Final push on to save Kogawa House in Vancouver

(CBC) - The stay of execution on Kogawa House in Vancouver runs out this weekend, with a fund to save the house still well short of its goal.

The historic house was the childhood home of Joy Kogawa, author of Obasan and Naomi's Road, the much-loved books about the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.

About $700,000 is needed to buy the modest frame house from a developer who wants to knock it down to make way for condominiums.

A group led by the Land Conservancy of B.C. has been trying to raise money to buy the house, so it can be turned into a writers' retreat. It has the support of writers' groups such as PEN and people with an interest in preserving Vancouver's history as well as hundreds of individual donors.

At the beginning of the week, the group had raised $225,000 from individual donations across the country and internationally.

A final push is on this weekend to raise enough to save the house, with a fundraising reading planned at Chapters bookstore in Victoria.

On Tuesday evening, actors read from Canadian literary works such as Anne of Green Gables and Klee Wyck at a Vancouver fundraiser. The event featured Chief Rhonda Larrabee of the Qayqayt First Nation reading a Thomas King story, Coyote and the Enemy Aliens, parodying the attitude toward the Japanese during the Second World War. Jazz singer Leora Cashe sang a Leonard Cohen song and actor Bill Dow read from Aron Bushkowsky's The Promised Land.

Obasan is Kogawa's tale of how she and her family were turned out of this house and sent to live in an internment camp in central British Columbia. The family never were able to return to the house, which has since had a series of owners and is now in poor repair.

It will cost about $500,000 more to restore the home and turn it into a retreat for writers with an interest in human rights and multiculturalism. The house would also be open for public and school tours to educate people about the Japanese Canadian experience during the Second World War.

The fundraising group issued a statement Tuesday saying it is concentrating now on raising the first $700,000 to buy the house.

The city of Vancouver has already extended the deadline to issue a demolition permit by one month, from March 30 to April 30.

Requests have been made to the Federal Government, through the Department of Canadian Heritage and to the City of Vancouver. B.C. Land Conservancy executive director Bill Turner says he remains optimistic that funding will be found to support the project.

© the CBC, 2006

If it's Indian, it can't be Scotch, court tells Indian whiskey makers

NEW DELHI (AP) - An Indian court has ruled that Indian whiskey manufacturers cannot use the words Scot or Scotch to describe their products, in compliance with World Trade Organization rules, a newspaper reported Monday. The words Scot or Scotch identify whiskey produced in Scotland and no Indian manufacturer can use it to promote or market its product, the Deccan Chronicle newspaper quoted Judge Madan Lokur of the Delhi High Court as saying.

This is the first such ruling in India on the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, which identifies products originating from a particular territory. Foreign companies have long complained that India provides little protection in such cases under WTO rules.

The judgment was given on a lawsuit filed by the Scotch Whisky Association of the United Kingdom seeking to restrain Golden Bottling Limited, an Indian whiskey manufacturer, from using the name Red Scot to sell its whiskey.

The court ordered the company to pay damages of rupees 500,000 ($11,236 US) to the British association for passing off its product as Scotch whisky. It also ordered the Indian firm to pay the association 310,000 rupees ($6,966) as litigation costs.

The association's lawyer, Pravin Anand, told the court that under a WTO agreement on trademarks, protection was provided to products possessing certain qualities, characteristics or a reputation due to their geographical origin.

Anand had argued that Golden Bottling Ltd. was using the word Scot in its label to give the impression that its whiskey was a produce of Scotland or that it is Scotch whisky.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Matsushita plans waterproof laptop

TOKYO (AP) - The new laptop from Matsushita Electric, famous for its Panasonic brand, is unlikely to break even if water is spilled onto its keyboard, the Japanese electronics maker said Monday. The new Let's Note CF-Y5 features a waterproof sheet and special drainage system that protects the hard drive and circuit board from light water damage, Matsushita said in a statement.

The CF-Y5 can withstand a force equivalent to a maximum 220 pounds - offering extra protection in packed commuter trains - the Osaka-based maker said.

The laptop is expected to hit Japanese stores on May 19 with a price tag of around 265,000 yen (US$2,300; euro1,860.09).

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is among the many Japanese electronics makers that have struggled in recent years amid tough competition from rivals in South Korea, China and Taiwan.

But the company posted a rise in profits and raised its earnings projections earler this year, thanks to robust sales in flat panel TVs, digital cameras, personal computers, computer chips and batteries.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Canadian health system paying high cost for women who are 'too posh to push’

OTTAWA (CP) - The Canadian health system is paying a high cost for pregnant women who are "too posh to push," suggests a study released Wednesday. The report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that hospitals typically spend 60 per cent more to care for a mother who has a caesarian section, or about $4,600 compared with $2,800 for a vaginal birth.

The soaring rate of C-sections shows the influence of Hollywood stars, said Jan Christilaw, head of specialized women's health at the Women's Hospital of British Columbia.

"All these celebrities seem to have caesarian sections because they seem to have this idea that it's better, and it's not," she said in an interview.

The number of C-sections in Canada rose to about 25 per cent of all births in 2002-03, from 17 per cent a decade earlier, says the report. Canadian hospitals spent more than $1 billion on childbirth costs in that year.

The C-section rate in trendsetting British Columbia last year was between 27 and 30 per cent, says Christilaw. But that's still below the U.S. rate of 35 per cent.

"We know there's pressure in that direction. You can just imagine what happens if we take another jump up from where we are now to 35 per cent. It's going to be disastrous for the system."

The preference for C-sections is "almost silly," she said.

"If you think you're going to have a better figure if you have a C-section rather than a vaginal birth, you're realistically wrong. It'll take longer for your abdominal muscles to get back into shape and of course you'll have a scar on your abdomen."

As for the notion that C-sections maintain vaginal muscle tone, "we know that by six months, women who have vaginal births have just as strong pelvic floors as women who have C-sections.

"There's really no suggestion when you look at the statistics for the whole population that having a C-section is actually going to make sex better for you in the long run."

Then there's convenience: "You have a busy life, you check into the hospital on Friday at five o'clock, have your C-section and you're done as opposed to having to wait for the natural process to get started some time over a two-week period.

"It may take 12 to 24 hours before you have your baby. You never know when that's going to happen. If you're flying your mother-in-law in from Australia, well it's not too convenient."

Christilaw questions whether doctors should be interfering with a natural process to suit a woman's social schedule.

"I think what this data says is, look, there's very good reason to suggest that we should be trying to do the best we can to make normal births the best possible experience for women.

"If we don't we will have hell to pay in terms of the costs of birth."

She stressed that C-sections are sometimes medically justified but they should not be done unnecessarily.

"We are very good at what we do in Canada. We have the lowest maternal mortality in the world. We have very low neonatal mortality.

"But having said that, our intervention rate has gone up a lot in the last 20 years and especially in the last five years. I think we have to keep a close eye on that."

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Childhood obesity epidemic could see kids dying before parents: cardiologist

HALIFAX (CP) - An increasing number of children could die before their parents as a result of health complications linked to an obesity epidemic afflicting youngsters around the world, a pediatric cardiologist warned Wednesday. Brian McCrindle said a growing body of study indicates that children are becoming fatter and more sedentary at younger ages, leading to higher rates of cardiovascular illness and other complications related to expanding waist sizes.

"There are those who would predict that, in this generation of children, the parents are going to be the first to outlive this generation of kids if this trend isn't reversed," McCrindle, an author and professor of pediatrics at the University of Toronto, told doctors at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.

"This is indeed a worldwide epidemic that's moving along at an unchecked speed."

Scientists have found in recent years that children are setting themselves up for a lifetime of health problems because of habits established at very young ages, and even in utero.

American research is showing that children who are over the healthy Body Mass Index, a measure of body fat based on height and weight, had higher risks for a series of cardiovascular diseases.

They also have been found to be at higher risk of developing diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, orthopedic ailments, asthma and polycystic ovarian disease.

Obesity has been linked to a host of social problems, such as bullying, depression, low self-esteem and stigmatization.

McCrindle said recent research has also indicated that overweight children have a greater chance of becoming overweight, or even obese, adults.

The result, he cautions, is an already stretched health-care system facing a new generation of patients with serious, if not lethal, health problems.

"This epidemic of pediatric obesity may become the most important and devastating public health challenge of the 21st century," said McCrindle, a cardiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

It's estimated that 50 per cent of in-patients in most U.S. hospitals now weigh 300-plus pounds.

Health-care spending related to obesity problems soared to $75 billion in 2003. Those illnesses contributed to one-third of the 300,000 deaths a year in that country.

Canada is in the top 25 per cent internationally when it comes to obesity in children, but McCrindle said it's quickly catching up to its southern neighbour.

The steady rise in childhood obesity, which is outpacing adult obesity, can be linked to lifestyle changes that see kids sitting at computers rather than playing outside, consuming larger portions of food, and eating processed food high in trans fats and sugar.

Doctors, McCrindle said, have to urge families to change their eating and activity habits to try to prevent the onset of obesity since studies have found that the problem is hard to reverse.

Some physicians in the audience suggested doctors should be behind lobbying efforts to legislate the amount of physical activity in schools and to ban advertising aimed at young children that promotes unhealthy body images and poor habits.

Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai, a cardiologist and president of the Canadian Medical Association, recently suggested that junk food should be taxed to combat the obesity epidemic in Canada, which has the second-highest rate of pre-school obesity in the world, after China.

Her recommendation goes beyond a resolution passed at the association's last general meeting, which called on governments to ban junk food sales at all Canadian schools.

Many health organizations, including the World Health Organization, have already called for a so-called fat tax on junk foods.

Dr. Beth Cummings, a pediatric endocrinologist at the IWK Health Centre, said that in the early 1990s there were few cases of Type 2 diabetes in people under age 19.

Now, she said, 14 per cent of new cases of that type come from that age group.

"It's a huge problem," she said, referring to obesity among children.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Sony's loss widens to US$578 million in most recent quarter

TOKYO (AP) - Restructuring costs sank Sony (NYSE:SNY) deeper into red ink for the latest quarter amid a turnaround effort under CEO Howard Stringer, the first foreigner to head the Japanese manufacturer. Sony Corp., which brought the world the Walkman portable player and PlayStation 2 video-game machine, reported a 66.5-billion-yen ($578-million-US) loss Thursday for the January-March quarter, worse than the 56.5 billion yen it lost the same period the previous year.

It was the fifth consecutive year that Sony racked up a loss in the final fiscal quarter - a testament to the serious restructuring the electronics and entertainment company has been undergoing for years.

Quarterly sales, however, rose 8.7 per cent to 1.85 trillion yen ($16 billion) from 1.7 trillion yen the previous year, reflecting the emerging signs of a recovery led by better sales in TVs and other gadgets. But some of those gains came from a weak yen.

Restructuring expenses weighed heavily on the company, costing 75.3 billion yen ($655 million), mostly in the electronics sector, during the quarter, up from 48.6 billion yen for restructuring the previous year. Development costs for the PlayStation 3, the planned upgrade video-game console, also added to the losses, Sony said.

In recent years, Sony has fallen behind in portable music players such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod and in flat-panel TVs, dominated by Japanese rivals like Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and Sharp Corp., as well as by Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.

Under the leadership of Welsh-born Stringer, the company has embarked on drastic cost cuts, dropping parts of its business such as the Qualia luxury electronics lineup and Aibo entertainment robots, in an effort to turn profitable in the face of intense competition from cheaper Asian rivals.

Samsung, by contrast, has been booming, earning 1.88 trillion won ($1.95 billion) in the same quarter.

Sony boosted TV sales last year, especially in the U.S., after it began making flat-panel TVs in a partnership with Samsung, a smart business move for the company but an admission it couldn't catch up alone in a critical technology called liquid crystal displays.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, Sony marked a 123.6 billion yen profit ($1 billion), down 24.5 per cent from 163.8 billion yen in fiscal 2004. Fiscal 2005 sales climbed 4.4 per cent to 7.48 trillion yen ($65 billion) from 7.2 trillion yen in fiscal 2004.

Both were better than Sony's forecasts. The company had initially forecast a 10 billion yen ($87 million) loss for the fiscal year but later raised that to a 70 billion yen ($609 million) profit on 7.4 trillion yen ($64 billion) sales.

Sony, which also has powerful film, video-game and music businesses, said it was optimistic about the future, as the growing sales of liquid-crystal display TVs start to be reflected in earnings.

The release of potential movie blockbusters like The Da Vinci Code, set to open in May, is also likely to help boost profits, it said.

The video-game business suffered somewhat in the past year because of a decline in interest in the PlayStation 2 home console as gamers await the upgrade, PlayStation 3, expected to go on sale in November.

Sony is forecasting a 130 billion yen ($1.1 billion) profit for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, up 5 per cent from the fiscal year just ended, on 8.2 trillion yen ($71.3 billion) sales, up 10 per cent.

Sony said fiscal 2005 sales in the movie segment rose mainly because of a weak yen in the absence of hits like Spider-Man 2 the previous year.

In the game unit, fiscal year sales rose because of the popularity of the PlayStation Portable handheld game, of which 14 million were shipped during the year, although PlayStation 2 shipments stayed flat at 16.2 million.

But profitability was down in the unit because of high research and development costs for PlayStation 3, the long awaited successor machine. In March, Sony put off introducing PlayStation 3 until November from the initially planned spring launch.

PlayStation 3 is a key product in Sony's upcoming push to dominate living rooms around the world with the next-generation video format that it's promoting called Blu-ray disc. Japanese rivals Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. back HD DVD, a competing format.

Sony no longer breaks out results in its music division after it set up a joint venture with Bertelsmann AG of Germany in 2004.

Sony shares, which have gained 50 per cent in the past year, closed up 0.67 per cent at 6,030 yen ($52) in Tokyo. Earnings were announced after the market closed.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Canada bans Idaho fresh potato imports after disease found

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Mexico has joined Canada in banning fresh potato imports from Idaho and Japan has banned all fresh potato imports from the United States, after a microscopic wormlike pest called the potato cyst nematode was found on an eastern Idaho farm this week. The discovery of the pest is the first time this particular nematode has been detected in the United States, said Pat Takasugi, director of Idaho's Department of Agriculture.

There are several nematodes that affect potato crops; a cousin to the one found in Idaho has been found in New York state and British Columbia and has prompted Canada to impose some trade restrictions on New York potatoes, said Alain Boucher, a seed potato specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The nematode found in Idaho also has been detected in Newfoundland, Takasugi said.

"It's a major pest in a potato state," said Takasugi, adding 202 hectares of fields at the farm where the nematode was found have been quarantined, as well as the shed used for potato storage.

"That's why we've taken the most extreme measures to confine and isolate."

Takasugi said Friday he doesn't expect any U.S. states to ban Idaho potatoes, because his agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have quarantined fields and a shed at the farm where the nematodes were found.

"We have definitely caught this in the early stages," Takasugi said.

The bans by the three countries only involve fresh potatoes, not those processed into french fries and other food products.

It was not immediately clear how much the Canadian, Mexican, and Japanese markets are worth to Idaho. The annual value of all fresh potato exports from the United States is $100 million US, said Melissa O'Dell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Canada is Idaho's largest export market for fresh potatoes, Muir said. Idaho produces one-third of the U.S. potatoes shipped to Mexico.

Idaho has invited Japan, Mexico and Canada to send health inspectors to observe how Idaho is handling the infestation and Takasugi and Muir said they are confident all three countries will soon reopen trading.

"After they see the data, the tests and everything we've done, the recommendation will probably be to lift that ban," Takasugi said.

The pest is not harmful to humans and doesn't have any affect on the potatoes themselves, Takasugi said. But it feeds on the roots of the potato plant and can reduce crop production by as much as 80 per cent.

Idaho is the largest U.S. potato producer, growing about one-third of all the potatoes in the United States. Last year, the state produced 5.5 billion kilograms of potatoes that paid farmers about $700 million, said Frank Muir, president of the Idaho Potato Commission. Muir estimated the industry is worth about $2 billion to the state.

Potato industry experts hastened to assure consumers the pest is not harmful to humans and the two nematodes found were discovered after years of intensive testing.

The state Agriculture Department has been testing soil samples for more than 20 years, Takasugi said. The department has taken more than 10,000 samples in the last three years alone, "on soil, in farms, and on processing plants and every one has been negative for the potato cyst nematode until this one find," Muir said.

"Our researchers literally found the needle in the haystack."

Farmers, too, do their own tests for this nematode, said Keith Esplin, a former potato grower who is executive director of the Potato Growers of Idaho in Blackfoot.

"All indications are that it's a very minor infestation," Esplin said.

"We want to be careful we don't spread it around or introduce it but it doesn't appear that that's happened. I think we caught it in time."

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Canadian aid agency funds bird flu vaccine study in 5 affected Asian nations

BEIJING (AP) - Researchers from five Asian countries are tackling the question of whether to vaccinate birds against avian flu in a study launched Tuesday by a Canadian aid agency. Public health officials from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand will take part in the $1-million study funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre, said Stephen McGurk, the centre's regional director for Southeast and East Asia.

"We have, through complete accident, a very powerful natural experiment underway," McGurk told a news conference in Beijing. "Here in Asia we have a particularly interesting case with five countries basically pursuing almost five completely different" vaccination strategies, he said.

Thailand and Cambodia have made poultry vaccination illegal, while China, Vietnam and Indonesia have pursued aggressive vaccination programs - each with its own unique characteristics, he said. All have been hard-hit by bird flu.

The study will gather data through surveys and then compare the risks and costs of the different vaccination approaches and should have preliminary findings by next summer, McGurk said.

In the past, health officials have said that the killing of all birds within an affected area was the best way to control bird flu. But some countries, such as Indonesia, have said they cannot afford such culls and have turned to vaccinating instead.

Some 80 researchers and government officials from the five Asian countries, Canada and the United Nations gathered Monday in Beijing for a three-day seminar to co-ordinate the study and other prevention efforts, a statement said.

Worldwide, at least 113 people have died of bird flu. Although human fatalities have been the result of direct contact with infected poultry, health experts fear the virus will mutate into a form easily spread among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Suzuki hopes autobiography will inspire Canadians to become environmentalists

TORONTO (CP) - It would be hard to conceive of a Canadian who has not heard of David Suzuki - accomplished scientist, internationally renowned environmentalist and the face and voice of TV's The Nature of Things for more than 25 years. But when it comes to the nature of David Suzuki, Canadians might be surprised to learn that despite the fame and accolades for his work to help save the planet and to communicate the wonders of the natural world, he remains a man often uncomfortable in his own skin.

Now 70, Suzuki is still haunted by the childhood memory of being forced with his family from their Vancouver home into an internment camp for Japanese-Canadians a few months after Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

It is a humiliation that he has never been able to completely shake and one that has shaped his character and helped chart the course of his life.

"I've been very ambitious to do well, and part of it is because after the war we were completely impoverished, and my dad said the way out is education and hard work," Suzuki explains during a stop in Toronto to promote his new autobiography. "He said if you're ever going to compete with white people you have to work 10 times harder.

"It's within me," concedes Suzuki, the Canadian-born son of Canadian-born parents of Japanese descent. "When I meet a white person, I still feel that the first thing you're seeing is a Jap."

That sense of not being "a real Canadian," sown so long ago, continues in part to drive him to accept requests that he lend his name and time to numerous environmental projects, even though he insists he'd like to slow down a bit and spend more time with his wife Tara Cullis, his five grown children (three from his first marriage) and his grandchildren.

"I do it because, in my gut, I'm trying to still show that I'm a worthwhile Canadian. It's one thing to do that when you're younger. When you're 70 years old, it's sick," he says with a gallows chuckle and an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

It is a surprising admission from one of Canada's most admired and beloved celebrities, a man whose name has become synonymous with environmental causes.

And they are causes for which his passion still burns, a passion he especially hopes to pass on to young people through his latest book, entitled simply David Suzuki: An Autobiography (Greystone Books). It arrives in stores Saturday.

His first memoir, called Metamorphosis and published almost 20 years ago, was never intended as an autobiography. He wanted to write a collection of essays, but was persuaded by his publisher to tell readers about "more personal stuff."

"Now at the age of 70, I look in the mirror, and it's undeniable I'm an old man," says Suzuki, not with self-pity but with the knowledge that it's time to tell his story. "But I've had a number of experiences over the last 20 years. I thought they'd be worth recounting. Because what I want people to realize is that being an environmentalist doesn't mean all doom and gloom. I wanted people to see, 'Wow he's had amazing adventures. He's met incredible people and been to wonderful places.' "

As recounted in his book, Suzuki's environmental journey has taken him from old-growth forests in British Columbia to the rainforests of the Amazon and Papua New Guinea to raise awareness about threats to the "lungs of the Earth" from logging, industry and rapacious development. He has also voiced repeated warnings about global warming, air pollution, humankind's assaults on the oceans, rivers and lakes, and the poisoning by pesticides and refuse of our ever-shrinking farmland.

"Right now, we're using air, water and soil as if it's limitless and that it can be a garbage dump," he says, punching the air with his hands to punctuate his point.

"And yet how can you exist without air? We think the air goes up to the stars. It's only 10 kilometres thick. If you took the entire planet and reduced it to the size of a basketball, the air would be thinner than a layer of Saran wrap. And that's what we're pouring all of our crap into."

And while stopping the relentless destruction of the planet may seem an impossible task, Suzuki wants people to realize that even a single individual can make a difference.

"Everyone of us is a part of the problem and everyone of us can be part of the solution," he says, repeating the oft-spoken mantra. "But don't think 'you' have to carry the burden of being the one. . . . You're not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. But know if lots of other people have the same commitment, we can add up to be quite a strong force."

There are simple things, he said, that Canadians can do: give up meat one day a week (it takes 10 to 15 kilograms of grain to grow a kilogram of meat); eat locally grown food one month a year, which he said would create tens of thousands of jobs; leave the car at home one day a week and take public transit, carpool or walk; and buy energy-efficient products for the home.

So, if we don't start taking such steps, where are humans and other species on the planet headed?

"Right down the chute," predicts Suzuki. "The direction we're going is we're undermining the life-support systems of the planet. And the tragedy is we've been told this for over 40 years by the leading scientists in the world."

While that doesn't mean there is no hope, we're running out of time, he says.

"Even if we were to do a massive shift on climate change, reduce greenhouse gases and all that, polar bears are toast. Our North is going to undergo massive change, we will lose huge parts of our coastline because oceans are going to rise. There's nothing we can do about that because we've already started the ball rolling.

"The question is whether we're going to start taking the steps now to avoid the really big jumps that are in store if we don't do something now," concludes Suzuki, noting that the environment is not one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's stated five priorities and he doubts it will become one any time soon.

That's why he will spend the next couple of years doggedly pushing for government action on the environment and urging the public and politicians to make it THE issue of the next federal election.

"The decisions that are being made now are setting us on the course that is essentially going to be the world of our children," says Suzuki, who is donating all royalties from his autobiography to the charitable foundation created in his name.

"What we have to do now is heroic. We have to have a massive shift in the way that we use energy and the kind of energy we use. We have to have a massive shift in the way we do everything.

"But that takes us saying this is the highest priority we've got. We've got to act as if this is war."

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Japanese automaker Toyota touts U.S. impact in new ads

CINCINNATI (AP) - For years the saying went, what's good for General Motors (NYSE:GM) is good for America. Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) has a new promotional campaign that says it's good for America, too.

Billboards along highways in areas of the United States such as the Cincinnati-northern Kentucky region, where Toyota employs some 8,800 people, tout the U.S. economic impacts of the company, which is on its way to passing GM as the world's largest automaker.

The messages highlight numbers, such as 13 - "Donuts in a baker's dozen; Toyota's U.S. investment, in billions," and 386,000 - "Kilometers to the moon; U.S. jobs created by Toyota." The billboards are in some two dozen U.S. markets where Toyota has factories or supplier operations, from Fremont, Calif., where Toyota partners with GM at an automaking plant, to Huntsville, Ala., where Toyota makes engines.

"Our intent is to raise awareness of our growing U.S. presence," said Patricia Pineda, group vice-president for corporate communications of Toyota Motor North America. "Our research tells us that consumers want to learn more about Toyota's U.S. presence."

She said Toyota highlights its U.S. investments and "level of commitment" to the country in a campaign that began last month and also includes local radio spots and airport advertising.

Toyota has led the way for Asian automakers that have steadily increased U.S. sales, and Toyota now has about 13 per cent of U.S. vehicle sales. While GM and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) are facing major restructuring with plant closings and job cuts, Toyota says it wants to expand car production in the United States, such as recently announced plans to make up to 100,000 Camrys a year at a Subaru plant in Lafayette, Ind.

Toyota's message is generally warmly received in Kentucky, where it's provided a major economic boost to the state and employs 7,000 workers at its Georgetown plant alone.

"I think most people, particularly in this area, like Toyota a lot," said Kenneth Troske, who heads the University of Kentucky's Center for Business and Economic Research. "They bring a lot of things to the community."

But the billboards can be irritating to U.S. workers with an uncertain future.

"We're not real happy about it," said Tony Currington, vice-president of United Auto Workers Local 696, with members facing possible closure of a Dayton brake plant by Delphi Corp., largest auto parts supplier for GM, its former parent.

"As a result of us losing market share to the foreign imports, we're losing American jobs. It just hurts our economy here," Currington said, adding that the UAW has been weakened by Toyota's mostly nonunion operations.

"It's not the Japanese who are causing the market share decline," said Bruce Belzowski, an auto analyst at the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. "It's Americans buying the Japanese vehicles."

He said Toyota's latest campaign underlines that "they build where they sell."

General Motors Corp. spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said the company usually doesn't comment on competitors' advertising. But she noted that the company has launched its own new advertising this month, with print ads describing GM's restructuring, price cuts and new products.

The ads' tag line: "At the global car company that's proud to be American."

In an April 12 speech to the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce in New York, Robert Lutz, GM's vice-chairman, cited statistics about GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG's (NYSE:DCX) importance to the U.S. auto industry and economy, saying they account for four per cent of the U.S. gross domestic product and 11 per cent of manufacturing shipments.

"People who think it doesn't matter who owns our auto industry are flat wrong," Lutz said.

But the days of Japan-bashing and Buy American appeals have mostly faded, said Gordon Wangers, CEO of Los Angeles-based Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc., which has done work for Toyota, GM and other companies.

"I think today's consumers, especially in our global economy, are not particularly moved by it the way they once were. I think they're moved by a good product at a good price," he said.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

China's top foreign-exchange regulator reaffirms commitment to currency reform

BEIJING (AP) - China will push ahead with foreign-exchange reforms and allow the market to have more influence over its currency, the country's top foreign exchange regulator said in remarks published Monday. China "will take steps to perfect the (yuan) exchange rate mechanism, raising the exchange rate's ability to reflect market supply and demand," Hu Xiaolian, director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, wrote in the latest edition of the bimonthly Qiushi Magazine, a mouthpiece of the Communist party.

Hu, who is also a vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, reiterated that the basic stability of the yuan exchange rate will be maintained at a reasonable and balanced level.

While Hu's commentary reiterates long-standing policy, its publication is likely meant as a reassuring signal to international investors and foreign governments. President Hu Jintao travels to the U.S. this week at a time when Washington is sharply critical of Beijing's currency policy.

President George W. Bush, who meets Hu on Thursday, last week said he would hold China accountable to fair trade policies, especially on the yuan, which the U.S. says is undervalued, making Chinese exports less expensive.

China has kept the yuan virtually tied to the U.S. dollar for most of the decade. China dropped the yuan's direct link to the U.S. dollar in July and switched to a more flexible exchange-rate based on a group of foreign currencies. But Beijing has let the yuan rise by only about one per cent against the dollar since a two per cent revaluation in July.

Last week, China said it will sharply increase the amount of foreign currency that companies and individuals can take abroad and opened up new options for Chinese to invest overseas.

Though overall the measures should make the yuan more responsive to market forces, economists said the short-term effect could make the yuan weaker, not stronger against the dollar.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

NAMES OF CHINESE HEAD TAX PAYERS DELIVERED TO MINISTER OF CANADIAN HERITAGE

TORONTO/VANCOUVER, April 21, 2006 – Chinese Canadians welcome direct consultations with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Government on an apology and appropriate redress for 62 years of legislated racism under the Head Tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Tonight, Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda will meet with Chinese Canadian families who were affected by the Head Tax and Exclusion Act at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time.

On the West Coast, Parliamentary Secretary on Multiculturalism Jason Kenney will hold a similar meeting at the Gateway Theatre, 6500 Gilbert Road, in Richmond, B.C., from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time.

Several hundred people are expected to attend each event in Toronto and in Richmond where Chinese Canadians will be invited to tell their stories. “There has been a groundswell of support for redress and for these consultations after so many years of injustice and struggle to right this historic wrong,” says Avvy Go, Legal Counsel for the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families (Ontario Coalition).

“Since the Throne Speech, when the Prime Minister promised a Parliamentary apology for the Head Tax, we have been overwhelmed with calls from surviving Head Tax payers, their spouses and families,” says Victor Wong, Executive Director of the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC).

“Many holders of Head Tax certificates have left their contact information with us and we will be delivering their contact information to the Government during these cross-country consultations,” Wong added.

Since last fall in Ontario alone, the Ontario Coalition and CCNC national office have received updated information from nearly 400 people who were affected by the Head Tax (1885-1923) and Exclusion Act (1923-1947), including six surviving Head Tax payers – aged 98 to 106 years old – and 59 surviving spouses.

The B.C. Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendents and the Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity (ACCESS) in Vancouver have collected 200 names, including 2 head tax payers and 33 surviving spouses and will also pass the information on to the Government.

“It’s a measure of the Government’s commitment to not only deal with the few surviving Head Tax Payers and spouses on an urgent basis but also hear from all those directly affected by this historic injustice that they are now willing to directly consult with the Chinese Canadian community on appropriate redress,” says Susan Eng, Co-Chair of the Ontario Coalition. “It is also in line with the Framework for Reconciliation proposed by our organizations so we are very hopeful that there will be a resolution by July 1st.”

“We have committed to helping the government reach Head Tax families by immediately delivering all contact information given to us and remind the community that no community organization has any official status to collect or register names. People may contact Canadian Heritage directly.” added Eng. “Once we know the exact government office responsible for receiving this information, we will post it on our web site: www.headtaxredress.org .”

Hyundai chairman to be questioned in S. Korean bribery scandal

(CBC) - South Korean prosecutors have summoned Hyundai Motor Co. chairman Chung Mong-koo for questioning about a slush fund scandal that is engulfing the country's largest carmaker.

Chung is to appear before Korea's supreme prosecutor Monday morning, according to the prosecutor's spokesman. He refused to discuss details.

There was no immediate comment from Hyundai.

Prosecutors have been investigating Hyundai Motor over allegations that it embezzled money from affiliates. The money allegedly went into a slush fund that was used to bribe government officials.

Chung had flown to Los Angeles on Sunday, but he returned to South Korea after police reportedly slapped a travel ban on his son, Chung Eui-sun, the president of Hyundai-affiliated Kia Motors Corp.

Over the past month, prosecutors have raided offices of Hyundai and its three affiliates, Kia Motors, logistics unit Glovis Co. and auto parts maker Hyundai Autonet, questioning key officials.

The prosecutors' probe grew out of a scandal surrounding Kim Jae-rok, a lobbyist who was arrested last month on charges of receiving money from businesses in exchange for promises he would use his connections to win favors.

Prosecutors claim Hyundai paid Kim billions of won (millions of dollars) from slush funds to gain his help in winning construction approvals and permits.

Prosecutors have already questioned two other top Hyundai executives, as well as a former deputy governor of the state-run Korea Development Bank.

Meanwhile, Kia has indefinitely postponed a groundbreaking ceremony for its first U.S. manufacturing plant. That plant would have created 5,500 jobs in West Point, Ga., starting in 2009.

Hyundai Motor has a U.S. factory in neighbouring Alabama. It used to have a plant east of Montreal.

© the CBC, 2006

Japan, South Korea to discuss disputed islands

(CBC) - Japan is sending a senior envoy to South Korea in a bid to find a middle ground in a standoff over a group of desolate islands claimed by both countries.

Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi will meet with his South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan over the dispute, which has heated up over Japan's plans to conduct a maritime survey near the contested islands.

Japan says Yachi is being dispatched in order to help find a peaceful solution.

South Korea has warned of "stern measures" if Japan presses ahead with a plan to send survey ships to waters near the rocky islands, which the Koreans call Dokto and the Japanese call Takeshima.

Japan has offered to call off the survey if South Korea drops a plan to register Korean names for seabed areas near the islands at a June international maritime conference.

The desolate islands are about the same distance from the mainlands of the two countries and are controlled by South Korea.

In a show of force, South Korea has ordered its coast guard to go on high alert and has sent 20 vessels to the disputed waters.

The islands sit in rich fishing grounds. South Korea's state gas firm says they lie above unexploited energy resources potentially worth billions of dollars.

© the CBC, 2006

Vietnam's emerging high-tech sector gets vote of confidence with Gates' visit

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnam's fledgling high-tech industry will get a major vote of confidence with the arrival Friday of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, whose visit says much about the country's success in establishing itself as a new player on the technology map. Vietnam has been anxious to jumpstart its high-tech sector, which got a big boost earlier this year when Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, announced plans to build a $300 million US chip assembly and testing plant in the country.

"The decision of Intel (to build) a plant in Ho Chi Minh City, and now Bill Gates' visit is confirming the recognition of Vietnam's potential for IT development," said Truong Gia Binh, CEO and president of the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology, or FPT, the country's leading software and computer maker.

"This is a major opportunity for Vietnam," he said.

Gates, who arrives late in the day from Japan, comes at the invitation of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, who made the offer when he toured Microsoft's headquarters during his visit to the U.S. last summer. Khai was the highest-ranking Vietnamese leader to visit the White House since the end of the Vietnam War.

At the time, the two men had signed agreements for Microsoft Corp. to help Vietnam develop its technology companies and train some 50,000 teachers to use computer software.

The head of the software giant is scheduled to hold talks Saturday with Khai and President Tran Duc Luong, speak to Vietnamese students at a local university, and tour Bac Ninh province near Hanoi to see how information technology is being applied in rural areas.

"We have a keen interest in developing the IT sector," said Deputy Minister for Planning and Investment Tran Dinh Khien on the sidelines of the Communist Party congress taking place this week.

Vietnam has clear ambitions of becoming another tech mecca like India and, with its young, literate work force, the idea isn't necessarily a pipe dream, said Nguyen Huu Le, chairman of TMA Solutions in Ho Chi Minh City.

"I think 2006 could be a watershed year. It's a critical year in terms of being able to get to the next level," said Le, a former Nortel executive who returned to Vietnam to set up his own software company.

Tech companies "are starting to take notice of Vietnam. Even a few years ago, they wouldn't even think about Vietnam, much less search it out," he said.

His company, which is doing outsourcing work for Nortel Networks Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and NTT Electronics Corporation, posted revenues of $10 million US last year, he said.

Vietnam's potential is undeniable, though the country remains at a relatively early stage of development, said Binh, who is also head of the Vietnam Software Association. There are about 800 active software development companies in Vietnam, which range in size from tiny hole-in-the-wall operations to full-fledged companies like FPT with its 8,000 staffers, he said.

"I'm very optimistic with what's happening in information and communication technologies in Vietnam," he said. "The point is whether the world is ready to accept Vietnam as the next China."

The challenge for Vietnam will be in devising an education and training system that better prepares technology graduates for industry demands, said Le.

Vietnam has also battled a bad reputation as one of the region's worst violators of intellectual property rights. It has the highest percentage of pirated software in Asia.

"The good news is that the new graduates are better than five years ago. The curriculum is better and the English is better, but still we are working for foreign customers, so we still need to invest a lot in terms of training (our workers)," said Le, who said he is seeking a license to set up a private university focusing on software engineering.

Vietnam already has some 45 information technology training centres around the country, graduating some 35,000 students a year, but that still leaves the country short of its demand, said Binh. FPT has gotten approval from the prime minister to set up a university for software programmers that will also develop their language skills, he said.

"I think any big giant, to maintain a leading position in the world, has to be in China, but it should also have its eggs in another basket," Binh said. "Vietnam is the other basket."

© The Canadian Press, 2006

United States to allow processed poultry from China, despite bird flu fear

WASHINGTON (AP) - Poultry processed in China will be allowed to enter the United States, despite outbreaks of deadly bird flu in China, the U.S. administration said Thursday. Critics said the imported poultry will put public health at risk. The U.S. Agriculture Department said the meat would be fully cooked and perfectly safe. "It will have been processed," said Richard Raymond, the department's undersecretary for food safety.

"Cooking will kill the virus, if there is any virus, in poultry meat."

The United States does not accept live poultry from countries where the virulent flu strain is present. That policy has not changed.

The poultry would be raised and slaughtered in the United States or other countries from which the United States accepts poultry. It would be fully cooked and packaged or canned in China. Imports will be allowed beginning May 24.

Critics said the United States cannot guarantee Chinese processing facilities will keep Chinese poultry from mixing with U.S. poultry.

"It's not clear to me the two will be effectively kept separate," said Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, the top Democrat on the Senate agriculture committee.

U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said the imports are dangerous.

"It is an outrage that the U.S. is going to open our borders to imports of poultry from China - a country that lacks the fundamental safety functions in its processing plants, has questionable export practices and a country where a deadly animal disease and possible pandemic is running rampant," said DeLauro, top Democrat on the House of Representatives appropriations committee's agriculture subcommittee.

The department acted on a request from China but Raymond said he does not expect very much of the product to be shipped to the United States. He noted chicken prices have been low.

"With the price of chicken, I don't know how you could send it across the ocean twice and make money," Raymond said.

He added poultry is safe, as long as it is properly cooked and basic rules for kitchen safety are followed. The department said cooking poultry to 74 degrees C will kill viruses or bacteria.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visited President George W. Bush on Thursday at the White House. In advance of his visit, China made several commitments, including an agreement to drop a mad cow disease-related ban on imports of U.S. beef. Raymond said the deal is unrelated to poultry imports and has been in the works since 2004.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

CBC-TV shuts down in-house design, lays off 79 people

(CBC) - CBC Television has sent layoff notices to 79 employees at its Toronto production centre and plans to stop all in-house design.

The CBC will shut down its Toronto design operations and lay off all the set design, set decoration, carpentry, paint shop, special effects, hair, costumes and props crew. Only graphic designers and makeup artists for in-house programs survived the cuts.

The cuts were made because costs keep rising annually, but CBC's allocation from the federal government has not risen in real terms in more than 20 years, said Fred Mattocks, executive director of regional programming and television production.

"It's necessary because English TV does not have enough money to meet all the needs of its schedule and programming," he said in an interview with CBC Arts Online on Thursday.

"We want to make much more Canadian drama," he said. "That requires money and that money has to come from somewhere."

Mattocks said the department costs $8 million a year to run and the layoffs will save about $1 million.

The affected employees work in design, studio and remote production, post-production and network presentation.

The CBC plans to contract out all these design positions on a project-by-project basis. CBC-TV has had an in-house design team for more than 50 years.

The Canadian Media Guild, the union representing 76 of the 79 employees affected, denounced the layoffs as another example of CBC retreating from its mandate as a public broadcaster.

"CBC is moving out of more and more facets of TV production," said Arnold Amber, president of the CBC branch of the CMG. "You have to ask at some point what they do consider to be programming."

"Maybe they'll save money, maybe they won't," he said. "They've been saying they'll put more money into programming for the last five or six years, but they never do it."

The jobs affected are creative jobs involving people who have built a relationship with producers and performers, he said. Eliminating them will hurt the quality of Canadian TV, Amber said.

Mattocks acknowledged that CBC will lose a lot of talented people with the layoffs.

"What we're doing is getting out of the business of in-house design altogether," he said. "We won't build sets for anything inside the CBC."

Independent producers and co-producers will have to take care of their own design needs in future. CBC says shows like Hatching, Matching and Dispatching and At the Hotel already have independent producers to provide these services.

"Few major public broadcasters around the world still maintain substantial in-house design capacity. Even BBC London stopped doing so some time ago," Mattocks said in an official statement about the layoffs Thursday.

The employees have been given 16 weeks notice.

Last year CBC laid off 30 in-house publicists and contracted out the work to a private company.

© the CBC, 2006

Protester disrupts Chinese leader's White House ceremony

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House arrival ceremony for Hu Jintao was interrupted Thursday by a protester who appealed to President George W. Bush to stop the Chinese president from "persecuting the Falun Gong." A woman began shouting from the top of a camera stand that had been erected in front of the two leaders on the South Lawn.

The Secret Service identified her as Wenyi Wang, 47.

Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said that she had been charged with disorderly conduct and that a charge of intimidating or disrupting foreign officials was also being considered.

Mackin said she had gained access to the event with a temporary White House pass and had been cleared through all the appropriate levels of security.

Stephen Gregory, a spokesman for the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper The Epoch Times, said she had received a press credential through the newspaper. He identified her as a doctor with a specialty in pathology, a Falun Gong practitioner based in New York.

She shouted in Chinese and in heavily accented English: "President Bush, stop him from killing" and "President Bush, stop him from persecuting the Falun Gong."

Bush, standing next to Hu, leaned over and whispered to him, "You're OK," indicating the Chinese leader should proceed with his opening remarks. Hu, who had paused briefly when the shouting began, resumed speaking.

The protester was waving a banner with the red and yellow colours used by Falun Gong, a banned religious movement in China. She kept shouting for several minutes before Secret Service agents were able to make their way to her position at the top of the camera stand. They led her off the stand.

A photographer who was standing next to the protester tried momentarily to quiet her by putting his hand in front of her mouth.

"It's hugely embarrassing," said Derek Mitchell, a former Asia adviser at the Pentagon and now an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

China "must know that this Bush administration is good at controlling crowds for themselves, and the fact that they couldn't control this is going to play to their worst fears and suspicions about the United States, into mistrust about American intentions toward China."

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy said he was too busy to talk when contacted for comment on the heckling.

Gregory, the spokesman for the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper, said, "We expected her to act as a reporter; we didn't expect her to protest. None of us had any idea that Dr. Wang was planning this."

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Inflation rate holds steady at 2.2

(CBC) - Canada's annual inflation rate remained at 2.2 per cent in March as higher gasoline prices were offset by lower prices for clothing and computers, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

The March reading on inflation was unchanged from February.

The core rate of inflation, which excludes such volatile items as energy, tobacco, and fruits and vegetables, also held steady at 1.7 per cent, still well within the Bank of Canada's inflation target of one to three per cent.

"Today's inflation reading is slightly higher than expected, but hardly sends major warning alarms," BMO Nesbitt Burns deputy chief economist Doug Porter said in a morning commentary.

"The real test is whether core inflation can remain stable in the months ahead against a backdrop of soaring energy costs, surging metals prices and a tight job market," he said.

Statistics Canada said prices at the pump averaged 7.4 per cent more than a year ago, with much of that increase coming in the past month. The federal agency said gas prices jumped 5.2 per cent between February and March.

In addition to higher costs to fill up their gas tanks, consumers also paid more for their vehicles. The price for the purchase and leasing of automotive vehicles rose 3.5 per cent in March compared to one year ago, Statistics Canada said.

Homeowners' replacement cost - which Statistics Canada says represents the worn out structural portion of housing and is estimated using new housing prices excluding land - increased by six per cent between March 2005 and March 2006.

Consumers paid less for computer equipment and supplies. Prices in that sector dropped 16.7 per cent year-over-year.

The cost of clothing for both women and men was also lower. Statistics Canada said that lower prices for clothing items have been the usual trend over the last few years due to imports of cheaper clothing.

On a month-over-month basis, the consumer price index rose 0.5 per cent, again, due to rising gas prices.

© the CBC, 2006

Disputed islands stir tensions between South Korea, Japan

(CBC) - Tensions are rising between South Korea and Japan over disputed islands on their sea border.

South Korea has mobilized its coast guard after Japan announced plans to conduct ocean bed surveys near the disputed islands.

South Korea claims the islands and calls them Dokdo.

Seoul has threatened to repel by force any unauthorized Japanese ships trying to enter its economic zone.

It says Japan would be responsible for any consequences.

Coast guard vessels and a surveillance plane have been sent to monitor the area.

Japan calls the islands Takeshima and announced earlier this week it intends to conduct an oceanographic survey in the area.

South Korea says Japan is trying to formalize a claim that dates back to its colonial occupation of Korea that ran from 1910 until the end of the Second World War.

© the CBC, 2006

Chinese president to meet with Bush

(CBC) - U.S. President George W. Bush meets with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday in Washington, where the leaders will discuss the two countries' enormous trade gap.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has been in the United States for two days, speaking with business leaders in Washington state - including Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates - and arrived in the D.C. Wednesday night.

He is scheduled to meet with Bush on Thursday morning, when the two are expected to talk at length about America's $202 billion US trade deficit with China.

That trade gap has caused some members of Congress to call for tariffs on Chinese products and accusations that China's trade practices are unfair and have contributed to the loss of nearly 3 million manufacturing jobs in the United States in the past five years.

Jeffrey Bader, director of the China initiative at the Brookings Institution, says China is increasingly being blamed for America's economic problems.

"People see a plant close somewhere and say 'China is the cause,' and that in turn creates political pressure in Washington," he said.

But Bader points out that U.S. consumers like being able to buy cheap goods at discount stores, and says moves such as tariffs could upset the delicate balance between the two countries.

Also on Bush's agenda for the meetings:

- Nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran
- China's human rights record
- China's growing military strength and whether it poses a threat to Taiwan

Protesters filled a Washington park near the White House on Wednesday, hoping Bush will put democracy and political reform at the top of the agenda.

"Do not listen to the Chinese officials," said Shaah Go, who travelled from Texas for the protest. "They do not represent the people. They are selected by the Communist Party, but not by the people."

© the CBC, 2006

Jackie Chan, other Hong Kong stars to record song to promote Beijing Olympics

HONG KONG (AP) - Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Alan Tam and other Hong Kong entertainers will record a pop song to promote the 2008 Beijing Olympics, an assistant to Tam said Thursday. The song, titled Olympics Beijing, is separate from the official theme song for the 2008 Games, the assistant, who only gave her surname, Lam, told The Associated Press. She said the Mandarin-language song, written by Eddie Ng, will be aired in China. It was unclear if the song would be released on CD.

Lam said Chan has signed on for the project but hasn't recorded his part yet. Others who have already completed their portions are Lau, Tam, Hacken Lee, Shirley Kwan, Andy Hui, William So and Jordan Chan, she said.

Other big names in the entertainment industry are involved with the Beijing Olympics, a major source of pride for the Chinese.

Famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou will oversee the design of the opening and closing ceremonies. American director Steven Spielberg has also signed on as a consultant for the two ceremonies.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

China says economy grew at 10.2 per cent annual rate in first quarter of 2006

BEIJING (AP) - China's economy grew at a 10.2 per cent annual rate in the first three months of this year, more than two percentage points ahead of the official target, the government said Thursday. The announcement by the National Statistics Bureau was in line with figures disclosed Sunday by President Hu Jintao during a meeting with a visiting Taiwanese opposition leader.

The government's official target for growth this year is eight per cent, but forecasts by the World Bank and other outside experts range as high as 9.5 per cent.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Foot-mouth disease infects pigs in Vietnam's Central Highlands

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - An outbreak of foot-mouth disease has infected more than 1,000 pigs in central Vietnam, officials said Monday. The outbreak, detected in Duc Trong district of Lam Dong province in the country's Central Highlands, has already killed 400 pigs in the past week, said Pham Van Chau, head of the provincial animal health department.

"We have quarantined the infected area and are sanitizing the pig sties," he said.

Transporting and selling pigs from the infected district has been banned. Checkpoints have been set up along the major roads, Chau said.

"We have to ensure minimum chance for the disease to spread," he said, adding infected pigs that died were burned.

However, local media have reported that motorbikes carrying caged pigs have been seen coming and going daily from the provincial capital of Dalat.

The provincial animal health office is planning to cull infected pigs in the area, Chau said.

Foot-mouth disease, which also affects sheep, cows and goats, is a highly contagious viral illness that can spread through minimal contact with infected animals, farm equipment or meat. The disease can be fatal in animals but does not harm humans.

Chau said pigs in Vietnam are vaccinated against the disease twice a year. The pigs that became infected were inoculated in early 2006, he said.

"The pigs may have been infected by a virus strain that resists the vaccine. We are collecting samples to find out treatments as well as the proper type of vaccine for future use."

© The Canadian Press, 2006

China will create artificial rain to wash Beijing clean

(CBC) - The Chinese government plans to seed clouds over Beijing to prompt a cleansing rainfall after the capital was hit by the worst dust storm in five years, state media reported Tuesday.

A thick layer of yellowish sand covered buildings, cars and open spaces after the storm hit overnight on Sunday.

Health officials warned parents to keep their children indoors and hospitals treated more people for breathing difficulties at the height of the dust storm.

China's Central Meteorological Bureau said the government would use airplanes to seed clouds to create an artificial rainfall to wash away some of the estimated 300,000 tons of dust and sand that fell on Beijing.

Cloud seeding has been practised around the world for decades, with varying degrees of success.

It involves using aircraft to spray moisture-laden clouds with a crystalline substance such as silver iodide. This can prompt supercooled moisture contained in the clouds to freeze and fall as rain.

This week's dust storm extended across the East China Sea as far as South Korea and Japan.

The weather system was expected to last through Wednesday in some parts of China.

© the CBC, 2006

Trade tops agenda for Chinese president's trip to U.S.

(CBC) - Chinese President Hu Jintao is travelling to the United States Tuesday in a visit aimed at resolving trade disputes and easing American concerns about China's growing economic influence.

Hu's first stop is Seattle, where he is scheduled to dine at the home of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and meet executives from U.S. jet manufacturer Boeing.

At least three groups are planning protests in Seattle over China's control of Tibet, its treatment of Falun Gong practitioners and its rocky relationship with Taiwan.

The Chinese president will be accompanied by an entourage of trade officials on his four-day visit and is expected to confirm an impressive list of business deals.

Just last week, Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi signed contracts worth more than $16 billion US, including an order for 80 Boeing jets.

- Software piracy, trade and currency on agenda -

The visit comes amid mounting American concerns about its trade deficit with China, intellectual property violations in the world's most populated country, and continued complaints in Washington about China's currency, the yuan.

Washington claims the yuan is undervalued, keeping Chinese exports artificially cheap compared to North American products.

Beijing has sought to soothe those concerns, launching a high-profile crackdown on software piracy in the run-up to the visit, while stressing that it was not doing so in response to American pressure.

On Thursday, Hu will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House.

Analysts don't expect China to make any concessions on its currency during the visit.

© the CBC, 2006

Japan cuts aid to Palestinian Authority

(CBC) - Japan has become the latest country to withhold new aid money to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority until the group rejects violence against Israel.

A Foreign Ministry official said Tokyo wants Hamas to make it clear that it is committed to the Mideast peace process.

"Our stance is that we want to see whether it Hamas will adopt peaceful measures and participate in the peace process," ministry spokesperson Akira Chiba said.

"Until we have a clearer picture ... there won't be a situation where new aid would be given."

Japan's decision will not affect pre-existing aid projects such as repairing roads, building homes and food aid. Last month, Japan gave $6 million for humanitarian food aid in the Palestinian territory, through the United Nations World Food Programme.

Since 1993, Japan has given $840 million in aid to the Palestinians.

Before Hamas won parliamentary elections in January, the Palestinian Authority received about $1 billion a year in aid from Western nations.

Canada, the United States, Israel and European Union have since frozen aid to the Hamas-led government.

Quatar and Iran have each pledged $50 million to try to fill the gap and help the Palestinian Authority pay its 140,000 employees. It is already two weeks late in delivering March paycheques.

© the CBC, 2006

Tri-Vision licenses V-chip technology to Taiwanese manufacturer Chunghwa

TORONTO (CP) - Tri-Vision International Ltd. (TSX:TVL), which designs V-chips that can block television content based on rating systems, said Tuesday it has licensed patented technology to manufacturer Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. of Taiwan.
The licenses are valid through the expiration of the patent in 2016.

Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Chunghwa makes optoelectronic display components used in thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display, projection, plasma display panel and cathode ray tube applications.

Tri-Vision shares gained 10 cents or 5.7 per cent to $1.85 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Sandstorm leaves Chinese capital Beijing caked in yellow dust

BEIJING (AP) - A sandstorm swept into Beijing early Monday, leaving skies hazy and the city blanketed under a film of ochre-coloured dust - an annual rite of spring in the country's north. It's "as if the desert has crawled to Beijing overnight," the official Xinhua news agency quoted resident Zhang Rui as saying after the storm, which hit the China-Inner Mongolia border over the weekend, moved southeast into the capital early Monday.

All over the city, residents and workers were dusting and hosing down cars, buildings and monuments. The weather was calm but meteorologists predicted a slight drizzle Monday night.

On Sunday, city workers were sent to wash down roads and construction sites were told to stop work in an effort to lessen the impact of the storm, Xinhua said.

Each spring, sandstorms fed the deserts of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia blow toward Beijing and the eastern seaboard. Sometimes, the dust blows out across the Pacific, clouding the skies of South Korea and occasionally drifting as far as the U.S. West Coast.

Monday's storm was the eighth - and the worst - to hit Beijing this year, with sand granules being much larger than normal dust particles in the city's air, Xinhua said, citing Wang Xiaoming, an official with the city's Environment Protection Bureau.

"That's why we feel sand is raining down," Wang said.

Last week, the western Xinjiang region was hit its worst sandstorm in decades with one person killed and thousands stranded after sand covered railways and high winds smashed train and car windows.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Federal ministers cross Canada to consult on head-tax redress

VANCOUVER (CP) - How does a government apologize for the racism of charging one ethnic group a discriminatory tariff to come to Canada? How does a government compensate men who had to leave school early to pay off debts incurred by paying the tariff, or apologize to families thrown into years of debt because of it?

The heritage minister will be asking Chinese Canadians these questions in a series of meetings across the country this week aimed at devising a fair redress package.

The exercise is stirring up painful memories for many head-tax victims.

Yew Lee, a descendant of two generations of head-tax payers, says it brings him back to a time when some white Canadians thought it was OK to walk into a Chinese restaurant, order a steak dinner, savour it and then butt their cigarette out in the scraps.

"They'd say, there's a cigarette in my food, I'm not paying," says Lee who lives in Chelsea, Que.

"It was OK because this was a society where the government sanctioned discrimination against Chinese people. It allows people to treat parts of our society like sub human."

Yew's 94-year-old mother lives in Ottawa. She's immobile and won't be able to get to any consultation with government ministers she's too cynical to have faith in anyway.

She sits with memories of being kept out of Canada by a law that barred Chinese people from immigrating at all.

Her husband paid the head tax and wasn't allowed to bring Yew, his mother and three brothers over and the family was separated for 14 years.

"How that affected me, I'm still trying to figure that out," says Yew.

The tax has been acknowledged as a dark period in Canadian history for its blatant racism.

Chinese immigration to Canada began around 1858 in response to the Gold Rush in British Columbia. Immigrants also were brought in from China to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway.

But the federal government subsequently tried to restrict Chinese immigration, passing legislation that initially imposed a $50 tax on immigrants. That later rose to $500.

About 81,000 Chinese immigrants paid $23 million to enter Canada under the head-tax scheme between 1885 and 1923. The Chinese Exclusion Act followed, barring Chinese immigrants altogether until it was repealed in 1947.

Victor Wong, another descendent who lives in Toronto, said you just can't compensate people for what happened.

He wants the government to act by July 1 and provide a redress package, money and an apology to victims and their spouses while they are still alive.

Wong said descendants can be addressed later.

Victims have suggested the government could apologize to the wider Chinese Canadian community by creating a day to remember that would be marked each year.

Others are still just amazed that the government wants to talk about it at all.

"It's pretty unprecedented. No government has really done that before," says Sid Tan, a Vancouver resident and volunteer with Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity.

"I wish my grandma was alive to see this. Wow."

Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism, will be attending meetings this week in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to consult with Chinese Canadians touched by the head tax.

Kenney said the consultations will help the government come up with a fair redress package that could be rolled out this spring.

"We just want to give people a chance to speak their minds. Once consultations are done, minister Oda and I will be making recommendations to the cabinet about the way forward and we hope that sometime this spring there will be a formal apology for the head tax in Parliament and an announcement about what kind of redress would be offered."

The government first wants to hear how victims were affected and people like Sid Tan will be at the meeting in Vancouver to tell his story.

His is similar to Yew's.

His grandfather paid the head tax. His grandmother was kept out by the Exclusion Act of 1923. The two were apart for 25 years.

Tan remembers his grandmother was fearful when her grandson took up the cause of getting redress for head-tax payers 20 years ago.

"She told me not to. She said 'What if the police come, what if the green coats (immigration officials wore green then) in the middle of the night, what if they tie you up, throw you in the river. No, no, where would we be, these things, never mind.'

"I knew she was so intimidated by the forces of government. She would be gratified to hear the government talking about these things now."

Tan said he's feeling really good about how the stories are coming out. Communities are talking and the government is listening.

"Our Chinese forbearers not only had to overcome the geography and environment and the climate, we had to overcome the people. And I think we have. Now, I think Chinese people are accepted as part of the Canadian mosaic," Tan says.

Few people who actually paid the head tax in the early 1900s are still alive. Four elderly men live in Vancouver.

Tan is helping to organize carpools for head-tax payers, their families and widows to get them out to the meeting with the federal ministers in suburban Richmond, B.C.

He says some of them don't want anything from the government other than acknowledgment of their story.

Tan will ask the government to return the $23 million it collected in head-tax.

Ted Tan, vice-president of the Chinese Society of Nova Scotia, said he has no opinion on whether or not compensation should be paid out to individuals or to the Chinese community, but he welcomed Ottawa's willingness to discuss the issue.

"Those who were directly affected are old, or have passed away, and really it would probably would be better to have this issued resolved while some are still alive," he said in Halifax.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Chinese entrepreneur pays US$20 million at auction for 8th-century vase

BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese entrepreneur paid $20 million US at an auction for an eighth-century white porcelain vase, a new record for antiquities in China, state television and an auction house employee said Tuesday. The sale highlighted the soaring prices that newly rich Chinese collectors are paying for cultural relics at home and abroad.

The vase, made during the 960-1279 Song dynasty, was sold April 15 in Beijing during an antiquities fair, said Lu Fei, an employee of the Red Sun International Auction Co.

The price was the highest ever paid for a cultural relic in China, state television reported.

Lu wouldn't give the buyer's name, but said he was manager of a company in the eastern province of Jiangsu. He said the seller was a 60-year-old descendant of a family that has collected art for three generations.

The 37-centimetre-tall vase was made at a kiln in central China, the state television report said.

"We did not expect the deal could be done at a such high price. The starting auction price was $7.5 million," Lu said. "The deal indicates the cultural relics market is very big in China."

Lu didn't know what the buyer planned to do with the vase. But China's cultural relics laws would make it nearly impossible to take such an old object out of the country.

The piece is unusual because it is larger than similar vases made by the same kiln, Lu said.

China's economic boom has fuelled an explosion of art collecting, some aimed at bringing home porcelains, paintings and other relics that were looted during a century of colonial domination.

Chinese buyers have set new records at auctions in the West, paying multimillion-dollar prices.

The government has created a fund to finance the purchase of Chinese antiquities abroad. But most of the biggest purchases have been made by companies and private collectors.

Last month, an 18th century porcelain flask once owned by a Chinese emperor sold at an auction in Scotland for $530,000 - 100 times the pre-sale estimate.

The auction house wouldn't identify the buyer but said the piece likely would be returned to China.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Ex-Imperial Japanese Army soldier, once declared war-dead, alive in Ukraine

TOKYO (AP) - A former Japanese soldier last seen by his family when he went off to fight in the Second World War has surfaced in Ukraine and is returning to Japan to see his relatives after 60 years, the government said Monday. Ishinosuke Uwano, now 83, had been declared among Japan's war dead in 2000.

Suminori Arima, a health ministry official in charge of locating war veterans lost overseas, declined to say where Uwano had been for the past six decades or why he had not been in touch with his family in Japan.

He said Uwano was expected to arrive Wednesday with his Ukrainian son to spend 10 days with his surviving relatives in Iwate, about 470 kilometres northeast of Tokyo.

"It's wonderful that Mr. Uwano can make a homecoming visit in good health," Arima said.

Uwano was an Imperial Army soldier serving in a force occupying the island of Sakhalin in Russia's far east when the war ended in August 1945. Arima said he was last reported seen there in 1958.

Arima said the aging Uwano, who lives in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, asked someone in his local community to help him track down his Japanese relatives. Inquiries by the acquaintance eventually reached the health ministry, which sent staff to interview Uwano at the Japanese Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, Arima said.

The health ministry declined to provide more information on the former soldier, and details of his Japanese and Ukrainian families were not disclosed.

Kyodo News Agency said Uwano moved to Ukraine in 1965 and has three children. He lives in Zhitomir, a city just west of Kyiv, the report said.

The government believes about 400 former Japanese Second World War soldiers are living in the states of the former Soviet Union, including 40 who have been identified.

© The Canadian Press, 2006