TODAY   |  September 21, 2013

Mystery clown spooks British town

In a sleepy English town something very strange is going on, and it has people looking over their shoulders. Known as the Northampton clown, he carries balloons, and sometimes a teddy bear, but doesn’t speak. NBC’s Duncan Golestani reports.

 

http://ca.eonline.com/news/460698/northampton-clown-terrorizes-u-k-town-at-night-but-says-he-just-wants-to-amuse-people
 

Meteor fireball screams across the sky in Russia

Buildings were damaged and more than 400 people suffered injuries, most of them minor, when chunks of space rock plummeted into the Russian Urals this morning. NBC's Duncan Golestani reports
A huge meteorite flared through the skies over Russia's Chelyabinsk region early Friday, triggering a powerful shock wave that injured hundreds of people. NBC News

(Source: Radio-Canada) La compagnie américaine Hasbro qui produit le célèbre jeu de société Monopoly a annoncé qu'un jeton en forme de chat va remplacer celui du fer à repasser. La décision a été prise par les internautes à l'occasion d'une consultation mondiale.

Le fer à repasser faisait partie du jeu depuis son invention en 1935. Le chat arrivera dans les boîtes d'ici quelques mois, en tout cas avant la fin de l'année, a précisé Hasbro.

Les internautes du monde entier étaient appelés à voter sur la page Facebook de la compagnie américaine, du 9 janvier au 5 février, pour choisir quel jeton ils voulaient éliminer du jeu, et au profit de quel autre, entre un chat, une bague en diamant, une guitare, un robot jouet ou un hélicoptère.

Hasbro précise que 31% des répondants, émanant de 185 pays, ont choisi le chat pour remplacer le fer à repasser, que seuls 7% des participants voulaient garder. Le petit chien, un terrier écossais, a été pour sa part le jeton préféré « à sauver ».

Le Monopoly a été inventé par Charles Darrow, un vendeur au chômage, et c'est sa jeune nièce qui avait suggéré de prendre pour jetons des porte-bonheur en métal à l'image de ceux des bracelets de l'époque, précise la compagnie.

Plus de 250 millions de boîtes de jeu, traduites dans 37 langues, ont été vendues dans plus de 100 pays. Pour l'anecdote, Hasbro imprime plus de billets de jeu que la Banque Fédérale des États-Unis.

China tears down house in middle of highway after owner agrees to demolition

By the Associated Press:

Authorities have demolished a five-story home that stood incongruously in the middle of a new main road and had become the latest symbol of resistance by Chinese homeowners against officials accused of offering unfair compensation.

Xiayangzhang village chief Chen Xuecai told The Associated Press the house was bulldozed Saturday after its owners, duck farmer Luo Baogen and his wife, agreed to accept compensation of 260,000 yuan ($41,000).

‘Nail house’ holds up traffic as homeowners fight local government

BEIJING – In the “there today, gone tomorrow” world of Chinese construction, entire communities can often disappear and be replaced by high rises or other public works in a matter of weeks or months without any sign of its past residents.

Municipal officials in Wenling had been planning a new access road that would lead to a new railway station just outside the city.To make way for the road though, city planners decided they would have to tear down a section of homes in the nearby village of Xiazhangyang that were in its path.

Through methods that range at times from fair compensation all the way down to cajoling, intimidation, beatings and forced evictions, local governments tend to get their way when they have their hearts set on projects.

However, every once in a while, even after the majority of landowners in an area are persuaded to give up their property, one or two steely owners will stand their ground either on principle or determination to squeeze out more compensation from the government.

These lone homes that stand in the way of progress have been nicknamed “nail houses,” on account of the difficulty in prying them out of the earth.

In this case, two families who occupy this five-story building have refused to hand over their property, arguing that the compensation being offered by city officials was insufficient.

One of the residents, Zhang Ling, 46, told the U.K’s Mirror newspaper: “They didn’t offer us enough compensation to leave, so we’re staying.”

The financial motivations for these nail house owners to hold out are understandable: Real estate prices in China have skyrocketed in recent years due in no small part to inflation and a lack of other financial vehicles for Chinese to invest their money here on the mainland.

Insufficient compensation from local officials then would make it extremely difficult for homeowners to buy new properties in the areas they live in now, much less closer to the cities that have swallowed up their homes.

Perhaps wary of looking like they are bullying residents, Wenling officials have gone to the building owners with offers, but have been roundly rejected each time. Nevertheless, in a sign of the times here, the government went ahead with the road, simply building around the dilapidated structu

The road has yet to be officially opened, but homeowner Zhang seemed optimistic about his plight.

“It could be a great opportunity for us,” Zhang told the Mirror. “We could open up a drive-though shop on the ground floor.” (NBCNews.com)
.Au Québec, ce sont des poteaux qu’on laisse au milieu des routes. En Chine, ce sont des maisons. Celle-ci appartient à un vieux couple de la province du Zhejiang qui refuse l’expropriation. Les automobilistes doivent donc contourner le problème.