Activists request to march on ACU HQ

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_sM1L1pzpgQg3VvbKxeYvT_dOizhHOMng2y9DIqgLTCd5SHBkdvL1Jo4ZiMqsHtQAQwgioOZXX5FBYwBzaBWWVsnWkUHqozFIMtVimbOjroQpDthUFGC4CGWZw9NuBHfhYIbWkJ7n4eO/s1600/_mg_7063-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl_sM1L1pzpgQg3VvbKxeYvT_dOizhHOMng2y9DIqgLTCd5SHBkdvL1Jo4ZiMqsHtQAQwgioOZXX5FBYwBzaBWWVsnWkUHqozFIMtVimbOjroQpDthUFGC4CGWZw9NuBHfhYIbWkJ7n4eO/s640/_mg_7063-2.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;"> Land rights activists from 10 communities in the capital yesterday submitted a request to City Hall requesting permission to march to the Anti-Corruption Unit’s headquarters and deliver a petition in support of human rights activists jailed this week.</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 a request that will be rejected, a city official told the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Post</em>.</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, addressed to City Governor Pa Socheatvong, bears the thumbprint of six activists, including members of the Boeung Kak, Borei Keila and airport communities.</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 seeks permission for a Saturday march to the ACU offices, where they would submit a petition in support of Adhoc and UN employees <a href="http://popcamnews.blogspot.com/2016/05/rights-workers-two-others-bribed.html" style="border: 0px; color: #01599d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">charged</a> this week in relation to Kem Sokha’s purported sex scandal.</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 all request [the ACU] stop its threats and intimidation against human rights activists and civil society officers in relation to any of the accusations,” the request reads.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Borei Keila evictee Kim Saran, 48, said that rights groups had always supported them in their struggles and this was a way to return the 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;"> But Mean Chanyada, director of administration at City Hall, said that while they will discuss the request with the activists, it would certainly be denied.</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 a show of support to the jailed rights activists, meanwhile, the US Embassy yesterday hosted their families at a dinner honouring the work of NGOs and civil society groups and posted a Twitter message directly praising Adhoc.</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, wife of jailed Adhoc staffer Nay Vanda, said that she was among those invited to the “solidarity dinner”, where family members were urged “to be strong and not lose confidence”.</div>

Activists request to march on ACU HQ

Land rights activists from 10 communities in the capital yesterday submitted a request to City Hall requesting permission to march to th...

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ELC firms called to court over illegal timber

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1JhyMsdid4oScQO6VaxoACu_zj2d78Q1NmeLoagA63gez0I6bdIyld9lM_ZMeT7BAuA1qhVfBtRlmSw7il2Ecl7qv9v4RAoboy59RwZX6gamRa_ebPnVOE_lOGktKQs8Mh99DPI75k5VM/s1600/1logging_crack_down_in_kratie_19_01_2016_supplied.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1JhyMsdid4oScQO6VaxoACu_zj2d78Q1NmeLoagA63gez0I6bdIyld9lM_ZMeT7BAuA1qhVfBtRlmSw7il2Ecl7qv9v4RAoboy59RwZX6gamRa_ebPnVOE_lOGktKQs8Mh99DPI75k5VM/s640/1logging_crack_down_in_kratie_19_01_2016_supplied.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;"> Prosecutors in Kratie, Mondulkiri and Ratanakkiri provinces yesterday said they have summonsed seven companies and nine individuals to provincial courts to answer about illegal timber found in their possession during a nationwide logging crackdown.</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 summonses were issued over the past two weeks. The companies – two in Kratie and five in Mondulkiri – are mostly from China and Vietnam and control thousands of hectares in economic land concessions.</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 had been linked with illegal logging even before this year’s crackdown. After the recent sweeps, which some environmental activists insist have been largely for show, some were accused of setting their wood on fire to destroy evidence.</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 companies had answered, while others have not yet,” said Meas Bros, chief of administration at Mondulkiri Provincial Court.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Mondulkiri deputy prosecutor So Sovithya said companies that have not come in yet include Unigreen Resource, a Chinese ELC, and Binh Phuoc, a subsidiary of Vietnam Rubber Group. They are due in court next week.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Communities living near Binh Phuoc’s ELC have long accused the concession of laundering illegal wood felled outside its boundaries, arguing that wealthy businessman Soeng Sam Ol, one of the earliest targets of the crackdown, is the timber’s main buyer.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Eng Hy, spokesman for the committee tasked with the crackdown, said his team had investigated charred logs on Binh Phuoc property in January that rights group Adhoc said were burned just before authorities arrived.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Unigreen Resource had 600 of 1,000 logs inside its ELC consumed in a fire, according to deputy Forestry Administration chief Prom Sovanna. Timber tycoon Try Pheap publicly distanced himself from Unigreen in February amid rumours of his involvement in its logging.</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 Kratie, China Dynamic Investments and C & V Group, which share Chinese and Cambodian investors, were called in to explain thousands of logs that had been found on their ELCs in January.</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 firms appeared in court last week and denied the wood belonged to them. Prosecutors plan to call in witnesses to testify next week, but did not say who the witnesses are or how many will come.</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 problems that authorities and experts had reported . . . but the company denied that the wood belongs to them,” said Kratie deputy prosecutor Hak Horn.</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 Ratanakkiri, meanwhile, provincial deputy prosecutor Mam Vanda said that nine individuals were summonsed for transporting and stockpiling illegal wood in the 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;"> He did not say whether any have appeared in court yet.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Binh Phuoc, Unigreen, China Dynamic and C & V did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.</div>

ELC firms called to court over illegal timber

Prosecutors in Kratie, Mondulkiri and Ratanakkiri provinces yesterday said they have summonsed seven companies and nine individuals to ...

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Homeless ‘don’t look good’

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrbaZd2AYk6F2rkigzHSzY02acOI7Gqx7cPu0uap2UonRoplxrcthUrayAG9IcyAsflBLn2hCmW-AEp1mJP9ADdZ06glKxDEP-bzG5VC69KUHYBJZeyoubcgb3CLTXPweOwDJASAZsK4n/s1600/street_sweep_of_homelessl_phnom_penh_before_transporting_them_to_prey_speu_social_affairs_centre_16_06_2015_supplied.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrbaZd2AYk6F2rkigzHSzY02acOI7Gqx7cPu0uap2UonRoplxrcthUrayAG9IcyAsflBLn2hCmW-AEp1mJP9ADdZ06glKxDEP-bzG5VC69KUHYBJZeyoubcgb3CLTXPweOwDJASAZsK4n/s640/street_sweep_of_homelessl_phnom_penh_before_transporting_them_to_prey_speu_social_affairs_centre_16_06_2015_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;"> Police forcibly removed a dozen of the city’s homeless – four of them children – from the streets of central Phnom Penh yesterday, carting them off to the notorious Prey Speu Social Affairs Centre, where two people died last November.</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 such “round-ups” routinely intensify before weeks of celebration – such as Khmer New Year and the Water Festival – police and municipal authorities denied this latest wave of collections was linked to the upcoming holiday for the King’s birthday.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Instead, they said, it was part of an ongoing campaign to beautify the streets.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Chamkarmon district governor Prom Somkhan confirmed beggars were “cleared” near intersections yesterday morning.</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 too bad for our beautiful Phnom Penh to have beggars out standing at the traffic lights,” Somkhan 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 Daun Penh deputy district police chief, Yos Yuthy, said his officers round up between 10 and 20 homeless people three times per week, having collected just shy of 300 since January.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Meas Chanyada, administrative director of Phnom Penh Municipal Hall, defended the sweeps, but admitted detainees were cycled back onto the streets after a stint at Prey Speu.</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 let them beg at … public places; it is our country’s image. It is bad when foreign tourists see it,” 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;"> “We don’t discriminate against them, but they don’t look good – it is anarchy; it is messy.”</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 Touch Channy, director-general of the Ministry of Social Affairs, no changes have yet been made in the wake of consistent and vehement calls to close the centre, apart from re-naming it “Phnom Penh Transit Centre” (the institution was formerly rebranded as Por Sen Chey Vocational Training Centre).</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 cited building toilets and sleeping quarters as the most urgent measures, and while two working groups had been set up to research detainees’ needs, “we have not got any results yet”.</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 know what we need to renovate; but the actual report has not yet been sent to me,” Channy 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;"> Friends International, which is working with the government to offer support to street people both in and out of Prey Speu, said round-ups did more harm than good by interfering with the NGO’s street research.</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 don’t want to see anyone on the street, but there is a lot of work to be done,” said Vuthy Sokhna, the NGO’s communications officer.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “When the government just rounds them up and puts them into Prey Speu … that is not a sustainable solution. We need to provide a job, school or placement – something for them to have a better future,” he said.</div>

Homeless ‘don’t look good’

Police forcibly removed a dozen of the city’s homeless – four of them children – from the streets of central Phnom Penh yesterday, carti...

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Heat, water shortages affecting rare bird life

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZOLibItbtnXTXKcMqj4sX2QRPrrX1flwpGtJ_-DTpwIdHvv7LcakPQrEKqMR_Y1rtb_q0JLLEvBe911citMJ0Lj5E0hink-RE_VSe5SRaPN9yeSPmgxc75cnvJDb8af81X_VJ5xa8PPq/s1600/giant_ibis_in_lumphat_wildlife_sanctuary_in_2014_16_01_2014_birdlife_cambodia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZOLibItbtnXTXKcMqj4sX2QRPrrX1flwpGtJ_-DTpwIdHvv7LcakPQrEKqMR_Y1rtb_q0JLLEvBe911citMJ0Lj5E0hink-RE_VSe5SRaPN9yeSPmgxc75cnvJDb8af81X_VJ5xa8PPq/s640/giant_ibis_in_lumphat_wildlife_sanctuary_in_2014_16_01_2014_birdlife_cambodia.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;"> Conservationists are expressing concern that some of the Kingdom’s endangered birds are not reproducing this year due to extreme heat stress, inability to find enough food and habitat loss from wildfires and human encroachment.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “They aren’t able to gain enough weight” to nest and lay eggs, said Ross Sinclair, the country director of Wildlife Conservation Society.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Affected species include the white-shouldered ibis, the giant ibis and the sarus crane, which range from vulnerable to critically endangered, according to Sinclair.</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 drought is not contributing to their recovery,” Sinclair said. “Increased stress on [endangered] animals is not good news for conservation.”</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, BirdLife International program manager Bou Vorsak said Cambodia’s endangered vultures are losing nesting trees due to logging and fires on the Eastern Plains and along the Sesan River.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Vultures are especially needed this year to clean up the many animal corpses resulting from the record heat and water shortage, Vorsak said. By scavenging, vultures clean up the environment and reduce the chance of insect-borne disease.</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 WCS and BirdLife don’t expect endangered ibis, crane and vulture numbers to actually decline this year, they don’t hope to see much of an increase year either.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Endangered bird populations had been increasing almost every year over the past decade until the recent interruption.</div>

Heat, water shortages affecting rare bird life

Conservationists are expressing concern that some of the Kingdom’s endangered birds are not reproducing this year due to extreme heat st...

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Police donation to fund coffins for rural poor in Banteay Meanchey

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs0JfnUDCg62v4eEoz3dr9Ria5OprQWKmXCQC4c2_LiKr_XPQ-c1fxD_R7jwBAsKte7-i8fvSGt4kCYWtifbs0s5-1Cwq2UaqySEuygzAvpxv-Zo_SimFt66jn-J0n8wgdVsk_9vVC69Sv/s1600/police_in_banteay_meanchey_with_donated_coffins_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs0JfnUDCg62v4eEoz3dr9Ria5OprQWKmXCQC4c2_LiKr_XPQ-c1fxD_R7jwBAsKte7-i8fvSGt4kCYWtifbs0s5-1Cwq2UaqySEuygzAvpxv-Zo_SimFt66jn-J0n8wgdVsk_9vVC69Sv/s640/police_in_banteay_meanchey_with_donated_coffins_.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 portion of a donation to Poipet town police from a wealthy businessman has been spent on coffins for Banteay Meanchey province’s poor and needy, according to city police chief Om Sophal.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Sophal said yesterday enough money was donated by local beer wholesaler Eng Men Srun to buy 30 coffins across the border in Thailand at 700 Thai Baht (roughly $20) apiece.</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 coffins will be distributed to families that cannot afford them.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “These coffins are for people who are poor and living in rural areas and cannot afford the cost,” said Sophal.</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 only condition is that they must be poor.”</div>

Police donation to fund coffins for rural poor in Banteay Meanchey

A portion of a donation to Poipet town police from a wealthy businessman has been spent on coffins for Banteay Meanchey province’s poor ...

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Loggers sent back by authorities in Thailand

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yKsLSBL65mDEoOCdmAZInfhbpnCmr5Vcgw06sx3n6Upa0_JGRkeZ7tJwaQSASc4ousF_ag3vVV26_TaPIDzQ6zgeu4IzmnFzkvpnkOSC5_nDSMR4rFNViQ97J8yuzwuI5eIuFgy7wwAL/s1600/people_arrested_for_logging_in_thailand_in_preah_vihear_province_04_05_2016_supplied.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yKsLSBL65mDEoOCdmAZInfhbpnCmr5Vcgw06sx3n6Upa0_JGRkeZ7tJwaQSASc4ousF_ag3vVV26_TaPIDzQ6zgeu4IzmnFzkvpnkOSC5_nDSMR4rFNViQ97J8yuzwuI5eIuFgy7wwAL/s640/people_arrested_for_logging_in_thailand_in_preah_vihear_province_04_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;"> Nine Cambodians were arrested and sent back to Cambodia from Thailand yesterday after Thai soldiers allegedly caught them logging illegally in the Dangrek 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;"> The men come from Phrea Vihear’s Choam Ksan district. Mor Samoun, a military official at the Cambodian-Thai border, said Thai police confiscated 33 logs of an unknown type of wood, but none of the men will face charges.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Chan Den, one of the men, said they went to Thailand in hopes of finding a job.</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 knew it was risky, but I have no job in my hometown, that’s why I decided to cross illegally,” he said.</div>

Loggers sent back by authorities in Thailand

Nine Cambodians were arrested and sent back to Cambodia from Thailand yesterday after Thai soldiers allegedly caught them logging illega...

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Murder of ‘babies’ recalled at KRT

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9sh7rWlMDJFsfOosDcAjXqcBLdqY-DS9q6VC944PAkftrSEkqYjOyoD_4-6XlrH-QpkYo4vZgV3XtJhXBlUAioG3knyFz3Bs5Azs8IiYsw_Xa4QYIbP5qQtpjQoctGzGhu1a9UGGKK2o/s1600/him_huy_at_the_krt_earlier_this_week_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9sh7rWlMDJFsfOosDcAjXqcBLdqY-DS9q6VC944PAkftrSEkqYjOyoD_4-6XlrH-QpkYo4vZgV3XtJhXBlUAioG3knyFz3Bs5Azs8IiYsw_Xa4QYIbP5qQtpjQoctGzGhu1a9UGGKK2o/s640/him_huy_at_the_krt_earlier_this_week_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;"> Witness Him Huy, chief of the security unit at the infamous S-21 prison, continued testifying before the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, recounting the processing of victims and waffling on prior accounts of the security centre’s chain of command.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Under questioning from prosecutor Travis Farr, Huy said he was “selected to become an interrogator”, but told his superiors that he did not know how to write and therefore could not “make a report of the confessions”.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Instead, he was assigned to be a guard and “saw those people who were arrested and brought to centre”, which he later said included infants and children.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “Children were detained along with their mothers,” he told the court, going on to recall that they were executed behind the 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;"> Admitting to carrying children away to be killed, Huy then clarified, “they were babies; they were . . . between 1 month and 7 or 8 years old”.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Farr then moved on to the alleged killing of Vietnamese, reading out the written record of an interview with Huy in which he said that his guard group and that of a cadre named “Peng” carried out executions of Vietnamese soldiers. In court yesterday, however, Huy seemingly distanced himself from such killings, saying his group was simply told to send them away.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Earlier, Huy recalled the study sessions at “the political school located next to Duch’s house”, referring to the former S-21 chief convicted in Case 001, Kang Geuk Eav.</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 study sessions included the S-21 staff and workers from nearby rice fields, 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;"> Farr also pressed Huy on the S-21 chain of command, starting with Khmer Rouge senior official Son Sen, who purportedly left the prison in 1977. “Son Sen used to come and conduct study sessions for us; we knew that he was Duch’s superior. Later on, he took the forces to fight against the Vietnamese,” 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;"> At first claiming he did not know who Duch’s superior was thereafter, Huy later said that Son Sen must have remained above Duch because Duch “made no announcement” 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;"> Huy recalled that while at S-21, Duch said that “Brother Number One was Pol Pot and Brother Number Two was Nuon Chea” – one of the defendants, along with former head of state Khieu Samphan, in the current Case 002/02.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Pressed by Farr for details, Huy said this was mentioned at training sessions. Confronted by previous testimony in which he had said brothers number one and two were Duch’s superior, Huy yesterday appeared to change his position.</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 did not hear him say that the two brothers were his superiors,” he said. Before ceding the floor, Farr asked Huy what he knew about Office 870, from which Pol Pot allegedly ordered killings.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “[Duch] mentioned Office 870 in training sessions,” Huy said, but claimed he did not know why. “It was not my responsibility at the time; it was his responsibility.”</div>

Murder of ‘babies’ recalled at KRT

Witness Him Huy, chief of the security unit at the infamous S-21 prison, continued testifying before the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday,...

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Girl, 7, found murdered in Kandal

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6mX3wK6ptDJz_JKiZuV7sxcCkEV-6DaTayll2jWabDAPWMxurzI-JnLTAT5FucSscygPI756RH5BjuBZ76zF4V1dDs-Q-o6MafdgKhNUtV7IyGX6mBRWJB-ZD9INjolyT6QEqMLLd4EU/s1600/the_police_scene_where_a_child_found_murdered_in_kandal_province_04_06_2016_cpu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6mX3wK6ptDJz_JKiZuV7sxcCkEV-6DaTayll2jWabDAPWMxurzI-JnLTAT5FucSscygPI756RH5BjuBZ76zF4V1dDs-Q-o6MafdgKhNUtV7IyGX6mBRWJB-ZD9INjolyT6QEqMLLd4EU/s640/the_police_scene_where_a_child_found_murdered_in_kandal_province_04_06_2016_cpu.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;"> The body of 7-year-old Mey Srey Mao was found twisted and decomposing in a ditch in Kandal province’s Muk Kampoul district yesterday, 12 days after her parents reported her missing to local police, according to Prek Anchanh commune police chief Sam Sophal.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Srey Mao was living with her parents, workers at a nearby brick factory in Prek Anchanh commune’s Krom village, when she went missing on the afternoon of April 22.</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 James McCabe – director of the Child Protection Unit (CPU), which is assisting Kandal provincial police in the investigation – Srey Mao’s body was found by a man looking for wild bees in Kandal village, just 500 metres from her home.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “From the way her body has been twisted and the state of her clothes, it looks like she was raped,” said McCabe. “We’re treating it as a homicide and likely rape.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Muth Chanthan, a Muk Kampoul district police officer, said Srey Mao was found wearing a yellow T-shirt and naked from the waist down.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Chanthan said an autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of death by technical police drawn from the district and provincial police forces, along with Interior Ministry employees.</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 added that police have yet to draw up a list of suspects, but will do so once autopsy results are confirmed.</div>

Girl, 7, found murdered in Kandal

The body of 7-year-old Mey Srey Mao was found twisted and decomposing in a ditch in Kandal province’s Muk Kampoul district yesterday, 12...

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Women asked to go to China, court told

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaB50F3KpQBjlO1xizpH3-OYGZ4BIR15hvD_PSuxfSDR28NxxJ39h5NLp-tkizBAliwzB5qT2SHymWqla1bDp-awRgWd-4qHsRB5UFnmJOovf4zgzFr7Lpal7tKlw707-W3RcAeUfkseu-/s1600/suspects_leave_phnom_penh_court_yesterday_after_they_were_charged_with_human_trafficking_02_05_2016_niem_chheng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaB50F3KpQBjlO1xizpH3-OYGZ4BIR15hvD_PSuxfSDR28NxxJ39h5NLp-tkizBAliwzB5qT2SHymWqla1bDp-awRgWd-4qHsRB5UFnmJOovf4zgzFr7Lpal7tKlw707-W3RcAeUfkseu-/s640/suspects_leave_phnom_penh_court_yesterday_after_they_were_charged_with_human_trafficking_02_05_2016_niem_chheng.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 Cambodian woman charged with human trafficking has claimed she was approached by the alleged victims who asked for help finding Chinese husbands.</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 Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, Hak Sinat, 48, denied the allegations while four other suspects – Srun Chanda, Nuth Sokly, Chhim Sotheavy and Limm Chheng Ngim – denied being accomplices. All were arrested September 29 last 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;"> Sinat, who told the court her daughter had previously married in China, said: “[The victims] came to me for help to go to China because they are poor.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Chanda – who was arrested with two of the alleged victims at a bus station headed for China – said she was doing the women a favour. She had married a Chinese man the previous year and returned to Cambodia to visit her elderly father. “They called me a few days before my departure and told me they wanted to go along with me back to China.”.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Sokly, meanwhile, said he was merely a motodop driver who ferried the victims to the markets and to make passports, while Sotheavy also denied involvement, although her police testimony indicated she brought two 23-year-old potential brides to Sinat. Ngim, Sinat’s son, admitted to writing loan contracts between Sinat and victims.</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 police testimony, the three victims – Van Pisey, Van Pheakkdey and Suon Pov who were not present in court – said they had approached Sinat asking for passage to China to marry Chinese men. However, Pov told police Sinat offered $100 per referral of anyone looking to marry Chinese men, with $500 paid to the bride-to-be.</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 accused face two to five years in prison. A verdict is due on May 16.</div>

Women asked to go to China, court told

A Cambodian woman charged with human trafficking has claimed she was approached by the alleged victims who asked for help finding Chines...

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Spinning straw into food security

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinuk6WgPlTd-bBcpsBZTalECEVkmQL1yPq3wQWWYgv7PH61YoZACYs2V2UcfEYE7EjYPVeJcB7C-bsdIgPAMZ_zijK9djovcsr_qB4L_2RfuFqCPd-wFYcSxr5QjfESo0KtrzrUOojTOMN/s1600/hay_bail_farming_demonstration_in_banteay_menchey_province_03_05_2016_kotra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinuk6WgPlTd-bBcpsBZTalECEVkmQL1yPq3wQWWYgv7PH61YoZACYs2V2UcfEYE7EjYPVeJcB7C-bsdIgPAMZ_zijK9djovcsr_qB4L_2RfuFqCPd-wFYcSxr5QjfESo0KtrzrUOojTOMN/s640/hay_bail_farming_demonstration_in_banteay_menchey_province_03_05_2016_kotra.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;"> An American horticulturalist is in Cambodia providing training in a unique farming method that proponents believe can improve food security in some of the country’s remotest regions.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Joel Karsten champions straw bale farming, a method that involves growing vegetables from a bundle of straw. In 2013, the Minnesota-native published a book on his technique, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Straw Bale Gardens</em>, which became immensely popular among agricultural enthusiasts, according to a review of the book in the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New York Times</em>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Karsten, who is here at the invitation of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and rural development NGO Ockenden Cambodia, said the method can provide a secondary food source to traditional sources at risk to environmental fluctuations like the current devastating drought.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “[Straw bale farming] is definitely an option for something to do with all this rice straw they have here,” said Karsten yesterday from Banteay Meanchey province, where he is leading his training courses.</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 can solve a lot of problems in areas where the soil is poor, where it’s too wet to grow vegetables or too dry to grow rice,” 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;"> In Karsten’s method, fertiliser is used to convert the insides of a straw bale into composted soil, where seeds are planted.</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 the method has proven popular with growers in the US and Europe, the jury is out as to whether it will take off in Cambodia, where traditional farming methods are deeply ingrained, said Karsten.</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’re trying to convince farmers who have been doing something a long time that there’s a different way to do it, a better way. Currently, it’s not part of their paradigm,” said Karsten. “The wheels turn very, very slowly.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Nhov Nharn, managing director of Ockenden, said his organisation plans to introduce the method to 362 farms that the NGO assists in Battambang, Pursat and Banteay Meanchey 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;"> “Every year in Cambodia, farmers just burn their straw bale,” he said. “But we can use it to grow.”</div>

Spinning straw into food security

An American horticulturalist is in Cambodia providing training in a unique farming method that proponents believe can improve food secur...

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Protest follows failure to lower electric rates

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJK_I4hNgrEuStopx7uLv74dl8cPTpPI7WxM-nXJ7factqJskV3sxSkyQs1tZAZzo7I_4f32I3e8N4hACzm0Z9rT08iAGVWzlHMe02o0c0CNCjifcAJUOLIpiPoiXnCxZxkneNb4dcLyb/s1600/people_protest_against_the_increased_price_of_electricity_02_05_2016_ann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJK_I4hNgrEuStopx7uLv74dl8cPTpPI7WxM-nXJ7factqJskV3sxSkyQs1tZAZzo7I_4f32I3e8N4hACzm0Z9rT08iAGVWzlHMe02o0c0CNCjifcAJUOLIpiPoiXnCxZxkneNb4dcLyb/s640/people_protest_against_the_increased_price_of_electricity_02_05_2016_ann.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;"> Citizens in two communes in Svay Rieng and another in Prey Veng yesterday protested their high power bills after a local electric company failed to lower its price to 800 riel per kilowatt-hour as promised.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Kraol Kor Electricity, which services several communes in the two provinces, last May promised to lower electricity costs from over 1,000 riel per kwh to 800 riel starting in March. Provincial authorities echoed the promise at the time. However, the demonstrators said that this has not happened.</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 director of the provincial authority . . . did not do it, therefore people started to protest,” said Ros Sophal, a commune police chief.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Suth Kimchan, a district official in Svay Chrum district, said he had not yet received a clear answer from provincial authorities in Svay Rieng about the price. Provincial authorities told him only that the company was still installing power lines.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Yin Viseth, director of supply at Electricité du Cambodge, said that some of its provincial officials went to the protest to explain that they are powerless to lower the price as the smaller Kraol Kor grid is not directly connected to the national grid.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Kraol Kor and Svay Rieng officials could not be reached.</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, storms on Monday knocked out power in most of Stung Treng, where electricity is imported from Laos, but connection was restored at 3:30pm yesterday. Provincial spokesman Men Kong blamed a tree that fell on power cables in Laos.</div>

Protest follows failure to lower electric rates

Citizens in two communes in Svay Rieng and another in Prey Veng yesterday protested their high power bills after a local electric compan...

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Woman gives birth at sea in Koh Kong

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnUkcPGqqCDhcM18T7Rvd8OdUP-TBmvGJCFYa49HcjU2C0W2fCLjxI8Etm13REDhPCoqBh4L9_lRwoJnPf3qEVZslkNI1-lqRhPvRlGH8ZADgvQL4XAiqjMwVl06MqbzCmkHweInYne390/s1600/a_woman_give_birth_on_the_boat_in_koh_kong_supplied.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnUkcPGqqCDhcM18T7Rvd8OdUP-TBmvGJCFYa49HcjU2C0W2fCLjxI8Etm13REDhPCoqBh4L9_lRwoJnPf3qEVZslkNI1-lqRhPvRlGH8ZADgvQL4XAiqjMwVl06MqbzCmkHweInYne390/s640/a_woman_give_birth_on_the_boat_in_koh_kong_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 Koh Kong province woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy at sea on Saturday as relatives attempted to rush her to the provincial hospital by boat, local police 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;"> Lem Hy, chief of the mother’s home commune of Bak Khlang, identified the woman as local fisherwoman Khen Da, 25.</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 Hy, when Da went into labour, her husband and family members loaded her onto the boat and set off for the provincial hospital from her home, but time and tide wait for no man – or baby – and the infant was born before they made 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;"> “However, when her boat arrived at the shore, the medical team helped her and her son,” 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;"> Hai Laisun, director of the Koh Kong Provincial Referral Hospital, said that both mother and son are currently in good health, and that “the Koh Kong Provincial Hospital is paying special attention” to them.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Yesterday, Hak Leng, Mondul Seima district governor, brought Da and her son a hefty load of staple foodstuffs and 100,000 riel (about $25) as gifts from the Red Cross in Koh Kong province.</div>

Woman gives birth at sea in Koh Kong

A Koh Kong province woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy at sea on Saturday as relatives attempted to rush her to the provincial hospi...

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Fake IDs prompt call for NSSF re-registry

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtQhrdtBcAj0j_Iah3FbHtKkki_OpoxMeJ6bmYz0o58fwIjzaAOCQ8R7MDyOASYB0SqIFgIdkfROKn85ZutvXlcH9Ljr6vq8UFhsLniqX_Me29rzHbgT82Nn5Ot7aw-ErkgQhuurE2ez3/s1600/garment_workers_at_a_factory_on_the_outskirts_of_phnom_penh_16_10_2014_pha_lina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtQhrdtBcAj0j_Iah3FbHtKkki_OpoxMeJ6bmYz0o58fwIjzaAOCQ8R7MDyOASYB0SqIFgIdkfROKn85ZutvXlcH9Ljr6vq8UFhsLniqX_Me29rzHbgT82Nn5Ot7aw-ErkgQhuurE2ez3/s640/garment_workers_at_a_factory_on_the_outskirts_of_phnom_penh_16_10_2014_pha_lina.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;"> The Ministry of Labour on Monday said it will require private institutions, such as factories, to re-register for health insurance under the expansion of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) due to challenges stemming from workers using someone else’s identification cards and providing incorrect information.</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 ministry, in a statement, said it noticed problems with workers “borrowing” the identity card of someone else; providing the wrong name and gender; and specifying the incorrect place of birth and age.</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 added that employers and employees won’t face penalties, but instructed employers to take action to prevent the errors from happening again.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Union and labour rights officials yesterday said the practice of using others’ IDs is common in Cambodia.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Moeun Tola, executive director of labour rights group Central, said not many people have ID cards or birth certificates because they often run into difficulties navigating the process or can’t afford them. But there’s no figure on how many workers might be using fakes.</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 common, especially in the rural areas, for people to use someone else’s ID,” 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;"> Under a new scheme, workers’ contribution of 1.3 per cent of their gross monthly salary will be matched by employers under the NSSF expansion to provide health insurance. NSSF previously only provided workplace injury insurance.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said parties are now working to correct the discrepancies, noting that under the Labour Law, an employee can be disciplined if they provide false information. But in this case, “nobody will be punished”.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> More than 100,000 workers had already been registered for health insurance, Thorn 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;"> “Issuance of social security card with correct personal information is very important when it comes to claims – the insured, the beneficiaries and future pension fund,” Kaing Monika, deputy secretary-general at the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said yesterday. He added that using someone else’s ID doesn’t necessarily mean workers are underage.</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, it is believed to be a fairly widespread practice.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Under the Labour Law, workers aged 15 to 17 can only work half a day, but one 18-year-old garment worker, who asked to remain anonymous, yesterday told the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Post</em> she started working full time at 15. “I used my sister’s birth certificate when my auntie, who was working there, begged for a job for me,” she said.</div>

Fake IDs prompt call for NSSF re-registry

The Ministry of Labour on Monday said it will require private institutions, such as factories, to re-register for health insurance under...

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Alleged UK fraud case in court once more

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioc3HrtVL0OX2ZTZAEGIzP0F5CGfveKHzmqLxtsmgdOwQqvwGmpLv3d9EJlvTGBUSKm3MJ0aYRoUttJ2bQhsYq-BZBMMlK9NRJXIYwSNMOnFX7cH2AJNTbnE-x8x_KPhK6aEScEMxxIz83/s1600/pp_court_british_gregg_thomas_fryett_land_deal_pha_lina_25_03_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioc3HrtVL0OX2ZTZAEGIzP0F5CGfveKHzmqLxtsmgdOwQqvwGmpLv3d9EJlvTGBUSKm3MJ0aYRoUttJ2bQhsYq-BZBMMlK9NRJXIYwSNMOnFX7cH2AJNTbnE-x8x_KPhK6aEScEMxxIz83/s640/pp_court_british_gregg_thomas_fryett_land_deal_pha_lina_25_03_2015.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;"> The protracted trial of alleged British fraudster Gregg Fryett continued at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, this time focusing on documents allegedly faked by his International Green Energy company in order to illegally clear thousands of hectares of state 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;"> Presiding judge Chuon Sokreasey accused Fryett and his alleged accomplices – Um Sam Ang, Ouk Keo Ratanak and Soeun Denny – of forging “more than 20” documents, a charge Fryett denied.</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 documents were faked in English,” Sokreasey said. “After producing these documents, IGE sent them to a company in England.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Fryett, however, maintained the documents were genuine, and were all “acknowledged by local authorities”.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Presented with a purported map of his projects marked in Khmer script, Fryett maintained he had no knowledge of it, and demanded to see the English original.</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 also claimed he hired a law firm to draw up the documents to ensure their legality.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Fryett is also wanted in the UK for allegedly defrauding senior citizens by selling them stakes in a spurious Cambodian biofuel company.</div>

Alleged UK fraud case in court once more

The protracted trial of alleged British fraudster Gregg Fryett continued at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, this time focusing on ...

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Man gored to death by wild boar in Ratanakkiri

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOApBruSnCOcY0Av2r2F_9z-8es344KsBr5WSGH_E2250bQXJNs285K_QshRdPv0x947yvsoO1EQVbuQOJHJNyzq-a2iiEXKt7MTYP6wswkv8y8b8W7iYWw6vwoTReU1NSDlfv6-7ELiw/s1600/pig_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOApBruSnCOcY0Av2r2F_9z-8es344KsBr5WSGH_E2250bQXJNs285K_QshRdPv0x947yvsoO1EQVbuQOJHJNyzq-a2iiEXKt7MTYP6wswkv8y8b8W7iYWw6vwoTReU1NSDlfv6-7ELiw/s640/pig_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 Ratanakkiri province man was gored to death by a wild boar on Sunday.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Ket Chem, chief of Patang commune in Lumphat district, said that Orch Mou, 32, and Tey Neang, 31, had set out with four dogs, a crossbow and a machete to hunt squirrels in a forest inside an economic land concession belonging to DM Group, about 7 kilometres from their village.</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 about 11am, the two Tompuon men’s dogs began to bark as the boar approached.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “They shot the wild boar with several chhor chork,” he said, referring to snake venom-tipped bolts traditionally employed by ethnic minority groups. “But it did not die.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Neang managed to flee up a tree, but the 103-kilogram wild pig caught Mou mid-climb, inflicting serious injuries to his back, waist and legs. “The boar gored him to the ground,” Chem 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 in the tree, Neang used his mobile phone to call villager Thin Klin, 50. However, Mou succumbed to his wounds before making it to the hospital, Chem 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;"> When villagers finally arrived to help, it took them nearly an hour to kill the boar, Chem 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 boar was finally killed after being shot about 20 times . . . during about one hour of fighting,” Chem said, adding that villagers had been killed by boars in the past.</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 slain boar was carried to Mou’s home, where it was eaten during his funeral.</div>

Man gored to death by wild boar in Ratanakkiri

A Ratanakkiri province man was gored to death by a wild boar on Sunday. Ket Chem, chief of Patang commune in Lumphat district, said th...

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Watchdog to prep election volunteers

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSsKrGEhXvqzKDqhqX07BqKh67S8WtHDDy41qtfOg9D1iV879uMT7HfeYvekje94txmo8zmF0EFVD3Q0O9Pt3iD-YeAO2zmMcidbGJXA9mNMLwYo6VifADIl4_2pGDTKB-CEKv73Qu4ueX/s1600/an_election_official_shows_a_ballot_paper_to_monitors_at_a_voting_station_at_yokunthor_high_school_in_phnom_penh_during_a_commune_election_in_2014_18_05_2014_heng_chivoan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSsKrGEhXvqzKDqhqX07BqKh67S8WtHDDy41qtfOg9D1iV879uMT7HfeYvekje94txmo8zmF0EFVD3Q0O9Pt3iD-YeAO2zmMcidbGJXA9mNMLwYo6VifADIl4_2pGDTKB-CEKv73Qu4ueX/s640/an_election_official_shows_a_ballot_paper_to_monitors_at_a_voting_station_at_yokunthor_high_school_in_phnom_penh_during_a_commune_election_in_2014_18_05_2014_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;"> Election watchdog Comfrel yesterday announced that civil society groups will deploy a total of 1,633 observers to monitor voter registration and commune elections in 2017.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Koul Panha, Comfrel’s executive director, said 600 observers are already prepared and NGOs will train more this year in a bid to have at least one observer in every commune in 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;"> “We will try to deploy observers to all communes,” he said. The National Election Committee stated on Friday it has met with 10 NGOs to discuss a cooperation framework.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> As part of this effort, civil society groups will train observers who will be responsible for monitoring voter registration, registering candidates and parties, observing the conduct of campaigning, overseeing the casting of votes and counting the ballots.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> NEC spokesman Khan Keomono yesterday said the official voter registration date has not yet been announced.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Panha said waiting until later in 2016 to announce a date might make it harder for civil society to expand its electoral education campaign this year, due to the difficulty of reaching certain communes during the rainy season.</div>

Watchdog to prep election volunteers

Election watchdog Comfrel yesterday announced that civil society groups will deploy a total of 1,633 observers to monitor voter registra...

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Ex-medic tells KRT of treating torture victims at S-21

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDJYO2oPL6YGi6QniO_DYsV9Dj6dEU8MWtNLNi09mLx5miybr4S17w_0DekfLgNmqHLtD1N6lXuviQFjV0PZ0iuLb7FiBL0LWSdUYYGZaM1nyVsd1UsADQJymbzg-p_cGtJ9B4mbcDb2Q/s1600/audience_members_listen_to_witness_testermony_earlier_this_year_09_03_2016_eccc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDJYO2oPL6YGi6QniO_DYsV9Dj6dEU8MWtNLNi09mLx5miybr4S17w_0DekfLgNmqHLtD1N6lXuviQFjV0PZ0iuLb7FiBL0LWSdUYYGZaM1nyVsd1UsADQJymbzg-p_cGtJ9B4mbcDb2Q/s640/audience_members_listen_to_witness_testermony_earlier_this_year_09_03_2016_eccc.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 former medic at the infamous S-21 prison yesterday told the Khmer Rouge tribunal that he, like the prisoners he tended, was a victim of the brutal regime.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Makk Sithim, 54, was barely 16 years old when the regime fell, but at a young age was tasked with treating tortured prisoners, keeping them alive for prolonged interrogations at the Tuol Sleng security centre.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Testifying yesterday, Sithim told the court how he dressed prisoners’ open wounds – caused by beatings with tree branches and fingernails being yanked out with pliers – despite scant resources and his mere three months of training.</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 had no alcohol at the time, I had only salt water to apply on the wound,” Sithim 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;"> Sometimes, he said, he and other medics had to use pieces of cloth and scraps of mosquito nets in lieu of bandages.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Testifying on the psychological state of the prisoners, he said each and every one was downcast, but they would brighten a little when he told them he was simply a medic and was obliged to serve the regime.</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 each room that I went to provide the treatment, they were not happy; they were shackled in a row together,” he said. “They had no hope in their face.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Sithim said he was warned to take extra care if a prisoner was of “important status”, to ensure they were fit to face another round of harsh interrogations.</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 never used any violence or cruel words towards the prisoners,” 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;"> “I considered myself a prisoner as well.”</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 said most victims were treated as they lay shackled to the floor in large groups or in individual cells, but sometimes they were brought to him on a stretcher after an interrogation.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Sithim said he left S-21 for an additional nine months of training in Takhmao, where he learned how to compress sweet potato, sugar, vinegar, leaves and tree roots into tablets, on top of his previous training in medicating certain illnesses and administering injections.</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 defence, in finishing their questioning of the previous witness, former S-21 interrogator Prak Khan, attempted to tease out the distinction between tverbab (ill-treatment) and tearunkam (torture), as, chamber president Nil Nonn said, the latter is commonly used in Khmer and could encompass a father disciplining his child.</div>

Ex-medic tells KRT of treating torture victims at S-21

A former medic at the infamous S-21 prison yesterday told the Khmer Rouge tribunal that he, like the prisoners he tended, was a victim o...

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Ministry lays out plans to boost youth athletics

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOjCeaIEaiXL8R755jZumBU_WNFKpntjbW78E5sl0G8O9RyACWVGTAMhvmEemfkcJgey5Bc9FNIa1ISgASc46lJWhMCwE-Jyq7625a7ATPPU_xDZXcoqGRWMvzVY8rARHxrdL8_5AusTU/s1600/school_sports_at_olympic_stadium_28_06_2014_sreng_meng_srun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOjCeaIEaiXL8R755jZumBU_WNFKpntjbW78E5sl0G8O9RyACWVGTAMhvmEemfkcJgey5Bc9FNIa1ISgASc46lJWhMCwE-Jyq7625a7ATPPU_xDZXcoqGRWMvzVY8rARHxrdL8_5AusTU/s640/school_sports_at_olympic_stadium_28_06_2014_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;"> The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport yesterday laid out key measures for an ongoing overhaul of the country’s physical education curriculum.</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 measures, announced by Sean Borat, a secretary of state at the ministry, during a seminar yesterday, included expansion of national competitions, renovation and development of infrastructure and strengthening of the country’s 47 sports associations, said ministry spokesman Ros Salin.</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 example, officials were planning the first national competitions to include all provinces in sports such as volleyball, football and basketball in October, 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;"> Aide et Action’s Lam Socheat, head of the Cambodian Consortium for Out-of-School Children, said students learned valuable skills, such as teamwork and how to socially interact through sports. “Learning through play is also important for the children,” 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;"> The budget for physical education and sports this year was $14 million, which funded five programs, Salin 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;"> Schools would not be asked to expand physical education during school hours, Salin said. Instead they would be encouraged to implement sport activities after school or on weekends.</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, the ministry yesterday announced changes to school hours during the remainder of the dry season to prevent students from falling ill as the country confronts a heat wave.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Morning classes will be from 7am to 10:30am and afternoon classes will be from 1:30pm to 5pm.</div>

Ministry lays out plans to boost youth athletics

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport yesterday laid out key measures for an ongoing overhaul of the country’s physical education c...

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Chainsaws, vehicles seized in Prey Lang

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDAiXGmXKqOvedjnL6g55pAFg_L7L_k8af5A_dv2uCvLr5XFKTEgV41y2aeE9sBPKO5_VbaSMPnWN3VtaN9ZFbplYJm6lZyqHxjiezfj3M_04VXLkpzcGesxMFHSGTWZsf7CiPZjotdi_b/s1600/lang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDAiXGmXKqOvedjnL6g55pAFg_L7L_k8af5A_dv2uCvLr5XFKTEgV41y2aeE9sBPKO5_VbaSMPnWN3VtaN9ZFbplYJm6lZyqHxjiezfj3M_04VXLkpzcGesxMFHSGTWZsf7CiPZjotdi_b/s640/lang.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;"> Authorities seized at least nine chainsaws and four vehicles loaded with timber from Prey Lang forest in Sandan district on Sunday afternoon, the district governor 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;"> However, the governor, Lorng Kisoeng, expressed disappointment that district police were unable to arrest those responsible.</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 suspects seemed to realise [the raid was coming] beforehand, so they escaped before the force arrived,” 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;"> Large parts of Prey Lang forest are set to become new protected areas, according to a decision of the Ministry of Environment revealed on April 26.</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 ministry will take over the patrols of the forest in the very near future, Kisoeng said. He appealed to forest communities and other forest-related authorities to help protect 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;"> “The people in this generation have to take responsibility for the next generation.”</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Prey Lang Forest Community activists said last month that rapacious logging is continuing despite this year’s logging crackdown in the country’s east.</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, the Preah Vihear Provincial Court charged three men with illegally logging after they were arrested in Prey Preah Roka 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;"> Provincial forestry officers, police, soldiers and court officials found the trio’s camp during a patrol of the protected 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;"> According to the Forestry Administration, the men hail from Kampot’s Chhouk district and possessed seven chainsaws, a mini-tractor, a motorbike, a home-made rifle, two axes, two machetes and a motorbike, all of which were confiscated.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> “They were charged with possessing chainsaws without permission and collecting forest products illegally. They were put into pretrial detention,” said provincial prosecutor Ly Lon.</div>

Chainsaws, vehicles seized in Prey Lang

Authorities seized at least nine chainsaws and four vehicles loaded with timber from Prey Lang forest in Sandan district on Sunday after...

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‘Traffickers’ were hiding drugs in ducks, cops say

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGW13ZsBJPYYtsZDp2KwH0ZZCZldAnDxA3UaEZ8lC0jjdZbs-NTAbG8tMUTLxtC0fNQ-tXYK7dETHRkMzSumfBMsU40Omti4AGfSyE7hkjx49b9G6oeJCbeBZXMffCyZl5dHgVIVfj24S/s1600/tong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGW13ZsBJPYYtsZDp2KwH0ZZCZldAnDxA3UaEZ8lC0jjdZbs-NTAbG8tMUTLxtC0fNQ-tXYK7dETHRkMzSumfBMsU40Omti4AGfSyE7hkjx49b9G6oeJCbeBZXMffCyZl5dHgVIVfj24S/s640/tong.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;"> Five suspects involved in a <a href="http://popcamnews.blogspot.com/2016/04/capital-shootout-leaves-one-police.html" style="border: 0px; color: #01599d; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">shootout</a> with police last Wednesday that left an officer and a suspect dead were officially charged yesterday by an investigating judge, according to Ly Sophanna, Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Sophanna declined to specify the charges, but was quoted in local media as saying the charges were for trafficking drugs, conspiring with criminals and possessing illegal weapons.</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 name of the dead suspect was made public in a report on the Royal Gendarmerie of Cambodia’s website on Sunday. Lim Kim Teng was identified as the ringleader, who had recently served a one-year sentence at Prey Sar prison for drug trafficking.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> When he was released in April 2014, he allegedly continued his old profession, but was more sophisticated, using a fried duck business as a front for drug trafficking, according to the report.</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 authorities’ research concluded that they trafficked drugs from one place to another, inserting them inside fried ducks,” the report reads.</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 his time in prison, Kim Teng met Ly Virak, one of the five suspects charged yesterday, who at the time was in prison for stealing necklaces.</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 other four suspects include Lim Kok Huy, who is Kim Teng’s uncle; Ty Eang, who is Kim Teng’s brother-in-law; and two accomplices, Sun Dara and Trav Rithdara. Virak was the only one not charged with possession of illegal weapons.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 9px; padding: 0px;"> Tien Karona, an officer from the military police’s Phnom Penh unit, was fatally wounded during the raid on the Tuol Kork property.</div>

‘Traffickers’ were hiding drugs in ducks, cops say

Five suspects involved in a  shootout  with police last Wednesday that left an officer and a suspect dead were officially charged yester...

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