IT revolution

Cambodia has been slow in adopting the IT revolution, which has transformed much of East Asia. But a radical scheme is underway to give technical and skilled jobs to the country's most disadvantaged and break the poverty cycle. Digital Divide Data (DDD) is a nongovernmental organization operating in Phnom Phenh.
It provides career choices beyond traditional handicrafts, where unskilled workers are trained until they can find better paying jobs.
24 year old Treng Kuy Chheng was born into grinding poverty; at the age of two she had polio. Chheng was lucky to survive, but her illness left her disabled, and badly affecting her future prospects. Despite her disability she had to work every day at her family's food stall.
Treng Kuy Chheng: "This is my house. I lived here for about 18 years. Every morning I went to the market to buy vegetables which I sold just here. I never thought that I would have a life like I have today. I really thought I would just sell fruit forever."
Treng is now is one of five hundred disabled and disadvantaged people who have been offered the chance of a better life by Digital Divide Data (DDD). The people who find themselves at this Phnom Penh office arrive for all sorts of reasons. General Manager Kunthy Kann says the company supports socially and economically disadvantaged Cambodians.
Kunthy Kann, General Manager: "We founded Digital Divide Data to provide data entry jobs to some of the most disadvantaged people in Cambodia-- such as orphans, landmine survivors, polio victims and trafficked women."
Over one hundred and fifty people are now employed in DDD's Phnom Penh headquarters, with another one in Siem Reap. DDD doesn't just offer its employees work, it gives them confidence, independence and the opportunity to realize a better life for themselves. Unlike traditional crafts to which many of the unemployed workers have to turn to, they are given skills in a constantly growing 21st century industry.
Lynn Watson, VP of Client Services, Phnom Penh Office: "We've got young people coming on board who have never worked with a computer before; they certainly haven't worked in a large business environment. Part of what we do is to help train and teach what that's about: not only how to use a computer- but how to use it well, how to work in a business environment- skills that they can take and carry on to the next level in their careers."
New employees start by learning to type, and after six months training, they work on professional data entry projects. The staff is well rewarded; they earn about (US) $90 each month, that's double the national average. DDD also has strong market ambitions.
Kunthy Kann, General Manager: "We are competing with international companies in countries such as China and India, which have access to a skilled workforce. We take people with no experience or suitable education and train them to compete."
Even so the working day at DDD is only six hours long-- this is to ensure that its workers are given the opportunity to study at university in the evening. Thlok Srey Nay, 26, appreciates the company's benefits.
Thlok Srey Nay, 26, Employee: "Before I never used computers, but in here I practice on them a lot. I'm learning to use a lot of computer programs such as Word, which I never used before. And most important for me, DDD also provide me with a scholarship to study at university."
The employees say the opportunity give them independence and earning power to take care of themselves and not have to rely on other people. The company's goal is to build up human capital in Cambodia to tackle the root cause of poverty. Sor Sontheary, DDD's external relations coordinator recounts an old proverb.
Sor Sontheary, External Relations Coordinator, Phnom Penh: "We believe that developing human capital is the key to developing the Cambodian economy. We train people how to work because as the proverb says: it's better to teach a man to fish instead of just giving him fish to eat."
DDD plans to increase its work force to 1500 people by 2012. There are high hopes in Cambodia that projects such as DDD can play a key role in helping to reduce the country's poverty and help disadvantaged Cambodians

Cash for Clunkers to end on Monday

Cash for Clunkers to end on Monday
457,000 vehicle sales later, Obama administration announces end of Cash for Clunkers on Monday
By Ken Thomas and Stephen Manning, Associated Press Writers
On Friday August 21, 2009, 7:14 am

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Car shoppers have until Monday night to take advantage of lucrative Cash for Clunkers rebates from the government, and the Obama administration is hoping for a smooth ending to a program that has spurred auto sales but created headaches for many auto dealers.

The popular program will end at 8 p.m. EDT Monday after burning through much of its $3 billion in funding in just a month. All new deals will have to be completed and dealers must file their paperwork by the deadline in order to get repaid for the big incentives.
President Barack Obama and administration officials declared the program a success Thursday, saying it has revitalized the ailing auto industry and finally brought reluctant car buyers back to dealership lots. Originally a $1 billion program, Cash for Clunkers was boosted to $3 billion in early August after heavy customer demand nearly depleted its funds in just one week.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the program has been "a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work." He said the department was "working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program."
But it has also created problems for dealers, many of whom have yet to be repaid for the clunker deals they have made. Under the program, dealers take rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 off the price of a new car in return for older, less fuel-efficient trade-ins that are sent to the scrap heap. They then must submit a 13-page application with proper documentation of the sale in order to get repaid.
That has left many dealers with unpaid claims worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"It has brought in some traffic that we would not have had, but if you don't get paid, it is all for naught," said Alton Owen Jr., sales manager at Owen Ford in Jarratt, Va. His dealership won't be offering the clunker deals this weekend because it has yet to be repaid for 21 sales.
Obama and LaHood pledged that dealers will get their money back. But government data shows that many claims are still outstanding. As of Thursday, 457,000 sales worth $1.9 billion had been received. About 40 percent of those claims have been reviewed, but only $140 million, or about 7 percent of the claims dealers submitted, have actually been paid.
Government officials said there were no plans to extend the program again. The Monday deadline was set to avoid surpassing the $3 billion funding level, given deals that may be made this weekend and those that are still in the pipeline for approval.
Applications for rebates will not be accepted after the Monday deadline, administration officials said. The Transportation Department cautioned dealers about making sales this weekend, advising them to make sales only where the buyer's paperwork is clearly in order and can be submitted immediately for repayment. Dealers will be able to resubmit rejected applications after the deadline.
John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said he remained concerned that so few dealers had been reimbursed for Clunker deals. But he said the Monday deadline should give dealers time to get their paperwork in order.
"I think if we can get a clean cutoff Monday and get everything processed by then, it will have been a pretty darned successful program," he said.
But Mike Mahalak, who runs a Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep dealership in Winter Haven, Fla., said the Monday end date could lead to a similar rush that nearly crippled the federal government's computer systems that were set up to handle claims.
"That Web site will lock up again once everyone is cramming it again on Monday," Mahalak said. The administration has said it expanded the capacity of the computer network in an effort to improve the process for dealers.
Obama said in an interview Thursday that the program has been "successful beyond anybody's imagination" but dealers were overwhelmed by the response of consumers. He pledged that dealers "will get their money." The administration has said it has tripled the number of staffers sorting through the paperwork.
It remains unclear whether the Monday deadline will create a new rush of sales this weekend and if dealers will continue to make deals knowing their claims have to be filed in four days.
To help cash-strapped dealers, both Chrysler and General Motors said they would begin providing cash advances to help dealers cover any cash shortfalls related to the program. The automakers said they would provide the advances for up to 30 days to dealers who have already completed a sale and that they will be available as long as the program remains in effect.
The program provided at least a temporary boost for the beleaguered auto industry and dealers.
GM announced plans to rehire more than 1,300 workers and automakers have been paying overtime to ramp up production. Hyundai recalled 3,000 workers in Alabama. Many dealers have made hundreds of sales and reported that even customers who don't qualify for the program are visiting lots to buy new cars.
Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of the auto Web site Edmunds.com, said the government incentives could dry up sales in September and October, along with a tight vehicle inventory, higher prices for new models arriving in the fall and consumers who are focused on finding a good deal.
"It's been a nice party for a few weeks. The hangover, I don't think, is going to be anywhere near as much fun," Anwyl said.

Oil hovers near $73 amid mixed US economic data

Oil hovers near $73 in European trade as mixed US economic data suggest slow recovery
By George Jahn, Associated Press Writer
On Friday August 21, 2009, 6:36 am EDT
Buzz up!
VIENNA (AP) -- Oil prices stayed close to $73 a barrel Friday, as traders weighed mixed economic data from the U.S. suggesting a recovery in demand will be slow.
Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 9 cents to $73 a barrel by noon European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract fell 92 cents to settle at $72.91.
The September contract, which expired Thursday, advanced 12 cents to end at $72.54.
Investors are digesting news that indicates U.S. consumption remains weak even as the economy recovers from recession.
The "bad headlines ... overshadowed the less-bad headlines," wrote trader and analyst Stephen Schork in his Schork Report, referring to the economic data.
The Labor Department on Thursday said the number of first-time unemployment claims rose unexpectedly for the second straight week. And the Mortgage Bankers Association said more than 13 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are either behind on their payments or in foreclosure.
"There are no real signs that consumption in the U.S. is picking up," said Ben Westmore, energy analyst with National Australia Bank in Melbourne. "Until we see that, investors won't be assured that the recovery is imminent."
Investors were cheered earlier this week when the Energy Information Administration said crude in storage fell by 8.4 million barrels last week, suggesting demand could be improving.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region jumped back into positive territory in August, reaching its highest level since November 2007.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board's economic forecasting gauge, the Index of Leading Economic Indicators, rose for the fourth straight month during July.
"The data is quite volatile," Westmore said. "If we see more inventory draws, oil could break through the $75 a barrel mark."
In other Nymex trading, gasoline and heating oil for for September delivery were steady at $1.98 and $1.89 a gallon. Natural gas for September delivery held at $2.95 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent prices rose 27 cents to $73.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Associated Press writer Alex Kennedy contributed to this report from Singapore.

Dallas, TX Information by Rough Guides

Contrary to popular belief, there's no oil in glitzy, status-conscious DALLAS. Since its foundation as a prairie trading post, by Tennessee lawyer John Neely Bryan and his Arkansan friend Joe Dallas in 1841, successive generations of entrepreneurs have amassed wealth here through trade and finance, using first cattle and later oil reserves as collateral. One early group of European settlers of the 1850s – a group of French intellectuals and artists known as the La Reunion co-operative – had to pack up and move on after a series of summer droughts and a harsh winter; the few who stayed would include a future mayor of Dallas. The city still prides itself on their legacy of arts and high culture.
The power of money in Dallas was demonstrated in the late 1950s, when its financiers threw their weight behind integration. Potentially racist restaurant owners and bus drivers were pressured not to resist the new policies, and Dallas was spared major upheavals. The city's image was, however, catastrophically tarnished by the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, and it took the building of the giant Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in the 1960s, and the twin successes of the Dallas TV show and the Cowboys football team in the 1970s to restore confidence. Then boom turned to crash once more. Unemployment and the demise of the fictional Ewings, not to mention an appalling crime rate, all took their toll, but the indomitable entrepreneurial spirit remains. After a slump in the late 1980s, the Cowboys are back in the big time, though their off-field antics have provided the nation's papers with some anti-Dallas copy once again.
Competitive with Houston, and smug about its cowtown neighbor Fort Worth, Dallas boasts of its "sophistication" and its "old" wealth. For all that, the stuffiness is tempered by a typically Texan delight in self-parody, and there's still fun to be had if you know where to look – especially in the alternative Deep Ellum district, with its superb restaurants and nightlife.

Memphis not giving up Final Four run without fight

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)—No banners are coming down anytime soon. Not the 2008 Final Four banner nor the one honoring three seniors for an NCAA-record 137 wins.
Memphis isn’t giving up any of its 38 victories without a fight.
The NCAA announced Thursday that Memphis must vacate the 38 wins and the national championship game appearance from the 2007-08 season as punishment for using an ineligible player believed to be NBA star Derrick Rose. Memphis didn’t wait even an hour before declaring plans to appeal what school president Shirley Raines called unfair penalties.
“If the appeal fails, the banners come down,” Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson said.
Memphis has 15 days officially to notify the NCAA of its intent to appeal a punishment that came down 16 months after the Tigers lost the national title game in overtime to Kansas. Then there’s a 30-day window to file arguments why the best season in school history should remain on the books.
“We did everything we could to determine the student-athlete was eligible and that the rules were being followed,” Raines said.
School officials refused to detail that argument but Memphis will point to flaws in the NCAA eligibility center—the clearinghouse that approved the athlete before he was admitted and again when the university pointed out a grade change in high school. Johnson noted the center was lauded for doing a “great job” during the NCAA call announcing the penalties.
The NCAA said the infractions committee pressed Memphis officials during a June hearing about why steps weren’t taken in November 2007 to bench the ineligible player and avoid problems. Asked Thursday what will happen in the future if a player’s eligibility is in doubt, Johnson made the school’s position clear.
“If they’ve gone through the clearinghouse and cleared university admission requirements, then they will participate,” he said.
If upheld, then this will be the second time that both Memphis and now Kentucky coach John Calipari have had Final Four appearances vacated. Memphis also lost the 1985 Final Four under then-coach Dana Kirk, while Calipari’s 1996 trip with Massachusetts was erased.
“We would rather obviously that not happen,” Johnson said.
Raines thanked Calipari for cooperating with the investigation and noted he was not involved in any allegations. Calipari said he was “very disappointed and disheartened by the NCAA’s findings” in what will be his last comment until Memphis’ appeal ends. He’s happy coaching at Kentucky, where he has full support.
“I’m not worried about it because they have never said Coach Cal did anything wrong at all,” said Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who appeared with Calipari at the Kentucky State Fair on Thursday before the NCAA announcement. “I think he’s a very upstanding guy. I think that’s his reputation and I think that reputation will be with him here. I really don’t foresee any problems.”
Memphis finished 38-2 in 2007-08, setting the NCAA record for wins in a season. The infractions committee said it struck hard because the ineligible player was used the entire season. Rose played in all 40 games, starting 39.
The NCAA report did not identify the ineligible player by name, though descriptions of the athlete involved lead to the conclusion it could only be Rose. He was the lone player who was there just that season—a fact noted by the governing body of college sports. Rose went on to be selected as the No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft and later won the NBA rookie of the year award.

University of Memphis presiden… AP - Aug 20, 7:14 pm EDT
The player was accused of having another person take his SAT exam in Detroit so he would be eligible as a freshman after failing the ACT three times in Chicago.
Memphis was alerted to questions over the test and investigated. The player told officials he took the test. But SAT officials later conducted their own investigation and said letters were sent to the player in March and April 2008, the second three days after Rose and the Tigers lost to the Jayhawks.
The player did not respond to either letter, so the agency notified the player, the university and the NCAA’s eligibility center they were canceling his test in May 2008.
Rose issued a statement through his attorney Thursday and said “it is satisfying to see that the NCAA could find no wrongdoing on my part in their ruling.
“I think it is important for people to understand that I complied with everything that was asked of me while at the university, including my full participation in the university’s investigation of this issue, and was ultimately cleared to play in the entire 2007-08 season by the NCAA clearinghouse and the university.”

University of Memphis athletic… AP - Aug 20, 7:14 pm EDT
Memphis already has paid $85,000 and must return money received from the NCAA tournament to Conference USA while also being prevented from receiving future shares doled out in the conference’s revenue-sharing program—a total loss estimated at $530,000 on top of the $85,000 already paid by the school.
If Memphis loses the appeal, Johnson said approximately $300,000 in bonus money Calipari earned from that season would be paid back. The athlete? No, Memphis won’t ask for any refund from him.
Meanwhile, Tigers fans are trying to hold onto their memories after first losing Calipari to Kentucky earlier this year and now watching a magical season at risk of being erased. Lifelong fan Marcus Williams, 33, tried to be optimistic near campus Thursday.
“It could’ve been worse. We could’ve actually won the game, and they would’ve taken our national championship too,” he said.
AP Sports Writer Michael Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

Abdullah Abdullah

KABUL – Campaign teams for President Hamid Karzai and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah each positioned themselves Friday as the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election, one day after millions of Afghans braved dozens of militant attacks to cast ballots.
Partial preliminary results won't be made public before Saturday, as Afghanistan and the dozens of countries with troops and aid organizations in the country wait to see who will lead the troubled nation for the next five years. The next president faces an agenda filled with crises: rising insurgent violence, rampant corruption and a huge narcotics trade.
Claims of early victory by Karzai and Abdullah were an attempt to win the expectations game, and officials with the country's Independent Election Commission said it was too early for any campaign to claim itself the winner.
Abdullah's camp said it was investigating claims of fraud across southern provinces where Karzai would expect to do well.
A Times of London report Friday said election officials at a polling station near Kabul recorded 5,530 ballots in the first hour of voting Thursday, even though no voters were at the site when the Times' reporter arrived at 8 a.m. when it opened.
Election workers said the area was pro-Karzai and was controlled by a lawmaker who said he had already voted for Karzai, even though his finger wasn't marked with indelible ink, a fraud prevention measure, the Times reported.
International officials have predicted that Afghanistan's second-ever direct presidential vote would be imperfect but expressed hope that Afghans would accept the outcome as legitimate — a key component of President Barack Obama's strategy for the war.
Campaign teams conducted informal counts and posted numbers at campaign headquarters, which they said were based on reports from their polling site observers. Abdullah's unofficial returns showed him beating Karzai handily — but did not include any numbers from the south and east, where Karzai was expected to win large majorities.
Across town, Karzai's campaign team said the president had won more than 50 percent of the vote, a result that would negate the need for a two-man runoff.
"We believe that he will have over 50 percent," said Seddiq Seddiqi, a Karzai campaign spokesman. "That is what we believe based on our initial findings."
"What Karzai's office is claiming is not correct," countered Abdullah spokesman Sayyid Agha Hussain Fazel Sancharaki.
The country's chief electoral officer, Daoud Ali Najafi, said the commission had only started to receive partial results in Kabul on Friday morning.
"My advice is that all the candidates should be patient and wait until the results go through the proper channels and results are announced," Najafi said.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman, Fleur Cowan, said only the Independent Electoral Commission can announce official results.
"Anything else is speculation at this point," she said. "We will wait to hear from the IEC and electoral complaints commission."
Final official results weren't to be announced until early September.
Millions of Afghans defied threats to cast ballots, but turnout appeared weaker than the previous vote in 2004 because of violence, fear and disenchantment. At least 26 people were killed in election-related violence. In much of the Taliban's southern strongholds, many people did not dare to vote, bolstering the hopes of Abdullah.
A top election official, Zekria Barakzai, told The Associated Press he estimated 40 percent to 50 percent of the country's 15 million registered voters cast ballots — far lower than the 70 percent who voted in the presidential election in 2004.
A low turnout and allegations of fraud could cast doubt over the legitimacy of the vote and raise fears that followers of defeated candidates might take to the streets.
Low voting in the ethnic Pashtun south would harm Karzai's re-election chances and boost the standing of Abdullah, who draws his strength from the Tajik minority. Turnout in the Tajik north appeared to be stronger, a good sign for Abdullah.
U.S. officials had hoped for a wide turnout as a symbolic rejection of the insurgency. The voting was seen partly as a test of the ability of U.S. forces to protect civilians — the new top military priority — and the willingness of voters to accept that help.

WHO predicts 'explosion' of swine flu cases

A schoolboy is seen wearing a mask as a preventive measure against swine flu inside a school bus in Hyderabad, …
By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer Gillian Wong, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 33 mins ago
BEIJING – The global spread of swine flu will endanger more lives as it speeds up in coming months and governments must boost preparations for a swift response, the World Health Organization said Friday.
There will soon be a period of further global spread of the virus, and most countries may see swine flu cases double every three to four days for several months until peak transmission is reached, said WHO's Western Pacific director, Shin Young-soo.
"At a certain point, there will seem to be an explosion in case numbers," Shin told a symposium of health officials and experts in Beijing. "It is certain there will be more cases and more deaths."
WHO has declared the swine flu strain a pandemic, and it has killed almost 1,800 people worldwide through last week. International attention has focused on how the pandemic is progressing in southern hemisphere countries such as Australia, which are experiencing winter and their flu season.
But it is in developing countries where the accelerated spread of swine flu poses the greatest threat as it places underequipped and underfunded health systems under severe strain, Shin said.
WHO earlier estimated that as many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two years — nearly one-third of the world's population.
Health officials and drug makers are looking into ways to speed up production of a vaccine before the northern hemisphere enters its flu season in coming months. Estimates for when a vaccine will be available range from September to December.
Delegates from Bangladesh and Myanmar appealed for help in procuring vaccines or making them more affordable for poorer countries, saying they were left vulnerable while rich nations pre-ordered most of the available stock.
"Developing countries like us, we have to fight this war without vaccines," said Mya Oo, deputy health minister of Myanmar. He urged pharmaceutical companies to consider selling the vaccines to developing countries at just above cost.
WHO's flu chief, Keiji Fukuda, said the agency was working hard on the issue, and noted that two drug makers had pledged to donate 150 million doses of vaccine to poorer countries by the end of October. He said more research was needed to determine how vaccines will be priced.
"Among the many pandemic response issues, this is probably the most critical issue: how we mobilize the vaccines, how we get them to developing countries," Fukuda said.
WHO has stressed that most cases of swine flu are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities, especially in poorer countries.
Shin said governments must act quickly to educate the public, prepare their health systems to care for severe cases and protect those deemed more vulnerable to prevent unnecessary deaths.
"We only have a short time period to reach the state of preparedness deemed necessary," Shin said. "Communities must be aware before a pandemic strikes as to what they can do to reduce the spread of the virus, and how to obtain early treatment of severe cases."
Pregnant women face a higher risk of complications, and the virus also has more severe effects on people with underlying medical conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disorders and diabetes, WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a video address.
The last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.