Expo-goers were found to be faking disabilities

Visitors to the Saudi Arabian pavilion of Shanghai's World Expo might be spending more time there than they bargained for if you include waits of up to nine hours.

While the opening weeks at Expo saw surprisingly low attendance, Saudi Arabia's pavilion has emerged as among the most popular, according to a report in Shanghai's Liberation Daily. Thousands of expo-goers, the elderly among them, have braved Shanghai's humidity for a chance to see the 'moon boat,' a nickname for the country's 6000-square-meter pavilion complete with date palm trees planted on the structure's roof.

'In the very beginning, few people paid attention to Saudi Arabia,' said Terrence Ou, CEO and founder of The Great Wall Adventure Club, which specializes in trips to the Expo. 'It's an Arabian country and people thought they know what it looks like by looking at the TV or whatever.'

That changed, however, when word spread of the Saudi pavilion and its 1,600-square-meter movie screen, among the world's largest. France may have duty-free perfume to sell, while Australia has Ugg boots and China a dose of patriotism, but no one seems to have tapped visitors' desire to glimpse the future quite like the Saudis.

That doesn't mean all Expo-goers are patiently waiting their turn. Saudi Arabia, along with several other countries, recently closed down express handicapped access to the pavilion after visitors were found to be faking disabilities, according to a report in the Shanghai Daily.

Saudi Arabia and Sweden, which reported 4,000 people each day faked disabilities at its pavilion, shut down special handicapped access, the newspaper reported, while Germany began requiring visitors with disabilities to make reservations in advance.

Yan Linhong, a spokeswoman for the Swedish pavilion, said, 'We once saw one elderly person accompanied by nine adults, trying to force an entry through the express lane.'

A state-run legal news website even weighed in, running an editorial under the headline, 'Don't let the 'falsely disabled' be the humiliation of mankind.'

Things are only about to get more hectic at the Expo, Ou said, because Chinese schools are just letting out for the summer and the event is likely to grow as a family favorite. It was tough for him to venture a guess, however, at what might be the summer's next craze.

'Anything with the Expo right now is unpredictable,' he said.

Africa, World Cup and neo-colonialism

The four-year wait is over. The debates may continue, though. Hosts South Africa kick off the World Cup against Mexico today. France and Uruguay, former champions both, battle it out later in the evening. Without the artistry of Zinedine Zidane, even French fans know, it will be impossible for France to reach the quarterfinals.

But if eternal favorites Brazil fail, their fans will forever think, what if their coach Dunga had been a bit more practical. What if he was a believer in joga bonito (the beautiful game)? What if he had picked Ronaldinho the brillante? Things, however, would be different if Kaka outshines his Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo in Brazil's game against Portugal and leads his team to World Cup glory in the end.

Things would be different, too, if the Maradona-Messi magic casts a spell in South Africa and they fly back home to Argentina with their third Cup. Or, if England win their second. Or, the Netherlands lift their first. Or, Fernando Torres, David Villa, the Xavis and Cesc Fabregas strike gold for Spain.

The World Cup, for decades, has been mouthwatering stuff. Seeing the best of the very best in football in action gives fans the adrenaline rush. Football fans, and there billions of them across the world, will for a month forget almost everything. And since this has been touted as Africa's World Cup, Africans will perhaps be the most excited of the lot.

But will the World Cup break the colonial myth that Africa is an "inherently impaired darker section" of the human race? Will it release the post-colonial Western stranglehold on the continent? Will it stop the pillage of Africa, which began in the 16th century and continues to this day? Will it restore Africa to its pristine environmental past?

The world loves football. It's a beautiful game. But it's not beautiful because of the Di Stefanos, Puskases, Peles, Bests, Cruyffs, Maradonas and the Ronaldinhos and Messis. Football is a beautiful game because it can be played by anyone anywhere (except the Arctic and Antarctica, perhaps). It does not necessarily need proper kits or the lush green of artificial grass or even a goalpost. It just needs a football, made of leather or rubber, or even rags rolled into a ball and some players - the way it is still played by millions of children in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Football's roots have been traced to China. But modern football, like so many other games, was born in England and institutionalized in Europe. And that is perhaps where the problem of football and hegemony lies. The Latin Americans may be masters at joga bonito, but the real masters of the game (its rules and regulations) are the Europeans. Since it's these masters of the game that have carried the World Cup to Africa (South Africa, to be precise), it is not expected to help Africans break the myth of being "inherently impaired". Unfortunately, even the first president of free Senegal, the great poet Leopold Sedar Senghor, fell prey to the corollary myth of the supremacy of Western civilization vis--vis all other civilizations, no matter how ancient or knowledgeable they are. Even a cultural theorist like him asked Africans to stop denouncing colonialism and Europe, for he considered the deaths, pains, sufferings, humiliation and rampant destruction of resources and the ways of life under colonialism to be the birth pangs of African nations.

Of course, Julius Nyrere and Kwame Nkrumah and other African intellectuals differed, condemning the colonizers for raping their land and turning them into slaves. But despite the Nyreres, Nkrumahs, Aime Cesaires, Jomo Kenyattas, Patrice Lumumbas and even the Senghors, most of Africa is still run by Anglophones or Francophones, who have now colonized their own land. The pillage continues, only that it is now carried by Africans themselves for the benefit of their former colonizers.

Still, most of the stories coming out of Africa are about famines, wars, genocides, rapes and ethnic cleansing. (After all, the World Cup is a once in a while event.) This, as Chinua Achebe says, has its roots in 400 years of abusive writing on Africa "developed into a tradition with a vast storehouse of lurid images to which writers went again and again to draw 'material' for their books". Writers like (Achebe and) Wole Soyinka have tried to reverse that. Soyinka's play, Death and the King's Horseman, was conceived while he was a fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, in the 1970s. He has said that every day he came down the college staircase he would pass a bust of Winston Churchill, "that old bulldog of British colonialism". And every day he had an overwhelming desire to "push it and watch it crash".

But then the Achebes, Soyinkas and the Sembene Ousmanes can change society only that much, for their reach is confined to readers. The rest of Africans still live in the world of Achebe's Things Fall Apart. A vast expanse of Africa is still the world of Achebe's tragic hero Okonkwo, who has good intentions but fears that other men may see that as his weakness. This drives him to make decisions, consciously or unconsciously, that he regrets as he progresses in life. These "other men" in Africa today are the former colonizers.

Till these "other men" exist, even winning the World Cup cannot restore Africa's pride.

iPhone 4s sold more than 1.7 million in the first three days

Apple Inc. said Monday that it sold more than 1.7 million iPhone 4s in the first three days since the device went on sale, fueled by current iPhone owners upgrading their phones.

While the iPhone has enjoyed early success, some analysts believe that sales could have been even stronger had Apple had more phones stocked. In an acknowledgment of a shortage, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, 'We apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.'

Overall, the iPhone 4's early sales were significantly higher than the one million units that Apple sold of the previous iPhone model, the iPhone 3GS, in its first three days last year. In his statement, Mr. Jobs called the latest i Phone's sales 'the most successful product launch in Apple's history.'

The iPhone 4's early sales include preorders for the device through Saturday. Apple said it took advance orders for more than 600,000 new iPhones world-wide on June 15, the first day it opened for preorders, the most ever taken by the company in a single day.

The iPhone 4, which starts at $199 and has a higher-resolution screen than its predecessors and other improvements, went on sale in the U.S. and four other countries last Thursday. Throngs of enthusiasts lined up at Apple stores and other retailers world-wide to be among the first to get the gadget. Sales didn't appear to slow even after reports of antenna reception problems, which Apple said could be solved by getting a case or changing the way users hold their phones.

In total, Apple has sold more than 50 million iPhones since it introduced the first model in 2007. Wall Street is expecting the latest model to help Apple sell about 37 million iPhones in the fiscal year ending in September, up nearly 79% from 20.7 million a year earlier.

Earlier this month, Apple admitted to problems manufacturing the white version of the iPhone 4. U.S. carrier AT&T Inc. also stopped taking new orders on the first day of preorders, citing processing problems.

Harry Potter fans swarm new theme park

"Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe led groups of excited kids dressed in Hogwarts uniforms as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park officially opened on Friday to long lines and snarled traffic.

Radcliffe, Rupert Grint who plays the boy wizard's best friend Ron Weasley, and other actors from the blockbuster movie and book series, were on hand at Universal Orlando as fans lined up more than eight hours to be among the first visitors.

Before dawn, the backup of Potter fans began to block the main highway through Orlando near the entrances to Universal, prompting the theme park to open its parking garage at 5 am -- 30 minutes earlier than planned, according to local media.

Visitors said that by 8:30 am the line to get inside wrapped around the exterior of Universal's Islands of Adventure park, of which the Wizarding World is one of six unique sections. And the wait for the signature ride, the Forbidden Journey, reached at least 90 minutes, at one point.

"It was worth it, just because I'm a Harry Potter fanatic," said Kelsey Rigg, 18, a British transplant to Florida who at 3 am joined a crowd of several hundred people.

Universal executives did not immediately have information about crowd size.

The 20-acre Harry Potter park reportedly cost $250 million to build and recreates the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and other places dreamed up by author J.K. Rowling in her fantasy novels about the boy wizard and his friends.

Attractions include the Dragon Challenge, a high-speed ride based on the Triwizard Tournament, a fictional 13th century contest between students of the three most prestigious magical schools of Europe.

A year later, MJ fans out in force

LOS ANGELES - Erin Jacobs once traded her brand new bicycle for tickets to see Michael Jackson. Now, more than 25 years later, it's her time, organizational skills and gas money that she's giving to the King of Pop.

As an organizer of two major fan groups, Jacobs is just one of thousands of supporters keeping Jackson's legacy alive - along with the pursuit of justice for his untimely death a year ago Friday.

Since then, the singer's notoriously loyal followers have traded vigils at the hospital and family home for pilgrimages to his tomb and protests at the courthouse where the doctor charged with killing Jackson will be tried.

"It's absolutely humbling that he has so much support from fans," Jacobs said in a recent interview.

A travel agent who lives in Yorba Linda, California, Jacobs made her first 80- kilometer (50-mile) trip to the Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California, shortly after Jackson was buried there in September. It was a personal trip.

These days, Jacobs has gone on to coordinate monthly pilgrimages to the cemetery by the Official Michael Jackson Fans of Southern California.

Hundreds are expected at Forest Lawn on Friday to commemorate Jackson's death. The singer's tomb inside the cemetery's gothic Great Mausoleum remains closed to the public, and Friday's memorial won't change that.

But through the efforts of Jacobs and others, it's become a place where Jackson's international fan base comes to grieve. Many who can't make it in person send letters, poems, artwork and other gifts so that Jacobs and others can deliver them to the cemetery, where they are placed at the singer's tomb until new items arrive.

"A year later, it feels like it was yesterday," Jacobs said.

Another focal point for Jackson fans has become the downtown Los Angeles courthouse where Dr. Conrad Murray will be tried on an involuntary manslaughter charge for Jackson's death.

On hearing days, fans wearing sequined gloves and T-shirts calling for justice wait for hours clutching signs denouncing Murray and shout at him for the brief moments it takes him to walk from the curb to the front door.

Johnell Johnson, 19, an actress from Fontana, California, woke up at 4:30 am to get to the courthouse in time for a recent midday hearing in Murray's case. Wearing a vintage pin from Jackson's Bad era, Johnson said it was important for her to be there to support Jackson's family.

It's a sentiment echoed by many others who try to attend the proceedings. Only a handful are allowed into the courtroom, but others are content to shout their support to Jackson's parents and siblings, who occasionally stop to hug or speak to fans. At the hearing earlier this month, the singer's mother, Katherine, carried roses that fans handed her.

Fans at the cemetery Friday hope to bring more than 3,000 roses, Jacobs said, although officials don't want the memorial to include the release of doves or balloons, as was originally planned.

None of this fan passion is really new. Jackson's supporters have long been among the most devoted and vocal of any entertainer's in recent history.

Jackson mania

The money is rolling in. The bills are being paid. And all those people who said Michael Jackson might earn more in death than in life are being proved right.

Like the estates of Elvis Presley and Yves Saint Laurent, Jackson's has grown immensely since he died on June 25, 2009.

Without Jackson's lavish spending sprees, and with the help of new revenue pouring in from nostalgia over the reign of the King of Pop, estate co-executors John Branca and John McClain have dramatically turned around Jackson's finances.

A kingdom that was on the verge of collapse from more than $500 million in debt now looks to be able to support his three children and his mother and donate healthily to children's charities.

The estate has earned more than $250 million in the year since he died. Executors used some of that to pay off $70 million in debt, including the $5 million mortgage on the Jackson family compound in Encino, part of Los Angeles. The interest payments on the remaining debt are now covered by a steady flow of cash.

Gary, Indiana, the childhood hometown of Michael Jackson, is planning a tribute on Friday at his former house to mark the one-year anniversary of his death, and the mayor says his mother is among the people expected to attend.

Workers at the house on Tuesday said Katherine Jackson wanted the house spruced up for the event and visited for several days recently to plan the renovation.

A Jackson 5 exhibit has opened at the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit this week, with photographs, awards and uniforms the brothers' group wore throughout its career.

It will be open through October, with a Michael Jackson impersonator outside the museum on the weekend.

World will hear more from Indians

Toronto - My colleague and I flew from New York to Toronto on Tuesday afternoon.

As we made our way through the airport, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by Indians waiting to collect their luggage.

To be exact, there were nearly 100 Indian families - husbands, wives, the elderly and children - who had just arrived in Canada's largest city after taking the long flight across the Pacific. Their luggage carts were piled high with suitcases. A few even cut us off in their hurry to get to the customs area.

After clearing customs, we found another large throng of Indians waiting to greet the new arrivals. Outside the airport more Indians driving taxis, many of them Sikhs with turbans.

This was not the first time I have noticed the large number of Indians in North America. During a short visit to Stanford University last summer, I met quite a number of Indian families with their teenage children, who were apparently preparing to enter the prestigious university in the fall.

I was surprised, because I do not remember seeing that many Indians when I studied at Stanford between 1985 and 1986. In fact, I don't remember meeting a lot of Indians during my overseas travels until a few years ago.

On the way to our hotel, our taxi driver - a Pakistani - told us that the Indian community has become the second largest in the greater Toronto area, second only to the Chinese.

According to the Toronto city government, South Asians account for 12 percent of the city's population; Chinese come in second, at 11.4 percent.

Indians have a long history of emigration. There is a large community in the United Kingdom, as well as in Southeast Asia and Africa. I visited four African countries in February last year and discovered that Indians have long controlled the banking, media and other major businesses there.

In China, we've also seen growing communities of Indian business people and professionals in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. There are quite a number of Indian students in medium-sized cities like Zhengzhou in Henan province. A number of my colleagues at China Daily are Indians, and we seem to have a lot in common.

But the number of globe-trotting Indians these days is just amazing. Like all nationalities, they have noticeable characteristics. Some of them speak loudly, and they seem to like to jump the queues. But the most noticeable characteristic is their confidence; they seem to be more self-assured than other Asians, particularly Chinese.

I've noticed that Indian scholars are particularly adept at expressing their views and putting forth their ideas. A friend of mine who has attended a lot of international scientific conferences tells me that a moderator has nothing to fear if there are participants from India a lively discussion is assured.

No wonder, over the past few years, I've seen more and more Indian names in the list of leading academics at universities in English-speaking countries.

According to a recent global opinion survey by the Pew Research Center, 66 percent of Indians have positive views about the US, but their support for US-led anti-terrorist campaigns in South and Central Asia is slowly declining.

Most Indians have a positive view of their own government and its handling of the global economic crisis. However, only 11 percent of Indians surveyed regarded China as a world economic leader.

Whatever their views, the world is bound to see and hear more from Indians. As they become more prominent on the world stage, they will become more vocal and resolute on global issues and their views are certain to become more important.

Expo word: artificial intellegence

artificial intellegence：

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.