The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, according to Reuters.
A kilogramme of rat meat increased to around 5,000 riel (USD1.28) from 1,200 riel last year. It’s still cheaper than other meat though… beef for example costs about 20,000 riel a kilogramme.
Some communities in Asian and South American countries have long history of eating rats or other rodents, but food shortages and inflations have pushed others to try rat meat in recent years.
Earlier this month, a state government in eastern India encouraged its people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks.
Sometimes it’s hard to relate to poverty around the world. Here we are, using high tech gadgets and surfing the web while at other corners on earth people are eating rats because they can’t afford other meat… and it’s far from being the worse scenario yet. It’s kinda sad actually.
Tens of thousands of Buddhists packed the plaza in front of Seoul City Hall on Wednesday (Aug 27) to protest the alleged religious favouritism of President Lee Myung-bak and his administration.
The rally was organised by Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the largest Buddhist group in South Korea. The police estimated that 55,000-60,000 people took part in the rally, including thousands of monks.
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An Italian priest was planning to organise an online beauty pageant for nuns to fight the stereotype that they are all old and dour.
Father Antonio Rungi, a theologian and schoolteacher from Naples, was planning to run the “Miss Sister” (or “Sister Italia”) contest via online voting in hope to give the nuns a chance to show off their work and image [via News and ABC]
Update - the plan is suspended.
A topless parade was held on Wednesday (Aug 20) in Auckland, New Zealand, despite various protests. The Boobs on Bike parade on Queens Street featured some semi-nude porn stars and was part of the Erotica Expo organised by Steve Crow.
The Auckland City Council had sought a court injunction to stop the parade but the judge has ruled in the the parade’s favour. I’ll leave the moral issue for your own interpretation; but some of the folks were obviously enjoying the show…
Some random news about Beijing Olympics…
When a man loves a woman
Matthias Steiner of Germany was the men’s +105kg weightlifting champion on Tuesday. When I first saw the picture, I thought of how romantic this guy was… I only knew a day later that the woman in the picture was his wife Susann, who died in a car accident last year, and it sparked plenty of emotions…
Matthias with his gold medal and a photo of his late wife (Image via
Beijing2008)
This will probably be the most memorable Beijing Olympics’ photo for me… it draws love, sadness, romance, pride, commitment and loyalty. If I am a woman I would probably fall in love with this guy.
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American shooter Matthew Emmons is going to be one of the most memorable characters in Olympic history…
Matthew and Katerina Emmons
In Athens 2004, Matthew was just a shot away from winning a gold in the three positions competition… but he shot on the wrong target, a mistake that sounds almost impossible in professional shooting. He finished eighth.
It’s not all bad for Matthew though… later that night, he went to a pub and met Czech shooter Kateřina Kůrková who offered him consolation. The couple fell in love and got married in 2007.
If the name Kateřina Emmons sounds familiar to you, that’s because she is the winner of the first gold medal in Beijing Olympics 2008.
Matthew was trying to emulate his wife’s success, and he was pretty close at the three positions competition, again needing just an average score at his final shot to secure the gold.
Somehow, it’s deja vu… he didn’t fire the wrong target this time, but pulled the trigger at a wrong timing and got a bad score. He finished fourth.
Make no mistake though, Matthew is an excellent shooter. He won a gold in Athens in other shooting event and also a silver in Beijing. It’s just the bizarreness of how he missed those two golds that is going to make him a folklore of the Games.
Matthew has already expressed his ambition for London 2012… wish him luck.
[With reference from CNN and Wiki]
It’s official, the concert is on. The Malaysian authority have changed their mind with the earlier decision to bar Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne to perform on August 29 in Kuala Lumpur.
Avril told MTV on Thursday that the concert will go ahead as planned; and there were other sources indicating that Galaxy Group, the concert promoter, has successfully appeal to the initial ban. It has been officially confirmed on Friday evening that the show will go on.
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne
Earlier this week, Malaysian authority had made the call to bar Avril from performing at the scheduled KL concert, stating that the concert is unsuitable for Malaysian culture, particularly not when the country is celebrating independence day on August 31.
The decision echoed the call from an Islamic opposition party for the show to be scrapped, that the show is considered too sexy for Malaysians and would promote the wrong values as Malaysia’s independence day is looming near.
The spokesman for the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry Ministry said that the concert promoter can request a new date for the concert… but it is becoming apparent that Galaxy has managed to appeal to hold the concert as scheduled instead.
It’s deja vu for Malaysians… the authority had barred Indonesian singer Inul Daratista from performing in late July 2008 following similar protest that her performance was ‘too erotic’.
Do mind that Malaysians in general are not that conservative; in fact lots of the Muslims are quite liberal in these kind of matters. Unfortunately the men that make the initial decision were not quite as open minded… glad that the final decision makers are showing more sense.
Water puppet show (múa rối nước) is a famous traditional Vietnamese art with more than 800 years of history. The art is a unique heritage from the Red River region in northern Vietnam.
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