Cambodia

A native of Cambodia unleashed an attack to overthrow the government of that country, but the plot failed when only 200 supporters showed up to fight in the capital city of Phnom Phen, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday. In his opening trial statement, Assistant U.S. Atty. Lamar Baker said defendant Yasith Chhun -- a Long Beach accountant -- was willing to risk other people's lives as part of the effort in 2000 dubbed "Operation Volcano." Baker portrayed Chhun, 52, as callous, cowardly and incompetent and promised he would take jurors inside the conspiracy with testimony from officers who led the attack and are now serving prison terms in Cambodia for their involvement.

The baseball ground rules are different in Cambodia. A ball hit off the water buffaloes grazing in the outfield is in play, but a ball lost in the adjoining rice paddy is not. And timeout must be called whenever a motorcycle approaches on the dirt road that cuts through the outfield. "You can't put it in perspective with words," said Jim Small, managing director for Major League Baseball's operations in Asia. "You just need to see it." But even then you can't always believe what you're seeing.

A Long Beach man who prosecutors say orchestrated an attack on the Cambodian government resulting in the deaths of three people and the wounding of several others was convicted Wednesday by a federal jury in Los Angeles of conspiring to kill in a foreign country. Yasith Chhun, president of the Long Beach-based Cambodian Freedom Fighters, was also convicted of three more conspiracy counts stemming from the Nov.

Plagued by long delays and corruption allegations, the special court prosecuting Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge leaders on genocide charges is running short of money months before its first trial is set to start. The court, which was set up by the United Nations and Cambodia's government two years ago, needs $43.8 million to continue operating through 2009, administrators said Tuesday in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

A woman who disappeared as a child 19 years ago in the jungles of northeastern Cambodia has been found, said police and a man claiming to be her father. The woman, identified as Rochom P'ngieng, 27, does not speak any intelligible language, said Sal Lou, a police officer who says she is his daughter. He said he recognized her by a scar on her right arm. He has agreed to take a DNA test. The woman disappeared in 1988 while herding buffalo, police said.

The U.S. Peace Corps has started its first mission to Cambodia, sending volunteers to teach English. An advance group of 30 volunteers from San Francisco was blessed by a Buddhist monk shortly after arrival. English is seen as a vital means to getting a job in this impoverished country, which attracts 1 million visitors a year.

A retired Marine Corps captain who had worked as a teacher in Cambodia was returned to the U.S. to face charges that he raped and sexually abused girls as young as 9. Michael Joseph Pepe, 53, was being held without bond Friday after arriving in Los Angeles escorted by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Arraignment is scheduled for next month in federal court.

When federal agents took an elderly Hmong man who relies on heart medication and a cane into custody this week, Vang Pao became the latest anti-Communist leader in Southern California's suburbs to be accused of trying to rekindle a long-ago war.

Cambodian and international judges announced rules for a U.N.-backed genocide trial, putting aside the last major roadblock to trying former Khmer Rouge leaders. The deal was reached during a weeklong meeting that followed six months of disagreement about how to proceed, the judges said at a joint news conference in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. About 1.7 million people died from hunger, disease, overwork and execution under the communist Khmer Rouge during its 1975-79 reign.

Rescue teams searched the jungles of southern Cambodia for a passenger plane believed to have crashed with 22 people aboard, including South Korean and Czech tourists, officials said. The Russian-made An-24 disappeared in Kampot province.