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الخميس، 24 نوفمبر 2011

Lincoln Tribune

Former Slovakian foreign minister named next UN Afghan envoy
Former Slovakian foreign minister named next UN Afghan envoy
‘G.I. Joe 2′ crew member killed on film set in Louisiana
Former Khmer Rouge leader denies war crimes in genocide trial
Thai man sentenced to 20 years for insulting Thai monarchy

Former Slovakian foreign minister named next UN Afghan envoy

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 02:13 AM PST

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) has appointed the former Slovakian foreign minister as its next envoy to Afghanistan, succeeding current envoy Staffan de Mistura.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that Jan Kubiš, 59, who has more than three decades of experience in diplomacy, foreign security policy and international economic relations, will be succeeding Staffan de Mistura as his Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Since 2009, Kubiš has been Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and previously served with the Organization in the late 1990s as the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Tajikistan and head of the UN mission of observers to that Central Asian country.

The Slovakian served as his country's foreign minister from 2006 to 2009, and has also had stints as the chairman of the Council of Europe's committee of ministers and as secretary-general of the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

At the end of the year, de Mistura will be completing his term which began in March 2010.

Former Slovakian foreign minister named next UN Afghan envoy

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 02:13 AM PST

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) has appointed the former Slovakian foreign minister as its next envoy to Afghanistan, succeeding current envoy Staffan de Mistura.

At the end of the year, de Mistura will be completing his term which began in March 2010.

‘G.I. Joe 2′ crew member killed on film set in Louisiana

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 02:08 AM PST

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA (BNO NEWS) -- A production crew member working on the Louisiana film set of 'G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation' was killed on Tuesday while moving part of the set, local authorities confirmed on late Wednesday.

Michael Huber, 54, of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, was hired as a crew member to work on the set of the movie, which is being filmed in the city of New Orleans. But he reportedly fell from part of the equipment on the set, causing his death.

Another crew member told local news media WDSU that Huber was working on a high-powered scissor lift at the Michoud facility where NASA built the external fuel tanks for the space shuttle program, when the machine tipped over. According to reports, he was dismantling the set when the accident happened.

No other information was immediately released, as Paramount Pictures spokeswoman Virginia Lam only identified the name of the victim on Wednesday but revealed no other details. She said the studio has been cooperating with authorities.

"Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the [crew member's] family at this time," the film studio said. "The safety of our cast and crew is our top priority and the studio is fully cooperating with all investigating agencies as they examine the circumstances surrounding this unusual accident."

'G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation' is set to be released next summer on June 29, following the successful 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,' which was released in 2009. The sequel features action movie star Bruce Willis, as well as Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, also know as 'The Rock,' Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson and RZA, among others.

Former Khmer Rouge leader denies war crimes in genocide trial

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 01:54 AM PST

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (BNO NEWS) -- One of the last three senior surviving leaders of the notorious Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, whose trial began on Monday, has claimed that the genocide trial he is facing is based on guesses, generalizations and bias.

Khieu Samphan, 80, former Cambodian head of State during the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s, told the United Nations-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh that he was merely a nominal head of State with no real powers.

In his opening statement, Samphan, who is facing charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, denied any responsibility for the atrocities that took place under the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from April 1975 to January 1979 and is thought to be responsible for the deaths of as many as two million people.

"From the beginning, the co-prosecutors have conducted guesswork and peremptory claims and generalizations in statements," Samphan said on Wednesday, adding that they had relied on anonymous witnesses, books and newspapers to present their case.

"As far as I know, historians, chroniclers and journalists are not judges. They are entitled to be biased, partial, wrong and express opinions freely," Samphan added, and also stating that he bore no responsibility for the evacuation of thousands of Cambodians from Phnom Penh in 1975. He claimed that this took place before his arrival to the capital.

The trial marks the second case brought to trial by the ECCC, a mixed court set up under a 2003 agreement signed by the United Nations (UN) and the Cambodian government to try those deemed most responsible for crimes committed between 1975 and 1979 during which nearly two million people are thought to have died.

Case 002, as the trial is being referred to, is considered one of the most significant in international criminal justice due to the magnitude of the crimes and its complexity.

The trial includes the April 17, 1975, mass evacuation of the capital Phnom Penh, the torture and executions at security prisons around the country and genocide against the Cham Muslims and the ethnic Vietnamese. Local media have underlined that the abuse and violations suffered by many victims under the Khmer Rouge regime may never be heard in court.

Samphan is one of three co-defendants in Case 002. The two others are Nuon Chea, the former second-in-command of the Khmer Rouge, and Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister and deputy prime minister.

Also on Wednesday, Ieng told the ECCC that he will not testify until the country's Supreme Court rules on a previous court ruling over a 1996 royal pardon and amnesty. Convicted of genocide while in absentia in 1979, he had been pardoned in 1996.

Last week, the ECCC's trial chamber ruled the unconditional release of Ieng Sary's wife, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith. She is the former Social Affairs Minister for the Democratic Kampuchea who was on trial for genocide and other crimes against humanity along with the other three men. She was released because she was deemed to be unfit to stand trial.

It is estimated that at least 1.7 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge's reign. The regime came to an end in 1979 when a civil war erupted.

Thai man sentenced to 20 years for insulting Thai monarchy

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 01:46 AM PST

BANGKOK, THAILAND (BNO NEWS) -- A retired Thai truck driver was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday for sending text messages which a court deemed insulting to the country's monarchy, local media reported on Thursday.

Ampon Tangnoppakul, 61, was found guilty of four charges related to insulting the monarchy and violating the 2007 Computer Act in regards to national security for sending text messages considered offensive toward the monarchy to Somkiat Krongwattanasuk, a private secretary of former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

According to Thailand's Criminal Court, Tangnoppakul used his mobile phone to send text messages from several locations between May 9 and May 22, 2010, Thailand's MCOT news agency reported. He was arrested later that year on August 3, but the contents of the messages were not revealed in court.

Tangnoppakul, who was sentenced via tele-conference because the area around Bangkok's Remand Prison where he is currently jailed is flooded, has denied the charges. He argued during his trial that the mobile phone was broken at the time, explaining that it was being repaired at a shop.

Furthermore, Tangnoppakul claimed he did not know how to send text messages from the mobile device and that he did not know that Abhisit's private secretary was the recipient of such messages. "He insists that he loves His Majesty the King," his lawyer said, as quoted by the New York Times.

But the court rejected Tangnoppakul's arguments as he was unable to identify the shop where he claimed the mobile phone was being repaired at. Further investigations also confirmed that the device's SIM card was registered under his name.

Thailand's Criminal Court sentenced Tangnoppakul to five years in prison on each of the four charges, for a total prison term of 20 years.

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الخميس، 24 نوفمبر 2011

Lincoln Tribune

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