‘Avatar’ inspires renaming of mountain
BEIJING: A craggy peak in a scenic part of southern China has been renamed after floating mountains featured in Hollywood blockbuster “Avatar,” with the province hoping to cash in on the movie’s massive success. The “Southern Sky Column” in Zhangjiajie in southern Hunan province formally had its named changed to “Avatar Hallelujah Mountain” in a ceremony on Monday, according to the Zhangjiajie government’s official website (www.zjj.gov.cn). The government said the floating “Hallelujah Mountains” in the movie were inspired by the “Southern Sky Column,” as a Hollywood photographer spent time shooting there in 2008. “Many pictures he took then become prototypes for various elements in the ‘Avatar’ movie, including the ‘Hallelujah Mountains’,” the website said. “Avatar,” directed by James Cameron, has so far sold $1.841 billion worth of tickets worldwide, making it the biggest international release of all time. “Avatar” has so far made around $80 million in China, and has become the country’s most popular film ever. Zhangjiajie hopes to capitalize on that fame. Tourists can now join a “Magical tour to Avatar-Pandora” or a “Miracle tour to Avatar’s floating mountain,” the Zhangjiajie branch of China International Travel Service Corp said on its website. (www.citszjj.com)
Australians asked to rethink national day
SYDNEY: Australians were Monday urged to consider changing their national holiday because it commemorates the arrival of British settlers — a day of “pain and bewilderment” for Aboriginal people. Celebrated author Thomas Keneally, who penned the book “Schindler’s Ark” which was later made into the blockbuster movie “Schindler’s List,” said marking Australia Day on Jan. 26 was a “double-edged sword.” “On Australia Day, I believe, most reasonable Australians now admit that the descent of European people upon Australia brought bewilderment and pain for the (Aboriginal) Eora people of the Sydney basin,” he said. Keneally said it was “worth debating” moving Australia Day from Jan. 26 — the date the first fleet of British convicts arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788 and termed “Invasion Day” by many indigenous Australians. Prominent Aboriginal lawyer and activist Mick Dodson backed Keneally’s calls for a national discussion on Australia Day but said the date was not as important as the meaning of the celebration. “What to me is important is, ‘What does the day mean?’ And if we get the meaning right and the date doesn’t become as relevant, then perhaps we can live with Jan. 26,” he told ABC radio.
S. Korea marriages decline in downturn
SEOUL: More couples got divorced and fewer people married amid an economic downturn in South Korea last year, adding to fears about the nation’s already low birthrate, data showed Monday. Statistics Korea reported the number of weddings between January and November last year fell 5.4 percent year-on-year to 273,600. The number of divorces rose 9.5 percent year-on-year to 115,800 during the same period, the statistical office said in a report. It said the number of babies born between January-November last year decreased 4.0 percent year-on-year to 414,100. “The economic downturn, which makes it hard to find jobs, may have led to delayed marriages and more divorces,” a Statistics Korea official told AFP. The country is already waging a uphill battle to raise its birthrate amid fears of a rapidly ageing society. The birthrate — the average number of babies born during a woman’s lifetime — remained near the world’s lowest at 1.19 in 2008 and there are fears the population will begin shrinking within a decade.
US to start census on an Alaska dog sled
ANCHORAGE: When the US Census Bureau’s 2010 population count officially kicks off on Monday, the roughly 600 residents of a remote Inupiat Eskimo village in Alaska are due to be the first citizens to be tallied. The start of the census will be the riverside settlement of Noorvik in northwestern Alaska. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves is set to fly into the area on Monday, and will be ferried from the local airport by dog sled, Noorvik Mayor Bobby Wells said. The first citizen selected to be counted in the 2010 census — an 89-year-old Noorvik resident and World War II veteran — will be paid a home visit. “What an honor to be the first,” Wells said. “Our community really pulled in and supported this census event.” To welcome Groves, Alaska Lt. Governor Craig Campbell and other dignitaries, there will be a traditional native feast featuring caribou, moose and beaver meat as well as other fare such as turkey and ham, the mayor said. The official census is mandated every 10 years by the US Constitution. The results are used to determine congressional districts, each state’s seats in the House of Representatives and the allocation of federal funds and services. Traditionally, the count has been launched in rural Alaska, where villages vie for the honor. The 2000 census started in Unalakleet, an Inupiat village on the Bering Sea coast that is an important checkpoint in the Iditarod sled dog race.
Dutch spending still rising ... on bicycles
AMSTERDAM: Recession or not, the cycle-happy Dutch are still spending a lot of money on their bicycles — nearly 1 billion euros’ worth a year, in fact. About 1.3 million bicycles were sold in the Netherlands last year, at an average price of 713 euros ($1,008) each, an industry association said on Monday. That led to total revenue of 950 million euros for the year, up 4 percent on 2008, the RAI Vereniging said. The per-bike price was also up 3.5 percent. The country’s flat geography and high population density has made the bicycle one of the primary modes of transportation, with 18,000 km (11,180 miles) of cycle paths nationwide. Statistics compiled by the International Bicycle Fund show a higher percentage of all trips is made by bike in the Netherlands than any other country in the world. According to Statistics Netherlands, in 2007 nearly one in four Dutch workers commuted by bike. — Compiled from agencies
