Chinatown organizations’ members hold Inslee signs in front of Hop Sing Tong (Photo by Rebecca Ip/SCP)

Three Chinatown organizations impressed Congressman Jay Inslee, a gubernatorial candidate, with their history, a toast, Chinese welcoming sign, and reception in his honor on Jan 8. What Inslee didn’t know was that some of the members of these associations had already given money to the campaign of his opponent, Attorney General Rob McKenna. Read the full story

What really matters? Ask yourself this before you make your New Year’s resolutions. Write down what you find valuable. Writing helps you understand yourself and empowers you to achieve what you want. Read the full story

Don’t let your cynical friends sway you. Making New Year’s resolutions is always a good idea. We like to jump on any chance we get to work on self-improvement. Read the full story

For the end of the year, we wanted to run our top 10 favorite stories of the year — the stories that we are the most proud of. Some of the stories are even award-winning. We are afraid that these stories didn’t get enough attention the first time around, so we’re giving them another chance to shine.

These stories are not breaking news stories. Rather, they are thought-provoking feature stories that may help you see your world a bit differently.

1. Is smoking an epidemic for APIs?

2. Who owns the design of your clothes?

3. How prevalent is human trafficking in our backyard?

4. Is being a lawyer no longer as appealing as it used to be?

5. Who are the invisible people in our country?

6. Who are the women construction workers?

7. To eat shark, or not to eat shark?

8. What does it mean to be cyber-bullied?

9. APIs look for love by logging on

10. Do Asian parents prefer boys over girls?

By Assunta Ng
Northwest Asian Weekly

If you lament being alone and lonely during the holiday, here are some suggestions for you to rewrite your holiday routines with meaning and fun. Read the full story

There are two changes coming that aren’t thrilling many. One is the tolling on the 520 bridge, slated to begin Dec. 29. The other is a plastic bags ban, which will likely be implemented in July. Read the full story

Beyond Talking Points panelists, from left: Som Acharya (Bhutan), Nan Htet (Burma), Marwa Zahid (Iraq), Thuy Tran (Vietnam), and Hien Kieu (former nationality, Vietnamese; ethnicity, Cham)

On Nov. 16 at the Bellevue Art Museum, Humanities Washington’s Beyond Talking Points series wrapped up its multifaceted look at immigration with a program featuring refugees from around the world who now call Washington home. Read the full story

From left: Reyna Farina Rollolazo, Cong Nguyen, Alyna Merali, and Chris Fong

The National Association of Asian American Professionals’ Seattle chapter (NAAAP-Seattle) hosted its 32nd annual gala and scholarship reception on Nov. 4. The event was held at the Woodland Park Zoo’s Zoomazium and honored four students. Read the full story

By Alexa Olesen
The Associated Press

The Confucius Prize ceremony comes a day before the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize is to be awarded in Oslo, Norway, and as a group of Nobel laureates launched a new campaign calling for China to release last year’s Nobel laureate, dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, from prison.

A group called the China International Peace Research Center hastily launched the Confucius Peace Prize last year in an attempt to counter the news of the Peace Prize going to Liu, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for co-authoring an appeal for political reform.

Liu’s win enraged the government and Chinese nationalists, who accused the Nobel committee of interfering in China’s legal system as part of a plot to bring the nation down in disgrace. Read the full story

Bill Gates

BEIJING (AP) — Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates says he is in discussions with China to jointly develop a new kind of nuclear reactor.

During a talk at China’s Ministry of Science & Technology on Wednesday, the billionaire said, “The idea is to be very low cost, very safe, and generate very little waste.”

Gates backs Washington-based TerraPower, which is developing a nuclear reactor that can run on depleted uranium.

He says TerraPower is having “very good discussions” with state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation.

Gates says perhaps as much as a billion dollars will be put into research and development over the next five years. (end)

By David Crary
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The practice of sex-selection abortion, usually targeting a female fetus due to parental preference for a son, has few defenders in the United States. Yet a proposed federal ban is drawing vehement opposition from liberal advocacy groups who call it a veiled attempt to undermine broader abortion rights. Read the full story

By Assunta Ng
Northwest Asian Weekly

How do you entertain your out-of-town friends and family during the holidays? The best way is to present them programs and entertainment with a Northwest flair. Read the full story

By Vivian Nguyen
Northwest Asian Weekly

Sometimes, when one person’s dream begins, the dream unfortunately ends for someone else. Such is the case for two Asian celebrities featured in this month’s column. Read the full story

By Assunta Ng

After reading my blog, some Washingtonians sent me a recent photo of them and Ambassador Locke. It was purely a coincidence that Locke ran into the group. Small world, right? From left: Nicole Robinson from Yakima, Yen Duong from Seattle, Brian Wong from Shoreline, and Locke (Photo by Yen Duong)

So you want to help your relatives and friends from China come to the United States. You think Ambassador Gary Locke can help you?  Read the full story

By Assunta Ng

Ordinary folks think only of visas when they think of consul generals. Actually, consul generals play an important role in serving the local community. For instance, the recent haze in Beijing, which shut down airports and highway transportation, caused local people to turn to the U.S. Embassy for an accurate measure of pollution in the city. Read the full story

By Andrew Hamlin
Northwest Asian Weekly

Takeshi Kitano’s new film “Outrage” opens with the camera panning slowly across a group of men slouching against luxury cars, some fanning themselves in the heat. They are the yakuza promised in the film’s advance publicity, but they are not stylish. They do not immediately look dangerous.

The filmmaker loses sight of many things in this disappointing film, but this new look at the Japanese gangsters’ world, a realistic and anti-romantic view going against the grain of earlier yakuza movies, is the one thing he gets right.

The men outside are waiting for their bosses inside the building to finish business. They take their orders from the supreme boss, “Mr. Chairman” (played by Sôichirô Kitamura), and the meeting isn’t over until he says, “We’re done here.”

Takeshi Kitano’s own character, Otomo, isn’t invited in. He gets to wait outside with the other flunkies, although he runs a crew of savagely violent men, who help the bosses get things done. Read the full story