In year of tiger, hardly 50 roam China

China is struggling to save its less than 50 wild tigers even as the Chinese zodiac enters the lunar year of the tiger on Sunday.

Conservation efforts are honing in on the remote northeastern forests bordering Russia. There are an estimated 20 wild Amur tigers on the Chinese side. On the Russian side roam about 500 wild tigers where their numbers increased tenfold in 50 years.

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Central Asia welcomes China with new gas pipeline

Central Asia welcomed China's foray into their energy-rich region today as Chinese leader Hu Jintao prepared to open a new pipeline connecting a Turkmen gas field with China's restive Xinjiang region.

Leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan assembled in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat today to greet Hu on the eve of a ceremony to commission the 1,833-kilometre pipeline that snakes across Central Asia via their countries.

The pipeline marks a new stage in China's involvement in the former Soviet region and represents a snub to Russia which still sees the mainly Muslim region as part of its traditional sphere of influence.

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China drill was to be in Secunderabad

The Indian Army was initially in favour of Secunderabad (Hyderabad’s twin city) being the venue of the second joint Sino-Indian Army exercises in the country, well-placed South Block sources have revealed. The exercise, codenamed Exercise Handin-Hand, has started in Belgaum, Karnataka, which was ultimately selected as the venue. Sources indicated that it was felt in government circles that Belgaum should be the venue, probably because several sensitive defence establishments are located near Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Sources said that the thinking in government circles from the beginning was that the exercise could be held in southern India.

The Army had earlier considered other venues, including Mhow in Madhya Pradesh and Dehradun in Uttarakhand. But once it became clear that the exercise was to be held in southern India, the Army initially proposed that Secunderabad be the venue, sources said. This was due to several reasons.

Sources said that whenever exercises with a large neighbouring country like China are conducted, the focus is on showcasing the best in terms of infrastructure to gain what is known as “moral ascendancy”.

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Beijing signs off with another awesome display, next stop London 2012

Beijing packed another pyrotechnic punch at the Bird’s Nest tonight for the closing ceremony of the 29th Olympiad. Drawing on China’s rich tradition of acrobatics, filmmaker Zhang Yimou playfully drew on the theme of remembering to sign off China’s long fortnight under the most high-voltage spotlight.

China ended the Games with 51 gold medals, signaling the strongest domination of sport by a country since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The sport was intriguingly good at these Olympics, and barring any distressing news that may come by way of doping Beijing will be a marker for students of athletic excellence.

But for China, these Games have been as much about the staging of them as for the medal haul. China was keen to host them, and seven years ago made pledges to get them and asserted its ambitions for rapid development in preparing for them.

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Andhra emerges hub of uranium, thorium

Andhra Pradesh is emerging as the uranium and thorium hub of the country with new reserves of these rare minerals being unearthed in Chittoor and Warangal districts. Uranium has been found in Kadapa and Nalgonda districts while thorium reserves have been discovered in Visakhapatnam , Prakasam and Nalgonda districts.

The latest findings of uranium and thorium deposits in Manupatulagadda and Mallampalli areas of Warangal district and Allapakonta and Vembakam in Chittoor district comes at a time when India is planning to produce nuclear power in a big way. Researchers at the city-based atomic minerals directorate have also noticed rare earth elements such as Niobium along with iron, uranium and thorium in sediments of Pakhal basin in Warangal district.

AMD explorers have said in their research study that the Pakhal basin deposits were similar to the rare earth elements found in China.

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Beijing Games architecture aims to shock, awe

While feats of athletic brilliance may be the main focus of cameras during the Beijing Olympics, the telegenic venues set to host the athletes will draw their own share of gasps from admiring spectators.

Beijing's Olympic construction boom has bequeathed an 800-year-old city with some of the world's most futuristic architectural statements, potent symbols of a resurgent power's desire to showcase its development and mastery of technology.

"I think the venues show a new openness and tolerance among common Chinese people. They also show our amazing achievements," said Zheng Fang, a Chinese architect who worked on the acclaimed National Aquatics Centre, dubbed the "Water Cube" for its shape and bubbly facade.

The Olympic swimming venue, designed by a consortium of Arup engineers, architects from Australian firm PTW and Zheng's China Construction Design International (CCDI), competes with the adjacent National Stadium for the affections of thousands of camera-wielding tourists who flock to the main Olympic Green every day.

The 91,000-seat Herzog & de Meuron-designed National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest" for its lattice work of interwoven steel, has made such an impact as to displace late Chinese leader Mao Zedong's face from commemorative Olympic bank notes.

Standing together, the stadium and the swimming venue form "one of the most powerful urban precincts in the world," said John Bilmon, a principal director with PTW.

DRAGON'S BACK

Many Games visitors' first experience of Beijing's building ambitions, however, will start well before they get to the competition venues.

The city's new airport terminal designed by British architect Norman Foster is supposed to resemble a dragon, complete with triangular windows cut into the ceiling as though they were scales.

After touching down at the $3.6 billion terminal, passengers will be able to board a brand new airport train to the city centre, and then ride a new subway link to Beijing's business district, where the vertigo-inducing CCTV building looms improbably over lesser towers.

Designed by Rem Koolhaus' Office for Metropolitan Architecture as a subversion of the traditional skyscraper, the nearly completed headquarters for China's staid state broadcaster joins two towers sloped together with a gravity-defying canopy at 80 storeys' height.

The buildings are not just testament to China's engineering skills, but an authoritarian country's ability to rapidly mobilize manpower and resources, according to Ming Liang, a design professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

"Authorities can simply order 1,000 of the country's best welders to leave their homes and come weld the 'Bird's Nest' together in Beijing," said Ming. "This is what can be done here."

Politics, which have re-shaped Beijing's landscape for more than eight centuries, have also played an undeniable part in the city's modern transformation.

Architects see little coincidence in the Olympic Green's location directly north of the Forbidden City and its modern equivalent Zhongnanhai, where the Communist Party's top leaders live and govern in almost total secrecy.

"No wealth or power can be concentrated in the south as that would be challenging the king. All rich people live behind the king on the left and the right," said Ming.

WORLD'S BEST IN BEIJING

The controversial National Theatre, a shiny half-sphere that looms south of imperial-era Zhongnanhai, is an exception to the rule, albeit one endorsed by opera fan and former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, reportedly the first soloist to grace the stage on its completion last year.

While eye-catching and widely praised, Beijing's new architectural marvels have also weathered a storm of criticism, from academics complaining of a developing country's wastefulness, to environmental experts panning the venues for not living up to the "Green Olympics" pledge.

Chinese architect Ai Weiwei, a design consultant for the "Bird's Nest", last year said he regretted that the stadium he helped inspire had become a symbol of a one-party state's "fake" Olympic smile.

Other architects prefer to focus on the benefits derived from the global skills and technologies concentrated for the Olympic construction.

"In reality, in building these stadiums and other buildings like the CCTV Tower, we brought the world's best technology and masters to Beijing," said CCDI's Zheng.

Criticizing China for wanting to showcase its development achievements is in any case misguided, said Tristram Carfrae, a structural engineer for Arup and the mastermind behind the Water Cube's playful facade.

"If you look at Beijing's history of architecture and design as being about monumentalism, about the grand statement, then why should these sport venues be any different?"

Discovery may lead to quake early-warning system

Scientists working at California's San Andreas Fault have detected subtle geological changes occurring hours before an earthquake that could enable them to develop an early-warning system aimed at saving lives.

Their instruments detected geological changes most likely caused by tiny fractures forming in the rock ahead of an impending earthquake due to stress in the Earth's crust, according to seismologist Paul Silver of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, one of the researchers.

"It's the opening up of cracks before an earthquake," Silver said in a telephone interview.

The research, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, was conducted using wells dug 0.6 miles deep into the quake-prone fault at Parkfield, California.

Their equipment generated and recorded seismic waves before, during and after two small quakes, allowing them to observe these small, predictive geological changes.

In the first case, the geological signals occurred 10 hours before a magnitude 3 quake in December 2005. The same sort of signals also occurred two hours before a magnitude 1 quake that happened five days later, the researchers said.

"We are very encouraged by these observations, and we are planning for more experiments to confirm whether these changes are part of the general physical processes before an earthquake," seismologist Fenglin Niu of Rice University in Houston said in a telephone interview.

EVACUATIONS?

Scientists have made strides in understanding earthquakes, but finding changes in the Earth's crust that could allow for an advance prediction has remained difficult.

Current earthquake warning systems provide at best a few seconds notice before an earthquake strikes.

The findings were published just two months after a powerful earthquake in China. The May 12 quake in Sichuan province killed about 80,000 people, with many killed when buildings such as schools collapsed.

"To get the point where we have a practical early warning system for earthquakes, that's still a ways off -- 10 years, maybe 20," Silver said.

If more research finds this effect to be pervasive before earthquakes, these findings may make that goal attainable, the researchers said.

"No matter how much time you have, there's something you can do. Even with a few seconds, you can automatically turn off gas valves. You may even be able to get a hard hat on your head or run outside of a building," Silver said.

"But with something on the order of 10 hours, you could perhaps evacuate populations, you could certainly get people out of city centers and areas that are deemed dangerous."

Korea, United States break nuke deadlock

North Korea submitted a long delayed declaration of its nuclear program on Thursday, as the Bush administration immediately responded by saying it would remove the country it once described as part of the "axis of evil" from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The declaration was believed to provide a partial, though important, view of North Korea's nuclear capability, and it marked a significant step forward in a multi-national effort to end the country's drive to build nuclear weapons.

China, which has hosted the six-nation talks on the North's nuclear program, said Thursday afternoon that the North would abide by Thursday's deadline to submit its declaration. But an hour later, South Korea, another participant, said the North had already handed the declaration to China.

Whatever the source of the confusion, the White House announced shortly afterward that it would remove North Korea from the terrorism list and thus make it eligible for aid and assistance, a goal long sought by the cash-starved country.

The North was scheduled to follow up on Friday by blowing up a cooling tower at its Yongbyon reactor, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang. Pyongyang has invited officials and television networks from the five nations negotiating with the North on its nuclear program - the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia - to witness the tower's demolition. But the destruction, which is expected to be broadcast live, will be largely symbolic since the reactor was disabled late last year under American supervision. U.S. officials expected that the declaration, which had been due at the end of last year, would provide details about North Korea's nuclear facilities and programs, including the amount of plutonium produced at its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon.

"I do think it's important to note that if we can verifiably determine the amount of plutonium that has been made, we then have an upper hand in understanding what may have happened in terms of weaponization," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, after arriving in Kyoto, Japan, on Thursday for a Group of 8 meeting.

Ms Rice added that the declaration was "a natural step on the way to dealing verifiable with the devices or weapons themselves."

Partly to deflect criticism from hard-line critics in Washington that the current deal was too soft on North Korea, American officials have emphasized the importance of the information on plutonium. The North is believed to have produced enough weapons-grade plutonium at its reactor in Yongbyon to make as many as half a dozen bombs.

But, significantly, the North's declaration was not expected to reveal details on three critical points: the nuclear bombs the North has already produced; its alleged attempts to produce nuclear arms by secretly enriching uranium, which triggered the ongoing crisis in 2002; and accusations that the North helped Syria build a nuclear plant.

Some of the missing details, particularly on the North's existing nuclear bombs, are expected to be revealed at the next stage of the step-by-step agreement.

Gujarat turns to Shanghai developers to build a ‘towering’ financial hub

Mumbai's Shanghai dreams may not have taken off, but Gujarat may soon be getting there. The state is working on a customised financial services and business district, to be designed by a company that has built more than two-third of Shanghai’s buildings.

A team of designers from the East China Architectural Design and Research Institute (ECADI) was here last week to present concept designs of six skyscrapers — one may possibly be the tallest in India — for the planned Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT).

The project, which will be located along the eastern banks of Sabarmati on the outskirts of Gandhinagar, will have the region’s tallest high rise — over 350 metres. The signature skyscraper is likely to be called “The Diamond Tower” to mark Gujarat’s eminence as the diamond hub of the world.

The other highrises too will be based on a special theme. While promoters are tightlipped about the project details, the towers are expected to measure 200-350 metres high, and will “carry the imprint of Gujarat’s cultural heritage”.

“First, we have to sell the space,” says GIFT chairman Sudhir Mankad, amid hectic parleys that have seen memoranda of understanding for over 80 million sq ft of business space against 75 million sq ft planned for the first phase by 2010.

A joint venture between the Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), GIFT is to be benchmarked as a global finance hub on the lines of London Dockyards, Lujiazui Shanghai, or Shinjuku in Tokyo.

While some work in the form of levelling of land has already begun, sources say the construction activity was likely to begin in September. Spread over 500 acres, the core area of GIFT would be a showcase business district, with its engineering geared for a “plug-n-play” and “walk-to-work” concepts.

“Details are being worked out keeping in mind 100 years of scalability, so that the ground infrastructure would need no changes,” say sources.

The hub will be connected to the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad highway through two landmark bridges on the Sabarmati and a possible tunnel under the river.

“Given the scale, much underground work will need to be done in terms of laying the cables, pipes, wires to enable those highrises,” say government officials.

With the Gujarat government and IL&FS contributing Rs 25 crore each by way of equity, GIFT would also consider going public in more favourable market conditions. The construction cost is pegged at Rs 50,000 crore. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office say GIFT would be hawked during the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit.

ECADI is credited with building or designing prestigious landmark buildings in Shanghai like the Shanghai World Financial Centre (101 floors, 492 m), Shimao International Plaza (60 floors, 330 m), 21st Century Tower (48 floors, 180 m), Jin Mao Tower (88 floors, 421 m), Pudong International Airport, Shanghai Oriental Art Centre, and the Shanghai Supreme People’s Court.

Chinese man pulled to safety eight days after quake

A man was pulled alive from the rubble of a power plant on Tuesday, eight days after China's deadly earthquake and just hours after predictions of another tremor sent thousands running on to streets in terror.

Ma Yuanjiang was rescued in Wenchuan county, epicenter of the May 12 quake in mountainous Sichuan province, after 179 hours buried in the rubble, state media said.

His rescue came as authorities tried to restore calm in the provincial capital, Chengdu, after tens of thousands rushed into the streets alarmed by a television prediction of another powerful earthquake.

That, along with fresh aftershocks and forecast heavy rain, compounded the difficulties for military, government and private workers trying to ensure millions of homeless are fed and housed.

Anger was building among bereaved parents in Sichuan over the way many school buildings had collapsed, burying whole classrooms full of children. In one town, in a rare public protest, hundreds demanded punishment for anyone guilty of shoddy construction.

Chengdu residents rushed from their homes before midnight on Monday, alarmed by the prediction of another earthquake after the 7.9 magnitude tremor on May 12.

Hundreds of aftershocks have been felt over the past week, bringing down more buildings and causing landslides. A few hours after the television report, a 5-magnitude tremor was felt.

But on Tuesday, provincial television screened interviews with a series of seismological bureau officials to explain the prediction and calm a jangled populace.

"Just because you can feel aftershocks, it doesn't mean they will hurt you. Of course, that doesn't mean you should stand in harm's way," said Han Weiding, researcher with the local seismological bureau.

ANGER OVER SCHOOLS

The pandemonium showed how nerves have been stretched to breaking point by the main quake and its aftershocks, now known to have killed more than 34,000 and injured 245,000.

"I think the television coverage is overdoing it. They're scaring people," said a hotel worker surnamed Li, who spent the night in a public park.

The most lamented victims of the quake have been the thousands of children who died when school buildings collapsed.

In Juyuan town, hundreds of grieving parents demanded an annual memorial day for their children, punishment of officials or builders responsible for shoddy schools, and compensation.

"How come all the houses didn't fall down, but the school did? And how come that happened in so many places?" demanded Zhao, whose two daughters were crushed to death.

"We want a memorial day for the children, but we also want criminal prosecution of those responsible, no matter who they are."

As China's ruling Communist Party seeks to maintain a staunch front of unity and stability after the quake, the incipient protests by parents could be troublesome, for many of them blame official graft and laxity, more than nature, for the deaths.

HOPE REMAINS

The number of dead from the May 12 quake, the worst to hit China since 1976, is expected to rise dramatically. The Communist Party chief in Sichuan said on Monday nearly 30,000 were still missing and a further 5,000 were believed buried under rubble.

Ma's release raised hopes of further rescues. In 1990, a quake survivor was pulled out alive two weeks after being buried under a collapsed hotel in the northern Philippines.

Rescuers found Ma on Saturday when they were digging a hole trying to reach a colleague, Yu Jinhua, Xinhua news agency said.

"Following an amputation operation, Yu was rescued at about 6 p.m. on May 18," Xinhua said. "Rescuers then turned to Ma and sent sweetened water to him through a straw."

Rescuers had reached the most remote areas of the province by Monday, but roads to some 50 affected towns and villages were still blocked by rocks and mudslides.

Whole towns have been flattened in mountainous areas north and west of Chengdu, and about 4.8 million people are homeless. Housing and feeding during the long-term rebuilding effort will prove a major challenge.

The quake warning also prompted panic in neighboring Chongqing municipality and Guizhou province.

"The panic was much worse in Guizhou, where reports of a frog and toad migration also spread public fear," Xinhua said.

In Tongzi county in Zunyi, a city in the north of Guizhou that borders Sichuan and Chongqing, "some villagers said they saw a massive migration of frogs and toads on Monday night, which they took as quake forecast", Xinhua said, quoting Zunyi's Vice Mayor, Zeng Yongtao.

He said the city government was investigating.

Strong china quake felt as far as Thailand

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck China's Sichuan province on Monday, less than 100 km (60 miles) from the provincial capital of Chengdu, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website.

The quake was felt across much of China and as far west as Bangkok, Thailand's capital, some 3,300 km (2050 miles) away, where office buildings swayed for several minutes.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties or damage from the tremor.

"We felt continuous shaking for about two or three minutes. All the people in our office are rushing downstairs. We're still feeling slight tremblings," said an office worker in Chengdu.

In Beijing's financial district, many workers poured from their buildings but there were no visible signs of damage. The subway system was unaffected.

"People were shouting 'get out, get out', so we all ran out of our dorm," said a student surnamed Zhang at a university in nearby Chongqing.

USGS said on its website (http://earthquake.usgs.gov) that the quake struck at 2:28 a.m. EDT (0628 GMT) at a depth of 29 kms (18 miles). The agency originally put the strength of the quake at 7.8.

Japan's meteorological agency said no warnings for a tsunami has been issued.

Sources said there was no immediate impact to the Three Gorges Dam project, the weight of whose massive reservoir, hundreds of kms from Chengdu, experts have said could increase the risk of tremors.

A spokesman for the China Earthquake Administration said it was still checking the epicenter and scale of the tremor.

Worldwide Mentality Movements

Signs of the Time’s Top 15 of the Coolest Worldwide is compiled by the most reputable network of trend watchers and market experts on this planet. That’s a fact that we’re proud to mention. The network filters the new up and coming worldwide mentality trends with substance and potential. No hypes or gadgets that will be soon forgotten, but worldwide trends that matter. Among Signs of the Time’s Trend Filters are Marian Salzman (New York) whose bestsellers have been published in 42 languages, and Joe Pine (Chicago), the man who is now gracing the cover of Times Magazine with his new book Authenticity and who uncovered Experience Economy as one of the leading consumer trends. But also Mark Simpson (London) is one of our Trend Filters, the man who first conceptualized the metro sexual, and Dorine Baas (Berlin),Sony BMG’s vice president of Home Entertainment and Matsume Kai (Shanghai) the top Asian trend watcher of this moment, Josh Levine (Los Angeles) who runs one of the biggest viral marketing agencies of the American West Coast, Andre do Vall (Sao Paulo) editor in chief of South America’s best fashion magazine and Jan van Mol (South Africa) with his vast worldwide network of designers and creatives, round up this (too) short introduction of (some of) our Trend Filters. Their constant contributions and insights have led us to the following three world trends with future growth potential.

World trend 1: the environment

Worldwide the avant garde is fighting for a better treatment of the environment. Of course this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but never before has the general consensus been so overwhelmingly negative about the future of our world. Our Trend Filters aren’t the only ones that have picked up on it; also academic literature has shown a keen interest into this trend. Never before has there been such a kaleidoscopic range of strategies to turn things around. John Grant - founder of London’s famous advertising agency St. Lukes – has introduced Howies, a sustainable fashion line. The buyer of a Howies piece of clothing promises to not throw it out when they stop wearing it but give it away. Howies itself promises to keep spare parts like zippers and buttons for the next twenty years in case somebody needs to patch up with original parts. Enzo Delvarme, a journalist and photographer for the world’s best magazines, documents the almost for free green bicycles in Paris for us. He has also focuses our attention on the designer gardens on top of American sky scrapers that combine sustainability with the need for more green in the city. This all however can be magnified to a grander scale as Matsume Kai, Shanghai’s most famous trend watcher, points out when she mentions the construction of the world’s first eco-city Dong Tan in China. Recently China has started doing what we in the West have been doing for decades: contributing to the detriment of the world’s environment. We have all seen the pictures of their polluted rivers. Less well known however is that the Chinese are also pioneering the research in technological and social solutions for environmental problems. A head honcho of a Fortune 500 company recently confided me that Western technologies were no longer leading the charge in this regard. For new products and technologies the focus was now solely on India and China because “there is where it’s at, right now this moment – and further in the future”, according to him. Of course the West shouldn’t be completely ignored. Diddo Velema (New York) has mentioned that Xerox is currently working on printer-ink that disappears over time and renders the paper that was printed on reusable. An example contributed by Pim Derneden (an inhabitant of the virtual world): www.superuse.org, is an online community where creatives from all over the world share inventive ways of reusing products: an Mac computer is transformed into an aquarium and an old Apple casing is reused as a mailbox.

Will the attention for the environment wane over time? Not a single Trend Filter of Signs of the time answers this in the positive. And the leading academic literature agrees with them. The problems are way too urgent for the contemporary attention to just fade away over time: the first islands of the Maldives are currently being evacuated because it is suspected that soon they will disappear under water; within ten years large portions of northern China will be without water; within ten years large portions of the world’s waters will have been alarming depleted of fish. And almost everyone would rather ignore the problems than open their eyes and realize what’s going on. This will ensure that the environment will stay at the top of the agenda and will garner so much attention that overtime a small minority will even start to provocatively negate the situation with a ‘who cares’ attitude. A temporary and stupid attitude.

World trend 2: Web 2.0

Getting tired of Web 2.0? Do you crave a hip and new name? Well, we’re going to have to disappoint you . There is no need to come up with a bloated name that detracts from what already is a pretty vital and versatile trend. The trend is continually housing the possibility for new innovation just like the environment. And we predict that this will not stop anytime soon.

Iconic for Web 2.0 is has put the record industry upside down since at least half a decade. The development is continuing, however, showing new faces all the time. New business models have to be adopted to accommodate the change in consumer attitudes. Innovate example is www.sellaband.com where new bands can upload their music and search for fans and believers. If 500 of these each invest €100 in ‘their’ band, it gets the opportunity to record an album professionally. These investors then get a copy of the CD and: a share in the profits of the CD. Another Web 2.0 example: For those who want to explore Shanghai for instance but don’t understand Chinese and don’t want to take the slick tourist route there is www.likealocal.cn. In plain old English you get to know the local hotspots where the Chinese actually go to eat and relax. Web 2.0 example, there is www.hubbuzz.com that typifies itself as a dating site for houses where you get to learn more about your potential home through recommendations given by the neighbors. In the old days, you could hire a realtor to find out if the neighborhood’s property values are rising, or if the neighborhood’s safe, or if it’s a creative environment or if there are good schools in the area. But these realtors are there to sell you a product and so they will present the house as attractively as possible for each individual client. Www.hubbuzz.com, this real estate broker 2.0. example, changes all that by taking the realtor out of the equation and presenting the houses and the neighborhoods through the eyes of the people who actually live there.

What do Sell-A-Band, Like A Local and Hubbuzz have in common? All three provide a more powerful, honest and authentic experience that was unimaginable without the Internet, or to be more precise without the innovative nature of Web 2.0. It’s a platform that gives people the opportunity to give and receive unbiased information from likeminded And it gives you an opportunity to contact and meet them in their own setting. It brings you closer to actually experiencing Shanghai like a local. And then, third people. The applications are innumerable and we have only just begun to explore the possibilities of Web 2.0; there is much more to come.

World trend 3: Experience Economy, a new generation of flag ships

The development of the Experience Economy is the third worldwide mentality trend that we have spotted. Smart types will be quick to assume that this trend is not new anymore and therefore: old. Wrong! It is a very solid worldwide trend showing us new faces all the time. It’s a trend that is developing in many different ways in many different markets. People have started to realize that material possessions aren’t really as fulfilling as they once assumed. They’re not providing the same emotional high as they once did. Only memorable and cherished moments in life are providing these highs and people crave more of these moments. This craving is what fuels the experience economy: the marketing of the memorable experience. But a memorable experience will become stale if repeated too long. Therefore the creation of a memorable experience has to evolve. Nike flag ship stores were for instance were once synonymous with the concept of the Experience Economy, but they haven’t evolved beyond what they initially brought to the table. They are now considered archaic and contrived. Signs of the time’s Trend Filter Joe Pine point into more innovative directions: flag ship stores where one isn’t only shallowly in contact with the product but actually discovers what makes the products so unique and worthy of your attention and ultimately your money. The Ipod stores for instance where you get the complete ins and outs of the product or the new USA Nokia stores where the prime directive isn’t to quickly sell you a new mobile phone but to get you properly acquainted with the Nokia phone you already have! In the Nokia store you are given the opportunity to rediscover what makes the product so amazing and just like in the Ipod store you are led deeper into the experiential framework of the product. The INGcafe’s in North-America are also exemplary of this further exploration of the products that you already have at your disposal. The banking industry in many parts of the world first pushed the customer out of the store by placing ATM’s outside of the buildings as if telling the customer to leave them alone. But now the banking industry has realized that this attitude wasn’t really keeping their customers happy and loyal. The ING café’s are now pulling the customers back into the building with a setup where one can eat and drink a la Starbucks. Financial workshops are organized and ING professionals provide helpful service – it’s like a really good blog but then materialized in the physical world with physical people and coffee. You’re pulled deeper into the product to fully explore its potential and its specificity. In Joe Pine’s new bestseller Authenticity he scientifically dives deeper into this phenomenon and this marriage between trends and science is exactly what we strive for in the Top 15 of the Coolest Worldwide on www.signsofthetime.nl.

Dr. Carl C.Rohde leads Signs of the Time, a worldwide network of market- and trend researchers. He will soon be instituted as the tenured professor and chair of the Fontys School for Quality Concepts Development. And he is always looking to broaden his international network. Contact: Carl.Rohde@signsofthetime.nl

San Francisco braces for wild Olympic torch run

The Olympic torch embarks on its only U.S. relay in San Francisco on Wednesday, where large protests against Chinese policies are expected in a city famous for its tradition of demonstrations.

The fierce protests in London and Paris in recent days -- efforts that succeeded even in extinguishing the flame for brief periods -- have put city officials on edge and prompted a continuous revision of their planning.

"It's getting a little scarier," said retired State Appellate Court Judge Harry Low, a prominent figure in the city's Chinese-American community. "The intensity of the opposition to the torch and to China seems to be increasing."

"It may be a very touchy situation for law enforcement."

The official route takes the torch from near the city's baseball stadium along its scenic waterfront to the Fisherman's Wharf area favored by tourists. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said he expected tens of thousands to attend and hundreds of police to patrol the route.

"I'm not naive to the challenge associated with this event," he said on Tuesday.

The mayor said the route and other details of the running could change to respond to events in a city where a fifth are of Chinese descent. Newsom said one of 80 torchbearers had pulled out of the event.

Authorities are also stepping up patrols on the Golden Gate Bridge after three protesters scaled its cables on Monday to hang pro-Tibet banners.

China's crackdown on anti-government protests in Tibet in March, which it says were orchestrated by Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has drawn sharp international criticism and clouded preparations for the Beijing Olympics in August.

On Wednesday, Qiangba Puncog, the head of the Himalayan region, said Chinese police have detained 953 people suspected of involvement in last month's riots.

DIVIDED REACTION

How to respond to the torch has divided the Chinese-American community and San Francisco's most prominent politicians, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Pelosi has called on U.S. President George W. Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies in China and she traveled last month to India to meet the Dalai Lama. "I commend those who speak out for their commitment to shining a light on the causes that challenge the conscience of the world," Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The people are making a significant statement that the Olympic ideals of peace and harmony should apply to all people, including those in Tibet and Darfur."

Feinstein has urged a moderate line to encourage dialogue with China and the people of Tibet.

The planned San Francisco protests have irritated some in the Chinese community, the largest of any major U.S. city, many of whom are proud their ancestral motherland is hosting the global sporting event.

The Olympics first held a torch relay in 1936, the year dictator Adolf Hitler made the Berlin games a showcase of Nazi propaganda. That torch run is captured in one of the most famous -- and infamous -- Olympic movies ever made, Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia."

Although subsequent Olympics have sparked political controversy -- such as the 1980 Games in Moscow shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and a U.S. boycott -- the torch run has not lured protesters.

"Up to this moment, the Olympic torch relay has been free of any protest actions," said Anthony Bijkerk, secretary general of the International Society of Olympic Historians in the Netherlands. "It has nothing to do with politics."