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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2019)
Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER ASIA / PACIFIC February 4, 2019 Toyota, Panasonic setting up green auto battery venture TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. and Panasonic Corp. say they are setting up a joint venture to research, manufacture, and sell batteries for ecological autos, an increasingly lucrative sector amid concerns about global warming. The Japanese automaker and the Japanese electronics maker said in a joint statement that Toyota will take a 51 percent stake and Panasonic a 49 percent in the joint venture, which is to be running by the end of 2020. Products will be sold to various automakers, they said. The companies have been studying working together on batteries since 2017. Panasonic will transfer equipment, assets, and workers from its plants in Japan and China to the joint venture, and 3,500 workers from both companies will be moved to the joint venture. Innovations in batteries are critical for electric vehicles. Pilot’s disorientation, lost awareness cited in Nepal crash KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An investigation report says the pilot of a Bangladeshi airliner was disoriented and lost situational awareness before his plane crashed in Nepal last year, killing 51 people and injuring 20. US-Bangla Airlines Flight BS211 from Dhaka crashed on its second landing attempt at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on March 12, 2018. The investigation report compiled by Nepalese officials said the probable cause of the crash was the pilot’s disorientation and incomplete loss of situation awareness. The report also said the pilot had been released from the Bangladesh Air Force in 1993 due to depression and was only allowed to fly civilian planes from 2002 after a detailed medical evaluation. Singapore says American leaked 14,200 HIV records SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore’s health ministry has accused an American of stealing and leaking the records of 14,200 people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, before January 2013. The ministry said that Mikhy K. Farrera Brochez recently put the records online. It said they included HIV test results, names, identification numbers, phone numbers, addresses, and other health information. The ministry said it has disabled access to the information. It said Brochez worked in Singapore for a period before he was jailed for several drug and fraud-related offenses and deported last year. The ministry said his partner, who headed the ministry’s National Public Health Unit from March 2012 to May 2013, had access to the confidential information. Police are investigating and authorities are seeking help from foreign counterparts. Migrant who founded Indonesian business empire dies JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Eka Tjipta Widjaja, patriarch of one of Asia’s richest families and the founder of a sprawling Indonesian conglomerate, has died. Widjaja passed away at age 97, according to Gandi Sulistiyanto, a managing director at the Sinarmas conglomerate. The son of migrants from Fujian in China, Widjaja was a coconut-oil trader on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in the 1930s before building businesses in palm oil, pulp and paper, and mining. Forbes estimated Widjaja’s fortune at $8.6 billion last year, making him Indonesia’s third-richest person and the family among the 25 richest in Asia. He had several wives and, according to some reports, as many as 40 children. Sinarmas is known for the record $14 billion default of its Asia Pulp and Paper business in 2001. Earlier this decade it became an international pariah as Greenpeace campaigned against its destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests. Radiation leaks at plutonium lab; no workers exposed TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese state-run nuclear fuel laboratory near Tokyo has detected a radiation leak in its plutonium handling facility, but no workers were exposed. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency said a radiation alarm went off after nine workers changed plastic covers on two canisters containing a mixture of plutonium and uranium and removed them from a sealed compartment. The agency said the workers, each wearing a mask, escaped radiation exposure after running into another room. No leak was detected outside the facility, which ended fuel production in 2001 and is being decommissioned. The cause of the leak is under investigation. The agency suggested possible damage to the plastic covers. A bag of plutonium broke during an inspection at another facility operated by the agency in 2017, contaminating five workers. FESTIVAL FIRST. Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, an Indian transgender activist and leader of the Kinnar akhara monastic order, participates in a procession during the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India. Kinnars celebrated their inclusion at Kumbh as a victory, but their greater acceptance by Hinduism’s most powerful leaders, in the religious and political spheres, remains to be seen. Unlike other akharas, which are only open to Hindu men, Kinnar, founded in 2015, is open to all genders and religions. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Noted Indian transgender activist shakes up Hindu festival By Emily Schmall and Biswajeet Banerjee The Associated Press RAYAGRAJ, India — Laxmi Narayan Tripathi expertly applies eyeliner while discussing religious matters with Hindu holy men and attending to an endless stream of visitors eager to touch her feet and receive her blessing. Among India’s best-known transgender activists, a Bollywood reality TV star and a former Asia Pacific representative to the U.N., Tripathi is capitalizing on the ruling Hindu nationalist party’s emphasis on the nation’s Hindu heritage to claim a place for transgender people among its religious elite, stirring both admiration and controversy. Her newly formed Kinnar akhara, or monastic order, has set up camp at the weekslong Kumbh Mela festival, a series of ritual bathings that rotates among four Indian sites every three years and draws tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims. The Kinnar camp on the edge of the festival grounds is adorned with images of Ardhanari — a half-male, half-female composite of the Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati — that religious scholars date to the 1st century. Although hijras — the term Indians use to describe eunuchs, androgynous and transgender people — were an integral part of the ancient Hindu society described in the religion’s Vedas scriptures, they have been marginalized in modern India, forced out of their family homes as children, and often sold into sex trafficking. Hindu families have continued ancient practices of paying hijras to dance at births P and marriages, considering their presence auspicious, while simultaneously denying them access to these same rites. One of the most orthodox orders, the Juna akhara, invited Kinnar to take part in the Kumbh’s first royal bath — a saint-led procession into the river — on January 15. Since then, Tripathi has been pushing for recognition by the umbrella group that sets rules for the akharas. Tripathi, born a Brahmin, the highest Hindu caste according to the Vedas, said she was inspired to form the akhara after a 2014 Supreme Court ruling that found transgender citizens were a “third gender” due all rights and protections accorded by India’s constitution. “I was not at all religious. But after the court verdict, I had a space already in my religion, so why should I see another religion than the one which I was born? What was mine had to be mine. We decided to reclaim it,” she said. Unlike other akharas, which are only open to Hindu men, Kinnar, founded in 2015, is open to all genders and religions. On the Kumbh’s first bathing day, Tripathi led a train of 21 tractor chariots from their tent camp to the bathing ghats at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers, with devotees following on foot, as observers showered them with flower petals. One notable absence: naga sadhus, the ash- smeared Hindu ascetics — the one-time- armed defenders of the faith — naked except for prayer beads and garlands of marigolds who lead the akharas’ procession on royal bathing days. Continued on page 3 Asian Currency Exchange Rates Units per U.S. dollar as of 1/31 Nepal police search for missing followers of “Buddha Boy” KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Police in Nepal are searching for five missing followers of a spiritual leader who is believed by devotees to be a reincarnation of Buddha, according to officials. Ram Bahadur Bamjan, also known as “Buddha Boy,” became famous in southern Nepal in 2005 when many believed he was able to meditate without moving for months while sitting beneath a tree with no food or water. He remains popular despite accusations of sexually and physically assaulting his followers. Uma Prasad Chaturbedi of Nepal’s Central Investi- gation Bureau said police raided three of Bamjan’s camps and are keeping him under strict surveillance as they search for the five missing people. Chaturbedi said jungle areas near the camps were dug up after they received information that bodies might be buried there, but none were found. The families of the five missing followers have filed cases with the authorities seeking to find them. Bamjan has thousands of followers who visit him in his camps, believing he is a reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal roughly 2,500 years ago and became revered as the Buddha. Buddhist scholars have been skeptical of the claims. Tu Phan Branch Manager, NMLS #7916 Call about refinances & purchases Offering FHA/VA/Conventional Mortgages (503) 780-6872 <tu.phan@fairwaymc.com> <www.LoansNow.com> 12817 S.E. 93rd Ave. Clackamas, OR 97015 Copyright©2018 Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. NMLS#2289. 4750 S. Biltmore Lane, Madison, WI 53718, 1-877-699-0353. All rights reserved. Fairway is not affiliated with any government agencies. These materials are not from HUD or FHA and were not approved by HUD or a government agency. This is not an offer to enter into an agreement. Not all customers will qualify. Information, rates and programs are subject to change without notice. All products are subject to credit and property approval. Other restrictions and limitations may apply. Equal Housing Lender. Bangladesh Taka· · Cambodian Riel · · China Renminbi · · Fijian Dollar · · · · Hong Kong Dollar · Indian Rupee · · · · Indonesian Rupiah · Iranian Rial · · · · Japanese Yen · · · Laos New Kip · · · Malaysian Ringgit · Nepal Rupee · · · · Pakistani Rupee · · Papua N.G. Kina · · Philippine Peso· · · Russian Ruble · · · Saudi Riyal· · · · · Singapore Dollar · · South Korean Won · Sri Lankan Rupee · Taiwan Dollar · · · Thai Baht · · · · · Vietnam Dong · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 83.66 4010.2 6.6958 2.0768 7.8465 70.942 13900 42033 108.83 8568.9 4.094 114.85 137.6 3.3486 52.114 65.42 3.7502 1.3454 1111.5 176.66 30.685 31.22 23060