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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 2019)
Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER ASIA / PACIFIC December 16, 2019 Pope names Manila Cardinal Tagle to major Vatican post VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has named Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle to a major Vatican post, in a move that could boost the Asian prelate’s chances of perhaps someday becoming pontiff himself. The Vatican announced that Tagle, 62, will head the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples. The appointment of Tagle as prefect of that office highlights the attention Francis is giving to the church in the developing world. Vatican observers have long tabbed Tagle as having the qualifications of a “papabile,’” churchmen widely considered to have the makings to potentially be elected pope someday by their fellow cardinals. Tagle was raised to cardinal’s rank in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. The Philippines is the country with the most Catholics in Asia. Transferring Tagle to the Vatican will give the prelate experience in the Holy See’s operations. Court fines Philip Morris $39.7 million for tax evasion BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand has found the local unit of tobacco giant Philip Morris guilty of evading taxes by under-declaring the value of cigarettes it imported from the Philippines. It ordered the company to pay a fine of 1.2 billion baht ($39.7 million). The Criminal Court found Philip Morris Thailand as a company guilty but acquitted seven employees for lack of evidence they were responsible. The company said it would appeal the ruling. Thailand’s state prosecutor accused the company of evading some 20 billion baht ($662 million) in taxes between 2003 and 2006. The case triggered an international trade dispute, with the Philippines winning a World Trade Organization ruling that Thailand’s import tariffs were unfairly used to give an advantage to the state-controlled Thailand Tobacco Monopoly. Liverpool in talks to sign midfielder Takumi Minamino SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — Takumi Minamino could soon become the first Japanese player to sign for Liverpool. Salzburg sporting director Christoph Freund said his club is in talks with Liverpool over the transfer of the 24-year-old Minamino, who impressed in two games between the teams in the group stage of the Champions League this season. “We’re honored by the kind of clubs who are interested in our players,” Freund said on Salzburg’s Twitter page. Minamino, an attacking midfielder who can also play as a forward, joined Salzburg from Japanese club Cerezo Osaka in 2015. He reportedly has a release clause of 7.25 million pounds ($9.5 million). Klopp was very complimentary about the way Salzburg attacked Liverpool in his team’s 2-0 win, which sealed the defending champions’s spot in the last 16 and dropped Salzburg into the Europa League. The other two members of Salzburg’s forward line, Norway’s Erling Braut Håland and South Korea’s Hwang Hee-chan, have also been linked with moves away from the club. Shinji Okazaki won the Premier League title with Leicester in 2016, while Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United), Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton), and Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal and Fulham) are among other Japanese to have played in England’s top division. Duterte to end martial law in Philippine south MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — President Rodrigo Duterte has decided to end more than two years of martial law in the southern Philippines after government forces weakened Islamic militant groups there with the capture and killing of their leaders, his spokesman said. Duterte placed the Mindanao region under martial law after hundreds of local militants aligned with the Islamic State group and backed by foreign fighters occupied buildings, a commercial district, and communities in Marawi city starting May 23, 2017, in the worst security crisis Duterte has faced. Troops quelled the disastrous siege after five months of intense airstrikes and ground offensives with the help of American and Australian surveillance aircraft. The Philippine congress approved an extension of martial law in Mindanao three times after Duterte warned that militants continued to recruit fighters and plot attacks. Duterte decided not to further extend martial law, which expires at the end of the year, after his defense and security advisers provided an assessment that “the terrorist and extremist rebellion” has been weakened with the losses of the militants’ leaders and a drop in crime in the region, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said. The military welcomed Duterte’s decision to follow its recommendation to end martial law in the south. TREASURED TRADITION. The craft of making traditional tsumami kanzashi hair ornaments has been passed on from master to apprentice for generations, but today crafters and hobbyists have also adopted its basic method of making folded fabric flowers. Pictured are samples of folded fabric flowers traditionally used for tsumami kanzashi hair ornaments as well as the materials for making them. (Linda Lombardi via AP) Easy-to-make flowers for traditional Japanese hair ornaments By Linda Lombardi The Associated Press OKYO — Tsumami kanzashi are Japanese hair ornaments that were worn by geisha and young daughters of the nobility in a tradition dating back hundreds of years. They’re complex and gorgeous, and the craft is officially recognized by the government. It was a bit of a surprise, then, to discover that the basic technique of making their folded cloth flowers was simple enough to learn while sitting at a sidewalk café. On a recent trip to Tokyo, I signed up for a 90-minute workshop on that technique, called tsumami zaiku. Similar hands-on craft experiences that I’ve done before have always involved going to a studio. In this case, however, instructor Chikako Oshiro met me at a train station and we proceeded to a café, where she set the supplies out on the table. Organized neatly in compartmentalized boxes, they all fit into a tote bag. Oshiro showed me some sample flowers and pointed out that there were two kinds. In the ken tsumami type, the petals have a sharp point — ken means sword. Maru tsumami petals are rounded — maru means round. The latter technique is harder, so we started with ken. I picked out five 4-centimeter squares of two different colors of fabric, and Oshiro demonstrated what to do. First, fold the square in half into a triangle and glue it together at the tip of the triangle. Then fold again and glue again; do it one more time, and you’ve got your T Asian Currency Exchange Rates Units per U.S. dollar as of 12/13 Hotel catches fire in Thai resort, 400 safely evacuated BANGKOK (AP) — About 400 guests and staff were safely evacuated from a hotel in Thailand’s popular seaside resort of Pattaya whose facade caught fire, police said. Police Capt. Sakda Poonya said the blaze at the Holiday Inn Express caused no injuries or deaths. He said an initial investigation found that a short circuit sparked the fire, which began in an area overhanging the hotel’s entrance and spread along cables to the third floor and then to several higher floors. Three fire trucks took about half an hour to put out the blaze. A hotel staffer who declined to give her name said by phone there was no major damage and guests were later allowed back into their rooms. A daytime photo of the hotel appeared to show that most of the damage was external, with siding and some windows burnt. The hotel, with 241 rooms, opened in August this year. In 1997, more than 90 people were killed in Pattaya in one of Thailand’s worst hotel fires. Authorities blamed the management of the 17-story, 450-room Royal Jomtien Resort Hotel for neglecting fire safety measures. That blaze drew calls for stricter safety regulations. Antiquated laws had left fines for violations so low that owners would pay them daily rather than correct problems. first petal. It sounds simple, but required dexterity because the pieces are so small. Oshiro showed me how to hold the piece of fabric in the middle with a small pair of tweezers and fold it over that, which makes it easier to fold a straight line. Once I had completed 10 petals, the next step was to cover a round piece of cardboard with matching fabric to make a base. Then, the petals are glued on to this base. To make sure they were arranged evenly, Oshiro showed me how to start with two petals opposite one another, looking kind of like rabbit ears. Then the rest of the petals were added next to those two, alternating colors. Finally, I chose a small decorative bead for the center, glued the flower onto a hair clip, and it was done. Next, we tried the round-petaled maru technique, which was indeed more difficult and harder to explain in words. Starting with two different-color fabric triangles laid slightly offset on top of each other, and then using slightly more complex folding magic, you end up with a rounded petal with one color in the center and another color around the edge. Everyone to whom I showed my flowers said, “Wow, you made that?” But there’s a long distance between my adorable little blossoms and the “wow” of tsumami kanzashi hairpieces made by professional artisans. These are more like wearable works of art, with bunches and cascades of multiple silk flowers. These ornaments are still worn today by women dressed in kimono for special occa- Continued on page 13 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 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 84.6 4047.6 6.9848 2.164 7.7953 70.795 13970 42035 109.22 8855.5 4.1335 113.6 153.98 3.4 50.62 62.887 3.7501 1.3549 1177.0 180.66 30.236 30.21 23128