The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| United’s Fletcher takes break for health reasons Posted: 13 Dec 2011 08:08 AM PST  The midfielder has been diagnosed with a chronic bowel condition. — Reuters file pic Fletcher, also captain of the Scottish national team, has missed a number of matches this year due to what was believed to be a viral illness but United said his absence was actually down to a chronic bowel condition. "Over the past year he has had several absence periods which we have attributed to a viral illness in order to respect his right to medical confidentiality. Darren has, in fact, been suffering from ulcerative colitis (a chronic inflammatory bowel condition) for some time preceding this," said a statement on the club's official website. United said Fletcher had managed to keep his symptoms under control for long periods but that this had proved more difficult recently. "He has therefore accepted medical advice to take an extended break from the demands of training and playing in order to afford the best chance possible of achieving full remission once again," the club added. Fletcher, 27, has been at Manchester United his whole career, developing into one of the club's most combative and disciplined central midfielders. His absence will be a further blow for United manager Alex Ferguson who is currently without injured midfielders Anderson and Tom Cleverley, strikers Javier Hernandez and Michael Owen, and Brazilian defenders Rafael and Fabio da Silva. Captain and central defender Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. "We are going to miss two big players in Fletcher and Vidic, I hope they both come back fitter and stronger than ever," United defender Rio Ferdinand said on Twitter. It was not clear how long Fletcher's break from the game is likely to last. United are two points behind Manchester City at the top of the Premier League and have qualified for the Europa League after failing to reach the Champions League knockout stages. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Benzema named French player of the year Posted: 13 Dec 2011 07:17 AM PST PARIS, Dec 13 – Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was named French player of the year by France Football magazine today. The France striker won 155 points in a vote of former winners of the award, beating Barcelona fullback Eric Abidal (110) and Olympique Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris (69), who finished third for the third year in succession. Benzema, who scored the quickest goal (23 seconds) in a Real Madrid v Barcelona clasico in his team's 3-1 defeat last Saturday, has been in impressive form this year as he finally made his mark at the Bernabeu. "I had the chance to be with a very good coach, Jose Mourinho. He put me back on the right path," the 23-year-old told France Football. Rudi Garcia was named French coach of the year for leading Lille to their first French title since 1954, with the club's Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard being awarded the best foreign player prize. Lille were named team of the year. – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Scientists find signs of missing ‘god particle’ Posted: 13 Dec 2011 07:04 AM PST GENEVA, Dec 13 — International scientists said today they had found signs of the Higgs boson, an elementary particle believed to have played a vital role in the creation of the universe after the Big Bang. Scientists at the CERN physics research centre near Geneva said, however, they had found no conclusive proof of the existence of the particle which, according to prevailing theories of physics, gives everything in the universe its mass.  The Higgs boson is, in theory, the particle that gives mass to all other fundamental particles. — interactions.org pic The leaders of two experiments, ALTAS and CMS, revealed their findings to a packed seminar at CERN, where they have tried to find traces of the elusive boson by smashing particles together in the Large Hadron Collider at high speed. "Both experiments have the signals pointing in essentially the same direction," said Oliver Buchmueller, senior physicist on CMS. "It seems that both Atlas and us have found the signals are at the same mass level. That is obviously very important." Fabiola Gianotti, the scientist in charge of the ATLAS experiment, said ALTAS had narrowed the search to a signal centred at around 126 GeV (Giga electron volts), which would be compatible with the expected strength of a Standard Model Higgs. "I think it would be extremely kind of the Higgs boson to be here," she told a seminar to discuss the findings. "But it is too early" for final conclusions, she said. "More studies and more data are needed. The next few months will be very exciting ... I don't know what the conclusions will be." Homing in Under what is known as the Standard Model of Physics, the boson, named after British physicist Peter Higgs, is posited to have been the agent that gave mass and energy to matter after the Big Bang creation of the universe 13.7 billion years ago. While its discovery would cement current knowledge about particles such as electrons and photons, results of work at CERN could also prove it does not exist. Such an outcome would undermine the foundations of accepted theories of the make-up of the universe. "If the first inklings of the Higgs boson are confirmed, then this is just the start of the adventure to unlock the secrets of the fundamental constituents of the Universe," said Stephen Haywood, Head of the Atlas Group at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The ATLAS results were followed by explanation of the second experiment, CMS. "We are homing in on the Higgs," said Claire Shepherd-Themistocleus, Head of the CMS Group at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. "We have had hints today of what its mass might be and the excitement of scientists is palpable. Whether this is ultimately confirmed or we finally rule out a low mass Higgs boson, we are on the verge of a major change in our understanding of the fundamental nature of matter." Twitter feeds were choked by the volume of tweets mentioning CERN or Higgs and the webcast from CERN http://webcast.web.cern.ch/webcast/ struggling to cope with demand from Higgs-hunters. "It can still happen that it is a fluctuation, but all we see from both experiments is compatible with what we would expect for a Higgs signal to build up," said Buchmueller. "But we really need the data from next year to be sure of what we're seeing." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Economy crisis saves Spanish ruins but buries future Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:40 PM PST  A child looking up in wonderment in a chamber of the La Pastora dolmen. — Reuters pic But the economic crisis that ended the building boom that buried some of the country's greatest archaeological treasures under shopping malls and new housing may also be bad news for those hoping to provide lasting safeguards for Spain's remaining tholos dolmens or passage tombs. The Aljarafe region outside the city of Seville in southern Spain, with a rich Arabic and Christian history, is believed to house Europe's most extensive grouping of tholos dolmens, dating back some 5,000 years. Many of these archaeological treasures were buried under new construction during a decade-long building craze that swept across Spain and left 1.5 million vacant homes when it ended. A debt crisis ravaging Spain's economy has saved some of the dolmens by freezing funds for construction. But the credit crunch also means scarce money to explore these little-known Copper Age settlements and turn them into tourist centres. "It's as if we had a gold mine under our feet; all we need is the investment muscle to reap the benefit," said Juan Manuel Vargas, a local archaeologist. "I don't see this latent potential in any other industry or sector." Vargas is head archaeologist in Valencina de la Concepcion, a small town outside of Seville and home to many dolmens, two of which — La Pastora and Matarrubilla — are open to the public and receive about 10,000 visitors a year.  Passageway in the La Pastora dolmen. — Reuters pic La Pastora dolmen in Valencina boasts the longest corridor ever discovered in a passage grave in Europe, while its sister Matarrubilla houses a stone altar inside its burial chamber offering clues into the funerary rituals of early settlers. Driving along a dirt road to La Pastora past rolling hills dotted with olive trees under a brilliant sun, it is easy to imagine the centuries of civilisations that have inhabited this mystical land. But the visitor is catapulted back into the present upon reaching the dolmen. The chamber sits beside a giant telecommunications tower, and empty beer bottles are strewn inches from an archaeological site that provided a range of ancient artifacts before excavations were halted after the funds ran out. "It's a problem of mentality," said Vargas. "After seeing it every day, our residents aren't aware of what they're living next to." The youth are not the only ones who have failed to recognise the historical value of the land underneath their beer bottles. The Montelirio dolmen, a unique two-chamber structure in neighbouring Castilleja de Guzman, was nearly suffocated by plans to build a supermarket and a retirement home. CHIEF AND 19 WOMEN In 2007, archaeologists discovered the remains of what they thought was a chieftain in Montelirio, and to their surprise, 19 women believed to have drunk a poison in a ritual to accompany their leader on his journey to the netherworld. The remains of the women sit in a circle in a chamber next to the bones believed to be of their chief. "Montelirio offers important clues into these societies and their possible burial rituals," archaeologist Vicente Aycart said, adding: "Who knows? Maybe this was a matriarchal society and that one man was their favourite eunuch!" Aside from the archaeological wealth yet to be unveiled, these little-known prehistoric sites may prove a profitable tourism mine for a country that needs fresh growth drivers to battle sky-high joblessness and the threat of another recession.  Exploring the La Pastora dolmen. — Reuters pic "Spain has enormous opportunities to further boost cultural tourism linked to music, history, architecture and archaeology," said Jose Luis Zoreda, CEO of Spanish tourist lobby Exceltur. "But given autonomous communities' financial difficulties right now, I don't know if this kind of investment will be on the top of their list in 2012," he said. Spain's indebted autonomous regions, which invested heavily in the construction boom, are now at the heart of financial market concerns that the country may miss its budget deficit target and need a bailout just like Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Plans to create an archaeological park in Aljarafe with a visitors' centre, museum and a route taking visitors from the dolmens to the nearby Phoenician artifacts of El Carambolo and the Roman city Italica are at a standstill. Once money starts to flow again, archaeologists and non-profit associations warned that steps must be taken to protect this triangle of ancient history while developing controlled and sustainable tourism. "The real gem of these places is the scientific depth that we don't even know yet," said Jorge Arevalo, vice-president of a dolmen protection association said. "First we need to create a cultural site. The tourism will come later. "If we don't take care of it, future generations won't be able to enjoy it. We have a responsibility to history." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa
The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa |
| Felda: Peneroka tuntut PM kekal Dzulkifli, pecat Isa Samad Posted: 13 Dec 2011 01:01 AM PST  Demonstrasi anjuran Anak dan sekumpulan peneroka di hadapan ibu pejabat Felda petang ini. Memorandum itu dikemukakan ekoran tindakan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak mengarahkan Dzulkifli bercuti dan mengikuti Kursus Pengurusan Lanjutan bagi meningkatkan prestasi untuk melakukan transformasi Felda. Kumpulan peneroka itu diketuai oleh Pengerusi Persatuan Anak Peneroka Felda Kebangsaan, Mazlan Aliman berarak kira-kira satu kilometer menuju ke bangunan Felda dengan diawasi polis. Mereka melaungkan "undur Isa Samad", "hidup rakyat" sambil membawa sepanduk bertulis "kami sayang Zul, benci Isa". Laporan media sebelum ini menyebut arahan bercuti dikeluarkan melalui surat daripada setiausaha sulit kanan Perdana Menteri 25 November lalu. Difahamkan, Dzulkifli telah berlepas ke London kelmarin. Memorandum yang diserahkan kepada wakil Felda, Muhamad Ibrahim di ibu pejabat Felda petang ini, antara lain menuntut Perdana Menteri menarik balik arahan bercuti itu dan menggugurkan Isa daripada jawatannya. Bercakap kepada media selepas penyerahan memorandum, Mazlan berkata, pihaknya amat kesal dengan tindakan yang dilakukan terhadap Dzulkifli yang dianggap sebagai seorang yang sangat amanah dan berdedikasi dalam tugasnya. "Kami yakin tindakan ini sebenaranya penyingkiran kepada Datuk Dzul. "Ia tidak beretika dan biadap terhadap Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulan yang mempunyai 23 kakitangan," katanya yang juga Pengerusi Lajnah Tanah dan Pembangunan Wilayah PAS pusat. Menurut Mazlan, Isa tidak senang dengan Dzulkifli kerana menganggap beliau menghalang usaha penyenaraian Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) di Bursa Malaysia. "Dalam mesyuarat lembaga pengarah, Datuk Dzul pernah mempersoal di mana Felda nak cari duit untuk bayar gaji kakitangan Felda RM1.5 bilion bila FGVH melabur dalam Bursa Malaysia. Isa tidak senang kerana mengganggu usahanya untuk penyenaraian," jelas beliau. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Dr M: ‘Usahlah cari bomoh kerana ingin menang’ Posted: 13 Dec 2011 12:40 AM PST
Kata beliau, kemenangan tidak akan dijamin oleh bomoh, sebaliknya kualiti perkhidmatan dan tingkah laku seseorang akan membawa kejayaan dalam pilihan raya. "Ahli-ahli politik pun tak usahlah cari bomoh kerana ingin menang. Bukan bomoh yang boleh beri kemenangan. Budi yang baik, tingkah laku yang sopan, keperihatinan akan masalah yang dihadapi rakyat yang boleh memberi kemenangan dan kejayaan," kata beliau dalam entri terbaru blognya, bertajuk "Tajuk" hari ini. Bekas presiden Umno ini berkata orang Melayu tidak wajar menjadi bangsa penakut kerana ia juga akan menjadi penghalang kepada kejayaan mereka. "Menjadi penakut memalukan. Bangsa yang penakut tidak boleh dibanggakan. Janganlah kita sengaja menjadikan bangsa kita bangsa penakut. Sebaliknya cubalah supaya bangsa kita jadi lebih berani," katanya lagi. Dr Mahathir (gambar) berkata Melayu mempunyai banyak sebab yang menghalang kejayaan mereka. Oleh itu katanya, tidaklah perlu kita tambah halangan terhadap kejayaan mereka dengan kepercayaan kepada yang karut-karut. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:13 PM PST DEC 13 — Last week on the wards, one of my elderly patients told me I was "far too young" to be talking to unwell people all day. The youngest medical students in the hospital over here are third-year medical students, who, on average, are between 20-21 years old. Can we wade through this whirlpool of emotions and emerge intact regardless? Yes, we can. In fact, many of us are not conventional 21 year olds anymore. We have seen and heard people's life stories. We have to deal with ill and dying patients. We have seen how bad things can get. And we have also seen how a bit of hope can make even the worst illness become a tiny bit more livable. We see strength and resilience amid disaster on a daily basis. In my recent articles I have always endeavoured to err on the side of optimism when discussing our homeland, which I have a great attachment to. And that gets me a lot of negative comments saying that I am naïve, and informing me that I need to grow up. But who needs to grow up here — me, who believes that it is possible to improve our country by putting aside what is personal and petty, and focus instead on working together to smooth out the kinks; or these people, who prefer to sit at the side to criticise and hold grudges against those who are working towards the outcome of making people believe that things can get better? I may be young and hopeful, but that doesn't make me wrong. Even the patients who are on their deathbeds can find some hope somewhere. Who are we to just give up and say that it's all over before we even started trying to do something about it? Malaysia isn't a bad country at all. We've got amazing people, cultures, traditions, food, geography and lots of other things that everyone outside can respect. In every mamak stall you will find at least two people sitting there complaining about the state of things, not realising that we could be going through so much worse. When did we forget to be grateful for what we have? Really, the only thing holding us back from progress is our own stubborn determination to wallow in our issues, complain and feel sorry for ourselves without even thinking about what can be done. There are so many opportunities in Malaysia. So many hitherto unexplored areas. A huge untested market to tap into and make great things happen. A lot of potential to provide services and a lot of people keen to use them. If I wanted to learn the cello in Malaysia, there are only a handful of people who are teaching it, and precious few shops stocking even one cello, giving you a limited variety. You would also worry that after you spend the thousands of ringgit buying it, nobody is going to know how to repair it if something happens to it. Here in Bristol, a city in the UK about the size of Malacca city, there are at least 30 cello teachers and at least four stores which sell them in the city centre itself. Kids in school here play in orchestras and do amazing things because they love to, while a lot of our kids spend all their time trying to pass PMR and SPM, jumping through the hoops to fulfil their co-curricular requirements for their CVs in the future. There is talent and passion swimming around the population of our country. We just haven't had the chance to unlock this resource yet. So in conclusion, this article just aims to make the point that to be hopeful is not to be stupid, because Malaysia is on the way to achieving great things. Let the discussion in the comments below move away from pointing fingers and lamenting, and change instead to include interesting and intelligent discussions about what we can do to improve ourselves from this moment forward. * Angeline Lee is a medical undergraduate at the University of Bristol. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Chelsea’s old and new shatter City Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:04 PM PST DEC 13 — One game doesn't make a season — especially in mid-December, with more than half the campaign still to be contested — but Manchester City had the opportunity to take a huge step towards the Premier League title when they faced Chelsea in the pouring rain at Stamford Bridge last night. But they couldn't take it as Chelsea bounced back from a goal down to hand the league leaders their first defeat of the season, and there was no little irony in the fact a significant factor in the defeat for Roberto Mancini's expensively assembled squad was their former striker Daniel Sturridge — a City youth team product who they had reared for nothing and then allowed to leave. So, what kind of encounter would we see? In the last couple of years, this would have been exactly the kind of game for Mancini to show his conservative streak, bolster his midfield and play for a nil-nil draw. And in the past few seasons, this would have been exactly the kind of game for Chelsea to grind down their opponents and claim three points with a performance of relentless intensity. Would it be more of the same this time? Or would City's burgeoning attacking verve and Chelsea's growing uncertainty produce a different kind of fixture? We didn't have to wait long for the initial answer. Ninety-six seconds, to be precise, had elapsed when Sergio Aguero slipped away from John Terry near the halfway line and threaded a perfectly timed pass into the path of Mario Balotelli, who escaped Branislav Ivanovic, rounded Petr Cech and calmly slotted into the net. Easy as you like. A sensational start for City, and they were soon threatening to double their advantage as Aguero surprisingly fired narrowly wide when well placed and David Silva had a strong penalty appeal turned down after a dazzling series of one-touch passes around the edge of their opponent's penalty area. The new order, it seemed, was well and truly in place. Chelsea had barely threatened throughout the opening half hour and an almost tangible level of discontent was starting to creep into the Stamford Bridge faithful as pass after pass went astray from the home team. City, in stark contrast, looked composed, cultured and entirely in control. But then, with no prior warning, the old Chelsea resurfaced — albeit with new faces. Former City youth product Sturridge — who has been Chelsea's shining light so far this season — showed his searing pace to break down the right wing and deliver a pinpoint cross into the path of Raul Meireles, the recent arrival from Liverpool, who perfectly timed his run into the box to escape Yaya Toure and sweep home the equaliser. The remainder of the first half became a cat-and-mouse affair as City dominated possession but only in harmless areas, with Chelsea dropping deep and appearing happy to let the visitors try to play through them. Both teams, it seemed, were prepared to reach the interval with the stalemate intact. The opening stages of the second half were well contested and even as defences dominated, before a significant twist shortly before the hour mark: Ramires was upended in full flight by a badly-timed challenge from Gael Clichy and, with the City left back already booked for a challenge on Sturridge, referee Mark Clattenburg had no option but to produce the red card. Exit one former Arsenal defender, enter another: Mancini reacted by reorganising his defence with the introduction of Kolo Toure at the expense of Aguero, shifting Joleon Lescott to the vacated left back slot and leaving Balotelli up front on his own in a 4-4-1 formation. Now, it seemed, City had little option but to play for the draw as Chelsea pushed hard for the winner — it was like 2010 all over again. The stage was set for old Chelsea to come to the aid of new Chelsea — with 17 minutes remaining Frank Lampard, regularly omitted from the starting line-up by Andre Villas-Boas this season, was introduced from the substitutes' bench for goalscorer Meireles, who had been dicing with danger after being shown a yellow card in the first half. Surely there was only one script to follow as Lampard entered the fray? Mancini shuffled again, as well, allowing his old-school Italian defensive mindset to take over as he replaced the creative David Silva with the destructive Nigel De Jong. There seemed little doubt: the game was going to finish either as a 1-1 draw or a 2-1 Chelsea win. Inside the final 10 minutes, the golden opportunity came Chelsea's way. Lampard slid a pass to Sturridge on the edge of the area, and the striker's firm left-footed shot was blocked by Lescott's outstretched arm. It was a clear penalty, and up stepped — who else? — Lampard to thrash the spot-kick straight down the middle and past Joe Hart's despairing dive. City couldn't find a way back, and so Villas-Boas had conjured up a recipe of something old — Lampard — and something new — Sturridge and Meireles — to cook up a much-needed win and keep his team believing that they are still in the title race. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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KUALA LUMPUR, 13 Dis — Sementara tumpuan negara menuju ke arah pilihan raya umum ke-13, bekas perdana menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad menasihatkan ahli-ahli politik tidak perlu mendapatkan khidmat bomoh untuk menang.