US President Barack Obama likes burgers, hot dogs and such, but when it came time to answer a kid journalist's question about his favourite food, broccoli was the first word that sprang from his lips.This ... Read More
US President Barack Obama likes burgers, hot dogs and such, but when it came time to answer a kid journalist's question about his favourite food, broccoli was the first word that sprang from his lips.This ... Read More
Supporters of Manchester United cheer during a friendly football match between Manchester United and Hangzhou Greentown in Hangzhou, in China's eastern province of Zhejiang, on July 26, 2009. Image: AFPEnglish Premier League team Manchester United announced on July 10 it has finally launched Twitter and Sina Weibo accounts to engage fans.
The Twitter account @ManUtd will initially roll out to the club's English-reading fans on the microblogging site before foreign language versions are added at a later, as-of-yet unconfirmed date. The Chinese language Sina Weibo account (www.weibo.com/manchesterunited) will reach fans of the club on the Chinese social network.
With an increased interest in Premier League Football in Asia, English clubs are making the region a priority in their pre-season tours. Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Sunderland will meet South China, the 2012/13 season champions of the Hong Kong First Division, in the Barclays Asia Trophy, a four-team knock-out competition held on Wednesday, July 24 and Saturday, July 27; and Manchester United is also visiting Hong Kong this summer, though not as part of the Barclays Asia Trophy.
After opening on July 10, Manchester United's Sina Weibo page had well over 40,000 fans and the club's Twitter account had in excess of 160,000 followers.
According to social media aggregator Starcount.com , which tracks 11 of the world's social media networks, the most popular football teams in the world are Spain's Real Madrid, Spain's Barcelona, England's Chelsea, Italy's AC Milan and England's Manchester City. - AFP/Relax July 10, 2013.
Manchester United fans hold up placards to welcome the team as they arrive at Don Mueang Airport, ahead of tomorrow's soccer friendly against the Thailand Singha All-Stars as part of the team's Asia tour, in Bangkok today. - Reuters picHundreds of cheering fans greeted Manchester United today as they arrived in Thailand with new manager David Moyes at the start of a busy pre-season of Asian tour by European clubs.
A smiling Moyes performed a traditional Thai bow and greeting to supporters and media as the squad, looking tired and wearing suits with trainers, arrived by private jet at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport.
The visitors then boarded a huge bus emblazoned with the words "United in Thailand" and drove to their five-star downtown hotel, where they were welcomed by more fans holding banners and scarves.
Moyes and United great Ryan Giggs also drew crowds for their visit to Siriraj hospital, where they paid their respects and brought a large bunch of flowers for Thailand's revered king and queen, who are both unwell.
England striker Wayne Rooney, at the centre of intense speculation about his future after he asked for a transfer, walked with his head down and did not talk to media as he arrived with his team-mates.
Moyes, taking over after Alex Ferguson's 27-year, 38-trophy career at the club, will lead out the team for the first time against a Thai All-Star XI in Bangkok tomorrow.
Manchester United are the first to arrive in what will be a bumper Asian pre-season for European clubs, with Chelsea also due in Bangkok this week and Barcelona, Manchester City and Liverpool among the other clubs headed to the region. - AFP, July 11, 2013.
Citing the power of artistes and academics to open minds, President Barack Obama yesterday awarded 24 medals to people including "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and writer Joan Didion who he said touched his life and the lives of Americans.
"They challenge us to think and to question and to discover, to seek that inward significance," Obama said, awarding the winners of the American National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, in Washington D.C.
This year's winners included filmmaker George Lucas, creator of "Star Wars," whom Obama applauded for transforming movies.
"I remember when I first saw 'Star Wars,'" Obama said. "There's a whole generation that thinks special effects always look like they do today. But it used to be you'd see, like, the string on the little model spaceships."
Obama, known for his love of basketball and football, seemed particularly tickled to award a medal to Frank Deford, the legendary sportswriter who has spent 50 years at Sports Illustrated magazine.
"Frank, I grew up reading Sports Illustrated, and I think it was very good for me," Obama said, to laughter.
One of the most poignant moments of the ceremony came when Obama strode to the edge of the stage to meet author Joan Didion, 78, frail and elegant, carefully lifting the thick red ribbon holding the palm-sized humanities medal over her neck.
"Today, decades into her career, she remains one of our sharpest and most respected observers of American politics and culture," Obama said, describing how Didion taught herself to read as her family moved frequently around the country with her father, who was an Army officer.
He cited the courage shown by Ernest Gaines, the descendent of Louisiana sharecroppers, who writes about the lives of African Americans, and blues and jazz musician Allen Toussaint, who helped revive his native New Orleans with music after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Other medal winners included Herb Alpert, who made Latin music popular in the 1960s and co-founded of A&M Records, soprano Renee Fleming, playwright Tony Kushner and comedian Elaine May. - Reuters, July 11, 2013.
Modern women can now look and smell like "Downton Abbey's" Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery, pic) and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael).
An official line of "Downton Abbey" cosmetics will launch in October, coinciding with the drama's Season 4 premiere.
With packaging that invokes Edwardian style and quotes from the series - Lady Mary's "Now stop talking and kiss me, before I get cross" appears on the lip gloss - the 10-line collection also includes lip balm, body lotion, soap and a fragrant candle, according to Fashionista.
Despite having to quell a rising conflict between servants, class wars between your own family members or dealing with a stage in medicine when every sickness results in death, the women of "Downton Abbey" manage to stay fabulous.
The show's producers are extremely concerned that every product lives up to the series' standards. "Every single product design comes to me for personal approval so we don't bastardise the brand," executive producer Gareth Neame told TheWrap.
"We're selective about what we do. Fastidious. But it is a show for Middle America, for Middle Britain. It's not an opera or a Merchant Ivory film or something," he continued. "It's getting massive audiences around the world - and there is a market for people wanting to possess something of that identity."
Eventually, the producers are planning to add clothing and furniture lines. - Reuters, July 11, 2013.
Research raises new questions about the safety of supplements. Image credit: ShutterstockUS scientists said Wednesday they have confirmed a surprising 2011 study that found a higher risk of prostate cancer among men who consume omega-3 fatty acids, raising new questions about the safety of supplements.
The research in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported a 71 percent higher risk for dangerous high-grade prostate cancer among men who ate fatty fish or took fish-oil supplements, which are often touted for their anti-inflammatory properties.
"We've shown once again that use of nutritional supplements may be harmful," said Alan Kristal, researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and senior author of the paper.
Scientists are still puzzled as to why omega-3s appear linked to a greater risk of prostate cancer, but they said the findings suggest they are somehow involved in the formation of tumors.
The same team of researchers published similar findings in 2011, linking high blood concentrations of DHA to a more than double risk of high-grade prostate cancer, which is more likely to be fatal than other types.
A large European study also found the same omega-3 and prostate cancer link.
"The consistency of these findings suggests that these fatty acids are involved in prostate tumorigenesis and recommendations to increase long-chain omega-3 fatty acid intake, in particular through supplementation, should consider its potential risks," the US study said.
The difference in blood concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids between the highest and lowest risk groups was about 2.5 percentage points (3.2 percent vs. 5.7 percent), or just higher than the effect of eating salmon twice a week, Kristal said.
The latest study was based on an analysis of specimens and data from a large randomized, controlled trial that tested whether selenium and vitamin E would reduce prostate cancer risk.
The trial, known as SELECT (the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial), found that vitamin E raised the prostate cancer risk and selenium showed no impact either way.
For the July 11 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers analyzed the data on 834 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and compared them to a random sample of 1,393 taken from the SELECT trial.
Those who had high blood concentrations of the fatty acids EPA, DPA and DHA were shown to have a 71 percent increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer.
The increased risk of low grade prostate cancer was 44 percent higher in those with elevated fatty acid levels, and the combined risk was 43 percent for all prostate cancers.
Due to the nature of the study, it was not possible to tell for certain whether the elevated blood levels were due to men taking supplements or eating fish rich in omega-3s.
However, Franklin Lowe, associate director of the department of urology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, said the findings should remind consumers that supplements may not help, and may even do harm.
"In general, there is nothing that has been proven to actually limit the risk of prostate cancer," said Lowe, who was not involved in the study.
"For the most part, doctors do not recommend this stuff because it is unclear what the true benefits are for most of the supplements that people take." - AFP/Relax, July 11, 2013.
A new Australian study suggests that violent video games don't make a person less caring. Image credit: ShutterstockViolent video games have been the subject of a slew of psychological studies in recent years, with scientists trying to identify just how all that animated gore might affect the human psyche - but results have been mixed. Now, a new study probes whether or not violent games make people less caring or willing to help others.
While prior research has shown that violent games can lead to more aggressive, less thoughtful behavior, a new Australian study failed to replicate those results, Time magazine reports.
Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia recruited 64 university students to play one of four different games for 20 minutes. Two of the games, "Grand Theft Auto" and "Call of Duty: Black Ops," were violent, while the other two, "World of Zoo" and "Portal 2," were not.
After playing the games, the subjects then filled out questionnaires about their experience with the game. But when the researchers pretended to drop their pens when leaving the room, both groups of gamers were just as likely to help them pick up the pens.
"This suggests that the effect of violent video games on behavior might be small and that public concern ought to be minimal," Morgan Tear, a PhD student at the university, told Time.
Still other contextual factors are at play, such as whether or not the researcher was smiling, so the research doesn't draw conclusive evidence to an issue that is becoming more and more political, Time reported.
What parents need to look out for is excessive gaming that begins to substitute for friendships and family time. "The real question [is] whether video games have a uniquely negative effect on those individuals compared to the many other activities and scenarios that they would routinely encounter in their daily lives," Tear says.
"I suspect that video games would be one of many possible things that could affect those particularly vulnerable people but we would need good evidence to conclude that video games are any more harmful than other activities, such as playing basketball or chess."
Barnes & Noble Inc CEO William Lynch resigned yesterday, an acknowledgement that its digital division Nook has failed to compete successfully in the e-reader and tablet markets and possibly presaging a ... Read More
Barnes & Noble Inc CEO William Lynch resigned yesterday, an acknowledgement that its digital division Nook has failed to compete successfully in the e-reader and tablet markets and possibly presaging a ... Read More
Sebanyak 21 Setiausaha Politik mengangkat sumpah menyimpan rahsia di hadapan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak di Pejabat Perdana Menteri di Bangunan Parlimen hari ini.
Majlis itu turut disaksikan Ketua Setiausaha Negara Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa.
Majlis angkat sumpah itu diketuai Datuk Jailani Ngah diikuti Wong Nai Chee dan Datuk Muhammad Khairun Aseh sebagai Setiausaha Politik kepada Perdana Menteri.
Datuk Mohd Nardin Awan dan Datuk Tahir Mohd Taat pula mengangkat sumpah sebagai Setiausaha Politik kepada Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Setiausaha Politik lain yang mengangkat sumpah ialah: * Datuk Dr Marzuki Mohamad (Menteri Pendidikan, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) * Datuk Mohamed Ismail Mohamed Othman (Menteri Pelancongan dan Kebudayaan, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz) * Datuk Markiman Kobiran (Menteri Pertahanan, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein) * Razak Sakaran Dandai (Menteri Kemajuan Luar Bandar dan Wilayah, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal) * Datuk Daniel Kinsik (Menteri Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air, Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili) * Dr Richard Rapu @ Aman anak Begri (Menteri Perusahaan, Perladangan dan Komoditi, Tan Sri Benard Dompok) * Datuk Abdul Halim Mohammad (Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) * Mohd Ali Mansor (Menteri Komunikasi dan Multimedia, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek) * M Vellaiyan (Menteri Kesihatan, Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam) * Azizul Kama Abdul Aziz (Menteri Kewangan II, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah) * Basorri Abu Hassan (Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom) * Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman (Menteri Kerja Raya, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof) * Mejar (B) Peter anak Runin (Menteri Sumber Manusia Datuk Richard Riot) * Abd Halim Jusoh (Menteri Pendidikan Kedua, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh) * Kibin Samad (Menteri Kesejahteraan Bandar, Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan) * * Japirin Sahadi (Menteri Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi, Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin). - Bernama, 11 Julai, 2013.
Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) hari ini menjelaskan bahawa kerajaan Negeri Selangor tidak pernah memberi sebarang peruntukan kewangan kepadanya bagi melaksanakan program perbelanjaan modal sejak bermulanya konsesi itu pada Januari 2005 sehingga sekarang.
Menurut kenyataannya hari ini, keseluruhan kos perbelanjaan modal (Capex) itu dibiayai sepenuhnya oleh Syabas melalui dana dalamannya sendiri, pinjaman bank, pinjaman dan geran dari kerajaan persekutuan, tanpa sebarang sumbangan kerajaan negeri Selangor.
"Dengan pelaksanaan program air yang tiada hasil (NRW), Syabas berjaya menurunkan kadar NRW daripada 42.78 peratus semasa sistem pengagihan air diurus sepenuhnya oleh kerajaan negeri Selangor kepada 31.18 peratus pada September 2008 apabila Syabas mengambil alih pengurusan mulai 1 Januari 2008," katanya.
Bagaimanapun, program kerja dan usaha Syabas seterusnya bagi mengurangkan kadar NRW terbantut atas arahan kerajaan negeri Selangor yang membekukan kelulusan program Capex Syabas sejak 2008, kecuali program yang sangat kecil dan kritikal.
Akibatnya ialah kadar NRW tidak dapat dikurangkan lagi dan hanya dapat dikawal oleh Syabas sekadar kira-kira 33 peratus sehingga hari ini.
Syabas mengulas kenyataan Menteri Besar Selangor Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim semasa persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri baru-baru ini yang berkata kerajaan negeri memperuntukkan RM784 juta kepada Syabas bagi mengurangkan kadar NRW.
Sejak mulanya konsesi pada Januari 2005 hingga 30 April 2013, Syabas membuat pelaburan lebih RM2.578 bilion bagi melaksanakan pelbagai program Capex untuk membaik pulih dan menaik taraf sistem agihan air di Negeri Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur dan Putrajaya dengan tujuan mempertingkatkan mutu perkhidmatan kepada pengguna. - Bernama, 11 Julai, 2013.
Zulkifli Sulong is a veteran journalist and the editor of HarakahDaily.net and the Bahasa Malaysia weekly Siasah.
Tanggal 28 Julai ini genap 73 tahun usia Subky Latif, penulis profilik yang dimiliki oleh Malaysia.
Beliau tidak pernah ingat berapakah jumlah buku yang dihasilkannya, namun yang pasti lebih 20 naskhah, katanya.
Yang terbaru ialah buku tebal (629 muka surat), Propagandis Zaman, yang menceritakan pengalaman beliau sebagai penulis dan wartawan termasuk 11 tahun di Kumpulan Utusan Melayu.
"Saya harap dalam sebulan lagi, siaplah buku terbaru saya," kata Subky ketika ditemui oleh The Malaysian Insider pagi ini di rumahnya di Taman Karak Utama, dekat Gombak.
Ketika dicari di sebuah kedai buku Jalan Pahang yang banyak mengedarkan buku-buku tulisannya, hanya senaskhah buku Propagandis Zaman yang tinggal.
"Abang nasib baik. Tinggal satu sahaja lagi buku ini," kata Apandi, pembantu kedai buku berkenaan.
Propagandis Zaman adalah buku yang mencatatkan tentang pengalaman Subky selaku penulis dan wartawan di Utusan Melayu.
Bab pertama buku ini bertajuk '16 September 1963', satu tarikh keramat untuk Malaysia. Ia tarikh pembentukan Malaysia dan hari itulah Subky ditemu duga di pejabat Utusan Melayu.
Pada hari itu juga, beliau diterima bekerja di Utusan dan menyertai program latihan enam bulan sebagai wartawan anjuran bersama syarikat media di Malaysia ketika itu, Kementerian Penerangan dan beberapa jabatan lain.
"Saya mungkin sudah lupa tarikh saya diterima menjadi warga atau pekerja Utusan Melayu kalau bukan tarikh itu serentak dengan tarikh pembentukan Malaysia," tulis Subky dalam bukunya itu.
Kelebihan Subky ialah keupayaannya mengingati dan mencatat kembali perkembangan Malaysia yang dilaluinya sebagai seorang wartawan besar.
Menurut Subky, beliau masuk Utusan lewat setahun dari Tan Sri Zainudin Maidin, bekas Ketua Pengarang Utusan yang dianggap paling lama menyandang jawatan itu.
Utusan pada masa ini berdepan cabaran yang besar. Media yang dilabel lidah rasmi Umno itu kera kali kalah apabila disaman pelbagai pihak.
Terbaru, Utusan diarah membayar RM250,000 kepada bekas Menteri Besar Perak, Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin setelah disaman Nizar.
Sebelum itu, Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Mahfuz Omar; Ahli Parlimen Shah Alam, Khalid Samad; Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng dan ramai lagi menang kes masing-masing terhadap Utusan.
"Memang Utusan macam itu sejak dahulu," kata Subky. Dulu, katanya, ada seorang wartawan Utusan di Kelantan yang sentiasa buat berita tanpa pengesahan terlebih dahulu. Dia orang Umno tetapi malas pergi ke mana-mana cari berita.
Apabila ada orang-orang Umno cerita memburuk-burukkan kerajaan PAS Kelantan ketika itu, wartawan itu pun menulis berita.
"Datuk Asri Muda yang jadi MB Kelantan ketika itu selalulah saman Utusan kerana berita dia ini," kata Subky.
Melalui Propagandis Zaman, Subky mencatatkan pelbagai pengalaman beliau sebagai wartawan. Semuanya khazanah penting untuk negara. Buku itu adalah siri kedua catatan beliau selepas buku pertama, Anak Apak.
Dalam buku ketiga yang sedang disiapkan, Subky mencatatkan pula pengalaman politik beliau. Bagi Subky, kerja wartawan sama dengan tugas yang pernah dimainkan Imam Bukhari, Muslim dan lain-lain.
"Bukhari tidak menamakan dirinya pemberita dan wartawan tetapi pekerjaan yang dilakukannya adalah pekerjaan yang ditangani oleh sekalian yang bernama wartawan," tulis Subky.
Subky menyertai PAS dan pernah menjadi AJK PAS Pusat dari 1983 hingga 2006. Beliau pernah menjadi calon pilihan raya kecil kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Pelabuhan Klang tetapi kalah. Beliau juga ada menghasilkan buku 'Anak Jawa Pelabuhan Klang'.
Kini, Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim adalah Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) Pelabuhan Klang. Abdul Khalid menang dengan majoriti 2,994 dalam pilihan raya itu.
Subky mempunyai hubungan peribadi yang istimewa dengan Khalid. Beliau mengetahui semua hal mengenai perkahwinan Khalid dengan isterinya sekarang, Puan Seri Salbiah Tunut.
Ikuti bahagian kedua tulisan ini. - 11 Julai, 2013.
* Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis dan tidak semestinya mewakili pandangan The Malaysian Insider.
The Malaysian Insider :: Food
US President Barack Obama likes burgers, hot dogs and such, but when it came time to answer a kid journalist's question about his favourite food, broccoli was the first word that sprang from his lips.This ... 
) and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael). 
Barnes & Noble Inc CEO William Lynch resigned yesterday, an acknowledgement that its digital division Nook has failed to compete successfully in the e-reader and tablet markets and possibly presaging a ... 
Tanggal 28 Julai ini genap 73 tahun usia Subky Latif, penulis profilik yang dimiliki oleh Malaysia. 