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ASEAN loSt 33% of mANgrovES iN lASt 40 yEArS

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NatIoNal – page 2

Students’ Covid test ‘agonising’Khorn Savi

SOME parents are dissatisfied with the government’s requirements that students are tested for Covid-19 before

returning to school. They say the testing, which requires

inserting cotton swabs into students’ nostrils, is painful and unnecessary. The tests cost $100 or $110 depend-ing on the school and include the issuance of a health certificate.

Schools are expected to start reo-pening next month.

A man who asked not to be named told The Post on Tuesday that he and 100 other parents opposed the testing.

He said inserting the cotton wool into the noses of five and six-year-old pupils is wrong because it caus-es them discomfort.

“We are seeking a solution from schools because doing so [testing] is like treating children poorly. Inserting cotton wool into their noses is pain-ful. We take pity on our children. Schools don’t draw their blood. Draw-ing blood wouldn’t matter,” he said.

Twenty international private schools with high safety standards have received permission from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to reopen next month. They are required to carry out Covid-19 pre-ventive measures as advised by the health and education ministries.

Several schools said they would

start reopening on August 10. Educational institutions were first

shut in March after the the first positive case of Covid-19.

A letter from an international school in Phnom Penh seen by The Post said parents had to sign an agreement say-ing they were willing to pay for Covid-19 testing expenses.

Parents had to agree to take their children to be tested for Covid-19, which would be prepared by schools, in line with the government’s required conditions.

Some parents posted the require-ments on social media to express their opposition to them. They said foreign teachers returning from overseas during the crisis should be tested for the virus.

They supported other measures, including frequently spraying dis-infectants, taking temperatures daily, washing hands with alcohol or soap, teaching students how to wash their hands properly, requir-ing them to wear facemasks and practising social distancing.

Education ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha told The Post on Tuesday that the Covid-19 testing requirement was an inter-ministerial decision.

He said even though schools were allowed to reopen, not all students would be allowed to physically return to schools immediately. Students will take turns studying at school and online at home.

Beware of floodsChildren wade through a flooded street in phnom penh. the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology on tuesday issued a flood warning for residents living in lowlands adjacent to mountains and waterways. HONG MENEA

Najib gets 12 years in 1MDB case

Anti-drug officers suspended for extortion

FORMER Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 years in jail on corruption charg-es linked to the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal that led to the downfall of his government two years ago.

The former prime minister was also fined almost $50 million after being convicted on all seven charges in the first of several trials related to the loot-ing of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund.

The 67-year-old is challenging the verdict and will be allowed to remain

free on continued bail until a lengthy appeals process is complete.

Billions of dollars were stolen from Malaysia’s main State investment vehicle and spent on everything from high-end real estate to pricey art.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs also became embroiled in the scandal and faces a series of hefty fines in both the US and Malaysia as a result.

Anger at the looting played a large part in the shock loss of Najib’s coalition Barisan National party in the 2018 elec-tions after having held power for 60

years. He was then arrested and hit with dozens of charges following his defeat.

The verdict was welcomed as a boost for Malaysia’s rule of law and came despite Najib’s political allies returning to power earlier this year in a move widely condemned as a coup by a backdoor coalition government.

Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali at Kuala Lumpur’s High Court found Najib guilty on seven charges regarding the transfer

Niem Chheng

NATIONAL Police chief Neth Savoeun has temporarily suspended seven Prey Vang anti-drug department officers accused of assaulting and demanding money from citizens.

Savoeun issued a press release nam-ing the officers – provincial deputy police chief Thong Vandy, Anti-drug department director Pov Chivoan, Anti-drug department deputy director

Tuoch Theara, chief of the Anti-Drug Bureau Si Bo and three more.

“All the people named in the release must be present every working hour at the Prey Veng police office waiting for a decision,” said Savoeun.

National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun said on Tuesday that Savoeun decided to punish the sev-en for not acting professionally or following ethical values.

“These seven policed drugs, but they

did their job opposite to the profession-alism expected of the National Police. They caused injuries to suspects.

“[Neth] Savoeun ordered the leaders of all municipal and provincial police to enhance discipline of the National Police forces in the Kingdom. They must not forgive any police officials who do not follow discipline and pro-fessionalism. They will have to face legal action,” Kim Khoeun said.

Two men, Thai Sameath and Phoe-

un Rath from Choeung Teuk com-mune, Prey Veng town, said in a Face-book video they were detained by the police on July 20. They were released on July 21 after their parents handed over four million riel ($1,000) to Theara.

Rath said he was riding a motor-bike with Sameath, and Theara who was riding behind them ordered them to stop the motorbike and then threatened them with a gun.

Sameath warned he would take a video. Theara made a phone call and three other police officers arrived and hit the men before taking them to a police station.

He also said Theara tortured them in custody by beating them with sticks and using electric batons on their thighs. They then called their parents to bring two million riel each

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Continued from page 1

to take them home.“They hit me and took my

urine to test for drugs. They accused me of being a drug addict. I have never been involved with drugs so I checked and the Prey Veng provincial hospital confirmed I had no known drug sub-stances in my body.

“I even checked at Institut Pas-teur du Cambodge and the result was the same,” said Sameath.

Kim Khoeun said Theara was involved in cases affecting six families in Reang district. The other six police officers are involved in one or two cases.

The National Police website said on Monday that Prey Veng provincial police chief Prum Santhor apologised to the fam-ilies and returned the money in Mesar Brachan commune, Pea Reang district, in Prey Veng.

Cambodian Institute for Democracy president Pa Chanroeun said the case involves ethics, corruption and abuse of power. He called for better management of law enforcement officers to pre-vent such problems.

“It is good that the ministry and senior leaders punished the officers for their crimes and set an example for other authori-ties. This is a reflection of effec-tive and fair action to increase trust,” said Chanroeun.

Six victims ‘held and beaten’ by the police

ASEAN loses a third of mangroves Khorn Savi

THE ASEAN region lost about 33 per cent of its mangrove forests between 1980 and

2020, a decrease of more than 63,000sq km, said the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).

Nations that comprise ASEAN have just around 43,000sq km of mangrove forests remaining.

The ACB statement was re-leased on Sunday and coin-cided with the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem. The intent is to remind the public of the importance of mangrove forests and the value of dealing with mangrove deforestation.

ASEAN accounts for 42 per cent of the world’s total man-grove forests which provide critical breeding habitats for about 75 per cent of fish spe-cies caught in the oceans.

Apart from supporting the world’s food systems, man-groves are the planet’s protec-tors against the catastrophic consequences of climate change. They can store 10 times as much carbon as ter-restrial ecosystems and spe-cialised root systems make them natural buffer zones in coastal areas.

Mangroves also minimise the impact of strong ocean waves and winds and help re-duce erosion and siltation that impact coastal communities.

Fishery Administration director-general Eng Chea San could not be reached for comment on Sunday but he

previously said that Cambo-dia has a total area of 58,800ha of mangrove forest. More than 1,000ha are in Kep, 1,966ha in Kampot, 9,352ha in Preah Sih-anouk province and 46,529ha in Koh Kong province.

Senior marine biologist at Wild Earth Allies (WEA) leng Phalla, said Cambodia’s man-grove forests have been de-clining due to logging. But in recent years, government of-ficials, civil society organisa-

tions and communities have worked together to replant mangrove forests, especially in Kampot province.

“Because of government pro-motion, people are now aware that mangrove forests are im-portant for their descendants and their livelihood. They earn income from the mangrove forest by catching shrimp, crab and fish and can earn at least 30,000 to 40,000 riel ($7 to $10) per day,” Phalla said.

Kampot provincial Fisher-ies Administration official Sar Sorin said there are nine com-munities in the mangrove for-est in Kampot province.

They have been given the right by the Ministry of Agri-culture, Forestry and Fisheries to manage resources like the mangrove forest, seagrass and corals in their respective areas.

Sorin said the mangrove forest is protected and con-served through the erection

of poles, and the replanting of mangrove trees.

He said mangrove reforesta-tion activities have been on-going since 1995. From 2008 to 2020, nearly 400,000 man-grove trees have been planted in areas that do not yet have mangrove trees.

“Various factors contribute to the decrease in the number of mangrove forests, including housing development and cli-mate change,” Sorin said.

There are more than 46,529ha of mangrove forests in Koh Kong province. supplied

Covid lingers as holidays approach ACNCIPO takes K Speu villagers, chief to court Khorn Savi

INTERIOR Minister Sar Kheng advised capital and provincial governors to prepare their facilities and entertain-ment venues with Covid-19 prevention measures in anticipation of the re-scheduled Khmer New year holidays from August 17-21.

In a letter on Monday, Sar Kheng said essential tasks included strengthening security and order while ensuring the provision of essential services to meet the needs of citizens.

Governors must inform guesthouse, hotel and restaurant owners to prepare alcohol or gel for handwashing and take the temperature of guests at exits and entrances. The owners must also enforce social distancing.

“Governors have to advise owners and managers of supermarkets and State and private markets to prepare alcohol and gel for washing hands at exits and entrances. The owners [must] assign staff to take the temperatures of all citi-zens who enter markets,” he said.

Additionally, capital and provincial gov-ernors must encourage people to respect the new normal by washing hands fre-quently, wearing facemasks and scarves when sneezing or coughing and main-taining a distance of at least 1.5m.

On Monday, Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng also issued a letter to the transport and tourism ministers and capital and provincial governors to help disseminate his ministry’s guide-lines on preventing Covid-19 infections during the upcoming holidays.

The letter said citizens must avoid mass gatherings and seek highly ven-tilated places. They must refrain from activities that could pose risks such as

singing and dancing or drinking with-out maintaining social distancing.

Preah Sihanouk Provincial Hall spokesman Kheang Phearum said the provincial administration had always followed the guidelines of the minis-tries of Health, and Interior.

He said the guidelines include quar-antining passengers arriving from abroad and educating residents to wear masks and practice strict hygiene.

Over the last two weeks, Phearum said the province has improved its infrastructure and entertainment ven-ues to assist citizens during the upcom-ing holidays.

Tourism and health officials have been deployed at coastal areas to inform citizens to respect the ministries’ guidelines.

“We will further detail our work plan preparations after a meeting is held in the coming days,” he said.

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced another imported case of Covid-19 when an Indian man with the virus arrived in Cambodia on Sunday via South Korea and Malaysia.

As of Tuesday, Cambodia has record-ed 226 Covid-19 patients, 147 of whom have since recovered. The ministry emphasised that in july, most of the cases were imported from inbound flights from Malaysia and Indonesia.

The government decided to halt all flights from the two countries from August 1 to prevent the spread of the virus as Cambodia prepares to observe many national holidays soon.

Soth Koemsoeun

ACNCIPO director Chea Hean on Tuesday appeared in the Kampong Speu Provincial Court as a plaintiff after filing a complaint against five people for illegally clearing more than 400ha in the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary in Trapaing Chor commune’s Sre Kin Village in Oral district.

Hean told The Post on Tuesday that he accused Soeun Nak, Mok Man, Mok Meth, Khieu Saroeun and village chief Im Sorn of clearing the land in his complaint dated june 15. All of them reside in Sre Kin.

He said the five had incited 38 families to use machinery to clear the land and erect a fence before selling it to traders.

Sorn, he said, was persuaded by the other four suspects to create land certificates.

“I filed the complaint against the five for attempting to obstruct experts from carrying out their mission and for clearing forest land illegally. I demand 100 million riel ($24,405) in compensation and ask that the five individuals be brought to justice,” Hean said.

Sorn claimed on Tuesday that he is due in court on Wednesday and he intends to appear. But he emphasised that the accusation against him was baseless and there was no evidence.

“I have nothing to do with the land in the area and the accusation against me is untrue. I am willing to be punished by law if I was

involved with the land.“let Hean file a complaint against

me. I am not afraid of appearing in court because I don’t know the mat-ter. I don’t depend on legal represen-tation to defend me,” Sorn said.

Trapaing Chor commune chief Tep Nem said on Tuesday that land within the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary had been encroached on by a small number of citizens. But he had not agreed to register the land for the trespassers.

Nem said: “I received the news from citizens saying that Sre Kin vil-lage chief Im Sorn encouraged citi-zens to encroach on the land. I told them on several occasions not to touch land that belongs to the State.

“If they still turn a deaf ear to my words, then there is little I can do. I will let the court handle the case.”

The complaint said ACNCIPO officials on March 5 travelled to the O’pongro area in the village and found Mok Man, Mok Meth and Khieu Saroeun clearing 112ha of land illegally within the sanctuary.

On june 8, the organisation requested provincial environment officials to mark land boundaries to reclaim the location as State land.

The complaint said on june 11, the provincial Department of Environment had assigned provin-cial environment experts to mark the boundaries.

But Nak and 10 other conspirators started taking pictures of the officials’ cars and issuing threats to both gov-ernment and ACNCIPO officials.

Interior minister Sar Kheng issued orders for capital and provincial governors to prepare virus prevention measures before the public holiday from August 17-21. interior ministry

Residents in lowlands and mountains get warning on flooding

THE Ministry of Water Resources and Me-teorology on Tuesday

issued a flood warning for residents living in lowlands adjacent to mountains and waterways.

Monday’s weather situa-tion warning said southwest monsoon winds are blowing moderately over Cambodia as a continuing low-pres-sure system over Thailand, Laos PDR and Vietnam is causing significant changes in Cambodian weather conditions.

The ministry reported some provinces in the central lowlands areas, the Dangrek Mountain range and the northeastern highlands are likely to receive scattered moderate to heavy rain. Some areas may receive heavy rainfall and some coastal provinces could see scattered showers.

“From July 31 to August 4 some provinces may experi-ence flooding,” it said.

The forecast calls on farm-ers living in these areas to hurry and harvest their crops in time to avoid losing them.

Coastal provinces, including Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampot and Kep, will experi-ence heavy rain, strong winds and large waves from August 1-3. Khouth SophaK ChaKrya

National3THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Law breakerA helmetless rubbish collector rides her scooter near Phnom Penh’s riverfront night market in Daun Penh district’s Wat Phnom commune impervious of the higher traffic fines. poSt StaFF

Kim Sarom

POlICE arrested 285 people at a nightclub in Phnom Penh Thmey commune in the capi-tal’s Sen Sok district in the early hours of Tuesday for not following the Ministry of Health’s advice on Covid-19 preventive measures.

The municipal police’s mi-nor crime bureau chief Bun Satya told The Post that his forces raided the Gold line Club in an operation coor-dinated by municipal court deputy prosecutor Say Nora.

Municipal police chief Sar Thet said nightclubs and ka-raoke bars are not allowed to be open amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Prime Minister Hun Sen’s order is to not allow opening of nightclubs and karaoke establishments. We therefore had to close this location.

“Some of the detained were allowed to go home after be-ing advised and some are still being questioned. They will be allowed to go home if they are not involved in other of-fences like drugs,” he said.

Satya said police are search-ing for the club owner whom he said does not reside in Sen Sok district.

In a directive dated March 17, the health ministry or-dered the closures of kara-oke parlours and nightclubs throughout the Kingdom until the covid-19 situation eases.

Deputy municipal gover-nor Mean Chanyada referred reporters to spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey, who could not be reached for comment.

District governor Mov Manith declined to comment, saying he was in a Ministry of Interior meeting.

PP nightclub raided for Covid-19 violationCrashes ‘risk’ for factory workers

Khouth Sophak Chakrya

TRAFFIC accidents involving garment and footwear factory workers continue to

pose a major problem in Cam-bodia, said the director of the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation, Kim Pagna.

Pantha made the remarks on Tuesday at an “Improving traffic safety for Cambodian workers” workshop in Phnom Penh. Every day, traffic acci-dents cause many deaths and injuries. The accidents, he said, also bring hardships to the victims’ families.

“We can prevent and reduce this catastrophic danger if we are all involved in a common spirit and take joint-response measures,” said Pagna.

According to a National Social Security Fund (NSSF) report, in 2019 there were 698 road ac-cidents involving garment and footwear workers, causing 15 deaths and 138 serious injuries.

Some of the injured workers were required to stay in hos-pital and at home for many days, while others were dis-abled and lost their ability to work. They became an addi-tional burden for parents and siblings to take care of regu-larly, the report said.

NSSF policy bureau direc-tor Heng Sophanarith said although workers who were injured in traffic accidents

received insurance from the NSSF, they still have to deal with the consequences of their injuries in their daily lives.

“Traffic accidents have left a tragic and devastating impact on the well-being of the fam-ily and economy. This is a se-rious challenge which no one ministry, institution or de-partment can stop, reduce or eliminate on its own because it is a common problem for all of us,” he said.

A report by the Transporta-tion Working Group – a group

of brand representatives and development partners coor-dinated by Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) to support workers – said eight traffic accidents occurred involving worker-transportation trucks.

Two people died, 32 were seriously injured and 189 suf-fered minor injuries in the ac-cidents.

Pamela Wharton, the depu-ty country programme direc-tor for the Cambodia Solidar-ity Centre, said workers face danger in a variety of ways

every day when they travel to work at their factories. Some travel on collective vehicles that are not appropriate for passengers. They can be over-crowded and unsafe.

Wharton said many drivers in the same survey reported that they survive on a low income comparable to that earned by garment workers and are un-able to afford vehicle improve-ments and maintenance.

They resort to overloading their vehicles to make a rea-sonable income.

There were 698 road accidents involving garment and footwear workers last year, causing 15 deaths and 138 serious injuries. poSt StaFF

Police arrested 285 people at a nightclub in the capital. FaCEBooK

Officials said the suspects threw sticks, knives and axes at them while they were planting trees. facebook

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Chikungunya suspected in P Sihanouk as more hospitalised

Officials sue ‘attackers’ in K Thom land case

Long Kimmarita

THE Preah Sihanouk provincial Department of Health revealed on Tuesday that 14 people in Koh Rong commune’s Doeum Thkov village are being treated at the provincial referral hospi-tal for fever and red rashes.

The patients are awaiting blood test results to determine if they have chikungunya fever, an outbreak of which occurred in Banteay Meanchey province from july 19 to july 22.

Chikungunya fever is a viral illness that is spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes. It typi-cally lasts from five to seven days and frequently causes severe and often incapacitating joint pain which sometimes persists for much longer periods. It is rarely life-threatening.

Commune police chief Heng Kim Arn said on Monday that nearly 20 people in Doeum Thkov village sought medical treatment at public and private hospitals for fever and rashes.

“There was an outbreak of almost 20 people. They had a fever at first. But I do not know the details. When they were not feeling well, they came to seek medical treatment at the pro-vincial hospital, where they received a medical examina-tion,” he said.

Provincial health depart-ment director lim Samean said 14 patients with symp-toms associated with chikun-gunya fever were hospitalised

at the provincial referral hos-pital as of Tuesday.

She said doctors will not be able to diagnose the patients until they receive their blood results from the Institut Pas-teur du Cambodge (IPC) labo-ratory in Phnom Penh.

Samean confirmed that the patients had come from Koh Rong commune. She said patients with fever from other areas were not yet suspected of having chikungunya fever.

“We haven’t made any con-clusion if it’s the same case as in Banteay Meanchey prov-ince. We are waiting for the results first,” she said.

She asked people to eliminate water-based Aedes aegypti mos-quito habitats which can attract the disease-carrying insects. She also suggested people sleep under a mosquito net and wear long-sleeved shirts and pants.

If anyone experiences a fever or a red rash, she urged that they visit a health centre as soon as possible.

Provincial hall spokesman Kheang Phearum said on Tues-day that initial conclusions from the medical team was that the patients were suffering from chikungunya fever or rubella.

On july 23, the Ministry of Health announced outbreaks of chikungunya in Poipet and Phsar Kandal villages in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet commune. Fever, skin rashes and joint pain were reported by 168 people.

Banteay Meanchey provin-cial health department direc-tor le Chansangvath told The Post on Tuesday that all of the patients with chikungunya fever who were hospitalised were not suffering from any serious health problems aside from the initial symptoms.

He said the outbreak was controlled after officials sprayed mosquito repellent and provided villagers with the anti-dengue larvicide Abate.

“So far, a few patients remain in hospital. But they do not have any serious health prob-lems,” Chansangvath said.

A ministry press release said chikungunya fever is a public health concern which presents a challenge because Aedes aegypti mosquitoes which transmit the disease between people are highly mobile and can appear anywhere.

The ministry said that chikungunya fever is not life-threatening unless compound-ed by another illness, such as dengue fever or malaria.

joint pain can last for months to years but other symptoms typically subside in as little as one week.

The ministry recommends the same prevention methods for chikungunya fever as dengue fever. Eliminating all standing water is recommended because it serves as a breeding ground for infected female mosquitoes, often of the Aedes aegypti species which transmit the infection.

Soth Koemsoeun

THREE Kampong Thom forestry offi-cials filed a complaint with the Kampong

Thom Provincial Court against 50 suspects they claim attacked them in a land dispute.

The incident occurred on july 16 in Santuk district’s Boeung lvea commune’s O’Korkir village in Kampong Thom province.

So Rath, chief of the Forestry Administration’s Taing Krasa-ing triage, and one of the three officers injured in the melee, said on Monday that he and the other two officers filed a com-plaint against 50 people from an estimated 100 in total.

The suspects threw sticks, knives and axes at 30 officers while they were planting more than 2,000 trees. “We want legal action against the suspects because they violently attacked us. I was stabbed with an axe. The other officers were hit in the arms, legs and body,” Rath said.

The deputy chief of North Tonle Sap lake Inspectorate of Kampong Thom Province, Tep Nhata, said on Monday that he knew about the case, but he did not know the number of people listed in the complaint.

“Based on our observations, they are not poor citizens who need land, but they are trying to protect the land for big merchants.

“We are investigating this

issue. Merchants should not use citizens to encroach on land for them. If they truly do not have land, we will give them land. However, they take the land to sell to others,” he said.

Officer Ang Buntha sustained an injury to his right leg when he was hit with a stick. Another offic-er, So Rat, suffered a back injury when he was hit with an axe.

Boeung lvea commune chief Chhit Khoeun said peo-ple have lived on the land since 2016, but he does not know if it belongs to them. There is no registration or legal title.

“They do not have a proper legal title, but they settled on the land a long time ago. It is being investigated,” he said.

National5THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Voun Dara

THE Ministry of land Man-agement, urban Planning and Construction on Tues-day said 550 officials in inter-ministerial groups are set to implement a land registration plan in Mondulkiri province.

The announcement came at a meeting chaired by Minister Chea Sophara and attended by Minister of Agriculture, Forest-ry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon, Minister of Environment Say Sam Al, and Mondulkiri provin-cial governor Svay Sam Eang.

“Roughly 300 officials were from the Ministry of land Management’s measuring team, 50 from the agriculture ministry and about 200 from the environment ministry,” a press release said.

The press release said teams will use T300 Plus GNSS high-precision land surveying in-struments to capture data from satellites.

State land will be measured and registered according to the land boundaries of the minis-tries of Agriculture, and Envi-ronment, the local authorities occupying State land.

“The working groups will measure and collect data on oc-cupied land near a State-owned property and villages of indig-enous communities, and will tackle land disputes and sup-port land-use planning in the province,” the press release said.

Mondulkiri deputy governor

and provincial hall spokes-man Cheak Mengheang said the meeting set out several mechanisms, including the implementation of land reg-istration for the people and preparation plans.

“The plan set out by Sophara is to implement this work from tomorrow, while spending 18 days to collect data and deter-mining the identity of certain residents,” he said.

Mengheang said the work of the local group is to collect data and identify people be-fore handing over the results to the national working group to decide on land allocation or settlement.

Sakhon was quoted as say-ing that the meeting dis-cussed finding a clear and ac-curate solution.

“According to a series of stud-ies by the Forestry Administra-tion, trespassing on forest land continues because people lack land for cultivation and expan-sion of housing. These factors have affected the State’s forest land,” he said.

Adhoc Mondulkiri provincial coordinator Eang Mengly said most land disputes in the prov-ince were caused by large com-panies with investment rights and ties to powerful officials.

“law enforcement must apply to individuals and authorities. let there be no discrimination. If there is, it means our country has a problem concerning cor-rupt officials,” he said.

Officials set to expedite M’kiri land registration

Kingdom to get demining aidVoun Dara

THE international community will pro-vide $20 million in aid to assist Cambo-

dia with mine and explosive ordnance clearance.

Known as the “Clearing for Result IV Project”, the latest mine-clearing phase is in-tended to rid the country of mines by 2025. Earlier phases had cleared 2,043sq km from 2006 to March.

First vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) ly Thuch led a board meeting on Tuesday with rep-resentatives from the Minis-try of Economy and Finance and donor countries.

Attendees included Austra-lia, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica), New Zealand and uNDP.

The meeting was held to examine the progress of the project, strengthening effec-tiveness with transparency and accountability and estab-lishing plans of action to clear mines in 2021.

The project focused mainly on three outcomes, according to Thuch.

The first focus is on clearing mines and explosive remnants of war to ensure the safety of citizens. The second is to sup-port activities that help dis-abled persons and educate the public on the dangers of mines, while the third is to strengthen

national capacities.From 1992 to late june, over

2,043sq km of mines had been cleared by national and inter-national operations. The clear-ance operations destroyed 1,088,677 antipersonnel mines, 25,361 anti-tank mines and 2,858,071 explosive devices.

In the first six months of this year, seven operators had cleared mines on 63sq km and destroyed 7,855 antiper-sonnel mines, 175 anti-tank mines and 25,440 explosive remnants of war.

The operators were the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), Halo Trust, the Mines Advisory

Group (MAG), the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), APOPO – Humanitarian Demining, and Cambodia Self Help De-mining (CSHD).

“During the first six months of the year, 38 people were injured by mines and explo-sive remnants of war. In 2019, 62 people suffered injuries,” Thuch said.

Koica Cambodia country director Rho Hyunjun spoke of his agency’s participation in the mine clearance proj-ect and its $10 million con-tribution.

“The representative of Koi-ca thanks the leader of the CMAA for sending experts to attend training prepared by it

to exchange experiences with countries affected by mines and explosive remnants of war,” he said.

Meeting participants also agreed to some main points, according to a press release.

CMAA and uNDP agreed to strengthen the nation’s ca-pacity to continue mine clear-ance and explosive remnants of war after 2025.

Donor nations supported seven points to allow CMAA to continue its activities to streamline project effective-ness starting from 2021. Do-nor nations supported a joint visit to inspect mine clearance and interview those who ben-efitted from cleared land.

Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) first vice-president Ly Thuch. HONG MENEA

Ministry of justice vows to improveNiem Chheng

MINISTER of justice Koeut Rith said on Mon-day that his ministry is focused on strengthen-ing the justice sector and ensuring judges, prosecutors and court officials perform their duties with dignity and discipline.

He said the ministry’s efforts are aimed at promoting the honour and dignity of judges, the quality of trials, legality and justice. The ministry is also focused on providing quick and clean justice to earn the public’s trust.

Rith made the remarks while presiding over a ceremony to designate judge Sam Bunthon as Battambang Appeal Court president, Nuon San as chief prosecutor, and Kue Bunnara as a prosecutor.

He said judges, prosecutors and court offi-cials must conform to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s five pillars which serve as a metaphor for occu-pying a government office with dignity.

One must look at oneself in the mirror, he said, to honestly assess and clean any filth, treat any wounds and operate as necessary if he is to be an effective official.

judges, prosecutors and court officials have to strictly follow the law to ensure impartial trials and genuine justice for the people. When they took their positions, they vowed to avoid partialities to love, anger, fear and ignorance, he said.

Rith said: “The judges, prosecutors and all offi-cials must maintain discipline and ethical values while fulfilling their daily work. By sticking to a high level of professionalism and ethical values, they can enhance their pride and dignity. It also strengthens citizens’ belief in the justice system.”

He told judges, prosecutors and officials related to the court to take responsibility in their jobs by tackling the backlog of cases in the courts of first instance.

A measure to clear backlogged court cases

was implemented by the ministry on May 18. The solution must be implemented with a “Fast, accurate, fair and non-corrupt” approach, Rith said.

Ministry spokesman Chin Malin said on Tuesday that its priority is clearing the number of cases stuck in court. If the caseload is too high, it can affect the ability of the institution and slow down justice for citizens.

The ministry said it would focus on enhanc-ing human resources and improving officials’ professionalism and ethical values.

Building additional physical infrastructure in the courts and inspection mechanisms on judicial officials is also a priority for the Min-istry of justice, he said.

Transparency International Cambodia executive director Pich Pisey said he supported Rith’s remarks. Holding judges and judicial officials accountable to high standards of professionalism and ensuring they adhere to the Code of Conduct will improve peoples’ access to justice, Pisey said.

He said maintaining the judicial sector’s inde-pendence is another priority because a reliable system is capable of creating an environment where other sectors can thrive.

He reiterated that the judicial system should remain independent, a right guaranteed by the Cambodian Constitution.

Minister of Justice Koeut Rith. justicE MiNistry

THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM6

BusinessTrading informaTion on Cambodia SeCuriTieS exChange

Auction Trading Method (ATM)

no SToCk CloSing PriCe oPening PriCe high low

1 ABC 16,760 16,840 16,860 16,720

2 GTI 3,100 3,100 3,100 3,100

3 PAS 15,020 15,740 15,740 15,000

4 PPAP 11,600 11,600 11,600 11,500

5 PPSP 2,300 2,300 2,300 2,300

6 PWSA 5,580 5,600 5,600 5,500

Date: July 28, 2020

USD / KHR USD / CAD USD / CNY USD / JPY USD / MYR USD / SGD USD / THB AUD / USD EUR / USD GBP / USD

4,098 1.3391 7.0038 105.50 4.2525 1.3808 31.57 0.7122 1.1690 1.2837

CHINESE tech giant Huawei Technol-ogies Co ltd will team up with global telecom operators to boost the indus-trial application of 5G technologies as part of its efforts to tap the superfast wireless technology’s full potential and generate commercial successes.

The world’s largest telecom equip-ment maker is currently striving to maintain steady progress in its busi-nesses despite the uS government’s increased restrictions.

Huawei rotating chairman Guo Ping said till now, the world has 81 com-mercial 5G networks, more than 90 million 5G mobile subscribers, and more than 700,000 5G base stations.

The business case for 5G is not just better connectivity, he said. When tech-nologies like 5G, computing, cloud, and AI come together, they reinforce each other and create numerous opportuni-ties across five major tech domains – connectivity, AI, cloud, computing, and industry applications.

“Huawei has strengths in each of these domains,” Guo said. “We can mix and match them to create scenario-based solutions that meet the unique needs of our customers and partners.”

Wang Zhiqin, deputy head of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a gov-ernment think tank, earlier said unified industry standards and a collaborative ecosystem are needed for industrial applications to be replicated on scale.

Huawei also called on telecom car-riers to focus on both short-term and long-term goals.

“More precise deployment is how they can maximise the value of tele-com carriers’ networks,” Guo said, adding that they should prioritise user experience and spend money where it’s needed most to maximise the value of existing networks.

Also, he said, 5G deployment plans should prioritise hot spots and key industry applications, and more efforts are needed to integrate exist-ing networks with new 5G networks through holistic coordination and precise planning.

During the first quarter of this year, Huawei was ranked the world’s larg-est telecom gear maker, with a mar-ket share of 35.7 per cent, followed by Ericsson AB and Nokia Oyj, Califor-nia, uS-based market tracker Dell’Oro Group reported.

The ranking came despite Washing-ton’s intensified push to persuade its allies to ban Huawei. In the first half, Huawei clocked a revenue of 454 billion yuan ($64.2 billion), up 13.1 per cent on a yearly basis. Its net profit margin stood at 9.2 per cent. CHINA DAILY/ANN

FTA to exempt 340 items from tariffsThou Vireak

WHEN the Cambodia-China Bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into effect, at

least 340 of the Kingdom’s commodi-ties will be exempt from tariffs, Min-istry of Commerce secretary of state Sok Sopheak said on Tuesday.

The agreement is scheduled to be signed next month.

Sopheak, who is also the head of the FTA negotiation group with Chi-na, was speaking at a press confer-ence on the results of the FTA talks at the Council of Ministers.

Exempt items include pepper, dried chilli, cashew nut-products, garlic, honey and seafood products such as mussels, crabs and snails, he said. “We have sufficient means to produce goods for export to China, especially vegetables, fruits, fish and meats.”

During the additional negotia-tions leading up to ratification of the agreement, he said, the Kingdom will push to include milled-rice, natural rubber and sugar in the list of goods exempt from tariffs.

He noted that exports in excess of China’s quota limit are currently charged a tariff.

The FTA, he said, would eliminate tariffs on 98 per cent of Cambodia’s total exports and 90 per cent of Chi-na’s shipments into the Kingdom.

He said both sides agreed to en-courage Chinese and other interna-tional investors to set up factories in the Kingdom to export to China and other destinations. Of note was the interest in commercial livestock farming investments.

At the same time, he said, the Kingdom is eyeing more imports of processed industrial supplies such as auto parts and steel.

“According to an assessment and analysis of the size of the market opened [by the agreement], Cambo-

dia will increase its exports to China by 25 per cent per annum, or even higher in the event a more favourable policy of production, investment, transport, fiscal and trade facilitation can be arranged,” Sopheak said.

Royal Academy of Cambodia eco-nomics researcher Ky Sereyvath said the FTA will create a new pole for the Kingdom – not only for trade, but also for investment flows.

He said: “The FTA will help Cam-bodia diversify exports beyond gar-ments to other industrial products.

“The agreement will not only at-tract investment from China but also from other countries.”

Chan Sopheap, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s General Department of Policy, told the press conference that the FTA will expand the market for the Kingdom’s commodities be-yond the gains provided by the cre-ation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) on january 1, 2010.

He noted that the agreement elimi-nated tariffs on 94.7 per cent of Cambo-

dia’s total exports to the area, which is less than the FTA is expected to deliver.

“under the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement, we have secured the entry for more than 340 items to the Chinese market, most of which are agricultural products and processed finished products from Cambodia’s industrial sector,” Sopheap said.

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and China was worth $9.42 billion last year, up 27.29 per cent from $7.4 billion in 2018, data from the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh showed.

S’ville port imports container reach-stackersMay Kunmakara

lISTED publicly-owned port operator Sihanoukville Auton-omous Port (PAS) imported four empty container reach-stackers from Chinese State-owned multinational engi-neering company Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co ltd (ZPMC), ZPMC said on Monday.

A reach-stacker is a power-driven mobile truck used for handling intermodal shipping containers at airports, sea-

ports and railway yards.ZPMC said the reach-stack-

er arrived at the Kingdom’s sole deep-sea port on july 21.

“The four empty container reach-stackers were success-fully delivered to Sihanoukville Port of Cambodia on july 21, indicating the debut of ZPMC’s mobile machinery on the Cambodian market.

“The port is the largest along the southwest coastline and the only modern commercial free zone port,” it said.

A free zone refers to an area

in which companies are either untaxed or taxed at a marginal rate to stimulate economic activity.

Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol told a press conference in February that, with the finan-cial assistance of the japa-nese International Coopera-tion Agency ( jica), the government is planning to build a new 14.5m-deep con-tainer terminal for the port.

“The container terminal will service about 93 per cent

of all large vessels travelling in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We will be able to ship direct-ly without having to stop at Sin-gapore or Hong Kong,” he said.

PAS director-general lou Khim Chhun could not be reached for comment over the import of the reach-stackers.

But he previously told an interview that the new termi-nal is expected to cost around $203 million.

A ministry report the number of containers handled at the port increased by 17 per cent,

reaching a total of 633,099 twenty-foot equivalent units by the end of last year.

Total tonnage handled by the port increased by 22.6 per cent, reaching more than 6.5 million tonnes, while the total number of vessels passing through rose by 15.5 per cent to 1,661.

PAS recorded $83.48 million in revenue last year, up 21.17 per cent year-on-year, and $20.34 million in operating profit, up 27 per cent, accord-ing to its filing to the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX).

Huawei set to harness 5G for industrial applications

Ministry of Commerce secretary of state Sok Sopheak said ratification of the Cambodia-China Bilateral Free Trade Agreement will allow 98 per cent of the Kingdom’s exports to enter China duty-free. HEAN RANGSEY

7THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Business8 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

NBC head underscores value of women’s access to financeMay Kunmakara

uNlOCKING greater access to formal finance for Cambo-dian women will

play a strategic role in the process of the Kingdom’s eco-nomic development, National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) director-general Chea Serey said on Monday.

She said this at the Train-ing on the Trainers (ToT) Programme on Financial Literacy of Women Entrepre-neurship Development jointly organised by the NBC and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Siem Reap with the support of credit card issuer Visa Inc.

Improved access to finance for women entrepreneurs will not only grow their business-es and make a positive differ-ence in their family welfare, but will also support com-munities and stimulate eco-nomic activity, she said.

“The more women are able to access formal financial ser-vices and use them critically and responsibly, the more they will be able to chip in for their families’ and communities’ so-cio-economic development.

“This will in turn lead to higher living standards, busi-ness opportunities, saving and financial emergency prepared-ness, resulting in their families’ and communities’ improved access to basic services, inter alia, education, sanitation, health care and clean water.

“Accordingly, improving fi-nancial literacy – especially for women and women en-trepreneurs – will serve as the foundation for Women’s Financial Inclusion Develop-ment,” Serey said.

The programme is one of the key priorities outlined in the National Strategy for Fi-nancial Inclusiveness 2019-2025, which underscores women’s financial inclusion and raising financial literacy.

Well-known businesswom-an Keo Mom said the rise in women entrepreneur’s access to finance is especially evident in the surge of properly draft-ed financial reports and more effective business models.

Mom is the CEO of snack manufacturer ly ly Food In-dustry Co ltd and the vice-president of the Cambodian Women Entrepreneurs’ Net-work (CamWen) initiative.

She said: “Most members of [CamWen] have received training on how to prepare a fitting financial report when they require financing from financial institutions.

“But many challenges re-main [for emerging women entrepreneurs] as financial institutions still require col-lateral in exchange for loans.”

As CamWen’s membership climbs past 600, Mom wants

to secure more funding to pro-vide training in other provinc-es, promote attentiveness to business models and financial reporting, streamline finan-cial literacy and education ef-forts and further draw in more members to her network.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a mem-ber of the World Bank Group, claimed in a report published in August last year that the prevalent belief that women entrepreneurs in Cambodia are less outgoing and have a lack of leadership skills and the required initiative to run a business is a misconception.

The report said 90 per cent of small and medium-sized enter-prises (SMEs) owned by women were profitable in 2018.

But the IFC found that only three per cent of women en-trepreneurs have access to

formal credit from microfi-nance institutions and banks.

It estimated that the unmet demand for credit from wom-en entrepreneurs was $4.2 bil-lion – a figure that is equiva-lent to almost 63 per cent of Cambodia’s national budget of $6.7 billion for last year.

NBC deputy governor Neav Chanthana in january said 59 per cent of Cambodia’s adult population has access to formal financial services, of which 17 per cent is with banking institutions.

Another 42 per cent are with other financial institu-tions, 12 per cent with infor-mal financial services and 29 per cent with both formal and informal financial services.

“To access financial knowl-edge is fundamental to im-prove financial inclusion in Cambodia,” she said.

National Bank of Cambodia director-general Chea Serey said improving women entrepreneurs’ access to finance will support communities and stimulate economic activity. SUPPLIED

THAI farmers and entrepre-neurs will be educated on how to utilise the benefits of the Regional Comprehen-sive Economic Partnership (RCEP) before the agreement is signed by member nations in November in Vietnam, Department of Trade Nego-tiations director-general Ora-mon Sapthaweetham said.

There are 16 countries involved in RCEP – the 10 members of ASEAN – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Phil-ippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – plus the six countries with which ASEAN has free trade agreements – Australia, China, India, japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

However, India is not sign-ing the RCEP agreement as of now.

Oramon said: “Minister of Commerce jurin laksanawisit has tasked departments un-der the ministry to come up with measures to maximise the benefits that Thailand will get from this partnership.

“The Department of Trade Negotiations has surveyed Thai export markets and found that the following products will benefit from tax exemption under RCEP – fruit, vegetable oil, cereal, tapioca starch, seafood, pro-cessed food and fruit juice.

“The department will noti-fy Thai farmers and entrepre-neurs of business opportu-nities in the manufacturing and exporting of these prod-ucts as well as negotiate with business partners to expand export markets in RCEP member countries.

“Products from Thailand have been positively wel-comed by many countries during the Covid-19 situ-ation as we are one of the few countries who are able to control the outbreak with minimal impact to the agri-cultural sector.”

last year, Thailand ex-ported agricultural products worth $25.2 billion to the 16 RCEP member countries, or 62.2 per cent of total export of agricultural products.

In the first five months of this year, exports in this cat-egory to RCEP nations were worth $10.8 billion, or 63.8 per cent of total agricultural products export, increasing 2.4 per cent year-on-year.

Products that have seen greater demand this year in-clude fresh and frozen fruit (22 per cent increase), fresh and frozen chicken (up 12.12 per cent), canned and pro-cessed fruit (up 6.7 per cent) and fruit juice (up 10.2 per cent). THE NATION (THAILAND)/ASIA

NEWS NETWORK

Thai firms, farmers to be taught how to tap potential of RCEP deal

Red corn prices tumble as growers switch to cassavaHin Pisei

THE wholesale price of fresh red corn in northwestern Battambang prov-ince dipped more than seven per cent from the year-ago period as this year’s first harvest reached 30 per cent com-pletion, provincial Department of Commerce director Kim Hout said.

Red corn is harvested twice a year between late june and August and then again between late October and February.

Hout told The Post on Monday that the crop’s price depends on fluctua-tions in the Thai market, where most local output ends up.

Quoting prices in the Thai curren-cy, he said fresh red corn currently nets 3,800 baht ($121) per tonne, down from 4,100 baht during the same time last year. He noted that the price only applies during the year’s first harvest.

The price during the second har-vest is typically higher.

Hout said about 80 per cent of Bat-tambang’s red corn is exported by traders to Thailand, while the balance

is supplied to local animal feed com-pany CP Cambodia Co ltd, a subsid-iary of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group).

Provincial Department of Agricul-ture director Chhim Vachira said the cultivation area of red corn in the province declined sharply this year compared to previous years as farm-ers opted to plant cassava instead.

On the other hand, Battambang’s agricultural sector has not registered a significant decline this year, he said.

“The provincial Department of Agriculture is currently working to diversify agriculture and boost the province’s capability to provide food and other agricultural prod-ucts, including agro-industrial crops, vegetables and aquaculture products,” Vachira said.

He noted that overall agricultural pro-duction in the province had expanded this year compared to last year.

Chan Muoy, the owner of a silo storage facility and collection point in Battambang province’s northwest-ern Sampov loun district, attributed the marginal decline in red corn price

in part to Covid-19 concerns.As more farmers abandon the

crop in favour of cassava, she said, this year’s yield is expected to un-dershoot last year’s level.

She said Monday’s per-tonne price was 3,900 baht on average for fresh red corn on the cob and 8,000 baht for dried kernels.

Phen Noeut, a red corn and po-tato farmer in the same district, said market and weather concerns have led him to considerably scale back red corn cultivation this year.

He said he planted only 1ha of red corn this year, down from last year’s 6ha. He switched the remaining land to cassava. “I figured that grow-ing cassava could be more produc-tive than red corn.”

According to the Battambang pro-vincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries figures, red corn will be grown on more than 43,000ha of land in the province this year, down from more than 73,000 ha last year.

One hectare of red corn will pro-duce an average of 2.83 tonnes this year, the department estimated.

Battambang provincial Department of Commerce director Kim Hout said about 80 per cent of the province’s red corn is exported by traders to Thailand. HENG CHIVOAN

Department of Trade Negotiations director-general Oramon Sapthaweetham said Thai farmers and entrepreneurs will be educated on how to utilise the benefits of the RCEP. THE NATION

THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM 9

world

NORTH Korean leader Kim jong-un said Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons guarantee its safety, State media report-ed on Tuesday, signalling once again that it will not give up its arsenal.

Kim was addressing a confer-ence of veterans on the 67th anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended Korean War hostili-ties, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

up to three million Koreans died in the three-year conflict, in which the armistice has never been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving North and South technically still at war.

“Thanks to our reliable and effective self-defensive nucle-ar deterrent, there will no longer be such word as war on this land,” Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

“Our national security and future will be firmly guaran-teed forever,” he added.

Pyongyang insists that it

needs its nuclear arsenal to deter against a possible uS invasion.

It has spent decades devel-oping it and is internationally isolated as a result, subject to multiple uN Security Council sanctions over its banned weapons programmes.

Inter-Korean relations have been in deep freeze for months, following the collapse of a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam between Kim and uS Presi-dent Donald Trump last year.

That nuclear negotiation foundered on what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for a loosening of sanctions.

Kim declared in December an end to moratoriums on nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and Pyongyang has repeatedly said it has no inten-tion to continue talks unless Washington drops what it describes as “hostile” policies towards the North. AFP

Pandemic to bring surge in child wasting cases, uN saysT

HE unprecedented social and eco-nomic crisis caused by the coronavirus

pandemic will see nearly seven million more chil-dren experience stunting as a result of malnutrition, the uN said on Tuesday.

Even before Covid-19, there were an estimated 47 million children under five who were moderately or severely wasted, most liv-ing in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

Now as lockdowns and international trade routes disrupt vital aid supplies, the uN warned that the coronavirus pandemic could have an “intergen-erational effect” on the health of millions.

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, a team of experts showed the results of computer modelling estimates on food supply in 118 poor and middle-income nations.

They found that the preva-lence of moderate or severe wasting among under-fives would increase 14.3 per cent – equating to an additional 6.7 million cases.

Wasting occurs when the body is so acutely mal-nourished that its muscles and fat begin to diminish.

A host of research ini-tiatives have shown clear links between wasting and chronic and severe health conditions later in life.

“The profound impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on early life nutrition could

have intergenerational consequences for child growth and development and life-long impacts on education, chronic dis-ease risks and overall hu-man capital formation,” the researchers said.

The models showed that in the worst-case scenario where the pandemic could cause young children to miss 50 per cent of their nu-tritional care and treatment services, nearly 180,000 could die this year alone.

Wasting is responsible

for one in 10 infant deaths in low and middle-income countries and recent re-search suggested the pan-demic will throw an addi-tional 140 million people into extreme poverty – that is, living off less than $1.90 a day.

In countries already ex-periencing a humanitarian crisis, the uN Children’s Fund (uNICEF) has warned that up to 100 per cent es-sential nutrition services could be disrupted.

An accompanying open

letter signed by World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghe-breyesus said that this could be alleviated some-what, but that aid agen-cies need a minimum additional $2.4 billion to protect at-risk children.

It said: “We must step forward together with sus-tained action and invest-ments on nutrition today and deny the Covid-19 cri-sis and intergenerational legacy of hunger and mal-nutrition in children.” AFP

Facebook: Eu probe invades privacy

‘Case has tarnished M’sia as kleptocracy, and the people don’t deserve that’

SOCIAl-NETWORKING site Facebook Inc on Monday said it is asking Eu courts to review “exceptionally broad” requests by antitrust regulators there that would scoop up employ-ees’ personal information.

The uS-based internet colos-sus maintained it has been coop-erating with a European Com-mission antitrust investigation and will continue to do so, but that the wording of commission requests casts a net so wide it will haul in Facebook employees’ private messages and more.

The leading social network expects to give the commis-sion hundreds of thousands of documents, Facebook associ-ate general counsel for com-petition Tim lamb said.

“The exceptionally broad nature of the commission’s requests means we would be required to turn over predomi-nantly irrelevant documents that have nothing to do with the commission’s investigations,” he said.

Those documents include “highly sensitive personal infor-mation such as employees’ medical information, personal financial documents and private information about family mem-bers of employees”, he added.

Facebook thinks such requests should be reviewed by Eu courts, lamb said, and is asking the court to weigh in on broad search terms such as “applause” or “for free” that

could easily be found in per-sonal email messages or other exchanges way beyond the scope of antitrust matters.

Regulatory probes can involve requests for messages or documents bearing certain words or phrases, with those seeking information inclined to craft wide nets and those being queried wanting them narrowly targeted.

A highly anticipated uS anti-

trust hearing, including top executives of four Big Tech firms, was originally set for Monday but has been postponed.

A notice filed by the House judiciary Committee set no new date for the hearing titled Exam-ining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

The hearing would have conflicted with the memorial service for the late representa-tive and civil rights leader john lewis, who will lie in state in the uS Capitol until Tuesday.

The antitrust hearing was called amid rising concerns over Big Tech dominance, which has become even more pronounced during the coronavirus pan-demic and coincides with inves-tigations at the federal and state levels into the online giants.

CEOs Tim Cook of Apple, jeff Bezos of Amazon, Mark Zuck-erberg of Facebook and Sun-dar Pichai of Google and its parent firm Alphabet had agreed to participate in the session. AFP

Continued from page 1

of MyR42 million ($9.9 million) from a former 1MDB unit to his bank accounts.

The blue-blood politician, whose father and uncle were both former prime ministers, had vehemently denied any wrongdoing and looked calm as the verdict was handed down.

After finding him guilty on a range of charges including abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering, the judge sentenced Najib to between 10 and 12 years on each.

The sentences will run concur-rently, however, meaning he will remain behind bars for 12 years.

Addressing the court before the sen-tence was passed, Najib read a Quran-ic verse and defended his record dur-ing nine years as prime minister.

But prosecutor V Sithambaram called for a heavy punishment, saying Najib was guilty of a “gross betrayal of trust”.

“This case has tarnished the country as a kleptocracy, and the people of Malaysia don’t deserve that,” he said.

Outside the court, hundreds of angry supporters chanted “long live Najib”.

The former leader had insisted he was ignorant of the transactions from the 1MDB unit, SRC International.

The defence team portrayed him as a victim, and instead sought to paint fin-ancier low Taek jho – a key figure in the scandal who has been charged in the uS and Malaysia – as the mastermind.

low, whose whereabouts are unknown, maintains his innocence.

Najib’s lawyers said he was tricked by low into believing the money was a dona-tion from Saudi royalty, but the judge dismissed the notion as “far-fetched”.

The return of Najib’s party to power after the collapse of a reformist admin-istration that replaced him, was quick-ly followed by prosecutors dropping charges against his stepson Riza Aziz. It raised concerns the former leader’s

own cases would be influenced.Riza allegedly also received huge

sums from 1MDB, including to bank-roll his Hollywood production com-pany – which made The Wolf of Wall Street, starring leonardo DiCaprio.

Analysts said the conviction would boost confidence in the new govern-ment headed by Prime Minister Muhyiddin yassin, whose legitimacy has been questioned since taking power without an election.

He will be seen as “putting country over politics, and gain support from those who wanted to see justice in this case”, Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert from the university of Not-tingham, said.

The opposition alliance “Pakatan Harapan” led by political heavy-weight Anwar Ibrahim – who ousted Najib at the 2018 polls and reopened probes into 1MDB – declared the ver-dict “a huge victory for Malaysians”.

“The judicial process would not have happened if the people had not risen up to hand victory to the ‘Paka-tan Harapan” at the polls, the alliance said in a statement.

However, the political ramifications could be significant.

The conviction could destabilise the ruling coalition, which has a razor-thin majority in parliament if Najib and his backers withdraw support – poten-tially prompting a snap election.

The amounts involved in Najib’s first case are small compared to those in his second and most significant trial, which centres on allegations he illic-itly obtained more than $500 million.

Malaysia had also charged Goldman Sachs, claiming large amounts were sto-len when the bank arranged bond issues for 1MDB, but the two sides agreed to a $3.9 billion settlement last week. AFP

With additional reporting from The Post.

North Korea’s Kim says nuclear deterrent crucial

Socioeconomic Covid-19 fallout could add nearly seven million more children experience stunting as a result of malnutrition to the current estimated 47 million. AFP

Facebook maintained that it has been cooperating with the European Commission antitrust investigation and will continue to do so. AFP

SINGAPORE’S Agency for Sci-ence, Technology and Research (A*Star) and diagnostic corpo-ration MP Biomedicals Asia Pacific Pte Ltd have produced a rapid antibody test kit that can tell if someone has been exposed to the coronavirus within 15 minutes.

Called Assure, the test kit detects antibodies known as IgG and IgM, which are pro-duced by the human immune system after it has been exposed to Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.

In a joint release on Friday, the organisations explained that studies have shown that levels of IgG and IgM appear to be correlated with the severity of Covid-19, making them good markers of whether someone has been infected before.

The kit uses specially designed proteins, combined with tiny gold nanoparticles, which bind to the antibodies in blood, plasma or serum samples taken from patients.

In a similar manner to a pregnancy test, if the antibod-ies are present, the resulting molecules will form a visible

line showing the test result.While the test kit is not

meant to diagnose people with Covid-19, it can help to deter-mine whether an individual has been previously exposed to the virus.

This can help identify asymp-tomatic individuals or those with only mild symptoms who did not undergo a polymerase chain reaction test.

It is also a point-of-care test

kit, which means patients may be able to be tested and receive their results at clinics where the kit is deployed, without needing to wait for a lab to process them.

The organisations, which started developing the kit in March this year, said Assure was evaluated by the National Uni-versity Hospital’s Department of Laboratory Medicine, and demonstrated good results for

both serum and whole blood.The kit’s sensitivity was also

comparable to other commer-cial tests, and has been grant-ed provisional authorisation by the Health Sciences Author-ity for use in Singapore.

MP Biomedicals said it has started to ramp up the produc-tion of the test kit in the city-state, and it is ready to be deployed at any time. It has also been distrib-uted to regions such as Europe, Africa and South America.

The corporation’s senior research and development manager Dr Delynn Xu said: “We are not the first one in the market but chasing the best performance is always our pri-mary goal. With this rapid anti-body test kit, we are proud to contribute to the global fight against Covid-19.”

A*Star’s Diagnostics Devel-opment (DxD) Hub CEO Dr Sidney Yee said: “This rapid serological point-of-care test kit . . . will complement global efforts to develop more effi-cient diagnostics, as the Covid-19 situation continues to evolve.” THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGA-

PORE)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

10ASEAN

THE PHNOM PENH POST jULY 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

PHILIPPINES President Rodri-go Duterte on Monday warned that “worse times loom ahead” for over 100 million Filipinos, as his government struggles to stay on top of a still-raging Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are being tested as a people and as a nation,” he said in his annual address to the nation.

“All I ask is you continue to put your faith in your government and work with us in achieving what is best for the country and our people,” he said.

But he offered scant details about what he intends to do in the coming days to contain a spike in infections that con-tinue to stall efforts to restart a sinking economy.

Duterte instead devoted much of his address to at-tacking a senator who called him out for shutting down the nation’s top broadcaster, threatening to take over the country’s top telecommuni-cations and utility firms, and reiterating his call for a return of the death penalty.

The government is likely to stay the course in its pan-demic response.

There is talk that Duterte is considering returning Metro-politan Manila – the epicentre of the disease – to a sweeping lockdown, although his ad-visers have said the govern-ment has already run out of resources to feed those who no longer have the means to earn a living.

Duterte said: “To open up the economy to pre-Covid-19 levels is not an option.

“Haste makes waste,” he said. “The recent upsurge of infections when you open lit-tle windows of resumption of business is proof of that.”

The Philippines, already with the second-highest num-ber of Covid-19 cases in South-east Asia after Indonesia, is on track to surpass China in terms of the number of cases.

Health officials reported 1,657 new cases on Monday, bringing the country’s total to 82,040. China, by compari-son, had 83,891.

Duterte said the govern-ment’s early intervention had prevented as many as 1.3 mil-lion to 3.5 million infections.

He also held out hope that a vaccine “is just around the corner.

“Sooner, but not later, the virus that gobbled up thou-sands of lives will itself be laid to rest,” he said.

But beyond that, he could

offer only broad strokes about how he intends to contain the pandemic and turn the econ-omy around.

More than three million people have lost their jobs after the government wound down nearly all businesses when it placed nearly the entire country under a hard lockdown in mid-March.

The shutdown was eased into a “general community quarantine” on july 1, but many firms have been unable to claw back from the brink, with social distancing guide-lines and curfews still in place.

Duterte asked for laws that will give corporations tax re-liefs, and create a new minis-try to oversee the reintegra-tion of over 100,000 overseas Filipinos forced to come home due to the pandemic.

He appealed for rent clem-ency for small and medium-sized businesses and reiterated that schools will remain shut as they pivot to distance learning.

But in segues that derailed his message, he opened and closed his address by chastis-ing Senator Franklin Drilon, a politician allied with former president Benigno Aquino.

The senator had earlier slammed Duterte for claiming he had dealt a blow to the “oli-garchy” when ABS-CBN Corp, the country’s largest TV net-work, was forced to shut down.

Drilon had said Duterte himself came from “political dynasties” that were abetting oligarchies.

The president retorted by ac-cusing Drilon of lawyering for the family that owns ABS-CBN.

Along that line, Duterte warned the “other oligarchies” that run the country’s biggest telecoms and utilities firm that the government would come in and take over from them if they did not shape up and improve their purportedly bad service by December.

He also reverted to his favou-rite topics – drugs and criminal-ity – and again asked lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty for drug-related crimes.

Representative Carlos Zarate, of the party-list group Bayan Muna (People First), said: “He fell back on his default mode – drugs, crimes – because these are populist issues he knows he can use to cover up the in-competence of his administra-tion, especially concerning the Covid pandemic.

“He did not fully address that problem.” THE STRAITS TIMES

(SINGAPORE)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Worse times loom, President Duterte forewarns Filipinos

Vietnam to evacuate 80,000 from Danang after outbreakV

IETNAMESE tourists rushed to leave the central city of Dan-ang on Monday as

the government imposed stay-home measures there to con-tain fresh community transmis-sion of Covid-19, with 11 new cases confirmed on Monday.

With the source of infec-tion still a mystery, police have stepped up mass inspection ef-forts to uncover illegal entrants.

Vietnam’s civil aviation au-thority had earlier given airlines the green light to boost capac-ity and increase the frequency of flights from Danang to help evacuate travellers among the 80,000 people estimated to be stranded in the city.

Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam director-general Dinh Viet Thang said: “Tourists who are stuck in Danang might run out of money and places to stay. If we do not solve this problem, more problems may arise.”

Until Saturday, Vietnam was on course to cross 100 days without recording any case of local transmission after emerging from a nationwide lockdown. With the border still largely closed to foreign visi-tors, the country was also in the middle of a local tourism cam-paign to revive the economy.

But a new infection in the bustling coastal city of Dan-ang confirmed on Saturday – followed quickly by another three over the weekend in the same city and nearby Quang Ngai province – sparked an exodus of local travellers not wanting to get caught out by a lockdown.

Most of the 11 new Covid-19 cases confirmed on Monday were either staff or patients at Danang general hospital, which has been isolated.

Health officials earlier blamed the new infections on a more contagious strain of the coronavirus that had not been detected in Vietnam before.

For the next two weeks from Tuesday, Danang resi-dents have to stay home un-less heading to work in es-sential jobs, buying food or handling emergencies.

They can gather in groups of no more than two in public. Transportation to and from Danang, as well as taxi ser-vices, have been suspended. Supermarkets and markets remain open.

Festivals, religious cer-emonies and sports events have already been suspend-ed and non-essential busi-

nesses, like bars, closed.“We have to be resolute, oth-

erwise we will fail in this anti-pandemic campaign,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was quoted by local media outlet Vnexpress as saying.

Authorities elsewhere are on alert for arrivals from Danang.

In Ho Chi Minh City, health officials declared that anyone who arrived in Danang from the start of the month would be subject to compulsory health declaration and Covid-19 testing.

In the northern provinces of Hai Phong and Bac Giang, a 14-day quarantine is now applica-ble to anyone who has returned from Danang since july 13.

There have been larger knock-

on effects, with the suspension of domestic football league matches until further notice.

Meanwhile, police trying to stamp out the risk of im-ported infections have un-covered dozens of Chinese nationals who have entered Vietnam illegally and evaded its mandatory 14-day quar-antine over the past month.

On Saturday, Vietnamese police arrested a Chinese man for allegedly being part of a ring that smuggled Chinese nationals into Danang and nearby Quang Nam province.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Vietnam has re-corded 431 cases of infections and no deaths. THE STRAITS TIMES

(SINGAPORE)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Vietnam’s civil aviation authority had earlier given airlines the green light to boost capacity and increase the frequency of flights from Danang to help evacuate travellers among the 80,000 people estimated to be stranded in the city. AFP

Called Assure, the test kit detects antibodies known as IgG and IgM, which are produced by the human immune system after it has been exposed to Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19. MP BIOMEDICALS

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (centre) devoted much of his address to attacking a senator who called him out for shutting down the nation’s top broadcaster. MALACANANG PRESIDENTIAL PALACE

S’pore makes 15-minute antibody test kit

Opinion11THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

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COVID-19 has deeply impact-ed the world, bringing chal-lenges to various industries. In the post-pandemic era,

reshuffles in the global supply chains and accelerated digital transformation will have a profound impact on Chi-na’s manufacturing industry.

The pandemic has reshuffled the global supply chain. The safety of supply chains has become the top concern as the manufacturing indus-try struggles out of the pandemic into an unknown new normal. China’s shrinking cost advantages have also increased the desire of multinational corporations to return to their home countries or move to countries in Southeast Asia. In addition, geopolit-ical uncertainty has the potential to reshape trade and investment flows.

Will manufacturers diversify their supply chains for greater safety or shift toward domestic self-sufficien-cy? Most strategic sectors that pro-duce necessities for national security or public health will increase sourc-ing from and production in their home countries. For instance, some manufacturers in the uS are helping suppliers finance new plants or col-laborate with similar manufacturers to build a supply network. Nonstrate-gic sectors are likely to follow the economic logic of pursuing safety, cost advantage and efficiency through supply chain diversification.

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technology. One thing most would agree on is the digital transformation of industry will speed up since businesses have been forced to make a rapid switch to digital tools.

Manufacturers are facing the increas-ing pressures of low margins and fast changes, therefore they need transpar-ent supply chains and predictable demand to guide production and con-trol costs. The answer lies in smart fac-tories. For manufacturers, the ability to track quality and process parameters throughout the whole production chain will become a competitive advantage.

At the same time, the pandemic is changing the manufacturing work-place and workforce in many ways – office workers telework where possi-ble, factories are stagging shifts to reduce the number of workers taking lunch and breaks at the same time, production lines have increased the use of collaborative robots, and com-panies are increasing their collection of their employees’ health data. One should expect a learning curve as manufacturers devise new ways of working, one that will involve more remote workers and automation.

The changing global manufactur-

ing prospects and trade landscape combined with China’s solid plans for industrial upgrading are pushing the Chinese manufacturing industry into an important transformative stage. In other words, China’s manufacturing is transforming from scale growth to quality enhancement.

China’s 14th Five-year Plan (2021-25) is expected to include a greater focus on industry value chain upgrad-ing, core technology breakthroughs and green manufacturing, and will be the policy blueprint for this transfor-mation. The recently launched “New Infrastructure” initiative that fosters digital infrastructure will enable the

growth of all industries.There is no doubt that manufactur-

ers of different scales in various sec-tors will have different priorities and approaches to deal with the new nor-mal. Manufacturers should figure out strategies to survive the pandemic and shrive for quality growth.

They need to rethink their industrial footprints and product portfolios. Manufacturers in China, especially export-oriented ones, are faced with excessive inventories and constrained external demand. Amid order cancel-lations from foreign clients, manufac-turers are shifting to the domestic

market in search of customers. Shifting to the domestic market

means a completely new way of doing business – export-oriented manufac-turers will have to develop their own brands, take care of marketing and sales, adjust product specs to better serve domestic clients, and face fierc-er price competition.

Manufacturers need to find ways to cut costs and increase productivity through automation and improvements in management. A wave of mergers and acquisitions is likely in the coming two years, followed by post-merger activities in product portfolios and industrial footprint adjustments.

Also, they will need to refocus on digital transformation with new pur-pose. Digital transformation is not just about technology and it has to be aligned with operational excellence.

Operational excellence covers product design and development, production planning, supply chain management, manufacturing execu-tion, and the operational effective-ness of people, processes and assets. The key for operational excellence-driven transformation is transform-ing raw operational and assets data into actionable insights to enable humans and machines to take right

actions at the right time to continu-ously improve performance.

The industrial internet of things (IoT),5G, smart sensors and machine learning are playing an increasingly important role here. For example, we are seeing some manufacturers opti-mising their production planning, using advanced artificial intelligence analytics and rescheduling based on the prediction of inventory available or changing demand.

To achieve digital transformation objectives, manufacturing compa-nies need to align leadership, talent and culture with clear-cut vision and a human-centred approach.

Meanwhile, manufacturers will need to be prepared for an evolving work-place and workforce. We learned dur-ing the lockdown that increasingly a lot of work can be done remotely, and we are able to run factories remotely from behind a screen. These convert the workplace for the workforce.

Automated systems and robotics in manufacturing are enabling employ-ees to focus their skill sets on more value-added tasks, by taking up some of the more repetitive processes. Fur-ther, there will be a growing demand for skills, which generally requires a workforce with higher level of skills, technical knowledge and education. There will be likely a growing short-age of workers with the skills required for rapidly evolving jobs. CHINA DAILY/ASIA

NEWS NETWORK

The writer is a senior partner and the Industrial Products & Construction sector leader of Deloitte China.

OpinionRicky Tung

Winds of change amid and after Covid

Employees work on a battery production line at a factory in Huaibei in China’s eastern Anhui province. STR/Afp

Digital transformation is not just about technology and it

has to be aligned with operational excellence

Kheng Sokkunthea

GROWING up as a farmer in Kampong Thom province, Lon Sophea often heard

villagers complaining about how their chickens were pro-ducing fewer chicks.

Chickens would leave their un-hatched and broken eggs behind and wander off.

Sophea realised that the tradi-tional methods of raising chick-ens still used by farmers today were hampering their lives.

“Before I started making incubators, I raised chickens in the backyard of my house. At that time, I faced a lot of problems due to poor man-agement of my small chicken farm. It was a disaster,” the 35-year-old Sophea says.

Many of the eggs didn’t sur-vive unharmed long enough for a chick to hatch.

There were many hens lay-ing eggs uncontrollably, he says, and nearly all of the eggs were damaged. The eggs from different chickens mixed and the hens would peck the eggs that weren’t theirs. This, So-phea says, resulted in a reduc-tion of the number of chicks.

Seeking a solution, he started researching and studying meth-ods to improve his operation.

He says he didn’t want to completely modernise his ru-ral poultry farming methods because chickens from the countryside, “moan srae” in Khmer, are considered tastier than mass-produced poultry. Moan srae can also be sold at a higher price.

During his research, he

came across a YouTube ad-vertisement about a chicken incubator with the capacity to hatch 527 eggs at once.

Sophea bought it and learned how to use it, but it broke within six months. In-stead of buying another, he chose to make one himself.

“I could use the metal-frame incubator I bought online for about five to six months. Then I thought if I build one myself and I know how to fix it, it will be easier,” he says.

Sophea took two specialised courses in Phnom Penh, bought the equipment he needed and returned to his home in Kam-

pong Svay district armed with the knowledge and tools to cre-ate his own incubator.

After some trial and error, he was successful and started selling his incubators through Facebook. Soon, his phone was buzzing and his inbox was filling with messages from interested customers.

Sophea offers two choices: a styrofoam version or the standard heavy-duty metal-frame version.

The $50 Styrofoam incu-bator requires less electric-ity, but users have to turn the eggs themselves two to three times per day.

“I want these DIY [do-it-yourself] styrofoam incubators to become widely used because they are easy to assemble and less complicated,” he says.

He says that farmers can install the styrofoam incuba-tors themselves. Though they require more manual effort, farmers can save on costs by using them.

The standard metal in-cubator is made with steel, aluminium alloy, zinc, and Styrofoam, which are all es-sential elements to maintain heat and humidity.

Humidity levels between 65 and 75 per cent and tempera-

tures between 37-37.5 Celsius are ideal conditions for egg-hatching success.

After hatching, newly born chicks should remain in the incubator until their fur is well-dried. The yolk they absorb just before hatching nourishes them for 72 hours.

The incubator can be used to hatch eggs from ducks, chickens, dove, geese, pi-geons, and quails.

Sophea says his incubators automatically set the perfect temperature and humidity for hatching and they can hold up to 10,000 eggs at a time.

He says his incubators pre-

vent damage to eggs, increase chick populations and boost productivity.

Within five months, his in-cubators have been shipped to egg farmers in Phnom Penh and across the country.

Even government officials have ordered his incubator to subsidise farmers.

“I think it is a basic technol-ogy to help farmers struggling to hatch eggs conventionally,” Sophea says.

Despite incubators being common elsewhere in the globe, some rural farmers are still un-familiar with the technology.

“Some farmers have not had access to this technology and are not aware of this informa-tion because promotion cam-paigns don’t reach rural and remote areas”, he says.

Sophea encourages farmers not to give up if they fail on their first try and offers train-ing to those who request it.

For now, he is the only mem-ber of his small enterprise. It usually takes him one day to build a small incubator and a few days to build bigger ones.

He customises the size of the incubators to meet cus-tomers’ specific needs.

“The minimum capacity is 80 eggs and the maximum capac-ity is 10,000 eggs,” Sophea says.

He suggests that people who have large plots of unused space raise animals to earn ex-tra income. Sophea says he is hoping to add an employee to his workshop soon to speed up his production.

For more information, con-tact Lon Sophea at 012 400 589, 070 577 709 or 097 507 7709.

Creativity & Innovation

12 THE PHNOM PENH POST juLY 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.COM

Modernising chicken farms with incubatorsLon Sophea’s incubators can hold up to 10,000 eggs at once. Chicks remain inside until their fur is dried. supplied

The incubators automatically set the perfect temperature and humidity for hatching. supplied

The metal incubator is made with steel, aluminium alloy, zinc and Styrofoam. supplied

The $50 Styrofoam incubator requires less electricity, but users have to turn the eggs themselves two to three times per day. supplied

Lifestyle13THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Spectre of the 1918 Spanish Flu haunts old uS mining town

‘GONE but Not Forgot-ten.” So reads the tombstone of Carl Axel Carlson, an Army pri-

vate who died of the Spanish Flu in 1918. The train that carried his body home to Bisbee brought the deadly flu with it.

More than a century later this once flourishing Arizona mining town, now visited by tourists and home to hippies and retirees, is struggling to survive a new deadly pandemic.

In the late 19th and early 20th cen-turies, gold, silver and copper were mined in Bisbee, making it one of the most prosperous towns in the American West.

located in Arizona’s Mule Moun-tains near the border with Mexico, it had more than 25,000 residents in 1910, according to the city’s official website.

The Spanish Flu “traveled west by train from the east coast,” said local historian Mike Anderson.

Carlson died in September 1918 at a military base in New jersey, on the uS east coast. His body was sent home by rail for burial with full mili-tary honors.

Anderson points out other graves in the cemetery – j. E. Henderson (1893-1918), Clara l. Coffman (1884-1918), and others who were among the 180 people killed when the pan-demic swept through Bisbee.

The Spanish Flu “reached Bisbee in the first week of October, and within two or three days, it was kill-ing people,” he said.

“This disease took about 72 hours from the time of the presentation of first symptoms until the victims would die – and it was a horrible death,” he said.

In 2020, Covid-19 reached Bisbee by car, and brought back memories of that earlier, nearly forgotten cri-sis.

The mines have since closed, and Bisbee’s population has dropped to 5,200.

The canteens and brothels from the town’s heyday have been replaced by art galleries and boutiques. Res-taurants now occupy old brick and wood Victorian-era buildings.

Bisbee’s economy, however, is at a standstill, with 57 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including one death.

Arizona, one of the hardest hit states in the country, has recorded some 164,000 Covid-19 cases. State hospitals are nearly maxed out.

Bisbee is divided over how to han-dle this new pandemic: close down and quarantine, especially since so many of its people are elderly? Or welcome back tourists to avoid bankruptcy, but risk exposure to the virus?

Buried his sonMayor David Smith said the first

coronavirus cases appeared after tourists descended on Bisbee over the Memorial Day weekend in late May.

“The bars were packed,” Smith said. “There are people that just don’t care.”

Reading old newspaper articles, Anderson discovered that Bisbee is-sued confinement orders and even a ban on kissing to help stop the spread of the Spanish Flu, which killed some 50 million people world-wide.

Despite those lockdown measures, the mines never stopped, cashing in on copper prices that tripled be-cause of World War I.

Many people paid for that with their lives.

“This flu did not leave anyone or any group of people unscathed,” said Anderson. “It killed teachers. It killed doctors, it killed miners.”

It’s hard to find a descendent in Bisbee today of a family affected by the Spanish Flu.

But Covid-19 ‘s arrival reminded retired miner Peter Bach of a story his grandmother told.

The Spanish Flu killed her year-old

son and nearly killed her husband, who was gravely ill but survived.

His grandfather “built a little cof-fin when he got better and buried his son in the backyard,” said Bach.

At the time Bach’s grandparents were living in Kansas – where the first case of what became known as the Spanish Flu was recorded – and moved to Arizona years later.

The disease got its name because newspapers in Spain, uncensored because the country was neutral during World War I, were the first to report about the pandemic.

‘It’s loaded’Bach now works as a tour guide at

the Queen Mine, once a major cop-per deposit. The site was mined for nearly 100 years and closed in 1975, later becoming a tourist attraction.

Visitors can travel deep into the mine down narrow shafts aboard a

small train. under current virus guide-lines, only small groups can visit.

Since out-of-state tourism has largely dropped, Bisbee relies on weekend visitors from cities like Tucson and Phoenix, both of which have reported high numbers of Covid-19 cases.

Its famous bars remain closed, and some businesses can be visited by appointment only.

Most visitors now wear face masks along with their cowboy hats and boots.

In a Bisbee hotel, a guest with long silver hair and cowboy boots slipped off his leather shoulder holster with a sheathed revolver.

Firearms can be carried openly in Arizona, but hotel rules required his be kept in a vault for safety.

“Be careful, it’s loaded,” the man warned the receptionist as he hand-ed over the gun. afp

Local historian and author Dave Andersen stands at the grave of Army private Carl Axel Carlson who died of Spanish Flu. afp

Alps alive with sound of music at drive-in festivalHONKING HORNS and flash-ing headlights made for an original form of applause Sunday at a Swiss classical music festival staged before a drive-in audience in the heart of the Alps.

The Festival du lied, which for nearly two decades has brought symphonies and concertos to the region, hit on the drive-in format as a way to allow concertgoers to attend safely during the coro-navirus pandemic.

On Sunday, the second day of the week-long festival, doz-ens of cars filled a large lot in the idyllic village of Charmey in western Switzerland with the Alps providing a dramatic backdrop.

With their windows rolled down, some occupants closed their eyes while others were brought to tears by renowned tenor Ilker Arcayurek’s mov-ing rendition of Schubert’s Fruhlingsglaube.

“This is an extraordinary concept,” retiree Willy Boder said through his car window.

Considered at risk of com-plications if he contracted Covid-19, he had remained stuck inside for months, Bod-er told AFP.

“Here, I had the opportuni-ty to come and see a concert without risking going into a concert hall,” he said. “It is re-ally very well done.”

‘Such a treat’Marie-Claude Cudry, a mid-

dle-aged journalist and film

director, agreed.“A lot of people, myself in-

cluded, have really missed live music,” she said. “It is such a treat being here.”

Cars could have no more than four occupants, who must stay in the vehicles, while up to another 100

people could opt for seats, spaced far apart, to enjoy the concerts in the open air.

The festival, created in 2001 by mezzo-soprano Marie-Claude Chappuis, was rei-magined to fit the new Covid-19 reality.

“It is very important to con-

tinue making music, but also to continue being careful,” Chappuis told AFP, adding that the organisers had striven for a balance between the two.

“The emotions derived from music and art in general are something we have all been missing greatly during this period.”

The programme this year includes classics performed by international artists such as opera stars Rachel Harnisch and Marina Viotti, and Baroque recorder virtuo-so Maurice Steger.

Audiences will also be treat-ed to traditional chants in a local dialect, as well as jazz classics by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone.

The cars are parked in a lot used in winter for skiers wait-ing to be taken up the moun-tain towering above.

A large outdoor stage is sup-plemented by a giant screen to ensure that performances are visible to all.

‘Not ideal’Chappuis acknowledged

that it was “not ideal” to lis-ten to music in a parking lot, noting that both listeners and musicians prefer the superior

acoustics of concert halls.That, she said, was why or-

ganisers decided to move the festival from its regular venue in the town of Fribourg to the Alpine heights.

“It was important to find a beautiful place for the drive-in,” she said, insisting the beauty of classical music re-quired a setting that was more than “asphalt and cars”.

While spectators listened to the music through open car windows on the balmy Sun-day evening, organisers have also made contingency plans in the case of rain: the con-certs are retransmitted on an FM frequency picked up by the car radios.

Arcayurek, a Turkish-Aus-trian national dubbed the “golden tenor”, told AFP he was thrilled to be doing a live concert for the first time since March.

But he acknowledged it was different performing in front of a car-filled lot.

“In a closed venue, you have the possibility to look the people in the eyes, and you don’t have that here,” he said.

“But still it was really enjoyable.”afp

The Festival du Lied, which for nearly two decades has brought symphonies and concertos to Swiss music fans, opted for the drive-in format on Sunday. afp

14 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Thinking caps

ACROSS 1 Awry 6 It’s held for questioning 10 Funeral flames 14 Sweeten the deal 15 Pearl Harbor locale 16 Jet giant 17 Like many an embarrassing flub 18 Traitors 20 Doglike facial feature 22 Slimy and serpentine 23 Turf-covered 24 Invoice word 25 Tavern 28 Kidney-related 31 Green stuff on copper 33 Kind of chair 36 It grows when fertilized 38 “The Prince and the Pauper”

author 39 “Nay!” sayer 40 A Day in Hollywood 42 Let ___ a secret 43 Jack’s adversary 45 Nerd kin 46 Male heirs 47 Asylum seeker

49 Gave everyone a hand 51 Bled, as colors 52 ___ and outs (particulars) 54 Metrical feet 57 Payment for labor 58 Immortal 60 Spinning toy 64 Jouster’s armful 65 Himalayan mystery 66 Peaceful pause 67 Problem for a grain farmer 68 “While” beginning 69 Where to get a hoagie 70 They are smoky and foggyDOWN 1 Resting on 2 Eatery stack 3 Insect phase 4 Alternative to hanging clothes on

a line 5 Walked 6 Bag or board lead-in 7 ___ Claire, Wisc. 8 Tear in little pieces 9 Auto garage job 10 Tactic 11 Vocal support

12 Turn informer 13 RN’s posts 19 Athletic-shoe point 21 Bishops’ meeting 25 Horowitz’s instrument 26 Word with “jack” or “label” 27 Wedding proclamation 29 State under oath 30 Sensational, tabloid-style 32 Force me 33 Like some beavers 34 The Jungian inner self 35 Wood finish 37 Gesturing performer 41 Site of plain rain 44 Legal proceeding 48 Decorate with gold leaf 50 Soup kitchen needs 53 Continue without interruption 55 Church fund-raiser 56 In disguise (abbr.) 57 Habeas corpus, for one 58 Unsightly fruit? 59 Receives 60 Fourth of July? 61 That woman 62 Belonging to that thing 63 Not healthy

“GETTING DIZZY”

Tuesday’s solution

Tuesday’s solution

Lifestyle

An Iraqi man prays in the abandoned Mosul rail yard that almost a century ago boasted a grandiose station packed with Western travelers on their way to European destinations like Paris and Istanbul. AFP

NEARly a century ago, Iraqis and Westerners stood here with tickets

to Berlin, Istanbul or Venice. Today, the rusting tracks and overturned carriages of Mo-sul’s train station betray the city’s isolation.

Battered by sanctions against the old regime of Saddam Hussein, back-to-back conflicts and little in-vestment, the once grandiose train station in the Iraqi city’s western half is a shadow of its former self.

The first train rumbled into Mosul station in 1940 from the capital Baghdad, then roared out to Istanbul to join the celebrated Orient Express – taking passengers as far as Paris, 4,400km away.

In the 1950s, novelist Ag-atha Christie arrived at Mosul station, which later featured in her detective stories.

Mosul was an essential stop in the Iraqi Republic Railway system, which for decades linked Baghdad to 72 loca-tions every day via 2,000km of tracks.

“Every day, there were ei-ther passenger trains or cargo trains,” recalled Amer Abdal-lah, 47, who worked as a train conductor in Mosul up until a decade ago, when the last train pulled out of town.

At the bombed-out station, the father of five caressed a rusting locomotive, his face contorting into a grimace.

“My darling,” he said, his nickname for this train en-gine.

Abdallah and others have fond memories of trips west to Syria or south to Basra, bridging cities and peoples that now feel brutally blocked off from one another.

“For just 1,000 or 2,000 di-nars [around $1], we could go to Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq,” said Ali Ogla, a father of seven who used to take the train regularly.

“It was a comfortable way of travelling for sick or handi-capped people. When it comes to the cargo, we’d be sure it would arrive on time and in good shape,” Ogla said.

No money, no maintenanceThe station was more than

just a transport hub – it was Mosul’s economic engine and a source of national pride.

“The station hosted one of Mosul’s oldest hotels, coffee shops, gardens, a garage for horse-drawn carriages and later, for cars,” said railway en-gineer Mohammed Abdelaziz.

Railway and station em-ployees, businessmen, res-taurant and cafe owners and taxi drivers all made a living from the train traffic through Mosul, Abdelaziz said.

King Faisal II, toppled in the bloody coup of 1958, had his own reception room within the station.

Egyptian musical diva umm Kulthum passed through it and in 1970, the station agreed to silence its bells and whistles during a concert by lebanese singer Sabah.

But in the 1990s, crippling international sanctions made it hard to get parts to main-tain the trains and in 2003, the uS-led invasion opened the door to a wave of bomb-ing then sectarian violence across the country.

Still, trains roared out of the Mosul station every week, either 400km south to Baghdad, west to Syria or north to the Turkish border city of Gaziantep.

On May 31, 2009, a truck bomb destroyed much of the station and in july 2010, the last train left Mosul on a one-way trip to Gaziantep.

But things got even worse – in june 2014, the Islamic State group overran the city and declared it the Iraqi capital of its so-called “caliphate”.

The station, until then left rusting in the sun, became a battlefield.

“Eighty per cent of it was destroyed,” said Qahtan lo-qman, deputy head of Iraq’s northern railway.

Iraqi security forces won Mosul back in 2017 but re-construction of the city has been slow, with thousands still waiting for compensa-tion for homes destroyed in the fighting.

The state has been unable to rake in enough oil revenues to break even and has halted infrastructure investment.

“There is no money and no schedule to repair the com-plex,” said loqman.

‘Beautiful days’Mosul was Baghdad’s gate-

way to Turkey, and on to Eu-rope.

Without this way station, the capital is now cut off from the north – trains from Bagh-dad only head to Fallujah further west, or Karbala and Basra.

Today, rust eats into the fading red, yellow and green paint of an overturned car-riage, its cogs and axels spill-ing out onto the track as if it had been disembowelled.

Misshapen carriage doors hang off their hinges and the old columns on the platforms have been ripped apart by gunfire or tagged with black graffiti.

The intricate floral mosa-ics of the galleria have been blown to smithereens but part of the rose-coloured stone entrance is still standing, a tribute to a glorious past.

Nur Mohammad, a 37-year-old housewife, recalled walk-ing through the doors with her grandmother almost a generation ago.

“I was 10 years old. We all left together – family, friends, neighbours. We watched the countryside pass by through the train windows.

“Those were beautiful days. And I hope we’ll find them again,” she said. AFP

Mosul’s golden age of trains left to rust

Whistleblower: All RussianOlympians should face banDOPING whistleblower Grig-ory Rodchenkov says no Rus-sian athletes should be allowed to take part in next year’s post-poned Tokyo Olympics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) in December banned Russia for four years from major global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar over manipulated doping data. Russia is appealing the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Some Russians will still be allowed to compete at next year’s Games in Japan as neu-trals and only if they can demonstrate they were not part of what Wada believes was a state-sponsored system

of doping.But Rodchenkov, the former

head of Russia’s anti-doping agency, called in an interview with the BBC for a total ban.

“It should be an absolute blanket ban without any excuses or admissions of ath-letes,” he said.

“The same personnel who were smuggling and swapping samples during Sochi [the 2014 Winter Games], they were falsifying all documentation.

“It was a progression in fal-sifying, day by day, of this data – an incredible fraud of unspeakable proportions. It shows the country learns absolutely nothing.”

Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations, and claimed the four-year sanction is politically

motivated. Its appeal will be heard by CAS in November.

Rodchenkov, who lives under a new identity in the US, has written an autobiography that is being published this week.

It coincides with the original dates for the Tokyo Games, which were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Rodchenkov Affair includes a striking claim that the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles because Russian officials feared their doping would be exposed.

It has long been understood that the Soviet Union and its Communist allies boycotted the Games in a tit-for-tat move for the West’s snub of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. afp

Sport15THE PHNOM PENH POST JULy 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

A sculpture of the mascot for the 1980 Moscow Olympics – Misha the bear – in Moscow. afp

MLB rocked by outbreak, several games postponedA

N outbreak of Covid-19 rocked Major League Baseball (MLB) on Monday,

forcing the postponement of multiple games less than a week after the sport launched its season following a four-month coronavirus delay.

MLB confirmed in a state-ment that games between the Miami Marlins and Baltimore Orioles in Florida, and the Philadelphia Phillies and New york yankees in Pennsylvania, had been scrapped.

The decision followed re-ports that 10 more members of the Marlins – eight players and two coaches – had tested posi-tive for the coronavirus follow-ing Sunday’s game against the Phillies in Philadelphia.

Four Marlins players – pitch-er Jose Urena, first baseman Garrett Cooper, outfielder Harold Ramirez and catcher Jorge Alfaro – had already test-ed positive for Covid-19.

MLB said in a statement the games had been postponed in order to allow for addition-al testing.

“The members of the Marlins’ travelling party are self-quaran-tining in place while awaiting the outcome of those results,” the MLB statement said.

In a separate announce-ment later Monday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said that the Marlins game against Baltimore on Tuesday had also been called off.

The yankees were due to use the same locker room at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park that the Marlins had used over the weekend.

Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said postponing Monday’s game in Florida was the “cor-rect decision.”

“The health of our players and staff has been and will con-tinue to be our primary focus as we navigate through these un-charted waters,” Jeter said.

“Postponing tonight’s home opener was the correct deci-sion to ensure we take a col-lective pause and try to prop-erly grasp the totality of this situation.”

Jeter said the Marlins had remained in Philadelphia to undergo further testing.

Baseball chief Manfred meanwhile said the Marlins could return to play as soon as Wednesday depending on the outcome of testing.

“Our first concern is the health of the players, and their families and making sure that we do everything possible to minimise the spread of the vi-rus amongst our employees,” Manfred told MLB Network.

“The Miami Marlins will not play tonight and tomor-row. We’re doing additional testing. If the test results are acceptable, the Marlins will resume play in Baltimore on Wednesday.”

Player concernThe postponements came

with MLB less than a week into its abbreviated 2020 sea-son.

The season finally got un-der way last Thursday four months after it had been due to open in March.

Games are taking place without fans, while players are subject to a range of strict health and safety protocols designed to prevent out-breaks of Covid-19.

Unlike other sports leagues, such as Major League Soc-cer and the NBA, which are restarting their seasons with

teams based at a single lo-cation, baseball has opted to leave clubs at their home ballparks, meaning they must travel throughout the US dur-ing the season.

That decision has been criticised as risky by health

experts as swathes of the US are battling skyrocketing cor-onavirus cases.

Several star players had also expressed misgivings about attempting to start the season while the pandemic raged, with some opting out of the

2020 season altogether.Los Angeles Dodgers pitch-

er David Price was among those who elected to skip the season citing concerns over safety protocols.

On Monday, Price said the Marlins outbreak would be a

test of MLB’s commitment to player safety.

“Now we REALLy get to see if MLB is going to put players health first,” Price wrote on Twitter.

“Remember when Manfred said players health was PARA-MOUNT?! Part of the reason I’m at home right now is be-cause players health wasn’t being put first.

“I can see that hasn’t changed.”

Dave Martinez, the man-ager of the World Series-win-ning Washington Nationals, also expressed concerns over the outbreak.

Martinez – who underwent a heart procedure last year – admitted to feeling uneasy over the prospect of taking Washington to Miami to face the Marlins this weekend.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I’m scared. I really am,” Martinez said.

“you don’t know, because of my heart condition, what hap-pens to me if I do get it. I have to be extra careful.” afp

The Miami Marlins’ Pablo Lopez pitches against the Atlanta Braves on July 22. The Marlins have 14 players and staff diagnosed with Covid-19. getty images/afp

Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez said he is scared to fly to Miami to play the Marlins. afp

Sport

16 THE PHNOM PENH POST july 29, 2020 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Cycling gears up for Spain’s famed Vuelta a Burgos race T

HE cycling season re-sumes following the coronavirus lockdown on Tuesday with a

host of the sport’s big guns tak-ing part in the opening stage of the Vuelta a Burgos.

The 2020 edition of the stage race in Spain features a strong peloton, with riders preparing for a hectic run of prestigious events, with the three Grand Tours to be held in quick succession due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The uCI World Tour re-sumes on Saturday with the Strade Bianche.

Professional cycling ground to a halt four months ago, with the last top-level race the Par-is-Nice in March, which saw the final stage cancelled.

In February, the uAE Tour ended early due to an outbreak of Covid-19, with Colombian Fernando Gaviria one of the first athletes in the world to test positive for the virus.

uAE Team Emirates sprinter Gaviria, who did not confirm he had recovered until March 26 and did not travel back to

Colombia until April, will be in action in Spain this week.

“It’s time to pick up where we left off,” he told his team’s web-site, saying he was happy just to feel normal on a bike again.

Gaviria’s teammate Fabio Aru said: “We are all eager to be able to pin a race number on our backs again and be back in the peloton.”

Ineos’ Giro d’Italia cham-pion Richard Carapaz and Vuelta a Burgos double de-fending champion Ivan Sosa will face stiff competition in Spain this week.

Gaviria will be bidding for the sprints while veteran speed king Mark Cavendish is also back in the saddle after illness.

In the first of five stages around the northern Spanish region, local hero Alejandro Valverde will likely be in the mix up the final stretch of a short, sharp ascent to the Mirador Del Castillo, which overlooks the town.

The race culminates on Sat-urday, by which time early-season form man Nairo Quin-tana of Arkea will have been

able to judge his fitness over two mountain stages.

Mads Pedersen will be easily picked out in his world cham-pion rainbow jersey, while the appearance of 20-year-old Remco Evenepoel, a former Belgium youth football inter-national, is hotly anticipated.

Mikel landa, one of cycling’s nearly men, is targeting victo-

ry for his new Bahrain Mclar-en team, which is managed by Rod Ellingworth and where he is supported by Cavendish.

The 35-year-old British sprinter has 30 Tour de France stage wins to his name, but says he is going to Burgos for landa.

“We are going there to sup-port Mikel, he’s in incredible form,” Cavendish said in a

press release.But sports director Gorazd

Stangelj said the Manxman would also get his moment in the sun.

“We have tailored our strat-egy to open up a GC opportu-nity for Mikel, and sprint wins for Mark,” he said.

Stage 1, july 28: Burgos ca-thedral – Burgos Mirador del

Castillo 157kmStage 2, july 29: Castrojeriz

–Villadiego 168kmStage 3, july 30: Sargentes

de las loras – Picon Blanco 150km

Stage 4, july 31: Gumiel de Izan – Roa de Duero, 163km

Stage 5, August 1: Cova-rrubias – lagunas de Neila 158km. afp

Chiefs Duvernay-Tardif opts to sit out the NFl seasonKANSAS City Chiefs lineman laurent Duvernay-Tardif has become the first player to opt out of the 2020 NFl sea-son, citing concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Canadian guard, a practicing medical doctor who was a key part of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl-winning cam-paign last season, made the announcement on social media.

“This is one of the most difficult deci-sions I have had to make in my life but I must follow my convictions and do what I believe is right for me personally,” the 29-year-old from Quebec said.

“Being at the frontline during this offseason has given me a different perspective on this pandemic and the stress it puts on individuals and our healthcare system.

“I cannot allow myself to poten-tially transmit the virus in our com-munities simply to play the sport I love. If I am to take risks, I will do it caring for patients.”

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Maho-mes, the Most Valuable Player in Kan-sas City’s Super Bowl victory last February over San Francisco, said he understood the move.

“I think it surprises anyone, but at the same time you respect his deci-sion,” Mahomes told reporters on a Saturday video conference call.

“He’s a guy that’s been on those front lines working with the people that are suffering from Covid day to day and putting in all that time and all that work.

He understands it and his decision was he wanted to stay there, he wanted keep helping in that capacity.”

Duvernay-Tardif’s decision also was applauded by Chiefs teammate Tyreek Hill, who wrote on Twitter: “Gonna miss my brother in the lock-er room, but I love this move.”

The Chiefs reported to training camp on Saturday, earlier than most NFl clubs since they face Houston in the September 10 league opener three days before most teams take the field.

That allowed Mahomes to speak with teammates about Duvernay-Tardif’s choice.

“Everybody respects his decision 100 per cent. Being a doctor is extremely important, especially at this time. He wants to make the world a better place and I believe he’s doing that.

“He has to be in that place now and we’re going to respect it and give him

support,” Mahomes said.

‘A little concern’Mahomes, 24, signed a 10-year

contract extension worth a potential $503 million on july 6. But he admits he still has Covid-19 worries.

“Definitely there’s going to be a lit-tle concern. you’d be lying to say you have no concern,” Mahomes said.

“But at the same time . . . seeing all the protocols and all the safety things . . . it has really kind of made me feel even better than I thought coming in.”

Preparation for the upcoming NFl campaign has already been impacted by Covid-19.

This week, the NFl confirmed that the entire slate of pre-season exhibi-tion games played through August and early September had been canceled.

On Monday, the NFl bowed to demands from players for daily corona-virus testing for the first two weeks of training camp after a series of players had expressed concerns over safety pro-tocols for the upcoming campaign.

Duvernay-Tardif, who was drafted in 2014, created a piece of NFl his-tory last season when he became the first practicing medical doctor to play in the Super Bowl.

A student of Montreal’s prestigious McGill university Faculty of Medi-cine, he juggled his NFl career and his studies, graduating in May 2018 with a doctorate in medicine and masters in surgery. afp

Veteran British speed king Mark Cavendish is back in the saddle to support teammate Mikel Landa. afp

Lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (centre) is the first player to opt out of the 2020 NFL season, citing Covid-19 concerns. afp