Spitting in public, cutting into a queue and bad driving top the list of irritations for most Asians, according to a survey released by Reader's Digest yesterday.
Poor service in shops and restaurants also got on the nerves of 82 percent of 3,600 people surveyed around Asia, said the study due to be published in next month's edition of the magazine.
Although spitting is a common practice in China, it proves to be an extreme offense for more than nine out of 10 people in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Editor-in-chief Jim Plouffe believes the SARS crisis raised public awareness of health concerns in the country.
The survey quoted one young man in Shanghai who said: "Every time I step out of a car, I see a blob of something on the road. It's not just disturbing, it harms the image of our city."
Poor personal hygiene, dog mess in the streets and parks, littering, swearing, smoking and noisy neighbors also made the list -- but the survey found there was lots more, too.
Lack of punctuality, computer crashes, crowded public transport, telemarketers, Internet pop-up ads and people talking loudly on mobile phones were cited.
Some people also named parents who don't control their kids in public, leering old men and dirty toilets as sources of annoyance.
North Korea blew up sections of roads in its own territory that are part of links once used to connect the southern part of the peninsula with the north, in a show of defiance after it accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang. North Korea detonated bombs north of its eastern and western borders at around noon yesterday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. South Korea’s military later fired off warning shots within its border, said the JCS, which also confirmed there were no reports of damage in South Korea from the detonations. A video released by the South Korean
It is usually a serene two-and-a-half-hour ride on Japan’s famously efficient bullet train, but on Saturday, the journey quickly descended into a zombie apocalypse, with passengers screaming in terror. Organizers of the adrenaline-filled trip, less than two weeks before Halloween, touted it as the world’s first haunted house experience on a running Shinkansen. On board one chartered car of the Shinkansen, about 40 thrill-seekers were ready to brave an encounter with the living dead between Tokyo and the western metropolis of Osaka. The eerie experience was inspired by the hit 2016 South Korean action-horror movie Train to Busan, in which a father and
A member of chart-topping K-pop group NewJeans yesterday tearfully testified to South Korean lawmakers as part of an inquiry into workplace harassment, amid a boardroom drama over her super producer. In recent years, South Korea’s K-pop industry has become a global juggernaut powered by the success of groups like BTS, but domestically it is known for imposing strict standards and controls on fledgling stars. Rising K-pop idols are expected to adhere to their powerful agency’s behavior and appearance guidelines, with many stars describing receiving extreme backlash from fans over perceived mistakes in their personal lives, for example dating. Hanni, 20, who is
IRANIAN THREATS: Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami said that it would be a ‘mistake’ for Israel to attack Iran and if it did ‘we will strike you again painfully’ Israel yesterday bombed a Syrian coastal city, while the US conducted multiple strikes on targets in Yemen nearly a month into Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Syria, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza all belong to the so-called “axis of resistance” led by Iran, which on Oct. 1 conducted a missile strike on Israel. Israel has vowed to retaliate for the strike. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami yesterday said in a speech that Tehran would hit Israel “painfully” if it attacks Iranian targets. “If you make a mistake and attack our targets, whether in the region or in