https://www.scmp.com/rss/14546/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Talk about mixed first impressions. On arriving in Kagoshima, I am torn between being smitten and feeling deeply uneasy. Smitten, because the southern Japanese city is effortlessly charming, big enough to be lively but not hectic and full of people who are friendly but not overbearing. A largely low-rise waterfront arcs gracefully into a sparkling bay. Trams, stubbier (and somehow more endearing) than the Hong Kong variety, trundle melodically down spotless, tree-lined streets and past stately... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1780261/smoke-water-stunning-kagoshima-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1780261/smoke-water-stunning-kagoshima-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 May 2015 05:15:45 +0000 The common perception is that Hongkongers are a highly strung, chronically overworked lot, but in yet another month that has multiple public holidays - Labour Day on May 1 and Buddha's Birthday a mere 11 days later - it may be time to sit back and reflect on how (relatively) good the employed of this fair city have it. This year most workers will enjoy a total of 17 government-mandated days off, over and above any leave days their paymasters see fit to give them. To the harried executive that... https://www.scmp.com/article/637222/fyi-which-country-do-workers-enjoy-most-public-holidays?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/637222/fyi-which-country-do-workers-enjoy-most-public-holidays?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000 In a temporary headquarters erected amid the lush foliage that still surrounds parts of the Ho Chung River, more than a dozen men square off around a large table in an atmosphere more boardroom than bucolic. Phones buzz, fingers jab at charts and diagrams and voices are raised. It might just be the most action this tranquil corner of Sai Kung has ever seen. The Ho Chung Valley is one of the lesser-known front lines in the government's battle to reshape Hong Kong without incurring the wrath of... https://www.scmp.com/article/636266/shades-grey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/636266/shades-grey?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000 The fear of bird flu is a far more widespread condition than the disease itself. Rarely will a week pass without a story of the virus reaching some hitherto untouched part of Asia, or without more warnings of a global outbreak. Any examination of how serious the bird flu threat really is should start with the numbers. There's no doubt it's been devastating for our feathered friends; hundreds of millions of chickens, ducks and migratory birds have flown this coop we call Earth due to the... https://www.scmp.com/article/636288/fyi-how-dangerous-bird-flu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/636288/fyi-how-dangerous-bird-flu?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000 'I wake up at 6am, drink some tea, do some tai chi and then I'll head down to the market to 'dig up' my own vegetables, meat and fruit, and cook myself a good breakfast. Some days I'll go to the office but a lot of the time I'm on the road. I have my own travel company, which takes groups of gourmets to eat around the world, to wherever there's good food. Recently we've been to Perigord, in southwestern France, and Kanazawa in Japan. I only choose places I've been to; I have to have been at... https://www.scmp.com/article/635391/chua-lam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/635391/chua-lam?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Colour blindness sounds like a devastating condition - who'd want to go through life feeling like they were watching an old black-and-white television set? Worse, it's reasonably prevalent; about 7 per cent of men are affected, although the ratio for women is lower, at 2 per cent. Bad genes are the single biggest cause of colour blindness, particularly mutations of the X chromosome, which explains why more men suffer from the condition; men have only one X chromosome to put to use while women... https://www.scmp.com/article/635387/fyi-what-do-colour-blind-people-see?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/635387/fyi-what-do-colour-blind-people-see?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 'On Wednesdays [race days] I try to wake up at 7am, even if I'm not riding. Normally my kids go to school around that time, so I play the good dad and make breakfast for them. At 9.30am or 10am I'll check my weight because I always have to look after that. Sometimes I even have to lose weight for the races that night. If that happens I'll work out on the spinning bike or maybe take a hot bath. I try to finish everything by 1pm, because from 1pm to 5pm I take a nap. I've had a bit of trouble... https://www.scmp.com/article/634401/olivier-doleuze?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/634401/olivier-doleuze?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Gold may be the most coveted of metals, and it's even more precious these days, with concerns about the strength of the global financial system pushing the world's de facto reserve currency up to about US$1,000 an ounce. But even at its current high value, the Chinese will never hold gold in the same esteem as they do jade. China's affinity for the smooth stone goes back a long way - to about 3400BC in fact, when tribes were digging up deposits in the Yangtze River Delta to fashion into... https://www.scmp.com/article/634397/fyi-why-jade-so-important-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/634397/fyi-why-jade-so-important-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Workplace parties may be held to boost team spirit but are more often remembered for embarrassing games and awkward silences. For your next corporate event why not try something different? Vivid Vibrations, the brainchild of artist, trainer and restaurant industry veteran Tamara Norris, runs highly customisable 'art jams' that encourage stuffy office types to turn loose their creative instincts and bond in the process. Norris supplies guests with paints, easels, 65cm by 80cm canvases and some... https://www.scmp.com/article/633611/change-art?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/633611/change-art?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 The French often take issue with the dwindling worldwide status of their language - witness the government's furious attempts to stem the surging use of English in the previously Franco-centric European Union. But they can take some comfort in the fact many French expressions have become permanent fixtures in the English lexicon. Despite its Anglicised appearance, the mayday signal is actually based on a French expression - m'aider, or 'help me'. The phrase was elevated to international status... https://www.scmp.com/article/633612/fyi-how-did-mayday-become-universal-distress-signal-ships-and-planes-trouble?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/633612/fyi-how-did-mayday-become-universal-distress-signal-ships-and-planes-trouble?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 The 19th-century American philosopher Henry David Thoreau is best known for living a back-to-basics existence in a spartan forest cabin, an experience chronicled in his work Walden. Germany-based Faber-Castell has released a pen that honours Thoreau's legendary retreat. The Walden Woods limited-edition rollerball pen is made from precious metals and ash wood salvaged from the forest the writer temporarily called home. The pen's barrel is inscribed with a passage from Walden in... https://www.scmp.com/article/632746/out-woods?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/632746/out-woods?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Icelandic folk wrestling. Gliding. Finnish baseball. Survey a list of the sports that have made an appearance at the Olympic Games and a couple of questions come to mind. What were they thinking? And how can a popular game such as rugby be dropped from the itinerary altogether while korfball and pelote Basque (whatever they are) continue to enjoy official recognition? Appearances aside, there is a method, of a sort, to the madness. The power to pick which pastimes receive the Olympic seal... https://www.scmp.com/article/632747/fyi-who-decides-which-sports-make-it-olympics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/632747/fyi-who-decides-which-sports-make-it-olympics?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 The race was in its early stages but Michael Russell was convinced he couldn't go on. A cold front lashed the hills of remote northern Vietnam with icy rain and thick fog, turning the already rugged terrain into a treacherous morass of thick mud that enveloped his swelling ankles, stifling each step. Darkness and mist had covered the trail hours ago, and many more hours would pass before he walked the more than 100km that represented just the opening segment of an almost week-long course.... https://www.scmp.com/article/631799/no-pain-no-gain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/631799/no-pain-no-gain?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 A large part of the widely shared phobia of creepy-crawlies has to do with them turning up in unsuspected places, such as shoes or plates of food. And few images are more nightmarish than a bug somehow managing to find its way into a human ear and getting stuck or (worse) deciding to lay eggs there, a situation regularly deployed in television shows and films to maximise audience discomfort. But does this ever happen? The bad news is, yes, bugs of many shapes and sizes occasionally do crawl... https://www.scmp.com/article/631824/fyi-do-bugs-really-crawl-peoples-ears-how-can-you-get-them-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/631824/fyi-do-bugs-really-crawl-peoples-ears-how-can-you-get-them-out?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 The kind folks at G.O.D. have opened Asia's first branch of the New York-based MetroNaps franchise. The facility boasts three hi-tech chairs carefully crafted to provide the ultimate resting experience. The firm can trot out academic research indicating quick afternoon naps boost employee energy and productivity, meaning this is downtime even the boss shouldn't take issue with. Slumber doesn't come cheap, though - a standard 20-minute session in one of the pods costs HK$90. MetroNaps... https://www.scmp.com/article/631825/snooze-control?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/631825/snooze-control?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 It's one of the most significant days of the Christian calendar, but many of the rituals and symbols associated with Easter have pagan roots. In Christianity's early days, recruiting the faithful was not an easy task, since most people already had a time-honoured system of beliefs they were comfortable with. To make the religion more palatable, clerics allowed converts to import many of their pre-existing spiritual traditions. The symbols associated with Easter are a good example of this... https://www.scmp.com/article/630889/fyi-why-are-rabbits-associated-easter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/630889/fyi-why-are-rabbits-associated-easter?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 'If I've got early training I need to wake up around 6.30am, because the session will start at 7.30am - somewhere like King's Park. I'm pretty hungry when I wake up, so I'll try to buy some bread at a bakery or noodles and eat on the go. Training's quite intense because we have so many demands on our fitness; we'll start with warm-ups, move to fitness blocks then do some technical stuff such as patterns in preparation for the Sevens. After training I'll head for work, which starts at 9am.... https://www.scmp.com/article/630894/fan-shun-kei?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/630894/fan-shun-kei?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 It's undoubtedly big, and a very impressive feat of engineering, but contrary to established wisdom, the Great Wall of China isn't the only human achievement that can be seen all the way from the heavens - in fact, it's not even visible from space. The origins of this belief are murky but are probably rooted in a 1932 newspaper cartoon produced by Ripley's Believe It or Not!, a venerable US media franchise that specialises in the dissemination of fantastical facts. The Great Wall is 'the... https://www.scmp.com/article/630124/fyi-chinas-great-wall-really-only-man-made-object-visible-space?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/630124/fyi-chinas-great-wall-really-only-man-made-object-visible-space?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Morgues don't usually inspire affection, but Dr Hau Kong-lung, the Department of Health's top forensic pathologist, is visibly proud of one of the more recent additions to the government's medical arsenal. And he has reason to be - the bright, airy and spotlessly clean Kwai Chung Public Mortuary is about the most pleasant temporary home a corpse could hope for. A whirlwind tour of the facility takes in a cosy, well-stocked library, fully equipped offices and a state-of-the-art operating... https://www.scmp.com/article/629215/suspicious-circumstances?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/629215/suspicious-circumstances?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 For all their historic, linguistic and political closeness, the United States and Britain are poles apart when it comes to their taste in literature. Whatever best-seller lists one chooses to consult they point to a stark cultural divide. A quick look at the top sellers on Amazon shows cookbooks and celebrity biographies leading the pack in Britain while Americans are more taken with tomes that promise to help them do everything from lose weight to find new meaning in life. So profound are... https://www.scmp.com/article/629217/fyi-us-and-britain-speak-same-language-so-why-arent-they-reading-same-books?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/629217/fyi-us-and-britain-speak-same-language-so-why-arent-they-reading-same-books?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Jeans are a wardrobe staple but their ability to excite may be fading. Local designer Martin Lee Yat-ming, alias Martin Ksohoh, is on a mission to rescue denim from fashion limbo. Having already established a reputation with the vintage-inspired Red Monkey Company (RMC) brand, he is focusing on a line of luxury denim, christened Yoropiko - Japanese for 'teach me more'. The jeans have intricate embroidery covering a range of themes - such as dragons and stormtroopers - and a selection... https://www.scmp.com/article/628357/diamond-class-jeans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/628357/diamond-class-jeans?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) doesn't always get its man - fortunately for Fidel Castro, the Cuban president who recently made it to retirement despite the CIA's best efforts to hasten his demise. The agency has a long history of attacking foreign leaders considered a threat to US interests - Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, former Jamaican prime minister Michael Manley, Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk and former Costa Rican president Jose Figueres have ... https://www.scmp.com/article/628356/fyi-how-did-fidel-castro-survive-so-many-years-power-wasnt-us-out-get-him?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/628356/fyi-how-did-fidel-castro-survive-so-many-years-power-wasnt-us-out-get-him?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Concerned parents subject their children to a steady barrage of health warnings, but none are so frequently repeated - or as dire - as those concerning swimming soon after eating. It goes something like this; if you're foolish enough to take a dip within an hour of your last meal, you'll be seized with cramps that will leave you unable to move and condemned to an early, watery grave. Surely there's some medical truth in a belief that's persisted for so long? Advocates of the... https://www.scmp.com/article/627425/fyi-swimming-right-after-youve-eaten-really-dangerous?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/627425/fyi-swimming-right-after-youve-eaten-really-dangerous?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:00:00 +0000 'Some mornings it's a very early start. Luckily I live [in accommodation at Sha Tin] racecourse so it's not much of a commute. If it's not a race day I'll arrive at the track around 6am for barrier trials, which start at 7am. Barrier testing is for horses that have not raced in Hong Kong previously or have had [behavioural] or health issues - they need to pass a test to ensure they're OK to race. The trials are the same as races, with up to 14 horses participating, and my role as starter is the... https://www.scmp.com/article/626599/tony-mcgovern?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/626599/tony-mcgovern?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Every year, Japan braves a barrage of condemnation from other governments, environmentalists and even some of its own citizens to launch a hunt that takes more than 1,000 whales. The debate over whether the slaughter is a time-honoured tradition and in the interests of science (which Japan alternately argues) or a barbaric practice with purely commercial motivations (a view advanced by the United States, Australia and much of the rest of the world) regularly culminates in full-blown... https://www.scmp.com/article/625351/fyi-why-japan-staunch-defender-whaling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/625351/fyi-why-japan-staunch-defender-whaling?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:00:00 +0000 'I always told everyone what time they had to be up in the morning the night before. If it was going to be a long, hard slog up a mountain or through the desert, we'd try to get out of bed at 5.30am and have breakfast an hour later. Breakfast wasn't too complicated - bacon, toast, stuff the cooks could take care of. Because the areas we were in were so remote we hired a whole bunch of staff - more than 20 people - to cook, set up the washrooms and build and take down our camp each day. A big... https://www.scmp.com/article/625372/scott-stevens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/625372/scott-stevens?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:00:00 +0000 If Hollywood's writers and big producers are fighting a war, the latter seem to be suffering the heaviest casualties. Since launching their strike nearly three months ago, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have managed to derail the Golden Globes awards ceremony; condemn hit television series such as Heroes and 24 to limbo and put the highly anticipated sequels to The Da Vinci Code and Superman Returns on ice. Sure, the writers have lost some wages - worth more than US$300... https://www.scmp.com/article/624497/fyi-has-writers-strike-put-my-television-viewing-danger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/624497/fyi-has-writers-strike-put-my-television-viewing-danger?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000 'If we're shooting, my day will start in Los Angeles. I stagger out of bed at about 8.30am; I'm not a morning person at all. I live in a nice complex. It has a beautiful pool and I go straight there for a swim. It's a two-pronged attack as it gives me some exercise and the cold water wakes me up. That's followed pretty sharply by a strong coffee; I'm a big coffee drinker. Fresh fruit is how I kick off the day food-wise. I'm a grazer - I eat all day - so it's the start of a lot of eating. My... https://www.scmp.com/article/623671/curtis-stone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/623671/curtis-stone?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000 'A typical day starts in my Victorian house in Hackney [London]. It's one of the poorest boroughs in Britain and I guess a lot of people must think either the BBC's not paying me enough or I'm mad, but I moved there 19 years ago with my wife because it was a place we could afford. It does have poverty, but we stay because it's edgy. Hackney's a fantastic mix of cultures and wealth, one of those interesting areas that show what urban living is meant to be about. Moving to the suburbs would be,... https://www.scmp.com/article/622812/george-alagiah?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/622812/george-alagiah?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000 It began as a whim, a way for a teenage boy to occasionally break the monotony of life in notoriously staid Singapore. While other youngsters his age focused on sports or their studies, Sim Cheng Ho took a cue from his father and put in regular appearances at the Singapore Turf Club, placing small bets on horse races. He was lured back again and again by the raucous atmosphere, the thunder of the horses' hooves as they rounded the track, but most of all by the chance, however remote, he might... https://www.scmp.com/article/622798/hedging-bets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/622798/hedging-bets?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000 It's a peculiar feature of the United States electoral system that a state ranking near the bottom of the tables in terms of population, area and diversity has the biggest influence on the country's presidential contest. Small, largely rural and sedate, New Hampshire spends most of its time far from the spotlight. But on Tuesday, when its residents queue up to make their picks for the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, it will be the focal point of a media frenzy. New... https://www.scmp.com/article/621921/fyi-why-will-everybody-be-paying-so-much-attention-new-hampshire-us-tuesday?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/621921/fyi-why-will-everybody-be-paying-so-much-attention-new-hampshire-us-tuesday?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's decision to turn part of his most recent policy address into a plea for Islamic investment came as a surprise to many. After all, Hong Kong attracts plenty of other kinds of wealth, and Muslims make up barely 1 per cent of the population. Besides, officials are already working to make the city a regional hub for everything from art to logistics - do they really need to add Islamic finance to the list? The simple answer is that the amount of cash involved... https://www.scmp.com/article/620609/fyi-what-islamic-finance-and-why-government-so-keen-make-hong-kong-centre-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/620609/fyi-what-islamic-finance-and-why-government-so-keen-make-hong-kong-centre-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:00:00 +0000 What is it? A twist on the classic barbershop formula for gentlemen that combines straight razor shave with therapeutic touches, leaving the face soothed as well as smooth. What's the atmosphere like? The Mandarin Barber aims for a cozy, nostalgic feel and doesn't fall far from the mark, with its private rooms comfortably ensconcing the visitor in dark wood panelling, wrought iron and printed glass. But the bright lights, ubiquitous mirrors, and massive swivelling chairs are strangely... https://www.scmp.com/article/620048/trial-therapy-mandarin-shave?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/620048/trial-therapy-mandarin-shave?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Kiefer Sutherland, star of groundbreaking TV thriller 24, has become the latest celebrity to contemplate life behind bars, having rolled up to the city jail in Glendale, California, to begin a 48-day term for a second drink-driving offence. Considering the relatively lenient sentence - under state law Sutherland could have been locked up for a year - the case has once again sparked grumbles about the justice system's tendency to handle the famous with kid gloves. There's no shortage of... https://www.scmp.com/article/619874/fyi-are-rich-and-famous-really-treated-different-kind-justice-rest-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/619874/fyi-are-rich-and-famous-really-treated-different-kind-justice-rest-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:00:00 +0000 After years in the film-industry doghouse, 3D (the illusion of depth seen by the viewer) is back with a vengeance. Paramount Pictures' decision to bring Beowulf director Robert Zemeckis' animated take on the old English epic poem to 3D as well as regular movie screens was seen as something of a gamble. After all, this is a technology that reached its most recent peak with a spate of poorly performing sequels in the 1980s - witness Jaws 3-D and Amityville 3-D - that many studios would rather... https://www.scmp.com/article/618895/fyi-whats-resurgence-3d-films-and-how-do-they-differ-old-ones?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/618895/fyi-whats-resurgence-3d-films-and-how-do-they-differ-old-ones?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Dec 2007 16:00:00 +0000 'When I'm staying at my place I'll wake up at 9am but when I'm at my mom's [Kris Jenner; also her business manager] she wakes everyone up at 7am. I like to try to work out early in the morning - I have a new trainer and it's so hard. I'll finish exercising around 10am, try to stop to get a tea - I don't drink coffee, I've never liked it - and I'll have some oatmeal when I get home. That pretty much fills me up for the first part of the day. After that I head straight to my store [Dash, in... https://www.scmp.com/article/617967/kim-kardashian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/617967/kim-kardashian?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:00:00 +0000 'I don't like to get up too early - a lady must have her beauty sleep. So I normally rise about 9.30am. Now that Snow White is looking after herself, I no longer need to take care of her breakfast. Then I have a lovely bath to moisturise my skin. I typically use asses' milk that's been nicely pasteurised. Sometimes I'll go to bed with a hot water bottle filled with porridge, which provides me with breakfast in bed in the morning, but I normally just have some champagne in the bath to kick-start... https://www.scmp.com/article/617089/dame-lovely?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/617089/dame-lovely?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 The military initially argued it had to seize control for security reasons. The second world war and the rapid unravelling of British and, briefly, Japanese rule had left Myanmar a pretty confused place. In 1947, revolutionary Aung San had negotiated independence from the British. In 1948 the country, then known as Burma, became an independent republic with its own parliament, but a communist insurgency and constant agitation by a long list of disgruntled ethnic groups meant it was a... https://www.scmp.com/article/617086/fyi-myanmars-military-regime-has-faced-lot-condemnation-lately-why-did-army-take-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/617086/fyi-myanmars-military-regime-has-faced-lot-condemnation-lately-why-did-army-take-over?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Europe and the litigation-happy United States may be better known for dynastic power struggles but in recent years Asia has also hosted epic family feuds. Close to home, the death in April of Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum, wife of chemicals magnate Teddy Wang Teh-huei (below, with Nina), has failed to end a dispute over her US$4 billion estate. Wang's husband was finally declared dead in 1999, after he had been missing for nearly a decade. A will naming her as sole heir was contested by her... https://www.scmp.com/article/616144/dynastic-distress?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/616144/dynastic-distress?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Sex sells, as the saying goes - or does it? The pool of illicit videos featuring the rich and famous in assorted compromising positions seems to expand each week, and the celebrity-sex tape is now a global phenomenon. Among the more recent scandals garnering widespread attention is one involving Vietnamese television actress Hoang Thuy Linh, a virtual unknown outside her native land before a five-minute clip of the young woman getting intimate with her boyfriend surfaced on the internet. A lot... https://www.scmp.com/article/616146/fyi-does-emergence-sex-tape-help-or-hinder-celebritys-career?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/616146/fyi-does-emergence-sex-tape-help-or-hinder-celebritys-career?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Ever puzzled over the lyrics in foreign-language music videos? Ohio-based YouTube user Buffalax has quenched his curiosity by getting lost in translation. Check out his recent post at www.youtube.com ('crazy Indian video'). The subtitles don't translate the lyrics but rather spell out what he thinks the words sound like in English. His creations have spawned a legion of imitators and the gimmick will no doubt wear thin in time, so tune in now to watch Indian pop stars croon 'my loony... https://www.scmp.com/article/616102/press-play?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/616102/press-play?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Cold sweats, lung spasms, migraines - these are just a few of the side-effects attributed to the innocent-looking flavour enhancer known as MSG, which has a presence on dinner tables worldwide but is especially beloved in Asia. First, to dispel a common misconception, MSG is not a chemical cooked up in a dimly lit corporate lab, but the salt form of an amino acid occurring naturally in the human body and high-protein foods such as beans, cheese and fish. It was isolated from seaweed a... https://www.scmp.com/article/615216/fyi-monosodium-glutamate-msg-bad-you?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/615216/fyi-monosodium-glutamate-msg-bad-you?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 It's nearly 2008, and if Hollywood and many science-fiction writers had got it right we would already be jetting off to the moon for lunar walks and games of zero-gravity tennis. But paying your way into space is still impossible for all but a few wealthy exceptions. Even the millions of dollars shelled out by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth can buy only a few days on the cramped and clunky International Space Station, hardly a well-heeled traveller's ideal escape. Flamboyant... https://www.scmp.com/article/614246/fyi-when-will-general-public-be-able-travel-space?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/614246/fyi-when-will-general-public-be-able-travel-space?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 1 Which two Greek goddesses were closely associated with the moon? 2 Which American rock musician named his first child Moon Unit? 3 Who played the two lead characters in 1980s TV show Moonlighting? 4 Launched on October 24 and named after the moon goddess, what is the name of China's first lunar orbiter? 5 How many countries have attempted to send spacecraft into lunar orbit? 6 Renaissance playwright John Heywood was the first to suggest the moon was made of which edible substance? 7 About... https://www.scmp.com/article/614245/fly-me-moon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/614245/fly-me-moon?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Red hot and not expected to cool down for a while is the industry forecast for Singapore's top-end property market. After a few relatively stagnant years virtually all segments of the real estate sector are in the throes of expansion and luxury flats are doing particularly well. Hong Kong-based HKR International (HKRI) estimates investors are reaping capital gains of about 60 to 80 per cent on ultra high-end apartments, compared with about 30 per cent for the 'general' property market. CB... https://www.scmp.com/article/612743/lion-city-roars-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/612743/lion-city-roars-again?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:00:00 +0000 As the regional MBA market develops, executives will have to do more homework to find the schools and programmes that translate into career dividends. A decade ago they would have had few options but to board the next plane for North America or Europe, but Asian professionals are now spoilt for choice in their own backyard. Homegrown and foreign schools - and frequently combinations of both - have flooded the regional market in recent years with diploma and Master of Business Administration... https://www.scmp.com/article/609648/hong-kong-executives-spoilt-choice-when-it-comes-mbas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/609648/hong-kong-executives-spoilt-choice-when-it-comes-mbas?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 As Hong Kong's historically minded repeatedly try in vain to save even the ugliest of its long-standing man-made structures, our old rival to the south has become a relative beacon of preservation. Singapore's well-established ethnic enclaves - Chinatown, Little India and the Malay quarter of Kampong Glam - are still defined by rows of gaily painted shophouses, many built a century ago and restored to perfection. Government building restrictions ensure these districts retain the charms, if not... https://www.scmp.com/article/608996/keeping-appearances?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/608996/keeping-appearances?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Ready or not, here it comes - that seems to be the message to the people of Hong Kong on digital terrestrial television (DTT). While digital TV has been on offer in the territory for some time via satellite and broadband internet, DTT differs in that much like its analogue counterpart, it transmits signals to a conventional antenna or aerial - though consumers can only receive these signals through special set-top boxes. Unlike the broadband or satellite options it's not intended to complement... https://www.scmp.com/article/608497/dawn-approaches-beginning-digital-age?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/608497/dawn-approaches-beginning-digital-age?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Broadcasters may not be getting much of a choice when it comes to the adoption of digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Hong Kong - they're supposed to shut down their analogue operations in barely five years, after all - but they seem prepared to embrace the technology anyway. The suppliers of the territory's free domestic channels, TVB and ATV, have been involved in the DTT initiative from the early stages and participate in a working group with the telecoms watchdog Ofta that aims to... https://www.scmp.com/article/608496/broadcasters-embrace-digital-drive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/608496/broadcasters-embrace-digital-drive?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Singapore has attempted to position itself as a hub for many things - logistics, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals - but education could be its best bet. Since the city-state's Economic Development Board laid out the welcome mat for 'world-class' universities a decade ago, it has managed to coax the likes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, and INSEAD to its shores. Many of these schools have focused on serving Singapore's rapidly expanding market for... https://www.scmp.com/article/606305/lion-city-rises-challenge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/606305/lion-city-rises-challenge?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:00:00 +0000