A group of mothers of those killed in the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square has urged China's leaders to fully investigate the deaths.
Their call was issued as the 20th anniversary of the massacre approaches, and days ahead of the annual session of the National People's Congress.
The Tiananmen Mothers want the government to name the dead, compensate families and punish those responsible.
In a rare interview yesterday, Hong Kong star Cecilia Cheung spoke for the first time about fellow celebrity Edison Chen, with whom she was involved in a sex photo scandal last year.
A Lianhe Wanbao story reported her calling Chen "despicable" and that he was "dishonest, unreliable and caused a lot of hurt to his fellow female celebrities."
The interview, which took place in Hong Kong yesterday evening (26 February), saw Cheung admit for the first time her involvement in the scandal.
Looking directly at the camera, a teary-eyed Cheung said, "I admit that I committed this mistake!"
The Wanbao report also said that Cheung cried a second time when she spoke about her husband, Hong Kong star Nicolas Tse. She thanked Tse for his forgiveness and him staying by her side during this difficult time.
"It is very difficult to find such a good husband." Cheung told the interviewer, before breaking down.
In February last year, a few hundred obscene photos of Edison Chen pictured in various sex acts with some four female celebrities were posted onto the Internet. Chen had since testified in a Canadian court confirming that Cheung was among the four women in the pictures.
Gay Asians voiced indignation Wednesday after television broadcasts of the Academy Awards in their region censored the words "gay" and "lesbian" in speeches that called for equal rights for homosexuals.
The speeches by actor Sean Penn and writer Dustin Lance Black - who won Oscars for their work in "Milk" - were shown in full during live broadcasts of the Oscars that were screened across Asia on Monday morning.
VANCOUVER - EDISON Chen says he did not take all of the sex photos that set off an online firestorm last year. About 40 of them were shot by one of the Chinese Canadian singer-actor's partners, who was not identified, and given to him on a CD.
This was one of the facts to emerge from the British Columbia hearing on Monday, when Chen gave evidence against Sze Ho Chun, a computer technician accused of stealing the pictures.
Chen's former lovers are expected to be called as witnesses at Sze's Hong Kong trial, which is scheduled for April.
According to Apple Daily, Chen explained why only about 400 pictures were leaked on the Internet. Out of 1,300 stolen photos police showed him on a CD last year, many were repetitions or pictures of daily life that had no market value, he told the court.
VANCOUVER – With his mother by his side and surrounded by burly bodyguards, pop star Edison Chen, whose naked photos were plastered over the Internet, said he wants to move on with his life after a year of unhappiness.
An earnest and solemn Chen, speaking at the end of his court hearing in Vancouver, said the futures of the women affected in the photo scandal, including some of Hong Kong most well-known female stars, are more important to him than anything else.
Just over a year ago, Chen, who was raised in Vancouver, got caught with his pants down - literally. Pictures he had taken over the past few years in intimate poses with female celebrities were posted on the Internet.
Chen, 28, was scheduled to appear over the next five days in a Vancouver courtroom but the hearing ended Tuesday after just a day. Prosecutors and defence lawyers, who had traveled to Vancouver for the hearing in B.C. Supreme Court because Chen refused to return to Hong Kong, finished their questions earlier then expected.
Japan, forming an arc on the eastern edge of Asia, is a land of beautiful landscapes made all the richer by the progress of the four seasons. On top of its beauty, it is a leading industrial nation some 130 million people call home.
The Mainichi has been photographing Japan from the air for more than 80 years, recording the passage of its seasons, the changing faces of its cities and the lives of its people. Through the over 100 photographs presented here, taken from the Mainichi's photography airplane Phoenix II and the helicopters Rainbow, Kibo and Oruri, we hope to paint a picture of Japan over the course of 2008.
BEIJING -- The Beijing government information office has provided Xinhua with a statement on the car fire which occurred downtown Wednesday afternoon.
It said two of the three people, who were inside the car, were hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries.
Xinhua has confirmed with two separate sources that there were two men and one woman in the vehicle at the time of the incident. One woman and one man were taken to the hospital.
The information office statement mentioned nothing about the third person.
The statement said the "fire started suddenly" when police stopped the car and came forward to question the passengers inside at around 2:50 p.m.. Police then extinguished the fire.
The office said earlier that three people "set fire to themselves" while inside the car.
The statement went on to say, "police found something abnormal about the car" before they stopped it at the southern end of Wangfujing avenue.
"The three people came to Beijing for personal petitions," the Beijing government information office said.
The car had a non-Beijing license plate. But the people's identities have not been released.
A new office block being built in China is believed to have the most windows of any building of its size in the world.
The nine-storey building, designed by Japanese architect Sako Keiichiro, has close to a 1,000 windows, reports Today Morning.
People walking past the new development in Jinhua say it makes them feel dizzy if they look at the building for too long because it's so unusual.
One local newspaper journalist counted 113 windows in the 15 rooms of the 9th floor, and said one room alone had 21 windows.
VANCOUVER – Asian pop star Edison Chen, who fled Hong Kong in disgrace a year ago after nude photos of himself with other celebrities were posted on the Internet, is scheduled to appear in an unusual court hearing today in Vancouver.
After months of silence, Chen, a singer and actor who grew up in Vancouver and is one of Asia's most recognized celebrities, is to testify before a Hong Kong judge and lawyers over the next five days. A Canadian judge and Hong Kong's chief magistrate will be co-commissioners at the hearing as Hong Kong police question Chen.
The hearing is taking place in Vancouver because Chen, 28, refused to return to Hong Kong to give evidence at the trial of computer technician Sze Ho-Chun, who is facing charges of distributing via the Internet pictures of the actor having sex with female celebrities.
"This is part of the judicial proceedings. Since the proceedings are in progress, no further details can be disclosed," an official with the Hong Kong police said in an email to the Toronto Star.
Chen's fame skyrocketed after the photos appeared and Google said last December his name was the most searched in Asia.
Other polls in Asia put him behind only U.S. President Barack Obama as the news person of the year and more newsworthy than the Beijing Olympics, the devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan province and the tainted milk scandal.
Chen's trouble began after he took his broken laptop in for repairs in Hong Kong.
Shortly afterwards, explicit photos of him with different women, some identifiable as famous actresses, singers and models, began appearing online.
Asian big screen superstars, Jet Li, and the Chinese bombshell Zhang Ziyi of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon fame, could have their next starring role in a $20 million New Zealand production.
The film, A Kung Fu Western Love Story, was top of the list of five projects discussed by Chinese film and Government officials and Waitakere City Council yesterday.
“We think it would be fantastic to have two of China’s greatest stars, Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi, to kickstart New Zealand’s co-production venture with China,” said Pacific Culture and Arts Exchange chairman Jim He, who was organizing the talks. “It will definitely make an international impact.”
A 48-year-old woman has been admitted as a pupil to a junior school in China.
Xie Zuojin, of Fengkou town, runs a pharmacy but said her illiteracy was making life difficult and losing her business.
Staff in the admissions office at the town's Second Elementary School were amazed when she turned up to register for lessons.
"We suggested she study at home and we provide her with teaching materials while occasionally dispatching a teacher to give private lessons, but she refused, insisting school was the best place for her to study," a teacher told Chutian Metropolis.
Celebrity couple spurn primary schools to teach two kids at home.
SHE gave up her career to be a full-time mum and now she's a teacher to her children as well.
Former actress Evelyn Tan plans to home school her daughter Kristen, 4, and son Jairus, 2, all the way to Primary 6.
Evelyn, 33, and actor husband Darren Lim, 37, are expecting their third child - she is currently four months' pregnant.
The pros and cons of home schooling have been debated here.
Evelyn and Darren say they believe in it and are not worried their children will fall behind kids who go through the national school system.
Darren said home schooling was his idea because as a student, he used to feel like an 'outcast'.
The self-confessed 'non-mathematically-inclined' actor said he wanted his children to have a more 'hands-on learning approach' to schooling.
For that, Evelyn uses the Accelerated Christian Education phonics-based programme, which uses role-playing and storytelling.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Public servants in the gritty central Chinese city of Zhengzhou should not sport "unnatural hair styles" or wear clothes that are too colorful, according to new city regulations.
From now on, Zhengzhou city officials should make sure their clothing matches and stay away from bright color schemes, the regulations specify.
Neatness and order are the order of the day.
"Don't just dress any which way," the regulations order.
Zhengzhou, the capital of land-locked Henan province, is better known for its agricultural futures exchange and railway station than for its sense of style.
But no specific breach triggered the latest set of rules, which are "designed to improve the image of our public servants," an official at Zhengzhou's central government office told Reuters on Monday.
The stalled production of the Hollywood romantic comedy "Lost for Words" might get a jumpstart with the possible addition of Tom Cruise to the cast.
Universal Pictures, which is producing the film, reportedly invited the Hollywood star to step in as the lead to fill the vacancy left by British actor Hugh Grant, according to leading U.S. showbiz magazine 'Variety'.
Grant quit the project last October after a disagreement about the screenplay with Richard Curtis, his longtime partner in previous films and the producer of "Lost for Words." After Grant's departure, Zhang Ziyi, the lead actress in the film, returned to China to shoot another film.
According to media reports, Universal is currently contacting Tom Cruise on the contract.
"Lost for Words" is about a love triangle in which a Hollywood actor falls for his Chinese director after romancing her translator during their making of a film. Susanne Bier, the Danish filmmaker and former Oscar nominee, will direct the movie.
A SOUTH Korean housewife has broken a world record in marathon singing after crooning for more than 76 hours without stopping at a Seoul karaoke bar, local record verifiers say.
Kim Sun-Ok, 54, broke the 75-hour Guinness World Record held by Marcus Lapratt of the United States, the private Korea Record Institute said.
She started singing at 11.14am local time on Thursday and sang a total of 1,283 tunes before she gave up at 3.21pm on Saturday following her family's appeal for her to quit for the sake of her health, it said.
Under Guinness World Record regulations, she was given 30-second breaks between songs and five-minute breaks every hour. She was also barred from singing any song she had already sung less than four hours earlier.
"My sister has had a very strong sense of determination since she was young. Once she sets her mind to anything, she finishes it," her brother, Kwang-Jin, told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
The Korea Record Institute said it would submit video footage of Kim's feat to the Guinness authorities for official recognition as the new title holder in "longest singing marathon by an individual."
BEIJING (Reuters) - China closed 12 highways around the capital Beijing on Thursday because of heavy snow brought on after seeding clouds with chemicals, state media said on Thursday.
All outbound highways were closed in Hebei, the drought-hit northern province surrounding Beijing, after heavy snow fell on Wednesday night, Xinhua news agency said.
In all, 12 highways, including one linking Beijing and Shenyang, capital of northeastern Liaoning province, were closed.
Hebei got its first heavy snow of this year on Wednesday. The provincial weather bureau said that snow too was "enhanced" by artificial seeding.
New Brunswick's education minister has ordered the cancellation of a school assignment that asked children which lives they would save if they had to choose among different ethnic groups.
Kelly Lamrock's move came after outrage was expressed by a mother at the school.
"I can't mince words," Lamrock said. "It is unacceptable in every way. Whatever the intent was, it invites and encourages defining people by stereotypes. It needs to stop."
The education minister said the objective of promoting cultural diversity is a part of the curriculum, but that specific class project is not.
The assignment for the Grade 4 students at École Mont-Carmel in Ste-Marie-de-Kent was based on the notion that the planet was about to explode.
The students had three spaces in a rocket ship and they had to decide which person they would save among the following: an Acadian francophone, a Chinese person, a black African, an English person and an aboriginal person.
IT WASN’T quite the “Bashful Prince” of Bel-Air. But Ryo Ishikawa’s charming and chaotic opening press conference at the Northern Trust Open was easily the highlight of the build-up to a €5 million tournament that features 30 of the world’s top-50.Two of the leading men, defending champion Phil Mickelson and another three-time major winner, Pádraig Harrington, are going through the horrors with their games and are undoubtedly grateful to avoid the glare of the spotlight.
Ishikawa appeared to be meditating as more than 100 media types, mainly Japanese photographers and TV camermen, jostled for position before the 17-year-old sensation addressed the great American public for the first time.
Most people, if told they could buy three cans of chocolate beer for 1480 yen (about 15 bucks) would probably just say 'meh' and move on with their lives. Fortunately for the guys at Sapporo (Japanese beer giant) and Royce (Japanese chocolate company) there are two types of people who are not going to say 'meh' to getting their hands on this limited edition malt flavoured chocolate beer. The first type are suckers (born every minute), and then you've got the suckers with blogs (a bit rarer, born only once a day).
So anyway, unlike some websites who will just post about this second hand, I'm actually sipping a chocolate brew right now to get me in the mood for this article. Let's get started.
Gillian Chung, whose career was badly affected by the outburst of sex photo scandal involving Edison Chen last year, will be resuming work next month by starting on movie and commercial shoots. Chung may also be answering a talk show invite where she will reveal her life and emotions after the scandal in the past year.
Her first strike back into showbiz will be James Yuen's new movie, where the role as a third party in a relationship is said to be "made-to-measure" for her. Her partner in girl group, Twins, Charlene Choi will cast as the "official girlfriend" in the love triangle. According to Hong Kong media reports, CEO of Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG), Albert Yeung, has invited Andy Lau, who has a healthy image, to "shield" Chung in a successful return, by casting together in several movies.
Sometimes there just aren’t words… (the art image may not be safe for work and it is definitely not safe for your mind or future sanity — I seriously advise that you click away now, go to some other site and enjoy the entertainment that they provide, because if you choose to reject my words, the image is going to haunt you for the rest of the day, week, month and year. You have been warned…)
A burglar who stole a DVD player in China was arrested - when he went back for the remote.
But the thief was allowed to go free - when police officers ruled the £100 DVD player was not valuable enough for them to press charges.
Song, 25, of Chengdu, first broke into the house in December. He later realised he had forgotten the remote control so broke into the same building again a month later.
But this time he found the owner, Dai, watching television in the living room, reports Chengdu Business Daily.
Under pressure from Dai, Song admitted he had been responsible for the previous raid and Dai escorted him to the police station to report the crime.
But to Dai's amazement, police said the £100 DVD player was not worth enough to prosecute Song and he was set free.
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A married Chinese businessman who could no longer afford five mistresses held a competition to decide which one to keep.
But the contest took a fatal turn when one of the women, eliminated for her looks, drove the man and the four other competitors off a cliff, Chinese media reported.
The spurned mistress died and the other passengers were injured, the reports said.
Police initially thought the car had plummeted off a mountain road in eastern China on December 6 by accident. Then they learned of the contest through a letter the dead woman had left behind, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said.
The 29-year-old woman, identified only as Yu, was a waitress when she met the businessman at a restaurant in the coastal city of Qingdao in 2000.
At the time, the businessman, identified only by his last name -- Fan -- was married and had four other mistresses, according to the Peninsula Metropolis Daily newspaper in Qingdao.
The women knew of one another, but none elected to break up with the man and give up their rent-free apartment and a 5,000 yuan ($730) monthly allowance, the reports said.
Southeast Asia's few surviving elephants are under increasing threat from booming illegal ivory prices in Vietnam, according to a new market analysis released by TRAFFIC – the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring network and a joint program of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and IUCN. The survey reports that Vietnamese illegal ivory prices could be the highest in the world, with tusks selling for up to $1,500 per kilogram (1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds) and small, cut pieces selling for up to $1,863 per kilogram.
Vietnam's law allows stores to sell ivory legally in stock before the 1992 prohibition on the possession and dealing in raw and worked ivory. Some shopowners restock illegally with recently-made worked ivory that they claim was from pre-1992 stock.
There is already solid evidence that Asian elephants are in trouble across the region. IUCN data reports that no more than 1,000 elephants are estimated in Laos – and fewer than 150 are believed to exist in Vietnam.
ONE of Singapore's rising foreign badminton talents has quit the national team, complaining that he was told to either take up citizenship or go.
Doubles specialist Riky Widianto, 17, who has been here since 2005, flew home to Indonesia yesterday after tendering his resignation to the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) earlier this month.
Badminton officials had wanted him to become Singaporean in time to represent the country at this year's South-east Asia Games, but Riky said his parents felt he was too young to make the move.
'I wanted to stay and fulfill my dream as a badminton champion for Singapore,' he told The Straits Times. 'But I had no choice because the association told me I had to become a citizen now, or quit.
'My family told me to wait another year or two, but the SBA couldn't wait.'
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese blogger whose satirical postings have gained a wide following was stabbed in the stomach at a Beijing book store after giving a reading, witnesses and friends said Monday.
Xu Lai, who writes under the pseudonym Qian Liexian, was attacked Saturday evening at the Wanda branch of the Beijing Danxiangjie Book Store, a staffer there confirmed Monday.
He was meeting readers "and it happened after that," said the clerk, who declined to give her name as is common among Chinese. She gave no other details.
Xu, who is also culture editor at the Beijing News paper, was apparently stabbed in the store's bathroom by two men who later fled, according to friends and fellow bloggers who posted the news online.
The motive was unclear for the assault, which was the first known physical attack on a prominent blogger.
Xu's blog, entitled "Qian Liexian Wants to Speak," offers witty, satirical observations on society and politics. At times provocative, he has also commented on government corruption and the recent scandal of milk contaminated with an industrial chemical.
Last year, he was listed among the "20 Most Influential Figures in China's Cyberspace" by Southern Metropolis Weekly. Xu was in a Beijing hospital Monday recovering after surgery for his wounds, which were not life-threatening, according to postings by friends on the bullogger.com Web site.
"According to the doctor, there was only a small hole in his stomach, and no other injuries were found in his other organs," one post said. "The doctor said it seemed that he was in a good condition. So people who care for him should not worry."
Sometimes our travel plans need shaking up. Westernized cities have turned our trips of discovery into trips we could probably experience within a mile of home, without the hefty ticket price and lofty hotel reservation. In an attempt to show explorers that the great unknown is out there -- without Hyatt hotels, English-speaking tour operators and fast-food outlets at every turn -- we’ve unearthed 10 culture-shock cities that will put the adrenaline-pumping excitement back into traveling.
Ivy Ho's Claustrophobia tells the story of an office romance that never really happens, and is by turns realistic, affecting and frustrating. Easier to appreciate than it is to enjoy, the film nevertheless feels accomplished thanks to its craft, its patience, and its uncompromising emotions.
This Korean thriller emulates both the best and worst of a Hollywood B-movie. At times gripping and intense, the film delivers exactly what one would expect from such a film with its gimmick.
This follow-up to Jack Neo’s local blockbuster I Not Stupid is a well-intentioned comedy-drama that examines the often strained relationship between parents and their teenage kids. However, the film’s heavy-handed didacticism, scattershot social commentary, shrewish depiction of adults, and naïve view of juvenile delinquency undermine the film’s overall message and take away from the consistently likeable performances from its young stars.
Donnie Yen fights Dick Wei while wearing eyeliner and tight eighties outfits. He also wears a pink shirt and breakdances. Obviously, Mismatched Couples is totally worth your time and money.
Chris lives in Bizen City in Okayama Prefecture. He got into the cake business after marrying a Japanese woman in Canada and moving back to Japan with her to take over her family’s Japanese confectionery shop.
The Panda-shaped cake he invented has proven to be a huge success. The shop sold 10,000 of them last year and they now sell about 50 of them a day (at a price of 8000 yen each). Chris loves seeing the happy faces of customers who buy his cakes.
At the end of the segment, they ask Chris to make a special cake version of Fuji TV news anchor Taro Kimura. The final product is quite cool.
A theme park called Robot Land will be built in Incheon and Masan, the first of its kind. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Thursday it would set up the park in the two cities by 2014.
The park, designed to bolster the country's robotics industry, will house play equipment, experience zones, exhibition halls, a stadium, research and education centers, and corporate facilities.
A Jetsons-style transit system is set to roll out around Masdar City - electric, elevated podcars that can carry a few passengers at a time around the city, between several customizable destinations.
A Chinese thief who was chased into a dead end tried to scare off his pursuers by dropping his trousers and mooning at them.
Passers-by gave chase after the man forced open a motorcycle pannier and stole a woman's purse in Fuzhou city.
Shoppers and traders chased the thief into a cul-de-sac after the victim, Ms Wei, raised the alarm, reports Straits News.
"Just as we were about to catch up with him, he suddenly dropped his pants and flashed his butt towards us, shaking his waist," said Ms Wei.
The shocked pursuers didn't know what to do for a second before one man stepped forward and grabbed the thief, telling him to pull up his pants.
The criminal reportedly told police that he had realised he was trapped and came up with the escape plan when he realised many of his pursuers were women.
"I thought that if they covered their eyes out of modesty, I could then grab the opportunity to escape," he said.
Chinese shop for traditional decorations to celebrate the annual lantern festival in the city of Tianjin, located 100 km (62 miles) east of Beijing February 9, 2009. The lantern festival marks the last day of the two-week Chinese lunar new year. or Spring Festival.
Scholastic architecture doesn’t get much better than these stunning Mode-Gakuen Spiral Towers in Nagoya, Japan. The shimmering towers corkscrew 36 stories [170 m] above the busy streets of Nagoya, Japan, and house educational facilities for three different disciplines in three tapered ‘wings’ - fashion design, computer programming and a medical support. Architectural group Nikken Sekkei included a host of ecological features in the towers including a double-glassed air flow window system and a natural air ventilation system.
Table of Contents
1) Introduction: The New Assembly Line
2) Dongguan Meitai Plastics & Electronics Factory
3) Brainwashing
4) All Employees should regard the factory as home—but…
5) Big Brother is Watching
6) Export Subsidies in China HELPED Duty-free Entry to the U.S.
7) Hours—Excessive forced overtime
8) Lenovo and The Olympics
9) Wages: Workers cheated of up to 19 percent
10) Company Dorms…primitive conditions
11) Illegally—Workers Not Inscribed in national Social Security Health Insurance
12) Health & Safety violations
“Infractions” punished with the loss of over two hours’ wages (fine of 10 RMB--$1.44), including for—
--“Being 1 to 5 minutes late to start a shift…”
--“Not periodically trimming fingernails, which will affect product quality.”
--“Not lining up correctly while punching time cards or at the cafeteria.”
--“Wearing work shoes outside the work room after work.”
--“Putting hands in pant pockets while inside the factory or workroom.”
*
“Infractions” punished with the loss of 4 ½ hours wages (20 RMB fine, $2.88)
--“…answering a personal telephone call in the workroom.”
--“Not diligently working or raising ones head to look around when guests or cadres come to visit.”
--“Putting personal objects on the work desk.”
--“…listening to the radio while on the job.”
--“Not parking bicycles according to company regulations; riding bicycles in and out of the company in a way not in accordance with company regulations.”
--“Returning to the dorm after regulated hours [curfew].”
*
“Infractions” punished with the loss of nearly seven hours’ wages (30 RMB fine--$4.32)
--“Switching beds without authorization.” (Dorm beds are assigned by management.)
*
“Infractions” punished with the loss of nearly 1 ½ days’ wages (50 RMB fine--$7.20)
--“Workers who arrive over one hour late…”
--“Riding the elevator without permission.”
--“Plugging in electronics [using electricity] in the dorm room for personal use.”
--“Using the company phone to make personal calls.”
--“Producing products of low quality…”
--“Workers who…go to visit other workers during working hours.”
--“Chatting at the workstation during work hours…”
--“Entering or leaving the factory area without allowing door personnel [security guards] to inspect [search workers].”
--“Treating supervisors with an arrogant attitude…”
*
“Infractions” punished with the loss of nearly three days’ wages (100 RMB fine--$14.40):
--“Leaving one’s workstation without permission…”
--“Putting up personal notices…or handing out flyers.”
--“Revealing confidential company or production-related information.”
*
“Infractions” punished with firing:
--“Violating labor discipline…and not obeying the company’s work arrangements.”
--“…Taking part in illegal organizations.” [In China, this means independent unions; human, women’s and children’s rights organizations and non-state-sanctioned religious organizations.]
--“Not following the procedures spelled out by government regulations on stopping work, slowing work down, encouraging others to stop or slow down work.”
--“Missing three days of work.”
--“Disobeying China’s one-child policy.”
--“Not obeying company arrangements or directions or…collectively causing trouble as a group…”
--“Any behavior similar to that listed above or helping or colluding in such behavior.”
"ZOMFG!"
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