Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

Covering The Multicultural Asian American Community in Georgia

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Hobby Lobby wins against birth control mandate

July 1-15, 2014

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

Publisher: Li Wong Account Manager: Adrian West Contributors: Andrian Putra, May Lee, Mark Ho

Tel: 678-971-9388 Advertising: gat@gasiantimes.com Editorial: info@gasiantimes.com URL: www.gasiantimes.com Mailing Address: P.O. Box 4502 Suwanee GA 30024 Copyright Georgia Asian Times 2004-2014

All Rights Reserved: including those to reproduce this printing or parts thereof in any form without permission in writing from Georgia Asian Times. Established in 2004, the Georgia Asian Times is published by Asiamax Inc. All facts, opinions, and statements appearing within this publication are those of writers and editors themseleves, and are in no way to be construed as statements, positions, endorsements by Georgia Asian Times or its officers.

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GAT Calendar of Events GAT welcome submission of announcement pertaining to community related events.

Please email event, date, venue, and time to gat@gasiantimes.com.

GAT does not guarantee insertion of event announcement and has the right to deny any posting.

GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia ~ Awards Presentation Date: Thursday, July 10, 2014 Time: 6:30 pm Venue: Happy Valley Restaurant Sponsorship opportunities available For more info: gat25@gasiantimes. com Laotian American National Alliance (LANA) Conference “Next generation Leadership: Connections and Building Bridges�

Date: August 1-2, 2014 Venue: UPS World HQ, 55 Glenlake Parkway, NE, Atlanta GA 30328 For more info: Anasone Silivongxay, email: anasone.lana@gmail.com Bridal Extravaganza of Atlanta Date: Sunday, August 17, 2014 Time: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Venue: Atlanta Convention Center at AmericasMart building 2 West, 230 Spring Street, Atlanta GA 3030 For more info: www.beabride.net

Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Atlanta Date: Saturday, September 13, 2014 Time: 7:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue: Clarks Bridge - Kayaking Facility, Lake Lanier, Gainesville For more info: www.dragonboatatlanta.com JapanFest 2014 Date: Sept 20-21, 2014 Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Venue: Convention Center at Gwinnett Center 6400 Sugarloaf Pkwy, Duluth, GA 30097 Cost: $8 / Children under 6 free 10th Atlanta Asian Film Festival Date: October 10-24, 2014 Venues: Lefont Sandy Springs, GSU-Cinefest, GPC Dunwoody, University of West Georgia-Caroollton For more info: www.atlaff.org

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

METRO ASIAN NEWS

Advertisement

Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities Awards $150,000 in Scholarships June 24, 2014 - Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities (ARMHC) awarded $150,000 in scholarships to the class of 2014. The scholarships were awarded to 73 upcoming college freshmen throughout the greater Atlanta area including 40 students who received multi-year scholarships. The multi-year scholarship program was created to help students better afford their college education. Upon eligibility, each student receives $2,500 each year up to $10,000 over four years. This year, multi-year scholarship recipients will attend prestigious institutions such as Emory University, Harvard University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Yale University.

The winning students were recognized for their achievement at scholarship receptions which were held on Saturday, June 14, and Saturday, June 21 at the Gatewood Ronald McDonald House.

“ARMHC is lucky to have the support of Greater Atlanta McDonald’s Owners/Operators who are committed to helping local Atlanta students who would otherwise have limited access to college in their desire to further their education,” says Vivian de Jesus, ARM-

HC Board member and scholarship committee chair.

The ARMHC scholarship program has awarded $2.85 million in scholarships to students since its inception in 1995. Nationally, Ronald McDonald House Charities has awarded students $45 million.

The scholarship program is comprised of four individual scholarship programs: RMHC®/ASIA (Asian Students Increasing Achievement), RMHC®/African American Future Achievers, RMHC®/HACER® (Hispanic American Commitment to Educational Resources), and RMHC® Scholars. A committee made up of local educators, community leaders, McDonald’s representatives, ARMHC Board members and others review applications and select winners based on criteria including academic achievement, financial need and community involvement.

Gwinnett County Public Library Offers Zinio, a Digital Magazine Database Lawrenceville, GA—June 23, 2014 - - Gwinnett County Public Library, in partnership with RBdigital from Recorded Books (Prince Frederick, MD), is now offering Zinio for Libraries.

Awarded Best New Database of 2012

by Library Journal, Zinio is the world’s largest newsstand, offering multi-user access to popular publications.

Library members can access this free service beginning July 7. “In continuing with its longstanding tradition of being a leader in the delivery of library and information services, the Gwinnett County Public Library is pleased to offer Zinio to our customers,” said GCPL Executive Director Charles Pace.

“Zinio will allow library customers to

choose from a selection of magazines and download the current issue to their desktop or to a variety of mobile devices.

Through www.gwinnettpl.org, patrons of Gwinnett County Public Library have unlimited multi-user access to complete digital magazines, which can easily be viewed on most Internet-enabled devices inside or outside of the library.

Zinio’s unique technology digitally recreates a magazine page for page, including full color pictures, intuitive navigation, key word article search and interactive elements such as audio and video. National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Newsweek and Cosmopolitan.

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

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METRO ASIAN NEWS

Connecting Atlanta for 35 years...

Photo courtesy: Jung Mar

NACA host mentoring session to promote business skills Atlanta, June 26, 2014 — The National Association of Chinese Americans (NACA) host a group session for its mentoring program at the office of Greenberg Traurig LLP.

In addition to sharing their networking experiences, the Dos and Don’ts, panelist also touched upon how to manage their boss and peers and to navigate in the corporate world.

The objective of the session was to promote interaction, networking skills, and to learn from the invited panelists.

For more information on NACA mentoring program, visit www. naca-atlanta.org

Panelist for the session included Ann Cramer, Senior Consultant, Coxe Curry & Associates and Jeff Smith, Principal, Greenberg Taurig LLP, and Lani Wong, Chair of NACA.

Thank you

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

BUSINESS

expenses rose 36 per cent in the fourth quarter, mainly due to expenditure related to the World Cup. Nike’s marketing expenses were expected to increase by 30 per cent in the current quarter as it looked to grab the attention of football fans, a company executive said.

Nike launched shoes branded Mercurial Superfly, Magista Obra, the Nike Hypervenom 2014 World Cup Boot and the Nike Tiempo Legend V World Cup Boot between March and May. Ronaldo, declared the world’s best footballer after he won the coveted Ballon d’Or, is wearing the Nike Mercurial Superfly in the World Cup. “There are more players wearing Nike boots in the World Cup than all other brands combined,” Nike’s Edwards said.

Nike outperforms on World Cup fever Bangalore, June 27, 2014 — Nike Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly results, as demand for its apparel and footwear rose in North America and Western Europe after the company spent heavily on marketing ahead of the 2014 football World Cup.

competition to Germany’s Adidas AG on the hotly-contested European turf.

Shares of the world’s largest sports wear maker rose 3.2 per cent to US$79.37 in extended trading.

Nike maintained its share of the Western Europe sportswear market at about 12 per cent in 2013, while Adidas’s share shrank to 12.6 per cent in the year from 13.2 per cent in 2012, according to Euromonitor International data.

Nike, known for its distinctive “swoosh” or tick logo, gets more than half of its total revenue from North America and Western Europe.

Revenue from North America rose 10 per cent in the fourth quarter ended May 31, while revenue from Western Europe jumped 18 per cent, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations.

“Nike is the number one brand in each of the top 10 cities in Western Europe,” Nike brand president Trevor Edwards said on a post-earnings conference call.

The company has been giving tough

Nike has been “putting a lot of trendright products into the marketplace, so there’s very high demand”, Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough said.

The World Cup, hosted by Brazil, marks the first time that Nike is sponsoring more national teams than Adidas.

Nike signed up football legends Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr, Eden Hazard and Wayne Rooney for commercials to promote its merchandise ahead of the much-watched event. Its “Winner Stays” commercial attracted over 82 million views on YouTube.com.

The company said its marketing

Strong outlook Nike said it expected “tremendous energy” around the World Cup to help its first-quarter revenue grow in low double digits in percentage terms, including the impact of currency fluctuations.

Orders for Nike-branded shoes and clothing scheduled for delivery between June and November, a gauge of demand the company calls “futures orders”, rose 12 per cent globally in the fourth quarter, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations.

The rise in orders was driven by Western Europe, where futures orders jumped 25 per cent.

Nike’s net income from continuing operations rose to US$698 million (RM2.3 million), or 78 cents per share, in the quarter from US$690 million, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue from continuing operations rose 13 per cent to US$7.43 billion, excluding currency fluctuations.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 75 cents per share and revenue of US$7.34 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

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BUSINESS

Footballers also fashion icons off World Cup pitch Rio de Janeiro, June 30, 2014 — With thousands of cameras capturing their every move for billions of fans, footballers know the World Cup isn’t just about sport — it’s about tattoos, hairstyles, clothes and the big business of setting trends.

They arrive at airports, training sessions, press conferences and matches with carefully crafted looks, conscious that a new hairdo or tattoo can set social media networks abuzz — and that global brands with multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals are watching.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese captain and reigning world player of the year, sparked a flurry of tweets when he emerged from the dressing room for yesterday’s match against the United States with what looked like a lightning bolt shaved into the side of his head.

The 29-year-old — whose endorsements account for some US$28 million of his estimated US$80 million yearly earnings — had already caused a sensation just before the tournament by posing nude with supermodel girlfriend Irina Shayk for Vogue’s Spanish edition.

Brazil’s star striker Neymar, 22, meanwhile appeared in the magazine’s Brazilian edition with supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

And French striker Olivier Giroud, 27, turned heads by posing bare-chested for gay magazine Tetu.

Like former England captain turned underwear model David Beckham, or Bayern Munich manager and fashion plate Pep Guardiola, these players’ style can draw the same worldwide attention as their moves on the pitch.

And while the likes of CR7 and Becks

are already superstars, a new generation of footballers is dreaming of converting World Cup success into new contracts and sponsorship deals.

More image-conscious Some of the most emblematic images of the World Cup are of the teams coming off their planes in suits and ties. Fashion houses fight among themselves to attach their names to this dapper scene.

Most teams give the job to a homegrown brand.

At the 2010 World Cup, England bypassed sophisticated Savile Row tailors this year for lightweight wool and mohair suits by middle-class staple Marks & Spencer.

Fans and fashion hounds alike have been snapping up replica versions, which retail for £199.

The choice raised some eyebrows on social networks.

“England’s World Cup made-tomeasure suit cost £199 from Marks & Spencer. Wonder how £100,000-perweek-earning players feel about that,” wrote Twitter user Always Boleh.

“The price of the FA suit is in line with the rest of our tailoring offer,” said company spokeswoman Emma Richman.

“Simple, slim-fitting and stylish,” GQ magazine said of England’s suits. ““It might not be the most obvious ensemble for a South American summer break, but what did you expect — a linen safari suit and ‘mandals?’”

Esquire begged to differ. “With suits, affordability comes with hidden costs, and in this case it’s style,” it said.

The grey three-piece is more accessible than the swank navy ensemble put together for Italy by Dolce & Gabbana, the Azzurri’s official tailor since 2006.

Germany went with national luxury brand Hugo Boss, while Spain went with classic suits offset by red ties by Pedro del Hierro, which is selling them online for €280.

Sadly for the dethroned champions, they will not have the chance to wear them anymore at this World Cup. France for its part opted for select line Smalto, known for making bespoke suits for dignitaries and executives.

Armani Jeans, Lanvin, Paul Smith, Hackett, Trussardi and Roberto Verino have all dressed different clubs.

And the tie-ups can extend beyond clothes. Many fashion houses plan to launch hair gels, underwear, watches and other products to complete the masculine wardrobe.

“Male players are more and more image-conscious,” said Brazilian superstar Marta, considered one of the best women footballers of all time.

The comment came after a recent caricature of her and Neymar. It depicts her training hard as he looks in the mirror, combing his hair and putting on earrings.

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

LIFESTYLE

Veuve Clicquot buries champagne in Baltic Sea in aging experiment Helsinki, June 26, 2014 — Veuve Clicquot has lowered hundreds of bottles of champagne deep into the Baltic Sea in an aging experiment that also commemorates the discovery of shipwrecked bottles in the same area about four years ago.

Three hundred regular bottles and 50 magnums of bubbly encaged in a specially built, underwater cellar, dubbed the Aland Vault after the Aland shipwreck off the coast of Finland, will remain buried for 50 years, reports wine publication The Drinks Business.

In 2010, divers near Finland’s autonomous Aland archipelago uncovered a cache of more than 165 bottles from champagne houses Veuve Clicquot, Heidsieck & Co and the now-defunct house of Juglar on the seafloor in a shipwreck dating between 1825 and 1830.

The haul included vintages dating back to 1839, and bottles that were perfectly preserved.

The deliberately submerged Veuve Clicquot bottles currently lie 40m below the surface, where they’ll be monitored by cellarmasters and occasionally retrieved for tastings.

Veuve Clicquot is the latest winery to experiment with underwater aging.

Other wineries that have lowered bottles into the sea include Mira from the US and Larrivet Haut-Brion in Bordeaux, points out Decanter.

Drappier also lowered hundreds of bottles of bubbly in the sea to study the effect of the tide and water pressure on champagne maturation, adds The Drinks Business.

The Baltic Sea, meanwhile, offers unique aging conditions for its low levels of salinity and a constant temperature of 4C.

Countries with the most powerful passports Los Angeles, June 28, 2014 — For being able to enter the largest number of countries visa-free, Brits, Swedes and Finns have been deemed holders of the most powerful passports in the world.

The figure that put the three countries at the top of Movehub.com’s “How powerful is your passport?”

That’s 173 countries that Brits, Swedes and Finns can travel to without having to worry about visas and extra travel documents.

Here are the most powerful passports in the world: 173 countries: UK, Sweden, Finland 172: US, Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark 171: Belgium, Italy, Netherlands 170: Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain 168: Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland 167: Australia, Greece, Singapore

“More than a simple grant of access into a country, passports and the visas they contain are a reflection of geopolitics, the relationship between two nations, and a country’s status relative to the rest of the world,” reads the chart.

“They’re also of immense value.”

166: South Korea 165: Iceland 163: Malaysia, Malta 159: Liechtenstein

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

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FEATURE

the coverage. The accommodation is itself the subject of a separate legal challenge.

Hobby Lobby wins against birth control mandate Washington DC, June 30, 2014 — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that business owners can object on religious grounds to a provision of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law that requires closely held private companies to provide health insurance that covers birth control.

In a 5-4 vote on ideological lines, the justices said that such companies can seek an exemption from the socalled birth control mandate of the law known as Obamacare. The decision, which applies only to companies owned by a small number of individuals, means employees of those companies will have to obtain certain forms of birth control from other sources.

Hundreds of demonstrators on both side of one of the most contentious cases of the Supreme Court term converged on the court building, wearing costumes, chanting and carrying signs.

Some demonstrators chanted, “Keep your boardroom out of my bedroom” and “Separate church and state, women must decide their fate.” Signs carried by demonstrators offered contrasting views: “Obamacare - religious liberty First Amendment outlawed,” “I

am the pro-life generation,” and “Birth control not my boss’s business.” One man dressed up as a copy of the Bible, brandishing a sign saying, “Use me not for your bigotry.”

In a majority opinion by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, the court said the ruling applies only to the birth control mandate and does not mean companies would necessarily succeed if they made similar claims to other insurance requirements, such as vaccinations and blood transfusions.

In the majority opinion, Alito indicated that employees could still be able to obtain the birth control coverage via an expansion of an accommodation to the mandate that the Obama administration has already introduced for religious-affiliated nonprofits. The accommodation allows health insurance companies to provide the coverage without the employer being involved in the process.

Under the accommodation, eligible non-profits must provide a “self certification”, described by one lower court judge as a “permission slip” authorizing insurance companies to provide

The government’s accommodation is “less restrictive than requiring employers to fund contraceptive methods that violate their religious beliefs,” Alito wrote.

GINSBURG DISSENT Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a dissenting opinion on behalf of the liberal wing of the court.

“In a decision of startling breadth, the court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law ... they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs,” she wrote.

The justices ruled for the first time that for-profit companies can make claims under a 1993 federal law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

One of the two cases was brought by arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby Stores Ltd, which is owned and operated by David and Barbara Green and their children, who are evangelical Christians. The other case was brought

by Norman and Elizabeth Hahn, Mennonites who own Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp in Pennsylvania.

None of the companies that have objected are publicly traded companies. Hobby Lobby has around 13,000 full-time employees while Conestoga Wood has 950.

The decision will affect similar cases brought by employers around the country. There are 49 cases in total, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Religious institutions are already exempt from the requirement.

The company owners involved in litigation around the country do not all oppose every type of birth control.

Some, including Hobby Lobby and Conestoga, object only to emergency contraceptive methods, such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s Plan B morning-after pill, and ella, made by the Watson Pharma unit of Actavis PLC. Shares in drugmakers that sell popular forms of birth control, including Actavis and Teva, were little changed in morning trading after the ruling.

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll before the ruling found a majority of Americans oppose letting employers, based on their religious views, exclude certain contraceptives from workers’ insurance coverage.

The poll of 10,693 people asked whether employers should be able to choose what forms of contraceptives their health plans provide based on their religious beliefs. Of those responding, 53 percent disagreed and 35 percent agreed. Of those surveyed, 12 percent said they did not know.

The cases are Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Burwell, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 13-354, 13356. - Reuters

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

FOCUS Luca Paolini, strategist at Swiss wealth manager Pictet. “This is politically unsustainable and is sure to reverse.”

Hoarding If that view’s widely held, you would imagine those with the money are already braced for it.

Cash stash may reflect fear of wealth going out of fashion London, June 25, 2014 — As tension over inequality simmers, persistent cash hoarding by multinationals and the super-rich may be one measure of how seriously attempts at remedial action are being taken.

The political heat over soaring income and wealth gaps in the United States, Britain and much of the developing world has built up since the credit shock and global recession of 2008/09.

Even though protest groups such as Occupy failed to gain traction much beyond 2011, the evidence of inequality continuing to balloon so soon after such a seismic economic bust has re-focussed the minds of economists, politicians and voters.

There’s little doubt the richer are getting much richer.

Last week’s annual CapGemini/RBC survey of investors worldwide showed the number of households with more than US$1 million in investable wealth rose almost 15 per cent to 13.7 million in the year through 2013. Their total wealth rose almost 14 per cent to US$53 trillion, it estimated.

Both the ranks of the rich and their collective wealth have now risen 60 per cent since 2008, the survey showed, and those fortunes are expected to rise a further 22 per cent by 2016.

By contrast, world economic output has expanded just 16 per cent over the past five years and the slow, sub-par recovery and subdued wage growth for most workers sharpens the political divide. Near zero interest rates and money printing designed to kick-start credit growth and job creation helped stabilize the situation but has had the side-effect of inflating the financial assets and real estate holdings of the richest even further.

What’s more, anger has risen over a disproportionate hit taken by ordinary taxpayers for repairing government finances even as corporate and wealth tax rises were largely eschewed.

Policies adopted since the ‘Great Recession’ have clearly done little to balance the scales on personal wealth.

And International Monetary Fund analysis shows more countries have cut corporate taxes over recent years than raised them - even as most countries have increased personal taxes.

And one glaring and enduring observation of the post-crisis years is the extent of cash hoarding by large companies and the wealthy. This at least partly reveals the level of anxiety among these groups that changes to taxation or income regimes are only a matter of time.

Estimates of the amount of cash that non-financial US, European and Japanese companies are sitting on is as high as US$5 trillion — twice the levels of 10 years ago as capital expenditure and investment has largely seized up.

A pick up in mergers and acquisitions this year is modest by comparison with bloated balance sheets.

Moreover, the CapGemini/RBC survey showed rich investors still stored a whopping 27 per cent of their expanding portfolios in cash or equivalents through last year — more than they held in any other asset class and twice pre-crisis levels.

With cash now effectively losing money when adjusted for inflation, that’s an extraordinary level of caution.

But for many it may be a price worth paying for keeping money highly liquid and geographically mobile if a domestic tax hammer is about to come down or profit margins are to be squeezed.

But with US mid-term elections due in November and UK parliamentary elections early next year, political pressure is mounting again. Cutting through the rhetoric is tricky, but some feel we may be on the cusp of action.

Many economists reckon the fear is simply due the dire state of the world economy and expectation of paltry growth for years to come. Others reckon it’s exaggerated due to the overvaluation of conventional assets from super-easy monetary policy and quantitative easing everywhere.

“Consumers and workers are paying far more than corporations to finance governments’ austerity efforts,” said

Yet worries about a political backlash to stabilize inequality are intertwined with growth worries.

Although IMF studies show higher taxes and redistribution are generally benign in terms of growth impact, uncertainty about how those policies are implemented and “future game rules” holds back investment today, said SEB chief economist Robert Berqvist.

With the ‘effective’ tax rate paid by US firms having fallen some 18 percentage points below the statutory 37 per cent rate, there may be good reason to fret on that score.

Paolini at Pictet pointed to G20-led initiatives to clamp down on aggressive corporate tax avoidance - such as recent ‘tax inversion’ M&A activity in which US pharma firms target Irishbased peers to avail themselves of super-low Irish taxes.

And a forecast rise in the effective US corporate tax rate by 3 percentage points over the coming years as a result of these measures could lower profit growth by one per cent a year, he estimates.

To that, add pressure for income rebalancing that will crimp corporate profits further. Higher minimum wage proposals are on the table in the United States, Britain and Germany and could eventually halt the decade-long decline in real US wages.

The ultimate pincer movement by the authorities would be to find ways to tax unproductive cash holdings themselves. Zero interest rates are already doing much of the work on that score and negative rates are no longer taboo.

But the fact that cash continues to pile up regardless shows the depth of the concern that change is at hand.

“Business conditions are about to become harsher,” Paolini said.

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

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ENTERTAINMENT

“Transformers 4” tops North American box office Los Angeles, June 30, 2014 - The fourth installment of the smash “Transformers” franchise topped North American box office returns in its opening weekend, preliminary industry data showed yesterday.

Some bad reviews did not keep Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction” - a massive-budget morphing robots epic from becoming the first movie of the year to open with US$100 million on the domestic front, according to industry monitor Exhibitor Relations.

This chapter, which stars Mark Wahlberg and Nicola Peltz, sees a powerful group of scientists scrambling to break new tech barriers.

Buddy comedy “22 Jump Street,” featuring Jonah Hill and Channing

Tatum, meanwhile pulled in US$15.4 million in second place, for a total of US$139.8 million after three weeks in theaters.

Another blockbuster summer sequel, “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” was third with US$13.1 million over the weekend, and US$121.8 million total, Exhibitor Relations said.

Starring Kevin Hart and Gabrielle Union, comedy “Think Like A Man Too” has all the couples back for a Las Vegas wedding, but romantic plans go awry as their misadventures get them into compromising situations.

It earned fourth place with US$10.4 million, bringing its total receipts to US$48.2 million after two weeks on the silver screen.

Holding steady in fifth place was Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent,” a modern retelling of the life of Sleeping Beauty’s arch-nemesis, with US$8.2 million for the weekend and US$201.9 million since its release five weeks ago.

“Jersey Boys,” Clint Eastwood’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical about the 1960s rise to pop success of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, was in sixth place at US$7.6 million.

Falling to seventh was Tom Cruise’s latest action movie, “Edge of Tomorrow,” in which he stars as a soldier caught in a time loop as he battles aliens. It took in US$5.2 million.

In the eighth spot was romantic drama “The Fault in Our Stars,” based on a popular young adult novel by

John Green about teenagers who meet at a cancer support group. It earned US$4.8 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were action blockbuster “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (US$3.3 million), and indie feel-good food-truck comedy “Chef” (US$1.7 million).

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

TRAVEL edly moaned it reeked of “gas, coffee and bricks”. While espressos are still in vogue, the bricks have all but disappeared. Check that out for yourself by exploring the wealthy eastern area, nicknamed “Sanhattan”, due to its glittering high rises and parks, namely the polished Parque Bicentenario.

A savvier Santiago put itself on travel map Santiago, June 28, 2014 — The city of Santiago, tucked under the towering Andes, cut off in the north by the world’s driest desert and in the south by frigid Patagonia, has long languished at the end of Latin America, as if forgotten.

A brutal 17-year-long dictatorship that ended in 1990 only compounded the Chilean capital’s isolation. But the city of about 7 million is finally letting loose and exploring its funkier side, bolstered by a flourishing democracy, increased prosperity and stronger ties with the world beyond its borders.

Bohemian neighborhoods, museums, leafy parks and a thriving nightlife are transforming Santiago, which residents had nicknamed “Santiasco”, a pun on the Spanish word “asco”, or disgust, due to its pollution.

Still, Santiago is not yet Buenos Aires — and don’t you dare compare the two in front of a Chilean — but it is putting itself on the map like never before.

The following are some tips from Reuters for getting the most out of a trip to Santiago.

A bard’s abode in the hills Put on your walking shoes and head to the commanding San Cristóbal Hill that overlooks metropolitan Santiago.

Hike up, bike up or opt for the efficient cable car.

Nestled at the foot of the San Cristóbal is the Santiago home of Pablo Neruda, one of the Nobel Laureate and poet’s three delightfully eccentric houses. A guided tour of “La Chascona” (www.fundacionneruda.org), named in honour of his mistress-turned-wife’s dishevelled red hair, is a must.

Roam the Bellavista neighborhood, celebrated for its colorful street art and rowdy nightlife. Cross the Mapocho River and pop into the National Fine Arts Museum, which features paintings

by Chilean and European artists alike.

Soak in the rapidly gentrifying Lastarria area, where wine bars and independent designer shops are flourishing. Sip a cafe con leche at Wonderful (José Victorino Lastarria, 90) as you people-watch.

Wander through the small castles and landscaped gardens with elaborate fountains clinging to the perky Santa Lucía Hill, once a sacred place for the Mapuche indigenous tribe who used it as a lookout spot during the Spanish conquest.

Shiny skyscrapers, darker past Join the crowds gawking at mimes and chuckling with comedians at the Plaza de Armas central square. Get a glimpse of the imposing La Moneda presidential palace a few blocks over.

When Neruda moved from the countryside to Santiago in 1921, he report-

But despite the recent economic boom and increasingly liberal social values, Chile’s tormented past lingers, the subtext to most political discussions.

To clue yourself in, drop by the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, which documents the 1973 coup that toppled President Salvador Allende and ushered in the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Decompress with a stroll around the charmingly rundown houses of the Brazil neighborhood, once Santiago’s chic area.

Sample a pisco sour at The Clinic, a bar brimming with tongue-in-cheek, left-leaning political posters, to get one current view of Chilean society.

Chilled red wine While Chilean cuisine may not be as sophisticated as some others in the region, the country does boast fine wines and a fantastic array of seafood and fresh local produce.

Tuck into high-end local fare at Liguria or at one of the numerous restaurants sheltered under the iron-roofed Mercado Central.

But the sprawling, cheap and bustling Vega Market across the river from the Mercado Central has a more local/authentic feel to it. Get an action-packed look at Santiaguinos stocking up on juicy papayas, traditional Andean corn and just about everything else.

Consider visiting a vineyard to sample Chile’s famed Carmenere. The wellknown Concha y Toro (conchaytoro. com) makes for the easiest trip, though smaller producers on the road to the coast, such as the upscale Matetic Vineyards, (matetic.com/en) are more charming.

Take advantage of Santiago’s proximity to both the beach and the mountains — both under two hours — to escape the urban jungle. Fit in a trip to the funky port town of Valparaíso and dip into the Pacific Ocean at the nearby Viña del Mar beach resort or the prettier, but pricier Zapallar. Also consider skiing the Andean peaks that surround Santiago.

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

Page 13

SPORTS

Andrew Wiggins is 1st pick of NBA draft by Cleveland Cavaliers New York, June 27, 2014 — Canada’s Andrew Wiggins from the University of Kansas was taken with the number one pick of the 2014 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers at Barclays Center yesterday.

The top-end of the draft had an international flavour as four of the first eight players came from outside the United States.

The 19-year-old Wiggins, an athletic, 6-foot-8 (2.03m) guard with great leaping ability who averaged 17.1 points and 5.9 rebounds last season as a freshman, joins a Cavs team that was 33-49 last season in the National Basketball Association.

“Just going in and creating impact off the bat,” Wiggins, nicknamed “Maple Jordan” for his explosiveness, said about coming to the NBA. “Just playing my game and have confidence in myself because I have to believe in myself before anyone else can.”

The selection of Wiggins made it back-to-back number ones from Canada, as Cleveland made forward Anthony Bennett the first overall pick in 2013. Bennett struggled in his rookie season as he averaged 4.2 points and three rebounds per game.

Jabari Parker of Duke University was taken next by the Milwaukee Bucks.

The 19-year-old Parker, a polished offensively-minded forward who averaged 19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds as a freshman last season, was happy to join Milwaukee, which is about a 90-minute drive from his hometown of Chicago.

“I’m really excited,” said Parker.

“You know I get to represent the city of Chicago but also the city of Mil-

waukee and the whole Midwest, those Great Lakes, Lake Michigan. It feels real good.”

Cameroon’s Joel Embiid from the University of Kansas, the potential defensive ace of the draft, was taken with the third pick by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Embiid, a 7-foot centre with outstanding defensive skills, averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game as a freshman despite missing the postseason tournaments because of a back injury.

The 20-year-old Embiid, who had been projected as the possible number one pick, had recent foot surgery but it did not diminish his NBA appeal by much in being the third player taken.

“I just can’t believe it,” Embiid, who could not come to New York because of his surgery, told NBA TV. “It just shows that anything is possible.”

Power forward Aaron Gordon of Arizona was selected fourth by the Orlando Magic before the Utah Jazz continued the international trend by taking 18-year-old Australian guard Dante Exum with the fifth pick, despite no college experience.

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, not accustomed to picking so high in the annual draft that rewards teams with poor records the higher picks, followed in the order.

Boston took bruising point guard Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State, while the Lakers chose power forward Julius Randle from Kentucky.

Canada then claimed another spot in the top 10 when the Sacramento Kings picked shooting guard Nik Stauskas from Michigan with the eighth choice.

Athletic Bilbao’s Herrera pays buyout for Manchester United move Madrid, June 27, 2014 — Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera has paid off the buyout clause in his contract, the Spanish club said today, opening the way for him to sign for Manchester United.

“Ander Herrera Aguera has fulfilled the requirements of the applicable regulations valid for unilateral termination of the employment contract that bound him to our club, by depositing today the amount of compensation established in the contract,” Athletic Bilbao said in a statement.

“Athletic Club thanks Ander Herrera for his dedication during the three seasons he has enjoyed at the club and wishes him the best in his future sports projects.”

The Basque club had earlier said it had rejected Manchester United’s offer of €36 million (RM157.4 million) to buy Herrera, 24.

The settling of the buyout clause by the player himself appeared to resolve

the question of his move to Manchester, which British media had said was imminent this week.

It would be the English club’s first signing since they named Dutchman Louis van Gaal — currently in charge of the Netherlands team at the World Cup — in May as the successor to David Moyes.

The Bilbao-born Herrera joined Athletic from Real Zaragoza in July 2011.

He has scored 11 goals for Athletic in three seasons with the club, including two in the UEFA Cup. “Athletic should aspire to have players whose first priority is defending the club’s colours,” said Athletic Bilbao’s chairman Josu Urrutia in the statement.

“Ander Herrera’s decision is not in line with that idea, which is a disappointment for the club.”

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

SPORTS The nine-match ban is also likely to rule Suarez out of Uruguay’s defense of the Copa America in 2015.

The sanction was the toughest ever handed down for foul play at a World Cup, surpassing the eight-match ban against Italy’s Mauro Tassotti in 1994 for elbowing Spain’s Luis Enrique.

Uruguay football officials, who insisted Suarez had not bitten anyone, said they planned to appeal, describing the punishment as “totally exaggerated.”

The country’s Sports Minister Liliam Kechichian also railed against the verdict. “This disproportionate sanction hurts us,” she said on Twitter.

Suarez begins to count financial cost of World Cup expulsion Rio de Janeiro, June 27, 2014 — Disgraced Uruguay star Luis Suarez’s pocket started to take a hit today as a major sponsor terminated his contract with immediate effect for biting Italian opponent Giorgio Chiellini, which also saw him expelled from the World Cup. Gibraltar-based gambling website 888 only signed up Suarez after his outstanding season for his club Liverpool but felt the actions of the player on Tuesday left them no choice but to end their relationship.

Their move followed that of sportswear giant Adidas, who yesterday dropped him from all World Cup advertising but said they would review the wider deal after the finals are over.

Suarez had exited the World Cup in shame yesterday after being hit with the heaviest suspension in the tournament’s history.

Suarez, who has become a serial biting offender having already served two long suspensions for previous offenses, was slapped with an immediate worldwide four-month ban and fined 100,000 Swiss francs.

“Such behavior cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field,” FIFA Disciplinary Committee chief Claudio Sulser said.

Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona, no stranger to controversy himself and who was sent home in disgrace after failing a doping test in the 1994 finals, castigated the decision.

“Why not lock him up in Guantanamo Bay,” he railed.

“It’s not as if anybody died. It’s only football, it is a mere scratch.”

Football’s governing body imposed a four-month ban on all football activities, a nine-game international ban and the fine. The punishment took immediate effect, meaning Suarez misses Uruguay’s second round match against Colombia tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro.

It will also hit his club career with Liverpool in England’s Premier League as he cannot play until the end of October.

Widespread revulsion But the speed and severity of FIFA’s punishment reflected the widespread revulsion throughout the football world at an incident captured clearly on television footage.

FIFA had faced mounting calls to issue a heavy sanction given Suarez’s previous disciplinary history.

Adidas responded to the punishment by saying it “fully backs” FIFA’s decision.

“We do not accept the recent behavior of Luis Suarez and shall remind him of the high standards we expect of our players,” an Adidas spokeswoman said.

888’s move came a day after they said they were reviewing the situation following the disturbing images being shown worldwide.

“888poker signed Luis Suarez following a fantastic season for which his achievements were widely recognized,” the company said in a statement today.

“Regrettably, following his actions during Uruguay’s World Cup match against Italy on Tuesday, 888poker has decided to terminate its relationship with Luis Suarez with immediate effect.”

Suarez was also ordered to leave his team’s hotel after his accreditation was revoked.

Mystery surrounds his destination as crowds of flag-waving spectators, who gathered at Uruguayan capital Montevideo’s international airport were left disappointed, as he failed to show up.

On the pitch, Germany and the United States clinched their places in the last 16 at the expense of crisis-hit Ghana and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.

Ghana’s chaotic World Cup came to an end just hours after revelations of turmoil inside the African giant’s camp.

The Ghana Football Association said star players Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng had both been axed from the squad after a bust-up with team officials.

The suspension came one day after the Ghana government said it was airlifting US$3 million to Brazil to resolve a financial dispute with players, who boycotted training Monday.

In later games, Belgium clinched first place in Group H after beating South Korea while Algeria reached the last 16 for the first time after drawing 1-1 with Russia.

Argentina suffered a blow ahead of next Tuesday’s last 16 clash with Switzerland as one of their so-called Fab Four Sergio Aguero was ruled out with a leg muscle injury.

However, team management refuted rumors it was a tournament-ending injury for the 26-year-old, who has been off form and failed to score in his three appearances.

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

Page 15

HEALTH Healthy gut microbes may lower obesity diabetes rates Chicago, June 25, 2014 — In a small study that supports previous findings connecting certain digestive bacterial species with obesity and type 2 diabetes, Turkish researchers have found inconsistencies in the “microbiota” of those affected by the aforementioned conditions compared with that of healthy individuals.

Microbiota is a scientific term to describe the digestive bacterial community, composed of at least 160 species, and is considered part of the immune system for its ability to ward off a variety of diseases.

“The gut microbiota may be used as an important marker to determine the risk of these metabolic diseases — obesity and diabetes — or it may become a therapeutic target to treat them,” says Yalcin Basaran, MD, an endocrinologist from Gulhane Military Medical Academy School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.

In the study, researchers worked with 27 severely obese adults, 26 adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and a control group of 28 healthy adults.

A selection criterion was the absence of medications and antibiotics in the system, which can alter microbiota composition.

Researchers say fecal analysis showed greater microbiota diversity in the healthy subjects, and that the obese and diabetic groups were missing several important species.

“Further studies should be carried out to elucidate if the gut microbial changes are a cause or effect of metabolic diseases,” says Basaran. “Manipulation of intestinal bacteria could offer a new approach to manage obesity and Type 2 diabetes.”

One in 10 deaths among working-age adults due to excessive drinking Atlanta, June 26, 2014 — Excessive alcohol use accounts for one in 10 deaths among working-age adults ages 20-64 years in the United States, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published today in Preventing Chronic Disease.

Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths per year from 2006 to 2010, and shortened the lives of those who died by about 30 years.

These deaths were due to health effects from drinking too much over time, such as breast cancer, liver disease, and heart disease; and health effects from drinking too much in a short period of time, such as violence, alcohol poisoning, and motor vehicle crashes.

In total, there were 2.5 million years of potential life lost each year due to excessive alcohol use.

Nearly 70 percent of deaths due to excessive drinking involved working-age adults, and about 70 percent of the deaths involved males.

About 5 percent of the deaths involved people under age 21. The highest death rate due to excessive drinking was in New Mexico (51 deaths per 100,000 population), and the lowest was in New Jersey (19.1 per 100,000).

“Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death that kills many Americans in the prime of their lives,” said Ursula E. Bauer, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

“We need to redouble our efforts to implement scientifically proven public health approaches to reduce this tragic loss of life and the huge economic costs that result.”

Excessive drinking includes binge drinking (4 or more drinks on an occasion for women, 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men), heavy drinking (8 or more drinks a week for women, 15 or more drinks a week for men), and any alcohol use by pregnant women or those under the minimum legal drinking age of 21.

Excessive drinking cost the United States about $224 billion, or $1.90 per drink, in 2006.

Most of these costs were due to lost productivity, including reduced earnings among excessive drinkers as well as deaths due to excessive drinking among working age adults.

To estimate deaths due to excessive drinking, CDC scientists analyzed data from the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) application for 20062010. ARDI provides national and state-specific estimates of alcohol-attributable deaths and years of potential life lost.

ARDI currently includes 54 causes of death for which estimates of alcohol involvement were either directly available or could be calculated based on existing scientific information.

“It’s shocking to see the public health impact of excessive drinking on working-age adults,” said Robert Brewer, M.D., M.S.P.H., head of CDC’s Alcohol Program and one of the report’s authors.

Sleep problems linked to memory functions in seniors London, June 27, 2014 - A new study has found that sleep problems in old people increases as their memory and executive functions get worse with age. University of Warwick researchers analyzed sleep and cognitive (brain function) data from 3,968 men and 4,821 women who took part in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), who reported on the quality and quantity of sleep over the period of a month.

ed with lower brain function scores, while in older adults (65-89 years), lower brain function scores were only observed in long sleepers.

an alternative low-cost and more accessible Public Health intervention, to delay or slow the rate of cognitive decline.

Dr Michelle A Miller said that 6-8 hours of sleep per night is particularly important in younger adults for optimum brain function as it helps physical health, lowers the risk of developing obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Professor Francesco Cappuccio added that optimizing sleep at an older age may help to delay the decline in brain function seen with age, or indeed may slow or prevent the rapid decline that leads to dementia.

In adults aged between 50 and 64 years of age, short sleep (less than 6hrs per night) and long sleep (more than 8hrs per night) were associat-

Dr Miller concluded that if poor sleep was causative of future cognitive decline, non-pharmacological improvements in sleep may provide

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

Misc Asia

Hunt for MH370 shifts further south of Indian Ocean Perth, June 26, 2014 — The hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is to be moved further south in the Indian Ocean, Australian authorities said Thursday, after months of costly, and so far, fruitless searching for the missing plane.

The Boeing 777, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared on March 8 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

Investigators say what little evidence they have to work with suggests the airplane was deliberately diverted thousands of kilometers from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean.

The search was narrowed in April after a series of acoustic pings thought to be from the plane’s black box recorders were heard along a final arc where analysis of satellite data put its last location.

But a concentrated search of the area – some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) off the northwest coast of Australia – failed to turn up any sign of MH370.

A review of the data has now identified a new area, covering up to 60,000 square kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean, where an underwater search will start in August and take up to 12 months, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said.

“Specialists have analyzed satellite communications information – information which was never initially intended to have the capability to track an aircraft– and performed extremely complex calculations,” Truss told reporters in Canberra.

“The new priority area is still focused on the seventh arc where the aircraft last communicated with satellites.

“We are now shifting our attention to an area further south along the arc based on these calculations.”

Truss said that an expert review of all available information suggests flight MH370 was almost certainly on autopilot when it ran out of fuel and crashed.

“It is highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot, otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings,” he said.

The next phase of the search mission is expected is expected to come in at a cost of A$60 million ($56 million) or more. The search is already the most expensive in aviation history.

Joko Widodo leads in opinion polls ahead of election Jakarta, June 27, 2014 — Indonesian presidential favorite Joko Widodo still has a comfortable lead less than two weeks before polling day despite a surge in his rival’s popularity, a survey showed today.

But more than 20 per cent of voters quizzed said they were undecided—in line with other recent polls that suggest the July 9 election could still go either way.

Widodo, seen as a fresh face in a country still dominated by figures from Suharto’s long dictatorship, has seen a lead of some 30 percentage points a few months ago rapidly dwindle in the face of a tough challenge from Prabowo Subianto.

Prabowo, who was a general during the Suharto era and has a checkered human rights record, has run a slick, well-funded campaign and Widodo’s team have accused him of repeatedly seeking to smear their candidate.

But a survey from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) today showed Widodo, known by his nickname of Jokowi, still ahead by nine

percentage points, on 43 per cent to Prabowo’s 34 per cent.

But 23 per cent of people quizzed for the LIPI poll, conducted between June 5 and 24, said they were undecided.

Other recent polls have also shown Widodo, who won legions of fans during his time as Jakarta governor, with a lead of between four and eight points.

Tobias Basuki, from Jakarta-based think-tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the race could be tight given that Prabowo had closed the gap so quickly.

“The gap is merely a single digit now,” he said.

LIPI surveyed around 800 people across Indonesia for the poll.

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2014

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Misc Asia Taiwan’s National Palace Museum row with Japan resolved Taipei, June 23, 2014 — A row between Tokyo and Taipei over the loan of a host of treasured artifacts to Japan has been solved, Taiwanese officials said Monday, with the exhibition set to open on schedule.

The disagreement broke out last week after the name of Taiwan’s national museum was changed in promotional posters advertising an upcoming exhibition in Japan -- a spat that highlighted Taipei’s sensitivity over its global diplomatic status.

Jilted Chinese bachelor reserved cinemas to revenge on ex Beijing, June 27, 2014 — A jilted Chinese man spent $40,000 to book four entire IMAX cinemas for first-day showings of the latest “Transformers” movie Friday to prove his ex-girlfriend was wrong when she dumped him for being poor seven years ago, he said.

“Hu Xiaoyun: I was so poor when we were in our fourth year at college in 2007 that I could not afford just two film tickets,” the man said in a posting on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

“You said when you left for Beijing that I will always be that way.

“I have been working hard for the past seven years because of that sentence and today I spent half my monthly income to book all the seats in Beijing’s IMAX cinemas on June 27.

“I just want to say maybe your choice back then was wrong.”

As evidence he posted the contract with a booking agency and three receipts totaling 250,000 yuan.

The man has only been identified in Chinese media reports by his surname Wang.

Using the online handle Chicken Run 1234 and a profile image as a Na’vi warrior from the 2009 Hollywood blockbuster Avatar, he called on Internet users to spread the message “until she sees it” and promised to reward reposters with free tickets.

They quickly ran out, and his message had been reposted more than 110,000 times by Friday.

Previous “Transformers” movies were box-office hits in China and midnight showings of the fourth installment “Age of Extinction” took 40 million yuan in the early hours of Friday, a new national record, according to Chinese media reports.

The man said separately that his old flame had contacted him by phone.

Both had put the feud behind them, he indicated, but there was no hope of rekindling their relationship.

“I promised her when we first met that if she left one day, I would make the whole world know I was looking for her,” he said.

Hundreds of artifacts and artworks from the Taipei National Palace Museum were due to go on display in Japan for the first time.

But Taiwan threatened to cancel the event after it emerged that the word “national” had been omitted from a number of promotional posters and tickets.

The name issue has long been a sensitive topic for Taiwan, which is recognized by only 22 countries after a decades-old diplomatic tug-of-war with China from which it split in 1949.

The row was solved at the last minute after the Tokyo National Museum, the exhibition’s main sponsor, fixed the problematic posters, museum officials in Taipei said.

“I got phone calls from my colleagues around 7:00am confirming that all the problematic posters have been fixed,” Feng Ming-chu, director of the Taipei museum, told reporters Monday shortly before her departure for Tokyo.

Feng added that the decision was made in a rush, making it unlikely that Taiwan’s first lady would attend Monday’s opening.

Chow Mei-ching, the wife of President Ma Ying-jeou, postponed a rare

visit to Japan after the naming row broke out.

When reached for comment, a spokeswoman for President Ma Yingjeou’s office said she could not predict if and when Chow could resume her trip.

Feng added that the Tokyo museum owes Taiwan an apology for its mistake. Taiwanese officials have insisted the Tokyo museum guaranteed in a contract that the lender’s full name would be used and that the word “national” would not be omitted.

Japan, like most countries, has diplomatic ties with Beijing rather than Taipei. But it maintains close trade and other ties with Taiwan, which was its colony from 1895 to 1945.

The National Palace Museum last year announced the loan of 231 artifacts to Japan, its first to an Asian country, following exhibitions in the United States, France, Germany and Austria.

The museum’s contents -- one of the world’s finest collections of Chinese treasures -- mostly came from Beijing’s Forbidden City. They were brought to the island by Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, when he fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war to the communists in 1949.

For years the National Palace Museum was unwilling to lend the artifacts to Japan for fear that China would try to reclaim them, until the Japanese government passed a law in 2011 to prevent such seizures.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, although tensions have eased markedly since Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly Ma took office in 2008.

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July 1-15, 2014 Georgia Asian Times

FOCUS Pigs will be “shipped with head and feet” to customers paying US$699 per animal, Bush said.

Aron Mackevicius, the executive chef at the 7M Grill in Omaha, Nebraska, is one of them. He enthusiastically described how he will cut up the pig and create a special menu, from appetizer to dessert.

“My family has a bakery and one of the specialties is the bacon bun,” a small, slightly sweet bread stuffed with bacon, he said.

The chef said he hoped the pig “has a bit of a rye flavor” that will make it unique.

“When I first heard about the project I was excited that somebody was taking such a bold move, a very intriguing concept,” he said.

US pigs raised with a taste for — and of — whiskey Woodward, June 25, 2014 — Twenty-five pigs mill around in open pens on a tiny farm in Woodward, Iowa.

They are fat, robust and being raised to taste of rye whiskey.

Small-batch distillery Templeton Rye is feeding them the mash used in making its distinctive American whiskey, hoping that the rich taste of the grain will grab consumers’ attention.

Templeton is especially long on rye, with more than 90 percent of its mash coming from the high-protein grain, and malted barley for the remainder.

The spent mash is folded into the pig feed, making up 20 percent of the ingredients, as advised by a swine nutrition specialist.

The pigs seem to like it, digging into their feed with happy grunts and snorts.

“It smells very good, almost like

candy,” said Scott Bush, founder and president of Templeton Rye Spirits.

The distillery has chosen for the test the Duroc breed, known for its distinctive auburn winter coat, succulence and heavy muscling.

Bush said the pigs were nearly at their ideal weight for eating: 210 pounds, with just a few weeks to go before heading to the slaughterhouse.

“How much mash is going to affect that taste, we don’t know yet,” he said.

The possibility that a whiff of whiskey will arise from ham, ribs or chops has whetted the appetites of scores of pork lovers: The distillery has received about 200 orders, from four countries.

Some of the orders for the 25 pigs were accompanied by long letters explaining why the customer desired the pig.

According to Bush, the idea sprang up one night as the team chatted over glasses of Templeton Rye. “All of us are from Iowa,” the number-one pork producing state in the country, said Bush.

“But we also go all around the country to these gastro-culinary events, and the culinary world is still dominated by wine.

“But it is changing, especially with whiskey. The idea was that we are going to ask chefs to pair the pigs with cocktails of Templeton Rye.” Capone bootlegger ties Their whiskey is based on the recipe used by bootleggers in the tiny town of Templeton during Prohibition, the nearly 14-year period when alcoholic beverages were banned nationwide starting in 1920.

Templeton Rye was the beverage of choice of Chicago mobster and bootlegger Al Capone, Bush said.

“As it was illegal there are not a lot of documents, but a lot of oral history,” he said, including from Capone’s greatniece.

“Capone mostly sold Canadian whiskey but what he was drinking with friends was Templeton Rye.” It is this heritage the distillery wants to share, extending it through the pigsto-plate project.

The project is “break-even for the company” but above all is “more of an experiment,” Bush said, leaving the door open to doing it again.