Nadal searches for fire as French Open nears |
- Nadal searches for fire as French Open nears
- South Korea ferry captain arrested, divers ‘glimpse’ bodies
- World Cup ticketing centres open
- New Golf R concept to push 400hp
- Can TV, online army tilt scales of justice?
- The stars behind Transcendence zone in on the movie (VIDEO)
| Nadal searches for fire as French Open nears Posted: 18 Apr 2014 05:56 PM PDT
The world number one suffered just his third career defeat in Monte Carlo when he slumped to a shock 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 quarter-final loss to compatriot Ferrer yesterday. Nadal had won the Monte Carlo title for eight successive years from 2005 to 2012 before his run was ended in 2013 by Novak Djokovic in the final. Yesterday's loss was his earliest in the principality since a third round exit against Guillermo Coria on his debut appearance in 2003 when he was just 16. For Ferrer, the unheralded workhorse of the men's tour, it was a first win on clay against the 13-time major winner since Stuttgart in 2004. Even Nadal, whose season so far has seen titles in Doha and Rio and runners-up spots at the Australian Open and Miami, felt the shockwaves. "I started the year great in Doha and during Australia. But I don't have to lie. After what happened in Australia it was a little bit harder for me to find again the intensity, the confidence, the inside power that always I have," said the 27-year-old. "Even if I won Rio, I played the final in Miami, there remains something in my mind and in my game. I'm going to fight to try to find that solution soon." There will again be suggestions that Nadal, who will attempt to become a nine-time French Open champion at Roland Garros next month, needs an overhaul of his coaching set-up. He has been guided by his uncle Toni since childhood and has vigorously defended his in-house operation even as rivals Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray ruthlessly wielded the coaching axe to keep up with Nadal's blistering pace. Radical surgery not answer But Nadal does not believe radical surgery is the answer to what at the moment is just one setback, albeit a worrying one on a surface where he has gathered 43 of his 62 career titles. "With my style of game, I don't know another way. I am not a player who will win in two shots. I can do it when I am playing very, very well. But normally I play the points," he said. Nadal also insists that he is injury free with the back pain that sabotaged his Australian Open final dream no longer an issue. "The back is in good shape. Physical performance is in good shape," he said. Nadal knows that this is not the time to press the panic button and recent history suggests he is right not to do so. Next week he heads to Barcelona where he is an eight-time champion and where he boasts a record of 40 wins against just one loss which he suffered in 2003. Then it's on to his defence of the Madrid Masters title and Rome where he won for the seventh time in 2013. In the Italian capital, Nadal has 41 wins and just two defeats — against Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round in 2008 and to Djokovic in the 2011 final. Even those two losses failed to impact his French Open hopes just as other shock defeats failed to dent his status as Roland Garros favourite. His third round defeat to Fernando Verdasco in Madrid in 2012 and last year's Monte Carlo final loss to Djokovic served just to fire him to more trophy-biting in Paris in the first week of June. In the French capital, Nadal remains the king with eight titles and a record of 59 wins in 60 matches. Come what may over the next six weeks, Nadal remains determined to keep his highs and lows in perspective. "In life there are much more important things than a tennis match," he said — AFP  |
| South Korea ferry captain arrested, divers ‘glimpse’ bodies Posted: 18 Apr 2014 05:51 PM PDT
Coastguard officials said captain Lee Joon-Seok and two of his crew were taken into police custody in the early hours of the morning. The Yonhap news agency said Lee faced five charges, ranging from criminal negligence to violation of maritime law. Lee, 69, has been severely criticised for abandoning his ship as it sank on Wednesday morning off the southwest coast while hundreds remained trapped on board, most of them children on a high school holiday trip. Twenty-nine people have been confirmed dead in the disaster, but 273 are still missing. The coastguard revised the figures slightly overnight, citing counting errors. As the arrests were being made, dive teams who had spent two days vainly battling powerful currents and near zero visibility, finally penetrated the lower decks of the 6,825-tonne Sewol. Briefing distraught relatives of the missing, the deputy director of the national coastguard Choi Sang-Hwan said divers had reached a lower deck passenger area around 5:50am local time. "Through a window, they glimpsed what appeared to be bodies, but were unable to break through with the tools they had to hand," Choi said. He stressed that visibility was extremely poor and the divers had been unable to confirm precisely what they saw before they had to return to the surface. Nets to stop bodies drifting Nets would be placed around the submerged ferry to prevent any bodies drifting away during the eventual recovery process, Choi said, while adding that the rescue teams had not given up hope of finding survivors trapped in air pockets. The hundreds of relatives camped out in a gymnasium in Jindo island — most of the them parents of high school students — have sharply criticised the pace of the rescue operation, accusing officials of incompetence and indifference. "I firmly believe that the kids are alive. We need to rescue them as soon as possible. But officials are dragging their feet," said Lee Yong-Gi, whose student son was unaccounted for. Only 174 were rescued when the ferry sank and no new survivors have been found since Wednesday. The unfolding tragedy was compounded by the apparent suicide yesterday of the students' high school vice principal, Kang Min-Kyu, who was seemingly overcome by guilt at having survived the sinking. Kang, 52, was found hanging from a tree near the Jindo gymnasium. Local media said he had left a note, saying: "Surviving alone is too painful... I take full responsibility." More than 350 of those on board were students from Kang's Danwon High School in Ansan city just south of Seoul. What caused ferry capsize? Initial questioning of the captain has focused on what might have caused the ferry to sink. Tracking data from the Maritime Ministry showed the vessel made a sharp turn just before sending its first distress signal. Some experts believe a tight turn could have dislodged the heavy cargo manifest — including more than 150 vehicles — and destabilised the vessel, causing it to list heavily and then capsize. But others suggested the turn might have been caused by a collision with a rock or other submerged object. Investigators said Lee had handed the helm to his third officer before the accident happened. "The captain was not in command when the accident took place," prosecutor Park Jae-Eok told a press briefing. Chief prosecutor Lee Seong-Yoon stressed there was "no limit" to the range of the investigation. "We will make sure... those responsible are sternly held accountable," Lee said. Three giant, floating cranes are now at the rescue site, but regional coastguard commander Kim Soo-Hyun stressed they would not begin lifting the multi-deck ferry until they were sure there were no survivors inside. "I want to be clear: There won't be any salvage work done against the will of the families," Kim aid. — AFP |
| World Cup ticketing centres open Posted: 18 Apr 2014 05:41 PM PDT
Centres opened in ten of the 12 host cities — fans will only be able to pick tickets up in the capital Brasilia and the southern city of Porto Alegre from next month. More than 2.5 million — or three quarters of those available — have been sold to date via the FIFA web platform set up for the purpose and each bears the name of the buyer in an attempt to limit scalping. Dozens of fans queued up at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, venue of the final, after the center opened at midday (1500 GMT). Joao Bosco, 67, and Vanderson Balbino, 27, were both in place by 9 a.m to ensure they were first in line. "I have tickets for four matches — including two at the Maracana," Balbino told reporters. "As I want to see a Brazil game I am going to try (to get a ticket) in one of the cities where they are playing. I'll go with my brother so I'll have to pay double. "I've already spent double 8,000 reais ($3,000 2,575 euros)." Bosco, collecting two tickets bought as birthday gifts for his daughter, Andrea, will watch Spain play Chile on June 18 at the Maracana where his father, now in his 90s, saw Brazil lose the 1950 final against Uruguay. "My dream would be to see Brazil win in the Maracana, but it will be difficult," Bosco told AFP. — AFP |
| New Golf R concept to push 400hp Posted: 18 Apr 2014 05:39 PM PDT
The Golf R 400 is capable of going from 0 to 100km/h in 3.9s and boasts a top speed of 280km/h. According to Volkswagen, the model is merely a concept and is not destined to hit the market. The latest production model of the Golf R, powered by a TSI engine with 300hp, is the most powerful yet. In Europe, where the hatch went on sale earlier this year, prices start at €40,700 (RM182,000). Unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show, the model accelerates to 100km/h in 5.1s, or in 4.9s when equipped with Volkswagen's optional dual-clutch gearbox. The top speed is electronically limited at 250km/h. The Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Beijing Auto Show) takes place from April 23 to 29. china-autoshow.com — AFP/Relaxnews |
| Can TV, online army tilt scales of justice? Posted: 18 Apr 2014 05:32 PM PDT APRIL 19 — The murder trial of South African double-amputee Olympian, 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius, is being followed worldwide like a soap opera with even suggestions that Malaysia should adopt televised trials. Justice as a public spectacle will have its theatrical moments, but mob justice carries the high-risk of judicial proceedings being editorialised by news providers. There are strict rules in Malaysia governing contempt of court. The sub judice rule forbids comment on court cases as it could influence the legal process while editorialising is seen as an attempt to have a trial by newspaper.
Commentary means taking over the role of the judge and that should not be surrendered to the unrest of mob justice. South Africa's legal system, with a judge, not a jury, presiding over criminal cases, allows "comment" on the basis there is no one who will be unduly influenced by media coverage. The televised trial of Pistorius, 27, an Olympic hero, has placed millions worldwide inside the courtroom to soak into a real-life drama that has gone into the intimate details of the tragic death of his 29-year-old girlfriend, model, reality TV star and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp.
While tweeters in Malaysia face the threat of prosecution for commenting on ongoing legal proceedings, there are no such consequences in South Africa where it's a participant sport and everybody can sound off. A serious case can quickly turn into a form of entertainment with "insights" from a peanut gallery. It is a slippery slope for this type of editorial coverage – something that should never violate the judiciary. In the Pistorius trial, unprecedented access to the action has stirred international conversations across interactive platforms. It has dramatically changed the relationship between the public, the media and the courtroom. Between the televised coverage and the live tweeting of the trial, the entire world is able to engage in these conversations. Traditionally, such conversations only existed within the traditional media that were the only ones with access to the information. They were the only ones discussing the information and resulted in people passively consuming news. Have these obsessive compulsions of the news providers diminished the majesty of the law into the stuff of soap opera? Indeed, the face of court reporting has changed. The Pistorius case has received more media coverage than any other case in South African history. Demand for coverage is coming from all around the world and information is no longer restricted to the people sitting in the courtroom. The disquiet normally present when commenting on on-going court cases there is slowly disintegrating. Truth is, even if people have heard the facts of the case, most do not fully understand the intricacies of the judicial process itself. Soap opera treatment of the Pistorius trial is fine example to Malaysia of why we shouldn't prompt televised courts that would only satiate curiosity and voyeurism. For one, it would put tremendous pressure on the judges. There is no guarantee that public statements will never influence the final verdict of a court. You can be guaranteed, though, that televised trials will provide more than fodder for online commentators to bicker over. The argument that live television coverage will provide an unprecedented education about the workings of the courts holds little weight because the judicial process is a system few people would recognise. South Africa is different. It is still far from the non-racial society that Nelson Mandela envisaged. But the unique social experiment in justice in the Pistorius is particularly targeted at giving the impoverished South Africans their first real glimpse of local criminal justice in action. At stake are values as fundamental as freedom of information, the ethics of transparency and perhaps most importantly, the crucial issue of maintaining the dignity of all involved. |
| The stars behind Transcendence zone in on the movie (VIDEO) Posted: 18 Apr 2014 05:30 PM PDT LOS ANGELES, April 19 — The star-studded 'Transcendence' tells the story of a man who's on a quest to bring consciousness to technology with disastrous and unpredictable results. Many see the film as a warning to ourselves that very soon technology may get out of hand and become uncontrollable. Helmed by top actors, the movie stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall and Morgan Freeman. According to Depp, "The path to building super intelligence requires us to unlock the most fundamental secrets of the universe." This is Wally Pfister's first film as a director, however he's previously headed camera teams on big block busters, which obviously gave him a fresh outlook on direction. "I'm not specifically trying to say anything as a director, any message with the film, but I do like it when my characters say things and so in this case, the idea is that the actions of the characters perhaps contain warnings and maybe they contain a direction. If technology is being used, who's it being used by?" shares Pfister. Kate Mara seems to agree. "He's not just focusing on what the camera's doing, he's telling the story through the camera, but he's telling the story through each character as well. Wally really, he's a really, really talented director and he's very much an actors director as well."
According to Morgan Freeman: "We live a long time, we live a lot longer than we ever did and part of that is due to the growth in technology but as I say, ok, there's an upside but there's a down side. And we haven't really seen it yet." Says Rebecca Hall who plays the role of Depp's onscreen wife Evelyn: "The dilemma is, how far do we integrate with machines and still maintain what makes us human. But, there are plenty of people out there who would say that it's not something to be frightened of because the next step of human evolution is to merge with machines and therefore that is by definition… human." — Cover Media |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malay Mail Online | All To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
