Govt to again invoke security act

Writer: Bangkok Post.com
Published: 31/08/2009 at 05:13 PM

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the Internal Security Act will be invoked again for the red-shirts' planned rally on Saturday.

Mr Suthep was speaking after a meeting with the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) to discuss whether to lift the Internal Security Act imposed in Dusit district.

The meeting proposed that the cabinet be ready to quickly meet again to consider the re-imposition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) if intelligence units report the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) intended to stir up further unrest, he said.

The cabinet would be fully briefed on the feelings of the Isoc meeting onTuesday, Mr Suthep said.

The deputy prime minister said intelligence agencies believe the red-shirts will continue to rally and apply pressure on the government to dissolve the House and call a general election.

The declaration of the ISA in Dusit district would end on Tuesday, as earlier announced, he said. Security forces would also withdraw from the Government House area.

UDD leaders earlier announced the postponement of Sunday's protest rally until this Saturday, Sept 5, but said on Monday they would further postpone the demonstration until Sept 12 if the government again uses the Internal Security Act.

The government decided not to lift the ISA in Dusit district over the weekend even though the anti-government group postponed its protest.

"The rally could be rescheduled to Sept 12 if the Internal Security Act is still in force this weekend," opposition Puea Thai party-list MP and UDD core member Jatuporn Prompan said.

The demonstration might even be postponed to Sept 19, which was the third anniversary of the coup that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he said.

"The red-shirts will gather peacefully and the gathering will last for a single day. The group is ready to change its tactics to fight against a government that uses all types of authority," Mr Jatuporn said.

Democrat party spokesman Thepthai Senpong believed the UDD put off its planned protest on Sunday because the leaders realised that few people were supporting them, especially in Bangkok.

The UDD might organise gatherings in key areas of different regions to lower the costs, Mr Thepthai said.

"The government has no intention of trying to create a situation or of getting a third party to instigate unrest, as the Puea Thai Party claimed," he said. Read more!

Can we stop using the word “Ka-nak-pak Pro-chhaing” (the fighting party)?

31 August 2009
By Heng Thal Savuth
Khmer Sthabna news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

[KI-Media note: In Khmer, the word “Ka-nak-pak Pro-chhaing” – which literally translates to the “fighting party” – is used to designate the “opposition party”.]

Since 1979, following the demise of the cruel and inhumane Democratic Kampuchea regime of Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Kaing Keg Iev, etc… our small and pitiful Cambodia should have found peace, but quite to the contrary, we only met a meaningless war between Khmer people: one side accused the other side of being the puppet of the Yuon Hanoi regime, while the other side accused the other of being the gang of the Pol Pot genocidal group.

The intense war between Khmer people continued on for another decade, and it finally ended with the help of the International community, in particular, that of the UN under the aegis of the [1991] Paris Peace Agreements. Following this event, constitutional monarchy was formed in Cambodia following its prior topping by the Lon Nol regime on 18 March 1970. After 1993, Khmer people from all political tendencies agreed with each other to rebuild the country under the aegis of the king and they were all determined to steer Cambodia towards a plural democracy.

Since then, several Cambodian political parties were formed, but, nevertheless, at the end, political bumps also started and they continued on until the present. In truth, since 1993 and until now, Cambodia never became a democracy, i.e. our country is inching toward democracy, but whether this process is long or short, reachable or unreachable, depends entirely on whether Khmer people from all political tendencies clearly understand the meaning of the word “democracy” and their willingness to unite and understand each other to achieve this common goal.

As a Cambodian, even though I live overseas for more than 20 years, I still think about the destiny of my birthplace, in particular, I was interested in the word “Pro-chhaing” which has an opposite meaning to its English counterpart, known as “opposition party.”

After 1979, all Khmer citizens faced many problems, both physically and mentally, due to the cruel Pol Pot regime, and Khmer people from all political tendencies fought (“Pro-chhaing”) each other for decades to see who won or lost. Therefore the word “Pro-chhaing” carries a bad connotation for those Khmer people who are holding onto power, they consider the “opposition party” (“Pak pro-chhaing”) as their personal enemies.

While Cambodia is inching toward true democracy, the use of the word “Ka-nak-pak pro-chhaing” (the fighting party) or simply “pro-chhaing” is considered as the tip of a sharp weapon or a sharp spear used to pound and break through the ruling party instead.

Therefore, at a time when Cambodia is moving along the democratic path, “nationalist” Cambodian parties should not use the word “pro-chhaing” at all, we can use this word only when our country reaches full democracy, such as the USA.

The use of the word “Ka-nak-pak Pro-cheng” (rival party) and “Ka-nak-pak Chum-toas” (opposition party) carries a better connotation than the word “pro-chhaing.”

Those who consider themselves as wonderful “democrats” just because they live overseas, and they look down, undervalue other parties, are not true democrats because they have extremely wrong and bad views in a circumstance when our country needs to unite together to build the country.

The official use of the words “Ka-nak-pak Pro-cheng” or “Ka-nak-pak Chum-toas” on radio, TV and newspapers is a good gesture and it is tantamount to a magical pill that can cure the illnesses of all Cambodian politicians, and this will lead them to unite, to truthfully love each other to build our small and pitiful Cambodia, and bring her to prosperity and turning her into a true democracy, just like any other country in Southeast Asia. This will also pull Cambodia out of the influence and the unwholesome greed of all our neighboring countries that plan to swallow our Cambodia.

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World Bank in talks with Cambodia over evictions

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A senior World Bank official held talks with the Cambodian government over the forced eviction of people from their homes and said the development bank would continue to work with it on land reform to tackle the problem.

Land ownership is a controversial issue in Cambodia, where legal documents were destroyed and state institutions collapsed under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s and the civil war that followed.

The World Bank joined with other aid donors in July to ask the government to halt forced evictions and the problem was raised again by its vice-president for East Asia and the Pacific Region, James Adams, during a visit last week.

"A major focus of the visit was Cambodia's urban land sector and the increasing numbers of disputes and evictions of poor people in urban settlements," the bank said in a statement.

"The discussions on land reform were constructive and it was agreed to continue these discussions over the coming week to agree next steps," it said.

The bank has provided funding of $24.3 million for a land management and administration project from 2002 to 2009, and an estimated 1.1 million land titles were issued, said Bou Saroeun, a spokesman for the World Bank in Phnom Penh.

Other donors such as Germany, Finland and Canada have together provided more than $14 million to support the land title project, Saroeun added.

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"... this troop withdrawal will not lead Thailand to respect our territorial integrity": SRP MP Son Chhay

Son Chhay indicated that the resolution of the border dispute with Thailand cannot be done through armed forces or bilateral negotiations between Cambodia and Thailand. A successful resolution requires the participation of the International community, including ASEAN countries. Cambodia must push the signatory countries of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement on Cambodia to guarantee that Thailand does not violate Cambodia’s territorial integrity.

In the afternoon of 29 August, the spokesman of the Cambodian ministry of Defense indicated that the withdrawal of troops from the border region where the confrontation of Cambodian and Thai troops is taking place, is done according to a plan set on 30 August.

Chhum Socheat, spokesman of the ministry of Defense, indicated that 50% of troops, heavy artillery and tanks were pulled out according the set strategy, and the number of troop withdrawn amounts to 3 divisions: the Preah Vihear province division, the Kampong Thom province division and army Brigade No. 11, etc…

Chhum Socheat indicated: “In some locations, we should pull out, at some others, we shouldn’t pull out, we base [the pullout] on the actual number of troops. This does not mean that 50% of the frontline troops were pulled out… it means that, out of the total number [of troops being pulled out], some regions that we consider as vital, we preserve the troops there, at other regions where we are not doing anything, we are pulling them back out. This means that we pull the troops out according to our military strategy, we are not pulling them out unilaterally. The majority of our troops have their bases prepared already along necessary locations, they can return back there on time.”

Troops withdrawal took place after Hun Xen said that Thai troops pulled out the border region near Preah Vihear temple and the situation will no longer be explosive anymore.

John Johnston, spokesman for the US embassy in Cambodia, indicated that troops pullout is a good sign for peaceful negotiations between the two countries, and this could lead to a peaceful resolution.

Regarding this troop withdrawal, SRP MP Son Chhay said that this pullout does not equate to a border resolution with Thailand at all.

Son Chhay said: “We want to know: this pullout was due to what? Reports indicated that only our side is pulling out, but Thailand still maintains the same position. For this border problem with Thailand, we don’t understand which strategy led the government to make this decision, could it be that Thailand promised not to conduct further aggression or anything else? Nevertheless, I say that this troop withdrawal will not lead Thailand to respect our territorial integrity.”

Son Chhay indicated that the resolution of the border dispute with Thailand cannot be done through armed forces or bilateral negotiations between Cambodia and Thailand. A successful resolution requires the participation of the International community, including ASEAN countries. Cambodia must push the signatory countries of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement on Cambodia to guarantee that Thailand does not violate Cambodia’s territorial integrity. Read more!

Close to 100 garment workers passed out during work

Saturday, August 29, 2009
DAP news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
At least 100 workers at the Rea Garment Corp. factory located along National Road No. 5, Svay Pak commune, Russey Keo district, passed out one after another while working. The cause of the workers passing out is not known and the incident took place at 09:30 AM on 29 August 2009. Ten private and state ambulances were used to bring these workers to the various hospitals and clinics. Khleang Huot, Russei Keo district governor, who came to the incident location to review the situation, claimed that the cause of the incident is not known yet, but he asked the factory owner to pay attention to the workers involved in the incident, including their food cost and hospital bills. Read more!

I want to study at ... University of Southeast Asia, Siem Reap

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Cambodia is moving into the Indochinese Federation abyss: A Seminar Presented by Khmer M'Chas Srok Movement in Long Beach

Click on the English and Khmer announcements to zoom in

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Saturday August 29, 2009
from 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Where:
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Room #293 - phone # (562) 597-1341

For additional information about the Khmer M'Chas Srok Movement, click here Read more!

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N.Korean team visits South to mourn Kim Dae-Jung

Writer: AFP

Published: 21/08/2009 at 04:00 PM

A high-level North Korean delegation visited South Korea Friday to join in national mourning for former president Kim Dae-Jung, the latest sign of easing relations after months of high tension.

Kim Ki-Nam (centre), a secretary of North Korea's ruling communist party, burns incense in front of the memorial altar for the late former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung in Seoul. A high-level North Korean delegation has visited South Korea to join in national mourning for Kim Dae-Jung, the latest sign of easing relations after months of high tension.

Pyongyang also announced it is lifting tough restrictions on border crossings imposed last December as ties with Seoul went into deep freeze.

The six-strong team, including two senior officials, delivered a wreath from leader Kim Jong-Il and bowed their heads in mourning before an altar outside parliament.

"Condolences for late former president Kim Dae-Jung," read a message on the wreath.

They were the first North Korean officials to pay tribute to a former South Korean president. The nations have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict.

The deceased ex-leader, a former leading democracy activist, held the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000 during his 1998-2003 presidency.

He pioneered a "Sunshine" aid and engagement policy with the North which improved relations but failed to curb its drive for nuclear weapons.

The visit provides an opportunity for dialogue with Seoul's conservative government, which enraged Pyongyang last year by ending the "Sunshine" era and linking economic aid to nuclear disarmament.

Seoul's unification ministry said Friday the North had not asked for any meeting and "as of now" there was no plan for one.

It welcomed the decision to ease curbs on border crossings and on the number of South Koreans staying at a joint industrial estate in the North. It urged the North not to repeat unilateral actions which damaged relations.

Cross-border and regional tensions rose sharply in recent months after the North made threatening gestures to the South, fired a series of missiles and staged a second nuclear test which brought tougher United Nations sanctions.

As Washington works to enforce the sanctions, Pyongyang this month has attempted to mend fences both with the United States and US ally South Korea.

Kim Jong-Il pardoned two American journalists after former president Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang. The North freed a detained South Korean and on Monday announced willingness to restart tourist trips and family reunions for South Koreans.

Diplomats from the North's United Nations mission held talks this week with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a veteran troubleshooter with Pyongyang.

Richardson said the North Koreans indicated they wanted a new dialogue with the United States about the nuclear standoff. But they rejected a return to a six-nation nuclear disarmament forum which Pyongyang quit in April.

The US government reaffirmed Thursday it is open to bilateral talks but only in the six-nation framework.

US and South Korean officials believe this year's bellicose moves were a show of strength by the ailing Kim, 67, as he tried to win support for a succession plan reportedly involving his youngest son.

Kim "is regaining his health and feeling more confident about the succession process, and trying to avoid the consequences of sanctions with an olive branch to South Korea to get aid flowing again," said Peter Beck, a Korea expert at the American University in Washington.

South Korea previously shipped around 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertiliser annually to its neighbour, which suffers serious food shortages.

Shipments ended under the current conservative government.

The North's team is headed by Kim Ki-Nam, a secretary of the ruling communist party. It will not stay on for Sunday's state funeral.

Some 100,000 people have visited 175 mourning altars nationwide for Kim Dae-Jung, who died Tuesday aged 85.

President Lee Myung-bak paid his respects Friday at the altar at parliament. The funeral will be held there to emphasise Kim's contribution in bringing democracy to the country.

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Another useless meeting with Thai military leaders to address border dispute?

Songkitti Jaggabatra

Thai Military Leaders Scheduled for Visit

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
21 August 2009

High-ranking Thai military commanders are slated to meet their Cambodian counterparts later this month, in an effort to address the longstanding border dispute near Preah Vihear temple and an emerging maritime dispute, officials said Friday.

Already high military tensions escalated this week, when Thailand protested Cambodia’s push for further oil exploration in the Gulf of Thailand, especially near Kuth island. Thailand said this was an encroachment of its maritime borders, a claim Cambodia denies. Both sides have had soldiers entrenched near the Preah Vihear border for more than a year.

Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatra, supreme commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters, and his deputies, Adm. Apichart Pengsritong and Air Chief Marshal Bureerat Ratanavanich, will be accompanied by some 87 Thai military officials to visit Cambodia Aug. 24.

The delegation will meet with Gen. Pol Saroeun, commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, and other senior officials.

The visit “is intended to strengthen the relationship and cooperation between the two countries,” Defense Minister Gen. Tea Banh told VOA Khmer. “This visit will reduce military tension in border disputes.”

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Asean may call for pardon

Portraits show pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during a rally calling for Suu Kyi's release on August 11. Suu Kyi was found guilty of breaching the terms of her house arrest. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Aug 19, 2009
AFP

UPBEAT ABOUT BREAKTHROUGH
MR WEBB, the first US official to hold talks with Than Shwe, was upbeat about the prospects of a breakthrough.

'I think we have a moment here we might be able to do something,' he told CNN, speaking from Bangkok.

'We had about a 40-minute conversation on a wide variety of issues,' he said of his landmark meeting with the junta leader.

'And with respect to her (Suu Kyi's) situation, I also want to emphasise that I made a request of the government that they consider releasing her from detention and... (said) no future election process would have any credibility with the outside world unless she were able to participate in the political debate.' -- AFP

REGIONAL officials will discuss a proposed joint call for Myanmar to free democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during a meeting in Jakarta later this week, a diplomatic source said on Tuesday.

Thailand, the current chair of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean), said on Friday it was pushing for a consensus among member states to ask Myanmar's military rulers to pardon Ms Suu Kyi.

'We will discuss it at a senior officials' meeting this week in Jakarta,' the source, who asked not to be named, told AFP. The meeting will be held on Thursday and Friday in the Indonesian capital, the diplomat said.

'We support it, but I don't know if all Asean (members) support it,' the diplomat said, when asked about his country's position. 'There's nothing firm, only a proposal so far,' he added.

US Senator Jim Webb, in an interview with CNN on Monday after a visit to Myanmar, said he understood that Asean was working on the proposal to seek amnesty for Suu Kyi. Mr Webb had met with Myanmar's reclusive ruler, Senior General Than Shwe, during his trip.

Asean has faced frequent criticism for taking a soft line on its most troublesome member, but Mr Webb indicated the bloc could be about to toughen its stance. 'I am of the understanding that we are possibly going to see from Asean... a petition of some sort that would ask for amnesty for her as well, which would be a major step forward in resolving the situation,' he said.

The 64-year-old Suu Kyi was found guilty last week of breaching the terms of her house arrest after an eccentric American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside villa in May and stayed there for two days.

Myanmar junta leader Than Shwe commuted her sentence to 18 months under house arrest, but this would still rule her out of elections due to be held next year.

International anger erupted at Myanmar after Tuesday's verdict, but Asean's reaction was typically muted, expressing only 'deep disappointment.' Mr Yettaw flew out of Myanmar on Sunday with Mr Webb, who secured the former military veteran's release from a sentence of seven years' hard labour.

Asean leaders will hold their next summit from October 23-25 in the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin. As well as Myanmar, Asean also groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Khmer Spell Checker for Firefox (Mekhala) is now available

Please click on the link below to get additional details from MitLeap website:
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The Free Press Magazine Online Vol. 1, No. 9 now available

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Sen disregards covenant on rights

"One Web site, one group and a few others send out the message: "Cambodian younger generations are the hope, the catalyst and the agent of change for Cambodia."

Certainly, their time has come. My hat is off to them, I wish them success."

August 19, 2009
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

One can learn much from old sayings and words of the wise. An African saying goes, "One must talk little and listen much." The Turks say, "Those who know do not talk; those who talk do not know." The Swedes say, "Whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more."

Mother Teresa of Calcutta implored, "There should be less talk. ... Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough."

Eleanor Roosevelt, whom Americans called "the best first lady" in United States history, is known for her work to improve the lot of the underprivileged. She said, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

In contemporary Cambodian politics, the small minds that delight in digging and throwing dirt at those they don't like are "willing executioners," tools of the ruling autocracy that needs them to overwhelm, distract and disrupt legitimate debate on issues of public and national interest. A boneless tongue that flaps, Cambodians say, turns a lone black crow into 10 ravaging crows.

Father Lawrence G. Lovasik, a missionary, wrote: "Only the ignorant and narrow-minded gossip, for they speak of persons instead of things," and that, "it is just as cowardly to judge an absent person as it is wicked to strike a defenseless one."

Lord Buddha teaches, "The evils of the tongue are lying, slander, abuse and idle talk."

Recently, a Khmer reader inquired about the meaning of the Khmer saying, "Somdei sar jiat," which, literally, means "words reveal one's race." The intent of the saying was to convey that words, spoken and written, reveal the kind of a person one is. One's value, worth, dignity -- or lack thereof -- are intertwined in his words.

American essayist, philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Words are alive; cut them and they bleed."

Last April 24, The Cambodia Daily's front page article, "Mu Sochua To Sue Premier For Defamation," reported on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's nationally broadcast speech on April 4, in which he affirmed that he wouldn't help villagers who side with the opposition. He spoke to the audience about a Mu Sochua, woman "cheung klang," or "strong legs," a derogatory term, who in the 2008 election campaign "hugged" someone and then complained her blouse had been "unbuttoned" by force.

The Daily said that in June 2008, an army officer "twisted her arm, thus making her blouse buttons come undone," so Sochua filed an "assault complaint."

At an April 23 press conference, Sochua announced her lawsuit against Sen for defamation, seeking 500 riels, or 13 cents. On April 27, The Daily reported on its front page: "Prime Minister To Countersue Mu Sochua."

Thus began a Khmer political ramvong, a popular slow dance in which participants move around and around in a circle to the sound of drums.

"Executive control of the court is an established fact and it is known that the court lacks independence," lamented the Asian Human Rights Commission in a press release.

On June 10, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court dismissed Sochua's lawsuit, claiming no defamation had occurred, but processed Sen's countersuit against Sochua.

On June 15, Human Rights Watch called on Sen's regime to "cease its threats, harassment, and spurious legal action against opposition members of parliament and lawyers defending free expression." The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-Cambodia declared, "the use or the threat of legal action ... is a serious threat to democratic development which may undermine the efforts of the past 16 years to rebuild a tolerant and pluralistic environment in Cambodia."

Those words didn't matter to Sen and his ruling party.

On Aug. 4, the Court ordered Sochua to pay 8.5 million riel ($2,500) in fines to the state, and 8 million riels ($2,000) in compensation to Sen, for defaming the premier.

A day later, Sen, who likes to use ceremonies as platforms and the media as tools, warned in a graduation ceremony speech in Phnom Penh that government critics should "be careful with the language of 'dictatorial regime.' Be careful, one day legal action will be used" ... and "when legal action is used, you guys would say freedom of expression is prohibited, but your expression is wrong."

Sen, recipient of a University of Hanoi honorary doctorate, no doubt meant every word he said. For the last few months, several criminal defamation and disinformation lawsuits have been filed against government critics -- politicians, journalists and a 22-year-old law student.

Sen, premier of a country that signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and incorporated it into Cambodian law, tramples that law, tells the world it doesn't understand free expression as he does and makes clear he doesn't care who thinks what. Unconditional Chinese aid and assistance to keep him and his autocratic regime afloat allows him to thumb his nose to the West, who lecture him to respect the international standards of good governance.

That seems to leave Cambodians on their own.

One Web site, one group and a few others send out the message: "Cambodian younger generations are the hope, the catalyst and the agent of change for Cambodia."

Certainly, their time has come. My hat is off to them, I wish them success.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

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Garment exports plummet 18pc over first half of year

Garment Manufacturers Association head Van Sou Ieng says industrial disputes like the one in this file photo are to blame for the garment-sector downturn, as new figures show first half exports fell 18pc. (Photo by: Tracey Shelton)

Monday, 17 August 2009
Chun Sophal
The Phnom Penh Post

It is difficult for us to estimate the total value for long-term exports of apparel in Cambodia ...

Commerce Ministry figures show a smaller drop than over the first quarter as manufacturers group head blames industrial unrest, not economic crisis

Exports of garments, footwear and other textile products dropped 18 percent year on year over the first half to US$1.27 billion, Ministry of Commerce figures released at the weekend show.

Exports to the United States, Cambodia's key market, were down 30 percent. Canada took 13 percent less by value, while European purchases were down 5 percent over the period.

The figures were released by the ministry's Trade Preferences Systems Department and account for all exports under the generalised system of preferences (GSP) and most favoured nation (MFN) programmes.

Cambodia exports almost all its garments, textiles and shoes through these schemes, which allow the world's least-developed nations to avoid quotas imposed by rich countries on exports from other developing countries.

Looking for a rebound

Department Director Mean Sophea said he expected a rebound would begin to be seen in September.

"It is difficult for us to estimate the total value for long-term exports of apparel in Cambodia because the situation of the world's economy has not recovered yet," he said.

Month-by-month data was not available at the weekend, but the figures suggest the rebound may have already started. In the first quarter of the year, garment exports fell 26.41 percent year on year across to $534.6 million, suggesting a better second quarter.

In March alone, exports were down 38.03 percent year on year to $164.3 million.

Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh told the Post in May that export orders for that month and June would provide a strong indicator of the sector's prospects for the rest of the year. The two months coincided with the start of the "hot season" in the US and Europe, he said.

Van Sou Ieng, president of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), told the Post Sunday that the decrease in apparel exports could not be blamed entirely on the global economic crisis.

Cambodia's garment products are more expensive than those of China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, and the country was clearly losing to its more efficient competitors., he said.

"I believe at least 100 factories have been closed down and suspended so far because there has been no orders," Van Sou Ieng said.

Industrial unrest

He also revised a prediction he made in May that exports would fall 30 percent for 2009 on the previous year. He said Sunday he anticipates a 40 percent decline for the full year, claiming that buyers were being scared off by strikes and demonstrations.

Sector representatives have also blamed high electricity prices, customs inefficiencies and a poorly trained workforce for the garment industry's low competitiveness.

Ath Thun, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, admitted that factories were closing and that there is pressure on the sector, but said Sunday that GMAC exaggerated the number of closures to scare unions. Factory owners are using the global economic crisis as an excuse to close factories without paying workers' wages properly and to frighten workers from protesting or negotiating, he said.

"I think Cambodia's garment sector would have collapsed already if 100 factories were really closed because the country's total number of factories is only around 300," he said.

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NZ man seeks justice for brother at KRouge trial

Rob Hamill's brother Kerry was one of three foreigners who were murdered by the 1975-1979 communist movement

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
By Suy Se
AFP

PHNOM PENH — A New Zealand Olympic rower told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court Monday how he had felt like killing the boss of the Khmer Rouge prison where his brother was killed by the regime.

Rob Hamill's brother Kerry was one of three foreigners who were murdered by the 1975-1979 communist movement after their yacht was blown off course and into Cambodian waters.

Hamill, who represented New Zealand at the 1996 Olympics, was testifying at the trial of jail chief Duch, who was accused of overseeing the torture and execution of about 15,000 people at the Tuol Sleng detention centre.

"At times I have wanted to smash you, to use your word, in the same way that you smashed so many others," he said. Duch has said that the Khmer Rouge used the official term "smash" to refer to killing its enemies.

"Today, in this court room, I am giving you all the crushing weight of emotion -- the anger, the grief, and the sorrow. I am placing this emotional burden on your head," Hamill said.

Kerry Hamill, 27, was sailing through the Gulf of Thailand in 1978 with two friends, Canadian Stuart Glass and Briton John Dewhirst, when their yacht was intercepted by a Cambodian patrol boat.

Glass was shot dead immediately while Dewhirst and Hamill were taken for interrogation and torture at Tuol Sleng for two months, during which they were forced to confess to being CIA agents. They were then killed.

Earlier Monday, Frenchwoman Martine Lefeuvre wept as she told the tribunal how her Cambodian husband was tricked into returning from overseas to die at Tuol Sleng.

She said her French-educated spouse, Ouk Ket, was asked to return home in 1977 from his job as a diplomat in Senegal, Dakar, to help the reconstruction of Cambodia.

But she said that on arrival Ouk Ket was "kidnapped with his hands tied behind his back, blindfolded, and brought in a truck" and went to "hell" at the jail.

Lefeuvre said that in 1991 she and her family came to see Tuol Sleng, which was turned into a genocide museum after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and found his name on a list of the dead.

"I came before this chamber in order to ask for justice to be done for this barbaric crime," the 56-year-old nurse told the court, demanding the "maximum sentence" for Duch.

Duch, a 66-year-old former maths teacher whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, said he felt remorse for their suffering.

"I was such a coward at that time. I did not dare to assist anybody," Duch told Hamill.

Duch has previously accepted responsibility for running the jail and begged forgiveness, but insists that he did not have a central role in the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

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Brother of NZ victim rages at Khmer Rouge trial

A Cambodian man watches television at a restaurant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2009 as it shows Rob Hamill from New Zealand whose brother was killed by the Khmer Rouge during its 1975-1979 rule in Cambodia. The TV program is broadcast during the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who is tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the U.N.-backed tribunal. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
By SOPHENG CHEANG
AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The brother of a New Zealander tortured and killed by the Khmer Rouge three decades ago told the man who ordered the execution on Monday that he wished him a similarly gruesome fate.

Kerry Hamill was 28 when his yacht was blown off course into Cambodian waters in 1978, and he was captured by the radical communist regime. He and a shipmate, Briton John Dewhirst, were taken to Phnom Penh's S-21 prison and later killed.

Kerry's brother, Rob, wept as he testified at the trial of S-21's commander, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch — the first of five senior Khmer Rouge defendants to be tried by a U.N.-assisted tribunal and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions.

"Duch, at times I have wanted to smash you, to use your words. The same way that you smashed so many others," Rob Hamill said, sitting in a suit and tie, his hands folded before him. "Smash" was the euphemism the Khmer Rouge used when ordering executions.

"At times, I have imagined you shackled, starved, whipped and clubbed, viciously. I have imagined your scrotum electrified, being forced to eat your own feces, being nearly drowned and having your throat cut," said Hamill, referring to some of the horrors faced by prisoners.

Duch sat behind him, expressionless.

"I have wanted that to be your experience, your reality. I have wanted you to suffer the way you made Kerry and so many others (suffer)," Hamill said.

About a dozen Westerners were among the estimated 16,000 people held at the prison before being killed. The communist regime's radical policies while in power from 1975-79 caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people nationwide by execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition.

Rob Hamill, 45, a rower who represented New Zealand at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said his family learned of his brother's death 16 months after he disappeared. Their parents read in a newspaper that he was executed after two months at S-21.

"Death not by shipwreck, not by drowning or freak accident, but death by torture. Death by torture not over a few seconds or minutes or hours or days or weeks even," said Hamill.

Asked by judges for his response, Duch (pronounced DOIK) repeated his earlier testimony that he received orders to kill the Westerners and burn their bodies.

He asked for forgiveness from the victims' families, acknowledging that they had suffered miserably.

He said he was not offended by being blamed.

"Even if the people threw stones at me and caused my death, I would not say anything," he told the court.

Duch is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and murder, and could face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Cambodia has no death penalty.

His trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.

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Money game is spiralling out of control Authorities have to stop rising fees and wages

Writer: WARAT THAVISIN

Published: 16/08/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: Sports

Given the economic downturn, one might have been in shock to witness such a costly transfer market.

BIG BUCKS: Real Madrid bought Kaka from AC Milan for 56 million pounds.

With two transfer records and the rise of transfer fees, we have seen one of the most hectic transfer windows of all time.

In 1893, Aston Villa were criticised for damaging the game's spirit for buying Willie Groves from West Bromwich Albion for 100 - a world record fee that stood for 11 years.

With that sum, you can't even buy a pair of top-end boots these days. Kaka became the most expensive player when Real Madrid bought him from AC Milan for 56 million.

The record was soon broken when Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid for an outrageous fee of 80 million.

These days 10 million seems to be able to buy only a decent player, and the effect of the rising transfer fees is wide ranging.

Firstly, there is the question about the clubs' financial status and stability.

Big English clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool are operating in debt. Being forced to spend more money on players during the current economic crisis could have a damaging effect.

Value of many clubs have fallen significantly. The financial situation of English clubs could become worse if they still spend absurd sums on players as Uefa general-secretary David Taylor said: "It is raising the ante in terms of players cost, in terms of the general market place, which is not a thing that gives us a great deal of comfort in these difficult times."

TOP RANK: Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s most expensive player at 80 million pounds.

Secondly, clubs with more money will undoubtedly become more and more influential. The obvious example is Manchester City who have spent some 100 million for new players in their attempt to challenge the Big Four.

With unlimited funds from their owners from the Middle East, City manager Mark Hughes may be the most envious coach although many fear that he could soon be sacked if his expensive side fail to deliver.

In the near future, a championship may be determined by money rather than ability.

The rise of the transfer fees has come with the increase in players' wages. Nowadays, many good - but not great - players enjoy a weekly wage in the region of 100,000 a week.

Over the years, we have seen a shift in the players' motivation from competing at the highest level to getting the highest wage.

No matter what players like Gareth Barry and Robinho told you, money was undoubtedly a major factor in their decision to join Man City.

Before his move from Aston Villa, Barry, who was once chased by Liverpool, said he wanted to play Champions League football but City did not qualify for the competition.

Is there a way to stop the money trend?

Salary cap or a limit to transfer fee could be an option for European football governing body Uefa. But this would affect or put an end to the "free market".

Clubs may be allowed to pay more than the limit of transfer fee but a percentage of the additional fee - say 10% - must be used to develop home-grown players.

For example, if the limit of transfer fee for a player is 25 million and a club pay 30 million, the club must give 500,000 (10% of the extra 5 million) to their academy.

This way, they may save millions of pounds in the future and get a new star from their own acdemy.

But it is not likely that big clubs would accept any measure that would curb their financial power because they are used to "buying" success.

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Asean to get $25bn loan from China ANOTHER $10BN TO BE OFFERED IN THE FORM OF A FUND FOR EMERGENCY USE

Writer: PHUSADEE ARUNMAS

Published: 16/08/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

China yesterday agreed to provide a US$15 billion (510 billion baht) loan to help Southeast Asian countries with infrastructure development and another $10 billion in the form of an emergency investment fund to help the region cope with future economic crises.

China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming shakes hands with Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai to seal the deal.

Beijing made the pledges in a meeting between Asean commerce ministers and their Chinese counterpart Chen Deming.

The loan will be used to improve transport and telecommunications infrastructures in the region, said Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai, who chaired the meeting.

Railway connections between Kunming in southern China to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore will benefit from the injection of cash, which will also be used to boost trade, investment and tourism between Asean and China.

The Asean Secretariat will prioritise the infrastructure projects that will benefit from this loan.

Details would be hammered out at the Asean summit in October.

As for the $10 billion emergency fund, China hoped that it will help Asean solve its future economic problems.

Asean and China also signed the Asean-China Investment Agreement yesterday, which the two sides have been negotiating since 2003.

The agreement will expand trade and investment and will come into effect on Jan 1.

Mr Chen called the agreement a "milestone" in fostering trade and investment ties between China and Southeast Asia.

Ms Porntiva said she hoped the accord will also benefit trade and investment between Thailand and China.

China is the eighth largest investor in Asean with a total investment of $60 billion. Last year, investment from China rose 125% from 2007.

In a related development, Asean ministers and their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India supported efforts to turn their countries into a free trade area.

According to a study by an expert group, the free trade area of 16 countries would boost GDP by 1.3%.

Thailand's economic growth would rise 4.8% and the Asean economy would grow 3.8% once the 16 countries have been turned into one free trade zone, the study said.

Also yesterday, Asean and South Korea agreed to set up a special fund to support cooperation schemes including projects aimed at reducing the economic gap in Southeast Asia. South Korea contributed $1.5 billion to the fund.

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Wichien told to prevent city clashes

Writer: POST REPORTERS

Published: 16/08/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

Caretaker national police chief Wichien Pojphosri has been ordered to ensure no clashes between supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and those of Newin Chidchob tomorrow.

Don't let them clash

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva gave the order to head off any confrontation between the groups, which are likely to gather close to each other in the city.

At the Grand Palace, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship will submit to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary their petition seeking a royal pardon for Thaksin.

At nearby Sanam Luang, supporters of Mr Newin will gather at the Criminal Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to hear its verdict on the rubber sapling project. Mr Newin has been implicated in irregularities in the scheme.

Pol Gen Wichien has told the prime minister that police alone will be able to control the situation.

Special Branch Police chief Pol Lt Gen Theeradet Rodphothong estimated that about 20,000 red shirt supporters from northern and northeastern provinces would be in Bangkok to take part in the royal pardon petition submission.

A source close to Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said the army had been asked to support the police anti-riot operation if rallies by the two groups slide into unrest.

The 1st Army has been asked to put its troops from 21 Bangkok-based companies and three other companies from nearby provinces on standby.

Chaisit Shinawatra, former supreme commander and a cousin of Thaksin, said the red shirts would stop their campaign for a royal pardon once they had submitted the petition.

They would leave the decision to His Majesty the King, said Gen Chaisit.

But Mr Abhisit said that after the royal pardon petition is submitted, the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary is likely to seek suggestions on the petition from the government.

The Justice Ministry then will be asked to look into the petition's content, said the prime minister.

If the content of the petition and the petition submission procedures did not comply with required legal criteria, the government would tell the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary that the petition does not meet the criteria, said Mr Abhisit.

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US senator visits Suu Kyi

Sen James Webb thanked the Burmese icon for defending democracy, won a pardon and freedom for the American linked to her latest detention (inset), and talked with reclusive military ruler Than Shwe. (AFP Photo)

Published: 16/08/2009 at 04:50 AM

Rangoon (AFP) - US Senator Jim Webb met Burmese military ruler Than Shwe and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday after securing the release of the US citizen jailed for visiting Suu Kyi's house in May.

John Yettaw, bound for Bangkok Sunday afternoon.

Webb, a Democrat with close links to US President Barack Obama, became the first official US visitor to hold talks with the reclusive Than Shwe, encountering the regime's supremo in his bunker-like capital, Naypyidaw, officials said.

Webb then flew to Rangoon to meet Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi at a government guesthouse near her home - her first meeting with a foreign official since her house arrest was extended by 18 months earlier this week.

Webb's office later issued a statement in Washington saying he had secured an agreement from the junta to release John Yettaw, who was jailed for seven years this week over an incident in which he swam to Suu Kyi's lakeside home.

"I am grateful to the Myanmar government," Webb was quoted as saying, using the military dictatorship's name for Burma..

"It is my hope that we can take advantage of these gestures as a way to begin laying a foundation of goodwill and confidence-building in the future," Webb said.

The statement said Yettaw would be officially deported Sunday morning, adding that "Senator Webb will bring him out of the country on a military aircraft that is returning to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon."

A Burmese official confirmed Yettaw's deportation.

"Yettaw will be deported and leave with Webb," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Webb had also urged the Burmese military regime to free Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest, the senator's office said.

She was driven to the meeting with Webb from her crumbling mansion in a convoy comprising her car and several police vehicles, witnesses said. She left the guesthouse about 45 minutes later.

The Burmese regime sparked international outrage when a court in the army-ruled nation convicted Yettaw and Suu Kyi over the May incident in which the American swam uninvited to her home.

According to earlier reports, Webb was not due to meet Yettaw, a diabetic and epileptic former military veteran who is being held at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison. Yettaw was hospitalised earlier this month after suffering a series of fits.

Dissident groups have warned that Webb's visit could be manipulated by the Burmese government to "endorse" its treatment of Suu Kyi and the more than 2,100 other political prisoners in the country's jails.

The UN Security Council issued a watered-down statement Thursday expressing "serious concern" about her detention, while the European Union the same day extended sanctions against the junta, including the judges in the trial.

Critics have accused the junta of trumping up the charges to keep Suu Kyi locked up during elections next year, and of using the polls themselves to legitimise their grip on power since 1962.

The junta refused to recognise the NLD's victory in elections in 1990.

Both the White House and State Department welcomed Webb's trip, even though it was officially being made in a private capacity by the senator, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific affairs.

The Obama administration said earlier this year that it was reviewing his predecessor George W Bush's tough stance on Burma, even though Obama recently renewed sanctions against the regime.

Webb, a gruff Vietnam veteran, said in April that Washington should seek "constructive" engagement towards Burma with the aim of lifting sanctions, while admitting in July that the Suu Kyi trial made it more difficult.

Webb, 63, has written six novels and served in the late 1980s as secretary of the US Navy under Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Than Shwe has, meanwhile, been a long-term bete noire of the United States. A former postman, he has ruled Burma since 1992 with an iron-fist, ruthlessly suppressing his rivals.

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Police show of strength for Monday's petition rally

Police will be out in strength on Monday when the red-shirts gather at Sanam Luang and then submit their request for a royal pardon for Thaksin Shinawatra, and academics show their opposition to the petition.

Writer: Bangkok Post.com

Published: 14/08/2009 at 03:53 PM

Twenty-seven companies of police will be on duty to maintain law and order on Monday when the red-shirts of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship submit their petition to His Majesty the King seeking a pardon for fugitive politician Thaksin Shinawatra.

Pol Gen Wichien Pojphosri, the acting police chief, said 10 companies comprising 1,500 police will be deployed at Sanam Luang and the other 17 companies will be on standby, starting at 6pm on Sunday.

Arrangements will be made for representatives of the UDD to enter the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary through Wiset Chaisri gate. The red-shirts will be allowed to gather only at the Sanam Luang ground.

Pol Maj-Gen Wichai Sangprapai, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 1, will be in charge of the security operation.

Two companies of police will be deployed at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, which is due to give its verdict in the rubber saplings corruption case in which former Thaksin deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob, the de facto leader of the government coalition Bhumjaithai Party, is a defendant.

Five other companies will be stationed along one side of Sanam Luang, opposite the court, to prevent any possible clash between rival groups of demonstrators.

Pol Gen Wichien said he will seek cooperation from the Interior Ministry, Internal Security Operations Command, and provincial police in all regions to discourage people from travellng to Bangkok to join the gathering.

However, those who want to attend will not be blocked from doing so.

He did not expect the rally would be prolonged.

Meanwhile, an academic from Chulalongkorn University has sent a list of 5,000 names of lecturers, students and other people opposed to the petition for a royal pardon for Thakskin to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Assistant Professor Dr Tul Sitthisomwong of the faculty of medicine presented the list to deputy government spokesman Wachara Kannikar.

The list was accompanied by an open letter demanding that Thaksin tell his supporters to abandon their plan to present the petition because it was not a lawful procedure.

Thaksin, as a convicted felon, must petition His Majesty the King himself, the letter said.

''To love Thaksin is not wrong'', the letter said, ''but to use that popularity in breaking the rule of law and regulations must not be done.''

Mr Tul called on the government and related agencies to inform the red-shirt people they had no legal right to lodge the petition on Thaksin's behalf.

Proceeding with the action could also cause a lot of dissatisfaction among the five million people who had signed their names in opposition to the petition.

He asked the media to help persuade people not to join the red-shirt gathering on Monday, because it was an attempt to manipulate the masses to pressure the royal institution.

House Speaker Chai Chidchob said he would not seek a royal pardon for his son Newin if he is found guilty in the 1.44 billion baht rubber saplings case.

The Supreme Court will rule on the corruption case involving Mr Newin and 43 others over the Agriculture Ministry's purchase of 90 million rubber saplings between 2004 and 2006.

Mr Newin was deputy agriculture minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra administration at the time.

Mr Chai said whoever has done anything wrong must face the consequences.

Asked about the red-shirts' petition rally on Monday, Mr Chai said it was of no concern to him.

He believed that after the petition was submitted the red-shirt group would lay the matter to rest.

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Cambodian monks save remote forests, tree by tree

August 13, 2009
WorldFocus.org

In Cambodia, there is an unusual effort underway by Buddhist monks to replant forests devastated by war and clearing by loggers.

This is important to them for both religious and environmental reasons. The monks, like others, believe that trees may help counter the effects of climate change.

Worldfocus partner IRIN travels to the remote forests of Cambodia.

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Cambodian HIV Villages Draws Controversy

2009-8-13
New Tang Dynasty Television

Click here to watch the video in English

25 kilometers outside of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, lies a village built by the government for HIV-infected patients and their families.

Come to be known as the "AIDS colony", in the past two months the government has relocated 47 families to live in its metal and wooden sheds.

With inadequate sanitation and no running water, the area is not a health sanctuary for HIV-infected patients, who require personal attention and care.

The government maintains it is taking care of patients by building new homes and offering healthcare and ownership rights previously unavailable.

But HIV-infected people living in the village say they have not received any official recognition of ownership rights nor government compensation for their old homes.

40-year-old HIV patient Chheang Toma says even with free medical treatment, he has no real means of earning a living in the colony.

[Chheang Toma, HIV Patient]:
"I feel sluggish in my arms and on my legs everyday and I cannot walk well. I will hang on, until the day I need to go to sleep in the hospital. I wanted to go now, but I have no money to spend for food, although they give treatment free of charge."

With little prospect of work in the area due to the distance from the city, people say they must survive largely on donations from the government and NGOs.

[Suon Davy, HIV Patient]:
"I face great difficulty for my family day to day, because we live far away from the hospital, far from any job opportunities and it is very hot here."

Local human rights activist Dr. Kek Galabru says the government actions are discriminatory while the conditions could pose health risks to already vulnerable patients.

[Dr. Kek Galabru, President, Lacadho NGO]:
"It's regretful that city hall sent 40 families to Tuol Sambo village. This is a discriminatory act because by putting them together like this, everyone will know this is an AIDS community."

The "AIDS colony" is one of a number of forced evictions in Cambodia, where the government has faced escalating criticism about its mandatory relocations.

Many HIV-infected people living in Tuol Sambo previously resided in squatter areas in the Borei Keila area of the capital, forced out as the government took over the land to build high-rise buildings.

Last month, the World Bank urged Cambodia to halt the forced evictions from disputed land, saying it threatened the livelihoods of thousands of urban dwellers.

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43 Philippine soldiers, rebels killed in clash: army

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 08:00 AM

At least 23 soldiers and 20 Abu Sayyaf militants were killed when the army raided a training camp run by the Al-Qaeda-linked rebels in the southern Philippines, the military said Thursday.

An unidentified wounded Philippine Marine receives a medal at a hospital in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga a day after soldiers and members of the Islamic extremist Abu Sayyaf group clashed in Basilan island. At least 23 soldiers and 20 members of the Abu Sayyaf group were killed while fourteen other soldiers were also wounded.

Fourteen other soldiers were also wounded when the military launched a major offensive on the Islamist militants' camp in the town of Ungkaya Pukan on the remote island of Basilan Wednesday, officials said.

Government troops managed to overrun the camp, but reports from the field said day-long clashes that followed were fierce and led to the heavy casualties, regional commander Major General Benjamin Dolorfino said.

Numerous home-made bombs, ready for detonation, were recovered along with 13 high-powered firearms, he said.

The fighting was the heaviest since at least 29 soldiers were killed in two separate clashes with the Abu Sayyaf in July and August 2007 -- with the bodies of 10 soldiers later being found mutilated.

The military "launched a decisive law enforcement operation targeting the Abu Sayyaf's main training camp in the province", army spokeswoman Lieutenant Steffani Cacho said.

"Recovered from the camp were sizeable quantities of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) rigged to explode while others were ready for use," she said.

The military said they were going after about 200 Abu Sayyaf militants who were involved in the clash and that additional troops may be poured into the remote area.

"The terrain is really very difficult to penetrate," said Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner, overall armed forces spokesman in Manila.

"Follow (up) operations are ongoing and we hope we will be able to get the remnants of this Abu Sayyaf group."

He said the military was "studying whether we need to pour in more troops into the area."

Soldiers who airlifted their dead comrades to a military base in nearby Zamboanga City said those who died were hit by sniper fire.

The clashes were over, General Dolorfino said, but troops were still clearing the area to ensure no insurgents remained.

The Abu Sayyaf was formed in the early 1990s by Islamic firebrand Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani upon his return from Afghanistan, where he fought the Soviets alongside Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Janjalani formed the Abu Sayyaf (Bearers of the Sword) ostensibly to fight for an independent Islamic state.

He was however killed in a 1998 clash with police, and the group quickly degenerated into a terror organisation specialising in bombings and high-profile kidnappings.

The group has raised money by ransoming hostages but has also killed some, mostly through beheading, when they were not paid promptly.

While the Philippine military has killed and captured many Abu Sayyaf leaders -- partly with US assistance -- the extremists remained active and in January they held three international Red Cross workers hostage for several months.

Two hostages were freed in April while the last, Italian Eugenio Vagni, was released on July 12 after nearly six months in captivity.

The Abu Sayyaf is also believed to be working alongside some 30 foreign militants from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who are operating in the southern Philippines.

The JI, blamed for the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202, is said to be working with the Abu Sayyaf in plotting bombings in this mostly Catholic nation of 90 million, intelligence officials earlier told AFP.

Filipino intelligence officials said JI militants may also have helped the Abu Sayyaf carry out a spate of bombings in Mindanao in July that killed eight people.

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Climate change turning Aussie birds smaller: study

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 04:00 PM

Australian birds have shrunk over the past century because of global warming, scientists have found.

A bird is seen during a Taronga Zoo Bird Show in Sydney. Australian birds have shrunk over the past century because of global warming, according to scientists.

Using museum specimens, researchers measured the size of eight bird species and discovered they were getting smaller in an apparent response to climate change.

Australian National University (ANU) biologist Janet Gardner said modern birds were up to four percent smaller than their forebears, a discrepancy she said was statistically significant.

"Birds, like other animals, tend to be smaller in warmer climates, because smaller bodies lose heat more quickly than larger bodies," she said.

"As a result, individuals of the same species tend to be larger near the poles and smaller near the equator."

She said the study showed that modern birds in Sydney had shrunk to the same size as those previously found in sub-tropical Brisbane, some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) north and seven degrees of latitude closer to the equator.

Gardner said the study, published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, found that the birds appeared to be adapting to global warming by becoming smaller to minimise heat stress.

The bird species examined by the researchers from the ANU and government science body CSIRO included the grey-crowned babbler, the yellow-rumped thornbill and the variegated fairy-wren Read more!

Taiwan deploys extra troops, anger over rescue grows

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 08:00 PM

Taiwan Thursday deployed thousands of extra troops as it faced growing public anger and pressure to rescue people trapped by deadly landslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.

This handout photo released by the Taiwan Military News Agency shows local residents being evacuated from the typhoon-effected village of Laiji in Chiayi County, central Taiwan. Taiwan has deployed thousands of extra troops as it faced growing public anger and pressure to rescue people trapped by deadly landslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.

The military said 4,000 more soldiers were added to the rescue effort, bringing the total to 38,000, as the death toll from the island's worst floods in half a century rose to 108 with fears it may rise dramatically.

Helicopters were scouring remote areas in the centre and south of the island, dropping food and medicine to cut-off villages and evacuating people to safety, while rain continued to fall.

Nearly 14,000 people have been airlifted to safety since last weekend's typhoon, which dumped three metres (120 inches) of rain, but the government has been accused by survivors and politicians of doing too little, too late.

Dozens of mountain villages populated mainly by indigenous aboriginal tribes have been totally cut off for days after landslides destroyed roads and bridges, leaving them only accessible by air.

Tempers have flared as desperate relatives have gathered at rescue centers -- police and soldiers Wednesday had to push back people who tried to storm their way on to helicopters heading to the stricken zone.

"32 DEAD, SOS," read a sign painted in red on a smashed bridge at the only entrance to the village of Hsinfa, a hot spring resort where bodies were found buried by mudslides.

"We are helpless. We are forgotten. We have been waiting for the helicopters without supplies," one villager told AFP.

President Ma Ying-jeou was confronted by relatives complaining about his government's handling of the crisis on Thursday when he travelled to the county of Yunlin to inspect relief efforts.

Television footage showed dozens of people surrounding Ma, with one man angrily asking: "What is the government doing? It's too late, they cannot be saved."

Ma deflected criticism his administration had been too proud to ask for outside help by saying the United States, Japan, Singapore, China had already made donations and that help from other countries was welcome.

Among the first aid to arrive was a shipment of food and medicines from Singapore, the foreign ministry said.

It said the government had asked for international help providing rescue equipment and that more than 50 countries had sent their condolences or said they were willing to help.

An intense rescue effort has focused on Hsiaolin and several neighbouring villages in Kaohsiung county which were almost totally destroyed by landslides.

While around 1,000 survivors have been found and some 600 airlifted to safety, it is feared more than 100 people could have been buried alive under the rubble.

The National Fire Agency said around 200 people were trapped and awaiting evacuation at another hot spring resort in Liukuei, a township made up of a cluster of mountain villages.

Meanwhile, the military said it had located 700 more survivors in Liukuei Thursday morning and had started moving the group to safety.

Villagers told AFP that more people could have been buried alive as some villages were either flattened or badly damaged in the typhoon.

Typhoon Morakot caused an estimated 280 million US dollars of damage to agriculture and tens of millions of dollars of lost tourism revenue to the scenic mountain regions where hot spring spas are popular.

Five undersea cables were damaged as the typhoon triggered mudslides in the sea off southern Taiwan, disrupting Internet connections and jamming telephone services, said Chunghwa Telecom.

China has so far donated around 16 million US dollars for island's typhoon relief efforts, while Hong Kong pop star and actor Andy Lau was to front a major flood relief fundraising effort in Taipei on Friday.

Morakot was one of the worst typhoons to strike Taiwan in 50 years. In August 1959 a typhoon killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.

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North Korea frees South Korean detainee

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 08:00 PM

North Korea Thursday freed a South Korean worker it had detained since March, raising hopes of better cross-border relations after 18 months of bitter hostility from the communist state.

South Korean vehicles wait to pass a checkpoint at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in Paju in July 2009. The Kaesong estate near the west coast is the last major inter-Korean joint project still operating. North Korea has freed a South Korean worker it had detained since March, raising hopes of better relations after 18 months of bitter hostility from the communist state.

Yu Seong-Jin came home across the tightly guarded frontier in the evening.

"I'm very happy to return home safely," he told a crowd of reporters at the border, thanking all those who worked for his release.

After a brief medical check the engineer for the Hyundai Asan company was to be reunited with relatives waiting near the border, Yonhap news agency reported.

Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jung-Eun had travelled to the North Monday to seek Yu's release, days after former president Bill Clinton went to Pyongyang to meet leader Kim Jong-Il and win a pardon for two American journalists.

Yu, 44, was earlier handed over to Hyundai Asan officials at the Seoul-funded joint industrial estate in the North's border town of Kaesong, where he was detained on March 30.

The North had held Yu incommunicado since then, accusing him of insulting its political system and urging a northern worker at the estate to defect.

Inter-Korean relations have been icy since a conservative government took office in Seoul in February 2008 and took a tougher line on cross-border relations.

International tensions have also risen this year following the North's latest nuclear and missile tests and a US-led drive for tougher sanctions.

However, North Korean officials signalled to Clinton that they want better relations, according to US officials.

An association representing South Korean firms in Kaesong said it hoped Thursday's release "will improve frozen ties between South and North Korea and rejuvenate the Kaesong industrial complex."

Hyun had earlier extended her stay in the North until Friday, heightening speculation she would meet leader Kim as she did in 2007.

The North is still detaining the four-member crew of a South Korean squid fishing boat which sailed across the border on July 30 due to a faulty navigation system.

It told the South Thursday an investigation was still continuing.

Analysts say the North's priority is improving relations with the United States but to do this it must also mend ties with South Korea to some extent.

"The release will be a turning point in frozen ties between the two Koreas," Dongguk University professor Koh Yu-Hwan told AFP. "It reflects Pyongyang's belief it cannot improve relations with Washington without easing cross-border tensions.

"North Korea also badly needs economic help from South Korea to overcome economic difficulties and food shortages, which have worsened this year due to international sanctions and regional tensions."

The Seoul presidential office welcomed the release but said its policy would not change.

"It seems a bit too late, but it is a relief that Yu is finally returning to his family," said spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan.

"The government will continue to maintain its policy consistency toward North Korea."

Some 40,000 North Koreans work for 105 South Korean companies at Kaesong, which was developed mainly by Hyundai.

The auto, shipbuilding and construction giant pioneered business exchanges with the North, opening its first venture -- the Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast -- in 1998.

But its projects have been hard hit by the worsening relations.

The Kaesong estate is the last one still operating. Its future has become increasingly clouded since Pyongyang demanded huge extra wage and rent payments from Seoul and detained the engineer.

Tours to Mount Kumgang have been suspended since July 2008, when North Korean soldiers shot dead a Seoul housewife who strayed into a poorly marked military zone.

Hyun's visit was partly aimed at restarting the Kumgang tours, officials say.

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