by AFP | Feb 14, 2020 | Lifestyle
Tokyo (AFP) – “Cupid’s avocado” for dinner, heart-shaped messages for the crew, but also painful separation: for those trapped on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship, Friday is no ordinary Valentine’s Day.Wearing a red dress and a red hair tie, the ship’s entertainment manager Natalie posted a Valentine’s Day video on Twitter to try to keep spirits up.”I just wanted to check in with everybody and say that we are all hanging in there, doing fine and keeping together as a big family,” she said, admitting with a smile: “This hasn’t been my regular attire for the last week or so.”Pa… (more…)
by The Bangkok Post | Feb 14, 2020 | Lifestyle
Happy couples flocked to district offices across the country to register their marriages on Valentine’s Day, with many opting to exchange their vows in hot-air balloons floating above Chiang Rai.Twenty-five “Balloon Love’’ couples tied the knot in the sky above Singha Parking in Muang district of Chiang Rai.Among them were actor Warit Thipkomut and national team footballer Adisorn Promrak and their sweethearts.In Chon Buri, 138 returnees from China’s Wuhan city still in quarantine received red roses from the navy at Sattahip naval base.One of them posted a message on her Facebook thanking the … (more…)
by The Sacramento Bee | Feb 13, 2020 | Culture, Entertainment, Lifestyle, society
The invisible, indelible boundary drawn by smell depicts the severe inequality in South Korea through two families in the Oscar-winning film “Parasite.” But the movie dives more into the country’s social problems, running deep and wide.The South Korean film won big Sunday at the 92nd Academy Awards, including becoming the first non-English language film to win best picture. Bong Joon-ho, who won best director and best original screenplay, became the first Korean filmmaker to win those prizes. Fans were jubilant on Twitter and Instagram.“Parasite” stunned the audience with an adrenaline-inducin… (more…)
by NJ.com | Feb 13, 2020 | Lifestyle, News, people
Two men serving life sentences for a crime they say they didn’t commit stepped out a back door and into the cold behind New Jersey State Prison on Wednesday.“Finally, finally!” Kevin Baker shouted as he embraced his attorney.“Yes sir, yes sir!” Sean Washington replied. He wrapped his arms around his mother, who waited hours on a sidewalk outside the prison along with a contingent of supporters, not knowing when, exactly, they would be released.Baker and Washington won their freedom after an appellate court threw out their convictions in December and prosecutors decided not to retry them earlie… (more…)
by AFP | Feb 12, 2020 | Culture, Lifestyle, society
Daulatdia (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Often treated as less than human in life, there has been little dignity in death for the sex workers of one of the world’s biggest brothels: their bodies frequently tossed into unmarked graves or dumped in the river.Until now.On Thursday, Hamida Begum became the first sex worker from Bangladesh bordello Daulatdia to receive a formal Islamic funeral, breaking a longstanding taboo in Muslim majority Bangladesh where prostitution is legal but regarded by many as immoral. Scores of women gathered at the graveside, weeping for the 65-year-old’s passing but also becaus… (more…)
by AFP | Feb 10, 2020 | Business, Lifestyle, place
Beijing (AFP) – Wang Li’s guesthouse sits a stone’s throw from the Great Wall, an idyllic setting for a weekend getaway. But in these uncertain times of the new coronavirus, Wang and her family are the only occupants.The 35-year-old woman now spends her days disinfecting Yingfangyuan Farmhouse and its empty restaurant near Beijing, as millions of people across the country stay home, either under government orders or out of caution.As the virus claims more lives and infects thousands of people every day, it is also taking a toll on the country’s small businesses that rely on spending from China… (more…)
