Khamis, 22 Mei 2014

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio


Carmen Soo joins Oh My English!

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The third season of the educational series will be a star-studded one.

KRING! It's back to school for the cast of Oh My English!.

In the premiere of Season Three, which aired last Sunday, viewers learned that the students of class 3 Merah in SMK Ayer Dalam have now moved on to 4 Merah.

A new school year means new friends and new teachers. Popular Malaysian actress who's making waves in the Philippines Carmen Soo, Adam Dan Hawa's Nadiya Nisaa, veteran actress Fauziah Ahmad Daud and comedian Rahim R2 join the cast as regulars.

Meanwhile, Faizal Hussein, Hans Isaac, Rashidi Ishak, Waris and Bront Palarae will make special appearances as the series progresses.

Old and new: The third season of Oh My English! just got more interesting with a mix of existing and new characters played by (top row, from left) Juzzthin, Amyra Rosli, Shafiq Kyle, Kaameshaa Ravindran, Nadiya Nisaa, Akhmal Nazri, (bottom row, from left) Zain Saidin, Fauziah Ahmad Daud and Sherry Al-Hadad.

Besides a line-up of star-studded actors, newcomers Amyra Rosli, Shafiq Kyle, Juzzthin and Sherry Al-Hadad will join its existing cast which includes Akhmal Nazri, Roax Tan, Md Zhafir Muzani bin Mohamad, Kaameshaa Ravindran, Zain Saidin and Tiz Zaqyah.

Astro's GenNext Business vice president Putri Yasmin Megat Zaharuddin is grateful for the support from audiences, with an average viewership jump of 3.6 million in Season One to 5.2 million in Season Two.

"We hope that viewers will enjoy Season Three with all the new surprises and twists in store. As with previous seasons, this one will not only include humorous and educational elements, but also positive values for our young viewers to emulate," she said in a press statement.

The new season will see its characters going on new adventures and in doing so, learning fresh English-language lessons each time.

Look out for current event tie-ups, too, such as an episode on the growing popularity of social media sites like Instagram, a World Cup episode and a Merdeka episode where characters will travel back in time to 1957 and experience what it feels like to live in that era.

Oh My English! Season Three airs every Sunday at 9pm on Astro TVIQ (Ch 610) and Astro Maya HD (Ch 135).

New hosts for Astro’s entertainment platform hlive

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

Astro amps up its entertainment news delivery with fresh faces.

IF you're a local celebrity, forget the A-list, you'll want to get on the "H-list".

Satellite television service provider Astro will be introducing hlive! ("h"for hiburan), a brand that will deliver comprehensive entertainment news coverage, across various platforms including TV, radio, digital and print.

Astro vice president of Malay Language Business Khairul Anwar Salleh announced the move, which will take effect beginning May 26, is in line with Astro's commitment to bring viewers quality local content during its launch in Kuala Lumpur recently.

"At Astro, we believe in synchonising our content through the watch, listen and read concept where entertainment news is touched upon on all angles across different platforms," Khairul said to the crowd comprising "H-list" celebrities such as Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, Aaron Aziz, Awal Ashaari, Scha Alyahya, Amber Chia and Zizan Raja Lawak.

On the TV front, hlive! will air twice a day every Monday to Saturday at 1pm and 8.30pm simultaneously on Astro Ria (Ch 104) and Astro Maya HD (Ch 135).

The programme – also made available on tablets, smartphones and computers via Astro On-The-Go – will be anchored by a line-up of fresh faces including Dahlia Shazwan, 26, Nabil Mahir, 26, Shalma Ainaa, 23, and Alif Farhan, 24.

"Dahlia, Nabil, Shalma and Alif were chosen as presenters on hlive! for their down-to-earth personality and sense of individuality that will surely capture audiences," Khairul explained.

Astro has also partnered with E! News to include exclusive international content to its programming.

Meanwhile, Datuk Aznil Haji Nawawi will host hlive! Apa Kata Malaysia, a programme that invites Malaysians to give their feedback on the week's entertainment news, airing live every Sunday, 8.30pm, beginning May 25. – Kenneth Chaw

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates


Chinese state media says five suicide bombers carried out Xinjiang attack

Posted: 22 May 2014 09:40 PM PDT

URUMQI - Five suicide bombers carried out the attack which killed 31 people in the capital of China's troubled Xinjiang region, state media reported a day after the deadliest terrorist attack to date in the region.

The incident, which occurred in Urumqi on Thursday morning, was the second suicide attack in the capital in just over three weeks. A bomb and knife attack at an Urumqi train station in late April killed one bystander and wounded 79.

The government blames Islamists and separatists for the worsening violence in Xinjiang, the resource-rich western region bordering central Asia. At least 180 people have been killed in attacks across China.

The attackers ploughed two vehicles into an open market in Urumqi and hurled explosives. Many of the 94 people wounded were elderly shoppers, according to witnesses.

"Five suspects who participated in the violent terrorist attack blew themselves up," the Global Times, a tabloid run by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reported on Friday.

The newspaper said authorities "are investigating whether there were other accomplices".

Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest in Xinjiang is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of ethnic Uighurs, a Turkic speaking Muslim people.

The Uighurs have long complained of official discrimination in favour of the Han people, China's majority ethnic group.

Residents said the morning market, where the attack occurred, was predominantly frequented by Han Chinese customers, though many of the vendors are Uighurs.

A Han Chinese man, surnamed Zheng, said he had left the market just 20 minutes before the attack occurred. He said after he heard the blast, he rushed back to see plumes of black smoke rising into the sky and people running away.

"How are people supposed to live life when you can't even go to buy vegetables? It's so terrible," he told Reuters. "That is what the terrorists are after. They want to have a political impact, so they target large groups."

"I just got here, but if I had the means, I'd consider leaving Urumqi for someplace safer," Zheng said, adding that other morning markets were also closed.

China has been grappling with a rise in suicide attacks. A car burst into flames at the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October, killing five people.

"It looks like (the Chinese authorities) have a metastasizing domestic terrorism problem," Kenneth Lieberthal, a China expert with the Brookings Institution, told Reuters.

"I think the evidence suggests to date that if anything, the rethink (on Xinjiang policy) will be to get tougher."

Pan Zhiping, a retired expert on Central Asia at Xinjiang's Academy of Social Science, said Thursday's attack was the deadliest ever in the region.

He said that the government needs to step up its efforts on intelligence gathering. He said the "terrorists" received training overseas from groups like the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and gained combat experience in Syria.

"They are now definitely organised and these small organisations are very tight," Pan said. "If it's not possible to crack a small organisation, then I think this kind of thing will continue to happen."

Chinese police blamed the ETIM for the Urumqi train station attack last month, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday, the first time the separatists have been directly linked to the assault.

The ETIM has been accused by the United States and China of having ties to al Qaeda, but there is disagreement among security experts over the nature of the group and whether ties with al Qaeda and other militant organisations really exist.

No group has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.

The top official in Xinjiang, Zhang Chunxian, has called for all forces to be mobilised to find the perpetrators, vowing to "crush the swollen arrogance of terrorists", the Xinjiang government said on its official news website.

(Additional reporting by Li Hui and Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING and James Pomfret in HONG KONG, Writing by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Indian consulate in west Afghanistan under attack, officials say

Posted: 22 May 2014 09:25 PM PDT

HERAT Afghanistan (Reuters) - Four heavily armed insurgents attacked the Indian consulate in western Afghanistan's main city near the border with Iran on Friday, wounding at least two policemen, officials said.

The attack underscored a worrying security picture as Afghanistan prepares to take over from foreign combat troops after 12 years of war and prepares for a presidential election run-off next month.

Herat police chief General Samihullah Qatra told Reuters at least one suicide bomber was shot by police and three were still fighting.

"Four Taliban have entered residential houses close to the consulate, shooting towards the Indian consulate compound," Qatra said. "Police have already evacuated civilians from houses and now fighting is ongoing," he said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack and no claims of responsibility have been made so far, although the Taliban often carry out such attacks on Afghan and international targets around the country.

The attack began before dawn and was still going several hours later, officials said.

(Reporting by Jalil Ahmad; Writing by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Paul Tait)

Thai generals summon ousted PM for talks a day after coup

Posted: 22 May 2014 09:00 PM PDT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military leaders summoned ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to a meeting on Friday, a day after army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power in a bloodless coup and said he wanted to restore order following months of turmoil.

General Prayuth launched his coup after the various factions refused to give ground in a struggle for power between the royalist establishment and a populist government that had raised fears of serious violence and damaged Thailand's economy.

Soldiers detained politicians from both sides when Prayuth announced the military takeover, which drew swift international condemnation, after talks he was presiding over broke down.

Leaders of pro- and anti-government protest groups were still believed to be in detention on Friday, an opposition lawmaker said, declining to be named.

The military censored the media, dispersed rival protesters in Bangkok and imposed a nationwide 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

It has summoned Yingluck and 22 associates, including powerful relatives and ministers in her government, to a meeting at an army facility at 10 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Friday.

Yingluck is the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire telecommunications tycoon turned politician who won huge support among the poor but the loathing of the royalist establishment, largely over accusations of corruption and nepotism. He was ousted as premier in a military coup in 2006.

Aides to Yingluck had arrived at the army facility by mid-morning and she was expected to follow.

Prayuth himself may not be present. He was expected to meet King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Friday at the royal palace in Hua Hin, in the south of the country, to explain the army's move.

Yingluck was forced to step down as prime minister by a court on May 7 but her caretaker government, buffeted by more than six months of protests, had remained nominally in power, even after the army declared martial law on Tuesday.

Any meeting could set the tone for army rule as Prayuth tries to steer the country out of crisis and fend off international criticism of the latest lurch into military rule.

STREETS CALM

Bangkok has remained calm and activity appeared to be relatively normal on Friday, although the military has ordered all schools and universities to stay closed.

Public transport was running after the curfew ended and early traffic was light, but cars were moving slowly on some roads into the capital because of army checkpoints.

Regular television schedules were suspended with all stations running the same news programme, featuring content from Channel 5, the army's own channel.

It showed pictures of the areas, now cleared, that had been taken over in and around Bangkok by various political groups since anti-government protests flared up last November.

Other footage showed people going about their business normally in cities around the country. Some were interviewed, saying they welcomed the coup.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there was no justification for the coup, which would have "negative implications" for ties with its ally, especially military ones.

"The path forward for Thailand must include early elections that reflect the will of the people," Kerry said in a statement.

He also called for the release of detained politicians.

There was also condemnation from France, the European Union and the United Nations human rights office. Japan said the coup was regrettable and Australia said it was "gravely concerned."

Prayuth is a member of the royalist establishment generally seen as hostile to the Shinawatras, although he has tried for months to keep the army out of the political strife and to appear even-handed.

He enjoyed cordial relations with Yingluck after she took office following a landslide election victory in mid-2011 but is regarded warily by some Thaksin supporters.

The army chief, who is 60 and due to retire later this year, has taken over the powers of prime minister but it was not clear if he intended to stay in the position.

MARKET REACTION MUTED

The anti-Thaksin protesters had demanded electoral changes that would end the Shinawatras' success at the ballot box. Thaksin or his parties have won every election since 2001.

Thaksin's "red shirt" supporters were dismayed and angry but said they had no immediate plans for protests that they had threatened in response to any army takeover. Those who had been protesting in Bangkok dispersed peacefully after the coup.

Protests would be a major test for Prayuth, who commands an army known to contain some Thaksin sympathisers.

In 2010, more than 90 people were killed in clashes, most when the army broke up protests against a pro-establishment government that had taken office after a pro-Thaksin administration was removed by the courts in 2008.

Weary investors have generally taken Thailand's upheavals in their stride and the baht was slightly firmer in early trade at around 32.50 per dollar. It had weakened to 32.70 in offshore trade after the coup.

The stock market fell 2 percent in early trade after ending 0.2 percent higher on Thursday before the coup news. Local investors had taken the view that the martial law imposed on Tuesday might bring some stability to the country.

Thailand's economy contracted 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014 from the previous three months, largely because of the prolonged unrest, which has frightened off tourists and dented confidence, bringing fears of recession.

(Additional reporting by Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat and Bangkok bureau; Writing by Robert Birsel and Alan Raybould; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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Documentary to tell story of world's loneliest whale

Posted: 21 May 2014 10:50 PM PDT

Subject has never been seen; identified only by its call.

52, a documentary on the whale known as the world's loneliest due to its highly unusual 52-hertz call, has found a production company and financial backing.

Joshua Zeman, the director of 52, had his work cut out for him when attempting to convince producers to get behind the project. The documentary certainly poses a challenge, as its subject is a whale that has never been seen and is identified only by its call. Even the species of the animal in question is unknown; it could be a fin whale, a blue whale, or a cross between two different species.

In Cannes, Worldview Entertainment recently came on board to finance and produce the feature, which will enter production this fall with a seven-week Pacific Ocean expedition in search of the mysterious beast.

Although the lonely whale has never been seen, the NOAA has followed its migrations since the Navy first identified its unique signal over two decades ago. At 52 hertz, the whale's call is much higher than those of any other known whale species, according to the site Futura-Sciences. As a result, the animal's calls go unanswered, making it unusually solitary.

The feature will be Worldview Entertainment's second documentary after The Square, which was nominated for an Oscar this year. The studio recently produced The Search, Michel Hazanavicius's latest film, which is currently in competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

The species of the so-called "world's loneliest whale" has never been identified, although its migration patterns most resemble those of the blue whale or a fin whale. – AFP Relaxnews

The migration patterns of the unidentified 'world's loneliest whale' resembles those of blue whale pictured here. – AFP

Hugh Jackman enjoys playing Wolverine more than ever

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

It's the seventh time the actor is wearing Wolverine's claws.

IT was 14 years ago when the relatively unknown Hugh Jackman got the part of Wolverine in the X-Men movie. This year, Jackman wears Wolverine's claws for the seventh time in X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

In an interview with the affable Australian actor – who is sporting a full beard for his next role as Blackbeard in the film Pan – he confessed with a twinkle in his eye that he is getting old and just can't fight the same.

"I haven't done stunts in 10 years. Come on!" the 45-year-old said in jest.

The truth is he pushes himself harder to get into Wolverine-shape, which he has documented on his Instagram (@thehughjackman).

"Physically, you get tired," he said when asked if it gets easier to play the role he is most famous for. "The physicality is not only on how he looks. I think it's important to show his ferocity and the animal side to him, be lean and veiny.

"So I put high standards I suppose each time. But to actually get into the character, that is getting easier. And yet, I sort of don't want it to be easy, I don't think anything about Wolverine is easy. Even if he appears to be easy on the outside, his interior shouldn't be at ease. That's just who he is – a warrior really, a very complex and tortured hero."

Although there is no word on how long Jackman would continue to play the role – it all depends on the scripts he gets – he said: "Right now I am enjoying him more than ever. I love playing the character and the movies are getting better. I got goosebumps at the end of this because all I could see are the possibilities not only for Wolverine but the entire X-Men universe."

But if there was a reboot, who does he think can play Wolverine? "Have you heard the joke of four stages of being an actor in Hollywood?

"There are four stages of being an actor – 'Who is Hugh Jackman? Get me Hugh Jackman. Get me the younger Hugh Jackman. And who is Hugh Jackman?' I am rapidly approaching 'Get me the younger Hugh Jackman.'

"I am not going to make it easier for them. At least I am going to make them work for it, alright. So I am not going to answer that question." – Mumtaj Begum

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 part of the X-Men movies

Showbiz shakedown

Nicole Kidman is one drama queen

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The Aussie actress gets to the very soul of adventure.

It's too easy to start with the face or what she wears, how she sits. The colour of her earrings. The essence is in the vowels, the way she holds and releases them. The voice drops a register, as if in a conspiracy, and a morning conversation drifts across art, ambition, age and riding camels in the desert.

Many roles come to mind when Nicole Kidman speaks: inconsolable mother, suicidal writer, dangerous weather girl, nuclear scientist, gangster lover, top-hatted cabaret singer and Southern femme fatale with an unorthodox remedy for jellyfish stings. They are all there, unapologetic, in tones of tenacity and risk that have defined her career. One senses she is the kind who would either win big or lose it all at the track.

"I'm going to make choices. I'm going to live and die on them. I'll take the flak. I'll take the hits. I'll take the accolades," said Kidman, who won the Academy Award for lead actress for her rendering of Virginia Woolf in The Hours.

"I'll take whatever comes with it, but ultimately I'm on an exploration. I want to excite myself."

Her latest role – as the dutiful wife of a psychologically scarred former prisoner of war – is not adorned in eccentricities; it is more steady flame than fireworks. It does not flaunt the diamonds and intrigue in her upcoming portrayals of Princess Grace Kelly and Gertrude Bell, a spy and explorer who trekked the deserts of the Middle East.

Her depiction of Patti Lomax in The Railway Man is a quiet portrait of a woman fighting for her husband's sanity. "I'm usually larger than life and this is real life," said Kidman.

"I think Baz (Luhrmann) said once, 'You're never going to be cast as the girl next door,' and I'm, like, sometimes I'd love to be cast as the girl next door. I really see Patti as the girl next door."

The film is based on the autobiography of Eric Lomax, a Scot in the British army who was tortured by the Japanese during World War II. It is a tale of atrocity, memory and how two broken men – Lomax and his tormentor – are healed decades later in an unanticipated act of forgiveness. Kidman's part is small, poignant and distinctive.

Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, the film is one of a number in recent years, including the upcoming Unbroken, the story of American G.I. Louis Zamperini, to examine World War II and Japanese prison camps.

Kidman said many old veterans "are carrying around huge burdens" and young soldiers returning today from Iraq and Afghanistan are "deeply traumatised ... it's devastating."

Kidman is a busy actress and a prodigious researcher, sifting through the layers of characters, such as Martha Gellhorn, the war correspondent in the HBO movie Hemingway & Gellhorn, and Grace Kelly, movie star and royalty in Grace Of Monaco.

She is discriminating, and when she speaks of larger-than-life roles her Australian vowels flatten and harden with intensity. She equates Australians with Texans – independent, spirited, inured to harsh terrains and vast expanses.

"I try to be right in there, and that allows me the emotional well with an enormous amount of experience now," said Kidman, 46.

"I don't have to struggle to find things, which is a great place to be as an actress. It's just I then have to be careful what I choose, where I choose to place it and whose hands I put it in. At this stage, I don't want to waste my time because it's so precious. I want to work with people who want to delve deeply. I'm not interested in lightweight stuff."

Kidman sat recently in a small ballroom in a Beverly Hills hotel. She was happy to promote her film but professed a sharp distaste for marketing research: "C'mon," she said, "how are you going to break new ground or find new things if you're being ruled ... by opinions and surveys."

Studios, directors and producers who back her are promised: "I'll always be on time and I won't waste your money."

Such sentiment sent her to Morocco and along the Algeria border, where she recently camped and rode camels while filming Queen Of The Desert, Werner Herzog's biopic about Gertrude Bell, a British archaeologist and explorer instrumental in mapping modern-day Jordan and Iraq.

"It was thrilling to play a woman in 1915 heading off into the desert. She did what Lawrence of Arabia did, in a different way," said Kidman, who is expected to have at least four films out this year.

"To be in her skin has given me incredible desire and boldness right now ... and nobody knows about her, which infuriates me."

She leaned back. It appeared she needed another adventurous role – quickly – before the mystique of Gertrude Bell faded.

"Keep finding the stories and telling them," said Kidman, who lives in Nashville with her two daughters and husband Keith Urban. "I still don't think the great War And Peace (movie) has been made."

Footsteps echoed down a hall past a scent of cut flowers.

She spoke of Woolf's genius and the psychological interiors of her novels. They were insistent to find something new. Kidman said, "I love in the most dangerous way I can" and that life, as we go on, gets tougher; parents age, friends are lost, unforeseen accumulations reveal frailties. "All those things swirling around you." Hemingway – Gellhorn was his third wife – once said people grew stronger at the broken places.

"We discover our strengths then," she said. "When those things hit you, and they can hit you hard in whatever form they come, that's when you discover your fortitude. ... I'm the most openly emotional in my family. My mum calls me the changeling."

Her parents are academics –her father a biochemist, her mother a nursing teacher – and Kidman said they tease her that "the fairies left you in the yard and we don't quite know where you came from".

She was asked what was the grist of her creativity. She answered with a story about traveling with Urban through the Australian outback.

"We were driving in the car and (lying) on the side of the road was a kangaroo," she said.

"I said, 'Oh, my gosh we have to stop.' I wanted to look. And he's like, 'No, no we'll just keep driving.' I said, 'But it's so upsetting.' And he said, 'Just don't look.' I said, 'That is so interesting, there's a metaphor for our relationship, 'cause you're, like, just keep going ... and I've go to look at it.' I've got to look it right in the eye. I've got to see it. I've got to feel and understand it." – Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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Documentary to tell story of world's loneliest whale

Posted: 21 May 2014 10:50 PM PDT

Subject has never been seen; identified only by its call.

52, a documentary on the whale known as the world's loneliest due to its highly unusual 52-hertz call, has found a production company and financial backing.

Joshua Zeman, the director of 52, had his work cut out for him when attempting to convince producers to get behind the project. The documentary certainly poses a challenge, as its subject is a whale that has never been seen and is identified only by its call. Even the species of the animal in question is unknown; it could be a fin whale, a blue whale, or a cross between two different species.

In Cannes, Worldview Entertainment recently came on board to finance and produce the feature, which will enter production this fall with a seven-week Pacific Ocean expedition in search of the mysterious beast.

Although the lonely whale has never been seen, the NOAA has followed its migrations since the Navy first identified its unique signal over two decades ago. At 52 hertz, the whale's call is much higher than those of any other known whale species, according to the site Futura-Sciences. As a result, the animal's calls go unanswered, making it unusually solitary.

The feature will be Worldview Entertainment's second documentary after The Square, which was nominated for an Oscar this year. The studio recently produced The Search, Michel Hazanavicius's latest film, which is currently in competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

The species of the so-called "world's loneliest whale" has never been identified, although its migration patterns most resemble those of the blue whale or a fin whale. – AFP Relaxnews

The migration patterns of the unidentified 'world's loneliest whale' resembles those of blue whale pictured here. – AFP

Hugh Jackman enjoys playing Wolverine more than ever

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

It's the seventh time the actor is wearing Wolverine's claws.

IT was 14 years ago when the relatively unknown Hugh Jackman got the part of Wolverine in the X-Men movie. This year, Jackman wears Wolverine's claws for the seventh time in X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

In an interview with the affable Australian actor – who is sporting a full beard for his next role as Blackbeard in the film Pan – he confessed with a twinkle in his eye that he is getting old and just can't fight the same.

"I haven't done stunts in 10 years. Come on!" the 45-year-old said in jest.

The truth is he pushes himself harder to get into Wolverine-shape, which he has documented on his Instagram (@thehughjackman).

"Physically, you get tired," he said when asked if it gets easier to play the role he is most famous for. "The physicality is not only on how he looks. I think it's important to show his ferocity and the animal side to him, be lean and veiny.

"So I put high standards I suppose each time. But to actually get into the character, that is getting easier. And yet, I sort of don't want it to be easy, I don't think anything about Wolverine is easy. Even if he appears to be easy on the outside, his interior shouldn't be at ease. That's just who he is – a warrior really, a very complex and tortured hero."

Although there is no word on how long Jackman would continue to play the role – it all depends on the scripts he gets – he said: "Right now I am enjoying him more than ever. I love playing the character and the movies are getting better. I got goosebumps at the end of this because all I could see are the possibilities not only for Wolverine but the entire X-Men universe."

But if there was a reboot, who does he think can play Wolverine? "Have you heard the joke of four stages of being an actor in Hollywood?

"There are four stages of being an actor – 'Who is Hugh Jackman? Get me Hugh Jackman. Get me the younger Hugh Jackman. And who is Hugh Jackman?' I am rapidly approaching 'Get me the younger Hugh Jackman.'

"I am not going to make it easier for them. At least I am going to make them work for it, alright. So I am not going to answer that question." – Mumtaj Begum

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 part of the X-Men movies

Showbiz shakedown

Nicole Kidman is one drama queen

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The Aussie actress gets to the very soul of adventure.

It's too easy to start with the face or what she wears, how she sits. The colour of her earrings. The essence is in the vowels, the way she holds and releases them. The voice drops a register, as if in a conspiracy, and a morning conversation drifts across art, ambition, age and riding camels in the desert.

Many roles come to mind when Nicole Kidman speaks: inconsolable mother, suicidal writer, dangerous weather girl, nuclear scientist, gangster lover, top-hatted cabaret singer and Southern femme fatale with an unorthodox remedy for jellyfish stings. They are all there, unapologetic, in tones of tenacity and risk that have defined her career. One senses she is the kind who would either win big or lose it all at the track.

"I'm going to make choices. I'm going to live and die on them. I'll take the flak. I'll take the hits. I'll take the accolades," said Kidman, who won the Academy Award for lead actress for her rendering of Virginia Woolf in The Hours.

"I'll take whatever comes with it, but ultimately I'm on an exploration. I want to excite myself."

Her latest role – as the dutiful wife of a psychologically scarred former prisoner of war – is not adorned in eccentricities; it is more steady flame than fireworks. It does not flaunt the diamonds and intrigue in her upcoming portrayals of Princess Grace Kelly and Gertrude Bell, a spy and explorer who trekked the deserts of the Middle East.

Her depiction of Patti Lomax in The Railway Man is a quiet portrait of a woman fighting for her husband's sanity. "I'm usually larger than life and this is real life," said Kidman.

"I think Baz (Luhrmann) said once, 'You're never going to be cast as the girl next door,' and I'm, like, sometimes I'd love to be cast as the girl next door. I really see Patti as the girl next door."

The film is based on the autobiography of Eric Lomax, a Scot in the British army who was tortured by the Japanese during World War II. It is a tale of atrocity, memory and how two broken men – Lomax and his tormentor – are healed decades later in an unanticipated act of forgiveness. Kidman's part is small, poignant and distinctive.

Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, the film is one of a number in recent years, including the upcoming Unbroken, the story of American G.I. Louis Zamperini, to examine World War II and Japanese prison camps.

Kidman said many old veterans "are carrying around huge burdens" and young soldiers returning today from Iraq and Afghanistan are "deeply traumatised ... it's devastating."

Kidman is a busy actress and a prodigious researcher, sifting through the layers of characters, such as Martha Gellhorn, the war correspondent in the HBO movie Hemingway & Gellhorn, and Grace Kelly, movie star and royalty in Grace Of Monaco.

She is discriminating, and when she speaks of larger-than-life roles her Australian vowels flatten and harden with intensity. She equates Australians with Texans – independent, spirited, inured to harsh terrains and vast expanses.

"I try to be right in there, and that allows me the emotional well with an enormous amount of experience now," said Kidman, 46.

"I don't have to struggle to find things, which is a great place to be as an actress. It's just I then have to be careful what I choose, where I choose to place it and whose hands I put it in. At this stage, I don't want to waste my time because it's so precious. I want to work with people who want to delve deeply. I'm not interested in lightweight stuff."

Kidman sat recently in a small ballroom in a Beverly Hills hotel. She was happy to promote her film but professed a sharp distaste for marketing research: "C'mon," she said, "how are you going to break new ground or find new things if you're being ruled ... by opinions and surveys."

Studios, directors and producers who back her are promised: "I'll always be on time and I won't waste your money."

Such sentiment sent her to Morocco and along the Algeria border, where she recently camped and rode camels while filming Queen Of The Desert, Werner Herzog's biopic about Gertrude Bell, a British archaeologist and explorer instrumental in mapping modern-day Jordan and Iraq.

"It was thrilling to play a woman in 1915 heading off into the desert. She did what Lawrence of Arabia did, in a different way," said Kidman, who is expected to have at least four films out this year.

"To be in her skin has given me incredible desire and boldness right now ... and nobody knows about her, which infuriates me."

She leaned back. It appeared she needed another adventurous role – quickly – before the mystique of Gertrude Bell faded.

"Keep finding the stories and telling them," said Kidman, who lives in Nashville with her two daughters and husband Keith Urban. "I still don't think the great War And Peace (movie) has been made."

Footsteps echoed down a hall past a scent of cut flowers.

She spoke of Woolf's genius and the psychological interiors of her novels. They were insistent to find something new. Kidman said, "I love in the most dangerous way I can" and that life, as we go on, gets tougher; parents age, friends are lost, unforeseen accumulations reveal frailties. "All those things swirling around you." Hemingway – Gellhorn was his third wife – once said people grew stronger at the broken places.

"We discover our strengths then," she said. "When those things hit you, and they can hit you hard in whatever form they come, that's when you discover your fortitude. ... I'm the most openly emotional in my family. My mum calls me the changeling."

Her parents are academics –her father a biochemist, her mother a nursing teacher – and Kidman said they tease her that "the fairies left you in the yard and we don't quite know where you came from".

She was asked what was the grist of her creativity. She answered with a story about traveling with Urban through the Australian outback.

"We were driving in the car and (lying) on the side of the road was a kangaroo," she said.

"I said, 'Oh, my gosh we have to stop.' I wanted to look. And he's like, 'No, no we'll just keep driving.' I said, 'But it's so upsetting.' And he said, 'Just don't look.' I said, 'That is so interesting, there's a metaphor for our relationship, 'cause you're, like, just keep going ... and I've go to look at it.' I've got to look it right in the eye. I've got to see it. I've got to feel and understand it." – Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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HP may cut up to 16,000 more jobs as results disappoint

Posted: 22 May 2014 07:02 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO: Hewlett-Packard Co plans to cut as many as 16,000 more jobs in a major ramp-up of CEO Meg Whitman's years-long effort to turn around the personal computer maker and relieve pressure on its profit margins.

Whitman said the turnaround remained on track and her raised target reflected how HP continued to find areas to streamline across its broad portfolio, which encompasses computing, networking, storage and software. But some analysts wondered whether it signaled a worsening outlook for the coming year, or if more jobs may be cut.

"The rationale makes sense," said RBC analyst Amit Daryanani. But "you do worry if there's a finality to this process, or if it's an ongoing thing that may affect morale at the end of the day. So far the trend has been worrisome."

HP, whose sprawling global operations employ more than 250,000, estimated about three years ago when it first hatched its sweeping overhaul that it would need to shed 27,000 jobs. That number rose to 34,000 last year.

On Thursday, it estimated another 11,000 to 16,000 more jobs needed to go, scattered across different countries and business areas. That took the grand total under Whitman's restructuring to 50,000.

The Silicon Valley company is trying to reduce its reliance on PCs and move toward computing equipment and networking gear for enterprises, part of Whitman's effort to curtail revenue declines and return the world's No. 1 PC maker to growth.

But that goal remains elusive. The company posted a disappointing 1 percent drop in quarterly revenue, as it struggled to maintain its grip on the shrinking personal computer market and weak corporate tech spending.

That marked its 11th consecutive quarterly sales decline.

Shares in HP closed down 2.3 percent at $31.78, after the company inadvertently posted the results on its website more than half an hour before the closing bell.

A PIVOTAL DIVISION

Research jobs, which are vital for innovation and long-term growth, will continue to grow, Whitman stressed.

HP is looking to cut back more in "areas not central to customer-facing and innovation agendas," she said in an interview, rather than areas like research. "That's not what we're doing here. You need to look at the R&D spending, which is up."

HP recorded sales of $27.3 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended April 30, just shy of the $27.41 billion Wall Street had expected.

Whitman said China remained a challenging region, though revenue from that country rose in the quarter. U.S. companies like International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N> and Cisco Systems Inc <CSCO.O> have blamed recent lackluster performances on a backlash against American companies in China, in the wake of U.S. spying allegations.

On Thursday, HP forecast full-year earnings of $3.63 to $3.75 a share, compared with Wall Street's estimate for $3.71.

It reported non-GAAP diluted net earnings of 88 cents a share in the second quarter, up 1 percent from a year earlier and about level with what analysts, on average, had expected.- Reuters

Trading in Bumi Armada suspended

Posted: 22 May 2014 06:51 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Trading in Bumi Armada has been suspended with effect from 9am on Friday, the company told Bursa Malaysia in a filing.

The group said the suspension was prior a material announcement.

The group, which owns the biggest fleet of offshore support vessels in Malaysia said in March that it planned to raise RM1.5bil in sukuk for working capital.

The money will go towards building new floating, production, storage and offloading vessels.

Market opens higher

Posted: 22 May 2014 06:22 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse edged higher Friday with gains in Petronas-related stocks and UMW supporting the market.

Asian bourses were up in early trade following the positive close on Wall Street with investor sentiment buoyed by improving US and Chinese manufacturing data.

Range-bound trading will continue to characterize the market today with BIMB Securities Research expecting the immediate resistance at 1,880.5 and the immediate support at 1,869.7.

Analysts at JF Apex Research expect any gains in Asian markets to be capped by geopolitical risks in South East Asia 

At Bursa Malaysia, PetGas rose 20 sen to RM24.60, PetChem four sen to RM6.80 and PetDag 26 sen to RM23.76.

UMW rose 20 sen to RM10.98, Tenaga four sen to RM12.22 and Telekom two sen to RM6.27.

Decliners were Public Bankm down two sen to RM19.86 and CIMB one sen to RM7.37.

IHH fell eight sen to RM4.18 and IOI five sen to RM5.14.

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Documentary to tell story of world&#39;s loneliest whale

Posted: 21 May 2014 10:50 PM PDT

Subject has never been seen; identified only by its call.

52, a documentary on the whale known as the world's loneliest due to its highly unusual 52-hertz call, has found a production company and financial backing.

Joshua Zeman, the director of 52, had his work cut out for him when attempting to convince producers to get behind the project. The documentary certainly poses a challenge, as its subject is a whale that has never been seen and is identified only by its call. Even the species of the animal in question is unknown; it could be a fin whale, a blue whale, or a cross between two different species.

In Cannes, Worldview Entertainment recently came on board to finance and produce the feature, which will enter production this fall with a seven-week Pacific Ocean expedition in search of the mysterious beast.

Although the lonely whale has never been seen, the NOAA has followed its migrations since the Navy first identified its unique signal over two decades ago. At 52 hertz, the whale's call is much higher than those of any other known whale species, according to the site Futura-Sciences. As a result, the animal's calls go unanswered, making it unusually solitary.

The feature will be Worldview Entertainment's second documentary after The Square, which was nominated for an Oscar this year. The studio recently produced The Search, Michel Hazanavicius's latest film, which is currently in competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

The species of the so-called "world's loneliest whale" has never been identified, although its migration patterns most resemble those of the blue whale or a fin whale. – AFP Relaxnews

The migration patterns of the unidentified 'world's loneliest whale' resembles those of blue whale pictured here. – AFP

Nicole Kidman is one drama queen

Posted: 21 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT

The Aussie actress gets to the very soul of adventure.

It's too easy to start with the face or what she wears, how she sits. The colour of her earrings. The essence is in the vowels, the way she holds and releases them. The voice drops a register, as if in a conspiracy, and a morning conversation drifts across art, ambition, age and riding camels in the desert.

Many roles come to mind when Nicole Kidman speaks: inconsolable mother, suicidal writer, dangerous weather girl, nuclear scientist, gangster lover, top-hatted cabaret singer and Southern femme fatale with an unorthodox remedy for jellyfish stings. They are all there, unapologetic, in tones of tenacity and risk that have defined her career. One senses she is the kind who would either win big or lose it all at the track.

"I'm going to make choices. I'm going to live and die on them. I'll take the flak. I'll take the hits. I'll take the accolades," said Kidman, who won the Academy Award for lead actress for her rendering of Virginia Woolf in The Hours.

"I'll take whatever comes with it, but ultimately I'm on an exploration. I want to excite myself."

Her latest role – as the dutiful wife of a psychologically scarred former prisoner of war – is not adorned in eccentricities; it is more steady flame than fireworks. It does not flaunt the diamonds and intrigue in her upcoming portrayals of Princess Grace Kelly and Gertrude Bell, a spy and explorer who trekked the deserts of the Middle East.

Her depiction of Patti Lomax in The Railway Man is a quiet portrait of a woman fighting for her husband's sanity. "I'm usually larger than life and this is real life," said Kidman.

"I think Baz (Luhrmann) said once, 'You're never going to be cast as the girl next door,' and I'm, like, sometimes I'd love to be cast as the girl next door. I really see Patti as the girl next door."

The film is based on the autobiography of Eric Lomax, a Scot in the British army who was tortured by the Japanese during World War II. It is a tale of atrocity, memory and how two broken men – Lomax and his tormentor – are healed decades later in an unanticipated act of forgiveness. Kidman's part is small, poignant and distinctive.

Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, the film is one of a number in recent years, including the upcoming Unbroken, the story of American G.I. Louis Zamperini, to examine World War II and Japanese prison camps.

Kidman said many old veterans "are carrying around huge burdens" and young soldiers returning today from Iraq and Afghanistan are "deeply traumatised ... it's devastating."

Kidman is a busy actress and a prodigious researcher, sifting through the layers of characters, such as Martha Gellhorn, the war correspondent in the HBO movie Hemingway & Gellhorn, and Grace Kelly, movie star and royalty in Grace Of Monaco.

She is discriminating, and when she speaks of larger-than-life roles her Australian vowels flatten and harden with intensity. She equates Australians with Texans – independent, spirited, inured to harsh terrains and vast expanses.

"I try to be right in there, and that allows me the emotional well with an enormous amount of experience now," said Kidman, 46.

"I don't have to struggle to find things, which is a great place to be as an actress. It's just I then have to be careful what I choose, where I choose to place it and whose hands I put it in. At this stage, I don't want to waste my time because it's so precious. I want to work with people who want to delve deeply. I'm not interested in lightweight stuff."

Kidman sat recently in a small ballroom in a Beverly Hills hotel. She was happy to promote her film but professed a sharp distaste for marketing research: "C'mon," she said, "how are you going to break new ground or find new things if you're being ruled ... by opinions and surveys."

Studios, directors and producers who back her are promised: "I'll always be on time and I won't waste your money."

Such sentiment sent her to Morocco and along the Algeria border, where she recently camped and rode camels while filming Queen Of The Desert, Werner Herzog's biopic about Gertrude Bell, a British archaeologist and explorer instrumental in mapping modern-day Jordan and Iraq.

"It was thrilling to play a woman in 1915 heading off into the desert. She did what Lawrence of Arabia did, in a different way," said Kidman, who is expected to have at least four films out this year.

"To be in her skin has given me incredible desire and boldness right now ... and nobody knows about her, which infuriates me."

She leaned back. It appeared she needed another adventurous role – quickly – before the mystique of Gertrude Bell faded.

"Keep finding the stories and telling them," said Kidman, who lives in Nashville with her two daughters and husband Keith Urban. "I still don't think the great War And Peace (movie) has been made."

Footsteps echoed down a hall past a scent of cut flowers.

She spoke of Woolf's genius and the psychological interiors of her novels. They were insistent to find something new. Kidman said, "I love in the most dangerous way I can" and that life, as we go on, gets tougher; parents age, friends are lost, unforeseen accumulations reveal frailties. "All those things swirling around you." Hemingway – Gellhorn was his third wife – once said people grew stronger at the broken places.

"We discover our strengths then," she said. "When those things hit you, and they can hit you hard in whatever form they come, that's when you discover your fortitude. ... I'm the most openly emotional in my family. My mum calls me the changeling."

Her parents are academics –her father a biochemist, her mother a nursing teacher – and Kidman said they tease her that "the fairies left you in the yard and we don't quite know where you came from".

She was asked what was the grist of her creativity. She answered with a story about traveling with Urban through the Australian outback.

"We were driving in the car and (lying) on the side of the road was a kangaroo," she said.

"I said, 'Oh, my gosh we have to stop.' I wanted to look. And he's like, 'No, no we'll just keep driving.' I said, 'But it's so upsetting.' And he said, 'Just don't look.' I said, 'That is so interesting, there's a metaphor for our relationship, 'cause you're, like, just keep going ... and I've go to look at it.' I've got to look it right in the eye. I've got to see it. I've got to feel and understand it." – Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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

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Thailand coup: Netizens, Thais condemn media gag

Posted: 22 May 2014 08:18 AM PDT

PETALING JAYA: Thais and expatriates have taken to social media to condemn attempts by armed forces to censor and stifle the media since taking power in a coup on Thursday evening.

Leftist activist Giles Ji Ungpakorn commented on his Facebook page that "Prayut (Chan-O-Cha) dispensed with the charade of receiving orders from the king. He just announced his power grab by himself, pushing the monarchy aside and exposing its total lack of power in the face of the military."

"The last time the army raided bookshops and libraries in Thailand was on Oct 6,1976. Now they are doing it again and increasing Internet and website censorship," he added.

Thai journalists, such as Bangkok Post senior news reporter Achara Ashayagachat have also taken to social media to comment on the coup.

"Niwatthamrong Bunsongpaisal is the shortest-lived PM. 16 days in office, thanks to the coup @4.30 pm. Thawee Bounyaket had 17 days in office," he said via his Twitter account  @AAshayagachat.

This media shutdown has also been criticised by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa) in a press release, which took the military government to task for shutting down news channels, which they noted "conveniently avoided members of the mainstream media associations."

"The shutdown of these channels - though highly politicised and in the control of political protagonists - has targeted the relatively newer channels of information that has represented the recent expansion of media freedoms in Thailand, away from the docile mainstream print media and the state or army-controlled broadcast media," it said.

It added that the martial law authority was focused on suppressing criticism of Thai armed forces, and not on containing inciting and polarising speech that fuelled violence and conflict.

It added that orders from the Peace and Order Maintaining Command (POMC) have been "chillingly focused on the media and free expression" including the prohibition of the sale, distribution of any content which can cause fear and misunderstanding of the military's actions".

It also said five out of 12 Martial Law orders from the POMC directly impact media freedom and freedom of expression.

Meanwhile, Seapa executive director Gayathry Venkiteswaran said that Thai cable and service operators have been told to de-link their foreign news services.

"The only stuff allowed are army broadcasts and the usual Royal Family news. Thai PBS may be off-air but is bravely going on over YouTube," she added.

She claimed that Wanchai Tantiwithayapitak, PBS deputy director was later escorted out of the studio by troops.

On Twitter, expatriates commented on the blocking of both free TV stations and satellite news channels.

"Can no longer watch @CNN here in #thailand all channels are broadcasting military anthems and messages #ThaiCoup," said one Twitter user, Zane Keller (@Zkellr).

Freelance journalist Francis Wade (@Francis_Wade), tweeted "BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera taken off the air in #Thailand as of 19.48 Thai time (via @JonahFisher) #ThaiCoup".

"With Int'l news stations being taken off the air, the internet is your friend. http://www.livenewschat.eu/world/   BBC News Int'l #ThaiCoup," said Coffee Beans & Greens owner Charles Pulaski (@charlespulaski).

He also shared a tweet by travel blogger @RichardBarrow, which said "BBC World & CNN are being blocked in #Thailand by the military but we can still watch them on Internet TV #ThaiCoup"

On his Twitter, Barrow added, "The TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) are setting up a help center for both incoming & outgoing tourists at Suvarnabhumi Airport #Bangkok #Thailand #ThaiCoup."

Chandra Muzaffar: BN blundered in handling PAS&#39; hudud issue

Posted: 22 May 2014 08:03 AM PDT

PETALING JAYA: The Barisan Nasional Government blundered in the way it handled the issue of PAS' hudud, said Dr Chandra Muzaffar.

Speaking at a forum on hudud organised by the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation, the academician and political activist said that the way the ruling Government handled the situation lacked judgment, understanding and maturity.

Dr Chandra also said Minister at the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom should have never said, in Parliament, that the Government was prepared to give way to any state in Malaysia to implement hudud.

"That was an invitation. You can now present the Bill, but once it is presented how are Umno MPs going to vote on it?" he said, in reference to the private member's Bill that PAS wanted to present to pave the way for implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

"They either abstain, which would be used against them, or they would vote for it," he said.

Dr Chandra said that the Bill will still be presented and it was only postponed for now.

"This will place the Umno MPs in a very difficult situation. They have to be seen as supporting this particular Bill," he said.

He added that if BN was thinking of politicking with hudud, they had to think about the consequences.

"Even if they thought about it in terms of politics, this is a total blunder. This is because the power base of BN is in Sabah and Sarawak and not the Peninsula.

"If the power base shifts, BN will collapse," he opined.

He added that he did not see how BN was going to extract itself from this particular situation.

MH370: China will always stand by Malaysia in dealing with incident, says ambassador

Posted: 22 May 2014 07:19 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: China has vowed that Malaysia will not face the current unprecedented disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft alone.

Its ambassador to Malaysia, Huang Huikang, said China was committed to help and trust Malaysia's efforts in handling the situation, which he described as a consistent commitment from the beginning.

"Our relations have never been affected by any unexpected single incident. Through the cooperation in dealing with the incident, our relations have become stronger and closer.

"These (have) once again proved a friend in need, is a fiend indeed," he said at a press briefing in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia here Thursday.

On March 8, MAS flight MH370 disappeared with 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers on board the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. Almost two-thirds of the passengers are Chinese nationals.

"If you look at the progress that has been made in dealing with the incident from the very beginning, the Chinese government and its people firmly stand side by side with Malaysia," said Huang.

He added that China had organised a large-scale international search and rescue operation, and also mobilised its satellites, ships and aircraft.

He said China had put so much effort in dealing with the incident as two-thirds of the passengers were its citizens.

"It is the Chinese government's responsibility - no matter how much money we have spent - we are doing our best to assist Malaysia," he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to visit China from May 27 until Jun 1, to mark the 40th anniversary relations. - Bernama

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