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‘Shame’ brings sex addiction tale to Venice Posted: 04 Sep 2011 07:32 AM PDT McQueen laughs during a photocall for "Shame" at the 68th Venice Film Festival September 4, 2011. — Reuters pic VENICE, Sept 4 — Up-and-coming Irish actor Michael Fassbender plays a sex addict in "Shame", a movie by British video artist Steve McQueen that is vying for the top prize at the Venice film festival. It is the second lead role for Fassbender in a competition movie at this year's festival after his portrayal of psychoanalyst Carl Jung in David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method." In Shame, the German-born Fassbender is Brandon, a handsome, 30-something executive living in New York whose only distraction from work is seducing women, masturbating at home or in the office and looking for sex on the Internet. The tightly controlled rhythm of his life begins to fall apart when his needy, dysfunctional sister Sissy, played by Carey Mulligan, arrives for an unannounced visit. Her presence, and her craving for Brandon's attention, disrupt his lonely existence even further, and his only way out seems to be wandering the streets at night in search of new sexual adventures. Fassbender, whose portrayal of Brandon was warmly applauded after a press screening today, said taking part in the film's graphic sex scenes was not easy. "Yes (it was) uncomfortable doing the sex scenes, you just have to jump and turn really," he said. "The most important thing I guess is that everybody involved feels as comfortable as they can. And then just go for it so you don't have to do too many takes." McQueen, whose debut film was the widely acclaimed "Hunger" about the last months of Irish Republican Army activist Bobby Sands in Belfast's Maze prison, said he saw similarities between the two films. Hunger also starred Fassbender in the lead role. "Clearly Hunger was a political film but Shame is also political. That one was about a prison in northern Ireland, this one it's about how someone's freedom can actually imprison them and they need an addiction in order to numb a pain, how our lives have been changed sexually by the Internet," he said. "I love Brandon, he's trying and it's difficult. He's not so far away from most of us at the end of the day. He is not a bad person, I think the character is not at all repulsive, maybe unfamiliar but extremely recognisable." The title Shame was chosen after interviews with sex addicts and their experiences in preparation for the film. "The word shame came cropping up in those interviews," McQueen said. His career began with film-related projects, he quickly branched out to include sculpture and still photography, and his work has been displayed at the Biennale of Art in Venice. McQueen said he saw no big differences between his artworks and his feature films. "There are no barriers between the two. Of course in one you're going to have a bit more narrative and the other less so, but the process is the same, it's work." Asked why Mulligan had not come to Venice to present the movie, McQueen replied: "It's out of order. She should be here." — Reuters

World Heritage site in China to host country music festival Posted: 03 Sep 2011 05:21 PM PDT Zhangjiajie, a Chinese town famed for its surrounding towering rock formations, its nearby caves and its lush forests, will host the Zhangjiajie International Country Music Week from September 10 to 16 this year. — Song Heming/shutterstock.com HONG KONG, Sept 4 —The idea may take a little getting used to but a Unesco World Heritage site in the wild countryside of central China hopes to one day be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Nashville and the Grand Ole Oprey. The connection, it seems, is a love of country music and it has this week been announced that second Zhangjiajie International Country Music Week will be held from September 10 to 16 this year in the picturesque Chinese town famed for its surrounding towering rock formations, its nearby caves and its lush forests. Organizers are hoping to line up more than 500 musicians and more than 30 country music bands from across the globe for the event, which is being held to help "promote cultural development in all the world's regions through the medium of country music." What's more, the festival is currently on the lookout for up to 60 international volunteers to help with translating during the week. Details can be found on the festival's official website. Zhangjiajie first tested the country music market back in 2009, when the city's flamboyant mayor, Zhao Xiaoming, became a sensation across China by releasing a promotional video that saw him dressed up as a cowboy and singing a unique version of the John Denver hit "Take Me Home, Country Roads". The idea, according to organisers, is to find the right balance between "culture" and "tourism" and this year's event has an animated version of the clip with Zhao but no cowboy hat. The festival is promising an eclectic mix of both international country artists and some of the homegrown variety, which will highlight the musical heritage of China's ethnic communities. "Every effort needs to be made to turn the music festival into a regular event and to develop Zhangjiajie into an international country music venue," Ye Wenzhi, general manager of one of the event's organisers, the Huanglongdong Tourist Corp, told the China Daily newspaper. The event also has the backing of Hunan provincial government and China's Ministry of Culture. — afprelaxnews.com

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Is it history or his-story? Posted: 03 Sep 2011 04:22 PM PDT SEPT 4 — I was a little apprehensive as I entered the small tutorial room. It was my first day attending class in England. In the centre of the unassuming room was an oblong table, around which sat eight post-graduate students of various nationalities. I flashed a timid smile before taking my place amongst them. At the far end of the table, a heavyset man in a worn tweed jacket and polka dotted bowtie cleared his throat. Pushing the thickest glasses I have ever seen up the bridge of his nose, he made a gesture to indicate that the tutorial was about to start. "I assume you've all familiarised yourselves with the required readings for the week?" asked our tutor rhetorically, after early pleasantries and introductions had been done and dealt with. "Now then, let's start with you." It took me a few seconds to realise that he was referring to me. "Er, yes?" I stammered in response. "Go on. Tell us what you think about it." After spending my entire schooling years in the Malaysian national education system, and after having earned a Bachelor's degree in a Malaysian university, I was faced with a grossly unfamiliar situation. For the first time, I was asked for an opinion rather than have one written down on the whiteboard for me to copy. Two memories stand out from my first day at SOAS. First, I had been suddenly thrust into an entirely new concept of study, where opinions mattered, where questioning everything was encouraged and where you were marked according to how you argued a point, no matter how far-fetched it was, and where the notion of "correctness" did not exist. The second memory that I can never forget is my introduction to a cardinal maxim that has stuck in my mind to this very day. To paraphrase the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: "There are no facts, only interpretations." Suddenly, I was blown away. Every belief I had about everything I knew was totally and completely changed. History as taught to me by our KBSM syllabus was now nothing more than the opinion of those who wrote it. And as with every other opinion in the world, it was my choice to accept it or not.  My mind had been liberated. From that day on, everything I read or learnt would be tempered with a critical assessment of the source. I began to yearn for alternative interpretations in my hunger for choice. The world was a buffet and I had been fasting for years. And so it is in such a spirit that I approach the recent uproar surrounding Mat Sabu's purported remarks about the Bukit Kepong tragedy. Of course, reports by the Malaysian mainstream media are necessarily suspect and have to be digested with a bagful of salt. That said, I am convinced that there was neither any disparagement of the police nor glorification of the communist aggressors in the PAS deputy president's speech. Any contention to the contrary is merely exaggerated spin-doctoring. More significantly, the Mat Sabu incident has brought to question the wisdom of accepting history as fact, without considering who the authors are and what their motivations may be. This is something we must never forget when we contemplate any kind of information. Like a movie on terrestrial TV, much of our country's official history has been censored for general viewing. It is shaped and presented in such a way as to trumpet the contributions of selected personalities while conveniently snipping out or downplaying the roles of those deemed counter-productive to the political agenda of those in power. From the gradual contraction of Yap Ah Loy's role in the development of Kuala Lumpur to the pitiful passing mention of the ancient Hindu civilisation in Bujang Valley — a historical treasure in any other country — Malaysians are slowly but surely fed a doctrine of half-truths and value judgements passed by politically-motivated authors. And then we have the vilification of the leftist movement, nullifying decades of political and nationalist activism. By this I am talking about anti-Colonial movements such as SABERKAS (officially "Syarikat Berkerjasama Am Saiburi" and secretly "Sayang Akan Bangsa Ertinya Redha Korban Apa Segala"), of which my late father was the founding secretary; Ibrahim Yaacob's Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM); Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy's Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), and of course the little-known PUTERA-AMCJA, our country's first multiracial coalition. The coalition had even gone to the lengths of preparing an alternative set of Constitutional proposals in opposition to the Malayan Union. As a result, the "People's Constitution" was adopted and presented in 1947, a good 10 years before Merdeka. The ground-breaking document had proposed, inter alia, equal citizenship rights, protection of Malay customs and religion, as well as the adoption of the moniker "Melayu" as the designation for all citizens of Malaya. Of course, studying and appreciating the above will by no means displace the contributions of other parties and movements such as Umno and the Alliance. Historiography is not a zero-sum game. There is room for more than one interpretation, more than one point of view and certainly more than a few heroes. The key to opening our minds is to first remove our blinders. Thus, whenever presented with history that appears to be his-story, it is probably best that we ask ourselves: exactly whose story is this? * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

First day of school Posted: 03 Sep 2011 04:13 PM PDT SEPT 4 — My son has been excited about starting at his new school. To distract him from missing his friends at his previous school, I psyched him up with a trip to the barber's (they use a way cool vacuum cleaner thingy to suck off excess hair from his head and clothes) followed by an ice cream treat. I had also showed him his new school-issued backpack, uniform, name tag, bus tag and teddy bear dressed in a school uniform identical to his. He was especially looking forward to riding the ochre-coloured public school bus, of which he has a die-cast model. We were set. First day of school usually involves nerves about fitting in, excitement about making new friends and meeting new teachers. But here it begins with... hygiene lessons. Disease control is given top priority in high density Hong Kong and as young children are the most susceptible, so teaching proper hygiene is seen as the way forward. With the new school term commencing this week, school staff across the city will be spending more time on teaching Primary One pupils how to maintain personal hygiene. My three-year-old was greeted at his new kindergarten with the sight of the head teacher carrying a low table laden with an automatic antiseptic gel dispenser and paper towels. This was placed at the entrance to the school. Teddy gets his temperature checked before heading off to school. Ten steps into the school foyer sat the school nurse who commanded each pupil to open their mouth into which she shone her torch. After that was a temperature check with a digital thermometer pointed at the forehead. Add to this the daily record parents have to maintain of their child's temperature taken before leaving home for school, diligently recorded in a specific "temperature book." Next, it is a trek to the shoe-changing corner where students remove their "outdoor" shoes and replace them with their "indoor" shoes which are kept in cubby holes during the school week. The shoes are returned over the weekend to be cleaned. Parents wishing to venture beyond the tiny foyer are required to slip disposable plastic bag covers over their footwear. Finally there is the damp washcloth stuffed into a plastic container which parents have to place in the school bag to be used for wiping the mouth after snack time. Do you suppose they have everything covered? I suppose it makes sense to err on the side of caution, what with the round-the-year health scares we are inundated with. It does make me feel like a hypochondriac at times though, as at the first sign of a blocked nose my brain tells me to keep Ishan out of school. At the close of the last academic year in June, scarlet fever gripped the city as a seven-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy died while more than 600 were infected. The number of cases have dropped over the summer but isolated cases are expected with school reopening. Then there was the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease which saw signs put up in apartment complex elevators reminding users to disinfect their hands and maintain proper hygiene. Now health officials are warning of increased viral respiratory infections with the peak of the flu season expected in two months. The South China Morning Post reported that the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) tends to affect two- to three-year-olds and there is a risk of outbreaks at nurseries and kindergartens. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, sneezing and fever. Infection can lead to pneumonia, bronchitis and even death. Medical jargon used to be so foreign to me but these days they are tossed around like the titles of the latest cartoons. Symptoms roll off my tongue like my weekly grocery list. I suppose this is all part and parcel of being a parent in these times. The meticulous steps taken at Ishan's school to prevent disease outbreak is all new to me; I still question the logic of having a damp hanky inside a box for hours and wearing outdoor shoes halfway through the school before switching to indoor shoes but for now I'll go along with the flow. Going to school used to be a lot easier. I suppose there were far less illnesses 30 years ago too. Back then all I had to worry about was using the stinky school toilet (I still do!). * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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Azizan: Tiada pertemuan dengan Hadi setakat ini Posted: 04 Sep 2011 03:30 AM PDT Azizan berkata tidak benar laporan bahawa beliau diserang sakit jantung. — Foto fail ALOR SETAR, 4 Sept — Menteri Besar Kedah Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak berkata tiada sebarang pertemuan antara beliau dan Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang setakat ini untuk membincangkan mengenai masalah kesihatan beliau. Azizan ditanya sama ada beliau mengadakan pertemuan dengan Hadi untuk berbincang mengenai isu penggantiannya selepas keadaan kesihatannya terjejas kerana serangan jantung Julai lepas. "Lepas ni saya pi (pergi) Kuala Lumpur mesyuarat parti (11 September) jumpa la dia dan siapa-siapa pun," kata beliau pada majlis rumah terbukanya di kediaman rasmi Menteri Besar di Mentaloon di sini hari ini. Azizan juga berkata, berita mengenai dirinya diserang sakit jantung adalah tidak benar. Sebaliknya berkata beliau ke Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) adalah untuk membuat pemeriksaan susulan kerana pernah membuat pembedahan pintasan jantung enam tahun lalu. "Masa pergi IJN bukan sebab saya kena serangan jantung, itu tak betul. Saya pergi IJN buat pemeriksaan perubatan berkala, tiap empat bulan kena buat pemeriksaan doktor. "Doktor kata kena buat pemeriksaan perubatan penuh, doktor tak pernah kata kena buat pembedahan, doktor suruh jaga kesihatan saja, kena rehat, tidur awal dan jaga pemakanan, itu saja," katanya dipetik Bernama Online. Kelmarin, akhbar melaporkan bahawa kepimpinan PAS sedang mengambil tindakan untuk menggantikan Azizan disebabkan keadaan kesihatannya yang kurang baik dan Hadi dikatakan akan menghadap Sultan Kedah berhubung peralihan kepimpinan kerajaan negeri itu.

Abdul Azeez: Saya masih trauma, bagi saya masa Posted: 04 Sep 2011 02:53 AM PDT Azeez beramah mesra dengan kanak-kanak Palestin ketika menyampaikan bantuan kemanusiaan Ogos lalu. — Foto fail SERDANG, 4 Sept — Ketua Kelab Putera 1 Malaysia, penganjur misi kemanusiaan ke Somalia, hari ini enggan memberi sebarang komen berhubung tragedi yang meragut nyawa jurukamera Bernama TV Noramfaizul Mohd Nor malam kelmarin. Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, yang juga Ketua Putera Umno berkata, beliau mahu sedikit masa kerana masih trauma dengan tragedi itu. "Nanti, nantilah... saya tengah trauma lagi," katanya. "Mungkin nanti saya akan buat sidang media," katanya kepada The Malaysian Insider ketika ditemui selepas majlis pengebumian jenazah Noramfaizul di Tanah Perkuburan Islam Universiti Putra Malaysia di sini. Jenazah Noramfaizul selamat dikebumikan kira-kira pukul 2.10 petang. Dalam kejadian kelmarin, kenderaan yang dinaiki Noramfaizul, 39, dan petugas media Malaysia lain yang diiringi tentera kerajaan Somalia, ditembak ketika mereka dalam perjalanan pulang ke tempat penginapan. Insiden itu turut menyebabkan jurukamera TV3 cedera di lengan. Noramfaizul meninggalkan seorang isteri, Norazrina Jaafar 37, dan dua orang anak lelaki Mohd Irfan, 8 dan Mohd Naufal 3. Sementara itu Ketua Misi Bantuan Perubatan Kelab Putera 1 Malaysia, Datuk Dr Alwi Rahman berkata Noramfaizul menerima rawatan kecemasan daripada paramedik Australia sebaik sahaja ditembak. Jelas beliau, insiden yang menimpa Noramfaizul tidak akan dilupakan. "Pada ketika itu, kami berada di hotel penginapan, dan dimaklumkan arwah Noramfaizul telah ditembak. "Arwah diberikan rawatan oleh paramedik dari Australia, sebelum kami mengambil alih, namun gagal," katanya. Dalam pada itu, keluarga Noramfaizul menyifatkan kematian Allahyarham sebagai mati syahid kerana meninggal dunia semasa berkhidmat untuk negara. Ibunya, Naemah Abd Majid berkata, gelaran wira negara wajar diberikan kepada anak sulung daripada enam adik-beradik itu kerana khidmatnya di Somalia berbentuk misi kemanusiaan. "Sepatutnya (dianggap wira negara), baguslah,  Noramfaizul berkhidmat untuk negara dan kerana Allah. Noramfaizul amat dedikasi terhadap tugasnya sebagai jurukamera selama ini yang sanggup mengetepikan apa sahaja hata keluarganya untuk melunaskan tanggungjawabnya sebagai jurukamera. "Walaupun (kami sekeluarga) bersedih dengan pemergiannya, kami bersyukur kerana Noramfaizul pergi dalam syahid, insya-Allah," kata Naemah kepada pemberita. Masih bersedih, Naemah bagaimanapun berkata beliau bersyukur dengan pemergian Noramfaizul kerana masih sempat menatap wajah anaknya buat kali terakhir. "Saya sempat menyaksikan dan mencium wajahnya walaupun Noramfaizal sejuk kaku (di situ). "Mak cik sayang anak dan bertambah cantik wajahnya walaupun telah dikembumikan," katanya. Sementara itu bapanya, Mohd Nor Mat Yasin berkata, Noramfaizul sempat memesan sambal ikan bilis kegemarannya untuk dibawa bersama ke misi kemanusiaan Somalia. "Sambal ikan bilis adalah kegemarannya dan beliau memesan untuk membawanya sebagai bekalan di sana," katanya. Mohd Nor berkata, Noramfaizul tidak menunjukkan sebarang tanda-tanda pelik sebelum berangkat ke Somalia pada 28 Ogos lalu. "Beliau juga sempat menelefon kami sekeluarga pada malam raya dan memberitahu keadaannya yang baik semasa di sana," katanya.

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Foodie revolution brings bacon ice cream to Moscow Posted: 03 Sep 2011 06:43 AM PDT MOSCOW, Sept 3 — Whether it's learning to make bacon ice cream, sampling lamb from the Kalmyk steppes, or rustling up paella a la russe, Muscovites have embraced all things foodie in a gastronomic revolution. Hard to find just a few years ago as Russia remained burdened by the Soviet Union's gastronomic legacy, medium-priced restaurants that use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients have now become the hot new trend. People take part in the food festival at Moscow's Gorky Park on August 27, 2011. — AFP pic Magazines aimed at the upwardly mobile publish cooking columns, and the middle-classes are discovering the joys of the dinner party. The monthly Afisha Food magazine has spearheaded the trend, and last weekend it packed crowds into a central Moscow park for a food festival that was the first of its kind in Russia. Around 10,000 people flocked to the historic riverside Gorky Park, not dissuaded by a 600 ruble (RM63) ticket price, as 40 restaurants presented special menus, chefs held master-classes and farmers sold home-grown produce. Young couples with children in pushchairs and groups of friends happily queued for two hours to buy pork cooked sous-vide (sealed in a vacuum) and charcoal smoked, or chicken ragout with cherries and coriander. "There has been an evolution in the way the middle classes see food. After 70 years in a gastronomic ghetto, we all tried out exotic dishes. And now we are looking for a happy medium," said Alexei Zimin, the editor of Afisha Food, a food columnist for Kommersant daily and the co-owner of Ragout restaurant. "Cooking has become a big topic in the media. A huge amount of information has appeared on the subject," he told AFP. On stage, in front of several hundred spectators, he reveals some tricks of the trade: for example, prawns with rosemary need to be sautéed three times to ensure they are cooked through and juicy. Ragout chef Ilya Shalev demonstrates how to make some unusual desserts, turning bacon into ice cream — as in the famed dish by British celebrity molecular chef Heston Blumenthal — and making salty caramel sauce as an accompaniment. New Yorker Isaac Correa came to Moscow in 2003 and owns numerous restaurants serving innovative American-style food. He serves his ice cream in a cocktail with Pepsi and mozzarella with watermelon. "People have become more knowledgeable. People read, people see, people travel," Correa said. "Now they want to go to the restaurant not just to get a meal. They want to share different experiences." The chef of Delicatessen restaurant, Ivan Shishkin, shows how to make a paella, Russian style, with spelt — a kind of ancient wheat increasingly back in vogue and only grown in a few Russian regions — and wild chanterelle mushrooms. He says that he is on a mission to create the savoury flavour of umami, the fifth basic taste identified by the Japanese, using local produce. "I am looking forward to the time for pickling apples so I can use them to season fish instead of miso," a highly salty Japanese seasoning, he says. While Shishkin says he tries to use locally grown produce as much as possible, such as the spelt in the paella, he acknowledges that it would be impossible to rely on them entirely. "That would make the menu too expensive and I want to stay within reasonable limits so that ordinary people like us can come to my restaurant." The farmers' market displays lamb from the southern Kalmykia region, yellow cherry jam from Dagestan in the Caucasus and natural yoghurt from the Moscow region, at high prices that put off some visitors. Yulia Fateyeva, a mother of three, stocks up on cheese, saying that she does not even look at the price and "adores farm produce". But Marina Davydova complains that "everything is unaffordable". "I would be happy to buy farm produce if it was at the price you see at markets in Paris or Nice," she said. The founder of Lavkalavka, an Internet store that sells fresh farm produce, Boris Akimov, argues that such high prices are unavoidable. "I would also like this to cost less, but it's not so simple. "In France, this culture has been around for 500 years. In our country, we only started 20 years ago," he said. "During the Soviet era, farmers were eliminated (in collectivisation) and their land was ravaged with chemicals." — AFP-Relaxnews

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De Zordo hits it hard for javelin gold Posted: 03 Sep 2011 07:37 AM PDT De Zordo competes in the men's javelin throw final in Daegu on September 3, 2011. — Reuters pic DAEGU (South Korea), Sept 3 — German Matthias de Zordo "hit it hard" on the first attempt to condemn Norway's defending champion Andreas Thorkildsen to javelin silver at the world athletics championships today. "I do not know what was wrong with Andreas Thorkildsen, why he was not able to attack," the burly German happily told reporters. His first throw of 86.27 metres was enough to take the Norwegian's title in Daegu, which was just as well as De Zordo injured his ankle after his fourth attempt and needed treatment. "My coach told me to hit it hard on the first attempt," he added. "I am glad I was able to and I am really happy that it was enough to win." A groin injury hampered Thorkildsen in his first two meetings of the year but since then he has looked as if he has been approaching unbeatable form. The Olympic champion, though, came up short under the Daegu floodlights. "When it comes to statistics, this is my worst result since the world championships in Paris (in 2003)," he said. "Still, this is my eighth medal from big competitions in a row. I know that gold was reachable, but my technique today was just bad." — Reuters

Bolt makes amends with lightning 200 Posted: 03 Sep 2011 07:15 AM PDT DAEGU (South Korea), Sept 3 — The doubters said Usain Bolt was vulnerable and that his star was on the wane. In response, the Jamaican showman silenced his critics today with the fastest feet in the world. Barely a week after his humiliating disqualification from the 100 metres final, the lanky Jamaican blew away his rivals in the 200, his favourite event, to retain his Berlin title and give the Daegu crowd the show they had been waiting for. Bolt leans forward to cross the finish line first to win the men's 200 metres final in Daegu on September 3, 2011. — Reuters pic The 25-year-old, who set the world record of 19.19 in winning the title in Berlin two years ago, has struggled to regain top form after a back injury ended his 2010 season prematurely but he was back to his imperious best on the penultimate day of competition. "I wasn't running angry, I was running hard just to say to fans sorry about the 100 metres," said Bolt. Only he and Michael Johnson have run 19.40 or faster over 200 metres. "I came out here to do my best... 19.40 for me, it is a good time. I am not in my best shape, but it is all about fun and enjoyment. Fans will decide if I made it up to them." During the race buildup, Bolt looked loose and relaxed, playfully fist-bumping with the track assistant looking after his gear and handing him his numbers. After putting his fingers to his lips to hush the crowd as the runners took their marks, the world record holder burst from the blocks in lane three and ate up the ground on American Walter Dix on his outside in a matter of strides. Moving up through the gears around the bend, Bolt emerged at the top of the home straight with the race in the bag, pushing himself towards the line as the crowd rose to the sight of Bolt in full flight. With his country's flag draped around his shoulders like a cape, the Jamaican super-sprinter worked the Korean crowd into a frenzy, delivering his signature victory pose and playing cat-and-mouse with the chasing pack of photographers. Bolt said he was looking forward to the chance of winning another gold in the 4x100 tomorrow and paid tribute to Frenchman Lemaitre, who clocked 19.80 to finish behind Dix. "It is good to run a good 200. It is my favourite event," he added. "I said over the years that Christophe was going to be a good athlete." — Reuters

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Soaring Swiss franc puts squeeze on German enclave Posted: 03 Sep 2011 01:53 AM PDT BUESINGEN (Germany), Sept 3 — Since a 19th-century treaty established a German village wholly within Switzerland, the people of Buesingen have become accustomed to navigating between Berne and Berlin. Yet for the residents of this leafy village of 1,400 on the banks of the river Rhine, the record-strong Swiss franc is generating even more heat than the summer sun. File photo of a general view of Buesingen. — Reuters pic Buesingen has both a Swiss and German postal code, and in front of the mayor's office there are both German and Swiss telephone booths. Swiss sales tax applies in the handful of shops, though politically the village belongs to the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Rents and groceries are generally quoted in francs. But some residents receive pensions in euros, and income taxes are paid at German rates, well above those standard in Switzerland. Mayor Gunnar Lang said about 10-20 per cent of the village's residents are feeling the pinch due to the runaway Swiss currency, which has shot up 30 per cent against the euro since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis. About 100 people have in recent years chosen to leave Buesingen and move to Switzerland, to take advantage of lower taxes. With the franc not far from parity with the euro, still more may go. "That's leading those who are still here to start thinking about whether they should move to Germany too. That's really bad for Buesingen," Lang said, adding that the most frequent complaints were of rising rents and people being pushed into higher tax brackets with no change to their real income. In Switzerland, the strong currency is beginning to throttle the economy: exports are softening, corporate profits are slipping and politicians are warning of rising unemployment. At Buesingen's post office, Stenka Vonnau, who receives her salary in euros, said she considered moving or looking for a second job. Nearby, the restaurant Kranz has posted a billboard outside saying "euros OK" in a bid to draw in diners. Yet former sailor Ernst Winter, whose arms are covered in tattoos and who repairs horse bridles in a shop down the road, was less dour about the exchange rate despite receiving a pension in euros. "I used to work on boats and we had lots of currencies — China, Australia, who knows what." After quitting the sea for dry land, Winter decided to settle in Buesingen because he thought it was nice and has no plans to leave: "It's great. You're in two countries at once." After the two world wars there were efforts among the village's residents to join Switzerland, but after the Swiss began allowing EU citizens to take up residence without great hurdles, much of the impetus for changing sovereignty has been lost. Lang, who has been mayor for 21 years, said the people of Buesingen would just have to muddle through, as little help could be expected from authorities. Ending Buesingen's status as a geographical oddity is not a realistic goal, he said, because ceding it to Switzerland would require changes to both the German and Swiss constitutions. "They have trouble sorting things out for Buesingen that are far less important," he said. "So I don't expect they'll be able to change the constitutions to clear things up." — Reuters

Apple hunted lost item — clue points to new iPhone Posted: 02 Sep 2011 10:54 PM PDT This is the second time that a prototype iPhone has been reported as having gone missing. — Reuters file pic OAKLAND, Sept 3 — San Francisco police said yesterday they had helped Apple Inc security search for a "lost item," following a week of reports that a prototype of the newest iPhone had gone missing in July. Officers did not say exactly what Apple had lost, but they left a clue — the San Francisco Police Department's Friday press release about the hunt was called "iphone5.doc," an apparent reference to a new version of the mobile phone that tech industry watchers expect to be released soon. Apple declined to comment on the matter. Tech news service CNET this week said an iPhone 5, which has not been released, went missing in a San Francisco bar in July. SF Weekly, a local newspaper, yesterday quoted a San Francisco man as saying police had come to his house in July searching for a lost iPhone. Although a prototype of the iPhone 4 went missing in 2010, police said this time Apple had tracked "the lost item" to a San Francisco house and four police accompanied two Apple employees to the house. "The two Apple (security) employees met with the resident and then went into the house to look for the lost item. The Apple employees did not find the lost item and left the house," the police statement said. It did not say why police accompanied Apple security or the circumstances under which Apple employees "went into the house to look for the lost item". Police did not respond to a request for further comment. SF Weekly quoted a 22-year-old man who described himself as the resident of the searched house as saying the group identified themselves as police and that none had said they were working for Apple. They had traced the phone to the house using satellite-positioning software on the device but did not find anything in the house, he said he was told. The man, identified by SF Weekly as Sergio Calderon, could not be reached for comment by Reuters. Police, meanwhile, gave different versions of events during the day yesterday, while Apple has declined to comment at all. Hours before San Francisco police issued their statement about the search, SFPD spokesman Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield denied that police had been contacted by Apple in connection with any lost phone, or by the person visited by Apple security and the police. "No one has reported anything," Dangerfield told Reuters. In general, Dangerfield said SFPD requires a supervisor's approval for personnel who are not law enforcement officers to accompany police during investigations. "It's not routinely done at all," Dangerfield said. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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A-listers not spared in pandemic film ‘Contagion’ Posted: 03 Sep 2011 06:23 AM PDT VENICE, Sept 3 — Not even the A-listers are spared in "Contagion", a star-studded movie directed by Steven Soderbergh that recreates the outbreak of a global pandemic. Audiences used to seeing the most famous faces last longest will be in for a surprise when they watch the slick, globe-trotting picture which is in competition at the Venice film festival. Law in a scene from 'Contagion' in this publicity photo released to Reuters on August 31, 2011. — Reuters pic The ensemble cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard and Jennifer Ehle, most of whom were in Venice for the world premiere today. Soderbergh, an Oscar winner for "Traffic" and best known for his "Ocean's" crime capers, said the complex nature of the film made Hollywood heavyweights particularly important. "It's very helpful to have movie stars playing as many of these roles as you can, because you're throwing so many characters and so much information at the audience it's very helpful for them to get a sort of reference point," he told reporters in Venice. "There's a reason that movie stars have existed since the beginning of cinema," he added after "Contagion" was warmly applauded at a press screening ahead of the red carpet premiere. "It's good for audiences — they like to have people they can identify with." "Contagion" opens with a couple played by Paltrow and Damon who find themselves at the centre of a global emergency that goes on to claim millions of lives. Cotillard and Fishburne play health officials trying to get to the bottom of the disease in a race against time, while Law portrays a journalist and blogger who challenges the official line. At one point, one scientist irked by his questioning turns to him and says: "Blogging is not writing. It's graffiti with punctuation." Soderbergh weaves the bigger themes of fear, panic and globalisation together with individual tales of sacrifice and selfishness, hopping from Hong Kong to London to the United States as he does. Paltrow was asked when she would allow her pre-teen children to watch "Contagion", which features death, violence and a scene where a dead character's scalp is peeled back during an autopsy. "My kids can't even watch (children's comedy) 'Babe', so I don't know, probably not for a while." She added that she did not see the death of central characters as any kind of judgment on the lives they led in the movie. "I think that if death by virus was a punishment for extra-marital affairs there may be only about three dudes left in this room right now," she joked at a packed press conference. "Maybe less because we're in Italy." Script writer Scott Burns said the story was partly based on the real-life outbreak of SARS in China in 2003. Soderbergh, who said he would shortly be taking a break from film-making, added: "All of the science in the film had to be accurate, all of the scenes in which the virus was discussed or shown visually had to be absolutely realistic or plausible. "Otherwise we felt we weren't advancing our ideas very well or contributing to this genre very well." — Reuters

Scarlett Johansson sings ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ with Lulu Gainsbourg Posted: 03 Sep 2011 05:25 AM PDT LOS ANGELES, Sept 3 – Actress Scarlett Johansson has recorded "Bonnie and Clyde," the popular song by the legendary French star Serge Gainsbourg, with his son Lulu for an upcoming tribute album, From Gainsbourg to Lulu, to be released in November. Johansson (picture) sings and speaks in English the lines sung by Brigitte Bardot on the original 1968 recording, while Gainsbourg sings his late father's part in French. The audio of the new duet hit the internet and was posted by The Hollywood Reporter on September 1. Also featured on the album will be performers including Vanessa Paradis, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull and Rufus Wainwright as well as Lulu and his sister, actress/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg. In 2008, Johansson released the album of Tom Waits songs Anywhere I Lay My Head, and she previously recorded with singer-songwriter Pete Yorn. She also covered Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye" for the soundtrack to the film He's Just Not That Into You. "Bonnie & Clyde" audio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9iB0NkPMnQ – AFP

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