Phnom Penh  - Yamaha Motor Company said in a press release received Tuesday that it will establish a Cambodian assembly factory and sales unit.

The plant will use parts produced in neighbouring Thailand.

Yamaha holds a 70 percent stake in Yamaha Motor Cambodia Co, according to the press release, and the company, worth 11.1 million dollars in capital, is 20 per cent-owned by trading house Toyota Tsusho Corp, with another 10 percent being held by local trading company Kong Nuon Import and Export Co.

The factory is scheduled for completion by July.

Phnom Penh - A survey by environmental agency Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has uncovered "surprisingly large" populations of two globally endangered primates in a remote protected area in Cambodia, it said in a press release Friday.

A census by WCS scientists and Cambodian rangers across a 780- square-kilometre area in the remote north-eastern border province of Mondulkiri on the Vietnam border counted 42,000 black-shanked doucs and 2,500 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons, it said.

Phnom Penh - Cambodia is now officially home to the most dangerous roads in the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), officials said Thursday.

Cambodian drivers are infamous for their blithe disregard for traffic laws, let alone the laws of physics, and as roads improve rapidly this combination resulted in an average of 4.5 people dying on the country's roads every day, new statistics said - up from 3.7 in 2006.

Phnom Penh - Informal talks between Bangkok and Phnom Penh over disputed border areas were halted abruptly and scheduled formal talks postponed indefinitely amid political tension in Thailand, a Cambodian official said Thursday.

Defence Ministry Secretary of State Neang Phat said the Thai delegation arrived Wednesday in Siem Reap, 300 kilometres north of Phnom Penh, and the two sides had talked amicably before formal talks scheduled for Friday were abruptly cancelled.

Phnom Penh - Cambodia has welcomed an initial application by the Bank of India to open in Phnom Penh, local media reported Tuesday.

The Cambodia Daily newspaper quoted Finance Ministry director of investment Chan Sothy as saying the nationalized Indian bank, which has a presence in all the major trade centres of the world, applied to open in April.

The paper quoted Sothy as saying he and Finance Minister Keat Chhon met with outgoing Indian ambassador Aloke Sen Friday and "welcomed the Bank of India to open a branch in Cambodia."

Phnom Penh - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) could play a key role in resolving an ongoing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, outgoing US ambassador to Cambodia, Joseph Mussomeli said at a press conference Monday.

Mussomeli, who is ending a three-year mission, said the US favoured a bilateral solution between the two neighbours over disputed territory on the northern Cambodian border.

"Cambodia and Thailand are neighbours and they will stay with each other forever," he told reporters. "Thailand needs Cambodia and Cambodia needs Thailand.