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Breach of faith
A monk looks out at a housing development from an unnished pagoda in the capitals Sen Sok district yesterday. Locals and monks protested yesterday morning against the development, saying that it is encroaching on land that has been demarcated as sacred by the Ministry of Cult and Religion. PHA LINA

sTORY > 3

Hacktivists unmasked
Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah

WO members of Anonymous Cambodia, the local arm of the international hacktivist collective, were arrested earlier this month following an eightmonth-long investigation in conjunction with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Police announced yesterday. The two suspects both 21-yearold students at Phnom Penhs SETEC Institute, a private university have been charged under three articles of the criminal code related to computer

Police, FBI nab two Anonymous members

General Chhay Sinarith, director of the Ministry of Interiors internal security department. These are the rst members of the Anonymous hacker group who have been arrested by the [Cambodian] police, and we found no [evidence] of any [planned] terrorist attack. The investigation began after complaints were led by various government departments, including the National Election Committee, the Anti-Corruption Unit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Phnom Penh City

hacking, and could face between one month and two years in prison and a ne of up to 4 million riel ($1,000). They were arrested on April 7, and are being held in pretrial detention at Prey Sar prison. The authorities of the internal security department have investigated with the [cooperation of the representative in Cambodia] of the United States FBI for eight months to target the suspects [before] requesting an arrest warrant from the court to arrest the two students, said Major

Hall, following attacks by Anonymous Cambodia on their websites in the latter half of last year. As mass opposition-led protests against the government began after disputed parliamentary elections in July and the authorities response to demonstrations became more heavy-handed, leading to fatalities, Anonymous Cambodia launched what it called Operation Cambodia Freedom. According to a statement posted on the website of the General Commissariat of the National Police yesterday,

more than 30 government institutions and private companies have been attacked since the election. The two suspects were named by police as Bun King Mongkolpanha, known online as Black Cyber or Machine, and Chu Songheng, known online as Zoro. Ahead of the election last year, Black Cyber claimed responsibility in an interview with the Post for an attack that took the National Election Committee website ofine for about 12 hours, which he said was in protest of alleged government efforts to register illegal Continues on page 2

ISSUE NUMBER 1909

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

National
This shows us that our authority [has] enough capacity to crack down on cybercrime in the Kingdom. This [does] not only refer to local hackers who hacked local websites but also other hackers who [have] committed cybercrime offence into Cambodian soil or using Cambodia as [a] base to attack others, he said. At the SETEC Institute, which offers degrees in information technology and information systems, news of the arrests were a hot topic yesterday, students said. Members from Anonymous are not only from our school but also from other schools, one IT student, who declined to be named, said, adding that he had never met the suspects. A university ofcial who also declined to be named said that while Songheng had been taken away by a group of plainclothes police who arrived at the institute on April 7, he was not aware if Mongkolpanha was also arrested at the university. He also took the opportunity to distance the institute from the alleged illegal activities. We dont teach them to do things like this, we dont allow the students to do bad things, he said.

Two Anonymous hacktivists arrested IFC investigates over

Continued from page 1

land-grabbing link

Vietnamese voters. Two gigabytes of data related to the voter list was also stolen and the information was later released by the group. In that interview, Black Cyber said that he joined Anonymous in 2010 and was a hacker for primarily political reasons, but also to enjoy the technology. Myself, I dont think Im a criminal ... Im certain Im not a criminal, he said at the time, adding somewhat presciently that he feared foreign involvement in a government investigation. The Cambodian government by itself wont catch us, he told the Post. But they might if they collaborate with other agencies like from around the world, like the FBI, CIA or NSA. US Embassy spokesman Sean McIntosh said that the embassy would not comment on ongoing investigations. In response to whether FBI agents had been deployed from the US, he added that permanent FBI legal attaches at US embassies work with the law enforcement and security agencies in a host country to coordinate investigations of interest to both countries.

Amelia Woodside

Two members of Anonymous Cambodia pose for photos wearing masks. Both men were arrested on April 7 after being charged with computer hacking. photoS SUPPLIED

Police said yesterday that they are continuing to investigate other suspected hackers working with Anonymous Cambodia and that the pair had already confessed to being part of the group. The confession of the two suspects recognised their illegal activity [as members of Anonymous Cambodia] but they claimed they had just wanted to learn hacker skills, Sinarith said. The police statement, however, said that only Songheng, or Zoro, and not Mongkolpanha, or Black Cyber, had claimed he had not participated in any attacks. Anonymous Cambodia did not respond to requests for comment yesterday and the

group hasnt posted any statements about the attack. Since a draft law on cybercrime was leaked on April 9, however, the groups twitter page has repeatedly posted that #OpCambodia is a go. Cambodias government is trying to censor their internet. The draft law contained broad provisions for what could constitute a cybercrime, leading rights groups to fear that it could be used to silence government critics online. The Anonymous Cambodia arrests mark the rst time local hackers targeting the government have been taken into custody, said Ou Phannarith, director of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications ICT security department.

HE International Finance Corporation (IFC) has launched an internal investigation into a complaint lodged against the institution for investing in a Vietnamese rubber rm accused of illegal logging and land grabbing in Ratanakkiri, an NGO and villager said yesterday. Earlier this month, representatives of the IFCs Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) met with leaders from 17 indigenous communities in Andong Meas and OChum districts, along with representatives of Vietnam-based Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), which operates rubber plantations on economic land concessions in the Kingdoms northeast, according to Eang Vuthy, executive director at NGO Equitable Cambodia. This was a preliminary visit ... the IFC met with community leaders [and] government ofcials at the company. Were very hopeful a resolution between the parties will be reached. They say the company HAGL is willing to negotiate, so were hoping for a positive course of action once the IFC releases their report, Vuthy told the Post yesterday. Sal Hnuey, 59, a community

spokesman for villagers living in Andong Meas, conrmed yesterday that a team of international experts started visiting the affected areas in late March. On February 10, villagers lodged a complaint with the CAO, the internal watchdog of the IFC, which is the World Banks private lending arm. The companys allotted assessment period is limited to 120 working days following the submission of the complaint, but may be completed more quickly, CAOs operation guidelines say. The IFC is accused of supporting HAGLs actions by investing millions of dollars through an intermediary fund called Dragon Capital Group since 2002. Last year, HAGL came under re after UK-based NGO Global Witness published a report accusing the rubber giant of illegally logging outside concession areas and being in possession of at least 47,000 hectares of economic land concessions almost ve times the legal limit. The IFC did not respond to requests for comment before press time. A representative who identied himself as an employee of HAGL declined to comment yesterday. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PHAK SEANGLY

Villagers walk through recently cleared forest inside a HAGL rubber plantation in 2013. photo SUPPLIED

THE PHNOM PENH POST ApRIL 23, 2014

National
BK evictees lose battle on plot size
Khouth Sophak Chakrya

Monks fight alleged overstep

Chhay Channyda

Police seize meth

FOURTEEN families evicted from Boeung Kak were left disappointed again yesterday when Phnom Penhs governor ignored their calls to increase the size of land plots authorities had offered them. During a three-hour meeting, Governor Pa Socheatvong held firm on a 2011 decision that the families would receive 4-by-18-metre plots of land in reparation for land they once owned at Boeung Kak, where construction crews levelled homes and dredged the earth in 2010. When I heard the decision, I nearly fainted at the meeting table, said Hong Sokkheng, 49, a representative for the families. My land is 9,600 square metres and was flooded with sand and I received no compensation. In tears after the decision, Ly Channary said the plots offered were unacceptable for her and the 13 other families. We, the 14 families, had at least 2,000 square metres for each family, Channary explained. So we cannot accept this solution.

DEPUTY district governor and a land tycoon are allegedly attempting to seize land deemed sacred by about 700 monks and residents who gathered yesterday in protest outside the unnished Wat Kohbodhivong in Phnom Penhs Sen Sok district. Banner-wielding participants said that tycoon Chheang Paksour and Deputy District Governor Chea Khema are conspiring to parcel out pagoda grounds, despite the area being demarcated as sacred by the Ministry of Cults and Religion in 2006. Locals allege that Phnom Penh-based Borey Peng Huoths The Star Platinum housing development is in cahoots with Paksour and Khema to build a housing project that would extend onto the sacred grounds. [The area] has been sacred grounds for a very long time but has yet to receive traditional rites so the pagoda committee is asking to build one, said Peuy Meta, a chief monk, referring to a pagoda. The construction of the apartments and villas began in 2013 and a heavy police

Trafcking charges for ve in raid

Monks hold placards during a protest at the site of a housing development near Wat Kohbodhivong in Phnom Penhs Sen Sok district yesterday morning. Photo SUPPLIED

presence had initially stopped locals from protesting, said Chhoun Sovin, deputy chief monk of Wat Kohbodhivong. Tycoon Chheang Paksour and Chea Khema claimed Hun Sen allowed them to develop the area so monks and villagers kept quiet, Sovin said. In 2009, locals triumphed over a botched relocation plan

following clashes with police. The area holds special spiritual import. According to lore, a python lived on the grounds in harmony with residents for several years, and the recent arrival of a 40-kilogram turtle was seen as propitious. Nearly 30 monks intend to reside on the grounds until the dispute is resolved. The com-

munity has led complaints with District Governor Ly Saveth and intends to le a complaint with Prime Minister Hun Sen. Saveth and Khema could not be reached for comment. An employee of Borey Peng Huoth unauthorised to talk to the press said the company owned the land and construction was nearly complete.

IVE men were charged yesterday with smuggling more than half a kilogram of methamphetamine in the capitals Tuol Kork district last week, a senior police ofcial with an anti-drug unit said. Major General Sok Chour, spokesman for the Ministry of Interiors anti-drug police department, said the ve men charged were members of a drug-trafcking ring based in Phnom Penh. They were arrested while the ... anti-drug police raided their rental house in Boeng Salang commune last [Friday], he told the Post yesterday. There, the police seized about 500 grams of methamphetamine powder, and 4,000 pseudoephedrine meth tablets, known as WY pills. They also conscated a Toyota Camry. The ve men were sent to the Prey Sar prison to await trial. Neither Top Chhun Long, the prosecutor assigned to the case at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, nor the ve suspects could be reached for comment yesterday. BUTH
REAKSMEY KONGKEA

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

National

ee summons in After violence, Sochua to sue Two long-running dispute

Meas Sokchea and Khouth Sophak Chakrya May Titthara

PPOSITION lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua yesterday called for a government ofcial to be dismissed and vowed legal action against him over violence by security guards at Freedom Park. During a news conference at the Cambodia National Rescue Partys headquarters in Phnom Penhs Meanchey district, Sochua accused Daun Penh district deputy governor Sok Penh Vuth of ordering his security guards to attack a peaceful crowd of supporters, journalists and NGO workers on Monday. They [security guards] focused on beating people [over the] head, which could cripple or kill ... I would like to have an administrative penalty issued and I would like the Daun Penh district deputy governors title to be suspended, she said. Sochua said a lawyer will le charges with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday while she takes video footage of the attack to the diplomatic corps and European Union. At least 10 people were injured in the violence, which Sochua said broke out after

Three men talk at the Cambodia National Rescue Partys headquarters in Phnom Penh yesterday after they were injured by municipal security personnel at Freedom Park on Monday. VIREAK MAI

she was removed from the park. Since the beginning of the month, Sochua has been on a crusade to bring freedom back to Freedom Park where authorities have stopped groups from gathering after breaking up a protest camp there earlier this year. She plans to return today. At the news conference, victims spoke of the brutality they were subjected to under Penh

Vuths orders. But City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche defended the security forces. We are the public ofcials, we must enforce the law. If the law permits her to [make an expression], we would permit her to do. If the law does not permit it, we [wont]. Vuth could not be reached for comment yesterday. Meanwhile, the CNRPs plans to set up a permanent

campaign base for approaching council elections in either Freedom Park or Wat Botum were rejected by City Hall yesterday for going against National Election Committee orders that ban permanent campaign bases. Morn Thalla, chief executive of the committee of the CNRP in Phnom Penh, said the party will le a new request with City Hall today at 9am.

TWO villagers in Kampong Chhnang provinces Kampong Trolach district have fled their homes for safety reasons after getting an alarming summons from police in response to their refusal to accept relocation money from KDC International Company, which has been feuding with locals over land for more than a decade. According to villager Reach Seyma, the district police chief issued the summons to him and neighbour Snguon Nhean on Sunday. Reading what they assumed to be the writing on the wall, they both fled. It is weird, especially because it was a Sunday. I got the letter at 1pm and it said I needed to appear at 2pm. I had been told that if I appeared I would have been apprehended for inciting people to reject the compensation offer and making people rebellious, Seyma said, adding that he will return once he has legal representation. He and 15 families who rejected compensation were supposed to go to Provincial Hall on April 24 to negotiate, but Seyma wasnt holding out hope for a resolution, because the committee set up by the

government to help resolve compensation issues merely followed the companys bidding, he claimed. They want to threaten me with other people as they did seven years ago, he said, referring to an incident in 2006 when 16 people were charged with defamation and land grabbing. The protracted dispute has resulted in jail terms, one of which put a villager behind bars for six years. Nhean said the committee paid a community representative $3,000, while giving a fraction of that to other families, who wept after realising they had been cheated, he said. The dispute started in 2002 when KDC, owned by Chea Kheng, the wife of Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem, cleared more than 140 hectares of land granted to villagers as a farming concession. Dok Sothea, deputy provincial governor and director of the land dispute committee, and Thai Hy, a KDC rep, could not be reached. Chan Soveth, senior investigator for Adhoc, said the committee didnt have the will to end disputes and followed the companys orders instead.

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

National
Strikes still on in some provinces
Mom Kunthear

Wage-setting meet up in air

Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan

Trucks intercepted

UNREST in the garment sector spread yesterday, as hundreds of workers from Kandal province demonstrated outside their factory. The 700 workers at Unity Fashion factory walked off the job after managers said they would dock wages of workers who did not show up on April 17, the first day after Khmer New Year, said Ry Sithinet, a Free Trade Union officer. Striking that began on Saturday continued yesterday at three factories in Svay Rieng provinces Tai Seng Special Economic Zone, said Meas Sokna, the local Collective Union of Movement of Workers officer. Workers at Best Way, Smart Tech and You Li factories are demanding a $50 no-strike bonus management has withheld in the wake of demonstrations late last year and the reinstatement of 43 fired workers. Provincial Ministry of Labour director Has Bunthy said he was working with both sides. But Sokna said strikers were considering blocking a road if a resolution was not offered this morning.

XACTLY who will participate in a workshop to set the minimum wage in the garment sector with the Ministry of Labour this week remained unclear yesterday, with some key gures saying they had not yet been invited. During the workshop, to be held on Thursday and Friday, the ministry, with technical assistance from the International Labour Organization, will begin discussions with union, NGO and industry leaders about setting a mechanism to calculate a fair minimum wage for garment industry workers, a Ministry of Labour letter, signed by secretary of state Oum Mean, says. I cannot say what I expect of the workshop, since the minimum-wage-setting process will not nish until the end of this year, said Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, after being invited to the event. I think the workshop is just the rst step. As of yesterday, Ath Thorn, president of Cambodias largest independent garment union, the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Demo-

More than 200 illegal logs seized

A garment factory worker holds a placard during a protest that saw Russian Boulevard blockaded by razor wire and riot police in Phnom Penh in December. VIREAK MAI

cratic Union (C.CAWDU), had not received an invitation. I expect to be invited, but until now I did not receive an invitation, Thorn said. Dave Welsh, country manager for labour rights group Solidarity Center, also remained unsure whether the meeting would go forward, having not received an invitation or heard about the event in weeks. Noting that the court sud-

denly pushed the trial of 23 people arrested during January strike demonstrations from last Friday to April 25, Welsh said he believed it possible this event could also be delayed. He added that he hoped 2014 wages which garment workers continued to protest after the Labour Ministry announced a hike in the monthly wage to $100, rather than the

$160 demanded would be on the agenda. This cant sort of be in a two-step pattern, Welsh said. Theres no reason to wait till January for everything to kick in. A spokesman from the Labour Ministry, which plans to set both the new wage-calculating mechanism and next years minimum wage by January, could not be reached.

HREE trucks carrying illegally felled luxury timber to the Preah Sihanouk Autonomous Port were held up by the Forestry Administration in Kampong Speu province on Monday, resulting in two men being arrested and four others escaping, ofcials said yesterday. Cheng Ratha, deputy chief of Kampong Speu Provincial Forestry Administration, said his forces followed several loaded vehicles to Chbar Mon town, where they stopped three suspicious trucks. According to Ratha, more than 200 pieces of illegal timber were conscated. A driver, identied as Chan Mony, 32, and his assistant, 24, were arrested but denied all accusations during questioning. Four truck attendants managed to escape while their load was examined, Ratha said. We asked them to tell us the owner of the timber, but they did not tell us, he added. According to Som Bora, Kampong Speu provincial deputy police chief, the two men were sent to provincial court on Monday. Investigating prosecutor Ti Monin could not be reached for comment yesterday. PHAK SEANGLY

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

National Reduced sentence for crocodile grandma

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

pOLICE BLOttER
Facebook friends no more after moto theft
A MAN is likely to be unfriended on Facebook after stealing a motorbike from a girl in his social network in Battambang last week. The man, 26, befriended the girl, 17, online and proceeded to charm her with emoticons for several months before they agreed to meet. After persuading the girl to take him on a twowheel tour of the province, he made off with her moto while she went swimming. The man was later arrested, leaving the girl to vent about her woes online. NOKORWAT

Students practise writing Chinese at Duan Hua School in Phnom Penh last year. The Chinese government donated $203,000 last week to support the teaching of Chinese language in Cambodia. RUTH KEBER

Chinese govt invests in language courses

Laignee Barron and Sen David

N An effort to bolster Chinas cultural inuence and expand bilateral ties, the Chinese government last week donated $203,000 to support the Kingdoms increasingly popular Chineselanguage classes. The funding was transferred last Thursday to the Chinese Association in Cambodia, which said it plans to expand class offerings, textbook availability and the number of teachers at 55 language programs it supports throughout the nation. Chinese has become increasingly popular among students and professionals looking for a leg-up in the business world, as they perceive China to be tied to the Kingdoms future economic development and the language skills key to a lucrative career, according to the association. After Khmer, the mother

tongue, English is the rst foreign language sought, and then Chinese language is the second most popular [foreign language] in Cambodia, Chhin Eak Shing, director of academic affairs at the Chinese Association, said. Cambodians of Chinese descent are one of the Kingdoms largest ethnic minorities, numbering between 700,000 and a million, according to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Chinese schools originally catering to second- and thirdgeneration Chinese-Cambodians now attract a much wider range of students looking to gain language and cultural skills pertinent to one of Cambodias largest investors. Those students now want to broaden their skills from primary level to uency, according to Zhou Liyun, the coordinator of the Chinese Department at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Zhou said the countrys rst university-level Chinese program started in 2008 with just two classes and 50 students. Now, the centre supports 350 budding Chinese speakers. Now that China has become wealthy, a lot of people sense they can get a job if they learn Chinese, Zhou said. In Cambodia, we need a lot of professional translators and bilingual tour guides, so students see language classes, and especially Chinese, as a good investment. In addition to providing donations, China has supported the learning of Chinese by sending volunteers on oneyear teaching stints. Still, Chinas cultural donation pales in comparison to the total of $2.89 billion provided as of December of last year in grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans to support hydropower projects, roads and other development plans.

THE Appeal Court yesterday more than halved the sentence of businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary, whose croc farm plans earned her the nickname Crocodile Grandmother, given after her 2012 conviction for encroaching on 34 hectares of state land land that her defence team says she still legally owns. The Appeal Court decided to uphold the decision of Phnom Penh [Municipal] Court ... but it has reduced Chhin Sokounthearys punishment from four years and six months to two years in prison, presiding judge Nguon Im said yesterday. The Appeal Court decided to reduce her ne from 30 million riel [about $7,500] to 15 million riel and cancelled her 60 million riel compensation [payment], he added. Sok Sam Oeun, the executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project and attorney for Sokountheary who was tried in absentia lambasted the verdict, saying that all the evidence pointed

in his clients favour. I think that the courts decision was not just ... I could not accept it, he said yesterday. However, now I do not know whether she will appeal it to the highest court or not. Oeun yesterday echoed Sokounthearys long-held contention that she legally purchased the land with the acknowledgement of local authorities in 1999 as reportedly shown with evidence of 18 land ownership transfer certicates and that she paid tax on it in 2011. In March of last year, Sokountheary led an abuse-ofpower lawsuit against thenPhnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema and his alleged accomplices for falsifying documents that illegally reclassied the land in question as belonging to the state. The $100 million suit was summarily dismissed by Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which offered no explanation. The Appeal Court later upheld the decision to throw the suit out, saying that the subdecree classifying the land as state property was in the interest of the public.

Hits keep coming on holiday dance floors

THE fallout from Khmer New Year dance parties continues. One man was arrested on Monday for his role in beating two brothers, 26 and 28, during a party in Siem Reap province last week. Police said five men used bamboo sticks to pulverise the pair after an argument became heated. The brothers were sent to hospital for treatment, while the gangsters fled. Police caught up with one the next day. RASMEI KAMPUCHEA

Fishermen allege lot sold to businessman

Sen David

Lifes a beach then your phone gets nicked

ONE hundred shermen in Banteay Meanchey provinces Sisophon town led a complaint with local authorities yesterday, accusing a provincial sheries administration ofcial in Phniet commune of selling their subsistence shing lot to a businessman. Fisherman Moa Reum, 51, said the communes public lot has existed since Prime Minister Hun Sen cancelled private commercial shing in 2012, but last month, on April 9,

locals say commune authorities barred them from casting their rods there. Ear Yung, another sherman, conrmed the account, and urged the government to return the lot to community. Our lives depend on shing in that area, Yung said. Taing Kuy, the Phniet shing community director, whose job is under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said she didnt sell the lot but banned shing there for a while to help replenish stocks.

A PAIR of beachcombing alleged thieves in Sihanoukville thought theyd struck gold on Sunday only to find themselves in steel bracelets instead. According to police, a 13-year-old boy and a 19-yearold student allegedly snatched phones and cash belonging to two out-of-towners who were taking a dip at the beach. The victims shouted for help, and bystanders made a citizens arrest, turning the two over to police. Police sent the student to court, and an NGO gave the boy a lesson in not stealing other peoples things. NOKORWAT

Boozy argument leads to a belting literally

A TONGUE lashing turned into an actual lashing on a boozy Thursday night in Banteay Meanchey last week. Military police said a few villagers were having some beers when an argument broke out. Incensed, one of the villagers quickly took off his belt and proceeded to whip another in the head repeatedly. The family of the hospitalised victim filed a complaint with military police, who tracked down the alleged attacker. DEUM AMPIL

Dealership now defunct after police bust duo

A DRUG deal in Battambang town turned out to be the downfall for two men on Sunday. Police, working on a tip, staked out a spot where a suspected drug dealer was hanging out. When another man showed up, cops moved in, apprehending the two and finding nearly 23 grams of meth on their persons. The main dealer reportedly confessed to supplying the second man, who, in turn, supplied several addicts around town.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

Translated by Phak Seangly

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Business
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32.19

THAI says unrest to blame for big losses

THAI Airways International (THAI) has confirmed it is experiencing a substantial decrease in passengers from East Asia due to Thailands ongoing political standoff. Acting president Chokchai Panyayong said the board acknowledged that THAIs losses in the first quarter of this year are due to a drop in passengers from China, Japan and South Korea. The company recorded losses of 30 million baht (nearly $1 million) more than expected, he said, declining to reveal the actual figures due to regulations imposed by the Stock Exchange of Thailand. THAIs acting president said the drop in passengers could also be attributed to competition from new airlines. Once the political chaos is resolved, the situation is likely to improve, he said. In the first quarter of the year, the number of THAIs Chinese passengers dropped by 25.8 per cent, Japanese by 8 per cent, and South Korean by 17 per cent. The number of Chinese tourists in Thailand dropped by 27.2 per cent in the first three months, Japanese dropped 25.2 per cent and South Korean dropped 12.9 per cent. Chokchai said THAIs cabin factor which refers to the percentage of seats sold in the first quarter of this year was 68.7 per cent, lower than 80.3 per cent in the same period of last year. The total number of passengers using the airline in March was 1.59 million, a drop of 20.5 per cent on the same period last year. In the second half of this year, THAI plans to focus on the transit passenger market due to large number of passengers making stopovers in Thailand.
BANGKOK POST

An old utility vehicle travels on Preah Sisowath Quay past the Royal Palace yesterday in Phnom Penh.

HONG MENEA

Minister calls for old car ban

Chan Muyhong

MPORTS of older cars and vans should be banned to help reduce pollution, Minister of Industry and Handicrafts Cham Prasidh said on Monday. Speaking to Cambodias business community at a Green Industry workshop in Phnom Penh on Monday, Prasidh said all countries had a role to play in reducing greenhouse emissions and that Cambodia should look at the environmental impact of its used car market. Used and older automobiles are polluting the environment so much, so I am planning to

request to the government to consider blocking used cars and and automobiles older than 10 years from entering Cambodia, he said. Newer model of automobiles have less of an impact, but we still see a large number of used cars are being imported to Cambodia. Seng Voeung, motor vehicle division manager of RMA Cambodia, which is a Ford distributor, welcomed the ministers suggestion. Cambodia is well-known to be a rubbish bin for unwanted things from abroad. It is really a good start for Cambodia as other countries have already done it, like Laos who would

not allow a ve-year-old used car into their country. Used vehicles account for 90 per cent of the car market, according to Voeung. Not only would the ban on older cars reduce that gure, but it would also bring down the number of trafc accidents and reduce air pollution, he said. A used Toyota and Lexus dealer based in Phnom Penh who asked not to be named said he would gladly abide by a ruling to take older cars off the road as long as the cost of newer cars was lowered. I am ne with the move, but I would like to urge the government to consider charging

lower import tax so that users can afford to buy a later series, he said. But such a ban could have signicant consequences for a country that is still developing, Kang Chandararot, president of Institute of Cambodia Development Studies, said. I think the measure comes too soon if we look at peoples level of living standards now. People use the older machinery and automobiles which are affordable for them. A ban would increase the cost of transport used in sectors like agriculture, which help foster growth, Chandararot said. This is not the rst time

Prasidh has called for a ban on old vehicles. In 2008, while serving as the minister of commerce, Prasidh proposed a ban on all used cars manufactured before 2000. Prasidhs plan was to be implemented following the 2008 national election, however it never came to fruition. Last month, Tek Reth Kamrong, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said Cambodians are increasingly able to afford expensive consumer goods. Reth Kamrong pointed out that in 2013, the number of imported vehicles was 10,000 more than in 2012.

Greek austerity caused more than 500 male suicides

SPENDING cuts in Greece caused a rise in male suicides, according to research that attempts to highlight the health costs of austerity. Echoing official statistics in the UK showing suicide rates are still higher than before the crisis, researchers at the University of Portsmouth have found a correlation between spending cuts and suicides in Greece. According to the research, every 1 per cent fall in government spending in Greece led to a 0.43 per cent rise in suicides among men after controlling for other characteristics that might lead to suicide, 551 men killed themselves solely because of fiscal austerity between 2009 and 2010, the papers co-author, Nikolaos Antonakakis, said. That is almost one person per day. Given that in 2010 there were around two suicides in Greece per day, it appears 50 per cent were due to austerity, he said. Antonakakis, a Greek economics lecturer, said he had been prompted to look into a potential link between austerity and suicide rates after media stories and reports of friends of friends dying from suicide. Although there had been studies into the health effects of negative economic growth, there was a gap when it came specifically to spending cuts and health, he said. Antonakakis and his co-author, economics professor Alan Collins, said they were surprised at how many suicides appeared linked to austerity and how clear the connection was. There was also a clear gender divide in the effects of austerity with no obvious rise in female suicide rates, according to the research published in the journal Social Science and Medicine. Men aged 45-89 faced the highest suicide risk in response to austerity because they were most likely to suffer cuts to their salaries and pensions, the research said. Antonakakis and Collins are considering work on the link between austerity and suicide rates in other countries most affected by the eurozone crisis, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland. These findings have strong implications for policymakers and for health agencies, Antonakakis said. We often talk about the fiscal multiplier effect of austerity, such as what it does to GDP . But what is the health multiplier? We have to consider the health multipliers of any fiscal consolidation and austerity. The fact we find gender specificity and age specificity can help health agencies target their help. Political economist David Stuckler and physician-epidemiologist Sanjay Basu pointed to soaring suicide rates, rising HIV infections and even a malaria outbreak in their book The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills, published last year. But they argued that such costs were not inevitable and that, in some countries, countermeasures such as active labour market schemes had softened the blow from cuts. In Greece, however, HIV infection rose by more than 200 per cent from 2011 as prevention budgets were cut and intravenous drug use grew as youth unemployment reached 50 per cent. THE GUARDIAN

THE PHNOM PENH POST aPriL 23, 2014

Business

ULKY, brash and wildly popular in Europe and the US, the urban 4x4 is the latest must-have for Chinese drivers, whose conversion to the cult of the SUV is the talking point of this years Beijing Auto Show. The SUV (sport utility vehicle), with a distinctive stocky frame, all-wheel drive and rugged image, has become equally coveted and ridiculed in the West in recent years, but is a recent phenomenon in China. Ford, the worlds rst carmaker, arrived later to the market than its domestic rival General Motors, but has proved to be one of the biggest winners in the Chinese SUV race so far, with sales of its locally-produced Kuga model soaring. It is far from alone. The list of motoring brands angling to scratch Chinas itch for SUVs keeps getting longer, with Audi, Mercedes, Volvo and Citroen all clamouring for business after Chinese sales of the vehicles doubled last year to 2.9 million units, of a total 22 million cars sold in the country.

Chinese fall for SUVs at auto show B

Laure Fillon

China auto sales

Million units
21.98 18.06 18.51 19.31

13.64 9.38

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: CAAM

Visitor look at the BMW X5 (right) and BMW X3 at Auto China 2014 in Beijing on Monday.

AFP

Volvos China bestseller is similarly an all-wheel drive, and Audi outlined its intentions with the TT Offroad at the Beijing show, a ve-door concept model with traditional Audi features such as a prominent single-frame grille and a heavily curved roof line in an echo of its smash-hit Q5. In a similar vein, Frances

PSA Peugeot Citroen showcased the DS 6WR, an SUV inspired by the Wild Rubis, a concept car unveiled in 2013. And Mercedes-Benz presented a Coupe SUV concept, aimed at competing with BMWs X6, which was the rst to combine the utility of an SUV and the attractiveness of a coupe, with great success.

Today its a segment that is a little less competitive than the sedan, but its the future, Gilles Normand, Asia-Pacic chief at Renault, said. There is a major trend in the industry towards this type of product. The French manufacturer would know: its bestselling model worldwide is the 4x4 Duster, and the rm is cur-

rently laying the groundwork for its rst factory in China. For John Yan, who travelled to Beijing from North America for the show, it is hard to imagine life without a 4x4. Its so practical. I wouldnt know how to survive without an SUV, he said. Chinese clients enjoy one particular aspect of the 4x4 just as much as their Western counterparts: They love that higher seating position, said Haakan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo, a feature that offers the driver a greater sense of security on the road. SUVs, while not as ubiquitous as smaller cars, have be-

come an increasingly common sight along urban roads in China for more than a decade. They run the gamut from Chinese automakers to luxury foreign brands such as Porsche, with the higherend models often seen as status symbols. As in other countries Chinese families do not necessarily buy them for off-roading in the wild, and instead rely on them for urban trekking school dropoffs and other business around town. But beyond the cliched soccer mom driving her children around a manicured Californian suburb in a giant SUV, there is a more practical application for the ranges technical prowess in some areas of China. If Im going to the mountains, its hard to drive when the frame is low and the roads are bad, Chinese SUV enthusiast Wang Ping said at the show. The growth of the SUV is not universally assured. Chinas car sales surged 13.9 per cent last year, but that growth hit a speed bump in March, slowing to a 6.6 per cent year-on-year rise after reaching a record 17.8 per cent high in January. AFP

Deutsche Bank worker admits bribery

Request for Proposals Responding to the Terms of Reference to Conduct a Biodiversity Survey in the Prey Lang Landscape
The USAID Supporting Forests and Biodiversity (SFB) Project is being funded by USAID and implemented by Winrock International and a consortium of partners. The Project is being implemented in close partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries through the Forestry Administration and the Ministry of Environment through the General Department of Administration for Natural Conservation and Protection. The Projects goal is to improve conservation and governance of the Eastern Plains and Prey Lang Landscapes to decrease the rate of deforestation, mitigate climate change, and conserve biodiversity by building the capacity of forest community members to improve forest management decisions and by building the capacity of government ofcers to support these efforts. The USAID Supporting Forests and Biodiversity (SFB) Project is seeking Proposals from highly-experienced and qualied rms, consortiums of rms, or individuals to conduct the captioned biodiversity survey to contribute towards achieving its goal and objectives. The survey aims to gather new biological data to guide the countrys land use planning, biodiversity conservation and management priorities with regards to the Prey Lang Forest Landscape. The eligible applicants must at minimum: i) be legally registered to conduct business in Cambodia; ii) have the technical and nancial capability to implement the survey activities; iii) have experience implementing successful, similar surveys in Cambodia; iv) have a good track record that supports the capability to implement, such as length of operation, complexity, and major achievements of similar surveys; v) have the appropriate structure and makeup of team and experts; and vi) technical knowledge in the survey and topic areas in forestry, biodiversity, climate change and an understanding of the Cambodian governments context in the forestry and biodiversity sector. The survey is proposed to be conducted from for a period from May to 30 November 2014. A technical and nancial proposal should be prepared and delivered in separate envelopes.

FORMER Deutsche Bank AG salesman Shigeru Echigo yesterday admitted to bribery charges in Tokyo and said he acted on instructions from his managers, as authorities push brokerages to be more judicious in entertaining clients. At the start of his trial in Tokyo District Court, Echigo accepted prosecutors argument that he bribed a pension fund executive to buy investment products. Echigo, 37, spent about 900,000 yen ($8,800) entertaining the client on 15 occasions from April to September 2012, prosecutors said. The defendant said he didnt act alone and the conduct at the German banks Japan brokerage unit was institutional. Former Mitsui & Co employee Yutaka Tsurisawa was convicted in the same court last month for accepting benefits from Echigo, and Deutsche Securities Inc cut the pay of several top Japan officials after the firm was censured by regulators in December. The charges relate to meals and golf outings with Tsurisawa that constituted a breach of Japanese law because the

People walk past the Deutsche Bank Group ofces in Tokyo.

BLOOMBERG

money his pension oversaw included public funds, effectively making him a civil servant. The investigations into Echigo and Tsurisawa may signal that Japanese banks and brokers practice of entertaining clients to build relationships will only be tolerated in relation to private money. This case has sent a strong message that banks and brokerages must be more careful when they entertain clients,

said Mamoru Nagano, a professor of economics and international finance at Seikei University in Tokyo. If convicted by a panel led by chief judge Akira Ando, Echigo faces as long as three years in prison or a maximum fine of 2.5 million yen. The trial was adjourned after the mornings proceedings and the next hearing is scheduled for June 17. My actions as a salesman were part of systematic con-

duct based on the instructions and consent of my bosses at Deutsche Securities, Echigo, wearing glasses and a dark blue, pinstriped suit, told the court. His lawyers showed evidence based on police and prosecutors interviews with his former bosses and colleagues that managers encouraged the spending. A Deutsche Securities spokesman declined to comment. Tsurisawa was convicted by Ando on March 14 and given a suspended 18-month prison sentence. The executive was told to repay almost 900,000 yen, according to the court, equivalent to the amount spent on his entertainment. Deutsche Securities last year became the first brokerage to be penalised in Japan for breaching client entertainment rules after spending 6.3 million yen on executives from three pension funds between 2010 and 2012. The Financial Services Agency ordered compliance improvements in December, and the unit of Germanys largest bank disbanded the pension sales team. BLOOMBERG

Toyota India employees end five-week strike

JAPANESE carmaker Toyota said employees at its strike-hit complex in southern India returned to work yesterday, ending a ve-week standoff. Unionised employees had refused to go back to their jobs at the twin plant complex near high-tech hub Bangalore following an end to an eight-day company lockout last month, amid a dispute over pay and other issues. Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Ltd is the Indian unit of the worlds biggest carmaker. All the workmen have returned to work and things are returning to normal, a company spokesman said. The union said there was still no settlement of the pay row over which the two sides have been at loggerheads for nearly a year. But the dispute has been referred to the industrial tribunal for adjudication, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Union general secretary R Satish said. Union members voted late on Monday to return to work in the interests of all, Satish said. Toyota carried out limited production during the standoff using non-unionised engineers, supervisors and other workers at the plant established in 1997. But it said the dispute had sharply curtailed output at the plant, which employs some 6,400 workers. The union says 4,200 of them are union members while the remainder are on contract. Toyota Kirloskar Motors Bangalore complex produces 310,000 autos annually, including Toyotas agship Camry sedan, the Corolla, and the Prius hybrid, mostly for the domestic market. AFP

Proposals should be developed based on the detailed Terms of Reference (ToR) which is available upon request to infosfb@winrock.org.
Please submit your proposals to the USAID Supporting Forests and Biodiversity (SFB) Project ofce: Room 588, Building F, Phnom Penh Center or by email at infosfb@winrock.org. Tel: 855 23 220 714. Deadline for receiving proposals is before the close of business May 01, 2014. Only shortlisted organizations will be contacted.

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Markets Business
Venezuela eyes bigger oil exports to China
VENEZUELA hopes to boost oil exports to China by more than half to a million barrels a day, president Nicolas Maduro said on Monday after talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The two countries are in talks on investments to achieve this goal, Maduro said, adding we are going to achieve it. Wang is on a tour of Latin American countries. In 2013 Venezuela exported an average of 626,000 barrels a day of oil to energy-hungry China. China is Venezuelas main oil customer after the US. Maduro gave no timetable for the higher oil export goal. If it is achieved China would become Venezuelas top oil buyer. The US has tense relations with Venezuela but still imported an average of 800,000 barrels a day in 2013. China is an important investment capital source for Venezuela, which sits atop the worlds largest proven crude oil reserves. Last year, China pledged to invest over $20 billion in Venezuelan oil and social cooperation when Maduro paid his first visit to Beijing. AFP

Boeing snares $4.6 bln order

HANDONG Airlines, one of Chinas smaller carriers, said it has agreed to buy 50 passenger planes from US manufacturer Boeing for $4.6 billion, in another sign of the countrys growing demand for air travel. The company signed a deal on Monday to purchase 16 Boeing 737-800s and 34 Boeing 737 MAX planes, a statement said, in a drive to grow its fleet for future business expansion. Chinas commercial airline industry is dominated by the Big Three ag carrier Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines but a move towards greater competition has seen the growth of smaller players. The order represents a win for Boeing in the giant Chinese market and a vote of condence in its newest family of single-aisle planes, the 737 MAX, which promises greater fuel efciency. The manufacturer will begin deliveries of the 737 MAX to global customers beginning in 2017, according to Boeing. Boeing could not be reached to conrm the order, but it typically allows the customer to make the announcement.

Scandal sends stock in China Resources falling

CHINA Resources Power Holdings Co yesterday plunged the most since 2008 after the nations anti-corruption agency said its investigating the former chairman of the companys parent. The listed unit of China Resources Holdings Co fell as much as 12 per cent in Hong Kong, leading a slump in shares of group companies after the probe into Song Lin was announced last week. Song has been removed from office, the official Xinhua News Agency said on the weekend. China Resources Power may write down some of its 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) in coal mine investments after Songs removal, Citi Research said. BLOOMBERG

A Shandong Airlines plane taxis on the runway at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.

BLOOMBERG

Reserve rate eased for rural Chinese banks

Shandong Airlines aims to increase its eet to more than 140 aircraft by the end of 2020, roughly doubling its total stock of planes, Chinas ofcial Xinhua news agency late on Monday quoted an airline ofcial as saying. It already operates 67 Boeing 737 planes, Xinhua said. Stock investors cheered the plane order. Shandong Airlines, which is listed on Chinas Shenzhen stock exchange, was up 3.54 per cent by midday yesterday.

Fierce competitors Boeing and European consortium Airbus have locked horns in a battle for lucrative orders in China, which is seeing a rapidly expanding domestic airline sector. While slow growth in Western economies is hitting the aviation industry, Asian countries are booming with an emerging middle class keen to take to the air. The Asia-Pacic region will require almost 13,000 new airplanes worth $1.9 trillion

over the next 20 years, Boeing said earlier this year. At Asias premier air show in February, organisers announced a record high of more than $32 billion in deals as Asian carriers ordered more aircraft to meet the explosive demand for cheap, short-range travel. Boeing said last year that it expects Chinas commercial aircraft eet to triple in size over the next two decades. China will need 5,580 new airplanes worth $780 billion by 2032, it said. AFP

CHINA will cut the amount of funds rural banks must keep in reserve by up to two percentage points, the central bank said yesterday, easing monetary policy in a bid to boost its slowing economy. Starting on Friday, the reserve requirement rate for countylevel rural commercial lenders will be trimmed by two percentage points and the rate for county-level rural cooperative banks will be cut by 0.5 points, the Peoples Bank of China said. AFP

10

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Business

Juicy court case leaves Coke on defensive

COCA-COLA was taken to task by the US Supreme Court on Monday, with justices questioning whether a drink sold labelled as fruit juice was the real thing. The US soft drinks giant is being sued by Californian fruit juice maker Pom Wonderful, which accuses Coca-Cola of misleading consumers about its Minute Maid drink Pomegranate Blueberry. The drink contains only 0.5 per cent of the two fruits. Pom Wonderful attorney Seth Waxman said that consumers were being misled by CocaColas branding of the drink which is made mostly from apple or grape juice as Pomegranate Blueberry. Pom Wonderful, which sells 100 per cent pomegranate juice, was suffering as a result of Coca-Colas practices, Waxman argued. Coca-Cola came out on top in an earlier case in a San Francisco court, which ruled that the companys labelling practices were consistent with regulations set by the US Food and Drug Administration. According to attorney Kathleen Sullivan, who is defending Coca-Cola, the FDA was responsible for a national uniformity of labelling. Justice Anthony Kennedy asked whether it was Cokes position that national uniformity consists in labels that cheat the consumers like this one did. Justice Samuel Alito also asked whether consumers purchasing the product expecting to receive the health benefits of pomegranate juice would be very surprised to find ... that it has less than one-half of 1 per cent of pomegranate juice. A decision in the case is expected to be handed down in June. afp

Novartis, GSK in deal frenzy

Nina Larson

Govt approved

WISS pharmaceutical giant Novartis and British group GlaxoSmithKline announced a major shake-up of their healthcare divisions yesterday in deals worth billions of dollars. The string of takeovers and ventures involves three giant health care groups and will affect several areas in the fast-changing global health sector, including markets in emerging economies. Novartis said it would buy GSKs oncology (cancer treatment) business for $16 billion in cash and will sell its vaccines division, excluding vaccines for flu, to the British company for up to $7.1 billion, also in cash. Novartis said the acquisition would hand it ownership over a range of top-line cancer drugs, expanding its position in targeted therapies, and among making it a world leader in treating melanoma, or skin cancer. The GSK oncology products going to Novartis generated about $1.6 billion in sales last year. The two firms also announced a joint venture to create a world-leading consumer health care business focused on wellness, oral health, nutrition and skin health, which is expected

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and Swiss counterpart Novartis have announced major deals worth billions of dollars. afp

to pull in about $10 billion in annual sales. The geographic footprint would span all regions, with scale and commercial presence in the developed world as well as in key emerging markets, such as Brazil, China, Mexico and Russia, Novartis said in a statement. GSK, which will hold 63.5 per cent of the newly created business, said it would use proceeds from the deals to return 4 billion ($6.7 billion) to its shareholders. These transactions mark a transformational moment for Novartis, chief

exec Joseph Jimenez said in the statement, insisting that the deals would help give the Swiss company a sharper focus. Patients will benefit from even higher levels of innovation that this focus may afford, he said, pointing out that the agreements would also improve our financial strength, and are expected to add to our growth rates and margins immediately. But the shake-up did not end there. Novartis also said it had agreed to sell its animal health division to US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly for $5.4 billion.

The Swiss company explained that its divestment from its animal health division was the result of a competitive process, stressing it would make Lilly a leader in the field while allowing Novartis to focus better on innovative pharmaceuticals, eye-care and generics. Novartis Animal Health, which focuses on preventing and treating diseases in pets, farm animals and farmed fish, is present in about 40 countries and posted 2013 revenue of some $1.1 billion. That deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals in the US and overseas, is set to conclude in the first quarter of 2015. The three GSK agreements, which require a green light from the British firms shareholders, are meanwhile expected to be completed by the middle of next year. We believe the divestment of our smaller vaccines and animal health divisions will enable us to realise immediate value from these businesses for our shareholders, and those divisions will benefit from being part of large, global businesses that are also leaders in their segments, Jimenez said. After the news, Novartis share price soared 2.28 per cent to 76.40 Swiss francs a piece in morning trading. AFP

Powdered alcohol to hit shelves

UST add water and stir. A US company says that its new powdered alcohol product has been approved by federal regulators and is poised to hit stores in the coming months. Palcohol is made by an Arizona company called Lipsmark and will come in six varieties of single-drink pouches, the company website says. Drinkers can stir in simple water for a shot of rum or vodka, add cola or juice for a mixer or create a cocktail either a cosmopolitan, mojito, margarita or lemon drop. The rm said it was taken by surprise by the recent release of some of its labels by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which actually approved it some time ago. The company said the product will be sold to people of legal drinking age and could even be sprinkled on food. Think of Palcohol as liquor ... just in powder form. It will be sold anywhere where liquor can be sold, said the company, adding it will be available in the United States, as well as abroad and online. A patent for the mixture is pending. AFP

Meet set as SA mine strike drags on

SOUTH Africas dominant platinum union and top global producers were to meet yesterday to discuss a new wage offer to end a three-month strike, an industry spokeswoman said. The worlds three biggest platinum firms made an offer last week that will increase the remuneration package of radical union AMCUs members to 12,500 rand a month by 2017. The producers clearly would like AMCU to take that offer to its members. A formal response is sought and discussions are continuing, Charmane Russell, spokeswoman for Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin, said. The meeting will see company CEOs, leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant come face to face. Over 80,000 AMCU members launched a strike on January 23, demanding 12,500 rand ($1,185) in basic pay a month. That does not meet the 12,500-rand basic wage demand that became the rallying cry with which the union won prominence on the platinum belt during violent labour unrest in 2012. Entry-level workers currently earn around 5,000 rand ($475) basic pay a month. The firms latest offer will increase their total pay and benefits by 7.5 to 10 per cent annually over the next three years. The eventual 12,500-rand total includes living, holiday and other allowances, however AMCU wants that figure in basic pay alone. Employers say that the unions demand would amount to an average increase in total remuneration of up to 30 per cent a year over four years unaffordable to a struggling industry. Union leaders were unreachable Tuesday to comment on the new offer. afp

Portugal faces key test in turning bailout page

AUDITORS from the EU and IMF begin their final health check on bailed-out Portugal yesterday, a day before the country faces an acid test with a return to regular borrowing on the debt market. Portugal, set next month to follow Ireland and become the second rescued eurozone country to emerge from near bankruptcy and austeritydriven suffering, is expected to pass both tests with confidence. But ordinary people complain they will go on bearing the brunt of the radical measures imposed by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in return for rescue loans of 78 billion ($108 billion). Those measures, including a new round being applied now, cut back public spending and pensions and enforced structural reforms to make the economy more competitive and boost exports. afp

Black and white and red all over: newspaper revenues slide in US
US NEWSPAPERS suffered further revenue declines in 2013, seeing only mixed success in a transition to digital, according to industry figures. Total newspaper industry revenue amounted to $37.59 billion in 2013, a 2.6 per cent drop from $38.60 billion in 2012, according to a report released Friday by the Newspaper Association of America. In one positive sign, the data showed a 3.7 per cent increase in circulation revenues to $10.87 billion, helped by digital subscriptions and paywalls. The figures showed revenue from all digital sources including advertising, circulation and marketing, rose 5.8 per cent and accounted for 12 per cent of total industry revenue. But newspapers continued to see falls in print advertising, which has long been their most important revenue source. Advertising in the traditional printed daily and Sunday newspaper decreased 8.6 per cent to $17.3 billion. Digital advertising only partly offset that, rising 1.5 per cent to $3.4 billion. Poynter Institute researcher Rick Edmonds said the overall performance of the industry was the best since 2006. But Edmonds noted that because the trade association made changes in how it calculates figures, using different revenue sources in the computation, total industry revenue figures for the last two years cannot meaningfully be compared to those for earlier years. Though digital ad revenue gains again failed to make up for print revenue losses, there was mildly encouraging news on that front, Edmonds said in a blog post. Despite continued downward pressure on prices and tough competition from digital giants with virtually no news operations, the industry eked out a gain. Others say the figures dont tell the full story of the bleak state of the industry. I think what this report says is that the newspaper business has to find ways to innovate itself out of the mess in which it finds itself, Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, said. Although these figures are not calamitous, they are not all that impressive either. [Advertising] is never going to come back in the way it has in the past, because businesses no longer need newspapers to reach their customers. Alan Mutter, a former newspaper editor, said the key problem for newspapers is that they are not keeping pace with the competition for digital advertising as most of the revenue shifts to non-media firms like Google or Facebook. afp

Power trading markets probed for fraud in UK

BRITISH authorities are investigating possible tax fraud in the countrys 40 billion ($67 billion) power trading markets, according to accounting firms TMF Group and Deloitte LLP. The alleged fraud involves traders paying value-addedtax, or VAT, to energy sellers who are suspected of keeping the money rather than turning it over to the government. Such scams are known as missing trader fraud. Her Majestys Revenue & Customs, or HMRC, has questioned traders from at least three trading firms, including two investment banks, according to a tax

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Markets Business

11

Making a monopoly starve W

ATCHING Deng Xiaoping chain-smoke through a lunch of bear paw and Moutai liquor at the Great Hall of the People in 1982, Virginia Li saw what she was up against. Li was an anti-tobacco crusader with a PhD in public health and the crazy idea the Chinese could be persuaded to give up cigarettes. I said to him, smoking is bad for your health, and I hope you would stop smoking and the Chinese people will smoke less, she says, recalling the meal with the reformist leader. Deng ignored her advice, and lived to be 92. And in three decades, the ranks of Chinese smokers swelled by 100 million. A professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Li returned to China almost every year after she met Deng on a visit with her parents to the country the family left in 1947. Now 81, blind in one eye and reliant on a walking stick, she says she nally has the prescription for getting China to quit: starving the stateowned tobacco monopoly. To do that, shes focusing on tobaccos growers, not its users. Everyone already knows the health argument against smoking, so the really important thing in China is making the economic argument, says Judith MacKay, a Hong Kong doctor who advises the World Health Organization and World Lung Foundation. Li is trying something new, showing tobacco control measures need not necessarily harm its economy and the farmers.

Markets
Thailand
Thai Set 50 Index, Apr 21 1100

Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Apr 21 700

1025 950 875 800

650 600 550 500

Yue Fengyun bundles dried tobacco leaves as her grandfather smokes a traditional pipe in Chinas Yunnan province. BLOOMBERG

Lis idea is to start a revolution among Chinas 20 million tobacco growers that will deprive China National Tobacco Corp, a giant that manufactures two of every ve cigarettes consumed on the planet, of the raw materials it needs. She says she gured approaching the predicament from the agriculture side would be palatable to decisionmakers, who are perennially preoccupied with how to feed the countrys 1.3 billion people. A crop-replacement pilot project she spearheaded with farmers in Yunnan province was a success: They made more money after switching to producing food. If enough others follow suit, China National will have

to turn to more expensive sources. It will be forced to raise prices, a goad for smokers to quit. Governments will have to nd other tax revenue. The industrys inuence will weaken. Thats the theory, which Li cautions cant be implemented too swiftly. If tobacco farms are fully eliminated right away it will create chaos. China, with about 320 million smokers, is hooked in more ways than one. The country is the worlds biggest tobacco producer, and tobacco taxes account for about 7 per cent of the governments annual revenue bringing in roughly $100 billion in 2012. Some cities in agriculture regions rely on tobacco customs for almost half their budgets.

Resistance to cutting back is practically built into a government-backed web of interconnections and contradictions. China Nationals deputy director is Li Keming, the brother of Premier Li Keqiang, who as head of the cabinet is the ofcial ultimately in charge of health care. The companys parent, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, directs the body responsible for implementing a treaty with the United Nations in which China promised to reduce the harm from tobacco. With funding from the Hung and Jill Cheng Charitable Foundation, started by a family friend, $15,000 of her own money and help from local government authorities, Li persuaded 458 farmers in the corner of southwestern China to spurn the fragrant leaves in 2008 in favour of grapes, mushrooms and other new food crops. After four years, every one was making more money, Li says on the ride through Changning, a mountainous county in Yunnan. Now its harder to get people with land on the plateaus of Yunnan to grow tobacco, says Xia Ning, deputy director of the industrialisation ofce at the Bureau of Agriculture in Yuxi, which worked with Li on the crop replacement pilot project. Other farmers saw the results and also came to us wanting to switch, Xia says. So many have abandoned tobacco since that cigarette makers hired labourers to plant the crop on farms that shunned it, he says, and the recalcitrant farmers would turn around and dig up the unwelcome seedlings in the night. BLOOMBERG

959.86

569.87

South Korea

KOSPI Index, Apr 21 2100 1975 1850 1725 1600

Philippines

PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, Apr 21 7000 6625 6250 5875 5500

2,004.22

6,784.95

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FTSE Straits Times Index, Apr 21 4000

Malaysia
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, Apr 21 1900

3500 3000 2500 2000

1800 1700 1600 1500

3,273.48

1,862.55

Hong Kong
Hang Seng Index, Apr 21 25000

China
CSI 300 Index, Apr 21 3000

23250 21500 19750 18000

2750 2500 2250 2000

22,730.68

2,196.80

Japan

Nikkei 225, Apr 21 16000

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Taiwan Taiex Index, Apr 21 9000

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14,388.77

8,974.71

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Laos Composite Index, Apr 21 1500 1350 1200 1050 900

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1,271.46

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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 21 23000 22000

Pakistan
Karachi 100 Index, Apr 21 30000 29500 29000 28500 28000

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

104.11 109.74 4.7 308.28 300.91 923.25

-0.19 -0.21 0.01 2.81 0.09 -2

-0.18% -0.19% 0.15% 0.92% 0.03% -0.22%

4:00:19 4:02:33 4:01:48 4:00:49 4:00:41 4:02:40

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

21000 20000 19000

NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu

22,782.93

29,119.52

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 21 5500 5250 5000 4750 4500

New Zealand
NZX 50 Index, Apr 21 5500 5250 5000 4750 4500

Agriculture
COMMODiTY UNiTS PRice CHaNGe % CHaNGe TiMe(ET)

CBOT Rough Rice CME Lumber

USD/cwt USD/tbf

15.32 331.3

0.02 9.8

0.10% 3.05%

3:26:00 1:31:37

5,479.31

5,104.94

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Request for Quotation for Constructing and Installing New Steel Security Fence
The U.S. Embassy invites all interested bidders to participate in bidding on Constructing and Installing New Steel Security Fence Tender. The general scope of this work consists of constructing and installing new steel security fence over existing steel fence and concrete wall of the Embassys compound perimeter fence. The estimated linear meters of new steel security fence needs to be installed above existing steel fence is 335 linear meters and 16 linear meters above existing concrete wall. The magnitude of the whole work is estimated between $ 65,000 and $ 75,000. Firms wishing to be considered for this project should submit the following information: Relevant, professional qualications of the rm and technical competence; Demonstrated a minimum of 2 years of professional metal, masonry, and construction work experience Availability of appropriate resources.

Pre-Solicitation Notice Fuel Supply for the U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh The U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh plans to issue a fuel supply solicitation. The solicitation is not ready at this time but will be available for download in the lastweek of April 2014 time frame on www.FedBizOpps.gov and http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/business_ opportunities.html. Additional details are currently available on www.FedBizOpps.gov, reference SCB60014Q0007.

The solicitation document including detailed scope of work and required qualications is downloadable via http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/ business_opportunities.html All quotations shall be submitted to the U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh, GSO-Procurement Section, # 1, Street 96, Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA or be sent by email to

PhnomPenhProcurement@state.gov on or

before 4:00 PM on May 07, 2014.

12

THE PHNOM PENH POST april 23, 2014

World
Barack Obama set to back Japan in islands dispute as Asia tour begins
Justin McCurry

ARACK Obama is expected to offer guarded support for Japan in its territorial dispute with China over a group of islands in the East China Sea, as Washington seeks to reassure its Asia-Pacic allies of its commitment to regional security in the face of an increasingly assertive China. Obama will arrive in Tokyo today at the start of an eightday tour of Asia that will include South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. Yesterday about 150 Japanese politicians risked further souring ties with China by visiting Yasukuni, a shrine in Tokyo that honours Japans 2.5 million war dead, including 14 leaders hanged for war crimes by the allies. Three years after the US announced it would shift its attention from Europe and the Middle East towards the Asia-Pacic, Japan is seeking US support at a time of record Chinese military spending and concern over North Koreas nuclear weapons program. Discussions between Obama and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe are expected to focus on Tokyos longstanding dispute with Beijing over the Senkakus known in China as Diaoyu a group of uninhabited islands claimed by both countries.

US President Barack Obama delivers his speech in Tokyo on November 14, 2009 on his his rst visit to the region as president. AFP

The US is bound by a bilateral security treaty to defend Japan, although so far it has refused to take sides in the dispute in an attempt to avoid creating additional friction with China. A recent report by the Senate foreign relations committee urged Obama to upgrade US alliances in the Asia-Pacic and demonstrate an enduring US commitment to the region, assuring our partners that we are in it for the long haul. Abe, who took ofce in December 2012 with a nationalist agenda, will also seek US approval for his plans to bol-

ster Japans military, which for decades has operated in the shadow of the 50,000 American troops based in the country. I would like to send a message to the world that the Japan-US alliance will play a leading role in ensuring peace and stability in the Asia-Pacic region, Abe told visiting US ofcials this week. On Monday White House ofcials reiterated that the US will always honour its obligations to the defence of Japan. However, a joint statement that the leaders are due to issue tomorrow is likely to omit any mention of the Senkaku

islands by name, according to Japanese media. In a sign of how anxious Japan has become over potential threats to its thousands of outlying islands, it began its rst military expansion in more than 40 years at the weekend, starting construction of a new base on the southern island of Yonaguni, which is located near the Senkakus. Obamas four-nation tour is supposed to demonstrate his commitment to following through on plans announced three years ago to pivot US inuence towards the AsiaPacic, a region with huge economic potential but beset by historical disputes and potential threats to stability. The Obama administration at times has appeared disengaged from the Asia-Pacic, according to some critics, who point to last years crisis on the Korean peninsula, when the US was wrong-footed by weeks of sabre rattling by the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. Abes election just over a year ago, which coincided with leadership changes in China and South Korea, has clearly caused anxiety in Washington as Japans relations with its neighbours have sunk to their lowest level in decades. Japanese media said the joint statement to be released by the leaders would stress the importance of the JapanUS alliance and commit both

countries to resist any attempt to change the regional status quo by force, a reference to repeated incursions by Chinese ships into waters near the Senkaku islands, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. In a move likely to cause alarm in Beijing, Obama is expected to reach an agreement with the Philippines on better access to the countrys airbases and ports for the US air force and navy, more than 20 years after the US closed its huge naval base in Subic Bay. Obamas visit to South Korea will centre on security ties, but he is also expected to pay his respects to the 300 people believed to have died in the Sewol ferry disaster. As I will underscore on my visit to Seoul next week, Americas commitment to our ally South Korea is unwavering in good times and in bad, he said last week. In Malaysia, where he will be the rst sitting US president to visit since Lyndon Johnson in 1966, Obama will attempt to strengthen ties with the leadership despite concerns over its treatment of opposition politicians. US ofcials said there were no plans for Obama to meet the countrys opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Security was tight in Tokyo before Obamas arrival, with 16,000 police deployed in anticipation of the rst state visit by a US president since Bill Clinton in 1996. THE GUARDIAN

Korea ferry disasters death toll passes 120

The confirmed death toll from South Koreas ferry disaster rose sharply to more than 120 yesterday as divers sped up the grim task of recovering bodies from the submerged ship and police took two more of its crew into custody. Better weather and calm seas spurred their efforts but underwater visibility was still very poor, forcing divers to grope their way blindly though the corridors and cabins of the ferry that capsized and sank last Wednesday. Nearly one week into one of South Koreas worst peacetime disasters, close to 200 of the 476 people who were aboard the 6,825-tonne Sewol most of them schoolchildren are still unaccounted for. The official toll stood at 121, with 181 still missing. The large death toll has partly been attributed to the captains instruction for passengers to stay where they were for around 40 minutes after the ferry ran into trouble. By the time the evacuation order came, the ship was listing so badly that escape was almost impossible. Distraught families of the victims gathered in the morning at the harbour on Jindo island not far from the disaster site awaiting the increasingly frequent arrival of boats with bodies. In the initial days after the Sewol went down, their anger was focused on the pace of the rescue effort. With all hope of finding any survivors essentially gone, this has turned to growing impatience with the effort to locate and retrieve the bodies of those trapped. Nearly 750 divers, mostly coastguard and military, are now involved in the operation. The weather is better, but its still very difficult for the divers who are essentially fumbling for bodies in the silted water, a coastguard official said. A priority yesterday was to access the main dining hall. We believe there are many bodies there as the accident took place in the morning when students must have been eating breakfast, the official said. Of the 476 people on board the Sewol, 352 were students from the Danwon High School in Ansan city just south of Seoul, who were on an organised trip to the holiday island of Jeju. Among the bodies recovered so far were those of three foreign nationals believed to be a Russian and two Chinese. Giant cranes have been at the disaster site off the southern coast for days, but many relatives remain opposed to raising the ferry before all the bodies have been removed. AFP

Biden: Russia trying to pull Ukraine apart

US Vice President Joe Biden yesterday accused Russia of trying to pull Ukraine apart and pledged Washingtons strong support for Kievs leaders, as a Cold Warstyle confrontation over the former Soviet republic ratcheted up. Biden was speaking in Kiev amid worrying signs on the ground that diplomacy was failing to calm the crisis. Pro-Kremlin rebels in Ukraines east overnight claimed control of the police station in the town of Kramatorsk, where they already occupied the town hall. Ukraines acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said the new seizure puts a cross through all the agreements reached in Geneva. That referred to an accord signed last Thursday by Ukraine, Russia, the United States and Europe designed to de-escalate the volatile situation and prevent it spiralling into civil war, or worse. But the pro-Moscow separatists who Kiev and Washington say are backed by Russian special forces are ignoring the accords demands that they disarm and cease occupying buildings in a string of eastern towns. Russia says Kievs leaders whom it regards as illegitimate are to blame for the collapse of the accord. It says ultra-nationalists involved in months of Kiev protests that ousted pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych in February killed rebels in an attack on Sunday near the eastern town of Slavyansk. A funeral for the militants was held yesterday. Bells rung loudly from Slavyansks Orthodox church and women wept as three coffins were carried out. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed on Ukraines eastern border in what NATO believes is a state of readiness to invade. The US and NATO have responded by boosting their own forces in eastern Europe. Biden, after meeting Ukraines leaders in Kiev, called on Russia to pull back those forces, and to reverse its annexation last month of Ukraines Crimea peninsula. We in the United States stand with you and the Ukrainian people, Biden said in a joint news conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Russia, Biden said, faces more costs and greater isolation if it keeps fuelling separatist unrest in Ukraine. There are some who are trying to pull Ukraine apart, he said. Washington has threatened to impose more sanctions on Moscow, on top of travel bans and asset freezes already applied to members of President Vladimir Putins inner circle. Time is short to make progress, Biden warned. He added that the United States was stepping up to help Ukraine lessen its dependence on Russian gas, fight corruption, and prepare for a May 25 election to choose a new president. The US, he said, wants to see Ukraine hold together as a single state, united and sovereign. But Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the US threat of new sanctions. I am sure we will be able to minimise their consequences, he said in a televised speech to the Russian parliament. However, even though he insisted his country could function in isolation if necessary, he acknowledged that Russias economy was facing an unprecedented challenge. Russias finance ministry said on Monday the energy-rich nation could tip into technical recession over the next three months. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned last week that Russia was facing the toughest economic conditions since 2009, when it went into a serious slowdown. Faced with a worsening crisis, Washington and Moscow have urged each other to rein in each side in Ukraine and revive the Geneva accord. The European Union, meanwhile, is divided on going further with its own sanctions on Moscow, with some member states worried that increased punishment could jeopardise supplies of Russian gas. As the crisis plays out, the insurgents in Ukraines east remain firmly entrenched in public buildings they have occupied for more than a week. In the town of Lugansk, close to the Russian border, protesters who have been occupying local security buildings staged a fiery mass demonstration on Monday and pledged to hold their own referendum on autonomy on May 11, the Interfax-Ukraine agency reported. Although highly trained military personnel whose camouflage uniforms are stripped of all insignia are helping the rebels secure the some 10 towns they hold, Putin denies they are Russian special forces. However, the US State Department released images on Monday that it claimed proves armed separatists in eastern Ukraine are actually Russian military or intelligence officers. The photos, the State Department said, showed a military fighter with a distinctive red beard seen in Georgia in 2008 when Russia invaded wearing the insignia of a Russian special forces unit. The same man is also pictured in Crimea and Slavyansk. Other images from Slavyansk show men carrying the same kind of RPG-26 rocket launchers as those issued to Russian troops. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

World

13

No-show hinders Thai poll talks

Thanaporn Promyamyai

Lost codes spark airport panic before Obama trip

EGOtIAtIOns on a road map to elections in Thailand following months of political turmoil suffered a major setback yesterday as the opposition pulled out of rare multi-party talks at the last minute. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is pushing for new polls as soon as possible to bolster her precarious caretaker position in the face of a series of legal threats that could force her from ofce. The kingdom has been without a fully functioning government or parliament since December, and a general election held in February was voided after opposition demonstrators disrupted voting. The nation has been shaken by months of political violence that has left 25 people dead and hundreds wounded, including many anti-government protesters, in grenade attacks and shootings. The Election Commission (EC) called the talks to discuss a new election date with political rivals including the main opposition Democrat Party, which boycotted the last round of voting. But a day after describing the talks

Anti-government protesters hold protest placards as they demonstrate in Bangkok yesterday.

AFP

as the most opportune time to put aside our party views, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva announced shortly before the meeting began that he would not be going. I will not attend the meeting because of security, he said, without specifying the nature of the concerns. No one from the Democrats will attend. On the eve of the meeting, Yinglucks Pheu Thai Party decried a conspiracy by her opponents to thwart new polls.

In a statement, the party said certain groups and political parties dont want democracy and are trying to create a political vacuum so they can appoint their own unelected leader. The EC which has been accused by government supporters of siding with the opposition says it needs several months at least to organise new polls, leaving the country in legislative limbo. EC chairman Supachai

Somcharoen said at the start of the talks that the meeting would be important for solving the country[s] problems. But without the participation of the opposition, hopes of a breakthrough were fading. Representatives of more than 50 other political parties joined the talks, according to election ofcials. Opposition protesters have threatened to disrupt any new polls. Dozens of anti-government demonstrators rallied

outside the Bangkok hotel where the talks were taking place yesterday, demanding reform before election. Yingluck, who won a landslide election victory in 2011, could be ordered to step down within weeks in connection with two legal cases under consideration by the Constitutional Court and an anti-corruption panel. Thailands rst female premier is accused of the alleged improper transfer of a top civil servant as well as dereliction of duty linked to a lossmaking rice subsidy scheme that critics say is infested with corruption. Her supporters see the moves as an attempted power grab. Yinglucks red shirt supporters have vowed to take to the streets again to defend her administration, raising fears of a bloody new chapter in Thailands long political crisis. A senior gure in the red shirt movement, Thida Thavornseth, urged followers yesterday to be ready for another long protest. Asked yesterday about reports the Shinawatra family had offered to quit politics if the opposition respected the democratic process, Yingluck said only that she was not clinging to her position. AFP

AIRPORT authorities in Japan launched a frantic scramble to change security pass codes, an official said yesterday, a day before Barack Obama was due to arrive, after an airline employee dropped a memo containing the details. The news came as security in the Japanese capital was dramatically increased, with 16,000 police officers deployed in readiness for the first state visit by a US president in nearly two decades. A Skymark Airlines employee at the busy Haneda airport in Tokyo lost a piece of paper bearing security codes on Sunday afternoon, a transport ministry official said. The note was found on the floor of departures around half an hour later, he said. The ministry told the firm that manages the airport to immediately change the pass codes to avoid any danger of a security breach, the official said. AFP

US warns Myanmar over ethnic violence

AmERIcAn ofcials are warning that attacks on minority Muslims and foreign aid groups in Myanmar are threatening the nascent thaw in relations between Washington and the former pariah state. The Obama administration counts Myanmars transition from military rule as a major foreign policy success for the president and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. For Burma leaders, normalising relations with the US government was key to ending their dependency on China. But allegations, disputed by the government, that dozens of Rohingya Muslims were massacred by mobs of Buddhists in western Rakhine state in January have outraged human rights groups and members of Congress. Adding to the concern, radical Rakhine Buddhists attacked the ofces and homes of foreign aid workers in the state in March. The Buddhists accuse the aid organisations of providing disproportionate assistance to the Muslims. Daniel Russel, the assistant US secretary of state for East Asian and Pacic affairs, visited Myanmar last week to push President Thein Sein and other ofcials to allow the return of aid groups forced to leave the area. The fact we have a stake in the success of the government and the reform efforts doesnt mean we pull punches, Russel told foreign journalists in Yangon. The crux of my message was: the whole world is watching. The US and other Western governments have embraced the reformist government that took over here in 2011, following decades of military dictatorship. Long-standing economic sanctions have largely been suspended, and economic aid has owed. But the picture on the ground is complex. In Myanmar, a growing measure of democracy and economic reform co-exist with a virulent strain of Buddhist nationalism. Theres an inability in London and Washington to entertain two contradictory narratives about this country, said Richard Horsey, a Yangon-based analyst and former International Labour Organization representative to Myanmar. Thats one reason why Rakhine is so dangerous and so potentially corrosive to the US-Burma strategic relationship. The risk, Horsey says, is making the relationship hostage to the events in Rakhine, which the central government does not have the ability to fully control. Rakhine state, formerly called Arakan, was a kingdom in its own right until it was conquered by the Burmese in the late 18th century. People from the predominantly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group are a majority in the state. While many Rohingya have lived within Myanmars borders for generations, the military government in 1982 classied most of them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. UN agencies and the US Embassy in Yangon have been vocal in pushing for investigations and measures to end violence and discrimination against the largely impoverished Rohingya and other Muslims. But Myanmars leaders present Rakhine as an internal issue with little bearing on their reform efforts. And with national elections approaching in 2015, politicians appear reluctant to alienate Rakhine leaders, particularly since many in central Burma share a paranoia about the Islamisation of the largely Buddhist country. THE GuaRDIan

SIXTY per cent of Japanese people support the countrys whaling program, but only 14 per cent eat whale meat, a new poll showed yesterday. The survey comes less than a month after the UNs highest court ruled the annual mission to the Southern Ocean by Japanese whaling vessels was a commercial hunt masquerading as science in a bid to skirt an international ban. A weekend opinion poll conducted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed that 60 per cent of 1,756 voters supported the research whaling program, against 23 per cent who opposed it. Asked how often they ate whale meat, however, only 4 per cent said they eat sometimes and another 10 per cent said they eat it fairly infrequently. Although not difficult to find in Japan, whale meat is not a regular part of most Japanese peoples diet. The survey was conducted a day after Japan said it would redesign its Antarctic whaling to make it more scientific, and confirmed it would press ahead with the research whaling in the northwestern Pacific. The fleet is set to depart on Saturday. AFP

Poll: 60pct of Japanese support whale hunting

Introduction of sharia law delayed in Brunei

NEPALEsE guides on Mount Everest said yesterday that they had decided to abandon this years climbing season, to honour 16 colleagues killed in an avalanche last week. The decision throws the plans of hundreds of foreign mountaineers into chaos, with many of them waiting in base camp after paying tens of thousands of dollars to scale the worlds highest peak. We decided to stop our climbing this year to honour our fallen brothers. All sherpas are united in this, local guide Tulsi Gurung said. Another guide, Pasang Sherpa, added: Sixteen people have died on this mountain on the rst day of our climb. How can we step on it now?

Sherpas quit season Activist starts hunger strike

The guides had threatened to cancel all climbing on Mount Everest and issued an ultimatum to the government, demanding higher compensation, an agreement to revise insurance payments and a welfare fund by next Monday. The sherpas have asked for $10,000 to be paid to families of the guides killed in the avalanche as well as those who were injured and cannot work. Sherpas earn between $3,000 to $6,000 a season, but their insurance cover is almost always inadequate when accidents happen. More than 300 people, most of them local guides, have died on the peak since the rst ascent by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. AFP FORmER Taiwanese opposition leader and anti-nuclear activist Lin Yi-hsiung yesterday launched an indefinite hunger strike in protest at a nearly completed nuclear facility, while some of his supporters clashed with police. Its very meaningful to be doing something good for Taiwan I feel very calm, Lin told a crowd of reporters and supporters before he began the hunger strike. He added he had been forced into the situation because the authorities had ignored public opinion on nuclear power. He said the majority of people in Taiwan were against a fourth nuclear power plant. Lin, who led the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from 1998-2000, has devoted himself to battling the islands nuclear power policy over the past two decades. If anything unfortunate should happen to me, I want my family and friends to know that [those in power] murdered me, the 72-year-old said before entering a church in Taipei to begin his indefinite fasting. Outside parliament, dozens of protesters briefly clashed with the police as they attempted to surround the building in a show of support for Lin. They unfurled a large yellow banner reading Salute chairman Lin Yi-hsiung, stop building Nuke 4, and held placards calling for the project to be terminated. If Lin Yi-hsiung loses his life, it is the evil government who have caused it, said the groups leader, Tsai Ting-kuei. Taiwans three existing nuclear power plants supply about 20 per cent of its electricity. Construction of the fourth plant began in 1999 but intense political wrangling has repeatedly delayed the project. Staterun Taiwan Power Co says that work on it is 98 per cent complete and that it is due to start operating in 2015. The DPP opposes it on safety grounds, while the ruling Kuomintang party says the island will run short of power unless it goes ahead. AFP

BRunEI has postponed its implementation of tough Islamic criminal punishments that were due to begin yesterday and have drawn condemnation from the UNs human rights office and rare criticism at home. No confirmed new date was given for the start of the sharia penalties which will eventually include flogging, severing of limbs and death by stoning but an official told Brunei media they would begin in the very near future. Jauyah Zaini, assistant director of the oil-rich sultanates Islamic Legal Unit, said implementation had been delayed due to unavoidable circumstances. He did not elaborate or give a new date. Bruneis Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah the driving force behind sharia is visiting Singapore, and the government is believed to be waiting for the all-powerful Islamic monarch to return before introducing the sensitive legal code. AFP

14

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

World

Chicago overwhelmed by gun crime as 45 shot

A SENIOR Chicago police officer said that parts of the city are being overwhelmed by gun violence, after a weekend in which nine people were shot dead and at least 36 including six children were wounded. Ronald Holt said the city was witnessing fratricide among young men who had come to believe the only way to resolve a conflict is to . . . shoot to kill, said Holt, whose 17-year-old son Blair was shot dead on a bus in 2007. His remarks came as Chicago suffered its bloodiest weekend of the year. Dozens of residents were shot in a series of separate incidents. On the citys south side, five children aged between 11 and 15 were shot walking home from a park on Sunday evening. ThE GUaRdIaN

Yemen strikes kill 55 al-Qaeda

T LEAST 55 al-Qaeda militants have been killed in Yemen, the countrys interior ministry claimed after an intensive weekend air offensive in which US drones are believed to have been involved. The operation, which started on Sunday and continued into Monday, focused on a rugged mountain area in the central and southern provinces of Yemen, where al-Qaida has been operating camps. Several airstrikes presumed to be carried out chiey by US drones were launched against targets in the Mahfad region, between Abyan, Shabwa and al-Bayda provinces. The reported deaths of 55 militants on Sunday alone would make it the biggest strike against al-Qaeda militants in years. Yemens interior ministry said that the rst strikes on Sunday lasted for several hours and claimed the lives of three prominent gures as well as dozens of other militants. It identied the three as Mohammed Salem Abed Rabbo al-Mashibi, Fawaz Hussein al-Mahrak and Saleh Said Mahrak. The ministry said that identication of the dead was continuing, and that non-Yemeni

300 km

SAUDI ARABIA

YEMEN
SANAA

Al Mahfid

ABYAN

Aden

Gulf of Aden

Three killed in Kashmir

SOMALIA
Arab ghters were among those killed. It said the strikes hit targets in the valley of Wadi al-Khayala and two other locations, Lodiya and Ramtha, which local tribal leaders said were at either end of the valley. The security ofcials and local tribal leaders said Mondays strikes killed several militants, including one they identied as a local commander, Munnaser alAnbouri. It was unclear how many militants died. It was possible to identify him because militants delivered his body to his family, who live in the area, the ofcials said. A tribal chief from the area said ames and smoke were billowing from the location on Sunday. He said the militants had been seen in the past parking their vehicles in bushes in the area and he believed the re was caused by the vehicles fuel tanks. In recent weeks, he said, the militants had transported heavy weaponry to the area,

MILItaNtS killed two local officials and another man in Indian Kashmir before issuing a warning to Kashmiris against voting this week in the countrys election, according to police and residents. The militants targeted two village council chiefs in separate attacks late on Monday in Pulwana district, south of the main city of Srinagar, a senior police officer said. The attack is aimed to keep voters away from polling, AG Mir, the inspector general of police, said. AFP

including artillery. A Yemeni security ofcial said the infrastructure of the base had been destroyed. He said the offensive was based on intelligence and regional and international cooperation, suggesting that neighbouring Saudi Arabia may also have been involved in the planning. There was no immediate US comment on the strikes. The escalation came after the Yemeni defence minister, Major General Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, and his commanders returned from the US after a two-week visit. The Yemeni government acknowledged that three civilians were killed in the airstrike on Saturday in the central al-Bayda province, which also witnessed a controversial strike in December in which security ofcials said 15 people on their way to a wedding were killed. Also late on Sunday, a Yemeni security ofcial said anti-terrorist forces had targeted a vehicle suspected of carrying al-Qaeda operatives in Shabwa. Shortly after, a helicopter arrived on the scene to pick up the bodies and those injured, local witnesses said, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution. THE GUARDIAN

Sri Lanka to deport Brit over tattoo

RI LANKA has detained a female British tourist for having a Buddha tattoo on her right arm and ordered her deportation, police said yesterday. The unidentied woman was arrested at the countrys main international airport on Monday and appeared before a magistrate who ordered her deportation, police said. The statement said she had an image of the Buddha seated on a lotus ower tattooed on her right arm. It did not say what charges were brought against her, but Sri Lanka barred another British tourist from entering the island in March last year for showing disrespect to Buddhism by having a Buddha tattooed on his arm. Majority Buddhist Sri Lanka is highly sensitive to perceived threats to the religion. In August 2012, three French tourists were sentenced to six months in jail, which was suspended for ve years, for kissing a Buddha statue in what the authorities considered was a sign of disrespect. AFP

Ink stink

OPERATIONS MANAGER - CAMBODIA

OUTSTANDING OPPORTUNITY TO BE PART OF THE LEADERSHIP OF ONE ON CAMBODIAS MOST SUCCESSFUL NGOs
This role provides an opportunity to work with the highly-regarded international NGO, Cambodian Childrens Fund, www.cambodianchildrensfund.org Founded in 2004, Cambodian Childrens Fund (CCF) provides life-changing education, nourishment and healing to vulnerable children from some of Cambodias most destitute communities. This well respected NGO cares for more than 2,000 children and 10,000 people annually. It has grown rapidly since its inception and now CCF requires the services of a Chief Operations Ofcer to enable the organisation to effectively and sustainably evolve. CFF is a great place to work, staffed by a team of talented and committed people. The workplace is vibrant, acknowledgement is forthcoming and work offers many opportunities for innovation, initiative and professional satisfaction. You will draw on your signicant experience in a similar role and use your demonstrated expertise to lead and manage head ofce operations, identifying and implementing structures, systems and procedures to enable an integrated and coordinated approach to achieve CCF strategic objectives. This senior role reports directly to the Executive Director, and holds responsibility for organisational development, including establishing contemporary and sound methodology to support strategic decision-making, accountability, rigorous and quantiable reporting and continuous quality improvements. You will use your highly developed leadership and strategic skills to engage all relevant business units in a coordinated and integrated approach. Sound people management skills are needed to lead senior managers in an innovative and highly accountable approach. We would welcome applications from experienced and talented professionals who want to utilise their expertise to make a difference. Please do not apply unless you have had at least ve years experience as an Operations Manager in a large and complex organisation. The Position Description can be found at https://www.cambodianchildrensfund. org/jobs.html. Please forward your applications, noting that a specic response to the Key Selection criteria is a mandatory part of the application to both jen@cocoonconsulting.com.au and siemsengly@cambodianchildrensfund.org by Monday 5th May. Please note that previous applicants need not reapply.

THE PHNOM PENH POST april 23, 2014

North Korea

15

New generation losing faith in regime

Tania Branigan

F shE is lucky if her husband or children can slip away unnoticed to the riverside, nearer the Chinese phone masts Chae Un-ee can talk to her family each day. Talk is perhaps an exaggeration; her loved ones end the call, made on a smuggled handset and SIM card, almost as soon as it begins. They have to be very quick because otherwise the phone can be tracked down, she said. Its mainly just to hear their voice and know that theyre okay. If they dont call me I worry, because the situation is very tense there. There is North Korea. Chae is not a dissident, not even a defector; only a mother working abroad in China to feed her family. Yet the Norths control of its citizens is such that even this work, in the countrys only signicant ally, could result in harsh punishment. Six decades after its creation, North Korea remains a totalitarian state, controlling not just the expression and movements of its citizens, but their livelihoods, viewing habits and even haircuts. A UN report released last month warned that the gravity, scale and nature of [human rights] violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world. Pyongyangs media portray a nation beset by hostile forces, but unied in its devotion to its leader, Kim Jong-un. In reality, the lifeblood of the system the peoples faith has nally leached away, citizens interviewed in China said. Twenty years ago North Korea was better. Life was comfortable and people didnt have bad thoughts. Now everybody is angry, said Chae, 50. Others words are equally clear and damning: Of course no one believes. Those who say they want a better life inside North Korea I think theyre just lying. People say If you believe, you will just suffer. By working as a maid, Chae can make up to 2000 yuan ($322) a month enough to feed her family for four months. Interviewees de-

Kim Jong-un attends the second meeting of security personnel of the Korean Peoples Army at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang in an undated picture released in November 2013. AFP

scribed their envy of Chinas relative wealth: modern kitchen equipment; plentiful rice; the constant supply of gas and electricity. The biggest difference is that here they respect human rights. You can sell whatever you want and go to foreign countries and do whatever you want; everything is free here. There is no control, Chae said In the 1960s, the North was wealthier than its neighbours. In an era of East Asian authoritarianism, its political controls were less extraordinary. Older people recall feeling blessed to be North Koreans. But its economy began to slip, and the devastating famine of the 1990s, which killed hundreds of thousands, crushed hopes of a reversal. The countrys command economy collapsed. Around three quarters of household income is

now believed to come from the private sector. More than four in ve households have borderline or poor food consumption, according to the World Food Program, but things have improved. Once there were bodies lying in the streets; now there are trafc jams in Pyongyang, said Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul. He believes those improvements have increased disenchantment because people now have time to talk and think instead of focusing on survival. In 2007 or 2008, it became clear that the attitude of people had changed, Chae said. Before, people said a lot of really bad things about South Korea they dont any more. Also, you just see people disappear; it often means they have left North Korea. And if you are with people you are very, very close to,

you might express your position; you might say Id like to leave if I could. The messages carried by ofcial media are drilled in through endless meetings in schools, workplaces and through ofcial organisations. We heard South Korea was very violent and Koreans were always having their human rights violated and American tanks were around the cities, driving over people . . . And that there were all these demonstrations because rent and taxes were too high, said another woman in her 30s. When you are living in North Korea, half of you thinks the South is developed and has a good life and would like to go there, but half of you, because you received this kind of training, wonders if its not a really terrible place. Fear has propped up the regime since faith ebbed. Last months UN

report concluded: The key to the political system is the vast political and security apparatus that strategically uses surveillance, coercion, fear and punishment ... Public executions and enforced disappearance to political prison camps serve as the ultimate means to terrorise the population into submission. It accused the North of multiple atrocities including murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence. Lankov said North Korea had 80,000 political prisoners, but was signicantly less oppressive than before. Your entire family immediately is dead if you say something that goes against ofcial lines thats not going to happen any more. Of course, if you make a joke about Kim Jong-uns sexual habits, youre dead, he said. That shift may reect the regimes knowledge of the growing disaffection, as may the hints of economic reforms though similar proposals have emerged before. I have been notorious for repeating two ideas: the chances of Chinese-style economic reforms are low and the chances of a popular revolution are essentially zero. Now Im changing my mind, Lankov said. If the government embraces economic reform, he argued, it can deliver growth, but it will never satisfy a public that has seen Chinese lifestyles. Even so, he pointed out, the Soviet Union survived for decades after disaffection set in. I think the ssure points in the system are not the population at large but the elite and we still dont know enough about what interests are tied up with whose and who stands to gain or lose from all the shifts, Smith said. Ordinary people can only watch and wait. I wonder how things will be in future. Will they be harder or improve a little bit? I think theyll just get worse, Kim Myong-eul said. Theres conict with the world and people are controlled. We need freedom to make things better. THE GUARDIAN

Son Jung-hun: the defector who wants to return

Justin McCurry

SON Jung-hun rst entertained thoughts of life outside North Korea in the 1980s, after chaperoning guests at an international youth event in Pyongyang. As a trade ofcial working under Jang Song-thaek, the recently executed uncle of the Norths leader, Kim Jong-un, Son was part of the Pyongyang elite. Those few days of interaction with foreign visitors gave him a vicarious peek at life beyond the connes of the worlds most oppressive dictatorship and sparked his eventual defection. But now, 12 years after he arrived in South Korea, Son has a new purpose in life: to return to the North to protest against the treatment of defectors south of the border that has separated the two Koreas for more than six decades. The government here wont accept how difcult it is for defectors to adapt to life in a free-market economy,

and for that we are treated with contempt, Son said. By going public with my desire to defect again [to North Korea] I hope to send a message about how badly South Korea treats defectors. Son is one of a growing number of double defectors political and economic refugees from the North for whom life in the democratic, capitalist South has fallen far short of expectations. If he gets his way, the very least Son can expect is a eeting moment of fame in North Korea, where every defection back to the communist state is treated as a propaganda coup against the South. Yet he knows he also faces harassment, incarceration or worse. The catalyst for Sons ight from North Korea was the abrupt end to Moscows largesse towards its communist allies after the fall of the Soviet Union. To earn hard currency, the Pyongyang regime turned to illicit arms exports, which Son helped arrange.

However, when he was accused of stealing $10,000 intended to facilitate a sale, potentially worth $30 million, of missile-making materials to Taiwan, he believed he had been set-up. He felt he was a marked man and escaped. Son spent his rst year of freedom performing menial jobs. I got to experience how people on the bottom rung of South Korean society really live, he said. I soon discovered that life here was very different from what Id heard about in the North. The government here seemed to be saying to us, Well, we didnt ask you to come so what do you expect? Those early days lay the foundations for Sons work over the past 10 years, helping fellow defectors while plotting his return to a country he still claims to detest. Son, though, is in a minority among defectors. Most savour the political and economic freedoms they darent have dreamed about while living in the North.

Since the end of the Korean War, about 25,000 North Koreans more than two thirds of them women have made the journey across the countrys border with China, where they lie low and earn money to nance the last stage of their journey to South Korea, typically via Thailand or Laos. But tightened security on the North Korea-China border and less sympathetic treatment by recent conservative governments in Seoul have stemmed the ow. According to South Koreas Unication Ministry, the number of defectors arriving in 2012 fell to 1,509, more than 40 per cent down on the 2,706 who arrived a year earlier. About 1,500 more arrived last year, the ministry said. New arrivals are interrogated to weed out spies, then spend three months at Hanawon, a resettlement facility an hour south of Seoul where they are given counselling and coached in the practicalities of South Korean life. At around 20 per cent, the

unemployment rate among defectors is six times higher than the average for South Koreans, according to the Database Centre for North Korean Human Rights. Life is hard in North Korea, but some defectors have found that its even tougher here. They are afraid of the South Korean government and the police. People are lining up to go home, Son said. Over the past year, Pyongyang has staged at least half a dozen media appearances by double defectors, although all appeared to have been meticulously choreographed, with returnees publicly pledging loyalty to Kim and criticising the grim realities of life in the capitalist south. Son is aware life back in North Korea will probably be far worse than the trials he has experienced as an outsider in Seoul. His brother was executed by ring squad as punishment for being related to a defector; his uncle, once a senior security ofcial in Pyong-

yang, and his brother-in-law, a former army colonel, were stripped of their military titles and given civilian jobs. Son and his wife divorced before he left the North so that she would escape punishment. At the end of a two-hour interview, Son reveals he is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and has been given between one and three years to live. Before he dies, he wants to be reunited with his ageing mother, who he is convinced is still alive. But he insists his motivation for returning to North Korea is political. I want the world to know how callously the South Korean government treats its Korean brothers and sisters, he said. The North Korean regime might well use me for propaganda, or I might end up in prison. After all, I didnt ee because I was hungry. I left for political reasons. But Im ready to sacrice my freedom in the hope that North Koreans here can one day have theirs. THE GUARDIAN

16

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Obituary
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Myanmar loses a hero

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IN Tin, one of Myanmars most uncompromising journalists, who helped Aung San Suu Kyi launch a pro-democracy movement against the brutal military regime and then endured nearly two decades in jail as one of his countrys longest-serving political prisoners, died on April 21 in Yangon. He was 84 according to most sources, although others cited his age as 85. The National League for Democracy party (NLD), which Win founded with Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, announced the death. Win suffered from respiratory problems and other ailments that were left largely untreated during his 19 years in prison before his release in 2008. He had been one of the worlds longest-detained reporters, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. For Win, who came of age in what was then called Burma under British rule, the urge to dissent was long ingrained in his character. As a teenager, he tried to join General Aung Sans Burmese resistance army but was politely rebuffed by the man who would become a national hero during the independence struggle. Aung San plainly said, Stick with your studies. There are many people to fight. The time will come for you, Win once recalled. Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, was gunned down shortly before independence was achieved in 1948. Myanmar descended into absolute military rule starting in 1962 and became a pariah state because of the juntas human rights violations and repression of civic society. Win served as top editor of the independent newspaper Hanthawati in Mandalay before dictator Ne Win shuttered it in the late 1970s. The reason I became a politician is because of military governments, Win told the Agence France-Presse news service last year. They seized the newspapers and publishing houses. As I have many contacts in politics, I reached into politics. He became part of the circle of intellectual advisers that coalesced around Suu Kyi, who called for nonviolent resistance and who was embraced as the countrys greatest hope in generations for freedom. Win was nicknamed Saya, or teacher, an indicator of his esteem in anti-military politics. The National League for Democracy won an overwhelming victory in the 1990 general election but was not permitted by the junta to govern. The

Members of the National League for Democracy prepare a memorial ceremony for Win Tin next to his portrait in Yangon on Monday. The co-founder of Myanmars pro-democracy opposition died on Monday at the age of 84. AFP

crackdown on NLD leaders had already begun. Suu Kyi, who spent much of her life abroad before returning to Myanmar in 1988 to care for her mother, was placed under house arrest for much of the period between 1989 to 2010. Win was thrown into prison in 1989, having been charged with being a member of the banned Communist Party of Burma. Immediately after his arrest, U Win Tin was kept without food and sleep for three days, Suu Kyi once wrote. It appeared the interrogators wished to force him to admit that he was my adviser, in other words, my puppet master. A man of courage and integrity, Win Tin would not be intimidated into making false confessions. To Wins initial three-year prison sentence, the government repeatedly added new charges. He was given five years for misappropriation of state property when guards found a pencil and paper in his cell. He received seven more years for secretly publishing propaganda to incite riots in jail after smuggling a letter to the United Nations about inhumane prison conditions. He was beaten and held for six months in a former kennel for prison dogs in Yangons Insein jail and later transferred to another prison, where harsh treatment continued. He endured years of isolation and used

ink made of brick powder and water to write poems and political musings on the wall. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Win had at least two heart attacks during his confinement and suffered from high blood pressure, a degenerative spine condition and diabetes. He repeatedly refused to sign confessions that, he was told, would hasten his release. The ailing Win, then 78, was freed unexpectedly in 2008 during the release of 9,000 inmates, most of them thought to be petty criminals. David Steinberg, an emeritus professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University and an expert on Myanmar, called Win the most articulate spokesman of the elder group of advisers working with the NLD. When he got out of prison, he was very forceful, Steinberg said. He had this reputation for being autonomous and independent. The United States began lifting sanctions and recognised the country diplomatically as Myanmars leadership transitioned to a quasi-civilian government. Suu Kyi was elected to parliament in 2012. Win remained a steely foe of the military that still dominated the government and criticised Suu Kyi for making conciliatory overtures to her former tormentors. Some of us would like to push the

military into the Bay of Bengal, Win told the Washington Post last year. She only wants to push them into Kandawgyi Lake, a reference to a lake in Yangon, the former capital. Win Tin was born March 12, 1930 (some sources say 1929), in a village north of Yangon. As a young man, he attended Rangoon University and began a long career in journalism and publishing. He never married. Emerging from prison, Wins teeth were rotting and his body was crumbling. He found his home and possessions gone. He wrote a memoir, Whats That? A Human Hell, published in 2010, that detailed his more than 7,000 days in prison. He said he would continue to wear his blue prison uniform until all political prisoners, estimated last year at fewer than 100, were released. There were reports that he risked going back to jail for not returning his prison clothes or paying the $2 to buy them. I remember Daw Suu Kyis response to this kind of warning about her security, he said, referring to the Nobel laureate. She said, If a quack shoots me with a pistol, then the whole world will know where this bullet comes from. the
washIngton post

Adam Bernstein is the obituary editor for the Washington Post.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

17

Lifestyle
Belief and positive thinking the way to banish the blues
Napamon Roongwitoo

In brief
Mexico bids farewell to Gabriel Garcia Marquez

IGHTEEN years ago, Dhitinart Napattalungs husband was killed in an accident, leaving her responsible for their one-year-old child and owing more than 100 million baht ($3.09 million) to creditors. She had been running her own jewellery business, while her husband was involved in real estate. He had borrowed money without her knowledge and when he died she became responsible for his debts. Her own company began to decline, too, causing her to sink even deeper into debt. After going through a period of intense sadness and despair, she made peace with herself, sorted out her life and discovered true happiness all thanks to the power of positivity. The author of seven titles in the Life Compass series self-help books which have sold more than 1.5 million copies to date and which have been translated from the original Thai into 12 other languages Dhitinart now nds happiness in turning other peoples lives around. She hosts free seminars, giving advice on how one can surmount ones problems and nd joy. She says the main drivers of unhappiness are negative attitudes caused by the way one was brought up and unconsciously surrounding oneself with people who are deeply unhappy The root of all problems in life is being judged by people were close to, she said. Its how we were raised, what we were told as a child. A lot of people grew up feeling inadequate and believing that they dont deserve success and happiness. Looking back at her life, Dhitinart said she can now feel thankful for all the hardships she encountered. The

MEXICO bid farewell on Monday to its adopted son, Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in a national tribute filled with roses and the late Nobel winners favourite music. Dozens of people lined up outside the capitals domed Fine Arts Palace where Mexico pays tribute to its late artistic icons for a memorial ceremony. Garcia Marquez died in his Mexico City house on Thursday at the age of 87. I still cant believe it, which is why Im here. Maybe this way I can better accept it, said Felisa Tole, a Colombian woman who has lived in Mexico for eight years. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was heading to Mexico to take part in the ceremony alongside Mexican leader Enrique Pena Nieto and Garcia Marquezs wife and two sons.
The power of positive thinking and self-belief, is the best way to nd happiness according to Dhitinart Napattalung.
afp

problems were still there, but I realised that they could not take away my happiness. I knew theyd pass. People are numbing their senses without knowing it. They live their lives by following standards without ever questioning whether they are happy. Its a painless, risk-free life and people are not passionate about what they do, she said. In other words, they are afraid of being themselves. One indicator that shows how scared we are of being ourselves is our degree of interaction with internet social networks. In Dhitinarts

opinion, people nowadays spend an unhealthy amount of time online, seeking attention and shing for compliments because they need constant reassurance theyre good. The need to look elsewhere also results in overly dramatic behaviour, she feels. We are addicted to other peoples drama and feel good when other people expose their aws. Thats because we dont want to look at ourselves. In a way, obsessing about other peoples dramas makes you forget about yourself and your own aws. But you need to question yourself: does this really make my life

better? Does commenting on other peoples dramatic Facebook status do anything good to my life? If your eyes are focused on bad things, constantly searching for dirt, it is hard to notice good things. Dhitinart said that everyone can be the luckiest person in the world. All it takes for it to come about is to believe in it. Being constantly negative will only obstruct good things from happening. We are all lucky in our own way, and its up to us to realise that. That way, you might realise who you are, and what you really want in life.
BANGKOK POST

A DREAM team of actor Leonardo DiCaprio and director Danny Boyle are in line to take over the high-profile biopic of pioneering tech entrepreneur Steve Jobs after The Social Networks David Fincher relinquished the reins. Reports suggests that producers have begun courting Trance director Boyle for the film, scripted by Aaron Sorkin, with the prospect of allowing him to sign DiCaprio as the lead. tHe gUardian

DiCaprio and Danny Boyle in line to reteam for Jobs film

Spanish town of Kill Jews to vote on name change

Crouching Tiger prequel set for New Zealand

A PREQUEL to the Oscar-winning Chinese martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be shot in New Zealand this year, Film Auckland said yesterday. The original movie, released in 2000, broke new ground in introducing Western audiences to Chinese cinema and Film Aucklands deputy chairman Alex Lee said securing the follow-up was a major coup for New Zealand. Over the last 18 months its been very quiet and its nice were finally getting traction, he told Radio New Zealand. Its a production that will require a vast number of resources, facilities, technicians and crew. New Zealand is no stranger to bigbudget movie shoots, providing stunning backdrops for both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. Crouching Tiger made $213.5 million globally, according to industry website Box Office Mojo, including $128 million in the United States unprecedented at the time for a foreign language movie. It also won four Oscars in 2001, including best foreign film, and launched the Hollywood career of director Ang Lee, who went on to win two best director Academy Awards for Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi. Film industry bible Variety reported that Malaysias Michelle Yeoh will reprise her role as a warrior in the prequel, titled The Green Destiny. It said Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinsteins The Weinstein Company is co-producing the film with New Zealands Iron Knight Productions. Yuen Woo-ping, who co-ordinated the eye-popping action scenes in the original, will reportedly direct, using a script which has been approved by officials in Beijing. The green light from Beijing is important because it ensures access to the rapidly growing Chinese market, where box office takings soared 36 per cent to an estimated $1.8 billion over the first six months of 2013. The Chinese market is expected to overtake the US market by 2020, prompting keen interest from Hollywood. afp

IT IS a name that locals admit is not really fit for the modern age. And now the mayor of the small Spanish town of Castrillo Matajudios which means Castrillo Kill Jews in English has said residents will get the opportunity to vote on a name change. The 56 residents of the town, which lies near the northern city of Burgos, will vote May 25 on whether to change the name and instead celebrate the locations Jewish heritage, Mayor Lorenzo Rodriguez said on Monday. Locals will be able to choose between two names which both mean Mound of the Jews. AFP

Celebrities turn out for Peaches Geldof funeral

Michelle Yeoh stars in Ang Lees lm Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A prequel will be lmed in New Zealand this year. bloomberg

SUPERMODEL Kate Moss was among a host of celebrities who attended the funeral on Monday of Bob Geldofs daughter Peaches, at an English village church filled with memories for the tragedy-hit family. The 25-year-old television presenters body was carried into St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence church in Davington in Kent, southern England, in a white coffin painted with a blue sky and clouds. The church, which is next to the Geldof family estate, was the venue for the funeral of Peaches mother Paula Yates, who died from an accidental heroin overdose in 2000, aged 41. afp

18

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Health

A patient receives chemotherapy for breast cancer in Texas, in 2011. It is hoped that new studies of recovering miracle cancer patients will offer new treatment approaches and therapies.

BLOOMBERG

Miracle cancer patients to be studied

Angela Zimm

HE history of oncology is rife with patients with advanced cancer who staged miraculous recoveries. The mystery surrounding Jan Crisitello, a 70-year-old grandmother, is a case in point. Five years ago, 29 patients with advanced melanoma enrolled in a trial of a drug under development by Pzer Inc. Only one, Crisitello, came away with her cancer in remission. Now, she is being studied to see how her unique genome may have interacted with the drug to spur her recovery. What was yesterdays miracle event is today becoming a subject of scientic inquiry, said Leonard

Lichtenfeld, an oncologist who is deputy chief medical ofcer for the American Cancer Society. Now, the National Cancer Institute and academic medical centres including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are collecting data to conduct a more complete survey of exceptional responders. The plan is to create a national database for researchers. In a study presented this month at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in San Diego, researchers analysed the case of a 57-year-old woman with advanced

thyroid cancer who was the only patient in a drug trial who experienced almost a complete disappearance of her tumour. Her tumour melted away and didnt start growing again for 18 months, something unheard of in this rare, aggressive disease that usually kills in ve months, said Nikhil Wagle, an instructor at Dana-Farber and the studys lead investigator. Its a terrible disease, he said, extremely aggressive and, today, there are no adequate therapies. Genetic analysis revealed the patient carried a mutation in the TSC2 gene that helped make her tumour susceptible to Novartis Ags Anitor, used for kidney and breast cancer. The treatment works on a

biological pathway called mTor thats linked to the mutation. I think it will give people hope to know there are patients like this and people are trying to gure out whether there are more patients like this and what can we do as oncologists to improve treatment, Sequist said in an interview. Crisitello was diagnosed in 2002 with stage 4 melanoma. She underwent the standard chemotherapy treatments, but the disease kept charging back. In 2007, she joined a trial testing an experimental immunotherapy made by Pzer. The company since shelved the drug and licensed it to VLST Corp, a biotechnology company that closed down and sold off its assets. Basel, Swit-

zerland-based Roche, the worlds largest maker of cancer medicines, acquired the compound, known as CP-870893 from VLST in 2013. Pzer will retain co-exclusive rights to the drug, said Sally Beatty, a Pzer spokeswoman. While three patients in the group of 29 saw some shrinkage of their tumours, only Crisitello had a complete response. It would make me feel good if they found out why and could replicate that for other people, Crisitello said in a telephone interview. I feel very fortunate. Crisitello is now part of a study thats analysing her response to the drug in the hope it will help others ght the disease. BLOOMBERG

New study may change understanding of Down syndrome

SYMPTOMS of Down syndrome are produced by gene impairments across every chromosome, not just one, according to a study that may bring new understanding to the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability. Down syndrome occurs when there is an extra copy of chromosome 21, a condition called trisomy 21. Researchers have presumed that Down syndrome is mainly caused by the overabundance of effects of chromosome 21 genes. The findings, published in the journal Nature, show that a third copy of chromosome 21 disturbs the expression of all DNA in the genome. The surprise result may change the understanding of Down syndrome said Stylianos Antonarakis, a study author. The results of this study complicate the understanding of molecular mechanisms of the symptoms of trisomy 21 and opens a new hypotheses for all chromosomal abnormalities, said Antonarakis, chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine and Development at the University of Geneva Medical School in Switzerland. In addition to cognitive impairment, people with the condition may also suffer from ailments such as heart defects, low muscle tone, and early onset Alzheimers disease. The study compared a single set of identical twins in which just one twin had an extra chromosome 21. This unusual situation enabled researchers to study the effects of chromosome 21 without the bias of genome variability. While gene expression has been studied extensively in Down syndrome, natural variations among individuals concealed the genome-wide effect of chromosome 21. The study found that gene dysregulation, or impairment, seen in the twin with Down syndrome is organised in domains or territories along all the different chromosomes. Humans normally have 46 chromosomes in each cell, divided into pairs. Chromosome 21 is the smallest human chromosome, accounting for less than 2 per cent of the genome. Chromosome 21 probably contains 200 to 300 genes that provide instructions for making proteins. It brings up whole new possibility on how disease can come about compared to how we were thinking, Gilbert said.
BLOOMBERG

Children take part in World Down Syndrome Day in Guatemala on March 21. A new study may change the understanding of the causes of Down syndrome and offer new hope to combating it. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Travel
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19

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Arrival 03:30 09:05 09:05 14:40 16:20 18:40 19:40 21:50 20:50 14:30 20:50 13:45 20:50 13:00 14:30 20:50 16:30 18:45 10:25 16:05 17:00 17:25 22:20 22:50 16:00 10:20 4:10 06:05 22:40 08:40 11:25 14:40 17:15 15:50 08:10 14:00 12:30 11:35 13:00 13:15 10:45
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MANILA - SIEM REAP 22:30 16:35 10:40 12:25 12:45 18:30 18:35
15:35 15:35

TO PHNOM PENH
Arrival 01:10 08:15 11:10 11:10 16:40 18:15 20:40 21:45 16:05 22:45
05:20+1

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

02:11 22:15 15:20 15:40 16:05 21:35 21:55

18:40 18:30

5J 257 MI 633 MI 622 MI 616 MI 636 MI 630 MI 618

3K 597 3K 597

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

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

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

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

PHNOM PENH - BANGKOK

BANGKOK - PHNOM PENH

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

Visitors admire Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna.

Schoenbrunn Palace among historys greats

Helen Rowe

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

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

CHOENBRUNN Palace was Marie-Antoinettes summer childhood home and the beautiful and tragic Sissis favoured residence. Mozart performed there as a child and Napoleon was so smitten he moved in twice. And from April 30, tourists too can sojourn in Viennas top tourist site, in a converted suite of rooms with views over the palace gardens, even with butler, cook and horsedrawn conveyance. This is unique in Europe, Birgit Reitbauer from the Verkehrsbuero Austrian hotel group behind the Schoenbrunn Palace Suite said during a sneak preview. The new suite is above the former bed chamber of the bushy-whiskered Emperor Franz Joseph and the study where his independentminded wife Sissi assassinated in 1898 would write poems and her diary. Renovated at a cost of 400,000 ($555,000), it includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a salon, a living room and a kitchenette with a fridge full of champagne. Built as an answer to Versailles in France, Schoenbrunn and its gardens home to the worlds oldest surviving zoo are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, attracting eight million visitors per year. Its Napoleon Room was where the French dictator slept after occupying Vienna in 1805 and in 1809 and making it his headquarters. Elsewhere, a 6-year-old Mozart played for Empress Maria Theresa in the 1760s, Later, in 1961, John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev met under the ceiling frescoes of the Great

Gallery, the crystal-mirrored former royal ballroom. In keeping with Maria Theresa, mum of guillotined let them eat cake Marie Antoinette, it has gushings of white, black and gold, combined with the imperial pineapple damask red cloth. Unlike in Schoenbrunns heyday, however, there are modern conveniences like three widescreen televisions, and elegant stucco work. It was important for us to maintain the imperial air of Schoenbrunn Palace ... without having to omit any modern elements, explained Franz Sattlecker, who oversees rentals at the site. The experience of waking up in a 1,441-room palace like a pampered princess in a four-poster bed is not for paupers, however. Prices per night start at 699 per person, not including breakfast. For that you have to go to the nearby Parkhotel. The Honeymoon Package, at 2,700, gets a carriage ride from the four-star Parkhotel, roses, champagne, something that is called a romantic bath and breakfast. Top of the range is the Imperial Suite Package with dinner made by a private chef, a private tour of the whole palace and other goodies all for 4,900 per night. The targets are wealthy tourists who ock to Vienna from Russia, China, India and Japan, looking for something special, as well as well-heeled Europeans and Americans. Many Japanese people come to Vienna to renew their vows and have beautiful photos and memories, and we hope we can attract some of them, Reitbauer explained. Surprisingly, however, our rst bookings are actually people from Vienna. AFP

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 1.3 2.4.5 6 7 Daily Daily Daily 1.3.6 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.

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 23, 2014

Entertainment
NOW SHOWING
LEGEND CINEMA

Galerie des Arts @ Sotel

A total of 31 artists from Cambodia and elsewhere and more than 100 pieces of art feature in the hotels exhibition. Painting, sculpture, pottery and jewelry are all on display.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier. City Mall: 1:05pm, 5:20pm, 7:30pm Tuol Kork: 9:20am, 11:20am, 4:05pm, 9:25pm DIVERGENT In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns shes Divergent and wont fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before its too late. Tuol Kork: 9:20pm NOAH A man is chosen by his worlds creator to undertake a momentous mission to rescue the innocent before an apocalyptic flood cleanses the wicked from the world. Tuol Kork: 6:40pm RIO 2 Its a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their three kids after theyre hurtled Rio de Janeiro to the wilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries to fit in, he goes beak-tobeak with the vengeful Nigel, . City Mall: 9:20am, 11:20am, 3:25pm, 5:30pm Tuol Kork: 11:55am, 1:30pm, 5:55pm, 8pm TRANSCENDENCE As Dr Will Caster works toward his goal of creating an omniscient, sentient machine, a radical antitechnology organisation fights to prevent him from establishing a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain. City Mall: 9:45pm Tuol Kork: 11:10am LOST LOVES A 2010 film directed by Chha Bora based on real events uring the Khmer Rouge era. The film was selected as the Cambodian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. City Mall: 3:40pm
A painting by Thomas Pierre features in the Sotels exhibition. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Hotel Sotel Phokeethra, Sothearos Boulevard. All day

Jazz @ Doors
Made in France is a collaboration between two musicians Sebastien Adnot and Kae Lhassan. Expect French songs and jazz classics played in the gypsy style. Entry fee is $5.

Doors, #18, Streets 47 & 84. 8:30pm

SIN @ Code Red

Every Wednesday the new club near NagaWorld spices up the midweek with an evening designed for people who work in the restaurant, nightclub, music and fashion industries.

TV PICKS
9:45am - THE CROODS: After their cave is destroyed, a caveman family must trek through an unfamiliar fantastical world with the help of an inventive boy. FOX MOVIES 11:25am - GROWN UPS: After their high school basketball coach passes away, five good friends and former teammates reunite for a Fourth of July holiday weekend. FOX MOVIES 8pm - FANTASTIC FOUR: A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use them to oppose the plans of their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom. FOX MOVIES 9:45 - OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL: A small-time magician is swept away to an enchanted land and is forced into a power struggle. FOX MOVIES

Code Red, opposite NagaWorld, near Koh Pich Bridge. 9pm

Salsa @ The Groove

Latin music and dance moves until late. Preceded by beginners classes at 8pm for $5. This basic class is designed to lay down a strong foundation, for students who are new to Salsa.

The Groove, #1C Street 282. 9pm

Rachel Weiss stars in Oz the Great and Powerful. BLOOMBERG

Thinking caps
CERTAIN COCKTAIL
ACROSS
1 Taken ___ (surprised) 6 Actor LaBeouf 10 Edible corm 14 Yak incessantly 15 Labor strenuously 16 Place of refuge 17 It may be ruby red 20 Tolkien cannibal 21 Libeler, essentially 22 More than enough 23 Two barbershop quartets 25 Oft-misplaced items 26 Early lab burner 28 Bit of trivia 32 They have a central meeting place 34 ___-de-camp 35 Hr. fragment 38 Boer War participant 42 Its sometimes written in the sand 43 Lowest high tide 44 Givers opposite 45 Fretful 48 Staff note 49 Scuttling crustacean 51 Some pottery class projects 53 Saffron-flavored Spanish dish 55 Place for a fly, in jokes 56 Van Goghs love offering 59 Drink with distilled cider 62 Leaves home? 63 Additive to some tissues 64 One place to be lost 65 Sword handle 66 Out of the rat race (abbr.) 67 Winter temps may be in them

DOWN

1 Bearer of the Golden Fleece 2 Hamiltons foe 3 They might put the squeeze on you 4 Suspect chaser 5 Genuflected 6 Sedimentary rock layers 7 College-credit unit 8 Roman trio? 9 Sax range 10 Gave the slip to 11 Per diem 12 Chops into cubes 13 Metals from the earth 18 Feudal lords realm 19 Most lacking in seriousness 24 Adams firstborn 26 Winged god of love 27 Its harvested in Hawaii 29 Wrists 30 Winnerless game 31 Poem of homage 33 Of low character 35 Add up 36 Bit in a newspaper 37 He fiddled infamously 39 Always, in poesy 40 Word before flung or fetched 41 Break, as a horse 45 Bill holder 46 Called up, as a memory 47 Apply crudely, as paint 49 Bay of Naples island 50 Fend off 52 He could eat no fat 53 Appalachian Trail, e.g. 54 Slightly open, as a door 55 Sean Connery is one 57 Main port in Yemen 58 Showy Scandinavian rugs 60 Public-house drink 61 Dined

Tuesdays solution

Tuesdays solution

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

21

Sport

Duty rebound
Nikola Mirotic of Real Madrid (left) ghts for a rebound with Olympiakos Piraeus Breny Petway during Game 3 of their Euroleague basketball play-off series at the Peace and Friendship Indoor Hall in Athens on Monday. Two-time defending champions Olympiakos survived an absolute cliff-hanger to win 78-76, clawing back a game in their Group B series that now stands at 2-1 to Madrid. Game 4 is tonight in Athens. AFP

David Moyes dismissed by Man United, replaced by Ryan Giggs

Jamie Jackson

AVId Moyes has been sacked by Manchester United after just 10 months in charge and replaced by Ryan Giggs. The club are believed to be interested in putting Giggs in charge temporarily until the end of the season. Giggs, 40, has been combining playing with studying for his ProLicence, learning at the feet of the manager for the majority of his career at United, Sir Alex Fergsuon. The Welsh winger and Moyes are believed not to have seen eye to eye over the past season although the club was seemingly at pains to deny the rumour. United released a statement at 8.30am (2:30pm Cambodian time) yesterday saying: Manchester United has announced that David Moyes has left the club. Moyes was informed of the news late on Monday evening and drove into the clubs Carrington training complex yesterday morning to make his departure ofcial. Moyes backroom staff of Steve Round, Phil Neville, Jimmy Lums-

David Moyes (right) has been sacked as manager of Manchester United after just ten months in charge of the club and will be replaced by player-coach Ryan Giggs (left). AFP

den and Chris Woods are also likely to follow Moyes out the door. The club would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role. The move, revealed in The Guardian on Monday, came after the former Everton manager lost the

support of Uniteds owners, the Glazer family, despite having been personally selected by Ferguson and handed a six-year contract. United had insisted that Moyes was still their manager on Monday, but refused to deny widespread reports the Scot was to be dismissed. The former captain Gary Neville,

who made over 600 appearances for United, had called on the club to clear up the situation. I have to say I nd it repulsive the way these rumours break, Neville, who won 17 major trophies at Old Trafford, told Sky Sports. I dont like it, Ill never get used to it, even though this is the world we live in. It needs to be claried pretty quickly by the club and they need to break rank and do what they dont usually do, which is make a statement pretty quickly. The weight and explosion of the information coming out concerns me. That club, for 20-odd years, contained and managed information. It was completely off the scale like nothing else thats happened at the club in 20 years. Managers are already being linked with the job, foremost among them the Holland manager Louis van Gaal and the former United centrehalf and Paris St-Germain coach Laurent Blanc. The list of unwanted records broken during Moyes time at the helm is as embarrassing as it is long. United will end the season with

their lowest points total in Premier League history, they have not qualied for the Champions League for the rst time in almost two decades and their home record this season is the worst since 1978. The Red Devils, who won the title by 11 points under Sir Alex Ferguson last year, are seventh in the Premier League with four matches left. During his tenure Moyes won 27, drew nine and lost 15 of his 51 games in charge. Had he not made a mess of the summer transfer window, he might have been better placed. The Scot pursued Barcelonas Cesc Fabregas when the Spaniard had no intention of leaving the Spanish club. Thiago Alcantara joined Bayern Munich ahead of United, while the club made a hash of their attempts to sign Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines, their bid of 28 million (US$47.1 million) for the pair being branded derisory and insulting by Everton. Baines stayed and United ended up buying Fellaini for 27.5 million when they could have bought him for 4 million less had they acted quicker. THE GUARDIAN

22

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 9, 2014

Sport

Noah named Defensive Player of the Year

CHIcAGO Bulls center Joakim Noah, the mainstay of a team that kept foes to a league-low 91.8 points a game, was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year on Monday. The son of French tennis legend Yannick Noah and former Miss Sweden Cecilia Rodhe averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, 1.5 blocked shots and 1.2 steals a game for the Bulls this season. Noah, 29, became the first Bulls player to win the award since Michael Jordan in 1988. AFP

Robbie Deans to coach Japans Panasonic

FOrmEr Wallabies boss Robbie Deans will become the head coach of Japans Top League and national champions Panasonic Wild Knights on May 1, the club said yesterday. Deans, who has also managed the Christchurch-based Crusaders and served as an All Blacks assistant coach, will take over from Norifumi Nakajima, who is transferring to another part of the giant electronics firm. Nakajima spent three seasons in charge at Panasonic, leading the club to the double honour in his final season. AFP

Dolphins bullying leads to new executive hirings

THE Miami Dolphins hired new executives to oversee the teams human resources and security, two months after a report found that three players engaged in a pattern of harassment of fellow lineman Jonathan Martin. Dan Caspersen, who was executive vice president for human resources at Toys R Us Inc. from 2006-2013, will oversee the National Football League teams human resources, the Dolphins said on Monday in a news release. Joe Cicini was placed in charge of security following 23 years with the Miami division of the FBI, the team said. The moves come after a February 14 report by investigator Ted Wells, which found that offensive linemen Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey persistently taunted fellow lineman Martin and an athletic trainer with racial, sexual and homophobic slurs. Dolphins coach Joe Philbin and members of the front office werent aware of the abuse, the report found. The Dolphins fired assistant coach Jim Turner and trainer Kevin ONeill following the report. Martin, who left the team during the 2013 season in late October, was traded to the San Francisco 49ers last month. BLOOMBERG

ENS of thousands of runners, cheered by a multitude of spectators, streamed through the streets of Boston on Monday to reclaim the worlds oldest marathon from the fear left by last years deadly twin bombing. More than 3,500 police, double the size of the force last year, kept watch to prevent any replay of the ghastly carnage that devastated the race on April 15, 2013, when two explosive devices tore through the crowds at the nish line. Three people were killed and 264 injured in a rain of shrapnel. The festive atmosphere was only heightened when Meb Keezighi became the rst American man since 1983 to win the event. Kenyas Rita Jeptoo won her second womens title in a row and third overall. The Eritrea-born Keezighi said he hoped his victory would help the city heal, in the way Bostons beloved Red Sox triumphed in the World Series last year. It was my dream to win Boston and to make it just like the Red Sox did and do the same thing for the people, Keezighi said. Amby Burfoot, the 1968 winner who was running Monday at age 67 after

Runners reclaim Boston Marathon

T

being kept from nishing the 2013 race because of the attack, highlighted the very resilient nature of the competitors and the city. At the end of the day, we all say Boston lives, Boston strong, Boston endures forever, he told AFP. A moment of silence was observed at the starting line in Hopkinton, just before the rst wave of runners set off on the 26.2-mile course through Boston. Disabled participants in wheelchairs were the rst to go, followed by the elite runners. A clear blue sky, sunshine and cool weather greeted the participants 36,000 runners from all over the world, 9,000 more than last year and near the record 38,708 on the marathons centenary in 1996. A series of draconian safety measures were imposed for this years event, including a no backpack rule. The Chechen brothers who allegedly carried out the 2013 attack, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, hid pressurecooker bombs in their backpacks. Weve tried to strike a balance between enhanced security and preserving the family feel of this day, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said. Across the city, people could be seen wearing Boston Strong shirts,

Mebrahtom Meb Keezighi of the US crosses the nish line to win the mens elite division of the 118th Boston Marathon on Monday. AFP

with banners bearing the mantra proudly displayed in stores, restaurants and hotels. We dont let terrorists win here. We come back, doesnt matter they arent going to stop us, said Rudy Duplissis, who came with his wife, Claire, to watch their daughter Leah run her third marathon. As they did last year, the couple set up folding chairs near the nish line. They took enough precautions I feel safe, said Claire. Chicago native Kevin Havel, 24, ran the race which coincides with the states Patriots Day for the rst time. I loved the crowd here. I didnt know what to expect but every mile people cheered and I think that pushed me to the nish, Havel told AFP . I will denitely be back. Several former winners were also taking part on Monday, including Americas Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won in 1979 and 1983, and last years win-

ner, Ethiopias Lelisa Desisa. The 24year-old Desisa has met several victims of the attacks, calling them an inspiration, and has said he will be running again to show that he has no fear. Run every year since 1897, the Boston Marathon is one of the six biggest foot races in the world and part of the prestigious World Marathon Majors circuit. The fans are the star attraction, said Burfoot. We are 36,000 runners and we are lucky because we are going down the middle of a parade, with fans on both sides of the road. The Tsarnaev brothers were identied as perpetrators of the attacks within days thanks to footage from cameras and thousands of photographs. Tamerlan, 26, was shot by police on April 19, 2013, after killing an ofcer and Dzhokhar, now 20, was captured and stands accused of 30 federal charges. He is awaiting trial and could face the death penalty if convicted. AFP

Grizzlies, Clippers win to level playoff series

ZAch Randolph scored eight of his 25 points in overtime to spark the Memphis Grizzlies over Oklahoma City 111-105 on Monday, equalising their NBA playoff series at one win each. Mike Conley added 19 points and 12 assists while Spaniard Marc Gasol and Courtney Lee each added 16 points for Memphis, which will host the next two games in the best-of-seven Western Conference firstround match-up tomorrow and Saturday. In the nights other NBA playoff game, Blake Griffin scored 35 points and the Los Angeles Clippers routed visiting Golden State 138-98 to level their playoff series at 1-1 with game three tomorrow at Oakland. We just relaxed a little bit and played our game, Griffin said. We ran our offence and that opened up some shots. At Oklahoma City, NBA regular-season scoring champion Kevin Durant netted 36 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, but it was not enough to lift the hosts past the Grizzlies, who ousted the Thunder from last years playoffs. Russell Westbrook added 29 points and nine assists and Spaniard Serge Ibaka had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder. At Los Angeles, Griffin scored 21 points in the first half, helping the Clippers seize a 67-41 half-time lead on the way to a lopsided triumph. Danny Granger added 15 points as seven players were double-digit scorers for the Clippers. Steph Curry scored 24 points to lead the Warriors in a losing cause. difficult 2013-14 season, and blame should not be put on one individual. But the time has come for change throughout the franchise as we start the journey to assess and build this team for next season and beyond. The ouster of Woodson and his coaching staff could open the door for Steve Kerr, a former player under Jackson on three of his six NBA championship teams with Chicago who is familiar with the triangle offence Jackson prefers. The moves could have a major impact on whether or not star playmaker Carmelo Anthony opts to stay with the Knicks or leave for another club that might offer him a better chance at winning an NBA crown. Woodson, who replaced Mike DAntoni in March, 2012, had a contract option for next season picked up by the Knicks in 2013 after guiding the team to its first division crown since 1994 in a 54-28 season and a trip to the second round of the playoffs. But the Knicks began this season 3-13 and only in the final stretch did they look like a playoff-calibre team. AFP

All eyes on Gilbert ahead of Fleche Wallonne race

NY Knicks fire Woodson

The New York Knicks on Monday fired head coach Mike Woodson after the team missed the NBA playoffs, team president Phil Jackson said. The Knicks went 109-79 in three seasons under Woodson, twice making the playoffs before slumping to 37-45 this season. They finished behind Atlanta for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth. Jackson, who has coached a record 11 NBA championship teams, was brought in by owners last month to start to rebuild the Knicks. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike Woodson and his entire staff, Jackson said. The coaches and players on this team had an extremely

CyclIst Philippe Gilberts tour de force on the Cauberg climb during Sundays Amstel Gold Race did more than bring him a third title in the Netherlands, it also established him as the favourite for todays Fleche Wallonne. In a stunning demonstration of power and acceleration, the 31-year-old Belgian demonstrated he is back to the form that brought him an Ardennes Classics treble in 2011. Back then he won his second Amstel Gold Race before going on to add Fleche Wallonne and LiegeBastogne-Liege success as well. Afp

Serge Ibaka (right) of the Oklahoma City Thunder blocks a shot by Ed Davis of the Memphis Grizzlies in Game Two of their Western Conference quarternals at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 23, 2014

Football

23

ORLD Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo looks set to make his comeback from injury for Real Madrid when Bayern Munich visit the Santiago Bernabeu for their Champions League semi-nal, rst leg tonight. Ronaldo has been sidelined for the past three weeks due to a hamstring injury and will be desperate to make up for lost time by building on his recordequalling 14 goals in the competition this season. Real are set to be at full strength as left-back Marcelo has also overcome a hamstring problem. Gareth Bale missed training on Monday due to u-like symptoms, but the Welshman is expected to take his place alongside Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in attack. Los Blancos will need Ronaldo and Bale ring on all cylinders if they are to overcome their historic hoodoo against Bayern in the last four of Europes premier club competition. In ve previous semi-nals, the Germans have come out on top four times, with a 3-2 aggregate victory in 2000 on their way to winning the competition for an eighth time Reals only success. However, Madrids previously awful record against German opposition has been salvaged this season as they saw off Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund on their way into the last four. And Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge believes an away goal is the key to his side reaching the nal for a third consecutive season. We need to score at least one goal. Thats what we learned from Dortmunds meetings with Real Madrid, he said.

Ronaldo set for Bayern test W

Kieran Canning

Man City sweat it out over Silvas fitness

MANCHESTER City manager Manuel Pellegrini said he hoped the ankle injury sustained by midfielder David Silva was not serious after it overshadowed his sides 3-1 win against West Bromwich Albion. City are now six points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, with a game in hand, after goals from the Argentinian trio of Pablo Zabaleta, Sergio Aguero and Martin Demichelis secured victory at Eastlands on Monday. But the three points came at a cost, with Spain playmaker Silva taken off on a stretcher in the second half after an awkward tangle with West Broms Morgan Amalfitano. AFP

Burnley promoted to the Premier League

Bayern Munichs Franck Ribery (right) fouls Real Madrids Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2012 Champions League semi-nal second leg.

AFP

Were known as the la bestia negra [The Black Beast] down there. We need to show them la bestia negra is back. By their own lofty standards, Bayern have struggled to maintain their focus after sealing the Bundesliga title in record time a month ago. Saturdays 2-0 win over bottom club Eintracht Braunschweig was their rst in four league games, a run which included two consecutive defeats after a 53-match unbeaten streak. Bayern boss Pep Guardiola enjoyed an impeccable record of ve wins and a draw in six visits to the Santi-

ago Bernabeu in four years in charge of Barcelona. However, the Spaniard has accepted responsibility for his side slacking off in recent weeks and will be hoping meeting the nine-time European champions brings out the best in them, having previously described playing in Europe as like a good meal in a nice restaurant compared to the everyday pizza or hamburgers of the Bundesliga. And captain Philipp Lahm admitted the European champions need to be at the very top of their game when they visit the Spanish capital, where they

triumphed on penalties in the seminals two years ago. On Wednesday well show were always up for it in the important games, but its still 50-50, he said. Other than the absence of former Barcelona midelder Thiago Alcantara, Bayern should also be at full strength with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and David Alaba returning to the side after missing Saturdays win at Braunschweig due to injury and illness respectively. Tonights game kicks off at 1:45am Cambodian time. AFP

Tackles flying in on ISL

Its backers include some of the biggest names in Indian sport, business and Bollywood who hope it will help the country shed its image as the sleeping giant of world football. But the Indian Super League, which promises to lure a galaxy of former stars out of retirement, is already facing scepticism and even downright hostility from within the game some five months ahead of kick-off. Its going to kill the sleeping giant without allowing it a chance to wake up and get out of bed, said Valanka Alemao, the chief executive of Churchill Brothers, ex-champions of Indias current domestic league. This is such a weak-structured tournament that its bound to fail. Despite being the second most populous nation, India has long struggled in world football and is currently ranked 145th out of 207 in the governing body FIFAs rankings. The sleeping giant tag was first coined by FIFA president Sepp Blatter on a visit to India in 2007 but with even war-torn Syria and Afghanistan now ranked higher, some wags have said the snooze has become a coma. Cricket dominates the back pages but matches in the existing I-League domestic championship attract significant crowds in some parts of the country, and the English Pre-

Scooter City FC rides away with gameweek

less than ve Dream teamers, namely Sterling, Baines, Man Citys Sergio Aguero (12 points), Tottenhams Christian Eriksen (11) and Evertons Seamus Coleman (11), with Aguero and Eriksen being transferred in to great effect. His captains pick of Liverpools Luis Suarez for 16 points also helped him coolly collect the US$20 phone voucher and T-shirt winners prize from sponsors Cellcard. In the Cellcard Fantasy facebook fanpage competition, an amazing 30 users were right in guessing that the Norwich v Liverpool humdinger would yield the most goals of any xture in the round. However, only one individual, Veasna Morm, managed to predict the score would end 3-2 to Liverpool. Therefore the $10 phone voucher will nd its way to Veasna. The overall standings see table topper Sabina Lawreniuk and her side Why always me? maintain a 20-point lead over second placed Matt Culis PPFC. Gameweek 36 this coming weekend will be completely dominated by the hype surrounding what could be a long-awaited title decider for Liverpool against Chelsea on Sunday, while places in Europe and Premier League survival are still being ercely fought over.

Dan Riley

BURNlEY ended their four-year wait to return to the Premier League in emphatic fashion as their 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic clinched promotion on Monday. Sean Dyches team kicked off knowing a victory would guarantee their lucrative place among English footballs elite next season, and they finished the job with a flourish in front of their jubilant supporters at Turf Moor. Ashley Barnes put the Clarets ahead in the 22nd minute and Michael Kightlys 42nd-minute goal allowed Burnleys supporters to begin celebrating their return to the top flight. Second-placed Burnley, eight points clear of third-placed Derby County with just two games remaining, join already-promoted leaders Leicester City in securing a toptwo finish in the Championship. Burnleys third win in their last four matches means Leicester still have to win one of their final three matches to clinch the second-tier title. Elsewhere, Derby maintained their grip on third place with a 2-1 win over second-bottom Barnsley, who are four points from safety with only two games left. Brighton and Hove Albion, who hold the last play-off spot, had to be content with a 1-1 draw at home to third-bottom Blackpool. AFP

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly (left) and RPG Enterprises vice-chairman Sanjiv Goenka pose after winning the Kolkata franchise for the upcoming Indian Super League in Kolkata on April 14. AFP

miership is a major driver behind the growth of satellite TV there. So it was no surprise when Rupert Murdochs Star TV was revealed as one of the backers of the new ISL along with other big names such as sports management giant IMG. And in an echo of the format for crickets glitzy Indian Premier League (IPL), it was announced last week that eight city-based franchises with famous frontmen would take part in the two month-long competition from September. Co-owners include cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood A-listers Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor as well as Atletico Madrid, leaders of Spains La Liga. Nita Ambani, chairwoman of the joint venture IMG-Reliance marketing group which con-

ceived the idea of the league, forecast that it would pave the way for the nations sporting renaissance. Football, with its largely untapped potential in the country, has the opportunity to grow to an unrivaled commercial success quite unlike any other sport, Ambani, wife of Indias richest man Mukesh Ambani, said in a statement. A more measured assessment came from former national cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, co-owner of the Kolkata franchise. He said the league could be a force for good even if it does not supplant cricket as Indias number one game. Dont compare it with the IPL or cricket, Ganguly said. Its the start of something good. Hopefully, somewhere down the line, things will improve. AFP

An ABSOLUTE nail biter for champions-elect Liverpool against Norwich was one of the weekends most memorable matches, launching the Reds Raheem Sterling into the stratosphere for his matchwinning brace and assist. The 19-year-old English winger notched up 18 points to assume the title of Most Valuable Player of gameweek 35 in the Cellcard Fantasy League, a rich reward for all managers that picked him. Another young mideld maestro, Arsenals Aaron Ramsey, showed his form with a goal and a pair of assists at Hull for 16 points. Meanwhile, Evertons perennially prolic defender Leighton Baines scored at one end and kept a clean sheet at the other in their crucial win over Manchester United to amass 15 points. The weekly battle heralded three centurion efforts (100 points or more) although Colin Browns 107 points with his team Scooter City FC was simply stunning. Colins squad included no

Italy coach shows softer side in ethics embargo

A HASTY punch may have cost Mattia Destro his place in Italys World Cup squad under coach Cesare Prandellis code of ethics campaign. But then again maybe not. Prandelli, who comes across as a hard man for rules, remains a master of pragmatism in applying his code of conduct. Roma striker Destro scored a hat-trick against Cagliari but was then caught in a video playback punching opposing defender Davide Astori. He was suspended for three matches and missed Prandellis fitness tests for 42 players last week. Even in the last month of the season, whoever slips up stays at home because it means he wont be able to handle the pressure of the World Cup, Prandelli said. Im sick of seeing certain attitudes. National team players must be strong enough not to allow themselves to react to provocation. Afp

MONdAYs REsUlT
Spanish La Liga
Malaga 2 Villarreal 0