Number of Missing in Philippines Floods Soars to 1,000

MANILA – The Philippines disaster agency said on Friday more than 1,000people were missing from a storm and flash floods last week, sharply raising the number of victims unaccounted for as the true extent of the disaster became known. Typhoon Washi and the flash floods it caused on the southern island of Mindanao are known to have killed 1,080 people, the national disaster agency said. The agency said on Thursday dozens of people were missing but on Friday it revised that figure to more than 1,000, saying more complete data had come in and people were reporting the disappearance of relatives.

More Japanese Firms Look to New Investments in Cambodia

Low labor costs, support from the Cambodia government influence Japanese businesses

PHNOM PENH – More Japanese firms are looking to Cambodia this year either to invest or to learn about the investment environment in the country, participants in an economic forum were told Friday. Sok Chenda, secretary general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, told the forum in Phnom Penh for Japanese investors that the government is improving as quickly as possible the investment environment, human resources and infrastructure.

After Alleged Massacre, Observers Enter Syria

BEIRUT – Arab League officials arrived in Syria yesterday to prepare for monitors overseeing an Arab peace plan, after activists said President Bashar al-Assad’s forces carried out the deadliest assault in their nine-month crackdown on protests. The Syrian Observatory for Human Right said Syrian forces killed 111 civilians and activists on Tuesday when Assad’s forces surrounded them in the hills of Idlib province and unleashed two hours of bombardment and heavy gunfire.

Hun Sen sets Out Northeast Development Plans

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the government’s plans to spur economic growth in the northeast of the country through implementing a wide range of projects in sectors such as agriculture and the extractive industries. Rights workers have warned that little information on the plans for the area has actually reached local communities and that they could jeopardize the environment and ethnic minorities in the area if not handled properly. “No later than 2020, Cambodia will create a new fourth economic area in the northeast region, which will cover Ratankkiri, Mondolkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie and Preah Vihaear province,” said Mr.

North Korea’s Enigmatic Strongman Dies

SEOUL- North Korean leader Kim Jong II, the mercurial strongman who styled himself as a “Dear Leader” while ruling over an impoverished police state, died at 69, according to North Korean state media. Kim was believed to have suffered from multiple chronic illnesses, but his death – reportedly from a heart attack while traveling by train on Saturday morning – was sudden. He had been grooming a son to succeed him and his death creates uncertainty about the future direction of a nation with few international friends but a nuclear weapons capability. His foreign-educated son, Kim Jong Un, who is in his 20s and is being primed to be the next leader, is largely unknown outside North Korea, to the point that even his exact age is debated. The elder Kim had raised his son’s profile and responsibilities over the past 18 months, but North Korea’s murky inner workings make it uncertain whether that succession will take. For nearly two decades, Kim both defied and baffled international leaders with his isolated regime’s nuclear ambition inflammatory rhetoric and surprise attacks on South Korea. Kim, who came to power in 1994 upon the death of his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, led one of the world’s most enduring dictatorships, a repressive regime that has long defied predictions of its demise.

$20M Worth of Rosewood Seized in Single District

Authorities in Kompong Thom’s Stong district have confiscated 109 cubic meters of high-quality rosewood worth an estimated $20 million from illegal traders since the beginning of the year, officials said yesterday. According to Tong Yi, chief of the district Forestry Administration, forestry officials have seized a total of 22, 777 assorted pieces of rosewood from 107 vehicles that include Cadillac Escalades, Toyota Land Cruisers, Land Rovers and military vehicles since January All of the confiscated goods are currently being stored inside a ware house at an unknown location in Kompong Thom province, and the government now plans to conduct a bidding process to sell the luxury timber with supervision from the Ministry of Finance.

Floods in Philippines Leave Hundreds Dead

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Rescuers searched for more than 800 people missing in the southern Philippines yesterday after flash floods and landslides swept houses into rivers and out to sea, killing more than 650 people in areas ill prepared to cope with storms, Cagayan de Oro and nearby lligan cities on Mindanao island were worst hit when Typhoon Washi slammed ashore while people slept late on Friday and early Saturday, sending torrents of water and mud through villages and stripping mountainsides bare.