понедельник, 8 октября 2012 г.

Sports Illustrated Group Announces SI Swimsuit 24/7 - a First of Its Kind Launch Initiative for the Annual Swimsuit Issue. - Journal of Transportation

The Sports Illustrated Group announced details for 'SI Swimsuit 24/7, From New York to Las Vegas,' a groundbreaking experiential marketing initiative dedicated to the highly-anticipated 2009 Swimsuit Issue. 'SI Swimsuit 24/7, From New York to Las Vegas' features the organization's first Swimsuit launch event in Las Vegas and the first Swimsuit branded airplane.

'This is a signature moment for the Sports Illustrated Group as we embark on a new program to provide customers with opportunities to extend their message utilizing Sports Illustrated properties and events,' said Mark Ford, President of the Sports Illustrated Group. 'The Swimsuit franchise is the perfect launch vehicle for this program and demonstrates how SI can create customizable solutions for our clients through any combination of print, digital, event marketing and property sales.'

Club SI Swimsuit, presented by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority (LVCVA) is scheduled for February 12 at LAX, Las Vegas' hottest nightclub located in the Luxor Hotel and Casino. The party is the pinnacle event in a week of launch activities for the Swimsuit franchise. More than two dozen SI Swimsuit models featured in the acclaimed annual will be in Las Vegas for a day of autograph signings and events culminating with the launch party at LAX where guests will be treated to a live performance from six-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist John Legend.

'What better place to host the first ever consumer party for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition than fabulous Las Vegas,' said Terry Jicinsky, LVCVA's Senior Vice President of Marketing. 'Las Vegas is as vibrant as ever and the Sports Illustrated event will leverage the strength of both brands and provide a platform to showcase the destination's many amenities. Now more than ever, Las Vegas is the ideal destination to 'Take a Break.''

The models will journey to Las Vegas aboard 'SI One,' a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, which will be wrapped in SI Swimsuit imagery. Southwest Airlines, will unveil SI One at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Wednesday, February 11. On the evening of the 11th, Southwest will take the Swimsuit models and a traveling party from New York to Las Vegas for the launch. Beginning February 11, SI One will fly throughout the Southwest route system for a limited time. This marks the first time that Southwest has wrapped a plane virtually nose-to-tail in imagery.

'Southwest is always open to innovative projects that showcase our fun-loving personality,' said Linda Rutherford, Southwest Airlines' Vice President of Communications and Strategic Outreach. 'Partnering with Sports Illustrated to launch the 2009 Swimsuit Issue gives Southwest a larger-than-life opportunity to reach fans of the most well-known magazine issue in the world. It's also a clever way to remind travelers we intend to serve New York City from LaGuardia Airport in 2009.'

SI Swimsuit 24/7 is the first official production for the Sports Illustrated Group's new Experiential Marketing and Property Sales initiative. This enterprise will generate new Sports Illustrated, GOLF and SI Kids public and private events and properties. To support this vision, the SI Group has realigned internal resources and named Team Velocity AOR for property and experiential marketing asset development, production and sales. Additional programs and events will be announced later this year.

'SI Properties and Experiential Marketing will be focused on the development of franchise-wide, monetizeable property assets and work directly with clients to deliver a very customized solution,' said Andrew Judelson, Sports Illustrated Group CMO.

Keywords: Sports Illustrated.

воскресенье, 7 октября 2012 г.

Thanks to serendipity: Dolgin says he got to where he is by falling into things'. (The Fifth Estater).(Tracy Dolgin, Fox Sports Net)(Brief Article)(Interview) - Broadcasting & Cable

Tracy Dolgin's career has not gone according to plan. 'Every place I have gone in my career, I went having had no experience doing it,' says the president of Fox Sports Net. 'I have sort of made a career of falling into things.'

After graduating from Cornell University in 1981, he headed west to Stanford University's business school, thinking to get into the entertainment business. 'I had spent my entire life on the East Coast,' says Dolgin, who grew up in Miami and later in New York City 'I didn't know Stanford was, like, a thousand miles away from Hollywood.'

Having earned his M.B.A., he wound up about as far from the entertainment industry as possible: as an assistant product manager for General Foods' Jell-O in Westchester County, N.Y

Three years later, with newly acquired knowledge of branding, Dolgin got his first opportunity in the entertainment industry, becoming a marketing manager for start-up home-video company Thorne EMI-HBO Video. 'On the very day I started there,' he says, 'The Hollywood Reporter had a front-page story that read, 'Canon buys Thorne EMI and vows to shut down home video division.''

Dolgin and his colleagues persuaded Canon executives to keep the division open. Besides selling HBO original productions, it handled video sales for an array of independent studios and often helped market their theatrical releases.

When HBO bought Canon out in 1989, Dolgin stayed on as senior vice president of marketing at newly minted HBO Video. Three years later, he got the 'call that was too good to be true.'

Film director George Lucas wanted Dolgin to run his consumer-products company in northern California. He was to get an ownership stake, lots of money and a return to the San Francisco Bay Area. He persuaded his wife, Judy, to move and took the job.

On the day after he had moved to California, he was given some bad news. 'They called me in and told me basically that the job I was hired for no longer existed,' he says. 'They were getting rid of a lot of the divisions that I was going to run.'

The next day, he and his wife were on a plane back to New York. As luck would have it, start-up network Fox Broadcasting Co. needed a marketing chief. 'I figured,' he says, 'If these idiots were stupid enough to give me a job as the head of marketing for a TV network, never having worked in TV before, I had to take it.'

Dolgin returned to the West, to Los Angeles, and launched The X-Files, Meirose Place and other series at Fox. He also helped convince the NFL that Fox was the right place for the NEC broadcast contract and worked himself into the top marketing position at Fox Sports, where he spent three years getting Fox Sports' coverage of professional football, hockey and baseball off the ground-and revolutionizing sports marketing.

'Nobody had ever branded sports by the network,' he says. 'We basically came to sports and said we are going to do it this way We were going to make sports Fox-like.'

Dolgin helped Fox Sports move into cable and became chief operating officer at Fox Liberty Networks, overseeing EX, Fox Sports Net and several other new cable networks. In 2000, he was named president of Fox Sports Net, with responsibility for 21 regional cable networks.

Last month, Fox Sports canceled its nightly national sports-highlights program, created to take on ESPN's successful SportsCenter. The goal now is programming to entertain sports fans. 'We really tried to do a traditional sports business and put the Fox Sports name on it,' Dolgin says. 'Instead of doing what we did before, which was sort of reinventing the wheel, we copied the wheel. Now we are trying go hack to what works, and we are already seeing a lot of positive signs.'

Tracy Dolgin

суббота, 6 октября 2012 г.

Fund raising and sports. - Fund Raising Management

It's a Thursday afternoon in sunny Florida, yet my mind isn't on getting a tan. I'm coordinating a reception for 40 former football players, you see, followed by a golf outing, a charity dinner and a flag football game -- all in one weekend.

Between worrying about Roger Staubach, 'Too Tall' Jones and Harry Carson's plane reservations; making sure 64,000 square feet of sod arrives to create a natural grass field at the Florida Suncoast Dome; and locating the television production crew handling the game for ESPN; my job is to make sure it all gets done. Planning a sports fund-raising event is an all encompassing challenge, and although it is similar to planning a traditional fund raiser, there are certain details and specific pitfalls an event planner should be aware of

Sports are a proven asset in the nonprofit fund-raising industry as, over the past decade, athletes, teams and coaches have become major players in hundreds of charitable causes. Certain players become associated with one particular charity -- for example, New York Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason and his Heroes Foundation benefiting Cystic Fibrosis; former Yankee great Willie Randolph and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation; and former Mets star Gary Carter and the Leukemia Society. Charitable organizations have taken full advantage of athletes who support their cause, tying them into special events as speakers, 'honorees' and guests, as well as utilizing them into advertising and marketing campaigns.

The current history of sports/charity partnerships can be traced to the 1970's when the United Way joined forces with the National Football League. What sports fan could forget Roger Staubach on Super Bowl Sunday saying 'Thanks to you it works for all of us ... the United Way.' Sports promotions now cover a wide spectrum of events from local walk-a-thons to national cause-related marketing programs.

Why are sports and charities such a good fit? The American public has a love affair with sports. Professional sports teams pay their athletes millions of dollars a year in salaries, and there is only one reason they can afford to do that ... the fans. Sports fans spend billions of dollars a year on sports. Not only do they purchase tickets for the games, they also buy team hats, shirts, jackets and other souvenirs which generates money for the teams through licensing. Television and radio also generate revenue for the teams through sponsorship and advertising.

How does this relate to your fund-raising event? Well, fans become very attached to the teams and athletes they follow. Players in some cities are referred to by only their first name, and the entire city knows who they are talking about. On a Monday in Dallas, if someone says, 'Did you see Emmitt yesterday?' almost everyone will know you are speaking about the Cowboys all-pro running back Emmitt Smith.

Never underestimate the bond people feel with their heroes. It can be used to your advantage when you plan your fund-raising event. Fans generally do not get the chance to see their heroes 'up close and personal.' A hand shake and a hello from an athlete can be worth a great deal of money to a big sports fan. If your charitable event can offer personal access to the athlete, it becomes very appealing.

The New York Knicks 'Welcome Home' Dinner, which benefits the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, is an example of an event which has become a successful annual program. Nine years ago, I was flying to Seattle to meet with a basketball player named Clyde Drexler to discuss a cause-related marketing program. On that flight, I was sitting next to John Cirillo, who at the time was the public relations director for the Knicks, and I told him about my idea for a 'Welcome Home' Dinner. I explained that a charity dinner would be terrific public relations vehicle and an opportunity to raise money for a worthy cause.

The charity would handle all of the arrangements, including site location, menu selection, decorations, publicity and, most importantly, table sales; while the Knicks would provide players, coaches and team executives to sit at each table. The Knicks did assist in the table sales effort by having two players serve as committee chairmen. The chance to eat dinner with a Knicks' player proved to be a successful formula, and the dinner has raised more than $1 million since its inception in 1988.

Golf tournaments are another proven vehicle to raise money, especially if you can arrange for athletes to participate in your tournament. For example, your organization wants IBM to sponsor your outing or buy a few foursomes. It will entice them if you can offer the opportunity to play 18 holes with NBA great Larry Bird, and then join Larry and 20 other celebrities, such as baseball legends Yogi Berra and Sparky Lyle, at a cocktail reception and dinner after the tournament. These outings can raise upwards of $100,000.

Sports and/or celebrity auctions are another option. An event my firm, Legend Marketing, arranged at Lee Mazzilli's Sports Cafe in Manhattan proved successful because of the quality of sports memorabilia on hand, and the presence of athletes, such as Yankees second baseman Pat Kelly, former Mets star Lee Mazzilli and former 1969 World Champion Mets player Art Shamsky, among others, who greeted the guests and encouraged them to bid on the auction items.

It also is beneficial to arrange for a third party to be involved in a fund-raising event to add corporate support and dollars. For example, I combined the assets of King Features (the company which licenses comic book/strip characters such as Popeye, Betty Boop, etc.), the New York Mets and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation together to create 'Popeye Day at Shea Stadium.' In return for King Features' financial contribution to the charity, Popeye was allowed to throw out the first ball at a Mets game and lead the seventh inning stretch in the singing of 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game.' It was a great public relations vehicle for King Features, a fun atmosphere for kids at Shea Stadium and a successful fund raiser for the Crohn's an Colitis Foundation. This was a win-win-win situation for all involved.

Should you decide to embark on a charity/sports promotion, there are some potential pitfalls an event planner needs to watch for.

1. Athlete Participation -- Never promise an athlete will attend an event unless you have it in writing. Often athletes (or any celebrity for that matter) will offer his or her services with the best of intentions, then forget; or get a higher paying offer, and sign a contract for another function. Without the athlete, your event is headed for disaster -- so get it in writing!

2. Conflicting Dates -- Be aware of the dates of other similar functions in the area. Many annual sports events set their dates months before the actual dinner and, obviously, you should avoid having your event on that same date. This advice is worthwhile common sense, but event planners often fail to do their homework on this point. The result is both events find themselves in the uncomfortable position of competing with one another for the same people, athletes, corporate sponsors and media.

3. Committee Participation -- Talk to your board members before you commit to a sports event. They will play a crucial role in your planning developments, and they need to be excited about the program. If you schedule an event with no support, be prepared to run it alone.

4. Costs -- Don't skimp! If it costs you an extra five dollars a person for an open bar, pay it. There is nothing worse than going to an event where you have to buy an expensive ticket, and then find you must also pay for your drinks, coat check, etc. You want people to come back next year, so make it memorable.

A few things to keep in mind for

a successful sports event are:

1. The Ultimate Goal -- The biggest cop-out I hear is 'the event didn't make any money but we got great P.R.' Public relations value is important, but the bottom line is raising funds for your cause. Don't lose sight of your ultimate goal. Concentrate your efforts on sponsorship and sales, and the P.R. will come.

2. Advance Planning -- Think of every possible problem you might encounter and write it down! Then plan a solution to each of these potential disasters so that you will always be prepared. Always make a 'To Do' list and look at it every day, charting your progress.

3. Teams/Athletes -- Include your athlete(s) and team(s) early on in your event. If they feel a part of the group, they may put forth more of an effort. Invite them to a committee meeting over dinner and encourage them to use their contacts to achieve the best possible event.

4. Board/Committee Member -- A strong board is very important. You'll need doers, not talkers. Each board member should be given a task, and the chairman should stay on top of them to make sure that task is completed.

5. Quality -- When you put on a successful, enjoyable event, people will want to come back. If you short-change them once, they will remember it always and will spend their dollars elsewhere the following year.

Every event is a learning experience, and you should take what works and build upon that for your next event. Most importantly, remember the problems that occurred and develop strategies to avoid those pitfalls the next time. As is the case in sports, team work is the most important aspect of sports event preparation. We always work hand-in-hand with the organizations involved when planning fund-raising events. Specific jobs must be defined, but all involved need to be supportive and constructive. I've always liked the saying 'check your ego at the door,' because it doesn't matter who gets 'credit' -- just that the event is a success.

Later as I watched ESPN's national television coverage of those 40 football players in their flag football game on the 64,000 square feet of sod, I realized that all the work was worthwhile. Even more gratifying was handing the large check from the fund-raising dinner over to the charity, which is the ultimate goal of any sports fund-raising event.

пятница, 5 октября 2012 г.

'Wii Sports Resort': Slam dunk!(YourSaturday) - The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA)

Byline: Brier Dudley; Seattle Times technology columnist

I'm a little concerned about how much my wife and daughter enjoyed 'Wii Sports Resort,' the new Nintendo game going on sale in the U.S. Sunday for about $50.

Specifically the swordplay duel, a version of Japanese kendo.

My family was a little too excited about whacking me with a wooden sword, sending my Wii avatar plummeting into the sea in slow motion.

I had been thinking 'Wii Sports Resort' was a little on the expensive side, but perhaps it will avoid counseling fees down the road.

Swordplay is not only cathartic, it's one of the most fun new activities that 'Sports Resort' brings to the Wii.

The game includes a dozen sports that your Wii avatar plays on the fictional resort of Wuhu Island.

'Sports Resort' is an update of the 'Wii Sports' game that's included with the purchase of a Wii. The original sports games -- baseball, tennis, golf and bowling -- were intended to help people learn how to use the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers.

'Sports Resort' is also a demonstrator, showing off the capabilities of Motion Plus, a new accessory that snaps onto the end of the Wiimote to give it more precision.

The dongle comes in a longer protective rubber sheath that stretches over the Wiimote, a procedure that may prompt a few smirks.

The game comes with one Motion Plus, but you'll end up buying more -- at $20 apiece -- so multiple players can compete in swordplay, table tennis, airplane dogfighting and other activities.

Other air sports include sky diving onto Wuhu or flying planes. Watersports include canoeing, wakeboarding and Jetskiing.

They're all reasonably fun arcade-style games. But a few are outstanding, including swordplay and basketball, which you play by dribbling the remote up and down, slapping it sideways to steal a ball and arcing it upward to make a shot.

Basketball is one of those Wii games that captures some special essence of the real game, similar to the way bowling worked so well on the original 'Wii Sports.' It makes you want to drop the controller and pick up a real ball, but it's so fun it's hard to step away from the console.

Archery is another standout. You hold the remote upright in your left hand and pull back on the Nunchuk attachment as if it were a bowstring. You release a button to shoot the arrow at a series of progressively harder targets.

The one complaint about archery -- and perhaps the entire game -- is that it doesn't take long to work through all the mini-games. You're left wanting new levels and challenges after you've gotten used to the techniques.

Maybe that's the idea. Nintendo will no doubt give players a chance to apply their archery, swordplay and flying skills in upcoming Motion Plus games.

I can't wait for more. I just wish the training didn't cost quite so much.

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com

Check it out

Nintendo is taking its 'Wii Sports Resort' show on the road to summer festivals around the country. You can test the game today and Sunday at the 6th Street Fair in Bellevue (www.bellevuedowntown.org/events/sixth_street), and July 31-Aug. 2 at the Chevrolet Cup at Seafair (www.seafair.com).

CAPTION(S):

Nintendo: Basketball is a standout on ''Wii Sports Resort.'' (0409383457)

Nintendo: Watersports include canoeing, wakeboarding and Jetskiing. (0409383395)

Fayetteville to get in the game with sports commission. - The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, NC)

Byline: Al Greenwood

Sep. 26--While other cities earned millions hosting sports events, Fayetteville watched on from the sidelines.

In the next six months, Fayetteville plans to play catch-up.

Fayetteville is the largest city in North Carolina without a sports commission. Such groups market a city's playing fields to attract sports tournaments.

But Fayetteville's convention and visitors bureau will receive $130,000 extra annually for the next five years to develop a sports tourism program.

Fayetteville is not entering an empty playing field. Moore County has had an active program for three years, and is studying whether it should expand the program.

Sports tourism could bring more lodgers to Cumberland County, something needed by its hotel industry.

The average occupancy rates among hotels in Cumberland County was 61.1 percent in July, the worst performance for that month in five years, according to Smith Travel Research of Hendersonville, Tenn. Occupancy percentage rates this year ranged from the upper 50s to the lower 60s.

Meanwhile, developers plan to open at least two hotels in Cumberland County.

Sports tourism could help fill the new rooms.

When Fayetteville's sports program is established, it will tap into a growing market.

The National Association of Sports Commissions, a trade group that represents sports planners, has grown from 14 members in 1992 to 430 today, said Don Schumacher, the association's executive director.

The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, actually caused sports tourism to increase, Schumacher said. Parents want to spend more time with their children, and many are doing so through sports.

For at least three years, the bureau has planned to create a sports commission in Fayetteville.

Those earlier plans were delayed by efforts to promote cultural tourism, said John Meroski, president and chief executive officer of the Fayetteville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Last year, Cumberland County started its own effort to market sports. It paid $90,000 to J.D. Daniel, a consultant who studied ways to boost sports tourism. Daniel proposed upgrading and expanding the Jordan Soccer Complex. The owner of the complex at the time, the Fayetteville Soccer Association, turned down the proposal. The association was concerned that courting outside out-of-town teams would leave little time for local teams to use the fields.

Sports tourism received another chance boost in August, when the Tourism Development Authority agreed to add $130,000 to the annual budget of the convention and visitors bureau.

With the extra money, the bureau will expand its sports marketing program, Meroski said, creating . The bureau will create a sports commission that will help organize and manage the tournaments.

The bureau also plans to join the National Association of Sports Commissions.

Joining the national association will give Fayetteville's program credibility, Meroski said.

While the bureau sets up its sports commission, its sales staff will continue selling Cumberland County's sports facilities to planners, Meroski said. This fall, the representatives of the bureau will attend two sports trade shows.

The visitors bureau is also trying to position Fayetteville to become the host city for a series of wrestling tournaments, scheduled for the next five years, Meroski said. Each event will could attract from 500 to 1,500 people. The tournaments and could add $1.5 million to the local economy each year, he said.

The tournaments aren't restricted to traditional sports.

In July, the Mid-Atlantic Skateboard Association held an amateur competition, the eS Game of Skate. The event attracted 72 skaters from the Southeast, said Terry Grimble, the association's president. In May, the Mid-Atlantic Skateboard Association held its first pro tournament at Crown Coliseum. The contest attracted 3,000 spectators and nearly 100 skaters from around the world.

One of those skaters was Rod James, a pro from San Marcos, Calif. James said he typically competes in eight out-of-town tournaments a year.

Hotels, planes and meals can cost from $500 to $1,000 for each trip. James didn't spend that much in Fayetteville -- he spent the night at the homes of family and friends, he said. But he still dined in Fayetteville.

Lots of competition When Fayetteville's sports program kicks off, it will enter a crowded field. The competition for events has become more competitive among cities, said Caleb Miles, president of The Convention and Visitors Bureau -- Village of Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen Area.

Miles has experienced that competition firsthand as a vice president of the N.C. Youth Soccer Association. Cities hosting soccer tournaments regularly include maps and coupons in their packages, he said.

At the same time, Miles also has experienced the challenges of starting a sports tourism program.

The tournaments cannot conflict with local use of the facilities, he said. When Moore County's tourism season picks up in the spring and fall, it sometimes lacks the hotel rooms to lodge the athletes. It has turned down some events.

The tournament organizers also need help from the bureau, Miles said. Organizers use the copy machines and borrow the cell phones.

Tournaments also strain logistics, he said. Buses take the participants from the hotels to the sports centers. Police direct traffic.

Still, the sports program has helped Moore County fill hotel rooms during its off season, Miles said.

Moore County's golf courses and equestrian fields are of such quality, it they can compete for national events, he said. Last summer, Moore County hosted the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. The event attracted nearly 4,000 children and their parents.

The county could even expand its sports venues.

A firm is studying the feasibility of an amateur sports complex that could have up to 18 fields, Miles said. The fields could bring more tournaments to Moore County.

They could also help Cumberland County, Miles said.

Some cities and counties are combining their fields to compete for large tournaments, he said. Raleigh and Wilson successfully bid for a soccer tournament. Cumberland and Moore County could do the same, Miles said.

Such teamwork could give both counties an advantage in winning bids for sports events.

To see more of The Fayetteville Observer or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fayettevillenc.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business

News.

четверг, 4 октября 2012 г.

The skin trade ; High-profile investigations into paedophilia are headline news in the UK. But just by jumping on a plane paedophiles can, almost with impunity, buy girls and boys by the hour or week. KATHY MARKS reports from Phnom Penh on the depraved world of Cambodian sex tourism - The Independent (London, England)

It is late afternoon and the tourists are drifting into Svay Pak,a squalid shantytown surrounded by rice paddies on the fringes ofthe Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. They congregate outsideramshackle cafes, swigging Angkor beer and surveying the wares: thepint-sized prostitutes spilling out of the brothels that line thepotholed main street.

There is sex for sale all over Phnom Penh: in nightclubs, poolhalls and karaoke bars, even in the cluster of hairdressing shopsnear the art deco central market. No need to make the 30-minute treknorth to Svay Pak along a congested highway, weaving through ajumble of bicycles, dogs and tractors. But Svay Pak offers somethingspecial: young girls. Girls barely older than children - and somethat are simply children.

Cambodia, once best known for the horrors of the Khmer Rougeregime, has acquired a new kind of infamy as the latest haunt ofglobetrotting paedophiles. Gary Glitter, the 1970s glam-rock star,who was jailed for four months in November 1999 for downloadingchild pornography from the internet, was deported from Phnom Penhlast month, but less prominent offenders have little to fear in anation where poverty is rife and corruption rampant. Glitter, whosereal name is Paul Gadd, served two months. He moved to Cambodia ayear ago and set up home with a young Khmer girl and her mother.After a public outcry stirred up by the British tabloids, he movedto neighbouring Vietnam, but slipped back into the country beforeChristmas.

His reappearance underscored the international dimensions of theproblem. Crackdowns in the West, with the establishment of sex-offender registers and stricter monitoring of people working withchildren, are driving abusers abroad.

Cambodia, despite being a signatory to international conventionsagainst the trafficking and exploitation of children, allows thetrade to operate quite brazenly. In Svay Pak, where hens pick in thedirt and ragamuffins play in puddles, child prostitution is athriving industry. Twenty brothels, each sealed by a padlocked irongrille, line the narrow, rutted track that runs through the village.Step into any of the brick and concrete buildings, and the papasan -pimp - will produce a girl or boy to suit every whim. Oral sex inone of the sweaty plywood cubicles costs $5 (pounds 3.20); $500 buysa six-year-old for a week.

Across the road, in a cafe set up by enterprising locals, theEnglish menu offers fish and chips and baked beans on toast. Thetourists seated around the battered Formica tables greet each otherlike kindred spirits; they range from pale-faced backpackers to menin their sixties. The air is full of American drawls and Australiantwangs - and the unmistakable sound of a Geordie accent can beheard.

Several girls in skin-tight trousers and spaghetti-strap tops aredancing around a group of Japanese men, giggling and flirting,sitting on their knees. A waif in a pyjama-like outfit whispers inthe ear of a prospective punter, suggesting 'boom-boom'(intercourse) or 'yum-yum' (oral sex). 'Very good, very nice,' shepromises, massaging his shoulders, then leans over and kisses himfirmly on the mouth.

The prostitutes look no older than 12 or 13, but there areyounger models inside the brothels, where the girls are instructedto lift up their tops and skirts to show off their childish bodiesto customers. 'That's why foreigners like Svay Pak,' says Om ChamRoeun, who makes a living from whisking tourists around Phnom Penhon the back of his motorbike. 'Very young girls, very small girls,and no one cares. Why should they? It's good money.'

A moped draws up and two Englishmen alight. They are plainlyregulars; the adolescent waiter brings their drinks without beingasked. One sports a greasy ponytail and floral shirt; the other hasa beer gut spilling over safari shorts and a sunburnt neck. Ponytailis planning to visit Angkor Wat, Cambodia's famed ancient templecomplex. Sunburnt Neck snorts with derision. 'That's just a load ofold stones,' he says. 'I'm telling you, this is the place to be.'

After draining their Cokes, the men disappear inside a dimly-litdoorway, through which candles can be glimpsed flickering in aBuddhist shrine. A few minutes later, a uniformed police officersaunters up to the metal grille and is given an envelope by theVietnamese pimp slouching outside. The bribe changes hands in broaddaylight. The policeman swaggers off.

The girls are, in effect, sex slaves; they receive no money, onlyfood, and armed guards stop them running away. Yet the tradeoperates with virtual impunity, thanks to high-level politicalprotection and the connivance of corrupt police and judges. Withmuch of the lucrative industry controlled by senior police andmilitary officers, successful prosecutions are rare. Evidence ismysteriously lost, brothels are tipped off before raids, and pimpsslip their handcuffs on the way to court.

Only three foreigners have been convicted of paedophile offencesover the years, including a British former headteacher, John Keeler,who threw a chair across court, shouting that he had been promisedan acquittal after paying the judge $3,000 (pounds 2,000). Keeler,who spent a year behind bars in Phnom Penh after being convicted inNovember 2000, was caught making pornographic videos with younggirls in a park.

However, most offenders manage to buy their way out of trouble,according to Pierre Legros, the director of AFESIP, a French charitythat rescues child prostitutes. 'It's anarchy, total anarchy,' hesays. 'If the police did their job properly, they could arrest 50paedophiles a day. As it is, a perpetrator gets to court and theevidence has been burnt. Of those that are jailed, most are releasedafter a few months.'

AFESIP and other agencies working in the field are frustrated bythe flagrant failure of law enforcement. 'Sometimes we have all theevidence, but no one will pursue the case because the brothels arerun by powerful people,' says Sun Sothy, the director of theCambodian Women's Crisis Centre. 'Or the police have someone incustody, then they get a call from high up telling them to releasehim or else.'

In one incident last year, 14 Vietnamese girls aged from 10 to 13were removed from the Svay Pak brothels after an undercoverinvestigation by AFESIP. When the matter came before a judge, heordered the girls to be arrested and deported as illegal immigrants.One of the brothel owners, meanwhile, was handcuffed and put in apolice car. By the time the car arrived at the police station, shehad vanished.

Legros claims that a senior cabinet minister is involved in thetrade. 'If I give you the name, I'm dead,' he says. It is no emptyboast. He and his wife, Somaly Mam, receive regular death threatsand their house was firebombed in 1998 by a vengeful pimp. His wifehas been followed and threatened by armed men on three occasions. Atone stage, she was forced to seek refuge in neighbouring Laos.

The AFESIP centre in Tuol Kok, a suburb of Phnom Penh, issurrounded by a high metal barrier crowned with barbed wire.Security guards patrol the entrance. Just inside, in a shadycourtyard, two young girls play on a swing under a mango tree. In adownstairs room, a dozen girls are bent industriously over sewingmachines. A literacy class is in progress next door.

The centre is a place of sanctuary for former child sex workers,who are given medical and psychological help and taught vocationalskills. AFESIP has a second base in Kompong Chang, on the MekongRiver, and has just opened a third in the tourist town of Siem Reap,near the Angkor temples. A recent survey found that 70 per cent ofchildren in Siem Reap had been approached by foreigners asking forsex, or knew someone who had been approached.

Chantala is not sure how old she is; possibly 14. She has thelook of a frightened animal and is unable to meet a stranger's gaze,staring at the floor and kicking her bare feet. A few years ago, awoman approached her aunt and offered to employ the little girl as alive-in cleaner at a shop in Phnom Penh. Her impoverished familyquickly agreed. The shop turned out to be a brothel. Her firstclient was a Chinese man. 'He wanted sex with me. I said no,' shesays in a barely audible whisper. 'He beat me until I was nearlyunconscious, then he tore my clothes off and raped me. Afterwardsthe boss of the brothel ordered me to have sex with many men. When Isaid no, I don't want to, he screamed at me and put a gun to myhead.

'I worked most days from 9am until 3am. Sometimes I was sick andthe boss cursed me and said I'd be a prostitute until I died becauseI owed him so much money. One day a man came and took me to avillage outside Phnom Penh. When we got there, there were 10 menwaiting for me. I had to have sex with all of them. I was taken tothe same place many times again.'

There are worse stories. Avy, an eight-year-old girl living inAFESIP's Kompong Chang centre, was sold into the sex trade afterbeing raped by her stepfather and nine other men. She was hit acrossthe face and given electric shocks when she refused to have sex withclients. When she grew sleepy after working long hours, the pimpthrust chillies in her eyes.

A Unicef survey concluded that 35 per cent of Cambodia's 55,000prostitutes are under 16. 'We believe the figure is even higher,'says Sao Chhoeurth, AFESIP's technical co-ordinator. 'We find thegirls are getting younger. There used to be people in their twentiesworking in the industry. Now the oldest girls are teenagers.'

The trend is fuelled by a growing demand for virgins, who -according to a widely-held belief in Cambodia - bring good luck andlong life to the men who deflower them as well as eliminating thedanger of HIV infection. Sex workers are not allowed to insist thatclients use condoms. Not surprisingly, up to half of them arebelieved to be HIV-positive. Some of the younger girls are stitchedup in hospital and sold on to other brothels so they can once againbe presented as virgins.

Many of the girls working in Svay Pak and other centres of childprostitution are trafficked from rural villages. Some of them - likeChantala - are lured by false promises of jobs. Most are illiterate,and easy prey for the networks of recruiters set up in ruralcommunities. Others are sold to brothels by parents so poor thatthey are willing to sacrifice an older girl in order to feed therest of their children.

Cambodia is the hub of a people-trafficking racket with tentaclesstretching across South-east Asia and links with several Asianmafias. Many of the country's underage prostitutes are from Vietnam,while Cambodia supplies girls to countries in the region as well asto Japan and Europe.

Poverty, corruption and lack of education have created theperfect environment for the trade to flourish. Some believe thatCambodia's turbulent past is another factor; 30 years of civil warhave left a fractured nation with a weak institutionalinfrastructure and confused notions of right and wrong. 'We are abrutalised, damaged society,' says Sun Sothy. 'Why else do we treatour children like this?'

The industry is not fed by tourists alone. Visiting brothels isan acceptable practice in a country where women are expected to bevirgins when they get married. Sex with young girls is regarded as aperk of power and privilege; those girls, of course, will never getmarried. 'A virgin is very stimulating, you know?' explains Brasil,an agriculture student in the southern town of Kampot. 'But after agirl loses her virginity, she's finished, no one will love her. Aboy, on the other hand, is always 100 per cent golden.'

This is the muddled morality that Western paedophiles areexploiting with glee. Svay Pak, once just an anonymous village, isnow extolled in the darker recesses of the internet. Websites set upby regulars give directions, as well as offering stomach-churningreviews of children in the various brothels. Svay Pak's pimps evendeliver to central hotels. One Italian man had 11 girls dropped offat his room in three batches.

Cambodia is a relatively new travel destination, only deemed safesince Pol Pot died in 1998, prompting the remaining Khmer Rougeguerrillas to lay down their arms. The tourism industry has grownrapidly since then, with 400,000 people - including 18,000 Britons -visiting last year. The child sex trade, once tiny, is now booming.The Tourism Ministry estimates that one-quarter of visitors are sextourists. 'More and more foreigners are coming for this reason,'says Somaly Mam, adding bitterly: 'Cute temples, cute children.'

Ecpat, an international network that campaigns against childprostitution, says that Cambodia's sex tourists are seasonedtravellers. 'They've been to Thailand, they've been to thePhilippines and they're looking for new frontiers,' says BernadetteMcMenamin, the director of Ecpat's Australian branch. 'These are menwho see children as a commodity. To them, they're fresh meat.'

Mary Robinson, the former United Nations High Commissioner forHuman Rights, criticised the exploitation of children when she wentto Cambodia last year. Lord Puttnam, who produced the 1984 filmabout the civil war, The Killing Fields, also highlighted theproblem while visiting the country this month in his new role as thepresident of Unicef UK. Western aid workers, however, say there isno political will to crack down. 'It's clear that the Cambodiangovernment doesn't care about its own citizens,' says Legros.

среда, 3 октября 2012 г.

Honda hit new high; Skies the limit as Honda turn their skills air plane engines, says BILL CAVEN.(News) - Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)

THERE is a growing belief that Honda have taken charge of the Midas touch.

Everything they handle seems to turn to gold and, not content with enjoying record worldwide sales, the Japanese giant are now toying with moving into the aircraft business as well. Last week, they completed test flights of an experimental six-seater business jet with Honda's own engine.

They are already well established as makers of motorbikes and agricultural vehicles, as well as generators, outboard engines and lawnmowers.

Honda, however, remain committed to the automotive industry, where they are the second biggest player.

Earlier this year, Honda achieved a remarkable milestone when they built their 50 millionth vehicle. Having started production in Japan just four decades ago with the S500 sports car and a mini-truck, Honda have steadily expanded operations.

The mainstay of their success the Civic and the Accord has remained the same down the years, with sales of both still buoyant.

The shape of both models may have changed, but it hasn't dampened their appeal both at home and abroad.

Both ranges have recently undergone a facelift to keep them ahead of the field as Honda bosses are in no mood to give up any ground.

Honda have worked hard to get to where they are and are determined to stay out front.

The Civic, in particular, has undergone a remarkable transformation to achieve cult status in some quarters.

Previously, it only really attracted old fuddy duddies with dodgy flat caps who had never seen traffic jams as they were always at the front.

Younger motorists were often put off the hatchback simply because the Civic lacked any street cred.

Along came the 198 bhp Type R, which has more attitude and lip than a snotty teenager.

One of the strengths of the hatchback remains its incredible reliability record.

Honda engines remain the best around, offering outstanding fuel economy with the added bonus of decent performance when permitted.

The choice ranges from 89 bhp 1.4-litre, 108 bhp 1.6 litre VTEC, 158 bhp two-litre VTEC and the 198 two-litre I-VTEC, all in petrol guise.

Increasingly, more motorists are switching on to diesel power and Honda offer a 99 bhp 1.7-litre CDTi common rail that achieves 42 miles from a gallon.

It is easy to understand the appeal of the Civic across the whole age spectrum. It has style, incredible interior space and a cavernous boot.

EQUALLY, the Accord fits the bill for fleet and private buyers thanks to its residual value and reliability.

Going head to head with the Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall Vectra, Honda have equipped their luxury saloon and hatchback well for the battle.

More recently, the company introduced a new 2.2-litre diesel version to the ranks to strengthen its growing appeal.

With the new model out in February, Honda believe they have played a masterstroke with its introduction, as it will broaden the range to mix it with the Big Boys.

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