The story goes: there is a beautiful and kind-hearted Dai girl in Xishuangbanna in ancient times; and her name is Duoyi. She likes dancing, and she is a skillful dancer. She often goes around the Dai villages to perform dances for the common people in leisure time. She is quite beautiful in shape, and when she performs, people would feel she is like a golden peacock playing beside waters, or a white crane flying high in the sky. People who watch her dances would indulge in the dance, would forget their worries and cares, forget their sufferings or even lose themselves in the performance. As time [more]

Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, will be at the 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition for three days. The exhibition takes place in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province starting Nov. 4, organizers of the exhibition said. It will be the airplane's second trip to China; it is coming from France. The A380 carried 2,000 tents this May for people left homeless by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan. The super-jumbo jet, which is scheduled to arrive in Zhuhai on Nov. 3, will be on static display and will also perform flying demonstrations. [more]

Taiwan's education authority has extended the period mainland students are allowed to remain on the island for study from four months to a year, local media reported Wednesday. The move was to facilitate cross-Strait educational exchanges, as the previous maximum of four months forced students to depart before completing a full semester, the education authority said. Mainland students in Taiwan could apply for the extension, but the total number would be limited to 1,000 every academic year. According to reports, 240 mainland students studied in Taiwan last year and 342 in the first 10 months [more]

Internet giant Yahoo announced on Tuesday that it planned to lay off at least 10 percent of its workforce over the next few months as sales declined for the third consecutive quarter this year. At least 1,500 employees will lose their jobs as part of Yahoo's cost-saving plan, which Yahoo hoped would reduce costs by 400 million U.S. dollars a year. The company said it would also achieve "substantial additional cost savings" by addressing "structural inefficiencies." Also on Tuesday, Yahoo said its third-quarter sales, excluding commissions, were 1.32 billion dollars, a decrease of [more]

Venezuela was elected Wednesday as a member of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the UN General Assembly. Venezuela received 177 ballots from the 184 countries that attended the General Assembly. A minimum of two thirds of the votes are required to be an ECOSOC member. Ruben Dario Molina, director of the Multilateral Political Affairs of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, said that this is an achievement of the Venezuelan diplomacy. Venezuela, along with 17 other elected countries, will serve on ECOSOC for a three-year term starting on Jan. 1 next year. Other Latin American [more]

The U.S. Republican party has spent about 150,000 U.S. dollars in the space of a month to meet vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's fashion needs, an online report said Wednesday. According to the political website Politico, the Republican National Committee used campaign donations to pay for the Alaskan governor's clothing, hair styling, makeup and other "campaign accessories" during September, following her nomination as John McCain's running mate. Among the expenses, 75,062 dollars were spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis and 41,850 dollars in St Louis in early September. [more]

Venezuela was elected Wednesday as a member of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the UN General Assembly. Venezuela received 177 ballots from the 184 countries that attended the General Assembly. A minimum of two thirds of the votes are required to be an ECOSOC member. Ruben Dario Molina, director of the Multilateral Political Affairs of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, said that this is an achievement of the Venezuelan diplomacy. Venezuela, along with 17 other elected countries, will serve on ECOSOC for a three-year term starting on Jan. 1 next year. Other Latin American [more]

The wild card results are out and it is Monica Bedi's turn to get back into the house. With most of the women out of the show it's now down to Monica, Payal and Diana in a house full of BB2's bad boys. But what's got everyone curious is the twist Monica's re-entry will add to the Rahul-Payal romance. [more]

Barack Obama and John Mccain have just concluded round one of the US presidential debates. Sarah Palin is getting herself battle ready to face upto Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. The presidential debate is a unique American democratic institution, an opportunity for the candidates to confront and challenge each other on personality and policy-related issues. The debate is the big moment of an election campaign, a gladiatorial-like television arena allows a nation to compare and contrast candidates. Debates don't always make presidents, but they have undone a few: history [more]

I'm so not the party planner type. Dallas' 5th BDay party was yesterday and it was just a good old fasioned cake and ice cream deal. My sister Kari and I made the chocolate cakes the night before so we wouldn't be rushed the day of, great idea sister! That's about the extent of the planningeveryone showed up that said they would (holy crap) and I thought I had enough paper plates and plastic forks (soo0 not Green of me) and I made some pink lemonade. And ewwwthat does NOT go well with chocolate. Anyways, we just barely squeeked by with enough forks, I think a mom or two had [more]