Selasa, 28 Jun 2011

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates


Syrian tanks shell villages, Assad offers dialogue

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 08:48 PM PDT

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian tanks shelled a hill region in the northwestern province of Idlib, residents and activists said, in a military assault to suppress protests in rural areas that have already driven thousands of refugees to Turkey.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks in Damascus June 20, 2011, in this handout photograph released by Syria's national news agency SANA. EUTERS/Sana/Handout

The overnight assault was launched a day after the authorities announced they would invite opponents to talks on July 10 to set a framework for a dialogue promised by President Bashar al-Assad, who has faced criticism from Western governments over the military campaign to crush a three-month uprising against his rule.

Opposition leaders have dismissed the offer, saying it is not credible while mass killings and arrests continue.

"I can hear heavy explosions 20 km to the north, around the villages of Rama and Orum al-Joz. My relatives there say the shelling is random," said a resident of Kin Safra village in Jabal al-Zawya region, west of the highway linking the cities of Hama and Aleppo.

Another resident said 30 tanks were transported om Monday from the village of Bdama on the Turkish border, where troops broke into houses and burnt crops, to Jabal al-Zawya.

Rights campaigners say troops, security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad have killed over 1,300 civilians since the uprising for political freedom erupted in the southern Hauran Plain in March, including over 150 people killed in a scorched earth campaign against towns and villages in Idlib.

They say scores of troops and police were also killed for refusing to fire on civilians. Syrian authorities say more than 250 soldiers and police died in clashes with "armed terrorist groups", whom they also blame for most civilian deaths.

Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told Sky News: "We hope that by conducting and hastening the national dialogue, we will be able to isolate any militant or violent group and work together with the international community to overcome that big problem."

More than 10,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Turkey since the military assaults on Idlib began in areas nearer to the border with Turkey thee weeks ago.

Opposition figure Ammar al-Qarabi, head of the Syrian National Organisation for Human Rights, said the latest shelling appeared in preparation for storming Jabal al-Zawya, a region of several villages 35 km south of Turkey that has been witnessing spreading protests against Assad's 11-year rule.

"Jabal al-Zawya was one of the first regions in Syria where people took to street demanding the downfall of the regime. The military attacks have now reached them and they will likely result in more killings and in more refugees to Turkey," Qarabi, who is from Idlib, told Reuters by phone from Cairo.

Turkey shares an 840 km border with Syria, a mostly Sunni country ruled by a tigh knit hierarchy belonging the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Islam.

Turkey and has become increasingly critical of Assad after backing him in his moves to improve ties with the West and seek a peace deal with Israel.

Assad had opened the Syrian market to Turkish goods, but Turkish container traffic to Syria fell sharply over the last month, merchants say.

Sawasiah, another Syrian rights organisation headed by lawyer Mohannad al-Hassani, said a security campaign that has resulted in the arrest of more than 12,000 people across Syria since the uprising erupted in March, has intensified in the last few days.

A statement by Sawasiah said security forces arrested on Tuesday Farhad Khader Ayou, an official in the Kurdish Mustaqbal party, in the eastern province of Hasaka on Tuesday.

The statement said 17 people in the province of Raqqa to the west were arrested in the last 48 hours, adding to hundreds of people arbitrarily arrested across the country this week.

Assad's repression of the protests has triggered Western condemnation and a gradual escalation of U.S. and European Union economic sanctions against Assad and other Syrian officials.

France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe will travel to Russia later this week where he will meet his Russian counterpart and discuss the Syrian impasse in the hope of convincing Moscow to change its stance on a resolution condemning Syria at the United Nations.

French foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Paris was extremely concerned with the ongoing violence in Syria saying that "reforms and repression were not compatible."

Valero, however, said that Syrian authorities took a positive step by allowing a meeting in Damascus on Monday of intellectuals that included several opposition figures.

"Holding such a meeting is positive and we hope it will be the departure point for a real national political dialogue that will facilitate finding a way out of the crisis," he said.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Copyright © 2011 Reuters

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Police search Kabul hotel for more victims after Taliban attack

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 08:48 PM PDT

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties or security threats after an overnight assault by at least six Taliban suicide bombers killed 10 Afghan civilians.

Smoke rises from the Intercontinental hotel as a NATO helicopter flies overhead, in Kabul June 29, 2011. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani)

The attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before NATO helicopters killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, which began late on Tuesday, carried hallmarks of other raids meant to show the Taliban still retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin later on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

The raid also came a week after U.S. President Barack Obama

announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concerns the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

In the early hours of Wednesday, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard during the late-night attack.

Two insurgents were shot dead by police while four others blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more at least an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky over the hotel.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hillside in western Kabul with heavy fortifications all around it, is often used for conferences and by Westerners visiting the city.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the nearby Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of a gradual transition process that will end with all foreign troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition process was due to begin in a government building in the centre of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 was already at its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Paul Tait and Sanjeev Miglani)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

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At least 10 killed in attack on landmark hotel in Afghan capital

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 07:47 PM PDT

KABUL (Reuters) - At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed when suicide bombers and heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked a hotel frequented by Westerners in the Afghan capital late on Tuesday, Afghan officials said.

Smoke rises from the Intercontinental hotel as a NATO helicopter flies overhead, in Kabul June 29, 2011. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani)

Helicopters from the NATO-led force killed the last three insurgents in a final rooftop battle, a coalition spokesman said. Smoke rose from the roof of the Intercontinental hotel as the sun rose over Kabul after a battle lasting several hours.

"At least 10 civilians, including hotel staff, were killed when six suicide bombers attacked the Intercontinental," Mohammad Zahir, the head of the Kabul police crime unit, told Reuters.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said at least six Afghans had been killed.

The attack came the night before the start of a conference about the gradual transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans. The hotel was not one of the venues to be used by the conference or its delegates, an Afghan government official said.

It was also a week after U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans for the initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than two hours, with bursts of gunfire heard during the late-night attack on the Intercontinental, one of two main hotels used by foreigners and Afghan government officials in Kabul.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said there had been gunfire coming from inside the hotel.

"Two ISAF helicopters have ... engaged three individuals on the roof," coalition spokesman Major Tim James said. "The indications are that the three individuals on the roof have been killed."

One Reuters witness said smoke could be seen rising from the hotel, although no fires were visible. Afghan security forces surrounded the hotel and firefighters arrived after the last of the insurgents were killed.

Sediqqi said six or seven insurgents had been involved in the attack, one of the worst in the Afghan capital in months. "All have been killed," he said.

Zahir also said three police officers had been wounded as they cleared the hotel on the city's western outskirts.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

FLARES, TRACER ROUNDS

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more at least an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky over the hotel.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel. Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hillside in western Kabul with heavy fortifications all around it, is often used for conferences and by Westerners visiting the city.

Police threw up roadblocks immediately after the blast, stopping people from approaching the area.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May, although Kabul has been relatively quiet.

The last major attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the nearby Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of a gradual transition process that will end with all foreign troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition process was due to begin in a government building in the centre of the city on Wednesday.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 was already at its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Omar Sobhani, Alistair Scrutton and Akram Walizada; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Copyright © 2011 Reuters

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio


The Big C: Cancer and humour

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 08:45 PM PDT

Oliver Platt treats cancer with humour on The Big C.

FOR much of last season on Showtime's The Big C, Oliver Platt played a husband with no clue his wife had been diagnosed with life-threatening cancer.

It was hard playing those scenes "in the dark," he says. "You had to really focus and forget that you knew." But how? "Well, you just do it. It's your job. You pretend."

Platt is pretty good at that.

But as his dark though ultimately life-affirming comedy returns for a second season soon, Paul is fully informed about the grave condition of his mate, Cathy (played by series star Laura Linney). And while the needy, freewheeling nature Paul displayed before was a burden on Cathy (she even threw him out of the house for a time when the show began), now he's trying to grow up and support her in her fight against this illness.

As a dutiful husband, he even scores some marijuana from his bygone dealer to help ease Cathy's discomfort.

"I cannot believe that the guy I used to call 20 years ago still has the same pager number," Paul crows. "And that I remembered that it was listed under 'Bicycle Parts' in my address book."

Soon, he and Cathy are home, lighting up and getting baked.

For nearly a quarter-century, the 51-year-old Platt has flourished as a character actor who brings a lovable roguery, and insight as well, to his roles. Moon-faced and bulky at 1.9m, his performances range from the shrewd White House counsel challenging President Bartlet on The West Wing to Manhattan rapscallion Nathan Detroit in the 2009 Broadway revival of Guys And Dolls; from the druggy, kinky lawyer in the TV series Huff to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in the miniseries The Bronx Is Burning. Currently, he's appearing as The Man in Black, a CIA team leader, in the sci-fi hit X-Men: First Class.

Platt cites his distinctly non-leading-man looks as an asset.

"What I was told early on was that, as an actor, I had a uniqueness: there wasn't anybody who looked like me, for better or worse, and we don't need to get into THAT any further, thank you," he says, chuckling.

The son of a career diplomat, he grew up in Washington and throughout the Far East as the family was frequently re-stationed. His interest in drama was a response to often being on the move.

"I was always a new kid in school and I figured out this was a way to plug in: I'd try out for a play and then I would have a group of friends," he says. But it was more than a coping device. "I also loved doing it."

Bitten by the bug, he majored in drama at Boston's Tufts University, then spent several years in the local theater scene before embarking for the big time in New York.

He landed his feature film debut in the 1988 hit comedy Married To The Mob.

The career he has enjoyed since then has been busy and eclectic.

"I'm drawn to stuff that I haven't done before," he says. "But at the same time, when you take a job, especially a high-profile job, you want to have a sense that you're not going to completely wipe out. So you try and balance things."

As an example of how things can go askew, he mentions Guys And Dolls.

"I should have had more respect for the material," he says. "I thought: 'I did this in high school. This is going to be great!' And it was a very humbling experience. It was really, really hard." (The Associated Press' late drama critic, Michael Kuchwara, called Platt's depiction of Nathan "cautious rather than comic".)

"But I got deeply attached to that experience," Platt says, "and loved it, in ways that I could never have anticipated."

Platt married in 1992, and he and wife Camilla have three kids ages 16, 14 and 12.

"I don't take it for granted that I'll be offered work," he says. "There's a sense of gratitude that I'm able to support my family doing this."

They live in Greenwich Village, near the breakfast spot where Platt has joined a reporter one recent morning. Chained outside is his bike, which is a no-frills affair, oversized with a 70-cm frame and sporting a plastic dairy-crate basket lashed to the front wheel. After the interview, Platt will pedal off to do chores.

Through the years, he's been able to balance his personal life and career, never venturing too far from home for too long (The Big C is shot within commuting distance in Connecticut).

"Family life to me is incredibly important and fulfilling, and it keeps the noise of show biz in perspective for me," he says, adding: "My wife is very grounded, unimpressed by the superficial trappings of showbiz.

"When I was younger, I had to do a bit of disentangling myself from the acting world. When I got on stage, it became a little too important for me. I needed to turn acting back into a job, instead of a survival mechanism."

But don't get the idea that Platt considers acting just a job. In his mind, it's a process of discovery for all concerned.

"The camera is such an incredibly accurate instrument that it sees way beyond what you're trying to project," he says, "and if you're lucky enough to keep acting, the audience is going to develop a sense of you that you aren't even aware of."

That's all part of the plan.

"What I do is far – far! – from the most important thing in the world," he says. "But it's important to me, and I've never had any doubt that I was doing what I was meant to do." – AP

Catch Oliver Platt in The Big C on Diva Universal (Astro Ch 702) on Saturdays at 4pm (two episodes back-to-back).

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No deceiving Cal

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:31 PM PDT

TV-land bids farewell to one interesting human lie detector.

GOODBYE, Dr Cal Lightman. It was great fun watching you watch other people, squinting your eyes as you scrutinise every little micro-expression on their faces, trying to catch if they are lying or not. You may not have been the most lovable character on TV, but were certainly one of its most interesting.

Lie To Me screens its third and final season in Malaysia this month. The show was cancelled last month, and the crime procedural genre is all the poorer for it.

British actor Tim Roth's portrayal of human lie detector Cal Lightman (based on real life psychologist Dr Paul Ekman, an expert on body language and facial expressions) is often compared to that other obnoxious character in an American TV show played by a British actor.

However, while everyone seems to love Hugh Laurie's House (though not as much these days), Dr Cal Lightman was a much harder character to love. The combination of Roth's sometimes incomprehensible English accent and the infuriatingly arrogant way he swaggers around all the time could be a little off-putting to a viewer more used to TV characters being cuddly, funny or heroic.

However, the fact that Roth managed to make us keep watching for three seasons despite his character being pretty much the meanest, most selfish, and unscrupulous "crime fighter" currently on TV, is testament of the character's appeal.

It's just as well he and his team at the Lightman group – which comprises psychologist Dr Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams), assistant Eli Loker (Brendan Hines) and "natural" lie detector Ria Torres (Monica Raymund) – handle cases that all the teams at CSI wouldn't touch with a 20m pair of tweezers.

The cases in the third season are especially varied, ranging from investigating an explosion at a mine, to helping a rich woman investigate her boyfriend, and even getting involved in a, er ... teenage beauty pageant.

One of the best parts of the show is the way Lightman approaches each case. His methods range from the unorthodox (preventing a man from robbing a bank by helping the gang of robbers to plan and set up the heist) to the completely mental. In the case of the latter, he literally checks himself into a mental hospital in one episode, just to help a client. You don't see Horatio Caine doing that, do you?

Unfortunately, the show's downfall may have been due to the man who was responsible for its (admittedly limited) success in the first place.

As the third season went on, it sometimes felt as if Roth was getting more and more disinterested with the character with each passing episode. His accent grew more and more incomprehensible, and some of the scenes with his employees just didn't have the usual spark or chemistry in them.

Meanwhile, the supporting cast tried their best, but besides Dr Foster, Williams' strong-willed psychiatrist, the others just weren't compelling enough to come out of Lightman's shadow.

On the other hand, there were relationships within the show that showed a great deal of promise, if only they had more time to develop them further. Lightman's bond with his daughter Emily (Hayley McFarland) was growing stronger with every episode while his relationship with Foster was starting to get intriguing. Unfortunately, we will never get to see those relationships develop further.

It is also a pity that the final season of the show only had 13 episodes, and ended without a bang or even a proper send-off for TV's most interesting (and only) human lie detector, which was the least that he deserved.

Admit it: he may not have been your favourite character on TV, but after Lie To Me airs its final episode, you're going to miss Cal Lightman, too. Don't lie.

Lie To Me's finale comes on tonight on Fox (Astro Ch 710) at 8.55pm.

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Hefner Dating Miss November

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 01:10 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters): Meet Hugh Hefner's new girlfriend, almost the same as the old one.

Two weeks after the Playboy founder was dumped by Miss December 2009 just before their wedding, Hefner said on Monday that he was now dating Miss November 2010.

The 85-year-old magazine mogul moved on to Shera Bechard after Crystal Harris had second thoughts about becoming the third Mrs. Hugh Hefner.

Bechard, a 27-year-old French-Canadian model and fledgling actress, moved into the Playboy Mansion in April. In addition to being the magazine's centerfold last November, she will also be Miss November 2011, Hefner said on Twitter.

The Roy Orbison and Seinfeld fan likes men "who are open to exploring their sexuality with me" and "make me laugh so hard I hyperventilate," according to her profile in last year's issue.

Harris, 25, is on the cover of the current issue, billed as "Mrs. Crystal Hefner." It went to press before the break-up, but Hefner was able to rush out "runaway bride" stickers to affix to newsstand copies.

Harris said she got jitters about living a tightly regimented life among dozens of attractive young women at the Playboy mansion, and left Hefner days before their scheduled June 18 wedding.

Initially heartbroken, Hefner has taken a more philosophical stance, saying last weekend that "staying single is probably for the best."

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The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business


First woman to head IMF, Lagarde's selection marks a break with past

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:15 PM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]WASHINGTON: French finance minister Christine Lagarde on Tuesday became the first woman to lead the International Monetary Fund as it recovers from a sex scandal involving the man she'll replace.


News Corp. to sell MySpace this week

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:12 PM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]LOS ANGELES: News Corp. is aiming to sell struggling social network site MySpace this week after three years of massive losses, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move will likely result in the layoff of more than half of the site's remaining 500 workers.


Oil climbs ahead of Greek austerity vote

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:10 PM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]NEW YORK: Oil climbed more than 2 percent Tuesday ahead of a vote in Greece to approve tough new financial reforms that would shore up its beleaguered economy.


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The Star Online: Sports

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The Star Online: Sports


Lewis Hamilton does a U-turn

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:51 PM PDT

VALENCIA: McLaren's Lewis Hamilton came out fighting on Monday, a day after he gloomily declared the Formula One title battle almost over, and promised fans he would never give up despite the odds against him.

"To all our supporters, ignore what u read in the papers today," the 2008 world champion declared on his Twitter feed.

"My team will never give up; I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!!"       

Hamilton had been far less feisty after Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won Sunday's European Grand Prix, the champion and runaway leader's sixth victory in eight races.       

The German now has a 77 point lead over McLaren's Jenson Button and his own Australian team-mate Mark Webber with 11 races remaining. He is 89 ahead of Hamilton.       

Hamilton, who finished fourth in the race, had told reporters in the immediate aftermath that "I think it's finished really.

"In the sense of the championship it's almost over already."       

He later expanded on the theme to British reporters in a conversation at the back of the McLaren garage.       

"I just want to continue finishing races because Sebastian is pretty much gone," he said. "He has pretty much won it really.

"Unless he doesn't finish the next 10 races, which is very, very unlikely, he is gone. He has almost 100 points on me. That is four wins that I need to catch up without him finishing in any of those races," added the Briton.       

"It is not impossible but now it is about working with the guys to score as many team points as possible in the constructors' championship.       

"We can't beat the Red Bull right now. There was over a second per lap difference today. That is just ridiculous."       

The next race is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and the 26-year-old did not want to cast a cloud over his home event and the army of fans hoping for a victory by one of McLaren's two British champions.

"Bring on Silverstone, (yo)ur support will make a world of difference to us. I'm going to the factory now to do all I can with our team," he Tweeted.       

"People make a huge effort to come out, they camp out in the fields and its such an important weekend to them as it is to us and of course we'd love to put on a great show," he had explained after the race.

"We will do what we can." — Reuters

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Federer: Don’t expect a new champion

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:51 PM PDT

ROGER Federer (pic) has warned Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray that it will take a huge effort to stop either him or Rafael Nadal winning yet another Wimbledon title.

Australian Open champion Djokovic has made a powerful start to his bid for a first Wimbledon crown, while Murray's superb form led some pundits to tip him to end Britain's 75-year wait for a men's champion.

But Federer remains on course for a record-equalling seventh triumph after moving into the quarter-finals with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mikhail Youzhny on Monday.

The 16-time Grand Slam winner faces France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight and is seeded to face Djokovic in the semi-finals.

In the other half of the draw defending champion Nadal ground out a four-set win over dangerous Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round.

Nadal, who is seeded to meet world number four Murray in the semi-finals, has appeared in four of the last five Wimbledon finals, while Federer has only missed one final here in the last eight years.

With that in mind, Federer, searching for his first Grand Slam since the 2010 Australian Open, believes it is too soon to talk of the old guard being unseated by Djokovic and Murray.

"We've got to wait and see how this turns out because it could be a repeat of the Djokovic and Murray final in Australia and then I was wrong. If it's not the case, then I was right," Federer said.

"At the end of the day, I don't care if I'm wrong or right. I know where my game is at. I know where Rafa's game is at.

"He was going for four Grand Slams in a row in Australia and when he loses suddenly it's a new era. I just struggle when it goes from one extreme to the next.

"I don't need to get into all that fuss. I just need to straighten the record sometimes, otherwise people go in a direction that's just ridiculous." — AFP

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Ruthless Sharapova dispatches Cibulkova to set up semis date with Lisicki

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:50 PM PDT

MARIA Sharapova looked like a champion under the Centre Court roof at Wimbledon, advancing to the semi–finals at the All England Club for the first time since 2006 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Dominika Cibulkova yesterday.

Sharapova, the only Wimbledon champion remaining in the women's draw after the Williams sisters were eliminated a day earlier, won eight straight games to win the first set and take control of the second.

The fifth-seeded Russian has not lost a set at this year's tournament.

"It's been a few years since I got past the fourth round, and now I'm in the semi–finals," said Sharapova, who won the tournament in 2004 and also reached the semi–finals the following year. "So this a great chance for me to take it a step further."

Sharapova will next face German wildcard entry Sabine Lisicki. She reached her first Grand Slam semis by beating 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1 on another wet day at Wimbledon.

"This is a player that's playing with a tremendous amount of confidence right now and playing really great grass-court tennis, so it'll be a really tough match but I certainly look forward to it," Sharapova said.

With heavy rain causing a racket as it pelted down on the retractable white cover over the court, Lisicki used drop shots to perfection in the first two sets, becoming only the second wildcard entry to reach the women's semi–finals at the All England Club.

"I cannot explain how I feel at the moment," said Lisicki, the first German Grand Slam semi–finalist since Steffi Graf in 1999. "It was just such a tough road back and it's so wonderful to be standing on Centre Court in Wimbledon which I love so much. I'm just so happy."

"My mind was trying extremely hard, but just my body couldn't do anything anymore," said Bartoli, who beat four-time champion Serena Williams in the fourth round.

"I still fought very hard, especially in that second set. ... I have no regrets."

Lisicki, who finished the match with 52 winners to Bartoli's 12, reached the quarter–finals at the All England Club two years ago but lost to Dinara Safina.

The rain briefly delayed the start of play as the roof was closed. – AP

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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf

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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf


People in the Garden

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 02:16 AM PDT

Having a journalist's observant eye helps when you want to create believable fictional characters.

A MOTHER resigned to her fate. A father refusing to water someone else's garden. And a daughter struggling and ultimately breaking free of social and cultural traditions that bind her. These are some of the engrossing concerns addressed in Dipika Rai's debut novel, Someone Else's Garden.

Set in rural India, Garden focuses on Mamta, the eldest of seven children in a low-caste family. Lacking in what is perceived as traditional "beauty", she is scorned and abused by a father who does not want to waste room or even food and water on a daughter who is essentially "someone else's garden".

When a marriage is arranged for her, Mamta, like most young women, begins to dream of a better life. But this hope is cruelly shattered when her new husband not only abuses her, but sells one of her kidneys for money. When she realises that he plans to sell her other kidney as well, not caring if she dies, Mamta flees to the city in search of her two brothers who are there. This journey leads her on a road to freedom, independence and, ultimately, love.

In a recent e-mail interview, I ask the Bali-based Rai what inspired her to write this story, wondering if she wanted to make any sort of social commentary; after all, the perception seems to be that Garden is a treatise on the exploitation of women. But the author is quite firm in dispelling that notion: "My inspiration came from my travels in rural India. I did not set about writing an exposé of the plight of women in India. I wanted to tell a gripping story that had an overwhelmingly redemptive element to it.

"For my protagonist, I wanted to choose someone who had experienced incredible hardship in life and I chose to depict the life of a fictitious rural Indian woman."

Rai makes very clear that not all women who live in rural India are exploited the way that Mamta is. "Mamta is a composite character, and the tendency to assume that all Indian rural women live like Mamta is incorrect," she says.

"I have showcased the role of one exploited woman in my novel. One must not forget that my novel also includes strong women who aren't exploited, like Asmara Didi, Bibiji, and 'Eyebrows'.

"I wanted to express that no matter how bad things get, there is always hope and a way out of even the most desperate circumstances. I wanted to talk about redemption and being able to climb out of one's 'place' in life or destiny and live well. I wanted to talk about the little miracles of life that occur unseen and unheard and make us who we are.

"And because I wanted my message of redemption to be a powerful one, I had to make Mamta's circumstances desperate and life-threatening," she says.

That they are, and they are a large part of Garden's draw, along with the book's characters, which are intriguing and seem to come alive on the page. Take Mamta's mother, Lata Bai, for instance; Rai has succeeded in creating a character that has many different facets to her personality – a mother who only wants the best for her child, a woman who has resigned herself to her fate, and, later, a mother who disowns her daughter when Mamta refuses to resign herself to the same traditions and norms that bound Lata Bai.

Mamta's brother Prem and Daku Manmohan, a local folk hero, are fascinating characters as well. Prem, who adores his older sister and was the only one in Mamta's family who knew that she had run away, is a complex creation that the reader will empathise with, while Daku Manmohan, who stars in all the village girls' fantasies, turns out to be an honourable man who ends up living a life of servitude to pay for his wrongdoings.

Born and educated in India, Rai and her husband and two children moved to Bali, Indonesia, where she used to write about Indonesian art and culture for newspapers and magazines.

As a journalist, she needed to be a keen observer of both people and situations, and she credits this ability for the creation of such well-rounded characters in Someone Else's Garden.

Rai admits that it wasn't easy to get her novel published initially, as many of the publishers that she had approached felt that there was too much "Indian literature" already. But she persevered, and although it took her a year and a half, Someone Else's Garden was finally published.

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SMS to win

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 02:14 AM PDT

DID you know you can vote via SMS in the Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards?

In this fourth instalment of the only local literary award that rewards local authors as well as participating readers, registering your vote is as easy as texting from your phone.

Choose your top three books from the lists below; that is, your top three fiction and top three non-fiction titles.

If you are one of 100 readers whose ranking matches the overall vote, you will receive a RM50 gift voucher as well as a one-year-free-membership Popular card.

And your favourite authors will be rewarded, too, with cash, trophies and certificates of recognition.

If you haven't read all the books, check The Star Online's (thestar.com.my) 365-day archive for the last two Sundays' introduction of this year's fiction and non-fiction nominees. You can also go to popular.com.my to find out more about the books. And if you want to buy them, you can get a 20% discount on each of the 20 titles at any Popular or Harris bookstore nationwide until Oct 2, 2011.

To vote via your phone, note that RCAF is the SMS code for fiction and RCAN is the code for non-fiction.

Once you've decided on your choice, type RCAF(space)NRIC(space)CODES(space)SLOGAN (not more than 120 characters) and send to 36600. For non-fiction, type RCAN, followed by the rest.

Here's an example of what your text message should look like: RCAF 123456011234 AFI Reading enriches the mind, heart and soul and can bring people, families and nations together. (Note that each SMS will cost RM0.30; terms and conditions apply.)

Apart from SMS voting, you can also vote online at thestar.com.my (keep refreshing your screen until you see the contest banner). Also, look out for entry forms in Star2 On Sunday's Reads pages that you can mail in.

Entry forms are also available at all Popular and Harris bookstores nationwide and can be downloaded from popular.com.my and bookfestmalaysia.com.

The deadline for entries is July 17, 2010.

Fiction (SMS code: RCAF)

1.       Rojak: Bite-Sized Stories by Amir Muhammad (SMS code: A)

2.       Madness Aboard! by Yvonne Lee (SMS code: B)

3.       The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka (SMS code: C)

4.       Kebaya Tales by Lee Su Kim (SMS code: D)

5.       Orang Asli Animal Tales by Lim Boo Liat (SMS code: E)

6.       The Embrace Of Harlots by David T.K. Wong (SMS code: F)

7.       A Bit Of Earth by Lim Suchen (SMS code: G)

8.       Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul by Shamini Flint (SMS code: H)

9.       Sweet Offerings by Chan Ling Yap (SMS code: I)

10.       Under The Sun by O Thiam Chin (SMS code: J)

Non-fiction (SMS code: RCAN)

1.       Lim Lian Geok: Soul Of The Malaysian Chinese by Dr Kua Kia Soong (SMS code: A)

2.       Moving Forward: Malays For The 21st Century by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (SMS code: B)

3.       The Man From Borneo: An Autobiography by Brother Michael Jacques (SMS code: C)

4.       From Poor Migrant To Millionaire by Chan King Nui (SMS code: D)

5.       Islam In Malaysia: Perceptions And Facts by Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin (SMS code: E)

6.       Katz Tales: Living Under The Velvet Paw by Ellen Whyte (SMS code: F)

7.       Behind That Shiny Resume by Jasmine Yow (SMS code: G)

8.       Syed Hussein Alatas: The Life In The Writing by Masturah Alatas (SMS code: H)

9.       The Quran And I by Anas Zubedy (SMS code: I)

10.       Footprints In The Paddy Fields by Tina Kisil (SMS code: J)

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Books online

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 02:10 AM PDT

A venerable library opens up its treasure trove of books to the digital world.

A TREATISE on a stuffed hippopotamus, an 18th century English primer for Danish sailors and a description of the first engine-driven submarine are among 250,000 books to be made available online in a deal between Google and the British Library.

The agreement, announced last week, will let Internet users read, search, download and copy thousands of texts published between 1700 and 1870.

It is a small step towards the library's goal of making the bulk of its 14 million books and one million periodicals available in digital form by 2020.

"So far we have only been able to digitise a small fraction of the global collection," says the library's chief executive, Lynne Brindley. "There is a long way to go."

The deal marks another step in Google's effort to make digital copies of the world's estimated 130 million books. The California-based company touts the ambitious project as a way to enable anyone with an Internet connection to tap a vast reservoir of knowledge.

Google has scanned more than 15 million books into its search index during the past seven years, but has only been able to show snippets of many of them because of copyright restrictions. The company tried to remove the US copyright obstacles in a settlement of a class action lawsuit with authors and publishers only to have the agreement rejected by a federal judge three months ago.

The books that Google will be scanning from the British library are no longer protected by copyright and are in the public domain. The books will be available on the websites of the British Library and Google Books.

The deal with Google, which will see 40 million pages digitised over the next three years, will offer online researchers a selection of rarely seen works from an era of social, political, scientific and technological change that took in the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and the American war of independence.

The books range from Georges Louis Leclerc's Natural History Of The Hippopotamus, Or River-horse – which includes a description of a stuffed animal owned by the Prince of Orange – to the 1858 work A Scheme For Underwater Seafaring, describing the first combustion engine-driven submarine.

The books are more than scholarly curiosities. British Library curator Kristian Jensen says an 18th century guide to English for Danish mariners shows "how English began to emerge from being the language spoken by people over there on that island" to become the world's dominant tongue.

Last year, the British Library announced plans to digitise up to 40 million pages of newspapers dating back three-and-a-half centuries, and it recently made thousands of 19th century books digitised and available as an app for iPhone and iPad devices. – AP

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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'Transformers 3' faces tough 3D market

Posted: 27 Jun 2011 08:41 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter): Transformers: Dark Of The Moon -- which begins its assault tonight, both locally and in the United States, -- will be the biggest referendum yet on 3D, which is showing sudden signs of fatigue in North America.

This past weekend, only 37 percent of the domestic grosses for domestic champion Cars 2 came from 3D screens, an all-time low. Just a few months ago, a studio could count on 55 percent or 65 percent of the total gross coming from 3D.

Taking no chances, Paramount and director Michael Bay have marketed the 3D aspect of Dark Of The Moon as much as the movie itself, which returns Shia LaBeouf in the title role.

Bay has been urging theater owners to boost the 3D experience by not scrimping on certain bulbs. He's also written to fans asking them to choose the more expensive format.

As part of the studio's marketing efforts, Dark Of The Moon is rolling out in theaters Tuesday night. It's yet another way of sparking word-of-mouth and getting people to see Dark Of The Moon in 3D.

Tracking suggests Dark Of The Moon will rake in US$150 million to US$160 million through the July 4 holiday, which falls on a Monday. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen earned US$200.1 million in its five-day debut in summer 2009, but it's unclear whether the domestic box office has returned to full health and able to support such a big number.

The movie has a relatively clear playing field. In the States, on Friday, two female-driven pics open: the Tom Hanks-Julia Roberts romantic dramedy Larry Crowne and Fox's teen picture Monte Carlo, starring Selena Gomez and Leighton Meester.

Larry Crowne, directed by Hanks, will go after adults, although tracking is relatively soft. Universal is distributing the film. Box office observers say Larry Crowne and Monte Carlo will each gross in the mid-teens for the four-day holiday weekend.

The international prospects for Dark Of The Moon are enormous thanks to the success of the first two films and the continued strong appetite for 3D, particularly in such markets as Russia and China.

Disney's 3D Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has grossed a massive US$750.6 million internationally -- the third biggest title of all time overseas -- compared with a domestic tally of US$229.3 million.

Dark Of The Moon also begins rolling out Tuesday night overseas, and by Friday it will be playing in nearly every territory except Japan and China.

Transformers is Paramount's biggest franchise, with the first two films grossing US$1.54 billion. The second film drew negative reviews, and Bay himself has said it wasn't his best effort. Along with LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro reprise their roles, while Peter Cullen returns as the voice of Optimus Prime and Hugo Weaving as the voice of Megatron. New faces include Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (who replaces Megan Fox as the love interest), Patrick Dempsey and John Malkovich.

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The Star Online: Nation

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Form Six student falls to his death from school building

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:22 AM PDT

KAJANG: A Form Six student of SMK Yu Hua here fell to his death from the fourth floor of one of the school's buildings Tuesday morning, moments after attending a counselling session.

Nge Hao Zheng(pic), 18, who was found in a pool of blood on the ground floor, died on the spot from multiple injuries at about 9.20am.

Security guard Shamsol Mazli Abdul Samad, 38, said he heard a loud thud and when he went to take a look, he saw the boy on the ground in a pool of blood.

It is learnt that Nge, who did not have a disciplinary record, was referred for the counselling session after he nudged a female student on Monday.

Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Abdul Rashid Abdul said Nge had gone for a counselling session between 8am and 9am at the counsellor's office on the third floor of the building.

"Initial investigations revealed that just moments after he came out of the counselling session, he went to the fourth floor of the same building before he fell," he said.

ACP Abdul Rashid said police have classified the case as sudden death, adding that Nge's body was sent to the Serdang Hospital for post mortem.

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Broadband target achieved ahead of schedule

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:40 AM PDT

TEMERLOH: The national broadband penetration target of 60% by the year end has been achieved ahead of schedule, said Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

He said various factors had contributed to the success, including the distribution of the 1Malaysia netbooks and launch of broadband facilities in villages nationwide.

"In Pahang, the broadband penetration has reached 48% and we are confident of reaching 50% soon," he told reporters at the Kerdau state constituency's community gathering and launch of a telecommunication tower in Kampung Rumpun Makmur here Tuesday.

Buoyed by the achievement, he said the ministry had set a new target of 70% national broadband penetration by the year end.

Dr Rais attributed the success to joints efforts by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and telecommunications companies in improving internet quality and access.

With rising internet penetration, he urged users to use the facilities to enrich their quality of life and knowledge, and not for negative purposes. - Bernama

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Another clip linked to sex video surfaces

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 05:19 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Another clip linking the purported controversial sex video, allegedly featuring Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, surfaced on several blogs Tuesday.

The latest 1:59-minute clip shows Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul viewing the video with the Datuk T trio of Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik and Datuk Shuaib Abdul Lazim.

The heading of the clip claimed that Johari had admitted it was Anwar in the sex video. It was believed to have been shown shortly after a private screening of the sex video in Kuala Lumpur on March 21.

The trio were said to have invited Johari to view the video with the latter seen laughing and joking with the three men in the clip.

Also in the clip is Shazryl showing the "Omega" watch, purportedly belonging to Anwar, to Johari.

Following the screening of the sex video, Johari has been adamant that the man in the video was not Anwar.

Shazryl, a businessman and Shuaib, the former Perkasa treasurer-general, were charged at the magistrates' court here on June 24 for openly displaying an obscene film at Carcosa Seri Negara on March 21, this year.

Rahim, the former Malacca Chief Minister, was charged with abetting them.

All three pleaded guilty to the charges under Section 292 of the Penal Code and were fined slapped with fines totalling RM5,500.

Meanwhile, Johari has refuted allegations on a blog that he had asked for money in exchange for bringing more PKR MPs to watch the video and quit the party.

He also insisted that Anwar was innocent, despite claims by the same blog that he had admitted Anwar was the man in the sex video.

"I have a clean conscience. I stand by my words that it is not Anwar in the video," he told reporters who surrounded him in Parliament Tuesday.

Johari had released a 40-minute video on Saturday to debunk claims that Anwar was the man in the sex video.

More in The Star Wednesday

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The Star Online: Metro: Central

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Sleepless in Bandar Puteri 9

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 03:46 AM PDT

IT HAS been five weeks since a landslip occurred in Bandar Puteri 9 and the residents living near the site are still having sleepless nights - worrying that the situation may take a turn for the worse.

They want the developer to reveal the cause of the landslip and to solve the problem instead of just repairing the collapsed retaining wall.

Bandar Puteri 9 Residents Association chairman Peter Lim said the residents were worried over soil erosion at the slope as there was water flowing out of the pipes at the foot of the slope.

"We're afraid that it would soften the ground result in another landslip," he said.

Part of the retaining wall collapsed on May 20, affecting part of Jalan Puteri 9/2. The road is the only access for 58 bungalow residents there.

Work is being carried out to rebuild the wall.

However, the residents said the developer and the local authority had failed to provide them with a clear answer on how the landslip occurred during a meeting at the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) headquarters in USJ 5 last Friday.

Residents association deputy chairman Billy Koh, whose house is located near the landslip area, said no one could guarantee that the ground was stable.

Lim said the Public Works Institute of Malaysia (Ikram) could not suggest remedial measures as there was no report of soil investigation.

C.C. Chu said the road only had one layer of 50mm premix (instead of two layers) and six inches of crusher run (instead of 12 inches).

The residents measured the exposed layers after the retaining wall gave way.

"There should be sand below the crusher run but there wasn't any," he said.

Another resident, Jacob Samuel said the cracks along Jalan Puteri 9/2 were getting longer and that the patch-up work was not solving the problem.

Koh also pointed out that two of the slabs that made up the retaining wall had cracked.

A spokesman of the developer said their appointed geotechnical consultant had initially indicated in a meeting on May 23 that the landslip was probably caused by underground water.

"They have recommended constructing horizontal drains to release the hydrostatic pressure which might build up behind the retaining walls. Ikram had agreed to this too.

"The seepage at the sewerage pipes along Jalan Puteri 9/2 and the water pipe in Jalan Puteri 9/2A, have been rectified," the spokesman said.

The developer added that the soil investigation work was scheduled to start this week.

"Meanwhile, all monitoring instruments have been installed in accordance with the requirement of geotechnical consultants for monitoring purpose," he added.

On the safety of the slope, the developer said the readings from the monitoring instruments indicated that the settlement or displacement was insignificant and the situation appeared to be stabilising.

"But monitoring is still in progress. Ikram and geotechnical consultants have been appointed to study the stability of overall slope and retaining wall, and to propose any further reinforcement work," the spokesman said.

The immediate remedial work at the collapsed wall has been completed.

The horizontal pipes are being constructed at the wall and expected to be completed by mid-July.Permanent drainage diversion work is also being carried out and expected to be completed by end of July.

On the issue of water gushing out from the pipes at the foot of the slope, the developer said its geotechnical consultant had clarified at the meeting last Friday that it was a positive sign as it would reduce the hydrostatic pressure behind the retaining wall.

"Based on the water sampling test conducted by Syabas, the water consists of chlorine and hence is from Syabas pipes.

"Even though the leakage from the water pipe tapping point at 19, Jalan Puteri 9/2A has been rectified, water can still be seen flowing out at the foot of the slope. We will continue to take samples for testing to identify the source of the water," it said.

The developer also clarified that the retaining wall is a Modified Anchored Earth Retaining Wall System designed and endorsed by a professional engineer, and the rusty bars were only observed at the stretch of the wall around the area where the sewer pipes leaks occurred.

"The engineer who designed the retaining wall explained that the rust was due to the bars being in contact with the sewer discharge.

"He clarified in the last meeting that the reinforcing bars used in the wall were cold galvanised as additional protection," it said.

On the cracks on Jalan Puteri 9/2, the developer said the construction of the horizontal drains involved the extraction of existing casings and as such, minor settlement was bound to occur.

"We are advised by our geotechnical consultant to just patch up the cracks as a temporary measure to prevent further seepage of surface water into the ground during rainy days. Permanent rectification of the road will be done once the horizontal drains are completed.

"As for the cracks on the concrete slabs on the retaining wall, the geotechnical consultant, design engineer and Ikram have inspected the area, and Ikram has proposed to carry out overall mapping survey to ascertain the situation of the wall and slope.

On the residents' claim that the road was not built according to specifications, the developer said it would look into the issue.

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Metro watch

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 03:36 AM PDT

BLOOD DONATION

In conjunction with World Blood Donor Day on June 14, Gleneagles KL is organising a blood donation drive from 9am-2pm at the hospital's foyer, 8th Floor (Medical Block) on July 2. For details, contact Samiha at 03-4141 3183 or e-mail samiha@gleneagleskl.com.my or Adeline at 03-4141 3192.

JUMBLE SALE

Residents of Jalan Limau Purut, Limau Besar, Limau Manis and upper Lorong Maarof in Bangsar are organising a jumble sale to raise funds for their community activities on Sunday, 10am-3pm at No. 1, Jalan Limau Purut. For details, call Sulina at 012-283 1972.

HEALTH MEET

There are 36 general seat tickets to be given to members of any disease support society or organisation in Malaysia to attend The Ultimate Life & True Health Mastery Congress on Sunday (9am-5pm) at Level 4, Dewan Wawasan, Menara PGRM, 8 Jalan Pudu Ulu, Kuala Lumpur. Coaches Dr Udo Erasmus and Volker Kutscher will reveal health secrets on that day. This is on first-come-first serve basis. For details, call 03-6272 9316.

HONEY'S COLOURS

Catch Honey Khor's art exhibition entitled Colours of My Journey at Penang village in Great Eastern Mall from now till July 11. There are sketches, oil, acrylic and watercolour paintings. Penang Village is located at Lot 8 & 9, Level 3, Great Eastern Mall, 303, Jalan Ampang, KL, from 11.30am-9.30pm. For details, call 03-4257 1698.

CHARITY BAZAAR

Hospis Malaysia will be having a charity bazaar on Sunday at Tesco Cheras Extra from 10am-4pm. Everyone is invited to have fun while helping to raise funds. Hospis Malaysia provides support and care for patients with critical illnesses and their families. For details, visit www.hospismalaysia.org or call 03-9133 3936.

DANCE PERFORMANCE

The Tanjai Kamalaa Indira Dance School is presenting the Barathanatya Arangetram of two sisters, Aiswarriya and Pavitrra Sugumaran, who had their first initiation of dance (Shisyarambam) at the age of four and five. The performance will be held on July 2 at 7pm, at the Kompleks Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah, SJKC Chee Wen, Subang Jaya. Admission is free. For enquiries, call 03-6257 4069 or 012-606 5570.

WOMEN'S SUMMIT

The Women's Summit this year will be held on July 25 at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara, KL, featuring a debate entitled Women Make Better Bosses! There will also be talks by a panel of speakers. Registration is required as seats are limited. For details, visit www.thewomenssummit.org

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