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ASIA / PACIFIC Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER May 18, 2015 Google opens first Asia startup campus in Seoul By Youkyung Lee AP Technology Writer S MONKEY MONIKER. A newborn baby monkey named Charlotte clings to her mother at the zoo in Oita, southern Japan. The monkey born at the Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden will keep its name after all. Oita city officials settled a national debate over whether calling the mon- key Charlotte offended its British royal namesake. (Photo courtesy of the Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden via AP) No offense to royals: Monkey in Japan keeps name Charlotte TOKYO (AP) — A monkey born in a Japanese zoo will keep its name, Charlotte, after all. Oita city officials settled a national debate over whether calling the monkey Charlotte offends its British royal namesake. The officials said they will stick to their first choice because there was no protest from Britain’s royal family. “We have decided to respect the feelings of the people who voted for the name to congratulate the birth of the princess,” said city spokesman Kazuyuki Adachi. The name flap began May 6, when the popular Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden named a newborn macaque Charlotte, which was the favorite in a public ballot. Immediately after announcing the name for its first monkey born this year — a tradition at the zoo, which is run by the southern city of Oita — the zoo was flooded with angry calls and e-mails. Charlotte was the favorite name in the public ballot. Votes for Charlotte surged after the British princess was named May 4 and topped the ballot in the last three days of voting, which ran from March 27 to May 6. Some critics said giving the name of the princess to a monkey was disrespectful to British royals. The complaints originated in Japan. Asano said he was not aware of any complaints from British citizens. He also said the zoo received support for the name Charlotte. Adachi said officials took seriously the views of both sides. Oita mayor Kiichiro Sato endorsed the decision, saying: “(The monkey) is given a wonderful and cute name, Charlotte. I think we should stick to Charlotte.” 4 8 5 6 8 2 5 1 9 3 7 9 level: Easy #96383 # 9 Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1 through 9 appear one time each in every row, col- umn, and 3x3 box. Solution to last week’s puzzle Puzzle #65773 (Hard) All solutions available at <www.sudoku.com>. 6 9 8 4 2 5 1 7 3 5 7 3 1 9 6 8 4 2 1 2 4 8 3 7 6 9 5 9 5 1 6 4 2 3 8 7 4 8 6 3 7 9 2 5 1 2 3 7 5 1 8 9 6 4 STARTUP SCENE. Employees of Rainist work during a media tour at the Google campus in Seoul. Google’s first campus for startups and entrepreneurs in Asia has opened in a glitzy neighborhood in Seoul. Google cited South Korea’s flourishing startup scene and pervasive smartphone use as the reasons for picking Seoul after opening similar sites in London and Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) “Our goal with Campus Seoul is to create a space where entrepreneurs can thrive,” Mary Grove, director of Global Entrepreneurship, said on Google’s official blog. “Where they can feel at home with the local community, yet have everything they need to build a global company.” As the only startup campus in Asia backed by Google, Campus Seoul will also help startups from overseas understand the South Korean and other markets in the region, according to Grove. Consumer culture gone wild: Boar visits Hong Kong mall HONG KONG (AP) — Talk about our consumer culture gone wild. A Hong Kong shopping mall received a visit from a ham- fisted customer this month, when a wild boar wandered in and got trapped inside a children’s clothing store. Video aired by local television stations showed the boar, which had apparently climbed up a ladder in the shop’s back room, punching a hole through the showroom’s false ceiling with a hoof. News reports said the animal was a 55-pound, three- foot-long juvenile female. A crowd of shoppers, watching from behind a line of police, squealed in amazement as the boar clambered down onto the top of a display case, jumped to the floor, and skittered around the shop, knocking over mannequins and signs. The boar was eventually tranquilized by a vet and taken to an animal rehab center, the South China Morning Post reported. Wild boars are common in Hong Kong, where they are often found roaming the forested hills of the southern Chinese city. STORE STOWAWAY. A wild boar is seen on top of a display rack at a children’s clothing store at a mall in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong shopping mall received an unusual visit after the wild boar wandered in- side and got trapped in the clothing store. The boar was eventually tran- quilized by a vet and taken to an animal rehab center, according to local newspaper reports. (AP Photo/Apple Daily) Second Uber office in China under investigation Uber faces multiple legal and regulatory challenges as it expands in the United States and abroad. In India, it has been banned in New Delhi — the southern technology hub of Hyderabad — and the entire southern state of Karnataka. The company, which is valued at $40 billion, allows passengers to summon taxi drivers in more than 250 cities around the world. Such services have become hugely popular in China’s congested cities, particularly those such as the capital, Beijing, and the financial hub of Shanghai, where hailing a taxi on the street during rush-hour can be all but impossible. A late arrival to the China market, Uber faces heavy competition from more established local apps backed by major investors. Most estimates put its share of the Chinese market at about one percent. Another deadly earthquake spreads fear and misery in Nepal 6 2 5 7 4 5 9 6 1 Difficulty EASY Korea. Google Inc. cited South Korea’s flourishing startup scene and pervasive smartphone use as the reasons for picking Seoul after opening similar sites in London and Tel Aviv. Located in Gangnam, Campus Seoul rents out its 21,528-square-foot space to startups and venture investors. It has an open office plan designed to foster collaboration between fledgling companies and a café that anyone can use after signing up. The campus is the latest addition to the expanding startup scene in the Gangnam district which has attracted app developers, entrepreneurs, and investors. In the last two years, spaces dedicated to startups such as D. Camp and Maru 180 have also opened. The area has recently begun attracting venture funds from Japan and Silicon Valley seeking to bet on fledgling companies. Almost every day, a meeting or a conference among tech startups takes place in Gangnam, also home to a major business complex housing South Korea’s largest business group, Samsung. Google plans to host events for tech startups as well and begin a mentoring program for female entrepreneurs with children. BEIJING (AP) — Chinese police have visited Uber offices in a second city in a widening investigation into the company’s operations in China. An official at Chengdu’s city transportation commission said the visit was part of an investigation into Uber allowing private drivers to offer their services via the taxi-hailing app, which has established a presence in about 10 Chinese cities. The Chinese government in January banned drivers of private cars from offering such services through apps. Police later raided Uber offices in the southern city of Guangzhou, seizing thousands of iPhones and other equipment used to run the business. The city’s transport commission said it suspected Uber was operating an illegal taxi service without a proper business registration and threatened fines of 30,000 yuan, or about $4,860, to those operating such services. 9 6 3 8 3 1 8 9 7 8 EOUL, South Korea — Google’s first campus for startups and entrepreneurs in Asia has opened in a glitzy neighborhood in Seoul, the capital of South 7 1 9 2 6 4 5 3 8 8 4 2 9 5 3 7 1 6 3 6 5 7 8 1 4 2 9 Continued from page 2 scared, we are terrified. I would rather deal with mosquitoes and the rain than sleep in the house.” Extra police were sent to patrol ad-hoc camping areas, while drinking water and extra tents were provided, according to Kathmandu admini- strator Ek Narayan Aryal. “I thought I was going to die this time,” said Sulav Singh, who rushed with his daughter into a street in the suburban neighborhood of Thapathali. “Things were just getting back to normal, and we get this one.” Paul Dillon, a spokesman with the International Organization for Migration, said he saw a man in Kathmandu who had apparently run from the shower with shampoo covering his head. “He was sitting on the ground, crying,” Dillon said. Meanwhile, new landslides blocked mountain roads in the district of Gorkha, one of the regions hit hardest on April 25, while previously damaged buildings collapsed with the latest quake. Residents of the small town of Namche Bazaar, about 35 miles from the epicenter of the new quake and well known to high-altitude trekkers, said a couple of buildings damaged earlier collapsed there as well. However, there were no reports of deaths or injuries. The earth also shook strongly in neighboring Tibet, unleashing a landslide that killed one person and injured three, according to China Central Television. Two houses collapsed, the state broadcaster said, quoting disaster officials of the regional Tibetan government. Daigle reported from New Delhi. Asso- ciated Press writers Tim Sullivan in New Delhi, Indrajit Singh in Patna, India, Didi Tang in Beijing, and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.