Rabu, 2 April 2014

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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Pakistan's Musharraf survives assassination bomb attempt

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 10:18 PM PDT

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf (pic), who is on trial for treason, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt as a bomb went off shortly before his convoy was due to pass early Thursday, police said.

The bomb was planted on Musharraf's route from an army hospital where he has been staying since January to his home on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Nobody was injured and there have so far been no claims of responsibility.

"Four kilograms of explosive device planted in a pipeline under a bridge exploded around 20 minutes before the former president was supposed to cross the spot," senior police official Liaqat Niazi said.

He said the former president was taken home via an alternative route.

Muhammad Naeem, a spokesman for the Islamabad police, confirmed the incident, saying a bomb disposal squad had cleared the area after the blast.

"Nobody was injured in the blast," he said, adding Musharraf was the intended target.

Musharraf, who led Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, returned from self-imposed exile in March last year to fight in general elections but was barred from taking part and has faced a series of legal cases including treason.

The Taliban also vowed to send a squad of suicide bombers to kill him, and security threats have prevented him from appearing at all but two of his treason hearings.

It was the fourth attempt on the ex-general's life, with the first three occurring while he was in office. -AFP

Minor tsunami hits Japan after Chile quake

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:45 PM PDT

TOKYO: Small tsunami waves hit northern Japan early Thursday following a powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake thousands of kilometres away across the Pacific Ocean in Chile after officials issued an evacuation advisory for certain areas.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said waves of 40 centimetres (16 inches) were monitored in Kuji, Iwate prefecture, at 7:39 am (2239 GMT Wednesday) about an hour after the first 20-centimetre tsunami was recorded there.

Waves of up to 30 centimetres were also monitored in other areas of northern Japan, the agency said, adding that bigger waves could hit the coast later.

Earlier Thursday, Japan issued a tsunami advisory, saying waves of up to one metre (three feet) above normal sea levels could hit eastern Pacific coast regions, but were unlikely to cause damage.

Large areas of the coastline covered by the advisory were damaged by the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people and triggered a nuclear accident in Fukushima.

The agency advised people to leave the coast but said it did not expect damage from the waves.

"Get out of the water and leave the coast immediately," it said.

Local authorities issued evacuation advisories to more than 22,000 people living near the coastline in Iwate prefecture, public broadcaster NHK said.

Television footage showed people fleeing to nearby shelter in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, where more than 1,000 people were killed in the 2011 tsunami.

Before dawn a tsunami warning siren echoed over Ishinomaki, another city hit hard by the tsunami three years ago, and some local bus services were cancelled.

Authorities in Japan and many other countries at risk of tsunamis have well-developed early warning systems and tend to be cautious.

Television footage earlier showed officials in Kochi, southwestern Japan, closing a metal barrier to seal their local breakwater in preparation for possible high waves.

Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, suspended part of operations scheduled for early Thursday, a company spokesman said.

In 1960, a 9.5-magnitude earthquake in Chile sent a tsunami across the Pacific that killed more than 140 people in Japan. 

Indonesia warning

Indonesia also said it could be hit by a small tsunami from the quake off Chile, which killed at least six people and caused nearly a million to evacuate their homes along the coast.

Waves of up to half a metre had been expected to hit the eastern region of Papua shortly after 2200 GMT Wednesday but officials said nothing had been detected so far.

"Until now there are no signs of even a small tsunami. We are monitoring closely," Frangky Ulus from the Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System in Jayapura, Papua, told AFP.

Authorities in 19 provinces of Indonesia were alerted earlier as a precaution and people were urged to stay away from beaches.

Indonesia, which is frequently hit by earthquakes and has scores of active volcanoes, is particular vulnerable to even small tsunamis as many people on the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands live in poor, coastal communities.

More than 170,000 people were killed in Aceh province on western Sumatra island in 2004 when it was hit by a huge quake-triggered tsunami, which also left thousands dead in other countries around the Indian Ocean.

Northern Japan was rocked by a 5.6-magnitude quake early Thursday but there were no reports of damage or injuries and officials said there was no risk of a tsunami. -AFP

Related story: 
Powerful 7.8 earthquake rocks northern Chile

Japan cancels next Antarctic whaling hunt

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:57 PM PDT

TOKYO: Japan said Thursday it was cancelling its annual Antarctic whaling hunt for the first time in more than a quarter of a century in line with a UN court ruling that the programme was a commercial activity disguised as science.

A "deeply disappointed" Tokyo earlier this week said it would honour Monday's judgement by the United Nations' Hague-based International Court of Justice but did not exclude the possibility of future whaling programmes.

On Thursday, officials said the next Antarctic hunt, which would have started in late 2014, had been scrapped, just weeks after the most recent one finished.

"We have decided to cancel research whaling (in the Antarctic) for the fiscal year starting in April because of the recent ruling," a fisheries agency official told AFP.

But he added that "we plan to go ahead with research whaling in other areas as scheduled", including the northern Pacific. Japan also has a coastal whaling programme that is not covered by a commercial whaling ban.

Australia, backed by New Zealand, hauled Japan before the ICJ in 2010 in a bid to end the annual Southern Ocean hunt.

Tokyo has used a legal loophole in the 1986 ban on commercial whaling that allowed it to continue slaughtering the mammals, ostensibly so it could gather scientific data.

However, it has never made a secret of the fact that the whale meat from these hunts can end up on dining tables.

Public consumption of whale meat in Japan has steadily and significantly fallen in recent years and there is little support for whaling itself

But aggressive anti-whaling campaigns hardened sentiment among the Japanese public, who came to see the issue as an attack on differing cultural values. 

Diplomatic pressure

Japan had argued that its JARPA II research programme was aimed at studying the viability of whale hunting, but the ICJ found it had failed to examine ways of doing the research without killing whales, or at least while killing fewer of them.

"Whale meat is an important source of food, and the government's position to use it based on scientific facts has not changed," Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference Tuesday in response to the judgement.

On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his government would abide by the court ruling, but added that the ruling was "a pity and I am deeply disappointed".

Some legal experts have suggested Japan might simply redesign its whaling programme to skirt the ICJ ruling, but Australia and New Zealand are expected to keep up the diplomatic pressure to ensure Tokyo abides by the spirit of the pronouncement.

Three countries -Japan, Norway and Iceland - use objections or exceptions to continue whaling, a practice observers say claims more than 1,000 of the marine mammals, some endangered, each year.

But Japan is the only country to conduct whaling under a scientific permits category.

There are two major whale sanctuaries. One, which covers most of the Indian Ocean, was created in 1979 and is a breeding ground for many types of southern hemisphere cetaceans.

The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, surrounding the continent of Antarctica, was set up in 1994. Its waters, teeming with marine life, serve as a feeding ground for more than a dozen whales species. -AFP

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The Star Online: World Updates

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Xi says multi-party system didn't work for China

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 10:05 PM PDT

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China experimented in the past with various political systems, including multi-party democracy, but it did not work, President Xi Jinping said during a visit to Europe, warning that copying foreign political or development models could be catastrophic.

China's constitution enshrines the Communist Party's long-term "leading" role in government, though it allows the existence of various other political parties under what is calls a "multi-party cooperation system". But all are subservient to the Communist Party.

Activists who call for pluralism are regularly jailed and criticism of China's one-party, authoritarian system silenced.

"Constitutional monarchy, imperial restoration, parliamentarism, a multi-party system and a presidential system, we considered them, tried them, but none worked," Xi said in a speech at the College of Europe in the Belgian city of Bruges, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Tuesday.

Because of its unique historical and social conditions, China could not copy a political system or development model from other countries "because it would not fit us and it might even lead to catastrophic consequences", Xi added.

"The fruit may look the same, but the taste is quite different," he said.

A constitution that went into effect about two years before the 1949 Communist takeover allowed for multi-party democracy in China, but its implementation was hampered by deep-rooted enmity between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party.

The Nationalists ended up fleeing to Taiwan, where they began landmark political reforms in the 1980s and the island now has one of Asia's most vibrant democracies.

Xi's ascendancy in a once-in-a-decade generational leadership transition had given many Chinese hope for political reform, mainly due to his folksy style and the legacy of his father, Xi Zhongxun, a former reformist vice-premier.

But since he assumed office, the party has detained or jailed dozens of dissidents, including anti-corruption activist Xu Zhiyong and ethnic Uighur professor Ilham Tohti.

Reinforcing the message that there will be no liberalisation under Xi, the ruling Communist Party's influential weekly journal Qiushi (Seeking Truth) wrote in its latest issue that there was no such thing as "universal values", adding that China's political system should not be underestimated.

The West has been harping on about freedom, democracy and human rights for some 200 years, and has nothing new to add, the magazine wrote in an editorial.

"You know if the shoe fits only if you try it on for yourself. Only the Chinese people have the right to say whether China's development path is correct," it wrote.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Four killed in clashes between Yemeni soldiers and Al-Qaeda

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:50 PM PDT

ADEN (Reuters) - Two Yemeni soldiers and two al-Qaeda militants were killed on Tuesday during clashes in Yemen's western province of Al-Hadida, ministry of interior said on its website.

An official source from the ministry said security forces detained four al-Qaeda militants during the early hours of the day. Fresh clashes then erupted, leading to the fighting in which the soldiers and militants were killed.

The remaining al-Qaeda members fled to nearby mountains, leaving behind a car full of weapons, the source added.

Yemen has been in turmoil since mass protests forced long-term leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in 2012. His successor, Abd-Rabbu Mansour, Hadi has been struggling to restore order.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden and militants have plotted attacks against international airlines from there.

It is allied to a large group of local militants who have staged an insurgency in southern Yemen for three years, seizing areas of land, killing soldiers and bombing government and foreign targets. The authorities typically describe both groups as al Qaeda.

Maintaining stability in impoverished Yemen, which is also struggling with insurgents in southern and northern regions, is a priority for Washington and Gulf states because of its proximity to major shipping routes and Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.

(Reporting By Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing By Mirna Sleiman; Editing by Angus McDowall and Ron Popeski)

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The Star Online: Nation

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PM: Subsidies not wholly abolished

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

THE Government is committed to its subsidy rationalisation programme but will not completely abolish subsidies, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"The annual development allocation now stands at RM46bil, and subsidies and incentives touched RM43bil last year.

"This expenditure is obviously lopsided and should not be continued because it is not sustainable. It is only proper to implement a sustainable subsidy rationalisation programme," he said.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said this would be done via the revamp of policies.

"There are some subsidies which aid the rich more than the poor. There are also leakages like when foreign tourists take advantage of our subsidised petrol.

"A lot of smuggling activities also occur. We must plug these leakages as they are a waste of public funds," he said in reply to a question by Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah (BN-Jasin) in the House yesterday.

Najib said some RM23.1bil or 15% of the country's overall expenses were used to pay for subsidies and assistance in 2010, but this sum jumped to RM43.3bil last year or 21% of the country's managing expenses.

"Too large a subsidy will undermine the country's financial position and render it not sustainable for the long term," he said.

As such, Najib said fiscal reform was important to strengthen the financial position and ensure that the targeted fiscal deficit remained at 3.5% of the Gross Domestic Product this year and 3% in 2015, and that a balanced budget was achieved in 2020.

The Government had also taken steps to improve the implementation of the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M), which was introduced to help low-income households and supplement blanket subsidies which benefit the rich and poor, he said.

"However, we realise that the BR1M must be improved. We are studying suitable measures that can be introduced to improve its implementation," he said.

Replying to a supplementary question from Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong), Najib said: "In implementing subsidy rationalisation, the Government must ensure consolidation of the social safety net so that the low-income group does not feel the pressure from the higher expenses they face."

Najib said part of the savings from the subsidy rationalisation would be utilised for the social safety net to improve economic growth and ensure the people's well-being.

He also said part of the savings would be used to finance development that could raise the national productive capacity such as infrastructure development, including roads, hospitals and housing.

19-year-old mum does not realise baby boy has choked to death

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

JOHOR BARU: A 19-year-old woman fed her 11-day-old baby and thought he had dozed off but realised only two hours later that the infant had choked and died.

Peng Sie Sying said she fed Chong Wei Kent baby formula as he vomited out the breast milk given to him earlier.

"I had no choice but to give him formula milk and after feeding him at 7.30am, I thought that he had slept and put him in his cot," said the grief-stricken mother, who was holding on to her 16-year-old husband at the mortuary of Hospital Sultanah Aminah here yesterday.

Her husband declined to be identified.

Peng said when she checked on her baby at 9am, she realised that he was not breathing.

"His hands and feet were cold and we quickly rushed him to the Tampoi clinic.

"On the way there, I tried my best to revive him, even performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and milk came out from his nose," she said, adding that doctors at the clinic, however, confirmed that the infant had died.

Peng said her baby was born healthy and only had jaundice.

"After several days, the jaundice disappeared and we brought him home," she said.

At this point, the teen mother broke down again and was consoled by family members.

Johor Baru North OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Khamsani Abdul Rahman confirmed the incident and the case had been classified as sudden death.

"We found no trace of physical abuse and the post-mortem revealed that the baby choked to death," he said.

Nurul Izzah's hubby told to finalise rep

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Nurul Izzah Anwar's husband Raja Ahmad Shahrir Iskandar Raja Salim has been given until April 17 by a Lower Syariah Court here to finalise the nomination of a "reconciliation committee", set up in a bid to save their marriage.

Syariah judge Ab Malek Awang fixed the date in chambers after meeting counsel Normawaddah Ramli, who acted for Nurul Izzah, and Zulkifli Che Yong, who represented Raja Ahmad Shahrir.

Raja Ahmad Shahrir, 35, needed to confirm the nomination for his representative in the next proceedings.

At yesterday's proceedings, Nurul Izzah arrived with her uncle Rosli Ibrahim.

It was then confirmed that the 34-year-old Lembah Pantai MP had appointed her uncle to be a committee member.

The committee is set up when either one of the parties concerned does not want the divorce or when the Syariah Court views that a reconciliation could take place.

The court would then appoint a reconciliation committee and refer the case to the panel.

The committee comprises a religious department officer and two others – one to act on behalf of the husband and another for the wife.

Priority will be given to close relatives of both parties.

Judge Ab Malek set June 12 for the committee to submit a report on the outcome of their discussions.

Nurul Izzah and Raja Ahmad Shahrir were married on May 9, 2003. They have a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son.

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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Norman Reedus lined up for heist movie 'Triple Nine'

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 06:05 PM PDT

Known for playing Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead, Norman Reedus has been announced as the latest big name to join the cast of Triple Nine.

In the director's chair is Aussie helmer John Hillcoat of The Road and The Proposition.

Surrounding him are the likes of Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious), Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), Teresa Palmer (2:37), Aaron Paul and Kate Winslet.

Such a cast is needed for a film that revolves around a conspiratorial bank robbery, conceived by Russian gangsters and executed by crooked cops.

Things soon start to unravel when a green police officer, set up as the mark in a deadly ambush, escapes his fate. Before long, everything descends into a chaos of broken alliances.

Triple Nine is due for general release in 2015. – AFP Relaxnews

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The Star Online: Metro: Central

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Nepalese man jailed for cheating in casinos

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

A NEPALESE man who visited the two casinos here and marked playing cards to increase his chances of winning was sentenced to five months in prison.

Limbu Aadarsh, who is here on a social visit pass, used the "card daubing" technique on high value cards so he would know which ones to bet on when playing games such as poker and blackjack.

The 30-year-old applied coloured powdery substances to the back of playing cards when he got the chance to handle them.

This was done either by hand, or using modified cash chips that would deliver the substances.

In this manner, Aadarsh managed to win more than S$6,000 (RM15,549) from the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa casinos between last November and March this year.

But the ploy was discovered after he used a modified chip in a losing bet and a croupier noticed the irregularities on it.

A raid of his hotel room turned up numerous items used in the scheme, such as bottles of greenish and greyish powdery substance, tape, needles, playing cards and instruction books.

Aadarsh yesterday admitted to one charge of possessing a device that facilitates cheating, and four charges of using an item for the same purpose.

Nine other counts of the latter were also taken into consideration.

Urging the court to impose various jail terms for each of the five charges, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ailene Chou said he had not acted opportunistically.

The DPP said he had gathered the items, some of them from overseas, and "methodically" proceeded to cheat while gambling.

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong agreed, noting Aadarsh needed to get various raw materials to hatch the plan. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Man jailed for uploading nude photos of his ex

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

A 52-YEAR-OLD man who uploaded six nude photographs of his former girlfriend to social networking site QQ was sentenced to six weeks in jail.

Eng Eik Khoon, who is twice the age of the 26-year-old woman, had taken the pictures of her while she was sleeping in June last year. A month later, they broke up.

Wanting to embarrass her, he posted the photographs to two different QQ accounts in November.

A search of Eng's mobile phone also turned up a screenshot of a video of the couple having sex in 2012.

He had also sent her text messages threatening to reveal their relationship to others if she refused to see him again.

Eng pleaded guilty to three charges, with another two taken into consideration. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

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A play looks into the psychotic experience

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The Eradication Of Schizophrenia In Western Lapland takes its audience through the looking glass for a better understanding of schizophrenia.

CAN theatre offer a cure for psychosis? It's unlikely – and it would be unwise for any theatre-maker even to try. What theatre can do, though, is convey the experience of psychosis: the hallucinations and delusions – often terrifying, sometimes comical – that define reality for those with schizophrenia and related conditions.

This, at least, is the belief shared by David Woods and Jon Haynes, co-founders of the theatre company Ridiculusmus. Their new show, The Eradication Of Schizophrenia In Western Lapland, examines the effects of psychosis on several members of a fictional family, using an innovative conceit. The audience is split into two, with each half sitting on either side of a dividing wall.

For the first act, each half of the audience watches one scene, while another scene is performed on the other side.

Later, the audiences swap places; and in the final section, the wall becomes transparent, so that both halves of the audience are watching the same scene.

The effect, at least at first, is bewildering – and that is the point. "It's as if you're having auditory hallucinations," Woods tells me when we meet during rehearsals at the Basement in Brighton, on England's southern coast, where the play is beginning a UK tour.

"Initially it'll be overwhelming, chaotic. Then the audience will go out of the theatre, change sides.

"Slowly the voices will settle into place. In a way, it's the same with schizophrenia. You don't get cured, but you can recover."

Woods and Haynes know more about schizophrenia and psychosis than most. Haynes was sectioned in the mid-80s, and spent six months as a patient in south London's Maudsley Hospital; Woods was a carer for several family members with mental health problems.

It was this that first drew them towards making a show about mental illness: a series of early improvisations on the subject of family (the company devise all their work through improvisation and extensive research) threw up memories from their own pasts.

They contacted the Tavistock clinic in north London (a specialist mental health trust) where they took part in a workshop on child carers for adults with mental health issues. It was there that they first learned about "open dialogue": a revolutionary approach to the treatment of psychosis that has, over the past few decades, virtually eradicated the condition in Western Lapland, the area of Finland where it originated.

Intrigued, Woods and Haynes travelled to the Keropudas hospital in Tornio, Finland, where Dr Jaakko Seikkula first evolved the method – and were so struck by what they found that they decided to make open dialogue the key subject of their show.

"I thought: 'Wow, this is wonderful,'" Haynes explains.

"I can imagine that if we'd had this kind of approach (in the UK) years ago, things might have been very different for me. When I was ill, I remember feeling very much that I was the problem. With open dialogue, that's not at all how the patient feels."

Open dialogue is, as the name suggests, a treatment based on talking rather than medicating, and on intervening as early as possible in a psychotic episode. Families are directly involved in the patient's therapy, with the aim of identifying the skewed dynamics, or other sources of emotional tension, that may have caused the patient's crisis.

"The idea," Seikkula tells me over Skype, "is to organise the psychiatric system in a way that makes it possible to meet immediately in a crisis, and work very intensively together with the family."

The statistics on open dialogue are startling: according to a 2003 study conducted at Keropudas hospital in Finland, 82% of patients who were given open dialogue treatment had no, or mild, psychotic symptoms after five years, compared to 50% in a comparison group.

The method has attracted international attention. In 2011, Seikkula helped found the Institute for Dialogic Practice in Massachusetts, to take open dialogue to the United States. But it still remains far from the mainstream in many countries.

The Eradication Of Schizophrenia In Western Lapland has open dialogue as an underlying theme, inherent in the idea of an audience listening to a family's experience of psychosis, much as a psychiatrist might do during an open dialogue session.

Each scene begins with a group of disembodied voices describing the principles of the method, and the psychiatrist character in the play mentions the fact that a colleague in the National Health Service (the NHS, the UK's publicly funded healthcare system) has been struck off for using open dialogue in the place of anti-psychotic medication.

Haynes and Woods' key aims are to raise awareness of open dialogue, and to dispel the wider stigma surrounding schizophrenia.

"I would hope," Woods says, "that people who see the show would start listening: talking to each other rather than just barging their way through life. And that they would realise that there is a lot more to schizophrenia than just the tiny minority who go out and stab somebody with a knife."

Seikkula, too, believes that a piece of theatre such as this has a powerful role to play in expressing what he, and other practitioners of open dialogue, consider the fundamental definition of psychosis.

"Psychosis belongs to life," he says. "In my mind, we can all have hallucinations. If we are in a stressful enough situation, each of us can react in that way. This play gives people a very concrete experience of how that really is." – Guardian News & Media

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

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Michael Jackson's unreleased songs out on May 13

Posted: 31 Mar 2014 08:35 PM PDT

The new album – Xscape – will see Timbaland as an executive producer.

Eight previously unreleased songs by the late Michael Jackson will be part of a new album, Xscape, the singer's estate and Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records said on Monday.

The songs were unearthed from Jackson's archive of recorded material by L.A. Reid, the chairman and chief executive of Epic Records. Xscape will be released on May 13.

The new album is the latest venture for Jackson's estate to capitalise on the posthumous popularity of the King of Pop.

Jackson died in 2009 at age 50 in Los Angeles from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol given to him by his personal physician while he was rehearsing for a series of 50 comeback concerts in London.

The unreleased tracks have been re-produced by the likes of present-day hitmakers Jerome "Jroc" Harmon, who has helped produce hits for Beyonce and Justin Timberlake, and Norwegian duo Tor Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen, who work under the name Stargate and have produced hits for Rihanna and Selena Gomez.

Top pop producers Rodney Jerkins and John McClain were also enlisted to make the songs sound contemporary in style, Reid said.

One of the songs is called Xscape, which was taken for the album title to continue Jackson's tradition of using a one-word song title on the album for its name, Reid said.

The age of the material or the remaining song names have yet to be released. Hip-hop and pop producer Timbaland will be executive producer of the album. — Reuters

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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health

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Gwyneth Paltrow wants you to swirl coconut oil in your mouth

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 01:20 AM PDT

Oil pulling is fast becoming a Hollywood trend as celebrities bring attention to it.

You know that oil you've got stored in your pantry – the one you use to cook with? It turns out it could be used for something else entirely. But be warned: It's a trend that doesn't sound too tasty.

In recent weeks, actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Shailene Woodley have brought attention to "oil pulling", a new beauty trend that has ancient roots.

"I just started oil pulling, which is when you swish coconut oil around (in your mouth) for 20 minutes, and it's supposed to be great for oral health and making your teeth white," Paltrow told E! News. "It's supposed to clear up your skin, as well."

In an interview with Into The Gloss, a website dedicated to beauty, Woodley, a self-proclaimed environmentalist, told the site: "You can do something called oil pulling, where you swish coconut or sesame oil in your mouth when you wake up and spit it out. It's amazing! It really makes your teeth whiter, because the plaque on your teeth is not water soluble, it's fat-soluble. So the lipids have to dissolve in fats, which is why oil works in your mouth."

If you can stand having coconut oil (or any kind of oil for that matter) in your mouth for 20 minutes, then go ahead and try the Ayurvedic therapy of 'oil pulling'.  

The practice apparently originated from ancient Ayurvedic Indian natural medicine, which claimed oil pulling was a remedy for oral diseases.

But don't throw away your toothbrush just yet – very little research has shown that oil pulling is the miracle-worker that some claim. An article online says that while the practice isn't particularly harmful, it may not be as beneficial, either.

"(Oil pulling) should not be used to treat oral disease such as gum disease or tooth decay," Michelle Hurlbutt, an associate professor of dental hygiene, told The Huffington Post. "It's more of a preventive rinse that could be used adjunctively with your regular mouthcare routine."

The bottom line: If you've got 20 minutes to spare and a strong stomach, swish away. If not, your usual brushing routine should suit you just fine. Just don't forget to floss. — The Kansas City Star/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Reimagined dumbbell aims to encourage natural movement

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 08:30 PM PDT

A new fitness product looking to revolutionise weight-training is set for international launch in May.

Called Dumbbell2, the product is advertised as the "next generation dumbbell" and features an innovative design that provides the user with a more effective and versatile workout. Natural movement is the idea behind the two-handed model, which is lighter than the traditional dumbbell and offers a quick, "full body strength and aerobic training session" in a mere 15 to 20 minutes. The product may be combined with "functional" exercises that utilize rapid movements while forcing the body to work muscles on both sides equally.

"The traditional dumbbell has been around for many years and definitely works. But just because it works, that doesn't mean it's the most effective design," said Dr. Diva Nagula, a physician and chief operating officer (COO) of Dumbbell2.com. "For example, think of a roller skate versus an inline skate. Although the roller skate worked, the inline skate came along with a streamlined design of four wheels in the centre, which allowed it to work better. That's what we've done with the DB2 – reinvented the design of the traditional dumbbell to make it work better for the human body."

Users can change hand positions to intensify their workout.

Dumbbell2 was created by RConcepts, Inc. After making the rounds at US trade shows since January, it will launch internationally on April 3 at FIBO, Europe's key health, fitness, and wellness trade event, held in Cologne.

Other examples of innovative dumbbell products include the infamous Shake Weight, a modified, oscillating dumbbell, and Stamina Versa-Bell, an option that works as "nine dumbbells in one," as it adjusts from a 5-pound to a 25-pound (2.25-11kg) dumbbell. – AFP Relaxnews

Watch this video to see what exercises you can do with the Dumbbell2.

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The Star Online: Metro: South & East

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Nepalese man jailed for cheating in casinos

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

A NEPALESE man who visited the two casinos here and marked playing cards to increase his chances of winning was sentenced to five months in prison.

Limbu Aadarsh, who is here on a social visit pass, used the "card daubing" technique on high value cards so he would know which ones to bet on when playing games such as poker and blackjack.

The 30-year-old applied coloured powdery substances to the back of playing cards when he got the chance to handle them.

This was done either by hand, or using modified cash chips that would deliver the substances.

In this manner, Aadarsh managed to win more than S$6,000 (RM15,549) from the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa casinos between last November and March this year.

But the ploy was discovered after he used a modified chip in a losing bet and a croupier noticed the irregularities on it.

A raid of his hotel room turned up numerous items used in the scheme, such as bottles of greenish and greyish powdery substance, tape, needles, playing cards and instruction books.

Aadarsh yesterday admitted to one charge of possessing a device that facilitates cheating, and four charges of using an item for the same purpose.

Nine other counts of the latter were also taken into consideration.

Urging the court to impose various jail terms for each of the five charges, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ailene Chou said he had not acted opportunistically.

The DPP said he had gathered the items, some of them from overseas, and "methodically" proceeded to cheat while gambling.

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong agreed, noting Aadarsh needed to get various raw materials to hatch the plan. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Man jailed for uploading nude photos of his ex

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

A 52-YEAR-OLD man who uploaded six nude photographs of his former girlfriend to social networking site QQ was sentenced to six weeks in jail.

Eng Eik Khoon, who is twice the age of the 26-year-old woman, had taken the pictures of her while she was sleeping in June last year. A month later, they broke up.

Wanting to embarrass her, he posted the photographs to two different QQ accounts in November.

A search of Eng's mobile phone also turned up a screenshot of a video of the couple having sex in 2012.

He had also sent her text messages threatening to reveal their relationship to others if she refused to see him again.

Eng pleaded guilty to three charges, with another two taken into consideration. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Australia's top court recognises 'neutral' third gender

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 05:44 PM PDT

SYDNEY: Australia's highest court on Wednesday recognised the existence of a third "non-specific" gender that is neither male nor female, in a landmark ruling campaigners said will help end years of discrimination.

The High Court ruled that not everyone should be forced to identify as a man or woman when dealing with officials, saying some people could legitimately describe themselves as gender neutral.

"The High Court... recognises that a person may be neither male nor female, and so permits the registration of a person's sex as 'non?specific'," it said in a unanimous judgement.

The decision ended a long legal battle by sexual equality campaigner Norrie to overturn a New South Wales state edict that gender is an inherently "binary" concept involving only men or women.

"I'm overjoyed," the Sydney-based activist said. "It's been a long time from start to end but this has been a great outcome.

"Maybe people will understand now that there's more options than just the binary. So while an individual might be male or female, not all their friends might be and maybe they might be more accepting of that."

The 53-year-old, who uses only a single name, was born male and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1989 to become a woman.

But the surgery failed to resolve the Scottish-born activist's ambiguity about sexual identity, prompting a push for the recognition of a new, non-traditional gender.

Norrie made global headlines in February 2010 when an application to the NSW Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages accepted that "sex non-specific" could be accepted for Norrie's records.

But soon afterwards the office revoked its decision, saying the certificate was invalid and had been issued in error. At the time, Norrie said the decision felt like being "socially assassinated".

That sparked a series of appeals which resulted in the NSW Court of Appeal recognising Norrie as gender neutral last year, a decision which the High Court backed on Wednesday. 

'Outdated notions of gender'

The Human Rights Law Centre, which provided expert testimony in Norrie's case, said the court had "rejected outdated notions of gender" in the decision.

"Sex- and gender-diverse people face problems every day accessing services and facilities that most Australians can use without thinking twice," the centre's litigation expert Anna Brown said.

"It's essential that our legal systems accurately reflect and accommodate the reality of sex and gender diversity that exists in our society. The High Court has taken an enormous leap today in achieving that goal."

Brown said the decision did not mean people could simply identify themselves as "non-specific" and expect legal recognition.

Under the law, only a person who had undergone gender reassignment surgery could nominate themselves as "non-specific" after presenting medical evidence to back up their claims, she said.

Brown added that it remains unclear who gender-neutral people would be able to marry.

"No one has actually looked at that question legally," she said, adding that there were few international precedents for the decision.

In most states across Australia same-sex couples can have civil unions or register their relationships, but the government does not consider them married under national law.

Germany last year passed a law allowing babies born with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female.

Several countries including Australia, Germany and Nepal also allow people to have an X on their passport rather than male or female, while social media giant Facebook recently moved to allow users to choose "other" gender options, such as "transsexual", "intersex" or "androgynous".

Activist group Gender Agenda said the court decision's impact went far beyond the legal system.

"Transgender, gender diverse and intersex people face high levels of stigma, social exclusion and discrimination," group director Samuel Rutherford said.

"To have the highest court in our land say the law recognises the reality of our existence is not only important in a practical way, but paves the way for achieving equality and freedom from discrimination." -AFP

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The Star eCentral: TV Tracks

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Win the heart of Prince Harry

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 04:52 PM PDT

Fox network has approached a dozen women with an opportunity to fulfil their childhood dream of becoming a princess.

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Miranda Hart stands out

Posted: 31 Mar 2014 04:52 PM PDT

Towering 'Call The Midwife' actress wishes for days when she wasn't the odd one out.

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Tricked out: Magician Andrew Mayne

Posted: 31 Mar 2014 04:52 PM PDT

Magician Andrew Mayne likes to baffle people with his tricks, but his wish is to be able to teleport.

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