ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROPERTY IN CAMbODIA

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THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014

Successful People Read The Post

4000 RIEL

Filmmaker guilty
National page 2

Beer sales set to spike

Business page 7

Serena ousted in 1st round

Sport page 22

Indonesia braced for tsunami

INDONESiA yesterday told residents to stay away from beaches as the country braced for a possible tsunami of up to half a metre high generated by an 8.2-magnitude earthquake off Chiles Pacific coast. Tsunami waves will possibly affect several areas in Indonesia from early today, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. The quake struck late on Tuesday, sending tsunami waves of more than two metres crashing into Chiles northern coast. At least six people have been killed, panicked crowds have fled and some northern areas of the country have been declared a disaster zone. Nugroho said the first tsunami waves could arrive at around 5am this morning in the eastern region of Papua, and that authorities in 19 provinces of Indonesia which is thousands of kilometres away from where the earthquake struck had been alerted. We are urging the provincial and district governments within these areas to take precautions by urging people to stay away from beaches, he said. Other areas that could be affected by the tsunami include parts of the main island of Java, the resort island of Bali, central Sulawesi island and the Indonesian part of Borneo island, he said. People must remain calm, he said, adding that no one had so far been evacuated. Indonesia, which is frequently hit by earthquakes and has scores of active volcanoes, is particularly vulnerable to even small tsunamis as many people on the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands live in poor, coastal communities. More than 170,000 people were killed in Aceh province on western Sumatra island in 2004 when it was hit by a huge quake-triggered tsunami, Continues on page 12

Daily battle vowed over parks use

Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Alice Cuddy

OPPOSITION lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua vowed yesterday to continue with her one-woman crusade to bring the freedom back to Freedom Park and urged others to follow her lead after she was forcibly removed from the site for the second day running. About 20 security guards, Sochua said, some of them helmeted and carrying batons, escorted her from the park yesterday, following her eviction along with Cambodia National Rescue Party youth supporters on Tuesday. For me, Freedom Park should be a symbol of freedom, liberty, assembly ... I will [return] tomorrow, and I will be there the day after tomorrow ... I will go there every day as long as I am in Phnom Penh, she said yesterday. Sochua, who had arrived alone, said she lasted less than five minutes in the park before she was confronted by the security officers, whom she
US soldiers carry a cofn across the tarmac at Phnom Penh International Airport yesterday as part of a repatriation ceremony for remains believed to be those of US soldiers from the Vietnam War. VIREAK MAI

Continues on page 2

A homecoming delayed
Vong Sokheng and Stuart White

LAGS fluttered in a stiff breeze and men in uniform snapped to attention yesterday as three coffins carrying what are believed to be the remains of American soldiers killed in Cambodia during the Vietnam War were loaded onto a C-17 cargo plane destined for Hawaii. There, forensics experts with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) will determine whether the remains contained inside the boxes should be added to the tally of the 37 missing American bodies so far recovered in the Kingdom.

Soldiers remains headed to US

There are still 53 unaccounted-for Americans believed to have died in Cambodia during an off-and-on military presence that stretched from the late 1960s into the mid-70s. Speaking at the ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport, US Ambassador William Todd noted a personal connection to the conflict that claimed the mens lives, before thanking the members of Cambodian POW/MIA Committee who aided in the effort to recover the remains. As the son of a combat helicopter pilot who served in Vietnam twice, I am truly privileged to be a part of this important ceremony, Todd said. The United States formally requested the assistance of the Royal Government of Cambodia in conducting joint recovery operations in 1992, he added. Since then, Cambodia has graciously assisted with the recoveries and return of the remains of Americans who otherwise may have remained lost forever. US embassy spokesman Sean McIntosh said yesterday that the remains

were located in Kampong Cham province, and that while they were contained in three coffins, the number and identities of the casualties will not be confirmed until the JPAC has completed its analysis. The men, he added, were believed to have died in a helicopter crash. Sieng Lapresse, chairman of the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee, told reporters yesterday that the site where the remains were found had been identified by a Vietnamese witness, and called the countrys joint efforts to recover missing remains not Continues on page 6

ISSUE NUMBER 1899

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

National

Filmmaker guilty in conflict with church

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua gestures towards municipal security personnel who have surrounded her at Phnom Penhs Freedom Park yesterday. CNRP / BEN WOODS

Sochua vows daily protest

Continued from page 1

said had anticipated her arrival. I announced it ... so they knew I was coming, she said. About 100 members of the security forces gathered in Freedom Park yesterday morning for training. Sochua said that each day she goes to the park she will address a different rights issue. [Yesterday], I spoke about what Freedom Park means, and [today] I will speak about the rights of a citizen under arrest. While she was not physically harmed, an assault like that [being forcibly removed] is similar to an injury, she said. The CNRP member was keen to point out that even though party staff and supporters were at the scene, she has launched this campaign as a citizen of Cambodia, not as a member of a political party. This is nothing to do with the CNRP; they didnt know I was doing this until now, she said. I told the youth not to come to my rescue, but just to [document] what was happening on their phones. And, in stark contrast to the mass marches organised by her party, Sochua is calling on all

Cambodians to join her by taking their own solo stand against the Freedom Park lockdown. I will call on other people to walk through Freedom Park as individuals as I have, she said. CNRP leader Sam Rainsy said yesterday that even though this is not an official party campaign, he supports Sochua in her endeavours. I accept what shes doing. I think it is good, he said. Its a public park and she is a

But Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the role of the forces spreads much further than blocking entry into the park. The role of those security forces is shovelling the gardens in the park [as well as] serving the safety and public order in the park. When asked who was in charge of the unit, Sopheak told the Post they are unofficial forces of Daun Penh District

I told the youth not to come to my rescue, but just to [document] what was happening on their phones
woman ... [The security forces] are cowards. Sochua yesterday called on Prime Minister Hun Sen and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng to reveal who is in charge of the black-helmeted security forces, who have been heavily involved in crackdowns and arrests in the past six months. What is the role of these socalled security forces with the black helmets? They have a free ticket to kick, beat, assault and [to do so] brutally, she said. Hall. They are not judicial police, he said. Sopheak said yesterday that the park wasnt out of bounds. At this time [5:30pm] at Freedom Park, people are playing football ... [So] why was Mu Sochua banned by the security forces? ... Maybe [she] mocked them in order to have a problem with them. But Sochua says she has not been deterred from her mission. I will not resist, but I will stay as long as I can.

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court judge yesterday gave an Australian lmmaker a wholly suspended twoyear prison term after nding him guilty of threatening a Brisbane-based church doing work in Cambodia. Judge Keo Mony also levied a six-million riel ($1,500) ne against 64-year-old James Ricketson after he was convicted of threatening to dishonour the Citipointe Church by broadcasting accusations that the church sold children, Mony said. After carefully considering the law, the court has found James Ricketson guilty, Mony said. He has the right to appeal the courts decision. In an email to the Post, Ricketson said he went to court and spoke to a judge, who said he would set a new trial date. A Post reporter at the hearing did not see Ricketson there. Ricketsons case stems from a documentary about prostitution in Cambodia he began lming in 1993. At that time, he met a young girl working

In an unrelated incident, James Ricketson lies on a Phnom Penh street last month protectng his phone after authorities (in foreground) asked him to delete photos. He alleges he photographed an ofcer beating a woman with a cane. RIcK VALenZUeLA

as a garbage collector who became a prostitute. Later in life, the woman gave birth to two children, whom she sent to live at a Citipointe shelter. When Ricketson recently tried to update his lm, Citipointe refused to let him interview the girls, now 11 and 12, on camera, church attorney Kong Rady said during the March 12 trial. According to the church, Ricketson then bribed the girls parents into asking Citipointe to return their children, but after nding out why the parents asked for their children back, the church declined. Ricketson has tried to get two girls who are vulnerable

to human trafcking, whose mother was a victim ... out of our shelter in order to continue making a lm ... for his personal benet, part of Citipointes complaint reads. When the church did not return the children, judge Mony said, Ricketson threatened to broadcast allegations that Citipointe sold children abroad. In an open letter to Citipointe pastors Leigh Ramsey and Brian Mulheran posted on his blog on Tuesday, Ricketson said he wasnt served with a court summons. But Mony said that when police attempted to serve a summons, Ricketson refused to accept it and threw a bowl at them.

SL protesters appeal for bail

Kim Sarom

TWO suspects arrested during a deadly garmentworker demonstration in November appealed for bail at the Supreme Court yesterday. Vann Ny and Vann Norn have been detained since an intended march of striking SL Garment factory workers devolved into a riot on November 12, at which participants burned police vehicles and trapped police in a pagoda building until police opened fire on the crowd with live ammunition, killing a food vendor. If they burned the car, why would they walk into a crowd of police? defence attorney Sereyvuth Chakrya asked in court. A third suspect was previously granted bail on

December 25. The men worked at a construction site near the Stung Meanchey Bridge, where a police blockade stopping the group from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sens house sparked a clash, which led to violence, Chakrya said. In court, Meanchey district deputy police chief Neb Vibo said he was knocked unconscious when a projectile from a slingshot hit him in the mouth. He added that he finds union leaders more culpable for the violence than the suspects. The demonstration did not occur because of individual workers, but the union leaders escaped when we cracked down, Vibo said. A decision will be handed down on April 25.

Vacancy Announcement Vacancy No.: FPA/14/005

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT Vacancy Announcement Number: Functional Title and Grade:
14/GS/HRMS/11

Human Resources Assistant (G-6) Human Resources Management Section, UNAKRT Starting from US$ 14,768.00 net per annum depending on relevant background and experience. One The initial appointment will be for a period of one year; with a possible extension. Filling of the post and subsequent extension, is subject to approval and availability of funds 11 April 2014

UNFPA is seeking to hire consultants to conduct evaluation of its programme in relation to the following thematic areas: (1) Family planning; (2) Midwifery; (3) Youth and comprehensive sexuality education; (4) Gender-based violence/violence against women; and (5) Decentralization and Deconcentration (D&D) Reform.
Assignment: Multiple assignments Contract type: Special Service Agreement Duty Station: UNFPA Ofce, Phnom Penh Deadline: 18 April 2014 (17.00 hours Local Time)

Department/Service:

Remuneration:

The purpose of the thematic evaluations is to generate in-depth and focused knowledge, evidence, lessons learnt and good practices and useful recommendations related to these thematic areas and to provide direction to UNFPA CO if the current level of interventions are adequate or any adjustments or renements should be made especially during the upcoming formulation of the Country Programme 2016-2018. Individuals may wish to express their interest on one or more of the above thematic areas by stating clearly in the letter of expression of interest (in the subject line) which thematic area(s) s/he would like to apply for. Submission of at least two samples of previous writing/ publications are required as part of the application. How to apply: Applications must be supported with a motivation letter, UN Personal History Form (P11), detailed CV, samples of writing and key relevant certicates. The sealed application should be addressed directly to Dr. Derveeuw Marc G. L., Representative, UNFPA, No. 225, Street Pasteur, Boeng Keng Kang 1, Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The P11 Form and Terms of Reference can be obtained via email (unfpa.cmb@unfpa.org) or UNFPA Website (http://countryofce.unfpa.org/cambodia). Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. UNFPA retains the right to contact referees directly. There is no application, processing or other fee at any stage of the application process. UNFPA does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV status.

Number of Positions: Duration:

Deadline for Applications:

For more details, visit our web site: http://www.unakrt-online.org/06_recruitment.htm

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

National Fatal shooting did not happen, Thailand says

Alice Cuddy Laignee Barron and Phak Seangly

Intervention urged for dam

N ANTICIPATION of a regional summit this weekend, government ofcials and civil society have their sights locked on a controversial hydropower development just across the Cambodian border in Laos. NGO Forum submitted an open letter yesterday urging Prime Minister Hun Sen to confront Laos about its Don Sahong hydropower project, which environmentalists have described as a potential disaster for the Mekongs biodiversity and the food security the river provides to millions. The letter contains more than 400 thumbprints collected during a march against the dam last weekend. We hope these thumbprints motivate the leader, as they are the evidence of direct victims from this dam, Tek Vannara, executive director of NGO Forum, said. The last-minute plea for action comes just days before the 2nd Summit of the Mekong River Commission in Ho Chi Minh City, where prime ministers from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos are expected to discuss transboundary cooperation and sustainable development in the Lower Mekong Basin. Since the rst summit in 2010, conservationists have expressed concern that it and the regional cooperation it purportedly assists is on the verge of collapse, with Laos unilaterally going ahead with work on the rst two mainstream hydropower dams, Don Sahong and Xayaburi. Rather than taking steps forward in the sustainable management of the Mekong

WHILE Cambodian officials say the Thais have not responded to a request for an inquiry into the shooting death of a man they say illegally crossed the border, Thailand is denying the incident even occurred. Cambodias Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month called for an investigation into the shooting, which allegedly took place on March 18. In the ministrys telling, Thai authorities opened fire on nine Cambodians who ventured across the border to log. One of them, Van Vouch, 38, was killed. The ministry summoned Thai Ambassador to Cambodia, Touchayoot Pakdi to collect a diplomatic note detailing its calls for an investigation. In an email to the Post on Tuesday, Kobboon Sangmanee, first secretary at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Information, said it was confirmed that there were no casualties of Cambodian nationals as alleged. The Department of Border Affairs has already verified the alleged incident with the ThaiCambodian Coordination Office, and [it] has been confirmed that no Thai officials

had encountered any illegal logging activities on the said date, time, and place. Hence, there are no casualties of Cambodian nationals from the said incident unless they smuggled into Thai territory, he said, explaining that if illegal logging did occur that day it had gone unnoticed by the Thai government. The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that it had heard nothing of Thailands denials. Foreign Ministry Koy Kuong said Cambodia had not yet received an answer to the diplomatic note, adding that Cambodia is still seeking a thorough investigation into the shooting and punishment for the person responsible. Touchayoot, the Thai ambassador, could not be reached for comment yesterday. The alleged fatal shooting of Vouch was one of four incidents reported last month in which Cambodians were allegedly shot at in Thai territory. In two cases, one on March 5 and one on March 12, Cambodian military officials claimed Thai soldiers killed a total of 15 illegal loggers. Thai authorities denied the claims. ADDITIONAL
REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA

Women travel past the planned site of the Don Sahong hydropower dam on the Mekong River in southern Laos. INTERNATIONAL RIVERS

River, we have taken a leap backwards, leaving the region at even greater risk, Pianporn Deetes, Thailand campaigns coordinator for International Rivers, said in a statement released yesterday. Preceding Saturdays summit, the commission is hosting a conference during which the Cambodian delegation is expected to stage an intervention and demand the Don Sahong project be redesigned with downstream impact in mind, according to Conservation International. Such a move by the delegation is urged by international groups that hope gov-

ernment leaders will agree to postpone mainstream projects during the summit. It is critical that Mekong leaders ... issue a declaration condemning dams on the Mekong mainstream, International Rivers Southeast Asia coordinator Ame Trandem said. If the summit becomes nothing more than a public relations exercise at the expense of the millions of people in the Mekong region who depend on the river, the international community must work with leaders to nd a new platform for regional cooperation and improved decision-making on the mainstream dams.

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

National

Union bosses grilled

Mom Kunthear

A lightning bolt strikes behind Phnom Penhs National Assembly during a storm last year.

HENG CHIVOAN

Ministry issues storm warning

Khoun Leakhana

IN THE wake of two deaths from separate lightning strikes this week, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology issued a notice yesterday warning against potentially devastating storms lasting from today until Sunday. A father was killed and his son hospitalised in Kampong Cham province on Tuesday after lightning hit them, and authorities in Pailins Stung

Treng commune yesterday went from house to house raising awareness about storm safety after a lightning strike killed one person and ensuing rains destroyed 21 houses. Lightning strikes have so far this year killed at least three people and severely injured four. For the next several days, Cambodia will be affected by low-pressure weather, causing vast thunderstorms and rains in many parts of the country, most likely in the afternoon,

according to the ministry. Officials advised local authorities to strengthen education campaigns in endangered areas, said Keo Vy, chief of cabinet of the National Committee for Disaster Management. Storms and lightning strikes are natural disasters, so we cannot prevent them, but ... we have gone to investigate the scenes [and] protect people by educating them, Vy said, adding that the number of lightning strikes is up from 2013.

PHNOM Penh municipal judge questioned Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president Ath Thorn, vice president Kong Athit and secretary-general Ek Sopheakdey for about ve hours yesterday regarding a complaint from 30 C.CAWDU members at the E Garment factory alleging the three stole $93,000 in back wages. Afterwards, one of the union leaders threatened a countersuit against former members believed to be behind the embezzlement accusations. The workers sued us, despite the fact that we paid all their money, because they were provoked by [former C.CAWDU members] Um Visal and Roeun Chanthorn, Athit said as he left the courtroom yesterday afternoon. I think [Visal and Chanthorn] wish to damage my reputation and C.CAWDUs reputation. Thorn and others in C.CAWDUs leadership say Visal a founding member and Chanthorn voluntarily left after they declined to re-sign their employment contracts. But Visal says they were red

C.CAWDU president Ath Thorn speaks to reporters in front of Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. HENG CHIVOAN

for raising allegations that Thorn, Athit and Sopheakdey pocketed part of a settlement they reached with E Garment to rehire 30 workers with 46 months back pay. Although he provided assistance to the workers who led the complaint, Visal said, it was the plaintiffs in the case who wanted to sue. I never forced or told the workers to le the complaint, they asked for my help, Visal said yesterday. I just prepared the documents for them. C.CAWDU has not taken legal action against Visal and Chanthorn, but Thorn yesterday said that the union will sue

them for defamation if they continue their allegations. I do not want to make a larger dispute with them or the workers, but if they continue to damage our individual reputations and the reputation of C.CAWDU without reason, we will sue, Thorn said. In turn, Visal said he will le another lawsuit once the current one levied against C.CAWDU leaders is resolved. I want the court to take action for the workers, Visal said. I will sue them for corruption within the institution. The court did not make a decision on whether it would pursue the complaint.

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

National
Weak and dizzy

Insecticide use blamed for faintings

Eco groups slam Areng dam

Daniel Pye

EARLY 100 garment workers employed by the New Wide garment factory in Phnom Penhs Dangkor district have fainted since Tuesday evening after company representatives allegedly sprayed insecticide throughout the factory, a local official and a worker said. Workers are likely fainting from the potent combination of pesticide fumes and poor ventilation, according to district governor Hem Darith. About 50 fainted on Tuesday evening and [more than 37] Wednesday morning, Darith said, adding that the sick had been sent to recover at Visak Sok and Independence clinic. We smelled the chemicals the factory sprayed to kill insects and then we felt weak and dizzy, So Chan, a 26-yearold factory worker, said. In a separate incident on Tuesday, about 61 workers employed at a garment factory owned by Shenzhou International, located in the same district, allegedly fell ill after eating a factory-funded Khmer New Year feast. Factory officials could not be reached. SEN DAVID

WO major conservation groups yesterday said that the proposed Stung Cheay Areng dam in Koh Kong province should be scrapped, while protesters who have blocked developer Sinohydro Group from entering the site for several days headed to Phnom Penh to voice their concerns and discontent. Conservation International (CI) and Flora and Fauna International yesterday released separate statements to Sawac Consultants for Development, a rm contracted by Sinohydro to carry out an environmental impact assessment for the project. Based on the negative impacts ... we recommend that the dam project should not proceed in this ecologically sensitive area, FFI said in its report. The sentiments were echoed by CI. As a result of the high impacts and low economic potential of the Areng dam, CI advises both [Sawac] and the Ministry of Environment not to approve the construction of a dam in the Areng Valley by Sinohydro or any other company. In February, the previous concession holder for the project, China Guodian, said in its annual report that it had backed out because the dam made no nancial sense. Both of the groups outlined their objections to the project, which ranged from possible breaches of the international Convention on Biological Diversity, to which Cambodia is a signatory, to threats

Copyright raid leads to arrests

Khouth Sophak Chakrya

People hold banners and block a road in Koh Kong province last month during a protest against the Areng Valley dam project. ADHOC

to people and endangered wildlife caused by relocation and construction. CI ofcial Toby Eastoe said yesterday that if Sinohydro and the government insist on the development, payments the rm is legally bound to make for environmental protection should be transparent, adding that a similar EIA conducted by Sawac had recommended such payments, but none had materialised. The Atay dam has been operational since last June and only NGOs and their donors have been supporting government protection, he added. Um Sereyvuth, director of the Sawac EIA team, said yesterday that Koh Kongs provincial governor had told them to wait

before trying to access the area again following a blockade of the road by locals. They say not yet, not yet, I dont know if we can go soon. I have written back to the Ministry of Environment telling them about the problem, he said. While about 20 villagers continued yesterday to man the road into the proposed dam site to block Sinohydro from bringing in drilling and prospecting equipment, six ethnic Chorng representatives are due to arrive in Phnom Penh today to petition the ministries of mines and energy, environment and culture. Well not stop until we have an acceptable solution, said Veng Vorn, one of the six. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PHAK SEANGLY

THREE people suspected of illegally copying music and movies were detained in a raid in Phnom Penhs Por Sen Chey district yesterday, police said. Mam Hor, police chief of Choam Chao commune, who joined the operation yesterday, said that the raided house was being used in a DVD piracy operation. Three suspects were arrested, he added Police conscated eight boxes of CDs, 24 CD burning devices, two TVs, ve computers and seven printers, according to the police report. Long Sreng, deputy director of the Interior Ministrys antieconomic crime department, said that the three suspects were brought to his ofce and will be questioned today and then sent to court. On March 24, 15 vendors at Phnom Penhs Russian Market and City Mall reportedly joined a pact to stop selling bootleg DVDs. Yesterdays raid comes on the heels of illegal DVD sale crackdown supported by the Motion Picture Association of Cambodia.

THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

National

Waterlogged

Smugglers boats sink in timber chase

POLIcE BLOTTER
Wine bottle makes fine percussion instrument
AS IF the pain of hearing a bunch of thugs sing karaoke wasnt enough, a security guard at an entertainment venue in Poipet also had to endure the pain of them cracking a wine bottle across his skull on Tuesday. Nine men, drunk and angry that a hostess was refusing to drink with them, began raising their voices and stomping their feet. When the guard intervened, they beat him up and threw the bottle at his head. For four of them, it proved a swansong, with police soon arriving to arrest them. DEUM AMPIL

MUGGLERS sank two boats lled with illegally logged rosewood into Koh Kongs Sre Ambel River as they shook off pursuing rangers from Wildlife Alliance on March 22, the NGO has said. An anonymous informant tipped off rangers in Sre Ambel district to the boats, allegedly filled with timber cut from the Southern Cardamom rainforest and bound for Vietnam. Not only had the loggers escaped, but they also sank their boats to the bottom of the river, a statement published on Wildlife Alliances website says. It took 36 hours of diving [in]to 46 feet [deep water] to recover the 18 cubic meters of timber from the bottom of the river. And while the team of rangers has recovered about $13,000 worth of luxury timber, only one of the boats has so far been recovered, an NGO employee not authorised to speak with the press said. At least five smugglers were sighted on the boats before they escaped, the source added. This operation was led by Wildlife Alliance rangers, the official said. Major Sieng Um, a military police official stationed in the area, said yesterday that he was unaware of the chase. I sometimes work with Wildlife Alliance related to these matters, but I have not heard about this incident, he said. I will investigate this matter next week. Two Koh Kong police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday confirmed the incident took place on March 22, but declined to provide further details. AMELIa

Partygoers find return home no honeymoon

Sign of the times

Workers put up Khmer New Year decorations on a shop awning near Phnom Penhs City Mall yesterday in preparation for one of the nations biggest calendar events, which will take place later this month. HENG CHIVOAN

Cheats to face existing laws

Chhay Channyda and Laignee Barron

HAVING something burgled was something new for a family who went to a wedding in Kandal provinces Saang district on Tuesday. Upon returning home, the family found their house ransacked and a phone, a laptop, jewellery and cash gone. Those responsible did little to cover their tracks and were arrested the next day trying to sell the computer for a too-good-to-be-true price. That they would get away with it was also too good to be true.
KaMpuCHEa tHMEY

WOODSIDE aND PHaK SEaNGLY

F THE stakes for Cambodias grade 12 national exam werent high enough already, any irregularities this year could result in automatic failure, school expulsion and potential legal action, ofcials said yesterday. The punishments arent new they were compiled in a 2011 education procedural policy but the Ministry of Educations commitment to enforcing the measures with the help of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) is certainly unprecedented. Were not reinventing the

law, but instead better enforcing the policies and evaluating all recourse available, Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said. The ACU delineates on its website how cheating will be dealt with, including immediate failure and a two-year testtaking ban for bringing mobile phones into the exam centre, taking the exam for someone else or failing to follow the proctors instructions. The examination period will also be shortened this year to avoid overwhelming students. The number of subjects will be reduced from the previous 10 subjects over two days,

Naron said. Were going to have six or seven subjects this year so students can focus on the most important material. The ACU yesterday also posted downloadable applications for individuals and civil society groups to volunteer as exam monitors. Any monitors, exam proctors or education ofcials found supporting exam corruption will face legal action and possible jail time. The observers duty is to report irregularities to us, and we will prepare legal document and send lawbreakers to court, ACU president Om Yentieng said.

Yentieng and the education minister yesterday both said jail time for cheating test takers wasnt off the table for students considered legal adults, ages 16 and up, a measure condemned by some educators. I appreciate the steps taken by the ACU and ministry to prevent exam corruption, but jailing students is too severe, said Chin Chanveasna, executive director of the NGO Education Partnership. It is necessary to adequately address [cheating] and show the real capacity of the students, and ensure the students are learning and studying hard from the beginning.

Burgled buffaloes baffle, but only for a bit

WHILE buffalo are known to buffalo fellow buffalo, in Kampong Cham, burglars buffalo buffalo owners. This was the case last week when seven buffaloes were stolen from a house in the provincial town, bamboozling and angering their owner. Said owner put in a complaint to the police, who were able to track down the buffalo in time to intercept three men trying to offload them to an unsuspecting buyer. The men confessed to the crime and the seven animals were returned. KOH SaNtEpHEap

Remains of US soldiers going home

Continued from page 1

a political issue, but absolute cooperation on a humanitarian issue. I am honoured to be at the repatriation ceremony of the remains of these possible Americans missing in Cambodia, he said. Today marks another day of achievement for the joint CambodianAmerican humanitarian mission accounting for Americans missing in Cambodia. Questions about the procedure for locating missing remains were referred to JPAC headquarters, which had not responded as of press time. However, military police spokesman Kheng Tito said yesterday that he used to accompany JPAC search operations in Cambodia, and said that such searches were usually US-led, with Cambodian partners providing security and support.

Sixteen of the 23 USAF men who died en route to the Mayaguez when their HH-53C helicopter crashed due to a mechanical malfunction in 1975. PHOTO SUPPLIED

The US conducted an investigation of the site from their own information, and documented it, and went down to interview possible witnesses, he said. They spent a lot of time; they spent a lot of money. US military involvement in Cambodia began in the late 1960s with an extensive bomb-

ing campaign in the east of the country aimed at destroying bases and supply lines being used by North Vietnamese troops. Eventually it expanded its involvement to offering air support to Cambodias Lon Nol regime against encroaching Khmer Rouge forces. That air support was ultimately discontinued, and the

US withdrew from Vietnam in 1975 with the fall of Saigon now Ho Chi Minh City. However, its last military action in the region actually occurred on Cambodias Koh Tang, just days after Saigons fall, when 41 US servicemen were killed trying to rescue the crew of the container ship Mayaguez an incident that has become

something of a dark spot on JPACs record of recovering missing Americans. A 2011 memo from forensic anthropologist Jay Silverstein to the JPAC maintained there had been a pattern of malfeasance of duty and abuse of scientific ethics in previous efforts to recover remains from Koh Tang, including the failure to keep records of the excavations. JPAC was also unable to comment on whether efforts to recover the bodies from Koh Tang which was recently leased to a Russian developer were ongoing. Security specialist John Muller, himself a former US special forces member and commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post which is named after the Mayaguez said that he planned to make an informal trip to the island in the coming months. This year, I plan to hire a boat from the navy, which they did several years ago, and to bring some of us out to conduct a search, or at least give some reverence, he said. But in terms of going out there with a shovel and a sieve, the US government, that has to all be done through them.

Lending naivety index still trending upward

THE steal-your-friends-motorbike crime wave continues. A 27-year-old man was hauled in after making off with his buddys bike in Kandal province on Tuesday. Police in Phnom Penh were alerted to the mans attempts at selling the moto with the incorrect paperwork. After questioning, officers nudged a confession out of him and the man was sent back to his home province to face charges. KaMpuCHEa tHMEY

Purse purloiners made short work of in K Cham

TWO men will be wondering whether it was worth stealing one purse in Kampong Cham town on Monday. The pair, 24 and 28, cruised past a woman on a motorbike in a busy part of the town, snatching her purse out of her hand. Far from being the end of the matter, however, the two men were chased by nearby police who regularly patrol the area and were arrested. They have been sent to court. DEuM aMpIL
Translated by Sen David

THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

Business
Indicative Exchange Rates as of 31/3/2014. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates.

USD / KHR

EUR / USD

AUD / USD

NZD / USD

GBP / USD

USD /CNY

USD / JPY

USD / HKD

USD / SGD

USD / THB

4,000

1.375

0.9247

0.8661

1.663

6.2181

102.84

7.7575

1.2586

32.38

Myanmar GDP surges: ADB

Philip Heijmans

URGING credit growth in the banking sector, rising investments and continued economic reform last year resulted in economic growth of 7.5 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) for the 2013 scal year, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In its annual Asian Development Outlook report, the ADB highlighted a 59.5 per cent increase in capital goods imports to $5.8 billion last year, as well as resurgence for the agriculture sector, after being hit by ooding the year before. Business condence has markedly improved in recent years, as reected in a rapid increase in new business registrations, which exceeded 5,000 in the 10 months to January 2013, more than in the whole of the previous scal year, the report states. The ADB report said private sector credit maintained a rapid growth at 46 per cent for the last scal year. In the oil and gas sectors, the ADB also pointed to a 68.8 per cent increase in natural gas exports to 7.7 trillion cubic feet in the 12 months to September 2013, with the Shwe and Zawtika gas elds starting production. Last years economic growth exceeds prior outlooks by the World Bank and ADB, both of which revised growth up to 6.8 per cent in October. As a result of high GDP

Beer poised to earn big during New Year season

Hor Kimsay

Two people work in a cabbage plantation at Bumay village, on the outskirts of Sittwe in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine on Monday.

AFP

growth last year and the prospect of continued reforms and investment from abroad, growth is expected to increase a further 7.8 per cent for the 2014 scal year, the ADB stated. A number of developments last year contributed to raising Myanmars international prole as an investment destination, including the award of telecommuni-

cations licences to Norways Telenor and Qatars Ooredoo, [and a] selection of investors ... as preferred bidders for developing airports, the report states. It added that Myanmar will also benet from relaxing import restrictions and foreign exchange controls. With economic growth however comes risk, as ination is expected to continue

climbing from an average of 5.8 per cent last year to 6.6 per cent in 2014 and 6.9 per cent in 2015. Factors contributing to ination include a boost to public sector wages, higher electricity tariffs, and rising property prices in cities, the report said. With only 28 per cent of the population currently with access to electricity, the ADB

suggests that the electrication of the country could pose a serious threat to growth if it is not addressed. Meeting the energy challenge will play a major role in poverty reduction and stimulating regional development. In addition, improved power supply to all ethnic groups will contribute to the peace dividend, the report states.
THE MYANMAR TIMES

GROCERY and beer sales are expected to spike during April as Khmer New Year preparations ramp up, retail industry officials said yesterday. Hy Ramy, managing director of HRM (Cambodia) Group, a food and beverage distribution company specialising in canned foods, condiments and beverages, said he expects sales to increase 20 to 30 per cent during April. Beer sales are expected to double during the three-day holiday and contribute most of the months estimated spending increase, he said. Many distribution depots are preparing to supply mostly beer because the demand of other goods has not increased much, he said. Despite predictions that sales will be down 20 per cent from those during Chinese New Year festivities in January, Ramy said Khmer New Year is still a major money earner for companies. Sov Sokny, sales and marketing representative for Cambrew, a major producer of Angkor brand beer, said sales volumes had increased steadily each year during the Khmer New Year period. On average, Sokhy said he sells about 400,000 boxes of beer per month in Phnom Penh alone. This month, he said he expects to sell 600,000 boxes.

GL Finance PLC
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT GL FINANCE PLC. is a subsidiary of the leading leasing company in Thailand Group Lease PCL., quoted on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. GL Finance is the rst nancial leasing service in Cambodia since 2012, and provides nancing on motorcycles and agricultural machinery through partnerships with industry leaders (Honda, Kubota). GL Finance covers the entire territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and is facing a number of challenges in its fast pace growth. We are now seeking qualied and passionate individuals to support our expansion. Position : Sales Supervisor Location : Head Ofce, Phnom Penh Salary : 400$ - 700$ depending on qualications 1. RESPONSIBILITIES: Visit, control and improve sales forces efciency on the eld (nationwide) Evaluate and improve on-site marketing in each point of sales Insure a satisfying relationship between GL Finance and its commercial partners Recommend appropriate communication / advertising channels for each province Maintain an updated benchmark of GL Finances market Provide continuous leadership, supervision, training and development of operation staff ensuring an effective and motivated team. 2. REQUIREMENTS: Experienced candidates are preferred; outstanding unexperienced candidates will be considered Interest in marketing and creative personality, market analysis skills, leadership Very good Khmer and English expression Very frequent trip to province Ability to work in a multicultural environment More detail please contact GL Finance HR and Admin Department: Tel: 066 669 327/ 098 505 559/ 097 500 5559 E-mail Address: hr@gl-f.com Website: www.gl-f.com

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Business

Incentives may be on cards for China EVs

CHINA may exempt electric-car buyers from paying purchase taxes as part of expanded state measures to bolster sales after past incentives failed to spur demand, Vice Premier Ma Kai said. The government may cut or waive the 10 per cent autopurchase tax for new-energy vehicles Chinas term for electric cars, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles and slow down the reduction of government subsidies beyond 2015, according to comments from Kai posted on Chinaev. org. Ma also urged local governments to help rms develop electric-car rental services. Shares of BYD Co, Chinas biggest maker of electric cars, rose in Hong Kong trading amid mounting signs the government is stepping up efforts to ght the thickening pollution thats choking its people. Last month, Premier Li Keqiang declared war on smog and Hangzhou became the sixth Chinese city to impose restrictions on cars. New-energy vehicles are important for Chinas energy dependency, so the government will devote more resources into promoting them, Harry Chen, a Shenzhen-based analyst with Guotai Junan Securities Co, said. Reducing or exempting the purchase tax will certainly give buyers more reason to buy such cars as its quite a lot of money. Five years after China began promoting new-energy vehicles, fewer than 70,000 are on its roads, lagging behind the central governments target of reaching 500,000 by 2015. Ma blamed the wavering commitment of local authorities and slow pace of building charging stations. Such vehicles carry grave importance for Chinas energy dependency, air pollution and local auto industry, he said. BLOOMBERG

UROPES largest automaker, Volkswagen AG, has applied to set up its rst car plant in Thailand to help narrow the gap with Toyota Motor Corp in Southeast Asia, people familiar with the matter said. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based manufacturer is seeking to participate in a government program that offers tax exemptions for automakers investing at least 6.5 billion baht ($200 million) in local manufacturing, said the sources, who asked not to be identied because a nal decision had not yet been made. Annual production must reach at least 100,000 cars in the fourth year after starting operations, and manufacturing must begin by 2019, in order to receive the incentives. The program from the Industry Ministry includes vehicle assembly, components and engine production. Car makers had until March 31 to apply, according to a ministry statement from last October. VW has always been one of the manufacturers trying to position itself globally, Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Bankhaus Metzler,

VW seeking first Thai plant E

said by phone. Current sales volumes in Southeast Asia are much smaller than in China or the US, but its one of the regions where Japanese carmakers are signicantly ahead of VW, so theres room for growth. The car maker anticipates industry-wide sales will increase on average 4.5 per cent annually through 2018 in the region comprising Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and some smaller countries in the area. VW started assembling Passat sedans in Malaysia with local automaker DRB-Hicom Bhd in 2012. VW sees a strong market opportunity in Southeast Asia, chief nancial ofcer Hans Dieter Poetsch said in a presentation published on the companys website last week. Volkswagen hasnt made a nal decision yet on producing vehicles in Thailand as the exact terms and conditions may still change, the people said. VW declined to comment on any plans it has for the country. Chief executive ofcer Martin Winterkorn said last month that the auto maker may sell more than 10 million

Volkswagen has applied for permission to set up its rst car plant in Thailand as it ghts to claw back ground against Toyota Motor in the region, sources said. BLOOMBERG

vehicles worldwide in 2014, four years earlier than initially planned, as VW seeks to overtake Toyota as the industry leader by 2018. VW delivered 9.73 million vehicles in 2013 as a boost

in Chinese demand helped it surpass General Motors to become the worlds secondbiggest carmaker. VW, which also owns the Audi and Porsche premium marques and Seat and Skoda

mass-market nameplates, will introduce more than 100 models through 2015. VW outlined plans in November to invest 84.2 billion through 2018 to build new models and expand production. BANGKOK POST

Chinese dot-coms rush for listing in US

Share price performance of Apple and Samsung Apple
Sep 17 SKY-HIGH valuations mixed ue. The rush isnt slowing 700 soon. with murky corporate strucAlibaba Group Holding Ltd is Unveiled its tures often scare off investors. preparing to file this month first iPhone Oct 10 Thats less if the companies for the biggest IPO since at in so Jan 2007 422 Jan 25 are from China. least 2012. 192.06 Mar 3 site From microblogging Mar 2Investors, who have been $122.25 Weibo Corp to real-estate web-85.30 rewarded with an average 88 site Leju Holdings Ltd, China- per cent gain for buying Chibased companies have nese IPOs last year, are taking announced more than $2.5 bil- risks that would make many 2007 public 08offer- 09 10 wary: The 11 compa12 lion of US initial stock buyers ings in 2014, data compiled by nies are approaching the US Samsung Bloomberg show. Thats the market with valuations that are Feb 22 Thousand won* its as first most since the fourth quarterReleased as much 10 times higher 1,544 Samsung Galaxy of 2007, when Chinese stocks than their American counter2009 in the US peaked before losingin June parts. Many use a legal strucalmost two-thirds of their val- ture thats raised concerns Jan 11 842 Jan 8 Oct 20 Aug 15 600 407 680 Apr 1 among regulators, and have 541.65 accounting practices that dont always line up with those in the US. By poking holes both areas, short sellers have been able to Apr 15 trigger losses. 390 People get starry-eyed about the billion-plus consumers in China, said Carter Mack, president of JMP Group In., a San 13 14 Francisco-based investment bank. But Apr 1 these companies still have a long way to go with 1,350 corporate governance and legal structures. Investors have to do the extra work to understand the businesses.

Battle of two smartphone giants

One factor that bullish investors may be overlooking is that companies use a legal structure known as variable interest entity, or VIE, that is intended to circumvent the Chinese governments restriction on foreign ownership of key industries. Alibaba, e-commerce site JD.com and Weibo are expected to sell shares using this structure, which gives overseas investors the gains and losses of the business through contracts rather than direct ownership. US and Hong Kong stock

market regulators have raised concerns these contracts may not hold up in court. Managers of Chinese companies are also taking uncommon steps to retain control over their businesses. At JD.com, chairman and chief executive officer Richard Qiangdong Liu must be present before any voting can take place regarding such matters as electing directors and approving transactions. By skipping such sessions, Liu could effectively veto any proposal. BLOOMBERG

Apple, Samsung trade barbs as $2 bln patent trial starts

*$ = 1,057 South Korean won

2007

08

09

10

11

12

13

14

LAWYERS for Apple and Samsung exchanged barbs as a major new patent trial opened on Tuesday, debating the role of a company not even part of the case Google. Apples legal team vowed to prove that Samsung flagrantly copied iPhone features and should pay more than $2 billion in damages, as the two smartphone giants squared off anew in a California courtroom. Apple attorney Harold McElhinny opened his presentation with a video showing legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introducing the first iPhone in 2007. By putting computing power in smartphones powered by fun software and easy-to-use touch-screens, Apple transformed the market, sending Samsung onto its heels, McElhinny said. The attorney told jurors in his opening statement that they would see internal Samsung documents and messages showing that the company felt it was suffering a crisis of design with the difference between its devic-

Market share worldwide Samsung

31.3

Android
(Used on Samsung phones and others)

iOS
(Exclusive to Apple)

Apple
15.3

15.2

78.6%

Smartphone units shipment %, 2013

Huawei 4.9 LG 4.8

Operating systems %, 2013

Others 39.3
Source: YahooFinance/IDC

Lenovo 4.5

Others 1 Blackberry 1.9

Windows Phone 3.3

es and the smartphone a difference between Heaven and Earth. Apple said evidence will show that the South Korean electronics giant sold more than 37 million infringing smartphones and tablets in the Unit-

ed States. California-based Apple would have demanded royalties of about $40 per device to license the patented technology to Samsung, according to McElhinny. The overall amount being sought by

Apple in damages from Samsung will top $2 billion, the lawyer explained. This case is not about Google, McElhinny told jurors. It is Samsung, not Google, that chose to put these features into its phones. But Samsungs lawyer told the jurors in the San Jose, California, court that the case was indeed about Google, and Apples struggle against the maker of the Android operating system which is now winning in the global marketplace. Its an attack on Android, that is what this case is, attorney John Quinn said. Apple is trying to limit consumer choice and gain an unfair advantage over Googles Android. Quinn contended that four of the five patents at issue in the trial are not used in Apple mobile devices, but because of features built into Android software by Google engineers litigation was pursued. He promised jurors that Google engineers would be called to testify to how they independently designed

Android software and did not copy from Apple. Samsung is the worlds leading maker of smartphones and tablets built using Googles free Android mobile operating system. Android smartphones dominate the global market, particularly in devices offered for lower prices than iPhones. Apple is an amazingly innovative company, but in some respects, Googles Android has passed them, Quinn said. Apple is trying to gain from you in this courtroom what it has lost in the marketplace. In August 2012, a separate jury in the same court decided that Samsung should pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features, in one of the biggest patent cases in decades. The damage award was later trimmed to $929 million and is being appealed. If this new trial goes in Apples favour, it could result in an even bigger award as it involves better-selling devices, such as the Galaxy S3. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST apriL 3, 2014

Markets Business

Philip Morris to stub out Australia factory

David Fickling

Migraine market

Headache headband heads to US

SMALL technology firm based in southern Belgium is set to take on the giant US market with its crowning achievement: an anti-migraine headband. A product of years of medical and technological research, the device is a diadem fitted with electrodes designed to take the edge off migraines before they develop into acute blinding pain. The band, developed by the Belgian company Cefaly Technology, is worn across the forehead, and sends electric currents to facial nerves. The battery-powered headband, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in March, will be the first device with this design available in the United States. According to Cefaly Technologys managing director Pierre Rigaux, while the headband is already on the European market, the long-awaited FDA approval will open the way to a 25 per cent boost in sales over the next five years. The device will hit the US market at a time when medical experts are putting more trust in non-pharmaceutical responses to migraines. AFP

HILIP Morris International Inc will close its Australian cigarette plant after six decades and shift production to South Korea, saying government regulations on low re-risk cigarettes crimped exports. The closing of the Moorabbin plant in southeast Melbourne will lead to about 180 job losses, about a quarter of its workforce in the nation, the New York-based company said in a statement yesterday. Australia, where Philip Morris established its rst overseas outpost in 1954, has seen its domestic cigarette market decline for a decade and export opportunities havent materialised to make up the shortfall, it said. Exporters of products from cars to aluminium have announced job cuts and plant

closures in Australia this year as the strength of the currency and high production costs rendered local goods uncompetitive internationally. Australia has the worlds strictest regulations on cigarette packaging, mandating the use of uniform fonts and colouring and graphic images including cancer victims and gangrenous limbs. Theyre reading the writing on the wall that smoking in Australia is on the way out, Mike Daube, president of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, an antismoking group, said. Its a tremendous landmark. The announcement comes as BP Plc said it would close its Bulwer Island renery in Queensland by 2015, with the loss of about 355 jobs. At 5.83 per cent, Australias unemployment rate is at its highest level since 2003, posing a challenge

for Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who won an election last September pledging to restore condence in the economy. Where is their agenda for jobs? opposition leader Bill Shorten said in a recent TV interview. Theyve got to have an agenda beyond just slogans. Over the past decade, Australia has introduced bans on smoking in workplaces and raised tobacco taxes by about two-thirds, according to the Cancer Council Victoria, a health charity. Smoking rates have fallen at the same time, to 20 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women in 2011-12, from 27 per cent of men and 21 per cent of women in 2001, according to government data. The most recent measures, introduced in 2012, require that images and health warnings cover 75 per cent of the front of packets, ban trademarks, and mandate that the

The Philip Morris logo outside the companys plant yesterday in the suburb of Moorabbin in Melbourne. BLOOMBERG

products name should appear in a uniform Lucida Sans font on a background of greenishbrown Pantone 448C hue. New Zealand, the UK and Ireland have since proposed

laws to establish similar measures, while a group of countries led by Ukraine have brought a complaint to the World Trade Organization over the legislation. BLOOMBERG

GM boss offers recall apology, few answers

MARY Barra, the embattled chief executive of General Motors, appeared before Congress on Tuesday replete with apologies but offering few explanations for the car giants years-long failure to fix an ignition-switch defect which is linked to 13 deaths. With the pictures of victims pinned to the back wall of the committee room, Barra promised to find out why the company had been so slow to issue a recall that now covers 2.6 million vehicles, despite first learning about the problems 10 years ago. Barra, a company veteran who has been portrayed as the face of a new GM, leading the firm out of bankruptcy into a new era of success, once again apologised to the families of the victims, promised to find out what went wrong and despite her years at the heart of the business sought to distance herself personally from the scandal. Before the crisis hit the company this year, GM was hailed as the success story in Barack Obamas attempts to rescue the American economy from debt-induced disaster. That reputation has taken a serious knock. This year, taking into account defects connected to and separate from the problem with ignition switches that was the focus of Tuesdays hearing, GM has recalled nearly 7 million vehicles almost as many cars and trucks as it recalled in the US over the last four years combined. Barras appearance before the committee represented an attempt to demonstrate its determination to find out what went wrong, but her failure to give any substantive answers irritated members of Congress, who dismissed her comments as gobbledegook and unacceptable. Congresswoman Diana DeGette held up a defective switch demonstrating that a car could easily be turned off if jiggled by a heavy keyring or knocked by a knee. She said the fix would have cost 57 cents per car. I just want to show how easy it is to turn this key in this switch, DeGette said. The switch was especially a problem for short driver whose knees were more likely to contact the ignition, and for people who had heavy keychains or mum keychains, like me, she said. Barra avoided questions about whether GM would take responsibility for the deaths. GM emerged from bankruptcy in 2008 and is technically a new company, and therefore not liable for lawsuits related to deaths before then. She announced that GM had hired Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who specialises in restitution payments in major disasters, including the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the BP oil spill, to look at the case. Barra could not explain why GM continued to use the ignition switch after it was determined not to meet GM specifications, and could not explain why, when GM replaced the part, the company did not assign it a new part number. THE GUARDIAN

General Motors CEO Mary Barra testies before Congress in Washington. AFP

Lufthansa pilots strike BoJ shows off rising ination in retirement age fight
PILOTS of German airline Lufthansa began a strike yesterday, forcing the carrier to cancel most of its ights for the next three days and grounding as many as 425,000 passengers. The countrys biggest airline has said it would cancel around 3,800 ights yesterday, today and tomorrow, as a result of the walkout by pilots who are demanding better pay and retirement conditions. In addition to Lufthansas passenger services, the strike, which began at midnight and will last until 11:59pm tomorrow night, will also affect the airlines Germanwings subsidiary and its freight carrier. Lufthansa said it had told passengers about the ight changes and offered to rebook them onto other airlines. The head of the pilots union Cockpit, Joerg Handwerg, told the local daily Neue Passauer Presse that the walkout was the only means to force management to compromise and was a direct consequence of the companys aggressive stance, which is seeking to extend pilots retirement age beyond 55 at present. But the industrial action has angered many politicians, even in the government, with Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt complaining in a newspaper interview that every day of strike is impairing the mobility of hundreds of thousands of people. The deputy head of the parliamentary faction of the conservative CDU party, Michael Fuchs, slammed the action as irresponsible. There has also been criticism of the pilots from the centre-left Social Democrat party. AFP JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abes bid to rid the economy of 15 years of deflation got a boost, as companies forecast sustained price gains. The inflation rate will be 1.5 per cent in a years time and 1.7 per cent in three years and in five years, according to average forecasts in a Bank of Japan survey conducted from February 24 to March 31 and released in Tokyo yesterday. While the central bank may fall short of its target of a stable two per cent increase in its benchmark price gauge, the forecasts show Abe and BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are succeeding in fuelling inflation expectations. The data give the central bank another reason to hold off from any immediate additional monetary easing as it assesses the blow to economic growth from Tuesdays sales-tax increase. The figures allow the BoJ to say their policies are working pretty well and give them an excuse not to ease in the near future, said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief Japan economist at Credit Suisse Group Ag in Tokyo and a former central bank official. If the next few surveys show a clear upward tick in inflation expectations, the BoJ may have to start talking about a gradual tapering maybe even as soon as next year. Japanese households see an inflation rate of three per cent in one year and two per cent in five years time, according to a separate survey released by the BoJ yesterday. The corporate inflation report the first time the central bank asked companies for their price forecast as part of its quarterly Tankan survey is crucial in helping the BoJ judge policy, after unleashing unprecedented easing in April

GLOBAL mining giant BHP Billiton is considering spinningoff its aluminium, bauxite and nickel assets into a single entity that would be worth about A$20 billion ($18.5 billion), reports said yesterday. The Anglo-Australian resources company wants to demerge non-core assets that are not providing adequate returns, as part of a streamlining process that will focus its portfolio on top-tier assets, the Australian Financial Review reported. It said BHP would keep the lucrative operations that are central to its four pillars strategy iron ore, coal, petroleum and copper. And The Australian newspaper reported that the resources giant was considering demerging all its non-core assets, rather than selling them off individually. AFP

BHP mulling $18 billion assets spin-off: reports

last year, according to Masamichi Adachi, a senior economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co in Tokyo. The odds of immediate additional easing have receded, Adachi said in an emailed note after the company data, adding that JPMorgan would soon present a new call on BoJ policy. The investment bank had expected further stimulus at the April 30 board meeting. When the BoJ started its current easing campaign in April last year, it said it would aim to achieve stable two per cent inflation at the earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years. The target is based on core consumer prices, which dont include fresh food, and it excludes the possible effects of a sales-levy increase on Tuesday to eight per cent and a planned rise to 10 per cent in October next year. BLOOMBERG

EU gives cable makers 300m anti-trust fine

THE European Commission yesterday fined 11 producers of high-voltage power cables a total of 300 million for operating a cartel that secretly shared out the global market. These companies knew very well that what they were doing was illegal. This is why they acted cautiously and with great secrecy, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said. The EU said six European, three Japanese and two Korean firms that all make up the worlds biggest high-voltage cable producers of sharing markets and allocating customers between themselves. Those involved were Japanese firms VISCAS and JPS, Nexans of France and Italian firm Prysmian, which was previously owned by investment bank Goldman Sachs. AFP

10

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Business

Ten tips for starting a home business

Hannah Martin

Equipment
The chances are, youll need some equipment even if its just a computer and a phone, and perhaps a printer. So before you start, make a list of everything your business needs to operate, and ensure you have it and that its in good working order (a PC dying on a deadline or losing irreplaceable les can be a very expensive problem). If you do need to purchase anything, remember to keep the receipts to offset your expenses against tax.

F YOU want to start a homebased business, there are a number of things you need to think about. To help you get off to the best possible start, here are 10 of the most important to consider.

your accounts are legal and above board, but they can actually help you save money by ensuring that youre making the most of any tax breaks.

Marketing materials
You may have the best business in the country, but if no one knows you exist, youll never make it a success. Marketing materials can be as simple as business cards or iers to post through peoples doors. And while a website of some description is a must for most businesses today, if your nances are really tight, you can establish a web presence for free with a Facebook company page. Other social media platforms such as Twitter and Pinterest also offer the opportunity to reach out to new customers without investing anything more than time and effort.

A company name
One of the rst decisions youll need to make is what to call your business. Do you want your name to describe what you do, what you stand for, who you are or to be more abstract? Its also a good idea to check that your name hasnt already been taken.

A business bank account

Its much easier especially when it comes to working out your tax to keep your personal and business nances completely separate. You could opt for a second personal account for your business if you wish, but if youre planning to expand your company at any point, or borrow money for it in the future, its worth starting out with a business account. You can also save money by using your company bank cards at tradeonly suppliers.

A company structure
When starting a business, you need to decide what structure works best for you: sole trader, limited company or business partnership? This will have an impact on responsibilities such as what paperwork you need to complete and when.
Young shoppers check out deals at a shop in central Phnom Penh in 2013.
PHONG MENEA

A price list
Once you are clear about what youre offering and to whom, you need to decide how much to charge. And this will largely depend on what the market rate is and what value people place on what you do. So, once again its back to research to nd out what similar businesses are charging. You also need to consider the quality of your offering are your products or services value or premium? and price accordingly.

Customers
In order to make money from your business, someone will need to buy your products or services. Market research is a vital step towards starting a successful business, so before you invest a riel in marketing materials or equipment, make sure you know who will buy from you, what they want or need and how you can help them.

Somewhere to work
A very important part of start-

ing up a home business is nding somewhere that is comfortable and quiet to work. Clearing a space on the kitchen table among the mornings breakfast dishes is not going to set you up for a productive and inspiring day. Instead, nd somewhere where you have space to spread out documents if you need to, and where you arent faced with the distracting sight of piles of ironing or half-done DIY. If youre a sociable person, you may want to think about renting a co-working space once or twice a week, too.

Passion
Starting your own business is an amazing and rewarding experience its also the beginning of a journey thats likely to have its share of frustrations, dead ends and late nights. If youre going to make your business the success it deserves to be, you need to have the drive and self-belief to weather any storms. And sometimes the difference between business failure and success is simply the passion to see it through. THE GUARDIAN

An accountant
Theres nothing to stop you handling your nances yourself and completing your own tax return and company accounts, but an accountant is often a wise business investment. Not only will they save you hours of frustration and ensure that

THE PHNOm PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Markets Business

11

Uncertainty dogs Bush bazaar

AbuL shopkeeper Haji Najimullah is furious with the Americans. Not for their long military intervention in Afghanistan, but the fact they are leaving, robbing his market stall of an important supplier. Hundreds of stallholders in Kabuls Bush bazaar have made a tidy living selling on surplus equipment and rations much of it pilfered from the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan. But business has dwindled to half what it was a few years ago at the market, named after US president George W Bush who ordered the invasion of Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks of 2001. Traders are hoping that the election on Saturday to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai will bring stability to the country and boost their fortunes. In the short-term, though, Najimullah admits his biggest worry is the withdrawal of US-led forces. Americans are the worst kind of people I have ever seen, they are leaving, but they have stopped giving away the things they dont need to Afghans instead they burn them, he raged. The Soviets were better when they left they also left everything behind for Afghans to use. Fear of abandonment extends beyond the traders at Bush bazaar the US-led mission has pumped billions of dollars into the Afghan economy and there are concerns of a dramatic nancial crash when foreign forces leave. Some Afghans predict a lack of

Markets
Thailand
Thai Set 50 Index, Apr 1 1100

Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Apr 1 700

An Afghan shopkeeper watches television at his shop selling birds in February.

afp

jobs for the fast-growing population could become as big a threat to the country as the militants in the future, and generating economy activity will be one of the major challenges awaiting the new president. A few years ago, shoppers at Bush bazaar could get their hands on all sorts of contraband. Illicit pork and alcohol forbidden in Muslim Afghanistan, along with sensitive military equipment such as sniper sights and night-vision goggles were all to be found during the markets heyday. It was the only place to buy packets of ready-made omelettes, jumbo-size bottles of American sauces and tins of Quaker Oats all often sourced

from the giant US military base at Bagram, 60 kilometres from Kabul. US and Afghan fatigues were also on sale, causing grave concern as Taliban insurgents often disguise themselves as soldiers to access bases before launching attacks. Now the stalls mostly stock clothing, boots and so-called MRE meal ready-to-eat ration packs from NATO forces, alongside the cheap Chinese goods available at most of the citys markets. The once-bustling lanes are quiet, which shopkeeper Mostafa blames on the uncertainty that has dogged 2014, a year which sees both the end of NATOs combat mission and the election to choose a new leader.

People were afraid of 2014, and now that the year has begun nothing much has changed, the only remaining concern for them is the election, and once the election passes I hope things will get better, the 28-year-old said. I think it is because of the elections that our business is down, so we hope once the things are settled our business will grow again. The market was traditionally popular with Kabuls large community of foreign aid workers, journalists and contractors on the look-out for cheap kit and familiar provisions. But the run-up to the election has seen a series of deadly attacks in Kabul targeting foreigners, including an assault on the Serena hotel last month and the daylight shooting of a Swedish journalist. The increased threat to foreigners has prompted many international organisations in Kabul to tighten up their security rules and stop staff from visiting markets and other public places. Whatever the challenges, Kabuls wheeler-dealer traders are a resilient bunch before Bush bazaar there was Brezhnev bazaar, selling Soviet gear, named after leader Leonid Brezhnev whose rule saw the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Haji Tor Mohseni, the 62-year-old head of Bush bazaar, insisted the 300-stall market would survive the NATO withdrawal. We will keep this market open even if all the foreigners leave our own traders will import similar goods, though the prices might be a bit higher, he said. AFP

1025 950 875 800

650 600 550 500

950.66

581.67

South Korea

KOSPI Index, Apr 1 2100 1975 1850 1725 1600

Philippines

PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, Apr 1 7000 6625 6250 5875 5500

1,997.25

6,587.72

Singapore
FTSE Straits Times Index, Apr 1 4000

Malaysia
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, Apr 1 1900

3500 3000 2500 2000

1800 1700 1600 1500

3,192.78

1,852.00

Hong Kong
Hang Seng Index, Apr 1 25000

China
CSI 300 Index, Apr 1 3000

23250 21500 19750 18000

2750 2500 2250 2000

22,523.94

2,180.73

Japan

Nikkei 225, Apr 1 16000

Taiwan

Taiwan Taiex Index, Apr 1 9000

15500 15000 14500 14000

8500 8000 7500 7000

14,946.32

8,905.45

Laos

Laos Composite Index, Apr 1 1500 1350 1200 1050 900

Indonesia

Jakarta Composite Index, Apr 1 5000 4625 4250 3875 3500

1,323.69

4,870.21

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

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

India
BSE Sensex 30 Index, Apr 1 23000 22000

Pakistan
Karachi 100 Index, Apr 1 28000 27250 26500 25750 25000

Food -Cereals -Vegetables - Fruits

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

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

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

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

99.69 105.52 4.25 286.67 288.83 886.25

-0.05 -0.1 -0.03 -5.12 0.05 -7.5

-0.05% -0.09% -0.70% -1.75% 0.02% -0.84%

5:41:03 5:40:56 5:40:00 5:40:52 5:38:45 5:41:18

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

21000 20000 19000

NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu

22,552.77

27,936.24

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

Base
5250 5100 5500 86000 1200

Average
5450 5200 5500 76000 1300

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

Australia
S&P/ASX 200 Index, Apr 1 5500 5250 5000 4750 4500

New Zealand
NZX 50 Index, Apr 1 5500 5250 5000 4750 4500

Agriculture
COMMODiTY UNiTS PRice CHaNGe % CHaNGe TiMe(ET)

CBOT Rough Rice CME Lumber

USD/cwt USD/tbf

15.69 343.7

0 2.7

0.00% 0.79%

5:35:48 5:24:59

5,403.30

5,116.31

12

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

World
NATO to bolster Eastern Europe
WO decades on from the end of the cold war, NATO governments returned last night to their core mission of protecting Europe from Russia. As a result of the Kremlins seizure of Ukraines Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, NATO foreign ministers discussed plans to bolster defences in Eastern Europe and suspend all practical civilian and military co-operation between NATO and Russia, NATO ofcials said. The foreign ministers also acted to boost military cooperation with former Soviet states on Russias southern ank. However, the rst NATO ministerial meeting since Moscow annexed Crimea shied away from stationing NATO forces permanently in Eastern Europe and from contemplating NATO membership for Ukraine. While Moscow declared that the seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula had nothing to do with Russia but rather had occurred as a result of internal processes in Ukraine, NATO leaders dismissed assurances from the Kremlin of a pullback of forces, estimated at 40,000, massing on Ukraines eastern borders. Unfortunately, I cannot conrm that Russia is withdrawing its troops. This is not what we have seen, said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary-general. The concentration of troops along the Ukraine border is very high, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. The meeting discussed military aid for Kiev, reinforced defences for frontline NATO states in Poland and the Baltic, planned to extend military co-operation to Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia

Ukrainian forces take part in military exercises on a ring range yesterday. Russia yesterday accused NATO of succumbing to Cold War instincts after the alliance suspended all cooperation with Moscow. AFP

all former Soviet republics on Russias southern ank and froze military and civil cooperation with Russia. Our goal of a Euro-Atlantic region whole, free and at peace has not changed but has been fundamentally challenged by Russia, said a NATO statement. Over the past 20 years, NATO has consistently worked for closer cooperation and trust with Russia. It has gravely breached the trust upon which our cooperation must be based. Poland voiced exasperation with delays in strengthening NATOs eastern borders and with the reluctance to base NATO forces there. The topic has been taboo since NATOs expansion into Eastern Europe in the 1990s for fear of antagonising Russia. Rasmussen ruled out any quick decisions on this, calling

instead for diplomacy and dialogue with Russia and Ukraine. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, said he saw no prospect of drawing Ukraine or any other former Soviet state into NATO. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk voiced disappointment, while Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, called for two NATO brigades to be stationed in Poland. The pace of NATO increasing its military presence for sure could be faster, he said. This is a unsatisfactory result for us. In advance of yesterdays meeting, a NATO committee drafted plans for promoting stability in Eastern Europe in the current context by boosting military cooperation with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, all in Russias near abroad and viewed by a proprietorial Moscow as falling

within its sphere of inuence. A condential seven-page paper leaked to the German news weekly Der Spiegel proposed joint exercises and training between NATO and the three countries, increasing the interoperability of their militaries with NATO and their participation in NATO smart defence operations. The paper also proposed opening a NATO liaison ofce in Moldova, providing military training for Armenia, and undertaking projects in Azerbaijan aimed at securing its Caspian Sea oil- and gaselds. NATO and EU member states such as Poland and the three Baltic countries on the frontline of the new frictions with President Vladimir Putin are alarmed at Russias expansionist policies, amid widespread suspicions that Moscow will seek to destabilise

and coerce Moldova prior to its scheduled signing in June of a trade and political pact with the EU. The US has responded to the pleas from Eastern Europe by reinforcing NATO air patrols over the Baltic and dispatching aircraft to Poland. The foreign ministers discussed contributing to the precautionary moves, with Britain, Denmark and Germany offering to supply more air power. NATOs supreme commander in Europe, the US general Philip Breedlove, warned at the weekend that the Russian buildup was very, very sizeable and very, very ready. He added that the Kremlin could move to seize Transnistria, a Russian-speaking part of Moldova that has been locked in a frozen conict and effectively controlled by the Russians since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Russia yesterday accused NATO of succumbing to Cold War instincts after the alliance suspended all cooperation with Moscow over the Crimea crisis. Basic instincts of Cold War have awoken in NATO, affecting rhetoric accordingly, the ofcial Twitter page of Russias mission to NATO quoted envoy Alexander Grushko as saying.The alliance is under threat! Seems like taxpayers will have to fork out for military games, he said. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin derided the announcement, remarking that it was made on April Fools Day. Last time [in 2008] they were freezing for three months, and thawed by December, he said, referring to Russias short war with neighbouring Georgia. What can I say: its a Cold War, so they are still freezing, he tweeted. THE GUARDIAN/AFP

Mammoth EU-Africa meeting to tackle CAR

AfRIcAn and European leaders opened crisis talks yesterday on the terrifying violence in the Central African Republic where peacekeepers have been unable to stop a deadly spiral of ChristianMuslim strife. As leaders of the two continents headed into Brussels for a mammoth summit locking down parts of the city, 13 European Union and 12 African leaders gathered for crisis talks on the situation in CAR with UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon. The UN chief is seeking endorsement from the Security Council for a 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to take over from the 8,000 African and French troops there. On the eve of the summit the EU nally launched a rare military mission to send 1,000 troops to CAR, delayed by insufcient troop and aircraft commitments from the blocs 28 member states. Ban has warned the situation could spiral into genocide amid reports by the UN of child decapitations, cannibalism and widespread lynchings. We are deeply concerned of the desperate plight of the people of the CAR, Ban said. At todays meeting I will urge all countries to strongly consider providing badly needed additional troops and police and providing funding and support. Illegal migration, trade and security problems and jihadist turmoil elsewhere in Africa will also be addressed at the two-day summit. Gathering leaders of the 54-nation African Union and 28-member European bloc, the meeting ofcially continues today. The summit comes more than three years after late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddahosted the last EU-Africa summit in Tripoli dedicated largely to his own glory. As then, post-colonial and trade tensions, as well as worries over Chinas influence, are lingering. The seizure of Gaddafis massive stocks of arms by mercenaries after his Arab Spring ouster is blamed in part for jihadist-linked unrest that has unravelled across vast swathes of Africa, notably in Mali and Niger. The EU has waded in to help UN and African peacekeepers restore peace in those countries as well as in Somalia. I hope the summit will mark a new stage in our relationship with Africa, said EU council president Herman Van Rompuy. It was time for a shift from development cooperation to a partnership of equals with trade and investment playing a key role, he added. AFP

Indonesia braces for Chile quake tsunami

Continued from page 1

which also left thousands dead in other countries around the Indian Ocean. Authorities have well-developed early tsunami warning systems and tend to be cautious. However, in New Zealand and Australia, southeast of Indonesia and with Pacic coastlines, authorities said there was no threat of a tsunami. The Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat to Australia, while New Zealand emergency authorities said the earthquake is unlikely to have caused a tsunami that will pose a threat to New Zealand. The quake sent panicked residents pouring into the streets, with more than 900,000 people along Chiles coast heeding government orders to evacuate their homes and seek higher ground. Similar warnings were issued in a ripple effect up the Pacic coast

of South America and into Central America. But about 10 hours after the two-minute quake, the Chilean government lifted what remained of a nationwide tsunami alert. People began trickling home after spending hours outside in the middle of the night although the Interior Ministry asked them to remain on alert, as sea levels will remain as much as a meter higher than usual. Some res broke out, roads were damaged and power was knocked out in the northern city of Arica, although there was no widespread destruction from the latest mighty quake in one of the worlds most seismically active countries, said the disaster relief agency ONEMI. The street lights were busted, people ran terried. After the earthquake there were several aftershocks, Veronica Castillo said from Arica, 1,600 kilometres north of the capital Santiago. The government said that so far

there have been 17 aftershocks and there will be more in coming days as some energy from the quake zone has yet to be released, according to Sergio Barrientos of the seismological service at the University of Chile. President Michelle Bachelet declared parts of northern Chile to be disaster zones and said soldiers will be dispatched to the areas to prevent looting and disorder from breaking out as they did after a deadly 8.8-magnitude quake in 2010. More than 500 people died and $30 billion in damage was wrought in that earthquake. In the city of Iquique, closest to the epicentre, some 300 prisoners escaped from a jail amid the chaos triggered by the new tremor. A total of 39 of them have been recaptured, the Interior Ministry said. The quake struck at 8:46 pm at a depth of 10 kilometres, 83 kilometres from Iquique on Chiles northern coast, the United States Geological

Survey said. Chiles National Seismological Center placed it four times deeper, however. The Hawaii-based Pacic Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert for residents living along more than 4,800 kilometres of coastline in South and Central America. It said waves of more than six feet two metres had been generated. Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said at least six people were killed and three seriously injured, as he lifted the tsunami alert. Tremors were felt as far inland as Bolivia, while the Pacic Tsunami Warning Center also issued a warning for Colombia and Panama, and watches for at least six other countries. The coastal area hit on Tuesday has been the scene of numerous quakes in recent days. On Sunday, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck, followed by at least two moderate aftershocks. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

World
Top Egyptian cop killed in campus blast
TWO bombs targeting security posts near Cairo University in the centre of the capital exploded in quick succession yesterday killing a police general, followed by a third blast as police and journalists gathered at the scene. An assistant interior minister was wounded in the double bombings, police said. Witnesses said the explosions sent up a cloud of smoke and dust near the campus, the scene in the past few months of repeated clashes between Islamist students and police. The third bomb went off near the rst explosions, close to the campus main gates. It caused no injuries, the ofcial MENA news agency reported. The attack was the latest by militants targeting security forces following Islamist president Mohamed Morsis overthrow in July. It came less than a week after the military chief who overthrew Morsi, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said he was quitting the army to run in presidential elections in May, vowing to wipe out terrorism. The rst two rudimentary bombs also wounded ve policemen, the interior ministry said, identifying the slain ofcer as Brigadier General Tarek al-Mergawi. Analysts expect more violence in the run-up to the coming polls. AFP S SecRetARY of State John Kerry was scrambling yesterday to save his faltering Middle East peace efforts, after both Israel and Palestinians delivered him a stunning slap in the face. The top US diplomat, who has made the quest for a long-elusive peace treaty his personal holy grail, was blindsided late on Tuesday as minutes before a press conference at the NATO headquarters, both sides went rogue. The Palestinians, infuriated by Israels refusal to release some 26 Palestinian prisoners by a weekend deadline, announced out of the blue that they were planning to take their claim for statehood to 15 agencies. And Israel, having already broken the terms of a July deal to return to the negotiating table, unveiled tenders for 700 more homes in east Jerusalem. Kerry, who only hours before had held a two-hour breakfast meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem following late-night talks, abruptly cancelled plans to y back to the region yesterday to see Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas. Instead he was working the phones from the secure US mission at NATO, calling foreign leaders, a senior State Department ofcial said. It was also more than likely he would be conferring with the White House. He will conduct several calls with foreign counterparts and the US Mid-

13

Kerry scrambles to save peace effort

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives at a NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. AFP

dle East negotiating team while in Brussels, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. But it was not immediately clear where Kerry can go from here, with both sides trading recriminations and the fragile peace effort seemingly in tatters. Kerry has gone as far as he can as mediator, absent major decisions by the parties themselves, the Washington Post wrote, quoting a senior administration ofcial. If he fails to get the peace talks back on track, it will mark a humiliating blow for Kerry and certain to elicit a round of smug told-you-sos from many old hands, who have seen

hopes raised and dashed over the decades. Kerry himself insisted that it was premature to draw ... any nal judgement about todays events and where things are. And he again urged both sides to look at the nal goal of peace. But it was clear yesterday morning that he and his staff had gone into damage limitation mode. The tough behind-the-scenes negotiations, in which Kerry has invested countless hours and energy, had already been complicated by news the US could make a three-way deal under which Washington would free a convicted US-born Israeli spy.

The US intelligence community and American right has long opposed the early release of Jonathan Pollard, arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment for spying for Israel, even though hes due for parole in 2015. And there was sharp criticism in the media at news that Kerry and his team were considering using him as a bargaining chip to keep the talks on track. The peace effort has degenerated into ... a desperate race to prevent the talks from collapsing, the Washington Post editorial board wrote, and arguing against Pollards release as a last-ditch effort to extend negotiations beyond an April 29 deadline. The chaos and potential fallout from a second failed attempt to broker peace by this US administration would pose a grim prospect for President Barack Obama. While Obama had endorsed Kerrys efforts publicly, it had always remained unclear just how much he would be willing to back him if things went AWOL. Already under re both at home and abroad for his perceived weakness in foreign policy, such as a failure to conduct robust efforts to end the war in Syria, Obama and his team may be unwilling to give Kerry more rein to meddle in the Middle East. It could be that after making a comprehensive peace deal his signature issue, Kerry could nd that the White House pulls the plug from a process now on life-support. AFP

14

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

World

Japan PM Abe says will abide by whaling ban

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday that he will abide by the court ruling that banned the nations controversial Antarctic whale hunt. The conservative leader told Japans chief whaling negotiator that he would respect the judgment issued this week by the International Court of Justice. It is a pity, and I am deeply disappointed, Abe was quoted as saying by Japans chief negotiator Koji Tsuruoka during a meeting at his office. But I will follow the ruling, Abe said, according to Tsuruoka, who spoke to reporters after meeting the premier. Abes comment came after the United Nations Hague-based ICJ said on Monday that Japans whaling program was a commercial activity disguised as science and said Tokyo must revoke existing whaling licences. AFP

Latest foreign student murdered in Brisbane

A FRENchWOmAN has become the fourth foreign student to be brutally murdered in the Australian city of Brisbane in almost as many months, police said yesterday. The battered and naked body of a 21-year-old woman was found in a park near her apartment after what police called a brutal attack in the early hours of Friday morning. We believe the cause of death is a brain injury from blunt trauma. Its a particularly aggressive attack, detective inspector Rod Kemp told reporters. No one has been arrested. The exchange students killing follows the stabbing to death of Singaporean Meena Narayanan in the city last week. Just months before South Korean student Eunji Ban, 23, was found battered to death in a Brisbane park and weeks later the body of another South Korean, Min Tae Kim, 28, was discovered in a shallow grave in a backyard. There is no suggestion any of the deaths are linked, but Kemp said the killings were a real worry. Police said they were simply in wrong place at the wrong time. AFP

HAILANDS Constitutional Court agreed yesterday to consider a petition to remove Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from ofce for transferring a high-ranking security ofcial the latest in a volley of legal challenges by her opponents. The case was led by a group of senators who argued that the replacement of thennational security chief Thawil Pliensri after Yingluck was elected in 2011 was for the benet of her party. Under the constitution drawn up in the wake of a 2006 coup that ousted Yinglucks brother Thaksin Shinawatra as premier such an offence could lead to her sacking. Yingluck must present her defence within 15 days of receiving a copy of the petition, according to the ruling. The Supreme Administrative Court last month ordered Yingluck to reinstate Thawil, saying his transfer was unlawful. Five months of political street protests have failed to achieve their goal of forcing Yingluck to resign to make way for an unelected interim

Yingluck faces new sack threat T

as a corrupt government that uses taxpayers money to buy the loyalty of rural northern voters through populist policies like the rice initiative. But Yinglucks red shirt supporters see the legal threats as part of an attempted power grab through Thailands courts, which have a history of removing elected governments. The red shirts plan a major rally in Bangkok this weekend to show their support for the government. However, Yingluck and her Pheu Thai party and coalition parties can take heart from the fact 40 candidates aligned with them won seats in Sundays Senate election making up the majority of the 77 elected senators. But they are no doubt still worried about the resilience and unity of the anti-government group of 60 appointed senators who remain in ofce. Members of the Upper House are currently occupying centre stage, since they also play a crucial role in impeaching political ofce holders, possibly including caretaker premier Yingluck Shinawatra, who is facing charges in connection with the rice-pledging scheme. As politics has become highly polarised, each and every senators vote is being weighed carefully to judge which side has more support the government or its opponents. The newly elected batch of senators will soon show where their allegiances lie. Former Pheu Thai MP for Ubon Ratchathani Somkid Chueakhong said it was not unusual for elected senators to have alliances with MPs. He said he has gained some comfort and encouragement from studying the list of candidates who emerged victorious in the Senate poll. There are at least 40 winners who appear to be aligned with Pheu Thai, Somkid said. But he noted many candidates with links to the Democrat Party have won seats as well. The senators-elect are awaiting endorsement from the Election Commission before they can start working. However, there are still some winners who have not revealed which side they support, Somkid said. AFP/bANGkOk POSt

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrives at the National Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday. AFP

leader to oversee reforms. With attendance at the rallies dwindling, Yinglucks opponents have stepped up their legal moves, accusing her family of abusing their political dominance for personal gain. Yingluck has been charged by the National Anti-Corruption Commission with neglect of duty in connection

with a agship rice subsidy scheme that critics say fostered rampant corruption. If indicted on those charges, Yingluck would be suspended from ofce and face an impeachment vote in the upper house of parliament that could lead to a ve-year ban from politics. Her opponents applaud the moves against what they see

Japanese mobsters launch their own website

JAPANS biggest organised crime syndicate has launched its own website, complete with a corporate song and a strong anti-drugs message, as the yakuza looks to turn around its outdated image and falling membership. The clunky-sounding Banish Drugs and Purify the Nation League website is an offering from the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japans largest yakuza grouping. It includes shaky footage of members making their new year pilgrimage to a shrine. The soundtrack is a traditional folk-style song with lyrics extolling the virtues of the Ninkyo spirit an ideal of masculinity that battles injustice and helps the weak. Nothing but Ninkyo, that is the mans way of life, say the lyrics. The way of duty and compassion, bearing the ordeal for our dream. Another video shows men with crew cuts pounding sticky rice for a new year festival, and there are galleries of pictures showcasing the cleanup work members did in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and the 1996 Kobe earthquake. The website is not the Yamaguchigumis rst foray into media the crime syndicate last year began publishing a magazine for its members that includes a poetry page, senior gangsters shing diaries and a message from the boss. Like the Italian mob or Chinese triads, yakuza syndicates are involved in activities ranging from prostitution to extortion and white-collar crime. But unlike their underworld counterparts elsewhere, the yakuza are not illegal and each of the designated groups, like the Yamaguchi-gumi, have their own headquarters, with senior members dishing out business cards. They have historically been tolerated by the authorities and are routinely glamorised in fanzines and manga comics. But crackdowns have increased and there is evidence the mobs appeal is waning. The number of people belonging to yakuza groups fell to an all-time low in 2013, slipping below 60,000 members for the rst time, police said last month. An increasingly poor public image and Japans agging economy have made the lives of the gangsters difcult, which has made membership less attractive for potential recruits, experts said. The website, which looks outdated, is an attempt to counter the yakuzas image as antisocial forces the police euphemism for them by showing how neighbourly its members are, experts say. One page shows men collecting litter along the banks of the Toga River near the Yamaguchi-gumis headquarters in Kobe, western Japan, with a nearby sign reading Purge yakuza. Jake Adelstein, a journalist and author who has written extensively on organised crime in Japan, said the Yamaguchi-gumis online offering was an effort to prove its humanitarian credentials. Adelstein, whose account of his life working the crime beat for a Japanese newspaper is being made into a lm starring Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe, said the site was an attempt to whitewash an unsavoury truth. The yakuza motto is help the weak and ght the strong. In practice, its usually the reverse, he said. Police ofcials said they could not immediately conrm the website was made by the Yamaguchi-gumi, nor comment on it. The website, which comes complete with a contact us button, can be found at: zenkokumayakubokumetsudoumei.com. AFP

WWII bomb in Thailand kills seven, injures 19

At LEASt seven people died and 19 others were injured yesterday when a massive World War II bomb exploded at a scrap metal warehouse in Bangkok as workers tried to cut it open, officials said. The 225-kilogram shell was found at a construction site by builders who then sold it to a suburban scrap metal merchant believing the bomb had been defused. The workers at the warehouse thought the bomb was no longer active so they used a metal cutter to cut into it causing the explosion, said local police commander Virasak Foythong, adding the ordnance was probably left over from the war era. Seven are now confirmed dead and 19 injured, the citys Erawan emergency centre said, updating the toll. It reported that five people were killed at the scene. Confirming the number of deaths, a police explosives expert said the blast created a large crater and damaged homes within a 500metre radius. AFP

ASEAN, US ministers look for MH370 search lessons

THe spectre of missing Flight MH370 loomed over a meeting of US and ASEAN defence ministers yesterday, as they discussed how to improve their response to natural disasters and emergencies. The agenda for the ministers gathering in Hawaii focused on bolstering cooperation for humanitarian assistance efforts has taken on new signicance in the wake of the aviation tragedy, ofcials said. The often confused search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet has sparked criticism of authorities in Kuala Lumpur and raised questions about the ability of regional governments to take joint action in an emergency. Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said he expected his counterparts to look at possible lessons from the recovery effort, which has yet to nd a sign of the plane since it went missing with 239 people on board on March 8. Well go back and walk through this, what could have been done, maybe what should have been done, Hagel told reporters on Tuesday before landing in Honolulu. We will get into some of this at our meeting over the next two days, he said. Malaysias defence and transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who has served as the public face of the search effort, is attending the meeting, where he is expected to provide his counterparts an update on the search for the missing jet. Hagel did not criticise Malaysia in his remarks, but the governments handling of the crisis has come under re, especially by distraught relatives of the 153 Chinese nationals on board. Singapores Foreign Minister K Shanmugam last week called some of the criticism unfair and said Southeast nations lacked the military hardware to deploy in such a disaster, unlike the United States or China. Washington has two naval P-8 surveillance aircraft taking part in the massive search of a remote stretch of Indian Ocean southwest of Perth, where the plane is believed to have gone down. The hunt turned up nothing yesterday. The international effort, which involves 10 aircraft, naval ships and now a British nuclear submarine, has illustrated the need to forge regular cooperation before a disaster strikes, said a senior US defence ofcial. I think on the one hand it has shown that we have a number of countries that can put aside their rivalries and differences and work together, said the ofcial, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. On the other hand, it highlights that we have a lot further to go, said the ofcial, including more information sharing among governments. The meeting of defence ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the rst to be hosted on US soil, was to include a discussion yesterday on how civilian and military ofcials can work together to tackle natural diasters. As countries face the dramatic effects of climate change, this kind of cooperation is going to be increasingly important for us and its going to require that we think differently about how we approach some of these problems, the defence ofcial said. The more we can work together in advance . . . the better, the ofcial said. Hagel and the ASEAN ministers were to pay a visit yesterday to the USS Anchorage, an amphibious ship with a helicopter ight deck that the Americans say can be highly effective in disaster relief operations. As part of its strategic rebalance to Asia to counter Chinas growing military clout, President Barack Obamas administration has placed a priority on forging closer ties to Southeast Asia and ofcials said the ASEAN meeting underscored Washingtons commitment. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

World
A womans place . . .
An All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supporter holds a child as she stands beside a giant cutout of the AIADMK Leader and Chief Minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, ahead of a public meeting in Pondicherry. The make-up of Indias next government could lie in the hands of a trio of women who command a massive following in their regional heartlands, including a populist former movie star known as Mother to supporters. Known more for their charisma than policies, Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati are likely to play pivotal roles in coalition negotiations, after Indias marathon general election, which begins on Monday. Narendra Modi is the frontrunner but his party is not expected to win an outright majority, underlining the growing support for regional parties. It is now three decades since any party won more than 50 per cent of seats in parliament.
AFP

15

Spanish inquisition

Holy Grail faces heavy scepticism

LAIMS that the Holy Grail has been found after sitting for 1,000 years in a Spanish church face a tough inquisition from doubtful historians. Visitors ocked to the museum of the San Isidro basilica in Leon after a new book said it contained the chalice from which Jesus Christ sipped at the Last Supper. Experts on Tuesday poured doubt on that dramatic claim by two Spanish historians, saying the Grail was a myth, not a real drinking vessel. The Grail legend is a literary invention of the 12th century with no historical basis. You cannot search for something that does not exist, Carlos de Ayala, a medieval historian at Madrids UAM university, said. The cup joined a list of hundreds of pretenders to the title of Holy Grail, including one in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia. AFP

Taliban hunting ahead of Afghan polls

Edouard Guihaire

Pupil dies after alleged beating by his teacher

A SOUTH African teacher is facing a possible murder charge following the death of a student he allegedly beat on the head with a belt, the education department said yesterday. Sizwe Kubheka died in hospital last week after the incident left him deaf and with blood clots coming from his nose. The student, aged around 16, lived in Palm Springs, south of Johannesburg. Before the boys death the parents had laid a charge of attempted murder with police, the education department said. The alleged beating happened at school, said Gauteng provinces education spokeswoman. The police and education authorities have launched investigations. South Africa banned corporal punishment in schools in 1996, but as many as half of all students still get beaten, the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention said. AFP

N A small village in a poppy-covered valley in eastern Afghanistan, a group of soldiers rest and eat after shelling the Taliban for several hours until a burst of gunre cuts lunch short. The men of the Afghan armys fourth infantry brigade have been tasked with clearing the Taliban from the Khogyani and Sherzad districts of the restive province of Nangarhar, ahead of Saturdays presidential election rst round. Whoever wins the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai will inherit a fragile security situation with local soldiers ghting a still-resilient Taliban insurgency, soon without the support of NATO combat forces, which are leaving Afghanistan. The fourth infantry brigades Operation Eagle 30 began before sunrise, with dozens of military vehicles roaring out of

the base into the countryside. The troops moved quickly and soon reached a valley of emerald green poppy elds, the opium goldmine that nances the Taliban insurgency to the tune of millions of dollars a year. Brieng his men the day before the offensive in a fortified camp half an hour from the provincial capital Jalalabad, General Dadan Lawang reminded his lions of their historic duty. As you all know, we are at a critical juncture in Afghanistan at the moment the presidential and provincial council elections, he cried. We must ght our enemies and eliminate the insurgents from this district, he said, gesturing to the rugged mountains where the Taliban hide, earning a noisy Allahu akbar! (God is greater) from his men. Since they were thrown out of power in 2001, the Taliban have led a bloody insurgency,

which 12 and a half years of Western military intervention have not succeeded in quelling. The militants still hold sway in certain parts of the country and they have vowed to disrupt the election, prompting fears of low turnout and a discredited poll. Once in the poppy-lined valley, things start to get serious for the Afghan troops fearing ambush and roadside bombs, the convoy edges its way forward. These roads are not nished, the insurgents have laid mines everywhere, said Colonel Shirin Agha. Scarcely had he said this when a huge explosion echoed from further down the road a Taliban roadside bomb, but one which failed to cause any casualties. The fall of evening brought darkness and the first skirmish with the militants. As the soldiers reached the top of a hill, shots rang out, seemingly from nowhere. The soldiers unloaded mor-

tars and a cannon, and began ring on the snowy hillsides around the valley. After a biting cold night for the soldiers on the hillside, the offensive began again in the morning artillery and American A-10 attack aircraft strafed the valley. After three hours, Colonel Zubair Ahmad, a tetchy, energetic commander shouting orders into a walkie-talkie to direct operations, called a halt to the barrage. The convoy moved off and stopped in a little village where the soldiers threw themselves on a well to drink and lined up at a huge cooking pot for a plate of rice and a lump of meat their rst hot meal since leaving base. A few minutes later their plates were ying and the men rushing to their weapons the Taliban were attacking despite the armys morninglong bombardment. But if the rebels have the ad-

vantage of surprise, the Afghan troops are better equipped and their response was a brutal torrent of re from ries, heavy machine guns, and rocketlaunchers, while the American A-10s once again roared overhead to strafe the mountain. Our convoy faced the enemy ambush and our army forces and police bravely gave them a jaw-breaking answer the enemy have ed from the area, said Sergeant Ahmad Qais, reloading his rie. Lawang too declared Operation Eagle 30 a success and spoke bullishly of the Afghan armys ability to tackle the threat posed by the Taliban even without American military assistance on land and from the air. The ability of the new president to lead Afghanistan to a more stable, prosperous future will depend greatly on this, and it remains to be seen whether the generals condence is well-founded. AFP

Hollandes ex-partner Royal joins new govt

FRENcH President Francois Hollande yesterday recalled his former partner Segolene Royal from the political wilderness to join a new streamlined government, days after his Socialist Party suffered an election drubbing. Royal is one of the Socialists biggest hitters but her inclusion in Hollandes first cabinet was reportedly blocked because of hostility from Valerie Trierweiler, the presidents then girlfriend. Sundays stinging setback in nationwide municipal elections prompted Hollande to sack former premier Jean-Marc Ayrault and replace him with tough-talking interior minister Manuel Valls. The two wasted no time in radically reshaping a cabinet of just 16 ministers, less than half the 38 in the previous line-up. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius kept their posts. The new government faces an uphill struggle, with the tough task of bringing down the countrys jobless, which reached a record 3.34 million in February. AFP

Mexico takes out drug lords but violence persists

MeXIcos government has taken down almost the entire leadership of one of the countrys most vicious drug cartels, but it can barely savour victory amid rising violence around the capital. With the killing of Knights Templar gang leader Enrique Kike Plancarte on Monday, authorities have now captured or gunned down all but one of the chiefs of a gang that has tormented the western state of Michoacan. But success against the Knights Templar may have come with a price, with security experts saying that Mexico Citys suburbs could be affected by the cucaracha effect. The theory goes that the dismantling of a criminal group causes gangsters to ee like cockroaches to neighbouring regions, in this case the State of Mexico that wraps around most of the capital. Plancarte, for instance, was killed by marines who tracked him down in the neighbouring central state of Queretaro, which is not known for drug violence. The government has deployed 10,000 troops and federal police to Michoacan, where civilians formed vigilante forces a year ago to combat the Knights Templar. Plancartes death came three weeks after Knights Templar founder Nazario Moreno, alias El Chayo, was killed by troops in Michoacan on March 9. With the capture of Plancartes uncle in January, Servando La Tuta Gomez has been left as the sole remaining top leader of the cartel. It is a great success for the government because it is taking out the head of the criminal structure, Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at Mexicos National Autonomous University, said. Jaime Rivera, crime analyst at Michoacana University, said the government could be close to a virtual dismantling of the Knights Templar organisation. The cartel may not completely disappear but change its size and its capacity to impose its will on local and state authorities, Rivera said. Like other cartels whose leaders have been killed or captured in the past, the Knights Templar may break up into small criminal gangs while others may spark a turf war for control of Michoacans drug trade, he said. President Enrique Pena Nietos administration has delivered important blows to other major cartels. Mexican marines captured the countrys most wanted drug kingpin, Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, in his northwestern home state on February 22. The authorities have also arrested or killed several top leaders of the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels, which have battled for control of drug routes in the northeast. Mexicos drug cartels have engaged in bloody turf wars that have left some 80,000 people dead since 2006, when Pena Nietos predecessor deployed the military against the gangs. Pena Nietos government cites official figures showing a decline in homicides in the past year, but extortion rackets and kidnappings have shot up. Ofcials say the success authorities have had in breaking down cartels have caused gang members to branch out to other activities. The number of murders has surged this year in the State of Mexico, the countrys most populous federal entity with 15 million people. Kidnappings have also surged in the state of Morelos, just south of Mexico City, prompting Governor Graco Ramirez to publicly apologise to victims. In the case of Mexico State a cucaracha effect has taken place, Benitez Manaut said, adding that Knights Templar members have moved in. The state has seen 374 murders in the rst two months of the year compared to 303 in the same period in 2013. Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong announced on Monday a new security strategy for Mexico State that includes increasing the number of federal security forces and firing corrupt local police ofcers. AFP

16

THE PHNoM PENH PoST APRIL 3, 2014

Opinion
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HE mounting excitement over the outcome of Indias general elections is often interspersed with abstruse references to the last days of the Weimar Republic in Germany. This may well be a caricature of the tizzy the liberal intelligentsia has got itself into at the possibility of the benign but ineffective prime minister Manmohan Singh being replaced by the pugnacious and polarising Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. However, it also captures the widening gulf between the agonised outpourings of those who imagine the imminent destruction of the idea of India and the heady excitement of others who believe that May 16 will herald the dawn of a reinvigorated India. There are two factors that make the 2014 election different from a past when the hazy projection of a leader and pro-people policies blended with complex social alliances based on caste, religion and kinship to produce an eventual winner in most cases, the ancient Congress Party. First, India has changed unrecognisably in the past 25 years since an

inefficient protectionist economy was exposed to market competition. Levels of absolute poverty have dipped sharply, shortages have been replaced by an abundance of consumer goods and chaotic urbanisation has kept pace with steady economic growth since 1991. True, there are islands of deprivation but overall, the India of 2014 is younger, better educated, more socially disparate and more aspirational than ever before. There is a political context to the rise of Modi as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for prime ministership: the disappointment over economic slowdown and the governments descent into policy incoherence in the face of widespread corruption. However, the political context is overshadowed by the assertive new social forces that have perceived Modi as not merely a challenger to the dynastic politics of the Congress but also as a radical reformer, even an iconoclast. The Modi of 2014 isnt a straightline extension of the Modi of 2002, who was pilloried for his failure to check large-scale anti-Muslim violence that broke out in Gujarat. Even if he secretly harbours Hindu supremacist fantasies, as has been

alleged, his appeal among voters in this election isnt based on sectarian impulses. The Modi of 2014 epitomises the quest for material betterment. Having showcased himself as Indias foremost champion of aggressive economic growth and a no-nonsense leader who shunned personal wealth, Modi has targeted the restlessness of those Indians who believe the country is underperforming in terms of its potential. The appeal of Modis minimum government, maximum governance mantra is greatest among voters who equate state-driven intervention with sloth and corruption. Setting a global yardstick for measuring success, Modi has embraced technology with as much enthusiasm as fellow Gujarati Mahatma Gandhi rejected the trappings of western civilisation a century ago. For an India that seeks to blend good economics with global relevance, the strongman Modi is the answer. Opinion polls suggest a wide personal endorsement of Modi among 18-to 35-year-old voters. Initially, Modis opponents expected the euphoria around him to bypass traditional India. Yet the response to his meetings in nondescript district towns has been uniformly passionate.

Modis ability to pierce class and caste barriers that have traditionally inhibited the BJP owes to his perception as the combative outsider tormented by a venal establishment. Modi has always kept his distance from the powerful elite of Delhi, going to the extent of running his campaign from Gujarat rather than the capital. He has deftly played the class card by emphasising his humble origins and his lower-caste status. He has subtly contrasted his personal journey to the aura of entitlement that defines the Gandhi family, particularly Rahul Gandhi, the well-meaning princeling, as Modi refers to him, who seems unsuited to Indias politics and lacking an awareness of its complex realities. Modi is being attacked because he has challenged an elite that blends liberal values with large dollops of cronyism and corruption. He epitomises the real but ill-defined change a young and increasingly restless India is craving for. If Modi has read India right, counting day may reveal both a Congress rout and a Modi wave. THE GUARDIAN
Swapan Dasgupta is a Delhi-based political writer.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

17

Lifestyle
Rebranded Indonesia festival eyes ride to tourism upswing
Angela Dewan

In brief
MH370 search: Peter Jackson lends a hand

EAMS of tribesmen on horseback charge at each other hurling bamboo spears in a thousand-year-old ritual on the Indonesian island of Sumba aimed at producing a prosperous rice harvest. The annual pasola which comes from the word spear in a local tribal language takes place over four weeks in February and March in western Sumba, an island in the centre of the Indonesian archipelago. Traditionally it was a barely disguised form of human sacrice in which tribesmen would aim to spill each others blood onto the elds. It has evolved into a mock-up of such battles and people are not usually badly hurt, although accidental deaths do occasionally occur. The spectacle attracts few foreign tourists only around 10 were at the recent pasola in Ratenggaro; up to 100 normally attend larger ones. But now ofcials are hoping to use it to boost the economy of the desperately poor island. Its a major attraction and has huge potential for development, said Bona Fantura Rumat, from the tourism board of East Nusa Tenggara province, which includes Sumba. Despite pristine beaches, seas and traditional villages, last year Sumba attracted around 2,500 tourists compared to more than three million who visited nearby Bali. Rumat said plans are afoot to promote the pasola more, improve infrastructure by building better roads and start

THE personal jet of Oscarwinning movie director Peter Jackson was reported yesterday to have been called in to assist with the search for the missing Malaysian airliner. Australian authorities coordinating the search for Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board said a civilian jet was being used to assist military aircraft scouring the Indian Ocean for any signs of the Boeing 777. A spokesman for the New Zealand movie director confirmed that it was Jacksons aircraft. afp

Chef Blumenthal taking Fat Duck to Melbourne

The annual pasola on the Indonesian island of Sumba takes place every February and March.

afp

ights to more destinations in Indonesia to make Sumba easier to reach. The ritual itself has already been adapted to make it more palatable to visitors. In the past it would typically end with a eld drenched in human and horse blood, and it was a great honour for local villagers to die while taking part. At the recent Ratenggaro pasola, no one reported much more than a scratch and the villagers now use blood solely from sacriced animals.

Before the pasola, men in a darkened hut chopped the heads off chickens, draining their blood into buckets as a mystic chanted. A dog and pig whose blood had already been drained were roasted on a re, to be eaten after the festivities. The spears have also been blunted and metal tips removed. In Ratenggaro, policemen armed with ries ensured that no one was hacked to death. There have also been changes in the planning of the event.

It traditionally only began the day after a certain type of sea worm swam to the shore which signied the end of wet season and the beginning of crop planting but now elders decide on the date in advance so tourists have enough time to plan their trips. They still collect the worms, however the more there are the better the harvest and the slimy blue and green creatures are cooked into patty cakes. Despite the changes, many Sumbanese believe the pa-

sola is still as spiritually rich as ever and have given a cautious welcome to the idea of increasing tourism. If there is anyone who takes part in the pasola with an unclean heart, then harm will come to them, Ratenggaro village elder Agustinus Pandak said. They might fall off their horse, be hurt when struck by a spear. But this wont happen if the rider is at peace with himself and his heart is full of love, he said. afp

CELEBRITY chef Heston Blumenthals The Fat Duck restaurant will close its doors in Britain and relocate to Australia for six months in 2015, Melbournes Crown resort said on Monday. The famed Michelin three-starred restaurant in Bray, west of London, will spend half of the year in Australias secondbiggest city before returning to its home in Britain. Blumenthal described the move as an incredible opportunity to remain open while the British restaurant undergoes renovations. AFP

UK punk draws in learning disabled musicians

PUNK, with its raging, mad-eyed, opiateguzzling musicians, might be a far cry from the patronised, victimised stereotype of people with learning disabilities. But in the burgeoning live music scene for such people, it is punk and heavy metal that predominate. Songs by Finlands Pertti Kurikan Nimipaivat convey the disempowerment of living with learning-affected conditions: I dont want to live [in a] group home/I dont want institution/I want respect. Now a new organisation, Constant Flux, hopes to bring the bands music and that of other learning disabled groups to a wider audience. Launched last year by Richard Phoenix, a musician and music facilitator for learning disabled people, Constant Fluxs goals are groundbreaking. The idea is to provide opportunities to perform live to integrated audiences in environments that arent necessarily so safe, where its not just a learning disability event, he says. We want musicians to be part of the wider music scene. The concept builds on a gig night called The Rock House, which Phoenix set up in 2010 while working for Carousel, a local arts charity for people with learning disabilities. It proved a success with up to 100 tickets being sold each month, and now boasts seven different acts at each gig. It prompted some of the bands to consider touring, triggering the need for Constant Flux. I used to encounter so many musicians who were passionate but frustrated about the lack of opportunities for getting people to hear their music, Phoenix says. So its incredible to now be able to find ways to make that happen. So far, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive and informative. The first London gig Constant Flux staged last year was sold-out, with around 700 attending. A lot of audience members said they didnt know what to expect or how they were going to react but in the end people were just into the music and forgot they were watching people with learning disabilities, Phoenix says. THE GUARDIAN

THREE statues linked to royal burial ceremonies in Sudans ancient Napatan civilisation have been stolen from a museum near a UNESCO World Heritage site, an official said on Tuesday. Their disappearance underscores the lack of protection afforded Sudans rich but underdeveloped archaeological heritage. They are small statues, about 10-15 centimetres [4-6 inches] high but its very significant because the Napatan kingdom is one of the important periods in Sudanese history, Abdurrahman Ali, head of the countrys museums, said. afp

Statues go missing from Sudan museum

Australia to recognise gender-neutral people

Punk rockers: perhaps a far cry from the patronised, victimised stereotype of people with learning disabilites. afp

AUSTRALIAS highest court on Wednesday ruled that a person can be legally recognised as gender neutral as opposed to male or female. The High Court ... recognises that a person may be neither male nor female, and so permits the registration of a persons sex as non-specific, it said in a unanimous judgement. afp

18

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Motoring

British foray into Thai car market

Richard Leu

UDGING from what MGs owner, SAIC Motor Corp of China, is doing at the moment, the British nameplate appears to be on track in Thailand. Unlike previous attempts by some other Chinese car brands trying to establish a presence in the Japanesedominated Thai vehicle market, MG has taken the next step forward. In cooperation with Thai conglomerate giant Charoen Pokphand Group, SAIC has built a factory in the eastern province of Rayong capable of producing 5,000 units annually for domestic sales and export to ASEAN markets. The rst model to hit Thai showrooms in a few months is the MG6 model, which is being displayed at the ongoing Bangkok International Motor Show in Muang Thong Thani. MG competes in the massmarket sector, so their cars are very much like what other competitors are offering. Executives of MG are trying to highlight the brands Britishness. Late last year, MG used the Motor Expo to underline the brands origin with a stylish concept car. An executive admitted that building the brand in Thailand wont be easy because most people who know MG for what it used to be now have grey hair. The last time Rover and MG cars were sold in Thailand was in the late 1990s through then distributor Thai Ultimate Cars. Despite being British, MGs association with a Chinese auto rm may shed some quality issues that usually arise from the highly discriminatory, modern-day Thai car buyer. Sure, Chinas Geely owns Volvo, but the Swedish brand has been in Thailand for a long time uninterruptedly,

The MG6 model is currently being displayed at the Bangkok International Motor Show in Muang Thong Thani.

AFP

ever since it was an independent carmaker. The MG6 will compete in the Thai C-segment, even though its dimensions are a little more than generous. The wheelbase, for one, stretches 2,705mm, which is the longest around. We havent driven it yet, however after a static test of the car at the Thai motor show, we along with some peers from the automotive media and mainstay car companies found the MG6 to be aver-

age rather than outstanding. The styling, for one, is more conservative against the Mazda 3 the only all-new C-segment car being launched at the motor show or Ford Focus, while the interior is short on perceptive quality. In fact, the MG6 almost feels like the Proton Preve or Suprima S. Under the bonnet of the MG6 lurks a 161hp/215Nm 1.8-litre petrol-turbo engine and dual-clutch automatic. With a kerb weight of some 1,485kg, the MG6 is really

not based on latest technology. The Mazda 3, in contrast, weighs nearly 200kg less at 1,297kg. The MG6 is actually based on the Roewe 550, which in turn shares some bits with the Rover 75 the last Rover to be launched in Thailand just before the year 2000. Pricing for the MG6 in Thailand hasnt been revealed yet. But with Mazda tearing up the pricing rulebook in the Csegment, the MG6 obviously cant have prices starting in

the 800,000 baht price range. The new 3 can now be had for just 833,000 baht in 165hp 2.0-litre form, with entry-level specs to target traditional 1.8litre C-segment contenders (we hear it took nine months of convincing Mazdas parent rm in Japan to yield to such a strategy). More crucial to the MG6s success is after-sales service a very integral part in owning a car for Thais. The 30 planned centres certainly sound sufcient for

initial sales, however it is the servicing costs and problem-rectication that should also matter. Costs can only be competitive if they are benchmarked against rivals because Thais usually dont like getting their hands dirty. Customers dont like owning a car and crying about its problems at the same time. Good evidence can be found in the problematic servicing offered by some non-Japanese car brands. BANGKOK POST

Audis A4: Too little personality for too much money

Sam Wollaston

The Audi A4 2.0 TDI SE (150PS) multitronic: pretty boring.

BLOOMBERG

THERE cant be many cars around now that you could squeeze a novel out of, simply because there arent many cars around with either the personalities or the stories behind them. Certainly I dont think youd get much literature out of this Audi. How would it go? Once upon a time there was a compact executive saloon, built by a large team of people working for a German car manufacturer. The Audi A4 2.0 TDI SE (150PS) multitronic doesnt have a nickname, because it isnt that kind of car. Nor are the people who drive it the sort of people to give their cars nicknames. One day, the Audi A4 went to see a world-famous motoring journalist. He the WFMJ, not the car (its not a car that lends itself to gender either) appreciated that it was a very able car, classy in an understated kind of way, a bit less flashy than its chief rival from another German (Bavarian) car manufacturer. He found much to commend about the car: the way it drives and handles (though its actually not as good to drive as the Bavarian rival), the per-

formance and efficiency of the excellent diesel engine, the comfortable and well-appointed interior. He recognised that for a lot of people an Audi A4 would be an achievement, a mark of success, though by no means an ostentatious one. Again, classy, not too flashy. Yet he found himself unmoved. The cars sober, conservative design didnt excite him. It looks like a lot of other cars, he thought to himself. Thats probably why none of the neighbours, who usually show some interest in the cars that turn up in the street, even mentioned it. To be honest, his own family barely noticed it. Thats taking understatement a bit too far! he said, out loud this time. If youre spending 30,000 on a car, you want someone to notice it ... or you would if you were a shallower kind of person, concerned by things like status. Truth be told, the Audi A4 2.0 TDI SE (150PS) multitronic bored this motoring journalist rigid. Not only was it pretty much personality-free, but it didnt come with, or lead to, any stories. Which is why this one is rubbish. The end. THE GUARDIAN

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Travel
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Flighs K6 720 PG 938 PG 932 TG 581 PG 934 FD 3617 PG 936 TG 585 CZ 324 QR 965 QR 967 CZ 324 CZ 6060 VN 840 QR 965 QR 967 VN 841 VN 3856 Days Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily 2.4.7 Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily Daily 1.2.4.7 6 1 3.5.7 2 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2 2.3.4.5.7 1.3.5.6.7 2.4 1234..7 ....56. Daily 1.3 2.4.5 6 7 Daily Daily Daily 1.3.6 1.3.6 Dep 12:05 06:40 09:55 10:05 15:30 17:05 19:30 20:40 08:00 16:10 22:40 08:00 14:45 17:30 16:10 22:40 14:00 19:20 11:25 11:45 18:30 17:25 19:00 23:40 23:50 08:35 11:10 17:10 20:05 19:50 Arrival 01:10 08:15 11:10 11:10 16:40 18:15 20:40 21:45 16:05 22:45
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19

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TO PHNOM PENH
Flighs K6 721 PG 931 TG 580 PG 933 FD 3616 PG 935 TG 584 PG 937 CZ 323 QR 964 QR 966 CZ 6059 CZ 323 VN 841 QR 604 QR 966 VN 920 VN 3857 KA 208 KA 206 KA 206 KA 206 KE 689 OZ 739 AK 1474 MH 754 MH 762 AF 273 FM 833 MI 602 MI 622 3K 593 MI 608 2816 2816 2816 2816 BR 265 VN 841 QV 921 8M 401 1.3 2.4.5 6 7 Daily Daily Daily 1.3.6 Days Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. 2.4.7 Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily Daily Dep 02:25 07:55 07:55 13:30 15:15 17:30 18:25 20:15 14:30 01:05 07:25 12:00 19:05 09:40 13:30 19:50 15:50 18:00 BANGKOK - PHNOM PENH

2.4.7 1, 6, 7 2.4 5 7 3, 2 5
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2.4.7 1, 6, 7 2.4 7 3, 2 5 5
.2....7 ...4...

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

13:45 13:45

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

14:50 14:50

SIEM REAP - SINGAPORE MI 633 MI 622 MI 630 MI 615 MI 636 MI 617

3K 598 3K 598

SINGAPORE - SIEM REAP

PHNOM PENH - BANGKOK

SIEM REAP - VIENTIANE QV 522

8M 402

VIENTIANE - SIEM REAP 10:05

20:15
Dep 12:55

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

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

2.4.5.7
1. 5
Days 1-3-5

13:00
21:25
Arrival 13:55

QV 512
8M 401
Flighs K6 131

2.4.5.7
1. 5
Days 1-3-5

06:30
17:05
Dep 11:20

09:25
19:15
Arrival 12:20

SIEM REAP - YANGON

PREAH SIHANOUK - SIEM REAP Flighs K6 130

YANGON - SIEM REAP

SIEM REAP - PREAH SIHANOUK

PHNOM PENH - GUANGZHOU 11:40 18:10 20:35 17:10 23:40 14:45 20:05 15:05 22:25 22:05 21:00 22:35 06:40 06:50 11:20 14:00 20:00 06:05 23:05

GUANGZHOU - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - HANOI PHNOM PENH - HO CHI MINH CITY

HANOI - PHNOM PENH HO CHI MINH CITY - PHNOM PENH

Love locks on the Pont des Arts bridge. The romantic tradition is under threat from a campaign started by Americans living in Paris. AFP

PHNOM PENH - HONG KONG KA 207 KA 207 KA 209 KA 209 KA 205 KE 690 OZ 740 AK 1473 MH 755 MH 763 AF 273 FM 833 MI 601 MI 622 3K 594 3K 594 MI 607 2817 2817 2817 2817 BR 266 VN 840 QV 920
8M 402 8M 401

HONG KONG - PHNOM PENH 1.2.4.6.7 08:50 3.5.7 1 2 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2 14:30 15:25 15:50 18:30 19:10 15:15 09:30 3:20 20:05

City of loves lock tradition under threat

Will Coldwell

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

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

PHNOM PENH - INCHEON

INCHEON - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR - PHNOM PENH

TG - Thai Airways | VN - Vietnam Airlines

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

PHNOM PENH - PARIS SHANGHAI - PHNOM PENH 2.3.4.5.7 19:30 1.3.5.6.7 07:40 2.4 Daily Daily 08:40 13:30 16:20 15:00 07:20 13:00 11:30 09:10 11:30 11:45 08:20 SINGAPORE - PHNOM PENH

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

OR some they are a symbol of everlasting love. For others they are a rusting eyesore. But now the love locks padlocks engraved with the names of lovers that line the rails of Pariss bridges may have met their match, as a campaign takes off to have them banned. The No Love Locks campaign, which includes a petition that currently has over 1,700 signatures, was launched in February by two Americans living in Paris who were shocked at the extent of the trend across the city. The idea is that by attaching the locks to a public place and throwing away the key, the love it represents will become unbreakable. However, with an estimated 700,000 padlocks now attached to locations across the French capital, the weight could be putting the structural integrity of the citys architecture at risk. Originally only affecting the Pont des Arts and Pont de lArcheveche, the padlocks can now be found on almost all of the bridges across the Seine, as well as many of the smaller footbridges that span the canals in the citys 10th arrondissement. Its so out of control, says Lisa Anselmo, who co-founded the campaign with fellow expat and writer Lisa Taylor Huff. People are climbing up lampposts to clip locks on, hanging over the bridge to put them on the other side of the rail, risking their lives to attach one. Its a kind of mania. Its not about romance any more its just about saying I did it.

While the reaction to the campaign from many people has been one of surprise, indifference or anger, many have been supportive. Signatories on the petition which include many Parisians cite the degradation publique caused by the locks. The mayor of the sixth arrondissement, Jean-Pierre Lecoq, also supports their concerns, describing the love locks as madness. Since this walkway overlooks the Seine, and there are a lot of tourist boats that pass under it, any relatively heavy object falling from a certain height could cause a passenger an injury, or even a fatal blow, he told RTL radio last August. The city council, evidently aware of the locks popularity with tourists, has so far resisted taking action, although concerns about the damage they cause to the architecture have been raised in the past. For those whose tokens of affection are in jeopardy, the idea of a ban is less than welcome. Ben Lifton attached a love lock in Paris last February when visiting the city with his boyfriend. We didnt plan to do it, he says. But there was a guy conveniently selling locks and permanent markers next to it, and so for a few euros we thought, why not. Its a nice way to deposit something somewhere, and know (or at least hope) that it will be there if, and when, you ever return. He nds the prospect of a ban a bit sad. Clearly there are some people who have gone through a messy break-up recently on the Paris council, and they have a vendetta against happy couples. THE GUARDIAN

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

Air Asia (AK) Room T6, PP International Airport. Tel: 023 6666 555 Fax: 023 890 071 www.airasia.com

PHNOM PENH -TAIPEI PHNOM PENH - VIENTIANE

TAIPEI - PHNOM PENH VIENTIANE - PHNOM PENH

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

PHNOM PENH - YANGON SIEM REAP - PHNOM PENH

YANGON - SIEM REAP

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

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

SIEM REAP - BANGKOK Flighs

K6 700

BANGKOK - SIEM REAP Dep

12:50

REGULAR SHIPPING LINES SCHEDULES CALLING PORT ROTATION

Arrival
04:05
LINE RCL (12calls/moth) CALLING SCHEDULES 1 Wed, 08:00 - Thu 16:00 2 Thu, 14:00 - Fri 22:00 3 Fri, 20:00 - Sat 23:59 MEARSK (MCC) (4 calls/moth) SITC (BEN LINE (4 calls/onth) ITL (ACL) (4 calls/month) APL (4 calls/month) COTS (2 calls/month) 1 Th, 08:00 - 20:00 2 Fri, 22:00- Sun 00:01 Sun 09:00-23:00 Sat 06:00 - Sun 08:00 Fri, 08:00 - Sun, 06:00 Irregula FREEQUENCY ROTATION PORTS 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 call/week SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN HKG-SHV-SGZ-HKG (HPH-TXGKEL) SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN SGN-SHV-LZP-SGN - HKG-OSA-TYO-KOB - BUS-SGH-YAT-SGN - SIN-SHV-TPP-SIN HCM-SHV-LZP-HCMNBO-SGH-OSA-KOBBUS-SGH-HGK-CHM SGZ-SHV-SIN-SGZ SIN-SHV-SIN

Days
Daily

Arrival
2:00

Flighs
K6 701

Days
Daily

Dep
02:55

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

K6 850

Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2.4.6 1.3.5.7

Daily

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

06:50

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

08:30

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

K6 851

Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2.4.6 1.3.5.7

Daily

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

19:30

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

21:15

SIEM REAP - GUANGZHOU

GUANGZHOU - SIEM REAP

SIEM REAP -HANOI VN 868 VN 842 VN 844 VN 800 VN 3818 VN 826 VN 3820 VN 828 VN 3822 KE 688 OZ 738 AK 281 MH 765 1.2.3.5.6 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 3.5.7 12:40 18:05 19:45 21:00 11:10 13:30 17:45 18:20 21:35 23:15 23:40 08:35 14:15 15:35 19:45 21:25 22:40 12:30 14:40 18:45 19:20 22:35 06:10 07:10 11:35 17:25

HANOI - SIEM REAP VN 843 VN 845 VN 845 VN 801 VN 3809 VN 827 VN 3821 VN 829 VN 3823 KE 687 OZ 737 AK 280 MH 764 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 3.5.7 15:25 17:05 17:45 18:20 09:15 11:35 15:55 16:20 19:45 18:30 19:20 06:50 12:10 17:10 18:50 19:30 20:00 10:35 12:35 16:55 17:40 20:45 22:15 22:40 07:50 13:15

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

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

SIEM REAP - HO CHI MINH CITY

HO CHI MINH CITY - SIEM REAP

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

SIEM REAP - INCHEON

INCHEON - SIEM REAP

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

PHNOM PENH - YANGON YANGON - SIEM REAP

SIEM REAP - KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR - SIEM REAP

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

20

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Entertainment
NOW SHOWING
LEGEND CINEMA
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by Xerxes and Artemisia. Citymall: 4:55pm Toul Kork: 10:05pm DIVERGENT Tris learns shes Divergent and wont fit in. Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before its too late. Citymall: 9:30pm Toul Kork: 9:15am NOAH A man is chosen by God to undertake a momentous mission of rescue before an apocalyptic flood. Citymall: 2:20pm, 6:55pm, 9:30pm Toul Kork: 11:55am, 2:30pm, 6:55pm STILL 2 Thai horror movie. Citymall: 9:15am, 1:25pm, 3:35pm, 5:20pm, 7:55pm Toul Kork: 9:15am, 11:20am, 1:25pm, 3:35pm NEED FOR SPEED A street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate joins a cross country race with revenge in mind. His ex-partner places a bounty on his head. Citymall: 9:15am Toul Kork: 5:30pm
Newcomers to swing are welcomed at the Village BLOOMBERG

Swing @ The Village

Locals, expats, visitors everyone is welcome to swing-out on the dance oor at the Village Thursday night. No experience is necessary for the beginner swing classes. $3 per class. Beginner class run from 7:30pm.

The Village, #1 Street 360. 6:30pm

Hockey @ City Villa

Weekly games at the courts behind City Villa. Equipment provided. Bring white and black t-shirt if it is possible. If interested, email info@hockeynightincambodia. com for more information. Play is $5, but new players get to play hockey for free. City Villa, Street 71 near Street 360. 7pm

TV PICKS

9am - OBLIVION: With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.. HBO 12:30pm - SO UNDERCOVER: A tough, streetsmart private eye is hired by the FBI to go undercover in a college sorority. Starring Miley Cyrus. FOX MOVIES 9pm - DJANGO UNCHAINED: With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.. HBO

Film @ Meta House

Seeking Asian Female examines a white babyboomers obsession with Asian women, which led him to mail-order catalogues and international dating sites in search of a bride. He ends up with a Chinese woman about half his age. Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard. 7pm

Jamie Foxx stars in Django Unchained.

AFP

Thinking caps

CHANGE OF DIRECTION
ACROSS
1 5 9 14 15 16 17 18 He bullied George McFly Neuter, as a male horse Big wine holders Big man in Oman Strong smell Group of eight Coin of Western Samoa San Juan, Puerto ___

19 20 23 24 25 28 31 36 38 40 41 44

Genevas river Where bullets may be stockpiled Female rabbit 7 Faces of Dr. ___ Sigma-upsilon go-between Tolkien creatures Put the cart before the horse, say Host before Paar and Carson Creole food veggie Big name in desktop computers One-room heater Large, round hairdo

45 46 47 49 51 52 54 56 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73

DOWN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 21 22 25 26 27 29 30 32 33 34 35 37 39 42 43

Hall-of-Famer manager Weaver Land in the Thames, perhaps Part of a batting instruction Little kid ___ none of your business Surgeons workplaces, for short Mature, as wine Useful guy to have around Established rule In ___ of (replacing) Faithful or factual Contour Lively spirit Effortlessness ___ a high note (finish well) Blood supplies Some deli loaves VCR format of old Islamic spiritual leader What soap may leave Swindlers crime More likely to receive an R rating Prepare for publication Mathematical sets Emulate Pavlovs dogs Beef ___ bleu Have rheumatic pains Bit of sign language? Bingolike game Annotation in proofreading Worst possible turnout Nymph presiding over rivers Spanish appetizers Up in the sky Prefix meaning extremely Coke or Pepsi, e.g. Go around, as an issue Winery storage units Bacteria in uncooked food Build an embankment Allowances for waste Black, to Byron Depend Distrustful Surrounding blockade

wednesdays solution

48 50 53 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

Scam artist Hawaiian medicine man Brogue bottoms Vegetable oil, e.g. Mocking comment Yoked animals Sir Francis Drakes was Golden Eating peas with a knife, e.g. Worlds longest river Rend Evangelists suggestion Either of three English rivers Football holders

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Sport

21

Windies can make World T20 history, says Sammy

W
Est Indian captain Darren Sammy was condent yesterday that his side can achieve what no other team has done in the history of the World Twenty20 defend the title. Famous for playing a cavalier brand of cricket, the West Indies won the fourth edition of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka two years ago, and are now just two matches away from defending it. They meet Sri Lanka in the rst of two semi-nals in Dhaka today from 8pm Cambodian time. Sammy said his side was ready to make history. We left the Caribbean with that motivating factor for us, he said. Its something which no team has done before and we are condent that we can do that if we play the brand of cricket we played in the last three games. India won the inaugural World Twenty20 title held in South Africa in 2007, before Pakistan clinched the second tournament in England two years later. England won the third tournament, held in the Caribbean in 2010. This year, the West Indies lost their opening match to India before beating Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan in group two at the Super-10 stage. Sammy said facing Sri Lankan spinner Rangan Herath, who took an astonishing 3-5 against New Zealand in Chittagong to guide his side into the semis, would not be a problem. The make-up of our side allows the guys like (Dwayne) Smith and (Chris) Gayle to go hard at the top, so we dont mind the left-arm spinner and hopefully we dont play him (Herath) like New Zealand did. Sammy said that his spinners would also pose a challenge for the rival team. Just as it [spin] will be a challenge for us, it will be a challenge for them as well. You are looking at the number one and two in West Indies bowling line up, Sammy said of his spinners

ONE FC: Rise of Heroes adds three more fights

MIXED martial arts organisation ONE Fighting Championship has announced details on three more matchups for its Rise of Heroes fight card, set to take place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila on May 2. Filipino fan-favourite Eduard Landslide Folayang will feature in the co-main event opposite former ONE FC lightweight world champion Kotetsu No Face Boku of Japan. An exciting flyweight bout between another popular Filipino fighter, Rey The Punisher Docyogen, and Guams Joshua The Hedgehog Alvarez has also been added to the main card. The ONE FC cage will also host a battle between two top middleweights, Leandro Ataides of Brazil and Japans Tatsuya Mizuno. DAN RILEY

NZ rugby launches anti-corruption drive

West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin breaks the stumps of Pakistans Shahid Afridi during their ICC World Twenty20 match.

AFP

Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine ranked one and two in international Twenty20 rankings. Badree took three wickets for 10 runs and Narine grabbed three for 16 as the West Indies thumped Pakistan by 84 runs in Dhaka on Tuesday to reach the last four. The second semi-nal will be between India and South Africa in Dhaka tomorrow. The nal is also at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Small comfort in Australia T20 win

Pre-tournament favourites Australia nished their unimpressive World Twenty20 campaign with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Bangla-

desh in Dhaka on Tuesday. Openers Aaron Finch scored a 45-ball 71 and David Warner knocked a ery 35-ball 48 to help Australia chase down a 154run target in 17.3 overs in the Super10 Group Two match. Australia and hosts Bangladesh had lost their rst three matches and were playing for pride in a match with no bearing on semi-nal positions. Finch and Warner put on a solid 98run opening wicket stand by the 12th over to quash any hopes of a win for Bangladesh at a packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium. Finch smashed four sixes and seven boundaries before he was bowled by paceman Al-Amin Hossain who nished with 2-30.

Warner was also ruthless, hitting three sixes and ve boundaries before Hossain bowled him with a beautiful delivery. Cameron White, who made 18 not out, hit a four and then a six to seal the victory. Australian skipper George Bailey was satised with the result. All the things we wanted to do, we did today. Picked the balls, picked the gaps and the bowling was good as well, Bailey said. I think its still a game of basics, we just havent done them well enough in crunch games and lost them. We had a side that was up for the challenge and Id not want to take anything from them. AFP

ThE New Zealand Rugby Union launched a major anticorruption drive yesterday, demanding that thousands of top-level players and administrators sign a pledge to keep the game clean. We want rugby to remain an honest test of skill and ability. Our sport has a good record, but we cant take it for granted, the unions general manager Neil Sorensen said. After a string of match-fixing and other corruption scandals in professional sports around the world, Sorensen said it was vital to protect rugbys integrity and to keep reigning world champions New Zealand free of graft. Weve seen international examples of the damage that corruption can do to sport and we dont want to see that happen in rugby, Sorensen said. AFP

Sacking Pietersen was right decision: Cook

Bills future still unclear

ThE long-term future of the National Football Leagues Buffalo Bills is unclear a week after the death of owner Ralph C Wilson Jr. The Buffalo News reported on March 25, the day of Wilsons death at the age of 95, that the franchise would be placed in a trust and that no quick sale of the team is expected. The newspaper, citing team and NFL personnel it did not identify, said the trust probably will control and manage the Bills for at least a couple of years before any sale of the team. The newspaper also reported that the team eventually will be put up for sale by Wilsons estate, according to a plan Wilson prepared decades ago. As part of a $130 million renovation of the Bills Ralph Wilson Stadium, the team agreed with state and local officials to stay at the stadium for 10 years, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in December 2012. The Bills would have to pay $400 million if they break the lease, with an exception in the seventh year, when it drops to a $29 million penalty, Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz said at that time. Wilson paid $25,000 to purchase the Buffalo franchise in the American Football League in 1959, and the Bills became part of the NFL when the leagues merged in 1970. Forbes magazine valued the Bills at $870 million in 2013. The Bills played one regularseason home game each year from 2008 to 2013 at Torontos Rogers Centre, losing five of those six contests. Last month, the planned 2014 game in Toronto was postponed for a year after attendance declined from 52,134 for the 2008 game to 38,969 last season. Real-estate investor Donald Trump said in an interview on Buffalo radio station WBEN yesterday that he had been called by a group of people and asked if he would be interested in investing in the Bills, though he did not say who had approached him. At least two groups in Los Angeles are trying to bring one or two NFL teams to that city. The Buffalo News also reported that a pair of billionaires Terry Pegula, owner of the National Hockey Leagues Buffalo Sabres, and former Sabres owner Thomas Golisano are potential buyers when the Bills come up for sale. Bills spokesman Scott Berchtold did not immediately respond to an email seeking information about the teams future. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy referred inquiries to the Bills. BLOOMBERG

Pistorius will not be rst defence witness: lawyer

PARALYMPIAN star Oscar Pistorius is not expected to be the rst defence witness to take the stand when his murder trial resumes next week, one of his lawyers said on Tuesday. The 27-year-old sprinter, a double amputee known as the Blade Runner, is accused of killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day last year. The defence will begin to present its case at a Pretoria court on Monday. While the law states that the accused must be the defences rst witness if he chooses to take the stand, it is now expected that lawyers will ask for forensics expert Jan Botha to be allowed to testify before Pistorius. He [Botha] has personal reasons as to why he wants to testify rst, lawyer Brian Webber told the South African news agency Sapa. Pistorius has denied the murder charge, saying he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. He is the only surviving witness to the events inside his house in the early hours of February 14, 2013, so his testimony is likely to be key. The star athlete has to explain why he red four shots at the model and aspiring television actress through a locked toilet door, and undermine prosecutors argument that her death was premeditated murder. It will be the rst time he speaks in public since the killing, besides pleading not guilty, milady, and the occasional yes, milady to Judge Thokozile Masipa during his trial. Pistorius does not have to testify, but his defence team has indicated it believes it will be in his interest to explain the nights events. AFP

AlastaIr Cook, the England Test captain, has spoken for the first time about his frustration at being unable to make public his side of the story which saw Kevin Pietersens central contract terminated following the Ashes debacle in Australia. Attending Essexs media day at Chelmsford, he defied an ECB ban on him answering questions on England-related topics to describe the decision to dispense with Pietersen as a brave call but insisted that there was no intention to make the batsman a scapegoat for the disastrous series which saw England suffer a 5-0 whitewash. He was also adamant that once there was a lifting of the gagging clause that was part of the severance deal with Pietersen he will be able in the not too distant future to offer details that he is sure will convince the public that the decision was a considered one and correct. Currently the legal agreement between the ECB and Pietersen has meant that the latter has held the high ground in the public relations battle in which he is portrayed as victim. There will be a time in the not too distant future, Cook said, when I can give you the whole side of my story but I hope you can bear with that a little longer. THE GUARDIAN

22

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Sport

Ill Cavendish withdraws from La Panne race

PETER Sagan took the overall lead on the first day of the Three Days of La Panne cycling race on Tuesday after he won the first stage, a 201kilometre ride from La Panne to Zottegem. However, the 24-year-old Slovakian, nicknamed the Terminator, failed in his bid to hand stage victory to Cannondale teammate Oscar Gatto. Sagan slowed down in the final metres to let the Italian pass him but Gatto wasnt capable of doing so, and Sagan took the stage instead, millimetres ahead of his team-mate for his fourth win of the season. Meanwhile, Omega-Pharma QuickSteps British rider Mark Cavendish announced he had pulled out of race due to an upset stomach. AFP

Serena Williams stunned by unseeded Jana Cepelova W

oRLd number one Serena Williams crashed out of the WTA Tours Family Circle Cup on Tuesday, losing her opening match in straight sets to world number 78 Jana Cepelova. The 20-year-old Slovakian Cepelova shocked defending champion Williams 6-4, 6-4 in a second-round match at the clay court tournament in Charleston. The 17-time Grand Slam winner Williams complained about being mentally fatigued after the 84 minute contest. I am really just dead, said the 32year-old American. I need some weeks off where I dont think about tennis and can kind of regroup. Ive had a long couple of years. Williams, who won this event in 2013, 2012 and 2008, also had her 15match tour win streak snapped. Williams was fresh off winning her sixth Miami title and 59th singles crown after beating world number two Li Na, of China, on the weekend. I actually made the turnaround really good, Williams said. Obviously things didnt go great out there. Unseeded Cepelova, who appears to be headed for a breakout year, was facing Williams for the rst time. Cepelova won 55 per cent of her rst serves and 71 of 136 total points. She advances to face Elena Vesnina of Russia, who beat another Slovakian, Anna Schmiedlova, 6-2, 6-1. Williams, 32, committed three double faults and won just 12 of 28 points on her second serve. I really knew nothing about her game going into the match, Williams said. She was a great counterpuncher. She played the best she can play. Williams said she now wants some time off. I am going to go on a vacation for sure, she said. I just need to take a deep breath and regroup. I think it will help me for the rest of the clay court season coming up. Ousting the world number one came as a surprise even for Cepelova, who had never even beaten a top 15 player before. Her previous biggest win was against former Charleston champ Samantha Stosur earlier this year in Doha. Stosur, of Australia, was ranked 16th in the world.

Nets beat Rockets to clinch a playoff spot

ThE Brooklyn Nets clinched a playoff spot by defeating the Houston Rockets to extend their home win streak, getting 32 points from Joe Johnson in a 105-96 win Tuesday. Johnson shot 13-of-21 from the field and drained four-of-eight three pointers for the Nets, who set a franchise record with their 14th straight home win at the Barclays Center arena. We felt very resilient, Johnson said. The guys stepped up and made plays. We had a lot of wide open shots. AFP

Red Sox team honoured at White House meeting

REigning World Series champions Boston Red Sox visited the White House on Tuesday where they presented US President Barack Obama with a team jersey. I thought I invited the Red Sox here today, but there must be a mistake because I dont recognize all these clean-shaven guys, joked Obama. Beards or no beards, it is an honour to welcome the 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox to the White House. He singled out a few members of the Red Sox, including David Ortiz, who presented the jersey to Obama. Ortiz was named most valuable player of the Major League Baseball championship series. Obama also praised the Red Sox for their contributions to helping the city of Boston recover from last April's Boston Marathon bombings. AFP

World No 1 Serena Williams suffered a shock defeat by Jana Cepelova in the second round of the Family Circle Cup in South Carolina.

AFP

Her best tournament result was making the quarter-nals in Shenzhen, China earlier this year. Cepelova, who will turn 21 next month, beat American wildcard Melanie Oudin 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 in the rst round in Charleston. The other upset of day two of the event saw Teliana Pereira outlast eighth seeded Sorana Cirstea 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0). Serenas sister Venus was also a winner on Tuesday. The 11th-seeded Venus held off Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 0-6, 7-5 in two hours, 18 minutes. Venus hasnt won this event in a decade. Seventh-seeded Stosur, the 2010 Charleston champ, got past Kazakhstans Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in second-round play.

Nishikori out of Davis Cup clash

Japans number one Kei Nishikori has been forced to pull out of this weeks Davis Cup quarter-nal against holders the Czech Republic in Tokyo because of a groin injury. The 24-year-old aggravated the troubled area while beating Roger Federer in Miami last week, prompting him to withdraw from his semi-nal against Novak Djokovic. Nishikori said yesterday he would not be t to face the Czechs, dealing a crushing blow to Japans hopes of a major upset with world number ve Tomas Berdych choosing not to travel to the Far East and Jan Hajeks sidelining with a knee injury. Its such a disappointment, world number 18 Nishikori told reporters after MRI scans revealed the extent of the damage to the left side of his groin.

With the home-court advantage I really wanted to play in Japans rst quarter-nal, which I do think we had a chance of winning. But after talking with the doctors, the prognosis wasnt good so unfortunately I cant play. Nishikori, whose heroics helped Japan past an injury-depleted Canada and into the last eight of the Davis Cup for the rst time under the modern format in February, is set to be replaced by 21-year-old Taro Daniel, ranked 190. Team coach Minoru Ueda tried to remain upbeat despite having his worst fears conrmed. Losing Kei has denitely hurt the teams chances but we have to keep believing we can win, he said. I believe Taro has the potential to be a top 100 player. The other players have to step up now. AFP

Yankees lose opener as retiring Jeter hit by pitch

ThE Houston Astros scored six runs in the first two innings off CC Sabathia and went on to a 6-2 defeat of the New York Yankees in both teams season opener. The Astros, who at 51-111 were the worst team in Major League Baseball last season, got home runs from Jesus Guzman and LJ Hoes while taking a 6-0 lead on Tuesday night in Houston. Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira had run-scoring singles in the eighth inning for New Yorks only runs. Derek Jeter, who was limited to 17 games last year following ankle surgery and has said this is his final season, was hit in the left forearm by a pitch in his first at-bat but stayed in the game going 1-for-3 and scoring the Yankees second run. BLOOMBERG

AustRALIAn swimming great Grant Hackett has left rehab after seeking help for an addiction to sleeping pills and says he learned a lot during his time in treatment. Hackett, who won the 1,500m freestyle at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and claimed four world titles in the event, fled to the United States in February, days after he was pictured half-naked in a hotel lobby looking for his young son. He initially denied he had a problem, but his manager and father both said he was battling a dependance on Stilnox, a drug used to treat insomnia that athletes are sometimes prescribed for sleeping difficulties before big events.

junior tennis Hackett out of rehab Open, tournaments in Kep

His admission for treatment came just weeks after fellow Australian swimming star Ian Thorpe sought help for depression after a mixture of painkillers and anti-depressants left him disoriented on a Sydney street. It just gets to a situation in life where youre not coping too well, and you need to put your hand up and ask for help I certainly got to that situation, Hackett told the Nine Network at Los Angeles airport on Tuesday. I feel proud of myself that I had the strength and courage to do that, because I want to have a great and happy life ahead of me. I want to be a great father and I want to do all those things properly. Certainly what Ive learnt over the past five weeks has put me in a position to do all those things a lot better. Hacketts departure from Australia came days after he was photographed in the early hours with only a singlet around his waist in the foyer of a Melbourne hotel, searching anxiously for his four-year-old son. The former great, 33, retired from the pool in 2008 and has worked for the Nine Network and Westpac Bank since then. But his reputation took a huge hit after he trashed his apartment in an alcoholfuelled rampage in 2011 that saw his wife, Candice Alley, leave him. They have two young children. AFP
H S Manjunath

THE coastal town of Kep will host two tennis tournaments beginning on April 10, marking the onset of the Cambodian New Year. Association Sportive de Kep, in partnership with Tennis Cambodia, will organise a mens open tournament involving singles and doubles from April 10 to 13. Entry is $7 per person, while a BBQ party at $8 a head will cap off the event. A total prize fund of $500 has been set apart for the Open, which is likely to see two national players, Mam Phalkun and Long Samneang, in action. The two-day junior event,

which starts on April 12, will run in three categories U18, U14 and U12 with no entrance fee. All the matches will be played at Villa Romonea and Tennis Academy of Kep courts. Until the semi-nal stages, the NOAD system of two sets of four games with no advantage will be in force with a 10point super tie break deciding the third set. The last four and nals will be contested over conventional advantage sets. For registration and other details contact Sokphal NgoSisowath on 088-800-0075 or email to ngo-sisowathsokphal@hotmail.com or call Arnaud Lafebvre on 097-9565590.

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Football
FIFA orders a shock transfer ban on Barca

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FIFA yesterday banned Spanish giants Barcelona from buying or selling players for the next two transfer windows for serious breaches of rules on under-age players. FIFAs Disciplinary Committee found Barcelona and the Spanish Football Association (RFEF) guilty of making or allowing illegal deals. As well as the transfer ban, which will effectively last one year, FIFA fined Barcelona 450,000 Swiss francs, (US$509,000). Barcelona were given 90 days to regularise the situation of all 10 minor players concerned. The ban is a new blow to the image of Europes most successful club of the 21st Century following alleged tax evasion in its signing of star Brazilian Neymar. AFP

Chen double puts paid to Ulsan unbeaten run

Shoot to thrill
Svay Riengs Nen Sothearath tries to shoot past Western Universitys Pen Panha during their Metfone C-League game at Olympic Stadium yesterday afternoon. The game ended deadlocked at 0-0, with reigning champions Svay Rieng consolidating their fourth place in the league table while Western leapfrogged Asia Europe University into ninth on goal difference. SRENG MENG SRUN

CHinas Guizhou Renhe ended Korean side Ulsan Hyundais 15-match unbeaten run in the AFC Champions League on Tuesday after coming from a goal down to win at home. The Chinese FA Cup holders beat the 2012 AFC champions 3-1 at the Guiyang Olympic Centre Stadium. Kawasaki joined Western Sydney in second place after they also came from behind to beat the Australian side 2-1 in Japan. AFP

Juve taking nothing for granted in quarter-final

JuVentus are theoretically only four matches away from a Europa League final date in their own Turin stadium. But the runaway Italian league leaders are unlikely to go into tonights quarter-final first leg away against French club Lyon taking anything for granted. That is especially the case after they suffered only their second league defeat in 31 matches at the hands of Napoli at the weekend. So Juve will be keen to make sure that 2-0 reverse does not signal the start of a slump. AFP

Guardiola ruffled by draw

AYERN Munich coach Pep Guardiola showed flashes of frustration after the defending champions were held 1-1 at Manchester United in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Bastian Schweinsteiger cancelled out Nemanja Vidics opener in Tuesdays game to put Bayern in control of the tie, but the Bayern midelder was then sent off, ruling him out of next weeks return leg. Schweinsteiger was shown a second yellow card in the nal minute for sliding in on Wayne Rooney and Guardiola reacted by appearing to make a dive gesture at the United forward. Centre-back Javi Martinez will also miss the second leg on April 9 after being booked for a foul on Javier Hernandez and Guardiola afterwards expressed dissatisfaction with Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo. I spoke with the referee, and he knows my opinion, Guardiola said. He gave me his opinion, and huge hug, and, Have a safe trip to Spain. Asked if he had not agreed with his countrymans decision to dismiss Schweinsteiger, he replied: Absolutely not. I spoke with the referee. I think hes a very good referee. He made a very, very good game. But its unfair. But its OK. To win the Champions League, you have to overcome everything. Sometimes during the season, during the competition, that happens, OK. The former Barcelona manager then became involved in a terse exchange with a British journalist, after being asked if United had played in a negative manner. The question was a reference to Guardiolas remark that United had played with nine players in the box, but he replied: I didnt say that. I

PM calls for re-think of England shirt price

Man Uniteds Nemanja Vidic (centre) scores the opener during their Champions League quarter-nal rst leg against Bayern Munich.

AFP

didnt say that. I respect my colleague [United manager David Moyes]. Seemingly annoyed, he added: Look at me when I talk to you. Im talking to you, but you dont look at me you look that [elsewhere].

Barca, Atletico bosses content

Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino believes his side did everything in their power to break down a dogged Atletico Madrid as they were held 1-1 at the Camp Nou in the rst leg of their Champions League quarternal on Tuesday. Diego Ribas had put Atletico in front with a wonder strike 11 minutes into the second-half, but Barcelona responded 19 minutes from time when Neymar swept home Andres Iniestas sublime through ball. That goal ensured the sides drew for

the fourth time in as many encounters this season, but Martino was happier with his sides display than in their three previous meetings with Atletico. Apart from the individual performances that we can talk about, the overall display of the team leaves me very calm. Against possibly the best counter-attacking team in Spain, if not Europe, we gave up two chances in the rst-half and a goal from 30 metres. We created three or four good chances ourselves, which is a lot against this Atletico team. I love managing a team that always tries to play in this manner. When the team has played badly in the past I have said so, but tonight it is fair to say that the team played very well. Both sides suffered injury blows as

Barcas Gerard Pique will be sidelined for four weeks due to a hairline fracture in his right hip, whilst Atleticos top scorer Diego Costa looks set to miss the return leg too due to a hamstring injury. Twenty-three year-old central defender Marc Bartra was forced into action after just 10 minutes by Piques injury, but Martino has every condence that the youngster can deputise ably for the experienced Pique in the coming weeks. In these situations you need to be able to count on everyone. Unfortunately, these things happen but Bartra played very well. I was not surprised by his performance, although to be able to come on as he did after just 10 minutes and adjust to the game straight away was very impressive. AFP

BritisH Prime Minister David Cameron has given his support to calls for a rethink regarding the 90 ($150, 109) cost of the new replica England football shirt. The price of the shirt, identical to the one that will be worn by the England team at this Junes World Cup finals in Brazil, proved controversial immediately following its launch earlier this week. Sports minister Helen Grant had already gone on Twitter to say: On 90 England #football shirts for fans, its not right. Loyal supporters are the bedrock of our national game pricing needs a rethink. And Camerons spokesman, at a regular media briefing yesterday, said: He does agree with Helen Grant. Im sure all fans would welcome a rethink. AFP

TONIGHTS fIXTuReS
UEFA Europa League
Quarter-nal First Leg AZ Alkmaar v Benca 2:05am Basel v Valencia 2:05am Porto v Sevilla 2:05am Lyon v Juventus 2:05am

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THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Sport

On the bounce
Bangladesh batsman Shakib Al Hasan attempts to play a shot as the ball goes up inside his helmet during his teams ICC World Twenty20 tournament cricket match against Australia at the Sher-eBangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday. AFP

STORY > 21

Woods ruled out of the Masters

Ewan Murray

Tiger Woods has announced that he is out of this months Masters after having surgery to x a long-standing back problem. AFP

IGER Woods run of featuring in every Masters since 1995 is over after conrmation that the world No.1 will not play at Augusta next week. Woods, who has been plagued by back trouble since the latter half of last year, underwent surgery on a pinched nerve in Utah on Monday. He has set his sights on a return to action this summer and insists his career is far from over. This withdrawal, however, still marks a highly signicant point in the Americans career. After attempting to get ready for the Masters, and failing to make the necessary progress, I decided, in consultation with my doctors, to have this procedure done, Woods said. Id like to express my disappointment to the Augusta National membership, staff, volunteers and patrons that I will not be at the Masters. Its a week thats very special to me. It also looks like Ill

be forced to miss several upcoming tournaments to focus on my rehabilitation and getting healthy. Id also like to thank the fans for their support and concern. Its very kind and greatly appreciated. This is frustrating but its something my doctors advised me to do for my immediate and long-term health. A herniated disc was pressing against a nerve, causing pain and spasms. The problem came to light during the Barclays Championship at Liberty National eight months ago, where Woods doubled up in pain on the course. Woods last appeared in March at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Doral, where he was clearly in trouble. He had withdrawn during the nal round of the Honda Classic and also pulled out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With all that in mind, his Masters participation was in obvious doubt but news of Woods surgery comes as more of a surprise.

It now remains to be seen where and when Woods reappears. The US Open, which was the last of the 14 majors he won in 2008, looks a highly optimistic target in midJune. The following month, the Open takes place at Royal Liverpool, where Woods triumphed in 2006. A statement on the world No.1s website said: Woods will begin intensive rehabilitation and soft-tissue treatment within a week. Healing and recovery times differ for each individual based on many physiological factors but Woods could begin chipping and putting, after assessment by his doctors, in three weeks. A headline on the PGA Tours website more ominously claimed Woods would be absent indenitely. Sponsors and television companies will be disappointed by the problems of Woods, given his continued appeal. The Tours commissioner, Tim Finchem, said: Were disappointed to hear that

Tiger will be out of competition for a few months and will miss several big tournaments but Im sure no one is more disappointed than Tiger. I was pleased to hear that Tigers procedure to alleviate a pinched nerve was successful and that the long-term prognosis for his recovery is positive. We wish him the best as he rests and rehabs his back, and we look forward to welcoming him back to the Tour this summer. Woods is chasing Jack Nicklaus haul of 18 major titles and the PGA Tour victory record of Sam Snead. He is within three of Sneads total of 82. Its tough right now but Im absolutely optimistic about the future, the 38-year-old Woods said. There are a couple [of] records by two outstanding individuals and players that I hope one day to break. As Ive said many times, Sam and Jack reached their milestones over an entire career. I plan to have a lot of years left in mine. THE GUARDIAN