KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — We put on our aprons, and our chef's hats, and went on a tour of the Starhill Culinary Studio. My group headed for the pastry kitchen and it was here in the sleek, state-of-the-art ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — We put on our aprons, and our chef's hats, and went on a tour of the Starhill Culinary Studio. My group headed for the pastry kitchen and it was here in the sleek, state-of-the-art ... Read More
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates a point against Martin Klizan of Slovakia during their men's singles match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 31, 2013. — Reuters picPARIS, May 31 — Defending champion Rafa Nadal labelled the French Open schedule "a joke" and revealed he had struggled to motivate himself after reaching the third round with an unconvincing victory over Slovakian Martin Klizan today.
Nadal, seeking his eighth Roland Garros title, looked ill at ease against fellow left-hander Klizan before securing a 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 on a cool, blustery day in Paris.
The 26-year-old had not struck a ball in anger since struggling past Germany's Daniel Brands on Monday and seemed rusty as he initially allowed the powerful Klizan to dictate the baseline exchanges.
He eventually found enough gears to avoid any real alarms but later said he was unhappy about falling a round behind his main rivals for the title because of Thursday's rain which meant his clash with Klizan was postponed.
"Yesterday I just warmed up for half an hour, so I've not played much tennis during three days," Nadal, who will now have to play a rested Fabio Fognini on Saturday, told reporters.
"I think everybody knows in this room that the schedule of yesterday was wrong."
Nadal's main gripe was that the tournament's schedulers put him down for the last match on Suzanne Lenglen court on Thursday, after a women's singles and men's singles, while Fognini only had to wait for a very quick women's match to finish.
Fognini polished off Lukas Rosol on Thursday while Nadal was left kicking his heels and the Spaniard faces a heavier schedule than his rivals if he is to retain his title.
"I cannot play third after men's and girls when our possible opponent plays second after girls. That's not fair," he said.
"Today I was playing almost three hours on court, and my opponent was watching the TV in the locker room.
"I can only smile and try to win my match and try to be ready for tomorrow. But that's not the right thing and I hope they accept the mistake.
"The excuse they told me was because Rosol had to play doubles. I am sorry, but that's a joke.
"Why do you want to protect the player who has to play doubles? So I'm going to write myself on the doubles draw then and I have the priority to play?"
HEAVY HITTING
Klizan, ranked 35th in the world, had obviously taken a leaf out of the German Brands's book with some heavy hitting from the baseline to unsettle Nadal who was strangely subdued early on.
"I don't think there was enough intensity, so it was rather predictable that the first set should go that way," Nadal said.
"I simply had to add intensity, increase my level of game, my attitude, and I found the motivation. In the first set I simply was not motivated enough."
A dreadful airy dropshot by Nadal in the seventh game was punished as Klizan earned the first break of the match and then he took his chance emphatically, serving out the set with the help of a booming second serve ace.
Nadal surged 4-0 ahead in the second but 23-year-old Klizan remained a threat and recovered one of the breaks of serve.
Third seed Nadal took the second set and moved a break ahead in the third but wobbled at 3-2 when Klizan earned two break points, only to squander his chance to draw level.
Klizan's challenge faded and Nadal, without looking totally convincing and carelessly dropping serve late in the fourth set, secured a clash with Fognini.
"He's a very serious player. He's already won matches. He's confident," he said. "I'm going to try and play better than I played today. I think I have to deliver a top performance." — Reuters
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez (right) participates in an Uruguay team training session at their team headquarters on the outskirts of Montevideo, May 30, 2013. — Reuters picLONDON, May 31 — Liverpool have said striker Luis Suarez is not for sale after the Uruguayan, who received a 10-match English domestic ban for biting last month, stated he wanted to leave the Premier League club.
"Luis Suarez is not for sale. Neither Luis or his representatives have communicated these feelings directly to Liverpool," said a club spokesman today.
"The club remains supportive of Luis and expect him to honour his contract. The club will not be making any further comment at this stage."
The 26-year-old, who signed from Ajax Amsterdam in January 2011, was second in the Premier League's list of top scorers last season with 23 goals and was Liverpool's talisman for much of the campaign.
He was banned for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.
The player, who served an eight-game suspension the previous season for a racist insult, told reporters in Montevideo on Thursday that British media had made his life impossible and he would like to play in the Spanish league.
"One has one's limits, one has a family, who also suffer, and that's very complicated," he said.
"I have a daughter who I also have to look after, and take her away from where she sees things that are said about her father," Suarez told a news conference.
"It's ugly, I prefer to change, it's nothing against Liverpool, rather that I feel bad, I'm a human being, I have feelings, and I'd also love to play in another league."
However, the forward added: "I don't even know when I'm going to leave nor do I know if I'm going to stay. I haven't spoken to Real Madrid or Liverpool, my agent hasn't said anything to me.
"In England I'm in the best league in the world but the Spanish is on a par," said Suarez, who will be with the national team through the June 15-30 Confederations Cup in Brazil. — Reuters
A new study finds that a Nordic diet rich in game, berries, and fish can help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. — AFP-Relaxnews picHELSINKI, May 31 — Eating a Nordic diet rich in game, berries, and fish can lower your cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease, a new study finds.
While the Mediterranean diet, with its olive oil, fish, and fresh vegetables, has long been touted as the ideal eating plan for reducing heart disease, scientists in Finland have found an alternative closer to home.
"Acceptance of the Mediterranean diet has not been easy in other parts of the Western world, probably due to difficulties in changing dietary patterns, cultural differences in taste and limited accessibility to various foods," said head researcher Matti Uusitupa, from the institute of public health and clinical nutrition at the University of Eastern Finland. "A health enhancing regional Nordic diet has therefore been proposed as an alternative to the Mediterranean diet."
The study involved 166 obese patients from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland who either ate their regular diet or a Nordic diet. While both groups consumed the same number of calories, the Nordic diet followers ate plenty of local produce, such as berries, root vegetables, legumes, and cabbage. They also ate three fish meals per week, as well as nuts, game, whole grain products and rapeseed oil. Those who ate their regular diet consumed butter and fewer berries and vegetables, and had no restrictions on red meat and white bread intake.
After 24 weeks those in the control group showed little change in the level of so called "bad" cholesterol, or LDL-C, in their blood stream while those on the Nordic diet showed a four percent drop. Results also showed an increase in the "good" cholesterol, HDL-C. For comparison, studies on the Mediterranean diet have shown that it can reduce cholesterol by between six and nine percent.
Subjects on the Nordic diet also reduced the levels of chemicals that cause inflammation in the blood, which has been linked to heart disease and type II diabetes. — AFP-Relaxnews
A new study finds that the artificial sweetener sucralose – sold as Splenda, Aqualoz, and Canderel – can actually alter the way your body handles sugar. — AFP-Relaxnews picWASHINGTON, May 31 — A new small study on the popular artificial sweetener sucralose - sold internationally as Splenda, Aqualoz, and Canderel - can actually modify the way your body handles sugar.
"Our results indicate that this artificial sweetener is not inert - it does have an effect," said study lead Dr. M. Yanina Pepino, of Washington University's Center for Human Nutrition. "And we need to do more studies to determine whether this observation means long-term use could be harmful."
The research team analysed sucralose's effect on 17 severely obese people who do not have diabetes and don't use artificial sweeteners regularly. Subjects consumed either water or a sucralose-sweetened drink before performing a glucose challenge test to see what impact the sweetener had on insulin and blood sugar levels.
"We wanted to study this population because these sweeteners frequently are recommended to them as a way to make their diets healthier by limiting calorie intake," Pepino said.
Every participant was tested twice. Those who drank water followed by glucose in one visit consumed the sucralose drink followed by glucose in the next. In this way, each subject served as his or her own control group, the researchers said.
"When study participants drank sucralose, their blood sugar peaked at a higher level than when they drank only water before consuming glucose," Pepino explained. "Insulin levels also rose about 20 per cent higher. So the artificial sweetener was related to an enhanced blood insulin and glucose response."
The elevated insulin response could be a good thing, she pointed out, because it shows the person is able to make enough insulin to deal with spiking glucose levels. But it also might be bad because when people routinely secrete more insulin, they can become resistant to its effects, a path that leads to type 2 diabetes.
Oprah delivering the commencement address. — Reuters picsCAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, May 31 — Talk show host, entrepreneur and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey used the struggles of her television network yesterday to try and inspire Harvard graduates, saying they were armed with more tools of empowerment than any generation in history.
In a commencement address at the Ivy League school outside Boston, Winfrey told the graduates that they were bound to stumble no matter how high they might rise, but that "there is no such thing as failure — failure is just life trying to move us in another direction".
She said she was asked to speak at Harvard after her newly launched Oprah Winfrey Network had been declared a flop by the media, and that she wondered what she might tell graduates "in the very moment when I had stopped succeeding".
Inspired by the words of a hymn and knowing she would be delivering the Harvard address, Winfrey, 59, said she found the determination to move forward.
"I am here to tell you today, I have turned that network around," she said. "Learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter and particularly mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more of who you are, and then figure out what is the right next move."
Winfrey joined a long list of politicians, policy makers, captains of industry and authors — including Bill Gates and J.K. Rowling — who have offered their wisdom and advice to Harvard's graduating classes.
Long a fixture on Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list, Winfrey has been popular on the college commencement circuit, speaking at Stanford University, Duke University and Spelman College in recent years.
Oprah and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino share a laugh. The two of them received honorary degrees.Winfrey said she found a renewed sense of purpose in 1994 when she interviewed a 9-year-old girl who collected pocket change to help people in need, inspiring the celebrity to start her Angel Network charity, which has raised funds to send underprivileged students to college, among other things.
"It helped me decide that I wasn't just going to be on television every day," she said. "What became clear to me was that I was here on earth to use television and not be used by it, to use television to illuminate the transcendent power of our better angels."
In the US political system and the media, she said, "we often see the reflection of a country that is polarised, that is paralysed and is self-interested".
"We all know that we are better than the cynicism and the pessimism that is regurgitated throughout Washington and the 24-hour cable news cycle," Winfrey told the graduates.
The vast majority of Americans realised that gun rights could be balanced with efforts to reduce gun violence, she said, and that US immigration laws could be enforced while offering a clear path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
"Your generation is charged with this task of breaking through what the body politic has thus far made impervious to change," she said.
She said the Class of 2013 was "armed with more tools of empowerment than any generation in history", referring to social media and its potential for mobilising humanitarian efforts.
Earlier in the day, Winfrey was also awarded an honorary doctorate. Boston Mayor Thomas Merino was among the other recipients of honorary doctorates at Harvard's 362nd graduation ceremonies. — Reuters
Sanjay Dutt in this May 16, 2013, file photo, being escorted by his security staff as he arrives to surrender at a court in Mumbai. — Reuters picMUMBAI, May 31 — The makers of actor Sanjay Dutt's last completed screen role before going to prison are preparing for the release of "Policegiri" in July, hoping fans of the beefy Bollywood hero will boost ticket sales.
Dutt, 53, went back to jail on May 16 to serve the remainder of a five-year sentence for firearms offences during the Mumbai bombings 20 years ago. The actor wrapped up work on pending Bollywood projects in the weeks before he reported to prison.
"Policegiri", an action thriller that stars Dutt as an intrepid police officer, is the first featuring him in a lead role to open in Indian cinemas since his incarceration. Dutt had a brief guest appearance in "Hum Hain Raahi Car Ke", a romantic comedy that sank at the box office last week.
The producer of "Policegiri" said Dutt would be missed at promotional events for the film.
"I am hoping that fans will go out and watch this film," said Rahul Aggarwal, who is co-producing the film with his father. "There should be no sympathy, only affection for Sanjay Dutt."
The Bollywood industry had reacted with shock to news of Dutt's sentencing in March, with the actor seen by fans as a victim of his fame. His hit film "Khal Nayak" in 1993 coincided with his initial arrest on conspiracy charges in the Mumbai blasts that year.
The actor is best known for his role as a do-gooding gangster in the "Munnabhai" films of the past decade. A third film in the series was put on the back burner because of Dutt's imprisonment.
But trade analysts are sceptical about the ageing Dutt's ability to best competition at the box office. The actor's last commercial hit was 2012's "Agneepath", in which he played a menacing villain with a shaved head.
"He isn't the young Sanjay Dutt of 'Khal Nayak' fame anymore," Bollywood trade analyst Amod Mehra said. "He was a superstar then but look at his age now." — Reuters
PRAGUE, May 28 – Amos Oz, Israel's best-known writer, was yesterday named the winner of this year's international Franz Kafka literary prize for his imaginative tales of life in the Jewish state.Oz will ... Read More
Hafiz Noor Shams sometimes swears a little at maddruid.com .
MAY 31 — The wisdom of our age has it that young adults are more likely than not to vote against Barisan Nasional. A survey carried out by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research backs this up. In a report it published on May 3, the poll agency found out that Malaysians in their twenties and thirties preferred Pakatan Rakyat to BN by a significant margin. In contrast, support for BN was the strongest among those aged 50 or older. In a country where the median age is younger than 30 years old, that offers some hints about the political future of the country.
While that is so, nothing guarantees that wisdom will last for too long.
The generational divergence Malaysia is witnessing now has a lot to do with the political turmoil of the late 1990s. The sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as the deputy prime minister and the subsequent events that followed made a lasting impression on the minds of these young Malaysians who then were still in school, in university or new to the labour market. Whether it was about Anwar or about a larger sense of justice — that something was extremely wrong — they were moved by the event.
These Malaysians are also the largest age cohorts that Malaysia has ever seen yet. It is not merely a coincident that BN comes under intense political pressure exactly when these generations are maturing and exercising their political muscles.
Each generation has an episode which defines their political belief and partly, their worldview. Those above 50 years old now remember the old Umno and hold dearly onto those nostalgias. Future young Malaysians, those in their teenage years and even younger, will no doubt have their very own episode.
Unlike the others however, these new young Malaysians have their book wide opened and its pages unwritten yet. There has not been any big wake-me-up moment for them so far.
One thing is certain though. Time has the power to make society forget the past. The old old generation will disappear into the background, hopefully bringing with them the ghost of May 13, among others. The old new generation — the young adults of today — will have their political views at the new bedrock of Malaysian society. The new new generations will challenge the prevailing views, as youth always do all around the world.
These new young Malaysians will not remember the events of 1998 because they will never experience it. It is much like how young adults today do not remember the events of 1988 when the old Umno was disbanded and the judiciary came under assault by the Mahathir administration. It is the exact reason why many young Malaysians today are not swayed by May 13 and scaremongering opportunists who fuel their sad career on racist politics.
History books alone are insufficient to influence a whole generation so comprehensively. No matter how moving words in the archives can be, reading them in a dark library room up in the stacks or deep in the basement is a passive, cold action. Words of history may work for a minority with true appreciation of history who read heavily but for the majority, they have to be in the dizzying mist of action before the essence of the era seeps into his or her being.
So the new new generation will forget. Society will forget. Slowly but surely, the what-we-call Reformasi era will take a bow, come down off the stage and be relegated to the pages of history.
That may be a comfort to BN. It is a second chance for them in what seems to be a contest between BN the rock and PR the water.
Nevertheless, BN will have to suffer the demographics and the momentum of time for now.
Zan Azlee is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, writer, New Media practitioner and lecturer. He runs Fat Bidin Media www.fatbidin.com
MAY 31 — Last week I had lunch with my friend Liew Seng Tat, a famous award-winning Malaysian film director of Chinese descent. If you haven't heard of him, then you know zilch about films.
Seng Tat is very politically active. He's not a politician, he's just one of the many young Malaysians who have a heightened sense of political awareness due to developments in the country.
He was at all three Bersih demonstrations and was even beaten up and arrested during the second one (remember the famous assault on Tung Shin Hospital? He was in the car park).
He attends a lot of ceramahs and talks, candlelight vigils, protests and even became a PACABA volunteer during the recent GE. And of course there are the Black 505 rallies.
He even sends me all kinds of SMSes, Facebook links and e-mails about politics, the government, news of corruption and human rights abuse, etc.
But when I met him for lunch a few days ago at Mahbub in Lucky Gardens, Bangsar, his mood and level of enthusiasm was a stark difference from before.
"How's the editing of your new film going?" I asked.
"The first round is done. Need to look at it again," Seng Tat replied.
"Okay, so how was Amcorp Mall that night?"
"It was good. A lot of people turned up."
"How long do you thing all this is going to last?"
"I don't know lah. It's getting really tiring. You know, all the enthusiasm and excitement that we had all these years have now just turned into fatigue."
"Come on lah! Don't let this 'Chinese tsunami' die down! Apa lagi yang kau mahu?? Haha!"
"Well, democracy is a slow and long process. And we also need to get on with life."
I have to admit, I've been feeling the fatigue myself, and I can't help but wonder if the feeling that Seng Tat and I have at the moment can actually be extrapolated to reflect the whole country.
I'm so bored of writing about politics that I yearn to start writing about the antics of my cute little daughter, Athena Azlee, again. Just like Seng Tat said, democracy is a process and life has to go on.
But Seng Tat and I both feel like we can't lose the momentum and no matter how frustrating or tiring it gets, our patriotism and love for Malaysia should never wane.
And I'm hoping that feeling we have can also be extrapolated to reflect the whole country. At the end of the day, Seng Tat is right. Democracy is a long and never-ending process and life has to go on.
Democracy will always evolve, change and adapt as society evolves, changes and adapts. We are fighting for the next generation and they will fight for the next generation. And so the wheel turns.
KUALA LUMPUR, 30 Mei — Naib Presiden PKR Nurul Izzah Anwar ditahan oleh pihak imigresen petang Khamis ketika cuba untuk masuk ke Sabah di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kota Kinabalu (KKIA).
"Mereka akan hantar saya pulang. Saya sedang berurusan dengan jabatan Ketua Menteri Sabah," kata beliau dipetik dari laporan The Star Online.
Timbalan Setiausaha Agung PKR Darell Leiking yang sedang menunggu ahli Parlimen Lembah Pantai itu di KKIA menulis di akaun Twitternya mengatakan dia sedang menunggu semakan sama ada Nurul Izzah disenarai hitamkan.
"Saya ditahan oleh imigresen Sabah dan diarah pulang oleh pejabat ketua menteri Sabah. Beginilah nasib demokrasi pasca-PRU13. Just you wait BN" tulis Nurul melalui akaun twitter @n_izzah pada kira-kira jam 7.30 petang tadi.
Katanya, beliau tidak dibenarkan berjumpa Darell yang juga anggota Parlimen Penampang dan bertindak sebagai peguamnya.
Nurul Izzah adalah naib presiden PKR kedua tidak dibenarkan masuk ke Sabah.
Sebelum ini, Naib Presiden PKR Chua Tian Chang dihalang masuk oleh imigresen Sabah tidak lama selepas insiden Lahad Datu pada bulan Februari.
"Terdapat ahli Parlimen lain yang tidak akan dibenarkan masuk ke Sabah. Apabila ditanya nama (mereka yang tidak akan) dibenar masuk, (pihak imigresen berkata ia) dianggap rahsia," tambah beliau lagi.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 ― If a restaurant has been around for 10 years, it must be doing something right.Yes, Gyuniku has been in Desa Sri Hartamas for that long, and recently an offshoot called Gyuniku ... Read More
PARIS, May 30 – Roger Federer has warned the latest habit of players taking their mobile phones on court could have a sinister side which might undermine the game's integrity.
The French Open has already featured two incidents with Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky using his phone to take a picture of a ball imprint after a contentious line call and local favourite Gael Monfils snapping a Mexican wave in the crowd.
Stakhovsky, who was later fined US$2,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct, posted the picture taken during his first-round defeat by Richard Gasquet on his Twitter feed.
Federer said he can see the funny side of such incidents but felt action might be needed to prevent on-court coaching.
"It's only going to happen more," the world number three told reporters.
"I think it's pretty funny, actually. The problem is that clearly there could be coaching going on through mobile devices.
"It would probably be so easy to do. Go to the toilet and you hide it somewhere – I'm just saying anything is possible. You have to hope that the players use it in a funny way and it's not meant to be bad or disrespectful."
The use of phones on court is prohibited with officials instructed that no electronic device be permitted "during matches unless approved by the ITF supervisor/referee".
If officials suspect a player has used a device to receive coaching, they could issue a fine of up to US$20,000.
Monfils escaped punishment because he asked the umpire for permission to take a picture of the crowd who had risen to salute him during his second-round victory over Ernests Gulbis.
"I asked the chair umpire before if I would be allowed to tape the wave? He told me: 'Sure, you can'," said the Frenchman. – Reuters
Li Na of China hits a return to Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US during their women's singles match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 30, 2013. – Reuters picPARIS, May 30 – China's only grand slam singles champion Li Na was bundled out of the French Open by American Bethanie Mattek-Sands today, losing a rain-interrupted match 5-7 6-3 6-2.
Sixth seed Li, who became a flagbearer for Asian tennis in 2011 when she won the French Open, edged the first set but after two lengthy rain breaks her game fell apart.
Mattek-Sands, wearing knee-high black socks, resumed after the second interruption 4-3 ahead in the second set and then reeled off seven games in a row.
Li eventually stopped the rot to break serve as Mattek-Sands served for the match at 5-0 and then held her own to reduce the deficit but her revival came too late.
With rain still falling and play stopped on many other courts the 66th-ranked American held her nerve and sealed victory when her opponent netted a forehand. – Reuters
The Oklahoma state flag flies from a tree over a neighborhood heavily damaged by the May 20 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. — Reuters picOKLAHOMA CITY, May 30 — Music stars from across the nation joined forces in Oklahoma in a benefit concert for victims of the deadly tornado that struck the state last week.
Tickets for the "Healing in the Heartland" concert, held at Oklahoma City's roughly 20,000-capacity Chesapeake Arena and broadcast on NBC television on Wednesday evening, sold out in minutes when they went on sale on Saturday.
It closed with a duet between Oklahoma-born country singer Blake Shelton, who is a judge on NBC singing competition "The Voice," and Grammy winning R&B star Usher. They sang "Home", co-written and recorded by crooner Michael Buble.
The event was broadcast as a telethon to raise funds for the victims of the twister that killed 24 people, including seven children, when it tore through Moore, Oklahoma, and surrounding areas on May 20. It ranked as an EF-5, the most powerful category for tornadoes.
Organizers did not disclose how much money they raised.
Shelton told reporters before the concert that he and his fellow entertainers were committed to helping out.
"People have given so much to us over the years and it's times like this when you can give back," Shelton said. "You have to. It's not a question of 'will you?' You have to step up."
Other performers in the concert included Reba McEntire, who like Shelton was born in Oklahoma, Ryan Tedder of the band OneRepublic and country singer Miranda Lambert, who is married to Shelton. — Reuters
George was reported to fall out of a car he was travelling in on the M1 motorway just outside London during rush hour. - Reuters pic
LONDON, May 30 — British singer George Michael is out of hospital after being treated for head injuries from a car accident two weeks ago, his website said on Wednesday.
The 49-year-old former Wham! frontman, who has been "under observation" since the May 16th accident, has been discharged and is resting, www.georgemichael.com said.
"We can confirm that George Michael has been discharged from hospital and continues to rest and recuperate," the message on Michael's website said. "He is well and thanks everyone for all the messages of support."
British media have reported that the "Careless Whisper" singer fell out of a car he was travelling in on the M1 motorway just outside London during rush hour - the latest of a string of accidents and health scares.
Last year, Michael cancelled a tour of Australia due to "major anxiety" brought on by a 2011 battle with severe pneumonia in Vienna, where he was treated in intensive care for a month.
The singer has sold an estimated 100 million records over his career, but in the past few years has hit the headlines for his personal life more often than for his music.
In 1998 he was arrested in California for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet. He has also had a number of run-ins with British police for possession of narcotics, and served time in jail for driving under the influence of cannabis. — Reuters
A large northern snakehead fish is dissected and filleted by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologists at Pohick Bay, Virginia May 23, 2013. – Reuters pic
MOUNT VERNON, May 30 – They're freakishly strong, hungry air-breathers that can survive for short periods on land. But northern snakehead fish, once viewed as an unstoppable scourge in US waters, may have gotten a bad rap.
So far, they've surfaced in waters from Massachusetts to California, and from Manhattan's Central Park to a pair of creeks in Arkansas. The biggest cluster is in and around the Chesapeake Bay, and officials in Maryland and Virginia have taken different paths to trying to keep them from interfering with the bay's delicate ecological balance.
The threat of the snakehead, which is believed to spawn repeatedly during the year unlike other species that spawn just once, is that it is such a hardy newcomer that it could squeeze out longer-established and more desired fish.
Native to China's Yangtze River basin, the so-called "frankenfish" made its first big media splash in the United States in 2002, when a thriving population was discovered in a Maryland pond outside Washington.
Known taxonomically as Channa argus or "lightning perch," they were purported to be able to "walk" on land, to wipe out native species and to have no natural predators.
Plenty of other non-native fish have thrived in the United States, but few rival the northern snakehead: as long as 30 inches (76 cm) or more, the fish has a large, toothy mouth and can survive for days out of water, squirming and secreting a full-body slime. It is a delicacy in Asia and is gaining a following among chefs in the United States.
Virginia fisheries biologist John Odenkirk said intelligent management – not eradication – of the snakehead is his state's goal. So far, the fish have not wreaked havoc with the Potomac River ecosystem, he said on a recent survey trip through Virginia streams.
The snakehead population has risen since 2004. But so has the population of large-mouth bass, a prized regional sport fish that brings in US$622 million (RM1.91 billion) a year to Virginia and accounts for more than 5,500 jobs in the state, according to the American Sportfishing Association.
"That is one tough fish," Odenkirk said as he pulled in a thrashing, 32-inch long snakehead with an apparent knife gash in its abdomen. The biologist figured the cut was a few days old, probably made by an angler who tossed the wounded fish back into the water. He caught the fish in an estuary of the Potomac, not far from George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon.
"As badass as they are, I just don't think he's going to make it," Odenkirk said of the male snakehead, whose entrails protruded from the 5-inch (12.7 cm) cut. Even so, it continued to breathe and move normally.
'IF YOU CATCH ONE ... KILL IT IMMEDIATELY'
Reports that the dreaded snakehead had invaded the Harlem Meer in New York's Central Park in April prompted a warning by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation: "If you catch one, DO NOT RELEASE IT. Kill it immediately, freeze it and report your catch."
A similar warning is posted on Maryland's Department of Natural Resources website.
Maryland manages the snakehead differently than Virginia, which prohibits commercial sales to avoid creating a market for the fish. Maryland encourages sales, maintaining that eating snakehead gives other fish a chance.
John Rorapaugh, director of sustainability at ProFish, a Washington seafood wholesaler, said his company pays US$4 to US$5 a pound for snakeheads, compared to US$.50 to US$1 for catfish.
The snakehead's mild flavour and firm texture make it a chef's favourite, he said.
Snakeheads' numbers are increasing, even as myths about them are dispelled. Media reports of them "walking" are exaggerated, though they can slither onto land.
And Odenkirk dismissed the notion that they have no natural predators. Snakehead young, if left unguarded, are easy prey for ospreys and eagles, he said.
Odenkirk said it is still unclear how damaging snakeheads are to their US environments. Paul Angermeier, a fisheries research scientist at the US Geological Survey, agreed.
"It's still quite early," said Angermeier, who is based at Virginia Tech. "A decade or so isn't long for an invading population to really wreak havoc on things." So far, that hasn't happened, he said. – Reuters
The scroll seen in Bologna, in this handout picture released to Reuters by Mauro Perani on May 29, 2013. — Reuters handout picsROME, May 30 — An Italian professor said yesterday he had identified what he believed was the world's oldest complete scroll of the Torah, containing the full text of the first five books of Hebrew scripture.
Mauro Perani, professor of Hebrew at the University of Bologna, said experts and carbon dating tests done in Italy and the United States dated the scroll as having been made between 1155 and 1225.
The scroll, which has been in the possession of the Bologna University Library for more than 100 years, had been previously thought to be from the 17th century. It had been labelled "scroll 2".
There are many fragments of the Torah that are older but not complete scrolls with all five books.
"A Jew who was a librarian at the university examined the scroll in 1889 for a catalogue and wrote '17th century followed by a question mark'," Perani said in a telephone interview.
But in preparation for a new catalogue of the university's Judaica collection, Perani, 63, studied the scroll and suspected that the librarian had made too cursory an examination in 1889 and not recognised its antiquity.
"I realised that the style of the writing was older than the 17th century so I consulted with other experts," he said of the scroll, which measures 36 metres by 64 cm.
He said the scroll showed many graphical features and scribal devices that were no longer used by copyists of Hebrew scripts in the 17th century.
A segment of the scroll. The scroll is made up of 58 sections of soft sheep leather each sewn together, most of them with three columns of script.
Carbon dating tests
After the experts he consulted agreed that the scroll was probably several centuries older than previously believed, Perani had fragments of it subjected to carbon-14 dating tests.
The tests, at the University of Salento in southern Italy and the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at the University of Illinois, dated the scroll as from the second half of the 12th century to the first quarter of the 13th century.
The Torah, also known as the Hebrew Pentateuch, consists of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The complete version of the Torah that was previously considered the oldest was from the late 13th century, Perani said.
He said that before the scroll came into the possession of the University of Bologna in the 18th or 19th century it had been in the custody of the Dominican convent in the city that is home to the world's oldest university.
The text, close up.Perani said it was not clear where the Torah had been copied but most likely it was not in Italy. It was probably made by a copyist trained in the oriental tradition and likely done in the Middle East.
Perani has for two decades been head of the Italian Genizah project, which locates and catalogues fragments of Hebrew manuscripts in Italy. Genizah is the Hebrew word for the room in a synagogue where religious books or papers are stored.
The Genizah project has found, photographed and catalogued some 13,000 fragments of Jewish compositions from various branches of Talmudic literature, Biblical commentary, Jewish thought, the Hebrew language and Jewish history.
For his work in Jewish studies, Perani is due to be given an honorary degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem next month. — Reuters
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