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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014 Successful People Read The Post 4000 RIELI S S U E N U M B E R 1 9 8 8 K CHHNANG PROTESTERS BEATEN BY COPS NATIONAL – PAGE 3 PANDA TRIPLETS BORN IN CHINESE SAFARI PARK WORLD – PAGE 15 ACTOR, COMEDIAN ROBIN WILLIAMS DIES AT AGE 63 LIFESTYLE – PAGE 17 Vong Sokheng and Laignee Barron AT LEAST six people, includ- ing three Cambodian migrant workers, were killed late on Monday when a con- dominium construction project north of Bangkok collapsed, according to news reports, officials and witnesses at the scene. Twenty-four people, at least one of whom is Cam- bodian, were also injured in the collapse, which was said to have happened while workers were pouring con- crete on the top floor. Public health officials reported 33 people were buried in the rubble of the six-storey building – 24 Thais and nine foreigners. A passerby told the Post by phone that shouts could be heard from people trapped under the debris as the search and rescue team attempted to find and extract Condo collapse kills 3 migrants Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Daniel Pye A MILITARY general and adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan has fled the country and is wanted on sus- picion of the double murder of his mistress and their daughter, police said yesterday. Major General Kim Marintha, 57, is suspected of carrying out the premeditated murder of his mistress, Va Dary, 27, and their 6-year-old daughter, Kem Thavichda, on February 15. A joint task force, which has been investigating the case since mid-March, yesterday raided one of several business- es owned by Marintha, GST Express Bus Company, where investigators believe the mur- ders took place. About 30 police cordoned off the GST premises at 2pm and conducted a lengthy forensic examination of the scene, where weapons believed to have been used in the homi- cide were later discovered. Several staff members of the company were held during the raid for questioning. Police have identified three suspects – Marintha, his son Kim Seng Rithy and his son-in- law Chea Samnang, 34, who was arrested on Saturday in Preah Sihanouk province. Samnang had fled the capital after getting wind of the investigation and was tracked to Mondulkiri prov- ince by police before his arrest near Sihanoukville. Prosecutor-general Ouk General wanted in murders Government adviser flees country, accused of killing mistress, own daughter CONTINUED – PAGE 4 CONTINUED – PAGE 2 A police officer escorts Chea Samnang to the alleged murder scene of Va Davy yesterday dur- ing a police raid on his father- in-law’s business. VIREAK MAI National 2 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Caper to free official works Sen David M ILITARY police in Ratanak- kiri province’s O’Yadav district on Monday were duped into letting a detained immigra- tion official walk free just hours after he was arrested for alleged involvement in the cross-border illegal timber trade, police said yesterday. District military police chief Sok Min said yesterday that a group of men claiming to be Ministry of Interior officials came to the military police post where Kong Sovan Chen- da was detained – following a car chase in which he alleged- ly drove a Lexus loaded with illegal timber – and asked to take the suspect back to their office to fill out some paper- work related to his arrest. However, the men, includ- ing Sovan Chenda, never re- turned. “We allowed him to go with his employer to his office and come back to the military police office, but they all es- caped,” Min said. “Now we are looking for [him] to arrest him.” Min sought to dispel any notions that bribery was in- volved, saying it was instead mere gullibility. “[It was] not related to pay- ment,” he said. “We thought that when his colleagues took him to their office for the paperwork, they would come back.” Phan Phoeun, deputy chief of the provincial Forestry Administration, said that his office regretted the suspect’s escape and would “keep in- vestigating more as to why he was able to escape even though he was arrested by the military police”. The provincial coordina- tor for rights group Adhoc, Chhay Thy, lambasted mili- tary police yesterday for let- ting a detained suspect out of custody, describing it as an obvious example of authori- ties caving to wealthy, con- nected suspects. “It is not easy to escape when the military police have arrested him already,” he said. “We don’t doubt his hav- ing paid [them] to allow him to get away.” Alice Cuddy AMID growing concerns over the trafficking of Cambodian women to China, the Inter- national Organization for Migration (IOM) yesterday announced plans to train Chi- nese immigration officials in better identifying victims. According to a statement re- leased yesterday, the IOM, in partnership with the Chinese government, will host a two- day workshop this week to train some 35 immigration officials. “The workshop will train frontline immigration and fron- tier inspection officials from around China on how to better detect counterfeit documents and imposters. It will also focus on the need to proactively iden- tify vulnerable migrants and potential victims of trafficking,” IOM Beijing head of office Pär Liljert said in the statement. Last week, Cambodia called on China to stop granting visas to single Cambodian women unless they had an official let- ter of invitation for a work visa or had deposited $10,000 in a Chinese bank for a tourist visa. The request was labelled misguided by rights groups. Anti-trafficking training Collapse kills three Cambodians Continued from page 1 survivors. Some victims were in critical condition, and a man whom health officials intended on rescuing by amputating his legs died yesterday morning while still trapped under a beam. TV and internet footage showed people fleeing as the building crumbled in on itself, leaving only one shaft standing and still-moving workers caught between levels of the building. The three Cambodians killed were work- ing on the second storey when the struc- ture collapsed; their bodies have not yet been located, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Those killed were among 30 Cambodian migrants at the site, all of whom were undocumented. “Our ambassador visited a victim at the hospital, and we are also working with Thai police to demand the company pay com- pensation,” ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said. Thai authorities yesterday announced on a government news service that they had mobilised drilling machines and backhoe tractors to rescue victims, and said the gov- ernment would “expedite compensation for injured workers and the close relatives of the deceased”. Kuong said the deceased Cambodians included Im Pheur, 27, from Prey Veng’s Mesang district; Yat Pheng, 19, from Prey Veng’s Svay Ontor district; and a third per- son identified only as Uch, 27, from Tbong Khmum’s Memot district. The injured Cambodian was Chhim Chan, 60, from Kandal’s Lvea Em district, he added. “We are not sure whether to take the dead [when found] back home or not. We are waiting for contact from their families,” he said. Kuong was unable to provide the name of the construction company responsible for the site, and Thailand’s Ministry of For- eign Affairs said that because yesterday was a public holiday, the relevant people could not be reached for comment. The collapsed building in the Thanyabu- ri district of Prathum Thani province was to be one of two dormitories intended to provide housing for a nearby vocational college. The cause of the collapse is still under investigation but was determined to be in part due to a substandard construc- tion process, according to the director of the Engineering Institute of Thailand, Suchatchavee Suwansawat. Thailand has long come under pressure for a lack of safety precautions taken at construction sites, which typically employ foreign workers. “Poor construction safety and standards result in frequent work accidents and fatal- ities in Thailand, and migrants are also particularly impacted,” Bangkok-based migration expert Andy Hall said. In February, seven Cambodian workers were among 11 people killed at a Thai hos- pital undergoing repairs. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BANGKOK POST Rescue workers use cranes to search for people trapped after an under-construction six-storey building collapsed on Monday in Thailand’s Prathum Thani province. AFP National 3 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Police officer among 3 accused of cheating Chhay Channyda THE Anti-Corruption Unit has announced that three people, including a police officer, who were arrested last week in Svay Rieng province after posing as students taking the grade 12 national exam, have been charged with using false identities. In a statement released on Monday, the ACU identified the suspects as Sdeung Chanthun, 21, a grocery seller; Sao Sam- nang, 23, a university student; and policeman Un Botra, 25. Botra has also been charged with abuse of power due to his position, the statement says. A fourth suspect, 25-year-old Hen Channy, was also arrested in Kandal province while pos- ing as a student, but the ACU did not specify what charges had been laid against him. “They all confessed,” the statement says, adding that the students who asked the “impost- ers” to sit the test on their behalf would be barred from taking the exam for two years. Nouth Bopinnaroath, a coor- dinator with rights group Licad- ho, said Botra had been in pre- trial detention since August 7, while Chanthun and Samnang had been released on bail. “This guy is a policeman who knows the law but violated it. He has done that many times before during exams,” he said. According to the ACU state- ment, Botra said he was taking the exam on behalf of his broth- er because “he pitied him and he wanted [him to have] a cer- tificate so he could continue his higher education”. The statement also says Channy would have been paid $320 if the exam he sat gave the student a passing grade. Like Botra, Channy is in pre- trial detention, representatives of rights group Adhoc in Kandal province said. ACU head Om Yentieng declined to comment yester- day. Officials at Svay Rieng and Kandal provincial courts could not be reached. Thousands of students were dismayed last week as they faced new strict measures dur- ing the national exam as part of an Education Ministry effort to crack down on the rampant cheating and corruption that has long characterised Cambo- dia’s education system. Many pupils not used to stud- ying failed as a result, leading Prime Minister Hun Sen to announce on Monday that a retest would be held. Peaceful marchers beaten May Titthara Kampong Chhnang province V ILLAGERS from Kampong Chhnang were met yesterday with brutal violence and arrests as they embarked on an arduous journey to the capital to seek a resolution to their long-running land dispute with politically connected KDC International. Nearly 100 residents of Ta Ches com- mune’s Lorpeang village set off in the morning on a 60-kilometre march to Phnom Penh to seek Prime Minister Hun Sen’s intervention in their dispute with KDC, a company owned by the wife of Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem. At 11:30am, 5 kilometres into the jour- ney, they were met by more than 100 po- lice and military police, whom a Post re- porter witnessed block the road and then rush to attack the marchers – children and elderly among them – with batons. Three women fainted as authorities tied their hands behind their backs and carried them across the road. One man was left with serious injuries to his left hand. Carts full of rice and cooking pots were destroyed. The exact whereabouts of villagers ar- rested in the violence – Srun Tha, elderly resident Kuch Hok and Snuon Nhoeun, the husband of community representa- tive Om Sophy – remained unclear yester- day. The others returned home to call for their release. “It is damn cruel,” said Sophy, covered in blood and cradling a baby in her arms. “They do not think of the effect on small children,” she said. Another villager, Tep Ny, cried out in desperation: “Shoot all of us. We have nothing. If we protest for our land, we are imprisoned,” Ny said. “Why do they mis- treat the old? What are we doing wrong?” Standing on the blood-stained ground, Hul Veasna, Kampong Tralach district po- lice chief, said there had been no attack. “We just blocked them,” he said, adding that police intervened because villagers were creating a disturbance. He said he did not know if there were ar- rest warrants for any of those detained. After calling for their fellows demonstra- tors’ release, the community members made their way to a Phnom Penh pagoda, albeit not by marching. KDC representative Thai Hy, Kampong Chhnang provincial police chief Prak Vuthy and Provincial Governor Chhouk Chandoeun could not be reached. In a statement yesterday, rights group Li- cadho said “this decade-long land conflict won’t go away by violently beating up the community and arresting a few more vil- lagers”. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ALICE CUDDY Authorities seize a person’s cart yesterday in Kampong Chhnang after villagers tried to march to Phnom Penh to raise concerns over a land row with KDC International. HENG CHIVOAN Cop charged for ‘firing gun’ Buth Reaksmey Kongkea PHNOM Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged minor crimes police officer Thou Sopheak with illegal use of a weapon and causing unin- tentional injury for allegedly firing his gun into the wind- shield of a car during a fit of road rage, according to court clerk Sok Sarath. “He now has been sent to Prey Sar prison,” Sarath said, declin- ing to comment in detail. Chamkarmon district police officer Keo Bunthoeun said yesterday that Second Lieuten- ant Sopheak was arrested on Saturday after the incident. “He was driving his motor- bike while drunk, [and] he got into a little traffic accident with a car while driving along the street,” Bunthoeun said. “He got very angry, so he fired three bullets into the car’s windshield, causing it to break and wound- ing a woman sitting inside.” Sopheak was soon arrested, Bunthoeun added. The bullet grazed the woman but did not seriously injure her. Villagers tend to their cucumber crop on Monday as water threatens to wreak havoc on their farm in Kandal province. HENG CHIVOAN Pech Sotheary FLOODING across 12 provinc- es has killed another two peo- ple, bringing the death toll to 29, an official said yesterday. The deaths occurred in Kam- pong Cham and Prey Veng provinces, according to Keo Vy, cabinet director at the Nation- al Committee for Disaster Management. “Floods did not damage hous- es, crops or infrastructure as much as on Monday,” Vy said. The recent floods were caused by heavy rains in Thai- land, Laos and along the upper Mekong River. In contrast, Vy said, farmers in three provinces – Takeo, Kampong Speu and Kandal – are facing water shortages due to a lack of rain. More than 25,000 hectares of farmland are at risk, he said. “It is really affecting the crops, although the rice has not wilted and died yet,” said Nheb Srorn, director of the agriculture department in Takeo. “But if we do not have rain within 10 days, it will lead to real damage,” he said. Buth Reaksmey Kongkea A PHNOM Penh Municipal Court judge hand- ed down two-year sentences yesterday to three people convicted of offering prostitution out of a massage shop in Por Sen Chey district’s Kakab commune. Judge Taing Sunlay said Chan Laem, 45, the massage shop owner, and Ly Chanroath, her 38- year-old manager – both women – were arrested last year, as was Khieu Sambath, 50, a male mo- torbike taxi driver accused of being a broker. The shop’s female employees suspected of engaging clients were “educated” and released. “The court decided to sentence them to two years’ imprisonment each and fine them 2 million riel [$500] to put in the national bud- get,” Sunlay said. Lieutenant Colonel Keo Thea, chief of the Municipal Anti-Human Trafficking and Juve- nile Protection Unit, said the three were ar- rested during a in July 2013 raid on the shop, in which authorities found a number of used and unused condoms. The accused and their defence lawyers could not be reached for comment yesterday. Floods claim two more Massage shop pimps get two years National 4 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 General wanted in murders Continued from page 1 Savuth arrived at the scene about 3:30pm, after which Sam- nang was ushered into the building for questioning follow- ing an earlier appearance at Phnom Penh Municipal Court. Brigadier General In Bora, chief of the Ministry of Interior’s Penal Police Department, said Marintha had fled and police were seeking his arrest. “Our penal police forces now are working hard on this case. He has escaped, and our police are searching for him,” he said. On March 20, the badly decomposed bodies of Dary and Thavichda were found dumped in scrub land near Pech Nil in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Sroch district. “As a result of the four-month investigation, three suspects have been identified and one has been arrested in connec- tion with the double murder and disposal of the bodies,” the Child Protection Unit (CPU), which helped coordi- nate the case, said in a state- ment yesterday. Captain Bun Thol, a penal police officer at the Ministry of Interior, said Samnang had confessed to helping his father-in-law dispose of the bodies, “which were wrapped in plastic, put inside a big icebox and taken in the tycoon’s Lexus to Pech Nil on March 18”. Samnang was officially charged yesterday by the municipal court prosecutor with being an “accomplice to an intentional murder”. After visit- ing the crime scene with police yesterday, Samnang was remanded into the court’s cus- tody for further questioning. Va Srey Thun, 27, Davy’s sister, spoke yesterday of her shock at seeing the bodies of her sister and niece. “On February 14, my older sister and her daughter travelled with Oknha Kim Marintha to visit her hometown in Kampong Cham province. She returned back to Phnom Penh the next day,” she said. “That afternoon, [Marintha] called my mother and told her that my older sister and her daughter had gone to buy glass- es in Sorya Mall and had disap- peared. Her mobile phone was switched off. “I was very shocked and almost lost consciousness when I saw their bodies pack- aged in plastic. I think that it was very, very cruel. I would like to ask police pursuing the killers to give them the strong- est punishment under the law,” she said. On top of his high-level politi- cal connections to former Royal Cambodian Armed Forces chief Kim Yan, Marintha boasts sub- stantial business interests in the Kingdom. As well as GST, he is also director of the Rubber of Friendship VC Company, the Arra Best Corporation, and Fata- co Corporation. In 2009, Vi etnamese- owned Fataco came under fire for its role in alleged forced drug trials sponsored by the Vietnamese govern- ment in Phnom Penh’s Org- kas Khnom drug detention centre, where it experiment- ed on drug addicts by giving them doses of its product Bong Sen – a herbal concoc- tion which the firm claims can “cure” addiction. The trials were later praised by Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yan. James McCabe, the CPU’s director of operations, said that Marintha had fled the country and local police were working with international policing agencies to bring him to justice. “The Joint Task Force is uti- lising the assistance of inter- national policing agencies. Warrants have been issued for the two outstanding suspects,” he said. “We have evidence that sug- gests [the murder] was pre- meditated, because he pur- chased the black bags and [icebox] in advance.” Police officers at the scene of yesterday’s raid said Mar- intha had fled to Thailand. Calls to phones registered to Marintha went unanswered yesterday evening. “It’s one of the most serious crimes you can commit, the murder of a child,” McCabe said. “But Cambodia is mov- ing forward, and we are com- mitted to bringing all the per- sons who committed the crime to justice.” With two of the main suspects in the case on the run, Srey Thun worries that she may be a marked woman. “I knew the bodies were my older sister and her daughter, because I recognised her clothes and ID card,” she said. “I am now very concerned about my own safety and secu- rity. I am afraid the offenders will hire hitmen to kill me.” Authorities question Chea Samnang earlier this month in Kampong Speu where the remains of Oknha Kim Marintha’s slain mistress and daughter were found. PHOTO SUPPLIED Oknha Kim Marintha (left) and Va Davy pose for a picture together at an unknown location on an unknown date. PHOTO SUPPLIED Authorities cordon off the GST Express Bus office near Phnom Penh’s Central Market yesterday during a police raid to gather evidence for the murder investigation of Va Davy and her daughter. VIREAK MAI I was very shocked and almost lost consciousness when I saw their bodies packaged in plastic National 5 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Documents said to back land claims Khouth Sophak Chakrya EVICTEES from the embattled Borei Keila community yester- day presented documents they said supported their claims for housing at the site. At a forum involving Phnom Penh municipal authorities, NGOs and 185 families, villag- ers sought to prove they had owned homes at Borei Keila before violent evictions in Jan- uary 2012 and were thus enti- tled to apartments that were supposed to have been built by development firm Phan Imex on adjacent land. “I have enough legal docu- ments that meet the require- ments of [City Hall’s] solution committee,” evictee Has Sok Chenda said. “If the authorities are responsible and transpar- ent, my family will receive a flat at Borei Keila.” Evictees have squatted at Borei Keila since the violent evictions, many sleeping in tents close to piles of rubbish. Deputy Governor Khuong Sreng said yesterday that villag- ers with the relevant documen- tation would receive housing, while others would be moved to another location. ‘Too early’ to cheer reopening Chhay Channyda and Pech Sotheary P ROTESTERS in Phnom Penh yesterday con- tinued to enjoy liber- ties rediscovered since political reconciliation be- tween the ruling and opposi- tion parties saw the barricades around Freedom Park – which had been the epicentre of op- position-led demonstrations – taken down last week. The second demonstration held at the park in as many days saw a few hundred peo- ple and union representatives gather for International Youth Day in the morning and subse- quently march unhindered to the National Assembly bearing petitions voicing youth con- cerns on a number of issues. No Daun Penh district se- curity guards – the chosen en- forcers during the past year of political strife – were in sight. At the same time, across town, hundreds of fired-up demonstrators demanding an apology from Vietnam for con- troversial comments made by an embassy spokesman about the former Kampuchea Krom provinces gathered outside the embassy for the second day in a row. In a provocative move, a small group burned two Viet- namese flags before being told off by protest organisers, but police took no action. On Monday, these protesters were the first to use Freedom Park as a demonstration space since its reopening and were not blocked by authorities when they marched en masse through town. They have pledged to con- tinue protesting until embassy spokesman Trung Van Thong apologises for saying in June that the land once known as Kampuchea Krom belonged to Vietnam long before it was officially handed over by colo- nial power France in 1949. Am Sam Ath, technical ad- viser at human rights group Licadho, welcomed the relax- ation by Phnom Penh authori- ties of their tough stance on public assembly since Free- dom Park had been reopened. “It is the second day that Freedom Park has been re- opened and people and youth [have marched]. We observe that nothing happened. If no ban is made, no violence hap- pens either. This is the kind of democracy we want,” he said. Phnom Penh deputy police chief Choun Narin said police stood by yesterday because youth day marchers had kept “public order”. While streets had been blocked around the Vietnam- ese Embassy and more than 100 members of the security forces deployed, Narin said they were just fulfilling the government’s duty to protect the embassy. “We have to remember that if something happens, it is the government’s job to take responsibility. So we have to prevent it rather than letting it happen,” he said. Ramana Sorn of the Cambo- dian Center for Human Rights said that while the reopening of Freedom Park should be commended, it was “much too early to say” whether this sig- nalled an improvement in the situation of freedom of expres- sion and assembly. “There have only been two protests since the park has been reopened. And as we have seen in the past, there have been periods of rela- tive freedom with regards to the rights of assembly and expression, which have been followed by yet more crack- downs,” she said. Members of a trade union gather at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park yesterday to participate in an International Youth Day protest. VIREAK MAI Border battle Profits from sale of cows ‘seized’ in VN A MOTHER and her dau- ghter were detained in Vietnam last month and authorities there seized nearly $82,000 in profits from the sale of their livestock, according to the woman’s husband and a local businessman. Local tycoon Lim Hong Chheang, who lives in Tbong Khmum province’s Ponhea Krek district and has long ad- vocated for banks on the bor- der, said yesterday that Loeb Khor, 58, and her daughter El Rohany, 21, were arrested in Tay Ninh province and charged with illegal currency traffic- king after crossing over to sell cows and buffaloes. Husband Sim El, 61 said he and his family crossed over to collect money from a prear- ranged sale. His wife and dau- ghter went home ahead of him to give the money to the other owners of the livestock. On July 7, they were arrested, he said. “If it was money from drugs or fake money, I wouldn’t be angry, but this is money from selling cows,” he said. The spokesman for the Viet- namese Embassy could not be reached. MEAS SOKCHEA Men fight for right to enter packed brothel A GROUP of young men were arrested on Monday in Svay Rieng town after trying to force their way into a fully occupied brothel. The group of eight friends, aged between 17 and 32, had gotten inebriated and naturally then headed to a local den of vice for some com- pany. A pimp refused to let them in because all the ladies were busy, but the group became aggressive, eventually coming to blows with the staff. Police intervened and arrested four. “Too drunk,” was the quartet’s excuse, police said. KOHSANTEPHEAP It was a routine traffic stop . . . or it almost was IN A case similar to that often chronicled in the Blotter, Kampong Cham town police yesterday lucked onto a drug bust during routine traffic patrol. Officers said they were trying to stop two men riding a motorbike without a helmet when the pair unexpectedly sped off. The cops pursued and stopped the suspects, who had given up their real game by trying to dispose of two packages of yama. The pair was arrested and confessed to having paid $15 for the hard stuff. KOH SANTEPHEAP They avoided the cars, but didn’t see the dog MAN’s best friend proved to be two Kampong Chhnang men’s worst obstacle on Mon- day after a dog ran out of a house and into the path of their motorbike, leaving all three parties with serious injuries. The helmetless men flew off the bike during the collision and suffered head injuries after landing on the road. They are being treated in hospital. The victims’ fami- lies have demanded the dog’s owner take responsibility for the accident. RASMEI KAMPUCHEA Not even prayer time is sacred for moto thieves AS A young woman prayed at a Takeo pagoda on Sunday evening, she might have for- gotten to ask for protection from thieves. As she paid her respects at the wat, two men were quietly stealing her motorbike outside. After she called for help, police quickly set up a roadblock to stop the suspects. One escaped into the darkness of a paddy field, while the other was nabbed with the bike. NOKORWAT Rough-riding crew runs into long arm of the law A TRIO of modern cowboys was nabbed in Preah Siha- nouk province on Monday. They might not have been stealing stallions or wearing steel-toed boots, but the gun- toting boys had built up a rep- utation for waving around guns and pinching motor- bikes in the province. Police were tipped off when the gang turned up at a local karaoke joint on Monday night. They were arrested and a gun with six bullets was seized. Police are on the lookout for more accomplices. RASMEI KAMPUCHEA Translated by Phak Seangly POLICE BLOTTER National 6 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR EVENT MANAGER FOR THE SECOND CAMBODIAN RICE FESTIVAL RICE SECTOR SUPPORT PROJECT IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the pri- vate sector. Working with private enterprises in more than 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. In FY13, our investments climbed to an all-time high of nearly $25 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs and tackle the world’s most pressing develop- ment challenges. For more information, visit www.ifc.org/eastasia. In Cambodia, our advisory services are delivered in partnership with Canada, the European Union, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the Enhanced Integrated Framework. IFC has been supporting the Cambodian rice sector since 2008, aiming to make the milling, trading and exporting industry more competitive and to increase high-value milled rice exports. This will be achieved by accelerating the transformation of the Cambodian aromatic rice industry, through several interventions along its supply chain, including rice export promotion. To expand the export promotional strategy for Cambodian rice to target foreign visitors, residents and a wide spectrum of domestic stakeholders in Cambodia, IFC in partnership with Agence Française de Development (AFD) propose to hire a consulting firm (Event Manager) from September 01, 2014to November 30, 2014 to prepare and manage an at- tractive, entertaining and promotional event of the Second‘Cambodian Rice Festival 2014’ to be held on November 18th, 2014 at Sofitel Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Minimum Qualifications: • Proven track record in managing large scale international marketing and promotional event. • Experience in managing promotional event for agricultural commodity and/or tourism. Good knowledge of the Cambodian rice sector is a plus; • Team leader should possess advanced degree and record of experience in hospitality and marketing promotion. • Key team members should have essential knowledge and experience in preparing and managing international marketing and promotional event. Interested Event Manager companies must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions & availability of appropriate skills among staff…etc.). Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through [email protected] or mail it to IFC office at 5th floor, Phnom Penh Tower, Monivong Blvd, Phnom Penh, Cambodian. Attention to Ms. Ma Romdaneth no later than August 18, 2014. Only shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals. Shortlisting and selection will be subject to the availability of funding. Wrangling over wage may spur new unrest Mom Kunthear UNIONS representing garment workers have pledged to reignite protests if the mini- mum wage for the industry is raised to only $115 next year, a sum they say was offered by the Garment Manufacturers Asso- ciation in Cambodia during a meeting on Friday. The Labour Advisory Com- mittee (LAC) – made up of employers, the government and unions – hopes to agree on a new wage in October. National Independent Fed- eration Textile Union of Cam- bodia president Ken Chheng- lang said unions had proposed lifting the current $100 wage to $177, but GMAC offered $115 instead, based on the govern- ment’s plan to gradually creep to $160 by 2018. “Of course [protests] will hap- pen, because we cannot accept $115,” she said. Collective Union of Movement of Workers president Pav Sina also vowed to lead protests. But LAC vice chairman and worker representative Chuon Momthol said he believed an agreement could be reached. “We will try to avoid protests,” he said. Ken Loo, secretary-general of GMAC, denied that $115 had been put forward. “We . . . reminded them as to the decision of the LAC on December 24 [regarding gradu- al minimum wage increases],” he said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KEVIN PONNIAH Pair ‘faked’ link to PM for cash Buth Reaksmey Kongkea A FATHER and son have been charged with impersonating assistants of high- ranking officials within Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet to extort money from genuine government and police offi- cials, a military police official said yesterday. At a news conference, Colo- nel Kong Sotharin, chief of the National Military Police, said Suon Mony Lina, 26, also known as Chivoan or Mab, and his father, Suon Mony, 51, had been charged by Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor with “faking a public function and fraud”. “They have [misrepresent- ed] themselves as personal assistants to His Excellency Mr Ngeth Borey, deputy chief of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet, and assistants to His Excellency Mr Sean Borath, an adviser of Prime Minister Hun Sen and other high-ranking government officials,” he said. “They have used these high- ranking officials’ names to [ask for] money or . . . other mate- rials from other government officers, police and National Military Police officers [which they claimed was for] building schools or health centres for the poor in exchange for pro- motions,” he added. According to Sotha, Mony Lina was arrested by National Military Police forces in Svay Rieng town on Friday while he was attempting to withdraw around $700 transferred to him by a government official in the province. Mony Lina’s father, the dep- uty editor-in-chief of Kakti Khmer Newspaper, is still at large. At the press conference, which was held at the National Military Police headquarters, Mony Lina confessed but said that his father shouldered most of the blame. “The reason I decided to get into this business was be- cause I was recommended and told to by my father,” he said. “I have received money from government officers . . . from $200 up to $1,000 at a time,” he said, adding that his involve- ment in the scam began earlier this year. Mony could not be reached for comment yesterday. Ly Sophanna, spokesman for Phnom Penh Municipal Court, also could not be reached. Suon Mony Lina is escorted through Phnom Penh Municipal Court, where he was charged yesterday with fraud and faking a public function. PHA LINA 7 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Business USD / JPY 102.28 USD / SGD 1.2498 USD /CNY 6.1558 USD / HKD 7.7509 USD / THB 32.04 AUD / USD 0.926 NZD / USD 0.8432 EUR / USD 1.3371 GBP / USD 1.6773 Indicative Exchange Rates as of 12/8/2014. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates. USD / KHR 4,052 Cambodia, US trade up in first half of year Hor Kimsay TRADE data from the US shows Cambodian exports to the world’s largest economy increased 6 per cent during the first six months of the year. As of June 30, Cambodian exports to the US totalled $1.4 billion, up from $1.32 billion recorded during the same six- month period in 2013, data from the US Department of Com- merce shows. Ken Ratha, spokesman of Cambodian Ministry of Com- merce, said that while US econ- omy continues to stabilise, busi- ness relations with Cambodia have remained positive and pro- vided a secure basis for deepen- ing bilateral trade. “The value of the goods exported from Cambodia to US will continue to get bigger and bigger in the future,” he said. Ratha added that the Com- merce Minister Sun Chanthol’s trade mission to the US last month alongside the US ambassador to Cambodia, William Todd helped to bol- ster the two nations’ business relationship. But Nguon Mengtech, director general of Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, who will lead a delegation of 21 representatives from the Kingdom’s private sec- tor to the US later this month, said that more markets can still be identified to boost trade volumes. “We still have many kinds of production that we can join with others in the US to strengthen our competitiveness,” he said. “The more we know each other, the more ability we have to get business partners.” Travellers arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport last year. China Duty Free Group plans to open the Kingdom’s first duty-free stores outside of the nation’s airports. VIREAK MAI Duty-free plans to lure tourists Chan Muyhong C HINA Duty Free Group (CDFG) will open two duty-free stores in Cambodia’s largest tourism hotspots as part of the retailer’s first off- shore expansion, marking the first time a duty-free store has been opened outside of the country’s airports. John Zhao, general manager of CDFG-Cambodia, said yes- terday the company is plan- ning to invest $35 million into setting up two stores, one in Siem Reap by the end of the year,and another located in Phnom Penh by the second half of 2015. “About five million foreign tourists are expected to visit Cambodia this year. There is no international space for shopping in Cambodia. We are the first downtown duty-free shop to gain official approval to open here,” Zhao said. According to Zhao, CDFG Cambodia is the first subsid- iary of the state-owned group to be established outside of China. Cambodia was se- lected because of its growing tourism industry, which is in- creasing at about 15 per cent annually, he said. “Around 45 million Chinese tourists visit Hong Kong ev- ery year just for the shopping. Chinese tourists like to spend money on buying luxury brands. Cambodia receives around five million tourists ev- ery year and almost 500,000 of those are Chinese,” he added. Construction commenced on the Siem Reap store, which will have four levels and 4,500 square metres of retail space, in July and is expected to open officially in December. The company is currently studying locations for the sec- ond Phnom Penh store, ac- cording to Zhao. CDFG, established in 1984, is the only state-owned en- terprise authorised by China’s government to operate duty free businesses in China. Ang Kim Eang, president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents said he hoped CDFG’s arrival would prompt more duty free retail operators to venture into Cambodia. “It benefits the tourism in- dustry as it will attract more tourists who like to shop for luxury brands, and Cambodia can be another shopping desti- nation like Malaysia,” he said. In April, Shilla Duty Free, a Korean-based firm announced it had plans to expand to Cam- bodia. So far, however, the firm has not established a footing in the Kingdom. Vietnam held up as example of economic recovery VIETNAM’S economic recovery is serving as an example for other devel- oping ASEAN countries as it applies the lessons learned from recent diffi- culties. After years of struggling with double-digit inflation and unsustain- able non-performing loans (NPL), the country is now building up immunity for future economic turbulences. The year-old Vietnam Asset Manage- ment Company (VAMC) has helped to improve the liquidity flow in the bank- ing sector by taking bad loans off banks’ books and exchanging them for VAMC bonds. As a result, a number of banks have been able to lower their lending interest rates to between 5 per cent and 8.5 per cent. Many businesses have struggled for years because of a credit squeeze brought on by high central bank inter- est rates, as well as commercial banks’ subsequent reluctance to lend. Inflation, meanwhile, has moder- ated to 6.6 per cent over the past year and is expected to remain around that level for the next year, according to the Asian Development Bank. While the figure is high by regional standards, it’s a steep decline from 18.6 per cent in 2011. While macr- oeconomic stability in Vietnam is improving, growth remains moder- ate and the economy is still perform- ing below its potential, according to a recent World Bank report. The World Bank projects growth at a moderate 5.4 per cent this year, sup- ported by continued foreign direct investment flows and strong exports. But domestic demand remains weak because of subdued private sec- tor confidence, overleveraged state- owned companies, and still-high bad loans at commercial banks, accord- ing to the report. “Slow progress in banking system and state-owned enterprise reform could prolong sub-par growth and cre- ate self-reinforcing adverse feedback, possibly resulting in large contingent liabilities for the public sector, bring- ing public debt to unsustainable lev- els,” the World Bank said. However, authorities are aware of the challenges and are acting reso- lutely on them, says a Thai banker based in Ho Chi Minh City. “Vietnamese authorities are fixing the right problems with the right approaches. Changes are implement- ed fast as a result of its single-party socialist administration,” said Thara- bodee Serng-Adichaiwit, general manager of Bangkok Bank in Viet- nam. BANGKOK POST Commercial and residential buildings stand in Ho Chi Minh. The World Bank projects growth at a moderate 5.4 per cent this year. BLOOMBERG Business 8 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Aus banks face huge lawsuit A N “ENORMOUS” class action over credit card late fees charged by financial institu- tions, including Citibank and Westpac, on behalf on all their customers was filed in an Aus- tralian court yesterday. The action – which could become Australia’s biggest consumer lawsuit – was filed by lawyers Maurice Black- burn against Westpac, Cit- ibank, St. George, BankSA and ANZ in the New South Wales Supreme Court. The open class proceed- ings mean that “all customers who have ever been charged a late fee, not just those that signed up to the original class actions”, could benefit if the lawsuit is successful, the firm said. The class action, over what the claimants say are ex- travagant fees, could be worth millions of dollars and include hundreds of thousands of bank customers. “We’re talking about an enormous action,” Maurice Blackburn’s class action prac- tice head Andrew Watson said. “If people are a bit like my- self and not as careful about paying off their credit card, then they will be in the action and stand to benefit.” Maurice Blackburn plans to extend the action to cover American Express, the Com- monwealth Bank, the National Australia Bank and BankWest. The lawsuit builds on the partial success of a previous case on bank fees against ANZ on behalf of 43,500 customers in the Federal Court of Austra- lia in February. Lawyers for the claimants allege that the fees charged by banks for late payments are excessive and do not reflect the true cost to the bank. The fees differ, with some charging up to A$20. The Feb- ruary court ruling heard that the average cost to the bank of a late payment was only 35 Australian cents. The Federal Court found that ANZ’s late payment fees on credit cards were penalties and should be repaid. Claims on other charges, such as dis- honour fees, were thrown out by the judge. The total claim for the class action was A$57 million (US$53 million). That deci- sion is under appeal, but Wat- son said he is confident in the strength of the new lawsuit. “We think we have a very strong case and that this course of action provides the best safeguard for the rights of all those consumers affected by late fees,” he said. Bentham IMF Australia, a publicly listed company that is funding the proceedings, said the class action was the only effective way for customers to obtain compensation. “It is clearly evident from this case that the class action regime in Australia – backed by litigation funding – is the only genuinely effective vehi- cle to offer commercial redress to people that are subjected to corporate wrongdoing in this way,” Bentham IMF’s James Middleweek said in a state- ment. AFP A host of Australian banks including Citibank, ANZ and Westpac are at the centre of a consumer lawsuit filed over what the claimants say are extortionate fees for late credit card payments. BLOOMBERG Plane watching ANA to take over Japan government airplanes ALL Nippon Airways (ANA) will replace Japan Airlines (JAL) as the company charged with maintaining two government aircraft, it was announced yesterday, following yet another battle between the domestic rivals. A government commission also announced it had chosen two Boeing 777- 300ER planes to replace two Boeing 747-400s as state- owned aircraft used by Japanese leaders and Emperor Akihito’s royal family. The 747s will be decommissioned in March 2019. JAL has been charged with maintaining the current aircraft, which have been operating since 1993. ANA has estimated the operational and maintenance cost of the two new planes at about ¥38 billion ($370 million) over 20 years from April 2019, Jiji Press said. It has put their purchase price at about ¥85 billion. AFP Newest Indian airline eyeing October launch INDIA’S newest airline announced on Monday flights could begin in October, saying it was “bullish” about the future even as a rival carrier reported a big loss. The new airline, to be called Vistara – a Sanskrit word meaning “limitless expanse” – is 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines, while the Mumbai- based Tata conglomerate controls 51 per cent. The airline will offer both business and economy class, new chief executive Phee Teik Yeoh told reporters in New Delhi, and hoped to start flying passengers “sometime in October”, subject to approval by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The previous Congress government began allowing foreign airlines to buy up to 49 per cent stakes in Indian carriers in 2012. India’s air passenger market has expanded at breakneck speed but many companies are laden with debts and beset by cut-throat fare wars. AFP India’s Jet Airways set to end its budget wings JET Airways India Ltd, the Indian carrier 24 per cent owned by Etihad Airways PJSC, will end its budget-airline units in an effort to turn its local operations profitable, Chairman Naresh Goyal said. The airline will close its Jetlite and JetKonnect businesses by the end of this year and fly all its planes under a single, full- service brand, Goyal told reporters on Monday. “We are in this to make money,” Etihad president James Hogan said at the same event. Jet’s strategic location in South Asia puts it in a position to compete with Middle Eastern airlines on outbound traffic from India, one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. India is one of the world’s most expensive markets for airlines, and carriers have lost a combined 594 billion rupees ($9.7 billion) over the past seven years, Sydney-based civil aviation think tank CAPA estimates. BLOOMBERG Asia telcos, Google to lay cable GOOGLE is partnering with five Asian telecom firms to build a $300 million underwa- ter cable across the Pacific Ocean in a bid to meet surging internet use. The project, named FASTER, would see the 9,000-kilometre (5,600-mile) fibreoptic cable stretch from two points in Japan to the United States, with exten- sions to other Asian locations later on, the companies said. In the US, the cable would be extended to link major cities on the West Coast including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Port- land and Seattle, they said. There are several hundred underwater telecom cables that connect various points in the world. However, “the FASTER cable system has the largest design capacity ever built on the Trans-Pacific route, which is one of the longest routes in the world”, Woohyong Choi, chair- man of the project’s executive committee, said in the state- ment. Also involved in the project are Japanese mobile carrier KDDI, China Mobile Interna- tional, China Telecom Global, Malaysia’s Global Transit, and Singapore’s SingTel, the state- ment said. Japan’s NEC would build the system, which is expected to come into service in the first half of 2016, the firms said. AFP Jaguar sales drive threefold rise in Tata profit Dairy Farm to pay $925M for Yonghui stake TATA Motors Ltd, India’s biggest auto- maker, surged the most since November after beating analysts’ estimates with a threefold jump in profit. The company’s shares jumped 5.9 per- cent to 472.70 rupees as of 9:38am yes- terday in Mumbai, the highest intraday gain since November 14. Net income rose to 54 billion rupees ($883 million) in the quarter ended June, the Mumbai- based company reported yesterday. That surpassed the 37.9 billion rupee median of 34 analysts’ estimates com- piled by Bloomberg and was the biggest profit increase since the three months ended December 2010. Sales of Jaguar and Land Rover in China, the world’s largest car market, surged 61 per cent helping Tata Motors, which is struggling to revive demand in India. Deutsche Bank Ag and Cred- it Suisse Group Ag were among broker- ages which raised their share price target for the maker of Nano hatchback and Indigo sedan. “JLR benefited from strength in Chi- na demand, strong variant mix and ability,” Govindarajan Chellappa and Rajasa Kakulavarapu, analysts at Jef- feries wrote in a note yesterday. “Strength in China is the key to sustenance of the high levels of profitability.” Profit at the luxury unit more than doubled to $693 million ($1.16 billion) on demand for the F-Type convertible and Range Rover SUVs. Tata Motors group revenue climbed 38 per cent to 646.8 billion rupees. Deliveries at Jaguar Land Rover climbed 22 per cent to 115,596 vehicles in the quarter, bolstered by the F-Type that began shipping last year and the new and refreshed Range Rover line up. Tata Motors is striving to turn around its local business. The brand was due to unveil its first new car model in five years yesterday. The compact sedan, the Zest, was developed to revive profitability as the carmaker it lost market share to Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and the local unit of Seoul-based Hyundai Motor Co. Tata Motors’ domestic passenger-ve- hicle deliveries fell 37 percent in the quarter, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The company’s truck sales dropped 25 per- cent in the same period. “The domestic business has been a drag,” said Juergen Maier, a fund man- ager at Raiffeisen Capital Management. “But we hope that with the new pas- senger vehicle models and the commer- cial vehicles picking up, things will get better.” BLOOMBERG DAIRY Farm International Holdings Ltd, an operator of supermarkets and retail stores, is paying 5.69 billion yuan ($925 million) to buy 20 per cent of Yonghui Superstores Co as it seeks to tap China’s growing consumer market. “Dairy Farm has for some time been looking for opportu- nities to participate in the large and high growth Chinese mar- ket,” Graham Allan, chief exec- utive officer of Dairy Farm, said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange on Monday. “This strategic partnership with Yonghui provides an attractive way to do that.” Dairy Farm, which runs more than 5,800 supermarkets and health and beauty stores as well as other retail outlets across Asia, will also collaborate with Yonghui in areas including pro- curement, fresh food process- ing and store development, according to the statement. Yonghui Superstores operated 288 hypermarkets and super- markets spanning 17 prov- inces as of end-2013, it said. The hypermarket industry in China is forecast to grow 39 per- cent to 862 billion yuan in 2016 from last year, according to researcher Euromonitor Inter- national. The purchase of the Yonghui stake, Dairy Farm’s largest deal ever according to data com- piled by Bloomberg, comes as a slowing economy and increased competition prompts consolidation in China’s retail industry. “Although China’s grocery retail market is very regional- ized and competitive, Yonghui has done well over the last three years,” said Zhibin Yeo, an analyst with CIMB Securi- ties. “This buyout gives Dairy Farm exposure to a growing China grocery retail market.” The investment also allows the Dairy Farm to diversity its sales as the company faces challenges in a competitive Southeast Asian market, Yeo said. Tesco Plc, the largest UK retailer, said in October it would pay about $558 million to merge its more than 130 stores in China into a joint venture with Hong Kong-listed China Resources Enterprise. The same month, Wal-Mart Stores Inc said that it would add as many as 110 stores from 2014 to 2016 in China, while also shutting some outlets and remodelling dozens more as the world’s largest retailer over- hauls its business in the coun- try. BLOOMBERG Pedestrians pass a Wellcome supermarket, owned by Dairy Farm International Holdings, in Hong Kong. BLOOMBERG Markets 9 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Business THAI travel agents have joined forces with Japanese tour operators to bring at least six charter flights from Japan to Thailand in a bid to boost tourism for both countries. The Thai-Japan Tourist As- sociation (TJTA) and the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA) said many national tourism bodies and foreign travel agents have approached Thailand to promote their des- tinations, especially Japan. TJTA president Anake Sri- shevachart said at least six charter flights with a total of 1,710 seats from Honshu, Ja- pan’s main island, would fly to Thailand in the high season from October to December. This will benefit tourism in both countries. Thailand seeks to recover Japanese tourist confidence while Japan hopes to woo more Thai travellers to its new tourism destinations. The first charter flight will fly in October, from Ishikawa prefecture. Charter flights from Fukushima will start in November and from Niigata in December. Anake said Japanese tour- ists’ confidence had not been restored yet with the martial law still in place and despite the TAT, in collaboration with local insurance companies, offering travel insurance for foreign travellers. “We have to boost our tour- ism image by word of mouth. We are confident that after travellers visit Thailand by the charter flights, they will tell friends, family members and others that Thailand is now safe for travel. This will help to bounce back the Japanese market next year,” Anake said. The TJTA said the number of Japanese arrivals in 2014 was expected to be similar to last year’s figure of 1.54 mil- lion visitors. In the first half of this year, Japanese visitors dropped by 20.9 per cent to 676,414. In terms of outbound tourism to Japan, Mr Anake said the TJTA believed it still had plenty of room to grow in the future. In the first six months of this year, Thai tourists to Japan reached around 300,000. The association expects 700,000 arrivals this year, compared with 400,000 last year. Thai- land is the fifth biggest market for Japan’s tourism after South Korea, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. BANGKOK POST Thailand, Japan team up to attract tourists Thais to gain from sanctions T HAILAND’S livestock products, produce, and canned tuna are expected to ben- efit most from Russia’s ban on American and European Union food imports. “Thai exporters need to take this opportunity to ramp up their exports to Russia,” said Pornsil Patchrintanakul, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. On Thursday, Russia an- nounced the suspension of billions of dollars in food imports from a number of countries – including Norway, Canada, Australia, the US and the 28-nation European Union – in retaliation for sanctions imposed on it by those nations over the past few weeks. The measure, which targets meat, fish, fruit, vegetable and milk products and which will last a year, is expected to hit food supplies and drive up Russian food prices. Rus- sia spent nearly $10 billion on food from those countries that will now be banned. Thailand last year fetched 35.2 billion baht ($1.1 billion) worth of exports to Russia in 2013, a marginal rise of 0.37 per cent from 35 billion baht in 2012, according to the Customs Department. For the first six months of this year, the figures rose 12.6 per cent to 19.6 billion baht from 17.4 billion baht in the same period last year. Key export products include au- tomobiles and parts, gems and jewellery, plastic pellets, canned and processed fruit, and rubber products. Pornsil forecast overall Thai food shipments this year should grow about 5 per cent to 900 billion baht mainly driven by rice, sugar and particularly frozen chicken, now allowed to be imported into Japan. Japan agreed late last year to resume imports of Thai fresh chicken, banned for 10 years after a bird flu outbreak in 2004. But it would take sev- eral years before exports of fresh chicken to Japan would reach 200,000 tonnes, the amount purchased by Japan before the ban. Kukrit Arepogorn, manager of the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association, said the country was expected to ship 560,000 to 570,000 tonnes of fresh and processed broilers worth 78 billion baht this year, up from 530,000 tonnes worth 70 billion baht last year. Thailand’s chicken exports look promising in the second half thanks to higher ship- ments to Japan. More impor- tantly, from July Thailand can ship processed chicken to fast- food outlets in the Philippines after the lifting of a 10-year ban due to the avian flu, he said. The latest outlook published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization suggests global poultry production is expected to grow by 1.6 per cent to 109 million tonnes this year. The expansion is driven largely by developed econo- mies as production in devel- oping countries declines. The global trade in poul- try meat has doubled over the previous decade. Growth slowed in 2012 and 2013, but a 2.4 per cent increase is antici- pated this year. But Pornsil said Thailand’s food export industry is facing risks from higher production costs ignited mainly by the high minimum wage, labour shortage and high utility costs such as water and power bills. BANGKOK POST Workers clean steam-cooked tuna at Thai Union Frozen Products Pcl’s TUF factory in Mahachai Thailand. BLOOMBERG Singapore’s GDP unexpectedly expands last quarter SINGAPORE’S economy saw a sur- prise expansion last quarter as man- ufacturing declined less than ini- tially estimated amid recoveries in advanced countries. Gross domestic product rose an annualised 0.1 per cent in the three months through June from the previ- ous quarter, when it climbed a revised 1.8 percent, the Trade Ministry said in a statement yesterday. That compares with a July estimate of a 0.8 per cent contraction and the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 14 economists for a 0.3 per cent drop. “While global growth in the first quarter of the year turned out weak- er than expected, recent incoming data suggest that global economic activities are recovering modestly,” the Trade Ministry said. Externally- oriented sectors such as finance, insurance and wholesale trade are likely to support expansion in the second half, it said. The export-dependent Southeast Asian nation is set to benefit from a recovery in global growth, which is helping to offset higher business costs as the government pursues a plan to slow the inflow of foreign workers, boost productivity and attract new industries. The US econ- omy is improving, the euro area will benefit from an accommodative monetary policy and China has tak- en steps to support expansion, Sin- gapore’s Trade Ministry said. “Given the slowly improving exter- nal demand for both goods and serv- ices, led by developed economies, Singapore should be on track to achieve GDP growth of about 3 per cent this year,” said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist at CIMB Research in Singapore. Even so, “the still uneven labour productivity performance sug- gests much work needs to be done”. The Singapore dollar gained as much as 0.1 per cent after the report. It traded little changed at 1.2502 against the US currency as of 10:51am local time. The economy expanded 2.4 per cent in the second quarter from a year ear- lier, after growing a revised 4.8 per cent in the previous three months, the Trade Ministry said yesterday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg sur- vey was for a 2.3 per cent gain. Manufacturing declined 15.2 per cent in the second quarter from the previous three months, compared with a July estimate of a 19.4 per cent contraction. Services rose 4.5 per cent in the same period, while cons- truction expanded by 0.3 per cent. The ministry reiterated Prime Min- ister Lee Hsien Loong’s August 8 fore- cast for 2014 growth of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 percent. Separately, the estimate for non-oil domestic exports was cut to a contraction of between 1 per cent and 2 per cent, from an increase of 1 per cent to 3 per cent previously. The GDP forecast, which is nar- rower than an earlier prediction of 2 per cent to 4 per cent, factors in down- side risks from the global economy, Ow Foong Pheng, permanent secre- tary at the Trade Ministry, told report- ers yesterday. Singapore will monitor geopolitical risks, she said. The central bank’s policy stance remains appropriate and unchanged, said Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The city state, which uses the island’s dollar to manage price pressure, said in April it will maintain a modest and gradual appreciation of the currency. While domestically-oriented sectors such as business services and infor- mation and communications are expected to remain resilient in the second half of the year, growth in some labour-intensive segments such as retail and food services may be weighed down by labour constraints, the Trade Ministry said. “Growth momentum going forward will be tepid,” Irvin Seah, an econo- mist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd in Singapore, said in a note. “The econ- omy continues to be weighed down by the domestic restructuring and external uncertainties. Manufacturing has bottomed but the services sector remains a risk.” BLOOMBERG SIME Darby Bhd has picked banks including CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Deutsche Bank Ag to manage a Malay- sian initial public offering of its automotive dealership unit, people with knowledge of the matter said. Malayan Banking Bhd and Morgan Stanley are also work- ing on the share sale, accord- ing to the people. The offering could poten- tially raise as much as $900 million and take place as early as the first quarter of 2015, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private. Sime Darby is seeking to list a business that accounted for 37 per cent of sales in the lat- est financial year, the biggest contributor among a stable of businesses that includes property and plantations, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The unit operates in 10 Asian markets and sells automobiles from 30 brands including BMW and Hyundai, according to its website. Shares of Sime Darby have slipped 0.3 percent this year, while the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index is down 0.9 per cent. The company, which has a market value of 57.5 billion ringgit ($18 billion), said last month a listing of the business is one of many potential actions it’s considering to boost share- holder value. BLOOMBERG Malaysia’s Sime Darby picks banks for car IPO US to lift Myanmar timber sanctions THE US Treasury Department granted a special one-year licence beginning in late July for certain US companies to trade with Myanma Timber Enter- prise and other members of the timber industry currently under sanction by the United States. The announcement has drawn both praise and con- cern from forestry experts, with some applauding the hands-on approach to reform and others warning that the scheme could end up reinforc- ing the corruption that has defined the timber industry for decades. The Myanma Timber Enter- prise is a state-related outfit dedicated to extracting tim- ber. As an industry leader, it has been targeted by environ- mental groups claiming a broad range of corruption, unsustainable production and human rights abuses. The company was first sanctioned by former President George Bush in 2008. The US Embassy in Yangon and the US Treasury Department in Washington did not respond to requests for comment for this article. The licence specifically allows members of US-based timber group International Wood Products Association (IWPA) to import Myanma Timber Enter- prise’s products. Speaking to The Myanmar Times last week, IWPA execu- tive director Cindy Squires said the initiative was aimed at using market pressure to push gov- ernment and industry leaders create a system to track where and how timber is extracted. “Under the licence, our mem- bers must urge the domestic mills to work toward independ- ent legality verification. We also encourage the timber trade to work with the Myanmar Timber Merchants Association and the Myanmar Forest Certification Committee to improve the tim- ber traceability system in Myanmar,” she said. Rachel Butler, Manager of the UK-backed forestry organisa- tion the Global Timber Forum, said her organisation “wel- comed” the new initiative, pointing out that most other Western nations have already suspended or relaxed their sanctions of Myanmar timber. “The timber industries in the EU, US and Australia all share the goals of supporting Myanmar in moving these systems toward longer-term sustainability, ensuring they meet domestic and interna- tional requirements, we can- not do that sat on the side- lines,” she said. Both Butler and Squires affirmed that they believe trade and direct engagement is a better tool for encouraging reform than the sanctions and boycotts that have so far had little effect. “It is our view that it is better to be engaged with [the Myan- ma Timber Enterprise] and the Myanmar timber industry and demonstrate our support for the reform efforts and move- ment toward independent legality verification and sus- tainable management of Bur- ma’s forest,” Squires said. THE MYANMAR TIMES Israeli tycoon claims huge oil find in DRC A COMPANY owned by Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler said it has discovered vast potential reserves of oil in the strife-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Oil of DRCongo, a subsidiary of the Fleurette Group, said in a statement that seismic testing from Lake Albert, which forms part of the northeastern border with Uganda, indicated reserves of around three billion barrels of oil. It said exporting the oil from North Kivu province could boost the gross domestic product of the vast central African nation by 25 per cent. According to the World Bank, GDP in 2013 was $30.6 billion for a nation of 67 million people. AFP Prudential reports big gains in H1 profits INSURER Prudential posted surging half-year profits yesterday, despite facing some difficulties in the key markets of Asia and Britain, it said in a released statement. Net profit soared to £1.145 billion ($1.92 billion) in the six months to June 30, more than three times the amount that it recorded in the first half of 2013, the British company said. AFP Business 10 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Mexico pens energy reform M EXICAN President Enrique Pena Ni- eto signed a pack- age of landmark energy reform bills on Mon- day, ending the 76-year-old state monopoly on oil drilling and reopening the sector to foreign companies. “This represents a historic change that will accelerate the economic growth and de- velopment of Mexico in the coming years,” the president told hundreds of guests at a ceremony in the capital. The signing comes five days after the Mexican Senate gave final approval to the laws, the centrist leader’s most ambi- tious political project and the centerpiece of his efforts to kick-start Latin America’s sec- ond-largest economy. Pena Nieto argues the nine new laws and 12 amendments will fuel growth, create jobs and modernize state energy firm Pemex, whose oil produc- tion has fallen from 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to 2.5 million today. But the leftist opposition ac- cuses the president of gutting Pemex, the country’s main source of tax revenue, and be- traying the legacy of the 1938 nationalisation of the oil in- dustry. The president rejected that criticism Monday, saying the reforms “preserve and as- sure our national property”. Having won the legislative battle, Pena Nieto’s adminis- tration must now write new regulations for the energy sector, a project the president said would be finished in Oc- tober. He also said officials would announce today the re- sults of the so-called “Round Zero” rights allocation that will determine which oil and gas fields Pemex keeps and which will be up for interna- tional bidding. “That will allow potential national and foreign investors to begin preparing now to take part in the first round of bid- ding, whose guidelines will be published in the first quarter of next year,” said Pena Nieto. Foreign energy firms in- cluding ExxonMobil and BP have been keenly watching the reforms, hiring lawyers and consulting tax experts in anticipation of a return to Mexico – though analysts say there is also wariness over high taxes, corruption and drug violence in the oil- and gas-rich north. AFP Enrique Pena Nieto, president of Mexico (centre) holds legislation he has just signed during a ceremony with Gustavo Madero in Mexico City on Monday. BLOOMBERG Buzzfeed is hive of activity with major expansion plan THE social news group Buzz- Feed unveiled a mammoth new expansion plan, using a fresh infusion of $50 million in ven- ture capital. Andreessen Horowitz, the big Silicon Valley venture group, announced late on Sunday it is investing $50 million in Buzz- Feed and that one of its part- ners, Chris Dixon, will be join- ing the company’s board. Details of the investment were not disclosed. But the New York Times reported that the deal values BuzzFeed at some $850 million. Its video division will expand and become “BuzzFeed Motion Pictures,” which will “focus on all moving images from a GIF to feature film and everything in between,” according to a statement on Monday. BuzzFeed’s editorial team will expand to cover more breaking news, and will double the number of foreign correspond- ents. BuzzFeed said it will also launch a test kitchen and food lab in Manhattan “to create more original lifestyle content”. BuzzFeed International will create news sites to India, Ger- many, Mexico and Japan this year, in addition to the French, Spanish and Portuguese edi- tions announced last year. “We created BuzzFeed because people still want to be informed, entertained, and inspired. But the way they con- sume media has dramatically shifted,” said BuzzFeed found- er and chief executive Jonah Peretti. “Today we think the time is perfect to grow our com- pany, build our brand and greatly increase the content we are producing so we can be the number one digital media brand. The investment from Andreessen Horowitz will allow us to double down on our com- pany’s mission by creating a new organization and expand rapidly in all areas.” Dixon said on his blog that BuzzFeed is growing into a more serious news organiza- tion following its debut focus- ing on offbeat and oddball coverage. “BuzzFeed started out focus- ing on lightweight content like memes, lists, funny photos, etc,” Dixon said. “This led some industry observers to dismiss BuzzFeed as a ‘toy.’ The com- pany has since moved steadily up market, following the typical path of disruptive technologies. It now has an editorial staff of over 200 people covering a wide range of topics – politics, sports, business, entertainment, travel, etc – and plans to invest sig- nificantly more in high-quality content in the coming years.” Dixon added that BuzzFeed “is a media company in the same sense that Tesla is a car company, Uber is a taxi com- pany, or Netflix is a streaming movie company ... The most interesting tech companies aren’t trying to sell software to other companies. They are try- ing to reshape industries from top to bottom.” Andreessen Horowitz’s Marc Andreessen also touted the merits of BuzzFeed in a series of tweets. “BuzzFeed has technology at its core. Its 100+ person tech team has created world-class systems ... Engineers are first class citizens,” he wrote. “And then on top of its technology core, BuzzFeed’s reporting team is now routinely commit- ting breathtaking investigative journalism.” According to Dixon, “Buzz- Feed now reaches over 150 mil- lion people per month, is con- sistently profitable, and will generate triple digit millions in revenues this year”. AFP Buzzfeed is said to be making the transition from an offbeat and funny news organisation to a serious news group. BLOOMBERG Brazil firms bid for bananas Russia grows amid sanctions TWO Brazilian companies made a $611 million offer for US banana giant Chiquita on Monday that could derail Chiquita’s merger with Euro- pean rival Fyffes. Cutrale Group, one of Brazil’s largest juice exporters, and investment bank Safra Group offered $13 a share for all of Chiquita’s stock, 29 per cent higher than the shares traded on Friday. The two said that they could bring Chiquita Brand International “extensive experience in all aspects of the fruit and juice value chain,” and offered its shareholders “superior valuation” to where the company’s stock has been trading. The unsolicited offer challenged Chiquita’s merger with Fyffes, which would create the world’s largest banana company, with $4.6 billion in annual revenues. That proposal would allow Chiquita to avoid higher US taxes by relocating its statutory headquarters to Ireland. The all-stock deal between Chiquita and Fyffes was to be weighed by shareholders in a special meeting on September 17. But the offer by the Brazilian companies could jeopardise the merg- er by offering shareholders of Chiquita a quicker return. After the Fyffes deal was announced, Chiquita’s shares slumped around 17 per cent before Monday’s offer. Safra and Cutrale, which has a one-third share of the $5 billion world orange juice market, argued that their proposal “is clearly more favourable to the Chiquita shareholders than the proposed merger with Fyffes,” and so the Chiq- uita board was obliged to take it up. The two also said that there were no financial challenges to the deal and that it could be com- pleted by the end of the year, the same timeline as the Chiquita-Fyffes tie-up. Chiquita’s board of directors acknowledged the proposal and advised shareholders to not take any action until the board has made its own recommendation. “We continue to strongly believe in the strate- gic merits and value provided by the proposed transaction with Fyffes,” they said. “Chiquita will have no further comment on the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group’s offer until the board has completed its review.” AFP RUSSIA’S economy grew by 0.8 per cent from April to June compared with output during the same period last year, a pre- liminary estimate by Russia’s statistics committee showed on Monday. The figure is lower than a 1.2 per cent growth forecast that was reported by Russia’s econ- omy minister last month, and slightly less than the 0.9 per cent annualised pace recorded in the first quarter. Russia’s economy was already expected to slow from last year’s disappointing growth figure of 1.3 per cent, the lowest reading recorded since the 2009 global financial crisis, before Western powers unleashed a set of punishing sanctions last month in response to Moscow’s defiant stance on Ukraine. The United States has pro- hibited three leading Russian banks from raising anything but short-term funding on US markets. The European Union also began imposing so-called sec- tor sanctions, crimping access of Russian state-controlled banks to European capital markets. After the economy minister said that he expected growth to reach 1.2 per cent from April to June, the government said it planned to raise its annual forecast from 0.5 to around 1 per cent. But in late July the Interna- tional Monetary Fund slashed its estimate by 1.1 points to just 0.2 per cent growth. Elsewhere, Investment senti- ment in Germany fell to the lowest level for nearly two years in August amid concern about the economic fallout from cri- ses such as the tension over Russia-Ukraine, data showed yesterday. The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute fell by 18.5 points to 8.6 points in August, its lowest level since December 2012, it said in a statement. The institute did not name the trouble spots specifically, but the German economy min- istry said in a report earlier that the Russia-Ukraine crisis is hurting Europe’s top economy. AFP Britain, BAE pen $584M ship accord DEFENCE company BAE Sys- tems is to build three ships for Britain’s navy in a deal worth £348 million ($584 million) BAE said the three Offshore Patrol Vessels would be used to combat terrorism, piracy and smuggling in the waters around Britain as well as protecting the country’s interests abroad. The 90-metre vessels will be built at the contractor’s facili- ties in the Scottish city of Glasgow. “This is a significant contract award which marks the begin- ning of a new and exciting chapter for the UK shipbuilding sector,” said Mick Ord, manag- ing director at BAE Systems naval ships. The design is an adaptation of an existing class of ship used by Thailand and the Brazilian navy. BAE described the ships as “globally deployable and capable of ocean patrol” as they will have a maximum speed of 24 knots, a range of 5,500 nauti- cal miles and a deck capable of landing large Merlin helicop- ters. Building is due to start in October with the first ship scheduled to be delivered in 2017. AFP Markets 11 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Business International commodities Energy Agriculture Markets 800 875 950 1025 1100 500 550 600 650 700 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 18000 19750 21500 23250 25000 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000 14000 14500 15000 15500 16000 9000 9250 9500 9750 10000 Thailand Vietnam Singapore Malaysia Hong Kong China Japan Taiwan Thai Set 50 Index, Aug 11 FTSE Straits Times Index, Aug 11 FTSEBursaMalaysiaKLCI, Aug 11 Hang Seng Index, Aug 11 CSI 300 Index, Aug 11 Nikkei 225, Aug 11 Taiwan Taiex Index, Aug 11 Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Aug 11 15,161.31 2,357.05 24,689.41 1,850.39 3,303.39 601.78 1,018.47 9,163.12 1600 1725 1850 1975 2100 6000 6375 6750 7125 7500 900 1050 1200 1350 1500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000 22000 23250 24500 25750 27000 28000 28750 29500 30250 31000 4500 4875 5250 5625 6000 4500 4750 5000 5250 5500 South Korea Philippines Laos Indonesia India Pakistan Australia New Zealand KOSPI Index, Aug 11 PSEI- Philippine Se Idx, Aug 11 Laos Composite Index, Aug 11 Jakarta Composite Index, Aug 11 BSE Sensex 30 Index, Aug 11 Karachi 100 Index, Aug 11 S&P/ASX 200 Index, Aug 11 NZX 50 Index, Aug 11 5,530.32 28,178.52 25,755.13 5,132.40 1,398.27 6,983.49 2,041.47 5,055.81 Item Unit Base Average (%) Gasoline R 5250 5450 3.81 % Diesel R 5100 5200 1.96 % Petroleum R 5500 5500 0.00 % Gas Chi 86000 76000 -11.63 % Charcoal Baht 1200 1300 8.33 % Energy Construction equipment Item Unit Base Average (%) Rice 1 R/Kg 2800 2780 -0.71 % Rice 2 R/Kg 2200 2280 3.64 % Paddy R/Kg 1800 1840 2.22 % Peanuts R/Kg 8000 8100 1.25 % Maize 2 R/Kg 2000 2080 4.00 % Cashew nut R/Kg 4000 4220 5.50 % Pepper R/Kg 40000 24000 -40.00 % Beef R/Kg 33000 33600 1.82 % Pork R/Kg 17000 18200 7.06 % Mud Fish R/Kg 12000 12400 3.33 % Chicken R/Kg 18000 20800 15.56 % Duck R/Kg 13000 13100 0.77 % Item Unit Base Average (%) Steel 12 R/Kg 3000 3100 3.33 % Cement R/Sac 19000 19500 2.63 % Food -Cereals -Vegetables - Fruits Cambodian commodities (Base rate taken on January 1, 2012) COMMODITY UNITS PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE TIME(ET) Crude Oil (WTI) USD/bbl. 97.42 -0.66 -0.67% 5:27:49 Crude Oil (Brent) USD/bbl. 103.95 -0.73 -0.70% 5:27:06 NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu 3.98 0.01 0.35% 5:27:03 RBOBGasoline USd/gal. 274.61 -0.64 -0.23% 5:27:01 NYMEX Heating Oil USd/gal. 286.71 -1.21 -0.42% 5:27:50 ICEGasoil USD/MT 878.5 -9 -1.01% 5:27:06 COMMODITY UNITS PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE TIME(ET) CBOT Rough Rice USD/cwt 12.64 0.02 0.12% 4:47:09 CME Lumber USD/tbf 344.8 -1.2 -0.35% 21:04:25 Consultancy: Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Specialist The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is inviting applicants to apply for the post of WEE specialist with UN Women Cambodia Country Office. ToR of the post is available at: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs Deadlinefor applications: 25 August 2014 at 5 p.m. local time Please send your application to [email protected] Any inquiries regarding to the post, please contact our UN Women Cambodia Country Office via e-mail at: [email protected]. Please note that this e-mail is only for enquiries. Only applications sent to [email protected] will be accepted. ‘Ethical’ fashion changing the lives of poor in Africa T HE muddy streets of Kenya’s crowded Korogocho slums are a far cry from the fashion boutiques of Paris, Milan, New York or London. But beneath a tin roof, workers from some of the country’s poorest communities sew buttons and stitch cloth for top international designers, part of a not-for-profit “ethical fash- ion” project. “Before Ethical Fashion, I couldn’t educate my children,” said Lucy, sit- ting in a circle of women, needles in hand as they deftly sew white seed beads to the surface of smooth, chocolate-coloured leather. “But now I can educate them, and provide for them anything they need,” the mother of four said. From Korogocho, accessories like the cuffs the women sew are sold in international boutiques, stamped with the labels of international fash- ion houses like Vivienne Westwood, Fendi and Stella McCartney. It is part of the Ethical Fashion Ini- tiative (EFI), a project built on a mod- el of “mutual benefit” that aims to support poor communities by link- ing them up with fashion houses and distributors. Workers on the scheme – a member of the Fair Labor Asso- ciation – would take months to earn enough to buy some of these luxury goods, which sell for hundreds of dollars on the high street. But conditions are very far from the sweatshops that muddy some fashion brands, with the UN-backed scheme providing decent working conditions, training and – perhaps the clearest sign of its success – peo- ple queueing up to join looking for work. Organisers say some 90 per cent of workers in Kenya have im- proved their homes and family diets. A joint effort by the United Nations and World Trade Organization, the initiative has expanded from Kenya to Burkina Faso, Ghana and Haiti, with plans for future expansion on the continent and in Asia. The journey these bags, clothes and accessories will make has re- shaped the lives of women like Lucy. As a teenager in this tin-shack slum in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, by the age of 16 she had turned to prostitution to survive. With three children of her own, she also cares for her nephew, after her sister died of AIDS. Starting out five years ago as a seamstress, Lucy is now a supervisor. Last year she moved her family out of Korogocho to a nearby suburb, with lower crime rates. Of the more than 5,000 people in- volved in the initiative in Kenya, 90 per cent are women. For Arancha Gonzalez, chief of the International Trade Centre that runs the project, it offers a sustainable way to improve lives. “Trade, economic activities, mar- kets can also be married with human development, with women’s eco- nomic development, with poverty reduction,” Gonzalez said. The project’s slogan is “not charity, just work”. “We call it ethical because we give a decent job, with decent working conditions, to very destitute people,” Gonzalez added. “First and foremost it gives women dignity.” Workers also use environmentally friendly materials, and their opera- tions are carbon neutral. Gonzalez says that for the designers working with the EFI, economics and ethics need not be mutually exclusive. “It’s about making money,” said Gonzalez. “But you can also make profits in a socially sustainable way.” AFP A man works in Nairobi’s Hub workshop, the heart of Ethical Fashion Africa, a not- for-profit group built on a model of ‘mutual benefit’. AFP THE United States is ready to offer significant additional economic and military aid to Iraq under a new, less sectarian government, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday. The Obama administration is offer- ing the prospect of more money and military backing short of combat forces as an inducement towards the rapid formation of a new government to replace Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki. Maliki, who has lost American backing after eight years of often frac- tious dealings with Washington, is refusing to step aside. The political crisis is made more acute by the rapid advance of Islamist militants, including in the formerly secure semi-autonomous Kurdish area of northern Iraq. “The US does stand ready to fully support a new inclusive Iraqi govern- ment,” particularly in its fight against militants known as the Islamic State, Kerry said after two days of military and diplomatic talks in Australia. The US military is helping the cur- rent Iraqi government with airstrikes against the militants, begun last week, and humanitarian air drops to strand- ed civilians. The Obama administra- tion has sought to separate the help from any support for Maliki, although he had requested it. The Pentagon is also helping move equipment and arms to the Kurdish armed forces, known as the pesh merga, Hagel noted yesterday. US officials said on Monday that Wash- ington is also helping to covertly arm the peshmerga, but that component went unmentioned as Kerry and Hagel answered questions yesterday with the Australian defence and for- eign ministers. “As a new government takes shape, we would consider fur- ther requests from that new govern- ment,” Hagel said. Kerry congratulated Haider al-Abadi, the veteran Shiite politician selected to form a new government, and urged him to do so quickly. He dangled addi- tional American aid but said he would not give details now, before the Abadi government is up and running, and suggested that money and other assist- ance would be tied to the new govern- ment’s performance. Neither Kerry nor Hagel mentioned Maliki by name. “Without any question, we are pre- pared to consider additional political, economic and security options as Iraq starts to build a new government,” Kerry said, with the aid “very much calculated to try to stabilise the secu- rity situation, expand economic development and strengthen the democratic institutions.” The Obama administration has ruled out any American combat presence on the ground in Iraq, despite the startling turn of events that led President Obama, who cam- paigned on ending the Iraq war, to again send US warplanes to Iraqi skies. Kerry underscored that the additional assistance for Abadi does not extend to US ground forces. Obama on Monday publicly announced his backing for Abadi, as did Iran and Saudi Arabia. Abadi now has 30 days to form a government, and during that time Maliki will remain the caretaker prime minister. In his eight years as premier, Maliki has consolidated power in his office, ruling in an authoritarian style that has chipped away at his support among minority Sunnis, as well as his fellow Shiites. He is widely blamed for foster- ing an environment that has allowed Sunni extremists from the Islamic State to seize control of huge chunks of Iraqi territory. THE WASHINGTON POST 12 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 World Looking past defiant Maliki, US dangles aid for Iraq Egypt slammed for brutal killings H UMAN Rights Watch yesterday demanded Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and two other officials be investigated for their roles in a brutal crackdown that killed hundreds in likely “crimes against humanity”. Security forces stormed two sit-ins of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares on August 14, 2013, resulting in what HRW termed “one of the largest kill- ings of demonstrators in a sin- gle day in recent history”. A HRW report said its own investigation into the crack- down and interviews with more than 200 witnesses showed that security forces intentionally used “excessive lethal force” in breaking up the sit-ins. “The killings not only consti- tuted serious violations of international human rights but likely amounted to crimes against humanity,” according to the report, which HRW released to mark one year since the carnage. HRW said its report identifies the most senior security offi- cials and key leaders in the chain of command “who should be investigated . . . including Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, then-de- fence minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Medhat Men- shawy”, who led the crackdown at Rabaa al-Adawiya. In a conference call, HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said the evidence gath- ered showed that the crack- down was a planned operation “that senior commanders ordered or quickly should have stopped but didn’t”. “This was not a war . . . most of the day police operated openly, shooting at people,” he said. “These were widespread systematic attacks on civilian population.” HRW activist Omar Shakir alleged that Sisi had personally reviewed the Rabaa dispersal plan “for days and days”, saying: “We are saying that the evidence is sufficient that those three people in particular warrant investigation into their roles.” In the lead-up to the crack- down, officials had “envisioned killing several thousand pro- testers”, he said. At least 817 demonstrators died in Rabaa al-Adawiya square alone on that day, HRW said. An AFP correspondent who was at the square saw more than 100 protesters killed several hours into the crack- down. Police said eight police- men also died in Rabaa, from a total of 42 policemen killed across Egypt that day. Since Morsi’s overthrow in July 2013, more than 1,400 people have died in street clashes including the Rabaa carnage, over 15,000 have been jailed, among them Morsi and the top leadership of his Mus- lim Brotherhood, and over 200 have been sentenced to death in speedy trials. The Rabaa crackdown was launched after thousands of pro-Morsi supporters refused to end their sit-ins despite repeated warnings. The authorities said the report lacked objectivity and that HRW itself had no legal status to work in Egypt. A government statement said the report ignored that the “first martyr” on that day in Rabaa was a policeman who was shot dead, and that it also ignored all those killed in attacks planned by “those described in the report as peaceful protesters”. The assault was not “merely a case of excessive force or poor training”, said Roth in the report. “It was a violent crack- down planned at the highest levels of the Egyptian govern- ment. Many of the same offi- cials are still in power in Egypt, and have a lot to answer for.” HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson urged the setting up of a UN commission to probe the killings, charging that not a single security offic- er had been held accountable. “That is certainly not a way to build a society . . . it’s a licence to kill . . . it’s a licence to do whatever it wants,” she said in the conference call, referring to security forces. Roth and Whitson were barred from entering Egypt ahead of the release of the report. The HRW report quoted sur- vivors describing the assault. “It was raining bullets. I smelled tear-gas and immedi- ately saw people being hit and falling down around me,” said a businessman who was at the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in. “I have no idea how many people were hit. We didn’t hear any warnings, nothing. It was like hell.” AFP Muslim Brotherhood supporters flee police in a street leading to the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp in Cairo on August 14, 2013 (left) and, later the same day, a man walks through the debris left by the clashes. AFP World 13 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Myanmar finds $7.3M of drugs in forest stash MYANMAR authorities have seized $7.3 million of drugs buried in a forest in the Golden Triangle, police said yesterday, raising fears of a boom in the narcotics trade in the notorious border region. A combined military and police operation in eastern Shan state unearthed a massive stash including blocks of heroin, raw opium and nearly two million methamphetamine pills. “Our government is seriously concerned about the drugs situation,” a senior police officer from the anti-drug squad said on condition of anonymity. “Our crackdown against drug trafficking is ongoing.” AFP Tripoli’s chief of police assassinated: source COLONEL Mohamed al-Suissi, chief of police in Tripoli, was gunned down by unidentified attackers in the Libyan capital’s eastern suburbs yesterday, a security source told AFP. “Colonel al-Suissi was assassinated by a group of unknown hooded, armed people. Two men with him were kidnapped in the attack,” said the source, who asked not to be named. Since the fall of longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011, authorities have failed to establish order and security in a country. AFP ‘The butcher’: Fugitive Filipino general found A RETIRED Philippine general impli- cated in multiple political assassina- tions was arrested in a rundown house in the nation’s capital yesterday after nearly three years on the run. President Benigno Aquino’s aides hailed the arrest of Jovito Palparan as proof his government was committed to tackling an infamous “culture of impunity”, in which the powerful rou- tinely avoid being brought to justice. Palparan went into hiding in late 2011 after being charged with the kidnapping and illegal detention in 2006 of two female university students linked to leftist activist groups. The women, then aged 27 and 20, have never been seen since. Palparan could face life imprisonment if found guilty, although he denies the charges. Human rights groups accuse Palparan of being behind the killing of leftists when he was a top military officer bat- tling communist guerrillas in rural areas of the impoverished archipelago. Then-president Gloria Arroyo praised Palparan, a former counter-insurgency chief, for standing up to “terror” in 2006, but critics tagged him as “the butcher” for his alleged abuses. The Philippines has been battling communist and Islamic insurgencies for decades, and the conflicts have claimed tens of thousands of lives. The military has been accused of car- rying out hundreds of extra-judicial killings of opponents. A government commission which investigated politi- cal killings said in 2006 that Palparan was a key suspect in many murders of people deemed “enemies of the state”. “[He] left a trail of blood or bodies in his wake wherever he was assigned”, the commission report said. AFP US reassures Beijing on Australian security pact T HE US stressed yes- terday it welcomes the rise of China and wants to work con- structively with Beijing as it signed a deal to deploy 2,500 Marines to Australia as part of its “rebalance” to Asia. China bristled when the agreement to deploy Marines to the northern city of Darwin was first announced by Presi- dent Barack Obama in 2011. But after signing the deal at the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations in Sydney, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was not interested in conflict with the Asian powerhouse. “We welcome the rise of Chi- na as a global partner, hopeful- ly as a powerful economy, as a full participating constructive member of the international community,” he said. “We are not seeking conflict and confrontation. And our hope is that China will likewise take advantage of the opportu- nities that are in front of it and be that cooperative partner.” Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop earlier defended the deal to bring US Marines and Air Force personnel to the Northern Territory, denying it was aimed at China which is embroiled in maritime dis- putes with neighbours. “That’s not what it is directed to do at all. It’s about working closely with the United States to ensure that we can work on re- gional peace and security,” she told a radio program. “The Unit- ed States is rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific so there are ways we can work together to support economic development as well as security and peace.” Bishop made no comment about the prospect of an in- creased US military presence beyond the Marines, some 1,200 of whom are already in the country. But a communi- que issued after the talks said enhanced aircraft and naval co- operation was discussed, while the allies would also examine options for Australia’s contri- butions to ballistic missile de- fence in the region. AFP US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Sydney yesterday. AFP World 14 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Push on for Gaza peace as truce enters day two PALESTINIAN and Israeli delegations were yesterday set to resume “gruelling” talks in Cairo aimed at ending the Gaza conflict as Egyptian mediators raced to narrow gaps between the warring sides. In Monday’s indirect talks, Israel’s delegation pushed for the disarmament of militant groups in the coastal enclave, a demand the Palestinians rejected outright. Israeli negotiators sought an extension of a 72-hour truce in Gaza that began on Monday to allow for further talks, but Egyptian mediators wanted to reach a deal as soon as possible. The Palestinians and Israelis sit in different rooms and never see each other; Egyptian mediators shuttle between the delegations. AFP Kasparov loses vote for chess chief to Putin ally CHESS legend Garry Kasparov has failed in his attempt to dethrone the eccentric head of the World Chess Federation, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and self- professed “alien abductee”, in a chaotic and highly politicised vote. Seen as one of the sport’s greatest-ever players, former world champion Kasparov could only secure the votes of 61 of 175 delegates when the federation met in Norway. The presidency was retained by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, 52, who has held the post since 1995. A former president of Russia’s only Buddhist region, Ilyumzhinov claims he was once abducted by aliens who communicated telepathically and took him to another planet in a giant spaceship. AFP ‘He wanted me to’ Mum drives escaped son back to jail J UST hours after he bust out of a high-security prison as it was rocked by mortar blasts in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, Natalya Nikitenko drove her son right back to jail. “He himself said that he had to return so it wouldn’t count as escaping. We are doing everything according to the law,” she said as she climbed into her car outside the jail in the besieged rebel stronghold of Donetsk. Her son – who still has four years left to serve for car theft – was one of 106 inmates who escaped as the jail was shelled by government forces on Sunday. A prison official said the in- mates escaped “in a panic”. One prisoner was killed and several injured as mortar blasts rocked the correctional facility in a western district of the city, prison authorities said. However, 34 had made their way back by Monday. “How can you live without the law?” Nikitenko said, adding that she had driven her son back at his own request after he ran home. She said her son had told her “some kind of firing hit their barracks. He said he leapt out and a man was lying with his head missing. He was scared and ran out like a bullet. He didn’t even know how he got home.” AFP VENEZUELA closed its border with Colombia on Monday night to crack down on smug- gling of cut-rate gasoline and other products, and to stanch huge losses for the Caracas government. A total of 17,000 troops have been posted along the frontier to prevent Venezuelan gas and other products kept cheap thanks to government price controls from being sneaked across the border. The closing along 2,200 kilo- metres of border applies only at night. It will last 30 days during a preliminary period and then the effect of the mea- sure will be assessed. The lure for smugglers is acute: gas is so cheap in Ven- ezuela it costs less to fill up your tank than it does to buy a bottle of water. Even Venezue- lan President Nicolas Maduro admitted a few months ago that selling a litre of milk at the border brings in more money than selling cocaine. Oil-rich Venezuela has some of the world’s cheapest gasoline, as well as price con- trols that can make food and commodities up to 10 times cheaper than in Colombia. These products include milk, sugar and toilet paper. Venezuela first announced the measure on Saturday. It says it is doing so under a joint accord with Colombia. Private vehicles are barred from crossing after 10pm and commercial trucks after 6pm. Venezuela estimates that 40 per cent of the country’s basic commodities are smuggled across the border with Colom- bia, plus 100,000 barrels of oil, equivalent to annual losses of $3.7 billion. AFP Venezuela seals border, 17,000 troops deployed No entry for Russia ‘aid’: Kiev FBI probes police killing of unarmed teen UKRAINE yesterday refused to let a convoy of 280 trucks that Russia said was carrying humanitarian aid cross into its territory, saying the operation must be led by the Red Cross. Russia’s Emergencies Minis- try said the trucks carrying 2,000 metric tonnes of donated food, medicine and drinking water left Moscow for areas held by pro-Russian rebels in southeastern Ukraine earlier yesterday. Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the convoy was carrying military gear in the guise of aid and any assistance would only be let in after a Red Cross eval- uation that may take a week. “Humanitarian cargo will arrive to Ukraine in compli- ance with Ukrainian and inter- national laws and according to Red Cross practices,” Lysenko said. The Red Cross will “evalu- ate the needs of citizens in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine during the week. The humani- tarian mission will be under- taken after this evaluation”. The “humanitarian” push came as Ukrainian forces tight- en a noose around rebel strong- holds in the eastern cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, where thousands of people are report- ed to be without water, power and medical aid. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected a call for a ceasefire by militants on Sun- day and told them to abandon their effort to wrest eastern Ukrainian regions from Kiev’s control and join Russia in a rebellion that has killed more than 1,200 people. Ukraine and its allies in the US and the European Union have warned Russia not to use a humanitarian mission as a guise for military intervention in Ukraine. The Red Cross said no one had informed it about the trucks and no aid can be delivered until hostilities end. “Nobody contacted us,” Alla Khabarova, the head of the Red Cross in Ukraine, said. “They should have done it via the Russian Red Cross and via us and provide a list of what aid is provided and who is accompa- nying it. All military action, all shooting, has to be ended.” French President Francois Hollande yesterday told his Russian counterpart he had “grave concerns” about the possibility of a unilateral Rus- sian mission in Ukraine. “He stressed the grave con- cerns that the possibility of a unilateral Russian mission on Ukrainian soil had prompted,” Hollande’s office said after the French leader spoke by phone to Vladimir Putin. “It has to be done within a multilateral framework and under the umbrella of the Inter- national Red Cross,” Hollande’s office added. BLOOMBERG/AFP THE FBI has launched a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer, an incident that has set off days of unrest in a St Louis suburb and pushed the question of racial fairness again to the forefront of American life. Michael Brown, a college-bound 18-year-old, was shot and killed on Sat- urday in the small, predominantly African-American city after an apparent confrontation with police officers. His death immediately inspired both sol- emn vigils and angry protests, which in recent days have left some stores looted, buildings burned and shattered glass in the streets. At least 32 people have been arrested for looting. “He was a good boy. He didn’t deserve none of this. None of it,” said Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr, who was one of more than two dozen friends and family members at an afternoon news conference at the Jennings Mason Tem- ple church near St Louis. “We need jus- tice for our son.” The details surrounding Brown’s death remain unclear. But the case is recalling the racial animosity surround- ing the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012 and other recent altercations between Afri- can-Americans and police. The Martin case drew in President Barack Obama, who called for calm amid similar anger and noted that, if he had a son, he would “have looked like Trayvon”. Obama did not comment on the case on Monday during a public appearance in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where he is on vacation. Brown’s family moved to hire attorney Benjamin Crump, who represented Martin’s family after the teenager, also unarmed at the time of his death, was shot by a neighbourhood watch volun- teer. Appearing here, Crump called Brown’s shooting “another senseless death of another person of colour”. The National Bar Association, which represents African American lawyers and judges, has called for an investiga- tion into the deaths of both Brown and Eric Garner, a 43-year-old man who died in July after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer. In the Brown case, police say it appears that the teen was shot following a phys- ical altercation with a police officer at his cruiser and a struggle involving the officer’s gun. But authorities have not said what resulted in Brown being shot multiple times three metres from the officer’s car. Crump said witnesses have disputed the account offered by police, but he did not elaborate on what these witnesses said. THE WASHINGTON POST Ebola toll tops 1,000 Nina Larson and Zoom Dosso T HE World Health Or- ganization yesterday authorised the use of experimental drugs in the fight against Ebola as deaths passed 1,000 and a Spanish priest became the first European to succumb to the virus in the latest outbreak. The declaration by the UN’s health agency came after a US company that makes an ex- perimental serum said it had sent all its available supplies to hard-hit West Africa. “In the particular circum- stances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met . . . it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects,” the WHO said in a statement after a meeting of medical experts in Geneva. The current outbreak, de- scribed as the worst since Ebola was first discovered four decades ago, has now killed 1,013 people, the WHO said. Cases have so far been lim- ited to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, all in West Africa, where weak health sys- tems are struggling to cope. An elderly Spanish priest who became infected while helping patients in Liberia died in a Madrid hospital yes- terday, just five days after be- ing evacuated. Monrovia said it had request- ed samples of an experimental drug, ZMapp, that has shown some positive effects on two US aid workers but failed to save the Spanish priest. There is currently no avail- able cure or vaccine for Ebola, which the WHO has declared a global public health emergen- cy, and the use of experimen- tal drugs has stoked an ethical debate. Despite promising re- sults for the ZMapp treatment, made by private US firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical, it is still in an early phase of development and had only been tested pre- viously on monkeys. ZMapp is in very short sup- ply, but its use on the Western aid workers evacuated to the US last week triggered contro- versy and demands that it be made available in Africa. Mapp said it had sent all its available supplies to West Africa. “In responding to the request received this weekend from a West African nation, the available supply of ZMapp is exhausted,” it said. “Any decision to use ZMapp must be made by the patients’ medical team,” it said, adding that the drug was “provided at no cost in all cases”. The company did not reveal which nation received the dos- es, or how many were sent. But the Liberian presidency said: “The White House and the United States Food and Drug Administration have ap- proved the request for sample doses of experimental serum to treat Liberian doctors who are currently infected with the deadly Ebola virus disease.” Price hikes, food shortages Panic is stalking the impover- ished countries ravaged by the disease in West Africa, where drastic containment measures are causing transport chaos, price hikes and food shortages, and stoking fears that people could die of hunger. In Liberia – where Ebola has already claimed more than 300 lives – a third province was placed under quarantine on Monday. President Ellen John- son Sirleaf also banned state officials from travelling abroad for a month and ordered those outside the country to return home within a week. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone account for the bulk of the cases, but Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has also counted two deaths. In Sierra Leone, eight Chi- nese medical workers who treated patients with Ebola have been placed in quaran- tine, China’s envoy in Freetown said, but would not be drawn on whether they were display- ing symptoms of the disease. In addition, 24 nurses, most from the military hospital in Freetown, have been quaran- tined, while a senior physician had contracted Ebola but was responding well to treatment. The nation’s sole virologist, who was at the forefront of its battle against the epidemic, died from Ebola last month. Also yesterday, Japan said it was evacuating two dozen staff from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. AFP Passengers with protective face masks and gloves arrive at Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday. AFP Michael Brown. FACEBOOK 15 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 World EXTREME weather like the drought currently scorching the western US and the dev- astating floods in Pakistan in 2010 is becoming much more common, according to new scientific research. The work shows so-called “blocking patterns”, where hot or wet weather remains stuck over a region for weeks caus- ing heatwaves or floods, have more than doubled in sum- mers over the last decade. Climate scientists in Ger- many noticed that since 2000 there have been an “ex- ceptional number of sum- mer weather extremes, some causing massive damage to society”. So they examined the huge meanders in the high-level jet stream winds that dominate the weather at mid-latitudes. They found that blocking patterns, which occur when these meanders slow down, have happened far more frequently. “Since 2000, we have seen a cluster of these events,” said Dr Dim Coumou, at the Pots- dam Institute for Climate Im- pact Research. “It is especially noticeable for heat extremes.” The heatwaves in Russia in 2010, which saw 50,000 people die and the wheat harvest hit hard, and in western Europe in 2003, which saw 30,000 deaths, were both the result of block- ing patterns. THE GUARDIAN SCIENTISTS have described new ad- vances in making 3D brain-like tissue that can live for more than two months and allows real-time re- search on brain trauma, disease and recovery. The researchers discovered they could grow rat neurons in the tissue and then watch how it responded after an in- jury, incurred by dropping a weight on it, according to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The tissue was manufac- tured from two biomaterials: “a spongy scaffold made out of silk protein and a softer, colla- gen-based gel”, the study said. Researchers took neurons from rats and anchored them onto the scaffold, and the gel encouraged growth. While previous researchers have succeeded in making cultures made of col- lagen or hydrogel alone, this tissue was different be- cause it lived longer and showed mechanical proper- ties that were similar to real brain tissue. “You can essentially track the tissue response to trau- matic brain injury in real time,” said senior author Da- vid Kaplan, chair of biomedi- cal engineering at Tufts School of Engineering. “Most importantly, you can also start to track repair and what happens over longer pe- riods of time.” AFP Frequency of extreme weather ‘on the rise’ 3D tissue lets scientists track injuries to brain What’s better than panda twins? A ZOO has unveiled newborn panda triplets billed as the world’s first known surviving trio, in what it hailed as a “mir- acle” given the animal’s famous- ly low reproductive rate. Their mother, named Juxiao, meaning “chrysanthemum smile”, delivered the triplets at Guangzhou’s Chimelong Safari Park in the early hours of July 29, but was too exhausted to take care of them afterwards. A video from the zoo showed Juxiao sitting in the corner of a room as she delivered her cubs for four gruelling hours and licking them after they were born. By the time it came to the delivery of the third cub, she was lying on her side out of exhaustion. Her cubs were initially put into incubators while Juxiao regained her strength but have since been brought back to their mother for nursing and were being attended to by a round-the-clock team of feed- ers, the zoo said yesterday. “It was a miracle for us and [the births] exceeded our expectations,” the safari park’s general manager, Dong Guixin, told AFP. “It’s been 15 days. They have lived longer than any other tri- plets so far,” Dong said. An official from Sichuan Wolong National Nature Reserve, considered the fore- most authority on pandas, said the trio was too young to be officially recognised as “surviv- ing” but that they were the only known panda triplets alive. “We can only say they are surviving once they reach six months. For now they are indeed the only surviving tri- plets,” said an official from the centre who gave her name only as Ms Zhao. The cubs were naturally con- ceived when 12-year-old Juxiao was paired with the 17-year- old father, Linlin, at the zoo, Dong said. “In September last year, we made them neighbours so they could see each other and get familiarised with things such as smell. Juxiao also had to do more exercise to strengthen herself [for the pregnancy],” he said. “The triplets can be described as a new wonder of the world,” a statement from the safari park added, describing mortal- ity rates among newborn pan- das as “extremely high”. Pictures taken earlier this month of the triplets showed the pink-coloured cubs inside an incubator with their eyes closed and bodies thinly cov- ered with white fur. The zoo described them as being between 83 grams and 124 grams and smaller than the size of a human palm at birth. “The mother and babies were in good condition, but the ador- able newborns were particu- larly inspiring,” the zoo said. The gender of the cubs cannot be determined until they grow older and they would be given their names at a later date. The first known case of tri- plets from a giant panda was recorded in 1999, when a 15-year-old mother gave birth following artificial insemina- tion in the southwestern Chi- nese city of Chengdu. But the youngest of the trio died after living for just three days because of a bladder disorder. Pandas have a notoriously low reproductive rate and are under pressure from factors such as habitat loss. AFP Newborn panda triplets inside an incubator at a safari park in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and their mum, Juxiao. AFP Gory photos testify to IS inhumanity T HE US and Australia agreed yesterday to take concerns about the threat posed by jihadist foreign fighters in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere to the UN. The news came after shocking im- ages allegedly showing a child hold- ing aloft the severed head of a Syrian soldier created an uproar in Australia, the home country of the jihadist who first posted the picture on Twitter. Khaled Sharrouf, an Australian national now wanted on terrorism charges, posted the image of a child thought to be his son with the caption “That’s my boy!” The photo shows the boy holding up what looks like a dried, blood-encrusted head, assumed to have belonged to a soldier loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Another image posted by Sharrouf, who left his home in Sydney with his family to join the extremist Islamic State, shows him standing with his son, this time holding the head him- self. Sharrouf also appeared in tweets from another Australian jihadist, Mohamed Elomar, in which the pair are clutching more severed heads. Elomar tweeted: “few more heads how lovely bludy amazing stuff”. The scenes are thought to be from the Syr- ian city of Raqqah, where the Islamic State has held sway for months. The pictures led to denunciations from Australian officials. The Islamic State, said Prime Minister Tony Ab- bott, is “a terrorist army and they’re seeking not just a terrorist enclave but effectively a terrorist state”. The images of severed heads, Abbott said, were “more evidence of just how bar- baric this particular entity is”. US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday described the picture as “stomach-turning”. Kerry said it underscored the brutality of the extremist militants who have swept across Iraq and Syria, seizing swathes of territory. “This image – perhaps even an iconic photograph – is really one of the most disturbing, stomach- turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed,” he said. “This is utterly disgraceful and it underscores the de- gree to which ISIL is so far beyond the pale with respect to any standard by which we judge even terrorist groups that al-Qaeda shunted them aside.” Sharrouf is probably the most well- known jihadist from Australia to join the Islamic State, which has come to the fore in recent months, claiming a vast swath of territory comprising parts of eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq. The group has gained notoriety for documenting and distributing on social media im- ages of its slaughters – be it the heads of Assad’s fighters in Raqqah or mass executions of Iraqis captured during the Islamic State’s recent advance. This is not the first time that Shar- rouf, who is thought to be a schizo- phrenic, has participated in such a grisly spectacle: In June, the Austra- lian newspaper published images of Sharrouf posing among rows of dead Iraqis, who had been massacred by his comrades. Pointing to his ex- ample, the Australian government is seeking to implement more stringent counterterrorism laws that will make it harder for jihadist sympathisers in the country to join up with terrorist groups overseas. A friend of the Sharrouf family in Australia told the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday that it’s doubtful Sharrouf put his child in harm’s way and that the pictures are a tool of a media war the jihadists have been long waging. Sharrouf “uses the pho- tos as propaganda to bait the kuffar, or nonbelievers”, the friend said. Syria’s brutal civil war, which has claimed nearly 200,000 lives, has played out online in an endless, gory stream of videos. Rebels have used footage of government forces brutal- ising ordinary Syrians to win support. They also have advertised their own gruesome deeds as a means of taunt- ing the enemy as well as propaganda to show their strength in a landscape marked by myriad rebel factions. THE WASHINGTON POST/AFP Khaled Sharrouf and boys believed to be his sons stand in front of the IS flag. TWITTER Source : China State Media/ScienceDaily/IUCN/WWF Giant pandas Status: Endangered IUCN Red List of Endangered Species Population: In the wild: About 1,600, according to WWF data Living in captivity: 341 worldwide* *China state media, 2012 20 surviving captive borns in 2012, from total of 28 born that year (71.4%) GRANDAD IN TEARS T he grandfather of a boy pictured holding a severed head in Syria said the shocking image brought him to tears. Peter Nettleton, who is estranged from his daughter Tara, Sharrouf’s wife, begged the government to help bring the boy and his siblings home. “I’m scared for the children. What life are they going to have now,” the Sydney truck driver told The Daily Telegraph. “Can’t the government do something to pull these kids away from that man? That [picture] brought me to tears because I don’t know how to handle it.” AFP Opinion 16 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 EDITORIALPERSONNEL Publisher Chris Dawe Editor-in-Chief ChadWilliams ManagingEditor ShaneWorrell Editor-in-Chief Post Khmer Kay Kimsong ManagingEditorPost Khmer SamRith Chief of Staff CheangSokha DeputyChief of Staff Chhay Channyda National Assignment Editor Stuart White Digital MediaDirector DavidBoyle DeputyNewsEditor VongSokheng BusinessEditorPost Khmer May Kunmakara PropertyEditor Pisei Hin ForeignNewsEditor JoeCurtin SportsEditor DanRiley PictureEditor Scott Howes LifestyleEditor Poppy McPherson DeputyHeadof LifestyleDesk PanSimala Chief Sub-editor Michael Philips Sub-editors Laignee Barron, Daniel de Carteret, Alice Cuddy, Will Jackson, Eddie Morton, Bennett Murray, Kevin Ponniah, Daniel Pye, Charles Rollet, Shane Rothery, Sean Teehan, Sam Wheeler Reporters KhouthSophakChakrya, SenDavid, Hor Kim- say, ButhReaksmey Kongkea, MomKunthear, KimSarom, PhakSeangly, Meas Sokchea, Pech Sotheary, ChhimSreyneang, May Titthara Photographers HengChivoan, PhaLina, HongMenea, Vireak Mai, CharlottePert, SrengMengSrun WebEditor LeangPhannara Webmasters UongRatana, HorngPengly SIEMREAPBUREAU BureauChief Peter Olszewski OfficeManager ThikSkaline DistributionManager SengSech Reporters ThikKaliyann, MirandaGlasser MarketingExecutive SophearithBlondeel PRODUCTION&PRINTING Headof DesktopPublishing NhimSokphyrak DesktopPublishing SuonSavatdy, ChumSokunthy, AimValinda, DanhBorath GRAPHICDESIGNER TepThoeunThyda, Hafisoh, Borin, Meng HEADOFFICE Post Media Co, Ltd. 888, Building F, 8th floor, PhnomPenh Center, Cnr Sothearos &Sihanouk Blvd, Chamkarmon, PhnomPenh, Cambodia Tel: 023 214 311, 0214 311-017 Fax: 023 214 318 SIEMREAP No 629, Street 6 DangkumCommune Tel: 063 966 290, Fax: 063 966 590 Chief ExecutiveOfficer Chris Dawe SALESDEPARTMENT National SalesDirector BoromChea Account Directors ChapNarith Post KhmerSalesManager TounChanreaksmey Digital SalesManager Soy Sontery CIRCULATION&DISTRIBUTION CirculationDirector SopheaKalvinHeng CirculationSupervisor Rithy DistributionManager Meas Thy ADMINISTRATION HRManager PichSocheat HRExecutive NeangSopheap AssistantstoHRManager Lay Sopanha Financial Director HeangTangmeng Chief Accountant SrenVicheka Treasurers SokSophorn, YonSovannara, CheamSopheak ITManager SengNak, VongOun TOCONTACTUS [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.phnompenhpost.com ©Post MediaCo, 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 publica- tion may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of Post Media Co Ltd. www.phnompenhpost.com www.phnompenhpost.com EDITORIALPERSONNEL Publisher Chris Dawe Editor-in-Chief ChadWilliams ManagingEditor ShaneWorrell Editor-in-Chief Post Khmer Kay Kimsong ManagingEditorPost Khmer SamRith Chief of Staff CheangSokha DeputyChief of Staff Chhay Channyda National Assignment Editor Stuart White Digital MediaDirector DavidBoyle DeputyNewsEditor VongSokheng BusinessEditorPost Khmer May Kunmakara PropertyEditor Pisei Hin ForeignNewsEditor JoeCurtin SportsEditor DanRiley PictureEditor Scott Howes LifestyleEditor Poppy McPherson DeputyHeadof LifestyleDesk PanSimala Chief Sub-editor Michael Philips Sub-editors Laignee Barron, Daniel de Carteret, Alice Cuddy, Will Jackson, Eddie Morton, Bennett Murray, Kevin Ponniah, Daniel Pye, Charles Rollet, Shane Rothery, Sean Teehan, Sam Wheeler Reporters KhouthSophakChakrya, SenDavid, Hor Kim- say, ButhReaksmey Kongkea, MomKunthear, KimSarom, PhakSeangly, Meas Sokchea, Pech Sotheary, ChhimSreyneang, May Titthara Photographers HengChivoan, PhaLina, HongMenea, Vireak Mai, CharlottePert, SrengMengSrun WebEditor LeangPhannara Webmasters UongRatana, HorngPengly SIEMREAPBUREAU BureauChief Peter Olszewski OfficeManager ThikSkaline DistributionManager SengSech Reporters ThikKaliyann, MirandaGlasser MarketingExecutive SophearithBlondeel PRODUCTION&PRINTING Headof DesktopPublishing NhimSokphyrak DesktopPublishing SuonSavatdy, ChumSokunthy, AimValinda, DanhBorath GRAPHICDESIGNER TepThoeunThyda, Hafisoh, Borin, Meng HEADOFFICE Post Media Co, Ltd. 888, Building F, 8th floor, PhnomPenh Center, Cnr Sothearos &Sihanouk Blvd, Chamkarmon, PhnomPenh, Cambodia Tel: 023 214 311, 0214 311-017 Fax: 023 214 318 SIEMREAP No 629, Street 6 DangkumCommune Tel: 063 966 290, Fax: 063 966 590 Chief ExecutiveOfficer Chris Dawe SALESDEPARTMENT National SalesDirector BoromChea Account Directors ChapNarith Post KhmerSalesManager TounChanreaksmey Digital SalesManager Soy Sontery CIRCULATION&DISTRIBUTION CirculationDirector SopheaKalvinHeng CirculationSupervisor Rithy DistributionManager Meas Thy ADMINISTRATION HRManager PichSocheat HRExecutive NeangSopheap AssistantstoHRManager Lay Sopanha Financial Director HeangTangmeng Chief Accountant SrenVicheka Treasurers SokSophorn, YonSovannara, CheamSopheak ITManager SengNak, VongOun TOCONTACTUS [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.phnompenhpost.com ©Post MediaCo, 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 publica- tion may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of Post Media Co Ltd. www.phnompenhpost.com www.phnompenhpost.com Zero-tolerance exam policy is right approach Dear Editor, This year’s grade 12 exams con- cluded with minimal cheating and corruption, according to preliminary reports. This is in contrast to recent editions of the exams where test-day bribery, plagiarism and leaks were common and broadly tolerated. The benefits to society of this development are obvious and mani- fold. Students will apply themselves more to their study and will, in the process, obtain real skills and knowledge that will enable them to compete with peers within and beyond Cambodia. In the absence of cheating, wheth- er a student passes an exam is now determined by how much he puts into preparation – not how much money he can pay the proctors. And, less tangibly but no less impor- tantly, test takers – most of whom are just going from adolescence into adulthood – learn first-hand that money cannot buy everything and that passing by cheating has no moral worth. The examination has not been without its critics, however. Some argue that the test-takers were set up to fail because of the poor quality of education they received in their 12 years of school- ing. These critics highlight problems such as an outdated curriculum; inadequate physical infrastructure; unqualified, badly paid and fre- quently absent teachers; and so on. It follows, they contend, that the no- cheating policy was overly hash – even unfair. While they are correct in stressing the poor quality of education, the conclusion they draw about the recent exams is rather absurd. Two wrongs do not make a right. Addressing poor education by turn- ing a blind eye to cheating is like los- ing weight by tampering with the scale: no matter what the test scores or the scale reading say on paper, the students remain incompetent and you stay overweight. The best way to deal with the sub- standard teachers and curriculum is to recruit and train better teachers and develop a better curriculum. The national exam’s problems are ones that are both fundamental and entrenched. Continuing to tolerate cheating during exams contributes nothing towards a solution. Furthermore, zero tolerance for cheating is more than about improv- ing education quality. It is also about fairness: to those who work hard to prepare and to those who cannot afford to pay bribes. It is about ensuring that, all things being equal, an oknha’s son and a farmer’s daughter stand the same chance of passing the exams. Though flawed, this line of argu- ment brings out an important fact: it is not possible to improve education merely by introducing strict over- sight of exams. Zero tolerance towards cheating, leaks and bribery is not a panacea. The good news is that the no- cheating policy is only one of eight education priorities outlined by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. The bad news is that, while it took a year to plan and implement a fair exam, it will likely take decades to raise the whole education system to an acceptable level of quality. It is also important to remember that this encouraging development may well be short-lived. The last time we had a comprehensive no- cheating policy at a national-level examination was in the early 1990s, before many of the recent test-takers were born. A strong minister, Ung Huot, was at the helm of the Minis- try of Education then, just as a strong minister, Hang Chuon Naron, is in charge now. Back then, the policy was swiftly abandoned when the minister left his post. It remains to be seen whether this time around the policy will transform into something more durable and less personality-driven. This depends, first of all, on the suc- cess of efforts to strengthen process- es and institutions that will outlive public figures. Secondly, there must also be buy-in from parents and oth- er stakeholders so that this policy will evolve into a culture that will, in turn, grow into a habit. Despite its shortcomings, the recent examination was by most measures a success. The minister of education and his staff should be congratulated for their convictions and efforts. Reform like this needs to be applauded, as it shows that deep- rooted problems can be solved with a combination of pragmatism and genuine political will. With acknowledgement and encourage- ment from us ordinary citizens, this good example may even spread beyond the education sector. You Sokunpanha Phnom Penh Cheating: bad for the student and the nation Dear Editor, I have been following stories on the yearly 12th-grade national exam closely for some time. When I wrote an opinion piece published in a local foreign-language newspaper in July 2011, I was extremely frus- trated and without hope regarding the poor quality of the exam, which was marred by rampant bribery and cheating. To my pleasant surprise, this year I got to witness something com- pletely remarkable – the exam was significantly improved. This event restored my hope. This year I volunteered to partici- pate in the August 4-5 testing at the Chaktumuk Primary School exami- nation centre. It was an effort led by the Anti-Corruption Unit in close collaboration with the Minis- try of Education, Youth and Sport. There, I had the rare chance to wit- ness a significant improvement in the exam. While bribery and cheating were rampant in the past decade, this time, students were allowed to bring just three items into testing rooms: a pen, a pencil and a ruler. However, there were still some irregularities, including attempts to bribe proctors and students looking at each other’s papers dur- ing the test. There were also some reports of observers being taunted, threat- ened or physically attacked by stu- dents for catching them cheating. However, these irregularities were minimal. The entire national exam process was conducted in a satis- factory manner, according to Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron. According to an official statement from the Ministry of Education, the exam was held rela- tively smoothly. Although results of the exams are yet to be announced, I am confident that the entire process was a huge improvement, as stated by the min- istry and the media, and indeed as I witnessed at an exam centre myself. The bribery and cheating at the exam in the past has done consider- able economic harm to the nation. I greatly applaud the new leadership of the Education Ministry for dem- onstrating a very strong level of commitment to tackling this ram- pant problem. This new education reform not only tackles the issue of the actual process of the 12th-grade exam itself, it also sends a warning mes- sage to the students, their younger brothers and sisters and their par- ents that corruption and bribery during the exams are no longer tolerated. Vong Socheata Phnom Penh Send letters to: [email protected] or PO Box 146, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Post reserves the right to edit letters to a shorter length. The views expressed above are solely the author’s and do not reflect any positions taken by The Phnom Penh Post. A student is searched for contraband by school officials as she enters a high school ear- lier this month in Phnom Penh to take part in the grade 12 national exam. PHA LINA Letters to the editor 17 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Lifestyle Lifestyle Lifestyle Lifestyle Actor, comedian Robin Williams dies R OBIN Williams, the Juilliard- trained actor and uncon- tainably exhibitionist comic who became one of the most dazzling talents in show business, winning an Academy Award for a dra- matic role in Good Will Hunting and an Emmy for his stand-up work, was found dead on Monday at his home in California. He was 63. The Marin County Sheriff’s Office said a preliminary investigation indi- cates the cause of death was a suicide due to asphyxia but that an investiga- tion was continuing. Long fuelled by an alcohol and co- caine addiction, Williams was a mo- tormouthed and unpredictable en- tertainer in every medium he worked, whether movies, TV, Broadway or gala performances before Prince Charles of England. “In England, if you com- mit a crime, the police don’t own a gun and you don’t have a gun,” he told an audience, referring to the tactics of London police towards criminals. “So it’s stop . . . or I’ll say stop again.” He was a satirist, an Oscar-winning dramatic actor and mimic of everyone from Carol Channing to Jack Nich- olson, from a British actor rendering Hamlet to a ghetto tough to Henry Kissinger channeling the morgue- voiced actor Peter Lorre. Audiences also gravitated to his unprintably pro- fane comic riffs on guns, drugs, God and politics. Once, upon spotting a man carry- ing a poster from Alcatraz prison, he shouted, “A gift shop at Alcatraz!” and in a child’s voice pleaded, “Daddy, get me the electric chair.” It was nearly impossible to har- ness his style – although, when under skilled direction, he was able to offer restrained, dramatic portraits. Williams won an Oscar as best sup- porting actor as a therapist in Good Will Hunting (1997) after having been nominated for leading roles three times, for his roles as an irreverent disc jockey in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), an inspirational boarding school teacher in Dead Poets Society (1989) and a distraught widower in The Fisher King (1991). As an actor, he was almost always compelling but uneven in his choice of roles, which shifted dramatically between riveting (Awakenings) and maudlin (Patch Adams) and in the comic realm between the expertly served (Mrs. Doubtfire, The Birdcage) and mediocre (Night at the Museum). He also became a sitcom star as an eccentric extraterrestrial in Colorado on Mork and Mindy (1978 to 1982) and always brought an unpredictable presence to cameo roles on television series of interview programs. Robin McLaurin Williams was born July 21, 1951, in Chicago and raised in a 30-room mansion in Michigan. His father, Robert, was a sales exec- utive at Ford Motor, and his mother, Laurie, was a former model. Each parent brought an older child from a previous marriage into the family, leaving Robin to play by himself with 2,000 toy soldiers – giving each a dif- ferent voice. As a child, Robin developed a sharp humour to attract attention from his parents. To his father, who liked to be called “sir”, he instead used the hon- orific “Lord Stokesbury, Viceroy of In- dia”. He said his earliest comic influ- ences were his mother, who enjoyed reciting funny poems, and Jonathan Winters, an absurdist improvisational comic of film and TV. In a remembrance of Winters after his death in 2013, Williams wrote in the New York Times that he was entranced by Winters’s effect on his normally staid father. By donning a pith helmet, Wintes morphed into a “great white hunter” whose con- ception of wild game is squirrel. “I am for their little nuts,” Winters said. Williams wrote, “My dad and I lost it. Seeing my father laugh like that made me think, ‘Who is this guy and what’s he on?’ Each trans- formation was a cameo with char- acters and sound effects. He was performing comedic alchemy. The world was his laboratory.” While studying political science at Claremont Men’s College, he took a class in improvisational comedy that changed the course of his life. He won admission to the Juilliard School in New York on a scholarship and trained under John House- man, among other prominent actors and directors. His classmates included Christopher Reeve, William Hurt and Mandy Patinkin. He left in his third year to work in com- edy clubs in San Francisco and, in 1978, married Val- erie Velardi, a danc- er. They had a son before divorcing. He married Marsha Garces in 1989 and had two children with her before they divorced. Survivors include his third wife, Susan Sch- neider. It was his first wife who suggested Williams move to Los Angeles and di- rect his talents at television. His rou- tines at prominent clubs – including a skit playing the chain-gang escapees portrayed by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier in the 1958 drama The Defiant Ones – won him the attention of TV producers in the audience. This led to guest appearances on shows, includ- ing ABC’s sitcom Happy Days as the alien Mork. The show’s producers had turned down 50 performers for the role be- fore Williams auditioned for Mork. “About five o’clock, in walked this boy with rainbow suspenders,” pro- ducer Jerry Paris told the New York Times. “When he sat down, I asked if he would sit a little differently, the way an alien might. Immediately, he sat on his head. We hired him.” Audience reaction was so swiftly positive that the network gave Wil- liams his own show as Mork in 1978. Mork and Mindy was about an alien from planet Ork sent to Earth in a gi- ant egg to learn the mystifying hab- its of its people. Besides sitting on his head, Mork’s quirky tendencies included getting drunk on soda and falling hopelessly enamored of man- nequins. He continued to perform on the comedy circuit while starring on TV. His success as a TV star helped make one of his first comedy albums, Reality . . . What a Concept (1979), a million-seller, and propelled his work in movies. Williams made his leading man de- but as the title sailor in Popeye (1980), a part he took because the critically esteemed Robert Altman was the di- rector. However, the live-action film, based on the cartoon character, was a debacle. The film that made Williams a bona fide star was Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), as the loose-lipped DJ Adrian Cronauer on Armed Forces Radio in Saigon. The film, which reportedly made more than $120 million do- mestically, was best remembered for Williams one-liners amid the raging Vietnam War. THE WASHINGTON POST Robin Williams performs the song Blame Canada during the 72nd Academy Awards on March 26, 2000. AFP Robin Williams performs in a scene from the 1993 movie Mrs. Doubtfire. COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX Robin Williams won an Oscar as best supporting actor in Good Will Hunting. COURTESY OF MIRAMAX HEALTH warnings should be com- pulsory on bottles of wine, beer and spirits to raise awareness of the dangers of excessive drinking and the growing problem of liver dis- ease, a group of British members of parliament has said. The recommendation is part of a series of measures put for- ward by the All-Party Parlia- mentary Group on Alcohol Misuse to tackle what it says is an epidemic of alcohol abuse in Britain. Conservative MP Tracey Crouch, the chair of the group, said people should be as aware of the dangers posed by exces- sive drinking as they are of the risks posed by smoking. “The facts and figures of the scale of alcohol misuse in the UK speak for themselves: 1.2 million people a year are admitted to hospital due to alco- hol; liver disease in those under 30 has more than doubled over the past 10 years; and the cost of alcohol to the economy totals £21 billion. Getting political parties to seri- ously commit to these 10 meas- ures will be a massive step in tackling the huge public health issue that alcohol is.” The report, which also rec- ommends a minimum unit price on alcohol, states that although health warnings are prominent on tobacco prod- ucts, alcohol packaging only outlines alcohol content. “In order to inform consum- ers about balanced risk, every alcohol label should include an evidence-based health warning as well as describing the product’s nutritional calorific and alcohol content,” it states. THE GUARDIAN Health 18 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 At beach, don’t throw in the towel A BEACH vacation can be a runner-mom’s paradise: fresh air, free time and, if you’re lucky, free babysitting. During annual trips to the Jer- sey Shore with my extended family, I’m happily up before my kids’ 6am cry for chocolate- chip pancakes, running longer and faster on the flat, stress- free ribbon of seaside road than I do on the hilly, anxiety- and traffic-clogged streets of my suburban neighbourhood. I realise that not everyone sees vacation as a time to esca- late a fitness routine. If you’re not a runner or a swimmer, or haven’t bothered to lug a bike on the back of your car or don’t have family around to watch your kids, it’s not so easy to maintain your regimen. And with all that beautiful scenery and fun family activities to en- joy, it can be hard to find the motivation or time to exercise – or the justification for spend- ing money on a gym guest pass, yoga studio or bike rental. But exercise at the beach doesn’t have to be difficult, expensive or burdensome. You can maintain your fitness through some basic exercises or even through beach activi- ties you may be planning any- way – and if you decide to take the time off completely, the setback to your fitness level is easily restored, experts say. If you decide on the mini- malist option, you could bring a mat or towel to the beach and fashion your own yoga practice. You could also pack some lightweight exercise tools like resistance bands or jump ropes, says Jo Zimmerman, an instructor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Maryland and a longtime trainer. Sue Immerman, a cer- tified personal trainer at MAD Fitness in Takoma Park, Mary- land, suggests buying 2 gallons of water and using them for a simple weightlifting routine. An even more minimalist option: Just use your fam- ily. “You have a 5-year-old nephew, you have a barbell,” Zimmerman says. “Piggyback rides are great for the legs. Give a piggyback ride while doing squats and you have done some weighted squats.” Many of her clients leave for vacation with the best of inten- tions, Immerman said in an email, but return “saying that they threw in the towel on eat- ing well and exercise”. Yet all is not lost. First, says Rosemary Lindle, an exercise physiologist and an adjunct professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland, stud- ies show that you can maintain your fitness level even when taking some time off. Second, time off is itself an important part of any training program. “Think of your vacation as an active recovery or cross-training period,” she said in an email. “A well-balanced, periodized fitness program includes re- covery breaks.” On the beach, recovery could include lighter- level activities such as hiking, cycling, swimming, snorkeling, even beach volleyball. But how well do these activi- ties compare to a more typical exercise routine? As you might expect, it de- pends on both the activity and level of effort. An hour of stand-up paddleboarding, for example, can burn as many as 545 calories, according to Jessica Matthews, a certified personal trainer and health coach and assistant professor of health and exercise science at Miramar College in San Diego who crunched some beach activity numbers. An hour of digging in the sand is almost as good: as many as 454 calories per hour (all numbers quoted here are approximate and for a typical 150-pound woman or 200- pound man). Even lugging all those chairs to the beach can do you some calorie-burning good. THE WASHINGTON POST Lack of vitamin D linked to higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s OLDER people who do not get enough vitamin D face a much high- er risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, the largest study of its kind on the topic said last week. People get vitamin D from sunlight and from oily fish like salmon, tuna or mackerel, as well as milk, eggs and cheese. It is also available in supple- ment form. Reporting in the journal Neurolo- gy, international researchers found that people who were severely defi- cient in vitamin D were more than twice as likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease as people who got enough. The findings were based on a study of 1,658 adults aged 65 and over, who were healthy and able to walk with- out assistance. The participants were followed for six years. By that point, 171 partici- pants had developed dementia and 102 had Alzheimer’s disease. Those who were moderately defi- cient in vitamin D had a 53 per cent increased risk of developing demen- tia of any kind. Those who were severely deficient saw their risk increase to 125 per cent over those with adequate levels of vitamin D. Similar numbers were noted for Alzheimer’s disease: those who were moderately deficient were 69 per cent more likely to develop this type of dementia, and the severely defi- cient were 122 per cent more likely to get Alzheimer’s. “We expected to find an association between low vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s dis- ease, but the results were surprising – we actually found that the associa- tion was twice as strong as we antic- ipated,” said lead author David Llewellyn at the University of Exeter Medical School. “Clinical trials are now needed to establish whether eating foods such as oily fish or taking vitamin D sup- plements can delay or even prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.” He added that the study stops short of showing whether or not vitamin D deficiency causes demen- tia, only that it shows there is a link that deserves further research. Some 44 million people worldwide have dementia, a number that is expected to triple by 2050. About one billion around the globe are thought to have low vitamin D levels. The elderly can be particularly vul- nerable to such a deficiency because their skin is less adept at converting sunlight into vitamin D. AFP Need a quick exercise fix while on a beach holiday? Take a mat and fashion your own yoga practice. AFP MPs: alcohol warnings should be compulsory Travel 19 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT SCHEDULE FROM PHNOM PENH TO PHNOM PENH Flighs Days Dep Arrival Flighs Days Dep Arrival PHNOMPENH- BANGKOK BANGKOK- PHNOMPENH K6 720 Daily 12:05 01:10 K6 721 Daily 02:25 03:30 PG 930 Daily 13:20 14:30 PG 939 Daily 11:20 12:30 PG 938 Daily 06:20 07:30 PG 931 Daily 08:10 09:25 PG 932 Daily 10:15 11:25 TG 580 Daily 07:55 09:05 TG 581 Daily 10:05 11:10 PG 933 Daily 13:20 14:30 PG 934 Daily 15:20 16:30 FD 606 Daily 15:00 16:20 FD 607 Daily 17:05 18:15 PG 935 Daily 17:10 18:20 PG 936 Daily 19:10 20:20 TG 584 Daily 18:25 19:40 TG 585 Daily 20:40 21:45 PG 937 Daily 21:20 22:30 PHNOMPENH- BEIJING BEIJING- PHNOMPENH CZ 324 Daily 08:00 16:05 CZ 323 Daily 14:30 20:50 PHNOMPENH- DOHA( ViaHCMC) DOHA- PHNOMPENH( ViaHCMC) QR 965 Daily 16:30 23:05 QR 964 Daily 01:00 15:05 PHNOMPENH- GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU- PHNOMPENH CZ 324 Daily 08:00 11:40 CZ 6059 2.4.7 12:00 13:45 CZ 6060 2.4.7 14:45 18:10 CZ 323 Daily 19:05 20:50 PHNOMPENH- HANOI HANOI - PHNOMPENH VN 840 Daily 17:30 20:35 VN 841 Daily 09:40 13:00 PHNOMPENH- HOCHI MINHCITY HOCHI MINHCITY- PHNOMPENH QR 965 Daily 16:30 17:30 QR 964 Daily 14:05 15:05 VN 841 Daily 14:00 14:45 VN 920 Daily 15:50 16:30 VN 3856 Daily 19:20 20:05 VN 3857 Daily 18:00 18:45 PHNOMPENH- HONGKONG HONGKONG- PHNOMPENH KA 207 1.2.4.7 11:25 15:05 KA 208 1.2.4.6.7 08:50 10:25 KA 207 6 11:45 22:25 KA 206 3.5.7 14:30 16:05 KA 209 1 18:30 22:05 KA 206 1 15:25 17:00 KA 209 3.5.7 17:25 21:00 KA 206 2 15:50 17:25 KA 205 2 19:00 22:35 - - - - PHNOMPENH- INCHEON INCHEON- PHNOMPENH KE 690 Daily 23:40 06:40 KE 689 Daily 18:30 22:20 OZ 740 Daily 23:50 06:50 OZ 739 Daily 19:10 22:50 PHNOMPENH- KUALALUMPUR KUALALUMPUR- PHNOMPENH AK 1473 Daily 08:35 11:20 AK 1474 Daily 15:15 16:00 MH 755 Daily 11:10 14:00 MH 754 Daily 09:30 10:20 MH 763 Daily 17:10 20:00 MH 762 Daily 3:20 4:10 PHNOMPENH- PARIS PHNOMPENH- PARIS AF 273 2 20:05 06:05 AF 273 2 20:05 06:05 PHNOMPENH- SHANGHAI SHANGHAI - PHNOMPENH FM 833 2.3.4.5.7 19:50 23:05 FM 833 2.3.4.5.7 19:30 22:40 PHNOMPENH- SINGAPORE SINGAPORE-PHNOMPENH MI 601 1.3.5.6.7 09:30 12:30 MI 602 1.3.5.6.7 07:40 08:40 MI 622 2.4 12:20 15:20 MI 622 2.4 08:40 11:25 3K 594 1234..7 15:25 18:20 3K 593 Daily 13:30 14:40 3K 594 ....56. 15:25 18:10 - - - - MI 607 Daily 18:10 21:10 MI 608 Daily 16:20 17:15 2817 1.3 16:40 19:40 2816 1.3 15:00 15:50 2817 2.4.5 09:10 12:00 2816 2.4.5 07:20 08:10 2817 6 14:50 17:50 2816 6 13:00 14:00 2817 7 13:20 16:10 2816 7 11:30 12:30 PHNOMPENH-TAIPEI TAIPEI - PHNOMPENH CI 862 Daily 10:50 15:20 CI 861 Daily 07:30 09:50 BR 266 Daily 12:45 17:05 BR 265 Daily 09:10 11:35 PHNOMPENH- VIENTIANE VIENTIANE- PHNOMPENH VN 840 Daily 17:30 18:50 VN 841 Daily 11:30 13:00 QV 920 Daily 17:50 19:10 QV 921 Daily 11:45 13:15 PHNOMPENH- YANGON YANGON- SIEMREAP 8M 402 1.3.6 13:30 14:55 8M 401 1.3.6 08:20 10:45 SIEMREAP- PHNOMPENH 8M 401 1.3.6 11:45 12:30 SIEMREAP- BANGKOK BANGKOK- SIEMREAP Flighs Days Dep Arrival Flighs Days Dep Arrival K6 700 Daily 12:50 2:00 K6 701 Daily 02:55 04:05 PG 924 Daily 09:45 11:00 PG 903 Daily 08:00 09:10 PG 906 Daily 12:20 13:35 PG 905 Daily 10:35 11:45 PG 914 Daily 15:50 17:00 PG 913 Daily 14:05 15:15 PG 908 Daily 19:05 20:10 PG 907 Daily 17:20 18:15 PG 910 Daily 20:30 21:45 PG 909 Daily 18:45 19:55 SIEMREAP- GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU- SIEMREAP CZ 3054 2.4.6 11:25 15:35 CZ 3053 2.4.6 08:45 10:30 CZ 3054 1.3.5.7 19:25 23:20 CZ 3053 1.3.5.7 16:35 18:30 SIEMREAP-HANOI HANOI - SIEMREAP K6 850 Daily 06:50 08:30 K6 851 Daily 19:30 21:15 VN 868 1.2.3.5.6 12:40 15:35 VN 843 Daily 15:25 17:10 VN 842 Daily 18:05 19:45 VN 845 Daily 17:05 18:50 VN 844 Daily 19:45 21:25 VN 845 Daily 17:45 19:30 VN 800 Daily 21:00 22:40 VN 801 Daily 18:20 20:00 SIEMREAP-HOCHI MINHCITY HOCHI MINHCITY-SIEMREAP VN 3818 Daily 11:10 12:30 VN 3809 Daily 09:15 10:35 VN 826 Daily 13:30 14:40 VN 827 Daily 11:35 12:35 VN 3820 Daily 17:45 18:45 VN 3821 Daily 15:55 16:55 VN 828 Daily 18:20 19:20 VN 829 Daily 16:20 17:40 VN 3822 Daily 21:35 22:35 VN 3823 Daily 19:45 20:45 SIEMREAP- INCHEON INCHEON- SIEMREAP KE 688 Daily 23:15 06:10 KE 687 Daily 18:30 22:15 OZ 738 Daily 23:40 07:10 OZ 737 Daily 19:20 22:40 SIEMREAP- KUALALUMPUR KUALALUMPUR- SIEMREAP AK 281 Daily 08:35 11:35 AK 280 Daily 06:50 07:50 MH 765 3.5.7 14:15 17:25 MH 764 3.5.7 12:10 13:15 FLY DIRECT TOMYANMARMONDAY, WEDNESDAY &SATURDAY YANGON- PHNOMPENH PHNOM PENH - YANGON FLY DIRECT TOSIEMREAPMONDAY, WEDNESDAY &SATURDAY SIEMREAP- YANGON YANGON - SIEM REAP #90+92+94Eo, St. 217, Sk. 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SIEMREAP- MANILA MANILA- SIEMREAP 5J 258 2.4.7 22:30 02:11 5J 257 2.4.7 19:45 21:30 SIEMREAP- SINGAPORE SINGAPORE- SIEMREAP MI 633 1, 6, 7 16:35 22:15 MI 633 1, 6, 7 14:35 15:45 MI 622 2.4 10:40 15:20 MI 622 2.4 08:40 09:50 MI 630 5 12:25 15:40 MI 616 7 10:40 11:50 MI 615 7 12:45 16:05 MI 636 3, 2 13:55 17:40 MI 636 3, 2 18:30 21:35 MI 630 5 07:55 11:35 MI 617 5 18:35 21:55 MI 618 5 16:35 17:45 3K 598 .2....7 15:35 18:40 3K 597 .2....7 13:45 14:50 3K 598 ...4... 15:35 18:30 3K 597 ...4... 13:45 14:50 SIEMREAP- VIENTIANE VIENTIANE- SIEMREAP QV 522 2.4.5.7 10:05 13:00 QV 512 2.4.5.7 06:30 09:25 SIEMREAP- YANGON YANGON- SIEMREAP 8M 402 1. 5 20:15 21:25 8M 401 1. 5 17:05 19:15 PREAHSIHANOUK- SIEMREAP SIEMREAP- PREAHSIHANOUK Flighs Days Dep Arrival Flighs Days Dep Arrival K6 130 1-3-5 12:55 13:55 K6 131 1-3-5 11:20 12:20 Globetrotting seniors aided by network C ONV E NT I ONA L wisdom would hold that a move into a retirement home means that a pensioner’s days of adventure are over. But a new social network in Slovenia wants to change that and make globetrotting easier for older folk with wan- derlust who want – or need – the services of a specialised residence for seniors. “Once the opportunity arose, I quickly decided I wanted to go to Spain,” said Jozica Kucera, a 77-year-old widow from Slovenia. In late July, she swapped her room in a retirement home in the northern city of Topolsica to spend a week at a similar facility in Mataro, a Mediter- ranean beach town near Bar- celona. She speaks no Span- ish, though has German and some English “but we’ll find a way”, Kucera told AFP before leaving. “I’m not afraid at all. I wonder how elderly people live there.” Travelling in the opposite direction was Miquel Ribas, an 82-year-old Spaniard who stayed in Kucera’s room while she occupied his. One major plus: accommo- dation for both is free, along with meals, activities, medical care and services provided by the residences. Kucera’s only expenses were a €60 ($80) membership fee in the net- work, called Linkedage, and the air fare to her destination. A few days into his own stay, Ribas said his lack of Slo- venian had not stopped him from enjoying an active holi- day exploring hills and for- ests around Topolsica. “I’ve already learnt four or five words,” he said. The Spanish octogenarian joked that the exchange “is like day and night compared with Mataro, this being the day of course”. “I’d go on a similar adven- ture again,” he said. “I’ve been taking pictures. I was told to take up to 100 if I can and we’ll do a presentation when I get back.” The Slovenian company behind Linkedage, the inter- net technology firm Socinet, says it is the first such inter- national exchange for seniors in multiresidence housing and assisted living or nursing homes. The concept is simple: seniors living in homes that join the network can either exchange rooms or rent va- cant rooms or apartments in far-flung destinations, safe in the knowledge that they will receive the treatment they need at the other end. Linkedage has developed a website of the same name that will allow pensioners to explore potential “holiday” homes that suit their travel whims – and more important- ly their specific care needs. It has been backed by Eu- rope’s largest retirement home services association, the Berlin-based European Association for Directors and Providers of Long-Term Care Services for the Elderly. The platform’s founders admit they were inspired by Europe’s ageing profile. The Organisation for Eco- nomic Co-operation and Development forecasts that 40 per cent of the continent’s population will be over 65 by the year 2060. OECD data also show that there is a current 35 per cent vacancy rate in retirement homes and assisted living fa- cilities across Europe. “I thought, ‘Why would my grandma, if she is active and has the money for a retire- ment home, stay in only one home instead of spending part of the year somewhere else where she could enjoy the same services?’” said Tomaz Lorenzetti, one of the Socinet founders. “We decided to concentrate first on Europe, mostly Spain, France and Germany, and later we will go global,” said Diana Galijasevic, head of the Linkedage project. AFP A welcome note for Miguel, an 82-year old Spaniard, in a care home for the elderly in Topolsica, where he stayed during a trip to Slovenia. AFP Entertainment 20 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 LEGEND CINEMA DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species. Starring Gary Oldman, Keri Russell and Andy Serkis. Citymall: 12:05pm, 9:30pm Tuol Kork: 9:15am, 5:15pm HERCULES Having endured his legendary 12 Labours, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord. Directed by Brett Ratner and starring Dwayne Johnson, John Hurt and Ian McShane. Citymall: 11:45am, 4:45pm, 4:55pm, 7:50pm Tuol Kork: 4:55pm, 7:50pm GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Light years from Earth, 26 years after being abducted, Peter Quill finds himself the prime target of a manhunt after discovering an orb wanted by Ronan the Accuser. Citymall: 9:25am, 2:15pm, 7:10pm, 9:40pm Tuol Kork: 9:15am, 11:55am, 2:25pm, 9:40pm PLATINUM CINEPLEX HERCULES (As above) 4:35pm GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (As above) 9:30am, 11:45am, 2pm, 6:15pm, 8:30pm 11:45 STEP UP: ALL IN The latest in the franchise. 9:30am, 4:15pm, 8:40pm NOW SHOWING Zumba @ K1 Gym Zumba fitness involves dance and aerobic elements with a choreography that incorporates hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo and martial arts. K1 Fitness & Fight Factory, #131 Street 199. 6pm Yoga @ Yoga PP Get your day off to a great start with Sweat & Samadhi a vinyasa flow style yoga class with an experienced teacher, from 8am to 9:30am. See www.yogaphnompenh.com for full schedule and class details. #39, Street 21. 8am TV PICKS FormerKhmerRougeleader‘BrotherNumberTwo’ NuonCheaintheECCCcourtroominPhnomPenh. AFP True Blood continues at 7pm on HBO. BLOOMBERG Photo tour @ FCC Professional photographer Michael Klinkhamer is leading a casual photography workshop tour in Phnom Penh. During the 4-hour tour you will learn to set your camera for optimum results. FCC, #363 Sisowath Quay. 1:30pm Talk @ Meta House Officials at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal announced a verdict on August 7 in the atrocity crimes trial against former leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan. Meta House invites experts, victims and the broader public to discuss the outcome. Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd. 7pm 5:55pm - THE IRON GIANT: A boy makes friends with an innocent alien giant robot that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy. HBO 6:50pm - ENEMY AT THE GATES: A Russian sniper and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad. HBO 7pm - TRUE BLOOD: Telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse encounters a strange new supernatural world when she meets the mysterious Bill, a southern Louisiana gentleman and vampire. HBO 7:15pm - LES MISERABLES: In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker’s daughter. The decision changes their lives for ever. HBO Thinking caps ACROSS 1 Sheik’s household members 6 Monster of Jewish legend 11 More, in Mexico 14 Escape the clutches of 15 Male friend, south of the border 16 Org. many lawyers belong to 17 Work done by hand 19 “___ to worry” 20 Washes 21 Fawning flatterer 23 Sticks around 26 Oscar recipient 27 Lessens 28 Reduced in rank 30 Poor dog’s portion 31 Like an old woman 32 “Holy smokes!” 35 Plains antelope 36 Chutney fruits 38 Breakfast of gladiators? 39 Start to suspect? 40 People with fan clubs 41 Self-congratulatory 42 A place to gamble 44 Wife or daughter 46 Short dash 48 Perked (up) 49 Top-notch 50 Lacking a key, musically 52 It makes an embarrassing sound 53 Treating roughly 58 Operetta division 59 Ceased 60 Chilling, in a way 61 Assent word 62 Small hills 63 Cover with cloth DOWN 1 Stitched skirt edge 2 State next to Miss. 3 Be on the ticket 4 Provide formal training 5 African ear of corn 6 Extravagant parties 7 Muscat sultanate 8 Ad ___ (makes it up) 9 A star may have a big one 10 Tenons’ partners 11 First two in the first garden 12 “Humble” place to live 13 Mythical goatlike creature 18 Means of clarification 22 Number of gods in monotheism 23 Where to hit a bucket of balls 24 Poet’s blacks 25 Literary drafts 26 Fabric ridge 28 The A in WASP 29 Book jacket briefs 31 In due time, poetically 33 Early stage seed 34 Carried on, as war 36 Ill-fitting title 37 Mine opening 41 Perfume tester 43 Archery asset 44 Twain lad 45 Got away from 46 Use an aerosol 47 Going rate 48 Lots 50 No ifs, ___ ... 51 “Of ___ I Sing” 54 Darth, at one time 55 One musical Gershwin 56 Small drink 57 “Whiz” opener “FIVE GUYS” Tuesday’s solution Tuesday’s solution Sport THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 21 Wallabies opt for Beale ahead of Foley for All Blacks WALLABIES coach Ewen McKenzie yesterday opted for Kurtley Beale ahead of Bernard Foley as fly-half for their open- ing Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup Test against the All Blacks. The move was part of a revamped line-up in the wake of Australia’s series clean sweep over France earlier this year in what McKenzie said reflected the different style the Wallabies wanted to play against their bitter rivals. “There were a number of extremely tough selection decisions, especially after the way the team performed against France, however we’re confident we’ve come up with the best squad possible to win on Saturday night,” he said of the match in Sydney. “In the end, we’ve got a very similar group of players to those who got the job done against France, we’ve just modified some roles slightly to suit how we want to play the game.” It has been 12 years since the Wallabies last held the Bledis- loe Cup, the symbol of trans- Tasman supremacy between Australia and the All Blacks. In other changes, Adam Ashley-Cooper will shift from the wing to outside centre while there is a new wing part- nership with Rob Horne and Pat McCabe joining fullback Israel Folau to form a strong back-three. Two other changes in the starting XV see hooker Nath- an Charles replace the injured Tatafu Polota-Nau and the return at lock of Sam Carter, who earned his inter- national debut in the open- ing Test against France in June before an ankle injury ruled him out. There was no room in the squad for former captain James Horwill. Being dropped will be bit- terly disappointing for Foley, the incumbent Australian No 10 who was the hero of the Waratahs’ historic Super Rug- by final triumph over the Cru- saders 10 days ago. McKenzie said Beale had also enjoyed an outstanding Super Rugby campaign and his inclusion as the Wallabies’ chief playmaker was a reward. “Bernard hasn’t put a foot wrong since we chose him in June, but Kurtley has really stepped up his game over the past few months and he’s con- sistently been one of the War- atahs’ best players every week,” he said. “He’ll bring some additional x-factor to our game. We feel that will suit our two-playmak- er framework and ensure we have the right balance in those positions along with Matt Toomua. “Kurtley’s also an experi- enced guy who has played 42 Tests, so he will enjoy the add- ed responsibility of wearing the number 10 jersey.” McKenzie added that shifting Ashley-Cooper was primarily due to his form in that position for the NSW Waratahs. “Adam’s never let Australia down no matter what position he plays and we know he’ll enjoy the move to a position where he has had a lot of experience at during his career,” he said. The Rugby Championship involves Australia, New Zea- land, South Africa and Argen- tina, with New Zealand the defending titleholders. AFP Australian fly-half Kurtley Beale has been given the nod to start in their Bledisloe Cup match against New Zealand this Saturday in Sydney. AFP Moraes promises a stand-up war James Goyder A DRIANO Moraes is one of the most exciting mixed martial arts prospects in the world and is looking to establish himself alongside the likes of Bibiano Fernandes, Ben Askren and Shinya Aoki as one of ONE FC’s top pound-for-pound fighters. The Brazilian can take a big step in the right direction by becoming the organisation’s inaugural flyweight champion when the faces Geje Eu- staquio of the Philippines in the main event of ONE FC: Rise of the King- dom in Phnom Penh next month. For Cambodia to play host to Asia’s biggest promotion is a major mile- stone for the country’s burgeoning MMA scene, but it will also be the most important night of Moraes’s career and he is determined to take the belt back to Brazil. “I dream about becoming the champion all night,” he said. “It’s such a great honour for me being invited by ONE FC to fight for the inaugural flyweight title and I am doing everything possible to bring this title to my hometown.” Standing opposite him will be Eu- staquio, who beat three separate op- ponents inside the ONE FC cage to secure his title shot. Moraes is not taking the Filipino flyweight lightly. “Eustaquio is such a great fighter, a very tough and smart athlete. It’s going to be a war, because the Fili- pino is a warrior and I am preparing my body and my soul for the biggest challenge of my life.” In terms of experience, Moraes has a clear advantage with his 11-1 re- cord slightly superior to Eustaquio’s tally, which currently stands at 6-2. Many feel the Brazilian should be undefeated, but he suffered a con- troversial split decision defeat on his ONE FC debut last year. Despite this disappointing start to his ONE FC career Moraes, who is coming off back-to-back wins over experienced Japanese opponents, is loving life with the fastest growing MMA organisation in the world. “Since the day I signed the contract with ONE FC, my life has been great. They gave me an opportunity to show the world my skills and this is such a big thing for me. Nowadays everyone is watching Asian MMA and it is an honour to be a part of it.” After bouts in Malaysia and Indo- nesia, this will be the third country in which Moraes has fought in for ONE FC and he is excited about getting to visit Cambodia for the first time. “I feel very happy because Cam- bodia is a place that I’ve wanted to visit. I love Asia, it has a very good vibe and I’m sure Phnom Penh will be no different.” While Moraes will be seeing Phnom Penh with fresh eyes, local fight fans will also be getting their first glimpse at a live ONE FC event and the Brazil- ian assures them that his headlining bout will not disappoint. “Me and Geje Eustaquio are both martial artists who are natural strik- ers, so I think this fight is going to be a stand up war that the audience and the fans will love.” Tickets are on sale now for Rise of the Kingdom, which will be held at Koh Pich Theatre on September 12. Action will also be broadcast live on StarSports and local channel MyTV. On August 29, ONE FC will host its inaugural event in Dubai, titled Reign of Champions, with a blockbuster card that includes three titles fights in the lightweight, welterweight and featherweight divisions. Brazilian Adriano Moraes (right) aims a high kick at Yasuhiro Urushitani of Japan during their bout at ONE FC: War of Nations in Kuala Lumpur’s Stadium Negara on March 14. ONEFC.COM 22 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Sport No criminal behaviour found in Stewart probe US POLICE have found “no criminal behaviour” on racing driving Tony Stewart’s part but will continue their probe into the bizarre incident in which he struck and killed an up-and-coming driver. Stewart, one of the most popular drivers in America’s NASCAR stock car circuit, ploughed into 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr during a non- NASCAR race on a dirt track Saturday night at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. “At this time there are no facts that exist that support any criminal behaviour or conduct or that any probable cause of a criminal act in this investigation,” Ontario County Sheriff spokesman Philip Povero told reporters on Monday. Povero said they have interviewed Stewart and several others who witnessed the incident and they say Stewart, who was unhurt, has been cooperative. Povero told reporters they are looking for more video footage of the crash as part of their ongoing investigation. He said they already have two videos of the incident. “We are seeking persons outside that are familiar with racing that can help us review and analyse these tapes to hopefully fully understand the crash,” he said. Meanwhile, the 43-year- old American, who missed Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the Watkins Glen International track, has withdrawn from a second non- NASCAR race on Saturday in Plymouth, Indiana. AFP Spinner Ajmal reported for his suspect action PAKISTAN off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, the world’s top-ranked bowler in one-day cricket, has been reported for a suspect action, the world governing body said on Monday, the second such incident in his career. Match officials at the just-ended first Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Galle “cited concerns over a number of deliveries that were considered to be suspect and concluded that the bowler’s action needed to be tested”, the International Cricket Council said in a statement. As per ICC regulations, Ajmal will have to undergo tests of his action within 21 days, but is allowed to play on until the results of the test are known, the statement added. AFP Islanders owner sued for reneging on sale CA INC co-founder Charles Wang was sued by investors who accuse him of backing out of a deal to sell them the New York Islanders hockey team for $420 million, a year before the team is set to move into the $1 billion Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The investors, a group called NY Ice LLC led by attorney Andrew Barroway, want a New York state judge to order Wang to sell them the National Hockey League franchise or, in the alternative, pay a $10 million breakup fee, according to the complaint filed today in Manhattan. Wang agreed in March to sell the team to the group for $420 million, including $100 million in cash, according to the complaint. BLOOMBERG Watson wishes McIlroy were on the US side US RYDER Cup captain Tom Watson was pleased about the nine qualifiers who clinched berths on his squad, but admitted on Monday he wouldn’t mind having top- ranked Rory McIlroy as well. McIlroy captured his fourth major title Sunday at the PGA Championship, outduelling US stars Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler over the back nine for his second major win in a row after taking last month’s British Open. “I wish he was playing for my team, I can tell you that. He’s playing great,” Watson said. “I just like the guy a lot. I like his manner. I like the way he plays. He reminds me of me. “Right now, he’s driving the ball better than anybody in the game. When you have the con- fidence in the driver that he has right now and the ability to hit the ball far, the game is easy. And he knows it and eve- rybody else knows it.” Sunday’s thrilling final round at Valhalla could be a warmup act for next month’s Ryder Cup showdown at Gleneagles, Scotland. The Americans will try to recapture the trophy from Europe after losing on home soil in 2012 at Medinah to a last-day comeback. “Our team, they’ve got that motivation from 2012 that I’m going to lay on them,” Watson said. “I think that’s a great motivator.” European sides have won five of the past six meetings and have not lost on home soil since 1993, but the US team lead the all-time rivalry 25-12 with two drawn contests. Watson knows the impor- tance of a victory over McIlroy in the Ryder Cup. “Any time you beat the star, that’s a very big plus from a psychological standpoint for your team,” Watson said. “Their team is full of star power, people who have been playing well. The European team is the stronger of the teams on paper but I have extreme confidence in the players on our team and the motivation to go out and win the cup.” US qualifying ended on Sunday with Phil Mickelson qualifying for his 10th Ryder- Cup in a row after a runner-up PGA finish. Also on the US squad are Masters winner Bubba Watson, 2003 US Open cham- pion Jim Furyk, 2014 US and British Open runner-up Rick- ie Fowler, Jimmy Walker, Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Zach Johnson. “I’m wonderfully happy with the team,” Watson said. “Every player has the ability to play great golf. My job as a captain is to inspire them. And the motivation is there. These players are motivated to the Nth degree to win this Ryder Cup.” Watson and European cap- tain Paul McGinley will each make the three captain’s choice selections to their ros- ters on September 2, the day after the finish of the second event of the season-ending US PGA Tour playoffs. “It’s pretty up in the air right now as far as who is going to get the picks,” Watson said. “These next three weeks will be a big factor. “The major part is how they are playing. You want players that are playing well or rising and starting to show some real good form.” Injuries are a concern though for the US with Tiger Woods, a possible captain’s pick, and Kuchar nursing sore backs. Europe’s Ryder Cup points chase, which still has three weeks remaining, was little changed after the PGA, with McIlroy, Sweden’s Henrik Sten- son, France’s Victor Dubuisson and Spain’s Sergio Garcia in on the European points list. Current world rankings would add England’s Justin Rose, US Open champion Martin Kaymer of Germany, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, Welshman Jamie Donaldson and Northern Ireland’s Grae- me McDowell. AFP US Ryder Cup skipper Tom Watson speaks at a press conference on Monday at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. AFP Collapse led Mo Farah to miss Glasgow Games M O FARAH, the reign- ing world and Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion, missed the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow because he collapsed and knocked himself out on a bathroom floor and spent four days in hospital. The 31-year-old British runner explained the full reason for his ab- sence from Glasgow after arriving in Zurich for the European Athlet- ics Championships, where he will contest the 10,000m today and the 5,000m on Friday. He had originally withdrawn from the England team for the Common- wealth Games citing a lack of fitness after suffering from illness in the wake of his disappointing eighth-placed finish on his marathon debut in Lon- don in April. “I basically had a tooth taken out because it was chipped and it got infected,” Farah said in an interview with BBC television. “I was in a bit of pain, but went for a run, and when I came back I liter- ally collapsed on the bathroom floor, completely knocked out. “I had my phone in my pocket, so when I woke up and became con- scious I called Cam Levins, my train- ing partner – the Canadian guy who came third in the 10,00m at the Com- monwealth Games – and he came round and got me onto my bed. “I was in so much pain from my stomach, and so he called an am- bulance and it took me to hospital. I then had to be airlifted to the main hospital as they thought something was going on with my heart. “It was just crazy. I was in hospital for four days and it was scary, but these things happen. “I missed quite a lot of running. I would have loved to have come back and continued the road to the Com- monwealth Games. I didn’t want to disappoint my fans and all those who had bought tickets, but I just wasn’t ready. I was nowhere near ready.” Farah was examined by the medical staff at British Athletics and passed fit to resume training at his high- altitude base at Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees. “I was doing a track session and Paula Radcliffe was timing me and she told me I should stop,” he said. “When someone like Paula tells you to stop, you know there is some- thing wrong. “And I just wasn’t right. She could see that. It took a lot out of me. “Later on, Paula said I’d taken the easy option [in withdrawing from the Commonwealth Games], which is not fair as she’d seen me struggle. I was quite disappointed, but in myself, Mo Farah. “If I’m going to turn up I have to be 100 per cent. I’m not going to turn up in my home country and get beaten. A lot of those Kenyan guys I can beat when I’m 100 per cent, but if I’m 80 per cent or 90 per cent I’m just ask- ing to get beaten. For all the people who bought tickets, I am genuinely disappointed I couldn’t take part. But I’d been through a lot. I just wasn’t ready. “I’ve done a lot of training since then. I’m two weeks further on, and I’m in decent shape now.” AFP Mo Farah, pictured after his disappointing display in the London Marathon in April, says he is fit for the European Championships in Zurich. AFP Football THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 23 U21s tame Young Lions to top table in Brunei THE Cambodian U21 team registered their second successive victory at the 2014 Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy on Monday with a 3-1 defeat of Singapore at the Berakas Sports Complex in the Brunei capital of Bandar Seri Bagawan. Chan Vathanaka had his sights well homed in on goal again, opening the scoring for the Kingdom on 22 minutes with a neat finish into the left corner. Teammate Nob Tola then converted a simple tap in off a centred ball from Kouch Sokumpheak 15 minutes later. Prak Mony Odom, who’d played a large part in the first two goals, put Cambodia further in front moments before the break with a stunning strike from outside the box. The Young Lions of Singapore finally found some cheer 10 minutes after the restart with an unstoppable left-footed blast from distance by Muhamad Zakir Samsudin. Cambodia, who currently top Group B on six points, tonight have their first real test of the two-week-long tournament in facing Malaysia, who beat Vietnam 2-0 on Monday but were held to a goalless draw by Indonesia in their opening fixture. The match at the Track & Field Sports Complex kicks off at 7:15pm Cambodian time. DANRILEY ISF hosts course for NGO staff coaches LOCAL charity organisation Indochina Starfish Foundation concludes its coach training course this Saturday at National Institute of Physical Education and Sport for 90 participants from ISF and other NGOs based in provinces including Kampot, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap, Kampong Speu, Kandal, Prey Veng, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Thom, SihanoukVille and Phnom Penh. ISF Information Officer Yin Samadi told the Post: “The 13-day course, which is [ultimately] aimed at helping homeless kids in Cambodia, will be led by instructors from [international organisation] Coaches Across Continents.” All coaches have their food and accommodation during the course paid for by ISF, which totals around $10,000, according to ISF president Choub Vicheka. CHHORNNORN, TRANSLATEDBY CHENG SERYRITH Silva injured as Luiz celebrates PSG debut BRAZIL centreback David Luiz began life with his new club French champions Paris Saint Germain with a 2-1 win in a friendly against Italian side Napoli on Monday in Naples. The 27-year-old – who cost the French side a reported €50 million ($67.1 million) when he signed from Chelsea in June – fared better than his national and club captain Thiago Silva, who had to go off in the 13th minute and trudged to the dressingroom with his right thigh strapped with ice. Both only returned to France last week after taking a holiday following the World Cup where Luiz wept openly following the 7-1 humiliation by eventual champions Germany in the semi-finals and then lost to the Dutch in the third place match. AFP LEGIA Warsaw have filed an appeal against their dramatic axing from the Champions League in favour of Celtic, UEFA said yesterday. In a statement, European football’s governing body said that the last-ditch attempt by the Polish powerhouses to re- cover their berth would be on the table at a UEFA appeals hearing on Thursday. Scottish giants Celtic were mauled 6-1 on aggregate by Legia in the qualifying third round, but the Poles were kicked out of the competition because they had fielded an il- legible player in the August 6 second leg in Edinburgh. As a result, the match was declared a 3-0 forfeit, making the aggregate score 4-4, and giving Celtic the edge because they scored more away goals. In last Friday’s draw for the playoffs, the Scottish cham- pions found themselves pit- ted against Slovenian cham- pions Maribor. Legia, meanwhile, dropped into the Europa League, where they were matched with Kazakh side FC Aktobe. The UEFA sanction was relat- ed to Legia’s decision to field defender Bartosz Bereszynski. Bereszynski, who only played four minutes at the end of the second leg against Celtic, had been sent off in Legia’s concluding Europa League match last season. He was suspended for vio- lent conduct for the club’s two matches against Ireland’s St Patrick’s in the second qualify- ing round and also missed the 4-1 first-leg victory over Celtic last week. But it then emerged that Bereszynski had not been registered in Legia’s squad for the second qualifying round, meaning the matches did not count towards his suspension. Celtic have gained from a UEFA sanction before. During the 2011-12 Eu- ropa League group stages, they kept their berth despite a qualifying defeat by Swit- zerland’s FC Sion, who were thrown out for fielding five ineligible players. AFP Warsaw appeal against Champions League exit City snap up Mangala MANCHESTER City on Mon- day announced the signing of France defender Eliaquim Mangala from FC Porto. The 23-year-old Paris-born Mangala becomes the sixth signing of the summer, and will quickly rejoin his old Por- to team-mate Fernando at the Etihad Stadium. “City is a top club in Europe. For me, it was an important step to leave Porto and join Man- chester City in order to continue my progress. I want to win titles and I believe I can do this. I am ambitious and this is why I am here,” Mangala said. “I’m very happy to come to England because for me, the Premier League is the best league in the world. It’s a very intense and aggressive compe- tition. There are plenty of goals, so it is also really nice to watch and I can’t wait to get started! “The fact that Fernando is here is better because I played with him at Porto but there is also other players that I know like [Bacary] Sagna, [Gael] Cli- chy and [Samir] Nasri.” City manager Manuel Pel- legrini added: “I’m delighted to have added a player of Eli- aquim’s quality in the squad ahead of the new season. He is already a fine player but in my opinion, he has all of the mental, physical, technical and tactical attributes to become one of Europe’s very best defenders. “Eliaquim is a player I believe will make an immedi- ate impact in the Premier League, thanks to his physi- cality, his reading of the game and quality on the ball. I think he will prove to be a great signing for us.” Mangala made his France debut in a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay in Montevideo in June 2013. Although included in the World Cup squad, the defend- er didn’t make it off the bench in France’s run to the quarter- finals. AFP Eliaquim Mangala says he has joined Manchester City from Porto be- cause he likes the aggression and intensity of the Premier League. AFP World Cup top scorer Klose retires from internationals G ERMAN striker Miroslav Klose, the all-time World Cup top scorer, announced his retirement from interna- tional football on Monday. The 36-year-old leaves the German national team as a World Cup win- ner after last month helping Joachim Loew’s side to their first global crown since 1990 when they defeated Argen- tina 1-0 in the Rio-hosted final. The Lazio frontman picked up his 16th goal, in what was his fourth World Cup, to surpass Brazilian Ronaldo as the tournament’s leading scorer. Klose, who won two German titles with Bayern Munich following spells with Kaiserslautern and Werder Bremen, said he had “fulfilled a childhood dream with the title in Brazil” and lived “unforget- table moments with the national team”, according to a statement released by the German football federation. “The success of the team stood and always stands for me in the highest place,” Klose said. “With the national team I achieved our greatest goal, a goal which we had together within the squad. “In addition, I achieved personal goals and those who know me know that I am very ambitious, but I am a striker and the task of a striker is to score goals. Therefore the records never concerned me, but it was always about giving my best for the team.” The Polish-born marksman scored five goals at the 2002 World Cup, where Germany were beaten 2-0 by Ronaldo’s Brazil in the final, five in 2006 on home soil, four in 2010 at South Africa and two in 2014. He broke the World Cup record for goals in July when he found the target for his 16th strike during the 7-1 semi-final rout of Brazil. He is one of just three players, along- side Pele and Uwe Seeler, to score in four World Cups, and finishes his Ger- many career as the country’s all-time leading scorer with 71 goals in 137 ap- pearances. Loew was quick to heap praise on Klose, saying: “For Miro it was always an honour to be called up into the na- tional team. He’s given everything for Germany. I have the biggest respect for his decision and for his incredible ca- reer in the national team, which will be a tough one to better.” Federation president Wolfgang Niersbach said Klose was “not only an exceptional player but also an abso- lutely exemplary man”. “With his 71 goals for the national team and his 16 goals in the World Cup, he has established two phenomenal records that will ensure him a place of honour in the history books.” Germany’s goalscoring hero from the World Cup final Mario Goetze also paid homage to Klose. “Thank’s Miro. The figures speaks for you, but it is as a person that you are more remarkable,” he tweeted. Longserving German team manager Oliver Bierhoff said the German na- tional dressingroom would feel odd the next time they play a match. “It is strange to imagine that Miro will no longer be part of the Mannschaft (national side). He was the archetypal professional.” Klose kicked off his international ca- reer against Albania on March 24, 2001, going on to enjoy a 13-year career with the Mannschaft, only Lothar Matthaus having won more caps (150). AFP Germany forward Miroslav Klose celebrates after scoring in their Group G match against Ghana on June 21 during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. AFP 24 THE PHNOM PENH POST AUGUST 13, 2014 Sport Youth Olympics squad flies out H S Manjunath T HE six-member Cam- bodian delegation headed by Chef de Mission Nhan Sokvisal will depart Phnom Penh tomor- row for the 2nd Youth Olympic Games in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing. The Kingdom’s medal hopes for the August 16-27 tourna- ment are pinned on male swimmer Cheng Sopha, female sprinter Sokha Panha Viriyak Vatey and female wrestler Dorn Srey Mao. Athletics trainer Lak Loch and swimming coach Hem Kiry will be part of the delegation. Since only two officials are allowed to accompany athletes in keeping with the size of the squad, wrestling coach Chov Sotheara had to drop out, according to the chef de Mission. The Games contingent has received corporate backing for the mission, with Angkor Beer stepping in to support the squad’s training as well as pro- viding competition clothing and other expenses. Cash rewards for medal winning per- formances have also been guaranteed by the sponsors. “We thank Angkor Beer for this grand gesture. This is the first time our Youth Olympic squad has received support from the private sector,” National Olympic Committee of Cambodia secretary-gener- al Vath Chamroeun told the Post yesterday. “We need to send more ath- letes to events like Youth Olym- pics and the best way to achieve this goal is for our federations to vigorously pursue grassroots programs and produce athletes of real ability. “It is not the performance which counts in these global events, it is Olympic education and cultural exchanges with athletes from all over the globe,” Chamroeun added. French-born Cambodian teenager Sokha Panha Viriyak Vatey has shown a lot of prom- ise since switching to athletics from gymnastics nearly two years ago. The 16-year-old will compete in the Girls’ 100-me- tre dash. Wrestler Dorn Srey Mao, 18, represented Cambodia at the 2013 Myanmar SEA Games and that experience should stand her in good stead. Fifteen-year-old swimmer Cheng Sopha, who competes in the 50m freestyle, is rela- tively short on competitive experience but has been huge- ly benefited by an Asian swim- ming camp he attended in Qatar a month ago. Just over 3,000 athletes from 204 countries will be seen in action at Nanjing during the second edition of the Youth Olympics, which was intro- duced four years ago in Singapore. Cambodia’s Sam Sothea did the country proud back in 2010 by winning a bronze medal in the Girls’ 44kg class judo competition. Young reporters for Games Currently 28 reporters have been announced to take part in the Young Reporters program for the Nanjing Games. Report- ers between the ages of 18 and 24 were selected by the Conti- nental Associations of Nation- al Olympic Committees. The contingent will include four reporters from each continent and eight from China. As an initiative to encourage people all over the world to share in the Youth Olympic spirit, the program provides young reporters with a cross- platform journalist-training program and the opportunity for on-the-job experience in Nanjing. The reporters will be able to work with highly qualified and renowned professionals in the fields of broadcasting, print journalism, social media and photography. (From left) Swimming coach Hem Kiry, swimmer Cheng Sopha, wrestler Dorn Srey Mao, sprinter Sokha Panha Viriyak Vatey, Chef de Mission Nhan Sokvisal and athletics trainer Lak Loch pose for photographs at National Olympic Committee of Cambodia headquarters yesterday. SRENG MENG SRUN Japanese youngsters told to keep low profile JAPANESE athletes at this month’s Youth Olympics in the Chinese city of Nanjing have been warned not to wear their official tracksuits around town due to safety fears, local media have reported. Delegation chief Yosuke Fujiwara has told Japan’s 78 athletes to wear regular clothes outside the Games venues during the August 16-28 event to avoid any attack, with To- kyo-Beijing relations at their lowest point in years. The teenage athletes will also be encouraged to don face masks to pro- tect themselves from China’s notori- ously bad air pollution. “When they are outside we want them to be aware that it might not be totally safe,” Fujiwara told Kyodo news agency. “In the athletes’ village we want them to wear the official Japan tracksuit, but in the city normal clothes are fine.” In an apparent attempt to avoid up- setting the Chinese before the second edition of the Youth Games, Fujiwara added: “You can get random attacks on the street in Japan too.” Anti-Japanese resentment runs particularly high in Nanjing, where China says 300,000 people – some estimates are lower – were killed in 1937 as Japanese troops rampaged through the city during their invasion of the mainland. It became known as the Nanjing Massacre. The massacre was the Japanese military’s worst atrocity and re- mains a bitter stain on the two countries’ relationship. Fujiwara’s comments came at a time of heightened political tension between Japan and China, which are at odds over claims to islands in the East China Sea and historical grievances tied to Japan’s wartime aggression. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent decision to relax strict rules governing the country’s military has further antagonised Beijing, prompting Fujiwara to issue the warning. But he insisted that the contestants would still be free to explore the city. “We think it’s better for the ath- letes to feel the atmosphere in the city from their own perspective,” Fujiwara said. Japanese sports teams and the country’s national anthem are fre- quently booed in China, most notably at the 2004 Asian Cup football final between China and Japan in Beijing which ended in a full-scale riot after Japan’s controversial win. Japan’s delegation arrives in Nan- jing today. It features girls’ badmin- ton junior world champion Akane Yamaguchi and Yuto Muramatsu, who won bronze in the men’s singles at the Japan Open table tennis ear- lier this year. The event is open to athletes aged between 14 and 18. AFP Students from Tagou martial arts school perform during a rehearsal for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games opening ceremony in Nanjing, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. AFP