NATION

Amerasians Lobby for Birthright

A group of Amerasians, abandoned children of American soldiers and Vietnamese women who were born during the Vietnam War, are lobbying for citizenship. The citizenship bill is sponsored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose).

Vietnamese pop singer Tran and 21 other Amerasians went to Washington, D.C., for three days in July to lobby for the Amerasian Paternity Act. The bill would give Amerasians born during the Vietnam and Korean Wars citizenship without requiring them to pass tests in English.

Most of them came to the United States 20 years after Congress passed the Amerasian Homecoming Act, which allowed children of American soldiers living in Vietnam to immigrate. The Amerasians received eight months of government assistance, including healthcare, English lessons and some job training. The government did not help them locate their fathers and funding ended in 1995.

Many of them lacked the English skills, education and family connections that would help them assimilate. Tran says, “Our fathers served for the country, fought for freedom. I am not a refugee, but I am being treated as one. We are Americans.”

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Robbery Is Latest of Attacks That Appear to Target Asians

Two women were robbed outside a home in Silver Spring this week, the latest in a series of attacks that has led police to think assailants might be targeting Asian residents, following them to their homes and confronting them outside.

Last week’s attack came after three Asian couples were robbed in the past six weeks. Those incidents occurred in Bethesda, Wheaton and the Kensington area.

“They do it very quick, and they run away,” Lt. Paul Starks, a Montgomery County police spokesman said of the robbers. “They’re not afraid of the daylight.”

Word of the robberies has spread among Montgomery’s Asian residents. The attacks are considered particularly galling because of the age of the victims, half of whom are at least 70 years old.

“Those people can’t fight back,” said Stan Tsai, who has been a leader of the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center in Gaithersburg.

  — TheWashington Post

BAY/CALIFORNIA

Former S.F. Supervisor Pleads Guilty

SAN FRANCISCO — Ed Jew, the former San Francisco supervisor who resigned from office in January after state and federal prosecutors accused him of corruption, pleaded guilty to federal charges this morning.

Jew admitted to mail fraud, extortion and soliciting a bribe in connection with a scheme to shake down Chinese immigrant owners of tapioca drink shops in the Sunset District for $84,000 in bribes.

The admission of guilt in the federal case ends a large part of the saga that began in May 2007, when FBI agents raided Jew’s City Hall office, his Chinatown flower shop and two homes searching for the money prosecutors alleged he had taken from the shop owners.

After the planning official told Jew that the chain’s stores appeared to be violating a permit ordinance, Jew told the store operators he would help them stay in business in exchange for cash payments of $10,000 for each of the eight businesses, the indictment said.

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High Speed on El Capitan

Hans Florine, 44, and Yuji Hirayama, 39, of Hidaka, Japan, defied gravity, the bitter cold and the tempting of fate Sunday to break their own speed record climbing up the nose of El Capitan in Yosemite.

The two men pulled themselves over the top of the immense slab of granite and touched the tree that serves as the finish line on top of El Capitan in 2 hours, 37 minutes and 5 seconds.

Not only did they beat their fastest time on the 2,900-foot-high cliff by more than six minutes, but they also did it with showmen’s flair, each of them doing a 360-degree spin on the spectacular 80-to-90-foot pendulum maneuver known as the “King Swing.”

“We’re very happy,” Florine said.

“More than happy,” interrupted Hirayama, who was surrounded by a large Japanese television crew. “Sugoi, sugoi,” he said, repeating a Japanese term that essentially means “way cool.”

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Author Speaks of Journey to the U.S.

Hmong author Kao Kaila Yong will speak Wednesday at Fresno State. Her book, The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, was published earlier this year by Coffee House Press. The narrator is her grandmother who tells of the family’s journey to the United States. Yang’s first six years were spent in a refugee camp in Thailand.

The book has earned praise from various publications. Publisher’s Weekly wrote: “Yang tells her family’s story with grace; she narrates their struggles, beautifully weaving in Hmong folklore and culture.” Entertainment Weekly said the story flows “in a narrative packed with the stuff of life.”

The author is also the co-founder of Words Wanted, an organization that helps immigrants with writing, translation and business services. The event is sponsored by the Asian American Studies program, the English Department and the College of Social Sciences at Fresno State.

— Fresno Bee

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT

Tokyo Television Broadcasting Presents ‘Hula Girls’

EVENT: TTV Fall Special Movie Hula Girls
DESCRIPTION: Winner of the Japan Academy Award for Best Picture, Hula Girls is based on the true story of a group of coal miners’ daughters in 1965 who try to save their town’s failing economy by becoming Hula dancers. Along the way they get help from a determined dance instructor from the big city of Tokyo.
DETAILS: Free, Part One airs Sunday, Oct. 19 at 8:30 PM; Part Two airs Sunday, Oct. 26 at 8:30 PM.
CONTACT: TTV, (650) 552-9100
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JCCCNC/JCYC Halloween Carnival

EVENT: Presented by the Japanese Cultural And Community Center of Northern California and Japanese Community Youth Council.
DESCRIPTION: Games and activities, a haunted Air Jumper house, Parent’s Pie Eating Contest and special guest Merlin the Wizard to teach fun and safe magic tricks and lead the Glowing Light Costume Parade. First 400 kids receive goody bags.
DETAILS: $5 general admission, $4 with a costume, free for babies in strollers and seniors over 65. RSVP for Early bird Spaghetti dinner at 5:00 PM ($5/adults, $3/kids). Friday, Oct. 31, 6:00—8:30 p.m.
CONTACT: Alicia Kagawa: (415) 567-5505 x228 or akagawa@jcccnc.org.

SPORTS

Impressive Finishes for Korean Players

Lee Seung-yeop of the Yomiuri Giants and Lee Byung-kyu of the Chunichi Dragons did not have eye-popping statistics in the Japanese league this season, which came to an end, but those former Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) stars have something to get excited about, after their late surges pushed their teams to the postseason for the second straight year.

Another former KBO star, Yakult Swallows closer Lim Chang-yong, established himself as a top finisher in the league, getting 33 saves in his first year with the Central League (CL) club. The 32-year-old, thought to have already had his best years when he joined the league last winter, became one of three pitchers in the 58-year history of the league to notch 30 saves in their debut years in Japan. 



Lee, who totaled 71 homers in the previous two seasons, spent most of this year in the lower league due to a slump. After helping South Korea win a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in August, Lee, 32, regained his form and started contributing to the Giants, who were 13 games behind the Hanshin Tigers before rallying to finish first in the league standings.

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Kim Captures LPGA Event

DANVILLE, Calif. — In-Kyung Kim couldn’t help but cry after sinking a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole to wrap up her first LPGA Tour victory. “I was overwhelmed,” Kim said. “It was a happy cry.” The 20-year-old South Korean player birdied the final two holes in windy conditions for a 1-over 73 and a three-stroke victory over Angela Stanford.

Kim, the 2005 U.S. Girls’ Junior winner, had a 10-under 278 total on the Blackhawk Country Club course. The second-year player earned $180,000.

“I’m on process, getting better,” Kim said. “This is just the start in my career. I’m really honored to win this tournament on this golf course.”

Kim struggled down the stretch, missing a short birdie putt on No. 13 and bogeying the 14th and 16th holes. She nearly drove into a creek on the par-4 17th but caught a fairway bunker, hit her approach to eight feet and made her birdie putt. 
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COMMERCE

Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers Awards Taiwan Official

SAN FRANCISCO — The Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers held their Annual Awards Dinner honoring the law enforcement professionals on Friday, October 10. Included among the local men and women commended is Peter Kuo-Sen Tseng, a Republic of China (Taiwan) official. Tseng is the first foreign official to receive this honor for helping to bring a suspect back to the U.S. justice system this spring.

On April 8, outside a South Bay Karaoke bar, a Vietnamese suspect Huy Hong Le allegedly shot and killed 20-year-old Tony Hua during a conflict. Le then fled to Los Angeles and departed for his homeland, which the United States has no extradition treaties.

Santa Clara Police Department requested Taiwan’s help and Tseng quickly coordinated with the involved judicial, police and immigration authorities in the two countries, persuading the duty officers in Taiwan to respond immediately without red tape. The suspect was arrested on board after the plane pulled away from the gate.

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Dodgers Named Organization of the Year by the Asian Business League of SoCal

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers will be honored as the Organization of the Year at the 24th Annual Asian Business League (ABL) Awards Dinner November 6 at the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers currently have five players from Asia, the highest total in Major League Baseball.  Their Asian players include Japan’s Hiroki Kuroda and Takashi Saito, Korea’s Chan Ho Park and Taiwan’s Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-lung Hu.

The Dodgers also brought to Major League Baseball the first Japanese star in Hideo Nomo, the first Korean in Park, and the first Taiwanese player in Ching-Feng Chen.

“We are so appreciative of this honor,” said Dodgers President Jamie McCourt. “The members of the ABL have supported Asian-Pacific Americans in Southern California for 21 years, and we congratulate them for their contributions to our community.  We are filled with gratitude and look forward to celebrating and continuing this valued relationship.”

GLOBAL

HIV Drug Resistance Spreading in China

As HIV spreads beyond high-risk groups into China’s general population, drug-resistant strains of the virus are also appearing in parts of the country, Chen Zhiwei of the AIDS Institute in Hong Kong recently said.

According to Chen, the two trends are “alarming” and people living with HIV in China could face treatment obstacles because relatively few antiretroviral drugs are available in the country. “All these drug-resistant mutations are in China now, they are emerging in Chinese patients,” he said, adding, “The majority worry is whether the drug-resistant virus will spread. We are studying whether that is happening, but that will be the case if you don’t provide proper treatment. If drug-resistant virus (strains) spread in China, we don’t have enough selection of drugs that are made available.”

Chen’s comments follow a study published in the journal Nature that found how HIV cases are increasing among women and men who have sex with men in the country. China’s open southern border is a concern, and an HIV strain recorded in Yunnan province also has been detected in Thailand and Myanmar.

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Migrant Worker Taped to Train Floor Dies

When a Chinese train passenger started panicking on board, staff taped him to the floor. Ten hours later, he died.

Web users are taking on the case of Cao Dahuo, a migrant worker who was taped to the floor of a train for ten hours before he died. Fellow passengers who sympathized with the 30-year-old factory worker have posted testimonies of the incident online. They say that when Cao began having a panic attack, the train manager got staff to attach him to the floor with duct tape.

Cao was originally from Renhuai, Guizhou Province, in the center of the country. He was working in Guangzhou, in the southwest, when one of his friends says he became “mentally disturbed.” It was decided that his friends would take him on the 34-hour trip home on the 1291 train. But the husband and father of two never made it. His body was offloaded in Laibin station, Guangxi province.

The train company offered the victim’s family 120,000 Yuan (around €13,000) in compensation, which they accepted. Cheng Zhunqiang put the family in contact with a lawyer in Beijing, but it hasn’t been decided whether they’ll pursue the case. The train manager has been suspended.

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Voter Registry Will be Revised for Runoff Elections in Maldives 


Eligible Voters Registry will be revised and verified in time for the presidential runoff elections slated for Tuesday, October 28, Interim Election Commission (EC) has revealed.

Election Commission member Fuwad Thaufeeg, speaking on Voice of Maldives, expressed that that most of the problems the commission faced in the presidential election was due to the voter registry.

He said as large number of voters who were previously not on the list registered themselves while the first round of presidential election was ongoing will make it easier to revise the Voters Registry.  He said he is confident that 99 percent of the issues related to Voters Registry will be solved in time for the runoff.

 — Miadhu.com