What's
Happening in San Jose Vietnamese Community & Interested News:
What's
Happening in San Jose Vietnamese Community & Interested News:
Dec. 29, 1999: U.S. population at 274 million as New Year begins. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will have two million more partygoers than last year as Americans prepare to ring in the New Year, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said Tuesday. The resident population for the United States as of Jan. 1, 2000 is projected at 274,024,000, a 0.9 percent increase from 271,584,000 during the same time last year, the Commerce Department said.
The racial make-up of the United States remains predominately white with 82 percent, African Americans represent almost 13 percent, U.S. citizens of Hispanic origin make-up more than 11 percent, Asian and Pacific Islanders 4 percent and American Indians represent less than 1 percent. Hispanics are not considered a racial group by the Census Bureau. The New Year's Day population projection represents an increase of 25,233,000 or 10.1 percent over the population of 248,791,000 on Census Day 1990.
And since the last turn of the century, the United States has added approximately 200 million more people. The country's population on July 1, 1900 was 76,094,000, according to the Census Bureau. Reported by SJMN.
Dec. 28, 1999: Where charity dollars really go. State attorney general reports on how fund-raising operations suck up 56% of donations. When Berkeley's KPFA Pacifica Radio hired a private firm to solicit donations last year, the community responded and sent in checks worth $38,148 for the embattled station. But how much did the station actually make from this telephone fund-raising drive? Ninety-five dollars and eighty-two cents. Full story SF. Examiner.
Dec. 27, 1999: E-retail exceeds expectations for holiday season. Market research firm Forrester Research Inc. estimated before the season started that revenue from Internet retailers between Thanksgiving and Christmas would total $4 billion. The company has no figures for last year's holiday season, but she noted that e-retailer revenues in the fourth quarter would total in excess of $8 billion, more than revenues for all of 1998. Traffic to Amazon.com in the week ending Dec. 19 totaled an average of nearly 7,000,000 daily visitors, double the amount of last year, Media Metrix said. Media network Yahoo.com Inc. said on Monday that orders between Thanksgiving and Christmas from its shopping site, which features links to its retail partners, rose 385 percent from the year-earlier period. The shopping site of No. 1 Internet access company America Online Inc. saw its first-time users double to 2 million from last year. Full story SJMN.
Dec. 23, 1999: Hallinan declared winner of DA race in SF. If District Attorney Terence Hallinan is sending out holiday cards this season, perhaps the biggest one should go to Supervisor Tom Ammiano, whose failed mayoral bid appeared to give Hallinan the boost that helped him win re-election. Hallinan, holding a 1,763-vote lead over challenger Bill Fazio and with less than a thousand votes left to process from the Dec. 14 runoff election, was declared the winner Wednesday night in a district attorney's race that had been too close to call since polls closed eight days before. The lead steadily increased as the days passed, led with 104,947 votes to Fazio's 103,184. Nishioka said there were still between 400 and 800 votes that needed additional research, but they will not affect the final outcome of the election. The district attorney is The City's top prosecutor, overseeing 130 lawyers and a $26.4 million budget. The post pays $139,899 a year. Full story SF. Examiner.
Dec. 21, 1999: The Dark Side of SiliValley. Silicon Valley is the epicenter of the fastest creation of wealth in history. But the High-tech miracle has a dark side. PHANTOM RICHES. Beneath the glitter of booming Silicon Valley, executives have been accused of lying about their products and doctoring their books, leaving devastated investors in their wake. DOUBLE-CROSSED. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs say they have been betrayed by venture capitalists and lawyers, the very people they asked for help STOLEN SECRETS. Technological breakthroughs are so valuable in Silicon Valley that some company executives are willing to do almost anything to get them. Full 5 parts story by S.F. Chronicle.
Dec. 20, 1999: Minorities carry uneven burden in testing of vaccines. Tests in selected communities raise questions about ethics. Americans of all races and ethnic groups rely on vaccines to protect their children and to stop the spread of terrible disease. But black, Latino and American Indian babies bear the brunt of the risk involved in getting vaccines to market, according to documents obtained from U.S. government health agencies and interviews with researchers, medical ethicists and parents. Full story SJMN.
Portugal rescinds control of Macau to China. MACAU -- The West's first foothold in the East was returned to China at midnight Sunday when Portugal ended nearly 450 years of rule over this small colony with a big history. At the end of a day filled with solemn ceremonies, joyous cultural celebrations and a Falun Gong protest that ended in a mass arrest, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio handed over the tiny territory in an exchange of handshakes and smiles with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Taiwan will not come so easily as Hong Kong or Macau, however. Taiwan has no colonial overlord to negotiate its future, and its 20 million citizens have grown increasingly pro-democracy and pro-independence. Most of Macau's 430,000 residents, the overwhelming majority of whom are ethnic Chinese, seem to welcome the change in sovereignty. Full story SJMN.
Dec. 19, 1999: Drugs tested mostly on whites. Though reactions may vary by ethnicity, makers are slow to explore differences. For more than a decade, the government has pressured companies to test prescription drugs broadly -- on men and women, adults and children, whites and minorities. Yet companies continue to test almost exclusively on whites, a Mercury News investigation found.
By failing to test on more minorities, companies are not only disregarding federal guidelines, they also are ignoring mounting evidence that reactions to some drugs might vary by ethnicity. As a result, some scientists say, the American medical establishment risks treating its growing minority population with drugs or dosages that may be less effective or cause side effects. ``Almost everything that is now required by law,'' Widmark said, ``came out of disasters.'' Full story SJMN.
Vietnamese seniors celebrated Xmas early. Over one hundred seniors came to the Vietnamese American Council on 611 N. 13 Street, San Jose, Calif. for their early Xmas celebration from information released today at the fuction at noon on Saturday yesterday. It has been the traditional activity of the agency since established since 1982 for seniors around the Christmas time in San Jose. They all came to enjoy Vietnamese food funded by Santa Clara county 4 days a week via its nutrition program for all seniors regardless of ethnicity. Each member also chipped in a few dollars more to the gift exchange to one another in this joyful occassion.
Extra costs for this event were also donated by Dr. Ngai Nguyen $500, Mr. Huong Le of Lee Catering Services, $500 and Don Liquor, 1 case of French wine for the lottery draws. 17 senior winners were declared after an exciting draw contest. HVM
Dec. 18, 1999: IPO money is only part of his victory. TRUNG DUNG became fabulously rich Friday, and he said what everyone who becomes fabulously rich in Silicon Valley says: It's not about the money. But if anyone can deliver that line with a straight face and clear conscience it is Dung, who fled Vietnam for a life as a student, janitor, dishwasher and now software mogul. His company, OnDisplay, went public Friday, selling its stock into a market headed for record highs. By day's end, Dung's paper fortune was about $85 million. `Personally,'' said Dung, the 32-year-old founder of the San Ramon company, ``I've never been attached to money.'' Sure he was happy. Very happy. The company he founded, the company built on his Internet technology, had raised about $90 million. Its stock, offered at $28, closed at $77, not only making him rich, but lining the pockets of all 170 company employees. Dung immigrated to Boston under a U.S. resettlement program. He lived with his older sister, who had fled separately. They shared a four-bedroom apartment with 10 others. Dung passed his high school equivalency test on his first try and enrolled at the University of Massachusetts. He worked weekends as a janitor and nights as a dishwasher. He studied non-stop, says sister Hahn Dung. ``I had to cook for him,'' she says. ``I had to clean for him. I have to bring him food at the computer. I said, `Later on, when you're a success, you'll have to pay me.' '' Oh, he did. Dung granted Hahn, 34, and younger sister Thao Dung, 29, a total of 400,000 shares, worth about $31 million at Friday's close. Full story SJMN.
Dec. 16, 1999: Vietnamese remain split. ELECTION: Two factions operate under one name, leading to anger and confusion. WESTMINSTER — Campaigns to pick new leaders of a large Vietnamese social services organization are under way despite one activist's claim that he already is the president. Election organizers for the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, a volunteer group that protects immigrant interests and preserves Vietnamese culture, acknowledge they are faced with a confused — even angry — electorate.
Since the last fractious election, in 1998, two separate groups have been calling themselves by the organization's name. Each refuses to acknowledge the other. The organization headed by outgoing President Duc Trong Do, a Garden Grove resident, has 20 candidates, ranging in age from 28 to 69 years old, vying for 21 board seats on Jan. 9.
The other group, led by Thang Ngoc Tran, will hold elections in 2002. More than 5,000 people cast ballots in 1998, with 97.5 percent supporting Do. Tran's competing slate withdrew on the eve of that vote, accusing the election committee of unfair practices. Tran says more than 7,500 Vietnamese-Americans throughout Southern California voted for him in a separate election. "Basically the whole community hurts because we have two boards of representatives," Do said. Full story OC. Register.
Dec. 15, 1999: Willie Brown wins re-election in San Francisco. Mayor Willie Brown, the kingmaker of California Democrats, easily fended off a challenge from the left to win re-election Tuesday, defeating an openly gay politician who may have been too liberal for even this most liberal of American cities. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, Brown had 111,110 votes, or 60 percent, to Tom Ammiano's 72,658 votes, or 40 percent.
"You have no idea how relieved I am," Brown told the cheering crowd at his victory party at Fisherman's Wharf, where 600 supporters went wild as he put on a baseball cap emblazoned with the words "Still Da Mayor" in gold. Polls gave Ammiano only a slim chance, though he waged an aggressive populist campaign after forcing his way on Nov. 2 into the runoff in a last-minute write-in campaign. He was outspent more than 10-to-1 by Brown.
Brown hasn't lost an election since 1964, when he reached the state Assembly by campaigning as an anti-development crusader. He served 31 years, including 141/2 as speaker, the longest tenure of anyone in the Legislature's most powerful post. And he relished his power, describing himself as "The Ayatollah of the Assembly." Forced out by term limits that voters imposed largely in reaction to his imperial tenure, Brown became the city's first black mayor in 1995. He presided over a booming economy, adding 4,000 jobs to the payroll and a $1 billion to the budget.
Ammiano, the president of the city's Board of Supervisors, a former teacher and sometime standup comic, had promised to preserve San Francisco's character and fight gentrification. Full sory SF Examiner. For more Election '99 in San Francisco.
21-year-old secures $53 million for high tech startup. PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) -- Angus Davis told his parents not to worry when he was thrown out of the prestigious school Phillips Academy Andover for hacking into the telephone system. But even Davis couldn't have predicted that in less than five years he would leverage his scofflaw talents to secure $53 million in funding for a company trying to combine the power of the World Wide Web with the convenience of the telephone. At the heart of that team, which has grown to 51 employees this month, is Davis, an unusually intelligent, rosy cheeked young man who chose Netscape over college four years ago and has been rising with the Internet wave ever since. he had more than a decade of high tech experience under his belt. He began programming at 8, worked for one of the nation's first Internet service providers through high school and created Web pages as a hobby as a teen.
And then there were his problems at Andover, the tony East Coast prep school where his father and grandfather had graduated before heading to Yale University and Harvard Law School. Davis, an only child, ended that family tradition when he got caught jiggering the school's telephone system so he could make calls without paying for them. Basically they say it's going to provide information over the telephone -- horoscopes, stock prices, driving directions and more. Unlike basic telephone banking or MovieFone, they say their system -- scheduled to launch during the first half of 2000 -- will link users to different sources without having to redial. Full story SJMN.
Dec. 14, 1999: 3 tech companies fined in pay probe. Piecework: Total of $185,000 in penalties levied on valley firms. The investigation was triggered by a Mercury News report, published June 27-28, that found 14 local contract manufacturers -- ranging from small firms to multibillion dollar giants -- have been paying Asian immigrants these piecerate wages to assemble electronic parts in their homes.
None of the companies returned phone calls seeking comment Monday. Her department has headed the state's efforts within the multi-agency task force, which also includes the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the state Employment Development Department. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's office also has been attending task force meetings. Saunders said her department finished investigating four of the 14 companies mentioned in the Mercury News report as being involved in piecework arrangements and that the investigation of the remaining companies continues with an eight-member team. ``The companies are all being extremely cooperative,'' she said. ``Completing the investigation of a single company takes a long time. Some of them are very large and have long lists of subcontractors. We're still only around 30 percent complete.''Full story SJMN.
Dec. 13, 1999: U.S. quietly withdraws as Panama Canal hand-over approaches. A U.S. official is expected to hand over the keys to the Panama Canal on Tuesday, undertaking a duty that President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore declined and that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright canceled Friday because of Mideast peace talks. A handful of American soldiers already pulled down the flag at the last U.S. military base here Dec. 6 and headed north. Under the treaty the two nations negotiated in 1977, the canal won't come under Panamanian control until noon on Dec. 31, but after the ceremony planned for Tuesday, the American era in Panama will be over. When the last 45 U.S. troops left Dec. 6, it became the first time since the U.S. Marines midwifed the birth of Panama in 1903 that U.S. soldiers have been absent from the country. After American military might created Panama, American money and engineering know-how built (and, for eight decades, ran) the transoceanic canal that made it viable. Full story SJMN.
Mental illness strikes 1 in 5 Americans, report says. One in every five Americans experiences a mental disorder in any given year, and half of all Americans have such disorders at some time in their lives, but most of them never seek treatment, the surgeon general of the United States says in a comprehensive new report scheduled for release today. Many people with mental disorders do not realize that effective treatments exist, or they fear discrimination because of the stigma attached to mental illness, the study found. And, it said, many people cannot afford treatment because they lack insurance that would cover it.
After reviewing hundreds of studies, the report concludes that ``a range of effective treatments exist for nearly all mental disorders,'' including the most severe. The report's principal recommendation is to ``seek help if you experience symptoms of mental illness.'' The report is to be issued at the White House today by Surgeon General David Satcher, the government's leading spokesman on matters of public health. Satcher's report finds a huge gap between the need for mental health services and their availability. One of the report's major themes is that mental health must be part of mainstream health care, not an afterthought or an offshoot. The report says that ``22 percent of the population has a diagnosable mental disorder,'' and that ``mental illness, including suicide, is the second leading cause of disability,'' after heart disease.
But, it says, ``nearly two-thirds of all people with diagnosable mental disorders do not seek treatment.'' The statistics, derived from studies published in the last few years, will probably not surprise psychiatrists, psychologists or other specialists in mental health. One five children experience the signs and symptoms of a diagnosable mental disorder in the course of a year, but only about 5 percent of all children suffer ``extreme functional impairment.''
Among Americans ages 18 to 54, the report said, 14.9 have anxiety disorders, 7.1 percent have mood disorders and 1.3 percent have schizophrenia. Among elderly people, depression takes an `inordinate toll,'' but often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Eight to 15 percent of older people living in the community have symptoms of depression. ``Suicidal thoughts are sometimes considered a normal facet of old age,'' the report says. People 65 and older have the highest suicide rates of any age group. In addition, the report says that Alzheimer's disease strikes 8 to 15 percent of people over the age of 65. But it insists that ``normal aging is not characterized by mental disorders.'' Full story SJMN.
Dec. 12, 1999: Immigration service offers a human touch. New INS phone line streamlines calls. What the officials didn't emphasize, however, is that the new number is designed to accomplish a lot more. Not only can citizenship applicants call to change their addresses, but also other INS customers can call to get all kinds of other information. But the number -- (800) 375-5283 -- already works in California. It just hasn't been publicized. The reason for the soft launch is that ``we want to be sure that the process and technology are working -- that we're delivering the goods,'' INS spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. ``We've made promises in the past and have not always been able to keep them. So we're erring on the side of caution.''Full story SJMN.
How Vietnam's leaders abandoned the dream. Ho's lost legacy By BUI TIN. EARLIER this year, Time magazine featured a special double issue on the 100 most influential Asian figures of the 20th century. Time asked me to write about Ho Chi Minh, and I accepted. The reaction in Hanoi was sharp and immediate. Officials ripped the two pages carrying my story from the 200 issues sent to Time subscribers in Vietnam and promptly branded me a ``traitor'' who had deeply offended the sacred feelings of the people toward the revered and beloved leader. Full story SJMN.
AUTHOR PROFILE: BUI TIN, BORN: 1924 in Hue, Vietnam. BACKGROUND: Influential Vietnamese communist who personally accepted the surrender of Saigon in 1975. Advanced to rank of colonel, then left Vietnam in 1990. Now lives in Paris. IN HIS OWN WORDS: Reportedly told South Vietnamese general who surrendered to him: ``Between Vietnamese, there are no victors and no vanquished. . .If you are patriots, consider this a moment of joy. The war in our country is over.'' FURTHER READING: ``Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel,'' published in January by the University of Hawaii Press.
Dec. 11, 1999: Candidates
who have filed for 2000 election by SJMN.
Japanese gleefully ponder royal pregnancy.
TOKYO -- ``Honorable Pregnancy,''
screamed the giant headlines on a tabloid Friday as Japanese rejoiced over reports
that Crown Princess Masako, after more than six years of marriage, might at
last be pregnant with an heir to the 2,600-year-old Chrysanthemum Throne.
The news came as a triumphant scoop for Asahi Shimbun. The ewspaper reported in Friday morning editions that the former Masako Owada, a Harvard-educated diplomat, was showing signs of pregnancy. The nation's media gleefully deployed to follow the story in every detail, with tabloids breathlessly reporting that the 36-year-old princess had received two positive results from pregnancy tests and declaring that she allegedly had received help from fertility specialists.
Under current law, a boy would be second in line to succeed after his 39-year-old father, Crown Prince Naruhito. No males have been born to the imperial family since 1965; Naruhito's younger brother, Prince Akishino, has two daughters.
Naruhito's father, Emperor Akihito, is purported to be the 125th in an unbroken line of rulers that is said to stretch back to the original sun goddess, Amaterasu.
In fact, Japan has had seven empresses. But while the Japanese Constitution does not specify the sex of the throne's occupant, a 1947 law states that the emperor must be male. Some Japanese say that law will be amended if the prince and princess produce no offspring or only female children. Full story SJMN.
Dec. 10, 1999: You can read our monthly newsletters in Vietnamese at Tiªng Vi®t now.
Source of radio slurs sought. CRIME: Two minority groups want probes into comments during a police search. Investigators continued their search Thursday for the source of two racial slurs uttered over a police radio during a search for bank robbers a day earlier. The latest complaint comes about 10 months after somebody made derogatory comments on the same police frequency, known as Orange South, about protesters in Little Saigon during anti-communist demonstrations in February. The slurs, which included use of the n-word, were spoken sometime after the 11:30 a.m. robbery at the Wells Fargo branch on Bolsa Avenue. The frequency was being used by the more than 35 officers from Huntington Beach and Westminster police departments during the search for the bank robbers, as well as the FBI. Other police agencies also had access to the channel at the time. Police officials said Thursday that an officer would be crazy to make such remarks over a public radio. But they weren't ready to dismiss the possibility without a full investigation. "It would be occupational suicide," said Westminster Police Capt. Andy Hall. "They know it's going to be investigated, and they know there's a really good chance that they'll get caught." Full story OC. Register.
Dec. 9, 1999: Clintont: No place for politics in Cuban boy dispute. President Clinton said Wednesday politics should be kept out of a custody battle over a 6-year-old Cuban boy who was rescued from waters off Florida and brought to the United States. Elian Gonzalez was rescued on Nov. 25, after a boat carrying illegal Cuban migrants capsized, killing his mother and 10 other people. Arguments over the boy's future have caused an international dispute and protests in Cuba. Elian's father, who lives in Cuba, has demanded the child's return. The Cuban government has also said the boy, who is staying with relatives in Miami, should be sent back to the island and the Communist Party has organized anti-American protests there. The State Department said U.S. rules recognized the right of a parent to assert custody rights and said they would contact the father to work toward a resolution. ``We should let the people who are responsible for this, who have a legal responsibility, try to do the right thing by the child,'' Clinton added. ``These decisions are often difficult even in domestic situations, and -- but I hope that is what will be done, and it should be done without regard to politics.'' Full story SJMN.
Dec. 8, 1999: To repay, or not to repay. Councilman's request for reimbursement is a legal dilemma for Westminster. Councilman Tony Lam wants the city to reimburse him for part of the $89,000 he paid in legal bills to keep protesters away from his restaurant earlier this year. The pickets only came, he said, ecause he followed the city's instructions. Lam's demand puts other city leaders in a tough spot.
There's no precedent for picking up a city official's tab when he's a plaintiff in a suit. And if the City Council pays Lam, it could be sued in turn — for giving away taxpayers' money. But "the absence of precedence does not mean it's legally impossible" for the city to reimburse Lam, said Jones, who advised council members not to attend the Little Saigon demonstration because of potential liability to the city.
"My guess is you've got a Catch-22," Jones said. "Whatever (council members) do, they're going to receive some sort of litigation ... This case is very, very unique and that's because Tony is a council member and he's being forced to do this. It's a reasonable argument." Full story OC. Register.
Dec. 7, 1999: WTO summit embattled police chief resigns. Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper said he is resigning and that he takes full responsibility for the riots that disrupted the World Trade Organization meeting and brought chaos to the city's streets. Stamper sent a letter yesterday to Mayor Paul Schell announcing his decision to step down as head of the city's 1,800-member force at the end of March, ending his six-year tenure as chief.
Schell accepted the resignation. He said he will stay through March so that he can help investigators sort out how and why police lost control of the demonstrations and can speak freely in doing so. Stamper's decision caps a scandal-filled year that began with allegations that a Seattle homicide detective stole $10,000 from a crime scene and culminated last week as outnumbered police officers fired tear gas, pepper spray and rubber pellets at WTO demonstrators in downtown streets. Photo Chief Stamper visits officers last wednesday by Seattle Times.
On Wednesday night, police officers yanked Seattle City Councilman Richard McIver from his car as he tried to drive into a restricted area. McIver, who is black, said the officers ignored his business card, and he said the incident highlights problems in how the department deals with people of color. Moreover, police officers complained loudly and publicly that the failure to anticipate violence left their ranks so thin that they could not do their jobs. Many said they were dangerously tired while on the front lines for nearly 20 hours without food, backup support or enough tear gas and pepper spray. Full story Seattle P-I.
Stamper's resignation letter to Mayor Paul Schell on December 6, 1999. Mayor's response to Stamper.
Dec. 6, 1999: Vietnam hit again by floods. DISASTER: Heavy rains in the soggy central region leave 69 people dead. HANOI, Vietnam — Rescuers scrambled to get food and life vests to inundated areas in central Vietnam after a new round of flooding left 69 people dead, officials said Sunday. Four days of heavy rain have unleashed 5 1/2 feet of water on parts of the region, which is still struggling to recover from November floods. Forecasters predicted even more rain for some areas in the blighted coastal region, which stretches some 400 miles from Quang Tri province to Khanh Hoa province. "These are people just starting to get their lives back together, and now, two weeks later, it's been washed away again," said John Geoghegan, head of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.
The military has responded with emergency assistance, deploying more than 5,000 soldiers based in the region to help. On Sunday, helicopters made 10 drops of food and supplies to survivors. Some 200,000 families were in need of emergency food and water, the committee said. About 194,000 houses and 71,630 acres of newly planted rice fields had been damaged or destroyed. Central Vietnam, home to 7.5 million people, is one of the country's poorest regions. The area is prone to flooding because of illegal logging along a steep mountain range not far inland. Full story OC Register.
Dec. 4, 1999: WTO summit ends in failure. The meeting of the World Trade Organization, hampered throughout the week by sometimes violent protests, broke up just before 10 p.m. when delegates from 135 nations said they could not agree on an agenda for future trade talks. "Essentially, they just could not get the work done," said WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell.
The defeat for the trade ministers was a major blow to President Clinton, who had said success in Seattle required the launch of a new round of global trade talks. It was also a blow to the U.S. business community, which wants greater access to foreign markets. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky attempted to put the best face on defeat, saying trade ministers will attempt at some later date to pick up where they left off. Full story Seattle P-I. WTO articles from Seattle Times and Photo Gallery.
Dec. 3, 1999: For more covereage including hundreds of pictures of protest from day 1- Nov. 29 see on Seattle P- I on WTO in Seattle. Map of no demonstration zone.
Uneasy truce across the city. Police in Seattle shifted tactics once again yesterday, avoiding tear gas and rubber bullets while community leaders negotiated an end to curfews, large no-protest zones and other Draconian measures. It was a marked change from Wednesday, when police used extreme measures to quell anti-police protests downtown and on Capitol Hill related to the World Trade Organization meeting. After making 68 arrests Tuesday and 504 Wednesday, police in Seattle locked up only two protesters yesterday. Full story Seattle P-I.
Seattle protests put a new activism in play. Momentum: 1960s-style tactics, 1990s tech bring `globalism' down to the streets. No one is suggesting that the WTO protests carry the same gut-level emotional power or historical significance as the anti-war or civil rights struggles. But observers say the anti-WTO activists made a swift breakthrough into the mainstream consciousness. So how did it happen?
The WTO protesters' successful formula had one foot in the past and one in the future. They relied on traditional tactics that served activists of previous generations: tight organization, committed members, weeklong training sessions on non-violent civil disobedience. When the protesters finally converged in Seattle, cell phones and pagers were instrumental in coordinating and moving huge groups of people to specific intersections and blocking streets. Video cameras and digital cameras were key in feeding the latest images of police tactics to numerous Web sites. Full story SJMN.
Concert tonight for Vietnam flood relief in San Jose. Vietnamese-American organizations in the Bay Area are staging a concert in San Jose tonight to aid flood victims in central Vietnam. Organizers say more than 100 Vietnamese-American entertainers and celebrities will appear at the event, which will take place from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Lion Plaza at Tully and South King roads. Last month, torrential rains in central Vietnam killed at least 500 people and left millions homeless. The ancient capital of Hue was hit particularly hard.
Dec. 1, 1999: Domain name is sold for a record $7.5 million. In what is believed to be the highest price ever paid for an Internet address, a company here is paying $7.5 million for the rights to the domain name business.com. The price is more than twice the previous known record paid for an Internet domain name -- the $3.3 million that Compaq Computer Corp. paid last year to buy altavista.com, the name of its search engine.
Compaq purchased the address from a man in San Jose, who had registered the name to use for his software company. Ostrofsky said he had previously sold the name eflowers.com to Flowers Direct for $25,000 plus 50 cents from every transaction made on the site. As part of the deal, Ostrofsky's wife will get flowers once a month for the rest of her life. The seller of business.com, a Houston entrepreneur named Marc Ostrofsky, bought the name in 1997 from an Internet service provider in Europe for $150,000.
His sale Tuesday is the latest example of a kind of land-rush mentality on the Internet, in which speculators and entrepreneurs have been staking claims to domain names, the cyberspace equivalent of real estate, in hopes that the addresses will appreciate in value. Full story SJMN.
Virus is on the loose. A destructive virus that hit last summer made a comeback Tuesday by striking at least a dozen large companies, wiping out files on employees' hard drives and causing headaches for tech support staffs. The virus is essentially a replica of the Worm.
ExploreZip virus that arrived last June. This time around, though, a clever hacker disguised the virus using a different technology to shrink the size of the file, allowing it to slip past anti-virus programs. Liike the virus last June, the latest version arrives in an e-mail that appears to be a reply from someone the victim just e-mailed.
The
subject and the sender's information gives no hint of anything suspicious. But
when the filed is opened, the body contains the following text: ``Hi (Recipient
Name)! I received your e-mail and I shall send you a reply ASAP. Till then,
take a look at the attached zipped docs.'' Recipients who click on the attachment
will get a message that says their computer can't open the file.
This is apparently a diversion because in truth, the file has been unlocked
and the virus unleashed.
Full story SJMN.
