Republic of Kosovo Declared

"We, the democratically elected leaders of our people, hereby declare Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state."

On 17 February 2008, around 15:50 local time, Prime-Minister Hashim Thaci read the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Kosovo which was approved in a 109-0 vote by the Kosovar parliament, officially declaring Kosovo's independence from Serbia.

One Night at Paris

Don't be cheated by the title (which you possibly think of Paris Hilton's sex video). This awesome picture depicts a very beautiful night scene of France's capital, Paris! Click here to see the full photo on Wikipedia. via Digg

Antarctica Wilkins Ice Runway

An Australian Government sponsored project to build a permanent runway in Antarctic has reached a new era after an Airbus A319  passenger jet made a historic landing on the continent's first ever blue ice runway--Wilkins Runway on December 10.

The runway situated 70km from Australia’s Casey research station is named after the country's adventurer and aviator Sir Hubert Wilkins [wikipedia], who made the first flight in Antarctica in the year of 1928.

Starting since 2005, Australian engineers constructed the runway by using laser levelling technology to grade and shave the ice flat.

The runway, which will be only open for scientists and research staff only but not tourists, is 4km long, 700m thick and moves about 12m southwest a year because of glacial drift. It costs A$10mn, or US$8.7mn.

Source: Gulf Times Click here to watch the video of Airbus A319's historical landing in Antarctic.

MV Explorer Cruiseliner Sinking in Antarctic Ocean

 

Picture of MV Explorer Cruiseliner Sinking

MV Explorer, the world's famous cruise ship for its pioneering Antarctic tours, is sinking in Antarctic Ocean after it hit an underwater iceberg in the Bransfield Strait off King George Island, Antarctica, at 5.24am (UK time), November 23. Other than the captain and first officer remain onboard on duties, all passengers including 20 British holiday-goers have been rescued. The Liberian-flagged MV Explorer is owned by G.A.P. Adventures, based in Toronto, Canada  Link Tags: MV Explorer, cruiseliner, antarctic ocean, iceberg, hit, accident

Primary School in Cave

From Reuters:

Children attend class at the Dongzhong (literally meaning "in cave") primary school at a Miao village in Ziyun county, southwest China's Guizhou province, November 14, 2007. The school is built in a huge, aircraft hanger-sized natural cave, carved out of a mountain over thousands of years by wind, water and seismic shifts.

Taiwan's Modern Toilet Restaurant

Modern Toilet, a toilet-themed diner is recently seen open in the Shilin district in Taipei, Taiwan. All 100 seats in the crowded diner are made from toilet bowls, not chairs. Sink faucets and gender-coded "WC" signs appear throughout the three-storey facility, one of 12 in an island-wide chain of eateries. Would you like to taste the ice-cream shaped like faeces? I would't, never!

Tags: taiwan, modern toilet, restaurant

The Apartment Where Madeleine McCann Missed

Madeleine McCann apartment: first picture--Telegrah UK

Pictured is the first glimpse of the apartment from which missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished six months ago [on the night of May 3, 2007].

The photograph of apartment 5A at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz shows the room where Madeleine was sleeping on the night she disappeared.

It was taken through the front window that Kate and Gerry McCann believe was used by their child’s abductor to smuggle out Madeleine.

Madeleine’s bed is seen pushed against the wall. Her twin siblings, Amelie and Sean, were also in the room at the time of the disappearance, sleeping in cots.

It is believed that the room has been left roughly as it was on the night of the four-year-old’s disappearance as the police investigation continues.

While the Portuguese police thought Madleine McCann had been dead, a UK tourist believed he may have seen the missing girl while on a trip to the Roman Catholic shrine of Medjugorje in Bosnia on November 1.

The man, from Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, was said to have became suspicious after seeing a little blonde girl with a dark-haired couple, who he felt could not be her parents.

He said the couple were speaking a foreign language and yet he heard the girl cry out in English.

"My blood ran cold when I heard her cry, 'I want my Daddy'," he said.

Tags: Madeleine McCann, Praia da Luz, disappearance, apartment, portugal

9 Bolts Caught at a Time

Flickr user DJB31st's awesome picture is possibly caught by a life-a-time chance! It was taken from somewhere up in the hills overlooking Paphos, a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus, during the storms in winter 2006.

Tags: bolt, lightning, storm, cyprus, photography, environment, flickr

Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England

The Magic Roundabout (see Google Map Satellite picture) in Swindon, England consists of one large roundabout containing five mini-roundabouts and was constructed in 1972. It is located near the County Ground, home of Swindon Town F.C. Its name comes from the popular children's television series The Magic Roundabout.

This multi-mini roundabouts system may confuse new visitors and baffle tourists, but the Swindonian are so proud of their unique ultimate traffic control system which makes them 'be famous for'. A common Swindonian finds that his/er passage through this busy junctions is actually quite fluid, even at peak times. Twenty-five years on, the magic Roundabout still works, despite ever-increasing volumes of traffic.

If you are feeling the headache on how to navigate it, below is a clear illustration (via TechEBlog):

Here is a footage of thorpsy who once drove around this world famous Magic Roundabout in Swindon.

Tags: magic roundabout, swindon, england, swindonian, roundabout, youtube

London Traffic Light Tree

The famous "Traffic Light Tree" is located near Canary Wharf in London.  Click here to see more on TechEblog

The Arctic Midnight Sun Panorama

During a trip to the Scandinavia in the Arctic Circle in the summer of 2005, artist Isilmetriel photographed a series of the midnight sun and later combined to this stunning panorama. Link via Digg

Tokyo Reflected Inside a Skyscraper

Flickr user Gullevek took this stunning photo in a spacious skycraper in Roppongi of Tokyo on June 18, 2007. Link

Blue Sun in Egypt

When noticing the title of Blue Sun sets behind the Pyramids in Egypt at Redidt.com, I believed this may be a unique spectacular phenomenon of the Sun, but it seems not, it's a result of air pollution. From Coasttocoastam.com

PyramidCam captures a live image of the pyramids every 30 seconds. This particular image, saved by Tom Hartlove on December 14, 2006, is one of only a few ever documented occurrences of a blue sun. Tom happened to run across the image a few days ago in his photo archives and sent it to an expert in atmospheric physics to find out what might have caused it. Here was the reply:

"A very rare phenomenon known as a 'blue sun.' These have been observed from time to time around the world. The most recent widely accepted documentation of a blue sun occurred in September 1950 in Edinburgh, Scotland. A discussion of that event appears in Craig Bohren's book, 'Clouds in a Glass of Beer,' on page 91."

The main cause is thought to be smoke in the atmosphere. From time to time smoke from farmers burning brush between the camera location and the pyramids' plateau rises to camera level and is apparent on many of our images. We have also captured long plumes of smoke visible behind the pyramids, particularly in winter when farmers burn stubble in the fields in the Delta and around Cairo.

Top 10 Most Romantic Hotels in the World

The below list is compiled by Romance Tracker, while one person’s romantic hotel may be another person’s nightmare vacation, so we can't guarantee what the most romantic hotels both Romance Tracker and RC believed might not be yours.

1. Twin Farms: Bernard, Vermont

2. Mala Mala Game Reserve: South Africa

3. The Inn at Irving Place, New York

4. La Villa Gallici, France

5. The Bauer, Venice

6. Dar Mimosas, Morocco

7. Four Seasons at Jimbaran Bay, Bali

8. La Sirenuse, Italy

9. The Point, Saranac Lake, NY

10. Hotel Ritz, Paris

Among those ten hotels, I only know a little bit about Paris's Hotel Ritz which is owned by the British billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Princess Diana's boyfriend Dodi Fayed. The hotel is the last place where Princess Diana stayed before she and Dodi Fayed were killed during a tragical car accident in 1997.

Sexy Hotcut Barber Shop in Poland

If these women buttock-shaped washing basins can get men to wash their hands, then the hotcut barber shop in Poland must attract more men to do their hair!  Click here to see more photos. But do you know World's First Bikini Hair Salon Opens in Virginia?

Yemen Volcano Erupts in Red Sea, Killing Yemeni Soldiers

A volcano on Jazirt Mount al-Tair or Jabal al Tair island has erupted off the coast of Yemen, spewing lava and ash hundreds of metres into the air and tens of people are missing at Red Sea.

According to the Reuters, Ken Allan, a Navy spokesman, said a NATO fleet just outside the territorial waters of the island Jazirt Atta-Ir reported seeing a "catastrophic volcanic eruption" at 7 p.m. local time.

"At this time, the entire island is aglow with lava and magma as it pours down into the sea. We do not have confirmation of how many people were on this island at the time of the eruption," Allan said in an email to the Canadian Press.

Yemen's Oil Minister Khaled Mahfoudh Bahah said several earthquakes felt on Sunday (September 30),  had triggered the eruption.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, had flew to nearby Hudaidah port to observe the situation. It was learned that the Canadian frigate, HMCS Toronto, had been conducting a search and rescue operation at the request of the Yemen coast guard.

The 2-mile-long Jazirt Mount al-Tair island where Yemen has had a military base since its 1996 conflict with Eritrea over the islands of Hanish and Jabal Zuqar, is about 70 miles off the coast of the country. Below is a video named Yemen Volcano Video uploaded by Maria5186 to Revver

Burma/Myamar is The World's Most Corrupt Country

A report released by the Transparency International ranked Burma (Myanmar was recognised by the United Nations, and by countries such as France and Japan, but not by the United States and the UK which take Burma as its official name) and Somalia as the world's most corrupt country.

The 2007 corruption perceptions index scores countries on a scale from zero to 10, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and 10 indicating low levels of perceived corruption. Somalia and Burma share the lowest score of 1.4.

Endowed with abundant natural resources and fertile land, Burma should be one of Asia's most prosperous countries. But years of government mismanagement have placed it among the 20 poorest countries in the world, according to UN estimates.

Burma has a per capita income of $200 (£100), 10 times less than its neighbour Thailand. Some 90% of the population live on $1 a day, and recent increases in fuel prices have hit hard.

Currently the country was hit by a massive protest with the revered monks' participation, which triggered due to an over-night fuel price sparked. But the country's unwitting junta has begun beating those poor protesters , we are even worrying about their daily lives.

The government, which holds a monopoly on fuel sales and subsidises them, raised the price of fuel from 1,500 kyats (58p) per imperial gallon of diesel.

Natural gas has also increased by as much as 500%. The prices of commodities such as eggs, cooking oil and poultry have increased by an average of 35%.

Experts say the price rises show the government either does not care or is out of touch with the condition of ordinary Burmese, especially given the leadership's penchant for opulence.

The junta used up much-needed funds in building the country's new capital deep in the jungle. Money is also needed to maintain one of the world's largest armies.

Burmese have to take dramatic measures to survive. Many must walk miles to work to avoid paying higher bus fares, while others are selling furniture and other household goods.

Source: Burma is world's most corrupt country, says report @ Guardian

Burma protesters defy crackdown @ BBC

Recommended reading: Burma cyber-dissidents crack censorship Burma's saffron army

Delaware State University Shooting Gunman Still At Large

The gunman who shot two students earlier this morning on Dover campus of Delaware State University is still at large. Fox reported that the FBI agents from the Baltimore field office were already dispatched to the scene to help campus and local police track down what they believed was a lone male suspect.

The motive of the gunman to shoot one male and one female students is yet to known. The female was reported to be a 17-year-old who was shot twice, once in each side. The male was reported shot in the ankle. There was a Jena Six rally on campus last night, and University officials couldn't rule out that the shootings were connected to the Jena Six demonstrations.

Patrick Harker, President of University of Delaware where was mistakenly identified the site of this morning's shooting,  has offered heartfelt sympathies to the colleagues at Delaware State University.

Thong Look-like Beijing International Airport

Doesn't it be the only airport that resembles a thong?

The world’s largest and most advanced airport building - not only technologically, but also in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and sustainability – Beijing Airport will be welcoming and uplifting. A symbol of place, its soaring aerodynamic roof and dragon-like form will celebrate the thrill of flight and evoke traditional Chinese colours and symbols.

Link

Video: Train Runs Through Busy Bangkok Market

This busy Bangkok train rail/market seems more than dangerous than a Czech street where locomotives run along with the cars.