Hollywood's A-list

1: Johnny Depp tops the list of Hollywood's Real A-list in a new ranking from Forbes. In the last five years, Depp's films have brought in $3 billion at the box office and he's been nominated twice for Oscars.[Agencies]

2: Brad Pitt's films have taken in $2.6 billion at the box office in the last five years and earned him an Oscar nomination.[Agencies]

3: The late Heath Ledger's films have taken in $1.3 billion in at the box office in the last five years and earned him two Oscar nominations.[Agencies]

4: Will Smith's films have earned $2.4 billion at the box office in the last five years and earned him an Oscar nomination.[Agencies]

5: Meryl Streep's films have taken in $1.3 billion at the box office in the past five years and earned her two Oscar nominations.[Agencies]

6: George Clooney's films have taken in $1 billion in the past five years and earned him two Oscar nominations.[Agencies]

7: Amy Adams's films have taken in $955 million in the past five years and earned her two Oscar nominations.[Agencies]

8: Clive Owen's films have taken in $1 billion in the past five years and earned him one Oscar nomination.[Agencies]

9: Jake Gyllenhaal's films have taken in $745 million at the box office in the past five years and earned him one Oscar nomination.[Agencies]

taken from : China Daily


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Zhao Wei and Chen Kun cover 'Self'

"Mulan" co-stars Zhao Wei and Chen Kun grace the latest issue of the "Self" magazine. [Photo: Self/sohu.com]











taken from : China Daily


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"Dancing with the Stars"show on the ABC reality series

Professional dancer Kym Johnson and partner entertainer Donny Osmond perform in the final performance show on the ABC reality series "Dancing with the Stars" in Los Angeles November 23, 2009. Osmond danced his way to victory on Tuesday, winning the 9th season of the hit ABC television show "Dancing With the Stars" after wowing the judges with his irrepressible determination and final tango. Picture taken November 23. [Agencies]

Professional dancer Kym Johnson and partner entertainer Donny Osmond stand together after they performed in the final show of the ABC reality series "Dancing with the Stars" in this handout picture taken on November 23, 2009. The winners Osmond and Johnson were announced during a live telecast of the results show on November 24. Picture taken November 23. [Agencies]

Professional dancer Dmitry Chaplin (R) and partner actress Mya, one of the three couples in the finals, perform in the final performance show on the ABC reality series "Dancing with the Stars" in Los Angeles in this publicity photograph taken November 23. The winners were Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson. Osmond danced his way to victory on Tuesday, winning the 9th season of the hit ABC television show "Dancing With the Stars" after wowing the judges with his irrepressible determination and final tango. Picture taken November 23. [Agencies]

Professional dancer Kym Johnson and partner entertainer Donny Osmond perform on the ABC reality series "Dancing with the Stars" during the final performance show, in Los Angeles November 23, 2009. The winners Osmond and Johnson were announced during a live telecast of the results show November 24. Picture taken November 23. [Agencies]

Professional dancer Louis Van Amstel (L) and partner, singer Kelly Osbourne, perform in the final performance show on the ABC reality series "Dancing with the Stars" in Los Angeles November 23, 2009. [Agencies]

taken from : China Daily


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Swiss doctors develop incision-less autopsies

Assistants place dummy 'Fred' onto a strecher of an optical 3D and a magnetic resonance scanner for a demonstration of an autopsy without cutting open the body, in Bern November 18, 2009.[Agencies]

BERNE - A team of Swiss doctors is conducting about 100 autopsies a year without cutting open bodies, instead using devices including an optical 3D scanner that can detect up to 80 percent of the causes of death. Michael Thali, a professor at the University of Berne, and his colleagues have developed a system called "virtopsy," which since 2006 has been used to examine all sudden deaths or those of unnatural causes in the Swiss capital.

The U.S. military at Dover Air Force Base is using a more-limited version for autopsies on soldiers, he said.

"Without opening the body we can detect 60-80 percent of the injuries and causes of death," Thali explained, standing beside the white cylindrical CT scanner in his laboratory.

The advantages of virtual autopsies are that digital, permanent records are created that can be shared via the Internet, Thali said.

During an autopsy, which takes about 30 minutes, the deceased is placed on an examining table and the surface scanner, just larger than a shoe box and suspended from a robotic arm, traces along the body's contours.

Two technicians in white lab coats then use computers to evaluate the findings.

"At the moment here in Berne is the only place world wide, which is combining the surface scanning with CT magnetic resonance scanning and post mortem angiography and post mortem biopsy," Thali said, explaining that the total installation cost more than 2 million Swiss francs ($1.98 million).

The CT scanner makes images of skeletal injuries and damage to the brain, while the magnetic scanner produces finer images of soft tissue, Thali said. Angiography visualizes the inside of blood vessels.

"That's the big advantage, because you don't have to destroy the body you can see projectiles in 3D and can do the analysis," Thali said of the system's use to the U.S. military.

The 3D imaging began in the mid 1990s, but the post-mortem biopsy device -- which uses a needle to extract cells -- has been in his lab for only six months, he said.

Although there was little initial interest in the project, Thali said he and his 16 colleagues were now receiving queries from places such as Australia and Scandinavia.

Despite their strengths, Thali said virtual autopsies were unlikely to replace the scalpel variety any time soon.

"At the moment the regular autopsy, which is a very old procedure, is still the gold standard."

"We can use the system for a car crash victim," he said. "But not yet swine flu."

taken from : China Daily


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Producer plays down worries about A/H1N1 flu vaccine

In an interview with METRO, Liu Peicheng, media relations director of Sinovac Biotech Ltd, producer of China's first A/H1N1 flu vaccine, shares his views on the safety of the vaccine.

Two people who had been vaccinated in China died shortly after this month. Does this mean that the safety of the vaccine cannot be guaranteed?

We did clinical tests before administering the vaccination to prove that the vaccine was safe.

If anyone were to ask me whether the 18 million people who have received vaccinations were given a vaccine that was still under testing, I would say: certainly not!

It has been proven that the two people who died did not die because of the vaccine. They were suffering from other diseases.

This kind of coincidence is common for all vaccines.

A/H1N1 flu vaccine produced by Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

If a new variation of the A/H1N1 is formed, will the vaccine still work? If not, how long will it take for a new vaccine to be produced?

Generally speaking, a virus progresses in two directions. The first is that it gradually disappears; the other is that it gets more severe.

Vaccinations for the A/H1N1 virus may still work to some extent if a new variation is formed.

If it doesn't work, we cannot determine how long it will take for the new vaccine to be produced.

Why are elderly people and children the last groups to receive the vaccination?

The vaccine is less efficient for elderly people and kids. It still works and is strong enough to protect them, but we cannot provide vaccinations for everyone at the same time.

Students and workers in the public sectors are high-risk groups, we needed to take care of them first.

How does the vaccine work? Can it hurt the human body?

Let me put it simply. The vaccine is a part of the virus, which has been split and deactivated.

It is a small amount that will not harm you. When it enters your body, your immune system treats it as an enemy, what we call an antigen.

When introduced into the body, the antigen stimulates the production of an antibody, which can potentially protect the recipient from the disease for an entire lifetime.

Does the vaccine for A/H1N1 flu differ from the seasonal flu vaccine?

Yes, they are different. The virus outburst this year is a new strand of the A/H1N1 virus.

The vaccine for the regular seasonal flu contains three antigens - A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B, 15 mg of those three antigens respectively.

The vaccine we are producing only contains 15 mg of antigens, much less than the seasonal vaccine.

Did you get vaccination? Would you recommend your friends and relatives get it?

Yes, I did. I do recommend they receive the vaccination, because it is safe.

The reason why we only needed 87 days to produce the first vaccine is because the technique is developed.

The process is quite similar to producing the vaccine for the seasonal flu.

I think people have the right to choose whether they get vaccinated or not.

In fact, the disease is not as horrible as we are led to believe. Most people suffering from the disease can recover within a week.

However, for those who are working in public sectors, I think it is safer for them to get vaccinated to avoid getting and spreading the virus.

Will the vaccine work differently for people of different racial backgrounds?

No, there's no difference. The viral strain used to produce the vaccine was given to us by the World Health Organization.

Actually, this means that people from all over the world are receiving the same vaccine.

taken from : China Daily


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Miss Sevilla contestants wear traditional Sevillana dresses

Contestants of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing traditional Sevillana dresses pose for the media during a presentation in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 24, 2009.[Agencies]

A contestant of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing a traditional Sevillana dress attends a presentation in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 24, 2009.[Agencies]

Contestants of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing traditional Sevillana dresses attend a presentation in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 24, 2009.[Agencies]

Contestants of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing traditional Sevillana dresses pose for the media during a presentation in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 24, 2009.[Agencies]

Contestants of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing traditional Sevillana dresses attend a presentation in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 24, 2009.[Agencies]

Contestants of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing traditional Sevillana dresses stand in an elevator during a presentation in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 24, 2009.[Agencies]

A contestant of the Miss Sevilla pageant wearing a traditional Sevillana dress walks during a presentation in the Andalusian capital of Seville November 24, 2009.[Agencies]

taken from : China Daily


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Cast members at premiere of the movie "Zweiohrkueken" in Berlin

Cast member Nora Tschirner poses before the premiere of the movie "Zweiohrkueken" in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Cast members Till Schweiger (L), Nora Tschirner (C) and Matthias Schweighoefer arrive for the premier of the movie "Zweiohrkueken" in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Cast member Matthias Schweighoefer poses before the premiere of the movie "Zweiohrkueken" in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Cast members Till Schweiger (L) and Nora Tschirner arrive for the premiere of the movie "Zweiohrkueken" in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Members of the U.S. pop band One Republic pose for pictures before the premiere of the movie Zweiohrkueken in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Members of the U.S. pop band One Republic pose for pictures before the premiere of the movie "Zweiohrkueken" in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Actress Julia Dietze poses for pictures before the premiere of the movie Zweiohrkueken in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Cast members Till Schweiger (L), Nora Tschirner (C) and Matthias Schweighoefer arrive for the premiere of the movie "Zweiohrkueken" in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

Members of the U.S. pop band One Republic pose for pictures before the premiere of the movie Zweiohrkueken in Berlin November 24, 2009. [Agencies]

taken from : China Daily


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Exclusive site attracts young and wealthy

P1.cn members Xiaowei, Wenwen, Ding Xiaoran and Feifei (from left) attend a party at Vics night club in Beijing.

After a long day of hard work, Kevin Qian needs to unwind from the daily stress - and in P1.cn, an exclusive social networking site, he has found the perfect escape.

Like the 30-year-old IT and finance consultant, the website's members are mainly young affluent people.

"As a young person in China, it is important to feel like an individual," said Qian, who lives in Shanghai and has been a P1.cn member for more than a year.

"Most of the time I'm in an office wearing the same clothes as everyone else. It's terrible. Being able to escape from that make me feel very exclusive."

Swede Svante Jerling, the website's co-founder, said there is a demand from affluent Chinese aged between 20 and 40 to network with their peers.

Currently, the website has a network of around 550,000 online members in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, most of them women.

On average, each member would spend at least 4,000 yuan ($585) a month on clothes, electronics and partying.

P1.cn founders have looked to three other online communities: Stureplan.se in Sweden for its snapshots of young, attractive, rich people; Facebook for its interactive function and asmallworld.net in the US for its invite-only system. P1.cn is three in one.

For 25-year-old Kelly Lan, who works in finance in Beijing, P1.cn is not a place to build friendships. Instead, it is for business - finding models for her own fashion shop.

"I have seen some faces on the website that could fit my clothes," Lan said. "For me, business is the most important."

"You can make friends, but I am a very careful person. I keep a distance from people I don't know. (The website) It's just for fun and looking at pictures of parties."

To keep P1.cn exclusive, membership is only available through invitation from an existing member. Each member gets the right to invite three others to join. VIP membership cost 400 yuan a year and offers discount in nightclubs, KTV and shopping malls.

Jerling said services are developed to let this group of people network with those who share similar lifestyles.

"We have trend scouts who invite people to night clubs, department stores and high-end events," he said.

P1.cn is not just loaded with beautiful people, but also filled with advertising from top brands like Bentley, Canon and Versace.

"We can find our potential client here immediately," said Stella Jun, marketing manager at Lamborghini. "Bigger communities don't give us that insight. We want to be seen with young affluent people."

With P1.cn attracting larger numbers of hits, Jerling is optimistic about the company's future and its long-term goals.

"China did not only survive the global economy crisis, it continued to expand," he said. "It is really the place to be when it comes to dealing with luxury consumption."

taken from : China Daily


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Emma Watson's hockey date

Emma Watson was seen attending the New York Rangers ice hockey game last Saturday at Madison Square Garden with her friends Derek Blasberg (L, in picture 6 and picture 7), an American writer, and Rafael Cabrian (R), a Spanish musician and actor. The 19-year-old "Harry Potter" star seemed to be having a good time with her Spanish pal as they shared an order of cotton candy while talking to each other very closely. [Photo: ent.sina.com.cn]
















taken from : China Daily


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Hat designer to the nouveau riche

Founder of Elisabeth Koch Millinery, Koch has been developing her business and her brand in Beijing for the past two years. "I started making hats when I got to Beijing," she said. "I used to be a banker and I just remember thinking to myself: 'I gotta leave this banking world and do something I really want to do.'"

Her success can be attested by the prevalence of her hats in top Chinese fashion magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Insider, among others. Famous Chinese film stars have worn them. Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing of recent spy thriller The Message, wore her hats in the film.

Two stores in Beijing stock her hats: Eric Paris in the Kerry Center and Sanlitun Patio, and she has plans to sell them in Shanghai. Last month she held a fashion show at LAN Club that featured hats inspired by everything from local Beijing markets and the serenity of nature, to the intergalactic. Her method is reminiscent of British designer David Shilling's - get yourself noticed. A party-goer to the extent that she was ranked one of Insider magazine's top 100 socialites of 2009, Koch got herself into the Chinese fashion scene by attending parties wearing hats of her own creation.

Her hats are priced between 1,500-4,000 yuan. The reason, she said, is she tailor-makes most of them for clients. "If they want hats covered in pheasant feathers I do it, so those are crazy expensive."

It is too soon to say whether these two foreign milliners will be collaborative or competitive, but it is Koch who knows the market. "I actually have more foreign clients, but they buy fewer hats," she said. While she has fewer Chinese clients, they are prone to buy more. "One Chinese woman, a collector, bought 40 hats at once."

taken from : China Daily


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Shop green? Global survey lists top eco-friendly retailers

Pedestrians pass a Marks and Spencer store, in central London September 30, 2009.[Agencies]

SYDNEY - Eco-friendly managers and staff are the key to making a retailer go green, according to a study listing 15 of the world's top eco-friendly retailers in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

Researchers in Canada, Scotland, Japan, Spain and France interviewed 200 retailers to look at best environmental practices and help the industry in adopting sustainable practices that can also enhance their bottom line.

The researchers narrowed the list down to 15, finding that Mountain Equipment Co-op, IKEA Canada, Walmart and Home Depot were among the list of the leading green businesses in Canada.

They listed H-E-B in the United States, LUSH, Marks & Spencer, Alliance Boots, Monsoon and Tesco in Britain, Musgrave Group in Ireland, Monoprix and Carrefour in France, Aeon in Japan, and Woolworths in Australia.

Using solar panels and geothermal heating for energy sources and creating "eco ambassadors" to lead initiatives were some of the "green" activities underway but a common thread was the involvement of staff and managers.

"There has to be a commitment and passion from the CEO or senior management in order to implement sustainable practices," researcher Wendy Evans from Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Retail Management, Toronto, Canada, said in a statement.

"Once you have that in place, you can roll out a long-term plan that will benefit your company -- and win you more customers, who are demanding companies be more environmentally responsible."

Other common threads in the report published by Ryerson University's Center for the Study of Commercial Activity (CSCA) were recruiting external advisers to help develop an eco-friendly strategy, assigning staff with environmental responsibilities, and regularly updating sustainability policies and achievements.

The study found that energy and waste top the list of what companies measure for environmental reasons, with 80 percent of companies tracking the amount of waste produced, CO2 emissions, transportation and water usage.

But return on investment was also a central focus, with both large and small retailers aware that sustainability provides a healthy return on investment and further differentiates their business.

The three main approaches to measuring success was cost savings, carbon emissions reduction and revenue generation.

However the report, which also involved researchers from Scotland's University of Stirling, France's University of Metz, Japan's Hitotsubashi University and Spain's ESADE, said it was important to recognize and address barriers that might prevent retailers from adopting sustainable practices.

Externally, these included being located in an area without recycling while internally this could include lack of a champion, complicated technical language and a lack of knowledge.

taken from : China Daily


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2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Model Doutzen Kroes presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

A model presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

A model presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

A model presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

A model presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

A model presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

A model presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

Model Doutzen Kroes presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

Model Isabel Goulart presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

Model Alessandra Ambrosio presents a creation during the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York November 19, 2009.[Agencies]

taken from : China Daily


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