BRUSSELS， Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Just over a year after announcing his international retirement as a Ping-Pong player， the famous Belgian pianist Jean-Michel Saive announced Thursday to run for the presidency of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).


"Having announced my intention to run for the ITTF presidency， I have received an impressive amount of positive feedback from the table tennis world and the sport community in general. This encouraged me to formally announce that I am running for the presidency of the ITTF for the period 2017-2121，" said the 47-year-old.


"China is a country I visited enormously. I hope in the future， I will have good permanent contacts with the Chinese Table Tennis Federation to continue to evolve and grow ping，" he told Xinhua after the press conference.


The 7-time Olympician put an end to his international career at the end of 2015. He then continued to play in club Logis Auderghem in Brussels.


The ITTF will select the new president on the sidelines of the World Championships in Dusseldorf on May 31.


Current president， German Thomas Weikert officially announced last October its intention to run again. Qatari Khalil Al-Mohannadi， vice president of the ITTF， also announced his candidacy.

"

PARIS Nike Air VaporMax 2.0 Scontate , Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A shooting occurred near Porte de Chantillon south of Paris Thursday morning, local media reported, adding that two officers were seen lying on the ground.


A suspect has been arrested, a police source said.


According to France Info, the shooting occurred around 7:15 am local time (0615 GMT). French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve quit his emergency inter-ministerial meeting in Elysee and is on his way to the scene.


Some other reports said one officer was seriously wounded.


There is no link confirmed with Wednesday's attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine. Two suspects of the attack, which left 12 killed, are still on the run.

" " Kyawk Dad-yin poses with his Best Director award at the Taipei Film Festival in Taipei, Taiwan on July 19. Photo: CFP

People often say ""you can never go home again,"" but for writer-director Kyawk Dad-yin home is a place you can always return to… in film.


Kyawk, more often known by Midi Z, was selected to be the focus of this year's Hong Kong Independent Film Festival's (HKIFF) indie section. Born in Myanmar in 1982, Midi Z went to Taiwan when he was 16, where he became a permanent resident and began to pursuit his dreams as a filmmaker.


One of the few filmmakers in the world whose films focus on stories taking place in Myanmar, Midi Z stands out among other Taiwanese directors.


While his long shots and realistic style may remind film fans of Taiwanese New Wave Cinema directors such as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang as well as Second New Wave directors like Tsai Mingliang, Midi Z has his own unique style.


With his third feature film Ice Poison vying at the Oscars for this year's Best Foreign-Language Film, Midi Z recently published a book giving a behind-the-scenes looking into the production of the film, as well as how film changed his life.


A lucky turn


""Sometimes I think that if I hadn't come to Taiwan, I would probably had ended up like the characters in my film - dealing drugs for money or survival,"" Midi Z said during a post screening interview at HKIFF.


For Midi Z, life in Myanmar was pretty much the same as that depicted in his films.


""It was tough and there were barely any career opportunities in the border areas. If you heard that someone had made a fortune somewhere, most of the time it was because they were mining for emeralds or planting opium. When I was a child that's how I saw my future. There weren't many choices,"" he said.


Lucky enough, after arriving in Taiwan, Midi Z was able to finish high school and college. In 2009, he attended a training program sponsored by the Golden Horse Film Academy, during which time he was inspired by famous directors such as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Ang Lee. He also made a short film called Hua-Xing Incident, which was produced by none other than Hou Hsiao-hsien himself.


Although, Taiwan changed Midi Z's destiny,