Jumaat, 23 November 2012

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Michelin admits two more Spanish restaurants into 3-star club

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 07:34 PM PST

PARIS, Nov 24 — Michelin inspectors showed Spain a lot of love this year, adding two more restaurants to the exclusive three-starred club to give the country a total of seven triple-garlanded dining destinations.

In total, 21 restaurants in Spain and Portugal saw their star status rise in the 2013 edition of The Michelin Guide Spain & Portugal.

In addition to two more three-starred restaurants, another two eateries were awarded two stars, while chefs at 17 restaurants also succeeded in scoring their first star.

Azurmendi in Spain's Basque country received its third star this year, where chef Eneko Atxa serves up "distinctive, creative, well-balanced cuisine with authentic flavors," Michelin said.

Quique Dacosta in Alicante was also promoted into the three-star club, for its "inventive, original cooking that constantly makes innovative use of textures" while specializing in the region's culinary style.

Spainish gastronomy owns bragging rights to being the birthplace of some of the world's most innovative, avant-garde cuisine, such as molecular gastronomy, largely perpetuated by chef Ferran Adrià of the now-shuttered El Bulli, which for years was named the best in the world according to the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

The restaurant, however, has closed down until February of next year for a major overhaul. — AFP-Relaxnews

Some day my prince will come…

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 04:34 PM PST

Prince Robert with a selection of wines from his estates in Bordeaux. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — It's not every day that one meets a prince. What's more Prince Robert Louis Francois Marie of Luxembourg is the Grand Duke of Luxembourg's first cousin. So yes, I was looking forward to the interview.

The managing director of Domaine Clarence Dillon, Prince Robert owns two of the most prestigious Premier Grand Cru estates in Bordeaux: Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion.

The prince is extremely proud of Chateau Haut-Brion which his great grandfather Clarence Dillon bought in 1935. "It was responsible for creating the style of red wine we know today," he said. "Then in the 17th century came the new French claret, a darker wine that had a greater capacity to travel."

Haut-Brion was the world's first luxury brand with the earliest mention going as far back as the 15th century. The wines were served in celebration in the court of King Charles II in 1660, and were cited in The Diarist by Samuel Pepys, an English naval administrator and member of Parliament under the king.

"A tavern opened in London in 1666, and it became the meeting place of great thinkers, businessmen and traders. John Dryden, Daniel Defoe and Samuel Pepys went there to drink wine and discuss everything from politics to philosophy and literature.

"There was a change of taste and we are still seeing it today in countries around the world. As with tea, coffee and chocolate, it became a new culture in the revolution of taste. It contributed to the age of enlightenment and bringing people together, both in France and England."

Prince Robert was in Kuala Lumpur recently to talk about not just the premium wines but also about Clarendelle, a more affordable, super premium-branded Bordeaux wine, and Chateau Quintus, a recently-acquired Saint Emilion estate.

Clarendelle is part of the company's strategy to expand the family business.

"With Quintus, La Mission and Haut-Brion, we represent the top 20 estates in Bordeaux. Today we have an exclusive, new super wine Clarendelle inspired by Haut-Brion. We wanted to present the same elegant, complex wines ready to drink when they reach the local markets. The wines have been in Malaysia since 2007, served in top establishments to customers."

He is proud that his wines are becoming part of the global palate. "Malaysia is now the 10th most important market for alcohol," he said, to my great surprise.

The prince was very excited to be here, his first time in the country. He was eager to have a taste of the local cuisine, preferably spicy. "I like all cuisines. The first cuisine that brought me to these parts was Thai food. I'm interested to see how our wines match the local curries."

He grew up in Luxembourg, went to boarding school in England and studied sculpture in the US. He spent part of his summer vacation at Chateau Haut-Brion with his mother, the Duchess of Mouchy, while she was renovating the castle. He even attended, at his mother's request, the official signing of the acquisition of Château La Mission Haut-Brion in 1983.

"In the early '90s, I became conscious of the potential of the business. There was no pressure placed on me," said the elegant and dignified prince. "I had been a director of the company since young. I had been travelling a lot and moved back to Europe in 1992." He entered the business when he was 25, brought in by his mother who was running the company with his stepfather. "I became full time in it in 1997."

He has lived in Central and South America and spent time in Nepal, Africa and Italy. He was in Thailand in 1989.

"I like every aspect of wine making and try to participate and grow the business. I try not to micro-manage too much. It's the same winemaking team overseeing the estate's philosophy — let the style shine through the terroir to express itself."

For him wine is a creative art. "I'm drawn to the business because of the creativity. You have to have a vision and join the dots."

Last year, Chateau Haut-Brion celebrated its 75th anniversary. "Part of the fun was working with a 3-star Chinese chef in Hong Kong, and Hideki in Tokyo to put together menus to match with our wines. We created the atmosphere in the London tavern where people drank Chateau Haut-Brion."

The prince has also tried his hand at writing screenplays in Hollywood. "I always thought I could stop and come back to it, but now my No. 1 focus is family and children. I still write from time to time, but not screenplays. My wife was a screenwriter. She would ask me to edit her work. I would bug her. One day I wrote a scene as I saw it and we became writing partners."

So the prince has his princess... and writing partner. And of course, we... we can have the wines.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Italy football attack stokes fears of neo-fascist violence

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 08:14 AM PST

Police in a damaged pub after a fight in downtown Rome, during which 10 Spurs supporters were hurt and one seriously injured. — Reuters pics

ROME, Nov 23 — A brutal attack on fans of English football club Tottenham Hotspur in Rome has stoked fears in Italy of rising right-wing and anti-Semitic violence.

Italy's capital has been rattled by increasing militancy by the extreme right since October, with weekly demonstrations by the neo-fascist youth group Blocco Studentesco often ending in clashes with police.

Local media initially blamed yesterday's attack on hard-core fans or "ultras" supporting Lazio, who Tottenham had travelled to the capital to play in the Europa League.

But two supporters of AS Roma, Lazio's bitter city rivals, were among the 15 detained for alleged involvement in the mass attack on a downtown bar, suggesting a possibly different motivation.

Tottenham have a large contingent of Jewish fans and witnesses told Italian media that masked men armed with knives and baseball bats shouted "Jews, Jews" as they laid siege to a pub where the Tottenham supporters were drinking in a district popular with tourists in an old quarter of Rome.

Ten people were injured in the attack, which left 25-year-old English fan Ashley Mills in a serious condition. He underwent surgery for a severed artery in his leg today and was being monitored by doctors, the Rome hospital where he is being treated said.

A knife left on a street after the fight.

Lazio issued a statement yesterday saying any suggestion that the assailants were Lazio supporters was "totally groundless".

Israeli ambassador to Italy Naor Gilon told reporters the attack on Spurs supporters, stemmed from "a new trend of anti-Semitism in Europe".

The World Jewish Congress called yesterday for Lazio to be suspended from European football if they failed to take action against hard core anti-Semitic supporters.

Media reports said Lazio fans chanted "Juden Tottenham, Juden Tottenham" at the match yesterday.

Danger to Jews

The violence has sparked a row about the safety of Jewish people in Rome.

The head of the city's Jewish community, Ricardo Pacifici, said the attack showed Jews were not sufficiently protected.

Police commissioner Giuseppe Pecoraro rejected the accusation, which he called a provocation.

"The police do more for the Jewish community in Rome than anywhere else in the world," he said.

Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno announced €21 million (RM82.6 million) in funding for a Holocaust Museum "to give an immediate response to the many signs of anti-Semitism that have occurred recently in our city".

Alemanno is himself a former neo-fascist youth leader who was greeted with fascist salutes and cries of "Duce! Duce!" — the term adopted by Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini — when he was elected mayor in 2008.

The European far right has gained increased support as the continent's economic crisis has deepened, especially in the debt-laden south. Its most startling rise has been in the worst-hit country, Greece, where the anti-immigrant Golden Dawn group has flourished.

Italy is no stranger to the trend.

Last week police arrested four people for allegedly inciting racial hatred through the website of the white supremacist movement Stormfront, confiscating a variety of weapons and neo-Nazi propaganda, after the group published a list of prominent Jewish citizens.

Teenagers carrying neo-fascist flags stormed a high school last month, tossing smoke bombs into classrooms as lessons were being taught, in a raid interpreted in Italy as an attempt by Blocco Studentesco to assert control over its turf.

Shortly afterwards a school due to host a meeting with local authorities about the "neo-fascist resurgence in schools" was daubed with swastikas, Celtic crosses and the word "Hitler".

There is no suggestion the Blocco is linked to the attack on the Tottenham supporters.

"We are proud to be fascists," the 18-year old Rome leader of the Blocco recently told Reuters in a suburban cafe, where swastikas had been scrawled across walls and furniture.

The movement venerates 1930s Italian dictator Mussolini but says it does not agree with his racial laws, which stripped Jews of Italian citizenship and barred them from holding government positions in 1938.

Racist chants

Israeli flags are a common sight among Tottenham supporters at matches, and fans refer to themselves in chants as the "yid army".

Lazio have long had fans with extreme right-wing sympathies, notorious for making Nazi salutes, unfurling anti-Semitic banners and chanting racist insults against black players.

At the game yesterday, which ended in a goalless draw, Lazio supporters unfurled a banner reading "Free Palestine".

The English Football Association plans to send a report to European football's governing body UEFA following alleged anti-Semitic chanting by Lazio fans during the match yesterday. Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas has demanded an investigation.

Lazio was fined €40,000 (RM157,290) for racist chanting against black players in another match against Tottenham in London in September. — Reuters

City’s Aguero is Premier League’s most lethal striker

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 07:38 AM PST

Familiar sight of Aguero, at his last outing after scoring a penalty against Real Madrid during their Champions League match at The Etihad Stadium in Manchester, November 21, 2012. — Reuters pic

LONDON, Nov 23 — Manchester City's Sergio Aguero sets his sights on Chelsea on Sunday bolstered by statistics proving his strike rate since joining the club is the best in Premier League history.

The Premier League's Opta number crunchers have worked out that the Argentine's 28 goals have come at a rate of one every 111 minutes — better than the likes of Robin van Persie, Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.

Manchester United's Javier Hernandez is second on the list, his 27 coming every 119 minutes while Henry's 175 came at 121-minute intervals.

Aguero's City team mates Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli are also in the top 10 as Premier League leaders City head for their clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

After a week of upheaval at the west London club, which has seen Champions League-winning manager Roberto Di Matteo sacked and replaced with former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, Roberto Mancini knows that the fixture — in which City have won only two of the past 15 — is fraught with danger.

"I think usually when a team changes the manager the game after is very difficult for the opponents," Mancini said at a news conference today. "It's a more difficult game now.

"Chelsea are a good team, whether with Di Matteo or Benitez, they have good players and until three games ago were playing fantastic football so they were on the top.

"It will be difficult but we want to do well on Sunday."

Mancini expressed some sympathy for his fellow Italian Di Matteo but said it was the nature of the job.

"I'm very sorry for Di Matteo because he won the Champions League just a few months ago, but this is our life, we know when we make this choice it can be difficult.

"For Chelsea maybe it's a different situation. Every team has its problem and every chairman decides a different way."

City captain Vincent Kompany is a doubt for the game after injuring his knee against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

"I hope Vinnie can recover but we won't know until tomorrow," Mancini said. "He is strong so there is a chance, but we will make a final decision on Saturday." — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

Film planned on life of rocker Michael Hutchence

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 07:38 AM PST

SYDNEY, Nov 23 — A film is being planned about the life and times of Michael Hutchence, the frontman of Australian rock band INXS who committed suicide 15 years ago, a report said Friday.

Australian singer Michael Hutchence. — AFP pic

Former Hollywood screenwriter Bobby Galinsky, best-known for his work on the 1990 Kiefer Sutherland thriller "Flatliners", told ABC radio casting was expected in the new year.

"It is a big task, I've been a writer for 35 years and this is something I've wanted to do for over a decade and everything has now come together with it," he said.

The movie will be called "Two Worlds Colliding", based on the book "Just a Man — The Real Michael Hutchence" penned by the singer's mother and sister, after Galinsky obtained the rights.

He said he planned it to be along the lines of "Ray", the story of Ray Charles, or "Walk the Line" which focused on Johnny Cash, "about a life, not a chapter".

"We'd like to start in his childhood and what made the man, then the evolution of when he got into INXS and how that transformed him, and then of course his personal life," said Galinsky.

"I want it to be what was behind the man, not just the guy you saw on stage, but who was Michael Hutchence, what drove him, what were his demons, what were his loves, not the persona that people saw on stage for a couple of hours."

INXS were one of the world's biggest acts throughout the late 1980s and early '90s, fuelled by Hutchence's charismatic performances, with the band having multiple hits around the world.

During his life, Hutchence had a string of love affairs with prominent actresses, models and singers, including Kylie Minogue.

But he was found dead in a Sydney hotel room in 1997, with the coroner ruling his death was suicide while the singer was depressed and under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

He left behind a daughter, Tiger Lily, from a relationship with British TV presenter Paula Yates, who died of a heroin overdose in 2000.

Tiger Lily now lives with her legal guardian, Yates's former husband Bob Geldof.

Asked who he saw as his leading man, Galinsky replied: "I have been in conversation with couple of guys, there is an English gentleman, several Australians, but I would hate to pick someone out at the moment."

INXS, which continued on without Hutchence, announced their retirement after 35 years earlier this month. — Reuters

Pussy Riot protester in single cell after tensions with inmates

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 04:35 AM PST

Members of the female punk band "Pussy Riot" (R-L) Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich sit in a glass-walled cage during a court hearing in Moscow, August 17, 2012. — Reuters pic

MOSCOW, Nov 23 —Jailed Pussy Riot punk protester Maria Alyokhina has been moved to a single cell at her own request because of tensions with fellow prisoners, Russia's federal penitentiary service said today.

Alyokhina, 24, is serving a two-year sentence for carrying out a raucous protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral. Activists said her trial, alongside two other band-mates, was part of a crackdown on dissent.

"Some tensions arose in relationships and, apparently, to prevent this situation from escalating, she decided to submit a request to the prison leadership and they moved her to a one-person cell," a prison service spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman dismissed Russian media reports that Alyokhina had been caught up in religious arguments with fellow prisoners. Pussy Riot's protest offended many members of Russia's Orthodox Church.

The spokeswoman said she could not comment on a report on the tabloid-style Life News website that Alyokhina had received violent threats from cell mates at the Ural Mountains prison about 1,150km northeast of Moscow.

Alyokhina and her two band mates and were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for their "punk prayer", which the dominant Russian Orthodox Church has cast as part of a concerted attack on the church and the faithful.

The women said the protest, in which they burst into Christ the Saviour Cathedral and called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin, was not motivated by hatred and was meant to mock the church leadership's support for the longtime leader.

Putin, a former KGB officer who has cultivated close ties with the church over 13 years in power, has rejected criticism from the United States and European leaders who called the two-year sentences disproportionate.

Alyokhina, who has a young son, argued with the judge and cross-examined witnesses during her trial.

Her band mate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, is serving her sentence in a different prison. Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, was freed last month when a court suspended her sentence on appeal. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views

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The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views

Italy football attack stokes fears of neo-fascist violence

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 08:14 AM PST

Police in a damaged pub after a fight in downtown Rome, during which 10 Spurs supporters were hurt and one seriously injured. — Reuters pics

ROME, Nov 23 — A brutal attack on fans of English football club Tottenham Hotspur in Rome has stoked fears in Italy of rising right-wing and anti-Semitic violence.

Local media initially blamed yesterday's attack on hard-core fans or "ultras" supporting Lazio, who Tottenham had travelled to the capital to play in the Europa League.

But two supporters of AS Roma, Lazio's bitter city rivals, were among the 15 detained for alleged involvement in the mass attack on a downtown bar, suggesting a possibly different motivation.

A knife left on a street after the fight.

Lazio issued a statement yesterday saying any suggestion that the assailants were Lazio supporters was "totally groundless".

Israeli ambassador to Italy Naor Gilon told reporters the attack on Spurs supporters, stemmed from "a new trend of anti-Semitism in Europe".

The World Jewish Congress called yesterday for Lazio to be suspended from European football if they failed to take action against hard core anti-Semitic supporters.

Media reports said Lazio fans chanted "Juden Tottenham, Juden Tottenham" at the match yesterday.

Danger to Jews

The violence has sparked a row about the safety of Jewish people in Rome.

The head of the city's Jewish community, Ricardo Pacifici, said the attack showed Jews were not sufficiently protected.

Police commissioner Giuseppe Pecoraro rejected the accusation, which he called a provocation.

"The police do more for the Jewish community in Rome than anywhere else in the world," he said.

Italy is no stranger to the trend.

Shortly afterwards a school due to host a meeting with local authorities about the "neo-fascist resurgence in schools" was daubed with swastikas, Celtic crosses and the word "Hitler".

There is no suggestion the Blocco is linked to the attack on the Tottenham supporters.

"We are proud to be fascists," the 18-year old Rome leader of the Blocco recently told Reuters in a suburban cafe, where swastikas had been scrawled across walls and furniture.

Racist chants

Israeli flags are a common sight among Tottenham supporters at matches, and fans refer to themselves in chants as the "yid army".

Lazio have long had fans with extreme right-wing sympathies, notorious for making Nazi salutes, unfurling anti-Semitic banners and chanting racist insults against black players.

At the game yesterday, which ended in a goalless draw, Lazio supporters unfurled a banner reading "Free Palestine".

Lazio was fined €40,000 (RM157,290) for racist chanting against black players in another match against Tottenham in London in September. — Reuters

US top court to consider workplace harassment rules

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 07:55 AM PST

MUNCIE, Nov 23 — The US Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments in a case that could determine when a company is liable for harassment by its employees.

The case turns on the definition of a single word — "supervisor" — under a federal civil rights law that prohibits racial, religious or sexual harassment in the workplace.

Under previous Supreme Court rulings, an employer is automatically responsible if a supervisor harasses a subordinate. The employer is not liable if the harassment is between two equal co-workers, unless it was negligent in allowing the abuse.

Since those rulings, a rift has developed between federal appeals courts over exactly who is a supervisor. On one side, three circuits say supervisors are those with the power to hire, fire, demote, promote or discipline. Three other circuits have adopted a broader standard, one that also includes employees who direct and oversee a colleague's daily work.

In the current case, Maetta Vance was the sole black catering worker at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. After filing numerous complaints with the university over racially charged incidents at work, she sued the university in federal court in 2006. She claimed that several white co-workers used racial epithets, references to the Ku Klux Klan and veiled physical threats against her.

In trying to hold Ball State liable, Vance's lawyers argued that one co-worker, Saundra Davis, was a supervisor because she had the power to direct her day-to-day activities. Davis did not have to record her time, like other hourly employees, Vance argued. But the district court dismissed the case before a trial, finding Davis lacked sufficient authority over Vance. It also found that Ball State had taken corrective action and had not acted negligently.

The 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, in Chicago, reached the same conclusion, reasoning that Davis did not have the power to change Vance's employment status, and therefore the university was not liable for Davis's conduct.

Vance petitioned the Supreme Court.

Before deciding whether to hear the case, the Supreme Court asked the Justice Department for the government's position, as it does in some cases. US Solicitor General Donald Verrilli agreed with Vance that the 7th Circuit's narrow interpretation was wrong, but also argued that this wasn't the best case to decide the issue, given what it saw as weak facts that Davis was Vance's supervisor. Vance presented no evidence of tasks or instructions Davis gave her and even said she was uncertain whether Davis was her supervisor, the government's brief said.

The Supreme Court accepted the case anyway.

Ball State has made the same argument as the government. Davis "would fail to qualify as Ms. Vance's supervisor even under the broader interpretation of that term applied by certain courts of appeals," university spokesman Tony Proudfoot said in an email, citing the Solicitor General's brief.

But Daniel Ortiz, a lawyer for Vance, said that under the broader standard there is evidence Davis was a supervisor.

Davis, who Vance believed was her supervisor, "taunted her with racial epithets, slapped her at one point and made her life a living hell," Ortiz said.

Business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, have filed briefs supporting the narrow definition of supervisor used by the 7th, 1st and 8th Circuits.

Adopting the narrower definition allows employers to easily identify employees who would trigger automatic liability so they can be screened, trained and monitored, the business groups argue.

The open-ended definition, used by the 2nd, 4th and 9th Circuits, offers little guidance or incentive to undertake prevention efforts, the US Chamber said in its brief.

Camille Olson, a lawyer at Seyfarth Shaw who represents companies, said if the Supreme Court adopts the more expansive definition, employers will be potentially liable for the conduct of a much larger pool of employees.

"The expanded definition of whose conduct binds the employer will significantly increase litigation for employers," said Olson, who is not involved in the latest case. Employees may also have less incentive to report harassment promptly and to get any immediate issues fixed, opting instead for litigation, she said.

The broad definition of supervisor would also conflict with a narrower one used in the Fair Labor Standards Act and National Labor Relations Act, creating confusion, she added.

On the other side, plaintiffs' lawyers say the stricter standard ignores the practical reality of the workplace and allows discrimination and harassment to go unpunished.

"The ones most likely to engage in harassment are the ones who deal with their coworkers day-to-day but may not have the special power to hire, fire, promote or demote," said Matthew Koski, an attorney with the National Employment Lawyers Association, a group for lawyers who represent workers.

Supervisors who make final employment decisions may be in a different office or a different state, he said.

The case is Vance v Ball State University, US Supreme Court, No. 11-556. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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ADHD medication could cut crime rates, study says

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 07:43 PM PST

STOCKHOLM, Nov 23 — Medication can reduce the number of crimes committed by people suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by one third, according to a Swedish study released yesterday.

Researchers found that medical treatment reduced the risk of committing crimes by 32 per cent. — AFP/Relaxnews

When comparing the behaviour of adults suffering from the disorder during periods when they were medicated, with periods when they weren't, researchers found that medical treatment reduced the risk of committing crimes by 32 per cent.

Individuals with ADHD have previously been shown to be at greater risk of entering a life of crime.

"It's said that roughly 30 to 40 per cent of long-serving criminals have ADHD," said Paul Lichtenstein, co-author of the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

"If their chances of recidivism can be reduced by 30 per cent, it would clearly affect total crime numbers in many societies."

The study, which tracked more than 25,000 people over four years, found that medication had the same effect on those who had committed relatively minor infringements, as on those involved in more serious and violent crimes.

All of the participants were adults, and there was no difference in the outcome for men and women.

Five percent of school children and around half has many of all adults have ADHD, according to the Karolinska Institute. Symptoms of the disorder, which include poor concentration, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour, can be treated with central stimulants.

However, concern has been raised over a steep rise in medical prescriptions for ADHD in recent years, and some medical professionals have claimed alternative treatments such as psychotherapy and less potent drugs may be better suited for some patients."We need to point out that most medical treatments can have adverse side effects, so risks must be weighed up against benefits and the individual patient's entire life situation taken into consideration before medications are prescribed," said Henrik Larsson, another co-author of the Stockholm study. — AFP/Relaxnews

Infant sleep positioners cause death, US health officials say

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 05:08 PM PST

CHICAGO, Nov 23 — Bolsters used to keep sleeping babies on their backs pose a suffocation hazard, health officials warned Wednesday after a recent death raised the 'sleep positioners' toll to at least 13 US infants.

The ABC's of safe sleep: Alone on the Back in a bare Crib. — AFP/Relaxnews

Health officials first warned parents not to use the devices in 2010 and cracked down on manufacturers who claimed they could prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which claims more than 2,000 infants a year in the United States.

But the 'sleep positioners' — which typically feature bolsters attached to each side of a thin mat and sometimes a wedge to elevate the baby's head — remain on the market.

Most of the babies — all four months of age or younger — suffocated after rolling from their side to their stomach. Some were found trapped between the bolster and the side of the crib.

In addition to the 13 reported deaths since 1997, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received dozens of reports of babies found in "hazardous positions within or next to the product" after they were placed on their back or side in the positioners.

"We urge parents and caregivers to take our warning seriously and stop using these sleep positioners so children can be assured of a safe sleep," Inez Tenenbaum, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in a statement.

Parents should also keep the crib free of pillows, comforters, quilts and toys, said Susan Cummins, a pediatric expert at the Food and Drug Administration.

"The safest crib is a bare crib," she said. "Always put your baby on his or her back to sleep. An easy way to remember this is to follow the ABC's of safe sleep — Alone on the Back in a bare Crib." — AFP/Relaxnews

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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Author Bryce Courtenay dies two weeks after publishing final novel

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 01:25 AM PST

Bryce Courtenay at the book signing of The Night Country at a Sydney bookstore in this April 3, 1998, file photo. — Reuters pic

CANBERRA, Nov 23 — Best-selling Australian author Bryce Courtenay, who wrote about the struggles of life in Australia and South Africa, died at his home in Canberra, his publisher said today, two weeks after his latest novel was published.

His death late yesterday came less than three months after he told fans he had stomach cancer. He was 79.

"We'd like to thank all of Bryce's family and friends and all of his fans around the world for their love and support for me and his family as he wrote the final chapter of his extraordinary life," his wife Christine Courtenay said in a joint statement with publisher Penguin Books.

Known for his dedication to work and prolific output, often writing for 12 hours a day, Courtenay sold more than 20 million books. He turned to writing in the late 1980s after a 30-year career in advertising.

His first novel, The Power of One, the story of a child growing up under apartheid in South Africa, was an instant hit, selling more than eight million copies and later made into a movie.

Born into poverty in South Africa, Courtenay studied journalism in London and then settled in Australia with his first wife, Benita, in 1958.

In 1993, he turned to non-fiction with April Fool's Day, a personal account of his son Damon's death after he contracted the AIDS virus from a routine blood transfusion.

He usually wrote a book each year. His final novel, Jack of Diamonds, was published in early November, and featured a farewell from Courtenay to his readers.

"It's been a privilege to write for you and to have you accept me as a storyteller in your lives. Now, as my story draws to an end, may I say only, 'Thank you. You have been simply wonderful'."

Courtenay is survived by his wife Christine, and two sons from his first marriage. — Reuters

Book gives up-close look at Graham Greene’s political writing

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 11:40 PM PST

MIAMI, Nov 23 — In 1965 British author Graham Greene arrived in the Dominican Republic fresh from neighbouring Haiti where he witnessed first hand the "unique evil" of Haiti's brutal dictator, Francois 'Papa Doc'Duvalier.

Greene was met at the airport by an enterprising New Zealand-born journalist, Bernard Diederich, whom he had befriended in Haiti on previous trips a few years earlier.

"As I watched Graham's tall, lean figure make its way through customs, his blue eyes cutting across the airport with a hint of suspicion, I wonder if, indeed, he had the power to change Haiti," Diederich wrote in a new book, Seeds of Fiction, Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954-83.

"Could he bring down Duvalier? And, more to the point, would he write a book about Haiti?" Diederich said.

Greene was in the prime of his writing career and had already published another Caribbean novel, Our Man in Havana, set in Cuba.

Greene called Papa Doc a "madman" telling Diederich that he had "never felt such pervasive fear in a country as in Haiti."

When he picked Greene up at the airport he was visibly shaking, Diederich recalled in an interview. "He had a terrible dread he wasn't going to make it out."

Greene had hidden his notes, written in tiny, almost illegible script, in a hardback Victorian novel. "I don't know why he bothered to hide them because no-one could read his notes," laughed Diederich.

For years later Greene still had nightmares about Papa Doc and his dreaded henchmen, the Tonton Macoutes, he added.

During the next week Diederich took Greene on a trip along the border with Haiti introducing him to more characters for his book, including at an insane asylum where hopelessly ill-equipped rebels were training to overthrow Duvalier.

The resulting book, The Comedians, is considered one of Greene's masterpieces, and infuriated Papa Doc, who banned it. "It was his most political novel. He wrote it for a purpose. We were really at war with Papa Doc," said Diederich.

When a movie came out the next year, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Alec Guinness, Duvalier banned that too. "Graham wrote the script. He told me it was another arrow at Papa Doc," said Diederich.

Greene's rage at Duvalier stemmed from his first visit to Haiti in 1954 during the Caribbean nation's brief heyday as a hip destination for the jet-set before the election in 1957 of Duvalier, a supposedly unassuming country doctor, who soon turned into a bloody dictator.

Greene arrived from Jamaica where he had been staying at Goldeneye, the coastal estate owned by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels. In Haiti, Greene stayed with theatre and film director Peter Brook who was working on a Broadway musical "House of Flowers", based on a short story by Truman Capote.

Copious notes

Diederich, who had been living in Haiti since 1949 and owned the English-language newspaper Haiti Sun, offered to help Greene on a return trip.

"Graham fell in love with Haiti the same way it collared me," said Diederich. "He had just finished writing The Quiet American and he told me Haiti reminded him of Indo-China."

Greene returned in 1956 with Catherine Walston, the love of his life, and the trio spent a lot of time together, comparing copious notes they both took as they travelled interviewing possible characters for a book. Some of that material would later show up in the pages of The Comedians.

"The rest of our lives we were competing with notes. I was in awe of Graham and wanted to help him as well as I could and certainly learn from him," said Diederich, the author of 15 books himself.

It was the beginning of a correspondence that lasted decades. In preparing his book Diederich drew on 132 letters from Greene, as well as dozens from Greene's mistress, Yvonne Cloetta.

Throughout his career Greene was always at pains to protect his privacy and hide his methodology. He gave few interviews and the two small autobiographies he wrote were deliberately uninformative and revealed very little about him.

They got along in large part because Diederich respected Greene's privacy. "He didn't want to be recognised and liked to travel about incognito. I never stepped over the edge with him. I never pried," he said.

"He was (Greene's) guide and enabler," said writer TD Allman, who introduced Diederich at a Miami Book Fair International reading earlier this week. "Greene had a genius in finding people who could tell him what was going on."

Diederich and Greene remained close, getting together again in Panama in 1976 when it was under the rule of another dictator, General Omar Torrijos. Working as Time magazine's bureau chief in Mexico City, Diederich had come to know the general well, and suggested that he and Greene would hit it off. "I told him you both have the same liberal compass," said Diederich.

They did, prompting Greene to write one of his occasional non-fiction works, titled Getting to Know the General.

Greene and the general had something else in common; both liked to drink, which Torrijos often did to excess. Greene was not one to wait for the sun to go down over the yardarm before having a tipple, said Diederich, though he never saw him inebriated.

Greene showed up for the first encounter to find Torrijos still in his pyjamas so hung-over he could barely speak. He sobered up on a helicopter ride from Panama City to the island of Contadora where Greene interviewed him over rum punches on the beach under a palm tree.

"In no time at all they seemed to click. It was very animated, they talked and talked," said Diederich.

Torrijos was briefly distracted by a Colombian beauty playing in the sand, said Diederich, and disappeared with her for 30 minutes before returning to continue the conversation with beads of sweat on his brow.

"It was like a scene out of a Graham Greene novel: a Central American strongman and an Oxford-educated Briton sat beneath a coconut tree on a tropical beach philosophising," wrote Diederich. — Reuters

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Kerajaan Kedah, P. Pinang tiada persefahaman tentang isu air mentah — Ahmad Bashah

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 02:52 AM PST

Kerajaan Kedah, P. Pinang tiada persefahaman tentang isu air mentah — Ahmad Bashah

ALOR SETAR, 23 Nov — Penafian Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang Lim Guan Eng bahawa Pulau Pinang bersetuju untuk membuat bayaran air kepada Kedah sedangkan sumber jualan air telah dimasukkan dalam Belanjawan Negeri Kedah 2013 membuktikan kerajaan pakatan pembangkang tiada persefahaman.

Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan Umno Negeri Kedah Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah berkata sewaktu pembentangan Belanjawan Negeri Kedah 2013 baru-baru ini, Menteri Besar Kedah Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak yakin beliau boleh menjual air mentah tersebut sedangkan ia tidak mendapat persetujuan daripada kerajaan Pulau Pinang terlebih dahulu.

Katanya berdasarkan pengalaman pemerintahan Barisan Nasional(BN) sebelum ini sumber air mentah itu adalah hak bersama dan tidak perlu dikenakan sebarang bayaran.

"Azizan cakap beliau minta seorang Exco kerajaan negeri untuk berjumpa dan berbincang dengan kerajaan Pulau Pinang dan berharap Guan Eng akan bersetuju," katanya kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan Fiesta Futsal Gelombang Merah 2012 anjuran Pemuda Umno Kedah di Titi Gajah di sini hari ini.

Dalam pembentangan Belanjawan Negeri Kedah 2013, kerajaan negeri menjangkakan hasil sebanyak RM20 juta setahun daripada jualan air mentah kepada kerajaan Pulau Pinang.

Bagaimanapun, Lim berkata kerajaan Pulau Pinang tidak pernah bersetuju untuk melakukan bayaran bagi air mentah yang mengalir dari sungai negeri Kedah.

Ahmad Bashah yang juga Anggota Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) Bakar Bata berkata kenyataan Lim jelas menunjukkan mereka dengan pendirian enggan berbuat demikian memandangkan bekalan air mentah adalah hak bersama yang dimeterai sejak dahulu lagi.

Sementara itu, Ahmad Bashah berkata Azizan menghalalkan pembalakan yang dilakukan oleh kerajaan negeri di Tasik Pedu, Gunung Inas dan Jeniang dengan dakwaan untuk melakukan pelbagai projek untuk rakyat.

Beliau berkata penjelasan Azizan dalan sidang Dewan Undangan Negeri Kedah baru-baru ini tidak jelas, sebaliknya penjelasan tersebut hanya mahu menghalalkan penebangan hasil balak secara berleluasa di negeri ini.

"Kalau aktiviti ini terus berjalan ia akan menjejaskan sumber air dalam jangka masa panjang bukan sahaja di negeri ini malah turut berlaku di Pulau Pinang dan Perlis," katanya ketika mengulas kenyataan Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang yang mahu kerajaan Kedah menghentikan pembalakan di sekitar Tasik Pedu.

Mengulas mengenai pemecatan dua anggota Umno Bahagian Semporna, Sabah dan penggantungan selama tiga tahun terhadap seorang lagi anggota kerana kesalahan sabotaj parti, Ahmad Bashah berharap anggota Umno di negeri ini menjaga kelakuan dan sikap agar tidak dikenakan tindakan yang boleh menjejaskan parti terutama menjelang Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 tidak lama lagi.

Beliau turut berharap anggota Umno di negeri ini tidak mensabotaj parti dancalon serta tidak melakukan perkara yang boleh merosakkan imej Umno sendiri.

Pertandingan Fiesta Futsal Gelombang Merah 2012 tersebut disertai oleh 120pasukan lelaki dan 30 pasukan wanita bermula hari ini sehingga esok.

Johan kategori lelaki akan membawa pulang wang tunai RM3,000, RM2,000 untuk tempat kedua, RM1,000 (ketiga) dan RM500 (keempat). Johan kategori wanita akan membawa pulang RM2,000, RM1,000 (kedua) dan RM500 (ketiga). — Bernama

Umno Kelantan dedah penyelewengan Pas pada perhimpunan agung Umno

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 02:50 AM PST

BACHOK, 23 Nov — Umno Kelantan akan mendedahkan penyelewengan akidah PAS serta kegagalan parti pembangkang itu membawa pembangunan di Kelantan pada Perhimpunan Agung Umno yang akan berlangsung dari 26 November hingga 1 Disember depan.

Timbalan Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan Umno Kelantan Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin (gambar) berkata Kelantan tidak seharusnya terpinggir dalam arus pembangunan perdana dan ia ketinggalan jauh berbanding negeri-negeri lain akibat kegagalan PAS menjana ekonomi.

Isu kemudahan asas terutama lebuh raya, stadium, peluang pekerjaan, pelaburan dan bekalan air bersih juga akan didedahkan oleh perwakilan dari Kelantan pada perhimpunan itu, katanya kepada pemberita selepas menyambut peserta Konvoi Jelajah Janji Ditepati di Kampung Beris Lalang di sini, hari ini.

Awang Adek yang juga Timbalan Menteri Kewangan berkata kemenangan Barisan Nasional di Kelantan pada pilihan raya ke-13 akan datang amat penting bagi kelangsungan orang Melayu dan agama Islam.

Pada majlis itu, lebih 100 kenderaan termasuk bas dan motosikal berkuasa tinggi menyertai jelajah itu yang membawa slogan "Gelombang Merah" yang dianjurkan Pergerakan Pemuda Umno Kelantan. — Bernama

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When democracy is a double-edged sword

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 04:23 PM PST

NOV 23 — Sometimes democracy works in very funny ways. I recently observed this first hand in Cairo, Egypt, where a revolution recently ousted a dictatorship.

Everyone is familiar with the Arab Spring and one of the countries that played a big role in it is Egypt, where I currently am shooting a documentary for Astro Awani.

Tahrir Square, in the heart of Cairo, was where the entire Egypt gathered after they were all tired of the dictator Hosni Mubarak and decided to bring him down.

A country that was suppressed for years suddenly took matters into their own hands and turned themselves into a democracy.

Now they have a new government that they chose themselves through democratic elections. A government led by a Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohammed Morsi.

And so on the first day that I arrived in the city, I immediately headed to the iconic square (which I surprisingly find out isn't square at all… it's really a roundabout!).

A crowd of about 300 people had gathered on a street off the square and were obviously demonstrating against something.

They started to get quite violent, throwing rocks and what looked liked Molotov cocktails into a school that had been taken over by the police.

I asked around to find out what the demonstration was about and why people were so angry after recently turning democratic.

Apparently, they were angry because they claimed that the police had accidentally killed a boy with a tear gas canister during a demonstration the day before.

I observed that the crowd was concentrated at the entrance of the cordoned-off school, while the rest of Egypt walked nonchalantly along minding their own lives.

I chatted with more Egyptians in Tahrir Square and what I found out was that ever since the revolution, the square has hosted a demonstration almost every day.

It happens so often that the attention given to such activities has slowly started to fizzle out and, basically, no attention is given anymore.

Egyptians, after decades of being forced to be silent, have suddenly become so vocal that they feel they need to start a "revolution" over everything.

This can be a blessing and it can also be a curse. What happens when a society becomes so vocal that it drowns out everything and people start becoming immune to the noise?

If a demonstration happens all of a sudden in a country, of course, everyone pays attention. What happens when it becomes a daily affair? People lose interest.

And this is exactly what is happening in Egypt. People are demonstrating against the authorities and a new government that they feel is not doing enough.

And what are the authorities and government doing? They are just ignoring the demonstrators and continuing as they were.

The demonstration that first day I was in Tahrir Square was a good example. The crowd was screaming loudly and throwing rocks and trying to set the school on fire.

The police? They didn't even come out of the school. They stayed behind the walls and, once in a while, would throw some rocks back at the demonstrators.

This went on for a few hours and then even I started to lose interest and walked away with my translator to get a shawerma to fill our hungry stomachs.

So what happens now? Democracy becomes too rampant that it becomes a threat to itself? Funny isn't it? But you know what? I really think it's okay.

In my honest opinion, Egypt is on the right path. Demonstrations, no matter how petty the motives are, will always be allowed now that the new government is in power.

The Egyptians' emotions are still pretty riled up after their revolution and they just need to calm down and get their thoughts together over their newfound freedom.

Once they do that and start maturing, they will know how to pick their battles and what should be demonstrated and voiced out against.

It's better to be in a situation where you can voice out over anything and when an issue is big enough and gets enough attention by the people, it will speak for itself.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Will PR become the proverbial rabbit?

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 04:02 PM PST

NOV 23 — As the end of the year approaches, there is still no sign of any election being called. Now it looks like the general election (GE) will only be held after the automatic dissolution of our Parliament in late April 2013. Another possible date is perhaps March 2013.

Malaysia's political landscape cannot be more different from that of the United States. Yet the recent presidential election there reinforces one important fact. That even if a person or a party cannot win the majority of the biggest ethnic group, the person or the party can still win the election by winning an overwhelming majority of the minorities.

President Barack Obama won because of the votes of the minorities. He carried almost 93 per cent of the African-American votes, over 70 per cent of the Asian and Hispanic votes, but got only 39 per cent of the votes of the White majority. In contrast, his opponent won the majority of the white votes at around 59 per cent but still lost the election.

Based on this, I think it is possible for Pakatan Rakyat to win the next general election in Malaysia, given that majority of the Chinese will vote for the opposition. What is needed is to make certain that the majority of Indian votes go to PR. Most of the Malay votes (my estimate is over 60 per cent) — the Malays form the biggest ethnic group in the country — will be for BN.

Bearing this in mind, I think it is politically unwise for PAS members to publicly suggest that should PR win their party president should be made the prime minister.

The support among the Chinese and Indian Malaysians for PR should not be taken for granted. One of the reasons for the level of support shown is that many of these people believe that even if PR comes into power with little government experience, it has at least a very experienced leader in Anwar Ibrahim and he can be accepted by all the ethnic groups.

While many Chinese had no qualms about voting for PAS candidates in the last election, it was because they supported a coalition in which PAS is only an equal partner and not the dominant one that would head the group. If the PAS president is to be the next PM, PAS would be perceived to be the dominant force inside the coalition, a prospect which may not be unlike that of BN having Umno as the dominant force. If that is the case, expect fewer of these people to support PAS in the next election, thus weakening the prospect of PR forming the next government.

PKR, on the other hand, is seen to be more moderate and multiracial. As such, its leader Anwar would have much more appeal and would be better accepted by all groups.

Those PAS members reminded me of the Taiping Rebellion of China in which a rebellious group which started as a reform group against the Qing Dynasty degenerated into a group of leaders fighting more for the spoils of war rather than the cause, when that war was not even half won.

I suggest that PAS members put more effort into winning the votes rather than harping on about who should be the PM. By doing so, they are actually doing a favour for BN; a situation akin to shooting one's own foot.

I think generally PR should not be too complacent at this stage. By all indications, they have a chance to win, but the prospect is still an uphill battle, even though the uphill slope now is not as steep as before.

Remember the story of the tortoise and the rabbit. The rabbit, while on the way to victory, became too complacent and thus lost the race to the humble tortoise.

This is a lesson which PAS members as well as their president should take to their hearts if they do not want PR to become the proverbial rabbit.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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Jumaat, 23 November 2012