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Here's a story that annoys and infuriates at the same time. A 60-year-old New Zealander, jailed for raping five Cambodian girls hired to work in his Siem Reap home, didn't get to "... face my accusers and I want my accusers to be cross-examined" because the Women's Crisis Center representing the... more

It's beginning to look a lot like ... the US may be sending direct aid to Cambodia again, and the government there is happy about that.

"Any assistance is useful for us," the Cambodian Daily quoted Deputy Prime Minister and Co-Minister of Defense Tea Banh as saying, while mentioning the U.S. Senate's proposed budget for the 2007 fiscal year, in which the Foreign Appropriations Subcommittee recommended that the ban on direct funding to... more

I've been hoping and waiting for an email from Cambodia for days now, and it finally came last night.

Last week, a couple left Seychelles, making their way to Phnom Penh to pick up their new baby daughter from AOA, the orphanage that cared for my kids before they came home. Coming up to five years on the suspension by the US government on Cambodian adoptions, it's even more special an event when a Cambodian child finds a loving family.

Although many nations have continued to allow adoptions from Cambodia, having... more

I'm up to the FOURTH wrinkle on my forehead trying to get the book ready for a Friday deadline, so am tossing this blog post together like a last-minute salad for guests I forgot were coming.

Cleaning out the vegetable drawer and nosing around my desktop are far too similar activities these days, and I apologize for the leftovers.

Tidbit number one:

Brian Stuy of China adoption opinion fame published a post on his blog that has folks all over the Web pondering and discussing.

He's taken on the issue of birth mothers and remorse.

When I interviewed the two birthmothers last... more

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As expected, unfortunately, things are not going well in the lead-up to the trials of Khmer Rouge leaders that are supposed to commence in February.

The Cambodian government must end its interference in the mixed national and international tribunal set up to prosecute crimes by senior... more

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Another report addresses the complicated issues raised by the likelihood of oil in Cambodia's future.

It should be a time for happy anticipation by the international institutions and NGOs that have propped up the country for years. But instead there is trepidation that Cambodia's anticipated "black gold" bonanza from... more

Former King Norodom Sihanouk, in China for medical treatment, is making funeral plans public on his web site.

"When I pass away, my body will be cremated. My ashes, which will be blessed by Cambodian Buddhist monks, will be put in a marble urn," Sihanouk said in a handwritten statement in French posted on his website.

In the statement dated November... more

Along with having just about everything else wrong with the country, Zimbabwe now has the world's highest percentage of children orphaned by AIDS, according to UNICEF. Almost one in every four children ... 1.6 million ... has lost at lease one parent to the virus, not surprising when you learn that 3,000 people are dying of AIDS every week.

UNICEF said it had received... more

News regarding adoption in Guatemala is making it all over the world these days. This story came to me via Pakistan, and although it's from a couple of weeks back, the fact that it's getting global coverage should be enough to have anyone involved in adoptions from the country paying close attention.

The United States threatened to suspend adoptions from Guatemala unless the country enforces an international treaty meant to guard against child trafficking.... more

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Former US President Bill Clinton is visiting Cambodia as he travels to review the work of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in the country.

The Clinton Foundation established its office in Cambodia... more