Just when Auld Lang Syne has finally left your head, another New Year is approaching. Don’t worry, there won’t be much Dick Clark in this spectacle. On January 26th, Chinese everywhere will be celebrating their calendar New Year, often called Lunar New Year by those outside of China, and this year is the Year of the Ox. According to Hong Kong-based feng shui master Raymond Lo, it is also an Earth Year. Obama himself was born in an Earth Year, and the coincidence is auspicious, says Lo.
“An Earth leader in the Year of Earth would produce a particularly pronounced effect. Most of his work this year will be about meeting new faces all over the world, building diplomatic networks,” Lo said. While Earth Years are known for being calm, and Earth people for their charming demeanors, it is not a financially prosperous year. For that, you’ll have to wait until 2010, Year of Gold. Like the Ox then, Barack Obama and the rest of us, are to put our shoulders to the grindstone and make peace with the world.
photo: girl celebrating Chinese culture, New York City, by yewenyi via Flickr CC
Australian English teacher and author Harry Nicolaides, 41, has been sentenced to three years in jail for lèse-majesté, or insulting the royal family of Thailand. Thailand has the strictest lèse-majesté laws on the books, and Harry Nicolaides case is no exception. His book Verisimilitude was self-published and sold fewer than 12 copies. It is no longer in print.
According to the presiding judge, the book illegally concluded that there was abuse of power in the Royal family. Mr. Nicolaides has expressed regret and shock “I would like to apologize…this can’t be real. It feels like a bad dream.”
On Dec. 29th, then anonymous blogger “Minerva” wrote incorrectly that the government issued an “emergency order” to financial firms to stop buying U.S. dollars, in a bid to stem the drop of the Korean won. Two weeks later, the South Korean government has arrested “Minerva”, aka Park Dae Sung, for spreading “false information”. The arrest takes down one of South Korea’s most popular financial bloggers – his post can attract up to 100,000 readers, and signals the South Korean government’s increased anxiety over financial mis-information, as well as a desire to impose control in South Korea’s increasingly chaotic online communities.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is in Kuwait, in his first-ever visit to the oil-rich nation. “This visit will lead to the development in the future between Cambodia and Kuwait, and between Cambodia and other countries in the Middle East,” Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told AFP and other news agencies.
Hun Sen and Kuwaiti premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah are expected to sign agreements on Kuwaiti aid in building irrigation systems, roads and a recently approved Cambodian hydro-power plant.
In August, Kuwait’s premier visited Cambodia and signed trade agreements as well as land-lease deals that would allow Kuwait to grow crops in Cambodia for use by Kuwaiti interests. At the time, commodity prices were surging and Kuwait and other nations were scrambling to ensure food supplies. (See: ‘Rich Countries Launch Land Grab to Ensure Food Supplies‘, New York Herald) Cambodia is also interested in Kuwait’s help with oil exploration management. Both sides are expected to ink tourism deals that would encourage flights into both countries.
“KK” is a Khmer who escaped Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge era to Long Beach, California. A teenage life of gangster affiliation and crime led to his de-portation back to Cambodia four years ago. Channeling his love for break dancing as well as his affection for his native land, “KK” started a break dancing school for at-risk youth. What follows is a video report from The NY Times:
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