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Down in a bunker, US chef has eyes on French cooking prize Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:42 PM PST WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia, Jan 23 — Richard Rosendale is a man on a mission — to capture one of international cooking's most coveted prizes, the Bocuse d'Or. And he's going about it with military precision. In a windowless Cold War bunker under The Greenbrier, a splendid antebellum resort hotel in rural West Virginia, the 37-year-old chef is perfecting his dishes with a view to nothing short of total victory. "For over 10 years I wanted to compete," Rosendale told AFP as he prepared to fly to Lyon, France, for the biannual two-day competition opening on January 29 that many regard as the Olympics of fine cuisine. "I just look at it as the pinnacle of cooking competitions." Chef Rosendale: It's "war", for The Greenbrier vet in his windowless bunker. — AFP pic If Rosendale wins the gold prize against rivals from 23 countries, he will be the first American ever to do so. Even if he takes silver or bronze, it would be a breakthrough for the US in a competition traditionally dominated by Europeans. Rosendale, executive chef of the Greenbrier's nine acclaimed restaurants, is no novice, having opened two restaurants and participated in 45 international culinary competitions. He qualified for the Bocuse d'Or, named after the celebrated Lyonnais chef and pioneer of nouvelle cuisine Paul Bocuse, after winning the national Bocuse d'Or USA finals a year ago. Every day, Rosendale and his commis (assistant) Corey Siegel, 22, hunker in the bunker — originally built to shelter US politicians in the event of nuclear war — and get cooking. In an exact replica of the kitchen they will use in Lyon, right down to the utensils, with a US flag on the wall, they perfect the meat, fish and side dishes they will present to 14 discerning judges. An adjoining "war room" features a countdown clock and photographs of winning dishes from past regional Bocuse d'Or contests. During his allotted five-hour, 35-minute slot in Lyon, Rosendale is planning to make beef filet, lobster and turbot dishes, plus three sides using ingredients from a surprise shopping basket. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for all the competitors," he said. "But I don't just want to go to Lyon and say, 'I did the Bocuse d'Or'. I do want to win." No American has risen past sixth in the competition. During a recent visit to the Greenbrier, Rosendale and Siegel, dressed in matching crisp white chef's uniforms, worked in lockstep as they prepared a beef stock. "Corey, how much of that wine did you use?" asked Rosendale, who compares the intensity of their work to playing an American football game. "Three hundred and seventy-five grams," or 13.2 ounces, Siegel replied. "We have enough for four servings." "OK," his boss said. "We've got to really watch that, because that stuff is... I only have the two bottles." Rosendale, a native of Pennsylvania who draws inspiration from the classic American cooking he grew up with, said: "I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to do." He cites Yankee pot roast and butternut squash cooked in apple cider — "it goes great with lobster" — among his favourites. "The ideas for the beef are things that I remember from my childhood, that I grew up eating, things that my mom used to cook," he added. "It's very much an American style. "I love the flavour of eating a grilled steak on the grill, and I think of the Fourth of July whenever I have that," Rosendale said. The challenge: "How do you take a grilled steak off of the grill, and how can you elevate that to a very high level of cuisine?" he said. — AFP/Relaxnews

Handful of restaurants earn Five Diamond rating in the US Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:26 PM PST Among the cream of Five Diamond: Le Bernardin Restaurant of New York.©Daniel Krieger CHICAGO, Jan 23 — Inspectors at the American Automobile Association have added four new restaurants — all from the US — into their exclusive Five Diamond club. The new additions in 2012 include predictable dining destinations Benu in San Franciso; Salt, from The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in Florida; Eleven Madison Park in New York and Le Bernardin also in New York – not surprising given the long line of accolades the establishments already boast, including Michelin stars and fawning restaurant reviews. In total, inspectors handed out Five Diamond ratings to 178 hotels and restaurants over the past year, out of 58,000 properties in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Inspectors also noted an ongoing trend in which restaurants overall are simplifying what used to be complex, "highly orchestrated" menus with dishes that focus instead on masterful, meticulous execution. Ingredients are also seasonal, organic and locally sourced. Like Michelin, AAA inspectors make anonymous and unannounced visits and evaluate everything from their reception at the restaurant and the food to the level of competence, refinement and hospitality. — AFP/Relaxnews

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Arsenal not interested in Zaha, says Wenger Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:46 AM PST Stoke City's Geoff Cameron (L) challenges Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha during their FA Cup third round replay soccer match at The Britannia Stadium in Stoke on Trent. — Reuters pic LONDON, Jan 22 — Arsenal are not interested in buying Crystal Palace and England forward Wilfried Zaha though they do want to sign players during the January transfer window, manager Arsene Wenger said on Tuesday. Zaha, 20, made his England debut in a friendly with Sweden in November despite playing for second-tier English side Palace and reports have linked him with Manchester United and Arsenal. "I don't know if he will go to Man United. If he goes to Man United, good luck to him. We were never in for Zaha, never," Wenger told a news conference ahead of Wednesday's rearranged Premier League home game with West Ham United. "We look only for players, not numbers but quality," added the Frenchman, who was coy about a move for compatriot and Olympique Lyon playmaker Yoann Gourcuff. "I don't give you any names. It would put Lyon in a bad position and the player as well; you have to respect the player has a contract." Wenger, whose side are sixth in the Premier League and desperate to make the fourth Champions League spot, also spoke glowingly about West Ham midfielder Mohamed Diame but would not be drawn about possible interest. Back-to-back league defeats by Manchester City and Chelsea prompted tabloid stories of Wenger holding showdown talks with his squad, which did not impress the manager. "You do not have to come into our sleeping room to know what happens," he said. "It becomes a little bit ridiculous that every single bit of the football club now has to be public and explained." — Reuters

Deadly Djokovic batters Berdych to reach semis Posted: 22 Jan 2013 04:34 AM PST Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates defeating Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in their men's singles quarter-final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. — Reuters pic MELBOURNE, Jan 22 — Serbian superman Novak Djokovic remained firmly on course for a third straight Australian Open title on Tuesday after dismantling Tomas Berdych in four sets to set up a last four meeting with Spanish comeback king David Ferrer. Showing no signs of fatigue from the grinding five-hour duel with Stanislas Wawrinka that ended in the early hours of Monday morning, Djokovic defused the big Czech's big serve 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-4 to progress comfortably to his 11th successive grand slam semi-final. Maria Sharapova was just as impressive as she continued a ruthless march through the women's draw with a 6-2 6-2 savaging of Ekaterina Makarova, while Li Na ended Agnieszka Radwanska's winning streak to continue her love affair with Melbourne Park. Ferrer staged what he described as a miraculous comeback from two sets down to beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 4-6 4-6 7-5 7-6 6-2 but immediately said he would need something even more spectacular if he was to get to his first grand slam final. Living up to his reputation as the fittest player on the tour, world number one Djokovic returned with his usual deftness and moved his 6ft 5in (1.96m) opponent around the court. The 25-year-old whipped through the first set against fifth seed Berdych quicksmart, stalled only a little as he lost the second before racing to victory in two and a half hours, sealing the win with his 10th ace. "It was a great performance," Djokovic said. "I was hoping to have a shorter match and not go over five hours like the last match. "It is always going to be tough against Tomas ... but I came out and played my best tennis." Sharapova crushed fellow Russian Makarova in just 66 minutes to set up a last four appointment with Li at a cost of just nine games conceded in the tournament, a record low for the Australian Open. The second seed and 2008 champion relentlessly pummelled Makarova with a barrage of thumping serves and fierce forehands, leaving the 19th seed scrapping for dignity by the end. "She's playing unbelievable, so aggressive, and just in the right spot of the court. It's really tough to play against her now," said Makarova. Miracle victory "In the end I just was fighting for the games, because I was thinking that, yeah, it's tough to beat her." Ferrer stared defeat full in the face three times before taming Almagro after being dominated by some brilliant tennis from the 10th seed for the first two sets. The fourth seed looked to be heading for the exit when he faced Almagro serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set but he hustled along the baseline to claw his way back into the contest. Twice more Almagro had chances to serve out for victory but he blew them both before suffering a leg injury and Ferrer, who had won all 12 of their previous meetings, emerged a winner after three hours and 44 minutes. Ferrer, 30, has lost all four of his previous grand slam semi-finals, including defeats to world number one Djokovic at the US Open in 2007 and last year. "It was a miracle I won this match," said Ferrer. "I tried to fight and do my best but next round I need to play my best tennis, better than today," he said. "Nole is a special player." Li reached her third semi-final in four years at the Australian Open with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Radwanska in the opening match of the day. Radwanska had come into the contest bursting with confidence on a run of 13 successive wins but looked underpowered as she was bludgeoned into submission by Li in the 102-minute contest. There were 10 service breaks in the 21 games and sixth seed Li grabbed six of them to set up a contest against Sharapova, who won all three of their encounters last year. The former French Open champion clearly likes the bright blue courts at Melbourne Park, even if she will probably need to get her unforced error count under the 40 mark if she wants to reach a second final after 2011. "I really don't know what it is here," Li said. "It seems whenever I come down here my results are always quite consistent, no big setbacks or anything. "I'm not sure whether it's the winter training but it does seem like I'm just better at this tournament." Radwanska, who had not lost a set on her way to the quarter-finals, said it was possible that she had paid the price for playing and winning warm-up events in Auckland and Sydney. The Pole also thought Li had a good chance against Sharapova. "I think it's 50/50, to be honest," she said. "They're both playing very well tennis this week, definitely. For sure it's going to be good match." — Reuters

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Arsenal not interested in Zaha, says Wenger Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:46 AM PST Stoke City's Geoff Cameron (L) challenges Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha during their FA Cup third round replay soccer match at The Britannia Stadium in Stoke on Trent. — Reuters pic LONDON, Jan 22 — Arsenal are not interested in buying Crystal Palace and England forward Wilfried Zaha though they do want to sign players during the January transfer window, manager Arsene Wenger said on Tuesday. Zaha, 20, made his England debut in a friendly with Sweden in November despite playing for second-tier English side Palace and reports have linked him with Manchester United and Arsenal. "I don't know if he will go to Man United. If he goes to Man United, good luck to him. We were never in for Zaha, never," Wenger told a news conference ahead of Wednesday's rearranged Premier League home game with West Ham United. "We look only for players, not numbers but quality," added the Frenchman, who was coy about a move for compatriot and Olympique Lyon playmaker Yoann Gourcuff. "I don't give you any names. It would put Lyon in a bad position and the player as well; you have to respect the player has a contract." Wenger, whose side are sixth in the Premier League and desperate to make the fourth Champions League spot, also spoke glowingly about West Ham midfielder Mohamed Diame but would not be drawn about possible interest. Back-to-back league defeats by Manchester City and Chelsea prompted tabloid stories of Wenger holding showdown talks with his squad, which did not impress the manager. "You do not have to come into our sleeping room to know what happens," he said. "It becomes a little bit ridiculous that every single bit of the football club now has to be public and explained." — Reuters

In China, signs that one-child policy may be coming to an end Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:31 AM PST File photo shows Chinese mothers feeding their children with milk in Hefei, Anhui province. There are signs that China could be considering relaxing its harsh one-child policy. – Reuters pic JIUQUAN, Jan 22 – China could be considering relaxing its harsh one-child policy because of women like Hu Yanqin, who lives in a village at the edge of the Gobi desert. Hu lives in the Jiuquan region in Gansu province, one of the rare places in China where those living in rural areas have been free to have two children since 1985. But even when she got married seven years ago, she knew she was going to have only one child, because it was too expensive to have more. "Those people with two children are those who are better off," said Hu, 32, dropping her six-year-old son off at kindergarten. "The majority of people in my village only have one child." Advocates of reforming China's one-child policy use Hu and millions like her as evidence that relaxing the law will not lead to a surge of births in the world's most populous nation. Jiuquan has a birth rate of 8 to 9 per 1,000 people, lower than the national average of about 12 births per 1,000 people. The policy, implemented since 1980 alongside reforms that have led to rapid economic expansion, is increasingly being seen as an impediment to growth and the harbinger of social problems. The country's labour force, at about 930 million, will start declining in 2025 at a rate of about 10 million a year, projections show. Meanwhile, China's elderly population will hit 360 million by 2030, from about 200 million in 2013. "If this goes on, there will be no taxpayers, no workers and no caregivers for the elderly," said Gu Baochang, a demography professor at Renmin University. China's top statistician, Ma Jiantang, said last Friday that the country should look into "an appropriate and scientific family planning policy" after data showed that the country's working-age population, aged 15 to 59, fell for the first time. Economists say the policy is also responsible for China's high savings rate. A single child often must take care of two – and four in the case of married couples – retired parents, increasing the likelihood that working adults will save money for their old age rather than spend. That has delayed the "rebalancing" of Beijing's economy toward more consumption, a step economists believe China needs to take to keep its growth going. Expectations that Beijing will ease the restrictions, by gradually allowing couples to have two children, have been building since outgoing President Hu Jintao conspicuously dropped the phrase "maintain a low birth rate" in a work report to a Communist Party congress in November. It was the first time in a decade that a major speech by a top leader had omitted such a reference and could signal that the new government led by Xi Jinping is leaning toward reform. "I think that the 18th Party Congress report indicates that, and this is my personal interpretation, the one-child policy is going to be adjusted," said Ji Baocheng, a delegate to China's rubber stamp parliament who advocates change in the policy. BRUTAL The one-child policy covers 63 per cent of the country's population and Beijing says it has averted 400 million births since 1980. Its enforcement can be brutal. Couples who flout family planning laws are, at minimum, fined, some lose their jobs, and in some cases mothers are forced to abort their babies or be sterilised. Last summer, a woman who was seven months pregnant was forced to have an abortion, triggering outrage on China's Internet and international condemnation. But evidence has been mounting for years that the policy may be unnecessary to control population growth. In 2008, Renmin University's Gu and the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy published a study on two-child policy programmes in four regions, home to about eight million people. They concluded that the high cost of having children is enough to hold down birthrates, but the freedom to have a second child results in a less skewed gender disparity. The next year, sources said, the National Population and Family Planning Commission decided, as a first step, to expand pilot programmes to relax the policy in four to five other regions. The proposal was dropped for lack of a consensus among the leadership, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The new leadership in Beijing, which assumes power formally in March, is likely to make another run at change, reform advocates believe. "The adjustment of the policy is certain, it's only a question of time," said a recently retired official from the family planning commission, who maintains close ties with the agency. BOYS AND GIRLS A skewed gender ratio is another unwelcome effect of the one-child policy. Like most Asian nations, China has a traditional bias for sons. Many families abort female foetuses and abandon baby girls to ensure their one child is a son, so about 118 boys are born for every 100 girls, against a global average of 103 to 107. In Jiuquan, there are 110 boys for every 100 girls, far less skewed than the national average, because of the freedom to have two children. Tian Xueyuan, one of the drafters of the original one-child policy, said that he had warned top officials nearly a decade ago of the flaws. "A substantial portion of China's men will not be able to find a match ... and that will be a major factor of social instability," Tian said he told party leaders. The usefulness of the one-child policy, he said, has run its course. "It's a special policy with a time limit, specifically, to control the births of one generation," Tian said. Still, there are significant pockets of resistance. Last week, Wang Xia, the minister in charge of the family planning commission, said China will "unswervingly adhere" to its family planning policy. Her remarks dismayed reformers expecting change from the new government, and ignited an outcry among Chinese Internet users. Analysts said Wang's remarks did not necessarily reflect the thinking of the incoming government. The commission declined to comment. In Jiuquan today, though the one-child policy is relaxed, women are still subject to strict family planning rules. They are fitted with intra-uterine devices after their first child, sterilised after their second. Anyone who defies the two-child quota pays a 30,000 yuan fine. Few do. The women in Jiuquan complain about expensive school fees and other expenses of bringing up children. "It's hard to raise a child," said Xing Juan, a 26-year-old with one son. "The burden is heavy." – Reuters

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In China, signs that one-child policy may be coming to an end Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:31 AM PST File photo shows Chinese mothers feeding their children with milk in Hefei, Anhui province. There are signs that China could be considering relaxing its harsh one-child policy. – Reuters pic JIUQUAN, Jan 22 – China could be considering relaxing its harsh one-child policy because of women like Hu Yanqin, who lives in a village at the edge of the Gobi desert. Hu lives in the Jiuquan region in Gansu province, one of the rare places in China where those living in rural areas have been free to have two children since 1985. But even when she got married seven years ago, she knew she was going to have only one child, because it was too expensive to have more. "Those people with two children are those who are better off," said Hu, 32, dropping her six-year-old son off at kindergarten. "The majority of people in my village only have one child." Advocates of reforming China's one-child policy use Hu and millions like her as evidence that relaxing the law will not lead to a surge of births in the world's most populous nation. Jiuquan has a birth rate of 8 to 9 per 1,000 people, lower than the national average of about 12 births per 1,000 people. The policy, implemented since 1980 alongside reforms that have led to rapid economic expansion, is increasingly being seen as an impediment to growth and the harbinger of social problems. The country's labour force, at about 930 million, will start declining in 2025 at a rate of about 10 million a year, projections show. Meanwhile, China's elderly population will hit 360 million by 2030, from about 200 million in 2013. "If this goes on, there will be no taxpayers, no workers and no caregivers for the elderly," said Gu Baochang, a demography professor at Renmin University. China's top statistician, Ma Jiantang, said last Friday that the country should look into "an appropriate and scientific family planning policy" after data showed that the country's working-age population, aged 15 to 59, fell for the first time. Economists say the policy is also responsible for China's high savings rate. A single child often must take care of two – and four in the case of married couples – retired parents, increasing the likelihood that working adults will save money for their old age rather than spend. That has delayed the "rebalancing" of Beijing's economy toward more consumption, a step economists believe China needs to take to keep its growth going. Expectations that Beijing will ease the restrictions, by gradually allowing couples to have two children, have been building since outgoing President Hu Jintao conspicuously dropped the phrase "maintain a low birth rate" in a work report to a Communist Party congress in November. It was the first time in a decade that a major speech by a top leader had omitted such a reference and could signal that the new government led by Xi Jinping is leaning toward reform. "I think that the 18th Party Congress report indicates that, and this is my personal interpretation, the one-child policy is going to be adjusted," said Ji Baocheng, a delegate to China's rubber stamp parliament who advocates change in the policy. BRUTAL The one-child policy covers 63 per cent of the country's population and Beijing says it has averted 400 million births since 1980. Its enforcement can be brutal. Couples who flout family planning laws are, at minimum, fined, some lose their jobs, and in some cases mothers are forced to abort their babies or be sterilised. Last summer, a woman who was seven months pregnant was forced to have an abortion, triggering outrage on China's Internet and international condemnation. But evidence has been mounting for years that the policy may be unnecessary to control population growth. In 2008, Renmin University's Gu and the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy published a study on two-child policy programmes in four regions, home to about eight million people. They concluded that the high cost of having children is enough to hold down birthrates, but the freedom to have a second child results in a less skewed gender disparity. The next year, sources said, the National Population and Family Planning Commission decided, as a first step, to expand pilot programmes to relax the policy in four to five other regions. The proposal was dropped for lack of a consensus among the leadership, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The new leadership in Beijing, which assumes power formally in March, is likely to make another run at change, reform advocates believe. "The adjustment of the policy is certain, it's only a question of time," said a recently retired official from the family planning commission, who maintains close ties with the agency. BOYS AND GIRLS A skewed gender ratio is another unwelcome effect of the one-child policy. Like most Asian nations, China has a traditional bias for sons. Many families abort female foetuses and abandon baby girls to ensure their one child is a son, so about 118 boys are born for every 100 girls, against a global average of 103 to 107. In Jiuquan, there are 110 boys for every 100 girls, far less skewed than the national average, because of the freedom to have two children. Tian Xueyuan, one of the drafters of the original one-child policy, said that he had warned top officials nearly a decade ago of the flaws. "A substantial portion of China's men will not be able to find a match ... and that will be a major factor of social instability," Tian said he told party leaders. The usefulness of the one-child policy, he said, has run its course. "It's a special policy with a time limit, specifically, to control the births of one generation," Tian said. Still, there are significant pockets of resistance. Last week, Wang Xia, the minister in charge of the family planning commission, said China will "unswervingly adhere" to its family planning policy. Her remarks dismayed reformers expecting change from the new government, and ignited an outcry among Chinese Internet users. Analysts said Wang's remarks did not necessarily reflect the thinking of the incoming government. The commission declined to comment. In Jiuquan today, though the one-child policy is relaxed, women are still subject to strict family planning rules. They are fitted with intra-uterine devices after their first child, sterilised after their second. Anyone who defies the two-child quota pays a 30,000 yuan fine. Few do. The women in Jiuquan complain about expensive school fees and other expenses of bringing up children. "It's hard to raise a child," said Xing Juan, a 26-year-old with one son. "The burden is heavy." – Reuters

Powerful people may be less fazed by rejection Posted: 21 Jan 2013 09:50 PM PST A recent study found that powerful people appear to be better at dealing with the slings and arrows of social life. – Reuters pic LOS ANGELES, Jan 22 – People who have power, whether as the head of the household or the boss, have been found to have thicker skins and be more willing to bond with others than those with less power, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, found that people in authority positions are quicker to recover from mild rejection and will seek out social bonding opportunities even if they've been rebuffed. "Powerful people appear to be better at dealing with the slings and arrows of social life," says Maya Kuehn, a doctoral student in psychology at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study. "They're more buffered from the negative feelings that rejection typically elicits." She presented her findings on Friday, Jan 18, at the annual conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in New Orleans. Kuehn and her team recruited 445 adult men and women in a series of five experiments on power dynamics both in the workplace and in romantic relationships. In one experiment, subjects were assigned either high- or low-level positions in a workplace scenario, then told they hadn't been invited to an office happy hour gathering. While low-level employees reported feeling snubbed, the high-power subjects were relatively unfazed and more likely to seek out other social bonding activities to improve relations with their coworkers. "When rejected, instead of accepted, subordinates reported lower self-esteem and greater negative emotion, but supervisors did not show an adverse reaction to rejection," Kuehn says. In another experiment, couples were brought into a lab setting and videotaped discussing problem-solving tasks. Before these discussions, couples had rated each other in terms of who held the most power in their real-life relationships, and how responsive their partners had been to their needs that day. The study found that the partners who perceived themselves as less powerful were less positive during the videotaped discussion when working on a solution with their mate. By comparison, the more dominant partners were more upbeat and worked harder to persuade their partner to agree to their ideas. In separate research, powerful people have been found to smile less, interrupt others, and speak in a louder voice, according to findings published in 2011 in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. – AFP-Relaxnews

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Violinist Vanessa-Mae in rehearhals — for Olympic skiing Posted: 21 Jan 2013 06:36 PM PST Vanessa-Mae at her first love: Performing at a concert in Prague in this September 25, 2008, file photograph. — Reuters pics LONDON, Jan 22 — Violinist Vanessa-Mae has put music on hold for a year and is rehearsing for a new role — skiing for Thailand at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in February 2014. Vanessa-Mae, 34, is in training with the aim of competing in at least five internationally recognised events to qualify for the giant slalom and possibly the slalom at the Sochi Olympics. "People are surprised when they see me skiing — a classical violinist, Oriental, who has lived in the city all her life," Vanessa-Mae told Reuters in a telephone interview. "But it has been my dream to be a ski bum since I was 14. This is something I am determined to do." The violinist is a British citizen but she also holds a Thai passport. She was born in Singapore to a Chinese mother and a Thai father but she was brought up in England when her mother remarried a Briton. Her second passion, but her dream since she was 14: "To be a ski bum." Vanessa-Mae, whose full name is Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, would be only the second Thai to compete at a Winter Olympics if she qualified. Academic Prawat Nagvajara represented Thailand in cross-country skiing at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. "I wanted to compete for Thailand because there is a part of me which I have never celebrated — being Thai," said Vanessa-Mae. "My father, like most Thais, has never skied but he's really excited about me doing this as is the Thai Olympic Committee." Vanessa-Mae started skiing at the age of four but music has always been her priority. She made her international professional debut aged 10 and made her mark on the world stage when she broke from tradition and became known for her sexy, glamorous style and for mixing classical music with pop. Her first techno pop-style album, "The Violin Player", was released in 1995 and reached No. 11 in the UK albums chart and she has not stopped touring since, although she has not released an album since 2004. Second passion Vanessa-Mae said she had always wanted to spend more time on her other passion, skiing, so moved to the Swiss alpine resort of Zermatt in 2009 where she is now in training for the Olympics. She hopes to compete in her first event by April. International Ski Federation spokeswoman Riikka Rakic said Vanessa-Mae was one of five actively registered Thai athletes so she has a licence to compete for Thailand but she needs a minimum of five starts in FIS (Federation Internationale de Ski) competitions and certain points to qualify for the Olympics. "She has a full year to qualify and there are many events so there are plenty of options still," said Rakic. A spokesman for the National Olympic Committee of Thailand said Vanessa-Mae would be welcome to race for Thailand if she qualified. So far no Thai athlete has qualified for Sochi. Vanessa-Mae said she knew it would be tough to make the Olympics but she had given herself a year sabbatical from music to do this — and always worked better with a deadline. "When it comes to music I am a perfectionist but when it is skiing, I have no delusions about a podium or even being in the top 100 in the world," she said. "Of course there is a risk that I could break something but life is short and you have to go for it. Just to qualify for the Olympics in my hobby would be a dream come true for me." Once Sochi is over, she intends to return to music. "It's time for a new album but doing this will give me a new perspective. Living my dream of being a ski bum is great but the best job in the world is being on stage, making music," she said. — Reuters

From Handel to a rubber duck, Sydney Festival aims to please Posted: 21 Jan 2013 06:19 PM PST Performer Aleksandra Zamojska in a Sydney production of 'Semele's Walk', which combines Handel's baroque opera with the clothing of British designer Vivienne Westwood. – AFP pic SYDNEY, Jan 22 – When Georg Friedrich Handel composed Semele in the 1740s, he could never have imagined it would be performed by opera singers in outrageous catwalk couture, including towering boots and sequinned kilts. But for Sydney Festival director Lieven Bertels, the combination of beautiful baroque music and billowing Vivienne Westwood gowns in the production of "Semele Walk" was a no-brainer for the Australian cultural fair. "When I saw 'Semele Walk' when it was first performed at the Herrenhausen Festival in Germany, I thought it had Sydney written all over it," Bertels told AFP. "It was the beautiful mix of fashion, an entertaining way of presenting opera as a fashion show. "It has all the good drama that you want in a festival and it is so beautifully performed that it really appeals to a wider audience." From a gigantic, bright yellow rubber duck, to an artist who makes music from the wreck of a rusting car and a performer who ran a full 42km marathon on a treadmill in a public plaza, Sydney Festival has its quirks. Accompanying the more traditional fare such as an exhibition of Francis Bacon paintings, and an injection of classical music, are performances by Aboriginal singer Archie Roach and France's Orchestre National de Jazz. "I think what makes Sydney Festival unique is really that kind of crazy mix and that eclecticism," explains Bertels. "It's something we don't always see in European festivals for instance, where you have high art, or a music festival or a jazz festival. Sydney Festival can be all these things at once." Tens of thousands of people have already experienced some of the January 5-27 gala which kicked off with artist Florentijn Hofman's 15-metre high inflatable duck sailing into the city's Darling Harbour. Of the several hundred thousand people who experience some of the government-supported festival each year, about 15 percent are estimated to be inter-state or international visitors. More than 580,000 people attended last year's festivities and more than 120,000 tickets were sold to paid events. Overall, the New South Wales government estimates the festival contributed Aus$56.8 million (RM181 million) to the state economy. Bertels believes that Sydneysiders really embrace different forms of art, and this has guided him in choosing the 92 events for this year's festival. "One of the great traditions of the Sydney Festival is that there is a lot of free stuff as well. "So there are all these amazing concerts in the Domain which can hold up to 60,000 people. "(But) it's not just these big events; it's also lots of small events." One of these is Dawn Calling, in which Russian Arkady Shilkloper plays his four-metre long Swiss alphorn on different beaches and on ferries in the mornings to greet the sun. "That adds to the festival atmosphere," says Bertels. "And also the giant rubber duck." Bertels said for those bringing shows from Europe or the United States, committing to Sydney means having your sets and costumes in transit for weeks and cuts into the time which could be spent performing. But he says there is no better place to be than Sydney in January, with its warm summer weather, beaches and arts festival, despite the recent record-high temperatures. For Austrian countertenor singer Armin Gramer, the Sydney production of "Semele Walk" is special. "I think it's so far away from Europe; it's the other end of the world." And then there are the costumes, which for his character include crystal-studded stockings and a kilt festooned with silver sequins. "I never had a cooperation with a fashion designer, especially one like Vivienne Westwood," he says of the flamboyant and celebrated British fashionista. "And doing it on a runway is a special thing as well because you're really quite near to... the people. "I like it very much," he laughs. Sydney Festival was designed to bring life back into the city during the slow summer months. It first took place in 1977 and since then has grown to become one of the country's largest annual cultural celebrations. – AFP-Relaxnews

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Teen author Stefan Bachmann reaps full-grown success Posted: 22 Jan 2013 06:16 AM PST ZURICH, Jan 22 – Stefan Bachmann is only 19, but his darkly mysterious debut novel set in a parallel world of faeries, goblins and child snatchers has already earned him comparisons to J.K. Rowling, Dickens and Dostoyevsky. "I didn't realise it would get published," Bachmann (picture) said, tapping the yellow, mechanical bird depicted on the cover of "The Peculiar", which first hit shelves in the United States last September. "I just really, really hoped something would happen with it," the lanky, blond Swiss-American with rectangular steel-rimmed glasses added with boyish enthusiasm. And something certainly did. After spending a year trying to find a literary agent, the book he began writing in his bedroom at 16 was suddenly the object of a publisher bidding-war before it was snapped up by the US publishing giant Harper Collins. With a first print of 100,000 copies and rights sold in seven languages besides the original English, his adventure set in a bleak version of Victorian England where faeries and humans unwillingly live side by side has met rosy reviews, including from the Los Angeles Times which dubbed him an "unusually gifted young writer". His second book, "The Whatnot" – which picks up from the first book's cliffhanger ending and completes its harrowing tale of two young peculiars, half-human, half-faery changelings despised by both sides – is set to be published in September. Both are what is know as middle-grade fiction, targeting the pre-teen age bracket. "Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged": that is a motto Bachmann's hero, a peculiar named Bartholomew Kettle, leaves to one side as he is swept into a cataclysmic adventure which sees other peculiar children snatched and killed, their insides drained and their skin left floating in the Thames. "I know it's dark," Bachmann admitted, cradling a cup of hot tea in his hands in a crowded book store cafe in the heart of Zurich. "I'm not sure why. I think I just really liked scary stories when I was a kid. I wanted to write a story that I would like to read," he said.  'A Long Road To Success' He said he decided early on that his book needed to be in the "steampunk" tradition – a sub-genre of science fiction inspired by 19th century Western civilisation and typically featuring steam-powered machinery – and that it be set in his favourite period: Victorian England. Bachmann, who has lived most of his life on the outskirts of Switzerland's largest city, was home-schooled by his American mother, who he said had always encouraged him to read all different kinds of books. He lists Charles Dickens, J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" among his favourites. "I really like it when writers can make you feel like you're in this whole other world," he said. It may sound strange coming from a 19-year-old, but the way Bachmann tells it, his was a long road to success. "This is my first published book, but I wrote three before it," he confided. He began his first book aged just 11. "But they were definitely 11- to 12-year-old books. They were not very good," he laughed, adding that he had not tried to get any of his youthful works published. It was also at 11 that Bachmann began pursuing his second passion in life, when he was enrolled in the Zurich Conservatory. Now majoring in composition, he hopes to one day also be a film composer, he said, "but that is kind of like writing, a lot of people want to break in... I don't know if I will have the same luck twice." But as he works on a third book and continues to dash around to promote "The Peculiar", he says his teachers are not always understanding. "They are intense maestros who are not really impressed by the hype. To them, music is the most important thing ever, and everything else is peripheral." Asked if he sometimes wishes he had more time to just be a regular teenager, he shrugged: "You win some, you lose some." "I do go out with my friends sometimes, but a lot of times I have to say, no, sorry, I have a deadline," he said. "But then you get to go on book tours and go to New York and make new friends. It's worth it." – AFP/Relaxnews

Dan Brown ‘Inferno’ companion planned for June Posted: 21 Jan 2013 04:06 PM PST LONDON, Jan 22 – Having already written The Rough Guide to the Da Vinci Code, historian Michael Haag will be unraveling the mysteries of Dan Brown's next novel, Inferno, due May 14, in Inferno Decoded, announced for a June release. Haag said the book will furnish readers with an understanding of Dante's life and work. – AFP pic The book is to furnish readers with an understanding of Dante's life and work, the historical Tuscan setting in which Inferno takes place, and a re-introduction to Dan Brown's recurring character, Robert Langdon. "Robert Langdon's harrowing quest through Dante's underworld promises to be an exciting adventure of discovery. Florence makes a terrific setting. This is the place and Dante is the moment when the Renaissance begins," said Haag in a statement prepared by publisher Profile Books. "I am excited to be close on the heels of Robert Langdon again and working with Profile Books on decoding the associations, the historical characters and the symbols in Dan Brown's new thriller." There have been stirrings, too, from other Dan Brown guide authors: Simon Cox, author of Cracking the Da Vinci Code and Hunting the Lost Symbol, promised his Twitter followers that details of his own guidebook would follow "very soon," while the Catholic World Report website teased its editor, Carl Olson, who was co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax. – AFP-Relaxnews

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Pemilihan MIC peringkat cawangan, bahagian dan pusat ditangguhkan selepas PRU-13 Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:41 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR, 22 Jan — Jawatankuasa Kerja Pusat MIC memutuskan kesemua pemilihan parti peringkat Cawangan, Bahagian dan Pusat ditangguhkan sehingga selepas Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU-13) nanti. Setiausaha Agung MIC Datuk S. Murugesan dalam satu kenyataan hari ini berkata keputusan dibuat pada mesyuarat yang bersidang 17 Jan lepas itu turut mengambil ketetapan borang 'B' juga akan diedarkan kepada semua cawangan selepas PRU-13. Beliau menyeru kepimpinan MIC seluruh negara memberikan tumpuan terhadap persediaan PRU-13 dengan menubuhkan Bilik Gerakan, menggerakkan aktiviti pilihan raya serta berjumpa terus dan mendampingi pengundi di tempat masing-masing. — Bernama

Azrul dakwa Bank Islam guna taktik kotor buat laporan polis Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:30 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR, 22 Jan — Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin membidas tindakan Bank Islam membuat laporan polis kedua hari ini dan menuduhnya sebagai taktik kotor untuk menggugut dan menekan dirinya memandangkan kesemua tuduhan oleh syarikat perbankan tersebut bukanlah satu kesalahan jenayah. Bank Islam hari ini dalam satu kenyataan mengesahkan laporan polis kedua telah dibuat keatas Ketua Ekonomi mereka tersebut kerana menemui satu lagi bukti baru Azrul melanggar polisi dalaman syarikat perbankan tersebut. "Ekoran laporan polis hari ini, saya ingin menegaskan bahawa dakwaan yang terkandung dalam laporan polis kedua yang dilakukan oleh majikan tidak dianggap sebagai suatu kesalahan jenayah," kata Azrul Azwar (gambar) dalam satu kenyataan. "Cara mengendalikan kes ini adalah satu taktik kotor untuk menggugut dan menindas ke atas saya." Azrul Azwar juga memberitahu tidak faham mengapa pihak Bank Islam perlu membuat laporan polis terhadap dirinya memandangkan beliau pada ketika ini masih dalam siasatan dalaman. "Ia hanya urusan sivil yang mana ketika ini dalam siasatan dalaman antara saya dan majikan. "Saya tidak dapat lihat perkara ini sekarang sudah menjadi satu kes polis pula," terang Azrul Azwar dalam satu kenyataan hari ini. MENYUSUL LAGI

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Armstrong on the highway to hell Posted: 21 Jan 2013 03:38 PM PST JAN 22 — So, Lance Armstrong believes his lifetime ban from competitive sport is a "death sentence" and too harsh a penalty. Sorry Lance, I've got bad news: if the religious believers among us are right and there is such a thing as an afterlife, you've got far worse than a simple lifetime ban heading your way. For the lies that you've told and the lives that you're ruined, you're going to hell for eternity. Armstrong's despicable story of cheating and deception has firmly established the Texan as one of the world's most hated men. In case you missed it, Armstrong finally confessed his long history of systematic performance-enhancing drug abuse during a long television interview with Oprah Winfrey that was aired at the end of last week. On the one hand, perhaps we should shrug our shoulders and remember he's only a sportsman who overstepped the line in his quest for success. It happens all the time and isn't that big a deal, is one conclusion we could reach. Furthermore, one could argue that it would be right to show sympathy towards a man who gained a huge deal of public affection, far transcending his sport of cycling, for his heroic efforts in overcoming cancer and subsequently raising millions of dollars for charity. And maybe we should even take into account the likelihood — alluded to by Armstrong during the Winfrey interview — that many of his fellow competitors had been following a doping programme of similar magnitude, thereby creating a "level playing field". They were all doing it; why shouldn't he? But... no. Armstrong deserves every syllable of the abuse and condemnation he is now receiving. There are no excuses and he deserves no sympathy. He should never be given forgiveness or redemption, and he should never again be allowed the opportunity to fulfil any kind of role in public life. For years, Armstrong was one of the most admired men on the planet. He was the real-life superhero who completed his battle against cancer by winning the Tour de France, one of the world's most gruelling sporting events, on seven consecutive occasions. His story was a genuine inspiration for millions. Now, in Armstrong's own words, we know that his story was "one big lie". Throughout the whole dirty, degraded, sordid affair, he was using performance enhancing drugs in a regime that required intelligent and sophisticated design and execution to avoid detection. There's a big difference between an instinctive, one-off act of cheating that is later regretted and repented, and a systematic and long-term planned programme of moral degeneracy. Armstrong knew for years and years that his whole act was an illusion but, it appears, he never showed any remorse or considered changing his ways. To know that you are committing evil yet still continue to commit evil is the biggest sin of all. Armstrong committed that sin day after day, year after year, and has only finally confessed because he got found out — not because he chose to repent. The worst thing about the whole sorry saga, in my eyes, is Armstrong's complete disregard for the responsibility of his position as a global superhero. He knew full well just how highly he was regarded by millions of fans; how much inspiration thousands of fellow cancer sufferers had derived from his story. How betrayed must they feel now? Armstrong knew that he was not just an ordinary sportsman competing against other ordinary cyclists, all of whom were on drugs and therefore he had to do the same. He was entirely conscious of his status of an extraordinary man doing extraordinary things. With great power comes great responsibility, and Armstrong's life of lies betrays a chilling contempt for the compassion of other people. If anything good can come out of the situation, it will be a rigorous and wide-reaching strengthening in drugs-testing policies across all sports. Although we like to think that cases like Armstrong are the exception rather than the rule, the scale and scope of his abuse, and the number of drugs tests that he passed with flying colours, means that we can no longer be certain about anything. Sadly, the one thing we can be sure about is that there are more undetected drugs cheats out there. Who knows who they are? Post-Armstrong, it's difficult to look at any elite athlete without the suspicion nagging away in the back of your mind: "Are they doped?" We should probably accept that some of them are. I hope it's not Roger Federer, whose effortless grace around the tennis court has given him an almost mystical air and a record number of grand slams; I hope it's not Lionel Messi, whose dizzying goalscoring feats set him miles apart from his contemporaries; I hope it's not Sachin Tendulkar, the master batsman whose feats of concentration and endurance are unmatched. I hope it's not Mo Farah, the distance runner who won double gold at the London Olympics despite not even qualifying for a final in Beijing four years earlier. I don't believe — and don't want to believe — that any of those four sporting superheroes are drugs cheats. But let's face it: they might be. And whoever the dopers are, they deserve to be exposed. If we have to thank Lance Armstrong for anything, it's that his loathsome career should end up making it harder for the cheats to hide. But he can still rot in hell. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist.

Educating to think, not only to listen Posted: 21 Jan 2013 03:24 PM PST JAN 22 — If you've been through school under the government system, you're familiar with this situation. If you've watched "Forum Suara Mahasiswa Part 4" on YouTube, you're familiar with this situation. Whether it was those who cheered on for her rhetoric about animals with 99 problems or her proclivity for the word "Listen", it reminded me of the first time I spoke up in school. I was in Kajian Tempatan class in Standard 4, armed with the experience of three trips to Singapore. The class was doing some sort of Malaysia appreciation thing, citing things like diversity and amazing food. I, being my usual contrarian self (I was the instigator of the class), decided to play devil's advocate and change the flow of the debate. In retrospect, maybe I should've recognised the strange silence that permeated the classroom, and the malicious expression on my teacher's face as I spoke. I began pointing out the differences between our little Southeast Asian utopia and our neighbours across the Causeway — clean streets, road signs in English, and little to no political mudslinging. (Albeit due to the dominance of the city-state by the iron grip of the Lee family.) I cited the NEWater desalination plant and she attacked. "The Singaporeans drink their own urine," to laughter and clapping from the entire class. "You're not in Singapore, you're in Malaysia," she said, despite my attempts to interject, evoking further laughter. "You're too young to understand. Clearly, our history class hasn't worked well enough for you. If you think Singapore's really better than Malaysia, you can get out of the country now," she said, and I was sent to the principal's office. "Too young." Huh. Watching Sharifah Zohra's ageist tirade subsume the arguments of a well-read girl, I felt a sad anger as all the 2,300 students in the auditorium were receiving the same education I had as a 10-year-old — ideas shot down, ridiculed for having thoughts of our own. I can only hope that Sharifah Zohra (with all due respect for her advanced age) and her friends do not represent the face of public education in Malaysia.  In a forum that allegedly promoted debate and free discussion, I found no diversification of the ecosystem of ideas, only vain attempts to package the minds of students within the confines of a proverbial, one-size-fits-all ideological box. I found a parochial, mudslinging power game where an authority figure abused her position, insulting rather than edifying the intelligence of the students. This is not what the university experience should be like. University is a place for the broadening of horizons, not for the preservation of outmoded models of thought. It is a birthplace and not an executioner of ideas, where academic inquiry and academic freedoms should be inherently apolitical, and where students evaluate propositions and ideas rationally. I like to think that in a debate, we are equals, demarcated not by seniority or rank, but only the saliency and relevance of our ideas. Opinions exist in a spectrum, whether or not people like Sharifah Zohra choose to acknowledge this. I think it's okay to support Barisan and Bersih, and to argue for Barisan policies, provided discussions are carried out rationally. Call Ambiga a hero or an anarchist, if you will, as long as you learn something. This, I assume, was Bawani's desired course of action. This is what debate is: you're not obliged to reach a uniform conclusion, but what matters is the ideas that you come to integrate into your worldview. That's what makes us different from one another. Universities are meant to facilitate and provide choice, not to confine and govern. That's why people get degrees, because they seek to learn to be better people and contribute to society. They seek qualifications and definition to make their way through the mire of uncertainty that constitutes life, not be bound in ideological chains that prevent them from thinking what they want to think. Perhaps all of this is but opinion and conjecture, but I think we can agree that Sharifah Zohra's unreservedly arrogant declaration of superiority on the basis of her degree does NOT belong in the pantheon of intellectual discussion. She has undermined the ethos of academic debate and intellectual exchange that universities should promote. On behalf of Malaysia, and on behalf of civil society, thank you, Bawani, for standing up for what you believe in. In people like you, I see a wanton hope and the promise of better days for our country. People like you are the people Malaysia needs to support and nurture if it is to create an educated populace that understands its rights. And yours, no matter what Sharifah Zohra might have said, is the excellent education that universities in this country were born to provide. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist.

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