Daily Dose: 05/14/08
May 14, 2008
» AsianWeek Market Report
» Chinese Americans Open Wallets for Quake Victims
» Report Out of NYC Says Immigrants Assimilating Faster
» Census: Hawai‘i Remains the Nation’s Most Diverse State
» Hawai‘i Senator Akaka Backs Obama
» Louisiana Furniture Salesman Guilty of Spying for China
» Filipina Sings National Anthem at Giants Game
» Student’s Film Accepted by Sundance, Cannes, L.A. Film Festivals
» Death Toll in China Earthquake Climbs Above 12,000
» Vietnam Arrests Two Journalists for Alleged False Reports on Soccer Gambling Scandal
| AsianWeek’s Market Report | ||||
| Asian Stock Indexes | ||||
| NIKKEL_225 | Tokyo | 14,243.10 | 124.55 | 0.88% |
| HANG SENG | Hong Kong | 25,533.48 | -19.29 | -0.08% |
| KRX | Busan | 3,868.44 | 34.89 | 0.91% |
| SSR IX | Shanghai | 13,532.34 | 458.11 | 3.50% |
| BSE | Bombay | 16,978.35 | 225.49 | 1.35% |
| HOSE | Ho Chi Minh | 475.50 | -8.42 | -1.74% |
| SET | Bangkok | 848.94 | 9.66 | 1.15% |
| Asian American Market Report | ||||
| Yahoo! | YHOO | 27.14 | +0.58 | (2.18%) |
| Citigroup | C | 23.25 | +0.22 | (0.96%) |
| Amkor Technology, Inc | AMKR | 12.10 | +0.29 | (2.46%) |
| Sybase | SY | 30.45 | +0.18 | (0.59%) |
| UnionBancal Corp | UB | 53.78 | +0.98 | (1.86%) |
| East West Bank corp,Inc | EWBC | 13.78 | +0.13 | (0.95%) |
BAY:
Filipina Sings National Anthem at Giants Game
SAN FRANCISCO — Tracy Sarmiento, a 16-year-old soprano from San Francisco, received a standing ovation for singing the national anthem before the San Francisco Giants game against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 11 at AT&T Park.
She performed at a Warriors game in the Oakland Arena earlier this year, and last week performed at Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proclamation signing ceremony.
She is a recipient of Gold Overall Grand Champion and Double Grand Champion Awards in the Bay Area and state talent competitions. She is also a finalist in a nationwide classical singer competition.
Sarmiento is currently directing Faith, Love, and Action choir youth group at St. Thomas More Church.
NATION:
Chinese Americans Open Wallets for Quake Victims
NEW YORK — Chinese Americans in New York have donated thousands of dollars to help victims of the devastating earthquake that struck central China’s Sichuan Province, community leaders said on May 13.
Justin Yu, president of the New York Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, said the association put out an appeal on May 12 and received $9,500.
Yu said the association was delivering fund-raising letters on May 13 to the more than 60 member groups that it comprises. “We’re hoping to raise $50,000 to $100,000,” he said.
City Councilman John Liu, who represents a Queens district with a large Chinese population, held a news conference on May 12 to urge New Yorkers to donate to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.
“Between the Myanmar cyclone earlier this month and the earthquake today in Sichuan, the Asian community in New York has been heavily impacted,” Liu said.
— Associated Press
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Report Out of NYC Says Immigrants Assimilating Faster
NEW YORK — A new report from a conservative think tank in New York City says that immigrants are assimilating faster than their counterparts from a century ago.
The Manhattan Institute report relies on census data to measure the degree of similarity between native and foreign-born adults in the U.S.
The report defines assimilation as “the ability to distinguish the later group from the former.” It was authored by Duke University associate professor of public policy Jacob Vigdor.
New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Chung-Wha Hong says she hopes the report will be used to promote public policy that helps immigrants become citizens.
The report also found that assimilation has held steady since 1990.
— Associated Press
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Census: Hawai‘i Remains the Nation’s Most Diverse State
HONOLULU — Hawai‘i remains the nation’s most diverse state with a nonwhite population of nearly 60%, according to recently released estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of Hawai‘i’s population of nearly 1.3 million people, 29.1%, or about 375,000 people, identify themselves as only white. More than 500,000, or 40%, identify themselves as only Asian.
Hawai‘i leads the nation in the percentage of Asians in its population. It is followed by California, where 12 percent of the population identifies as only Asian.
The least diverse state in the country is Vermont, where nearly 98% of the population is white or part white.
— Associated Press
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Hawai‘i Sen. Akaka Backs Obama
HONOLULU — Sen. Daniel Akaka endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president on May 12.
That leaves Sen. Daniel Inouye the lone Hawai‘i member of Congress in the Hillary Rodham Clinton camp.
“I have great hope that in his own way Barack Obama will achieve what I have been working to accomplish my entire congressional career — more tolerance and understanding, an appreciation for common goals and interests, rather than an emphasis on our differences,” Akaka said in a release from the Obama campaign.
Akaka had previously been undecided. Last week, Rep. Mazie Hirono endorsed the Hawai‘i-born candidate who won Hawai‘i’s February caucuses with 76% of the vote.
Akaka waited more than a year before deciding which Democratic candidate to support. He said he had worked closely with all 10 of the early Democratic candidates to see who best would “articulate a vision for our country” and “renew faith in our government.”
— Associated Press
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Louisiana Furniture Salesman Guilty of Spying for China
A New Orleans furniture salesman pleaded guilty on May 13 to spying for the Chinese government and providing Beijing with secret information on military relations between the U.S. and Taiwan.
Tai Shen Kuo, 58, a naturalized U.S. citizen with prominent family connections in Taiwan, faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 8. Lawyers for the Taiwan native said after the hearing they believe he faces a prison term of about 121/2 to 151/2 years under federal sentencing guidelines.
Kuo provided the defense analyst Gregg W. Bergersen several thousand dollars in gambling money on trips the pair took to Las Vegas, as well as promises of employment at a company Kuo hoped to establish.
The information Kuo obtained from Bergersen included updates on Taiwan’s new Po Sheng or “Broad Victory” air defense system. He also received projections of U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan over the next five years.
— Associated Press
ARTS:
Student’s Film Accepted by Sundance, Cannes, L.A. Film Festivals
The short film August 15th (Ba Yue Shi Wu) by Xuan Jiang has been accepted by the 2008 Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation, a foundation created to inspire and support the next generation of international filmmakers.
The 21-minute film, inspired by a true story, is about a young Chinese woman and her boyfriend who board a bus and head home to meet his parents. But the trip turns unpredictable when two young men hijack the bus. Traveling through China’s rural mountains, every passenger must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to preserve their own safety and dignity.
“I felt anger when I read the news stories on which August 15th is based,” Jiang recalled. “What still lingers in my mind are the faces of the people on that bus. Some might dismiss what happened as common, but I couldn’t let go so easily. … I wanted to make a movie about those silent faces, about moments in life where one choice can completely change who we are.”
GLOBAL:
Death Toll in China Earthquake Climbs Above 12,000
After the powerful 7.9-magnitude quake tore through urban areas and mountain villages across central China, rescue workers sifted through tangled debris of toppled schools and homes on May 13 for thousands of victims buried or missing after China’s worst earthquake in three decades, as the death toll soared to more than 12,000 in the hardest-hit province alone.
Initial reports showed there might be only 2,300 survivors from a population of 9,000 in Yinxiu, one of the affected towns. At least 500 people were confirmed dead in Wenchuan County, the official Xinhua News Agency reported early on May 14.
The government ordered people not to return to their homes, citing safety concerns, and posted security guards outside apartment complexes to keep people out.
More than 12,000 died in Sichuan Province alone, but difficulties in accessing some areas mean the total number of casualties remain uncertain. In counties around one city near the epicenter, 18,645 people remain buried, the agency said.
— Associated Press
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Vietnam Arrests Two Journalists for Alleged False Reports on Soccer Gambling Scandal
Vietnamese authorities have arrested two journalists who reported aggressively on a major gambling and bribery scandal, in which ministry employees gambled millions of dollars on European soccer matches. The article prompted the resignation of the transportation minister, state media reported on May 13.
Nguyen Van Hai, 33, of Tuoi Tre and Nguyen Viet Chien, 56, of Thanh Nien (“Young People”) newspaper were accused of “abuse of power and authority’” for their reporting on the case, which first surfaced in late 2005, Tuoi Tre reported.
While Vietnam is opening up economically, the case underscores the communist government’s determination to direct the flow of information in the state-controlled media.
Both newspapers, which are two of Vietnam’s most popular newspapers aggressively covering the scandal, printed articles saying their reporters had done nothing wrong.
“These arrests really stunned the journalism community,” wrote Bui Thanh, deputy editor of Tuoi Tre. “They are saddened and indignant.”
— Associated Press
Compiled by Irene Aranya
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