Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

---

Tour is no grind for resurgent Sharapova Posted: 21 Sep 2011 08:13 AM PDT TAIPEI, Sept 21 — You will not find Maria Sharapova moaning about crowded schedules after a year in which the Russian has returned to within sight of the summit of women's tennis. The world number two has some sympathy for the top male players who have made rumblings about possible strike action over what they see as a too punishing calendar but after having her career knocked sideways by injury she is clearly happy to be globe-trotting again and winning tournaments. Sharapova is the current world number two. — Reuters pic "I really missed doing what I've done since I was four years old and I really felt that there is so much more in me that I could bring to the court," the 24-year-old told Reuters in Taipei where she will play an exhibition match against fellow Russian and world No.4 Vera Zvonareva tomorrow. "(The schedule) is so much better than it was years ago," she added, when asked about the demands on the serving shoulder that needed major surgery in 2008 and kept her out of the game for 10 months, in which time she dropped to 126 in the world. "We finish two or three weeks before the men do. You can say that's nothing but it's huge in our sport, it gives us more time to take a breather whereas before after the season you could maybe take a week off. Now you can take two weeks off and not feel guilty about it." Sharapova, who returned to the top 10 in March after reaching the final in Miami, was a semi-finalist at the French Open and runner-up at Wimbledon and recently won her 24th career title in Cincinnati. While she did suffer bouts of illness early in the season she has crucially remained injury free this year — a major factor in her rise up the rankings. Now she is looking forward with renewed optimism. "That's what drives me, that's the reason why today I find myself in that position and a position also to even do better," she said. "I'd love to win Wimbledon again, that's always a goal of mine, the French Open is one that I haven't won but I feel like with every year I compete I play better at the French Open. "I have many goals and that's what's drives me to keep getting better." With no dominant force in the women's game this year, the path does seem open for Sharapova to add to her three grand slam titles, although the depth of the field makes it tricky. Three of the four grand slam titles went to first-timers this year and Sharapova dismissed any suggestion that it was evidence of a lack of top quality. "A few years ago you would come into a tournament in the first few rounds and people were saying 'well women's tennis you're winning first rounds 6-0 6-1,' and now it's kind of like 'well why are the first few matches so tough'," she said. While Sharapova probably does not want the year to end, Zvonareva was less enthused about the calendar. She said the current WTA schedule was "quite tight" and said players would like to have more flexibility and choice over which tournaments they could play in. "With this kind of schedule we have to play every single weekend and sometimes you feel good but sometimes you don't feel good but you still push yourself hard and at the end of the day you could get sick or get injured," she told Reuters. She said players want more discussion on the issue, though there were different views with some players wanting to play more and some less. "We have to find some solution where we can find the right balance, because right now it's a little bit too busy for us. We travel too much, but on the other hand we get a lot of opportunities to play, so we have to think about it and we're working on it and we're trying to find the right balance." Next stop on the Tour for Sharapova and Zvonareva is the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo starting on September 25. — Reuters

Inter fire coach Gasperini after five games Posted: 21 Sep 2011 04:13 AM PDT MILAN, Sept 21 — Inter Milan fired coach Gian Piero Gasperini today after he managed only one draw and four defeats in his first five competitive games in charge. The final straw was last night's dismal performance in a 3-1 defeat at promoted Novara, who themselves had failed to win in their first two Serie A outings of the season. "The club thanks Gian Piero Gasperini for his effort he showed in developing the role, and expresses regret at the interruption of the working relationship," 2010 European champions Inter in a statement on their website. "At the end of the day, the results have determined everything," Gasperini told reporters at Inter's training ground. "I'm very disappointed. "We had established a good rapport, it's a shame to have had to interrupt it. There's much regret all round." Inter added that Daniele Bernazzani and Giuseppe Baresi had taken charge of training this morning. Gasperini, 53, is the third coach to leave Inter since the departure of Jose Mourinho following the 2009/10 treble-winning season, the club having also parted company with Rafael Benitez and Leonardo. Last year, Inter saw their run of five successive scudettos ended by neighbours AC Milan and were humiliated by Schalke 04 in the Champions League, losing 5-2 at home to the Germans on their way to a quarter-final exit. Striker Samuel Eto'o was sold to Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala in the close season and replacements Diego Forlan and Mauro Zarate have so far failed to impress. Ansa news agency listed Claudio Ranieri as favourite to replace him followed by Luis Figo, Delio Rossi and Walter Zenga. Gasperini, who began his coaching career with Juventus' youth team, had previously spent just over four seasons with Genoa, leading them out of Serie B and turning them into one of the most competitive sides in the top flight. He was also in charge at Crotone from 2003-06. Much of his playing career was in the second and third divisions, although he played in Serie A with Pescara. His appointment in June drew much scepticism as he had never coached one of the major clubs before. Critics have already suggested that his downfall was his insistence of trying to impose his 3-4-3 system, which worked well at Genoa, on Inter. Club president Massimo Moratti said last week he would prefer a four-man defence but Gasperini failed to heed the warning. Inter visit Bologna on Saturday and travel to CSKA Moscow in the Champions League the following Tuesday. Inter lost their opening game 1-0 at home to Trabzonspor. — Reuters

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Features

---

China’s love affair with golf causing concern Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:54 AM PDT Hugh Grant of Great Britain putts on the 10th green during day four of the Mission Hills Start Trophy tournament at Mission Hills Resort on October 30, 2010 in Haikou, China. The Mission Hills Star Trophy is Asia's leading leisure liflestyle event and features Hollywood celebrities and international golf stars. – AFP/Getty Images HONG KONG, Sept 21 – Over the past decade it has become the pastime of choice for China's rapidly growing ranks of cashed-up citizens, but the country is currently going through a heightened bout of soul searching about what effect, exactly, the game of golf is having. Such has been the growth of golf in China that the government in 2004 placed an almost blanket ban on construction of new courses, worried about the land – and the resources – developers were swallowing up in their efforts to tap into the golfing craze. But, as anyone who has travelled through the country since that time can attest, the ban has up until now had little to no effect. According to mainland Chinese media reports, the country in 2004 had 170 golf courses but by 2009 there were 570. How many are operating now is anyone's guess as canny operators have used all manner of disguises to cover their ambitions, variously describing the courses as everything from practise ranges to exercise areas to escape the eyes of authorities. But action is afoot. In the area around the southern city of Shenzhen alone five courses are currently under investigation and there are threats that this is only the beginning. Estimations are that there are currently three million people who regularly play golf in China, but that figure will rise to six million in five years and 12 million within 10 years. The game was only formally introduced to China in 1984 with the opening of the Zhongshan City course in the southern province of Guangdong, having previously been outlawed by the communists as an "elite" sport. The irony today is that golf's success in China is being built on exactly the same image as the country's new rich rush to embrace anything with a whiff of exclusivity. That's a point not lost on Zhang Xiaochun, who has the unique position of dean at China's only "college of golf," which is run as part of the Shenzhen University. He thinks the government crackdown has come following the golfing industry's decision to hype the sport on its value as a luxury-style endeavour alone. "I've been telling them to make it less ostentatious and to say that golf belongs to everyone," he told the China Daily newspaper. "But they wouldn't listen." – AFP

PETA to launch porn site in name of animal rights Posted: 21 Sep 2011 12:17 AM PDT NEW YORK, Sept 21 — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, no stranger to attention-grabbing campaigns featuring nude women, plans to launch a pornography website in the name of animal rights. The lengths PETA would go to: Dutch porn actress Zara Whites packaged on the pavement labelled "flesh", outside the Agriculture Fair in Paris, March 7, 2007. — Reuters pic The non-profit organisation, whose controversial campaigns draw criticism from women's rights groups, said it hoped to raise awareness of veganism through a mix of pornography and graphic footage of animal suffering. "We're hoping to reach a whole new audience of people, some of whom will be shocked by graphic images that maybe they didn't anticipate seeing when they went to the PETA triple-X site," said Lindsay Rajt, PETA's associate director of campaigns. PETA has been accused of campaigning for animal rights at the cost of exploiting women. A Facebook group, Real Women Against PETA, was launched after the organisation paid for a billboard showing an obese woman with the message: "Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber. Go Vegetarian." Another critical Facebook group is called "Vegans (and Vegetarians) Against PETA". "PETA is extremely disingenuous," said Jennifer Pozner, executive director of the New York-based advocacy group Women In Media & News. "They have consistently used active sexism as their marketing strategy to garner attention. Their use of sexism has gotten more extreme and more degrading. "This may be in their minds the only thing left at their disposal to lower the bar." PETA has filed paperwork to launch its pornography site when the controversial new .xxx domain becomes active in early December. While many non-profits and corporations are scrambling to protect their website names from being hijacked by a pornographer slapping on a .xxx domain, PETA is embracing the new domain as just another way to conduct business. "We try to use every outlet that we can to speak up for animals," Rajt said. "We anticipated that this new triple-X domain name would be a hot topic and we immediately decided to use it and take advantage of it to try to promote the animal rights message." Jill Dolan, director of the programme in gender and sexuality studies at Princeton University, was critical of the PETA campaigns. "Exploiting porn to get people's juices going seems lame; exploiting pornographic images only of women to make their point is retrograde and misogynist," Dolan said in an email. "Come on, PETA. Don't be Neanderthals." Rajt denied that PETA has been insensitive to women. "Our demonstrators, the models, all chose to participate in our campaigns . . . It's not a very feminist thing to do to turn to women and tell them whether or not they can use their voices, their bodies to express their voice." Visitors to the X-rated site would initially be presented with pornographic content as well as images from PETA's salacious ads and campaigns, Rajt said. Those images will be followed by pictures and video shot undercover of the mistreatment of animals. The site will also include links to vegetarian and vegan — using no animal products — starter kits as well as recipes. PETA's ad campaigns have featured adult film stars Sasha Grey, Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson. In 2008, the organisation's YouTube account was temporarily shut down after showing racy videos of celebrities and others posing nude. "When people first visit the site, it will be very enticing and once they go just a little bit deeper, that's when they'll be confronted with images that we hope will make them stop and think and get them talking and hopefully encourage them to make a lifestyle change to a plant-based diet," Rajt said. — Reuters

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Features To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

---

Elizabeth Taylor’s designer clothes to be auctioned Posted: 21 Sep 2011 09:03 AM PDT NEW YORK, Sept 21 — Designer clothes owned by Hollywood legend and fashion icon Elizabeth Taylor, including haute couture by Chanel, Yves St. Laurent and Dior, will be sold at auction in New York, Christie's said today. The silk chiffon dress that the Academy Award winning actress wore for her first wedding to actor Richard Burton will be among the nearly 400 items included in the four-day series of sales in December. "One of the many great treasures within Elizabeth Taylor's vast collection is her extraordinarily well-preserved wardrobe," said Marc Porter, chairman and president of Christie's Americas. The silk chiffon dress that Taylor wore for her first wedding to actor Richard Burton will be among the nearly 400 items auctioned in December. — Reuters pic "The stunning outfits she wore to galas, award ceremonies, AIDS benefits and even her own weddings to Richard Burton are all here, lovingly maintained along with the handbags, shoes, hats and other accessories that completed her superstar looks," he added in a statement. The December 13-16 sales, which span over 50 years of fashion, will follow a global three-month tour which will also includes Taylor's renowned jewellery, fine art and memorabilia. It will be the second in a series of auctions from the estate of the legendary film star who died in March. Nearly 6,000 people viewed the collection this month when it was displayed in Moscow. Stops in Los Angeles, London, Dubai, Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong and New York will follow. Meredith Etherington-Smith, a curator at Christie's for the fashion auction, described the items as "a highly personal collection." "This is not a red carpet wardrobe edited by stylists but a treasure trove of looks chosen by the last of the great movie stars. Many of the pieces in this lifetime collection were couture, custom made for Ms. Taylor by designers who became her close friends, including Valentino Garavani, Gianni Versace and Gianfranco Ferré." Some 68 of Taylor's most iconic looks will be auctioned at a gala evening sale on December 14, followed by hundreds of other fashion items and accessories in other sales. Highlights will include a Versace beaded evening jacket arrayed with portraits of the actress in some of her famous movie roles, which is estimated to sell for up to US$20,000 (RM60,000). The sunflower yellow dress by Hollywood designer Irene Sharaff that Taylor wore to her 1964 wedding to Burton has an estimated sale price of US$40,000 to US$60,000. Taylor's estate was valued at up to US$1 billion when she died of congestive heart failure at age 79. A portion of the proceeds from the exhibitions, events and publications related to the auction will be donated to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which the actress founded in 1991. The series of Taylor sales are individually devoted to jewellery, haute couture, fashion and accessories, decorative arts and memorabilia from Taylor's Bel Air home, and Impressionist and modern art. — Reuters

Rome film festival to honour Richard Gere Posted: 21 Sep 2011 08:32 AM PDT ROME, Sept 21 — The International Rome Film Festival will honour American actor Richard Gere with the Marcus Aurelius career award at its next edition, organisers said today. The star of films including "An Officer and a Gentleman," "American Gigolo," and "Pretty Woman," will receive the award at the sixth edition of the festival, which runs from October 27 to November 4. The festival will also screen the restored version of Terrence Malick's 1978 film "Days of Heaven," in which Gere (picture) starred. Gere will talk about his work with Malick and retrace the early stages of his career. — Reuters

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

---

A wrong foot-in-the-mouth moment Posted: 20 Sep 2011 04:37 PM PDT SEPT 21 — When a world class striker misses an open goal, you go "bad luck" or just plain die of laughing. I did neither as Fernando Torres miscued in front of goal at Old Trafford. But what got me going was the "it was on his wrong foot" from commentators and experts! Wrong foot! In this day and age, a footballer still has a wrong foot? Wrong foot, my rear end! Go kick a ball against a wall with concentration on technique. Apply the same technique as you would with your "right foot" and you could well have two feet in two weeks. The mistake made by most people when trying to strengthen the weaker foot is to forget to balance the body using the arms as you would with your stronger foot. If you don't get it, then the next time you see me, I will demonstrate how it is done.  Who knows, I will seek my employer's permission and maybe you could all watch me do it on television. Since practise became training, the emphasis on technique has quite literally gone out of the window. There seems to be a football academy at every turn and corner and yet there are footballers with a "wrong foot"! I can imagine many at Liverpool Football Club would have watched that game and thought to themselves, "LOL! We got 50 million quid for that!" Not so fast Scousers, I would be more concerned about how that money was spent instead.  Speaking of Liverpool, the only message I have for Kenny Dalglish is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" But King Kenny seems to want to fix it anyway. The 4-2-3-1 that has worked so well for Dalglish so far, with Luis Suarez as the lone ranger upfront, is ideal for a team that struggles to accommodate Jordan Henderson. The fact that Andy Carroll is made to look more lumbering than usual alongside the sleek Suarez surely suggests that the 4-4-2 does not work. It certainly did not work against an energetic Tottenham Hotspur side on Sunday, and in a short space of time at that. It is obvious once again that Liverpool will feel more comfortable with two holding midfielders. In the 4-2-3-1 too, Charlie Adam's lack of pace is not exposed. Moving on, the joke is on Roberto Mancini whose team "tired" against Fulham after midweek European matches. The Manchester City gaffer could have made more changes but maybe he does not trust Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez enough to start them. As for Adam Johnson, tactically naïve would be Mancini's thinking! Finally, I have something to say about the team that I have some personal attachment to now. Credit must go to under-pressure Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean after his boys finally got their first win of the season. He has a difficult job as it is without supporters digging their claws into how he is doing his job and the performance of the team. There are two things that can happen for a team that is everyone's favourite to go down — one is to scrape for survival season after season; and two is to try and build a team while trying to survive. It is important to also think about the future while dealing with the immediate and it is clear to see the difficulties in trying to do both. There is a younger squad of players emerging at Blackburn and it is good to see them getting playing time so early in the season. When the crunch happens, these young players would have enough game experience to deal with the situation. Slowly but surely there is a game plan emerging on the pitch and the pattern of play will keep developing. A team is built over time but time always seems in a big hurry, unfortunately. It sure was a great weekend of football. Wrong foot … ya, right! * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

My silat adventures Posted: 20 Sep 2011 04:30 PM PDT SEPT 21 — The perils of being a writer of non-fiction are many. To write the truth may mean the loss of one or two friendships. It is not that a friend has been used as a subject matter but because of differing ethics, clashing tempers and egos, a friendship is ruined. When I told my friends what I got up to, I was greeted with mirth. I have to admit I was beginning to wonder if I had completely lost my marbles. And yet, the hilarity was also laced with blackness. Not the blackness associated with danger, but rather of an unsettling intent, which until today, I cannot explain. This was how it began. Sometime in April, I was told by friends that another friend had a gift to heal, and was a silat practitioner. She had helped friends before, when their businesses met roadblocks. And that was how it started, with my calling her up, and she asking how I knew she had the gift. I said I wanted to know about the community of silat practitioners, and what they learned and believed in. "Are you open to… a different thought process of healing that has nothing to do with Islam?" she asked. "I believe in Reiki, acupuncture. I have friends who do Egyptian healing…" I blabbered. "This has nothing to do with religion. This is pure healing, and working with kawalan." "Kawalan?" "The guardians of the Universe. I will allow you to observe us after our Guru okays your presence, but you must be committed to silat for two years." I quite fancied the idea of whirling about and karate-chopping would be assailants. Also, silat was a martial art. Instead of taking up taekwondo or another martial art, why not learn something so intrinsic to Malay culture? The silat I was to learn was called Silat Gayung Umar Umaiyah. Googling it revealed rather interesting websites, Al-Enhance and Bomoh. A Facebook page had been set up. The Al-Enhance website stated the following: We are the specialists in providing alternative solutions and in alternative medicine. Traditionally we are also called BOMOH. We influence and change things, illnesses, and relationships in a positive way, so that our clients can reach the best possible results and profits. We offer a platform of help for people who stayed blocked in their problems for whatever reason, for people who lost hope to be healed, for those who face financial or emotional crises and where all the other available organisations failed to provide them help. We have the power to put things in order. Who we are not There are many different types of alternative help and medicine. We do not react on empiric healing, medicine men, fortune-telling, occultism, numerology or feng-shui. But if any of those methods harm our client or if it has a negative influence on them, we can stop it. The Bomoh website stated this: Bomoh is a generic term for persons practicing folk medicine in South East Asia. I prefer the term alternative medicine (AM) practitioner. There are different types of bomohs out there; good and bad, easily distinguishable by the manner and methods they employ for healing. Some are affiliated to religions and some clearly are not. I provide a platform for people who prefer not to use mainstream medicine offered in pharmacies, clinics or hospitals. Public trust in these institutions and corporations is clearly eroding. There is a major shift in society, spirituality and technology, and how they correlate. I practice without any affiliation to organised religion because I believe it is imperative that my bomohship remains true and pure. A system of check and balance is incorporated to ensure quality and effectiveness. I do not advocate nor do I reject modern medicine. Please do not debate with me on any issues because I neither have the time nor interest to prove anything to anyone. Sessions are available for those interested in therapy and healing. Silat is a form of martial arts which is indigenous to South East Asia. There are many styles practiced in this region as a folk dance or in it's original state, a combative system. I teach Silat Gayung Umar Umaiyah which is a uniquely comprehensive fighting system which combines spiritual discipline and physical conditioning. Silat classes for self defence and weight loss are available. Faced with these, I said to myself, well the Quran has also stated the dangers of withcraft and jins. Of course, what I read would be deemed as khurafat (blasphemous) by Islam. And for the next two months, I observed and learned, and you'd be surprised to know that all this happened right smack in the city. Next: Learning. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

---

PM, isteri mahu ketepi sepina jadi saksi kes liwat Anwar Posted: 21 Sep 2011 02:12 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 21 Sept – Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan isterinya hari ini membuat permohonan untuk mengetepikan sepina yang dikeluarkan bagi menjadi saksi kes liwat Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Najib dan Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor dikeluarkan sepina bulan lalu untuk menjadi saksi pihak pembela selepas enggan ditemu bual secara tertutup. Meksipun Najib dan Rosmah hadir di bangunan Mahkamah Tinggi untuk ditemu bual oleh peguam-peguam Anwar sebelum ini tetapi enggan memberi keterangan melainkan mereka disepina menghadiri perbicaraan. MENYUSUL LAGI

PDRM anjur forum bincang akta baru ganti ISA Posted: 21 Sep 2011 01:30 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 21 Sept – Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) akan mengadakan forum yang melibatkan pelbagai pihak bagi membincangkan undang-undang baru yang bakal menggantikan Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA). Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Ismail Omar berkata ia bagi menentukan keselamatan negara dan rakyat akan sentiasa terjamin dengan undang-undang baru itu kelak. "Kita mempunyai persediaan... dan kita akan mengadakan forum bagi menentukan keselamatan rakyat tidak akan tergugat dengan undang-undang baru yang akan ditentukan nanti," katanya kepada pemberita selepas Majlis Pelancaran Triaj PDRM di balai polis Travers. Ismail berkata antara pihak yang terlibat dalam forum itu ialah Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN), pakar-pakar perundangan dan Jabatan Peguam Negara. "Kerjasama bagi membicangkan perkara itu dilihat perlu bagi menentukan dan menjaga keselamatan negara pada masa akan datang," katanya dipetik Bernama Online. Khamis lalu, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak mengumumkan bahawa ISA dan dua undang-undang baru yang sesuai akan digubal bagi memelihara keamanan, kesejahteraan, kesentosaan serta kerukunan hidup rakyat dan negara.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com