Georgia Asian Times: June 15-30, 2016

Covering The Multicultural Asian American Community in Georgia

www.gasiantimes.com

June 15-30, 2016

U.S. officials say American Muslims do report extremist threats

Page 2

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2016

Publisher: Li Wong Account Manager: Adrian West Contributors: Andrian Putra, May Lee, Mark Ho, Helen Nguyen Photographer: Ben Hioe

Tel: 678-971-9388 Advertising: gat@gasiantimes.com Editorial: info@gasiantimes.com URL: www.gasiantimes.com Mailing Address: P.O. Box 4502 Suwanee GA 30024 Copyright Georgia Asian Times 2004-2016

All Rights Reserved: including those to reproduce this printing or parts thereof in any form without permission in writing from Georgia Asian Times. Established in 2004, the Georgia Asian Times is published by Asiamax Inc. All facts, opinions, and statements appearing within this publication are those of writers and editors themseleves, and are in no way to be construed as statements, positions, endorsements by Georgia Asian Times or its officers.

Georgia Asian Times assumes no responsibility for damages from the use of information contained in this publication or the reply to any advertisement. The Publisher will not be liable for any error in advertising to greater extent than the cost of space occupied by the error and will only be made for a single publication date.

The Publisher reserves the right to reject any ad or articles submitted for publication that may not be in good taste for a free publication.

GAT Calendar of Events GAT welcome submission of announcement pertaining to community related events.

Please email event, date, venue, and time to gat@gasiantimes.com.

GAT does not guarantee insertion of event announcement and has the right to deny any posting.

GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia - Awards Gala Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Time: 6:30 pm Venue: Sonesta Gwinnett Place For sponsorship & registration, please email: gat@gasiantimes.com 21st Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Date: Saturday, Sept 10, 2016 Time: 7:00 am-6:00 pm Venue: Lake Laneir Olympic Kayak Facility, Gainesville For more info: dragonboatatlanta.com JapanFest “Cooler Japan�

Date: Sat-Sun, Sept 17-18 Time: 10 am - 6 pm Venue: Infinite Energy Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth Admission: $10, children under 6 free For more info: www.japanfest.org

12th Atlanta Asian Film Festival Date: Oct 7-22, 2016 Venues: KSU, GPC Dunwoody, UWG, Plaza Theatre For more info: atlaff.org

Page 3

Page 4

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

METRO ASIAN NEWS

Gwinnett County Public Library first in the nation to launch self-service access Lawrenceville, June 14, 2016 — Gwinnett County Public Library (GCPL) will be the first library system in North America to introduce Open+, a service which grants customers self-service access to the library outside of normal operating hours.

Charles Pace. “Our number one goal is to increase community access to the resources and collections of the library for our citizens. Open+ will allow us to go beyond what libraries have traditionally offered in terms of service to our community.”

The service will be available at the Lawrenceville Branch as a pilot program beginning June 20. Registered customers will have access to the branch Monday to Friday from 8 to 10 am.

Customers who are 18 years of age or older and hold a library card in good standing may register for Open+ at any of GCPL’s 15 branches for a $5 fee. Upon arrival, customers will insert their own library card into a reader at the entrance, enter a pin, and gain access to library resources.

Open+, a system developed by Norcross-based technology supplier Bibliotheca, is a complete solution that automatically controls and monitors building access, self-service kiosks, public access computers, lighting, alarms, public announcements and patron safety. Security cameras will monitor the use of the facility.

“The Gwinnett County Public Library is happy to partner with Bibliotheca to offer this unique service to our customers,” says GCPL Executive Director

For more information about Open+, call the Library Help Line at 770-9785154.

Filipino American community celebrates 118th Kalayaan Independence Day Atlanta, June 12, 2016 – Over 300 guests gathered at the Atlanta History Center to celebrate the 118th Kalayaan Philippines’ Independence Day celebration. The event gathers all Filipino community organizations from metro Atlanta and Georgia. kalayaan1“This celebration is a heart warming event. It is also the backbone of the Filipino community to meet and network,” said Atlanta’s Philippines Honorary Consul General Ray Donato in his remarks.

Among the distinguished guests in attendance are Benita Gardner, Mayor Kaseem Reed’s representative, Consul General Takeshi Shinozuka, Philippines Honorary Consul General Emile Fernandes based in Washington DC, Angel Ramos, daughter of former President Fidel Ramos, Linda McK-

ay, sister of former President Fidel Ramos.

Grace Ragheb was presented with the 2016 Consular Award for her volunteer work and contribution to the metro Atlanta’s Filipino community.

Consul General Ray Donato presented her the award.

The event was chaired by Lilia Hagler, Kalayaan Celebration 2016.

June 15-30, 2016

Page 5

YOU VALUE SOLUTIONS. WE VALUE LEADERS.

You’re a born leader. It’s a unique trait. We believe that leadership needs to be honed to allow it to reach its full potential. Joining the U.S. Army gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your science, math, engineering and technology skills at an unparalleled level, allowing you to develop your passions on a larger stage. Lead strong with your specialization and inspire excellence among those serving with you.

There’s Strong. Then there’s Army Strong. Learn more at goarmy.com/officer

To learn how you can use your skills in the U.S. Army, visit your local Army Career Counselor today or visit goarmy.com/ds87 for details.

©2012. Paid for by the United States Army. All rights reserved.

Georgia Asian Times

Page 6

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

BUSINESS

that currently require a smartphone app or a keyboard and a mouse, and thus they are considered a key strategic battleground for all the major tech companies.

Apple enhances Siri but still trails in artificial intelligence race New York, June 13, 2016 — Apple unveiled a series of improvements to its Siri digital assistant on Thursday, but the tech giant still trails rivals such as Google and Amazon in the red-hot field of artificial intelligence, experts say.

Apple’s biggest move was to open up the talking iPhone assistant to third-party developers for inclusion in their apps, paving the way for users to hail a ride from Uber or send a message with Tencent’s WeChat using voice commands.

Experts in artificial intelligence applauded the move as an important step forward, in part because the more people use an artificial intelligence system, the better it becomes.

But some wondered why Apple had not made Siri an open platform much sooner, noting that competing products including Amazon.com’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana and the Google app are already open to developers.

“Is it too little too late?” asked Oren Etzioni, who is CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and a professor at the University of Washington. “Siri is five years old and still trying to learn how to play well with others.”

Artificial intelligence involves giving computers the ability to perform functions normally done by people such as speech recognition.

Voice-powered digital assistants could eventually perform many tasks

The winner of the assistant wars might able to take a cut of purchases made on its platform and also steer users toward its products and those of its allies.

“This is a new platform war with huge stakes,”said Gary Morgenthaler, a venture capitalist who invested in Siri when it was a startup. “It ultimately challenges search and the market capitalization of Google.”

Apple may have squandered some of its momentum. The tech giant essentially created the category by purchasing Siri, the startup behind the eponymous digital assistant, which quickly became a cultural touchstone after its release on the iPhone.

As a startup, Siri worked with a variety of popular apps, but Apple cut off third-party access to the service shortly after the acquisition. Apple’s move on Monday brings the assistant closer to the original vision for it, said Morgenthaler.

“It’s pretty sad for those of us who were part of the original team,” he said.

“The rate of innovation has been less than what we would have imagined.”

Technology experts have other concerns about Apple’s aptitude for artificial intelligence: The company was slow to recruit talent relative to peers such as Google and Amazon, and its strict privacy stance limits data collection, which is critical for making assistants smarter. Monday’s announcement did little to allay those fears, Etzioni said.

“We see some policy shifts, we see some small changes, but there was no explosive announcement,” he said.

But Apple took other steps to weave artificial intelligence more tightly into its operating system. The Photos app will soon study users’ images to help them organize shots of favorite trips and occasions. The company said it has also made progress in determining the context of a message, helping it serve up better replies for users.

“Apple is in the hunt, working hard on this,” Morgenthaler said. “They are maybe a step behind Google, but I would say they are close enough that Google is not going to leave them in the dust.” - Reuters

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2016

Page 7

BUSINESS

Singapore Air to challenge United with nonstop flights to US Singapore, June 16, 2016 — Singapore Airlines Ltd. will restart nonstop flights to the US three years after it stopped the services, ending the reign of United Airlines as the only carrier flying direct between the two nations.

Singapore Air will start a daily nonstop flight from the city-state to San Francisco on Oct. 23 using Airbus Group SE A350-900 aircraft, Southeast Asia’s biggest carrier said in a statement yesterday. United Airlines began the only nonstop flight from San Francisco to Singapore on June 1.

Such long-distance Asian routes are among airlines’ higher-yielding flights and cater to business customers in particular. The lack of a nonstop service has been a competitive disadvantage for Singapore Air, which now routes its US flights to Singapore through other cities including Hong Kong and Frankfurt. The carrier halted direct flights to Los Angeles and New York in November 2013 as costs surged from using four-engine A340s on the all business-class services.

“Nonstop operations are critical for us,” said James Boyd, a spokesman for Singapore Air in New York. “They are a staple for corporate travel that we’ve served for many years.”

The new 13,600-kilometre flight by Singapore Air could take between 14 hours and 35 minutes to 17 hours and 45 minutes depending on time and direction. It will be the carrier’s longest nonstop flight until services to Los

Angeles and New York resume in 2018, when it receives a longer-range A350900. The airline has seven of these aircraft on order.

While the carrier will offer 253 seats in three classes on the route, there could be some capacity restrictions due to headwinds that will result in some seats not being offered for sale, Singapore Air said.

United’s Singapore-San Francisco flight uses a Boeing Co. 787-9. The 8,446-mile (13,600-kilometre) route is the longest 787 flight, at almost 16 hours, and the longest by a US-based airline, the carrier said at the time.

United and Singapore Air are members of the Star Alliance airline partnership. They don’t use code-sharing on United’s San Francisco-Singapore flight, which would have enabled Singapore Air to sell seats on that service.

The two airlines will continue to offer reciprocal passenger benefits such as frequent-flier miles awards and lounge access, a spokeswoman for the US carrier said in an e-mail, declining to comment further.

Singapore Air also said it will end its service to Sao Paulo on Oct. 20, citing “sustained weak performance” of that route. The flight from Brazil, which is mired in a deep recession, is operated through Barcelona. Flights between the Spanish city and Singapore will continue.

Alibaba’s Jack Ma: Fake goods often better than originals Beijing, June 15, 2016 — China’s unbranded goods are often better than the branded originals they imitate, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Jack Ma has said, posing an additional challenge to the battle against sales of counterfeits.

“The problem is that the fake products today, they make better quality, better price than the real product, than the real names,” he said in a speech at Alibaba’s investor’s day in the southern city of Hangzhou yesterday.

“They’re the exact factories, the exact raw materials, but they do not use that name,” he added.

China’s factories have traditionally churned out products for branded companies at low cost, but with the rise of e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, they are increasingly finding opportunities to market their own goods online directly to consumers.

More than IP problems or fake products, it was this shift to a new business model that was “destroying” traditional brands and “revolutionizing the whole world”, Ma said, noting: “The way of doing business has changed.”

Alibaba has come under fire in recent years for the ease at which knock-off goods are available to consumers on its online Taobao marketplace.

Taobao is estimated to hold more than 90 per cent of the domestic consumer-to-consumer market, while the company’s Tmall platform is believed to have over half of China’s business-to-consumer transactions.

As the leading force in China’s e-commerce industry, Ma said Alibaba could handle the problem of counterfeits “better than any government, any organization, any people in the world”, but that a continued market for cheap knock-offs was unavoidable.

“We cannot solve the problem 100 per cent, because it’s fighting against human instinct,” he said.

Yet the company’s efforts to date have been the subject of increasing scrutiny.

“It’s inappropriate for a person of Jack Ma’s status to say something like this,” Cao Lei, director of the China E-Commerce Research Centre in Hangzhou, told Bloomberg News.

“For some individual cases what he’s saying might be true, but it’s wrong to generalise the phenomenon.”

Page 8

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

FEATURE

U.S. officials say American Muslims do report extremist threats Washington DC, June 16, 2016 — Muslim-Americans have repeatedly informed authorities of fellow Muslims they fear might be turning to extremism, law enforcement officials say, contrary to a claim by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this week.

“They don’t report them,” Trump said in a CNN interview on Monday, in the wake of the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub of 49 people by an American Muslim who claimed allegiance to Islamic State. “For some reason, the Muslim community does not report people like this.”

But FBI director James Comey said, “They do not want people committing violence, either in their community or in the name of their faith, and so some of our most productive relationships are with people who see things and tell us things who happen to be Muslim.

“It’s at the heart of the FBI’s effectiveness to have good relationships with these folks,” Comey said at a press conference following the Orlando shootings.

Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington field office, told Reuters on Wednesday that the agency has a “robust” relationship with the local Muslim community. FBI agents operating in the area have received reports about suspicious activity and other issues from community members.

Michael Downing, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and head of its Counterterrorism and Spe-

cial Operations Bureau, said the city’s Muslim community has been cooperative in reporting “red flags.”

“I personally have been called by community members about several things, very significant things,” Downing told Reuters. “What we say to communities is that we don’t want you to profile humans, we want you to profile behavior.”

“To claim there is no cooperation is false and defamatory to the Muslim-American community,“ Kurzman said.

Kurzman said a January 2016 study by himself and colleagues at Duke University’s Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security found that many law enforcement agencies had made progress in establishing trust with local Muslim-American communities.

But the study also found some tensions. In one focus group described in the study, Muslim-American participants debated when to report activity when they were unsure how to detect imminent violence.

“The group participants expressed concern that police would be more likely to encourage a plot in order to make an arrest,” the authors wrote, “rather than to divert people onto a nonviolent path that community members and family members would prefer.”

One imam interviewed for the project told researchers he felt that his “trust is not being reciprocated” by U.S. government officials.

The imam told the researchers that after he attended a meeting with federal law enforcement officials designed to increase cooperation, he went to the local airport, was held for hours at security and missed his flight, the study said.

her younger brother missing. She later showed federal agents messages she received, in which he said he had “gone to join the brothers” and promised to see her in the afterlife. Nur has been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group, but is still at large.

A Reuters review of court records also produced examples of Muslim-Americans informing law enforcement of possible radicalization within their families.

And in 2014, Adam Shafi’s father, Sal Shafi, told officials in the U.S. embassy in Cairo that he was worried his son was radicalizing after Adam went missing during a family trip in Egypt.

Suspecting that her then 17-year-old son, Ali Amin, was radicalizing, Amani Ibrahim followed the advice of a local imam and reported her fears to law enforcement officials, according to court records. In August 2015, Amin was sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State after he helped a schoolmate travel to join the extremist group.

Adam Shafi soon rejoined his family, but was arrested in July 2015 after trying to board a flight to Turkey from San Francisco airport. He was charged with attempting to provide material support to al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda linked group in Syria.

In 2014, the sister of Abdi Nur contacted Minneapolis police to report

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2016

EVENT

Page 9

Kalayaan 2016 - Philippines Independence Day, June 12, 2016 , Atlanta History Center

Page 10

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

LIFESTYLE

Father’s Day gift ideas for the food and wine loving dad Los Angeles, June 16, 2016 — Your dad loves the good life. His simple pleasures include a glass of wine and a juicy steak. He’s territorial in the kitchen and at the barbecue. Here are a few Father’s Day gift ideas for the food-loving dad in your life that stray from bumper sticker coffee mugs and packs of undergarments.

Master of the Grill: Foolproof Recipes, Top-Rated Gadgets, Gear & Ingredients Plus Clever Test Kitchen Tips & Fascinating Food Science, by America’s Test Kitchen Recipes from America’s Test Kitchen undergo rigorous product development and testing. More than three dozen full-time cooks work in a 2,500 square-foot test kitchen outside Boston, tweaking recipes up to 70 times to come up with the optimal combination of ingredients and measurement. You can bet that a similar rigor was used to write the latest outdoor cookbook from the brand. Recipes span meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, and pizza while cooks offer tips on how to grill the juiciest burger, moist barbecue chicken and tender ribs. Recipes are also accompanied by step-by-step shots.

Retail price US$29.95

Help dad up his barbecue game with this stunning accessory. Made with natural salt deposits found in the Himalayas, the dense crystalline composition is said to add complex flavours to foods. The board can be heated on the grill and used to sear seafood and meats, but it can also double as a chilling board for fruit, crudités and cheeses. The board can be cleaned and is meant to be used repeatedly until it

SmartGear digital heated mug This one’s for the commuter dad in

Award winning wine under US$10 On a budget? If you happen to have a dad in your life who loves wine, pick up a bottle of La Moneda Reserva Malbec from Chile which scooped one of the 31 top medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards, a major international wine competition in London. Winning wines were chosen from 16,000 submissions that were tasted blind by a panel of 240 judges, including 69 Masters of Wine and 26 Master Sommeliers. Judges praised the La Moneda for its notes of “freshly crushed black fruit, creamy vanilla yogurt and pepper spice.” Have more money to splurge?

Consult the full list of winners here.

eventually diminishes with use.

Retail price US$39.95 Get dad a gift that makes him think of you every time he goes to his happy place, and gift him a carving board that can be customised with a message or personalised with his initials. The board is made from sustainably harvest New England birch and features a well to catch the all-important meat juices. Dad can also leave his mark on his meaty artwork with an iron brand hand-forged by a Texas cattle rancher.

Retail price US$69.95

your life. The smart mug plugs into the cigarette lighter of his car, and will keep his coffee or tea hot at the desired temperature. The mug comes with a 12V power adapter plug and shuts off automatically at 160 degrees F. Around $30

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2016

Page 11

ENTERTAINMENT

Smash hit ‘Hamilton’ sweeps Tonys with 11 wins during somber ceremony New York, June 12, 2016 — ”Hamilton”, the pop culture phenomenon based on U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton, swept the Tonys on Sunday, winning 11 of Broadway’s top awards including best musical, best actor, best direction and best score and book for creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The musical, which tells the story of the ill-fated Hamilton with a deft musical melding of hip-hop and rap, R&B, ballads and traditional Broadway showstoppers, also won for featured actress and actor and several technical awards.

A somber note was cast over the festivities by the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida early on Sunday that killed 50 people and wounded 53.

Several winners spoke of the tragedy in their acceptance speeches.

Jessica Lange, winning her first Tony as morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night, said the honor “fills me with such happiness, even on such a sad day as this.”

Host James Corden opened the usually ebullient show with a statement to victims and others affected: “Your tragedy is our tragedy … hate will never

win.”

“Tonight’s show stands as a symbol and a celebration of that principle,” he said.

Miranda, accepting best score for a musical, delivered a sonnet for his acceptance, done in the style of verse heard in “Hamilton”.

Backstage, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “No child is ever born to hate.”

Frank Langella, who won his fourth Tony for best actor in a play as an Alzheimer’s-afflicted patriarch in “The Father,” said the theater community stood in support.

“I urge you, Orlando, to be strong,” Langella said.

“The Humans” won the Tony for best play, while Jayne Houdyshell and Reed Birney were named best featured actress and actor in a play for the family drama. It also won for scenic design.

“The Color Purple” took best revival of a musical, while star Cynthia Erivo took the Tony for best actress in a musical.

Other winners included Ivo van Hove, best director of a play for “A View from the Bridge,” which also won best revival of a play.

Miranda, who plays Hamilton, lost best actor in a musical to co-star Leslie Odom Jr. as his nemesis Aaron Burr.

“God bless you, you’ve given us a new vision,” he told Miranda. Backstage, Odom spoke of the U.S. shootings, saying “something like this happens and all of this seems pretty silly.”

However, he said at the matinee earlier that the cast realized people who had tickets for months were counting on seeing the show. “We can’t let them (the killers) take that away from those people,” Odom said.

“Hamilton” also won awards for Renee Elise Goldsberry and Daveed Diggs as best featured actress and actor in a musical, best director Thomas Kail, and for best lighting, costumes, choreography and orchestrations.

But it fell short of the 12 Tony wins by “The Producers” in 2001.

Barbra Streisand, making her first Tonys appearance in 40 years, presented the best musical award to the show.

In a year when the Oscars drew criticism for lacking non-white nominees, the Tonys, led by the multicultural cast of “Hamilton,” stood rich with diversity. Corden joked that the Tonys were “like the Oscars – but with diversity.”

Page 12

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

LIFESTYLE

Six things to consider when shopping for sunglasses New York, June 15, 2016 — The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can cause serious damage to eyes all year round, whether in the city or on the beach. Here are a few things to consider when shopping for sunglasses to stay protected from the harmful effects of the sun in all situations.

Keep sunglasses on, even when it’s cloudy From the urban jungle to mountain peaks, whether you’re strolling around town, hiking in the hills or chilling at the beach, the sun’s UV rays are present all the time, even when it’s cloudy.

In fact, insufficiently protected eyes are at risk of photokeratitis — effectively sunburn of the eyes — which can be very painful, and can mean staying in a dark room for a few days to recover.

And while modern windshields generally block UV rays, drivers are still at risk of being dazzled by glare in bright conditions. Note that eye colour bears no relation to sun sensitivity — it simply varies from person to person.

Steer clear of novelty or fashion shades Before buying a trendy new pair of shades, make sure you check their level of protection. In Europe, models

offering safe levels of UV protection are stamped with the CE mark, ensuring no more than 5 per cent of UVB rays are transmitted through the lenses.

Try to avoid buying sunglasses outside of traditional retail circuits, such as from beach accessories sellers or illegal street vendors, who can easily circumvent legislation. Models with wrap-around designs — covering the whole eye area up to the temples — are particularly recommended to help keep UV rays from getting around the sides. The choice of model and style also depends on the type of activity the wearer has in mind, from sports to city slicking to sunbathing at the beach. In any case, fashion-conscious wearers can rest assured that a wide range of options is now available to keep eyes protected in style.

lenses, suitable for strong brightness, or Category 4 lenses made for intense sunshine. Category 4 is the best option for high mountain conditions.

Dark lenses don’t mean better protection

The right pair for each kind of activity

All kinds of lenses can block UV rays, even clear lenses, thanks to various materials and coatings. In fact, poor-quality dark lenses can prove particularly harmful. These reduce brightness without blocking UV, causing the pupil to dilate and let in more of the sun’s harmful rays. Lenses should block the most UV light possible. In Europe, look for Category 3

Manufacturers have made huge progress in recent years, offering sunglasses to suit all kinds of professional, leisure or sports activities. Polarising lenses, for example, filter out the sun’s rays as well as light reflected from water, snow, car windows and other shiny surfaces. These adaptive lenses are an ideal option for drivers and watersports fans, as the photochromic lenses

Which colour lenses to choose?

Grey lenses tone down brightness while keeping colours natural and unaltered. Grey is generally recommended for farsighted wearers. Nearsighted people will be more at ease with brown shades, which reduce glare and improve contrast. Green also helps bolster contrast without distorting colours. This lens colour is suitable for contact-lens wearers and the farsighted. Yellow and amber shades reduce glare but considerably heighten contrast. They are a good choice for anyone with low vision.

adapt to different levels of ambient light, ensuring optimal comfort and protection. The lenses turn lighter in dark conditions and darken as ultraviolet light becomes stronger. This kind of lens can also be a good choice for mountain bikers, who move quickly between shady to brighter zones.

Keep kids protected Children have increased sensitivity to UV rays until the age of around 12 because their eyes’ crystalline lenses are still transparent. However, it’s not that common to see kids wearing sunglasses when out and about. There’s now a wide range of sunglasses available for children of all ages, with frames specially designed to fit toddlers, babies or older children. A cord or elastic strap can help keep them in place.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2016

Page 13

SPORTS

U.S. Open golf stars set for Oakmont challenge Oakmont, June 15, 2016 — The world’s best golfers on Tuesday were preparing for the ultimate US Open test at Oakmont with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

to need out there.”

The course is not an untamed monster like Chambers Bay in Washington State last year, but its distinctive bunkers are forbidding and its greens are among the fastest and must undulating on the circuit.

World number one Jason Day, who forms with McIlroy and defending champion Jordan Spieth what is being regarded as golf’s new “Big Three”, said that he, too, was unsure what the week would hold in store for him.

On top of that, the eighth hole is the longest par-three in US Open history at 300 yards, the 12th at 667 yards the second-longest ever par five and the closing hole is an unforgiving 484-yard par four many consider to be the hardest on the Open rotation.

“I’ve never been more stressed in my life than right now,” said the reigning PGA champion, who is also battling a bad cold.

The par is at 70 and few think that will be bettered by Sunday evening.

The last time the tournament was held at Oakmont, in 2007, Angel Cabrera won at five-over.

Asked if he felt trepidation or excitement with two days to go until Thursday’s start, Rory McIlroy, who won the US Open in 2011 at 16-under par said: “Trepidation, I guess.

“Yeah, excitement is a good way to describe Augusta (Masters), but it really depends the venue that you play a US Open at as well.

“But, yeah, this week it’s definitely not excitement. I mean, it’s definitely not that.”

“You know you’re going to be put under a lot of pressure on basically every single golf shot you hit out there.

“So you have to be prepared for that. You have to be prepared for how mentally demanding it’s going to be, how much concentration you’re going

The four-time major winner from Northern Ireland is not alone in feeling his stress levels on the rise.

“Sometimes your immune system gets a little heated, and you’re more susceptible to getting some illnesses that way,” he said.

“It doesn’t help that my father-in-law was sick during the Memorial, so that kind of passed it along to me.

“I’m not trying to make any excuses this week,” he added. “I’m going to be ready for the start Thursday.”

Day, Spieth and McIlroy, the top three in the world rankings, have all joined the list of major winners, which cannot be said of Rickie Fowler, another leading member of the new wave of players.

Crazy and penal Fowler said Oakmont had “the craziest greens I’ve ever played and most penal fairway bunkers I’ve entered,” before adding “It’s a fair golf course.”

The Californian believes he has a real chance to finally break his major duck.

“I think there’s a bit of a gap right now. I’ve got a little way to go. And,

WHO committee says low risk of Zika spread at Rio Olympics Geneva, June 15, 2016 — There is a “very low risk” of the Zika virus spreading further internationally as a result of the Olympic Games in Brazil, the World Health Organization’s emergency committee on the disease said Tuesday.

The statement came as worry mounted that the mosquito-borne virus, which has spread across much of Latin America and which can lead to severe birth defects in babies, might spread further when the Olympics begin in August.

“The Committee concluded that there is a very low risk of further international spread of Zika virus as a result of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as Brazil will be hosting the Games during the Brazilian winter,” the WHO said.

The global health agency explained that the intensity of the transmission of viruses like dengue and Zika “will be minimal”.

Brazilian authorities are “intensifying vector-control measures in and around the venues for the Games

yeah, they’ve won majors. So I’ve got some catching up to do.

Other potential storylines surround Spieth’s mindset in the first major since his Masters final round meltdown in April, Dustin Johnson’s quest for a first major title after his disastrous three-putt at the 18th hole of last year’s US Open and whether the fast-improving Hideki Matsuyama can become the first player from Japan to win a Grand Slam tournament.

which should further reduce the risk of transmission,” the WHO said.

“There should be no general restrictions on travel and trade with countries, areas and/or territories with Zika virus transmission.”

The committee however said Brazil should make sure it boosts its control measures in cities where the Games will be held.

In Brazil, some 1.5 million people have been infected with the virus, and nearly 1,300 babies have been born with microcephaly — abnormally small heads and brains — since the outbreak of Zika began there last year.

The virus, which usually causes only mild, flu-like symptoms, can also trigger adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death.

In an added complication, there is limited, but growing evidence that Zika can be transmitted sexually.

There is no vaccine for Zika.

But the biggest galleries, in the continued absence of the injured Tiger Woods, will likely be following Phil Mickelson as he bids, for the third straight year, to become just the sixth player to win all four major titles, having finished runner-up a record six times.

The American, who turns 46 on Thursday, would also be the oldest player ever to win the US Open.

Page 14

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

SPORTS

Mourinho heads to Bournemouth as Guardiola faces Sunderland London, June 15, 2016 — Jose Mourinho faces a trip to the seaside in his first Premier League game in charge of Manchester United as they face Bournemouth in the Premier League fixtures unveiled today.

His bitter rival from his days in charge of Real Madrid in Spain, former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola now in charge of city rivals Manchester City, will host Sunderland, who just escaped the drop last season.

Current Italy coach Antonio Conte faces a highly-charged first game in the dugout for Chelsea as he has a London derby with Slaven Bilic’s West Ham. Another of the influx of top class continental European coaches, Jürgen Klopp, will begin his first full season in charge — having replaced Brendan Rodgers in the middle of last term — by taking his Liverpool outfit to face French veteran Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.

Champions Leicester have a gentle start away at newly-promoted Hull,

but then have their credentials tested to the full when they host the Gunners, who finished runners-up, the week after.

Two former Southampton bosses will trade blows on the pitch as Ronald Koeman’s first taste as Everton manager will be to host Spurs, coached by his predecessor at Saints, Maurico Pochettino.

Only a year ago Koeman criticised Pochettino for ditching Southampton before his contract was up — only for Koeman to do the same thing when he took the Everton job yesterday.

Brazil sack Dunga after Copa America exit Rio de Janeiro, June 15, 2016 — Brazil coach Dunga was sacked yesterday after the Selecao’s humiliating group-stage elimination from the Copa America Centenario.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said in a statement it had decided to fire Dunga and “dissolve the Brazilian national team’s coaching staff” following their latest debacle.

The news came after CBF officials met with Dunga earlier yesterday.

The exit from the Copa America centennial edition in the United States was the latest blow to demoralised, recession-hit Brazil, which is still reeling from the national team’s 7-1 World Cup semi-final thrashing by Germany on home soil in 2014.

After an opening 0-0 draw with Ecuador was followed by a 7-1 win over Haiti, Brazil needed a draw with Peru on Monday to reach the quarter-finals but instead crashed out of the tourna-

ment after controversially losing 1-0 to a disputed goal.

Speculation had swirled that Dunga was on his way out, but the coach said he was not afraid of the sack.

“I am only afraid of death,” Dunga told reporters.

Brazil are now left searching for a new coach just weeks away from hosting the Olympics in August, seeking to win football gold for the first time.

Dunga, 52, won the Copa America twice as a player and was captain of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup-winning squad.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2016

Page 15

HEALTH Simple blood tests can help detect, target cancer a highly informative, minimally-invasive alternative when a tissue biopsy is insufficient for genotyping or cannot be obtained safely,” said study presenter Philip Mack, professor and director of molecular pharmacology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Los Angeles, June 5, 2016 — Blood samples can be just as effective as invasive tissue biopsies in monitoring cancer and can help doctors better prescribe treatment, a study revealed Saturday.

Although tumor biopsies are generally used to assess changes in a cancer’s DNA, blood samples can do the same thing, according to the study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

New advances are allowing researchers to study cancer via the bloodstream where tumor cells shed small, detectable pieces of their DNA, according to researchers.

By assessing this DNA doctors can “monitor changes in the cancer as it evolves over time, which can be critical when patients and physicians are discussing treatment options for

continued tumor control,” according to a preview of the study.

And because genetic changes in cancer DNA occur even before tumor growth becomes evident in a scan, blood samples can help health professionals adjust a patient’s treatment sooner.

And blood samples allow doctors to do so without resorting to an involved, surgical tumor biopsy, said researchers on the study, one of the largest ever conducted on cancer genomics.

Blood tests can also provide a more comprehensive sample of a tumor’s DNA since biopsy tissue comes from only one part of a tumor and therefore may not provide a sample of the changing DNA.

“These findings suggest that analysis of shed tumor DNA in patient blood, also known as a liquid biopsy, can be

“Having a good, reliable option beyond a tumor biopsy could have a

major impact on our ability to select the right therapy for the right patient,” said Sumanta Kumar Pal, a medical oncologist at the City of Hope cancer center in California, who was not involved in the research.

“The fact that genomic mutations vary not only patient to patient but also change over time has been a constant challenge in cancer treatment, especially in the precision medicine era” he said.

The study was carried out using blood samples from more than 15,000 patients and 50 types of tumors.

Researchers used a test by California-based Guardant Health, which looks for mutations in 70 cancer-related genes.

Vaping teens more apt to move on to regular cigarettes Los Angeles, June 13, 2016 — Older teens who try electronic cigarettes have six times the odds of trying regular cigarettes within two years than those who never puffed on the devices, a study published on Monday found.

“We’re concerned that kids who experiment with e-cigarettes may be moving on to other types of tobacco products, like combustible cigarettes, which are arguably a lot more dangerous,” said University of Southern California researcher Jessica Barrington-Trimis, lead author of the study published in the journal Pediatrics.

E-cigarettes are handheld electronic devices that vaporize a fluid typically including nicotine and a flavor component. Using them is called “vaping.”

The researchers based their findings on surveys conducted by USC involv-

ing about 300 high school students in southern California. In 2014, about half of the students said they had at least tried an e-cigarette.

In a 2015 follow-up survey, about 40 percent of those who had tried an e-cigarette by the previous year had tried regular cigarettes. That compared to about 11 percent of those who said they had not tried an e-cigarette in the prior year’s survey.

After adjusting the statistics for gender, ethnicity, grade and parental education, the researchers calculated that the teens who tried the e-cigarettes had six times the odds of taking up smoking than those who never tried them.

When the researchers looked at teens who said on the first survey that they had no intention to smoke, the risk of moving from e-cigarettes to regular

cigarettes by the next year was 10 times greater than those who never vaped.

Barrington-Trimis said the high risk among teens committed to not smoking “suggests this is not just occurring among kids who intended to smoke anyway.”

The survey participants were 11th and 12th grade students who all were least 18 years old by the second survey.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2015 that the devices be regulated as tobacco products due to concerns they would lead teens to regular cigarettes and also expose their developing brains to nicotine.

The US Food and Drug Administration last month took wide-ranging steps to crack down on e-cigarettes and banned sales to anyone under age 18.

Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health and a proponent of e-cigarettes as a way to wean smokers off conventional cigarettes, said the study did not prove e-cigarette use had prompted the teens to take up regular cigarettes.

Siegel, who was not involved in the study, said the first survey did not determine how many times the teens had vaped, asking only if they had used e-cigarettes at least once.

“What’s probably happening is these kids did not become regular vapers, (and) they turned to smoking,” Siegel said. “If they turned into regular vapers, they wouldn’t have turned to smoking.” – Reuters

Page 16

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

Misc Asia

Rebirth of Yangon building points way for city’s crumbling heritage Yangon, June 12, 2016 — Home to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and a collage of businesses that burst to life as Myanmar’s largest city wakes up, the colonial-era building known simply as ‘491-501 Merchant Street’ holds a mirror up to Yangon.

It has also just received a US$325,000 facelift, sprucing up its grand but crumbling edifice with the support of the community it houses.

Heritage experts now hope that collaborative process will serve as a blueprint for saving the city’s other architectural treasures ravaged by years of neglect under the former junta.

Merchant Street sits at the heart of Yangon’s historic downtown area, where the roads are lined with majestic but decaying structures that date back to British colonial rule, which ended in 1948.

Scores of old buildings have already been razed by the flood of foreign investment that followed the end of total military rule in 2011 and has pushed the city into a development frenzy.

But with a new government in town, led by Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party, conservationists are hopeful that an urban rebirth is within reach.

“We had never seen such renovations before. If a building is old, normally people destroy it and build a new condo block,” said Aung Thu, a resident who runs one of two tea shops inside the building.

The elegant structure has 80 residents, a noodle stall, bookseller, two newspaper-recycling operations, a barber, three printing services and a purveyor of monastic accessories all under one newly-refurbished roof.

Its inhabitants are also religiously varied, something not uncommon in multi-ethnic Yangon but a positive reminder of interfaith cooperation in a country where sectarian tensions have been fuelled in recent years by anti-Muslim Buddhist hardliners.

That this diverse collective backed the project is also unique in a country where tangled ownership rights, a lack of funding and poor regulation have hampered restoration efforts.

Many families and shopkeepers stayed put while newly-trained local tradesmen worked around them for nearly a year, applying fresh coats of paint and returning the building’s once-chipped columns to their former glory.

“They are happy with the building, the building is looking great,” said Harry Wardill of Turquoise Mountain, a heritage foundation that oversaw the work, which came free of charge to the residents.

“It’s attracting attention from people which is one of the key aspects of a demonstration project — we want to engage people to really think about their heritage.”

New mayor in town The city maintains a list of 189

recognised heritage sites but currently lacks laws to protect them.

Thant Myint-U, a historian who runs the prominent Yangon Heritage Trust, would like to see the Merchant Street makeover — which the trust helped fund — kickstart the restoration of other sites.

While the city will need to find revenue streams other than donations to pay for future projects, he is hoping the building’s new sparkle will convince locals and officials of the value of preservation.

“For a lot of people in Yangon, especially if they have never been outside the country, I think it’s really hard to imagine what an old building could be if it was well-renovated,” he said.

The historian described “excellent relations” with the new government and chief city minister, who he has been working with closely.

His group is also pushing for more comprehensive urban planning, aware that Yangon is struggling to manage hundreds of thousands of squatters, traffic-clogged streets and rapid upward development.

“It is about looking at all the different issues — whether it is affordable housing or mass transit — and having the conservation of architectural heritage as part of this overall design,” he said.

Rags to riches?

At the Merchant Street building, residents lacked the resources to coordinate repairs.

Its facade was blackened by the elements and the annual monsoon gushed in torrents through the roof.

But now some homeowners have been inspired to launch their own internal refurbishments.

The building has been “born again”, said 43-year-old Shan Kumar, a Hindu businessman living in a ground floor apartment.

He is excited by the money-spinning potential of the renovations, particularly given the city centre address.

“Now I have many chances. I can rent my apartment or do some business,” he said.

The winds of change are also stirring in Aung Thu’s bustling yet modest teashop.

Friends have advised him to upgrade his clusters of plastic stools to attract high paying customers and foreign tourists.

“The building is perfect now, so I will develop the teashop very soon. My dream will definitely come true,” he said.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2016

Page 17

Misc Asia

China warns U.S. on visits by Dalai Lama, Taiwan president Beijing, June 14, 2016 — China warned the United States on Tuesday to stick by its promises not to support any separatist activities, ahead of a U.S. visit by Taiwan’s new president and a possible meeting between the Dalai Lama and U.S. President Barack Obama.

Secrets of lost Cambodian cities to be revealed London, June 12, 2016 — Archaeologists are set to unveil further details of medieval cities hidden under jungle in Cambodia near Angkor Wat, the world’s largest Hindu temple complex, the Guardian newspaper said.

Phnom-Kulen-National-ParkWhile the research has been going on for several years, the new findings reportedly reveal the scale of the cities to be significantly bigger than was previously known.

The research, drawing on airborne laser scanning technology, is expected to be unveiled in full at the Royal Geographic Society in London on Monday

by Australian archaeologist Damian Evans.

“We have entire cities discovered beneath the forest that no one knew were there – at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay and, it turns out, we uncovered only a part of Mahendraparvata on Phnom Kulen (in a 2012 survey),” Evans was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

“This time we got the whole deal and it’s big – the size of Phnom Penh big.”

Evans’s findings are also set to be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The Royal Geographic Society did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Research conducted by Evans and others in 2012 confirmed the existence of Mahendraparvata, an ancient temple city near Angkor Wat. But the Guardian reported that it was only when the results of a larger survey in 2015 were analysed that the scale of the settlements became apparent.

Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage site seen as one of the most important in southeast Asia, is considered one of the ancient wonders of the world.

It was constructed from the early to mid 1100s by King Suryavarman II at the height of the Khmer Empire’s political and military power and was at one time the largest pre-industrial city in the world.

The self-ruled, democratic island of Taiwan and the remote mountainous region of Tibet are two of China’s most sensitive political and diplomatic issues.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said both issues involved the “one China” policy, a basic diplomatic tenet referring to both Taiwan and Tibet being part of China that Beijing insists foreign governments recognize.

“I can responsibly tell you that on this issue the U.S. government has made solemn promises, which is to uphold a one China policy,” Lu told a daily news briefing.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will transit in Miami on her way to Panama, one of the island’s few diplomatic allies, for the expansion ceremony of the Panama Canal and stopover in Los Angeles on her return, Taiwan deputy foreign minister Javier Ching-shan Hou said on Tuesday.

Her trip abroad from June 24 to July 2 will also include a state visit to another ally, Paraguay, the government said.

Travel abroad is sensitive for Taiwanese leaders who have angered China in the past because it is seen as exerting sovereignty.

China is suspicious of Tsai, who as-

sumed office last month, as she is also head of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Lu said the U.S. has said it opposes Taiwan independence.

“We demand the U.S. government earnestly stands by its promises, conscientiously handle the relevant issue in accordance with the one China principle and not give any space to any individual or behavior which tries to create two Chinas, one China one Taiwan, or to split China,” he added.

Taiwan deputy minister Hou gave no details on who Tsai would meet while in the U.S. On the issue of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a dangerous separatist, Lu said the United States also recognizes that Tibet is an inseparable part of China.

“The 14th Dalai Lama often puts up the facade of religion to peddle internationally his political position of splitting China,” he said.

“We demand no country or government give him any space for such activities and should certainly not do anything the 1.3 billion people of China would resolutely oppose.”

Asked if he would meet Obama during his three-day visit to Washington, exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama told Reuters on Monday it was “not finalized, but some friends say he may meet me”.

The Dalai Lama says he simply wants genuine autonomy for Tibet rather than independence.

- Reuters

Page 18

June 15-30, 2016 Georgia Asian Times

TECHNOLOGY

Rise of celebrity player: E3 video game show feeds appetite for gaming Los Angeles, June 15, 2016 — New consoles and blockbuster games always make a big splash at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, but this year the undisputed winners are online stages for video game play and commentary.

And with them comes the rise of the celebrity player.

The appetite on sites like Twitch and YouTube Gaming for play video, commentary, trailers, and more seems insatiable, industry insiders say.

“There are hundreds of millions of users watching gaming content every month,” said YouTube global head of gaming content Ryan Wyatt at E3 yesterday.

Wyatt admits that he is surprised “that it is this big now.”

YouTube Gaming, a version of the Alphabet-owned video-sharing service tailored as a one-stop shop for game lovers, launched with a website and mobile applications in August 2015.

Now, billions of hours of gaming content are watched monthly at the service — and that number is rising, Wyatt said.

YouTube has made a priority of “empowering content creators,” personalities who captivate online audiences with play, comedy, wit, commentary or combinations thereof.

“They are superstars in their own right,” Wyatt said.

“They are celebrities.”

Making a killing Wyatt noted that more than half the Top 10 “YouTubers” are gamers, with popular personalities “making a killing” when it comes to earning money.

Last year, entertainment industry magazine Variety published a survey showing that YouTube personalities had the kind of influence on teens typically attributed to Hollywood celebrities.

For example, more than 45.5 million people subscribe to the YouTube channel of Swedish-based comedian and gamer PewDiePie. “They are basically transcending the gaming industry,” Wyatt said of YouTube gamer stars.

The Amazon-owned Twitch.tv lets anyone broadcast game related content and allows them to connect with publishers or advertisers.

More than 20,00 people attended last year’s TwitchCon gathering of “broadcasters” and publishers, and nearly two million more watched it online, according to the San Francisco-based pioneering game-play streaming service.

“Overall, viewership is skyrocketing,” said a Twitch spokesman who goes only by the name ‘Chase’.

autographs or selfies at public appearances, according to Chase.

in cash for the three-year-old Internet company.

Sony Interactive Entertainment chief executive Andrew House saw the technology-driven video game industry as a natural venue for the rise of content creator stars and “the democratization of celebrity.”

YouTube Gaming created an online destination for all things E3, and is hosting a “battle of the trailers” in which online viewers get to vote for a favourite clip teasing a coming video game.

“To put it bluntly, it is about time,” said House.

A Battlefield 1 game trailer logged more than five million views in the 24 hours after its release. A video of a PlayStation press event held late Monday had racked up more than a million on-demand views at YouTube by late yesterday morning.

“It is great to have faces and a personality for the industry.”

And, there is direct correlation between people watching video games and buying them, according to Twitch and YouTube.

Trailer battles

“We break milestones every year, there is no sign of streaming slowing down at all.”

There are Twitch broadcasters who boast six-figure incomes and who have people queue “around the block” for

US online retail giant Amazon snatched up Twitch and its huge audience for live-streamed gaming in 2014.

The purchase was one of the largest in Amazon’s history — US$970 million

Fan voting on game trailers also signalled keen interest in coming Gears of War and Zelda games, as well as Quake, according to Wyatt.