Archive for July 2016

Displaced Abuja Natives Want 'What Belongs to Us'

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Title: Displaced Abuja Natives Want 'What Belongs to Us'
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
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Abuja natives have been displaced, and many engage in street hawking, selling wares to drivers, to make a living. ABUJA, NIGERIA— In...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">Abuja natives have been displaced, and many engage in street hawking, selling wares to drivers, to make a living.</span></div>
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<span class="dateline" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">ABUJA, NIGERIA—</span></div>
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In 1976, Nigeria’s military ruler declared the nation's capital would move from Lagos to Abuja. With the fastest growth rate in Africa, Lagos was becoming overcrowded and difficult to manage.</div>
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Abuja, a quiet and obscure place in central Nigeria, was known as a no-man’s land. But thousands of people lived there, belonging to about nine different ethnic groups with different languages. When construction of the new capital began, many were forced off their lands by the Nigerian government or pressured to sell to private citizens and businesses.</div>
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Today, many Nigerians still believe there were no people in the federal capital territory, the FCT, before it was created.</div>
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“Somebody ask you where you from, you say, 'From FCT,' " Sani Yahaya said. "They say, 'FCT, no man’s land.  It is disgusting.' So where do I come from?”</div>
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Yahaya's ancestors lived in the land occupied by the capital. He has joined a campaign to demand that the government stop taking the land that belonged to residents' forefathers.</div>
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<strong>'It baffles me'</strong></div>
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“Why can someone be struggling for what is his?" Yahaya asked. "It baffles me. ... We are not asking for much. We are asking for what belongs to us. Give us what belongs to us.”</div>
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Abuja is a sprawling landscape with million-dollar homes, multistory office buildings and miles of wide roads. But as the city continues to expand, the original occupants of the land are being displaced and forced into slums with bad roads and poor services.</div>
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Yunusa Yusuf, spokesperson for the Coalition of FCT Indigenous Groups, an association of the nine tribes that claim Abuja as their ancestral home, said, "We have continued to comply, even at the expense of our ancestral land.  Even at the expense at the poverty that our people suffer over the years.”</div>
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Among coalition demands is that Abuja be given more political power. It has only one senator and two representatives in parliament, numbers far out of line with the territory’s population. The coalition also wants a governor, which is disallowed by the constitution.</div>
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In June, Yusuf made a surprising declaration to the federal government:</div>
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“We, the indigenous people of the FCT, are not cowards. We can as well decide to carry arms, if that will be the only remedy for us to be dialogued with.”</div>
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<strong>Residents protest</strong></div>
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In 2014, the Nigerian government demolished some homes belonging to Abuja natives. The community protested, blocking a major highway for six hours. Yunusa was arrested and detained in prison for more than a month.   </div>
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Yunusa and other indigenous people accuse the Nigerian government of trying to silence them.</div>
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Kamal Shuaib vows he will no longer be silent.  He said his grandfather was forced to give up his land in 1989 after a businessman moved to Abuja and lobbied the government to allocate land to him. Shuaib had to buy back his grandfather’s land in 2001.</div>
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“It is so sad," he said. "I bought my grandfather’s land myself. What belongs to you, buying it from another person. You know how bitter it is. Your birthright.  Just because it was allocated on paper.”</div>
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On paper, the indigenous people of Abuja no longer own the land, but in their hearts, Abuja is still their homeland.</div>
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Displaced Abuja Natives Want 'What Belongs to Us'

Abuja natives have been displaced, and many engage in street hawking, selling wares to drivers, to make a living. ABUJA, NIGERIA— In 1976, Nigeria’s military ruler declared the nation's capital would…

21 Jul 2016

Cholera Outbreak Suspected in Beleaguered South Sudan

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Title: Cholera Outbreak Suspected in Beleaguered South Sudan
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
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FILE - A South Sudanese baby suffering from cholera is being attended by medics in Juba Teaching Hospital, May 27, 2014. Dozens of peo...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">FILE - A South Sudanese baby suffering from cholera is being attended by medics in Juba Teaching Hospital, May 27, 2014.</span></div>
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Dozens of people have fallen ill with suspected cholera in South Sudan, a nation already beseiged by civil unrest, the United Nations said.</div>
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UNICEF said the main hospital in Juba, admitted 69 new cases Wednesday, bringing the total number of people being treated in the capital to 112. Nationwide, there were 141 suspected cholera cases, with six reported deaths. This was down from an earlier report of 11 deaths.</div>
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In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and partner agencies, UNICEF is providing medical supplies, sanitation services and community awareness.  </div>
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One suspected case came from inside a U.N. base in Juba, raising fears that it could spread among the 4,000 people sheltering there from fighting this month between opposing army factions.</div>
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South Sudan's civil war displaced some 28,000 people in Juba after fighting began in late 2013, and renewed fighting last week caused more upheaval, with 15,000 people taking shelter in U.N., aid organization, church and other compounds.</div>
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Last year, 47 people died in South Sudan in a cholera outbreak, and 167 died from the disease in 2014.</div>
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Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease, usually spread by contaminated water and food, and can cause severe diarrhea that, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration and kidney failure within hours.</div>
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Cholera Outbreak Suspected in Beleaguered South Sudan

FILE - A South Sudanese baby suffering from cholera is being attended by medics in Juba Teaching Hospital, May 27, 2014. Dozens of people have fallen ill with suspected cholera in South Sudan, a nati…

21 Jul 2016

Global Strategy Aims to Reduce Infections, Deaths From Viral Hepatitis

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Title: Global Strategy Aims to Reduce Infections, Deaths From Viral Hepatitis
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
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FILE - A patient with hepatitis is treated at a hospital in El Sereif village, North Darfur, Sudan, May 13, 2013. GENEVA— The World ...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">FILE - A patient with hepatitis is treated at a hospital in El Sereif village, North Darfur, Sudan, May 13, 2013.</span></div>
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<span class="dateline" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">GENEVA—</span></div>
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The World Health Organization says increasing prevention and treatment programs for Hepatitis B and C could save millions of lives by 2030. The WHO says affordable tools are available to treat the viral diseases, which remain largely ignored.</div>
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Globally, an estimated 400 million people are infected with <a href="http://www.who.int/features/qa/76/en/" style="color: #132fbe; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Hepatitis B and C. </a>That is more than 10 times the number of people infected with HIV. Despite that, the WHO says about 1.45 million people die each year from the disease.</div>
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The WHO calls Hepatitis a silent killer because of a lack of awareness.  As a consequence, people do not get tested or treated for the preventable disease, which is largely prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.    </div>
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Hepatitis B and C infections are transmitted through contaminated blood, as well as through dirty needles among people who inject drugs. Over time, the infection damages the liver and people die from cirrhosis or cancer.</div>
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The head of the WHO’s global hepatitis program, Stefan Wiktor, says good tools are available to prevent and treat the needless deaths. He tells SuperShare a great vaccine exists for Hepatitis B, which can be transmitted from an infected mother to her newborn child.</div>
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“It is part of the childhood immunization schedule," said Wiktor. "More than 82 percent of children in the world get it. So, they are protected from Hepatitis B. So, we have seen tremendous results in many countries, especially in Asia.” </div>
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Although a dose of the vaccine only costs 17 cents, Wiktor says it is logistically more difficult for people in low-income countries in Africa to access the vaccine, so fewer children become inoculated. He says governments must make a greater effort to make the vaccines available.  </div>
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A new class of medicines developed in 2013 has revolutionized the treatment for people with Hepatitis C, 90 percent of whom can be cured. The price of the drug is $84,000 in rich countries; but, prices have dropped dramatically, to about $200 a treatment, in countries that have access to generic drugs. Most generics are being produced in India.</div>
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Governments at this year’s World Health Assembly adopted the first ever Global Health Strategy to reduce new viral hepatitis infections by 90 percent and the number of deaths by 65 percent by 2030. Wiktor says 7 million deaths could be prevented by 2030.</div>
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Global Strategy Aims to Reduce Infections, Deaths From Viral Hepatitis

FILE - A patient with hepatitis is treated at a hospital in El Sereif village, North Darfur, Sudan, May 13, 2013. GENEVA— The World Health Organization says increasing prevention and treatment progra…

21 Jul 2016

New US Zika Case May Be First in US Caused by Mosquito

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Title: New US Zika Case May Be First in US Caused by Mosquito
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

FILE - Robert Muxo of Miami-Dade County mosquito control, takes a sample of water that was standing in a potted plant in Miami, June 21,...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">FILE - Robert Muxo of Miami-Dade County mosquito control, takes a sample of water that was standing in a potted plant in Miami, June 21, 2016. Health officials are concerned about the spread of the Zika virus in the U.S., which is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.</span></div>
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Health officials in Florida are analyzing a new Zika infection in the Miami area that they think may be the nation's first transmission of Zika from a mosquito bite.</div>
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Florida's Department of Health said this week that the Zika case had been confirmed, but that there were no links to transmission through travel. It has not been made clear whether the case could have originated from sexual contact with an infected person.</div>
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Earlier this week, the CDC announced that the caregiver for an elderly Utah man who died of a Zika infection also had contracted the infection, although for the caregiver the case was not serious. The caregiver was not believed to have traveled to any areas that are affected by Zika, nor had sex with any infected person.</div>
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The CDC said the elderly patient had "uniquely high amounts of virus" in his blood — more than 100,000 times higher than seen in blood samples from other infected people. Health authorities are investigating how the caregiver might have contracted the infection from the older victim.</div>
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Zika has been detected in bodily fluids including semen, blood, urine and breast milk.</div>
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The man who died caught the virus while traveling abroad. He was the first person in the United States to die after becoming infected. Officials said the exact cause of his death was not clear because the man was elderly and had an underlying heath condition.</div>
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Zika is spread primarily through mosquito bites. Experts are especially concerned about infected mosquitoes biting pregnant women. They say this can cause microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by smaller-than-average head size and possible deficiency in brain development.</div>
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New US Zika Case May Be First in US Caused by Mosquito

FILE - Robert Muxo of Miami-Dade County mosquito control, takes a sample of water that was standing in a potted plant in Miami, June 21, 2016. Health officials are concerned about the spread of the Z…

21 Jul 2016

Turkey Cuts Interest Rates After Failed Coup

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Title: Turkey Cuts Interest Rates After Failed Coup
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

FILE - A man passes by Turkey's central bank headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, April 19, 2015. ANKARA— Turkey's central bank c...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">FILE - A man passes by Turkey's central bank headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, April 19, 2015.</span></div>
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Turkey's central bank cut a key interest rate for the fifth month in a row Tuesday, days after an attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan triggered concerns over the country's economic outlook.<br /><br />In a statement, the bank's Monetary Policy Committee said it had reduced its overnight marginal funding rate by a quarter percentage point to 8.75 percent. All other interest rates were left unchanged.<br /><br />The move would help banks borrow more cheaply from day to day, which could help ease liquidity restraints that emerge in the financial system at a time of heightened uncertainty.<br /><br />The central bank's rate-setting body didn't mention the coup directly but said that “domestic developments have led to fluctuations in financial markets.”<br /><br />“Market developments will be closely monitored and the necessary liquidity measures will continue to be taken to support financial stability,” it said.<br /><br />The panel sought to downplay worries about the economic outlook, arguing that recent policy and liquidity measures “have increased the resilience of the economy against shocks.”<br /><br />Some economists had expected an even bigger reduction in the marginal interest rate of half a percentage point, in line with the central bank's last three cuts. The more modest reduction may point to some concern about the impact on the Turkish lira, which has fallen sharply since the coup attempt and could be weakened further by lower interest rates.<br /><br />There's been a lot of volatility in Turkish financial assets since the coup. Despite a modest rally Tuesday, Turkish stocks are still way down from pre-coup levels as is the Turkish lira.<br /><br />After the central bank decision, the lira was roughly flat against the dollar at 2.98 lira, still far weaker than before the coup, when it was worth 2.8900 per dollar.<br /><br />The attempted coup and the subsequent tough response by the government have reinforced concerns over the toxic political divisions in Turkey.<br /><br />A major worry is that international investors, who are badly needed for Turkey to meet its external financial obligations, will take fright and adopt a more cautious approach that further dents the Turkish lira.<br /><br />The same applies to those planning to holiday in Turkey - tourism is a key sector and foreign-currency earner for Turkey. Tourist numbers this year, particularly from Europe, were already before the attempted coup expected to be sharply lower as a result of a series of attacks in the country over the past few months.<br /><br />William Jackson, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said the overall tenor of the central bank's statement suggests that it is “pretty unfazed” by the recent rise in political risk and that further cuts seem likely in the coming months.<br /><br />However, he voiced his concern about how sustainable it is to keep cutting rates at this pace, especially as rising political risk turns off international investors. Lower interest rates could translate into weaker returns for foreigners investing in Turkey. If they are scared off, that could push the lira down further.<br /><br />“The context here is that Turkey has a large current account deficit, so tighter external financing conditions would put the lira under pressure and cause inflation to rise,” he said.<br /><br />Before the attempted coup, most economic forecasters had penciled in Turkish economic growth of around 4 percent this year.<br /><br />Fitch and Moody's Investors Services have already warned about the possibility of downgrading their ratings on Turkey in light of the attempted coup. Moody's said there's now a “likelihood of a weakening in medium term growth prospects” and that it will “be assessing the impact of the failed coup on institutional strength.”<br /><br />One concern consistently highlighted since the coup fell apart is that President Erdogan will push ahead with long-held plans to amend the constitution to centralize power further for himself, and undermine respect for the rule of law. Both are central to the proper-functioning of a market economy.<br /><br />“Turkey continues to operate in a fragile financial and geopolitical environment and its external vulnerability is rising, implying the rising possibility of an escalation in capital outflows, a more rapid fall in reserves and, in a worst-case scenario, a balance of payments crisis,” Moody's warned as it put the country on notice that its Baa3 rating could be cut.</div>
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Turkey Cuts Interest Rates After Failed Coup

FILE - A man passes by Turkey's central bank headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, April 19, 2015. ANKARA— Turkey's central bank cut a key interest rate for the fifth month in a row Tuesday, days after an …

21 Jul 2016

Global Warming to Cost $2 Trillion in Lost Productivity by 2030

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Title: Global Warming to Cost $2 Trillion in Lost Productivity by 2030
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

FILE - A man cools off from a public tap after filling bottles during intense hot weather in Karachi, Pakistan, June 23, 2015. JAKARTA...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">FILE - A man cools off from a public tap after filling bottles during intense hot weather in Karachi, Pakistan, June 23, 2015.</span></div>
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<span class="dateline" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">JAKARTA—</span></div>
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Rising temperatures caused by climate change may cost the world economy over $2 trillion in lost productivity by 2030 as hot weather makes it unbearable to work in some parts of the world, according to U.N. research published Tuesday.</div>
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It showed that in Southeast Asia alone, up to 20 percent of annual work hours may already be lost in jobs with exposure to extreme heat — with the figures set to double by 2050, as the effects of climate change deepen.</div>
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Across the globe, 43 countries will see a fall in their gross domestic product (GDP) due to reduced productivity, the majority of them in Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India and Bangladesh, researcher Tord Kjellstrom said.</div>
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Indonesia and Thailand could see their GDP reduced by 6 percent in 2030, while in China GDP could be reduced by 0.8 percent and in India by 3.2 percent.</div>
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"Current climate conditions in tropical and subtropical parts of the world are already so hot during the hot seasons that occupational health effects occur and work capacity for many people is affected," said Kjellstrom, a director at the New Zealand-based Health and Environment International Trust.</div>
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He said the increasing need for rest "is likely to become a significant problem" as climate change makes the hottest days hotter and leads to longer periods of excessively hot days.</div>
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Kjellstrom authored one of six papers on the impact of climate change on health that were put together by the United Nations University's International Institute for Global Health in Kuala Lumpur and published in the <em>Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health</em>.</div>
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Kjellstrom warned that the lowest-paid workers — those in heavy labor, agricultural and manufacturing — were most at risk of exposure to extreme heat.</div>
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He urged countries to take "decisive action" to tackle global warming.</div>
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"Failure will cause the frequency and intensity of disasters to worsen dramatically beyond 2050, and the situation at the end of this century will be especially alarming for the world's poorest people," the researcher said.</div>
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<strong>Natural catastrophes</strong></div>
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The other papers in the series showed around 2.1 million people worldwide died between 1980 and 2012 due to nearly 21,000 natural catastrophes such as floods, mudslides, extreme heat, drought, high winds or fires.</div>
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In Asia Pacific, 1.2 billion people have been affected by 1,215 disasters — mostly flood, cyclones and landslides — since 2000.</div>
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In April, 175 countries signed a Paris climate deal to restrain the global rise in temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.</div>
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The first three months of 2016 have broken temperature records, and 2015 was the planet's warmest year since records began in the 19th century.</div>
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Global Warming to Cost $2 Trillion in Lost Productivity by 2030

FILE - A man cools off from a public tap after filling bottles during intense hot weather in Karachi, Pakistan, June 23, 2015. JAKARTA— Rising temperatures caused by climate change may cost the world…

21 Jul 2016

Colombia to Halt Temporary Border Openings for Venezuela Shoppers

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Title: Colombia to Halt Temporary Border Openings for Venezuela Shoppers
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

A woman carrying a bundle on her head wait in line to cross the border into Colombia through the Simon Bolivar bridge in San Antonio del...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">A woman carrying a bundle on her head wait in line to cross the border into Colombia through the Simon Bolivar bridge in San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, July 17, 2016.</span></div>
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<span class="dateline" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">BOGOTA —</span></div>
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Colombia wants a permanent opening of its border with Venezuela and will not allow further temporary crossings, the foreign minister said, after tens of thousands of Venezuelans streamed in during the weekend to buy items scarce in their own country.</div>
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Facing an unprecedented economic crisis, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government has allowed citizens to cross into Colombia the past two weekends after closing the border last year in a crackdown on smuggling.</div>
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The next border opening should be permanent, Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said late on Monday.</div>
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"We have taken the decision that there will not be another session like the ones over the past two weekends," she told journalists. "We will work for the opening, the next opening, to be definitive."</div>
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With many Venezuelans traveling from afar to reach the border, about 167,000 have taken the opportunity to shop for basics such as toilet paper, cooking oil, flour and baby supplies in border cities like Cucuta.</div>
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Venezuela closed the crossings along the two countries' 2,219-kilometer (1,378-mile) land border in August 2015 in what Maduro described as an effort to combat smuggling of subsidized Venezuelan products to Colombia.</div>
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Thousands of Colombians living in the neighboring country returned home or were deported after the closings.</div>
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After Venezuela closed the main border crossings, critics said the move merely damaged bilateral trade and did little to tackle smuggling given numerous other informal routes and the complicity of authorities in trafficking.</div>
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As shortages have grown more widespread in Venezuela, the trafficking phenomenon has reversed, with Venezuelans smuggling products back in from Colombia for sale at home.</div>
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Crossing the border into Colombia on Sunday, some Venezuelans chanted anti-Maduro slogans including: "It will fall, this government will fall!"</div>
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Opponents blame Maduro and predecessor Hugo Chavez for Venezuela's economic mess, saying failed socialist policies have resulted in the recession, runaway inflation, widespread shortages and massive shopping lines people are now suffering.</div>
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Maduro, however, says the oil price fall is to blame and alleges his government is also the victim of an "economic war" by political foes and businessmen, stoked by the United States.</div>
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Complicit international media are exaggerating the nation's problems, he says.</div>
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Venezuela's opposition coalition is seeking a recall referendum that could oust Maduro, 53, this year, but government officials vow that will not happen and the election board is dragging its feet over the process.</div>
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Colombia to Halt Temporary Border Openings for Venezuela Shoppers

A woman carrying a bundle on her head wait in line to cross the border into Colombia through the Simon Bolivar bridge in San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, July 17, 2016. BOGOTA — Colombia wants a p…

21 Jul 2016

Obama Presses for Development Initiatives to Continue Beyond Presidency

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Title: Obama Presses for Development Initiatives to Continue Beyond Presidency
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
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President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Summit on Global Development at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, July 20, 2016...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Summit on Global Development at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, July 20, 2016.</span></div>
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<span class="dateline" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">WHITE HOUSE—</span></div>
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President Barack Obama is pressing for the next president to continue key global development initiatives in order to “keep the momentum going” following dramatic gains.</div>
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“I’m here to say that whoever the next president is, development has to remain a fundamental pillar of American foreign policy,” he said Wednesday during the White House Summit on Global Development in Washington.</div>
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Shortly after speaking, the White House announced that the president had signed into law the bipartisan Global Food Security Act.  </div>
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The law directs authorities to promote global food security, to help communities become more resilient to the impact of events such as drought, and to improve nutrition. It codifies much of a signature Obama initiative known as Feed the Future<span style="color: #132fbe;">.</span></div>
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The Republican-led Congress also adopted the Electrify Africa Act, which is linked to Obama’s signature <span style="color: black;">Power Africa</span> initiative.</div>
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The Electrify Africa Act provides a framework for a public-private partnership between the United States and sub-Saharan African countries to help millions of people gain access to reliable electricity.</div>
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<strong>Smart moves</strong></div>
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Obama called development “one of the smartest investments” a nation can make.  </div>
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In 2010, he issued his U.S. Global Development Policy, declaring global development a “core pillar” of engagement, one equal to diplomacy and the military.</div>
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“We know there is a correlation between no education, no jobs, no hope, the violation of basic human dignity, and conflict and instability,” he told the group, which included development leaders, private and public sector officials, members of civil society, religious groups and entrepreneurs.</div>
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The White House said the Feed the Future program, which was implemented after a spike in world food prices in 2009, had significantly reduced poverty and malnutrition.</div>
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In 2015, it provided nutrition interventions to nearly 18 million children, according to the administration.</div>
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Obama’s Power Africa initiative has “set the stage for a steady flow of private sector investments in an expanding energy sector,” and global health programs have led to lower maternal and child mortality rates around the world, according to the administration.</div>
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When Obama took office in 2009, he continued initiatives begun under President George W. Bush because they were “delivering results and saving lives,” the White House said.</div>
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<strong>AIDS, malaria</strong></div>
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The initiatives that started under Bush include the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which promotes economic development and the fight against global poverty; the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)and the President’s Malaria Initiative.</div>
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PEPFAR has so dramatically reduced the number of people on treatment-based research, that the program has shifted its focus to the most vulnerable groups, officials said.</div>
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“An AIDS-free generation is within sight,” said Gayle Smith, U.S. Agency for International Development administrator.</div>
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The malaria program has saved more than 6 million lives since it was implemented, Smith added.  Other health programs have helped save the lives of 4.5 million children and 200,000 mothers since 2008, according to USAID.</div>
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Organizers said the summit also highlighted the need for more development efforts.</div>
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“We're reminded every day that nearly a billion fellow human beings still confront poverty. For this reason, we want to continue and build on the progress,” said Mary Beth Goodman, the National Security Council’s senior director for development and democracy. </div>
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Obama Presses for Development Initiatives to Continue Beyond Presidency

President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Summit on Global Development at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, July 20, 2016. WHITE HOUSE— President Barack Obama is pressing for the next …

21 Jul 2016

A Factories Call for ‘Increased Productivity’

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Title: A Factories Call for ‘Increased Productivity’
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

The statement came just days after Cambodian garment workers gathered to express their concerns over stagnated wages, forced overtime a...

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The statement came just days after Cambodian garment workers gathered to express their concerns over stagnated wages, forced overtime and low standards of living.</div>
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<span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">PHNOM PENH — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;">
Garment companies in Cambodia have warned their employees to work harder and increase productivity to remain competitive.</div>
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The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) made the statement just days after Cambodian garment workers gathered to express their concerns over stagnated wages, forced overtime and low standards of living.</div>
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Declining production in the Cambodian garment sector combined with increasing expenses had put the country at a disadvantage when competing with other nations in the region, such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Myanmar.</div>
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Ken Loo, secretary-general of GMAC, said in a statement that “we must contribute in the manner that our garment sector can stand in today's strongly competitive atmosphere in the world market. As employers, we need to try to contribute as much as possible in building up the skills of the workers.”</div>
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Workers’ representatives, however, argue that employers have exploited the use of short-term contracts and have fired pregnant women in contravention of the labor law.</div>
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The current minimum wage of $140 does not provide a living wage, they say.</div>
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Mak Chansitha, director of the Workers’ Information Center, told VOA Khmer that employers must not place the blame only on workers.</div>
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She added that the decline in productivity stemmed from an increase in the demand for garment products from factories.</div>
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“It's not that their work capacity falling. It's just that when the wage is raised, the quota increases. What I'm trying to say is that it's hard to reach the new quota,” she said.</div>
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She added that employers should look at the change in the production chain and the health of the workers in order to adjust to the falling productivity of workers.</div>
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Loo said that factories were facing increasing costs for electricity and transport, which had led some factories to leave the country.</div>
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Chansitha admitted that the costs borne by employers had increased and was higher than in neighboring countries.</div>
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GMAC should engage in talks with workers’ representatives, she added.</div>
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Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodia Labor Confederation, said there was still a lot of investment potential in the Cambodian garment sector.</div>
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“In Burma, there's requirement of nearly 60 percent of investment capital unlike Cambodia,” he said.</div>
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Heng Sour, spokesman for the Ministry of Labor, could not be reached this week.</div>
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About 46 percent of Cambodia’s garment exports go to the European Union, with the United States coming in second at 30 percent. The industry earned more than $6 billion in 2015, according to data from the Workers Information Center.</div>
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<br /></div>

A Factories Call for ‘Increased Productivity’

The statement came just days after Cambodian garment workers gathered to express their concerns over stagnated wages, forced overtime and low standards of living. PHNOM PENH — Garment companies in C…

19 Jul 2016

Labor Ministry Sets Schedule for Minimum Wage Talks

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Title: Labor Ministry Sets Schedule for Minimum Wage Talks
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
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PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian government on Monday announced a new round of talks over the status of the minimum wage in the garment sec...

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<span class="dateline" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;">PHNOM PENH — </span></div>
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The Cambodian government on Monday announced a new round of talks over the status of the minimum wage in the garment sector, which currently stands at $140 per month.</div>
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The first round of talks will take place in August 2017, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labor, followed by further discussions in September of that year.</div>
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The following October, the ministry will take the results to a meeting of the Labor Advisory Committee to determine the next increase in the minimum wage, which will come into effect in January.</div>
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Labor leaders told VOA Khmer that unions would hold a meeting ahead of the talks, in July.</div>
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Yang Sophoan, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions, said research was ongoing into conditions in the sector ad factory expenditure in order to come up with a figure the groups think is fair.</div>
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She added that the unions plan to lobby for a new minimum wage of $207 per month, a figure likely to be dismissed by employers and industry groups as too high.</div>
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The Ministry of Labor said factors such as the increasing cost of housing, inflation, and living expenses should be taken into account when determining the increase, as well as productivity and the profitability of the garment sector.</div>
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Workers have fought a long and hard battle to reach a minimum wage of $140, one which in January 2014 led to the deaths of at least five strikers at the hands of the security forces.</div>
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In May, factory owners told workers they needed “increase productivity” following the wage rise in order to stay ahead of their regional competitors in countries such as Bangladesh.</div>
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Almost half of Cambodia’s garments are exported to the European Union, with just under a third going to the United States. About a quarter are delivered to Canada and Japan.</div>
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In 2015, the country recorded more than $6 billion in revenue from the industry.</div>
<br /></div>

Labor Ministry Sets Schedule for Minimum Wage Talks

PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian government on Monday announced a new round of talks over the status of the minimum wage in the garment sector, which currently stands at $140 per month. The first round of…

19 Jul 2016

Reformed Tech Industry Body Looks to Boost ‘Digital Economy’

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Title: Reformed Tech Industry Body Looks to Boost ‘Digital Economy’
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

The ICT industry has grown significantly and is estimated to be worth about $800 million at present, employing some 30,000 IT professio...

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The ICT industry has grown significantly and is estimated to be worth about $800 million at present, employing some 30,000 IT professionals.</div>
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<span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">PHNOM PENH — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;">
Representatives of Cambodia’s tech sector say they are ready to help the country take advantage of global advances in information and communication technology (ICT), after recent reforms to the main body representing the industry.</div>
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The management of the ICT Federation of Cambodia was overhauled in April in an effort to ensure that it is ready to welcome new investors, both domestic and international.</div>
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The federation’s newly-elected president, Steven Path, the founder of tech consultancy Pathmazing, predicted that, a decade from now, Cambodia’s ICT industry would be worth $3 billion a year and would employ 100,000 people.</div>
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“Our new vision is to empower Cambodia’s digital economy,” he told VOA Khmer. “So our job, as the industry leader, is to help… ICT companies at all sizes to be more competitive, to help them grow their businesses because Cambodia’s digital economy is still at the very early stage.”</div>
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The group has changed up its leadership partly to ensure that it is considered politically independent. But Sok Puthyvuth, the head of SOMA Group who is also the son in law of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the son of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, remains the federation’s chairman. A report from Global Witness published this week alleged that members of Hun Sen’s family, including Puthyvuth, had benefited unduly from their family connections to build their businesses.</div>
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But since the re-launch, the federation has brought on board mobile phone provider Smart Axiata, digital entertainment service Sabay and internet service provider Ezecom, Path said.</div>
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He believes the ICT Federation is well lobby on behalf of the industry during what could be a time of dramatic transition in the sector, in parallel with global tech trends. The number of the Internet users in Cambodia has surged dramatically, from about 320,000 in 2010 to nearly 7 million by mid-2016, according to government figures.</div>
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The ICT industry has already grown significantly and is estimated to be worth about $800 million at present, employing some 30,000 IT professionals.</div>
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Path said the government and the private sector need to work together to build capacity so the domestic ICT sector can compete regionally and globally.</div>
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“We want to work with international companies [on], for example, building research centers, data centers [and] training our software engineers, [so] that Cambodia is ready for these opportunities,” Path said.</div>
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Economists and analysts support the federation’s view. Cambodia is benefiting from extended Internet coverage and the affordability of tech services and hardware, said Hiroshi Suzuki, chief economist at the Business Research Institute of Cambodia.</div>
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“I am expecting that the development of the ICT sector in Cambodia could be accelerated with the strong policy and support by the government,” Suzuki said.</div>
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Although some tech professionals still worry about their capability to compete, “the right amount of investment” into the industry would help the entire economy, said the Economist Intelligence Unit’s lead ASEAN analyst Miguel Chanco. The country could potentially “leapfrog” other nations with more developed tech sectors by quickly adopting new innovations, he added.</div>
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“The fairer and the more intense the competition, the better off consumers will be at the end of the day,” Chanco told VOA Khmer.</div>
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“The ICT Federation should play a couple of roles going forward: policy advocacy at home for the betterment of the local industry and as a base or forum to promote externally the potential of Cambodia's ICT sector.”</div>
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The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has endorsed the federation as a representative of the private sector, and is willing to play a role in the sector’s development, Path said.</div>
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He also said the group will aim to get across a positive message about Cambodia, contrary to the more critical view often given in international media.</div>
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“Cambodia is very stable, and the American media needs to portray what’s going on today,” he said. “Today, the population is very young, and the young population is hungry for opportunity.”</div>
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<br /></div>

Reformed Tech Industry Body Looks to Boost ‘Digital Economy’

The ICT industry has grown significantly and is estimated to be worth about $800 million at present, employing some 30,000 IT professionals. PHNOM PENH — Representatives of Cambodia’s tech sector sa…

19 Jul 2016

UN: Little Progress Against Asia’s Booming Synthetic Drugs Trade

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Title: UN: Little Progress Against Asia’s Booming Synthetic Drugs Trade
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

BANGKOK — A United Nations conference on the illegal trade in synthetic drugs says trafficking is growing across much of Southeast As...

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A United Nations conference on the illegal trade in synthetic drugs says trafficking is growing across much of Southeast Asia, aided by the Internet and rising demand. Authorities are calling for tighter controls on the drug’s precursor chemicals.</div>
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The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says in East and Southeast Asia drug production and trafficking is expanding and diversifying, driven by new synthetic drugs outside international control.</div>
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The UNODC says there is a growing need to prevent legal chemicals from being diverted into drug production.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Need for international control</strong></div>
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Jeremy Douglas, regional representative for the UNODC in Asia, in an address to more than 200 senior government officials from 39 countries Tuesday, said the region’s drug problem has gotten worse.</div>
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“It is important that this conference is here in Asia where most of the precursor chemicals are produced and where - as it was pointed out - significant drug production is taking place. If we are to make headway on the drug production situation here and in other regions, we need to have effective international control,” said Douglas.</div>
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In Southeast Asia, authorities say Myanmar - also known as Burma - is the region’s largest producer of synthetic drugs, with smugglers trafficking precursor chemicals into the country and then transporting the drugs back across the country’s porous borders to markets in China, Thailand and beyond.</div>
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Thailand’s justice minister, Paiboon Koomchaya, said despite concerns over synthetic drugs, there appears to have been little recent progress in controlling precursor chemicals in the region.</div>
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“In 2013 we raised awareness of all the countries but we have not come up with a clear measure yet of how the manufacturing countries, importing countries and all the relevant parties - how are we going to control precursor chemicals effectively in our region,” said Koomchaya.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Internet as market place</strong></div>
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U.N. drug law enforcement officials say there are hundreds of synthetic drugs - known as new psychoactive substances (NPS), but just 10 have been listed as controlled substances, regulating their sale.</div>
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That means that many criminal syndicates use the Internet to market the drugs online, posing a challenge for law enforcement.</div>
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UNODC’s Douglas told VOA more domestic controls are needed to control trafficking of precursors in the region.</div>
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“This is the heartland - the center point production - Asia is where the precursors are largely coming from,” said Douglas.</div>
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Officials meeting in Bangkok are trying to develop a regional policy for dealing with the problem, as well as tighter border controls. The policy plans are being prepared for the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the worldwide drug trafficking problem.</div>
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UN: Little Progress Against Asia’s Booming Synthetic Drugs Trade

BANGKOK — A United Nations conference on the illegal trade in synthetic drugs says trafficking is growing across much of Southeast Asia, aided by the Internet and rising demand. Authorities are call…

19 Jul 2016

UN: AIDS Deaths Among Young Asians Doubles in Decade

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Title: UN: AIDS Deaths Among Young Asians Doubles in Decade
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

A man has a sample of blood taken by a nurse for testing at the HIV/AIDS ward of Beijing YouAn Hospital. The number of new HIV/AIDS case...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">A man has a sample of blood taken by a nurse for testing at the HIV/AIDS ward of Beijing YouAn Hospital. The number of new HIV/AIDS cases in China is soaring, with rates of infections among college students and older men rising.</span></div>
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Enormous strides have been made in adult population, but parental consent laws hinder testing for youths and contribute to 'hidden epidemic,' experts say.</div>
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<span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">BANGKOK — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;">
The estimated number of adolescents dying of AIDS in the Asia Pacific region has more than doubled since 2005, experts said Monday, warning of a "hidden epidemic."</div>
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UNICEF urged Asian countries to improve teenagers' access to testing, saying many young people do not know their HIV status because of parental consent requirements for tests.</div>
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The Asia Pacific region has made enormous strides against HIV/AIDS in the adult population, with a 31 percent drop in new HIV infections between 2000 and 2014, and a 28 percent decline in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2014.</div>
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However, one in seven new infections in the region last year was among 15- to 19-year-olds, and the estimated number of AIDS-related deaths for adolescents aged 10 to 19 has shot up 110 percent to 6,600 in 2014, from 3,100 in 2005, a U.N. report said Monday.</div>
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At-risk adolescent groups include gay and transgender youths, injecting drug users, and people who buy and sell sex.</div>
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"This is the first, definitive report on adolescents” between 10 and 19, said Wing-Sie Cheng, UNICEF regional adviser on HIV and AIDS. "This report has been a culmination of more than two years of efforts to try to get all available data to help us understand the picture of the epidemic facing them. We're talking about a hidden epidemic."</div>
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The report said an estimated 50,000 adolescents aged 15 to 19 were infected with HIV last year.</div>
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Across the region, an estimated 220,000 youths between 10 and 19 are living with HIV, with cities such as Bangkok, Hanoi and Jakarta being the "hubs of new infections," it said.</div>
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The 10 hardest hit countries are India, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Pakistan.</div>
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But the report said it is likely that less than a third of HIV-positive adolescents receive life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Consent forms hinder testing</strong></div>
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Surveillance in the region is problematic because in many countries teenagers are not allowed to get HIV tests unless their parents sign consent forms.</div>
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Only 10 Asia Pacific countries allow young people to access HIV testing and related services without parental permission.</div>
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"Many do not want their parents to know that they've had sex. That puts a barrier between them and testing," Wing-Sie said. "If they are turned away from testing, they may be carrying the HIV virus without knowing."</div>
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Niluka Perera, project officer for the Youth Voices Count network for young gay men and transgender people, called for greater use of social media, apps, smartphones and tablets to reach young people.</div>
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The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (Apcom), which launched a drive in Bangkok last year to encourage young gay men to get tested, announced last week that it had received a £795,195 ($1.19 million) grant from the U.K-based Elton John AIDS Foundation to expand the campaign to cities in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.</div>
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UN: AIDS Deaths Among Young Asians Doubles in Decade

A man has a sample of blood taken by a nurse for testing at the HIV/AIDS ward of Beijing YouAn Hospital. The number of new HIV/AIDS cases in China is soaring, with rates of infections among college s…

18 Jul 2016

Southeast Asia Braces for Zika Virus

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Title: Southeast Asia Braces for Zika Virus
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

A worker sprays insecticide for mosquitos in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 13, 2016. Tropical Southeast Asian countries said they were bracing...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">A worker sprays insecticide for mosquitos in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 13, 2016. Tropical Southeast Asian countries said they were bracing for the Zika virus, with Malaysia saying it could "spread quickly" if introduced.</span></div>
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Zika virus had been limited to rare cases in human populations in Africa and Asia until unprecedented outbreak on island in southwestern Pacific in 2007.</div>
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<span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">BANGKOK — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;">
The World Health Organization on Monday is convening a meeting in Geneva to determine whether a global health emergency should be declared for the Zika virus.</div>
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WHO is responding in a more pro-active manner to the relatively minor mosquito-borne virus in contrast to its slow response to the lethal 2013 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, for which the U.N. agency faced heavy criticism.</div>
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Zika, suspected of causing a surge of birth defects in South America, is “spreading explosively” in the Americas, according to the WHO.</div>
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The U.N. agency also believes the disease has been more common in Southeast Asia than the smattering of cases reported in the region in the past several years.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rarely fatal</strong></div>
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Zika, usually mild and rarely fatal with symptoms often mistaken for other mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue and chikungunya, has “widespread distribution" across Thailand, according to an article last year in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene</em>. But Thailand has only reported one case this year.</div>
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Thailand has seen a sharp increase in dengue in recent years.</div>
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A popular 37-year-old TV actor, Thrisadee “Por” Sahawong, died last month of complications related to dengue fever after more than two months in a coma, shining a fresh spotlight in the kingdom on the disease, which was first documented in the 1950s during epidemics in Thailand and the Philippines.</div>
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The Zika virus, first detected in a rhesus monkey in Uganda in 1947, had been limited to rare cases in human populations in Africa and Asia until an unprecedented outbreak on an island in the southwestern Pacific in 2007.</div>
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“It was something kind of unique, along with the fever and rash that we were starting to see, as well as patients having some kind of this typical rash around the earlobe,” said Dr. James Edilyong, the medical staff chief for the state of Yap in Micronesia. “That's when it kind of indicated to us that we need to more find about this kind of condition.”</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Contracted virus</strong></div>
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The general population on the island – which is home to little more than 10,000 people – was subsequently tested. It was discovered nearly three-fourths of those aged 3 and older had contracted the virus. But most did not realize it.</div>
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“A lot of them were basically sub-clinical. They didn't feel the need to come to the hospital. Maybe some of them didn’t even feel any difference, probably just thinking it's just a flu or something – just feeling a little bit unwell,” Edilyong told SuperShare Monday.</div>
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In late 2013, another large outbreak erupted in French Polynesia, with the first links to the virus causing Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological illness with paralysis as its main feature.</div>
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But the relatively obscure disease did not end up on the front pages globally until the latest outbreak emerged in Brazil – where several thousand cases have been reported since last year – of a suspected link to infected pregnant women giving birth to babies with microcephaly, a fetal deformity that causes abnormally small heads.</div>
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There were no such defects linked to Zika on Yap after the 2007 outbreak, but officials there, in view of what has emerged out of Brazil, are now examining birth records more closely, Edilyong told <span style="line-height: 25.2px;">SuperShare</span>.</div>
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There has also been no link so far between Zika and microcephaly in Southeast Asia, according to the WHO's regional office here.</div>
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Malaysian and Singaporean public health officials have warned of a high risk of contagion if the virus is introduced there.</div>
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The Philippines health department is calling Zika a “real and present” risk amplified by weather conditions caused by the El Niño phenomenon that will likely lead to more ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed.</div>
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Governments in the Americas and the Caribbean, including Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, have warned women to delay conceiving until the Zika outbreak is brought under control.</div>
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No treatment or vaccine is available, although a Canadian researcher has been quoted as saying one might be ready within this year. Medical experts, however, say it could take several years of testing a vaccine before it is deemed safe.</div>
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Southeast Asia Braces for Zika Virus

A worker sprays insecticide for mosquitos in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 13, 2016. Tropical Southeast Asian countries said they were bracing for the Zika virus, with Malaysia saying it could "spread quic…

18 Jul 2016

Analysts Urge Caution in Trans-Pacific Partnership With US

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Title: Analysts Urge Caution in Trans-Pacific Partnership With US
Author: Coin Master Daily Reward
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FILE - A protester shouts slogans during a rally against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 22, 2014. It is...

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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Skolar-Light-Latin, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15.75px; line-height: 22.05px; text-align: left;">FILE - A protester shouts slogans during a rally against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 22, 2014.</span></div>
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It is unclear exactly how Cambodia would benefit from the trade deal, which lowers tariffs on agricultural and industrial goods between its adherents.</div>
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<span class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">PHNOM PENH — </span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 36px; padding: 0px;">
Cambodian officials say they are considering joining the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, but analysts say the country is a long way from being a part of the regional trade pact.</div>
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Prime Minister Hun Sen is preparing for a US visit later this month, where he will meet with other Asean leaders and US President Barack Obama, to discuss trade and security issues.</div>
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The US is making major overtures to Southeast Asian countries, as it seeks to counter China’s influence in the region. So far, four Asean members—Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam—have joined the 12-nation TPP. Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam—as well as the Philippines—all have contentious overlapping claims with China over the South China Sea.</div>
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Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told SuperShare that relevant ministries are studying the possibility of joining the pact. During his visit last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed Cambodia’s interest in the pact, Chum Sounry said.</div>
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It is unclear exactly how Cambodia would benefit from the trade deal, which lowers tariffs on agricultural and industrial goods between its adherents.</div>
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Ou Virak, head of the think tank Future Forum, told <span style="line-height: 25.2px;">SuperShare</span><span style="line-height: 25.2px;"> that Cambodia should not rush into the pact, the study of which could take two to three years. Still, Cambodia should show interest in it, he said, even as it continues strong ties with China. “Until we depend on no nation, we are at risk of becoming their tool,” he said.</span></div>
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The TPP will not bring that kind of independence, he said, but it would boost exports and revenue, helping the budget away from dependence on other countries.</div>
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More immediately, the trade deal could become a part of talks over the South China Sea, which will be discussed at the US-Asean meeting this month. Analysts say the TPP could be a tool through which the US helps its allies in Asia.</div>
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Chap Sotharith, senior economic researcher at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said Cambodia could sign onto the TPP, but it would have to express clearly its own interests, versus the interests of the Asean members who are in disputes with China.</div>
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“We are a neutral nation that is not inclined to any party,” he said. “We are not concerned by any dispute with any major power. However, the major advantage for Cambodia is strengthening its foreign relations, especially in terms of trade and investment.”</div>
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Now may not be the time to sign onto the TPP, with so much happening in regional politics, he said. A better time frame would be five to 10 years from now, and only after it has joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, which US and China are both a part of, he said. </div>
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“If we take part, we will gain a lot,” he said. That includes markets to South America, as well as the US, without tariffs, for Cambodian agriculture, especially rice, he said. “If we take part, our goal to export 1 million tons of rice can be reached easily,” he added. </div>
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Before his departure to China on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told <span style="line-height: 25.2px;">SuperShare</span><span style="line-height: 25.2px;"> that Cambodia, as well as other Asean members, will strengthen ties with the US during the summit this month in California. He did not, however, discuss the TPP.</span></div>
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“There will be steps forward for friendship, strategic partnership and trade ties with the US,” he said, “because we have to do our best to move Asean forward for the people of the 10 Asean member countries, which have more than 600 million people today.”</div>
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Analysts Urge Caution in Trans-Pacific Partnership With US

FILE - A protester shouts slogans during a rally against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 22, 2014. It is unclear exactly how Cambodia would benefit from the trade deal, w…

18 Jul 2016

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Analysts Urge Caution in Trans-Pacific Partnership With US

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