Wenger accepts blame for six-goal thrashing

NATIONAL page 2 FOOTBALL page 27WORLD page 11

Would-be cheaters in for a tougher time

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Russian soldiers storm a Ukrainian military air base while pro-Russian supporters watch in the city of Belbek, near the Crimean city of Sevastopol, on Saturday. AFP

Crimean storm

Daniel Pye and May Titthara

A CHINESE developer with a family-like relationship to Prime Minister Hun Sens bodyguard unit has acceler-

ated construction at its $5 billion resort ostensibly cancelled by royal decree in 2010 in a protected nation-al park in Preah Sihanouk province.

The 3,300-hectare Golden Silver Gulf resort in Preah Sihanouks Ream National Park was slated by Hun Sen to be the second gold card for Cam-

bodian tourism after Angkor Wat, according to the concessionaire, Yeejia Development Co Ltd.

The resort has support from the Chinese government, with Chinas ambassador, Bu Jianguo, last year describing it as heaven on earth, and funding coming from a Chinese state-operated charitable foundation that has New Zealands ambassador to the US Mike Moore a former prime min-

ister and World Trade Organisation director general listed as a consult-ant to its projects.

Yeejia, a subsidiary of Chinese-owned firm Unite International (Cam-bodia) Investment Group, formed a military-commerce alliance with the Prime Ministers Bodyguard Unit after the company made a series of dona-tions to the elite force, including 220 motorbikes accepted on behalf of the

unit by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in January 2009.

Nine months later, Unite Group chairman Fu Xian Ting met Hun Sen at his residence in Takhmao. Hun Sen promised to endorse the project pub-licly in a letter.

In order to speed up the construc-tion of the project, I will approve the establishment of a special committee to resolve various contradictions and

problems encountered in the course of the project, Hun Sen said, accord-ing to Yeejias website.

Bill Pho, Fus executive assistant, said yesterday that the company had recently accelerated construction in the eastern part of the concession, and had been given the green light by the Ministry of Environment and the Min-istry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

We still have some problems in the land titling; we have this problem, Pho

Friends in high placesMilitary alliances paying off for developer

Continues on page 6

sTORY > 11

Asia to take brunt of climate change: UN

National2 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

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Qualied candidates, please submit a CV along with a cover letter to hr@bnglegal.com. Online: www.bnglegal.com

Shake-up may move judicial figures to new positions Meas Sokchea

TWENTY judges and prosecutors may soon find themselves pulling up stakes and tackling new jurisdictions, accord-ing to a draft list detailing a wide-ranging judicial reshuffling obtained by the Post yesterday.

In the proposed shake-up, Phnom Penh municipal court president chiv Keng will be moved into a position as a deputy president of the Supreme

court, as will current Siem reap Pro-vincial court and Khmer rouge tribu-nal trial chamber president Nil Nonn.

Four Phnom Penh court prosecutors, meanwhile, will be bumped up to the appellate level, and Banteay meanchey court president ang meal Dey will replace Keng in Phnom Penh.

The document includes no details as to when the reshuffle might occur, but Oum Daravuth, chief of King Norodom Sihamonis cabinet, said

yesterday that the Supreme council of magistracy on which the King sits would be meeting to discuss the moves when the King returns from Beijing.

The Supreme council of magis-tracy will hold the meeting on the 29th of this month to issue new orders or move prosecutors, judges and presi-dents of the courts, Daravuth said, characterising the staffing changes as a routine rotation.

council of ministers spokesman

Phay Siphan and minister of Justice ang Vong Vathana declined to com-ment yesterday.

current Phnom Penh deputy pros-ecutor Ek chheng hourt who, according to the draft list, will become prosecutor at Kampot Provincial court said yesterday that such reshuffles usually come every four or five years, and that such a move was about due, but added that he had heard nothing official about the matter.

Kem Sokha, deputy president of the opposition cambodia National res-cue Party, characterised the planned movement of judges and prosecutors as a pointless gesture, and called for concrete judicial reforms.

reforming the courts to fear the law and [not engage in] corruption will not happen until the Supreme council of magistracy is really inde-pendent, he said. movements like this are not reforms.

Kevin Ponniah and Phak Seangly

LOcaL and international civil society groups, including some of the worlds largest trade unions, are urging the gov-ernment to immediately and thoroughly investigate the case of 16-year-old Khim Saphath, who mysteriously disappeared during a violent crackdown on protests in early January.

Saphath was last seen lying on Veng Sreng Boulevard with blood pouring from his chest on January 3 amid clashes be-tween striking garment work-ers and security forces, who shot dead at least four people.

a friend and co-worker of Saphath, who saw him with the apparent bullet wound, told the Post on January 12 that he later heard from others that Saphath had been taken away in a military police truck.

Despite separate investiga-tions by local rights groups adhoc and Licadho, no eye-witnesses have been able to corroborate this.

But the 54 groups that signed yesterdays open letter argue that given the context of Saphaths disappearance, there are reasonable grounds to believe that he might have been subject to an enforced disappearance.

The government which acceded to the International

convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (IccPED) in June last year is thus legally bound to investigate, they say.

Frankly, there is a 16-year-old boy missing, but over two and a half months later, the government have conducted no credible investigation, said Neil Loughlin, technical assistant at adhoc.

[The government] have to go above and beyond the very lacklustre measures they have taken and actually investigate this properly.

military police spokesman Kheng Tito said yesterday, however, that his officers had been searching for Saphath since they heard that he was missing.

Our police and military police are paying attention to search for him, but so far we have no results, so they are still looking for him. We do not know why he went missing [but] we do not need to hide this . . . If we find out, we will tell his family or authorities.

But Kim Souern, Saphaths father, who was preparing in-vitations for his sons 100-day funeral ceremony yesterday, said he has given up hope.

We are hopeless now be-cause we have been look-ing for him for almost three months, he said.

campaigners call for disappearance probe acU tackles exam cheats

Chhay Channyda and Laignee Barron

chEaTING on nation-al grade nine and 12 exams which has been rampant in the

past just got harder.The anti-corruption Unit

(acU) announced yesterday that it will enlist the services of independent NGOs, civil soci-ety groups and private compa-nies to monitor the more than 100,000 test-takers this year tackling their last hurdle be-fore attaining a lower-second-ary school or upper-secondary school diploma.

We have to cooperate if we want to end cheating, said Om Yentieng, president of the acU, adding that his staff of 200 was not enough to oversee more than 4,000 testing sites.

Yentieng said groups inter-ested in monitoring exams can sign up next week, a change in the proctoring system that will take the burden and the po-tential leniency away from teachers.

The acU was unable to pro-vide details yesterday regard-ing potential reimbursement for the new, independent monitors, or how the monitors would be trained.

During last years tests, more than half a million dollars in bribes was funnelled to teach-ers in exchange for cheat sheets,

answers posted on Facebook or a passing grade, according to a Youth and resource Devel-opment study. Students found conducting any suspicious ac-tivity in the next round of ex-ams will be kicked out.

There are four months to go until the exam . . . [it is] time to tell parents and students they will have no more chances to cheat during exams, acU dep-uty director Kheang Seng said.

The ministry of Education also sent out a guideline last

week advising that the scores from national tests would no longer be averaged with stu-dents semester grades, ac-cording to San chey, coordina-tor for the affiliated Network for Social accountability-East asia and the Pacific.

The national exams will also now take place at provincial education centres, rather than in every commune, a cause of worry among some.

Students are very con-cerned about how they can

afford to pay for the transpor-tation, and lodging and food if they have to travel through the province to take their test, San chey said.

Still, he added, the kinks arent worth scrapping the ac-countability initiative.

a culture of cheating leads to a poor quality of education, he said. It will be the legacy of the new Education ministry if the tests are not so corrupt and the answers arent so widely leaked.

Students check an exam registration list at Chaktomuk High School in Phnom Penhs Daun Penh district last year. VIREAK MAI

National4 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

cambodia lagging on energy, water, says UNPhak Seangly

a UNITED Nations study released on Friday shows that cambodia has the

highest rates among 11 asian countries surveyed of people lacking access to electricity, clean water and sanitation.

The 2014 UN World Water Development report, titled Facing the Challenges, ranks cambodia below countries in-cluding myanmar, Indonesia and Bangladesh in access to the essential services. The study uses data collected in 2011.

This report points out the existing problems, Engin Koncagul, a UN World Water assessment program officer, said on Friday. Water and energy is very critical for sus-tainable development . . . from all [population] segments.

Of cambodias 2011 popula-tion of 14.3 million, the report says, 66 per cent had no access to electricity, 32 per cent lacked access to improved water and 66.9 per cent did not have ac-cess to improved sanitation.

cambodias population is smaller than all other asian

countries surveyed in these categories, except for mongo-lia, the study says.

The numbers show a large disparity between cambodias access to the essential services and the global averages, which the study reports as 18.1 per cent lacking access to electric-ity, 11.1 per cent without ac-cess to improved water and 35.9 per cent having no access to improved sanitation.

cambodian Peoples Party lawmaker chheang Vun said the country has endured a tu-

multuous recent past, from which it is still recovering.

Our country is not stable like [the other 10 surveyed], because we experienced a mil-itary coup and war, and had to start all over in 1979, Vun said. We began from zero then, which is why we are so far be-hind other countries.

most of those without elec-tricity access live in rural areas, Vun said, adding that the gov-ernment is working towards offering electrical access to all cambodians by 2030.

Children operate a water pump for drinking water in Kampong Cham province late last year. hENG ChIVOAN

Bodies of mother, daughter found in bag on side of road

Elephant ivory seized at border

Kim Sarom

POLIcE are investigating a gruesome double murder after the bodies of a mother and her six-year-old daughter were found in a black plastic bag on a roadside in Kampong Speu provinces Pich Nil valley.

Villagers in the Phnom Sruoch district made the dis-covery on Saturday and reported it to police.

In Bora, director of the min-istry of Interiors criminal

department, said police were investigating the case.

We are [investigating] . . . but we cannot give many details yet, he stated.

Sam Sak, director of the pro-vincial crime office, identi-fied the victims as Va Davy, 30, and her daughter Kem Thavy chhorda, six.

The two were from Kampong cham province, but had been living in Phnom Penh for sev-eral years, he added.

authorities, Sak continued,

had examined the bodies, and believed the victims had been dead for at least 15 days. It was difficult to establish a cause of death, but they believed they could have been strangled.

according to Som Bora, Kampong Speu provincial deputy police chief, the bod-ies have already been given to the victims family.

The Pich Nil area is host to a number of shrines popular with tourists travelling the road to Sihanoukville.

Sen David

mILITarY police seized more than 260 kilograms of elephant ivory near the Vietnamese border in Svay rieng province on Friday, an official said, the second major bust in as many months.

Svay rieng provincial military police chief San Bunthan said the 263 kilograms or 77 pieces of ivory tusks was hidden inside 10 suitcases in the back of a van heading towards Vietnam.

We doubted that the van was transporting timber, so police chased [it] . . . [and] found that there were many [pieces of] ivory hidden in the van, not timber, Bunthan said on Friday, add-

ing that the suspect fled the scene when the vehicle was stopped.

Bunthan said he was unsure which country the ivory had originally been smuggled from.

Nick marx, director of wildlife rescue and care at the Wildlife alliance, said yesterday the case was just one example of a wider problem.

People are slaughtering elephants all over just for their tusks, he said.

Last month, two Vietnamese nationals were arrested at Siem reap International airport and charged with attempting to smuggle almost 80 kilograms of elephant ivory into the country. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ALICE CUDDY

National5THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Wing Star workers to end strikeMom Kunthear

EmPLOYEES at the Kampong Speu shoe factory where a ceil-ing collapse killed two workers last may are headed back to work today after more than a week on strike, but will take their demands to the arbitration council.

Free Trade Union leaders agreed to end the strike of about 5,000 workers at Wing Star Shoes an asics supplier after the Kampong Speu provincial court issued an injunction on Friday ordering employees to return, FTU officer Yann roth Keopisey said.

asking employees to return to work does not mean weve given up, roth Keopisey said yester-day. We are taking our case to the arbitration council.

Employees walked off the job on march 14 and later blocked National road 3 demanding an additional $10 per month for transportation and lunch, and $8 more in attendance bonuses. Wing Star employees currently receive a total of $27 per month for meals, transportation and attendance bonuses.

Wing Star administrative manager mao Sisong declined to comment yesterday.

about 35% of TB cases missedMaria Wirth and Sen David

camBODIa contin-ues to shoulder a disproportionate percentage of the

worlds tuberculosis victims, with a higher prevalence rate of the extremely contagious respiratory disease than any-where outside of South africa, according to the World health Organization.

With the assistance of free screenings and free treat-ment, the Kingdom has seen rates of infection falling year by year, though with 764 cases per 100,000 people last year compared to 1,670 cases per 100,000 in 1995, the number still looms twice as high as the 2015 millennium Develop-ment Goal.

While the battle against TB infections in cambodia has largely hit positive notes, the WhO warned on the eve of World Tuberculosis Day yesterday that about 35 per cent of active infections are missed either not found or not treated.

One reason that so many cases are being missed is that people have not received enough information and are not aware their cough might

be something more serious. another reason is that some populations remain very hard to reach, said mao Tan Eang director of the National cen-ter for Tuberculosis and Lep-rosy control.

Tan Eang added that the majority of missed cases oc-cur among the poorest com-munities, elderly populations

and marginalised groups including migrant workers, prisoners and hIV-positive people.

The WhO has previously es-timated that up to 64 per cent of the cambodian popula-tion, or more than 9.5 million people in the Kingdom, carry latent mycobacterium Tu-berculosis, the bacteria that

causes the potentially lethal infection. One in every 10 la-tent cases is expected to be-come an active infection.

The key to finding many of the missed cases lies with early detection, according to health experts.

Until a few months ago, tra-ditionally, health centres (and even the entire world) have

been using single-symptom screening for cough of more than two weeks, said the WhOs Dr rajendra-Prassad Yadav. however, [surveys] have shown that if health cen-tres screen only for this single symptom, they will continue to either miss or delay treat-ment of about 70 per cent of TB cases.

In addition to the problem of missed cases, cambodia is also experiencing a major gap in funding for the public health problem. In 2011, $12 million was available to tack-le the disease, but this year, that number dwindled to just $7 million.

and without more money, researching the increasingly problematic multi-drug re-sistant strains, innovating new preventive vaccines and implementing new rapid screening technology remains elusive.

We will continue to miss the three million [cases unde-tected globally] if we continue to do the same thing, Yadav said. Progress made by cam-bodias TB program has been significant [but] the threat to these gains is real. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LAIGNEE BARRON, AMELIA

WOODSIDE AND MOM KUNTHEAR

A patient and a family member sit on a bed at the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control in Chamkarmon district, Phnom Penh, in December. HENG CHIVOAN

National6 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Wreck just too gritty for driver of sand truckIN A hit and run on Friday, it wasnt the drunken moto driv-er who fled. According to police in Kampong Thoms Stung Sen town, a 32-year old speeding, drunk driver crashed into the back of a truck transporting sand. The man damaged his motorcycle and sustained serious injuries to both his head and body. The moto driver was taken to hos-pital, while the truck driver fled, abandoning his load of sand, which will remain in police custody until claimed. KAmpucheA Thmey

Blood thicker than water, but money trumps bloodA WOmAN in phnom penhs Sen Sok district got a rude introduction to the old adage neither a borrower nor a lender be on Friday. The woman, 22, did her relative a favour, lending him her motor-bike to visit a friend. According to police, the male relative, 25, pawned the bike for $250 and spent all the money, hoping his relative wouldnt need her wheels back. The woman turned her fibbing relation over to the police when she spotted him walking near his home. KAmpucheA Thmey

Lazy man executes lazy scam, too lazy to fleeA 27-yeAR-OLD Dangkor dis-trict con artist took the money, but forgot to run last week. A construction company driver, the man delivered materials to customers who paid him $2,000. On returning to the company, the driver reported that he hadnt received pay-ment, but his suspicious boss uncovered the botched ploy with a few phone calls. On Fri-day, police nabbed the suspect who said hed already spent all the money. KAmpucheA Thmey

Man masters jealousy, adds wrath to repertoirepAILIN town police are on the lookout for a 34-year-old con-struction worker who allegedly beat his wife to the point of unconsciousness on Friday. police said the man was jeal-ous after spotting his wife with another man in the village. The husband got drunk at a wedding, and on returning home, beat his wife with a belt and wooden stick badly injuring her head, shoulder, eye, thigh and back before fleeing. NOKORWAT

Stab-happy lover picks funny way of apologising A 25-yeAR-OLD man was apprehended in Kampong Speus Oral district Saturday after stabbing his girlfriend. The woman, 18, lived with her boyfriend in phnom penh, but went to stay with her parents in Kampong Speu after the couple had an argument. A week later, the man followed her, begging her to return to phnom penh. When the wom-an refused, the man grabbed a knife and stabbed her in the back, armpit and arm. She was hospitalised, and her par-ents prevented the man from escaping arrest. NOKORWAT

Translated by Phak Seangly

PolicebloTTerCovet not thy neighbours moto, unless hes drunkWIThDRAW thy foot from thy neighbours house and take his motorbike with you. Thats what a man, 30, did in the capitals Russey Keo district late on Friday night. After boozing the night away with his neighbour, the moto own-er, 41, passed out. his neigh-bour, needing some cash, used this opportunity to ride the two wheels to a pawn shop. his foolish decision to return home the next day led to a citizens arrest. KOh SANTepheAp

Man loses, soils face in fight with bully brotherTheReS nothing quite like having your face rubbed in it. For a 30-year-old man in pur-sat province on Saturday, that was something he experi-enced a little too literally and it involved cow manure. A sav-age beating from his brother-in-law, 32, culminated in the mans face being pushed into the dung. Villagers intervened too late to save face, but police were able to arrest the perpe-trator. NOKORWAT

So-called VIPs just dont tip like they used toA VIp taxi driver received a VpI very painful injury when a customer stabbed him during a failed robbery in his car in the capital on Sat-urday night. police said the drivers passenger turned on him at about 7:40pm during a ride in Tuol Kork district. A safety system in the taxi alerted police to what was happening and a nearby unit tried to intervene. Officers were not fast enough, howev-er, and the man, along with an accomplice, fled on foot. KOh SANTepheAp

Drug runner delivers self on a silver platterA DeDIcATION to delivering anywhere led to a drug deal-ers demise on Saturday. Tipped off that the man was peddling pills, undercover police in Kampong cham lured him to a remote village pretending to be customers. Once the handover was com-plete, the officers pounced and arrested him. A search of the mans house uncovered more evidence against him. KOh SANTepheAp

Lots of suspects, little proof in Kandal cleaving A mAN known for roaming the streets of his village was brutally attacked with a cleaver in Kandal province on Saturday night. police said revenge was the likely motive behind the attack, because it was no secret that many vil-lagers did not like the man. Despite this or perhaps because of it police said they were having trouble find-ing the perpetrator. The vic-tim is in hospital. RASmeI KAm-pucheA

Translated by Phak Seangly

Friends in high places pay off for developercontinued from page 1

said yesterday. We planned to build for 20 years. Now we are building 600 hectares for the first phase in the eastern part [Koh Seh]. That might take five years. We can move more quick-ly now that we have stable poli-tics, he said, referring to the authorities promise to local vil-lagers to assign them land titles in the coming months.

Shortly after then-minister of commerce cham Prasidh offered his own endorsement of the project in may 2010, the council of ministers issued a royal decree revoking all licenc-es held by Yeejia for develop-ment of Golden Silver Gulf.

The decree passed responsi-bility for the area over to the min-istry of Environment. But the ministry issued a report to hun Sen in 2011 that showed the con-tract with Yeejia had not been cancelled in practice. rather, cooperation with the govern-ment had actually increased.

I think the ministry must be consistent with the council of ministers. The decision must be made by the superior authority, legal expert Sok Sam Oeun said yesterday.

rights groups yesterday said construction at the site never ceased and Fu had personally requested the royal decree be passed to deflect criticism over land grabs.

Boun Narith, provincial coor-dinator for Licadho, said the company has finished building a road and bungalows, and has been cutting down trees. [Yeejia]

did not allow villagers to do any-thing on their land, and some people had to move to new plac-es, because their houses [were knocked down], he said.

Despite the royal decree ban-ning the project, it continues apace, with support from the military, ministries and the chinese government.

We just got a green light from the oil ministry. The new minis-ter of environment, he works very hard with us, Pho said.

On October 20, 2009, hun Sen penned his letter of sup-port as promised. I would like to express gratitude and sup-port for your company in trust-ing the royal Government of cambodia and deciding to invest in the development of tourist areas in cambodia, and wish the company success in

the implementation of the investment project, he wrote.

The relationship between the bodyguard unit and Yeejia was formalised at a ceremony at hun Sens Takhmao residence on april 20, 2010, overseen by General Pol Saren, command-er-in-chief of the royal cam-bodian armed Forces.

The company has support-ed [the bodyguard unit] with some equipment before. Im not sure exactly what was donated, Pho said yesterday.

The military-corporate rela-tionship is one of dozens formed since hun Sen announced private businesses could bankroll military units to solve the dire situation of the armed forces, police, military police, and their families through a culture of sharing,

according to a government memo published in april 2010.

Since the end of cambodias civil war, the royal cambodian armed Forces has operated as a vast organised crime network, Gavin hayman, campaigns director at Global Witness, said at the time. It is unacceptable for private companies to be financing a military renowned for its corruption and involve-ment in illegal activities and human rights abuses.

a villager who has lived near the site since 1992, who asked to be referred to only as Piseth, said the company had not fol-lowed the master plan approved by the governments investment body, the council for the Development of cam-bodia, and had parcelled off

land and logged extensively.The company did not do as

their master plan [instructed]. They just cut the tress and land for sale, he said yesterday.

On February 25, he added, Yeejia had stopped his commu-nity from rebuilding some houses with the support of about 40 security guards, naval officers and police.

The involvement of the navy could not be immediately con-firmed. however, on January 26 last year, commander of hun Sens bodyguard unit General hing Bun heang attended a cer-emony in Bentrang village, ream commune, where he called on admiral Tea Vinh to actively support the project, according to Yeejias website.

Former Prime minister Prince Norodom ranariddh, whose government passed the Law on Protected areas, at the opening of the ream National Park in 1995, said the law was passed because the pillage is terrible.

marcus hardke of German con-servation group ara, said conces-sions in protected areas, such as the Golden Silver Gulf resort project, have no legal basis.

all these land grabs in pro-tected areas have no real legal basis, they are just based on deliberate misinterpretation of the [protected areas] law, if not outright in violation of it, he said. It has by now led to some-times grotesque situations . . . and the people responsible for or complicit in these deals should be held accountable under cambodian law.

A section of beach in Ream National Park in Preah Sihanouk province in 2008 where part of Yeejia Developments Golden Silver Gulf Resort is to be built. phOTO SuppLIeD

Meas Sokchea and cheang Sokha

ThE ministry of Foreign affairs on Friday called on Thailand to open an investigation into the alleged killing last week of a man illegally crossing the border and urged the authori-ties to stop using force against cambodians who enter the country without permission.

In a statement on Friday, For-eign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said that acting Foreign minister Long Visalo had earlier that day presented a diplomatic note to the Thai ambassador to cambodia, Touchayoot Pakdi.

The note called for an inves-tigation into the alleged shoot-ing of nine cambodians who attempted to cross illegally into Thailand on Tuesday, which led to the death of 38-year-old Van Vouch. The note did not specify if the group were crossing in search of work or attempting to illegally log.

Nine of our people crossed the border into Thai territory and [were] met by Thai soldiers [who] shot one of nine dead, Kuong said. [We] demand to have an investigation to find the shooter [and for that per-son] to be convicted.

The Foreign ministry also urged the Thai authorities to use peaceful measures to ar-rest and prosecute those found entering their territory illegally.

Sok hai, governor of choam

Ksan district where people reg-ularly cross into Thailand, told the Post he had not heard about the alleged shooting.

major General Phat Sophen, chief of cambodian-Thai Bor-der relations in Preah Vihear province, also said that he had not heard about this case, add-ing that many cambodians have been injured and shot dead while attempting to cross the border.

We receive information from the Thai side about the arrests and shootings regular-ly, he said.

Earlier this month, officials claimed that 15 cambodians were killed by Thai security forces in two separate incidents after illegally crossing the bor-der to log timber.

Ou Virak, president of the cambodian center for human rights, said that more needs to be done.

This is not an isolated in-cident . . . The cambodian government itself does not do enough to stop it, he said.

all of these incidents show that the Thai government isnt about to change. The real question is Will they properly investigate it? and the answer is no.

The Thai embassy and the Thai ministry of Foreign affairs did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. ADDITIONAL RepORTING By ALIce cuDDy

Govt seeks inquiry in Thai border shooting

activists shot at by unknown assailantKhouth Sophak chakrya

acTIVISTS from the Boeung Kak, Borei Keila and Thmor Kol communities were

on board a bus on Saturday night when a bullet was fired into the windscreen, their rep-resentatives said yesterday.

Bo chorvy, 39, from Boeung Kak, said more than 40 people were on the bus that had al-most completed a journey back to the capital from Siem reap when it was shot at in Daun Penh district.

When we saw the suspect take out his gun, we ducked, she said, adding that the bullet had pierced part of the front windscreen.

Suddenly, we heard the shot and the glass broke . . . fortu-nately, no one was injured.

chorvy said a man and a woman on a motorcycle had earlier tried to signal to the bus driver to stop in russey Keo district, but he had ignored it.

The man had then dropped off the woman and followed the bus, eventually overtaking it and opening fire from the front of the vehicle.

The alleged shooting took place near the Daun Penh referral hospital, close to the chhroy changva Bridge.

The driver, Ki Salon, said it was the first time he had ex-perienced such an incident in four years behind the wheel.

as first, I thought the sus-pect was following because he knew someone, he said.

But after he dropped off the woman and overtook the bus, he took out a gun and shot at us. The bullet broke the glass on the front on the right side.

Its the first time I have ex-perienced something this aw-ful in my life.

The activists had returned

from a ceremony to mark fours years since evictions at the chi Kreng community in Siem reap.

I do not know if this is just intimidation or an attempt to kill us, Boeung Kak activist Phan chhunreth said.

Fellow activist Tep Vanny said the villagers had filed a complaint to police about the shooting.

Kan Vannak, Sras chhok commune police chief, told the Post that the authorities were investigating.

A hole in the windscreen of a bus that was transporting activists in Phnom Penh on Saturday was allegedly caused by a bullet. phOTO SuppLIeD

7THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

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alibaba shuts firm out of IPOZijing Wu, Jonathan Browningand Jeffrey McCracken

BarcLaYS Plc backed the wrong billionaire. The investment bank lost the chance to be

among firms sharing hun-dreds of millions of dollars in fees from alibaba Group hold-ing Ltds initial public offering when it advised and financed charlie Ergens failed effort to buy Sprint corp last year, sev-eral people with knowledge of the matter said.

Ergens bid was a challenge to SoftBank corp, which even-tually acquired Sprint for $21.6 billion, and upset the Japanese firms founder masayoshi Son so much that he pressed alib-aba to stop working with Bar-clays, the people said, asking not to be identified. SoftBank owns about 37 per cent of ali-baba and Son took his request directly to the firms founder Jack ma, the people said.

The decision to back Ergen highlights the risk of working with competing clients. To pick sides, larger banks use a process called business se-lection in situations where they may alienate another company, with the decision typically based on which cli-ent will bring in more fees over the long term. Still, Sons decision to punish Barclays is against the interests of aliba-bas other shareholders, said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of michigans ross School of Business.

It is counter to the inter-est of a company to cut out a globally important under-writer simply because a major stockholder wants to pun-ish it, he wrote in an email. Powerful people who want revenge should not use third parties to wreak it.

Son called ma last spring, in the midst of the struggle over Sprint, and asked that ma keep Barclays off of an $8 billion loan that alibaba was seeking, one person said.

aware of Sons anger, Barclays turned its attention later in the year to other chinese internet companies that could go pub-lic, another person said. The bank ended up working with

Tencent holdings Ltd, asias largest web firm by market val-ue, on its recent purchase of a 15 per cent stake in alibaba ri-val JD.com Inc, and is pitching for a role on JD.coms own IPO, this person said.

Barclays ranks ninth among IPO underwriters this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The decision to work for rivals was seen as a flagrant shot at alibaba, one person said, and London-based Bar-clays will now be one of the few global banks not to land a spot on alibabas share sale, the sources said. Spokespeo-ple for SoftBank, Barclays and alibaba declined to comment on the relationship.

The alibaba sale, which will be managed by banks includ-ing credit Suisse Group aG, morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank aG according to a person familiar with the matter, could be bigger than Facebook Incs $16 billion offering in may 2012. Other banks working on the sale include Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPmorgan chase & co and citigroup Inc,

that person said. alibaba said on march 16 it had decided to start the process for an IPO in the US. The sale may be equivalent to about a 12 per cent stake in the company, a person familiar with the mat-ter said earlier. Based on the average $153 billion valuation in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, that would make it an $18.4 billion offering.

Banks on Facebooks sale earned fees of 1.1 per cent of the sum it raised. assuming a similar percentage for ali-baba, underwriters would get about $200 million.

This shows the power of reputation and the dangers of backing a losing horse, said Tim Loughran, a finance pro-fessor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. I dont find it too surprising that masayoshi Son is still annoyed with Bar-clays. Big inside owners of IPOs only want to deal with invest-ment banks they trust.

Barclays has worked with hangzhou, china-based ali-baba before. It contributed $200 million as part of the $3

billion loan package alibaba put together to privatize its hong Kong-listed unit and buy about 20 per cent of itself from Yahoo! Inc in 2012, a per-son familiar with the matter said then.

most of the major banks who lent to alibaba in 2012 will win roles on its IPO, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. credit Suisse,

citigroup, Deutsche Bank and morgan Stanley each con-tributed $200 million to the loan package. hSBc holdings Plc, australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, mizuho Financial Group Inc and DBS Group holdings Ltd, which were also among lenders, could get hired for the IPO, the person said.

after Son objected, Barclays didnt participate in alibabas $8 billion syndicated loan in June 2013, which consisted of

13 banks. JPmorgan and Gold-man Sachs, which will have lead roles on alibabas IPO, were among lenders then.

Son and SoftBank eventu-ally won the competition for Sprint in June 2013, though not before they were forced to raise their offer by $1.5 billion to fend off the competing bid from Ergen and his Dish Net-work corp.

SoftBank told banks that fi-nancing the Dish offer would hurt their chances of working on alibabas IPO, one of the people said. Financed by Bar-clays and working with some of the banks most senior ad-visers, Ergen made an unso-licited bid for Sprint, trying to top a $20.1 billion offer from SoftBank. For several weeks, Barclays was the only lender aligned with Ergen, though Jef-feries Group LLc later agreed to help finance an acquisition,

people with knowledge of the matter said earlier.

after more than two months of back and forth between the two billionaires, which in-cluded Son disputing Ergens financial projections and call-ing them wishful, SoftBank bumped its bid to win.

When Ergen decided not to top Sons improved offer, Bar-clays lost out on tens of mil-lions of dollars in potential advisory fees, not to mention hundreds of millions more as a lender on the deal, had it been consummated.

after completing the merger, Son told Barclays he wouldnt work with the bank in the future, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. In late 2013, as Son explored a deal for Sprint to buy a majority of T-mobile US Inc, he discussed bank financ-ing of as much as $20 billion with lenders including credit Suisse, mizuho and Deutsche Bank, people familiar with the matter said in December.Son didnt approach Barclays, the people said. BLOOMBERG

An Alibaba employee walks through a communal space at the company headquarters in Hangzhou. AFP

This shows the power of reputation and the dangers of

backing a losing horse

Tourist sectorIn Myanmar, key industry will expand

MYANMARS travel and tourism sector is set to grow 9.5 per cent in 2014 to reach $971 million as the number of international visitors to the country, espe-cially from Asia, is expected to continue climbing, according to a report published on March 19 by the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) research group.

The Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2014 report says direct capital into the tourism and travel sector ac-counted for $885 million last year, or 1.6 per cent of GDP, with capital likely to grow an average 6.9 per cent annually over the next ten years.

Domestic travel spending generated 68.8 per cent of direct travel and tourism GDP in 2013 compared with 31.2 per cent for visitor exports [foreign visitor spending or in-ternational tourism receipts], the study said.

Despite marked improve-ments for the tourism and tra-vel sectors, Myanmar is still far behind its more developed regional neighbours, the study shows. THE MYANMAR TIMES

Business8 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Temasek buys part of retailera

SIaS richest man Li Ka-shing announced on Friday that a Sin-gapore state invest-

ment fund had agreed to buy just under 25 per cent of his flagship retail chain, in a deal worth more than $5.6 billion.

Singapores Temasek will purchase 24.95 per cent of a.S. Watson, part of Lis vast hutchison Whampoa con-glomerate, for hK$44 billion ($5.67 billion), a hutchison statement said, calling it a strategic alliance.

Watson had grown inter-nationally in the past two de-cades with more than 10,500 stores worldwide, the state-ment said, adding that the deal valued the retail chain at hK$177 billion.

The announcement came as a surprise as markets had ex-pected Watson would be listing in hong Kong and London by June, in what could have been the worlds biggest initial pub-lic offering since late 2012, pre-dicted to raise $6 billion.

But in light of the new deal, Li said that the listing would be unlikely this year and that it would now be pushed back by two to three years, without explaining further details.

he also said that the com-

pany would be listed in two places, but not London.

I am now thinking that it would be in hong Kong and Singapore, Li said of the pos-sible listing locations.

he said that the Temasek alli-ance was a quicker way to raise capital than the listing process.

The reason to list is to raise capital, the way I do it now is faster, whats bad about that? he told reporters at a press conference after the deal had been announced.

They [Temasek] liked it so much they offered us 25 per cent, then mr. Li said one in-vestor is better than an IPO, hutchison group managing di-rector canning Fok said at the press conference.

Temasek said in a statement that with the investment it had increased its exposure to the consumer retail sector, with a balanced focus on a growing asia and a recovering Europe.

We are very pleased with the opportunity to be a long-term partner with hutchison Whampoa Limited through our investment in a.S. Wat-son, said chia Song hwee, head of the investment group at Temasek.

We share their philosophy to invest and build businesses

for the long term, especially in asia. a.S. Watson is a well-established company with a proven management team, a valuable franchise and a good growth story.

a.S. Watson owns health and beauty retailer Super-drug, which has more than 870 stores in Britain and Ireland, as well as the ParknShop grocery chain in hong Kong.

Its flagship brand Watsons is

asias largest health and beauty retailer, with over 4,000 stores and more than 900 pharma-cies around the world, includ-ing in 10 asian markets.

Li had last year aborted an attempt to sell ParknShop after suitors, among them austra-lias Woolworth Ltd, failed to meet his $3 billion to $4 bil-lion asking price.

hutchison Whampoa said in February it saw a 20 per

cent year on year increase in net profits for 2013, fuelled by growth in its port, hotel and property divisions, despite challenging global markets.

Li started out in business as a plastic flower-maker but now commands a vast empire through cheung Kong hold-ings and hutchison Wham-poa, with global assets in property, telecoms, utilities, ports and retail. AFP

A Watsons store, operated by A.S. Watson Group, in Hong Kong on Friday. Hutchison Whampoa, controlled by Asias richest man, said Temasek Holdings will pay for a stake in its retail division AS Watson. BLOOMBERg

Markets9THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

BusinessLow interestSri Lankan central bank holds rate

SRI Lankas economy grew a weaker-than-expected 7.3 per cent last year, the countrys cen-tral bank said on Friday as it kept interest rates at multi-year lows to boost private investment and lending.

The Central Bank of Sri Lan-ka said last years expansion was much stronger than the 6.3 per cent recorded in 2012 thanks to a pick-up in exports and foreign remittances.

However, the figure was be-low the banks eight per cent forecast as an expected rise in lending had not taken place.

Credit to the private sector by commercial banks moderated, growing only by 5.2 per cent in January 2014 in comparison to 7.5 per cent in December 2013, the bank said in its monthly review of the economy.

Officials said the softer data came as loans to the private sector rose just 15.5 per cent last year, well short of estimates of 18 per cent.But the bank said its Monetary Board viewed the deceleration in those loans to be tempo-rary. AFP

mt. Gox finds some bitcoinsF

aILED bitcoin ex-change mt. Gox says it has found 200,000 coins worth $116

million in an old digital wallet, after it collapsed in February admitting it had lost half a billion dollars in a possible theft.

The Tokyo-based digital currency exchange filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan last month, saying that it had lost 850,000 coins worth nearly $500 million at present prices.

But 200,000 bitcoins were left in a wallet used before June 2011, the company said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

Bitcoin wallets are used for online transactions be-tween currency holders.

The new find would be worth $116 million, accord-ing to the coinDesk Bitcoin price index. The discovery has been reported to the court overseeing the case, the statement revealed.

mt. Gox, which at one time reportedly processed 80 per cent of global bitcoin transactions, said that the 200,000 bitcoins discovered on march 7 had been moved to an offline wallet.

Taking into account the existence of the 200,000 BTc, the total number of Bitcoins which have disappeared is therefore estimated to be ap-proximately 650,000 BTc, the statement said.

The company filed for pro-tection under US bankruptcy law earlier this month, 10 days after doing the same in Japan after a huge loss of the digital currency.

mt. Goxs lawyer said 750,000 bitcoins belonging to customers had gone, along with mt. Goxs own store of the currency, which she said was around 100,000 units.

Japanese officials have said they are closely monitoring mt. Goxs bankruptcy pro-ceedings, as they try to get a handle on how and why the exchange imploded.

The reasons for their dis-appearance and the exact number of bitcoins which disappeared is still under in-vestigation, mt. Gox said.

The global virtual currency community was shaken by the shuttering of mt. Gox, which froze withdrawals in early February because of what the firm said was a bug in the software underpin-ning bitcoin that allowed

hackers to pilfer them.according to Japans Yo-

miuri Shimbun newspaper, mt. Gox suffered a massive assault by hackers, coming under some 150,000 dis-tributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks per second for several days ahead of its spectacular failure.

Under DDoS attacks, hack-ers hijack multiple comput-ers to send a flood of data to the target, crippling its computer system.

Unlike traditional cur-

rencies backed by central banks, bitcoin is generated by complex chains of in-teractions among a huge network of computers all around the planet.

after trading for cents per bitcoin for the first two years of its existence, it began a frenzied climb in 2011 that took it to $40 a coin in late 2012 and $1,100 last year, before falling off to the cur-rent $580 level.

Its relative anonymity and lack of regulation has been

attacked by critics who fear it could be used to finance or-ganised crime or terrorism.

Earlier this month, the Japanese government said bitcoin was not a currency but also said that transac-tions involving it should be subject to taxation.

Tokyo has also stated that banks could not broker bit-coin transactions or open accounts holding the vir-tual unit.

But as regulators around the world grapple with how to handle bitcoin, Japan did not specify if Tokyo would immediately begin crack-ing down on it, or how it would do so, given the units opaque nature.

While comprehending the actual situations, we will con-sider taking measures if nec-essary, the cabinet of Prime minister Shinzo abe said in a statement on Tuesday.

US Federal reserve head Janet Yellen has said the Fed had no powers over a cur-rency that only exists virtu-ally with no central authority behind it.

Several countries, includ-ing russia and china, have heavily restricted how bit-coin can be used. AFP

Kolin Burges, a Mt. Gox customer, holds a placard in front of the Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange in Tokyo, Japan, last month. BLOOMBERG

Business10 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Fixed Deposit Interest RatesCambodian

Financial Institutions

On Deposits3 Months 6 Months 12 Months

As of MARCH 21, 2014 USD RIEL USD RIEL USD RIEL

PRaSac 5.50% 6.50% 6.50% 7.50% 8.00% 9.75%

aBa Bank 3.50% N/a 4.50% N/a 5.50% N/a

acLEDa Bank 2.50% 5.00% 3.75% 6.00% 5.00% 7.00%

aNZ Royal Bank 1.35% 3.50% 2.50% 4.00% 3.50% 5.50%

Bank of India 2.25% N/a 3.00% N/a 4.00% N/a

cambodia asia Bank 3.50% N/a 4.50% N/a 5.50% N/a

cambodia Mekong Bank 2.75% N/a 3.25% N/a 3.50% N/a

cambodian Public Bank 2.25% N/a 3.25% N/a 4.00% N/a

canadia Bank 2.50% 5.00% 3.50% 6.00% 4.75% 7.00%

Maybank 2.25% N/a 3.25% N/a 4.25% N/a

MaRUhaN Japan Bank 2.00% 2.00% 3.00% 3.00% 4.50% 4.50%

RhB Indochina Bank 2.75% 4.00% 3.50% 5.00% 4.75% 6.00%

SBc Bank 3.00% N/a 3.50% N/a 4.50% N/a

Union commercial Bank 3.50% N/a 4.50% N/a 5.50% N/a

Glenn Chapman

TED turns 30 years old with a mind-sizzling mix of intrigue, wonder and passion in the re-nowned gatherings new home in canada.

The latest event by TED, which was born in california in 1984 and grew into a global forum for heady ideas worth spreading, ended on Friday after gazing thoughtfully at the past and looking optimis-tically ahead.

The platform has gotten more interesting to more peo-ple, Technology, Entertain-ment, Design (TED) curator chris anderson said.

We are planning on taking every opportunity to go deep-er into issues; to present a core idea and add to it with ways to get involved.

TED has won a global fol-lowing for trademark talks during which the brilliant, innovative, artistic or ac-complished deliver thought-sparking presentations in 18 minutes or less.

Topics at the five-day TED gathering ranged from mind-controlling parasites and bion-ic limbs to intestinal microbes and collective consciousness.

Female fashion model Gee-na rocero used the TED stage to, for the first time, tell how she was born a boy in the Phil-ippines but become a woman to match her inner truth.

Some of my neighbours, friends, colleagues, even my agent didnt know about my history, rocero said on the TED stage. Not a lot of people can say that their first job was pageant queen for transgen-der women, but Ill take it.

Internet spying and online privacy were hot topics at the gathering, known for attracting Internet entrepreneurs such as founders of Google, amazon and Netflix. That debate was set ablaze by the surprise ap-

pearance of former National Security agency contractor Edward Snowden in the form of a robot controlled remotely from his hideaway in russia.

Doing it by tele-presence really excited him, anderson said of Snowden showing up in robot form to roam the confer-ence, even stopping for pho-tos. Snowdens virtual visit to TED, and his promise of sensa-tional new revelations to come, prompted the NSa to weigh in via video link a day later to ar-gue that his arrogance has put lives at risk and terrorists on guard. It was an intense ex-perience, it definitely pushed my own margin of comfort to the edge, anderson said.

anderson saw this years move from california to Van-couver as symbolic of the gatherings evolution into a global platform for ideas.

anderson and Peter Diaman-dis of the X PrIZE announced a competition to reward those behind the first artificial intel-ligence creation that gives a TED talk compelling enough to earn a standing ovation.

Looks at TEDs past and vi-sions of the future were woven through the week, with mIT media lab founder Nicholas Negroponte predicting by the end of the next three decades, people will ingest knowledge the way they do vitamins.

The first TED gathering was a venue for elite thinkers to hear about and discuss new ideas. Since then scientists, political leaders, artists, entrepreneurs and musicians have taken to the stage. In 2006, TED began to record talks and post them for free online.

The dinner party has turned into a global phenomenon, a banquet for the whole world, said richard Saul Wurman, who started the gatherings that andersons non-profit Sapling Foundation has nurtured into the TED of today. AFP

TED uses new home in canada to ring in 30-year anniversary

Vladimir Putin signs a law making Crimea part of Russia during a ceremony in Moscow last week. Putin said Moscow would hold off on further reciprocal sanctions against the United States after Washington introduced punitive measures against his close allies over the Ukraine crisis. AFP

Putin denies stake in oil giant Alec Luhn

ThE most startling part of Washingtons sanctions on russian businessmen loyal to

President Vladimir Putin may be a single sentence that con-tains an explosive allegation: that Putin himself profits from the worlds fourth biggest oil trading company, Gunvor.

among the people the Unit-ed States sanctioned last week as part of its drive to put pres-sure on russia for its interven-tion in Ukraine was business-man Gennady Timchenko, a long-time acquaintance of Putin and, until this week, co-owner of Geneva-based Gun-vor, which trades nearly 3 per cent of the worlds oil.

In announcing the sanc-tions, the US treasury went a step further, adding a single sentence that hits squarely at one of the most controversial topics that Putin has faced in 13 years as the Kremlin ruler and head of the government.

Timchenko activities in the energy sector have been direct-ly linked to Putin. Putin has in-vestments in Gunvor and may have access to Gunvor funds, the statement said.

The US treasury declined further comment on what in-formation it has about Putins investments in Gunvor and how exactly he could have ac-cess to Gunvors funds.

It provoked a quick and furi-ous response. Gunvor said the statement was outrageous and blatantly false.

Gunvor categorically de-nies that Vladimir Putin has or has ever had any ownership or that he is a beneficiary of our business directly or indirect-ly, it said.

Gunvor has repeatedly said that Timchenko and chief ex-ecutive officer Torbjorn Torn-qvist had equal stakes each of about 45 per cent and the remaining 10 percent was owned by the staff.

Timchenko has repeatedly denied that Putin helped him create his vast business em-pire, yet because of his long and close relationship with Pu-tin speculation has persisted.

Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the sanctions unacceptable and said the Kremlin was studying the im-pact of the inclusion of Tim-chenko on the list.

he did not comment on the allegations that Putin has in-vestments in Gunvor.

Later in the day a treasury official clarified that Timchen-kos designation would not af-fect Gunvor since Timchenko owned less than 50 per cent.

at the same time, Gunvor announced that Timchenko had sold his share to Tornqvist on Wednesday, a day earlier. Tornqvist now owns 87 per cent, while 13 per cent be-longs to the employees.

Still, the growing concern among analysts is that the accusation, and the direct blow at Putins closest allies, may provoke an even more dramatic response from mos-cow potentially even using

its vast energy supplies as a weapon against the West.

The wording of the trea-sury statement goes far be-yond anything that has been said previously about Putin. he has faced accusations for years, typically from political opponents, that he helped Timchenko create the Gun-vor empire.

None have ever provided any evidence, and no media outlets have ever reported any proof of ownership interests in Gunvor.

Putin worked in the mayors office in the early 1990s when Timchenko and his friends, Putin said, spun off an oil trading unit of the Kirishi oil refinery.

Gunvor has grown spec-tacularly since then with a turnover of $93 billion in 2012 compared with $5 billion in 2004.

It traded large volumes of oil of russian state companies such as rosneft at the end of last decade, but since then ceded its leading positions and now focuses on trading in Europe and asia.

according to WikiLeaks cables revealed by the Guard-ian in 2010, John Beyrle, the former US ambassador to moscow, reported that Gun-vors secretive ownership is rumoured to include prime minister Putin.

a call made to Eurasia Foun-dation, where Beyrle works now after leaving the foreign service, was not answered late last week.

The first time Putin ad-dressed the issue directly was in 2011.

I assure you, I know that a lot is being written about it, without any participation on my part . . . I have known the citizen Timchenko for a very long time, since my work in St Petersburg, Putin told a group of russian writers.

I never interfered with any-thing related to his business interests. I hope he will not stick his nose into my busi-ness either, Putin said.

Putin has repeatedly said that he has read in the press reports about his immense wealth and that he was even the worlds richest man but denied those reports as non-sense.

Yes it is true. Im not only the richest man in Europe but in the whole world. Im collecting emotions, he told reporters in 2008. Talk of vast personal riches is all rubbish.

But the long personal ties between the two have raised many questions about the ser-endipity of Timchenkos rise.

Like arkady rotenberg, an-other businessman on the sanctions list who has enjoyed astounding business success under Putin, Timchenko is an old judo buddy of Putins, and they even reportedly founded a judo club together.

This year, Forbes estimated Timchenkos wealth at $15.3 billion, calling him one of the most powerful people in rus-sia. THE GUARDIAN

11THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Worldcrimea leader: fight Kiev, Ukraines russiansDmitry Zaks

crimeas rebel leader urged russians across Ukraine on sunday to rise up against Kievs rule and welcome

Kremlin forces whose unrelenting march against his flashpoint penin-sula has defied Western outrage.

The call came amid growing anxi-ety among Kievs Western-backed rulers that russian President Vladi-mir Putin flushed with expansion-ist fervour will imminently order an all-out attack on his former so-viet neighbour after being hit by only limited eU and Us sanctions for tak-ing the Black sea cape.

The aim of Putin is not crimea but all of Ukraine, Ukraines National security and Defence council chief andriy Parubiy told a mass unity rally in Kiev.

his troops massed at the border are ready to attack at any moment, he said a day after russian forces used armoured personnel carri-ers and stun grenades to capture Ukraines main crimean airbase.

The takeover came as the chill in east-West ties grew stiffer with a charge by Germany a nation whose friendship Putin had nurtured of a Kremlin attempt to splinter eu-rope along cold War-era lines.

europes most explosive security crisis in decades will now dominate a nuclear security summit opening in The hague today that will include what may prove the most difficult meeting to date between Us secre-tary of state John Kerry and russian Foreign minister sergei Lavrov.

The encounter comes with rus-sia facing the loss of its coveted seat among the G8 group of lead-

ing nations and Putins inner circle reeling from sanctions Washington unleashed for their use of force in crimea in response to last months fall of Ukraines pro-Kremlin regime.

One of the biggest tests facing the besieged Western-backed leaders in Kiev now comes from restless rus-sians who have been stirring up vio-lent protests and demanding their own secession referendums in the southeastern swaths of Ukraine.

The regions mistrust of the new teams european values lies from cul-tural and trade ties with russia that in many cases are centuries old a fact seized upon on sunday by crimeas self-declared prime minister.

sergei aksyonov said in an impas-

sioned address he posted on Face-book and read out on local TV that crimea began facing a sad fate the moment three months of deadly pro-tests involving a mix of nationalist and pro-Western forces toppled the pro-Kremlin regime in Kiev.

But we resisted and won! Our motherland russia extended her hand of help, aksyonov said. so today, i appeal to you with a call to fight.

i call on you to resist the choice made for you by a bunch of political mavericks who are being financed by oligarchs.

aksyonov said he was deeply con-vinced that the future of southeast-ern Ukraine rested in a close union

with the russian Federation a polit-ical, economic and cultural union.

crimeas rebel authorities esti-mate they together with the Krem-lins forces control at least half of Ukrainian bases on the Black sea peninsula and about a third of its functioning naval vessels.

The most dramatic episode of rus-sias excursion so far saw crack forces break into the Belbek airbase near the main city of simferopol after an armoured personnel carrier blasted through the main gate.

Two more armoured personnel car-riers followed and gunmen stormed in firing automatic weapons into the air. an reporter heard stun grenades before the situation calmed and the gunmen lowered their weapons.

several of the bases unarmed sol-diers began singing the Ukrainian national anthem during the ensu-ing lull. Ukraines interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said sunday that the russian forces had cap-tured the bases commander Yuliy mamchur, and demanded his im-mediate release.

We are demanding an end to this aggression against Ukraine and its citizens, Turchynov said.

But russias Deputy Defence min-ister anatoly antonov denied his forces were conducting any military activities that could threaten the se-curity of neighbouring states.

But russias diplomatic isolation is growing as quickly as the reemer-gence of an ideological divide that appeared to have been bridged with the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

Germany whose economic power is playing a decisive role in forging europes response to Putins increas-ingly belligerent stance warned af-

ter talks with Ukraines leaders that the continents future was at stake.

The referendum in crimea . . . is a violation of international law and an attempt to splinter europe, For-eign minister Frank-Walter stein-meier told reporters after meeting Ukrainian Prime minister arseniy Yatsenyuk.

The show of diplomatic solidarity may play an important psychologi-cal role in Kiev as it faces new pres-sure from russia that include open threats to throw Ukraines wheezing economy into convulsion by raising its gas rates and demanding colossal payments for disputed debts it could ill afford. Yet Ukraine is unlikely to hear its calls for Us and eU military support answered.

Yatsenyuk said that he and stein-meier had discussed military and technological cooperation assis-tance for Ukraines vastly under-financed and outdated force of 130,000 soldiers a fraction of rus-sias 845,000 troops.

Both the United states and europe have thus far limited their retaliation against Putin to targeted travel and financial sanctions that concern of-ficials but do not impact the broader russian economy.

Washingtons steps have been more meaningful because they hit what Us officials call a Putin crony bank as well as oligarchs who are believed to be closest to the russian strongman and in one case actually running a joint business with him.

Leading eU nations such as Brit-ain and Germany their financial and energy sectors intertwined with russias have questioned why they should suffer most in case of an all-out trade war. AFP

Two groups of pro-Russian protesters scuffle during an argument at a rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk yesterday. AFP

climate change to hit asia hardest, warns new reportPeOPLe in coastal regions of asia, particularly those living in cities, could face some of the worst effects of global warm-ing, climate experts will warn this week. hundreds of mil-lions of people are likely to lose their homes as flooding, fam-ine and rising sea levels sweep the region, one of the most vul-nerable to the impact of global warming, the UN states.

The report climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation and Vulnerability makes it clear that for the first half of this cen-tury countries such as the UK will avoid the worst impacts of climate change, triggered by rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. By contrast, people living in developing

countries in low latitudes, par-ticularly those along the coast of asia, will suffer the most, especially those living in crowded cities.

a final draft of the report will be debated by a panel of scien-tists set up by the intergovern-mental Panel on climate change (iPcc) this week at a meeting in Yokohama, Japan, and will form a key part of the iPccs fifth assessment report on global warming, whose other sections will be published later this year.

according to the scientists who have written the draft report, hundreds of millions of people will be affected by coastal flooding and land loss as global temperatures rise, ice

caps melt and sea levels rise. The majority of it will be in east, southeast and south asia. some small island states are expected to face very high impacts.

in addition, the report warns that cities also face particular problems. heat stress, extreme precipitation, inland and coastal flooding, as well as drought and water scarcity, pose risks in urban areas with risks amplified for those lack-ing essential infrastructure and services or living in exposed areas. The report adds that this latter forecast is made with very high confidence.

in addition, climate change will slow down economic growth, further erode food

security and trigger new pov-erty traps, particularly in urban areas and emerging hot spots of hunger, it is argued.

This mix of a high-risk region and the special vulnerability of cities make coastal asian urban centres likely flashpoints for future conflict and hardship as the planet warms up this cen-tury. acrid plumes of smoke produced by forest fires trig-gered by drought and other factors are already choking cities across southeast asia. in future, this problem is likely to get worse, scientists say.

The authors warn that some other climate change effects will be global. climate change throughout the 21st century will lead to increases in ill-

health in many regions, as compared to a baseline with-out climate change, the report states. examples include greater likelihood of injury, dis-ease, and death due to more intense heatwaves and fires; increased likelihood of under-nutrition resulting from dimin-ished food production in poor regions; and increased risks from food-borne and water-borne disease.

Other potential crises high-lighted by the report include the likelihood that yields of major crops such as wheat, rice and maize are likely to decline at rates of up to two per cent a decade, at a time when demands for these crops trig-gered by world population

increases are likely to rise by 14 per cent. at the same time, coral reefs face devastating destruction triggered by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide dissolving in sea water and acidifying earths oceans.

The report makes grim read-ing. This comprehensive sci-entific assessment makes clear that climate change is having a growing impact around the world, and that the risks of catastrophic consequences increase every day as more greenhouse gas pollution is pumped into the atmosphere, said Bob Ward, policy and com-munications director at the UKs Grantham research insti-tute on climate change. THE obsErvEr

World12 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Turkish Prime minister re-cep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday congratulated the military for downing a syrian warplane near its border and warned of a heavy response if its air-space was violated.

Our response from now will be heavy if you violate our airspace, Erdogan said dur-ing an election rally, address-ing the regime of President Bashar al-assad.

i congratulate the chief of general staff, the armed forces and those honourable pilots . . . i congratulate our air forc-es, said the premier.

syria yesterday accused its northern neighbour of fla-grant aggression after Turk-ish forces shot down the war-plane as it bombarded rebels near the border.

Turkish media reported that the army warned two syrian jets approaching its border to turn away, but scrambled its F-16 jets when one refused to abide by the warning.

President abdullah Gul called chief of staff General Necdet Ozel to congratulate him. Turkey has shown its determination to protect its border, he was quoted as say-ing by Turkish media.

Parliament speaker cemil cicek said Turkey acted within its rights under international law, media reported.

The syrian Observatory for human rights said the plane was striking the north-ern province of Latakia when it was hit, catching fire and crashing in syrian territory.

Turkish warplanes last year downed a syrian helicop-ter, which ankara said was detected two kilometres in-

side Turkish airspace. Turkey toughened its rules of engage-ment after the downing of one of its fighter jets by the syrian air force in June 2012, to say that any military approach of the Turkish border from syria would be considered a threat.

Turkey, a staunch opponent of the regime in Damascus, hosts more than 750,000 refu-gees from the three-year syr-ian conflict, many of them in camps along the border.

syrian forces and rebels battled yesterday for a third straight day for control of a key crossing on the northern border with Turkey, the syr-ian Observatory for human rights said.

Fighters from [the al-Qaeda-affiliated] al-Nusra Front and other groups have attacked the crossing and forced out regime forces and national defence auxiliaries, Observatory chief rami ab-del rahman said. however, he added that fierce fighting was still under way at the kasab crossing, which was first at-tacked on Friday.

On Tuesday, al-Nusra and islamist groups sham al-islam and ansar al-sham announced the launch of an offensive dubbed anfal in Latakia province. The province, which includes President Bashar al-assads family village, is con-sidered a regime stronghold, and many residents are from his alawite minority.

significant military rein-forcements have been sent to the government forces, said the Observatory, which re-lies on a network of activists and medical sources on the ground for its reports. AFP

Turkey warns syria after downing plane

us landslide kills three and traps victimsrEscuErs clawed through piles of mud, rocks and trees early yesterday trying to reach survivors of a giant landslide that killed three people in the northwestern united states.

at least eight people were injured, including a six-month-old infant, when the face of a rain-saturated mountainside slid down saturday, destroying six homes in the rural com-munity of Oso, northeast of seattle, local police and firefighters said.

We have people who are yelling for help and we are out there, Travis hots, the district fire chief in snohom-ish county, Washington state, told reporters late saturday.

This is a massive slide, and we are in a very, very f luid and unstable situation, hots stated. We are going to take extreme risks to get them out of there.

search teams used thermal imaging cameras to aid rescue efforts, the sno-homish county sheriffs office said.

all of a sudden there was a wall of mud about 25 feet [almost eight metres] high, survivor robin Young-blood told The Seattle Times.

rain has been especially heavy in the cascade mountains region in the past weeks, officials said. The forecast was for a break in the rain yesterday, but for more heavy downpours throughout the week. AFP

sightings boost search for mh370Greg Wood

ThE sighting of a wooden pallet and other debris that may be linked to a malay-sian passenger jet raised

hopes yesterday of a breakthrough in the international search for the missing plane.

The sense that the hunt was finally on the right track after more than two weeks of false leads and dead ends was reinforced by new French satel-lite data indicating floating objects in the southern search area.

australian officials said the pallet, along with belts or straps, was spot-ted on saturday in a remote stretch of the indian Ocean that has become the focus of the search around 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth.

its still too early to be definite, australian Prime minister Tony ab-bott said. But obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope no more than hope, no more than hope that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft.

australian and chinese satellite images have picked up large objects floating in the region, and malaysias transport ministry said yesterday that France had provided similar data in the vicinity of the southern corridor.

The malaysian statement gave no details of the French satellite data.

But Frances foreign ministry said it

came in the form of satellite-gener-ated radar echoes, which contains information about the location and distance of the object which bounc-es a signal back.

The australian maritime safety au-thority (amsa) confirmed the pallet and other debris marked the first vi-sual sighting since australian, New Zealand and us spotter planes be-gan scouring the area on Thursday.

Wooden pallets are quite common in aircraft and ship cargo holds.

The objects were spotted by ob-servers on one of the civilian aircraft taking part in the search.

an air force P3 Orion aircraft with

specialist electro-optic observation equipment was diverted to the same location, but only reported sighting clumps of seaweed.

Thats the nature of it, amsa air-craft operations coordinator mike Barton said. You only have to be off by a few hundred metres in a fast-travelling aircraft.

Yesterdays search involving four military and four civilian aircraft plus an australian warship ended with no sightings of significance but would resume today, amsa said.

Yesterdays search covered 59,000 square kilometres. china has dis-patched seven ships to the hunt for

the plane, adding to British and aus-tralian naval ships involved.

Obviously the more aircraft we have, the more ships we have, the more confident we are of recovering whatever material is down there, abbott said.

amsa said chinese and Japanese planes would join todays operation.

if the plane did crash in the ocean, investigators are hoping to identify the impact site before the planes black box stops emitting tracking signals usually after 30 days.

The flight recorder will be crucial in solving the mystery of what caused the Boeing 777 with 239 passengers and crew aboard suddenly to veer off course over the south china sea en route to Beijing.

satellite and military radar data suggest the plane backtracked over the malaysian peninsula and then flew on possibly for hours either north into south and central asia, or south over the indian Ocean.

The question of what happened on board has become a topic of un-bridled speculation, with malaysian investigators standing by their as-sessment that the plane was deliber-ately diverted by someone on board.

Three scenarios have gained par-ticular traction: hijacking, pilot sabo-tage, or a sudden mid-air crisis that incapacitated the flight crew and left the plane to fly on auto-pilot for sev-eral hours until it ran out of fuel and crashed. AFP

A Japanese Air Force AP-3C Orion arrives at RAAF base Pearce in Bullsbrook, 35 kilometres north of Perth yesterday. AFP

World13THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Biggest ever Thai protest promised for SaturdayKarn Apornhiranyaras

anTi-governmenT pro-test leader Suthep Thaug-suban late on Saturday countered with a vow of his

own to hold the biggest ever rally on Saturday a week ahead of the red shirts.

The red shirt gathering at Lan Khao Talo in Pattaya was held one day after the charter court ruled that the February 2 election was illegiti-mate because it was not completed in a day.

red shirt leaders claimed that the number of demonstrators was far more than the previous red shirt gatherings in the north and north-east because they were outraged by the poll decision.

Speaking on the red shirt stage, United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship chairman Jatuporn Prompan said the UDD needed to rise to the challenge of fighting against the network of ammart [the elite].

charnyuth hengtrakul, leader of the UDDs eastern chapter, said at least 30,000 red shirts showed up. Police put the number at 10,000.

he said the red shirts were now ready to fight against injustice and the network of ammart and against the appointment of a neutral inter-im prime minister.

Jatuporn said that the UDD will mobilise red shirt supporters na-

tionwide on april 5 and urge them to prepare to set off on a major journey on that day.

Details of their destinations will be announced later, he said, adding that the UDD co-leaders will meet on march 29 to discuss three secret missions, the details of which would be revealed later.

he urged red shirt supporters to wear black in protest against inde-pendent organisations and injustices for seven days, starting tomorrow. he was referring to the charter courts ruling and the national anti-corrup-tion commissions march 20 recom-

mendation that Senate Speaker nik-hom Wairatpanich be impeached for his role in the passage of the charter amendment draft to make the Sen-ate fully elected.

Suthep, the PrDc leader, said at Lumpini park on Saturday night that it was the best time for us to come out and tell the public that we dont want an election, we want reform. he urged supporters to hold activi-ties across the country on Saturday, while in Bangkok protesters would march from Lumpini Park to the royal Plaza from 9.30am.

The strong reactions of the protest

camps had fuelled observers fears of rising political tension and vio-lence following the courts nullifica-tion of the February 2 election.

Signs of growing violence emerged on Saturday with a car bomb inci-dent on Bangkoks chaeng Watthana road and three separate grenade at-tacks in chiang mai on Friday night. Four people were injured in one of the chiang mai bombings.

Police are investigating if the three incidents are linked and whether they are politically motivated.

a car parked on Soi chaeng Wat-thana 13 went up in flames early on Saturday morning. explosive devic-es were found inside the vehicle.

The incident took place in front of a house in the lane. People living in the house called firefighters and alerted police about 5am after they heard explosions and found a Toyo-ta sedan engulfed in flames.

after the fire was put out, explo-sive ordnance disposal (eoD) police were called in and discovered rem-nants of two fire extinguishers con-taining explosives on the back seat of the car.

a cooking gas cylinder was found intact in the boot of the vehicle. eoD officers managed to defuse it. There were no injuries in the blasts.

Police colonel Kamthorn ouich-aroen, head of the eoD unit, said checks had found the explosive devices were homemade bombs of the same type planted at the of-

fice of the attorney-general and the Judicial Training institute in Bang-kok last monday. The incident took place near the chaeng Watthana protest site of the anti-government Peoples Democratic reform com-mittee (PDrc).

Three bombs that went off in the northern province of chiang mai on Friday night injured four people, po-lice said. The bomb attacks occurred between 8:20pm and 9:30pm.

The first bomb was hidden under the wheel of a car in the parking lot of the andaman Seafood restaurant in chiang mai district at 8:20pm. no one was injured.

The second incident happened at 8:50pm when two m79 grenades were fired into the compound of the office of Boon rawd Brewery co. only one of them exploded. The companys property was slightly damaged. no one was hurt.

at 9:30pm, a bomb was thrown into a PTT petrol station. Four people, three of them petrol station staff, were injured.

Police say the three incidents could be politically motivated after the February 2 poll was declared void by the charter court.

chiang mai provincial police chief Krit Kittilue said investigators had found that the explosives at the petrol station and the seafood restaurant were of the same type rgD 5 which were made in russia. BANGKOK POST

Red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan rouses the crowd during a speech in Pattaya on Saturday night. BANGKOK POST

Prominent left-wing activist bailed in EgyptAn EgyptiAn court released a leading left-wing activist on trial for joining an unsanctioned and violent protest on bail yesterday, as the army-installed regime seeks to quell political unrest. Alaa Abdel Fattah and 24 others are accused of taking part in a violent protest last november outside the senate, where a panel drafted a new constitution giving the army broader powers. the trial for the activist, one of the leaders of the 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak, opened yesterday as another court resumed the trial of Mubaraks deposed islamist successor Mohamed Morsi. AFp

Ebola is confirmed as Guinea epidemic sourceguinEA identified the Ebola virus on Saturday as the source of a highly contagious epidemic as the death toll rose to 59. Experts in the west African nation had been unable to identify the disease, whose symptoms diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding were first observed six weeks ago, but scientists in the French city of Lyon confirmed it was Ebola, the guinean health ministry said. no treatment or vaccine is available for Ebola, which kills between 25 and 90 per cent of those who fall sick, depending on the strain of the virus, according to the WHO. AFp

US navy hands rogue tanker back to LibyatHE uS navy handed over to Libyan authorities on Saturday an oil tanker it boarded after the vessel took to sea with crude illegally loaded at a rebel-held port, the American embassy said. Earlier today, uS forces turned control of the M/t Morning glory over to the government of Libya, a statement said. the handover took place in international waters off the coast of Libya, and the government of Libya and its security forces are now in control of the vessel. the embassy said the transfer of the Egyptian-owned tanker had taken place smoothly and as planned. AFp

World14 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 24, 2014

Tear gas fired in fresh Venezuela protests

Police fired tear gas and made several ar-rests as 20,000 people marched on Saturday

in the Venezuelan capital ca-racas against what they say is President Nicolas maduros heavy-handed repression of dissent.

Three protesters were killed by pro-government militia in separate attacks in the states of Tachira, merida and cara-bobo, according to uncon-firmed local media reports cit-ing witnesses.

at least 31 people have been killed in more than six weeks of student-led protests against the government, represent-ing the biggest challenge yet to maduro, the elected social-ist heir to late president hugo chavez.

President maduro and his government have been the target of near-daily protests

fueled by public anger over soaring crime, hyperinflation and shortages of such basic goods as toilet paper and fur-ther stoked by overzealous police tactics.

Demonstrators are also angry at oil-rich Venezuelas close ties to cuba, the only communist one-party state in the americas.

opposition leader henrique capriles, governor of miranda state, headed one of five pro-test marches that converged for a mass rally.

The protest was called after two opposition mayors were arrested earlier in the week. another opposition leader, for-mer mayor leopoldo lopez, was arrested on February 18 on charges of inciting violence.

lopez, along with a faction of the opposition, favours tac-tics that would actively push maduro from power.

at the rally, lopezs wife lil-ian Tintori read a letter from the jailed politician to ma-duro in which he accused the president of being the dicta-tor of Venezuela.

Saturdays rally in caracas was peaceful until a group of masked youths attempted to block a busy highway, trigger-ing a brief intervention from riot police and security forces who fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse them.

The youths responded by throwing stones and more tear gas was fired to prevent protesters blocking streets. at least eight people were arrest-ed, according to an organisa-tion that monitors arrests.

anti-government demon-strations also broke out in cities such as Valencia, in the north, and merida and San cristobal in the west.

in the name of freedom,

put an end to dictatorship now, read one of the many banners held aloft in the ca-racas protest, where opposi-tion leader henrique capriles led one of several rallies.

maduro, who succeeded long-time leader chavez last year, has combined calls for dialogue with a hard stance against opposition rivals and demonstrators. maduro says he has fended off a coup bid aided or supported by the United States and other fascists.

Protests have mainly taken place in middle-class opposi-tion strongholds. maduro still enjoys support among Ven-ezuelas larger, poor popula-tion, allowing him to weather the weeks-long protests.

The crackdown on oppo-sition figures contrasts with maduros call for rivals to join a peace conference.

The main opposition has

refused to join the dialogue until the government agrees to free more than 100 protest-ers who rema