After a year of overhauling the nation’s notoriously corruption-riddled grade 12 exam, the Ministry of Education said yesterday that 2015 will be the year of reforming teaching quality.
“The government’s strategic plan from 2015 to 2030 will focus on the capacity of the teachers . . . Teachers are the key to raising the quality of education in Cambodia,” said Nath Bunroeun, secretary of state at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, during an education workshop in the capital.
In order to amend a long-standing teacher shortage that has left the nation with one of the worst student-teacher ratios outside of Africa, the Education Ministry will now make it easier for the top-scoring graduates of the national exam to become a teacher.
“From next year, those who get A, B or C [on the exam], if they want to become a teacher, they can become so automatically, no need to take any exams,” Bunroeun said.
This year’s strict no cheating standards saw just 1 per cent of students receiving the top three marks during either of the two exam rounds this year.
Education experts warned, however, that the incentive for high-scoring teacher recruits should only be a temporary measure.
“This is a good encouragement for students to try to study hard, but I think it should be limited to a period of time like two or three years only. Then there should be a [teachers’] exam, so that we can have more quality human resources,” said San Chey, a coordinator for social accountability group ANSA-EAP.
But teachers’ low wages, which force up to two-thirds to take on a second job, may prove the bigger barrier to much-needed bolstering of the education corps, others warned.
“Teachers’ salary should be increased so that they can afford their living expenses and spend more time on teaching,” said Kem Ley, a longtime analyst who recently announced plans to launch a series of political parties.
The Australian and Cambodian governments moved closer to a live cattle trade deal this week after meeting in Phnom Penh to discuss details of the agreement.
Cambodian Minister for Agriculture Ouk Rabun met with Australia’s Northern Territory minister for primary industry, Willem Westra van Holthe.
Health standards were a priority for completion of the agreement, Van Holthe said. “In the first instance, Australian and Northern Territory authorities will work closely with existing feedlots and abattoirs to bring them to ESCAS standards,” he said in an email.
“This ensures that animal welfare standards are met and maintained as the basis for a sustainable trade in live cattle.”
Australia’s ESCAS, or Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, details the sanitary requirements and animal treatment obligations at slaughterhouses and export facilities.
With assistance from Australian authorities, van Holthe expects that Cambodia’s facilities will be up to standard and begin receiving live cattle for slaughter next year.
“The first trial shipment of cattle from the Northern Territory to Cambodia will most likely be small in number, but with the hope that it will increase over time to become quite significant,” he said.
The Cambodian cattle deal, while representing a small market, adds to Australia’s Southeast Asia export footprint, which already includes importing nations Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore.
“Once commercial arrangements have been made between farmers, exporters, importers and consumers in Cambodia, I hope there will be a win-win for our farmers and Cambodian consumers,” Van Holthe said.
Just one company is expected to meet Australia’s ESCAS standards. SLN Meat Supply, located in Preah Sihanouk province, has been building a $15 million factory to receive and process the Australian cattle since August this year. 
An agreement regarding child labour in garment factories that will be signed today spells out specific consequences for hiring minors, while also saying that only buyers, garment manufacturers and the government will be notified of cases of child labour in factories.
“Confirmed child labour only is reported to [the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC)], factory buyers, and the Minister of Labour,” reads the protocol that is part of the Agreement on Child Labour Protection.
Janika Simon from Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) said yesterday the condition means BFC will not sound alarms every time they find a case of child labour.
“That would mean that every time we found one, we would have to go to the public,” Simon said.
The agreement, which is scheduled to be signed by BFC and GMAC officials this afternoon, reinforces previous laws and memoranda of understanding, while also dictating the reporting processes
and monitoring.
“We want BFC to only report confirmed cases [to buyers],” GMAC deputy secretary general Kaing Monika said yesterday. “We have information from some of our members that BFC notified a buyer and there were consequences, such as the buyer stopping orders.”
Also under the agreement, if BFC monitors suspect a factory employee to be under the age of 15 – the Kingdom’s legal minimum working age for “light duties” and reduced hours – they must first ask the employer. If the employer denies or is unsure, BFC must complete a field investigation – where they must find documentation of the person’s age.
If the employee is found to be underage, the factory or GMAC will be responsible for the investigation’s cost – estimated at $1,125. If no documentation confirming the worker was underage when hired is found, BFC will pay.
Also, if the employee is under 15, the factory is responsible for removing the child from the workplace and paying the wages he or she would have earned working for the factory, as well as education or vocational training fees, until the child turns 15, the agreement says.
Worldbridge International Group (WIG) will launch a new shopping website next year in the hope of bolstering the Kingdom’s undeveloped e-commerce industry.
Representatives from WorldBridge announced the new online shopping platform called MAIO Mall in Phnom Penh yesterday. The website is expected to be operational early next year under the subsidiary firm, WorldBridgE Commerce Co.
Sear Rithy, chairman of WIG said that despite the challenges still facing the e-commerce industry, Cambodia has little choice but to embrace the digital shopping trend.
“The market is still small with a poor understanding among our buyers,” Rithy said. “But, I believe it is time for us to start this business . . . Look at Vietnam. When it first launched online shopping in 2008, the market was also small. But now the market is quite big.”
Rithy said trust would be a key factor in ensuring the future growth of Cambodia’s e-commerce trade – that is purchasing items or transferring finances over the internet via virtual payment portals.
In a move that could potentially harness shoppers’ trust, WIG has secured Acleda Bank as its official payments provider. Shoppers using the MAIO Mall website will either be able to pay directly online or by cash on delivery.
“Doing online business depends strongly on trust. When they trust the service and quality, more and more will use the service,” Rithy said.
“If clients are afraid of being cheated, like receiving products that don’t reflect what they wanted, they can wait to pay the cash in person when our staff brings the product to their home.”
In Channy, group CEO of Acleda Bank, said WIG’s new online venture could give Cambodians the incentive they need to embrace e-commerce trade platforms.
“With sufficient human resource, commitment, good infrastructure and technologies in handling the online payments service, we strongly believe that we will make the business operate successfully
I learned about a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn’t one of them.
Although I was given a dry, leathery corpse to dissect in anatomy class in my first term, our textbooks contained almost nothing about aging or frailty or dying. The purpose of medical schooling was to teach how to save lives, not how to tend to their demise.
I had never seen anyone die before I became a doctor, and when I did, it came as a shock. I’d seen multiple family members—my wife, my parents, and my children—go through serious, life-threatening illnesses, but medicine had always pulled them through. I knew theoretically that my patients could die, of course, but every actual instance seemed like a violation, as if the rules I thought we were playing by were broken.
Dying and death confront every new doctor and nurse. The first times, some cry. Some shut down. Some hardly notice. When I saw my first deaths, I was too guarded to weep. But I had recurring nightmares in which I’d find my patients’ corpses in my house—even in my bed.
I felt as if I’d failed. But death, of course, is not a failure. Death is normal. Death may be the enemy, but it is also the natural order of things. I knew these truths abstractly, but I didn’t know them concretely—that they could be truths not just for everyone but also for this person right in front of me, for this person I was responsible for.
We have had a major discovery. We have found organics on Mars," Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., said during a webcast news conference at a science meeting in San Francisco.
"The probability of any of these things being sources [from life] … we just have to respect that it is a possibility," he added.
Curiosity picked up hints of organics in its earliest chemical analysis of rocks in Gale Crater, a 154-kilometre wide impact basin where the rover made a sky-crane landing in August 2012.
Last week, scientists published research showing the crater was once filled with water, with sediments building up over time to form five-kilometre high Mount Sharp, which rises from the basin's floor.
Over the last few years, the name Bruketa&Zinic OM has kept popping up with ever-growing frequency, e.g. in cover stories of trendsetting design and marketing magazines, in juries of prominent international advertising festivals, 400plus times as winners of important awards for design, creativity and efficiency.And finally, last year, on the proud 2nd place in the 2012 worldwide Effie effectiveness ranking of independent agencies.
In project partnerships like, e.g., the development of the successful brand Form-on, Netural and Bruketa&Zinic OM enjoyed that rare, precious „in the same groove“ feeling of sharing similar inspirations and strategic approaches, leading eventually to the decision to cooperate more closely, more frequently and systematically.
Nothing can stop an idea once it´s time has arrived, and the time for this cooperation is definitely here: Because they like our thinking and creativity, many Netural clients demand creative full service far beyond digital and interactive communication. On the other hand, Bruketa&Zinic OM has every reason to assume that a creative agency network with offices in Zagreb, Belgrade, Baku/Azerbeidjan and now also in Vienna will be very attractive for many clients in German-speaking markets.
Now it is official: In a joint venture with Netural, Bruketa&Zinic OM starts an office in Vienna. We will cooperate closely to offer a comprehensive range of services, including brand design, communication strategy development, offline marketing communication and sales outlet design in addition to the digital and interactive communications which are Netural´s core competences.
was founded by Netural´s CEO Albert Ortig, Iris Mayr and Michael Badics. Iris Mayr has already played a major part in projects like Linz09, Kepler Salon and Prix Ars Electronica. Michael Badics has, by masterminding AEC Solutions, gained a reputation that reaches far beyond the Linz area.
According to Iris Mayr, AXIS inteds to „conquer“ a share of the available space at Tabakfabrik, transplanting Netural´s interdisciplinary work approach to a coworking space. Tabakfabrik will lend AXIS the charms of a unique location. The space draws a variety of users ranging from creative professionals to the music lab and even carpenters, producing an environment in which new approaches can grow unhampered by obsolete coventions.
A floor space of 5400 square feet houses 38 workplaces, three meeting rooms and additional space for get-togethers and events. A modern infrastructure facilitates not only the AXIS user community, but linking with other initiatives and enterprises as well. “We are anyting but an isolated meeting room,” says Iris Mayr, emphasizing the openness of the AXIS concept.
A cemetery dating back roughly 1,700 years has been discovered along part of the Silk Road, a series of ancient trade routes that once connected China to the Roman Empire.
The cemetery was found in the city of Kucha, which is located in present-day northwest China. Ten tombs were excavated, seven of which turned out to be large brick structures.
One tomb, dubbed "M3," contained carvings of several mythical creatures, including four that represent different seasons and parts of the heavens: the White Tiger of the West, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the Black Turtle of the North and the Azure Dragon of the East
Louis van Gaal admitted man-of-the-match David De Gea had a “big influence” in Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Liverpool in the Premier League at Old Trafford but insisted it was a team victory.
The hosts claimed their sixth league triumph in succession with goals from Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Robin van Persie, yet it was goalkeeper De Gea who produced the most sparkling performance.
The Spaniard denied Raheem Sterling and Mario Balotelli three times apiece with fine saves on a day in which Liverpool could have taken all three points themselves.
“You can always say that some players are the most influential in a game and, of course, David De Gea had a big influence,” United manager Van Gaal told Sky Sports.
'In his capacity'
“The balls were in his capacity, but he did it very well. I can mention other players who were also very good and had a big influence in this game today.”
Victory saw United consolidate third place in the Premier League table and close to within five points of second-placed Manchester City.
Although delighted to keep his side’s purple patch going, Van Gaal admitted he was concerned by aspects of his team’s performance against Liverpool. 
Digital media connects generations. Netural uses the employee’s natural urge to research for a good purpose.
More correctly: good purposes! Two completely new research projects will provide people with direct benefits: One is the “Safe Move” app with which we want to provide older people who live alone with more self-reliance, a desire to go out and the courage to do so. The “Better World App” lets children actively and effectively participate in the future of the planet that they will one day inherit.
No one is too old for digital media. We have proven this as part of an international consortium with the European research project “Safe Move”. The project is specially designed for older users – for people who have difficulty moving safely in their close environment.
The reasons for these difficulties are multifaceted. Physical weakness, difficulties in orientation, safety concerns or growing doubt on their own skills since many things that used to be easy are no longer matter of course.
Safe Move starts from here and trains them to trust their own skills. At the same time the program offers help in difficult situations and orientation in the immediate vicinity.
The world's most widely used pesticides - already implicated in worldwide declines in pollinator populations - may actually reduce crop yields by wiping out native predators of agricultural pests, suggests a study conducted by researchers from Penn State and the University of South Florida and published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
The research focused on slugs, which are not insects and are not killed by the pesticides.
"Slugs are among the most challenging pests faced by Mid-Atlantic no-till growers," said researcher John Tooker. "Our research reveals that neonicotinoids can indirectly increase slug damage to crops by poisoning insects that eat slugs. As a result, crop yields are lower."
According to the Canadian Liver Foundation, the liver performs more than 500 different functions in the body on a day-to-day basis. It helps filter chemicals such as drugs and alcohol from our blood, regulate our hormones and blood sugar levels, manufacture blood proteins, bile and enzymes, and much more.(1) In fact, there are few biological operations that the liver doesn't aid to some extent.
Unfortunately, toxic livers are on the rise in the West due to our love of processed foods, which has placed enormous strain on our livers. These unhealthy meals compromise the liver's ability to process toxins and fat, which, in turn, increases our body's susceptibility to illness and disease over time. For this reason, it is important that we favor a diet that is rich in organic whole foods to maintain healthy liver function.
Panoramic images are normally viewed through classic scrolling or, on iPads and other touch screens, using a swiping movement. Inspired by the idea of an augmented reality view of the current environment, the Netural Lab team has selected another option. The compass and gyroscopic angle identification system in the iPad are used for this special effect. The tablet ‘knows’ in which direction it is pointing. This offers insight into an alternative reality – a life-like view of the all-round image with no navigational elements. Observers simply move the screen in their hand and the displayed section of the image changes.
Sail away from the mainland was the command for Netural and guests at the Linz Klangwolke music festival 2012. Shipshape and punctual the crew of 250 filed onto the Danube Park dock at 6.30 pm and boarded the ”MS Passau” together. Netural CEO Albert Ortig welcomed them all on board and opened the buffet.
The joys of the table preceded the cultural highlights: ham rolls with asparagus tips, smoked filet of trout, crispy roast pork in beer sauce and fried fish in Veltliner wine sauce were among the regional delights on the table. Animated conversation in this appealing atmosphere let time simply fly by until the highlight of the evening came around.
