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.
Stranded travellers in Hangzhou have to stay in temporary relief centres i.e. cinemas and army tents;
Buildings and electric transmission towers are damaged because of the heavy snow weight
(Images courtesy of Xinhuanet, Zjonline and Enorth)
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.
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.
Trailer of Songkhram Nang Fah (Hat tip to Asianpopcorn)
More than 8,000 high school teachers took part in an end-of-term exam in Shenyang, China… not as supervisors, but as examinees.
Teacher and students sitting the same exam on Jan 14 (Image courtesy of Shenyang Evening News)
The teachers are required to take the exams to test their professional knowledge on the courses they taught. If they score less than 80/100 points, they will be disqualified from receiving rewards and bonuses in future. [Crienglish]
I wonder how the teachers would feel if they score lower than some of the students.
South Korea’s MBC news has replaced their news anchor, Moon Ji-ae after enormous pressure from public. Moon Ji-ae was criticised for laughing at the end of live news on Jan 7.
Frankly, it was just a small giggle (video below)… it was inappropriate but not bad enough to cost her the job if it was happening on a common day. Unfortunately though, the headline of the day was a warehouse blast that killed 40 in Icheon; the public was critical of the laughing incident because of the circumstances.
MBC spokesperson has responded that they won’t be reinstating Moon Ji-ae in near future for the news anchor post. Her works on other shows are however not affected at the moment.
The ‘laughing’ incident (watching the first 10 seconds is enough, the rest are just repitition)
Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market held the first tuna auction in 2008 on early Saturday (Jan 5), with a 276-kg bluefin tuna caught off Aomori Prefecture sold for a five-year high of 6.07 million yen.
Tsukiji’s tuna auction
A Hong Kong-based sushi restaurant chain won the bluefin tuna with the highest price; its price per kg came to 22,000 yen (~ $200).
The record-high price was 20.2 million yen (~ $185,000), or 100,000 yen ($900+) per kg, set in 2001 for a 202kg tuna caught in the same waters off Oma, the northernmost town on Japan’s main island.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for Japan, the world’s biggest tuna-consuming country, to secure a stable supply of the fish with amid tightening controls on catches and rising fuel costs for fishing boats…
The international catch quota for bluefin tuna is being gradually reduced to preserve tuna resources; while higher fuel costs following a record-breaking surge in crude oil prices have forced an increasing number of Japanese fishing boats to discontinue the tuna harvest. [Kyodo]
The Tsukiji fish market (築地市場, Tsukiji shijō), formally known as The Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. The market is located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo, and is a major tourist attraction for foreign visitors.
Nov 11: President General Pervez Musharraf imposes emergency rule, hoping to cling to power in the face of multiple challenges.
2. Taliban Offensive
Sept 29: A Taliban suicide bomber kills 35 Afghan troops and two civilians in the year’s worst suicide bombing in Kabul.
3. North Korea Agrees to Disarm
Feb 13: Months after testing a nuclear device, North Korea agrees at six-party talks in Beijing to take the first steps towards disarmament. Read the rest of this post »
Authorities in South Korea have solved the case of the death of a man who was alleged to have been killed by an exploding mobile phone battery.
The ‘exploded’ mobile
phone in the case
Fact is the mine worker was accidentally struck by heavy machinery, and the co-worker who was at fault decided to create the exploded mobile phone story to cover up the accident.
The victim was found in a quarry where he worked on Nov 28 in Cheongwon County in North Chungcheong Province, with burns on his chest, fractured ribs and damaged lungs and heart. The mobile phone at his chest was burning and the battery melting… leading the media to believe in the co-worker’s claim that the mobile phone had exploded and caused the death.
The incident has caused havoc among South Koreans regarding the safety of their mobile phone. Phone maker LG (the phone used by the victim) has to issue statement calming down the public that their products have been rigorously tested and approved by independent agencies.
The police finding has managed to clear LG out of the box. The press reported that the co-worker has backed his machinery onto the victim accidentally and crushed the victim’s chest (with the mobile phone). It was uncertain if the mobile phone was set on fire by the co-worker or burnt because of the heavy impact.
Japan began on Tuesday (Nov 20) fingerprinting and photographing all foreigners aged 16 or over upon their entry as an anti-terrorism measure.
An immigration worker at Narita International Airport teaches a foreigner arriving in Japan how to use the digital fingerprint reader (Image courtesy of Mainichi)
I believe most foreigners in Japan are not welcoming this new immigration system. Personally I find it rather insulting… travellers that are visiting a country should be treated as guests and not like criminals or terrorists by default.
I can understand the motives behind Japanese decision to implement this anti-terrorism measure, but I can’t agree with it. The new system is not going to stop me from visiting Japan though; there are too many things to see in the country despite the extra hassle.
