News Briefs (October 2007)

In a separate statement last month, Srey Nory said the king, who is "very elderly, very weak, very demoralized," has been disturbed by too many unnecessary e-mails, letters, telegrams and faxes. Sihanouk has suffered from a number of ailments, including colon cancer, diabetes, hypertension and two strokes. He abdicated in October 2004, citing poor health. He was succeeded by Norodom Sihamoni, one of his two sons with former Queen Monineath. But he is still widely revered by many Cambodians. (AP)

Malaysia Arrests Government Officials for Corruption

Malaysia's anti-corruption agency has arrested eight government officials in a crackdown on massive wasteful expenditure and corrupt practices, an official said Tuesday. Two employees of private companies said to have abetted the officials were also arrested, Ahmad Said Hamdan, the director general of the Anti-Corruption Agency, told reporters. He said all 10 were arrested on Monday in various states and charged in different courts on Tuesday. Among those arrested are two assistant department heads in the Youth and Sports Ministry who allegedly purchased digital cameras at exorbitant prices. The other six are officials of the Welfare Department who allegedly embezzled state funds by claiming welfare handouts using the names of dead people, said Ahmad Said. Two employees of the companies that supplied the cameras were also arrested, he said. Details of the camera prices and the time frame of alleged offenses were not given. If convicted, all 10 face up to 20 years in prison, said Ahmad Said. (AP)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Russian Businessman Accused in Cambodia of “Debauchery”

A Russian businessman has been arrested for allegedly having sex with at least six girls in Cambodia, a senior police official said Thursday. Alexander Trofimov, the chairman of an investment company, was arrested on Wednesday at Cambodia's coastal city of Sihanoukville, said police Maj-Gen Bit Kimhong, director of the Interior Ministry's antihuman trafficking department. The police officer said Trofimov, 41, was arrested on charges of debauchery, a Cambodian legal term for sex abuse against children that is punishable by 10 to 20 years in jail. Trofimov allegedly had sex with five girls in 2005 and another one this year, Bit Kimhong said, adding that the girls were between 12 and 18 years old. In September last year, Trofimov's company received permission from the Cambodian government to develop an island off Sihanoukville into a tourist resort with an initial investment of up to US $300 million. The island—Koh Puos or Snake Island—is located about 800 meters (a half-mile) off a popular beach site in Sihanoukville, about 185 kilometers (115 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh. (AP)

4 Killed in Tribal Clashes in Indonesia

Rival tribes armed with bows and arrows fought close to a US-owned gold mine in Indonesia's Papua region on Thursday, the latest in a series of clashes that have killed four people, police and a company official said. At least 45 others have been injured in the fighting in the remote region since Tuesday, local police chief Godhelp Mansnembra told el-Shinta radio. The fighting broke out in villages bordering a giant gold and copper mine operated by Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Mine Inc. Mansnembra said mediation efforts had so far failed. "We don't know the actual cause of the problem, but fighting has broken out again today (Thursday)," he said. "In the morning they fight, then they stop for lunch and a rest, and then in the afternoon they fight again." The tribes in the area—3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) northeast of Jakarta—have a history of bad relations. Feuds can last for several weeks and normally only end when the number of victims from either side is equal. (AP)

Volcano Mudflows Prompt Evacuations in Philippines

Mudflows triggered by heavy rains on the slopes of the restive Bulusan volcano prompted an evacuation of 1,500 residents, but some families kept returning in disregard for their safety, Philippine authorities said on Thursday. At least three villages in Irosin township, on the foot of the 1,560-meter (5,150-foot) Mt. Bulusan in the central Philippines, were flooded by mud and volcanic debris loosen by days of rains, said Mayor Lilia Gonzales. The volcano, about 390 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Manila, has been blowing ash and steam since March 2006. Early this month, it was shaken by a series of small earthquakes and two ash explosions, but scientists ruled out an imminent eruption. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has maintained the lowest of five alert levels for the volcano and barred people from entering a seven-kilometer (4.3-mile) "permanent danger zone" around Bulusan.