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Egypt

Hot-Air Balloon Crash Kills 18 Foreign Tourists In Egypt

BBC NEWS (UK), AL-MASRY AL-YOUM (Egypt), AP

Worldcrunch

CAIRO – A hot air balloon caught fire and exploded as it was flying over the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor on Tuesday, killing at least 18 tourists.

The casualties included French, British, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, a security official told AP.

[rebelmouse-image 27086345 alt="""" original_size="500x281" expand=1]

The crash happened on one of the many dawn hot air balloon flights that give tourists an aerial view of Luxor's famous sites - File photo: Dale Gillard

According to Egypt’s daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, the balloon which was carrying 21 tourists was flying over Luxor when it caught fire, which triggered an explosion in its gas canister. The balloon then plunged at least 1,000 feet and crashed in a cane field near ancient Egyptian sites in the famed Valley of the Kings.

Initial reports of 19 dead were revised to 18; two tourists and the Egyptian pilot of the hot air balloon survived the crash and were taken to a local hospital.

One witness told BBC News that people were jumping out of the balloon, "from about the height of a seven-story building".

The crash is yet another blow to an already crippled tourism industry in Egypt, with AP reporting that Luxor's hotels are currently about 25% full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.

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Society

A Refuge From China's Rat Race: The Young People Flocking To Buddhist Monasteries

Unemployment, stress in the workplace, economic difficulties: more and more young Chinese graduates are flocking to monasteries to find "another school of life."

Photograph of a girl praying at a temple during Chinese Lunar New Year. She is burning incense.

Feb 20, 2015 - Huaibei, China - Chinese worshippers pray at a temple during the Lunar New Yeat

CPRESSPHOTO/ZUMA
Frédéric Schaeffer

JIAXING — It's already dawn at Xianghai Temple when Lin, 26, goes to the Hall of 10,000 Buddhas for the 5:30 a.m. prayer.

Still half-asleep, the young woman joins the monks in chanting mantras and reciting sacred texts for an hour. Kneeling, she bows three times to Vairocana, also known as the Great Sun Buddha, who dominates the 42-meter-high hall representing the cosmos.

Before grabbing a vegetarian breakfast in the adjacent refectory, monks and devotees chant around the hall to the sound of drums and gongs.

"I resigned last October from the e-commerce company where I had been working for the past two years in Nanjing, and joined the temple in January, where I am now a volunteer in residence," explains the young woman, soberly dressed in black pants and a cream linen jacket.

Located in the city of Jiaxing, over a hundred kilometers from Shanghai, in eastern China, the Xianghai temple is home to some 20 permanent volunteers.

Unlike Lin, most of them only stay for a couple days or a few weeks. But for Lin, who spends most of her free time studying Buddhist texts in the temple library, the change in her life has been radical. "I used to do the same job every day, sometimes until very late at night, writing all kinds of reports for my boss. I was exhausted physically and mentally. I felt my life had no meaning," she says.

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