Phnom Penh - Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday announced a mid-February starting date for the first of five trials of the genocidal regime's former leaders.

Kaing Guek Eav - known by his revolutionary name, Duch - will appear before the court on February 17 to face charges of crimes against humanity and breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

The 66-year-old former mathematics teacher was the chairman of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture facility in Phnom Penh and was indicted last year for crimes against humanity.

He is one of five former leaders facing trial for their roles in deaths of up to 2 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during the Khmer Rouge's reign between 1975 and 1979.

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 police said on Wednesday they had arrested a Canadian man who allegedly sexually abused two young girls in the costal resort town of Sihanoukville.

Police arrested 68-year-old Daniel Lavigne on a tourist bus travelling from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh on Monday after he allegedly sexually abused two sisters aged 10 and 12.

Regional migration police chief Som Saruen said Lavigne had confessed to "indecent acts" against the children but denied having sexual intercourse with them.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian journalists on Wednesday accused the government of trying to censor the internet with new legislation they say aims at silencing public criticism.

Sam Rithy Doung Hak, a monitor for the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), said proposed laws to regulate audiovisual content on the internet could jeopardize Cambodia's relatively liberal media environment.

"These audiovisual laws will cover sound and pictures published on the internet, which I am convinced is driven by the government's intention to censor the internet," he said.

Phnom Penh  - Cambodia's prime minister will attend next month's summit of the Association of Sout East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in neighboring Thailand despite hinting last week he would boycott the meeting, media reports said Monday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said last week that attending this year's series of ASEAN meetings would be too costly and time consuming, but Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told The Phnom Penh Post newspaper that the premier definitely would attend.

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.