Continued from here ...

For more on who's jumping on the Cam offshore oil bandwagon, here's a link to an update on countries lining up for exploration licenses. Former US Ambassador to Cambodia, Charles Ray, has been addressing... more

Continued from here ...

Sihanoukville's airport is open again. As one part of of Cambodia's strategy to increase tourism, it's hoped that people visiting temples and such will add a beach stop to their itinerary, thereby increasing their time ... and expenditures ... in the country.

And speaking of tourists,... more

Cambodia and Vietnam are getting around to establishing a working group to begin executing a 2005 agreement on the prevention of trafficking in women and children.

A Vietnamese report said that police had arrested over 450 traffickers in 2006 and rescued 966 women and children.

Another 750 victims had been rescued in other countries or had escaped themselves.

The crime was most rampant in southern Vietnamese provinces bordering... more

Continued from here, where I've been writing about the nuts and bolts of adopting from India ...

After the the dossier docs are submitted, a No Objection Certificate must be awared by CARA.

If all goes well, this should be how the process goes:

1. After they receive the relevant documents the Indian placement agency will register the name of the potential foreign parents in a register meant for them.

2. They will compare the Home Study Report with the Child Study Reports they maintain and secure suitable... more

There have been a few questions on the forums lately about adoption from India, and those have inspired me to post some general information about the process.

First, independent adoption is not allowed in the Indian system and any personal interaction between an individual overseas and an Indian agency involved in adoption is forbidden. An agency must be used, and the agency must be one designated an "Enlisted Foreign Adoption Agency" (EFAA) by the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA).

At the moment, there are 290 foreign agencies world-wide authorized... more

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From Guatemala, the US Assistant Secretary of Consular Affairs has been talking to reporters, saying that, "improvements need to be made before the U.S. ratifies the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions later this year." And a ... more

This article, titled, "Vietnamese Adoptees: Where Are They Now?" is just what it sounds like: a look at adults who were born in Vietnam, then adopted by US families. With more than 7,000 Vietnamese kids adopted in the thirty years between 1971 and 2001, there are many stories to be told, and the report takes a look at a few from the transracial angle. Although it's fairly negative on adoption in the past, it does give a bit of credit to present-day aparents... more

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And speaking of blowing up cows ... (Now, there's a segue I never thought I'd catch myself writing .. )

This story is disturbing on way too many levels.

For the cool price of $555, Lan Kosal will escort a client to a remote location in the Cambodian countryside to blow up a cow with... more

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Others who not only lived through the KR years, but profited from them and used the time and connections to build a power base that still exerts great influence are supposed to be tried this year. In a move typical of official razzmatazz (read, Newspeak), the Cam government has "reiterated its pledge... more

Weekly news from Cambodia ranges from the annoying to the astonishing, and from the infuriating to the inspiring. This week's will begin with one of the inspiring flavor. From Chennai, India, comes this report of a musician who survived childhood of Khmer Rouge abuse, torture and a steeping in the genocidal brew that was Cambodia to become an internationally recognised human rights leader, speaker and trainer.

Arn... more