S. Korea prepares for possible eruption of volcano on N. Korea, China border

South Korea's ministry of unification is considering forming a task force team to respond to the possible eruption of Mount Baekdu, a volcano on the border between China and North Korea.

“As the possibility of a Baekdu eruption is raised by many academics and experts, we are considering setting up a task force team regarding the issue,” a ministry official said Tuesday (November 16).

In order to come up with effective measures, critics here said, the government needs to work together with the North Korean government based on the improved relationship between the two Koreas.

Some experts here and abroad have recently warned of the possible eruption of the dormant Baekdu in the near future.

Yoon Sung-hyo, geology professor of Pusan National University, said during an academic conference in June that a Baekdu eruption could happen in 2014 or 2015, citing the opinions of Chinese experts.

“I cannot be sure about the exact dateline due to a lack of accessible data. However, clear signs are being witnessed that the mountain may erupt in the near future,” he said.

According to him, minor tremors have begun to occur 10 times more frequently, close to the mountain peak since 2002 when a magnitude-7.3 earthquake rattled China’s Jilin province.

In February this year, another strong quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hit the nearby area, probably agitating the magma fluid concentrated below Cheonji lake at Baekdu’s peak.

“If the coming eruption is the similar to the previous massive one 1,000 years ago, the consequence could be 1,000 times the recent Iceland eruption,” Yoon said.

In its 2010 macroeconomic report, published in October, the ministry of strategy and finance also predicted that if Mount Baekdu erupted in winter, volcanic ash could disrupt imports and exports by air and cause a drop in temperatures, leading to soaring food prices.

Burning Building in China killed 53

A huge fire engulfs a high-rise in Shanghai, after construction scaffolding surrounding the building initially caught fire, spreading to the building itself.

The accident left at least 53 people dead, sending billowing plumes of black smoke over the city, state media and officials said.

Asian Games: S'pore bowlers secure silver and bronze in singles

SINGAPORE: Singapore's rising starlet Shayna Ng has won a silver medal in the women's singles bowling competition.

Over a series of six games, the 21-year-old scored a total of 1,342 pinfalls. She was 53 pins behind gold medallist Sun Ok Hwang from South Korea.

En route to her silver success, Shayna created history by becoming the first bowler to score a perfect game of 300 in the competition.

The Asian Games debutant achieved that mark in her fourth game and she is joined on the winners' podium by her team-mate New Hui Fen, who claimed the bronze medal.

At the age of 18 and as the youngest member of the Republic's 12-member bowling team, Hui Fen finished behind Shayna by just a single pin.

Meanwhile, former world champion and Singapore's Flag-bearer Jasmine Yeong Nathan was forced to settle for 15th place and Geraldine Ng finished in ninth spot.

Singapore's medal tally stands at three silver and two bronze medals.

In badminton, Singapore's Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei are through to the quarter-finals of the women's doubles after a straight games win over their Malaysian opponents.

The Singapore Open champions won 21-16, 21-16.

They will next face Chinese second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei in the last eight on Wednesday.

Onto sailing, Singapore lead in three of the 12 events at the half way point of competition.

Rachel Lee and Cecilia Low maintained their perfect record with six race wins out of six to lead the women's 420 Double Handed Dinghy.

Colin Cheng finished third in both of his races today but still leads the standings in the mens' Laser Radial with seven points.

And Men's 420 Double Handed Dinghy pair of Justin Liu and Sherman Cheng were third and second in their two races to remain first overall on eight points.

Singapore are third overall in five other events.

Bishops launch a million rosaries against abortion law in Philippines

Manila (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Church and the Filipino government are still at loggerheads over a birth control bill currently before Congress. Card Ricardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu, and other prelates have posted a message on YouTube urging Catholics around the world to recite a rosary for life and the family. Their goal is to have a million prayers, sent by e-mail or regular post, to force the Filipino Congress to abandon the draft bill. Dubbed ‘Rosary Christ Crusade’, the initiative was launched on 31 October at the parish level and is set to last until 16 January 2011.

Not all Catholics agree with the hard line taken by the bishops. For them, the Church hierarchy should accept the government’s offer of mediation, after the latter said it was ready to eliminate those parts viewed as pro-abortion.

For his part, Card Vidal said on YouTube that with “this movement [. . .] we offer authentic offerings [. . .] to God, to the Blessed Mother [. . .] for the sake of our country”.

Other prelates have followed the archbishop of Cebu and released their own message. They include Mgr Paciano Basilio Aniceto, archbishop of San Fernando, head of the Episcopal Commission for life and the family, who describes the bill as a great danger because it spreads a culture of death.

The debate over the Reproductive Health bill has lasted for four years. The law bans abortion, but promotes family planning. It encourages couples to have only two children and favours voluntary sterilisation. Medical professionals who do not uphold the law could be fined or jailed.

The Church and Catholic associations are instead in favour of the Natural Family Programme (NFP), which aims at encouraging a culture based on responsibility, love and Christian values.

This Saturday, Catholic lay organisations and pro-life associations will hold a prayer vigil in Lipa City (Batangas) to protest against the bill and show their support for the bishops’ media campaign.

120,000 S Koreans won over by documentary about Fr Lee Tae-suk

Seoul (AsiaNews) – More than 120,000 people have seen ‘Don’t cry for me, Sudan’, a documentary film that has set a box-office record for its genre in South Korea, this despite limited promotional work and advertising. The movie is about the life of John Lee Tae-suk, a Salesian missionary, and has achieved critical and public acclaim.

Tens of thousands of people of all ages, sex and religious backgrounds, have seen the movie. Enthusiastic comments and reviews have been posted in online movie forums. Ordinary moviegoers have loved the story.

The movie is scheduled for release in Los Angeles, the capital of the US film industry, and should be in the schedule of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival next February.

"Don't cry for me Sudan" tells the story of Fr John Lee Tae-suk, a South Korean missionary, who was a medical practitioner before he took the cowl. He died on 14 January of this year at the age of 48 from colon cancer.

After his ordination in 2001, he travelled to Tonj, a town in southern Sudan deeply affected by war. Since then, he was priest, doctor, teacher, musician, showing loving care to everyone. He also founded a hospital, a school and a youth movement.

On his deathbed, he invoked the figure of St John Bosco. His last words were “Don’t worry. Everything is good.”

Thanks to the documentary, many non-Catholics can now appreciate the priest who achieved a small miracle for the Youth Education Foundation, whose list of donors shot up from 3,000 to 10,000.

Today, medical supplies are guaranteed, new school and hospital buildings are under construction and young people can look forward to the future, because “the seeds of hope Fr Lee sowed in the fields of Tonj will bear fruit in abundance”.

Apple Begins Selling Beatles Music Through ITunes

Apple Inc. began offering Beatles songs through iTunes for the first time, ending an almost decade-long stalemate with the best-selling group.

The band’s 13 studio albums, along with boxed sets and single tracks are available, Cupertino, California-based Apple said today in a statement. ITunes, music’s largest retailer, is selling single tracks for $1.29 and a set of the band’s entire collection for $149.

“In 1964, the band that changed everything came to America,” Apple said on its website. “Now they’re on iTunes.”

The absence of the Beatles has been the highest-profile hole in the catalog of Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs’s digital store. The band had kept its focus on physical media, even as a decline in compact discs sent other artists to the Web. Formed about 50 years ago, the Beatles have remained a top-seller, with customers buying more than 30 million albums in the last decade, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Apple and the Beatles had been embroiled in a long-running legal feud. In 2007, the company and Apple Corps Ltd., the entity that handles the Fab Four’s business affairs, settled a trademark dispute about the apple name and logo.

“It has been a long and winding road to get here,” Jobs said in the statement.

Single albums cost $12.99 and double albums are priced at $19.99, Apple said. The albums also will feature unique mini- documentaries about their creation.

Complex Ownership

Ownership of the Beatle’s music catalog rests with various parties, including surviving members of the band Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison. The band’s record label EMI Group Ltd., Sony Corp. and the estate of Michael Jackson also control some rights.

“The Beatles music is one of the most complex sets of copyrights and ownership situations in the entire history of the music industry,” said Aram Sinnreich, a media professor at Rutgers University, who follows the music business.

EMI and its owner, Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd., will see a much-needed boost as it faces debt payments to Citigroup Inc., which helped pay for the 2007 acquisition, Sinnreich said. The Jackson estate, also grappling with debt amassed by the late pop singer, also will benefit, he said.

Apple will sell digital versions of the Beatle’s music exclusively into 2011, said Dylan Jones, a spokesman for EMI, without being more specific.

Sales Value

Adding albums such as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Revolver” and “Abbey Road” to the iTunes library will be “easily” worth more than $100 million in sales, Sinnreich said.

ITunes, introduced in 2001, is the largest destination for buying music in the U.S., bigger than Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., according to NPD Group Inc.

The Beatles had the best-selling stand-alone album between 2000 and 2009 with their collection of greatest hits called “1,” which sold 11.5 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. They are the top-selling band in history, with more than 1 billion albums sold worldwide, according to London-based EMI.

Apple may be able to invigorate digital download purchases, which have slowed mainly as a result of reduced spending by consumers 35 years and older, said Russ Crupnick, an analyst at NPD Group. The question is whether people who already own Beatles music will download another copy from iTunes, he said.

Too Late?

“Many of us have already ripped their entire catalog from CDs,” Crupnick said. “This is really going to depend on whether it’s the equivalent of what the Michael Jackson events were for Sony last year, or if they are a bit late to the party.”

Jackson was the top-selling artist last year following his death, according to SoundScan.

Before today, Beatles material found its way online as a popular target on illegal peer-to-peer file-sharing sites, said Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, which tracks consumption of media online at legal and unauthorized websites.

“For more than a decade, unauthorized copies of the entire Beatles catalog have been available and popular online, but your only legitimate option to buy the music was on CD,” he said.

The rock band AC/DC is among artists who have kept their music from being sold through iTunes, where the range of prices is set by Apple.

Apple fell $4.54 to $302.50 at 12:29 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock had gained 46 percent this year before today.

Adding the Beatles won’t cure the ills of the music industry, which has faced a decade-long slump in album sales, said Mark Mulligan, an analyst who tracks the music industry for Forrester Research.

“The digital music market (and the young music fans record labels’ desperately need to get engaged) need new music products, not yesteryear’s hits repackaged,” Mulligan said today in a blog post.

Indonesia Travel Discoveries

Indonesia is officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With a population of around 238 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the world's largest population of Muslims.

Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies.

The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the seventh century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources.

Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change. The current nation of Indonesia is a unitary presidential republic consisting of thirty three provinces.

Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. The Javanese are the largest and the politically dominant ethnic group. Indonesia has developed a shared identity defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a majority Muslim population, and a history of colonialism including rebellion against it.

Indonesia's national motto, "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" ("Unity in Diversity" literally, "many, yet one"), articulates the diversity that shapes the country. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the world's second highest level of biodiversity. The country is richly endowed with natural resources, yet poverty remains widespread in contemporary Indonesia.

Fossilized remains of Homo erectus, popularly known as the "Java Man", suggest that the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the modern population, migrated to South East Asia from Taiwan. They arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE, and as they spread through the archipelago, confined the native Melanesian peoples to the far eastern regions.

Ideal agricultural conditions, and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the eighth century BCE, allowed villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE. Indonesia's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade, including links with Indian kingdoms and China, which were established several centuries BCE. Trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history.

From the seventh century CE, the powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished as a result of trade and the influences of Hinduism and Buddhism that were imported with it. Between the eighth and 10th centuries CE, the agricultural Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties thrived and declined in inland Java, leaving grand religious monuments such as Sailendra's Borobudur and Mataram's Prambanan. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in the late 13th century, and under Gajah Mada, its influence stretched over much of Indonesia.

Singapore Travel Discoveries

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator, in Southeast Asia. It is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north, and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is the world's fourth leading financial centre and a cosmopolitan world city, playing a key role in international trade and finance. The port of Singapore is one of the five busiest ports in the world.

Singapore has a long history of immigration. It has a diverse population of close to 5 million people made up of Chinese, Malays, Indians, Asians of various descents, and Caucasians. 42% of the population in Singapore are foreigners who work and study there. Foreign workers make up 50% of the service sector. The country is the second most densely populated in the world after Monaco. A.T. Kearney names Singapore the most globalised country in the world in its Globalization Index.

Before independence in 1965, Singapore was a vibrant trading port with a GDP per capita of $511, the third highest in East Asia then. After independence, foreign direct investment and a state-led drive for industrialization based on plans by former Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Goh Keng Swee created a modern economy.

The Economist Intelligence Unit in its "Quality-Of-Life Index" ranks Singapore as having the best quality of life in Asia and eleventh overall in the world. Singapore possesses the world's ninth largest foreign reserves. The country also maintains armed forces that are technologically advanced and well-equipped.

After a contraction of -6.8% in the 4th quarter of 2009, Singapore claimed the title of fastest-growing economy in the world, with GDP growth of 17.9% in the first half of 2010.

The first records of settlement in Singapore are from the 2nd century AD. The island was an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and originally had the Javanese name Temasek ('sea town'). Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Singapore was part of the Sultanate of Johor. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burnt down the settlement at the mouth of Singapore River and the island sank into obscurity for the next two centuries.
On 29 January 1819, Thomas Stamford Raffles landed on the main island in Singapore. Spotting its potential as a strategic trading post for Southeast Asia, Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on behalf of the British East India Company on 6 February 1819 to develop the southern part of Singapore as a British trading post and settlement.

Until 1824, Singapore was still a territory controlled by a Malay Sultan. It officially became a British colony on 2 August 1824 when John Crawfurd, the second resident of Singapore, officially made the whole island a British possession by signing a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah in which the Sultan and the Temmenggong handed it over to the British East India Company. In 1826 it became part of the Straits Settlements, a British colony. By 1869, 100,000 people lived on the island.

Malaysia Travel Discoveries

The Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi). The country is separated by the South China Sea into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo (also known as West and East Malaysia respectively).

Malaysia shares land borders with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and also has maritime boundaries with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population as of 2009 stood at over 28 million.

Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements. Peninsular Malaysia, then known as Malaya, was first unified under the commonwealth in 1946, before becoming the Federation of Malaya in 1948. In 1963, Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore to form modern Malaysia. In 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation, and became an independent city state.

Since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for the first 50 years of independence. The economy of the country has, traditionally, been fuelled by its natural resources, but is now also expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.

Malaysia's head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, conventionally referred to as "the Head" or "the Agong". The Agong is an elected monarch chosen from amongst the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states. The head of government is the Prime Minister. The government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on English Common Law.

Malaysia is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, factors that influence its culture and play a large role in Malaysian politics. Malaysia can claim the southernmost point of continental Eurasia at Tanjung Piai, is located near the equator and has a tropical climate. It has a biodiverse range of flora and fauna, and is considered one of the 17 megadiverse countries.

It is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and a member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Evidence of human habitation in Malaysia dates back 40,000 years. The first inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula were most probably Negritos. The Malay Peninsula was known to ancient Indians as Suvarnadvipa or the "Golden Peninsula", and was shown on Ptolemy's map as the "Golden Khersonese". Traders and settlers from India and China arrived as early as the first century of the common era, establishing trading ports and towns in the area in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. Both had a strong influence on the local culture.

In the early centuries of the first millennium, the people of the Malay Peninsula adopted the Indian religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The Sanskrit writing system was used as early as the 4th century. Between the 7th and the 13th century, much of Peninsular Malaysia was under the Srivijaya empire, which was centered in Palembang on the island of Sumatra. After the fall of Srivijaya, the Java-based Majapahit empire had influence over most of Peninsular Malaysia and the Malay Archipelago.

In the early 15th century, Parameswara, a prince of the former Srivijayan empire, established a dynasty and founded what would become the Malacca Sultanate, commonly considered the first independent state in the peninsula. Parameswara became a Muslim, and due to the fact that Malacca was under a Muslim Prince, the conversion of Malays to Islam accelerated in the 15th century. Malacca was an important commercial centre during this time, attracting trade from around the region.

Baguio City Of the Philippines

The Baguio City is actually an attraction itself especially for the Filipino people due to its cold temperature. It is very rare in Philippines to have a cold place as Baguio, that is why we called it as the summer capital of the Philippines, and so it is considered as one of the famous destinations.

Baguio City is approximately 250 kilometers north of Manila, situated in the Province of Benguet. The area of the city is 49 square kilometers enclosed in the perimeter of 30 kilometers. The developed portion of the city corresponds to the plateau that rises to an elevation of 1,400 meters. Most of it lies in the northern half of the city.

The City is landlocked within the province of Benguet, thus bounding it on all sides by its different municipalities; on the North by the capital town of La Trinidad, on the East by Itogon and to the South and West by Tuba.

With City Hall as reference point, it extends 8.2 kilometers from East to West and 7.2 kilometers from North to South. It has a perimeter of 30.98 kilometers. The City has twenty administrative districts among which its barangays are divided.

The City’s main attraction is still its natural bounties of cool climate, panoramic vistas, its pine forests and generally clean environs. Today, it still boasts of 5 forest reserves with a total area of 434.77 hectares. Three of these areas are watersheds that serve as sources of the City’s water supply.

Did you know? That Baguio is 8 degrees cooler on the average than any place in lowlands. When Manila sweats at 35 degrees centigrade or above, Baguio seldom exceeds 26 degrees centigrade at its warmest. Baguio is very wet during the Philippine rainy season, which is from June to October.

Cathedral of Kazan Of Moscow Of Russia

The Cathedral of Kazan is located at 2, Nevsky Prospekt, Kazanskaya Square, right at the heart of Moscow. Russia’s continent is still confusing for many, some people say, it belongs in Europe while most says it belongs to Asia.

Kazan Cathedral was constructed between 1801 and 1811 by the architect Andrei Voronikhin, was built to an enormous scale and boasts an impressive stone colonnade, encircling a small garden and central fountain. While you are on your way going to St. Basil’s Cathedral, you cannot fail to notice the
impressive Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan.

The cathedral was actually inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome and was intended to be the country’s main Orthodox Church.

The cathedral was named after the “miracle-making” icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, which displayed numerous pieces of religious art and served anti-religious propaganda purposes.

A couple of years ago regular services were resumed in the cathedral, though it still shares the premises with the museum, from whose name the word “atheism” has now been omitted.

Did you know? That after the war of 1812 (during which Napoleon was defeated) the church became a monument to Russian victory. Captured enemy banners were put in the cathedral and the famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, who won the most important campaign of 1812, was buried inside the church.

Lamai Beach of Thailand

Lamai Beach is located a couple of bays to the south of Koh Samui’s most famous beach, Chaweng, has long been considered the latter’s poor cousin.

The beach isn’t as long, the off-white sand isn’t as fine and the restaurants and bars lack the range and quality of those on Chaweng. That being said, both the guesthouses and resorts are considerably cheaper and Lamai Beach seems never as busy. So for those looking for value for money and smaller crowds, it can be a good choice.

Off the beach, Lamai has a small range of restaurant and entertainment options when compared to Chaweng and overall has a pretty low-rent feel to it, in no small part due to the dozens upon dozens of girlie bars that line the road and anywhere else you can stick a shack with a few stools. You can escape most of this by heading back down to the beach where there’s a smattering of typical beach-seafood type places – prices are considerably lower than Chaweng and the food can be very good.

Overall, if you’re content to just lay on the beach and have low-key nights, all without spending mega-bucks, then Lamai can be a fine choice, but if you’re looking for a wide range of eateries and entertainment venues, then Bophut or Chaweng are better options. Lamai Beach may not offer you a lot of entertainment and eateries, but rest assured it will unleash your stress throughout the day. The Lamai is truly a one famous destination in Thailand.

Did you know? That the Lamai Beach has three distinct areas, the north running from the headland to Sand Sea Resort, then the central and southern stretches. The north is quieter, with less development but there’s a reason for this – the beach is prone to mudflats at low tide and, due to storm water runoff from a creek between Sand Sea and Laguna Resorts, after rain, the water along this stretch can become extremely dirty. The central and southern stretches on the other hand have far cleaner water but on the central stretch there’s more development and both areas have a lot of Jet Ski action.

Burj Khalifa Of Dubai in United Arab Emirates

There are plenty “Megaprojects” implemented in Dubai. In fact, the term is one consistently used for new ventures in Dubai. This building is now considered as one of the famous destinations and attractions not only in Duba but the whole UAE.

Strikingly modern architectural designs, such as the shape of the billowing sail the Burj Al Arab is designed after, are increasingly common destinations in the United Arab Emirates. Though the Burj Al Arab Hotel is one of the most ambitious structural designs in Dubai, there’s another very notable addition to the city skyline getting plenty of worldwide attention. “Burj” is also affixed to one of the most incredible and enterprising designs in Dubai, the Burj Dubai Tower, now considered as the tallest building in the world. Taller even than the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

The more than 1800-foot design was initiated for the Melbourne Grollo Tower but plans ended due to enormous building costs. Later in 2003, the plans were reignited and revamped by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in Chicago and used to design and build the Burj Dubai Tower. The Burj Dubai design was inspired by the Hymenocallis flower which is found around India, UAE and the surrounding region.


Only extremely high performance materials, much like the ones used in the Burj Al Arab Hotel, were used in the tower. Exceptional materials like textured steel panels, reflective glazing and aluminum are designed to resist extremely high temperatures typical in the UAE. Burj Dubai represents the role Dubai plays on the world stage. Situated an equal distance from Asia and Europe and sitting at the concourse of the Middle East and India, Burj Dubai also physically represents its position in a growing global market.

Burj Dubai Tower is located in the heart of the fashionable downtown Burj area of Dubai where dining, shopping and plenty of excellent sightseeing keeps locals and visitors entertained, actually, just beside the tower is the Dubai Mall, the largest mall in UAE. From the 124th floor, at more than 1400 feet, visitors can enjoy incredible panoramic views of the city. There is a host of wonderful nearby attractions including the Dubai Mall, the Old Town Island with its charming blend of old and new, Burj Dubai Lake Park and Boulevard Plaza.


Did you know? That the construction of the building began on 21 September 2004 and it took 5 years and 10 days, to finally get finished with the exterior building on 1st October, 2009. Burj Khalifa is a part of a township planned, named “Downtown Burj Khalifa” and the entire space allotted for it was 2 sq. km. The budget set for the whole township was 20 billion dollars, while for Burj Khalifa building was 4.1 billion dollars. Do you know the word “Burj” , used in the Burj Al Arab Hotel name, literally means “tower” in Arabic.

Morgan Stanley's Meeker Sees Online Ad Boom

Mary Meeker will predict a $50 billion online advertising boom in an address at the annual Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco today. The Morgan Stanley analyst will say as well that mobile commerce may gain market share faster than traditional online retailing.

Meeker, 51, is back in demand. She was called "Queen of the Net" by Barron's in 1998, only to see her star dim as technology stocks plunged and regulators said securities firms used biased research to lure banking business. These days, investors are scouring her research anew for would-be Web winners.

"We are trying to invest in the kinds of companies she'll mention in her reports," investor Marc Andreessen said in an interview.

Andreessen's venture firm, Andreessen Horowitz LLC, has bought stakes in Meeker-favored companies including Skype Technologies SA and Zynga Game Network Inc.

"She is becoming Mary Meeker 2.0," said Bing Gordon, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Gordon said Meeker's research helped persuade his firm to "do more mobile, bigger and faster." In March, Kleiner Perkins said it will double its iFund to $200 million. The investment pool backs startups that create applications for Apple Inc.'s handheld devices, such as the iPhone and the iPad.

Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.

Meeker gained renown in the 1990s for predictions on Internet growth and her bullish calls on Web companies, including EBay Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and America Online Inc.

TECH BUST
Then came the dot-com bust in 2000. The Nasdaq lost 78 percent of its value in less than three years. In 2001, Fortune published a story titled, "Where Mary Meeker Went Wrong." In 2003, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Morgan Stanley and other financial services firms of skewed analysis, the companies settled for $1.4 billion.

Meeker fared better than analysts such as Henry Blodget, formerly of Merrill Lynch & Co., who was fined and banned for life from the securities industry; the SEC didn't accuse Meeker of wrongdoing. Still, then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who led the probe by state and federal authorities, said Morgan Stanley failed to supervise its analysts, including Meeker, and said the company inadequately managed conflicts of interest between its research and investment-banking divisions.

"She may have a second act, which is never an easy thing to do on Wall Street," said Tom Taulli, an independent researcher on initial public offerings. "But she is going to have to prove herself. And it's very difficult: You are associated with that brand."

DIGGING FOR DATA
Meeker says the brickbats flung her way haven't altered the way she carries out research. She said Morgan Stanley's "The Internet Report" in 1995 contended that most companies fail.

"To be a successful analyst, one has to dig deep for data," Meeker said in an interview. The report "was thoughtful about the growth of the Internet, yet cautious about investments."

Meeker, a managing director who leads Morgan Stanley's technology research, spends much of her time these days thinking about the Web in the iPhone age. In 2012, smartphone shipments will exceed those of personal computers, she contends.

"It's the fastest-ramping technology transformation the world has ever seen," Meeker said. "I've been of the view for years that the mobile Internet was the next big thing."

U.S. consumers spend 28 percent of their media time online, yet only 13 percent of ad spending goes to the Internet. That creates a $50 billion online advertising "global opportunity," according to a draft of Meeker's Web 2.0 presentation.

MOBILE COMMERCE
Another prediction: Mobile commerce may grab retail spending share "much faster" than traditional e-commerce, she says. That's because wireless connections enable impulse purchases, and location-based services let merchants deliver coupons and offers to users when they're most likely to spend.

Wyngard Tracy passes away at 58

Wyngard Tracy, talent manager to stars such as Diamond Star Maricel Soriano, Aiko Melendez, Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres, passed away today, November 16 at 3:45 am.

He was only 58 years old. According to PUSH sources, Wyngard had a triple by-pass surgery last August and was able to recover from it. He however suffered from two consecutive strokes, which left half of his body paralyzed.

Last night, Wyngard’s family opened the ICU for all his close friends to bid him farewell. A memorial mass was held for him at the La Salle Greenhills Chapel this afternoon.

Wyngard has been a judge on reality talent search shows like ABS-CBN’s Star in A Million and GMA’s Pinoy Idol. He also handled Douglas Quijano’s artists when the talent manager passed away last year.

Traveling Philippine's 1,107 Islands

Take a look at Philippine's most visited places and many things to do. Enjoy the video!

Robot EMIEW 2 is Designed for office Assistance

Two years after the launch of EMIEW 2, Hitachi upgraded the 2010 version with better situational awareness and improved voice recognition.

This second robot in Hitachi's EMIEW series (which stands for Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Work-mate) is the perfect deskmate.

EMIEW 2 can deliver drinks or documents and take visitors to the right place while navigating desks, chairs, and corridors using map generation and a scanning range finder.

Speak to EMIEW 2, and the robot will recognize commands or conversation through voice recognition and a microphone array.

And as you follow the robot around the office, this little guy relies on wheels to get around, while with a heavier load, EMIEW 2 kneels down for greater stability.

Becoming the Microsoft of the Robot World

Humans have long dreamed of droids to do our dirty work, whether washing the dishes or fighting our wars. From the skies of Afghanistan to assembly lines in Detroit, those dreams are already a reality.

Today sophisticated robots are being developed by universities, the private sector, and the military (or a combination of the three) that not so long ago would have been found only in the pages of comic book or on the movie screen.

While we have a long way to go before robots become as practical, affordable, and ubiquitous as, say, automobiles or computers, it may be only a matter of time before they become the next big consumer electronic must-have.

For China's Toymakers, an Unwanted Gift

Lucy Liang, a sales manager for Jiangsu Zhongxin Toys, disappointed potential U.S. and European clients who were inspecting pink and yellow teddy bears in the toymaker's stall at a trade fair in Canton last month. "My boss orders us to turn down all the orders for the good of the company" because China's yuan may rise, crimping profit margins, said Liang as she sipped pu-er tea in her stand. "Even first-class economists can't predict whether the yuan will appreciate or by how much. How could we?"

China's toymakers accept profits of as little as 3 percent to stay competitive. Such low margins, coupled with payment periods of three months or more, mean companies are particularly vulnerable to currency fluctuations, says Lin Songli, an analyst with Guosen Securities in Beijing. The yuan has gained 6.4 percent against the euro and 2.5 percent against the dollar so far this year. "If the yuan rises to 6 to the dollar, we're doomed," says Simon Pan, general manager of Zhejiang Huangyan Hongfan Toys Factory. The company is raising prices by 3 percent to 5 percent to offset the Chinese currency's gains, but further increases would mean losing customers, he said in an interview at his booth, which was filled with educational toys and brain-teasers destined for the U.S.

The pricing pressure could hurt in the U.S. "The prospect of a stronger yuan means American consumers will have to pay more for their Christmas trees and probably everything that is made in China starting 2011," Guosen's Lin said. Agrees Ben Cavender, an analyst at China Market Research Group: "If toymakers are forced to raise prices in order to compensate for a falling U.S. dollar—and to stay in business they will probably have to—it means higher prices for U.S. consumers in the coming holiday season."

China has held the yuan's rise to about 2 percent since a June pledge to introduce more flexibility, sparking criticism that China gives an unfair advantage to its exporters. Premier Wen Jiabao has said a rapid climb for the yuan would cause social and economic turmoil.

Some companies say they've already been pinched by the yuan's gains as clients from the U.S., Europe, and Japan continue to expect cheap prices when buying in China. "Since the government revalued the yuan, we have been declining long-term orders—anything beyond six months—because we might even lose money by then," says Lin Ying, a sales manager at Guangdong-based Shantou Meichang Plastic Factory, which makes plastic blocks and beach toys. "If the yuan keeps rising, life would certainly be even harder for us," she says.

Customers expect the same prices as last year, says Susie Ying, general manager for Shanghai Master Plastic Products. The maker of pools and beach toys had to raise prices 15 percent, even as "most of our customers can only accept a 7 percent to 8 percent rise," Ying says. Her company is focusing on more expensive items because margins tend to be higher. "From the purchase orders we received, high-value toys have taken the lead on demand," says Karson Choi, executive director of Early Light International, a Hong Kong-based toymaker whose clients include Mattel (MAT).

Dalian Ponytoy, which sells rideable toy horses and zebras for $200, wholesale, says it's also hurt by gains in the Chinese currency. "Two months ago the dollar-yuan exchange rate was 6.8, now it's 6.65," says General Manager Tony Nie. "This has a huge impact on us. A few years ago the exchange rate was 8 yuan to the dollar."

Almost 70 percent of exporters project a decrease in orders if the yuan strengthens by an additional 2 percent against the U.S. dollar, according to a survey of 239 Chinese suppliers by Global Sources (GSOL), which matches buyers and sellers of manufactured goods. "Many companies, particularly those in labor-intensive industries [like contract toymaking], are running on paper-thin margins and have no room to absorb currency-exchange losses," says Craig Pepples, Global Sources' chief operating officer. In contrast, Mattel, the world's largest toy company, posted a profit margin of 9.7 percent last year, while No. 2 Hasbro (HAS) had 9.2 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Zhejiang Sunny Import & Export, which sells wooden blocks that can be rearranged to resemble vehicles and robots, has tried to hedge against currency losses. It billed in euros, then lost money when the currency dropped against the yuan, says manager Liam Zhu. "We changed back to the U.S. dollar, but now the U.S. dollar is fluctuating and the renminbi [another term for yuan] is still appreciating," says Zhu.

The bottom line: The appreciation of China's currency is squeezing its small toy manufacturers, which already operate on tight profit margins.

Adobo Food Of The Philippines

Adobo is the most popular Filipino dish enjoyed by all classes (Pork, Chicken). Adobo is typically served with steamed white rice.

Adobo Food Of The Philippines

Estimated cooking time: 40 minutes.

Adobo Ingredients:


1/2 kilo pork cut in cubes + 1/2 kilo chicken, cut into pieces or
choice of either 1 kilo of pork or 1 kilo of chicken
1 head garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup vinegar
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon paprika
5 laurel leaves (bay leaves)
4 tablespoons of cooking oil or olive oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons water

Adobo Cooking Instructions:


In a big sauce pan or wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil then sauté the minced garlic and onions.
Add the pork and chicken to the pan. Add 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of soy sauce, vinegar, paprika and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or when meat is tender.
Remove the pork and chicken from the sauce pan and on another pan, heat cooking oil and brown the pork and chicken for a few minutes.

Mix the browned pork and chicken back to the sauce and add cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken.
Add salt and/or pepper if desired

Bring to a boil then simmer for an additional 5 minutes.
Serve hot with the adobo gravy and rice.

Adobo Cooking Tips:
You have the option to add crushed ginger to the onions and garlic when sautéing. Ginger adds a unique flavor to your pork/chicken adobo.

Philippines Travel Discoveries

Philippine travel destinations guide gives you an overview of popular tourist spots in the Philippines. On each of the featured tourist destination on this travel guide, you will find places of interest on each destination, things to do and how to get there. We have included a page of travel tips, a list of fascinating Philippine festivals that runs year round, a collection of underwater scuba diving pictures, and a map of the Philippines for your reference.

The Philippine archipelago consist of 7,107 islands with a total land area of 300,000 square kilometers or 115,830.60 square miles (about the same size as Italy). The 11 largest islands contain 94% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon at about 105,000 km². It is where the capital city of Manila is located. The next largest island is Mindanao at about 94,600 km². The Philippines is approximately 800 km from the Asian mainland and is located between Taiwan and Borneo.

Communications and getting around the country is easy as most Filipinos understand and speak English. Mobile phones are used throughout the archipelago. Foreigners can buy "pre-paid" SIM cards for their cell phones for temporary use in the country to avoid costly roaming charges. Also, foreign currency can easily be converted into Philippine Peso and all major credit cards are accepted at big department stores, restaurants, bars and major establishments.

The Philippine islands are divided into three groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Luzon islands include Luzon itself, Mindoro, Palawan, Masbate, and other smaller islands. The Visayas is a group of several small islands, the largest of which are: Panay, Bohol, Negros, Cebu, Leyte, and Samar. Mindanao island includes Mindanao island itself and the Sulu Archipelago, composed of Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Sulu. Each island group has a Philippine destination worth visiting.
Climate in the Philippines is hot, humid, and tropical. The average yearly temperature is around 26.5° Celsius. Filipinos generally recognize three seasons:

Summer: March to May
Rainy Season: June to November
Cold Season: December to February (moderate to folks from temperate countries)
Philippine Population: 86,000,000 / Per Capita Income: $4,700
Literacy: 93%
HIV-AIDS Prevalence: less than 0.1%
Electricity: 220V (110V is available, mostly in major hotels)

The islands of the Philippine archipelago are volcanic in origin and are mountainous. The islands are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Mt. Apo (2,954 meters above sea level) in Mindanao is the highest peak, while the second highest peak is Mt. Pulog in Luzon. It rises 2,842 meters above sea level. The Philippines have numerous rivers, volcanoes, streams, narrow coastal plains and beautiful sandy beaches which foreign and local tourist enjoy. The country has a total of 36,289 kilometers of coastline.

Travel within the Philippines not difficult, if you don't mind riding the sometimes rickety public transportation. There are all kinds of transportation available to tourist and locals: Airplanes and ferries for inter-island transfers, buses & taxis ply in major cities all over the Philippines and the ubiquitous jeepney can be found everywhere. In Metro Manila, modern light rail transit is available on main roads. In tertiary roads & small rural towns the tricycle is the transport of choice.

The official languages in the Philippines are Filipino and English. Filipino which is based on the Tagalog dialect (the dialect of national capital region), is the national language. English is also widely used and is the medium of instruction in higher education in the Philippines. There are also 76 major local languages and more than 500 different minor dialects throughout the archipelago. 83% of Filipinos are Roman Catholic. The rest are made up of smaller Christian denominations, Moslems and Buddhist.

This guide previews the more popular tourist spots in the Philippines beginning with the City of Manila, then Baguio City, Banaue Rice Terraces, Batanes Group of Islands, Batangas, Boracay Island, Cebu City, Corregidor, Davao City, Iloilo, Palawan Island, Pangasinan's Hundred Islands, Puerto Galera Beach, Bohol Islands and the World Heritage City of Vigan in Ilocos Sur. Mabuhay!

About Asia Continent

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled.

Asia is traditionally defined as part of the
landmass of Eurasia with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe located to the east of the Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma-Manych Depression) and the Caspian and Black Seas. It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Given its size and diversity, Asia a toponym dating back to classical antiquity is more a cultural concept incorporating a number of regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity (see Subregions of Asia, Asian people). The wealth of Asia differs very widely among and within its regions, due to its vast size and huge range of different cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems.

Asia has the third largest nominal GDP of all continents, after North America and Europe,[citation needed] but the largest when measured in PPP. As of 2010, the largest economies in Asia are China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia.

Founded in 1893, Novosibirsk is the largest city in Siberia, with a population of about 1.5 million.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very high growth nations in Asia include Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history, until the British Empire (excluding India) overtook it in the mid 19th century. Japan has had for only several decades after WW2 the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1986 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC).

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP was almost as large (current exchange rate method) as that of the rest of Asia combined.[citation needed] In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the USA to tie as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen/dollar. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim, known as the Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.

It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2020. In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, the United Kingdom and France. By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, China will have the largest economy in the world.

The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.
The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Huanghe shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.

The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated.
The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.

Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore

Feast your senses on a world of non-stop entertainment, signature shopping experiences and culinary adventures at FestiveWalk. Or take pleasure in the comfort and luxury of the resort’s unique world-class hotels – each with a distinct personality, but all sharing a touch of Asian hospitality. 

World-class entertainment can be found at the Festive Grand theatre, home to Voyage de la Vie, a rock circus spectacular told through pulsating music, vibrant choreography and superb gymnastic skills by world renowned circus stars. 

The resort also showcases a repertoire of free public attractions including Lake of Dreams - a unique musical extravaganza where fire, water and light are the stars of the show, or Crane Dance - a dance of the world’s largest pair of animatronic cranes in a multimedia spectacle of lights, sound, water jets and pyrotechnic effects.

The luxurious Resorts World Casino, with its blend of elegant interiors, captivating entertainment, sumptuous dining options and warm hospitality, provides you with the chance to play in style.

Opening after 2010, watch out for the world’s largest oceanariums - Marine Life Park and the Maritime Xperential Museum featuring the world’s first 4D multi-sensory typhoon theatre.

All in, Resorts World Sentosa is the ideal destination where everyone can come together for moving experiences and lasting memories. Come discover a million truly rewarding moments, all in one world.