NOKOR-US FOOD:
The United Nation's food agency says the first shipment of food aid from the United States has arrived in North Korea.
The World Food Program said today (Monday) the delivery of about 37-thousand tons of wheat to the port of Nampo will help it feed more than five million people.
Officials say the shipment is the first installment of 500-thousand
tons of food the U.S. has promised to send, and that it is not related
to progress in continuing nuclear talks with North Korea.
WFP spokesman Paul Risley says the shipment is the result of an
agreement that will allow for more international aid to flow to people
in parts of North Korea that had been off-limits.
SOKOR-US BEEF: South Korean police have begun to clamp down on protests over U.S. beef imports, as officials prepare to release some American beef for sale to consumers. Police early today (Monday) confiscated materials and documents from the offices of two groups involved in organizing several weeks of protests. Police have vowed to take every necessary measure to track down violent protesters, and say they have arrested 130 people for illegal demonstrations over the past several days.
CAMBODIA TRIBUNAL: Defense lawyers for a former top official of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge have argued he should be released, or placed under house arrest, because he is too ill to stand trial. Hundreds of spectators crowded into the courtroom today (Monday) in Phnom Penh as Ieng Sary appeared before a U.N.-backed tribunal. The former deputy prime minister and foreign minister stands accused of crimes against humanity in connection with the deaths of as many as two million Cambodians, starved, overworked or executed by the regime in the late 1970s.
MALAYSIA-ANWAR: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has left the Turkish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur where he had been taking refuge following sodomy accusations against him. Anwar went to the embassy Sunday, saying he feared the government would try to assassinate him. He left today (Monday), saying the government has guaranteed his safety.
AU SUMMIT: The African Union's top diplomat says Africa must "shoulder its responsibilities" and do everything in its power to resolve the political conflict in Zimbabwe. African Union Commissioner Jean Ping spoke today (Monday) at the opening session of the 11th African Union summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe in attendance. Mr. Mugabe walked into the main conference hall flanked by other African leaders, one day after declaring victory in Zimbabwe's one-man election.
Audio in Lao.
