Jim Paull

Kuala Lumpur Airport authorities in Malaysia have a problem. They have three Boeing 747 with unknown ownership sitting on their tarmac and these need to go.

The aircraft are sitting idle on the airports premises for quite some time, bearing an Icelandic registration (since expired) and nobody claims ownership over the three Jumbo Jets.

Yes, you heard that right. Three fully equipped Jumbo Jets sitting around like a lame duck in a countries main International Airport without being moved for months or even drawing attention to themselves.

The story has been all over the internet the last few days and The Malay Mail (access here) had a piece on it as well.

Does ISIS turn people into psychopaths, or do psychopaths join ISIS?...

A new study has confirmed the link between balanced intestinal flora and weight loss. Probiotics, known as “good bacteria,” are thought to reduce the absorption of fat.

What we eat can radically change the nature of the bacteria which make up our intestinal flora, for better or for worse, and various studies have shown that many obese people have imbalanced intestinal flora.

Probiotics — supplements that contain micro-organisms known as “good bacteria” — have been the subject of many experiments revealing their potential to rebalance our intestinal flora, resulting in weight loss.

In this new study, published in the journal Obesity, researchers at Virginia Tech in the US monitored 20 healthy men aged between 18 and 30 who followed a high-fat diet for four weeks. Some of them drank a milkshake containing VSL3, a probiotic with multiple strains of bacteria including Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum. The others drank a placebo milkshake.

The results showed that the men who drank the probiotic mixture put on less weight than the other group. The researchers think that probiotics could have changed gut bacteria in a way that resulted in less body fat accumulation. They also hypothesize that the probiotics could have reduced lipid absorption or had an impact on energy expenditure.

Probiotics are naturally present in yogurts and fermented milk, as well as in kefir (a drink made from fermented milk or sweetened fruit juice), sauerkraut and olives.

– AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: The hospital in the centre of a controversy over the dismissal of a nurse was splashed with white paint early this morning, Malaysiakini reported.

The news portal quoted the Damai Service Hospital (Melawati) finance and administration manager Regina Sundram as stating that four men on two motorcycles threw pails of white paint at two separate entrances of the hospital building at 3.30am.

“It happened very fast, within a minute. There was a loud bang, by the time I ran out to see, they were gone,” she was quoted by Malaysiakini as saying.

She went on to say that the hospital had CCTV footage of the incident but the numberplates of the motorcycles could not be made out.

The attack on the hospital comes in the wake of allegations the hospital dismissed Naziah Sauni Samat for covering her ‘aurat’ (modesty) while working.

The hospital however said Naziah was fired for being absent without leave.

It also clarified that the existing guidelines stipulated nurses wore trousers and short-sleeve tops, while Muslim nurses could don a small scarf.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Razak admitted that he was hurt by the many personal attacks launched by Dr Mahathir Mohamad against him.

Najib, who is also Umno president, said he could accept all the criticisms made by the former prime minister if it were against his policies and administration.

“But he (Dr Mahathir) voiced out his opinions on matters that are too personal…,” he said in an interview with TV3 in conjunction with the Umno General Assembly 2015.

The interview was conducted by Media Prima Berhad Group Managing Editor of News and Current Affairs Mohd Ashraf Abdullah, The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd Group Managing Editor Abdul Jalil Hamid and Utusan Group Editor-in-Chief Abdul Aziz Ishak.

Video clips of the interview are available at www.newsplus.my/live-tv.

Najib also said Dr Mahathir did not practice what he preached in that when a leader was no longer in the government, he should always support the government of the day.

“That’s what he (Dr Mahathir) used to say…but in many cases, it was obvious to me that he did not practice what he preached when he was in the government,” he said.

The prime minister also expressed disappointment with Dr Mahathir for criticising his leadership more often than reprimanding the Opposition, especially through his blog postings.

This, Najib said, had caused him and the party leadership to give more and more explanations to the people and party members about issues raised by Dr Mahathir, which he described as mere perceptions and assumptions without solid evidence.

On Dr Mahathir’s proposal to have a council of elders be set up to guide the prime minister in administrative matters, Najib said such a proposal had never been put forward in Malaysia or in any other country.

In fact, Najib said there was no provision in the constitution related to the formation of such a council, which would override the power of the Cabinet and the Supreme Council.

“It is not that I don’t respect him (Dr Mahathir) as a statesman, but I am holding to the principle that I am the legitimate prime minister elected by the people. I am also the president elected by the party.

“I’m not the one who will not listen to the advice or views of others…but in the end, I have to make a decision on what I think is the best for the country and the party,” he said.

— BERNAMA

As world leaders meet in Paris to agree a legal framework aimed at limiting use of fossil fuels and the resulting rises in global temperatures, a UK company says it could be as little as five years from making “reactor relevant” fusion, a potential game changer in energy production. A...

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NEW YORK: US oil prices sank to their lowest level since early 2009 in New York trade Monday as markets continue to reel from OPEC’s refusal last week to cut back production.

The January contract for West Texas Intermediate crude sank $2.47 to $37.50 a barrel in midday trade before pulling back to $37.63.

That was the lowest level since February 2009, and followed a similar plunge in London trade early Monday that took the Brent crude benchmark to an almost seven-year low of $41.05.

Against market hopes, ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Thursday declined to move to tighten supplies and instead, recognizing their own current high production and the coming resumption of Iranian exports, published no cap on member output.

“Obviously, the full impact of the OPEC decision to abandon their quotas and production ceiling is registering in a big way with the market today, after a delayed reaction on Friday. There is no end in sight for the glut,” said John Kilduff of Again capital.

– AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: KUB Malaysia Bhd said its wholly-owned subsidiary Restoran Kualiti Sdn Bhd (RKSB) and its unit, A&W (M) Sdn Bhd, have entered into a share purchase agreement with Kulpavee Chalermmeateewong, a Thai citizen, to transfer 88.29% share of A&W Restaurants (Thailand) Co Ltd (AWT) for RM3.69mil.

PETALING JAYA: Umno President Najib Razak has once again been urged to step down and a sacked deputy divisional chief said he was going to perform a “Solat Hajat” (prayers), specifically for this purpose.

Khairuddin Abu Hassan, who was recently released on bail after being arrested under the Security Offences Special Measures Act (Sosma), said Najib should follow in the footsteps of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad who resigned during the 2002 Umno General Assembly (PAU).

“I pray that this (Najib resigning) will happen. I will perform a Solat Hajat for Allah to open up Najib’s heart that during his winding up speech at the PAU, he will make that statement (to step down),” Khairuddin said in an interview with FMT.

At the 2002 assembly, Mahathir surprised the nation by resigning as Umno president. He retracted his resignation within an hour, but retired the following year and handed over power to Abdullah Badawi.

Khairuddin also said that if Najib did indeed resign, he would fast for three consecutive days.

“But I won’t shave my head again. Enough that I had to shave recently when I was in prison.

Malaysians, he went on to say, were “very forgiving” and would always pardon other people’s mistakes.

“If Najib steps down, I am confident that the rakyat will forgive all of his mistakes.”

PETALING JAYA: Liberal Muslims need to attend religious classes run by Jakim, according to controversial preacher Ridhuan Tee Abdullah.

“Maybe these ignorant groups have never attended Jakim classes,” he says in his column for Sinar Harian this week. He urges them to register for those classes and to attend them.

He complains that undue media attention is given to the liberals to enable them to promote their agenda. “Publicity is given to them disproportionately, and then they would be invited to give speeches.”

He says their numbers are small but the media make it seem as if there are many of them and that their views are popularly shared. Among them, he says, are ministers, former ministers, former ministers’ children, civil servants and former civil servants.

“Malaysia is not threatened by these people,” he says. “The more they speak, the more they reveal their ignorance.

“They are dead inside. They do not care about the national agenda and they would sacrifice the dignity of the race and religion just to obtain power.”

He points to their call for Jakim’s accounts to be audited as the latest display of their ignorance. “So ignorant are these people that they don’t know that the accounts of every government agency are audited every year. And to think that some of them used to be in the public service.”

Tee also refers to the liberals’ tendency to compare the past with present practices of Islam in Malaysia and their claim of the fairly recent “Arabisation” of Muslims.

“It is inappropriate for them to compare the practice of Islam during Tunku Abdul Rahman’s time with the way it is practised now. The world has changed.

“And the effort to empower Islam has nothing to do with Arabisation. It is the responsibility of all Muslims, except for those who are ignorant.”

He claims that Jakim has lifted many Muslims out of their ignorance by teaching them the Quran and that none of these Jakim graduates has joined the Islamic State terror group.

He also addresses the claim that the Muslims of Tunku Abdul Rahman’s time had a deep understanding of Islam even though some of them drank alcohol. “Do we need to drink alcohol as well to showcase how liberal we are?”

But he pays tribute to the Tunku for his success in gaining converts, including among ministers, when he led the Muslim Welfare Organisation (Perkim).

 

SINGAPORE: Oil stayed below $40 a barrel in Asia Monday after the OPEC cartel decided against slashing high output levels and traders turned their focus to a US central bank meeting next week.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January was down 37 cents at $39.60 and Brent crude for January was trading 12 cents lower at $42.88 a barrel at around 0210 GMT.

At a meeting in Vienna on Friday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided against cutting its oil output to lift prices, its president and Nigerian oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said.

OPEC, whose members together pump out more than one third of world oil, is currently producing above its official target of 30 million barrels per day despite a global crude supply glut that has battered prices for more than a year.

“Crude oil were no doubt compressed by the lack of an agreement at the OPEC, signalling that the supply glut will persist longer,” Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore.

“WTI is trading below the key $40 (mark) and it looks set to remain there.”

Sanjeev Gupta, who heads the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at professional services firm EY, said market attention is now turned to a meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers and to the latest economic data from China, the world’s top energy consumer.

Traders are watching whether the Fed will will raise interest rates, a move that will boost the dollar. A stronger US currency will make dollar-priced oil more expensive to holders of weaker units, denting demand and prices.

“While all eyes are now on the Federal Reserve as it meets next week for the last policy meeting this year to decide whether to raise its benchmark rate, economic data from China will set the tone of prices in the coming weeks,” Gupta said.

He said the dollar also got a boost from a strong US jobs report on Friday. The report strengthens the case for a Fed rate hike, analysts said.

– AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: A private hospital accused of dismissing a nurse because of her attire has stated that the woman, Naziah Sauni Samat, was fired for being absent without leave.

Administration manager Regina Sundram of Damai hospital said Naziah had not come to work for two days without any reason. “She was not sacked for wearing a long-sleeved uniform,” she said, according to Malaysiakini.

On Friday Naziah, 24, had accused the hospital of dismissing her because she had covered her “aurat” (modesty) by wearing a ong-sleeved uniform at work.

“It is my right to wear long sleeves, but the hospital management repeatedly ordered me to remove the sleeves,” she said at a press conference at the office of the Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia. “The whole hospital told me to cut off the sleeves.”

She accused the hospital of dismissing her for insubordination even though the sleeve-length was not stipulated in her appointment letter.

However, Regina told Malaysiakini yesterday that existing guidelines for nurses at the hospital, which opened in 1989, were trousers and short-sleeve tops, while Muslim nurses could don a small scarf (anak tudung) in addition.

She said the hospital had given Naziah the opportunity to decide whether to continue working there or otherwise, but had come to work wearing arm sleeves (stokin lengan) which was against the hospital’s dress code.

She said the hospital had previously lodged a police report against the Muslim Consumer Association for attempting to threaten the hospital with charges of racism for not allowing Naziah to wear long sleeves.

SEE ALSO

Nurse fired for covering her ‘aurat’

KUALA LUMPUR: A private hospital at the centre of a dispute on its dress code has said it would sue the nurse who complained she had been dismissed for covering her “aurat” as well as the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia who publicised her complaint.

Damai Service Hospital administration manager Regina Sundram was quoted by Sinar Harian as saying that the hospital would file a defamation suit against nurse Naziah Sauni Samat as well as the association.

She said the hospital had received “phone calls non-stop” about the issue. Some had threatened a boycott the hospital and others “uttered untoward remarks”, she was quoted as saying. “The hospital’s Facebook page was flooded with allegations and unpleasant words, forcing us to filter every user’s comments before they can be published.”

The hospital would get legal advice tomorrow and had been collecting all documents “including newspaper reports and social media users’ comments” which showed that the hospital’s image and that of  the staff had been tarnished.

She said there were 41 Muslims among their 120 staff members.

Naziah’s complaint was made at a press conference on Friday at the office of the Muslim Consumers Association, which had called for action by Jakim, the federal Islamic affairs department, and the health ministry to issue guidelines on dress codes for Muslim nurses.

Naziah had alleged that she had been dismissed because she had worn arm sleeves (sarung tangan) to cover her “aurat”. The hospital has denied her allegation, saying she was regarded as being automatically terminated after not turning up for work for two days.

MMA: Dress codes should be based on science, not religion 

The Malaysian Medical Association, the professional body of medical doctors, said private hospitals were free to draw up their own dress codes, which should be based on science and the patient’s well-being and not on religion.

MMA president Ashok Philip was reported to have said that healthcare workers should not work if they could not accept the dress code of a private hospital.

“All employees should be informed about the dress code. If they feel they cannot accept it they should not accept the job,” he was reported to have said.

Muslim nurses in government hospitals already have guidelines on their attire, according to health minister Dr S Subramaniam.

“We have already enforced some guidelines for the Muslim nurses in government hospitals like the headgear and which area they can wear short sleeves. Private hospitals can enforce their own guidelines,” he told Malay Mail Online.

SEE ALSO

Nurse denies disciplinary problem

Hospital: Nurse was sacked for absence, not for ‘aurat’

Nurse fired for covering her ‘aurat’

 

KUALA LUMPUR: A dispute between a nurse and a private hospital broadened today after the hospital said she was dismissed for being absent from work without leave and the nurse denying any disciplinary problem.

Naziah Sauni Samat, 24, said Damai Service Hospital had prevented her from working after she complained about the dress code, in which nurses are required to wear short-sleeve tunics.

“I came to work, [and] they told me to leave. When I arrived with long sleeves, they told me to just sit at the side, to not do any work until I wear short sleeves with gloves,” she was quoted as saying by Malay Mail Online.

However, administration manager Regina Sundram had told Malaysiakini that Naziah was considered terminated after she failed to report for duty for two days without any reason.

Naziah’s complaints were made public on Friday by the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association which said it had received 20 complaints this year about discrimination against Muslim nurses.

Naziah was reported to have joined the hospital on September 1 after returning from Japan where she worked as a personal nurse for more than a year.

SEE ALSO

Hospital says nurse was sacked for absence, not for ‘aurat’

Nurse fired for covering her ‘aurat’

 

I woke up and checked my email like I do every morning and there was a message from an editor of another site, asking me to write something about Scott Weiland. This could only mean one thing, since it’s not 1994. I pulled up the news feed and confirmed what I feared. Weiland was dead at 48; found on his tour bus, gone in his sleep. They didn’t say what killed him, but I already knew, and I’m not necessarily talking about drugs. Time killed him, membership in his aging generation. They were all super jaded (and vain) kids raised by super vain and jaded (mostly) kids and when it came to enjoying a fruitful retirement, many of them had no chance at all. Of the icons of my generation, there are not as many dead as my parents’ generation and this certainly isn’t some kind of contest, but there are quite a few. Others have simply quieted: the Gallagher brothers, Beck, Courtney, Billy Corgan. We just don’t know what to do with ourselves. We’re just trying to reach our 50s, where there’s not even the memory of youth, and many of us can finally give up the ghost. This is no guarantee, of course. Look at John Entwistle of the Who, dead in a Vegas hotel room in 2002 with strippers and blow. But it increases our odds of dying old and ugly — well, not ugly, but older at least. Along the way what happens to our bodies and minds astonishes and horrifies us and sometimes it’s easier to simply not look. Weiland was always among the prettiest, the skinniest, the most Bowie-besotted, the most conscious-of-his-rock-star-status rock star. Vanity kills / It don’t pay bills, ABC once sang. I once interviewed Scott for Spin. It was, if you can believe it, via fax (I still have the sheet with his handwritten answers) and he confessed that Bowie was his man, which is ironic since Bowie is probably rock’s greatest survivor and slipperiest character, whereas Weiland only barely escaped the ‘90s as part of the supergroup Velvet Revolver and some STP reunions. When we think of him, we think of the past, and despite what in any other decade would be considered a very solid run of singles (“Sex Type Thing,” “Plush,” “Vasoline,”)  and at least one standard (“Interstate Love Song”), some still think of him as a poseur. STP wasn’t a “real” band like Nirvana or Soundgarden — they were bandwagon-ers. I never understood that. What is a “real” band? You close your eyes, you listen to the music. It’s either good or it isn’t. Your hands form the shape of a guitar, or they don’t. Even I was guilty of STP-related snobbery. I was once in a bar on the Lower East Side with a crowd of rock writers and one of our pals who happened to be a famous guitarist from one of the biggest bands of the ‘90s. We were listening to the jukebox, which happened to have “Purple,” STP’s second album on it. We were trying, bored, buzzed, to come up with the most preposterous statement ever: the kind that would get you into a bar fight. One of us, I can’t remember who it was, said, “Stone Temple Pilots are more important than the Velvet Underground.” We all laughed, because it wasn’t and isn’t true. But Stone Temple Pilots are more important than “Stone Temple Pilots,” as perceived the snobbier end of my peer pool. Bands form today because they want to be the new Red Hot Chili Peppers or Coldplay (in a way, the STP of their generation — not sonically, but as far as a respect deficit that may or may not be just). I know because I’ve interviewed them, too, the bands 10, sometimes 20 years my junior. They don’t seem to have the same issues as “my” bands, but they’ll come. Nobody can escape them. Scott Weiland. He almost made it to rock-and-roll-50, which would have, given his chemical history, certainly been some kind of personal or public triumph, or both. Courtney Love did. I think, or hope anyway, that you even out at rock-and-roll-50. You stand a better chance of reaching your personal Neil Young-dom once you navigate through the doldrums and the storms. I wonder if Weiland, who released a few overlooked, melodic solo albums as well, will get the respect he didn’t have when he was alive. Will death make a star of him again? It doesn't matter. He won't be around to enjoy it, but out of all of them, my generation's perplexed and deceased, he probably would most of all.I woke up and checked my email like I do every morning and there was a message from an editor of another site, asking me to write something about Scott Weiland. This could only mean one thing, since it’s not 1994. I pulled up the news feed and confirmed what I feared. Weiland was dead at 48; found on his tour bus, gone in his sleep. They didn’t say what killed him, but I already knew, and I’m not necessarily talking about drugs. Time killed him, membership in his aging generation. They were all super jaded (and vain) kids raised by super vain and jaded (mostly) kids and when it came to enjoying a fruitful retirement, many of them had no chance at all. Of the icons of my generation, there are not as many dead as my parents’ generation and this certainly isn’t some kind of contest, but there are quite a few. Others have simply quieted: the Gallagher brothers, Beck, Courtney, Billy Corgan. We just don’t know what to do with ourselves. We’re just trying to reach our 50s, where there’s not even the memory of youth, and many of us can finally give up the ghost. This is no guarantee, of course. Look at John Entwistle of the Who, dead in a Vegas hotel room in 2002 with strippers and blow. But it increases our odds of dying old and ugly — well, not ugly, but older at least. Along the way what happens to our bodies and minds astonishes and horrifies us and sometimes it’s easier to simply not look. Weiland was always among the prettiest, the skinniest, the most Bowie-besotted, the most conscious-of-his-rock-star-status rock star. Vanity kills / It don’t pay bills, ABC once sang. I once interviewed Scott for Spin. It was, if you can believe it, via fax (I still have the sheet with his handwritten answers) and he confessed that Bowie was his man, which is ironic since Bowie is probably rock’s greatest survivor and slipperiest character, whereas Weiland only barely escaped the ‘90s as part of the supergroup Velvet Revolver and some STP reunions. When we think of him, we think of the past, and despite what in any other decade would be considered a very solid run of singles (“Sex Type Thing,” “Plush,” “Vasoline,”)  and at least one standard (“Interstate Love Song”), some still think of him as a poseur. STP wasn’t a “real” band like Nirvana or Soundgarden — they were bandwagon-ers. I never understood that. What is a “real” band? You close your eyes, you listen to the music. It’s either good or it isn’t. Your hands form the shape of a guitar, or they don’t. Even I was guilty of STP-related snobbery. I was once in a bar on the Lower East Side with a crowd of rock writers and one of our pals who happened to be a famous guitarist from one of the biggest bands of the ‘90s. We were listening to the jukebox, which happened to have “Purple,” STP’s second album on it. We were trying, bored, buzzed, to come up with the most preposterous statement ever: the kind that would get you into a bar fight. One of us, I can’t remember who it was, said, “Stone Temple Pilots are more important than the Velvet Underground.” We all laughed, because it wasn’t and isn’t true. But Stone Temple Pilots are more important than “Stone Temple Pilots,” as perceived the snobbier end of my peer pool. Bands form today because they want to be the new Red Hot Chili Peppers or Coldplay (in a way, the STP of their generation — not sonically, but as far as a respect deficit that may or may not be just). I know because I’ve interviewed them, too, the bands 10, sometimes 20 years my junior. They don’t seem to have the same issues as “my” bands, but they’ll come. Nobody can escape them. Scott Weiland. He almost made it to rock-and-roll-50, which would have, given his chemical history, certainly been some kind of personal or public triumph, or both. Courtney Love did. I think, or hope anyway, that you even out at rock-and-roll-50. You stand a better chance of reaching your personal Neil Young-dom once you navigate through the doldrums and the storms. I wonder if Weiland, who released a few overlooked, melodic solo albums as well, will get the respect he didn’t have when he was alive. Will death make a star of him again? It doesn't matter. He won't be around to enjoy it, but out of all of them, my generation's perplexed and deceased, he probably would most of all.I woke up and checked my email like I do every morning and there was a message from an editor of another site, asking me to write something about Scott Weiland. This could only mean one thing, since it’s not 1994. I pulled up the news feed and confirmed what I feared. Weiland was dead at 48; found on his tour bus, gone in his sleep. They didn’t say what killed him, but I already knew, and I’m not necessarily talking about drugs. Time killed him, membership in his aging generation. They were all super jaded (and vain) kids raised by super vain and jaded (mostly) kids and when it came to enjoying a fruitful retirement, many of them had no chance at all. Of the icons of my generation, there are not as many dead as my parents’ generation and this certainly isn’t some kind of contest, but there are quite a few. Others have simply quieted: the Gallagher brothers, Beck, Courtney, Billy Corgan. We just don’t know what to do with ourselves. We’re just trying to reach our 50s, where there’s not even the memory of youth, and many of us can finally give up the ghost. This is no guarantee, of course. Look at John Entwistle of the Who, dead in a Vegas hotel room in 2002 with strippers and blow. But it increases our odds of dying old and ugly — well, not ugly, but older at least. Along the way what happens to our bodies and minds astonishes and horrifies us and sometimes it’s easier to simply not look. Weiland was always among the prettiest, the skinniest, the most Bowie-besotted, the most conscious-of-his-rock-star-status rock star. Vanity kills / It don’t pay bills, ABC once sang. I once interviewed Scott for Spin. It was, if you can believe it, via fax (I still have the sheet with his handwritten answers) and he confessed that Bowie was his man, which is ironic since Bowie is probably rock’s greatest survivor and slipperiest character, whereas Weiland only barely escaped the ‘90s as part of the supergroup Velvet Revolver and some STP reunions. When we think of him, we think of the past, and despite what in any other decade would be considered a very solid run of singles (“Sex Type Thing,” “Plush,” “Vasoline,”)  and at least one standard (“Interstate Love Song”), some still think of him as a poseur. STP wasn’t a “real” band like Nirvana or Soundgarden — they were bandwagon-ers. I never understood that. What is a “real” band? You close your eyes, you listen to the music. It’s either good or it isn’t. Your hands form the shape of a guitar, or they don’t. Even I was guilty of STP-related snobbery. I was once in a bar on the Lower East Side with a crowd of rock writers and one of our pals who happened to be a famous guitarist from one of the biggest bands of the ‘90s. We were listening to the jukebox, which happened to have “Purple,” STP’s second album on it. We were trying, bored, buzzed, to come up with the most preposterous statement ever: the kind that would get you into a bar fight. One of us, I can’t remember who it was, said, “Stone Temple Pilots are more important than the Velvet Underground.” We all laughed, because it wasn’t and isn’t true. But Stone Temple Pilots are more important than “Stone Temple Pilots,” as perceived the snobbier end of my peer pool. Bands form today because they want to be the new Red Hot Chili Peppers or Coldplay (in a way, the STP of their generation — not sonically, but as far as a respect deficit that may or may not be just). I know because I’ve interviewed them, too, the bands 10, sometimes 20 years my junior. They don’t seem to have the same issues as “my” bands, but they’ll come. Nobody can escape them. Scott Weiland. He almost made it to rock-and-roll-50, which would have, given his chemical history, certainly been some kind of personal or public triumph, or both. Courtney Love did. I think, or hope anyway, that you even out at rock-and-roll-50. You stand a better chance of reaching your personal Neil Young-dom once you navigate through the doldrums and the storms. I wonder if Weiland, who released a few overlooked, melodic solo albums as well, will get the respect he didn’t have when he was alive. Will death make a star of him again? It doesn't matter. He won't be around to enjoy it, but out of all of them, my generation's perplexed and deceased, he probably would most of all.

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BANGKOK: Moscow’s top intelligence agency has warned that 10 Syrians linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have entered Thailand to target Russians, the kingdom’s police said Friday.

What kind of room is the locker room? In a post "50-Shades" world, it's resonant with new and kinky possibilities. Because there's one thing about a locker room that you can't get past: at one point or another, you'll be naked. Near benches. For anxiety-ridden adolescents, the locker room is a torture chamber. Who can forget the tampon scene in "Carrie," which set the tone for horror films to come?  Yet fast forward a few decades, and now we not only have entire episodes of sit-coms such "2 Broke Girls" set in a locker room ("And the Gym and Juice"") but that very room has become a selling point making pricey health clubs more appealing. What happened? For the New York Times, Choire Sicha explains that while gym designers have worked hard to "make the locker room not sad, not alienating and not a place that smells like butts," there's still one major need missing: "Each day, thousands upon thousands of men in locker rooms nationwide struggle to put on their underwear while still covered chastely in shower towels, like horrible breathless arthropods molting into something tender-skinned. They writhe, still moist, into fresh clothes." I've been to Sports Club LA and felt the same way as Max on "2 Broke Girls": the locker room for ladies is soooper nice. But Sicha's piece is really about the shivering, naked millennnial men who are strangely self conscious about their bits and pieces getting too much air time. I thought his piece was pretty funny. But still, I wondered. Are young men really fearful of getting naked in front of other men--not because they're homophobic, but because they don't want to be judged on their looks? Are millennials sensitive to the scopic pleasures of the male gaze being turned on them? I haven't accidentally wandered into a men's locker room for a few years now.  My point of reference for naked male behavior is the man I live with, who is decidedly unembarrassed about walking around without a stitch on, up to and including wearing nothing but boots while he shovels the snow off the porch. His utter indifference to underpants seems to fall perfectly in line with what David Sedaris has written about naked-man-ness in general, so I asked John Paul Ricco to respond to Sicha's essay. Ricco is a queer theorist on the faculty at the University of Toronto who has been writing on architecture, sex, masculinity and visual culture for the past 25 years. He calls the health club locker room a site of the "socially mediated phallus." "Old guys have been parading around locker rooms for decades, and younger guys have been less prone to let it all hang out," Ricco explains. "So this homosocial dynamic of nudity isn't anything particularly new. But I would argue that there has never been more voyeurism and exhibitionism in the locker room than there is now." Indeed, he affirms, "I would say that male bodies—and especially young muscular male bodies—are putting themselves on display more than ever." One look at the NSFW tumblr "Guys with iPhones" —which really is guys with iPhones in bathrooms — and it becomes clear that the selfies are, more accurately, photographs of the reflected self in the mirror. There is a difference. Given the number of shirtless or naked selfies being taken in front of mirrors in the locker room, Ricco explains, "these guys have turned these places in halls of narcissistic indulgence." In other words, the men's locker room has become a theater for the group performance of literal self-reflection. When they look in the mirror,  these men are not naked, but nude. The naked body is vulnerable because it's stripped of culture. Abject and ashamed, it is reduced to the visible signs of health, musculature, fitness, thinness, and other markers that determine hierarchy inside a group. It is the condition of being stripped of status that is unbearable, prompting the young to reassert the armor of their street clothing as quickly as possible. Their insecurity isn't lodged in their bodies but in their unstable social positions, which is why more powerful men-- the "old guys" who, in theory, ought to be embarrassed by the grizzle and the hoar--don't care two figs what you think of their butt cracks or belly buttons. Still, it is true that young men "are very self-conscious of their looks," Ricco states. "Which is why I think those same men are at the gym and looking in the mirror all the time. To try to combat that. The slippery slope from self-conscious to vain?"What kind of room is the locker room? In a post "50-Shades" world, it's resonant with new and kinky possibilities. Because there's one thing about a locker room that you can't get past: at one point or another, you'll be naked. Near benches. For anxiety-ridden adolescents, the locker room is a torture chamber. Who can forget the tampon scene in "Carrie," which set the tone for horror films to come?  Yet fast forward a few decades, and now we not only have entire episodes of sit-coms such "2 Broke Girls" set in a locker room ("And the Gym and Juice"") but that very room has become a selling point making pricey health clubs more appealing. What happened? For the New York Times, Choire Sicha explains that while gym designers have worked hard to "make the locker room not sad, not alienating and not a place that smells like butts," there's still one major need missing: "Each day, thousands upon thousands of men in locker rooms nationwide struggle to put on their underwear while still covered chastely in shower towels, like horrible breathless arthropods molting into something tender-skinned. They writhe, still moist, into fresh clothes." I've been to Sports Club LA and felt the same way as Max on "2 Broke Girls": the locker room for ladies is soooper nice. But Sicha's piece is really about the shivering, naked millennnial men who are strangely self conscious about their bits and pieces getting too much air time. I thought his piece was pretty funny. But still, I wondered. Are young men really fearful of getting naked in front of other men--not because they're homophobic, but because they don't want to be judged on their looks? Are millennials sensitive to the scopic pleasures of the male gaze being turned on them? I haven't accidentally wandered into a men's locker room for a few years now.  My point of reference for naked male behavior is the man I live with, who is decidedly unembarrassed about walking around without a stitch on, up to and including wearing nothing but boots while he shovels the snow off the porch. His utter indifference to underpants seems to fall perfectly in line with what David Sedaris has written about naked-man-ness in general, so I asked John Paul Ricco to respond to Sicha's essay. Ricco is a queer theorist on the faculty at the University of Toronto who has been writing on architecture, sex, masculinity and visual culture for the past 25 years. He calls the health club locker room a site of the "socially mediated phallus." "Old guys have been parading around locker rooms for decades, and younger guys have been less prone to let it all hang out," Ricco explains. "So this homosocial dynamic of nudity isn't anything particularly new. But I would argue that there has never been more voyeurism and exhibitionism in the locker room than there is now." Indeed, he affirms, "I would say that male bodies—and especially young muscular male bodies—are putting themselves on display more than ever." One look at the NSFW tumblr "Guys with iPhones" —which really is guys with iPhones in bathrooms — and it becomes clear that the selfies are, more accurately, photographs of the reflected self in the mirror. There is a difference. Given the number of shirtless or naked selfies being taken in front of mirrors in the locker room, Ricco explains, "these guys have turned these places in halls of narcissistic indulgence." In other words, the men's locker room has become a theater for the group performance of literal self-reflection. When they look in the mirror,  these men are not naked, but nude. The naked body is vulnerable because it's stripped of culture. Abject and ashamed, it is reduced to the visible signs of health, musculature, fitness, thinness, and other markers that determine hierarchy inside a group. It is the condition of being stripped of status that is unbearable, prompting the young to reassert the armor of their street clothing as quickly as possible. Their insecurity isn't lodged in their bodies but in their unstable social positions, which is why more powerful men-- the "old guys" who, in theory, ought to be embarrassed by the grizzle and the hoar--don't care two figs what you think of their butt cracks or belly buttons. Still, it is true that young men "are very self-conscious of their looks," Ricco states. "Which is why I think those same men are at the gym and looking in the mirror all the time. To try to combat that. The slippery slope from self-conscious to vain?"

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In light of the recent news regarding the impending extinction of bananas, it seems timely to touch upon the strategies that have been put into place in the past to deal with the cycles of its shortage. In the UK, the rationing of bananas during WWII made an unlikely hero out of parsnips. Prized for their inherent sweetness and versatility, there were often used in place of bananas in baked good and in some cases, mixed with essence of bananas to further strengthen the illusion of eating that fruit. While it's too soon to say whether this current bananas scare will necessitate such slight of hand, we can still learn a few things from this surprising bit of parsnip history.

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Fish sauce is usually associated with specific forms of Asian cooking, but it can add real depth to many dishes without making them taste fishy.

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Every couple of years, studies and rumors surface that we're facing the extinction of bananas. While we haven't seen the popular fruit die out yet, things are looking kind of dire.

The journal PLOS Pathogens has published a study that predicts bananas will be wiped out by a fungus called Panama disease.

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KUALA LUMPUR: A nurse in a Klang Valley hospital claimed she was sacked for covering her ‘aurat’ (modesty) while working.

Naziah Sauni Samat, 24, alleged she was not allowed to wear a long-sleeved uniform while on duty and was instructed to wear a short-sleeved uniform by the hospital.

“It is my right to wear long sleeves, but the hospital management repeatedly ordered me to remove the sleeves.

“The whole hospital told me to cut off the sleeves.

“I then ended up being sacked for insubordination, although the length of my sleeve was not stipulated in my offer letter,” she said during a press conference at the Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia (PPIM) office.

Naziah elaborated that she was disappointed with the reasons given by the management, that long sleeves could cause infections to spread to the patients, despite there being no such prohibition at government hospitals.

“Government hospitals such as Hospital Kuala Lumpur allow their nurses to use long sleeve uniforms.

“If you want to talk about controlling infections, then clothes, hats, ties, are also susceptible to infections. When I work I roll up my sleeves,” she added.

Meanwhile, PPIM chairman Nadzim Johan stated they were disappointed with the private hospital’s actions and strongly condemned Naziah’s firing.

“We feel aggrieved with institutions such as this,” he said.

He has urged the Health Ministry and the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia to step forward and clarify the matter as it involved Muslim workers.

'Twas the night of the white elephant party, and all through the kitchen the tools were stirring. (Especially the wooden spoon.) Word on the countertop was that one of the RUTs — the Regrettable Unitaskers, for those who aren't familiar with interior kitchen cabinet slang — was on deck to be that year's giveaway, and tensions were high.

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Of the tens of millions of Americans who try to lose weight every year, only 8% actually succeed, with even less keeping off the weight long term. Two out of 3 who lose 5% of their body weight will eventually gain it back, and the more weight you lose, the more likely this is to happen. So where are we going wrong?

To look into the problem further and examine the possible weight loss barriers that many Americans are facing, Orlando Health commissioned a national survey of over 1000 participants, which showed that only 1 in 10 thought that an emotional connection to food was a factor in losing weight.

Neuropsychologist and Program Director of Integrative Medicine at Orlando Health, Diane Robinson, believes this is why so many Americans are struggling with weight loss, and also weight gain: “most people focus almost entirely on the physical aspects of weight loss, like diet and exercise. But there is an emotional component to food that the vast majority of people simply overlook and it can quickly sabotage their efforts. In order to lose weight and keep it off long term, we need to do more than just think about what we eat, we also need to understand why we’re eating.”

With nearly every holiday connected with food and even just the smell of food evoking strong emotions, Robinson believes that even if we are not aware of it, from an early age we are conditioned to use food not only for nourishment, but also for comfort and pleasure. When we eat something pleasurable the brain releases the neurotransmitter dopamine as a response, making us feel good and strengthening the emotional connection.

“We feel good whenever that process is activated,” said Robinson, “but when we start to put food into that equation and it becomes our reward, it can have negative consequences.” To support Robinson’s theory, previous research has already found that a higher body mass index (BMI) is linked to feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression, all of which can lead to classic ‘comfort eating’ as a coping mechanism.

To help recognize a possible emotional connection to food, and help a weight loss plan, Robinson offers the following tips:

– Keep a daily diary recording your food and your mood to try and recognize any unhealthy patterns.

– Identify foods that make you feel good and write down why you eat them. Do they evoke a happy memory, or do they help you feel calmer when stressed?

– Before you have any snack or meal ask yourself: Am I eating this because I’m hungry? If the answer is no, look for the root of your motive.

– AFP Relaxnews

Malaysia Airlines announced yesterday that they have signed an extensive codes-hare agreement with Emirates to channel Europe and US bound passengers via Dubai.

Emirates in turn will code-share some Malaysia Airlines flights around Asia and Australia. Malaysia Airlines discontinues Kuala Lumpur to Paris and Amsterdam flights leaving London the only city it serves in Europe.

You can access Bloomberg’s piece about this development here.

The deal gives the Malaysian carrier access to Europe without incurring “monumental losses,” Chief Executive Officer Christoph Mueller said in a phone interview Wednesday. Mueller, who took over in March, has already trimmed capacity by 30 percent and cut thousands of jobs as he seeks to revive a company racking up losses even before two high-profile crashes in 2014.

“Our network architecture is largely complete with this move,” he said. “It’s a very, very big and important piece in our puzzle.”

The tie-up with Emirates also fills a hole in European coverage left by the dropping of a “kangaroo-route-centric” approach, Mueller said, referring to the traditional model of linking Europe with Australia via cities in southeast Asia.

The Malaysian Air code will appear on Emirates flights to 38 European destinations, as well as 15 locations in the U.S. and 38 in the Gulf, Africa and Indian Ocean, according to the statement. Emirates will gain access to some 300 daily flights.

Conclusion

Malaysia Airlines brought in a new CEO and started the airline “fresh” earlier this year under different corporate entity. The airline is trying to become more of a regional player, although not sure how it can compete against AirAsia that is also based in Kuala Lumpur.

The airline has been cutting or downsizing routes especially to Europe and Australia. If you are ticketed on Malaysia Airlines flights to/from Paris or Amsterdam after January 2016, you should contact your issuing agent to have them rebook you.

There were times when Malaysia Airlines flew to Buenos Aires via Johannesburg and Cape Town or to New York via Stockholm. Those days are long gone.

Say it with me now: Hasseltots! These adorable, bite-sized Hasselback potatoes are just begging for ketchup and some alone time. You know you want them. And you can. Here's exactly what you need to do between now and dinner for these tots to be yours.

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PETALING JAYA: The highly contentious National Security Council Bill (NSC), rushed through Parliament and passed late last night, will hand dictatorial powers on a silver platter to the prime minister.

Commenting on this latest development, the Asia Sentinel, in an article by John Berthelsen said, “With the introduction in parliament of a powerful national security bill that potentially could guarantee him dictatorial powers, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak may have set out to lift himself from his status as medium-grade satrap into a cozy club of now-departed kleptocrats and dictators like Suharto in Indonesia and Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.”

The article noted that both Suharto and Marcos used the threat to national security to rule without opposition and left their countries ravaged by corruption and greed as they enriched their own families “beyond imaging” while making beggars of their people.

Suggesting that the Islamic State (IS) threat on its three top leaders was likely bogus, the spin put out in the media by Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, did nevertheless offer a valid reason to introduce the NSC Bill despite Najib himself not too long ago, having praised that very same militant group for the fervour in which they operated.

Citing the intense opposition to the bill, the article mentioned lawyer and Opposition MP N Surendran, as having issued an analysis of how far-reaching repression could be for the people under the new law.

“…evacuating the public from their homes and resettling them; imposing curfews; wide powers of arrest, search and seizure, including entering and searching homes,” were just some of the powers the NSC bill allowed.

“Citizens would have no legal recourse to courts against wrongful acts committed by the Council, Director of Operations or Security Forces, where these acts are done in ‘good faith’,” the article added, noting however that the Opposition as it stood, was too weak from “infighting and factionalism” to be powerful enough to block it.

The article also quoted Phil Robertson, the Southeast Asia Deputy Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, as saying the bill was “quite clearly a tool for repression. While touted as a law to protect national security, the law provides expansive powers that could fundamentally threaten human rights and democratic rule.”

While it was uncertain who exactly would be targeted under the law, two names that did crop up in the piece was Maria Chin Abdullah, who heads electoral reform group Bersih, and Ambiga Sreenevasan, a prominent lawyer and social rights advocate. Several Umno leaders, critical of Najib’s handling of two financial scandals i.e. 1Malaysia Development Berhad and a RM2.6 billion “donation” he personally received, may come under fire too.

It noted how the colonial-era Sedition Act 1948 was already oppressive as was the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA), introduced in 2012, both of which had already been used at will to silence political rivals and government critics and said that although the NSC Bill was also modelled on the UK’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Act passed earlier this year to counter terrorism, Malaysia’s version went “far beyond” the UK version.

Speaking to one of the top constitutional lawyers in the country in a telephone conversation, the Asia Sentinel was told, “It is obvious that they want to maintain themselves in power.

“I don’t think people understand how deep the rot is. It is very deep and it will have serious consequences both economically and politically. It is slow decay from within.”

The lawyer declined to give his name, saying, “Freedom of speech is badly restricted here.

“Everyone is afraid, we are in trouble. The middle class are voting with their feet. Anyone who has a skill will go. The conversation almost universally is around what to do, they are telling their children abroad ‘don’t come back.’

“This is the kind of perception that has permeated the country.”

If you haven’t had enough time to play with your cat lately, an automated cat toy is a great way to get them moving and keep them entertained. This DIY version is easy to assemble and code.

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CHRISTMAS decorations are not the only things glistening in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. The mall lit up even more with the presence of Hong Kong celebrity Tavia Yeung.