May 28 2012

Harvard Associate Professor Miaki Ishii and her colleagues at Harvard University are studying Earth's inner core, approximately 1,800 miles beneath the surface. The research using seismic data is making waves in the scientific community and beyond.

New York Times writer Natalie Anger reports. (The New York Times online offers a digital subscription service, you may need to sign up to view this report.) 

Update May 28, 2012

May 24, 2012 would have been Private Danny Chen's 20th birthday. 

After weeks of hazing, physical and mental abuse and racial taunting as documented in his personal diary, U.S. Army Private Danny Chen was found dead of an apparent suicide on October 3, 2011 in Afghanistan. 

More than 9,000 cards honoring bullying victim Danny Chen have been collected and are on their way to Washington D.C. by supporters of anti-bullying legislation of H.R. 5638, the "Service Member Anti-Hazing Act." The bill has passed the House on Friday, May 25, and now waits for Senate approval. 

Update April 11, 2012

Army Courts-Martial in Connection with U.S. Private Danny Chen Moved to US

The U.S. military announced today that the trials of the eight U.S. soldiers implicated in the death of 19 year old U.S. Army Private Danny Chen have been moved to U.S. soil. The trials will be held at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, if senior military officials decide courts-martial are warranted. Fort Bragg's commanders have accepted jurisdiction in the case.

A miliary investigator has recommended courts-martial for all of the soldiers.

"We are relieved and pleased," said Elizabeth R. OuYang, president of the New York chapter of civil rights group Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), which has been lobbying the military for a change in jurisdiction to the United States, rather than in Afghanistan.  

This weekend, Samrat Chakrabarti is one of the special guests at the inaugural Washington D.C. South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF 2012), sponsored by Ceasar Productions, which runs from Friday, June 1st, through Sunday, June 3rd, 2012 at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland. The Festival brings together a wide variety of films from across South Asia and and includes films in Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, and Telegu.

Samrat Chakrabarti is featured in Ajay Naidu’s Ashes which screens on Saturday, June 2 at noon, Italo Spinelli’s gritty and disturbing Gangor, and Shome Banerjee’s experimental David Lynchian short Hotel New York 2012, which both screen on Sunday, June 3 at noon. Clickhere to purchase tickets.

Shyam Benegal (Director of Well Done Abba!, Zubeidaa, Kalyug), Ketan Mehta (Director of Mangal Pandey, Mirch Masala, Maya), Deepti Naval (Memories in March, Firaaq, Shakti), Rajit Kapur (Guzaarish, Well Done Abba!, Zubeidaa), and Raima Sen (Memories in March, The Japanese Wife, Teen Patti) are scheduled to attend.

A David Ono - ABC7 Eyewitness News Special

KABC-TV Los Angeles

Travel with ABC7 Eyewitness News Anchor, David Ono to Vietnam on the 40th Anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize winning photo “Napalm Girl” which shows an innocent 9-year-old whose clothes were burned off her body by napalm during the Vietnam War.

Highlights of David Ono's powerful documentary are online at KABC-TV's website. The documentary initially aired on KABC-TV June 2, at 630 p.m. PST. 

June 1, 2012 - Press Release 

Elected Officials, Health Advocates & Community Leaders Denounce

Tobacco Company Lies About Prop. 29 & Urge AAPIs To Vote On Election Day

San Gabriel, CA – Asian American & Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) elected officials, community leaders, & health advocates convened a press conference to urge AANHPI voters to ignore misleading ads funded by the tobacco industry & vote for Prop. 29, the California Cancer Research Act, on June 5th, 2012. Advocates countered the misleading claims by the tobacco industry with the following facts:

The new $1 tobacco tax will save 104,000 lives; stop 228,000 kids from smoking; and generate approximately $735 million every year to support life-saving research and tobacco prevention programs. Prop. 29 will only increase taxes on those who smoke. The $1-per-pack increase is projected to prevent 225,000 Californian kids from becoming addicted smokers and prevent over 104,000 premature smoking-caused deaths, because many current smokers will quit.