As the list of possible birth countries American hopeful adoptive parents can look to tragically shrinks, many are hoping to cast a love net in new directions. Mongolia has been coming up more often lately, with people asking about the possibility of adding children from that country to their family.

Mongolia is a predominately Buddhist country the size of Texas, landlocked between Russia and China, the steppes and the Gobi Desert. The population is... more

Continued from the previous post ...

On the not-working-so-well front, Prime Minister Hun Sen is dancing around the Khmer Rouge trials and making statements that are less than comforting.

... on Wednesday in former Khmer Rouge heartland, Hun Sen preferred to focus on Cambodia's new era of... more

Interestingly, Cambodia is being held up as an example of how to do things right in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In an article titled, "Prudishness in the White House is costing lives", the methods used in Cambodia in the fight against the spread of AIDS are working much better than the Bush administration's efforts.

... It doesn't do much good for American officials to preach abstinence and fidelity in places... more

Continued from here where I was hesitating to spout off about the new China adoption rules ...

There are a significant number of people writing now about the new rules being a valid way for China to address the issue of supply and demand. Comments like the following are very common:

It seems to me be more of an issue with not enough "healthy" babies to meet the demand. There is an increase in domestic adoption... more

Anyone venturing into the international adoption world this week, even if putting only a toe into the territory, will have heard about China's new adoption rules that will go into effect on 1 May 2007. According to reports, soon to be taken off the list of possible adoptive parents are singles, the disabled, those on anti-depressant meds, the very chubby, the not-rich-enough, and more.

The yack-yack on groups and forums is a back-and-forth... more

Tourism in the country is up, up, up, and expected to bring in more than $1.3 billion this year ... that's up .3 bill over last year ... with the biggest share coming from South Korea to the tune of 300,000. In a move that can only help the tourism industry, as well as every other business that relies on transport, money coming in from many sources will be used to restore... more

Continued from here where the topic is female infanticide ...

Government officials and UNICEF are shocked and up in arms. Give me a break.

In a statement marking International Women's Day, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy issued a strong attack against culturally-sanctioned homicidal violence directed at women and girls around the world. She said 'honour' killings, acid violence, female infanticide... more

I wrote the other day about how sex selection among immigrant groups is affecting the population in Canada.

... there's enough pre-natal sex selection going on in that country these days to skew the demographics much like they skew in China and India.

There the issue is the aborting of female fetuses ... quite the dichotomy for pro-choice feminists with abortion on demand deemed a basic right,... more

For the rest of this month ... the rest of this year ... on days that don't have me needing to rant, rave, pass on info or otherwise blog from the heart, I'll be posting holiday traditions from around the world and season's greetings in many languages. Taking a look at the way people not only celebrate their festive season, but also the roots of the traditions, can give a peek into the entire culture of a country. Although the methods of celebration can be as different as the comfort food that comes with, there is usually something very... more

Continued from the previous two posts ...

And now, on the lighter side ... Korea's top fashion designer, Andre Kim, chose Angkor Wat as the setting for the launch of his 2007 collection.

Kim's "Fashion Fantasia: Angkor Wat" is part of The Angkor-Gyeongju World Culture Expo 2006 that kicked off last month and runs through... more