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Canadian Warship HMCS Ottawa to call on Manila

Manila, June 1 (Xinhua): A Canadian warship is scheduled to dock in Manila from June 4 to 9
for a goodwill visit and to perform humanitarian missions in the Philippines, the Canadian
Embassy said here on Sunday.

At the same time, the Commander of the Canadian Fleet in the Pacific Rear-Admiral Tyrone
Pile will also be in Manila to give a briefing on Canada's naval strategy for Asia-Pacific.

"I am pleased to welcome HMCS Ottawa and crew to Manila. The Philippines has always been a
very hospitable host to our fleet and I know this visit will further emphasizw our relationship
that bridges the Pacific Ocean, "Canadian Embassy Charge d'affaires Nicholaas Oosterveen said.

Pile will give a briefing of the National Defense College of the Philippines at Camp Aguinaldo in
Quezon City, while HMCS Ottawa's officers and crew will be involved in various activities
including charity evens, a chefs' cook-off tour for the media, and calls on Philippine government
officials, according the the Canadian official.

Upon arrival, the ship will be the venue of a luncheon that will include select business leaders
who will be given a presentation on Canada's Pacific Gateway strategy, designed to promote
Canada's position as a strong trading partner and key entry point for international commerce in
the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

Ship officers will allso attend together with their Philippine Navy counterparts, a wreath-laying
ceremony at the Rizal Monument in Manila. It will be followed by a courtesy call on Manila
Mayor Alfredo Lim.

On June 5th, HMCS Ottawa will be the venue of a charity dinner that will feature a menu
developed by ten executive chefs of top hotels in Metro Manila, Tagaytay, and Cebu. Business
and civic leaders are expected to attend this innovative event.

The ship's crew will be showing their support to charitable causes by participating in the
renovation of classrooms in Tondo, Manila, and hospital facilities at the San Lazara Medical
Center in Manila.

Based in Esquimalt, British Columbia, HMCS Ottawa was commissioned in September 1996.

HMCS Ottawa is equipped with state-of-the-art radar facilities and controls designed to perform
a wide range of functions from peacetime operations to combat.

                                                                                              Editor: Sun Yunlong

  Sweden to phase out aid projects with Philippines

Manila, June 1 (Xinhua) - With the closure of its embassy in Manila, Sweden has also decided to
phase out its bilateral aid projects in the Philippines in the next two to four years, said a Swedish
diplomat based in Manila on Sunday.

Swedish Embassy Second Secretary and Trade and Investment attache FredrikmAgerhem said
the reason behind this is Sweden's new policy to shift its development assistance to poorer
countries in the South-East Asian region and Africa.

"As part of a review of Swedish development cooperation policy the number of countries that
Sweden will have bilateral development cooperation with will be reduced from around 100 to 30.
The reason behind this decision is to increase aid effectiveness and to increase focus on the
poorest countries. One of the countries that will be affected by this decision is the Philippines<"
Agerhem said.

He said that while Sweden is halting aid to the Philippines, Swedish assistance to Cambodia and
Laos would continue.

"Considering that the Philippines is a middle income country with a relatively advanced level of
development and a large presence of other donors, the Swedish government has decided to phase
out Sweden's bilateral development cooperation with the Philippines over the next two to four
years. As a consequence of the decision, no new projects will be started," Agerhem said.

Swedish humanitarian support and development cooperation in the Philippines through
multilateral organizations and through civil society organizations will, however, continue, he
noted.

Agerhem added that Filipinos will still be considered for participation in Swedish International
Development Assistance (SIDA)-sponsored training programs.

Swedish bilateral development cooperation with the Philippines has amounted to around 170
million pesos (3.86 million U.S. dollars) annually.

By the end of 2008, Agerhem said Sweden will also no longer make further contributions to the
World Band-administered Mindanao Trust Fund for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of
strife-torn areas in the region.

Sweden has already contributed 210-million pesos (4.77 million U.S. Dollars) to the fund,
participated also by the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Sweden decided to close its embassy in the Philippines on May 31 as part of the country's
continuous review of its organization abroad and assessment of its status in relation to changes
in the surrounding world and changing requirements for monitoring and service.

After the closure, applications for visas will be handled by another Schengen member country's
embassy in Manila, and honorary consulate will be established to provide basic consular support
to Swedish citizens and Sweden's embassy in Bangkok will take over the applications for
residence and work permits from the Philippines.

                                                                                              Editor: Sun Yunlong

Former French PM Raffarin offers condolences to quake-hit China

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

Paris, May 30 (Xinhua) - Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who just returned
from a visit to Canada, on Friday, hurried to the Chinese Embassy to express his condolences to
the victims of a deadly earthquake that hit China's southwester Schuan province.

Although China's three-day national mourning for the quake victims has passed and the funeral
hall in the Embassy has been withdrawn, Raffarin insisted to go the Embassy to express his
strong emotion.

"Although I am late, I myself should come here at the crucial time when the Cinese people are
suffering disaster to show condolences to the victims and comfort to the survivors, "Raffarin
said, both hads clasping together with Cinese embassador Kong Quan's.

China declared a three-day national mourning at home and its missions abroad to memorize the
68,858 people killed and 18,618 missing as of Friday noon in an May 12 earthquake measuring
8.0 on the Richter scale in china's southwester China. Millions of people have been displaced
after the quake.

"True love shows in time of need - the French people express their strongest friendship with the
Chinese people," Raffarin wrote in the mourning book at the embassy.

During the national days of mourning, Raffarin, who was on a business trip in Canada, sent a
letter to the Chinese Embassy to France to express his apologies for not attending the mourning
cereminies.

In the letter, he conveyed sympathy to the Chinese people in the disaster regions and admiration
to the Chinese government's swift and efficient work in disaster relief.

Raffarin, who also served as first vice-president of France's ruling party, the Union for a Popular
Movement, said his party has organized fundraising activities to rally support for the disaster
relief in China.

Kong spoke highly of Raffarin's moves, noting that he is an old friend of the Chinese people as
well as a visionary statesman.

Good relations between China and France are favorable to both sides, Kong said, expressing his
hope that the two countries will work together to mclear away obstacles, overcome difficulties
and further promote development and expand the strategic parnership of cooperation on the
basis of mutual respect.

                                                                                          Editor: Bi Mingxin

      TIMESONLINE

Dual status can be a passport to new riches

Mark Bridge on the benefits-and costs-for the millions of Britons eligible for a second
citizenship:

We're a nation of immigrants, from Celts to the more recent Poles. Figures from the Office of
National Statistics show that one in four babies born in the United Kingdom has at least one
foreign-born parent - and many of these children are eligible for a second passport.

More distant links are sometimes enough; for instance, British citizens with one grandparent
born in Ireland can register as Irish citizens.

Depening on the country, a second citizenship can bring significant benefits - but may also mean
substantial costs.

THE BASICS:

Dennis Hall, of Yellowtail Financial Planning, the IFA, advises several dual nationals. He says
key benefits for those with "normal money" are "lots of smaller pluses". They include:

Voting rights: Citizens of certain countries can vote in elections even when they are resident
overseas. For example, US citizens resident in this country - or elsewhere - can vote by post in
the presidential elections.

Cheaper, safer travel: A second passport means that you don't have to get a visa to travel to its
country of issue. It also sometimes allows visa-free or cheaper travel to others. For instance,
US citizens can visit Mongolia for up to 90 days with no visa, while British citizens pay from 35 to
70 pounds. David Else, author of several Lonely Planet travel guides, adds that it is saver to
travel on "non-coalition" passports - Irish, for instance - in countries where anti-Western
feeling runs high, such as Pakistan.

A secon passport can also be used to buy certain passport stamps; for instance, if your passport
shows that you have visited Israel, you will not be able to travel to several Muslim countries,
including Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Live, work and study overseas: A British passport is also a European Union (EU) passport and
enables holders to live, work, study and access benefits across the Union.

A second EU citizenship therefore has fewer advantages than that of, say, a US passport, which
frees holders from the headache of work permits and green card applications.

Most countries schedule fees for further education according to residence, not citizenship.
However, Canada extends residents' fees to all citizens, resident or not. So a Londoner with dual
British-Canadian nationality pays 1,429 pounds a term to study business at the University of
Alberta. Without Canadian status, he or she would pay 4,515 pounds - an extra 9,258 pounds a
year.

FINANCIAL BENEFITS:

Mr. Hall says that the "bigger" benefits of dual citizenship involve complicated tax and
investment planning, and are best left to those with significant assets and access to advice.

          Home / Life
Party Girl follows the hands of time!

                        By Sandra Gotlieb,
          Published: Friday, May 30, 2008

My father was famous in his minuscule circle of friends and family for turning the hands of the
clock to 10 p.m. when my mother had people over. "There's Dave's signal," an aunt might say.
"We have to leave because he wants to go to bed."

If my parents were out at a party my father would circle the room, talking to a few people and,
after what he considerd a decent interval, would say to my mother, "Fanny, it's time to go
home."

I adored my mother but Daddy usually embarrassed his fickle daughter. Now that I am old I
must face the fact I have my father's genes. I have varicose veins in the same spot on my leg as
Daddy did. I have his sarcastic and gloomy manner, and I am too quick to judge people, just like
my old man. I fear there are worse things in store for me, like Alzheimer's, which finished him
off.

Yet there was a time in my life when I loved most parties and had the stamina to work the room.
Workingthe room takes energy, knowledge and chutzpah. Less ambitious types prefer to sit
down with a couple of old friends and discuss their last bridge game. I don't which is orse, the
policy of cocktail party isolationism or sucking up to the rich and powerful.

When we were posted to Washington, working the room was part of my job, or so I was led to
believe. "Go talk to Senator Baucus's wife," my husband would say. "It's good for Canada."
Senator Baucus was handsome, powerful and specialized in anti-Canadian initiatives. Wendy
Baucus was a pretty young woman, much sought after. She considered herself an artist and had
her own studio. I talked to Wendy about her paintings until she would glance over my shoulder
for someone to rescue her. Today I wonder why I bothered, because Senator Baucus still plots
against Canada.

But I was eager to play up to the "in" people at that time because I thought it might be useful to
my husband's work. And being a so-called friend of the "ins" can be briefly intoxicating. In
fact, I did meet interesting people by working the room instead of sitting demurely on the
sidelines. It's best to be subtle when one decides to seek out international or merely local
celebrities. Those old pals whom you mbrush by at a reception to get to Mr. Rich and Powerful
never forget.

Nine, years later, in Toronto, when we do go to the odd party I keep winding my father's clock in
my head. I want to go home. My husband, who is more than nine years older than I, prefers to
stay. He's a social butterfly, a bit like his ambitious mother who always want to be president of
the club. Over the years the kind of club she aimed to dominate would change. She started off
wanting to be president of prestigious charityable boards but as my mother-in-law reached her
late 80s she would have settled for a book club - so long as they made her president and she
didn't have to read the book. Ny father-in-law was also an "all I want to do is go home" person.
Even when my mother-in-law went on trips, he stayed home.

Unlie me, Allan doesn't mind listening to a bore hold forth, and is often lucky enough to find a
young woman who will listen to him expound. I am never jealous of these young women. When
we're driving to the event, I always say, "Lets not stay too late. Can we leave at 10?" I spoil
the party for him before it has begun. At the party, around 9:30, I can feel in my bones that it's
time to go. Allan watches me walking toward him with dread in his eyes. It's my father's genes
working through my system.

Actually, his genes were working even when I was the ambitious social climber. At the Canadian
Embassy in Washington, we used to give cocktail parties for visiting business and other groups
from Canada. The large receptions, to which we invited Americans, were for promoting trade
and tourism. Various heads of foreign organizations, from psychiatrists to garage owners, were
bribed with alcohol and canapes to convince their people to be nice to Canada. I would stand
near the front door and shake hands with every guest, then, when the party got going, I would
slip upstairs and watch television in my upstairs sitting room. Alla, who always stuck it out,
would come up and tell me to descend when everyone was leaving. I would shake hands and say
good-bye at the same spot I greeted them, and everyone thought I had a wonderful time talking
to them. Even then, I was winding my father's clock, hoping my guests would go home.

I still attend a few dinners honouring a charity or a philanthropist. These events take place in
large rooms at hotels. If one sits near the front it's very hard to sneak out. The lucky people
are at the back in the cheap tables. No one notices when they go home early. So now I accept
only if I can be at a cheap table.

Weekend Post

Filipino relatives will attend funeral

     Tracy Sherlock, Richmond News
     Published: Friday, May 30, 2008

RICHMOND - Charle Dalde's funeral will go ahead this weekend with his Filipino relatives in
attendance.

Eight relatives of the 24-year-old who was stabbed and killed last month wanted to attend the
funeral, but they waited more than a month for visas.

"The family just received word [Wednesday] that the visas were granted," said Leah Diana of
the Kalayaan Centre, which has been the advocate for the family.

Cezar Dalde, Charle's father, said he was relieved to have the visas approved. "I'm extending
my thanks to the Canadian Embassy in Manila for granting these visas," he said. The family is
still reeling from the death of their oldest son.

"We still have the effects of the tragic accident. We still have the trauma, the depression and
the anxiety. It's so dad for us," Dalde said. "We don't expect such a tragedy, because from
what I know both of my boys are good, and don't get involved in any trouble. That's what I
know."

The family's other son, Cehar, is 18.

Dalde was stabbed outside of his home near Lansdowne Road on April 14. He appears to have
been an innocent victim, in the wrong place at the wrong time. The funeral is a multi-day affair.

"After this week,. we couldn't have had an open casket, so that's why we decided even though we
were not sure if the relatives would be coming into Canada, we finalized everything." Dalde said.

Umut Ari, 24, was charged with second-degree murder in Dalde's death. A hearing has been
schedled to determing if the Richmond man is mentally fit to stand trial.

The Vancouver Sun, 2008

The Epoch Times

Chinese Consulate Attempts to Influence City Council in
                                Canadian Town

                         By Joan Delaney
                Epoch Times Victoria Staff

The city council of a town on Vancouver Island, has for first time in several years, failed to
approve a proclamation for a meditation group - seemingly at the behest of the Chinese
consulate in Vancouver.

As it routinely does each year, the Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC) requested that
council proclaim the month of May Falun Dafa Month in Port Alberni.

However this year, after a discussion on human rights in China, the vote split Council three to
four, with Mayor Ken McRae and two other councilors going on record as supporting human
rights in accordance with the council's tradition.

Rather than bein accepted, the application was merely received and filed.

A letter from Chinese Consul Yang Qiang, who visited Port Alberni in March, may have
dissuaded some of the remaining councilors from endorsing the proclamation.

In the letter dated May 15, 2008, Qiang defamed Falun Gong and urged Mayor McRae not to
support Falun Dafa month. Falun Gong is a meditation practice and spiritual discipline that has
been brutally suppressed by the Chines regime since 1999. Qiang wrote that Falun Gong is "a
cult against the human race, science and society" that has been "deceiving people by concocting
and spreading superstitious fallacies."

"I hope that, in light of the spirit of humanity and the good relations between our two countries,
you won't support the Falun Gong's so-called "Falun Dafa Month" -- and wont issue a
proclamation---"

Mayor McRae says the letter didn't influence him because he's "always in favour of human
rights" and Port Alberni has passed the proclamation in the past without any repercussions.

"I had no problem making that decision. I'm not going to let some country - because the
consulate writes to me and says they don't want it done - change my mind. It's human rights
and human rights is the number one thing in my category, always as been," says McRae.

Councilor Cindy Solda says she didn't vote for the proclamation simply because there was only
one week left in May when the application arrived in front of council. The other councilors who
abstained did not return calls seeking comment.

Councilor Jack McLemen says the Port Alberni City Council "has received letters from the
PRC" other years as well. He says he would have voted to grant the proclamation.

"I don't like being threatened. I don't let people do that to me, I don't care who they are."

Winnipeg-based international human rights lawyer David Matas says the Chinese regime is
"abusing its position in Canada" by trying to influence municipal governments.

"This is not the function of a foreign embassy to get involved in local government. As well, the
people who voted against the proclamation are basically misinformed because they're relying on
what the Chinese government says about the Falun Gong which is inaccurate and they shouldn't
make decisions based on misinformation.

Matas adds that in some cases people's moral values "are being compromised by China's spread
and what we see is a weakening of our commitment to human rights out of economic
considerations and from my point of view that's really not appropiate."

According to FDAC, such letters from consulate officials are a common occurrence in Danada
and other countries. In 2004 the Chinese consulate in Toronto wrote city councilors pressuring
them to oopose a motion for the proclamation of a Falun Dafa Week.

The letter statef: "If passed, the motion will have a very negative effect on our future beneficial
exchanges and cooperation."

The Toronto City Council ignored the threat and issued a proclamation, as did Andy Wells,
Mayor of the City of St. John's, Newfoundland, in 2001.

Wells had received a letter from Mei ping, the Chinese Ambassador to Canada at the time,
defaming Falun Gong and asking him not to endorse an application for a proclamation.,

In his reply, Wells, a member of Amnesty International, told Ping that the regime's
"persecution of this innocent group exemplifies your government's moral and ethical bankruptcy.

"Thousands of innocent Falun Gong followers have been incarcerated, tortured, and some have
been murdered by your government... Why do you persecute harmless people? The answer is
very simple. Your government has no democratic legitimacy, composed as it is by self-appointed
elite whose power rests on an illegitimate use of violence."

After Stan Bogosian, former mayor of Saratoga, California, issued a proclamation honouring the
contributions ofr Falun Gong practitioners had made to the community in 2001, he was asked by
officials from the Chinese consulate in San Francisco to rescind the proclamation.

Not only did Bogosian refuse, he held a press conference to expose "this meddling in the affairs
of our government," which he said bore an uncanny resemblance to the efforts of the Nazis in
the 1930's to persuade the rest of te world that persection of German citizens was not taking
place.

"Today, as was also the case in 1930's Germany, major American corporation have significant
investments in China. The temptation to look the other way, to ignore what is happening
because we are fearful of disrupting trade in an emerging market. If there is one lesson we
should have learned from the 1930's, turning a blind eye to such events will cost us dearly in the
long run," said Bogosian.

There are countless other examples of how Chinese embassy or consulate officials have tried
over the years to interfere with Falun Gong practitioners and their activities and events.

FDAC is still hoping that Port Alberni will grant the proclamation says spokesperson Marie
Beaulieu, despite the fact that the month of May is almost over.

"It's not too late for the City of Port Alberni to reconsider awarding the proclamation for Falun
Dafa Month. Whether its close to the end of May or not is irrelevant -- what really matters is
the principle.

News of the World
Courtesy of the Canadian Embassy