Experts unsure if urns found at Siem Reap temple are ancient

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jAKVM2O-boE/XVV0tpCXmLI/AAAAAAAAANM/zSplHXn4F889LDPx6zbnGk2YlKglMV_aACLcBGAs/s1600/apsara_national_authority_officials_and_researchers_at_sophia_university_in_japan_are_working_to_identify_the_origin_of_eight_urns._die.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jAKVM2O-boE/XVV0tpCXmLI/AAAAAAAAANM/zSplHXn4F889LDPx6zbnGk2YlKglMV_aACLcBGAs/s640/apsara_national_authority_officials_and_researchers_at_sophia_university_in_japan_are_working_to_identify_the_origin_of_eight_urns._die.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> Apsara National Authority (ANA) officials and researchers at Sophia University in Japan are working to identify the origin of eight urns containing human bones that were unearthed in the Banteay Kdei temple complex in Siem Reap town on Monday.<br /> <br /> ANA archaeologist Tho Thon said he and experts from Sophia University found the urns within the Banteay Kdei compound next to a Buddhist pillar by Tower C19.<br /> <br /> "After we discovered the urns and attempted to research their background, including talking to villagers in the area, we concluded the bones were from the 1980s. They are not human bones from the Angkor period or ancient times," Thon said.<br /> <br /> But ANA spokesman Long Kosal, while acknowledging that the villagers claimed the bones were from the 1980s, said the experts were not yet convinced, because the location they were discovered in was used for burials in ancient times.<br /> <br /> He said the researchers would continue their analysis but were also sceptical that the urns dated from ancient times.<br /> <br /> "We also found nearly 100 pieces of statues, pots, plates, jars and jewellery in 2011. We later found other specimens at Tower C19. The purpose of the excavation is to explore the structure and the relationship between the Buddhist pillar and Tower C19," Kosal said.<br /> <br /> Nhim Sotheavin, a researcher at Sophia University, said specialists had previously excavated the complex in 1996. At that time, he said, they had found a Chinese urn containing bones embedded in a temple porch.<br /> <br /> He said the current excavation work would be completed next Wednesday. This excavation has provided archaeology students with valuable experience which will be crucial in preserving the ancient temples," he said.<br /> <br /> Separately, the Department of Culture and Fine Arts in Oddar Meanchey province on Saturday received a sandstone inscription from Khnar village's Wat Phnom Dey, in Chongkal district's Krasaing commune, and will preserve it as an item of national cultural heritage.<br /> <br /> The handover ceremony of the inscription was attended by specialist officials from the department's heritage and museum offices and provincial heritage protection police.<br /> <br /> Department of Culture and Fine Arts director Hong Yoeun said the inscription was made from sandstone during the 11th century in the Angkorian period.<br /> <br /> Yoeun said it had been taken from Trapeang Roung temple and was 1.02m long, 0.45m wide and 0.35m thick, with four pillars around its corners.<br /> <br /> Some of the text carved in the stone had been eroded and parts of the inscription had broken off, he said.<br /> <br /> "Specialist officials from the Oddar Meanchey Department of Culture and Fine Arts have taken the stone to be preserved in its compound," Yoeun said.

Experts unsure if urns found at Siem Reap temple are ancient

Apsara National Authority (ANA) officials and researchers at Sophia University in Japan are working to identify the origin of eight urns ...

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Embassy issues typhoon alert for Cambodians in Japan

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMvNgO9EIqA/XVV0WcGCNdI/AAAAAAAAANE/ygq94n4CRIkXZafo5xBm73OU35LxDLFiACLcBGAs/s1600/typhoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMvNgO9EIqA/XVV0WcGCNdI/AAAAAAAAANE/ygq94n4CRIkXZafo5xBm73OU35LxDLFiACLcBGAs/s640/typhoon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> The Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Japan issued a typhoon warning on Tuesday for Cambodian residents residing in the Shikoku region.<br /> <br /> In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the embassy said the typhoon would reach between 110 and 160km/h with 1,000mm of rain in some areas.<br /> <br /> The region may see waves of up to 10m high and is at risk of landslides, said the post. "The embassy appeals to citizens, students and interns in the area to be cautious," it said.<br /> <br /> "For urgent information about Cambodian citizens, students or interns residing in the area, please notify the embassy via the embassy's Facebook page or by calling +81-(0)80-4689-9374 or +81-(0)80-3459-7889."<br /> <br /> An embassy official, who asked not to be named, told The Post on Wednesday that there had been no reports of injuries from residents or local authorities.<br /> <br /> He said Cambodians must familiarise themselves with nearby rescue centres in case of emergencies.<br /> <br /> "They [residents] have to be ready and have the contact numbers of the Cambodian embassy and Japanese authorities. While living here, they must also acquire a little knowledge of all the things involved. They must take the necessary precautions," said the official.<br /> <br /> The embassy would work with local Japanese authorities – especially with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs – when an incident is reported, he said.<br /> <br /> Japanese daily the Asahi Shimbun reported on Tuesday that "powerful" Typhoon No 10 was forecast to hit western Japan between Wednesday and Thursday.

Embassy issues typhoon alert for Cambodians in Japan

The Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Japan issued a typhoon warning on Tuesday for Cambodian residents residing in the Shikoku region. In a...

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School for autistic students to vacate NBIC to make room for the disabled

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHnVpCmV-iE/XVVz1UE2EII/AAAAAAAAAM8/btGvYhMekkUa8_8qXy6iRZ7IW1qYhresQCLcBGAs/s1600/the-ministry-of-social-affairs-veterans-and-youth-rehabilitation-has-asked-the-rabbit-school-a-local-ngo-that-provides-education-for-autistic-students-to-move-premises.-heng-chivoan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHnVpCmV-iE/XVVz1UE2EII/AAAAAAAAAM8/btGvYhMekkUa8_8qXy6iRZ7IW1qYhresQCLcBGAs/s640/the-ministry-of-social-affairs-veterans-and-youth-rehabilitation-has-asked-the-rabbit-school-a-local-ngo-that-provides-education-for-autistic-students-to-move-premises.-heng-chivoan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation has told The Rabbit School, a local NGO that educates autistic students, to move its operations from government-run National Borei for Infants and Children (NBIC) to a new premise, school director Hun Touch said.<br /> <br /> The ministry's directive was issued on July 31 as the government planned to make room for other disabled children from Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital, Touch said.<br /> <br /> Operated under the ministry's purview, the NBIC is a facility in the capital's Meanchey district which houses hundreds of abandoned infants and children with learning disabilities, some of whom are also HIV-positive.<br /> <br /> Touch confirmed that the school was now "seeking a rented space for its office and classrooms", citing the possibility of merging its NBIC chapter with its other programme that is attached to a primary school in Tuol Kork district.<br /> <br /> "We also had a meeting a few days ago to inform our staff about this change and to ask them to be ready to move all equipment and materials out of our old place to the new one, where we will start in mid-September," he told The Post on Tuesday.<br /> <br /> Touch admitted that the relocation plan to another side of the city might force some students drop out while some employees might resign as they will find the new location too far to travel from their houses.<br /> <br /> The organisation itself might face a budget crisis, he said, as spending on new study materials, technical equipment and playground could increase, while funding from sponsors would likely remain the same.<br /> <br /> "It doesn't mean we don't want to move out [of NBIC]. We expect the government to expand the building, so it could accommodate us too.<br /> <br /> "We can't afford to buy land or a building. We will be happy if we still could provide education to the children in the neighbourhood and have the government oversee our operations," he said.<br /> <br /> Established in 1997, The Rabbit School expanded its programme in 2008 at the Toul Kork Primary School and other institutions in Kampong Speu, Kandal and Siem Reap provinces.<br /> <br /> It now provides education to 637 autistic children and employs 47 teachers nationwide.<br /> <br /> Within the NBIC building, the school occupies four rooms, three of which are used as classrooms for its 70 students, while another is used as an office.<br /> <br /> A parent of one of the students, Krai Sok Kanha, said she would stop sending her six-year-old son to the school as the new location is too far from their house.<br /> <br /> "The government must pay greater attention to children with autism," she said.<br /> <br /> Touch Channy, the spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, clarified that the government needed the extra space at the NBIC building to care for the disabled babies who were abandoned by their parents.<br /> <br /> He said the number of such infants that Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital receives kept increasing every day.<br /> <br /> "Years ago, we allowed them to borrow the space temporarily and they agreed that whenever the government needs it, they must return it without conditions.<br /> <br /> "Right now, we are facing a problem with the rising number of abandoned infants. So, we have no options other than asking them to vacate the premise," Channy said.<br /> <br /> The ministry previously estimated that Cambodia has around 5,000 autistic children and 10 organisations that educated them.

School for autistic students to vacate NBIC to make room for the disabled

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation has told The Rabbit School, a local NGO that educates autistic students...

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Mats, hammocks banned in select spots at Angkor

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--eAmtBUK-wg/XVVy_WI9n7I/AAAAAAAAAM0/UMFdnBgkHikSeR7K1k4NRo5nYUGev5AlQCLcBGAs/s1600/topic-3-apsara-authority-banned-some-activities-around-angkor-wat-by-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--eAmtBUK-wg/XVVy_WI9n7I/AAAAAAAAAM0/UMFdnBgkHikSeR7K1k4NRo5nYUGev5AlQCLcBGAs/s640/topic-3-apsara-authority-banned-some-activities-around-angkor-wat-by-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> The Apsara Authority has imposed a ban on laying mats, hanging hammocks and other similar things in certain areas of the Angkor Archaeological Park.<br /> <br /> The areas include the Trapaing Ses pond in front of the Ta Prohm Kel sandstone monument and the grass surrounding the Angkor Wat temple.<br /> <br /> The authority's director-general Hang Pov announced on Tuesday that the ban would become effective in 45 days and warned that failure to comply would result in confiscation.<br /> <br /> "In case vendors and tourists continue to do that, Angkor Wat's coordination committee will take administrative measures and seize the items and will not be held liable for any damage," the announcement said.<br /> <br /> Such acts negatively impact the culture, environment and public order of the park, it said, adding that they are detrimental to the global value of the historic site as well as national honour.<br /> <br /> "In the past, the working group of the Apsara Authority had collaborated with the Heritage Police and local authorities to order an end to these acts, but some vendors and tourists disobeyed them, placing their interests first," Pov said.<br /> <br /> Environmental activist Pheng Sreysor welcomed the ban and requested that strict action be taken against those in violation.<br /> <br /> "I strongly support this measure because most of those who use mats and such are Cambodians. It has become apparent that they don't care about cleanliness or the surrounding environment. People criticise their habit of throwing rubbish just anywhere after eating or hanging out," said Sreysor.<br /> <br /> However, she requested that Apsara Authority prepare designated sites for vendors as well as national and international tourists to sit and relax.

Mats, hammocks banned in select spots at Angkor

The Apsara Authority has imposed a ban on laying mats, hanging hammocks and other similar things in certain areas of the Angkor Archaeolo...

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Land disputants urge solution

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pakTDgao_T8/XVVyqBoQ-lI/AAAAAAAAAMs/0Tzd_xbNmfAzbBJy-tXWu44lYND5IpjOgCLcBGAs/s1600/preah_sihanouk_provincial_governor_kuoch_chamroeun_centre_on_wednesday_met_with_representatives_of_disputant_groups_to_find_a_solution_to_their_territorial_disputes._preah_sihanouk_provincial_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pakTDgao_T8/XVVyqBoQ-lI/AAAAAAAAAMs/0Tzd_xbNmfAzbBJy-tXWu44lYND5IpjOgCLcBGAs/s640/preah_sihanouk_provincial_governor_kuoch_chamroeun_centre_on_wednesday_met_with_representatives_of_disputant_groups_to_find_a_solution_to_their_territorial_disputes._preah_sihanouk_provincial_.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> On Wednesday, 22 communities in Preah Sihanouk province urged provincial governor Kuoch Chamroeun to expedite the issuance of their land titles.<br /> <br /> In their latest attempt to find a solution to the territorial disputes they are embroiled in, representatives of disputant groups from Stung Hav, Prey Nop and Kampong Seila districts, as well as from Sihanoukville and Koh Rong, met with Chamroeun.<br /> <br /> You Veasna, a representative of a Stung Hav community, said the disputants raised two main points as to land boundaries and legal measure implementation in the protest.<br /> <br /> Firstly, Veasna said, the communities requested the authorities to properly demarcate land boundaries and allocate some plots to the poor.<br /> <br /> Secondly, they claimed that the court system sided with the rich and powerful while threatening the communities and jailing them, Veasna said.<br /> <br /> He also said the villagers were fed up with the prolonged disputes which had resulted in losses of much of their time and materials.<br /> <br /> "The provincial governor said he acknowledged our demands, with 91 case documents already in his hands.<br /> <br /> "He said he would try to consolidate the cases in a way that is understandable and effective for each community. So, we have a lot of hope," he said.<br /> <br /> Responding to the communities' demand, governor Chamroeun promised to take step-by-step procedures to follow up with the groups' call for action against the perpetrators behind the illegal filling of coastal areas and clearing of forest lands.<br /> <br /> Chamroeun maintained that the provincial administration had received all the documents from the groups, but noted that his team could not solve everything in one go.<br /> <br /> "For the cases that have been submitted to the court, our provincial administration has no rights to intervene. Therefore, you must get yourselves a lawyer to defend your cases," he told the representatives in the meeting.<br /> <br /> Chamroeun called on the disputants to be patient while the provincial administration works on the cases gradually. The governor also appealed to the communities not to occupy state- and privately-owned land.<br /> <br /> "[Government] officials are here to serve the people and to protect public order and security to contribute to the development of the province and to alleviate poverty at local levels," he said.<br /> <br /> Cambodian National Research Organisation director Sok Sokhom said there were rich and powerful individuals behind the illegal filling of Kampenh beach and encroachment on forest land in the Ream National Park, despite the latter having been designated a protected area.<br /> <br /> He appealed to the provincial administration to review the cases and take measures against the perpetrators without being influenced by their power and material possessions.<br /> <br /> "If the authorities ignore these cases, [Preah Sihanouk] province will always be mired in illegal reclamation and deforestation," Sokhom said.

Land disputants urge solution

On Wednesday, 22 communities in Preah Sihanouk province urged provincial governor Kuoch Chamroeun to expedite the issuance of their land ...

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More than 30K palm tree seeds planted near Lao border in Stung Treng

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rkq3Jewj7vw/XVVyOzKXftI/AAAAAAAAAMk/o-cbx8iSqPsuGQ2P1ix6h7mu2iTOlOOmACLcBGAs/s1600/some_30000_palm_tree_seeds_were_planted_along_a_10km_stretch_of_national_road_7_in_stung_treng_province._press_news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rkq3Jewj7vw/XVVyOzKXftI/AAAAAAAAAMk/o-cbx8iSqPsuGQ2P1ix6h7mu2iTOlOOmACLcBGAs/s640/some_30000_palm_tree_seeds_were_planted_along_a_10km_stretch_of_national_road_7_in_stung_treng_province._press_news.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> Some 30,000 palm tree seeds were planted on Monday along a 10km stretch of National Road 7 leading to the Cambodia-Laos border in Stung Treng province.<br /> <br /> The seeds were planted on both sides of the road between post markers 040 and 042, the Stung Treng provincial administration's Facebook page said.<br /> <br /> Some 500 provincial officials, the armed forces and students, led by Stung Treng provincial governor Mom Saroeun and provincial council chairman Chheang Lak, assisted in planting the 30,000 seeds.<br /> <br /> Provincial officials said on Tuesday that this was the third occasion in which palm tree seeds had been planted along the road. The first planting occurred in 2016 – in which only 70 per cent of seeds successfully grew – with a second planting ceremony occurring in Kampong Cham province last year.<br /> <br /> In total, 40km of the road has had palm trees planted over the three ceremonies, with officials planning to cover 153km of the Cambodia-Laos border road, said Stung Treng provincial hall spokesman Meng Kong.<br /> <br /> Palm trees are a famously versatile crop that has been used in Cambodian society in a multitude of ways for millennia – from harvesting their fruit to extracting their oil and using their wood in construction.<br /> <br /> Saroeun said palm trees are part of Cambodia's national identity and have been a feature of the country's landscape since ancient times.<br /> <br /> "Planting palm trees is a historic activity in the province and celebrates the culture and identity of the nation. It encourages the younger generation to love their country," he said.<br /> <br /> Deputy Chair of the Border Committee Koy Pisey said there had been no instruction by the government to plant palm trees along the border, but the border committee supported any province that wanted to do this.<br /> <br /> "We support the planting of not only palm trees, but any trees. I support planting trees along the border and if palm trees are planted on the existing border markers, it would be good," she said.<br /> <br /> In August 2017, Cambodia and Laos engaged in an armed confrontation after Lao soldiers entered a station in Stung Treng province's Siem Pang district, as the two countries had not finished demarcating the border.

More than 30K palm tree seeds planted near Lao border in Stung Treng

Some 30,000 palm tree seeds were planted on Monday along a 10km stretch of National Road 7 leading to the Cambodia-Laos border in Stung T...

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Cows die en masse at Ratanakkiri plantation

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4UC6ocw-htc/V0Ov1txHezI/AAAAAAAAA0M/k9i3Xr9GnsEpgeOXtcB_5OILBNy6xMuyQCLcB/s1600/dead_bovine_in_ratanakkiri_11_05_2016_adhoc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4UC6ocw-htc/V0Ov1txHezI/AAAAAAAAA0M/k9i3Xr9GnsEpgeOXtcB_5OILBNy6xMuyQCLcB/s640/dead_bovine_in_ratanakkiri_11_05_2016_adhoc.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">A least 50 cows have died at a Vietnamese plantation in Ratanakkiri over the past several weeks, with some officials blaming food poisoning.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The cattle came from Vietnam and belonged to Hoang Anh Andong Meas, a subsidiary of Vietnamese agricultural firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Authorities, experts and locals had different estimates of the death toll. Provincial agriculture director Soy Sona said that only 50 had died, while Phan Bel, a nearby village chief said that at least 80 had died. Local villagers put the number above 300.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“The animals ate palm oil food and they died from poisoning. We don’t know whether the palm oil was sprayed with [chemical] substances,” said Sona, adding that the cows had been burned.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">However, a villager speaking on condition of anonymity said he witnessed the carcasses brought out of the company to be sold.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“I saw them transporting dead cows but we were unable to stop it,” confirmed Sre Angkrang commune chief Chhim Sokhim. Traders bought some of the carcasses, he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Some local villagers’ cows died during this period as well, from food and water shortages stemming from the drought. But villagers said the plantation had plenty of feed and water.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Hoang Anh Gia Lai director Nguyen Van Thu could not be reached for comment. His assistant said that he was unaware of the deaths.</div>

Cows die en masse at Ratanakkiri plantation

A least 50 cows have died at a Vietnamese plantation in Ratanakkiri over the past several weeks, with some officials blaming food poisoning....

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This year's lightning fatalities outpace ’15

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-itvVWvXnIxM/V0OvoCNdVGI/AAAAAAAAA0E/8cha_SYONL0EobEJjQf-SwINNe3FjALdACLcB/s1600/lightning_strikes_over_the_river_from_phnom_penh_09_06_2014_hong_menea_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-itvVWvXnIxM/V0OvoCNdVGI/AAAAAAAAA0E/8cha_SYONL0EobEJjQf-SwINNe3FjALdACLcB/s640/lightning_strikes_over_the_river_from_phnom_penh_09_06_2014_hong_menea_0.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Storms and lightning strikes have killed more people in the first five months of this year than in the same period in 2015, an official said yesterday.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">National Committee of Disaster Management spokesman Keo Vy said the uptick did not include three people killed during lightning storms on Wednesday, which injured 12 people and damaged 620 houses in Stung Treng, Kampong Speu and Battambang provinces.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Vy said from January to the first week of May, 85 storms hit the capital and 20 provinces, killing seven people and injuring 71. At the same time, 2,433 houses were damaged, included 473 severely.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">During the five months, lightning has killed 15 people, injured 16 and left a dozen cattle dead.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“The number of deaths caused by storms has increase four-fold, while the death toll caused by lightning slightly increased,” Vy said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Separately, since January, some 362 fires have killed 13 people and injured eight, according to the Interior Ministry’s fire department director, Net Vutha.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Vutha said 43 per cent of the fires – which damaged 601 houses and 1,220 market stalls – were caused by electrical faults, 36 per cent by careless power usage, and 20 per cent by other factors.</div>

This year's lightning fatalities outpace ’15

Storms and lightning strikes have killed more people in the first five months of this year than in the same period in 2015, an official said...

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Foreigners ‘liking’ PM less

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_uwRg9GcAss/V0OvKdkN9nI/AAAAAAAAA0A/Mwwc0zWmWQwLWmYM1S2XJ82H76-xmyMogCLcB/s1600/likes_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_uwRg9GcAss/V0OvKdkN9nI/AAAAAAAAA0A/Mwwc0zWmWQwLWmYM1S2XJ82H76-xmyMogCLcB/s640/likes_web.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Two months after revelations that the majority of new fans to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account were coming from outside Cambodia, the page has experienced an abrupt drop in foreign “likes”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Beginning early this year, the page of the self-proclaimed “e-premier” saw a <a href="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/only-20-cent-pms-recent-facebook-likes-cambodia" style="border: 0px; color: #01599d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">boost in “likes”</a>from countries such as India, Myanmar and Brazil, gaining hundreds or thousands of followers per day from each.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">But on May 7, the flow of new “likes” arriving from those countries plummeted, according to data from social media analytics site SocialBakers.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The influx of new likes from abroad has fallen to a fraction of the prior rate, while likes from within Cambodia have remained steady.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">On some days, certain countries have registered negative growth. For example, the size of the prime minister’s Indian fanbase decreased slightly on May 8, 10 and 11, when a week prior it had been increasing by 2,000 to 3,000 likes per day.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">In March, technology and social media experts told the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Post</em> that the flood of new followers from abroad could be evidence that the page was boosting its numbers by purchasing likes from so-called “click farms”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials have denied this suggestion, instead attributing the rapid growth to the premier’s popularity abroad.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">But the sudden halt seemingly gave those theories credence. “This is probably the best indication that the allegations were true,” said an anonymous IT expert based in the capital. “These things don’t just happen by accident.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Government spokesman Phay Siphan yesterday said he “did not know” about fake “likes” but reiterated the premier’s Facebook page was intended as a tool to hear the views Cambodians. “It is not a competition,” he said.</div>

Foreigners ‘liking’ PM less

Two months after revelations that the majority of new fans to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account were coming from outside Cambodia, t...

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Overloaded trucks in crosshairs

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XkGuDqm45og/V0Ou-K9DyXI/AAAAAAAAAz4/mljrvj79T94yS2ZH-uXuMAjMzy2k3E1ZgCLcB/s1600/an_overlaoded_truck_travels_down_street_217_in_phnom_penh_28_05_2015_hong_menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XkGuDqm45og/V0Ou-K9DyXI/AAAAAAAAAz4/mljrvj79T94yS2ZH-uXuMAjMzy2k3E1ZgCLcB/s640/an_overlaoded_truck_travels_down_street_217_in_phnom_penh_28_05_2015_hong_menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The new minister of public works and transportation yesterday threatened to introduce tough new measures, including fines, for officials who turn a blind eye to overloaded vehicles, which he claimed caused $100 million in road damage every year.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Minister Sun Chanthol yesterday said in a meeting that fines would be introduced for scale station officials who conspired with transport companies to allow overloaded trucks to travel, but he did not stipulate the cost of the fines or elaborate on potential “administrative discipline”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We have to have our measures, and we cannot let them collude with one another and allow the [overloaded] vehicles to run on the road and damage 100 kilometres of road; we have to fine our officials. We will prevent this at the root,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Also in the minister’s sights were almost 2,000 repair garages that had not yet registered with the government to ensure vehicles were kept at regulation standards.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">San Chey, network fellow for Cambodia Affiliated Network for Social Accountability–EastAsia Pacific, said he welcomed the reinforcement but said the issue was “nothing new”.</div>

Overloaded trucks in crosshairs

The new minister of public works and transportation yesterday threatened to introduce tough new measures, including fines, for officials who...

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Massive blaze threatens Battambang bird sanctuary

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hc50RrBHVaI/V0OuehvB2bI/AAAAAAAAAz0/8M6sQg2TREErKgik0XcogwhpSj4fvQk4ACLcB/s1600/preak_toal_flooded_forest_fire_in_battambang_province_11_05_2016_alessandro_marazzi_sasson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hc50RrBHVaI/V0OuehvB2bI/AAAAAAAAAz0/8M6sQg2TREErKgik0XcogwhpSj4fvQk4ACLcB/s640/preak_toal_flooded_forest_fire_in_battambang_province_11_05_2016_alessandro_marazzi_sasson.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Twenty six men armed with plastic jugs and three hoses drawing water from the Sangke River are all that stand between what’s left of the Prek Toal bird sanctuary, and a fire that has already destroyed more than 5,000 hectares of flooded forest.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Prek Toal forms the “core area” of the Tonle Sap biosphere, an area some experts have called the single most important breeding ground for water fowl in Southeast Asia.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“In 16 years of patrolling, I have never seen a fire like this,” said one Environment Ministry ranger who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the press. The men, who have been divided into three teams, are trying to contain a fast-moving fire on difficult terrain.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Suspected negligence started the fire in early April and it has since spread across the wetlands thanks to exceptionally dry conditions related to the El Niño-induced drought, climate change and yet-to-be-understood changes of the Tonle Sap flood cycle.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">For the past 10 days, the conflagration has come within hundreds of metres of Prek Toal village, and on Wednesday, a column of smoke loomed over the floating settlement.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Variable winds that changed direction by the hour meant the group of rangers and volunteer villagers, none of whom had protective clothing, were constantly outmanoeuvred.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Read: Scenes from a drought</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“It is very difficult to fight this fire because it burns the peat underground,” the ranger continued, explaining that the very surface they stood on was fuelling the conflagration. The burned ground now presented an added obstacle, as it was liable to give way. The amateur fire fighters could only tread on ground that had been dampened and tested first.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We cannot run fast,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Still-smouldering patches dotted the charred earth, while about a hundred metres away, flames consumed trees that during the wet season would be half submerged. The men hurried across the hot ash to dump water wherever smoke rose from the ground, as the burning peat could potentially kindle fires in new directions.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">At one point, a connection in the hose came apart. For a few minutes, the team was in disarray as one man equipped with a screwdriver and circular clamps sprang into action, binding the tubing back together.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="node-image full-width" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="shadow-box-item" href="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/sites/default/files/styles/full-screen_watermarked/public/2preak_toal_flooded_forest_fire_in_battambang_province_11_05_2016_alessandro_marazzi_sasson.jpg?itok=6FCyRg1-" rel="shadowbox" style="border: 0px; color: #01599d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="A man carries a container of water toward a fire in Battambang’s Prek Toal village earlier this week in a desperate effort to control the blaze. Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon"><img alt="A man carries a container of water toward a fire in Battambang’s Prek Toal village earlier this week in a desperate effort to control the blaze. " height="364" itemprop="contentURL" src="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/2preak_toal_flooded_forest_fire_in_battambang_province_11_05_2016_alessandro_marazzi_sasson.jpg?itok=wUdSORGa" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 546.5px;" title="A man carries a container of water toward a fire in Battambang’s Prek Toal village earlier this week in a desperate effort to control the blaze. Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon" typeof="foaf:Image" width="546" /></a><div class="node-image-caption" itemprop="description" style="background: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: white; height: auto; line-height: 18px; margin: 6px 0px 0px; padding: 7px 0px; width: 546.5px;"><div class="node-image-caption-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 12px;">A man carries a container of water toward a fire in Battambang’s Prek Toal village earlier this week in a desperate effort to control the blaze. <a class="photographer" href="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/author/alessandro-marazzi-sassoon/80153" style="border: 0px; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span class="icomoon photo" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: icomoon_ppp; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span>Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon</a></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Meanwhile, Prek Toal core area director Long Kheng was in Phnom Penh on Wednesday reporting to officials the situation on the ground and collecting salaries for the rangers and the villagers who volunteered to fight the fires.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“A lot of forest was burned outside the core area,” Kheng said in a phone interview, adding that there was no estimate yet available on how much fire damage the Tonle Sap biosphere suffered as a whole.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“Inside the core area, at least 25 per cent of the flooded forest area’s total area [21,342 hectares] was burned,” he claimed. Kheng said that he was also appealing to UNESCO for support.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We will have to plan to assess the impact of the fire, and we have to have a forest fire response management plan for the Tonle Sap [area], which is different from the uplands,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“The forest fire affects the local community’s livelihoods; it’s the habitat of the water birds and other wildlife, but it’s also important for the fish, and if there’s no flooded forest . . . the fishermen will not find food, you know? Their livelihood will also be impacted.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“Prek Toal is the heart of the Tonle Sap; it supports the fish stock in the Tonle Sap lake. If there’s no forest, the fish stock will decline,” Kheng continued. The UNFAO predicts a 17 per cent drop in fish production this year due to El Niño.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“The international community and the Cambodian government should pay more attention,” Kheng said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Independent researcher Veerachai Tanpipat, in an email late last month, said findings “showed that fire activities in the region are still going on, which is not normal, as forest fire season usually should be over by now”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Meanwhile, experts from ASEAN nations are set to discuss the region’s fire concerns later this month at a meeting organised by the Thai Royal Forestry Department and the Korean Forest Service.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We hope, we will talk more about how to find ways to work together in order to get forest fires in this region under control again,” Tanpipat said on Tuesday.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Back in Prek Toal, the forest ranger’s short-term assessment was grim.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We can’t control the fire”.</div>

Massive blaze threatens Battambang bird sanctuary

Twenty six men armed with plastic jugs and three hoses drawing water from the Sangke River are all that stand between what’s left of the Pre...

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Irrawaddy dolphin’s body tangled in illegal nets

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8XzxeDh4h0/V0OtB58763I/AAAAAAAAAzk/DYht93ZcwK82HTPtnQ3bXr85iMQYCDOtgCLcB/s1600/dolphin_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8XzxeDh4h0/V0OtB58763I/AAAAAAAAAzk/DYht93ZcwK82HTPtnQ3bXr85iMQYCDOtgCLcB/s640/dolphin_0.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">A vulnerable Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead in Kratie’s Sambor district on Tuesday after being caught in fishermen’s illegal gill nets, authorities and environmental watchdogs said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">‘‘I think this dolphin may have been dead for three or four days – its body was swollen and rotten, and its tail was tangled in nets,’’ said Seang Sokhim, a guard for the Koh Pdav natural dolphin pool.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Emma Fry, a communication assistant with the World Wildlife Fund, said the female dolphin was 183 centimetres long and weighed 80 kilograms.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">This is the first time that locals saw a dolphin succumb to illegal fishing equipment, according to Sokhim.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">However, communities in Stung Treng and Kratie have been aware of gill nets’ threat to dolphin populations for a long time, according to experts from WWF and environmental group MLUP Baitong.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Dolphins entangled in the nets usually die because they can’t come up for air, they said</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">WWF country director Chhith Sam Ath said yesterday last year’s survey found only 80 dolphins in Kratie and Stung Treng. Nine dolphins died over the course of 2015. So far, two have died this year.</div>

Irrawaddy dolphin’s body tangled in illegal nets

A vulnerable Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead in Kratie’s Sambor district on Tuesday after being caught in fishermen’s illegal gill nets, au...

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Cops still after UN staffer

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6DH-78jZs0c/V0OsF3ZqjLI/AAAAAAAAAzY/ZC1mnqvmf4UE7MGP_OBfoV7274nZgWcIQCLcB/s1600/khieu_sopheak_heng_chivoan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="482" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6DH-78jZs0c/V0OsF3ZqjLI/AAAAAAAAAzY/ZC1mnqvmf4UE7MGP_OBfoV7274nZgWcIQCLcB/s640/khieu_sopheak_heng_chivoan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Despite the Foreign Ministry declaring that United Nations staffer Soen Sally has diplomatic immunity, police will still arrest the human rights worker on sight because the Interior Ministry has not been told otherwise, an official said yesterday.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">On Monday, the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Post</em> reported the Foreign Affairs Ministry had requested that the “competent authorities” stop legal action against Sally after determining he was protected under international law.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The request was forwarded to court officials two weeks ago, Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told local media yesterday.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">But speaking via phone yesterday, Interior Ministry spokesman General Khieu Sopheak said the court was yet to strike out Sally’s warrant, meaning his officers remained duty-bound to arrest the UN official, “immunity or no immunity”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“For us to cease pursuing his arrest there needs to be a request from the court to cancel the arrest warrant . . . When the court cancels it, it will be finished,” Sopheak said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Sopheak likened Sally’s case to that of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange – who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for years – saying Sally could “live his whole life in [a UN compound], it is possible, but when he comes out police will arrest him”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Phnom Penh Municipal Court president Taing Sunlay yesterday said the court had not received the missive, and declined to comment further.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Sally, an official from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), is<a href="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rights-workers-two-others-bribed-witness-court-says-un-holds-firm" style="border: 0px; color: #01599d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">charged</a> alongside six other individuals for allegedly conspiring to bribe the purported mistress of CNRP leader Kem Sokha in a case widely considered politically motivated.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Reached yesterday, Justice Ministry spokesman Chin Malin also said the Foreign Ministry had yet to follow up on its request – which was communicated to the UN last Thursday – with the necessary paperwork.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“I cannot comment on the immunity because so far we have not got any formal information or notice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yet,” Malin said. “So far we have got the information from the news.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Sounry, of the Foreign Ministry, yesterday hung up on a reporter, and subsequent attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Since Sally was summonsed over the case last month, his whereabouts have been closely guarded by the UN, which on Sunday said they believed the Foreign Affair’s statement would resolve the matter.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Via email, OHCHR country director Wan-Hea Lee said the situation remained unchanged.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“Our staff have immunity under the Convention. Exchanges with the Royal Govt (sic) have taken place on the matter.”</div>

Cops still after UN staffer

Despite the Foreign Ministry declaring that United Nations staffer Soen Sally has diplomatic immunity, police will still arrest the human ri...

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Shipment of Chinese firetrucks arrives in Sihanoukville

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jXurA0D0no/V0OrwVAPobI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/7EZFUz77nJInKU3-Gzt2RL5mdApKPqcLQCLcB/s1600/fire_trucks_arrive_at_sihanoukville_11_05_2016_supplied.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jXurA0D0no/V0OrwVAPobI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/7EZFUz77nJInKU3-Gzt2RL5mdApKPqcLQCLcB/s640/fire_trucks_arrive_at_sihanoukville_11_05_2016_supplied.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">A shipment of 113 new fire trucks arrived from China via the Sihanoukville port yesterday, and will be distributed across the country.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Neth Vantha, the deputy municipal fire chief at the Ministry of Interior, said 99 trucks will go to the provinces while the rest will be kept at the ministry. He declined to say how much the trucks cost.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">"Provinces . . . are still lacking fire trucks to use in faraway areas," he said. "We will deliver [these trucks] to those areas for effective intervention."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">In 2017, the ministry will order more trucks, he added.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">There were 590 fires in Cambodia in 2015, an increase of 14.7 per cent from the previous year. They killed 35 people and consumed almost 600 homes.</div>

Shipment of Chinese firetrucks arrives in Sihanoukville

A shipment of 113 new fire trucks arrived from China via the Sihanoukville port yesterday, and will be distributed across the country. Neth ...

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Oz envoy says reports unfounded

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rDmzk36bc1A/V0OrjR3pJlI/AAAAAAAAAzM/9qC9hvC0_gUMfZu7khJnwtnUlG1nUSNDQCLcB/s1600/cambodian_embassy_canberra_google_maps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rDmzk36bc1A/V0OrjR3pJlI/AAAAAAAAAzM/9qC9hvC0_gUMfZu7khJnwtnUlG1nUSNDQCLcB/s640/cambodian_embassy_canberra_google_maps.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Cambodia’s foreign officials remained on the defensive yesterday in the face of <a href="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/canberra-embassy-probed-duty-free-abuse-report" style="border: 0px; color: #01599d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">allegations</a>in a Fairfax Media report that diplomats in Australia abused their alcohol and tobacco diplomatic concessions, while analysts said the government will need to act if more diplomatic faux pas emerge.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Cambodian Ambassador to Australia Koy Kuong told Khmer language media that the matter involving the Cambodian embassy’s provider – Unique International Duty Free in Melbourne – was investigated by the Australian Border Force and resolved in late 2015, but was not linked to his embassy.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Kuong, who on Tuesday told the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Post</em> the embassy “had done nothing wrong,” hung up on reporters seeking clarification about the new revelations.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">According to media reports, individual diplomats are entitled to import 120 litres of spirits, 500 litres of alcohol and 10,000 cigarettes tax-free every six months for their personal use (and double that for the embassy itself).</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">But Australia’s high tax threshold on those items means illegally selling them on could turn a hefty profit at the expense of Australian tax-payers – an amount estimated at A$200,000 (about US$147,000).</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry, who served as ambassador to Australia before Kuong took over the reins in June last year, rebuffed the suggestion he might also be investigated for the alleged tax fraud.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“You want to ask me if I am under investigation? You need to wait for the official response from the embassy,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Duty free, 50 cigarettes would cost about US$11, but at retail, they could cost up to US$44; a litre of vodka priced at US$42 in a local store would only cost US$22 duty-free.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia expert and emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, said he was not surprised “rogue diplomats could be tempted” by “making double in profit”, but stressed that it was likely only one or two embassy officials were embroiled in the scheme, not the entire embassy.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“The ambassador is expected to be in control of his embassy. But he can’t root out all the corruption, he can only react when it happens,” Thayer said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">However, he said, if a third or fourth diplomat caused foreign headaches for the government – coming after South Korea envoy Suth Dina’s expulsion on corruption charges and this latest case – the government would need to act swiftly to save face internationally.</div>

Oz envoy says reports unfounded

Cambodia’s foreign officials remained on the defensive yesterday in the face of  allegations in a Fairfax Media report that diplomats in Aus...

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Canberra embassy probed for 'duty-free abuse': report

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OG_3NLaCphg/V0Oq32jyN9I/AAAAAAAAAy8/-Zx_kVNNhrIaK8CHaS2CWyKxWFWqbPn3gCLcB/s1600/a_veiw_of_the_cambodian_embassy_in_canberra_in_march_2015_google_maps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OG_3NLaCphg/V0Oq32jyN9I/AAAAAAAAAy8/-Zx_kVNNhrIaK8CHaS2CWyKxWFWqbPn3gCLcB/s640/a_veiw_of_the_cambodian_embassy_in_canberra_in_march_2015_google_maps.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Cambodia’s ambassador to Australia yesterday swiftly denied allegations of corruption amid reports the embassy is under investigation for links to an alleged alcohol and tobacco black market that took in roughly $200,000.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">According to Fairfax Media, the Australian Border Force is investigating the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in the Australian capital of Canberra because of alleged abuses of diplomatic “duty-free” privileges, which were used to make a profit.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">It is the second corruption scandal to rock Cambodia’s foreign office in the past month, with the Kingdom’s ambassador to South Korea, Suth Dina, arrested and charged with unlawful exploitation and abuse of power in early April after an Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) probe turned up 12.7 kilograms of gold and US$7.2 million cash in his possession.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The Australian Border Force would not confirm the investigation, responding to the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Post</em>’s requests for clarification only to say that “the ABF does not comment on any investigations”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Fairfax reported yesterday that large amounts of tobacco and alcohol were suspected to have been ordered by embassy officials through Unique International Duty Free, based in Melbourne, but the goods were never delivered, and were instead sold off the shelves at retail price in an estimated A$200,000 scheme.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">While diplomats are able to import up to 10,000 cigarettes, 500 litres of beer and 120 litres of spirits every six months for personal use (and embassies can import twice that amount), it is illegal to sell on the highly taxed goods without paying taxes to the Australian government.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">But Cambodian Ambassador to Australia Koy Kuong stressed that there had been no wrongdoing on his watch. “Our embassy and staff have not done anything wrong or illegal in Australia,” he wrote in an email.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We always follow strictly the rules and laws of the land.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Kuong, however, has only been in his post since last year, when he replaced outgoing ambassador Chum Sounry.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Now the spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sounry yesterday professed ignorance of the investigation.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“I have no information,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan also said he was unaware of the probe.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The owner of Unique International Duty Free, Seng Taing, yesterday told the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Post</em> he did provide goods for the Cambodian Embassy, but claimed the transactions were all above board.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Taing, who was born in Cambodia but moved in 1980 to Australia, where he is now a citizen, rebuffed the suggestion he had skimmed some A$200,000 from selling on the goods. “No, I do the right thing,” he said. “It is nothing to do with me . . . the Australian government allows [the Cambodian diplomats] to buy to the limit.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“My store is duty free; the government allows me to sell tax free,” he added, declining to comment further.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade could not be reached for comment yesterday.</div>

Canberra embassy probed for 'duty-free abuse': report

Cambodia’s ambassador to Australia yesterday swiftly denied allegations of corruption amid reports the embassy is under investigation for li...

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Digging deeper wells costs more

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VcKoQzrAeHU/V0OqfmfzypI/AAAAAAAAAy4/9QFQsfw5tFMRAr64HOnKDBjtak4h3SWAwCLcB/s1600/a_young_girl_fills_a_waterbottle_from_a_well_in_november_24_11_2016_hong_menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VcKoQzrAeHU/V0OqfmfzypI/AAAAAAAAAy4/9QFQsfw5tFMRAr64HOnKDBjtak4h3SWAwCLcB/s640/a_young_girl_fills_a_waterbottle_from_a_well_in_november_24_11_2016_hong_menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Amid a devastating drought, the need to dig more, and deeper, wells is threatening to overwhelm the government’s relief budget, according to government and relief agency officials.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The cost of wells rises exponentially with depth. And as groundwater continues to drop, itself exacerbated by the digging of more and more wells, deeper is the only place to go.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“In the past, we made normal wells, but now the simple well does not work,” said Pum Channy, secretary-general of the Cambodian Red Cross.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Men Neary Sopheak, deputy-general of the Red Cross, said that the CRC is working with provincial authorities to dig between 20 and 200 wells in affected villages or communes.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Private wells are often up to 30 metres deep, according to Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology Secretary of State Bun Hean, while government-made wells are up to 60 metres. Sopheak said government wells can be as deep as 80 metres in the mountains.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Both agree that many of the 30-40 metre wells around the country have run dry and the same has begun happening to the 60-metre versions.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“In Kampong Thom, provincial authorities requested for wells to be at least 100 metres deep,” because shallower wells will be ineffective, Sopheak said yesterday.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">This is much costlier. Wells of 30-40 metres can cost up to $500. Wells deeper than 70 metres can cost $2,000 and wells of 100 metres can cost $7,000 or more, according to both Hean and Sopheak.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Hean said that this will likely exceed the government’s relief budget, leaving Cambodia at the mercy of international donors.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The need to dig deeper stems mostly from the worst water shortage in half a century. However, according to a February study by Stanford University researchers, a long-term trend of overreliance on groundwater has also led to depleting reserves.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">That study found that groundwater use is rising 10 per cent each year. More wells can depressurise underground aquifers, preventing the water from being pushed up, according to a Mekong River Commission water expert who asked to remain anonymous.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">About 2.5 million people are affected by the drought, with 500,000 yet to receive assistance according to the National Committee for Disaster Management.</div>

Digging deeper wells costs more

Amid a devastating drought, the need to dig more, and deeper, wells is threatening to overwhelm the government’s relief budget, according to...

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PM's speech offers hope to detained

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IpiHrrQU3wI/VzKMp2vrnQI/AAAAAAAAAqc/VRrTXm6RKGocygr8_BcMZ8qXEt5sfN75ACLcB/s1600/adhoc_staffers_lem_mony_left_and_nay_vanda_sit_at_the_acu_before_being_questioned_and_detained_27_04_2016_sreng_meng_srun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IpiHrrQU3wI/VzKMp2vrnQI/AAAAAAAAAqc/VRrTXm6RKGocygr8_BcMZ8qXEt5sfN75ACLcB/s640/adhoc_staffers_lem_mony_left_and_nay_vanda_sit_at_the_acu_before_being_questioned_and_detained_27_04_2016_sreng_meng_srun.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday for the first time publicly addressed the fate of four Adhoc officials and a National Election Committee member arrested last week in relation to the Kem Sokha mistress scandal, floating a possible resolution – a royal pardon. But the suggestion came with a caveat.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Speaking to graduating students from Vanda Institute on Koh Pich, Hun Sen said that while he could ask the King to issue a pardon, it would not be considered if civil society groups kept pushing him while legal proceedings were ongoing. In fact, they would only succeed in making life more difficult for the jailed quintet.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“I do not have the right to interfere with the court’s process,” he said. “But after the verdict becomes final, it is in the hands of the prime minister, who is allowed to make a request to the King for amnesty or pardon.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“Don’t make demands for individuals who have made mistakes,” he continued. “But if you are gentle, I will think about it. If you are arrogant, I will think about that, too.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The premier’s hint at an amnesty for the quintet came a day after eight people who had attempted to protest for their release were hauled off to jails around Phnom Penh and questioned before being released.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The crackdown on the seemingly benign gathering dubbed “Black Monday” was a necessity, Hun Sen told the students, explaining that he had directed Interior Minister Sar Kheng to suppress any allegedly illegal activities irrespective of the colour associated with the protest.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“Some may call it orange, some red and others black, but for me, if any colour is associated with illegal activities, we will arrest them and the courts will uphold the law,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Monday’s civil society protest involved NGOs and rights groups asking supporters to dress in black and march to Prey Sar prison, where the four Adhoc staffers – Ny Sokha, Yi Soksan, Nay Vanda and Lem Mony – are being held.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Former Adhoc official and current NEC deputy secretary-general Ny Chakrya is being held at the capital’s PJ prison.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The protest resulted in the hours-long detainment and questioning of four rights group staffers, including two foreign NGO consultants, and a quartet of land rights activists.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the government’s concern about a potential colour revolution was a result of the opposition’s failed “lotus revolution”, referring to protests that followed the 2013 elections.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“So we identified this as an urban rebellion in the city and we had to handle it,” he said, referring to Monday’s protest.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Siphan said that the government had been made aware of the Black Monday campaign after a dinner last week hosted by the US Embassy and attended by family members of the jailed Adhoc officials, going on to identify political commentator Ou Virak, an attendee at the dinner, as one of its ringleaders.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Virak said it was “ridiculous” to point to a reception at the US Embassy where other ambassadors were in attendance as a place where brainstorming for the protest might have occurred. “This is paranoia,” he added. “What am I going to say to that?”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Pheav Mey, Vanda’s wife and one of the attendees at that dinner yesterday said that the prime minister’s speech had given her hope her husband would be released. “I do not know about the legal procedures, but in the past, if the prime minister says something like that, we can have some hope,” she said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">She added that she dressed in black on Monday to only request Vanda’s release, adding that “if my husband is released, I will stop dressing in black”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">While government officials in the past have said only inmates who have served two-thirds of their sentence were eligible for pardons, lawyer and former head of the Cambodia Defenders Project Sok Sam Oeun said the constitution gave the King a blanket right to issue pardons, with no riders attached.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“The law does not clearly give any criteria, and we have also never seen the King give pardons himself – only after a recommendation is made to him,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Today, the CNRP acting president Kem Sokha is due to appear before court in relation to a defamation suit, but opposition lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang said he would hold to the party’s decision not to honour the summons, and face arrest if necessary.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“The position of our lawmakers was made clear on May 4, so there is nothing to change,” Chhay Eang said. “If the [court] arrests [Kem Sokha], it is a very serious violation of the law.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">On Monday, Anti-Corruption Unit president Om Yentieng said in a radio interview that Sokha would be committing a “real crime” if he failed to show today and could be subject to arrest.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Sokha was summonsed after social media celebrity Thy Sovantha sued him for defamationfor disparaging her in leaked audio recording purportedly between him and alleged mistress Khom Chandarathy.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Sokha and fellow CNRP lawmakers Tok Vanchan and Pin Ratana have also been summonsed next week for questioning related to prostitution.</div>

PM's speech offers hope to detained

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday for the first time publicly addressed the fate of four Adhoc officials and a National Election Committee me...

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Official interrogated in mosque road case

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xdKWohO17jE/VzKMNl1WfBI/AAAAAAAAAqU/41HkLdlBwNAUOheqQqNBewAUAvfHUioPQCLcB/s1600/ahmad_yahya_talks_the_media_after_leaving_the_phnom_penh_court_yesterday_10_05_2016_hong_menea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xdKWohO17jE/VzKMNl1WfBI/AAAAAAAAAqU/41HkLdlBwNAUOheqQqNBewAUAvfHUioPQCLcB/s640/ahmad_yahya_talks_the_media_after_leaving_the_phnom_penh_court_yesterday_10_05_2016_hong_menea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">During a closed-door session at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, Muslim community leader Ahmad Yahya denied defaming fellow community leader Othsman Hassan.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Outside of the court, Hassan said he filed the suit because Yahya had told local media and a Muslim radio station that Hassan requested approval to build a road through land belonging to the mosque at Boeung Kak. The road has become a source of tension in the Muslim community, with some believing it will disturb the faithful during prayers.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Hassan, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Labour, maintained the plan was initiated by Phnom Penh City Governor Pa Socheatvong.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">But Yahya, himself a secretary of state at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said that it was Hassan who drew the first design for the road and that he also had plans to build condominiums in the area.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“I really didn’t defame him,” Yahya said, adding that the lawsuit was a waste of time. Socheatvong didn’t return a request for comment yesterday, but City Hall administrative director Meas Chanyada confirmed Socheatvong was behind the road, which was part of the 2035 city master plan.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“It’s not Hassan who initiated the project,” Chanyada said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Hassan did acknowledge, however, that he would like to see the area developed with high rise buildings to benefit the Muslim community.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We should not let the land go unused,” he said. “We are planning on how to use the land properly.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Hassan said that he would leave it up to the court to decide on the case.</div>

Official interrogated in mosque road case

During a closed-door session at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, Muslim community leader Ahmad Yahya denied defaming fellow communi...

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Two linked to justice minister have chequered history, Panama Papers indicate

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CZGgcXt3erw/VzKLwaOZ2QI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/1pmJjCbbsGIB-SKVKdvPVZQel69tPoWvACLcB/s1600/rcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="364" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CZGgcXt3erw/VzKLwaOZ2QI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/1pmJjCbbsGIB-SKVKdvPVZQel69tPoWvACLcB/s640/rcd.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Two of Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana’s alleged partners in an offshore business venture were accused of forging documents, impersonating advisers to US presidents and passing themselves off as UN affiliates, and were arrested shortly after their purported business relationship ended, a newly released document indicates.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">On April 4, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced Vong Vathana was one of dozens of senior political figures around the world identified among documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca as having offshore business interests. Vong Vathana was listed as a shareholder in the British Virgin Islands-incorporated RCD International Ltd.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">At 1am yesterday, the ICIJ published details of the 214,000 companies mentioned in the leak, including the names and addresses of their shareholders. Alongside Vong Vathana, four other shareholders were named as owning shares in RCD International from 2007 to 2010: Dr Soush Saroeun, Dr Lek Bopha and Dr Ray Chhat Dam, all Cambodian, and Arthur Chan Wai Kong, from Malaysia.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">While there were minor discrepancies in the spelling of the names of Saroeun and Dam in the transcription of the handwritten register of interests found among the leaks, Saroeun confirmed in an interview yesterday that both were shareholders.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Saroeun and Dam last made headlines when they were arrested on December 18, 2010, on suspicion of fraud and forgery. An onshore company the pair shared in Cambodia, Asia Real Property – Office of International Treasury Control (ARP-OITC) had been passing itself off as an affiliate of the United Nations, had allegedly forged a letter of credit from HSBC and had claimed Dam was an adviser to US presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama. At the time, UN and US Embassy spokesmen denied any link with Dam or the company.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Their arrests came just over a month after RCD International was struck off the British Virgin Islands corporate register and declared inactive.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">In 2006, the year before his name appeared alongside Vong Vathana’s on RCD International’s register of shareholders, Ray Chhat Dam was also sued by the mayor of an Ecuadorian town over an alleged advanced-fee scam.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">RCD International shareholder Saroeun said yesterday afternoon that he had not been aware Vathana was a shareholder, and was also unable to comment on the company’s activities, saying he ultimately came to suspect it was not a “real company” and severed ties.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“He just told me he is the international master commitment holder,” Saroeun said of fellow shareholder Ray Chhat Dam, whose initials the company name bears.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Chhat Dam is also the self-appointed chairman of the United Nations Office of International Treasury Control (UNOITC), from which ARP-OITC, the company he shared with Saroeun until 2010, takes the second half of its acronym.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">However, spokesmen for the intergovernmental organisation have repeatedly stressed that the UNOITC has nothing to do with the UN, despite Dam and associates’ protestations to the contrary.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">A message sent yesterday afternoon to a Facebook profile bearing Dam’s name and photograph remained unseen and unanswered as of press time. The profile lists his profession as executive chairman of the OITC.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="node-image full-width" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="shadow-box-item" href="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/sites/default/files/styles/full-screen_watermarked/public/ray_c_dam_left_chairman_of_arp-oitc_group_enters_phnom_penh_municipal_court_in_2010_sovan_philong.jpg?itok=3sdELGiu" rel="shadowbox" style="border: 0px; color: #01599d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Ray Chhat Dam (left), chairman of ARP-OITC group, enters Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2010. Sovan Philong"><img alt="Ray Chhat Dam (left), chairman of ARP-OITC group, enters Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2010." height="364" itemprop="contentURL" src="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/ray_c_dam_left_chairman_of_arp-oitc_group_enters_phnom_penh_municipal_court_in_2010_sovan_philong.jpg?itok=zJNSNF5_" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 546.5px;" title="Ray Chhat Dam (left), chairman of ARP-OITC group, enters Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2010. Sovan Philong" typeof="foaf:Image" width="546" /></a><br /><div class="node-image-caption" itemprop="description" style="background: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: white; height: auto; line-height: 18px; margin: 6px 0px 0px; padding: 7px 0px; width: 546.5px;"><div class="node-image-caption-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 12px;">Ray Chhat Dam (left), chairman of ARP-OITC group, enters Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2010. <a class="photographer" href="http://www.phnompenhpost.com/author/sovan-philong/18121" style="border: 0px; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span class="icomoon photo" style="font-family: "icomoon_ppp"; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span>Sovan Philong</a></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">It remains unclear what happened to the fraud charges against Chhat Dam and Saroeun. In February 2011, Prime Minister Hun Sen gave a speech in Chat Dam’s reported home province of Banteay Meanchey in which he said he “found out that [Dam] really cheated, and then sent the case to the court and now he is in prison”.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Saroeun yesterday would say only that his legal situation was “clear”, and that authorities didn’t “have any problem” with him or Chhat Dam, who he believes left Cambodia in 2010.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Saroeun also identified fellow former RCD shareholder Lek Bopha as an adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Sok An. While Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan was unable to confirm this, a Council for the Development of Cambodia PDF dated 2013 does list a Mr Lek Bopha as an adviser to the Council of Ministers.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">The chequered past of Vong Vathana’s alleged business associates raised serious questions, observers said yesterday.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Political analyst Ou Virak said the justice minister’s obligation to perform due diligence when entering into commercial partnerships was greater than that of an ordinary citizen and called for an inquiry into how Vong Vathana came to be doing business with suspected fraudsters.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“We have to have an investigation into why was he doing it. Why was this the case? Was he unfortunately named or was he a willing party in all of this?” Virak said, adding that he doubted such an investigation would take place. “I don’t have confidence in the political system.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">San Chey, executive director of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability, echoed Virak’s sentiments in an email last night, saying the public’s eyes are on the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in expectation that it will open an investigation. He similarly added that he had only a “minor hope” that it would.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">ACU director Om Yentieng said in April that he was considering opening an investigation into Vong Vathana’s alleged offshore business dealings. Representatives of the ACU were not reachable for comment yesterday and government spokesman Phay Siphan did not respond to further inquiries last night as to whether an investigation is planned.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">It remains unclear what Vong Vathana’s level of involvement in RCD International was. Both he and Justice Ministry spokesmen have vigorously denied any connection to the company, and spokesmen yesterday declined multiple invitations to comment on the fresh evidence published by the ICIJ.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">Ou Virak said he found it unlikely Vong Vathana is the only public official in Cambodia to have been mixed up with unfortunate business partners.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;">“I wouldn’t be surprised if this is actually something that’s going on with other officials,” Virak said. “But again, we don’t know. It’s something that I think needs to be addressed and I think the government needs to show that they’re taking measures to make sure that these things are addressed.”</div>

Two linked to justice minister have chequered history, Panama Papers indicate

Two of Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana’s alleged partners in an offshore business venture were accused of forging documents, impersonating...

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