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  - Cambodian foreign affairs officials on Wednesday welcomed the ascent of a new government to power in Thailand but said it needed to take immediate action to resolve an ongoing border dispute between the two countries.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Kuy Kung said the new government was likely to improve relations between the two South-East Asian neighbours despite Thai prime minister-designate Abhisit Vejjajiva's history of strong rhetoric over the Preah Vihear temple dispute.

"We continue to have a good relationship with Thailand, and this will improve with the appointment of Abhisit Vejjajiva as prime minister," Kuy Kung said.

Phnom Penh  - When the former chief of the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison camp was indicted by Cambodia's war crimes tribunal in August, many observers thought 2008 could be marked by real progress at the UN-backed court.

The appearance of Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary name Duch, in the dock represented for many the culmination of almost 30 years of recriminations against the genocidal regime and more than a decade of negotiations to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial.

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.

Phnom Penh - The top UN official in Cambodia on the government Tuesday to step up efforts to halt what he described as a "widening gap" between the rich and the poor.

UN resident coordinator Douglas Broderick said recent economic growth had brought "much hope and optimism" to all Cambodians, but added that prosperity was "not evenly spread."

Phnom Penh  - Up to 12 Taiwanese tourists were injured in Cambodia on Sunday when a bridge they were crossing collapsed, officials said.

All members of the tour group, which was making its way to a tour boat on the Tonle Sap River near Siem Reap northern Cambodia, had to be retrieved from the water when the recently constructed bridge collapsed about 1000 am (0300 GMT), a Tourism Department spokesperson said.

"The 12 people sustained minor injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital after the accident," the spokesperson said.

"The members of the group were all aged between 50 and 60 and were making their way to a tour boat for a sight-seeing trip," he added.