះ ទៅតាមប្រពៃណីទំនៀមទម្លាប់របស់ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរនៅតាមភូមិស្រុក និងតាមទីអារាមពុទ្ធសាសនាដែលចាប់ធ្វើ ១ខែ មុនពិធីបុណ្យបណ្ដែតប្រទីបផ្លូវការក្នុងខែកត្តិកនេះ។
ព្រះតេជគុណ ហួរ សុខរ័ត្ន មានថេរដីកាដូច្នេះថា ៖ «ប្រវត្តិនៃ ប្រទីបហ្នឹង ធ្វើហ្នឹង គឺធ្វើចាប់តាំងពីថ្ងៃដែលព្រះសង្ឃចេញវស្សាមកម្ល៉េះ។ ព្រះសង្ឃចេញវស្សាគឺថ្ងៃ១៥កើត ខែអស្សុជហ្នឹង ពេលព្រឹកគេមានទេសនាជាតក អ៊ីចឹងទៅ នៅពេលយប់ឡើង គឺយប់ថ្ងៃទី១៥កើតហ្នឹង គេហែប្រទីបទៅតាមវត្តនីមួយៗទូទាំងប្រទេសកម្ពុជាយើង បើនៅតាមមាត់ទន្លេ គេធ្វើជាដង្ឃឹក ដាក់សម្ភារៈ ដាក់អាហារភោជនសព្វបែបយ៉ាង គេបណ្ដែតទៅតាមទន្លេទៅ ហើយអុជជាប្រទីបជ្វាលា ដង្ហែទៅតាមដង្ឃឹធំហ្នឹង។ ហើយដាក់នៅក្នុងដង្ឃឹកហ្នឹង មួយចំនួន ល្អៗ គេយកសម្រាប់ប្រគេនព្រះសង្ឃពេលព្រឹកឡើងអ៊ីចឹង ហើយដល់ពេលមួយចំនួនទៀត យកសម្រាប់ចែកក្មេងៗដែលហែហ្នឹង ឲ្យបរិភោគ ជូនចាស់ៗ សល់ប៉ុន្មានទៀត គឺដាក់បណ្ដែតទៅតាមទឹក។ ដង្ឃឹកហ្នឹង គេធ្វើជាលក្ខណៈទ្រង់ទ្រាយប្រៀបបានដូចជាប្រាសាទតូចមួយអ៊ីចឹង ហើយនៅតំបន់មួយចំនួន ដូចខាងនៅខេត្តកំពង់ចាម អាត្មាធ្លាប់គង់នៅ ក៏នៅតែមានធ្វើអ៊ីចឹងដែរ តាមមាត់ទន្លេគឺបណ្ដែតប្រទីប ពេញព្រោងព្រាតទាំងអស់ ហើយនៅតាមតំបន់មួយចំនួន ដែលដាច់ស្រយាលពីមាត់ទន្លេ ក៏គេធ្វើជាដង្ឃឹកអ៊ីចឹង អុជចន្លុះសម្រាប់តំណាងជាប្រទីបបណ្ដែតហ្នឹង ឲ្យក្មេងៗកាន់ជាជួរៗ មើលពីចម្ងាយស្អាតដូចក្នុងទន្លេអ៊ីចឹង»។
ទាក់ទងនឹងគោលគំនិតផ្នែកជំនឿប្រពៃណីទំនៀមទម្លាប់នៃការរៀបចំ ដាក់ផ្លែឈើ នំនែក អាហារភោជន និងគ្រឿងរណ្តាប់តាក់តែងផ្សេងៗ នៅក្នុងពិធីបុណ្យបណ្តែតប្រទីបនេះ ព្រះតេជគុណ ហួរ សុខរ័ត្ន សិក្ខាលង្ការោ បានមានដីកាបញ្ជាក់ថា ជាការបង្ហាញនូវភោគផលកសិកម្ម-សិប្បកម្មរបស់អ្នកស្រុក អ្នកភូមិ ក្នុងតំបន់នីមួយៗ។
ព្រះតេជគុណ ហួរ សុខរ័ត្ន មានថេរដីកាដូច្នេះថា ៖ «បុណ្យនេះ គឺធ្វើក្រោយពីថ្ងៃដែលយើងប្រមូលផលកសិកម្ម ហើយយើងធៀបមកក្នុងសម័យបច្ចុប្បន្ន គឺយើងបានបង្ហាញនូវផលិតផល ភូមិមួយផលិតផលមួយ ដើម្បីឲ្យដឹង ប្រមូលតាមស្រុកមកថា តើនៅតាមខេត្តនីមួយៗមានផលិតផលអ្វីខ្លះដែលបានពីផលកសិកម្ម ឬក៏ផលិតផលសិប្បកម្មផ្សេងៗ ហើយតើឆ្នាំហ្នឹង មានកំណើនជាងឆ្នាំមុន ឬក៏មានអត្រាថយចុះជាងឆ្នាំមុន? ម្យ៉ាងទៀតដើម្បីយកមកបែងចែកគ្នាបរិភោគនូវអាហារទាំងហ្នឹង បង្ហាញអំពីភាពសាមគ្គីមួយក្នុងភូមិហ្នឹង ក្រោយពីបានមក លោកអត់ដែលចិត្តកំណាញ់អីទេ តែងតែយកមកចែកគ្នាពិសាអ៊ីចឹងទៅ»។
ចំណែកលោក សួន ឱសថ លេខាធិការនៃគណៈកម្មការទ្រទ្រង់ព្រះត្រៃបិតកប្រចាំវិទ្យាស្ថាន ពុទ្ធសាសនបណ្ឌិត្យ បានអធិប្បាយថា ពិធីបុណ្យបណ្តែតប្រទីបដែលប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ ពុទ្ធបរិស័ទខ្មែរ តែងនាំគ្នាធ្វើជាច្រើនតំណតជំនាន់មកនេះ គឺជាពិធីជូនដំណើរវិញ្ញាណក្ខន្ធនៃលោកអ្នកដ៏មានគុណ មានមាតាបិតាជាដើម ក្រោយពីពិធីបុណ្យភ្ជុំបិណ្ឌ ដែលនោះជាផ្នែកមួយនៃការដឹងគុណផង និងបានជាបុណ្យកុសលមកដល់បុគ្គលដែលជាអ្នកធ្វើផងដែរ។
លោក សួន ឱសថ មានប្រសាសន៍ថា ៖ «រឿងបណ្ដែតប្រទីបនេះ ការបូជាប្រទីបនេះ ជាមង្គលដ៏ឧត្ដមដែរ ពីព្រោះបើយើងធ្វើបុណ្យនៅរដូវភ្ជុំហ្នឹង គឺថា យើងធ្វើដើម្បីឧទ្ទិសកុសលហ្នឹងដល់ញាតិមិត្ត ដល់ជីដូនជីតាយើង ដែលលោកបានចែកឋានទៅ ទៅកើតនៅសុគតិភពណាមួយ។ ហើយដល់ពេលឃើញមកទទួលនូវទានដែលយើងបានធ្វើនារដូវភ្ជុំហ្នឹង គឺជាការមួយហើយ ប៉ុន្តែនៅពេលដែលគាត់ត្រឡប់ទៅវិញ យើងត្រូវតែជូនគាត់ទៅវិញ អាហ្នឹងជាបដិសណ្ឋារៈមួយ យើងចាត់ទុក យើងកំណត់ថា អស់រដូវភ្ជុំ ញាតិមិត្តជីដូនជីតាយើងត្រឡប់ទៅស្រុក បើអ៊ីចឹងយើងត្រូវជូនដំណើរគាត់ ឃើញថាធ្វើយ៉ាងហ្នឹង ជាការមួយគេហៅថា សគុណ គុណូបការៈរបស់ឧបការីជន ដែលគាត់បានចែកឋានទៅ។ ទោះបីជាគាត់បានអញ្ជើញមកផ្ទាល់ក្ដី មិនបានមកក្ដី ប៉ុន្តែយើងបានធ្វើ ហ្នឹងហើយជាការបូជាដ៏ឧត្ដមដែរ គេហៅថាជាមង្គលដែរ»។
រីឯគោលគំនិតចម្បងផ្នែកពុទ្ធសាសនាវិញ លោកអ្នកជំនាញទាំងពីររូបនេះ ក៏បានបញ្ជាក់ដូចគ្នានឹងសេចក្តីក្នុងសៀវភៅ «ព្រះរាជពិធីទ្វារទសមាសនិងពិធីសង្ក្រានចូលឆ្នាំ» ដែលចែងថា ៖ ពិធីបុណ្យបណ្តែតប្រទីបដែលប្រព្រឹត្តទៅជាមួយនឹងពិធីបុណ្យអុំទូក សំពះព្រះខែ និងអកអំបុក គឺជាការគោរពបូជាចំពោះព្រះចង្កូមកែវ គឺព្រះទន្ត ឬធ្មេញ នៃព្រះសម្មាសម្ពុទ្ធព្រះនាម សមណគោតម ដែលព្រះអង្គទ្រង់បានប្រតិស្ឋានទុកនៅក្នុងពិភពនាគ។ ម៉្យាងទៀតគឺបូជារំឭកដល់ស្នាមព្រះបាទរបស់ព្រះអង្គ ដែលប្រតិស្ឋាននៅឯឆ្នេរស្ទឹងមួយឈ្មោះ «នម្មទា» និងនៅក្នុងទីដទៃទៀត នាសម័យពុទ្ធកាលដែលកន្លងទៅអស់រយៈពេល ២៥៥២ឆ្នាំមកហើយនេះ៕