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all you need to know aboutproperty in camBodia

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IndonesIa yesterday told residents to stay away from beaches as the country braced for a possible tsunami of up to half a metre high generated by an 8.2-magnitude earthquake off Chiles Pacific coast.

Tsunami waves will possibly affect several areas in Indonesia from early today, disaster agency spokesman sutopo Purwo nugroho said.

The quake struck late on Tuesday, sending tsunami waves of more than two metres crashing into Chiles northern coast. at least six people have been killed, panicked crowds have fled and some northern areas of the country have been declared a disaster zone.

nugroho said the first tsunami waves could arrive at around 5am this morning in the eastern region of Papua, and that authorities in 19 provinces of Indonesia which is thousands of kilometres away from where the earthquake struck had been alerted.

We are urging the provincial and district governments within these areas to take precautions by urging people to stay away from beaches, he said.

other areas that could be affected by the tsunami include parts of the main island of Java, the resort island of Bali, central sulawesi island and the Indonesian part of Borneo island, he said. People must remain calm, he said, adding that no one had so far been evacuated.

Indonesia, which is frequently hit by earthquakes and has scores of active volcanoes, is particularly vul-nerable to even small tsunamis as many people on the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands live in poor, coastal communities.

More than 170,000 people were killed in aceh province on western sumatra island in 2004 when it was hit by a huge quake-triggered tsunami,

Continues on page 12

daily battle vowed over parks useKhouth Sophak Chakrya and Alice Cuddy

oPPosITIon lawmaker-elect Mu sochua vowed yesterday to continue with her one-woman crusade to bring the freedom back to Freedom Park and urged others to follow her lead after she was forcibly removed from the site for the second day running.

about 20 security guards, sochua said, some of them helmeted and car-rying batons, escorted her from the park yesterday, following her eviction along with Cambodia national Rescue Party youth supporters on Tuesday.

For me, Freedom Park should be a symbol of freedom, liberty, assembly . . . I will [return] tomorrow, and I will be there the day after tomorrow . . . I will go there every day as long as I am in Phnom Penh, she said yesterday.

sochua, who had arrived alone, said she lasted less than five minutes in the park before she was confronted by the security officers, whom she

Vong Sokheng and Stuart White

FLaGs fluttered in a stiff breeze and men in uniform snapped to attention yesterday as three coffins carrying what are

believed to be the remains of american soldiers killed in Cambodia during the Vietnam War were loaded onto a C-17 cargo plane destined for Hawaii.

There, forensics experts with the Joint PoW/MIa accounting Command (JPaC) will determine whether the remains contained inside the boxes should be added to the tally of the 37 missing american bodies so far recov-ered in the Kingdom.

There are still 53 unaccounted-for americans believed to have died in Cambodia during an off-and-on mili-tary presence that stretched from the late 1960s into the mid-70s.

speaking at the ceremony at Phnom Penh International airport, Us ambas-sador William Todd noted a personal connection to the conflict that claimed the mens lives, before thanking the members of Cambodian PoW/MIa Committee who aided in the effort to recover the remains.

as the son of a combat helicopter

pilot who served in Vietnam twice, I am truly privileged to be a part of this important ceremony, Todd said.

The United states formally request-ed the assistance of the Royal Govern-ment of Cambodia in conducting joint recovery operations in 1992, he add-ed. since then, Cambodia has gra-ciously assisted with the recoveries and return of the remains of ameri-cans who otherwise may have remained lost forever.

Us embassy spokesman sean McIn-tosh said yesterday that the remains

were located in Kampong Cham prov-ince, and that while they were con-tained in three coffins, the number and identities of the casualties will not be confirmed until the JPaC has com-pleted its analysis.

The men, he added, were believed to have died in a helicopter crash.

sieng Lapresse, chairman of the Cambodian PoW/MIa Committee, told reporters yesterday that the site where the remains were found had been identified by a Vietnamese wit-ness, and called the countrys joint efforts to recover missing remains not

a homecoming delayedsoldiers remains headed to Us

Continues on page 6

Continues on page 2

Indonesia braced for tsunami

US soldiers carry a coffin across the tarmac at Phnom Penh International Airport yesterday as part of a repatriation ceremony for remains believed to be those of US soldiers from the Vietnam War. VIREAK MAI

National2 THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

Vacancy AnnouncementVacancy No.: FPA/14/005

UNFPA is seeking to hire consultants to conduct evaluation of its programme in relation to the following thematic areas: (1) Family planning; (2) Midwifery; (3) Youth and comprehensive sexuality education; (4) Gender-based violence/violence against women; and (5) Decentralization and Deconcentration (D&D) Reform.

Assignment: Multiple assignments Duty Station: UNFPA Ofce, Phnom Penh

Contract type: Special Service Agreement

Deadline: 18 April 2014 (17.00 hours Local Time)

The purpose of the thematic evaluations is to generate in-depth and focused knowledge, evidence, lessons learnt and good practices and useful recommendations related to these thematic areas and to provide direction to UNFPA CO if the current level of interventions are adequate or any adjustments or renements should be made especially during the upcoming formulation of the Country Programme 2016-2018.

Individuals may wish to express their interest on one or more of the above thematic areas by stating clearly in the letter of expression of interest (in the subject line) which thematic area(s) s/he would like to apply for. Submission of at least two samples of previous writing/publications are required as part of the application. How to apply:Applications must be supported with a motivation letter, UN Personal History Form (P11), detailed CV, samples of writing and key relevant certicates. The sealed application should be addressed directly to Dr. Derveeuw Marc G. L., Representative, UNFPA, No. 225, Street Pasteur, Boeng Keng Kang 1, Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The P11 Form and Terms of Reference can be obtained via email (unfpa.cmb@unfpa.org) or UNFPA Website (http://countryofce.unfpa.org/cambodia). Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. UNFPA retains the right to contact referees directly.

There is no application, processing or other fee at any stage of the application process. UNFPA does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS and does not

discriminate on the basis of HIV status.

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Vacancy Announcement Number: 14/GS/HRMS/11

Functional Title and Grade: Human Resources Assistant (G-6)

Department/Service: Human Resources Management Section, UNAKRT

Remuneration: Starting from US$ 14,768.00 net per annum depending on relevant background and experience.

Number of Positions: One

Duration: The initial appointment will be for a period of one year; with a possible extension. Filling of the post and subsequent extension, is subject to approval and availability of funds

Deadline for Applications: 11 April 2014

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

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

Sochua vows daily protestContinued from page 1

said had anticipated her arrival.i announced it . . . so they

knew i was coming, she said.about 100 members of the

security forces gathered in Freedom park yesterday morn-ing for training.

Sochua said that each day she goes to the park she will address a different rights issue. [Yester-day], i spoke about what Free-dom park means, and [today] i will speak about the rights of a citizen under arrest.

While she was not physically harmed, an assault like that [being forcibly removed] is similar to an injury, she said.

The CNrp member was keen to point out that even though party staff and supporters were at the scene, she has launched this campaign as a citizen of Cambodia, not as a member of a political party.

This is nothing to do with the CNrp; they didnt know i was doing this until now, she said. i told the youth not to come to my rescue, but just to [docu-ment] what was happening on their phones.

and, in stark contrast to the mass marches organised by her party, Sochua is calling on all

Cambodians to join her by tak-ing their own solo stand against the Freedom park lockdown.

i will call on other people to walk through Freedom park as individuals as i have, she said.

CNrp leader Sam rainsy said yesterday that even though this is not an official party cam-paign, he supports Sochua in her endeavours.

i accept what shes doing. i think it is good, he said.

its a public park and she is a

woman . . . [The security forces] are cowards.

Sochua yesterday called on prime Minister Hun Sen and Minister of interior Sar Kheng to reveal who is in charge of the black-helmeted security forc-es, who have been heavily involved in crackdowns and arrests in the past six months.

What is the role of these so-called security forces with the black helmets? They have a free ticket to kick, beat, assault and [to do so] brutally, she said.

But Ministry of interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the role of the forces spreads much further than blocking entry into the park.

The role of those security forces is shovelling the gardens in the park [as well as] serving the safety and public order in the park.

When asked who was in charge of the unit, Sopheak told the post they are unofficial forces of Daun penh District

Hall. They are not judicial police, he said.

Sopheak said yesterday that the park wasnt out of bounds.

at this time [5:30pm] at Free-dom park, people are playing football . . . [So] why was Mu Sochua banned by the security forces? . . . Maybe [she] mocked them in order to have a prob-lem with them.

But Sochua says she has not been deterred from her mis-sion. i will not resist, but i will stay as long as i can.

Filmmaker guilty in conflict with churchButh Reaksmey Kongkea

a pHNOM penh Mu-nicipal Court judge yesterday gave an australian filmmak-

er a wholly suspended two-year prison term after finding him guilty of threatening a Brisbane-based church doing work in Cambodia.

Judge Keo Mony also levied a six-million riel ($1,500) fine against 64-year-old James ricketson after he was con-victed of threatening to dis-honour the Citipointe Church by broadcasting accusations that the church sold children, Mony said.

after carefully considering the law, the court has found James ricketson guilty, Mony said. He has the right to ap-peal the courts decision.

in an email to the post, rick-etson said he went to court and spoke to a judge, who said he would set a new trial date. a post reporter at the hearing did not see ricketson there.

ricketsons case stems from a documentary about prosti-tution in Cambodia he began filming in 1993. at that time, he met a young girl working

as a garbage collector who be-came a prostitute. later in life, the woman gave birth to two children, whom she sent to live at a Citipointe shelter.

When ricketson recently tried to update his film, Citi-pointe refused to let him in-terview the girls, now 11 and 12, on camera, church attor-ney Kong rady said during the March 12 trial.

according to the church, ricketson then bribed the girls parents into asking Citipointe to return their children, but af-ter finding out why the parents asked for their children back, the church declined.

ricketson has tried to get two girls who are vulnerable

to human trafficking, whose mother was a victim . . . out of our shelter in order to con-tinue making a film . . . for his personal benefit, part of Citi-pointes complaint reads.

When the church did not re-turn the children, judge Mony said, ricketson threatened to broadcast allegations that Citi-pointe sold children abroad.

in an open letter to Citi-pointe pastors leigh ramsey and Brian Mulheran posted on his blog on Tuesday, ricketson said he wasnt served with a court summons. But Mony said that when police attempted to serve a summons, ricketson refused to accept it and threw a bowl at them.

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

Sl protesters appeal for bailKim Sarom

TWO suspects arrested during a deadly garment-worker demonstration in November appealed for bail at the Supreme Court yesterday.

Vann Ny and Vann Norn have been detained since an intended march of striking Sl Garment factory workers devolved into a riot on Novem-ber 12, at which participants burned police vehi-cles and trapped police in a pagoda building until police opened fire on the crowd with live ammu-nition, killing a food vendor.

if they burned the car, why would they walk into a crowd of police? defence attorney Serey-vuth Chakrya asked in court.

a third suspect was previously granted bail on

December 25. The men worked at a construction site near the Stung Meanchey Bridge, where a police blockade stopping the group from march-ing to prime Minister Hun Sens house sparked a clash, which led to violence, Chakrya said.

in court, Meanchey district deputy police chief Neb Vibo said he was knocked unconscious when a projectile from a slingshot hit him in the mouth.

He added that he finds union leaders more culpable for the violence than the suspects.

The demonstration did not occur because of individual workers, but the union leaders escaped when we cracked down, Vibo said.

a decision will be handed down on april 25.

I told the youth not to come to my rescue, but just to

[document] what was happening on their phones

National3THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

Fatal shooting did nothappen, Thailand saysAlice Cuddy

WHilE Cambodian officials say the Thais have not respond-ed to a request for an inquiry into the shooting death of a man they say illegally crossed the border, Thailand is denying the incident even occurred.

Cambodias Ministry of For-eign affairs last month called for an investigation into the shooting, which allegedly took place on March 18. in the min-istrys telling, Thai authorities opened fire on nine Cambodi-ans who ventured across the border to log. One of them, Van Vouch, 38, was killed.

The ministry summoned Thai ambassador to Cambo-dia, Touchayoot pakdi to col-lect a diplomatic note detailing its calls for an investigation.

in an email to the post on Tuesday, Kobboon Sangmanee, first secretary at the Thai Min-istry of Foreign affairs Depart-ment of information, said it was confirmed that there were no casualties of Cambodian nationals as alleged.

The Department of Border affairs has already verified the alleged incident with the Thai-Cambodian Coordination Office, and [it] has been con-firmed that no Thai officials

had encountered any illegal logging activities on the said date, time, and place.

Hence, there are no casual-ties of Cambodian nationals from the said incident unless they smuggled into Thai terri-tory, he said, explaining that if illegal logging did occur that day it had gone unnoticed by the Thai government.

The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign affairs said on Tuesday that it had heard nothing of Thailands denials.

Foreign Ministry Koy Kuong said Cambodia had not yet received an answer to the dip-lomatic note, adding that Cam-bodia is still seeking a thorough investigation into the shooting and punishment for the per-son responsible.

Touchayoot, the Thai ambas-sador, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The alleged fatal shooting of Vouch was one of four inci-dents reported last month in which Cambodians were alleg-edly shot at in Thai territory. in two cases, one on March 5 and one on March 12, Cambodian military officials claimed Thai soldiers killed a total of 15 ille-gal loggers. Thai authorities denied the claims. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA

intervention urged for damLaignee Barron and Phak Seangly

iN aNTiCipaTiON of a regional sum-mit this weekend, government of-ficials and civil society have their sights locked on a controversial hy-

dropower development just across the Cambodian border in laos.

NGO Forum submitted an open letter yesterday urging prime Minister Hun Sen to confront laos about its Don Sahong hy-dropower project, which environmental-ists have described as a potential disaster for the Mekongs biodiversity and the food security the river provides to millions.

The letter contains more than 400 thumbprints collected during a march against the dam last weekend.

We hope these thumbprints motivate the leader, as they are the evidence of di-rect victims from this dam, Tek Vannara, executive director of NGO Forum, said.

The last-minute plea for action comes just days before the 2nd Summit of the Mekong river Commission in Ho Chi Minh City, where prime ministers from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and laos are expected to discuss transboundary cooperation and sustainable develop-ment in the lower Mekong Basin.

Since the first summit in 2010, conser-vationists have expressed concern that it and the regional cooperation it purport-edly assists is on the verge of collapse, with laos unilaterally going ahead with work on the first two mainstream hydro-power dams, Don Sahong and Xayaburi.

rather than taking steps forward in the sustainable management of the Mekong

river, we have taken a leap backwards, leaving the region at even greater risk, pianporn Deetes, Thailand campaigns coordinator for international rivers, said in a statement released yesterday.

preceding Saturdays summit, the com-mission is hosting a conference dur-ing which the Cambodian delegation is expected to stage an intervention and demand the Don Sahong project be rede-signed with downstream impact in mind, according to Conservation international.

Such a move by the delegation is urged by international groups that hope gov-

ernment leaders will agree to postpone mainstream projects during the summit.

it is critical that Mekong leaders . . . issue a declaration condemning dams on the Mekong mainstream, international riv-ers Southeast asia coordinator ame Tran-dem said. if the summit becomes nothing more than a public relations exercise at the expense of the millions of people in the Mekong region who depend on the river, the international community must work with leaders to find a new platform for regional cooperation and improved deci-sion-making on the mainstream dams.

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

National4 THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

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

Ministry issues storm warningKhoun Leakhana

iN THE wake of two deaths from separate lightning strikes this week, the Ministry of Water resources and Meteorology issued a notice yesterday warn-ing against potentially devas-tating storms lasting from today until Sunday.

a father was killed and his son hospitalised in Kampong Cham province on Tuesday after lightning hit them, and authorities in pailins Stung

Treng commune yesterday went from house to house rais-ing awareness about storm safety after a lightning strike killed one person and ensuing rains destroyed 21 houses.

lightning strikes have so far this year killed at least three peo-ple and severely injured four.

For the next several days, Cambodia will be affected by low-pressure weather, causing vast thunderstorms and rains in many parts of the country, most likely in the afternoon,

according to the ministry. Offi-cials advised local authorities to strengthen education cam-paigns in endangered areas, said Keo Vy, chief of cabinet of the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Storms and lightning strikes are natural disasters, so we can-not prevent them, but . . . we have gone to investigate the scenes [and] protect people by educating them, Vy said, add-ing that the number of lightning strikes is up from 2013.

Union bosses grilledMom Kunthear

a pHNOM penh mu-nicipal judge ques-tioned Coalition of Cambodian apparel

Workers Democratic Union (C.CaWDU) president ath Thorn, vice president Kong athit and secretary-general Ek Sopheakdey for about five hours yesterday regarding a complaint from 30 C.CaWDU members at the E Garment factory alleging the three stole $93,000 in back wages.

afterwards, one of the union leaders threatened a counter-suit against former members believed to be behind the em-bezzlement accusations.

The workers sued us, de-spite the fact that we paid all their money, because they were provoked by [former C.CaWDU members] Um Visal and roeun Chanthorn, athit said as he left the court-room yesterday afternoon. i think [Visal and Chanthorn] wish to damage my reputation and C.CaWDUs reputation.

Thorn and others in C.CaWDUs leadership say Visal a founding member and Chanthorn voluntarily left after they declined to re-sign their employment contracts. But Visal says they were fired

for raising allegations that Thorn, athit and Sopheakdey pocketed part of a settlement they reached with E Garment to rehire 30 workers with 46 months back pay.

although he provided as-sistance to the workers who filed the complaint, Visal said, it was the plaintiffs in the case who wanted to sue.

i never forced or told the workers to file the complaint, they asked for my help, Visal said yesterday. i just prepared the documents for them.

C.CaWDU has not taken legal action against Visal and Chanthorn, but Thorn yester-day said that the union will sue

them for defamation if they continue their allegations.

i do not want to make a larger dispute with them or the workers, but if they continue to damage our individual rep-utations and the reputation of C.CaWDU without reason, we will sue, Thorn said.

in turn, Visal said he will file another lawsuit once the current one levied against C.CaWDU leaders is resolved.

i want the court to take ac-tion for the workers, Visal said. i will sue them for corruption within the institution.

The court did not make a decision on whether it would pursue the complaint.

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

Weak and dizzy

Insecticide use blamed for faintings

NEARLY 100 garment workers employed by the New Wide garment factory in Phnom Penhs Dangkor district have fainted since Tuesday evening after company representatives allegedly sprayed insecticide throughout the factory, a local official and a worker said.

Workers are likely fainting from the potent combination of pesticide fumes and poor ventilation, according to district governor Hem Darith.

About 50 fainted on Tuesday evening and [more than 37] Wednesday morning, Darith said, adding that the sick had been sent to recover at Visak Sok and Independence clinic.

We smelled the chemicals the factory sprayed to kill insects and then we felt weak and dizzy, So Chan, a 26-year-old factory worker, said.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, about 61 workers employed at a garment factory owned by Shenzhou Inter-national, located in the same district, allegedly fell ill after eating a factory-funded Khmer New Year feast. Factory officials could not be reached. SEN DAVID

National5THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

Khouth Sophak Chakrya

THrEE people suspected of illegally copying music and movies were detained in a raid in phnom penhs por Sen Chey district yesterday, police said.

Mam Hor, police chief of Choam Chao commune, who joined the operation yester-day, said that the raided house was being used in a DVD pi-racy operation. Three suspects were arrested, he added

police confiscated eight boxes of CDs, 24 CD burning devices, two TVs, five com-puters and seven printers, ac-cording to the police report.

long Sreng, deputy director of the interior Ministrys anti-economic crime department, said that the three suspects were brought to his office and will be questioned today and then sent to court.

On March 24, 15 vendors at phnom penhs russian Mar-ket and City Mall reportedly joined a pact to stop selling bootleg DVDs.

Yesterdays raid comes on the heels of illegal DVD sale crackdown supported by the Motion picture association of Cambodia.

Copyright raid leads to arrests

Eco groups slam areng damDaniel Pye

TWO major conservation groups yesterday said that the pro-posed Stung Cheay areng dam in Koh Kong province should be

scrapped, while protesters who have blocked developer Sinohydro Group from entering the site for several days headed to phnom penh to voice their concerns and discontent.

Conservation international (Ci) and Flora and Fauna international yesterday released separate statements to Sawac Consultants for Development, a firm contracted by Sinohydro to carry out an environmental impact assessment for the project.

Based on the negative impacts . . . we recommend that the dam project should not proceed in this ecologically sensitive area, FFi said in its report.

The sentiments were echoed by Ci.as a result of the high impacts and low

economic potential of the areng dam, Ci advises both [Sawac] and the Ministry of Environment not to approve the con-struction of a dam in the areng Valley by Sinohydro or any other company.

in February, the previous concession holder for the project, China Guodian, said in its annual report that it had backed out because the dam made no financial sense.

Both of the groups outlined their objec-tions to the project, which ranged from possible breaches of the international Convention on Biological Diversity, to which Cambodia is a signatory, to threats

to people and endangered wildlife caused by relocation and construction.

Ci official Toby Eastoe said yesterday that if Sinohydro and the government insist on the development, payments the firm is legally bound to make for environ-mental protection should be transpar-ent, adding that a similar Eia conducted by Sawac had recommended such pay-ments, but none had materialised.

The atay dam has been operational since last June and only NGOs and their donors have been supporting govern-ment protection, he added.

Um Sereyvuth, director of the Sawac Eia team, said yesterday that Koh Kongs provincial governor had told them to wait

before trying to access the area again fol-lowing a blockade of the road by locals.

They say not yet, not yet, i dont know if we can go soon. i have written back to the Ministry of Environment telling them about the problem, he said.

While about 20 villagers continued yes-terday to man the road into the proposed dam site to block Sinohydro from bring-ing in drilling and prospecting equip-ment, six ethnic Chorng representatives are due to arrive in phnom penh today to petition the ministries of mines and en-ergy, environment and culture.

Well not stop until we have an accept-able solution, said Veng Vorn, one of the six. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PHAK SEANGLY

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

Continued from page 1

a political issue, but absolute cooperation on a humanitarian issue.

I am honoured to be at the repatriation ceremony of the remains of these possible Americans missing in Cambo-dia, he said. Today marks another day of achievement for the joint Cambodian-American humanitarian mis-sion accounting for Americans missing in Cambodia.

Questions about the proce-dure for locating missing remains were referred to JPAC headquarters, which had not responded as of press time. However, military police spokesman Kheng Tito said yesterday that he used to accompany JPAC search oper-ations in Cambodia, and said that such searches were usu-ally US-led, with Cambodian partners providing security and support.

The US conducted an inves-tigation of the site from their own information, and docu-mented it, and went down to interview possible witnesses, he said.

They spent a lot of time; they spent a lot of money.

US military involvement in Cambodia began in the late 1960s with an extensive bomb-

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

That air support was ulti-mately discontinued, and the

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

something of a dark spot on JPACs record of recovering missing Americans.

A 2011 memo from forensic anthropologist Jay Silverstein to the JPAC maintained there had been a pattern of malfeasance of duty and abuse of scientific ethics in previous efforts to recover remains from Koh Tang, including the failure to keep records of the excavations.

JPAC was also unable to com-ment on whether efforts to recover the bodies from Koh Tang which was recently leased to a Russian developer were ongoing.

Security specialist John Mull-er, himself a former US special forces member and command-er of the local Veterans of For-eign Wars post which is named after the Mayaguez said that he planned to make an informal trip to the island in the coming months.

This year, I plan to hire a boat from the navy, which they did several years ago, and to bring some of us out to conduct a search, or at least give some reverence, he said. But in terms of going out there with a shovel and a sieve, the US gov-ernment, that has to all be done through them.

Waterlogged

Smugglers boats sink intimber chase

SMUGGLERS sank two boats filled with illegally logged rosewood into Koh Kongs Sre Ambel River as they shook off pursuing rang-ers from Wildlife Alliance on March 22, the NGO has said.

An anonymous informant ti-pped off rangers in Sre Ambel district to the boats, allegedly filled with timber cut from the Southern Cardamom rainfo-rest and bound for Vietnam.

Not only had the loggers escaped, but they also sank their boats to the bottom of the river, a statement pu-blished on Wildlife Alliances website says. It took 36 hours of diving [in]to 46 feet [deep water] to recover the 18 cubic meters of timber from the bottom of the river.

And while the team of rangers has recovered about $13,000 worth of luxury tim-ber, only one of the boats has so far been recovered, an NGO employee not authorised to speak with the press said.

At least five smugglers were sighted on the boats before they escaped, the source added.

This operation was led by Wildlife Alliance rangers, the official said.

Major Sieng Um, a military police official stationed in the area, said yesterday that he was unaware of the chase.

I sometimes work with Wil-dlife Alliance related to these matters, but I have not heard about this incident, he said. I will investigate this matter next week.

Two Koh Kong police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday confir-med the incident took place on March 22, but declined to provide further details. AmeliA Woodside And PhAk seAngly

National6 THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

poliCeblotterWine bottle makes fine percussion instrumentAs iF the pain of hearing a bunch of thugs sing karaoke wasnt enough, a security guard at an entertainment venue in Poipet also had to endure the pain of them cracking a wine bottle across his skull on Tues-day. nine men, drunk and angry that a hostess was refusing to drink with them, began raising their voices and stomping their feet. When the guard inter-vened, they beat him up and threw the bottle at his head. For four of them, it proved a swan-song, with police soon arriving to arrest them. deUm AmPil

Partygoers find return home no honeymoonhAVing something burgled was something new for a fam-ily who went to a wedding in kandal provinces saang dis-trict on Tuesday. Upon return-ing home, the family found their house ransacked and a phone, a laptop, jewellery and cash gone. Those responsible did little to cover their tracks and were arrested the next day trying to sell the computer for a too-good-to-be-true price. That they would get away with it was also too good to be true. kAmPUcheA Thmey

Burgled buffaloes baffle, but only for a bit While buffalo are known to buffalo fellow buffalo, in kam-pong cham, burglars buffalo buffalo owners. This was the case last week when seven buffaloes were stolen from a house in the provincial town, bamboozling and angering their owner. said owner put in a complaint to the police, who were able to track down the buffalo in time to intercept three men trying to offload them to an unsuspecting buy-er. The men confessed to the crime and the seven animals were returned. koh sAnTePheAP

Lending naivety index still trending upward The steal-your-friends-mo-torbike crime wave continues. A 27-year-old man was hauled in after making off with his buddys bike in kandal province on Tuesday. Police in Phnom Penh were alerted to the mans attempts at selling the moto with the incorrect paperwork. After questioning, officers nudged a confession out of him and the man was sent back to his home prov-ince to face charges. kAm-PUcheA Thmey

Purse purloiners made short work of in K ChamTWo men will be wondering whether it was worth stealing one purse in kampong cham town on monday. The pair, 24 and 28, cruised past a woman on a motorbike in a busy part of the town, snatching her purse out of her hand. Far from being the end of the mat-ter, however, the two men were chased by nearby police who regularly patrol the area and were arrested. They have been sent to court. deUm AmPil

translated by Sen David

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

Cheats to face existing lawsChhay Channyda and laignee barron

IF THE stakes for Cam-bodias grade 12 national exam werent high enough already, any irregularities

this year could result in auto-matic failure, school expulsion and potential legal action, of-ficials said yesterday.

The punishments arent new they were compiled in a 2011 education procedural policy but the Ministry of Educations commitment to enforcing the measures with the help of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) is certainly unprecedented.

Were not reinventing the

law, but instead better enforc-ing the policies and evaluating all recourse available, Edu-cation Minister Hang Chuon Naron said.

The ACU delineates on its website how cheating will be dealt with, including immedi-ate failure and a two-year test-taking ban for bringing mobile phones into the exam centre, taking the exam for someone else or failing to follow the proctors instructions.

The examination period will also be shortened this year to avoid overwhelming students.

The number of subjects will be reduced from the previous 10 subjects over two days,

Naron said. Were going to have six or seven subjects this year so students can focus on the most important material.

The ACU yesterday also posted downloadable applica-tions for individuals and civil society groups to volunteer as exam monitors.

Any monitors, exam proc-tors or education officials found supporting exam cor-ruption will face legal action and possible jail time.

The observers duty is to report irregularities to us, and we will prepare legal docu-ment and send lawbreakers to court, ACU president Om Yentieng said.

Yentieng and the education minister yesterday both said jail time for cheating test takers wasnt off the table for students considered legal adults, ages 16 and up, a measure condemned by some educators.

I appreciate the steps taken by the ACU and ministry to prevent exam corruption, but jailing students is too severe, said Chin Chanveasna, execu-tive director of the NGO Edu-cation Partnership. It is nec-essary to adequately address [cheating] and show the real capacity of the students, and ensure the students are learn-ing and studying hard from the beginning.

Remains of US soldiers going home

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

Philip Heijmans

SURGING credit growth in the banking sector, rising investments and continued economic

reform last year resulted in economic growth of 7.5 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) for the 2013 fiscal year, according to the Asian Devel-opment Bank (ADB).

In its annual Asian Devel-opment Outlook report, the ADB highlighted a 59.5 per cent increase in capital goods imports to $5.8 billion last year, as well as resurgence for the agriculture sector, af-ter being hit by flooding the year before.

Business confidence has markedly improved in recent years, as reflected in a rapid increase in new business reg-istrations, which exceeded 5,000 in the 10 months to Jan-uary 2013, more than in the whole of the previous fiscal year, the report states.

The ADB report said pri-vate sector credit maintained a rapid growth at 46 per cent for the last fiscal year.

In the oil and gas sectors, the ADB also pointed to a 68.8 per cent increase in nat-ural gas exports to 7.7 trillion cubic feet in the 12 months to September 2013, with the Shwe and Zawtika gas fields starting production.

Last years economic growth exceeds prior outlooks by the World Bank and ADB, both of which revised growth up to 6.8 per cent in October.

As a result of high GDP

growth last year and the pros-pect of continued reforms and investment from abroad, growth is expected to in-crease a further 7.8 per cent for the 2014 fiscal year, the ADB stated.

A number of develop-ments last year contributed to raising Myanmars inter-national profile as an invest-ment destination, including the award of telecommuni-

cations licences to Norways Telenor and Qatars Ooredoo, [and a] selection of investors . . . as preferred bidders for developing airports, the re-port states.

It added that Myanmar will also benefit from relaxing im-port restrictions and foreign exchange controls.

With economic growth however comes risk, as infla-tion is expected to continue

climbing from an average of 5.8 per cent last year to 6.6 per cent in 2014 and 6.9 per cent in 2015.

Factors contributing to inflation include a boost to public sector wages, higher electricity tariffs, and rising property prices in cities, the report said.

With only 28 per cent of the population currently with ac-cess to electricity, the ADB

suggests that the electrifica-tion of the country could pose a serious threat to growth if it is not addressed.

Meeting the energy chal-lenge will play a major role in poverty reduction and stimu-lating regional development. In addition, improved power supply to all ethnic groups will contribute to the peace dividend, the report states. THE MYANMAR TIMES

7THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIL 3, 2014

Business

Myanmar GDP surges: ADB

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

USD / JPY

102.84

USD / SGD

1.2586

USD /CNY

6.2181

USD / HKD

7.7575

USD / THB

32.38

AUD / USD

0.9247

NZD / USD

0.8661

EUR / USD

1.375

GBP / USD

1.663

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

USD / KHR

4,000

JOB ANNOUNCEMENTGL FINANCE PLC. is a subsidiary of the leading leasing company in Thailand Group Lease PCL., quoted on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. GL Finance is the rst nancial leasing service in Cambodia since 2012, and provides nancing on motorcycles and agricultural machinery through partnerships with industry leaders (Honda, Kubota).

GL Finance covers the entire territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and is facing a number of challenges in its fast pace growth.

We are now seeking qualied and passionate individuals to support our expansion.Position : Sales Supervisor

Location : Head Ofce, Phnom Penh Salary : 400$ - 700$ depending on qualications1. RESPONSIBILITIES:

Visit, control and improve sales forces efciency on the eld (nationwide) Evaluate and improve on-site marketing in each point of sales Insure a satisfying relationship between GL Finance and its commercial partners Recommend appropriate communication / advertising channels for each province Maintain an updated benchmark of GL Finances market Provide continuous leadership, supervision, training and development of operation staff ensuring an effective and motivated team.

2. REQUIREMENTS:

Experienced candidates are preferred; outstanding unexperienced candidates will be consideredInterest in marketing and creative personality, market analysis skills, leadership Very good Khmer and English expression Very frequent trip to province Ability to work in a multicultural environment

More detail please contact GL Finance HR and Admin Department:Tel: 066 669 327/ 098 505 559/ 097 500 5559E-mail Address: hr@gl-f.comWebsite: www.gl-f.com

GL Finance PLC

Beer poised to earn big during New Year seasonHor Kimsay

GROCERY and beer sales are expected to spike during April as Khmer New Year prepara-tions ramp up, retail industry officials said yesterday.

Hy Ramy, managing director of HRM (Cambodia) Group, a food and beverage distribution company specialising in canned foods, condiments and beverages, said he expects sales to increase 20 to 30 per cent during April.

Beer sales are expected to double during the three-day holiday and contribute most of the months estimated spend-ing increase, he said.

Many distribution depots are preparing to supply mostly beer because the demand of other goods has not increased much, he said.

Despite predictions that sales will be down 20 per cent from those during Chinese New Year festivities in January, Ramy said Khmer New Year is still a major money earner for companies.

Sov Sokny, sales and market-ing representative for Cam-brew, a major producer of Ang-kor brand beer, said sales volumes had increased stead-ily each year during the Khmer New Year period. On average, Sokhy said he sells about 400,000 boxes of beer per month in Phnom Penh alone. This month, he said he expects to sell 600,000 boxes.

Business8 THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

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

Chinese dot-coms rush for listing in US

laWYErS for apple and Samsung exchanged barbs as a major new pat-ent trial opened on Tuesday, debating the role of a company not even part of the case Google.

apples legal team vowed to prove that Samsung flagrantly copied iphone features and should pay more than $2 billion in damages, as the two smart-phone giants squared off anew in a California courtroom.

apple attorney Harold McElhinny opened his presentation with a video showing legendary apple co-founder Steve Jobs introducing the first iphone in 2007.

By putting computing power in smartphones powered by fun software and easy-to-use touch-screens, apple transformed the market, sending Sam-sung onto its heels, McElhinny said.

The attorney told jurors in his open-ing statement that they would see internal Samsung documents and messages showing that the company felt it was suffering a crisis of design with the difference between its devic-

es and the smartphone a difference between Heaven and Earth.

apple said evidence will show that the South Korean electronics giant sold more than 37 million infringing smartphones and tablets in the Unit-

ed States. California-based apple would have demanded royalties of about $40 per device to license the patented technology to Samsung, according to McElhinny.

The overall amount being sought by

apple in damages from Samsung will top $2 billion, the lawyer explained.

This case is not about Google, McElhinny told jurors. it is Samsung, not Google, that chose to put these features into its phones.

But Samsungs lawyer told the jurors in the San Jose, California, court that the case was indeed about Google, and apples struggle against the mak-er of the android operating system which is now winning in the global marketplace.

its an attack on android, that is what this case is, attorney John Quinn said. apple is trying to limit consum-er choice and gain an unfair advan-tage over Googles android.

Quinn contended that four of the five patents at issue in the trial are not used in apple mobile devices, but because of features built into android software by Google engineers litiga-tion was pursued.

He promised jurors that Google engineers would be called to testify to how they independently designed

android software and did not copy from apple.

Samsung is the worlds leading mak-er of smartphones and tablets built using Googles free android mobile operating system. android smart-phones dominate the global market, particularly in devices offered for lower prices than iphones.

apple is an amazingly innovative company, but in some respects, Goog-les android has passed them, Quinn said. apple is trying to gain from you in this courtroom what it has lost in the marketplace.

in august 2012, a separate jury in the same court decided that Samsung should pay apple $1.05 billion in dam-ages for illegally copying iphone and ipad features, in one of the biggest pat-ent cases in decades. The damage award was later trimmed to $929 mil-lion and is being appealed.

if this new trial goes in apples favour, it could result in an even bigger award as it involves better-selling devices, such as the Galaxy S3. afp

SKY-HiGH valuations mixed with murky corporate struc-tures often scare off investors. Thats less so if the companies are from China.

From microblogging site Weibo Corp to real-estate web-site leju Holdings ltd, China-based companies have announced more than $2.5 bil-lion of US initial public offer-ings in 2014, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Thats the most since the fourth quarter of 2007, when Chinese stocks in the US peaked before losing almost two-thirds of their val-

ue. The rush isnt slowing soon. alibaba Group Holding ltd is preparing to file this month for the biggest ipO since at least 2012.

investors, who have been rewarded with an average 88 per cent gain for buying Chi-nese ipOs last year, are taking risks that would make many stock buyers wary: The compa-nies are approaching the US market with valuations that are as much as 10 times higher than their american counter-parts. Many use a legal struc-ture thats raised concerns

among regulators, and have accounting practices that dont always line up with those in the US. By poking holes both areas, short sellers have been able to trigger losses.

people get starry-eyed about the billion-plus consumers in China, said Carter Mack, pres-ident of JMp Group in., a San Francisco-based investment bank. But these companies still have a long way to go with corporate governance and legal structures. investors have to do the extra work to understand the businesses.

One factor that bullish inves-tors may be overlooking is that companies use a legal struc-ture known as variable inter-est entity, or ViE, that is intended to circumvent the Chinese governments restric-tion on foreign ownership of key industries. alibaba, e-com-merce site JD.com and Weibo are expected to sell shares using this structure, which gives overseas investors the gains and losses of the busi-ness through contracts rather than direct ownership.

US and Hong Kong stock

market regulators have raised concerns these contracts may not hold up in court.

Managers of Chinese compa-nies are also taking uncommon steps to retain control over their businesses.

at JD.com, chairman and chief executive officer richard Qiangdong liu must be present before any voting can take place regarding such matters as electing directors and approving transactions. By skipping such sessions, liu could effectively veto any pro-posal. bloomberg

CHiNa may exempt elec-tric-car buyers from paying purchase taxes as part of ex-panded state measures to bol-ster sales after past incentives failed to spur demand, Vice premier Ma Kai said.

The government may cut or waive the 10 per cent auto-purchase tax for new-energy vehicles Chinas term for electric cars, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles and slow down the reduction of government subsidies beyond 2015, according to comments from Kai posted on Chinaev.org. Ma also urged local gov-ernments to help firms devel-op electric-car rental services.

Shares of BYD Co, Chinas biggest maker of electric cars, rose in Hong Kong trading amid mounting signs the gov-ernment is stepping up efforts to fight the thickening pollu-tion thats choking its people. last month, premier li Keq-iang declared war on smog and Hangzhou became the sixth Chinese city to impose restrictions on cars.

New-energy vehicles are important for Chinas energy dependency, so the govern-ment will devote more resourc-es into promoting them, Har-ry Chen, a Shenzhen-based analyst with Guotai Junan Securities Co, said. reducing or exempting the purchase tax will certainly give buyers more reason to buy such cars as its quite a lot of money.

Five years after China began promoting new-energy vehi-cles, fewer than 70,000 are on its roads, lagging behind the central governments target of reaching 500,000 by 2015. Ma blamed the wavering commit-ment of local authorities and slow pace of building charging stations. Such vehicles carry grave importance for Chinas energy dependency, air pol-lution and local auto industry, he said. bloomberg

incentives may be on cards for China EVs

VW seeking first Thai plantE

UrOpES largest au-tomaker, Volkswa-gen aG, has applied to set up its first car

plant in Thailand to help nar-row the gap with Toyota Mo-tor Corp in Southeast asia, people familiar with the mat-ter said.

The Wolfsburg, Germa-ny-based manufacturer is seeking to participate in a government program that offers tax exemptions for au-tomakers investing at least 6.5 billion baht ($200 mil-lion) in local manufacturing, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because a final decision had not yet been made.

annual production must reach at least 100,000 cars in the fourth year after starting operations, and manufactur-ing must begin by 2019, in or-der to receive the incentives. The program from the indus-try Ministry includes vehicle assembly, components and engine production. Car mak-ers had until March 31 to ap-ply, according to a ministry statement from last October.

VW has always been one of the manufacturers trying to position itself globally, Juer-gen pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Bankhaus Metzler,

said by phone. Current sales volumes in Southeast asia are much smaller than in China or the US, but its one of the regions where Japanese carmakers are significantly ahead of VW, so theres room for growth.

The car maker anticipates industry-wide sales will in-crease on average 4.5 per cent annually through 2018 in the region comprising in-donesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the philippines and some smaller countries in the area. VW started assembling passat sedans in Malaysia with local automaker DrB-Hicom Bhd in 2012.

VW sees a strong market opportunity in Southeast asia, chief financial officer Hans Dieter poetsch said in a presentation published on the companys website last week.

Volkswagen hasnt made a final decision yet on produc-ing vehicles in Thailand as the exact terms and condi-tions may still change, the people said. VW declined to comment on any plans it has for the country.

Chief executive officer Martin Winterkorn said last month that the auto maker may sell more than 10 million

vehicles worldwide in 2014, four years earlier than ini-tially planned, as VW seeks to overtake Toyota as the indus-try leader by 2018.

VW delivered 9.73 million vehicles in 2013 as a boost

in Chinese demand helped it surpass General Motors to become the worlds second-biggest carmaker.

VW, which also owns the audi and porsche premium marques and Seat and Skoda

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

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

Share price performance of Apple and Samsung

Samsung

Apple

*$ = 1,057 South Korean won

2007 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

2007 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

Sep 17700

Apr 1541.65

Apr 11,350

Mar 3$122.25

Oct 10422Jan 25

192.06Mar 285.30

Apr 15390

Thousand won*

Jan 8600

Unveiled its first iPhone in Jan 2007

Oct 20407 Aug 15680

Feb 221,544

Jan 11842

Released its first Samsung Galaxy in June 2009

Apple15.3

Smartphoneunits shipment

%, 2013

Samsung31.3

Market share worldwide

Battle of two smartphone giants

Source: YahooFinance/IDC

Android(Used on Samsung phonesand others)78.6%

iOS(Exclusiveto Apple)

15.2

Windows Phone3.3Blackberry1.9

Others1

Operating systems%, 2013

Others39.3

Huawei4.9

LG4.8

Lenovo4.5

MARY Barra, the embattled chief exec-utive of General Motors, appeared before Congress on Tuesday replete with apologies but offering few explana-tions for the car giants years-long fail-ure to fix an ignition-switch defect which is linked to 13 deaths.

With the pictures of victims pinned to the back wall of the committee room, Barra promised to find out why the company had been so slow to issue a recall that now covers 2.6 million vehi-cles, despite first learning about the problems 10 years ago.

Barra, a company veteran who has been portrayed as the face of a new GM, leading the firm out of bankrupt-cy into a new era of success, once again apologised to the families of the victims, promised to find out what went wrong and despite her years at the heart of the business sought to distance herself personally from the scandal.

Before the crisis hit the company this

year, GM was hailed as the success sto-ry in Barack Obamas attempts to rescue the American economy from debt-in-duced disaster. That reputation has taken a serious knock. This year, taking into account defects connected to and separate from the problem with ignition switches that was the focus of Tuesdays hearing, GM has recalled nearly 7 mil-lion vehicles almost as many cars and trucks as it recalled in the US over the last four years combined.

Barras appearance before the committee represented an attempt to demonstrate its determination to find out what went wrong, but her fail-ure to give any substantive answers irritated members of Congress, who dismissed her comments as gobblede-gook and unacceptable.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette held up a defective switch demonstrating that a car could easily be turned off if jiggled by a heavy keyring or knocked

by a knee. She said the fix would have cost 57 cents per car.

I just want to show how easy it is to turn this key in this switch, DeGette said. The switch was especially a prob-lem for short driver whose knees were more likely to contact the ignition, and for people who had heavy keychains or mum keychains, like me, she said.

Barra avoided questions about wheth-er GM would take responsibility for the deaths. GM emerged from bankruptcy in 2008 and is technically a new com-pany, and therefore not liable for law-suits related to deaths before then. She announced that GM had hired Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who specialises in restitution payments in major disasters, including the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the BP oil spill, to look at the case.

Barra could not explain why GM con-tinued to use the ignition switch after it was determined not to meet GM speci-fications, and could not explain why,

when GM replaced the part, the com-pany did not assign it a new part number. the guardian

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abes bid to rid the economy of 15 years of defla-tion got a boost, as companies forecast sustained price gains.

The inflation rate will be 1.5 per cent in a years time and 1.7 per cent in three years and in five years, according to average forecasts in a Bank of Japan survey conducted from Febru-ary 24 to March 31 and released in Tokyo yesterday.

While the central bank may fall short of its target of a stable two per cent increase in its benchmark price gauge, the forecasts show Abe and BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are succeeding in fuelling inflation expectations. The data give the central bank another reason to hold off from any immediate additional monetary easing as it assesses the blow to eco-nomic growth from Tuesdays sales-tax increase.

The figures allow the BoJ to

say their policies are working pretty well and give them an excuse not to ease in the near future, said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief Japan econo-mist at Credit Suisse Group Ag in Tokyo and a former central bank official.

If the next few surveys show a clear upward tick in inflation expectations, the BoJ may have to start talking about a gradual tapering maybe even as soon as next year.

Japanese households see an inflation rate of three per cent in one year and two per cent in five years time, according to a separate survey released by the BoJ yesterday.

The corporate inflation report the first time the cen-tral bank asked companies for their price forecast as part of its quarterly Tankan survey is crucial in helping the BoJ judge policy, after unleashing unprecedented easing in April

last year, according to Masam-ichi Adachi, a senior economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co in Tokyo.

The odds of immediate addi-tional easing have receded, Adachi said in an emailed note after the company data, adding that JPMorgan would soon present a new call on BoJ poli-cy. The investment bank had expected further stimulus at the April 30 board meeting.

When the BoJ started its cur-rent easing campaign in April last year, it said it would aim to achieve stable two per cent inflation at the earliest possi-ble time, with a time horizon of about two years.

The target is based on core consumer prices, which dont include fresh food, and it excludes the possible effects of a sales-levy increase on Tues-day to eight per cent and a planned rise to 10 per cent in October next year. bloomberg

Markets9THE PHNOM PENH POST APRIl 3, 2014

Business

Philip Morris to stub out Australia factoryDavid Fickling

PHIlIP Morris Interna-tional Inc will close its Australian cigarette plant after six decades

and shift production to South Korea, saying government regulations on low fire-risk cigarettes crimped exports.

The closing of the Moorab-bin plant in southeast Mel-bourne will lead to about 180 job losses, about a quarter of its workforce in the nation, the New York-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Australia, where Philip Mor-ris established its first over-seas outpost in 1954, has seen its domestic cigarette market decline for a decade and ex-port opportunities havent materialised to make up the shortfall, it said.

Exporters of products from cars to aluminium have an-nounced job cuts and plant

closures in Australia this year as the strength of the currency and high production costs rendered local goods uncom-petitive internationally.

Australia has the worlds strictest regulations on ciga-rette packaging, mandating the use of uniform fonts and colouring and graphic images including cancer victims and gangrenous limbs.

Theyre reading the writ-ing on the wall that smok-ing in Australia is on the way out, Mike Daube, president of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, an anti-smoking group, said. Its a tremendous landmark.

The announcement comes as BP Plc said it would close its Bulwer Island refinery in Queensland by 2015, with the loss of about 355 jobs. At 5.83 per cent, Australias unemploy-ment rate is at its highest level since 2003, posing a challenge

for Prime Minister Tony Ab-bott, who won an election last September pledging to restore confidence in the economy.

Where is their agenda for jobs? opposition leader Bill Shorten said in a recent TV in-terview. Theyve got to have an agenda beyond just slogans.

Over the past decade, Aus-tralia has introduced bans on smoking in workplaces and raised tobacco taxes by about two-thirds, according to the Cancer Council Victoria, a health charity. Smoking rates have fallen at the same time, to 20 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women in 2011-12, from 27 per cent of men and 21 per cent of women in 2001, ac-cording to government data.

The most recent measures, introduced in 2012, require that images and health warn-ings cover 75 per cent of the front of packets, ban trade-marks, and mandate that the

products name should appear in a uniform lucida Sans font on a background of greenish-brown Pantone 448C hue.

New Zealand, the UK and Ireland have since proposed

laws to establish similar mea-sures, while a group of coun-tries led by Ukraine have brought a complaint to the World Trade Organization over the legislation. bloomberg

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

PIlOTS of German airline luf-thansa began a strike yesterday, forcing the carrier to cancel most of its flights for the next three days and grounding as many as 425,000 passengers.

The countrys biggest air-line has said it would cancel around 3,800 flights yester-day, today and tomorrow, as a result of the walkout by pilots who are demanding better pay and retirement conditions.

In addition to lufthansas passenger services, the strike, which began at midnight and will last until 11:59pm tomor-row night, will also affect the airlines Germanwings subsid-iary and its freight carrier.

lufthansa said it had told passengers about the flight changes and offered to rebook them onto other airlines.

The head of the pilots union Cockpit, Joerg Handwerg,

told the local daily Neue Pas-sauer Presse that the walkout was the only means to force management to compromise and was a direct consequence of the companys aggressive stance, which is seeking to extend pilots retirement age beyond 55 at present.

But the industrial action has angered many politicians, even in the government, with Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt complaining in a newspaper interview that ev-ery day of strike is impairing the mobility of hundreds of thousands of people.

The deputy head of the par-liamentary faction of the con-servative CDU party, Michael Fuchs, slammed the action as irresponsible.

There has also been criticism of the pilots from the centre-left Social Democrat party. afp

lufthansa pilots strike in retirement age fight

BoJ shows off rising inflation

General Motors CEO Mary Barra testifies before Congress in Washington. afp

Migraine market

Headache headband heads to US

A SMALL technology firm based in southern Belgium is set to take on the giant US market with its crowning achievement: an anti-migraine headband.

A product of years of medical and technological research, the device is a diadem fitted with electrodes designed to take the edge off migraines before they develop into acute blinding pain.

The band, developed by the Belgian company Cefaly Technology, is worn across the forehead, and sends electric currents to facial nerves.

The battery-powered hea-dband, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Ad-ministration in March, will be the first device with this design available in the United States.

According to Cefaly Techno-logys managing director Pier-re Rigaux, while the headband is already on the European market, the long-awaited FDA approval will open the way to a 25 per cent boost in sales over the next five years.

The device will hit the US market at a time when medi-cal experts are putting more trust in non-pharmaceutical responses to migraines. afp

BHP mulling $18 billion assets spin-off: reportsglobal mining giant bhp billiton is considering spinning-off its aluminium, bauxite and nickel assets into a single entity that would be worth about a$20 billion ($18.5 billion), reports said yesterday. the anglo-australian resources company wants to demerge non-core assets that are not providing adequate returns, as part of a streamlining process that will focus its portfolio on top-tier assets, the australian financial review reported. it said bhp would keep the lucrative operations that are central to its four pillars strategy iron ore, coal, petroleum and copper. and the australian newspaper reported that the resources giant was considering demerging all its non-core assets, rather than selling them off individually. afp

EU gives cable makers 300m anti-trust finethe european Commission yesterday fined 11 producers of high-voltage power cables a total of 300 million for operating a cartel that secretly shared out the global market. these companies knew very well that what they were doing was illegal. this is why they acted cautiously and with great secrecy, eu Competition Commissioner Joaquin almunia said. the eu said six european, three Japanese and two Korean firms that all make up the worlds biggest high-voltage cable producers of sharing markets and allocating customers between themselves. those involved were Japanese firms ViSCaS and JpS, nexans of france and italian firm prysmian, which was previously owned by investment bank goldman Sachs. afp

GM boss offers recall apology, few answers

Business10 THE PHNOM PENH POST april 3, 2014

Ten tips for starting a home businessHannah Martin

if you want to start a home-based business, there are a number of things you need to think about. To help you get off

to the best possible start, here are 10 of the most important to consider.

A company nameone of the first decisions youll need

to make is what to call your business. Do you want your name to describe what you do, what you stand for, who you are or to be more abstract? its also a good idea to check that your name hasnt already been taken.

A company structureWhen starting a business, you need

to decide what structure works best for you: sole trader, limited company or business partnership? This will have an impact on responsibilities such as what paperwork you need to complete and when.

Customersin order to make money from your

business, someone will need to buy your products or services. Market research is a vital step towards start-ing a successful business, so before you invest a riel in marketing mate-rials or equipment, make sure you know who will buy from you, what they want or need and how you can help them.

A price listonce you are clear about what

youre offering and to whom, you need to decide how much to charge. and this will largely depend on what the market rate is and what value people place on what you do.

So, once again its back to research to find out what similar businesses are charging. you also need to con-sider the quality of your offering are your products or services value or premium? and price accordingly.

Somewhere to worka very important part of start-

ing up a home business is finding somewhere that is comfortable and quiet to work. Clearing a space on the kitchen table among the morn-ings breakfast dishes is not going to set you up for a productive and inspiring day.

instead, find somewhere where you have space to spread out docu-ments if you need to, and where you arent faced with the distracting sight of piles of ironing or half-done Diy. if youre a sociable person, you may want to think about renting a co-working space once or twice a week, too.

EquipmentThe chances are, youll need some

equipment even if its just a com-puter and a phone, and perhaps a printer. So before you start, make a list of everything your business needs to operate, and ensure you have it and that its in good work-ing order (a pC dying on a deadline or losing irreplaceable files can be a very expensive problem). if you do need to purchase anything, remem-ber to keep the receipts to offset your expenses against tax.

A business bank accountits much easier especially when

it comes to working out your tax to keep your personal and business finances completely separate. you could opt for a second personal ac-count for your business if you wish, but if youre planning to expand your company at any point, or borrow money for it in the future, its worth starting out with a business account. you can also save money by using your company bank cards at trade-only suppliers.

An accountantTheres nothing to stop you han-

dling your finances yourself and completing your own tax return and company accounts, but an accoun-tant is often a wise business invest-ment. Not only will they save you hours of frustration and ensure that

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

Marketing materialsyou may have the best business in

the country, but if no one knows you exist, youll never make it a success. Marketing materials can be as sim-ple as business cards or fliers to post through peoples doors.

and while a website of some de-scription is a must for most busi-nesses today, if your finances are really tight, you can establish a web presence for free with a facebook company page. other social media platforms such as Twitter and pin-terest also offer the opportunity to reach out to new customers without investing anything more than time and effort.

PassionStarting your own business is an

amazing and rewarding experience its also the beginning of a journey thats likely to have its share of frus-trations, dead ends and late nights.

if youre going to make your busi-ness the success it deserves to be, you need to have the drive and self-belief to weather any storms. and sometimes the difference between business failure and suc-cess is simply the passion to see it through. the guardian

Young shoppers check out deals at a shop in central Phnom Penh in 2013. phong menea

Markets11the phnoM penh post april 3, 2014

Business

International commoditiesEnergy

Agriculture

Markets

800

875

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Thailand Vietnam

Singapore Malaysia

Hong Kong China

Japan Taiwan

Thai Set 50 Index, Apr 1

FTSE Straits Times Index, Apr 1 FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, Apr 1

Hang Seng Index, Apr 1 CSI 300 Index, Apr 1

Nikkei 225, Apr 1 Taiwan Taiex Index, Apr 1

Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Apr 1

14,946.32

2,180.7322,523.94

1,852.003,192.78

581.67950.66

8,905.45

1600

1725

1850

1975

2100

5500

5875

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6625

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South Korea Philippines

Laos Indonesia

India Pakistan

Australia New Zealand

KOSPI Index, Apr 1 PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, Apr 1

Laos Composite Index, Apr 1 Jakarta Composite Index, Apr 1

BSE Sensex 30 Index, Apr 1 Karachi 100 Index, Apr 1

S&P/ASX 200 Index, Apr 1 NZX 50 Index, Apr 1

5,403.30

27,936.2422,552.77

4,870.211,323.69

6,587.721,997.25

5,116.31

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. 99.69 -0.05 -0.05% 5:41:03

Crude Oil (Brent) USD/bbl. 105.52 -0.1 -0.09% 5:40:56

NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu 4.25 -0.03 -0.70% 5:40:00

RBOB Gasoline USd/gal. 286.67 -5.12 -1.75% 5:40:52

NYMEX Heating Oil USd/gal. 288.83 0.05 0.02% 5:38:45

ICE Gasoil USD/MT 886.25 -7.5 -0.84% 5:41:18

CommodIty UnIts PrICE ChAngE % ChAngE tImE(Et)

CBOT Rough Rice USD/cwt 15.69 0 0.00% 5:35:48

CME Lumber USD/tbf 343.7 2.7 0.79% 5:24:59

Uncertainty dogs Bush bazaar K

aBUl shopkeeper Haji Na-jimullah is furious with the americans. Not for their long military intervention

in afghanistan, but the fact they are leaving, robbing his market stall of an important supplier.

Hundreds of stallholders in Ka-buls Bush bazaar have made a tidy living selling on surplus equipment and rations much of it pilfered from the US-led NaTO mission in afghanistan.

But business has dwindled to half what it was a few years ago at the market, named after US president George W Bush who ordered the in-vasion of afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

Traders are hoping that the elec-tion on Saturday to choose a succes-sor to president Hamid Karzai will bring stability to the country and boost their fortunes.

in the short-term, though, Na-jimullah admits his biggest worry is the withdrawal of US-led forces.

americans are the worst kind of people i have ever seen, they are leaving, but they have stopped giv-ing away the things they dont need to afghans instead they burn them, he raged.

The Soviets were better when they left they also left everything be-hind for afghans to use.

Fear of abandonment extends beyond the traders at Bush bazaar the US-led mission has pumped billions of dollars into the afghan economy and there are concerns of a dramatic financial crash when foreign forces leave.

Some afghans predict a lack of

jobs for the fast-growing population could become as big a threat to the country as the militants in the future, and generating economy activity will be one of the major challenges awaiting the new president.

a few years ago, shoppers at Bush bazaar could get their hands on all sorts of contraband.

illicit pork and alcohol forbidden in Muslim afghanistan, along with sensitive military equipment such as sniper sights and night-vision gog-gles were all to be found during the markets heyday.

it was the only place to buy packets of ready-made omelettes, jumbo-size bottles of american sauces and tins of Quaker Oats all often sourced

from the giant US military base at Bagram, 60 kilometres from Kabul.

US and afghan fatigues were also on sale, causing grave concern as Taliban insurgents often disguise themselves as soldiers to access bas-es before launching attacks.

Now the stalls mostly stock cloth-ing, boots and so-called MrE meal ready-to-eat ration packs from NaTO forces, alongside the cheap Chinese goods available at most of the citys markets.

The once-bustling lanes are quiet, which shopkeeper Mostafa blames on the uncertainty that has dogged 2014, a year which sees both the end of NaTOs combat mission and the election to choose a new leader.

people were afraid of 2014, and now that the year has begun noth-ing much has changed, the only remaining concern for them is the election, and once the election passes i hope things will get better, the 28-year-old said.

i think it is because of the elec-tions that our business is down, so we hope once the things are settled our business will grow again.

The market was traditionally pop-ular with Kabuls large community of foreign aid workers, journalists and contractors on the look-out for cheap kit and familiar provisions.

But the run-up to the election has seen a series of deadly attacks in Ka-bul targeting foreigners, including an assault on the Serena hotel last month and the daylight shooting of a Swedish journalist.

The increased threat to foreigners has prompted many international organisations in Kabul to tighten up their security rules and stop staff from visiting markets and other public places.

Whatever the challenges, Kabuls wheeler-dealer traders are a resilient bunch before Bush bazaar there was Brezhnev bazaar, selling Soviet gear, named after leader leonid Br-ezhnev whose rule saw the invasion of afghanistan in 1979.

Haji Tor Mohseni, the 62-year-old head of Bush bazaar, insisted the 300-stall market would survive the NaTO withdrawal.

We will keep this market open even if all the foreigners leave our own traders will import similar goods, though the prices might be a bit higher, he said. AFP

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

12 the phnom penh post april 3, 2014

WorldNato to bolster Eastern Europet

wo decades on from the end of the cold war, Nato govern-ments returned last

night to their core mission of protecting Europe from russia.

as a result of the Kremlins seizure of Ukraines Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, Nato foreign ministers discussed plans to bolster defences in Eastern Europe and suspend all practical civilian and mil-itary co-operation between Nato and russia, Nato of-ficials said.

the foreign ministers also acted to boost military co-operation with former Soviet states on russias southern flank. However, the first Nato ministerial meeting since Moscow annexed Crimea shied away from stationing Nato forces permanently in Eastern Europe and from contemplating Nato mem-bership for Ukraine.

while Moscow declared that the seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula had nothing to do with russia but rather had oc-curred as a result of internal processes in Ukraine, Nato leaders dismissed assurances from the Kremlin of a pull-back of forces, estimated at 40,000, massing on Ukraines eastern borders.

Unfortunately, i cannot confirm that russia is with-drawing its troops. this is not what we have seen, said anders Fogh rasmussen, the Nato secretary-general.

the concentration of troops along the Ukraine border is very high, German Chancel-lor angela Merkel said.

the meeting discussed military aid for Kiev, rein-forced defences for frontline Nato states in poland and the Baltic, planned to extend military co-operation to Mol-dova, azerbaijan and armenia

all former Soviet republics on russias southern flank and froze military and civil co-operation with russia.

our goal of a Euro-atlan-tic region whole, free and at peace has not changed but has been fundamentally chal-lenged by russia, said a Nato statement. over the past 20 years, Nato has consistently worked for closer coopera-tion and trust with russia. it has gravely breached the trust upon which our cooperation must be based.

poland voiced exasperation with delays in strengthening Natos eastern borders and with the reluctance to base Nato forces there. the topic has been taboo since Natos expansion into Eastern Eu-rope in the 1990s for fear of antagonising russia.

rasmussen ruled out any quick decisions on this, calling

instead for diplomacy and dia-logue with russia and Ukraine. Frank-walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, said he saw no prospect of drawing Ukraine or any other former Soviet state into Nato.

polish prime Minister Don-ald tusk voiced disappoint-ment, while Foreign Minister radek Sikorski, called for two Nato brigades to be sta-tioned in poland. the pace of Nato increasing its mili-tary presence for sure could be faster, he said. this is a unsatisfactory result for us.

in advance of yesterdays meeting, a Nato committee drafted plans for promoting stability in Eastern Europe in the current context by boost-ing military cooperation with armenia, azerbaijan, and Moldova, all in russias near abroad and viewed by a pro-prietorial Moscow as falling

within its sphere of influence.a confidential seven-page

paper leaked to the German news weekly Der Spiegel pro-posed joint exercises and training between Nato and the three countries, increasing the interoperability of their militaries with Nato and their participation in Nato smart defence operations.

the paper also proposed opening a Nato liaison office in Moldova, providing military training for armenia, and un-dertaking projects in azerbai-jan aimed at securing its Cas-pian Sea oil- and gasfields.

Nato and EU member states such as poland and the three Baltic countries on the frontline of the new frictions with president Vladimir putin are alarmed at russias expan-sionist policies, amid wide-spread suspicions that Mos-cow will seek to destabilise

and coerce Moldova prior to its scheduled signing in June of a trade and political pact with the EU.

the US has responded to the pleas from Eastern Europe by reinforcing Nato air patrols over the Baltic and dispatch-ing aircraft to poland. the for-eign ministers discussed con-tributing to the precautionary moves, with Britain, Denmark and Germany offering to sup-ply more air power.

Natos supreme command-er in Europe, the US general philip Breedlove, warned at the weekend that the russian buildup was very, very size-able and very, very ready.

He added that the Kremlin could move to seize transnis-tria, a russian-speaking part of Moldova that has been locked in a frozen conflict and effectively controlled by the russians since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, russia yesterday accused Nato of succumb-ing to Cold war instincts after the alliance suspended all cooperation with Moscow over the Crimea crisis.

Basic instincts of Cold war have awoken in Nato, affect-ing rhetoric accordingly, the official twitter page of rus-sias mission to Nato quoted envoy alexander Grushko as saying.the alliance is under threat! Seems like taxpayers will have to fork out for mili-tary games, he said.

Deputy prime Minister Dmitry rogozin derided the announcement, remark-ing that it was made on april Fools Day.

last time [in 2008] they were freezing for three months, and thawed by December, he said, referring to russias short war with neighbouring Geor-gia. what can i say: its a Cold war, so they are still freezing, he tweeted. the guardian/aFP

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

aFriCaN and European leaders opened crisis talks yesterday on the terrifying violence in the Central african republic where peacekeep-ers have been unable to stop a deadly spiral of Christian-Muslim strife.

as leaders of the two conti-nents headed into Brussels for a mammoth summit locking down parts of the city, 13 Eu-ropean Union and 12 african leaders gathered for crisis talks on the situation in Car with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. the UN chief is seeking endorsement from the Securi-ty Council for a 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to take over from the 8,000 african and French troops there.

on the eve of the summit the EU finally launched a rare military mission to send 1,000 troops to Car, delayed by in-sufficient troop and aircraft commitments from the blocs 28 member states.

Ban has warned the situa-tion could spiral into geno-cide amid reports by the UN of child decapitations, can-nibalism and widespread lynchings. we are deeply con-cerned of the desperate plight of the people of the Car, Ban said. at todays meeting i will urge all countries to strongly consider providing badly needed additional troops and police and providing funding and support.

illegal migration, trade and security problems and jihad-ist turmoil elsewhere in africa will also be addressed at the two-day summit. Gathering leaders of the 54-nation af-rican Union and 28-member European bloc, the meeting officially continues today.

the summit comes more than three years after late lib-yan leader Muammar Gad-dafihosted the last EU-africa summit in tripoli dedicated largely to his own glory.

as then, post-colonial and trade tensions, as well as worries over Chinas influ-ence, are lingering. the sei-zure of Gaddafis massive stocks of arms by merce-naries after his arab Spring ouster is blamed in part for jihadist-linked unrest that has unravelled across vast swathes of africa, notably in Mali and Niger.

the EU has waded in to help UN and african peacekeepers restore peace in those coun-tries as well as in Somalia.

i hope the summit will mark a new stage in our rela-tionship with africa, said EU council president Herman Van rompuy. it was time for a shift from development co-operation to a partnership of equals with trade and invest-ment playin