The 5th Simitli’s Festival of Masquerade Games was held on Jan 12, with 1500 participants parading in different kind of masks.
Masquerade games are popular in Bulgaria and the Balkan region, with people celebrating (and competing) the events in ancient Thracians (and other cultural) costumes. The largest event of its kind is The International Festival of Masquerade Games, which is held in the town of Pernik every even year in January.
Simitli is a small village at the south of Pernik; their masquerade games is relatively new and smaller than Pernik but gaining popularity for its more funky and bizarre masks and costumes.
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first climber to scale the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, has died aged 88.
Sir Edmund’s health had reportedly been in decline since April, when he suffered a fall while visiting Nepal.
He was the first man to climb the 8,850m (29,035ft) peak, with Tenzing Norgay, on 29 May 1953. [BBC]
Interesting cup design… should save some time telling others what you want especially in a busy working office. I think the tea lady would like this as well… [Hat tip to Swissmiss]
A 16-year-old boy scout in the Maldives who has been hailed a hero for saving the president’s life has said that he acted “out of instinct”.
Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim injured his hand while thwarting a man who tried to knife President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the north of the islands on Monday.
“It all happened so quickly I didn’t have time to think about it,” he said.
The attacker lunged at the president after he had got off a boat during a visit in the north of the archipelago. [BBC]
Everyone would act out of instinct under that circumstance… some would instinctively run away from the attacker, a few would act like the boy to save the president. He is a hero regardless.
The owner of a German company is being sued for unfair dismissal - after he fired three non-smoking workers and replaced them with smokers who ‘fitted in better’. [Metro]
They were sacked on the grounds that they would ‘interfere with corporate peace’, after they requested a smoke-free environment.
Thomas Jensen, the manager of the 10-person IT company in Buesum, told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper he had fired the trio because their non-smoking was causing disruptions.
Germany introduced non-smoking rules in pubs and restaurants on Jan. 1, but Germans working in small offices are still allowed to smoke.
“I can’t be bothered with trouble-makers,” Thomas was quoted saying.
“We’re on the phone all the time and it’s just easier to work while smoking. Everyone picks on smokers these days. It’s time for revenge. I’m only going to hire smokers from now on.”
Bill Gates has showed a video of what his last day working full-time at Microsoft might look like at his keynote at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Watch the video on Gizmodo.
The Italian army has been sent to bulldoze 100,000 tonnes of rubbish that has piled up in the streets of the southern city of Naples.
The government is to hold an emergency meeting to find a solution to the rubbish crisis. Naples dustmen stopped collecting rubbish two weeks ago. With nowhere to put it local people are forced to burn it. The fire brigade has been struggling to put out the fires.
Rubbish crisis in Naples (Image courtesy of
Xinhuanet)
Rubbish collection is a perennial problem which has plagued Naples and its politicians for some 15 years. The government is conscious it is under severe pressure to find a solution - but this means tackling the mob.
The Camorra, the Neapolitan version of the Mafia, has turned this into a hugely profitable business. They have sabotaged every effort to build hi-tech incinerators, so that Naples must rely on landfill sites, where they can hide the domestic and industrial waste, which they chuck in from all around the country.
Millions of tonnes of it have been dumped illegally in the sea or in the countryside, untreated and highly toxic. Doctors say cancer rates in Naples are much higher than the national average. [BBC]
I won’t be surprise if this kind of rubbish and health crisis is happening in a 3rd world country; it’s unthinkable that it is happening in Italy… the story is good enough to make into a movie.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has announced that it will start operation of the world’s highest elevator testing tower, named SOLAÉ, on Jan 25, 2008.
The 173 metre high structure is located at Japan’s Inazawa City; the construction of the tower and related facilities cost 5 billion Yen (~USD46 million).
The company says it will use the tower to conduct research into high-speed elevators to serve the next generation of super-tall buildings. [BBC]
