Georgia Asian Times Aug 1-15, 2016

Covering The Multicultural Asian American Community in Georgia

www.gasiantimes.com August 1-15, 2016

On the Harry Potter trail in Portugal — Rowling’s inspiration

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August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

Georgia Asian Times August 1-15, 2016

Publisher: Li Wong Account Manager: Adrian West Contributors: Andrian Putra, May Lee, Mark Ho, Helen Nguyen Photographer: Ben Hioe

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Machine learning implementation in digital experience

by Dr. Srinivas Kilambi Organized by Indian Professional Network Date: Thursday, August 18, 2016 Time: 6:30 pm Venue: Ashiana Indian Restaurant-Global Mall Dinner cost: $10.00 per person For more info: Suresh Mahadevan, smahadevan@sriyamixi.com, 404.547.9677 21st Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Date: Saturday, Sept 10, 2016 Time: 7:00 am-6:00 pm Venue: Lake Laneir Olympic Kayak Facility, Gainesville For more info: dragonboatatlanta.com JapanFest “Cooler Japan�

Date: Sat-Sun, Sept 17-18 Time: 10 am - 6 pm Venue: Infinite Energy Center, 6400

Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth Admission: $10, children under 6 free For more info: www.japanfest.org

12th Atlanta Asian Film Festival Date: Oct 7-22, 2016 Venues: KSU, GPC Dunwoody, UWG, Plaza Theatre For more info: atlaff.org

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August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

METRO ASIAN NEWS

Leadership academy targeting next generation Asian Americans launched Wreath laying ceremony honoring Georgia’s Korean War veterans Atlanta, July 22, 2016 — A wreath laying ceremony honoring Georgia’s Korean war veterans was held at the Georgia State Capitol. Over 740 Georgian died defending the freedom and peace during the Korean War.

Wreaths were presented by the Korean Government, Korean War Veterans, American Korean Friendship Society, Atlanta Rotary Club, and Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta.

Ambassador Seong-jin Kim, Consul General of Republic of Korea, Hon. Sam Olens, Georgia Attorney General, Frank Blake, Chairman, American Korean Friendship Society, BG Jesse Simmons, Georgia Asst. Adjutant General-Air, Ki-Sung Bae, President, Korean American Association of Atlanta, and Jae Eun, Board member, American Korean Friendship Society were among the guest of honor in attendance.

The ceremony was organized by American Korean Friendship Society. A musical prelude honoring the veterans was presented by members of Hope Johns Creek Korean American Youth Orchestra.

“Although the Korean war is widely recognized as the ‘Forgotten War’ – we will never forget the heroes and soldiers who gave their life fighting for freedom and the country. Our surviving members deserves to be recognized and honored,” said Robert McCubbins, President, Korean War Veterans Association.

Duluth, July 29, 2016 — Latest statistics shows that the percentage of Asian American leaders in mainstream and corporate America is disproportionately low. The founders of newly launched Millennial Leadership Academy (MLA) aims to improve on the statistics and to create a movement of aspiring young Asian American leaders eager to lead and to serve.

An official kickoff ceremony was held to launch the academy’s training program scheduled to start from Sept 3, 2016 to February 4, 2017.

“MLA is not just a leadership and professional development platform, it is grass-root movement to change our cultural paradigm to enable breakthrough in developing Asian American leaders,” by Dr. Hai Ho, Chairman & faculty member of Millennial Leadership Academy.

“Performance and education are not enough to break through the ‘bamboo ceiling’,” adds Dr. Ho. The academy offers an intensive 6-months hands-on training program that builds the foundation of leadership, service, and influence targeting Asian Americans. The program will be conducted by executive leaders from

corporate America and professional trainers.

A major benefit of the program is to learn how to navigate cultural and workplace politics.

“Like Sun Tzu, the great Chinese war strategist, would say, “we are fighting in the dark”, when we don’t have the right skills to lead and navigate in mainstream environments”, by Mr. Roy Tucker, MLA spokesperson and marketing advisor at the launch ceremony.

Cost of registration for the program is $1300 per individual and scholarships are available to assist interested participants. Early registration deadline is July 31, 2016.

For more information on MLA, visit www.MleadershipAcademy.com

August 1-15, 2016

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August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

FEATURE

Yellow River yields clues to Chinese legend of ancient ‘Great Flood’ Nanjing, August 4, 2016 — The crushed skeletons of children point to an earthquake and catastrophic flood on China’s Yellow River 4,000 years ago that could be the source of a legendary “Great Flood” at the dawn of Chinese civilization, scientists say.

A Chinese-led team found remnants of a vast landslide, caused by an earthquake, big enough to block the Yellow River in what is now Qinghai province near Tibet.

Ancient sediments indicated that the pent-up river formed a vast lake over several months that eventually breached the dam, unleashing a cataclysm powerful enough to flood land 2,000 km (1,200 miles) downstream, the scientists wrote in the journal Science.

The authors put the Yellow River flood at around 1920 BC by carbon-dating the skeletons of children in a group of 14 victims found crushed downstream, apparently when their home collapsed in the earthquake.

Deep cracks in the ground opened by the quake were filled by mud typical of a flood and indicated that it struck less than a year after the quake.

In traditional histories, a hero called Yu eventually tamed the waters by dredging, “earning him the divine mandate to establish the Xia dynasty, the first in Chinese history,” the scientists wrote.

The flood on Asia’s third-longest river would have been among the worst anywhere in the world in the last 10,000 years and matches tales of a “Great Flood” that marks the start of Chinese civilization with the Xia dynasty.

Their finds around the Jishi Gorge from about 1900 B.C. would place the start of the Xia dynasty several centuries later than traditionally thought, around the time of a shift to the Bronze Age from the Stone Age along the Yellow River.

“No scientific evidence has been discovered before” for the legendary flood, lead author Wu Qinglong of Nanjing Normal University told a telephone news conference.

Some historians doubt the Xia dynasty existed, reckoning it part of myth-making centuries later to prop up imperial rule. Written records date

only from 450 BC. The evidence of a massive flood in line with the legend “provides us with a tantalizing hint that the Xia dynasty might really have existed,” said David Cohen of National Taiwan University, one of the authors.

Deluges feature in many traditions, from Hindu texts to the Biblical story of Noah. In pre-history, floods were probably frequent as ice sheets melted after the last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago, raising world sea levels. - Reuters

Georgia Asian Times August 1-15, 2016

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FEATURE

U.S. Supreme Court blocks transgender bathroom choice for now

A Virginia school board may temporarily block a student who was born a girl from using the boys’ bathroom while a legal fight over transgender rights proceeds on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court said on Wednesday.

The case is the first time the fight over transgender bathroom rights has reached the Supreme Court. The subject arrived in the heat of a U.S. presidential election in which the makeup of the court is a central issue.

In a brief order, the country’s highest court put on hold an order from a lower court that had permitted the high school student to use the bathroom of his choice.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of Gavin Grimm, 17, to challenge the Gloucester County School Board’s bathroom policy, which requires transgender students to use alternative restroom facilities.

A lawyer for Grimm, Joshua Block, said he and his client were disappointed by the order and “disappointed that Gavin is going to have to begin another school year being stigmatized and separated from his peers as a result of this policy.”

The school board in coastal Gloucester County, about 140 miles (225 km) south of Washington, D.C., welcomed the decision.

“The board continues to believe that its resolution of this complex matter fully considered the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system,” the board said in a statement.

The eight-member Supreme Court voted 5-3 to stay the lower court’s order. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan would have denied the school board’s request that it be able to block a student from

exercising choice in use of a bathroom, according to the order.

The order was not a final ruling on the subject. Instead, it rewound the fight to where it was in April before a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, ruled in Grimm’s favor.

That ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the first by an appeals court to find that transgender students are protected under federal laws that bar sex-based discrimination.

In court papers last month, the school board’s lawyers said the 4th Circuit wrongly deferred to the view of President Barack Obama’s administration that prohibitions on sex discrimination under federal law also apply to gender identity.

In May, the Obama administration directed public schools nationwide to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity or risk losing federal funding.

So far, 23 states have sued to block the directive.

Justice Stephen Breyer, of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing, joined with its most conservative members in temporarily siding with the school board.

Breyer wrote in a one-sentence explanation that he did so as a courtesy to preserve the status quo until the Supreme Court has a chance to consider the subject more fully.

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August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

BUSINESS

Bitcoin tanks after Hong Kong exchange breach Hong Kong, August 3, 3016 — A major Hong Kong-based Bitcoin exchange has suspended trading after $65 million in the virtual unit was reportedly stolen by hackers — sending the digital currency plunging more than 20 percent.

Bitfinex said it had suspended all transactions after discovering that some users’ Bitcoins had been taken.

“Today we discovered a security breach that requires us to halt all trading on Bitfinex, as well as halt all digital token deposits to and withdrawals from Bitfinex,” the company said in a statement posted on its website late Tuesday.

“We are investigating the breach to determine what happened… we will look at various options to address customer losses later in the investigation,” it said.

Bloomberg News reported hackers took 119,756 Bitcoins, or about $65 million at current prices, from the platform.

The value of the often-volatile currency plunged Wednesday to as low as $482.82 from $603.06 Tuesday, according to Bloomberg News data, before rising to $539.53 Wednesday afternoon.

“Yes, it is a large breach,” said Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency wallet and trading platform.

“Bitfinex is a large exchange, so it is a significant short-term event, although Bitcoin has shown its resiliency to these sorts of events in the past.”

Rollercoaster ride The breach is the latest blow to digital currencies after the New York Times reported in June that hackers diverted more than $50 million from an experimental fund of another platform that trades Ether, a similar unit to Bitcoin.

But the biggest case was in 2014, when the Tokyo-based Mt Gox trading exchange, then the largest in the world, declared bankruptcy when hundreds

of millions of dollars in Bitcoins were vanished or were stolen.

The company admitted 850,000 coins — worth around $480 million at the time — had disappeared from its digital vaults.

The collapse left a trail of angry investors calling for answers and denting the virtual currency’s reputation.

Its former CEO Mark Karpeles is facing allegations that he fraudulently manipulated data and pocketed the cash. His lawyers said last month he had been released on bail in Japan a year after his arrest on embezzlement charges.

In the wake of the scandal, Japanese lawmakers passed a bill stipulating that all “virtual currency” exchanges must be regulated by the country’s Financial Services Agency.

Bitcoins are generated by complex chains of interactions among a huge network of computers around the planet, and are not backed by any government or central bank.

Bitcoin was launched in 2009 as a bit of software written under the Japanese-sounding name Satoshi Nakamoto.

Earlier this year Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright claimed that he was the creator, but some have raised doubts over his claim.

Other digital currencies followed the launch of Bitcoin but it was by far the most popular.

In 2013 Bitcoin’s value peaked at more than $1,200 — almost as much as an ounce of gold.

But it has never reached those heights again, its value rising and falling regularly.

Georgia Asian Times August 1-15, 2016

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BUSINESS

Killing TPP would hand China ‘keys to the castle’ Lima, July 29, 2016 -- Failure to ratify the US-led sweeping trade pact TPP would hand China “the keys to the castle” on globalization and do nothing to solve the real problems underlying American anxiety over jobs, the top US trade official said Thursday.

The tariff-slashing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has turned into a hot-button topic in the run-up to the Nov. 8 US election, threatening to dampen support from lawmakers needed to pass a deal critics condemn as a job-killer.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman said he was still optimistic Congress would pass the 12-member TPP, in part because China has been moving ahead with a trade deal of its own, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), that would boost its exports and let it set labor and environmental standards in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region.

“We’re one vote away from either cementing our leadership in this region and in the global trading system or ceding it to China,” Froman told reporters in Lima after attending the inauguration of Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

“At the end of the day I don’t think Congress wants to be responsible for handing the keys to the castle to China.”

Froman’s defense of the TPP follows weeks of heated attacks on the deal as anti-TPP chants and signs have pep-

pered the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Republican nominee Donald Trump has called the TPP a “death blow” for manufacturing jobs and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has firmed up her opposition to it in recent days.

Froman declined to comment on the candidates but said the TPP had become a “scapegoat” for legitimate concerns over income inequality, stagnant wages and jobs lost to automation. “You don’t get to vote on the next generation of robots,” he said, “you get to vote on trade agreements”.

But the debate over TPP has also helped broaden support for domestic policies, such as infrastructure development and educational programs, to help Americans adapt to rapid economic change, Froman said.

US President Barack Obama wants the TPP passed this year.

Froman ruled out renegotiating the “carefully balanced” text, but said issues were being solved by working on country implementation plans. He cited pork producers, dairy farmers and financial services as once-reluctant stakeholders that now back the TPP. “The last major issue outstanding has to do with biologics and intellectual property rights,” Froman said.

“We’re having good constructive conversations” with members of Congress.

Facebook to let emerging market companies sell through their pages Los Angeles, Aug 4, 2016 -- Facebook Inc is to let small businesses in emerging markets sell to customers for free through their Facebook pages, the social media company said on Wednesday, marking a new effort to build up potential advertisers in its fastest-growing regions.

The move is Facebook’s latest foray onto online commerce in emerging markets. The company launched a service last year allowing some merchants to sell items through paid ads on Facebook’s app. The latest service will instead be free, and users can view products through merchants’ own Facebook pages.

By making sellers more reliant on Facebook, the company hopes that more businesses in emerging markets will eventually decide to become paying advertisers.

“If a business is seeing value from their page, there is a higher opportunity that they could be an advertiser,” said Benji Shomair, product marketing director of Facebook Pages, in an interview.

Facebook, whose stock hit its all-time high last week after reporting sharp growth in ad sales, has about 3 million active advertisers. But there are more than 60 million businesses worldwide

using its service that can set up pages for free in an attempt to reach more customers out of Facebook’s 1.7 billion global monthly users.

Southeast Asia is Facebook’s fastest-growing region for users, but it still makes far more money off users in the United States and Canada. The company made average revenue of $13.74 per North American user in the second quarter, compared with an average of $1.74 per user in the Asia-Pacific region.

The hugely popular Facebook app and website has largely saturated Western markets and is turning to emerging markets for growth, both in users and advertising dollars.

It has launched Free Basics, a free, pared-down version of the internet, in more than 30 countries that have populations without reliable internet connections, and it is building internet-beaming drones to connect people who have never had access to the internet.

Both initiatives are central to Facebook’s global strategy of seeking to reach a large group of potential users who otherwise would not be able to create Facebook accounts.

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EVENTS

August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

Millenial Learship Academy for Asian American - Launch event July 28, 2016

Georgia Asian Times August 1-15, 2016

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FASHION

compacts and other cosmetic products to the world’s second-largest economy, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

South Korea’s total cosmetics exports were worth US$2.59 billion, up 44 per cent from 2014, with Hong Kong and the United States its second- and third-biggest markets, a long way behind China.

Fast beauty: Why Korean cosmetics shine in China Seoul, Aug 4, 20016 — At an Innisfree cosmetics store in Seoul’s popular Myeongdong shopping district, a saleswoman helps 21-year-old Chinese tourist Yang Hui carry her shopping baskets to the pay desk in front of a large display showing K-Pop star Yoona.

“There’s a lot to choose from,” said Yang, confessing to having bought more than she’d planned from the store’s range of around 900 products.

South Korea’s top cosmetics company Amorepacific Group launches some 400 new Innisfree branded products a year, about half of which are no longer available a year later.

It’s one of dozens of Korean mass cosmetics brands with a short product development cycle — a “fast beauty” approach that is increasingly popular among Chinese and other Asian millennials, gaining exposure in the United States and Europe, and attracting high-profile foreign investment.

South Korea has become a hot-bed for applying to cosmetics the “fast fashion” principles of shifting designs quickly from catwalk to Main Street to capitalize on new trends.

Thousands of small cosmetics firms compete to get their new products to market, with third-party manufacturers cutting the time on testing and recipe alignment and providing the capacity for swift market launch.

Korean brands have cut product development cycles to as little as four months, compared to over a year for global brands, industry experts say.

“When we received an eyeshadow order from a major global client in 2004, it took us two years to begin production. Now it takes us one year from the word go,” said Lim Dae-gyu, a director at Cosmax Inc, a cosmetics manufacturer with annual sales of close to US$500 million.

“For South Korean mass brands, it takes less — just four to six months from planning to market launch is average,” Lim added.

Winning formula South Korea last year overtook the United States and Japan to become the No. 2 cosmetics exporter to China after France. It shipped US$1.1 billion worth of skincare creams, facial masks,

Sales are boosted by South Korea’s duty-free market — the world’s biggest — which caters especially to big-spending Chinese tourists. Cosmetics accounted for nearly half of the country’s record duty-free revenue of 5.8 trillion won in the first half of this year, customs data showed.

The trade is not without its downside. To counter unofficial re-sales, Korea’s Customs Service is considering setting a 50 product limit for duty-free buyers, a customs official said. Analysts say this could dent sales by smaller firms, but note that bigger companies already limit duty-free purchases to control store inventory.

“New ingredients, new packaging, new formulas come on the market continuously, and when something does well Korean brands respond quickly,” said Jang Jun-kee, managing director of the Korea Cosmetics Foundation, an industry group.

Amorepacific’s 2008 hit product, the cushion compact — a multifunctional sponge applicator for anything from liquid facial cover and sun protection to make-up base and moisturiser — inspired follow-up products from global brands such as L’Oreal’s Lancome and Estee Lauder’s Clinique.

Innovative, often cute, packaging also helps.

The Face Shop, a mass brand from South Korea’s second-ranked cosmetics firm LG Household & Health Care, said last month it sold out of its initial 130,000 cushion compacts featuring Disney characters — costing 20,000 won — in just two days. It said it ex-

pects to launch about 600 new products this year.

Beyond popularizing beauty trends such as facial cosmetic products “BB cream” and “CC cream”, South Korea has a reputation for innovation and for using natural and Oriental medicine ingredients from flowers and tea leaves to donkey milk, snail and seahorse to differentiate its so-called K-beauty products.

“Korean consumers are very sophisticated. Their interest in beauty and expectations of cosmetics are high and they are willing to try new concepts,” L’Oreal Korea said in emailed comments to Reuters. “It’s a market where new trends emerge before potentially going global.”

China foundation For foreign investors, buying into the Korean success story is a convenient way also into China, where locals can’t get enough of Korean TV dramas and K-Pop music.

“We find beauty and media-entertainment sectors to be the most exciting (in Korea),” said Ravi Thakran, the chairman and managing partner at L Capital Asia, a unit of LVMH, which last month became a major shareholder in South Korean colour cosmetics brand CLIO. “The popularity of Korean culture such as K-Pop, dramas and celebrities boosted significant demand for Korean beauty products in China and other Southeast Asian countries,” he added.

Beyond China, Korean cosmetics have also moved into chains including LVMH’s Sephora, Target and Urban Outfitters, according to Korea’s staterun trade agency KOTRA. The LVMH unit’s investment in CLIO came just weeks after Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital Private Equity said they were buying a majority stake in unlisted cosmetics maker Carver Korea Co Ltd. — Reuters

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August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

LIFESTYLE

Less sex please, we’re millennials Boca Raton, Aug 3, 2016 — Young people today are not having as much sex as previous generations, despite the widespread availability of dating sites and apps and more accepting attitudes about premarital sex, researchers said yesterday.

The study focused on millennials, the generation of people born in the 1990s, and found they were the most sexually inactive group since the Depression era.

“The only other generation that showed a higher rate of sexual inactivity were those born in the 1920s,” said the study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University and published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

The report found that among Americans aged 20 to 24, those born in the early 1990s were significantly more

likely to report no sexual partners after age 18 than Gen X’ers born in the late 1960s.

Fifteen per cent of 20- to 24-year-old American millennials reported having no sexual partners since turning 18, compared to six per cent of those born in the 1960s.

“This study really contradicts the widespread notion that millennials are the ‘hookup’ generation, which is popularised by dating apps like ‘Tinder’ and others, suggesting that they are just looking for quick relationships and frequent casual sex,” said co-author Ryne Sherman, associate professor of psychology in the Charles E Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University.

“Our data show that this doesn’t seem to be the case at all and that

millennials are not more promiscuous than their predecessors.”

Young women today are about twice as likely as men to be sexually inactive, it found.

The study also showed that fewer young people get a driver’s licence or work for pay, suggesting they “are growing up more slowly than those born in the 1980s.”

Separate research out earlier this year by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 41 per cent of high school students said they had never had sex, down from 54 per cent in 1991.

Sherman said the reasons for the shift are complex, but that factors may include more sex education, greater awareness of sexually transmitted

diseases, easy access to pornography and perhaps differing definitions across generational lines of what sex is, whether it means oral sex or intercourse.

Somehow, knowing more about sex and being able to see it on video has not translated into more actual sex for young people today.

“While attitudes about premarital sex have become more permissive over time, rise in individualism allows young American adults to have permissive attitudes without feeling the pressure to conform in their own behavior,” said Sherman.

Georgia Asian Times August 1-15, 2016

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SPORTS

Neymar tasked with delivering Brazil’s elusive gold Brazil has barely got over its World Cup disaster and now it is counting on Barcelona star Neymar to finally deliver a treasured first football Olympic gold medal.

Olympic gold is the only international title to elude Brazil in an illustrious history that has seen A Selecao win five World Cups.

And Brazilian football is in desperate need of a pick-me-up after the humiliating 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany at their own World Cup two years ago and a group stage exit at the Copa America Centenario in June.

Golden boy Neymar has been untarnished by the failures.

Two broken vertebrae in his back suffered near the end of a quarter-final win over Colombia left Brazil without their talisman against the Germans two years ago.

And as part of an agreement between Barcelona and the Brazilian federation, Neymar skipped the Copa America — which sealed Dunga’s fate as Brazil coach for the second time — to ensure he is fresh for the Olympics.

Starlets in support Rogerio Micale will take charge after leading Brazil to the under-20 World Cup final last year. Like the fans he also expects Neymar to deliver.

He said: “I want to be dependent on Neymar. What coach in the world would not want a Neymar in their team?

“Neymar has exceeded my expectations. He is appreciated, he’s a

good guy with a huge heart especially around the younger players.

“He has shown that he is more than just a great player — he’s a great man admired by everybody.”

Neymar was part of the Brazil side shocked by Mexico in the final of the 2012 Olympics, whilst even the likes of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho have come up short when charged with delivering gold.

However, Brazil are strong favourites to end their wait as on top of home advantage, they also possess by far the strongest squad on paper.

Each team is restricted to just three players over the age of 23 in their 18man squads.

Wonder kids Gabriel Barbosa and Gabriel Jesus, both tipped to make big money moves to Europe from Santos and Palmeiras respectively after the Games, will support Neymar in attack.

Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos and Neymar’s Barcelona teammate Rafinha are also among Micale’s squad.

Brazil open their campaign against South Africa in Brasilia, one of six Olympic football host cities, before facing Iraq and Denmark in Group A. Their biggest threat is likely to come from eternal rivals Argentina.

Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa and Giovanni Simeone — son of Atletico boss Diego Simeone — formed a lethal partnership in scoring 13 goals to win the 2015 South American under-20 championships to qualify.

They face Portugal in the match of the opening round at the Rio Olympic stadium on Thursday in a group also containing Honduras and Algeria.

World champions Germany can call on the experience of the Bender twins Lars and Sven of Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund as two of their overage players.

A return to Brazil holds particularly fond memories for Dortmund full-back Matthias Ginter, who was part of the German squad that won the World Cup two years ago.

Ginter has shown his commitment to the cause by flying almost 20,000km in four days as he headed back from China with Dortmund on Friday before jetting off to Brazil.

“I’m still young and you have to take the chances offered to you. The Olympics are special. We’re all motivated and want to reach the final in Rio,” said the 22-year-old.

Germany start against 2012 gold medallists Mexico in Salvador before facing Fiji and South Korea in Group C. Group B appears the closest to call as Sweden, Colombia, Nigeria and Japan all start with realistic ambitions of reaching the quarter-finals.

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August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

SPORTS

Brazil legend Pele asked to light Rio pyre Brasilia, Aug 3, 2016 — Pele has been invited to light the Olympic pyre for the Rio Games on Friday but the Brazilian football great is checking with his sponsors to see if he is free to lead the torch ceremony in the Maracana stadium.

Pele later told reporters that International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and the head of the Brazilian committee Carlos Arthur Nuzman had personally asked him to light the pyre and that he would have an answer tomorrow.

“I have a contract that I am bound to fulfill,” Pele told Globo TV late yesterday, adding that he was consulting the US company that holds the rights to his brand name whether he can take up the invitation from the Olympic organising committee.

He said he would have to cancel a trip organised by his sponsors.

“As a Brazilian, I’d love to do it,” said the 75-year-old, who helped his country win the World Cup three times and would be launching the Games in the stadium where he scored his 1,000th goal in 1969.

Pele, regarded as the greatest player of all time, played in four World Cups and is the only player to have won it three times: in 1958 in Sweden, when he was just 17, in 1962 in Chile and in 1970 in Mexico. — Reuters

Kerry to head US delegation to Rio opening ceremony Washington DC, Aug 3, 2016 — US Secretary of State John Kerry will represent President Barack Obama at the opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics later this week, the White House and State Department said yesterday.

The trip, Kerry’s 112th since taking office, will bring him first to Argentina today and tomorrow.

Kerry will head the US delegation to the Summer Games, the first Olympics in South America. Accompanying him will be several officials and nine-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Mark Spitz.

The top US diplomat will join dozens of heads of state or government at the opening ceremony Friday in Rio’s Maracana stadium. Kerry will also meet with US Olympians.

In Argentina, he will discuss trade issues with President Mauricio Macri and Foreign Minister Susan Malcorra, according to the State Department. In Brazil, Kerry will hold talks with Foreign Minister Jose Serra.

Brazil is on high alert ahead of the Olympics, which run from August 5 to 21.

The country has bolstered security measures and plans to deploy 85,000 police and soldiers to protect the Games, double the number used in London in 2012.

Georgia Asian Times August 1-15, 2016

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HEALTH Pomegranate boosts muscle function and endurance The red fleshy seeds of the pomegranate, a fruit that originates from Asia, could have another health benefit to add to its superfruit status. According to researchers, a type of compound found in pomegranate could play an important role in strengthening muscle cells.

This protective and boosting effect has been linked to an anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective component of pomegranate, leading to the production of urolithins. The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, explains how urolithins can slow the aging process by encouraging cells to repair and renew mitochondria, the parts of cells that convert food into energy.

urolithins on rats and mice. They were found to improve muscle function in mice with no change in muscle mass, resulting in a 9% increase in grip strength.

These protective agents are produced by gut bacteria from polyphenols called ellagitannins, which are naturally present in pomegranates. Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants that are found in many fruits and vegetables.

The scientists studied the effects of

What’s more, the mice who received urolithins were found to spontaneously exercise 57% more than control mice, with increased running endurance of 42% for mice and 65% for rats.

The researchers attribute the boost in muscle function to improved mitochondrial renewal, eliminating

damaged mitochondria and boosting production of new, healthy mitochondria.

Previous studies have shown that regularly eating pomegranate could have a protective effect against neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Urolithins are considered a promising avenue of research for scientists working on ways of improving mitochondrial function and muscle function. They are currently the subject of clinical trials to evaluate their effectiveness in humans. The results are expected in 2017.

The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

More evidence poor sleep habits may raise diabetes risk Amsterdam, July 16, 2016 — Men who don’t get the right amount of sleep may have an increased risk of developing diabetes, a recent study suggests.

Plenty of previous research has linked sleep problems to diabetes, but the reasons behind this connection still aren’t well understood, said lead study author Femke Rutters of Vrije University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

The current study looked at one possible explanation: insulin resistance.

Researchers examined data on sleep patterns and insulin resistance for 788 men and women who didn’t have diabetes. People with obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol levels were excluded from the analysis.

To measure sleep, researchers asked participants to wear accelerometers during most waking hours.

Periods when people took these motion detectors off for longer than an hour were counted as sleep.

Overall, people slept an average of 7.3 hours a night, the study team reports in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, online June 29.

Men who slept much more or less than average were more likely to have insulin resistance than their peers who got average amounts of rest, the study found.

For women, however, the opposite happened. Women had less insulin resistance when they got more or less sleep than average.

It’s unclear from the study findings why this gender gap occurred, Rutters said by email.

The results for women contradict results from numerous previous

studies, noted Dr. James Gangwisch, a researcher at Columbia University in New York who wasn’t involved in the study.

One shortcoming of the study is that it didn’t examine what people ate, Gangwisch said by email.

“Getting adequate sleep can help with insulin sensitivity and appetite,” Gangwisch said. “Getting enough sleep can also help provide the energy necessary to exercise regularly.”

Another limitation of the study is the way sleep was measured, noted Kristen Knutson, a researcher at the University of Chicago who wasn’t involved in the study.

Counting all the hours people didn’t wear accelerometers as sleeping time might not be accurate because it wouldn’t capture times when people were awake during the night, or sleeping fitfully, Knutson said by email.

Even so, the study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that insufficient sleep may be one trigger for developing diabetes, Knutson said.

“Quite a large number of studies have shown short sleep duration to be associated with diabetes,” Rutters noted.

“The take-home message is that even when you are healthy, sleeping too much or too little can have detrimental effects on your health,” Rutters added.

Most adults typically need about seven or eight hours of sleep a night, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to boosting the risk of diabetes, insufficient sleep is also associated with other chronic health problems like obesity, depression and cardiovascular disease.

Page 16

August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

Misc Asia

Oozing dim sum buns delight diners in Hong Kong Thailand awaits news on ailing king Bangkok, August 1, 2016 — Thailand’s hospital-bound King Bhumibol Adulyadej is still being treated for fever and water on the brain, the palace said Monday in the latest in a series of updates on the 88-year-old’s health.

The world’s longest-reigning monarch is widely revered and his frail health is a matter of great public concern.

He is confined to a wheelchair and has not been seen or spoken in public for nearly a year.

But in recent months the palace has begun releasing regular updates on his health.

The king’s reign has spanned seven tumultuous decades and most Thais have never known another monarch.

Analysts say a decade-long political crisis is in part motivated by elites jostling for primacy once his reign ends.

Bhumibol has spent most of the past two years in hospital in Bangkok for a series of ailments, including bacterial infections, breathing difficulties, heart problems and hydrocephalus — a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid often dubbed water on the brain.

In the latest statement by the Royal Household Bureau on Monday night, doctors said they continued to use antibiotics to treat the infections causing his fever.

“After taking antibiotics his condition has got better but he still has some fever,” the statement said.

Doctors added that they had continued to adjust a catheter to drain excess spinal fluid, with satisfactory results.

Bhumibol is seen by most Thais as a unifying force in a nation bitterly divided along political lines.

Schoolchildren learn of his good works, cinemagoers must stand for the royal anthem and giant portraits of the monarch tower over most major roads.

But detailed discussion of his reign and the role of the monarchy is all but impossible in Thailand because of one the world’s strictest lese majeste laws.

Use of the laws has skyrocketed in the last two years since the military took over in a coup, with some people jailed for as much as 30 years.

Hong Kong, July 31, 2016 — At Dim Sum Icon in Hong Kong, diners are encouraged to play with their food.

Squeeze the lactating and defecating steamed dim sum bun with coconut cream inside, made to resemble one of the popular Japanese ‘Kobitos’ characters, and you’re in for a “hilarious” experience, customers say.

But far from grossing people out, Ray Kuo, assistant manager at the restaurant, said it’s one of the most popular items on the menu.

“Actually we got a lot of good reviews from them,” Kuo said. “That is the main one they post on Facebook and Instagram.”

Another crowd-pleaser is a pooping ‘Gudetama’, the lazy yellow egg character from Japan’s Sanrio, and a cartoon turd made out of cake.

The restaurant uses Japanese animations, such as the ‘Kobitos’ by Toshitaka Nabata and ‘Gudetama,’ but switches the main theme up every few months in addition to alternating menu items.

“We don’t want the old traditional Chinese style of dim sum, so we want make it more fashionable, Kuo said, emphasizing the restaurant’s appeal to teenagers and a “younger crowd.”

Dutch exchange student, Lineke Schrigver, said she knew about the restaurants from social media before even setting foot in the city and happened to walk by it.

“I have seen it on Facebook and on Instagram already before I came to Hong Kong, but I didn’t know this was like a famous thing or anything,” Schrigver said. “I was like I want to go there.”

Schrigver said the food was “hilarious” but “really tasty.”

Taiwanese tourist, Miss Su, who had just arrived in Hong Kong said her family had first eaten at a traditional dim sum restaurant but were disappointed.

“I think it is a novelty and special so I wanted to have a try,” Su said. “And it does taste really good, cute and tasty.”

Kuo explained that everything has been cleared with the copyrights holder, with a percentage of the profits going to the animation companies.

Dim Sum Icon opened their first restaurant two years ago and their second at the end of December. They are already in negotiations to open stores in mainland China and Macau.

Georgia Asian Times August 1-15, 2016

Page 17

Misc Asia

South Korea’s Park gets personal in US missile system row Seoul, Aug 2, 2016 — President Park Geun-Hye today evoked memories of her parents’ assassination as she hit back at opposition to the planned deployment of an advanced US anti-missile system in South Korea.

The defence ministry announced last month that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system, or THAAD, will be installed in Seongju — a rural county about 200 km southeast of Seoul — by the end of next year.

The decision was predicated on the growing threat posed by North Korea’s advancing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programme.

Protesting Seongju residents have alleged that the system’s powerful radar poses health and environmental hazards, while opposition lawmakers have been less than supportive of the move.

At a cabinet meeting Park voiced frustration at the objections to what she insisted was an “unchangeable” decision to deploy the system.

“If we cannot take basic defensive steps like deploying THAAD, how can we protect the country and the people?” she said in remarks posted on her official website.

“I have lost my parents in the most excruciatingly painful way. My only remaining calling is to safeguard the country and people from various threats,” she added.

Park’s father, the former president and military strongman Park ChungHee, was shot dead by his own intelligence chief in 1979.

Her mother was killed in 1974 during an earlier assassination attempt on her father by a North Korean sympathiser.

Park Geun-Hye never married or had children and once proclaimed herself wedded to the nation and its welfare.

While promising to listen to the complaints of the Seongju residents, the president warned against listening to “strange and groundless rumours rather than scientific evidence” about the THAAD deployment.

“I ask the political circle to gather their wisdom and efforts to prevent internal division and conflict,” she added.

Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula have been running high since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile tests.

North Korea has threatened to take “physical action” against the THAAD deployment, saying any South Korean ports and airfields hosting US military “hardware” would become a target.

Japan exhibition mourns fading sex culture Tokyo, July 30, 2016 — A sex exhibition smack in the middle in one of Tokyo’s hippest areas is shining a nostalgic light on Japanese erotica — a culture the curator believes is dying out.

Kyoichi Tsuzuki’s “Erotopia Japan” deals with Japanese sexuality and fantasies, the gallery located in the heart of Shibuya’s trendy fashion district plastered from floor to ceiling with eye-boggling prints, one wall dedicated to love hotel beds.

“This kind of Showa period (19261989) culture is being wiped out, as Japan is held to a global standard,” said Tsuzuki. “We might not be able to save it from being killed off completely but we can preserve it for posterity.”

Against a backdrop of erotic photos, the centre of the exhibition is dominated by life-like female dolls tied up in bondage ropes and screaming in agony. Another sex doll is strapped to a table with a suction hose protruding from her crotch and plugged into a television.

“Sex culture in the West and Asia are completely different,” said Tsuzuki.

“You see sex museums in Europe, in places like Paris and Amsterdam, but they are often viewed from an intellectual viewpoint, or as erotic art,” he added.

“In Japan, erotic art has a humorous edge, it’s cheeky and is meant to make you laugh. It’s totally different from the Christian belief that sex is somehow a sin.”

Japan has a liberal attitude towards sex and fertility festivals, where giant phalluses are joyfully paraded through the streets and toddlers and their grandparents suck on penis lollipops, take place annually.

However, the sex museums that once dotted the countryside have died out in recent years, largely due to apathy or political correctness.

“The aim of the exhibition is to remind Japanese people of that culture,” said Tsuzuki. “We are not so aware of it anymore.”

But a life-size photograph of a topless woman being sexually ravaged by the mythical ‘kappa’ river demon of Japanese legend, left some visitors scratching their heads.

“That’s just too Japanese,” said florist Kanako Sano, 27. “That might have been funny once, but now it’s just weird and a bit gross.”

Surprisingly, Tsuzuki says, far more women are visiting the exhibition than men.

“Men tend to be more shy and leave quickly,” he said. “More women have come and they linger longer over the exhibits.

“It’s like, women are more knowledgeable about where the best love hotels and which ones have cuter rooms,” he added. “Men don’t care where they do it.”

Page 18

August 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

TRAVEL

On the Harry Potter trail in Portugal — Rowling’s inspiration

Porto, July 29, 2016 — It feels as if time has stood still at Lello, a Gothic Revival style bookstore in the historic centre of Porto, whose heady “olde worlde” ambiance inspired some of the scenes for Harry Potter.

It was in Portugal’s second city that Potter author JK Rowling let her imagination off the leash during two years spent teaching English in the northern town, spending her free time writing early drafts of the seven-volume global blockbuster that made her a literary household name.

With its delicately sculpted wooden panelling, blue, red and golden stained glass and bookshelves piled high from floor to ceiling — not forgetting its iconic and sweeping staircase — Lello conjures its own form of magic.

The place draws in the beholder to set Potteresque pulses racing, so “familiar” does its setting appear to true fans.

“Wow! It’s amazing — it’s so like Harry Potter!” gushes Ines Pinto, a wide-eyed 11-year-old who makes a beeline for a stack of works on the young magician at the store’s entrance.

“For me, it’s the spitting image of Flourish and Blotts, where young sorcerers buy their magic manuals,” adds Nerea Moyeno, a 24-year-old Spanish tourist.

Moyeno hopes soon to get her hands on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a new play imagining the fictional boy wizard as a grown-up father of

three, which has its official premiere in London tomorrow after winning rave reviews for press performances.

“If the Spanish version doesn’t come out soon I’ll buy it in English,” she said.

The story is set 19 years after the seventh and final book in the Potter series, which have collectively shifted more than 450 million copies since 1997 and been adapted into eight films.

Thousands of fans will descend on Porto this weekend for a festival organised by Lello, says Jose Manuel Lello, 59 and the great-grandson of one of the two brothers who founded the bookstore which has ordered 5,000 copies of the new story.

“We have done very good business out of Harry Potter,” said Lello.

Even though the bookstore started charging visitors €3 last year — which they recoup if they make a purchase — sales have mushroomed 300 per cent.

The idea behind the fee, Lello says, is to “manage the stream of tourists” who flock to the store at a rate of some 3,000 per day and “transform them into readers.”

Magic staircase The customer cash boon has also enabled the store, which opened in 1906, to undertake extensive repairs in time for tomorrow’s celebration.

“We shall rediscover the atmo-

sphere of 110 years ago,” when the store opened its doors, by recreating the decor of the era, says Lello.

The fine staircase will emerge once again after being clad in scaffolding since April. Although it does not move — unlike the Grand Staircase at Hogwarts school of wizardry, there is a definite resemblance.

Rowling was a loyal customer when she lived in Porto between 1991 and 1993 and likewise was frequently to be found at the nearby Cafe Majestic, a famed belle epoque cultural haunt for the city’s intelligentsia.

It was at one of the cafe’s white marble low tables that Rowling penned an early draft for what would become Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Back then she was just another customer sipping a cup. It would be some years later, from 1997, when her books had already made her reputation worldwide, that Lello booksellers and Majestic’s waiters would highlight their link to the author.

“Tourists have suggested putting up a plaque to mark the writer’s passage, but we don’t know yet where to put it,” says Fernando Barrias, son of the legendary Majestic’s owner whose customers have included actress Romy Schneider.

Rushed departure “Yes, we used to frequent the Majestic,” said Rowling’s former husband, Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes, in a rare interview. He still lives in the brown and green house the former couple lived in after marrying in 1992.

They split up after a nocturnal argument in November 1993. Two weeks later, Rowling, then 28, left Portugal for good, taking her four-month-old daughter with her.

“In those first weeks in Portugal I wrote what has become my favourite chapter in the Philosopher’s Stone, ‘The Mirror of Erised’ — and had hoped that, when I returned from Portugal I would have a finished book under my arm. In fact, I had something even better: My daughter, Jessica,” Rowling explains on her official website.

Two decades on, guide Bruno Correia shows off some of Porto’s haunts which inspired the author.

Those include a tower looking rather like the Astronomy Tower where Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore meets his end and the Crystal Palace Gardens which bring to mind the Forbidden Forest, as well as the university, home to black-caped students.

“Their uniforms look very much like those of young sorcerers. Tourists even call them Harry Potters,” says Correia, 33, a fan since his teens.