Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

---

Hernandez signs new five-year deal with United Posted: 24 Oct 2011 05:17 AM PDT A fan has her picture taken with a poster of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez as a backdrop before their match against Manchester City at Old Trafford, October 23, 2011. — Rueters pic MANCHESTER, Oct 24 — Mexico striker Javier Hernandez has completed the formalities of a new contract with Manchester United and pledged his future to the club for the next five years, the English champions said in a statement today. The 23-year-old, nicknamed "Chicharito", made a big impact with United in his first season, scoring 20 goals from 45 appearances in all competitions after arriving in July 2010 from his hometown club Chivas de Guadalajara. He has now scored 23 in 55 appearances and signed until the end of the 2015-16 season. United manager Alex Ferguson said: "The last player I remember making an impact as big and as quickly as Javier is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and he reminds me of Ole a lot. "His talent for creating space in the box and his finishing ability mark him out as a natural goalscorer. Off the pitch, he is a pleasure to manage. He works very hard and is a popular member of the squad." Said Hernandez: "Playing for Manchester United has been a dream come true for me. I never expected my first year to go so well and I'm delighted to commit my future to United." His agent Eduardo Hernandez said the contract had been renegotiated two weeks ago, explaining: "Javier was not badly paid with his initial contract, but it was his first contract and, with respect, not comparable with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Nani." His excellent form pushed Dimitar Berbatov out of a regular starting place and the Bulgarian striker's future at Old Trafford is still to be decided. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Manchester United begin road to recovery at Aldershot Posted: 24 Oct 2011 04:58 AM PDT LONDON, Oct 24 — Manchester United will set out on the road to recovery following yesterday's 6-1 home mauling by Manchester City in the unlikely surrounds of Aldershot Town's modest Recreation Ground in the League Cup fourth round tomorrow. It would be harder to imagine a greater contrast between two grounds than Old Trafford and Aldershot's basic home, which only has stands on three sides and usually attracts crowds of around 2,000 for the Hampshire club's matches in League Two (fourth tier). However, the visit of the champions means the capacity has been increased to a sellout 7,300 for tomorrow's game, for which United manager Alex Ferguson is likely to name a much-changed side from the one that crashed so spectacularly to City. While yesterday's game ended with United suffering their worst defeat in decades, Aldershot, coached by the former Wimbledon and Bolton Wanderers striker Dean Holdsworth and the lowest ranked club left in the competition, are in relatively good spirits. Their 5-2 win at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday was their best since they returned to the Football League in 2008 and whatever the outcome they will no doubt relish their first appearance in the last 16 of the competition. Holdsworth, a winner against United in his playing days, told reporters at his pre-match news conference: "Having Manchester United here is a privilege and an honour, and the important thing for us is that the players go out there full of confidence and are not overawed by the occasion." Aldershot have knocked out three clubs from higher divisions than themselves — West Ham United, Carlisle United and Rochdale, and Holdsworth added: "It's important that once the match starts, we play with no fear. It's a huge challenge but we are looking forward to it." It will not be their first match against United though, as they also played them in the League Cup in September 1970 when, before the days of squad rotation, a crowd of 18,000 at the Recreation Ground saw George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law all turn out for United. They won 3-1 against the Shots, then, as now, in the fourth division. Reformed club Aldershot's then player-manager Jimmy Melia — who scored the opening goal to give Aldershot the lead — said somewhat eerily after the game bearing in mind yesterday's outcome: "If George Best had been playing for Aldershot we would have won 6-1." Since then the fortunes of the two clubs could hardly have been more different, with United now having won a record 19 league titles, and Aldershot happy to be in existence again after being disbanded and losing their League place in 1992. They re-formed and fought their way back through the minor leagues to reclaim their League status in 2008. Manchester City are back in action as well this week, travelling to play Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday in a rematch of the 1974 final that Wolves won, one of the five all-Premier League ties in the round. Arsenal, last season's beaten finalists, are at home to Bolton Wanderers, who they beat 3-0 at the Emirates a month ago, while the Premier League's bottom club Blackburn Rovers meet Newcastle United who beat Rovers 1-0 last month. Everton will seek quick revenge against Chelsea after last week's 3-1 loss at Stamford Bridge, and Stoke City meet Liverpool with Stoke seeking a second win over Liverpool this season after beating them 1-0 in the league last month. There are two ties between Championship (second tier) clubs, with Cardiff City facing Burnley and Crystal Palace, who are third, facing Championship leaders Southampton at Selhust Park. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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 :: Showbiz

---

‘Magic Tree House’ film premieres in Japan Posted: 24 Oct 2011 07:33 AM PDT TOKYO, Oct 24 — The "Magic Tree House" books have whisked millions of readers on adventures to everywhere from ancient Egypt to feudal Japan. Now, the children's time-travel series is embarking on a new destination: the movie cinema. The Japanese animated adaptation, which premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival, comes to the cinema about two decades after author Mary Pope Osborne was walking past an old tree house and got the idea for the series that has sold nearly 100 million books worldwide. Osborne had previously opposed selling the adaptation rights to the books, known for their value for teaching reading, history and geography, because she wanted to keep the stories in children's imaginations. But she was impressed with the vision of the Japanese filmmakers, who visited Osborne and her husband in the United States to show them the script and illustrations for the movie, and felt confident they would make a good film. "We thought they totally captured the spirit of the brother and sister in the story," Osborne told Reuters at the premiere of "Magic Tree House" yesterday, the festival's second day. "The heart of the story was so intact that to me, it was just perfect in that way." The film, produced by Media Factory and set to be released in Japan in January, follows Jack and his little sister Annie, who discover a tree house filled with books in fictional Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. In the early books, Jack is eight years old and Annie seven. When Jack points to a picture in a book on dinosaurs and the siblings are suddenly transported to prehistoric times, they realise that the tree house is magical and can take them to any time and place in history they wish to visit. 'Determined and courageous' Jack and Annie need to summon every ounce of courage as their lives are threatened by everything from a rampaging Tyrannosaurus Rex to marauding pirates. Osborne visited schools in Japan's tsunami-hit areas last week and said she was moved by the strength of the children, who she couldn't help notice embodied the heroic qualities that she instilled in Jack and Annie. "The characters are so determined and courageous, and resilient and loving at the same time," she said. "Everything I heard about the children there and saw in the short time, it felt so in harmony with that." Osborne has written about 100 books over a 30-year career and shows no sign of stopping — or being stopped. "I broke my finger and wrist two years ago and I was literally typing a 'Magic Tree House' like this," she said, mimicking the action of typing painstakingly with rigid hands and two fingers. "But I got the whole book done." She is working on a "Magic Tree House" book set at a panda reserve against the backdrop of the 2008 earthquake in China. Osborne's husband, Will, and her sister, Natalie Pope Boyce, pen the non-fiction companion books to the series. The three are also starting an educational programme in the United States to give away books to underprivileged children. "It's just a launching pad to learning about the world and getting excited about learning. That's what our mission is," she said. "It's always been inspiring. I don't think I'll ever stop." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

‘Paranormal 3’ breaks records at weekend box office Posted: 24 Oct 2011 04:25 AM PDT LOS ANGELES, Oct 24 — Horror movie "Paranormal Activity 3" jolted awake a sleepy movie box office with an estimated US$80 million (RM251.3 million) in global ticket sales over the weekend. The third instalment of the low-budget haunted house movies topped domestic charts with US$54 million from US and Canadian cinemas, the highest-grossing domestic debut for a horror film and a record for an October release. The movie added US$26 million from international markets over the weekend, distributor Paramount Pictures said yesterday. Like the first two films in the series, "Paranormal 3" was released just before Halloween and produced on a budget tiny by Hollywood standards. The latest movie, the most expensive of the three, cost US$5 million to make. The film opened with after-midnight showings on Thursday night and easily beat the studio's forecast for a domestic debut of around US$35 million. The movie is a prequel about two young sisters and their creepy encounters with an invisible presence in their home, all recorded by surveillance cameras. A largely positive response from critics helped bring in an older-than-25 crowd in addition to the teenagers and young adults who usually flock to horror flicks, said Don Harris, Paramount's president of domestic distribution. "This is the best of the series. It was well-reviewed," Harris said, adding that "people like to be scared in a Hitchcock-ian way. This isn't a bloody franchise." The film's strong performance boosted a sluggish box office that has limped along sharply below last year for several weekends this autumn following a record summer. This weekend's top 12 films grossed 45 per cent more than last weekend's, although 6 per cent less than the same weekend a year ago, according to figures from Hollywood.com Box Office. Robot boxing movie "Real Steel", the domestic box-office champ the past two weekends, slipped to second place with US$11.3 million at North American (US and Canadian) cinemas. The film, starring Hugh Jackman as a father who bonds with his son as they restore a battle-ready robot, has earned US$153.3 million worldwide through its first three weekends of release. A remake of 1980s dance classic "Footloose" finished third on the domestic charts with US$10.9 million, dropping just 30 per cent from its debut weekend and earning a total of US$30.9 million to date. 'Musketeers' struggle' New release "The Three Musketeers", a 3D action version of the classic novel about a sword-fighting trio, finished in fourth place with a weaker than expected US$8.8 million. Critics were not enthused with the film, with just 28 per cent giving a positive review on movie website Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences polled by survey firm CinemaScore gave the film a B rating on average. Overseas, the movie has grossed US$64.4 million for a combined global total standing at US$73.2 million. Comedy "Johnny English Reborn" debuted in North America at eighth place with a dismal US$3.8 million. But the film starring British "Mr Bean" actor Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling secret agent has already chalked up success overseas, pulling in US$104.5 million in international markets since its release five weeks ago. Fifth place domestically went to George Clooney's political thriller "The Ides of March". which brought in US$4.9 million during its third weekend of release. Clooney directed, co-wrote and co-starred in the film about a primary fight between two presidential candidates. Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, released "Paranormal Activity 3" and "Footloose". Summit Entertainment distributed "The Three Musketeers". Walt Disney Co released "Real Steel", which was produced by DreamWorks. "Johnny English Reborn" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp, and Sony Corp unit Columbia Pictures released "The Ides of March". — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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 :: Features

---

Bikes’ revival provokes tension in Germany Posted: 24 Oct 2011 06:43 AM PDT Cyclists converge through traffic during morning rush hour on Unter den Linden avenue on September 8, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. Bicycles are a common means of transportation for people commuting to work in cities throughout Europe, where dense urbanisation makes cycling a strong alternative to using a car. – AFP pic/Getty Images BERLIN, Oct 24 – Germany might still be known for its high-speed autobahns, but in cities, bicycles are now so popular that a war of words has broken out between drivers and cyclists over who rules the road. In Berlin, more than 500,000 of the 3.5 million inhabitants get on their bikes daily to move about the city, twice as many as a decade ago, making the most of an extensive network of cycle paths. On Unter den Linden, the capital's celebrated, tree-lined central boulevard, cyclists zoom up and down between the pedestrians and hordes of tourists admiring the Brandenburg Gate. 'Beer bikes' pedalled simultaneously by about a dozen or so people who drink beer while cycling around the city are also a common sight in the German capital. "There is a real problem with the cyclists who do not respect the rules, who zigzag and ride any old way. They are becoming less and less civilised," Tahmaures, a 58-year-old taxi driver, fumed. Germany traditionally conjures up images of a nation of car lovers, but the Transport Ministry said there had been "a renaissance of the bicycle since the beginning of the 90s". And it is concerned about the high number of accidents suffered by cyclists. One in three accidents in towns involved bicycles last year, and the rate was one in four for fatal accidents, according to the German Statistics Institute. "Infrastructure for traffic is no longer suitable. The growing number of cyclists requires a new concept for urban organisation," Claudia Nolte, spokeswoman for the German Automobile Club for the Berlin-Brandenburg region, said. In 2011, the German federal state devoted €86 million (RM369.99 million) to cycling infrastructure. Critics, however, complain that cyclists tend to run red traffic lights, cycle the wrong way up one-way streets and take up too much of the pavement without regard for pedestrians. "Aggressiveness is not solely the domain of bikes, there is also a lot of rudeness by drivers who do not pay attention to bikes," Roland Huhn, of the German cyclists' association, said for his part. In a book published earlier in the year, author Annette Zoch criticised cyclists for hiding behind the excuse that their chosen mode of transport is environmentally-friendly. "On a bicycle, man becomes a monster," Zoch said in her ironically written "Book For Those Who Hate Bikes", while the respected Der Spiegel weekly has devoted its front page to conflicts caused by the rise of the bike. In Freiburg, the southwestern German city which prides itself for its strong ecological achievements, a third of all movement around the city is done by bicycle which authorities have promoted since the 1970s. A giant car park near the train station can even host 1,000 bicycles. Some of the city centre's narrow streets, though, have become so blocked by bikes, pedestrians can hardly get through and a ban on the parking of bicycles has been imposed in some places. "Relations between pedestrians and cyclists have rather deteriorated" recently, Stefan Lieb, spokesman of the pedestrians' association Fuss e.V., said, adding it was mainly because bike use had grown so much. Some German towns and cities, including Berlin and Munich, have imposed speed limits of 30 kilometres an hour in certain areas or turned over certain streets for sole bike use. – AFP Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Fiery Chinese drink challenges West Posted: 23 Oct 2011 08:03 PM PDT HONG KONG, Oct 24 — Ask any Westerner what they think is the world's most popular spirit and they're unlikely to name — or even to have heard of — the lethally strong Chinese grain alcohol, baijiu. But more baijiu is sold worldwide by volume than vodka, whisky or rum, say international drinks firms such as British brewer Diageo, and such is their enthusiasm for the national drink of 1.3 billion Chinese that several firms are trying to market baijiu overseas. Bottles of baijiu are displayed outside a store in Beijing on October 18, 2011. — AFP pic There is only one problem: with alcohol content at up to 60 per cent and a distinctive smell, baijiu is simply too much for many Western palates. Those who have tasted it tend to react like Hong Kong-based teacher Stewart Brown, 30, from Britain, who says simply: "It's horrid. It's just paint stripper." Shanghai-based British strategy consultant James Sinclair, 37, is married to a Chinese woman but says he has spent his 13 years in China "trying to avoid the stuff". And then, that phrase again: "To me it tastes like paint stripper." The baijiu market leader, Chinese government-owned Wuliangye, has hired one of the screens in New York's Times Square to promote its brand, at a reported cost of US$400,000 (RM1.2 million). And Diageo has committed to boosting international sales of the premium baijiu maker Shiu Jing Fang after completing its acquisition of a majority stake in the firm this year. The brand is already on sale in 22 airports and in Singapore stores; Diageo plans to launch it in domestic markets including the United Kingdom and Japan, Lee Harle, general manager for Chinese white spirits at Diageo, told AFP. But are they doomed to fail, with baijiu on the other side of an impenetrable cultural boundary? Baijiu enthusiasts maintain the problem is simply that non-Chinese have little education about the drink. Packaged in small glass bottles and often labelled in lucky red, bajiu is drunk with a meal, never with mixers, and is used in toasts with the exclamation "Ganbei!" ("Bottoms up!"). It is distilled from sorghum, maize or other grains. The "white spirit" is served at formal dinners, where to fail to keep up with the pace of drinking can traditionally cause your host to lose face. Foreigners are often advised to just pretend to be teetotal from the start. Job advertisements in China sometimes specify that applicants must have a good tolerance for baijiu, since treating clients to a baijiu-soaked feast can be a crucial aspect of doing business. Visitors, meanwhile, may fall into the trap of drinking ubiquitous low-grade versions which sell from 25 yuan (RM12) and are known for causing horrific hangovers. But baijiu stretches up to premium brands such as the famous Moutai, renowned for its mellow taste, whose flagship "flying Moutai" brand sells for about 1,050 yuan, according to the state-run China Daily. Revolutionary leader Mao Zedong served Moutai to then-US president Richard Nixon on the landmark 1972 visit that repaired Sino-US relations — though Nixon's aides were reported to have warned him against actually drinking it. High-end baijius are often based on yeast cultures passed down through the centuries, and range in fragrance from light to heavy, with aromas including "rice fragrance" and "sauce fragrance" reminiscent of soy sauce, says Beijing-based drinks expert Paul Mathew. Companies are focusing on the upper end of the US$40 billion baijiu market — both in China, where drinkers are trading up, and abroad. LVMH Moet Hennessy and Pernod Ricard have also taken stakes in Chinese baijiu makers. Diageo and Shui Jing Fang looked to a crossover market with the launch of their Shanghai White, a vodka made with a combination of Russian and Chinese techniques, in Hong Kong. And the British firm recently commissioned Mathew to design a baijiu cocktail, the Shui Jing Fang Grapefruit Sour, which uses fresh lemon juice, pink grapefruit juice, cinnamon syrup and the white of an egg. "A lot of other baijiu cocktails have attempted to mask the flavour. I wanted to bring out the flavours that make baijiu more interesting," said Mathew, who is hoping to launch a baijiu cocktail competition in Beijing. He attributes Westerners' difficulties with baijiu partly to the unfamiliar flavour. "People in China are used to consuming different flavours from western palates — Chinese flavours, things like 'thousand-year-old eggs' (eggs preserved in a clay mixture), that westerners don't find appealing," he said. "A lot of what westerners don't seem to like about baijiu is the pungent aroma, in the same way that Chinese people find French cheeses and so on unbelievable." Cocktails like Mathew's aim to bridge that gap, but research analyst Tan Heng Hong, of AccessAsia, remains sceptical. "The market for baijiu is quite limited — some consumers (outside China) will drink it as a novelty drink but in the long run, it will be quite difficult for baijiu to penetrate local markets... The alcohol content is just too high." Within China, steady growth in the baijiu market is down to consumers switching to more expensive brands rather than drinking more, said Tan, as the government campaigns for healthier drinking. Baijiu companies hope the drink's profile abroad will gain from a growing international fascination with China, spurred on by its economic boom. As it launched its Times Square electronic billboard spot in August, Wuliangye issued a statement presenting the move as a bid to heighten awareness of Chinese culture, as much as to encourage Americans to buy the drink itself. "Wuliangye will get the overseas consumers drunk (on) the 5,000 (year-old) Oriental culture," company president Tang Qiao was quoted as saying, adding that it aimed to project "soft power". Diageo says its revenues from international baijiu sales doubled in the financial year 2011, forming 10 per cent of Shui Jing Fang's total sales volume. And Sinclair, the Shanghai-based Briton, said he could imagine more foreigners drinking baijiu if its drinking traditions could be adapted to their own culture. "Whisky is being drunk here (in China) but to make it palatable, everyone mixes it with bottled tea," he said. "I wonder whether to make baijiu palatable to Brits or Americans, they might have to do something similar." — AFP-Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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 :: Books

---

Murakami: Bestselling writer of the Japanese absurd Posted: 23 Oct 2011 02:05 AM PDT Japanese author Haruki Murakami. — AFP/Relaxnews pic TOKYO, Oct 23 — Haruki Murakami, whose new novel "1Q84" is proving a worldwide phenomenon, describes himself as "the black sheep of the Japanese literary world" for his absurdist take on the spiritual emptiness of modern life. In Japan the first two volumes of "1Q84", which can be read as "1984" in Japanese, came out in 2009, becoming a bestseller even before hitting the stores on the back of massive advance orders, and clearing a million sales within a month. The third volume went on sale in Japan last year, boosting the number of copies of the popular series to more than 3.85 million, according to its publisher Shinchosha Publishing Co. But the release of the foreign language translations of the book, his first in five years, have also come amid a blaze of excitement, garnering the sort of attention usually reserved for the Harry Potter series. In France, where it was released in the summer, publishers, who printed 70,000 copies, were forced to reprint within a week. And the launch of the first instalment in Britain on Tuesday and across the United States next week has had bookshops planning midnight openings to cope with demand. The novel, just shy of 1,000 pages, contains the usual Murakami mixture of parallel universes, bizarre characters and surrealist happenings as the lives of a female murderer and a male novelist intertwine. Murakami, a keen runner who spends much of his time in the United States, is known for writing lyrically and surreally about Japanese who refuse to toe the line in a homogenous society, peppering his works with pop culture references. His 2002 bestseller "Kafka on the Shore" is the story of a teenage boy who runs away from home to search for his missing mother and sister, and meets an ageing simpleton who has never recovered from a wartime affliction. Translated into some 40 languages, his works have attracted fans worldwide with their so-called "Murakami world" — fantastical scenes such as a giant frog inviting a salaryman into an epic battle, or skies that rain mackerels. The top-selling novelist is noted for his disregard for the traditional Japanese qualities of discretion and understatement. "Before, Japanese authors spoke about pain in an inaccessible style," he has said. "For them, suffering was an aesthetic question." Murakami's quixotic themes strike a chord in a country that today records some 30,000 suicides every year. But Japan's nuclear crisis after the March earthquake and tsunami prompted him to deploy a more straightforward rhetoric. Fukushima "was the second source of nuclear damage to Japanese people in history" after the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Murakami said in a speech when he won this year's International Catalunya Prize in June. "But this time nobody dropped a nuclear bomb," Murakami said. "We Japanese set it up, made mistakes, contaminated our country. We should have said no to nuclear power. We should have pursued energy development to replace nuclear energy." Murakami was born on January 12, 1949 in the Japanese city of Kyoto, although he grew up in Kobe. After studying in Tokyo he spent seven years running a jazz bar in the capital and also studied cinema. In a recent interview in the Britain's Guardian newspaper, he described how he did not know how he decided to be a writer and sometimes has a vision of a parallel existence in which he carried on at the bar. "Do I have a sense of alternative lives? Ummm ah. Yes. So I feel it's very strange, still. Sometimes I wonder why I'm a novelist right now. There is no definite career reason why I became a writer. Something happened, and I became a writer. And now I'm a successful writer," he said. He sold his jazz bar as he devoted himself to writing, but he told the Guardian: "I don't think of myself as an artist. I'm just a guy who can write. Yeah." Murakami took up running to keep himself fit and in "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" (2008), he conveyed what the sport meant to him. "No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act," he wrote. The author showed the same disciplined dedication to his running — he has run numerous marathons and even an ultramarathon — as to his writing, describing the routine of both activities as important. Murakami has been compared to the US writer J.D. Salinger, whose "Catcher in the Rye" he translated into Japanese. Other influences, also from the pantheon of US postwar writers, are Richard Brautigan and Kurt Vonnegut. He decided to begin writing in his 30s, and his first success came with "Hear the Wind Sing" in 1979. "Norwegian Wood" (1987), a sexually frank novel about a man's fleeting romance with a traumatised young woman, brought him such celebrity that he fled Japan to spend time in the United States, his second home. The film was turned into a well-regarded movie last year by French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung. Murakami has contradictory relations with his native land, describing himself as "the black sheep of the Japanese literary world". "They criticise my style, which is too far from the classical canon," he says. "I left Japan partly for that reason, to be myself." When he received the 2009 Jerusalem Prize, Israel's highest literary honour for foreign writers, he obliquely criticised Middle East conflicts that victimise innocent citizens. "If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg," he said at the ceremony in Jerusalem. He was awarded Spain's Order of Arts and Letters last year and the Czech Republic's foremost literary award, the Franz Kafka Prize, in 2006. He has been tipped as a future winner of the Nobel literature prize. — AFP/Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Books 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

---

Ketua Umno Pulau Pinang saman Guan Eng RM30 juta Posted: 24 Oct 2011 02:44 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Okt – Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan Umno Pulau Pinang Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman hari ini memfailkan saman malu berjumlah RM30 juta terhadap Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng berhubung kenyataannya mengaitkan Umno dengan demonstrasi dan cubaan membakar ibu pejabat DAP di Pulau Pinang pada Julai lalu. Beliau memfailkan saman itu di pejabat Pendaftar Mahkamah Tinggi Sivil di sini Isnin melalui Tetuan Jahaberdeen & Co. Selain Lim yang juga Setiausaha DAP, turut dinamakan sebagai defendan ialah Parti Keadilan Rakyat selaku pemilik laman berita elektronik Keadilan Daily dan akhbar Suara Keadilan; Segmen Fleksibel Sdn Bhd yang merupakan syarikat penerbitan Keadilan Daily dan Suara Keadilan; dan ketua penyuntingnya, Fazallah Pit. Peguam Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos, yang mewakili Zainal Abidin, 51, memberitahu pemberita bahawa saman itu difailkan atas kapasiti peribadi pemimpin Umno Pulau Pinang itu. Dalam pernyataan tuntutan itu, Zainal Abidin mendakwa pada 3 Julai lepas, Lim telah menerbitkan suatu kenyataan akhbar melalui emel yang kemudiannya disiarkan di Keadilan Daily pada 3 Julai dan di akhbar Suara Keadilan pada 5 Julai lalu, lapor Bernama Online. Zainal Abidin berkata kenyataan Lim itu antara lain membawa maksud kononnya beliau terlibat dalam kegiatan mengguling Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang melalui cara yang salah serta menyembunyikan penglibatannya dalam satu demonstrasi ganas yang berlaku di Komtar dan Jambatan Pulau Pinang pada 1 Julai lalu. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Laporan Audit: 18 kuda RM4 juta dibeli MSN tak mampu tanding Posted: 24 Oct 2011 02:32 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Okt – Sebanyak 18 ekor kuda dibeli dengan kos hampir RM4 juta oleh Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) tetapi tidak dapat diturunkan dalam persaingan World Endurance Championship (WEC) 2008 sebab tidak memenuhi syarat kelayakan termasuk masalah kesihatan. Hanya lima ekor kuda layak untuk bersaing dalam kejohanan tersebut. Kesemua 23 kuda itu dibeli dengan kos RM5.66 juta. Laporan Ketua Audit Negara 2010 menyebut "pihak Audit dimaklumkan 18 ekor kuda dengan kos perolehan berjumlah RM3.94 juta tidak layak bertanding kerana tidak memenuhi syarat kelayakan yang ditetapkan oleh Persekutuan Equestrian Antarabangsa." "Ini disebabkan kuda yang dibeli tidak mendapat latihan yang mencukupi memandangkan peroleh kuda dibuat dua bulan sebelum kejohanan. "Di samping itu beberapa ekor kuda juga mengalami kecederaan sebelum kejohanan bermula," kata Ketua Audit Negara Tan Sri Ambrin Buang. Pada Februari 2007, MSN telah diminta untuk membeli enam ekor kuda bagi tujuan WEC 2008 dengan mendahulukan peruntukan sedia ada dan agensi itu telah membelanjakan RM1.98 juta bagi tujuan itu. Pada Jun tahun yang sama, Kementerian Belia dan Sukan telah menetapkan spesifikasi dan bilangan kuda untuk ditambah sebanyak 17 ekor lagi menjadi 23 ekor untuk pertandingan tersebut. Kata beliau, pada pandangan Audit perancangan perolehan kuda hendaklah dibuat secara teliti dengan mengambil kira tahap kesihatan dan kebolehan kuda untuk bertanding. "ISN (Institut Sukan Negara) sepatutnya merancang perolehan dengan mengambil kira tempoh latihan yang diperlukan bagi setiap kuda untuk memenuhi syarat kelayakan FEI. "Ini menyebabkan sebahagian besar kuda yang diberi tidak dapat menyertai (World Endurance Championship) WEC 2008," katanya. Kata laporan, walaupun usaha dilakukan untuk memastikan kuda tersebut sihat, kesihatan kuda tidak dapat dijamin sempurna sepanjang masa. Laporan Audit berkata pihaknya mendapati ISN perlu memastikan perolehan kuda digunakan untuk menyertai kejohanan peringkat antarabangsa dan pembangunan sukan berkuda bagi tempoh tertentu sebelum diserahkan kepada agensi kerajaan yang lain. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

---

24 jam di Ladang Seri Intan Posted: 23 Oct 2011 05:45 PM PDT 24 OKT — Semasa Norazli Ramlis, 45, mula-mula menjadi Pembantu Hospital di Ladang Nova Scotia, Teluk Intan, Perak pada tahun 1988, kemeriahan musim perayaan dan aktiviti permainan tradisional kaum India masih amat terasa. Beliau mengimbau kenangan itu semasa saya mengunjungi keluarganya di Ladang Seri Intan (nama baru ladang berkenaan) pada 15 Oktober 2011. "Kemeriahan itu sudah kurang sikit sekarang. Mungkin kerana bilangan belia yang kekal di ladang sudah berkurangan. Juga tiada pewaris untuk meneruskan aktiviti budaya tradisional India seperti yang pernah ada 20 atau 30 tahun lalu di ladang dan estet," katanya. Saya mengenali Norazli sebagai "Warga Siber" menerusi komunikasi di ruang siber sejak 1998. Kumpulan Sasterawan Kavyan (Kavyan) pernah mengadakan aktiviti bahasa dan sastera di ladang berkenaan hampir lima tahun lalu. Keluarga Norazli Ramlis selesa tinggal di ladang. Kunjungan saya selama 24 jam pada kali ini adalah secara khusus untuk "melihat" kehidupan di ladang menerusi kaca mata seorang individu bukan kaum India. "Kehidupan di ladang sebenarnya tidak 'terasing' seperti yang sering dibayangkan atau dipaparkan dalam cerita. Kami masih mengikuti perkembangan dunia luar menerusi akhbar, radio, televisyen dan Internet. "Suasana kehidupan di ladang dan estet tidaklah seperti 30 atau 40 tahun lalu. Ada pelbagai kemudahan percuma seperti bekalan air bersih dan elektrik. Gaji masuk terus ke akaun bank," kata Norazli yang lahir dan membesar di Ulu Yam Baharu, Hulu Selangor. Beliau menganggap Ladang Seri Intan sebagai "rumah" yang dihuni bersama-sama isterinya, Norasmah Abd Rahman, serta anak-anak, Mohd Fikri (9 tahun) dan Nurul Huda (6 tahun). Terdapat beberapa kuil di dalam ladang. Anak-anaknya yang membesar di ladang tidak menghadapi masalah menjadi "minoriti" dalam kalangan penduduk kaum India di sini. Fikri dan Huda merujuk kepada pekerja ladang yang datang ke rumah sebagai "kawan ayah" walaupun mereka bekerja sebagai pemandu traktor, pemotong buah kelapa sawit, pekerja am dan sebagainya. Menceritakan aktiviti sehariannya, Norazli berkata, pada jam 6.30 pagi, beliau memulakan tugas di Klinik Seri Intan yang diubah suai daripada sebuah rumah. "Pukul 8.30 pagi, saya ke Ladang Selabak untuk bertugas di klinik di sana. Pukul 11 pagi, saya balik ke ladang, melawat kawasan perumahan dan creche (pusat asuhan kanak-kanak). Pukul 3 petang, saya bertugas di klinik," katanya sambil membawa saya membonceng motosikal untuk melawat sekitar kawasan ladang kelapa sawit. "Majoriti penduduk di sini orang India. Tapi bila saya dah bekerja hampir 20 tahun, saya nampak bilangan pekerja India sudah berkurangan. Sama ada mereka telah bersara dan anak-anak mereka tidak meneruskan warisan keluarga, ataupun mereka mendapat peluang yang lain," ujarnya. Kini, terdapat ramai pekerja Indonesia. Ada tujuh keluarga Melayu yang juga pekerja am di ladang. Mereka sudah lama di sini, hampir tiga generasi dan tiada apa-apa masalah dalam pergaulan bersama pekerja/penduduk kaum India. Masing-masing saling menghormati dan memahami. "Arwah bapa saya bekas tentera. Beliau menamatkan perkhidmatan berikutan kemalangan dan bekerja sebagai pekerja am di sebuah ladang kelapa sawit dan getah milik tauke Cina di Ulu Yam. Pekerja di situ kebanyakan kaum India dan Melayu," Norazli mengimbau kenangan silam. Bapanya sering membawanya ke tempat kerja dan beliau berpeluang mengenali pekerja di sana. Hubungan bapanya dengan pekerja lain memang rapat. "Semasa Deepavali, mereka selalu hantar juadah istimewa untuk kami sekeluarga. Begitu juga semasa Tahun Baru Cina. Semasa Aidil Fitri, giliran kami pula memberi lemang dan ketupan untuk mereka. Pengalaman itu juga membantu saya mengenali, memahami dan menghormati budaya kaum lain," katanya. Ladang ini dulu dikenali Nova Scotia Estate. Semasa kami berdua mengelilingi kawasan perumahan dan ladang, ramai penduduk/pekerja menyapa Norazli dengan mesra. Tentu sahaja ini menjadi bukti kebenaran kata-kata beliau. "Selain tugas di klinik, saya juga perlu melawat kawasan perumahan dan creche di ladang ini. Kunjungan itu turut membantu saya mengenali masyarakat India pelbagai peringkat umur," katanya semasa kami minum petang. Keluarganya juga suka makanan India seperti tose, vade, idli, rasam, dhal dan papadam yang mudah diperoleh di Teluk Intan; apatah lagi apabila hidup di tengah masyarakat India! "Waktu mula-mula dulu, saya cuma tahu orang India sahaja. Tapi apabila dah kenali mereka dan berada bersama-sama mereka, barulah saya tahu kewujudan etnik Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu dan beberapa lagi. "Setiap satu daripadanya unik dari segi bahasa, pakaian, makanan dan perayaan. Juga hal-hal berkaitan perkahwinan dan upacara kematian. Saya gembira kerana dapat mengenali semua itu secara dekat," kata beliau semasa saya dan keluarganya makan malam. Sambutan tahun baru, ponggal serta perayaan keagamaan di kuil Ladang Seri Intan dan di bandar Teluk Intan juga sangat istimewa. Malah, Norazli sering menyebut mengenainya sejak saya mula-mula mengenali beliau. "Chariot (rata) lalu di depan rumah kami setiap kali perayaan kuil dan kami sekeluarga selalu tengok. Bangsal yang menempatkan chariot pula terletak di sebelah rumah. "Saya dan isteri selalu didik anak-anak bahawa itu budaya India dan agama Hindu. Kita perlu hormati walaupun mungkin berbeza dengan budaya Melayu dan agama Islam," katanya semasa kami melawat menara condong di bandar Teluk Intan selepas makan malam. Selain beberapa kuil, terdapat juga surau dan gereja di Ladang Seri Intan. Semangat perpaduan dan kehidupan harmoni sudah sedia wujud dalam kalangan penduduk di sini. Pada pagi Ahad, Norazli sering bersarapan bersama-sama rakan-rakan pelbagai kaum di Jit's Cafe di pusat bandar. Pada 16 Oktober, saya berpeluang hadir sama untuk berbual sambil makan capati. Pada pemerhatian Norazli dan rakan-rakan, belia kaum India sedang berusaha gigih meningkatkan tahap ekonomi diri dan keluarga. Kebanyakan mereka bekerja di bandar serta ada kesedaran terhadap kepentingan pelajaran. "Hasil perbualan saya bersama belia di ladang, ternyata mereka menyedari kepentingan pelajaran untuk mencapai mobiliti sosial. Mereka juga sedia menerima teguran dan nasihat daripada saya tanpa melihat aspek perbezaan kaum dan latar keluarga," katanya yang mengakui bahawa hubungan antara kaum bertambah baik pada peringkat akar-umbi. Rumah disediakan bagi para pekerja. Hasil kunjungan ke Ladang Seri Intan milik Sime Darby, saya dapati rumah-rumah di sini menggunakan tenaga elektrik yang dihasilkan menerusi generator. Rumah-rumah lama mempunyai dua bilik tetapi reka bentuk baru dilengkapi tiga bilik dan pelbagai kemudahan lain. Gaji asas pekerja di sini disemak setiap dua tahun. Tambah nilai telefon bimbit RM5 sebulan diberi untuk setiap pekerja. Elaun khas RM200 sebulan diberi jika pekerja ada rekod kehadiran yang memuaskan. Selain itu, setiap dua bulan, majikan memberi lima liter minyak masak kelapa sawit dan lima kilogram beras untuk setiap pekerja. Ternyata pelbagai usaha berterusan dilakukan majikan sendiri untuk membaiki kehidupan pekerja di ladang ini. "Bagi saya, kerja di ladang masih merupakan pakej menarik. Cuma, majikan terbabit perlu sediakan keperluan asas seperti rumah yang selesa dan dilengkapi kemudahan. "Pakej gaji yang menarik dan elaun tambahan juga perlu diberi perhatian. Kebajikan pekerja perlu diambil kira. Penambah baikan mesti dilakukan secara berterusan bagi memastikan pekerja terus berminat," kata Norazli. Selama ini, saya tidak sedar caruman Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) bagi pekerja ladang lebih tinggi berbanding sektor lain. Maka, jumlah simpanan bagi hari tua pekerja ladang lebih lumayan. Demikianlah, kunjungan selama 24 jam ke Ladang Seri Intan sedikit-sebanyak membantu saya melihat kehidupan di ladang dari sudut lain. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

A fool’s paradise? Posted: 23 Oct 2011 05:34 PM PDT OCT 24 — Spot on! Screamed out page after page in The Star the day after the Budget 2012 announcement by the prime minister. Barisan Nasional was at pains to paint it as a caring budget which emphasised its concern for the underprivileged through a number of cash handouts and maintenance of subsidies across the board. But how quickly times change. Within a week, even The Star was forced to concede that a number of economists thought the growth forecast of 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent for 2012 was somewhat optimistic, without which premise the entire fiscal deficit reduction claim would appear to be a pipe dream. In less than another week, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) revised its growth forecast down to 5 per cent for 2012. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, in an even gloomier tone, said that it expected growth might be below its potential rate of 3 to 5 per cent next year. US unemployment feeding into a probable double-dip recession in its economy and the eurozone crisis has the whole world bracing for a year of desperate belt tightening. Already, volatility in the investment, stock and currency markets has reached such a level that Bank Negara recently reported that foreign investors sold Malaysian equities to the tune of US$439.6 million (RM1.36 billion) in August and September alone. This was reflected in a drop in Malaysian foreign exchange reserves to the tune of US$5.3 billion at the end of September. The ringgit has also been continuously weakening against all major currencies in the same period. At this juncture, it might be wise to ask why the Malaysian government's blithely rosy forecast and expectations for 2012 are at such complete variance with the rest of the world, and what it may mean for the Malaysian consumer in the coming months. In one word — politics. The raison d'être for politicians is to promise a better future to voters. In an election year especially there is undeniable pressure on the ruling coalition to deliver that elusive "feel-good" factor through all the instruments of state at its disposal to win re-election. Having said that, the government and BN are distinct entities. While it is the job of a political coalition to influence voters positively, it should be the job of the government to take a more responsible stand when the future livelihood of its citizens is at stake. A reasonably independent civil service is a prerequisite to reining in the natural propensity of all politicians to spend, spend, spend and leave the consequences to the distant future. When the bureaucracy is supine, the result is a budget like the one recently presented — a free-for-all spending plan with no acknowledgement of the economic realities and forecasts on the ground. Due the perceived unpopularity of the proposed GST and an extremely narrow taxpayer base, simply put the plan to raise revenue seems to be one of cross your fingers and hope for the best. If the US goes into another recession and oil prices plummet, even the current revenue of the government will drop, let alone increase. Whereas on the expenditure side there is a plethora of proposals set to precipitously increase operating costs. Malaysia's household debt as a percentage of GDP is already the highest in Asia after Japan, and household debt service ratio (proportion of debt to disposable income) is close to 50 per cent. This makes the Malaysian consumer much more sensitive to external economic shocks like a possible global double-dip recession. When global demand and national GDP drops, government borrowing will increase to cover the revenue-expenditure gap. Combined with growing inflation due to rising food prices, this will lead to a rise in interest rates on lending. So for the average Malaysian, this could mean much higher monthly debt service obligations and grocery bills on the back of stagnant or reducing income. In a nutshell, there may be an extremely unpleasant year ahead for the consumer. A prudent plan for 2012 would include making yourself indispensable to the boss in order to protect your income, avoid any increase in borrowing by not buying the new car or house, and boosting savings/ reducing debt by shopping wisely. So if a lot of this sounds familiar to you, it may be time to acknowledge that far from being "spot on!" the budget may be "far out" and it's probably time to moderate rather than celebrate. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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