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The new owner of a newspaper considered the sole remaining independent media voice in Cambodia has fired its editor for publishing a story about the publication's sale and the purchaser's links to the government, bolstering doubts it will continue to perform the watchdog function of a free press.

The dismissal Monday of Kay Kimsong, editor-in-chief of the English and Khmer language editions of the Phnom Penh Post, was followed by the resignations of at least four senior editorial personnel.

The newspaper's sale by Australian businessman Bill Clough to Sivakumar Ganapathy, a public relations executive in Malaysia, was announced Sunday. The Post reported that his PR company had done business for the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which has curtailed press freedom ahead of a July general election.