TGIF! Here's today's scoop to end your week with:
- Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says a special unit has been set up to monitor Internet postings that can ignite racial tension and cause disunity. [The Star]
- PM Najib Razak wants you to trust the mainstream media as it's "its facts cannot be questioned". Alternative media, on the other hand, publishes reports based on opinions which are “half truths and not accurate”. [The Malaysian Insider]
- 16-year-old Nabil Jeffri made motor sport history yesterday by becoming the youngest person to drive a Formula One car in an official test. [Times of India]
- Former member of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) Malaysia Shamsuddin Sulaiman has been released after spending eight years under ISA. [Bernama]
- A tourist bus from Genting Highland skidded and turned turtle during heavy downpour at KM35.1 of the Karak Highway, leaving 18 injured. [AsiaOne]
- US soldiers are now allowed to get high on ecstasy, all in the name of finding a way to cope with post traumatic stress disorder. Two researchers will test their theory in therapy sessions. [Wired]
- Catherine Zeta Jones has lashed out at doctors for failing to spot husband Michael Douglas's throat cancer sooner. [BBC News]
- Several on-going experiments have shown that McDonald's food stubbornly refuse to rot. While many think its the chemicals and preservatives that are keeping McDonald's food immortal, fat is actually the real culprit. [Newser]
(Photo from Getty Images) Read more
Everyone's getting into the business of making a more interactive, immersive videogame console controller. Sony's latest offering, the cool PlayStation Move, is set to hit Malaysian stores on 15 September. But will it usher in the promised new age of gaming? Read more
It's Thursday already - ain't that lovely? Time to exercise your reading muscle with our Daily Digest!
- Tan Sri Omar will take over as the new Inspector-General of Police from 13 September. The current IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan will retire after having his tenure extended twice. [The Star]
- Surgeons must obtain their female patients' consent before taking photos of their intimate parts, according to Penang High Court. This comes after a woman had filed the suit against general and colo-rectal surgeon Dr Lim Teik Mau saying she felt violated after he took photographs of her private parts during a haemorrhoids surgery. [Straits Times]
- A Malay Mail editor, Irwan Abdul Rahman, accused of publishing the article “TNB to sue WWF over earth hour” earlier this year, has pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Communications and Multimedia Act. [Free Malaysia Today]
- Apple announced new technological wonders, including a new iPod Touch, Apple TV, an Apple music social network called Ping and an updated iTunes 10. [USA Today]
- A gunman was shot dead after taking three people hostage in the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in the US. The man had been arrested before for protesting against Discovery Channel over environmental issues. [msnbc.com]
- Ferrari is recalling more than 400 luxury Italia cars after reports that a design fault could cause them to catch fire. [AFP]
- Scandinavian airline SAS plans to host the first-ever in-flight gay wedding in December. The airline is currently searching for a suitable couple to walk down the airplane aisle. [Telegraph]
(Photo from Stuff.co.uk) Read more
Celcom users, listen up: You've heard the boy, you've sang along to his songs, and his hairstyle has been copied by many. Justin Bieber is no stranger to the music scene, and here's a chance for you to win an all-expense paid trip to Tokyo to meet him in the flesh and watch his live acoustic performance. Read more
In our travels across cultural time and space, we happened upon this nifty film project called Hujan Panas: a 20-minute short about a Malaysian dude who heads to New York in pursuit of his dream. Love, business courses and identity crises ensue. We talk to filmmaker Nadiah Hamzah about living in NY, why she loves movies, and the Malaysian Brain Drain! Read more
Is it September already? Time sure flies! How was Merdeka for you? Anyway, here's what's in the news today:
- Songwriter, film-maker and rapper Namewee has given his statement to the police over his latest controversial video clip 'Nah'. Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin says the time has come for stern action and a lesson for all. [The Edge]
- Namewee's comment on the issue: “It doesn’t mean that If I see something wrong in my country, I will remain quiet because I am Malaysian. I am anti-racism and support 1 Malaysia.” [The Malaysian Insider]
- BBC has denied that it was pressured to axe Raja Petra Kamarudin from its Hardtalk programme this week. [Free Malaysia Today]
- Football team Chelsea has confirmed Malaysia as their pre-season training hub next summer 2011. [The Sun]
- A Sri Lankan tourist died while trying to flee kidnappers, while a friend escaped and another was rescued. The trio had just arrived on holiday and to sell gemstones worth RM4,0000 when they were abducted by a group of men in a van in KLIA. [Sydney Morning Herald]
- President Obama formally brought an end to US combat operations in Iraq last night, seven years after the invasion began, and declared it was time for America "to turn the page". [The Guardian]
- Gmail has unveiled Priority Inbox, which automatically filters the most important messages from spam. [Daily Mail]
(Photo courtesy of Namewee) Read more
Selamat Hari Merdeka, Malaysia! It's been 53 years since we learned to run our own show, but surely there's room for better programming. Nevertheless, here are 13 videos to keep you in a patriotic mood all year round! (Or at least until Malaysia Day). Read more
This year's modest display of official Merdeka joy offers us a lot of crunchy rumination. Information, Communications and Culture MinisterRais Yatim assures us that the Bukit Jalil bash will be "longer, conveys more message, the contents are also more apt". What content? It will feature the army and cops, but "there will be no cultural performance". In honour of our independence celebrations, we look at other awesome National Day parades from around the world!
(Photo from Flickr) Read more
The Body Shop has recently launched its eco-conscious hair care line that's sure to appeal to all you environmentalists out there! Called 'Rainforest', it respects the ecosystem as it is biodegradable and its packaging is made from 100% recycled plastic. Without any silicones, sulphates, parabens or colourants, its perfect for your health, too. Read more
It's a Monday between holidays! Here's the news for you poor sods who didn't take leave today. Oh, you did, did you? Good for you.
- Oh god: bombs in KL? A woman dies after a home-made explosive blows up in front of a Cheras apartment. [The Star]
- Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim warns of stern action against people who produce videos with racist slurs, in response to Namewee's latest video. What about that racist headmistress in Johor, then? [Malaysiakini]
- The BBC drops Raja Petra Kamarudin from its Hardtalk programme, after the network's lawyers advised that having the fugitive blogger as a guest "would expose BBC to legal action and upset the Malaysian government". [The Malaysian Insider]
- An interview with Alec Tok: filmmaker -- and politician in Singapore's opposition. Interesting detail: Alec considers New York to be his home. [CNN Go]
- The inexact, politically-charged art of estimating crowds at rallies: how many people attended crazy conservative Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington DC? [Newser]
- Oh, Paris! She was arrested for cocaine possession. We'd rather you just stick to partying with Jho Low. [TMZ]
- Awesome: guy pepper-sprays homophobic Westboro Baptist Church protesters. [CNN]
- This just in: witchcraft is still alive in parts of the world. An albino girl in Swaziland was beheaded by "black magic practitioners". [NineMSN]
- The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, summed up. [The Daily What]
- Icons of the Web: security firm Nmap took the icons of the Internet's top 288,945 websites and put it together in one big infographic image! [Nmap]
- Almost every action adventure movie had it, once; now you never see it. What happened to quicksand in popular culture? [Slate]
- "I remember when this volcano was dormant. This volcano used to have integrity." Hipster dinosaurs! [Imgur]
(Photo from Nmap)
Read more
Look at this: it's the return of our more-or-less regular column on wordplay, Word Up! And, since it will be Merdeka Day in a wee bit, we have decided to feature the particularly patriotic term:
flaggerific
adjective; pertaining to or describing a situation in which there is a large, often excessive, number of flags.
Usage example: "Why isn't Merdeka this time around as flaggerific as previous years?"
(Photo from mudah.my) Read more
It's all too easy for art to become a bourgeois pastime, stuck in Bukit Bintang or Bangsar or PJ. So it's nice to see projects happening in less middle-class communities. There are two big ones underway right now: Lost Generation Arts Space's Pudu Community Art Project, in Pudu; and Chow Kit Kita, in -- well, Chow Kit, natch!
We talk to Chow Kit Kita project manager Lew Pik-Svonn about why it's happening, how Chow Kit kids are reacting to it, and how we can help out! Read more
Last July, we had a smashing KLue Plus 5 party at Whitebox@MAP, Solaris Dutamas. The theme was "Sustainable Living", and Khairun Nisa emerged as the winner who walked away with the RM2,000 grant and Olympus EP-2 worth RM3,500 for her idea on guerrilla gardening. Read more
Selamat tengahari! We're in a good mood today because the long weekend is finally here. Our office is in Selangor and tomorrow happens to be a state holiday. Woots! Anyway, here's today's serving of Daily Digest:
- This year's Merdeka celebration will feature performance by the armed forces and police. "There will be no cultural performance," says Culture and Arts Department Director-General Datuk Norliza Rofli. [Bernama]
- A teacher was stabbed to death in an attempted grab-and-run incident when she put up a brave fight on the Sunway Pyramid overhead bridge yesterday morning. The kindergarten was on her way to work. [The Star]
- Singapore's prison authorities have given convicted Malaysian Yong Vui Kong more time to file a fresh petition of clemency. The 22-year-old is on death row for drug trafficking in Singapore. [Straits Times]
- Chilean miners trapped deep inside a collapsed mine have been told to lose weight. According to the health minister, the miners will need to be 89cm around the waist in order for them to squeeze through the escape tunnel. [ninemsn]
- 72 bodies were found by Mexican marines at a ranch near the US border. The bodies are believed to be migrants heading to the US who resisted demands for money from drug gang. [Reuters]
- Facebook has blocked a marijuana legalization campaign from displaying the image of a pot leaf in ads on its site. [Newser]
(Photo from Google) Read more
Poetry slams began in the US in 1984; essentially, they are competitions in which poets perform their work -- the "poetry version of emcee rap battles", according to Elaine Foster, who's one of the main people behind the KL Poetry Slam community. We talk to Elaine about spoken word, competitiveness, and developing our own voices! Read more
BMW Malaysia's short film competition is back! Here's your chance to win a film production grant worth RM75,000 in the fourth installation of BMW Shorties. There will also be a judges' clinic for participants, but open only on a first come, first served basis. Read more
Here's your mid-week news:
- PM Najib Razak wants your ideas for the 2011 national budget. It's expected to be tabled in Parliament in October. [Bernama]
- MCA and a Sabah businessman are offering a RM10,000 reward to those with information on the “flying brick” which had killed a man on Monday. [The Star]
- A 3-year-old boy died after a close relative slit his throat in Kelantan. The suspect also attempted to take his own life by slashing his neck, but survived. [AsiaOneNews]
- In China, a plane overshot a runway while landing at a new airport in northeast China late on Tuesday, bursting into flames and killing 42 people of 96 on board. [New York Times]
- The Selangor government will set up a temporary shelter home for abandoned babies. [FreeMalaysiaToday]
- Paris Hilton woke to find a knife-wielding intruder trying to break into her home. "So scary, just got woken up to a guy trying to break into my house holding 2 big knifes." [Mirror.co.uk]
- India will decide on 30 August whether to block some Blackberry services. The government are concerned about the potential for militants to use the secure BlackBerry network to carry out attacks. [Reuters]
- Linday Lohan has been released from court-ordered rehab just 22 days after she entered the facility on 2 August. [MTV]
(Photo from Google) Read more
One of the biggest Ramadhan bazaars in Klang is in Taman Seri Andalas. Not only are there many stalls lining up the street, but it is incredibly spacious as well. There are RELA members present to control the flow of traffic, so that it doesn't get too congested. Read more
It's Tuesday! Here's a serving of notable reads for your procratinating perusal:
- It was a bloody end to Philippines' 11-hour hostage drama that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. Manila police have had to defend their handling of a bus hostage crisis but acknowledged some tactical "shortcomings". [Reuters]
- Hong Kong has urged its residents to cut short or cancel planned trips to the Philippines. Police also tightened security at hotels where tourists from Hong Kong and China were staying, as well as hospitals where some of the hostages were confined. [GMNews.TV]
- A surau in Seremban was splashed with red paint, while broken pieces of liquorwere found in front of the surau. [The Star]
- Several parks in Malaysia have closed after a spate of rat-borne disease leptospirosis death cases. It has killed 10 people since July. [AFP]
- Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren are officially divorced. According to reports Tiger Woods will not be allowed to introduce new girlfriends to the children. [Telegraph]
- A 3-year-old girl is being called a big hero for getting help that saved her dad's life. Alesaundra Tafoya walked several blocks to a nearby fire station after her father collapsed in the living room. [CNN]
- Germany will introduce a new law that will ban bosses from checking out potential hires on social networking sites. [SPIEGEL Online]
- The 150-year-old chestnut tree outside the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam has finally toppled by wind and heavy rain. [New York Times]
(Photo from Google) Read more
Another week, and seven days of daylight hunger and thirst. To get you through this Ramadhan ordeal -- totally helping! -- we present KLue's Buka Puasa Guide 2010, a tantalising survey of the evening food bazaars currently operating in the Klang Valley! Today, we look into the neighbourhood-ly pasar at Section 14, Petaling Jaya. Read more
