Students rally for students

By Jennifer Dyck
Morning Star Staff

For most local school children who enjoy spacious classrooms, computers and a wealth of supplies, it’s hard to imagine learning math or English kneeling on a straw mat on the cement, using an outhouse and drinking from a well.

But for many of the children and parents of Krang Thmey Village, Cambodia, these conditions make up one of the greatest experiences they have ever been afforded – the chance to receive a free education.

Thanks to the efforts of a young Cambodian couple providing a small house and former Mission Hill principal Anne Mackie helping to raise funds, the Krang Thmey English school was opened in October 2006.

Mackie went to Cambodia to teach at an international school, which she is still doing, but felt compelled to help this village and open the English school.

Support to keep the 150-student school running continues to be received from local elementary schools Mission Hill, East Vernon and Ellison.

Aside from their education, the students of Krang Thmey school are amazed by how much the students of the Vernon area care about them.

“What they can’t imagine at all is there are children who care enough, who think about them enough. They cannot believe they are so connected to you,” said Mackie, who was recently in Vernon visiting and thanking these schools for the support along with Chhourn Im who provided the school house.

“It’s incredible what you’ve raised,” said Mackie after receiving a $1,128 donation from Mission Hill students. “The commitment to the fundraising has been fantastic.”

Mackie says the funds will be used to purchase a generator and a TV so the children can have their first experience of colour television and watch educational DVDs to help them learn English.

There is no English spoken in the village but most parents want their children to learn the language because it can lead to better paying jobs (although the average annual income in the village is still less than $300 a year).

The students are eager to learn the language through the school, which also provides a small library where children can sign out books to take home.

“They are so excited by what they’ve learned,” said Im, who is also excited to be in Canada for his first time. “Right now they can say ‘hello, how are you?’ before they had no idea.”

Im also explained to the local school children that some children in Cambodia are still not afforded the opportunity to go to school due to the household needs.

“Some boys, they are your age, and their parents force them to quit school to farm.”

The village has also been granted other services thanks in part to the donations of Vernon residents.

Wells have been constructed to provide clean drinking water, families have been sponsored and homes have been re-enforced with tin roofs instead of palm leaves. All of these changes are gradually improving Im’s village, which he is grateful for.

“Thank you for helping our people, for helping our country, for helping our children.”

But this is just one village that has been helped and the poor situation in the war-devasted Cambodia continues. Issues of extreme poverty, limited access to education and health care are exacerbated by a corrupt political regime that has no social policy to address the living conditions of the majority of the people in Cambodia.

But, Mackie adds, “We can change the world – one village at a time.”

Anyone who would like to help support the school, sponsor a family or help out the overall situation can email Mackie at elizabeth_two@hotmail.com or Im at dj_chhourn@yahoo.com or his wife Srey Poev at chit_sreypoev@yahoo.com. Read more!

Arab group snaps up Raffles Cambodian hotels

THE hotel-investment company controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi Arabian billionaire, has made its first foray into Cambodia as part of its quest to expand into emerging markets.

Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI), which floated last year on the Dubai stock exchange and has a secondary listing in London, has made a double acquisition in the country.

As well as picking up Raffles Hotel Le Royal in the capital Phnom Penh, it has also bought the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor in Siem Reap, close to the historic ruins at Angkor, for a total of $35m (£17.2m).

The company, which is headed by chief executive Sarmad Zok, regards Cambodia as a market where tourism is set to boom, as it has done in neighbouring countries such as Vietnam.

It is estimated that the number of tourists visiting Cambodia has already grown by around 22% over the past eight years.

After the deal, Raffles will continue to manage the hotels while the properties will be owned by KHI.

The group’s move follows the acquisition in April of its first hotel in China, a property in the city of Kunshan, outside Shanghai, for $58m.

With the Cambodian purchase, the group now has 36 hotels in 20 countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Zam-bia and the Philippines.

The expansion of KHI reflects a wider appetite among investors for hotel real estate.

Last week, Cadbridge, an investment consortium, acquired Legacy Hotels, a hotel-property group listed in Toronto.

Earlier this month, buyout firm Black-stone acquired Hilton Hotels Corporation for $26 billion including debt, making it the world’s largest hotel owner. Read more!

Cambodia Travel Guide (Toursimindochina.com)

Bayon Tours have added uptodate travel information in Cambodia on web which convinience for tourist to visit and check prior to travel to cambodia such as restaurant, tradition, culture, best time to visit, attration sites, and visa application, standard itenararies, hotels, transportation and many more about travel in cambodia.

Bayon Tours have added uptodate travel information in Cambodia on web which convinience for tourist to visit and check prior to travel to cambodia such as restaurant, tradition, culture, best time to visit, attration sites, and visa application, standard itenararies, hotels, transportation and many more about travel in cambodia.

To provide more convinience for tourist http://www.tourismindochina.com/ have been developed and filled by the useful information about tourism sector in Cambodia. providing most uptodate and reliable guides to ensure that tourist won't disappointed or missexpectation of cambodia.

Cambodia now have been become the hotest hertiage destination in asia, and some unprofession tour operator or agent have been start up legally and unlegally operation in this country which would make tourist trouble some to make decision.

Bayon Heritage guide you to travel to this indochina region as it should be and we have been recognized and credit by many clients.

Log and book now to save upto 50% with us www.tourismindochina.com , book your holiday for this season with bayon now! . Read more!

'Ethnic Chinese always respected in Cambodia'

PHNOM PENH
14-Jul-07

THE Cambodian government and people always respectthe ethnic Chinese living in the kingdom, as they have contributed a lot to the economic and social development, Kong Triv, one of Cambodia's four ethnic Chinese senators, told China's news agency, Xinhua, recently.

"The ethnic Chinese in Cambodia can stick to the tradition of working hard, remaining faithful and kind-hearted, and seeking harmony with other peoples, and this is the main reason that makes the mainstream society accept them as one part within," said Triv, president of the KT Pacific Group Limited, a top syndicate of the kingdom of timber, steel, cigarette and beverage production, real estate development and airport management.

After they make some money, they not only have it to themselves, but back-feed the society through helping the poor and donating to charities, which in effect earn them wide recognition, said the tycoon, who spends tens of thousands of U.S. dollars each year for education and social welfares.

"With business success and social contribution, the elite get promoted into the government and the parliament to help govern the country in deputy of the people, which is the top prize the kingdom gives to all the ethnic Chinese," he added.

Besides, the Cambodian government adheres to the policy of national reconciliation and attaches much importance to the role of the ethnic Chinese in the economic and social developments, said Triv.

During his term at the Senate starting in January 2006, Triv said, he became one of the witnesses of the country's determination to have China as its trustworthy partner and the ethnic Chinese as one of its major constructive forces.

Triv himself started his business with bicycle salewhen wars ravaged the country, and now owns or has shares in 13 enterprises in the country's pivotal industries.

Due to his example role, King Norodom Sihanouk in 1994 entitled him as Lord, a supreme title for Cambodian civilians. Read more!

Concerted community action urged to contain dengue in Cambodia

The Cambodian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) have issued a joint statement here calling for community action to contain the current spread of dengue fever, according to local media Saturday.

Cambodia's severe dengue break, which has killed 182 people, mostly children, in the first six months of this year, will further escalate unless "concerted community action" is taken to fight it, English-language newspaper the Cambodian Daily quoted the statement issued here late Friday as saying.

In order to combat the quickly spreading dengue virus, which will reach its annual peak at the end of July, individual efforts must be expanded nationwide, it said.

"Household jars containing stagnant water, discarded tires and small pots constitute potential breeding sites and a dengue risk that only households and the community itself can commit to eliminate," said the statement.

Such containers should be cleaned every 10 days to interrupt mosquito breeding, it added.

According to the ministry, the 182 death toll from the virus in the first six months of this year already surpassed that of the whole year of 2006, namely 158.

The reported cases of human contamination of the fever so far this year have reached some 15,000. There were 16,649 reported cases in the year of 2006.

Currently, WHO's regional office is leading the efforts of Cambodia to spray insecticide and train provincial teams to contain the epidemic.

Source: Xinhua. Read more!

CAMBODIA: Garment exports growth slows down

According to the recent statistics issued by the commerce ministry the growth rate of garment exports of Cambodia has slowed down.

The export growth rate is expected to fall in the second half of year also.

The total exports of garments and textiles in the first five months of this year amounted to nearly 985 million U.S. dollars, an 11.2 percent increase over the same period of last year, said the statistics. But the exports in same period for 2006 had recorded a growth of 30% over exports for the same period of 2005.

Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers'' Association of Cambodia has said that the main reason for the slowdown was most likely the recent ascension of Vietnam to the World Trade Organization.

Vietnam's entry to WTO in January has eliminated many of the restrictions that kept Vietnamese goods out of international markets that Cambodia used to export to, he said.

So the reason behind the slowdown is also the increase in Vietnam’s exports to the US. The competition for Cambodia is increasing.

Another potential factor was the price fetched by garments on the international market, which continued to drop, he said.

"It is a combination of external factors that are beyond our control," he added.

Garments accounted for nearly 19 percent of Cambodia''s total GDP and employed some 337,000 workers.

The garment sector is one of the country's main engines of economy. Read more!

Notorous red dog,barking defending China

China have been raising lots of red dogs to bark and bits, sometime they hunted to feed the bigh China; but the old dog is used to hunt for years until its sharpe teeth fell off, it now could only barking.

Cambodia dog have been serving its owner china to get gifts of rice without attachement, it is not quite right yet, it is in the chinese interest of politic and power creeping. Which is called soft power of The Chinese Tai chi Chuan with full of power stroke killing without notice (example: the Killing Field of Cambodia).

Cambodia has condemned Taiwan's temptations to join the United Nations, saying the move threatens regional stability.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian told a visiting US delegation last month that he planned to hold a referendum next year on joining the UN.

Cambodia's foreign ministry has issued a statement calling the plans hazardous and an act of provocation against China, which is one of Cambodia's strongest allies.

Beijing gives hundreds of millions of US dollars in aid to the impoverished country. So, Cambodia keep barking and hunting for China. Cambodian government is also a Mafia government who had been playing in a very big role for China.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has pledged to recover it, by force if necessary.
Phnom Penh has repeatedly backed Beijing's "one-China" policy. Read more!

i-to-i Launches Fund Raising Biking Tour in Cambodia

The new two week tour will give travellers the opportunity to explore Cambodia’s beautiful countryside and bustling cities by bike, as well as some of its most famed sights such as the temples of Angkor Wat, the infamous Killing Fields and the largest lake in South East Asia, Tonle Sap. Travellers will also explore the local culture and have the opportunity to learn about efforts to protect the environment and develop eco-tourism.

As well as having the opportunity to explore the country and immerse themselves in Cambodian culture, travellers also have the opportunity to make a real impact on development projects around the world, with all profits from the new tour being donated to i-to-i’s charity arm - the i-to-i Foundation.

The i-to-i Foundation, established in 2003 by i-to-i founder Deirdre Bounds, aims to support some of the most disadvantaged projects overseas by providing much needed resources direct to the projects that need them the most. The charity provides resources that will help the projects to move towards self-sufficiency and in the long term, help them stand on their own.

Over the last year the i-to-i Foundation has made significant donations to a number of projects including renovating and refurbishing a medical clinic in Tanzania, constructing a community centre in Brazil and installing 20 toilets at a school in India.

Deirdre Bounds comments: “Many of the projects that we work with are extremely under-resourced but don’t have the structures in place to use direct funding effectively which is where the i-to-i Foundation comes in. Simply dishing out cash is not the answer - it’s about empowering people to control their own futures and providing them with the resources they need to do this. We have huge plans for the Foundation over the coming year and hope that projects and tours like this one will play a big part in giving the Foundation pot a much needed boost so that it can continue making an impact.”

The two week tour costs £1795 including all transfers, guides, accommodation and meals. For more information about this tour or the i-to-i Foundation visit i-to-ifoundation.org or call 0906 218 1055. To find out about other travel options available through i-to-i website.

i-to-i Foundation Registered Charity: 1099482

1. i-to-i is a volunteer travel and TEFL training organisation based in Leeds, UK; Denver, USA; Melbourne, Australia and Co. Waterford, Ireland. Each year it sends around 5,000 volunteers to work on 500 projects in over 30 countries worldwide and trains a further 15,000 people to teach English as a foreign language.

2. i-to-i is a founding member of the Year Out Group, associate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ‘Know Before You Go’ Campaign, member of the Federation of International Youth Travel Organisations and has training accreditation from the Open and Distance Learning Quality Council. Read more!

China Southern extends services to Cambodia

China Southern Airlines, the country's biggest airline, opened direct flights from Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong Province, to Siem Reap in Cambodia on Thursday.

The company also runs direct flights from Guangzhou to Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

Earlier in July, China Southern set up three new routes linking Guangzhou with Myanmar's capital Yangon, Phuket in Thailand and Laos' capital city Vientiane.

The airline intends to open direct flights from Guangzhou to Delhi in September.

Source: Xinhua. Read more!

Michael Richards finds inner solace in Cambodia

'I'm taking time off to feel myself out,' says the actor, who came under fire for a racist outburst last year.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia -- Actor Michael Richards, whose career nosedived after he shouted racial slurs at hecklers in a West Hollywood comedy club, has been seeking some spiritual healing here with his fiancée.

Richards, best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the popular television series "Seinfeld," said he has quit stand-up comedy.
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FOR THE RECORD:
An earlier version of this article said followers referred to Hindu monk Nithyananda as "Swami G." The correct term is "swamiji."

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"That night, when I was insulted and disrupted, I lost my heart; I lost my sense of humor. I've retired from that. I'm taking time off to feel myself out, get to know myself and appreciate other people," Richards said in an interview here.

Richards, 57, and actress Beth Skipp traveled to remote temples before visiting Angkor Wat on a tour sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Nithyananda Foundation. The sect adheres to the teachings of 29-year-old Hindu monk Nithyananda — an avowed "enlightened Master and modern mystic" who's referred to by his followers as "swamiji."

Nithyananda members here say Richards began attending foundation events in March, about three months after launching into a racist tirade from the stage of the Laugh Factory. He later apologized for the outburst.

In the interview here, Richards said he was just a tourist and not a full-fledged devotee of the Nithyananda group.

"I don't wear club jackets or belong to organizations of this nature. I do my own personal work. We came to see this amazing country," said Richards, who left Cambodia for neighboring Thailand on July 7.

"I listened in, but often my fiancée and I went on our own, to feel the temples in our own way. They're magnificent structures. It's great to just be in them and watch time go by. We'll probably be back."

The tour, officially a fundraiser for an Internet university, featured daily spiritual seminars by Nithyananda at the hotel, followed by visits to the nearby Angkor Archaeological Park, where the leader discussed depictions of Hindu cosmology. Swamiji is described in the group's literature as "on a mission to re-establish the science of inner bliss on planet Earth."

Richards, born in Culver City, spoke candidly about the Nov. 17 racist rant, which ended up on the Internet after an audience member recorded video on a cellphone. He said his Cambodia trip was not any kind of "karmic rehab."

"No, I've been doing other personal work since [the incident]," he said. "I'm trying to learn to enjoy myself."

Richards and Skipp, who appeared in the 2006 L.A. production of "Me, My Guitar &Don Henley," checked into a $380 per-night deluxe spa suite at Siem Reap's Hotel De La Paix on June 29. They joined the Nithyananda tour after several days of sightseeing independently at ancient sites including Preah Vihear, a famously difficult-to-reach mountaintop temple overlooking the Thai border.

"We went way out into the country. Preah Vihear was unbelievable. And the way we got there: We went up this crazy road in a funky pickup and when we got to the top there's this magnificent temple," Richards said. "We did it all old-school."

Richards said the couple planned to proceed to Chaing Mai, Thailand, and eventually the ancient city of Luang Prabang.

"At first, I was a little bit struck by the poverty, but when I leaned in I could see how open-hearted the Cambodian people are, and I was touched by it," Richards said. "I'd always wanted to take a trip to the Far East. It's a place I'd never been. I knew of Angkor Wat and I'd seen pictures, so we decided, 'Let's go for this.' It's amazing: You can walk around and it's all hands-on in the temples, it's not roped off. Seeing spirituality in stone is inspiring."

A spokesman for the Nithyananda Foundation said swamiji has gathered 1.2 million initiated disciples in 21 countries, after "going public" in 2003. The foundation's headquarters, located in Duarte, is described in the group's brochure as "a grand meditation hall pulsating with cosmic energy." The movement began as the Nithyananda Meditation Academy in Bangalore, India. The brochure describes the Bangalore facility as "exuding mysticism and equipped with modern amenities, this is a space where mere existence is meditation!"

"It's not a cult, it's a culture," said Nithyananda follower David Herold, president of a drug and alcohol testing company headquartered in Redlands. "I call it the enlightenment express."

Herold began to study Nithyananda's meditation techniques just four months ago at a 12-person beginner's program also attended by Richards.

"Swamiji helps you to reconnect to the self," Herold said. "His teachings are a tool to cleanse and relieve stress, addiction and negative energy."

By the end of the tour, Nithyananda members said Richards was not seen at morning seminars and often went on his own.

"I'm not a part of the group. I'm not a devotee. Like I said, I don't wear club jackets, but I honor all the clubs," Richards said. "Life is not always about us or making people laugh. I'm trying to understand the humanity that I am, that I belong to. So, in that sense, I'm part of a group: humanity."

Still, he was open with his views on spirituality.

"What constitutes spirituality is heart," Richards said. "Making people laugh is something else — I did 'Seinfeld' for 10 years — it lightens things up, helps people enjoy the world they live in more. I've had people call me from hospital beds and tell me, 'That Kramer character got me through it. Thanks.' It's pretty simple, you know, the feeling of opening yourself up to others.

"You go through a country like this and see the people close to the land. I see the heart they put into their homes and their lives. I see their children: open-eyed and cheery. You're in the middle of the country and they're waving at you from a motorcycle. When you're right there at that living connection, that's spiritual." Read more!

Cambodia's cowboy capitalism

By Shawn W Crispin

BANGKOK - Despite his rough and ready reputation, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has presided over an extraordinary transformation of the country's once war-torn, now booming local economy, marking Southeast Asia's latest successful transition from a centrally planned to market-driven economy.

But as Cambodia's capitalist reforms enter a crucial new phase - one where multilateral organization economists say that to sustain fast growth, economic benefits must be more equitablydistributed - it's altogether unclear whether Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party-led government are up to the egalitarian task.

Over the past three years, Cambodia's gross domestic product has expanded at double-digit growth rates, averaging a breakneck 11.4% per annum. Garment exports, the economy's top foreign-currency earner, accounting for nearly 14% of total GDP, grew by 20% last year, despite predictions that Cambodian producers would start to lose a substantial market share to China and Vietnam.

Foreign direct investment touched a record high US$475 million last year and, in a show of fiscal confidence last weekend, the government unveiled a new $26 million parliament building, which is about 10 times the size of the previous complex. Meanwhile, hopes are running high that recent discoveries of big new oil and gas deposits will translate into a multibillion-dollar boon and by as early as 2010 transform the country into a net fuel exporter - potentially one of Asia's largest.

Monetary authorities have successfully reined in inflation, which on average galloped well over 50% per annum throughout the 1990s, to less than 3% last year, and policymakers are now feeling emboldened enough to talk about "de-dollarizing" the economy in a nationalistic bid to shore up the local currency, the riel. International credit-rating agencies, including Standard & Poor's and Moody's, recently issued their first sovereign ratings for the country, in anticipation of new stock- and bond-market launches in 2009.

Hun Sen, a former communist guerrilla and currently Southeast Asia's longest-serving elected leader, deserves a fair measure of credit for the progress. In the state-sanctioned press, he's frequently seen presiding over the opening of new roads, bridges and schools, putting his personal populist mark on public-funded investments.

His deputies have recently taken to portraying him as one of the region's vanguard economic reformers, who began dumping communism for capitalism through limited land-ownership reforms in the mid-1980s. In advance of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, which ushered in United Nations-sponsored elections and a new power-sharing government, Hun Sen introduced full-scale land reforms, slashed price controls, privatized state enterprises and, to a degree, liberalized foreign investments.

More recently, Hun Sen has in the main stayed the course of a World Bank-designed market-reform strategy, which aims to boost the private sector and move the economy away from its age-old reliance on subsistence agriculture. That has included substantial policy reforms aimed at improving the investment climate and trade facilitation, including recent automation of traditionally corruption-prone customs-related services.

Rich man, poor man
Still, there are contrary indicators that Cambodia's emerging brand of wild and wooly capitalism is unevenly - and in instances perhaps illegally - benefiting the politically connected few at the great expense of the indigent masses.

A recent World Bank research report shows that robust economic growth over the past decade has helped to reduce the national poverty rate from 47% to 35% over the 10-year period spanning 1994-2004. Over that same period, however, average consumption per capita rose a mere 8% for the bottom fifth of the wage-earning population, while rising a whopping 45% for the top tier.

Where land ownership was seen as equitable after the 1989 land reforms, now levels of inequality in landholding and landlessness are among the highest in Asia, due to recent government policies in favor of large-scale land concessions - not to mention increasing state-backed land grabs from the poor. Lightly populated Cambodia, remarkably, now ranks worse than Malthusian dread-ridden India in this category.

The World Bank report also warned that, in general, high levels of inequality contribute to market failures and reduced investment, give rise to institutions that favor the rich over the poor and, over prolonged periods, often result in social and political instability. Those dire predictions are arguably already coming due, seen in the recent rash of land grabbling, where international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch estimate that tens of thousands of people have been forcibly evicted to make way for state projects and big plantation agriculture.

More damaging, however, were the allegations in a recent investigative report titled "Cambodia's Family Trees" issued by UK-based environmental watchdog Global Witness. The globally respected outfit alleged that senior army, police and government officials, many close to Hun Sen, including the head of his personal bodyguard unit, had profited hugely from illegal logging activities.

The report also claimed that a "kleptocratic elite" - including members of Hun Sen's direct family - were complicit in exploiting large swaths of officially protected forest lands. The report notably mentioned by name Hun Sen's wife as benefiting from the alleged illicit trade. For its part, the government banned the publication, issued a blanket denial, and threatened journalists who followed up the allegations.

One Radio Free Asia reporter was forced to flee the country after he received an anonymous death threat related to his reports, which corroborated some of Global Witness' findings. He was the second RFA reporter to flee the country this year because of concerns about possible government reprisals over critical news coverage. Further, Hun Sen refused in May to meet with the UN special representative on human rights for Cambodia, Yash Ghai, who had conducted investigations into allegations of state-backed land grabs.

Such statistical and investigative findings explain why - despite Hun Sen's recent consolidation of political power and his pivotal role in accelerating economic growth - foreign and local observers still have big doubts about his style of governance. For instance, last year international corruption monitoring group Transparency International rated Cambodia 151 out of 163 nations it ranked in its global government corruption index.

A more recent Indochina Research Limited public-opinion poll found that 88% of Cambodians feel that growing inequality in wealth is a pressing issue, while a World Bank survey released this week found that perceptions of Cambodia's government effectiveness, regulatory quality and control of corruption all declined from 2005 to 2006. Cambodia is no doubt growing, and growing fast, but increasingly the perception is that the benefits are only gushing up and not trickling down. Read more!

In GOP, Growing Friction On Iraq

Senate Dissenters Chafe at Tactics Of Party Leaders

By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Facing crumbling support for the war among their own members, Senate Republican leaders yesterday sought to block bipartisan efforts to force a change in the American military mission in Iraq.

But the GOP leadership's use of a parliamentary tactic requiring at least 60 votes to pass any war legislation only encouraged the growing number of Republican dissenters to rally and seek new ways to force President Bush's hand. They are weighing a series of proposals that would change the troops' mission from combat to counterterrorism, border protection and the training of Iraqi security forces.

"I think we should continue to ratchet up the pressure -- in addition to our words -- to let the White House know we are very sincere," said Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), who broke with the president last month.

The maneuvering in the Senate came as Bush traveled to Voinovich's home state to appeal for more time on the war, and as presidential candidates in Iowa and on the Senate floor escalated their rhetoric in a debate that once seemed headed for culmination in September but now appears to be fully engaged. House leaders announced last night that the chamber will vote tomorrow on legislation to begin withdrawing troops within 120 days, with complete withdrawal by April 1, 2008, unless the president reports to Congress why some troops must remain to fight terrorism or train Iraqi forces.

The president appealed to lawmakers yesterday to hold back on legislative responses at least until September, when Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, will deliver a crucial progress report on the military and political efforts there. And last night the White House formally declared that the president would veto virtually any of the war proposals being considered.

"I fully understand that when you watch the violence on TV every night, people are saying, 'Is it worth it, can we accomplish an objective?' " Bush told a Cleveland business group. "Yes, we can accomplish this fight and win in Iraq. And secondly, I want to tell you, we must."

On the campaign trail in Iowa, Sens Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) delivered speeches assailing Bush's war policy, while Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) tussled on the Senate floor.

Speaking at the very moment that his campaign was announcing the departure of two top aides, McCain lashed out at antiwar Democrats who are advocating an immediate troop withdrawal, comparing such a move to when the Senate voted to cut off funding for U.S. troops in Cambodia in 1970.

"I've seen this movie before from the liberal left in America, who share no responsibility for what happened in Cambodia when we said no," said McCain, whose campaign has lost support partly because of his advocacy of the war. He singled out Mike Gravel, a Vietnam War-era senator from Alaska who strongly opposed that mission and is waging a long-shot antiwar candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

Biden jumped in. "Give me a break! Quoting Gravel as the voice of the left?" he exclaimed. "This is a man who, God love him, nominated himself for vice president. I mean, come on!"

Vice President Cheney attended a closed-door Republican luncheon to appeal for party unity in what Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) called "a vigorous debate." Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska) said he took Cheney's side, telling his colleagues: "If we leave prematurely, it would be absolute anarchy. We'd be turning over to al-Qaeda one of the largest oil-producing states in the world."

But such sentiments are increasingly in the minority in the Senate. "June and May were among the bloodiest months of any since we've been there, and what has the Maliki government done? Virtually nothing," Collins said after the lunch, referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Beyond the war of words are serious legislative efforts to force change -- despite the 60-vote requirement that Republican leaders are banking on as a barrier.

Collins and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) are seeking bipartisan support for an effort to force U.S. troops out of combat roles, restricting them to fighting terrorism, securing Iraq's borders and training Iraqi forces. The amendment would not require troop withdrawals, but because fewer troops would be needed for the new missions, tens of thousands could probably come home, Collins said.

The Maine moderate, who faces reelection next year in her antiwar state, is part of another bipartisan effort that would make last year's Iraq Study Group recommendations the new policy for Iraq, with a goal of removing combat forces by March 31, 2008.

That amendment was offered yesterday by Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), despite the concern of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) that it could shave Republican support from tougher approaches. Salazar's measure would require Bush to develop a comprehensive plan based on the study group's recommendations. But the White House would be free to adjust the timetables for the removal of U.S. combat forces and the transition of the mission to training and counterterrorism.

Sen. John W. Warner (Va.), a respected GOP voice on war policy, and Sen. Richard G. Lugar (Ind.), the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, are collaborating on an amendment that would meld the bipartisan efforts. Warner said that he will not comment on the initiative until after Bush presents an interim progress report on Iraq, which could come as early as tomorrow. But, according to lawmakers familiar with the deliberations, Warner and Lugar will try to merge some of the Iraq Study Group recommendations, such as a renewed diplomatic push, with forced mission changes similar to those in the Nelson-Collins amendment.

All the measures attracting GOP support are weaker versions of the main Democratic amendments, which tie troop withdrawals to specific dates. But the outcomes could be similar. Even the consensus Democratic amendment could leave tens of thousands of U.S. troops in place.

That proposal, sponsored by Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), would begin troop reductions no later than 120 days after enactment. U.S. forces would then shift their efforts to targeted missions such as counterterrorism. The process would have to be completed by April 30, 2008.

The plan "says that America will no longer be the policeman of a civil war," said Sen. Gordon Smith (Ore.), the sole GOP co-sponsor of the Levin-Reed measure. "But no terrorists in Iraq can ever sleep peacefully because it does not call for a pullout from Iraq, but a responsible way forward."
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Khmer Rouge tribunal begins lawyer selection process

Phnom Penh - Lawyers were Tuesday invited to submit their names to represent a handful of former Khmer Rouge cadre expected to be tried before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the media section of the court said in a statement.

The 56-million dollar joint UN-Cambodia tribunal is hoped to get underway later this year, although whom it will try has not yet been decided.

The Defence Support Section (DSS) of the ECCC said the list was open to both Cambodian and international lawyers who may be selected by clients to defend cases before the ECCC.

'We expect lawyers from all over the world to apply to be included in the list,' the statement quoted DSS head Rubert Skilbeck as saying.

'We have already had a great deal of interest from lawyers in Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the UK and the US. I am confident that we will be able to build strong defence teams for everyone brought before the court in order to ensure fair trials.'

The statement said accused persons before the ECCC may be represented by co-lawyers - one Cambodian and one foreign.

Both Cambodian and foreign co-lawyers have to demonstrate established competence in criminal law and procedure at a national or international level. Foreign co-lawyers will also have to possess 10 years of relevant experience, the statement said.

Foreign lawyers will also have to pay a fee of 500 dollars after a decision by the Bar Council of the Kingdom of Cambodia earlier this year. Lawyers can submit their applications via the ECCC website.

The statement said co-lawyers will be assisted by a defence team made up of legal consultants and case managers. The DSS also announced applications were open for these positions as of Tuesday.

The ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 Democratic Kampuchea regime is held responsible for the deaths of up to 2 million Cambodians in its drive to turn the country into an agrarian utopia, free of markets, money and social classes.

Its leader, Pol Pot, died without facing justice in 1998. Most surviving leaders are elderly and many claim to be in frail health. Read more!

World Wonders contest boosts Cambodia's Angkor: minister

Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple received a welcome publicity boost from a contest to choose seven "new" world wonders, despite not winning a spot on the list, tourism minister Thong Khon said Tuesday.

The decision not to include the 12th century temple -- Cambodia's biggest tourist attraction -- has angered some here who feel Angkor never had a fair shot because most Cambodians could not take advantage of the Internet voting.

But Thong Khon downplayed Angkor's exclusion, saying: "This is only the outcome of people using the Internet around the world, not the opinion of people in general."

Angkor's listing in 1992 as a UNESCO World Heritage site already proved its worth as a significant milestone for Cambodian culture, he said.

"We did not lose anything," he told reporters after returning from an announcement ceremony for the new wonders in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

"People around the world got to know more about Cambodia and Angkor Wat. I believe we will attract many more tourists following this campaign," he said.

Tourism remains one of the few money-spinners in the impoverished country, which attracted 1.7 million visitors last year.

The contest to find the new world wonders was launched by a private Swiss foundation in January, allowing voters to choose from 21 sites, including Angkor Wat, that were short-listed out of 77.

It said it had gathered nearly 100 million votes by the end of polling at midnight last Friday.

Voters chose the Great Wall of China; India's Taj Mahal; the centuries-old pink ruins of Petra in Jordan; the Colosseum in Rome; the statue of Christ overlooking Rio de Janeiro; the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru; and the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico.

The privately-sponsored campaign was the brainchild of a Swiss filmmaker and museum curator Bernard Weber, following the destruction of Afghanistan's giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan by the Taliban in 2001.

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A Second Chance in Cambodia

Deported to a Cambodia he never knew, a former gang member uses breakdancing to offer hope to others.

On the top floor of a city center shopping mall, youngsters in baggy jeans breakdance to loud hip-hop music while an energetic emcee raps over the top.

It could be a scene from any North American or European city, but this is Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. And the dancers on stage are among the most underprivileged children and youths in the poverty-stricken country, which is still scarred by years of war and oppression. Their teachers are discards from American society, which kicked them out because of the accident of their birth.

They are members of the Tiny Toones breakdancing club, which aims to give children from Phnom Penh's poorest slum communities a constructive way to channel their energies and build confidence.

Some are orphans, many are HIV-positive, and others are former drug users – children who are all too often discarded and left on the margins of society. Now, says Tiny Toones' Khmer-American founder, Tuy Sopil, they are "the most popular dancers in Cambodia" and an inspiration to others.

With his tattoo-covered arms, baggy jeans and baseball cap, 29-year-old Tuy – also known as KK looks every inch the California gang member he once was. But since he was deported from the US to Cambodia, a country he hardly knew, he has devoted himself to helping his young charges avoid the life of gangs, drugs and crime that he fell into.

Tuy was just a baby when his family fled Cambodia and the murderous misrule of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge regime. They settled in Arizona, and then Long Beach, California – home to a thriving community of Cambodian refugees. Although he became an accomplished breakdancer, Tuy got involved with gangs and was taking crack cocaine in his early teens.

At around 18 he was sent to jail for the first time, for robbery. He received two more sentences for the same crime, and says he spent a total of about nine-and-a-half years in jail or the custody of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. Then, in 2002, he got trouble of another kind that he never expected. The Bush administration pushed the Cambodia government into signing a repatriation agreement that made possible the deportation of about 1,600 Cambodian Americans, most of whom had dim memories if any at all of Cambodia. Tuy was one of them. He left his family – including a young son – behind. There are around 140 Khmer-American deportees like him in Cambodia. Hundreds more are waiting to be sent back when they finish their sentences.

On his return to Phnom Penh, Tuy turned his life around. "When I got here I started all over again, and now everyone loves me," he said. "It feels like I fit into the community. In the States, it didn't feel like that."

Tuy also works for an NGO set up by a group of deportees that works with drug users. But he seems most enthusiastic when talking about Tiny Toones, which he started around two years ago with just nine members. Now it has many times that number, aged from three to 24, and they practice at five different locations in Phnom Penh. The dancers get paid to perform at shows and promotional events, so they can make a little money for their parents through their hobby.

"I want to help them because I used to be a kid on drugs," he said. "I spent most of my life in gangs, trying to be cool. These kids need a role model and they don't have that, so I'm trying to be that."

Tuy teaches breakdancing and hires three other teachers to give lessons in Khmer, English and HIV-Aids prevention. He regularly checks the youngsters' school reports and suspends them from dancing if they get low grades.

Similarly, membership in Tiny Toones is used as a carrot to persuade youngsters to give up substance abuse such as sniffing glue or taking yama, which means “crazy medicine,” and is the local name for highly-addictive crystal methamphetamine.

"If they don't quit drugs, they can't join us," Tuy said. "If they are on drugs, I don't want them. I want them to quit before they join."

Cambodia has a high prevalence of HIV/Aids, and a lot of the dancers are HIV-positive. "I want them to know that it's not the end of the world," said Tuy.

He talks affectionately about one of his dancers, a 10-year-old boy who is HIV-positive: "He's the best breakdancing guy in my crew. He's very smart in English and Khmer. He's very talented."

Tuy clearly inspires respect among the young dancers, and this is reciprocated. He has even "adopted" five children and taken them into his home. He is proud of the youngsters, but says but the group needs more financial help. His ambition is to create a park in Phnom Penh, "where kids can be free to play".

Recently, 20 dancers announced that they wanted to form a gang. Tuy told them they must leave the group if they did. They chose to stay. He said: "They just want to be cool, and I say 'You guys are cool. You are popular in Cambodia. Everybody wants to be like you guys, and you want to be gang members? That's not cool'." Read more!

STANLEY FOUNDATION IN CAMBODIA DISCUSSES AID, TRADE AND NEW POWER DYNAMICS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA:

UNITED NATIONS - 10 July 2007
The Stanley Foundation and two other institutions concluded a weeklong dialogue series with participants from leading universities, think tanks, NGOs, as well as the Cambodian and foreign governments, to examine complex and important economic issues facing the Asia-Pacific region.

The first phase of this process was a three-day conference held in Siem Reap in collaboration with the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace titled “Aid, Trade, and Infrastructure: Economic Dimensions of New Power Dynamics in Southeast Asia.”

The second phase, a morning seminar held in Phnom Penh and cosponsored with The Asia Foundation, considered the implications of the trends identified in Siem Reap for Cambodia and its foreign relations.
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The discussions in Siem Reap produced a number of recommendations for policymakers on both sides of the Pacific in the three key areas—aid, trade, and infrastructure—including:

Aid

Strive for greater coordination among and between donors in an effort to better leverage aid efforts.

Place greater emphasis on long-term institutional capabilities through a variety of capacity-building measures.

Recognize and appreciate that the region’s diversity means aid programs should be tailored to meet the needs of individual countries. In Cambodia , for example, it might be appropriate to create a counterpart to the Vietnam Education Fund.

Trade

The United States should be open to and supportive of regional economic integration.

The president should nominate, and the US Congress should approve, an ambassador for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) affairs.

The United States should consider trade preferences for Asian-Pacific Least Developed Countries similar to measures already in place in Africa and the Caribbean .

The Support for Trade Adjustment and Reform (STAR) Program implemented in Vietnam to help that country meet the obligations of and benefit from its bilateral trade agreement with the US should be extended to Cambodia and Laos .

Infrastructure

ASEAN and its trade partners should work toward a uniform code of standards in trade in order to encourage effective regional infrastructure development.

Smaller scale infrastructure should not be neglected, especially where it stimulates economic development in individual countries.

The United States should take greater interest in projects related to the Mekong River Delta and should encourage adherence to environmental standards in these projects.

The US and China should look for ways to cooperate with Southeast Asian countries on regional infrastructure development, including greater transparency, and in such areas as health and education.

The dialogue series is part of a multiyear Stanley Foundation project, New Power Dynamics in Southeast Asia : Issues for US Policy.

The project examines the impact of changing power relations in the Asia-Pacific region on Southeast Asian politics, security, and economics and the implication of these trends for US policy.

The Stanley Foundation project will culminate with recommendations for a new US administration following the 2008 elections.

The Stanley Foundation

The Stanley Foundation seeks a secure peace with freedom and justice, built on world citizenship and effective global governance. It brings fresh voices, original ideas, and lasting solutions to debates on global and regional problems.

The foundation is a nonpartisan, private operating foundation, located in Muscatine , Iowa , that focuses on peace and security issues and advocates principled multilateralism. The foundation frequently collaborates with other organizations. It does not make grants. Online at http://www.stanleyfoundation.org.

The Asia Foundation in Cambodia

The Asia Foundation first opened its office in Cambodia in 1955. Through grants of technical assistance; facilitating programs in areas such as local governance, economic growth and reform, and counter-trafficking; as well as its efforts to build the capacity of Cambodian NGOs, the Foundation has supported programs in every province in Cambodia . Online at http://www.asiafoundation.org.

Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace

The Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP) is an independent, neutral, and nonpartisan research institute based in Phnom Penh , Cambodia . CICP promotes both domestic and regional dialogue between government officials, national and international organizations, scholars, and the private sector on issues of peace, democracy, civil society, security, foreign policy, conflict resolution, economics and national development. Online at http://www.cicp.org .

For further information, contact: Contact: Keith Porter, +1-563-299-4669; Michael Schiffer, +1-319-400-2520; Kristin McHugh, +1-563-264-1500 Read more!

VN-Cambodia border landmark planting begins in Kon Tum

VietNamNet Bridge – Work started for the planting of the 21st landmark on the Vietnam-Cambodia borderline in the area between Vietnam’s Kon Tum province and Cambodia’s Ranatakiri province on July 9.

The landmark, built by the Steering Board for Demarcation and Landmark Planting and the technical teams for demarcation and landmark planting of the two provinces, is the first erected in the border area between the two provinces.

The two provinces plan to finish the planting of five landmarks on their common borderline in July.

According to Dang Xuong Hung, deputy head of the Department for Western Border of the Border Committee, the Foreign Ministry, said that as many as 374 landmarks will be planted on the 1,137-km borderline between Vietnam and Cambodia.

They include 22 landmarks to be planted on the nearly 100-km borderline between Kon Tum and Ranatakiri provinces. Technical teams of the two sides have defined positions for the planting of 22 designated landmarks from now until 2008.

Representatives of Ranatakiri and Kon Tum provinces' authorities and relevant agencies of the two sides said that the landmark planting would help tighten friendship and cooperation between the two neighbouring countries and provinces as well. Read more!

Dengue death toll surpasses all in 2006 in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from dengue fever for the first half of this year has already surpassed the total number of 2006, for more household-level breeding occurred, local media said on Tuesday.

All 182 people died from the virus in this period, compared to the 158 death in the whole year of 2006, the Cambodian Daily quoted Ngan Chantha, dengue program manager of the Health Ministry, as saying.

Government figures show 14,986 reported cases of dengue fever so far this year and the virus has yet to reach its annual peak of infections at the end of July.

Last year, there were 16,649 reported cases in all, said Chantha.

Beat Richner, whose four Kantha Bopha hospitals reportedly care for 90 percent of Cambodia's dengue patients free of charge, said that some 90 percent of the fatalities happened as result of receiving wrong combination of drugs or too many drugs at other hospitals prior to being admitted to Kantha Bopha.

Varun Kumar, medical adviser and senior pediatrician at the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap province, told reporters that the warning signs for the current dengue outbreak were present late last year and health officials should have done more to prepare for it as they knew it was looming.

However, Ngan Chantha said that the government has already distributed 200 tons of abate over the specific areas to help curb the outbreak, but the virus just spread beyond those areas.

"It is not so easy to control because breeding is at the household level," he added.

Currently, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office is leading the efforts to spray insecticide and train provincial teams how to use the anti-mosquito spray in Phnom Penh and other hard-hit provinces. Read more!

Cambodian court gave New Zealander a taste of Cambodia hell for raping girls

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A Cambodian appeals court on Tuesday upheld a guilty verdict against a New Zealand man convicted of raping five Cambodian girls who worked as maids at his house.

Prosecutors had provided enough evidence to prove that Graham Cleghorn, 60, had sexually abused the girls, said Thou Muny, the head of the three-judge Cambodian Appeals Court.

Cleghorn was not present Tuesday at the court in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, but his defense attorney, Ouk Ry, called the verdict unfair and said his client would appeal to the Supreme Court.

As the process was in accordance with Cambodian law and proper judicial process, New Zealand accepted the outcome, said Grant Traill, second secretary with the New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok, who was in Phnom Penh to follow the case, told reporters.

The verdict handed down Tuesday was for an appeal case heard last Wednesday in a close-door session in which Cleghorn pleaded his innocence and sought to overturn a 20-year prison sentence handed down against him by a provincial court in 2004.

Cleghorn, from Wellington, was sentenced for raping five girls at his home in Siem Reap province, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh. The girls' ages have not been disclosed.

Cleghorn moved to Cambodia in the late 1980s and worked in Siem Reap as a tourist guide. His Cambodian wife, Bout Toeur, was convicted of conspiring to collude in the rapes. She received a three-year suspended sentence.

The girls worked as maids at Cleghorn's house.

Cleghorn maintained in an earlier statement that he was framed by the Cambodian Women Crisis Center, a nonprofit group, which has provided shelters and legal counseling to the girls.

. Read more!

Cambodia: PM Cuts Short India Visit After Death Of Former Indian Prime Minister

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, shakes hands with Nhek Bun Chhay, left, Deputy Prime Minister, as Minister of Council Ministry Sok An, center,looks on, on Hun Sen's arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, July 9, 2007. (Photo courtesy: AP

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: Prime Minister Hun Sen cut short a scheduled four-day visit to India and returned to Cambodia Monday (July 9th) following the death of a former Indian prime minister, a top official said.

Hun Sen's delegation had flown to India on Sunday (July 8th), but decided to return after just one night so the Indian government could attend to funeral arrangements for Chandra Shekhar, said Cambodia Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

Shekhar, a former Indian premier and socialist legislator, died of cancer in a New Delhi hospital Sunday (July 8th) aged 80. He headed a coalition government for a brief period in 1990-91.

Hun Sen had been scheduled to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Hor Namhong said.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding on petroleum cooperation and several agreements _ covering defense cooperation, the transfer of prisoners, and agriculture and water resource management _ has been postponed, Hor Namhong said.

The trip will be rescheduled for a more appropriate time, he added. (AP) Read more!