ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROPERTY IN CAMBODIA

INSIDE
8 pages

THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014

Successful People Read The Post

BUsINEss PAGe 7

4000 RIEL
WOrLD PAGe 14

Burger King eyes whopping expansion

NSA can record a countrys every call

KRT trims budget by millions

Stuart White

AFTER seven years of rising costs and regular funding shortfalls, the Khmer Rouge tribunal is trimming its fiscal sails. The final 2014-2015 budget for the tribunal, approved last week, marks a substantial reduction from budgets in years past for both the national and international sides of the court. The new budget of $60.5 million represents an 11 per cent decrease from the $67.6 million allocated in 2012 and 2013, the courts two most expensive years to date. The cuts will be made primarily in the form of staff reductions on both sides of the court. Overall, the courts international side will shed 12 posts by 2015, while the courts national side will drop by more than 100, with the Office of Administration alone to eliminate 85 positions. Nonetheless, in a statement accompanying the announcement, the courts acting administration office director Tony Kranh said that he welcome[d] the endorsement of the new budget, and strongly appeal[ed] to the donor community to provide necessary financial support to the ECCC. In an email yesterday, court spokesman Neth Pheaktra said the hefty reductions, particularly on the national side, were an effort to help the court avoid incidents like the two strikes over unpaid wages last year, which cost the court weeks of productivity. The budget for the national side for 2014 is 30% less [than] 2013 due to the administrative reform and [in] response to the current need[s] of the court, Pheaktra said. This reduction is also aiming to avoid the financial problem that the national side met in the past. According to court legal communications officer Lars Olsen, the Group of Interested States that approved the latest budget is comprised of basically all the donors, and last weeks endorsement demonstrates that those holding the purse strings are Continues on page 4

Venezuelan voices
A demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in front of members of the National Guard in Caracas on Tuesday. A jailed Venezuelan opposition leader has urged supporters to continue their ght against the president. AFP

sTORY > 14

The lay of the land

May Titthara

N ONE of the largest coordinated attempts yet to force the government to intervene in the bitter land disputes that have plagued Cambodia for decades, more than 100 complaints were filed yesterday by displaced villagers in 19 provinces across the country. The mass filing was part of a national campaign supported by rights group Adhoc to pressure the authorities to address the issue of land grabs.

Bitter rows trigger mass ling

At least 26,518 hectares of land claimed by more than 11,000 families was covered by the 105 complaints, which were filed to provincial cadastral commissions, governors and courts, while one case was filed with the Apsara Authority. It is not the total amount [of disputes]. It is just a number, which is not the whole number we have [on record], said Thun Saray, president of Adhoc. Several community representatives were present at the announcement of the campaign in Phnom Penh yesterday, each speaking for several minutes of their experiences. Phuong Sorya, a representative of 474 families from Siem Reap provinces Varin district, could not hold back tears as he spoke of how a dispute with soldiers who had designs on his familys land led to gunfire and death threats.

Sorya, himself a retired soldier, said he could not understand why the government was ignoring his plight. I feel so much pain. I used my life to serve the nation as a soldier for 34 years, and after all that I cannot have a piece of land for my sacrifice, he said. He added that some land had been granted to other people in the dispute, but the real victims were ignored and accused of instigating trouble. I would like to appeal to Prime Minister [Hun Continues on page 4

ISSUE NUMBER 1889

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

National

Different stories on CNRP meet with Bishop

Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng

All quiet on the garment front

Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear Analysis

OPPOSITION leader Sam Rainsy has been meeting with a number of Australian lawmakers in recent days, asking them to urge the Australian government to support his call for reform and a new election in Cambodia. But while the Cambodia National Rescue Party leader had announced that he was set to meet Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop yesterday, he appears to have been snubbed, at least according to an Australian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, who said Rainsy instead met with the ministers parliamentary secretary. A range of issues of mutual interest were discussed, including the domestic political situation in Cambodia and Australian development assistance, the spokesperson said. But CNRP deputy public affairs head Kem Monovithya said last night that Rainsy had spoken with both Bishop and the parliamentary secretary. There are 50,000 Cambodians living in Australia they want the Australian government to pay attention to the human rights situation in the country of their ancestors, Rainsy told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Rainsy also met with Greens Party leader Christine Milne on Tuesday, who backed Rainsys call and said he was one of the strongest campaigners for democracy that you would find anywhere in the world. Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he criticised Rainsys constant appeals to the international community on Tuesday. In the circumstances of this political situation, only Khmers talking to Khmers can solve the problem, he told local news outlet CEN.

HUSH has fallen over Cambodias garment sector.With the exception of the occasional strike, life on the factory oor has in ways returned to how it was before the mass strike that turned deadly in January. The situation is much quieter than after the violence, says Ear Chheng Lim, 26, a worker at the Canadia Industrial Park, near where security forces shot dead at least four people on January 3. I have not seen any police or military police along Veng Sreng [Boulevard] this month. The situation outside the factory, actually, is normal. Except it isnt. The wage issue, which led to the deadly violence, remains unresolved, results of a government investigation into the fatal shootings remain unreleased and calls continue for 21 unionists and workers arrested to be freed. All this could be resolved overnight, said Dave Welsh, whose labour-rights organisation Solidarity Center has been meeting with the government regularly. Momentum continues in terms of fairly massive pressure and attention . . . but theres been no movement. Last week, unions postponed a stay-at-home garment strike until after the Khmer New Year, citing workers nancial concerns. While unions demanding a $160 minimum wage remain condent they will still be able to rally workers, communication between them and the government has broken down. Yang Sophorn, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions, said Ministry of Labour ofcials had met only twice with unions since Januarys violence. We met . . . but did not get any kind of result, she said, adding that unions had sought further meetings, but received no response. I expect there will be another meeting once the ILO

and other institutes intervene. Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Center, is not so sure. The [government] does not want to give credibility to the unions, he said. The main problem is that [Labour Minister Ith] Sam Heng has not informed or responded to unions that are protesting. Welsh said that in the face of the wrong type of [global] media in terms of Cambodias reputation, and despite diplomatic pressure behind closed doors, the government had launched an assault on unions and continued using government forces to scare workers. Theres been no movement on the imprisoned workers and unionists. There has been no movement on the minimum wage. A group has been commissioned . . . but there was a similar group created [last year]. Ministry of Labour spokesman Heng Sour said the government was waiting for the ILO to appoint a technical expert to help it assess wages. After [that], we will set up a time, which we expect will be in April. I do hope that after we receive that . . . we will be able to broaden the meetings to include unions. As well as feeling left out of wage talks, CATUs Sophorn said, unions had been ignored when it came to the shooting investigation. The Ministry of Labour did not invite or summons any unions for questioning over the protests or violence, she said. Brands that met with the government in Phnom Penh last month have since expressed concern over its proposed trade union law. Welsh said they needed to talk even tougher. They allude to the fact that their continued source is based on this [violence] not happening again . . . but three months in, there hasnt been much resolution, he said. They have leverage.

Garment workers ll Phnom Penhs Freedom Park during a CNRP rally in December.

HONG MENEA

A man is detained by authorities outside the Yakjin garment factory after a violent crackdown against striking garment workers in Phnom Penhs Por Sen Chey district in January. POST STAFF

Since the shootings, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia has publicly challenged the fundamental right to strike, while employers and business groups have called on Prime Minister Hun Sen to reconsider what Cambodia gets out of being a signatory to the ILOs Convention 87 on freedom of association. But Ken Loo, secretary-general of GMAC, said his association was not being confrontational.

We have never stopped speaking to the unions, he said. Loo added, however, that GMAC had no intention of talking more about the minimum wage, which stands at $100. There is no room for further negotiations. But Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said unions were waiting for promised talks with the ministry. If the issue has not been resolved by Khmer New

Year, our unions and associations that have members at about 200 factories will strike again, he said. While life might seem normal again back at her factory, Chheng Lim is not willing to accept that it cant get better. Unionists . . . have distributed letters informing me were going to strike after the New Year. I will join, because I still need a higher wage, she said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY
CHEANG SOKHA

AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY PHNOM PENH DISPOSAL OF VEHICLES

The Australian Embassy wishes to dispose of 5 duty- free motor vehicles through competitive bidding. The vehicle details are as follows:
Vehicle details Make/ Model: Year of Manufacture: Engine Capacity: Body Colour: Transmission: Mileage: 1 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 2006 4,644 CC Engine (Petrol) Silver Automatic under 80,000 Km 2 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 2006 4,477 CC Engine (Petrol) Silver Manual under 58,600 Km 3 TOYOTA CAMRY 2006 2,362 CC Engine (Petrol) Silver Automatic under 13,400 Km 4 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 2002 4,164CC Engine (Diesel) White Manual 5 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 2002 4,164CC Engine (Diesel) White Manual

Gecko Garden Pre-School is a well-established not for prot pre-school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We provide a caring, stimulating and safe learning environment that encourages children to reach their full potential in a play centred environment. We are currently recruiting for the following positions: International School Director (start July 2014) Requirements: A university degree, a background in education and leadership experience, native/uent English, knowledge of childrens developmental stages, aptitude in team management and nancial management experience. Early Years Teacher (start August 2014) Requirements: An internationally recognized university degree in education and a minimum of two years teaching experience at a pre-school. Candidates must be native English speakers, be dynamic, inspirational and highly motivated for our 3-4 year olds. This is currently a part-time position (7:15-12:00). We oer competitive employment packages based on skills and experience. For detailed job descriptions please send an e-mail to: geckogarden@gmail.com Interested candidates are invited to submit a CV and cover letter addressed to Nuala Munroe, International School Director at geckogarden@gmail. com. The deadline for applications is 12pm Friday March 28th, 2014. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

under under 145,400 Km 127,200 Km

The vehicles are available for inspection at the Embassy by appointment from Monday 17 March until Friday 21 March 2014, in the morning from 9:00 am to 11:30 am and afternoon from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm. Each vehicle will be disposed of in an as is / where is condition without warranty or recourse. The Embassy will require payment for the vehicles and either evidence of the eligibility of the purchasers to purchase duty-free vehicle or evidence of payment of duty before each vehicle will be released. Interested buyers must submit their bids before 4:15 pm on Friday 21 March 2014, in a sealed envelope into a tender box. The successful bidders for each vehicle will be advised on Tuesday 25 March 2014. The Australian Embassy reserves the right to accept or decline any or all bids. Successful bidders are expected to provide all payment and documentations to enable the vehicles to be collected by Wednesday 26 March 2014. Any further queries, please contact 012 452 880.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Factory strike

Wing Star workers hit the road

The protester clause

Meas Sokchea

BOUT 5,000 workers yesterday blocked a national road outside the Wing Star Shoes factory, an Asics supplier in Kampong Speu, as a strike calling for improved working conditions continued to rage on. Employees walked off the job on Friday with 10 demands, including an additional $10 per month for lunch and transportation, but after two failed negotiations, the most recent on Tuesday, strikers moved to block National Road 3, said Chek Borin, labour bureau chief at the provincial labour department. We negotiated on Tuesday and the company agreed with seven points out of the 10 but workers refused and they continued striking by blocking the road, Borin said. Bin Srey Mom, a Free Trade Union representative, said that workers would continue to block the road today if a deal wasnt reached. If we do not do that, we will not get a resolution, she said. Wing Star bosses could not be reached. MOM KUNTHEAR

MAJORITY government-owned life insurance company has stopped paying out benets to policy holders who die at protests and demonstrations, the company conrmed yesterday. The Cambodian Life Insurance Company 51 per cent owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 49 per cent owned by Thai, Indonesian and Hong Kong insurance rms lists demonstrations as one of ve exclusions where benets will not be paid, according to policy documents obtained by the Post. Prim Somony, a senior ofcial at Cambodian Lifes training department, conrmed yesterday that the company will not pay compensation to any policy holder who dies at a demonstration due to the level of risk involved. While the company added the exclusion in 2013, he could not conrm whether this occurred before or after a bystander was killed at the Kbal Thnal yover in September during clashes between irate motorists and security forces at a roadblock set up in order to block oppo-

sition party demonstrators. That death was the rst of at least six protest-related fatalities between September and early January, but Somony denied that the exclusion had anything to do with the current political climate. The conditions which we have created [for our policies] are not related to the current political situation ... They were created because we limit the threshold of risk. Life insurance companies work with human risk, he said.

have since joined the market. Manulife Cambodias CEO and managing director Robert Elliot yesterday said that if death occurred through a demonstration, we would pay out the basic death benet. Prudential has declined to comment. Other exclusions listed in Cambodia Lifes policy include suicide committed during the rst two years, murder, death suffered while committing a crime and death from HIV/ AIDS.

National Two cops on trial for teens alleged shooting

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

We have had demonstrations [in Cambodia] since a long time ago, not just recently
If [a policy holder] takes many risks, we cannot guarantee [compensation]. It does not mean that we have seen demonstrations taking place so we added this [exclusion]. We have had demonstrations [in Cambodia] since a long time ago, not just recently. Life insurance in Cambodia is a relatively new industry. Cambodia Life became the rst company to offer policies in early 2012, with Manulife Financial and Prudential being the only major rms to According to the company, all premiums paid would be reimbursed to the policy holders family if he or she died in any of the excluded circumstances. Preap Kol, executive director at Transparency International Cambodia, said the demonstration exclusion was indicative of the state of freedom of assembly. It proves that Cambodia has a lot of violent [crackdowns] at demonstrations, he said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY
KEVIN PONNIAH

TWO former Phnom Penh police ofcers were tried in absentia yesterday for the attempted murder of a 17-yearold boy, some nine years after the alleged act. Around midnight on February 14, 2005, ofcers Tin Domann 52, and Kim Vuthy 35, were patrolling the Chraing Chamreh II commune in Russey Keo district, according to Kor Vandy, presiding judge of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. The two ofcers, armed with AK-47 ries, encountered two boys Chea Hosann, 17, and his younger brother Chea Sary, 12 walking home from a Chinese New Year party. When they saw the two victims walking at midnight, they pointed their guns at them and ordered them to stop and lie on the ground, Vandy said. But because the two victims did not lie on the ground as they were ordered, [the ofcers] red three bullets into the ground nearby the [boys] feet. One of the bullets hit Chea Hosanns left leg, causing him serious injury. The boys were arrested and

taken to the station for questioning until their parents came and brought the injured boy to a hospital. The suspended ofcers were charged with attempted murder in 2005, and the case was brought to trial yesterday after a long negotiation process stalled. The family is demanding $10,000 in compensation. Defence lawyer Mon Vimean Champa said her clients received a complaint on the night of the incident that 15 youths were making trouble at a dance party in Chraing Chamreh II commune. The ofcers rode to the area to respond to the complaint. The reason my clients stopped the [boys] and ordered them to lie on the ground was to check whether they had weapons, because they were suspected to be a part of the group provoking trouble, she said. My clients did this just to fulll their duties and provide security and safety to the people in the commune ... Therefore, I would like to ask the court to drop charges against them, she added. A verdict will be read on April 12.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

National
Khmer Rouge tribunal cuts budget by millions
Continued from page 1

Bitter land rows trigger mass ling

Continued from page 1

Sen] to kindly give good advice to the soldiers and not to use excessive violations of our rights, he said. Soryas story differed only in the finer details from other speakers. Kuy Srey Mao, representing villagers from Pursats Veal Veng district who are entrenched in a land dispute with tycoon Try Pheaps MDS Group, said her husband, a soldier, was taken to court by MDS after the company forcibly took his land. I would like ... Hun Sen to recognise the soldiers families who sacrifice for the nation. My husband has worked his whole life, and we just have a little, but it has been seized. We are facing court, it is also very unjust, she said. Adhocs Saray said the rights group would continue to keep a close eye on the cases, to see if the government acts on the complaints. We will continue monitoring whether or not the government pays attention to settle the disputes. It cannot just pay lip service to [these issues], but

Phuong Sorya (left), a representative for 474 families in Siem Reap province, speaks during a land dispute forum at an ADHOC ofce in Phnom Penh yesterday. VIREAK MAI

must enact deep reform, he said. The cases that drag on till today are all related to the governments high-ranking officials. Does the government want to get its popularity from a handful of people or from a majority of people? I strongly believe that in order to not affect [the CPPs] popularity, [Hun Sen] should

pay attention to these matters from now on, he added. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the power to deal with complaints over land-grabbing lies not with the ruling party but with the judiciary. If any situation is not settled, people can file [a complaint] to the court. I believe the courts will

act and can find out who is right and who is wrong, he said. A moratorium was imposed by Hun Sen on new economic land concessions in May 2012, but earlier this month, the government announced it would repackage existing ELCs it considered unused and sell the leases to foreign investors anew.

comfortable with the budget. Indeed, the United States, one of the courts largest donors, said yesterday that it was in favour of the courts efforts to trim its nancial requirements. The United States supports the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts in Cambodias (ECCC) efforts to streamline its operations and use resources more efciently, US embassy spokesman Sean McIntosh said in an email yesterday. We continue to support the mandate of the ECCC to bring justice to the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge and those most responsible for the atrocities of that era. However, Cambodia Justice Initiative program ofcer Panhavuth Long said yesterday that while the cuts were good news, the court needed to strike while the iron was hot. The judges need to use this as an opportunity to regain the momentum [among donors], he said. At the same time, Long warned against sacricing efciency in the interest of a leaner budget, expressing concerns that deep stafng cuts could affect the courts ability to push

ahead as it transitions into the second segment of Case 002, and theoretically further, into Cases 003 and 004. According to the budget document, the courts pre-trial chamber will lose two staffers, and the courts Ofce of the Co-Investigating Judges, which has been quietly continuing its examination of the controversial government-opposed Cases 003 and 004, will lose four. The court has been operat-

The court has been operating for seven years, so I think that it is time that the court scales down ...
ing for seven years, so I think that it is time that the court scales down the staff, or scale down some chambers or sections. I think this is normal, Long said, noting the courts ad hoc nature. But its also worrying whether the cuts are affecting the ability of the trial chamber to continue Case 002 or not, and second, whether the cuts are also affecting the ofce of the co-investigators, he said. As you know, Case 003 and 004 are still under investigation.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

National Bail request for Pov as union seeks property

Chhay Channyda Stuart White Analysis

ICC case may have a chance

HILE the government yesterday brushed off attempts by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to bring a case against it to the International Criminal Court as a joke, international legal experts said that, legally speaking, the odds might not be so long after all. Cambodia is under the ICCs jurisdiction as a signatory to the Rome Statute, and Richard Rogers, the lead investigator commissioned by the CNRP , has said that his complaint will deal with Cambodias widespread and often-violent forced evictions acts that could constitute crimes against humanity under the ICCs articles if they are deemed grave enough. If domestic courts are incapable of addressing the issues a long-standing criticism of Cambodias judiciary then Mr Rogers might have a chance, said Dr Harmen van der Wilt, a professor of international law at the University of Amsterdam. Cambodia is a state party to the Rome Statute, so the major jurisdictional hurdle is overcome, van der Wilt said in an email yesterday, noting that the evictions would arguably qualify as crimes against humanity. As long as the government itself does not take any action [to investigate alleged abuses], the admissibility issue does not arise, he added. Furthermore, the oppositions stated aim of trying Prime Minister Hun Sen isnt out of the question either, van der Wilt continued, citing the ICC arrest warrant issued against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. International attorney Michael Karnavas a former defence counsel at the Khmer Rouge tribunal said in a lecture on the possible politicisation of the ICC at Brown University last month that while the

A UNION leader among 21 workers and activists arrested in January demonstrations will appear in the Court of Appeal to argue for bail next week, despite the same court denying his request last month. Vorn Pov, president of Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), and a defence attorney from the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC)

Tuk-tuk drivers in my association and I would like to get back our property
will make Povs case at the Appeal Court on Monday. The hearing comes the same day as a scheduled appearance by IDEAs acting president, who is requesting the government return property conscated during the January protest at the Yakjin garment factory a request already denied at the municipal level. Tuk-tuk drivers in my association and I would like to get back our property, because Phnom Penh Municipal Court said we lack evidence to get it, IDEA acting president Sok Chhun Oeung said yesterday. Possessions seized during the crackdown include two tuk-tuks, a pair of microphones, an amplier, a battery, several mobile phones and cash, Chhun Oeung said.

IDEAs request for the return of its possessions comes after a Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge last week closed the investigative phase of the case, said Ham Sunrith of the Community Legal Education Center one of the organisations providing legal defence. Charges of intentional damage, violence and trafc law violations stem from demonstrations supporting a nationwide garment strike at Yakjin and on Veng Sreng Boulevard on January 2 and 3, respectively. Authorities shot dead at least four people on January 3 and arrested 23 people between the two demonstrations, 21 of whom remain detained. An appeal to the Supreme Court is pending after a February 11 Appeal Court denial of bail for the 21 defendants still behind bars, Sunrith said. Pov is part of that group, but is also represented individually by a separate attorney as an individual, Chhun Oeung said. His individual request for bail was denied in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on January 24. Prak Sovannary, Povs wife, yesterday said she hoped Pov would be allowed to physically appear in court, unlike last months appeal. ADDITIONAL
REPORTING BY SEAN TEEHAN

A soldier speaks to villagers being evicted from Kratie provinces Chhlong district in 2012, the site where a vicious land dispute had been occurring. HENG CHIVOAN

www.phnompenhpost.com
cHEck THE POsT WEBsITE FOr BrEakING NEWs

CNRPs complaint may have strong legal footing, it was nonetheless an obvious attempt to use the court for political gains. Since the courts in Cambodia have been deemed in the past to be neither fair nor impartial, and since the likelihood of an objective investigation and prosecution by the national authorities is rather remote, there is a strong case for ICC intervention, provided of course the gravity test is met, he said in an advance summary copy of his remarks provided to the Post. However, despite the fact that the [Cambodian] institutions which are responsible for ensuring the rule of law are substandard, even on a good day, Karnavas called the CNRPs attempt to le a complaint to the ICC a pretext to score politically against the [ruling] CPP. Multiple representatives of the CNRP could not be reached for comment yes-

terday. Without speculating on the complaints chances of acceptance, Karnavas went on to argue that the court should consider enacting measures to combat or at least limit abusive attempts to drag the ICC into the sordid quagmire of domestic politics. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan agreed that the CNRPs move was a political ploy. They try to manipulate the political situation, he said. Thats what they want to earn from that action. Siphan went on to argue that the ICC did not automatically have jurisdiction in the matter simply because Cambodian courts have aws. Were not a failed state, he said. We accept that we have some aws, we accept that we have some not-up-to-date laws, but we are a nation.

Tonle Sap Lake sheries a Inghting at garment union concern for dam project
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear Laignee Barron

ALREADY under attack by overfishing, pollution and deforestation, Tonle Sap Lake fisheries face an even bigger threat in the form of hydropower dams, according to experts. Laos planned Don Sahong Hydropower Project in particular has environmentalists fearing an emptier, less bio-diverse lake, and a nation pitched into protein shortages. [The Don Sahong] is of particular concern because it will obstruct the only fish migration channel available at Khone Falls in the dry season, said Eric Baran, director of the World Fish Centres Greater Mekong Office. At least 32 fish species are known to migrate between the Tonle Sap Lake and the Upper Mekong through the Khone Falls, just north of the LaosCambodian Border where the Don Sahong would be built, according to fish experts. I view it like a declaration of war by Laos on Cambodia and Vietnam, said ecologist Taber Hand. The impact of reducing fisheries and sediment flow is more subtle than most acts of war but it has the same or greater . . . effect on national security. Millions of people rely on fish from Cambodias great lake as a

A part of the Mekong River where the proposed Don Sahong dam project would be constructed in southern Laos. Rivers INternational

TWO founding members of Cambodias largest independent garment worker union say they were forced out of their jobs for investigating corruption. Members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), media outlets and several labour rights organisations received a letter dated March 14 and signed by Um Visal and Roeun Chanthorn, denying claims that the two refused to renew their employment contract. We totally reject the letter [C.CAWDU secretary general) Ek Sopheakdey sent on March 7, saying we left because we did not sign our employment

contract, the letter reads. Visal alleges the two were fired because they met with C.CAWDU members at EGarment Co and told them the union owed them more money in back-pay than they received following the resolution of a dispute. Workers involved in the monetary dispute with C.CAWDU have filed a complaint in Phnom Penh Municipal Court against union president Ath Thorn, vicepresident Kong Athit and Sopheakdey, said Doung Tola, a C.CAWDU representative at EGarment, alleging they embezzled nearly $93,000. Athit last week denied the embezzlement allegation, and said Visals claims stem from internal politics.

Everybody has their own contract . . . he refused to re-sign the contract, Athit said. Its about [Visal] waiting for an opportunity to destroy C.CAWDU leadership; he wants to be a leader. But Visals letter denies this, saying his and Chanthorns contracts did not have a fixed duration, since they had worked for C.CAWDU since its founding. Article 67 of Cambodias labour law says employers can only keep employees on fixedduration contracts for up to two years. Dave Welsh of Solidarity Center said current C.CAWDU infighting comes amid a political climate that calls for unity among garment workers.

source of income and food security. Scientists estimate between 60-70 per cent of the nations fish catches come from the lake, providing Cambodians main source of protein and omega-3 fats. One hundred per cent of the Cambodian population eats fish. We have no alternatives to completely replace fish as a source of protein right now, said Meach Mean, director of the 3S Rivers Protection Network. Dam opponents have gone so far as to say deleterious impacts on Tonle Sap Lake fisheries would mean several steps backwards in alleviating the nations poverty and malnutrition rates.

No dams should be built until Cambodians food security can be guaranteed, said Tek Vannara, executive director of NGO Forum. But Don Sahong proponents maintain that if alternative fish migration routes fail, the project could be halted. The Don Sahong dam is a very expensive project. I dont believe for a minute that the dam would be stopped after such an investment if it turned out that impacts on fish migrations could not be mitigated appropriately, said Ian Baird, a professor and fisheries expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Pepsi to buy only clean sugar

Alice Cuddy

SOFT-DRINKS giant PepsiCo has pledged to take a zero-tolerance approach to land grabs by its sugar suppliers. In a statement posted on the companys website on Tuesday, it said the move came in response to a campaign by Oxfam, which targeted Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The pledge follows a similar commitment by Coca-Cola last year and comes in response to a campaign by development group Oxfam that is pushing top food and drink companies to improve ethical standards among suppliers in poor countries, the statement reads.

Eang Vuthy, executive director of Equitable Cambodia, said yesterday the announcement was a first step, adding that he hoped Pepsi would follow Coca-Cola in making country visits to assess the situation. I think its really important that big companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi show their commitment to ending land grabbing because of sugar . . . they need to carry out assessments to ensure theyre not involved in [environmental] and human rights abuses, he said. PepsiCo did not respond to an emailed request from a Post reporter for comment yesterday.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

National

In brief
A TRIO of boys chasing a snake stumbled upon a cache of 15 bronze Buddhist statues in Kampong Chams Kang Meas district on Friday. The items have since been handed over to local police. The teenage boys had been scrambling around the trees after the snake when they spied in the bushes a red handkerchief, which was wrapped around the statues. They divided the loot, but the statues were handed over to police when a mother of one of the boys discovered their find. Kang Meas district deputy police chief Sen Sandy said he reported the findings to the Ministry of Interior, but found they were not the relics stolen from Wat Ounalom earlier this month. KHOUN LEakHaNa

Young snake catchers stumble upon rare find

POLICE BLOTTER
Lesson learned: cops not for street fighting
RIVAL gangs in Phnom Penh discovered the meaning of messing with the wrong man on Tuesday when a police officer got caught up in their street fight. The groups attracted the attention of an on-duty officer while brawling outside a night club in Sen Sok district. But rather than wrapping up their dispute, the gangs turned their attention to the officer. The six men learnt of their error when a gang of police arrived to defend their colleague, arresting them all. KOH SaNtEpHEap

Victims lies see him with tail between legs

JAPAN is gifting more than $10 million to the expansion of the capitals National Maternal and Child Health Center (NMCHC), Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday. The Kingdoms relationship with Japan has been developing day to day, Kuong said. Cambodia has among the worst maternal mortality rates in the region. At 250 women dying per 100,000 live births according to the 2013 State of the World Report, the number is nearly double the Kingdoms 2015 Millennium Development Goal. Japanese embassy counsellor Takayoshi Kuromiya and Tung Rathavy, director of the NMCHC, could not be reached for comment. AMELIA WOODSIDE

Japan donates $10m to maternal health centre

Complaints in writing
Borei Keila community activists hold handwritten signs as they protest in front of Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. Protesters were demanding justice for members of their community who were injured during a crackdown at Borei Keila in February. HONG MENEA

Report no partnership: ILO

Post Staff

A 27-YEAR-OLD man was left red-faced this week when the web of lies he spun to police untangled. The man told police in Phnom Penhs Dangkor district that his car had been snatched. But when police investigated they discovered that after losing money gambling, the man had sold the car. He pretended the car had been stolen to hide his bad behaviour from his wife. But after confessing to police, he was left with no choice but to come clean to her.
KOH SaNtEpHEap

HE International Labour Organization (ILO) urged the government in a recent report to do more to protect trade unions, while at the same time teaming up with a local business lobby group that released a report last week calling for their dismantling. In a report released last month based on the ndings of legal experts who examined the

application of ILO conventions in the region, the organisation urged the government to take all the necessary measures, in the very near future, to ensure that trade union rights of workers are fully respected and that trade unionists are able to engage in their activities in a climate free of intimidation and risk. At a press conference last week, CAMFEBA president Van Sou Ieng said that having 3,000 trade unions for 600 factories

was freedom of association to the extreme. When asked about the relationship between CAMFEBA and the ILO which have recently been at odds over the fundamental right to strike ILO senior specialist on employers activities Gary Rynhart said CAMFEBAs report was very much a joint effort, it was a partnership ... over the last 18 months. But yesterday the ILOs Decent Work team regional direc-

tor Maurizio Bussi said the ILO doesnt make any endorsement of the CAMFEBA report. We didnt work together ... On the basis of [ILO-collected information], CAMFEBA independently presented [its report]. In its report, the ILO notes that freedom of association can only be exercised in a climate that is free from violence, pressure or threats of any kind against leaders and members of workers organizations.

Armed moto-jackers put safety first for once

IT WAS daylight robbery in Phnom Penh on Tuesday when a pair of thieves, who felt no need to work under the cloak of darkness, robbed a female driver of her moto. The 18-year-old victim was driving to her home in Chamkarmon district for a spot of lunch when she was stopped by two men riding a moto and brandishing a gun. It appeared to be safety first for the thieves who both wore helmets and ordered the woman to carefully park her bike so they could drive off with it themselves. Police are still hunting for the pair. KOH SaNtEpHEap

Party pooper nabs motorcycle of friend

A MAN was arrested in Banteay Meanchey province on Tuesday for selling his so-called friends moto. After a party in Poipet district, the 30-year-old suspect asked to borrow his unsuspecting friends motorbike, claiming he needed to visit his wife, who he said was in hospital. But with calls unanswered and no sign of the moto for days, police were called in to find the man. When police came knocking on his door, he confessed. While most friends settle their disputes themselves, this one is now set for the courtroom. DEUm April

Jewellery thieves avoid the smash and grab

TWO jewellery thieves in Kratie bypassed the traditional smashand-grab heist on Tuesday, opting instead to grab the goods from an unsuspecting customer. A 32-year-old man was driving home after splashing out on a new necklace when the two thieves appeared. They grabbed the necklace, causing him to fall off his bike. With the victim injured on the ground, the criminals were free to make off with the pricey purchase themselves.
KampUcHEa THmEy

Translated by Sen David

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Business
Indicative Exchange Rates as of 19/3/2014. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates.

USD / KHR

EUR / USD

AUD / USD

NZD / USD

GBP / USD

USD /CNY

USD / JPY

USD / HKD

USD / SGD

USD / THB

3,995

1.3923

0.9114

0.8599

1.6593

6.2011

101.56

7.7655

1.265

32.13

Burger King chain to expand

Eddie Morton

URGER King will launch another three restaurants in Cambodia by the end of the year, according to a company ofcial, in a move that will bolster the fast food chains share of a market dominated by Kentucky Fried Chicken. Somach Sovary, support manager for Burger King Cambodia, said in addition to opening a store inside the soon-to-be-completed Aeon Mall on Phnom Penhs Sothearos Boulevard next to the Sotel, the company also has location plans for tourist hubs Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. Aeon Mall is on track to open in June, while the remaining two restaurants are expected to be up and running before the year is out, though Sovary did not give an exact timetable. Vietnamese rm Imex PanPacic Group Inc (IPP) runs the Cambodian Burger King venture with local company HSC, which is owned by businessman Sok Hong. The announcement comes two months after Burger King in Cambodia opened its second outlet in Phnom Penh's Boeung Keng Kang I commune. According to Sovary, the public response to the centrally-located restaurant on Street 51 has out-performed all expectations. Over the rst two months . . . we see sales increase by more than 90 per cent, Sovary said, adding that on an average day, the new restaurant sells up to 500 burgers. "The Whopper is our most popular. Global fast food chains have taken off in larger Southeast Asian countries, but Cambodia and some of its neighbours are still lagging behind. The Yum! Brands' Kentucky Fried Chicken stores in Phnom Penh owned by Malaysian-born franchisee Benjamin Jerome under the company name Kampuchea Food Corporation now number at least 10 restaurants after rst arriving in Cambodia in 2008. More recently, the worlds largest fast-food restaurant

Chinese to offer smog insurance to travellers

CHINESE companies have offered up a fresh idea to help pollution-weary travellers while cashing in on public concerns over dirty air at the same time: smog insurance. The country's top online travel agency Ctrip.com and the leading insurer Ping An have "started to sell haze travel insurance", the state-run China Daily reported. The fresh idea comes as popular frustration mounts over the dense smog that frequently cloaks wide swathes of the country, prompting national leaders to confront the issue after years of downplaying it. In the insurance scheme, in exchange for premiums of 10 to 15 yuan ($1.60 to $2.40), Ctrip and Ping An have promised to cough up as much as 50 yuan a day to travellers subjected to hazardous skies. Terms and conditions apply. For example, the tourist must have booked a tour through Ctrip lasting three to seven days. The insurance so far only covers six major cities, where standards vary. In Beijing and Xian, a popular tourist site home to the ancient Terracotta Warriors, the air pollution index will have to top 200 on a specific mobile phone app. In the northeastern city of Harbin and in Chengdu in the southwest the minimum index is 150, and for Shanghai and the southern city of Guangzhou, 100. Air quality readings in those cities frequently exceed those figures. But despite the seemingly favourable odds, a few frequent travellers were not holding their breath. "The premium does not go directly to tackle the heavily polluted air. I would like the money to be put to better use," Tian Yiyi, a sales representative, told the China Daily. Qian Yigang, a technician, told the paper no amount of compensation would suffice. "People travel around for fun," he said. "If their mood is upset by poor atmospheric conditions, it cannot be rewound or fixed by money." AFP

Burger Kings staff serve customers during the opening day of their new store in Phnom Penh in January.

HONG MENEA

chain, McDonald's, opened its rst outlet in neighbouring Vietnam. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the new Vietnam McDonalds had served more than 400,000 customers in the rst month and more than 22,500 in the rst 24 hours of business. During business hours at Phnom Penh's Street 51 Burger King, Sovary says students ll the new restaurant, while at night, families dine out. Running out of supplies can be an issue, Sovary said. Trucks en route from Vietnam where the restaurant receives the majority of its meat, vegetables and other produce can get delayed at the border. We almost never run out. When we do, it is on the popular items, she said. The new restaurants success, however, has leveled out numbers elsewhere. The agship store, which is located at the Phnom Penh Interna-

tional Airport and opened just over a year ago, has seen deated sales gures over the past two months. People who used to drive from the city to our airport restaurant no longer need to. So the restaurant is now surviving only on traveller trafc, Sovary said. At the store yesterday, uni-

spending between $7.50 and $10 each visit. I come here a lot," he said. "Its close to home, it tastes good and its a comfortable place for young people to hang out." He added that he would like to see more western fast food chains open in Cambodia, naming McDonalds and Piz-

People who used to drive from the city to our airport restaurant no longer need to
versity students were still ltering in after the lunch-time rush. The main dining oor was packed with customers while others stood waiting for takeaway orders. Tun Kimmeng, a 21-yearold university student, eats at the new Burger King at least twice a week, both with his school friends and his family, za Hut as preferred choices. McDonalds did not reply to requests for comment on whether they plan on establishing a foothold in the Kingdom. Van Porleng, president of the Cambodian Restaurant Association and owner of Vans, a high-end French restaurant, said despite the calo-

rie count, Cambodians are ready and willing to receive international fast food chains such as McDonalds due to their accessibility and price. "If McDonalds does eventually come, the public will have more choice, she said, adding that she doubted such a large rm would venture into Cambodias comparatively small fast-food market. The potential onslaught of fast-food chains does not concern the CRA president. It is the existing state of Cambodias culinary industry, which Porleng says largely goes unregulated, that needs attention. If we are talking about more competition, well Cambodia is already affected. There is already an oversupply of food and beverage venues, which need proper licensing and registration guidelines in order to rein them in and promote longevity and hygiene, Porleng said.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCh 20, 2014

Business
Happy meals

IETNAMS central bank is stepping up efforts to resolve soured loans and create favourable conditions for foreign investors as it draws up regulation to auction bad-debt assets at lenders. The State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Justice are trying to quickly complete legislation that will be a crucial legal basis for a governmentbacked asset management company, lenders and investors to buy and sell bad-debt assets and collateral at banks, Governor Nguyen Van Binh said on Tuesday in emailed responses to Bloomberg News. Vietnams government set up the asset-management company, known as VAMC, last July, and allowed foreign investors to take bigger stakes in the nations lenders earlier this year. The nations gross domestic product is forecast to rise 5.8 per cent in 2014, a seventh straight year of growth below 7 per cent as the highest level of bad debt among Southeast Asias biggest economies curbs lending and hurts businesses. The government and the central bank encourage and want to create favourable conditions for foreign investors to participate in the sale and purchase of bad debt, Binh said. The monetary authority and nance ministry will also soon create a legal framework to establish a regulated market to trade bad debt in Vietnam,

Vietnam to sell debt assets V

A customer at Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, or Vietcombank, counts dong bank notes prior to making a deposit in Hanoi. BLOOMBerg

Binh said, without giving a timeframe. The dong was little changed at 21,100 per dollar as of 9:44am local time yesterday, according to data from banks compiled by Bloomberg. The currency dropped 1.2 per cent last year, compared with declines of 6.7 per cent in the Thai baht, 7.6 per cent in the Philippine peso and 19.5 per cent in Indonesias rupiah. The benchmark VN Index (VNINDEX) rose 0.4 per cent as of 9:45am, heading for its highest close since October 2009. The VN Index has gained

19 per cent this year, the biggest advance in Asia. The central bank lowered its renance rate to 6.5 per cent from 7 per cent and the discount rate to 4.5 per cent from 5 per cent, effective on Tuesday. The repurchase rate was also reduced to 5 per cent from 5.5 per cent. The cuts were aimed at spurring credit growth and helping businesses, it said. Lending dropped 1.05 per cent as of March 13 from the end of 2013, according to the central bank. The government targets credit growth of 12 per cent to 14 per cent this year, and

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the monetary authority to step up measures to lower lending rates last month. Moodys Investors Service estimated bad debt at Vietnamese banks comprised at least 15 per cent of total assets in a note last month. The central bank disputed the assessment, saying non-performing loans in the banking system had dropped to 3.63 per cent at the end of 2013. The VAMC bought 39.3 trillion dong ($1.9 billion) worth of bad debt from 35 banks as of the end of 2013 and will accelerate purchasing and resolving loans

and collateral in the next few years, Binh said. The governor had said in December the entity may purchase as much as 150 trillion dong of non-performing loans by the end of 2014. In the case of borrowers who dont have the ability to revive their businesses or pay back their loans, the VAMC will sell their debt and collateral, Binh said. The VAMC will also consider buying bad debt at market value when conditions mature, he added. There is growing interest in a market for the bad debt as Vietnams macroeconomic picture improves, said Tony Diep, Hanoi-based managing director at Indochina Capital, a fund manager and property developer. There is more appetite now than there was before, given the stability of the currency, Diep said. Investors are more comfortable with the macro picture. If the government uses that money to invest in infrastructure growth, investors would like that. Vietnams central bank will weaken the dong when truly needed as pressure on the currency will be eased by a balance of payments surplus this year, Binh said. Increases in remittances, exports and foreign investment will support a surplus, he said. The monetary authority reiterated it wont allow the dong to strengthen or weaken more than 2 per cent against the dollar this year. BLOOMBERG

In Vietnam, McDonalds all the rage

CDONALDS Corps rst Vietnamese branch served more than 400,000 customers in its rst month of business, according to the companys local partner in the Southeast Asian nation. The first outlet in Vietnam of the worlds largest restaurant chain opened on February 8 in Ho Chi Minh City. About 22,500 customers were served during the first 24 hours of operation, said Henry Nguyen, owner of Good Day Hospitality, which operates the McDonalds franchise in Vietnam. The first months number of customers served exceeded even what we thought were pretty high expectations, Nguyen said at an investment conference yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City, without giving a figure for initial targets. The restaurant sold 61,980 Big Macs in its first 30 days of business, Nguyen said. The second outlet in the country also will be in Ho Chi Minh City. US fast-food restaurants that have opened in Vietnam since 2010 include Burger King Worldwide Inc, CKE Incs Carls Jr, Dominos Pizza Inc, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc and Subway. Yum! Brands Incs KFC has been there since 1997. BLOOMBERG

Thai central bank says bitcoin risks are many

Pathong Sangwongwanich

Bangladeshi unions aim at Primark

BANGLADESH unions on Tuesday criticised British retailer Primark for offering compensation to fewer than a quarter of the victims of the countrys worst textile disaster. Primark was one of more than two dozen Western retailers who had orders at the Rana Plaza factory complex that collapsed on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka in April last year, killing 1,135 workers and injuring more than 1,500. Primark announced on Monday it would start paying out $9 million this week to the families of 580 dead or injured workers who worked for its supplier New Wave Bottoms, one of the five factories based at the Plaza. The payments being arranged through Primarks local partners will be met in full, in cash, it said, adding that it would contribute another $1 million to a UNbacked fund which aims to raise $40 million to compensate all the families of dead and injured workers. While New Wave Bottom workers welcomed the compensation, Bangladeshi unions and manufacturers on Tuesday criticised Primarks unilateral move, saying it could sow discord and spark protests. Roy Ramesh, head of the Bangladesh chapter of global labour group IndustriaALL, said the retailers plan to compensate workers without going through the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other agencies meant hundreds of other victims would receive nothing. It should have contributed to the ILO-chaired fund to ensure that all the victims and their families had their share, Ramesh said. Not only the ILO, Primark is also bypassing the government, the garment manufacturers association and the labour unions, although the retailer itself is a part of the ILO-

THE Bank of Thailand has issued a warning against buying virtual currencies including the bitcoin, saying they are not legal tender in the country. Users risk not being protected in case of fraud or having the digital currency rejected as payment for goods, the central bank said in a statement. Tracking the virtual moneys transfer could be difcult in cases where evidence is needed for any legal action. It is different from real money transfers through commercial banks or regulated money transfer service providers that have track records, it said. The Bank of Thailands alert came after central banks and regulators around the world ratcheted up warnings about the bitcoin in recent months. Consumer interest in the bitcoin grew when online retailer Overstock.com Inc announced in January that it would accept the currency for purchases. However, its price has been bumpy since the Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, once the worlds dominant exchange for the virtual currency, led for bankruptcy in Japan late last month, blaming hackers for the loss of 850,000 bitcoins worth more than $550 million.

A smaller Canadian exchange also closed, saying hackers had stolen all its bitcoins. The apparent suicide of a young Singaporean chief executive after suspected involvement with bitcoin investment further tarnished the virtual currency. In Thailand, Bitcoin Co resumed trading and selling in Thailand last month after a recent letter from the Bank of Thailand stated that Thai law did not govern the digital currency. The central banks latest statement also warned that holders of the virtual money risk massive losses as its price is changing rapidly and is not linked to the countrys economic fundamentals. The bitcoins exchange rate is dictated by users and the currency will become worthless if no one wants to trade it any more. Moreover, users risk their money being stolen by hackers as their track record evidence and data are available only in a computer system, the statement said. Bank of Thailand spokeswoman Roong Mallikamas said the central bank is monitoring the virtual currencys trading situation in Thailand and it will coordinate with related agencies in case any suspected illegal actions crop up.
BANGKOK POST

Protesters hold posters as they demonstrate outside a Primark retail shop in central London in 2013 to demand the company take responsibility for the collapse of a building in Bangladesh, which housed garment workers making clothes for Primark. AFp

chaired initiative, he said. Primark, which is the first company to finalise compensation arrangements, believes it only has a responsibility to those workers who were stitching its clothes, not to everyone in Rana Plaza. Kalpona Akter, head of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, said the separate initiative might create problems for the whole compensation campaign. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association spokesman Shahidullah Azim also weighed in, saying families of all the deceased and injured workers should have their share in any compensation package. While the Rana Plaza tragedy shed

unprecedented light on the poor safety conditions and wages in the worlds second-largest garment industry after China, Bangladesh authorities and Western retailers have yet to come up with a formula to compensate the victims. Since the disaster nearly 200 Western retailers from Europe and America have formed two umbrella groups to launch safety inspections in the countrys 3,500 garment factories, but only a few have committed to compensate the workers. Last week local and international labour and rights groups urged the 27 brands linked to the doomed Rana Plaza factories to contribute to the ILO-backed fund before the first anniversary of the tragedy on April 24. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Markets Business

Toyota reaches $1.2 bln defect probe settlement

Patricia Hurtado, Del Quentin Wilber and Craig Trudell

ToyotA Motor Corp has reached a $1.2 billion settlement to end a US criminal probe of sudden unintended acceleration that led to the recall of more than 10 million vehicles, two people familiar with the matter said. The settlement, which wasnt final at the time of print, would be announced shortly, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the accord isnt public. The probe examined whether Toyota made false or incomplete disclosures to regulators about defects in its cars, and how it handled drivers complaints, said a third person, who also asked not to be identified. The recalls blemished Toyotas reputation for quality that spurred its rise to become the worlds top-selling automaker, a title the company relinquished for one year to General Motors Co. A settlement would put Toyota a step closer to resolving legal fallout of those recalls as GM faces probes into how it handled defective ignition switches blamed for at least 12 deaths. Its a big number to pay and yet Toyotas also a company that can most easily digest that kind of a number and move forward, Karl Brauer, an analyst at vehicle researcher Kelley Blue Book, said. US regulators and officials, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations New York office, are probing GM after

the recall of 1.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts and other smallcar models because of faulty ignition switches the company said were linked to a dozen fatalities. On March 17, GM said that it was recalling 1.55 million vans, sedans and sport utility vehicles, citing concerns over the functionality of brakes, seat belts and air bags. Jerika Richardson, a spokeswoman for Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, declined to comment on the Toyota settlement. Kelly Langmesser, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New York, declined to comment on it. Toyota has cooperated with the US Attorneys office in this matter for more than four years, Steve Curtis, a Toyota spokesman, said in an emailed statement. During that time, we have made fundamental changes to become a more responsive and customer-focused organisation, and we are committed to continued improvements. Curtis declined to comment on a possible settlement, which was reported earlier on cable news. Toyota recalled more than 10 million vehicles worldwide in 2009 and 2010 following complaints of sudden, unintended acceleration. The Toyota City, Japanbased company made modifications to gas pedals and floor mats that were prone to shifting around and jamming the accelerator. Toyota also installed brake override software on recalled models and began making the

systems standard on new vehicles. In addition to the criminal probe by the Manhattan US Attorneys office and the New York office of the FBI, Toyotas recalls also led to lawsuits claiming defects harmed the value of Toyota vehicles or caused accidents leading to death and injury. Toyota settled lawsuits brought by car owners who claimed economic losses for about $1.6 billion. Toyota fell 0.8 per cent to 5,508 yen in Tokyo yesterday, compared with the 0.1 per cent decline by the benchmark Topix Index. The stock has lost 14 per cent this year. Toyota last year agreed to try to resolve the personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits that were brought in the wake of the recalls. In a March 17 status report filed in federal court in Santa Ana, California, Toyota and lawyers representing the plaintiffs said that they had reached agreements in principle to settle 131 cases. The carmaker is trying to settle more than 300 cases, according to the filing. The terms of the settlements werent disclosed. Toyota surrendered global auto sales leadership to Detroit-based GM in 2011 after Japans tsunami and floods in Thailand disrupted production. The automaker has regained the global sales crown the past two years and has returned to rankings at or near the top of automotive quality ratings.
BLOOMBERG

Models pose at Sina Corps Weibo booth at the 2011 ChinaJoy Expo, also known as the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, in Shanghai. BLOOMBERG

IPO shines light on Weibos censorship

Bill Savadore

Inditex reports slowdown

Katarina Gustafsson

INDITEX SA, the Spanish owner of the Zara clothing chain, reported its slowest profit growth in five years, as global currency fluctuations weighed on sales. Net income rose less than 1 per cent to 2.38 billion ($3.31 billion) in the 12 months through January, Europes biggest clothing retailer said in a statement yesterday. Sales advanced 8 per cent at constant rates of exchange while comparable revenue rose 3 per cent. Inditex has been capturing growth by expanding its online operations and adding stores in countries like Brazil, China and Russia to help offset sluggish spending at home. Weakening emerging-market currencies have led companies including Adidas AG to warn that the uctuations will hurt earnings this year. From here, we regard Inditex as one of the few beneciaries of the ongoing, rapid channel shift to online from store-based apparel sales given that store-based sales cannibalization remains minimal, Richard Edwards, an analyst at Citigroup Inc, said in a note yesterday. Inditex shares have dropped 14 per cent this year, giving the Arteixo, Spain-based retailer a market value of about 64 billion. The purveyor of $49.90 skinny jeans and $39.90 printed sweatshirts gets almost a third of its revenue from Russia, China, the Mideast and other markets in Asia, according to Charles Allen, an analyst at Bloomberg Industries. This scal year, the retailer expects as much as 500 gross openings while also merging as

much as 100 small stores into neighbouring ones. Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas, including Ben Spruntulis, called the strategy sensible in a note yesterday, given the growth of online and protability of larger stores. Inditex said capital expenditure will be around 1.35 billion as it adds new retail space. The Spanish company will also start Webbased sales for Zara in South Korea and Mexico this year, bringing Inditexs online presence to 27 markets. Inditex is one of more than 30 global brands lobbying the Cambodian government for better industrial relations in the country. During its third quarter, the retailer, controlled by billionaire Amancio Ortega, introduced online sales for brands including Zara and Bershka in Russia, where it has 386 stores. Political tension in Ukraine has sent the ruble 10 per cent lower against the US dollar this year. Inditex, which has increased prot every year since its 2001 initial public offering, has built its popularity on the ability to bring new products from design table to stores in as little as two weeks. That has helped the company offset the economic crisis that gripped its home market for years. The company has almost a third of its 6,340 stores in its home market. That agility has helped Inditex outpace Swedish rival Hennes & Mauritz AB, which reported an 11 per cent increase in February sales this week. Store sales this scal year have increased by 12 per cent in local currencies, Inditex said.
BLOOMBERG

HILE internet giants like Twitter and Google champion free speech, the US listing document for Chinese microblogging platform Weibo is littered with 56 pages of warnings on the risks of operating in a country which seeks to control information. Weibo, a subsidiary of Chinese internet behemoth Sina Corp, has led for a $500 million stock offer in the United States, the ultimate exercise in capitalism, as it seeks funds to grow users in the face of pressure from newer competitors. But Chinese authorities maintain a vast censorship machine to delete content considered objectionable while at the same time manning the so-called Great Firewall of China to block access to sensitive outside sites. Banned services include Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, which enable individuals to communicate with each other on a mass scale. Weibos listing contains a 40page section on Risk Factors, and another 16 pages on the effects of laws and rules in the Peoples Republic of China. Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the Internet in China may adversely affect our business and subject us to liability for information displayed on our platform, it said. Banned content includes anything that impairs the national dignity of China, dis-

turbs social order or disrupts social stability, is reactionary, obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory, among other categories, it explained. On page 138, Weibo admits to censoring posts to conform to Chinese law. We have adopted internal procedures to monitor content displayed on our platform, including a team of employees dedicated to screening and monitoring content uploaded on our platform and removing inappropriate or infringing content, it said. It is required to verify the identities of all those who post on its platforms, it added, and may have to register its encryption software with Chinese authorities. Western [internet] companies, part of their image and reputation, lies on the fact that they are bastions of freedom of expression, said Jason Q Ng, a research fellow at the University of Torontos Citizen Lab and author of Blocked on Weibo. That Weibo disclosed the fact that they censor ... speaks to the reality of the facts on the ground, disclosing to their potential investors that this stuff is a risk. By contrast, Twitter, which Weibo is often compared to, was hailed as a tool of free expression during the Arab Spring uprisings. Twitter, whose CEO is currently in China on what the rm called a private visit, has long proclaimed itself a defender of freedom of speech, although it too has faced

controversy over censorship after announcing it can block tweets on a country-by-country basis if legally required to do so. But analysts said such issues might not matter to investors, saying the success of the Weibo share offer will hinge on buyers wanting a stake in a technology play in a country with more than 600 million internet users. Its parent Sina Corp, which holds a just over two-thirds stake in Weibo before the share offer, is already listed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq market with a market value of $4.5 billion. Content censorship and related regulations have been the norm for Chinas internet industry through its development the past 20 years. Its not a fresh issue, Hu Yanping of independent research institute DCCI said. The capital market will be focused on the companys operations, its ability to generate income and prots, he said. Zhuo Saijun of consultancy Analysys International, added: I think there will still be fervent interest from investors, citing Weibos value to companies for marketing. Nevertheless, analysts say a government crackdown on content and veried Sina Weibo users, the thought leaders of Chinese cyberspace, has hurt microblogs (which other companies also offer) along with the rapid rise of instant messaging platform WeChat, which has accumulated more than 300 million users. AFP

10

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Business

Russian sanctions alarm US firms

Annie Linskey and Julie Johnsson

OMPANIES with investments in Russia such as General Electric Co and Boeing Co are growing concerned as the US prepares to impose tougher sanctions over the crisis in Crimea that may spur retribution against corporate interests. Almost 100 chief executive ofcers with the Business Roundtable met in Washington yesterday with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, said John Engler, the groups president and former governor of Michigan. The CEOs are obviously very concerned about what is happening in Russia, Engler said in an interview. For some companies, its a substantial bit of their business. They are watching it very intently, trying to understand what will happen and what the next steps will be. US-based companies are the largest source of foreign investment in Russia, primarily in technology and nancial services, according to a 2013 report published by Ernst & Young. Business interests in the country have been growing after the nation joined the World Trade Organization in 2012, the analysts said in their report. General Electric Co, whose GE Capital Aviation Services unit is the worlds largest aircraft leasing company, has 54 airplanes in Russia and is tracking developments closely. Hopefully the industry can weather it out, avoid heavy sanctions, said Norm Liu, chief executive ofcer of GECAS, General Electric Cos aircraft leasing unit, in an interview. This is a unique situation for all Western businesses.

Russian soldiers patrol near the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Simferopol on Tuesday.

AFP

If the conict between President Vladimir Putin and the West is conned to diplomatic circles, he said hes less concerned. If it crosses beyond that, its a different story, he said. For corporations, additional restrictions present two risks: They could inadvertently punish US interests, and the Russians could push back against American companies. They are worried about retaliation, said William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington-based group that advocates on behalf of companies operating globally. The Russians have been pretty clear that if we

do something to them, they will hit back. Reinsch said hes been getting calls from energy, technology and nancial companies concerned about the prospects for their investments in or sales to Russia. The Russians have proven themselves very good at doing things that annoy us, while not harming their own economic interests, he said. Because of that, seizure of foreign assets, such as oil-production facilities, is unlikely, he said. Exxon Mobil Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Ofcer Rex Tillerson on March 5 said the Irving, Texasbased company wouldnt take sides

in the Russia-Ukraine conict or any other geopolitical disputes. Russia is Exxons largest exploration prospect outside the companys home country and Exxon has also sought permission from Ukrainian authorities to begin drilling beneath the Black Sea off the Crimean coast. Dick Keil, an Exxon spokesman, didnt immediately return a telephone message left at his ofce. Aerospace manufacturers and airlines are concerned about the effect on travel and demand for aircraft if tensions escalate to where global economic growth is stymied, said Kostya Zolotusky, managing director with

Boeing Capital, the aircraft nancing unit of Chicago-based Boeing Co. If last year we were concerned about Iran impacting global GDP , now were mindful of the situation between Russia and Ukraine and its potential macro-economic impact, he said. A US Treasury ofcial, who asked not to be identied, discussing policy talks that are under way, said the agency has heard from American businesses with operations in Russia. He said corporations operating should have known there would be risks investing in the country. The US and European Union imposed a round of sanctions against Russia on March 17 after Putin recognised Ukraines Crimea region as an independent state. US Vice President Joe Biden told reporters in Poland on Tuesday that Russia will see additional sanctions in response to its land grab. Putin on Tuesday called on the Russian parliament to ratify a treaty to annex Crimea, citing the March 16 referendum there that supported its secession from Ukraine. US President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on seven Russian ofcials and four Ukrainians, and the EU imposed penalties on 21 Russians and Crimeans in the March 17 moves. Two Washington-based trade associations - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents 3 million businesses, and the National Association of Manufacturers - separately stressed the importance of multinational sanctions. A go-it-alone approach by the United States could be both economically damaging and ineffective in accomplishing its goals, Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs at the chamber, said. BLOOMBERG

Subscriptions promising in war against pirate music

FANS are increasingly willing to pay for digital music through subscription streaming services rather than downloading it illegally for free, according to an upbeat report that was published this week. Revenues from services such as Spotify or Deezer rose 51 per cent in 2013, breaking through the symbolic $1 billion barrier for the first time, according to music industry group IFPIs annual digital music report. More than 28 million people worldwide now pay a regular subscription fee to access a library of online music, up from just eight million in 2010, many of whom appear to be shifting from pirate services to a licensed music environment, the report found. Research in Sweden showed that nine out of 10 subscription-paying users of Spotify downloaded illegally less often, according to IFPI. The big success for piracy was the accessibility it gave, people didnt have to go to the record store, they could download the single and have it, said Carl Vernersson, from the Swedish artist rep company At Night Management. Now, streaming services have achieved the same accessibility as piracy and more, but the difference is that they are making money and are able to pay artists. Subscription and advertising-supported music streaming now account for 27 per cent of digital revenues, up from 14 per cent in 2011, although downloads remain the most per cent in 2012, according to the IFPI report. The switch to digital has been made easier by the increasing use of smartphones and ever faster wireless Internet speeds, which allow fans to listen to music on the go. The report noted soaring digital revenues in emerging markets, an increase of 149 per cent in Peru and 107 per cent in South Africa last year, where buying physical music has often been difficult. The advent of the smartphone as a music listening device has been profound for the music business, said Ole Obermann, the executive vice president at Sony Music Entertainment. With 30 per cent plus of the worlds population projected to own a smartphone by 2016, that equates to over two billion potential music service customers worldwide. Overall, the IFPI was upbeat about the industrys prospects, noting growth in the European market for the first time in 12 years, and a stabilisation in the US market. The exception is Japan, where physical format sales are only now belatedly starting to decline and streaming services are not yet established. Overall music trade revenues fell by 16.7 per cent. Globally, revenues fell by 3.9 per cent to $15 billion in 2013, although the report noted that if Japan were to be excluded from the figures, the market would have been broadly flat, falling by only 0.1 per cent. Even accounting for the difficult situation in Japan, the global recording industry is in a positive phase of its development, said Frances Moore, chief executive of IFPI. Between them, Spotify and Deezer have 11 million paying subscribers, although Google Play Music All Access was the fastest growing subscription service last year. AFP

Streaming services have achieved the same accessibility as piracy and more
popular way of obtaining music through the Internet. So-called physical format sales account for 51.4 per cent of all industry revenues but this is falling, down from 56

Global Witness offer $1m prize to unmask corruption

TED on Tuesday threw its weight behind a quest to unmask evil doers who use shell companies to hide illicit wealth or fund foul deeds. Global Witness co-founder Charmian Gooch told the TED community of a wish that will be aided by a milliondollar prize awarded to the anti-corruption activist from the group known for technology titans, political leaders, celebrities and others with clout and resources at their disposal. My wish is for us to know who owns and controls companies so they can no longer be used anonymously, Gooch stated. Lets launch a new era of openness in business. It sounds ambitious, but it is doable, Gooch said. Global Witness investigates and campaigns to bring about change for the better by exposing economic networks behind conflict, corruption and environmental destruction. TED curator Chris Anderson called Gooch a hero who is coming to TED with a real powerful call to action. No laws in any countries require companies to list who their owners are and then make that information public, Gooch lamented. Meanwhile, nefarious characters ranging from corrupt heads of state to drug lords can hide or move assets through anonymous shell companies in what Gooch referred to as an epic scandal hidden in plain sight. Shell companies with hidden owners are used to sidestep government sanctions or plunder natural resources from poor communities, according to Global Witness. Gooch said the British government is already on board with her goal, and that the European Parliament is tuning into the idea. The United States is the next big target for the campaign. People like to think of anonymous companies as these sunny offshore tax havens, Gooch said. Actually, the big problem is onshore in the US and the UK. US senators backing legislation to combat corporate secrecy praised the TED Prize going to Gooch and her wish. Today, money launderers, arms dealers, drug lords, terrorists and tax evaders are too often able to conceal their misconduct behind a wall of corporate secrecy, Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in a release. Levin and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa introduced the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act to combat transnational crime by requiring incorporation applications to include lists of true owners of companies. The Global Witness wish and the million dollar prize infused into the groups campaign should add more momentum to a bill that already has backing from many groups such as police agencies, anti-corruption groups, human rights organisers, business groups and labour organisations, according to Levin. While a senator, US President Barack Obama once co-sponsored a version of the legislation. Prosecutors of financial crimes follow the money, Grassley said in a released. Its hard for them to do that when criminals are able to exploit corporate transparency laws. AFP

THE PHNOm PENH POST march 20, 2014

Markets Business

11

Spanish wines top production

Katell Abiven

Markets
Thailand
Thai Set 50 Index, Mar 18 1100

Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Mar 18 600

N THEIR elds of vines in deepest Spain, the winemakers at the Jesus del Perdon cooperative smiled last August: the blend of rain and sun promised a bumper grape crop. They didnt expect just how big. It vaulted Spain to the worlds biggest wine producer, forcing its vintners to compete abroad in a tough market to sell off the surplus. Spain overall produced 50 million hectolitres (6.7 billion bottles) of wine in 2013, a 41 per cent surge from 2012, the Spanish agriculture ministry says. The ministrys gure for Spanish production exceeds the estimates from the Italian and French wine industries for their own production 47 million and 42 million hectolitres, respectively. The denitive production gures from the International Organisation of Wine and Vine are published in May. But if conrmed, they would give Spain another industry to look to for exports to build a lasting recovery from the burst property bubble that has hobbled the economy since 2008. Even Rafael del Rey, director of the Spanish Wine Market Observatory, admitted he found it most surprising that Spain leapt ahead to become the top wine producer in the world in 2013. While weather helped last summer the country enjoyed the usual sunny weather plus enough rain to really water the vines the rise in Spanish production is also the re-

Workers harvest grapes at a vineyard of the Raul Calvo winery in Gumiel de Mercado, Spain, in 2013. AFp

sult of a drive to give productivity a boost. We have spent many years investing in improving the vineyards, Del Rey said. Twenty-ve years ago, Spanish vineyards had average yield of 17 hectolitres per hectare, very low, Roca said. But in recent years the yield has reached about 50 hectolitres per hectare. Older and less productive vines have been torn up and vineyards have been made more efcient by, where possible, replacing handpicking with machines. The vineyards productivity has improved noticeably, Del Rey said. But one problem for winemakers is that Spanish drinkers, who generally prefer a cold beer on their sun-

ny terraces, are not keeping pace with the surge. Apart from Norway, Spain is the country with the lowest wine consumption per capita in Europe, Pau Roca, secretary-general of the Spanish Wine Federation, said. While just eight years ago, wine made in Spain was mostly drunk there, according to Del Rey, now it is mostly exported. In the past two years, Spain has been exporting more than double the amount of wine it consumes, he said. The experience of the Jesus del Perdon cooperative, nestled in the Castile-La Mancha region whose windmills and castles are the setting for Miguel de Cervantess classic novel Don Quixote, is typical.

The group of 682 producers in the central Spanish region exported just 20 per cent of its output a decade ago. Now 86 per cent goes abroad. Exporting is not always an easy option for vineyards, however. While Castile-La Mancha accounts for over half of the countrys wine production, the regions producers must ght to distinguish themselves from better-known names in Spanish wine such as La Rioja and Cava. Unfortunately, wine from our region is still not sufciently appreciated, especially in the foreign market, the cooperatives viticulturist, Jorge Martinez, said. And competition at the lower end of the market is erce. Spanish wine generally sells for half the price of French and the vintners of Castile-La Mancha have to keep their prices especially low. Martinez said the range of 11 bottles the cooperative produces under its own brand sell for between one and 6 ($8.30) per bottle. While growing output and need to export pose challenges for Spanish vineyards, it is an opportunity for the government, which is counting on exports to drive economic recovery. With the economy having contracted more than 5 per cent since the property bubble burst in 2008, Spanish rms have been looking abroad for sales and the countrys exports hit a record high last year. The government expects the economy will grow by 1 per cent this year, after having contracted in four out of the past ve years. AFP

1025 950 875 800

550 500 450 400

934.47

604.93

South Korea

KOSPI Index, Mar 18 2100 1975 1850 1725 1600

Philippines

PSEI- Philippine Se Idx, Mar 18 7000 6625 6250 5875 5500

1,937.68

6,461.67

Singapore
FTSE Straits Times Index, Mar 18 4000

Malaysia
FTSEBursa Malaysia KLCI, Mar 18 1900

3500 3000 2500 2000

1800 1700 1600 1500

3,074.81

1,818.40

Hong Kong
Hang Seng Index, Mar 18 25000

China
CSI 300 Index, Mar 18 3000

23250 21500 19750 18000

2750 2500 2250 2000

21,559.98

2,114.38

Japan

Nikkei 225, Mar 18 16000

Taiwan

Taiwan Taiex Index, Mar 18 9000

15500 15000 14500 14000

8500 8000 7500 7000

14,462.52

8,689.46
Jakarta Composite Index, Mar 18 5000 4625 4250 3875 3500

Laos

Laos Composite Index, Mar 18 1500 1350 1200 1050 900

Indonesia

1,298.14

4,826.24

International commodities
Energy
COMMODiTY UNiTS PRice CHaNGe % CHaNGe TiMe(ET)

Cambodian commodities
(Base rate taken on January 1, 2012) (%) -0.71 % 3.64 % 2.22 % 1.25 % 4.00 % 5.50 % -40.00 % 1.82 % 7.06 % 3.33 % 15.56 % 0.77 %

India
BSE Sensex 30 Index, Mar 18 22000 21000

Pakistan
Karachi 100 Index, Mar 18 28000 27250 26500 25750 25000

Food -Cereals -Vegetables - Fruits

Item Rice 1 Rice 2 Paddy Peanuts Maize 2 Cashew nut Pepper Beef Pork Mud Fish Chicken Duck Unit
R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg R/Kg

Construction equipment
Average 2780 2280 1840 8100 2080 4220 24000 33600 18200 12400 20800 13100 Item Steel 12 Cement Unit R/Kg R/Sac Base 3000 19000 Average 3100 19500 (%) 3.33 % 2.63 %

Crude Oil (WTI) Crude Oil (Brent) RBOB Gasoline NYMEX Heating Oil ICE Gasoil

USD/bbl. USD/bbl. USd/gal. USd/gal. USD/MT

99.44 106.8 4.45 289.58 291 893

-0.26 0.01 -0.01 1.47 -0.55 1.5

-0.26% 0.01% -0.31% 0.51% -0.19% 0.17%

2:20:21 2:20:21 2:22:07 2:07:18 2:11:20 2:18:51

Base
2800 2200 1800 8000 2000 4000 40000 33000 17000 12000 18000 13000

20000 19000 18000

NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu

21,846.17

27,298.06

Energy
Item Gasoline Diesel Petroleum Gas Charcoal Unit
R R R Chi Baht

Base
5250 5100 5500 86000 1200

Average
5450 5200 5500 76000 1300

(%)
3.81 % 1.96 % 0.00 % -11.63 % 8.33 %

Australia
S&P/ASX 200 Index, Mar 18 5500 5250 5000 4750 4500

New Zealand
NZX 50 Index, Mar 18 5500 5250 5000 4750 4500

Agriculture
COMMODiTY UNiTS PRice CHaNGe % CHaNGe TiMe(ET)

CBOT Rough Rice CME Lumber

USD/cwt USD/tbf

15.42 336.8

0.02 6.3

0.13% 1.91%

20:24:17 1:33:40

5,355.60

5,154.72

12

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

World
Russians seize Ukraines Crimea navy HQ
Oleg Leus and Dmitry Zaks

Ro-RussiAN forces captured Ukraines naval commander after seizing his headquarters in Crimea yesterday as Moscows grip tightened on the peninsula despite Western warnings its annexation would not go unpunished. Kiev said it was dispatching its defence minister but Crimeas regional leader said he would be barred from entry amid mounting tensions in the region. Dozens of despondent Ukrainian soldiers one of them in tears led out of the Ukraines main navy base in the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol after its storming by hundreds of pro-Kremlin protesters and Russian troops. We have been temporarily disbanded, a Ukrainian lieutenant who identied himself only as Vlad said. I was born here and I grew up here, and I have been serving for 20 years, he said as a Russian ag went up over the base without a single shot being red in its defence. Where am I going to go? A Russian forces representative said that Ukraines navy commander Sergiy Gayduk appointed after his predecessor switched allegiance in favour of Crimeas pro-Kremlin authorities at the start of the month had been detained. He was blocked and he had nowhere to go. He was forced out and he has been taken away, Igor Yeskin said. A defence ministry spokesman in Crimea said pro-Russian forces also seized the checkpoint set up in front of a Ukrainian military base in the regions western port town of Novoozerne. He said they used a tractor to ram open the gate and were now in a standoff with Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian government dispatched acting Defence Minister Igor Tenyukh and First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema to the region

A Ukrainian ofcer leaves as Russian soldiers patrol at the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Sevastopol yesterday.

AFP

for urgent talks. But Crimeas self-declared prime minister Sergei Aksyonov said while on a visit to Moscow that no one will let them into Crimea and they will be sent back. A defiant President Vladimir Putin had brushed aside global indignation and Western sanctions on Tuesday to sign a treaty absorbing Crimea and expanding Russias borders for the rst time since World War II. Russias Constitutional Court ruled unanimously yesterday that the treaty complies with the Russian Constitution. The historic and hugely controversial moment came less than a month after the ouster in Kiev of a Moscow-backed regime by leaders who spearheaded three months of deadly protests aimed at pulling Ukraine out of the Kremlins orbit for the rst time.

Putin responded by winning the right to use force against his former Soviet neighbour and then using the help of local militias to seize Crimea a heavily Russied region the size of Belgium that is home to two million people. The explosive security crisis on the EUs eastern frontier now threatens to reopen a diplomatic and ideological chasm between Russia and Western powers not seen since the tension-fraught decades preceding the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. Russias political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down this path and it will in fact see additional sanctions by the United States and the EU, US Vice President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday while paying a visit to Poland aimed at reassuring former Soviet

satellites of Washingtons backing. The greatest fear facing Kievs new leaders and the West is that Putin will push huge forces massed along the Ukrainian border into the Russianspeaking southeastern swathes of the country in a self-professed effort to protect compatriots who he claims are coming under increasing attack from violent ultranationalists. We are not speaking about military actions in the eastern regions of Ukraine, Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. But Russia will do whatever is possible . . . to protect and to extend a hand of help to Russians living in eastern regions of Ukraine. Putin had signed the Crimea treaty recognised by no nation besides Russia after stressing the move was done without ring a single shot and with no loss of life.

But the rst bloodshed came to the rugged peninsula of two million people only hours later when a group of gunmen wearing masks but no military insignia stormed a Ukrainian military centre in Simferopol on Tuesday. The Ukrainian defence ministry said one of its soldier died from a neck wound and another suffered various injuries. The pro-Russia Crimean police said a member of the local militias had also been killed. A spokeswoman blamed both casualties on shooting by unidentied assailants from a nearby location. But the violence prompted Ukraines Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to warn an emergency government meeting that the conict is shifting from a political to a military stage. The Ukrainian defence ministry soon authorised its soldiers in Crimea to open re in self defence for the rst time. Ukraine had previously forbidden its troops from shooting in some cases forcing them to stand guard at their bases with empty ries to avoid provoking a fully edged Russian offensive. Reports of the crisis turning deadly and fears what Biden called a further land grab by Putin prompted both expressions of concern and recollections of the horrors of prior European conicts. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was deeply concerned and urged all sides to take all possible steps to avoid further escalation. Also, German Chancellor Angela Merkel seen as the most important potential powerbroker in the crisis said Russia was guilty of repeatedly breaking international law. Moscow already risks expulsion from the G8 group of top nations and the promise of new US sanctions on top of Russian travel bans and asset freezes unveiled by the European Union and Washington on Monday. AFP

MH370 relatives rage as Malaysia probes deleted data

ANGRY Chinese relatives tried to gatecrash Malaysias tightly controlled daily media briefing on the missing plane yesterday in chaotic scenes underlining the frustrations surrounding the 12-day search. Shouting and crying, a handful of relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight 370 unfurled a protest banner reading Give us back our families. They accused Malaysian authorities of withholding information and doing too little to find the aeroplane. The dramatic protest unfolded just before Malaysian officials arrived for the briefing, in which they announced no progress in determining what befell the plane. They give different messages every day. Wheres the f light now? We cant stand it anymore! one woman wailed as reporters mobbed her and other relatives. Shortly afterwards, Malaysia staged a shorter-than-usual press conference during which officials indicated that the investigation was zooming in closer on the pilot. Authorities said investigators had discovered that data had been deleted from the home flight simulator of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah about one month before the plane vanished early on March 8. But they cautioned against a rush to judgement. Some data had been deleted from the simulator, and forensic work to retrieve this data is ongoing, said Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein. Officials gave no details on the simulator data. Zaharie, a 33-year veteran of the airline, was highly regarded by his peers. But suspicion has clouded him since investigators concluded that the planes communication systems were manually disabled and the Boeing 777 was deliberately diverted by a skilled aviator. Hishammuddin said Malaysias own investigations, and background checks received from other countries, had so far raised no indications that any of the planes 227 passengers might have been responsible. So far, no information of significance on any passengers has been found, he said. The aircraft also carried 12 crew. The international quest to find the jet came up empty again, 12 days after it mysteriously vanished, with the Malaysian government acknowledging that red tape was slowing a massive search. Relatives of passengers have become increasingly agitated at the failure of the airline and Malaysian government to explain what happened, especially the families of the 153 Chinese nationals aboard. Security had to intervene to stop the uproar at the press venue in a hotel near Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Family members were bundled out of the room, with two of them physically carried out, still protesting and shouting. I fully understand what theyre going through. Emotions are high, Hishammuddin said. But he had no progress to report from an international search across a huge arc of land and sea the size of Australia. Indonesia acknowledged earlier yesterday it had only just provided clearance for surveillance aircraft from Australia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia to overfly its territory, while saying its own vessels were awaiting instructions from Kuala Lumpur. Indias navy has suspended its search in the Andaman Sea for several days, citing a lack of instructions. Hishammuddin confirmed that some search resources were awaiting diplomatic clearance to begin operations. Once we receive formal clearance, we can then speed up the deployment of assets along the search corridors, he said. The clock is ticking down on the 30 days in which the aircraft black box will transmit a signal. In a further sign of miscommunication, the Thai air force revealed yesterday that its military radar had picked up what appeared to be Flight MH370 just minutes after it was mysteriously diverted. It went unreported by the Thai military for nine days and only emerged following a check of radar logs on Monday. Air Marshal Monthon Suchookornat said the same plane was picked up again later swinging north and disappearing over the Andaman Sea, but Thailand saw no need to notify Malaysia. Malaysia has been criticised for not responding quickly to radar indications that the plane veered north and west, losing valuable time in tracking it. Malaysia has sought help including radar and satellite analysis, and surveillance vessels and aircraft, from 26 countries. The two huge search corridors based on satellite data that detected the plane more than seven hours after it took off include one running south in an arc across the Indian Ocean, and another stretching from northern Thailand into South and Central Asia. But many of the countries involved are not used to such close cooperation especially when it comes to sharing possibly sensitive data. Paul Yap, an aviation lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore, said Malaysia faced a giant challenge coordinating the search and getting partners to share sensitive data that could divulge a countrys radar capabilities. I wouldnt like to be in Malaysias shoes, Yap said. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

World

13

Xinjiang cop killer Israel bombs Syrian army targets shot dead: Beijing
AN ATTACKER was shot dead after fatally assaulting a policeman in Chinas restive far western region of Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority, the government said yesterday. The attacker, armed with unspecied weapons, targeted the ofcer in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi on Monday, the ministry of public security said on its account on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter. The policeman was injured in the ght and died later, it said, while the assailant was shot dead by police reinforcements. Urumqis Communist Partycontrolled news portal hongshannet.cn reported that the attacker was from Aksu prefecture, in the far west of Xinjiang near the border with Kyrgyzstan. There were no other casualties, it added, citing the citys police authorities. Beijing says it faces a violent separatist movement in Xinjiang driven by religious extremism, but critics accuse it of exaggerating that threat to justify hard-line measures. Violent attacks by Uighurs are periodically reported in the region, usually targeting police or government ofcials and labelled by authorities as terrorist attacks. The latest assault came after a group of allegedly Uighur attackers went on a stabbing spree at a railway station in the southwestern city of Kunming in Yunnan province on March 1, leaving 29 people dead and 143 injured. Rights groups accuse the authorities of cultural and religious repression that feeds dissent, while China counters it has invested heavily in economic development in Xinjiang, which covers a sixth of the countrys territory and is rich in natural resources. The public security ministry identied the dead policeman, aged 29 and the father of a one-month-old boy, by his name in Chinese characters as Wu Si Man Jiang. He had Uighur features according to a picture attached to the weibo posting. US-funded Radio Free Asia also reported the incident and named the policeman as Osmanjan Ghoji, identifying the attacker as a Uighur, Ilyar Rehmutulla. AFP

sRAEL launched air raids against Syrian army positions early yesterday and issued a stark warning to Damascus just hours after a bomb on the occupied Golan wounded four Israeli soldiers. The Syrian army said the air strikes killed one soldier and wounded seven, cautioning that the assault endangered the security and stability of the region. The bombing marked the most serious escalation along the ceasere line with Syria since the 1973 Middle East War, with Israels defence minister warning that Damascus would pay a high price for helping militants bent on harming the Jewish state. Fighters from Lebanons powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah, which fought a bloody war with Israel in 2006, are battling alongside regime troops in Syrias civil war and are credited with a string of recent battleeld successes against the rebels. Israeli ofcials have been careful not to directly blame Hezbollah at this stage, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there was a growing number of jihadists and Hezbollah elements on the Syrian Golan, which represents a new

Israeli soldiers observe Syrian territory from the Israeli side of the border near the Druze village of Majdal Shams yesterday. AFP

threat for Israel. Following the Golan attack, Netanyahu warned that Israel would act forcefully to defend itself. Israels military said a Syrian army training facility, a military headquarters and artillery batteries had been targeted in the response. Syrias army conrmed strikes on its bases in the Quneitra region, which it said led to the martyrdom of one soldier and the wounding of seven others. We warn that these desperate attempts to escalate and exacerbate the situation in these circumstances by repeating these acts of aggression would endanger the

security and stability of the region, a statement added. The early morning air strikes took place 12 hours after four soldiers patrolling the Israeli side of the ceasere line were wounded, one of them severely, by a roadside bomb. It was the third such incident in two weeks along Israels northern frontier, with the Israeli military blaming the Syrian army for complicity in the attack. Two previous attempts to strike soldiers along Israels northern borders on March 5 and March 14 were blamed on Hezbollah. Defence Minister Moshe

Yaalon said Israel held Syrias regime accountable. We see the Assad regime as responsible for what is happening under its authority, and if it continues to cooperate with terror elements who seek to harm Israel, we will make it pay a high price, he said. Israel would not tolerate any breach of its sovereignty and would continue to strike anyone seeking to harm its forces or civilians, Yaalon said. We will react with determination and force against anyone operating against us, at any time and any place, as we have done tonight, he said. And Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel would not hesitate to take forceful action to ensure calm on its northern borders. Our policy is very clear: we hurt those who hurt us. We also thwart, to the best of our ability, the transfer of weapons whether by sea, by air or by land, and this activity will continue, he said. Although no one has claimed responsibility for Tuesdays bomb, analysts pointed to similarities with an explosion on Friday that targeted troops along the Lebanese border, prompting Israel to shell Hezbollah positions over the border. AFP

14

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

World

Headline hoggers

China hit by ood of dead pigs in river

HINESE authorities have found 157 dead pigs in a river, state media said yesterday, underscoring the countrys food safety problems a year after 16,000 carcasses were discovered in Shanghais main waterway. The dead animals were recovered from the Gan river in Jiangxi, which supplies drinking water to the provincial capital Nanchang, ofcial news agency Xinhua said. Tests showed that the tap water remains safe for drinking, it said, citing Nanchang authorities. The Gan is a tributary of the Yangtze, one of Chinas main waterways. Photos posted by CCTV showed staff in white clothing and face masks inspecting carcasses lined up on a riverbank. Ear tags indicated the animals came from Zhangshu, which is part of Yichun city in the central Chinese province, CCTV said, citing Jiangxis agriculture department. An ofcial with the Yichun agriculture bureau surnamed Zhao said it was unclear where the pigs originated, while Zhangshu authorities could not be reached. A year ago China was stunned by the appearance of more than 16,000 dead pigs oating along parts of the Huangpu river, which ows through Shanghai one of a series of food-safety scandals in recent years. No ofcial explanation was given for the incident. AFP

NSA can record every single call

Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani

HE National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording 100 per cent of a foreign countrys telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by Edward Snowden. A senior manager for the program compares it to a time machine one that can replay the voices from any call without requiring that a person be identied in advance for surveillance. The voice interception program, called MYSTIC, began in 2009. Its RETRO tool, short for retrospective retrieval, and related projects reached full capacity against the rst target nation in 2011. Planning documents two years later anticipated similar operations elsewhere. In the initial deployment, collection systems are recording every single conversation nationwide, storing billions of them in a 30-day rolling buffer that clears the oldest calls as new ones arrive, according to a classied summary. The call buffer opens a door into the past, the summary says, enabling users to retrieve audio of interest that was not tasked at the time of the original call. Analysts listen to only a fraction of 1 per cent of the calls, but the absolute numbers are high. Each month, they send millions of voice clippings, or cuts, for processing and long-term storage.

Edward Snowden appears via a live video feed at a TED conference in Vancouver on earlier this week. AFP

At the request of US ofcials, The Washington Post is withholding details that could be used to identify the country where the system is being employed or other countries where its use was envisioned. No other NSA program disclosed to date has swallowed a nations telephone network whole. Outside experts have sometimes described that prospect as disquieting but remote, with notable implications for a growing debate over the NSAs practice of bulk collection abroad. Bulk methods capture massive data ows without the use of discriminants, as President Barack Obama put

it in January. By design, they vacuum up all the data they touch meaning that most of the conversations collected by RETRO would be irrelevant to US national security interests. In the view of US ofcials, however, the capability is highly valuable. Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, declined to comment on specic alleged intelligence activities. Speaking generally, she said that new or emerging threats are often hidden within the large and complex system of modern global communications, and the United States must consequently collect signals intelligence in bulk in cer-

tain circumstances in order to identify these threats. NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said that continuous and selective reporting of specic techniques and tools used for legitimate US foreign intelligence activities is highly detrimental to the national security of the United States and of our allies, and places at risk those we are sworn to protect. Some of the documents provided by Snowden suggest that high-volume eavesdropping may soon be extended to other countries, if it has not been already. The RETRO tool was built three years ago as a unique one-off capability, but last years secret intelligence budget named ve more countries for which the MYSTIC program provides comprehensive metadata access and content, with a sixth expected to be in place by last October. The budget did not say whether the NSA now records calls in quantity in those countries or expects to do so. A separate document placed a high priority on planning for MYSTIC accesses against projected new mission requirements, including voice. Ubiquitous voice surveillance, even overseas, pulls in a great deal of content from Americans who telephone, visit and work in the target country. It may also be seen as inconsistent with Obamas January 17 pledge that the United States is not spying on ordinary people who dont threaten our national security, regardless of nationality, and that we take their privacy concerns into account.
THE WASHINGTON POST

Zuma ordered to repay unlawful upgrades

US dismantles huge child porn site Indian farmers take their

THE United States announced on Tuesday that it has dismantled a massive international online child pornography ring, one of the largest such operations ever uncovered. Authorities said they arrested and charged 14 suspects in the secret, members-only online network, which had more than 27,000 subscribers. The websites juvenile victims, who numbered more than 250, reside in five foreign countries and 39 US states, officials said. Authorities said the victims were, for the most part, boys between the ages of 10 and 17. Among the countries where victims were found are Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Belgium. The organisation is one of the largest known online child exploitation operations in history, Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson said. Among the suspects taken into custody was Jonathan Johnson, 27, the administrator of the website, which operated out of Louisiana. If convicted, Johnson faces 20 years to life in prison, said Kenneth Allen Polite, US attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. These indictments represent a strong coordinated strike ... against child pornography and those who allegedly seek to harm our most vulnerable citizens, our young children, Polite said. The illicit website operated on a hidden service board on the Tor network from about June 2012 until June 2013, when Johnson was arrested. The Tor network is set up to conceal a users location, making it possible to maintain online anonymity. Authorities said at the time it was dismantled that the illegal website contained more than 2,000 shared webcamcaptured videos of mostly juvenile boys enticed by the websites operators to produce sexually explicit material. The investigation, which officials said is continuing, was carried out by DHS and the cybercrime unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the US Postal Inspection Services. AFP A stRing of farmers have committed suicide in western India after freak hailstorms and rains destroyed winter crops worth millions of dollars, activists and politicians said yesterday. The unusual weather struck parts of western Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, from late February and then went on to badly damage crops. A source from the Maharashtra chief ministers ofce said seven suicides had been conrmed, with more killed by the storm itself, but the opposition and activists said the real gure was much higher. There have been 32 [farm-

SOUTH Africas public ombudsman said yesterday that some of the $23 million taxpayer-funded refurbishments at President Jacob Zumas luxurious residence were unlawful and ordered him to repay part of the cost. Some of these measures can be legitimately classified as unlawful and the acts involved constitute improper conduct and maladministration, Thuli Madonsela said in a muchawaited report released just weeks ahead of the May presidential election. The scathing report, which also implicated several ministers, found that Zuma violated the executive ethics code by failing to protect state resources. AFP

lives after freak hailstorms

er] suicides so far across Maharashtra after the hailstorms started ... We are getting hourly updates from our people, Kishor Tiwari, president of farmers advocacy group Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, said. He said the gure was expected to rise after more postmortems were carried out. Indias main opposition group, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on Tuesday that the number of farmer suicides had gone up to 37, demanding the natural disaster be declared a national calamity, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
AFP

Muslim cleric may be jailed over sex video

AN INDONEsiaN Islamic cleric arrested for allegedly making an explicit video with two teachers could face 12 years in jail under the Muslim countrys tough anti-porn laws, police said yesterday. Saeful Sardi Jayadi, 44, surrendered to police on Saturday after the video began circulating in Cisarua, south of Jakarta. Indonesia, the worlds most populous Muslim-majority country, introduced a tough anti-pornography law in 2008 that criminalises any work that could be deemed obscene. Jayadi is accused of making the six-minute video in a hotel room in 2011, said Didik Purwanto, police chief in Bogor district, which includes Cisarua. The alleged offence could carry a 12-year jail sentence. AFP

Detained Venezuela activist calls for more protests

A VEnEZuELA opposition leader jailed for a month urged supporters on Tuesday to maintain their fight against socialist President Nicolas Maduros protest-hit government. As the size of demonstrations seemed to start to wane, Leopoldo Lopez said in a letter from detention: I send my deepest admiration of the Venezuelan people for its peaceful protest on the streets. I call on the country to keep the pressure on, Lopez urged in a letter read out at a meeting where supporters rallied for his release. Lopez also asked them to stage new rallies around the country on Saturday. The death toll from a month and a half of protests rose to 29 on Monday after a National Guard captain shot a day earlier during a protest in the city of Maracay died. Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, has been charged with instigating violence, property damage and criminal association. Lopez, with the Popular Will movement, has pressed for a strategy dubbed The Way Out in which protests would drive Maduro from office. The president, with Lopez detained, says he has quashed a would-be coup against a democratically elected government. Lopez is awaiting trial in a small cell at a military facility, and his pretrial wait could be at least another 15 days, officials say. The protests have ended up dividing the opposition, said political analyst Carlos Romero, in large part due to Lopezs arrest. The college student wing of protesters was following his orders but it is not any more with him detained. Whether Lopezs call for fresh mobilisation on Saturday will get into gear remains to be seen. But government forces quickly established control on Monday after moving into the area around the Plaza Altamira, a focal point of nightly clashes in eastern Caracas between masked protesters and security forces. The government described the operation as a liberation of the neighbourhood, an area of middle and upper income homes and businesses called Chacao. Maduros government has been the target of daily protests in cities around the country since February 4, fuelled by public anger over violent crime, inflation, shortages and further stoked by often heavy-handed police tactics. Maduro contends the protests are part of a fascist right-wing, US-backed plot to destabilise his year-old government. Yet days ago, Maduro suggested a high-level bid to improve highly strained ties with the United States. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government said on Tuesday that it is severing commercial relations with Air Canada after it suspended flights to the country for security reasons. International airlines have scaled back their operations in Venezuela amid a dispute over dollar payments with the government, local media reported this week. Ultimas Noticias said 11 of the 26 airlines operating in the country have either reduced the frequency of their flights or were using smaller aircraft to service Venezuelan routes. In Venezuela, airlines are required to sell tickets in bolivars under an arrangement in which the government later converts the local currency to dollars. But IATA says the government has made no dollar payments to the airlines since October. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

World Snakes arrive! Python has homing beacon

CAMBODIAS native Burmese python has a built-in compass that allows it to slither home in a near-straight line even if released dozens of kilometres away, researchers said yesterday. Capable of growing over ve metres (16 feet) long, pythons are among the worlds ve largest snakes. Although native to South and Southeast Asia, the snakes have taken up residence in South Floridas Everglades National Park, possibly after being released as unwanted pets. They have adapted so well to their new habitat that they now pose a serious threat to several species which they hunt as prey. Scientists captured six of the pythons in the Everglades, placed them in sealed, plastic containers, and drove them to locations between 21 and 36 kilometres (13-22 miles) away. They implanted radio trackers in the animals and followed their movements with GPS readings from a small xed-wing plane measuring their direction and speed. All the snakes immediately

15

Block vote
Protesters from local political groups against a trade in services agreement with China block one of the entrances with furniture as they occupy the parliament in Taipei on Tuesday. Around 200 Taiwanese students and activists were locked in a tense standoff with police yesterday after they stormed the parliament in a bid to thwart government efforts to ratify a contentious trade agreement with China. Opposition has arisen against the deal between China and Taiwan signed in June last year aimed at further opening trade in services between the two rivals. The pact is one of the follow-up agreements to a sweeping Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed in 2010 to reduce trade barriers between China and Taiwan. The protesters are vehemently opposed to what they term illegal moves by the ruling Kuomintang to pass the trade pact with China, the islands biggest trading partner, and are demanding that it be reviewed clause by clause. AFP

oriented themselves towards the place where they were captured, with ve of the six returning to within ve kilometres (three miles) of that spot. The sixth veered somewhat off course as it was nearing its destination. The snakes travelled between 94 and 296 days, displaying high motivation to reach home locations, according to the study, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. This study provides evidence that Burmese pythons have navigational map and compass senses, the authors wrote. No other snake species has yet been shown to possess a similar homing ability. Such navigational skills suggest the python has a razorsharp sense of territoriality. This could help combat the species in places where it is unwanted by predicting where the snake is likely to spread. Burmese pythons eat everything from tiny birds to deer and even alligators. They swallow their food whole. AFP

Hawking claims victory in Big Bang bet

Ian Sample

TEPHEN Hawking has claimed victory in a bet with a fellow scientist over the discovery of primordial gravitational waves, ripples in the structure of space-time from the birth of the universe. The Cambridge cosmologist bet Neil Turok, director of the Perimeter Institute in Canada, that gravitational waves from the rst eeting moments after the Big Bang would be detected. Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today program, Hawking said the discovery of gravitational waves, announced on Monday by researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, disproves Turoks theory that the universe cycles endlessly from one Big Bang to another. If conrmed by other groups, the discovery would count as the strongest evidence yet for cosmic ination, a theory which says that the universe went through a period of extremely rapid expansion soon af-

ter the Big Bang. The theory explains why the universe looks almost the same in every direction. It is another conrmation of ination, Hawking told the Today program. It also means I win a bet with Neil Turok, director of the Perimeter Institute in Canada, for cyclic universe theory predicts no gravitational waves from the early universe. But Turok was not ready to concede just yet. He told the program that the bet rested on results from the European Space Agencys Planck space telescope, which last year failed to spot any signs of gravitational waves. In 2001, I gave a talk proposing a new theory of the Big Bang according to which the Big Bang was just the latest in an innite series of Big Bangs, and the universe would be a cyclic universe, Turok said. Stephen, in typical fashion, at the end of a talk, said I bet you that the Planck satellite will discover the gravitational wave signal of ination, which would immediately disprove your

theory, because our prediction from our theory was that there would be no gravitational wave signal. So, of course, the Planck satellite ew, and last year announced its results, and there was no gravitational wave signal, so thus far, Im winning the bet, he added. The idea of cosmic ination came to Alan Guth, a physicist at MIT, by chance one evening in 1979. He was up late in his apartment, working with pen and notebook, hoping to understand why the universe was not lled with strange particles called magnetic monopoles. He worked out that the universe would have far fewer of the particles if it went through a rapid period of supercooling. As he worked through the equations, one step stood out. It suggested that the expansion of the early universe would be exponential. Over the next three decades, scientists, including Andrei Linde at Stanford University, developed the theory into its modern form. In 1982, Hawking added to the work with a paper that suggested galaxies

arose from tiny irregularities in the early universe. This paper aroused interest among other scientists who had been thinking on similar lines, so I invited them all to a workshop in Cambridge in June 1982 supported by the Nufeld Foundation. At the workshop we established the now accepted picture of ination in the very early universe, although it was not conrmed by observation until 10 years later, Hawking told Today. Turok urged caution over the latest claims. First of all, I should say this is just a spectacular result, and right or wrong, it actually indicates we are right on the threshold of a completely new window into the Big Bang and what happened at the Big Bang, so its tremendously exciting, he said. But he added: I have reasons for doubts about the new experiment and its results. Its not entirely convincing to me, but they have clearly seen what they claim to have seen. Verication is very important and its wise to be a little bit sceptical at the moment when there is no

conrmation. The experiment was extremely difcult, and they dont entirely explain why they are so convinced of what they claim ... The problem with the inationary theory is that it really doesnt explain the beginning. Stephen has postulated a way of starting the universe off, but it doesnt seem to work. Hawking is well known for making bets with other scientists. He recently lost $100 to Gordon Kane at the University of Michigan after betting that scientists at Cern, home of the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, would not nd the Higgs boson. They discovered the particle in July 2012. Turok said he needed to see more evidence for gravitational waves from the Big Bang before conceding the bet to Hawking. The great thing about science is that it doesnt matter how many [scientists] you are up against. Ultimately the right ideas win out. Science is not a popularity contest. Galileo was right, but his ideas werent popular at the time. The bet is still open, he said. THE GUARDIAN

Cairo University chief blames womans dress for sexual harassment

THE head of Egypts leading state university has provoked furious condemnation for claiming that an on-campus sexual harassment case was the fault of its female victim, and saying that she may be punished. The Cairo University student was surrounded on Monday by a group of male students who sexually harassed her as she walked across a busy campus. The woman was later escorted from the university by campus security, and the incident was lmed by bystanders many who appear unconcerned, or eager to join in and uploaded to social media. One male student can be heard saying: Guys, Im going to upload it on Facebook whoever wants to watch this video, come to my page. The universitys president, Dr Gaber Nasser, added to public outcry when he told a television talk show the incident had resulted in part from the woman wearing colourful clothes, instead of a more conservative cloak, or abaya. He also said that she may face punishment for the incident along with her harassers, and possibly expulsion. Nasser told OnTV, a private Egyptian network: The girl took off her abaya inside the university and appeared with those clothes which was a reason for what happened ... we dont require a uniform here but clothes should be within the tradition of our society. He added: The girls mistake doesnt justify what happened to her at the hands of those students. We referred the whole incident to an investigation and everything is recorded by the university cameras. We will nd out who is guilty whether the girl or the [other] students and we are going to punish them with the proper punishment, which might be expulsion from the university. Womens rights activists reacted furiously to Nassers remarks. Soraya Bahgat, the founder of Tahrir Bodyguards, a group that rescues women from mob sexual assaults during protests, said: I nd it insanely appalling the head of arguably the most important university in Egypt said that her clothes were to blame. It was very alarming but part of me is glad this has come out because it highlights one of the things wrong with this society, which is to blame the victim [of sexual harassment] for what happened. Following criticism of his remarks, Nasser said he had been misunderstood. It is clear that a false perception has been generated among some people that I placed the responsibility for what happened on the student, he told the website of the ofcial state newspaper. I assure you that this is not true and I apologise for the misunderstanding. Although Nasser said that the incident was a one-off, sexual harassment is endemic throughout Egyptian society. In the past 18 months many more people have begun to mobilise against it, but sexual harassment still remains an accepted part of Egyptian life. According to a UN survey, 99.3 per cent of Egyptian women reported being sexually harassed, with 91 per cent saying they felt insecure in the street as a result. Women are frequently blamed for harassment, while the crime is not properly dened under Egyptian law, which makes prosecuting perpetrators difcult. When women try to le complaints under more general harassment and assault laws, their cases are not taken seriously by police, and there have only been a handful of convictions.
THE GUARDIAN

16

THE PHNoM PENH PoST march 20, 2014

Opinion
www.phnompenhpost.com

EDitoRiAl PERSoNNEl Publisher Chris Dawe Editor-in-Chief Alan Parkhouse Managing Editor Chad Williams Editor-in-Chief Post Khmer Kay Kimsong Managing Editor Post Khmer Sam Rith Chief of Staff Cheang Sokha Deputy Chief of Staff Chhay Channyda National News Editor Shane Worrell Digital Media Director David Boyle Deputy News Editor Vong Sokheng Group Business Editor May Kunmakara Deputy Business Editor Joe Freeman Property Editor Pisei Hin Foreign News Editor Joe Curtin Sports Editor Dan Riley Picture Editor Scott Howes Lifestyle and 7Days Editor Poppy McPherson Deputy Head of Lifestyle Desk Pan Simala Chief Sub-editor Michael Philips Sub-editors Shane Rothery, Daniel de Carteret, Amelia Woodside, Laignee Barron, Kevin Ponniah, Stuart White, Sean Teehan, Bennett Murray, Will Jackson, Daniel Pye Reporters Meas Sokchea, Mom Kunthear, Khouth Sophak Chakrya, May Titthara, Khoun Leakhana, Sen David, Phak Seangly, Buth Reaksmey Kongkea, Chhim Sreyneang, Kim Sarom, Lieng Sarith, Hor Kimsay Photographers Heng Chivoan, Pha Lina, Hong Menea, Sreng Meng Srun, Vireak Mai Web Editor Leang Phannara Webmasters Uong Ratana, Horng Pengly SiEm REAP bUREAU

How to help millions survive

Comment
Craig Churchill

Bureau Chief Peter Olszewski Ofce Manager Thik Skaline Distribution Manager Seng Sech Reporters Thik Kaliyann, Miranda Glasser Marketing Executive Sophearith Blondeel
PRoDUCtioN & PRiNtiNg

Head of Desktop Publishing Nhim Sokphyrak Desktop Publishing Suon Savatdy, Chum Sokunthy, Aim Valinda, Danh Borath
GRAPHiC DESigNER

Tep Thoeun Thyda, Hasoh, Borin, Meng

HEAD offiCE

Post Media Co, Ltd. 888, Building F, 8th oor, Phnom Penh Center, Cnr Sothearos & Sihanouk Blvd, Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Tel: 023 214 311, 0214 311-017 Fax: 023 214 318
SiEm REAP

No 629, Street 6 Dangkum Commune Tel: 063 966 290, Fax: 063 966 590 Chief Executive Ofcer Chris Dawe
SAlES DEPARtmENt

National Sales Director Borom Chea Account Directors Chap Narith Post Khmer Sales Manager Toun Chanreaksmey Digital Sales Manager Soy Sontery
CiRCUlAtioN & DiStRibUtioN

Circulation Director Sophea Kalvin Heng Circulation Supervisor Chally, Rithy Distribution Manager Meas Thy
ADmiNiStRAtioN

OR some time now, insurers, regulators and governments have grappled with a multibillion dollar question: Can micro-insurance be a viable business proposition and provide value for its low-income clients at the same time? Based on extensive research and knowledge gathered over the past five years, we can now say yes, it can. Micro-insurance is coming of age. This insurance mechanism for protecting low-income people against risks, such as accident, illness, death in the family or natural disaster, has developed rapidly over the past few years. Across Asia, the number of people covered by micro-insurance grew by 40 per cent between 2010 and 2012, while in Africa, it grew by more than 200 per cent between 2008 and 2012. Overall, the number of people with micro-insurance worldwide has increased from an estimated 78 million to more than 500 million in the past five years. At the same time, an increasing number of governments are viewing micro-insurance as an important mechanism to provide not only disaster cover, but financial security, poverty reduction, economic growth and improved access to healthcare for low-income households. And there has been impressive growth in the variety, availability and delivery of micro-insurance products to low-income households. Indeed, from governments to retailers, non-governmental organisations to insurance companies, an increasingly wide range of players are collaborating to build markets for micro-insurance. Technology innovations have been key. Over the past six years, impressive examples have emerged, many pioneered by grantees of the ILOs Microinsurance Innovation Facility. They include the use of satellite imagery to support livestock insurance in Kenya; establishment of sophisticated back-office systems to provide cashless claims processing for health micro-insurance in India; and the use of mobile network operators to sell micro-insurance to the ever increasing number of low-income people using mobile phones. Mobile network operators have been particularly effective in expanding the outreach of insur-

Farmers from Akrei Khsat village wade through water to salvage mangos from a ooded farm in Kandal last year.

HENG CHIVOAN

ance in Africa, with many even offering free insurance to entice greater loyalty from their customers. With an estimated 600 million mobile phone users on the continent, the growth opportunities are huge. The ILOs Microinsurance Innovation Facility has just published its annual report. The report provides evidence that micro-insurance is viable for insurance providers and that it offers value to clients. Insurers are increasingly seeing that micro-insurance can be viable, particularly life and personal accident insurance. In fact, 33 of the worlds 50 largest insurance companies are offering micro-insurance, up from seven in 2005. Viability requires three common attributes: acquiring and keeping large numbers of clients; managing claims costs; and completely rethinking traditional insurance processes. Increasing the number of clients, for example, can be achieved by working with an ever increasing number of partners, such as governments looking to increase health coverage, or mobile phone operators looking for ways to promote client loyalty.

The new report provides many other examples. Research also shows that microinsurance provides value by helping low-income populations cope with losses and enhancing their longterm well being. In Kenya, for example, insured farmers exposed to drought sold fewer assets and had better food intake than those without insurance. In Ghana, insured farmers were able to invest in riskier but more productive farming, because they knew they were covered in case of disaster. In India, people with outpatient health-care insurance spent less time in hospital and less money on health expenses. Yet despite these successes, delivering on the promise of micro-insurance still poses many challenges. In many parts of the world, billions of people still lack basic insurance cover. Many low-income people have never experienced insurance. How do we address this? The ILOs Microinsurance Innovation Facility is now embarking on a new journey. From our initial,

first five-year phase of innovation, research, knowledge gathering and sharing of experience, we are now shifting gears and undertaking a five-year Quality of Scale program designed to bring this knowledge to those who can best put it into practice. The goal is to get micro-insurance to an additional 100 million low-income persons. And we aim to do this by promoting accelerated market development, public-private partnerships and further innovations to increase access to microinsurance. We believe in the power of microinsurance to change peoples lives, protect their health and their assets and give them the financial peace of mind to invest for the future. Over the next five years we will ensure that the promise of microinsurance is realised for millions more people around the globe.
The author is in charge of the International Labour Organizations Microinsurance Innovation Facility, established in 2008 with funding primarily by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This article is based on research and work highlighted in the Facilitys annual report, which can be viewed at: http://www. microinsurancefacility.org/news/2014/march/ special-annual-report-2013

HR Manager Pich Socheat HR Executive Neang Sopheap Assistants to HR Manager Lay Sopanha Financial Director Heang Tangmeng Chief Accountant Sren Vicheka Treasurers Sok Sophorn, Yon Sovannara, Cheam Sopheak IT Manager Seng Nak, Vong Oun TO CONTACT US newsroom@phnompenhpost.com advertising@phnompenhpost.com subscription@phnompenhpost.com webmaster@phnompenhpost.com www.phnompenhpost.com Post Media Co, Ltd The Phnom Penh Post is wholly owned and printed by Post Media Co Ltd. The title The Phnom Penh Post in either English or Khmer languages, its associated logos or devices and the contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of Post Media Co Ltd.

www.phnompenhpost.com

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

17

Lifestyle
IN Oun, the head waiter at Rafes Le Royal, nervously poured red wine for a table of customers at Topaz restaurant as an audience of around 20 watched. Now recommend one local and one Western dish to pair with the wine, instructed Tommy Lam, president of the Singapore Sommelier Association and chair of the event. Oun hesitated briey and decided that either grilled chicken or lobster would work. His attentiveness won him a compliment, but Lam also reproached the waiter for shaking. At next years competition, the president warned, standards would be higher. The Cambodian Sommelier Association, which elected its rst board yesterday, hosted the two-day competition on Tuesday and Wednesday to test the skills of Cambodias ambitious but minimally trained wine professionals. Contestants were judged on general wine knowledge, ability to differentiate wines, and service quality. The rst place award went to Hak Seyha, the head wine steward at Topaz and runner-up in last years competition, while second and third places went to Leourng Minol of Sotel and Oun of Rafes respectively. Sokunthy Keo, sales and marketing manager at Thailias Group, which provided logistics for the event, said the competition was necessary to boost the Kingdoms hospitality industry. Its very important to have

Sommeliers compete in Cambodias second contest D

Bennett Murray

In brief
Chinese amateur wins top photography prize

A CHINESE amateur has scooped the worlds richest photography award with an image of a makeshift classroom in a poor village in the southeast of his country. Construction entrepreneur Fu Yang Zhou, 54, won the $120,000 top prize in the annual Hamdan International Photography Awards (HIPA) in Dubai. I took this photograph in the home of the mayor of an extremely poor village in Jiangxi province, where classes were being held for the village children, Fu said on Tuesday. afp

The three nalists. From left: Hak Seyha of Topaz, Din Oun from Rafes and Leorung Minol from Sotel. CHARLOTTE PERT

this competition because the career of sommelier is new in Cambodia, and there are many new restaurants, bars and hotels who need staff who are professional and talented to increase their level of service, she said. Seyha, who on Tuesday was elected president of the Cambodian Sommelier Association, said that Cambodia has much work to do if it hopes to be competitive at international competitions. The association is very important for people who work in the industry, because Cambodia is too young with wine

compared to other countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Malaysia or Indonesia, he said. Seyha himself competed in Singapore last August at the Southeast Asia Best Sommelier Competition, along with Gnean Eden of Sotel Phnom Penh Phokeethra. Eden won last years Cambodian competition, the rst, which was held before the association was formalised. Although neither won any prizes abroad, Seyha said that competing in Singapore was an accomplishment in itself. Ut Vuthy, assistant manager

of Almond Hotels Yi Sang restaurant and contestant at this weeks competition, said that the association is a step forward for a country that lacks any accredited sommelier training program. In Cambodia, we have never had sommeliers. We just have wine stewards, but we are not clear about the process of how to [serve] wine. So if we have this sommelier association in Cambodia, the group can spread out to train the other restaurants to make them know wine very well and know well how to make the customers happy.

Kheat Sareant, contestant and house supervisor at the Common Tiger restaurant, said he did not expect to win the competition but was nonetheless happy to participate. Being a sommelier is my favourite [job]. It is what I am always thinking about, what Id like to be in my life, he said. Wine is all over the world. Thats why I like wine: to have communications with all the customers. Following his victory this week, Seyha will be sent to Bangkok in April for the Southeast Asia Best Sommelier Competition 2014.

SOFIA Coppola, director of The Virgin Suicides, The Bling Ring and Lost in Translation, will direct a live-action version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Little Mermaid. Deadline.com confirmed reports that talks had taken place between Coppola and Universal/Working Title. Atonement director Joe Wright had previously been attached to the project; he is currently working on Pan, an update of JM Barries childrens stories. the Guardian

Sofia Coppola to direct live Little Mermaid

Ill be rich tomorrow, lottery winner said

Memorial to Breivik victims sparks Norway outrage

A CONTROVERSIAL memorial project for the victims of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik near the site of the massacre has sparked anger among relatives and locals. Called Memory Wound, the project by Swedish landscape artist Jonas Dahlber carves a 3.5-metre-wide slit through a small peninsula facing the island of Utoeya, where the right-wing extremist killed 69 people, mostly teenagers, on July 22, 2011. Names of the victims would be engraved into one side of the peninsulas symbolic wound, with an observation gallery installed into the facade on the opposite side. The jury that selected the proposal described it as a wound or a cut within the landscape which symbolises something being taken away. The idea was hailed when it was chosen in late February but since then the criticism has grown. Families of some of the victims complain they were never consulted on the avant-garde installation, while residents say that it scars the landscape and experts argue that its technically not viable. Im not against the monument in itself. Its the way that it was chosen and the location that poses a problem for me, said Vanessa Svebakk, the mother of the youngest victim, aged 14. Breivik is serving out a 21-year prison sentence for the murder of a total of 77 people in a rampage which also saw eight people die in a bomb attack outside a government building in Oslo. Since the process started at the end of 2012, we who were closest to the victims, the most affected, have been kept in the dark, Svebakk said. Its arrogant to use the names of our children without asking us. The fact that they are dead does not make them any less our children. She said it was out of the question that her daughters name should appear several hundred metres away from the island where she was killed. afp

A CAR mechanic from Britain revealed on Tuesday he had predicted he would be a multimillionaire this time tomorrow just hours before he won a 107.9 million lottery jackpot. Neil Trotter, 41, from Coulsdon in south London, said he had told staff at his fathers office on the day of the Euromillions draw on Friday that he was feeling lucky. At around 10:30pm that night, he went white as a sheet when he learned he was the single ticket holder to scoop the massive jackpot worth 128.$179.2 million. He and his partner celebrated modestly with two bottles of beer. afp

Stones postpone tour after LWren death

A model of Memory Wound, the winning entry for the memorial by the Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg depicting a 3.5-metre-wide slit in the Sorbraten peninsula. afp

THE Rolling Stones on Tuesday postponed indefinitely their tour of Australia and New Zealand with frontman Mick Jagger plunged into grief over the suicide of girlfriend LWren Scott. Jagger, who was expected to head to New York, said that he was struggling to understand Scotts death as it emerged her fashion design business was grappling with multimillion-dollar debts. afp

18

THE PHNOM PENH POST march 20, 2014

Motoring

Mercedes redefining the wagon I

Jason J Harper

M LOST somewhere in the Mojave Desert. Im also late for a ight. This is a bad combination. Los Angeles International Airport is many miles away and the hummingbird in my gut comes from that particular anxiety when an aeroplane is leaving without you on it. And yet Im also at the wheel of a 2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S wagon. By all appearances this is not propitious, as its a rather boxy, very European-looking station wagon. A brown one no less. Many people might consider a wagon to be the least sexy of all vehicles, less cool perhaps than even a minivan. Theyre wrong. This car is a sleeper. Coiled in the hood is a 5.5-litre V-8, with two powerful turbochargers bolted on. The Mercedes makes 590 pound-feet of torque thats more than the might of a John Deere utility tractor. Horsepower is no less bonkers, at 577. This is a car to get you to the airport on time, even when youre running very, very late. The base price is $102,370. With two optional luxury packages, including a driver assist technology with a host of radar sensors, it comes to a heady $106,895. Rather thin air for a brown station wagon. I had an assignation with another fast car at a racetrack out in the desert and am late because I was loath to leave. Now Ive got to nd my way through a tangle of unfamiliar secondary roads to the freeway and through LAs recalcitrant trafc. I plug Los Angeles International into the navigation system, xing the quandary of being lost, and then let loose down a series of dusty two-lane roads. The car propels forward with a deep rumble. The tremor doesnt reach the steering

The Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S wagon: Perhaps aimed at the worlds most successful door-to-door salesman.

BLOOMBERG

wheel itself, which is coated in fake suede. This is a Mercedes after all, a solid piece of moveable architecture from Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler AG. Its also an AMG. Did I mention that this is the S version of the E63 AMG? The regular E63 comes as a sedan and has 550 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque, a big jump from the plain-Jane, 302-horsepower E350 available in sedan, coupe and wagon forms. But AMG likes to push even more, so weve got

a full 577 horsepower. Why the wagon then? Easy answer: It has 57.4 cubic feet (1.63 cubic metres) of storage, dwarng the sedans 15.9 cubic feet. The torque, that instant twist of power that gets you off the line, is what I most relish as I move between stop signs on the dead-quiet two-lane. I half expect the tyres to leave deep gouges in the asphalt. This is one of the rst AMG models thats not a sportutility vehicle to get AWD, a response from customer de-

mand in cold-weather states. Well see more AWD from AMG in the future. In the case of the E63, greater torque is delivered to the rear so it still handles like a performance car. The standard summer performance tires would be a serious problem in cold, but on this sunny, blue California day, the sticky treads are ideal. Miles slip away and the navigation system begins to estimate ever-earlier arrival times, the minutes ticking backwards. This would be a

great marketing campaign: AMG gives you back time. For comparisons sake, even the 520-horsepower Porsche 911 Turbo has less kick. The Porsche also has an oversized rear wing and little storage space. The only apples-toapples car I can muster is Cadillacs CTS-V wagon, which used a 556-horsepower Corvette engine and has a starting price of $64,900. Perhaps, then, the E63 S is aimed at the worlds most successful door-to-door salesper-

son, who crisscrosses the West in record time as he or she sells goods. I arrive in Los Angeles wishing I had a passenger so I could use the high-occupancy vehicle lane. Miracles happen, though, and trafc clears. I exit to Sepulveda Boulevard and to an airport parking garage. Valeting the E63, I trigger the automatic tailgate, grab my gear and run. Theres a ight with my name on it. And Im actually going to make it. BLOOMBERG

Citroen becomes the latest victim of Adobe hackers

Tom Brewster

Watch the back door one of Citroens German websites was attacked by hackers.

BLOOMBERG

A PROLIFIC hacker gang that has breached numerous companies by exploiting Adobe software has claimed another major hit in the form of car manufacturer Citroen, the Guardian has learned. Citroen had one of its German websites hacked to include a backdoor, which is a method of bypassing normal authentication systems, and which may have allowed the attackers to make off with whatever data was sitting on the sites server. A Citroen Germany spokesperson said law enforcement were to be contacted about the breach as it appeared to be a criminal act. Some customer data was stolen, the spokesperson said, but it is unclear how many are affected. Customers have been contacted and will be advised to check their bank accounts for any suspicious transfers. The attackers managed to embed the backdoor on shop.citroen.de, a fan site for buying Citroen-based gifts. After disclosure by the Guardian and Alex Holden, chief information security officer at Hold Security, the backdoor was removed, but investigations into

the breach continue. The backdoor file was live from at least August 2013. According to Holden, it was certain the same actors responsible for breaching several sites including Adobe, PR Newswire and the National White Collar Crime Center were behind the Citroen site breach. Security blogger Brian Krebs last year uncovered a trove of information taken in those attacks. The hackers have been scanning the internet for weaknesses in a web application platform from Adobe known as ColdFusion. The exploitation was targeted across the entire internet looking specifically for ColdFusion exploits, Holden said. If the hackers did decide to pilfer data from the site, they would have had access to all information on the server. To explain the backdoor simply, it provides full command line and SQL database access with the rights of the user running the web services, which usually means everything on the web server, Holden added. Citroen was not responsible for running the site. It contracted a design firm to run its main German website and the affected fan site. THE GUARDIAN

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Travel
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT SCHEDULE
FROM PHNOM PENH
Flighs K6 720 PG 938 PG 932 TG 581 PG 934 FD 3617 PG 936 TG 585 CZ 324 QR 965 QR 967 CZ 324 CZ 6060 VN 840 Days Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily 2.4.7 Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily Daily 1.2.4.7 6 1 3.5.7 2 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2 2.3.4.5.7 1.3.5.6.7 2.4 1.3.5.6 .2.4..7 .2.4..7 Daily 1.3 2.4.5 6 7 Daily Daily Daily 1.3.6 1.3.6 Dep 12:05 06:40 09:55 10:05 15:30 17:05 19:30 20:40 08:00 16:10 22:40 08:00 14:45 17:30 16:10 22:40 14:00 19:20 11:25 11:45 18:30 17:25 19:00 23:40 23:50 08:35 11:10 17:10 20:05 19:50 Arrival 01:10 08:15 11:10 11:10 16:40 18:15 20:40 21:45 16:05 22:45
05:20+1

19

MH 765 5J 258
Arrival 03:30 09:05 09:05 14:40 16:20 18:40 19:40 21:50 20:50 14:30 20:50 13:45 20:50 13:00 14:30 20:50 16:30 18:45 10:25 16:05 17:00 17:25

3.5.7 2.4.7 1, 6, 7 2.4 5 7 3, 2 5 2.4.5.7

1. 5
Days 1-3-5

14:15 22:30 16:35 10:40 12:25 12:45 18:30 18:35 10:05

20:15
Dep 12:55

17:25 02:11 22:15 15:20 15:40 16:05 21:35 21:55 13:00

21:25
Arrival 13:55

MH 764 5J 257 MI 633 MI 622 MI 616 MI 636 MI 630 MI 618 QV 512

8M 401
Flighs K6 131

3.5.7 2.4.7 1, 6, 7 2.4 7 3, 2 5 5 2.4.5.7

1. 5
Days 1-3-5

12:10 19:45 14:35 08:40 10:40 13:55 07:55 16:35 06:30

17:05
Dep 11:20

13:15 21:30 15:45 09:50 11:50 17:40 11:35 17:45 09:25

19:15
Arrival 12:20

TO PHNOM PENH
Flighs K6 721 PG 931 TG 580 PG 933 FD 3616 PG 935 TG 584 PG 937 CZ 323 QR 964 QR 966 CZ 6059 CZ 323 VN 841 QR 604 QR 966 VN 920 VN 3857 KA 208 KA 206 KA 206 KA 206 Days Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. 2.4.7 Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily Daily Dep 02:25 07:55 07:55 13:30 15:15 17:30 18:25 20:15 14:30 01:05 07:25 12:00 19:05 09:40 13:30 19:50 15:50 18:00 BANGKOK - PHNOM PENH

SIEM REAP - MANILA SIEM REAP - SINGAPORE MI 633 MI 622 MI 630 MI 615 MI 636 MI 617 QV 522
8M 402

MANILA - SIEM REAP SINGAPORE - SIEM REAP

PHNOM PENH - BANGKOK

SIEM REAP - VIENTIANE

SIEM REAP - YANGON
PREAH SIHANOUK - SIEM REAP Flighs K6 130

VIENTIANE - SIEM REAP

YANGON - SIEM REAP
SIEM REAP - PREAH SIHANOUK

PHNOM PENH - BEIJING PHNOM PENH - DOHA ( Via HCMC)

BEIJING - PHNOM PENH DOHA - PHNOM PENH ( Via HCMC)

PHNOM PENH - GUANGZHOU 11:40 18:10 20:35 17:10 23:40 14:45 20:05 15:05 22:25 22:05 21:00 22:35

GUANGZHOU - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - HANOI PHNOM PENH - HO CHI MINH CITY QR 965 QR 967 VN 841 VN 3856 KA 207 KA 207 KA 209 KA 209 KA 205 KE 690 OZ 740 AK 1473 MH 755 MH 763 AF 273 FM 833 MI 601 MI 622 3K 594 3K 592 3K 598 MI 607 2817 2817 2817 2817 BR 266 VN 840 QV 920
8M 402 8M 401

HANOI - PHNOM PENH HO CHI MINH CITY - PHNOM PENH

An Air Canada plane descends at Vancouver International Airport in Canada. BLOOMBERG

Air Canada trades space for more profit

Frederic Tomesco

PHNOM PENH - HONG KONG

HONG KONG - PHNOM PENH 1.2.4.6.7 08:50 3.5.7 1 2 14:30 15:25 15:50

AIRLINES CODE
2817 - 16 Tigerairways 5J - CEBU Airways. AK - Air Asia BR - EVA Airways CI - China Airlines CZ - China Southern FD - Thai Air Asia FM - Shanghai Air K6- Cambodia Angkor Air KA - Dragon Air MH - Malaysia Airlines MI - SilkAir OZ - Asiana Airlines PG - Bangkok Airways QR - Qatar Airways QV - Lao Airlines SQ - Singapore Airlines

COLOUR CODE
1 Monday 2 Tuesday 3 Wednesday 4 Thursday 5 Friday 6 Saturday 7 Sunday

PHNOM PENH - INCHEON 06:40 06:50 11:20 14:00 20:00 06:05 23:05

INCHEON - PHNOM PENH KE 689 OZ 739 AK 1474 MH 754 MH 762 AF 273 FM 833 MI 602 MI 622 3K 593 3K 591 *3K 597 MI 608 2816 2816 2816 2816 BR 265 VN 841 QV 921 8M 401 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2 18:30 19:10 15:15 09:30 3:20 20:05 22:20 22:50 16:00 10:20 4:10 06:05 22:40 08:40 11:25 14:25 20:20 15:15 17:15 15:50 08:10 14:00 12:30 11:35 13:00 13:15 10:45

PHNOM PENH - KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR - PHNOM PENH

IR Canada is betting less legroom for passengers translates into higher prot. Canadas largest carrier has done the maths and gures that adding at least 22 seats on jets of its Rouge unit turns money-losing routes to destinations such as the Caribbean protable. Air Canadas main carrier has also begun ying ve high-density Boeing Co. 777 jets with more than 100 additional seats than standard models have. Densed-up aircraft are a key part of a plan by chief executive ofcer Calin Rovinescu to cut expenses for each seat own a mile by 15 per cent over ve years even as some customers lament the lack of legroom. Other cost-saving measures include the addition of 37 fuel-efcient Boeing 787 Dreamliners starting this year and the full roll out of Rouge, Rovinescu said. High-density planes have turned out to be a great strategy for us, Rovinescu, 58, said March 6 in an interview at Bloombergs ofce in Toronto. While customers have registered complaints about the moves on such sites as Skytrax and TripAdvisor, investors welcome Air Canadas efforts. Air Canadas widely traded Class B stock has risen sixfold in the past two years, outstripping a 15 per cent gain by Canadas benchmark Standard & Poors/TSX Composite Index. The Bloomberg Americas Airlines Index has almost doubled during that time. Air Canada rose 5.3 per cent to C$5.94 by the 4 p.m. close of trading in Toronto today. Rovinescu, who marks his fth anniversary at the helm of the carrier on April 1, is betting the strategies hes employing to cut costs along with the elimination of the companys pension overhang will break the

stock free of the lower multiples at which Canadas two biggest airlines trade compared with U.S. peers. Air Canadas stock relative to earnings trades at less than half the rate of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) and United Continental Holdings Inc. of Chicago. Putting passengers in 30-inch pitch seats is standard practice now, said Walter Spracklin, a transportation analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto who recommends investors buy Air Canada stock. Its the norm. Its not like a competitor is offering a better product solution for the same price. Pitch is the distance from the back of a seat to the back of the one behind it. The pitch differs according to fare category and plane, ranging from 29 inches in the cheapest Rouge seats on the A319, to 44 inches in Air Canadas high-density 777s in executive rst class. Several airlines are installing slimline seats made of thinner material and a shorter seat bottom, which allows them to add an extra row or two in coach without making the seating feel more crowded. Southwest did this to get six additional seats on its 737s. Air Canada began Rouge July 1 with a view to improving the protability of routes that typically draw fewer high-paying business passengers. Rouges eet, which had 10 planes at the end of 2013, will grow to 33 planes by the end of this year and eventually reach 50, Rovinescu said. Rouge now ies to 28 destinations, with plans to add 17 over time. Rouges Airbus Group Nv A319 jets cost 21 per cent less to operate than the same planes on Air Canada, while the Boeing 767s, with 51 extra seats, cost 29 per cent less. Seat conguration accounts for about two-thirds of the difference, with labour representing the rest, the CEO said.
bloomberg

TG - Thai Airways | VN - Vietnam Airlines

This ight schedule information is updated about once a month. Further information, please contact direct to airline or a travel agent for ight schedule information.

PHNOM PENH- PARIS PHNOM PENH - SHANGHAI PHNOM PENH - SINGAPORE 09:30 12:30 12:20 15:10 21:05 16:00 18:10 16:40 09:10 14:50 13:20 12:45 17:30 17:50 13:30 11:45 15:20 18:10 0:05 19:25 21:10 19:40 12:00 17:50 16:10 17:05 18:50 19:10 14:55 12:30

PHNOM PENH - PARIS SHANGHAI - PHNOM PENH 2.3.4.5.7 19:30 1.3.5.6.7 07:40 2.4 1.3.5.6 .2.4..7 .2.4..7 Daily 1.3 2.4.5 6 7 Daily Daily Daily 1.3.6 08:40 13:20 19:15 13:50 16:20 15:00 07:20 13:00 11:30 09:10 11:30 11:45 08:20 SINGAPORE - PHNOM PENH - SIEM REAP *
Air Asia (AK) Room T6, PP International Airport. Tel: 023 6666 555 Fax: 023 890 071 www.airasia.com

AIRLINES
Koreanair (KE) Room.F3-R03, Intelligent Ofce Myanmar Airways International Center, Monivong Blvd,PP Tel: (855) 23 224 047-9 #90+92+94Eo, St. 217, www.koreanair.com Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. T:023 881 178 | F:023 886 677 www.maiair.com Cebu Pacic (5J) Phnom Penh: No. 333B Monivong Blvd. Tel: 023 219161 Siem Reap: No. 50,Sivatha Blvd. Tel: 063 965487 E-mail: cebuair@ptm-travel.com www.cebupacicair.com

Cambodia Angkor Air (K6) PP Ofce, #90+92+94Eo, St.217, Sk.Orussey4, Kh. 7Makara, 023 881 178 /77718-333. Fax:+855 23-886-677 www.cambodiaangkorair.com E: mai@royalaviationexpert.com

Dragon Air (KA) #168, Monireth, PP Tel: 023 424 300 Fax: 023 424 304 www.dragonair.com/kh

PHNOM PENH -TAIPEI PHNOM PENH - VIENTIANE

TAIPEI - PHNOM PENH VIENTIANE - PHNOM PENH

Tiger airways G. oor, Regency square, Suare, Suite #68/79, St.205, Sk Chamkarmorn, PP Tel: (855) 95 969 888 (855) 23 5515 888/5525888 E: info@cambodiaairlines.net

PHNOM PENH - YANGON SIEM REAP - PHNOM PENH

YANGON - SIEM REAP

Qatar Airways No. 296 Blvd. Mao Tse Toung (St. 245), Ground oor, Intercontinental Hotel PP Tel: +23 42 40 12/13/14 www.qatarairways.com

SilkAir (MI) Regency C,Unit 2-4,Tumnorb Teuk, Chamkarmorn Phnom Penh Tel:023 988 629 www.silkair.com

REGULAR SHIPPING LINES SCHEDULES CALLING PORT ROTATION

LINE CALLING SCHEDULES 1 Wed, 08:00 - Thu 16:00 RCL (12calls/moth) 2 Thu, 14:00 - Fri 22:00 3 Fri, 20:00 - Sat 23:59 MEARSK (MCC) (4 calls/moth) SITC (BEN LINE (4 calls/onth) ITL (ACL) (4 calls/month) APL (4 calls/month) COTS (2 calls/month) 1 Th, 08:00 - 20:00 2 Fri, 22:00- Sun 00:01 Sun 09:00-23:00 Sat 06:00 - Sun 08:00 Fri, 08:00 - Sun, 06:00 Irregula FREEQUENCY ROTATION PORTS 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 call/week SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN HKG-SHV-SGZ-HKG (HPH-TXGKEL) SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN SGN-SHV-LZP-SGN - HKG-OSA-TYO-KOB - BUS-SGH-YAT-SGN - SIN-SHV-TPP-SIN HCM-SHV-LZP-HCMNBO-SGH-OSA-KOBBUS-SGH-HGK-CHM SGZ-SHV-SIN-SGZ SIN-SHV-SIN

SIEM REAP - BANGKOK Flighs

K6 700

BANGKOK - SIEM REAP Dep

12:50

Days
Daily

Arrival
2:00

Flighs
K6 701

Days
Daily

Dep
02:55

Arrival
04:05

PG 924 PG 906 PG 914 PG 908 PG 910 CZ 3054 CZ 3054

K6 850

Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2.4.6 1.3.5.7

Daily

09:45 13:15 15:20 18:50 20:30 11:25 19:25

06:50

11:10 14:40 16:45 20:15 21:55 15:35 23:20

08:30

PG 903 PG 905 PG 913 PG 907 PG 909 CZ 3053 CZ 3053

K6 851

Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2.4.6 1.3.5.7

Daily

08:00 11:35 13:35 17:00 18:45 08:45 16:35

19:30

09:00 12:45 14:35 18:10 19:55 10:30 18:30

21:15

SIEM REAP - GUANGZHOU

GUANGZHOU - SIEM REAP

SIEM REAP -HANOI VN 868 VN 842 VN 844 VN 800 VN 3818 VN 826 VN 3820 VN 828 VN 3822 KE 688 OZ 738 AK 281 1.2.3.5.6 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 12:40 18:05 19:45 21:00 11:10 13:30 17:45 18:20 21:35 23:15 23:40 08:35 15:35 19:45 21:25 22:40 12:30 14:40 18:45 19:20 22:35 06:10 07:10 11:35

HANOI - SIEM REAP VN 843 VN 845 VN 845 VN 801 VN 3809 VN 827 VN 3821 VN 829 VN 3823 KE 687 OZ 737 AK 280 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 15:25 17:05 17:45 18:20 09:15 11:35 15:55 16:20 19:45 18:30 19:20 06:50 17:10 18:50 19:30 20:00 10:35 12:35 16:55 17:40 20:45 22:15 22:40 07:50

2 calls/month BBK-SHV-BKK-(LZP)

34 call/month
SGZ= Songkhla, Thailand SHV= Sihanoukville Port Cambodia SIN= Singapore TPP= TanjungPelapas, Malaysia TYO= Tokyo, Japan TXG= Taichung, Taiwan YAT= Yantian, China YOK= Yokohama, Japan

SIEM REAP - HO CHI MINH CITY

HO CHI MINH CITY - SIEM REAP

BUS= Busan, Korea HKG= HongKong kao=Kaoshiung, Taiwan ROC Kob= Kebe, Japan KUN= Kuantan, Malaysia LZP= Leam Chabang, Thailand NBO= Ningbo, China OSA= Osaka, Japan SGN= Saigon, Vietnam

SIEM REAP - INCHEON

INCHEON - SIEM REAP

FLY DIRECT TO MYANMAR MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY YANGON - PHNOM PENH SIEM REAP - YANGON

PHNOM PENH - YANGON YANGON - SIEM REAP

FLY DIRECT TO SIEM REAP MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY #90+92+94Eo, St. 217, Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tel 023 881 178 | Fax 023 886 677 | www.maiair.com

SIEM REAP - KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR - SIEM REAP

20

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Entertainment
NOW SHOWING
LEGEND CINEMA
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy. City Mall: 3:40pm, 5:55pm, 10pm NEED FOR SPEED Fresh from prison, a street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate joins a cross country race with revenge in mind. His ex-partner, learning of the plan, places a massive bounty on his head as the race begins. Aaron Paul, of Breaking Bad, stars as the main character. City Mall: 11:15am, 1:55pm, 7pm, 9:35pm Toul Kork: 9:20am, 4:25pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm MR PEABODY AND SHERMAN The time-travelling adventures of an advanced canine and his adopted son, as they endeavour to fix a time rift they created. Animated adventure suited to kids. City Mall: 11:20am, 1:45pm, 5:40pm Toul Kork: 9:20am, 3:30pm POMPEII A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him. City Mall: 9:15am Toul Kork: 10pm
A still from Golden Slumbers, about the golden era of Cambodian lm. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Film @ Meta House

Davy Chous documentary, Golden Slumbers is a work of cultural excavation and preservation. It features clips of surviving pre Khmer Rouge lms, audio recordings of their soundtracks, visits to some of the sites where the lms were shot or exhibited as well as extended interviews. At tonights screening Chou will collect donations for one of the protagonists of the lm, who is ill, and hold a Q&A.

Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd. 7pm

Jazz @ La Croisette
The band are made up of a Malaysian and a Russian, but that doesnt stop them playing both Brazilian and jazz songs. Catch it on Riverside at 9pm tonight.

La Croisette, #241 Sisowath Quay. 9pm

Party @ La Crperie
Celebrate the month anniversary of the Franglish club with an evening of crepes, networking, and linguistic challenges. French and English speakers are invited to test their language skills with a casual dinner and lucky draw. Price is $15 with dinner, a crepe and one drink.

TV PICKS

2:40pm - SHALLOW HAL: A shallow man falls in love with a 300 pound woman because of her inner beauty. FOX MOVIES 6:20pm - FASTER: An ex-con sets out to avenge his brothers death after they were double-crossed during a heist years ago. During his campaign, however, hes tracked by a veteran cop. FOX MOVIES 8pm - 21 AND OVER: The night before his big medical school interview, a promising student celebrates his 21st birthday with his two best friends. FOX MOVIES 9:30pm - S.W.A.T: An imprisoned drug kingpin offers a huge cash reward to anyone that can break him out of police custody and only the LAPDs Special Weapons and Tactics team can prevent it. FOX MOVIES

PLATINUM CINEPLEX
NEED FOR SPEED (See above.) 4:10pm, 6:15pm, 8:15pm 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (See above.) 8:40pm TIMELINE Thai film. 9:20am, 3pm, 6pm, 8:25pm

La Crperie, #12C, Street 308. 7:30pm

Art @ Institut Francais

This group exhibition project brings together visual artists living and working in Battambang. More than 25 artists present a hundred works at the French cultural centre.

Gemma Arterton stars in Hansel & Gretel: Witchhunters. AFP

11:30pm - HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCHUNTERS: Hansel & Gretel are bounty hunters. FOX MOVIES

Institut Francais, #218 Street 184.

Thinking caps
BURY THE HATCHET
ACROSS
1 5 10 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 25 26 29 31 35 36 38 39 43 44 45 46 49 50 51 53 55 58 62 65 66 67 68 69 70 States of commotion Former Turkish ruler Radar-screen light Academic mil. unit Word with lock or barrier Took the light rail Easy to swap out Make retribution Event with a leader board Giant author Ferber Rip Disdained newspaper Farm door fastener Rear window feature in some cars Chicken ___ king Port of old Rome Merchandising event What a sneaky person might have Many a prom attendee Four-person race Gun at a red light Refugees request Little bribes Metal-in-the-raw Cow-horned goddess Unit of electricity B.C. character Wipe from memory Be harder to catch Very familiar with Mickey Mantles number Frog maneuver Congregation seats ___ we all? Overly pretentious

DOWN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 18 19 23 24 26 27 28 30 32 33 34 37 40 41 42 47 48 52 54 55 56 57 59 60 61 62 63 64 Type of solo Parental admonition Football great Graham It may be stolen while many look on Pipe type How soothing! Petty clash Courtroom address (with your) Debated Wave, as a weapon Bottom of your ear In a lazy way ___ Wee Reese (baseball Hall-of-Famer) Like fiery pokers Fish-eating eagle Bandmate of Crosby and Stills Buzzing Certain dreadlocked Jamaican, briefly Athol Fugards A Lesson From ___ Tasting like wild meat Some fragrant trees Egypts largest city Senior church official One of the Canterbury pilgrims Visibly elated Adds pizazz to Spanish appetizer It might be shucked Beta tester, e.g. Brunch cocktail Showing more normal judgment Start of a happy-go-lucky utterance Get by somehow Openly confess Glacier snow field Excellent server, in tennis 32-card game Sports-channel award Ryder or Stanley 1 of 100 in D.C. Its dynamite

wednesdays solution

wednesdays solution

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Sport

21

VER the next three weeks, a peculiar syndrome will sweep over the United States, sending Americans into a collective tizzy as they ditch work, lay bets and obsess over something called brackets. Welcome to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One Mens Basketball Championship, better known as March Madness for the way it seizes the nations attention for the better part of a month. Sixty-eight teams are vying for glory. On April 7, one will take the coveted NCAA title in Texas and some of the stars of college basketball will quickly make their way into the professional ranks. In the run-up to the nal, millions of American sports fans will be glued to their TV screens and mobile devices, rooting for their alma maters. Some will bet big money, on the well-funded traditional powerhouse teams and the would-be Cinderellas looking to make a splash. One such underdog was Mount Saint Marys, a small Catholic university of just 2,200 students located in rural Emmitsburg, Maryland. The Mountaineers were hoping to be the rst 16th seeded team in NCAA history to win a game on Tuesday in a preliminary play-in game against the State University of New York at Albany. However, Mount Saint Marys dream of reaching the tournaments main draw, and a clash tonight with the two-time NCAA champions University of Florida Gators, was dashed as the Albany Great Danes beat them 71-64 to advance. Meanwhile, North Carolina State University defeated the Xavier Musketeers 74-59 in a battle for a 12th seed and a matchup against No 5 seed Saint Louis.

US college basketball fans set for March Madness bonanza O

Playing hoops hooky

annual payments of $25 million, or a one-time lump sum of $500 million. We really pay no attention to that, said NCAA tournament chairman Ron Wellman when asked about the Buffett bracket. We have other things that we need to tend to at this point. One of the most-watched brackets comes from President Barack Obama, a well-known basketball fan and recreational player who posts his projections on the White House website.

Rashad Whack (right) of the Mount St. Marys Mountaineers shoots against John Puk of the Albany Great Danes during their rst round game of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament at University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday. AFP

Science of bracketology
Central to the March Madness

insanity is the bracket a multipronged diagram with the names of each team as they gradually progress to the finals. Guessing which team will go forward is a national obsession known as bracketology as an estimated US$12 billion changes hands in ofce and online pools, according to business magazine Forbes.

This year, billionaire Warren Buffett, the nations best-known investor, and loan provider Quicken have teamed up to offer $1 billion to whoever correctly predicts every outcome right up to the NCAA nal. The odds of doing that successfully are put at nine quintillion to one thats nine followed by 18 zeros and the prize money is to be paid out in 40

So popular is March Madness that outplacement rm Challenger Gray and Christmas estimates companies could lose a whopping $1.2 billion for every unproductive work hour during the rst week of the tournament. While March Madness distractions may not alter the nations quarterly GDP numbers, you can be assured that department managers and network administrators notice the effect on work output and company-wide Internet speeds, said the rms CEO John A. Challenger. Most however need not worry about being red: a survey by OfceTeam, another job placement rm, found that 20 percent of managers deem March Madness to be good for staff morale, labour lawyers Mintz Levin reported on its blog. The real reason why people like March Madness so much is because it gives them an opportunity not to have to work, said John DArgenio, athletics director at Siena College in New York state, which last participated in 2010. Some fans just skip work altogether, feigning sickness to convene in bars with friends or stay at home to watch the action unfold. March Madness certainly is big business. CBS and Time Warner are paying $10.8 billion for the rights to telecast every game until 2024. Some of that money goes back to the universities. AFP

LOCAl kickboxing superstar Keo Roomchang will turn down various lucrative offers, including a luxury car and villa, from Thailand-based fight promoters to change his nationality, his father told the Post yesterday. Keo Sam Ang, who is both father and coach of the 23-year-old Battambang champion boxer, recognised the big deals being offered to his son but noted the importance of Roomchang representing his homeland in local and international bouts. Thai boxing offers higher payment to our fighters than Cambodia, but were the founder [of the sport], not the copier, said Keo Sam Ang. Keo Romchong will be flying to Thailand in August to compete in a boxing tournament which carries a top prize of 25 million baht (US$777,100). YEUN
PONLOK, TRANSLATED BY CHENG SERYRITH

Keo Roomchang wont take Thai deal says dad

Numbers down for 2014 Wushu Championship

The 2014 National Wushu Championships jumpstarted yesterday at the indoor hall of the Olympic Stadium with a marked decrease in the number of participants compared to last years edition. 130 males and 80 females from eight clubs and associations nationwide have registered to compete this year, down from 196 males and 123 females from 13 clubs last time out. Cambodian Wushu Federation general secretary Mao Chanta Vuth pointed to numerous reasons for the decline in numbers. One of the clubs chief is sick, other club chiefs are busy with their work in the provinces and some clubs are moving location. Which means they are all not able to prepare themselves for the competition on time, he said yesterday.
CHHORN NORN, TRANSLATED BY CHENG SERYRITH

Heat star James on fire in his Cleveland return

Jackson seeks to recreate magic with the Knicks

PHil Jackson was officially announced as the New York Knicks new president on Tuesday, returning to the NBA team where he got his start and vowing to help turn the struggling club around. The 68-year-old Hall of Famer, who has won a record 13 NBA titles as a player and coach, said his aim is to bring a winning tradition back to New York. I am going to jump in with both feet, Jackson said during a news conference at Madison Square Garden. We want to build a team. Were going to make one step at a time. I think thats the most important thing. Were going to push this team and, hopefully push into the playoffs, and see how they really can compete. From there on, well take it a step at a time as we go forward. Jackson will be trying to recreate the magic he was part of with the Knicks in the 1970s. Jackson, who played for the Knicks from 1967-78, has been put in charge of all basketball decisions for the Knicks. He with winning basketball teams, said Knicks owner Jim Dolan, who joined Jackson on the podium for Tuesdays announcement. His history of success in the NBA is unrivaled, and he is the ideal executive to lead our team and develop short and long term plans that build a successful franchise and result in an NBA championship. Jackson replaces Steve Mills, who was named president and general manager of the Knicks in September. Mills still remains with the team as the general manager. Jackson also said head coach Mike Woodson would stay with the team. This is Jacksons first role as a front office decision maker. Three years ago, at his retirement press conference, he said his future plans didnt include coaching in the NBA again. The Knicks are in the midst of a disappointing season after reaching the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2012-13. Their play has improved of late as they have won six straight games. The Knicks were 27-40 four games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, heading into last nights slate of games. The Knicks are hoping the hiring of Jackson improves the chances they might keep star forward Carmelo Anthony, who is looking at free agency after this season. Carmelo is one of the top scorers in the league, Jackson said on Tuesday. I have no problem saying Carmelo is in the future plans. He still has another level he can go to. Anthony said before the hiring was made official that he was looking forward to working with Jackson. He has won a lot. I havent won yet. I am hoping and planning this all works, Anthony said. Jackson said trying to lead the Knicks to their first title in 41 years wont be easy. This is an opportunity, not a possible failure chance, Jackson said. That is how I look at it. AFP

LeBrOn James was unstoppable in his return to his former home, putting on a firstquarter shooting display that set the tone for Miami as the Heat beat Cleveland 100-96 on Tuesday. James stormed out of the gate in his sixth contest back in Cleveland, scoring 25 of his 43 points in the opening quarter for the Heat at Quicken Loans Arena. I felt a good rhythm, James said. I shot the ball well in warm-ups and I was able to carry it over into the game. AFP

Bangladesh thump Nepal at World T20

Phil Jackson stands for photos during his introductory press conference as President of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. AFP

won two titles as a player with the Knicks, helping them win their most recent NBA crown in 1973. We are looking forward to embracing the past but also looking forward, said Jackson, who has never had a losing season in the NBA as a head coach. To come back to the place where I started in basketball is a great feeling. Jackson signed a five-year contract but wouldnt commit to a timeline on how long it

would take to restore the team to its winning ways. Jackson won 11 NBA titles as a coach, surpassing the previous record of nine set by Red Auerbach. Jackson retired from coaching in May 2011 after leading the Chicago Bulls to six crowns in the 1990s and then Los Angeles Lakers to five titles. His last title came in 2010 with Los Angeles. There is only one Phil Jackson, and he is synonymous

BAnglAdesh put in a clinical performance to defeat newcomers Nepal by eight wickets in the World Twenty20 in Chittagong on Tuesday. The hosts, who fielded after winning the toss, kept Nepal down to 126-5 in their 20 overs before reaching the modest target in 15.3 overs. Earlier, Mohammad Shahzad and Shafiqullah Shafiq hit aggressive half-centuries to help Afghanistan beat Hong Kong by seven wickets. Shahzad notched up a fiery 53-ball 68 while Shafiq smashed a careerbest 50 not out off just 24 balls to help Afghanistan reach their 154-run target with 12 balls to spare in the Group A match. A second defeat for Hong Kong means they are out of the tournament. AFP

22

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Sport

Jockey Cosgrave gets six-month ban from ERA

PAT Cosgrave has become the latest British-based jockey subjected to a swingeing punishment while riding elsewhere, following the news that he has been banned for six months by the Emirates Racing Authority. The 31-year-old, known for his top-class sprint successes on Borderlescott, Markab and Society Rock, offended the stewards with his ride on Anaerobio in the Jebel Hatta, a Group One, at Dubais Meydan racecourse on March 8. Anaerobio was a 20-1 shot who set the pace in a race eventually won by his stablemate Vercingetorix, the 2-1 favourite. At the turn for home Anaerobio rolled off the inside rail, leaving a gap through which Vercingetorix sailed. The ERA has now ruled that Cosgraves manoeuvre was a deliberate attempt to favour his mounts stablemate and noted in its published ruling that Cosgrave had looked behind him on at least three occasions before leaving the rail. THE GUARDIAN

Colts owner Irsay checks into rehab

IndiAnApoLis Colts owner Jim Irsay has entered drug rehab after he allegedly failed a sobriety test and was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance. The National Football League team issued a news release on Tuesday night saying Irsay has checked into a drug rehabilitation facility. Police said they found several bottles of prescription drugs in the vehicle and that some of the drugs were not associated with the bottles found. AFP

Traknophobia
Drivers pass a massive spider sculpture during IndyCar testing at Barber Motorsports Park on Monday in Birmingham, Alabama. The corner where the steel sculpture lives is one of the main passing points on the course, and has been named Charlottes Web as a result. It is one of many sculptures at the Alabama track. AFP

Steenkamps dying moments reconstructed

Junior tennis aces get back to court battles

H S Manjunath

Woods Masters doubt

IgeR Woods could miss next months Masters after pulling out of the PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational because of recurring back problems. The 38-year-old American has been struggling for weeks with back spasms and pain and said on Tuesday he will not defend his title at this weeks $6.2 million tournament playing at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida. Its too early to know about the Masters and I will continue to be evaluated and work closely with my doctors, Woods said on his website. Unfortunately, my back spasms and the pain havent subsided. I personally called Arnold today to tell him that, sadly, I wont be able to play in his tournament this year. I would like to express my regrets to the Orlando fans, the volunteers, the tournament staff and the sponsors for having to miss the event. The Masters runs from April 10 to 13. Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the alltime record of 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, has not won a major since the 2008 US Open. His injury woes are mounting and he withdrew during the nal round of the Honda Classic three weeks ago because of the back problem and has made just four starts this season. His best finish is a tie for 25th place at the WGC-Ca-

A poLice ballistics expert offered key testimony in the trial of South African athlete Oscar Pistorius on Wednesday as the court sought to establish whether he shot his girlfriend intentionally. Reeva Steenkamp was first hit in the hip and was in a defensive position in the toilet stall of Pistorius flat when the South African Paralympic stars last shot hit her head in the early hours of Valentines Day 2013, Chris Mangena testified. The best probable explanation is the deceased was initially upright behind the closed door, she sustained a penetrating wound in the right side of the hip, Mangena said. The 29-year-old model and law graduate then fell onto a magazine rack where another bullet hit her right elbow, he said. The last bullet hit her head, clipping her raised left hand, Mangena said. The deceased was seated in a defensive position, he said. AFP

ALL the winners of the season-opening National Junior Tennis Tournament held a couple of months ago will be back to defend their treasures in the second of six planned competitions for the year, beginning at the National Training Center tomorrow. This junior circuit is being organised by Tennis Cambodia in partnership with Ezecom and Hagar Catering. The draw for the three-day event, spread over six age groups for boys and girls, is likely to be much bigger than the previous tournament, since many students who missed out because of exams then will be back to compete this time. All eyes will be on Hour Srey Pov, who is seeking her sixth Girls U12 singles title in a row. Also defending their titles are

Leng Sarinreach (Boys U12), Sen Sophon (Boys U14), Chheang Vannasak (Boys U18), Ho Sreynuch (Girls U14) and Cheng Channeang (Girls U18). Meanwhile, Tennis Cambodias novel scheme to put up visitors from other provinces in camping-style tents around the NTC has proved extremely popular with the players. Encouraged by this response, the federation has now increased the number of tents from four to 10 for players from both the Kep Tennis Academy and the coastal towns ASPECA orphanage. Usually kids from ASPECA in Kep stay at the one in Phnom Penh but we thought it would be a good idea to have all kids from Kep stay together, Tennis Cambodia head of junior development Mam Phalkun told the Post.

Ecclestone wants fans to feel the noise of cars

Tiger Woods has admitted he is a doubt for the Masters after announcing he has withdrawn from this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational. AFP

FormuLA One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has said he will try to make new-look machines sound more like racing cars after organisers of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix threatened to sue for breach of contract. The sport is pushing the boundaries of hybrid technology this year with 2014s F1 machines running races on 35 per cent less fuel than last season. AFP

Hour Srey Pov will be vying for her sixth successive victory in the Girls U12 category of the National Junior Tennis Tournament. MAM PHALKUN

dillac Championship two weeks ago. Woods failed to make the secondary cut at the Farmers Insurance Open and tied for 41st at the Dubai Desert Classic. I am certainly sorry that Tiger is not able to play, Palmer said. Quite obviously, we will miss having him here this week. He called me to tell me that his back

was still giving him a lot of trouble and he didnt feel he should play. I told him I understood and wished him well. Woods claimed his second consecutive Arnold Palmer title last year, becoming only the second player to win the same tournament eight times after Sam Snead, who won eight Greater Greensboro Open titles. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Football

23

Chelsea are ready to face big guns, says Mourinho

J
OSE Mourinho insists Chelsea have no fears about facing one of Europes super-powers in the Champions League after his side strolled into the quarter-nals with a 2-0 win over Galatasaray. Mourinhos team barely had to break sweat to see off lacklustre Galatasaray in the last 16 second leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday as rst half goals from Samuel Etoo and Gary Cahill sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory. The scoreline didnt do justice to Chelseas dominance, but sterner tests lie ahead for the Premier League leaders, with the likes of holders Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain already through to the last eight. Facing one of those star-studded sides would be a major step up in class for a relatively young Chelsea team that Mourinho believes is still to reach its full potential. But the Blues boss is condent his players can hold their own against anyone and he expects they would relish the chance to knock out one of the giants of the European scene. All the big teams are there, all the big candidates to win the competition. We welcome any of them, Mourinho said. It will be very good for our evolution as a team if we can play one of the best. We wait for the draw. While the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Willian are enjoying their rst serious assault on Europes elite club prize, few managers are more battle-hardened when it comes to the latter stages of the competition than Mourinho. The Portuguese has already won the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan. Asked if he felt his impressive European pedigree would make Chelsea a feared opponent even in such illustri-

AaRON Ramsey believes his best is yet to come after signing a new contract with Arsenal that will reportedly keep the Wales midfielder at the north London club until 2018. Ramsey, 23, now out of action with a thigh injury, hopes to return to full fitness soon and add to his tally of 13 goals so far this season as Arsenal continue their push for the Premier League and FA Cup. I feel like theres plenty more to come. This season Ive proven a lot of people wrong, he told Arsenal Player on Tuesday. There was a tough time in the period after my injury, but Ive got through that and I feel really confident and feel like Im improving with every game. Ramsey has been joined in signing a new Arsenal deal by Santi Cazorla and promising teenager Gedion Zelalem. AFP

Ramsey upbeat after signing new deal

Galatasarays Felipe Melo challenges Chelseas Samuel Etoo (left) during their UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg.

AFP

ous company, Mourinho for once declined to blow his own trumpet and instead praised his players for a composed and clinical display. I never lost in the quarter-nals? I never thought about it. I know that I have a lot of matches in the Champions League, he said. Chelseas progress to the last eight was tinged with sympathy for Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba, the Blues legend who cut a frustrated gure on his rst return to the Bridge since his exit in 2012. Drogba, who won the Champions League nal against Bayern Munich

with his last kick for Chelsea in 2012, was given a tremendous reception before the game and Blues fans chanted his name throughout the match. But Galatasaray were so poor that the 36-year-old rarely had a chance to shatter his old clubs European dreams. I think the most difcult thing was the way his team played. When you are a striker and your team doesnt produce attacking football you feel a lonely man, Mourinho added. It can happen to any striker in the world. He didnt do much but Gary [Cahill] and John [Terry] did a fantas-

tic job against two very good strikers. Because of that we didnt see Didier in many attacking positions. Galatasaray boss Roberto Mancini, an old rival of Mourinhos, cut a downcast gure as he contemplated the latest Champions League op of his long career. Mancini, who failed to make any impact in the competition with Manchester City and Inter Milan, said: It is difcult to say much about the game because we didnt play well. Chelsea were much better than us. We didnt have any chances. I am very sorry for our supporters. AFP

SaO Paulos delayed Corinthians Arena stadium, due to host the opening match at the World Cup, will be delivered to organisers on April 15, albeit with final touches still required, an official said on Tuesday. The site will be delivered on April 15 with only a few issues to finish off thereafter, a spokesperson for Andres Sanchez, former Corinthians chairman and site construction supervisor, said. What FIFA has asked for will be finished, the spokesperson said, without giving details of what further tweaks would be needed at the 68,000-seat venue before it hosts Brazils game with Croatia on June 12.
AFP

Sao Paulo says will deliver Cup stadium

Wanderers leapfrog Kawasaki with win

Reals Jese will be missed

REAl Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti lamented 21-year-old forward Jese Rodriguezs luck after he suffered cruciate ligament damage in his right knee during his sides 3-1 win over Schalke on Tuesday. Victory ensured Reals passage into the quarter-finals of the Champions League 9-2 on aggregate, however it came at a cost as Jese will undoubtedly miss the rest of the season and is expected to be sidelined for at least six months. Ancelotti, though, believes his own experience of suffering a similar injury at the same age as a player can help lift the Spanish U21 international. He has had bad luck and it is bad luck for Real Madrid because we are going to lose a very important, young player who has done very well this season and surprised everyone. Injuries are part of a footballers career and we are going to help raise him to come back stronger next season. I had the same injury at a similar age and was still able to have a career. The instability is not good, but it doesnt necessarily have to be all bad. We need to think positively. He will return to being an important player for Real Madrid. Jeses injury meant that Gareth Bale was worked more than expected just five days before Sundays crucial La Liga clash with Barcelona as he was introduced after just eight minutes. However, the Welshman looked very impressive as he was involved in setting up all three goals as Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to take his tally for the season in the Champions League to 13 before Alvaro Morata added a third. And Bale is looking forward to his first taste of El Clasico on home soil at the weekend. I have a lot of confidence and I am enjoying my football. I feel good and we need to continue like this because now comes the most decisive part of the season, he told Real Madrid TV. Barcelona have great players, but so do we. It will be a very difficult game, but we are ready. Real could also be paired with Barcelona or local rivals Atletico in Fridays draw for the quarter-finals and Ancelotti admitted that having three teams in the last eight of Europes premier club competition reflected the strength of the Spanish game. AFP

J-League denies all claims of match-xing

JApANS professional football league has said an internal probe turned up no evidence to support suspicions that a recent match was xed, as it wrestles with an embarrassing racism scandal. The J-League launched an investigation earlier this month after a FIFA unit said it had noticed unusual online betting patterns in a March 8 game between Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Kawasaki Frontale. Betting on football is legal in Japan. But FIFAs Early Warning System, launched in 2007 to ght corruption in world football, spotted an abnormal rise in bets that Kawasaki would lead the match at half-time, with its rival prevailing by the nal whistle. That turned out to be a protable bet: Sanfrecce overcame a 1-0 half-time decit to beat Kawasaki 2-1. After questioning players, coaches, ofcials, referees and other people involved in the match, the league said in a statement on its website on Tuesday that there was no trace at all of match-xing. If wrongdoing is proven, any player involved in it will be expelled [from the league] forever and any club involved in it will not survive, J-League chairman Mitsuru Murai told reporters on Tuesday. Our technical and referee committees analysed the game by lm and found nothing unusual. We even drew a second opinion from overseas. The claims came at a bad time for the 21-year-old league as it moves to repair its image following the appearance of a racist banner at a home match for the popular Urawa Red Diamonds. Several Urawa supporters hung a banner that read Japanese only in English, at an entrance to stands behind the goal at their home stadium near Tokyo during a match earlier this month. As a penalty, the J-League ordered Urawas next home match on Sunday to be played in an empty stadium with no fans in attendance.
AFP

AUstRalias Western Sydney Wanderers moved ahead of Kawasaki Frontale in their AFC Champions League group with a 1-0 win over the J-League side in Sydney yesterday. Labinot Haliti scored the winning goal in just the third minute and Wanderers held firm against the technically more efficient Kawasaki for their second win in Group H. Haliti was on the spot to score after lead-up work on the right from Kwabena Appiah-Kubi and Tommy Juric presented the scoring opportunity. It was the third time in the ACL that Wanderers have scored an early goal and they kept a second clean sheet following their 1-0 win against Chinas Guizhou Renhe. Kawasaki have yet to win in three J-League matches this season.
afp

UEFA Europa League

TONIGHtS fIXtuReS

Real Madrid forward Jese grimaces after being injured during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg against Schalke. AFP

Round of 16 Second Leg Anzhi Makhachkala v AZ Alkmaar (agg 0-1) 12am Benca v Tottenham (agg 3-1) 1am Fiorentina v Juventus (agg 1-1) 1am Valencia v Ludogorets Razgrad (agg 3-0) 1am Viktoria Plzen v Lyon (agg 1-4) 1am Salzburg v Basel (agg 0-0) 3:05am Napoli v Porto (agg 0-1) 3:05am Real Betis v Sevilla (agg 2-0) 3:05am

24

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 20, 2014

Sport

The need for steed

Kyrgyz horse riders ght over possession of a stuffed goat carcass during a game of the traditional Central Asian sport Buzkashi, also known as Kok-Boru or Oglak Tartis, in Kyrgyzstans capital Bishkek on Tuesday. Mounted players compete for points by throwing the stuffed goat carcass into a well. AFP

Contador triumphs in Italian race F

ORMER two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador signalled his return to form by securing overall victory at the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race after the nal time trial on Tuesday. Italian Adriano Malori (Movistar) won the concluding stage of the Race of the Two Seas, a at 9.1km race against the clock which nished on the palm treelined seafront of San Benedetto del Tronto. Malori completed the course in a winning time of 10min 13sec, leaving former world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara second at 6sec with Britains Bradley Wiggins, the Olympic champion in the discipline, in third at 11sec. However all eyes were on Spaniard Contador, on whom expectations will now be high after a dismal 2013 season in which he tried in vain to beat Chris Froome at the Tour de France, where he nished fourth behind the triumphant Briton. Contador, who nished second overall recently at the Tour of the Algarve, took the overall lead after an impressive ride on stage ve when he launched an attack in the nal 30km, caught an earlier escape group and then beat his stage rivals to win atop the outrageously steep Muro di Guardiagrele. His performance left overnight leader Michal Kwiatkowski, of Omega-Pharma, trailing home six minutes behind and gave Contador a 2:08 lead on Colombian Nairo Quintana of Movistar. The 31-year-old Spaniard protected his lead on Mondays sixth stage, won by sprinter Mark Cavendish, and lost only three seconds to Quintana on Tuesdays test to claim his rst major stage race since the Tour of Spain in 2012. The boys rode with great selfbelief and condence throughout the entire race, sport director Philippe Mauduit said of his Tinkoff-Saxo team of which Contador was part. I think they knew that they were a part of a very strong squad. It was incredible to witness the two victories in the mountains, where the team worked superbly together and Albertos solo ride crowned the whole experience. Mauduit highlighted Contadors fth stage victory as the turning point. Its just special to see this kind of riding, the Frenchman said. It makes the race more exciting and it shows that it can be done if the team is supportive and the riders are determined enough. And of course, you have to have the legs to do it. Tirreno-Adriatico is one of two major races, along with ParisNice which nished on Sunday in which many riders compete to help hone their form for Milan-SanRemo. The rst major classic of the season will be held on Sunday but, after organisers altered the course by removing a key climb, the Pompeiana, it is expected to suit the sprinters this year. Contadors bid was arguably boosted by the retirement from the race of Skys Richie Porte, a pre-race contender, who pulled out prior to stage ve due to illness. His fellow Australian, former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, pulled out prior to the time trial in order to return home and prepare for the Giro dItalia which begins on May 9.

Team Sky drop rider

Team Sky have taken rider Sergio Henao off their race schedule due to questions overs the Colombians results

2007 and 2009 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador won the Tirreno-Adriatico race in Italy on Tuesday. AFP

in out-of-competition, antidoping tests. Henao will return to his homeland for an altitude research program, the decision being made after Team Sky reviewed what they describe as a comprehensive internal process which looks at each riders physiological prole. We have strong monitoring and compliance processes in this team, with the full cooperation of riders and coaches, read a statement from Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford on their ofcial website. In our latest monthly review, our experts had questions about Sergios out-of-competition control tests at altitude tests introduced this winter by the antidoping authorities. We need to understand these readings better. We contacted the relevant authorities the UCI and CADF pointed to these readings and asked whether they could give us any insights. "Weve also taken Sergio out of our race program whilst we get a better understanding of these proles and his physiology. We want to do the right thing and we want to be fair. Its important not to jump to conclusions.
AFP/THE GUARDIAN