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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2016)
ASIA / PACIFIC February 1, 2016 THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5 Miss Universe winner says next dream is to be a Bond girl TRAIN LINE ONLINE. An Indian traveller uses free Wi-Fi service to browse the internet at the Mumbai Central Train Station in Mumbai, India. Google Inc. has begun offering free Wi-Fi to Mumbai train passengers in hopes of boosting its role in the Indian market, the first of 400 stations the company plans to eventually reach with the service. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) Mumbai travellers log on as Google starts train-station Wi-Fi MUMBAI, India (AP) — Google Inc. has begun offering free Wi-Fi to Mumbai train passengers in hopes of boosting its role in the Indian market. Giggling groups of students, bored commuters, and snack-shop vendors were all logged on at the Mumbai Central Train Station, the first of 400 stations the company plans to eventually reach with the service. “If my train is leaving, and I need to search, don’t know where to go, then im- mediately I will get the answer,” student Divya Patel said excitedly while waiting for a train to her hometown of Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat. “This is very good, and good for everyone.” Free Wi-Fi is rare across India. Most of the country’s 300 million internet users pay for personal access and often rely on slow-loading smartphone connectivity. With a massive 1.25 billion population in India, including 6 million new internet users every month, Silicon Valley tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have set sights on expanding in the Indian market. Online retailers Amazon and eBay have also launched services in the country. India also has homegrown online commerce companies, but small businesses are still catching on. Fewer than five percent of the 50 million or so small businesses in India have a webpage. With more than 23 million people riding Indian railways every day, Google said free internet in train stations will give high-speed access that many cannot afford. It also hopes to diversify India’s user base, given that less than a third of internet users in India are women, and has been upgrading its services in Hindi and other languages spoken across India. “Most of India is still not online,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told reporters in New Delhi. “We want to bring access to as many people as possible,” he said. For the project, Google teamed up with Indian Railways as well as communica- tions infrastructure provider RailTel. Department of Consumer & Business Services Not having an account at a bank or credit union might be costing you MANILA, The Philip- pines (AP) — The reigning Miss Universe has her eyes set on her next big dream: being a Bond girl. Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach returned home to the Philippines for the first time since her crowning — and that awkward moment when host Steve Harvey mistakenly announced Miss Colombia as the winner instead of her. She said she’s using the intense attention she received after that controversy to focus on her causes like fighting HIV and AIDS. “I’m using the attention to talk about my causes. Now, I have everybody’s attention,” she said. She told a news con- ference that she plans to be tested for HIV publicly in New York to encourage other people to be tested, including in the Philip- pines, where HIV cases have risen alarmingly in recent years. Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo was briefly crowned Miss Universe at the pageant in Las Vegas before Harvey returned to center stage to apologize and announced he misread the card, which had Miss Philippines as the winner and Colombia as the first runner-up. Asked about her plans after her reign, Wurtzbach said she would consider possible job offers in the United States, adding: “I might be the next Bond POST-PAGEANT PLANS. Newly crowned Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach shows her crown during a news conference in subur- ban Quezon City, northeast of Manila, the Philippines. Wurtzbach returned home to the Philippines for the first time since her crowning — and that awkward moment when host Steve Harvey mistakenly crowned Miss Colombia instead of her. Wurtzbach said her next dream is to become a Bond girl. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) girl, who knows? So, we’ll her before. She’ll receive a see, that’s the next dream.” citation from the senate for Many international ac- her victory then join a tresses have been cast motorcade around Manila alongside actors playing that will end with a fire- British agent James Bond works show. and are popularly known Wurtzbach told report- as “Bond girls.” ers she was so over- Wurtzbach, 26, has whelmed with her triumph worked as an actress and that she constantly model in the Philippines checked on her crown in before winning the crown. the initial days and even The Miss Universe pageant took a nap beside it but is a big deal in the decided not to do that Philippines, where two again because she might other women have brought break it. home the crown before her, “God forbid that would with the last one winning happen, the Filipinos are gonna kill me. I haven’t in 1973. Wurtzbach met Presi- even done my homecoming dent Benigno Aquino III, a yet,” she said, repeatedly bachelor who is rumored to touching the diamond- have gone on a date with studded crown. THE CENTRAL CITY 2035 PLAN IS A 20–YEAR BLUEPRINT FOR PORTLAND’S URBAN CORE. Having a checking or a savings account could open the doors to a safer financial future. You can save hundreds of dollars and keep your money safe, if you open and maintain an account in good standing in one of the Bank On Oregon program participating banks or credit unions. The program also has a network of nonprofit financial education providers who can guide about how to establish credit, understand about how the U.S. financial system works, or about how to better administer your money. LEARN MORE. GET INVOLVED. Visit www.BankOnOregon.org and start taking advantage of the benefits of having an account at one of our participating financial institutions or call us at (971) 673-2143. www.dcbs.oregon.gov Public events starting in February Read the drat plan: www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/cc2035 WE’VE GROWN TO SERVE YOU BETTER! Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center is now open. Conveniently located in Hillsboro’s Tanasbourne area, our new emergency department serves everyone in the community. KAISER PERMANENTE WESTSIDE MEDICAL CENTER 2875 NW Stucki Ave. Hillsboro, OR 97124 All plans offered and underwritten by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest. 500 NE Multnomah St., Suite 100, Portland, OR 97232. ©2013 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest