Ex-Khmer Rouge leader charged
Cambodia’s U.N.-backed genocide tribunal arrested the former Khmer Rouge head of state and charged him Monday with crimes against humanity and war crimes, a spokesman said.
Khieu Samphan was the last of five senior officials of the brutal regime to be taken into custody ahead of a long-delayed genocide trial.
Police arrested Khieu Samphan, 76, at a Phnom Penh hospital where he had been undergoing treatment since Nov. 14 after a stroke.
Most historians and researchers believe the radical policies of the Khmer Rouge, which sought a utopian communist state, led to the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians through starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
NARITA, Japan
Japan starts scanning visitors
Japan started fingerprinting and photographing arriving foreigners today in a crackdown on terrorists, despite complaints that the measures unfairly target non-Japanese.
Nearly all foreigners age 16 or older, including longtime residents, will be scanned. The exceptions are diplomats, government guests and permanent residents, such as Koreans who have lived in Japan for generations.
Officials said the new security measures, while inconvenient for visitors, were necessary.
The fingerprints and photos will be checked for matches on terrorist watch lists and files on foreigners with criminal records in Japan. People matching the data will be denied entry and deported.
Japan is the second country after the United States to implement such a system, said Immigration Bureau official Takumi Sato.
SYDNEY, Australia
Churchill relative admits drug guilt
Nicholas Jake Barton, the great-grandson of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, pleaded guilty today to drug charges.
Barton, 33, was arrested at his Sydney home in June 2006 during a series of raids in which police said they seized some 250,000 ecstasy tablets worth an estimated $13 million.
Barton, the son of James Barton and Arabella Spencer Churchill, pleaded guilty before Sydney’s Local Court to knowingly taking part in the supply of a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.