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Spenders Spurs drawn with sellers Anzhi in Europa League Posted: 30 Aug 2013 07:10 AM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 31, 2013 06:10 am Tottenham Hotspur, who have splurged over 65 million pounds (about RM320 million) on new talent, were today drawn in the same Europa League group as Anzhi Makhachkala, the Russian club who have been selling off their players. Anzhi put their entire first team squad up for sale after their billionaire owner cut the club's budget, triggering an exodus of expensively acquired players. Group K opponents Spurs, who had been linked with Anzhi's Brazilian playmaker Willian before he joined Chelsea instead along with the Russian club's Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, have brought in several new faces. Tottenham have already broken their transfer record twice with the signings of Spain striker Roberto Soldado and Brazil midfielder Paulinho amid media reports that their Wales forward Gareth Bale will join Real Madrid in a world record deal. The draw for the group stage of Europe's second-tier club competition also featured Cypriot side APOEL, who have replaced Fenerbahce, and Norway's Tromso, reinstated in place of Besiktas after the Turkish clubs lost appeals against match-fixing bans. APOEL feature in Group F with France's Bordeaux, Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt and Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv, while Tromso are in Tottenham's group along with Moldovan outfit Sheriff. Former European champions PSV Eindhoven were drawn in Group B alongside Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, Ukraine's Chornomorets Odessa and Bulgaria's Ludogorets. Sevilla, who won back-to-back UEFA Cups - the predecessor to the Europa League - in 2006 and 2007 will face Germany's Freiburg, Portugal's Estoril and Czech side Liberec in Group H. Holders Chelsea and last season's runners-up Benfica are competing in the Champions League. There are 48 clubs across 12 groups. Group winners and runners-up advance to the knockout stage where they will be joined by eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage. The final will staged in Turin, Italy, in May. - August 30, 2013.

Transfer system is robbery, says Platini Posted: 30 Aug 2013 02:36 AM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 07:56 pm UEFA president Michel Platini (pic) today called for a sweeping reform of the transfer system, describing the current system as a form of robbery and saying the transfer window was too long. Platini said there were too many people vying to take a slice of commission from players' transfers and also said players were to blame for not respecting contracts. His comments came amid the ongoing saga of Gareth Bale's possible move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid for 100 million euros and at the end of a European transfer window which critics say has dragged on for too long. "I think transfers are robbery," the former France captain told a media conference. "Today, the player is more a product than a player and that irks me because there is a whole lot of people trying to make this player make money in order to earn commissions, we should think about that and try to find something more healthy. "Players are not free and they don't even belong to clubs, they belong to financial holdings, companies or people. "I don't think it is right. I believe this is important and this is new in the world of football," he added. "We are looking into that, working on it, I agree maybe this window is too big, too long." Platini said that UEFA were looking at a possible reform of the transfer system and were aware that FIFPro, the world player's union, wanted sweeping reforms. Platini pointed out that in his own playing days, players had gone on strike for the right to leave their clubs at the end of their contract. But nowadays, he said players failed to respect their contracts, often refusing to play or train to try and force a move elsewhere. "I belong to the generation who went on strike so players could leave at the end of the contract," he added. "Players went on strike to be free.... now I see they sign contracts, they don't play because they want to leave again... there is something unhealthy about that. "Robbery may be too tough a word, but when you sign a contract you should respect it and that's what I wanted to say... We need a re-think of the whole transfer system." He added that inflated transfer fees had always been a source of debate. "We have been asking ourselves the same question for 30 years as to the morality of the money involved in transfers," he said. "People asked these questions when Diego Maradona was transferred for 30 million, or Zinedine Zidane for 60 million." - Reuters, August 30, 2013.

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Gut, not gluttony makes quitting smokers gain weight Posted: 29 Aug 2013 06:52 PM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 05:52 pm Nervous nibbles alone do not explain the weight that people tend to gain when they give up smoking, Swiss researchers said Thursday, turning the spotlight instead on a bacterial shift in the intestines. Studies have shown that quitting smoking leads to an average weight gain of four to five kilogrammes (nine to 11 pounds) in the first year. But according to researchers at Zurich University Hospital, former smokers who bulk up may not be eating more than before they kissed their cigarettes goodbye. Noting that even people who cut back on calorie intake after quitting smoking tend to gain weight, Professor Gerhard Rogler said he and his colleagues had discovered another potential explanation: a change in the composition of the intestinal flora among smokers who kick the habit. Their study, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and published in peer-reviewed scientific journal PLoS One, found that when a person stops smoking, the diversity of bacterial strains in their intestines shifts. It more resembles the gut flora found in people with obesity. Both recent non-smokers and obese people tend to have more of two bacteria types, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, Rogler told AFP. These germs are believed to use energy more efficiently and break down otherwise indigestible fibres - and as a result, more of what the person eats is transformed into fat rather than excreted as waste. The researchers studied the genetic profile of intestinal bacteria found in faecal samples provided by 20 volunteers over nine weeks. The participants comprised five non-smokers, five smokers and 10 people who had quit smoking one week after the study began. Little difference was seen in the bacterial biodiversity among the persistent smokers and non-smokers. But among those who had just given up smoking, there was a clear shift towards more Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, the study showed. Over the study period, the people who had quit smoking also gained an average of 2.2 kilos (4.8 pounds), even though they insisted that their eating and drinking habits were unchanged. "Under the same living conditions, they gained weight after the cessation of smoking, and they showed a change in the microbiota," Rogler said. While researchers have yet to prove a clear connection between the two developments, he pointed out that a number of other studies have also showed a link between intestinal bacteria and weight gain. On Wednesday, a study published in the journal Nature found that individuals with low bacterial "richness" in their intestines were more prone to obesity and associated diseases such as diabetes, heart and cholesterol problems. Six bacterial species appear to play a key role in promoting this diversity. Rogler said that more research was needed to answer the many questions that arise from such discoveries. But he said it was clear we should pay more attention to how the environment influences gut functions. "Nobody believed the people who stopped smoking and said they weren't eating more but still gained weight. Perhaps we simply should be more willing to believe what people tell us," he said. -  AFP/Relaxnews, August 30, 2013.

In Malaysia, property profiting big business, not man in the street Posted: 29 Aug 2013 04:00 PM PDT BY QUEK YIING HUEY August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 29, 2013 07:54 pm Beyond the fear of a property bubble, Malaysians are asking themselves one question - is it really important to own a house and at what cost? The question arises as Malaysia's affordable housing firm PR1MA announced it will build 20,000 houses costing up to RM400,000 across the country within the next 24 months, while the government has said it will review real property gains tax to curb property speculation. "The younger generation is unfortunately enslaved by the powers-to-be," veteran property consultant Dr Ernest Cheong told The Malaysian Insider in Kuala Lumpur. During the two decades after Merdeka, the government encouraged house ownership to secure the loyalty of immigrants. However, since the 80s, it has cynically been seen as a way for the government and industry to pursue profits instead of offering a roof over citizens' heads, said Cheong. He called it the "The Triumvirate", a regime of political, commercial and banking forces that hold powers by conspiring to keep the nation in financial economic slavery. Cheong said young working adults aged 25-35 and holding their first jobs earn between RM3,000 and RM5,000 a month and would not be able to afford anything beyond RM100,000. "They actually cannot afford to buy anything without the help of their parents," he said. He compared the purchasing power over the years, saying that a decade ago, RM150,000 double-storey terrace houses were available in Kajang or Semenyih, some 45km from Kuala Lumpur. Five years on, the same amount of money would only get a single-storey terrace house. But today, it will cost them a minimum of RM400,000. "Sadly, this generation must come to terms that they may never own a house as long as prices continue to rise," Cheong said. He pointed out that the surge in demand is a mirage that runs on speculation that is aided and abetted by banks due to loan-driven demands that do not reflect income. Calling the mentality of homeownership a self-imposed stigma based on factors of fear and peer pressure, he said, "It is better to face the reality of not being able to afford (a home), than to be enslaved by housing debts." "They must know that there is no shame in renting a house because the question is whether one can keep up with a 30-year loan payment." Boon Kia Meng, filmmaker of documentary film "M-C-M: Utopia Milik Siapa?", which explores Malaysia's housing bubble, said the reason why home ownership is a social and cultural value held dear by Malaysians is perhaps tied to the country's colonial past. "It is prevalent in the US and the UK. We have seen this time and again encouraged by conservative governments like Margaret Thatcher, which felt that giving people a stake in property will make citizens less likely to challenge the prevailing social order," said Boon, who also holds a Masters of Philosophy from King's College. In comparison, he said that there isn't a stigma associated with renting houses in countries with high taxes like Germany and Sweden. Instead, they have better social security because young people invest more on education. Retired businesswoman Jacqueline Reuben, 52, has a different take on it. "Why should a citizen say that they can't afford a house in Malaysia?" she said. She pointed out that the main thing about buying instead of renting a property is that it gives people security and a sense of belonging. She feels it's shameful to discourage a young person from buying a house. "The government should then provide better public housing or policies that will boost their purchasing power. Or else we will end up a homeless nation," she said. On the other hand, communications manager Ferdinand Pereira is one who has opted to rent. "It is ingrained in us that home ownership equals security, but no one speaks about the burden of a 30-year loan over your head, which also ties you down to a fixed place." He added that he sees it as an option rather than a problem, and that people should not be so preoccupied with owning a property that life passes them by. - August 30, 2013

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Merdeka also means freedom from poverty Posted: 29 Aug 2013 08:22 PM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 11:41 am Liew Chin Tong is the DAP MP for Bukit Bendera. When it comes to mainstream media, whether it's the Malay, Chinese, Tamil or English press, the political debate would inevitably be framed in racial and ethnic terms. In the familiar discourse that revolves around race, everyone seems to have an opinion to add to the endless fray. This tends to lead to a collective fatigue and people shy away from the topics that should actually occupy media space and public policy debate - the important issues of health and disease, career, education, and other basic necessities of life. As we celebrate Merdeka day, I would like to share three real life stories from my constituency of Kluang in central Johor. Three true stories First: A family of nine lives in Sri Lalang, in a kampung located between the Kluang and Ayer Hitam parliamentary boundaries. The man of the house is a lorry attendant, earning less than RM1,000 a month. Living in the same household are his 85-year-old mother, 71-year-old mother-in-law, wife and their five children. The eldest son is working. In view of the family's financial burden, two of the kids chose to quit secondary school. The 16-year-old stopped schooling three years ago, the other one dropped out this year. The secondary school is located slightly away from home, requiring a daily bus fare and allowance of RM5. The other two children in primary school would need RM2 everyday for bus fare and pocket money. The family lives in very poor conditions, the wooden hut they call home does not even have proper sanitation. Second: A family lives in a low cost house in Jalan Sawi. Their electricity supply was cut off after failing to pay the bill. The 45-year-old home owner lost his job due to his recurrent migraine and eye problems, side effects from a motorbike accident that happened when he was 19. His eldest son is 18. The other children, aged between 12 to 16, had to quit school. The youngest child, a diabetic, needs insulin shots four times a day. Third: A mother who desperately seeks donations from door to door to save her two-year-old girl, born with a hole in the heart. Her husband does odd jobs, unable to sustain full-time employment after a motorcycle injury. They have three children. Better education enabled her to get a job, which she gave up in order to care for her sick child. She now works as helper in a hawker stall earning RM2 per hour. Since the Kluang General Hospital has no specialist doctor for the little girl's condition, she must travel to Johor Bahru, about 110km from their home, for treatment. A very costly trip for someone who earns two ringgit per hour. Our shared pains Each of these stories pains me. It is a travesty that 56 years after Merdeka, there are still children-turned-dropouts for want of finances. So many cases of poverty are linked to motorcycle accidents that caused injuries or death. Every year, 6,000 people perish from road accidents and an average of 50,000 are injured. Bhind each death or injury is a tale of woe. Not enough thought is put into how to improve our public transport system. How do we break out from the private car-oriented traffic model? The social welfare department offers minimal assistance and monetary aid, the general attitude is almost as though "too little is better than none". The system is unable to cope with the new welfare needs which arise. Our policies towards medical needs in society are indifferent, passive, and "no money no talk". At the same time, the problems faced by an aging population are hardly on the radar of the authorities' planning considerations. After the 1997 financial crisis, our economy did not grow by leaps and bounds, wages have been suppressed. The influx of foreign labour further kept our wages stagnant. Many hardworking citizens barely have enough to make ends meet. When sickness strikes, it can cause an entire family to lose its breadwinner. And oh yes, the three families in the stories above are all Malay. Breaking out of the racial frame Yet some of us are still stuck in the racial frame. Some Chinese even believe that ALL Malays obtain government assistance. I would like to say to them that poverty knows no racial barrier. There are far more poor Malay households than we imagine. The Malays are not the problem. The real problem is Umno. It is Umno that claims it protects the Malay's economic interests. Yet I can argue that the numerous evidence of Malay poverty would prove otherwise. Let us take off the tinted lenses of "race". Look at the needs of every person in terms of job opportunities, education, housing, transport, health care, welfare. It is time for policy-makers to go back to the basics of our fundamental human needs, in order to rebuild this broken nation. - August 30, 2013.

Merdeka also means freedom from poverty Posted: 29 Aug 2013 08:21 PM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 11:41 am Liew Chin Tong is the DAP MP for Bukit Bendera. When it comes to mainstream media, whether it's the Malay, Chinese, Tamil or English press, the political debate would inevitably be framed in racial and ethnic terms. In the familiar discourse that revolves around race, everyone seems to have an opinion to add to the endless fray. This tends to lead to a collective fatigue and people shy away from the topics that should actually occupy media space and public policy debate - the important issues of health and disease, career, education, and other basic necessities of life. As we celebrate Merdeka day, I would like to share three real life stories from my constituency of Kluang in central Johor. Three true stories First: A family of nine lives in Sri Lalang, in a kampung located between the Kluang and Ayer Hitam parliamentary boundaries. The man of the house is a lorry attendant, earning less than RM1,000 a month. Living in the same household are his 85-year-old mother, 71-year-old mother-in-law, wife and their five children. The eldest son is working. In view of the family's financial burden, two of the kids chose to quit secondary school. The 16-year-old stopped schooling three years ago, the other one dropped out this year. The secondary school is located slightly away from home, requiring a daily bus fare and allowance of RM5. The other two children in primary school would need RM2 everyday for bus fare and pocket money. The family lives in very poor conditions, the wooden hut they call home does not even have proper sanitation. Second: A family lives in a low cost house in Jalan Sawi. Their electricity supply was cut off after failing to pay the bill. The 45-year-old home owner lost his job due to his recurrent migraine and eye problems, side effects from a motorbike accident that happened when he was 19. His eldest son is 18. The other children, aged between 12 to 16, had to quit school. The youngest child, a diabetic, needs insulin shots four times a day. Third: A mother who desperately seeks donations from door to door to save her two-year-old girl, born with a hole in the heart. Her husband does odd jobs, unable to sustain full-time employment after a motorcycle injury. They have three children. Better education enabled her to get a job, which she gave up in order to care for her sick child. She now works as helper in a hawker stall earning RM2 per hour. Since the Kluang General Hospital has no specialist doctor for the little girl's condition, she must travel to Johor Bahru, about 110km from their home, for treatment. A very costly trip for someone who earns two ringgit per hour. Our shared pains Each of these stories pains me. It is a travesty that 56 years after Merdeka, there are still children-turned-dropouts for want of finances. So many cases of poverty are linked to motorcycle accidents that caused injuries or death. Every year, 6,000 people perish from road accidents and an average of 50,000 are injured. Bhind each death or injury is a tale of woe. Not enough thought is put into how to improve our public transport system. How do we break out from the private car-oriented traffic model? The social welfare department offers minimal assistance and monetary aid, the general attitude is almost as though "too little is better than none". The system is unable to cope with the new welfare needs which arise. Our policies towards medical needs in society are indifferent, passive, and "no money no talk". At the same time, the problems faced by an aging population are hardly on the radar of the authorities' planning considerations. After the 1997 financial crisis, our economy did not grow by leaps and bounds, wages have been suppressed. The influx of foreign labour further kept our wages stagnant. Many hardworking citizens barely have enough to make ends meet. When sickness strikes, it can cause an entire family to lose its breadwinner. And oh yes, the three families in the stories above are all Malay. Breaking out of the racial frame Yet some of us are still stuck in the racial frame. Some Chinese even believe that ALL Malays obtain government assistance. I would like to say to them that poverty knows no racial barrier. There are far more poor Malay households than we imagine. The Malays are not the problem. The real problem is Umno. It is Umno that claims it protects the Malay's economic interests. Yet I can argue that the numerous evidence of Malay poverty would prove otherwise. Let us take off the tinted lenses of "race". Look at the needs of every person in terms of job opportunities, education, housing, transport, health care, welfare. It is time for policy-makers to go back to the basics of our fundamental human needs, in order to rebuild this broken nation. - August 30, 2013.

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Merdeka: Umat Islam jangan terpedaya dengan helah teknologi Posted: 30 Aug 2013 01:11 AM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 05:45 pm Umat Islam diingatkan pelbagai cara sedang dilakukan oleh mereka yang tidak bertanggungjawab untuk melemahkan jati diri ummah sehingga menyebabkan masyarakat Islam seolah-olah hilang panduan dan pedoman untuk membezakan mana benar, mana salah, mana palsu dan mana yang tulen. Khutbah Jumaat yang dikeluarkan Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim) hari ini menggariskan antara cara yang melemahkan jati diri umat Islam ialah melalui pembohongan fakta, pencemaran budaya, penyebaran racun akidah melalui media massa, internet, Facebook, emel, SMS dan sebagainya. Khutbah bertajuk `Jati Diri Asas Kemerdekaan Negara' itu, berkata penjajahan minda di bawah inovasi canggih menjadikan ruang sosial tidak mempunyai sempadan sehingga segala maklumat memenuhi ruang tanpa kawalan dan pemantauan berkesan. Katanya, proses pendemokrasian maklumat itu berjalan pantas dan media massa mempunyai pengaruh besar dalam mencanai pemikiran rakyat. "Serangan musuh Islam ini hampir berjaya, sehinggakan pada hari ini kita sedang mengalami ketidaktentuan dalam masyarakat yang kita tidak tahu apa puncanya hingga umat Islam dicabar jiwa dan jati dirinya," katanya. Khutbah berkenaan turut menyentuh mengenai penghinaan kepada umat Islam secara berterusan seperti memperlekeh hak eksklusif ummah, contohnya kalimah Allah, masjid dan sebagainya, mempersendakan ibadah umat Islam seperti menghina bulan Ramadan dengan hidangan binatang yang haram di sisi Islam dan paling malang lagi ada yang sanggup menghina Rasulullah. Dalam khutbah itu, umat Islam diingatkan bahawa menjadi tanggungjawab orang Islam untuk meletakkan kepentingan agama dan akidah di tempat teratas dan semua yang merosakkan agama dan akidah wajib dihindarkan. "Umat Islam yang menjaga agama akan menjadi seorang yang berintegriti, tidak akan membenarkan sesuatu berlaku yang akan merosakkan akhlak dan moral. Mereka yang tidak beragama akan lemah akhlaknya dan hilang semangat patriotik dan jati dirinya, dan tidak mustahil akan menggadaikan kepentingan negaranya demi memenuhi tuntutan hawa nafsunya," katanya. Khutbah itu menyeru umat Islam yang mempunyai jati diri, cintakan agama, bangsa dan negara bersatu padu dalam menangani isu berkenaan. Katanya, perpecahan berdasarkan ketaksuban dan fahaman kepartian yang sempit sebenarnya akan merugikan ummah itu sendiri bahkan akan terus melemahkan ummah sehingga tidak lagi dihormati oleh mereka yang bukan Islam. "Cukup-cukuplah kita membicarakan parti mana yang bagus dan pemimpin mana bersih kerana ia pasti tidak akan berkesudahan. Pada masa ini, perpaduan antara kita mestilah menjadi agenda utama demi memastikan Islam sebagai agama rasmi negara dipertahankan," katanya. Sempena sambutan bertemakan, `Malaysia Berdaulat, Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku', khutbah itu mengajak umat Islam mengenang kembali pengorbanan dan susah payah pejuang negara yang banyak berjasa kepada agama, bangsa dan negara. Tetapi, pada masa sama, umat Islam katanya, perlu sedar bahawa perjuangan kemerdekaan belum lagi selesai sekalipun kita pada hari ini tidak lagi dijajah secara fizikal dan masih banyak lagi perkara yang perlu dilakukan. Katanya, kemerdekaan lebih empat dekad ini perlu diisi dengan pembangunan fizikal, mental dan spiritual dan dibangunkan dengan memelihara kekuatan politik, ekonomi, sosial, agama, bahasa, budaya dan seni warisan bangsa. "Kita sebagai rakyat tidak boleh berpeluk tubuh dan berasa puas hati dengan apa yang dikecapi selama ini. Jangan kita menjadikan sambutan Hari kemerdekaan sebagai satu cuti umum sahaja atau pesta untuk bersuka ria," katanya. Maka, katanya, bagi memulakan agenda besar itu, umat Islam digalakkan mengisi hari kemerdekaan dnegan nilai keimanan dan ketakwaan sejati untuk melaksanakan segala amanah yang diberikan dengan sepenuhnya kerana ia sebahagian daripada syahadah dan ikrar kepada Allah. "Kepada generasi muda, mimbar yang mulia ini menyeru menyelami erti kemerdekaan dengan menjadikan pengorbanan generasi terdahulu sebagai satu inspirasi untuk kita terus berusaha gigih menjadi bangsa yang maju. "Kenangilah tokoh pejuang kemerdekaan dan bayangkanlah suasana di zaman mereka yang penuh dengan ancaman, jerit perit, susah payah namun tetap mereka teruskan perjuangan walau dengan air mata, keringat dan darah demi untuk mendapatkan sebuah kemerdekaan. "Kita doakan juga supaya negara tercinta terus dikekalkan nikmat kestabilan politik dan keamanan, keteguhan ekonomi, dijauhkan segala perbuatan jahat dan fitnah yang boleh membawa malapetaka dan kehancuran negara. "Tanamkanlah rasa kasih sayang di antara rakyat yang berbilang kaum, kukuhkan perpaduan di kalangan mereka semoga sentiasa hidup dalam kemakmuran dan keselamatan sepanjang zaman," katanya. – 30 Ogos, 2013.

Merdeka: Umat Islam jangan terpedaya dengan helah teknologi Posted: 30 Aug 2013 01:11 AM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 05:45 pm Umat Islam diingatkan pelbagai cara sedang dilakukan oleh mereka yang tidak bertanggungjawab untuk melemahkan jati diri ummah sehingga menyebabkan masyarakat Islam seolah-olah hilang panduan dan pedoman untuk membezakan mana benar, mana salah, mana palsu dan mana yang tulen. Khutbah Jumaat yang dikeluarkan Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim) hari ini menggariskan antara cara yang melemahkan jati diri umat Islam ialah melalui pembohongan fakta, pencemaran budaya, penyebaran racun akidah melalui media massa, internet, Facebook, emel, SMS dan sebagainya. Khutbah bertajuk `Jati Diri Asas Kemerdekaan Negara' itu, berkata penjajahan minda di bawah inovasi canggih menjadikan ruang sosial tidak mempunyai sempadan sehingga segala maklumat memenuhi ruang tanpa kawalan dan pemantauan berkesan. Katanya, proses pendemokrasian maklumat itu berjalan pantas dan media massa mempunyai pengaruh besar dalam mencanai pemikiran rakyat. "Serangan musuh Islam ini hampir berjaya, sehinggakan pada hari ini kita sedang mengalami ketidaktentuan dalam masyarakat yang kita tidak tahu apa puncanya hingga umat Islam dicabar jiwa dan jati dirinya," katanya. Khutbah berkenaan turut menyentuh mengenai penghinaan kepada umat Islam secara berterusan seperti memperlekeh hak eksklusif ummah, contohnya kalimah Allah, masjid dan sebagainya, mempersendakan ibadah umat Islam seperti menghina bulan Ramadan dengan hidangan binatang yang haram di sisi Islam dan paling malang lagi ada yang sanggup menghina Rasulullah. Dalam khutbah itu, umat Islam diingatkan bahawa menjadi tanggungjawab orang Islam untuk meletakkan kepentingan agama dan akidah di tempat teratas dan semua yang merosakkan agama dan akidah wajib dihindarkan. "Umat Islam yang menjaga agama akan menjadi seorang yang berintegriti, tidak akan membenarkan sesuatu berlaku yang akan merosakkan akhlak dan moral. Mereka yang tidak beragama akan lemah akhlaknya dan hilang semangat patriotik dan jati dirinya, dan tidak mustahil akan menggadaikan kepentingan negaranya demi memenuhi tuntutan hawa nafsunya," katanya. Khutbah itu menyeru umat Islam yang mempunyai jati diri, cintakan agama, bangsa dan negara bersatu padu dalam menangani isu berkenaan. Katanya, perpecahan berdasarkan ketaksuban dan fahaman kepartian yang sempit sebenarnya akan merugikan ummah itu sendiri bahkan akan terus melemahkan ummah sehingga tidak lagi dihormati oleh mereka yang bukan Islam. "Cukup-cukuplah kita membicarakan parti mana yang bagus dan pemimpin mana bersih kerana ia pasti tidak akan berkesudahan. Pada masa ini, perpaduan antara kita mestilah menjadi agenda utama demi memastikan Islam sebagai agama rasmi negara dipertahankan," katanya. Sempena sambutan bertemakan, `Malaysia Berdaulat, Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku', khutbah itu mengajak umat Islam mengenang kembali pengorbanan dan susah payah pejuang negara yang banyak berjasa kepada agama, bangsa dan negara. Tetapi, pada masa sama, umat Islam katanya, perlu sedar bahawa perjuangan kemerdekaan belum lagi selesai sekalipun kita pada hari ini tidak lagi dijajah secara fizikal dan masih banyak lagi perkara yang perlu dilakukan. Katanya, kemerdekaan lebih empat dekad ini perlu diisi dengan pembangunan fizikal, mental dan spiritual dan dibangunkan dengan memelihara kekuatan politik, ekonomi, sosial, agama, bahasa, budaya dan seni warisan bangsa. "Kita sebagai rakyat tidak boleh berpeluk tubuh dan berasa puas hati dengan apa yang dikecapi selama ini. Jangan kita menjadikan sambutan Hari kemerdekaan sebagai satu cuti umum sahaja atau pesta untuk bersuka ria," katanya. Maka, katanya, bagi memulakan agenda besar itu, umat Islam digalakkan mengisi hari kemerdekaan dnegan nilai keimanan dan ketakwaan sejati untuk melaksanakan segala amanah yang diberikan dengan sepenuhnya kerana ia sebahagian daripada syahadah dan ikrar kepada Allah. "Kepada generasi muda, mimbar yang mulia ini menyeru menyelami erti kemerdekaan dengan menjadikan pengorbanan generasi terdahulu sebagai satu inspirasi untuk kita terus berusaha gigih menjadi bangsa yang maju. "Kenangilah tokoh pejuang kemerdekaan dan bayangkanlah suasana di zaman mereka yang penuh dengan ancaman, jerit perit, susah payah namun tetap mereka teruskan perjuangan walau dengan air mata, keringat dan darah demi untuk mendapatkan sebuah kemerdekaan. "Kita doakan juga supaya negara tercinta terus dikekalkan nikmat kestabilan politik dan keamanan, keteguhan ekonomi, dijauhkan segala perbuatan jahat dan fitnah yang boleh membawa malapetaka dan kehancuran negara. "Tanamkanlah rasa kasih sayang di antara rakyat yang berbilang kaum, kukuhkan perpaduan di kalangan mereka semoga sentiasa hidup dalam kemakmuran dan keselamatan sepanjang zaman," katanya. – 30 Ogos, 2013.

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France set for poor wine grape harvest Posted: 29 Aug 2013 04:43 PM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 03:43 pm France is facing one of its poorest wine grape harvests in four decades, forecasts showed on Wednesday, due to a cold and rainy spring and severe hail storms. The 2013 harvest is expected to reach just 43.5 millions hectolitres -- well below the 10-year average of 45.4 million, according forecasts from the FranceAgriMer public agricultural service. That would make the 2013 harvest one of the worst in 40 years and only a slight improvement on last year's record low harvest of 41.4 million, according to Jerome Despey, head of FranceAgriMer's viticulture section. He said cool temperatures and excessive rains contributed to a particularly poor harvest, while some vineyard owners in famed wine regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy saw their harvests nearly wiped out by severe hail storms. Despey added that early tests also showed low sugar content. "Sugar hasn't developed in the grapes and we'll have much lower (alcohol) levels than in previous years," he added. Forecasts released by the agriculture ministry earlier this month, before devastating storms in Bordeaux, had already predicted France would experience one of the smallest harvests in 40 years in 2013. – AFP/Relaxnews, August 30, 2013.

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Playoff losers to enter draw for Fenerbahce’s spot Posted: 29 Aug 2013 09:01 AM PDT August 30, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 08:01 am Fenerbahce's replacements in the Europa League will be picked by a draw involving all the teams who lose in the playoff round this week, UEFA said today. Turkish side Fenerbahce lost to Arsenal in their Champions League playoff this week, sending them into the Europa League. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected on Wednesday Fenerbahce's appeal against a two-year European ban, imposed by UEFA in June over a domestic match-fixing scandal in 2011. UEFA said the draw would take place tomorrow, before the competition's main group-stage draw. - Reuters, August 29, 2013.

Malaysia, India in do-or-die mission in Asia Cup hockey semi-final Posted: 29 Aug 2013 06:24 AM PDT August 29, 2013 Latest Update: August 30, 2013 05:24 am The national hockey squad are going into the pitch fully aware of their heavy responsibility when they meet a revitalised India in the semi-final of the 2013 Asia Cup in Ipoh tomorrow. Both teams are on a do-or-die mission with Malaysia intent on creating history to march into the final for the first time since the competition was introduced in 1982. India are also under pressure to book a ticket to the 2014 World Cup in The Hague, in the Netherlands and they have no choice except to emerge as champions here to qualify automatically for Holland. On the other hand, Malaysia as the third reserve team, are almost certain of going to the 2014 World Cup and the Malaysian Hockey Confederation is putting the target of clinching the championship for the national squad under coach Paul Revington. In the group matches, India topped the pack with 19 goals to one compared to Malaysia with 15 goals to eight in three matches. Malaysia, ranked 13th in the world, are expected to face a tough fight against India's squad under their temporary coach Roelant Oltmans. In their last meeting, Malaysia and India drew 2-2 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Championship in March. As the match concerns a berth in the 2014 World Cup, India are expected to go all out to keep alive their record of appearing in every World Cup since 1971. - Bernama, August 29, 2013.

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Asylum seekers threaten to sink Australian govt in election Posted: 29 Aug 2013 12:58 AM PDT August 29, 2013 Latest Update: August 29, 2013 11:58 pm A woman carries a placard during a protest against the Australian government's policy on asylum-seekers in central Sydney. - Reuters pic.Australian Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare crouches uncomfortably in a suit on the canvas of a youth boxing ring in Sydney's hardscrabble Western Suburbs, shaping up for the election fight of his life. Clare, in charge of a border circling 12 million square kilometres of ocean, has the unenviable job of stopping thousands of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia, an issue threatening to bring down Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor government at elections just two weeks away. "People are drowning to get here. It opens up old scars. People say 'please stop more people drowning'," says the campaigning Clare, whose wife is from a Vietnamese family who risked their lives to reach Australia following the 1975 fall of Saigon. Clare grew up in the Western Suburbs, far away from Sydney's glittering harbour and affluent eastern beachsides, in an area long thought to be a centre-left Labor heartland of blue-collar jobs and traditional manufacturing. But his humanitarian reasoning does not go far in explaining why Rudd's minority government is struggling here to avert a Sept. 7 poll rout, with surveys tipping the loss of six election-turning seats, some held for 70 years. In this traffic-choked home to two million, a crucible of Australian multiculturalism where many are new migrants, soaring living costs, groaning infrastructure and disappearing jobs have badly hurt Labor, along with crime and drive-by shootings helping to fuel feelings of insecurity. And as voters lose faith in Rudd's pledge to improve lives through better transport, health and education, they have also grown resentful of new boat people seen as potential security threats, immigration queue jumpers and rivals for jobs. "The issue plays out in every single possible way. Rumours go around about them getting $50,000 for a car, or welfare, or whatever. The refugees are an easy people to blame," says local Labor MP Julie Owens. POLITICAL THORN Immigration has been a political thorn in Australia since its colonial settlement, but more so since the post-World War Two arrival of more than 100,000 non-English speaking Europeans under a government strategy to "populate or perish". In a nation then seeing itself as culturally nearer to Europe than Asia, a wave of Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants fleeing conflict through the 1970s and 80s also stirred unease. But when the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States brought increased border protection globally, asylum worries in Australia were shaped into a political spear, helping conservative prime minister John Howard return to power that year with a promise of uncompromising security. Now, with instability in Afghanistan, Syria and Iran driving refugee numbers globally to near a 20-year high of 45.2 million, asylum boats are again colouring the election race, up with bread and butter issues like the economy and education. Since Labor swept away Howard's conservatives six years ago, more than 50,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia, stoking a voter backlash so visceral that Rudd in July promised no one arriving by boat would be permanently settled, being instead sent to live in neighbouring Papua New Guinea or Nauru. Canberra's approach contrasts with moves by key ally the United States to offer a pathway to citizenship for many of its 11 million illegal immigrants, although European countries have also hardened immigration rules amid global financial woes. But while Australia's policy - matching opposition promises of tougher immigration rules - was criticised by the United Nations, political pundits say it could neutralise an issue threatening to send Labor into opposition for a generation. AUSTRALIA FOR FREEDOM In the My Hung fabric shop in Sydney's Cabramatta, an area dubbed "little Saigon" with its myriad noodle shops and migrant families from Vietnam and Cambodia, Thi Duc Diep underscores the problems facing Rudd on Labor's Sydney "Western Front". Located in one of 10 marginal seats held by the government and at risk of loss, almost six in 10 people here were born overseas and average income of $1,030 a week is well short of the national figure, while 10 percent unemployment is roughly double the national average. Greater Sydney, home to 4.6 million people, is not only one of the most expensive cities to buy property, with home prices soaring 6.1 percent this year to a median $640,000, but surveys put it near Zurich and Geneva as one of the least affordable places to live, a fifth more expensive than New York. Diep fled Saigon by boat in 1978, and like many other overseas-born Australian voters now has a deep antipathy to asylum seekers, who she believes are fleeing for largely economic reasons and the promise of generous welfare. "We came here for freedom. We worked hard to be honest," the bespectacled 53-year-old says. "I don't want people who don't want to go to work. They shouldn't just take the unemployment benefits." Along with asylum, Diep blames the soaring cost of living and new carbon taxes championed by Rudd for undermining the $1.5 trillion economy, reflected now in gloomy business confidence and fears of the first recession for 22 years as a China-led resource export boom fades. In an alley around the corner, cafe owner and swing voter Eddie Nguyen also wants Labor out, and says many of his customers are hoping to see conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott become prime minister. "I think Australia's government should have strong rules, a strong commitment to protect Australians," says Nguyen, who spent three years in a refugee camp in Indonesia before being accepted as a refugee to Australia in 1987. "I don't agree with people going direct to the country like this. It's like your family, someone knocks on your door and says I want to come into your house, and you have to accept them. That's just not right. You have to go somewhere and wait until somebody accepts you." LAND OF GOLD AND HONEY Pollster John Scales of JWS Research says much of the anger being directed against Labor has its roots in a kind of racist-tinged envy, with migrant voters worried that new boat arrivals from other countries will lessen their chances of bringing more family members to Australia. Australia's population growth to near 23 million was driven mostly by a doubling in net migration in eight years, from around 120,000 to around 240,000, helping fill mining jobs but bringing fresh problems. "Once you get here, it's not the land of gold and honey. Asylum seekers are where frustration gets vented," Scales says. "It's a different sort of racism to standard Australian Anglo-Saxon racism. But it's still racism." Labor MP Michelle Rowland, whose Sydney seat of Greenway is one of the most precariously balanced, says Labor is in difficulty because Western Sydney has become increasingly frustrated and ambitious. Not helping, she says, has been a frontpage campaign against Labor by billionaire media owner Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, which have been particularly critical of asylum policy switches under Labor. "When you're sitting in a traffic jam on the motorway or waiting for a train that never comes, it's easy to think about the taxes you've paid and the benefits others might get," Rowland says. "Asylum is right up there." Abbott, mindful of the simmering mood for change, has made Western Sydney a top priority, visiting often with a promise of tougher asylum seeker laws, which he says will reduce hundreds of boats arriving now to a trickle, and to reinvigorate economic confidence by scrapping carbon taxes and building new roads. "We will build the roads of the 21st century and we will stop the boats," he told journalists on a recent swing through the area. "The message that I give to the people of Australia and to the people of Western Sydney is that if you want a new way, you've got to choose a new government." - Reuters, August 29, 2013.

Scientists grow “mini human brains” from stem cells Posted: 28 Aug 2013 04:15 PM PDT August 29, 2013 Latest Update: August 29, 2013 03:15 pm Scientists have grown the first mini human brains in a laboratory and say their success could lead to new levels of understanding about the way brains develop and what goes wrong in disorders like schizophrenia and autism. Researchers based in Austria started with human stem cells and created a culture in the lab that allowed them to grow into so-called "cerebral organoids" - or mini brains - that consisted of several distinct brain regions. It is the first time that scientists have managed to replicate the development of brain tissue in three dimensions. Using the organoids, the scientists were then able to produce a biological model of how a rare brain condition called microcephaly develops - suggesting the same technique could in future be used to model disorders like autism or schizophrenia that affect millions of people around the world. "This study offers the promise of a major new tool for understanding the causes of major developmental disorders of the brain ... as well as testing possible treatments," said Paul Matthews, a professor of clinical neuroscience at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the research but was impressed with its results. Zameel Cader, a consultant neurologist at Britain's John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, described the work as "fascinating and exciting". He said it extended the possibility of stem cell technologies for understanding brain development and disease mechanisms - and for discovering new drugs. Although it starts as relatively simple tissue, the human brain swiftly develops into the most complex known natural structure, and scientists are largely in the dark about how that happens. This makes it extremely difficult for researchers to gain an understanding of what might be going wrong in - and therefore how to treat - many common disorders of the brain such as depression, schizophrenia and autism. To create their brain tissue, Juergen Knoblich and Madeline Lancaster at Austria's Institute of Molecular Biotechnology and fellow researchers at Britain's Edinburgh University Human Genetics Unit began with human stem cells and grew them with a special combination of nutrients designed to capitalise on the cells' innate ability to organise into complex organ structures. They grew tissue called neuroectoderm - the layer of cells in the embryo from which all components of the brain and nervous system develop. Fragments of this tissue were then embedded in a scaffold and put into a spinning bioreactor - a system that circulates oxygen and nutrients to allow them to grow into cerebral organoids. After a month, the fragments had organised themselves into primitive structures that could be recognised as developing brain regions such as retina, choroid plexus and cerebral cortex, the researchers explained in a telephone briefing. At two months, the organoids reached a maximum size of around 4 millimetres (0.16 inches), they said. Although they were very small and still a long way from resembling anything like the detailed structure of a fully developed human brain, they did contain firing neurons and distinct types of neural tissue. "This is one of the cases where size doesn't really matter," Knoblich told reporters. "Our system is not optimised for generation of an entire brain and that was not at all our goal. Our major goal was to analyse the development of human brain (tissue) and generate a model system we can use to transfer knowledge from animal models to a human setting." In an early sign of how such mini brains may be useful for studying disease in the future, Knoblich's team were able to use their organoids to model the development of microcephaly, a rare neurological condition in which patients develop an abnormally small head, and identify what causes it. Both the research team and other experts acknowledged, however, that the work was a very long way from growing a fully-functioning human brain in a laboratory. "The human brain is the most complex thing in the known universe and has a frighteningly elaborate number of connections and interactions, both between its numerous subdivisions and the body in general," said Dean Burnett, lecturer in psychiatry at Cardiff University. "Saying you can replicate the workings of the brain with some tissue in a dish in the lab is like inventing the first abacus and saying you can use it to run the latest version of Microsoft Windows - there is a connection there, but we're a long way from that sort of application yet." – Reuters, August 29, 2013.

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