Poor countries must use trade as a tool to survive the financial crisis gripping richer nations, Cambodia`s premier told a meeting of officials from developing countries Wednesday.

Trade ministers and representatives from nearly 50 nations under the Least Developed Countries grouping gathered for two days of talks in Cambodia`s northwestern tourist town of Siem Reap.

Poor countries must use trade as a tool to survive the financial crisis gripping richer nations, Cambodia`s premier told a meeting of officials from developing countries Wednesday.

Trade ministers and representatives from nearly 50 nations under the Least Developed Countries grouping gathered for two days of talks in Cambodia`s northwestern tourist town of Siem Reap.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Senior surviving Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, who is in the custody of Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court on war crimes charges, was hospitalised for a heart check-up, his lawyer said Saturday.

Nuon Chea, 81, was examined by a French doctor Friday at Phnom Penh's French-funded Calmette hospital, his lawyer Son Arun said, adding Nuon Chea was expected to leave the hospital late Saturday.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Russian businessman has been arrested in Cambodia for allegedly having sex with at least six underaged girls, some as young as 12, police said Thursday.

Alexander Trofimov was seized at his home in the popular seaside town of Sihanoukville on Wednesday, said Major General Bit Kimhong, director of the Interior Ministry's anti-trafficking department.

Trofimov, 41, was arrested after his six alleged victims and their parents filed complaints, Bit Kimhong told AFP.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A cargo plane crash-landed in a flooded rice field near Phnom Penh injuring three of its five Russian crew, sparking a probe Thursday into the airline's second accident in five months.

The Russian-made Antonov-12 had just taken off bound for Singapore with a shipment of garments when it came down late Wednesday, aviation officials said.

'One of the crew is seriously injured with a broken leg and hurt hand,' Mao Havannal, chief of Cambodia's Civil Aviation Authority, said.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A cargo plane crash-landed shortly after take-off from Cambodia's Phnom Penh International Airport Wednesday, police said, adding it was unclear whether there were any casualties.

The plane, which was bound for Singapore, crashed shortly after 9:00 pm (1400 GMT) into a flooded rice field outside the capital, airport police chief Chhor Kimney told AFP.

'A cargo plane crashed shortly after take-off... it is in a rice field now,' he said.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - The senior surviving Khmer Rouge leader on Wednesday appealed his detention by a UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia that will prosecute him for his alleged role in the genocidal regime, officials said.

Nuon Chea, who has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, had previously said the tribunal's detention center was comfortable, his lawyer Son Arun told AFP.

'But now he has changed his mind... we cannot say why he wants to be released on bail, but it is his will,' the lawyer said.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - North Korea is seeking access to world markets through investing in Cambodia, a top Cambodian minister said Wednesday, adding that the two countries would ink their first trade deal next month.

'Through investment, North Korea may see Cambodia as a bridge by which to produce goods and export to bigger countries,' Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said, speaking at the launch of the UN-sponsored 2007 world investment report.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - In the fading daylight they come out by their dozens -- young men in small groups or alone, cruising Phnom Penh's parks for sex, not with female prostitutes but with each other.

'Having sex with men is just something I like to do, it's relaxing,' says a pub manager who gave his name as Pov as he sat among drinkers, all men, at his bar a few blocks off of the capital's busy riverfront.

In Cambodia, as elsewhere in the region, men having sex with men is nothing new.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - A bail hearing for jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch will be in open to spectators, Cambodia's genocide tribunal spokesman said Wednesday, marking the first public court appearance by a former regime leader.

Duch, who was the first Khmer Rouge cadre to be detained by the UN-backed court, is likely to appear before tribunal judges in late November, although no date has been fixed, spokesman Reach Sambath told AFP.