Local residents light candles on Dec. 1 in front of the Taj Mahal hotel in memory of those who died in the attacks last week in Mumbai, India. Soldiers removed the remaining bodies from the shattered Taj Mahal hotel, searching each room in the labyrinthine building and defusing booby-traps and bombs left by the gunmen who killed 172 people during three days of terror. Photo taken by Saurabh Das and provided by The Associated Press.
By Ramola Talwar Badam
The Associated Press
MUMBAI, India (AP) — The only gunman captured by police after a string of attacks on Mumbai told authorities he belonged to a Pakistani militant group with links to the disputed region of Kashmir, a senior police officer said Sunday, Nov. 30.
India has blamed “elements” from Pakistan for the 60-hour siege during which suspected Muslim militants hit 10 sites across India’s financial capital, leaving at least 174 dead.
Joint Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the assailant now in custody — the only one of 10 to survive — told police the group had intended to hit even more targets.
“Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the terrorist acts in the city,” Maria told reporters. “The terrorists were from a hardcore group in the L-e-T.” Read the full story
Young female skaters get together with Skate Like a Girl, an organization that works to break down stereotypes. Skate Like a Girl strives to build community coalitions with other groups and organizations that are working to challenge oppression through education and dialogue. (Photo provided by Nancy Chang.)
By Ryan Pangilinan
Northwest Asian Weekly
Donning a gray sweater and sitting behind a laptop, Nancy Chang blends in with most of the other API faces that are taking up residency in a non-descript café in the University Village. Yet, for a person with a rather mild-mannered demeanor, Chang can probably kickflip better than most of the students pacing the coffee shop in their oversized UW hoodies. Read the full story
On Oct. 4, a worker uses envelopes to separate rice collected on a test field sewn with different rice varieties in the outskirts of Kunming, capital of southwestern China’s Yunnan province. In a mountainous place like Yunnan, and in many other parts of the developing world, such advantages can tip the balance between hunger and a decent living. Photo taken by Andy Wong and provided by The Associated Press.
By Elaine Kurtenbach
The Associated Press
KUNMING, China (AP) — Zeng Yawen’s outdoor laboratory in the terraced hills of southern China is a trove of genetic potential — rice that thrives in unusually cool temperatures, high altitudes or in dry soil; rice rich in calcium, vitamins or iron. Read the full story
Karen Kodama
Karen Kodama, International Education Program administrator at Seattle Public Schools, received the Washington Association for Language Teaching Pro Lingua Award in October for her advocacy and support of world languages.
The award is given annually at a conference held in Vancouver to the person who most promotes the study of world languages in schools. Read the full story
Daniel T.C. Liao
Cascade Elementary principal Shannon Harvey was awarded the prestigious 2008 Milken National Educational Award for her outstanding work as an educator. The award comes with a prize of $25,000. Teacher magazine calls the Milken the “Oscars of Teaching.”
Harvey has been the principal at Cascade Elementary in Renton for five years. She has been with the Renton School District for 16 years. Under her leadership, Cascade has gone from 48 percent of students passing the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) reading test to 81 percent passing. Read the full story
From left to right: Keynote speaker and FIUTS alumnus Raj Manhas with wife Rana Manhas and longtime FIUTS host and donor Jim Figel
Attendees, from left to right: Olivia Perwitasari (Indonesia, student), Adi Salehuddin (Malaysia, alum), Aimi Ahmad Shukri (Malaysia, student), Rahul Katdare (India, alum and board member), Nanna Hansen (Denmark) and Susan Chan (Hong Kong, alum)
The Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) celebrate 60 years of building peace and cross-cultural understanding through a variety of events held on the University of Washington campus and around Seattle in November. Read the full story
“In the Convent of Little Flowers” is published by Atria Books.
Author Indu Sundaresan — critically praised for her historical novels “The Twentieth Wife,” “The Feast of Roses,” and “The Splendor of Silence” — brings her perceptive eye to bear on the lives and conflicts of contemporary Indian women in a new collection of short stories.
Her book “In the Convent of Little Flowers” will be out on Dec. 16. It will introduce readers to an array of people, all struggling to negotiate in a world that is both familiar and strange to them. Their world is India in the 21st century — a place of diversity that has been influenced by the West, where transition sometimes clashes with modernity. Sundaresan lives in Redmond. ♦
From left to right: ICHS medical director Courtney Johnson, M.D., holding her daughter; board member Janyce Ko Fisher; former staff Susan Chin; former staff Sharyne Shiu-Thornton; Clinic Operations Director Yuwei Feng; Deputy Director Sunny Diaz; and former Inter*Im Community Development Association planner and grant writer Dan Rounds Tom Locke/Appika Studio.
International Community Health Services (ICHS) held a reception at the Wing Luke Asian Museum on Tuesday, Oct. 28. It brought together community supporters and others who helped ICHS during its formative years. Under the theme, “Reunite & Rebuild: Bringing Health Care Home,” the event gave ICHS and the ICHS Foundation the opportunity to honor its past and highlight the expansion at its International District Medical & Dental Clinic. ♦
Youth participants at the City of Seattle’s “Celebration of Youth and Community” show their community involvement through self-designed projects. Photo provided by Deni Luna.
By Deni Luna
Northwest Asian Weekly
Youth apathy? Don’t mention it — at least not among the thousands of local youth who are busily engaged in community building. Witness the last election, which brought out the passion of young voters. Read the full story
By Assunta Ng
Northwest Asian Weekly
For many Americans, surviving this financial crisis means we have to save, save, save.
I disagree. Read the full story
