Once again, Sochua denied

Following a break over Khmer New Year, opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua continued her campaign to bring freedom to Freedom Park yesterday morning and was once again met with force, this time metres outside of the park.At about 8am yesterday, the Cambodia National Rescue Party member attempted, for the fifth time, to enter the park to protest her right to “democracy, equality and freedom of expression”, but this time the park was an entire block out of her reach.“[There were] security forces with shields and batons . . . I couldn’t even get close,” she said.“I went with a bunch of lotus flowers to bring blessings . . . They [security forces] took the flowers and chopped the tops off of them.”Despite the government having lifted the ban on assembly outside of Freedom Park – which had been introduced in the wake of unrest earlier this year – Sochua said she was met by multiple security forces.

Ou Virak, chairman of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the incident is evidence that “what is being said publicly has no resonance with what happens on the ground”.

But despite a mass security presence, which far outnumbered her supporters, Sochua said that orders to manhandle her were initially ignored.“I sat down and orders were given to the security forces to pick me up but they didn’t follow the orders. They called for re-enforcements and ordered them to lift me up. They ignored [those orders] for a long time too.” 

Sochua, who has used the campaign to address different rights issues, yesterday spoke in support of garment workers’ calls for a $160 monthly minimum wage.Anna Burger, former secretary-treasurer of the US-based Service Employees International Union, who was supporting Sochua yesterday, said she was shocked by the security turnout. “We came [in the spirit of] freedom, with facts and flowers. They came with helmets, shields and weapons.”But City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said Sochua goaded forces into action. “[She] is provoking our authorities . . . to attract [local and international attention].”Sochua, who said she will return to the park today, said she will not be deterred in her campaign. “They can’t break the power of one.”

Sokha ‘snubs China for US’

CAMBODIA National Rescue Party deputy leader Kem Sokha pledged his party’s foreign policy allegiance to the United States over China in no uncertain terms to top officials in Washington, last week, according to a summary of his meetings posted online.A document released by the US-based Cambodia National Rescue Foundation over the weekend gives a rundown of Sokha’s meetings with US State Department and Pentagon officials.CNRP public affairs head Mu Sochua said last night that the document could be regarded as “legitimate”.

In a meeting on April 15 with the general principal director for South and Southeast Asia at the Pentagon, who is not named, Sokha “stressed that Cambodia [had suffered] enough with the communist”, the document says.“So we don’t want to be ally with the communist like Red China. We want to be a USA ally,” he reportedly said.

In response, the US Department of Defense official said, according to the document: “This is what we want to hear and we will pass the message to our chain of command.”

In January, CNRP leader Sam Rainsy publicly said his party supported China in maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

Though China is engaged in maritime disputes with numerous countries, Rainsy focused on Vietnam, which he accused of land grabbing, according to media reports.US officials recently have more aggressively opposed China’s actions in the South China Sea and particularly its unilaterally declared air defence identification zone, accusing it of fomenting instability in the region.

Cambodia has long been regarded as one of China’s top regional allies, benefiting from huge loans, grants and investment projects.According to the document, Sokha also met with Daniel Russell, US assistant secretary of state, on April 16, with Russell saying he was pleased the CNRP had held out on cutting a deal with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party to end the political deadlock until serious reforms were promised.“I am delighted to see that you did not make the deal just for the sake of a deal. All the deals have to benefit Cambodia in [the] long run,” Russell said.

Will China Use Russian-Style Tactics to Settle Territorial Disputes in Asia?

Russia's blatant seizure and rapid annexation of Crimea last month and its potential designs on the rest of Ukraine appear to have rattled U.S. allies in Asia who are concerned that China may use Moscow's tactics as precedent for capturing disputed territories in the region.
And considering that the United States is unwilling to take military action to stop Russia, treaty allies such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines are worried Washington will be equally reluctant to stop China in its tracks if it emulates Moscow's aggression.

Their fears are understandable as China is becoming more assertive over its territorial disputes with its neighbors in the South and East China Seas, experts say.In 2012, when China seized a disputed and potentially strategic reef—the Scarborough Shoal—in the South China Sea that had been under Philippine jurisdiction, the United States shrugged off the aggression despite its mutual defense treaty with Manila.

A year later, when China declared a special air defense identification zone over disputed islands with Japan, the U.S. sent B-52 bombers through the sensitive airspace but later told American commercial airlines to comply with Beijing's new rule to avoid any unintended confrontation.The U.S. move was interpreted by some as caving in to China, and in turn, undermining Japan, Washington’s most important ally in Asia.

So, amidst the ominous clouds over Ukraine and heightened concerns among U.S. allies about the prospect of China using force to pursue its territorial claims, U.S. President Barack Obama may have a tough time reassuring allies during his fifth trip to Asia beginning next week.

"I think the [Obama] administration is coming to realize that events on the other side of the globe have a big impact on the security dynamics within Asia," Mike Green, a former senior White House Asia adviser, said ahead of Obama's eight-day trip from April 22 to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, all of which have territorial disputes with China in the South and East China Seas.

'Red line' warning

Green said that Obama's "red line" warning  to Syria in 2012 not to use chemical weapons in the country's civil war and his apparent failure to enforce with military action after Syria actually used it had "really rattled" the Asian region, especially treaty allies Japan and South Korea.

"It’s hard to overstate how much the decision on Syria affected thinking, especially in treaty allies like Japan and Korea," he said.
Even though U.S. options are limited on Crimea—Washington has no "binding" security agreement with Ukraine unlike with treaty allies Japan, South Korea and the Philippines—"it becomes part of a narrative and the dots start getting connected," Green said. "So these non-Asian events are affecting the credibility of American security commitments in ways that perhaps the administration didn’t expect, and that they have to compensate for," he said.

Senior U.S. officials such as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Obama's diplomatic point man for East Asia Daniel Russel have scrambled ahead of Obama's trip to reassure Asian allies of the U.S. commitment to defend them.Still, questions over potential Chinese military actions in Asia in the wake of the Russian moves in Ukraine continue to overshadow Obama’s upcoming trip.

No compromise

Beijing's assertive statements aren't helping to ease the concerns.

China's Defense Minister General Chang Wanquan warned this month that Beijing would never compromise on disputed territory, raising the prospects of military action particularly over the contested islands in the East China Sea, which are known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.On the issue of what General Chang called “territorial sovereignty,” China would “make no compromise, no concession, no treaty.”“The Chinese military can assemble as soon as summoned, fight any battle and win.,” he emphasized.

In another muscle-flexing move, China last month attempted to block a Philippine vessel rotating troops to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea which Manila says lie within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Beijing's move "is but one example of creeping Chinese coerciveness that so unnerves the region," said Michael Auslin, a scholar on Asian regional security at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

"Washington often gets frustrated with the amount of reassurance its Asian allies and partners seem to need, but it also must recognize the sources of such concern," he said, citing what he called Chinese President Xi Jinping's "increased pressure on Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and other nations in an effort to aggressively propel Chinese interests.""Although the actions so far fall short of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin's brazen takeover [of Crimea], they [the Chinese] are shifting the perceived balance of power in Asia," Auslin said. "It is this shift that the Obama Administration has so far failed to counter."

First question

When White House officials held a media briefing Friday on Obama's trip, expectedly the first question posed to his National Security Adviser Susan Rice was on the Ukraine crisis and how it has impacted the way some of the Asian leaders had viewed their own territorial disputes with China and the threat that they felt from Beijing.Rice was quick to emphasize that Washington has been in close contact with its allies "about the importance of a strong international front to uphold principles that they and we all hold dear—the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, the need for peaceful resolution of disputes." "And we will continue to have that discussion throughout each of the stops on our trip," she said.

Some experts believe Obama's strategy to counter Russia's bald aggression is the right approach and may even work against China in case it uses force to pursue its territorial claims in Asia.Obama has imposed limited sanctions on Russia over its annexation of the Crimea peninsula and warned of graver economic sanctions if Moscow reneges on a new international deal on Ukraine or sends Russian forces into eastern Ukraine.

"I think the way in which Mr. Obama has handled Ukraine, and the implications that people will try to draw from that for disputed territories in the East Asia region has generally been fine," said Washington-based Brookings Institution's Director of Foreign Policy Research Michael O'Hanlon.It represents "a balanced message which is about right for what China needs to hear and what our allies need to hear about the disputed territories in the East and South China Seas," he said, adding that the immediate response to any Chinese action should also be sanctions rather than military confrontation.

"I don't think we should go to war against China the minute there's another altercation if there is one, and there probably will be. I think we need this kind of a balanced approach and in fact we might lead with sanctions there as well," he said. "And that may not make every Japanese friend equally happy. That may not make every Filipino friend equally happy. But we have to also show some restraint and judiciousness in how we use military force to respond to crises that may or may not, as bad as they are, be the end of the world. "

Doubt

Other experts doubt China has been encouraged by Russia's incursions into Ukraine.

"Apparently the theory du jour is that the Chinese see the Crimea situation as a 'go' signal for them to go take over the Diaoyu," said Christopher Johnson, a former CIA China analyst. ” I think this is totally wrong. It misunderstands Chinese strategic thinking and Chinese strategic culture."He said the impact of the Crimea episode on China’s relationship with Russia and Beijing's view of the Russian relationship as a sort of "card" in the triangular China-U.S.-Russia relationship are worth scrutinizing."And of course the goal is to always have sort of what they call an active Russia option, or card, inside or under the umbrella of the management of Sino-U.S. relations because it helps level out the power disparity between the U.S. and China," said Johnson, now the head of China studies at CSIS.

Despite its rapidly bulging military muscle, some experts believe China would not be able to easily overrun territories it claims of U.S. allies such as Japan and the Philippines, or even neighboring Taiwan island.Strobe Talbott, who served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, said that Beijing would not be able to take over Taiwan without "widespread resistance.""Russia took over Crimea w/out military force. China could not do same in Taiwan w/out widespread resistance," Talbott, now the head of Brookings Institution, said in a tweet on Friday.

The United States is legally bound to come to Taiwan's aid in the event of an attack. Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and has vowed to resort to force to reclaim the island if it declares formal independence."Regardless of whether the Russian-Ukrainian crisis will repeat itself in Asia, instability is spreading," AEI scholar Auslin said, adding that combating both that reality and the fear of it may well prove to be the next great American challenge."The issue is not whether China today is planning on Putin-style tactics to secure its interests, but whether Beijing is setting the table to do so in the future," he said.

Viet Nam highlights efforts to ensure ethnic minority rights

Speaking at a dialogue with independent experts on ethnic minority issues during the ongoing 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Vietnamese representative stressed that the country's law and policy system is built to guarantee that the needs of ethnic groups are considered in all socio-economic development policies.

Since 2006, as many as 160 legal documents have been issued in this manner, the representative noted, adding that Viet Nam's strategy on minority groups until 2020 has been approved and implemented with the aim of narrowing the development gap among ethnic minority communities based on sustainable development and the promotion of cultural values.

At the same time, Viet Nam has paid special attention to the preservation and development of the cultural values and languages of ethnic minority groups, especially through education.
At a meeting on the rights of people with disabilities, Viet Nam hailed UN agencies as well as the international community for their support of the disabled in equally participating in and enjoying their rights, especially to education.

IPL corruption claims: BCCI appoints investigative panel

Its members are former law enforcement agency head RK Raghavan, former high court judge JN Patel and former Indian cricket captain Ravi Shastri.It comes after an Indian court urged the board to probe spot-fixing claims against 13 players and officials.The IPL is the world's richest cricket tournament.The seventh edition of the 20-over tournament, which features eight teams of international players, began last week and runs until 1 June.

India's Supreme Court recently ordered N Srinivasan to stand down as chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) amid allegations that his son-in-law was involved with illegal betting.

Mr Srinivasan was elected head of cricket's world body, the International Cricket Council, in February. He is due to take up the role in July.Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was installed as the interim head of the cricket board, and is responsible for overseeing the ongoing IPL tournament.The last season of the IPL was dogged by allegations of spot-fixing and betting.Spot-fixing involves players bowling wides and no-balls at certain times arranged beforehand with bookmakers.

Why big buttocks can be bad for your health

It is with tears in her eyes that Denny recounts how she woke up one day to find a bump the size of a football in her lower back.She could not walk or bend down, and the pain was intense.Even before she saw a doctor, Denny, a 35-year-old Venezuelan lawyer, knew the bump must be a side-effect of liquid silicone that had been injected in her buttocks.It had moved into her back and was putting pressure on her spine."It was a terrible shock. I couldn't walk. That's how my agony started," she says.Buttock injections are one of many common cosmetic procedures Venezuelan women undergo to achieve what society deems to be beautiful.The injections were banned by the government in 2012, six years after Denny had them.

Denny had buttock injections in 2006 and is now suffering from severe side-effects

But the practice continues in spite of the ban. Up to 30% of women between 18 and 50 choose to have these injections, according to the Venezuelan Plastic Surgeons Association.
Men also get injected to boost their pectoral muscles, though the numbers are lower.
No barriers
 
The injections are made using a biopolymer silicone. The fact that this is injected freely into the body makes it more dangerous than implants, where silicone gel is contained within a shell.
The big attraction is that they are much cheaper than implants. An injection can cost as little as 2000 bolivares (£191, $318) and the whole procedure doesn't take more than 20 minutes.
But the risks are incredibly high."The silicone can migrate into other areas of the body, because it doesn't have any barriers. The body can also react immunologically against a foreign material, creating many problems," says Daniel Slobodianik, a cosmetic surgeon.

An MRI scan shows that liquid silicone, injected into her buttocks, has moved to Denny's back

He adds that symptoms can appear years after the procedure.Patients can suffer from allergic reactions and chronic fatigue. If the liquid migrates to other areas of the body it can cause intense joint pain.In Denny's case, the silicone moved up into her back, putting painful pressure on her spine and making it difficult to walk.But to some extent she was lucky.
Figures are unclear, but the Venezuelan Plastic Surgeons Association fear that at least a dozen women die every year from these injections.Dr Slobodianik is only one of two specialists in the country who operate to remove tissue affected by the injections.

Dr Slobodianik is one of only two specialists in Venezuela who remove tissue affected by the injections

He says he has a long waiting list, and Denny had to wait for a year until she could get the surgery.
Many cannot even afford to be operated, because the surgery alone costs around 60,000 bolivares.
"Perfect measurements"Hours before the delicate surgery, Denny explains that she prefers to withhold her full name because some of her family members don't know why she got ill. They think she has a back problem - which is also what she thought for years, before the bump appeared.She says she would have not taken the same decision if she had been aware of the risks.

Mannequins in Venezuela give an idea of the 'perfect' dimensions that many women aspire to

She describes the peer pressure that pushed her to get injected.
"There was a boom. In the office all the women had such nice buttocks. The last straw was when a judge I work with walked in, looking good. Her buttocks looked like two balloons, they were so beautiful," she says.

"I was never obsessed with perfect measurements, but then I let myself be dragged along by the idea that Venezuelan women should look like Barbie dolls."
Venezuelans have won Miss Universe seven times, giving the country a reputation as a factory of beauty queens."Self-esteem"According to Carolina Vazquez Hernandez, a counsellor specialising in women's issues, societal pressure is huge here - even more so than in other countries.Carolina Vazquez Hernandez Counsellor, Aquamater Clinic, Caracas
"We Venezuelan women don't have a clear identity of our roots. Because of this lack of identity, our self-esteem is very weak, and we are able to subject ourselves to anything that will develop our self-esteem," says Ms Vazquez Hernandez.Astrid de la Rosa agrees. She is one of the leading campaigners of the No to Biopolymers association, a non-profit organisation set up to offer support to victims of silicone injections.She says she decided to undergo the procedure herself because her partner was about to leave her.

"I thought that a person will love you because of the way you look," she says.
Shortly after, she started feeling sick. Doctors said her immune system had been affected and diagnosed her with leukaemia.The government ban on biopolymer injections was partly thanks to the work of the No to Biopolymer association.But Ms de la Rosa says it is not enough. "Where is the help for us?"She says she still receives weekly calls from women who get injected, even though it is now illegal."It is not a matter or gender or social class. Women and men do it, there are politicians, actors that have done it," she says. "Where is the help for us?"

Dr Slobodianik shows what can happen when buttock injections go wrong

While the government has banned biopolymer injections because of their health risk, insurance companies do not cover any costs for remedial treatment, because they don't recognise the side-effects of the injections as an illness.Ms de la Rosa says her organisation often collects money to help victims pay for surgery.Denny managed to finance the surgery with her own savings, but money is not on her mind at the moment.

Lying face down in her bed after the surgery, she knows it will take her three weeks until she has finally recovered, and the scar will remain forever.
She is also aware that the silicone may still affect her in the future.
However, she hopes that her tragic experience can at least serve as a warning for women considering having the injections - and help them learn to accept their bodies for what they are.

Passengers couldn't escape South Korean ferry, crew member says

Passengers aboard the doomed South Korean ferry couldn't reach lifeboats to escape because the ship tilted so quickly that it left many of them unable to move, according to a radio transcript released Sunday."Please notify the coast guard. Our ship is in danger. The ship is rolling right now," a crew member on the ship first tells authorities in a dramatic conversation that took place while the Sewol ferry was sinking.

An unidentified crew member on the Sewol talked to two different Vessel Traffic Service centers as the ship sank Wednesday morning, the transcript revealed. Someone on the ship contacted the traffic service in Jeju -- the ferry's destination -- at 8:55 a.m. and communicated with it before the conversation switched to Jindo VTS, which was closer, about 11 minutes later.

"The ship rolled over a lot right now. Cannot move. Please come quickly," the crew member says a minute after initial contact.

At one point Jeju advises the crew to get people into life vests.

"It is hard for people to move," Sewol replies.After the conversation switches to the traffic service in Jindo, the Sewol crew member says several times that the ship is leaning too much for passengers to move.Sewol: "Our ship is listing and may capsize."Jindo VTS: "How are the passengers doing? ..."

Sewol: "It's too listed that they are not able to move."A short time later, another exchange takes place:

Jindo VTS: "Are the passengers able to escape?"Sewol: "The ship listed too much, so it is impossible."The transcript may help answer one of the major questions about the capsizing: Why didn't more passengers escape on lifeboats?

Many missing, scores killed

At least 64 people have died in the sinking, and 238 are missing, the South Korean coast guard said Monday.Search crews brought more than a dozen bodies to shore Sunday morning, a solemn process pierced by screams and cries from the passengers' families.The wrenching scene came after four police boats arrived in rapid succession. The first carried four bodies. The second boat had three more. The third and fourth also carried three bodies each.Each body was taken onto a stretcher on the dock in Jindo, draped in cloth. After an inspection, they were carried along a path guarded by police -- who were also shedding tears -- and past grieving family members.Some relatives refused to accept the outcome."Wake up! Wake up, please!" one man screamed.

With hundreds of people still missing, the heartbreaking scene will likely play out over and over again.Although 174 people were rescued shortly after the vessel sank Wednesday, no survivors have been found since.Nonetheless, 563 divers will continue plunging into the frigid Yellow Sea on Sunday. And 34 aircraft and 204 ships will aid in the search Sunday, the country's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said.One diver described his experience to CNN affiliate JTBC on Sunday. Teams have been focusing on the third and fourth floors of the ship, where investigators believe many of the missing might be. 

"It's hard to say exactly where you are once you enter the ferry, since it is completely dark and you basically have to feel your way around based only on the blueprint of the ferry," diving team leader Hwang Dae Sik said. "So it is hard to say definitively in what compartment you are searching and what your are discovering."As they wait, relatives of the missing have been asked to submit DNA samples.South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Sunday declared the cities of Ansan and Jindo as special disaster zones eligible for national disaster assistance programs, in order to facilitate central government help, a spokesman for the Joint Task Force Headquarters said in a news release.

Ship's captain defends evacuation

According to the transcript, Jindo Vessel Traffic Service urged the captain to take charge.

Jindo VTS: "The captain should make (the) decision to make people escape. We do not know the situation so captain make final decision on passengers' escape."The captain has defended his order to delay the evacuation of the ferry."It is a fairly fast current area, and the water temperature was cold," Capt. Lee Joon Seok said, according to CNN affiliate YTN."I thought that abandoning the ship without discretion would make you drift off a fairly far distance and cause a lot of trouble. At the same time, the rescue ship did not come, and there were no fishing boats or supporting ships around to help at that time." 

The captain has been charged with abandoning his boat, negligence, causing bodily injury, not seeking rescue from other ships and violating "seamen's law," state media reported.

Prosecutor Lee Bong-chang gave more details about the accusations against the captain.

"Mr. Lee is charged with causing the Sewol ship to sink by failing to slow down while sailing the narrow route and making (a) turn excessively," the prosecutor told the semiofficial Yonhap news agency."Lee is also charged with failing to do the right thing to guide the passengers to escape and thereby leading to their death or injury." 

If convicted, the captain faces from five years to life in prison.

The captain wasn't at the helm of the Sewol when it started to sink, the prosecutor said. A third mate was at the helm.So where was the captain?The captain was not in the steering room when the accident took place, according to police and his own account.He said he plotted the ship's course, and then went to his cabin briefly "to tend to something." It was then, the captain said, that the accident happened.A crew member, described as the third mate and identified only as Park, appeared in handcuffs with Lee.

The third mate said she did not make a sharp turn, but "the steering turned much more than usual."

Park is facing charges including negligence and causing injuries leading to deaths, said Yang Joong-jin, a maritime police spokesman.A technician with the surname Cho is also facing the same charges, he said.The captain was one those rescued soon after the Sewol began to sink, violating an "internationally recognized rule that a captain must stay on the vessel," maritime law attorney Jack Hickey said."Pretty much every law, rule, regulation and standard throughout the world says that yes, the captain must stay with the ship until all personnel are safely off of the ship, certainly passengers."