Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
December 3, 2018
U.N.: Polio remains global emergency, eradication at risk
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) says the ongoing
attempt to eradicate polio remains a global emergency amid an increase in cases
for the first time in years and a worrying number of outbreaks sparked by the
vaccine. After a meeting convened by the U.N. health agency, experts said that
failing to wipe out polio in the next few years could lead to a resurgence of the
crippling disease. An international initiative to eradicate polio began in 1988
but efforts have stalled in war-torn countries and WHO and its partners have
missed repeated deadlines to stop the virus. WHO said the polio epidemics in
Afghanistan and Pakistan were particularly worrying. The number of cases in
Afghanistan has almost doubled this year and polio is increasingly being found
in the environment.
Tens of thousands demand rebuilding of Hindu temple
LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Tens of thousands of Hindus gathered in a
northern Indian city to renew calls to build a Hindu temple on a site where a
mosque was attacked and demolished in 1992, sparking deadly Hindu-Muslim
violence. The gathering at Ayodhya, 350 miles east of New Delhi, brought Hindu
holy men and activists to the town where the Hindu god Ram was believed to
have been born. Hindu fundamentalists with pickaxes and crowbars razed the
16th-century Babri Mosque to the ground in December 1992. Hindu groups say
the mosque was built after a temple dedicated to Ram was destroyed by Muslim
invaders. The destruction of the mosque sparked riots across India that left at
least 2,000 people dead.
Akihito performs last harvest ritual before abdication
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Emperor Akihito gave thanks to the gods for a
bountiful autumn harvest, the last time he performed one of the most important
annual palace rites before abdicating next spring. Akihito conducted the
Niiname ritual at an Imperial Palace shrine illuminated by torchlight as ancient
music was played. He offered harvested rice and other items to the gods,
thanking them and praying for peace for the nation. November 23 was Japan’s
national thanksgiving holiday. Some of the rice was harvested by Akihito from a
field inside the palace grounds. The rest was offered by farmers from around the
country. Ahead of the ritual, Akihito invited some farmers to ask about their
harvests this year, according to Japanese media. Akihito is to abdicate on April
30 and will be succeeded the following day by his son, Crown Prince Naruhito.
The religious harvest prayer is one of about 20 rituals that the emperor performs
privately at the palace each year, separate from his official duties. The two-part
ritual runs past midnight — including a three-hour interval — inside the
unheated shrine, making it difficult for the 84-year-old emperor. In recent years,
he has attended only the first half of the rite, with an aide performing the latter
half. According to tradition, the emperor must sit straight with his legs tucked
under him for nearly two hours while performing the ancient ritual.
8,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping standby force ready
BEIJING (AP) — China says it has assembled a standby force of thousands of
United Nations peacekeepers, furthering its leading role in the global body’s
efforts to tamp down conflicts worldwide. Defense Ministry spokesman Ren
Guoqiang told reporters that the 8,000-member force had passed an assessment
approved by U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations Jean-
Pierre Lacroix. It fulfills a pledge made at the U.N. three years ago by Chinese
President Xi Jinping. China provides the most peacekeepers of any permanent
U.N. Security Council member and is the second-largest contributor to the
operations’ multibillion dollar budget, at slightly over 10 percent. Ren said
China has also trained more than 1,500 peacekeepers from more than a dozen
countries. The U.N. currently runs 15 peacekeeping missions, the bulk of them
in Africa.
North Korea explodes 10 guard posts to lower tensions
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says North Korea has blown up
some of its own frontline guard posts as part of agreements to ease tensions in
the rivals’ heavily fortified border. The Defense Ministry said its military
confirmed the dismantling of 10 North Korean guard posts. It said North Korea
had informed the South of its plans in advance. In September, the Koreas agreed
to dismantle all of its guard posts inside the 155-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide border.
They later each withdrew weapons and troops from 11 of their guard posts and
decided to completely dismantle 10 of them. South Korea had been dismantling
10 of its guard posts with dynamite and excavators. The Koreas’ border has been
the site of numerous cases of deadly fighting and bloodshed.
TRIBUNAL TERMINATED. In this photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Khieu
Samphan, former Khmer Rouge head of state, sits in a courtroom before a hearing at the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The international tribunal to judge the criminal responsibility of former Khmer Rouge leaders
for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians held a session to deliver its verdicts on charges of genocide and
other crimes. (Mark Peters/Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia via AP)
Cambodia says Khmer Rouge tribunal
that convicted three is done
By Sopheng Cheang
The Associated Press
HNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambo-
dia has reiterated it intends to end the
work of the U.N.-backed tribunal that
in November convicted the last two surviving
leaders of the Khmer Rouge of genocide,
crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Deputy prime minister Sar Kheng said the
tribunal’s work was complete and there would
not be any additional prosecutions for acts that
led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million
people in the 1970s. The only other person
convicted was the regime’s prisons chief.
He cited the terms under which the tribunal,
staffed jointly by Cambodian and interna-
tional prosecutors and judges, had been
established, limiting its targets to senior
leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime that was in
power from 1975 to 1979. The rules also allow
prosecuting those most responsible for
carrying out atrocities.
Sar Kheng spoke at a government cere-
mony in the northern province of Oddar
Meanchey and his remarks were reported
later.
The tribunal convicted and gave life
sentences to Nuon Chea, 92, the main Khmer
Rouge ideologist and right-hand man to its late
leader Pol Pot, and Khieu Samphan, 87, who
was the regime’s head of state. The sentences
were merged with the life sentences they were
already serving after an earlier conviction for
crimes against humanity.
In nine years of hearings and at a cost
exceeding $300 million, the tribunal has
P
convicted only one other defendant, Kaing
Guek Eav, alias Duch, who as head of the
Khmer Rouge prison system ran the infamous
Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh.
Cases of four more suspects, middle-
ranking members of the Khmer Rouge, were
already processed for prosecution but have
been scuttled or stalled. Without the
cooperation of the Cambodian members of the
tribunal, no cases can go forward.
Long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen has
repeatedly declared there would be no more
prosecutions, claiming they could cause
unrest. Hun Sen himself was a mid-level
commander with the Khmer Rouge before
defecting while the group was still in power,
and several senior members of his ruling
Cambodian People’s Party share similar
backgrounds. He helped cement his political
control by making alliances with other former
Khmer Rouge commanders.
In his remarks, Sar Kheng sought to
reassure former Khmer Rouge members that
they would not face prosecution.
“Because there are some former Khmer
Rouge officers living in this area, I would like
to clarify that there will be no more investiga-
tions taking place (against lower-ranking
Khmer Rouge members), so you don’t have to
worry,” said Sar Kheng, who is also interior
minister.
He acknowledged that even without more
prosecutions, the tribunal still had to hear the
appeals expected to be lodged by Nuon Chea
and Khieu Samphan, but aside from that task,
its work was finished.
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Investigators say doomed Lion Air jet “airworthy”
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Investigators of the October 28 crash of a Lion
Air flight into the Java Sea say the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft was deemed
airworthy when it made its final takeoff from Jakarta. Officials summoned
reporters to refute reports in a news conference the day before where some
media reported they had said the plane was not airworthy when it took off. The
investigators were reporting on data from the aircraft’s black boxes. They say
the cockpit voice recorder, which is still missing and being searched for, is
needed to understand what caused the jet to plunge in the Java Sea just 11
minutes after takeoff. Investigator Nurcahyo Utomo said that based on test
results after the aircraft’s problems were repaired, the aircraft was declared
airworthy.
Call (503) 980-5900 for details
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Farm-raised in Newberg, Oregon
Beef available as:
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Asian Currency
Exchange Rates
Units per U.S. dollar as of 11/30
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79.386
4032.6
6.9557
2.1284
7.8165
69.614
14338
42,025
113.56
8547.0
4.1878
112.09
136.8
3.2681
52.352
66.967
3.7483
1.3686
1119.1
178.92
30.805
32.908
23335