Champions League group stage berths in sight for Arsenal, Celtic |
- Champions League group stage berths in sight for Arsenal, Celtic
- Dozens hurt in 6.0 magnitude Napa Valley quake
- Digerati50: Facing up to your own weaknesses
- CME stops electronic trading for all markets, except Malaysia, after technical glitch
- Wahai rakyat Malaysia bersatulah sepanjang masa, bukannya secara bermusim
- Seth Rogen ― one of Hollywood’s hottest writer and actor (VIDEO)
| Champions League group stage berths in sight for Arsenal, Celtic Posted: 24 Aug 2014 05:48 PM PDT
Ten-man Arsenal escaped Turkey with a goalless draw against Besiktas but the Gunners remain on course for a 17th consecutive group phase appearance although they will be without suspended midfielder Aaron Ramsey for Wednesday's second leg. Arsene Wenger's men displayed their resilience by coming from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw at Everton in the Premier League on Saturday and Jack Wilshere believes the result puts them in a perfect frame of mind to wrap up the tie with Besiktas. "This is a fantastic point and now we have a big game on Wednesday and this will give us great confidence going into that," the England midfielder told Arsenal.com after the match at Goodison Park. "We never give up and at this level that is massive. We have always shown over the years that Arsenal are going to battle like mad right until the end." The north London club boasts a proud record of having never lost a Champions League qualifying tie and although last week's draw was the first time in 13 matches they'd failed to win a play-off encounter, the goal is quite simple for Wenger. "We know the second leg will be tight again, but we are at home, so the task is clear for us - we want to win," said the Arsenal boss, who led the club to the 2006 Champions League final. Celtic were held to a 1-1 draw at Slovenian champions Maribor in the first leg but the Scots remain favourites to progress under new coach Ronny Deila. The Glasgow giants were handed a reprieve after Legia Warsaw fielded an ineligible player in the previous round but suffered a setback as a weakened Celtic side slumped to a 1-0 loss Saturday at Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Premiership. Bounce back Deila, though, expects his players to respond and capitalise on their second chance in tomorrow's return fixture at Parkhead. "The players will have no problem picking themselves up. We have a new game now and we are going to bounce back on Tuesday," Deila told the club's in-house television channel, Celtic TV. Striker Anthony Stokes was confident the 1967 European champions would return to the group stage for a third straight season. "We are in pole position now going back. We are ahead in the tie and we are going back to Celtic Park where we fancy our chances," the Irishman told UEFA.com. "It's not for me to say (if Celtic are favourites to go through). We are ahead in the tie, like I said. But it is going to be a difficult game. They're a very good technical team. "But we won't take our eye off the ball. We'll fully focus and give it 100 percent." Two-time former champions Porto, who hold a 1-0 lead from the first leg, will look to wrap up their tie with French side Lille in Portugal tomorrow, while Athletic Bilbao versus Napoli is the pick of the fixtures on Wednesday. Athletic are bidding to qualify for the group stage for the first time since 1998/99 and gained the upper hand with a 1-1 draw againt Napoli, knocked out of a group containing Arsenal last season, in Italy. Bayer Leverkusen reached the last 16 last time out and are on course to return to Europe's premier club competition after a 3-2 win over FC Copenhagen in Denmark last week. Leverkusen, led by new coach Roger Schmidt, were further boosted by an impressive 2-0 success at Borussia Dortmund in their Bundesliga opener on Saturday. Champions League fixtures this week (kick-off 1845GMT unless stated otherwise): Play-offs second leg: Tuesday Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) v Standard Liege (BEL) (1600GMT) BATE Borisov (BLR) v Slovan Bratislava (SVK) Porto (POR) v Lille (FRA) Celtic (SCO) v Maribor (SLO) APOEL (CYP) v Aalborg (DEN) Wednesday Ludogorets (BUL) v Steaua Bucharest (ROM) Malmo (SWE) v Salzburg (AUT) Athletic Bilbao (ESP) v Napoli (ITA) Arsenal (ENG) v Besiktas (TUR) Bayer Leverkusen (GER) v FC Copenhagen (DEN) — AFP  |
| Dozens hurt in 6.0 magnitude Napa Valley quake Posted: 24 Aug 2014 05:47 PM PDT
The quake, the biggest in the region in 25 years, jolted many residents out of bed when it hit at 3.20 am (1020 GMT). It was centered 6 miles (10 km) south of the city of Napa, which is located about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. There were no known fatalities, but three people were seriously injured, including a child who suffered multiple fractures after a fireplace fell on him, local fire battalion chief John Callahan said. Six fires broke out, including one that consumed six mobile homes, he said. Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa said it had treated 120 patients injured in the quake, which was strong enough to be felt throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. "They say it went for 50 seconds. It felt like 50 minutes. I was just too terrified to even scream," said Patricia Trimble, 50, the owner of an antique store. She rushed to her store in central Napa and found the front window blown out, cabinets on their sides and merchandise littering the floor. California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, putting all state resources at the disposal of his Office of Emergency Services. Despite the force of the quake, it ranks as only moderately strong. California, which sits along a series of seismic faults, is forecast to experience a much more powerful earthquake at some point, but scientists do not know when it might come or how strong it would measure, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey (USGS), Don Blakeman, said. "Usually when people talk about 'The Big One,' they're talking about something on the order of a magnitude 9, which of course is tremendously more powerful" than yesterday's quake, he said. The biggest impact was centered around Napa, a famous wine-producing region and a major tourist destination in northern California. Brick facades gave way in the historic section of downtown Napa, a city of 77,000, and bricks fell off a second floor corner of the courthouse, which showed cracks. On the main street, masonry collapsed onto a car. One building housing winery tasting rooms had to be closed to tourists, and the floors of many wine stores were stained red from the contents of broken wine bottles. Tyler Paradise, general manager of Cult 24 wine bar in Napa, estimated his business lost $50,000 worth of bottles that spilled out of cabinets and littered the floor. As dawn broke, merchants were on the streets sweeping up debris and boarding up windows. State emergency officials said Sunday afternoon that 90 to 100 homes in Napa were "red-tagged," meaning they were not safe to enter. Mark Ghilarducci, director of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, said most of downtown Napa had been cordoned off as crew assessed building damage. City officials said all schools would be closed today so that buildings could be checked for structural damage. Police in the nearby city of Vallejo said the initial assessment of damage was in excess of $5 million, and one building on Georgia Street with eight residential units was evacuated because of structural concerns. Around the region, emergency crews worked to extinguish fires in mobile homes, close water main breaks, clean up broken glass and fix power outages. By mid-afternoon, 20,000 to 25,000 people were still without power, down from 70,000 after the earthquake hit. "Right now, things are stabilizing a little bit," said Ghilarducci. Napa City Manager Mike Parness said it could take a full week before the city was fully restored. "We're seeing people coming together and helping people and getting buildings back on line as soon as possible," Parness told a midday news conference. "Woke us all up" USGS said the epicenter of the quake was 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the town of American Canyon, on the northern edge of the San Francisco Bay. It was the largest to hit the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta quake in 1989, which killed 63 people and caused US$6 billion (RM19 billion) in property damage. That quake measured 6.9, while the famous one that leveled San Francisco in 1906 measured 7.8. "It was long. I think it was the biggest one since I felt the 1989 quake," said Stephanie Martin, 47, a nursing assistant in Oakland, which sits just across the bay from San Francisco. "Nothing tipped over, thank God. Rolling back and forth. Just woke us all up," she said. John Parrish, state geologist with the California Department of Conservation, said the quake most likely occurred along the West Napa Fault in Napa County. Throughout yesterday, 50 to 60 after-shocks hit the area, the largest clocking in at a 3.6 magnitude. Parrish said it was unlikely that a larger earthquake was yet to come, but he warned that it was likely that the area could experience smaller after-shocks for the next couple of days. Structures damaged in the quake would be dangerous to enter, especially during after-shocks, he said. "This is a good time to remind everyone that we live in earthquake country. None us are immune to any of this," said Parish, urging the public to "resupply earthquake kits." ― Reuters |
| Digerati50: Facing up to your own weaknesses Posted: 24 Aug 2014 05:41 PM PDT
He declared this bold target during the inaugural Local Advisory Panel (LAP) meeting held in Cyberjaya in 2010. The LAP consists of Malaysian tech entrepreneurs who advise the Government on the execution of the final phase of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC Malaysia) vision. Liew describes his core business as providing system solutions in IoT (the Internet of Things) applications, security, track and trace, access control and monitoring services. He spends a lot of time in Japan which serves as his headquarters. His familiarity with Japan and fluency in the language started when he was with Fuji Economy USA Inc as the vice president of worldwide operations in the mid-1990s. He launched his entrepreneurial journey in Japan in 2000, getting Japanese investors and customers on board for what he felt was the hottest space at the time – display technologies. MDT now specialises in the RFID (radio frequency identification) and wireless sensor market, which it branched into in 2005. Having been an entrepreneur for 14 years, Liew is motivated by his corporate mission "to ensure each and every one of my staff become millionaires." This keeps him motivated and driven to learn new technologies. A strong believer that any engineering-based company must have its own core technologies and intellectual property (IP), Liew ensures MDT invests at least 20 per cent of its revenue into research and development. One of his subsidiaries, MDT Innovations, filed 16 IPs in 2013 alone. In total MDT has 32 filed and registered IPs covering Malaysia, Japan, China, Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand. Customers from outside Malaysia – especially from Japan, China, Indonesia, India and Australia – contribute a big portion of revenues. As Liew explains, these markets are generally more receptive to new technology and have bigger budgets. As with many entrepreneurs, Liew has looked to China as a potential market. But this was where he suffered his darkest moments as an entrepreneur. "We set up a joint venture with a Beijing company to manage an 860-acre RFID Technology Park in Binzhou, in Shandong Province, with the support of local and provincial governments, including 100 acres owned by MDT's Malaysia subsidiary, in December 2006. "Everything came to a halt when the Secretary [Communist Party Leader] was transferred to another city. We decided to withdraw immediately, but only got back 20 per cent of our investment by giving up the 100 acres allocated to us," he says. It comes as no surprise then that Liew lists honesty and responsibility as among the most important traits an entrepreneur must have. "Be honest with yourself and all the people you meet; be responsible to your company, your staff and customers; and put your heart into your products and services," he says. Out of that China experience came one of the two key lessons Liew has learnt in his entrepreneurial journey. "I have myself to blame for trusting the wrong partners and causing the company to suffer financial losses," he says. The second lesson has to do with his carelessness. "In my excitement, I used to tend to reveal our technical details and product features to the market earlier than I should. Competition from 'me-too vendors' could have been avoided, while some mega projects we were working on could have been cemented before others had a chance of taking them away from under our noses." While the RM500 million revenue target looks to be a real stretch goal, perhaps it is his ability to recognise and rectify his own weaknesses which could provide the springboard for Liew to eventually hit that magical number. Of course, being in a niche that will be driven by the adoption of 8.5 billion smartphones by 2019, creating demand for apps that depend on sensor networks, also helps. — Digital News Asia *This story was first published here. * Digerati50 is a weekly series that profiles the top 50 influencers, movers and shakers who are helping shape Malaysia's Digital Economy. |
| CME stops electronic trading for all markets, except Malaysia, after technical glitch Posted: 24 Aug 2014 05:39 PM PDT
CME Group, the world's largest futures market, suspended the start of trading on all of its Globex electronic-trading markets except for Malaysian equity-index derivatives, according to its website. Dozens of commodities from corn to natural gas change hands on the all-electronic Globex platform that begins on Sunday nights in the US, as well as contracts on interest rates, foreign exchange and equity indexes. A phone call and voicemail to Chris Grams, a Chicago-based press officer at the bourse, was not immediately returned. The CME has mostly avoided the larger market structure breakdowns that plagued US equity venues over the last five years, though a futures contract traded on its platform was identified by regulators as helping precipitate the flash crash in May 2010. In the stock market, US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Jo White has demanded infrastructure and procedural improvements as a way to restore investor confidence. CME halted trading for some futures contracts for more than 90 minutes on April 8 due to "technical issues." The error prevented futures and options transactions in products including corn, wheat, cattle and hogs. The Chicago-based company's largest revenue-producing contracts such as interest-rate and stock-index futures weren't affected. — Bloomberg |
| Wahai rakyat Malaysia bersatulah sepanjang masa, bukannya secara bermusim Posted: 24 Aug 2014 05:37 PM PDT 25 OGOS — Sambutan dan kerjasama padu yang diberikan oleh rakyat Malaysia pada majlis Hari Perkabungan Negara Jumaat lalu bagi menyambut kepulangan 20 jenazah pesawat MH17, amat mengharukan. Boleh dikatakan inilah julung-julung kalinya kita dapat melihat seluruh rakyat Malaysia tanpa mengira kaum dan agama, datang bersama untuk memberikan penghormatan terakhir kepada mereka yang terkorban dalam tragedi MH17. Malah, semangat ini juga turut diterjemahkan ke dalam sanubari pemimpin politik negara dari kedua-dua pihak yakni kerajaan mahupun pembangkang yang turut menghadiri majlis perkabungan tersebut. Bagi mereka, segala isu politik diketepikan buat seketika waktu. Sesungguhnya, semangat positif yang ditunjukkan ini yang harus dijadikan ikutan sepanjang masa. Ia jelas membuktikan bahawa rakyat Malaysia sebenarnya boleh datang bersatu, bekerjasama bahkan bersatu-padu ketika negara ditimpa musibah. Malaysia sememangnya memerlukan semangat sedemikian tatkala negara kini diselubungi oleh hubungan antara kaum yang didakwa semakin rapuh. Malah, semangat bersatu-padu yang ditunjukkan oleh rakyat Malaysia turut mendapat pujian daripada Menteri Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia, Dato' Sri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, baru-baru ini. Hakikatnya, saranan agar rakyat di negara ini terus bersatu dan tidak berbalah telah pun berkali-kali ditekankan oleh pihak pemerintah. Semangat perpaduan dan bersatu-padu menjadi benteng paling ampuh untuk menangkis serangan pihak musuh. Justeru, solidariti dan perpaduan yang ditunjukkan dalam Majlis Perkabungan Negara minggu lalu, adalah satu permulaan yang baik. Bagaimanapun, semangat perpaduan tersebut tidak harus berhenti di situ sahaja. Bahkan, rakyat Malaysia tidak wajar bersatu hanya pada waktu-waktu tragedi sahaja. Sebaliknya, rakyat perlulah bersatu pada setiap masa tanpa mengira waktu, lokasi mahupun ideologi politik. Ini kerana, kita tidak mungkin dapat menjangka bilakah sebenarnya musibah akan melanda. Kita juga tidak mungkin dapat meramal bilakah negara kita diserang atau dijajah oleh kuasa asing. Maka kerana itu, adalah mustahak jika rakyat sentiasa berada dalam kesiapsiagaan untuk menghadapi sebarang kemungkinan. Kesiapsiagaan yang dimaksudkan termasuklah mempersiapkan rakyat dengan elemen-elemen perpaduan dan kesatuan. Dalam usaha untuk mencapai perpaduan yang menyeluruh, ia haruslah dizahirkan secara sukarela dan bukannya secara paksaan. Perpaduan dalam kalangan rakyat tidak akan membawa sebarang makna jika majoriti rakyat masih enggan untuk membuang ego dan terikut-ikut dengan amalan lama. Perpaduan dalam kalangan rakyat berbilang kaum seperti Malaysia hanya akan berjaya jika semua kaum bersedia untuk mengetepikan kepentingan masing-masing demi kepentingan jangka panjang yang lebih penting. Benarlah kata orang, kota Rom tidak dibina dalam sehari. Usaha membina sebuah empayar teragong dalam sejarah dunia seperti Rom memerlukan masa. Tetapi cubaan untuk memusnahkan hanya memakan masa beberapa minit sahaja. Namun, keadaan ini tidak sepatutnya dibiarkan berlaku. Malaysia telah mengharungi pelbagai suka-duka dalam tempoh lebih lima dekad ini. Segala tragedi dan peristiwa yang berlaku telah mematangkan negara dan kepimpinan sedia ada. Inilah mesej utama yang penulis ingin sampaikan kepada pembaca di luar sana tatkala rakyat Malaysia bakal menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan ke-57 pada 31 Ogos ini. Di kesempatan ini, gunakan peluang keemasan untuk menghargai keamanan yang dikecapi sejak sekian lama. Jangan sesekali membiarkan diri dibuat emosi dan kemarahan, dan membiarkan elemen-elemen negatif itu untuk merosakkan keharmonian yang telah diusahakan oleh para pejuang kemerdekaan terdahulu. Pastinya, kita sebagai rakyat Malaysia tidak mahu melihat negara tercinta kita ini mengikut haluan yang dilalui oleh negara-negara Islam lain seperti Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan dan Syria yang sedang bermandi darah. Ingatlah perpaduan dan keharmonian yang dikecapi oleh Malaysia mutakhir ini boleh hilang begitu sahaja jika rakyatnya terus lalai dan ambil mudah. Oleh itu, sebaik-baiknya rakyat haruslah berwaspada dan sentiasa bersedia mempertahankan negara ini daripada segala anasir jahat hingga ke titisan darah terakhir mereka. Bersedialah dari sekarang! *Pandangan di atas hanyalah pandangan peribadi penulis dan tidak mewakili pandangan Malay Mail Online. |
| Seth Rogen ― one of Hollywood’s hottest writer and actor (VIDEO) Posted: 24 Aug 2014 05:33 PM PDT LOS ANGELES, Aug 25 ― Since his debut on the cult hit TV series "Freaks and Geeks", Seth Rogen has come a long way. This once awkward teen is now one of the hottest writers and actors in Hollywood. With so many hilarious performances, it's very hard to select just three top picks, but the best place to start is with his first starring role, in 2007's "Knocked Up". A movie about a lovable loser who is forced to grow up when he gets a woman pregnant after a one-night stand, the film was just one of many times that Seth has collaborated with his mentor, producer/director Judd Apatow. In 2013, Rogen and his longtime creative partner Evan Goldberg co-wrote and co-directed "This Is the End", in which the star-studded cast of comedic actors play themselves facing the Apocalypse. And with "Neighbors", Seth's comedy stylings reached a whole new generation ― the fans of his teen heartthrob co-star Zac Efron. Efron plays the leader of a fraternity which moves in next door to new parents Rogen and Rose Byrne. As in all of Seth Rogen's films, hilarity ensues. ― Cover Media
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