Global Briefs
December 25, 2007
China Marks 70 Years Since Rape of Nanking
NANJING, China — China marked the 70th anniversary of the six-week killing spree known as the Nanjing Massacre by reopening the Memorial Hall to the victims after a two-year, $33 million face-lift.
But China treads a fine line as it promotes condemnation of the massacre, while trying to protect trade and diplomatic relations with Japan.
Chinese officials say they’ve rebuilt the memorial not to evoke bitterness and anti-Japanese sentiment, but to honor history and help forge a path to lasting peace.
This year’s anniversary coincides with renewed global interest in the Nanjing Massacre. About 10 movies and documentaries — produced in Germany, the United States, Japan and China — are being filmed, in post-production or already in cinemas.
Despite the scale of atrocities in Nanjing, the Memorial Hall still pales beside similar memorials to mark the deaths from the U.S. atomic bombs and at Nazi death camps in Europe.
— McClatchy Newspapers
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Promoting Buddhism Through Fashion, Rap Music
TOKYO — Japanese monks and nuns held a fashion show, with rap music and a catwalk, at a major Tokyo temple to promote Buddhism.
Nearly 40 monks and nuns from eight major Buddhist sects joined in the event aimed at winning back believers.
Almost three-quarters of Japan’s population of 120 million are registered as Buddhist, but for many, the only time they enter a temple is to attend a funeral. That has sent many of the country’s 75,000 temples into financial trouble.
Japan’s aging population has meant more funerals, but the declining population and birth rate means fewer young people to share the bill to keep temples afloat.
Buddhist monks traditionally wear simple black robes.
But to appeal to more fashion-conscious youth, the monks wore green and yellow clothes, some with gold embroidery. Others wore elaborate, multilayered robes.
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Vietnam Deports Vietnamese American Dissident
HANOI, Vietnam — Communist Vietnam recently deported Leon Truong, a Vietnamese American pro-democracy activist, after his arrest last month with a group of other dissidents triggered protests from the United States.
Truong, a member of the banned California-based Viet Tan Reform Party, was arrested on Nov. 17 with five other pro-democracy activists, including one other U.S. citizen, a French woman, one Thai and two Vietnamese nationals, accused of plotting terrorism against Vietnam.
The arrests triggered a rally outside the Vietnamese embassy in Washington, a protest letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung from a group of Congress members, and a call to explain the charges from the U.S. ambassador to Hanoi.
U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak said he saw no evidence to support claims in Vietnam’s state media that Truong or three other U.S. citizens in custody in the Communist country were guilty of terrorism.
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Widow Leaves Chinese Restaurant $21 Million Tip
LONDON — A wealthy widow left 10 million pounds ($21 million) in her will to a couple that owns a Chinese restaurant she frequented.
Golda Bechal’s 1994 will said she wanted Kim Sing Man and his wife, Bee Lian, to inherit her money. She died in January 2004 at age 88.
Bechal’s five nephews and nieces asked the court to declare the will invalid, claiming their aunt was suffering from dementia. They had asked the judge to give the inheritance to them.
However, the judge ruled the will perfectly legal. He accepted the restaurateurs’ evidence that Bechal, bereaved of husband and son, became like a family member to them. They vacationed together and met regularly at the restaurant and at her flat in Mayfair, central London.
Kim Sing Man remembered Bechal as a classy woman who “always enjoyed her Chinese pickled leeks and bean sprouts.”
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Vietnamese Criminals Spread Weed
SEATTLE —Vietnamese marijuana producers are springing up in the United States, Canada and the U.K. Their illegal activities include the cultivation, transport and distribution of marijuana.
With some artificial lights and water, converting an ordinary home into a cannabis factory, or “grow-op,” is simple and inexpensive.
In Seattle, five of the seven Asians listed on the current Drug Enforcement Agency’s “Most Wanted” list are Vietnamese marijuana traffickers.
In Canada, Vietnamese groups are the largest producers of marijuana, including a high potency variety that sells for up to $6,000 a pound.
In the U.K., three-fourths of marijuana busts reveal Vietnamese ringleaders.
Increased border security after Sept. 11 prompted Canadian Vietnamese to move their operations to places like Seattle, where there is a big market but less risk. Meanwhile, crime leaders use “fear, trust and relatives” to run their multibillion dollar cannabis operations remotely from Canada.
— International Examiner
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Dutch Couple Gives Up Adopted Korean Girl
HONG KONG — A Dutch couple has drawn criticism by giving up a 7-year-old South Korean girl they adopted, claiming she does not “fit in” with their lifestyle, even though she was adopted when she was 4 months old.
Last year, they handed her to social workers in Hong Kong after having two biological children.
The diplomat said his family was struggling to cope with the decision, and his wife was undergoing therapy.
Now Hong Kong’s Korean community is trying to find a home for the child, who is currently in foster care.
The girl, who speaks English and Cantonese but not Korean, is neither a Dutch citizen nor a Hong Kong resident, so her future in the territory is uncertain.
In South Korea, parents cannot return adopted children, but no such law exists in Hong Kong.
Members of Hong Kong’s Korean community have offered to adopt the child.
— Daily Mail
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Honor for Bribe-Busting Granny
Transparency International announced that Le Hien Duc has been chosen for the annual Integrity Award for being a
“resourceful anti-corruption fighter.”
Corruption is widespread in Communist Vietnam, but it is rare for people to challenge the authorities.
Since retiring in 1984, Duc has worked to expose corruption cases and challenge government officials. Duc spends her time filing complaints against officials accused of corruption on behalf of those who are not able to do so themselves.
She has been known to knock on the doors of officials who have ignored her to deliver petitions from fellow citizens
in person.
She has taken on anyone in authority, from lowly bureaucrats to government ministers.
Earlier this year, she approached the minister for education to complain that children were being short-changed over school meals.
As the news of her award spread, she said further requests for help have streamed in.
— BBC News
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