Global Briefs
December 29, 2006
Christmas Gains Popularity in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Christmas is making a comeback in Vietnam. Although Vietnam’s Catholic minority has been celebrating Christmas for years, after the communist victory in 1975, the holiday fell out of favor with the authorities, and believers celebrated quietly.
Over the last decade, as Vietnam has opened up to the outside world, and with the government gradually increasing personal, religious and economic freedom, people of all faiths and backgrounds have embraced this latest Western export as enthusiastically as they drink Coke or watch MTV.
In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s business hub, Christmas is as commercial a venture as in the West.
“Vietnam’s economy is developing quickly,” said Tran Thi Thu, of the Tax Shopping Center. “Before, people always had to think about saving money. But with incomes rising, people are looking for new ways to have fun.”
1st Ethnic Chinese Candidate in N. Ireland
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — A Northern Ireland party fielded an election candidate from the province’s ethnic Chinese community in a bid to address the growing problems of racism in this British territory.
The Alliance Party announced the candidacy of Anna Lo, director of Northern Ireland’s Chinese Welfare Association, for one of six South Belfast seats in the March 7 election for the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The candidacy of Lo, the first ethnic Chinese to run for office in the province, highlights the fact that Northern Ireland has tens of thousands who are not part of the overwhelmingly British Protestant or Irish Catholic population. The Chinese community, with over 10,000 members, is the oldest and biggest ethnic-minority community.
“I hope that my example will encourage many other people to consider engaging in electoral politics,” Lo said.
S. Koreans Polled as Most Stressed-Out
WASHINGTON — South Korea has been through societal upheaval due to its fast development, leading to increased stress among its population — with four in five saying they experience stress on a daily basis.
This starts from a young age, where children spend hours after regular classes in cramming schools to compete on key exams to enter universities, the selection of which can affect their entire lives in terms of future jobs and marriage.
From there, they face rising unemployment due to a lack of available jobs, along with rising real estate costs to find a place to live.
South Koreans experienced the highest numbers of people experiencing stress on a daily basis, 81%, among 10 nations polled by AP-Ipsos — including Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the United States.
Fire Destroys Community in Bangkok
BANGKOK, Thailand — A massive fire raced through a slum in downtown Bangkok, snarling traffic and spewing plumes of black smoke over a popular tourist market and the stock exchange. There were no reports of injuries.
Over 100 houses caught fire in the densely populated Thong Lor district. The blaze also destroyed the office of the city’s electricity authority.
The cause of the fire — which sent smoke over the Suan Lum night bazaar and the nearby Stock Exchange of Thailand — was not immediately known.
The fire broke out around 7 p.m., setting mostly wooden houses and corrugated steel shacks ablaze in a four-acre area. Fueled by strong winds and exploding gas canisters, flames reached 20 feet in the air before being extinguished.
Radio Reporter Stabbed to Death
MANILA, Philippines — A radio reporter was fatally stabbed in the northern Philippines, making him the latest victim in a series of attacks against Philippine journalists.
Andres “Andy” Acosta, who reported on the police and energy in Ilocos Norte province for DZJC radio, died in a hospital in Batac town, which he had driven himself to on a motorcycle.
He had been attending a Christmas party with other reporters in nearby Laoag. Investigators are trying to establish where Acosta was stabbed and by whom, and the investigation has showed he had received death threats.
Based on a list prepared by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, Acosta was the 10th journalist killed in the country this year and the 83rd since democracy was restored in 1986.
Medalist Fails Gender Test
NEW DELHI — Shanti Sounderajan, an Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women’s 800 meters at the Asian Games, failed a gender test and was stripped of the medal.
Sounderajan, 25, took the gender test in Doha, Qatar, after placing second.
There are no compulsory gender tests during events sanctioned by track and field’s international ruling body, but athletes may be asked to take a gender test. The medical evaluation panel usually includes a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist and internal medicine specialist.
An anonymous Indian athletics official said Sounderajan almost certainly never had sex-change surgery, but appeared to have “abnormal chromosomes.” The official also said the test revealed more Y chromosomes than allowed.
7,000 Fewer Girls Are Born Every Day
NEW DELHI — Indian lawmakers and women’s rights activists raised an alarm over new evidence that indicates about 7,000 fewer girls than expected are born each day in the country, where women are routinely discriminated against, abortions are legal, and a ban on determining the sex of unborn children and aborting girl fetuses is widely flouted.
The spread of ultrasound technology allowing parents to determine the gender of their unborn children has resulted in the large-scale “disappearance” of girls. One study released earlier this year estimated that 10 million fewer girls were born than expected in the past 20 years.
India’s government must “rise in revolt against the male child mania,” lawmaker Gurudas Dasgupta said during a parliamentary debate.
Fiery Debate Over China’s Dragon
Chinese Internet users have stirred a heated debate over the status of dragons, seen as a national symbol.
The problem is that Chinese people and Westerners have very different concepts of dragons, some academics allege. Chinese dragons are supernatural symbols without the Western traits of aggression or maiden-eating.
The debate began when a Shanghai professor claimed Western views of dragons could give people a negative impression of China. But some 90% of respondents to a Chinese website survey disagreed, insisting that the dragon should remain the traditional Chinese icon.
Pang Jin, the director of China Research Centre on Dragon and Phoenix Culture, said dragons in the two countries should not be mixed up.
“The dragon in western culture enjoys a low cultural rank, but in China, it is a spiritual and cultural symbol representing prosperity and good luck,” he said.
— BBC
Two to Hang for Tsunami Murder
Two Sri Lankans accused of grabbing a gold chain from a woman caught in the 2004 tsunami before letting her be swept to her death have been sentenced to death by hanging for her murder. The men were caught on camera in Dec. 2004 as they pushed the woman back into floodwaters during the island’s worst natural disaster in a crime that shocked the nation.
The video, widely shown in Sri Lanka after the disaster, shows Mapalagamage Ruwan and Ajith Kumara standing on the roof of the bus station in Galle, where hundreds drowned, as flood waters swept through. They appear to pull 23-year-old Dineti Deshika from the water, grab a golden necklace and then let her fall back into the raging torrent. Her body was found when the waters receded.
The theft was one of the highest-profile crimes reported during the tsunami, which killed some 35,000 people in Sri Lanka and almost 230,000 around the Indian Ocean.
— News.com.au
Rolls-Royce China Sales Up 50%
HONG KONG — China is the Rolls-Royce’s fastest-growing market this year, with sales of the British luxury car up by more than 50% there.
Hong Kong’s Peninsula hotel recently ordered 14 new Phantoms — the world’s largest such order.
Rolls-Royce said last month that China has become its No. 3 market after the U.S. and Britain, and that it plans to add 200 employees to meet demand from China for the Phantom.
Chinese consumers have shown growing interest in luxury goods as its economic boom creates a wealthy elite.
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