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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2018)
ASIA / PACIFIC April 2, 2018 THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5 Indian wildlife sanctuary sees jump in one-horned rhinos By Wasbir Hussain The Associated Press G EXPANDING CREDIT. A Grab bike driver is seen on his motorbike in Jakarta, Indonesia. Southeast Asian ride-hailing app Grab is expanding into financial services in partnership with a Japanese credit card com- pany, hoping to offer credit to millions of people without bank accounts. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Southeast Asian ride-hailing app Grab expands into lending JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian ride- hailing app Grab is expanding into financial services in partnership with a Japanese credit card company, hoping to offer credit to millions of people without bank accounts. Grab, founded by Malaysian businessman Anthony Tan, said it will use its “huge cache” of customer data from the app to provide ways to measure creditworthiness of people outside the formal banking system. The ride-hailing app says it has more than a billion transactions a year including food deliveries and other services. It said the joint venture with Japan’s Credit Saison will initially focus on providing loans to Grab drivers and mer- chants for purchasing smartphones or working capital. The World Bank estimates that more than 260 million people in Southeast Asia lack bank accounts, which restricts their access to credit. “Many in our region have no access to loans that they can use to purchase a new home or grow their small business,” Grab said in a statement. It said its lending business would “accelerate financial inclusion.” Grab dominates car- and motorbike-hailing in much of Southeast Asia. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, has reported that Uber has agreed in principle to sell its Southeast Asian operations to Grab, which would end the U.S. company’s costly fight for market share in the region. In Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and most populous nation, Grab is in a fierce battle for customers with local operator Go-Jek. AUHATI, India — A tiny wildlife sanctuary in northeastern India has reported a jump in the number of one-horned rhinoceroses. All of the world’s five rhino species are under threat from poachers who sell their horns on black markets, often in countries where rhino horn is believed to increase male potency. A survey carried out at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary showed 102 one-horned rhinos now living in the park, up from 93 during the last count, in 2012, said Pradipta Baruah, a forestry officer who supervised the census. “Our efforts at conserving the rhino have paid off,” Baruah said by phone. The reserve, which is just 15 square miles, is outside of the Assam state capital, Gauhati. India’s Kaziranga National Park, also in Assam, is the Hong Kong’s skyline farms harvest more happiness than food HONG KONG (AP) — High above downtown Hong Kong’s bustling, traffic-clogged streets, a group of office workers toil away. They’re working not on a corporate acquisition or a public share offering, but on harvesting a bumper crop of lettuce atop one of the skyscrapers studding the city’s skyline. This is rooftop farming taken to the extreme. And it’s more about TICKET ORDER FORM T h e As ian R epor t er F oun dat ion ’s T w en t iet h An n ual S ch ol ar s h ip & Awar ds B an quet T hur s day, Apr il 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 Wong’s King Seafood Restaurant, 8733 S.E. Division St., Portland, Oregon Doors open: 5:15pm • Social hour: 5:30-6:30 pm Dinner, entertainment, and awards: 6:30-8:30pm • Dancing 8:30-10:00pm Ticket Order Deadline: Thursday, April 12 at 5:00pm ALL seating is reserved. Tickets must be purchased in advance P l eas e r es er ve _____ t ick et s t o t he awar ds banquet I have encl os ed payment in t he f or m of (cir cl e one) Check / M.O. Vis a Mas t er car d Amer ican E xpr es s Cr edit Car d # _________________________________S ecur it y Code:______________ E xpir at ion Dat e: ______________________________ Z ip Code:____________________ S ignat ur e of car dhol der : P l eas e s end my t ick et s t o: Name: Addr es s : Cit y, S t at e, Z ip: P hone/ F ax/ Cel l : E -mail : Send order form Send this this order form to: to: The Asian Reporter The Asian Reporter Foundation 922 Foundation N. Killingsworth Street, #2D Portland, OR 922 N Killingsworth St., 97217 Suite 2D Fax: (503) 283-4445 Portland, OR. 97217 Traditional encouraged Fax: (503) attire 283-4445 CONSERVATION PAYOFF. A one-horned rhinoceros stands inside the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam state, India. The tiny wildlife sanctuary in northeastern India has reported a jump in the number of one-horned rhinoceroses. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) “The animals looked carefree in the main home of the one-horned rhino, wilds, lazing around shrubs and with more than 2,000. More than 20 rangers were grasslands,” said ranger Mukul involved in the count, traversing the Tamuli. Six rhinos have been poached in park’s forests, grasslands, and wet- lands on seven domesticated Asiatic Pobitora since 2012, officials said, elephants. and 20 died of natural causes. ( ) Individual Ticket: $50.00 ( ) Community Table: $500.00 ( ) Corporate/Government Table: $1,000.00 ( ) Check this box if this order is for table of 10 Seating preference (near awardee, group, etc., if applicable):________________________________ No refunds will be issued for no-show tickets Sponsored by: The Asian Reporter • Comcast NBC Universal • The Oregon Lottery City of Portland • Prosper Portland • Port of Portland Philippine American Chamber of Commerce • Travel Portland • United Way • Wells Fargo For information, <www.ARFoundation.net>. www.ARFoundation.net For more information visit: visit reaping happiness than providing food. The volunteers were picking lettuce on a decommissioned helipad on the 480-foot-high roof of the 38-story Bank of America tower. The farm is run by Rooftop Republic, a three- year-old startup whose founders are tapping growing interest in organic food and taking advantage of unused roof space in the cramped, high-rent Chinese city. Rooftop Republic has set up on average one farm per month since its founding and now manages 36 URBAN GARDEN. Volunteers pick lettuce growing in rows of low black plastic planters on a decommissioned helipad on the 480-foot-high roof of the 38-story Bank of America tower in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) covering more than 30,000 Hong said. It also provides square feet (about 2,800 workshops for companies, square meters), including building owners, schools, one in mainland China, and community groups.