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To all who hadn’t noticed, the Chinese Communist Party revealed yesterday that North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong-il had indeed been on an unofficial visit to China. According to Singapore’s Morning News, Kim had been treated with more honors than usual for non-state-visits: he had met with all nine [...]
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Qualifications
I asked a student what he thought of the service in McDonalds. He said it was good because unlike other restaurants where all you need is Middle School completion to work, McDonalds requires its’ workers to have High School Diplomas.
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Asbestos causes 100,000 deaths each year but its trade in Asia – overseen by a powerful lobby – is still flourishing. Melody Kemp reports.
In parts of Asia, carrying 500 grams of one lethal white powder – heroin – can draw a death sentence. But importing 1,000 tonnes of another [...]
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Proud of its status as Africa’s “water tower”, the country has created controversy along with hydropower as it pursues its strategy to boost energy by 15-fold in a decade. Xan Rice reports.
At the foot of a towering gorge slicing through southern Ethiopia, the Omo River suddenly disappears into a [...]
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The European Union likes to think of itself as the unrivalled champion of eco-governance but, argues Derrick Sutter, it is far from living up to its image.
In the face of China’s waxing importance on the international stage, the European Union has desperately sought to assert its strategic relevance by [...]
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In December 2007, I wrote a news commentary for NAM titled “On Mao’s 114th Birthday, Past Catches up to Former Red Guard Leader,” a story about Song Binbin. (If you are not familiar with the name “Song Binbin,” there is a short introduction in that piece.)
At the time, it [...]
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The Macao Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo
The seventh episode oft he Sinica podcast, brainchild of Kaiser Kuo is now online: it’s a discussion with Kaiser, Gady Epstein of Forbes and Evan Osnos of the New Yorker and me about electric bikes and Chinese soft power. The podcast includes a [...]
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Definite articles, like CDs and fusion cooking, are so last century. That’s why when a restaurant drops a “the,” it’s a sure bet they’re aspiring for newness. “The” CourtYard used to be the place to be seen. But movie stars move on.
More importantly, owner Handel Lee (the impresario behind [...]
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Chris and I decided to go on the Grand Canyon Walk ourselves at Huangshan Mountain. Our guide warned us it has a LOT of stairs and is more strenuous, and boy, it really was. We walked and climbed until our legs couldn’t quite move anymore… oh the pain!!! But [...]
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Pie and fruit tart are classics in French pâtissèrie, but it takes some effort to make the perfect pie crust. I only started experimenting with it recently; yesterday I got some fresh mulberries and made this simple tart. Blueberries are normally the king of the blue/purple-themed fruit tart, but [...]