Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin have been gently lampooned in a new year's cartoon broadcast on Russian TV. Animated figures of Russia's president and prime minister are shown dancing in Moscow's Red Square and singing a duet about 2009. President Medvedev is depicted playing an accordion while Mr Putin beats a tambourine against his bottom. Channel One television broadcast the cartoon after Mr Medvedev's official new year address. The ditty was featured in a special episode of Mult Lichnosti (a play on the Russian for "cult of personality") - a biweekly show poking fun at public figures. The two-and-a-half-minute cartoon, with surprisingly true-to-life voices, has surprised Russians used to serious depictions of their leaders. The duet jauntily refers to events in the past year, such as the failed attempt by a consortium including Russian bank Sberbank to buy Opel from General Motors, and the construction of Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline. 'Be careful' With fireworks exploding above the Moscow skyline in the background, Mr Medvedev's character performs a dainty leap for which he is congratulated by the prime minister, who is then lauded for his own little jump.
Their ditty gently mocks the power-play between them since Mr Medvedev took over the Russian presidency from Mr Putin in 2008. "I just did my second New Year's greeting to the nation," says Mr Medvedev proudly at one stage, to which Mr Putin replies: "I've done it nine times, you know." They poke fun at the EU and US, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko and even make a reference to historic corruption within Russia's bureaucracy. Konstantin Ernst, Channel One's director, said the Russian leaders were being added to the regular cast of Mult Lichnosti, the New York Times reported. "We have to be careful," he told the newspaper. "You can insult someone in show business, because a person like that is selling himself, and does not answer for anything else. "Whereas the president and prime minister also represent the work they do." Mult Lichnosti also features other world leaders. One episode of the cartoon shows Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko inflating balloons with natural gas diverted from a Russian pipeline. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili is seen eating his own tie. And US President Barack Obama is depicted endlessly bouncing a basketball up and down. | |||
Everton have suspended on-loan striker Jo for a breach of discipline after the Brazilian returned to South America without permission over Christmas. Jo, 22, is in his second loan spell with Everton from Manchester City. "We like Jo but there has to be discipline at football clubs," said Everton boss David Moyes. "He left over a busy period and left us short of players. We've suspended him from the club. It might change but at the moment that's the situation." The 6ft 3in forward, whose full name is Joao Alves de Assis Silva, scored 44 goals in 77 games for CSKA Moscow before joining City in July 2008. He signed a four-year deal for a fee thought to be in the region of £18m but struggled to adjust to the Premier League and, following a return only three goals in 18 games, joined Everton on loan for the second half of last season.
After returning to Eastlands at the end of the campaign, Jo rejoined the Toffees in July but has been largely used as a substitute, scoring two goals in 24 appearances. South American players often return home for the Christmas break and late returns have been a recurring problem for European clubs. Schalke 04 defender Rafinha did not turn up for training on Wednesday and failed to justify his absence, according to coach Felix Magath. Peru forward Jefferson Farfan and Brazilian defender Bordon were also absent but they had obtained permission for a late return after the Christmas break. Rafinha defied Schalke last year when he joined Brazil's Olympic Games squad after the club initially refused to release him to play in Beijing. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later ruled in Schalke's favour but the club then agreed to allow Rafinha to stay in China. Meanwhile Moyes has told sacked Preston manager Alan Irvine, who was the Everton manager's former assistant before he moved to Deepdale, that he is welcome to come in and work at the Merseyside club's Finch Farm training ground. "I have said to him he is welcome to come in," said Moyes. "He is a student of the game and won't sit at home. "Alan has done such a good job he will undoubtedly work again. It would not surprise me if he gets one of the big jobs going around at the moment." | |||
At least 40 people have been killed after a suspected suicide bomb attack at a volleyball pitch in the troubled north-west of Pakistan, officials say. Officials said the bomber drove a vehicle onto the field as people gathered to watch a match. Emergency workers put the toll as high as 70. The attack took place in Lakki Marwat, close to North and South Waziristan. The Pakistani army has been conducting a campaign against the Taliban in the tribal areas since October. Dozens of people were reported to be injured in Friday's attack. Several buildings collapsed, trapping people under rubble. "The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber rashly drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP news agency. 'Soft' target Mr Khan told reporters the attack may have been in retaliation for attempts by locals to expel militants. "The locality has been a hub of militants," he said.
"Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be a reaction to their expulsion." The BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad that among those killed were members of a local peace committee who have been campaigning for an end to the violence. Mushtaq Marwat, a member of the group, told Pakistan's Geo TV that the attack occurred as the committee was meeting in a nearby mosque. "Suddenly there was a huge blast. We went out and saw bodies and injured people everywhere," he said. Some initial reports about the attack said the vehicle that exploded was stationary, or that a bomber had walked towards the volleyball pitch. North and South Waziristan form a lethal militant belt from where insurgents have launched attacks across north-west Pakistan as well as into parts of eastern Afghanistan. Our correspondent says it had been feared that while the army was congratulating itself on its campaign, militants had simply escaped to neighbouring areas such as the one where Friday's attack happened. The number of people killed in militant attacks in Pakistan is fast approaching 600 in just three months, with no apparent end to the violence in sight, he adds. Militants have attacked both "hard" targets, including army or intelligence offices, and "soft" ones such as markets or the crowd that was hit in Friday's bombing. The attack came as a general strike was held in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, in protest against a bombing there on Monday and riots that followed. The bombing, which killed at least 43 people, targeted a Shia Muslim march and was claimed by the Taliban. | ||
| 14 November 2009 |
 |
| Damaged vehicles at site of a suicide car bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, 14 Nov 2009 |
Officials say the bomber set off explosives Saturday at a police checkpoint. They say two police officers are among the dead.
The bombing came a day after a suicide bomber struck the Peshawar office of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, killing 10 people. That blast caused a large portion of the three-story ISI building to collapse.
Authorities say recent militant attacks in Peshawar are in retaliation for the government's offensive against the Taliban in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
Elsewhere Saturday, the Pakistani military says troops killed eight militants in the latest fighting in the northwest Swat Valley.
| Washington 30 October 2009 |
| |
As prince, head of state and king, Norodom Sihanouk accomplished many things, but as the former monarch prepares for his 87th birthday, he should be remembered as bringing peace to Cambodia, a former director of the Royal Cabinet said Thursday.
Sihanouk, who abdicated the throne in 2004 and has been struggling against cancer, was born Oct. 31, 1922, oversaw independence in 1953, was exiled by a US-backed coup in 1970, held under house arrest by the Khmer Rouge, and finally returned as king.
His main legacy was peace, said Truong Mealy, the former cabinet head, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”
“With such peace, we can now talk,” he said.
Sihanouk is also remembered for his efforts to bring Preah Vihear temple under Cambodian control, through legal pursuits at the International Court in 1962, one caller to the show recalled.
| Advertisement Hillary Clinton: "We are very interested in working with Russia" Russia and the US have pledged to work together to ensure Iran's nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. After talks with her counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Russia for its "extremely co-operative" work. Mrs Clinton said Iran's programme was of "serious concern", but the US was not seeking further sanctions for now. Mr Lavrov said Russia was "very reserved" about such a move. Iran says it is not developing nuclear weapons. But it recently revealed it had a second uranium plant. Mrs Clinton, in Moscow at the end of a five-day European tour, told a joint news conference with Mr Lavrov that Russia had "been extremely co-operative in the work that we have done together" on Iran.
The secretary of state said the US was not seeking further sanctions pending talks between big powers and Iran - but she added that it could do so "in the absence of significant progress and assurance that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons". Mr Lavrov said neither country had asked the other for anything in dealing with Iran, but that "our positions coincide". "Threats of sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation are, in our opinion, counterproductive," he told the news conference. The BBC's Rupert Wingfled-Hayes in Moscow says Mrs Clinton was looking for a solid commitment from Mr Lavrov, but did not get one. Both Mr Lavrov and Mrs Clinton also said there had been considerable progress in talks on a new treaty to reduce the two countries' nuclear arsenals. The US secretary of state is due to meet President Dmitry Medvedev at his private residence outside Moscow later. No quid pro quo President Barack Obama, who met Mr Medvedev in July, has pledged to reset relations with Russia.
A month ago, following the revelations about Iran's second uranium enrichment facility, the Russian president said his government might ultimately accept further sanctions as inevitable. Since then, Mr Obama has met a key Russian demand to scrap plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic as part of a US missile defence system in Europe. The US administration insisted it did not expect concessions in return. But US officials have called on Russia to support, or at least not oppose, the idea of the UN Security Council imposing tougher sanctions on Iran if it fails to live up to its international obligations. The council wants Iran to end uranium enrichment and has approved three rounds of sanctions - including bans on Iran's arms exports and all trade in nuclear material. During her visit, Mrs Clinton will not meet Russia's powerful Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. He is in China for talks focusing on trade, but also expected to raise the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea. Correspondents say that if Russia and China reject new sanctions on Iran, a coalition of countries, including the EU, might take action themselves. There are reports that this could cover stopping sales of refined oil products to Tehran. | |||
| Sydney 13 October 2009 |
The Indonesian navy intercepted a boat carrying refugees headed to Australia after Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd telephoned the Indonesian president. Political analysts say the phone call is a further sign of increased cooperation between the Asia-Pacific neighbors on fighting human trafficking.
 |
| Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd |
Mr. Rudd's call resulted in Indonesian authorities intercepting the vessel, which was carrying 260 people, including women and children.
The prime minister contacted President Yudhoyono after intelligence agents learned that the vessel was trying to reach Australian waters. Soon after, Australia's military started working with the Indonesian navy to pinpoint the location of the boat, which was found off Krakatoa. Australian officials think the Indonesians then escorted the boat to West Java.
Mr. Rudd says Jakarta is a key ally in Australia's attempts to curb illegal migration.
"I make no apology whatsoever for working as closely as I need with our Indonesian friends and partners to get the results we all need in terms of illegal immigration," Rudd said.
Regional political analysts say the cooperation between Canberra and Jakarta could help stem a steady flow of refugees ferried by traffickers into Australian waters. Several boats have been intercepted in recent months.
Australia blames the recent rise in refugees on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, along with the global economic crisis. The refugees pay thousands of dollars to make the dangerous journey by sea from Indonesia to Australia.
Many of those seeking sanctuary in Australia are taken to a camp on Christmas Island, where their asylum applications are assessed. The vast majority are deemed to be genuine refugees.
Former members of Australia's previous conservative government say that Mr. Rudd's decision to relax parts of the country's asylum policies has encouraged more boat people to make the journey from Indonesia.
A former immigration minister, Philip Ruddock, says a new wave of illegal arrivals could soon attempt to make the treacherous crossing from Indonesia to Australia.
In response, the Rudd government says it is fully committed to strict border control measures.
Australia resettles about 13,000 refugees each year under official humanitarian programs.
| 13 October 2009 |
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart are both urging Iran to cooperate with the international community over its nuclear program.
 |
| Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R), and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meet in Moscow, Russia, 13 Oct 2009 |
Lavrov says imposing sanctions against Tehran at this stage would be "counterproductive." Clinton said the U.S. is not seeking further sanctions at this stage. She also praised Russia for being "extremely cooperative" in the effort to convince Iran to prove it is not seeking to build nuclear weapons.
A senior State Department official said Monday that Clinton would push the Russians to say what specific pressure they would be prepared to use when they join the United States and its allies in confronting Iran.
Six world powers, including the U.S. and Russia, have been holding talks with Iran about its nuclear program.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said last month that sanctions are sometimes inevitable.
Iran agreed two weeks ago to let international inspectors visit a uranium enrichment site. But Clinton said Sunday the world will not wait indefinitely for it to prove it is not building a bomb.
Meanwhile, Clinton and Lavrov also said they had made significant progress on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the current START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) agreement that expires in early December.
Clinton also plans to meet with Mr. Medvedev later Tuesday. In addition to Iran and nuclear disarmament, she is also expected to discuss Afghanistan and President Barack Obama's new missile defense plans
Mr. Obama's announcement that he is scrapping Bush administration plans to build a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic pleased Russia, which called such a system a threat to its security. The Kremlin has expressed interest in working with Washington on new missile defense plans.
Science reporter, BBC News
A colossal new ring has been identified around Saturn.
The dusty hoop lies some 13 million km (eight million miles) from the planet, about 50 times more distant than the other rings and in a different plane.
Scientists tell the journal Nature that the tenuous ring is probably made up of debris kicked off Saturn's moon Phoebe by small impacts.
They think this dust then migrates towards the planet where it is picked up by another Saturnian moon, Iapetus.
 |   The particles smack Iapetus like bugs on a windshield  Dr Anne Verbiscer, University of Virginia |
The discovery would appear to resolve a longstanding mystery in planetary science: why the walnut-shaped Iapetus has a two-tone complexion, with one side of the moon significantly darker than the other.
"It has essentially a head-on collision. The particles smack Iapetus like bugs on a windshield," said Anne Verbiscer from the University of Virginia, US.
Observations of the material coating the dark face of Iapetus indicate it has a similar composition to the surface material on Phoebe.
The scale of the new ring feature is astonishing. Nothing like it has been seen elsewhere in the Solar System.
The more easily visible outlier in Saturn's famous bands of ice and dust is its E-ring, which encompasses the orbit of the moon Enceladus. This circles the planet at a distance of just 240,000km.
The newly identified torus is not only much broader and further out, it is also tilted at an angle of 27 degrees to the plane on which the more traditional rings sit.
This in itself strongly links the ring's origin to Phoebe, which also takes a highly inclined path around Saturn.
Scientists suspected the ring might be present and had the perfect tool in the Spitzer space telescope to confirm it.
The US space agency observatory is well suited to picking up the infrared signal expected from cold grains of dust about 10 microns (millionths of a metre) in size.
|  Impacts on the moon Phoebe are probably supplying the ring  |
The ring would probably have a range of particle sizes - some bigger than this, and some smaller.
Modelling indicates the pressure of sunlight would push the smallest of these grains towards the orbit of Iapetus, which is circling Saturn at a distance of 3.5 million km.
"The particles are very, very tiny, so the ring is very, very tenuous; and actually if you were standing in the ring itself, you wouldn't even know it," Dr Verbiscer told BBC News.
"In a cubic km of space, there are all of 10-20 particles."
Indeed, so feeble is the ring that scientists have calculated that if all the material were gathered up, it would fill a crater on Phoebe no more than a kilometre across.
The moon is certainly a credible source for the dust. It is heavily pockmarked. It is clear that throughout its history, Phoebe has been hit many, many times by space rocks and clumps of ice.
![[insert caption here]](http://www.voanews.com/khmer/images/090303-cambodian-police-225.jpg) |
| Original report from Washington 06 October 2009 |
Cambodian police working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested seven people and seized 16 kilograms of heroin, following three months of investigation, officials said Monday. Police also found counterfeit US dollars in the Oct. 2 raid.
“In the operation, we did an investigation and tracked [the suspects] down for almost three months, with the support of the FBI representative in Cambodia,” said Chhay Sinarith, chief of the Interior Ministry’s security department.
Suspects were arrested in Phnom Penh and Stung Treng province. The raid included the arrest of Lam Sokha, a suspected trafficker who has been arrested and released in recent years, police and court officials said.
The seven suspects were sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday and would be questioned by prosecutors this week, officials said.
Police said the heroin moved through neighboring countries through Stung Treng, which borders Laos.
The discovery of heroin, crystal methamphetamine, or “ice,” drug production and counterfeit money made the raid a major case, Chhay Sinarith said.
The US State Department praised Cambodia for its anti-drug efforts in 2009, but said the country faces increasing problems of consumption, trafficking and the production of dangerous drugs.
The State Department warned that crackdowns on trafficking in Thailand and China had made Cambodia an attractive route for traffickers, while internally, use of amphetamines, including ice, was escalating.
| 07 October 2009 |
U.S. President Barack Obama says he will not reduce U.S. troops in Afghanistan and focus solely on counterterrorism.
Administration officials say President Obama made the comment to congressional leaders Tuesday, during a 90-minute White House meeting on Afghanistan. Mr. Obama meets with senior military and political advisors for a strategy session on Pakistan and Afghanistan Wednesday, eight years after the war started.
(L-R), House Maj. Leader Hoyer, Sen. McCain, Senate Min. Leader McConnell , House Minority Leader Boehner at the White House, 06 Oct 2009
A senior administration official said the president assured the bipartisan group of lawmakers the policy review will be rigorous and deliberate, and move forward with a sense of urgency.
The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army General Stanley McChrystal, has warned the U.S. could lose the conflict if more troops are not deployed to Afghanistan. He is expected to ask for as many as 40,000 additional troops.
Mr. Obama is said to be leaning toward a more modest buildup of U.S. military forces. Republican Senator John McCain told reporters after the meeting that he worries the president will employ "half-measures" in prosecuting the war.
McCain said defeating the Taliban is essential to the goal of eliminating the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican lawmakers are urging Mr. Obama to heed the recommendations of his military commanders.
But many of Mr. Obama's fellow Democrats oppose deploying more U.S. forces. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, told reporters that many issues need to be addressed before the president decides how to proceed.
But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said lawmakers assured Mr. Obama they would support him, regardless of his decision.
U.S. casualties in Afghanistan have risen sharply in recent months, as forces pursue more aggressive operations against the Taliban and other militant groups.
Recent public opinion polls have shown support for the war is steadily declining. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday politics will not play a role in Mr. Obama's final decision.
| Advertisement Socialist leader George Papandreou joins party celebrations Greece's opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) has won the country's snap general elections. Outgoing PM Costas Karamanlis has congratulated Pasok leader George Papandreou and resigned as leader of the conservative New Democracy party. With most ballots counted, the Socialists had more than 43% of the vote, to 35% for New Democracy. Pasok needs 43% to win an absolute majority in parliament. It has been in opposition for more than five years. Mr Papandreou, 57, told cheering supporters in Athens: "We stand here united before the great responsibility which we undertake." He said Pasok had waged "a good fight to bring back hope and smile on Greeks' faces... to change the country's course into one of law, justice, solidarity, green development and progress". He added: "I know very well the great potential of this country. Potential that is being drowned by corruption, favouritism, lawlessness and waste. Potential that we will set free. "I promise that I will do whatever is possible so that all Greeks will believe again that we can succeed, when we are united." Earlier, in a televised address, a humbled Mr Karamanlis said: "I assume responsibility for the result and will launch procedures for the election of a new party leader." Coalition Mr Karamanlis called the election in early September, half way through his four-year term.
He said he wanted a new mandate to tackle Greece's economic problems, but his opponents say he has failed to fulfil promises to clean up public office and to modernise the country. The government has also been hit by a series of corruption scandals. Mr Papandreou has promised he will build a green economy and bring in foreign experts to help Greece overcome its problems if elected. The BBC's Malcolm Brabant says voters preferred Mr Papandreou's promise of a 3bn Euro ($4.4bn:£2.7bn) stimulus package to the programme of austerity proposed by Mr Karamanlis. Correspondents say the build-up to the election has been lacklustre. A recent poll has also suggested nine out of 10 voters no longer trust either party. On Friday a small bomb exploded near Mr Karamanlis's final campaign rally. The blast, which caused no injuries and only minor damage, was claimed by a leftist group calling itself The Fire Conspiracy Cells the following day. Forty seats are automatically awarded to the leading party and the remaining 260 are divided by proportional representation. | |
| Video Editor: Manilene Ek 03 October 2009 |
![[insert caption here]](http://www.voanews.com/khmer/images/nail-art-265_2.jpg "[insert caption here]") |
| Creative nail designs on display, AP Photo. |
The growing number of professional nail salons, especially in the capital of Phnom Penh, has helped take nail art in Cambodia to a whole new level. Staff in the best nail shops staff undergo years of training to master the necessary techniques. Girls learn by decorating the rounded surfaces of bowls in aesthetics classes. The minute details of their designs are carefully practiced and improved before they can be hired.
Sun Heang - one of Cambodia best known beauticians - is the owner of Christina's Beauty School in Phnom Penh. She says a steady hand and an eye for detail are the important for a successful nail therapist, but creative flair is important too.
Sun Heang:"Customers choose the style they want depending on which occasion they are celebrating. This one for example is popular around Valentine’s Day, because it features love hearts. In hot weather glitter is the most popular because it makes your nails sparkle in the sun."
Most importantly, she says, the manicurists have to have a clear idea of the design and know how to execute it even before the first brush stroke. Sun Heang studied nail art in Thailand, Vietnam and China before returning to Cambodia to open her own beauty salon five years ago. She also owns a beauty school where she passes on her skills and knowledge to more than 300 eager students.
Nail art is especially popular among young Cambodian women attending events like weddings and birthday parties. The bigger the occasion, the more elaborate the design. But it's a time consuming process and it can take more than two hours to complete a full manicure.
Pheak Chan Vorleak is patiently waiting for her manicure. She has picked a pattern with three-dimensional white roses on a sparkling pink background. She says it is important to her that she stands out in the crowd later tonight at her birthday party.
Pheak Chan: "I came here to get my nails done because I'm hosting a big birthday party. Because I'm a Cambodian girl I have to dress up for my guests. It's very important that I have my nails looking good when I greet them."
The culture is such that intricately and carefully decorated nails translate as kudos for their owner. Because each nail must be individually painted by hand, each one is unique.
Nail art fashion changes with the season says Sun Heang, with different patterns becoming popular around major holidays. Each design last about three weeks and typically costs from about $5 dollars for a simple design to more than $45 dollars for something more elaborate.
Eight American soldiers and two Afghan troops have been killed in a fire-fight in Afghanistan, officials say.
The battle happened in Nuristan province in the remote east of the country when military outposts were attacked, a Nato statement said.
The US military described it as a "complex attack in a difficult area".
Violence has escalated in eastern Afghanistan in recent months as insurgents have relocated from the south of the country.
In a statement, Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said that tribal militia launched attacks on foreign and Afghan military outposts from a mosque and a nearby village.
"Coalition forces effectively repelled the attack and inflicted heavy enemy casualties while eight Isaf and two ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] members were killed," the statement said.
The statement did not specify exactly where in Nuristan province the attack took place.
Dangerous province
But it said the sources of the conflict in the area involved complicated "tribal, religious and economic dynamics".
This region's mountainous terrain makes it incredibly inaccessible, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul.
Fighters also cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan through this province, he says, making it additionally dangerous.
| Padang, Indonesia 03 October 2009 |
 |
| Aerial image of buildings destroyed by earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 03 Oct 2009 |
Ambulances had trouble getting through the traffic jams in Padang. With the electricity out, the traffic lights were not working. Police had closed off some streets where rescue workers were digging through the rubble. Crowds of bystanders spilled out onto the streets to watch.
In front of a collapsed storefront where the father, mother and two year old sister of Kendi Pratama now lie buried, friends and neighbors are flagging down cars and asking for donations to help the remaining family members. Pratama finds it difficult to speak.
He says he feels sorry today and cannot think straight.
Many houses and offices in Padang suffered only structural damage. But some large commercial buildings, hospitals, hotels, mosques and churches were completely destroyed.
A local middle school is now just a pile of rubble. More than 60 students died when the school crashed down upon them. Indonesian Marine Lieutenant Alberto Nainggolan and his unit have been conducting rescue efforts at the school.
He says today they found only one body alive. Yesterday they found 16 bodies, all dead.
They are racing against time. Soon their mission will change from rescuing survivors to recovering the dead.
As they leave the site for the day, crowds of people descend, looking for anything of value, clothing, copper wire. One man finds a live rabbit.
With electricity out, most local broadcasting has stopped. But not Padang television. While their building was damaged, network employees have moved their equipment outside and are using a generator for power. Budi Syahrial is the news presenter.
He says the building is damaged but the people need information.
Of course, most people in Padang cannot watch the news because they do not have power. But Syahrial says others outside the city can see and need to know the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake.
| Original report from Phnom Penh 07 April 2009 |
Jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch denied on Tuesday any killings by his own hand, but admitted to ordering the deaths of prisoners at a small jungle camp in the west of the country and at Tuol Sleng prison in
Duch’s administration of the Kampong Speu provincial detention camp, called M-13, served as a model for his role as chief at Tuol Sleng prison, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21, where 16,000 Cambodians were tortured ahead of their execution, he told judges of the tribunal’s Trial Chamber.
“I did not kill [prisoners] by myself, I did not commit this,” he said. “But all orders [to kill prisoners] in M-13 came from me.”
He also said he had only ordered killings at S-21.
Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is facing charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, as director of Tuol Sleng and Prey Sar prisons, as well as the execution site of Choeung Ek.
Few lived through Tuol Sleng, which became a repository for those considered enemies of the revolution, and in earlier trial sessions Duch apologized to the families of his victims and to survivors.
On Tuesday, he directly apologized to survivor Chhum Mey, who has been an ardent follower of the trial. Duch said Tuesday he had released only 10 prisoners from S-21.
The trial proceedings of Monday and Tuesday offered a look into the earlier prison camp, M-13, where the main torture method was to beat prisoners into forced confessions. Among torture methods at M-13, he said, prisoners would be dunked into water or left outside to be chilled by the cold.
Duch became chief of M-13, in Tpong district, Kampong Speu province, in July 1971, as the Khmer Rouge were growing in power in Cambodia’s countryside. He left M-13 prior to the Khmer Rouge takeover of
| 08 April 2009 |
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is rejecting calls for his resignation as a massive anti-government protest gets underway in Bangkok.
 |
| Anti-government protesters take up the street near the home of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's top adviser, Prem Tinsulanonda, during a protest in Bangkok, Thailand, 08 Apr 2009 |
The march is the biggest challenge so far to Mr. Abhisit's four-month-old government.
Supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra plan to march from Government House to the home of a top adviser to King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
They accuse the adviser of masterminding the 2006 coup that ousted Mr. Thaksin from office.
Mr. Abhisit says Thai authorities will avoid sparking clashes with anti-government protesters, but there are concerns that the situation could turn violent.
On Tuesday, an anti-government protest in the coastal resort of Pattaya turned violent when demonstrators attacked a car carrying the prime minister. Mr. Abhisit was not harmed.
The clash was the most serious since supporters of Mr. Thaksin began surrounding Mr. Abhisit's offices late last month.
Mr. Abhisit says he must stay in office. He has vowed to prevent opposition protests Wednesday from escalating into what he called "civil war."
Mr. Thaksin has been delivering almost daily speeches to supporters in Bangkok through a video link from an undisclosed location abroad. He fled the country last year before a Thai court sentenced him to two years in prison for corruption. He denies any wrongdoing and is believed to be living mainly in the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai.
| Johannesburg 16 March 2009 |
Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana has stepped down and transferred power to the military. The resignation follows weeks of confrontation with the opposition led by the former mayor of the capital, Andry Rajoelina.
 |
| Marc Ravalomanana |
Supporters of opposition leader Andry Rajoelina said they would head a transitional government, re-write the constitution and organize elections in two years.
But it was not clear whether the opposition's claim was part of any agreement. The African Union, which has strongly condemned any unconstitutional transfer of power, quickly issued a statement saying the military should not hand power to the opposition.
Soldiers backing Rajoelina seized a presidential office in central Antananarivo on Monday and the former mayor of the capital city installed himself as president of an interim government.
 |
| Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina arrives at a rally in Antananarivo, Madagascar, 17 Mar 2009 |
He says he does not want anyone, especially Mr. Ravalomanana, to stay in power. And thirdly, the colonel said he did not want anyone to pay poor people to create troubles.
Rajoelina had called for the arrest of Mr. Ravalomanana whom he accuses of dictatorship, mismanaging public funds and of being responsible for more than 100 deaths during the weeks of confrontation.
The president told supporters Monday at his residence outside the city that he would resist a take over, which he called unconstitutional.
A lawyer and political analyst in the Malagasy capital, Sahondra Rabenarivo, notes that Madagascar's constitution makes it difficult to dismiss a sitting president.
"The constitution is a very presidential constitution modeled on the French constitution with enormous powers for the president," she said. "It is almost like a presidential monarchy."
She says under the constitution a president's term can only end prematurely through resignation, death or dismissal by a two-thirds majority of parliament. Mr. Ravalomanana controlled the assembly.
As a result, she says the resignation smoothes the path for a transition that nevertheless will be difficult because the former president enjoyed considerable support, especially in rural areas.
In addition to the African Union, European governments and the United States have made it clear that they will impose sanctions on any new government installed illegally.
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 December 2008
Defense lawyers for jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary have accused the Pre-Trial Chamber of the tribunal of interfering in the administrative work of the courts, following a denial of their thesis on certain legal theories.
The defense had written their thesis to exclude from trials topics such as Joint Criminal Enterprise, which can hold conspiring parties guilty for crimes committed by one, and other legal principles.
"We wrote our thesis and requested intervention and the denial of the implementation of charges under Joint Criminal Enterprise, which affects the interest of our client because it is not in Cambodian law," sad Ang Udom, a lawyer for Ieng Sary.
Ieng Sary was foreign affairs minister of the regime and faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role.
"We brought our thesis to the tribunal for a decision, but the tribunal turned it back to us without a hearing," he said. "It's not right to deny our thesis and proposal."
The defense has now sent a letter to the courts, claiming the Pre-Trial Chambers' decision not to consider the thesis was interference in administrative work.
"If someone complains about a case to the court, the court receives the complaint," he said. "Whatever the court decides, the court should issue a verdict."
However, tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the chamber was within its rights to turn away the treatise.
Ang Udom issued a letter to the courts Thursday claiming he would launch the paper on his own Web site.
"If the court does not publish our thesis, we will post it on our Web site," he said. "If the court permits."
Reach Sambath said the team had a right to launch a Web site, but the Khmer Rouge tribunal Web site is officially recognized.
| Written by Cheang Sokha | |
| Friday, 28 November 2008 | |
| Senator Mong Reththy has promised jobs for villagers on his company's rubber plantation in Stung Treng province  Photo by: PHOTO SUPPLIED Soldiers stand over the recently-destroyed village of Anlong Krom in Kampot. CPP Senator Mong Reththy has announced plans to take villagers evicted from Anlong Krom village in Kampot province to work on his farm in Stung Treng. Tan Monivann, deputy director general of the Mong Reththy Group, said that the company has prepared 100 hectares of land to build houses for the villagers if they volunteer to live there and work for the company. "We have welcomed all of them if their intent is to live there and work for us," he told the Post Wednesday. "But we have heard that those people are not real landless people, that they were just squatting on the land." Tan Monivann said that the land in Stung Treng province, part of a 100,000-hectare agricultural land concession granted by the government in November 2001, is being planted with rubber trees. On Monday and Tuesday, villagers said that more than 100 police, military police and soldiers from RCAF Brigade 31 started torching and dismantling 300 villagers' homes in Anlong Krom, in Kampot's Taken commune, leaving them without shelter or food. Authorities say the villagers were living illegally on land belonging to Bokor National Park. Prak Khoeun, a villager whose home was dismantled, said that those evicted had received word that Mong Reththy was offering to take them to Stung Treng, but most of them did not plan to move. "We will not go there," he said. "Anyway, we feel afraid that we will be cheated, so we would rather stay here." Bokor National Park Director Chey Uterith said that the 55 families remaining at the site will be forced to leave by Sunday. "If they do not leave, we will file a complaint to the court," he said. "We will conduct a statistic of how many families are genuinely landless and then report them to Mong Reththy or the provincial authority." |
