China officially unveiled its National Aquatics Centre, nicknamed the Water Cube, on Jan 28.
The Water Cube is one of two iconic venues for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games; the other is the Bird Nest, which is the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field events.
The Aquatics Centre has a capacity of 17,000 and will host the swimming, diving and synchronized swimming events during the Olympics.
China’s busiest holiday travel season (Chinese New Year) is running in chaos, as hundreds of thousands of travellers are stranded while dozens are killed by the worst winter weather to hit eastern/central/southern China in 50 years.
About 500,000 railway passengers, mostly migrant workers, are stuck in Guangzhou because the heavy snow fall had cut off parts of the railway line connecting to the northern region. China has about 200 million migrant workers who travel between cities and their homes in the countryside to celebrate the Spring Festival (Feb 7-11).
The extreme weather, which started around Jan 10, has been blamed for nearly 50 deaths and has affected the lives of about 78 million people in 14 provinces. The death toll and damages are expected to rise as the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has issued a red alert on Monday (Jan 28) for severe snowstorms forecast in central and eastern region.
Tomiyasu Ishikawa, a 71-year-old Japanese climber, is believed to have become the oldest person in the world to scale the Seven Summits – the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. [Mainichi]
Ishikawa on Jan 21, has conquered Antarctica’s 4,897-metre Vinson Massif, the last of the seven peaks he was climbing.
Seems like Japanese old folks are enjoying mountaineering very much. In May 2007, another 71-year-old Japanese Katsusuke Yanagisawa became the oldest person to scale Mt Everest, a record once hold by Ishikawa when he conquered the world’s highest mountain in 2002.
The Seven Summits are Everest (Asia), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Elbrus (Europe), Denali (N. America), Aconcagua (S. America), Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania) and Vinson Massif (Antarctica).
Japanese shows play the darnest games, and I am loving it…
A man in Lanzhou, China, has planted some football shaped calabashes to pay his tribute to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Known as Mr Cha, the Lanzhou citizen wants to present the special shaped calabashes to the organising committee of the Beijing Olympic as a show of appreciation.
Cha took six years of experiments to find a method to grow these calabashes, and has obtained six national patents for his research.
The method of growing these calabashes is simple though… by putting young calabashes into moulds. The difficult part is the extra care needed to prevent the fruits from dying off while inside the mould.
South Korean veteran singer Na Hoon-a has shocked a live national TV audience on Friday (Jan 25) by threatening to drop his trousers to prove that he had not been castrated by a Japanese gangster.
The 60-year-old crooner was at a news conference to deny rumour that his private part was cut off by a Yakuza (Japanese gangster), whom the media reported to be unhappy with Hoon-a for having a relationship with his mistress.
SG Wannabe’s Chae Dong-ha is leaving the popular Korean R&B group soon. SG Wannabe’s agency, Mnet Media, has revealed that Chae will not be renewing his contract when it expires in May 2008.
It has been a known fact that Chae is interested in branching out his career into acting and stage performances, but Mnet wanted SG Wannabe to focus in singing instead… Chae has no choice but to leave the group to pursue his own interest.
Chae’s decision has received blessings from his other group members, Kim Yong-jun and Kim Jin-ho. It’s not the end of SG Wannabe though, as Mnet has announced that they will find a replacement for Chae instead of disbanding the group.
SG Wannabe has been a hit group in Korea since making their debut in 2004. The trio’s 4th and latest album “The Sentimental Chord” is Korea’s best selling album of the year 2007.
SG Wannabe is expected to release their 5th album before Chae leaves the group.
Flight attendants in Thailand are protesting against a soap opera, “War of Angels” (“Songkram Nang Fah”), which is said to be demeaning their profession.
The new soap opera focuses on the sexual scandal of a handsome married pilot, and a group of jealous air hostesses fighting for his love. The stewardesses can be seen cat fighting while on duty and wearing their uniforms (video below).
The trade union representing air crew has filed a complaint on Tuesday (Jan 22) to the culture ministry and the TV station that broadcasts the show to take it off the air.
The producers of the soap have apologised for the controversies caused and promised to tone it down with longer skirts and to stop having cat fights in uniforms; but have ruled out of cancelling the show.
