Phnom Penh - An international monitor at Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal warned Wednesday that the first trial before the cash-strapped court could run much longer than scheduled because of delays in proceedings. In its weekly report on the progress of the trial of former torture prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary alias Duch, the US-based War Crimes Studies Center said the trial had been weighed down by procedural arguments and only a handful of witnesses had been called to testify.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian authorities Tuesday installed equipment to scan passengers for fever at Phnom Penh's international airport to stem the spread of swine flu. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health Ministry said there were no reported cases of the potentially deadly viral infection in the country.

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's foreign minister was recovering in hospital after almost collapsing Sunday during an opening ceremony for a new consulate in the United States, a government spokesman said Monday. Hor Namhong was rushed to hospital after he almost fainted while giving a speech at the new Cambodian consulate in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said.

"The doctors in the emergency department said he was suffering from fatigue and was recovering well," Koy Kuong said.

Phnom Penh - The Khmer Rouge's former chief torturer told Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal Wednesday that Jesus Christ had ordained his discovery by a journalist a decade ago when he was a fugitive with an assumed identity living in a remote village.

Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary name Duch, faces charges of crimes against humanity, premeditated murder, torture and breeches of the Geneva Conventions allegedly committed while he was the warden of the S-21 torture prison in Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh  - A French man detained at a Khmer Rouge torture prison said the facility's chief reminded him of his own friends, during his testimony Wednesday as the first witness before Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal.

Francois Bizot, an anthropologist who was imprisoned for three months the ultra-Maoist group's pre-revolutionary prison, expressed sympathy for Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who faces charges of crimes against humanity, torture, premeditated murder and violations of the Geneva Conventions.