Three hurt in second Copenhagen shooting |
- Three hurt in second Copenhagen shooting
- BN offered Anwar DPM post after Election 2013, daughter claims
- The sweet unknowns in ‘American Pie’ lyrics — Stephen L. Carter
- Rodgers hails a revived Balotelli, says he’s got ‘big quality’
- Link between HSBC Swiss accounts, Petrobras scandal under probe
- A face to watch: KL fashion designer Justin Chew
| Three hurt in second Copenhagen shooting Posted: 14 Feb 2015 05:04 PM PST
It was not confirmed if the incident was related to yesterday's deadly shooting at a cultural centre in Copenhagen where a debate on Islam and free speech was being held. "We cannot say anything about the condition of the injured yet," Copenhagen police said. "The perpetrator fled on foot," it said. The shooting took place in Krystalgade, a street that is home to Copenhagen's main synagogue. The nearby Noerreport train station, one of the country's busiest, had been evacuated and trains were not stopping there, Danish news agency Ritzau reported, quoting train operator DSB. — AFP  |
| BN offered Anwar DPM post after Election 2013, daughter claims Posted: 14 Feb 2015 05:00 PM PST
The PKR vice-president made the claim at a Penang rally in her father's Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency last night, two news portals reported. "He was told to ignore PKR's allies, PAS and DAP. Accept the offer, form a government," Nurul Izzah was quoted saying by The Malaysian Insider. She further claimed the offer was made during reconciliatory talks in the wake of the last elections that saw the PKR-DAP-PAS alliance sweep over half of the popular vote though they lost to the BN at the polls they have maintained was gerry-mandered. However, Nurul Izzah said her father rebuffed the offer. "He rejected the offer to the end because it dealt with the life and death of our struggles. "As a coalition, we can only work together as long as it is based on principles," the second-term Lembah Pantai MP was quoted saying by the same news portal. According to the report, Nurul Izzah said Anwar had agreed to talk with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in an attempt to end the politicking that was hampering governance and had insisted on certain conditions to deal with rampant corruption and economic issues. However, the talks broke down. Anwar, 67, was convicted and sentenced by the Federal Court last Tuesday to five years in jail on a sodomy charge he insists was politically-motivated to end his political career. Though the Permatang Pauh MP is currently in the Sungai Buloh Prison, his supporters are still hopeful he may be released soon. His legal team is looking to obtain a royal pardon as the last recourse while others have been mounting nightly vigils and yesterday held a street rally here to pressure for his freedom. |
| The sweet unknowns in ‘American Pie’ lyrics — Stephen L. Carter Posted: 14 Feb 2015 04:55 PM PST FEBRUARY 15 — We always got the easy parts, we clever teenagers. We knew that the Jester was Bob Dylan, and that "Jack Flash sat on a candlestick" referred to the Rolling Stones playing Candlestick Park. "Eight miles high and falling fast" was trivial. There were always a few kids who attached a deep theological meaning to "no angel born in hell"—surely not the Hell's Angels and the murder at Altamont in December 1969, that was too easy! -- but the rest of us were smugly certain. The best way to start an argument, though, was to present some confident thesis on what was meant by "for 10 years we've been on our own" or who was singing "dirges in the dark." That was what it was like to be in high school in small- town America in 1971 when Don McLean's iconic "American Pie" was released. At eight and a half minutes long, the song was by far the longest No . 1 single in history. The mysteries of its lyrics were a part of our lives, even those of us who didn't particularly care for popular music. Newspapers, including my hometown Ithaca Journal—in those days a bastion of Republicanism—ran long articles analyzing the lyrics. Even as McLean himself kept a studied silence, callers to radio talk shows debated angrily over whether the reference at the end to "the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost" should be read literally, or as an allusion to Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens (who died in the 1959 plane crash that inspired the song), or perhaps as standing in for the martyred John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. These memories came flooding back with this week's news that come April, Christie's will be auctioning the original manuscript and notes—"16 pages of handwritten and typed drafts"—and that McLean himself has promised that the package "will divulge everything there is to divulge." No more mysteries. Everything will be clear. Why doesn't that thought make me happier? Don't I want to know why the "generation lost in space" had "no time left to start again?" The analytical and scholarly part of me is always ready to gobble up new information on just about any topic. But another part of me is troubled. The final settling of these seemingly ancient arguments, even as it inspires a certain rosy nostalgia, also leaves me with a peculiar sense of loss. What was fun about not knowing was not knowing. Back in my teen years, we'd argue over the answers for the sake of arguing over the answers. We could dispute for days over the identity of "the players" who "tried for a forward pass." That we had no way to prove who was right was part of what made the battle worthwhile. I often tell my students that they need to maintain a high tolerance for ambiguity, that the most fascinating questions are often those that are the most unanswerable. But our conversational tastes these days run the other way. We seem unable to bear the imponderable. Consider sports. Once upon a time we had the "hot stove league," the long wintry baseball off-season during which fans would argue endlessly over unanswerable questions left over from the season proper. Today we institute a college football playoff because we can't bear not settling once and for all which team is best. Whether the subject is entertainment or politics, our approach seems the same. Viewers were furious that the finale of "Lost" left questions unresolved. A candidate for office who dared say "That's a tough one, I'll have to give it some thought" would be derided as evasive. Even on so fraught a subject as climate change, either you're all in for every dire prediction or you're a denier. I'm not saying that answers don't matter. I'm worried that we're losing our taste for argument itself, that a recognition of the importance and pleasure of the give-and-take of disagreement is slipping from us. We're much more comfortable deciding who's with us and dismissing the rest than we are at treating difficult questions seriously—or at formulating more questions to follow the difficult answers. And that's a genuine loss. Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge McLean his money. Christie's estimates that the materials will bring $1.5 million, but nobody will be surprised if the price is significantly higher. And McLean, whose genius provided one of the great achievements of the rock-and-roll era, deserves every penny. And I freely admit that in the end, my curiosity is bound to outweigh my delight in the imponderable. I do want to know why "the church bells all were broken" and whether the "sweet perfume" is tear gas or marijuana or something else altogether. It will be fascinating to learn whether the couple "dancing in the gym" is generic or a reference to someone specific. In short, I'm not against discovering answers when there are answers to be discovered. I just sometimes wish that we'd remember that not knowing, too, can be exciting. — Bloomberg * This is the personal opinion of the writers or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online. |
| Rodgers hails a revived Balotelli, says he’s got ‘big quality’ Posted: 14 Feb 2015 04:53 PM PST
"At last", the Liverpool manager might have been tempted to add. After the wholly underwhelming start to life at Anfield, the enigmatic Italian international has spent this week finally beginning to pull his bejewelled weight. In midweek, he finally landed that elusive first Premier League goal for Liverpool, coming on as a late substitute to score the winner against Tottenham Hotspur. Yesterday, he followed up his "super sub" act with another in the FA Cup fifth round tie at Crystal Palace, both earning and striking the free kick which Julian Speroni could only parry into the path of the predatory Adam Lallana. It was a contribution, less than a quarter of an hour after he had been introduced at half time, which effectively sealed Liverpool's 2-1 win. It even made him break into a grin, which is more than can be said for the miserable countenance which greeted his winner against Spurs, when he looked about as cheerful as a suicidal undertaker. Perhaps, gradually, he is learning to enjoy himself again. Perhaps, Rodgers seemed to imply afterwards, he has at last learned the value of application and hard graft. "He's been working really hard in training and I think now the penny's dropped," Rodgers told BT Sport. "I assess players in training every day, no matter how good they are, and they have to put the work in. "It has been difficult for him, because he's come into a style maybe he's never been in before, but one thing he has got is quality, big quality, and the last couple of games he's come off the bench and been effective for us." Potentially, if Balotelli has had his "Eureka!" moment, Liverpool will now be particularly well-stocked in attack as they seek to consolidate a run of 16 games with just one loss. Because Balotelli's resurgence comes just as Daniel Sturridge's impressive return from injury gathered more momentum with his delightful volleyed equaliser in the comeback win. Rodgers reckoned he had his "natural" goal scorer back. Sturridge has now scored 10 FA Cup goals in his last 12 starts, but brushed the extraordinary stat aside as he shrugged: "It's just good to help the team win, that's all that matters." — Reuters |
| Link between HSBC Swiss accounts, Petrobras scandal under probe Posted: 14 Feb 2015 04:52 PM PST
A former manager at the state-controlled oil giant Petróleo Brasileiro SA had an account at HSBC's private Swiss bank, said the first source, who requested anonymity since the probe has not been made public. Others include an illegal money changer and two executives from engineering and oil equipment firms that had contracts with the firm, which is known as Petrobras, the same source added. The sources did not name the people being probed. The tax watchdog, known as Receita Federal, declined to comment. Efforts to contact members of HSBC's media office in São Paulo were unsuccessful. HSBC this week admitted failings in compliance and controls in its Swiss private bank after media reports alleged it helped wealthy customers conceal millions of dollars of assets in a period up to 2007. However HSBC noted that there are numerous legitimate reasons for having a Swiss bank account. In what is being called Brazil's worst corruption scandal in history, prosecutors allege that politicians from President Dilma Rousseff's ruling coalition used Petrobras to skim billions of reais through overpriced contracts for over a decade. So far more than 40 people have been detained over their involvement in the scandal, which is known in the country as "Operation Car Wash." The second source said that "there is a clear link between 'Operation Car-Wash' and the HSBC Swiss bank accounts." He declined to elaborate further and Reuters could not independently verify his account. It is not illegal for Brazilians to have accounts abroad, so long as they declare their assets to tax authorities. Late on Friday, Receita launched a broader investigation to determine whether Brazilians were involved in opening over 6,600 undeclared accounts with HSBC's Swiss private bank. The accounts under investigation were opened between 1988 and 2006 and had an estimated value of US$7 billion (RM25.06b) at the end of that period, a Receita statement said. "Preliminary analyses of some taxpayers have already helped establish the hypothesis of potential omission or data incompatibility with their respective tax forms filed with Receita Federal," the statement added. Receita is considering asking other countries for cooperation with its investigation. HSBC's Swiss unit was largely acquired as part of its purchase of late Brazilian-Lebanese financier Edmond Safra's Republic New York Corp and Safra Republic Holdings. — Reuters |
| A face to watch: KL fashion designer Justin Chew Posted: 14 Feb 2015 04:51 PM PST
Six months later, Chia and Chew decided to make the space permanent while collaborating with other friends in the industry. THISAPPEAR is the name of Chia and Chew's collective - a fashion powerhouse that is now known overseas and locally with a cult following. Chia and Chew's love for monochromatic fashion is their signature style. Recently, we sat down with the calm and collected Chew for a chat on his latest Spring/Summer 2015 collection and everything in between. "My Spring Summer 2015 collection is called Requiem and it is inspired by the movie Requiem For A Dream starring Jared Leto. It is based on the concept of the movie's cutting scene which is similar to Martin Mayer and Quirin Empl's mayer+empl 3D mapping where they use visuals, lights and effects on empty houses to create a different atmosphere," said Chew. The Raffles College of Higher Education graduate displays a maturity in his line of work, experimenting on graphics for his pieces, which are made using the silkscreen method with lines as fine as 0.01cm. "Nobody wanted to make lines as fine as that. They said it couldn't be done," said Chew. The determined fashion designer then decided to work on his entire Spring/Summer 2015 alone, spending days on each piece. The collection also features tube dresses, where panels and layers are added and "seat-belts" with his label "JTNC" are created as straps for a pinafore-like one piece. Each top, bottom and dress falls naturally on the wearer's body. "For my main line, I like to deconstruct and do it differently," he said. For example, one of his jackets can also be used as a skirt. The tube dresses can also be worn as skirts and matched with one of his unisex hoodies.
Prior to his Requiem collection, Chew launched a line with photographer and model Danny Lim called EXTREMELY GOUDE. The collaboration was a result of a test shoot where photographs from the shoot were used as a design for that collection. For his Fall/Winter 2014 collection, Chew collaborated with NESTWO, a graffiti movement that is known for their art around the Telawi, Bangsar area. "I work closely with people with the same passion and over time we become good friends," said Chew. Chew's business partner Chia is currently in Milan for a tradeshow. Sometime in July, Chew will be travelling to Paris and Milan to work on his main collection. As an independent fashion designer in Malaysia, Chew said his biggest competition is high street brands. "Malaysians would compare high street brands with my work and they want something affordable. They want something value for money but they don't see the time and hours spent on each piece," said Chew. Because of that, Chew also has a Basic line where he designs according to what he likes. "My basic line is simple but comfortable whereas for my main collection, I tend to be more experimental and expand on my creativity," said Chew. According to the him, the Requiem collection is what pops in his mind. He spent sleepless nights creating each piece by hand. If you want to own a Justin Chew creation, but you cannot afford his main collection, opt for his basic line that still sports his signature style. A lot of his customers are young people from all over the world. He has sizes from slim fit to oversized and he follows the international standard of sizing. Most of his clothes are also unisex so you can just go full on with accessories and mix and match according to your taste.
"It is better to wear something you feel good about rather than to try hard and wear something over the top," he said. In two years' time, Chew and Chia hope to collaborate with more independent fashion designers and create a bigger space for collections. "I think if there are more people coming to work together, we can make an impact and push for our local fashion industry to be well accepted," said Chew. Chew first appeared on the scene in 2010 when he debuted at MIFA 2010. In 2011, he was a finalist at MIFA 2011 Kronenbourg Who's Next. Chew's Basic line was launched in November 2013 at THISAPPEAR. THISAPPEAR 20, Jalan Telawi 3 (2nd Floor), Bangsar Baru, 59100 KL Open daily, 11am to 9pm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisappearkl Instagram: http://instagram.com/THISAPPEAR_KL |
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