Phnom Penh - Cambodia's political elites have put the country's economic future at risk by squandering its rich natural resources, an international environmental and anti-corruption group said Thursday.

A report released by London-based Global Witness said international donors had turned a blind eye to the widespread corruption, mismanagement and nepotism that has positioned political elites as the only beneficiaries of Cambodia's oil, gas and coal reserves.

The report accused Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party of allocating contracts "behind closed doors" to members of the political elite and their families.

Phnom Penh- The Vice-President of Germany's Parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, used his visit to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Monday to tell the country's leaders they must bring an end to corruption and promote democratic pluralism.

Thierse met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, members of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, opposition parties, civil society groups and religious leaders and visited Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, where four former leaders of the genocidal regime are currently facing trial for crimes against humanity.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh agreed Monday to negotiate a border dispute that last year erupted into a fatal skirmish between the South-east Asian neighbours.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters after his two-hour meeting with Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya that talks concerning the border surrounding the
11th-century Preah Vihear temple would resume next week.

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian court on Thursday sentenced a Danish woman to 15 years in prison for trying to smuggle thousands of codeine tablets out of the country by mail.

Axelexen Johanne Vinther, 45, was arrested at a post office in Phnom Penh in April last year when she tried to mail more than 10,000 codeine tablets to Canada and the United States.

The court's three judges also sentenced her son - who was meant to receive the drugs and whose whereabouts is unknown - to the same 15-year prison term.

Both were ordered to pay a 7,500-US-dollar fine.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian authorities began a cull of poultry and continued blood tests of residents near the capital Phnom Penh Wednesday, five days after a man from the area was diagnosed with avian influenza.

Department of Agriculture director Kao Phal said government workers had destroyed more than 300 chickens and ducks in a village in Kandal province and a 30-day quarantine had been placed on all poultry within 10 kilometres of the area.

"We will continue to destroy more chickens and ducks over the next 10 days in areas where we suspect there might be avian influenza," Kao Phal said.

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's National Assembly on Tuesday passed a 2009 budget of 1.77 billion dollars, topping last year's expenditure plan by 28 per cent.

The budget came less than a week after a pledge of more than 1 billion dollars for 2009 from donor nations, and will increase government spending on defense, health, education and agriculture.

Defense and security will receive 20 per cent of the 2009 budget, while 16 per cent will go to education, 11 per cent to health, and agriculture will receive 1.7 per cent.