Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Phoeurng Sackona made the announcement last week at a meeting in Siem Reap province, of the International Coordinating Committee for Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Preah Vihear.

The Koh Ker site constitutes “one of the marvels of Cambodian monumental heritage,” according to Unesco. Sackona said efforts to register Koh Ker might be aided by the inclusion of Sambor Prei Kuk archaeological complex, which was listed as a World Heritage Site last year.

“My team has started this process. In fact, submitting the proposals is not easy. It takes four years, which includes investigating and reviewing documents in French. Many countries have submitted their proposals and conditions have become more difficult,” she said.

Prak Sovannara, the general director of the heritage department at the ministry, said since 1992, Cambodia has submitted eight temples and historical sites for tentative Unesco listing.

He said after being placed on the tentative list, more evidence and documents must be prepared to be listed as a World Heritage Site.

“We have sites on Unesco’s tentative lists. However, we have never sent proper documents for them to recognise our temples,” he said.

‘Intangible heritage’

Koh Ker temple is in Srayong commune, Kulen district, Preah Vihear province, about 120km from Siem Reap.

Experts believe it was built during the reign of King Jayavarman IV (928-944) to serve as the capital city of the Khmer Empire. In 944, according to Unesco, Koh Ker was abandoned when King Rajendravarman moved his capital to today’s Angkor.

The ministry said the Koh Ker complex currently consists of 86 monuments, although new temples may be discovered.

Cambodia has three World Heritage Sites. They are Angkor which was listed in 1992, Preah Vihear Temple (2008 and the Temple Zone of Sambor Kuk, Archeological Site of Ancient Ishanapura (2017).

It also has four areas of culture that are considered intangible cultural heritage.

The US has “made a series of false accusations, and used increasing tariffs and other means of economic intimidation, to try to impose its own interests on China by way of extreme pressure”, the State Council (cabinet) said in a white paper on trade and economic tensions with Washington.

The white paper blames President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy for torpedoing years of progress in settling differences through bilateral forums and exchanges.

“Since the new US administration took office in 2017, under the slogan of ‘America First’, the US has abandoned the basic norms of international exchanges such as mutual respect and equal consultation, and implemented unilateralism, protectionism and economic hegemonism,” it said.

The new messaging from Beijing came hours after the US imposed new tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, drawing a pledge of tit-for-tat action from Beijing.

China’s finance ministry said last week it would activate tariffs of five to 10 percent on 5,200 categories of US goods totalling $60 billion.

The ministry’s list includes big-ticket items like liquefied natural gas, lumber and electronics as well as everything from peppermint oil to pig hides to cocoa butter to condoms.

Senate Democrats are investigating the bombshell claim by Deborah Ramirez, 53, who says Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a college party at Yale University in the 1980s, thrust his genitals in her face and caused her to touch them without her consent while pushing them away.

Kavanaugh denied the incident occurred, calling it “a smear, plain and simple.”

“The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so,” the conservative judge said in a statement sent to AFP.

The allegation is the latest twist in Kavanaugh’s already heated confirmation battle, which is set for a dramatic hearing this week involving a university professor who recently came forward accusing him of assaulting her when they were high schoolers.

The New Yorker article was co-written by Ronan Farrow, whose reportage around disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was key in opening the floodgates of the #MeToo movement, along with another reporter Jane Mayer.

At least four Democratic senators have received information about Ramirez’s allegation, the magazine said, of whom at least two have begun investigating it.

Senior Republican staffers have likewise learned of the allegation and expressed concern about its impact on the nomination, The New Yorker added.

“This is another serious, credible, and disturbing allegation against Brett Kavanaugh. It should be fully investigated,” Senator Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, was quoted as saying.

When The New Yorker first contacted Ramirez, it said she was reluctant to come forward, partly because of gaps in her memory because she had been drinking at the time of the incident.

But having spent six days assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, she felt more confident and is now calling for an FBI investigation.

“I would think an FBI investigation would be warranted,” she told The New Yorker.

The magazine said it had not found eyewitnesses to confirm that Kavanaugh was at the party, though one former classmate remembered hearing about the incident from another, and independently corroborated many of the details offered by Ramirez.

Huang Xueping, deputy head of the CMC’s office for international military cooperation, summoned the acting defense attache at the US Embassy Saturday evening, according to a CMC press release.

The US State Department announced Thursday that it would impose sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the CMC and the department’s director, alleging that China had violated the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.”

Huang said the military cooperation between China and Russia is normal cooperation between sovereign states that goes in line with international law.

He called the US side’s unreasonable move “a flagrant breach of basic rules of international relations” and “a stark show of hegemonism” that severely harmed relations between China and the United States as well as the two countries’ militaries.

China resolutely opposes the US move and will never accept it, Huang said.

He said China will immediately recall the Chinese navy commander Shen Jinlong who is in the United States attending the 23rd International Seapower Symposium and postpone the second meeting of a communication mechanism for the joint staff departments of China and the United States, scheduled for Sept 25-27 in Beijing.

China demands the US side to immediately correct its wrongdoing and withdraw the so-called sanctions. “The Chinese military reserves the right to take further countermeasures,” Huang said.

According to the World Bank report the survival depends on the country these children are born in and it also mentions that “reducing neonatal mortality between 2000 and 2017 has been 1.5 times slower than for older children (under 5 deaths after the first month of life) for the same period.

South Asian children face the most risk of dying before they turn five. Pakistan has the most number of deaths per thousand at 75 in Asia.  Apart from premature deaths other causes of death are pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria.

Policy makers call for a major shift in allocation of funds to health sector to address this grave issue.

Laos, one of the economically weaker countries in the region, has the second highest under five mortality rate of 63 per thousand. Most of the deaths occur due to lower respiratory infections. Myanmar has an under-five mortality rate of 49 per thousand making it third highest in the region.

India has fourth highest mortality rate in the region at 39 per thousand. The rate has gone considerably down as compared to the numbers from previous years.  This is a major milestone for the country that the under-five mortality rate is same as the global average.

India is followed by Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Cambodia has eighth highest under five morality rate and is doing better in saving it children than its neighbouring countries like Laos. It has improved significantly in reducing the death rate.  It is followed by Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Mongolia, Brunei and Thailand have under five mortality rate of 17, 11 and 10 per thousand respectively.

Sri Lanka has the lowest under five mortality rate in South Asia. The country has 9 deaths per thousand and has been consistently better than other neighbouring South Asian countries. It is followed by China and Malaysia.

Japan, South Korea and Singapore have the lowest under five mortality in the region with each having three deaths per thousand.

The three countries are also considered as the safest places to give birth.

Christine Blasey Ford agreed to give her testimony Thursday after an increasingly ugly weeklong standoff that saw her forced to leave her California home as she faced death threats and the president openly attacked her credibility.

“Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr Ford believes it is important for senators to hear directly from her,” Ford’s lawyers said in a statement quoted by US media.

Kavanaugh, who strongly denies the assault allegation, has said he wishes to testify as soon as possible to clear his name from Ford’s claims that he attacked her at a high school party in the 1980s.

The federal judge has calendars from the summer of 1982 he plans to share with senators showing he was out of town most of that time with no indication of the party of concern, The New York Times reported.

The two parties will testify separately — first Ford, followed by Kavanaugh, who will respond — the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed.

At stake is not only the fate of Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court nominee, but also Republican chances in November’s midterm elections that face increased risk if the polarizing confirmation battle drags on.

Lindsey Graham — a member of the panel that must approve Kavanaugh’s nomination before it goes to the full chamber — summed up the position of many Republicans by saying he did not expect Ford’s testimony to change his mind.

“What am I supposed to do? Go ahead and ruin this guy’s life based on an accusation?” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “Unless there’s something more, no, I’m not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this.”

While Republicans are pushing to get the judge approved as soon as possible, Democrats have supported Ford’s call for an FBI investigation into her allegations — a move that would potentially provide additional information, but also delay the proceedings.

The panel’s top Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed in a letter to Trump that background investigations on judicial nominees have been reopened more than 10 times in the past three months alone when new facts came to light.

“There is no legitimate basis for you to continue blocking the FBI from investigating this important matter,” they wrote.

“These serious allegations should be fairly and impartially considered before the Senate moves forward.”

It noted that during the nomination process for Clarence Thomas to the high court, the panel had requested an FBI investigation of accuser Anita Hill’s claims of sexual harassment — and investigators completed their probe in just three days.

Danger of defections

According to a YouGov poll conducted for CBS, more than half of Americans want an FBI investigation before a vote on Kavanaugh, but more than two thirds of Republicans want a vote within days.

Republicans, who hold a paper-thin majority in the Senate, can ill afford defections if Kavanaugh is to be approved.

“If one Republican senator should decide that Dr Ford’s allegations, assertions, are true, and that they are serious, it could make a big difference in the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said on ABC’s “This Week.”

After days of relative restraint, Trump lashed at Ford on Friday, questioning the credibility of her allegations, and in doing so may already have hurt his nominee’s chances with a senator from his own party.

Trump contended that Ford’s decision to wait so late before going public shows the incident probably was not “as bad as she says” — even if this runs counter to what experts say is the typical reaction of sexual assault victims afraid or embarrassed to report.

Susan Collins — a Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee — said she was “appalled” by Trump’s tweet, stressing that incidents of sexual assault were known to be chronically under-reported.

Trump’s outburst saw an outpouring of sympathy for Ford — and outrage at the president — as thousands of women, and men too, shared why they had kept silent after being assaulted, under the Twitter hashtag #WhyIDidntReport.

Republican lawmakers are well aware they will be navigating a minefield during Ford’s testimony, where they risk further alienating women voters if they are seen as too harsh towards her — and potentially triggering a backlash at the ballot box come November.

“Going to New York. Will be with Prime Minister Abe of Japan tonight, talking Military and Trade. We have done much to help Japan, would like to see more of a reciprocal relationship. It will all work out!” he tweeted before his helicopter landed in Wall Street at around 5:45 pm (2145 GMT).

North Korea and Iran are set to dominate the UN General Assembly, where Trump will be in the spotlight as he continues to upend global diplomacy.

After warming up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and ditching the Iran nuclear deal, the unpredictable Trump takes the podium on Tuesday to face foes and increasingly uneasy allies.

On Wednesday, he will for the first time chair a Security Council meeting on non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction that will focus heavily on Iran — likely triggering a clash with other big powers.