CHINESE NEW YEAR: YEAR OF THE ROOSTER
In 4703, you've got a 1-in-12 chance to crow with pride
Anthony Yu has something to crow about today: Asian Lunar New Year 4703, marking the year of the rooster, his sign in the Chinese lunar calender.
Asia heralds Year of the Rooster
Communities across Asia have been celebrating the lunar new year and the start of the Year of the Rooster.
In China, millions of people and migrant workers have travelled home for the festivities.
The Year of the Rooster
Hong Kong - British Prime Minister Tony Blair consults a feng shui expert to pick the date for the General Election, scrapes home with a narrow majority and makes a pact with finance minister Gordon Brown to step down halfway through his third term.
China says vaccine developed for bird flu
BEIJING: Scientists in China have developed a bird flu vaccine for poultry and mammals that can fend off the deadly virus and help stop its spread, the China Daily newspaper said on Monday.
China Says Farm Incomes Up but Still Low
Average incomes for China's farmers rose 6.8 percent in 2004 but still stand at just 2,936 yuan (US$355; euro278) a year, the government said Tuesday amid promises to cut rural tax burdens that have sparked violent protests. Improving life in China's poor countryside - home to some 800 million people - is a priority for the government of President Hu Jintao after two decades in which Beijing focused on building up export industries.
Farmers are China’s backbone
I am elated to know this good news that China's GDP rose 9.5% in 2004 to arrive at US$1.65 trillion dollars, after 9.3% growth in 2003. This has proved the ability of China's new and young leadership in managing the world's fastest growing economy and the biggest population. (Taking into account of the buying parity of RMB yuan, many world economists estimate China's real GDP now accounts for 12% of the world's total, which I do not object.)
China invests US$37b overseas
Chinese companies invested US$3.62 billion in non-financial sectors overseas in 2004, an increase of 27 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday.
World leaders greet Chinese lunar New Year
Leaders of foreign countries and international groups sent congratulatory messages to China on the traditional Chinese lunar New Year.
Dolly's creator granted human cloning license
LONDON - The scientist who created Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, was granted a license Tuesday to clone human embryos for medical research.
Professor Ian Wilmut speaks during a news conference in Edinburgh, February 8, 2005. Wilmut, the scientist who created Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, was granted a license Tuesday to clone human embryos for medical research. Wilmut plans to obtain stem cells for research into Motor Neurone Disease(MND), a procedure that divides the medical world along ethical lines. [Reuters]Professor
CORRUPTION - BUSH CORRUPTION - Georgie says, "They just didn't understand this is how we do things in Texas." In the meantime, hostility is brewing and civil war is in sight.
Final Iraqi election results said delayed
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi officials said Wednesday that the announcement of final results from landmark national elections will be delayed because the election commission must recount votes from about 300 ballot boxes.
Armed forces urged to target int'l cutting-edge tech
The Chinese Defense Minister has asked the armed forces to target cutting-edge military technologies when he visited the People's Liberation Army's General Armament Department between Sunday and Monday.
G7's unfulfilled duty
The London meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors will be dominated, if the host, UK finance minister Gordon Brown has his way, by the issue of the relief of poverty in developing countries, with the emphasis on Africa.
A small but significant step forward
On Saturday, seven mainland charter planes landed on Taiwan for the first time since 1949, the start of cross-Straits charter flights for the 2005 Spring Festival.The new US century is over
In a second inaugural address tinged with evangelical zeal, George W. Bush declared: "Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world." The peoples of the world, however, do not seem to be listening. A new world order is indeed emerging - but its architecture is being drafted in Asia and Europe, at meetings to which Americans have not been invited.
Time to stoke up railway reform
On a chilly winter's morning three years ago, I got up at 5 am and dashed into a taxi before arriving at a railway ticket office to queue among other early-risers in the dark.
Astronomers Find 'Hot' Vortex on Saturn
Astronomers using a giant telescope atop a volcano have discovered a hot spot at the tip of Saturn's south pole. The infrared images captured by the Keck I telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island suggest a warm polar vortex - a large-scale weather pattern likened to a jet stream on Earth that occurs in the upper atmosphere. It's the first such hot
Post-tsunami relationship
After the Tsunami, How Japan Can Lead
by Masaru Tamamoto
When Tokyo offered $500 million to help tsunami victims, its biggest package of natural disaster aid ever, the reaction of Peng-Er Lam of the National University of Singapore was fairly typical: “Japan’s assistance will help to reclaim certain diplomatic clout it had lost to China when Tokyo has to play catch-up with Beijing over free trade agreements with Southeast Asia.”
Couples skipping health checks
The number of newly-weds who underwent pre-marital health checks dropped drastically in Beijing last year, amid a growing incidence of infectious diseases and birth defects, according to the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.
Sarah Jessica Parker to launch fragrance
Sarah Jessica Parker is putting the sweet smell of her success in a bottle. Parker, who starred in HBO's hit "Sex and the City," has signed a deal with Coty Inc. to develop a line of fragrances, the company announced Tuesday.
New rules at Oscars not all winners take the stage
The long walk down the Oscar aisle will be a lot shorter for some of this year's Academy Awards winners - in fact, some will not make it to the stage.
A happy New Year
A young boy and his mother play with a toy at the Lunar New Year fair in Hong Kong. China's transport system was stretched to the limit while goods flew off shop shelves in a last-minute rush as 1.3 billion people prepared to celebrate Lunar New Year. [AFP]
The weather in Beijing (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
"Chop-Sticks"
