Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 available on T-Mobile UK

The Android-based Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is available to purchase in the UK from T-Mobile for just £35-a-month on two year contract.

The £35-a-month contract offers 900 minutes, 500 texts and unlimited internet.

The new Xperia X10 is also available for £10-a-month on two year contract that offers 100 minutes, 100 texts and unlimited internet. But, buyers will have to pay £226 up front to get hold of the phone.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is equipped with an 8-megapixel camera with Geotagging with a flash and a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen that has resolution 854x480 pixels.

In addition, the Xperia X10 comes with its own user interface which presents Timescape and Mediascape concepts.

It also comes up with a rated battery life of 10 hours 2G talk time and 8 hours 3G talk time.

The much-anticipated device is 4.7 inches in length, 2.5 inches in width and 0.5 inch in thickness that makes it slightly larger than the Apple’s iPhone.

Mu Sochua Honored in ‘Real Life’ Play

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
18 March 2010

An opposition lawmaker is among seven women activists celebrated in a new play that opened in New York last weekend, drawing an international audience that included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“Seven” is a collaboration between the activists, including parliamentarian Mu Sochua, and seven female writers and highlights the lives and struggles of women from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Gutemala, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, and Russia.

“We chose women around the world we believe have stepped up to make changes and have worked to carry their society and community forward through times of difficulties,” said Alyse Nelson, CEO and co-founder of Vital Voices Global Partnership, in an interview with VOA Khmer. “And I think Mu Sochua is a perfect example.”

Nelson, whose organization initiated the play in 2006, said Mu Sochua had put herself in “great danger” to ensure equal rights for other women.

“Seven” follows her life before the fall of Phnom Penh through her time as a student in the US, a UN worker on the Thai-Cambodian border and as a politician.“What is important in this play is that we see the lives of women’s rights activists are at risk of violence in a country where there is an absence of democracy, an absence of women’s rights protection, a lack of law enforcement, and an absence of the rule of law,” said Mu Sochua, who is a member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party. “This is real life turned into a play, not just a play by itself.”

Mu Sochua lost a defamation suit to Prime Minister Hun Sen last year, but she said that episode is not included in the play.

The play has been produced in many countries, and Mu Sochua said it demonstrates that women’s issues go beyond politics.

“When it comes to women’s issues, they speak with one voice to protect women and to admit the truth, especially when a woman becomes the victim of violence or rape,” Mu Sochua said.

Web inventor calls for government data transparency

By Chris Vallance
BBC News

Countries should be judged on their willingness to open up public data to their citizens, the inventor of the world wide web has told the BBC.

She said "openness of data and the neutrality of the network" should be considered as important as free speech.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is an advisor to a UK project - data.gov.uk - that offers reams of previously hidden public sector data for anyone to use.

Open data could now be considered a basic right of citizens, he added.

"I think obviously there are more fundamental ones, but within a democratic society if the democracy is going to work you have to have an informed electorate," he told the BBC.

He said this was of particular importance for developing countries.

"The openness of governments is one of the things which makes investors decide whether to invest," he said.

"When you make the government open, when they can see what's happening, they're much more likely to bring their money and companies into your country."

'India's gift'

Many groups around the world are now using open public data to hold public bodies to account.

In Brazil a website that tracks the published wealth of politicians has created many political casualties.

Journalist Fernando Rodrigues built the online database Politicos do Brasil which contains details of the campaign finances of 400,000 politicians.

The site was started in 2000, but as the information becomes more complete, its power increases.

He told the BBC that he believed it had contributed to the removal from office of hundreds of politicians after the 2008 local elections.

"Only six months after the election, 343 mayors and legislators had already lost their jobs because so much data was available about them and it became easy to identify wrongdoings during the electoral process," he said.

Other countries are less forthcoming with publication of data, but allow their citizens to access it in other ways.

In India, for example, the 2005 Right to Information Act has been met with great enthusiasm. So far, around two million requests for information have been made.

Yamini Aiyar, director of the accountability initiative at the country's Centre for Policy Research, said that the Indian public have a strong sense of ownership about the act.

"People are monitoring the act, looking out for it constantly, questioning the government," he told the BBC.

"That kind of public ownership is the biggest lesson I think India can give to the world."

Even lack of internet access is not a barrier for some determined groups.

Indian freedom of information group MKSS, based in Rajasthan, monitors government payments to rural workers. The group has been a major force pushing for greater openness in government in India.

It collates the information, which may have originally been stored digitally, and then go into villages and paint the results on walls.

"The wall presents a kind of web wall because anyone can come and read that information," said Nikhil Dey of the group.

'Just beginning'

In both India and Brazil campaigners would like to see more government data proactively published.

But even where data is unavailable, people are proving that the internet can be used to hold people to account.

Lacking detailed information on politicians' incomes, campaigners in Vietnam have started publishing pictures of legislators homes online. The idea is that the size of a home gives an indication of the wealth of a politician.

"It's a way to promote transparency," said Duy Hoang of Viet Tan (Vietnamese Reform Party).

But while there is clearly a demand for open government worldwide, some in the UK and US warn that publishing public data alone is not a panacea.

"There's a danger in assuming that all we need are these ever increasing volumes of information," said Nathaniel Heller of non-profit group Global Integrity, which monitors corruption trends worldwide.

"Personally, I think it needs to be matched with other reforms."

Tom Loosemore, head of 4iP, which funds many of the new websites that make use of the UK government data released under Sir Tim's scheme, also warned that just publishing data in itself wasn't enough.

"I think it's incumbent on those who believe in a positive and healthy society to get off their bums and produce fantastic services that are positive," he said.

Websites such as Wheredoesmymoneygo.org have already leading the charge in the UK

But Mr Loosemore said there was still a long way to go in fully harnessing the power of public data in the UK.

"There's an awful lot to play out, but the dam has been breached," he said.

After Long Wait, Cambodia Opens to Mining

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 March 2010

A handful of companies are on the verge of beginning mining parts of Cambodia’s northeast, a development that could bring much development to those areas, but could also increase poverty in an already marginalized area, experts say.

“Some companies with enough capital and high technologies have shown us positive signs that they could begin their extraction activities,” Energy Minister Suy Sem said earlier this month. “So in no more than six years, [we] will be able to get revenue from mineral resources.”

About a third of 20 licensed companies are expected to begin mineral extraction in around 2015, following exploration in the northeast provinces of Ratanakkiri, Mondulkiri and Kratie, Sok Leng, director of the ministry’s mineral department, told VOA Khmer.

He declined to name the companies, but since 2006, Cambodia has issued 104 licenses to 20 local and international mining companies, including Australian-owned Oxiana Cambodia, Liberty Mining, and Southern Gold; China’s Hang Seng Coal Mine; and Vietnam’s Vinacomin, along with other companies from Korea.

These companies are in the exploration stage in northeastern Cambodia, according to a 2009 report by the Ministry of Energy. Interest in mining has seen a swift increase, from $4 million in fixed investment in 2008 to $11 million in 2009.

Australia’s Southern Gold said on its Web site last week its tests indicate significant gold and silver in Kratie province, after seven drillings. It expects to do more in March and April.

Cambodia’s mineral potential has been well known since at least the 1960s, when geological mapping found 25 types of minerals at 145 sites.

The country has bauxite, copper, zinc, gold, iron ore, nickel, granite, gemstones and tungsten, mostly discovered in Pailin and the provinces of Kampong Thom, Kampot, Battambang, Pursat, Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, Mondulkiri, Ratanakkiri and Kratie.

Small and traditional mineral extraction in gold and gemstones has taken place among Cambodian people for many years, as well as with non-metal materials like sand and stone used as construction material.

Were industrial mining to take off, it could follow lucrative revenue from oil and gas, which is expected to come in 2013 with an estimated revenue stream of $1.7 billion by 2021.

There are no such estimates for minerals, Suy Sem said. However, he said money from mining can help strengthen agriculture, education, health and infrastructure development.

Civic groups caution that weaknesses in the laws, management and transparency could dampen any gains mining might bring.

There are few controls to ensure companies are properly mining, said Mom Sambath, a member of the Extractive Industry Social and Environmental Impact Network.

If a company violates the law, “it will impact both the environment and revenue,” he said.

Already, some are warning of the impacts of mining. A 2009 study by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia in Mondolkiri’s Keo Seima and Pechreada districts found that people are facing the loss of income and damaged forests, as well as internal disputes among indigenous people.

“I think mining extraction will be negative rather than positive if the problems remain,” said Chen Sochoeun, the researcher who conducted the study.

Beyond environmental concerns, revenue management is another problem.

“If the revenue isn’t effectively used, it will benefit to only a group of rich and powerful people,” said Chhet Sam Ath, Executive Director of NGO Forum. “As a result, social disorder will occur. The poor become poorer, and our society can’t develop.”

Civic groups have urged the government to discuss strategies related to mining to ensure revenue is used effectively.

To help manage the resources, the Cambodian government issued a law on mineral resource management and exploitation in 2001. But critics say the law is still weak and aims to protect the interest of private companies.

In 2009, the government established Public Financial Reform Committee to prepare an action plan to manage revenue from oil, gas and other mineral resources. But experts say transparency and human resources remain challenges.

Phan Phalla, deputy secretary-general of the Supreme National Economic Council, said human resource shortfalls remain, but the government has been transparent with mining.

“We continue to publish every piece of information we have on the Web site, and we have never hidden anything,” he said. “Moreover, we have been trying from day to day to effectively manage revenue from mineral resources. Our aim is to make everything transparent.”

१८ मार्च, Hun Xen scolds Lon Nol

“18 March 1970: it was 40 years ago that Cambodia descended into war. 18 March 2010: 40 years later, Cambodia is at peace and development is taking shape throughout the country,” this is what PM Hun Xen declared on Thursday morning during the inauguration of a stretch of road from Bankung to O’Yadaw in Ratanakiri province.

Hun Xen said directly that the inauguration of this stretch of road was not by accident, but it was intentionally done to tell the world that 40 years earlier and 40 years later, Cambodia is different.

Hun Xen recalled the historical event leading to the toppling of then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk by Marshall Lon Nol. Hun Xen also scolded Lon Nol, saying that this event led Cambodia and its people into destruction.