Rescue workers killed at Utah mine

HUNTINGTON, Utah - A disastrous cave-in Thursday night killed two rescue workers and injured at least seven others who were trying to tunnel through rubble to reach six trapped miners, authorities said. Mining officials were considering whether to suspend the rescue effort.

It was a shocking setback on the 11th day of the effort to find miners who have been confined at least 1,500 feet below ground at the Crandall Canyon mine. It's unknown if the six are alive or dead.

A real tragedy for all the efforts.... but to save lives, certain sacrifices is required.

Student rapper apologises

PETALING JAYA: Student Wee Meng Chee, 24, who caused a furore here with his Negaraku rap video clip on YouTube, has apologised for the parody and will remove the video clip from his blog.

“It has taught me a lesson about the spirit of nationalism and race relations. As a Malaysian, I did not intend to shame the country or ridicule any religion.

“To end the controversy, I will remove the video clip from my blog and I hope other bloggers will stop distributing the video clip,” said the mass communications student at Ming Chuan University in Taiwan.

Meng Chee said he also did not have any intention of creating anti-government sentiments or fan racism by writing the song as he was loyal to the King and the country where he was raised, gained knowledge and given the freedom to develop his talent.

He said he wanted to return and contribute to the country.

“I am proud to be a Malaysian and my loyalty to my country has not wavered even though I’m now studying in Taiwan,” he said.

Meng Chee, from Muar, posted a six-minute video of a Mandarin rap number using the Negaraku as background and promptly came under fire for mocking the national anthem and making statements many found offensive.

MCA vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek spoke to him yesterday on the phone for about 30 minutes in the presence of the boy’s father Wee Ann Hee.

“Meng Chee thought that using Negaraku (as background) was apt as it was the 50th anniversary of our independence,” he told reporters in Putrajaya, adding that Meng Chee was naive and did not realise it was a mistake at that time.

Dr Chua, who is also Johor MCA chairman, said the MCA had accepted his apology and urged all Malaysians to accept Meng Chee’s apology in good faith too.

He added that Meng Chee had already taken out his video from the Internet but other people had downloaded it and sent it out again.

“If we come down hard on every young man, there is no room for any creativity and innovativeness in this country.

“There should be room for dissent but this dissent must be within the confines of the country’s Constitution.

“He is a creative and naive young man who has not even finished his tertiary education; we cannot pass harsh judgements; he asked for forgiveness and we should be open-hearted,” he said.

The senior Wee, 47, who is a former singer and a judge in singing competitions, expressed his gratitude to MCA for addressing the issue.

Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin urged Malaysians to accept Meng Chee’s apology.

“He is still young. We should not be too hard on him but he should learn from this, particularly in handling sensitive issues,” he said, commending MCA on the way the party handled the issue.

Zainuddin hoped the people would not continue to harp on the matter as Meng Chee had already apologised.

I dont see why Meng Chee has to apologized as he is telling the truth, that is why is true, siapa makan cili siapa rasa pedas..... hooray .... Malaysia....just cant love you more. ..

U.S. judge presses $54 mln suit over pants

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge appealed his $54 million lawsuit on Tuesday against the dry-cleaning shop that misplaced his trousers, shrugging off legal setbacks and international ridicule.

Judge Roy Pearson filed a notice of appeal with the District of Columbia Superior Court, indicating that he won't abandon the crusade that has turned him into a symbol of America's lawsuit-happy legal culture. Pearson asked his neighborhood dry cleaners to pay him $1,150 when they misplaced a pair of trousers he brought in for a $10.50 alteration in May 2005. The owners of Custom Cleaners said they located the garment a few days later, but Pearson said the pair they offered him was not his.

Claiming that the shop's "satisfaction guaranteed" sign misled customers who, like him, were dissatisfied with their experience, Pearson sought $1,500 for every day that Custom Cleaners displayed the sign over a four-year period, multiplied by the three members of the Chung family, who owned the business.

He also sought $15,000 to rent a car to take his clothes to another cleaner for 10 years. The judge hearing the case ruled in June that Pearson did not interpret the sign in a reasonable fashion. A sympathetic public donated enough money to pay the Chung's legal fees, estimated at around $85,000.

Pearson, meanwhile, could lose his job as an administrative judge for the District of Columbia, where he hears disputes involving the decisions of city government agencies.

The city has warned Pearson it might not reappoint him when his job comes up for review next month, according to The Washington Post.

Pearson was not immediately available for comment.

DAP has yet to decide

PENANG: The DAP has yet to decide on the seat allocation for the next general election but has already identified potential new candidates.

Its national chairman Karpal Singh confirmed yesterday that blogger Jeff Ooi would be one of the candidates.

He declined to say whether Ooi would be standing in the Klang Valley or Penang but did not rule out the possibility that it would be an urban seat.

He said the central executive committee would discuss the seats based on the list of names recommended by state party leaders.

DAP need not to decide because they had already won the votes before the election because of the lame BN folks !... Hooray DAP

Brothers, uncle to be charged with student's murder

KUALA LUMPUR: Three brothers and their uncle are expected to be charged on Friday with the Aug 2 murder of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) student Tang Lai Meng, 20.

Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Rosli Mohd Nizam said with the arrests, police have solved the case as they have gathered enough evidence against the four. The uncle, who was the prime suspect, was caught in an apartment unit in Bukit Jalil at 3pm on Saturday following a tip-off.

ACP Rosli said police obtained a six-day remand order on the 36-year-old man on Sunday.

The man also led police to the recovery of the Toyota Vios belonging to the victim, from a parking lot in Taman Angsana in Cheras, not far away from Bandar Mahkota Cheras where she was murdered.

“The car could not be driven as the vehicle was immobilised by its security system. We also recovered from the suspect, a laptop computer and a handphone that belonged to the victim,” ACP Rosli said.

It is learnt that the man was convicted for a drug offence and had been placed under restricted residence in Temerloh, Pahang, but escaped and stayed with his nephews. On Thursday, police detained the three brothers, aged 15, 18 and 30, at their home in Bandar Mahkota Cheras.

They were said to be neighbours to the victim.

Following the arrests, police launched a manhunt for their uncle who had gone into hiding upon hearing the news that his nephews had been caught. Tang, from Menglembu, Perak, was found dead in the master bedroom of her rented double-storey house. A post-mortem revealed that Tang, a first-year business administration student, had died of suffocation and was repeatedly raped by her assailants.


If the government dont put them down, I believe some one will....

MCA seeking to calm uproar over music video

IPOH: The MCA plans to speak to the family of the Malaysian university student Wee Meng Chee who drew flak recently for his rap version of Negaraku in a music video.

MCA secretary-general Datuk Ong Ka Chuan said he had asked party leaders in Muar to speak with Wee’s father about the significance of the video. Wee, who had posted his self-made video on the video-sharing site YouTube, came under fire by politicians for mocking the national anthem and making statements many found offensive.

However, Ong stressed on Saturday that the party would not tell the family if Wee had been right or wrong to make the video.

“We just want to ask them to be careful and explain things so that the issue does not escalate,” he told reporters after the Perak MCA Youth convention here.

Ong said “what was done, was done” and that the important thing now was to resolve the matter.

“If anyone had been offended (by the video), we must clarify that it was not intentional. He (Wee) is a young man after all,” he added.

It was reported that Wee, a 24-year-old mass communications student at Ming Chuan University in Taiwan, had insisted that he was patriotic and did not mean to offend anyone. He said he wrote the song in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th anniversary of independence as a gift to his country.

His father, in an interview with Sin Chew Daily, defended his son’s patriotism as the student had insisted on taking along the Jalur Gemilang when he left for Taiwan to study.

In Muar, DAP Youth chief Nga Kor Ming has invited Wee to join the party, saying that it did not find his "rapping" of the national anthem an insult.

He said Wee was “very creative”, adding that the party could use his talent.

RICHARD BRANSON

RICHARD BRANSON of the Virgin empire is moving in on Malaysia.

In a world exclusive interview with The Star at his breathtakingly beautiful private paradise Necker Island, Branson talks about his close ties with AirAsia's Datuk Tony Fernandes.

Branson also explains why he is buying a 20% stake in FAX, the operator of Air Asia X, the country's first low-cost, long-haul airline.

PUTRAJAYA: It is not appropriate to bake cakes with the Jalur Gemilang design on them. According to the Prime Minister's Department's ceremonial division and international conference secretariat, it is not proper to make cakes with the national flag design on them but it has now become a practice by many people.

"Some people think that it is all right to bake cakes with the national flag design on them, but actually, it is inappropriate because later, they will be cut and eaten. The gesture is not appropriate," a spokesman from the secretariat said today.

The secretariat said while Malaysians were encouraged to show patriotism in the run-up to the country's 50th Merdeka Day celebrations by displaying the Jalur Gemilang in a creative manner, they must bear in mind that the dignity of the national flag must be maintained.

"Don't display the national flag in a manner that is deemed degrading. For instance, it is not proper for you to display it as a bikini, swimsuit, towel, wash clothes, or use it as a tablecloth and cushion or toilet seat covers," he said.

It is all right to wear the national flag as clothes, hats as long as there are no elements of disrespect for it. Action can be taken against those who display the Jalur Gemilang in a disrespectful manner under Section 3 of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1963. If found guilty of being disrespectful to the national flag, the person can be fined up to RM1,000.

So far, action has not been taken against anyone because the Government does not intend to punish but instead wants to encourage patriotism and civic-mindedness among Malaysians. Currently, the secretariat writes to companies found to be displaying the national flag inappropriately, advising them to rectify the error.

Many people are still making the common mistake of displaying the Jalur Gemilang on buildings vertically. The national flag should be displayed horizontally while the Malaysian banner vertically, said the secretariat spokesman. There are also those who display a huge national flag, which is supposed to be used on buildings, on their cars or too many small flags on the roof of their cars, compromising their safety.

Individuals or companies who want to display the Jalur Gemilang in a creative manner but have doubts about whether it is appropriate can contact the secretariat at (03) 8888-1957. Malaysians are also advised to refer to the circular posted on the Information Ministry's website at www.penerangan.gov.my to find out about the right way to display the national flag.

I love my country, but if you guys want me to put on some respect when using the flag, I think its time for you guys to show us some respect !

Free milk scheme suspended

PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry’s decision to suspend the school milk aid scheme nationwide yesterday came too late for 38 students in Penang.

The Year Five students of SK Kuala Muda in Penaga were given milk by the school yesterday and soon after they began vomiting and complained of stomach cramp and diarrhoea.

They were taken to the district government clinic for treatment. A Health Department spokesman at the clinic believed the cause was food poisoning.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim announced yesterday that the milk programme for all schools would be suspended until suppliers could guarantee that the milk is safe for consumption.

“The suppliers have to sign a letter stating that the milk is safe for consumption. We will resume (the programme) if they are brave enough to say they have checked all milk in schools and declare it safe,” he said.

The ministry had on Tuesday suspended the milk programme in Kedah and Kelantan after 117 students in two schools in the states became ill from drinking milk.

Now that the students would no longer be getting milk, the ministry would look into providing the students alternative sources of nutrients and calcium, Hon said after co-chairing a meeting with Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad which was attended by school milk suppliers and factory producers.

Hon said the onus would be on suppliers to ensure that the milk was properly stored in schools.

The milk programme was first discontinued on May 22 after 35% of milk supplies to Penang, Perlis, Kedah, Perak, Pahang and Terengganu was found to be contaminated.

It was revived on July 16 following a government directive that the milk would have to be tested by Sirim to ensure it was bacteria-free

Even school kids milk you all also want to curi makan ? Wake up la you all b&b*

Ministry to check if rapper Wee in Taiwan on govt loan

PUTRAJAYA: The Internal Security Ministry said it would check with the Higher Education Ministry whether Wee Meng Chee, who rapped to the Negaraku in a videoclip, is studying in Taiwan on a scholarship or government loan.

The ministry's secretary-general Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said he had already spoken with his counterpart at the Higher Education Ministry for information on Wee.

"He went to Taiwan to study and not to write songs. But we will let the ministry study his status first before contemplating any kind of action against him or deciding if he will have to come back.

"If we find there is any element of crime or sedition in his song, we will move in," he told reporters after attending a seminar on important targets at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here today.

Abdul Aziz said he had not personally watched the video which could be found at the free video portal YouTube.

Wee, a 24-year-old mass communications student at Ming Chuan University in Taiwan, had insisted that he was being patriotic when he was singing the song in the six-minute videoclip.

hooray good way to tell the truths !

Florida parent sues Mattel over toy after recall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Florida parent sued Mattel Inc and its Fisher-Price Inc unit over a toy after the company recalled some 1.5 million units this month due to concerns about their lead paint content, according to a court filing.

The plaintiff, Farrah Shoukry, is seeking a refund for toys and money for diagnostic tests for lead poisoning, according to the suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Friday.

Fisher-Price recalled the preschool toys on Aug. 1 because their surface paint could contain excessive amounts of lead.

The company said the toys, including preschool favorites such as Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street characters, were manufactured by a contractor in China.

Lead has been linked to health problems in children, including brain damage.

Shoukry, who bought one of the recalled toys for her daughter, wants class action status for the lawsuit, according to the complaint.

A Mattel spokeswoman could not be reached immediately for comment.

The recall was Mattel's largest since 1998 when it recalled some 10 million Power Wheels vehicles, made by Fisher-Price.

It was the latest in a deluge of product safety scares that have tainted the "made-in-China" brand.

It is important for people to understand that we all will not take any sub standard product just because you can produce them cheaply !

TAIPING: One of the country's worst road accidents, which occurred in the wee hours of yesterday on the North-South Expressway near here, was a disaster waiting to happen.

The driver had 13 traffic summonses - some still outstanding - and two warrants of arrest against him while the 20-year-old bus, which also had 19 summonses, did not even have the permit to ply the route.

The passengers of the bus, bound for Alor Star from Malacca, never stood a chance against such a poor record - 19 of them were killed along with the 37- year-old driver. Nine others including a three-yearold boy are in hospital, some in critical condition.

The bus company has been ordered to cease operations immediately.

This is what happen when the JPJ keep on drinking KOPI and also the MATA

Commission to ink voters in next general election

PUTRAJAYA: Voters will have their left forefinger applied with indelible ink in the next general election to prevent fraud.

Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said the “archaic” method would be used to satisfy some quarters that claimed fraud had taken place.

“This is merely to stop certain quarters from using the issue as a political gimmick or to tarnish the image of the commission,” he told reporters here yesterday.

The black ink from India, which would cost less than RM1mil to implement, can stay on the finger for about a month.

It is not applicable to postal voters.

Abdul Rashid said no amendments would be made to the law in using the ink, which is a pilot project, as it could be incorporated as a procedure.

Explaining the process of using the ink, he said, the first election clerk would verify the voter's identification.

The second clerk would then apply the ink on the voter's finger before the third clerk hands over the ballot paper.

“Those who do not have fingers would have the ink applied on the stump instead,” he said, hoping that women would not use nail polish when voting.

Among the alleged fraud were phantom voters using identity cards of the deceased whose name was still on the electoral roll; impersonation by using another person’s identity card; and voting twice at two different places by registering using the eight-digit and 12-digit identity cards respectively.

Abdul Rashid thanked the National Fatwa Council for responding quickly to EC’s application to study the implications of the indelible ink on Muslims.

He said a circular would be out soon to explain the indelible ink to political parties.

Abdul Rashid said that only one of the 22,433 voters registered under the eight-digit identity card whose names were displayed by the EC last month had come forward to verify the status.

The Treasury, he said, had allocated RM3.6mil for the EC to trace the remaining 22,432 based on the locality they first registered as voters.

The exercise, he said, would take about a month from September to complete and names that could not be traced would be struck off the roll.

He said the electoral roll now stood at 10,322,956.

Brilliant idea from a chicken brain ! How can the guys from suruhan be so stupid?

Workers rescue 69 from flooded China mine

BEIJING - Chinese workers on Wednesday pulled out 69 coal miners who had been trapped in a flooded shaft for more than three days, state media said, an unusual rescue in the world’s deadliest mines.

The 69 were trapped — uninjured — when the state-owned Zhijian mine in Henan province’s Shan County flooded early Sunday. Thirty-three miners managed to escape.

The trapped miners were pulled out alive midday Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said the first miner was met by an applauding crowd. Most of the miners were unable to walk unassisted and some were placed on stretchers.

Mining is not a fun thing, it is always one of the most dangerous work in the world, but in China it just like another dishes..... bad for China Image

sponsored by datco.com.my ... ..

Russia plants flag on Arctic floor

Story Highlights

• A Russian sub plants the country's flag on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean
• The mission aims to symbolically claim the region, believed to be rich in oil
• The second submersible is expected to reach the seabed soon

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russian explorers have dived deep below the North Pole in a submersible and planted their national flag on the seabed to stake a symbolic claim to the energy riches of the Arctic.

A mechanical arm on Thursday dropped a specially made, rust-proof titanium flag painted with the Russian tricolor on to the Arctic seabed at a depth of 4,261 meters (13,980 feet).

"It was so lovely down there," Itar-Tass news agency quoted expedition leader Artur Chilingarov as saying as he emerged from one of two submersibles that made the dive.

"If a hundred or a thousand years from now someone goes down to where we were, they will see the Russian flag," said Chilingarov, 67, a top pro-Kremlin member of parliament.

In memories of ....

Ministry warns petrol stations

KUALA LUMPUR: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has giving a stern warning to the Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) to not close their petrol stations at 10pm.

Its minister Datuk Shafie Apdal said such a move by PDAM would jeopardise the country’s economy. PDAM must get approvals from the Government to close petrol stations earlier, he said during a seminar on Consumerism and Wise-Spending for Women 2007 yesterday.

“They have no right to make any decision without consultation with the Government,” he said.

He said while it was possible to close certain stations early in some places, other stations would have to operate 24 hours a day, especially those along highways where lorries transport goods at night.

“If there is a security issue, we can allow the station to close earlier but we have to see which areas. If closing a petrol station affects consumers, security has to be improved. We have negotiated with certain oil companies and dealers in the past that in some places where there is hardly any traffic, they are allowed to close earlier,” he said.

He was commenting on the decision by PDAM that the 3,200 petrol stations nationwide would open at 7am and close at 10pm, with or without the approval of the Government. Shafie also said that dealers should not pass on the credit card cost to consumers because the consumers were already paying for credit card use. However, PDAM vice-president Datuk Zulkifli Mokti said the operating hours of petrol stations depended solely on business opportunity. Pan Malaysian Lorry Owners Association president Er Sui See said closing the petrol stations at 10pm would only drive up transportation costs.

He said the move would result in longer journeys and difficulty in meeting delivery deadlines.
Federal Territory and Selangor Taxi Operators Association president Datuk Aslah Abdullah said the move would result in taxi drivers feeling a strong pinch on their income

A lot of measurmenet is needed to take into consideration for the petrol folks, but closing it down earlier means nothing at all. I would really suggest free trade of petrol will make the cue.... many will not agree but at the bottom line, subsidy method will only pinch us harder at the end of the line....

commented by Jeffayn , come and visit me at jeffayn.com ..... ...

Sex romps when parents are away

FIVE schoolgirls and several boys held no-holds-barred sex romps when their parents were not at home, Harian Metro reported.

The girls, aged 13 to 17, allegedly gave their bodies willingly to the boys, who grouped under the names “Geng Apache,” “Pangkah Shell” and “Budak Shell,” the tabloid said.

The boys favoured these girls from three schools in Putrajaya over others because they are said to be promiscuous and need not be “forced” into having sex.

Sources told the paper that the girls were so daring that they carried out their exploits at either their or the boys' homes after school and when the parents were not at home.

However, their illicit activities were exposed after 25 schoolboys were caught smoking and sniffing glue in two houses at Precincts 9 and 11, Putrajaya.

Several of the boys confessed that they had had sex with the girls over the past few months without any of their families knowing about it.

Sources said no action had so far been taken against either the boys or the girls, because no police report has been made.

> Kosmo! reported that an umbrella spoke pierced the scalp of a young boy who had just turned seven on Wednesday.

Mohd Ikmal Daniel Md Islam was warded at the Taiping Hospital, where the 40cm spoke was removed after two operations.

His brother, Sufian Sawari Sulaiman, 19, said the boy came home crying after a quarrel with a Form One boy near their house at Kampung Larut Tin on Sunday.

“My father tried to pull out the spoke, but there was still about 12cm of the rod stuck in his head. We realised it was a serious injury and rushed him to the hospital,” said Sufian, adding that he later went round the village to find the culprit.

He later lodged a police report.

After Mohd Ikmal was admitted, a student came to see the boy and admitted that he had used the spoke on the Year One pupil.

We have bigger problems than manners nowadays to teach the kids. Its far more harder task now days because more and more parents will have to work harder to get more money, just enough to satisfy the general consumption only...

Kuching South mayor Chong passes away

KUCHING: Kuching South mayor Chong Ted Tsiung, 51, passed away Friday morning at a private hospital here after a short illness.

He had been in the job for less than year, having been sworn into office on Sept 25 last year. The first civil servant to be appointed mayor in Kuching South, he was previously controller of the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board.

His body has been taken home for people to pay their last respects.

May your soul rest in peace....

Driver who survived bridge collapse: 'I can't believe I'm alive'

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- Drivers who were on the Minneapolis bridge when it collapsed told harrowing tales of survival.

"The whole bridge from one side of the Mississippi to the other just completely gave way, fell all the way down," survivor Gary Babineau told CNN. "I probably had a 30-, 35-foot free fall. And there's cars in the water, there's cars on fire. The whole bridge is down."
He said his back was injured but he determined he could move around.

"I realized there was a school bus right next to me, and me and a couple of other guys went over and started lifting the kids off the bridge. They were yelling, screaming, bleeding. I think there were some broken bones." At home when he heard about the disaster, Dr. John Hink, an emergency room physician, jumped into his car and rushed to the scene in 15 minutes.

He arrived at the south side of the bridge, stood on the riverbank and saw dozens of people lying dazed on an expansive deck.

They were in the middle of the Mississippi River, which was churning fast, and he had no way of getting to them. He went to the north side, where there was easier access to people. Ambulances were also having a hard time driving down to the river to get closer to the scene.

Working feverishly, volunteers, EMTs and other officials managed to get 55 people into ambulances in less than two hours. Occasionally, a pickup truck with a medic inside would drive to get an injured person and bring him back up even ground, Hink told CNN.

God bless America....