Daily Archives: June 27, 2013

Japanese man, 71, sues TV station ‘for using too many English words’

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japanA pensioner is suing a Japanese broadcaster for emotional distress as the channel uses to many foreign words.

Hoji Takahashi, 71, wants 1.41million Yen from broadcaster NHK because of their reliance on English.

He says that it makes programming unintelligible and that they should use the traditional Japanese counterparts, reported Japan Today.

His lawyer, Mutsuo Miyata told AFP: ‘The basis of his concern is that Japan is being too Americanized.
‘There is a sense of crisis that this country is becoming just a province of America.’

Many Japanese speakers use English words such as ‘trouble’, ‘risk’ or ‘drive’.

But in Japanese, these words are often pronounced differently, and have new meanings.

They also use words from other languages such as the German ‘arbeit’ and the Spanish ‘pan’.

 

Samsung launches a TV with a CURVED screen to improve viewing quality – but it’ll set you back £8,5000

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samsung TV3Samsung has officially launched its first super-thin curved TV screen with a price tag of £8,500 ($13,000) – five times more than its flat-screen equivalents.

The 55-inch model has a high-resolution OLED display and its design means the screen is an equal distance from the viewer at all times.

It is now on sale in South Korea but Samsung told Reuters the set will be made available in other countries from July – the first time a curved TV of its kind has been sold outside of Asia.

It also said it has no plans to offer a non-curved one this year.

The concave display gives viewers a sense of being immersed in the images.

Samsung claims its ‘Timeless Arena’ design reduces the chance of images appearing pixelated, too.

The 55-inch OLED screen also supports Samsung TV features such as multi-view that lets two people watch different things at the same time.

But mass producing OLED displays still faces many challenges, leading to high prices.

LG, which currently offers both curved and non-curved 55-inch screens, is estimated to have only sold a few hundred screens so far after starting sales earlier this year.

 

Whole school banned from zoo for two years after pupils MOONED at monkeys during trip

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A school has been banned from a zoo for two years after a group of children decided to moon at monkeys.

The 14 and 15-year-olds from Radclyffe School in Chadderton, Greater Manchester, were kicked out of Chester Zoo during a school trip.

There were around 300 GCSE pupils from year 10, but as a result of the actions of nearly children, they all had to get on the buses and go home.

The zoo said that 29 pupils were involved, but headmaster of the school Hardial Hayer disputed this saying that only 24 children took part.

Officials at the park said they had no option but to enforce the ban on the entire school taking trips there in future. The ban will last until 2015.

Some pupils bared their backsides at the monkeys, while others hurled food at them and it is alleged that there was also damage to property.

A zoo spokesman added: ‘We welcome schools to the zoo on the understanding that the students behave in such a way that does not cause problems for their fellow pupils, other visitors, the animals or staff. Fortunately incidents of this nature are extremely rare.’

The trip took place on Thursday last week as part of the school’s end of term activities.

Chester Zoo is one of the most popular zoos in the country with more than 1.4million visitors every year.

 

 

CHAIRMAN SMITH ASKS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FOR REPORT ON AID TO SYRIAN ARMENIANS

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— Hearing Reflects Growing Bipartisan Interest in Welfare of Syria’s Religious Minorities
WASHINGTON, DC – Republican and Democratic members of a key U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee joined yesterday with the panel’s Chairman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), in voicing growing Congressional concern for the welfare of Armenians, other Christians, and all religious minority communities in Syria, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“We want to thank Chairman Chris Smith for holding yesterday’s hearing about religious minorities in Syria, and would also like to share our special appreciation with all his colleagues who joined with him in using this important national platform to raise concerns about the welfare of at-risk and refugee Armenians, other Christians, and all Syrian minorities,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We are particularly grateful for Chairman Smith’s formal request of the Obama Administration to share with Congress the specific steps that our government is taking to ensure that U.S. aid programs provide needed assistance to vulnerable Armenians in Syria, as well as for those who have left Syria and found refuge in Armenia. We very much look forward to sharing the work of our State Department and USAID on this matter of urgent concern to all Armenian Americans.”
The hearing, titled: “Religious Minorities in Syria: Caught in the Middle,” featured testimony from a State Department human rights official, Thomas O. Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, as well as from a number of experts:  Nina Shea, Director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom; Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; Rev. Majed El Shafie, Founder of One Free World International, and; John Eibner, Ph.D., CEO of Christian Solidarity International, USA.  A video of the hearing, and the full text of the opening remarks of each witness can be found at:
The ANCA’s Armenian Weekly Fellow Lilly Torosyan live blogged about the hearing on the ANCA Facebook page:www.facebook.com/ancagrassroots.
Concerns about the Armenian population and the broader plight of religious minorities in Syria were spotlighted throughout the hearing.  Chairman Smith, referencing a hearing on the Armenian Genocide Resolution that he had chaired in 1996, asked what specific steps the Obama Administration had taken to assist the Armenian refugees who have fled Syria.  Deputy Assistant Secretary Melia noted that U.S. officials have been in touch with Armenian Church and community leaders but would get back to the Subcommittee with a detailed response.
During her testimony, Ms. Shea offered specific examples of the targeting of Christians, including the Armenian population, and noted overall that “Though no religious community has been spared suffering, Syria’s ancient Christian minority has cause to believe that they confront an ‘existential threat,’ according to a finding of the UN Human Right Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria, last December. And this group, in contrast to Syria’s Alawites, Shiites and Sunnis, has no defender.”
Dr. Eibner drew a chilling parallel between the Syrian crisis and efforts to bring democratic reform to the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.  “One cannot help but look back to the days of the Ottoman Empire, when in 1908 there was a great revolution, we might call it the Ottoman Spring where members of all religious communities, ethnic minorities were dancing in the streets to celebrate freedom and within a decade there is genocide and Anatolia is completely cleared of its religious minorities.  It can happen.  It can happen today, this year.  It can happen next year and the United States has an international obligation to try to prevent genocide…”
The ANCA is continuing discussions with the State Department and Members of Congress to call attention to the plight of the Syrian Armenian community and asking for concrete steps assist the community in Syria and refugees who have fled to Armenia.  Armenian Americans can send a free ANCA Webmail to Secretary of State John Kerry sharing their concerns regarding U.S. policy from the following site:

ANCA WELCOMES MARKEY SENATE VICTORY

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ed_markey_koutoujianBOSTON, MA — The Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) joined with friends from across the Massachusetts Armenian community in celebrating Congressman Ed Markey’s victory in Tuesday night’s special Senate election. Markey (D-MA-5) led at the ballot box against Republican businessman Gabriel Gomez throughout the day and won by a 10-point margin.

“We are very excited to see Rep. Ed Markey assume this new role in his career of public service. The ANCA of Massachusetts joins with Armenian Americans from across the state and country in welcoming his victory, and we look forward to his continued leadership on issues of concern to our community,” said Mikael Garabedian of ANCA-Massachusetts, who was among the Armenian-American contingent on hand to celebrate Rep. Markey’s success at his victory party.

Since he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, Rep. Markey has been a strong and consistent advocate on Armenian issues, receiving multiple “A+” ratings from the ANCA in its Congressional Report Card.

ed_markey_koutoujianRep. Markey has been outspoken in support of U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, cosponsoring all related legislation introduced in the U.S. House, including the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution (H.Res.227), introduced in May of this year. In his annual Armenian Genocide commemorative statement submitted for the Congressional Record this year, Rep. Markey explained, “Almost one-hundred years have passed since the Armenian Genocide, yet the suffering will continue for Armenians and non-Armenians alike as long as the world allows denial to prevail.”

In May of 2006, in the aftermath of the State Department recall of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans over his proper commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, Rep. Markey shared his concerns with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and rallied 60 of his U.S. House colleagues to request State Department clarification of the White House action. “We must not allow the perception to linger that he [Ambassador Evans] is being required to vacate his position early for accurately labeling the cataclysmic events of 1915 as genocide,” Rep. Markey and legislators wrote in the May 22, 2006, letter to Secretary Rice, adding that Ambassador Evans “did nothing more than succinctly repeat the conclusions enunciated by those before him.”

As Ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Markey was a vocal opponent of H.R.2362 – The Indian Tribal Trade and Investment Demonstration Project Act of 2011 – which would have unfairly limited foreign trade preferences on Indian tribal lands to only one country, Turkey. In remarks made during July 23, 2012, House consideration of the measure, Rep. Markey explained, “By acknowledging Turkey’s ‘unique interest’ in developing tribal economies and in building ‘robust’ relationships between it and tribal communities, this legislation rewards a country with a terrible history of human rights and religious freedom violations, threats to U.S. commercial interests in Cyprus, and –most importantly–its refusal to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide which resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million people.” The measure was defeated in a floor vote.

Since the independence of the Republic of Armenia, Rep. Markey has been a consistent supporter of robust U.S. assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, annually joining colleagues in urging the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations to maintain high-levels of funding, given the dual blockades of Turkey and Azerbaijan. In 2008, he joined over 50 of his Congressional colleagues in calling on then-Secretary Rice to challenge Azerbaijan’s threats of renewed war against Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh, and to take concrete action to hold leaders in Baku accountable for actions that directly undermine the Administration’s policy of fostering peace and stability in the South Caucasus region.

Rep. Markey has developed close ties with the active Armenian American community in his district, which includes Watertown, Belmont, Waltham and Lexington. He has been a frequent participant in Armenian events in his district, attending church bazaars and, in recent years, the hugely successful Boston Kermesse street festival. He has toured the Hairenik Building in Watertown and has closely worked with the ANCA of Massachusetts and other Armenian organizations over his extensive career.

The June 25 Massachusetts Senate special election victory means Rep. Markey will fill now Secretary of State John Kerry’s vacant seat for the remainder of his term, ending January 3, 2015.