Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

Covering The Multicultural Asian American Community in Georgia

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Christo’s hugely popular floating orange walkway closes

July 1-15, 2016

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

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

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GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia - Awards Gala Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Time: 6:30 pm Venue: Sonesta Gwinnett Place For sponsorship & registration, please email: gat@gasiantimes.com 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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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

METRO ASIAN NEWS

Gwinnett Commissioners endorse Infinite Energy Center’s new master plan Lawrenceville, June 28, 2016 – The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners on adopted a resolution endorsing and supporting Explore Gwinnett’s revised master plan for the Infinite Energy Center complex.

Concepts in the overall plan include an expansion of the exhibit hall, new outdoor gathering spaces, new parking lots and decks, a headquarters hotel, new and improved access to the center from surrounding roadways and additional arena seating, plus a mixeduse district that offers entertainment, dining, retail and housing options.

Progress has already been made toward some of these goals, including the County’s acquisition of land adjacent to Meadow Church Road that will eventually become additional access points into and out of the complex.

Board Chairman Charlotte Nash said, “What began as a $30 million investment of SPLOST funds to build a civic and convention center nearly 30 years ago today includes an arts center, ballroom and the Infinite Energy Arena. My fellow board members and I are proud to support Explore Gwinnett’s plan to turn an already successful complex into a vibrant destination for residents and visitors to ‘come early and stay late.’”

A one-year comparison of activity at the Infinite Energy Arena shows total attendance grew by more than 100,000

between 2014 and 2015 and the number of events and performances increased by about 20 percent during the same period. Similar growth occurred in the number of events held in the convention center space. The existing 50,000-square-foot exhibit hall lets the Infinite Energy Forum compete for 20 percent of the mid-sized meetings in the industry, according to Explore Gwinnett CEO Preston Williams, who added that expanding to 125,000 square feet will let the Center compete for up to 70 percent of the meetings market.

Williams said, “The Infinite Energy Center master plan has been part of our vision for 10-plus years. Expanding the convention center, creating the entertainment district and adding a headquarters hotel will elevate the Center to the next level of meeting facility. The partnership and support of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners has been one of the keys to our success and is part of the reason the Center generates more than $175 million in economic impact annually.

“The acquisition of the Meadow Church property is a great example of the type of forward-thinking decisions by county leadership that will help us complete the campus and make the Center an even greater economic activity generator for the community.”

New Executive Director announced for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta Norcross, July 29, 2016 – Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta (AAAJ-Atlanta), formerly Asian American Legal Advocacy Center or AALAC, a civil rights organization based in Atlanta serving the Asian and Pacific Islander community, has announced the selection of Stephanie Cho as its new Executive Director.

Stephanie has been serving as the Interim Executive Director since the organization’s founder Helen Kim Ho departed in December 2015. The selection was made after a transition committee that included community members conducted a regional search and engaged in a recruitment and selection process.

“We are very pleased to announce this appointment,” reported Sonjui Kumar, AAAJ–Atlanta’s Board Chair and one of the founding partners of KPPB Law. “Stephanie will bring leadership and creativity to Advancing Justice - Atlanta’s programs. Stephanie has a deep sense of commitment to our work in Georgia as well as the Southeast. She has a breadth of perspective and experience, and has served nonprofits for 16 years at all levels including programming, fundraising, and leadership development.

We also want to thank our transition committee, led by Board member, Kimberly Burroughs, for all their hard work.”

Originally born in South Korea, Stephanie grew up in Oregon. After graduating from college, she started her career in organizing and movement work. She has been a community organizer, program director for LGBTQ youth programming, director of training for a national fellowship program, a labor representative, and a national and local organizational consultant. Before coming to AAAJ - Atlanta, Stephanie was the Los Angeles Director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC-LA) where she worked to raise industry standards and wages for LA’s restaurant workers.

“I look forward to continuing to build power for Asians and Pacific Islanders in Georgia and the Southeast. We are dedicated to advancing the civil rights of underrepresented communities and my hope is to create more opportunities for AAPI leadership in the Southeast. Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta is forging the way in creating these opportunities for our communities in Georgia and I’m thrilled to be part of this movement,” said Stephanie Cho.

July 1-15, 2016

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

BUSINESS Stop driving at risk Hondas and Acura, warns Transportation Secretary Washington DC, June 30, 2016 – New test data on a particular subset of defective Takata air bag inflators in certain model-year 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles show a far higher risk of ruptures during air bag deployment, prompting an urgent call from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ensure that unrepaired vehicles in this population are found and fixed before they cause further injuries or fatalities.

“With as high as a 50 percent chance of a dangerous air bag inflator rupture in a crash, these vehicles are unsafe and need to be repaired immediately,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge.”

The higher-risk inflators are in certain 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles: 2001-2002 Honda Civic 2001-2002 Honda Accord 2002-2003 Acura TL 2002 Honda CR-V 2002 Honda Odyssey 2003 Acura CL 2003 Honda Pilot The air bag inflators in these particular vehicles contain a manufacturing defect which greatly increases the potential for dangerous rupture when a crash causes the air bag to deploy.

Ruptures are far more likely in inflators in vehicles that have spent significant periods of time in areas of high absolute humidity—particularly Florida, Texas, other parts of the Gulf Coast, and Southern California. Testing of the inflators from these vehicles show rupture rates as high as 50 percent in a laboratory setting.

The vehicles in question were recalled between 2008 and 2011. Honda has reported that more than 70 per-

cent of this higher-risk population of vehicles has already been repaired, but approximately 313,000 vehicles with this very dangerous defect remain unrepaired. The risk posed by the airbag inflators in these vehicles is grave, and it is critical they be repaired now to avoid more deaths and serious injuries.

Drivers of these vehicles should immediately visit SaferCar.gov to check whether their vehicle has any outstanding safety recalls. Those that do should contact their nearest dealer to schedule a no-cost immediate repair. Replacement parts are available immediately for these high-risk vehicles.

“The air bag inflators in this particular group of vehicles pose a grave danger to drivers and passengers that must be fixed right away,” said NHTSA Administrator Dr. Mark Rosekind.

“Drivers should visit SaferCar.gov or contact their local dealer to check whether their vehicle is affected. If it is, they should have the vehicle repaired immediately for free by an authorized dealer. We commend Honda for taking additional actions to get these vehicles repaired.

Though the vehicles are already under recall, NHTSA directed Takata to perform additional ballistic testing following recent reports of ruptures.

Eight of the 10 confirmed U.S. fatalities due to Takata ruptures—including the most recent in Fort Bend County, Texas—were in this population of vehicles.

Honda has committed to immediately taking additional actions to enhance its efforts to find and fix recalled vehicles. Honda will provide additional information about its efforts. NHTSA has also directed Honda to report weekly on the progress of vehicle repairs.

U.S. first-quarter GDP revised higher, but consumer spending weak New York, June 28, 2016 — U.S. economic growth slowed in the first quarter but not as sharply as previously estimated, with gains in exports and software investment partially offsetting weak consumer spending.

Gross domestic product increased at a 1.1 percent annual rate, rather than the 0.8 percent pace reported last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday in its third GDP estimate.

First-quarter GDP growth has now be revised higher by six-tenths of a point since the advance estimate was published in April. The economy grew at a rate of 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter. The first-quarter revision was broadly in line with economists’ expectations.

There are signs the economy has regained momentum in the second quarter, with retail sales and home sales rising in both April and May, even though business spending continues to struggle and job growth has slowed.

But uncertainty stoked by Britain’s shock vote to leave the European Union poses a risk to growth for the rest of year Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers last week that data pointed to “a noticeable step-up” in GDP growth in the second quarter.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve is currently estimating second-quarter GDP rising at a 2.6 percent rate.

When measured from the income side, the economy grew at a 2.9 percent rate in first quarter and not the previously reported 2.2 percent pace, reflecting upward revisions to corporate profits. That was the quickest pace since the third quarter of 2014.

The average of GDP and GDI, an

alternative measure of U.S. economic growth, increased at a 2.0 percent pace in the first quarter, up from an initial estimate of 1.5 percent.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data as investors assessed the implications of last week’s so-called “Brexit” referendum.

EXPORTS, SOFTWARE REVISED UP Economic growth in the first quarter was constrained by a strong dollar and sluggish global demand. Output was also hampered by businesses’ efforts to reduce an inventory overhang, with a further drag coming from lower oil prices, which have sparked deep spending cuts on capital goods such as equipment.

Economists also believe the model used by the government to strip out seasonal patterns from data is not fully accomplishing its goal. The economy has underperformed in the first quarter in five of the last six years.

The government has acknowledged shortcomings with its seasonal adjustment model. The government early this month said beginning in mid2018, it planned to produce estimates of GDP and its major components that are not seasonally adjusted.

These will be released together with the seasonally adjusted GDP estimates.

First-quarter business spending on software, research and development was revised to show it rising at a 4.4 percent rate instead of falling at a 0.1 percent rate. Business spending on equipment fell at an 8.7 percent pace as opposed to the 9.0 percent rate reported last month.

Overall, business spending sliced off 0.58 percentage point from first-quar-

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

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BUSINESS Continued from Page 6

Enlarged Panama Canal expected to boost US-Asia trade Panama City, June 23, 2016 — With its capacity boosted by nearly three times, Panama’s enlarged canal — set to be inaugurated on Sunday — is expected to stimulate trade between the United States and Asia, and steal business from the rival Suez canal.

“A good deal of the commerce between Asia and the east coast of the United States can pass through directly on Neopanamax ships, which will help both sides,” said Nicolas Ardito Barletta, a former Panamanian president and former vice president of the World Bank in Latin America.

Neopanamax ships, as their names suggest, are new generation cargo vessels built specifically to pass through the broadened Panama Canal. They can carry up to three times the number of containers the previous generation of smaller Panamax ships do.

Panama has spent the past nine years — and more than $5.5 billion — expanding its century-old canal to take on bigger freighters.

New locks and a wider shipping lane will allow vessels as wide as 49 meters (160 feet) and as long as 366 meters (1,200 feet) to pass through.

The aim is to greatly increase the amount of cargo transiting the 80-kilometer (50-mile) long waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

“We are at the dawn of a great time for Panama and the world, thanks to the impact the canal’s expansion will have,” said Panama’s Vice President Isabel De Saint Mal. Chinese ship to be first through Five percent of commercial maritime traffic already passes through the canal, particularly between ports in America, China, Japan and South Korea. To a lesser degree, it also serves

South America and Europe.

On Sunday, a Chinese Neopanamax freighter, named the COSCO Shipping Panama for the occasion, will be the first to officially go through the broadened canal.

Asian exporters, shipping groups and US logistical and trade companies should be the first to benefit from the modified canal, says Carlos Guevara-Mann, a Panamanian political science professor at Florida State University.

American consumers will also see advantages, ending up paying “less for imported items from China and neighboring countries”, he predicted.

In general, the costs of doing trade worldwide should decrease, as should polluting emissions, because a fewer number of bigger ships would be hauling goods, specialists say.

“The Panama Canal’s expansion will greatly boost world trade,” Ardito Barletta said. “Bigger ships will be able to transit and that will bring down the transaction and logistic costs.”

The United States is the canal’s largest client by far, transporting some 160 million tons a year through the waterway.

ter GDP instead of the previously reported 0.81 percentage point.

Export growth was revised to show a 0.3 percent rate of increase instead of the previously reported 2.0 percent pace of contraction. With imports weak, that resulted in a smaller trade deficit, which added 0.12 percentage point to GDP growth.

Trade was previously reported to have subtracted 0.21 percentage point from GDP growth.

Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than twothirds of U.S. economic activity, was revised down to a 1.5 percent rate, the slowest pace in two years. Consumer spending was previously reported to have increased at a 1.9 percent rate.

After-tax corporate profits increased at a 2.2 percent rate in the first quarter, rather than the previously reported 0.6 percent pace. Profits tumbled at an 8.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter, when they were held down in part by a $20.8billion transfer payment related to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. – Reuters

The downward revision reflected weak spending on services such as transportation and recreation. But with household incomes and savings rising, there is potential for consumer spending to accelerate. Savings were revised up to $796.7 billion from $782.6 billion.

Asians ‘first to step up’ More than 150 ships have already reserved their places in the line to pass through, the Panama Canal Authority’s administrator Jorge Quijano says.

China is next, with 48 million tons, then Chile with 29 million tonnes and Japan with 22 million tons.

“Obviously, the first to step up were the Asians,” he said. “We have companies from Japan, Taiwan, China and South Korea.”

With room for bigger ships now, the main market the canal is looking to attract is transporting liquefied natural gas from the United States to Asia, mostly Japan.

Forecasts say 600 million tons of goods a year will pass across Panama this way, twice the current volume, within the next decade.

“The gas transport ships are big and now can get directly to their destination by going through the canal,” Ardito Barletta said.

There was a minor revision to inventory investment. Businesses accumulated $68.3 billion worth of inventory, instead of the $69.6 billion estimated last month. That suggests inventories could remain a drag on growth in the quarters ahead.

Panama expects it will triple the $1 billion in revenues it gets from shipping fees.

It also wants to bring back clients that dropped the canal for its rival, Egypt’s Suez Canal, which had been the only passage able to handle the bigger ships up to now.

“We’ll see what percentage we’ll recover,” Panama’s canal minister, Roberto Roy, said. “But I’m sure it will be appreciable.”

Using the Panama Canal would save ships two weeks compared to the Suez Canal, the Panamanian authorities say.

That is “a considerable time saving” for maritime companies, the minister said. “I’m certain they’ll appreciate that.”

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

FASHION

Chanel’s new high jewellery collection is inspired by wheat Paris, July 6, 2016 — Each of the French luxury label’s high jewellery collections bears its own symbol or element dear to its founder, Gabrielle Chanel. The latest high jewellery line, presented alongside Paris Haute Couture Week, is no exception, this time choosing wheat as its theme as a happy symbol from the designer’s childhood.

Symbolising regeneration, abundance, luck, prosperity and creativity, wheat has always been part of the life of Gabrielle Chanel, from her childhood to her adult years. It even became something of a good-luck charm for the French fashion designer.

It therefore seems natural for the luxury label to craft a jewellery collection based on the life cycle of wheat, from the first shoots of springtime to the formation of wheat ears and the harvest of grain.

Yellow sapphires, peridots, diamonds

The “Les Blés de Chanel” collection features 62 high jewellery pieces, split into four categories, each representing a different stage in the lifecycle of wheat. Green and yellow shades take centre stage in the collection, with green evoking the first shoots and ears, and yellow representing ripe wheat turned gold by the sun. This is captured through Chanel’s use of yellow sapphires and diamonds, peridots and yellow gold.

Several variations also give pride of place to white diamonds, white gold, aquamarine and cultured pearls from Japan and Indonesia.

Shoots, ears, grain, harvest The first green shoots and ears of wheat, and, by extension, the beginning of springtime, are captured in the jewellery sets “Premiers Brins,” “Brins de Printemps” and “Brins de Diamants,” which use green tourmaline, peridots, diamonds and aquamarines.

Sun-ripened wheat ears are seen on the jewellery sets “Epi d’Eté,” “Epi Vendôme,” “Epi Solaire,” “L’Epi” and “Cascade d’Epi,” shimmering with yellow sapphires, paraiba tourmaline, aquamarine, and white and yellow diamonds.

Finally comes the harvest, with “Moisson Ensoleillée,” “Bouquet de Moisson” and “Moisson de Perles,” using yellow sapphires, diamonds and cultured pearls. “Moisson d’Or” combines yellow sapphires and diamonds in pieces including a long 18-carat yellow and white gold necklace set with a 16.8-carat oval-shaped sapphire, 27 marquise-cut diamonds (3 carats), 329 brilliant-cut diamonds (6.7 carats), 11 yellow sapphires (1.9 carats) and 977 yellow sapphire spheres totalling 477.5 carats. The “Fête des Moissons” set nods to the crowns of wheat often woven to celebrate harvest time through designs using yellow, white and multi-coloured diamonds.

The wheat theme is extended to a

host of styles in the high jewelry collection, including sets “Champ de Blé,” “Impression de Blé,” “Blé Infini” and “Légende de Blé.” These see diamonds set against yellow or white gold. The “Légende de Blé” 18-carat white gold necklace, for example, is set with a 5-carat marquise-cut diamond, 12 marquise-cut diamonds (10.4 carats) and 839 brilliant cut diamonds (17.6 karats).

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

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ART

Christo’s hugely popular floating orange walkway closes Rome, July 3, 2016 - Artist Christo’s orange floating walkway on a northern Italian lake will close Sunday after attracting over more than 1.3 million visitors, nearly three times as many as expected.

The three-kilometre (1.9-mile) undulating path made of 200,000 floating cubes has proved a major hit with the public since it opened on the stunning Lake Iseo in June.

Covered in bright orange fabric, the pier stands in stark contrast with the dark water as it links the small islands of Monte Isola and San Paolo to the shore.

“People come from everywhere to walk to nowhere. Not to shop, not to meet friends, they just walk, to nowhere,” said the Bulgarian-born American artist, who once wrapped Berlin’s Reichstag parliament building in fabric.

Visitors from around the world have

flocked to try “The Floating Piers,” many of them going barefoot to get an idea of what it feels like to “walk on water”.

Local officials said Cristo’s creation attracted an average of 100,000 people a day, and up to 120,000 at weekends.

Since its opening on June 18, more than 1.3 million people have visited, smashing organisers’ expectations, who had hoped for 500,000.

The installation, made of completely recyclable plastic, cost 15 million euros to create but has been free to the public.

Rain on the parade However, despite its success, the attraction has not been without its difficulties and its critics.

Shuttle buses from nearby carparks and trains from the closest big town, Brescia, were often suspended in

order to manage the crowds streaming through the tiny villages dotted around the lake.

A medical post had to be set up to handle those overcome by the crowds or merely from waiting their turn in the heat.

Doctors handled dozens of cases each day, including some that required hospital treatment.

Last month an Italian consumer group said the huge cost of cleaning up after the visitors and ensuring their safety raised questions about whether it should have been allowed.

While Christo had promised a 24hour sensory experience, the local authorities at one stage closed the exhibit at night in order to allow for cleaning.

And the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) complained that the installation had not been much of a tourist boon to the wider region.

“As could have been predicted, the tourists are only interested in the

walkways. After a very long journey and a walk on the pontoons, their only thought is to go home and they do not stick around to enjoy the region,” said the M5S in a statement.

The weather has also often refused to play ball, with heavy rain forcing the temporary closure of the orange bridge on several occasions.

And the weather could spoil its final day on Sunday, with rain forecast.

“Given the anticipated numbers this weekend, visitors should be prepared for wait times and the possibility of not making it on the piers due to capacity,” the organisers warned on Facebook.

Christo first rose to fame along with his late wife Jeanne-Claude for their eye-catching wrapping-up of famous landmarks like the Pont Neuf across the Seine in Paris in 1985.

A similar project at Berlin’s Reichstag 10 years later took almost a quarter of a century of bureaucratic wrangling to get off the ground.

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

FOCUS

Clinton ‘extremely careless’ with emails, but FBI recommends no charges Washington DC, July 6, 2016 - The FBI recommended on Tuesday that no criminal charges be filed over Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers while she was secretary of state, but rebuked the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate for “extremely careless” handling of classified information.

While FBI Director James Comey’s announcement lifted a cloud of uncertainty that had loomed over Clinton’s White House campaign, his strong criticism of her judgment ignited a new attack on her over the email issue by Donald Trump, her likely Republican opponent in the Nov. 8 election.

Comey’s comments are likely to reinforce what polls show are widespread public concerns about Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness. Republicans have pointed to the controversy as evidence that she considered herself above the law.

House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest- ranking elected U.S. Republican, said in a statement that Comey’s announcement “defies explanation.”

Ryan called on the FBI to release

all of its findings in the case and said Comey would be called to testify before the House Oversight Committee. “We need to know more,” Ryan told Fox News.

In a lengthy statement on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s conclusions from its yearlong investigation, Comey directly contradicted statements Clinton has made while defending her use of the private email setup.

He said, for example, that the FBI found at least 110 emails that contained classified information when they were sent, although Clinton has repeatedly said she never sent or received classified information on her private servers.

“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of the classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” Comey said.

But he said the FBI concluded “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring charges. “Although the Department

of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case,” Comey told reporters in Washington.

His recommendation will likely stand. The country’s top prosecutor, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, said on Friday she would accept the recommendations of career prosecutors and the FBI director on whether to charge Clinton for mishandling emails.

SHE LIED! Clinton’s campaign was anxious to move on after Comey’s announcement, saying in a statement it was pleased with the FBI decision.

“As the secretary has long said, it was a mistake to use her personal email, and she would not do it again. We are glad that this matter is now resolved,” spokesman Brian Fallon said.

He did not respond to questions about Comey’s rebuttal of the main arguments Clinton has offered in defense of her use of private email.

At a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday night, Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee,

said the controversy should disqualify Clinton from being president and that her email system may well have been hacked by U.S. enemies.

“Our enemies may have a blackmail file on crooked Hillary and this alone means that she should not be allowed to serve as president of the United States,” Trump said. “We now know that she lied to the country when she said that she did not send classified information on her server. She lied!”

Following Comey’s late-morning remarks, Clinton became one of the top trending topics on Twitter, with about 671,000 tweets posted by 4 p.m. (2000 GMT). The overall sentiment was more negative than positive, with about two negative tweets for every positive one, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph.

The FBI director’s announcement came hours before Clinton’s first campaign appearance with President Barack Obama, in Charlotte, North Carolina, where neither Obama nor Clinton mentioned the email probe. It also came less than three weeks before the Democratic National Convention at which Clinton is to be nominated as the party’s candidate for the November election. - Reuters

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

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LIFESTYLE

Dior tough guys hot on Paris catwalk Rave culture Paris, July 1, 2016 -- Dior, the French fashion house known for the dreamy beauty of its clothes, showed a new much tougher side in its Paris menswear show.

It’s wasn’t quite skinhead chic but it wasn’t far from it with every trope in the punk wardrobe from string vests to dangling trouser braces referenced, invariably set off by big Dr Marten-style boots.

These Dior boys meant business and you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of them.

Dark, moody and menacing, there was even something slightly S&M in the way that Dior’s Belgium-born designer Kris Van Assche managed to turn the braces into chest armour-cum-jewellery.

There were still more echoes of punk in the check shirts and evocations of

the ghost of Johnny Rotten’s tartan in the clever red stitching against the collection’s predominantly black core.

The two stand-out pieces were pure punk fantasy, a blouson and a sleeveless jacket and trousers completely covered in boot eyelets, with laces hanging from each one.

Van Assche, however, played down the punkiness, preferring to cite “New Wave romanticism” as its inspiration, as well as his own “very good memories of New Wave music” from such cult goth bands as The Cure and The Sisters of Mercy.

Another venerable Paris house, Givenchy, also took on a more hardedged swagger in its show. Leather donkey jacket shoulder patches, pockets picked out in different colours and greenback money patterned bomber jackets gave it a very no-nonsense streetwise look.

The pop culture nostalgia continued at Kenzo, where American designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon took the Japanese brand dancing back to late 1980s rave culture, bathing in the big beat nostalgia of House music, with a collection made for staying up all night partying.

“Nightlife is the soul of any city.

Growing up in LA we had West Coast club life, but New York nightlife was what we craved,” they said in their notes to the collection.

Short-sleeved shirts and super short shorts, lots of playful acid blues, yellows and lime greens and two-tone black and white combinations all summoned up the “Second Summer of Love” of 1988.

Boxer shorts too made a comeback, pulled up high above the waist so they almost look like cumberbunds above

trousers, or simply as worn as shorts with socks and sandals or colourful two-tone shoes.

Trousers were invariably loose and worn way above the ankles, and loose cardigans were everywhere, some covered with canary yellow feathers.

Acid House motifs from the chemical sweetshop that gave the era’s clubbers their staying power ran through the collection, spilling into Kenzo’s Women Resort line, which was shown alongside the men’s clothes.

Dresses edged with curtain hole rings set into the fabric caught the eye, a detail that was picked up in the more street T-shirts/shifts.

As did a series of short dresses and mini skirts and tops with lines of horizontal folds held together with a bow.

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

LIFESTYLE

‘YouTubers’ outshining old-school television A media revolution is taking place, and most people over 35 years of age aren’t tuned in.

Millennials and their successors are shunning old-school television in favor of watching what they want whenever they wish on Google-owned YouTube or other video platforms like Dailymotion or Facebook.

“Young people don’t really watch TV any more; they watch online videos that are shorter and more talent-driven,” says Fabienne Fourquet, a former executive at A&E Television and France’s Canal+ who now heads the multichannel network 2btube.

“They don’t want to be Hollywood stars when they grow up, they want to be YouTubers. There is this whole other world.”

The new multichannel networks, or MCNs, are talent agents of sorts for creators of videos shared at online venues.

They help creators, often referred to as YouTubers, with video production and promotion along with finding partners or sponsors in return for a percentage of revenue.

World tunes in Self-described YouTuber Caroline Artiss has been a chef for 20 years, but opted out of restaurants and went to work for herself in catering in 2008.

Then, a friend showed her how simple it was to make videos for YouTube.

“It was just me and a tripod in my kitchen,” said Artiss.

“Then people starting tuning in from all over the world.”

She recounted cooking her way across the United States for a multi-episode show after catching eyes at BBC America and a television network in Malaysia.

Artiss said she approaches her cooking videos from the perspective of a single mom — short on money and time but needing to feed a family.

She was signed on by a video network that describes itself as being tailored for a mobile generation and focused on “tastemakers” sharing passion for food and travel.

“It still blows my mind,” Artiss said.

Fourquet said popular subjects include music, comedy, sports, video games, fashion and beauty.

She noted that three-quarters of her viewers were younger than 34 years of age, and half were under 25.

“There are very few of us old people,” Fourquet quipped.

“I am coming from a single mom, living in London, struggling to pay my bills to having an opportunity to start my own TV channel in a way.”

Artiss teamed with other chefs to open Gorgeous Kitchen restaurant at London Heathrow airport.

She has a cookbook due out later this year and works with Youth Policy Institute to raise money to get fresh produce to low-income families.

Naturally, she did a video. It can be seen online at app.mobilecause.com/ vf/YPIFRESH. Television tomfoolery An annual Vidcon gathering in Southern California has become a hot venue for YouTubers to connect with business opportunities and ecstatic fans.

Some 25,000 people were reported to have attended this year’s Vidcon, which took place in June.

“With the onset of digital video platforms and the fact that everyone has a smartphone in their pockets, we have democratized being a creator,” said Paladin co-founder James Creech, whose California company specializes in technology for finding budding stars in a vast universe where anyone can post content online.

“Regular TV is about cartoons and YouTube is about real people and the games I like,” said 11-year-old California boy and online video fan Henry Crawford.

“Television is tomfoolery.”

Paladin indexes millions of channels, providing analytics that can narrow down videos by popularity, topic, language and more.

The YouTube channel with the most subscribers is that of Swedish video maker and comedian PewDiePie, who provides captivating commentary while playing video games.

Hot online video trends include “unboxing,” in which people film themselves or others opening packages with unknown contents.

A popular YouTube channel called Hydraulic Press features videos of things being crushed by just that piece of equipment.

“A 17-year-old in his or her own bedroom can compete with the likes of CBS and build an audience that would rival a major media company.”

Amazon-owned Twitch on Friday announced that it is experimenting with a new “Social Eating” category in which people streaming broadcasts on the service socialize with viewers over meals.

Keys to hit online videos include being creative and regularly posting content, according to Creech.

Traditional media companies would be wise to be worried by the trend, according to Creech.

Amateurs can outshine polished professional content with authentic connections that make viewers think of them as friends, he said.

“It’s a huge disruption,” Creech said.

“We are in the midst of a revolution in media and it is very exciting.”

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

Page 13

SPORTS Ibrahimovic reunited with Mourinho at Manchester United Manchester, July 2, 2016 -- Swedish superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic completed his free transfer to Manchester United on Friday, with coach Jose Mourinho declaring: “He needs no introduction.”

The 34-year-old — who left French champions Paris Saint Germain at the end of last season having scored 156 goals in 180 appearances — is reunited with Mourinho, under whom he played at Inter Milan.

Ibrahimovic is Mourinho’s second signing of the summer after highly rated Ivory Coast centre-back Eric Bailly from the Spanish outfit Villarreal.

“I am absolutely delighted to be joining Manchester United and am looking forward to playing in the Premier League,” said Ibrahimovic, who will help bring back some much-needed swagger to Old Trafford, along with Mourinho.

“It goes without saying that I cannot wait to work with Jose Mourinho once again. He is a fantastic manager and I am ready for this new and exciting challenge.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my career so far and have some great memories.

I am now ready to create more special memories in England.

Ibrahimovic, who has won 11 domestic league titles but never the Champions League, will not only be a crowd pleaser but also help the development of younger players, said Mourinho.

“Zlatan needs no introduction. The statistics speak for themselves. Ibra is one of the best strikers in the world and a player who always gives 100 percent,” said Mourinho, who along with Ibrahimovic shares an antipathy towards Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

“He has won the most important league championships in the world of

football, now he has the opportunity to play in the best league in the world and I know he will grasp this opportunity and will work hard to help the team win titles.

“I am certain that his talent will delight fans at Old Trafford next season and that his experience will be invaluable in helping to develop the younger players in the squad.”

Mourinho has been tasked with making United realistic title contenders again after barren years under first David Moyes and then Louis van Gaal, who was sacked having delivered the FA Cup but crucially not Champions League football for next season.

Parting shot Ibrahimovic, who hit 62 goals in 116 appearances for Sweden before retiring after a miserable Euro 2016, couldn’t resist leaving France without a trademark burst of frank speaking.

“I wasn’t expecting very much of Ligue 1 when I signed for PSG,” he told Sport & Style, a supplement to L’Equipe magazine.

“Ligue 1 wasn’t up to my level nor of the clubs where I’d played before.

“Its the simple truth. So there was clearly a risk to me, for my value, for my image,” added Ibrahimovic.

The blunt Swede, who aside from PSG and Inter Milan also played for AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona and Ajax, said he had entered the unknown by joining a French league that lacked the passion and the glamour of Serie A. He rounded the interview off with a typical flourish.

“I symbolised for a while Paris’s image,” said Ibrahimovic, who had a poor Euro 2016, failing to score and quitting after Sweden’s first-round elimination.

Brazil sacks Olympics anti-doping chief Rio de Janeiro, July 1, 2016 -- Brazil has sacked the head of its anti-doping body less than a week after suspension of the one lab due to conduct testing in Rio for the Olympics, the sports ministry said Thursday.

Marco Aurelio Klein was to be replaced at the head of the Brazilian agency by former Brazilian Olympic judo champion Rogerio Sampaio.

The agency denied that Klein’s departure was linked to the suspension of its Rio de Janeiro laboratory by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) this month, saying the switch is instead due to a change of government amid an impeachment trial against president Dilma Rousseff.

It will be up to Sampaio, who does not have experience in the area, to deal with the visit by officials from the world anti-doping body next week.

WADA announced a week ago it was suspending the Rio lab, prohibiting it from carrying out all anti-doping analyses on urine and blood samples.

The suspension was imposed due to a non-conformity with the International Standard for Laboratories, according to WADA. Rio will be the first city in South America to host the Olympics from August 5-21.

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

SPORTS

about. It’s not my problem. It’s their problem.”

Near-perfect getaway After four poor previous starts from pole this year, Hamilton made a near perfect getaway and eased clear while Hulkenberg, from second, fell back.

Button grabbed second ahead of Raikkonen.

The world champion was soon showing he was in charge on the low-durability ultra-soft tyres, surprising many observers, while Rosberg climbed to third before he pitted after 11 laps.

Hamilton wins after last lap Rosberg crash Spielberg, July 3, 2016 -- Lewis Hamilton survived a collision with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in a wild final lap on Sunday as he claimed a dramatic victory in a pulsating Austrian Grand Prix.

The defending three-time world champion, who started from pole position, attacked the championship leader who defended hard at Turn Two and drove into him.

Rosberg forced Hamilton off the track, but the Briton rejoined, the pair touching briefly again, and pulled clear to win. Behind him, Rosberg suffered a damaged front wing and dropped back to finish fourth.

The collision concluded a titanic contest between the two Mercedes men after an incident-packed race that left Mercedes team bosses describing their drivers as ‘brainless’.

Rosberg was fourth ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull, Briton Jenson Button of McLaren Honda, Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Haas and Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso.

The stewards announced an inquiry into Rosberg’s part in the final lap collision for continuing with a damaged car as Hamilton was jeered by the crowd as he stood on the podium.

“I was on the outside,” said Hamilton, on team radio. “It wasn’t me that crashed.”

Hamilton’s win ended Rosberg’s hopes of a third consecutive victory and cut the German’s lead in the title race from 24 points to 11 ahead of next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

It was the 46th win of his career.

Dutch teenager Max Verstappen claimed his second career podium finishing second for Red Bull ahead of third placed Finn Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari.

“What an incredible race,” said Hamilton, amid the jeers. “It was tough.

Apart from this (the crowd reaction), I love it here I don’t know what that’s

By then, Button, who had held Raikkonen behind him for six laps, was falling away and the Ferraris were closing in, Raikkonen running second and Vettel, on his 29th birthday, third by lap 16 with Rosberg, on new super-soft tyres, fourth, but 29 seconds adrift of the leader.

Tyre wear and strategy were clearly key factors in the contest.

opportunity to win had blown up with Vettel’s tyre.

Rosberg was racing on tyres that were 11 laps older than Hamilton’s and led him by two seconds on lap 37 as the Englishman bided his time, the pair trading fastest laps.

The leading pair were nearly 12 seconds clear of third-placed Verstappen as the race unfolded increasingly as a test of tyre management.

Having favoured Rosberg with an early stop, Mercedes had the option to hand track position back to Hamilton with a strategic pit-stop decision.

When it came, Hamilton came in after 54 laps for a 3.5 seconds stop and Rosberg, surprisingly, just one lap later, for a slick 2.3 seconds stop.

To accentuate the rivalry between them, Hamilton was given a set of used ‘softs’ and Rosberg a new set of ‘super-softs’ and the champion, on his ‘out’ lap ran wide at Turn Two.

Hamilton finally pitted from the lead after 22 laps, but a problem with his left rear slowed his stop for super-softs and gifted Rosberg a chance to pass him.

Rosberg retained the lead, by 1.2 seconds.

Raikkonen led, but pitted himself after one further lap and Vettel, who started eighth, took control at the front until lap 27 when his rear right tyre exploded on the main straight.

No reply was broadcast.

His Ferrari swerved into the inside barriers and then slewed back across the circuit, just avoiding a collision with the oncoming cars. The Safety Car was deployed and a series of cars dived into the pits immediately.

The double stop by the Mercedes men had given Verstappen the lead.

Rosberg, with Hamilton in close attendance, attacked on lap 61 and finally squeezed past at Turn Three, leaving Hamilton third.

“There were no signs of a failure,” said Vettel afterwards. “It was fine.

Other people went as long or longer. I don’t know much why it happened.”

For Hamilton, it was a chance to avenge a perceived injustice and on lap 63 he lapped compatriot Jolyon Palmer’s Lotus and passed Verstappen in the same move to set up a chase after Rosberg over the final six laps.

Five laps later, racing resumed with Rosberg leading ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Ricciardo. Ferrari’s

“Why is he on a softer tyre than me?” barked Hamilton on the team radio.

A straight scrap over the closing laps was in prospect with increasing signs of acrimony.

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

Page 15

HEALTH Shock treatment may improve erectile dysfunction An experimental therapy known as low-intensity shock wave treatment might improve erectile dysfunction, particularly for men with only mild to moderate sexual difficulties, a research review suggests.

Like popular medications for erectile dysfunction, low-intensity shock wave treatment focuses on the main cause of the problem, which is insufficient blood flow to the penis that makes it difficult to get and maintain an erection. Unlike these pills, however shock wave therapy isn’t approved to treat erectile dysfunction in the US. While the long-term risks and benefits of shock treatment are still unknown, and more studies are needed to determine the best dosage, the therapy may offer an alternative to men who can’t take Viagra or didn’t get the results they wanted from a pill, said senior study author Dr. Tom Lue of the University of California, San Francisco.

“Basic research and clinical trials suggest that low-energy shock wave therapy can improve penile blood circulation and thus may be helpful in men with erectile dysfunction secondary to penile vascular insufficiency,” Lue said by email.

Shock wave therapy is still an experimental treatment for erectile dysfunction, and most of the studies to date have been done in small animals that have similar but not identical mechanisms for erections, noted Dr. Joao Paulo Zambon, a urology researcher at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who wasn’t involved in the research review.

“Potentially, it can restore the erectile function, but the exact mechanism is still unclear,” Zambon said by email.

Researchers examined data from 14 previously published studies including 833 patients from 2005 to 2015. The

studies relied on men to report whether they experienced an improvement in sexual function, and they had a variety of experimental designs, doses of shock therapy and treatment durations.

Half of the studies had participants randomly assigned to receive shock therapy, though some results in this subset of trials may not be reliable because patients and doctors knew whether participants were given shock therapy or not.

Some individual studies didn’t show that low-intensity shock therapy improved erectile function, researchers report in European Urology.

A pooled analysis of results from just the studies that randomly assigned patients to receive the treatment did suggest it could significantly improve sexual function. On average, erectile function was twice as good after this intervention than it was before.

Most of the men in these studies

had erectile dysfunction due to impaired blood flow to the penis, and not because of other health problems like neurological or psychological issues that can also impact sexual performance.

These results suggest that the therapy may not be a panacea for every man experiencing sexual difficulties, said Dr. Noam Kitrey, a sexual health and urology researcher at Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel.

It may only be a good choice for men with erectile dysfunction caused by vascular problems, Kitrey, who wasn’t involved in the study, added by email.

“There is no scientific evidence to support shock wave therapy for patients with other causes of erectile dysfunction – neurological problems, psychological erectile dysfunction, or patients after major pelvic surgery such as a radical prostatectomy or pelvic irradiation,” Kitrey said.

Broccoli could soon be giving an even bigger health boost Phenolic compounds are beneficial to health thanks to their levels of flavonoids, which spread through the body via the bloodstream, reducing inflammation and lowering the risk of coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, asthma, and several types of cancer.

As the body doesn’t make flavonoids itself, they must be consumed through diet, with recommendations suggesting eating broccoli or other cruciferous vegetable every three or four days to reap the health benefits, with the vegetables also retaining their health-promoting qualities even when cooked.

Now however researchers from the University of Illinois have found genes that control the accumulation of phenolic compounds in broccoli, an important discovery for breeding broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables such as kale and cabbage with mega-doses

of phenolic compounds for extra health benefits.

“Phenolic compounds have good antioxidant activity, and there is increasing evidence that this antioxidant activity affects biochemical pathways affiliated with inflammation in mammals. We need inflammation because it’s a response to disease or damage, but it’s also associated with initiation of a number of degenerative diseases.

People whose diets consist of a certain level of these compounds will have a lesser risk of contracting these diseases,” explains University of Illinois geneticist Jack Juvik.

“It’s going to take awhile,” Juvik added referring to the possibility of a breeding program to boost the levels of phenolic compounds, “This work is a step in that direction, but is not the final answer. We plan to take the

inexpensive way of producing a broccoli with a longer shelf life and even more health benefits.

Published in the medical journal PLOS ONE, Juvik’s research discusses how by combining two plant compounds he not only increased “the presence of cancer-fighting agents” in the vegetable, but also prevented spoiling. candidate genes we identified here and use them in a breeding program to improve the health benefits of these vegetables. Meanwhile, we’ll have to make sure yield, appearance, and taste are maintained as well.”

Juvik’s latest research, published this month in the journal Molecular Breeding, follows his earlier 2014 research which resulted in a new natural and

And another “super-brand” of broccoli is already available to UK buyers.

Named Beneforté, the broccoli was developed by British researchers using conventional breeding techniques, who claim that the vegetable contains extra potent levels of glucoraphanin, thought to help lower the risk of heart disease and some forms of cancer.

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

Misc Asia Istanbul airport bombers were Russian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz: Turkish official Istanbul, June 30, 2016 — Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers who killed 43 people in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul’s main airport this week were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, a Turkish government official said on Thursday.

The attack on one of the world’s busiest airports, a hub at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey this year.

The three bombers opened fire to create panic outside, before two of them got inside the terminal building and blew themselves up. The third detonated his explosives at the entrance. A further 239 people were wounded.

The official gave no further details beyond confirming the attackers’ nationalities and declined to be named because details of the investigation have not yet been released. Forensics teams had been struggling to identify the bombers from their limited remains, officials said earlier.

“A medical team is working around the clock to conclude the identification process,” one of the officials said.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala told parliament that evidence continued to point to Islamic State responsibility and that the death toll had risen to 43, of whom 19 were foreigners. Ala said the identity and nationality of one of the bombers had been determined but did not comment further.

The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said the Russian bomber was from Dagestan, which borders Chechnya, where Moscow has led two wars against separatists and religious militants since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper named

him as Osman Vadinov and said he had come from Raqqa, the heart of Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria. The Russian interior ministry said it was checking information about Vadinov.

A spokesman for Kyrgyzstan’s state security service said it was investigating, while the Uzbek security service had no immediate comment.

Thousands of foreign fighters from scores of countries have crossed Turkey to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq in recent years. Turkey has tightened security on the Syrian border but has long argued it needs more information from foreign intelligence agencies to intercept the fighters.

The revelation that one of the attackers was a Russian national comes at an awkward time for relations between Ankara and Moscow, strained since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border last November.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wrote to Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week to express regret over the incident, but officials in Ankara say he stopped short of making the apology Moscow wants before it will lift economic sanctions.

DAWN RAIDS Turkish police detained 13 people, four of them foreigners, in raids across Istanbul in connection with Tuesday night’s attack. Broadcaster CNN Turk said they were accused of providing logistical support for the bombings.

Counter-terrorism teams led by police special forces launched simultaneous raids at 16 locations in the city, two officials told Reuters.

Yeni Safak said the organizer of the attack was suspected to be a man called Akhmed Chatayev, of Chechen origin.

Chatayev is identified on a United Nations sanctions list as a leader in Islamic State responsible for training Russian-speaking militants, and as wanted by Russian authorities.

Turkish officials did not confirm to Reuters that Chatayev was part of the investigation.

Wars in neighboring Syria and Iraq have fostered a home-grown Islamic State network blamed for a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, including two others this year targeting foreign tourists in the heart of Istanbul.

Islamic State has established a self-declared caliphate on swathes of both Syria and Iraq and declared war on all non-Muslims plus Muslims who do not accept its ultra-hardline vision of Sunni Islam. It has claimed responsibility for similar bomb and gun attacks in Belgium and France in the past year.

Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance and part of the U.S.led coalition against Islamic State, has repeatedly fired back on the Sunni hardliners in recent months after rocket fire from northern Syria hit the border town of Kilis.

In a sign of the growing threats to Turkey, U.S. defense sources said on Wednesday that Washington was moving towards permanently banning families from accompanying U.S. military and civilian personnel deployed in the country.

PARLIAMENTARY PRESSURE Critics say Turkey woke up too late to the threat from Islamic State, focusing instead early in the Syrian civil war on trying to oust President Bashar al-As-

sad by backing even his hardline Islamist opponents, arguing there could be no peace without his departure.

Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, angered by the ruling AK Party’s refusal to hold an inquiry into the airport attack, accused the AKP of “an ideological kinship” with Islamic State. Government officials have flatly rejected such accusations in the past.

Turkey adjusted its military rules of engagement this month to allow NATO allies to carry out more patrol flights along its border with Syria.

It has also carried out repeated raids on suspected Islamic State safe houses in Turkey.

Nine suspected militants, thought to have been in contact with Islamic State members in Syria, were detained in dawn raids in four districts of the Aegean coastal city of Izmir on Thursday, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

It said they were accused of financing, recruiting and providing logistical support to the group.

The military killed two suspected Islamic State members trying to enter Turkey illegally at the weekend, security sources said on Thursday.

One of the suspects, a Syrian national, was thought to have been plotting a suicide bomb attack in either the capital Ankara or the southern province of Adana, home to Incirlik, a major base used by U.S. and Turkish forces through which some coalition air strikes against Islamic State are carried out. - Reuters

Georgia Asian Times July 1-15, 2016

Page 17

Misc Asia ods “are unorthodox and verge on the illegal”. However, the 71-year-old former prosecutor said he knew right from wrong and would abide by the rule of law.

Duterte, ‘the punisher’, sworn in as Philippines’ president

Duterte was mayor for 22 years of the southern city of Davao, where, according to human rights groups, death squads have killed at least 1,400 people since 1998, most of them drug-pushers, addicts, petty criminals and street children.

He denies any involvement in vigilante killings.

NO BANQUET, CHAMPAGNE

Manila, June 30, 2016 — Rodrigo Duterte was sworn in as the Philippines’ 16th president on Thursday, capping the unlikely journey of a provincial city mayor whose brash man-ofthe-people style and pledges to crush crime swamped establishment rivals in last month’s election.

After making his pledge at the presidential palace in Manila, with one hand on the Bible, Duterte delivered a speech in which he promised a “relentless” and “sustained” fight against corruption, criminality and illegal drugs.

However, he said these ills were only symptoms of a disease cutting into the moral fiber of society.

“I see the erosion of the people’s trust in our country’s leaders, the erosion of faith in our judicial system, the erosion of confidence in the capacity of our public servants to make the people’s lives better, safer and healthier,” he said.

Duterte tapped into voters’ disgust with the Philippines’ political elite and the failure of successive governments to tackle poverty and inequality, drawing comparisons with Donald Trump and the rise of assertive populists across the globe.

But his defiance of convention has raised concern that economic growth in the Philippines, the fastest of Southeast Asia’s five main economies under his predecessor, could be at risk on his watch.

The political shake-up also adds to uncertainty about Manila’s position in a sometimes-bitter dispute with China over sovereignty in the South China Sea, a key global trade route.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Duterte, saying he was “willing to work with Duterte to push for improvement of relations between the two countries”.

Duterte’s new defense minister told Reuters this week that crushing Islamist militants in the south of the country would take precedence over South China Sea disputes.

Duterte’s election campaign focused almost entirely on the scourges of crime, drug abuse and corruption, and voters were not deterred by repeated warnings from “the Punisher”, in profanity-peppered speeches, to have offenders killed.

In his maiden speech, the president conceded that many believe his meth-

In keeping with his unsophisticated manner, the presidential inauguration ceremony was far less elaborate than is customary.

There was a traditional 21-gun salute at Malacanang Palace, a graceful white mansion originally built by Spanish colonialists in the 18th century.

But aides said there was no sumptuous banquet or champagne, just a meal for 627 guests showcasing the country’s culinary heritage, including coconut pith spring rolls, a cheese made from carabao milk and durian tartlets.

Duterte is not known for his sartorial elegance: he usually sports a shortsleeved casual shirt, never wears socks and told Reuters on the hustings that he wouldn’t be seen in a tie. On Thursday, he wore a formal ‘barong’ shirt but TV presenters commented that he appeared to be wearing slip-on loafers.

Indeed, there is little about Duterte that is conventionally presidential.

Aides say he wants to travel in a pick-up truck instead of the president’s bullet-proof Mercedes. And it is still not clear if he will keep a promise to spurn the luxury of the palace and commute daily from Davao, which is two hours from Manila by air.

Few media organizations were invited to the inauguration, the upshot of a furor Duterte unleashed recently when he suggested that corrupt journalists were legitimate targets for assassination.

His incendiary rhetoric and advocacy of extrajudicial killings to stamp out crime have alarmed many who hear echoes of an authoritarian past under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

In the weeks since Duterte’s election victory there has been a jump in the number of suspected drug dealers shot dead by police and anonymous vigilantes, a sign, critics say, that a spiral of violence has already begun.

But this appears to have only augmented his popularity.

Thousands of people belonging to a left-wing activist group marched to an area near the palace, not to protest as they usually do, but to cheer for Duterte.

“Change is indeed coming,” said Sevilla Sayco, a 61-year-old rice farmer from a province north of the capital.

“We are happy because the previous administration paid us no attention.

But Duterte is pro-poor,” she said while shopping for shirts with Duterte’s image on them, among piles of other Duterte merchandise from nail clippers to pens and keychains.

Duterte later invited the leftists into the palace and spoke to them about ideas he had to distribute millions of hectares of public land to farmers and release political prisoners.

He has promised to spread wealth more evenly in a country where over a quarter of the 100 million people are poor.

He gave few details on Thursday of his economic policies but has said he will pursue his predecessor’s infrastructure and fiscal efficiency drives to lift growth to at least 7 percent.

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July 1-15, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

TRAVEL

Online holiday queries spike after Brexit vote Paris, July 3, 2016 -- Online queries for European holiday flights to Britain soared after its voters chose to abandon the EU, travel web sites reported, offering a glimmer of hope for tourism in the country.

People across Europe apparently rushed to find bargain trips after the June 23 referendum on leaving the European Union, which tipped sterling into a sharp slide against the euro and an even steeper fall against the dollar.

Searches for flights from France to Britain surged 130 percent from a day earlier on June 24, when the results were announced, according to data provided by holiday booking site Kayak, which says it handles some 1.5 billion travel searches a year.

Kayak said it enjoyed a similar spike

in searches for flights to Britain from Europe between June 24 and 25 with increases of 86 percent from Germany, 102 percent from Spain and 114 percent from Finland.

Rival Paris-based holiday booking site liligo.com, which claims four million unique online visitors a month, said web interest in Paris-London flights rose 34 percent from June 23 to 26.

“It is too early to say for sure but the first trends we have seen and the devaluation of the British currency suggest that interest in the UK as a destination will be maintained in the weeks ahead, especially for European passengers interested in ‘city breaks’ to London to go shopping,” liligo.com said in a statement.

Double-edged Booking site MisterFly said it had experienced a 60-percent increase in actual flight reservations from France to Britain since the Brexit vote.

The slide in value of the pound may hit bookings by British tourists, however, said the French travel industry umbrella group Les Entreprises du Voyage.

“It is absolutely double-edged: Britain will attract more French people but it is bad news for the French economy as fewer British tourists will come to France because it will be a more expensive destination,” said the group’s president, Jean-Pierre Mas. Although four million French people take short holidays in Britain every

year, there are 12 million Britons who do the same in France, according to French online travel site Easyvoyage chairman Jean-Pierre Nadir.

Brexit risks hurting tourism in areas favoured by British holidaymakers such as the west of France, and especially Normandy, he said.

British searches for European holidays on Kayak surged 24 percent on June 24 compared to the previous day, the web site said.

France topped the list of flight destinations being queried that day, Kayak said.

But by the next day France had dropped out of the top 10 to be replaced by the Netherlands, up 161 percent, Czech Republic, up 146 percent, and Sweden, up 140 percent, it said.