India`s "silent" village of deaf-mutes

(INDIA, VILLAGE, BIRTH, CHILD, THERE, HEALTH)

By Sunil Kataria
DADHKAI, India (Reuters Life!) - Silence reigns in the sleepy village of Dadhkai, nestled high up in the Himalayan mountains in northern India and where the majority of residents are either deaf or mute.
Each of the 47 families in this village in Jammu and Kashmir state have a least one member who can neither hear nor speak. The first reported case dates back to 1931 and now the numbers have swelled to 82.
"The birth of a child is a very happy occasion, meant to be celebrated. But here the birth of a child leads to harassment not only for the parents but for the entire village," said Hashmiddin, a village elder who only goes by one name.
"A deaf and mute child only aggravates problems and increases miseries," he told Reuters Television.
The village with a picture-postcard setting stands in isolation from the rest of the region, as there are no roads, and no transport connecting it to the outside world. A river cuts it from the neighboring region.
Three years ago, a team of scientists and doctors came from an Indian health institute to study the village`s case, but no conclusive findings have been made public so far.
Some villagers blame it on pollution in the water or air, while others believe they could be cursed, as adjoining villages have not reported any similar disorders.
But an age-old custom of marrying within the community, coupled with lack of access to medical facilities and immunization, probably led to the large number of deaf and mute cases, says Jan Mohammed, an instructor for the deaf.
"I think it is because of a genetic problem," Mohammed said. "Close relatives marry here. In the past there was no immunization given and also there is a lack of iodine and salt."
Lack of education, and hearing aids, has left many locals disillusioned about the future.
"These days it is so difficult to find matches for well educated normal girls, how will I get my deaf and dumb daughters married," says Lal Hussain, who has two daughters.
But there have been a lucky few.
Bano Begum, who is not hearing impaired, was married to a deaf and mute man and said their relationship was initially a huge struggle as they could not communicated with each other.
But the couple gave birth to three normal children and learnt to communicate with each other through sign language.
Some experts say the locals should be forced to marry outside their village, which the community rejects. India`s Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad recently said another health team would be sent to the village soon.
(Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Miral Fahmy)
Original article

Lightning kills 2 after graduation ball in Russia`s Far East

(STUDENTS, GRADUATION, LIGHTNING, POLICE, PRIMORYE, OFFICER)

VLADIVOSTOK, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - Two students celebrating their high school graduation died early on Saturday morning in Russia`s Far East when they were struck by lightning, local police said.
One boy and one girl were killed in the lightning strike in the village of Zarubino in the Primorye Territory`s Khasansky region, while another girl and a policeman suffered burns and were taken to a local hospital.
"The tragedy occurred on Saturday at 5 a.m. Vladivostok time [19:00 GMT on Friday]. After a graduation ball 15 students went to the beach to watch the sun rise. They were accompanied by a police officer, who was keeping order," a Primorye police source told RIA Novosti.
"A loud rumble of thunder was heard, and lightning flashed. Two students - a boy and a girl - died at the scene. Another girl and the police officer were hospitalized with burns," he added.
The source said the lightning struck as the group passed near overhead electric power lines.
He added that several other graduation balls in area passed without incident, and all had police officers present to ensure order.
 
Original article

Deluxe hotel beckons on Shanghai`s Bund in downturn

(LUXURY, SHANGHAI, TRAVELERS, PENINSULA, FIRST, WHICH)

By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Luxury may be taboo these days, but it`s a choice The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd group wants travelers to have, despite the downturn, when it opens a Peninsula hotel in Shanghai this year.
The Peninsula Shanghai`s 3 billion yuan ($439 million) complex includes a 235-room deluxe hotel, a shopping arcade, a residential tower -- and is the first building to rise on the city`s historic Bund waterfront in 60 years.
The hotel, due to open in October, is the ninth property in the portfolio of a group renowned for its bespoke fleet of Rolls-Royce limousines and unabashed dedication to the good life: the Peninsula has a team of engineers that develop guest-friendly gadgets and tests the features in each room before it is built.
General Manager Paul Tchen said that while the financial crisis would probably keep high-end leisure and business travelers away for now, the downturn would not last forever, and the hotel was built with the future in mind.
"Unfortunately, in today`s economy, luxury hotels are not very fashionable," Tchen told Reuters.
"But we open hotels for the next generation, we are cautious about what we invest in, and during these times, we can stand the pain more than other companies," he said during a visit to Singapore to promote the new hotel.
Asia`s multi-billion dollar tourism business has been hit hard by the shortage of well-heeled tourists and corporate travelers due to the slowdown, with hotel room rates falling this year for the first time in years and airlines suffering.
Average hotel room revenues across Asia and Australia fell by a third in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, according to Deloitte, which also said that occupancy levels across the region dropped by 15 percent. In Shanghai, hotel room revenues have fallen by almost 40 percent.
Tchen said the hotel was, for now, marketing itself within China, which has been affected, but not too much, by the economic downturn, as well as in other parts of Asia where there is still an appetite for luxury.
Room rates have also been discounted for the first few months after opening, and now start at 2,009 yuan ($294) a night, including breakfast and airport transfers, compared to the rack rate of 3,200 yuan ($468).
"We`re heavily targeting the one market that`s not so badly affected, and that`s our domestic market. We want to bring back the fun, the excitement of staying at a luxury hotel, turn the experience into an escape for locals and for other business travelers from the region," Tchen said.
In homage to Shanghai`s colonial heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was dubbed the Paris of the East, the Peninsula Shanghai is designed in an art deco style, but with high-tech, modern facilities and luxurious fittings.
The hotel has sweeping terraces, and views, of the city and it also plans to host ballroom dancing afternoon tea events.
Shanghai, which is hosting the 2010 World Expo, is spending more than $700 million to spruce up the Bund -- whose name comes from an Anglo-Indian term for a river embankment -- and turn the area into a pedestrian-only zone.
The 2-km (1.24-mile) strip is famous for its art deco buildings, many of which have been restored to their former glory after having been allowed to fall into disrepair when the Communists came to power in 1949.  Continued...
Original article

Downturn creates more working mothers in Asia

(WOMEN, THEIR, FAMILY, MOTHER, HARISH, CHILDREN, SURVEY)

By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - The economic crisis is turning more Asian women into CFOs, or chief family officers, according to a new survey, juggling work and childcare as they try to boost the family income.
Three in four people in Asia believe women are capable of juggling work and family successfully, the massive survey of 33,000 people in 16 countries showed.
Asian women have long been part of the region`s workforce, but the global economic downturn has made having a job a necessity for most, according to the "Eye on Asia" poll by global marketing communications firm Grey Group.
"This, however, has put a lot of pressure on many women, who in addition to having a career, must also take on the role of chief family officer," Charu Harish, regional communications planning director for Grey Group Asia Pacific, told Reuters.
"Because of the traditional attitudes, women feel they must be the picture-perfect wife, mother and employee, which puts them in an unfair, and little recognized, position."
According to the survey, one of the largest snapshots of opinions and trends in the region, nearly 90 percent said it was necessary for mothers to work to contribute to the family income, especially in the current economic climate.
The same survey found that a majority -- 86 percent -- of Asia Pacific respondents worry about their finances and were saving for the future.
Over three-quarters believed women were capable of doing both -- taking care of the family and having a job at the same time -- even though, given a choice, many mothers would prefer to stay at home and watch their children grow up, Harish said.
Some 81 percent of mothers surveyed said they felt so busy these days that they did not spend enough time with their children, which Harish said, led to many mums over-indulging their children to assuage their guilt.
This was particularly the case in the fast-paced economies of Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, but less so in developing countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam.
"In many ways, women have evolved, while many men still maintain a traditional attitude and do not acknowledge that they need to take part in the child-minding and running the house," Harish said.
Overall, nearly two-thirds of Asians said they felt society supported working mothers, which, in many cases, meant grandparents taking care of the children.
Harish said that while this was the most convenient child-care solution, it was creating tension in families due to the generational gap. "The older generations believe in stronger discipline, while the parents tend to be more liberal, and their children even more so," she explained.
The survey polled 33,000 people in 16 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. For more details click on www.greyeyeon.asia
(Editing by Valerie Lee)
Original article

Asians say cheers to Sotheby`s wine auctions

HONG KONG (Reuters Life!) - Asian vintage lovers helped boost auction house Sotheby`s wine sales so far this year to $19.2 million, far exceeding estimates and defying the downturn.
Some 97 percent of all lots at the nine wine auctions held in the first half of the year were sold at prices that far surpassed the top-end estimate of $14.6 million for the sales, Sotheby`s said in a statement.
Asians clients were the most active at auctions held in New York, London and Hong Kong, constituting nearly 60 percent of all Sotheby`s buyers.
"We are excited to be able to report such strong results," Serena Sutcliffe, head of Sotheby`s International Wine department, said in the statement. "These results particularly show our client relationships in Asia, where buyers are currently driving the recent rebound in prices."
Several U.S.-based auctioneers have said that Asian buyers were saving the fine wine market, helping prices that had fallen by as much as 40 percent in the last half of 2008 to rebound by some 20 percent.
Sotheby`s said the highlight of the auctions in New York and Hong Kong was the two-part sale of some 9,000 bottles of fine vintages from the cellars of a top American wine collector who wanted to remain anonymous.
The sale netted some $8.6 million, the second-highest total ever achieved at a Sotheby`s wine auction. All lots in the Hong Kong auction were sold, underscoring the city`s aspirations to become Asia`s main wine hub following the abolition of wine duties in 2008.
Sotheby`s launch of a combination of online bidding with a live audio and video feel helped boost sales in the past six months, the auction house said, with some of the top buyers participated online, including the sixth-largest buyer by value.
Asia is not traditionally a wine drinking region, but that is changing fast, as growing ranks of affluent, young and often Westernized professionals make it their beverage of choice.
Wine imports into Hong Kong have grown year-on-year to $387 million and the city has hosted several wine auctions by international houses, which although they haven`t matched pre-crisis levels, have been robust.
(Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Original article

Singapore artist DNA tests trees to reveal wood origins

By Gillian Murdoch
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - If a tree falls in one of Southeast Asia's rainforests, is smuggled overseas, made into a table or chair, and years later thrown into the street, can the pieces be put together again?
Singapore artist Lucy Davis says the question may seem childish, but with rainforest wood from Southeast Asia a hot seller in the city-state and overseas, she felt driven to investigate how to tell legal wood, from certified companies which sell plantation-grown timber, from the illegal variety.
"The endeavor to put the wood back "together again" is a necessarily impossible, childlike dream," Davis, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University, told Reuters.
"(But) rainforest wood products are still extremely popular in Singapore. There are countless furniture stores (here) promising the best Burmese golden teak, or who promise, if you seem interested enough, that they can still get large pieces of (illegal) teak or ramin wood from Indonesia or Cambodia."
Singapore's timber trade has been scrutinized by green groups for decades. The Environmental Investigation Agency accuses its ports of "greenwashing" illegally cut rainforest timber from neighbors such as Indonesia, where the World Bank estimates up to 80 percent of logging is done illegally.
Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry told Reuters strict controls cover all imports and exports of rare timbers protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It said action would taken against offenders if evidence was found.
Davis' one-woman investigation, elements of which are on exhibit at a Singapore museum, took her from the streets, where she joined trolley-pushing collectors who search for discarded tables, chairs and even rolling pins, to a DNA testing laboratory that is seeking a scientific solution to illegal logging in the region through DNA analysis.
Paternity-testing timber is more difficult than for humans or animals, as the dead-wood tissue is already degraded. But checked against a database of DNA from legal plantations, the results are an almost foolproof test for illegals, the laboratory said.
While DNA testing confirmed Davis' wood was from rainforests in the Philippines, Malaysian states Sabah and Sarawak, and Indonesia, the pieces' different ages meant that pinpointing whether it was illegal or not to cut them at the exact time they were harvested was problematic.
Despite that fact, posing the question was important, she said. "I hope that the meta eco-political framework is clear -- that the timber ending up in Singapore comes from a whole load of possibly dubious origins," Davis said.
(Reporting by Gillian Murdoch, Editing by Miral Fahmy and Neil Chatterjee)

Source: Reuters

Darfuris name babies after ICC prosecutor: Farrow

By Edith Honan
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Some refugees in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region have named their children "Okambo" as a tribute to the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, actress Mia Farrow said on Friday.
"I've met at least 100 babies named Ocampo," Farrow, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, told reporters following a U.N. Security Council meeting on Darfur. "They spell it Okambo. ... So the name has been Africanized."
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March, charging him with masterminding mass killings and deportations in Darfur in western Sudan.
The Sudanese government has rejected Moreno-Ocampo's charges and is refusing to cooperate with the court.
Moreno-Ocampo was at the United Nations to update the Security Council on activities related to the Bashir case and five others he has submitted to the court on possible war crimes in Darfur.
Breaking with standard U.N. practice, Moreno-Ocampo stood beside Sudanese U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, one of his most vocal critics, as the envoy addressed reporters at a press stakeout after the meeting.
Officials waiting their turn to speak typically stand to the side, out of view of TV cameras.
"Mr. Ocampo, you are not welcome in this place. You abuse the image of the United Nations," Abdalhaleem said, adding that Moreno-Ocampo was a "mercenary."
"Your dreams of publicity and media should come to an end also," he said.
Moreno-Ocampo said he had come to U.N. headquarters to talk about "crimes committed in Darfur."
Farrow went on a 12-day hunger strike in April and May to show solidarity with the people of Darfur. U.N. officials say as many as 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.7 million driven from their homes in Darfur in almost six years of ethnic and political violence.
Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.
(Editing by Louis Charbonneau and Will Dunham)

Source: Reuters