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Federer eases past Lopez into round two Posted: 23 May 2011 08:02 AM PDT Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates after winning his match against Feliciano Lopez of Spain during the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 23, 2011. – Reuters pic PARIS, May 23 – Roger Federer reminded Roland Garros of his extraordinary abilities with a simple 6-3 6-4 7-6 win over Feliciano Lopez in the French Open first round today. All the talk in the run-up to the year's second grand slam had been about how in-form Novak Djokovic could threaten Rafa Nadal's men's crown but third seed Federer showed he still has a part to play on the Parisian clay. The 2009 winner needed a break in each of the first two sets to race ahead before triumphing in the tiebreak thanks to the Spaniard netting on his own serve and double-faulting. The Swiss, who sealed victory with an effortless ace, next meets France's Maxime Teixeira. – Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Blatter pledges reform but blasts ‘envious’ critics Posted: 23 May 2011 06:11 AM PDT ZURICH, May 23 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has described corruption allegations against the wealthy governing body as being partly motivated by envy, while promising to tackle the root of the problem from day one if he wins re-election. FIFA has been scarred by allegations surrounding the process to choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, won by Russia and Qatar respectively. Blatter (picture) said he was ready to confront the past if successful in the June 1 vote, when Asian soccer chief Mohamed Bin Hammam is standing against him, but he also said FIFA was a victim of its own success since he became president in 1998. "We shall find a solution how to handle the past – how to handle the past in order that we can stop once and for ever that all these image damaging things about corruption," Blatter told a round table of news agency reporters at FIFA headquarters, in comments embargoed today. "Handling the past will be presented to the Congress. "We have to make sure that in the next term of office, starting immediately after the election, that we rebuild the image of FIFA not only by a better communication... but by facts. "There will be facts. Don't ask me now which facts." Blatter said that FIFA, which he described as not rich but in a comfortable financial situation, had over US$1 billion (RM3.05 billion) in reserves. "If we were still the poor association we were until the World Cup in France – because France was the last poor World Cup – nobody would care," he said. "There would be no financial assistance programmes, no referees' assistance programmes, no goal projects, no management, nothing. There would be nothing. "But I think also, there would be no discussion of allegations of corruption. It's only when you have success..." "What is the attraction of success? To be part of it, or to be jealous of it. So you try to be in. If you cannot be in, you are jealous, you are envious and this can be changed into hatred and then, you see, there are people who like to destroy something." The allegations of corruption and lack of transparency have dogged FIFA throughout the campaign. Two members of FIFA's executive committee were banned from all football-related activity last November for allegedly offering to sell their votes to undercover newspaper reporters. Earlier this month, a British parliamentary inquiry into why England failed to secure the 2018 finals was told by member of parliament Damian Collins there was evidence from the Sunday Times newspaper that Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast were paid by Qatar. Qatar have categorically denied the allegations as have Hayatou and Anouma. "It hurts me," said Blatter of the criticism. "I can tell you, if you go in depth into the clubs, in the youth organisations, in the professional and amateur leagues everywhere and the organisation of football in the 208 national associations, the contact they have with their public... is generally a good contact. "We have realised there are people in FIFA (who) do not deserve to be there, especially in the government of FIFA," added Blatter, who for the second time this month distanced himself from his executive committee. "I have no influence and I cannot take any responsibility. They have their own character and own conscience," he said. "I cannot respond for the others." He suggested the story would be different if the FIFA Congress, rather than the regional confederations, chose the 24-man executive committee. "The government of FIFA is elected by the confederations and they have their own agendas, and it is very difficult to bring everybody together." Weighing up his own 13 years at the helm, the Swiss said any mistakes he had made were the result of hard work. "If I am looking at the results of what I have done I have to say... that it is more positive than negative. "Those who work hard make more mistakes than those who work less. "There is a saying especially when it comes to political administration that those who are promoted at the end of the year are those who have made no mistakes and those who have made no mistakes are those who haven't worked." – Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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‘Green Lantern’ starring Ryan Reynolds Posted: 23 May 2011 08:18 AM PDT LOS ANGELES, May 23 – Another trailer for the superhero tale Green Lantern was released May 21 with a 3D version playing in theatres before screenings of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides this weekend. The difference with this third full-length trailer is the narrative background that opens the action. A description of the "Emerald Energy of Willpower" is provided for those unfamiliar with the tale and offers an explanation of how the Intergalactic Squadron of Peacekeepers watch over the galaxy. The power of the green ring is also detailed and that the first human has been selected for the Green Lantern Corps, a pilot played by Ryan Reynolds. There is less humour and more seriousness of the enormous task on hand. The special effects show the impressive planet in outer space where the Green Lanterns meet and Hal Jordan is trained to fight the impressive evil force of Parallax which feeds off fear and threatens Earth. The comic book adaptation, directed by Martin Campbell (Quantum of Solace), co-stars Blake Lively (The Town), Peter Sarsgaard (An Education), Mark Strong (Robin Hood), and Tim Robbins (Mystic River). Green Lantern opens in theatres June 16-17 in North America, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and the UK, and then rolls out through July and August around the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvqpNhtopTU http://www.greenlantern.com – AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Ethan Coen, Woody Allen and Elaine May to debut plays on Broadway Posted: 23 May 2011 02:27 AM PDT US film director and producer Ethan Coen. – AFP pic LOS ANGELES, May 23 – New York City's Broadway theatre area will debut three one-act comedies written by film directors/writers Ethan Coen of the Coen brothers, Elaine May (The Birdcage) and Woody Allen. Together the plays will be titled Relatively Speaking. The trio of short plays include Allen's Honeymoon Motel, May's George is Dead and Coen's Talking Cure. Allen wrote a number of plays, including Play it Again, Sam, which made it to film. May worked with film director Mike Nichols on Broadway and her plays include Adaptation, Next, Death Defying Acts, Power Plays and After the Night and the Music. The production brings Coen to Broadway. His previous one-acts, Almost an Evening and Offices, were hits. Actor John Turturro makes his debut as director of the production. He has starred in Coen brothers' films including Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Relatively Speaking is scheduled for previews in September for an October opening. – AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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Major Jane Austen manuscript up for sale Posted: 23 May 2011 08:25 AM PDT The painting "The Rice Portrait of Jane Austen" hangs in a gallery in New York April 13, 2007. — Reuters pic LONDON, May 23 — The only major Jane Austen manuscript still in private hands comes up for auction on July 14, auction house Sotheby's said today. "The Watsons" by the prolific author of "Sense and Sensibility" is estimated by Sotheby's at £200,000-300,000 pounds (RM1 – 1.5 million). "Probably written in 1804, this heavily corrected draft represents the earliest surviving manuscript for a novel by Jane Austen," Sotheby's said in a statement. "The work, which was not published during her lifetime and remains incomplete, provides a fascinating insight into both her writing practices and her development into one of Britain's greatest authors." None of the manuscripts of Jane Austen's completed novels survive, with the exception of two draft chapters of "Persuasion" (at the British Library), Austen's juvenile work "Lady Susan" (at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York) and the fragment "Sanditon" (at King's College, Cambridge), the only other autograph novel manuscript of comparable length. "This unique manuscript provides scholars with important evidence, not just of how Jane Austen composed and revised her work, but also of how her other manuscripts must have looked before they were edited by her publishers," said Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby's Senior Specialist, Books and Manuscripts Department. "The Watsons is quintessential Jane Austen in style and the influence of this novel on her later works can be clearly seen." The Watsons centres on a family of four sisters, the daughters of a widowed clergyman. Its heroine is Emma, the youngest, who has been brought up by a wealthy aunt. When her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father's house and endure the crude husband-hunting of her two 20-something sisters. She has, however, a close relationship with her eldest and most responsible sister Elizabeth. The Watsons contains many of Austen's perennial themes and her genius for shrewd social observation. The novel is considered to be around a quarter complete. The manuscript comprises 68 hand-trimmed pages, split into 11 loose gatherings penned in Austen's tiny, precise hand and heavily worked through with revisions. The novel was written at a time when Austen was not yet a published writer but during a period in her career that is considered to be her mature writing period. The work is well known to Austen scholars and has been acclaimed by modern critics, including Margaret Drabble who described it as "a tantalizing, delightful and highly accomplished fragment, which must surely have proved the equal of her other six novels, had she finished it." — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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Elektrik: Putrajaya patut kaji konsesi IPP, bukan naik tarif dijangka Jun Posted: 23 May 2011 03:28 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Mei – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menjangkakan tarif elektrik dinaikkan bulan depan, tetapi mahu pentadbiran Najib mengkaji balik konsesi pengeluar tenaga bebas (IPP) dengan Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) agar tidak membebankan rakyat. Di sebalik kenyataan demi kenyataan mengenai kemungkinan pemotongan bakal dibuat oleh Putrajaya, Ketua Pembangkang (gambar) berkata, beliau sudah sekian lama menegaskan sekitar RM22 bilion subsidi gas yang diberi kepada IPP tidak memberi makna kepada rakyat, sebaliknya ia hanya memberi keuntungan kepada ahli perniagaan dan kroni rapat dengan pemerintah. The Malaysian Insider difahamkan Kabinet pada Rabu ini akan menyentuh soal itu. "Sudah sekian lama negara kita dirompak jumlah wang yang besar, yang mampu digunakan untuk membendung inflasi serta membangun model industri lebih baik untuk rakyat. "Berdasarkan perspektif ini, saya menggesa kerajaan pusat berlaku adil dengan menyemak semula harga dikenakan IPP ke atas Tenaga Nasional Berhad, termasuklah menggugurkan elemen harga tetap seumpama harga kapasiti bersedia dan kapasiti tetap yang mengakibatkan kos elektrik meningkat," kata beliau dalam satu kenyataan dikeluarkan hari ini. Ketua Umum Pakatan Rakyat ini berkata, merujuk kepada kenyataan demi kenyataan dikeluarkan oleh beberapa menteri  berkaitan, kemungkinan tarif elektrik dijangka naik bulan depan. Anwar berkata, isu kenaikan tarif elektrik negara ini berkait rapat dengan perjanjian berat sebelah dipaksa ke atas TNB untuk dimeterai bersama dengan IPP terutamanya dengan pengeluar tenaga swasta generasi pertama. Awal hari ini, Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob berkata, kerajaan pusat akan mengumumkan perkembangan langkah rasionalisasi subsidi termasuk pelarasan harga petroleum minggu ini. Bagaimanapun, Ismail Sabri berkata kerajaan akan menyediakan kaedah paling sesuai untuk mengurangkan beban rakyat ekoran kenaikan itu. "Tunggulah (pengumuman) dalam masa seminggu ini... kita akan membuat keputusan sama ada ingin meneruskan subsidi petrol, diesel dan gas memandangkan jumlah subsidi yang ditanggung kerajaan terus meningkat dari RM8 bilion kepada RM18 bilion," katanya. Dalam kenyataannya, Anwar berkata bekas ketua pegawai eksekutif TNB Tan Sri Dr Ani Arope telah menyatakan kepada umum bahawa beliau tidak bersetuju dengan harga terlalu mahal dikenakan oleh IPP ke atas TNB di mana harga yang dicatatkan iaitu 13.7 sen sehingga 15.5 sen per kilowatt. "Harga yang dikenakan IPP ke atas TNB adalah harga lebih mahal dari harga yang dihasilkan sendiri oleh TNB. "Ini bermakna TNB dipaksa membeli elektrik pada harga yang tak sepatutnya. Malahan harga tersebut ditetapkan sebagaimana dalam perjanjian, sepanjang membekalkan tenaga tersebut, harga yang dikenakan ke atas TNB berubah menuruti kadar terdahulu sekali gus membolehkan IPP mengaut keuntungan yang besar lebih awal," katanya lagi. Bekas menteri kewangan itu berkata, perjanjian antara IPP dan TNB juga telah direka untuk memastikan IPP dilindungi daripada sebarang risiko kenaikan harga bahan api seumpama gas asli, diesel dan arang batu manakala jika berlaku kenaikan harga pada bahan api tersebut, maka TNB yang terpaksa menanggung beban. "Akibat daripada perjanjian ini telah menyebabkan Petronas terpaksa mengeluarkan dan membeli gas asli pada harga yang lebih mahal dan kemudiannya menjualnya pula pada kadar harga subsidi yang tetap. "Hakikatnya kos subsidi gas ini telah melonjak kepada RM22 bilion setahun. "Justeru, dari perjanjian yang rumit dan berat sebelah inilah rakyat Malaysia terpaksa membayar tarif elektrik tinggi," katanya. Kata Anwar lagi, kos harga tenaga elektrik terpaksa dibayar TNB kepada IPP dan pengambilan untung pada kadar masa yang cepat oleh pihak berkenaan ternyata membebankan rakyat sama ada secara menaikkan tarif elektrik atau kerana kerugian kewangan akibat subsidi gas. "Malangnya, sedangkan negara kita yang sememangnya memberi subsidi kepada sektor pengeluar tenaga melalui gas asli yang murah, itupun jika dibandingkan dengan negara jiran seumpama Thailand, tarif elektrik Malaysia ternyata masih tinggi, sungguhpun negara jiran itu membeli gas asli pada kadar harga semasa (pada masa ini harga semasa tersebut tiga kali lebih tinggi dari harga gas asli yang disubsidikan di Malaysia)," katanya lagi. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

RTM akan dikorporat sebahagian, kata Rais Posted: 23 May 2011 02:41 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Mei – Radio dan Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) bakal diperbadankan dengan sebahagian perkhidmatannya mungkin diswastakan bagi membolehkan stesen penyiar rasmi kerajaan lebih efisien dan berdaya saing. Menteri Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim berkata cadangan itu telah dikemukakan kepada Majlis Ekonomi Negara bagi penstrukturan RTM sebagai persediaan menghadapi era penyiaran digital sepenuhnya menjelang 2015. "Sebagai sebuah badan penyiar utama di negara ini, RTM harus menjalani beberapa metamofosis atau perubahan... supaya menjadikan ia lebih tangkas dalam menjalankan tugas untuk negara di samping memberi kepuasan kepada penonton, yakni rakyat," katanya di sini hari ini. Dipetik laporan Bernama Online, Rais berkata RTM juga akan bekerjasama dengan badan penyiar lain seperti rangkaian Media Prima dan Astro untuk memastikan produktiviti pemberitaan dan industri penyiaran tanah air setanding media luar negara. Beliau berkata usaha itu bakal memanfaatkan sepenuhnya tenaga kerja RTM berjumlah 4,900 orang. Menurut laporan itu, Rais juga meminta petugas RTM supaya tidak bimbang dengan kedudukan mereka sekiranya stesen itu diperbadankan bagi memenuhi sistem penyiaran digital kerana kerajaan mempunyai kaedah tersendiri bagi memastikan suasana menang-menang. "Kita tidak perlu gundah-gulana tentang sama ada seseorang itu dikeluarkan atau pun tidak, ada caranya. Tidak perlu kita nyatakan bahawa kita takut hilang kerja atau sebagainya. "Tetapi yang penting sekarang ialah memperbadankan RTM supaya lebih efisien," katanya. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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Subsidy reduction is not the only thing Posted: 22 May 2011 05:08 PM PDT MAY 23 — Subsidy reduction will allow market forces to allocate resources more efficiently. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was reported saying so recently to justify his administration's commitment to subsidy reduction in the long run. By doing so, the Najib administration claims to be an advocate of free market. A claim that is not necessarily true, however. At best, that claim reveals a selective belief in the free market. The truth is that market forces are restricted not only through price mechanism. The restriction also comes in form of quantity control, among others. This is especially relevant in Malaysia where the government has introduced various regulations and institutions to control the price and supply of various items. Among those items are flour, diesel and sugar. In fact, the government has wide discretionary power over this matter. Proof: the new Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act grants the government the power to fix the price of any goods and services in the country. Yes, that is any goods and services. The net has been cast widely. Despite the various channels where market forces are prevented from distributing resources efficiently, for some reason the price mechanism is receiving all the attention while the quantity side remains relatively untouched. As an example, look no further than the domestic sugar industry. The government recently reduced sugar subsidy and effectively raised the retail price of sugar. All the liberal benefits of reduction have been thrown out in the open: fiscal deficit reduction, efficient resource allocation, investment over consumption, etc. You just need to name it. At the same time and less discussed is the existence of the illiberal import quota system. The government through a quota system controls the importation of sugar. The government also grants the quotas only to several refineries ultimately owned by Felda and Tradewinds, which themselves are closely connected with each other. It is not an understatement that the two companies control the sugar industry with a clear government sanction. As a side note, it will be interesting to see how the two companies will be subjected — if ever — to the new Competition Act, which has a highly questionable purpose. If the government gets one point for liberalisation due to subsidy reduction, then the government must lose a point from the import quota policy. Given how the import quota policy has created two related monopolistic companies — one being the favoured entrepreneur of the government of the day and the other being a government-linked company — and that prices are controlled, the government must lose more than a point. However one wants to keep the score, the inevitable conclusion is that this liberalisation done through subsidy reduction is merely a half-hearted liberalisation. Whatever market forces are mentioned to justify the reduction in subsidy, it is stated insincerely. The liberal argument is just something convenient that the administration grabbed out of the air just because it fits its agenda of day. When one does not derive an argument from the first principle, one cannot expect anything less than inconsistency; the Gods of Inconsistency are staring straight into the eyes of the Najib administration. The government can prove its credential as an honest advocate by deriving its policy from the first principle. That is, the whole industry must be liberalised. The removal of subsidy and price control must happen together with the loosening of the import quota system. This goes not just for the sugar industry, but also for the relevant others. It is only then that the prime minister can state that subsidy reduction will enable market forces to allocate resources more efficiently with a clear conscience. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

If not 1 Malaysia, then what? Posted: 22 May 2011 05:01 PM PDT MAY 23 — Writing this article from Singapore which has just undergone its own general election, I wonder what other possible political themes may come out in Malaysian politics. The Najib administration is pushing its 1 Malaysia theme which in general is supposed to appeal to a broad spectrum of Malaysians as its purpose is to be inclusive.   Even the opposition PR has to work on inclusive general themes that have broad appeal to the multiracial voter base that is Malaysia. Their theme cannot be far off from Najib's 1 Malaysia. It will still have to be a rose but by another name. They would not change the position of Islam or that of the Malays that is in the Constitution. No one who understands the nature of Malaysian politics would want that. The Constitution provides security both for the majority and the minorities within Malaysia.   So then what needs to change? To a large extent it is how the Constitution is interpreted by the powers that be. The problem arises when people try to interpret too far in what is written plainly. If Article 11 guarantees freedom of religion then how come we have cases like Lina Joy's coming up? If the Constitution provides that religions other than Islam may be practised freely in Malaysia how come we have the bible controversy coming up? It seems that some people are reading things which are not in our Constitution.   Our Constitution provides us with individual freedoms though some of these freedoms may be curtailed in some exceptional cases. The sad thing is that in a practical sense we seem to be using the exceptions far too often and forgetting about the main clauses that are supposed to keep us free. Even if we look at Article 152 which protects the position of the Malays; it has been interpreted by some as more of a right than a protection.   Najib's 1 Malaysia hopes to liberalise the economy while at the same time making it more inclusive. It seeks greater meritocracy so that we are able to keep and harness our best talents so that we will achieve our development goals. It seeks greater racial and religious understanding that he himself engages in with the various interest groups.  For it to succeed, the legacy issues as mentioned above need to be rectified and clarified so that what is plainly written in the Constitution is practised and applied.  It's hard to argue against what Najib is promoting but what is questionable is whether this is being put into effect on the ground. The likes of Perkasa are working contrary to Najib's vision.  They are the proverbial spanner in the works. While I understand Najib's wish to engage all stakeholders, he really shouldn't be wasting too much time on Perkasa's rants.  Malaysia's NEP has done well for the Bumiputras having brought their share of corporate wealth up from under two per cent in 1969 to about 20 per cent by the mid-1990s. It has unfortunately not been able to move since then to the goal of 30 per cent as is wanted by groups like Perkasa. To me this is easily solved if that is what Perkasa and the Malays really want.   We take the biggest and most profitable companies like Petronas that the government owns and privatise them, giving shares to the people according to their racial composition. Thus the Bumiputras would then own about two-thirds of these companies and the non-Bumiputras about a third. Overall the corporate shareholdings of the Bumiputras will easily reach and even surpass the 30 per cent goal that Perkasa is crying out for.   To me though this is not the priority. Rather than constant bickering about how to share the cake, we should look at how to increase the size of the cake. This requires us to be united as a nation. From a business viewpoint, our diversity is our strength if we know how to use it properly. Our ethnic diversity makes it easy for us to do business in India, China, Indonesia, the Islamic world and countries where English is spoken.   We as a nation have an advantage compared to others if we are united. If we practise meritocracy, substantially improve our education system and reduce corruption, we would be world class. 1 Malaysia is not an option but a necessity if we want to keep our date with destiny as a truly developed nation. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

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