Petrol to cost RM2.70 from midnight

Wednesday June 4, 2008 MYT 7:33:41 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday announced price hikes for petrol, diesel and electricity.

He said the new price for petrol is RM2.70 a litre, effective midnight tonight. The price goes up by 78sen from the current RM1.92, a hike of 40%.

Abdullah also announced that the price of diesel would be increased by RM1 from RM1.58 to RM2.58.

He also said that Tenaga Nasional Bhd would be raising electricity rates by 18% for homes and 26% for business users.

The announcements are part of the new fuel subsidy plan.

Abdullah also announced a RM625 annual cash rebate per vehicle, for owners of private vehicles with engine capacities of up to 2,000cc, as well as pickup trucks and jeeps with engine capacities of up to 2,500cc.

Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities of up to 250cc will receive RM150.

Payment will be made via Money Order upon renewal of road tax, from July 1.

For owners of private vehicles with engine capacities exceeding 2000cc, road tax will be reduced by RM200.

Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities above 250 cc will get RM50 reduction in road tax.

Source: The Star Online

Movie reviews online by the masses

Have you ever wondered where you can write your own reviews about a movie and at the same time interact with others who share and discuss the reviews? Have you felt bored and fed up with those movie reviews by journalists who used high sounding language and words that you don't understand or care much about?

Well, there is such a new social networking site called FilmCrave for such a purpose. Besides writing reviews about movies, you can chat with friends, discuss and recommend movies as well. There is a top 20 movies from the past and present on the main page that members had voted for. You will also get a short trailer on upcoming movies releases. Although you won't be able to view the movies here, you can most definitely discuss it to your heart's satisfaction.

Free WiFi and Internet kiosks along PLUS Expressways

According to SPLUGG™ chief executive officer Raihana Ahmad, it had been announced in Kuala Lumpur on the 16 August, 2007 that Cyberplus, a digital advertising and new media company, through its subsidiary SPLUGG™ in a partnership with PLUS Expressways is offering free WiFi (wireless technology) and Internet kiosks at 18 rest and service areas and two overhead bridge restaurants (Sungai Buloh and Ayer Keroh) along the North-South Expressway. Installation had already begun with the Sungai Buloh location and also installed and operational at other rest areas such as at Ayer Keroh along the expressway.

Besides WiFi, each of the 20 locations will initially have at least one Internet kiosk for those without notebook PCs or laptop to access the Internet and keep in touch with the latest happenings. In addition to that, at each location LCD television sets is fitted to allow everyone to stay in touch with the live traffic updates and happenings along the highway. It is the wish of Cyberplus and Plus Expressway for the users of this highway to be able to plan their journey better.

This is good news for Internet users in Malaysia.

Blog Action Day

There is a mass blogger action on this October 15 to blog about any issues we are concern about regarding the environment.

The three ways to get involved in are:

• Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day
• Donate your day’s earnings to an environmental charity
• Promote Blog Action Day around the web

Stop Child Abuse

Malaysians had been outraged and saddened at the sexual assault and murder that befell the eight-year-old girl Nurin Jazlin Jazimin. The question why had this happened and who was to be blamed became the hot topic of discussions until now.

Really who was to be blamed? The bereaved parents for their negligence or can it even be society at general? Concerning child killing, an Australian researcher shows that it is “not a random event.” Paul Wilson states that “both the killers and the killed are caught up in a vicious cycle that society itself has created,” in his book Murder of the Innocents—Child-Killers and Their Victims.

No doubt it is not easy to single out any one factor and say that is the reason that made a person become the kidnapper and murderer of a child. It might even seem strange to think that society may be responsible for, or at least may contribute to, this tragedy, since most people find the exploitation of and the murder of children to be horrendous acts. Yet, industrialized societies, and even many less-developed ones, are saturated with films, TV productions, and reading material that glorify sex and violence.

There are more and more hard-core pornographic films featuring children and even adults dressed as children. These depict sex and violence against children. And these sadistic films are a multibillion -dollar industry! An adult’s desire for titillation escalates as he becomes addicted to pornography. As a result, some are willing to use either coercion or violence to obtain children for their perverted use, including rape and murder.

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Luncheon Meat

BEIJING - People living in communities surrounding a large shallow lake have been overrun by field mice after floodwaters drove the rodents out of islands on the lake, state media reported Monday.

The mouse invasion began on June 23 when the Yangtze River flooded, raising the water level in central China's Dongting Lake and submerging mouse holes on lake islands, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Now, an estimated 2 billion mice are ravaging crops in 22 counties around the lake, and authorities were rushing to construct walls and ditches to keep the rodents out. Residents have killed more than 2.3 million field mice — or 90 tons of the rodents, Xinhua said.

In Hunan province's Yiyang County, a ditch along the lakeshore was filled with mice. Residents were using clubs and shovels to beat them to death, while others scooped the furry animals out using fishing nets.

Mice have already damaged dikes and ruined crops in areas where authorities were slow to build walls and ditches, Xinhua said.

The rodent problem was expected to worsen as more floods were forecast for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake.

** Hmm...I was just talking about something known as the "luncheon meat" here in Malaysia and it is a canned food product from China. Friends who had visited some factories in China said that it could be rat meat...these luncheon meat. Oh boy...this used to be one my favourite food. Yucks!!!

Caption: Pork or rat meat?

Abhishek Bachan and Aishwarya Rai's Engagement Confirmed

Mumbai, Jan 14 (IANS) Bollywood's hottest and most talked about pair Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan were engaged Sunday.

Confirmation of this came from none other than Abhishek's father, film icon Amitabh Bachchan, at whose residence here the engagement took place.

There was no immediate word on the wedding date, industry sources said, adding Abhishek popped the question after the international premiere in Toronto Friday of Bollywood film "Guru" featuring the duo in the lead roles.

Speaking to reporters at Toronto, Aishwarya, a former Miss World, had pleaded with them not to jump to conclusions about her relationship with Abhishek, saying an announcement would be made at the appropriate time.

Aishwarya had in the past been romantically linked to actors Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi. However, reports had been flying thick and fast for the past few months that she and Abhishek were about to tie the knot.

These reports gained added currency after Aishwarya accompanied Abhishek and his parents to perform rituals at a Varanasi temple in November 2006.

Painting of Jolie draws notice

By MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 5, 6:57 PM ET


RALEIGH, N.C. - A North Carolina artist intrigued by the public obsession with celebrity has found herself feeding that obsession with a painting of actress Angelina Jolie as the Virgin Mary hovering over a Wal-Mart check-out line.

Kate Kretz has painted for 20 years but none of her previous work has garnered the attention given "Blessed Art Thou," showing this weekend at Art Miami, an annual exposition of modern and contemporary art.

The painting has gotten much attention from celebrity web sites and blogs. Since the buzz started, the number of daily unique visitors to Kretz's own blog has jumped from an average of 30 to 15,000 on Wednesday.

"My intention was to ask a question and get people to think," Kretz said in a telephone interview Friday from Miami. "I had no idea so many people would be asking a question and thinking."

The painting — acrylic and oil on linen — depicts an angelic Jolie in the clouds, holding her newborn daughter, Shiloh, with children Maddox and Zahara at her legs. Below them is a Wal-Mart checkout line. The painting is for sale for $50,000 through Chelsea Galleria in Miami, which represents Kretz.

On her blog, Kretz, 43, said the painting addresses "the celebrity worship cycle." She said she chose Jolie for the subject "because of her unavoidable presence in the media, the worldwide anticipation of her child, her 'unattainable' beauty and the good that she is doing in the world through her example, which adds another layer to the already complicated questions surrounding her status."

Washington Post art critic Blake Gopnik, asked to comment about "Blessed Art Thou" on a Post blog, was unimpressed. "Once you've deciphered it, there's not much chance of giving it a second look," Gopnik wrote.

Copied from Yahoo News

Quake shakes up the Net

By H. AMIR KHALID
amirk@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: No Gmail, no Yahoo!, no blogs.

Malaysian Internet users woke up yesterday morning to a crawl on the so-called information superhighway that would have rivalled KL’s infamous traffic jams.

Local access to Internet services and websites hosted overseas came to a practical standstill after international links were disrupted by the earthquake that struck southern Taiwan on Tuesday night.

The earthquake damaged submarine cables that form part of the region-wide Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN 2), disrupting voice and Internet communications over much of Asia.

APCN 2 is a 19,000km-long fibre-optic cable network linking Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Europe and Australia.

The network has been up since October 2002 and is jointly operated by 26 Asian telecommunications carriers, including TM Bhd.

The damaged links are between Shantou (China) and Tanshui (Taiwan), and, Lantau (Hong Kong) and Chongming (China).

Internet service provider (ISP) Jaring said the disruption started at 3.45am yesterday, and warned users to expect congestion to and from overseas websites during peak hours.

TM Net said in a statement the disruption caused outages to several of its international transit and peering links.

The ISP said Malaysian Internet users would experience “some delay” in accessing content and websites hosted overseas, especially in the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Europe.

Action is being taken to reduce traffic congestion by diverting traffic through backup links, it added.

TM Net made no estimate of how long it would take to restore normal access but wire reports, quoting other service providers in the region, said repairs to the damaged cables could take several weeks.

ISPs in several Asian countries also reported slow Internet traffic. Some regional telephony services have also been affected.

Most of the affected carriers said they were arranging al-ternative routes for their data, Internet and voice-call traffic.

Meanwhile, TM Net customers can call its Customer Interaction Centre at 1-300-88-9515 anytime, or 1-300-88-1515 between 8am and midnight, or e-mail custcare@tm.net.my.

There are an estimated 11 million Internet users in the country.

Related stories:
Bloggers feeling deprived after access throttled
Surf’s out for tourists trying to check e-mail
Asia markets shrug off quake
Mixed reaction to Taiwan quake

Internet access to overseas websites disrupted

Wednesday December 27, 2006

Internet access to overseas websites disrupted

PETALING JAYA: Local Internet access to overseas websites came to a crawl Wednesday after international links were disrupted by the earthquake in southern Taiwan.

Internet service provider (ISP) Jaring said the disruption started at about 3.45am Wednesday, and warned users to expect congestion to and from overseas websites during peak hours.

Internet service provider TM Net said the earthquake caused a fault on Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 links between Shantou, China and Tanshui, Taiwan, and between Lantau in Hong Kong and Chongming, China.

The disruption has caused outages to several TM Net international transit and peering links.

TM Net said Malaysian Internet users may experience some delay in accessing content and websites hosted overseas, especially in the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and Europe.

Action is being taken to reduce traffic congestion by diverting traffic through backup links, it added.

TM Net customers can call 1-300-88-9515 or e-mail custcare@tm.net.my for further enquiries.

Related story
Communications cut off after powerful earthquake strikes southern Taiwan