Daily Dose & Announcements: 04/23/09
April 23, 2009
>> Visa Rules Widen the Rift Between Vietnam and U.S. Families
>> Korean American Boy, 12, Tackling a Double Major at FIU
>> Chinese Landscaper Kills Cupertino Mother of 2, Injures Husband
>> “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
>> Happy Hour with KABANC
>> In Singapore, a More Progressive Islamic Education
>> Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home
Compiled by Beleza Chan
Nation
Visa Rules Widen the Rift Between Vietnam and U.S. Families
Aging Vietnamese refugees in this country often cannot spend time with relatives they left behind. The plight is not a new one for families split between two countries, but increasingly it is becoming an issue among Vietnamese as the refugees who fled to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War grow old.
Many of those who left their homeland in the 1970s and ’80s have been separated for decades from siblings, parents and children still in Vietnam. In recent years, as Vietnam’s economy boomed, relatives suddenly had the financial means to travel to the U.S for reunions or final gatherings. But many families find themselves entangled in a long and agonizing visa process.
Obtaining a temporary visa can be tough, with much depending on individual circumstances and the country where would-be visitors live. Foreigners must show they have strong ties to their homelands — family relationships, employment and possessions — to prove they will return when their visas expire, according to the U.S. State.
The government has legitimate concerns, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors tighter controls on immigration. More than a quarter of the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in this country are those who come on temporary or work visas, but do not return home, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
-Los Angeles Times
Korean American Boy, 12, Tackling a Double Major at FIU
A 12-year-old student is working toward degrees in physics and math at Florida International University — after taking his first class there two years ago.
Sky, whose given name is Sebastian Hanul Choi (his father is Korean, and his middle name means ”Sky” in that language), is a home-schooler who has a third-degree black belt in tae kwon do and is fluent in Korean. He is dual enrolled and officially finishing high school at the end of this semester.
The Pembroke Pines preteen, who is classified as ”profoundly gifted,” started taking classes there when he was 10.
He took his first class — Chinese language — at 10. The next semester was Chinese and pre-calculus. He added more the following semester, and now he’s taking 14 credits. His GPA is 3.83.
Before Sky took an introductory physics seminar this semester, he e-mailed this to the professors: “It seems like I’ve been waiting a long time to finally get to study physics in depth. As you can imagine, it’s not easy to get the necessary math courses and high school science courses when your age is in the single digits.”
With his sense of humor, talent, interest, Sky has been successful in fitting in with his peers in college.
Sky plans to graduate from FIU with a bachelor of science in physics and mathematics when he’s 17. In addition to the double major, he also plans to minor in astronomy. He could finish earlier, but his family isn’t in any rush for Sky to leave home for graduate school. He’s set on the California Institute of Technology.
For now, his college experience seems to be everything he was hoping for.
-Miami Herald
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Bay
Chinese Landscaper Kills Cupertino Mother of 2, Injures Husband
Authorities, last Friday, were searching for a Fremont landscaper suspected of killing a woman and attacking her husband at their home in an upscale Cupertino neighborhood.
Santa Clara County sheriff’s officials identified the suspect as 45-year-old Huaichang Zhao, who had been working at the house on the 22000 block of Berry Court, a new cul-de-sac in the Monta Vista district.
Detectives first learned of the crime after one of the couple’s two small children dialed 911 for help. When authorities arrived at 8:50 a.m., they found the woman dead and the man seriously wounded with non-life-threatening injuries. He was sent to a hospital. The unharmed children were taken to an undisclosed location.
Zhao is described a Chinese man, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing about 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a blue jacket or shirt. . He fled the scene in a white newer model Ford F-150 pickup with a black cargo rack, and his whereabouts were unknown, said Sgt. Don Morrissey.
Anyone with information about the assault was asked to call the sheriff’s investigations division at 408-808-4500. Those wishing to remain anonymous may contact the tip line at 408-808-4431.
-Mercury News
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Arts
“Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
Event: OCA-OC is partnering with the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival to present “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
Description: Founded in 1973 as Organization of Chinese Americans, OCA is a national organization dedicated to advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States. OCA aims to embrace the hopes and aspirations of nearly 12 million Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.
Details: $10-12, May 2, 2009 Directors Guild of America Theater 2, 7920 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles
Contact: To purchase tickets please contact Lisa Akiyama at lakiyama27@yahoo.com
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Commerce
Happy Hour with KABANC
Event: Happy Hour with KABANC “2009-2010 Membership Drive Kick-off”
Description: Fundraiser organized by Korean American Bar Association of Northern California (KABANC)
Details: April 29, 2009, 6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m., Azul Lounge, 1 Tillman Place, San Francisco
Contact: www.kabanc.org
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Global
In Singapore, a More Progressive Islamic Education
Singapore - After starting the day with prayers and songs in honor of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, the students at the Madrasa Al Irsyad Al Islamiah in Singapore turned to the secular. An all-girls chemistry class grappled with compounds and acids while other students focused on English, math and other subjects from the national curriculum.
Teachers exhorted their students to ask questions. Some, true to the school’s embrace of new technology, gauged their students’ comprehension with individual polling devices.
Al Irsyad, with its strict balance between religious and secular studies, is seen as the future of Islamic education, not only in this city-state but elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Two madrasas in Indonesia have already adopted Al Irsyad’s curriculum and management, attracted to what they say is a progressive model of Islamic education in tune with the modern world. For them, Al Irsyad is the counterpoint to many traditional madrasas that emphasize religious studies at the expense of everything else. Instead of preaching radicalism, the school’s in-house textbooks praise globalization and international organizations like the United Nations.
The school’s 900 primary- and secondary-level students follow the national curriculum of the country’s public schools while also taking religious instruction. To accommodate both, the school day is three hours longer than at the mainstream schools.
-NY Times
Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home
Hamamatsu, Japan - Japan’s offer, extended to hundreds of thousands of blue-collar Latin American immigrants, is part of a new drive to encourage them to leave this recession-racked country. So far, at least 100 workers and their families have agreed to leave, Japanese officials said.
But critics denounce the program as shortsighted, inhumane and a threat to what little progress Japan has made in opening its economy to foreign workers.
The program is limited to the country’s Latin American guest workers, whose Japanese parents and grandparents emigrated to Brazil and neighboring countries a century ago to work on coffee plantations.
An estimated 366,000 Brazilians and Peruvians immigrated and now live in Japan. Many of them work in the manufacturing sector.
But the nation’s manufacturing sector has slumped as demand for Japanese goods evaporated, pushing unemployment to a three-year high of 4.4 percent. Japan’s exports plunged 45.6 percent in March from a year earlier, and industrial production is at its lowest level in 25 years.
While Japan waits for manufacturing output to rise, it has been keen to help foreign workers leave, which could ease pressure on domestic labor markets and the unemployment rolls.
Jiro Kawasaki, a senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, led the ruling party task force that devised the repatriation plan, part of a wider emergency strategy to combat rising unemployment.
Under the emergency program, introduced this month, the country’s Brazilian and other Latin American guest workers are offered $3,000 toward air fare, plus $2,000 for each dependent - attractive lump sums for many immigrants here. Workers who leave have been told they can pocket any amount left over.
But those who travel home on Japan’s dime will not be allowed to reapply for a work visa. Stripped of that status, most would find it all but impossible to return.
-NY Times
Comments
One Response to “Daily Dose & Announcements: 04/23/09”
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Apologies sto Beleza Chan.
Where’s Lan Qiu;.