'Give the money to us'

Who gets the $2.5-million federal payout announced this week for Chinese Canadians? JAN WONG reports on a taxing question

By JAN WONG
Saturday, November 26, 2005 Page M2

What would Grandpa Wong think?

Last week, the National Congress of Chinese Canadians thought it had a good news story. In the wake of similar federal agreements with the Italian and Ukrainian communities, the congress triumphantly announced it had beaten out two other Toronto-based organizations to negotiate a $12.5-million payout from Ottawa for the head tax once levied on Chinese immigrants when they entered the country.

But then reporters began asking awkward questions. Why did the deal exclude an apology? Why was there no compensation to those who paid the head tax? And why, on the eve of a federal election, was so much money going to a single organization that sent out squads of volunteers to campaign for a Liberal candidate running in Toronto's Chinatown in the last election?

Ping Tan, a Toronto lawyer who heads the NCCC, started getting tetchy. He publicly scolded Linda Tse, a Fairchild Television correspondent, when she asked several pointed questions at his press conference. "You don't ask questions like that," he snapped.

Toronto First Radio, a Chinese-language station with a popular suppertime call-in show, never got invited to the press conference in the first place.

No wonder. A few weeks earlier, the host of the show, Simon Li, had posed this loaded question to listeners: Do you think this is a sponsorship scandal in the Chinese-Canadian community? "A majority of callers said the only difference is it is taking place in the Chinese community, not Quebec," says Mr. Li, 25.

One major difference is that no one is suggesting that any criminal conduct has occurred. It's a harsh comment, meant to reflect concerns about Liberals favouring their supporters, but it demonstrates how divisive the issue of head-tax redress has become among Chinese Canadians.

Further complicating matters, the government, which could fall as early as Monday, this week downplayed any suggestion of a done deal with the NCCC. A spokesman for Raymond Chan, multiculturalism minister, said on Tuesday that his department was merely "reviewing" the application from the organization.

But on Thursday, Mr. Chan did sign an agreement in principle with Mr. Tan -- for just $2.5-million. And a multiculturalism program under his purview provided Mr. Tan's group with a $100,000 grant for airfare, hotels and meals for a national conference this weekend in Vancouver to discuss how to spend the money.

So far, Mr. Tan says, the group has no specific plans for the payout money. But one thing is certain: It won't be used to compensate the families of Chinese Canadians who paid the tax, in compliance with the government's stipulation that no individual redress payments be made.

Officials with Mr. Chan's office, who say that the NCCC is the only organization that actually applied for redress money, issued a press release that included a list of dozens of community groups that support the deal. But one organization listed -- a Chinese-Canadian veterans group called Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada -- disassociated itself from the congress, specifying it wants an apology as part of the government's settlement.

Another group listed is, in fact, one of the toughest critics of the deal -- the Chinese Canadian National Council, which has lobbied since 1984 for direct head-tax redress. "We want something for the head-tax payers and their families," said Victor Wong, executive director, whose group didn't apply for the federal money because it disagreed with the government's conditions. He says the council plans to file an injunction to stop the payment to the Congress, and stage protests today in Chinatowns in Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver, where Prime Minister Paul Martin is expected to meet with Mr. Tan and other congress officials.

Mr. Tan hopes his organization will eventually see even more money. "This is the initial funding," he says. "We have an agreement to negotiate for more."

In this pre-election flurry of feel-good largesse, the federal government bypassed the one group formed to represent the victims, the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families. The group has signed up 4,000 payers and their families since the 1980s. It estimates that only a few hundred head-tax payers, at most, are still alive.

Like the callers to Mr. Li's radio show, the head-tax coalition alleges that another Liberal scandal is in the making. "They will transfer $12.5-million of taxpayers' money to political cronies," Susan Eng, the coalition's co-chair, said at a press conference last week before the lower amount became public.

Pressed at the time for specifics about cronyism, Ms. Eng came up short. But at Mr. Chan's Liberal nomination meeting last Sunday in Richmond, B.C., congress members and officials packed the hall, including many who didn't live in the riding, according to several witnesses.

So what would Grandpa Wong make of all this? He and other family members of mine paid a total of $1,300 -- about $23,600 in 2005 dollars, according to the Bank of Canada inflation calculator -- to enter Canada. Grandpa Wong and my grandmother each paid $500 in 1915. My other grandmother, who arrived in 1902, paid a lower head tax, $100, as did her stepson and daughter-in-law. Her husband, Grandpa Chong, arrived in 1881, before Ottawa dreamed up the tax. One of about 9,000 coolies recruited to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, he paid a different tax -- after the last spike was driven in -- to stay in Canada and find a new job. But that's another story.

Canada discriminated against aboriginals, Japanese, Germans, Italians and Ukrainians, to mention just a few. The government devised regulations to keep out Africans, Indians, Jews and a host of other non-Aryan types. But only the Chinese were singled out for a punitive admission fee -- and issued receipts. From 1885 to 1923, more than 82,000 Chinese immigrants to Canada paid an estimated $23-million to the government. (In 1923, the head tax was replaced by the Chinese Immigration Act, the Orwellian name for a law that barred virtually all Chinese immigration until its repeal in 1947.)

My grandparents might have had a claim for redress, but they died decades ago. Even if I wanted repayment of their $23,600, it would probably work out to the price of three Starbucks lattes by the time I finished divvying it up with my zillions of cousins, second cousins, their children, and their children. The rest would go to lawyers and accountants -- oh, wait; we have a dozen of those in the family, too. The point is, we're all here and flourishing; thank you, Canada. But I can't and shouldn't speak for others.

Jack Chong, a retired postal sorter, has kept his father's $500 head-tax receipt, dated April 9, 1914, and numbered 87126.

"We want the government to say they were wrong, to apologize," said Mr. Chong, 73. "Why don't they give the money to us? Instead, they throw the money to the Congress."

For 91 years, Har Ying Lee's family has also kept her father's head-tax certificate. Mrs. Lee, 69, said her father worked as a laundryman, briefly returning home to marry and start a family.

The Chinese Immigration Act forced him to leave them behind when he came back to Canada. Mrs. Lee said her father saw her once when she was an infant, and not again until she was 22 and had arrived as a bride in Canada. "My mother is still alive. She's 97," said Mrs. Lee. "My father told me it took him so long to come up with the head-tax money that he hoped my mother would have a long life to get the money back. She wants the head-tax money back. We need direct compensation from the government."

George Lau, a thin, energetic man, is a co-chair of the Ontario coalition of head-tax payers. His father paid the head tax in 1924. Now, at 74, Mr. Lau fears time is running out for redress. He points out that Mr. Tan came to Canada from Malaysia as a student in 1968, after the era of the head tax. "They were not impacted," said Mr. Lau, speaking of people like Mr. Tan. "They shouldn't be given sole responsibility for handling this money."

Jackie Chan urges Asians to unite, fight Hollywood

NEW DELHI (AP) - Action star Jackie Chan has a message for Asia's film industry: unite against U.S. movies or risk losing your culture. Chan has starred in a string of Hollywood blockbusters, including Rush Hour and its sequel and plans to start shooting Rush Hour 3 soon.

But he told the Times of India newspaper such movies erode the culture of Asian countries, saying: "Asians should unite against American cinema."

"Why do we need to ape their culture," Chan was reported saying.

"I see an Indian saying 'Yo Man!' but that's not what Asians are about."

India, like Hong Kong, has its own thriving film industry, known as Bollywood. While U.S. movies are shown in Indian cinemas, Hindi movies dominate the big screens on the subcontinent.

"Cinema reflects culture and there is no harm in adapting technology but not at the cost of losing your originality," Chan said.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Asian American entertainers find demand for their talent overseas very rewarding

Despite looks and talent, many fail to kick-start careers in U.S.
- Vanessa Hua, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, November 27, 2005

Allan Wu had a choice: He could audition for bit parts in Hollywood and act in stereotypical roles of a nerdy Asian, gangster or kung fu fighter.

Or he could gamble on building a bigger career in Asia -- even though he spoke limited Chinese as a California native. Today, he stars in two television dramas in Singapore and he has appeared in scores of movies and television shows and commercials across Asia.

"I had to make a sacrifice to come out to a new country and possibly be nothing," said Wu, 33, a UC Berkeley graduate who worked at Chiron, an Emeryville biotechnology firm, before going to Asia in 1998.

"You come to Asia and realize there's a huge market," Wu said by telephone from Singapore. "They need heroes."

Wu is one of dozens of Asian American entertainers finding success overseas, in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, China and the United Kingdom. Despite their looks and talent, many who tried to launch careers in the United States foundered. But some have managed to find success in the East and the West.

Daniel Wu, 31, is a Hong Kong movie star who grew up in Orinda. Pop singer Coco Lee, 30, was born in Hong Kong but raised in San Francisco. Megastar Sally Yeh, 44, splits her time between Hong Kong and the Bay Area. South Asian performers Mira Veda and Bohemia are hits in the United Kingdom, and the R&B group 6th Day toured the Philippines in September.

In Asia, the appeal of such performers is that they deliver American culture with an accessible look and language.

Yeh was 17 when she was discovered in the mid-1970s. The Canadian resident was on vacation in Taiwan when a producer saw her at a fried chicken restaurant and asked if she wanted to be in a movie.

For a while, Yeh says, she was probably the only English-speaking Chinese in the Asian entertainment industry. Standing a foot taller than many other performers, she was perceived as "interesting."

Yeh went on to release more than 30 albums in Cantonese, Mandarin and English and star in movies.

"I had a lot of American character in me -- which was very open dialogue, not afraid to do or say this or that -- at a time when everyone was still very traditional and introverted," Yeh wrote in an e-mail interview.

But in the United States, many Asian performers face an entertainment industry perception that American audiences will not embrace Asian talent. Only a few have achieved stardom on this continent.

"The entertainment business is one of the last entities that doesn't have any rules against racism," said singer Andrey Silva of 6th Day, who lives in Fremont. "It's based on what you look like."

Previously, he performed with another Asian American group, Kai, whose "Say You'll Stay" peaked at No. 59 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart.

Silva, 28, says American recording executives tell him they like his music but suggest he bring in white or black singers because there is no Asian R&B niche. The group's latest video features 6th Day singing on stage and being replaced one by one with poorly lip-syncing black and white performers.

"We are proud of who we are. We don't see it as a downfall, being Asian. You know it's something for us to go through, to be pioneers," said Silva, who compared his experience to those of African American musicians working for Motown. While some South Asian performers say they have made big gains in the United Kingdom, they still are struggling to find their way in U.S. markets.

"In England, we've been there a lot longer," said Anjula Bath, executive producer of Desihitsradio.com in San Francisco, which broadcasts South Asian music. Bath, a British native, founded the site with her husband to promote South Asian music here. She notes that such high-profile American artists as Jay-Z and Black Eyed Peas have borrowed from Indian songs. "We've pushed Indian music into the mainstream," she said.

Bohemia, a Punjabi rapper, has also hit the airwaves in Britain. The BBC even sent a film crew to the United States to do a segment on him.

"I get great respect overseas. There are stores and racks and aisles for desi music," said the 26-year-old Bohemia, who emigrated to the Bay Area as a teenager from Pakistan. "Here, I'm in Amoeba music, but it's in the world music section. I'm not making world music. It's real mainstream music."

His next album, "Pesa Nasha Pyar," which translates into "money drugs love," will be released in the United Kingdom and India early next year. His publicist, Pooja Jain, hopes acceptance here will follow because Americans sometimes adopt music trends from the United Kingdom and India.

Mira Veda, for one, feels that Asian Americans will follow Latino performers, who struggled a long time before crossing over.

"We have to set the foundation for it," said Veda, 29, a San Francisco resident who has enjoyed success in the United Kingdom. "We have just as much to say as anyone else. Everyone here is a foreigner. No one owns this country. It has to represent all that exists here."

Anni Lam, a talent agent in Houston, fields many inquiries from people who want to start careers in Asia. She specializes in "crisscrossing" entertainers, bringing them from Asia to perform in the United States, and bringing U.S. artists to Asia.

American entertainers who head overseas can be in for a culture shock, Lam said. In Asia, fans idolize stars and have extreme emotional attachments. And Asian record labels and movie houses may tell artists whom they're allowed to date or how to conduct their personal lives, Lam said.

"You can rise very fast and fade very fast," she said. "In Asia, it's a lot more political. A lot more personal relationships are involved. People do things because they know somebody. That's the culture."

Wu began his acting career when he flew to Hong Kong on a $100 courier ticket, picked up modeling gigs and took a side trip to Taiwan, where he landed a job as a VJ on MTV Taiwan.

After a year in Taiwan, he worked to break into films in Hong Kong, where he had to network in a language he did not speak well, Cantonese. After studying with private tutors, Wu now speaks Mandarin and Cantonese but still has the twang of an ABC -- "American-born Chinese."

In 2001, he wound up in Singapore, hosting a local version of "American Idol" before going on to greater fame.

"Singapore is much smaller, with a market of 4 million, so the earnings are going to be smaller," Wu said. "But here, it's like being a big fish in a small pond. It's very comfortable and safe."

Decades ago, Wu's parents made the reverse migration. Born in China, they grew up in Taiwan and then immigrated to California.

At first, they were apprehensive at his career shift. He sent back photo shoots, articles and tapes of his work to validate his decision.

"I'm pretty sure they're proud," he said, "though they would never say it themselves."

There are still so many more opportunities for him in Asia, said Wu, who married a Singaporean actress and has a toddler daughter. He's eager to break into the rapidly expanding mainland Chinese entertainment industry, though he plans to return to the United States someday.

"I'd like to stay in entertainment," he said, "maybe go behind the camera, directing and producing -- which I can learn out here, too."

E-mail Vanessa Hua at vahua@sfchronicle.com.

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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/27/MNGH0FU3OB1.DTL

A Christmas Cocktail Mixer

Hosted by, NAAAP Toronto & MetroActive
Friday, December 2, 2005; 6:30 p.m.

The Albany Club,
Sir John A. MacDonald Room
91 King Street East, (King subway)
Toronto, Ontario M5C 1G3

Tel: (416) 364-5471
Fax: (416) 364-3075
Website: www.albanyclub.ca

Pre-Registration: $16.05
At the Door: $21.40
(Includes GST)

Celebrate a joyous 2005 Christmas season with your professional community at one of Canada's oldest private clubs. The evening will have entertainment and hors d'oeuvres with a cash bar. This is a cocktail gathering for an evening of socializing, networking and holiday celebration. Savour complimentary hors-d'oeuvres and indulge in a cash bar while experiencing elegance and history. Don't miss this great opportunity to touch base with old acquaintances and to make great new connections with some of Toronto's leading business professionals. By the way, Rudolph dropped by to tell us that Santa Claus will be visiting once again with some of his elves. Dress for the season, come with your bells and whistles to join in the fun and frolic!

Pre-registration RSVP is required to guarantee entry as space is limited. So, if you want to meet Santa and the Elves, let us know you're coming by Thursday, December 1st; 5:00 pm. before he jumps on his sleigh. Register online at www.naaaptoronto.org or via email to rsvp@naaaptoronto.org.

NAAAP Toronto's signature monthly Business Mixers are designed to be your professional community forum, enjoy lively conversation, mix and mingle, build new contacts and get re-acquainted with old ones at some of Toronto's most popular
evening hot spots.

About MetroActive (www.metroactive.org)

Indonesian Community Association of BC

Persatuan Masyarakat Indonesia di British Columbia
HOLIDAY BAZAAR & SILENT AUCTIONS

WHEN:
Saturday, December 3, 2005
2:00 - 7:00PM

WHERE:
St. Frances de Sales Parish
Main Hall—School Gym
6610 Balmoral Street - Burnaby
2 blocks North of Kingsway on Sperling

THE EVENTS:
PERMAI BC are pleased to be holding the Silent Auction together with our 2005 Annual Holiday Bazaar. We need your donations to help make the 2005 Silent Auction a success. Donating to the Silent Auction is a great way to help us with costs, and have fun at the same time. Items from individuals, agencies or businesses are welcomed.

This is a fundraiser event for PERMAI BC. The money we raise will go directly to our programs that will directly benefit our community.

ENTERTAINMENT :
Our Indonesian friends will sing and dance and the audience could participate as well.

Poco-poco - social dance for everyeone
HFAN boyz, etc.

THE FOOD:
Plenty of delicious food and beverages from different part of Indonesia

HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE:
All contributions are welcomed :
Ethnic : Indonesian/Canadian art and craft
Small business promotions : a sample of product, services
Household items
Personal services
Plain and Practical or wild and whacky items

INFORMATION:
Explore our programs:
- Indonesian Language & Culture
- Gamelan for Children
- Javanese/Balinese Classical Dance
- Community Workshop Program
- Charitable activity for Indonesian children

We have time slots available for additional entertainment. Please email us at info@permaibc.org if you are interested in participating in this community event.

This forum is organized by PERMAI BC to foster the Indonesian community in BC.
There will be donation box available at the venue to support the continuation of other such programs. We thank you for your support.
For more info, please visit: www.permaibc.org

B.C. filmmakers warn against cutting tax credits

(CBC) - B.C. filmmakers are alarmed by a government report that recommends the province cut millions of dollars in tax credits for the film industry.

Earlier this year several movie producers threatened to leave the province if the government didn't match tax breaks offered by Ontario.

The government did, but the findings of a report by InterVistas Consulting suggest it may be paying too much to have movies made in B.C. It recommends cutting tax credits, and forcing the industry to become more competitive on its own.

That would be bad news for B.C.'s booming film industry, says Peter Leitch, chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of British Columbia.

"If the tax credits were eliminated we would see a dramatic decrease in production immediately and an erosion of infrastructure shortly thereafter. It's that sensitive, the industry, and there's no doubt in my mind that that would happen and that was confirmed by discussions that our members had with major studios in the U.S.," he said in an interview with CBC Radio.

The film industry has built infrastructure over the past seven years, but it needs government help to stay healthy, Leitch says.

The government is believed to be considering reforming its tax credit system in light of the report, which acknowledges the film and TV industries are important generators of jobs and bring in $120 million in tax revenue annually.

Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen says he recognizes the value of the film industry to the B.C. economy, but he questions whether tax credits for producers can continue at the current level.

"They can't simply come to government and expect government to enhance tax credits as a way to ensure that they continue to be competitive with other jurisdictions," he said.

The higher tax credits have attracted more production spending this year, the report says. "X-3, "the third movie in the big budget "X-Men" series is now being shot in Vancouver and U.S. studios spent considerably more in B.C. this summer.

The higher tax credits accounted for an increase of $17 million in tax revenues from the film industry, but they've cost the government $38.25 million in forgone tax income from producers, the report says.

The report estimates the government would lose only 15 per cent of local production, valued at about $192 million, if it eliminated the tax credits.

But it warns the government the industry could overreact to the changes and pull out wholesale.

"The industry response from decision centres in Los Angeles and New York and elsewhere may be to drastically cut production in B.C. in order to punish the province. This action would serve as a warning to other jurisdictions about the implications of removing film/TV production credits," the report says.

Stop the Secret Head Tax Deal! Sign the Petition!

http://www.headtaxredress.org/

The Government's actions to date have been to silence and ignore head tax families and groups representing them who refuse to accept the Government's preset conditions of "no apology, no compensation" for 62 years of legislated racism.



Top priority is the Campaign to Stop the Secret Head Tax Deal in which the Liberal Government is poised to announce the awarding of $12.5 million dollars to the National Congress of Chinese Canadians.

Help stop another "sponsorship scandal" before it begins.

Japanese, Chinese Angry Over 'Geisha' Casting

Although it features an almost entirely Asian cast, Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha has evoked anger and calls for a boycott among some of those who have seen advance screenings of the film in Japan and China, Reuters reported today (Monday). According to the wire service, some Japanese are outraged that the leading roles in the film are played by Chinese actresses Ziyi Zhang and Gong Li and Chinese-Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh. On the other hand, some Chinese are upset that Chinese film stars would favorably portray Japanese, who are still remembered for their brutal occupation of China in World War II. Reuters quoted one blogger as saying of Zhang, who plays the title role: "She's sold her soul and betrayed her country. Hacking her to death would not be good enough."

Memoirs of a Geisha gets world premiere in Japan amid cultural anxiety

TOKYO (AP) - The film version of the bestselling American novel Memoirs of a Geisha will have its world premiere in Tokyo on Tuesday, with the director acknowledging concern in Japan about how the traditional courtesans are portrayed in his film.
"I think there are many misperceptions about what geisha are, especially in the West," said director Rob Marshall (Chicago). "I hope this film helps to clear that up."

Actress Michelle Yeoh told a press conference that, "We tried really hard to get things right, to honour and respect the tradition of the geisha."

Set to open on Dec. 9 in the United States and Dec. 10 in Japan, the joint U.S.-Japan production is based on the novel of the same name by Arthur Golden. The book spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and sold more than four million copies in English.

The book's popularity only added to the challenge for the film's makers. "It was very scary to take on a novel that was so loved by so many," Marshall said.

The cast is headed by Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), who plays Sayuri, the geisha of the title, and Japanese actor Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) in the role of the Chairman, her secret lifelong love interest.

The pair were on hand Monday, along with Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Knows) and Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?). Three Japanese actors who played the other major female parts - Kaori Momoi, Youki Kudoh, and Suzuka Ohgo as the young Sayuri - also participated.

The story chronicles a young girl's rise from poverty in a Japanese fishing village to life in high society. A geisha is a woman schooled in the art of dance, singing and conversation to be a companion for wealthy men.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Parents can control new generation video games

(CBC) - The new generation of video game consoles, to be released this year and in 2006, will all have parental control mechanisms.

Parental controls allow parents to restrict access to games they consider too violent or inappropriate for their children.

Sony Corp. has become the latest of the video game console makers to announce parental control on its Playstation 3, according to the Entertainment Software Association. Playstation 3 will be released in 2006.

Microsoft Corp. had already placed parental controls in its new Xbox 360, which debuted last week.

Parents can restrict access to video games and DVDs that carry certain ratings, such as "T" for "teen" or "M" for "mature." Parents can also control access to live online gaming, limiting who their children can interact with.

Earlier this month, Nintendo Inc. announced similar plans for its next-generation machine, Revolution, due out in 2006.

The ESA pointed out that there are already controls on some software or games.

The industry has been under scrutiny because of graphic violence and sexual content in some games. It is hoping to head off legislation that would limit how video games could be sold.

"With the average age of game players now 30, our industry naturally creates content appropriate for a wide range of audiences, just as there are TV shows, films, music and books for people of all tastes, interests and values," said Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association.

"In a culture where raising kids is a challenge, video game parental control technology gives power to the parents."

Chinese coal mine explosion kills 134

(CBC) - At least 134 miners were killed and another 15 were missing in an explosion in a coal mine in northeast China on Monday.

A 269-member rescue team was on site at the Dongfeng coal mine in Qitaihe, a city in Heilongjiang province. About 221 miners were underground at the time.

The explosion was caused by coal dust that ignited.

Rescuers have been told to "spare no efforts" to save the men, according to the Minister of the State Administration of Work Safety.

China's coal mines are the world's deadliest. According to official figures, close to 2,700 miners have been killed in just the first half of this year

Fires, floods, cave-ins and explosions are reported almost daily, and thousands of miners are killed every year because of lax safety rules and poor equipment.

The government has tried to improve its safety record, but efforts to shut down dangerous mines have been complicated by the country's soaring demands for power to drive its booming economy.

Asia-Pacific steps up preparedness efforts against bird flu

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - China's financial hub Shanghai on Monday started screening international passengers for bird flu amid global fears that the virus could mutate into a more powerful form. Acknowledging that separation from Asia by thousands of kilometres of sea offers little protection, Australia and New Zealand also took steps to ward off a bird flu disaster.

At least 68 people have died from bird flu since it emerged in Asia in 2003 - nearly two-thirds of them in Vietnam, according to the World Health Organization.

So far, most human cases of the disease have been traced to contact with infected birds. But experts fear a human flu pandemic if the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus mutates into a form that passes easily between people.

The Shanghai city government announced new rules Monday, requiring all passengers leaving or entering the Pudong International Airport to declare if they had close contact with poultry, birds, bird flu patients or suspected cases over the past week.

They will also be screened with an infrared camera for high temperatures, and must declare coughing, fever or shortness of breath. People with temperatures over 38 C will be further examined, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

China, which has the world's most chickens, has called bird flu a "serious epidemic." It has reported 22 outbreaks among poultry so far, and three confirmed human cases of bird flu. Two of them died and one recovered.

In Vietnam on Sunday, about 900 people - including military, police, and health and agricultural officials - ran through a scenario in which throngs of people were falling ill and dying because the H5N1 virus had mutated.

Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien said the 2 1/2-hour drill served as a valuable lesson that showed the country's strengths and weaknesses.

Australia is to hold a similar exercise this week, while other countries are planning simulations to assess how well different government and civil agencies work together.

On Sunday, India's top drug manufacturer, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., said it was making progress in its talks with Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG to make a generic version of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, which taken within 48 hours of the onset of flu symptoms makes the illness less severe.

The drug is in short supply as countries around the world try to stockpile it in case there is a human pandemic.

Among those stockpiling is New Zealand, which has more than 850,000 doses of Tamiflu - enough to treat about 20 per cent of the population in a major flu outbreak. Health experts there say the country should develop a bird flu vaccine in case a worldwide pandemic breaks out.

No vaccine is ready yet for commercial production anywhere in the world although many countries are in the development stage.

Meanwhile, authorities in Malaysia's Sarawak state seized and killed hundreds of fighting cocks that had been illegally smuggled over the border from Indonesia's Kalimantan state, enforcing a two-month-old statewide import ban, according to the Star newspaper.

Sarawak's Deputy Chief Minister George Chan said no cases of bird flu have been found Malaysia, in humans or poultry.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

2010 Olympics official warns of rising costs

(CBC) - A construction boom in British Columbia's Lower Mainland could significantly increase building costs for the Vancouver 2010 Games, according to the head of the Olympics organizing committee.

In a year-end review of venue construction, John Furlong said construction costs for the Olympics are running 40 to 50 per cent above what had been anticipated.

He said growing competition for trades people and materials is putting pressure on the budget. "This obviously creates great challenges, and our worry going forward is labour availability (and) cost escalations."

Speaking to the Vancouver Board of Trade, Furlong also expressed concern about the impact of inflation. He noted that the original bid was put together based on 2002 dollars - and that by the time construction wraps up, the venues will have been paid for in 2007 dollars.

After his presentation, Furlong raised the possibility he'll have to ask the provincial government for more money to pay for the 2010 Games.

"What we would really like to do is have a dialogue about having the dollars that we were committed to, the value of that money protected all the way to 2007. I think that's a reasonable position for us to have, because we weren't building the project in 2002."

Furlong said the organizing committee is taking measures to rein in costs, and that $85 million has already been cut from the budget.

China apologizes over toxic river spill

(CBC) - China has apologized to Moscow for an 80-kilometre-long spill of toxic chemicals, expected to flow down the Songhau River into eastern Russia within days.

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing issued the rare public apology to Russian Ambassador Sergei Razov on Saturday, offering Beijing's "profound apologies" for the environmental damages likely to occur.

The apology was reported not only in the Russian media, but also on the national evening news broadcast on China's state television network, which usually only reports positive news about foreign relations.

Earlier in the day, Premier Wen Jiabao promised an open investigation into the leak of 100 tonnes of benzene, a highly toxic and flammable chemical that has been linked to cancer.

It flooded into the river when a chemical plant blew up in the city of Jilin in northeastern China on Nov. 13. The explosion killed five people and forced 10,000 others to flee but local authorities didn't announce the benzene leak until a week later.

Harbin's vow of government transparency came as he visited the city of Harbin, whose 3.8 million residents have been struggling since officials turned off the water supply system on Wednesday.

Authorities rushed in massive of bottled water and dug nearly 100 new wells to help them survive.

Officials said the water supply in Harbin would likely resume flowing late Sunday night.

Wen promised to punish any officials who are found to have been responsible in the disaster or who are deemed to have acted too slowly after the explosion.

The slick is expected to continue floating along the Songhua and into neighbouring Russia by means of the Amur River.

Several riverside towns and cities in Russia are on alert, including the city of Khabarovsk, located about 700 kilometres from Harbin.

Russians are stocking up on mineral water and officials are digging emergency wells in case the benzene is still dangerous by the time it arrives, in about two weeks.

Ginseng native to North America, too

(Black Press) - Though we usually associate ginseng with China (where it was thought to have been used medicinally since prehistoric times) it is also a native to temperate America.

Evolutionary botanists are curious as to how ginseng came to grow on opposite sides of the earth. There is deliberation the plants might have been separated when the continents split apart, something to ponder over a cup of ginseng tea.

There are many purported miraculous qualities associated with this strange knobby root. The ancient Chinese had their own "Doctrine of Signatures" (the belief that a plant's appearance would identify what medicinal use it might have).

In this case the root looks like a human body. This phenomenon is probably a result of ginseng's growing habits. The stem of this rather non-descript plant (though it does have glossy green leaves) grows from a bud at the top of the root. It takes years for this bud to grow above ground because as it grows the root shrinks, sometimes a comparable amount.

This concurrent growing and shrinking results in wrinkles around the root neck. Like rings in a tree, these wrinkles can be counted to find out how old the herb is. Wrinkle counts go up to 400 years.

As you might have guessed from this description of root growth, this is not a quick growing plant. Neither is it at all easy to grow.

Yes, it is native in Canada, but that's in Manitoba and Quebec, and in the U.S. through Alabama to Oklahoma, south to Florida. Seeds can't just be sown, they need to have a cold period of at least four months.

Naturally growing in the woods, ginseng seeds need dappled shade and a soil high in pH, between five and 6.5. In winter they need leaf mulch and good drainage is an absolute must. It will take anywhere from five to seven years to grow a root of marketable size.

When you think these herbs can live to be 400 years old they're comparatively fast sprouters, but in our time it's a long wait. Seeds are very expensive and hard to find.

Since ancient times, ginseng has been supposed to bring a long and healthy life to its users. There is also a belief it increases physical and mental abilities. None of these claims have been scientifically proven beyond a doubt. There are three types of the plant, the two true are Panax ginseng (China, Korea, Japan) and Panax quinquefolis (North America). The third, is Siberian ginseng, Eleutherocoues senticosus, which is in the same family but not the same genus, although it shares biochemical properties. Scientists in Russia are convinced of this root's abilities and it is part of their Olympic athletes' and cosmonauts' diets.

Interestingly enough, Americans have been exporting ginseng to China since the early 1700s. The peak for this export was in 1824 when over 750,000 pounds were recorded to have gone the long route to China.

Don't treat yourself with this root. Teas are available at the health food stores, but read labels carefully to make sure the teas actually contain ginseng.

Trivia: Ginseng was a source of income to Daniel Boone, who sold it to a company based in Philadelphia.

Superstition: Folklore says that at night ginseng plants begin to glow and then they mysteriously rise out of the ground and flit around the forest.

Indian tycoon may have set new hot-air balloon record

(CBC) - It's one time Vijaypat Singhania didn't mind being linked with hot air - the Indian millionaire was credited Saturday with setting a world record for the highest flight in a hot-air balloon.

Singhania's 44-tonne balloon soared from downtown Bombay to barren land near Panchale, about 241 kilometres south.

"When I broke the record, I was euphoric. I screamed quite loudly," said Singhania, who touched down to the screams of jubilant villagers in Panchale.

Gautam Singhania said his dad's balloon climbed nearly 21,300 metres, beating the mark of 19,811 metres for the highest flight in a hot-air balloon. The record, however, is still subject to verification.

"This goes to show to the world that we are not bullock cart drivers, but we can compete against the best of the world," said the 67-year-old balloonist, a retired textiles businessman.

Singhania landed safely after a nearly five-hour flight inside a pressurized cabin suspended from the 49-metre-high, multicoloured balloon.

The flight was aired on Indian national television.

One of the balloon's designers said the height will be determined by instruments sealed inside the capsule. Once verified by aeronautical groups, the findings will be submitted to Guinness World Records.

The world record is currently held by Sweden's Per Lindstrand, who set the standard in Plano, Texas, in June 1988.

Consumers' Association urges ban on some fish products from China, Vietnam

OTTAWA (CP) - Canadians are buying contaminated fish from China and Vietnam, the Consumers' Association of Canada says. Citing the use of a dangerous fungicide on fish farms, the association wants the federal government to ban the importing of certain fish products from those two Asian countries.

"A cancer-causing banned fungicide, Malachite Green, is being used by fish farmers in some Asian countries, particularly Vietnam and China." Bruce Cran, president of the association, said Friday in a release.

"Independent labs tests of these fish purchased at Canadian supermarkets have shown that consumers are being sold these contaminated fish."

In tests done this year by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 43 per cent of farmed fish from Vietnam were contaminated with the cancer-causing agent, the association said in a release.

"This is a stunning number," Cran said.

He said the CFIA now is testing just five fish among the thousands that come in as part of each shipment.

"If the five fish tested happen to be clean ones, the rest of the shipment has then been approved for sale, even though it can be full of contaminated fish," Cran said.

"That's what happened recently when these fish from an approved shipment were purchased at a British Columbia supermarket. These shipments went through the CFIA inspection process, were approved, then sold to consumers even though they were contaminated. This is not acceptable."

Cran said the CFIA has not publicly advised Canadian consumers about the contamination.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

CRTC approves six foreign-language channels

(CBC) - Canada is getting six new satellite foreign-language TV channels.

The CRTC has approved digital channels in Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Urdu and Portuguese.

Two of the channels, New Tang Dynasty Television out of New York and the Phoenix North America Chinese channel, will be in Chinese. Both are mainly in Mandarin but will also carry shows in other Chinese dialects.

Phoenix North America, which will be a service of a Hong Kong-based company, provides news and entertainment from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and other Asian Pacific countries, primarily for North American audiences.

The applicants had argued that Mandarin speakers in Canada are underserved. Competitors such as Fairchild TV had lobbied against more Chinese-language channels.

More than 600 people wanted the CRTC to approve two additional channels in Portuguese.

TV Globo Internacional will target the Brazilian community. RTPi is the international version of Radiotelevisao Portuguesa, Portugal's public broadcaster. They will compete against the existing service, Festival Portuguese Television.

Channel One Russia Worldwide, out of Moscow, will have 24-hour service carrying an international version of Russia's major TV network, Channel One.

PTV-Prime USA, a family-oriented channel in Urdu, will carry diverse programming from Pakistan.

Quake leaves thousands homeless in China

(CBC) - An earthquake in eastern China has killed at least 14 people, injured more than 200 others and destroyed 8,000 homes, the country's official news agency says.

The quake measured 5.7 on the Richter scale.

It struck in Jiangxi provinces shortly before 9 a.m. local time on Saturday and was followed by two aftershocks.

Xinhua news agency reported the quake levelled about 8,000 houses and damaged more than 120,000 others in the worst-hit areas, Jiujiang and Ruicheng counties.

Officials said 14 people were killed and 250 others were injured.

About 420,000 people were forced to flee their homes, Xinhua said.

Emergency crews rushed to erect temporary shelters.

Brazilian samba, Japanese kabuki on UNESCO list of heritage masterpieces

PARIS (AP) - The UN's cultural body added dozens of regional traditions to its list of intangible heritage treasures Friday, including Brazil's samba, Turkey's whirling dervishes and a "cultural space" in a 17th-century walled Colombian village. UNESCO head Koichiro Matsuura, who announced the list of 43 traditions, said he was glad it included developing countries from Africa and elsewhere. Cultural traditions are chosen based upon their risk of disappearing, as well as their cultural value and importance to their communities.

"Despite the vitality and the strength of these cultural expressions," he said at UNESCO's Paris headquarters, "they are many that need urgent and immediate safeguarding."

The list was the third issued by the UN organization and "will probably be the last," a UNESCO statement said. Countries submitted 64 applications this year, which the agency whittled down to 43.

Samba de Roda, from Brazil's Reconcavo de Bahia, originated from slave traditions in the area. It mixes music, dance and poetry into a genre that influenced the development of the urban samba that is today a major part of the South American country's identity.

Colombia's Cultural Space of Palenque de San Basilio grew into a haven of musical and oral traditions, religious festivities and medical practices in a small village southeast of Cartagena, founded as a refuge for escaped slaves in the 17th century.

Also listed was Japanese kabuki, a highly stylized form of traditional theatre, where men play all female roles. In Turkey's whirling dervish ceremonies, skirt-wearing dancers of an ascetic Sufi religious order carry out gentle turns that build toward dynamic spins.

Other honourees included a form of ethnic Berbers' poetry from Algeria; a type of Khmer shadow theatre from Cambodia; ox-herding traditions once used by coffee-growers in Costa Rica; Guatemalan drama based on myths about wars between Mayan groups and orchestral music of Mozambique's Chopi people involving xylophone-like timbala instruments.

The list was created in 2001 to protect popular and traditional culture and now totals 90 entries. It complements UNESCO's World Heritage List of precious natural and cultural sites.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

China's premier visits waterless city; orders supply restored

HARBIN, China (AP) - Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local leaders to restore running water to the 3.8 million people of the northeastern Chinese city Harbin, who spent a fourth day Saturday without supplies after a chemical spill in the river that provides their water. The foreign minister, meanwhile, delivered an unusual public apology to Moscow for possible damage from the spill on the Songhua River, which is flowing toward a city in the Russian Far East.

Beijing's show of care and contrition was almost unprecedented and represented an effort to restore its damaged standing with both China's public and Moscow, a key diplomatic partner.

The government said benzene levels in the Songhua near Harbin were dropping. But it said running water would not resume until 11 p.m. Sunday, a full after originally planned when the shutdown occurred because of a chemical plant explosion, setting off panic-buying of bottled water in this city of 3.8 million people.

"We are a people's government. We should show a high degree of responsibility to the people," Wen told local and provincial leaders, according to the state television national news. "We cannot allow even a single person not to have water."

Wen promised to "conscientiously investigate the reasons and responsibility for the accident," the report said.

Residents stood in line in sunny but subfreezing weather to fill buckets and tea kettles with water from trucks sent by the city government and state companies. The local government has been sending out such shipments daily, and companies with their own wells have been giving away water to their neighbours.

Beijing has promised to punish officials found responsible for the disaster. Local Communist party officials and China's biggest oil company, which owns the chemical plant through a subsidiary, already have publicly apologized.

The disaster began with a Nov. 13 explosion at the plant in Jilin, a city about 195 kilometres southeast of Harbin. Five people were killed and 10,000 evacuated.

But it was only this week that Beijing announced that the blast poisoned the Songhua with about 100 tonnes of benzene. The spill is possibly the biggest ever of the chemical, a potentially cancer-causing compound used in making detergents and plastics.

The spill has been an embarrassment to President Hu Jintao's government. Hu has made a priority of repairing environmental damage from China's 25 years of sizzling economic growth and of looking after ordinary Chinese.

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing's apology to Russian Ambassador Sergei Razov was reported on the state television evening news, which is seen by hundreds of millions of Chinese.

It was an extraordinary step for the newscast, which usually carries only positive reports about China's foreign relations.

The government provided Russian officials and the UN Environment Program, which had offered cleanup help, information about the spill, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Officials in the Russian city of Khabarovsk, downstream from Harbin, have complained that China failed to tell them enough about the poison that is due to flow into Russia in about two weeks.

Earlier Saturday, Wen visited the Harbin No. 3 Water Filtration Plant, where 300 paramilitary police were delivering some of the 1,400 tonnes of activated carbon sent to the city for water filtration once the Songhua is deemed safe to use.

State television showed Wen later visiting a private home and a supermarket. He stood beside a display of bottled drinking water as an employee assured him the store had not raised the price.

Government newspapers have accused local officials of reacting too slowly to the explosion and criticized them for failing to tell the public the truth until this week.

The comments appeared to reflect a high-level effort to prod authorities in Harbin to do all they could to help the public and to warn officials elsewhere to prevent such disasters.

Chinese leaders "are paying close attention to this issue and are very concerned about it," said Li Yizhong, leader of an investigative team sent to the area from Beijing, quoted by the newspaper Guangming Daily.

Environmentalists have accused the government of failing to prepare for such a disaster and of failing to react quickly enough. They have questioned the decision to allow construction of a plant handling such dangerous materials near important water supplies.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Auto production in Japan mixed among top manufacturers in October

TOKYO (AP) - Two of Japan's top five automakers said Friday that production in Japan rose in October from a year earlier while three manufacturers reported declines.
Toyota Motor Corp., the country's largest automaker, said its production in Japan rose 0.6 per cent compared to the same month a year ago to 314,705 vehicles, the second monthly increase.

Toyota's exports climbed 2.9 per cent to 177,349 vehicles in October for the third consecutive month of rise, boosted by brisk exports to North America and Latin America.

The world's second-biggest carmaker, behind General Motors Corp., also said Friday that its global aggregate sales of Prius gas-electric cars have topped the 500,000 mark since the company started the world's first mass-produced hybrid vehicle in 1997.

About 513,000 Prius cars have been sold in eight years through this October, Toyota said.

Nissan Motor Co., the country's second-largest automaker, reported a 16.1 per cent decline in October production to 102,112 vehicles, due to slower sales of X-Trail SUV and the Cube compact car models.

Nissan said its exports rose 0.6 per cent to 59,866 vehicles last month.

Honda Motor Co. said its production in Japan fell 5.8 per cent on year to 99,304 vehicles, marking the fourth straight month of decrease. Honda said it's exports also dropped 12.7 per cent to 39,424 vehicles for a third consecutive month of declines.

Mazda Motor Corp., which is allied with Ford Motors Co., said its domestic production slipped 5.1 per cent to 71,419 - the first decrease in five months. The Hiroshima-based carmaker's sales in Japan rose 0.7 per cent to 21,169 vehicles.

Mazda's exports for October climbed 5.2 per cent to 55,262 vehicles as exports to most regions, including the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Europe, grew.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s production here rose 23.9 per cent on year to 58,658 vehicles in the latest reporting month, rising for the fifth straight month. Exports slipped 0.2 per cent to 33,185 for the Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Bird flu throughout Indonesian capital; spreads through Vietnam's poultry

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Bird flu has been detected throughout the Indonesian capital, while hard-hit Vietnam reported another outbreak as farmers there struggle to sell poultry, officials said Friday. "It is very serious," said Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono. "Based on our research, the virus has spread all over the city" of Jakarta. The findings were announced after random samples were gathered from backyard farms throughout the sprawling capital. Authorities on Friday also destroyed 400 fowl in a residential area of Jakarta near the home of a young girl who died from the disease.

Indonesia has been reluctant to carry out such mass slaughters, citing a lack of money. Affected farmers on Friday were offered some compensation, however, officials said.

The H5N1 virus has been found in 23 of Indonesia's 30 provinces and has killed seven people.

In Vietnam, the country hardest-hit by the virus, officials on Friday reported a new outbreak in southern Long An province, the Department of Animal Health said on its website.

Outbreaks have been reported in 19 other provinces throughout the Communist country since October, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than one million birds, it said.

Meanwhile, authorities were trying to coax a man suspected of having bird flu to return to the hospital after he left an isolation ward, the state-controlled Youth newspaper reported.

The patient was admitted Thursday to the General Hospital in southern Tien Giang province with a high fever and difficulty breathing, it said. He left a quarantined area to buy personal items and never returned, it said.

He was later located by authorities in his home province of Ben Tre, it said.

The man told doctors he slaughtered his sick chickens a week before falling ill, the newspaper said.

Vietnamese Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien told the lawmaking National Assembly in a televised testimony that she has asked Prime Minister Phan Van Khai to allocate 4.9 trillion dong ($310 million US) between now and the end of next year to fight bird flu.

"The fight against bird flu is very urgent," she said.

In Japan, officials announced they will spend 100 million yen ($840,000 US) to develop a bird flu vaccine prototype to help create a human vaccine if the virus mutates into a form that passes easily between people, said Tomohiko Arai, head of a government advisory panel on science.

The Japanese plan calls for faster development and approval of flu vaccines, Arai said. Currently, vaccine production requires several months of development plus safety screening before clinical use.

At least 67 people have died from bird flu in Asia since 2003, the bulk of them in Vietnam. Health experts fear the virus could mutate into a contagious form that spreads easily from person to person. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with birds.

In addition, Trinidad and Tobago halted a shipment of feathers from China on Thursday amid fears the bird flu virus could enter the Caribbean islands. The single container was being held at the port until another vessel could return it to China, officials said.

"It is unlikely that these feathers are contaminated, but we would not like even a slight chance of an outbreak here," Health Minister John Rahael said.

The two-island country's annual carnival in February is one of the most colourful in the Caribbean, with dancers in feather-clad outfits and headpieces.

Most feathers for the handmade costumes traditionally come from abroad, but carnival organizers said they now plan to explore using more local feathers.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Boy in Nepal draws crowds, with some saying he's the reincarnation of Buddha

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A teenage boy has been meditating in a Nepalese jungle for six months, and thousands of people have flocked to see him, some believing he is the reincarnation of Buddha. Ram Bahadur Banjan, 15, sits cross-legged and motionless with eyes closed among the roots of a tree in the jungle of Bara, about 160 kilometres south of the capital, Kathmandu.

He's supposedly been that way since May 17, but his followers have been keeping him from public view at night.

A reporter for the Kantipur newspaper, Sujit Mahat, said Wednesday he spent two days at the site, and that about 10,000 people are believed to visit daily.

Soldiers have been posted in the area for crowd control, officials said.

A makeshift parking lot and cluster of food stalls have sprung up near Banjan's retreat, an area not previously frequented by visitors.

Many visitors believe Banjan is a reincarnation of Gautama Siddhartha, who was born nearby around 500 BC and later became revered as the Buddha, which means Enlightened One.

Others aren't so sure.

Police Insp. Chitra Bahadur Gurung said officers have interviewed the boy's associates about their claim that Banjan has gone six months without food or drink.

Officers have not directly questioned the boy, who appears deep in meditation and doesn't speak.

"We have a team . . . investigating the claim on how anyone can survive for so long without food and water," Gurung said.

Local officials have also asked the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology in Kathmandu to send scientists to examine Banjan.

Mahat said visitors can catch a glimpse of Banjan from a roped-off area about 25 metres away from him between dawn and dusk.

Followers then place a screen in front of him, blocking the view and making it impossible to know what he is doing at night, Mahat said.

"We could not say what happens after dark," Mahat said. "People only saw what went on in the day, and many believed he was some kind of god."

Buddhism teaches that right thinking and self-control can enable people to achieve nirvana - a divine state of peace and release from desire. Buddhism has about 325 million followers, mostly in Asia.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Angelina Jolie appeals for urgent delivery of Pakistan aid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Fresh from a tour of Pakistan's devastated earthquake zone, actress and UN goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie was most moved by the people she saw: A man digging in rubble. A boy scared by aftershocks but joyous over his sister's survival. A thinly dressed pregnant woman worried about the coming winter.
A day after visiting the ravaged Kashmir region, Jolie pleaded Friday for swift aid to avoid a new humanitarian disaster in Pakistan with the onset of the brutal Himalayan cold.

Accompanied by actor Brad Pitt, Jolie visited a mostly destroyed town and a camp for survivors of the Oct. 8 quake, which killed an estimated 86,000 Pakistanis and destroyed the homes of more than three million.

"You watch TV and you see the pictures, but nobody sitting at home has any idea what this really looks like," she told a news conference in Islamabad. "It's just unbelievable. You fly in a helicopter and you see . . . one house after another - just rubble, nothing standing."

Jolie, an ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, appealed for donors to make good quickly on promised aid, which reached $5.8 billion US last week.

"The pledges need to materialize soon," she said. "Because from what I'm understanding, there are so many wonderful pledges of money that could come in the next few years but this winter is in the next few weeks, and so many people are in danger of possibly freezing to death."

The top UN official co-ordinating the relief effort, Jan Vandemoortele, expressed concern that the focus may be shifting to long-term reconstruction and called for urgent donations to provide food, shelter and health care. He said the United Nations and other agencies had received less than half of the $550 million they sought in a recent appeal.

"It is important to start building new hospitals and schools as soon as possible, but it's most urgent to save the lives of thousands of children who could then make use of these schools," Vandemoortele said in a statement.

Pakistan's top relief official, Maj.-Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, said hundreds of troops, volunteers and aid groups were helping quake victims in high mountain villages build at least one room from the rubble of their homes and pitch tents nearby. Over half a million tents and more than three million blankets and quilts have been distributed, but Khan said more tents are needed.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who praised Jolie's work, made his own tour of the quake zone Thursday. He took reporters with him, unlike Jolie and Pitt, whose trip was not announced in advance.

Pitt has been sporadically spotted and photographed with Jolie for months since his breakup with actress Jennifer Aniston. Jolie and Pitt met Friday with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and Guterres met with him separately.

Jolie, who has made some 30 missions for the UNHCR since becoming a goodwill ambassador in 2001, said many victims are still "very traumatized" by the horror of the quake.

She described seeing a boy about the same age as her four-year-old adopted son. His house had been reduced to "nothing" and he feared more aftershocks but was "so happy because his sister survived the earthquake, and they didn't think she would."

When she saw a man breaking rubble, Jolie wondered why a machine wasn't doing the job.

"It was then explained to me that it was only a week ago that they were still finding bodies," she said, "and that there were people's possessions in these buildings and that they didn't want to just bulldoze them but were going to look for any remains or photographs they could find, even if it was going to take them a year."

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Nintendo reports profit dropped 21 per cent in fiscal first half

TOKYO (AP) - Profit at Nintendo Co., which makes Super Mario video games and GameBoy Advance handheld machines, slipped 21 per cent for the fiscal first half fell on year because of slumping sales of consoles and game software. The Kyoto-based video game maker said Thursday its group net profit for the six months ended Sept. 30 dipped to 36.6 billion yen ($308 million US) from 46.45 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales dropped six per cent to 176.4 billion yen ($1.5 billion) from 188 billion yen. Breakdowns for numbers by quarter weren't available.

Nintendo forecast a 75 billion yen ($632 million) profit for the full year ending March 31, 2006, on 500 billion yen ($4.2 billion) sales.

The company said its GameCube console sales in North America came to 630,000 for the half, down 36 per cent on year, as buyers held off ahead of the introduction of next-generation consoles.

Nintendo plans to launch a new Revolution machine in 2006. Rival Sony Corp. is planning the PlayStation 3 for next year, and Microsoft Corp. has just begun selling the Xbox 360 in the United States.

Nintendo also cited higher research and development costs for the Revolution as well as game software for Nintendo DS, a portable machine with two screens, as taking their toll on earnings.

The company said such costs came to 14.8 billion yen ($125 million) in the first half, up 36 per cent on year.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

China moves foreign-exchange reform ahead in swap deals with local banks

SHANGHAI (AP) - Pushing China's foreign exchange reform ahead by another step, the central bank on Friday carried out its first currency swap deals with local banks in a move that could help bring more flexibility to the market. The People's Bank of China confirmed that it was carrying out its first foreign exchange swap deal on Friday, but would not give more details. A Beijing-based trader for a major state-owned bank said that the central bank offered one-year currency swaps worth $6 billion US at 7.85 Chinese yuan per dollar.

The swap deal didn't seem to have any immediate effect on the yuan spot market.

In spot dealings, the yuan closed at 8.0815 to the U.S. dollar on Friday. It ended trading Thursday at 8.0805.

Analysts said it wasn't clear exactly what mechanism the central bank was using in its swaps transactions, but said it could be selling dollars and buying yuan on the spot market, and a year later could reverse the deal at the set rate.

That would have the effect of removing yuan from the money market. At the same time, the central bank could use the swap rate to signal its expectations about how fast it expects the yuan's value to rise, they said.

The central bank would not comment on its swap operation, but the official newspaper Shanghai Securities News said about 10 major banks, including the big four state lenders - Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China - would be involved.

The commercial banks taking part in the swap will only be allowed to invest the U.S. dollars they obtain in dollar-denominated assets, and can't exchange the dollars for yuan, the newspaper said.

Offshore, nondeliverable forwards - a measure of expectations for the yuan's value that has no direct impact on current exchange rates - moved toward the one-year swap rate set by the central bank, to 7.78 in the morning from 7.75 late Thursday.

Late Thursday, China's State Administration for Foreign Exchange announced it would also introduce a new currency trading system allowing interbank market members to trade directly with each other. It also invited qualified members to apply to become market makers for yuan spot trading.

A market maker agrees to act as either a buyer or seller in a financial transaction when no other party can be found. Currently, the central bank is China's key market maker in U.S. dollar trading due to tight restrictions on foreign exchange dealings, though regulators earlier announced they were considering letting other banks become market makers.

Arthur Ni, assistant general manager at the Shanghai branch of Japan's Mizuho Corporate Bank, said the introduction of market makers suggests the central bank might be planning to let the yuan trade more freely.

"As commercial banks become market makers, they will buy dollars if they see the dollar drops sharply" against the yuan, giving regulators the confidence to loosen restrictions on currency trading, he said.

The yuan doesn't trade on world markets and Beijing sharply restricts buying and selling on the sole official Chinese exchange. Daily fluctuations in the yuan's value, which is linked to a basket of currencies of major trading partners including the U.S., are limited to 0.3 per cent up or down from its opening level.

Since a 2.1 per cent revaluation of the yuan on July 21 to 8.11 yuan per dollar, the Chinese currency has gained only 0.36 per cent.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Indian finance minister says country must open up more to foreign competition

NEW DELHI (AP) - India must open up its economy more to foreign competition to accelerate its already rapid economic growth, the finance minister said Sunday.
"The Indian economy should look to 8 per cent and beyond," Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told the India Economic Summit, a gathering of global business leaders who are exploring business opportunities in one of the world's most rapidly expanding economies.

India's economy is currently growing by 7 per cent annually, but experts and officials said it could emulate China's success and expand faster. But to do so, India needs to make huge investments in infrastructure such as roads, ports and electricity generation, and Chidambaram said a more liberal policy on foreign capital was also key.

Although India has increasingly allowed foreign direct investment since switching from a socialist-style economy in the early 1990s, many foreign companies still feel further reforms are necessary. There are limits to foreign equity participation in many sectors, and problems with red tape persist.

India has received US$4.5 billion (euro3.85 billion) in foreign direct investment this year, a fraction of what economic rival China has drawn during the same period, Chidambaram said.

In addition to infrastructure bottlenecks, India faces the challenge of providing quality education and health care to most of its people. Here too, foreign money holds the key, he said.

"Indians are heading world class institutions. I ask why Indians can't build world class institutions in India. This will happen only if we introduce greater competition in the services," he told the economic summit.

The three-day meeting, attended by hundreds of executives and policy makers from about three dozen countries, opened a day after the country's stock market set a new high, driven by foreign funds which have pumped a record US$8.5 billion (euro7.2 billion) into Indian shares.

"I have been coming here. But I have never heard such optimism, and such positive noise about growth and development in India," said Martin Sorrell, group chief executive of the British-based advertising giant WPP.

Earnings growth at India's top companies has averaged more than 20 per cent over the past three years, despite rising global oil prices that have pushed up costs. Manufacturers have boosted their competitiveness by cutting costs and raising productivity.

Still, a large number of Indians remain poor, left out of the economic boom of the past decade and a half. About 400 million people, nearly 40 per cent of India's 1 billion plus population, live on less than a dollar a day.

The delegates to the summit were also discussing what should be done to make economic growth more inclusive to prevent a social and political backlash resulting from widening economic disparities, said Gay Davis, an expert with the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, which is hosting the annual meeting.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Dosanjh to table ban on bulk drug exports to U.S. on eve of election

WINNIPEG (CP) - Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh is set to table legislation Friday to ban the bulk export of prescription drugs to the United States and set up an early warning system to detect drug shortages caused by the cross-border trade.
But after spending more than a year weighing his options, Dosanjh's bill will likely die before the ink has had time to dry if the government falls in a non-confidence motion expected to pass Monday.

The minister decided to go ahead with the bill because he told stakeholders and members of the Commons Health Committee earlier this month he would take action before the end of November, a federal source told The Canadian Press.

The bill is intended to keep Canada one step ahead of various efforts by the U.S. Congress to legalize bulk imports of cheaper brand-name Canadian drugs.

It would also address recent concerns about Canada's ability to respond to infectious disease outbreaks, such as the bird flu, by detecting shortages with help from manufacturers, pharmacists and others in the supply chain.

However, it falls well short of what opponents such as the Canadian Pharmacists Association, the Canadian Medical Association and patient advocacy groups have asked for - a complete ban on Internet pharmacies that sell cheaper Canadian drugs to uninsured and underinsured Americans.

Politicians of all stripes, as well as opponents and supporters of the Internet pharmacy industry, have already expressed support for the measures contained in the bill to be tabled Friday.

A senior health advisor said the government is disappointed Conservative health critic Stephen Fletcher, who represents the Winnipeg riding of Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia, "would place at risk work on a piece of legislation deemed to be very important to Manitoba" by helping his party force an election.

Fletcher has repeatedly criticized Dosanjh for not taking action to ban bulk exports, while also cautioning him against going too far and effectively crushing the industry without any evidence it is causing shortages.

The Internet pharmacy industry was founded in Manitoba and the province remains home to the majority of the estimated 6,000 jobs and overall trade of about $1 billion a year.

But Dosanjh has said the industry is unethical and illegal because it is based on the practice of having Canadian doctors co-sign prescriptions for American patients they haven't examined. In Canada, pharmacists can legally only fill a prescription written by a doctor licensed to practice in Canada.

The industry's largest lobby group, the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, has said those concerns could be addressed by allowing Canadian pharmacists to accept the U.S. patient's original prescription.

Sources say jurisdictional wrangling between the provinces and the federal government over how the relationship between a patient, doctor and pharmacist is defined have prevented Dosanjh from toughening the law to squeeze the industry out of Canada completely.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Martin pays campaign-style visit to B.C.

RICHMOND, B.C. (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin was coy Saturday about the near-certainty his government will fall on Monday, but his swing through B.C. had all the markings of a full-fledged campaign stop. "This is a tremendous crowd - what a great way to kick off what might happen on Monday," Martin said to roars of laughter from an effusive crowd of Liberals at a party policy convention.

The prime minister's 17-month old mandate is expected to fall Monday with a vote on a non-confidence motion supported by the Conservatives, NDP and the Bloc Quebecois.

Martin will likely visit Gov. General Michaelle Jean on Tuesday morning, with an election expected for sometime in mid-January.

About 350 Liberal delegates in Richmond chanted Martin's name Saturday as he was introduced at the policy gathering.

While he didn't mention the inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal specifically, Martin told the crowd that accountability is what the Liberal party is all about.

"When there's a problem, the Liberal party will deal with it in an open and transparent way and a conclusive way," he said.

With seven members of his B.C. caucus on the stage with him, including Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Martin took swipes at both NDP Leader Jack Layton and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

"I believe that Jack Layton is going to be called to account for the fact that he forced an election," Martin said.

He then singled out Harper for "his inability to speak up in Quebec for Canada."

Martin added he believes Harper will be criticized in the weeks to come for what he called the Tory leader's refusal to support the government of Canada in the softwood lumber fight against the United States.

Dosanjh was the most critical of Layton and his supposed partnership with the Liberals to strengthen health care.

"He wrote some plans, or proposals, on the back of a napkin. . .he obviously was using that as a political ploy," Dosanjh said. "He refused to work with us on strengthening home care - instead he walked, in fact he ran, into the lap of the Conservatives."

Dosanjh told the group it is lifetime mission of the Conservatives - especially Stephen Harper - to gut the Canada Health Act and end the federal role in health care.

In a speech later to the National Conference of Chinese Canadians, Martin praised Chinese Canadians for not turning their backs on Canada despite a head tax of up to $200 in the late 1800s.

"I hope my children understand it was you who helped build Canada," he said.

The government announced earlier this week a $2.5 million agreement-in-principle with the National Congress and 10 other Chinese-Canadian groups.

The draft agreement would set up education and commemorative projects related to the head tax.

© The Canadian Press, 2005

World Poetry Reading Series

On December 12th, 7:30 pm, the World Poetry Reading Series and the Vancouver Public Library (350 West Georgia St. Vancouver, BC) will feature:

Host Ariadne Sawyer and guest host Luis Gutierrez Producer of Between the Lines, CFRO 102.7 FM.

Blessing by the Tibetan Buddhist monk and teacher Thupten N. Rujang of Ariadne’s new book: CREATIVITY ROCKS!

Featured Poets:
Diego Bastianutti, Italy
Svetlana Ischenko, Ukraine
Diane Laloge, Canada
Bonnie Nish and Sita Carboni, Canada
Addena Sumter-Freitag, Canada

Poet Edgar Garcia will receive the World Poetry Ambassador medallion for Guatemala.
Featured choir: InChoiring Minds, Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House.
Admission free.

Info: 604-526-4729
Ariadne Sawyer, MA
Performance Plus Trainer
www.ariadnescoaching.com

Government of Canada Supports Launch of Book about Chinese-Canadian History in Prince Edward Island

CHARLOTTETOWN, November 16, 2005 -- Member of Parliament for Charlottetown Shawn Murphy,on behalf of Minister of State (Multiculturalism) Raymond Chan, today announced $10,000 in funding for Island Studies Press. The funds will enable the group, in collaboration with the Chinese Canadian Association of P.E.I., to coordinate promotional activities in support of the launch of a book entitled Chinese Islanders: A History of the Chinese in Prince Edward Island.

"This book will enable Islanders to discover the important contributions Chinese immigrants have made to Prince Edward Island and to this country," said Mr. Murphy. "I am proud that the Government of Canada is committed to breaking down barriers and raising awareness of Chinese Canadian history on the Island."

"Canadians of all ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds have stories to tell and a history to share. We must work together to preserve these stories and create a cultural legacy to pass on to future generations," said Minister of State Chan. "This book constitutes an excellent tool to foster respect and cross-cultural understanding between communities."

Island Studies Press publishes books on the history, literature, culture, and environment of Prince Edward Island, as well as academic books featuring comparative studies between Prince Edward Island and other islands. Chinese Islanders: A History of the Chinese in Prince Edward Island tells the story of one of Prince Edward Island's smallest immigrant communities. It focuses on how immigrant demography has undergone change in response to world events, revisions to Canada's immigration laws, and how descendents of Chinese immigrants have largely adapted to and succeeded in mainstream Island society.

Financial assistance is provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage through its Multiculturalism Program. Canada's Multiculturalism Policy, which falls under the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, promotes the full and equitable participation of people of all origins in Canadian society, as well as interaction between diverse individuals and communities. It also encourages public institutions to respect and promote Canada's multicultural character.

Funding announced today was provided for in the February 2005 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.

Information:
Roy Bornmann
Office of the Minister of State (Multiculturalism)
(819) 997-9900