NGOs pose terrorist threats?

The PM intends to pass a new law to regulate NGOs

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday that the new government will establish a law to manage the non-government organizations in the country.

"We have to know the sources of their fund. We are concerned that their fund could come from terrorist groups," Hun Sen said at the first cabinet meeting.

Terrorist groups could use the non-government organizations or associations as their shelters, he said.

Right. Because building an equitable society and alleviating poverty is the work of terrorists. It already takes mounds og red tape, palm greasing and several months or indeed years to establish an NGO. Many do work under the table because it is so difficult.

NGOs provide services that the Government does not or cannot. NGOs provide services while the powers that be grab land and sell off natural resources.

IMF and World Bank to bail out the US?

I love the taste of satire in the morning and the wingnutty comments set me up for the day.

Dear United States, Welcome to the Third World!

It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation, and we here at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of states in desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are delighted to respond to your Treasury Department's request that we undertake a joint stability assessment of your financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors willing to perform an emergency overhaul of your entire government...

It's funny because it could be true!

Kevin Myers and the editors at the Indo are abhorrent

Kevin Myers may be known as someone whose "articles often offer criticism of left-wing opinion and the "liberal consensus", sometimes incorporating hyperbolic sarcasm and parody" but engaging in racist stereotypes in disgusting. It is very important to remember at this point that this vile piece of journalism was ok'ed by three editors at the Indo. He did not act alone. All four are guilty.

The article criticizes aid work and the system of world governance for not resolving issues of poverty and political instability during the past 20 or so years. Firstly, there are certainly valid criticisms to be made about aid effectiveness and distribution. I see the problems first hand in Cambodia.

However, the article uses the most horrible racist stereotypes and Myers is rooted in white male rich privilege. He is judging what he cannot understand, despite claims of having visited Ethiopia.

Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially. Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there. The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a priapic, Kalashnikov-bearing hearty, siring children whenever the whim takes him.

Just because you have been there, Myers, does not mean you have any understanding. In fact you sound like the typical backpacker - "I am so at one with the Cambodian people, even though I can't speak Khmer and have only been here for a day". One visit does not make you an expert. One visit does not entitle you to make sweeping generalisations about an entire continent. Nothing entitles you to make sweeping generalisations.

You are aware I presume that Africa is a continent and not a country because you write as if there are not thousands of different cultures, languages, poverty levels, education levels and a million other differences between a South African, an Algerian, a Kenyan, an Ivorian or a Ghanaian. Within each of the countries on the continent of Africa there are different tribes and traditions and you demonise them all. How typical - white colonisers have been doing it for years.

But, please, please, you self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison. Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30pc. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules, Ethiopia's has more than doubled.

Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.

Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.

This dependency has not stimulated political prudence or commonsense. Indeed, voodoo idiocy seems to be in the ascendant, with the next president of South Africa being a firm believer in the efficacy of a little tap water on the post-coital penis as a sure preventative against infection. Needless to say, poverty, hunger and societal meltdown have not prevented idiotic wars involving Tigre, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea etcetera.

Wow you resort to the racist construct that sees black men as oversexed and intent on raping. That's not original. It's not new. It's one of the oldest stereotypes in the book.

You use racism to fuel the fear that is in Ireland that "they" are taking our jobs. "They" are using "our" women. You use your space to create and fan the fear. As thefreeslave eloquently says

Racism/white supremacy is a vicious, global system that has butchered too many human beings, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Yet, it too is a tool, a MAJOR tool and the means, the apparatus of control, rather than the end desired by the ruling class itself.

You use racism as a tool. You accuse "Africans" of being too reliant on aid. You put the blame on the victim. That's nothing new either. Rapists use that defense every day.

Broad brush-strokes, to be sure. But broad brush-strokes are often the way that history paints its gaudier, if more decisive, chapters. Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 20th century have endured worse broad brush-strokes than almost any part of Africa.

Oh really Myers? Been to Cambodia or Lao recently?

They are now -- one way or another -- virtually all giving aid to or investing in Africa, whereas Africa, with its vast savannahs and its lush pastures, is giving almost nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS.

Your statement that Africa is giving nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS, is... I'm not sure that there are words to express how truly revolting that statement is. Perhaps others will find words to cover that.

Your use of "AIDS" is offensive. No one uses that anymore. "People living with the HIV virus" is how people phrase things nowadays. I will probably be accused of being the PC police but words matter. And you Myers, chose the more offensive of all the available words. As a journalist, words are your craft and you use them to incite hatred.

I would prefer to fisk every point made but I find I don't have the stomach to keep rereading this bile. Legal proceedings should be taken. If anyone wants to respond personally to Myers - I'll be dropping him this post - his email is posted on the bottom of the webpage and reads kmyers@independent.ie

The rattling of sabres

With headlines like this Cambodia on brink of war with Thailand and this Cambodia asks UN to intervene in 'imminent state of war' with Thailand people are a little nervous. Add to this the upcoming election and tensions are running high.

UNESCO designated Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site earlier this month and a land dispute has arisen. Mix in Thai and Cambodian soldiers and the situation has escalated with neither side willing to lose face or surrender what they consider theirs. KI-Media has more details.

The problem dates back to a map drawn up in 1908 by French cartographers to define the Thai-Cambodian border when Cambodia was still a French colony. Although the French insisted the border should be defined according to the watershed - where the rain water falls in opposite directions - along the Dongrak mountain range, in their map the ancient Preah Vihear, perched on the tip of a 525 metre high cliff that is a steep fall on the Cambodian side and a gradual slope on the Thai one, oddly ended up on the Cambodian side of the watershed.

Thailand's failure to officially object to the questionable map-making led to their losing the temple in 1962 when a dispute over the temple's ownership was settled in the Hague at the International Court of Justice.

The court ruling, while in Cambodia's favour, left the dispute over the actual border line open to further discussion.

Thailand still claims that a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjacent to the temple is still subject to this dispute.

Cambodia has asked the UN Security Council to intervene. And the SG has called for restraint and a peaceful resolution. The SC is going to decide whether to convene a special emergency session tomorrow.

There is a call for a boycott of Thai goods and residents of Poipet (which borders Thailand) are stocking up on necessities in case the border is closed

A Cambodian villager who crossed the border and bought food supplies said Cambodians in Poi Pet feared that fighting could break out.

He said Poi Pet residents believed that negotiations between the two neighbours' military leaders, scheduled for Monday and aimed at defusing the tensions, would be fruitless after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had demanded that Thailand withdraw its troops.

Cambodians believe that Thailand would not follow the Cambodian leader's request, said the villager.

The SG decision tomorrow many resolve some of the issues. People are afraid of war but embassies haven't issued any particular advice and tourists are still visiting the temples. 'Wait and see' is the policy.

Bird flu

Anyone else a little concerned? Found this recently on bird flu.

Limited, non-sustained person-to-person transmission of H5N1 virus probably occurred in this family cluster

Even if limited, human-to-human transmission is worrying and yet is only once of the looming disasters. I feel like singing:

Mutilated for being late back to the office

A gruesome story of an employee being mutilated for being late back to work. The website has a picture of Kim Ne's hand after Ly cut off his thumbs and is not for the faint of heart.

Phnom Penh - Authorities were seeking Cambodian garage owner accused of lopping off the thumbs and big toes of an employee for returning to work late, police said Thursday. The police chief of Dombai district in eastern Kampong Cham province, Chout Dearn, said the man, identified only as Mr Ly, 40, lost his temper on Tuesday when mechanic Kim Ne, 22, returned late from a friend's wedding with a motorbike he had borrowed from the garage.

"The worker claims Ly enlisted two of Ne's workmates to help tie him up, then hit him in the throat and chest with an axe handle before cutting his thumbs and big toes off one by one," Dearn said by telephone. "Now he cannot ride a motorbike any more."

Completely bizarre and criminal behaviour. Mutilated for being late after lunch. I have no words.

Condemn Israel's human rights violations

Israel violates human rights while Gazans starve

UNRWA has almost depleted the stocks of emergency food aid it had previously built up in Gaza. Only thirty-two truckloads of goods have been allowed to enter Gaza since Israel imposed its total closure on January 18; 250 trucks were entering every day before last June, and even that was insufficient to meet the population's needs.

On January 30 UNRWA warned that unless something changes, the daily ration that it will distribute on the 31st to 860,000 destitute refugees in Gaza will lack a protein component: the canned meat that is the only source of protein in the food parcels--which even under the best of circumstances contributes less than two-thirds of minimum daily nourishment--is being held up by Israel, and the stock of those cans inside Gaza has been exhausted. The World Food Program, which feeds another 340,000 people in Gaza, has brought in nine trucks of food aid in the past two weeks; in the seven months before that, it had been bringing in fifteen trucks a day.

Gazans have been ground into poverty by years of methodical Israeli restrictions and closures; 80 percent of the population now depends on food aid for day-to-day subsistence. With the aid, they were receiving "enough to survive, not to live," as the International Red Cross put it. Without it, they will die.

When Israel limited commercial shipments of food--but not humanitarian relief--into Gaza in 2006, a senior government adviser, Dov Weisglass, explained that "the idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet but not to make them die of hunger."

Israel's "diet" was taking its toll even before last week. The World Food Program warned last November that less than half of Gaza's food-import needs were being met. Basics including wheat grain, vegetable oil, dairy products and baby milk were in short supply. Few families can afford meat. Anemia rates rocketed to almost 80 percent. UNRWA noted at about the same time that "we are seeing evidence of the stunting of children, their growth is slowing, because our ration is only 61 percent of what people should have and that has to be supplemented."

By further restricting the supply of food to an already malnourished population, Israel has clearly decided to take its "diet" a step further. If the people of Gaza remain cut off from the food aid on which their survival now depends, they will face starvation.

They are now essentially out of food; the water system is faltering (almost half the population now lacks access to safe water supplies); the sewage system has broken down and is discharging raw waste into streets and the sea; the power supply is intermittent at best; hospitals lack heat and spare parts for diagnostic machines, ventilators, incubators; dozens of lifesaving medicines are no longer available. Slowly but surely, Gaza is dying.

Patients are dying unnecessarily: cancer patients cut off from chemotherapy regimens, kidney patients cut off from dialysis treatments, premature babies cut off from blood-clotting medications.

Why is there not condemnation from all around the world? Israel is starving Gaza. And for what? To catch militants. Have they considered that directly attacking a civilian population that they are committing crimes against humanity? There are rules to engaging in combat. Israel is breaking those rules, so where is the condemnation?

Broken heart? Stay at home

From Reuters

Lovelorn staff at a Japanese marketing company can take paid time off after a bad break-up with a partner, with more "heartache leave" on offer as they get older.

Tokyo-based Hime & Company, which also gives staff paid time off to hit the shops during sales season, says heartache leave allows staff to cry themselves out and return to work refreshed. "Not everyone needs to take maternity leave but with heartbreak, everyone needs time off, just like when you get sick," CEO Miki Hiradate, whose company of six women markets cosmetics and other goods targeted for women, told Reuters by telephone.

Staff aged 24 years or younger can take one day off per year, while those between 25 and 29 can take two days off and those older can take three days off, the company said.

What a fabulous idea! Now that's an understanding employer. So much better than staring at the ceiling and biting your lip to stop the tears. But how many of those employees will be in work in 15 February?

Could do with some of that here. According to my horoscope, it's heart in a blender time!

leo (July 23rd-Aug. 22nd)
If you're looking for a challenge, you've found it! If you're looking for an "unconventional" relationship, you've found it! If sweet, loving, tender, committed, long-term relationships seem "boring" to you, then you won't find this one dull! If you're looking to have your heart pummeled in a blender, it's your lucky week!

Luckily I don't believe in astrology.

War crimes

From the BBC

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will not let his country's blockade of the Gaza Strip turn into a humanitarian crisis.

But he said he could not allow Gazans to live normal lives while people in southern Israel were under rocket fire.

He was speaking hours after tens of thousands of Palestinians surged into Egypt to buy supplies as the border wall was partly destroyed.

Egypt has said it will not use force to send them back.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the border would be closed again when all the Palestinians had returned.

Depriving people of medicine, food supplies and electricity. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians surging into Egypt to buy supplies seems, to me, to already be a humanitarian crisis.

When the UN cannot deliver the necessary amount of food and medicine and when there is a severe fuel shortage

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) today reports that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains very difficult.

According to UNRWA [The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East], the Israeli authorities have introduced new security measures – mainly for sugar and flour – which are hampering the delivery of aid. The agency did manage to get three truckloads of powdered milk in today, but it had been hoping for 9. In addition, an expected truckload of medicines never made it through.

Regarding fuel, UNRWA says only 200,000 liters went to the main power plant in Gaza today. An additional 750,000 liters went yesterday. This falls well short of the 2.2 million liters promised by the Israeli authorities. If the current fuel levels continue, the power plant may shut down by the end of the week, UNRWA adds.

it is a humanitarian crisis. I find Ehud Olmert's denials disgusting. It is wrong to punish a civilian population. There are laws against that. In fact Israel's latest action could be considered as crimes against humanity and/or war crimes depending on intent and ability to prove in an international tribunal.

For way more information, videos and telling photos, check out

Gaza by nosnowhere
The largest prison break in history by Fadi
Tens of thousands of Palestinians break through border wall by Brownfemipower

RIP Heath Ledger

Loved him in Brokeback and 10 things. A great actor. Allegedly died of a drug overdose. It's a familiar story. RIP Heath.

The Black Death returneth

The plague episode of House apart, the Black Death is finito right? Well not according to the Beeb

Research by Professor Michael Begon at the University of Liverpool revealed the deadly disease, also known as the Black Death, has re-emerged.

It has only killed 200 people since 1998, but Prof Begon said the threat is "growing" in Africa and the US.

The plague is caused by infected fleas carried by rats which spreads easily.

As the disease is almost impossible to wipe out, it is increasingly being passed by rodents to humans by rodents, which can kill people within a few days if not treated with antibiotics...

"Because of the disease's inherent communicability, rapid spread, rapid clinical course, and high mortality if left untreated...

"Plague appears to be on the increase, and for the first time there have been major outbreaks in Africa."

So if you feel poorly be on the lookout for black oozing pustules, just in case.

That sinking feeling

Disappointment struck party goers on Saturday night, when DJ Maia the Magnificent's set was cut short because Pontoon was sinking. The crowd was dancing, swaying and, in general, moving to the music. Only three more songs would be permitted. The crowd left for Heart, disgruntled. After all, DJ Maia is the best in the Penh and when Pontoon has good music, it's a great place to gather and party.

Many spent the night receiving text message from friends, unable to board the ill-fated vessel. Those on the shore cried to the party goers to leave and prevent disaster. Alas the music was too good. And they danced as the vessel sank lower in the water.

There are those who are sceptical, who do not believe that it was sinking at all, that it was merely a plot to overthrow DJ Maia's musical genius but this is clearly madness - no one is that arrogant surely...

Pontoon: will it ever recover?

PM rejects daughter for being gay

This seems to be a case of do as I say, not as I do. The PM is disowning his adopted daughter because she is gay. He is afraid that she will claim assets from his family

Cambodian's prime minister said Tuesday he was severing ties with his adopted daughter, who is a lesbian, but appealed to people not to discriminate against gays.

Hun Sen said he plans to file a civil court case to disown his adopted daughter so that she cannot claim any inheritance from his family.

"We are concerned that she might one day cause us trouble ... and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets," he said. (Source)

And he is apparently terrified of lesbians. He has actually imagined the following scenario.

"I felt very regretted with her and that the lesbian case happened in family. I and my wife will send a complaint to court to deprive her of any will and property of my family," he said.

"I and my wife adopted her while she was 18 days in 1988 and she used my family name from that time. She brought her girls to my house and slept together with them," he said.

"We are concerned that one day her girls take bombs and poisonous materials to our house and we all will die. Who knows in advance? I have five children and one adopted daughter," he said. (Source)

"I sent her to study in the USA, but she went to have a wife and someday she might bring her wife to our home with a grenade" (Cambodia Daily 31/10/2007)

Of course homophobia and paranoia are playing a role here but is the strong man of Cambodia terrified of homosexuals? He is afraid that his ex-daughter's girlfriends would murder him. Where does that fear come from?

Unfortunately people pay closer attention to actions than words. The PM disowned his daughter for marrying a woman and yet a government spokesman claims that ain't the fact that she's gay but her behaviour...

He is worried that his family name Hun might be used ... His point is that parents should not discriminate but the court should be aware if his daughter creates any problems outside the home, it won't involve him. (Cambodia Daily 31/10/2007)

Oh noes not his family name associated with homosexuality! That is discrimination. Calling for an end to discrimination doesn't hold much weight when one publicly disowns a daughter for marrying another women. Such claims ring false when one is terrified of being murdered by gays.

Unfortunately homosexuality is still quite a taboo in Cambodia. If you read the comments, following the sources I used, quite a nasty picture begins to form. Hopefully acceptance will come with time.

Cosmo just doesn't get it - STILL

Despite the huge backlash against hack writer Laura Sessions Stepp, Cosmo still grants her the opportunity to bore us with her woman-shaming attitudes and judgemental condescension.

From Jezebel:

Laura Sessions Stepp was the first to speak at any length, and she basically rehashed the article she had written in Cosmo peppered with some of her usual anti-hook-up propaganda. Blah, blah, women should be dating and not just having casual sex, blah, blah, there wouldn't be so much assault if they had real relationships.

It's your own fault sluts because everybody knows that there is never any rape of and by people in relationships. Forget about what every survey says, that 90% of rape is committed by a friend, family member or intimate partner of the victim, if it doesn't fit with your little theory. Being in a relationship doesn't save you but makes your more vulnerable. It would be a fine thing, Sessions Stepp, if you did a little fact checking.

Two of the three men on the panel, Neal Irvin, the National Director of Men Can Stop Rape and anti-violence activist Joe Samalin, focused their commentary on the need to educate men. "The way we socialize men to think about sexuality is the reason they're confused about gray rape," said Irwin. "We're taught that men are the seekers, women are the gatekeepers." An interesting point, but neither Irvin nor Samalin gave concrete examples on how to help educate or socialize the men in question.

Some blah blah about socialisation but no attempt for men to take responsibility. Blatant acceptance of the words grey rape as if it were valid. No questioning of the term. Women are blamed for not protecting their virtue. Nothing new there.

Linda Fairstein, the former chief prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s Sex Crimes Unit, was the only commentator who said anything remotely useful in terms of defining gray rape. "There is no such thing as gray rape in the criminal justice system," Fairstein explained.

"Men are responsible," Fairstein continued. "They shouldn't be having sex with wasted women. Vomit should probably be a red flag... But teaching responsibility to young women is just as important. You don't have to drink eight drinks. You don't have to get blotto."

And some facts - grey rape does not exist. Finally. But... it's still your fault. You were drunk. What did you expect? Be a good girl. Don't drink. If you drink and are raped, it's your fault. Don't take drugs. If you take drugs and are raped, it's your fault. Always be on the alert. Live your life in fear. It's never the man's fault, you must have done something to deserve it.

The pervasive notion of grey rape, that Cosmo seems to be promoting is a dangerous one. It is basically letting rapists off the hook because yeah she might have said no be she meant yes. It's perverted. I've said it before: no consent is rape. I don't take if the people in question have slept together before, or have been fooling around or if one or the other is intoxicated. No consent = rape.

Why are women forced into the role of a child. Children must be protected because they are unable to protect themselves. Women are adults and do not need to be preached to and shamed by magazine's hacks, governments, church leaders, and big brothers. Just do your damn jobs. Enforce the law and prosecute rapists. Stop blaming the victims. Would you blame a stab victim for getting stabbed? Would you blame a murder victim for being killed. So why do you blame a rape victim for getting raped?

I suggest a boycott of this piece of shit magazine, not only because of the serious grey rape issue but also because of the content.

Cosmo was started to discuss sexuality in the swinging sixties but these days it is a parody of the Stepford Wives: "Be a good girlfriend"; "How to please your man"; "How to give the perfect blowjob". It might as well be, "how to keep the house tidy", which would fit in nicely with the spate of recent articles on how housework is feminist, and "I'm nothing without a man by my side", which is cropping up all over the place.

NO MORE, Cosmo, NO MORE

Under arrest

Yesterday a cow was arrested for murder in Cambodia. They say stranger things have happened but really, have they?

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A Cambodian cow was taken into police custody for causing traffic accidents that resulted in the deaths of at least six people this year, a police official said Tuesday.

The white, 1.5-meter (5-foot) tall cow was standing in the middle of a main road Monday night when a 66-year-old motorcyclist crashed into the animal and died. Most Cambodian roads are dark at night.

Earlier this year, the same cow was responsible for another traffic accident that resulted in the death of five people and several injuries, when a truck veered off the road and crashed as its driver tried to avoid the animal.

Pin Doman said he was holding the cow at his police station.

The cow's owner could also face a six-month prison term under a new traffic law that holds people responsible for accidents caused by their animals. (Source)

Snakes alive! It's a killer cow. Someone should call an animal rights group and get this cow a lawyer.

Bloggers in Myanmar

The bloggers we rely on for our news of what's going on on Myanmar are on the run. Most of the web access has been cut off and we are all waiting for news.

The bloggers themselves have been halted, despite their best attempts, by a reaction from the government akin to taking a two-by-four to a spider. The ruling junta--the State Peace and Development Council--turned off the internet in Myanmar. Now, unless a website is hosted within the country of Myanmar, everything is off; that includes everything from Google to Amazon. By simply turning off the central line in to the country, the government has been able to effectively stop any unauthorized information leaking out.

So now the five intrepid bloggers who kept the world in the loop are now on the run. They are sleeping in a different location every night, and waiting to see whether the democratic movement has been crushed, or simply put on the back burner. More here

Sexism abounds

The HIV/AIDS rate in Cambodia is decreasing thanks in part to advertising and promoting awareness. Always one to stick his oar in, the PM has lambasted some of the media spots, while showing a typical Cambodian male disrespect for women

Cambodian Premier Hun Sen on Wednesday said that an educational advertisement on TV seems to encourage people to have more sex, rather than tell them to adopt condom as necessity to fend off HIV/AIDS.

"The spot looks like saying Cambodian ladies are hungry for sex " but not promoting use of condoms, he said at a graduation ceremony of health students.

The public interest advertisement showed that two men were refused by some fashion models and kicked out of the room by the security guard. Later, they came back with condoms in their pockets. Two models then agreed and went out with them. (Source)

How can anyone think that it is acceptable to single out a section of society to denigrate? Why is accusing women of being sexual beings an effective insult? It's just another example of the double standard. Men go to prostitutes several times a week. Women who have more than one sexual partner (always her husband) are ejected from society for being whores.

It shows how unequal women are in this country and how the inequality and blatant sexism is being propagated by those in power. Disgusting.

Cambodia's position on Burma

Cambodia's position on the Burmese military dictatorship is a little sketchy but an article on KI Media today makes things a little clearer...

Cambodia is one of the stronger supporters in the region of the Burmese military government For example, when the Burmese junta tried to get the rotating chairmanship of Asean in 2006, the only country standing for the junta was Cambodia. The junta, however, lost the position.

Cambodia supports the military junta in Burma. Not very surprising really, but disappointing, considering the lip service paid to the public about building a better democracy.

Jungle girl disappears

Remember the jungle girl, she's gone again:

Cambodia's mysterious "jungle girl" has disappeared back into the forests where she was found less than a year ago, police said Tuesday. The wild woman believed by the parents of Rochom P'ngieng to be their long-lost daughter melted back into the jungle about a month ago and searches for her have proven fruitless, said Ley Tom, O'Yadaw district deputy police chief in the remote north-eastern province of Ratanakiri. (Source)

The district deputy police chief thinks she's just crazy...

A safe city is a just city

... is the theme of World Habitat Day, which is today! What is a safe city? Is it a city that you can walk around at any time of the day or night, wearing whatever pleases you, and not walk in fear? There are very few cities that are safe if that is the definition.

One of the most significant causes of fear and insecurity in many cities today is crime and violence.

• Between 1990 and 2000, incidents of violent crime per 100,000 persons increased from 6 to 8.8 (UN-Habitat 2007)
• Recent studies show that over the past five years, 60 per cent of all urban residents in the world have been victims of crime, with 70 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-Habitat 2007) UN-Habitat Press Release
  

The statistics are presented in the press release are accurate and reflect research. However, I wonder about the gender balance. Women and girls are much more at risk of violence in any city, and yet statistics refer to "persons". Does that mean that the default is man? That is unacceptable.