Beijing’s Bird’s Nest to anchor shopping complex
Jan 30, 1:04 am EST
BEIJING (AP)—The area around Beijing’s massive Bird’s Nest stadium will be turned into a shopping and entertainment complex in three to five years, a state news agency said Friday.
Officially known as Beijing National Stadium, the showpiece of the Beijing Olympics has fallen into disuse since the end of the games. Paint is already peeling in some areas, and the only visitors these days are tourists who pay about $7 to walk on the stadium floor and browse a pricey souvenir shop.
Plans call for the $450 million stadium to anchor a complex of shops and entertainment outlets in three to five years, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing operator Citic Group. The company will continue to develop tourism as a major draw for the Bird’s Nest, while seeking sports and entertainment events.
SOURCE: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-birdsnestfuture&prov=ap&type=lgns
The only confirmed event at the 91,000-seat stadium this year is Puccini’s opera “Turandot,” set for Aug. 8—the one-year anniversary of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. The stadium has no permanent tenant after Beijing’s top soccer club, Guo’an, backed out of a deal to play there.
Details about the development plans were not available. A person who answered the phone at Citic Group on Friday said offices were closed for the Chinese New Year holiday.
A symbol of China’s rising power and confidence, the stadium, whose nickname described its lattice of exterior steel beams, may never recoup its hefty construction cost, particularly amid a global economic slump. Maintenance of the structure alone costs about $8.8 million annually, making it difficult to turn a profit, Xinhua said.
SOURCE: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-birdsnestfuture&prov=ap&type=lgns
sábado, janeiro 31, 2009
quinta-feira, janeiro 22, 2009
Obama takes presidential oath again after stumbleABC News
WASHINGTON – After the flub heard around the world, President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office. Again. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to Obama on Wednesday night at the White House — a rare do-over. The surprise moment came in response to Tuesday's much-noticed stumble, when Roberts got the words of the oath a little off, which prompted Obama to do so, too.
Don't worry, the White House says: Obama has still been president since noon on Inauguration Day.
Nevertheless, Obama and Roberts went through the drill again out of what White House counsel Greg Craig called "an abundance of caution."
This time, the scene was the White House Map Room in front of a small group of reporters, not the Capitol platform before the whole watching world.
"We decided that because it was so much fun ...," Obama joked to reporters who followed press secretary Robert Gibbs into the room. No TV camera crews or news photographers were allowed in. A few of Obama's closest aides were there, along with a White House photographer.
Roberts put on his black robe.
"Are you ready to take the oath?" he said.
"Yes, I am," Obama said. "And we're going to do it very slowly."
Roberts then led Obama through the oath without any missteps.
The president said he did not have his Bible with him, but that the oath was binding anyway.
The original, bungled version on Tuesday caught observers by surprise and then got replayed on cable news shows.
It happened when Obama interrupted Roberts midway through the opening line, in which the president repeats his name and solemnly swears.
Next in the oath is the phrase " ... that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States." But Roberts rearranged the order of the words, not saying "faithfully" until after "president of the United States."
That appeared to throw Obama off. He stopped abruptly at the word "execute."
Recognizing something was off, Roberts then repeated the phrase, putting "faithfully" in the right place but without repeating "execute."
But Obama then repeated Roberts' original, incorrect version: "... the office of president of the United States faithfully."
Craig, the White House lawyer, said in a statement Wednesday evening: "We believe the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday. Yet the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of the abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath a second time."
The Constitution is clear about the exact wording of the oath and as a result, some constitutional experts have said that a do-over probably wasn't necessary but also couldn't hurt. Two other previous presidents have repeated the oath because of similar issues, Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur.
SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090122/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_oath_do_over
terça-feira, janeiro 20, 2009
January 20
Events
250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian was martyred. Afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the "Houses of Parliament".
1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
1356 - Edward Balliol abdicates as King of Scotland.
1502 - The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored.
1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almansa.
1649 - Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes".
1667 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusovo.
1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
1788 - The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides Botany Bay is unsuitable for location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.
1801 - John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
1841 - Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
1929 - In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, is released.
1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
1937 - Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4.
1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin agree on the "final solution to the Jewish problem".
1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
1945 - Hungary ends its involvement in the Second World War, agreeing to an armistice with the Allies.
1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
1960 - Hendrik Verwoerd announces a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
1961 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated as the youngest man, and first ever Roman Catholic to become elected President of the United States.
1968 - The Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71-69 to win the Game of the Century.
1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President.
1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
1990 - Black January - crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
1992 - Air Inter Flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 82 passengers and 5 crew.
1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafés.
2001 - Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
2009 - Barack Obama, inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becomes the first African-American ever to hold the office.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian was martyred. Afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the "Houses of Parliament".
1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
1356 - Edward Balliol abdicates as King of Scotland.
1502 - The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored.
1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almansa.
1649 - Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes".
1667 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusovo.
1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
1788 - The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides Botany Bay is unsuitable for location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.
1801 - John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
1841 - Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
1929 - In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, is released.
1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
1937 - Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4.
1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin agree on the "final solution to the Jewish problem".
1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
1945 - Hungary ends its involvement in the Second World War, agreeing to an armistice with the Allies.
1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
1960 - Hendrik Verwoerd announces a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
1961 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated as the youngest man, and first ever Roman Catholic to become elected President of the United States.
1968 - The Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71-69 to win the Game of the Century.
1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President.
1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
1990 - Black January - crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
1992 - Air Inter Flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 82 passengers and 5 crew.
1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafés.
2001 - Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
2009 - Barack Obama, inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becomes the first African-American ever to hold the office.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
Barack Obama
Hoje, 20 de Janeiro de 2009, é a tomada de posse de Barack Obama como o 44º Presidente dos Estados Unidos da América, e que é considerada a mais esperada tomada de posse em décadas.
sexta-feira, janeiro 09, 2009
January 9
Events
475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople.
1349 - The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing bubonic plague, were rounded up and incinerated.
1431 - Judges' investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government.
1760 - Afghans defeat Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.
1768 - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London.
1788 - Connecticut becomes the fifth state to be admitted to the United States.
1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
1799 - British Prime Minister William Pitt introduces income tax to raise funds for the war against Napoleon.
1806 - Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral.
1816 - Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
1822 - The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese king João VI, starting the Brazilian independence process.
1839 - The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
1857 - The Fort Tejon earthquake of California occurs, registering an estimated magnitude of 7.9.
1858 - Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
1861 - American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War".
1861 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
1863 - American Civil War: the Battle of Fort Hindman occurs in Arkansas.
1878 - Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
1880 - The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow.
1894 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
1903 - Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the famous poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
1905 - According to the Julian Calendar which was used at the time, Russian workers stage a march on the Winter Palace that ends in the massacre by Tsarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.
1916 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
1917 - World War I: the Battle of Rafa occurs near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
1923 - Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
1941 - World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
1941 - World War II: The Greek Triton (S.112) sinks the Italian submarine Neghelli in Otranto.
1945 - World War II: The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.
1947 - Elizabeth "Betty" Short, the Black Dahlia, is last seen alive.
1951 - The United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
1964 - Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.
1968 - The only known snowfall in Mexico City occurs; additional snow falls on January 10 and 11.
1972 - The RMS Queen Elizabeth is destroyed by fire in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.
1986 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak must give up its instant camera business.
1990 - Space Shuttle program: Columbia lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-32.
1991 - The Soviets storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence.
1997 - A Comair Embraer EMB 120 crashes during approach into Detroit Metro Airport, killing 29 people.
2001 - Shenzhou 2, an unmanned Chinese spacecraft, is launched.
2005 - The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, commonly known as the Naivasha Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group in Naivasha, Kenya.
2005 - Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organiz
475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople.
1349 - The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing bubonic plague, were rounded up and incinerated.
1431 - Judges' investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government.
1760 - Afghans defeat Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.
1768 - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London.
1788 - Connecticut becomes the fifth state to be admitted to the United States.
1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
1799 - British Prime Minister William Pitt introduces income tax to raise funds for the war against Napoleon.
1806 - Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral.
1816 - Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
1822 - The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese king João VI, starting the Brazilian independence process.
1839 - The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
1857 - The Fort Tejon earthquake of California occurs, registering an estimated magnitude of 7.9.
1858 - Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
1861 - American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War".
1861 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
1863 - American Civil War: the Battle of Fort Hindman occurs in Arkansas.
1878 - Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
1880 - The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow.
1894 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
1903 - Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the famous poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
1905 - According to the Julian Calendar which was used at the time, Russian workers stage a march on the Winter Palace that ends in the massacre by Tsarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.
1916 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
1917 - World War I: the Battle of Rafa occurs near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
1923 - Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
1941 - World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
1941 - World War II: The Greek Triton (S.112) sinks the Italian submarine Neghelli in Otranto.
1945 - World War II: The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.
1947 - Elizabeth "Betty" Short, the Black Dahlia, is last seen alive.
1951 - The United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
1964 - Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.
1968 - The only known snowfall in Mexico City occurs; additional snow falls on January 10 and 11.
1972 - The RMS Queen Elizabeth is destroyed by fire in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.
1986 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak must give up its instant camera business.
1990 - Space Shuttle program: Columbia lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-32.
1991 - The Soviets storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence.
1997 - A Comair Embraer EMB 120 crashes during approach into Detroit Metro Airport, killing 29 people.
2001 - Shenzhou 2, an unmanned Chinese spacecraft, is launched.
2005 - The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, commonly known as the Naivasha Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group in Naivasha, Kenya.
2005 - Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organiz
quinta-feira, janeiro 01, 2009
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