Georgia Asian Times July 15-31, 2013 by Georgia Asian Times

Covering The Multicultural Asian American Community in Georgia

www.gasiantimes.com July 15-31, 2013 Vol 10 No 14

Online Gambling in U.S.

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July 15-31, 2013 Georgia Asian Times

Georgia Asian Times July 15-31, 2013

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GAT Calendar of Events (For latest & updated events, visit www.gasiantimes.com)

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

Tel: 678-971-9388 Advertising: gat@gasiantimes.com Editorial: info@gasiantimes.com URL: www.gasiantimes.com Mailing Address: P.O. Box 922348 Norcross, GA 30010-2348

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. 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. Georgia Asian Times assumes no responsibility for damages from the use of information contained in this publication or the reply to any advertisement. The Publisher will not be liable for any error in advertising to greater extent than the cost of space occupied by the error and will only be made for a single publication date. The Publisher reserves the right to reject any ad or articles submitted for publication that may not be in good taste for a free publication.

GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia - Awards Dinner

Peachtree City Dragon Boat Festival Date: Sept 28, 2013 Time: 8:00 am Venue: Peachtree City For more info: ptcdragonboats@ gmail.com

18th Atlanta Dragon Boat Festival

9th Atlanta Asian Film Festival (AAFF) Date: Oct 12-25, 2013 Venues: Cinefest-GSU, GPC Dunwoody, University of West Georgia

Date: Thursday, July 18, 2013 Time: 6:30 pm Venue: Happy Valley Restaurant For sponsorship and reservation: contact GAT 678-971-9388

Date: Saturday Sept 14, 2013 Time: 7:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue: Clarks Bridge, Lake Lanier Olympic Rowing Facility For more info: www.dragonboatatlanta.com

JapanFest 2013 Date: Sept 21-22, 2013 Time: 10:00 am Venue: Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway

9th AAFF Premiere Night Gala Date: Friday Oct 11, 2013 Venue: Plaza Theatre, Ponce De Leon Avenue, Atlanta For more info: www.atlaff.org

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July 15-31, 2013 Georgia Asian Times

METRO ASIAN NEWS

Ride The Dragon at Lake Lanier Atlanta, July 11, 2013 — Dragon Boat teams and peddlers from neighboring states are scheduled to participate at the upcoming 17th annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Atlanta. This year’s festival will fall on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at Lake Lanier’s Olympic Kayak & Rowing venue in Gainesville, Georgia. The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Atlanta witnessed record crowd and increased team participations over the past few years. This year’s festival will likely generate more interest from corporate and community teams due to improved water level conditions at the lake, according to organizer of the event. “We would like to encourage teams to register and sign up early. Early registration allow teams to have more time to practice and to grow as a team,” said Jackson Chang, President of the Atlanta Dragon Boat Festival, organizer of the event.

Dragon Boat teams have grown in popularity among corporate teams and breast cancer survivors. The sport has proven to develop positive team work and camaraderie among team members. It is also a form of exercise recommended as physical rehabilitation for cancer survivors. There are several race categories at the festival: Open, Breast Cancer Survivors, Collegiate, High School, International, Recreational, Southeast Asian Division, Financial, Manufacturing, and Law firms. Registration for a dragon boat team is $600. The fee would include practice sessions at the lake with a qualified coach. Interested teams are encouraged to register online at www.dragonboatatlanta.com or speak to an organizer at Tel 678.971.9858.

GAT Celebrates 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia with Banquet Dinner Norcross, July 15, 2013 - Georgia Asian Times will be toasting the honorees of “The 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia” with a dinner banquet at a restaurant in Norcross on July 18. A total of 12 women and 13 men comprised of this year’s honorees. The GAT 25 Awards honors the Asian American individuals who made an impact in arts, business, government, politics, social work, education, judiciary, and areas that influence every aspect of Georgian’s daily life. The honorees are picked by a selection committee who are active in the Asian Pacific community and the editorial staff of GAT.

Selection criteria for this year’s nominees includes honorees contribution and enhancement to the Asian Pacific community. GAT is also presenting a Community Spirit Award to Dr. Kim Reimann, who have dedicated and given much of her energy to the Asian American community. Consul Generals of India, Indonesia and Director General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office are expected to grace the occasion. For a complete list of the 2013 honorees of GAT 25, visit : http:// issuu.com/gasiantimes/docs/ gat25.2013?mode=window

Georgia Asian Times

July 15-31, 2013

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EXECUTIVE PROFILE Serving the Community with Passion Trish Nguyen President Vietnamese American Community of Georgia (VAC-GA) On a typical day, Trish Nguyen is busy multi-tasking at the Vietnamese American Community of Georgia’s office in Norcross. Nguyen is either busy filling out application forms for food stamps, answering questions on medicare, or teaching computer classes to the newly arrived Vietnamese immigrants. Trish has a soft spot in her heart for immigrants as she was once a new immigrant herself. She was born in Tien Giang, a small village located about six-hours drive south of Saigon, Vietnam. Along with her mother and three brothers, Trish landed in the United States in 1989. They have lived as refugees for five months at a United Nation’s processing center at Bataan, Philippines. “We landed in Chicago and we were given a small one-bedroom apartment on the nineteen floor in a housing project to start our life in America,” Trish recalls vividly. “It wasn’t much but we were happy. We were given donated food and clothing by community volunteers,” added Trish. Her affinity towards helping others today started by the generosity and examples shown by the volunteers. She and her brothers quickly adapt to Chicago public schools and the American way of life. Trish’s mom picked up sewing projects to earn extra cash to support the family. Her passion in helping other lands her a freelance job as an interpreter in 1998. She worked as a independent contractor with a Washington-based group involved with immigration and social work.

Upon graduation from high school, Trish was enrolled at Loyola University. She later transferred to Kennesaw State University and completed a Bachelor of Business Administration in Information Technology in 2004. “My first job after graduation was in real estate and brokerage services,” said Trish. In 2006, she earned her professional real estate license to allow her to conduct transaction for her clients. While pursuing her work in real estate, Trish finds time to volunteer as a radio program host at BPSOS Atlanta, a non-profit agency assisting Vietnamese refugees and newly arrived immigrants. “I enjoyed sharing my real estate knowledge with the community,” she adds. “My radio program also shared information on seeking financial help especially for those individuals facing foreclosures and financial issues.” Trish also finds time to volunteer at Vietnamese-American Community of Georgia, a non-profit agency for the Vietnamese community. “My path started with VAC Georgia when I volunteered for the 2008 Tet New Year celebration event.” With the slowing economy and real estate market, Trish finds opportunity with a job offer at a consulting firm in 2011. Her new role was to provide administration help and IT supporting services. Her dedication and strong work ethic at VAC Georgia caught the attention

of senior directors of the organization. Trish was invited to serve as a member of the Board and also appointed Secretary from 2008-2012. “There are major challenges in the Vietnamese-American community organizations. Funding and personnel are among the key issues facing these organizations including VAC Georgia,” said Trish. She was elected as President VAC Georgia in February 2012 for a term lasting until 2016. VAC Georgia provides a wide range of services including senior programs, food stamps/welfare programs, Vietnamese language classes, citizenship & ESL classes, computer classes for the elders, and traditional dance instructions. The organization officially relocated to a new office space located off Jimmy Carter Boulevard in June 2012. Trish has set three major agendas for her tenure at the organization. “I hope to transform VAC Georgia to be more open and to have direct relationship with other communities,” said Trish with confident. “Secondly, my goal is to increase staffing support at key programs that we offer such as health fairs, senior programs, and computer classes. At the

moment, we are a bit short-handed,” she adds. “Increasing Vietnamese youth involvement with VAC Georgia is a major goal of mine. I am planning an all year round initiative to keep the youth engaged and to learn.” Trish has recently quit her job with the consulting firm to dedicate more time at VAC Georgia. Her unselfish dedication at the organization is beginning to pay off with larger participation at events and growing interests from the youths. She and a group of dedicated volunteers are currently busy planning for a major health fair and the Moon Cake Festival in September. “We have two major health fair every year. The Spring fair is designed for annual check ups and the Fall fair is to administer free flu shots.” It has come full circle for Trish as she looks back on the journey that her family endured in settling in America. “I hope to make a difference in the life of the new immigrants as I have been through it. My hope is to inspire the youth in the community to appreciate the sacrifice of their elders and parents,” said Trish with a smile.

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July 15-31, 2013 Georgia Asian Times

BUSINESS

IMF cuts 2013 global growth forecast WASHINGTON, July 9, 2013 - The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecast, citing new downside risks in key emerging-market economies and a deeper recession in the eurozone. The IMF projected the world’s economy would grow 3.1 percent in 2013, down from its April estimate of 3.3 percent. China and other emerging economic powers now face new risks, it warned, “including the possibility of a longer growth slowdown.” The global lender said that growth had been affected by increased financial market volatility and rising interest rates in advanced economies since its last World Economic Outlook report was published in April. “Emerging-market economies have generally been hit hardest,” the Fund said in its update of the WEO report. The expected US Federal Reserve’s unwinding of its massive monetary policy stimulus could trigger sustained capital outflows from emerging-markets, the IMF warned. “Monetary easing can be the first line of defense against downside risks” in emerging-market and developing economies, where inflation was generally expected to moderate, it said. But fiscal policy options may be limited. “Real policy rates are low already, and capital outflows and price effects from exchange rate depreciation may also constrain further easing,” the Fund said. Growth in the emerging-market and developing economies was expected to slow to 5.0 percent in 2013, instead of the 5.3 percent expansion seen a few months ago. The main impact was being seen on the top emerging market economies, the “BRICS” -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

“After years of strong growth, the BRICS, to call them that way, are beginning to run into speed bumps,” said IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard. China, the world’s second-biggest economy and a main engine of global growth, would expand by 7.8 percent, three-tenths of a point slower than thought. The forecast for Russia was slashed by 0.9 points to 2.5 percent, and South Africa was cut 0.8 point to 2.0 percent. Lower prices were also curbing growth in commodity exporters. Crude oil prices were expected to fall 4.7 percent, while non-oil commodity prices were projected to decline 1.8 percent. Some of Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economies, such as Nigeria and South Africa, face weaker growth in part due to weaker external demand, while in the Middle East and North Africa, growth remains weak “because of difficult political and economic transitions,” the IMF said.

Taiwan’s HTC Q2 profit plunges 83% TAIPEI, July 5, 2013 (AFP) - Taiwan smartphone maker HTC said Friday that net profit in April-June dived 83 percent year on year, although it was a slight improvement from the record low seen in the previous three months. The result comes as the firm struggles to turn things around with its high-end HTC One smartphone and heavier marketing strategy. Unaudited net profit in the second quarter came in at Tw$1.25 billion ($41.67 million), compared with Tw$7.4 billion a year ago but up sharply from the Tw$85 million in JanuaryMarch, the company said. Revenue fell 22 percent to Tw$70.7 billion year-on-year but surged 65 percent from quarter to quarter and was line with its own forecast of Tw$70.0 billion. Chief executive officer Peter Chou predicted a sharp rise in second-quar-

ter revenue thanks to the HTC One, which he said had received “overwhelmingly positive” reviews since its launch in February. He hailed it as a “technological breakthrough” as the company battles to win a piece of the sector that is dominated by Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S4. However, analysts suggest sales of the phone peaked in May. And the firm has a fight on its hands. Research firm IDC said the company held a 4.6 percent share of the global smartphone market in 2012, a sharp decline from 8.8 percent a year earlier. Samsung held a 30.3 percent stake while Apple had 19.1 percent. HTC sells its own smartphones and also makes handsets for a number of leading US companies, including supplying Google’s Nexus One.

Meanwhile, combined growth in the advanced economies was estimated at 1.2 percent, down a tenth point from the prior estimate. The recession in the eurozone was deeper than expected, the IMF said, citing a toxic combination of low demand, depressed confidence, weak balance sheets and the impact of tight fiscal and financial conditions. The IMF predicted a 0.6 percent contraction in the 17-nation eurozone, down two-tenths of a point from the April estimate. US growth was weakening under pressure from government spending cuts that offset improving demand in the private sector, notably from a recovery in the housing market. Growth in the world’s largest economy was trimmed by two-tenths of a point to 1.7 percent. Japan’s growth outlook was upgraded by a half-point to 2.0 percent, with the IMF citing the impact of the Bank

of Japan’s huge stimulus efforts. But overall, the IMF was somewhat gloomy, saying threats to growth continue to cloud the future. It called on advanced economies to take additional measures to bolster their defenses, citing the need for the United States to not let politics interfere with a timely, necessary increase in its official borrowing ceiling to avoid a spending crunch. It also said euro area governments need to “do what it takes” to bring back growth and reverse “financial fragmentation.” Blanchard noted worries about the banking sector of the eurozone, and how that was casting a cloud over the region’s economy.

“There are doubts over the state of banks. Whether these doubts are justified or not, it is clear that there is a need for an assessment of the quality of the balance sheets,” he said. “If it’s found out that some banks are not as healthy as hoped, there has to be money to recapitalize them.” The IMF said that generally, all major economies need to undergo structural reforms to spur growth and support global rebalancing. “This implies measures to sustainably raise consumption (China) and investment (Germany) in surplus economies as well as measures that improve competitiveness in deficit economies,” it said.

Georgia Asian Times July 15-31, 2013

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BUSINESS

India ready for bilateral investment treaty talks with US NEW DELHI, July 13, 2013 (AFP) India is ready for talks with the United States on a bilateral investment treaty to reinvigorate commercial ties between the world’s two biggest democracies, a report said Saturday. The announcement comes days after neighboring China and the United States agreed to relaunch talks on a similar bilateral investment treaty. “Yes, we are ready for it. We are in favor of a bilateral investment agreement,” the semi-official Press Trust of India news agency quoted Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma as saying. Sharma was speaking at the conclusion Friday of the Washington-leg of his official US tour but gave no timeframe for the treaty talks, the news agency said. “Economic engagement in both trade and investment, though robust, is well below potential, given the opportunities a growing economy like India offers and the opportunities in the largest economy of the United States,” Sharma added. Sharma and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram have been in the United States this week meeting US political and business leaders to pitch for greater investment in Asia’s third-largest economy. They are seek to spur India’s economic growth which has been running at a decade low of five percent and boost the rupee which has been hitting lifetime lows. “We would definitely be in favor of enhancing our economic partnership,” Sharma said, adding the two countries’ target of achieving $500 billion in twoway trade by 2020 is doable.

Bilateral trade between India and the United States currently runs at $106 billion annually. US legislators and business leaders have been pressing Sharma and Chidambaram to ease bureaucratic hurdles to make it easier for foreigners to do business in India and to step up reforms to liberalize the still heavily state-dominated economy. “Over the last two years, we have felt a cooling when it comes to US interests in investing in India,” Honeywell chief executive David Cote told the Press Trust of India separately. Foreign direct investment in India has fallen in three out of the last four financial years amid investor worry over political paralysis and widespread corruption. Sharma told reporters New Delhi is “far more welcoming” toward US business than is perceived, the news agency reported. Sharma, who declared India will the world’s new manufacturing hub, added there will be huge opportunities for the US businesses in India’s proposed National Investment and Manufacturing Zones offering tax breaks and other perks. India has approved setting up of 13 such industrial townships as part of its new national manufacturing policy. The scheme aims to raise the share of manufacturing as part of India’s gross domestic product from below 16 percent to at least 25 percent within a decade. The goal is to create 100 million skilled jobs to employ India’s burgeoning youth population.

Japan’s Uniqlo to boost US stores as profit jumps TOKYO, July 11, 2013 (AFP) - The operator of Japanese cheap-chic clothing chain Uniqlo said Thursday it will open 10 new stores in the United States, as it reported a 22 percent jump in net profit. For the nine months to May, Fast Retailing booked a net profit of 88.4 billion yen ($880 million). Operating profit edged up 4.0 percent to 124.0 billion yen on sales of 885.8 billion yen, an increase of 19.1 percent on-year, the retailer said in a statement. For the full year to August, it expects a net profit of 91.5 billion yen, up 27.7 percent on-year, on sales of 1.1 trillion yen, up 18.8 percent. The brisk figures are chiefly due to increases both in sales and profit in its business in Asia, it said.

Separately, it said it will open the new US stores later this year, more than doubling its presence. The new outlets will be in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California. “To staff the new stores, Uniqlo will take on the ambitious plan to hire and train several hundred full-time and part-time employees at all levels,” it said. “The new Uniqlo stores represent the company’s goal for a continued expansion within the important US market,” it said, adding new stores will be in shopping centers and retail mall spaces.

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July 15-31, 2013 Georgia Asian Times

CULTURE

The final trip on the course is to southern Kampot province, home to many unique plant species.

Cambodia’s Khmer healers get schooled in ancient art PHNOM PENH, July 4, 2013 (AFP) - A lizard dipped in wine may not seem like an obvious asthma remedy, but as Cambodian traditional healers strive to turn their ancient wisdom into a professional industry such treatments are finding their way into the classroom. For generations, the secrets of “Kru Khmer” traditional remedies have been passed down by word of mouth -- often from father to son -- with each expert tweaking the methods along the way.

because it teaches us correct, safe methods,” said Kraing Dhein, a student at the school. A certain kind of tree bark is said to help breast-feeding women produce enough milk, while the pungent durian fruit is well-known as a treatment for rheumatism. Other remedies are potentially dangerous -- in the worst case, powerful homemade rice wine is known to have been recommended to pregnant women.

But in an attempt to freshen up the ancient art and better regulate the industry, Cambodia’s Ministry of Health has opened a traditional medicine school, with funds from a Japanese foundation.

“This training is more professional than what students learn from their ancestors,” said Kong Sokdina, project manager for CatMO, a traditional medicine organisation that manages the courses.

Cambodia is home to thousands of Kru Khmer practitioners -- medical plant experts whose mysterious concoctions of roots, barks and leaves are used to heal common ailments.

“They are taught many subjects, such as the ethical code of treatment... they wouldn’t know otherwise.”

The school, which opened in 2009, has trained some 345 Kru Khmer so far, with a particular focus on hygiene and anatomy. “It’s good to have training like this

During the five months of training, students are taken on regular field trips to study local varieties of plants and learn about their natural healing properties -- such as those that can act as antibiotics or have antiseptic qualities.

“We can find roots that no longer exist elsewhere,” said professor Ky Bouhang, chair of the Cambodian Traditional Healers Association. Some 80 percent of Cambodia’s population live in rural areas, often in villages with no doctors, let alone a hospital. Even where local healthcare is available, many villagers cannot afford professional medical care. Traditional healers offer a cheaper alternative -- and business is prosperous. On the outskirts of Phnom Penh’s Orussey Market, many Kru Khmer man tables heaped high with dried plants and animal parts, roots, barks and other traditional treatments. Tauch Sreythoeun opened her stall at Orussey soon after she finished training. “Some (customers) want plants to help reduce fever, for example, so I mix them a treatment from several roots,” she told AFP. Patients usually seek out a Kru Khmer for help with minor gripes, such as stomach aches and exhaustion, which do not demand the attention -- and expense -- of a proper doctor. “Traditional medicine can help treat the poorest people because people (living) in the country do not have enough money to go to the hospital

or see a doctor,” said Soung Kimsath, still a Kru Khmer student. But some adherents claim the discipline is so powerful that it can replace modern medicine entirely. Pov Rany has regularly consulted traditional healers ever since she discovered she had a cyst in her chest. “I believe in traditional medicine, I think it is effective and good for my health,” she said. “I don’t use modern medicine because drugs contain chemical substances and counterfeit products.” Some doctors warn about the dangers of relying solely on traditional healers -- especially for serious illnesses. But in Cambodia, the pull of traditional medicine is strong. Many see it as tried and trusted ancient wisdom in contrast to the country’s myriad local pharmacies, which dole out expensive and often counterfeit Western medicines, with no proper advice or prescription. The most obscure power of the healers pertains to the spirits. Many Cambodians believe Kru Khmer have the capacity to literally blow bad spirits out of the body. “I cured a woman who had shingles with my magic breath,” said Ky Bouhang. “Today, she can work again in her farm while no other treatment had been a success.”

Georgia Asian Times July 15-31, 2013

TRAVEL

Flying chickens, robot waiters: bizarre dining in Bangkok BANGKOK, July 3, 2013 (AFP) From chickens catapulted across tables to meals dished up with a generous portion of sexual health advice, Bangkok is doing a roaring trade in unusual dining experiences. The Thai capital, renowned as much for its commitment to fun as it is for fiery cuisine, has embraced the odd, amusing and bizarre in a bid to lure customers through the door. In the city suburbs, staff at Ka Tron restaurant delight customers by loading cooked chickens into a catapult and firing them across a stage where they are caught on a spike by a waiter riding a unicycle. Despite the pressure that comes with live performance, their catch rate is impressive. “We have been going 26 years and we have probably fired hundreds of thousands of chickens, but we have only dropped a few hundred,” said restaurant owner Nattaset Rattanapipob. It may be far from an everyday restaurant job, but the waiters say the trick seems to be working for the punters. “The way we do things is better,” said waiter Sorasak Pomkalong. Across town a Japanese restaurant has deployed its own gimmick -- two large robots wheel up and down the tables delivering meals to diners.

Once the novelty wears off, customers at Hajime can then order the robots to dance. But as with all things mechanical, robot waiters come with a risk of malfunction. “During the first few hours of the day if the robot is stuck we have the support teams standing by,” said Pimol Paitaku, marketing manager at Hajime restaurant. “Most of the time though it works.” Bangkok has plenty of unique dining experiences including Cabbages and Condoms -- which serves sexual health and family planning advice alongside noodles -- with the tagline ‘our food is guaranteed not to get you pregnant.’ To emphasize the point, once customers have paid they get their changed returned with a complimentary condom. And while Thais are serious about their food, people in the City of Angels appear willing to try anything. “They are looking for unique experiences, whether that is something noone else has eaten or some kind of performance, or something that attracts the eye,” said food blogger Dwight ‘Bkk Fatty’ Turner. “So I think all of those things combined makes Bangkok a very special city to eat in.”

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July 15-31, 2013 Georgia Asian Times

CULTURE

Experts row over ‘earliest’ Chinese inscriptions find BEIJING, July 12, 2013 - Fierce debate has erupted among experts in China over the discovery of 5,000year-old inscriptions that some believe represent the earliest record of Chinese characters. Pottery pieces and stone vessels unearthed at the Zhuangqiaofen archaeological site in the eastern province of Zhejiang push “the origin of the written language back 1,000 years”, the staterun Global Times newspaper reported. The inscriptions predate the oracles, writings on turtle shells dating back to the Shang Dynasty (C.1600-1046BC), which are commonly believed to be the origin of the written Chinese language system. Some of the inscriptions were written together in what some experts believe resembles a short sentence. Li Boqian, an archaeology professor from Peking University, said the symbols reveal the ancient Liangzhu civilization -- which existed in Zhejiang and neighboring Jiangsu in the Neolithic Age -- had already developed the basic structure of sentences from independent words, the Global Times said earlier this week. Other specialists dismissed the significance of such a find. Xu Hong, an archaeology researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,

expressed skepticism on links between the inscriptions and the development of Chinese script. “Even if those signs on the stones were characters, they were simply from a long dead east Asian country before the Middle Kingdom existed,” he said on Sina Weibo, China’s version of the social network Twitter. “Many signs and character lookalikes earlier than the oracles have been found in east Asia.” Xia Jingchun, a professor of Chinese language from Beijing Technology and Business University, also wrote on Weibo: “It’s long been believed by experts that there were more ancient characters than the oracles, because the oracles were too mature, and older languages are supposed to be less developed.” The inscriptions were found among artifacts unearthed between 2003 and 2006, state media said.

Snails face: Japan beauty treatment offers slime power TOKYO, July 14, 2013 (AFP) - Having live snails crawling on your face sounds like the thing of nightmares, but in Japan one company is hoping people will be prepared to pay for it. Starting Monday, women who want to slough off dead skin, clear their pores or roll back the years can submit themselves to five minutes of molluscs. “Slime from snails helps remove old cells, heal the skin after sun burn and moisturize it,” said Manami Takamura, a spokeswoman for Tokyo-based beauty salon Ci:z.Labo, as she placed three gastropods on a woman’s face. “In this way, you can have 100 percent pure snail essence directly on the skin.” Snail slime is believed to have an anti-aging effect on human skin, and some cosmetics are already sold with essence of escargot.

But Ci:z.Labo beauty salon is going one step further in what it says is the first live snail treatment in Japan. As part of the salon’s “Celebrity Escargot Course” customers will get five minutes of snail therapy, along with massage and other facial treatments. The snails alone cost 10,500 yen ($106). Sayaka Ito said she had found the treatment so relaxing that she had almost fallen asleep. “You can feel the snails moving on your face. At first, it is surprising, but it’s actually rather nice,” she said. “My skin really does feel smooth and moist.”

Georgia Asian Times July 15-31, 2013

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FOCUS

US lawmakers shuffle the deck on online gambling WASHINGTON, July 14, 2013 - Online gambling is back before Congress, and some are betting it will move forward this time. Congress has swung into action this year after moves by states to set up their own Internet wagering systems. At least two bills to regulate Internet gambling have been introduced in the House of Representatives, and a Senate committee has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday on the matter. After years of treating online gambling as criminal, the US government quietly shifted its stand in late 2011 when the Justice Department released an opinion stating that only sports betting should be prohibited under a 1961 federal law known as the Wire Act. This opens the door to online poker, which is hugely popular on the Internet, and possibly other casino games along with state lotteries, say analysts. Nevada opened Internet wagering earlier this year, and New Jersey and Delaware have both passed legislation to authorize it. “The challenge we’ve seen is that we are already starting to have a patchwork of inconsistent rules in different states,” said Michael Waxman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, a group pressing for regulation of online wagering. Waxman said the prospects for congressional action are now better than at any time, and “we’re down to the decision over whether Internet gambling activity is going to be regulated on a state-by-state basis or by the federal government.” Representative Joe Barton has introduced a measure to legalize online poker, and Representative Peter King last month proposed a broader bill to

set up a federal regulatory system for online gaming. Waxman said Barton’s bill is more narrow, and he expressed concern over prohibitions that would ban credit card transactions and prohibit non-casino operators like Zynga or Yahoo! from taking bets online. “There’s no logic behind the argument that it should be permissible for Americans to play poker and bet on horses online, but can’t play bingo online as well,” said Waxman. Senator Jay Rockefeller, whose subcommittee holds a hearing Wednesday on online gambling, said lawmakers need to examine the implications of the growth of online wagering. “Internet gambling is a multi-billion dollar industry that comes with some serious risks, including the potential for money laundering used for terrorist financing. This alone demands that we take a hard look at what a growing Internet gambling industry means as more states have recent laws permitting online wagering,” said Rockefeller. “We’ve also got to take a hard look at consumer protections, and how we’re going to fix any existing gaps that allow underage gambling or otherwise leave consumers vulnerable to fraud and abuse.” The Poker Players Alliance, which endorsed the Barton proposal, said regulation would be beneficial. “We are all better served through licensing and regulation that implements high standards to protect consumers, thwart fraud and abuse, and guarantee the proper safeguards against underage and addictive gambling,” said Alfonse D’Amato, a former senator who chairs the alliance. The brick-and-mortar casino indus-

try’s chief lobby group has supported online poker but its members have been divided on the broader question of online gambling, which could mean less visitors to casinos. The American Gaming Association in a statement it was “pleased that Representative Barton continues to understand and support the pressing need for a federal legislative solution that would allow for legal, regulated online poker in this country, while still providing the necessary framework for consistent consumer protection safeguards and effective tools to combat illegal Internet gambling.” But at least one major casino mogul, Sands owner Sheldon Adelson, has been opposing legalization of online gambling. “I’m a father, grandfather... I do not want my children to have the opportunity to become addicted to gaming. And poker, in my opinion, would become one of the most addictive games,” Adelson told Bloomberg television recently.

Adelson’s group is funding a website stopinternetgambling.com, which urges the defeat of any online gambling legalization. “Is it worth the societal and economic risk to produce more revenue for the government? Internet gambling advocates fail to mention the fact that Internet gambling by definition will do away with tens of thousands of casinobased jobs and will take us down a slippery path from which we will never be able to turn back,” a statement on the website said. Adelson’s comments set a fire in the gaming community, with some calling him hypocritical. “Adelson made his fortunes though gambling,” said Hartley Henderson at the Offshore Gaming Association. “So why in the world would a casino mogul be opposed to online gambling?”

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July 15-31, 2013 Georgia Asian Times

TECH

New Nokia smartphone has monster camera NEW YORK CITY, July 11, 2013 - Finland’s Nokia unveiled its latest smartphone Thursday with a powerful 41-megapixel camera touted as offering “more detail than the eye can see.” In unveiling the new device in New York, Nokia said its Lumia 1020 smartphone “is able to produce some of the sharpest images possible by any digital camera.” The Windows-powered phone has six physical lenses and optical image stabilization, and can handle sound pressure levels six times louder than conventional smartphone microphones, the company said. “We want to take people on a journey from capturing pictures to recording and sharing their lives,” said Stephen Elop, president and chief executive. “The Nokia Lumia 1020 will bring new meaning to pictures and continues to strengthen Nokia’s leadership in imaging.” The phone, which will be sold in the US market this month and in Europe and China in the coming weeks, features a new photo application designed for professional quality images. Using a feature called dual capture, the phone 1020 simultaneously takes a high-resolution 38-megapixel image for editing opportunities, and a fivemegapixel picture that is easy to share on social networks, Nokia said. Tony Cripps, analyst at the research

firm Ovum, said Nokia’s new device “sets a new benchmark for high-end smartphone engineering” and highlights Nokia’s technical strengths.

Google ditches location-sharing feature in map apps

“But the company must still overcome incumbent rivals, slow adoption of Windows Phone and a modest marketing budget if it is to finally help the company turn a financial corner after its recent time in the doldrums,” Cripps added.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 10, 2013 (AFP) - Google on Wednesday released an upgraded version of its popular maps app for Android-powered smartphones and tablets that ditches a Latitude feature that let people share locations with family or friends.

Daniel Gleeson at IHS had a similar view.

The new software began rolling out at the online Google Play shop, and a version tailored for iPhones and iPads will soon be available at the Apple App Store, according to Google Maps director Daniel Graf.

“The Lumia 1020 will act as a halo product to boost Nokia’s brand appeal,” he said, but “will not ship sufficient volumes to turn around the company’s fortunes on its own.” Nokia has seen its past glory fade under pressure of competition from Apple and Asian mobile phone makers. Microsoft and Nokia joined forces about two years ago in an alliance aimed at making inroads with handsets powered by Windows Phone software. Windows, boosted by the Windows Phone 8 introduced last year, boosted its US market share to 5.6 percent from 3.8 percent, according to a recent Kantar Worldpanel ComTech survey. IHS said Nokia’s global smartphone market share is likely to slip to around three percent this year.

“The new Google Maps for mobile builds on the design we released for iPhone last December and improves on it with a few useful search and navigation features,” Graf said in a blog post. “It’s a new mapping experience that makes exploring the world and getting to the places that matter to you a lot faster and easier.” A Latitude feature that let people automatically share their locations with friends using GPS capabilities in smartphones will be “retired” by August 9 along with the ability to “checkin” at spots being visited, according to Graf. “We understand some of you still want to see your friends and family on a map, which is why we’ve added location sharing and check-ins to Google+ for Android,” Graf said, noting that

it would soon be added to gadgets powered by Apple’s mobile operating system. Google+ is the California-based Internet titan’s online social network, which it has been gradually weaving into its array of online services. Enhancements to the new version of Google Maps include being able to see reports of trouble on selected routes and being automatically offered better ways to get to selected destinations. Google also customized a version of Maps specifically for tablets. “As more of us use mobile phones and tablets in our daily lives, information that’s useful to you isn’t just about what you need, but also where you might find it,” Graf said. Google is tops in online maps and navigation, but Apple has been refining its own mapping software for iPhones and iPads, and Facebook is keen to follow members increasingly accessing the social network from mobile devices.

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SPORTS

Sumo: Egypt Muslim ready to fight through Ramadan TOKYO, July 8, 2013 - The Arab world’s first professional sumo wrestler says fasting for Ramadan will give him courage during his inaugural tournament in the famously weighty elite ranks of the sport.

China woos Taiwan’s first Wimbledon winner TAIPEI, July 8, 2013 (AFP) - Taiwan’s tennis hero Su-Wei Hsieh is mulling giving up her Taiwanese citizenship to represent China, where she could receive a much bigger sponsorship deal her father said Monday, after her historic victory in the Wimbledon women’s doubles contest. Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou immediately congratulated Hsieh after she and partner Peng Shuai of China beat Australian duo Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua on Saturday. The hard-won triumph made Hsieh the first Taiwanese tennis player ever to grab a Grand Slam title. But while the island was basking in her glory, Hsieh’s father, Hsieh Tzelung, took the public by surprise when he said his daughter may give up her Taiwanese citizenship to represent China in exchange for an annual 10 million yuan ($1.63 million) sponsorship deal offered by a Chinese brewery. The deal would dwarf the 27-yearold’s current total annual sponsor-

ship income of just Tw$1.5 million ($50,000), a sum paid by two local companies. In an interview by telephone, her father said: “It is not that we don’t love Taiwan... we have no choice. “The amount is barely half of the total I need to support the training and related spending of Su-Wei as well as her brother and a younger sister,” both of whom are teenaged tennis players, her father said. The remarks sparked concern in Taiwan that the island would lose its latest sporting icon. Sport chiefs said they were actively seeking sponsorship deals from local companies. “My understanding is that some big enterprises have voiced their desire of providing financial assistance to Hsieh and other local talented athletes,” said Lin Che-hung, spokesman for the Sports Administration. Wu Chia-ching, a pool world champion in 2005, rocked Taiwanese sports when he announced in April 2011 he had become a Chinese citizen

Egyptian Osunaarashi (Great Sandstorm) believes observing the Muslim holy month, which begins Tuesday, will boost his performance, despite not being able to eat during the day. “I will have a greater fighting spirit during Ramadan,” said the wrestler, whose real name is Abdelrahman Ahmed Shaalan. Devout Muslims are forbidden from eating or drinking during daylight in Ramadan, which this year overlaps with the 15-day tournament that began in Nagoya on Sunday. The 21-year-old is fighting his first tournament in the “sekitori” ranks -the top 70-strong tranche of the sport -- just over a year after his profesand would represent China in a tournament. Wu was the first Taiwanese sportsman to renounce citizenship in order to play for China, fueling concerns that talent was heading to the mainland. China has been wooing the island’s top talent in sports including basketball, baseball and golf amid warming ties between the neighbors. The most alarming development for

sional debut. Osunaarashi, who is also the first African wrestler, lost just six of his first 49 bouts. But his elevation to the second division means he will now fight 15 bouts per tournament, rather than seven, all of which will be in the afternoon, well into each day’s fast. “I believe it is tough for him mentally and physically,” his stablemaster Tadahiro Otake told Japanese media ahead of the tournament. “We want to deal with it by encouraging him to gargle as often as possible and we will be preparing food for him to eat late at night,” the 52-yearold former wrestler said. “He is all prepared. He can grow greater still if he overcomes this trial.” Continue on Page 14 Taiwanese fans is perhaps in baseball, where Taiwanese coaches have been credited with playing an important part in China’s rise in the sport. Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war and are still technically at war despite an easing of tensions since 2008 when Ma, of the China-friendly Kuomintang party, came to power on a platform of beefing up trade and tourism links. Ma was re-elected in January 2012.

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SPORTS Honda to set up racing base in Britain TOKYO, July 12, 2013 (AFP) - Japanese automaker Honda said Friday it will build a European racing operations base in Britain ahead of its return to Formula One in 2015. Honda had said in May that it will return to the sport as an engine supplier to British team McLaren in a bid to revive their championship-winning partnership. On Friday it said it will build a new facility in Milton Keynes, 50 miles northwest of London, that “will rebuild and maintain the power units developed at Honda (research and development) centre” in Japan.

Hundreds mob Man Utd as Asian tours start

BANGKOK, July 11, 2013 (AFP) - Hundreds of cheering fans gave Manchester United a stirring welcome Thursday as the English champions jetted into Thailand at the start of a flurry of Asian tours by top European clubs.

Spectators were out in force as the superstar squad, wearing suits with trainers, arrived by chartered jet at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport, where new manager David Moyes performed a traditional Thai greeting. The players then boarded a huge bus emblazoned with the words “United in Thailand” and drove to their five-star downtown hotel, where they were welcomed by more fans holding banners and scarves. Moyes and United great Ryan Giggs were also mobbed during a visit to Siriraj hospital, where they paid their respects and brought a big bunch of flowers for Thailand’s revered king and queen, who are both unwell. England striker Wayne Rooney, at the centre of intense speculation about his future, walked with his head down and did not talk to media as he arrived with his team-mates.

“It’s crazy whenever we visit this part of the world,” defender Rio Ferdinand told the club’s website. “The reception we get in the Asian countries is something else entirely. I’ve never seen fanatics like them. “They come to airports at mad times in the morning to greet us, they hang around our hotels... it’s great and makes us feel really welcome.” Manchester United are the first to arrive in what will be a bumper Asian pre-season, with Chelsea also due in Bangkok this week and Barcelona, Manchester City and Liverpool among the other clubs headed to the region. Moyes, taking over after Alex Ferguson’s 27-year, 38-trophy career at the club, will lead out the team for the first time against a Thai All-Star XI in Bangkok on Saturday. Captain Nemanja Vidic stayed in Manchester because of back pain, but he may join the 19-man squad later on the tour of Thailand, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, according to the club website. Robin van Persie, David De Gea and Shinji Kagawa will also meet up with the team later but Javier Hernandez,

“The UK is an ideal location; it is the home of McLaren, many F1 suppliers are UK based and with seven of the 19 races taking place in Europe (in 2013),” Honda said in a statement.

rested after international duty, and injured trio Chris Smalling, Ashley Young and Nani are all missing. Exciting new signing Wilfried Zaha is one prominent inclusion and veteran defender Ferdinand said all players were keen to make an early impression on the new boss. “I think it’s natural that everybody here is trying to impress on this tour,” he said. “When you get a new manager you want to show him that you should be in the starting XI for that first day of the new season and that process has started already.” But the tours are likely to be dominated by transfer talk with British media reporting that Chelsea, who arrive in Bangkok on Friday, are preparing a major bid for Rooney. However, Moyes has signalled his determination to keep the striker, who asked for a transfer in May, by describing his concerted effort to win over the want-away star.

The Japanese automaker pulled out of F1 after the 2008 season, ending an involvement that began in the 1960s, to cut costs during the economic downturn that ravaged Japanese exports to the United States and Europe. It sold its team to former principal Ross Brawn the next year. A recent change in F1 rules, promoting the use of environmentally friendlier turbo engines, has made the comeback decision easier because Honda could readily transfer the technology to its commercial vehicles. The McLaren-Honda alliance conquered F1 from 1988 to 1991 with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the wheel. Honda started racing in F1 as a fullfledged team in 1964, and stayed until 1968. During that time, it won two races.

“I have met Wayne two, three, four times,” Moyes, who coached Rooney when they were both at Everton, told Britain’s talkSPORT radio. “A lot has been said about myself and Wayne over the years but we have a really good relationship. He came to my house, I have been to his recently to have a chat.” Moyes, who looks set to lose out on a bid to sign Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara, also insisted the club were “working hard” to buy new players as they seek to defend their Premier League title. Chelsea will also play their first game under returning manager Jose Mourinho in Bangkok next week, while Manchester City will be under new boss Manuel Pellegrini when they play a mini-tournament in Hong Kong. Barcelona and Liverpool are also among the visitors in the coming weeks to a region which comprises the bulk of the world’s population and contributes growing revenues to top clubs via TV rights and merchandise.

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HEALTH Omega-3 acids linked to child allergies, prostate risk STOCKHOLM, July 11, 2013 (AFP) - Omega-3 fatty acids, often taken to boost health, appear to increase the risk of childhood allergies and prostate cancer, according to two studies unveiled on Thursday. Newborns with high levels of unsaturated fats in their blood were more prone to develop an allergy than those with lower blood concentrations, according to a probe by three Swedish universities. “It is already known that unsaturated fatty acids inhibit activation of the immune system. This can be useful when you are old,” Agnes Wold, a physician at the clinical microbiology department of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska University Hospital, said in a statement. “But the baby’s immune system needs to get a kick start, otherwise it does not develop properly,” she said. Previous research has indicated that children who at an early age were given fish, which is famously high in omega-3 fatty acids, were less likely to get an allergy. Another author of the study, food science professor Ann-Sofie Sandberg, cautioned against avoiding fish on the basis of these findings. “Fish is so much more than just omega3 fatty acids. One cannot conclude from our study that pregnant women and young children should not eat fish,” she said. Separately, a large study published in Britain’s Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that three omega-3 fatty acids were associated with an increase of between 43 and 71 percent in the risk of developing prostate cancer. The biggest increase in risk was for socalled high-grade prostate cancer, whose tumors are more likely to be fatal. The study, led by scientists at the US Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, amplifies previous findings in 2011 that suggested these fatty acids play an unexplained role in initiating prostate cancer.

“Recommendations to increase ... (omega-3) intake, in particular through supplementation, should consider its potential risks,” said the paper.

No risk of pandemic yet from MERS virus: scientists PARIS, July 4, 2013 (AFP) - The new MERS coronavirus that has claimed dozens of lives in the Middle East does not yet have the ability to trigger a pandemic, but vigilance is needed in case it mutates, French scientists said on Friday.

vigorous searches for the MERS-CoV animal hosts and transmission routes to human beings,” said the Pasteur Institute team which conducted the research.

“Our analysis suggests that MERSCoV does not yet have pandemic potential,” they reported online in The Lancet. But they urged health watchdogs to keep up their guard and pursue the search for the virus’ bolthole in nature.

A respiratory virus that can cause fever and pneumonia, MERS is a cousin of the deadly SARS virus which erupted in southern China in 2003 and snowballed into a global health scare. Since Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) first came to light in 2012, there have been 43 recorded deaths, 36 of them in Saudi Arabia.

“We recommend enhanced surveillance, active contact tracing and

The death rate is high -- at roughly one in every two patients -- although

doctors say there may be other case that are not diagnosed as MERS or do not cause grave illness. The trio of French epidemiologists looked at 55 MERS cases for evidence of “clusters” in which the virus had been passed on from one person to another rather than stopping with the patient who had fallen ill. The point was to calculate the “basic reproduction number” -- known in an equation as R -- that is essentially a benchmark of contagiousness. When R is above 1, a virus or bacteria has epidemic potential.

Fried fish dish crowned most unhealthy meal in America WASHINGTON, July 2, 2013 (AFP) - A batter-laden fried fish dish packs two weeks worth of harmful trans fat in a single serving and was named worst restaurant meal in America Tuesday by a US consumer advocacy group. The Big Catch meal, sold at the fast food chain Long John Silver’s, contains 33 grams of trans fat and 3,700 milligrams of sodium, said the Center for Science in the Public Interest. People should limit themselves to two grams of trans fat daily, according to the American Heart Association, and most people should eat 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day, the Institute of Medicine says. “Long John Silver’s Big Catch meal deserves to be buried 20,000 leagues under the sea,” CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson said in a statement announcing the group’s pick of worst restaurant meal in America. “This company is taking perfectly healthy fish -- and entombing it in a thick crust of batter and partially hydrogenated oil. The result? A heart attack on a hook.” The fish is battered and fried in partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and sold with onion rings and hush puppies, which are fried balls made of leftover batter drippings, cornmeal and onion. Its total calorie count is low for a fast food meal -- just 1,320, CSPI said.

But its artery-clogging trans fat is twice the level of the worst KFC dish, which had 15 grams of trans fat before a 2006 CSPI lawsuit led the chicken chain to stop using partially hydrogenated oil. “Trans fat from partially hydrogenated oil is a uniquely damaging substance that raises your bad cholesterol, lowers your good cholesterol, and harms the cells that line your blood vessels,” said Walter Willett, nutrition department chair at the Harvard School of Public Health. “It might have been defensible to use hydrogenated oil in the 1980s, before trans fat’s harmfulness was discovered, but no longer.” Long John Silver’s introduced the “Big Catch” in May, describing it as “the largest fish we have ever offered, weighing in at 7-8 ounces of 100 percent premium Haddock caught in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.” But that claim did not stand up to the scrutiny of CSPI inspectors, who picked apart the breading from the fish and said they found “an average of about four and a half ounces of actual fish and almost three ounces of oil-soaked batter.” Long John Silver’s, which calls itself the “largest quick service seafood restaurant in the world,” responded to a request for comment by describing the dish as “a limited time only special that delivers tremendous value to value-hungry consumers.”

“The Big Catch can be paired with a variety of side items including corn, green beans, rice, cole slaw, fries, onion rings and hush puppies,” it said. “We stand behind our published food data and will review any requests from CSPI that raise questions about our data.” CSPI said it plans to sue the chain if it continues to use partially hydrogenated oil in its deep-fryers and if it continues to misrepresent the amount of fish in the meal and the nutrition information for the side items. The group’s researchers found that the meal’s onion rings were advertised to contain seven grams of trans fat but actually contained 19.5 grams. The threat to sue was described as “outrageous” by Baylen Linnekin, executive director of a Washington nonprofit called Keep Food Legal. “I am very much in favor of groups like CSPI,” said Linnekin, a lawyer whose membership group says it is devoted to “food freedom” and opposes bans. “Where I tend to depart from their actions is when they threaten to sue,” he said. “It is one thing to put out information and to rail against too many calories or trans fats or what-not. It is an entirely different thing to sue a company.”

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Misc Asia Asiana crash dead from China were best friends: report

Pilot flying San Francisco crash plane was in training SAN FRANCISCO, July 8, 2013 (AFP) - Asiana Airlines on Monday confirmed that the pilot flying the Boeing 777 that crashed in San Francisco was in training, opening the possibility of human error as a cause of the deadly accident. Two teenage Chinese girls were the only fatalities in the fiery crash Saturday, though six of the 307 people aboard the flight remained in area hospitals in critical condition. Chinese state media identified the two dead passengers as Ye Mengyuan, 16, and Wang Linjia, 17, high school classmates from eastern China’s Zhejiang province. One of the girls may have been run over by an airport fire engine rushing to the scene, San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White told reporters. White did not identify the victim. “As it possibly could have happened, based on the injuries sustained, it could have been one of our vehicles that added to the injuries, or another vehicle,” HayesWhite told the San Francisco Chronicle. San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault told the newspaper that the other girl appeared to have died from injuries suffered as she was hurled out of the plane when its tail broke off in the crash. The two friends were coming to visit Stanford University, just south of San Francisco, and to attend a summer camp at a local Christian school, the Chronicle reported. Asked about the accidental death report, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “We are still trying to verify the situation.” US investigators said Sunday that the

Asiana jet was traveling much slower than recommended as it attempted to land. The flight data recorder showed that as the Boeing 777 approached the runway its pilots were warned that the aircraft was likely to stall and asked to abort the landing. The request to abort was captured on the cockpit voice recorder 1.5 seconds before the plane crashed, said National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Deborah Hersman, who is leading the probe. The plane was landing at a speed well below the recommended 137 knots, Hersman said. Her announcement came minutes after a video obtained by CNN confirmed that the aircraft clipped a seawall short of the airport runway and skidded on its belly. The footage showed the plane with its nose up and its rear hitting the ground. The plane then hit the tarmac, abruptly bounced upward, and spun around 180 degrees. The plane’s tail section was torn off in the crash. The plane’s low speed triggered an automatic device that warns pilots the plane is about to stall. The warning came four seconds before the crash -- 2.5 seconds before one of the pilots tried to abort the landing. Analysts said the pilot’s request came too late. In Seoul on Monday, Asiana said pilot Lee Kang-Kuk had 43 hours of experience in piloting the 777 and was still undergoing training, although he had more than 9,000 hours of flight time experience. “It’s true that Lee was on transition training for the Boeing 777,” said an Asiana

JIANGSHAN, July 8, 2013 (AFP) - The two teenage Chinese girls killed in a South Korean passenger jet crash in San Francisco were best friends and promising students, reports said Monday, citing griefstricken classmates and teachers.

student leader, according to her classmates.

Wang Linjia and Ye Mengyuan studied together at high school in Jiangshan in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the Beijing Morning Post said, citing Ye’s relatives, who speculated they may have sat in the same row on the plane.

Wang was good at Chinese calligraphy and painting, and her works hung in the office of her father, who owns a company, the report said.

A picture of Wang was stuck in a hedge outside her high school Monday, surrounded by six white paper lilies and two chrysanthemums, flowers of mourning in China. In the image Wang wears her school uniform, smiles for the camera and flashes a V-sign. Wang, 17, was an active and acclaimed spokeswoman. However, he was accompanied by an experienced trainer, who acted as co-pilot. Choi Jeong-Ho, the head of South Korea’s transportation ministry’s aviation policy bureau, was defensive when he spoke to reporters about the pilot. “We cannot conclude the accident was caused by a pilot mistake. Whether there was a pilot mistake can be confirmed after all related data are analyzed and inspected,” Choi said. On Sunday Asiana Airlines CEO Yoon Young-Doo apologized for the incident, and said that the plane, which was bought in 2006, had no known mechanical problems.

“I feel very depressed after learning the news this morning,” said Lu Hao, a fellow student. “She was very friendly to all the classmates.”

Ye, 16, an outstanding student and piano player and a national aerobics champion, was the pride of her family, the report said, citing teachers and her mother. “She was learning music from me and was very gifted in singing,” the newspaper quoted a teacher surnamed Ai as saying. The two were among a group of 30 students flying to the United States with their teachers to take part in a summer camp, previous Chinese media reports said. Margaret Knudson, interim surgery chief at the hospital, told reporters. The twin-engine Boeing 777 is one of the world’s most popular airplanes used for long distance flights. According to aviation safety databases, the two dead teens are the 777’s first fatalities in the plane’s 18 year of service. It was the first deadly Asiana passenger plane crash since June 1993, when one of its Boeing 737s slammed into a mountain in South Korea, killing 68. Asiana’s share price ended down nearly six percent on Monday as investors digested the impact of the accident.

Asiana Flight 214, which originated in Shanghai and stopped in Seoul, and had 291 passengers and 16 crew members aboard.

Huge insurance payouts to victims and for the aircraft could raise future premiums and increase the company’s financial burdens.

In total, 123 people aboard the flight escaped unharmed, US officials said.

Aviation experts however said the damage to its business could be limited, as South Korea’s number two airline has spent years building a reputation for safety and quality.

Several of the injured were still in critical condition or unconscious, the San Francisco General Hospital said. Doctors saw “a huge amount of spine fracture, some of which include paralysis,”

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Misc Asia US warns against travel to southern Philippines MANILA, July 6, 2013 (AFP) - The United States has warned Americans against travel to the southern Philippines just days after Australia and Canada issued similar advice.

‘Amelie’ star’s dress is boon for young designer PARIS, July 4, 2013 (AFP) - “Amelie” star Audrey Tautou’s choice of Yiqing Yin for the Cannes film festival generated more interest in one night than the Chinese-born French designer has enjoyed in her whole career.

interest in China too.

A “security message” from the US embassy in Manila earlier this week said diplomatic staff had been restricted from traveling to three cities on the southern island of Mindanao.

Born in Beijng in 1985, Yin left China at the age of four and she has said that clothes gave her “points of reference” as she moved from country to country.

It was followed by a US State Department travel warning dated July 5 advising Americans to exercise extreme caution when traveling to Mindanao, citing “criminal gangs... (and) terrorist groups” in the area.

The fluttery, micro-pleated “Absinthe” dress in mint organza and silk chiffon worn by Tautou was praised as a “work of art” by fashion website Red Carpet Fashion Awards.

She grew up in a family of antique dealers “surrounded by beautiful, old things”, and later studied at Paris’s National School of Decorative Arts.

It also called on Americans to defer nonessential travel to the Sulu archipelago, a chain of islands off Mindanao where AlQaeda-linked militants are active.

Her first collection “Exile” was shown at the 2010 fashion festival at Hyeres in the south of France and also put on display at the French Ministry of Culture.

“It (the travel warning) reflects continuing threats in the Sulu archipelago and the island of Mindanao due to terrorist and insurgent activities,” the US embassy said in a statement.

For a designer only a few years out of college, the attention has been almost overwhelming. “We’ve never had as much press coverage after any show,” said Yin at her atelier in Paris as she prepared for her latest couture show held on Wednesday. “It’s made us known to the public at large and brought interest from new buyers in both couture and ready-towear,” she said. With her experimental style, Yin was not a natural choice for such a highprofile event. If Tautou’s decision to showcase the designer in her role as mistress of ceremonies at Cannes was unexpected, it was no less the welcome for it. A number of important industry figures have requested invitations for the show and the label is attracting media

Often characterized as “dreamlike”, her latest collection contains “a lot of Calais lace cut up, made up again, almost pulled to pieces”. Yin says she chose marine animals as the theme because they prompted a sense of disgust in her which she “found interesting” to transform into “something beautiful and pure”. With the label starting to sell couture dresses to Chinese and American customers, she acknowledges that they are not for everyone. “To wear my creations you need to be thin and not to have any fear of being exposed,” she said. Since January 2012, her fashion house has taken part in the couture

Australia and Canada issued warnings on Wednesday about fresh threats of terrorism and kidnapping in the southern Philippines.

An embassy spokeswoman declined to comment on the nature of the threat against Americans. The Philippine national police also did not know of any specific threat against Americans in Mindanao, said spokesman Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac. Mindanao and surrounding islands are a hotbed of various armed groups including communist guerrillas, bandits, Muslim insurgents and the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group blamed for the country’s worst terror attacks. Founded using seed money from AlQaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf has often targeted foreigners for kidnappings for ransom. In 2001, the group abducted three American tourists among a group of hostages from a Philippine resort, leading to the deaths of two of the Americans. US troops have been based in the southern Philippines for more than a decade to help train local troops in hunting down members of the Abu Sayyaf, which is on the US government’s list of so-called foreign terrorist organizations.

Canberra has barred its diplomats from traveling to Davao, Cotabato and Zamboanga -- the same three Mindanao cities that US embassy staff are not allowed to travel to.

shows in Paris as a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Only members of the organization are allowed to use the name “haute couture” to describe their work and each house must adhere to strict requirements governing practices such as the number of garments produced and the amount of work carried out by hand.

The impact of the Tautou dress means Yin will soon be requiring more staff to cope with the label’s new found fame. “It’s two-and-a-half years since we started and we’ve sold dozens of couture dresses,” she said. “(Now) we are at a decisive moment: we have demand but we will have to be able to respond.”