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Recipes of dead celebrities featured in new book Posted: 20 Dec 2011 06:40 PM PST Frank DeCaro says his favourite recipe in "The Dead Celebrity Cookbook" is Liberace's sticky buns. — Reuters pic LOS ANGELES, Dec 21 — Comedian Frank DeCaro is best known for his stint on "The Daily Show with John Stewart" but the comedian and talk radio host is now dishing out recipes. In his third book, "The Dead Celebrity Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes From More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen," DeCaro provides the ingredients for actress Mae West's fruit compote and comedian John Ritter's favourite fudge along with other recipes from deceased stars. The 49-year-old performer spoke to Reuters about his inspiration for the book, how he found the recipes and which are his favourites. Q: Where did the idea for the book come from? A: "When I was at Northwestern University in the early 1980s, my friends threw a 'dead celebrity' party. All the guests came dressed as stars who had gone to the great studio commissary in the sky. Everyone from Adam and Eve to Sid and Nancy were at that party. Our host was dressed as Judy Garland and carried a pill bottle that read: "Take until dead." It was one of the best parties I've ever been to. We didn't have any 'dead celebrity' food at that party, though, and that sort of planted the seed for the 'Dead Celebrity Cookbook.'" Q: There are over 145 recipes. How did you get them? A: "Ever since that party, I've been collecting out-of- print cookbooks, supermarket flyers, spiral-bound manuals that came in microwave ovens in 1975, old magazines — anything that has a celebrity recipe in it. I curated the recipes from those sources, borrowing the lists of ingredients and rewriting the instructions so they made sense for modern home cooks." Q: Do you know if any of these celebrities actually cooked the dishes? A: "I certainly think they enjoyed them, even if someone else did the cooking. (Michael) Jackson was said to love sweet potato pie. Who doesn't? Gary Coleman's recipe (chicken vegetable soup) had a note attached that suggested it was one he grew up eating. As for Miss Crawford, I'd very much like to believe Joan poached her own salmon, if you'll pardon the expression." Q: How did you decide to organise and categorise them all? A: "In a way that made sense to me as a lover of pop culture, and in a way in which readers could best appreciate the celebrities themselves and the amazing work they did while they were alive." Q: Have you baked any of the recipes yourself? A: "I taste-tested about a third of them, some of are really delicious; some, not so much." Q: Do you have a personal favourite? A: "Liberace's sticky buns! I made 24 of them and ate nine before they were cool enough to handle. They're so good!" Q: Who is this book for? Movie and TV buffs, food-lovers, pop culture aficionados, those who collect Hollywood memorabilia or your gay best friends? A: "I did this book for home cooks with a sense of humour. Pop culture junkies will love the chance to reminisce about stars. But really, I wrote it for people who don't know who these celebrities are: younger readers, for instance. I hope they discover these stars and their work through this book." Q: Any plans for follow-up cookbooks? A: "This is only the first in what I hope will be a series of 'Dead Celebrity Cookbooks.' It may have an irreverent title, but the book is a love letter to the stars. It's important to me that audiences don't forget these incredibly talented people. They may be gone, but their work — and their recipes — lives on." Frank Sinatra's Barbecued Lamb (serves 6) 1 (7 lbs.) leg of lamb, boned and butterflied 1 cup olive oil 8 tablespoons wine vinegar 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup prepared mustard Combine oil, vinegar, garlic, and salt to make a marinade. Place lamb skin side up in a shallow pan and pour the marinade over it. Slather mustard on skin side. Cover and let marinate overnight. Place lamb mustard-side down on a very hot grill, five inches from flame. When brown on one side, turn. Cook about one hour total, checking for doneness at 45 minutes. Slice thinly to serve. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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Suarez handed eight-match ban for racial abuse Posted: 20 Dec 2011 03:16 PM PST LONDON, Dec 21 — Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has been banned for eight matches and fined £40,000 (RM199,270) for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra during a Premier League match at Anfield in October, the FA said yesterday. Uruguay international Suarez was found guilty of misconduct after using "insulting words" toward Evra during the game on October 15, including a reference to the France defender's colour. Liverpool's Suarez was found guilty of misconduct after using "insulting words" toward Manchester United's Evra during their EPL game on October 15. — Reuters pic The ban is suspended pending the outcome of any appeal lodged by Suarez after an FA Independent Regulatory Commission "found a charge of misconduct against Luis Suarez proven." The FA announced the decision against Suarez, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, on its website after a hearing that began on December 14 at an undisclosed location in north-west England. The commission said: "Mr Suarez used insulting words toward Mr Evra during the match contrary to FA Rule E3(1). The insulting words used by Mr Suarez included a reference to Mr Evra's colour within the meaning of Rule E3(2). "Mr Suarez shall be warned as to his future conduct, be suspended for eight matches covering all first team competitive matches and fined the sum of £40,000." Suarez said on Twitter: "Today is a very difficult and painful day for me and my family. Thanks for all the support." The three-man FA commission said it will provide written reasons for its decision in due course following which Suarez will have 14 days to appeal. Liverpool said in a statement: "We find it extraordinary that Luis can be found guilty on the word of Patrice Evra alone. "No-one else on the field of play — including Evra's own Manchester United team mates and all the match officials — heard the alleged conversation between the two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth while a corner kick was about to be taken. "Nothing we have heard in the course of the hearing has changed our view that Luis Suarez is innocent of the charges brought against him and we will provide Luis with whatever support he now needs to clear his name." Evra complaint Evra, 30, made the complaint immediately after United's 1-1 draw at Liverpool but investigations into the case before the formal proceedings took two months to prepare. He reported his concerns to referee Andre Marriner, who included it in his match report. Evra also made the allegations against 24-year-old Suarez in an interview with Canal Plus, telling the French TV station the Uruguayan had used a racist insult to him "at least 10 times." Evra said: "There are cameras. You can see him (Suarez) say a certain word to me at least 10 times." Both players spoke to FA officials during the investigation and there have been suggestions Suarez was unaware language that is acceptable in Uruguay is viewed as racist in Europe. Suarez told Uruguayan media last month: "There is no evidence I said anything racist to him. I said nothing of the sort. "There were two parts of the discussion - one in Spanish, one in English. "I did not insult him. It was just a way of expressing myself. I called him something his team mates at Manchester call him, and even they were surprised by his reaction." Liverpool added yesterday: "It is our strong held belief, having gone over the facts of the case, that Luis Suarez did not commit any racist act. It is also our opinion that the accusation by this particular player (Evra) was not credible ... "We look forward to the publication of the (FA) Commission's Judgement. We will study the detailed reasons ... once they become available, but reserve our right to appeal or take any other course of action we feel appropriate with regards to this situation," the club said. The Commission comprised Paul Goulding QC, Brian Jones, the chairman of the Sheffield & Hallam FA, and the former Stoke City player and Sunderland manager Denis Smith. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Arsenal and Chelsea fixtures a doubt because of strike Posted: 20 Dec 2011 02:01 AM PST LONDON, Dec 20 — Arsenal and Chelsea could be forced to postpone their December 26 Premier League fixtures because of a strike planned by London Underground train drivers that threatens to bring the capital to a halt. Arsenal are due to play Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates on the Boxing Day bank holiday while Chelsea are scheduled to meet neighbours Fulham at Stamford Bridge in the capital's other Premier League match. The strike could also affect lower-division games, with the Championship (second division) matches between Watford and Cardiff City and Millwall and Portsmouth also under threat. Leyton Orient's match with MK Dons and Brentford's clash with Bournemouth in League One (third division), as well as the League Two (fourth division) fixtures between Wimbledon and Oxford United and Dagenham & Redbridge and Barnet could also be postponed. In a statement Arsenal said: "We are closely monitoring the situation together with all the relevant agencies including the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London, London Underground, The Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Islington Council. "The paramount concern to Arsenal Football Club is the duty of care we have towards the Arsenal supporters, Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters, match-day employees and indeed everyone who is planning to attend this match." The planned strike is the result of a dispute over workers' bank holiday pay but the transport authorities are challenging the legality of the walkout, which will be decided in the High Court in London tomorrow. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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Elton John, Mary J. Blige challenge the Muppets in Oscar song race Posted: 20 Dec 2011 02:37 AM PST Elton John, Mary J. Blige challenge the Muppets in Oscar song race LOS ANGELES, Dec 20 — The competition in the Oscars Best Original Song category could come down to Elton John vs Mary J. Blige, or Jonsi vs Chris Cornell, or Zooey Deschanel vs Glenn Close, or Elvis Costello vs will.i.am. Or it could just be Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy flattening everybody in their way. Elton John in the running with two songs, including a Lady Gaga duet. — Reuters pic The Academy yesterday announced the 39 qualifying songs in this year's race, with a handful of big names in the running — but one Golden Globes nominee, Madonna, conspicuously missing. "Masterpiece", a Madonna song from "W.E." that received a Globe nomination last week, did not qualify for Oscar contention because of its placement a minute-and-a-half deep in the final credits. AMPAS rules require an end-credits song to be "the first music cue" in those credits to qualify. And while it's extremely unlikely that Oscar voters will go the path of the Golden Globes to recruit an almost-exclusively star-heavy slate, the opportunities exist to do just that, even without Madonna. The animated films in contention, for example, contain songs by  "Hello Hello" from "Gnomeo & Juliet"), Zooey Deschanel ("So Long" from "Winnie the Pooh"), Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am ("Hot Wings" from "Rio") and Brazilian legend Sergio Mendes ("Real in Rio" from the same film).  Other contenders include eight-time Oscar winner (and 19-times nominee) Alan Menken, who wrote the mock USO-style song "Star Spangled Man" from "Captain America". A couple of alternative-rock icons, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and Sigur Ros' Jonsi, are represented with songs from "Machine Gun Preacher" and "We Bought a Zoo", respectively. And Elvis Costello, who won an Oscar nomination for "Cold Mountain", is back in contention with "Sparkling Day" from "One Day." Three films tied for the most submissions, with three songs each: "The Muppets", "Rio" and the little-known Indian film "DAM999". Given the voting system in place in the category, in which members of the Music Branch must score the songs after watching clips of the scenes in which they appear, the three submitted songs from "The Muppets" must be considered formidable competitors. Two — "Life's a Happy Song" and "Man or Muppet" — are by Bret McKenzie, one half of the comedy-music duo Flight of the Conchords. Those songs and Kermit's plaintive lament "Pictures in my Head" are all used in sequences that ought to play well to voters. Members of the branch can view and score the three-minute clips on DVDs that will be sent to voters, or at special Academy screenings. To be eligible for nomination, songs must receive an average score of at least 8.25 on a scale of six to 10. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Zuckerberg, Lady Gaga among top US young achievers Posted: 20 Dec 2011 01:27 AM PST NEW YORK, Dec 20 — Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, human rights activist Ronan Farrow and pop stars Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are people to watch, according to Forbes magazine's list of top-achieving people under age 30. Jaden Smith — seen here with sister Willow Smith, star children of actor Will Smith — on Forbes' top 30 list. — Reuters pic Artist JR, 28, who creates large-scale guerrilla photo installations, film producer David Ellison, the son of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison who has funded films such as "True Grit" and the upcoming Brad Pitt movie "World War Z", also made the "30 Under 30" list of people in 12 categories that the magazine predicts will be tomorrow's brightest stars. "While many on this list are well known, others like Danielle Fong, a Canadian-born science prodigy who entered a Princeton PhD programme at age 17 before founding alternative energy company Lightsail at 20, are just getting their first taste of the limelight," Forbes executive editor Michael Noer said in a statement. "But it is nearly certain that we will all be hearing much more from them in the decades to come," he added. Farrow, a US State Department policy expert who was recently named a Rhodes Scholar, is the only biological child of actress Mia Farrow and director Woody Allen. He made the law & policy list. Donald Glover, Jonah Hill, Jennifer Lawrence and 13-year-old Jaden Smith, the son of actor Will Smith, were on the entertainment list, while the music category features British singer Adele and US pop stars Katy Perry and Rihanna and American rapper Lil Wayne. Other categories included art & design, energy, food & wine, media, social/mobile and technology, which included Peter Cashmore, the founder and CEO of the tech news site Mashable. In the property realm, Alex Hodara, 24, got a nod for starting the first student-run brokerage in the US, and Goldman Sachs' Kunal Shah, 29, was named for becoming the company's youngest managing director at age 27. Winemaker Gavin Chanin, 25, who has been making wines since he was 21, has earned high ratings with his Chanin Wines. Forbes asked its readers, as well as 12 panels of industry experts in areas ranging from law/policy and real estate to entertainment, science/innovation and finance to weigh in on those likely to influence the world of the immediate future. Thirty people were chosen from each category. The full list is available at www.forbes.com/under30 and will be published in the January edition of the magazine. Industry experts who helped winnow the lists of 30 young people in each of 12 categories included artist Chuck Close, billionaire financier Thomas Lee, producer Stephanie Savage, award-winning chefs Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, owner of Gawker Media Nick Denton, and Daniel Tishman of Tishman Construction. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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US breakthrough in live cancer cells Posted: 20 Dec 2011 07:13 AM PST US researchers announced they have discovered how to keep tumour cells alive in the lab. – Photo by shutterstock.com WASHINGTON, Dec 20 – US researchers said yesterday they have discovered how to keep tumour cells alive in the lab, generating buzz in the scientific community about a potential breakthrough that could transform cancer treatment. Until now, scientists have been unable to make cancer cells thrive for very long in the laboratory in a condition that resembles the way they look and act in the body. Doctors have largely relied on biopsied tissue that is frozen or set in wax to diagnose and recommend treatment. The advance has sparked new hope that someday doctors may be able to test a host of cancer-killing drugs on a person's own tumour cells in the lab, before returning to the patient with a therapy that is likely to be a good match. "This would really be the ultimate in personalised medicine," said lead author Richard Schlegel, chairman of the department of pathology at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The therapies would be exactly from their tissues. We would get normal tissue and tumour tissue from a particular patient and specifically match up their therapies," Schlegel said. "We are really excited about the possibilities of testing what we can do with this." The method, described in the online edition of the American Journal of Pathology, borrows on a simple method used in stem cell research, experts said. Lung, breast, prostate and colon cancers were kept alive for up to two years using the technique, which combines fibroblast feeder cells to keep cells alive and a Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitor that allows them to reproduce. When treated with the duo, both cancer and normal cells reverted to a "stem-like state," Schlegel said, allowing researchers to compare the living cells directly for the first time. The two elements have previously been used separately in stem cell research, according to Yale University pathology professor David Rimm, who wrote a commentary that accompanies the article. "No individual technique was new, as far as I know. It was in some sense a very clever combination that led to this success," Rimm said. Rimm cautioned that more labs need to show they can do it too, and that attempts to try different therapies to kill the cancer cells are just "speculation" now, but described the initial results as "pretty compelling." "One of my senior scientists went down to Georgetown for a week and she got it to work. She got pancreatic cells to work, which is impossible. Even they were having trouble with that one," he said. "So that just further served to stoke my enthusiasm, rather than generate skepticism." If other scientists can replicate the technique – and three university labs in the United States are already working on it – the advance could herald a long-awaited transformation in the way cancer cells are studied. The study was published after two years of research in collaboration with National Institutes of Health scientists and was funded by the NIH, the Department of Defense, Georgetown University and the National Cancer Institute. "A tumour from one patient is different from a cancer from another patient, even though they appear to be the same under a pathologist's microscope, and really that is one important reason why so many clinical trials fail," said Marc Symons, investigator at the Center for Oncology and Cell Biology at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York. "I think it is fair to say this may revolutionize the way we think of cancer treatment," added Symons, who was not involved in the study. Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world, killing 7.6 million people in 2008 according to the latest data from the World Health Organization. Mark Friedman, who works in the department of pathology at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, said the real gain for patients could be reducing the harmful effects of chemotherapy that may not be suited for various tumours. "This would be a tremendous benefit for the patient because you would be minimising toxicity while maximizing the benefit of the treatment," said Friedman, who was not part of the study. Karen Anderson, of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, was one of the scientists who recently completed training in the method at Georgetown. She said the process took three days to learn. "It is actually surprisingly straightforward... I am optimistic about it but we have to confirm whether or not the cells that are growing are really going to be the things we want to be able to study," she said. "But I think it is pretty exciting." – AFP Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

How renewable energy may be Edison’s revenge Posted: 20 Dec 2011 04:09 AM PST US inventor Thomas Alva Edison poses in this photograph taken in 1914. The American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, who made the incandescent light bulb viable for the mass market, also built the world's first electrical distribution system, in New York, using 'direct current' electricity. – Reuters/NPS/Thomas Edison LONDON, Dec 20 – At the start of the 20th century, inventors Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla clashed in the "war of the currents". To highlight the dangers of his rival's system, Edison even electrocuted an elephant. The animal died in vain; it was Tesla's system and not Edison's that took off. But today, helped by technological advances and the need to conserve energy, Edison may finally get his revenge. The American inventor, who made the incandescent light bulb viable for the mass market, also built the world's first electrical distribution system, in New York, using "direct current" electricity. DC's disadvantage was that it couldn't carry power beyond a few blocks. His Serbian-born rival Tesla, who at one stage worked with Edison, figured out how to send "alternating current" through transformers to enable it to step up the voltage for transmission over longer distances. Edison was a fiercely competitive businessman. Besides staging electrocutions of animals to discredit Tesla's competing system, he proposed AC be used to power the first execution by electric chair. But his system was less scalable, and it was to prove one of the worst investments made by financier J. Pierpont Morgan. New York's dominant banker installed it in his Madison Avenue home in the late 19th century, only to find it hard to control. It singed his carpets and tapestries. So from the late 1800s, AC became the accepted form to carry electricity in mains systems. For most of the last century, the power that has reached the sockets in our homes and businesses is alternating current. Now DC is making a comeback, becoming a promising money-spinner in renewable or high-security energy projects. From data centres to long-distance power lines and backup power supplies, direct current is proving useful in thousands of projects worldwide. "Everyone says it's going to take at least 50 years," says Peter Asmus, a senior analyst at Boulder, Colorado-based Pike Research, a market research and consulting firm in global clean technology. But "the role of DC will increase, and AC will decrease." FROM CLOUD TO MICROGRID The main factor driving demand is the need to conserve energy and produce more of it from renewable sources. Alternating current is generated by rotating engines, but renewable sources such as wind and solar produce DC power. To use it, because of the way our buildings are wired, we first convert it to AC. Another thing that's happened since Edison's time is the advent of the semiconductor. Semiconductors need DC power, and are increasingly found in household appliances. These have to convert the AC supply back to DC, which is a waste of energy and generates heat. In the early years of industrialisation this wasn't an issue, but today it's important, especially in the huge and fast-growing business of cloud computing. The companies that handle our information traffic are racking their brains to boost efficiency and cut carbon emissions from their plants. Pike Research expects the green data centre business to be worth US$41 billion (RM130.25 billion) annually by 2015, up from US$7.5 billion now. That will be just under a third of all spending on data centres. Finnish information technology company Academica, for instance, has a data centre in a granite cave beneath Helsinki's Uspenski cathedral. It uses Baltic sea water to cool the plant and feeds surplus heat to the city's homes. IBM has designed a solar array to power its Bangalore data centre. Microsoft has filed a patent application for a wind-powered data centre. Direct current may be one way to increase efficiency and reduce emissions. Right now, outside a handful of universities, it's not the first thing people are thinking of because there are more basic things to do, says Eric Woods, Research Director for Smart Industry at Pike. But for companies on the leading edge, "it's sort of coming out of the research ghetto". Pike has not put a figure on how big the DC component of the green data centre market will be. Swiss-Swedish engineering firm ABB, a big DC advocate, says about 35 per cent of demand for green data centres will come from the United States, 30 per cent from Europe, and the rest spread globally. Every day, says ABB, we all send more than 300 billion emails and 250 million tweets globally. The centres to handle all this data are growing by 10 per cent each year and already consume 80 million megawatt-hours of energy annually – almost 1.5 times the amount of electricity used by the whole of New York City. They're also responsible for about 2 per cent of global carbon emissions. DC power could help. At low voltages it has long been used in data centres but will be "game-changing" at higher voltages, ABB says. An Edison electric light bulb is displayed at Christie's auction house in London in this file photo of December 8, 2006. – Reuters pic Beyond its potential in data centres, DC power's ability to run on renewable energy sources makes it interesting for important plants that need to operate in "island mode" – independent of the grid – in case of a supply failure. Building systems with small, self-contained electricity distribution networks known as microgrids is of particular interest to governments and militaries who worry about terrorist attacks. "In our view the market (for microgrids) is about to take off," said Pike Research's Asmus, who also sees demand for microgrids in countries that aren't densely covered by AC grids, such as Australia and India, and in developing countries looking to replace costly and wasteful diesel generators. SMART GRIDS And it's not just "island mode". Thanks to power electronics – semiconductor switching devices – DC can now be transmitted at high voltage over very long distances, longer than AC. It can be easily used in cables, over ground or under the sea. High voltage direct current (HVDC) systems are the backbone of plans for smart grids, or supergrids, which aim to channel energy from places where power sources such as sunlight and hydropower are abundant to countries where it is scarce. Siemens, which vies with ABB for market leadership in HVDC transmission, says demand is increasing fast. "By 2020, I'm expecting to see new HVDC transmission lines with a total capacity of 250 gigawatts. That is a dramatic increase," says Udo Niehage, CEO of the Power Transmission Division in Siemens' Energy Sector. "In the last 40 years, we've only installed 100 gigawatts worth of HVDC transmission lines." Emerging markets have been the main drivers. ABB has installed a 2,000-km line in China that operates DC power; a 2,375-km HVDC project under construction in Brazil will be the world's longest transmission line when it comes online in 2013. But Europe is also important. HVDC is now used in a power connection between Britain and the Netherlands. The island of Majorca, whose tourists push up power demand every summer, was hooked up to the Spanish mainland in September. The HVDC system can transmit 30 to 40 per cent more energy than with conventional overhead lines carrying alternating current. Jochen Kreusel, the head of ABB's Smart Grid programme, says smart grid demand will put Europe at the forefront of HVDC growth over the next 10 years. "At the moment, based on the number of projects, I'm quite sure it's the strongest market," he said. Pike in November 2010 estimated HVDC investment would reach US$12.1 billion by 2015. The bulk of this DC knowhow is currently with European companies, although Chinese firms are joining in. Besides ABB, Siemens and France's Alstom are the main players. NOT THERE YET There are plenty of obstacles to all these developments. People in some places worry about the environmental damage from laying new grids, others point to a lack of standards and say DC still has technological limitations that need to be fixed. Public fears about the potential danger of high voltage cables could also be an issue, especially in the United States where standard voltages are already much lower than in Europe. There are practical limitations, such as a shortage of cable-making capacity. If the economic climate does not improve, cash may also be a constraint. Countries such as Spain and the Netherlands have already cut subsidies to renewable energy projects. ABB's Kreusel says the economic crisis will have an impact on the market, but he still expects DC to become "an evolutionary add-on" to AC grids over the next 20 years. How would Edison see all this? He might even have foreseen it. "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy," he reportedly told his associates Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone in the 1930s. "What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." – Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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Najib mahu tawar lebih banyak produk, perkhidmatan 1 Malaysia Posted: 20 Dec 2011 02:12 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Dis – Lebih banyak produk dan perkhidmatan bersifat 1 Malaysia akan dibangunkan oleh kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) untuk rakyat sebagai membuktikan bahawa gagasan itu bukan satu falsafah semata-mata, kata Datuk Seri Najib  Razak. Perdana Menteri berkata rakyat pada hari ini menghargai sumbangan kerajaan dan ini diluahkan melalui pelbagai medium. "Kita boleh senaraikan Klinik 1 Malaysia, Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia, Menu Rakyat 1 Malaysia, Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (sebagai perkhidmatan yang disediakan)," katanya semasa berucap pada majlis pemberian dekoder Astro secara percuma untuk pakej "njoi", di Projek Perumahan Rakyat Cochrane Perkasa di sini hari ini. Menyentuh pemberian dekoder Astro itu, Najib berkata: "Kita akan perbanyakkan lagi produk seperti ini." "Biarlah kita gunakan perkhidmatan ini untuk kebaikan kita semoga rakyat Malaysia akan terhibur selain mendapat maklumat terkini," katanya dipetik Bernama Online. Najib menarik perhatian bahawa dunia kini memihak kepada golongan yang mempunyai akses kepada maklumat. "Mana-mana kumpulan masyarakat yang terpinggir daripada akses pengetahuan 'real time', mereka berada dalam keadaan 'disadvantaged' dan akan gagal bersaing dalam dunia hari ini," jelas Perdana Menteri. Beliau berkata kerajaan tidak mahu rakyat kurang berkemampuan terus tertinggal dalam memperoleh pengetahuan, dan siaran "njoi" itu direka untuk memberi pengetahuan, hiburan dan pendidikan kepada 50,000 keluarga termasuk penduduk di Sarawak dan Sabah. "Yang saya amat tertarik hati dengan langkah Astro ini ialah kerana dalam memberi akses kepada 37 saluran televisyen dan radio, pihak pengguna akan dapat saluran yang menyediakan program bersifat hiburan dan di samping itu, ada beberapa saluran yang menyediakan kandungan bercorak pendidikan, terutama sekali kepada anak-anak di bangku sekolah," katanya. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Tunjuk bukti saya terperangkap agenda Umno, Hasan Ali gesa Mustafa Posted: 20 Dec 2011 02:03 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Dis – Exco Kerajan Negeri Selangor Datuk Dr Hasan Ali mahu Setiausaha Agung PAS Datuk Mustafa Ali mengemukakan bukti bahawa beliau telah terperangkap dalam agenda Umno mahu melemahkan parti Islam itu. "Datuk Mustafa Ali merupakan antara pemimpin yang paling senior dalam struktur organisasi parti seolah-olah secara spontan terus memberi pandangan yang begitu negatif dan berniat jahat terhadap saya. "Beliau mengatakan saya telah terperangkap dengan perangkap Umno dan kenyataan saya sebelum ini menurutnya mempunyai kaitan rapat dengan agenda Umno untuk melemahkan saya," katanya. Minggu lalu, Mustafa menganggap Hasan dan bekas timbalan presiden Nasharudin Mat Isa sudah terperangkap dalam agenda Umno untuk melemahkan PAS. Mustafa berkata, Hasan (gambar) yang merupakan bekas pesuruhjaya PAS Selangor dan Nasaharudin bertindak tidak wajar sebagai pimpinan parti. Hasan menambah, Mustafa dengan bongkak dan sombong menggunakan autoriti dan jawatannya sebagai setiausaha agung parti melatah dan hilang arah sehingga sanggup meletakkan dirinya ke paras yang paling bawah dari sudut kewibawaan dan mengawal emosi. "Saya mengharapkan Mustafa dapat memberitahu saya dalam masa terdekat fakta-fakta berkaitan perkara ini. "Saya inginkan penjelasan mengenai perkara saya terperangkap dalam perangkap Umno dan juga saya terlingkung dalam agenda Umno untuk melemahkan parti beserta faktanya," tegas Hasan yang juga Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Gombak Setia. Mengulas berkenaan kenyataan Naib Presiden Datuk Mahfuz Omar yang secara sinis mengatakan dirinya boleh menyertai Umno jika mahu, ahli jawatankuasa kerja PAS Pusat ini merasakan kenyataan itu sebagai "bankrap pemikiran dan tidak mengikuti perkembangan terkini sesuatu isu." "Perkara tersebut sudah saya perjelaskan berulang kali dan saya rasa tidak perlu untuk saya mengulangi kenyataan yang sama berulang kali dan saya sendiri tidak berminat" tegasnya. "Saya perlu nyatakan wakil pimpinan pusat parti ada datang menemui saya enam hari lalu dengan membawa mesej pimpinan tertinggi dengan penuh kebijaksanaan dan pertimbangan serta memaparkan nilai akhlak yang tinggi. "Begitu juga pembantu presiden menyatakan keprihatinan (Mursyidul Am PAS Datuk) Tuan Guru Nik Aziz (Nik Mat) terhadap apa yang berlaku. "Pendekatan mereka jelas jauh berbeza dengan cara dan gaya Setiausaha Agung dan Naib Presiden," jelas Hasan lagi. Pada sidang media yang sama, Hasan menggesa pimpinan PAS Pusat menyiasat kenyataan yang dikeluarkan Ketua Penerangan PAS Selangor, Shaari Sungip bahawa namanya digugurkan sebagai calon pilihan raya umum ke-13. Hasan berkata beliau  mengharapkan pimpinan pusat  melakukan siasatan dan mengambil tindakan disiplin terhadap Shaari kerana membuat pengumuman mengenai pencalonan mendahului pemimpin tertinggi parti. "Atas nasihat rakan-rakan, saya menggesa pimpinan parti melakukan siasatan ini bagi melenyapkan sebarang spekulasi yang timbul berkaitan pencalonan saya," katanya lagi. Sehubungan itu jelas Hasan, siasatan dan tindakan tersebut perlu bagi mengelakkan kekeliruan daripada terus berlaku dalam kalangan ahli dan penyokong PAS. "Saya ingin menegaskan kepada ahli dan penyokong PAS, saya bukanlah pihak yang bertanggungjawab menimbulkan polemik ini. "Sebaliknya isu ini timbul hasil daripada pengumuman yang dikatakan tidak kena pada masa dan tempatnya oleh Ketua Penerangan PAS Selangor mengenai pencalonan saya," tegas Hasan lagi. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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So, this is Malay leadership Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:09 PM PST DEC 20 — If our politicians are to be believed, the Malays are under threat these days. Our religion, culture and power are steadily under attack from all and sundry. Everyone has it in for us, from Christians to the Chinese. We are even warned about a so-called "Malaysian Spring" being orchestrated by "anasir-anasir Barat" (and quite possibly, the Jews, who of course, have always had it in for us). "We won't surrender an inch," said the Melayu champion-in-chief (who also finds the time to be our prime minister) during a speech to Pekida recently. Malays, we were told, will never be oppressed in our own land so long as Umno is in power. Well, glory be. I'm sure there are many others who can sleep more soundly at night knowing that there are so many out there making sure we Malays are not stripped of our position and power in our land. But ... hang on a minute. The last time I checked we Malays, along with the other Bumiputeras, make up about 60-odd per cent of our country's population. Islam is not just our country's official religion, it is also the religion professed by about 60 per cent of our people. Not only are we and our religion in the majority, but let's see, we Malays also make up most of, oh, the civil service, police, army, ruling class and politicians.  Of course, you can say that there are plenty of Malays who still need help. This, I don't dispute. I've seen rural poverty in our country, where people still live without basic amenities like constant water supply and proper toilets. I've also seen urban poverty, with families living in small, low-cost flats in the outskirts of KL making do with the little that they earn. Yet poor Malays aren't the only ones who need help. There are also plenty of poor people, non-Malays, who deserve help. My brother was once approached by a young Indian man late one evening. He had just arrived from Kulai and asked my brother for help; my brother pointed him in the direction of the nearest kedai mamak. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: not all Malays deserve to get the help that the NEP brings. I would hazard a guess that most Malays who live in exclusive neighbourhoods in KL do not need the Bumiputera housing discount, or government scholarships for their offspring.  Are we really throwing away our "power" and "position" if we amended the NEP so that it excluded rich Malays and was open to all of our country's poor, regardless of their race? Yes, Datuk Najib, we've "willingly shared power with the non-Malays" since Merdeka, but why keep harping on the past? Why not share with us your vision for the future? I should have expected it, but I'm disappointed all the same. Is this what Malay leadership is about? Is there such a dearth of good Malay leaders in Umno that only scare tactics will do? Where is the vision about what the Malays can achieve? Why is no one inspiring us to be better? Why, in fact, is there no Malay leader out there who has the guts to say enough is enough, we Malays will never reach our full potential if we keep harping on about the help that we need? Why is no one honest enough to say that not all Malays are equal, and the haves should no longer receive a handout? Instead of leaders who inspire us and show us how it is possible for all of us — Malay or otherwise — to have a stake in this country, we have leaders like Datuk Shahrizat Jalil. The pity of it all is that I felt that Shahrizat had not done a bad job as the minister for Women, Family and Community Development. Yet the NFC controversy has made her position untenable and shown the ugly face of Umno and our government. Why are our ministers allowed to run family businesses that are subsidised by the government? Even if ministers are not actively involved in running such businesses, how is it that businesses run by members of a minister's family can qualify for government assistance? Why are the people who govern our country in our name not required to declare their interests in such companies, and the assets they hold? There is also a failure of leadership over the whole NFC debacle. Najib should have taken decisive action when it first erupted, and demanded Shahrizat's resignation. Not doing so would mean that he condoned what she did, no? This was our PM's chance to show that he meant business; that even the slightest whiff of misconduct would not be tolerated, be it at ministerial level or otherwise. Well, he's flunked the test. What this shows us is that our PM and Umno as a whole are prepared to turn a blind eye to such things. Why? I don't know. Is it because she's "one of us"? Or perhaps because she's a Malay? Is this what Najib means when he tells us to choose wisely in the next general election? Is this what Umno means when it claims to be the only political party that can safeguard Malay interests? For shame, Umno. Out of all its members, only two leaders have called on Shahrizat to do the right thing, and recognised the damage the whole affair is doing to the party. Let me remind you what Najib said at Pekida: Umno would not allow the Malays to be oppressed in their own land. Well, the vast amounts of money that have been reportedly spent buying expensive properties and cars could have been spent improving the lives of poorer Malays, so who's oppressing who now?   * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Troubled Villa heading for relegation battle? Posted: 19 Dec 2011 03:53 PM PST DEC 20 — Sunday's Premier League fixtures all ended with the expected conclusions as Liverpool (2-0 at Aston Villa), Manchester United (2-0 at QPR), Manchester City (1-0 over Arsenal) and Tottenham (1-0 against Sunderland) all gained victories without conceding. The latter three of that quartet are, I believe, the only teams with a realistic chance of challenging for the league title this season — and Tottenham's chances are only slim due to the lack of depth in their squad and the fact they are already seven points behind leaders City (albeit with a game in hand). Having said that, the previously forgotten Roman Pavlyuchenko showed there's more to life at White Hart Lane than the usual suspects by stepping off the bench to win the game with his first goal of the season in only his third appearance. If the Russian veteran can start to exert a regular goalscoring impact in support of Emanuel Adebayor, Jermain Defoe and Rafael van der Vaart, maybe the north Londoners will be able to sustain their excellent recent form for another four months — especially if Harry Redknapp can pull off another piece of transfer market magic by bringing a striker of the calibre of Carlos Tevez to White Hart Lane when the January transfer window opens. But in the end, I suspect the points lost by Spurs at the start of the season — when they were soundly beaten by both Manchester clubs — will rule them out of challenging for the ultimate honour. Instead, with Chelsea and Arsenal already too far adrift and Liverpool not consistent enough, I expect City and United to be slugging it out between now and May. United were good value for their 2-0 win at Loftus Road, putting their injury woes and their European exit behind them with a dominant performance. Going ahead in the opening minute of the match through Wayne Rooney helped their cause, and from that moment onwards Rangers never really looked like getting anything from the game. City had a far tougher task in seeing off the challenge of Arsenal, but I felt Roberto Mancini's team were good value for their victory. There was also an appropriate goalscorer as the magnificent David Silva rounded off another superb personal performance with the kind of poacher's strike you would more commonly expect to see from his team-mate Sergio Aguero. Silva must be the Premier League's player of the season so far — I certainly can't think of any more worthy candidates. Away from the title race, the main conclusions I drew from this weekend's action were an ever-deepening sense that the unfortunate Steve Kean's tenure at Blackburn is doomed (as I discussed in my last article) and that another Scottish manager, Alex McLeish, might be dragged into a relegation battle at Aston Villa. The nature of Blackburn's defeat at home against West Brom — conceding a goal in the last minute — showed that when some things are going against you, everything tends to go against you. Much as I don't like to see managers getting sacked — especially when the root of Blackburn's problem is the ownership rather than the management — I feel Rovers' only chance of avoiding relegation (apart from a change of ownership) is for the Venky's to swallow their pride and sack Kean, appoint an experienced replacement, provide him with a significant transfer budget in January and then stay well out of the way. If their team loses at home against Bolton tonight, they may be forced into taking that action. Villa, meanwhile, were dreadful in their 2-0 home defeat against Liverpool. The Reds should have won by a far more comfortable margin as they squandered a series of second-half chances — including two shots against the woodwork from the excellent Luis Suarez — and Villa simply looked clueless. There was no discernible structure or method to their play: no pattern, no purpose, no conviction. Beyond banging the ball up towards Emile Heskey and hoping to win the second phase of play, it looked like they didn't know how they were trying to score goals. Of course, it's only fair to acknowledge that Villa were without their two most potent players — Darren Bent through injury and Gabby Agbonlahor through suspension — and their restored presence could transform the team's attacking outlook. But the January transfer window is just around the corner and Villa are vulnerable to losing Bent, in particular, if a moneyed club such as Arsenal, Tottenham or even Manchester United decides to enhance their attacking options. Villa have stated their intention to keep Bent, and I have no doubt they are sincere in that belief. However, we all know that the wishes of a club only count for so much due to the player power that prevails in modern football, and Bent would quite probably be able to force through a move if the opportunity arose in January. Storm clouds seem to be gathering at Villa Park, where the home fans are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with McLeish's management. They were unhappy to see him arrive at the club in the first place — more than something to do with the fact that his previous club was hated local rivals Birmingham City — and there's a distinct impression that many Villa fans are just waiting for a reason to break into outright revolt against their manager and make McLeish the next Steve Kean. Another home defeat against Arsenal tomorrow night could provide just the excuse. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

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