Cambodia Opposition Deputy Leader Vows Party ‘Won’t Betray the People’

The deputy chief of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) said Wednesday that the party will stand firm and not “betray the will of the people” in negotiations with the ruling party aimed at ending the country’s political crisis.

Kem Sokha said the CNRP will make sure its demands for new elections and electoral reforms, including an overhaul of the country’s main electoral body, will be a key part of any compromise reached with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).“I promise that the CNRP won't betray the people’s will. The CNRP will serve the people’s interest,” he told RFA’s Khmer Service while on a visit to Washington.The party would stick to its “firm stance” on demands for fresh polls, electoral reform, and changes to the CPP-picked National Election Committee, which oversees the country’s polls, he added.

He was commenting on talks held between Hun Sen and CNRP President Sam Rainsy last week which had indicated a near-deal in resolving the eight-month standoff the two parties have been locked in since disputed elections in July last year. Hun Sen said, after a phone conversation with Sam Rainsy, that he had agreed to hold early polls and would call them in February 2018, five months before the end of his term. Sam Rainsy said, however, that the CNRP, which had previously insisted on early 2016 polls, had not agreed with Hun Sen on an election date and that their compromise was only “80 percent” complete.

Not agreed

Kem Sokha said Sam Rainsy did not agree in the talks to setting February 2018 as a date for the new elections, saying Sam Rainsy had initially thought Hun Sen had agreed to various CNRP's requests during the talks but later found the CPP was playing a “trick.”  "Sam Rainsy didn't agree to have elections in February 2018,” he said.

Kem Sokha said he had discussed the issue with Sam Rainsy and that setting such a late date for fresh polls was not in the people’s interests. “What the CPP wants for a political compromise will be for the loss of the nation’s interest and will not reflect the will of the people. The people want an early election.” “The election must be held in late 2016 so that we have some time to prepare new voting lists,” he said.

United front
Hun Sen had warned shortly after his talks with Sam Rainsy that although the two sides had reached a compromise, Kem Sokha might break it, suggesting a rift between the two CNRP leaders.  Late last week Sam Rainsy rejected an offer by Hun Sen to sign a deal based on their talks in front of King Norodom Sihamoni.

The CNRP indicated that a deal was not signed because Kem Sokha, who is currently on a 20-day U.S. tour, was out of the country.  Kem Sokha rejected claims that he and Sam Rainsy were anything less than united in their decisions, saying Hun Sen had made such comments as part of a “trick” aimed at splitting the CNRP. "There might be some differences in terms of thinking but there is only one decision," he said.

“Sam Rainsy doesn’t make any decisions alone; we make decisions together. The CPP is playing a trick – they want to make it seem as if we’re on different pages.” He reaffirmed that the CNRP, which has boycotted parliament in protest against last year’s polls, will not join the legislature until its demands are met. Based on the official results of the July elections, the CPP won 68 seats in parliament to the CNRP’s 55, but the CNRP has claimed it won at least 63.

Fighting Flares in Kachin State

Clashes between government troops and Kachin rebels in northern Myanmar have escalated following a week-long offensive by the country’s military, displacing thousands of civilians and casting a shadow over nationwide cease-fire talks, rebel leaders said Friday.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has been forced to withdraw from some of its outposts after a series of attacks by Myanmar’s army in Mansi and Momauk townships in Kachin state’s Bhamo district since April 10, according to a KIA spokesman. The clashes had spread to Momauk on Sunday after erupting in Mansi last week, he said, while local media reported more clashes nearby in the northern part of Kachin’s neighboring Shan State.

The leader of a group of 16 ethnic rebel groups engaged in talks on a nationwide cease-fire proposed by the government said the recent fighting had prompted “concern” among fellow rebels and made them “lose trust” in the talks. A relief group said more than 8,000 civilians have been displaced by the recent fighting—part of clashes that have flared on and off since a 17-year cease-fire between the KIA and the Myanmar government was shattered in June 2011.

KIA spokesman La Nan said Myanmar troops had staged a full week of offensives including artillery attacks on KIA positions in the two townships from April 10 to 17.  He said the Myanmar army’s 99th brigade had carried out artillery attacks particularly on KIA’s 27th Battalion. “Those at the state level have been discussing a nationwide cease-fire, but the situation in the field is far from that,” he said. 

Fatalities

Both sides have suffered fatalities in the fighting, according to local media reports, but the number of casualties has not been announced and the Myanmar military has not released any reports on the fighting.

President Thein Sein’s spokesman Ye Htut, however, has said several government troops including a senior commander were killed, according to reports.A Myanmar military officer in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina told RFA’s Myanmar Service the fighting in Momauk was triggered by the KIA bombing of a truck on a key road.“The KIA bombed a Myanmar army truck … on the Bhamo-Lweje highway on April 13. The fighting followed that,” the officer said.

KIA outnumbered

La Nan said that when the fighting broke out, the KIA had few troops in the area because of the nationwide cease-fire talks. After the Myanmar military began its offensive, KIA forces were far outnumbered and forced to withdraw, he said. The KIA had stationed some 30 soldiers to guard outposts in the area, when artillery attacks were launched by the military’s eight battalions with a total 1,000 troops, he said.

“We had deployed just a few troops at our outposts because our representatives have been attending peace talks,” he said. Although pledges had been made by both sides in the nationwide cease-fire negotiations to reduce tensions, the Myanmar army had strengthened its forces in the area, he said. “They cannot be believed,” he said. “The Myanmar military has strengthened their forces. They have built underground tunnels 3 to 4 miles [5 to 6 kilometers] long that they use to connect their posts. Their military officers and soldiers have been threatening local people, telling them they’re going to clear out the KIA.”

Thein Sein’s government is aiming to get all of the country’s rebel groups to sign on to the nationwide-ceasefire pact in a bid to end decades of conflict and speed up reforms as the country emerges from decades under military rule.  Representatives from the KIA—which is one of Myanmar’s largest rebel groups and one of two that has not yet signed a full individual cease-fire with the government—took part in high-level talks on the accord earlier this month in Yangon, where rebels and government negotiators  said they settled on a unified draft text for the accord.

NCCT

Nai Hong Sar, leader of the Nationwide Cease-fire Coordination Team (NCCT), which represents the KIA and 15 other ethnic rebel groups the talks, said members were concerned about the recent fighting which was a setback to the peace process.

“We are very concerned about it. We are disappointed and have lost trust in [the talks].” He said the success of the talks would depend on whether the Myanmar government showed it was willing to make peace. “It depends a lot on their attitude,” he said. “There will be delays and it will be very difficult to reach the nationwide cease-fire. We are still disagreed on having one policy on the nationwide cease-fire.”

Thousands displaced

The KIA’s political wing has claimed that the recent fighting has displaced up to 10,000 people, though sources from the Myanmar army’s northern command downplayed the numbers, Myanmar Eleven reported. Local NGO Karuna Myanmar said that since the fighting flared up, some 5,000 refugees have fled to Muse and Nanhkan and more have crossed into China, according to the report.

In addition, up to 3,000 local villagers have fled to the Man Wain Gyi displaced persons’ camp, according to the report. Some 800 families living in the La Gut Yan refugee camp who had been displaced from their homes in previous fighting had also fled to the Man Wain Gyi camp, it said. Refugees who crossed the border are facing difficulties with the Chinese authorities, it said.

The fighting came as the KIA’s Deputy Commander-in-Chief General Gun Maw was on a trip to the United States, on what is believed to be the highest-level visit by a KIA leader to the U.S. Gun Maw met with human rights and political affairs officials at the State Department in Washington on Monday and was expected to meet with lawmakers later during his 12-day trip.

UXO injuries, deaths on the rise

Forty people were injured or killed by landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the first two months of 2014, a figure nearly twice as high as that recorded in the same period last year, a recent report from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre shows.In its report, CMAC recorded six deaths and 34 injuries in January and February this year, a 90 per cent increase in casualties from the first two months of 2013, which saw two people killed and 19 injured.

Heng Ratana, director-general of CMAC, ascribed the increase in casualties to recent explosions each involving multiple victims, noting that the number of actual explosions in the two-month period remained roughly the same. According to Ratana, incidents mostly – and increasingly – injured children.

“They collect the explosives and play with them,” he said.Last month, two children were injured along with their aunt when they stepped ona landmine in Banteay Mean-chey province, near the Thai border. In February, three children were killed when they tampered with an unexploded 60-millimetre rocket that they found near their village in Kampong Chhnang province while herding cattle.

Cambodia’s UXO was left behind after decades of war, and the Kingdom’s northwestern provinces – such as Battambang, Oddar Meanchey, Banteay Meanchey and Preah Vihear – remain the country’s most dangerous areas for UXO, according to the Cambodia Mine Victims Information System.

Chinese rob rifles, shooting at Quang Ninh’s border gate

The four Chinese women at the Bac Phong Sinh Border Gate.

12pm today, April 18, security forces at the Bac Phong Sinh Border Gate discovered 16 Chinese people, including 10 men, 4 women and 2 children trying to illegally cross the Vietnam-China border in Quang Duc commune, Hai Ha district, Quang Ninh province.Vietnamese security guards asked these people to enter the border-gate station to fulfill procedures for the handover to China. While waiting for performing the procedures, a few men took the rifles of security guards and fired.Lt. Gen. Vu Chi Thuc, Director of Quang Ninh Province Police Agency was immediately at the scene to handle the incident. 

According to Thuc, the Chinese men took advantage of the Vietnamese soldiers’ lack of vigilance to rob rifles. They held their ground at the station and damaged the furniture. When the border guards tightened the siege, some people are believed to have committed suicide.Tien Phong Newspaper reported that two Vietnamese officers may be held in the station. Hundreds of Vietnamese policemen and border guards tightened the blockade and kept asking these people to surrender.According to official information from the Quang Ninh authorities at around 4.30pm, seven people died, including two Vietnamese border guards and some people were injured, including four Vietnamese soldiers. The relevant bodies coordinated with the Chinese Border Guards to handle the incident.

Iran killer's reprieve stokes campaign against executions

It is before sunrise but hundreds of people have gathered near the prison to watch it.
His mother and sisters are crying hard, but blindfolded Balal cannot see them as he steps on the wooden stool.Some in the crowd start shouting "forgive him, forgive him". They are asking the family of the victim to pardon him.Balal stabbed Abdollah Hosseinzadeh to death seven years ago in a street fight. He was 19 at the time, Abdollah was 17.

The guards put the rope around Balal's neck. Now he cries hard.
As the dramatic scenes - captured in photographs by onlookers - unfold, the mother of Abdollah goes towards Balal and slaps him in the face.Then, in front of the surprised crowd, she takes the rope from around his neck. She has forgiven her son's killer, sparing his life. Now even the police officers start crying.

Samereh Alinejad, the mother of Abdollah Hosseinzadeh, slapped Balal's face as he stood in the gallows

She then removed the noose from around his neck with the help of her husband

The mother says she had a dream that her deceased son had asked her not to take revenge.
Campaign
 

According to Iran's sharia laws, murder and several other crimes are punishable by death. But the victim's family has the right to spare a convict's life in return for 'blood money'.

For months, many Iranian celebrities had taken part in a campaign to save Balal's life. They started collecting money to pay compensation to the relatives.Adel Ferdosipour, a famous television sports presenter, raised the issue in his popular show just days before the execution.He called on people to ask Abdollah Hosseinzadeh's parents to pardon Balal. One million people texted the show and supported the campaign.

Emotions ran high as the prisoner got a last-minute reprieve in Nour, near Nowshahr, in northern Iran

Ghani Hosseinzadeh, Abdollah's father, used to be a football player and many Iranian footballers called him in person.He and his wife finally agreed to forgive Balal. They said they would build a football school under their son's name using the compensation collected.
Eye for an eye
 

Tahmineh Milani Iranian filmmaker

But not all the people on death row in Iran have been as lucky as Balal.

Behnoud Shojaee was executed in Evin prison in 2009 when he was 21, although many Iranian actresses and actors started a campaign to save his life.
Behnoud was found guilty of killing a boy when he was 17 and the family of the victim refused to pardon him.

Iran is said to have the second highest number of executions of any country in the world.
Public execution is common as the government believes it sets an example.
Iranian lawyer Afrouz Maghzi blames the high number of executions on the legal concept of "qisas" - a law based on the principle of "an eye for an eye" that gives victims the right to retaliate.
"Iran's law gives the family of the victim this right to kill another person.
"Everyone has the right to life, and no citizen should be given this permission to take it from another person."
Widespread debate After saving Balal's life, Iranian campaigners are hopeful they will be able to save more.
Attentions are now focused on the case of Reyhaneh Jabbari, who is currently on death row. She killed a man in 2007 and claims she acted in self-defence after a sexual assault.

Director Asghar Farhadi is among the public figures to get involved in the debate about capital punishmentEven Asghar Farhadi, the Oscar-winning Iranian director, asked the victim's family to forgive the 26-year-old woman in the name of "humanity".

In his letter, the director - whose titles include A Separation - said Reyhaneh had played a short role in one of his films when she was a child.

This week Ahmed Shaheed, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, urged the country to stop Reyhaneh's planned execution.
He also published a report on 13 March, which condemned the execution of juveniles in Iran as well as the use of capital punishment for offences that do not classify as serious crimes under international law.

Balal and Reyhaneh's cases have provoked widespread debate in the country - especially on social media - about the use of capital punishment.Iranian journalist Siamak Bahari praised the pardon of Balal in his blog, describing society as more united and "ready to pose new challenges against the death penalty".He called the campaign "a historic decision by society against a system that was born with a noose".Tahmineh Milani, a renowned Iranian filmmaker, has for years been donating money from her movies to victims' families as blood money in order to spare killers.
She told BBC Persian she also believes campaigners' success in Balal's case can lead to a change in the law."People should take their influence seriously, as each signature can change the destiny of a person," she said.

What caused the disaster?

The reason that the South Korean ferry carrying 475 passengers began listing and then sunk has not yet emerged, but the manner of the evacuation has already been criticised.

Passengers were initially instructed to remain in the cabins, and only two life boats were launched.
David Shukman examines what could have been behind the disaster, and what went wrong.

A galaxy full of Earths?

The amazing discoveries from NASA's Kepler planet-hunting space telescope keep rolling in. The latest, announced this week by astronomers, is the discovery of a planet just 10% larger than the Earth orbiting in the so-called "habitable zone" of the star Kepler-186.

In our solar system, Earth is the only planet in the habitable zone -- the distance from the sun where liquid water can exist on the surface without boiling away (like on Venus), or turning to ice (like on Mars).The new planet, imaginatively dubbed Kepler-186f for now, appears to be in the same kind of Goldilocks place in its solar system. Not too hot, not too cold, just right. 186f could be the closest planet yet found.

It could be Earth 2.0. Maybe.The Kepler telescope can detect planets like 186f and tell us their size, but it can't tell us what they're made of or what they're like. Is 186f a rocky planet like the Earth with a thin atmosphere and oceans and continents? Or does it have a thick atmosphere and a small rocky core? Or is it a big metallic body with no atmosphere at all? Or something else entirely? 

Over the past decade a veritable zoo of planets has been discovered around other stars using a variety of telescopic methods, from hot Jupiters (giant planets close in to their star) to super Earths (rocky worlds many times the size of our planet). Add to that the amazing diversity of planets and moons that we've discovered right here in our own solar system during the past four decades from the Voyager spacecraft and other missions, the variety is astounding.

Even if 186f doesn't turn out to be Earth-like, the number of actual Earth-like extrasolar planets out there appears to be staggering. During its four-year mission, Kepler observed just a tiny, random, average piece of the sky, one you would cover with your fist held at arm's length. More than 1,000 planets have been discovered so far from just the nearby stars in that tiny patch of the sky.

186f, for example, is "just" 500 light years away -- a veritable next-door neighbor on the galactic scale. If you extend the results of that little survey across the entire, 100,000-light-year-wide Milky Way galaxy, you end up concluding that there are likely to be tens of billions of Earth-sized planets in our galaxy alone. And many of them must be orbiting in their sun's habitable zones as well.

Astronomers are scrambling to use other telescopes, on the ground and in space, to try to figure out what 186f and the thousand other new worlds discovered so far are really like. And new space observatories are being planned to try to follow up and expand on the results from the Kepler mission (which stopped collecting new planet data last year).

The implications of what they find could be profound, especially if they're able to detect an atmosphere there, and -- the Holy Grail -- especially if that atmosphere contains telltale gases like water vapor, oxygen, or methane, key indicators that the place may be habitable.

Just because a planet is in a star's habitable zone, though, and just because it has an environment that is potentially habitable, doesn't mean that planet is necessarily inhabited. But there are astronomers looking out for that possibility, too.

It's no coincidence, for example, that the lead author of the study that discovered 186f, Dr. Elisa Quintana, is from a research organization called the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, institute. I'm sure other SETI astronomers are making extra efforts to train their radio telescopes on Kepler-186 and those other recently discovered exoplanet systems, to listen for any stray signals.

Or, perhaps, they'll find a targeted signal, a cosmic "hello?" beamed our way by our neighboring astronomers on 186f, who are also trying desperately to answer the question, "Are we alone?"