The Star Online: Metro: Central
The Star Online: Metro: Central |
| Horses fight in Chinese New Year battles Posted: 03 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST TIANTOU VILLAGE: In southern China, many ushered in the Year of the Horse with hooves clashing in mid-air and stallions biting opponents as cheers rang in the air. For the residents of Tiantou, a remote village in the Guangxi region, the 500-year-old tradition which pits male horses against each other in a fight over a female was the only way to kick off the Lunar New Year. "Without horse fighting it wouldn't feel like a new year," said Pan Jianming, whose horse Little Black reared-up on its hind legs and bit its opponent's neck to scoop victory in a competition this weekend. "He stood up and hit the other horse straight away," Pan, a 31-year-old air conditioner repairman, said. "If he likes the female horse, it doesn't matter how much pain he's in, he won't run away," he added, his black and white shirt stained with blood which dripped from a gash on his horse's nose. "We have medicine to treat his injuries, and he will gradually get better," added Pan, who claimed a champion's prize of 500 yuan (RM276). Fifteen animals fought in bouts, which saw horses jump into the air with their front hooves spinning before crashing down on their opponents and biting their head or neck, sometimes drawing hair and blood. Horse fighting competitions held by the Miao – an ethnic group living in mountain areas of Southern China and South-East Asia – date back more than five centuries, according to locals. The first battle is said to have been held to settle a dispute between two brothers who both hoped to marry the same woman. But the fights, held in small mountain villages in Southern China every year with prizes of up to 10,000 yuan (RM5,520), have been condemned by animal rights groups. In 2010, Hong-Kong based Animals Asia called horse-fighting a "horrific spectacle", accusing the scraps of causing "abuse and suffering to animals in the name of entertainment". The stallions are encouraged to fight by the presence of a female horse, who is kept metres away from the clashing pairs by a villager armed with little more than a stick. The horse which successfully defends its position close to the female is declared the winner. Animals Asia has said that the female horses are sometimes "induced into season through the injection of hormones". In Tiantou, hundreds of spectators gathered just metres away from the battling equines – without any barriers separating them from the action. Onlookers scramble to escape when pairs of bucking mares periodically galloped towards them. Others shouted: "Fight, Fight!" as the animals clashed but most insisted the contest was not cruel. — AFP |
| At least four killed in grenade attack on cinema Posted: 03 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST PESHAWAR: At least four people were killed and 31 wounded when unidentified attackers hurled two grenades at a cinema in northwest Pakistan, police and medics said. The attack on the Picture House cinema in Peshawar, the region's main city, took place as some 90 people were watching a late night show of the film Ziddi Pakhtun (Stubborn Pushtun), police said. "Attackers hurled two grenades and fled the scene," Faisal Mukhtar, a senior police official said. A stampede following the blasts was responsible for many of the injuries, Mukhtar added. Jamil Shah, a spokesman for Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital said three dead bodies and 31 injured people had so far been taken to his hospital. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but police said that cinema houses in the city were already under threat. "We had informed the cinema owner about the possible threats," Najeeb-ur-Rahman, a senior police officer said. Peshawar is a frontline city in Pakistan's battle against Islamist insurgents, who regard films as sinful. The Taliban closed down cinemas in the scenic Swat valley in the country's northwest which they controlled from 2007-2009. The decline of cinema houses in Peshawar has also been accelerated by the advent of videos, DVDs and the Internet and today only seven remain. — AFP |
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