Paris headquarters of AFP

Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world,^[1][2] and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters.^{[citation needed]} It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet. AFP is headquartered in Paris, with regional offices in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong, and Washington, D.C., and bureaus in 150 countries. It transmits news in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

History[link]

The agency was founded in 1835 by a Parisian translator and advertising agent, Charles-Louis Havas as Agence Havas. Two of his employees, Paul Reuter and Bernhard Wolff, later set up rival news agencies in London and Berlin respectively, starting 1848. In order to reduce overheads and develop the lucrative advertising side of the business, Havas's sons, who had succeeded him in 1852, signed agreements with Reuter and Wolff, giving each news agency an exclusive reporting zone in different parts of Europe. This arrangement lasted until the 1930s, when the invention of short-wave wireless improved and cut communications costs. To help Havas extend the scope of its reporting at a time of great international tension, the French government financed up to 47% of its investments.

In 1940, when German forces occupied France during the Second World War, the news agency was taken over by the authorities and renamed "Office Français d'Information" (French Information Office); only the private advertising company retained the name Havas.^[3] On August 20, 1944, as Allied forces moved on Paris, a group of journalists in the French Resistance seized the offices of the FIO and issued the first news dispatch from the liberated city under the name of Agence France-Presse.

Established as a state enterprise, AFP devoted the post-war years to developing its network of international correspondents. One of them was the first Western journalist to report the death of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on March 6, 1953. AFP was keen to shake off its semi-official status, and on January 10, 1957 the French Parliament passed a law establishing its independence. Since that date, the proportion of the agency's revenues generated by subscriptions from government departments has steadily declined. Such subscriptions represented 115 million Euros in 2011.^[4]

In 1982, the agency began to decentralize its editorial decision-making by setting up the first of its five autonomous regional centres, in Hong Kong, then a British Crown colony. Each region has its own budget, administrative director and chief editor. In September 2007, the AFP Foundation was launched to promote higher standards of journalism worldwide. The mission of the AFP "... is' 'defined by its statutes: to report events, free of « all influences or considerations likely to impair the exactitude » of its news and « under no circumstances to pass under the legal or actual control of an ideological, political or economic group."^[5]

In 1991, AFP set up a joint venture with Extel to create a financial news service, AFX News.^[6] It was sold in 2006 to Thomson Financial.^[7]

The Mitrokhin archive identified six agents and two confidential KGB contacts inside Agence France-Presse who were used in Soviet operations in France.^[8]

In October 2008, the Government of France announced moves to change AFP's status, notably by bringing in outside investors. On November 27 of that year, the main trade unions represented in the company's home base of France - the CGT, Force Ouvrière, SNJ,^[9] Union syndicale des journalistes CFDT^[10] and SUD, launched an online petition to oppose what they saw as an attempt to privatise the agency.

On December 10, 2009, the French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand announced that he was setting up a Committee of Experts under former AFP CEO Henri Pigeat to study plans for the agency's future status.^[11] On February 24, 2010, Pierre Louette unexpectedly announced his intention to resign as CEO by the end of March, and move to a job with France Télécom.

Statutes[link]

AFP headquarters in Paris

AFP is a government-chartered public corporation operating under a 1957 law,^[12] but is officially a commercial business independent of the French government. AFP is administered by a CEO and a board comprising 15 members:

• Eight representatives of the French press;
• Two representatives of the AFP personnel;
• Two representatives of the government-owned radio and television;
• Three representatives of the government. One is named by the prime minister, another by the minister of finance, and a third by the minister of foreign affairs.

The board elects the CEO for a renewable term of three years. The AFP also has a council charged with ensuring that the agency operates according to its statutes, which mandate absolute independence and neutrality. Editorially, AFP is governed by a network of senior journalists.

The primary client of AFP is the French government, which purchases subscriptions for its various services. In practice, those subscriptions are an indirect subsidy to AFP. The statutes of the agency prohibit direct government subsidies.

Investments[link]

Notable investments include:

• AFP GmbH:

AFP GmbH is the subsidiary of AFP in Germany, producing German-language services for local press, internet and corporate clients.

• SID:

Sport-Informations-Dienst (SID) is producing a German-language sports service.

• Citizenside:

In November 2007, AFP announced its investment in Scooplive, a news photo and video agency online, created in France in 2006. Scooplive became Citizenside after this investment.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Agence France-Presse

• AFP website
• Citizenside website
• SOS-AFP trade union website

Norodom Sihamoni នរោត្តម សីហមុនី
King of Cambodia
Reign	14 October 2004 – present
Coronation	29 October 2004
Predecessor	Norodom Sihanouk
Prime Ministers	Hun Sen
House	House of Norodom
Father	Norodom Sihanouk
Mother	Norodom Monineath
Born	(1953-05-14) 14 May 1953 (age 59) Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

This article contains Khmer text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Khmer script.

Norodom Sihamoni (Khmer: នរោត្តម សីហមុនី, born 14 May 1953) is the current reigning King of Cambodia since 29 October 2004.^[1] He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihanouk and Norodom Monineath Sihanouk. Previously Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO, he was named by a nine-member throne council to become the next king after his father Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in 2004. Before ascending the throne, Sihamoni was best known for his work as a cultural ambassador in Europe and as a classical dance instructor.

Life[link]

King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Ploughing Ceremony in Phnom Penh.

Sihamoni was born in 1953. At the time of his birth and that of his younger brother, his mother, a Cambodian citizen of Italian and Khmer ancestry, had been one of King Norodom Sihanouk's consorts after being a constant companion since the day they met in 1951, when the young Monique Izzi won first prize in a national beauty contest.^[2] She was granted the title of Neak Moneang and the name of Monineath at the time of her marriage to King Norodom Sihanouk in 1952. Furthermore, Queen Monineath is a step-granddaughter of the late Prince Norodom Duongchak of Cambodia, and the daughter of Pomme Peang and of her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a French-Italian banker. ^[3] The Royal Ark website entry about the genealogy of the Cambodian royal family states that Sihanouk and Monineath were married twice, once on 12 April 1952, when she was 15, and again ("more formally", according to the website) on 5 March 1955. She is described as Sihanouk's seventh wife.

King Norodom Sihamoni has 14 half-brothers and half-sisters by his father's various relationships; his only full sibling, a younger brother, HRH Samdech Norodom Narindrapong (born 1954) died in 2003.

He has spent most of his life outside Cambodia. As a child, Sihamoni was sent to Prague, Czechoslovakia, by his father in 1962, where he, while attending elementary school, high school and Academy of Music Arts, studied classical dance and music until 1975. He is fluent in French and Czech, as well as being a good speaker of English and Russian. During the 1970 coup d'état by Lon Nol, Sihamoni remained in Czechoslovakia. In 1975, he left Prague and began to study filmmaking in North Korea, and in 1977 returned to his native Cambodia. Immediately, the ruling Khmer Rouge government turned against the monarchy, and Sihamoni was put under house arrest by the Khmer Rouge with the rest of the royal family until the 1979 Vietnamese invasion. In 1981, he moved to France to teach ballet and was later president of the Khmer Dance Association. He lived in France for nearly 20 years, but even then he regularly visited Prague, where he spent his childhood and youth. He is the only ruling monarch who speaks Czech.

In 1993, the prince was appointed Cambodia's delegate to UNESCO, the UN cultural body based in Paris, where he became known for his hard work and his devotion to Cambodian culture. He previously refused an appointment as Cambodia's ambassador to France.^[4]

On 14 October 2004, he was selected by a special nine-member council, part of a selection process that was quickly put in place after the surprise abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk a week before. Sihamoni's selection was endorsed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and National Assembly Speaker Prince Norodom Ranariddh (the new king's brother), both members of the privy council. He was inaugurated and formally anointed as King on Friday, 29 October 2004.^[5] King Sihamoni and his parents, King Father Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath specifically requested that the ceremonies be kept low-key because they did not wish for the impoverished country to spend too much money on the event.

The original gold and diamond encrusted crown, a sacred symbol of Mount Meru, used in official coronation ceremonies in Cambodia for centuries dating back to the ancient Angkorian Empire, disappeared along with many other items of Royal Regalia during the Lon Nol regime in the early 1970s. As stated by Julio A. Jeldres, King Father Norodom Sihanouk's official biographer, "The King did not want a crown remade because of Cambodia's poverty."^[6]

Sihamoni remains a bachelor. His father Norodom Sihanouk has stated that Sihamoni "loves women as his sisters"^[7]. Sihamoni has no children, but this does not pose a problem because the King in Cambodia is selected by the throne council even when such a successor exists.

Title[link]

Styles of The King of Cambodia
Reference style	His Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty
Alternative style	Sire

Before he was crowned king, his royal title was: Sdech Krom Khun (ស្តេចក្រុមឃុន), equating him to the rank of Great Prince. As king, his title is: Preah Karuna Preah Bat Sâmdach Preah Bâromneath Norodom Sihamoni Nai Preah Reacheanachak Kampuchea (in romanized Khmer); roughly translating to: His Majesty, King Norodom Sihamoni of the Kingdom of Cambodia. His given name, Sihamoni, comprises two morphemes from his parent's given names, Sihanouk and Monineath.

Advisory court[link]

On 12 December 2008, Sihamoni selected twenty-six members of the Cambodian royal family to his advisory court, among them his half-brother Prince Norodom Ranariddh as chief advisor. Other choices included Prince Sisowath Sirirath, Princess Norodom Marie (estranged wife of Prince Ranariddh) and Prince Sisowath Thomico.^[8]

Awards[link]

• Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia
• Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Monisaraphon
• Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (2010; Grand Officer 2004)
• Silver Medal of the City of Paris
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (2010)

^[9]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Norodom Sihamoni

• King Norodom Sihamoni - Official Website
• Article about Norodom Sihamoni's coronation by Antonio Graceffo

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2012)

Hun Sen ហ៊ុន សែន
Hun Sen speaking at the World Economic Forum in East Asia (2010)
Prime Minister of Cambodia
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 November 1998
Monarch	Norodom Sihanouk Chea Sim (Regent) Norodom Sihamoni
Preceded by	Ung Huot
In office 1 May 1989 – 21 September 1993 Alongside Norodom Ranariddh: 2 July 1993 – 21 September 1993
President	Heng Samrin Chea Sim Norodom Sihanouk
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Norodom Ranariddh
Prime Minister of Kampuchea
In office 14 January 1985 – 1 May 1989
President	Heng Samrin
Preceded by	Chan Sy
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	(1952-08-05) 5 August 1952 (age 59) Peam Koh Sna, Indochina (now Cambodia)
Political party	CPP
Spouse(s)	Bun Rany

This article contains Khmer text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Khmer script.

Hun Sen (Khmer: ហ៊ុន សែន; born 5 August 1952)^[1] is the current Prime Minister of Cambodia and leader of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which has governed Cambodia since the Vietnamese-backed overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1993, the CPP has been in a coalition with the royalist Funcinpec party.

His current, full, honorary title is Samdech Akeak Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen (Khmer: សម្តេចអគ្គមហាសេនាបតីតេជោ ហ៊ុន សែន). The title "Samdech" was attached to his name in 1993 by King Norodom Sihanouk. It is only an honorary title and does not give him further powers. He has a glass eye, the result of a wound sustained during the Khmer Rouge offensive against Phnom Penh in April 1975. Hun Sen is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and is one of the longest serving prime ministers in the world, having been in power through various coalitions since 1985.

Political career[link]

Hun Sen came to power with the Khmer Rouge and served as a Battalion Commander in the Eastern Region of Democratic Kampuchea (previous name of Cambodia). After falling out with the Khmer Rouge Hun Sen fled to Vietnam. ^[2] Hun Sen was selected by the Vietnamese for a leadership role in the rebel army and government they were creating for Cambodia. When the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown, Hun Sen was appointed as Foreign Minister of the Vietnamese-installed People's Republic of Kampuchea/State of Cambodia (PRK/SOC) in 1979 and in 1985 he was made Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Prime Minister, after the death of Chairman Chan Sy until 1990, (with a brief interruption from 1986 until 1987). As Foreign Minister, Hun Sen was a key figure in the Paris Peace Talks, which brokered peace in Cambodia.

In 1987, Amnesty International accused Hun Sen's government of torture of thousands of political prisoners using "electric shocks, hot irons and near-suffocation with plastic bags."^[3]

From 1993 until 1998 he was Co-Prime Minister with Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Norodom Ranariddh was First Prime Minister and he was Second Prime Minister. However, the actual power resided in the hands of Hun Sen because most of the high officers in Cambodia including the military were CPP members which led Norodom Ranariddh to be jealous of his Co-Prime Minister and led to a power struggle, directly resulting in the July 1997 military conflict.

In 1997, the coalition was shaken by tensions between Ranariddh and Hun Sen. FUNCINPEC began to collaborate with the remaining Khmer Rouge rebels (with whom it had been allied against Hun Sen's Vietnamese-backed government during the 1980s), aiming to absorb them into its ranks.^[4]

In response, Hun Sen launched the 1997 Cambodian Coup, replacing Ranariddh with Ung Hout as the First Prime Minister and himself still as the Second Prime Minister until the CPP's victory in the 1998 election and thus becoming the country's sole Prime Minister in 1998. During that year the media broadcast him as the Strong Man of Cambodia which he later said was premature, and that the July 1997 was merely, the government taking action against the paramilitary anarchy that was sponsored and brought to Phnom Penh by Norodom Ranariddh.

In an open letter, Amnesty International condemned the summary execution of FUNCINPEC ministers and the "systematic campaign of arrests and harassment " of political opponents.^[5]

The elections of July 2003 resulted in a larger majority in the National Assembly for the CPP, with FUNCINPEC losing seats to the CPP and the Sam Rainsy Party. However, CPP's majority was short of the two thirds constitutionally required for the CPP to form a government alone. This deadlock was overcome and a new CPP-FUNCINPEC coalition was formed in mid-2004. When Norodom Ranariddh was chosen to be Head of the National Assembly and Hun Sen became again sole Prime Minister of Cambodia.

Corruption[link]

Some political opponents of Hun Sen accuse him of being a Vietnamese puppet. This is due to his position in the government created by Vietnam while Cambodia was under Vietnamese military occupation and the fact that he was a prominent figure in the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea (now known as the Cambodian People's Party), which governed Cambodia as a one-party state under Vietnamese military occupation from 1979 until elections in 1993. However, there seems to be no concrete evidence to show that this accusation has merits at all. Hun Sen and his supporters reject such charges, saying that he represents only the Cambodian people.

Forced evictions and Sale of Cambodian land[link]

Hun Sen's government has been responsible for the sale of land to foreign investors in 2007-08 resulting in the eviction of thousands of residents from their homes.^[6]

Hun Sen was implicated in corruption related to Cambodia's oil wealth and mineral resources in Global Witness 2009 report on Cambodia. He and his close associates were accused of carrying out secret negotiations with interested private parties and taking money from those who he would grant rights to exploit the resources. However, the credibility of this accusation has been questioned by government officials and especially Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself.^[7]

Personal life[link]

Hun Sen is married to Bun Rany. They have six children, 3 sons and 3 daughters: Manet, Mana, Manit, Mani, Mali and Malis. The youngest, Malis was adopted. Hun Manet is a 1999 West Point Academy graduate and obtained his PhD in Economics at the University of Bristol. In 2010, Manet was promoted Major General in the Royal Cambodian Arm Forces (RCAF) and became the Deputy Commander of the Prime Minister's Body Guard headquarters.

Although Hun Sen's birthday is officially celebrated on April 4, 1951, he had revealed that his actual date of birth was August 5, 1952.^[8] He had apparently lied about his date of birth to appear older when joining the Khmer Rouge as a youth.

See also[link]

	Cambodia portal
	Biography portal

• Modern Cambodia
• Politics of Cambodia
• People's Republic of Kampuchea

Footnotes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Harish C. Mehta and Julie B. Mehta. 1999. Hun Sen: Strongman of Cambodia. Singapore: Graham Brash Pte Ltd. ISBN 981-218-074-5
• Elizabeth Becker. 1986, 1998. When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 1-891620-00-2
• Biography of Hun Sen Cambodia New Vision ~ newsletter of cabinet of Cambodia's Prime Ministerial office

v t e Prime Ministers of Cambodia since 1970 Khmer Republic: Lon Nol | Sisowath Sirik Matak | Son Ngoc Thanh | Hang Thun Hak | In Tam | Long Boret Democratic Kampuchea: Penn Nouth | Khieu Samphan | Pol Pot People's Republic of Kampuchea: Pen Sovan | Chan Sy | Hun Sen State of Cambodia: Hun Sen | Sen-Ranariddh Coalition | Norodom Ranariddh Kingdom of Cambodia: Norodom Ranariddh | Ung Huot | Hun Sen

Michel Hazanavicius
Hazanavicius in 2011 at a premiere of The Artist in Paris
Born	(1967-03-29) 29 March 1967 (age 45) Paris
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Bérénice Bejo

Michel Hazanavicius (French pronunciation: [mi.ʃɛl a.za.na.vi.sjys]; born 29 March 1967) is a French film director, producer and screenwriter best known for his 2011 film, The Artist, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 84th Academy Awards. It also won him the Academy Award for Best Director. He also directed spy movie parodies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio.

Life and career[link]

Michel Hazanavicius was born into a Jewish family from Lithuania; his grandparents settled in France in the 1920s.^[1][2][3][4] Before directing films, Hazanavicius worked in television, beginning with the Canal+ channel, where he started as a director in 1988.^[5] He began directing commercials for companies such as Reebok and Bouygues Telecom, and then, in 1993, he made his first feature-length film, La Classe américaine, for television. The film, co-directed with Dominique Mézerette, consisted entirely of footage taken from various films produced by the Warner Bros. studio, re-edited and dubbed into French. In 1997,^[5] Hazanavicius directed his first short film, Echec au capital, and followed it up with his first theatrically released feature, Mes amis, which starred his brother, actor Serge Hazanavicius.

Seven years later, Hazanavicius wrote and directed his second feature, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a parody of 1960s spy movies and specifically of OSS 117, a popular character created by Jean Bruce in 1949. The $17.5 million film was a modest box office success, with $23 million worldwide receipts.^[6] A sequel, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, followed in 2009. Both films were later distributed in the United States by Music Box Films. The Artist, a black and white film without dialogue which takes place in Hollywood on the eve of sound film, screened in competition at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival. The Artist was later released to universal acclaim. On 24 January 2012 Hazanavicius received nominations for three Oscars: the Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Hazanavicius said winning an Oscar would be "like dreaming of going to the moon – you don't really believe it could ever happen."^[7] Hazanavicius won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Artist, at the 84th Academy Awards.^[8][9]

He contributed a section to the omnibus film The Players (Les Infidèles) starring Jean Dujardin. He has announced that his next feature film will be a remake of the 1948 Fred Zinnemann film The Search.^[10]

Hazanavicius was in a relationship with film director Virginia Lovisone, and they had two daughters together, Simone and Fantine. He is married to Bérénice Bejo, who acted in his films OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and The Artist.^[11] Hazanavicius and Bejo have two children together: Lucien and Gloria.

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

See also[link]

• List of accolades received by The Artist (film)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Michel Hazanavicius at the Internet Movie Database