Chinese Premier Pledges Transparent Probe on Train Crash Site

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Thursday promised a thorough investigation into the accident and its aftermath after acknowledging strong public anger and skepticism over the government’s handling of a deadly bullet train collision last weekend.

Wen made the pledge on the crash site near Wenzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, where a bullet train was struck from behind Saturday night by another train, killing at least 39 people and injuring almost 200.

“Our investigation has to answer to the people,” Wen said after laying a wreath at a makeshift memorial on the scene. “There will be a thorough probe into the accident, including all relevant aspects from equipment failures, management problems to manufacturing issues.”

“If corruption is found during the investigation, we will take it seriously and punish those responsible to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.

Before addressing reporters at the crash site, Wen met victims’ families and visited injured passengers at a local hospital. He said the government must show compassion in dealing with people affected by the tragedy, reminding officials that “money would not bring lost loved ones back.”

Chinese netizens have also been fuming over the railway ministry’s decision to end search-and-rescue operation after less than six hours, and its move to crush and bury one of the six derailed train cars when the investigation had barely started.

In a nod to such sentiment, Wen said railway officials owed the public an answer while stressing the importance of an open and transparent investigation.

“The key to the handling of the accident is whether we can let people know the truth,” he said. “During the process, we should release information to the public timely and accurately.”

“I think the bullet train system is not stable and may break down in extreme weather conditions,” said Professor Zhao Jian, a transportation expert with Beijing Jiaotong University. “The previous railway minister developed high-speed rail irrationally and unscientifically, and this accident was the consequence of that ‘great leap forward’ strategy.”

Wen assured skeptics home and abroad that the government would learn its lessons and do its utmost to restore people’s faith in China’s high-speed rail.

“If safety is compromised, there is no credibility to speak of,” he said. “It is important that we integrate our effort in pursuing speed, quality, efficiency and safety with the understanding that safety always comes first.”

Wedding Dresses for Couples

Wedding is considered to be an extremely auspicious occasion for each and every couple in this world, hence the importance of a wedding dress is immense without any doubt.

An extremely exquisite wedding dress can easily capture your imagination instantly. However, you can easily purchase your marriage dress from any store but the selected dress should look gorgeous, comfortable and sophisticated at the same time. Invited guests should have something unique to say about your wedding dress. Wedding dresses can be easily acquired in cotton, polyester, nylon, and woollen fabric along with silk and chiffon as well. Nevertheless, the chosen fabric should be comfortable, durable and should match the current climate also.

It has been observed that bridesmaid dresses are mainly purchased in pure white and black colours. However, you can also buy a wedding dress in red, orange, pink and other fabulous colours as well. The overall dress should compliment your personality and nature. Customers can easily buy wedding dresses from branded stores as per their current requirement and liking without any problems. It must be kept in mind that a wedding dress that is purchased from a branded store will be of highest quality without any lapses.

On the other hand, the dress will be extremely stylish and trendy. Alternatively, you can also purchase cloth and can give it to a tailor who would stitch your wedding dress as per your body measurement in the most perfect manner. Bridesmaid dresses can be designed in any pattern and style depending upon a bride’s liking and need. However, it is very essential that the fabric chosen for a wedding dress should be durable and extremely comfortable as well so that you feel relaxed without any uneasiness. At the same time, the cloth should suit the existing climate so that you don’t feel discomfited.

Wedding dress can be easily stitched along with chosen jewels and you can also put special embroidery on the dress according to your desire. The overall idea is to appear special on your marriage day and thus, you should select the most exquisite fabric and pattern for your wedding dress.

Lady Gaga Judges “SYTYCD”

Lady Gaga got the chance to offer her opinion and advice to the finalists of FOX’s   talent show ‘So You Think You Can Dance(SYTYCD)’  as the ‘Born This Way’ singer  was invited as guest judge on last night’s episode (July 27th) and this judge did not disappoint! Gaga did a great job! In case you weren’t sure she was there, she towered over the other judges in a pair of impossibly high heels when it came time for standing ovations.

On the whole, the guest judges this season, other than Carmen Electra, have really impressed me. Aside from the occasional off-color aside, Gaga proved to be a perfectly competent judge, and is undoubtedly a fan of the show, having used season 4’s Mark as a featured dancer on her tour.

Between the all-stars and pairing up dancers, there were 12 routines in all, and most of them blew me away.

First, can I just say that Allison Holker may be the best dancer to come from this entire show. She just gets better every time, and when you pair her up with Marko, as Sonya Tayeh did – well, for one thing you get waterworks from Mary Murphy and Gaga. This was one of the best routines I’ve ever seen on the show.

I’m a little puzzled as to why I can’t quite join the judges in their rapturous praise of Sonya’s other routine, with Melanie and Sasha. It was perfectly well-danced, but it was also a little too robotic for my taste. I didn’t connect with it at all, sorry to say. It certainly wasn’t take-off-your-giant-boots-and-throw-them-on-the-stage good. The choreographer who was firing on all cylinders this week was Mandy Moore. First, Melanie and Neil somehow brought new life to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – a feat I thought impossible. That flying leap into Neil’s arms, by the way – holy smokes, as Mary might say! (This week’s recap brought to you by Dr. Seuss.)

Then Lauren Froderman came back to dance with Tadd and reminded us why she was last year’s winner. Mandy’s “Another One Bites the Dust” was one of the most fun routines of the season.

On a similarly jazzy note, Jordan and Ade were pitch-perfect in a Tyce Diorio routine, performed to Tina Turner, no less. This worked just as well in execution as it does on paper.

I found myself a bit surprised that I was not as into the lyrical hip-hop routines as I usually am. Jess and Lauren Gottlieb’s “Take a Bow” (how has no one done a routine to this song before?) was all well and good, but it didn’t really move me at all.

Meanwhile, Ivan outdanced Caitlynn. I wasn’t getting any chemistry from them, unfortunately. But it was great to see Ivan again.

Even so, their chemistry was much better than Jordan and Jess. Lack of chemistry in a rumba is deadly, and I fear that these two might be in the bottom this week because of it. And by the way, I put most of the blame for that on Jordan.

Caitlynn may have escaped the bottom, however, by dancing a beautiful fox trot with Tadd. It was just like dessert.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say Sasha goes to the bottom, after an utterly forgettable – if quirky, and right up Gaga’s alley – quickstep with Pasha. No one will pick up the phone for that. She has to hope that the audience liked her Sonya routine as much as the judges did.

Joining her in the bottom will be perennial basement dweller Ricky. He has grown on me, but the judges need to stop trying to make Ricky happen. His jive with Anya and his hip hop with Marko were great entertainment, but the audience isn’t connecting with him. Nigel Lythgoe and crew (minus Gaga, by the way) have a very difficult decision to make tonight.

Anyway, She was especially moved by Marko Germar’s choreography, which made Gaga break into tears, but in the end, she had to take her hat off to Sasha and Melanie’s final routine. “Everyone can pack up and go home, because that was the performance of the evening”, sentenced Gaga.

Fashion Accessories and Online shopping

These days style is not only about clothes indeed it is very much about the accessories. It is nothing surprising that women not only shop clothes but also the matching accessories.

Women these days prefer to buy fashion accessories from online stores. Needless to say it gives them joy and happiness. It is surprising to note that now there is no field that remained out of internet and fashion accessories needs less mention. Even studies are concluding that the online shopping gives them the needed satisfaction. Unlike personally visiting the stores which is always good however, now more women have started accepting the concept of online shopping.

A survey conducted by an independent fashion house says that more women are now comfortable with the idea of shopping online. With online shopping offering same benefits of shopping rather more benefits even those who heard it for the first time are evincing interest in trying out.

Surprising it might sound however it is true that there are some women who prefer to buy faux fur handbags find online shopping more comfortable. It has been fount out that among many accessories that sell like hot cakes are summer handbags for women. One should try to understand why online shopping is getting more and more popular. However it may not replace the conventional way of shopping however people started to enjoy online shopping. The online sales are taking place because they are the most important of women’s fashion accessories. Fashion gurus have been prophesying that more and more people will turn towards online shopping because people like it and it is benefitting in many ways.

Online shopping help enables women to do shopping in a better way and also results in saving them some money. And people who are buying the fashion jewelry should understand that these women’s fashion accessories directly come from those people who actually manufacture it. Even the bracelets, cuffs and necklaces for women directly are sourced from the manufactures. So, there is no need to be anxious about the thing one buys from online shopping or from the house of manufacturers or not. So now everyone should understand that it is good to think about buying from the fashion houses directly and more than anything they perfectly reflect the changing aspirations of the people. So following the new trend of online shopping not only saves time and money besides makes a style statement.

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Madonna Royal Drama to Screen at Venice Film Festival

Madonna’s film about King Edward VIII’s romance with American divorcee Wallis Simpson will have its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

W.E, which the singer directed, screens out of competition at the event, runs from 31 August to 10 September.

British actress Andrea Riseborough plays Mrs Simpson in the film, which contrasts her scandalous relationship with a contemporary romance.

In all, 21 titles will compete for the prestigious Golden Lion award.

The new film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – starring Gary Oldman as John le Carre’s legendary spy George Smiley – features in the competition line-up.

It is joined by Andrea Arnold’s new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Roman Polanski’s new film Carnage, and Shame, the latest film from Turner Prize winner-turned-director Steve McQueen.

Other titles in contention include A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg’s new film about the conflict between the psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender play Freud and Jung, while Keira Knightley plays a troubled patient who comes between them.

Fassbender also appears in Shame, a family drama about a wayward brother and sister in which he stars opposite Carey Mulligan.

Polanski’s and Cronenberg’s films are both based on plays, by Yasmina Reza (God of Carnage) and Christopher Hampton (The Talking Cure) respectively.

Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster appear in Carnage, about two sets of parents who come together after their children fight at school.

New works from Abel Ferrara, Exorcist director William Friedkin and ‘indie’ film-maker Todd Solondz further swell the diverse line-up.

Wedding Jokes, have some fun!

Forever hold your peace ..

During the wedding ceremony, when the minister/preacher/priest comes to the part about, “If anyone has any reason why these two people should not marry, speak up now or forever hold your peace…” have this 4-to-6 year old boy running up the aisle yelling, “Daddy, daddy.”I understand from a friend who played this joke on a relative that it took almost an hour to get the wedding started again.

Short changed

A friend got married and I, being the best man, decided a humorous practical joke was in order. One of the duties of the best man is to make arrangements for pick up and return of the groom’s tux. After final fitting, rent an extra coat jacket that is either 3 or 4 sizes smaller or larger than the groom’s. Explain to the tux shop what you’re up to. Pick up the groom’s fitted coat, switch with the extra rented coat, and deliver to the groom only when it becomes time to actually get dressed. The friend of mine wore a 42 long, but the one I provided was a 38 short.  Don’t reveal that you know anything as long as possible.

Wedding lottery

A man was surprised to hear from an old school friend of his asking if he would be the best man at his soon to be held wedding. They had not seen each other for a while and he did not really know that much about the bridegroom to be, all he remembered about him from school was that he was a great practical joker. With this in mind on the day of the wedding the best man got hold of the bridegrooms lottery ticket and noted down the numbers. As he was starting his best mans speech he said that he as well as many others followed the lottery and if no-one minded he was going to read out the winning numbers which had been called a few minutes ago, everyone duly took out their tickets checking the numbers as he called them out. He could see the bridegroom becoming more and more excited as he read out the numbers until at the end, up jumped the bridegroom yelling out that he won the lottery, he was rich, he ran round showing the ticket to all. His new bride said how wonderful as they were now rich, what do you mean we, laughed the bridegroom? This is my ticket!! I am rich, besides which I have been sleeping with your sister for the last two months, so saying he grabbed the sisters hand and left never to be seen again.

Will Online Shopping Overtake Traditional Shopping?

Nowadays, almost every major retailer has a website; those that yet don’t, are certainly moving in that direction. Indeed online shopping bring us convenience, we go there, we browse, and we buy.

But for some, the traditional formula of simply setting up a web page and waiting for customers to click “buy” just does not work. For example, not many Belarusians who live in rural areas and small towns have internet access – or carry around 3G smartphones. So it seemed tricky to rely on e-commerce alone.

Online or offline?

There are places such as China, for instance, where most people go online on their mobiles as opposed to home computers – and turning them into buyers is many retailers’ ultimate goal.

Martin Gill from Forrester Research thinks that the smartphone is becoming that crucial glue destined to bind the online and the offline experiences together.

“Apps like bar code scanning, store locator, checking physical stock online via your phone – all of these features are turning your mobile into a shopping buddy or a shopping assistant,” he says.

“These technologies are compelling and quite playful ways of engaging shoppers – they make the experience interesting, they make it unique to you, trying to build an emotional connection and create a link that resonates on a personal level.”

Even such giants and pioneers of online commerce as eBay and Amazon that have never even had physical stores, have eventually joined the crowd and followed you from your living room right into your car, train or your child’s playground.

“Mobile shopping is a hugely-growing trend,” says Angus McCarey, eBay’s retail director.

“In 2010 we tripled the amount of global business that we did over the mobile, reaching $2bn (£1.2bn), and this year, we’re on track to double it – we’ll do $4bn (£2.4bn) or more.”

In the UK, considered the most rapidly-developing European market in m-commerce, during last year’s Christmas holiday season eBay had 10% of its turnover through some kind of mobile application.

And eBay is not stopping at simply dragging you onto their website via your phone.

With ever-evolving technology and consumer habits, the company has had to innovate to constantly stay ahead of the game.

For instance, book lovers in a store now have a choice of either buying the item in front of them or using a special smartphone app to find that book on eBay – for less money.

“The world of offline and online shopping is blurring through the mobile, and with scanning technologies such as Red Laser, you can check the price of a book that you’re looking at in the shop and order it really quickly online,” says Mr McCarey.

And although this technology is still mostly limited to scanning easily-catalogued products such as books and DVDs, it soon might be possible to snap a photo of that stunning but crazy pricey red dress on a mannequin in a shop’s window – and through some internet magic instantly find it far cheaper on the web.

Visit to China’s Secretive Tech Giant Huawei

It’s one of the world’s leading – and somewhat inscrutable – technology companies. Its telecom systems connect a third of the world’s mobile phones. And globally, it employs 110,000 staff – more than Cisco or Microsoft. The company is Huawei – born and bred in Shenzhen, southern China. And it epitomises today’s power of Asia.

“Our workforce is also very young – the average age is 29 – so there’s a very dynamic environment within the company.”

Here, the company houses key research-and-development units, global testing facilities, and an executive training centre. But the enthusiasm on show isn’t all down to the youth factor.

In its early days, Huawei had to fight its corner for a share of China’s mobile telecoms market.

Back then, the main orders for the lucrative urban network systems went to either state-owned companies or foreign firms. So Huawei, instead, focused on the challenging countryside.

As the company grew and expanded into foreign markets, it made a name for itself as a problem solver – listening to its potential customers’ needs or problems and designing solutions.

Huawei’s Ross Gan says the company cut its teeth on rural markets Huawei is now the world’s second-largest supplier of mobile telecom equipment, after Ericsson, serving 31 of the top 50 telecoms operators. It also boasts 55% of the global market share in 3G dongles.

Huawei attracts the cream of China’s engineers – postgraduates like Zhong Jianwei, project manager at the company’s technical compliance unit.

He discovered that working here is very different from most large Chinese companies with their typical rigid, statist, chains of command.

“Every day, I need to communicate with Huawei staff all over the world. It’s international here – global,” remarks Zhong Jianwei.

“I’ve never experienced this before.”

To achieve its growth targets, Huawei wants new experiences.

At the Shenzhen headquarters, it’s clear that huge efforts are going into video conferencing – from standard desktop or mobile use to the kind of systems used by large corporations and governments. The goal is to create near face-to face communication.

The design team is now working on reducing today’s distracting seams between the multi-screens.

“Within the next one-to-two years, we will, step-by-step, go from a narrow gap to no gap, to even 3D, ” enthuses Luo Shan, software development engineer.

“Now we’re working on the technology. We want to deliver a trusted high-level experience.”

Women’s Fashion Trend: Stripes for Summer

As the 2010 military trend winds down, this summer we turn to new influences – but that doesn’t mean the nautical shall be overlooked entirely. For those fashionisers who are nautically inclined, Summer 2011 still has something in store. Don’t think of it strictly as a nautical military trend, however. Rather, it’s the classic navy and white colour palette, worn as dominant stripes.

Note that I didn’t say bold stripes, but dominant stripes. While navy and white stripes are a must for the look (though black and white can also work in 2011), the real key to Summer’s take on nautical stripes is that they dominate the outfit. While they do so in the below look easily (though the plum Doc Martens still seem somewhat heavy), in other outfits it’s about drawing attention to the stripes above all else in the outfit.

While most looks rely on bold stripes, you’ll see that the trend is just as effective when the stripes are thin. Hence for Summer 2010 look for dominant stripes, not necessarily bold ones. Don’t think of this Summer stripes just as a clothing trend: you can work them into any part of an outfit, any accessories from hat to killer mini-dresses.

Remember that: this summer, the stripes don’t dominate, but in a crowded room the look certainly will.

Types of Men’s Suits

Men’s wardrobes cannot be complete without suits. Men’s suits are popular all over the world and have gained a lot of reputation. The suits are worn as a style statement. They signify a distinct character and professionalism. There are many different occasions that you can wear a suit in. These are available in different colors, patterns and sizes.

Most often, the first suit that is worn today is the dinner suit. This suit has emerged as an alternative to the dress coat today. This is almost the same way as the day lounge suit takes up most of the occasions. Also a dinner suit can be worn for a black tie suit. It will blend in quite well.

The second most favored suit in the world is the men’s business suit. This kind of suit is mostly favored by businessmen. It is most commonly used as a lounge suit. While going for business activities like a conference or a meeting, this type of suit is greatly favored. For such occasions, business suits are considered the most comfortable attire. In fact in some organizations, a business suit is compulsory attire.

The next type of suits in line would be the wedding suits for men. These are generally worn for occasions like wedding party etc. These suits are worn to produce elegance and grace for such occasions. These suits can be best described as a fusion of modern styles and traditional fabrics. Also alternatively, for such occasions, designer suits can also be used. These suits however, can be quite difficult to buy. As you fashion changes every year, these suits also change in style and color. The designer suits are available in different colors styles and materials.

Apart from these, there are vintage suites that are also available. These are three piece suits that consist of the jacket vest and the pants. They are made usually out if the same two materials which are wool or polyester. These are also available in different colors and patterns. The lists of men’s suits don’t end here. There are church suits, Italian suits; dress suits in fact men’s suits are available for every occasions.

If you are looking to buy a suit and don’t have much time then online suit stores will be the most beneficial for you. There are many suit stores that are online today such as Btbone that offer a variety of suits. These suits are also available in different colors. You need to enter your measurements and you will get a list of suits that are available in your size. You can further categorizes these suits for the occasion that you are looking for to narrow down your choices. You can review a few of these suits and this will help you obtain a clear picture and avoid all confusion.