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A pAssenger jet has reportedly crashed in eastern Ukraine in an area where separatist rebels have been engaging Ukrainian military forces in recent weeks.

The Ukrainian official Anton gerashchenko said 280 passengers and 15 crew were on board.

The Malaysia Airlines plane, trav-elling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, apparently crashed near the town of snizhe, according to a report from Interfax news agency which could not immediately be confirmed. Other reports suggested it had crashed close to the nearby town of Torez.

Malaysia Airlines said via its Twitter feed: Malaysia Airlines has lost con-tact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrain-ian airspace. More details to follow.

A source in the russian aviation industry told reuters that the plane did not enter russian airspace when expected and had crashed in east-ern Ukraine.

gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraines interior minister, wrote on his Facebook page that the plane had crashed in Ukrainian territory after being hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. Associated press said one of its journalists had seen a similar launcher near the town of snizhne earlier yesterday.

In recent days the Ukrainian air force has lost planes in the area after they have been shot down by rebels. earlier yesterday, Ukraine accused russia of downing one of its fighter jets inside Ukrainian territory.

sources among the self-declared Donetsk peoples republic said they were not linked to the downing of the plane and suspected Ukrainian forc-es of being involved, according to comments carried by russian news agencies. the guardian

Malaysian airplane shot down in Ukraine

Post Staff

CAMBODIAs political crisis deepened yesterday as security forces arrested two more opposition lawmakers-elect from the Cambodia national rescue

party and a judge summonsed the partys depu-ty leader to appear in court for questioning.

The two lawmakers-elect, Long ry and nuth rumduol, were arrested yesterday afternoon over their alleged role in a demonstration this week that descended into violent beatings of district security guards who attempted to force-fully break up the protest.

Yesterdays arrests brought the total number of detained opposition members to eight.

At least nine opposition figures, including seven lawmakers-elect, were charged on Wednes-day with crimes ranging from insurrection which can carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years to holding an illegal demonstration.

Cnrp lawmakers-elect Mu sochua, Keo phi-rom, Men sothavarin, Ho Vann and real Cam-erin, along with opposition youth activist Oeun narith, spent Wednesday night in phnom penhs prey sar prison awaiting trial.

A group of pro-opposition demonstrators briefly gathered outside prey sar prison yesterday morning where they were met by a large police presence.

At about 3:40pm yesterday, Cnrp spokesman Yim sovann and other party officials confirmed that ry and rumduol were arrested at rys home in phnom penh yesterday afternoon.

rys wife, Chea sokumteany, told the post shortly after the arrests that they were being taken to the municipal police headquarters.

Twenty minutes before their arrests, [phnom penh] police chief Chuon sovan called [ry] tell-ing him that the police had already arrived at our house to bring him in for questioning, she said. I begged police to wait for his lawyer to arrive, but they wouldnt.

Investigating judge Keo Mony said he contin-ued to question the six detained Cnrp members at prey sar prison.

I think that their questioning will take at least

roundup of Cnrp continues

Military personnel in riot gear secure the entrance to Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. heng ChiVOan

ConTinued Page 4

Govt arrest strateGy has familiar rinGnaTional Page 4

murdoch makes a play for time warnerbuSineSS Page 10

host country enjoyinG success at tour de franceSPoRT baCk Page

Gaza truce discussions after israel kills four children on beachwoRld newS pagE 13

National 2 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014

Chhay Channyda and Laignee Barron

IN case cramming for an exam that determines high school graduation and college place-ment wasnt stressful enough, grade 12 test-takers will now have to do so under the scru-tiny of independent observers tasked with manning every exam room window.

as part of a slew of reforms to crack down on endemic cheating at the national exam this year, the anti-corruption unit has recruited 2,000 in-dependent observers from NGOs, universities and indi-vidual volunteers.

For the past three years, the acu sent its own observers to monitor the exams, but this is the first time it will invite civil-ians in to bolster the ranks.

We could put our observers at all 154 exam centres, but we wont. We want to monitor in a transparent way, Om yen-tieng, president of the acu, explained yesterday at an informational session for re-cruited observers.

yentieng warned moni-tors that they have not been endowed with the powers of educators or government offi-cials during the august 3 and 4 exam period; monitors cannot

stop the proceedings even if they witness cheating, bribery or other corruption, and will not even be allowed into the exam room.

you have no right to enter the class, you must watch from the window and observe, he said, advising that monitors capture evidence of irregular-ity on their phone and bring the picture to proctors.

But education monitors said such a limited role renders them incapacitated to do much.

Monitoring at the window is not really going to be effec-tive, said san chey, a coordi-nator for aNsa-eaP. But we can still monitor the centre as the students go in, and then interview them afterwards.

yentieng, however, main-tained that cheating at the exam was not nearly as ram-pant as outsiders assume, part of the reason that outsid-ers will be allowed in to see the reality.

But a university student reg-istered as a monitor said ev-eryone, himself included, has used an illicit trick or two to boost their scores.

No one in my year was per-fect and didnt cheat, even the best students, said the stu-dent, who decline to provide a name.

Mom Kunthear

a DRuNKeN father murdered his 2-year-old son with a hoe early yesterday morning, ac-cording to police, who have arrested the suspect and asked the court to press mur-der charges.

som sak, chief of the serious crimes Office in Kampong speu province, said yesterday that police officials arrested seoun sorn, 34, in the early hours at his home in samrong Tong district.

sak said he asked sorn why

he had killed his son, and was told that he was drunk and dreamed his wife loved another man, an idea that angered him so much that he hit his son in a blind rage.

The suspect used a dig-ging hoe to hit on his sons head to kill him immedi-ately, sak said. The sus-pect looks like he has men-tal health problems and he often has some strange thoughts. actually, his wife did not have another man."

He will be sent to provincial court today.

NGO observers to get window into cheating

Father killed son: police

cracks discovered in bridgeSen David

THe Ministry of Public Works and Transpor-tation (MPWT) and the Phnom Penh mu-

nicipality are preparing a ban on heavy trucks crossing the cambodian-japanese Friend-ship Bridge after cracks were discovered in a pillar on the bridges eastern end, a city Hall official confirmed yesterday.

at a meeting on Wednesday led by MPWT secretary of state Toch chan Kosal and Phnom Penh Deputy Governor chre-ang sophan, officials deter-mined that the nearly 50-year-old bridge also known as the chroy changvar bridge was in need of repairs, and would be off-limits to vehicles weigh-ing more than 2.5 tonnes while those repairs were under way.

We will not allow trucks that have weights above 2.5 tonnes to cross the chroy changvar bridge, because it is very old now, and we have to repair some parts of the bridge after an expert official found some cracks in a pillar, he said. We have to do prevention first, because some accident might happen, and then who is responsible?

The ban will go into effect once the ministry officially recommends it to city Hall,

he added. The MPWTs chan Kosal could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The chroy changvar bridge was first constructed in the late 1960s, and its central span was destroyed during cambodias long-running civil war, said Masahiko egami, the head of ground transport issues at the japa-nese International coopera-tion agency who attended Wednesdays meeting.

Though the central span was rebuilt with funding and

technical expertise from the japanese government in 1993, he continued, the part of the bridge where the cracks were found the eastern approach segment was part of the orig-inal 60s-era structure.

Noting cambodias rapid development, egami said that ever-increasing traffic loads had put a strain on the bridge over the years.

considering the age of [the] bridge and the timing of the design of the bridge, it was very difficult for the engineers

to anticipate the amount of traffic [there would be] to-day, he said.

also, 50 years is quite long, so it is not an exceptional case to find such cracks in a struc-ture, he added.

While the cracks are kind of serious, egami continued, the MPWT had been prompt in considering appropriate mea-sures to address the issue, such as the ban on heavier vehicles, and a plan to install temporary pylons to alleviate strain on the affected pillar.

A view of the Cambodian-Japanese Friendship Bridge (right) in Phnom Penh yesterday. Trucks over 2.5 tonnes will no longer be able to cross the bridge after cracks were found in a support pillar. ELI MIEXLER

Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Alice Cuddy

A DAY after the government issued a statement saying that 22 of the Daun Penh district security guards beaten by oppo-sition protesters on Tuesday were in critical condition, offi-cials yesterday told the Post that most of them are now well on the way to recovery.

Daun Penh district governor Kouch Chamroeun said that while the 22 are still hospi-talised most of them feel better.

Explaining why the guards remained in hospital for the third day running, Chamroeun said their wounds still hurt and they need to be checked more by the doctor.

Three security guards injured during the violence outside Freedom Park on Tuesday remained in the hospitals intensive care unit yesterday evening.

The three with serious inju-ries have all woken up already but are still in the ICU for moni-toring their serious head inju-ries, Chamroeun said.

On Wednesday the same day that the Council of Ministers announced that the 22 guards were in critical condition a

source at Calmette Hospital, who requested anonymity, told the Post that many had already recovered.

I saw some of the patients walk around their room and smoke cigarettes outside of the ward they were talking with their friends as normal people, he said.

When Post reporters visited the hospital yesterday as an event for local media was tak-ing place the 22 guards were bedridden.

I only got slightly injured, because when [the protesters] attacked, I took a yellow ribbon

off of the ground and put it on myself and told them do not beat me, because we are the same group, one patient said.

Post staff were escorted out of the ward by Chamroeun and Daun Penh security guards, while journalists from other media outlets were allowed to stay.

After the media group left, patients were seen again mov-ing around inside the ward.

Council of Ministers spokes-man Phay Siphan yesterday referred questions about the injured guards to municipal authorities.

National 4 THE PHNOM PENH POST jUlY 18, 2014

Continued from page 1

a few days to be completed, because there are six people, and because they all decline to answer the questions.

After completing their ques-tioning, their case will soon be submitted to the judges coun-cil to be put on the pre-trial agenda.

Another party activist, identi-fied by CNRP officials as Khin Chamroeun, remains wanted by the authorities.

Council of Ministers spokes-man Phay Siphan insisted that the arrests were not politically motivated.

This is routine procedure for law enforcement This [action] completely respects the law.

City Hall issued a directive yes-terday barring CNRP supporters who gathered outside the court on Wednesday from using loud-speakers, which the municipal-

ity said disrupted court proceed-ings. If they do not stop this activity [they] will be pun-ished by the law, it says.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior rejected a CNRP request to hold a national congress on july 27 without explaining why.

Our administration officers asked them to put in writing the reason for their rejection, but they did not, said Yim Sovann, an opposition spokesman. So I do not know what they want or what they are thinking.

Opposition vice president Kem Sokha was yesterday ordered to appear in Phnom Penh Municipal Court for ques-tioning over Tuesdays violence.

judge Mony called on the deputy opposition leader to appear in court at 8am on july 25 to be questioned to clarify [the oppositions actions on Tuesday] as CNRP [deputy] leader.

In a video posted to the CNRP

TV Facebook page last night, Sokha said that he would attend the summons and called on sup-porters to rally outside court.

On july 25, they have sum-monsed me to court, so I would thank you if you could accom-pany me and observe it, he said. They are destroying our nation. They destroy democracy. We cannot stay silent; but I would like all of you to maintain dig-nity and non-violence.

In a letter issued by Sokha shortly after the summons was made public, he called on all opposition lawmakers-elect to return to Cambodia from abroad to deal with the political crisis.

I would like to inform all law-makers-elect who have been abroad privately or on a mission to end all activities and return to Cambodia immediately, with the exception of those who have serious health problems, the letter reads.

CNRP president Sam Rainsy said in an email to the Post that he would return to Cambodia from Europe, where he has been since mid-june, on Saturday one year since thousands lined the streets to welcome him back from self-imposed exile.

I will arrive at [Phnom Penh] airport on july 19 at 9:05am, he said.

Rights groups yesterday roundly condemned the contin-ued detention and charges against the CNRP members.

A group of 24 local civil society groups called for the detained to be released immediately and for all charges to be dropped.

Eyewitness accounts and video evidence from july 15 demonstrate that there is abso-

lutely no evidence against the eight that could justify the charg-es. Ath Sam Ath, technical coor-dinator for licadho, said in the statement.

In a separate statement, rights group Adhoc challenged the government charge that the lawmakers-elect incited CNRP supporters to commit violence.

Adhoc in no way condones the violent actions of CNRP supporters who brutally beat Daun Penh public order guards ... However, Adhoc monitors at the scene heard the CNRP law-makers-elect calling for calm and telling supporters to be peaceful: they did not incite or in any way instigate the vio-lence, it said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said it had found no evi-dence to suggest that any of the six organised, incited or par-ticipated in the violence. REPORT-ING BY BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA, MEAS

SOKCHEA, KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA, DAN-

IEL PYE, KEVIN PONNIAH, ALICE CUDDY AND

SEAN TEEHAN

Kevin PonniahAnalysis

THE round-up and detention of seven opposition lawmaker-elects on insurrection charges in the past three days bear the stamp of longstanding ruling party tactics used to silence dissent, but political observ-ers say this weeks clampdown is so wide in scale that it can only be compared to a similar blitz almost a decade ago.

The arrests of the past few days are unprecedented. The last time something close to this happened was in early 2005, when Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Cheam Channy was arrested on charges of trying to form a secret army to over-throw the government, Se-bastian Strangio, author of the forthcoming book Hun Sens Cambodia, said yesterday.

Sam Rainsy and Chea Poch, another SRP lawmaker, were hit with defamation charges

at around the same time but managed to escape the coun-try after their parliamentary immunity was stripped.

later in the year, five civil so-ciety activists, including CNRP deputy leader Kem Sokha, then head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, were arrested for allegedly criticising a controversial bor-der agreement with Vietnam.

In early 2006, the activists

were released, Channy was granted a royal pardon af-ter being sentenced to seven years, and Rainsy was al-lowed to return in moves that Strangio attributes to foreign pressure, which has always imposed limits on how far the government can go in margin-alising its opponents.

However, the stakes are now much higher. The govern-ment faces a more unified op-position, with greater popular support. This new outbreak of

confrontation will sooner or later cycle back to some sort of negotiated settlement, but at the moment its impossible to say when that might hap-pen or how many people will be hurt in the meantime.

Cambodian Center for Hu-man Rights Chairman Ou Virak also cited the same inci-dent nearly a decade ago, and said that government tactics were like a broken record.

The way they are going about doing these things [is] not new. Its exactly like in 2005 . . . Another possibility is with Sam Rainsy out of the country they could bring a charge now to try and prevent him coming back.

The outcome of all this, Vi-rak says, will also likely reflect past political crackdowns.

Sam Rainsy will go to the international community and get condemnation, the international press will report the comments, eventually there might be some break-through and then they will return to what was before the crackdown, which is not pret-ty anyway.

Govt arrest strategy has familiar feel to it

Two more lawmakers arrested

Whos who: putting faces to names

Ho Vann

Deputy steering committee chief Ho Vann is no stranger to controversy. In 2009, the Phnom Penh representative was sued for defamation by military officials for allegedly doubting the validity of degrees they received from a Vietnam-ese academy. He was ultimate-ly exonerated. Over the years, he has been a prominent voice on issues in the capital.

Men Sothavarin

An elected SRP official since at least 2009, Men Sothavarin has long been a strong advocate of his Kampong Thom constitu-ency. In 2010, Sothavarin accused government officials of fraud for allegedly taking parcels of land intended as compensation for wronged evictees and granting them to the very company responsible for their eviction.

Long Ry

Banteay Meanchey province lawmaker-elect long Ry has been an opposition asset since the Sam Rainsy Party days, back when he was active in Kratie province. Sam Rainsy didnt have a seat in Kratie before, but long Ry went there and won one, Sovann said. As party security chief, Ry is also very important in providing security for party leadership.

Real Camerin

lawmaker-elect Real Camerin has also been outspoken. As a representative of Svay Rieng, Camerin has drawn attention to alleged Vietnamese encroachment into as-yet unmarked border areas an opposition pet issue. last month, he was filmed con-fronting a Vietnamese soldier on what he maintained was Cambodian territory.

Keo Phirom

Keo Phirom, who once served as cabinet chief under the Sam Rainsy Party, is a member of the partys steering committee as are all of his fellow detainees and is also the highest-ranking party official in Kratie, the province that he represents. In the party, he is the chief of the working group in Kratie prov-ince, said CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann.

Nuth Romduol

Nuth Romduol, a representa-tive of Kampong Speu prov-ince, left the Senate in 2013 for a chance to run for the Nation-al Assembly, and has since become a key figure in what Sovann characterised as an important province. Hes very popular in Kampong Speu, and as you know, we get a lot of support in Kampong Speu, Sovann said.

Protesters hold placards near Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday calling for detained lawmakers to be released. HENG CHIVOAN

Daun Penh security personnel rest at Calmette Hospital after they were beaten during a protest at Freedom Park on Tuesday. VIREAK MAI

Most guards over worst

CNRP parliamentarian Mu Sochua is the best-known of the seven arrested opposition lawmakers-elect, but her six fellow detainees are important players, too.

The government faces a more unified opposition, with greater popular support

National 5THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014

NGOs told to up advocacyLaignee Barron

CIVIl society groups will have to amp up their advocacy in or-der to see Cambodia

fulfil its human rights obliga-tions and implement recom-mendations proposed by uN member states, according to a national consultation in the capital yesterday.

The groups are responsible for contributing to one of three reports that make up the basis of the universal Pe-riodic Review process, a regu-lar peer review of each states rights record after which all nations offer constructive recommendations.

In Cambodias previous two review cycles, however, NGO involvement was extremely limited. The Kingdom has over 200 NGOs, but only some 50 filed summaries in October for the most recent scrutiny.

Most NGOs arent paying attention to broader mecha-nisms like this. It isnt sexy, its boring and technical, said Ou Virak, chairman of the board at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

In addition to providing an additional perspective to the government-prepared nation-al report and the uN compila-

tion, NGOs also play a critical role between review cycles when states are expected to implement recommendations they have accepted.

I cannot stress enough the importance of the input of NGOs to this process, said Wan Hea-lea, a representa-tive from the uN Office of the High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights in Cambodia.

The difference between states where progress is made

and states that lag behind with the same recommendations made again and again is often attributable to the role of the civil societies and their advo-cacy of implementation.

In june, Cambodia accepted 163 of the 205 recommenda-tions tendered after its second periodic review cycle in janu-ary. But getting Cambodia to go from considering to imple-menting the recommenda-tions which cover a broad

array of topics including land rights, gender, freedom of ex-pression and judicial reform will require increased pressure from rights monitors.

It might take a long time, but we must advocate to con-vince the government that it is in their interest to implement them, said Catherine Phuong, a legal expert at the OHCHR. If we [the civil societies] do not advocate for the uPR, no one else will.

A United Nations human rights monitor talks to a military police officer in front of a Phnom Penh garment factory in January. STAFF

Cheang Sokha and Sean Teehan

THE Appeal Court yesterday slashed 18 years off the sen-tence of a man convicted of child sex charges, drawing the condemnation of an NGO who helped bring about his conviction.

German national Karl Heinz Henning, 67, who was sen-tenced to 28 years in prison fol-lowing his 2006 arrest is now eligible for release in 2016.

Defence lawyer Peung yok Hiep yesterday said her client will make an application to walk free even sooner.

My client is sick and he wants the court to drop the charge against him, she said.

He has already served more than two-thirds of his jail term, so we can apply for a Royal Pardon from the King.

Henning was arrested along with another German national and three Vietnamese nation-als. Four naked Vietnamese girls aged 10 to 14 were found when police raided his home.

yok Hiep said the sentence reduction came because her client was convicted under the previous penal code, but on appeal, was tried under the new code.

But NGO Action Pour les Enfants (APlE), whose inves-tigation led to an arrest, said the court had dropped two of three charges.

With all the undoubted evi-dence and testimonies . . . it is absurd that he will be convict-ed only for Purchase of Child Prostitution, APlE country director Seila Samleang said in a statement.

Previously, Henning had also been charged with procure-ment with regard to child pros-titution and buying or exchang-ing a person with purpose.

A verdict of 10 years for all the crimes that was proved he committed with such a high level of severity does not bring any justice to the victims, Samleang said.

According to APlEs state-ment, evidence showed that Henning on multiple occa-sions had paid for traffick-ers to bring children to his apartment, where he would tie, whip and rape them from three to four hours and then send them back to the traffickers.

He was also in possession of the largest collection of child pornography in Cambodias history, the statement said.

Sentence slashed for convicted pedophile

National6 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014

Burgling homes kept trio afloat until arrestsROAMING the streets in search of other peoples valuables was more than a living though hardly a decent one for two men and a woman in Siem Reap town. While it lasted, the trio allegedly stole clothes, bicycles and mobile phones, among other things, from those with lax home security. Finding out how difficult it is to make a career out of that sort of work, the three, aged 25 and 35, were arrested early on Wednesday with valuables worth about $1,700. They soon confessed. KOh SANTepheAp

A bet on a casino fight turns out to be a drawWhAT are you looking at? are famous last words before late-night drunken violence. For two groups of two friends in poipet town on Wednesday, such an encounter led to a brawl that ended only when casino security guards and police intervened. Nursing injuries to their face, body and arms, each pair claimed to not know their foes and said they were acting purely in self-defence. KOh SANTepheAp

Alleged dealers admit to preying on drug habitsYeT another police raid has ended in the arrest of dealers and the seizure of only a small amount of drugs. After a tip-off, police stormed into a rental property in Kratie, confiscating eights packages of yama. They arrested two men, aged 22 and 29, who confessed to buying them from a supplier naturally unnamed. Their plan, they said, was to supply local addicts while feeding their own habits. KOh SANTepheAp

House often wins, buthomeowner out of luck AN OpeN-hOUSe for gam-bling in Kampong Chams Kampong Siem district was so open that even the police could find it. After months of fun times for local punters, police cottoned on to the illegal gam-ing within and suitably shut the casino down, arresting the homes owner in the process. evidently, the man was either a poor dealer or a good banker police confiscated only $30. The suspects explanation to that was that those involved only ever bet small amounts of cash. NOKORWAT

Beware angry mobs patrolling for thievesReLAXATION after a long day was short-lived for a moto own-er in Kampong Speu province this week. police said the man, 34, had only just sat down to unwind when two thieves, 27 and 47, attempted to pick the lock on his wheels and drive off on them. As is often the case, an angry mob arrived on the scene before police and administered their own justice: a severe beat-ing. police later arrested them, ensuring the owner could finally get some rest. NOKORWAT

Translated by Phak Seangly

PolicebloTTerunion leaders case dropped

Pech Sotheary and Sean Teehan

ATH Thorn has at- least one court-relat-ed problem he can forget, after a judge

yesterday dismissed a corrup-tion case filed against him and two other union leaders.

A Phnom Penh munici-pal judge dropped corrup-tion charges against Coali-tion of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic union (C.CAWDu), along with vice president Kong Athit and sec-retary-general Ek Sopheakdey.

Former C.CAWDu member um Visal lodged a complaint against them in April, say-ing they pocketed more than $93,000 in back wages. Visal asked the judge to temporar-ily place him in charge of the union until a new president was elected.

Despite the positive verdict, Thorn indicated the case will not be water under the bridge any time soon. I think this guy . . . tried to destroy my image in public, and that is a bad [of-fence], Thorn said yesterday.

Earlier this year, Visal and another official said that they were dismissed by C.CAWDu, a fact Athit says is incorrect. According to C.CAWDu, the two quit, refusing to renew

their employment contract.In any event, members sym-

bolically fired the two after charges were filed.

Visal remained unrepentant yesterday, insisting that cur-rent leadership at Cambodias largest independent garment labour union is incompetent and must change. However, he said, the court has made its de-cision and he will discontinue legal action, he said.

I will not continue to com-

plain, I will just fulfil my role and obligations according to the courts finding on this case, Visal said before the ver-dict was read.

While several say Visal brought legal action against Ath Thorn out of jealousy since Thorn twice beat Visal in union elections Visal insists he brought the case to court in order to right a wrong.

In his complaint, Visal ac-cuses Thorn, Athit and So-

pheakdey of stealing $93,000 of money at E Garment factory in Kandal province after the union successfully negotiated with employers there to pay back wages to workers who were illegally fired.

But his worries are not over. Thorn is currently on bail for an incitement charge related to a C.CAWDu-led strike at Sl Garment processing factory in September. A trial date has not been set.

Union leader, Ath Thorn, (right) answers questions at a forum earlier this week in Phnom Penh. phA LINA

Mom Kunthear

MANAGEMENT at Ocean Gar-ment factory yesterday flouted a Ministry of labour invitation to sit at the negotiating table with employees protesting the factorys refusal to abide by an Arbitration Council decision in their favour.

Nobody from the factory came to the Ministry of labour, after ministry officials ended a worker roadblock of Russian Boulevard on Wednesday, telling them they would me-diate a discussion between the groups.

As Ocean officials drag their feet in paying their entire monthly wage for a planned temporary closure from late May to june 26 the factory re-mains closed the situation has become dire for many employ-ees there, said Houn Vanna, an employee representative.

Most workers were evicted from their rental houses, Vanna said. They still protest and demand the wage owed to them under the law.

The Arbitration Council last week ordered the company to pay full wages. It offered $50 per worker.

Employers snub talks over wages

This week in biz

Arbitration body ready for its first disputeThe National Commercial Arbitration Centre (NCAC) announced this week it is ready to take on its first case after finalising its governing framework, code of ethics and budget last Friday at its first national assembly. The NCAC will specialise in resolving private sector matters outside of court.

Finance firms see fall as workers flee juntaRemiTTANCe service Wing, and Acleda Bank this week reported declines in transactions stemming from key Thai border provinces as undocumented migrant workers continue to exit the neighbouring country. in June Wing saw a $1.7 million decline in domestic transfers from users located in border provinces during the month of June. Acleda Bank registered a decline of $4 million worth of domestic transactions from Poipet town alone.

Vietnam govt, airline target Phu Quoc travel VieTNAm Airlines and the Vietnamese government this week announced a concerted effort to direct tourists to Phu Quoc island. Vietnam Airlines said it will commence operating direct flights three times per week between Siem Reap and Phu Quoc from November 1. Vietnams Transport minister also called for negotiations over new flight routes granting Vietnamese airlines added access to Cambodian airspace to expedite travel to Phu Quoc.

May Kunmakara

IN A bid to increase trade and investment between Taiwan and Cambodia, the Taiwanese Business

Center will officially open in Phnom Penh next month, the Taiwan External Trade Devel-opment Council (TAITRA) has announced.

Speaking to Taiwanese media on Wednesday, TAITRA chair-man Wang Chih-kang said the business centre is another step towards encouraging Tai-wanese businesses to invest in Cambodia and strengthen sup-ply chains across the region.

Establishment of relations with ASEAN members helps boost Taiwans chances of joining the Regional Com-prehensive Economic Part-nership, he told a Taiwanese media outlet on Wednesday, referring to a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) be-tween the 10 member states of the Association of South-east Asian Nations and six countries with which it has existing FTAs (Australia, Chi-na, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand).

The new trade office will pro-vide advice and data on Cam-bodian business, and broker new business relationships for Taiwanese firms entering the marketplace.

Nguon Meng Tech, direc-tor general of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) welcomed the news.

I have been waiting for a long time as I had suggested to the former minister of com-

merce [Cham Prasidh] twice, but had no response, he said.

You know, [TAITRA] at-tracted more than $30 billion of capital flow into Vietnam last year as I was told by their official there why we cant have it?

Data from the Council for the Development of Cambo-dia shows that from 1994 to 2012, Taiwan invested $935 million into the country, through major investment ar-

eas such as garment making.Cambodia imported more

than $700 million worth of Tai-wanese goods in 2013, largely comprising automobile parts,

bicycles, agriculture machines, medical equipment and con-struction hardware, accord-

ing to the councils data. However Tech believes with

the new trade office, that fig-ure could increase tenfold. It could inject $10 billion into the Kingdoms economy every year, Tech said.

Last year Lin Zhi Long, president of the Taiwan Com-mercial Association of Cam-bodia (TCAC) estimated that Taiwanese firms made up a quarter of the countrys entire garment sector.

Long said that more than 3,000 Taiwanese firms were operating in Cambodia as at June 21, 2013.

Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia was optimistic that the new trade centre would further enhance Taiwans interest in Cambodias garment sector.

It will help to attract more Taiwanese investment to Cam-bodia, he said.

7THE PHNOM PENH POST JuLY 18, 2014

BusinessUSD / JPY

101.52

USD / SGD

1.2415

USD /CNY

6.2033

USD / HKD

7.7508

USD / THB

32.13

AUD / USD

0.9355

NZD / USD

0.8692

EUR / USD

1.3532

GBP / USD

1.714

Indicative Exchange Rates as of 17/7/2014. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates.

USD / KHR

4,055

A garment worker inspects garments at a Taiwanese garment factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh last year. SCOTT hOWeS

Taiwan set to open trade office

It could inject $10 billion into the

Kingdoms economy every year

Markets8 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014Business

SINCE the early 1990s, the Cambodian government has been granting companies Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) as a tool to stimulate the economy. Today, more than twenty years on, with over 1.2 million hectares of land grant-ed for development (though rights groups say the figure is more than two million), but ELCs have become synonymous with land conflicts rather than a positive vehicle for economic development. This week the Posts Chan Muyhong talks with independent economist, Srey Chanthy, about how well the economic benefits of ELCs are fairing.

What is the purpose of an ELC?

ElCs actually started dur-ing the French colonial times, they were dropped and then started again in 1992. At that time ElCs were given to small-er-scale private companies. We only started to see ElCs granted to bigger companies and in larger sizes, hundreds and thousands of hectares of

land, in 2000. The goal was to use the eroded forest area, after forest land concessions ended in 1998, for ElCs for the agriculture sector, for eco-nomic growth by creating jobs for rural people.

Why would the government use land to boost economic growth?

It doesnt mean that provid-ing land concessions will sim-ply stimulate the economy as quickly as possible. But why ElCs?, because it is easier. Cambodia does not have any-thing that stands out to attract foreign investors. In developed countries, there is no space for farming anymore, therefore, granting land concessions is considered to be the most ef-fective tool to attract foreign direct investment.

How have ELCs contributed to Cambodias economy?

The government could earn around $15 per hectare an-nually from ElCs when com-panies start harvesting. How-ever, there is no exact number of how much tax was collected per year from the ElCs or how much it has contributed to to-tal GDP. But I believe there has been some contribution.

When an ElC works, it cre-ates jobs for people in the community, it will also attract workers from other provinces which will then reduce Cam-bodian migrant workers mov-ing to Thailand.

Why has there been so much land conflict with ELCs?

This stems from a poor ad-ministrative system. ElCs were granted to companies using dated information and

maps, with a shortage of ex-pertise of those who go to the field and study the area. ElCs are a controversial issue now in Cambodia. Cambodia has good laws and regulations on ElCs, but we do not imple-ment them.

I believe that this problem can only be solved when all relevant stakeholders; the gov-ernment, companies, NGOs and the victims sit down to-gether and talk. We do not see

this kind of discussion hap-pening yet. And the victims are still the villagers.

Serious investors will defi-nitely want to study the area before they invest money. They are concerned about their reputation.

Economically, who receives the greatest benefits from an ELC?

Investors get the best inter-est. We still see a limited share of interest from ElCs given to villagers by companies. For example, companies invest-ing in a large scale corn or cassava plantation, they only need workers during planting and harvesting season which is short term. The remaining processes are all machine led. Giving out fair wages to work-ers remains an issue. We still need to ensure a fair wage and good conditions for workers, so they can get their fair share from an ElC.

How is it best managed to en-sure the benefits reach farm-ers?

The thing is, investors do have bigger capital, modern technique and a bigger mar-ket. They can do large scale plantations on eroded for-

est land and bring econom-ic benefits. They bring in modern farming techniques for farmers to learn from. If companies abide by ElC laws and provide a fair share of benefits to villagers, it will bring prosperity to the area. We need better ElC manage-ment from the government.

What are the economic costs associated with companies granted an ELC that are un-able to deliver on their prom-ises?

This is again about ElC management: to evaluate the capacity of the investors. Investors capacity includes their capital, farming tech-niques and market. We need to look at their capital and the size of the land being given. For example, with the capital and plantation plan they have, they only need 5,000 hectares of land. The law says ElCs can be taken back if investors fail to develop the area. Generally, serious investors will do their project analysis. They will cal-culate risks and inflation for their investment before they invest.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

ElCs: economic benefits not realised

Independent economist, Srey Chanthy, talks to the Post last week in Phnom Penh. phA LINA

9THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014Business

Swiss giant Novartis sees profits shoot up A SWISS pharmaceutical giant Novartis said yesterday that its net profits for the first half had shot up by 13 per cent and stuck by its forecast of continued sales growth across the year. Driven by strong sales in emerging markets such as China and Russia, first-half net profits rose to $5.56 billion, compared with $4.97 billion for the same period in 2013, the group said. Group turnover also grew, but at a slower rate, rising two per cent to $28.66 billion, according to the earnings statement. In the second quarter, profits rose by three per cent to reach $2.58 billion, Novartis said. Afp

Hong Kong Aviation in $7.7B airplane orderHONG Kong Aviation Capital Co, the lessor whose shareholders include Chinas HNA Group, signed an order for 70 Airbus Group NV single-aisle planes worth $7.7 billion in list prices amid a travel boom across Asia. The deal is for 40 A320neos and 30 A321neos and comes after the two signed a memorandum of understanding at the paris Airshow last year, Airbus said in an emailed statement yesterday. This is Hong Kong Aviations first direct order from a manufacturer, it said. Deliveries are due to start in 2019. Hong Kong Aviation has more than 50 planes on its fleet, Airbus said in its statement. blOOmbeRG

South Africa strikes hit Anglo American hardGlObAl miner Anglo American said yesterday that platinum production slumped 40 per cent in the second quarter, hit by South African strikes which ended last month. Anglo American, which is the worlds biggest producer of platinum, said in a statement that it produced 358,000 ounces of refined platinum products in the three months to June 30, compared with the same period a year earlier. blOOmbeRG

Markets10 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014Business

BANK of America put $13 bil-lion on the table in negotia-tions with uS authorities over a mortgage-linked securities settlement, although nego-tiations are far from over, a source familiar with the mat-ter said on Wednesday.

Bank of America, the sec-ond-largest uS bank in terms of assets, had been in talks for months with the justice Depart-ment when it made the offer on Tuesday during a meeting with federal prosecutors, the source said, confirming reports in the Wall Street Journal.

The Department of justice, however, has demanded $17 billion from the bank, uS me-dia reported.

The Department of justice alleges that Bank of America profited from mortgage-linked securities that sank in value af-ter the housing bust, generat-ing billions of dollars in losses for investors who bought them. These toxic loans were related to complex financial products.

The penalty would be equal in value to a record $13 bil-lion settlement between the justice Department and jP-Morgan Chase concerning high-risk mortgage securities it sold ahead of the housing bust. Afp

BoA offer $13B over settlement

Murdoch in for Time WarnerR

uPERT Murdochs conglomerate said on Wednesday it made an unsuccess-

ful bid for rival Time Warner which could shake up the me-dia-entertainment world.

The bid by 21st Century Fox, which would merge two of the worlds biggest media-enter-tainment empires if allowed to proceed, was for $80 billion, a source familiar with the talks told AFP. A statement from 21st Century Fox, said it made a formal proposal to Time War-ner last month to combine the two companies. The source said that despite the rejection, Murdoch still wants a deal.

He is determined to buy Time Warner, the source said.

The statement from 21st Century Fox, which came after a New York Times report about the offer, said the Time Warner board of directors declined to pursue our proposal, and added that we are not cur-rently in any discussions with Time Warner.

The source familiar with the talks told AFP Murdochs group wanted to buy Time Warner and then spin off CNN, which is the cable news rival to his Fox News Channel.

Time Warner meanwhile is-sued a statement confirming that it received, and rejected, an offer of stock and cash from 21st Century Fox.

The statement said the Time Warner board determined that it was not in the best in-terests of Time Warner or its stockholders to accept the pro-posal or to pursue any discus-sions with Murdochs firm.

The board is confident that continuing to execute its strategic plan will create sig-nificantly more value for the company and its stockholders and is superior to any proposal that Twenty-First Century Fox is in a position to offer, the statement said.

The move comes amid a shifting media landscape after both conglomerates spun off their slow-growing publishing operations and established companies focusing on film, television and other high-growth segments.

Murdoch last year broke up his media empire into two firms 21st Century Fox and News Corp, which operates the Wall Street Journal, and news-papers in Britain and Austra-lia. Time Warner this year spun off its magazine unit Time Inc, which publishes its flagship news weekly and other titles including Sports Illustrated and People.

The deal between the two giants would combine the sto-ried Hollywood studios of Time Warner and 20th Century Fox, and include Time Warners big cable channels such as HBO

and TBS that would join Mur-dochs Fox sports, news and entertainment channels.

Some analysts said HBO is the main driver of the plan, because the premium pay-TV channel offers a way to com-pete against the successful streaming video firm Netflix.

HBO is the crown jewel as-set, but imagine now you have to figure how to program TBS, TNT, Cartoon, CNN, etc, said Richard Greenfield at BTIG Research. Not to mention that a merger of that size would face integration and

regulatory challenges.Analyst David Bank at RBC

Capital Markets said the deal could offer some syn-ergies, or savings, by reduc-ing costs and getting better access to films and television programs.

In addition, Bank said that by marrying the Time Warner television studios with the Fox broadcast network, a com-bined company could own (and likely enhance) the entire value chain of the prolific and already successful Time War-ner TV studio. Afp

Rupert Murdoch is attempting to acquire Time Warner in an effort to merge the company with 21st Century Fox. Afp

European car industry making speedy recoveryTHE number of new cars registered in Europe grew for the 10th consecutive month in june, according to industry data published yesterday, adding to evidence that the embattled sector is now recovering.

Sales of new cars rose by 4.5 per cent last month to 1.2 million units, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) said, as the market continues its battle to shake off a recent slump.

However, the number of new cars remained low, with the association say-

ing the figure represented the second-lowest level reached in a month of june since ACEA began the series in 2003 with the enlarged Eu.

Auto manufacturing powerhouse Germany was the only major market to shrink last month, with sales down 1.9 per cent.

Growth in Spain, which suffered more than most other European countries in the crippling recession caused by the eurozone debt crisis, saw a spectacular gain of 23.9 per cent.

Italy and France, also hit hard by the

eurozone crisis, saw gains of 3.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively.

Overall, demand for new cars, a key measure of the health of an advanced economy, rose by 6.5 per cent over the first six months of the year.

In France, PSA Peugeot Citroen which is mounting a recovery from a severe financial crisis, said that it had increased sales around the world by 5.5 per cent in the first half of the year from the equivalent figure last year, with a big boost for sales in China.

The group, which recently opened up

to Chinese auto group Dongfeng and to the French state as shareholders, said that sales had risen in China but also in the European market, where its sales had suffered badly.

The group said that the launch of several new models had underpinned the sales effort.

In the first half, the group sold 1.541 million vehicles of which 585,000 were sold outside France. Sales in China rose by 27.7 per cent, which was twice the rate of the growth of the Chinese mar-ket, the company said. Afp

11THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014Business

International commoditiesEnergy

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Thai Set 50 Index, Jul 16

FTSE Straits Times Index, Jul 16 FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, Jul 16

Hang Seng Index, Jul 16 CSI 300 Index, Jul 16

Nikkei 225, Jul 16 Taiwan Taiex Index, Jul 16

Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Jul 16

15,370.26

2,157.0723,520.87

1,883.143,306.89

590.371,033.07

9,408.24

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India Pakistan

Australia New Zealand

KOSPI Index, Jul 16 PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, Jul 16

Laos Composite Index, Jul 16 Jakarta Composite Index, Jul 16

BSE Sensex 30 Index, Jul 16 Karachi 100 Index, Jul 16

S&P/ASX 200 Index, Jul 16 NZX 50 Index, Jul 16

5,522.43

30,177.1125,561.16

5,071.201,353.77

6,867.362,020.90

5,112.39

Item Unit Base Average (%)

Gasoline R 5250 5450 3.81 %

Diesel R 5100 5200 1.96 %

Petroleum R 5500 5500 0.00 %

Gas Chi 86000 76000 -11.63 %

Charcoal Baht 1200 1300 8.33 %

Energy

Construction equipmentItem Unit Base Average (%)

Rice 1 R/Kg 2800 2780 -0.71 %Rice 2 R/Kg 2200 2280 3.64 %Paddy R/Kg 1800 1840 2.22 %Peanuts R/Kg 8000 8100 1.25 %Maize 2 R/Kg 2000 2080 4.00 %Cashew nut R/Kg 4000 4220 5.50 %Pepper R/Kg 40000 24000 -40.00 %Beef R/Kg 33000 33600 1.82 %Pork R/Kg 17000 18200 7.06 %Mud Fish R/Kg 12000 12400 3.33 %Chicken R/Kg 18000 20800 15.56 %Duck R/Kg 13000 13100 0.77 %

Item Unit Base Average (%)

Steel 12 R/Kg 3000 3100 3.33 %

Cement R/Sac 19000 19500 2.63 %

Food -Cereals -Vegetables - Fruits

Cambodian commodities(Base rate taken on January 1, 2012)

CommodIty UnIts PrICE ChAngE % ChAngE tImE(Et)

Crude Oil (WTI) USD/bbl. 102.93 1.73 1.71% 8:56:12

Crude Oil (Brent) USD/bbl. 108.12 0.95 0.89% 8:56:51

NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu 4.05 -0.07 -1.68% 9:17:19

RBOB Gasoline USd/gal. 287.66 -0.59 -0.20% 8:56:40

NYMEX Heating Oil USd/gal. 287.24 1.46 0.51% 8:56:56

ICE Gasoil USD/MT 885.75 4.25 0.48% 8:56:05

CommodIty UnIts PrICE ChAngE % ChAngE tImE(Et)

CBOT Rough Rice USD/cwt 13.02 0.03 0.23% 8:32:31

CME Lumber USD/tbf 329 -2 -0.60% 21:15:31

UNOPS mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efcient manner. To ensure more effective support and oversight of ongoing projects/programmes and facilitate the development of new projects/programmes, UNOPS established its Cambodia Ofce in early 2013. This Ofce oversees a regional portfolio that includes a multi-donor funded project to support the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the malaria programmes funded by the Global Fund to ght AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (GFATM).

UNOPS Cambodia is urgently looking for a qualied professional to join its Monitoring and Evaluation team in Phnom Penh to work on GFATM-funded programmes.

Position Level Duty Station DeadlineM&E Ofcer (9 months contract

with the possibility of extension)LICA-6/ICS-9 Phnom Penh 04-Aug-14

Interested applicants are requested to apply via the UNOPS Global Personnel Recruitment System (GPRS)

https://gprs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VAListing.aspx More information about the contract modality and the application process

can also be found on www.unops.org Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted to participate in the recruitment

process.

UNOPS, Phnom Penh Centers 6th Floor, Room # 628, Corner of Sihanouk and Sothearos Blvds., 12301 Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Vacancy AnnouncementVacancy Announcement

Announcement No: EC-AN-14-0796

Location: The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), Phnom Penh.

Closing Date: July 29, 2014 @ 4.30 pm.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is seek-ing highly qualied applicants for the position of Associate Legal Ocer (NO-A).

For more details of the Job Description (JD), please visit the ECCC website at http: www.eccc.gov.kh/en/about-eccc/jobs

Submission of Applications

Qualified candidates may submit their applications, including a letter of interest, Curriculum Vitae along with the duly completed and signed ECCC Application Form for Employment available in the above website to:

Human Resources Section (National)National Road 4, Chaom Chau Commune Porsenchey District, Phnom Penh, CambodiaThe ECCC gate B or Email: personnel@eccc.gov.khP.O Box No.71

Please note that incomplete applications or applications received after the closing date will not be considered. Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.

Applications from qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Why waste your time looking for a place to park when your car can do it for you? An idea

that was pure science fiction only a few years ago is becoming reality thanks to automatic robot cars.

A car with no one on board drives into a car park at walking pace, lets a pedestrian pass, and then backs into a narrow parking space without the merest bump or scrape.

The technology that makes this possible has been developed by the Swedish car company Volvo and the French parts maker Valeo. It is still at the prototype stage but could be widely available within six years.

Some cars are already able to drive themselves in certain circumstances. The Mercedes ClS coupe brakes by itself when the driver fails to react to the risk of an accident. Some BMW models also warn drivers they are about to go over the white line and they can go onto automatic pilot in traffic jams.

lots of the technology is already out there, said Guillaume Devauchelle, director of R&D at Valeo. But now we are at a turning point. Rapid progress in radar and detection camera technology now allows cars to see things going on around them. Onboard computers analyse road conditions and make the car react accordingly.

Which means that car makers believe that they will have models on the market capable of driving by themselves by 2020, and utterly autonomous robot cars by 2030.

This could radically cut mortality, said Franck Cazenave, marketing

director at the parts maker Bosch, since 90 per cent of accidents are caused by human error.

There are other benefits too. As soon as cars begin to talk to one another, and with the computers running the road system, traffic will run more smoothly with huge savings on fuel.

According to Sebastien Amichi, an expert at consultants Roland Berger, after 2030 there could be fleets of vehicles available 24/7 that will come to pick you up where ever you want, and do so with amazing efficiency.

These really smart cars will also make travel that much more comfortable, their supporters claim. Drivers wont

have to drive so they will have that time for themselves, says Cazenave. They will be able to read, surf the net, or even have a nap which is why not only car markers have been attracted by the possibilities this offers.

Google has been testing fully auto-matic japanese cars for the last five years and is even making its own elec-tric driverless cars that make us of its internet and mapping expertise.

Even so, others in the industry such as Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault and Nissan, argue that car-marking is an art not everyone could pull off.

And, of course, there is the prohib-itive cost of the technology. The radar system alone on a Google car is said to cost 60,000 ($82,000), without counting existing auto-pilot technol-ogy that costs thousands of euros.

What is still holding us up is the quality of the sensors and of artificial intelligence, Ford has admitted. And though everyone thinks that the next decade will see automatic robot cars driving on their own on motorways and in car parks, having them in the middle of urban traffic with pedestri-ans and cyclists, is another question. The big issue is who is to blame if there is an accident.

Before tackling this thorny ques-tion, governments will have to change road safety laws which demand that every driver must be in control of their vehicle.

As for the drivers themselves, some will undoubtedly be happy to hand over the wheel. Others though will be reluctant to put their lives in the hands of a computer not to mention foreswearing forever the pleasure of putting their foot to the floor. AFP

Smart cars ready to take the wheel

A file photo taken on January 8 shows a Valeo representative swiping his finger across an iPhone to initiate a self-parking demonstration. AFP

12 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014

WorldMore time hinted at by Obama for Iranian dealuS PreSIdent Ba rack Obama signalled on Wednes-day that talks with Iran on its nuclear program may need to extend beyond the weekend deadline, saying that negotia-tions have shown a credible way forward.

Obama said he was consult-ing with Congress where there is strong criticism of his quest for a diplomatic deal with Iran as negotiators meet in Vienna ahead of Sun-days expiration of a tempo-rary deal.

Its clear to me that we have made real progress in several areas and that we have a cred-ible way forward. But as we approach a deadline under the interim deal, there are still significant gaps between the international community and Iran and we have more work to do, Obama said to reporters.

So over the next few days, we will continue consul- ting with Congress and our team will continue discussions with Iran and our partners as we determine whether addi-tional time is necessary to extend our negotiations.

Iran has met its commit-ments under the interim agreement, including halting progress of its nuclear pro-gram and allowing more inspections, Obama said.

White House spokesman josh earnest earlier appeared to prepare the political ground for an extension of talks, saying that many peo-ple had been pretty scepti-cal about Iran but found legitimate discussion and constructive engagement.

It is clear that their track record over the last six months, I think many people would acknowledge, has been surprisingly favourable, ear-nest said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin netanyahu has led criticism of the nuclear deal, accusing Iran of insincerity and not ruling out an attack.

uS lawmakers, who are widely supportive of Israel, have threatened to ramp up sanctions without a rigorous agreement.

Senator robert Menendez, a member of Obamas demo-cratic Party who chairs the Senate Foreign relations Committee, has called for an accord that dismantles Irans nuclear program in such a way that is verifiable for 20 to 30 years.

the fact is Irans nuclear aspirations have been a long and deliberate process. they did not materialise overnight, and they will not end simply with a good word and a hand-shake We need verification, Menendez was quoted as say-ing yesterday. AFP

Putin denies plans to reopen Cuba spy post as sanctions raise tensions

French right winger gets jail for monkey jibe

PreSIdent Vladimir Putin yesterday de-nied that russia plans to reopen a Cold War

listening post in Cuba as new uS sanctions over ukraine ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Moscow.

russian broadsheet Kom-mersant, citing several of-ficial sources, reported on Wednesday that Moscow and Havana had agreed in prin-ciple to reopen the lourdes spy base during Putins visit to the Communist-run island last week.

Putin, however, denied that russia was reopening the base set up in 1964 after the Cuban Missile Crisis saw the united States and the Soviet union reach the brink of nuclear confrontation.

that is not true, we have not discussed this issue, Pu-tin told reporters in Brasilia.

According to an agree-ment with our Cuban friends we shut down our centre. We have no plans to resume its work, he said.

the Kremlin strongman spoke just hours after Wash-ington targeted russian com-panies in the finance, military and energy sectors.

the european union also stiffened punitive measures against russia after fighting between ukrainian govern-ment forces and pro-Moscow separatists intensified.

russia closed the lourdes spy base south of Havana on Putins orders in 2001 to save money and due to a rap-prochement with the united States after the September 11 attacks. But Moscow has since shown a new interest in latin America and its Cold War ally Cuba as relations with the

West have deteriorated amid the ukraine crisis.

just 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the uS coast, lourdes was the Soviet unions largest overseas co-vert military outpost with up to 3,000 staff.

Ahead of Putins latin Amer-ican tour, russia wrote off 90 per cent of Cubas debt dating back to the Soviet era, total-ling around $32 billion. russia paid Cuba rent of $200 million per year to use the base during its final few years.

Some analysts suggested Pu-tin could use the reopening of the Cuban post as a bargain-ing chip in ties with Washing-

ton. Potentially, that agree-ment is possible, Vladimir yevseyev, head of the Public Political Studies Center, a think tank, said. But this is a political decision.

With the reopening of the Soviet-era base russia could intercept sensitive uS infor-mation like satellite commu-nications and radio signals from submarines and ships.

Meanwhile, Kiev yesterday accused a russian air force jet of shooting down a ukrainian warplane over its territory on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions along the volatile border between the two for-mer Soviet states.

A military plane from the air force of the russian Fed-eration carried out a rocket strike on a ukrainian air-force Su-25 as it fulfilled its task over the territory of ukraine, ukraines na-tional Security and defence Council said on twitter.

the pilot of the downed fighter jet managed to eject and was later evacuated by ukrainian forces, the mili-tary revealed.

the latest allegation from Kiev comes after it said that a military transport plane downed on Monday was like-ly hit by a missile fired from the russian side of the border.

A spokesman for the secu-rity council confirmed yes-terday that two of the eight crew members on board died in the incident, while another four have been rescued and two were captured by pro-russian rebels.

russia dismissed Kievs claims as absurd.

tensions along the frontier across which ukraine says russia is pouring fighters and weapons to fuel the sep-aratist uprising are at boil-ing point, with Kiev warning that Moscow has massed thousands of troops there in preparation for a possible in-vasion. AFP

A FOrMer French local election candidate for the far-right national Front (Fn) has been sentenced to nine months in prison for compar-ing the countrys black justice min-ister to a monkey.

the court decision has sparked controversy in France, with anti-dis-crimination associations welcoming it as a reminder that racism should not be allowed to flourish. But the party itself denounced the move as grotesquely disproportionate and politically motivated.

Anne-Sophie leclere provoked a storm last year when she compared Christiane taubira to a monkey on French television and admitted to posting a photo-montage on Face-book that showed the justice minister, who is from French Guiana, alongside a baby chimpanzee.

the caption underneath the baby monkey said At 18 months, while

the one under taubiras photograph read now.

leclere had been an Fn candidate in rethel in the northeastern Ardennes region for 2014 local elections, but the party soon dropped her and went on to do well in the March polls.

On tuesday, a court in Cayenne the capital of French Guiana sentenced her to nine months in jail, barred her from standing in elections for five years and fined her 50,000 ($68,000).

It also slapped the Fn with a 30,000 fine, putting an end to a case brought by French Guianas Walwari political party founded by taubira.

the court went well beyond the de-mands of prosecutors, who had asked for a four-month jail sentence, five years of ineligibility and a 5,000 fine.

leclere, who was not present in court, said on Wednesday that she would appeal the verdict. Its com-pletely disproportionate, I was really

shocked to hear about the sentence. Criminals are sentenced and they get an [electronic monitoring] bracelet, and they give me prison, she said.

In a statement, the Fn also said it would appeal its 30,000 fine.

the national Front never gave Mrs leclere the means to make those comments, Florian Philippot, vice president of the Fn, told rMC radio. that [leclere] be condemned politi-cally, we did that.

that she be condemned judicially, probably, but not in these propor-tions. Its grotesquely disproportion-ate, it just doesnt make sense. Its clear its a political sentence.

But several anti-racism associations welcomed the decision. SOS racisme said the sentence a rare and possibly unprecedented event is a reminder that racism is deeply prejudicial to liv-ing together and to tolerate it in the republic cannot be accepted.

In her television appearance last year, leclere said that she would pre-fer to see taubira in a tree swinging from the branches rather than in government.

She is wild, leclere said, adding: I have black friends and it doesnt mean I call them monkeys.

leclere has since defended her comments, saying that while clumsy, they were not racist.

She said the photo-montage was a joke and added: the photo was posted on my Facebook page and I took it off a few days later. I was not the creator of this photograph.

joel Pied of Walwari said that tues-days court decision was historic and beneficial.

A prominent institution of the re-public recognises that the national Front is punishable by law and that its a racist party. We hope this deci-sion will mark a milestone. AFP

Vladimir Putin (centre) participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Jose Marti monument in Revolution Square in Havana, on July 11. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014

World13

Gaza truce after kids killed by naval strikesI

srael agreed to a uN request for a five-hour halting of its bombardment of Gaza on humanitarian grounds yester-

day, after its naval strikes killed four children on a beach as negotiations were ongoing yesterday as to further ceasefire to take effect today.

In addition to the four children who died, several people were also wounded in an apparent Israeli naval bombardment of a beach in Gaza City on Wednesday, medics said.

The first strike scattered terrified children and adults on the beach. a second and third struck as they ran, setting fire to huts on the beach.

The strikes appeared to be the result of shelling by the Israeli navy against an area with small shacks used by fishermen. several children ran inside a hotel where at least three had shrapnel injuries.

several hours after the strikes, the Israeli military described the deaths as tragic and said it was investigat-ing the incident.

Based on preliminary results, the target of this strike was Hamas ter-rorist operatives, the military said in a statement. The reported civilian casualties from this strike are a trag-ic outcome.

The Israeli army announced it would halt its bombardment of Gaza between 10am and 3pm (0700 to 1200 GMT) yesterday, following a uN request for a humanitarian truce.

uN special Coordinator for the

Middle east peace process robert serry said that he had asked the mil-itary for a humanitarian pause in its Gaza offensive and that he would ask Gaza militants to follow suit.

Israeli tank fire hit a house in south-ern Gaza yesterday, killing three peo-ple, just minutes before the five-hour truce went into effect, medics said.

emergency services spokesman ashraf al-Qudra said four other peo-ple were seriously wounded in the attack on the house in rafah.ashraf al-Qudra said that four other people were seriously wounded in the attack on the house in rafah.

He said six tank shells were fired in the attack. The remains of the three men arrived in pieces, he added.

The Israeli army said that it had foiled a major terror attack by a group of 13 militants who managed to enter southern Israel by tunnel and were seen heading towards sufa kibbutz near the fence, army spokesman lieutenant Colonel Pe-ter lerner told reporters.

They were targeted in an air strike, which killed one and sent the others fleeing back into the tunnel, he explained. The raid was claimed by Hamas, which said that its mili-tants had carried out a successful mission in Israel.

Three mortar shells fired from Gaza also hit southern Israel yes-terday, the army said, just over two hours after the ceasefire took effect.

The shells struck in the region of

eshkol, which borders the southern Gaza strip, the army said, blam-ing Hamas but without giving any further details. There were no im-mediate reports of any damage or casualties. Hamas denied any in-volvement in the attack.

The truce was violated by the Israelis, as usual, said Ihab Ghus-sein, the media office chief for the former Hamas government in Gaza, adding that Israeli tanks had fired

several shells into southern Gaza during the ceasefire.

The Israeli army later said an explo-sion near the border wounded one soldier, without giving any details of the location of the blast. The military responded with artillery fire.

Israel said yesterday that it had agreed on a truce with Hamas to end 10 days of violence in Gaza, although the reported deal was denied by the Islamist movement.

News of a fresh attempt to end the worst bloodshed in Gaza in five years came during the five-hour humanitarian truce, under which both Israel and Hamas militants had agreed to hold their fire.

as relative calm returned to the skies over Gaza for the first time since july 8, Palestinian president Mahmud abbas was due to meet with his egyp-tian counterpart, abdel Fattah al-sisi as Cairo pushed regional efforts to broker a new ceasefire deal.

an earlier egyptian attempt to end hostilities collapsed on Tuesday, with Hamas claiming it had not been in-cluded in the negotiations.

speaking on the condition of ano-nymity, an Israeli official said the jewish state and Hamas have agreed on a ceasefire that would begin at 0300 GMT today.

But Hamas shot down the report. The news about a ceasefire is in-correct. There are continuing efforts but no agreement, spokesman sami abu Zuhri said in Gaza.

an Israeli delegation that had been in the egyptian capital was under-stood to have returned to jerusalem, although officials were tightlipped on the substance of their talks.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Ihab Ghussein said that there were talks and contacts under way but dis-missed reports of a deal. The kill-ing by the Israelis should stop be-fore talking about any ceasefire, he said. AFP

Smoke billows from a beach shack following an Israeli military strike on Wednesday in Gaza City that killed four boys, medics said. AFP

Wing Offered Prizes to Phone Top Up Customers

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World14 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014

Real page-turner

Bookworm bus driver off the road

An IstAnbul bus driver was sacked on Wednesday after video footage showed him immersed in a book while travelling at high speed on a busy street in the turkish metropolis.

In the video shot by a pas-senger, the burly, bearded driver holds his book open over his steering wheel on the Asian side of the city, paying far more atten-tion to the words than the road.

He is filmed talking into his mo-bile phone before returning to his book. He only occasionally glances at the street and does most of the steering with his knees. It is not clear what book he is reading.

Goksel Ovacik, the head of the bus service company, told private Cnn-turk television that the man had been sacked and had his driving licence revoked after the passenger who filmed the video sent it to city authorities.

the passenger also launched a criminal complaint against the driver for risking the lives of those in the bus, Cnn turk said.

Istanbuls chaotic and traffic-clogged roads are notorious for the sometimes dangerous and eccentric behaviour of drivers.

the video, which became an instant hit on social media, can be viewed online. AFP

Death toll in Philippines after Rammasun hits 38THE death toll in the Philippines after a ferocious typhoon paralysed the capital and tore down flimsy rural homes, claimed at least 38 lives. Authorities expressed frustration as reports from badly damaged areas filtered in and the death toll from Typhoon Rammasun nearly doubled. We still have to find out [why] a lot of our countrymen refuse to heed the warnings, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chief Alexander Pama said. As part of a zero casualty effort, the government evacuated nearly 400,000 people from the path of Rammasun and warned others to stay indoors. But many of those who died were outdoors, killed by falling trees, collapsing buildings and flying debris, acc-ording to the councils data. AFP

Thai businessman is jailed for royal insultA THAi businessman has been sentenced to five years in prison for royal defamation, a court official said on Wednesday, one of a string of recent cases under the controversial law. An appeals court in the northern province of Chiang Mai on Tuesday overturned an earlier acquittal of the defendant. in a report released on Monday, law firm iLaw said lese majeste was an excuse which brings conflict and political violence and was the main reason for almost every coup. Before Thailands recent coup, calls for reform of the lese majeste laws had grown following several high-profile convictions. But academics urging greater debate are among hundreds of people who were summoned by the junta and temporarily detained in secret locations. AFP

AfghAnistAn yes-terday began a mas-sive audit of 8.1 mil-lion ballots cast in

the run-off round of its con-troversial presidential vote, hours after a brazen taliban raid on Kabuls airport.

the audit is aimed at revers-ing a destabilising political crisis that has threatened to widen the countrys ethnic fis-sures as nAtO winds down its deployment after more than a decade of war.

some 23,000 ballot boxes are being transported by the Afghan army and nAtO forces to the capital, where they will be examined at 100 verifica-tion stations.

the audit will take two to three weeks, we are planning to form hundreds of teams for this audit, Ahmad yousuf nuristani, chief of the inde-pendent Election Commission told a press conference.

i hope both candidates ac-cept the results this time after

the overall audit, he added.the move was agreed upon

by the two rival presidential contenders, Abdullah Abdul-lah and Ashraf ghani, follow-ing a deal brokered by us sec-retary of state john Kerry.

the impasse over the vote to succeed President hamid Karzai has raised fears of a return to the ethnic violence of the 1990s. Abdullah who says he already suffered one stolen election at Karzais hands in 2009 is half-tajik while ghani is from the ma-jority Pashtun community, as are the taliban.

Every one of the 8.1 million votes cast in the run-off elec-tion will be checked for signs of fraud in a painstaking pro-cess in Kabul.

nAtOs international secu-rity Assistance force (isAf) whose main Kabul compound lies next to the civilian airport is providing air transport for some 40 per cent of the votes.

the deal followed weeks of

fruitless diplomatic efforts and paves the way for a gov-ernment of national unity, including a role for the los-ing side.

Auditing began just hours after Afghan security offi-cials put an end to a taliban siege of Kabuls airport in the militants latest attempt to steal the initiative amid the power struggle.

insurgents seized a building under construction at around 4:30am before opening fire with automatic weapons and

rocket-propelled grenades as explosions rang out. the at-tack ended more than four hours later, according to the authorities.

gul Agha hashimi, a senior police official, said: the at-tack is over. All the insurgents who were holed up in an under-construction building were killed.

Civilian flights from the airport north of Kabul mean-while were suspended.

isAf and Afghan military helicopters were seen hover-

ing over the area during the at-tack, which came after a dev-astating suicide bombing at a busy market in southeastern Paktika province on tuesday that killed at least 42 people.

taliban militants claimed responsibility for yesterdays attack.

A number of our muja-hedeen armed with heavy and light weapons have launched an attack on Kabul interna-tional Airport, the insurgents spokesman Zabiuhallah Mu-jahid said. AFP

Poll audit starts after taliban raid on Kabul airport

An Afghan policeman runs for cover during a Taliban attack in front of Kabuls military airport yesterday. AFP

China accuses uK of hong Kong meddlingChinA on Wednesday accused lon-don of interfering in its internal af-fairs after British Deputy Prime Minister nick Clegg met with two leading hong Kong pro-democracy activists urging greater freedoms from Beijing.

China lodged solemn protests with Britain over tuesdays meetings with Martin lee, founder of hong Kongs opposition Democratic Party, and Anson Chan, the former number two in the citys government, the offi-cial Xinhua news agency reported.

What Britain has done is interfer-ence in Chinas internal affairs. China strongly opposes it, said Beijings for-eign ministry spokesman hong lei.

hong Kongs affairs fall within Chi-

nas internal affairs. China firmly op-poses any interference in hong Kong affairs by any country under whatever pretext, said hong.

Discontent in the former British col-ony, which was handed back to China in 1997, is at its highest level in years, notably over Beijings insistence that it vet candidates before the vote for the citys next leader in 2017.

under the one country, two sys-tems deal at the time of the han-dover, the semi-autonomous city has guaranteed liberties not seen on the Chinese mainland, including freedom of speech and the right to protest.

But concerns are growing that these freedoms are being eroded.

A string of attacks on media work-

ers has raised fears for press freedom, while Beijing published a white pa-per last month on hong Kongs fu-ture that was widely seen as a warning to the city not to overstep its bounds.

Chan and lee appeared before a British parliamentary committee on Wednesday, urging london not to turn a blind eye to attacks on free-doms in its former colony.

the outspoken campaigners told the foreign Affairs Committee that london had been failing in its re-sponsibility towards democracy in hong Kong.

it is vital that the British govern-ment does not turn a blind eye to cur-rent developments in hong Kong, Chan told the committee members.

the pair heavily criticised a Brit-ish parliamentary report earlier this month in which then-British foreign secretary William hague said the citys unique constitutional frame-work has worked well and that there was no perfect model for electoral reform.

hong Kongs current leader leung Chun-ying was chosen by a pro-Bei-jing committee.

An unofficial referendum on how the next leader should be chosen drew a massive turnout of almost 800,000 people last month, angering Beijing.

it was followed by a huge pro-de-mocracy march on july 1 which or-ganisers said was the biggest protest since the 1997 handover. AFP

A hEliCOPtER that had been searching for victims of south Koreas ferry disaster crashed thursday in a residential dis-trict of gwangju city, killing all five people on board, of-ficials said.

there were no reported fatalities on the ground, but one high school stu-dent was injured by f lying debris when the helicop-ter crashed shortly before 11am, narrowly missing nearby apartment blocks in the southern city.

Dramatic footage taken by a vehicle camcorder and broadcast on ytn television, showed the free-falling he-licopter plunging nose-first into the ground, and explod-ing in a fireball on impact.

five people were on board and all are presumed

dead, local fire chief Moon Ki-shik told reporters at the scene, adding that the cause of the crash was not imme-diately clear.

the crew were returning from a mission to help in the search for missing victims of the April 16 Sewol ferry tragedy.

the 6,825-tonne Sewol sank in waters off the southwest coast on April 16 with 476 people on board most of them schoolchildren.

three months later, div-ers and rescue teams are still searching for the bodies of a dozen victims that remain unaccounted for.

the aircraft was identified as a Eurocopter Dauphin 2, a twin-engine chopper pro-duced by Airbus helicop-ters. AFP

five killed as helicopter crashes in south Korea

Assange fumes as Australias top law officer tells him to man up WiKilEAKs founder julian Assange yesterday reacted angrily after Australias attor-ney general said he should be man enough to face swedish sexual assault allegations.

the Australian, holed up in Ecuadors embassy in london for more than two years, lost a court bid on Wednesday to get a swedish arrest warrant against him scrapped.

Australian Attorney general george Brandis told ABC radio the 43-year-old should deal with the claims against him.

i think Mr Assange should be man enough to face the alle-gations against him of being a sexual predator, he said.

Assange, who denies the charges, fears that if he goes to sweden he will be sent to the us to face charges for publish-ing classified material.

he accused Brandis of steal-ing comments us secretary of state john Kerry made about intelligence whistleblower Edward snowden.

Ag Brandis should stop pla-giarising sexist claptrap and start doing his job: defending the legal rights of all Austral-ians, he said in a statement.

the former computer hacker, who has accused his home country of abandoning him, last year said he would not publicly address the swedish allegations because Australian men dont like to talk about their private lives.

he lashed out at Prime Min-ister tony Abbotts government in his statement.

Wikileaks female staff members, who squared off with a superpower over our work and brought Edward

snowden to safety during the largest intelligence manhunt the world has ever seen, have more genuine courage in their little toes than the entire Abbott cabinet, he said.

Assange wants swedish investigators to question him in london and his defence team said they would appeal the ruling.

the activist sought refuge with Ecuador in june 2012 after exhausting all legal options in British courts to avoid being extradited to sweden.

Wikileaks angered the unit-ed states in 2010 by publishing hundreds of thousands of clas-sified documents on the wars in iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a huge cache of us diplomatic cables that embar-rassed governments world-wide. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST july 18, 2014

World15

Quake has raised pressure below Mt FujiPierre Le Hir

Mount Fuji, or Fujisan as it is known in japa-nese, is the high-

est point on the archipelago (rising to 3,776 metres) and the national emblem, immor-talised in countless etchings.

In june last year unesco added it to the World Heri-tage list as a sacred place and source of artistic inspi-ration. But it is still an active volcano, standing at the junc-tion between the Pacific, eur-asian and Philippine tectonic plates. though it has rarely stirred in recorded history, it is still potentially explosive.

the tohoku or Great east japan earthquake on March 11, 2011 triggered a devas-tating tsunami, which in turn caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Ac-cording to a Franco-japanese study published by Science, th