» AsianWeek Market Report
» Pushed by Higher Prices, Immigrants in U.S. Stocking Up on Rice
» Ang Lee Making Gay Woodstock Movie
» 17th Annual Kops and Kids Family Day at Serra Bowl
» Loboc Children’s Choir to Perform in San Francisco
» CAPAC Applauds Senate Action to Give Promised Benefits to Filipino WWII Veterans
» U.S. Airman Arrested for Allegedly Groping 19-year-old Woman in Northern Japan
» India Warned Over Heart Disease
» Three South Korean Boys Arrested for Allegedly Raping Elementary School Girls
AsianWeek Market Report
BAY:
Pushed by Higher prices, Immigrants in U.S. Stocking Up on Rice
RICHMOND, Calif. — Skyrocketing prices and media reports of a rice shortage are driving many people in the United States, including the Asian immigrants, to stock up on rice.
In warehouse-sized supermarkets specializing in Asian goods, customers who usually take home a 20-pound (9-kilogram) bag are taking two, or even reaching for the 50-pound (23-kilogram) bag.
“It’s all in the news, on TV and newspapers,” said Grace Yap, originally of China, who was shopping at Ranch 99.
Seeking to tame rising rice prices, Thailand proposed an OPEC-style cartel on May 2 with major rice exporters Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam to give them more control over international rice prices.
Take escalating prices, add to that news of food riots abroad, and many American buyers are choosing to be safe and purchasing more, especially since rice keeps well. That sends ripples all the way up the buying chain, said Pat Daddow, owner of the California Rice Exchange.
— Associated Press
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17th Annual Kops and Kids Family Day at Serra Bowl
DALY CITY, Calif. — Bay Area kids from 3 to 18 will roll for strikes with their local police and public safety officers on June 7 at Serra Bowl.
The family day helps kids meet their local public safety officers in a fun, relaxed way and foster new friendships. The event is the largest of its kind endorsed by over 25 law enforcement organizations and over 16 public safety agencies.
The event is the kick off for the “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Bowling” program endorsed by 12 police departments in the Bay Area. This year, kids can bowl one free game after school starting May 1 and all summer long.
According to Mike Leong, vice president of Bowling Management Group who manages Serra Bowl, “Kid safety is the goal of this annual event. I am proud to be a part of the bowling community. We offer kids a safe place to enjoy a sport during their most vulnerable years.”
NATION:
CAPAC Applauds Senate Action to Give Promised Benefits to Filipino WWII Veterans
WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed S. 1315, which includes a provision that would give veterans benefits to Filipinos who fought under the U.S. flag during World War II in the Pacific theater.
Filipino veterans were promised the same benefits given to other WWII veterans, but Congress took them away in 1946. This bill would restore some of those benefits.
“These World War II heroes are in the twilight of their lives, and time is running out for Congress to fully recognize the sacrifice they made for our country and under our flag. All our veterans deserve the best treatment, whether they fought in Iraq, Afghanistan or Corregidor,” said Rep. Mike Honda, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, a CAPAC member, who has championed the cause of Filipino veterans of World War II for nearly 20 years, said, “Senate approval of the benefits for the surviving Filipino veterans is the first step in removing a more than 60-year-old stain on our national honor. … They are heroes who served under our flag, and they are entitled to the full U.S. veterans benefits that Congress rescinded in 1946.”
ARTS:
Ang Lee Making Gay Woodstock Movie
Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee is returning to the gay genre with a movie revolving around the Woodstock music festival.
Taking Woodstock centers on the colorful life of a Greenwich Village-based interior designer and part-time Catskills hotel manager who headed the Bethel, N.Y., Chamber of Commerce. He issued the permit for the legendary 1969 concert on his neighbor Max Yasgur’s farm.
It is based on Elliot Tiber’s 2007 memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life, which he wrote with Tom Monte.
The project is set up at Focus Features and will be adapted by the studio’s CEO, James Schamus. Lee and Schamus’ most recent collaboration was Focus’ Chinese-language drama Lust, Caution, which earned $66 million worldwide.
The writing-directing pair had their breakthrough indie hit with the gay-themed comedy The Wedding Banquet in 1993, and Lee directed Focus’ biggest hit, the gay Western Brokeback Mountain, in 2005.
— Yahoo Movies
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Loboc Children’s Choir to Perform in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — The world-renowned Loboc Children’s Choir will perform at the San Francisco Scottish Rite Masonic Center Auditorium on May 31.
Considered the pride of Bohol, Philippines, and a national treasure, the choir will undertake a heritage tour across the United States to perform in 15 Filipino American communities. The group will showcase the historical interaction of Filipino and Spanish cultures.
Part of the group’s objective for the cultural mission is to mobilize support for two major cultural programs in Bohol for the advancement and revitalization of Boholano heritage. One of these programs is the restoration of the centuries-old Loboc Church and Convent, declared as a National Historical Landmark and National Cultural Treasure by the Philippine National Museum, the Philippine National Historical Institute and the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
GLOBAL:
U.S. Airman Arrested for Allegedly Groping 19-year-old Woman in Northern Japan
TOKYO — James Littlejohn, a 22-year-old U.S. airman first class who belongs to the Misawa Air Base in northern Japan, was arrested on May 2 on charges of groping a 19-year-old woman in Hachinohe, said a spokesman from police in the city near Misawa. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
Littlejohn allegedly hugged the woman from behind, and then forcibly touched her breasts and buttocks, the police spokesman said.
He then fled in his car, but was taken into custody after police stopped his automobile based on a description from the woman.
The rape and a series of other damaging criminal accusations against U.S. troops have inflamed long-simmering anger at the American military presence, which is blamed for crime, pollution and crowding.
“We take every incident such as this very seriously, and we will cooperate with investigation,” Deputy Cmdr. Joel Malone of the Misawa Air Base said in an attempt to smooth relations with officials in Hachinohe and Misawa following Littlejohn’s arrest.
— Associated Press
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India Warned Over Heart Disease
According to a study published in the British journal Lancet, India will account for 60% of heart disease cases worldwide within two years, which is nearly four times more than its share of the global population.
The study, by Canadian and Indian researchers, says one major problem is that Indians are unable to reach the hospital quickly in an emergency. Heart disease kills 7.1 million people globally each year.
The risk factors in India were the same as elsewhere and included tobacco use, high levels of lipids in the blood due to diets rich in saturated fat, and hypertension, the study said. But, it noted, there were causes specific to India — the most important being the time taken to get access to medical help. On average, it took 300 minutes to reach a hospital in India, twice as long as in rich nations.
Poverty also prevents most Indians from obtaining routine treatments including surgical procedures because most of them have to pay for it themselves.
— BBC News
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Three South Korean Boys Arrested for Allegedly Raping Elementary School Girls
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean police arrested three teenage boys on May 4 for allegedly raping eight elementary school girls in a case that has caused public anger and criticism of the government.
Police took formal custody of the three boys, all 14 years of age, after a local court issued a warrant to arrest them for allegedly violating South Korea’s sex offense law, police detective Kwon Byung-soo said.
The three boys are accused of raping eight girls, all aged 8 years, on the back lawn of a middle school, Kwon said. Eight younger boys, aged between 11 and 13, are also suspected of participating, he said.
If charged and convicted, they could be sentenced to juvenile prison, although youths under 18 are usually placed on probation or ordered to go to reform school, according to South Korean prosecutors.
The court was concerned that the three older boys might collaborate and destroy evidence if they were not arrested and put under police custody, he said.
None of the suspects have been publicly identified.
— Associated Press
Compiled by Irene Aranya