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Switzerland and Slovakia have clinched Europe's final two automatic qualifying spots for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

The Swiss finished top of Group Two after a tense 0-0 draw against Israel.

And Slovakia got the win they needed to top Group Three, beating Poland 1-0 to reach their first finals.

Portugal, Greece, Ukraine and Slovenia secured the remaining play-off spots, leaving Norway as the unlucky side to finish runners-up but miss out.

Russia, France, Republic of Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina had already made sure of play-off spots and Norway's record was the worst of all the teams to finish second in their group.

The two-legged play-off matches will be played on 14 and 18 November, with the draw to take place on Monday.

Switzerland's goalless draw with 10-man Israel was enough to send them through but Ottmar Hitzfeld's side were far from comfortable even after the visitors had Avihay Yadin sent off after 59 minutes.

"The team was nervous, you could see that. There were many errors and unnecessary fouls," Hitzfeld said.

"But the goal was to qualify and we made it - the goal is achieved.

"Compliments to the whole team and to each and every player. It's another success for me and a dream being fulfilled, it's a present that Switzerland has given me."

Also in Group Two, Greece made sure of their play-off place with a 2-1 win over Luxembourg, with Vassilis Torossidis and Theofanis Gekas putting the 2004 European champions ahead before a late own goal by Avraam Papadopoulos.

Slovakia triumphed on a snowy night in Chorzow to qualify for South Africa

The Greeks had needed at least a point to make the play-offs as Latvia beat Moldova 3-2.

"Luxembourg was a very difficult opponent and made things tough for us," Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said afterwards. "This was a very important game and we could have lost everything."

Like Switzerland, Slovakia also had a struggle to seal their progress, taking the lead in the third minute on a snowy night in Chorzow through Seweryn Gancarczyk's own goal and relying on some key stops from their goalkeeper Jan Mucha to hold on to their lead.

Slovenia beat San Marino 3-0 to finish behind the Slovaks in the same group and end Northern Ireland and the Czech Republic's slim hopes of making the play-offs.

Despite being without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal easily sealed a play-off berth - thumping Malta 4-0 in Group One thanks to goals from Nani, Simao Sabrosa, Miguel Veloso and Edinho.

Compliments to the whole team. It's another success for me and a dream fulfilled Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld on reaching the 2010 World Cup finals

Manchester United midfielder Nani calmed the home side's nerves by firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the area after 13 minutes and Simao hammered home a second goal before half-time.

Veloso's crisp finish made it 3-0 after Liedson failed to convert Nani's pass and Simao set up Edinho to wrap things up late on.

"For sure some points lost at home made life difficult for us but the important thing is that we made it and now we have to prepare for these two matches," said Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz.

Portugal's win rendered Sweden's 4-1 victory over Albania meaningless, and ensured Lars Lagerback's side - which includes Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic - missed out on the play-offs in a group that was won by Denmark.

In Group Six, Ukraine made sure of second place behind England with a thumping 6-0 win in Andorra, a result which eliminated Croatia despite their 2-1 victory in Kazakhstan.

Andriy Shevchenko, Oleg Gusev, Yevgen Khacherdi, Yaroslav Rakitskyy, Yevgen Seleznov and Andriy Yarmolenko shared the goals for Ukraine in Andorra La Vella.

Chinese official export figures for September have suggested improvements in economies in the rest of the world.

Exports from the world's third largest economy fell to $115.9bn (£73bn), which was down 15.2% from September 2008, but the smallest fall in nine months.

China's $596bn stimulus package has helped prop up its economy, but it needs a global recovery to boost trade.

Imports fell 3.5% to $103bn, which was the smallest decline since imports began to slide in November 2008.

The slowing decline has been taken as a sign that the stimulus package is working.

China's trade surplus stood at $135.5bn (£85bn) for the first nine months of 2009, falling 26% compared with the same period a year ago, according to the General Administration of Customs.

ANALYSIS By Chris Hogg, BBC Shanghai correspondent Most people accept that China is now enjoying an economic recovery. What they want to know is, is that recovery sustainable? September's trade figures are encouraging. Exports and imports fell, as they have done every month since late last year, but the rate of decline wasn't as bad as the month before. The government's stimulus package has helped boost domestic demand. It has increased China's appetite for imports of commodities needed for the big infrastructure projects now under way. The effects of that stimulus package will last for some time, but not for ever, so the challenge for the country's policymakers is to find alternative ways to keep people here working and spending.

"Overall, export performance will be much better in the months to come. I think it's going to be sustainable and it's going to accelerate," said Dong Tao, an economist at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong.

"There are some rush orders coming to China for Christmas, so I expect probably a pretty strong rebound in November and December," he said.

The slowing decline in imports was mainly a result of record iron ore shipments to China of 64.6 million tons in September.

The iron is needed to make steel, which is in demand as the stimulus package boosts construction.

Between January and August, China's total trade with the European Union fell 19.4% while trade with the US fell 15.8% and trade with Japan declined 20%.

China's Vice Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan recently said that China's exporters were still facing a tough time.

To support exporters, China has raised value added tax rebates on exports several times in the past year, increased tax refunds and improved export credit insurance.

The central bank has also effectively halted the yuan's rise against the dollar since July 2008.

The Khmer Rouge Trial: Six government officials were subpoenaed. Who is Sim Ka?

Hanoi official must be subpoenaed by the ECCC for genocide against Cambodian people.

October 8, 2009, the Honorable Marcel Lemonde, Co-prosecutor (France) released to the public his subpoena that he has signed on September 25, 2009, to summon six government officials – Senate President Chea Sim, National Assembly President Heng Samrin, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Finance Minister Keat Chhon and two CPP senators Ouk Bunchhœun and Sim Ka – appear at the tribunal to provide testimony “in the framework of the investigation under way against Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and other leaders”.

Two hours after the public announcement of that Lemonde’s subpoena, Marcel Lemonde’s car parked at the ECCC parking lot under the surveillance of Hun Sen’s police have been sabotaged: all the two Lemonde’s car back tires were slashed. It is worth to remember that the same kind of car accidents was happened to Ratha Sourn, Chairman of CACJE and Pengsè Sean, the President of Cambodian Border Committee, the two famous opponents of Hun Sen regime. In Paris, indeed, all the four Péngsè Sean’s car tires were slashed several times; the wind shield was broken, and two times the car was burned down or stolen. In the US, Ratha’s car’s sabotaged. Robert Petit wife and daughter life was threatened.

* * *

The objective of criminal trial is a search for truth. And in criminal trial the term “search for truth” was repeatedly invoked by both sides: the defense and prosecution. Each side claimed that they were searching for truth and the other side was deliberately obscuring it.

It is interesting to examine the reaction of Hun Sen and his people to that subpoena of these six CPP officials by the ECCC as witnesses.

[Quote]Pack your bags

The Phnom Penh Post, 09 October, 2009.
A day earlier, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said that though the individuals could appear in court voluntarily, the government’s position was that they should not give testimony. He said that foreign officials involved in the court could “pack their clothes and return home” if they were not satisfied with the decision. [End Quote]

[Quote] (AFP, Ocoter 9, 2009) PHNOM PENH — The lawyer for a former Khmer Rouge leader on Friday filed a demand that the French investigating judge be disqualified from Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court for alleged bias.

Michael Karnavas, attorney for ex-Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, said the motion was based on allegations that Marcel Lemonde told subordinates to favour evidence showing suspects' guilt over evidence of their innocence. [End Quote]

The defence team's claims are based on a sworn statement by a former member of the investigating judge's staff.

Wayne Bastin accused his boss, Mr. Lemonde, of instructing his team to concentrate on finding only incriminating evidence.

Under the rules of the tribunal, the investigating judges are supposed to be impartial - and should also seek out evidence which might exonerate defendants.

Mr. Bastin admitted that Ieng Sary's defence team had encouraged him to make the statement.

But he insisted that he had enjoyed a good working relationship with Judge Lemonde - and only came forward because he felt "morally and ethically" obliged.

Ieng Sary's lawyers said the investigating judge had "trampled over" the rights of their client.

The tribunal's pre-trial chamber will now rule on whether Mr. Lemonde should be disqualified.

It has already rejected two attempts to disqualify court officials on the grounds of bias. [End Quote]

* * *

It confirms again and again that Hun Sen’s government had no respect to the ECCC if the ECCC did not behave accordingly to Hun Sen’s whim.

It seems suspicious about the timing, why Ieng Sary’s team lawyers release publicly their accusation of bias against Mr. Marcel Lemonde immediately after the release of Lemonde’s subpoena summoning six CPP officials to appear as witnesses for the case 02? Because their effort of disqualification of Lemonde, indeed, will help to protect those six CPP officials from the ECCC prosecution. What kind of alliance was there between Hun Sen and Ieng Sary and Vietnam?

Another crucial aspect of the ECCC (Khmer Rouge Trial) was that Hun Sen’s government tried at all cost to protect his protégés from the legal prosecution by the ECCC, such as the former King Sihanouk, Hun Sen himself, and especially Hanoi government officials who were probably the responsible of Cambodia genocide.

The truth is that most criminal defendants are, in fact, guilty. Prosecutors, therefore, generally have the ultimate truth on their side. But since prosecution witnesses often lies about some facts defense attorneys have intermediate truth on their side.

Since Hun Sen police lie, and evidence doctored by Hanoi, false documents, police planting evidence, police perjury and cover-up, the proof of “the defendant did it” will be turned out to prove the proof is beyond a reasonable doubt that “he did it”, instead.

Henceforth, and consequently, and finally, the ECCC must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of the defendants, or the “probable defendants” King Sihanouk, Hun Sen, Chea Sim, Heng Samrin, Hor Nam Hong, Keat Chhon, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith, Kaing Kek Eav and scores of high ranking CPP officials (who were responsible of slaughtering more than 5000 people) and especially Hanoi officials for having perpetrated genocide crime against Cambodia people.

Hanoi officials must be subpoenaed by the ECCC for being the master mind of genocide against Cambodia people.

Because People Army of Vietnam (PAVN) had crushed Lon Nol Army in 1975, yet Hanoi was responsible of Cambodia genocide. Because Pol Pot’s government was appointed by PAVN. It was PAVN which defeated Lon Nol army but not the Khmer Rouge as Hanoi and Khmer Rouge propaganda wanted the world to believe.

What is undeniable is that in 1975 the Khmer Rouge Army had no armament and ammunitions and especially heavy weapons to defeat Lon Nol Army. The Vietnamese had always refused to transport through Ho Chi Minh trails armament and ammunitions for the Khmer Rouge. If they did it, it was done by piece meal, therefore not enough to crush an army.

Because Hanoi army had crushed Lon Nol Army, it was Hanoi Army which appointed Pol Pot government. Therefore, Hanoi had infiltrated in Pol Pot government as they pleased Vietnamese spies, and henchmen to sabotage Pol Pot government as he did right now with Hun Sen government. These Vietnamese henchmen, the Vietnamese cadres, and spies under Hanoi order by executing Hanoi order were the real responsible of genocide against Cambodia people.

Because of police perjury, of manipulated documents, the ECCC must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of Hanoi, in other words, the genocide committed by Hanoi against Cambodian people. Pol Pot government was their compli cit in genocide crime.

Alan M Desershowitz, a Harvard Law professor, describes so well this point.

[Quote]: To understand this multilayered process, and the complex role “truth” plays in it, it is important to know the difference between a criminal trial and other more single-minded searched for truth…

What is a criminal trial? And how does it differ from a historical or scientific inquiry? The goal of the historian and scientist, at least in theory, is the uncovering or the discovery of truth. The historian seeks to determine what actually happened in the recent or distant past by interviewing witnesses, examining documents and piecing together fragmentary records…

Although there are ethical limits on historical and scientific inquiry, the ultimate test of a given result in these disciplines is its truth or falsity…

Consider the following hypothetical situation. An evil scientific (or historian) beats or bribes some important truth out of a vulnerable source. That truth is then independently tested and confirmed. The evil scientific might be denied his Nobel Price for ethical reasons, but the truth he discovered is no less the truth because of the improper means he employed to arrive at it… But if a fraudulent experiment happened to produce a truth that could be replicated in a non-fraudulent experiment, that truth would ultimately become accepted.

Put another way, there are no “exclusionary rules" in history and science, as there in law…

Finally, all “truths” discovered by science or history are always subjects to reconsideration based on new evidence. There are no prohibitions against “double jeopardy”. Nor are there statutes of limitations. In sum, the historical and scientific is basically a search for objective truth.

The criminal trial is quite different in several important respects. Truth, although one important goal of the criminal trial, is not its only goal. .. The requirement is that guilt must be proved “beyond a reasonable doubt.” But that is inconsistent with the quest for objective truth, because it explicitly prefers one kind of truth to another.

The preferred truth is that the defendant did not do it, and we demand that the jurors err on the side of that truth, even in cases where it is probable that he did do it.

Justice John Harlan said in 1970 Supreme Court Winship decision that, “I view the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal case as bottomed on a fundamental value that it is far worse to convict an innocent man than to let a guilty man go free .” As one early-nineteenth-century scholar explained, the maximum of the law … is that it is better than ninety-nine offenders shall escape than one innocent man be condemned.” More typically, the ratio is put at ten to one. [End quote]

The burden of proof in criminal case is “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

* * *

Recapitulation: So, on September 25, 2009, Marcel Lemonde (France), Co-prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) had summoned six government officials – Senate President Chea Sim, National Assembly President Heng Samrin, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Finance Minister Keat Chhon and two CPP senators Ouk Bunchhœun and Sim Ka – to appear at the ECCC as witnesses.

Among the six summoned CPP members, who is hierarchically the most powerful? What is their hierarchy?

The communist regime, such as the Republic Socialist of Vietnam, and its puppet CPP took very important political decisions in secret out of public sight.

Several years ago, in the early 1990s, in Cambodia Embassy at Saigon it was the female cook who was the most powerful member of the Embassy. She was more powerful than the appointed Ambassador.

The most powerful CPP committee is the CPP standing political committee, known as Koor-85. This CPP political committee is the eye and the ear of Hanoi. Koor-85 had left no trace in any CPP publication or public discussion. The ten Koor-85 members are very powerful. It was they who decided everything under Hanoi thumb. They meet together at Hanoi call. Their meeting place had never been in Phnom Penh. Hun Sen is not Koor-85 member. He was just an alternate as Mme Men Sam An. The Koor-85 met always at Chhlong (Kratié province) under a big tree in a revolutionary atmosphere; there was no table; they met around a camp fire under Hanoi officer’s leadership who spoke fluently Cambodian. Then Hanoi officers distributed paper for each member and let them read it very carefully for thirty minutes and asked each one if they understood well the Hanoi order spelled out in the paper. Then the ten members were ordered to execute that Hanoi order. Then they threw that order paper to the fire leaving no written trace of that order. That is always the way the CPP execute Hanoi order to run Cambodia at Hanoi will.

The ten Koor-85 members are in hierarchy descending order: 1. Mat Ly (Muslim, deceased); 2. Sim Ka; 3. Kan Man; 4. Nay Péna; 5. Chea Soth; 6. Say Chhum; 7. Bou Thang (ethnic minority); 8. Say Bou Thang (ethnic minority); 9. Heng Samrin; 10. Chea Sim.

Alternate members: Hun Sen, Men San An.

This political committee was appointed in 1978 when General Lê Duch Anh led his 200,000 soldiers to invade and occupy until today Cambodia in 1978. And Duc Van Anh, the Vietnamese communist Politburo member appointed the Koo-85, the Cambodian Political Standing Committee of ten members since then to run Cambodia under Hanoi thumb.

Under the food chain, Sim Ka must be the very responsible of Cambodia genocide.

* * *

In a criminal trial, we are generally dealing with a decision that must be made under conditions of uncertainty. For example, we will never know with absolute certainty whether O.J. Simpson did murder his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. But doubts persist, even decades later.

Those who believe that O.J. Simpson did murder Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman must acknowledge they were not there when the crime occurred or when the evidence was collected and tested. They must rely on the work and the word of people they do not know. So the jurors in O.J. Simpson case were not asked to vote on whether they believed “he did it.” They were asked whether the prosecution’s evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it.

The perception was that the police in communist regime, Republic Socialist of Vietnam and Kingdom of Cambodia often make false arrest, tamper with evidence, evidence planting, false testimony, and faking documents and cover-up and commit perjury.

Hence, there are so many police lie, Hun Sen police lie, and Vietnamese police lie. Therefore, the ECCC cannot base her verdict on these faking documents and faking testimony, and planting evidence and cover-up and perjury.

FOUR KEY POINTS:

Before we go further, the ECCC must inquiry the very simple following key points:

1. YES or NO, are the documents that will be used by the ECCC as basic for the verdict are authentic or not? The ECCC must authenticate first the DC-CAM documents which are the bulk Khmer Rouge documents.

We raise this very crucial question because we have a dozen of witnesses, living abroad and in Cambodia who can prove that DC-CAM documents are bogus. These witnesses had worked for the Vietnamese Security experts to fabricate and manipulate several dozen thousands of documents which would become later DC-CAM/Toul Sleng official documents. Certain technical aspects of the falsification of these Toul Sleng/DC-Cam documents can be proved also by lab, such FBI lab or French, British, German, Japan or Chinese lab. So, first of all, the ECCC must prove the authenticity of these documents by for example the FBI lab.

Suppose for the moment that if it is true that the DC-CAM documents were bogus it will imply that all the books, all the documents and all the scholar researches that were based on these fake documents will produce at the end a false conclusion. The ECCC cannot trust the opinion of these experts because their scholar researches were manipulated by Hanoi directly or indirectly.

2. YES or NO, the Khmer Rouge army did not defeat Lon Nol Army? It was instead the People Army of Vietnam which crushed Lon Nol Army.

If YES, it was Hanoi which appointed Pol Pot government. We saw already what Hanoi have done with Hun Sen government, his Hanoi puppet government. So what Hanoi can do with Hun Sen’ s government Hanoi can do the same way with Pol Pot government. It results that Hanoi was also responsible of Cambodia genocide as was Pol Pot government.

So Hanoi officials must be summoned to the ECCC as defendants.

3. More than one million Cambodian people were killed during 1975-79 in East zone controlled by Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, Hun Sen and Hanoi after the assassination of the East zone commander So Phim by Heng Samrin and Chea Sim. Entire villages were slaughtered and let die of starvation and exhaustion. Hundred of So Phim battalion commanders, living in Cambodia and abroad, still alive, will volunteer to testify the slaughtering of one million people by Heng Samrin, Chea Sim and Hanoi at the ECCC if some security conditions are met.

4. As a rule of thumb, former Khmer Rouge who had participated to the extermination of more than five thousand people were appointed as high ranking officer in Hun Sen government. They changed their names several times. But family victims knew them well. Score of these genocide perpetrators are still in Hun Sen government. The ECCC must build their case of these people. Sixty-four years after the holocaust, the Jews continued to hunt down the genocide perpetrators of Jew people.

A Thai woman prays as she attends a memorial service marking the 36th anniversary of the student uprising in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. Scores of Thai people were killed when activists and students took up the streets in an uprising against a military dictatorship in 1973. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

BANGKOK, Oct 14 (TNA) - ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan on Wednesday said he did not believe that Cambodia will raise the border conflict with its neighbour Thailand at the upcoming summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the end of this month.
The ASEAN chief commented after French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) earlier quoted Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong as saying Prime Minister Hun Sen will raise the Thai border spat at an upcoming regional summit despite opposition from Thailand, which is hosting the meeting.

Mr Hor Namhong however said "Because there is no answer from Thailand to my official proposal, Cambodia still considers that Prime Minister Hun Sen can raise the dispute in the ASEAN summit."

He said that Cambodia is willing to raise the issue in other international bodies, including the United Nations Security Council, and accused Thailand of delaying the resolution of the dispute.

Thailand will host the 15th ASEAN Summit and its related summits in Phetchaburi's Cha-am district and Prachuab Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district October 23 to 25.

The ASEAN chief said that if any country member feels that the Thai-Cambodian border dispute affects ASEAN's image, the foreign ministers from other eight country members (except from Thailand and Cambodia) can raise the issue for discussion at the regional pact meeting.

"I know the Cambodian stance only from news report. I think that the border spat is the issue between the two countries which can be agreed at bilateral talks," said Mr Surin, "It should not be raised in the ASEAN Summit."

The ASEAN chief added that he is not worried that the summit will be overshadowed by the Thailand-Cambodia conflict, saying that ASEAN members are mature and willing to solve problems.

He said if anyone of either party raises this topic at the meeting, it will be a good opportunity to help find appropriate solutions to the conflict.

Tensions between the two neighbouring countries, renewed when Mr Hun Sen said he had ordered his troops to shoot any Thai stepping on Cambodian soil, after protesters of Thailand's yellow-shirted Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy (PAD) rallied in Si Sa Ket province last month opposing Cambodia's plan to build new structures in the contested 4.6 square kilometre zone surrounding Preah Vihear.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva shunned Mr Hun Sen's threat, saying it is his style to make international headlines and for his internal political benefit.

Cambodian Foreign minister said early this week that he wished to propose the dispute over the area around the ancient Preah Vihear temple be included in the agenda of the ASEAN summit and in other international meetings.

The Thai foreign affairs ministry however said the dispute should not be internationalised or raised at the regional pact meeting and Thailand will continue to seek a peaceful solution with Cambodia via a bilateral mechanism.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 14 (AFP) - Cambodia's foreign minister said Wednesday that premier Hun Sen will raise the Thai border spat at an upcoming regional summit despite opposition from Thailand, which is hosting the meeting.
"The prime minister will raise the issue in... the (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) ASEAN summit," Hor Namhong told reporters.

He said the dispute -- which has sparked several deadly troop skirmishes -- remained up for discussion at ASEAN since Thailand had not officially responded to his proposal to include it in the October 23-25 summit.

"Because there is no answer from Thailand to my official proposal, Cambodia still considers that Prime Minister Hun Sen can raise the dispute in the ASEAN summit," Hor Namhong said at a press conference.

The spat focuses on an area of land around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, where clashes have killed seven soldiers since last year.

Hor Namhong added that Cambodia was willing to raise the issue in other international bodies, including the United Nations Security Council, and accused Thailand of delaying a resolution to the dispute.

A spokesman for the Thai foreign affairs ministry told AFP Tuesday that his country would continue to seek a peaceful solution with Cambodia but believed the dispute should not be raised at ASEAN or "internationalised".

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around Preah Vihear for decades, but nationalist tensions spilled over into violence in July last year when the temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia.

Soldiers from both countries continue to patrol the area, with the last gun battle near the temple area in April leaving three people dead.

The border between the two nations has never been fully demarcated, partly because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.