Rabu, 21 Mei 2014

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz


Showbiz shakedown

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The man behind the lawsuits against X-Men director Bryan Singer and others in Hollywood.

Michael Egan came to Hollywood at 14 or 15, a Nebraska kid who had done some professional modelling and was hoping to make it as an actor.

A friend at school invited him to a mansion in the Encino neighbourhood where, according to a lawsuit filed by Egan, he and other teenage boys were plied with drugs and alcohol – and then coerced into having sex with older men.

Egan's lawsuit, filed in 2000 when he was 17, alleged that three men sexually abused him at the Encino estate starting when he was 15 years old. He and two co-plaintiffs won a judgment against them for US$4.5mil (RM14.5mil) .

Now Egan is suing again over sexual abuse he claims occurred at that same time, at that same Encino compound, but against a different group of men.

The men named in the four new suits – X-Men director Bryan Singer and Hollywood executives Garth Ancier, David Neuman and Gary Goddard – all deny Egan's allegations. The defendants' attorneys argue that Egan lacks credibility because he did not name their clients in the previous lawsuit.

Legal experts say that Egan's delay in bringing suit could be a key issue in a case that has made headlines and forced Singer to pull out of the marketing push for his latest film, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, which opens in cinemas today.

"He (Egan) apparently knew about this event way back when – and was with it enough to sue people – so the current defendants are going to ask, 'Well, gee, why didn't you sue us earlier?'" said Loyola Law School professor Dan Schechter.

Schechter said that the defendants could also argue that because Egan waited so long to sue, evidence that would have exonerated them has been lost, depriving them of the ability to mount a proper defense.

Egan said he was traumatised for years, and that only after he began therapy last year did he decide to sue.

"I'd never healed from any of this," he said in an interview.

Now 31, Egan is unemployed and remains in therapy, according to his attorney, Jeff Herman. A resident of Las Vegas, Egan sought for years to make it in Hollywood as an actor. He also partnered with an older brother in a company that staged haunted house attractions, but the two had a falling out about a decade ago, court records show.

According to Egan's recent civil suits, he began modelling in the Midwest when he was in elementary school, later moving to New York. He relocated to the Los Angeles area with his family in the mid-1990s "at the suggestion of his talent manager to further his acting career, and continued to model."

Egan attended a small private school in the San Fernando Valley, the suits say, where one of his classmates introduced him to an older brother, Chad Shackley, who lived in the Encino mansion that would play a central role in Egan's allegations.

Shackley shared the home with Marc Collins-Rector, co-founder of a company called Digital Entertainment Network. A third DEN co-founder was Brock Pierce, who joined the company at age 17 following an early career as a child actor, including starring roles in the first two Mighty Ducks films.

DEN was an early attempt to create and stream programming over the Internet, and it attracted outside investments from companies and individuals, including Singer, Neuman, Ancier and Goddard, according to Egan's complaints.

His suits allege that the Encino estate shared by Collins-Rector and Shackley became notorious for parties that "featured sexual contact between adult males and the many teenage boys who were present."

Egan claims he was put on the DEN payroll for about US$2,100 (RM6,747) a week "in an attempt to manipulate his compliance with the sexual demands of those adults" who frequented the estate.

Open secret

The allegations have triggered debates at industry lunch spots and studio back lots throughout Hollywood. To some, the party scene described by Egan has long been an open secret.

"The party culture does exist," said Anne Henry of BizParentz Foundation, a support group for parents whose children work in the entertainment industry, who was not referring specifically to Egan's allegations. "It is a party culture of older teenage boys."

Others are sceptical of the lawsuits. Producer Gavin Polone, whose credits include HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, said the lawsuits are "a shakedown from people who want money and publicity."

"To me this is a persecution of rich gay people, that's how I see it," Polone said.

Egan's first civil suit was filed in July 2000 in Los Angeles Superior Court. The defendants, Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce, did not respond to the allegations. In February 2001, a judge awarded US$4.5mil (RM14.5mil) in damages to Egan and his two co-plaintiffs.

By then, the three defendants were no longer in California, and Collins-Rector faced a criminal sex abuse case.

He had been indicted in 2000 by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Trenton, New Jersey, on five counts of transporting a minor across state lines for illegal sexual activity.

The case involved a 13-year-old New Jersey boy Collins-Rector had allegedly met over an Internet bulletin board and had flown to Michigan and California for sexual encounters.

In 2002, Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce were arrested by local authorities in the Spanish beach city of Marbella, and Collins-Rector was extradited to the US.

Two years later, he was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles with allegedly transporting four boys to California and Arizona for sex, and in June 2004 he resolved both criminal matters in New Jersey federal court by pleading guilty to charges of transporting five boys across state lines to engage in illegal sex.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said that Collins-Rector was sentenced to time served plus three years of supervised release.

Florida's sexual offender registry listed the Dominican Republic as his place of residence as of 2008.

Pierce and Shackley did not face criminal charges in the US and were released from a Spanish jail in 2002. Pierce has since returned to the US and is chairman of Playsino, a Santa Monica, California, company that makes casino-style video games for platforms including Facebook.

Pierce reached a confidential settlement with Egan, according to attorney Daniel Cheren, who represented Egan in the 2000 suit. Pierce declined to comment through a spokeswoman.

Shackley and Collins-Rector never paid the judgments against them, Cheren said. Neither could be reached for comment.

After DEN's collapse, Egan moved to Las Vegas and launched a haunted house company in 2002 with his brother Jason, according to a 2006 lawsuit filed by Michael in Nevada district court.

The brothers created a successful Fright Dome attraction at the Circus Circus hotel and casino, but Michael Egan alleged in a 2006 lawsuit that his brother took over his interest in the company and declined to share profits.

One of Michael Egan's attorneys in the matter, Scott Cantor, said that his client initially came off as a "very intelligent, gregarious individual," but "became suspicious" of his counsel, accusing the legal team of not looking out for his interests.

The case was dismissed in 2008. Jason Egan did not respond to requests for comment. – Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Related stories:

Impressive cast, time travel in X-Men: Days of Future Past

Peter Dinklage is inerested in characters with shades of grey

Fan Bingbing excited to be in X-Men

Hugh Jackman enjoys playing Wolverine more than ever

Steve Carell surprises all with dark and twisted role

Posted: 21 May 2014 02:30 AM PDT

The actor, best known for his comedic roles, goes all serious in the movie, Foxcatcher.

America's funny man Steve Carell had the Cannes Film Festival gasping in disbelief when he delivered an "astonishing" performance as a deranged, sinister millionaire in Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher.

Based on the true-life 1996 murder of Olympic wrestling medallist Dave Schultz by John du Pont, a member of the family dynasty behind the chemical giant DuPont, the film saw the star of The Office exploring his dark side.

Also featuring strong performances from Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as two wrestling-champion brothers, the riveting tragedy from the director of Capote and Moneyball had critics screaming Palme d'Or and Oscar.

Lauding an "enormous" film, Indiewire's Jessica Kiang said the character of du Pont was "one of the most complex" and "fascinatingly" messed up ever seen on screen.

"Vocally, physically and psychologically (Carell) is not just unrecognisable, he simply is a different man, and a man whose tragic flaw is the entire story of this film. It's seldom we've ever witnessed such a total erasure of self in a role, and it deserves to win him everything, everywhere," said Kiang.

Channing Tatum (left) and Steve Carell in Foxcatcher

The story opens on Mark Schultz, Dave's insecure younger brother (Tatum) who has always lived in the shadow of his loving elder sibling (Ruffalo).

When, out-of-the-blue, du Pont asks him to move to his estate and help put together a wrestling team for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Mark jumps at the chance and soon develops a father-son relationship with a man whose dark intensity is instantly unsettling.

Erratic in his moods, du Pont eventually turns on Mark and calls his more confident brother over to the sprawling estate to train the team, along with Dave's wife (Sienna Miller) and two children.

Resentful at first, Mark eventually grows close to his brother again while du Pont becomes alienated from them, culminating in the tragic murder that made headlines in 1996 when the heir shot Dave Schultz.

Carell's role is a sharp departure from previous parts played by the actor Time magazine touted as "America's funniest man".

But critics also applauded strong performances from Ruffalo and Tatum – the latter better known for romances and action movies.

"While Carell may deliver the most transformative turn here, it's merely one of three supremely accomplished performances that connect thrillingly onscreen," Variety's Justin Chang said.

Ruffalo and Tatum met the real-life Mark Schultz, as well as Dave's widow Nancy and friends to prepare for their roles, and trained in wrestling.

"I think we wrestled for about five or six months before. Mark (Ruffalo) and I both have a cauliflower ear as take-home presents from it, and bad knees," Tatum joked.

Carell also met Nancy, which he said was a moving encounter. "I didn't meet her as myself, I met her in character which was doubly awkward because they tried to make me look as much like du Pont as they could," he told reporters.

"It was incredibly emotional, she's a remarkable woman – very, very giving and very understanding of what we were trying to do. It was an overwhelming experience for me to meet her and talk with her."

Under 47-year-old Miller's direction, close friend Philip Seymour Hoffman – who died earlier this year from a drug overdose – won an Oscar and BAFTA in 2006 for his role in Capote.

Miller choked up when a journalist asked about his ability to disappear actors into roles, pointing to Carell and Seymour Hoffman's star turn as Truman Capote.

"It makes me emotional. The last time I saw you, I was more emotional than I wanted to ever be in front of people," he said, before pausing and stumbling for words.

"To work with actors who are willing to put faith in you, you have to be grateful for the rest of your life." — AFP Relaxnews

Robert Pattinson says goodbye to young adult movies; shines in Cannes

Posted: 21 May 2014 02:10 AM PDT

The Twilight actor gets dark and bloody in The Rover, and menacing in Maps To The Stars.

After the last couple of days at Cannes, it's easy to see why Robert Pattinson is on the cover of French Premiere with the headline "la metamorphose".

The two movies that have brought Pattinson to the Croisette are weird, dark, supremely edgy and nothing like what we might expect from an actor who became famous as the vampire dude in the Twilight movies.

His reinvention (at least when he strays into the indie world) is indeed a metamorphosis. And Cannes has become an accessory to his intriguing makeover, which actually started a couple of years ago when he came to the festival with David Cronenberg's austere and arty Cosmopolis.

This year, he's back with Cronenberg's Maps To The Stars and David Michod's The Rover which premiered on back-to-back days at Cannes. Both are bloody, brutal and strange, and both are terrific.

Robert Pattinson's co-stars in Maps To The Stars, Mia Wasikowska (left) and Julianne Moore. 

The remarkable thing is that Maps To The Stars, in which Pattinson plays a chauffeur and aspiring actor who ends up having sex with Julianne Moore in the back seat of his car before almost everybody in the whole movie self-destructs spectacularly, turns out to be only the runner-up in the competition to see which of Pattinson's Cannes movies is darker and edgier.

The dark 'n' edgy crown really goes to The Rover, a brutally brilliant and brilliantly brutal post-apocalyptic road movie that crawls along creepily before periodically erupting into violence. Nobody in this movie walks away clean – but then, nobody walks in clean, either.

That's hardly a surprise, given that Michod burst on the festival scene in 2010 when he took the black and provocative crime drama Animal Kingdom to Sundance, starting a run that gave him some real heat and landed Jacki Weaver an Oscar nomination.

The Rover, which is screening out of competition and will be released in the US by A24, is more ambitious than that tightly-wound family-that-kills-together story. Set in a grimy time described only as "10 years after the collapse", his new film creates a vision of a ravaged future in which nothing is shiny and everyone you meet will happily rip you off, rob you blind or leave you in a pool of blood.

Pattinson has two movies screening at Cannes, and they are both garnering a lot of positive reviews from critics.

A lone traveler played by Guy Pearce has his car stolen at the beginning of the film and leaves a trail of bodies as he tries to get it back; early in the journey, he picks up a passenger (Pattinson), a none-too-bright drifter with a drawl, a dopey grin and a few of his own reasons for making the trip.

Of course, you can't make a road movie about a savage post-industrial, post-disaster Australia without summoning up the ghosts of Mad Max and The Road Warrior (if not Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which occupies its own ignoble niche).

But George Miller's 1970s and 1980s movies had better cars, more stylish wardrobes and much more of an action-flick sensibility; Michod isn't afraid to rachet up the tension with long stretches in which not much happens.

(What is it with brutal minimalism at this year's Cannes? Lisandro Alonso's Un Certain Regard entry Jouja, with Viggo Mortensen as a Danish officer trekking through South America looking for his daughter, hits some of the same notes but is so minimalist as to qualify as an art project as much as a movie.)

Pearce is an excellent anchor for this angry trip through a vicious and parched landscape, but we knew he would be. But Pattinson, who Cronenberg sometimes seemed to use specifically because of a certain blankness (particularly in Cosmopolis), gets a weird and meaty role and turns out to know what to do with it.

While The Rover played at a Cannes screening on Monday afternoon, incidentally, high winds buffeted the canvas sails and panels that made up part of the Salle de Soixantieme screening room. At times it sounded as if the building was about to come down in some massive conflagration – and they couldn't have been showing a more appropriate movie if it did. — Reuters

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio


Peter Dinklage has no idea what will become of Tyrion Lannister

Posted: 20 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The Game Of Thrones actor took time off from his X-Men: Days Of Future Past promotional duties to talk about his other famous character. 

Last Sunday's episode of Game Of Thrones titled The Laws Of Gods And Men showed imprisoned Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) being put on trial for a crime he insists he did not commit.

Directed by Alik Sakharov, it effortlessly brought the main theme of the series – betrayal, greed and power – into the courtroom, where almost everyone in King's Landing eagerly stepped up to stab Tyrion in the back with the proverbial knife. At the top of that long list are Tyrion's own father Tywin (Charles Dance) and sister, Cersei (Lena Headey).

Dinklage, who was in Singapore last week to promote X-Men: Days Of Future Past, recalled the filming process: "We spent about five days filming the courtroom scene. I felt like I was in a real courtroom, having served in a jury before (laughs).

"I love the people on the show, we are a family now. I get along the most with the characters that my character is most conflicted with. Lena Headey is one of my closest friends and I have grown to love Charlie. They make me a better actor."

Near the end of the episode, Tyrion lets loose all of his pent-up frustrations and fury in a monologue that ends with him demanding a trial by combat. That scene alone had the Internet buzzing with #FreeTyrion tweets and talk of a possible Emmy nomination for Dinklage.

Funnily enough, the actor has yet to see the completed episode as he has been busy with X-Men duties. "I will see them later on," he explained. "My aunt – whom I haven't spoken to for some time – called and asked if I had seen the episode. I said no and she said: 'It's good. You should watch it'."

Although Dinklage has no idea on Tyrion's fate – he confessed he hasn't read the books ("I am one of those people who can't read the books after seeing the movie. And it's my job now.") – he is excited to find out what's going to happen to his character, just like the next fan. 

Good news is, Game Of Thrones has been renewed for two more seasons.

According to Dinklage – who is currently sporting Tyrion's hairstyle, with less hint of gold-coloured highlights all over his otherwise darker-coloured hair – filming for Season Five resumes in July.

"We used to be nervous, but now, we are like 'When are they going to announce (the new season)?'"

> Game Of Thrones airs every Sunday at 10pm on HBO (Astro Ch 411).

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews


Showbiz shakedown

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The man behind the lawsuits against X-Men director Bryan Singer and others in Hollywood.

Michael Egan came to Hollywood at 14 or 15, a Nebraska kid who had done some professional modelling and was hoping to make it as an actor.

A friend at school invited him to a mansion in the Encino neighbourhood where, according to a lawsuit filed by Egan, he and other teenage boys were plied with drugs and alcohol – and then coerced into having sex with older men.

Egan's lawsuit, filed in 2000 when he was 17, alleged that three men sexually abused him at the Encino estate starting when he was 15 years old. He and two co-plaintiffs won a judgment against them for US$4.5mil (RM14.5mil) .

Now Egan is suing again over sexual abuse he claims occurred at that same time, at that same Encino compound, but against a different group of men.

The men named in the four new suits – X-Men director Bryan Singer and Hollywood executives Garth Ancier, David Neuman and Gary Goddard – all deny Egan's allegations. The defendants' attorneys argue that Egan lacks credibility because he did not name their clients in the previous lawsuit.

Legal experts say that Egan's delay in bringing suit could be a key issue in a case that has made headlines and forced Singer to pull out of the marketing push for his latest film, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, which opens in cinemas today.

"He (Egan) apparently knew about this event way back when – and was with it enough to sue people – so the current defendants are going to ask, 'Well, gee, why didn't you sue us earlier?'" said Loyola Law School professor Dan Schechter.

Schechter said that the defendants could also argue that because Egan waited so long to sue, evidence that would have exonerated them has been lost, depriving them of the ability to mount a proper defense.

Egan said he was traumatised for years, and that only after he began therapy last year did he decide to sue.

"I'd never healed from any of this," he said in an interview.

Now 31, Egan is unemployed and remains in therapy, according to his attorney, Jeff Herman. A resident of Las Vegas, Egan sought for years to make it in Hollywood as an actor. He also partnered with an older brother in a company that staged haunted house attractions, but the two had a falling out about a decade ago, court records show.

According to Egan's recent civil suits, he began modelling in the Midwest when he was in elementary school, later moving to New York. He relocated to the Los Angeles area with his family in the mid-1990s "at the suggestion of his talent manager to further his acting career, and continued to model."

Egan attended a small private school in the San Fernando Valley, the suits say, where one of his classmates introduced him to an older brother, Chad Shackley, who lived in the Encino mansion that would play a central role in Egan's allegations.

Shackley shared the home with Marc Collins-Rector, co-founder of a company called Digital Entertainment Network. A third DEN co-founder was Brock Pierce, who joined the company at age 17 following an early career as a child actor, including starring roles in the first two Mighty Ducks films.

DEN was an early attempt to create and stream programming over the Internet, and it attracted outside investments from companies and individuals, including Singer, Neuman, Ancier and Goddard, according to Egan's complaints.

His suits allege that the Encino estate shared by Collins-Rector and Shackley became notorious for parties that "featured sexual contact between adult males and the many teenage boys who were present."

Egan claims he was put on the DEN payroll for about US$2,100 (RM6,747) a week "in an attempt to manipulate his compliance with the sexual demands of those adults" who frequented the estate.

Open secret

The allegations have triggered debates at industry lunch spots and studio back lots throughout Hollywood. To some, the party scene described by Egan has long been an open secret.

"The party culture does exist," said Anne Henry of BizParentz Foundation, a support group for parents whose children work in the entertainment industry, who was not referring specifically to Egan's allegations. "It is a party culture of older teenage boys."

Others are sceptical of the lawsuits. Producer Gavin Polone, whose credits include HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, said the lawsuits are "a shakedown from people who want money and publicity."

"To me this is a persecution of rich gay people, that's how I see it," Polone said.

Egan's first civil suit was filed in July 2000 in Los Angeles Superior Court. The defendants, Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce, did not respond to the allegations. In February 2001, a judge awarded US$4.5mil (RM14.5mil) in damages to Egan and his two co-plaintiffs.

By then, the three defendants were no longer in California, and Collins-Rector faced a criminal sex abuse case.

He had been indicted in 2000 by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Trenton, New Jersey, on five counts of transporting a minor across state lines for illegal sexual activity.

The case involved a 13-year-old New Jersey boy Collins-Rector had allegedly met over an Internet bulletin board and had flown to Michigan and California for sexual encounters.

In 2002, Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce were arrested by local authorities in the Spanish beach city of Marbella, and Collins-Rector was extradited to the US.

Two years later, he was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles with allegedly transporting four boys to California and Arizona for sex, and in June 2004 he resolved both criminal matters in New Jersey federal court by pleading guilty to charges of transporting five boys across state lines to engage in illegal sex.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said that Collins-Rector was sentenced to time served plus three years of supervised release.

Florida's sexual offender registry listed the Dominican Republic as his place of residence as of 2008.

Pierce and Shackley did not face criminal charges in the US and were released from a Spanish jail in 2002. Pierce has since returned to the US and is chairman of Playsino, a Santa Monica, California, company that makes casino-style video games for platforms including Facebook.

Pierce reached a confidential settlement with Egan, according to attorney Daniel Cheren, who represented Egan in the 2000 suit. Pierce declined to comment through a spokeswoman.

Shackley and Collins-Rector never paid the judgments against them, Cheren said. Neither could be reached for comment.

After DEN's collapse, Egan moved to Las Vegas and launched a haunted house company in 2002 with his brother Jason, according to a 2006 lawsuit filed by Michael in Nevada district court.

The brothers created a successful Fright Dome attraction at the Circus Circus hotel and casino, but Michael Egan alleged in a 2006 lawsuit that his brother took over his interest in the company and declined to share profits.

One of Michael Egan's attorneys in the matter, Scott Cantor, said that his client initially came off as a "very intelligent, gregarious individual," but "became suspicious" of his counsel, accusing the legal team of not looking out for his interests.

The case was dismissed in 2008. Jason Egan did not respond to requests for comment. – Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Related stories:

Impressive cast, time travel in X-Men: Days of Future Past

Peter Dinklage is inerested in characters with shades of grey

Fan Bingbing excited to be in X-Men

Hugh Jackman enjoys playing Wolverine more than ever

Steve Carell surprises all with dark and twisted role

Posted: 21 May 2014 02:30 AM PDT

The actor, best known for his comedic roles, goes all serious in the movie, Foxcatcher.

America's funny man Steve Carell had the Cannes Film Festival gasping in disbelief when he delivered an "astonishing" performance as a deranged, sinister millionaire in Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher.

Based on the true-life 1996 murder of Olympic wrestling medallist Dave Schultz by John du Pont, a member of the family dynasty behind the chemical giant DuPont, the film saw the star of The Office exploring his dark side.

Also featuring strong performances from Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as two wrestling-champion brothers, the riveting tragedy from the director of Capote and Moneyball had critics screaming Palme d'Or and Oscar.

Lauding an "enormous" film, Indiewire's Jessica Kiang said the character of du Pont was "one of the most complex" and "fascinatingly" messed up ever seen on screen.

"Vocally, physically and psychologically (Carell) is not just unrecognisable, he simply is a different man, and a man whose tragic flaw is the entire story of this film. It's seldom we've ever witnessed such a total erasure of self in a role, and it deserves to win him everything, everywhere," said Kiang.

Channing Tatum (left) and Steve Carell in Foxcatcher

The story opens on Mark Schultz, Dave's insecure younger brother (Tatum) who has always lived in the shadow of his loving elder sibling (Ruffalo).

When, out-of-the-blue, du Pont asks him to move to his estate and help put together a wrestling team for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Mark jumps at the chance and soon develops a father-son relationship with a man whose dark intensity is instantly unsettling.

Erratic in his moods, du Pont eventually turns on Mark and calls his more confident brother over to the sprawling estate to train the team, along with Dave's wife (Sienna Miller) and two children.

Resentful at first, Mark eventually grows close to his brother again while du Pont becomes alienated from them, culminating in the tragic murder that made headlines in 1996 when the heir shot Dave Schultz.

Carell's role is a sharp departure from previous parts played by the actor Time magazine touted as "America's funniest man".

But critics also applauded strong performances from Ruffalo and Tatum – the latter better known for romances and action movies.

"While Carell may deliver the most transformative turn here, it's merely one of three supremely accomplished performances that connect thrillingly onscreen," Variety's Justin Chang said.

Ruffalo and Tatum met the real-life Mark Schultz, as well as Dave's widow Nancy and friends to prepare for their roles, and trained in wrestling.

"I think we wrestled for about five or six months before. Mark (Ruffalo) and I both have a cauliflower ear as take-home presents from it, and bad knees," Tatum joked.

Carell also met Nancy, which he said was a moving encounter. "I didn't meet her as myself, I met her in character which was doubly awkward because they tried to make me look as much like du Pont as they could," he told reporters.

"It was incredibly emotional, she's a remarkable woman – very, very giving and very understanding of what we were trying to do. It was an overwhelming experience for me to meet her and talk with her."

Under 47-year-old Miller's direction, close friend Philip Seymour Hoffman – who died earlier this year from a drug overdose – won an Oscar and BAFTA in 2006 for his role in Capote.

Miller choked up when a journalist asked about his ability to disappear actors into roles, pointing to Carell and Seymour Hoffman's star turn as Truman Capote.

"It makes me emotional. The last time I saw you, I was more emotional than I wanted to ever be in front of people," he said, before pausing and stumbling for words.

"To work with actors who are willing to put faith in you, you have to be grateful for the rest of your life." — AFP Relaxnews

Robert Pattinson says goodbye to young adult movies; shines in Cannes

Posted: 21 May 2014 02:10 AM PDT

The Twilight actor gets dark and bloody in The Rover, and menacing in Maps To The Stars.

After the last couple of days at Cannes, it's easy to see why Robert Pattinson is on the cover of French Premiere with the headline "la metamorphose".

The two movies that have brought Pattinson to the Croisette are weird, dark, supremely edgy and nothing like what we might expect from an actor who became famous as the vampire dude in the Twilight movies.

His reinvention (at least when he strays into the indie world) is indeed a metamorphosis. And Cannes has become an accessory to his intriguing makeover, which actually started a couple of years ago when he came to the festival with David Cronenberg's austere and arty Cosmopolis.

This year, he's back with Cronenberg's Maps To The Stars and David Michod's The Rover which premiered on back-to-back days at Cannes. Both are bloody, brutal and strange, and both are terrific.

Robert Pattinson's co-stars in Maps To The Stars, Mia Wasikowska (left) and Julianne Moore. 

The remarkable thing is that Maps To The Stars, in which Pattinson plays a chauffeur and aspiring actor who ends up having sex with Julianne Moore in the back seat of his car before almost everybody in the whole movie self-destructs spectacularly, turns out to be only the runner-up in the competition to see which of Pattinson's Cannes movies is darker and edgier.

The dark 'n' edgy crown really goes to The Rover, a brutally brilliant and brilliantly brutal post-apocalyptic road movie that crawls along creepily before periodically erupting into violence. Nobody in this movie walks away clean – but then, nobody walks in clean, either.

That's hardly a surprise, given that Michod burst on the festival scene in 2010 when he took the black and provocative crime drama Animal Kingdom to Sundance, starting a run that gave him some real heat and landed Jacki Weaver an Oscar nomination.

The Rover, which is screening out of competition and will be released in the US by A24, is more ambitious than that tightly-wound family-that-kills-together story. Set in a grimy time described only as "10 years after the collapse", his new film creates a vision of a ravaged future in which nothing is shiny and everyone you meet will happily rip you off, rob you blind or leave you in a pool of blood.

Pattinson has two movies screening at Cannes, and they are both garnering a lot of positive reviews from critics.

A lone traveler played by Guy Pearce has his car stolen at the beginning of the film and leaves a trail of bodies as he tries to get it back; early in the journey, he picks up a passenger (Pattinson), a none-too-bright drifter with a drawl, a dopey grin and a few of his own reasons for making the trip.

Of course, you can't make a road movie about a savage post-industrial, post-disaster Australia without summoning up the ghosts of Mad Max and The Road Warrior (if not Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which occupies its own ignoble niche).

But George Miller's 1970s and 1980s movies had better cars, more stylish wardrobes and much more of an action-flick sensibility; Michod isn't afraid to rachet up the tension with long stretches in which not much happens.

(What is it with brutal minimalism at this year's Cannes? Lisandro Alonso's Un Certain Regard entry Jouja, with Viggo Mortensen as a Danish officer trekking through South America looking for his daughter, hits some of the same notes but is so minimalist as to qualify as an art project as much as a movie.)

Pearce is an excellent anchor for this angry trip through a vicious and parched landscape, but we knew he would be. But Pattinson, who Cronenberg sometimes seemed to use specifically because of a certain blankness (particularly in Cosmopolis), gets a weird and meaty role and turns out to know what to do with it.

While The Rover played at a Cannes screening on Monday afternoon, incidentally, high winds buffeted the canvas sails and panels that made up part of the Salle de Soixantieme screening room. At times it sounded as if the building was about to come down in some massive conflagration – and they couldn't have been showing a more appropriate movie if it did. — Reuters

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Special Report - Saudi Arabia takes heat for spread of MERS virus

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:15 PM PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - In a north London laboratory on a Saturday in September 2012, an email arrived from a team of virologists in the Netherlands that spooked even some of the world's most seasoned virus handlers.

It contained details of a mysterious viral pathogen that had been found in two patients - a Qatari in intensive care in Britain, and a Saudi who died in a Jeddah hospital of pneumonia and renal failure.

This information-sharing between world-leading specialists proved fruitful: Within days the new virus had been identified as one never seen before in humans, had some of its genes sequenced, and its genetic ancestry published online for scientists around the world to see.

Yet that international collaboration was not to last.

Instead, Western scientists allege, the cooperation gave way to a Saudi culture of suspicion and stubbornness that has allowed the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, as it has become known, to kill more than 175 people in Saudi Arabia, spread throughout the region and reach as far as Malaysia, Greece, Lebanon and - via Britain - the United States.

The disease, like its cousin Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), causes coughing, fever and sometimes fatal pneumonia. More than 650 people worldwide have been infected with it, and MERS is reaching new victims every day in the Saudi kingdom, killing around 30 percent of them.

Experts say these infections and deaths could have been stopped well within the two years since MERS first emerged - and would have been if Saudi authorities had been more open to outside help offered by specialist teams around the world with the technology, know-how and will to conduct vital scientific studies.

But according to scientists involved in tracking MERS over the past two years, the Saudis have rejected repeated offers of help - including from World Health Organisation (WHO) experts, as well as the Dutch specialists at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam and the London team working for Public Health England (PHE).

In Saudi Arabia, no case-control study has been completed, meaning fundamental questions cannot be answered about the virus' capabilities, where it came from, and what it might do next.

"It's really a tragedy for these people who get sick," said David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology, chairman of PHE and head of global health security at Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs.

"It's just so frustrating not to know how people are getting infected and to see people continue to get infected and die from a virus which maybe they wouldn't have to get if we knew more."

Saudi Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish told Reuters he was "surprised" by such criticisms, describing work done by his Ministry of Health since the emergence of the disease as "nothing but collaborative." He pointed out that scientists still struggle to understand other deadly viruses decades after they were first identified, and questioned the motives of some critics.

"I'm happy" with the way the Saudi authorities have handled this virus outbreak, "and will continue to involve more partners to make knowing the details of the virus a global success," he said in an email.

SO LONG, SO LITTLE KNOWLEDGE

Scientists say what stands out about the MERS virus is just how little the world knows about it, even though for almost two years it has been viewed as one of the top potential pandemic threats by a global network of specialists who keep tabs on all emerging viruses.

Primary responsibility for the response lies with the Saudi Ministry of Health, which under international health regulations reports to the WHO on MERS cases.

The ministry has from the start worked intermittently with various global agencies and institutions, including the WHO, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of Columbia and Ecohealth Alliance. Some of them have expressed frustration about Saudi authorities' apparent lack of urgency. The WHO, for example, has conducted several scientific missions to the Middle East, primarily to provide support for Saudi Arabia and its neighbours to start the research needed to get on top of the outbreak. Yet much of this work remains undone.

So far, much evidence points to camels as a possible infection source - with the virus staging a so-called zoonotic event by jumping from animals to people. But scientists still have no idea how people are getting infected, whether by eating camel meat, or drinking the milk, touching blood or other body fluids, or simply being nearby when they cough or sneeze.

There is also no good data on how many people may be catching the virus but showing no or few symptoms, or how to successfully treat patients who get sick with MERS.

"There is so much missing in our knowledge of this infection after 20 months - whether it be the epidemiology, the transmission routes, the virology, or behavioural change," said Jeremy Farrar, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Wellcome Trust international charity.

The Saudis have been offered a lot of help, he said, but "they are not open to it."

"The world is very lucky this virus seems to be stable and doesn't seem to be changing, but 20 months in to the emergence of a new virus, just imagine if it had been another SARS."

Comparisons with SARS have dogged the MERS coronavirus since it first surfaced - not only because the two viruses belong to the same family but also because they cause similar symptoms.

There is one key difference: SARS in 2003 was more dangerous than MERS is now, not because it has a higher fatality rate - the SARS death toll was lower at around 10 percent - but because it spread more easily from person to person.

LIKE SARS, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

When SARS hit global headlines in 2003, it had already been circulating unchecked in China for several months. It fell below the radar of the WHO, which was kept in the dark by secretive Chinese officials.

When Beijing did come clean, Public Health England's Heymann, who back then was chief of the WHO's infectious disease section, says public chastising of China, coupled with intensive daily collaboration between specialists, helped bring the outbreak to an end within months. The disease killed almost 800 people worldwide.

"There were three virtual groups - laboratory people, clinicians and epidemiologists - who networked daily by phone and email, working together to solve the problem," Heymann said.

Saudi suspicions about working with teams of researchers outside the kingdom - and the Deputy Minister's desire to stay in control - may have been prompted by precisely the information-sharing that characterised the virus's first few days, interviews with key scientists and public health officials involved in tracking MERS since 2012 suggest. Memish did not respond to that suggestion.

Ali Mohamed Zaki, an Egyptian microbiologist working at the Dr Soliman Fakeeh Hospital in Jeddah, found and reported the first MERS patient by posting lab results on an international scientific website. Zaki was sacked within a week of going public about the new virus. He has since returned to his native Egypt and now works at the faculty of medicine at Cairo's Ain Shams University.

"I lost my job because of this discovery," he told Reuters. No-one at the Jeddah hospital could be contacted for comment.

The fact the Dutch team with whom Zaki had first communicated took out a patent on the newly identified virus seems also to have rankled. In an email to Reuters, Deputy Health Minister Memish described that move as being driven by a "financial agenda."   

Ab Osterhaus, who heads the virology department at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, said patenting the virus was the "normal thing to do" in such a situation, and said his lab freely shared details of the virus with everyone and anyone who wants to conduct research.

There are few patents on viruses, largely because most of them were discovered many years ago. But research institutes often take out patents, at the same time as sharing a virus freely, as a way of encouraging future interest from industry in developing vaccines or other drugs.

"We've always been very open with everything," Osterhaus said.   

"Somebody should be doing the epidemiological work in Saudi, and we have all the techniques operational today to be involved in those kinds of studies, so we'd be happy to collaborate. We have offered our services to Memish, but apparently we are not the obvious candidates to help."   

Others who worked with Saudi scientists at the very beginning of the outbreak, when MERS had not even been named and was only just starting to be investigated, say Saudi authorities - and Memish in particular - wanted an increasing level of control.

Ian Lipkin, a virologist at New York's Columbia University, was among the first to establish a link between the MERS virus and camels. Lipkin told Reuters that he initially worked with Memish, but the two fell out. "I haven't worked with him in six months. We no longer work together at all," he said.

Lipkin declined to give details, saying only: "We're just not in agreement on many things."

A specialist in infectious diseases, Memish has served on advisory committees for the WHO, and published more than 180 papers in the past decade - several in high-impact journals such as The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine, according to an analysis by ThomsonReuters IP & Science unit. This volume of work is indicative of a fairly prolific research scientist, but not out of the ordinary.

Zaki said Memish was "very angry" to hear he was to publish a paper along with Osterhaus's team in the New England Journal of Medicine on the discovery of the MERS virus. "He (Memish) wanted to have the whole story for himself," Zaki said.

And asked whether he, as discoverer of the virus, has since been able to work from Egypt with Saudi scientists to investigate it in more detail, Zaki added: "No no, not at all."

Memish says he'd be happy to work with Lipkin in the future "if his services will be needed and (would) not duplicate our work with other partners." He did not respond to questions about whether he was trying to claim credit for every MERS investigation.

Memish's boss was replaced as Saudi Health Minister just as MERS appeared to be gathering pace. His replacement, Labour Minister Adel Fakieh, was not available for interview with Reuters. His appointment was seen by commentators as an attempt by the government to be seen taking MERS more seriously.

CRITICAL GAPS

As the frustration over the response emerges, big questions about the deadly virus remain.

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's head of health security, has been careful not to directly criticise Saudi authorities. But in a media briefing on May 14, he described progress as slow and admitted that despite repeated calls from the WHO, crucial research has not yet been done.

"There are critical gaps in information," Fukuda said. He noted in particular the continuing lack of a case-control study - an essential starting point for determining where a new disease is coming from, who it is infecting, and how. "In principle, everybody accepts that the studies are important to do, and that they may yield some of the critical information that is wanted, but ... it has been slow."

In July 2013, he also said the WHO had "conducted a number of missions in the Middle East, primarily to provide support to assess what is the situation, (and) what investigations should be done."

Memish defends his country's actions and says he has collaborated widely. He points to other infectious viral diseases, such as Ebola, which has caused sporadic but deadly outbreaks in Africa since it was first identified 40 years ago and about which scientists still have limited knowledge.

"All these collaborations have answered many questions but of course (there) still remain some to be answered," he said. "Look at Ebola, which has been around for many years, and tell me ... do we have all the answers on source, mode of transmission from zoonotic source and treatment or vaccine prevention?"

(Edited by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith)

Thai army chief to press political rivals on compromise

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 PM PDT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military chief will press political rivals on Thursday to end a drawn-out power struggle that has polarised the country and battered its economy, after neither side gave ground in a first round of army-brokered talks.

Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha declared martial law on Tuesday to prevent more violence between government supporters loyal to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and anti-government protesters backing the royalist establishment.

Thailand's gross domestic product contracted 2.1 percent in January-March from the previous three months, adding to fears the country is stumbling into recession.

The army has rejected accusations that martial law amounts to a coup. It has let rival protesters remain on the streets but banned them from marching. It has also clamped down on media, including partisan television channels, and warned people not to spread inflammatory material on social media.

Prayuth has called on the rivals to agree on a compromise that is likely to hinge around the appointment of an interim prime minister, political reforms and the timing of an election.

"I want to see every problem settled within this forum before I retire," the Nation newspaper quoted Prayuth as telling the rivals at a first round of talks on Wednesday. He is due to step down in September. "I don't want my juniors to take up this job."

Wednesday's talks ended inconclusively with neither side backing down from their entrenched positions, participants said. Another session is scheduled for Thursday.

Former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin has lived in self-exile since 2008 to avoid a jail term for graft but still commands the loyalty of legions of rural and urban poor and exerts a huge influence over politics, most recently through a government run by his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Yingluck was forced to step down as premier by a court two weeks ago, but her caretaker government remains in power, despite the declaration of martial law and six months of sometimes violent protests aimed at ousting it.

The protesters say Thaksin is a corrupt crony capitalist who commandeered Thailand's fragile democracy, using taxpayers' money to buy votes with populist giveaways.

They want a "neutral" interim prime minister to oversee electoral reforms aimed at ridding the country of the Shinawatra family's political influence.

Public sector workers have joined the campaign to get the government out and began a strike on Thursday, although one union leader said there would be no disruption to utilities, transport or other public services in Bangkok.

((Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Alan Raybould and Alex Richardson)

China to begin internet security checks amid cyberspying row - Xinhua

Posted: 21 May 2014 08:45 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will begin checking computer systems used in government departments to protect "sensitive data", the official Xinhua news agency said via its microblog on Thursday, amid a row over cyberspying with the United States.

The checks would target technology that is important to national security and the public interest, Xinhua said, citing the State Council Information Office.

A small number of governments and businesses "take advantage of technological monopolies to collect sensitive data on a large scale" from the Chinese government, business and institutions, it added, and there have been large-scale security breaches.

Xinhua did not give details of which governments or businesses it was referring to.

The U.S. government recently charged five Chinese army officers with cyberspying and stealing trade secrets, sparking outrage from China.

(Reporting By Li Hui and Megha Rajagopalan)

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KLCI posts mild rebound, blue chips lift

Posted: 21 May 2014 06:43 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI posted a mild rebound in early trade on Thursday on firmer close on Wall Street, as Petronas-linked stocks and financials lifted the index.

At 9.30am, the KLCI was up 3.82 points to 1,880.85. Turnover was 273.21 million shares valued at RM163.91mil. There were 270 gainers, 142 decliners and 206 counters unchanged.

Reuters reported US stocks rose on Wednesday, rebounding from the previous day's broad selloff, after minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed central bankers have discussed the eventual tightening of monetary policy but made no decisions on which tools to use.

It said that the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1%, its biggest daily percentage jump since mid-April. Goldman Sachs was the top gainer on the blue chip index, up 1.9% at US$159.35.

At Bursa Malaysia, PetGas rose 38 sen to RM24.56 and PetDag 18 sen to RM23.88.

Banks rose with PBBank up 22 sen to RM19.98 and HLFG 20 sen to RM15.90.

Decliners were KL Kepong, down 34 sen to RM24.36 and MAHB five sen to RM7.51.

Pintaras fell 15 sen to RM3.92 and GAB 14 sen to RM13.42.

Diary Malaysia May 22 Thursday

Posted: 21 May 2014 05:36 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: ALL TIMES ARE PROVISIONAL AND IN LOCAL TIME FOLLOWED BY GMT IN BRACKETS

THURSDAY, MAY 22

KUALA LUMPUR - Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 15 May 2014 at 1700 pm (0900 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Alliance Bank briefing on Foreign Currency Accounts, Room 410, Level 4, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Jalan Ampang at 9 am (0100 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Ewon Ebin to deliver special address at 20th Asean International Machine Tools and Metalworking Technology Exhibition, Level 2, Pelantaran, PWTC at 10.30 am (0230 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - AmInvest briefing on Global Property Market Outlook, Sri Bendahara 2, First Floor, The Royale Chulan, 5, Jalan Conlay, Kuala Lumpur at 12 pm (0400 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Maximus Ongkili visits Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Project at project site, Karak at 8.20 am (0020 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil attends workshop on foreign maids at Redang Room, Level 3, Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC at 8.30 am (0030 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Press conference by Pemuda Umno Education Bureau on the closing of Sekolah Bina Insan Kajang at Umno Ampang Division building, No. 100 Jalan Lembah Jaya, Ampang at 10 am (0200 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor attends media briefing on River of Life project at Level 29, Menara DBKL 1, DBKL at 11 am (0300 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Public Lecture by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on 'Constructing an Islamic Government and Rule of Law Index' at International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) at 2 pm (0600 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Joseph Kurup attends a roundtable disccussion on proposed Kelantan hudud bill at 15th Floor, Menara Manulife, 6 Jalan Gelanggang, Damansara Heights at 3 pm (0700 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Aziz launches a new album by Dennis Lau - A Malaysia Journey - at Saloma Bistro Hall, Saloma Bistro, Jalan Ampang at 3.30 pm (0730 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Communications and Multimedia Ministry Secretary-General Abd Rahim Mohd Radzi attends dinner for participants of Malaysia-Indonesia Journalists Exchange Visit programme at Istana Hotel at 8 pm (1200 GMT).

KUALA LUMPUR - Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin attends reception marking 40th anniversary of the establishment of China - Malaysia relations at Grand Ballroom, Shangri-la Hotel at 8 pm (1200 GMT).

FRIDAY, MAY 30

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data May 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, MAY 30

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end April 2014 at 1200pm (0400 GMT)

FRIDAY, JUN 06

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 30 May 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, JUN 06

KUALA LUMPUR - Release of External Trade Data as at Apr 2014 at 1201pm (0401 GMT)

SATURDAY, JUN 07

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday- His Majesty's Birthday

WEDNESDAY, JUN 11

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Index of Industrial Production Data as of Apr 2014 at 1201pm (0401).

WEDNESDAY, JUN 18

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of CPI Data as of May 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, JUN 20

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 13 Jun 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

MONDAY, JUN 30

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data June 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

MONDAY, JUN 30

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end May 2014 at 1200pm (0400 GMT)

FRIDAY, JUL 04

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of External Trade Data as at May 2014 at 1201pm (0401 GMT)

MONDAY, JUL 7,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 30 Jun 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

THURSDAY, JUL 10

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Index of Industrial Production Data as of May 2014 at 1201pm (0401).

THRUSDAY, JUL 10

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Interest Rates Decision(Overnight Policy Rates) at 18:00pm(1000 GMT)

TUESDAY, JUL 15,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday- Nuzul Al-Quran

WEDNESDAY, JUL 16

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of CPI Data as of Jun 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

TUESDAY, JUL 22,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 15 Jul 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

MONDAY, JUL 28,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday-Aidil Fitri

TUESDAY, JUL 29,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday-Aidil Fitri

THURSDAY, JUL 31,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data July 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

THURSDAY, JUL 31,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end June 2014 1200pm (0400 GMT)

WEDNESDAY, AUG 06

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of External Trade Data as at Jun 2014 at 1201pm (0401 GMT)

THURSDAY, AUG 7'

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 31 Jul 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

MONDAY, AUG 11

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Index of Industrial Production Data as of Jun 2014 at 1201pm (0401).

WEDNESDAY, AUG 20

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of CPI Data as of Jul 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, AUG 22,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 15 Aug 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, AUG 29,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end July 2014 at 1200pm (0400 GMT)

FRIDAY, AUG 29,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of 2nd Quarter 2014 GDP (Not Later Than) at 1800pm (1000 GMT)

FRIDAY, AUG 29,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data August 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

SUNDAY, AUG 31,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday- National Day

FRIDAY, SEP 5

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of External Trade Data as at Jul 2014 at 1201pm (0401 GMT)

MONDAY, SEP 8,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 29 Aug 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

THURSDAY, SEP 11

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Index of Industrial Production Data as of Jul 2014 at 1201pm (0401).

TUESDAY, SEP 16,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday- Malaysia Day

WEDNESDAY, SEP 17

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of CPI Data as of Aug 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

THURSDAY, SEP 18

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Interest Rates Decision(Overnight Policy Rates) at 18:00pm(1000 GMT)

TUESDAY, SEP 23,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 15 Sep 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

TUESDAY, SEP 30, KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data September 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

TUESDAY, SEP 30,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end August 2014 at 1200pm (0400 GMT)

TUESDAY, OCT 07

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of External Trade Data as at Aug 2014 at 1201pm (0401 GMT)

WEDNESDAY, OCT 8,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 30 Sep 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, OCT 10

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Index of Industrial Production Data as of Aug 2014 at 1201pm (0401).

WEDNESDAY, OCT 22,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 15 Oct 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

WEDNESDAY, OCT 22,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of CPI Data as of Sept 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

THURSDAY, OCT 23,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday- Deepavali

SATURDAY, OCT 25,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday- Islamic New Year 1436H

FRIDAY, OCT 31,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end September 2014 at 1200pm (0400 GMT)

FRIDAY, OCT 31,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data October 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

THURSDAY, NOV 6,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Interest Rates Decision(Overnight Policy Rates) at 18:00pm(1000 GMT)

FRIDAY, NOV 7,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 31 Oct 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, NOV 7,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of External Trade Data as at Sept 2014 at 1201pm (0401 GMT)

TUESDAY, NOV 11,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Index of Industrial Production Data as of Sept 2014 at 1201pm (0401).

WEDNESDAY, NOV 19,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of CPI Data as of Oct 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, NOV 21,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 14 Nov 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, NOV 28,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of 3rd Quarter 2014 GDP (Not Later Than) at 1800pm (1000 GMT)

FRIDAY, NOV 28,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end October 2014 at 1200pm (0400 GMT)

FRIDAY, NOV 28,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data November 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, DEC 5,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 28 Nov 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

FRIDAY, DEC 5,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of External Trade Data as at Oct 2014 at 1201pm (0401 GMT)

THURSDAY, DEC 11

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Index of Industrial Production Data as of Sept 2014 at 1201pm (0401).

WEDNESDAY, DEC 17

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of CPI Data as of Nov 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

MONDAY, DEC 22,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Bank Negara's International Bank Reserves as at 15 Dec 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

THURSDAY, DEC 25,

KUALA LUMPUR- Market and Public Holiday- Christmas Day

WEDNESDAY, DEC 31,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Money Supply Data December 2014 at 1700pm(0900 GMT)

WEDNESDAY, DEC 31,

KUALA LUMPUR- Release of Detailed Disclosure of International Reserves as at end November 2014 at 1200pm (0400 GMT)

NOTE: The inclusion of diary items does not necessarily mean that Reuters will file a story based on the event.- Reuters

Myanmar oil demand up, Petronas among suppliers

Posted: 21 May 2014 05:30 PM PDT

SINGAPORE/YANGON: Myanmar businessman Lay has doubled the number of cars he owns to six in just three years, as reforms in Southeast Asia's poorest country unleash a wave of consumer spending.

The opening up of the economy, with a loosening of military rule ending decades of isolation, has meant a surge in ownership of second-hand Japanese cars that are replacing rusting, reconditioned British-era vehicles and boosting demand and imports of fuel.

Oil demand may have soared by as much as a quarter in the last financial year to March, giving oil traders a new market at a time when Asia is awash with fuel supplies due to a jump in refining capacity and cooling demand in top buyers China and India.

Two of Myanmar's three small refineries barely function, meaning the country relies on imports.

Myanmar has attracted a host of new suppliers from small, obscure oil traders to global trading giants such as Trafigura and Vitol, which are nipping at the heels of leading suppliers Chinaoil, PetroChina's trading arm, and Singapore's Hin Leong.

Fuel demand is also being boosted by more factories and as a mining boom lifts demand for diesel for machines and trucks.

The Southeast Asian nation remains, however, a tough market to crack given obstacles ranging from poor infrastructure to buyers being particular about the color of fuel they receive, traders say. Fuel is often sold in glass bottles next to the road and may be rejected by drivers unless it is clear, irrespective of performance.

To cater for higher demand, companies are planning to build new oil storage facilities and invest in petrol stations.

Under military rule, businessman Lay had to wait for hours at government-owned fuel stations to fill up, but now the queues are in the choking traffic snarling Yangon's pot-holed streets.

"Oil used to be rationed so we only have a limited amount allocated to us, but now it is easily available," said Lay, who did not want to use his full name.

Fuel demand rose more than 5 percent to about 40,700 barrels per day in the fiscal year to March, data from Myanmar's energy ministry showed. But traders say undocumented fuel flows, particularly oil smuggled from nearby Thailand, may have made the rise more like 20-25 percent.

Between 10 and 15 trucks, or about 6,000 tones (44,700 barrels), of diesel come from Thailand each month, a trader said. The energy ministry declined to comment on smuggled oil.

RECONDITIONED CARS

Like businessman Lay, many of his compatriots are also replacing decades-old cars that have limped along after being reconditioned numerous times with imported cars and jeeps, mostly from Japan under a trade deal between the two countries.

Passenger car imports jumped by a quarter to 331,468 in fiscal 2012/2013 (April-March), while the number of imported trucks rose 10 percent to 74,546, government data shows.

Oil imports into Myanmar jumped after local private firms were allowed in after Cyclone Nargis disrupted supplies in 2008, but tough requirements from importers and bad infrastructure have helped Chinaoil and Hin Leong, which have more than half the market between them, entrench their leading position.

Other sellers include PTT <PTT.BK>, Thai Oil <TOP.BK> and Malaysia's Petronas <PETR.UL>, as well as Korea's Daewoo International <047050.KS>, Swiss Singapore, Trafigura and Vitol <VITOLV.UL>.

CAUTION AGAINST RUSHING IN

Yet, despite the recent surge in oil imports, some caution against rushing into a market which remains small.

"Even by 2020-2030, it's still going to be a very small market in the big scheme of things," said Alex Yap, analyst at consultancy FGE, contrasting it with Southeast Asia's top fuel consumer Indonesia, which imported 325,000 bpd of gasoline and 115,000 bpd of diesel last year.

Hin Leong is the largest supplier to private local importers as it can deploy its own tankers operated by shipping arm Ocean Tankers, traders said.

Only smaller tankers, carrying about 6,000-10,000 tones of oil, can enter the shallow Yangon River estuary to reach Yangon and Thilawa ports designated to receive oil.

There are currently no oil pipelines in Myanmar.

Beyond infrastructure headaches, suppliers can also be penalized with a 5 percent price cut from buyers if they deliver a day late, traders say. That's enough to wipe out a margin of 1-2 percent they might hope to make from a sale.

"Not every company can deal with Myanmar," a Singapore-based trader said. "They can go into Myanmar feeling very gung ho, but when they get there it's a logistical nightmare."- Reuters

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Woman finds &#39;severely&#39; decomposed body of husband after returning from Australia

Posted: 21 May 2014 08:01 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: A woman, returning home after a month in Australia, had the shock of her life when she found her husband's severely decomposed body slouched in her bathtub from an apparent suicide. 

Police said the woman, whose identity is being withheld, had left for Australia on April 14 to accompany her daughter who was continuing her studies there, and left her husband to watch over the house. 

She returned to her Puchong Jaya home at 11am Wednesday and was "greeted" with a stench outside the gate. 

She later found the skeletal remains of her 54-year-old husband, dressed only in his underwear, and lying inside the tub of their master bedroom. 

Serdang acting OCPD Supt Yong Soo Koon said the woman alleged that her husband had been addicted to syabu for more than six years and was a failed contractor. 

"She claimed he had attempted suicide by cutting his wrists on numerous occasions. 

"However, we cannot confirm that he took his own life yet, as the body is too decomposed. An investigation is pending to determine the cause of death," he said.

The mother of four daughters said she last spoke to the victim on April 17, adding that her husband sounded normal with no sign of distress. 

"Their neighbours said they had not seen the man for over two weeks after his wife and daughter left overseas, and had earlier complained of the stench coming from the house," Supt Yong said. 

The body has been sent to the Serdang Hospital for a post-mortem.

Khairy: ‘Not right’ for Umno Youth members to storm into Penang assembly hall

Posted: 21 May 2014 07:38 AM PDT

TELUK INTAN: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has requested a report from Penang Umno Youth over the trespass incident by members into the state assembly hall.

Khairy, who is also Umno Youth chief, said he would look into the matter before deciding whether to take any action against the members involved.

"I've already spoken to Penang Umno about the incident.

"They are unhappy with the DAP assemblyman over what he had said, which was uncouth," he told journalists during a walkabout with Teluk Intan parliamentary seat by-election candidate and Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong at the Medan Selera Menara Condong on Wednesday.

"They are extremely upset and what they did was understandable," he said.

"However, storming into the Penang assembly hall is not right and they should have just protested outside the premises," he added.

On an alleged incident whereby Barisan Nasional members disrupted a ceramah at Kampung Padang Tembak here, Khairy said the division would investigate. 

"We want to ensure and identify if it is really our members who have done so.

"It could be some imposter wearing a shirt branding Barisan," he said.

"If it is true, we will take action against them," he added.

Khairy stressed that he had already instructed Barisan Youth members not to disturb Pakatan Rakyat's activities.

"We want to campaign gentlemanly," he said.

Mah will square off against DAP's Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud in the by-election following the passing of incumbent Seah Leong Peng earlier this month due to cancer.

Malaysian police to boost cooperation with other countries to sniff out militant activities

Posted: 21 May 2014 07:08 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will enhance cooperation with international agencies to investigate and monitor any militant activities in the country, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar on Wednesday. 

Khalid assured that Malaysia would not allow any militant groups to set up their base in the country or spread their ideology. 

"Malaysia is not a hub or transit for militant activities," he told Bernama here.

He added that police would continue to work with agencies from other countries to curb such activities. 

He also said Malaysia had an excellent track record in 'sniffing' out militant groups that try to spread their ideology in the country. 

The latest arrest of a suspect by police in Kepong on May 15, is believed to be an individual, who had plans to attack foreign consulates in India. 

Khalid said the arrest was Malaysian police's second success in detaining a suspect who was believed to have links with international terrorists. 

Another suspect, who was detained in Selangor on May 8, was a 34-year-old from Somalia and a suspected member of a terrorist group in Africa, known as Al-Syabab. 

Police had also detained 11 individuals in Selangor and Kedah on April 28 and 29, on suspicion of being involved in militant groups from Syria and Southern Philippines. 

"Though thousands of tourists enter the country every day, police have ways to monitor and detect militant groups that try to enter the country, with intention to spread or start militant activities," said Khalid. - Bernama

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