China's Mandarin Oriental Hotel Goes Up in Flames

Last night, just as the Chinese Lunar New Year comes to a close, a small fire, within 13 minutes turned into an inferno and engulfed the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Luckily it wasn't opened yet and there were no people inside the building. Some people had thought that it was just a show since fireworks were still going on for the last day of the celebration. But it soon became apparent that it was not a show. As the new building of the hotel giant went up in flames, thousands of onlookers took out their cameras and cellphones to take pictures. Fred Rice, who is a British iReporter says about the fire, "We weren't sure if it was gas canisters or what. It was a spectacular sight for sure." Although seeing a huge building engulfed in flames really is an interesting scene, spectacular might not be the correct word to describe it. All jokes aside, there were no injuries reported even though there were people within 60 yards of the building before the firefighters arrived to block off the perimeter. The new CCTV building, a broadcasting station, as well as other buildings near the fire was untouched by the flames.

The picture to the right shows the burning tower, the CCTV tower, and some spectators.

Somali Pirates Steal Fertilizer, Leaves Oil Tanker

Two days ago on New Year's Day, the pirates in Somali who have been in the spotlight quite often recently, attacked two ships. One was a cargo ship containing 6000 tons of fertilizer and the other an oil tanker. They successfully hijacked the fertilizer-carrying cargo ship. As for the oil tanker, when two of the pirate's smaller sized speed boats, one carrying seven people, began their attack by firing at the tanker, the captain put the tanker on maximum speed and began to avoid pirates using evasive maneuvers, as crew members sent out an SOS message. 15 nautical miles away, a Malaysian frigate received the message and within minutes a light military helicopter arrived and the pirates ceased their attack. The crew of the oil tanker must've had a very happy and lucky start for the New Years, a worried start for those involved in the captured fertilizer ship, a series of headaches soon to come for negotiators to free the hostages, and an exceedingly frustrating start for the pirate boss who was probably planning for a celebration with all the oil he would've had.