N-line has good roundup of coverage on yesterday’s Cambodia school hostage crisis and the murder of a three-year old Canadian boy.:

Armed men storm Cambodia school
Gunmen have taken several dozen people hostage at an international school in north-western Cambodia, police say.
Six men stormed the school in Siem Reap, and are holding children aged between two and six, from countries including the UK, the US and in Asia….

Correspondents say the school is used mainly by foreign residents in the gateway town for Cambodia’s most popular tourist attraction, the Temples of Angkor.

Aside from petty crime, and perhaps insane drivers, travel in Cambodia ihas been very safe for foreigners. Tourism and foreign aid are the only two things that keeps the country afloat. While the death of the three-year-old is tragic, it would be even worse if this leads to a decline in bookings for Siem Reap holidays.

Wired serves up a worth-reading Associated press report on Cambodia’s blogging former monarch.:

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — "I thank you for insulting me." Thus blogged
former King Norodom Sihanouk to a critic of his support of gay
marriage. He didn’t share any of the insulting e-mails with his
readers, but noted: "My country, Cambodia, has chosen to be a liberal
democracy since 1993. Every Cambodian … including the King has the
right to express freely their view."
It was one of thousands of commentaries that fill the website
of the world’s most colorful and pugnacious royal blogger, offering
Sihanouk’s views on anything from environmental rape through Hollywood
stars and killer spouses to the rough-and-tumble of Cambodian politics.

On the support for gay marriage mentioned in the first paragraph, it’s worth noting that this has added to speculation about Shianouk’s son, the current king Norodom Sihamoni. Shiamoni is a 52-year old bachelor and a Prague-trained ballet dancer, so such rumors are natural.

Rumors about the sexual orientation of members of royal families are common everywhere, so its no surprise that such talk exists about Sihamoni.

No, the weird thing about Sihamoni is that he’s also a Pyongyang-trained filmmaker.

Odd satire via the Horse’s Mouth:

If I didn’t have faith in the supidity of man, this would be unbelieveable.

Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion

….The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back.

Sihamoni was quoted before the fight stating that he felt since his fighters out-numbered the lion 42 to 1, that they “… could out-wit and out-muscle [it].”

They probably should have had more muscle wine.