Some footage from BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8257960.stm
Hope my friends who are in HK for a few days are not too affected by it, as in, there's enough clear days for them to sightsee and not get stuck in a hotel.
From October 1st, a bridging plan is available for applicants. This allows immigrants to apply for temporary visas for four months, otherwise known as "bridging visas".
The permit will give holders the chance to find a legitimate job or, if they are already employed, to obtain a work permit from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Also,
Mr Ahern insisted the programme was not a regularisation but a temporary scheme that would be issued only to a specific category of undocumented immigrant. It would not be open to those who entered the State illegally.
(Source: The Irish Times)
Came across this and I thought it was funny. Now everyone make a funny and cute pose! :D
Article from CNN also mentions the weddings in China (via Twittermoms). They also mention Vegas weddings where...
The Stratosphere is among several hotels and casinos offering quickie weddings. It is angling to marry off 99 couples at 9:09 p.m. for -- what else -- $99.09.
Hehe, that's hilarious and yet disturbing.
(Source: CNN)
Extremely lucky to have so many 9s on the date of your wedding, for most Chinese anyway. Yes, 8 is a lucky number, mostly to do with getting rich. 9 is more auspicious number for forever, hence the nine courses in a typical Chinese wedding. It can be upto ten dishes, as that number is a perfect number. I just came across this Beeb article about the rush of couples getting married on 9th September this year (i.e. today).
In Beijing, the marriage reservation system has notched up a gear: "Normally it takes 10 minutes to handle the whole procedure, but we have set-up this reservation system, so now it takes only three minutes.", said marriage official Zhang Weiwei.
As I mentioned that 10 is an auspicious number, so 10/10/2010 maybe a busy time as well (as mentioned in the article).
(Source: BBC News online)
The only time I've ventured down Moore Street, is when I'm taking a short cut to Parnell Street if the iLac centre is closed to get to the cinema. All I know that it's cleaned up alot since a few years ago, but it's still dirty though. This article from The Irish Times gets the opinion of people of different nationalities who work on that street on the changes of Moore Street over the last few years. From the looks of things, Moore Street, seems to be dying, with boarded up shops on one side due to a supposed development which looks like it's stalled. I wonder what other punters like myself think of Moore Street nowadays and its future?
It's happened, they really are enforcing it. EUR200 for workers who park their cars for free, it has to be deducted from their pay or else the employer will be fined EUR3000. This is regardless if they are earning top wages, or on minimum wage. What a bad idea. It begins in Dublin today, and will be phased in to other cities (joy).
Here's the article.
(Source: The Irish Independent)
With the spate of violence from knives and in some cases sumarai swords, they are banned from today onwards by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern .
(Source: RTE News online)
Saw this from a friend's tweet about government proposing changes to number of years a student can study in Ireland.
The new proposals envisage that students should, with limited exceptions, spend no more than five years in Ireland as a student overall, with a limit of two years in further education or English language courses.
You can find more information here on the official site. It's open for public consultation till 9th October.
(Source: Irish Times)