Orchid Ensemble and Tandava

Orchid Ensemble and Tandava are now promoting their events together.
Both groups have recently updated their website with new designs and info, as well as music and video. Please visit www.orchidensemble.com and www.tandava.com

Enchanted Evenings
7:30pm, Sept 1, 2006
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Classical Garden. 578 Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC
Tandava gives a concert of music from its debut CD, plus brand new compositions, at the beautiful Chinese classical garden. www.vancouverchinesegarden.com
co-presenter Vancouver World Music Collective. www.vancouverworldmusic.org
$15 non-members and $12 members. 604 662-3207

The 6th Silent Summer Nights

8:15pm, Sept 2, 2006
Grandview Park (Commercial Dr. at the end of William Street) Vancouver

Joined by Vancouver guitarist Ron Samworth, the Orchid Ensemble is performing live sounds to two Chinese animations made in 1979 and 1980: “Three Monks” and “Nezha Conquering the Dragon King”. This event is presented by Radix and Rumble Productions and free to the public. Bring a blanket and the whole family!

New Chinese-Canadian Roots Website

Vancouver Public Library’s new Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website, sponsored in part by Library and Archives Canada, offers a variety of practical tools and resources to support all stages of genealogical research, from basic techniques commonly used by genealogists, to more advanced guidance.

http://www.vpl.ca/ccg

16th Annual Pacific Northwest Bacchanalian Wine & Food Festival

Celebrating the Wine & Food of the Pacific Northwest
At Storyeum – Friday, September 22nd, 2006
7:00 – 10:00 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)

The Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival Society is proud to announce the 16th Annual Pacific Northwest Wine Festival – a celebration of the best of the Pacific Northwest. Sumptuous food samplings, wonderful wines, entertainment, silent auction and raffles make for a fun and memorable evening.

This is the only festival that celebrates Pacific Northwest wine and food by bringing together top restaurants in the Lower Mainland and featuring exclusive wines from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Idaho states.

Produced by the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival Society, this event ensures the sustainability of the nearly 20 year old Vancouver International Dragon Boat festival as a fundraiser for the Society. Proceeds from the evening are used for youth initiative programs implemented and supported by the Society, other Society sustainability initiatives and the individual Charities of Choice for the Teams.

40 plus wineries are expected to display their top product and 15 restaurants to serve up some amazing food. There will be an exclusive Silent Auction and a chance to win many great prizes during the evening.

New to this year’s event are the “First Class Flights” – a value added premium ticket. These tickets, to be sold in groups of 10 or more, will offer the ticket holders a small private tasting experience between the hours of 6 and 7 pm, and admission to the public event at 7 pm. Each one of these hosted experiences will be themed. Themes could include “Wine and Food, Cause and Effect”, “What a difference a glass makes!”, “Ice Wines, a BC Tradition”, and “Celebrate with BC Sparkling Wines”. “First Class Flights” premium tickets will be available for $120.00 plus tax per ticket.

For more information please email us at info@pacificwinefest.com or call 604-688-2382.

Tickets are $89.00 available at www.ticketweb.ca or by calling 604-688-2382.

Let's move faster: City Hall

Employment Equity Act
By IRWIN LOY, 24 HOURS

There could be changes coming to the federal act that mandates racial equality in the workplace.

The Employment Equity Act, brought in by the Tories in 1986, is due for its federally mandated review this year.

The act is meant to removes barriers to employment for minorities without imposing quotas on employers. But currently it only applies to about two million people, or 13 per cent of Canada's labour force. That needs to change, says Vision Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie.

"That's a relatively low number," said Louie, who serves on the mayor's working group on immigration. "That's not what people would expect when they think of a federal equality act."

NPA Coun. B.C. Lee, who chairs the working group, wants to see the federal government speed up changes that would allow faster recognition of foreign credentials. He says Federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has told him it could take about two years.

"We think that two years is quite a long time," Lee said. "We would like to see that it go faster."

The working group met with Blackburn yesterday, who was in town on a nationwide tour promoting racism-free workplaces. Blackburn announced his ministry would hire nine regional officers to work on the issue.

Half of Vancouver's population is made up of visible minorities. More than 1.4 million Canadians reported they experienced racial discrimination, according to a 2003 Statistic Canada study.

LARGEST VISIBLE MINORITIES IN THE CITY OF VANCOUVER:
1. Chinese (161,110)
2. South Asian (30,655)
3. Filipino (22,085)
4. Southeast Asian (14,670)
5. Japanese (8,280)
6. Latin American (6,490)
7. Korean (6,130)
8. African (4,780)
9. West Asian (3,160)
10. Arab (1,465)
11. Multiple origins (4,550)

- Source: City of Vancouver

Reports of camel milk's aphrodisiac properties send sales soaring in India

NEW DELHI (AP) - Is camel milk the Viagra of the desert? It appears so in the arid Indian state of Rajasthan, where thousands of men have been clamouring to get their hands on the milk after an 88-year-old man who fathered a child several weeks ago attributed his virility to the drink, the Times of India newspaper reported Tuesday.

Since the man, Virmaram Jat, a local farmer, revealed what he believes to be the secret of his sexual prowess, sales of camel milk have shot up and dealers have doubled their prices in the western state, the paper reported.

One vendor, Samran Singh, told the paper he now charges 40 rupees (eight cents US) a litre, up from 20 rupees (four cents) a few weeks ago.

However, doctors and scientists in Rajasthan said it was unlikely the milk was responsible for his achievement.

The director of the National Research Centre on Camels, M.S. Sahani, said there was no scientific basis for the claim.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Pitch Expo Toronto

Do you have a great idea for a film or television show? Looking for a way
to get your project made?

Pitch Expo Toronto is a one-day event where you have a chance to pitch your
projects to top industry professionals in a series of five-minute,
one-on-one meetings.

Writers, producers, directors - anyone with a great idea is welcome to attend!

One day only - Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Register now! Space is very limited. www.pitchexpo.com

NEW PITCHING OPPORTUNITY - JUST ADDED!

You can now submit written pitches to executives who are unable to attend
in person!

Free bonus pitches are available to registrants paid by midnight, EST,
Saturday, September 2, 2006. After this time, written pitching slots may
be available for purchase on the day.

Some of the companies attending in person include:
Nelvana - Franklin, Care Bears, Bob and Margaret
Black Walk Productions - Phil the Alien, Ham + Cheese
Barna-Alper Productions - Da Vinci's City Hall, G-Spot
Ellis Entertainment - Profiles of Nature, The Baby Human
Cinema Vault Releasing - Pump up the Volume, Such a Long Journey

Some of the companies accepting written pitches include:
Belladonna Productions - Transamerica
Big Beach Films - Little Miss Sunshine
A & E IndieFilms - Murderball, Rock School
The Brant Rose Agency - Agent for the Nicholl Winner
Anagram Pictures - Missing in America

Please check the web site as more companies are being added daily.
Spaces are limited, so register now at www.pitchexpo.com !

Kimberley Ann Sparks
Founder, Pitch Expo Toronto
contact@pitchexpo.com
416.532.1933

Head Tax Hip Hop for Redress in Saltwater City

no luck club (NLC) and Funk In Da Attic at Carnegie Hall!

Vancouver, BC - BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and
Descendants invites citizens to a petition signing and letter writing
dance party with music by no luck club (NLC) and performance by
Funk in Da Attic. Colleen Hua, president of the Chinese Canadian
National Council, will also be in attendance.

Date: Sunday, September 10, 2006
Time: 10:00am call time - program to begin shortly after
Place: Carnegie Community Centre Main Hall
401 Main Street at Hastings, Vancouver

The Conservative government's unilaterally imposed redress package
ignored and rejected repeated calls from head tax families for a just
and honourable redress.

no luck club (NLC) is an instrumental hip hop group combining turntable
improv with sample-based rhythms. Founded by the Chan Brothers
(Matt & Trevor), Vancouver DMC DJ champion Paul Belen (Pluskratch)
joined the group in 2004.

Funk In Da Attic is a local recreational dance troupe with steps to put
"move" into the redress movement. They are Nicole Chubb, Gary Quon,
Cathy Jupista, Julie Miller, Ikue Ueno, Megan Hui and Hersie Init.

The BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants are
today's Canadians on a two decade plus quest for justice and honour for
Chinese adventurers and pioneers and their families.

Shojo Manga! Girl Power!

GIRLS' COMICS FROM JAPAN
September 6 - October 4, 2006

The Japan Foundation, Toronto
131 Bloor Street West (Bay subway station)
2nd Floor of the Colonnade building

Opening Reception and Lecture by Curator Dr. Masami Toku: September 6, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
RSVP Required: 416-966-1600, ext. 600 or rsvp@jftor.org

Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday, 11:30 AM - 4:30 PM & Thursday until 7:00 PM
Special Saturday Openings: September 9, and 16 Noon - 5:00 PM
Closed: Sundays and all other Saturdays

Free Admission

The Japan Foundation, Toronto presents the exhibition Shojo Manga! Girl Power! Girls' Comics From Japan curated by Dr. Masami Toku of California State University. The exhibition will be on display from September 6 - October 4, 2006 at the Japan Foundation, Toronto. In conjunction with the exhibition, curator Dr. Toku will present a lecture entitled "The Power of Shojo Manga: Its Value and Contribution to Visual Culture and Society" on September 6, 2006.

Featuring more than 200 works by 23 artists, this exhibit is the first of its kind to explore the unique styles of female manga artists and examines their contributions to the development of Shojo Manga. The exhibit is divided into three main periods: 1) The dawn of Shojo Manga, 2) The diversity of Shojo Manga, and 3) The new generation and new directions in Shojo Manga. In a sense, Shojo Manga serves as a commentary and a narrative of the lives of Japanese girls and women as they negotiate their changing social roles, aesthetics, and societal expectations. Interpersonal relationships, love, sex, and women's self-representation are amongst some of the many themes found in Shojo Manga.

Overall, this touring exhibition is a comprehensive introduction to newcomers and an in depth exploration of the evolution of themes and expressions in Shojo Manga. It provides convincing explanations for manga's enviable role in Japanese popular culture and its increasing international appeal.

Shojo Manga! Girl Power! is part of an international touring exhibit that has traveled to California State University, Chico, University of New Mexico, Columbia College Chicago and The Pratt Institute, Brooklyn.

Dr. Masami Toku is an Associate Professor of art education at California State University, Chico. Her research interest is the cross-cultural study of children's artistic and aesthetic developments in their pictorial world and how visual popular culture influences children's visual literacy. In her lecture, Dr. Toku will provide an overview of the works exhibited in the current exhibit and examine more closely the individual creators of Shojo Manga, providing a deeper look into the development and impact of this form of visual pop culture. For more on Dr. Toku see www.csuchico.edu/~mtoku/vc

Overall crime rate down in Vancouver

(CBC) - The overall number of crimes in Vancouver is "falling dramatically," but violent crime is up, the police department's annual report says.

Chief Jamie Graham said the number of crime incidents was down 7.5 per cent in 2005. That decline continued this year.

Graham said property crime fell by 10.5 per cent last year, with residential burglaries down by more than 16 per cent and the number of stolen vehicles down by 14 per cent.

However, the report released Monday said violent crime was up two per cent in Vancouver in 2005, with assaults up six per cent.

The force added 50 new officers last year and 50 new civilian workers, but Graham said that may not be enough to deal with future policing needs.

"We're in the middle of a quite a detailed study right now to look at our reviews for 2007. We have some research going on and early indications are that we may need more people."

The department spent $20,000 to have the four-page report published and distributed as an insert in the Vancouver Sun.

Graham said the report reaches up to half a million people this way, compared to a few thousand by a more traditional format.

One of the leading critics of the department said Monday's report fails to provide a critical assessment of police behaviour.

"It seems reading this that everything is absolutely perfect. But certainly that's not the experience of the people who are calling us on an almost daily basis," said John Richardson of the Pivot Legal Society, an advocacy group in the Downtown Eastside.

Richardson said there's nothing in the annual report about people who have complaints about police officers and argues statistics on those complaints should be included.

© the CBC, 2006

First Apple laptop fire reported in Japan; officials order investigation

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese authorities reported Tuesday the first case of an Apple laptop catching fire in Japan and ordered the U.S. company to investigate the trouble involving the faulty Sony batteries and report back within a week. A laptop made by Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) overheated and caught fire in April, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The user sustained minor burns after the IBook G4 computer caught fire, according to Apple spokeswoman Michiko Matsumoto, who confirmed the case.

Last week, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company told its customers to return 1.8 million IBook G4 and PowerBook G4 batteries worldwide that could cause their laptops to overheat and catch fire - just 10 days after Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) recalled 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries for the same reason. It was the largest recall involving electronics in the history of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In both cases, the problematic lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony Energy Devices Corp., a subsidiary of Sony Corp. based in Japan.

Apple has received nine reports in the United States of the lithium-ion batteries battery packs overheating, including two consumers who received minor burns after handling overheated computers. Apple has also received reports of minor property damage, but no serious injuries have been reported.

Japan's trade ministry ordered Apple's Japan branch to report on its findings and measures to prevent future troubles by Sept. 5 or it could face a fine of up to 300,000 yen or $2,570 US under Japan's consumer safety laws.

Sony and Dell also have been ordered to report on their findings after the recall was announced by the ministry.

Last week, ministry officials reported that batteries in Dell laptops imported to Japan caught fire in at least two separate instances in October and June. No one was injured in those incidents, but the fires destroyed the machines.

Battery packs contain cells of rolled up metal strips. Sony has said that during production, crimping the rolls left tiny shards of metal loose in the cells, and some of those shards can cause batteries to short-circuit, or in extreme cases, catch fire.

Apple's Matsumoto declined to say the number of batteries the recall involves in Japan and how many have been recalled. A call to an Apple corporate spokesman in Cupertino, Calif., was not immediately returned early Tuesday.

The trade ministry has also instructed other Japanese electronic makers to check the safety of their laptop batteries.

Dell has already recalled batteries from affected models in Japan. Batteries powering Sony's Vaio laptops don't have the same problems, according to the Tokyo-based manufacturer.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Doctor shortage to increase by 2015 without foreign-trained physicians: study

CALGARY (CP) - Provincial governments across Canada should stop regulating who gets into Canadian medical schools and consider allowing qualified potential physicians to foot their own training costs, says a new study from the Fraser Institute. The move would help ease a doctor shortage and reliance on foreign-trained doctors that will only get worse in the next decade, says Nadeem Esmail, a director at the economic think-tank.

"Abandoning medical school admission and training restrictions would mean that the supply of doctors would be determined by patients' needs, not provincial funding decisions," said Esmail, whose study was released Monday.

He said would-be doctors either abandon their medical dreams or choose to pay for their education in the United States or the United Kingdom, many choosing not to return to Canada.

The study also recommends the adoption of user fees and lifting restrictions such as how many operations a surgeon can perform.

"There are a number of ways the system can be reformed that will increase the volume of services provided to Canadians through the universal health-care system without an increase of cost," Esmail said.

"The system is very expensive and delivers very poor access to care because of its structure. Changes to that structure will mean better access to care today."

The report notes Canada has been relying on foreign-trained doctors to fill the gap in recent years. Without a change in medical training policy, importing health-care workers will have to continue or Canada will see the number of doctors per capita drop by 2015.

Previous studies have concluded that government restrictions on education and training in the late 1980s created the shortage. And, although the numbers in medical schools have expanded in recent years, one in 10 doctors is now trained in another country.

Esmail said it's wrong to encourage doctors from poor nations to fill the gap here and force countries such as South Africa and India to make do with fewer physicians.

"Right now, government decides what the need is going to be down the road and then decides what the training numbers are going to be. That system has clearly failed us in the past and it will not work in the future because this is a very complex area that needs to be driven by the needs of patients directly."

Although Canada has long tried to manage the number of doctors, other studies have found that countries which allow the market to determine how many are needed have been able to retain more domestically trained physicians.

Esmail suggests Canadian doctors be allowed to employ international medical graduates in training, much like apprentices, and oversee their work. The provinces should also allow nurses and nurse practitioners to have a larger role in a doctor's private practice under supervision.

Although the country's medical schools have been allowing more students in recent years, it takes up to a decade to train a doctor, meaning the shortage will not be quickly solved.

And a large number of doctors are approaching retirement age.

The Canadian Medical Association has said that more than one third of this county's doctors are 55 or older.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Movie watching in theatres increased in 2004-2005, says Statistics Canada

OTTAWA (CP) - Statistics Canada says Canadians showed a growing interest in watching movies at theatres rather than at home in 2004-2005. Figures from the film distribution and video wholesaling industry show revenues from distributions to theatres rose sharply, while revenues from sales of DVDs and videocassettes levelled off after surging since 2000.

Revenue from distribution to movie theatres grew 16.6 per cent to $446.3 million, while revenue from the wholesaling of DVDs and videocassettes remained unchanged at just over $1.8 billion.

At the same time, overall spending by the industry grew slightly after declining the year before and exports of Canadian films and videos expanded, but at a much lower rate than in the previous year.

The agency says total industry revenues climbed to more than $3.5 billion in 2004-2005, up three per cent from the previous year.

That increase was less than the 4.8 per cent revenue gain the year before, but the profit margin improved to 22.7 per cent from 21.8 per cent in 2003-2004.

"Film and video distributors and video wholesalers reported total spending of more than $2.7 billion in 2004-2005, up two per cent from 2003-2004," Statistics Canada said.

The increase in expenses did not affect the bottom line as industry profits rose to $802.1 million.

Licensing and royalty payments rose marginally.

"Of $847 million in total licensing fees and royalties paid, 17 per cent were for Canadian products, up from 11 per cent the previous year," the agency said.

The survey also found:

-Foreign sales of Canadian-content films and videos reached $331.9 million in 2004-2005, up 3.4 per cent from the previous year. The figure excludes productions distributed directly to foreign clients by producers.

-Fifty-one per cent of the $3.5 billion in total revenue of film and video distributors came from the wholesaling of pre-recorded videos, especially DVDs.

-DVDs, the favourite format in Canada, accounted for 77 per cent of the video wholesaling market, up from 71 per cent in 2003-2004.

-In the pay-TV market, Canadian content accounted for 24 per cent of revenues.

-At movie theatres, Canadian content maintained four per cent of the market, up from three per cent in 2002-2003.

-In the conventional TV market, Canadian content share fell to 16 per cent from 17 per cent in 2003-2004.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

International Readings Celebrates Humber School for Writers 15th Birthday

Wednesday, September 13 at 7:30pm
Brigantine Room, 235 Queen's Quay West, Harbourfront Centre

The Hon. James K. Bartleman, Lieutenant Governer of Ontario; Wayson Choy; Joe Kertes; Vincent Lam; Alistair MacLeod; Kim Moritsugu; Paul Quarrington; M.G. Vassanji; keynote speech by Francine Prose
Hosted by Antanas Sileika

Please join International Readings as we salute the 15th birthday of the Humber School for Writers (HSW). Since 1992, HSW has helped budding authors from around the world pursue their passion for writing. Well over 200 of their students have gone on to publish works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The evening will feature readings from a number of their past and present staff and students.

Tickets: $8 | Free for members and students with valid ID

For more information please see www.readings.org or call the Box Office at 416-973-4000

Vancouver's Taiwanese Cultural Festival 2006

Discover the roots of the Taiwanese in Canada! Join in the festivities at either of the two locations: The Plaza of Nations or The Roundhouse Community Centre.

From September 1st to 3rd, witness classical and contemporary Taiwanese musical performances, indulge in the wonders of Taiwanese cuisine, and kick back with some popcorn and the notable movies from the Island Nation.

Visit http://taiwanfest.ca for more information.

Philippines hopes to break world record with mass tree-planting

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took part Friday in a massive tree-planting campaign aimed at improving air quality in the Philippines while breaking a world record. The "Green Philippine Highways" project initially aimed to simultaneously plant 500,000 trees on 3,439 kilometres of roads across the sprawling archipelago, but Environment Undersecretary Francisco Bravo said the figure may have been higher.

Some 620,000 seedlings were distributed to government and civic groups and nearly a million participants signed up, including members of 4,414 organizations, he said.

"This morning, we planted trees all over the archipelago, the biggest number of trees planted at one time in the history of the world," Arroyo said in a speech after launching the project. "We will probably make it to the Guinness Book of Records for that."

The current record for most number of trees planted simultaneously is listed as 300,587 in 2005 by 16,317 people at 18 sites across India's Andhra Pradesh state.

There was no immediate word from Guinness on Friday's record attempt.

Bravo said participants were given a half-hour to plant, starting at 10 a.m., with each participant asked to sign a document for every tree planted.

The documents were to be verified by village officials, sent to a computer network at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and then checked by a leading auditing company.

The environment department said a recent study showed the Philippines has the second most polluted air among eight Southeast Asian countries polled, with vehicle emissions accounting for 70 per cent of the pollution.

Experts say at least 10 trees are needed to absorb the carbon emissions of a single motor vehicle.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Wal-Mart in Chinese city has Communist party branch

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Wal-Mart, capitalist retailer for the masses, now has its own Communist party branch. Earlier this month, Communist party and Communist Youth League branches and a trade union were set up at a Wal-Mart outlet in the northeastern Chinese industrial city Shenyang, a staffer in the store's communications department said Thursday, confirming Chinese news reports. She gave only her surname, Liu. She would not discuss further details.

A bastion of private business, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has fought efforts to form unions elsewhere in its worldwide operations. But in recent weeks it said it agreed to work with the state-sanctioned Chinese labour federation to allow unions in its outlets in China, where it has 30,000 employees.

It is not clear exactly how the party branch would operate or whether it had an office in the Shenyang store.

At Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., international division spokeswoman Beth Keck said the party branch opening was a routine matter.

"It our understanding that party members and the party have routinely organized branches in enterprises in China and we respect their right to do so," Keck said.

Keck declined comment when asked if the party branch opening was related to the recent spread of Chinese trade unions at Wal-Mart stores or what the branch in Shenyang would actually be doing.

Repeated phone calls to the public-relations department of Wal-Mart's China headquarters in the southern city Shenzhen went unanswered Thursday afternoon.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions, reportedly at the behest of President Hu Jintao, has been campaigning for several years to set up party-controlled unions in Wal-Mart branches as well as other foreign companies.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has 60 stores in 30 Chinese cities, resisted for two years before employees in the southeastern city Quanzhou successfully voted to set up a union in late July.

Shenyang Wal-Mart has only two party members and 16 Communist Youth League members out of its 389 employees, China's Xinhua News Agency reported.

But the Xinhua report stressed the branch's function would be to promote better business.

The party and youth league branches "will encourage members to play an exemplary role in doing a good job and that will be helpful to business development," it quoted Chen Lie, a Communist party district leader in Shenyang, saying.

Chen said the groups would not interfere with management or operations of the retailer.

Since July, employees of at least 16 other Wal-Marts in China also have formed unions, said ACFTU, the umbrella group for unions permitted by the Chinese government. Overall, China aims to unionize employees at 60 per cent of its foreign companies by the end of this year.

China does not allow independent labour organizations. Unions usually represent the workforce of a single company or outlet, rather than an industry and they traditionally have been allied with management.

The communist leadership has sought to preserve the party's influence in the business sector, amid sweeping economic change and a huge influx of foreign capital and management.

Once a thriving industrial hub of China's planned economy, where factory workers enjoyed elite status and cradle-to-grave benefits, Shenyang has seen massive layoffs in recent years.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

U.S. beef to make comeback soon at Japanese restaurant chain after ban lifted

TOKYO (AP) - A Japanese restaurant chain plans to resume serving U.S. beef soon at dozens of its branches nationwide, company officials said Saturday. It would be the first to do so since Tokyo eased an import ban over concerns about mad cow disease.
Zenshoku, based in the western Osaka prefecture, said it will offer U.S. beef at its 57 Korean barbecue restaurants across Japan, but company spokeswoman Tae Okuda said no date has been set yet.

Japan's business daily Nihon Keizai reported earlier that the chain planned to introduce American beef as early as Tuesday.

The company's president and officials visited two food processing plants in California and Colorado earlier this month and confirmed they meet safety standards to export beef to Japan, Okuda said.

The chain plans to show a videotape of the inspection trip at its outlets to put customers at ease over whether U.S. beef is safe to consume, she said.

"Our beef comes only from processing plants which we found treat beef appropriately and are considered safe," the company statement said.

"We think that we should be able to have a choice," Okuda said. "Compared with imported beef from other countries, American beef is more suitable for Korean barbecue as the meat is juicy."

Tokyo first banned U.S. beef in 2003 over mad cow disease concerns. That year, the Japan-U.S. beef trade was valued at $1.4 billion. The ban was lifted in December 2005, but was reinstated a month later after prohibited spinal bones were found in a veal shipment.

The ban was lifted again last month. However, businesses have since been slow to carry U.S. beef, using domestic and Australian beef instead.

Only Costco Wholesale Japan Inc., a unit of the American retailer, has openly pushed American beef, selling beef steaks at five stores across Japan.

Ongoing safety restrictions also have severely limited Japan's beef imports. American beef is restricted to cattle aged 20 months or less with bones and spinal material removed.

Mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is a brain degenerative disease in cattle. In humans, eating meat contaminated with BSE is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

RCMP warning to Indo-Canadian community draws fire

(CBC) - The RCMP's warning that wealthy Indo-Canadian businesspeople in Surrey should be extra careful because of a rash of kidnapping and extortion attempts is creating needless panic, a South Asian community leader says.

Harbanz Kandola was reacting to a RCMP news release that said Indo-Canadian businesspeople should install security alarm systems and surveillance cameras in their homes and offices.

However, it does not say who the targets were or when the incidents occurred.

That's not good enough, says Kandola, president of Surrey's Sikh Alliance Against Violence. He says issuing the warning without any other details could create confusion or even panic.

"There are a lot of rich people in the Indo-Canadian community. To put the release out without an explanation, why create stresses for the businesspeople?" Kandola says he hasn't heard of any recent kidnapping attempts in Surrey, and worries that such vague statements by police can create negative impressions about an entire community.

"It may give the impression to the mainstream community, or overall community, now this is a new thing starting in the Indo-Canadian community or South Asian community? That is my concern."

Surrey RCMP say they just want people to be careful because the kidnappers are targeting innocent people with no connection to drugs or crime. And they argue that giving any more information to the public would jeopardize their investigation.

© the CBC, 2006

Microsoft Corp. confirms that Toshiba will make Zune media player

SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) answer to Apple's iPod will be built by Toshiba Corp., the software company confirmed Friday. The gadget, which will be one of the products marketed under Microsoft's Zune brand, will let people share songs, photos, music playlists and other content with others via a wireless connection. One feature will allow a person to act as a DJ, sending music to up to four other devices.

Toshiba's role was disclosed Thursday when the electronics company filed papers with the Federal Communications Commission. Kyrsa Dixon, a spokeswoman for one of Microsoft's public relations firms, confirmed Friday that Toshiba will make the device.

Photos included in the filing show a white rectangular device with a large screen and several buttons. The minimalist feel closely resembles Apple Computer Inc.'s wildly popular iPod.

Dixon said the report is legitimate. She declined to comment further, saying only that the company is expected to release more details in the coming weeks.

A Toshiba spokesman did not immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail seeking comment.

Microsoft said in July that it planned to launch a series of music and entertainment products that are expected to compete with Apple's iPod player and iTunes music service, with the first expected to be available this year.

The company has released few details about the undertaking, although it recently warned financial analysts that it will require millions of dollars in investment and will not pay off immediately.

Microsoft also has said that Zune is key to the software maker's overall entertainment ambitions and will capitalize on - and tie into - the company's other entertainment offerings. These include the Xbox video game console, Microsoft's television technology and the media-focused version of the Windows operating system that lets people do things like record and watch live television.

Still, Microsoft is expected to face tough competition from the iPod and iTunes juggernaut. Other hardware manufacturers, including Creative Technology Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., offer portable media players using Microsoft's software, although they've had little success against Apple.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Sony, Dell must probe battery problems and report to Japan's trade ministry

Japan's trade ministry on Thursday ordered Sony Corp., Tokyo, Japan, and Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas, USA, to investigate trouble involving Sony laptop batteries, saying they overheated and caught fire in at least two instances in the country, reports The Associated Press.

Sony and Dell must report on their findings and say how they will prevent future problems by the end of August, or face a fine under Japan's consumer safety laws, the statement said. The order came after problems with Sony battery cells forced Dell to recall 4.1 million laptop batteries worldwide earlier this month, the largest recall of electronics-related products in U.S. history.

Lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Sony for Dell laptops imported to Japan overheated and caught fire in at least two separate instances in October and June, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a statement.

No one was injured in those incidents, but the fires destroyed the machines, according to ministry official Atsuo Hirai.

The ministry also pointed to problems with battery cells supplied by Sony for Dell computers in other countries, and told the companies to investigate the safety of Dell models Latitude, Inspiron and Precision imported to Japan from April 2005.

The ministry also instructed other Japanese electronic makers to check the safety of their laptop batteries, says the AP.

Battery packs contain cells of rolled up metal strips, says the AP. Sony has said that during production, crimping the rolls left tiny shards of metal loose in the cells, and some of those shards can cause batteries to short-circuit.

Dell has already recalled batteries from affected models in Japan. Batteries powering Sony's Vaio laptops don't have the same problems, according to the company.

NKorea doesn't rule out nuclear test, warns of 'all possible countermeasures'

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea would not rule out a nuclear test if the United States maintained what it called a hostile policy, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said Saturday, as the communist nation warned of "all possible countermeasures" against the U.S. "We can't say for sure that North Korea will not conduct a nuclear test as part of strengthening its self defence," said Choson Sinbo, a newspaper published in Japan by a pro-North Korean association linked to the Pyongyang regime.

"The full responsibility for this lies with the U.S., which regards any forces that don't agree with or submit to its logic or actions as evil," the paper said, accusing Washington of trying to topple the North's communist regime.

There have been growing concerns that the North may be preparing for a nuclear test following reports of suspicious activity in the communist nation.

Pyongyang says it has nuclear weapons, but hasn't conducted any known test to prove its claims.

Also Saturday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the regime will "pursue all possible countermeasures to protect our sovereignty and dignity," without elaborating what those measures would be.

"It is foolish to think that the issue can be solved through sanctions and pressure," the ministry said in a statement, referring to the U.S. financial restrictions imposed against the communist North for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

Pyongyang has refused to attend talks on its nuclear program until Washington stops blacklisting a Macau bank where the North's regime held accounts.

The nuclear talks have been stalled since November, when negotiators failed to make headway in implementing a September agreement in which the North pledged to drop its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

"We have more to gain from implementing this agreement, thus we want to take part in the six-party talks more" than the U.S., said the North Korean statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency on Saturday.

Song Min-soon, South Korea's presidential security adviser, said Saturday that South Korea and China have agreed to co-operate to prevent a possible nuclear test by the North.

Song, who returned from a two-day trip to Beijing on Friday, refused to elaborate how the two countries would co-operate.

China and South Korea are participants in six-nation nuclear talks, that also include Japan, Russia and the U.S.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Saturday that China has reduced "a significant amount" of its oil supplies to Pyongyang since the communist North conducted a series of missile launches on July 5 that have drawn UN Security Council sanctions.

China is the communist North's closest ally and key provider of oil.

The report cited unnamed officials at an oil storage terminal near the Chinese border city of Dandong.

Meanwhile, South Korea's seismic authorities said they felt on Friday a tremor in North Korea that could have been triggered by some sort of a blast, but ruled out an underground nuclear test.

"It has nothing to do with a nuclear test, but just a typical blast," Park Chang-soo, a spokesman at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, said Saturday.

Park said it was not unusual to feel such waves in North Korea, possibly from construction sites.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Chinese court backs Massacre survivor in lawsuit against Japanese historians

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - A Chinese court has awarded a Nanjing Massacre survivor 1.6 million yuan ($222,000 Cdn) in compensation after ruling in her favour against two Japanese historians who claimed she fabricated her account of the atrocity, state media said Wednesday. The Xuanwu District Court in the eastern city of Nanjing ruled that Xia Shuqin, who was eight years old at the time of the massacre by Japan's Imperial troops, suffered psychological trauma and damage to her reputation from the allegations by the two Japanese scholars.

Shudo Higashinakano and Toshio Matsumura claimed in two books - A Thorough Review of the Nanjing Massacre and The Big Question of the Nanjing Massacre - that historical accounts of the event were untrue. The books, published in the late 1990s, also asserted that accounts by Xia and another survivor, Li Xiuying, were faked.

An official at the Nanjing court said the verdict requires the two authors and their Japanese publisher to publicly apologize to Xia. The publisher was also ordered to immediately stop publishing the books, said the official, who like many Chinese bureaucrats would not give his name.

In Tokyo, Higashinakano, 58, rejected the court's ruling, saying both Japanese and Chinese law would require the case to be heard in Japan to have any validity.

"The Nanjing court has no jurisdiction to handle this case," he said.

Hiromichi Moteki, president of Sekai Shuppan Inc., which published an English translation of Higashinakano's book, said the demand to stop printing the book was "unthinkable."

"These books are written based on firm facts and evidence," he said. "This ruling lacks common sense."

The Nanjing court official said the defendants had 30 days in which to file an appeal.

Historians generally agree that the Japanese army slaughtered at least 150,000 civilians and raped tens of thousands of women during the 1937-38 occupation of Nanjing, located about 240 kilometres west of Shanghai.

China says up to 300,000 people were killed in Nanjing during the rampage of murder, rape and looting by invading Japanese troops, also known as the Rape of Nanking.

Japan avoids giving death toll estimates and conservative legislators and academics still try to whitewash the event, fuelling simmering resentment among Chinese over Tokyo's wartime behaviour.

According to Xia, now 76, a group of Japanese soldiers forced their way into her family's home in Nanjing on Dec. 13, 1937, and killed seven of her family members. Xia and her four-year-old sister were seriously injured but escaped.

According to Chinese media, a U.S. missionary then serving as the chairman of the International Commission of the Red Cross in Nanjing filmed the killings of Xia's family members.

One scene shows Japanese soldiers lining up a dozen Chinese in single file and then firing a rifle point-blank at the first to see how many bodies the bullet would penetrate, the state-run newspaper People's Daily reported.

In 2005, Higashinakano and Matsumura filed a lawsuit against Xia in Tokyo District Court demanding that she acknowledge that her lawsuit in Nanjing was groundless. In May, Xia counter-sued the two men in the same court and the Japanese men dropped their suit.

According to a report by the Chinese news website Sina.com, Xia now plans to file a defamation suit against the two authors next month in Tokyo.

Sino-Japanese relations have hit their lowest level in years, partly because of repeated visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a shrine that memorializes Japan's war dead, including executed war criminals from the Second World War.

Koizumi last visited the shrine earlier this month, sparking harsh rebukes from neighbours China and South Korea, who say the shrine glorifies Japanese militaristic past.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Corel acquires InterVideo in US$196M deal, plans to expand in Asia

OTTAWA (CP) - Software firm Corel Corp. (TSX:CRE) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire InterVideo (NASDAQ:IVII) in an all-cash deal worth about $196 million US.
The deal, announced Monday, is worth $13 per share and will be financed through a combination of cash reserves, debt financing and InterVideo's cash and cash equivalents.

Corel plans to expand its brand in Asia, an area where InterVideo has a strong presence, noting key markets include China, Taiwan and Japan.

InterVideo supplies multimedia DVD software that allows users to record, edit, author, distribute and play digital content on PCs and other devices. The company has also recently completed HD-DVD and Blu-Ray programs.

Corel said the acquisition will make it the broadest digital media software provider in the industry. Customers and partners will now have access to products like WinDVD, Corel Paint Shop and Photo Impact.

"With outstanding products, talented employees and deep relationships with eight of the world's top ten PC manufacturers, InterVideo represents a significant opportunity for Corel to deliver enhanced value to our shareholders," said Corel CEO David Dobson in a release.

"This acquisition will also benefit customers and partners as we expand our ability to provide flexible, bundled solutions that meet the needs of today's digital media consumers."

InterVideo directors and executives have agreed to vote their shares in favour of the merger.

Corel shares last traded Aug. 24 at $11.02 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Goh west...to Hong Kong

By brian lynch
http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=19833

Three students from Vancouver’s renowned Goh Ballet Academy left for Hong Kong yesterday (August 23) to compete in the Genée International Ballet Competition, set to start tomorrow (August 25) under the auspices of the London-based Royal Academy of Dance. Kostyantyn Keshyshev, James Stout, and Fei Fei Ye all hope to follow in the steps of Goh student Céline Gittens, who last year became the first Canadian to win a gold medal in the competition’s 74-year history.

Tokyo subway allows uncensored ad featuring pregnant pop star Britney Spears

Canadian Press: MARI YAMAGUCHI

Britney Spears introduces her husband Kevin Federline's performance at the 2006 Teen Choice Awards in Universal City, Calif., on Sunday. (AP Photo/Phil McCarten)
TOKYO (AP) - Tokyo's subway authority will allow a station advertisement featuring a nude and pregnant Britney Spears, officials said Thursday, dropping an earlier plan to censor the photo.

HB Japan Inc., publisher of the Japanese edition of Harper's Bazaar, plans to rent ad space at the posh Omotesando station next week to promote its October issue with Spears posing naked on the cover.

The ad, in which Spears bares her belly but covers her breasts with her hands, is the same one used in the August issue of the American edition that hit U.S. newsstands last month.

Tokyo Metro Co.'s obscenity screening team initially raised objections to the nudity and asked HB Japan to modify the photograph during negotiations last month.

The publisher reluctantly agreed to blacken out the image from the waist down - covering most of the pop star's belly and thighs - but had planned to write in the black space: "in this place we are not allowed to exercise the same level of freedom of expression as the original Harper's Bazaar."

But on Thursday, Tokyo Metro said it would allow full presentation of the photo as an exception to its obscenity rule, saying it understood the publisher's intention was to portray a happy mother - not to be sexually explicit.

The magazine's deputy chief editor, Kayoko Higashino, welcomed the move. "I'm glad the subway officials understood the meaning of the photo," she said.

Before the reversal, Higashino had called the restriction "ridiculous," and said it would be impossible for viewers to tell that Spears was pregnant, saying she would only look "like a chubby woman."

Spears, pregnant with her second child, darkened her hair and posed naked for photographer Alexi Lubomirski for the Bazaar photos. She is seated with her bare legs pressed together.

In principle, nudity is not accepted in ads in subway cars and stations, said Tokyo Metro spokesman Tatsuya Edakubo.

"Our earlier request to cover the photo from the waist down was because of nudity, not because we had anything against pregnant women," he said, adding that officials later decided that censoring the photo would be inappropriate.

The Omotesando display will include 50 posters for the U.S. fashion magazine, five of them of Spears.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Vancouverites least obese, says national report

(CBC) - Vancouver has the lowest adult obesity rate in the country, says a new report released on Tuesday by Statistics Canada.

The survey shows Vancouver had an obesity rate of 12 per cent in 2004, about half the national average of 23 per cent.

It was also lower than Toronto's rate of 16 per cent.

The report says adults who live in big Canadian cities are less likely to be obese than those who live in smaller centres. Statistics Canada's figures show 20 per cent of city dwellers are obese, compared with 29 per cent in outlying areas.

The figures relate to adults, and the city-town differences were not reflected in children whose average obesity rate is 26 per cent higher than the average for adults.

More social pressure in cities, says fitness trainer

Cat Smiley, who runs the military-style fitness Boot Camp in Whistler, says a recent survey of her clients, or "recruits" as she calls them, confirms the Statistics Canada report.

She says people from the smaller community of Whistler were heavier on average than people from Vancouver.

"I think there is a lot more pressure to be thin in the big cities or in the cities than there is in the small towns," she said.

Smiley, twice named Canada's top fitness trainer, says the answer to obesity is not found in crash diets, but in lots of physical activity and eating fruits and vegetables.

"A good body is a body that moves freely without pain," said Smiley. "Try not to see exercise as a separate activity, but more of a way of life."

© the CBC, 2006

China considering law to bar teachers from insulting students: report

BEIJING (AP) - China's parliament is considering a law that would bar teachers from insulting students after widespread complaints of classroom humiliation, a news report said Wednesday. The measure would "ban teachers from insulting and physically punishing their students," the Xinhua News Agency said. It said the ban was part of an amendment to a law on child protection being considered by the National People's Congress.

Violators could be fired or given administrative punishments, Xinhua said. It didn't say how the measure would define insults.

A survey last year by an official youth committee found that "Chinese teachers often humiliate their pupils," the agency said.

It said the study found that "81.45 per cent of primary school students listed insults from teachers as their most serious problem."

A 17-year-old student committed suicide in 2004 after being humiliated by a teacher in front of her classmates, according to the report.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

More Canadian women bringing home the back bacon: StatsCan

CBC News

The percentage of women earning more than their husbands nearly tripled over a 26-year period, suggests a Statistics Canada study of double-income couples.

In 2003, 29 per cent of wives earned more than their husbands, compared with 11 per cent in 1967, suggests the study, which was released Wednesday and published in the August edition of Perspectives on Labour and Income.

Researchers attributed the growth in women's earnings to women's increase in education and more job opportunities, flexible work arrangements such as compressed work schedules, parental leave allowances and more child-care options.

"Together these factors have improved women’s access to better paying jobs and their ability to rise in the ranks," authors Deborah Sussman and Stephanie Bonnell wrote in their report.

"While for some couples the rising cost of living may have made two incomes a financial necessity, for others it may be a matter of both spouses pursuing their own interests or aspirations," the authors said.

However, researchers also noticed a disparity in earnings. For example, primary-earner wives in managerial and professional jobs took home an annual salary of $68,000 a year, compared with primary-earner husbands who received $83,000.

But women in these demanding jobs said their personal lives sometimes suffer and find it difficult to maintain a sustainable work-life balance, the report said.

The study, which drew from information in the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, found primary-earner wives tended to be older and more educated than primary-earner husbands and secondary-earner wives. The majority of the primary-earner wives also had full-time jobs and a good deal of work experience.

Canadians' reliance on Net continues to grow, say experts

TORONTO (CP) - More and more Canadians have embraced the Internet into their lives, changing the way they shop, do business and fall in love, say digital observers.
Liss Jeffrey, director of the McLuhan Global Research Network, says the shift has taken hold much more quickly than some people anticipated.

"The World Wide Web is increasingly being integrated fully into the lives of most people in Canada," says Jeffrey, who is researching society's shift into the digital era.

"This is news to a lot of people who, I don't think, thought things were going to move this far this fast."

A recent Statistics Canada survey found that an increasing number of people are using the Internet for a wide range of their daily affairs. It suggested, for example, that 68 per cent of adult Canadians use the Internet for a variety of personal reasons.

Mark Federman, a researcher at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, says the trend is representative of a larger phenomenon.

"The Net and our experience of the Net, so far, is the early warning that everything we've known for the past 200 years is undergoing a massive change," he says.

So what massive changes has the Internet already had on the lives of Canadian users?

The survey estimated that more than 15 million adult Canadians used the Internet at home in 2005. Almost two-thirds of them used it every day during a typical month.

Ninety-one per cent of home users said they went online to use e-mail. Others sought out weather and road conditions, make travel arrangements, view sports or news reports, and do their banking and shopping.

However, not everyone is online. Only 58 per cent of residents living in Canada's small towns or rural areas accessed the Net during the survey period, compared to a high of 77 per cent in some urban areas.

The study's authors say this split is due partly to that fact that cities have younger populations and more residents with higher levels of income and education.

Those between the age of 18 and 44 were more than one and a half times more likely to use the Internet than their elders, the study found. Jeffrey says the digital generation gap will dissipate as today's younger generation ages.

"There are things that I and my kids do that 15 years ago would have been unimaginable," says Federman, who laughed at the thought of his children waiting for the nightly TV weather report instead of retrieving instant reports online.

Internet banking is replacing many personal banking transactions, with 58 per cent of users taking care of their finances online, according to the survey.

Michael Hoechsmann, teacher of media and technology at McGill University, said more people will bank and shop online as society's trust in the web grows.

"With steady steps we're developing an increasing trust and reliance on the Internet," he says.

Online dating has really taken off and will continue to gain in popularity, says Federman.

But not every aspect of life has made the jump into the digital realm. While 43 per cent of web users shop online, few buy groceries.

Federman says this is because "you walk into that store, if you inhale you'll smell the fruits, you'll smell the bakery. It's a sensual experience," and that experience cannot be replicated online.

Jim Okumura, a Chicago based e-commerce consultant with the Toronto based J.C. Williams Group Ltd., says the Internet is unlikely to stop people from going to stores.

"The web is not going to overtake or replace traditional shopping, it's going to supplement it," says Okumura.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Kootenay School of Writing - Call for Submissions

W13: The Paraliterary Issue
"Interesting, but it's not literature."

The Kootenay School of Writing is seeking submissions for
the 13th issue of W magazine, to focus on "paraliterary" or
nonliterary writing projects.

The thesis driving W13 is that as the parameters of poetic
practice/praxis are reshaped in coming decades, more and
more writing that now seems unclassifiable, except as
"interesting, but not literature", will become imaginable
within expanded, and culturally more pertinent, definitions
of poetry.

Below is a brainstormed list of paraliterary possibilities,
by no means exhaustive. Note that for the purposes of W13 it
doesn't matter if the texts are legit or faked, fact or
fiction, personal or impersonal, creative or uncreative.

1. informational texts (surveys; polls; maps; statistical
charts; chronologies; diagrams;
2. conspiracy theories; research results)
3. notational projects (diaries; ongoing notes; classroom
notes; records; lists; inventories;
4. specialised glossaries and lexicons)
5. annotational projects (annotations of other texts)
6. pseudo theory; pseudo poetics, pseudo philosophy; pseudo
theology; pseudo manifestos; pseudo research
7. amateur science and pseudo sciences (investigations into:
linguistics; etymology; astrology; astronomy; biology;
'pataphysics or "pataphysics)
8. occult writings (automatic writing; ouija board
transcriptions; transcriptions of divinations; predictions;
tarot readings of persons or texts)
9. found texts and found text-objects (scans or transcripts
of interesting documents; posters; ephemera; ads; letters;
notes; signs; report cards)
10. collections of texts (blurbs; phone messages; subject
lines; typos in famous works)
11. interviews from interesting social contexts (faked or
real; raw transcriptions of speech)
12. documentary writings and mockumentary writings
13. alphabetic projects (new alphabets; spelling reforms;
codes; encryptions, stereograms)
14. scriptural projects (i.e., investigations of how
scriptural systems and technologies interact with writing)
15. excerpts from artists' book projects (incl text-based
photographic projects; photos of book sculptures)
16. photos/snapshots with significant textual
content/context
17. conceptual writing; text-based conceptual works
18. uncreative writing
19. text-based visual art
20. outsider writings
21. graphic musical scores
22. certain cut-ups, aleatoric and erasure writings
23. certain visual/concrete poetry
24. certain flarf
25. certain song lyrics (if appreciable as "outsider" texts)

If you're still unsure whether what you have in mind or on
hand is right for the issue, direct queries to
paratext@kswnet.org. We can point you to examples of
interesting paraliterary works and writers, or talk to you
about specific projects and ideas.

In the meantime, the easiest ways to look into the
paraliterary might be to pick up a copy of McCaffery and
Rasula's anthology Imagining Language, or to check out the
Conceptual Writing and the Outsiders sections of UbuWeb.
You might also give a thought to the forthcoming anthology
Against Expression (Craig Dworkin and Kenneth Goldsmith,
eds.) that will feature a historical range of so-called
"uncreative" writings, or look at some of the
transdisciplinary writings published in the Western Front's
FRONT magazine, and in the better indie zines and
micro-magazines. You could also look at the found texts in
FOUND magazine, or read up on text-based projects by visual
artists.

We're looking for new works/texts, but will gladly consider
previously-published material, depending on when, where and
how it was published. It can be helpful if the work is
accompanied by a brief statement of method, means or intent.

Send submissions by email or by meatmail to:

KSW - CFS - W13
309-207 West Hastings St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 1H6, CANADA
paratext@kswnet.org
Submissions due by: December 01, 2006.
If sent by email please write "KSW - CFS - W13" in the
subject line
Include SASE and an email contact if sent by snail

W13 pays: $25 CAD per published page, to a maximum of $75
CAD. (And yes, you'll be paid for found texts/text-objects.)

W is published in pdf only, long works are therefore
acceptable. There is no particular page-count or word-count
requirement or limit, but the budget for W13 is not
unlimited. Remember that pdf can accommodate full-colour
images, embedded audio files, and weblinks.

Publishing in W means that your work will remain virtually
"in print" much longer than in a paper magazine, and will be
accessible to a more geographically dispersed audience.
Almost every issue of W, including back issues, is
downloaded from the KSW website dozens of times per month.

www.kswnet.org

Russia, China back Iran's calls for negotiations to end nuclear standoff

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran urged Europe on Wednesday to pay attention to what it called positive signals in its counterproposal to a nuclear incentives package aimed at persuading Tehran to roll back its nuclear program. Russia and China backed Iran's call for negotiations to end the standoff. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said "the door is still open" for negotiations but only if Iran suspends uranium enrichment first, a step Tehran appears reluctant to agree to.

Diplomats from Europe, the U.S., Russia and China were studying the details of Iran's offer a day after Tehran presented it Tuesday without any detailed public comment.

The initial comments made clear the United States was likely to face difficulty getting at least two of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia and China - to agree to tough sanctions against Iran.

Iran said Tuesday it was ready for serious negotiations on its nuclear program and cast its counterproposal as a new formula to resolve the crisis. The Iranian offer appeared aimed at enticing European countries and China and Russia into further negotiations by offering a broad set of proposals vague enough to hold out the hope of progress.

In Washington, the Bush administration is taking its time responding to Iran's mixed message of offering negotiations while resisting suspension of uranium enrichment.

President George W. Bush, at his weekly meeting at the White House with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, discussed Tehran's response to a joint offer by the United States and the European Union for concessions in exchange for a suspension.

They made no statement afterward. Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, said the Iranian response was getting careful consideration and review "as it deserves."

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said Washington was prepared to move forward with sanctions against Tehran if the response was not positive.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said the document was "extensive" and required "a detailed and careful analysis."

Iran delivered the written proposal in response to a package of incentives offered in June by the five permanent Security Council members - Britain, the U.S., France, China and Russia - as well as Germany, to persuade Iran to halt enrichment, and the threat of punishments if it does not.

Last month, the Security Council set the Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to halt enrichment or face economic and political sanctions. Iran called the resolution "illegal" but had said it was willing to offer a "multi-faceted response."

The year-long standoff over Tehran's nuclear program revolves around Iran's insistence that it wants to master the technology simply to generate civilian nuclear power. But critics say Iran is interested in enrichment because it wants to make nuclear weapons.

The current drama is playing out amid fears that the ability of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon to withstand 34 days of Israeli bombardment has emboldened hardliners in Tehran to risk a showdown with the Americans.

There has also been speculation in the West that Iran encouraged Hezbollah to provoke the Israelis to distract attention from its nuclear ambitions.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, refused to disclose Tuesday whether the response included an offer to suspend enrichment. But the semi-official Fars news agency reported that Iran had rejected calls to suspend "nuclear activities" - or uranium enrichment - and "instead has offered a new formula to resolve the issues through dialogue."

Iranian officials familiar with Larijani's response said Tehran also had included a list of questions in its counterproposal, although they would not give details. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Iranians have signalled strongly for weeks that they were not prepared to abandon enrichment as a precondition to talks. Last month, a senior Iranian legislator said parliament was preparing to debate withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty if the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to force Tehran to suspend enrichment.

In February, Iran for the first time produced its first batch of low-enriched uranium, using a cascade of 164 centrifuges. In recent weeks, Iran has prevented UN nuclear agency inspectors from inspecting an underground site meant to shelter its enrichment program from attack, diplomats said Monday.

The incentives package has not been made public but some details have leaked. They include an offer to lift a ban on sales of Boeing passenger aircraft as well as providing Iran with some nuclear technology to build reactors for peaceful purposes.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Severe drought in southwestern China damages crops

BEIJING (AP) - The worst drought to strike parts of China's southwest in 50 years has badly damaged crops and cost the equivalent of about $1.2 billion Cdn in economic losses, a news report said Thursday. In Sichuan province, the dry weather has destroyed 4.5 million tonnes of sweet potatoes, yams and beans, China Daily newspaper said, citing Pan Xiaoru, an official with the provincial department of agriculture.

The one-month-old drought has affected parts of the industrial city Chongqing and neighbouring Sichuan province, leaving 18 million people without adequate drinking water, Chinese news media reported.

China Daily didn't say whether the reported losses included damage to other industries besides farming.

A relief fund worth $2.7 million has been set up for parts of the province worst affected by the drought, the report said.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

South Korean firm sends cosmetics aid to impoverished North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - While most donors are sending food to help impoverished North Koreans, a South Korean cosmetics company said Wednesday it has delivered other necessities: lipstick and eye shadow. Able C&C said it donated about C$500,000 worth of cosmetics, also including shampoo and soap, to the communist North in June.

The products were delivered to North Koreans in areas near Diamond Mountain, where South Korea operates a tourist resort, the Seoul-based company said in a statement, claiming it was the first aid donation containing makeup to be sent to the North.

"Since cosmetics are not luxury goods, but daily necessities, we thought North Koreans would really need them," CEO Yang Soon-ho said in the statement. "We decided to send the makeup aid in hopes of enhancing the lives of the North Koreans."

Able C&C said it will consider sending more aid in the future as part of efforts to enhance "cultural exchange" between the North and South.

North Korea has relied on foreign handouts since the mid-1990s, when natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy and led to a famine estimated to have killed some two million people.

Aid to North Korea - which usually has an annual food shortage of about one million tonnes - mostly comprises rice and fertilizer.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

Whistler Film Festival Annnounces Its Third Annual Short Film Competition Presented by Citytv

Scriptwriting competition call for "Innovation" projects from culturally diverse B.C. screenwriters

Whistler, BC (August 23, 2006) - The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is seeking submissions from established and emerging culturally diverse B.C. screenwriters for its theme-based Short Scripts competition presented by Citytv. "We're excited to offer the Short Scripts competition as it provides a great opportunity for filmmakers to develop their skills, contacts and projects" says Whistler Film Festival Director of Programming Bill Evans. B.C. screenwriters are asked to submit an eight-minute short film script on the theme "Innovation". The scriptwriter must be of a visible minority or of Aboriginal heritage to be eligible.

The deadline for entries is October 4, 2006.

A jury will choose three semi-finalists to participate in two-minute pitch sessions and have live readings of the three scripts at WFF's Filmmaker Forum, presented by Bell. Following the readings, there will be an analysis of the scripts by a panel of guest judges. One project will be selected and awarded a $5,000 development prize from Citytv and the Cinecity Initiative, the opportunity to work with the broadcaster in regards to potentially pre-licensing the project and learn the ins and outs of short filmmaking in Canada.

"The Short Scripts competition provides Citytv the opportunity to seek out new talent" says Prem Gill, Citytv's Director of Multicultural Programming and Public Affairs. "Each year the caliber of scripts and creativity gets better and better. We are very proud to be part of this project". The winner will be announced at the Whistler Film Festival Awards Brunch on Sunday, December 3. The six annual Whistler Film Festival, presented by American Express, runs from November 30 to December 3, 2006. For guidelines and an application form, visit www.whistlerfilmfestival.com

Canon to start making its own photo printers

Canon Inc., Tokyo, Japan, the world's third-biggest printer maker, said Thursday it would start making its own photo printers, in addition to the models it buys from an outside supplier, to meet rising demand, reports Reuters. Sales of such printers are also expected to help sales of ink and paper sold by Canon.

Canon, also the world's biggest digital camera maker, has started manufacturing new models of its Selphy brand photo printers at a factory based in southern Japan, a spokesman said. The new models will be sold globally starting this fall.

Canon also said it would continue buying photo printers from its outside supplier, which it declined to name, says Reuters.

Selphy is geared to consumers who want to print images directly from their digital cameras without connecting to a personal computer. About 80 percent of such printers are sold overseas, Canon said.

In the market for photo printers, Canon ranks No. 2 with about a 20 percent market share. The Japanese maker trails behind Eastman Kodak Co., which is also the world's biggest maker of photo film, says Reuters.

8th Kalanidhi International Dance Festival and Conference

The 8th Kalanidhi International Dance Festival and Conference: A Century of Indian Dance Part II is coming to Toronto's Harbourfront Centre from September 22 to October 1, 2006 for ten days and nights of performances, workshops, talks and lively discussion on a century of Indian dance. As the founder of the first and oldest festival to celebrate East Indian dance in Canada, Kalanidhi Festival Artistic Director Sudha Khandwani believes that the very best way to celebrate India's rich culture is through its classical dance forms. "So much of Indian culture is tied to classical dance", says Ms. Khandwani, "it is through our dance forms that we remember our ancient stories and keep our culture alive around the world."

Ms. Khandwani has planned a stimulating and entertaining conference and festival that will tell the story of the near extinction of several forms of Indian dance, their revitalization in the last century and current evolution in new directions as Indian dance has traveled outside of India and taken root in other countries and cultures.

The theme of the 2006 Festival & Conference, A Century of Indian Dance Part II, completes the celebration of the past 100 years of Indian dance that was begun in the 2004 Kalanidhi Festival in which the dance styles of Kathak, Manipuri, Kathakali, Mohiniattam and Rabindranath Tagore's unique dance dramas were featured and explored. The 2006 Festival will focus on the classical dance styles of Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Chauu and other contemporary expressions that will combine Bharatanatyam with Ballet, Modern and Zulu dance.

The Festival is also a celebration to mark the 50th Anniversary of Kalanidhi Fine Arts in India and the 15th Anniversary of Kalanidhi Fine Arts in Canada in which time the company has held presented 7 previous Festivals, all held in Toronto. The 8th Kalanidhi International Dance Festival and Conference will be the largest Festival that Kalanidhi has produced with 25 performances and over 100 Artists and Speakers coming from 7 countries including; India, England, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa, the U.S. and Canada.

The conference portion will pay tribute to the heroes of Indian dance such as Rukmini Devi who legitimized Bharatanatyam and raised it to an art form. Other tributes are planned to honour the revolutionary dancer, Chandralekha for her contributions toward contemporary Indian dance by bringing yoga, martial arts and an unadorned new approach which constituted the first step toward what is now referred to as "modern" Indian dance; Vempati Chinna Satyam founder of the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Madras in 1963 who is credited with returning Kuchipudi to an recognized classical Indian dance style and Kelucharan Mohapatra who is credited with having Odissi dance recognized as an art form. The Festival will also present a "Lifetime Achievement Award" to the keynote speaker of the Festival, Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan. Dr. Vatsyayan in an internationally acknowledge scholar of Indian dance and the former academic director of the Indira Gandhi Na