» Asian American Researcher Suggests Earlier HIV Treatment can Save More Lives
» Asian Researcher Presents Aggressive Vaccine Effort that Could Cut Cervical Cancer
» Military Barred From Retrying Watada on 3 of 5 Court-Martial Charges
» Young Vietnamese Americans Turn Away from GOP
» Dui Hua Hosts Juvenile Justice Delegation from China
» Seafood City Hosts Free Health and Wellness Fair
» SHIFTED FOCUS: Kearny Street Workshop’s 10th Anniversary APAture Retrospective
» Curtis Choy Receives Honors
» Dr. David Chu Listed as One of Most Powerful People in Golf
» Shin Ji-yai Achieves KLPGA Grand Slam
» Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Nakase and Nguyen
» China Milk Scandal Spreads to Eggs
» University in ‘Oriental’ Race Row
» Japanese Blogging Plant Posts Daily News on its Mood
Compiled by Sye-Ok Sato and Josh Laddin
AsianWeek Market Report
| AsianWeek Market Report | ||||
| Asian Stock Indexes | ||||
| NIKKEI 225 | Tokyo | 7,162.90 | -486.18 | -6.36% |
| HANG SENG | Hong Kong | 11,015.84 | -1,602.54 | -12.70% |
| KRX | Busan | 2,067.76 | 57.68 | 2.87% |
| SSE IX | Shanghai | 5,734.81 | -424.14 | -6.89% |
| BSE | Bombay | 8,509.56 | -191.51 | -2.20% |
| HOSE | Ho Chi Minh | 329.28 | -15.83 | -4.59% |
| SET | Bangkok | 263.17 | -35.23 | -11.81% |
| Asian American Market Report | ||||
| Yahoo! | YHOO | 12.01 | -0.10 | (-0.83%) |
| Citigroup | C | 12.14 | -0.08 | (0.66%) |
| Amkor Technology, Inc | AMKR | 3.60 | 0.12 | (3.45%) |
| Sybase | SY | 23.81 | -0.55 | (-2.26%) |
| UnionBancal Corp | UB | 73.35 | 0.01 | (0.01%) |
| East West Bank corp,Inc | EWBC | 13.06 | 0.60 | (4.82%) |
NATION
Asian American Researcher Suggests Earlier HIV Treatment can Save More Lives
WASHINGTON — Treating HIV earlier can increase a patient’s survival chances, a new study of more than 8,000 HIV patients shows. The findings suggest doctors should rethink the standard practice of HIV treatment, a team reports at a meeting of microbiologists and infectious disease researchers.
The standard benchmark for initiating this treatment has been a T-cell count of 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood, but a new study presented by physician and HIV/AIDS specialist Mari Kitahata of the University of Washington, Seattle, suggests that the cut-off point should be placed much sooner, at only 500. This benchmark, presented October 26 in Washington, D.C., during the combined meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, goes even farther than a recommendation in the Aug. 6 Journal of the American Medical Association to start intensive treatment when the T cell count drops to only 350.
— Sciencenews.org
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Asian Researcher Presents Aggressive Vaccine Effort that Could Cut Cervical Cancer
CHICAGO — An aggressive strategy of vaccinating older women against cervical cancer could deliver a crippling blow against the disease, cutting rates for that type of cancer in half for women through age 45, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
It could lower rates by 34 to 67 percent for 25-year-old women, Warner Huh of the University of Alabama told a meeting in Washington of the American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
The model assumed 100 percent vaccination rates, which would be difficult to achieve in the United States.
— Reuters
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Military Barred From Retrying Watada on 3 of 5 Court-Martial Charges
Citing the constitutional protections against being tried twice for the same crime, a federal judge recently ruled that 1st Lt. Ehren Watada cannot face a second court martial on three of five counts resulting from his high-profile refusal in 2006 to deploy to Iraq with a Fort Lewis brigade.
The ruling by Judge Benjamin Settle, however, leaves open the possibility of a second prosecution on two other counts involving conduct unbecoming an officer.
In the ruling, Settle abstained from ruling on the constitutionality of those charges and said it was up to a military court to consider “if ‘constitutional defects’ would be present in a second court-martial on those counts.”
Settle barred the military from retrying Watada on charges of missing his redeployment to Iraq, taking part in a news conference and participating in a Veterans for Peace national convention.
— Commondreams.org
BAY/CALIFORNIA
Young Vietnamese Americans Turn Away from GOP
For years after Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese in 1975, the tiny contingent of Vietnamese émigres in the United States who chose to join the Democratic Party stayed quiet.
“Many in the Vietnamese community felt Democrats were just too soft on communism and too weak on defense,” recalls Minh Steven Dovan, a San Jose attorney who says he rarely told fellow members of the émigre community that he was a registered Democrat. Other émigres say that some Republican Vietnamese went as far as dubbing the Democrats in their midst “communist sympathizers.”
But more than three decades after communist tanks rolled into Saigon, young Vietnamese Americans are abandoning the Republican Party in droves, according to a Mercury News computer analysis of nearly 30,000 new Santa Clara County voters. By plugging Vietnamese surnames into a database, the analysis shows that Vietnamese Americans age 30 and under are registering Democratic over Republican by nearly 4 to 1.
“That is really amazing,” said Dovan, 57, “particularly when you think of the generational turnaround.”
— San Jose Mercury News
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Dui Hua Hosts Juvenile Justice Delegation from China
SAN FRANCISCO — From October 12 to October 23, The Dui Hua Foundation hosted the first-ever delegation from China’s Supreme People’s Court to study juvenile justice in the United States. The delegation, led by Senior Judge Hu Weixin, deputy director of the Supreme People’s Court Research Office, was made up of six judges from the Supreme People’s Court, the Political-Legal Institute under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Beijing High People’s Court and the Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court.
A priority of China’s just completed five-year plan for legal reform has been improving the country’s juvenile justice system. (In China, juvenile offenders are defined as those between the ages of 14 and 18; children under 14 are not regarded as being criminally responsible.) Although juveniles still account for a smaller percentage of criminal offenses in China than in the U.S.—just one of every 10 crimes in China is committed by someone under 18 years old—juvenile crime is growing rapidly: Since 2000, juvenile offenses have risen at an average annual rate of 12 percent.
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Seafood City Hosts Free Health and Wellness Fair
VALLEJO, Calif. — Filipino American Social Services (FASS) and Seafood City Supermarket will be hosting a free health and wellness fair on Saturday, November 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., throughout the Seafood City Marketplace. Various local agencies, businesses and organizations that promote healthy lifestyle choices and good health will be available with information and resources for the public.
Informational tables representing local agencies will be in the lobby of Seafood City and inside the Bayanihan Center. In addition to informational tables offering health screenings and resources, there will be speakers, exercise workshops and healthy lifestyle demonstrations. Topics covered will include diabetes prevention and treatment, breast cancer survivors, line dancing, Filipino Martial Arts and community sports programs.
The event is free and everyone is invited; participants will receive door prizes and a $5 Seafood City Gift Certificate. Seafood City is located at the Vallejo Plaza Shopping Center at 3496 Sonoma Blvd., in Vallejo. For more information, please call Brian at (707) 246-0917.
ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
SHIFTED FOCUS: Kearny Street Workshop’s 10th Anniversary APAture Retrospective
SAN FRANCISCO — Kearny Street Workshop (KSW), the nation’s oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organization, presents SHIFTED FOCUS: A 10th Anniversary APAture Retrospective from October 25 through January 23, 2009. The visual art exhibition features a selection of ten artists who have previously shown their work in KSW’s annual APAture and have significantly contributed to the dialogue of contemporary art and practice in the Bay Area and beyond.
While in the past many have looked inward at issues of identity, now they are looking outward at the world and investigating it through various vantage points—by zooming in, dissecting, inverting or filtering through a critical or historical lens. True to the root of APAture (aperture), the works in SHIFTED FOCUS control the gaze and cast new light on our everyday environment. The APAture retrospective series also includes a panel discussion, an evening of literary readings and a multidisciplinary performance event.
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Curtis Choy Receives Honors
Filmmaker Curtis Choy was presented with commendations from the California State Assembly, The City of San Francisco, and two proclamations from the U.S. Congress upon his receiving the Manilatown Heritage Foundation’s Bill Sorro Community Awards in Arts and Culture. This was presented at the MHF 2nd Annual Dinner at the Cathedral Hill Hotel, where Assemblyman Warren Furutani gave the keynote address.
Curtis Choy, through his company Chonk Moonhunter Productions, recently released Manilatown Is In The Heart/Time Travel With Al Robles. It premiered in August at the International Hotel Manilatown Center before a packed house, with poet/community activist Al Robles. Preceded by The Fall of the I-Hotel (2005) and The Manilatown Series (2004), this completes the series dedicated to the history of San Francisco’s Manilatown. The next scheduled public screening will be in February 2009 at the Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library.
SPORTS
Dr. David Chu Listed as One of Most Powerful People in Golf
SHENZHEN, China — Mission Hills Golf Club—the world’s largest collection of premier golf courses with 12 layouts designed by many of the greatest golfers and golf course architects from five continents—announces Dr. David Chu, chairman, Mission Hills Group, has been ranked # 9 on Golf Inc.’s list of the “Most Powerful People in Golf” in its October 2008 issue.
Chu, founder of Mission Hills and instrumental consultant for Beijing’s successful bid to host the 2008 Summer Games, moved up seven spots from his 2007 debut at # 16 and is the highest-ranked non-American. This is the largest one-year jump since Golf Inc. began the rankings and comes in only the second year leadership positions outside the United States have been included.
Dr. Chu joins fellow golf luminaries such as Jack Nicklaus (# 1), Tiger Woods (# 4) and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem (# 6) in the Top 10.
— Worldgolf.com
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Shin Ji-yai Achieves KLPGA Grand Slam
Shin Ji-yai achieved a grand slam by winning all three of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA)’s major tournaments this year, including a victory in the fourth Star Tour event in Incheon. Shin, who was tied for first place with Choi Hye-yong and Ahn Sun-ju with a score of 3-under 285, won the Star Tour event in a playoff. Shin, who is ranked No.1 in the KLPGA and is going to play on the U.S. Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour next year, became the only grand slam winner in KLPGA history.
The KLPGA began having major tournaments with the Korea Open and KLPGA Championship in 2001. The fourth Star Tour event upgraded to a major last year. The 20-year-old Shin earned 125 million won in prize money for her win on Sunday. She’s earned 765 million won on the Korean tour this year, which sets a record for the most prize money earned in one year in the KLPGA or the Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA). Shin, who is known as “Little Giants,” has earned the KLPGA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and the award for the most prize money three straight years. Shin also won the Women’s British Open and is attempting to become a major champion in the LPGA, KLPGA and JLPGA in the same year.
— Korea Times
COMMERCE
Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Nakase and Nguyen
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the following appointments: Kathleen Nakase, 61, of Huntington Beach, has been appointed to the State Fair Leasing Authority Board of Directors. Since 1994, she has worked as a managing consultant for the Centennial Farm Foundation. From 1988 to 1993, Nakase was the executive vice president of Mastertag West and, from 1982 to 1988, she owned and was president of NLC Plastic Graphics. She is the executive director of the Orange County Farm Bureau and is a member of the Japanese American National Museum. Nakase is a Democrat.
Giang Nguyen, 41, of Clovis, has been appointed to the California State Rehabilitation Council. She has served as the director of Fresno County’s Department of Behavioral Health since 2005. Nguyen worked for the Fresno County Department of Community Health where she served as the interim health director in 2005 and worked as the assistant director from 2004 to 2005. From 2002 to 2003, she was a clinical instructor of registered nursing students at California State University, Fresno. Nguyen is a Republican.
GLOBAL
China Milk Scandal Spreads to Eggs
High levels of the chemical in the China milk scandal have been discovered in Hong Kong in eggs from the mainland.
The authorities on the island said that the eggs contained twice the legal limit of melamine, an industrial chemical which made over 50,000 infants ill and killed four when it was discovered in powdered baby milk over the summer. Melamine, which is more commonly found in plastics, was added by unscrupulous traders to “bulk up” milk and make it appear richer in protein. However, the chemical triggers the formation of kidney stones.
China has not updated the number of children affected by melamine poisoning since the third week of September, and there are indications that the official number may be far too low. Health officials said on Sunday that one quarter, or 75,000, of the 300,000 families in Beijing with a child of less than three had been affected. Meanwhile, Hong Kong has started testing meat and vegetables coming from the mainland. One theory is that the chickens may have eaten feed contaminated with the chemical.
— The Telegraph
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University in ‘Oriental’ Race Row
A woman has accused a university of racism after she said she was told an accountancy course might not be suitable for “Oriental people.” Odgerel Hatenboer, 33 originally from Mongolia, said she was appalled at the comments by a staff member at an open day at Glyndwr University, Wrexham. She then said her application was not passed on for consideration. The university said it did not tolerate racism and has apologized for misplacing the application form.
She said: “The man said something like ‘I’m not saying you’re Chinese but people like you, Oriental people, tend to accept what is written in the books and what the lecturer says, whereas this kind of course is nothing like you have studied in the past, it requires more analytical skills, you will have to do more yourself.’ ”
Mrs. Hatenboer completed the application form anyway and said she was told it would be passed on to the relevant department and she would hear from the university within a week. However, when she checked on her application some time later, she discovered it has not been received and made a formal complaint. Dr. Thomas Moore, director of policy and projects, said the university did not tolerate any form of racist behavior.
— BBC
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Japanese Blogging Plant Posts Daily News on its Mood
Midori-san, which lives on the counter of a Japanese café, writes regular updates with the help of sensors attached to its leaves. The detectors pick up electronic signals on the surface of the plant, which responds to light and human touch. The data is then combined with weather and temperature information and translated into chatty blog posts using a computer algorithm.
“Today was a sunny day and I was able to sunbathe a lot… I had quite a bit of fun today,” it wrote on October 16 from its cafe in Kamakura, near Tokyo.
A more recent entry was less perky: “It was cloudy today. It was a cold day.”
Satoshi Kuribayashi, part of the team at Keio University behind the project, said that the aim was to reveal something of the hidden internal world of plants. “We were initially interested in what plants are feeling and what they are reacting to where we can’t see,” he said.
— The Telegraph
