Thousands of Harry Potter fans across Asia -- and the rest of the world -- donned black cloaks, witches' caps and wire-rimmed glasses to cheer the arrival of the latest installment in the boy-wizard's adventures.
Bookstores around the world opened their doors early yesterday and began handing out copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the latest volume in J.K. Rowling's wildly popular children's series, which looks set to become the fastest-selling book in history.
Publishers say up to 10 million copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince could fly off the shelves in the first 24 hours, as "Pottermania" broke out in Sydney, Beijing, Edinburgh, New York and around the planet.
PHOTO: HSIEH WU-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
In Australia, thousands of "Pottermaniacs," some carrying live snakes, besieged bookstores in the outback, in the country's snowfields and along its beaches.
Before dawn in Sydney, 1,000 fans boarded a special train called the Gleewarts Express which took them to a secret location outside the city where they received their copies in the early morning.
Hundreds more fans crammed into one of central Sydney's largest bookstores to snatch up their copies of the 607-page tome.
Seventeen-year-old Mohammed Jalili-Baleh said he couldn't wait to know what adventures awaited him inside the cover of Rowling's latest book. He and a friend spent more than 12 hours to be the first to get their copies.
"I'm an obsessed fan," he said. "They grip you. When you read one sentence, you don't want to put it down."
In Scotland, children descended on Edinburgh, where Rowling read from the latest book the moment witching hour passed at one minute past midnight.
"I am excited," she said on her way into a dramatically lit Edinburgh Castle. "You get a lot of answers in this book."
Just hours after the book was released, Web sites were already running plot summariesa.
In China, about 40 customers gathered outside the Wangfujing Bookstore in Beijing to buy hardcover copies in English for 178 yuan (US$21) each. It sold 200 books in the first hour and had 4,000 in stock, a spokeswoman said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique