PR failings helped Isa win Bagan Pinang, concedes Anwar
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
(Bernama) - Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today admitted to weaknesses in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition during the recent Bagan Pinang by-election in Negri Sembilan.
“Although the post-mortem at PAS-level (regarding Bagan Pinang) is not yet complete, our election directors have given their analysis on the by-election.
“We admit there were weakness and shortcomings in Pakatan Rakyat which will be improved and we will increase efforts to approach the people to give explanations,” he told a news conference after the Pakatan Rakyat’s supreme council meeting at his office in Parliament, here today.
In the Bagan Pinang by-election on Oct 11, Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate and former Negri Sembilan mentri besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad won the seat with a majority of 5,435 votes, after garnering 8,013 votes compared to PAS candidate Zulkefly Omar who only obtained 2,578 votes.
The meeting today also discussed the issue between PKR leaders Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and PKR vice-president Mohamed Azmin Ali, with Anwar saying that there was no friction between the two leaders.
“We did discuss about Zaid Ibrahim (former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) and Mohamed Azmin Ali, but there are no problems between them,” he said, referring to the two individuals who were also present at the meeting.
Zaid had recently announced that he was taking six months leave effective last Friday after Anwar supposedly didn’t allow him to take part in the party’s programmes in Sabah.
Media reports also alleged that Zaid’s hopes to go to the state were not approved by Mohamed Azmin, who is also Sabah PKR chairman.
However, last Sunday, Zaid denied that he was taking leave from the party, but instead resting from PKR’s Political Bureau activities.
Regarding suggestions to register Pakatan Rakyat as a valid party, DAP Advisor and Ipoh Timur Member of Parliament Lim Kit Siang, who was also present, said they were still reviewing the matter.
“We are still discussing it and in principle we want to be registered. The Registrar of Societies (ROS) said according to current laws, we need seven parties to allow us to become a coalition and this is being studied,” he said.
BERNAMA
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Web Surfing Boosts Older People's Brain Function
Tuesday October 20, 2009
Web surfing boosts older people’s brain function
LOS ANGELES: Web surfing boosts the brain function of middle-aged and seniors with little Internet experience, say scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), according to China's Xinhua news agency.
"We found that, for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function," said study author Dr. Gary Small, Professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.
Dr Small and his team selected 24 volunteers between the ages of 55 and 78. Half of the participants had Internet experience, while the other half had very little experience.
After Internet training, participants with minimal online experience displayed brain activation patterns very similar to those seen in the group of experienced Internet users after just a short period of time.
"The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults," said Teena D. Moody, the study's first author and a senior research associate at UCLA.
According to Moody, when performing an Internet search, the ability to hold important information in working memory and to extract the important points from competing graphics and words is essential.
Dr. Small said the new findings suggest that it may take only days for those with minimal experience to match the activity levels of those with years of experience.
The findings were presented Oct. 19 at the 2009 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
BERNAMA
Web surfing boosts older people’s brain function
LOS ANGELES: Web surfing boosts the brain function of middle-aged and seniors with little Internet experience, say scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), according to China's Xinhua news agency.
"We found that, for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function," said study author Dr. Gary Small, Professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.
Dr Small and his team selected 24 volunteers between the ages of 55 and 78. Half of the participants had Internet experience, while the other half had very little experience.
After Internet training, participants with minimal online experience displayed brain activation patterns very similar to those seen in the group of experienced Internet users after just a short period of time.
"The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults," said Teena D. Moody, the study's first author and a senior research associate at UCLA.
According to Moody, when performing an Internet search, the ability to hold important information in working memory and to extract the important points from competing graphics and words is essential.
Dr. Small said the new findings suggest that it may take only days for those with minimal experience to match the activity levels of those with years of experience.
The findings were presented Oct. 19 at the 2009 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
BERNAMA
Fruit Juice May Upset Stomach In Some
Fruit juice 'may upset stomach in some'
By Danny Rose
AAP - October 21, 2009
Fruit juice is broadly good for your health but an Australian study has shown that for many people it can upset their stomach.
An Adelaide-based study has identified a high rate of people known as "fructose malabsorbers" - that is their body has difficulty processing the natural sugar contained in the juice.
Professor Ross Butler said these people can experience some unpleasant side-effects if they drink too much of a high fructose-content juice, such as apple juice.
"It may be abdominal pain, it may be bloating, it may be flatulence, it may be diarrhoea ... in this case you'd think it would be more like diarrhoea symptoms," said Prof Butler, who is chair of pediatric research at the University of South Australia's Sansom Institute.
"What we don't have at the moment is a really good way of gauging an individual's threshold for it."
The study, involving the city's Women's and Children's Hospital, took in 1,000 children and adults who had visited their GP to report digestive problems.
It found 80 per cent of the children aged under one tested positive for fructose malabsorption.
Fructose was the cause of intestinal woes for 40 per cent of those aged one to six years.
Prof Butler said the reducing incidence suggested you could grow out of it, but for many the problem was life-long.
Just over 30 per cent of teenagers and adults in the study were found to also have a problem digesting fructose.
Prof Butler said the strength of the finding indicated that fructose malabsorption could be a major contributor to irritable bowel syndrome, a problem which affects one in five Australians.
It was not yet known if the rising use of fructose as a natural alternative to ordinary sugar in food products could trigger the same digestive problems, he said.
Prof Butler also said the message for parents was not to avoid giving juice to their children, but instead to opt for a low fructose content juice if they encountered a problem.
Juice also contains glucose - sugar in a form the body is much more familiar with and much less likely to cause a problem.
"Different fruit juices could resolve the problem and different juices could trigger it," he said.
"Apple juice is something like two to one (fructose to glucose) while grape juice is closer to (being equal)."
University of South Australia PhD candidate Hilary Jones will present the research at a summit for gastroenterologists in Sydney this week.
By Danny Rose
AAP - October 21, 2009
Fruit juice is broadly good for your health but an Australian study has shown that for many people it can upset their stomach.
An Adelaide-based study has identified a high rate of people known as "fructose malabsorbers" - that is their body has difficulty processing the natural sugar contained in the juice.
Professor Ross Butler said these people can experience some unpleasant side-effects if they drink too much of a high fructose-content juice, such as apple juice.
"It may be abdominal pain, it may be bloating, it may be flatulence, it may be diarrhoea ... in this case you'd think it would be more like diarrhoea symptoms," said Prof Butler, who is chair of pediatric research at the University of South Australia's Sansom Institute.
"What we don't have at the moment is a really good way of gauging an individual's threshold for it."
The study, involving the city's Women's and Children's Hospital, took in 1,000 children and adults who had visited their GP to report digestive problems.
It found 80 per cent of the children aged under one tested positive for fructose malabsorption.
Fructose was the cause of intestinal woes for 40 per cent of those aged one to six years.
Prof Butler said the reducing incidence suggested you could grow out of it, but for many the problem was life-long.
Just over 30 per cent of teenagers and adults in the study were found to also have a problem digesting fructose.
Prof Butler said the strength of the finding indicated that fructose malabsorption could be a major contributor to irritable bowel syndrome, a problem which affects one in five Australians.
It was not yet known if the rising use of fructose as a natural alternative to ordinary sugar in food products could trigger the same digestive problems, he said.
Prof Butler also said the message for parents was not to avoid giving juice to their children, but instead to opt for a low fructose content juice if they encountered a problem.
Juice also contains glucose - sugar in a form the body is much more familiar with and much less likely to cause a problem.
"Different fruit juices could resolve the problem and different juices could trigger it," he said.
"Apple juice is something like two to one (fructose to glucose) while grape juice is closer to (being equal)."
University of South Australia PhD candidate Hilary Jones will present the research at a summit for gastroenterologists in Sydney this week.
Fake Anti-Virus Software Traps Millions
Fake anti-virus software traps millions
Yahoo!7
October 20, 2009, 11:52 am
Up to 43 million people could have given their bank details to cyber criminals after being duped by fake anti-virus software online, a web security firm has found.
Figures published by Symantec suggest 93 per cent of the people scammed downloaded the rogue programs by choice after being tricked into believing it was legitimate.
The company estimated that some cyber criminals are earning millions of dollars a year from the ruse.
Web users fall prey to the scam when they click on links, pop-ups or flashing adverts warning them their computer is infected.
The fake program then appears to run a virus check which tells the user their PC is infected and asks them to pay for it to be cleaned up.
But downloading the software can give criminals access to bank details and computer files.
Symantec found 250 rogue programs were downloaded 43 million times in the 12 months to July 2009.
Yahoo!7
October 20, 2009, 11:52 am
Up to 43 million people could have given their bank details to cyber criminals after being duped by fake anti-virus software online, a web security firm has found.
Figures published by Symantec suggest 93 per cent of the people scammed downloaded the rogue programs by choice after being tricked into believing it was legitimate.
The company estimated that some cyber criminals are earning millions of dollars a year from the ruse.
Web users fall prey to the scam when they click on links, pop-ups or flashing adverts warning them their computer is infected.
The fake program then appears to run a virus check which tells the user their PC is infected and asks them to pay for it to be cleaned up.
But downloading the software can give criminals access to bank details and computer files.
Symantec found 250 rogue programs were downloaded 43 million times in the 12 months to July 2009.
Woman Convicted Of Smoking In Car With Child
Conviction for smoking in car with child
AAP - October 20, 2009
A NSW woman has been convicted of smoking in a car containing a three-year-old child - in what is believed to be one of the first successes with such a prosecution under new state laws.
Since July 1, motorists in NSW have faced a $250 on-the-spot fine for smoking with a child under 16 in the car, mirroring similar laws in South Australia and Tasmania.
Alison Therese Manning, 31, was convicted of the smoking offence on Monday in Coffs Harbour Local Court, on the NSW mid-north coast, but avoided a fine or sentence.
Police conducting random breath tests stopped Manning on Harbour Drive in Coffs Harbour on August 6 and in the process caught her smoking in front of a friend's young daughter.
She was later found to be driving while disqualified.
While Manning avoided a fine for smoking in the car but was fined $100 for the driving offence.
Magistrate Judith Fleming also fined her a further $300 for two driving offences committed on September 5 when she was again caught driving while disqualified and driving an unregistered vehicle.
The magistrate disqualified Manning from driving for three months.
AAP - October 20, 2009
A NSW woman has been convicted of smoking in a car containing a three-year-old child - in what is believed to be one of the first successes with such a prosecution under new state laws.
Since July 1, motorists in NSW have faced a $250 on-the-spot fine for smoking with a child under 16 in the car, mirroring similar laws in South Australia and Tasmania.
Alison Therese Manning, 31, was convicted of the smoking offence on Monday in Coffs Harbour Local Court, on the NSW mid-north coast, but avoided a fine or sentence.
Police conducting random breath tests stopped Manning on Harbour Drive in Coffs Harbour on August 6 and in the process caught her smoking in front of a friend's young daughter.
She was later found to be driving while disqualified.
While Manning avoided a fine for smoking in the car but was fined $100 for the driving offence.
Magistrate Judith Fleming also fined her a further $300 for two driving offences committed on September 5 when she was again caught driving while disqualified and driving an unregistered vehicle.
The magistrate disqualified Manning from driving for three months.
Former Nurse's Aid In US Becomes Uganda King
AP - Former nurse's aide in US becomes Ugandan king
Charles Wesley Mumbere during an interview at his house in Kasese, Sunday, Oct AP –
Charles Wesley Mumbere during an interview at his house in Kasese, Sunday, Oct 18, 2009 hours before …
By TOM MALITI, Associated Press
Writer Tom Maliti, Associated Press Writer – Mon Oct 19, 2009
KASESE, Uganda – For years, Charles Wesley Mumbere worked as a nurse's aide in Maryland and Pennsylvania, caring for the elderly and sick. No one there suspected that he had inherited a royal title in his African homeland when he was just 13.
On Monday, after years of political upheaval and financial struggle, Mumbere, 56, was finally crowned king of his people to the sound of drumbeats and thousands of cheering supporters wearing cloth printed with his portraits.
At a public rally later in the day, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni officially recognized the 300,000-strong Rwenzururu Kingdom. Museveni restored the traditional kingdoms his predecessor banned in 1967, but has been adamant that kings restrict themselves to cultural duties and keep out of politics.
"It is a great moment to know that finally the central government has understood the demands of the Bakonzo people who have been seeking very hard for recognition of their identity," Mumbere told The Associated Press in the whitewashed single-story building that serves as a palace.
The Rwenzururu parliament sits nearby, in a much larger structure made of reeds. It was here the traditional private rituals were held Sunday night and Monday morning to crown Mumbere king.
Thousands walked several miles (kilometers) to see Mumbere, dressed in flowing green robes and a colorful hat, be officially recognized.
Old men clutching canes shuffled up the hill beside women in colorful Ugandan dresses called "gomesi." Among them was Masereka Tadai, 43, proudly overseeing practice for a march that retired scouts and girl guides would perform before the king.
"Everyone is very happy because the president has accepted to come here and officially recognize the Rwenzururu Kingdom," Tadai said over a nearby drumbeat.
The new King of Uganda's Mountains of the Moon has undergone many transformations — from teenage leader of a rebel force to impoverished student to a nursing home assistant working two jobs in the U.S., where he lived for nearly 25 years.
Mumbere's royal roots only became public in Pennsylvania this July, when he granted an interview to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg as he was preparing to return to Uganda.
He inherited the title when his father, Isaya Mukirania Kibanzanga, died while leading a secessionist group in the Rwenzori Mountains, otherwise known as the Mountains of the Moon. The rebels were protesting the oppression of their Bakonzo ethnic group by their then-rulers, the Toro Kingdom.
The Bakonzo demanded to be recognized as a separate entity and named Kibanzanga, a former primary school teacher, as their king in 1963.
"It was very difficult growing up in the bush," remembered Mumbere, who was 9 years old when his father took the family into the mountains. Although he received military training, Mumbere did not fight.
"Our country has been independent (from the British) for 40-something years but in Rwenzururu you may not find running water, there are no hospitals," Mumbere said.
Shortly after Kibanzanga died, his son led the fighters down from the mountains to hand in their weapons. Mumbere went to the United States in 1984 on a Uganda government scholarship, attending a business school until Uganda's leadership changed and the stipend was stopped. He gained political asylum in 1987, trained as a nurse's aide and took a job in a suburban Washington nursing home to pay his bills, said The Patriot-News of Harrisburg in a July 2009 story.
In 1999, he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capital, where he worked for at least two health care facilities.
He was "very loyal, a very hard worker, a very private person," said Johnna Marx, executive director of the Golden Living Center-Blue Ridge Mountain on the outskirts of Harrisburg.
Mumbere said he chose to train as a nurse's aide because the work, "was more reliable. Other jobs you can be laid off easily."
Living in the U.S., however, was "a very difficult experience," he said. "Sometimes you have two jobs. You go to college in the morning, between 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Then you go prepare to go to work at 3 p.m. and then return at 11 p.m."
He is now a green card holder, and his son and daughter live in Harrisburg. But he never forgot the people he left behind. When the Ugandan government decided to reinstate the traditional kingdoms, Mumbere lobbied the Rwenzururu Kingdom to be among them.
After 10 years of negotiation, President Museveni announced in August the government would recognize the Rwenzururu Kingdom as Uganda's seventh kingdom. Government recognition does not grant any executive power but allows the monarchs to determine cultural and social issues affecting their people.
Charles Wesley Mumbere during an interview at his house in Kasese, Sunday, Oct AP –
Charles Wesley Mumbere during an interview at his house in Kasese, Sunday, Oct 18, 2009 hours before …
By TOM MALITI, Associated Press
Writer Tom Maliti, Associated Press Writer – Mon Oct 19, 2009
KASESE, Uganda – For years, Charles Wesley Mumbere worked as a nurse's aide in Maryland and Pennsylvania, caring for the elderly and sick. No one there suspected that he had inherited a royal title in his African homeland when he was just 13.
On Monday, after years of political upheaval and financial struggle, Mumbere, 56, was finally crowned king of his people to the sound of drumbeats and thousands of cheering supporters wearing cloth printed with his portraits.
At a public rally later in the day, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni officially recognized the 300,000-strong Rwenzururu Kingdom. Museveni restored the traditional kingdoms his predecessor banned in 1967, but has been adamant that kings restrict themselves to cultural duties and keep out of politics.
"It is a great moment to know that finally the central government has understood the demands of the Bakonzo people who have been seeking very hard for recognition of their identity," Mumbere told The Associated Press in the whitewashed single-story building that serves as a palace.
The Rwenzururu parliament sits nearby, in a much larger structure made of reeds. It was here the traditional private rituals were held Sunday night and Monday morning to crown Mumbere king.
Thousands walked several miles (kilometers) to see Mumbere, dressed in flowing green robes and a colorful hat, be officially recognized.
Old men clutching canes shuffled up the hill beside women in colorful Ugandan dresses called "gomesi." Among them was Masereka Tadai, 43, proudly overseeing practice for a march that retired scouts and girl guides would perform before the king.
"Everyone is very happy because the president has accepted to come here and officially recognize the Rwenzururu Kingdom," Tadai said over a nearby drumbeat.
The new King of Uganda's Mountains of the Moon has undergone many transformations — from teenage leader of a rebel force to impoverished student to a nursing home assistant working two jobs in the U.S., where he lived for nearly 25 years.
Mumbere's royal roots only became public in Pennsylvania this July, when he granted an interview to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg as he was preparing to return to Uganda.
He inherited the title when his father, Isaya Mukirania Kibanzanga, died while leading a secessionist group in the Rwenzori Mountains, otherwise known as the Mountains of the Moon. The rebels were protesting the oppression of their Bakonzo ethnic group by their then-rulers, the Toro Kingdom.
The Bakonzo demanded to be recognized as a separate entity and named Kibanzanga, a former primary school teacher, as their king in 1963.
"It was very difficult growing up in the bush," remembered Mumbere, who was 9 years old when his father took the family into the mountains. Although he received military training, Mumbere did not fight.
"Our country has been independent (from the British) for 40-something years but in Rwenzururu you may not find running water, there are no hospitals," Mumbere said.
Shortly after Kibanzanga died, his son led the fighters down from the mountains to hand in their weapons. Mumbere went to the United States in 1984 on a Uganda government scholarship, attending a business school until Uganda's leadership changed and the stipend was stopped. He gained political asylum in 1987, trained as a nurse's aide and took a job in a suburban Washington nursing home to pay his bills, said The Patriot-News of Harrisburg in a July 2009 story.
In 1999, he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capital, where he worked for at least two health care facilities.
He was "very loyal, a very hard worker, a very private person," said Johnna Marx, executive director of the Golden Living Center-Blue Ridge Mountain on the outskirts of Harrisburg.
Mumbere said he chose to train as a nurse's aide because the work, "was more reliable. Other jobs you can be laid off easily."
Living in the U.S., however, was "a very difficult experience," he said. "Sometimes you have two jobs. You go to college in the morning, between 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Then you go prepare to go to work at 3 p.m. and then return at 11 p.m."
He is now a green card holder, and his son and daughter live in Harrisburg. But he never forgot the people he left behind. When the Ugandan government decided to reinstate the traditional kingdoms, Mumbere lobbied the Rwenzururu Kingdom to be among them.
After 10 years of negotiation, President Museveni announced in August the government would recognize the Rwenzururu Kingdom as Uganda's seventh kingdom. Government recognition does not grant any executive power but allows the monarchs to determine cultural and social issues affecting their people.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Man Up Tree For 12 Hours As Crocs Circles
Man up tree for 12 hours as crocs circle
AAP - October 20, 2009
A man who climbed a tree to escape crocodiles spent up to 12 hours on an shaky branch while the creatures circled around him.
Stan Martell told police from Wyndham, in north-western Australia, how he had feared being taken by the crocodiles after his boat capsized in the Lynne River on Friday night.
He fell asleep to find his boat had become jammed under a mangrove tree trunk and filled with water, and had to climb the tree that had trapped him because of the danger of crocodiles.
He told ABC radio on Tuesday he had seen "two (crocs) right where I was. One was a big one, and one was about 10-foot".
"I crawled up as high as I could and just sat there like a koala bear all night," he said.
Mr Martell said he had spent the night worrying that the tree branch would break before he could climb down in the morning and activate his boat's EPIRB signal.
Sergeant John Kazandsis, of Wyndham police, said it was fortunate Mr Martell had not tried to get up on one of the mangrove banks in the area.
"If he'd gone up on one of those in the dark it would have been very risky," he told AAP.
"There are a lot of crocs in that area.
"He only saw a couple but there would have been plenty more under the water."
He said Mr Martell, who was found by searchers about 11.40am on Saturday, may not have been discovered without his EPIRB.
"He had a satellite phone but it wasn't functioning after his boat got submerged," Sgt Kazandsis said.
"If he didn't have the EPIRB he would have had to rely on someone reporting him missing or someone seeing him.
"There's not much chance of someone passing him where he was," he said.
AAP - October 20, 2009
A man who climbed a tree to escape crocodiles spent up to 12 hours on an shaky branch while the creatures circled around him.
Stan Martell told police from Wyndham, in north-western Australia, how he had feared being taken by the crocodiles after his boat capsized in the Lynne River on Friday night.
He fell asleep to find his boat had become jammed under a mangrove tree trunk and filled with water, and had to climb the tree that had trapped him because of the danger of crocodiles.
He told ABC radio on Tuesday he had seen "two (crocs) right where I was. One was a big one, and one was about 10-foot".
"I crawled up as high as I could and just sat there like a koala bear all night," he said.
Mr Martell said he had spent the night worrying that the tree branch would break before he could climb down in the morning and activate his boat's EPIRB signal.
Sergeant John Kazandsis, of Wyndham police, said it was fortunate Mr Martell had not tried to get up on one of the mangrove banks in the area.
"If he'd gone up on one of those in the dark it would have been very risky," he told AAP.
"There are a lot of crocs in that area.
"He only saw a couple but there would have been plenty more under the water."
He said Mr Martell, who was found by searchers about 11.40am on Saturday, may not have been discovered without his EPIRB.
"He had a satellite phone but it wasn't functioning after his boat got submerged," Sgt Kazandsis said.
"If he didn't have the EPIRB he would have had to rely on someone reporting him missing or someone seeing him.
"There's not much chance of someone passing him where he was," he said.
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