» AsianWeek Market Report
» Next Asian Mayor or Not
» Eating Sushi Might be Eco-Unfriendly
» Student’s Solar Project Creates Academic Controversy
» Chiang Responds to Governor’s Cuts to Homeowner and Renters Assistance
» Educators Host Happy Hour for District One Supervisor Candidate
» HP and Fashion Designer Team Up for First Designer Laptop
» Filipino American is First Emmy Recipient in Animation
» No Ryder Cup Hangover for Anthony Kim
» Oregon State Beats Top-Ranked USC 27-21
» Upset Teammates Should Accept Ichiro for What He Is
» Japan Society to Honor Women in U.S.-Japan Business
» North Korea Proposes Holding Military Talks with South
» China Pulls Top Candy Off Shelves as Milk Scandal Deepens
Compiled by Carlos Militante and Justine Rivero
AsianWeek Market Report

AsianWeek Market Report

Asian Stock Indexes

NIKKEI 225
Tokyo
11,893.16
-113.37
-0.94%

HANG SENG
Hong Kong
18,682.09
-252.34
-1.33%

KRX
Busan
3,079.45
-51.38
-1.64%

SSE IX
Shanghai
7,559.27
182.43
2.47%

BSE
Bombay
13,102.18
-445.00
-3.28%

HOSE
Ho Chi Minh
483.81
13.38
2.84%

SET
Bangkok
435.25
-2.29
-0.52%

Asian American Market Report

Yahoo!
YHOO
19.06
-0.14
(-0.74%)

Citigroup
C
18.99
-0.42
(-2.22%)

Amkor Technology, Inc
AMKR
6.99
0.01
(0.14%)

Sybase
SY
32.42
-0.04
(-0.12%)

UnionBancal Corp
UB
73.36
0.05
(0.07%)

East West Bank corp,Inc
EWBC
14.80
-0.61
(-3.96%)

NATION
Next Asian Mayor or Not
Boston Councilor Sam Yoon has raised about $10,000 towards becoming the first Asian American mayor of Boston. Yoon, however, has not publicly stated that he is running against longtime incumbent Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
The campaign activity took place far away from Boston, in the San Francisco Bay area.
One of the hosts of the fundraiser was Yul Kwon, a Korean American winner of the reality television show Survivor. The money came mostly from Californians who made up 19 of the 37 donors. Only five were Massachusetts’s residents.
Yoon was first elected as an at-large council member in 2005; he was the first Asian American to run and to win a seat. He ran based on a promise to represent minority communities that haven’t had a strong voice to represent them.
Yoon’s campaign website and the fundraiser flyer promote his education and say, “Sam is known for his work to promote good government by bringing innovation to City Hall and transparency to budgeting.”
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Eating Sushi Might be Eco-Unfriendly
Monterey Bay Aquarium, along with the Environmental Defense Fund and the Blue Ocean Institute, issued a sustainable seafood guide edition devoted to sushi and its possible harms to the environment. Overfishing, environmental damage, health hazards and farm-raised seafood are among the issues that mark sushi as potentially harmful to the planet.
Farm-raised salmon is out because the breeding pens pollute the ocean. Unagi is a no-no because ranchers gather wild baby eels in the ocean and bring them to the farm. Shrimp destroys ecologically precious mangroves, and some types of tuna are on the avoid list because of depletion and mercury content.
Environmentalists are deliberately targeting sushi lovers because they’re hoping to find a responsive crowd.
“We know the demographics of who eats sushi,” said Sheila Bowman, outreach manager of the aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. “We think sushi consumers are going to be a younger, hipper, more urban consumer.”’
— San Jose Mercury News
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Student’s Solar Project Creates Academic Controversy
A 12-year-old Oregon student’s prize-winning solar power project is creating controversy as Georgia Tech University staff questioned whether the student’s work borrowed extensively from their research.
Jud Ready, a senior research engineer and adjunct professor at the university, has openly questioned whether the student’s project went beyond simple citations of his solar cell work.
Seventh grader William Yuan received a $25,000 scholarship from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development in a recent solar energy competition. Yuan’s project dealt with advancements in three-dimensional solar cell energy and, according to the Davidson Institute, cited Georgia Tech’s published research on the subject.
— The Oregonian
BAY/CALIFORNIA
Chiang Responds to Governor’s Cuts to Homeowner and Renters Assistance
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State Controller John Chiang today issued the following statement in response to the Governor’s elimination of more than $190 million in Homeowner and Renters Assistance (HRA) property tax credits from the State Budget:
“The Governor’s veto of property tax assistance for seniors and low-income Californians will harm more than 530,000 taxpayers who have already applied for the State’s help. I encourage the Legislature to reject the Governor’s veto and offer my assistance to find a responsible course that restores funding for this valuable program. Many struggling households depend upon this assistance each year, and we should keep the door to this important resource open.”
Controller Chiang, who is chairman of the Franchise Tax Board (FTB), has directed the agency to quickly notify HRA applicants that funding for the program was eliminated. The HRA program provides low-income individuals who are blind, disabled or over the age of 62. The FTB will continue to accept applications and hold them in case funding is restored.
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Educators Host Happy Hour for District One Supervisor Candidate
SAN FRANCISCO — Eric Mar, a lecturer of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and two-term member of the San Francisco Board of Education, is running for candidate for District One supervisor.
The United Educators of San Francisco has come out in full support of his campaign at the Educators Happy Hour for Eric Mar for Supervisor event in San Francisco. UESF has given a sole early endorsement of Mar, as has the SFSU branch of the California Faculty Association.
“It is a relief to know that there’s going to be someone on the Board of Supervisors who cares as much as Eric does,” added Rudy Choy, a math teacher a George Washington High School. “He’s in the corner of teachers and students. You can’t argue with that.”
ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT
HP and Fashion Designer Team Up for First Designer Laptop
Hewlett-Packard and world-renowned Asian fashion designer Vivienne Tam collaborated to create the HP Vivienne Tam Special Edition notebook, which debuted at New York’s Fashion Week during Tam’s fashion show.
The notebook, designed by Tam, has a 10-inch screen and is bright red decorated with peony flower designs—a signature staple of Tam’s collection. The laptop also features a extra special enter key that bears the Chinese symbol for double happiness. Tam also designed the embroidered storage sleeve that can be carried as a clutch.
The “digital clutch” represents the first time a computer company has partnered with a fashion designer to create a notebook PC as well as have it debut at a fashion show. The HP Vivienne Tam Special Edition notebook is expected to be available early next year.
— CNET
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Filipino American is First Emmy Recipient in Animation
LOS ANGELES — Jesus “Jess” Espangloa was awarded an Emmy for his animation work on The Simpsons. Back in May, Espanola’s studio was informed that their episode, “The Eternal Moonshine of the Simpsons Mind,” was nominated for the Emmy.
As an assistant director with Starz Film Roman, Espanola had worked for The Simpsons animated series for 20th Century Fox Television Networks for two years, checking character and background layouts since June 2006. He was also an assistant director with Rough Draft, Inc., working on the Futurama animated television series.
— AJ Press
SPORTS
No Ryder Cup Hangover for Anthony Kim
ATLANTA — One of many compelling images of Anthony Kim at the Ryder Cup was how he made an 8-foot par putt on the 14th hole, then storming off the green without realizing he had won his match against Sergio Garcia.
The celebration lasted well into morning, Kim the center of attention, as he had been most of the week in the team room. The fear was that U.S. players would have a hard time getting over their Ryder Cup hangover—physically and emotionally—in time for the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship.
The real marvel was Kim posting eight birdies in his round of 64 in his Tour Championship debut. He attributes most of that to a simple fix in his putting before he teed off.
Kim hit mainly fairways and greens, and he took only 26 putts to match his lowest scores of the year and post his fifth consecutive round in the 60s on the PGA Tour.
Kim leads by four strokes after the first round with a score of six under par.
— AP
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Oregon State Beats Top-Ranked USC 27-21
CORVALLIS, Ore. — It had been 41 years since Oregon State knocked off a No. 1 team.
Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers helped the Beavers pull off another stunner—and Southern California was the victim again.
Rodgers ran for 186 yards and two touchdowns, and Oregon State built a 21-point first-half lead before capitalizing on a late turnover and upsetting the Trojans 27-21 on Thursday night.
The Beavers (2-2, 1-1 Pacific-10) also upset USC at Reser Stadium in 2006, when the Trojans were ranked third. The team’s lone victory over a No. 1 team came in 1967, when Oregon State beat the O.J. Simpson-led Trojans 3-0.
USC has lost three of its last four games in Corvallis.
—AP
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Upset Teammates Should Accept Ichiro for What He Is
A story in the Seattle Times today contained a few juicy paragraphs about some Seattle Mariners who are upset that Ichiro Suzuki seems more enthralled with getting his 200 hits every year than helping this sorry team reach the 60-win plateau.
Quoting an unnamed “clubhouse insider,” the story said one player talked about “going after” Ichiro, presumably to turn him into a pretzel.
— HeraldNet
COMMERCE
Japan Society to Honor Women in U.S.-Japan Business
The Japan Society of Northern California will hold its 2008 Award of Honor Gala on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the InterContinental Hotel, 888 Howard St., in San Francisco.
The VIP reception starts at 5 p.m., followed by the general reception and silent auction at 6 p.m. and the dinner and program at 7:15 p.m.
This year’s event is a celebration of women in U.S.-Japan business. The Award of Honor recipients are Sakie Fukushima of Korn/Ferry International and Kathy Matsui of Goldman Sachs Japan.
— Hokubei Mainichi
GLOBAL
North Korea Proposes Holding Military Talks with South
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says North Korea has proposed working-level military talks in what would be the first official contact between the two countries since February.
The overture comes amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s move to reassemble its nuclear program.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official says North Korea sent a message Thursday proposing the talks. The official said Friday that the government is discussing whether to accept it. He declined to give his name in line with ministry policy.
The talks would be the first official contact since President Lee Myung-bak’s conservative, pro-U.S. government took office in February.
— AP
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China Pulls Top Candy Off Shelves as Milk Scandal Deepens
BEIJING — China’s toxic milk scandal escalated Friday as one of the nation’s famous candy brands was pulled off shelves and four more people outside the mainland were thought to have fallen ill.
The industrial chemical melamine has also been found in Heinz baby cereal and in potato crackers in the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong and officials ordered a recall of the products.
In China, the maker of White Rabbit candy, given to U.S. president Richard Nixon on a landmark 1972 trip, said it was halting domestic sales after its products were found to contain melamine, normally used to make plastic.
A hospital in Taiwan said three young children who frequently visited China had developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese milk formula.
The only other five cases of children falling ill from drinking tainted milk outside the mainland have so far been reported in Hong Kong, where authorities said they had ordered a recall of two more tainted products.
— AFP
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