Tokyo Correspondent

Edited by: James M. Kelly

Karachi - World's Lease Expensive

A recent survey has revealed that the most expensive city to live in now is Asia. This is a result of the falling Australian dollar so the cost of living in the land down under has plummeted across the country.

As it was shown in The Economist magazine, ‘cost of living survey,’ showed that Australian cities have become cheaper due to the battered Australian dollar.

Australia and New Zealand cities have seen dramatic falls of between 21 and 25 index points.

Sydney dropped from position 17 to 35 on its index of the most expensive cities in the past six months.

Since September, Melbourne has fallen 15 places from 24 to 39, while Brisbane fell from 35 to 57.

Adelaide plummeted to 72 after being listed at 48 in the last survey.

Auckland fell almost 30 places, from 49 to 78, while Wellington dropped 25 spots from 55 to 80.

Conversely a stronger yen now means that the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka have become the most expensive cities in the survey.

Tokyo rose to top of the magazine’s list of most expensive cities, knocking off Oslo in Norway, which now stands at number five.

Osaka in Japan has now risen to be listed at number two, Paris comes in third, while Copenhagen in Denmark is now the fourth most expensive city to live in.

As it was stated in The Economist, Asia now plays host to countries which have the most and the least expensive cost of living in the survey.

Because apart from taking the top two spots, Asia also managed to boast four of the five cheapest cities with Karachi in Pakistan, Mumbai and New Delhi in India, and Kathmandu in Nepal.

Asia supplies five of the ten cheapest locations in the survey, however, four of them hail from the Indian subcontinent.

Written by:
Beijing Correspondent

Edited by: James M. Kelly
A top local official has explained how the Xinjiang Uygur region plans to increase the border police force to deal with rising drug trafficking from the neighbouring “Golden Crescent” region.

Nur Bekri, chairman of the regional government, told the China Daily on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, that they have asked the central government for more security forces along the border because the current number is simply not enough.

The “Golden Crescent”, which encompasses the mountain valleys of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, has become the world’s primary drug source.

According to latest police figures, local police have cracked over 1,560 drug-related cases last year where they arrested nearly 2,000 suspects and seized 144 kg of heroin and 6.72 kg of ‘ice.’

In Urumqi, 70 percent of the drugs came from the “Golden Crescent”.

Bekri expressed his concern on the growing drug problem and how it is now a serious situation in Xinjiang.

The China Daily stated him saying, “While traffickers are trying to make Xinjiang a transit point, consumption within the region is increasing as well.”

Increased drug use has resulted in rising HIV infections in the region, with needle sharing accounting for nearly two-thirds of the cases.

Figures from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention show that by September 2008, Xinjiang had reported 24,818 HIV-infection cases, ranking fourth among all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in the country.

According to the centre, the infection ratio is the highest in the country as Xinjiang has only 20 million residents.

Bekri explained how the regional government now has plans to allocate 40 million yuan ($5.85 million) this year for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. The money, which is set to be increased annually, will be mainly used for education programs and de-addiction treatment.

Bekri also expresses his concern about this year’s security situation in Xinjiang saying it is more severe when you compare it with previous years.

This year will mark the region’s 60th anniversary of peaceful liberation. It is the home to more than 10.96 million ethnic minority people such as Uygurs, Mongolians and the Hui, while it is also the frontline in the battle against the “three evil forces” of separatists, terrorists and extremists.

Bekri understands that this year is a time of celebration for Xinjiang people but hostile forces will not give up an opportunity to destroy it.

The situation in South Asia, including terror attacks in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, are also a spur to the three forces, he said.

He mentioned that the current number of border security staff remains the same as in 1992. Even though, the number of inbound and outbound travellers, in the past 17 years has increased from 69,000 a year to more than 2 million.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James Kelly
According to research made by Microsoft’s MSN and Windows Live Online Services Business, Asia’s blogging population is increasing everyday with nearly half of those online already being active bloggers.

The report claimed that blogging as a corporate or business tool appears to be just catching on in most Asian markets, with little interest from consumers in blogs from business or political leaders.

However, the exceptions are online powerhouse Korea, where blogging has spread through all aspects of life, and India, where business-related blogs have become quite popular.

Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report details the research findings which were based on an online survey where more than 25,000 MSN portal visitors across seven markets participated in.

The report states that the region’s bloggers are mainly driven by the need to express themselves and share their lives with family and friends.

The highest number of respondents, which was 53 percent, indicated that they all choose to start their own blog in an effort to share a diary or photo album with loved ones.

The report also showed that Asia’s blog sites are being fuelled by the youth with almost half of all bloggers, or 56 percent being under the age of 25.

While 25 to 34 years old make up 35 percent of active bloggers and only nine per cent are 35 years old and over.

When broken down and sorted by gender, 55 percent of bloggers in Asia were found to be female and 45 percent male.

Alex Stewart, director of Microsoft’s Online Services Business, Asia Pacific, explained how user-created content and community-based online services are really propelling the internet in Asia right now.

The survey also revealed that blogs are being considered as relatively trusted sources of information, with half the respondents believing that blog content is as trustworthy as traditional media.

A quarter of the respondents also believed blogs to be the quickest way to learn about news and current affairs.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
On February 20, Chinese lawyers filed a motion to a French court seeking the command to stop the auction house Christie’s putting two bronze relics from China under the hammer.

Liu Yang, head of a group of almost 90 lawyers, explained how the application was submitted to a Paris court Thursday night, four days before the auction was scheduled to be held on February 23 to 25 in Paris.

Bernard Gomez, the president of the Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe (APACE), agreed to be the applicant for property preservation of the two bronze rabbit and rat head sculptures.

The Qing Dynasty relics were in the imperial summer resort Yuanmingyuan. They were taken from the palace when it was burnt down by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.

The items currently belong to the Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and were put up for auction by the late fashion magnate’s partner, Pierre Berge.

Liu explains that if the court motion happens to fail, they will participate in the auction and decide what to do next when the moment occurs.

The lawyers did write a letter to Christie’s last week asking to stop the sale of the two precious Chinese items, and also explaining that they would be prepared to sue Pierre Berge if Christie’s puts the bronzes up for auction. But Christie’s said the auction will proceed as scheduled.

Chen Yan, Christie’s public relations officer in China, stated that the proceeds from all items in the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge collection will be going to charity.

Chen also mentioned how the owners did provide legal documents which confirmed their legal possession of all the articles, including the two bronze sculptures.

The Chinese relics are expected to sell for 8 to 10 million euros each.

Liu said the Global Aixinjueluo Family Clan, a civil society registered in Hong Kong, has agreed to be the plaintiff. Aixinjueluo is the clan name of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

A statement of the administration of the old Summer Palace explained how the relics are to be returned to China. China has received full ownership to these relics.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Photo courtesy of Topnews.
Liu Xiang, Chinese 110m hurdle star left for China on February 27 after a successful foot surgery and three months of rehabilitation in the United States.

The 25-year-old Athens Olympic and world champion had a successful foot surgery in December last year at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston where he had four calcium deposits removed from his right Achilles tendon.

Feng Shuyong, vice-president of the Chinese Athletics Association explained that Liu’s recovery was even better than what they had expected.

The doctors believe that after only three months of rehabilitation and training, he has been able to achieve the level of recovery that generally needs four months to happen.

Feng explained how Liu will return to Shanghai, his hometown, for training on track and rehabilitation. The Chinese doctors will take over the rehabilitation and his coach Sun Haiping will be in charge of his training programs.

Liu may be able to resume to a normal training on the track in May.

Feng expressed how he and Liu are very grateful for the people in the United States who helped and support them. His thanks go especially to the US doctors, China’s consulate general in Houston, the Rice University which offered them their training arena for free, and many other overseas Chinese.

American surgeon Tom Clanton, who performed Liu’s surgery, together with Liu’s rehabilitation therapist, had a thorough examination on Liu’s Archilles tendon on the Thursday to make sure he is suitable for returning home. The doctors mentioned that the results are encouraging.

The doctors explained how the scar from the operation has gradually become smaller and softer. Ultrasonic and other tests showed that the movements of Liu’s right ankle are close to normal and his muscle strength of his right foot is basically the same as left foot.

The only problem now is that the surgery caused the loss of part of Liu’s muscle and tendon on his injured foot.

They are expecting new muscle and tendon to grow but the new one mainly consists of type II collagen instead of type I. Type I is responsible for muscle strength and flexibility.

Feng told the China Daily that it will take some time for type I collagen to grow and replace type II collagen on Liu’s right foot. This is why Liu needs to gradually increase intensity of his rehabilitation and training before trying to resume a normal training regime.

Doctors have warned that Liu should be cautious with his injured foot and not be in a hurry to return to normal training. But they have also agreed that in the next phrase, rehabilitation can be gradually reduced and training be increased for Liu.

Doctor Clanton has said that Liu’s chances for running in the future are quite good.
While, Feng was quick to mention that have been similar cases where top athletes have returned to their peak after a foot surgery like Liu’s.

Liu’s future plans for training and competition will depend on how well he recovers, and I’m sure I’m not the only one hoping that the Chinese idol will work hard to help his recovery so he can return and try his best to come back to peak.

The foot injury had forced the defending champion Liu to withdraw from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after he limped out the Bird’s Nest national stadium in the first heat.

Staff Correspondent

Edited by: James M. Kelly

Photo Courtest of Blogspot.

According to the latest draft law celebrities will now share the legal responsibility for advertising food products that are found unsafe and unfit for human consumption.

The draft food safety law specifies that all social organisations and individuals who now recommend unsafe food products in ads shoulder “joint liability” with food producers if the products harm consumers’ rights and interests.

The draft was submitted for review on Wednesday February 25 to the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

Law professor Yang Lixin from Renmin University of China explains that “joint liability” means that consumers can demand compensation from both the unsafe food’s producers and the celebrities that appear in the advertisements.

Liu Xirong, the deputy director of the NPC Law Committee told the China Daily that the change was in a response to the many legislators’ complaints about false or exaggerated food advertisements where a lot of them are featuring celebrities. It is said that the ads have been cheating and misleading the consumers.

He continued with the fact that they did consider it necessary to enforce stricter controls over food advertisements.

The new draft also bans food supervision authorities, and industry and consumer associations from recommending food products to consumers in advertisements or in any other form. And if the companies do not comply with the new laws, their directors or those with direct responsibility may face demotion or instant dismissal.

Since the melamine scandal in September started, unsafe food product advertisements became a major issue.

Many citizens have wondered it the celebrities who promoted the tainted products, especially those for the Sanlu Group should also share the responsibility for the six infants who died and the other 30,000 people who became ill.

Head of Peking University’s advertising department Chen Gang said he welcomed the legislation.

He told the China Daily that celebrities enjoy the vast social influence. It is a known fact that it is easier for the public believes something a celebrity says compared to an ordinary person.

Chen strongly believes that stricter controls are needed when it comes to food advertisement because food products can directly affect human health.

Some legal experts have mentioned that the law is well intended but it seems to have gone a little too far.

Yang explained how the rule aims to prevent the celebrities from abusing their influence, which is necessary, but actually subjecting them to joint liability does seem to be a bit too harsh.

NPC Law Committee member Wang Liming expressed how he felt and said that it was a bit unfair to put celebrities who appear in food advertisements on the same tier of legal responsibility as food producers.

The China Daily stated Wang saying, “There’s no doubt food producers should shoulder the primary responsibility if there are food incidents.”

Wang also believes that celebrities who recommend unsafe food products in commercials should bear some sort of responsibility.

The China Daily stated Yang saying, “It should matter whether the celebrities were or were not aware the food products were unsafe. Joint liability should apply to those who were.”

Jiang Wenjuan, agent of famous mainland actress Jiang Wenli stated that the new rule will now only force celebrities to think twice before appearing in food advertisements.

The China Daily stated her saying, “We’re already very careful about doing such ads. We usually ask for all relevant government certification to prove the products are safe. But if such a stipulation becomes law, it’s certain that we’ll be even more careful.”

Jiang also mentioned how the celebrities do occasionally sign a contract with the food producers stating that the star will bear no responsibility in the case of consumer complaints.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
With the passing of Valentine’s Day, a great abundance of chocolates still seem to be stockpiled in the stores. But could you possible imagine a life where chocolates and all of the other fantastic sugary stuff was banned? What would you do under such strict laws?
This is the main theme of Bootleg, a novel written by Alex Shearer, and the basis of the Japanese animated film Chocolate Underground, which opened in Japan on January 7.

The book, which was first published in Britain in 2002, the ‘Good for You’ party, passes a law that bans chocolates and other sweets. The party claims that the tasty and delicate delights are bad and can harm your health. The government then steps up surveillance and tracks down those who break the law. Those who do not abide the Chocolate Prohibition Law are sent to a re -education centre to reform their diet consciousness.

However, two chocolate-loving teenagers, the main characters, Huntley and Smudger, fight to win back their freedom to indulge in the sweet flavour chocolate. With the help from Mrs Bubby, who runs a sweet shop and is bitter about being obliged to sell healthy but tasteless food to her customers, begin to launch a secret underground chocolate factory to bootleg the sweets.

But of course the factory is uncovered, and their fate, along with that of chocolate itself, does not look good.

The British author said he came up with the idea of banning chocolate from the world when he saw his wife trying to make their children eat vegetables.

He explains how he thought it might be a thing like American Prohibition, the ban of alcohol in1920-33. Then the two ideas just sort of came together.

He also mentioned that is was also around the same time when Tony Blair was in power in the UK government, and in a way he was becoming more concerned with the life of people, like a nanny state. It seemed like it was ‘You have to eat well, not drink….’

Through the book, the author wanted to express the idea that you really cannot enforce a law people don’t like, which is why Prohibition failed.

The novel is aimed at reader’s who are 8- to 12-year-old boys in the English-speaking world.

However, in Japan, a comic version by manga artist Aiji Yamakawa was carried in the monthly girls’ magazine Margaret, published by Shueisha Inc, in two instalments a year ago, in line with the production of the film.

The comic shows the characters of the two boys well; a cool-headed Huntley with his strong sense of justice, and the bold and active Smudger with lots of ideas.

The visual portrayal of the boys in the film and the manga also seem to be faithful to images inspired by the book. Huntley appears to be a mild-mannered and quiet-looking boy in pictures released to the media, while Smudger is shown in a trendy outfit with earrings and ear cuffs.

But, there are always going to be some differences between a book, a comic and animation.

The animated version is a lot more futuristic than the book, especially the robotic machines which is a portrayal of the chocolate troops.
A young female character was also added to the Japanese versions as one of three protagonists. This could be to possible draw more women into the audience, as the film appears to be for slightly older, more female viewers, while the book is geared more towards boys.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Will history repeat itself?
Then
In the eighties, a Malaysian beauty queen had pictures of her taken while she was nude by her boyfriend. Unfortunately the relationship went sour and in a fit of spite the boyfriend sent those photos to a number of different newspapers.

Thankfully at least one newspaper editor got rid of the revealing pictures. But however others did not. One of the paper’s editors did confront the father of the beauty queen with the pictures and illustrated the sequence of events through cartoons because the actual pictures could not be used. It was too ugly and too distasteful for a father to see their daughter like that.

In a result of this, the beauty queen had to step down from her position and the overall result of the entire sad, sorry episode was that the boyfriend had in fact got his revenge. He was never brought to account for his actions.

The boyfriend had successfully got his own back on the girl, with help from the press whose only motives were to increase their readership. The newspaper which broke the story did not even mention the boyfriend name, which had quite obviously caused a great deal of hurt and agony to the beauty queen by blatantly violating her personal privacy.

Now
Elizabeth Wong, Selangor state executive councillor and assemblywoman is in a similar situation now. In her case, the pictures are believed to have been taken by a former boyfriend without her consent.

The person who released the photos to selected media venues has achieved his objective, whatever his motives were for doing so. Wong has been embarrassed and harassed by the public and she has finally offered to step down from her position as both executive councillor and assemblywoman.

The Papers
There is always a problem for the papers whenever a thing such as privacy violation happens. If it is purely a personal matter with no repercussions on others, are the papers to keep these things out of the press and away from the public eye, but how can we be sure that it won’t appear somewhere on the internet.

Sadly, once the news is released there is no point blaming and bad mouthing the newspapers. The public has a desired instinct to know about celebrity gossip and their faults. The papers are merely competing with readers and if one paper runs a story and the other does not, they run the risk of losing their consumers.

The papers have an obligation to report what happens after an event and how the certain public figure responds and acts to the unfolding event which may have caused them stress. They must also include the reactions of those around the person in the situation.

Despite everything we say about the right to privacy and our public position that Wong did no wrong, it would still be hypocritical if those concerned still insisted that she pay the price with her resignation.

Let’s look at the facts and admit that for the vast majority of us human beings, there are boyfriends, girlfriends, partners and intimate moments that are private.

However, if a partner does choose to violate that privacy for any reason, the other party can not possibly be blamed. The blame must lie with the person who broke the trust in the first place. As human beings in a society where the above rule is believed, Wong’s resignation should then be rejected. We would all be hypocrites if we hold her responsible for being a trust worthy person.

No matter which way the story turns out, the person who took and then gave the pictures to the media must be questioned. And for both cases, it does not take a genius to figure out who those people were.

In the eighties, the beauty queen’s boyfriend got off scot-free for perpetrating what was essentially a sordid crime. Let’s just hope that history does not repeat itself again in 2009.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
Vietnamese Children Suffer Malnutrition
A report states that more than 32.6 percent of children in Vietnam are malnourished, stunted and underweight. This makes the country one of the world’s 20 worst performers in child nutrition.

The Ministry of Health’s National Institute of Nutrition reported that malnutrition in children is most common in Tay Nguyen, especially in the north western areas and the northern part of the central area.

Deputy Minister Tran Chi Liem explained at national conference on nutrition, which was held on February 16 in Ha Noi, that nutrition improvement activities had been underway since last year and had reduced the rate of malnutrition in children by one percentage point over the previous year.

However, he also mentioned that the programme had been delayed by the economic downturn and the outbreak of epidemics. He also asked the conference members to focus the discussions on how to solve the current nutrition problem.

Truong Hong Son, the secretary of the Child Malnutrition Prevention Programme told the Vietnam News that the program this year targets the increasing breastfeeding rate in the babies’ first six months by five percent and the number of mothers having proper knowledge of nutrition by ten percent.

Son also mentioned that a target had been set to reduce underweight by 1.1 percent and stunting by 1.3 percent.

The ministry has planned to keep strengthening public communication, education and the care of pregnant women. Also included will be nutrition recovery activities and supplement nutrition for pregnant women.

Other plans in the program include providing vitamin A for children from six months old to five years old and worming for children aged two to five who are living in targeted areas.

Nguyen Cong Khan, the director of the National Institute of Nutrition said Vietnam has made fast and sustainable progress in reducing the malnutrition rate in recent years.

He also explained how the growth-stunting rate will been reduced to under 10 percent within 15-20 years. However, in the short term, he does hope that Vietnam can reduce the underweight rate to be below 15 per cent by 2015.

Written by:
Amber Butler-Davis

Edited by: James M. Kelly
The Discovery channel is ready to produce a documentary about the rising stock of Korean pop culture. Asian’s superstar Rain (Bi) will be featured in the documentary. The Hip Korea programme will be focusing on the entertainer’s significance as a representative for Korean pop on the world stage.

A J. Tune Entertainment representative explained to the Korean Herald how Rain is the leader and face of Korean entertainment so therefore, he will be introduced and featured as the program’s main subject and will be described as an entertainer who was successful as a result of the nation’s growth as a pop cultural hub in the Asian region.

J. Tune is an entertainment and media company which was formed by Rain after with much support from his under singer, songwriter and producer Park Jin-young, the founder of JYP Entertainment.

The documentary began being broadcasted on Saturday January 1 in Oceania and is set to go to air in Asia on February 23.

For six months, the Discovery Channel’s production crew followed the singer, actor and entertainment mogul everywhere, so they could document his every move. Candid moments can be seen, including Rain commiserating with presenter and comedian Kim Jae-dong. But there is also emotional footage for example when he visits a mausoleum where his late mother now rests in peace.

A number of interviews were also conducted; some interviewees include Steven Colbert of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, the Wachowski Brothers and Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon.

The Colbert Report, a satirical television programme in the United States, is hugely popular for skewing political talking heads.

Rain’s connection to Steven Colbert and the show began over two years ago when a segment playfully made fun of the singer. Colbert declared him his arch-nemesis for finishing higher than Colbert on TIME’s list of the ’100 Most Influential People’.

The comical fight came to an end when Rain appeared as a surprise guest on the show nearly a year after the comment was made. The nation watched Rain and Colbert compete in a mocked up dance competition, this appearance boosted Rain’s exposure to the American public.
The Wachowski Brothers, best known for The Matrix films, directed last year’s Speed Racer, in which Rain appeared and Sarandon starred.

After a lengthy break from the domestic entertainment scene, Rain then returned to Korea late last year to promote his fifth studio album Rainism. Before that, he had filmed Ninja Assassin, a film which was developed specifically for him by the Wachowski Brothers.