British charity fundraiser Ben Southall, 34, has landed himself the highly publicised “best job in the world”.
The Briton will get AUD150,000 in salary to have a six-month vacation at Great Barrier Reef… ok, not exactly a vacation as he needs to handle some daily task as the caretaker of the islands; but it’s pretty close to being paid to have a holiday. He will start his ‘work’ on July 1st.
The job, offered by Tourism Queensland in Australia, was announced in early 2009 and received more than 34,000 applications. It was obviously a tourism marketing campaign, and a very successful one considering the global publicity it receives.
Some general news and info from various sources…
Australia – Rafael Nadal won first Australian Open crown, defeating Roger Federer [ATP]
China – Birth defects soar due to environmental pollution; a baby is born with physical defects every 30 secs in China [Chinadaily]
Enviromental – Many effects of climate change are irreversible [BBC]
Iraq – A fibreglass-and-copper monument (pic) is built in honour of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush during a news conference [Youtube]
Japan – PM Taro Aso has announced a 1.5 trillion yen (USD17bn) aid package to help Asian countries weather the economic downturn [BBC]
North Korea – North Korea is scrapping all pacts with South Korea and warned that the downward relations has pushed the peninsula to the brink of war [Reuters]
South Korea – Asiana Airlines, Korea’s second-largest air carrier, is named Airline of the Year by ATW (Air Transport World) magazine [ATW]
Thailand – Deja vu… tens of thousands of protesters held a rally in Bangkok calling on the new Thai government to resign [Youtube]
[Updated Dec 17] E! Entertainment recently released its “25 Sexiest Men of the World” 2008 list, in which Canadian-Chinese star Edison Chen somehow ranked higher (15th) than Chinese-Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (20th).
Dingdong Dantes
Well, Edison might be sexier than Takeshi in E!’s point of views (I guess the sex pics might help a bit), but the sexiest Asian title goes to Dingdong Dantes (3th) from the Philippines instead.
Bollywood actor John Abraham is the other Asian celebrity that made the list, and he too was ranked higher than the two Chinese stars at 10th.
This E! sexiest men list is a bit unique as the chosen celebs covered a wide range of different nationalities and ethnicity as compared to most other sexiest/hottest lists which are dominated by Hollywood stars. Arguable… but nice try.
Here are the top 25 sexiest men of the world according to E!…
Dr Ross Garnaut, a professor of economics at the Australian National University, has urged Australians to ditch beef and lamb for kangaroo steaks to help save the planet in his recent climate study commissioned by the Australian government.
Image by Shoreline, who said the kangaroo meat was so amazingly GOOD!
Forbes has compiled a list of Hollywood’s best and worst movie stars according to the return on investment vs the money they are paid. I’m not going into details on the criterias and figures, heading straight to the list instead…
Top 10 best movie stars for the bucks
1. Vince Vaughn (pic)
2. Tobey Maguire
3. Julia Roberts
4. Brad Pitt
5. Naomi Watts
6. Matt Damon
7. George Clooney
8. Jennifer Aniston
9. Hugh Jackman
10. Ben Stiller
Top 10 most overpaid movie stars
1. Nicole Kidman (pic)
2. Jennifer Garner
3. Tom Cruise
4. Cameron Diaz
5. Jennifer Lopez
6. Jim Carrey
7. Nicolas Cage
8. Drew Barrymore
9. Will Ferrell
10. Cate Blanchett
I was planning to go for a show on Wednesday, but the weather was not permitting; will try my luck again on Sunday. Meanwhile, catch a video below, produced by an official media partner of MIFC with the Malaysian team performing on August 12.
Besides the Malaysian team, other teams that are competing in the event this year are from China, Spain, Canada and Australia.
Update – check out a few photos taken by yours truly during one of the shows.
A judge has provoked controversy in Australia by ruling that a 12-year-old girl could begin the first phase of a sex change.
The unnamed girl has begun hormone treatment to block puberty after a judge accepted an application from her mother for her to begin to reassign her gender.
A family court judgment said it was important to act quickly to prevent the onset of puberty as the girl dreaded the prospect of menstruation and developing breasts, and had threatened self-harm.
British charity fundraiser Ben Southall, 34, has landed himself the highly publicised “best job in the world”.
Some general news and info from various sources…
Top 10 best movie stars for the bucks
Top 10 most overpaid movie stars