First snow!

Early in the morning when I woke up from my dream and opened the window,finding that the whole world had become a white one.How beautiful it is!The first snow has now come,but I don't know when it began.Maybe it started from the midnight.I continued standing before the window and saw the snow was falling on so silently on the mountains,on the trees,on the roofs,and on the faces of the children.Only the river is not frozen.With the first snow,every where seems to be so quiet.No more tramping hoofs,no more rattling wheels! I thought to myself. Tomorrow I can go out and have snowball fights and build snowmen. For that,I smile a sweet smile.

Nicode Kidman

Nicole Kidman was seated on a sofa, her long golden hair falling down on her back, looking a bit lost. When I came in, she stood up and came over to me, incredibly beautiful in her long, white dress.

"Hello, I am so pleased to meet you. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you."

After a few months of studies at the Aseema School, I now knew how to say a few basic sentences in English.

But it is always very hard for me to understand foreigners' English as they speak very differently from my teachers.

Meeting Nicole Kidman up close, I realised that she looks like a beautiful doll.

I have never met any woman as tall as her. I thought all the women from my slum would be so small in front of her. But her skin, lips and hands, they were all perfect. I thought if I touched her, she might get dirty.

[Bollywood actor] Arjun Rampal was there, too. When I shook his hand, he praised me and complimented me a lot on my acting in Slumdog Millionaire - so much that I blushed!

Finally, the director of the advertisement came to introduce himself.

"Hello, I'm Shekhar."

"Hello, I'm Rubina."

"Oh, I know. I've heard a lot about you, you know!"

As for me, I'd never heard of this Shekhar Kapur, but Natasha Didi told me that he is one of the greatest directors

My day!

I'm really fed up with this weather. It's rainy and cold. This morning, I wanted to oversleep till half past ten or eleven o'clock. But I could't. My mother forbids me to get up late because she's afraid I can't get up early to go to school when the next semester begins. So I got up. It was very hard to get up in the cold morning. Someone said: "Sleep is an important element of health". I think that is quite true. Even though I stayed up last night but I still feel very well with a fresh memory because I had a good sleep. I ate rice noodle and drank a cup of tea, not coffee. It's hard to find a lot of energy from this food and drink. Then I began to play Boom with my young brother. We had played together for 30 minutes. Since then, I began to do my homework: mathematics, physics, chemistry and English which must be finished today. It's pretty hard to study English but I will try. I hope I will study English well. I must work harder. So maybe I have a lot of work to do tonight.

TO CHERISH WHAT I HAVE

I felt very sad because my mother scolded me for my indifference to English. Day in and day out, there's nothing that I hear but my mother yelling at me. Sometimes I want to shout back but what's the use? I might just get slapped. When I really can't stand it anymore, I sometimes get out of the house in order to breathe some fresh air. On the way to the park, I met an old friend of mine. Now he 's a worker in a factory. He said his family has been in difficulties. So he had to quit school, go out and make a living. I couldn't find the right words to tell him how sorry I was to hear that. There was really nothing much I could to do help. When we said goodbye to each other, I felt ashamed of all what I had. I'm glad that I still have my family. I don't have to worry about financial problems and I can continue going to school. I should make the best of what I have because nothing will last forever. What I have today might not be mine anymore tomorrow. So I should live each day to its fullest. In whatever I do, I should do my best. I should also love those people around me more. It's so sad to know how cruel fate can be. No matter how good you are, there are no guarantees in life that everything will go your way, are there? I went home right away and wrote this entry in English, of course. I also talked to my mom that I will try to study English better. You and me will try together, ok? "No pains, no gains"

Bangkok int'l flights to normalize on Friday

International flights have partly resumed at Bangkok's main international airport after more than a week of turmoil due to the airport seizure by anti-government protestors.

At Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the passenger terminal's arrival hall reopened on Thursday, one day after the protesters ended their sit-ins.

Travelers were greeted in the hall after flights arrived from Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Airport officials say Thai Airways used the airport for 12 departing and 8 arriving flights on Thursday, and that more airlines are also resuming services there.

2 Japanese carriers, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, plan to resume flights connecting Bangkok and Japan's Narita Airport on Friday.

Airport officials say they have nearly completed checking airport computers and facilities and will resume full service shortly before noon on Friday.

Airlines have used a naval base for special flights during the closure of Bangkok's 2 airports but officials say these will end on Saturday.
2008/12/04 19:55

Hôm nay có lẽ là 1 ngày đặc biệt,tôi cùng các bạn của tôi đang háo hức chuẩn bị tuyên truyền ngày "Thế giới phòng chống AIDS".Chúng tôi hy vọng sẽ góp phần làm cho thế giới này ngày càng tốt đẹp hơn, không còn những tệ nạn xã hội tồn tại.Để thế hệ mầm non của trái đất này được sống trong 1 môi trường hoàn toàn lành mạnh và tốt đẹp để mai sau góp phần xây dựng trái đất này tốt đẹp hơn nữa, đưa khoa học trái đất tiến đến tầm cao mới với những bước tiến dài hơn. Hỡi tất cả thanh thiếu niên trên toàn cầu, hãy cùng chúng tôi chung tay hoàn thành việc xây dựng trái đất này hoàn thiện hơn.

Nikkei marks new low for the year

Shares fell sharply on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday morning with the key Nikkei index at one point dropping to a new low for the year on concerns over the future of the world economy and a rapidly appreciating yen.

Immediately after the opening Tokyo shares plunged across the board. The drop followed the quick rise of the yen against the dollar and Euro on the foreign exchange market and an overnight plunge in share prices in New York that saw the Dow Jones industrial average lose more than 500 points.

The Nikkei average of 225-selected issues ended the morning session at 8,195, down 478 points from Wednesday's close.

The broader TOPIX index of all first-section issues was down 42 points to finish the morning at 846.

Market concerns are growing that a rapid rise of the yen may have a serious impact on corporate earnings of Japanese exporters and on Japan's economy as a whole.

Market sources say there are also renewed worries that market jitters worldwide may continue for some time as a result of the rapid depreciation of the Euro and currencies of emerging economies.

The sources say investors placed sell orders due to concerns over corporate earnings, with many Japanese firms scheduled to release their mid-year earnings reports starting this week.
2008/10/23 12:52

(NHK)

US doubts N Korea nuclear claims

There is no evidence to support claims that North Korea has begun rebuilding a nuclear plant, US officials say.
The US state department said the North appeared to be moving equipment out of storage at its Yongbyon plant, but there was no effort to reconstruct it.
Earlier reports from South Korea and Japan had claimed the North was actively rebuilding Yongbyon, breaking an international denuclearisation deal.
Pyongyang had previously warned that it had stopped disabling its facilities.
For years, the North has been locked in discussions over its nuclear ambitions with five other nations - South Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan.
In June this year, the regime blew up the cooling tower of its Yongbyon facility in a symbolic gesture of its commitment to the process.
But last month Pyongyang was angered by the US refusal to remove it from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, and announced it would halt the disabling process.
Reactor 'intact'
On Wednesday reports in Japan, backed up by South Korea's foreign ministry, claimed the North Koreans were actively reconstructing the plant.
But state department spokesman Sean McCormack said it appeared that the North was moving previously stored equipment rather than rebuilding. He told reporters: "To my knowledge, based on what we know from the folks on the ground, you don't have an effort to reconstruct, reintegrate this equipment back into the Yongbyon facility."
He said Christopher Hill, the lead US negotiator in the six-nation nuclear talks, would leave for Beijing on Thursday.
The claims emerge as the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published a report on North Korea.
It said the regime had already removed large quantities of essential nuclear materials from Yongbyon even before it agreed to dismantle the plant.
Experts believe the North's facilities would take a year to restore, and the IAEA's report appears to support that view.
Former UN weapons inspector David Albright says the reactor at Yongbyon is mostly intact.
But he said the regime would need to manufacture hundreds - possibly thousands - of fuel rods and rebuild a cooling tower that was blown up in June to get it fully operational.
He believes the North is unlikely to rebuild the plant, but is instead using the threat as a bargaining chip to gain more concessions from the six-party talks.
In June, North Korea finally submitted a long-delayed account of its nuclear facilities - and was expecting to be removed from the US list almost immediately in return.
But the US said that would not be possible until North Korea agreed to inspections aimed at verifying the details that it had disclosed.
That move has been delayed amid wrangling among the six nations over exactly how these details can be verified.

(From BBC)

'Free loans' offer to homebuyers

The government is to promise first-time buyers in England "free" loans of up to 30% of their home's value, in an effort to reinvigorate the housing market.
Households earning less than £60,000 will be offered loans free of charge for five years on new properties, co-funded by the state and developers.
The move comes as Gordon Brown attempts a political fightback, amid an economic downturn and poor opinion poll ratings.
The Tories said it was a "short-term survival plan" for the prime minister.
'Large-scale'
House prices are reportedly falling at their fastest rate since the early 1990s, while rising fuel costs and the global credit crunch are denting economic confidence.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will announce a raft of proposals on Tuesday aimed at buoying the property market. She is one of several cabinet ministers putting forward plans seen as the beginning of Mr Brown's "recovery plan".
The loans system, called HomeBuy Direct, is to be run together with "large-scale" property firms.

Once the five-year "free" period is up, homebuyers will be asked to pay a fee, the Department for Communities and Local Government said - although no more detail of this was provided.
A spokesman added that "hundreds of millions of pounds" had been put aside in the last Budget for such a move.
In a statement, the DCLG said: "Not only will this [HomeBuy Direct] help first-time buyers, but it will also support the industry by identifying buyers for their new homes.
"This will help the housebuilding industry weather difficult conditions, so that, when the market recovers, they are ready to expand and get back on with building the new homes the country needs for the long term.

'More homes sooner'
For existing homeowners who can no longer afford mortgage payments, the government says councils or social housing landlords can pay off the debt and instead charge tenants rent "at a level they can afford".
The DCLG is also promising to "bring forward funding for social housing from existing budgets, delivering more social homes sooner".
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said "there may be an important announcement on a stamp duty holiday", which has been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks.
He added: "There is an attempt to say 'We can't end these global problems but we can help some people through them."
The prime minister has faced a difficult few months, with Labour losing two parliamentary seats in by-elections, the London mayoralty and many councillors in May's local elections.

'Resilient'
On Monday, he said the UK faced "unique circumstances", including oil prices trebling and the global credit crunch.
But Mr Brown said the government was "resilient in... dealing with these problems".
He earlier denied a rift with Chancellor Alistair Darling, who had said the country was facing its worst economic crisis in 60 years

For the Conservatives, shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "We will look at the details of these measures and we will support those that will work.
"But let's be clear, they are not going to help the vast majority of families facing a rising cost of living and falling house prices.
"Nor do they amount to the first instalment of the economic recovery plan we were promised.
"I suspect that what we will see in the coming weeks is a desperate and short-term survival plan for the prime minister rather that the long-term economic plan the country needs."
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "This looks like a hotchpotch of measures thrown together to save Gordon Brown's political skin.
"The social housing stock could be increased far more easily by allowing local authorities to buy up unsold properties and use them for new social housing.
"Yet again the government is desperately scrabbling around for a way to fix problems of its own making.

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