Sharon Lee sounds the gong at City Hall. (Photo from Sharon Lee)

The One Night Count, a count of homeless people in King County, took place early in the morning on Friday, Jan. 25. Read the full story

International Community Health Services (ICHS) honored their longest working employees in December, highlighting the careers of some of their most dedicated team members. In addition to those honored, several employees have been with ICHS for nearly the organization’s entire 40-year existence. Read the full story

The 2013 Japanese American Leadership Delegation (Photo from U.S.–Japan Council)

Ten Japanese Americans have been selected to travel to Japan where they will visit Fukushima Prefecture and Tokyo for meetings with newly elected top officials from March 8–16. Read the full story

By Eric Booker
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

Photo from Snoqualmie Casino

Set amidst the majestic backdrop of the Snoqualmie Valley is what has become an unexpected gem, the Snoqualmie Casino.  Snoqualmie is heading into its fifth year of operation and is the premier casino in the Northwest. Read the full story

Kevin Tsujihara

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Tsujihara was named the next chief executive of the Warner Bros. studio, one of the largest producers of TV shows and movies in Hollywood, on Monday, Jan. 28. He’ll take over for Barry Meyer on March 1.

Tsujihara, 48, has been president of the studio’s home entertainment division since 2005.

Jeff Bewkes, the chief executive of Warner Bros. parent Time Warner Inc., said in a statement Monday that Tsujihara was the right leader for the studio, combining strategic thinking with financial discipline.

“Kevin is one of the most effective and respected executives within Time Warner,” Bewkes said. Read the full story

By Staff
The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Chinese business owner and one of his employees have pleaded guilty in Missouri to conspiring to steal trade secrets from a U.S. company, in what one expert called a rare example of foreign business people being successfully prosecuted for corporate spying. Read the full story

By Matthew Pennington
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — North Korea could be almost ready to carry out its threat to conduct a nuclear test, a U.S. research institute said, pointing to recent satellite photos. Read the full story

By Staff
The Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The World Bank on Sunday, Jan. 27 announced a long-awaited deal to allow Myanmar to clear part of its huge decades-old foreign debt, opening the door for new much-needed lending to jump-start its lagging economy. Read the full story

By Gillian Flaccus
The Associated Press

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Khanh Nguyen, a South Vietnamese general who briefly gained control of the government in a coup and went on to lead a “government in exile” in California, has died. Read the full story

Tulsi Gabbard

By Staff
The Associated Press

HONOLULU, Hi. (AP) — Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been elected vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

The committee voted unanimously Tuesday to elect Gabbard, who represents Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district.

Gabbard will serve as vice chair for the next four years.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz praised Gabbard’s dedication to public service, saying she exemplifies the party’s values. Read the full story

Michael Vo

By Staff
The Associated Press

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — The first Vietnamese American to serve on the Fountain Valley City Council is opposing plans for Vietnamese officials to visit the Orange County city. Read the full story

By Sam Kim and Ahn Young-Joon
The Associated Press

Though not as glamorous as the Olympics, the Special Olympics comes with it’s share of fanfare.

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — South Korea began showing off its new snow sports mecca with the opening of the Special Olympics on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Read the full story

By Louise Watt
The Associated Press

BEIJING, China (AP) — Thick, off-the-scale smog shrouded eastern China for the second time in about two weeks on Tuesday, Jan. 29 forcing airlines to cancel flights because of poor visibility and prompting Beijing to temporarily shut factories and curtail fleets of government cars. Read the full story

Xu Liangying

By Christopher Bodeen
The Associated Press

BEIJING, China (AP) — Xu Liangying, a renowned Chinese rights advocate, physicist, and translator of Einstein, has died in Beijing. Xu was 92.

Xu’s death on Monday, Jan. 28 was widely reported on academic discussion boards and confirmed by a doctor reached by phone at Haidian Hospital’s intensive care unit in Beijing’s university district, where Xu lived for many years. The doctor declined to be identified by name and no cause of death was given. Read the full story

By Andrew Hamlin
Northwest Asian Weekly

Up until now, it’s been safe to say that South Korean director Sang-soo Hong has had a knack for crisp photography, deftly-drawn interperonsal struggles, and strong characters. I think it’s also safe to say that he’s been making the same film over and over. The men lust after the women. The women remain distant and don’t change. The men lust and drink more, and they don’t change either.

“In Another Country,” Hong’s latest film released to this country, breaks from his patterns in two crucial areas. First off, he’s using a Western actress — widely acclaimed French actress Isabelle Huppert. And while his characters stay static, this time, he’s come up with a creative excuse.

The film opens with a daughter and mother, played by Yoo-mi Jung and Yeo-jeong Yoon, as they take a room at a seaside inn (a setting dear to Hong’s heart, seaside and beach living appear in many of his films). A family crisis that involves some sort of betrayal, but is never fully fleshed out, haunts them, and they are scared to go home. Read the full story

By Assunta Ng

Nobu performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Photo by George Liu/NWAW)

Never in my life had a concert moved me to tears until I experienced the blind Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. I wasn’t the only one who cried. Read the full story