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Police move on Khmer Rouge suspect

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Police entered the home of the former foreign minister of the communist Khmer Rouge regime early Monday in an apparent move to arrest him for trial before Cambodia’s U.N.-backed genocide tribunal.

Police cordoned off the street outside Ieng Sary’s Phnom Penh home at about 5:30 a.m. (2230 GMT).

Police officers and tribunal officials moved into the house at about 6 a.m., the earliest permissible time for arrests under tribunal rules.

Police forced reporters away from the entrance to the house, and the tribunal’s public affairs chief, Helen Jarvis, declined to comment on the development.

An Associated Press reporter saw at least one tribunal official who had taken part in the arrest of a previous suspect in September accompanying the police party.

Ieng Sary’s arrest has been widely anticipated as one of five unnamed suspects earlier listed by tribunal prosecutors. Two have already been taken into custody.

The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge, who held power in 1975-79, are widely believed to have resulted in the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group’s leaders has faced trial.

Ieng Sary, 77, was not available for comment. But like other surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, he has repeatedly denied responsibility for any crimes.

The tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.

Critics have warned that the aging suspects could die before ever seeing a courtroom.

Ieng Sary served as a deputy prime minister as well as foreign minister in the Khmer Rouge regime. His wife, who served as minister of social affairs, is seen as another likely target of the prosecutors.

Ieng Sary, promoted, instigated, facilitated, encouraged and/or condoned the perpetration of the crimes when the Khmer Rouge held power, according to a July 18 filing by the prosecutors to the tribunal’s judges, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

It said there was evidence of Ieng Sary’s participation in crimes included planning, directing and coordinating the Khmer Rouge policies of forcible transfer, forced labor and unlawful killings.

I have done nothing wrong, Ieng Sary told The Associated Press in October in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was visiting for a medical checkup.

I am a gentle person. I believe in good deeds. I even made good deeds to save several people’s lives (during the regime). But let them (the tribunal) find what the truth is, he said.

The alleged crimes of his wife, Ieng Thirith, who is believed to be 75, included her participation in planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges … and unlawful killing or murder of staff members from within the Ministry of Social Affairs, the prosecutors’ filing said.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and his former military chief, Ta Mok, died in 2006 in government custody.

Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, and Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge S-21 torture center, were detained earlier this year on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Musharraf pledges January election

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan’s Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Sunday that elections will go ahead in January despite a state of emergency that he said was needed to tackle extremists and ensure free and fair elections.

He said the vote will take place before January 9 but he would not say when the state of emergency would end.

Musharraf is under pressure at home and abroad — particularly the U.S. and Britain — to steer the nuclear-armed country back toward democracy by lifting the November 4 emergency order, holding elections, and quitting as army chief.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautiously welcomed Musharraf’s election timeline, calling it a positive element, but stressing the state of emergency has got to be lifted, and lifted as soon as possible.

This is a country that’s going through extraordinarily difficult circumstances, Rice told ABC’s This Week.

But it is an ally, it is a friend. And we believe that, at a time like this, our best role is to counsel and indeed persuade that Pakistan has got to get back on the democratic path that it had established.

Speaking at his first news conference since the order, Musharraf restated his vow to step down as military chief once a newly installed Supreme Court approves his third term in office.

The moment they give a decision … I shall take the oath of office as the civilian president of Pakistan, he said. I hope that happens as soon as possible. Watch Musharraf explain reasons for emergency.

Musharraf replaced the previous court shortly after issuing the emergency order — a move that his opponents said amounts to a power grab.

Opposition leaders believe Musharraf issued the emergency order to avoid an impending ruling that would have nullified his election victory by disqualifying him for another presidential term.

Although the newly installed court has not formally issued its ruling, Musharraf, who stormed to power in a 1999 coup, said they accept the election.

Despite promising to restore civilian rule to Pakistan, Musharraf on Saturday widened the powers of the military by amending a law to allow army courts to try offenses such as treason and inciting public unrest.

Last week, five opposition politicians — including the heads of the National Party and the National Workers’ Party — were charged with treason in the main port city of Karachi.

While those five will be tried in civilian court, the amended law could pave the way Musharraf’s political opponents to be charged and tried in military court.

Musharraf defended the emergency order that suspended Pakistan’s constitution, saying acted to save the country from governmental paralysis caused by the chief justice of the Supreme Court and extremists.

I found myself between a rock and a hard surface, he said. The decision was made, he said, to preserve this nation, to safeguard it and to risk myself, or to let go, hoping that the nation may improve later in the turmoil that one leaves.

Musharraf would not say when he would lift the emergency, but said democratic processes would be back on track with a parliamentary vote to be held before January 9. He said Pakistan’s election commission would decide an exact date.

According to Musharraf, a caretaker government will assume power on November 15, Pakistan’s parliament and provincial assemblies will dissolve by November 20 and elections will take place 45 to 60 days from that date.

This is history, ladies and gentlemen, Musharraf said. Musharraf said the emergency declaration would help curb extremist attacks and ensure a fair and transparent vote.

Meanwhile, Pakistani opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrived in Lahore Sunday where she is planning to lead a protest march to Islamabad on Tuesday against Musharraf’s emergency order.

Bhutto, who has spoken out against Musharraf’s emergency order, has also been criticized by fellow opposition leaders for considering a power-sharing deal with the man she has referred to as a military dictator.

In addition to the opposition protests, foreign and Pakistani journalists have been demonstrating against the ongoing media blackout, which limits local broadcasts of the festering political crisis.

Under the emergency order, it is unlikely that the independent media will be able to cover the election.

Musharraf insisted on Sunday that he backs journalistic independence, but asked for responsibility in their reporting.

It’s not that you should not criticize us. Do please criticize the government. Do please criticize me, but there has to be checks on defamation by design, Musharraf told reporters.

On Saturday Pakistan’s government kicked out three reporters from Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper for using language in an editorial that a Pakistani official called offensive to Musharraf.

Friday’s editorial criticized Musharraf, and the United States and Britain for continuing to support him. Let us remain in the norms of behavior, he said.

If there isn’t anybody that doesn’t have a sense of how to speak and how to right what conduct and behavior, I’m really shocked. I don’t have words. What can I say about it?
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Fuel spill disaster reported in waters near Russia

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) — At least two sailors died and 23 were missing Sunday when five ships sank in storms in the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, the official Russia Today Web site said.

The strong winds and high surf caused the Volgoneft-139 to split in two, spilling up 560,000 gallons of fuel oil, an official from Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry told CNN.

That is approximately 1,000 tons. In addition to the five ships that sank, many others were grounded, Russia Today reported.

The weather was hampering efforts to control the spill, which occurred in the Kerch Strait, the official said. The channel separates the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov.

The spill was moving toward the Ukrainian coast and Russia and Ukraine have set up a joint crisis center to deal with the disaster, the official said. Watch enormous waves rock ships

The Volnogorsk and the Nakhichevan — each carrying about 2,000 tons of sulfur — also broke apart as a result of the high waves and strong winds, a local transport official told RIA Novosti news agency. And a third sulfur-transporting vessel, the Kovel, went down later after striking the Volnogorsk, the agency reported.

A spokesman for the federal agency for sea and inland water transport, Aleksandr Davydenko, said conditions in the Kerch Strait were worsening. Twenty-foot waves and winds gusting to 78 mph were making the rescuers’ task difficult, Davydenko said.

Emergencies Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov says the Volganeft-139 was anchored near the port of Kavkaz.

At the moment specialists are trying to work out the size of the oil spill and the direction it’s heading, he said. We will alert the respective Ukrainian services if the spill moves in their direction.

Near the city of Sevastopol on the Black Sea, the storm wrecked a freighter carrying scrap metal. Two of its crew members were found alive, but 15 others were missing.

Another cargo ship was in distress.

Russia and Ukraine were working together to deal with the accidents, but according to news reports, strong winds had caused several more dry-cargo ships to run aground. Among them were Turkish vessels, a Georgian and a Greek ship.

Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Russia’s environmental watchdog and a member of the United Nations International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, said the fuel oil spill could lead to long-term contamination.

My forecast is that the coastline of the Kerch Strait and the strait itself will need deep re-cultivation lasting 10 to 15 years, he said.

The storm’s effects extended to Crimea, where power cuts led to suspension of heating and water supplies on parts of the peninsula.

This is a major ecological catastrophe, said Vladimir Slivyak, head of Ekozashchita, or Ecodefense, a Russian environmental group, according to Interfax news agency.

The Kerch Strait is a key waterway for transporting fuel oil from the Caspian Sea onto tankers waiting in the Black Sea. The Volgoneft-139 was carrying fuel oil from the southern Russian city of Samara on the Volga River to an oil terminal in Ukraine, according to Interfax.

Previous fuel spills have been smaller than Sunday’s disaster.

In November 2002, the Liberian oil tanker Prestige broke up and sank, spewing 64,000 tons of fuel oil into the waters and polluting thousands of miles along the Atlantic coast of France, Spain and Portugal. E-mail to a friend

CNN’s Arkady Irshenko contributed to this report.

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Robinho on song in Madrid thriller

MADRID, Spain — Brazilian striker Robinho scored twice as champions Real Madrid beat Real Mallorca in a 4-3 thriller to stay top of the Spanish Primera Liga.

The 23-year-old headed the hosts into a 12th minute lead from Marcelo’s cross but Fernando Varela equalized just two minutes later.

Robinho then grabbed his fourth goal of the season in the 16th minute, superbly dispatching a pass from Raul.

But Real were all at sea in defense and defender Jose Nunes hammered a volley against the crossbar minutes later.

It was a warning — and Varela matched Robinho by scoring his second of the match with a ferocious 36th minute strike before Guiza put Mallorca 3-2 ahead.

But Raul levelled matters for Bernd Schuster’s side before Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the 73rd minute winner in a see-saw game that underlined Real’s attacking prowess and their defensive frailties.

Real were desperate to punish Barcelona’s 2-0 defeat to Getafe on Saturday –but in the end they needed all their firepower to down Mallorca and make it six wins from six at home.

Barcelona are now four points behind Madrid, whose nearest challengers are Villarreal, just a point adrift after a sensational 3-2 win over 10-man Sevilla.

Matias Fernandez scored a decisive 85th minute penalty for Villarreal who had trailed at 2-1 despite Sevilla having Brazilian defender Daniel Alves dismissed shortly before half-time.

Guille Franco levelled at 2-2 with his second of the match before Fernandez struck the winner.

Sevilla’s goals came from Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano, his eighth of the season, in an enthralling end-to-end encounter.

In other matches, Almeria missed a penalty and saw two efforts crash against the woodwork as their domination of Atletico Madrid amounted to only a 0-0 draw.

Espanyol stretched their unbeaten run to eight games with a last-gasp 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao.

Two late goals from substitute Mariano Pavone gave Real Betis a dramatic 2-1 win over Real Zaragoza at the Ruiz de Lopera stadium.

Racing Santander continued their good run of form as their 1-0 win at Deportivo La Coruna means it is now seven games unbeaten for the Verdiblancos.

Jonathan Sesma bagged his second goal of the season as resurgent Real Valladolid extended their unbeaten run to four games with a 1-0 win against rock-bottom Levante, while 10-man Recreativo Huelva clinched a vital three points with a deserved 1-0 win over Osasuna, Carlos Martins scoring with 19 minutes to go. E-mail to a friend

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Lucarelli keeps Italy squad place

ROME, Italy — Italy national coach Roberto Donadoni has left Cristiano Lucarelli in his squad for next Saturday’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifier in Scotland.

The Shakhtar Donetsk striker is in fine form and has been rewarded for his inspiring performance in last month’s friendly against South Africa, when he scored twice in the world champions’ victory.

While Donadoni has again left out veteran forwards Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero, he has handed Juventus striker and Italy under-21 international Raffaele Palladino his first call-up to the senior squad.

Donadoni’s squad is also boosted by the return from suspension of captain Fabio Cannavaro,

Italy go into the clash in Glasgow third in Group B, two points behind leaders France and one point below Scotland.

Italy end their qualifying campaign by taking on bottom side the Faroe Islands in Modena on November 21.

Italy squad:

Goalkeepers: Marco Amelia (Livorno), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Gianluca Curci (Roma)

Defenders: Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Daniele Bonera (AC Milan), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Massimo Oddo (AC Milan), Christian Panucci (Roma), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona)

Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini (AC Milan), Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Simone Perrotta (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

Strikers: Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (AC Milan), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Cristiano Lucarelli (Shakhtar Donetsk), Raffaele Palladino (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich) E-mail to a friend

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