Heartiest congratulations to HE Veng Sereyvuth and Ouk Phalla on the birth of

their son, Nuttavudh, who entered the world January 15 at 2pm, which according to

the parents is an auspicious time of the day to be born in New Zealand or anywhere

else.

* Two new indigenous NGOs have recently been set up in the capital, a reflection

of the continuing societal pluralization of the Kingdom.

One, a non-partisan, single-issue, secular, humanitarian organization, is called

"Get Darren a New Hearing Aid ASAP". GDNHAASAP (pronounced Ga-da-na-ha-sap")

Chairperson Claudia Rizzi says the organization has an important but limited objective

and will disband as soon as that goal is achieved. "I don't see this as a permanent

operation," Rizzi said. "Its just that I'm so tired of yelling all the

time." Rizzi said she had received encouraging signs from the local community

for her project so far and that membership was growing steadily.

The second, "Anglos Among Anglos Only Kiss on One Cheek", a human rights,

activist, public information organization was started by Clem Krabowski who hails

from Trickle River, Ohio. Krabowski said his grass roots movement was pro-active.

"This is definitely not an anti-Francophone kind of thing," said Krabowski.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to kiss French women twice any day of the week.

At least they know how to do it. But, ya know, kissing Ozzies or Brits on both cheeks,

it just don't feel right. Krabowski said his NGO was only a reflection of Anglophone

cultural values and that it was time to stop faking something else. "I seen

people do this two cheek kissing stuff in New York City, but hell, them city slickers

is a bunch of phonies anyway. Where I come from - no way. If you know someone well,

just one kiss and then a hug."

* The Great Escape: four cons managed to break out of prison in Kompong Speu

last week. They had help on both the outside and inside. Some co-conspirators smuggled

in a file and the jailbirds then sawed their way through their cell bars. Once out,

they snuck across the prison yard in the dead of night, but the walls were too high

to scale. So they climbed up the ladder to the guard-less guard house at the corner

of the compound and just hopped down the other side.