European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday april 1 2007 stars and stripes Pace is Slushy Avalanche flows Down Fuji traces of a landslide most Likely caused by last weekends heavy Rains Are seen thursday on mount Fuji in Japan although no injuries were reported in the slush Avalanche the Fuji a Road leading up to a starting Point for climbing remains buried Japan textbooks to drop Force suicide passages official says army not responsible for Wii mass killings by Hiroko Tabuchi the associated press Tokyo the government ordered changes Fri Day to seven history textbooks describing How the japanese army forced civilians to International military role and amended the Constitution to require schools to teach patriotism on Friday Tokyo education Board said it had punished 35 teachers for not standing up to Honor the National Anthem seen by some As a Symbol of japans military past during commit mass suicide at the end of there Are Dave rent graduation ceremonies three of j titty views of whether or not the suicides were and no proof to say either Way Yumiko Tomimori education ministry official world War h the country latest Effort to soften brutal accounts of its wartime conduct the High school textbooks say with an Imp end y ing invasion in ordered by the army de out grenades to residents on the Southern Island of Okinawa and ordered them to kill them selves rather than surrender to the americans the education ministry said there was no definitive evidence that the suicides were ordered by the army the publishers were asked to modify the relevant passages and submit the changes for approval by a government appointed panel there Are divergent views of whether or not the suicides were ordered by the army and no proof to say either Way so it would be misleading to say the army was said education ministry offi Cial Yumiko Tomimori since taking office in september prime minister Shinzo Abe has promoted National Pride and sought to distance Japan from its pos world War Al guilt his conservative government has bolstered japans the teachers will be suspended for up to six months 12 received pay cuts and 20 were Given warn Ings the Kirn Gayo song was adopted As the National Anthem in 1999 and four years later to Kos conservative government ordered teachers to Honor it Dur ing school ceremonies the Battle on Okinawa raged from late March through june 1945 leaving More than civilians and soldiers dead accounts of forced group suicides on Okinawa have been backed up by historical research and testimony from victims relatives historians say govern ment propaganda led civilians to believe sol Diers would commit atrocities persuading them to kill themselves and their families to avoid capture survivors of the Battle criticized the revisions if the japanese soldiers haunt come people  have killed Fumiko Miyamura a woman who said she witnessed a group suicide on Okinawa told Public broadcaster Nhok Are they trying to make us forget about the War chivas virtual Sqq Coin making real world Waves online play Money is thriving taking Root by Geoffrey a Fowler and Juying Qin the Wall Street journal Hong Kong chivas fastest rising cur Rency int the Yuan its the Sqq Coin online play Money created by marketers to sell such things As virtual Flowers for instant message buddies cell phone ringtones and magical swords for online games in recent weeks the Sqq coins real world value has risen As much As 70 percent its the most extreme Case of a so called Vir Tual currency blurring the boundaries be tween the online and real worlds and challenging Legal limits a chinese internet com Pany called ten cent holdings Ltd designed the payment system in 2002 to allow its 233 million regular registered users to shop for treats in its virtual world virtual currencies Are in use in Many countries but nowhere have they taken Root More deeply than in China Selling virtual amusement to chivas inter net Community the worlds second largest is big business ten cent a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and famous in China for its Penguin Mascot retails Sqq coins for one Yuan 13 cents each and also awards them for free to to scoring video gamers to keep them playing according to one government estimate the total volume of trading in virtual items in China last year was Worth about million about 45 percent of that went for items in the ten cent world then last year something happened that ten cent haunt originally planned online game Sites beyond ten cent started accepting Sqq coins As payment the coins Appeal As a safer More practical Way to conduct Small on line purchases because credit cards Arent yet commonplace in China at informal online currency marketplaces thousands of users helped turn the Sqq coins Back into Cash by Selling them at a discount that varies based on the Laws of Supply and demand traders began jumping into the Sqq Coin Market As an Opportunity to make a Quick Yuan off of currency speculation state run Media reported that some online shoppers began using Sqq coins to buy real world items such As cd and makeup so called Sqq girls started accepting the coins As payment for intimate private chats online gamblers caught wind too and started using the currency to get around chivas ant gambling Laws converting wins in online mahjong and card into Cash dozens of third party trading posts sprouted up to ease transactions turning the Sqq Coin into a kind of parallel currency heres How the transactions work a Small time retailer offers Sqq coins for Sale at her online shop at a discount Price currently about 8 Yuan customers then pay the seller Yuan through a debit card Money order Transfer or special online payment systems such As Paypal the retailer then transfers the Sqq coins to the buyers account like one might do with air Miles or even just gives the buyer Access to her own Sqq account including username and password where Sqq coins Are stored last month 14 chinese ministries and Chi Nas Central Bank waged a Sqq Coin crackdown of sorts calling on companies to Stop trading them in order to prevent Money laundering its the most extreme Case of a so called virtual currency blurring the boundaries Between the online and real and Cli alleging Legal limits the Peoples Bank of China will strengthen management of the virtual currencies used in online games and will stay on the Lookout for any assault by such virtual currencies on the real economic and financial the minis tries and Bank said in a joint statement the statement said the government will bar users from trading virtual currency for real Money and ordered Sites to make a distinction Between online credits like Sqq coins and real Money used for Commerce ten cent says it never aimed to mint Money and says the company Doest consider Sqq coins to be virtual Curren around the Globe a real world Trade has emerged around virtual assets estimates vary wildly but some analysts put the worldwide real Money Trade in Vir Tual assets at More than billion most of which changes hands in South Korea and China some virtual Curren cies Are used to buy prop erty tools and other As sets in virtual reality worlds most however have been designed to Reward gamers and allow them to upgrade their play economists say virtual currencies work like any other currencies so Long As people Trust the institutions behind them the trouble starts when a virtual currency that int backed by a trusted government becomes linked to a real one that is through an Exchange rate virtual currency brokers Call that rat or real Money Trade when that happened to the Sqq Coin it effectively turned into a parallel currency operating alongside the Yuan says Yiping Huang the chief Asia economist of Citibank Korea Trade talks extended past first deadline the associated press Seoul the United states and South Korea need More time to negotiate a free Trade Deal and have extended the talks to sunday the two governments said negotiations continue Between the and the Republic of Korea on a number of outstanding is said Sean m Spicer Trade representative for Public affairs in a statement saturday negotiators for the two sides missed an original deadline of Midnight Friday in South Korea but kept talking sat urday before making the announce ment of the Extension the two sides which began negotiating the Deal almost 10 months ago have been meeting since Mon Day but have apparently failed to Bridge gaps on issues such As Trade in autos and agriculture the Extension is needed so that the administration can decide whether to notify Congress of its in tent to sign by sunday april 1 the deadline for congressional notification under Trade promotion a Spicer said the White House wants to final ize a Deal by that Date so it can still be submitted to Congress for a straight yes Orno vote without amendments this fast track Power granted to president Bush by Congress expires on july 1 but requires a 90day window for con Gressional review