Phnom Penh Post Englist

Laignee Barron
and Sen David
TO GET his teenage
daughter and niece on a
plane yesterday after 10
months of alleged abuse
and forced marriages in
China, Kim Vicheat* said
he had to bury his family
in debt because the Cam-
bodian consulate refused
to fund their repatriation.
The two 19-year-olds told
The Phnom Penh Post by
phone last week that they
had been trafficked in Octo-
ber to Shanghai, where they
were each forced into marry-
ing three times.
After fleeing abusive in-
laws, the girls sought help
from the Cambodian con-
sulate, only to allegedly be-
come the latest in a series of
victims to encounter a lack
of support from the overseas
diplomats. The girls, both
pregnant, said they were
forced to sleep on the street
and beg for food after the
only assistance they were
monday, august 25, 2014 Successful People Read The Post 4000 RIEL
IssueNUMBER1996
illegal bear
trade in asia is
‘staggering’
national – page 3
first modern
slaughterhouse
‘nearlyfinished’
business – page 7
pariscelebrates
WWIIliberation
ofcitytoday
world – page 15
Stranded
migrants
ontheir
wayhome
The calm before the strife
Electionperiodsawdropinlanddisputes,butsharpriseregisteredsince:Subedi
Continued – page 2
Continued – page 4
From the air
Palestinian men look on as a bomb from an Israeli airstrike hits a house in Gaza City on Saturday. Israel is keeping up the pressure on Hamas in
Gaza, carrying out multiple airstrikes, killing six Palestinians, five of them from the same family, as Egypt prepares to convene new truce talks. AFP
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
T
HE United Nations
in Cambodia has
registered a sharp
rise in the number
of forced evictions in rural
areas over the past year, UN
Special Rappateur for Hu-
man Rights Surya Subedi
has said in a report.
The annual report submit-
ted to the UN secretary-gener-
al on August 15 and published
on Saturday comes on the
heels of Prime Minister Hun
Sen announcing on August 18
that he would establish a new
committee to review land con-
cessions handed out to private
companies.
Subedi wrote that the past
year “has been one in which
one of the key components
of a vibrant democracy –
an engaged and informed
electorate free to express
its views – has clearly
emerged”.
However, he noted that
the Office of the High Com-
missioner for Human Rights
had recorded a steep rise in
the number of violent forced
evictions from disputed
rural land.
“Incidents included the
burning and bulldozing of
houses and shelters, often
without notice or court orders
mandating the action, and
arbitrary detention of those
who defended their property,”
the report said. “This followed
a period of relative calm dur-
ing the period preceding and
sTORY > 13

Continued from page 1
offered was with paperwork.
“I had to borrow someone
else’smoney,$800,topayforthe
flights,”saidVicheat,afarmerin
Kandal province. “I had no
choice, I couldn’t keep them
waiting like that.”
The Cambodian Embassy in
Beijing last week told the Post
it lacks a budget to pay for the
women’s flights home, so the
victims must drum up their
airfare. But the trafficking vic-
tims,mostofwhomcomefrom
poor families and are deprived
of any savings during their
forced marriages, end up hav-
ing to borrow the sum, driving
them further into debt-bond-
age and making them vulner-
able to re-trafficking, rights
group Adhoc says.
Cambodia has consistently
been singled out for such
instances of inadequate
embassy assistance that can
further jeopardise trafficking
victims. In its 2014 trafficking
reportreleasedearlierthisyear,
theUSStateDepartmentcalled
out Cambodian overseas mis-
sions’ failure to assist traffick-
ingvictimsabroadasoneofthe
central factors resulting in its
low ranking.
“Compared with other coun-
triesintheregion,[the]Cambo-
diangovernmenthasnotmade
reasonable efforts to help their
own citizens and prevent traf-
ficking,” said Xin Ren, a profes-
sorofcriminaljusticeinCalifor-
nia and an expert on bride
trafficking to China.
WhileChinahassignedagree-
ments with Vietnam and Thai-
land to repatriate victims of
humantrafficking,“Cambodian
leaders have not reached out to
Chinatoachievesuchacollabo-
rative agreement,” Ren said.
According to Adhoc, which
intervened on behalf of the
19-year-olds, it’s not uncom-
mon for Cambodian women
trafficked as brides to China to
have to wait up to two months
for government assistance in
leaving the country. And in the
interim,thewomenareoftenat
the mercy of strangers.
“Some are allowed to stay in
theembassy,butmanyhaveto
go back to their husbands if
they want shelter. Those who
are afraid [of returning to their
husband] either turn to the
street where Chinese citizens
will give them food or cash, or
they hide in the bamboo for-
ests,” said Chhan Sokunthea,
head of Adhoc’s women and
children section.
“Itisalong,slowprocessfrom
when the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs gets in touch with the
embassyandthentheconsulate
supplies legal documentation
for their return.”
Earlier this month Cambodia
requested that China stop issu-
ing visas to single Cambodian
women in an effort to curb the
trafficking problem.
Spokesmen from the Chi-
nese Embassy in Phnom Penh
declined to comment on Fri-
day about whether the appeal
wasbeingconsideredorwould
be included in a memoran-
dum of understanding being
drafted to address the ongoing
trafficking issues.
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Koy Kuong said yesterday that
theCambodianmissionsabroad
do their best to“take care of the
[trafficking] victims and solve
their problems”, but are only
responsible for providing“legal
assistance”.
Kuongaddedthatthetimeline
between a trafficked woman’s
request for consular assistance
in China and her repatriation
has to do with Chinese laws.
“If they have a marriage cer-
tificateandwanttocomeback,
they have to get a divorce first,
and to do that, the Chinese
officials need them first to go
back to the provinces where
they were living to verify no
crimes were committed,”
Kuongsaid,thoughhedeclined
to elaborate on what kind of
crimes the women had to
prove themselves innocent of.
“It’s not our requirement, it’s
Chinese law.”
National
2 THE PHNOM PENH POST august 25, 2014
Public Announcement
This is to inform the general public and
any creditors the following: SEVEN
SENG HOLDINGS LTD has the
intention of taking over
CGI (CAMBODIA) INC.
by November 07, 2014.
Any creditors have any claims against
CGI (CAMBODIA) INC.,
please do contacts:
lhcoffeebean@gmail.com
before November 01, 2014.
Request for Proposal (RFP) – Procurement of
Youth Skill Assessment
USAID/Development Innovations Project
DAI, implementer of the USAID-funded Development Innovations
(DI) Project invites ﬁrms/individual to conduct Youth Skill
Assessment for the past-year youth-oriented events and the future
events.
Deadline for Receipt of Proposals is Sept 3rd
, 2014 at
5:00PM
How to submit the proposal:
Please address the subject of the email as “Request for Proposal
(RFP) – Procurement of Youth Skill Assessment” and send it to
cdiprocurement@dai.com or visit Development Innovations Ofﬁce at the
address below:
Development Innovations, #296, St. 271,
Floor 3, Sangkat Toul TumPong II,
Khan Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel: (0)23 966 271
For more detail information, scope of work, indicators and sample
list of events, please visit www.development-innovations.org on the
homepage under NEW RFPS.
Proposals received after the deadline will not be reviewed and will be
discarded by the Development Innovations Project.
Alice Cuddy
T
HE Ministry of Labour
plans to delay signing
off on a controver-
sial agreement to re-
open a pipeline of Cambodian
maids to Malaysia until a deal
is reached on a second agree-
ment regarding other migrant
workers, a ministry official said
yesterday.
Labour Ministry spokesman
Heng Sour told the Post that no
date has been set for the final
discussionsovertheMemoran-
dum of Understanding (MoU)
regarding domestic workers,
but Cambodia is “propos-
ing [that the] Malaysian side
… also draft [a second] MoU”
concerning workers including
those in manufacture and agri-
culture industries.
“Wewanttoconcludethetwo
MoU[s] at the same time,” Sour
said by text message yesterday.
Amoratoriumwasintroduced
onsendingmaidstoMalaysiain
October 2011 amid mounting
concerns over abuses, includ-
ing rape and starvation, which
led to several deaths.
Earlier this month, a Malay-
sian employers association,
which has observed the draft-
ing of the new agreement,
revealed to the Post alleged
details of the drafted MoU.
Datuk Raja Zulkepley Da-
halan, president of the Malay-
sian Association of Employ-
ment Agencies (PIKAP), said
that in addition to safeguards
such as the drafting of legally
binding contracts that in-
cluded the maid’s salary, the
“responsibilities and rights”
of both parties and a day’s
leave per week, the drafted
agreement allows for employ-
ers to hold the passports of
maids in their employ.
Glorene Das, program di-
rector at Malaysia-based
NGO Tenaganita – which has
not been consulted about the
MoU in recent months – said
she feared that Cambodian
workers could end up trapped
in abusive homes and left to
“suffer in silence”.
“For us, employers should
not be keeping passports of
workers … [as this would
mean] they hold the life of
the worker because that is the
only form of identity that be-
longs to them.”
Das said withholding pass-
portswouldleavemaidsunable
“to seek help [or] maintain con-
tact with the embassy”.
“It allows employers to
control the freedom of move-
ment [so] they can’t leave
the employment” even if it is
abusive, she said.
In a report released last week,
the Community Legal Educa-
tion Center said that in 2013
alone it received 35 new com-
plaints of domestic worker
abuse in Malaysia.
Delay on maid deal: ministry
Mom Kunthear
AMID reports of increased mass fainting
incidents in Cambodia’s garment sector,
workers, employers and government of-
ficials gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday
for a roundtable discussion on the issue.
The conference, which was organised
by the Cambodian Center for Indepen-
dent Media, identified issues such as
workday lengths and holidays as solv-
able problems that could reduce a large
number of garment worker faintings, said
Labour Ministry Inspection Department
Director Ouk Chanthou.
“The factories teach employees about
safety and good sanitation, so I believe
that fainting will be reduced,” Chan-
thou said.
“The ministry will also put more pres-
sure on garment factories. If they do not
respect labour standards . . . they could
be fined or face other punishment.”
Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng last week
warned factory owners of fines for mass
fainting incidents.
Major causes of fainting at garment
factories include excessive overtime
and hot workplaces, said ILO represen-
tative Yem Pich Malika, who attended
the conference.
Kith Meng, a worker at Kin Tay gar-
ment factory said she wants factory
owners to be held more accountable for
maintaining workplace standards that
could reduce fainting.
“I want the [Labour Ministry] to put
more pressure on garment factories
that abuse the labour law,” she said.
‘Solvable problems’ focus of fainting review
Stranded in Shanghai,
migrantsonwayhome
A young woman reads advertisements for wanted maids outside a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. Cambodia’s
Ministry of Labour says a deal to resume sending Cambodians to Malaysia is a ways off. AFP

National
3THE PHNOM PENH POST august 25, 2014
Flyer furore
Activist held
for leaflet
distribution
A
N ACTIVIST from the
Republican Democracy
Party (RDP) – which
contested last year’s national
election – was detained on
Saturday while handing out
leaflets about the minor
party’s political platform.
Khun Savakheth said Daun
Penh district police questioned
him for three hours after se-
curity guards detained him at
Central Market and accompa-
nied him to the station. He was
released without charge.
“I tried distributing 200
copies of the party’s political
platform but was immediately
detained by market security,”
he explained.
Pon Dany, who is in charge
of Central Market, said that
he had “invited” Savakheth
to the police station because
“it was not the right time” to
distribute leaflets.
City Hall spokesman Long
Dimanche said the contents
contained information “attac-
king the monarchy, which is an
illegal activity”.
ChanYeth,actingRDPpresi-
dent,saidSavakhethwasonly
spreadinginformationabout
theparty’spolicies. VONG SOKHENG
Traffickingfigures‘staggering’
Charles Rollet
T
HE illegal bear trade
continues across Asia
on a “staggering”
scale, with Cambodia
leading the continent in sei-
zures of bears and bear parts,
according to a study from con-
servation NGO Traffic.
From 2000 to 2011, 190 sei-
zures were made in Cambo-
dia, out of nearly 700 seizures
in Asia. Live bears made up 15
per cent of all of Asia’s seizures,
with Cambodia leading in this
area as well, possibly because
the bears were on their way to
“bear farms” in Vietnam and
China so their bile, popular in
traditional Chinese medicine,
could be extracted.
“The number of seizures are
a credit to the enforcement
agencies, but they undoubt-
edly only stop a fraction of
the overall trafficking because
bear products are still widely
and easily available across
Asia,” Chris Shepherd, direc-
tor of Traffic in Southeast Asia,
said in a statement.
ThestudynotesthatCambo-
dia’s high number of seizures
is not necessarily negative.
Even though the Kingdom re-
ported 27 per cent of Asia’s sei-
zures, the Kingdom accounted
for only 9 per cent of the 2,800
bears, confiscated either still
alive or dead and in parts.
The reason behind this is
more effective enforcement
thanks to NGO initiatives such
as Wildlife Alliance’s Wildlife
Rapid Rescue Team (WRRT),
which works with the govern-
ment to confiscate trafficked
animals and was cited as a
model program in the study.
Vuthy Ravong, team chief of
the WRRT, said he agreed that
the team’s mission had been
successful, noting that “most
of the trade is going further
and further underground”.
However, Ravong said that
while the government may
be able to take over in the
distant future, it would “abso-
lutely not” be able to currently
handle the effort on its own.
“[In one place] the traders
are just 200 metres from the
[government] office,” he said.
And even if the crackdown
on bear traders continues,
the bears’ situation “is getting
worse” anyway due to massive
habitat loss, saidVuthy Chuon,
Cambodia program director of
Free the Bears.
A rescued sun bear cub at Takeo province’s Phnom Tamao Zoological Park and Wildlife Rescue centre,
operated by Australia-based conservation group Free The Bears. CHARLOTTE PERT
Khengaide
firedafter
allegations
Phak Seangly
ANASSISTANTtoInteriorMin-
ister Sar Kheng was fired this
monthfollowingclaimsthathe
attempted to rape an office
intern, officials said yesterday.
Kong Vimean, Kampong
Thom deputy governor, said
the Ministry of Interior sent a
letter to the provincial hall on
August6officiallyfiringUkBun
Thoeurn,Kheng’sassistantand
a provincial deputy adminis-
tration director.
“IsawtheletterfromtheInte-
riorMinistryaboutterminating
his position as [Kheng’s] assist-
ant,” Vimean said, adding that
the letter did not specify any
reasons for the dismissal.
Ith Sothea, chief prosecutor
at Kampong Thom provincial
court,saidthatinJulyawoman
interning at the provincial hall
accused Bun Thoeurn of
attempted rape and filed a
complaint with police, who
sent the case to the court.
“Thepoliceandthecourthave
beeninvestigatingthecasefora
month. We have already ques-
tioned them both,” he said.
BunThoeurn and an Interior
Ministry spokesman could not
be reached yesterday.

National
Royalistsriled
overlandsale
Meas Sokchea
T
HE royalist Funcinpec
Party is once again
feuding over a reloca-
tion of their ever-shift-
ing political offices.
In this latest case, officials
claim offices inTbong Khmum
province and Kampong Thom
province, as well as the head-
quarters in Phnom Penh, were
sold without internal approval.
But party secretary-general
Nhek Bun Chhay said the
Tbong Khmum office has not
been sold, while the other two
have just been moved.
According to a letter sent to
Funcinpec president Princess
Norodom Arun Rasmey on Au-
gust 8 by the chief of the party’s
buyingandsellingcommission,
Meng Hour, the deputy chief of
the commission, Soeng Kiry,
signedacontracttosellFuncin-
pec headquarters on National
Road 6A in Russey Keo district.
“During my absence, I did
not transfer rights to colleague
deputy chief of commission in
selling party headquarters at
all,” Hour said in the letter.
Hour said yesterday the
committee had actually agreed
in principle to the sale, and he
was writing to inform Rasmey
of that decision.
Bun Chhay said the party had
simply moved the headquar-
ters and the provincial office in
Kampong Thom to better loca-
tions,thoughhedidnotprovide
details of the arrangement.
“New location is closer, it is
easy to work,” he said, referring
to the headquarters, which is
said to also be in Russey Keo.
In a separate letter, Arun Ras-
mey claimed the permanent
committee had not seen de-
tails of the contract and urged
Kiry to make them available.
Disputes over the sale of par-
ty offices are nothing new for
Funcinpec, which has man-
aged to stay active on that front
despite not having won a seat
in last year’s elections. About
eight years ago, Prince Noro-
dom Ranarridh was pushed
out of the party after accusa-
tions that he profited from the
sale of the party headquarters.
Bun Chhay faced similar al-
legations in January, when
Funcinpec dismissed an of-
ficial for accusing him of con-
spiring to sell party headquar-
ters for personal gain.
The calm before the land disputes
Continued from page 1
immediately following the July 2013
national elections.”
Theevents,thereportcontinued,involved
“a number of incidents of excessive use of
force by the authorities” and direct action
on the part of protesters in the absence of
official avenues to resolve their disputes.
Hun Sen passed a directive in May 2012
whichplacedamoratoriumonissuingnew
economic land concessions (ELCs) to pri-
vate companies. But rights groups say
much more needs to be done to address
the issue of rural land disputes.
“Not all lands have been surveyed and
evensomefamilieswhohadtheirlandsur-
veyed have yet to receive titles,” Subedi
noted.“Access to information and a lack of
transparencyandaccountabilityintheland-
titlingprocessandthemanagementofland
concessions remain serious concerns.”
ThreedaysafterSubedi’sreportwassub-
mitted, Hun Sen formalised a professed
commitment to tackle land issues by
ordering the creation of an “inter-minis-
terial committee to review, measure and
evaluate ELCs”.
The14-membercommitteewillbehead-
ed by Deputy Prime Minister Bun Chhen,
who also heads the National Authority for
Land Dispute Resolution (NALDR).
On Friday, Hun Sen admonished low-
ranking officials for not reporting land
conflicts to him and said officials found to
havenotproperlyinformedtheirsuperiors
of ongoing disputes would face the sack.
Sia Phearum, director of the Housing
Rights Task Force, said Hun Sen’s com-
ments were an encouraging sign.
“On August 18, Prime Minister Hun Sen
blamed his subordinates for land disputes
for the first time. Before, he had never rec-
ognised the role of the authorities in land
disputes in Cambodia,” he said.
“It is a positive step. Right now they have
started to say that officials may have to
resign. We will continue to monitor how
that is implemented.”
Sao Sopheap, spokesman at the Ministry
of Environment, couldn’t be reached.
NALDRmemberPalChandrareferredques-
tions to Chhen, who couldn’t be reached.
Am Sam Ath, a senior investigator with
Licadho, said he welcomed any moves to
resolve land disputes, adding that the gov-
ernmentshouldalsostrengthentheNALDR
and local cadastral committees.
“If they cannot strengthen what already
exists,theproblemscannotbecopedwith,
which means the problems will continue
to exist,” he said.
PhaySiphan,spokesmanfortheCouncil
of Ministers, disputed the UN’s statement
that it had witnessed a“sharp rise” in land
disputes. “I don’t think that is true. Since
last year until now we didn’t have any new
issues. Every dispute is different; some are
very complex. Some need time to be con-
sidered by the courts.That is why the gov-
ernment has set up a committee to review
ELCs,” he said.
Security forces in Phnom Penh use electric batons last week to disperse about 300 protesting
villagers from Kratie. At least 10 people were injured in the clashes. PHA LINA

National

Rules enforced
Municipality
cracksdown
onpublicads
B
USINESSES in Phnom
Penh have been ordered
to dismantle signs and
advertisements erected on
public property without the
permission of City Hall.
Inalettersenttobusinesses
onWednesdayandpublished
onthecity’swebsiteyesterday,
CityHallsaidcompaniesfound
tohavebeenfloutingthecity’s
regulationsonpublicadverti-
singwouldfacefinesiftheydid
nottakedowntheadverts.
“The advertisement banners
and posters have seriously
affected the aesthetic, public
order and the social make-up
of the city,” the letter says.
“The owners of these signs
must stop immediately all the
activities to erect and install
[the adverts] on electric posts,
trees, the walls of state and pu-
blic buildings, as well as private
buildings where the owners do
not have permission.”
CityHallspokesmanLong
Dimanchewouldnotname
companiesincludedinthelet-
ter.“We have just told them to
remove their advertisements.
If they will not follow the rules,
they will be fined,” he added.
KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA
National
GPS device helps police
track down stolen moto
A STOLEN moto proved smart-
er than the man who was
arrested for stealing it on Fri-
day. According to police, the
moto, which belonged to a
French expat, was taken out-
side a coffee shop. But the bike
was outfitted with a GPS device,
which the expat used to tip off
the police, who then showed up
at the location in Por Sen Chey
and arrested the suspect. He
claimed innocence, saying he
had only been hired by some-
one to repaint it. Police are still
investigating. Koh Santepheap
Mancarryingahandbag
attractsnoticeoflocals
PHNOM Penh traffic thwarted
an alleged bag snatcher in
Prampi Makara district on
Saturday. Police said the man
and an accomplice had pulled
their moto alongside a young
woman who was stopped at a
traffic light and grabbed her
bag. However, they were soon
forced to stop at another traffic
light, prompting the suspect to
attempt to flee on foot. Locals’
suspicions were aroused by
the sight of man carrying a
woman’s handbag, and they,
along with nearby police,
stopped the suspect and
arrested him. Police are still
on the lookout for his accom-
plice. Koh Santepheap
Teenager’s night on the
town ends with beating
A NIGHTCLUB owner was
arrested in Koh Kong’s Khe-
marak Phumin town after he
allegedly pistol-whipped a
16-year-old on Friday. Police
said the businessman and his
customer were having an
argument over an unknown
matter when the club owner
lost his cool, hitting the patron
several times in the head. The
young man was hospitalised,
and his family filed a com-
plaint. Police arrested the sus-
pect and confiscated his gun
immediately. Nokorwat
Drugs were disguised
as money, police say
A SUPPOSEDLY clever disguise
wasn’t enough to throw police
off the scent of an alleged drug
dealer in Kandal’s Sa’ang dis-
trict on Friday. After receiving a
tip from village authorities,
police stopped the suspected
dealer, finding several packets
of yama packaged in 100-riel
notes. Police confiscated the
man’s moto and cell phone,
and sent him straight to court
Koh Santepheap
Crash leads to theory:
driver was smashed
A DRUNKEN partygoer was
badly injured in a traffic acci-
dent in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen
Chey district on Friday night.
According to police, the man
was on his way home from a
boozy bash when he collided
with another moto travelling in
the same direction. The man
received severe head injures,
but the driver of the other moto
escaped with only minor inju-
ries. Police speculated that in
his drunkenness, the driver
hadn’t seen the other moto at
all. Nokorwat
Translated by Phak Seangly
police
blotter
Exciting opportunity on Australian Aid funded project
Excellent remuneration and conditions
Phnom Penh based with provincial travel
URS has been appointed as the Implementing Service Provider for this Australian Aid
funded program.
The Cambodia Community Justice Assistance Partnership (CCJAP) continues the
support that Australia has provided over the past 16 years in the criminal justice sector
in Cambodia; the assistance has moved from being donor-driven and institutionally
focussed to an increasingly community oriented and locally owned and administered
program of support to provide communities with equitable access to justice.
The aim of CCJAPis to provide safer communities for women, youth and children
through less crime. CCJAP will work toward strengthening court and prison systems
through more effective management of pre-trial arrangements, use of non-custodial
sentencing and improved prisons.
The Capital Works Adviser will be responsible for managing concept, design and
specification of small scale infrastructure construction and refurbishment in prisons,
police posts and courts. The primary focus will be on prison infrastructure which was
surveyed in June 2011. Within prisons, priority will be given to facilities which address
the multiple issues surrounding prison overcrowding.
To be successful in this role, candidates must have a minimum of 5 years experience
in civil engineering or architectural projects, including concept design and specification
of small-scale infrastructure.
You must be eligible to work in Cambodia to apply.
For further information on this role and to apply go to http://www.ap.urscorp.com/
InternationalDevelopment/ProjectRecruitment and enter the job code 632
Applications close 31st
August, 2014
Enquiries can be directed to internationaldevelopment@urs.com
Australian Aid—managed by URS on behalf of the Australian Government
URS is an equal opportunity employer of choice and is committed to child protection.
We encourage women and men to apply.
Cambodia Community Justice Assistance
Partnership Capital Works Adviser
SOFRECO (www.sofreco.com) is a French leading company
in consultancy and technical assistance for development.
Constantly expanding, SOFRECO has carried out more than
1100 assignments in over 130 countries, in close collaboration
with institutional beneficiaries, the private sector and civil
society.
SOFRECO launches a recruitment of Cambodian consultants for
the “Technical Assistance for the implementation of Preks of
Kandal Component (TA-Preks)” from MOWRAM, funded by the
French Development Agency. The project aims to rehabilitate
30 first Preks in the Kandal province, providing global support
to the beneficiaries and users. It will last 4 years, starting from
mid-October 2014.
SOFRECO is offering an executive consulting position of Deputy
Team Leader (national) with the following responsibilities
among the 10-member team:
Assist the international Team Leader in coordinating
the team
Provide Monitoring and Evaluation services
Coordinate and conduct stakeholder consultations,
workshops, and meetings
Represent the Consultant in relations with the Client
and AFD
Coordinate with other consultants in :
community development and agriculture developmento
land survey, land titling certificates, and resettlemento
supervision of rehabilitation workso
operation and maintenance of Prekso
analysis and mitigation of environmental impactso
Design, provide and supervise capacity building of
farmers and PDWRAM staff
The required qualifications are:
At least a master’s degree or equivalent in agricultural
civil engineering, hydrology or community development
At least 10 years of experience in agricultural
development related to irrigation and project
management
At least 7 years of experience working as project
management and coordination
Perfect fluency in Khmer in English
Applications showing lower qualifications will not be examined.
The position is full-time during the 4 years of the project, under
freelance consultant contract.
Other positions are available for international senior experts,
as for example: i) Team Leader / Social Water Management
specialist, and ii) Irrigation Engineer
In case of interest, please send your updated CV to
rbo@sofreco.com before August 31st
, 2014 indicating
your contact details.
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Gov’t tears down bungalow
Sen David
A
GOVERNMENT de-
cision to tear down a
bungalow on Preah
Sihanouk province’s
Otres 1 beach on Saturday has
sparked fear among some of
the area’s business owners that
theirestablishmentscouldface
a similar fate.
The provincial land manage-
ment department destroyed
one of 10 concrete bungalows
that had been under con-
struction for about two years
because such buildings are
banned on the beach, provin-
cial chief of land management
HunThy said.
“This is the first time [I know
of] of the government coming
here and taking something
down,” said Frida Masson,
an employee at the Wish You
Were Here guesthouse and
bar, located across the street
from Otres beach. “Of course
everybody who owns on the
water is worried.”
Preah Sihanouk Governor
Chhin Sokorn said provincial
officials warned the owner last
week that their property would
be demolished unless they
agreed to move it.
When the owner did not re-
spond to the warning or meet
provincial land management
department staff at the site on
Saturday, a demolition crew
knocked down one of the ap-
proximately 10m-by-10m bun-
galows,Thy said. It was unclear
when or if the remaining nine
will be torn down.
“Before we demolished a
bungalow, we first notified
them that 10 of their stalls were
builtillegally,”Thysaid.Thede-
partment allowed the owner to
build wooden bungalows “far
away” from the beach, but the
owner tried to find a loophole
by building concrete bunga-
lows on the beach, he added.
BothThy and Sokorn refused
to disclose who owns the prop-
erty, citing the possibility it
could harm their business.
Construction of the bunga-
lows began nearly two years
ago, said the owner of the Pen-
guin Pablo guesthouse, who
gave his name only as Kong.
However, it is widely under-
stood that building bungalows
or hotels on the beach itself
is forbidden.
“Everybody knows you can-
not have bungalows on the
beach,” he said, adding that
the demolition had, nonethe-
less, upset many hotel owners.
Kong and Masson said that
the government often makes
newrulesforhotelsandthreat-
ens to tear down those that
deviate.
“They’ve been saying that
for years and years, but maybe
this is the year they’ll do it,”
Masson said. ADDITIONAL REPORT-
ING BY SEAN TEEHAN
People watch on Saturday as workers destroy one of 10 concrete bungalows that had been under
construction for two years on Otres 1 beach in Preah Sihanouk province. PHOTO SUPPLIED

USD / JPY
102.92
USD / SGD
1.2464
USD /CNY
6.1444
USD / HKD
7.7503
USD / THB
31.87
AUD / USD
0.9311
NZD / USD
0.8416
EUR / USD
1.3314
GBP / USD
1.6617
Indicative Exchange Rates as of 20/8/2014. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates.
USD / KHR
4,060
Business
Construction of a modern slaughterhouse facility in Sihanoukville. Last week Australia announced it had approved the export of 10,000 live cattle to Cambodia. photo SUPPLIED
Verywarmwelcome:Modern
slaughterhouse for Aus cattle
Hor Kimsay
D
AYS after the Austra-
lian government an-
nounced it had ap-
proved the export of
10,000 live cows to Cambodia,
a local firm has revealed that
it is nearing completion of the
Kingdom’sfirstmodernslaugh-
terhouse in Preah Sihanounk
province – and that it is set to
be the biggest in all of Asia.
Hor Sim Leang, managing
director of SLN Meat Supply,
said that construction of the
$15 million slaughterhouse in
Prek Toal village was already
under way and almost 60 per
cent complete.
“We will be the biggest in
Asia, the third largest in the
world,” Leang claimed, adding
that the new slaughterhouse
will have the capacity to pro-
cess 3,000 live cattle per day.
Leang said the facility will
be built in accordance with
the Australian government’s
Exporter Supply Chain As-
surance System (ESCAS), and
will be ready to receive 10,000
heads of Australian cattle as
soon as December this year.
The cattle, which carry a
price tag of $1,300 to $1,500
each, will spend an average
of two weeks at sea before
reaching Cambodian shores,
according to Leang.
Up to 30 per cent of the beef
processed at the new Preah
Sihanouk province slaugh-
terhouse will be sold to local
markets at $12 per kilogram,
while the remaining 70 per
cent will be exported to
neighbouring countries.
“We see big consumption
of beef in the market, but
the quality of the meat and
the techniques are not up to
Australia’s standards. Austra-
lian beef is the best quality,”
Leang said.
Luu Meng, president of the
Cambodian Hotel Association
(CHA) and owner of 11 res-
taurant and hotel businesses
around Phnom Penh, said de-
mand for beef in the Kingdom
is increasing parallel to the rise
in foreign-themed restaurants.
“The trend of eating beef,
which is only 50 per cent
cooked, or medium rare, is in-
creasing,andthiscookingstyle
needs beef with good hygiene
and good quality,” he said.
“The consumption and de-
mandissohighnowthatImore
than100percentwelcomethis
new slaughterhouse.”
Leang’s announcement
came after Australian Min-
ister of Agriculture Barnaby
Joyce and the Australian Live
Exports Council (ALEC) on
Thursday announced that
Cambodia had agreed to ad-
here to that country’s ESCAS
protocol on animal health
and welfare, and that 10,000
head of cattle had been ear-
marked for export.
ESCAS was introduced by
Australia’s then-Labor gov-
ernment in 2012 after a ban
on all live exports, which
was prompted by reports of
barbaric treatment of Aus-
tralian animals in Indonesia
in 2011.
Joyce’s announcement was
quickly met with swift criti-
cism from local agricultural
industry tycoon Mong Reth-
thy, who told the Post there
were no slaughterhouses in
the Kingdom that met the
strict ESCAS requirements.
Following the concerns
raisedbyReththyonAugust22,
Alison Penfold, CEO of ALEC,
tweeted under the @ALEC
twitter handle that no Cambo-
dian slaughterhouse facilities
were currently seeking or had
yet received approval for Aus-
tralian cattle imports.
ThaiAmata
inksdealto
openpark
inVietnam
THAILAND’S Amata Corpora-
tion Plc has accelerated its
investmentinVietnamwiththe
building of a modern and inte-
grated city industrial estate in a
moveaimedatcashinginonthe
openingoftheASEANEconom-
ic Community, as well as on
Vietnam’s economic growth.
SubsidiaryAmataVNPlcon
Thursday signed an agree-
ment with the People’s Com-
mittee of Dong Nai to develop
Amata City Long Thanh,
worth $530 million, on 8,031
rai (13 square kilometres).
Amata will invest 20 per cent
of the amount to develop basic
infrastructure in the industrial
estate in Dong Nai, a province
in an economic zone.
“Amatahas25yearsofexperi-
ence of industrial estate devel-
opment in Thailand and 20
years in Vietnam by operating
Amata Bien Hua Industrial
Estate in Dong Nai,” Amata
Corporation chief executive
Vikrom Kromadit said. “Viet-
namhasapopulationofalmost
90 million, and many people
areofworkingage.Labourcosts
there are half what they are in
Thailand, so manufacturing
has potential to expand.”
Development of the new
estate will be divided into
three phases.
ThefirstistheHi-TechIndus-
trial Park on 2,500 rai that is
aimed at attracting manufac-
turing in the biotech, research,
nanotechnology and pharma-
ceutical sectors.
The second phase or Service
Townshipwillfocusonbuilding
integrated facilities such as a
housingestate,hospital,school
and logistics services.
The third phase will be a
Mega Township on 4,700 rai
thatwillincludeshoppingcen-
tres,foodcourtsandrecreation
areas. BANGKOK POST

Business
A&A AUTO Co., Ltd is the authorized Distributor of KIA car Brand in Cambodia. To expand
our operation nationwide, we are looking for the dynamic and qualified candidates to fulfill
the following positions.
1-Sales Manager (Very urgent)
Requirements
Bachelor degree or Master Degree is preferable
at least 5 years experiences in sales, preferably in the field of Automotive Business
Age between ( 25-35) years old
Willing to develop knowledge in technical products
Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills in English
2-Sales Supervisors ( Very Urgent)
Requirements
Bachelor degree or Master Degree related field is preferable
at least 4 years experiences in sales, preferably in the field of Automotive Business
Willing to develop knowledge in technical products
Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills in English or Korean or
Chinese are advantage.
3-Sales Supervisors for tires( Very Urgent)
Requirements
at least 3 years experiences in car tires field
4-Sales Supervisors for engine oil ( Very Urgent)
Requirements
at least 3 years experiences in engine oil selling
5-Sales consultants many positions (Very urgent)
Requirements
Bachelor Degree of sales or marketing
At least 3 years experiences in sales for automotive industry is preferable
Age 20-35 years old
6-After Sale (Part & Service) Manager (Very urgent)
Automotive Engineer Background
At least 5 years experiences in automotive industrial or garage
management field.
Good at English communication
Good organizational skills, Ability to lead a team
7-After Sale Service Supervisor (Very urgent)
Requirements
Automotive Engineer Background
At least 4 years of car repair experience
Knowledgeable about Servicing, Maintenance, Electrical repair, Mechanical
repair, Diagnosis machine.
Have degree in related field automotive engineering.
8-Purchase order officer
Requirements
Bachelor Degree of Business administration.
At 2 experiences in this parts ordering.
Acknowledgeable about part accessories and vehicles specifications.
English both good writing and speaking as needed.
Have considerable knowledge of Microsoft word & Excel and Microsoft Outlook.
Have strong organizational skills & ability to handle multiple tasks under
deadlines and pressure.
9-Logistic Officers
Requirements
Bachelor’s degree or higher in related field with professional
qualification in purchasing, Logistic & warehouse.
1 years working and experience in purchasing, Logistic &
warehouse.
Good sourcing skill and hands on management.
Proactive, self-motivated, interpersonal skill, positive attitude and
can work hard under pressure with tight deadline.
Good command of English both written and computer literacy.
10-Graphic Designer
Requirements
Associated Degree of graphic design or related fields
At least two years’ experience in graphic design with a strong awareness of
marketing, publishing works and advertising trends
English both writing and speaking as needed
Have considerable knowledge of PC operations, desktop and publishing software
(Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, PageMaker, Quark Xpress…), Web-design a bonus
The deadline for applications is 30th
of September 2014. Candidates interested in applying
for the position should forward their CV’s together with a covering letter to:hr@hgbauto.com
or submit a hard copy to #379, Russian Blvd, North Porrprok Village, SangkatKakab, Khan
Posenchey, Phnom Penh. Come first get more opportunity first. For more information please
kindly contact to phone number: 095 666 048 / 090 99 32 88
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Goldmanpaysout$3billion
G
OLDMAN Sachs will
pay $3.15 billion
to resolve claims it
misled Fannie Mae
andFreddieMaconmortgage-
linked securities it sold them
before the US housing bust,
officials said on Friday.
The Federal Housing Fi-
nance Agency, the conservator
for Fannie and Freddie, which
were rescued by the govern-
ment during the 2008 crisis,
said that Goldman will repur-
chase the securities it sold to
the two effectively govern-
ment-backed mortgage giants
between 2005 and 2007.
Goldman said the agree-
ment will resolve “all” federal
and state securities claims
for mortgage-backed securi-
ties purchased by Freddie and
Fannie over the period.
“We are pleased to resolve
these matters,” said Gregory
Palm, executive vice president
of Goldman Sachs.
The FHFA, in its lawsuit
against Goldman, accused
the Wall Street bank of “false
statements” and “misleading
omissions” on the underlying
securities.
The FHFA said the Goldman
settlement was worth $1.2
billion. The $1.2 billion is the
difference between the $3.15
billion paid by Goldman and
the current value of the securi-
ties, a person familiar with the
matter said.
The FHFA said it has now
reached 16 settlements fol-
lowing a series of lawsuits filed
against financial giants in 2011
over the sale of mortgage-
linked securities that cratered
after the housing bust. The
agency said it is still pursuing
lawsuits against HSBC, Nomu-
ra and Royal Bank of Scotland
in comparable cases.
The Goldman deal comes
on the back of numerous oth-
er major US settlements with
big banks following the 2008
financial crisis.
Bank of America on Thurs-
day agreed to pay $16.65 bil-
lion to settle Justice Depart-
ment and other authorities’
charges that it misled inves-
tors about the quality of dodgy
mortgage-linked securities.
The settlement with the US
Justice department and other
authorities over actions that
contributed to the sparking of
the 2008 financial crisis was
well-flagged in advance, and
so did not surprise investors.
The bank said it would pay
$9.65 billion in cash to resolve
certain civil claims and pro-
vide $7 billion in relief to con-
sumers affected by losses tied
to dodgy mortgage securities
it issued ahead of the 2008 fi-
nancial crisis.
The second-largest US bank
by assets estimated the settle-
ment would hit third-quarter
pretax earnings by $5.3 billion,
or 43 cents per share after tax.
The settlement, with the US
Department of Justice, the Se-
curities and Exchange Com-
mission, and other authorities
including individual states, re-
solves a number of civil inves-
tigations against the bank and
subsidiaries Countrywide and
Merrill Lynch, which it took
over during the crisis.
Butitdoesnotresolvepoten-
tial criminal cases, especially
involving Countrywide, once
the country’s largest home-
loan issuer, and Countrywide
officials.
“We believe this settlement,
which resolves significant
remaining mortgage-related
exposures, is in the best inter-
ests of our shareholders, and
allows us to continue to focus
on the future,” chief execu-
tive Brian Moynihan said in a
statement. afp
Goldman Sachs has reached a $3.15 billion settlement resolving claims
it misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on mortgage linked securities it
sold them before the 2008 housing collapse. bloomberg
Amazon prepares for
an assault on Google
US ONLINE giant Amazon is
preparing to take on Google in
one of its core businesses,
internet advertising, the Wall
Street Journal said on Friday,
citing sources familiar with the
matter. Amazon is developing
its own program to target ads
using the information it
gathers about the preferences
of its customers. Tests of the
new platform could start later
this year. Google is for now the
uncontested top dog in online
publicity, with around a 31.45
per cent share of the global
market this year, according to
figures from research firm
eMarketer. afp
Dynegy to boot power
with $6B acquisitions
US ELECTRICITY company
Dynegy said on Friday that it
would nearly double its power-
generation capacity through a
pair of acquisitions with Duke
Energy and Energy Capital
Partners worth $6.25 billion.
Dynegy will buy coal and gas
generation assets from Duke
and ECP totaling 12,500
megawatts, taking the
company’s total capacity to
almost 26,000 megawatts.
“The addition of these
portfolios transforms Dynegy
by adding considerable scale
in the PJM and New England
markets,” said Dynegy chief
executive Robert Flexon. AFP
RUSSIA’S farm sector needs
636 billion rubles ($17.6 bil-
lion) of investment to replace
the products it banned in re-
sponse to Western sanctions,
Agriculture Minister Nikolai
Fyodorov said on Friday.
“We prepared a reasonably
optimistic scenario of the sec-
tor’sdevelopmentthatforesees
additionalfinancingofnotone
trillion, but just 636 billion ru-
bles from 2015 through 2020,”
the minister said.
Russia earlier this month
imposed sweeping bans on
food from the United States,
the European Union and a
handful of other countries in
response to Western econom-
ic sanctions.
The trade war is part of a
broader crisis in East-West
relations sparked by Russia’s
perceived attempts to split
strife-torn Ukraine in two after
Kiev’s decision to seek a closer
political and economic alli-
ance with Europe.
Russia relies heavily on
foreign fruit and vegetables
because its long winters and
inhospitable climate keep
farmers from growing produce
desiredbythecountry’sboom-
ing middle class. afp
Russiafarm
sector‘needs
investment’

Markets
Business
INTERNATIONAL Business
Machines Corp formed a part-
nership with Inspur Group Ltd
after the Chinese company
tried to lure away customers
with its “IBM to Inspur” mar-
keting campaign.
IBM’s database and Web-
Sphere software will be used
on Inspur’s servers, which are
the first high-end hardware to
be wholly developed and pro-
duced by a Chinese company.
Inspur also will be using IBM’s
Power8 chips to help design its
own systems, the companies
said on Friday.
The deal sets aside the com-
panies’ rivalry, spurred by ten-
sions between the US and Chi-
nese governments over claims
of cyberspying and hacking
American companies. Inspur
had set out on a campaign to
win over IBM’s customers af-
ter Bloomberg News reported
in May that China’s govern-
ment was studying if domestic
banks’ reliance on the Ameri-
can company’s technology
threatened national security.
IBM said at the time that it
wasn’t aware of any Chinese
government policy recom-
mending against the use of
IBM servers within the coun-
try’s banking industry. Ear-
lier on Friday, China Daily re-
ported that IBM said it never
stopped providing new servers
to Chinese banks, citing an in-
terview with DC Chien, chair-
man and chief executive offi-
cer of IBM China Group.
IBM has been trying to
turn around falling revenue
in China, which has weighed
heavily on CEO Ginni Rom-
etty’s profit goals. Sales in the
country declined 11 per cent
from a year earlier in the sec-
ond quarter, after tumbling
20 per cent in the first three
months of the year.
For Inspur, the deal could
help convince potential cus-
tomers to buy its hardware
with the option to use IBM’s
software. Inspur will design its
own systems based on tech-
nology from the OpenPower
Foundation, which has 53
members and supports open-
source technology, according
to the statement.
That makes it easy to inte-
grate IBM’s software on the
newInspurservers.IBM’ssales
of application infrastructure
and middleware – the type of
offerings its new Chinese part-
ner will deploy – accounted for
the biggest share of the world-
wide market last year at 30 per-
cent, according to researcher
Gartner Inc. bloomberg
IBMandInspurforget
rivalryforpartnership
ThaideveloperseyeASEAN
A
SEAN markets will of-
fer a vast opportunity
for Thai property de-
velopers after region-
al economic integration kicks
off late next year, but experts
warn risks also lie ahead.
“Opportunities in the prop-
erty sector in ASEAN members
are admittedly large,” said So-
pon Pornchokchai, president
of the Agency for Real Estate
Affairs. “But we suggest Thai
developers start with small-
scale projects to minimise
risks before expanding once
successful.”
He said Bangkok had the
largest number of residential
projects among 10 ASEAN cit-
ies with about 1,500, followed
by Jakarta (300), Manila (200),
Ho Chi Minh City (150) and
Phnom Penh (100).
PrateepTangmatitham,chief
executive of SET-listed devel-
oper Supalai Plc, said Thai-
land was not an easy place for
foreign investors to conduct
property development due to
barriers to foreign property
ownership.Officialdocuments
related to property and land
are all in the Thai language,
while local units of measure-
ment such as wah, ngan and
rai are still used, he said.
“It’s not easy for foreign in-
vestors to enter the Thai real
estate sector, as they cannot
wholly invest by themselves
but need to establish a joint
venture with local firms,” said
Apa Ataboonwongse, presi-
dent of Richy Place 2002 Plc,
recently listed on the SET.
Nonetheless, Apichard Det-
preechar, senior vice-presi-
dent and manager for housing
loan products at Krungthai
Bank, said provinces near the
border have high potential
for housing development due
to the positive impact from
neighbouring countries such
as Cambodia andVietnam.
Of new home loans totalling
60billionbaht($1.8billion)the
bank released in the first seven
months of this year, 30-40 per
cent were in the northeast.
Professor Doctor Chira
Hongladarom of Thammasat
University urged Thai devel-
opers to be well prepared for
not only funding and market-
ing but also human resources
improvement for the ASEAN
Economic Community.
“Vocational graduates in
the fields of engineering and
architecture are in short sup-
ply in the Thai real estate
sector,” he said. “The sector
should focus on human capi-
tal to drive business growth
and sustain the industry. As
long as our people have qual-
ity, we don’t need to be afraid
of anyone [ASEAN mem-
bers].” bangkok post
A crane works on a construction site in Bangkok amongst residential and commercial buildings. The 2015
ASEAN economic integration will present many Thai developers with opportunities and risks. bloomberg

Business
Fixed Deposit Interest Rates
Cambodian
Financial Institutions
On Deposits
3 Months 6 Months 12 Months
AsofAUGUST 20, 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 1.75% N/A 2.75% N/A 3.50% 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
Collectorspassingupwines
for whiskies as prices surge
W
hen Aaron
Chan heard that
a liquor store in
Athens might
have a rare Hanyu Ichiro Malt
Japanese whisky, he phoned
the shop from Hong Kong. Un-
able to make himself under-
stood in English, he emailed
photos of the distillery’s dis-
tinctive playing-card labels.
The owner replied with a pic-
ture of his bottle. It was the
Ace of Spades.
“That was my eureka mo-
ment,” said Chan, who paid
about HK$6,000 (US$774) for
the bottle two years ago. “The
Ace of Spades was very, very
rare already.”
Last week, a similar bottle
went for HK$85,750 at a Bon-
hams auction in Hong Kong,
14 times what Chan paid and
slightly more than the price of
an entire case of 1982 Chateau
Margaux that Sotheby’s sold in
NewYork seven weeks earlier.
Forget Bordeaux first
growths. Investors are fall-
ing over themselves to snag
iconic single-malt scotches
like Macallan, Bowmore and
Dalmore, and Japan’s rare Kar-
uizawa andYamazaki whiskies
as prices are rising to dizzying
levels. Sotheby’s sold a 6-litre
Lalique decanter of Macallan
“M” single malt in January for
a record HK$4.9 million.
“I’m not really an advocate
of buying whiskey and flip-
ping it,” says Heather Greene,
director of whiskey education
at the Flatiron Room in Man-
hattan, a haven for spirit lov-
ers. “But I’m getting questions
from people asking if they
should buy a couple of cases
and sell them for double.”
Double? Try quintuple. Ac-
cording to the Investment
Grade Scotch index, published
by Whisky Highland in Tain,
Scotland, the top 100 single
malts delivered an average re-
turn of 440 per cent from the
start of 2008 till the end of July
this year. That compares with
a 31 per cent gain in S&P 500
stocks index and a sobering 2
per cent drop in the Liv-ex 100
Benchmark FineWine Index.
Thesurgeinpricesisgreat
news for Mahesh Patel, an
Atlanta real-estate devel-
oper who has amassed a
collection of more than
5,000 bottles.
“Everything I have
is appreciating,” says
Patel, whose cache is
insured for close to $6
million.“Iamabeliever
of buying two of every-
thing. One to open and
enjoy, the other you put
away if it’s rare.”
One exception to his two-
bottle rule is a Dalmore Trini-
tas 64 Year Old, which he
bought in 2010 for £100,000
(US$166,455). Only three were
ever made.
One reason for the price
surge is that distillers can’t re-
act to an increase in demand
quickly: Whiskey takes long
to age. Even a standard duty-
free Glenfiddich or Glenlivet
spends 12 years in the cask,
and investment-grade scotch-
es many more. The 1962 Ma-
callan the villainous Raoul
Silva offered James Bond in
Skyfall was aged for 50 years.
Some of the most-coveted
whiskies come from casks
left over from distilleries that
ceased operation. A batch
from Port Ellen on the
Scottish island of Islay,
which was shuttered in
1983, is still releasing
vintages as they come
of age.The 1978 sold last
year for £1,500.
Part of the demand
for high-end whiskey is
coming from wine col-
lectors who are switch-
ing to the hard stuff.
“My wine portfolio is not do-
ing very well so I am diversify-
ing into whiskey,” says SK Yu,
who attended the August 15
Bonhams auction of Japanese
single malts. He’s entering a
more exclusive arena. There
are only about 100 single-malt
distilleries in Scotland, com-
pared with more than 8,000
winemakers in Bordeaux,
which produces less than 2 per
cent of the world’s wine.
Whisky Highland founder
Andy Simpson estimates the
auction market for whiskey in
the UK, where the bulk of trad-
ing occurs, will reach £6.75
million this year, up from £5
million last year. In 2013, wine
auctions raised about $278
million worldwide, a decline
of 15 per cent.
Added to the mix are whis-
kies from Japan, which opened
its first commercial distillery,
Yamazaki, 90 years ago. Japa-
nese malts have been made
more popular in the West by
films like Kill Bill or Lost in
Translation, featuring actor
Bill Murray touting Suntory’s
Hibiki 17-year-old blend.
The holy grail of Japanese
whiskies is the Karuizawa
1960. Released in 2013, only 41
bottles were produced after 52
years of aging, and each cost
about £12,500. It has an aroma
of scented wood, dark choco-
late, orange peel and honey,
and tastes of pepper, malt,
marmalade and liquorice, ac-
cording to Chan, who tried
it at an exclusive 12- person
sampling at the Auld Alliance
whiskey bar in Singapore.
Inevitably, whiskey’s popu-
larity is spawning counter-
feits, says Luigi Barzini, spirits
specialist at London-based
merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd.
“There are a lot of fakes across
Asia and some in Italy,” he says.
Still, buyers are undaunted.
“It’s crazy,” said David Wain-
wright, director of Zachys Asia,
whichisselling70lotsinaSep-
tember auction in Hong Kong.
“Demand has exploded.”
The frenzy is making oth-
ers nervous. “A lot of people
are jumping in now who
didn’t think about whiskey
as in investment four or five
years ago,” says WhiskyCast’s
Gillespie. “The needle is get-
ting closer to the bubble.”
That doesn’t bother Patel
terribly much. “I don’t see this
as a paper investment, it has
inherent value,” he says. “At
the end of the day you can still
open the bottle and enjoy it.”
the washington post
Philippine de Rothschild,
the grande dame of Bordeaux
wine and part-owner of the
legendary Chateau Mouton
Rothschild vineyard, has
died aged 80, her estate said
on Saturday.
Baronness de Rothschild
was president of the super-
visory board
and the con-
trolling share-
holder in the
family-owned
Baron Philippe
de Rothschild
house, which
produces the
Mouton Cadet
claret – a stan-
dard bearer in
the world of
Bordeaux wine.
She also
owned, along
with her three
children, the
wine houses
of Chateau d’Armailhac and
Chateau Clerc Milon.
The only daughter of grand
prix racing driver and bank-
ing heir Phillipe de Roth-
schild, she enjoyed a 30-year
acting career under the stage
name Philippine Pascal be-
fore taking over the family
estate after her father’s death
in 1988.
As president, Rothschild
helped modernise and di-
versify the estate’s wine pro-
duction, developing part-
nerships with vineyards in
California and Chile.
Rothschildwasalsorespon-
sible for choosing the artists
who illustrated the labels of
Chateau Mou-
ton Rothschild
wines – which
can sell for tens
of thousands of
euros a bot-
tle – working
with famous
painters such
as Pablo Pica-
sso and Francis
Bacon.
Her mother,
Elisabeth Pel-
letier de Cham-
bure, was ar-
rested by the
Gestapo when
Rothschild was
10 years old and later died at
the Ravensbruck Nazi concen-
tration camp. Rothschild mar-
ried actor Jacques Sereys, with
whom she had two children,
and the academic and writer
Jean-Pierre de Beaumarchais,
with whom she had a son.
She was made an officer
of the Legion of Honour in
2007. afp
Grandedameofwine,
BaronessdeRothschild,
diesaged80,estatesays
Private collector Aaron Chan (above) with his collection of Hanyu Ichiro’s
Playing Card series. Sotheby’s sold a Lalique decanter of Macallan ‘M’
single malt (right) in January for a record $630,000. A bottle of Hanyu
Ichiro whiskey (below) sold this month for $11,000. the washington post
Five bottles of Japanese single malt Whisky by Hanyu Ichiro that were
for sale this month at Bonhams Hong Kong auction. the washington post
Philippine de Rothschild (left), the owner of the French winery Chateau
Mouton Rothschild, posing with Zino Davidoff in February 1984. afp
The famous grand cru of the
Medoc, vintage 1987 label of
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. afp

World
IslamistsseizeTripoliairport
I
SLAMIST militias openly
challenged the legitimacy
of parliament after an-
nouncing their seizure of
Tripoli airport, plunging Lib-
ya’s rocky political transition
into a fresh crisis yesterday.
The militias, which the
elected parliament branded
as “terrorists”, said the house
had lost its legitimacy through
its alleged complicity with a
deadly airstrike on the airport
that they blamed on Egypt and
the United Arab Emirates.
“The Emirates and Egypt are
implicated in this cowardly ag-
gression,” Mohammed Hadia,
spokesman for the Fajr Libya
(Libya Dawn) militia, said late
on Saturday.
Parliament fired back at the
militias which announced
their seizure of Tripoli air-
port after a weeks-long battle
against nationalist rivals for
control of the strategic facility.
“The groups acting under
the names of Fajr Libya and
Ansar al-Sharia are terror-
ist groups and outlaws that
are rising up against the le-
gitimate powers,” parliament
charged in a statement.
The parliament, which sits
in Tobruk, 1,600 kilometres
east of the capital, said it was
determined to deal with the
challenge through the regular
armed forces.
Fajr Libya is a coalition of
Islamist militias, mainly from
Misrata, east of the capital,
while Ansar al-Sharia, which
Washington also brands a ter-
rorist group, controls around
80 per cent of the eastern city
of Benghazi.
“These two groups are a le-
gitimate target of the national
army, which we strongly sup-
port in its war to force them
to halt their killings and hand
over their arms,” MPs said.
Fajr Libya said on Saturday it
had capturedTripoli’s battered
international airport.
The announcement came a
day after an unidentified war-
plane raided Islamist positions
around the airport, killing 13
fighters,accordingtoFajrLibya,
which says it is defending the
gains of the 2011 revolution.
The fall of the airport would
be a major defeat for the na-
tionalist fighters from Zintan,
southwest of Tripoli, who have
held it since the overthrow of
longtime dictator Moammar
Gaddafi in 2011.
Early yesterday, Islamist mi-
litiamen attacked the Tripoli
studios of private television
station Al-Assima which sup-
ports the Zintan national-
ists and kidnapped its crew,
the station said.
Al-Assima,inanewsbulletin,
said equipment was destroyed
and the crew went missing.
On the political front, the
outgoing provisional Gen-
eral National Congress (GNC),
which was dominated by Is-
lamists, was to resume op-
erations at the request of Fajr
Libya, despite being supersed-
ed by parliament, its spokes-
man said.
Its members were sum-
moned to meet inTripoli, add-
ing to the political chaos in
Libya and splitting the North
African state into two centres
of power.
The airport, 30 kilometres
south of the Libyan capital,
has been shut since July 13
because of the deadly clashes
between the Islamists and the
Zintan force.
TheIslamistfighterscharged
that Libya’s provisional gov-
ernment and parliament had
both lost legitimacy through
an act of “treason” with their
alleged approval of foreign in-
tervention.
Egypt yesterday denied any
role in the air raid. President
Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, quoted by
state news agency MENA, said:
“There are no Egyptian aircraft
or forces in Libya and no Egyp-
tianaircraftparticipatedinmil-
itary action inside Libya.”
There was no early reaction
from the UAE, an ally of Cairo
against Islamist extremism.
The battle for Tripoli airport
was the fiercest in the capital
since the revolt three years ago
thatoustedtheGaddafiregime.
On April 27, the Health Minis-
try said the first two weeks of
clashes had killed almost 100
people and wounded 400.
TheIslamistsaimtocapitalise
on their military success with a
return to the political front af-
ter their defeat at the ballot box
in June 25 polls. afp
Spent bullet shells litter the ground as a member of the Islamist-linked militia of Misrata walks past after
three days of battles in the area of Tripoli’s international airport. afp
Intel services‘close to identifying Foley killer’
SECURITY services are close to iden-
tifyingthejihadicaptorwhobeheaded
American journalist James Foley, the
British ambassador to the United
States has said.
Speaking on US television, Sir Peter
Westmacott, said voice recognition
technology had been used to pin down
the identity of the man, believed to be
a British born militant from London
who calls himself John.
“We are not far away from that
[identifying the man who beheaded
James Foley],” he said. “[W]e are
putting a lot into it, using voice rec-
ognition technology to try to identify
him. I cannot say more than this but
I know that we are close.”
Buthewarnedthatthefighterwasjust
one of many militants – hundreds of
themfromtheUK–preparedtomurder
and die for the self-proclaimed Islamic
State, formally known as ISIS.
“This problem goes beyond one hor-
rific criminal. As many as 500 British
subjects have gone to Syria or Iraq to
takepartinjihad.Therearemoregoing
from other European countries, too,
and this is a betrayal of all our values,”
he said during an interview with CNN.
Headded:“AllWesterncountrieshave
a very small number who have become
radicalised or brainwashed enough to
take up this cause. But this is not the
majority and the Muslim Council of
Britain[umbrellabodyfor500mosques,
schoolsandassociationsinBritain]has
come out formally against this.”
The Sunday Times, citing unnamed
senior British government sources,
reported that the UK’s domestic coun-
ter-intelligence, MI5, and foreign intel-
ligenceservice,MI6,haveidentifiedthe
fightersuspectedofkillingFoleybutthe
sources did not give details about the
suspect’s name. The masked militant,
who was shown on video beheading
Foley, threatened to kill a second US
hostage if President Barack Obama did
not change foreign policy in Iraq.
AskedwhyBritainwouldnotcommit
to airstrikes if IS was also a threat to the
UK,Westmacott said the UK was “very
active” in the region.“It is a threat to us.
We’vepickedup60or70ofoursubjects
coming back from Iraq and Syria
intending to do damage to our coun-
try,” he said. “We are very active, very
present, we have a lot of humanitarian
involvement and we have been ship-
ping arms to the Kurdish government,
refuelling aircraft.”
Westmacott repeated assurances
madebyotherkeymembersofthegov-
ernment, including Foreign Secretary
Philip Hammond, that Britain would
not put “boots on the ground” in Iraq.
“AtthemomenttheIraqigovernment
arenotaskingustodomorethanweare
doing,” he said. “It’s right to say that we
arepresentalongsidetheUSinanactive
role but we are not getting involved in
anotherIraqwar. . .Wearenotplanning
direct action at this point.”
In the Sunday Times, Hammond
called Foley’s killing an “utter betrayal
of our country”. He wrote:“It is horrify-
ing to think that the perpetrator of this
heinous act could have been brought
up in Britain.” the guardian
Erupt alert
eased but
Icelandstill
on guard
ICELANDlowereditsalertover
the nation’s largest volcanic
system to orange yesterday
after keeping it for one day at
the maximum level amid fears
of an imminent eruption.
A major explosion at the
Bardarbunga volcano, located
under a glacier, could signal a
replayoftheglobaltravelchaos
triggeredwhenanotherIcelan-
dic peak blew four years ago,
creating a massive ash cloud
across Europe.
TheIcelandicMetOfficesaid
thattherehadnotbeenasmall
subglacial eruption on Satur-
day, as previously announced.
“Presently there are no signs
of ongoing volcanic activity,”
IMOsaidonitswebsiteonSat-
urday night.
The red alert level on Satur-
day led to the closure of air-
space in the affected area,
although all airports in the
country remained opened.
Seismicactivityremainshigh
inthearea,withmorethan700
tremors recorded during the
night. Early yesterday, the
strongest earthquakes of the
current seismic cycle shook
Bardarbunga.
Theywerelistedwithintensi-
tiesof5.3and5.1ontheRichter
scale, the highest registered in
the area since 1996.
The eruption of Eyjafjoell, a
smaller volcano, in April 2010
causedtravelmayhem,strand-
ing more than eight million
people in the widest airspace
shutdown sinceWorldWar II.
Iceland’s most active sub-
glacial volcano, Grimsvotn,
erupted in 2011, forcing the
countrytoshutitsairspaceand
sparkingfearsofarepeatofthe
Eyjafjoell flight chaos. afp
Tobruk
Tripoli airport
Misrata
Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland
erupts in May 2011. afp

China lays blame on US
formidairconfrontation
BEIJING dismissed on
Saturday accusations that a
Chinese fighter jet flew too
close to a US military aircraft
off Hainan Island, blaming
“massive and frequent”
surveillance for dangerous
midair confrontations. US Rear
Admiral John Kirby said on
Friday the armed Chinese
warplane came close to the
American surveillance aircraft
three times, coming to within 9
metres. China’s defence
ministry spokesman Yang
Yujun called the claims “totally
groundless” and lashed out at
the US military for conducting
surveillance operations close
to Chinese waters. afp
Pressure trouble forces
Malaysian plane back
A MALAYSIA Airlines plane
was forced to turn back due to
pressure problems inside the
aircraft after being in the air
for almost an hour, an aviation
watchdog official said
yesterday. Department of Civil
Aviation chief Azharuddin
Abdul Rahman said the plane
returned to Kuala Lumpur
because it was unable to
maintain the correct pressure
inside the craft. The flag
carrier has been in the
spotlight over the
disappearance of flight MH370
and the shooting down of
MH17 on July 17. AFP
World
Chinakillseightfor‘terrorism’
C
HINA has executed
eight people for “ter-
rorist attacks”, in-
cluding three it de-
scribed as “masterminding” a
suicide car crash in Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square in 2013,
state media announced.
State news agency Xinhua
said early yesterday that the
eight were involved in several
cases connected to the north-
western region of Xinjiang,
where Beijing says separatist
militants are behind a string of
attacks that have rocked China
in recent months.
Three of the condemned,
named by Xinhua as Huseyin
Guxur, Yusup Wherniyas and
Yusup Ehmet, had been “de-
prived of political rights for
life” at the time of being sen-
tenced to death for their role
in the assault in Tiananmen
Square in October.
“They masterminded the
terrorist attack” at Tiananmen
Square, Xinhua said.
Twotouristswerekilledinthe
attack, in which a car rammed
into bystanders on the iconic
square in the heart of Beijing
before bursting into flames.
Three attackers also died in
the incident, blamed by Bei-
jing on Xinjiang separatists.
Xinhua said five others were
executed, including Rozi Eziz,
who was convicted of an at-
tack on police in Aksu in 2013.
Abdusalam Elim was execut-
ed on charges of “organising
and leading a terrorist organi-
sation,” Memet Tohtiyusup
had “watched audio-visual
materials on religious extrem-
ism” and “killed an innocent
civilian” in 2013, and Abdu-
momin Imin was described as
a“terrorist ringleader” who led
Bilal Berdi in attacks on police
in 2011 and 2013.
Xinhua, which cited the Xin-
jiang region publicity depart-
ment in its report, did not say
when the executions were car-
ried out.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman
for theWorld Uyghur Congress
exile group, in an email blast-
ed the legal process surround-
ing the executions, calling it a
“typical [case] of justice serv-
ing politics”.
The sentences underscore
the tough approach Beijing is
taking to increasingly brazen
and violent incidents. The Ti-
ananmen attack was one of
several that have rocked China
since last year, and which Bei-
jing has blamed on Xinjiang
separatists.
In March, a horrific knife
assault at a railway station in
the city of Kunming in China’s
southern Yunnan province left
29 dead and 143 wounded.
Two months later, 39 people
were killed, along with four
attackers, and more than 90
wounded when assailants
threwexplosivesandploughed
two off-road vehicles through
a crowd at a market in Xinji-
ang’s capital Urumqi.
Chinese courts, which are
controlled by the ruling Com-
munist Party and have a
near-perfect conviction rate,
frequently impose death sen-
tences for terror offences.
The executions and sen-
tences are part of a crackdown
that comes after Beijing vowed
a yearlong campaign against
terrorism in the wake of the
Urumqi market attack.
In June, 13 people were ex-
ecuted for Xinjiang linked ter-
rorist attacks.
Beijing does not say how
many people it executes, but
independent estimates put the
total at around 3,000 in 2012,
a figure higher than all other
countries combined. afp
A car burns after a terrorist attack on Tiananmen Square last year.
China has executed eight people on terrorism charges. photos supplied

Afghans have handover
date – but no president
AFGHAN President Hamid
Karzai said on Saturday his
successor would take office on
September 2, despite a slow-
moving vote audit designed to
eliminate fraudulent ballots
cast for the two contenders.
The new president was due to
be inaugurated on August 2, in
Afghanistan’s first democratic
transfer of power, but the
government has been
paralysed for months after the
first round failed to produce a
clear winner and the second
round of voting in June
triggered allegations of
massive fraud. Neither
candidate appears willing to
back down. afp
Eighteen migrants die
en route to Italy: media
THE Italian navy yesterday
found the bodies of 18
migrants aboard an inflatable
dinghy adrift south of the
island of Lampedusa, media
reports said. The navy ship
Sirio, after spotting the boat
was in difficulty, approached it
and found 73 survivors along
with the 18 dead, the reports
said. The navy, coast guard
and merchant marine have
rescued more than 3,500
people since Friday in the
stretch of the Mediterranean
between Sicily and the Libyan
and Tunisian coasts, the Italian
news agency ANSA said. afp
World
Rivalprotestsaspeace
holdsinMissouritown
TWO rallies – one demanding
justice for the unarmed black
teenagershottwoweeksagoby
awhitepoliceofficer,theother
in support of that officer –
broughtpeopletothestreetsof
a Missouri town on Saturday.
But authorities in the St Lou-
is suburb of Ferguson, where
Brown was killed on August 9,
reported the night was the
most peaceful in two weeks of
racially charged demonstra-
tions – some of them violent –
over the 18-year-old’s death.
Michael Brown’s funeral, set
to take place today, is likely to
be a focal point for more dem-
onstrationsbyangryprotesters
demanding that Darren Wil-
son,thepolicemanwhopulled
the trigger, face justice.
There have been few signs,
however,oftheprotestsspread-
ingbroadlytootherpartsofthe
United States, though a rally
took place in New York, and
therewereweekend“peacefes-
tivals” set for nearby St Louis.
Protestersarealsoangryatthe
hardline police response to
early demonstrations, with
authorities using battle-grade
hardware bought under federal
programs from the US military.
President Barack Obama on
Saturday ordered a review to
determine“whetherthesepro-
gramsareappropriate”,wheth-
ertrainingwiththeequipment
is sufficient and whether there
is enough federal oversight of
the gear’s use.
But there has also been sup-
port for Wilson, who has gone
underground since shooting
Brown at least six times.
“Untilyouknowthefacts,you
have no idea the situation he’s
in,” Beth Zeiner, an insurance
reviewer wearing a blueT-shirt
withan“OfficerDarrenWilson”
badge sewn on it, said.
“His life is also destroyed.
There are so many factors, but
it has been one-sided from
what we have seen.”
She noted that many busi-
nesses had suffered greatly
after days of looting, and may
never be able to recover.
InNewYork,thousandsdem-
onstrated to protest the death
of a black man placed in a
chokehold by police.
EricGarner,43,whowassus-
pected of illegally selling ciga-
rettes, was wrestled to the
ground by white police officers
after resisting arrest on July 17.
Garner, who was asthmatic
and repeatedly complained he
could not breathe, lost con-
sciousness and was later pro-
nounced dead of a heart
attack. afp
‘Foraslongasittakes’
P
RIME Minister Benja-
min Netanyahu said
yesterday Israel’s Gaza
offensive would con-
tinue as long as necessary, a
day after an Egyptian call for a
ceasefire and new truce talks.
Israeli airstrikes killed eight
Palestinians in the enclave
yesterday and Gaza militants
kept up rocket fire into Israel.
“Operation Protective Edge
will continue until its aims
are achieved . . . It may take
time,” he said of the offensive
launched on July 8.
Israel carried out 27 strikes
and 50 rockets were fired
from Gaza, 47 of which hit the
Jewish state, an army spokes-
woman said.
The Israeli ambulance ser-
vice said that three people
were wounded by Palestinian
fire at the Erez crossing point
between Israel and Gaza, at
least one of them seriously.
Police said they were all Arab
public transport drivers wait-
ing in the crossing’s car park,
two of them Bedouin from the
southern Israeli town of Rahat
and one a Palestinian from Is-
raeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
The new bloodshed came
after Israel pounded Gza with
at least 60 strikes on Saturday,
killing 10 Palestinians, mostly
women and children.
There was still no sign of ei-
ther side adopting the cease-
fire Egypt appealed for on Sat-
urday to allow negotiators to
return to Cairo to thrash out
the details of a durable truce.
Since a previous round of
frantic Egyptian diplomacy
collapsed on Tuesday, shat-
tering nine days of calm, 88
Palestinians and a 4-year-old
Israeli boy have been killed
in the violence. At a special
cabinet session, Netanyahu
repeated his warning of harsh
retribution for the death of the
child in a rocket strike near
the Gaza border. afp
Relatives mourn yesterday for a 4-year-old Israeli boy (above) and for a
1-year-old Palestinian girl. afp

Oleksandr Savochenko
and Nicolas Gaudichet
U
KRAINIANPresident
Petro Poroshenko
yesterday decried
Russian “aggression”
and announced $3 billion in
increased defence spending
as Kiev staged a symbolic In-
dependence Day parade while
battling pro-Moscow rebels in
the east of the country.
Army cadets and military
hardware crossed Kiev’s Maid-
an, or Independence Square,
as thousands rallied in an
emotional show of strength
aimed at boosting morale in
the strife-torn nation.
Crowds of Ukrainians, many
sporting the national colours
of blue and yellow, sang the
ex-Soviets state’s anthem as
the flag was raised.
“I am convinced that the
battle for Ukraine, for inde-
pendence,willbeoursuccess,”
Poroshenko told the crowds in
a speech ahead of the parade.
“War has come to us from
over the horizon
where it was nev-
er expected,” he
said, referring to
Russia.
“In the 21st cen-
tury, in the centre
of Europe, there is
a flagrant attempt
to breach the bor-
der of a sovereign
state without de-
claring war,” he
said. “It is as if
the world has returned to the
1930s, the eve ofWorldWar II.”
Poroshenko pledged to allo-
cate 40 billion hryvnias ($3 bil-
lion) to its cash-strapped army
over the next three years in
what he called “only the mod-
est beginning” in the rebirth of
the Ukrainian military.
The money will be used to
purchase warplanes, warships
and helicopters, he said.
Crowds,includingmanypeo-
plewearingtraditional embroi-
dered shirts or flower wreaths,
densely packed the Maidan
and surrounding streets for
the first time since the pro-
European rallies in the winter
that eventually toppled former
leaderViktorYanukovych.
“It is a demonstration of
the unity and independence
of Ukraine,” said Oleksandr
Kaplya, with a Ukrainian flag
peeking out of his shirt pocket.
“We want to show the world
that we are one.”
It was the first military pa-
rade in Kiev in five years, and
some said it helped boost the
nation’s spirits
as the Ukrainian
army is engaged
in a bloody con-
flict in the east of
the country.
“In wartime
there were al-
ways parades . . .
We need this to
lift our military
morale,” said Ro-
man Kovalchuk,
who had travelled
to the capital with his wife and
friends from southern Ukraine
for the occasion. But while
Kiev was gripped by patriotic
fervour, fierce clashes contin-
ued to ravage the industrial
east, with mortar fire hitting
a hospital in the main rebel
hub of Donetsk.
In the insurgent stronghold,
meanwhile, pro-Russian sepa-
ratists threatened an event of
their own to ridicule the cel-
ebrations in Kiev by parading
imprisoned Ukrainian soldiers.
On central Lenin square,
rebels showcased what they
said was military hardware
captured from Kiev’s army,
including artillery guns and
armoured vehicles.
A shell hit a hospital in cen-
tral Donetsk in the early hours
of yesterday, damaging a
morgue and two other build-
ings and sending staff and pa-
tients to a basement shelter.
“We heard explosions at
6:30am, windows broke and
doctors told us to leave our
rooms to go down here,” said
one young man in the base-
ment of the surgery ward, who
added that he was a Ukrainian
soldier injured earlier in the
week and now awaiting a pris-
oner swap.
Poroshenko is under pres-
sure ahead of a meeting with
Russia’s President Vladimir
Putin and EU officials in Minsk
on Tuesday, where the two are
expected to try to take a step
toward resolving the bloody
conflict. afp
World
Ukrainian forces parade during a military ceremony held in the centre of Kiev yesterday to mark the 23rd
anniversary of the country’s independence. afp
russia convoy leaves after ‘invasion’
ACONVOY of Russian aid trucks that had
escalated tensions between Moscow
and Kiev by entering Ukraine without
permission returned to Russia on Saturday
as a Ukrainian military official alleged that
Russians had loaded weapons and
surveillance equipment onto the vehicles
before they left.
Colonel Andriy Lysenko, Ukraine’s military
spokesman, said that trucks that had
entered the territory “under the guise of
humanitarian convoys” had been loaded
with Ukrainian-made equipment used to
produce an advanced aircraft-tracking
system, as well as ammunition for small
arms, before they crossed back over the
border on Saturday morning.
The allegations came amid international
outrage over Russia’s decision to send the
aid convoy into Ukraine without the
permission of the Ukrainian government or
the support of the International Committee
of the Red Cross, an action that Ukrainians
called a “direct invasion” and a “flagrant
violation of international law”. Workers on
the aid trucks, which had been stopped at
the border for days, distributed food and
other supplies to the besieged city of
Luhansk in rebel-held territory on Friday
evening. Russia’s Foreign Ministry hinted on
Saturday that Russia had plans to send
more humanitarian aid and said that it
would be happy to work with the ICRC.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a
statement that Moscow had run out of
patience with “delays” and other “excuses”
from Ukraine after a nearly 10-day standoff.
Ukraine had threatened a military
response if the convoy tried to force its way
in. Yet allowing the trucks to disperse
across the Luhansk region without any
Ukrainian controls in effect allows Russia to
force a cease-fire in Kiev’s fight against pro-
Russian separatists. the washington post
Ukraine rallies, plans
$3B booster for army
Why some Filipinos choose a war zone over home
Jefry Tupas and Joe Torres
ROJE Garcia, an engineer from the
southern Philippines, works in
Libya.Heisoneofmorethan10,000
Filipinos who choose to stay in the
embattled country despite threats
to their lives.
During the conflict of 2011, he
responded to the call of the Philip-
pine government to come home.
Butoncebackhomehefoundthere
werefewopportunitiesforemploy-
mentthatcomparedwithwhathe’d
enjoyed overseas.
So, on October 23, 2013, he went
back, hoping the situation there
would improve. It worsened.
On July 15, militiamen abducted
a Filipino construction worker. His
headlessbodywasfoundfourdays
later.AFilipinonursewasabducted
from outside her residence in
Tripoli by a gang of youths, who
reportedly gang raped her.
Garcia refused to be shaken. The
Philippinegovernmentagaincalled
on Filipinos to return home. But
this time Garcia decided to stay.
“Whatdidourgovernmentdofor
uswhenwefirstcamehome?There
isnothingthatawaitsusinthePhil-
ippines,” he said.
Every day, about 4,500 Filipinos
leave the Philippines to work
abroad. Data from the Philippine
OverseasEmploymentAdministra-
tion show that there were between
9.5 million and 12.5 million Filipi-
nos working abroad in 2013.
In 2013, the Philippine Foreign
Affairs Department said that at
least883Filipinosdiedwhilework-
ingabroad,andsome3,135Filipino
overseasworkersarelanguishingin
detention centres.
Still, Filipinos risk their lives to
leave the country, hoping that a job
abroad will improve their lot.
AccordingtoEmmanuelJovellanos,
advocacy officer of the Mindanao
Migrants Center for Empowering
Actions, most Filipinos leave the
country “not because they want to,
butbecausetherearenoopportuni-
ties for them here”.
Venobia Carro, an officer of the
Overseas Workers Welfare Admin-
istration in southern Mindanao,
admitted that most Filipinos in
Libyaopttostaythereandrisktheir
lives, rather than return home
where incomes are much lower.
“They are earning dollars when
they work abroad,” Carro said.
“SalariesinthePhilippinesareway
too low compared to how much
they are getting in Libya.”
Jessielina Tanda is one returnee
who knows from experience that
the level of government assistance
is not sufficient.
Adomesticworkerformorethan
12 years in the Middle East, Tanda
decided to leave her $350 monthly
salary last year and come home,
because of emotional distress that
took a toll on her health. She said
that she was resigned to the fact
that she would be starting from
scratch. The single mother of two
teenageboysarrivedhomenotonly
with a draining bank account, but
also with little help from the gov-
ernment,whichgaveherlittlemore
than a ticket home and $250.
For six months, Tanda was job-
less, relying only on relatives and
friendstosurvive.Sheeventhought
of going back to the Middle East.
“ButIwasillandfeltthatIhadbeen
through a lot already,” she said.
Perhapsit’snowonderthatwork-
ers such as Garcia in Libya choose
tostayput.Thegovernment’saidis
indeed paltry compared to the
$1,825 the average Filipino worker
earns every month in Libya.
“The government made so many
promises to workers in 2011 that
were never fulfilled,” said Filipino
priest Celco Laraccas, who lives in
Libya. “It is singing the same tune
this time around.” ucanews.com
A volunteer next to aid in Mariupol on Saturday. afp
A wounded man hugs a
woman after a shelling in
Donetsk on Saturday. afp
A man who fled Libya arrives in Manila in 2011. afp

World
Paris celebrates itsWWII liberation
Richard Carter
‘P
ARIS! Paris outraged! Par-
is broken! Paris martyred!
But Paris liberated! Liber-
atedbyitself.Liberatedby
its people.” Those were the words of
CharlesDeGaulletoanecstaticcrowd
cheering the capital’s liberation from
Nazioccupationafterfourlong,pain-
ful, bitter years.
It was August 25, 1944, and after six
days of skirmishes between French
Resistancefightersandademoralised
Nazi occupying force, French and
American armoured units burst into
Paristoassureitsliberation–anevent
marked all this week in the city.
Francois Hollande is to lead 70th
anniversary tributes today to the few
survivingveteransoftheliberation,in
theknowledgethatmanyofthem,now
in their 90s, will not live to see the
80th anniversary.
Men like Fred Moore, now 94, who
recalledthathistoricdayin1944when
he lost a friend but gained a wife.
“It was a beautiful day and when we
went through the Porte d’Orleans [in
southern Paris], there were already
crowds cheering us on from the pave-
mentsandclamberinguponourtanks
whenever we stopped,” he recalled.
Moore was part of the French 2nd
Armoured Division, the mission of
which was to blast its way to the Eif-
fel Tower. He cherishes the memory
of one of his junior officers, Pierre
Deville, who celebrated his 20th
birthday that day. At the Porte
d’Orleans,hejoyfullytelephonedhis
parents to say “I’m coming home”.
Hours later, he was dead.
But shortly afterwards there was a
happierevent,asMoorebumpedinto
the young woman who, eight months
later, would become his bride.
“We got talking, then I had to go
awayfor15minutestohandoutsome
orders.Iheadedbacktowardsherand
a young female press officer from the
US Army rushed up to kiss me,” he
recalled.“She got a hell of a slap from
my future wife,” he chuckled.
The liberation of Paris, by French
troops, allowed France to “wipe out
the shame and humiliation” of the
years of occupation after 1940, said
historian Christine Levisse-Touze,
but the Allied high command took
some persuading.
Scarredbydevastatinglossesonthe
Normandy beaches and mindful of
the slaughter in other cities such as
Warsaw and Stalingrad, Allied top
brass were hesitant about liberating
Paris, preferring to concentrate on
securing northern ports.
American General Omar Bradley
wrote in his memoirs that Paris was
“nothingmorethananinkspotonour
maps to be bypassed as we headed
toward the Rhine”. But De Gaulle suc-
ceeded in persuading Allied military
chief General Eisenhower that Paris
must be retaken, and retaken intact.
The liberation started in classic
French fashion: with a general strike.
Then,onAugust19,upto3,000police
officersretooktheiroldheadquarters,
starting a domino effect that would
see several official buildings fall into
the hands of the Resistance.The Nazi
military governor of Paris, General
Dietrich von Choltitz, negotiated a
shaky truce with the Resistance that
failedtohold,butfamouslydisobeyed
Hitler’s orders to destroy the capital’s
monuments and bridges.
OnAugust25,asAlliedtroopsflood-
ed into the city, Choltitz signed his
capitulation at Gare Montparnasse.
The losses were minimal for an
operation of its size. The French sec-
ond armoured division lost 156 men,
the American fourth division none at
all. Around 1,000 Resistance fighters,
including175policeofficersdied.His-
torian Levisse-Touze puts German
losses at around 3,200 men.
The next day, De Gaulle would
march down the Champs-Elysees
roared on by a million people.“It was
a sea! An immense crowd through
whichIpassedcalmly,butfullofemo-
tion,” he would later write. AFP
A Paris woman hands her baby to an American soldier on August 25, 1944, the day Paris was liberated from Nazi control; and a man
sits in a jeep during a ceremony last week marking the historic event’s 70th anniversary. afp
FOUR people were arrested
yesterday as police shut down
voting facilities in Macau after
activists ignored objections
from Beijing and held an unof-
ficial referendum on electoral
reform.
Residents of the Chinese
gambling hub were told they
could vote at several locations
across the territory, as well as
online,butpollorganiserJason
Chao told AFP that those
attempting to take part in per-
son were stopped by police,
who confiscated the tablet
computers people used to
declare their vote.
He said four activists were
arrested by police after polling
began in the morning, but
could not specify on what
grounds. “The authorities are
using all means to disrupt our
activity,” Chao said. “I can’t
imagine why the government
has to clamp down on such a
peaceful event,” he said.
TheformerPortuguesecolo-
ny returned to Chinese rule in
1999 but has a separate legal
system from the mainland.
LikeHongKong,Macau’slead-
er is known as its chief execu-
tive and is chosen by a pro-
Beijing electoral committee.
The referendum was sched-
uled to run for a week ending
on August 31, just ahead of the
naming of the enclave’s new
leaderonAugust31bythe400-
member committee.
The poll was designed by
activists to garner public sup-
port for reforms in the city of
550,000, but it is not clear if it
will be able to continue or if
authorities will also block the
online voting system.
Police did not confirm the
arrests or shutdown.
“Ourgoalistofightforadem-
ocraticelectoralsystemandthe
first stage is to get the citizens
informed of the election sys-
tem,” Chao said last month.
As of 4pm yesterday, over
1,900 people had voted, the
event’s website said. AFP
ArrestsasMacaucops
stop democracy vote
Ebola epidemic seen spreading in
W Africa as first Briton diagnosed
A BRITISH national living in
SierraLeonehastestedpositive
for the Ebola virus – the first
Briton confirmed to have con-
tracted the disease.
The Department of Health
said medical experts were
assessing the situation “to
ensure that appropriate care is
delivered”.Consularassistance
is being provided.
Meanwhile, West African
nations have imposed strin-
gent new measures to stop the
spread of Ebola as two new
cases emerged in Nigeria that
appear to indicate a widening
of the circle of those affected.
The Ivory Coast has closed
its borders with its Ebola-
hit neighbours and Sierra Leo-
ne has said it will jail people
who hide patients with the
virus.TheWorldHealthOrgan-
ization believes that the
practice has contributed to a
major underestimation of the
current outbreak.
It was announced on Satur-
day that the borders between
Ivory Coast and both Guinea
and Liberia were closed the
previous day, as the death toll
of the epidemic reached 1,427
acrossWest Africa.
Themeasurewasputinplace
“toprotectallpeople,including
foreigners,livingonIvorianter-
ritory”, Ivorian Prime Minister
Daniel Kaban Duncan said.
According to theWHO, Libe-
ria has been the hardest hit by
the outbreak, with 624 deaths
since March.
Guinea has seen 406 people
die, while in Sierra Leone 392
have succumbed to the haem-
orrhagic fever. Nigeria, mean-
while, has seen five people die.
ThetwonewcasesinNigeria
are causing particular concern
because they are outside the
immediate group of caregivers
whotreatedadyingairlinepas-
senger. The new patients were
infected by their spouses, both
medical workers who had
direct contact with Liberian-
American Patrick Sawyer, who
flew into Nigeria from Liberia
and Togo and infected 11 oth-
ers before he died in July.
There are fears that the
number of people affected is
even higher than reported
because many people – mind-
ful of the stigma attached – are
hiding Ebola patients.
“This phenomenon strongly
suggests the existence of an
invisible caseload of patients
who are not being detected by
the surveillance system,” the
UN health agency said. This
has“never before been seen in
an Ebola outbreak”, it added.
According to the Associated
Press, the Liberian govern-
ment has delivered donated
rice to a slum where 50,000
people have been sealed off
from the rest of the capital
Monrovia in an attempt to
contain the outbreak.
In Sierra Leone, a new
amendment to the country’s
health act was passed, impos-
ing jail time of up to two years
for those caught hiding Ebola
patients. The new law – an
update to the country’s 1960
Public Health Act – was passed
on Friday.
Lawmaker Ansumana Jaiah
Kaikai said the measure was
necessary to compel reluctant
residents to cooperate with
government officials.
“This amendment seeks to
address these emerging bot-
tlenecks,”thelawmakeradded.
the guardian
An Ivory Coast man looks at an Ebola awareness poster yesterday. It
reads: ‘The Ebola risk is still there.’ afp
A pro-democracy volunteer hands
out flyers in Macau yesterday. AFP

World
Parsing languagefromwhitenoise
Meeri Kim
F
ROM ultrasonic bat chirps to
eerie whale songs, the ani-
mal kingdom is a noisy place.
While some sounds might
have meaning – typically something
like “I’m a male, aren’t I great?” – no
other creatures have a true language
except for us. Or do they?
A new study on animal calls has
found that the patterns of barks,
whistles and clicks from seven differ-
ent species appear to be more com-
plex than previously thought. The re-
searchers used mathematical tests to
see how well the sequences of sounds
fit to models ranging in complexity.
Five species including the killer
whale and free-tailed bat exhibited
communicationbehaviours thatwere
definitively more language-like than
random. The study was published in
the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“We’restillavery,verylongwayfrom
understanding this transition from
animal communication to human
language, and it’s a huge mystery at
the moment,” said study author and
zoologist Arik Kershenbaum, who did
the work at the National Institute for
Mathematical and Biological Syn-
thesis. “These types of mathematical
analyses can give us some clues.”
While the most complicated math-
ematical models come closer to our
own speech patterns, the simple
models – called Markov processes –
are more random and have been his-
torically thought to fit animal calls.
“A Markov process is where you
have a sequence of numbers or let-
ters or notes, and the probability of
any particular note depends only on
the few notes that have come before,”
Kershenbaum said.
So the next note could depend on
the last two or 10 notes before it, but
there is a defined window that can be
used to predict what happens next.
“Whatmakeshumanlanguagespe-
cial is that there’s no finite limit as to
what comes next,” he said.
Kershenbaum used recordings of
the wild rock hyrax, a small and furry
rabbit-like critter that grunts, wails,
whistles and barks, along with calls of
free-tailed bats, Carolina chickadees,
Bengalese finches, orangutans, pilot
whales and killer whales. For compar-
ison, he also threw in the text of Ham-
let as a sample of human language.
The researchers were surprised to
find that none of the animal calls fits
the Markovian model. In particular,
the sequences from the chickadee,
finch, bat and both whales fit one of
the more complex models. None of
the equations could explain the vo-
calisations of the hyrax or orangutan
very well, for reasons not yet known.
When birds chirp or monkeys chat-
ter, it’s natural for us to interpret this
as animals talking to one another. For
instance, vervet monkeys have a dis-
tinct alarm call that goes with each
type of predator they have. Scientists
wonderedwhetherthemonkeyswere
calling out words for “eagle” or “leop-
ard” as warnings to their group.
But then they noticed that after
a leopard call, the group would re-
spond by running up into a tree, star-
ing at the predator, and making that
same call over and over.
“If it was a word, that’s just not what
would happen,” said evolutionary bi-
ologistTecumseh Fitch at the Univer-
sity of Vienna. “I think it’s more rea-
sonable to say it’s a reaction to seeing
a leopard.”
That means, as far as we know, hu-
mans are still the only ones with lan-
guage. But what separates language
from communication? Why can’t we
assume that whales are simply speak-
ing “whale-ese”?
To be considered a true language,
there are a few elements that are es-
sential, Kershenbaum said. For one, it
must be learned rather than instinc-
tive – both whales and birds have this
covered. For instance, killer whale
calves learn a repertoire of calls from
their mothers, and the sounds gradu-
ally evolve from erratic screams to
adult-like pulsed calls and whistles.
What holds whales and other ani-
mals back from language is that there
is a limit to what they can express.
There are only so many calls that
each may convey different emotions,
but only we have an unlimited ability
to express abstract ideas.
The problem is that no one knows
how language evolved. There don’t
seem to be any transitional proto-lan-
guages between whale and bird songs
– said to be the most sophisticated
animal calls – and our own speech.
There are two conflicting theories
of how language evolved in humans.
The first is that human language
evolved slowly and gradually, just
as most traits evolved in the animal
world. So perhaps it started with ges-
tures, and then words and sentences.
Or language may have started out
more like a bird song – with complex
but meaningless sounds – and the
last stage was attaching meaning to
these sounds. THe washington post
The speech of killer whales, among other animals, has been found to be much more
complex than previously believed. afp

Phnom Penh Post Englist

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Phnom Penh Post Englist

Similar to Phnom Penh Post Englist (20)

More from Barang CK

More from Barang CK (8)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Phnom Penh Post Englist