■CAMBODIA
Tribunal enters final stage
The Khmer Rouge war crimes court yesterday began final arguments in its first trial, bringing the regime’s prison chief closer to justice for the “Killing Fields” atrocities 30 years ago. Kaing Guek Eav — better known as Duch — has apologized for his role in the horrors of the hardline communist regime, which killed up to 2 million people. Lawyers for the victims argued yesterday that Duch had failed to acknowledge the full extent of his guilt. “Your honors must objectively, we say, review the evidence to determine whether or not what has been accepted by the accused amounts to full disclosure and the full truth,” lawyer Karim Khan told judges. “In large and important material particulars, even today, the accused has sought to evade or minimize his role and the awful reality that was S-21 [prison] and the regime that operated there and the fate and suffering that befell so many civil parties that we all represent.”
■NORTH KOREA
China reaffirms relations
The defense chiefs of North Korea and China reaffirmed pledges to strengthen their nations’ 60-year-old alliance, state media reported yesterday, amid renewed attempts to draw the country back to disarmament talks. Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie (梁光烈) arrived in Pyongyang on Sunday, broadcaster APTN reported. He is the latest high-level Chinese official to visit as the two nations mark the 60th anniversary of their relationship. China, which backed the North during the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, is the country’s main source of economic aid and diplomatic support. Liang said China will aim to further consolidate bilateral ties.
■JAPAN
Military mulls F-35 jets
The defense ministry is moving toward selecting Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 jet as the mainstay of its next-generation fighter force, Kyodo news agency reported yesterday, citing ministry sources. The ministry, which is thinking of buying about 40 F-35s, plans to submit a request for their purchase in the fiscal 2011-2012 budget, Kyodo said. It said, however, that the ministry may postpone making the request for one year because of a view in the government that the purchase should only be made when details of the plane’s capabilities are available.
■VIETNAM
Train crashes into bus
At least nine people were killed and twenty were seriously injured after a train and a bus collided on the outskirts of Hanoi, police said yesterday. Hanoi traffic police said the collision occurred on Sunday at an intersection in Hanoi’s Thuong Tin district. The crossing signal at the intersection was broken. The train threw the bus to one side, where it hit and killed a motorcyclist. Six passengers on the bus were killed immediately, and two more died later in hospital. A doctor at Hanoi’s Vietnam-German Hospital, who declined to be identified, said some of the injured passengers remained in critical condition.
■CAMBODIA
Tourist charged over kids
A Frenchman has been arrested for allegedly soliciting sex with a child prostitute, police said yesterday. Police said they found Olivier Madrieres, 48, at a guesthouse on Saturday in Phnom Penh. “He was arrested while he was having sex with a prostitute,” said Keo Thea, chief of the municipal anti-trafficking and juvenile police unit. Madrieres, who arrived last month as a tourist, was being held on charges of soliciting sex from the 15-year-old girl and faces up to five years in jail if convicted, Keo Thea said.
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