Unless you've been living under a rock, you have to be hyper-aware that July is Harry Potter month. (I live on a rock and have heard all about it, so I'm assuming the information is very widely spread.) The latest film opened last week, the last book comes out at the end of this one, and the ensuing frenzy cannot be missed.

Here's a a bit of a connection that adds to my Potter-ific thinking ... yes, I am a fan: I share a birthday with Harry, and his creator, J.K. Rowling -- the 31st of July. Since... more

Continued from here ...

Politics are, of course, always a hot topic in Cambodia, and right now the biggies in the royalist parties are talking about working together to try to gain some finger-hold through next year's general elections.

With Prince Sisowath Thomico joining Prince Sisowath Siriroath and leaving Prince Norodom Ranariddh, there's not much support... more

An early, warm wet season is being blamed for one of the worst outbreaks of Dengue Fever to hit Cambodia and the rest of SE Asia in recent history.

A British adoptive father, along with other volunteers, set up a UK Registered Charity, The Cambodia Children's... more

Continuing to follow changes to India's adoption program I've been writing about for a while now, India adoptions authority, the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) has submitted a draft of amended adoption guidelines to the Ministry for Women and Child Development.

The "Guidelines on Adoption of Indian Children Without Parental Care -- 2007" proposes changes... more

Baby Safe Havens are an adoption-related hot potato of the scalding and scorching variety.

There are who love the idea and lobby long and hard in favor, while others hate everything about Baby Safe Havens and campaign strongly against.

Heated debate about the so called "Baby Moses"... more

The opening of the new National Assembly building in Phnom Penh is timed to coincide with the ten-year anniversary of Prime Minister Hun Sen's victory over Prince Ranariddh.

I suppose that's appropriate.

Too bad it marks a time when scores of people lost their lives in political in-fighting and the beginning of an era that's seen no serious challenge to the CCP ... the PM's party ... since.

The government does happily point out, however, that the country is developing... more

Continued from the previous post, where we were talking about orphans in Kashmire, and how help sometimes doesn't look like that to everyone.

There's the Marriage of Poor and Orphan Girls Foundation:

Foundation provides financial help to orphan and poor girls for conducting their marriages and shares their financial woes and worries. These marriages are conducted with simplicity, grace and accordingly to Islamic... more

A report today out of India ... not new information, but showing up this morning, nonetheless ... on the plight of orphans around the Kashmir region is reminding me of much of what prompted the series I did a couple of days back that began with Iraq and moved on from there.

A... more

As always, the weekly news from Cambodia is about some good, some bad and some ugly. It never ceases to amaze me how the dichotomy that is the country is all pervasive, from the grand to the horrible, to the ancient to the brand-spanking-new, right up to from the historical to today's news.

Starting with another big bump in tourism, with Korea being the country sending the most visitors. A ... more

We've been looking at China, the county's new requirements for adoption, and the idea that they're running out of adoptable children.

In addition to China wanting to give the impression that all is so well within their vast borders that very few children are in need of families, this is also a country with a population of 1.3+ billion people with... more