As violence is escalating against journalists working in war-torn countries, low profile or nearly invisible still and video cameras, and content capture and distribution technologies are becoming necessary survival gear.

  The Committee to Protect Journalists has reported an unprecedented number of casualties: eleven journalists have been killed this year worldwide, eight of the eleven in the Middle East, one in Vietnam, one in the Philippines, and one in Mexico. CPF reports that there have been more than 300 attacks on journalists covering the recent political unrest in the Middle East.

CNN's Anderson Cooper and his camera crew were attacked by pro-government supporters on February 2, 2011 in Cairo while covering the Egyptian conflict. A video shot by Cooper for CNN's AC360 can be seen on this link. Cooper was able to keep his small Flip video camera recording, as he was escaping from his attackers. While Cooper was able to broadcast his reports and fly back to New York, many other journalists have not been as lucky. Some have been jailed, brutally beaten, stabbed or shot, their equipment destroyed, or worse - killed.

The large, conspicuous shoulder mounted video cameras have quickly been replaced by low profile gear such as the miniature Flip video cameras. Laptops are being replaced in the field by iPhones and other cell phones which can transmit still images, audio and video, and update blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Port Authority police officer David Lim and his K-9 Sirius were inside the World Trade Center's North Tower when it collapsed on September 11, 2001.

He shared his memories recently at the 2011 conference for the National Asian Peace Officers Association in San Diego.

Click here for the full story and a video interview by 10News.

Click here - CNN Heroes of 9/11 AMERICA REMEMBERS Port Authority Officer David Lim and K-9 Sirius.

Click here - Sirius is among dozens of Rescue Dogs honored posthumously by the American Humane Association. Story from CBS New York.

LOS ANGELES –

APALC News Release:

October 10, 2011

Bill co-sponsored by APALC requires the disaggregation of data on Asian ethnic groups in key state departments.

Legislation requiring key state agencies to collect and post information about job programs participation and employment and housing discrimination faced by Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday.

Assembly Bill (AB) 1088, introduced by Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park) and co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), a member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice; Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE); and Asian and Pacific Islanders California Action Network (APIsCAN), requires two key state agencies to include the full spectrum of Asian American (AA), as well as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) ethnicities in their data collection, consistent with those groups reported by the U.S. Census.

News Release
October 13, 2011 

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma
California Speaker Pro Tempore 
12th Assembly District 

California Assembly Bill 199 will help ensure that the contributions of Filipino veterans who fought side by side American troops are properly recognized and remembered by future generations.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco and San Mateo Counties), announces the signing of Assembly Bill 199 this Friday October 14, 2011 at Bessie Carmichael Middle School in San Francisco. Bessie Carmichael, whose school population is 50% Filipino, sits in the SOMA district of San Francisco, home to many Filipino WWII Veterans. When this bill was originally introduced in 2004, 98 Filipino WWII veterans were still alive to tell their stories. Today, there are only 17 veterans still alive. Two previous versions of this bill were vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

AB 199, the Filipinos in WWII Social Studies Curriculum Act, is the first step toward ensuring that social science instruction in grades 7-12 includes the significant role of Filipinos in World War II. This bill helps ensure that our children and future generations learn of the contributions and sacrifice of these brave Filipino soldiers before we lose them in history. During World War II, the Philippines was a commonwealth of the United States. Filipino soldiers in the US Armed Forces were in effect US nationals, who fought side by side with American Troops.