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HONG KONG (AFP) - The Year of the Rat threatens to see a build-up of international tensions, natural and air disasters, and a more turbulent stock market, soothsayers and analysts say. ... The rodent is also seen as a "flower of romance" which means the year will stimulate romance, but also sex scandals. ... Lee said there would be a big change in Hillary Clinton's health and career but that doesn't necessarily mean she will hold political power. In contrast, Clinton's Democratic rival, Barack Obama, "has an in-born talent for leadership and is expected to be in an extraordinary political...

Readings for the Year of the Rat Published on December 29, 2007 The Year of the Rat is for the opportunist, the proactive, the profiteer and the politician. This, indeed, will be a year to keep a watchful eye on those who run the world financially, intellectually and dictatorially. The Rat year is also one of change, reform and the year to put well-thought-out strategy to work. Worldwide, it's a time when security will count and when political giants will want to protect what's theirs. As for the average Joe, the Year of the Rat means 12 months to turn...

HONG KONG - Sunday marks the start of the Chinese New Year and it's a lucky one for those starting out in life. But the rest of us are in for a rough ride. Expect epidemics, disasters and violence in much of the world. "The Year of the Pig will not be very peaceful," said Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo. Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of trying to achieve health, harmony and prosperity by using specific dates, numbers, building design and the placement of objects. The pig is one of 12 animals (or mythical animals in...

ON February 18, the Chinese world will usher in the new year of an animal, but its identity will be suppressed. A billion people will view China's - and the world's - most-watched annual television show, the Chinese New Year's Eve variety spectacular, but the viewers will be no wiser as to which animal is involved. The Chinese Government has decreed that the Year of the Pig will be celebrated with the least possible offence to the country's 21 million Muslims, for whom the porker is a dirty, offensive animal whose flesh must not be eaten. So this year, China...

Check out this VIDEO CLIP of Triumph the Insult Dog insulting the Chinese New Year. Besides the Insult Dog, the FUnniest thing about this video is so absolutely SERIOUS the Chinese folks in it are with the exception of the Chinese "torture" guy although he does keep a straight face.

The Lantern Festival, or Cap Go Meh, is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month of the Chinese new year. Believed to be a time when the gods descend from the heavens to grant wishes and good luck, this year, Cap Go Meh falls on Feb. 12. Jakarta residents who want to learn more about Chinese culture can enjoy the city's annual Cap Go Meh cultural parade. The parade is in its third consecutive year since the government declared Chinese new year a national holiday in 2002. Starting at 1:30 p.m. with a toapekong (likeness of traditional...

PARIS (AFP) - France's Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) appealed to Chinese President Hu Jintao to put an end to the cruel slaughter of dogs, which it blasted as an affront. "The SPA does not set itself up as a judge of a country and its culture, but is asking for animals to be killed in a dignified way," the SPA said. "Millions of dogs (in China) are hanged, beaten with sticks and butchered while they are still alive," it said in a press release. The organisation added that it had tried to get French media to accept...

GOOGLE'S HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!! The two week lunar year end begins today. The next week is celebration time in much of Asia. This year is the Year of the Dog. Starting today Chinese people and other Asians will be visiting friends and family, cooking traditional dishes (like the obligatory New Years chicken, which should be slaughtered at the market place, thank you), and enjoying numerous other traditions. If you have any Chinese New Years questions or stories to share, then please jump right in. Wishing everyone a Shing Nyan Quai Loh (A Happy New Year!!!!)

Chinese tradition holds 2006 will be a year of bad luck for people born under the sign of the dog, but misfortune has come early for some looking for jobs, state media said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT Chinese companies looking for new recruits had deliberately passed over candidates born as dogs in China's ancient 12-animal astrological cycle to ward off the bad luck expected for people in years of their same sign, the China Youth Daily said. The rooster will make way for the dog at Chinese Lunar New Year in late January. The dog denials were just one example of...

The San Francisco Chinese New Year's Parade, happening today, is a big event, drawing a half million or more spectators, and serving as the largest public event for the Bay Area's large (and growing) Chinese population. Unfortunately, this year's event is marred by gross poltical bias. The Falun Gong movement, undergoing savage repression in China, but an active part of the overseas Chinese community, is being banned from sponsoring a float. Meanwhile, a float promoting same sex marriage, will be featured in the parade. It is a private event (using public streets - like the St. Paddy's Day parade in...

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony is allowing Catholics who want to celebrate Chinese New Year today to observe Ash Wednesday on Saturday. Both holidays occur today. "I hereby commute the obligation to observe fast and abstinence on Ash Wednesday," Mahony said in a statement released recently. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a 40-day period that ends with Easter Sunday. Catholics are expected to fast on Ash Wednesday and to refrain from eating meat every Friday until Easter. Mahony's office estimates there are 1.8 million Asian-American Catholics in the Archdiocese, which includes Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties....

Sales of chickens and fighting cocks, especially from small-scale farmers, will be closely monitored during the Chinese New Year festival early next month to prevent spreading of bird flu, according to the Yukol Limlamthong director general of the Department of Livestock Development. The department was worried that small-scale raisers might slaughter their chickens themselves for sale and for merit-making during the upcoming Chinese New Year, which could create transmission of avian influenza to humans, Yukol said. To prevent spreading of bird flu, the farmers are required to report to the livestock department so inspections can be made to verify that...

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a Rat. Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani is a Rabbit. Amitabh Bachchan is a Horse. Shah Rukh Khan is a Snake, Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta are Tigers and Kareena Kapoor is a Monkey. Which is why Kareena, more than anyone else, should be celebrating. According to the lunar-based Chinese calendar, January 22 marked the first day of the 4701st Chinese New Year, the Year of The Monkey (Click here to find out which animal sign you belong to). Even as Chinese all over the world ring in the New Year, the Chinese...

2004: Year of the Monkey Posted: Jan. 20, 2004 Starting Thursday, if you get caught in some monkeyshines, your excuse is ready. That's when the Year of the Monkey, in all its sociable, cheerful glory, begins. Monkey Graphic/Lonnie Turner The new year celebration is the biggest holiday in the Chinese world. With elements of gift giving, family gathering, preparatory cleaning, parades and fireworks, it can seem to an uninitiated American like Christmas, New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. Chinese New Year - known as Tet to the Vietnamese - is based on a lunar...

Happy Chinese New Year!! Flower markets, lion dances and fireworks ... the Year of the Monkey will of course be welcomed with a bang. Chinese New Year is the most important time of the year for the Chinese - no matter where they are around the world. Find out how families and friends celebrate the festive season in Hong Kong and other parts of China. Feng Shui master Raymond Lo says the elements of wood on metal will determine fate and fortune this year. He also says there will be plenty of activity in the property market and it will...

U-San Bernardino County Sun Every dish tells a story about Chinese New Year By Natalie HaughtonL.A. Daily News Food Editor Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - When you grow up in a traditional Chinese household, celebrating the Chinese New Year with a lot of good food is a huge deal - right up there with Christmas, says Ming Tsai, co-author of the recently released "Simply Ming," his second cookbook, with Arthur Boehm. "Traditionally on Chinese New Year's day, you don't cook," notes Tsai, adding that his family made hundreds of dumplings - pork, shrimp, garlic chive - on the eve...

Long life of customs Chinese immigrants cling to culture that faded after '60s revolution 02/01/2003 By ESTHER WU / The Dallas Morning News Ling Yee painstakingly rolls out rice dough, showing her granddaughter how to make traditional Chinese dumplings for the new year. "The new year celebration is steeped in tradition. When I was a girl in China, my family would burn incense and bow before pictures of our ancestors," the 80-year-old Dallas resident said in Chinese. She and family members would leave food out overnight for their departed ancestors. So as the year 4701 - the Year of...