ALTOPIANO DEL MONTASIO, May 14 – Rigoberto Uran of Colombia took a solo victory in the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia, a 167-km mountain trek from Cordenons today.
Compatriot Carlos Alberto Betancur finished second with Italian Vincenzo Nibali taking third place to retain the overall leader's pink jersey.
Team Sky rider Uran broke away with eight kilometres to go, while Nibali gained ground on British rival Bradley Wiggins, who was dropped with around three kilometres to go.
Overall Nibali leads with Australian Cadel Evans in second place by 41 seconds and Uran moving up to third 2:04 off the pace, one second ahead of Wiggins.
Defending champion Ryder Hesjedal of Canada cracked early on and dropped out of contention.
The Giro d'Italia finishes on May 26th in Brescia. – Reuters
MUNICH, May 14 – Bayern Munich need to beat Borussia Dortmund to the Champions League title to avoid being stuck with the tag of losers after two defeats in the past three finals, Bayern's Thomas Mueller said today.
The Bavarians, who lost the 2010 final to Inter Milan and the 2012 edition in dramatic fashion in Munich to Chelsea on penalties, take on Bundesliga rivals Dortmund in the first all-German final of the competition at London's Wembley Stadium on May 25.
Defeat to bitter rivals Dortmund, who won the league in 2011 and 2012, was not an option for this year's Bundesliga champions, Mueller said.
"It is time we won this trophy because if we lose it will be three times and then you get sort of stuck with a 'loser' tag which is something you do not want," said offensive midfielder Mueller, preparing for his third Champions League final at the age of 23.
"I am a bit younger (than some of the other players) and hopefully I still have a few years of international action left in me but we really have to win it this time."
Mueller said he relished the clash with their German opponents.
"There is a lot of spice in this game and I like spice and I like that we play against Dortmund because there is even more passion in there," he said. – Reuters
The issue of preventive breast surgery has been thrown into the spotlight with Hollywood star Angelina Jolie's announcement that she had her breasts surgically removed after tests revealed she carried a genetic mutation that can lead to cancer. – AFP picPARIS, May 14 – Women whose genes put them at a high risk of contracting breast cancer can dramatically reduce the danger by having a double mastectomy – but not eliminate it altogether, experts say.
The issue has been thrown into the spotlight with Hollywood star Angelina Jolie's announcement that she had her breasts surgically removed after tests revealed she carried a genetic mutation that can lead to cancer.
Rocker Ozzy Osbourne's wife, Sharon, did the same last year.
About 0.2 per cent of women carry a harmful mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene that boosts their lifetime risk of contracting breast cancer to as much as 80 per cent compared to about 10 per cent for women without the gene.
"This is what many people would consider a sky-high risk," epidemiology professor Per Hall of Sweden's Karolinska Institutet said.
"For the few women who are carriers (of the mutation) this is definitely a good option," he said of surgery.
Having a double mastectomy reduces a mutation-carrier's risk by about 90 per cent to a level lower than that of women who don't carry the genetic flaw.
But it but can never eliminate the danger entirely.
"Even the most skilled surgeon will leave some tiny part of breast tissue behind," said Hall.
An estimated 458,000 women died of breast cancer – the most common cancer type among women – in 2008, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Survival rates vary greatly, from 80 per cent in the developed world to under 40 per cent in poor countries that have fewer early-detection programmes.
The cost of genetic screening can be prohibitive – ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars, says the US-based National Cancer Institute.
On its website, the WHO says early detection remains the "cornerstone" of its cancer strategy as preemptively screening asymptomatic people was a "far more complex undertaking".
DNA, the blueprint for life, comprises four basic chemicals called A (adenine), C (cytosine), T (thymine) and G (guanine) strung together in different combinations along a double helix.
Sometimes a "spelling mistake" in the A, C, T, G combinations can cause problems in gene function.
But carrying a mutation does not necessarily mean a person will develop cancer – factors like lifestyle also play a role.
A study in 2005 concluded that a fifth of breast cancer deaths worldwide could be attributed to alcohol use, excessive weight and physical inactivity.
Delayed pregnancy and not breastfeeding are factors considered to increase one's chances of contracting breast cancer.
Age is a major factor – most breast and ovarian cancers occur in women over 50, though women with the BRCA mutations often get ill at an earlier age.
Mutations in the BRCA (BReast CAncer susceptibility) genes, which normally act as tumour suppressors, also increase ovarian cancer risk.
Clinical geneticist Clare Turnbull at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London said women who carry the mutation are generally offered intensive MRI and mammogram screening so any cancer can be caught and treated early.
"That is one option, and for many women particularly young women, that's the option they choose," she said.
"Other women feel that they would like to take a more interventional approach and try and reduce the likelihood of them getting cancer in the first place," such as a double mastectomy.
"It is not uncommon."
The London-based Breast Cancer Campaign said Jolie's openness would help raise crucial awareness of genetic breast cancer risk.
"Deciding whether to have preventative surgery is a heart rending decision for women like Angelina but we know it's a vital way of saving lives," the campaign's chief executive Delyth Morgan said.
"This is a stark reminder of how much more research we need to do to give women more knowledge, choice and life-saving options to reduce their risk." – AFP/Relaxnews
Turkish Airlines' television ad featuring basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and football legend Lionel Messi has been viewed over 100 million times.ANKARA, May 14 — Turkish Airlines has added German highflier Borussia Dortmund to its sponsorship roster, taking fierce competition with Gulf carriers from the skies to the world's premier football stadiums.
After mythic clubs Barcelona FC and Manchester United, Dortmund is the third football giant to be sponsored by THY, which is vying to dominate the airways with just-as ambitious Gulf carriers, such as Emirates and Qatar Airways.
The deal, estimated in the tens of millions of euros, is well timed, coming just as Dortmund secured its place in an all-German Champions League final against Bayern Munich on May 25, in what sports analysts said was a Bundesliga resurgence.
"In our pursuit of marketing our product and shaping our brand, we have taken on sports to represent our face to the public," said THY chairman Hamdi Topcu.
Crowned best European airline in 2011 and 2012, Turkish Airlines is expanding furiously and chalking up clear victories in an industry known for cut-throat rivalries worthy of the Premier League.
The airline carried 39 million passengers in 2012 — Emirates carried 34 million — and paid US$20 billion (RM60 billion) for some 200 Boeing and Airbus jets in a frantic push to carry 96 million passengers by 2020, when it hopes
Istanbul will have beaten Madrid and Tokyo to host the Summer Olympics.
The idea is to advertise a "good product to provide us with visibility across the world," said Ali Genc, deputy chairperson at the airline.
The push has already paid off, at least on the web, with a television ad featuring basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi, the football living legend, viewed over 100 million times.
"Sport sponsorships is like fireworks," said Lionel Maltese, a marketing professor at Aix Marseille University in France, explaining the "big buzz" an airline gets for bankrolling sports glory.
But a famous name comes with a price, experts say, especially when economies flush with petrodollars are on the hunt for exposure.
In football, Dubai-based Emirates is now patron to Paris St. Germain, AC Milan and has long backed Arsenal, whose home field was named Emirates Stadium in a game-changing 2004 deal worth US$200 million.
Emirates will also sponsor 15 of Formula One's 19 Grand Prix over the next five seasons.
Dubai-based Emirates is now patron to Paris St. Germain, AC Milan and has long backed Arsenal. — Reuters pic
"It is very simple — sports sponsoring is very successful because people tend to remember sports more than anything else," said Boutros Boutros, the head of Emirates' Corporate Communications.
"We also sponsor festivals, expositions and concerts but nobody seems to pay attention to that," Boutros said, noting that passenger numbers rose more than ten-fold since 2000 when the company first started sponsorships.
According to chief executive Ahmad bin Said al-Maktoum, Emirates sets aside US$227 million every year for sport sponsorships.
Turkish Airlines, which entered the fray much later, chose "eye-catching sponsorships... at the expense of short term profitability," said Emre Akcakmak, a senior analyst from East Capital.
But the effort was worth it, he said, with THY's passenger numbers and profitability rising remarkably over the years.
The competition never lets up however, with companies running the risk of "looking less famous or less attractive" if they step out of the game, Maltese warned.
In November, Qatar Airways replaced THY in a surprise jersey deal with Barcelona worth €170 million. And unsurprisingly, Qatar Airways will also stamp its logo on the 2022 World Cup when home city Doha hosts the huge event.
THY, which refuses to announce sponsorship costs, is now trying to bag a "world-famous golfer," the airline's Genc said.
"The airline is playing at the top league in this competition, why would its sponsorships be any less than the best?"
Whipping out the cheque-book is an "undeniable reality," he said.
In the end "it all came together for us, the sponsorships have more than paid off." — AFP/Relaxnews
LAS VEGAS, May 14 — O.J. Simpson, the ex-football star famously acquitted of murder in 1995, appeared in court yesterday seeking a new trial in a Las Vegas armed robbery case that sent him to prison as witnesses testified to what they said were blunders by his lawyer.
Simpson, 65, appeared older, grayer and heavier after five years behind bars as he entered a Las Vegas courtroom in blue jail garb, his hands and feet shackled, for a hearing that could last for a week into claims that his then-lawyer mishandled the Nevada case.
He was brought to court from a Nevada prison where he is serving up to 33 years for the 2007 incident in which he and five other men stormed into a room at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino and took thousands of dollars in memorabilia from a couple of sports collectors at gunpoint.
Defence lawyers argued unsuccessfully that Simpson was only trying to retrieve his own stolen memorabilia and was not aware that an accomplice had brought a gun along. He was found guilty on 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping.
Simpson's current lawyers have asked a judge to throw out his 2008 conviction, saying his trial lawyer, Yale Galanter, had a conflict of interest because he knew in advance that Simpson planned to confront the sports dealers at the hotel.
They also argue that Galanter never told Simpson that prosecutors had offered a plea deal in which he would have been sentenced to two to five years in prison.
Much of the testimony during the first day of the hearing centred on an audiotape of the altercation in the hotel room that two witnesses said Galanter should have fought to keep out of the trial as inadmissible evidence.
O. J. during a break in evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, May 14, 2013. — Reuters picJames Barnett, a longtime friend of Simpson who let the famous defendant stay at his home during the trial, said he told Galanter he questioned the integrity of the tapes and urged the lawyer to have them analysed. He said Galanter agreed to do so only if Barnett put up the US$250,000 (RM747,480) he said it would cost.
"I thought about it and I decided not to. I thought, this is one slick lawyer," Barnett said, adding that he believed the tapes could have been analysed for US$5,000.
Barnett was followed on the witness stand by lawyer Eric Bryson, who represented one of Simpson's co-defendants in the case. Bryson told the court that the tapes were "untrustworthy" and should have been challenged as evidence.
"Without the tapes, I thought the state's case was very weak," he said.
Simpson's 43-year-old daughter, Arnelle, took the witness stand shortly before the lunch break, testifying that her father had been drinking heavily during the weekend of the incident. That testimony was expected to be used by Simpson's lawyers to suggest that he was not aware that guns were drawn at the hotel.
A separate appeal by Simpson of his conviction in the case was rejected by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2010.
Simpson, a former star NFL running back turned TV pitchman, was accused of the 1994 stabbing and slashing murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted in 1995 after a year-long proceeding, dubbed the "Trial of the Century" in the press, that was carried live gavel-to-gavel on US television. — Reuters
NEW YORK, May 14 — Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie's auction house raised nearly US$32 million (RM95.7 million) for environmental causes yesterday at a charity art auction.
DiCaprio, the star of the new film "The Great Gatsby", organized the so-called The 11th Hour Auction along with his foundation and Christie's to protect the last wild places on Earth and their endangered species.
The 33 works of art, many of which were created for and donated to the auction by the artists, sold for US$31.74 million in spirited bidding in a packed auction house. Art collectors from around the globe also placed bids by telephone.
"All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you," DiCaprio told the audience at the end of the auction, which raised more than double the pre-sale estimate.
In addition to the sale, which set records for 13 artists including Carol Bove, Joe Bradley, Mark Grotjahn, Raymond Pettibon and Mark Ryden among others, a US$5 million matching donation for three of the lots and US$1.15 million in other donations raised the overall total to nearly US$38 million.
At the opening of the auction, DiCaprio, who has supported environmental issues through his foundation since 1988 and also produced and narrated the 2007 documentary "The 11th Hour" about the state of the environment, urged the audience to dig deep into their pockets.
"Bid as if the fate of the planet depended on us," he said.
And they did. All of the 33 works were sold, and many fetched prices that were three or four times their pre-sale estimates.
A poster of environmental champion DiCaprio towering over the Carlton Hotel in Cannes before the start of the 66th Cannes Film Festival, which will run from tomorrow to May 26. On the right is co-star Carey Mulligan. — Reuters picThe top lot of the sale was an oil on cardboard mounted on canvas by Mark Grotjahn called "Untitled (Standard Lotus No. II, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth Face 44.01)", which sold for US$6.2 million as two determined bidders pushed up the price.
Zeng Fanzhi's "The Tiger", an oil on canvas, fetched nearly double its high estimate with a price of US$4.8 million, and Bharti Kher's sculpture "The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own", went for US$1.7 million.
Each of the three works had a pre-sale estimate of US$1.5 million to US$2.5 million.
DiCaprio donated "Ocean V" by Andreas Gursky, which sold for US$600,000, and he bought an acrylic on canvas by Takashi Murakami for US$700,000.
A portrait of DiCaprio painted by Elizabeth Peyton sold for US$1 million.
Loic Gouzer, international specialist at Christie's and the head of the sale, said many of the works were of a quality never seen at auction before.
A panel of environmental experts and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation will decide which conservation projects will benefit from the proceeds of the sale.
Gouzer said he and DiCaprio had approached the artists and explained what they had hoped to accomplish with the auction, which they have been planning for a year.
"We explained that we wanted great works and they were very reactive because of the cause. The artists are very sensitive to the fact that we are destroying our planet," Gouzer said in an interview ahead of the sale. — Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Childhood stories. Most people wrote theirs; fewer have drawn theirs. But one thousand words is not easy to write, and a picture does not have to be too detailed to tell a good ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Childhood stories. Most people wrote theirs; fewer have drawn theirs. But one thousand words is not easy to write, and a picture does not have to be too detailed to tell a good ... Read More
Victor Tan enjoys writing, philosophising, and watching the world spin. He believes that dreams aren't worth dreaming if they aren't grand enough to strike fear into people's hearts. He writes for CEKU at http://www.ceku.org.
MAY 14 — My family's valuation of education as a path to success has been ingrained in me from Day One. My sister is an ASEAN scholar at NUS, and my brother graduated with first-class honours from RMIT. In my quest to emulate my siblings' success, I've gained admission to the University of Chicago, and will attend in September.
When I was younger — to me, anyway — the number of As I received signalled my value within the social economy. By achieving academic success, I believed that things would open up for me — that my balance sheet would be healthy, my designated position well-respected, my "place" in society forever cemented.
Surely, though, an elite education should, at the very least, guarantee a better-paying career relative to someone who didn't even graduate from college, right?
Let us consider the case of Dr Cai Mingjie. Cai has a degree from Stanford University in molecular biology. He worked as a principal investigator for Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), before becoming one of the first principal investigators to be laid off from the institute in 2008, following the subprime mortgage crisis.
After a string of failed job applications, Cai opted to work as a taxi driver, eventually garnering the joking sobriquet of Singapore's "Most Educated Taxi Driver."
He isn't alone. Hundreds of graduates of the world's finest institutions are unemployed.
Clearly, success is not as simple as obtaining a college degree from an elite institution. One can fail despite having a high-class degree, so as one can succeed without.
Success is strange and ill-defined. It is a concept we hold between our hands yet allow to slip through our fingers. It is a product of hard work, a function of qualities that cannot be taught, but must be discovered.
Many detractors of a university education claim that college education is unnecessary or peripheral to one's success. They cite Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs — Gates and Zuck both dropped out from Harvard, and Jobs from Reed College. They prove that it's possible to NOT get a degree, yet become very successful.
At age 21, I still haven't discovered what it means to be successful. However, I'd like to be able to say that I'm a little more grounded in reality. I no longer think that I will find success or that the world will open up to me because of my college degree. I have learnt that there is value in building upon what I've achieved in order to achieve different goals.
As for my reason for pursuing higher education, I seek to think, to discover, to find direction in life. I seek to discover passions I have never known. To live within the "life of the mind" that so many people seek but fail to discover, eating lunch on park benches where men have devised Nobel Prize winning ideas. I seek to be part of an intellectual heritage going back hundreds of years.
Perhaps, I may end up like Cai, writing a book about my failure to succeed within the harsh confines of an economy that has no place for me or my degree. I have no guarantee or any illusions that this investment will pay off fiscally. But I know that I'm in a position of privilege, going to university, a rare and beautiful opportunity in itself.
Granted, it's true that investment banks and management consultancy firms recruit from my alma mater to be. Yes, US$200,000 (RM600,000) is a heavy price tag to pay, given that I'm not on a scholarship. Like most other families, mine will have trouble affording the price of my education, but I know that my college days aren't predicated on discovering stepping stones to my career goals.
I certainly won't approach my studies with complacency. Not only because I want that 4.0 GPA for my internship at Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs, but because I love learning. I won't join that choir group simply to network with others, but because I enjoy music. I can and I will take that religious pottery class not because I want to live life eternally unemployed, but because there's value in succeeding in academia for the sake of succeeding in academia itself.
And so I give thanks, for the life ahead of me, and for all the opportunities that I will receive that lie ahead — I accept them all with humility.
Uthaya Sankar SB berkarya dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Beliau adalah presiden Kumpulan Sasterawan Kavyan (Kavyan) dan pemilik tunggal Perunding Media, Motivasi dan Penerbitan Uthaya. Selain menulis, membaca dan bercakap, beliau juga suka menonton filem.
14 MEI — Para pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat (PR), salam sejahtera. Saya tidak menyokong mana-mana parti politik dan saya bukan ahli mana-mana parti politik. Saya juga tidak berminat menyertai mana-mana parti politik.
Saya mengambil kesempatan ini untuk menyampaikan "amaran" kepada anda hasil pemerhatian saya terhadap perkembangan parti-parti politik di negara ini; khususnya sejurus sebelum, semasa dan sejurus selepas Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-13 (PRU13).
Secara kebetulan, tarikh "amaran" ini ditulis adalah pada 13 Mei 2013 — bertepatan dengan tarikh "13 Mei" yang digunakan sejak tahun 1969 oleh Perikatan — kini Barisan Nasional (BN) — untuk menakut-nakutkan orang ramai supaya saling berprasangka berasaskan kaum dan agama.
Apa yang sedang dibuktikan oleh PR menerusi PKR, PAS dan DAP sejak belakangan ini adalah bahawa Rakyat (huruf besar disengajakan) sudah semakin menolak politik perkauman dan parti-parti politik berasaskan kaum. Malah, tarikh 13 Mei kini diraikan oleh Rakyat sebagai "Hari Perpaduan" tanpa restu BN.
Penulis berkempen menolak politik perkauman.Maknanya, kewujudan BN yang membahagikan parti-parti komponen mengikut kaum — misalnya Umno untuk Melayu, MIC untuk India, MCA untuk Cina — sudah berani dicabar. Tambahan pula, BN turut ada "rakan" seperti IPF dan Hindraf yang mewakili "kaum India miskin" serta Perkasa yang mewakili kumpulan Melayu etnosentrik, fanatik, rasis dan ultra kiasu.
Maka, saya ingin menyampaikan "amaran" kepada anda kerana berani mengubah senario politik yang sudah menjadi "tradisi" di Malaysia sejak negara mencapai kemerdekaan; tanpa menafikan imaginasi orang bijak pandai tertentu yang membayangkan negara ini tidak pernah dijajah.
Saya perhatikan bahawa calon-calon yang bertanding di bawah PKR, DAP dan PAS pada PRU13 terdiri daripada individu pelbagai kaum/agama. Realiti ini tidak pernah wujud — dan mustahil akan wujud — dalam BN. Paling baik boleh dilakukan oleh BN adalah mengangkat individu seperti Zulkifli Noordin untuk memperjuangkan nasib kaum India beragama Hindu. Atas sebab itu juga "amaran" wajar diberikan kepada anda sebagai pemimpin PR.
Semasa tempoh kempen PRU13 (dari 20 April hingga 4 Mei), saya perhatikan juga di sekitar kawasan Parlimen Kota Raja dan DUN Sri Muda bahawa ramai golongan muda pelbagai kaum/agama terlibat sebagai sukarelawan bagi memasang sepanduk, bendera dan bahan-bahan kempen.
"Amaran" wajar diberikan kerana walaupun PAS, DAP dan PKR secara teknikal masih tiga parti politik yang berbeza, serta PR bukan entiti berdaftar (berbanding BN), sukarelawan dari ketiga-tiga parti itu kelihatan bertolak-ansur, bekerjasama dan bantu-membantu.
Malah, mereka juga kelihatan makan-minum dan berbual-bual mesra di restoran dari semasa ke semasa. Anda wajar menyampaikan "amaran" kepada mereka kerana tindakan mereka membuatkan api perkauman dan persengketaan antara kaum semakin menipis.
Golongan sukarelawan pelbagai kaum/agama terbabit sedang secara terang-terangan menghakis dan menghapuskan bibit-bibit "pecah dan perintah" dan perkauman yang menjadi modal utama kepada BN untuk meneruskan corak pemerintahan zaman penjajahan British. Kalau Rakyat sudah bersatu, apa lagi modal yang ada?
Saya juga mahu menggunakan kesempatan ini untuk menyampaikan "amaran" kepada para sukarelawan terbabit yang tampil berkhidmat sebagai "sukarelawan" pada erti kata sebenar. Tahukah mereka bahawa tindakan mereka membuatkan pihak satu lagi kecewa? Hal ini kerana pihak yang satu lagi terpaksa mengeluarkan belanja yang besar untuk membayar upah kepada para "sukarelawan" mereka.
The Third Force dan Bangsa Malaysia
Anda tentu telah perhatikan bahawa saya menulis "Rakyat" menggunakan huruf besar. Amalan ini bukan bermakna saya mengaitkan "Rakyat" dengan PR. Tidak sama sekali! Sebaliknya, dalam sistem pemerintahan demokrasi, pihak yang paling berkuasa adalah Rakyat yang memilih wakil mereka untuk menguruskan pemerintahan (kerajaan).
Pihak anda pula perlu diberikan "amaran" kerana sentiasa memberikan kesedaran kepada Rakyat pelbagai kaum, agama, etnik, latar pendidikan, geografi, profesion dan sebagainya tentang "kuasa" yang ada di tangan Rakyat.
Anwar Ibrahim bukanlah tokoh politik kebanggaan saya. (Maaf! Saya tidak mahu berpura-pura.) Malah, saya pernah nyatakan dalam sebuah makalah sebelum ini bahawa jika Anwar bertanding bagi kerusi DUN Sri Muda atau Parlimen Kota Raja, tidak semestinya saya mengundi beliau.
Tarikh 13 Mei diraikan sebagai Hari Perpaduan.Walau bagaimanapun, saya mahu juga menyampaikan "amaran" kepada Anwar kerana membangkitkan semangat reformasi dalam kalangan Rakyat secara berterusan sejak dilucutkan jawatan Timbalan Perdana Menteri pada tahun 1998.
Hakikat yang tidak dapat dinafikan adalah bahawa Anwar (dan kumpulannya) berjaya menarik begitu ramai orang ke Stadium Kelana Jaya pada 8 Mei. Kesemua mereka hadir dengan semangat "Bangsa Malaysia" demi menuntut keadilan serta menentang sebarang bentuk penipuan dalam PRU13.
Selain daripada meletakkan calon "Bukan Cina", DAP juga sudah berani menerobos kubu kuat Umno di Johor dalam PRU13. Biarlah saya menyampaikan "amaran" kerana DAP sedang membuktikan bahawa pengundi dan penduduk di negeri itu juga sedikit demi sedikit mula menolak politik berasaskan kaum yang mendarah-daging dalam BN.
Usah kita lupa bahawa pihak tertentu berusaha gigih "membuktikan" kepada kaum Melayu bahawa "satu undi bagi PAS bermakna satu undi bagi DAP". Kempen oleh pihak yang sama kepada kaum Cina adalah bahawa "satu undi bagi DAP bermakna satu undi bagi PAS".
Kempen yang dijalankan dalam kalangan kaum India pula adalah bahawa "satu undi bagi PAS bermakna satu undi untuk potong tangan" iaitu memomokkan masyarakat menerusi penyebaran maklumat palsu (fitnah) mengenai Hukum Hudud.
"Amaran" perlu diberikan kepada PAS, PKR dan DAP kerana tetap tidak makan saman. Sebaliknya anda sedang terus membuktikan kepada orang ramai bahawa politik kotor yang ditangani oleh pihak tertentu tidak akan mampu mempengaruhi Rakyat.
Sekali gus, PR menghormati kebijaksanaan dan kemampuan Rakyat membuat penilaian berdasarkan fakta yang ada di depan mata. Tentulah "amaran" perlu diberikan kepada PR kerana cuba memberikan ruang dan peluang kepada Rakyat untuk berfikir. Tidakkah anda tahu bahawa Rakyat yang berfikir akan menjadi golongan yang celik politik dan tidak boleh diperkudakan oleh politikus?
Akhirnya, walaupun keputusan "rasmi" PRU-13 menunjukkan bahawa BN menang 133 kerusi Parlimen manakala PR hanya menang 89 kerusi, perubahan nyata sudah berlaku dalam kalangan Rakyat. Mereka kini sudah benar-benar membuktikan kuasa "The Third Force" yang tidak akan hanya berdiam diri dan menerima bulat-bulat apa-apa yang diarahkan oleh politikus.
Saya merakamkan "amaran" kepada PR kerana turut memainkan peranan besar dalam kebangkitan Rakyat. Golongan Rakyat juga akan terus memantau anda jika anda membentuk Kerajaan Pusat pada masa hadapan.
Kepada BN pula, saya mengucapkan "tahniah" dan "syabas" kerana terus berjaya menggenggam Putrajaya dengan apa cara sekali pun. Ucapan tahniah pula kepada Rosmah Mansor kerana dialah juara sebenar dalam PRU13 kerana berjaya kekal sebagai "Wanita Pertama" walaupun dilanda "tsunami Rakyat".
* Uthaya Sankar SB adalah pemilik tunggal syarikat "Perunding Media, Motivasi dan Penerbitan Uthaya". Beliau memblog di www.uthayasb.blogspot.com.
KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Mei — MCA tidak pernah bersetuju dengan perlantikan Exco Kerajaan Negeri Johor ke atas Datuk Tee Siew Kiong dan beliau akan berdepan dengan tindakan disiplin parti, kata presidennya Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek hari ini.
Dalam satu kenyataan, Dr Chua berkata MCA kekal dengan pendirian diputuskan dalam Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan (AGM) tahun lalu tidak akan menerima sebarang jawatan kerajaan jika memperoleh prestasi buruk dalam Pilihan Raya 2013.
"Saya mahu jelaskan MCA tidak pernah mencadangkan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Pulai Sebatang untuk menjadi Exco Kerajaan Negeri Johor selaras dengan resolusi parti yang diluluskan pada 2011 dan 2012," kata Dr Chua.
Dr Chua kemudiaan menjelaskan tidak mempunyai bidang kuasa untuk menghalang perlantikan tersebut memandang kuasa mutlak adalah milik Sultan Johor .
"Perlantikan Tee adalah dibuat oleh Sultan Johor yang mempunyai kuasa untuk melantiknya.
"Sultan mempunyai kuasa untuk melantik Besar dan Exco Kerajaan Negeri Johor kerana keunikkan Perlembagaan Negeri," terang Dr Chua.
Walaupun tidak mmepunyai sebarang kuasa untuk menghalang keputusan tersebut, Dr Chua menegaskan Tee masih belum terlepas daripada tindakan disiplin oleh parti dan ia akan diputuskan oleh Jawatankuasa Pusat MCA.
"Jawatankuasa Pusat MCA akan meneliti kes Tee dan dia mungkin berhadapan tindakan disiplin ke atas perlantikan Exco Kerajaan Negeri Johor," tambahnya.
Namun, Dr Chua menggesa para pemimpin MCA dan penyokongnya untuk menghormati pengumuman perlantikan Tee kerana keunikkan Sultan Johor dan kuasanya di negeri selatan tanahair tersebut.
Sebelum ini, Dr Chua mengatakan parti itu memutuskan untuk tidak menerima sebarang jawatan dalam kerajaan sekiranya tidak mencatatkan peningkatan daripada keputusan yang dicapai pada pilihan raya 2008 pada pilihan raya umum ke-13, 5 Mei lalu.
MCA hanya memenangi tujuh kerusi Parlimen sahaja berbanding 15 sebelum ini.
Difahamkan pelantikan seorang wakil MCA dalam senarai Kabinet itu dibuat atas perkenan Sultan Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, yang mahu wakil Cina dalam kerajaan negeri Johor.
Tee yang merupakan Setiausaha Penganjur MCA Kebangsaan dan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Pulai Sebatang akan mengetuai portfolio Pelancongan, Perdagangan Domestik dan Kepenggunaan. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Mei — Orang ramai terutama kanak-kanak dinasihat mengurangkan aktiviti di luar rumah semasa cuaca panas sekarang bagi mengelakkan terkena 'sunstroke' atau strok matahari yang menyebabkan seseorang pengsan.
Setiausaha Agung Kehormat Persatuan Perubatan Malaysia, Dr H. Krishna Kumar berkata keadaan itu berlaku antaranya disebabkan panas matahari yang menyerap cairan daripada badan mengakibatkan mereka mengalami dehidrasi.
"Walaupun minum banyak air tetap tidak digalakkan melakukan aktiviti di luar rumah kerana air lebih cepat terserap melalui peluh yang dihasilkan.
"Lebih teruk jika terjadi kepada kanak-kanak kerana sistem pertahanan tubuh mereka tidak sekuat golongan dewasa," katanya kepada Bernama di sini, hari ini.
Dr Krishna menasihatkan kanak-kanak yang berjalan kaki ke sekolah menggunakan payung bagi mengelakkan mereka berasa lemah akibat cuaca panas yang seterusnya akan mengganggu pembelajaran.
Pakar perubatan Hospital Pantai Kuala Lumpur Dr David Quek Kwang Leng menyarankan penghidap penyakit berbahaya seperti diabetes, jantung dan buah pinggang berunding dengan pakar masing-masing bagi mengetahui cara penjagaan diri semasa cuaca panas.
"Mereka yang normal dan menghidap penyakit serius mempunyai kondisi badan yang berbeza. Maka penjagaan diri mereka juga harus lebih mendalam," katanya.
Beliau berkata jika kebiasaannya masyarakat perlu minum seliter air setiap hari, ketika cuaca panas orang ramai disaran minum antara satu setengah dan dua liter termasuk pengambilan buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran dengan banyak.
Katanya selain kerap mandi untuk menyejukkan badan, penggunaan krim pelindung cahaya matahari juga dapat membantu melindungi kulit daripada terbakar.
Laman web TheStar.com pada Selasa memetik Jabatan Meteorologi Malaysia yang mengatakan cuaca panas dan kering di Lembah Klang sekarang boleh dikaitkan dengan perubahan pola angin dan kesan ribut Mahesan di Teluk Bengal.
Keadaan itu dijangka berubah apabila pola angin stabil dengan peralihan monsun hujung bulan ini yang diramal membawa lebih banyak hujan. "Pada masa sekarang, suhu di Lembah Klang secara purata mencatatkan 35 darjah Celcius," lapor laman web itu. — Bernama
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Childhood stories. Most people wrote theirs; fewer have drawn theirs. But one thousand words is not easy to write, and a picture does not have to be too detailed to tell a good ... 
