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Brazil star Neymar in Race Row after BANANA thrown By Steve Griffiths | AFP News – Mon, Mar 28, 2011 3:02 AM SGT Brazil star Neymar was at the centre of a racism row after the teenager claimed a banana was thrown at him during Sunday's 2-0 friendly win over Scotland in London on Sunday. Santos striker Neymar scored twice to seal Brazil's win at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, but the 19-year-old's memorable day turned sour when he was allegedly subjected to a racist attack. A Brazilian press officer confirmed a banana had been thrown on the pitch and Neymar, who is a transfer target for Chelsea and Real Madrid, told Brazilian television that he suffered abuse throughout the match. In the past, bananas have often been thrown at players by racist fans in stadiums across Europe, but the foul practice had died out recently. Neymar had been booed by Scotland fans after a lengthy spell of treatment for a first half injury, but it is not certain who threw the banana as the fruit came from a section of the ground largely populated by Brazilian supporters. "This atmosphere of racism is totally sad," Neymar told Sportv. "They were jeering me a lot, even when I was about to kick the penalty the entire stadium was jeering. "We leave our country to play here and something like this happens. It's sad. I would rather not even talk about it, to keep the subject from escalating." Brazil midfielder Lucas Leiva, who plays in England with Liverpool, is said to have removed the banana from the pitch and he added: "There is no more space for racism in the world. They say it's the first world here in Europe, but it's where it happens the most. "That has to change. everybody is equal today, it's a matter of respect." Selecao coach Mano Menezes admitted he hadn't seen the incident. "I didn't see that," Menezes said. "We didn't have the displeasure of watching it. If it happened it is lamentable but we don't have confirmation of the event." Scotland boss Craig Levein added: "I don't know anything about that." The accusations drew an angry response from Scottish fans, however, and Hamish Husband, spokesman for the association of Tartan Army supporters clubs, said: "The reason Neymar was booed was because we believed he was feigning injury during the course of the game. "Racism has no place within the Tartan Army and if it did exist it would be stamped out immediately as we are self-policing. "We felt he was feigning injury and any suggestion of racism amongst our supporters is absolute tosh. "We gave the game to Brazil through a Scotsman and the match against Brazil in 1982 was the birth of the modern Tartan Army. "As a result of that match we have always had a strong affinity with that country and national team. "As far as I am concerned we accepted that Brazil played us off the park and we applauded them for the quality of their football at the end of the game."

Mourinho was 'hours' from saying yes to England Job AFP News – Mon, Mar 28, 2011 10:40 AM SGT Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has revealed he seriously considered taking the England job after leaving Chelsea in September 2007, coming within "hours" of doing so before electing to stay in club football. "When I left Chelsea, the first month was fantastic. I went to Africa, to Japan, I did tons of things I had not been able to do" while leading the English side to its first league title in half a century and then repeating the dose before falling out with billionaire owner Roman Abramovich. "The second month was good too, but from the third onwards it was horrible, just awful," Mourinho said in an interview with French sports daily L'Equipe. Revealing he had mulled several club offers he admitted his interest had been piqued by the England job which Steve McClaren had just lost and which ultimately went to Italian Fabio Capello. "I was hours away - I almost signed up for the English national side. But at the last moment I began thinking: 'I am going to coach a national side, there will be one match a month and the rest of the time I will be in my office or supervising matches'. "And then to have to wait until the summer to compete in a European Championship or a World Cup? No, it wasn't for me. "So at the last moment I pulled back preferring to wait for the right job to come along, a good club, a challenge that could motivate me. That was Inter," said Mourinho, who led the Italians to their first European Cup in half a century last season as well as Serie A and Italian Cup glory. He added he had briefly considered if Paris Saint Germain, in the doldrums since a last French title in 1994, might not have been a stage on which he might strut his stuff. Instead, he said he felt that England, Spain and Italy were likely to prove a better test of his mettle, adding he could not understand how Paris, as a major European capital, could seemingly not aspire to producing a European football giant. Asked to explain his giving the impression of 'arrogance' on the touchline, Mourinho, who this season hopes to become the first coach ever to lead three clubs to European Cup glory, said it was his nature to wish to try to exert an influence on the outcome of a match. "But I am very different on the bench today compared with six, seven or eight years ago. Sometimes I stay in my seat almost the whole match without communicating much. "Other times, I am on my feet from the first minute til the 90th and very active. It depends on the situation." Asked if he could reignite Real, who have under-achieved for a decade since winning the last of their European titles while appointing and discarding a squadron of coaches, Mourinho said: "The issue is not one of power but of having the conviction that one can succeed. "Clubs must understand that coaching for me is not just encouraging players, preparing matches, drawing up the teamsheet and who you send on and take off. If you take me on as coach you must take me as I am." And Mourinho added that he does not take his work home with him. "When I get home I live like anyone else. I help my son and daughter with their homework, have a coffee with my wife. We want to be a normal family." But he conceded that it was "impossible" to go shopping with his wife and "I cannot go and watch my lad play football just as any other father would do" if he wished to keep his private life private. "Only my family and my closest colleagues are allowed to know who is the real Jose Mourinho."

Premier League - Balotelli 'threw DARTS from Window' Sun, 27 Mar 12:09:00 2011 Manchester City are set to discuss Mario Balotelli's disciplinary issues after the striker was reportedly caught throwing darts from a first floor window. The People claims that Balotelli lobbed the missiles in the direction of youth team players because he was "bored". The incident occurred at City's Carrington training complex, and the club said nobody was injured. However, the volatile striker could still face a fine for his actions, and a club spokesman said: "The matter will be dealt with internally." Controversy has dogged Balotelli since his arrival from Internazionale in summer 2010. Last week manager Roberto Mancini accused the 20-year-old of betraying his trust and being "stupid" after he was sent off as City were knocked out of the Europa League by Dynamo Kiev. Mancini said: "Mario needs to use his brain - if he doesn't he will find things very difficult. "He is a young player, but this is the time when he needs to start thinking with his head. He is a fantastic player and his talent does not deserve this situation. “But he has let down the players, the squad, and me because I trusted him 100 per cent." Before the game he was shown on TV apparently unable to put on a training bib, and the video has become an internet sensation. In the first leg of that tie, he was substituted after suffering an allegic reaction to the grass in Kiev. Balotelli was sent off against West Bromwich Albion in November, and has picked up nine yellow cards in 21 appearances. Just weeks after signing, he was unhurt after being involved in a two-car collision in Cheshire in his Audi A8. For all his problems, Balotelli has scored 10 goals for City and is rated as one of the most talented youngsters in the world. He recently admitted he needed help to control his temper on the pitch, and City are determined to ensure he does not waste his talent.

Japan's PET Survivors face Post-Tsunami Struggle By Giles Hewitt | AFP News – 41 minutes ago Hungry, hurt and separated from owners who are either dead or in evacuation centres, hundreds of family pets are struggling to survive in the desolation of Japan's tsunami-ravaged northeast coast. Among the many rescue teams sent from around the world to search for survivors and bodies after Japan's worst natural disaster for nearly a century, a handful of specialised animal rescue groups have also been at work. In the days immediately after the March 11 tsunami that wiped out dozens of thriving coastal towns, the prospects looked grim. "In the hardest hit areas, we saw no animal life whatsoever," said Ashley Fruno, from animal rights group PETA. "We did see some paw prints in the mud at one point, but they didn't lead anywhere, and we could not find any animals nearby." Slowly but surely, however, abandoned pets began to emerge, often from damaged homes where they had managed to ride out the destructive force of the tsunami. Many pet owners left their cats and dogs when the tsunami warning sounded, never imagining that the wave would be as large and powerful as it eventually was. The animals were left to fend for themselves in a hostile environment with no food or fresh water. Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS), a hastily assembled coalition of animal welfare groups, has spent the last two weeks searching what's left of the worst-hit coastal towns. The teams, which include several volunteer vets, provide food and treatment for injured animals and try to find temporary shelters for those that have lost their owners. They also visit evacuation centres where those people who escaped the tsunami with their pets are having trouble holding on to them in difficult, cramped surroundings where animals are not always welcome. "There have been some problems in the centres, with tensions between those with pets and those without," said vet Kazumasu Sasaki. "Some people have pet allergies, and they complain that the dogs are barking and fighting. It's understandable." There have been cases of people choosing to stay in their ruined houses because shelters refused to accommodate pets, and JEARS coordinator Isabella Gallaon-Aoki said it was difficult to persuade those in the centres that their animals would be better off in a temporary shelter. "People here see pets as family members. For some, after everything that has happened, their pet is the only thing they can cling on to -- the only thing that brings them comfort," she said. Timo Takazawa, who survived the tsunami along with her husband, refused to give up their dog, Momo, despite complaints from other evacuees in their crowded shelter in the city of Sendai. "When we escaped from the tsunami we didn't take anything, just Momo," said Takazawa, 65. "I can't imagine not being here together. If anybody said to me I couldn't keep Momo here, we would leave with her, we would go somewhere else." Animals have featured in a number of unusual tsunami survival stories, most notably a porpoise rescued from a rice field after it was washed two kilometres (1.2 miles) inland. Then there was the case of Tashirojima island in Miyagi Prefecture, known locally as "Cat Island" for its feral feline population that vastly outnumbers the 100 or so human residents. The tiny island was engulfed by the tsunami -- but a rescue team that flew in by helicopter reported that both cats and people had come out unscathed. In Sendai, tsunami warden Mr Kamata tried to return for his dog -- a large pedigree Akita -- after warning neighbours about the incoming wave, but found his way blocked by the churning water. "I thought there was no way he could have survived. It was terribly sad," Kamata said. But later that night, as he sheltered in a refuge with hundreds of other residents, Kamata heard that a dog had been found outside. "It was him. He'd swum and found me. He'd ingested a lot of sea water and kept throwing up and I thought I was going to lose him anyway, but he pulled through," Kamata said. Heartwarming stories of survival aside, PETA's Fruno said that animal welfare groups would be busy in tsunami-affected areas for some time to come. "Recovery from this disaster is going to take months, if not years," she said. "People in the hardest hit areas will continue to need pet food and veterinary supplies, as will the animal shelters, which will also need to house animals until their homeless guardians are able to find somewhere to live."

Radiation spike in SEA near Japan Nuclear Plant By Huw Griffith | AFP News – Sun, Mar 27, 2011 4:07 AM SGT Radiation levels have surged in seawater near a tsunami-stricken nuclear power station in Japan, officials said Saturday, as engineers battled to stabilise the plant in hazardous conditions. Urgent efforts were under way to drain pools of highly radioactive water near the reactors after several workers suffered radiation burns while installing cables as part of efforts to restore the critical cooling systems. The new safety worries further complicated efforts to bring the ageing facility under control, and raised fears that the fuel rod vessels or their valves and pipes are leaking. "It is becoming very important to get rid of the puddles quickly," said an official at the nuclear safety agency, Hidehiko Nishiyama. One of the worst-case scenarios at reactor three would be that the fuel inside the reactor core -- a volatile uranium-plutonium mix -- has already started to burn its way through its steel pressure vessel. "Highly radioactive water is flowing inside the buildings and then into the sea, which is worrying for fish and marine vegetation," said Olivier Isnard, an expert at France's Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety. "One hypothesis is that the reactor vessel is breached and highly radioactive corium is coming out." Fire engines have hosed thousands of tons of seawater onto the plant in a bid to keep the fuel rods inside reactor cores and pools from being exposed to the air, where they could reach critical stage and go into full meltdown. Several hundred metres offshore in the Pacific Ocean, levels of iodine-131 some 1,250 times the legal limit were detected on Saturday, a tenfold increase from just days earlier, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said. Scene: Power crunch in Tokyo Drinking a half-litre (20-ounce) bottle of fresh water with the same concentration would expose a person to their annual safe dose, Nishiyama said, but he ruled out an immediate threat to marine life and seafood safety. "Generally speaking, radioactive material released into the sea will spread due to tides, so you need much more for seaweed and sea life to absorb it," he said. Because iodine-131 decays relatively quickly, with a half-life of eight days, "by the time people eat the sea products, its amount is likely to have diminished significantly," he said. However, TEPCO also reported levels of caesium-137 -- which has a half life of about 30 years -- almost 80 times the legal maximum. Scientists say both radioactive substances can cause cancer if absorbed by humans. Government assurances did little to lift the gloom that has hung over Japan since a 9.0-magnitude quake struck on March 11, sending a huge tsunami crashing into the northeast coast in the country's worst post-war disaster. The wave easily overwhelmed the world's biggest sea defences and swallowed entire communities. The confirmed death toll stood at 10,489 as of 9:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Saturday, Kyodo News said, citing the National Police Agency, with 16,621 listed as missing. Scene: Tsunami defences exposed The tsunami knocked out the cooling systems for the six reactors of the Fukushima plant, leading to suspected partial meltdowns in three of them. Hydrogen explosions and fires have also ripped through the facility. High-voltage electric cables have since been linked up to the reactors again and power has been partially restored in two reactor control rooms. Worried about the salt buildup in the crippled plant, engineers have started pumping in fresh water into some of the reactors. The US military is supporting the effort by sending two full water barges from a naval base near Tokyo. "I believe we have prevented the current situation worsening, taking steps towards real progress such as resuming power and injecting water," chief government spokesman Yukio Edano told reporters. Radioactive vapour from the plant has contaminated farm produce and dairy products in the region, leading to shipment halts in Japan as well as the United States, European Union, China and a host of other nations. Singapore extended a ban on food imports from Japan on Saturday, suspending imports of all fruit and vegetables from the whole Kanto region, a large area including greater Tokyo. Higher than normal radiation has also been detected in tap water in and around Tokyo, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the plant, leading authorities at one stage to warn against using it for baby milk formula. Japan widened the zone around the plant from which it suggests people evacuate to 30 kilometres -- still below the 80 kilometres advised by the United States. Environmental watchdog Greenpeace started its own monitoring near the plant, saying "authorities have consistently appeared to underestimate both the risks and extent of radioactive contamination". The campaign group said it would provide "an alternative to the often contradictory information released by nuclear regulators".

Lengthy Struggle ahead to contain Japan Nuclear Crisis By Scott DiSavino | Reuters – Sat, Mar 26, 2011 5:50 AM SGT NEW YORK (Reuters) - New radioactive leaks and worker injuries at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant show that the worst atomic crisis in 25 years is far from over, with months of hard work still ahead. Restoration of cooling water supplies to overheating fuel rods should help prevent conditions from deteriorating much further within the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Still, radioactive material is scattered around the plants and workers must prevent more radiation from escaping. On Thursday, three workers suffered radiation burns to their legs while laying electric cable in the Unit 3 turbine building as part of the effort to restore power to equipment used to cool the fuel. Nuclear experts said plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) was in for a long hard slog as workers risk their lives to prevent more radiation from poisoning air, food and water. "The story is not yet over because the reactors and spent fuel pools have not yet been brought under control," Richard Meserve, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and current President of the Carnegie Institute told Reuters. "On the one hand, the challenge is getting easier over time because the rate of heat generation by the fuel is steadily declining. On the other hand, there is growing contamination in the buildings and grounds which makes the conduct of work more difficult. There will be ups and downs, but based on what I know, the overall trend is favorable," Meserve said. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday said the situation at the plant remained precarious. He sought to temper hopes of a quick resolution. "We are making efforts to prevent it from getting worse, but I feel we cannot become complacent," he told reporters. "We must continue to be on our guard." HOPES DASHED When TEPCO restored power to the plant late last week, some thought the crisis would soon be over. But two weeks after the earthquake, lingering high levels of radiation from the damaged reactors has kept hampering worker progress. At Three Mile Island, the worst nuclear power accident in the United States, workers took just four days to stabilize the reactor, which suffered a partial meltdown. No one was injured and there was no radiation release above the legal limit. At Chernobyl in the Ukraine, the worst nuclear accident in the world, it took weeks to "stabilize" what remained of the plant and months to clean up radioactive materials and cover the site with a concrete and steel sarcophagus. In Japan, the fact that there was high levels of radiation in the turbine building, which is isolated from the containment building and spent fuel pools, makes it difficult for TEPCO to know where workers can operate safely. Nuclear experts said they were uncertain how the radiation got into the turbine building. Most believe it leaked in from the spent fuel pools, but a few said it could have come from a possible breach in the reactor vessel. "The data we're getting is very sketchy and makes it impossible for us to do the analysis," said David Lochbaum, nuclear scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It's hard to connect the dots when there are so few dots." Regardless of the source of the radiation, it could be weeks before TEPCO has the situation under control and many years before workers clean up the mess completely. "I have no idea how long this can go on. The immediate crisis ends when the Japanese authorities say there is no chance of further radiation releases," said James Acton, Associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Worst case this can be another BP oil spill with the constant risk of radioactive release for a long period of time," Acton warned. The BP Plc oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico took more than three months to stop. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York and Eileen O'Grady in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio)

Japan says Nuclear Plant situation not getting worse, Vigilance needed By John Chalmers | Reuters – Sat, Mar 26, 2011 3:45 PM SGT .TOKYO (Reuters) - The situation at the earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant in northern Japan is not getting worse but vigilance is needed, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Saturday. The operator of the Fukushima plant north of Tokyo has been trying since March 11's devastating earthquake and tsunami to prevent a catastrophic meltdown. More than 700 engineers have been working in shifts to stabilise the facility and work has been advancing to restart water pumps to cool their fuel rods. Two of the six reactors are now seen as safe but the other four are volatile, occasionally emitting steam and smoke. However, the nuclear safety agency said on Saturday that temperature and pressure in all reactors had stabilised. (Writing by John Chalmers)

S’porean Drug Convict’s Family tries to raise S$50k By Angela Lim | SingaporeScene – Thu, Mar 24, 2011 5:44 PM SGT More than two years ago, Noor Atiqah M. Lasi's family feared she was killed in a car accident when she did not contact them after leaving on a business trip. What they didn't know was that the Singaporean had been arrested in January 2009 for drug trafficking in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Last Friday, Noor Atiqah, now 27, was sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court for trafficking 342.1g of heroin and 30.3g of monoacethylmorphine. Her family, distraught, is now struggling to raise S$50,000 to get more legal advice. Together with their close friends, Noor Atiqah's sister, Edayu M. Lasim, 31, and brother, Zainal M. Lasim, 37, set up a website on Tuesday to appeal for donations, The Straits Times reported. The family is seeking a second opinion on the case from a Singapore lawyer, even though Mohaji Selamat -- the Malaysian lawyer who was representing Noor Atiqah -- had filed an appeal on the day she was sentenced. Mohaji had told the family that he was confident of winning the case, said a close family friend, Mohammad Faizal Abdullah, 31. "Now we are just trying to focus on how to help her -- the lawyer told us that it will take nearly a year to process her appeal," he said. The family insists Noor Atiqah, the youngest of four children, is innocent. In order to raise the funds needed to consult with another lawyer, the family are planning to raise money by selling clothes and snacks at a flea market stall in Hougang on Sunday. They have raised S$700 so far. Noor Atiqah was arrested at Kuala Lumpur's Low Cost Carrier Terminal on 5 Jan 2009, after immigration officials found a packet containing the drugs sewed into the back flap of the blue trolley luggage she was carrying during security checks. She is now held in Dengkil Prison in Sepang, where she communicates with her family by phone once a week for 30 minutes each time. The single mother is unmarried and has a six-year-old daughter. According to her family, Noor Atiqah, who was an events planner, had travelled to Kuala Lumpur on 26 Dec 2008 with a male friend named Azam to celebrate New Year's Day. During her time there, she was approached by a man named Frank whom she had met during her previous business trips to Shenzhen and China. According to court documents, Frank had asked her to collect samples of imitation clothing from Shenzhen back into Malaysia. He promised her S$632 when she reached Shenzhen and gave her a total of S$293 for her expenses in Malaysia. Upon agreement, she was given an AirAsia ticket on Jan 3, 2009 by a Ghanaian man known as Emeka. He also passed her a bag for storing the samples, which was later found to contain the drugs. Emeka is reportedly acquitted of charges related to the case, but is in custody for other offences. Nor Atiqah's family maintains that she was unwittingly lured into a drug ring by her Nigerian boyfriend Valentine, who introduced her to Frank. They said she met Valentine at a club in Clarke Quay in August 2008. Her family was not able to contact him after the incident despite repeated attempts. "We just want her to come back. She has already missed two of her daughter's birthdays, her only wish is to be there for the next one," said Madam Edayu.

'Jimmy Eat World' Can Still Rock Sunday March 20, 2011 10:34 pm PDT Ahead of the Arizonian punk/alternative rock foursome‘s tour date here, vocalist-guitarist Jim Adkins tells I-S magazine about life in the band. Where are you now, and what have you been up to? At the moment I'm in Arizona. Been up to a whole lot of nothing really. Kind of taking care of all the stuff that we missed out on when we were on tour - catching up with friends, taking kids out to baseball practice - things like that. What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you while on tour? We got into the after-party for the MTV Music Awards in Europe and we got to meet Jimmy Page. It was a very brief meeting and he was great and all, but I doubt he would remember. You know, close human contact with Jimmy Page - that was exciting, weird and "wow." It must have been in 2004 or 2005. What's the craziest audience you've performed for so far? We played a show once in Laguna, Montana - which was a very small city in the middle of nowhere, and we played at this really nice place - really old seats, old theater, and I wasn't expecting much. But it was definitely one of the rowdiest crowds I've ever seen - people were moshing and crowd surfing. I don't know how it was even possible because there were seats everywhere. People were just hell-bent on going crazy. Best part about being in Jimmy Eat World? I think just being able to play music for this long is probably the best thing. We realize that it's a fragile thing, you know, not everyone gets the chance to do what they want to do every day. And we're really grateful for that, that we've been able to do that for a while now. And the worst part? I think now that our kids are getting a little bit older - the drummer and I both have kids - it's a little bit tough when we're gone for a really long time for work. I think that's probably the worst part. It's a mixed blessing that we get to go for tours that last for a long time, but it's also suffering, to be touring for so long and there're a lot of things happening. If you woke up tomorrow and found that you've lost your voice, what would you do? I'd start an instrumental band. You know, I don't have any illusions ... I'm pretty certain that I won't be playing in a rock ‘n' roll band forever. But I know I'll be doing something with music, you know, until I have absolutely no physical capacity to do so. If you had to do it all over again, what would you change? I'd probably pick a different band name. What would it be? I don't know, anything. Some one-syllable thing so that no one would ever ask us how we got our name. Message for your fans? We're really excited to come and play! Performing in new places has always been an important thing for us. Catch Jimmy Eat World Live in Singapore for the first time on Apr 1, 8pm at The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel, Resorts World Sentosa, 6577-8899. $115-140 from Sistic.

Debbie Harry: Surgery is Fine Cover Media – Sat, Mar 26, 2011 9:00 AM SGT Debbie Harry thinks people should be more open about plastic surgery. The 65-year-old singer-songwriter is best known for being the front woman of iconic rock group Blondie, who first achieved success in the 70s. The blonde star – who is famed for her edgy style – says people should be encouraged to be more open about surgical procedures since so many celebrities are having work done. She had a facelift in the past, and doesn’t understand why some people look down on the idea. “Oh sure, I think a lot of people are open about that now. I mean, look how beautiful Cher looks. She looks absolutely stunning. Joan Rivers is so outrageously funny about it and yet she looks cute and feels good. She’s in her 70s she looks fantastic and she has a great time. It makes her feel good,” she told Grazia magazine. Debbie claimed the procedure she had was for “business reasons” when she first spoke about it. The former frontwoman is so pleased with her appearance she would consider having it done again, although she does partake in exercise too. “I think so. I don’t know how much more I could do. But I seem to be holding up pretty well,” she revealed, when asked if she’d think about going under the knife again. “I train. I have a great trainer and he gives me a hard time. He’s so brilliant. We do a lot of core work. Loosening up joints, balance.” © Cover Media

Over 60 killed in Myanmar QUAKE By Hla Hla Htay | AFP News – Fri, Mar 25, 2011 1:09 PM SGT More than 60 people were killed and 90 injured after a strong earthquake struck Myanmar near its border with Thailand, an official said Friday, as some affected areas remained cut off. The earthquake on Thursday, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) measured at magnitude 6.8, was felt as far away as Bangkok, almost 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the epicentre, Hanoi and parts of China. A Myanmar official said dozens of people were killed in areas close to the epicentre and more than 240 buildings had collapsed. "The death toll has increased to more than 60 now from those areas including Tarlay, Mine Lin and Tachileik townships," said the official. "About 90 people were injured from those areas. The officials are still trying to reach some more affected areas. There are some places we cannot reach yet." Tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, almost 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the epicentre, Hanoi and parts of China. Just across the border from Tachileik, Thai authorities said a 52-year-old woman was killed in Mae Sai district after a wall of her house collapsed. Terrified residents across the region fled their homes, tall buildings swayed and hospitals and schools were evacuated during the tremors. The quake struck 90 kilometres (60 miles) north of Chiang Rai and 235 kilometres (150 miles) north-northeast of Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city and a popular tourist destination. Tall buildings shuddered in Bangkok during the tremor. Its epicentre was close to the borders with Thailand and Laos and was just 10 kilometres (six miles) deep. Thailand's meteorological department on Friday said it had registered six large aftershocks following the initial quake. Chiang Rai governor Somchai Hatayatanti told AFP late Thursday that efforts were made to evacuate people from tall buildings and he had ordered all patients from Mae Sai District Hospital to be taken to Chiang Rai. The shaking was felt throughout China's southwest province of Yunnan, according to state-run China National Radio, but no casualties or structural collapses had been reported as of Friday morning. However, the earthquake reportedly caused cracks in some homes and schools in and around the rugged Xishuangbanna region which borders Myanmar, and fear of aftershocks forced many people in the area to spend the night outdoors. Some residents of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi fled their homes in panic when the quake shook the city. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, 36, who lives on the 10th floor of a highrise, said her husband noticed their pet fish shaking in their tank. "We all rushed to the street. All the other people in the apartments also rushed out," she said. Hanoi felt the tremor at about magnitude 5.0, according to Dinh Quoc Van, deputy head of the earthquake monitoring department. The quake comes two weeks after Japan was hit by a monster earthquake, which unleashed a devastating tsunami that left around 27,000 people dead or missing and triggered a crisis at its Fukushima nuclear plant. No tsunami warning was issued after the Myanmar quake as US seismologists said it was too far inland to generate a devastating wave in the Indian Ocean. The USGS initially recorded the quake as magnitude 7.0, but later revised it down to 6.8.

Chinese Man left in a pickle after $4,000 SALT Spree By Sui-Lee Wee | Reuters – Fri, Mar 25, 2011 1:36 PM SGT BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man who bought 6.5 tonnes of salt, hoping to profit from panic buying spurred by fears of radiation from Japan, is now stuck with the $4,000 worth of the condiment, state media reported on Friday. The man, surnamed Guo, bought the salt in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, when rumours spread across China last week that the iodine in salt could help ward off radiation sickness, the China Daily reported on Friday. Salt prices jumped on the rumours, and, acting on a tip that there would be a supply shortage lasting at least six months, Guo bought 260 bags of salt, which he took back to his apartment in three trucks. A few days later, the Chinese government urged consumers to stop the panic buying, saying residents will not be exposed to radiation from Japan's quake-damaged nuclear plant, causing a sharp drop in the price of salt. Guo is now stuck with the salt, which the newspaper said takes up more than half his apartment and had cost him 27,000 yuan ($4,100) to buy and transport. The newspaper said Guo can't resell the goods, because he has no receipt and also because he was told it was illegal to do so. He also can't take it to another province, as the government strictly controls salt transport. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Ken Wills and Miral Fahmy)

Vonnie Lui: "NOTHING UNDERNEATH!" Cinema Online Fri, Mar 25, 2011 3:20 AM SGT 25 Mar: Busty Hong Kong P.O.R.N. star Vonnie Lui Hoi Yan replied that she "wasn't wearing anything underneath" when it was pointed out that she wasn't dressed sexily enough for a "3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" press conference at the Film and Television Market (FILMART) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai earlier this week. She plays the Elder of Bliss in the upcoming Category III flick, also starring Japanese pornstars Yukiko Suo and Saori Hara. Lui said: "In the movie I'm a SEX Expert but in real life I can barely meet my boyfriend's needs. I sure do learn from watching videos. I have seen Saori Hara and Yukiko Suo's work. I feel Saori Hara's eyes are very attractive. Although I'm a woman, I'm attracted to her! In comparison to them, I'm definitely just a rookie." Earlier in the month, the 27-year-old "Slim Till Dead" and "Love Education" starlet was involved in an eye-popping promotion for the new 3D porno she was at an event which sold peculiar mouse pads featuring her image and also tangible 2D pop-up breasts, fashioned in her likeness. Recently, she also claimed she has lost her iPhone 4 and about 100 explicit photos that were in it, all of which are being forwarded around the world on the Internet, according to Sohu and Apple Daily.

'Winning GRC will be Psychological BLOW to PAP' By Alicia Wong | SingaporeScene – Fri, Mar 25, 2011 2:08 AM SGT Opposition veteran Chiam See Tong says capturing a group representation constituency (GRC) at the upcoming General Elections will be a "big psychological blow" to the People's Action Party. It would show that the GRC is "no longer an impregnable fortress," said the MP for Potong Pasir. Speaking to the media at his Meet-the-People session on Thursday night, Chiam, 76, was responding to Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng's comments on Wednesday. DPM Wong questioned the opposition parties' motives for wanting to win a GRC in the next GE. "Some say, well, we want to do that for renewal, and there are others who say, well, they want to be the first one to break through into a GRC and win a GRC," said DPM Wong. But this should not be what the election is about, said the DPM.. Said Chiam, "We're not that small-minded. Any step that the Opposition does that's against the ruling party, I think that's one step forward for the voters." To DPM Wong's call to reveal their candidates and not short-change voters, Chiam responded, most Singaporeans already know the Opposition candidates. "(The) Opposition likes to talk a lot, they inadvertently reveal the names of the candidates," he said, adding that he announced his candidacy for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC a year ago. As for the rest of his team, Chiam said, "You'll know when the time comes." He is currently in talks with other opposition parties, "and we're going to have a team when the time comes". Chiam, who maintained he is fit enough to contest in the coming GE, also spoke of his sportsman background during his school days and shared his current exercise regime. He has a trainer who goes to his home once a week, and he cycles half an hour daily. He also follows his wife, Lina Chiam, on her visits around Potong Pasir. "Of course, I'm not 100 per cent fit, there's still remnants of the stroke which I suffered, but I can manage, I'm certain of that," he said.

Cockpit Fraud: Fears grow over India's FAKE PILOTS By Adam Plowright | AFP News – Thu, Mar 24, 2011 12:44 PM SGT India's fake pilot scandal began unravelling when a female captain landed her packed airliner on the nose instead of the rear wheels as she touched down in the holiday hotspot of Goa. Parminder Kaur Gulati, flying for the fastest-growing airline in the booming Indian sector, IndiGo, was investigated for the dangerous error in January and was found with falsified qualifications. She has since been fired and arrested. The case set alarm bells ringing for passengers, anxious about the idea of a semi-trained fraud being responsible for their lives, and for airline bosses, who have been hiring crew at a furious pace in recent years. It also cast a spotlight on a familiar problem in India, where corruption is widely seen as on the rise: most things, even qualifications for highly skilled jobs, can be bought at a price. "It's as bad as doctors or surgeons who fake their certificates and put people's lives at risk," says Baijayant Panda, a member of parliament from the eastern state of Orissa. "But it's not limited to aviation in India. In many fields, you have a lot of fakery going on," the lawmaker, seen as part of a new breed of young Indian politicians, told a debate show on NDTV television last week. Since the discovery of Gulati, at least five other pilots have been arrested working for low-cost flier SpiceJet, national flag carrier Air India and smaller regional airline MDLR. India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is responsible for pilot examinations and granting licences, has announced it will look into the credentials of 4,000 commercial airline pilots. More arrests are expected. Amid rising anxiety, attention has focused on a small school in the arid west of the country, the Rajasthan State Flying School, which has been running for the last 10 years. Two of its alumni, working for SpiceJet, were arrested on Monday. "A pilot needs to have completed a minimum 200 hours of flying to get a licence. Several of the pilots from there had only completed 50-60 hours," Umesh Mishra, from Rajasthan's anti-corruption bureau, told AFP. Police built a case against the school and its graduates by checking the logbooks of the instructors responsible for certifying that trainees have completed supervised hours at the controls of a plane. "We checked those records against the records kept by the air traffic control authorities in Rajasthan and found that some of these flights never took place," Mishra said. Police began looking into the school after being approached by someone who alleged that they had paid a million rupees (22,000 dollars) to the chief instructor, who never granted a licence. The DGCA, which the airlines blame for the licence debacle, has promised a probe into 40 schools around the country "to find out if there are any irregularities in their functioning." "A special team will be constituted to complete the audit in three months and bring the truth out," DGCA chief E.K. Bharatbhushan promised on Tuesday. The parliamentarian Panda, who holds flying licences in three countries -- India, South Africa and the United States -- believes the problem is systemic: suffocating red tape provides the opportunity for bribes. "The DGCA has become a humongous bureaucracy and the red tape involved is phenomenal," he said. "Even genuine pilots, it takes them months and sometimes years to clear the process. "This incentivises people to go to touts who say 'why go through the genuine process? I'll fix it for you'." It's a pattern repeated across the country, where bribes are frequently paid for driving licences, passports, ration cards for subsidised food, university degrees or even doctor's certificates. Last year, the head of the Medical Council of India, which is responsible for certifying medical qualifications, was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of 20 million rupees to recognise a medical college. Ketan Desai, along with two other doctors and a suspected tout, await trial. T.R. Raghunandan, who set up IPaidABribe.com, an online forum for citizens to vent their frustration about corruption, says that bribes paid for education certificates are part of life in India. The implication is widely understood by companies and recruitment agencies, who face a difficult task in verifying the qualifications and experience claimed by job candidates. "Flying schools are meant to be monitored by the DGCA. What is the DGCA doing? They are themselves so corrupt," the retired civil servant told AFP.

Elizabeth Taylor: Violet-Eyed Movie Queen AFP Relax – Wed, Mar 23, 2011 9:26 PM SGT Elizabeth Taylor, who has died at the age of 79, was the archetypal Hollywood movie queen, a violet-eyed beauty known equally for her stormy romances and eight marriages as her Oscar-winning performances. Over a five-decade career she won two Academy Awards for best actress, including in the 1966 classic "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" one of many films where she played opposite her two-times husband Richard Burton. In later years as her health failed she retired from the public gaze, although she notably attended the 2009 funeral of her long-time friend Michael Jackson, while she remained active in raising funds to battle AIDS/HIV. Born in London February 27, 1932, she was evacuated to California with her American parents in 1939, where she was soon discovered at her father's art gallery by the fiancee of the chairman of Universal Studios. She debuted in 1942 in "There's One Born Every Minute," and by 1944 had become a child star with "National Velvet," the story of a girl who rides her horse to victory at the Grand National disguised as a boy. "Before men, my great love was for animals, which I still have," Taylor would later say. Schooled on the set, it wasn't long before her attention turned to men. She married for the first time in 1950, aged 18, to playboy hotel chain heir Nicky Hilton. The marriage lasted 203 days, collapsing amid verbal and physical abuse after a lavish Hollywood wedding and a three-month European honeymoon. Taylor moved on, and by 1952 she had tied the knot with British matinee idol Michael Wilding, 19 years her senior. They had two children, Michael Jr. and Christopher. Though Taylor said Wilding gave her stability, it wasn't enough. She filed for divorce in 1956, and within days of the separation producer Michael Todd, 49, proposed. Tough and domineering, he was Taylor's first great love. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Frances, in August 1957, but seven months later tragedy struck: Todd was killed in a plane crash in New Mexico. Devastated, Taylor was accompanied at Todd's funeral by his best friend, singer Eddie Fisher, whose wife actress Debbie Reynolds stayed home in California to take care of Taylor's children. From grieving widow to homewrecker, Taylor made a lightning change of roles, stealing Fisher from Reynolds in an affair that scandalized puritanical America. They married in 1959, but the public outrage nearly killed Taylor's flourishing acting career. She had just finished filming the Tennessee Williams classic "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958) with Paul Newman, and had already earned critical raves with "Giant" (1956), the Texas oil patch epic with Rock Hudson and James Dean. But her flame only burned brighter. She made Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly Last Summer" in 1959 with Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift. The following year, she won her first Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of a high-class call girl in "Butterfield 8." Taylor is said to have hated the movie. Then came "Cleopatra" (1962) -- "surely the most bizarre piece of entertainment ever perpetrated," Taylor said of the production, at the time the most expensive in Hollywood history. Taylor was paid a record million dollars. The movie flopped, but the Roman set was the backdrop for a sizzling love affair that made headlines around the world: Taylor and her leading man, Burton, who was married. "Elizabeth looks at you with those eyes, and your blood churns," said Burton, a Shakesperean actor hailed as the next Lawrence Olivier. They married in March 1964 in Montreal. By the time they were filming "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," the harrowing portrayal of a marriage torn by booze, bitterness and failure mirrored their own. They divorced in June, 1974 and remarried in October of the following year in Botswana, only to divorce again in August, 1976. Before he died, Burton commented: "We never really split up -- and we never will." The marriage left Taylor an alcoholic, and her career in decline. A seventh marriage to Virginia Senator John Warner, from 1976 to 1982, failed to cure the blues. In and out of California's Betty Ford Clinic in the 1980s, she overcame her alcoholism and a dependence on painkillers and emerged as a champion in the cause of AIDS victims. In 1991, she stunned the world by marrying husband No. 8: Larry Fortensky, a 40-year-old construction worker she met in rehab. They parted amicably three years later. Taylor's health continued to deteriorate. In 1997, she underwent surgery to have a brain tumor removed and in 2006 she appeared on US television to deny rumors she had Alzheimer's disease. In July 2008, she was hospitalized but her spokesman denied reports that she was close to death, while in 2009, she underwent heart surgery to repair a "leaky valve," tweeting afterwards: "It's like having a brand new ticker." She was admitted to hospital in early February 2011 for "symptoms caused by congestive heart failure," an ongoing condition, said her publicist Sally Morrison. jm-mt/ag

NEWSFLASH - Elizabeth Taylor Dies Cover Media Wed, Mar 23, 2011 8:00 AM SGT Dame Elizabeth Taylor has died aged 79. The screen icon had been suffering from ill health for some time. She passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles earlier this morning, where she had been cared for over the last two months. According to reports the acting legend died of congestive heart failure. Someone at the hospital Tuesday night says doctors knew at around 6pm that Taylor was dying, reports TMZ. Further details of Elizabeths death were not available at the time of writing. The actress was best known for appearing in movies such as Cleopatra and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She won Oscars for her roles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and BUtterfield 8. She was also renowned for her colourful private life, which saw her married eight times to seven different men. She wed Richard Burton twice, and often referred to him as the love of her life. Elizabeth will reportedly be buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, next to her mother and father. © Cover Media

Japan Nuclear FOOD Scare spreads to US, Europe By John Saeki | AFP News Wed, Mar 23, 2011 1:16 PM SGT Japan's radiation food scare rippled around the world Wednesday as the United States blocked imports of dairy and other produce from areas near a disaster-hit nuclear power plant. Emergency crews again battled to stabilise reactors at the charred Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) plant, which was shattered on March 11 by Japan's worst natural disaster in nearly a century, to prevent a full reactor meltdown. Japan ordered a halt to consumption and shipments of a range of farm products grown near the quake- and tsunami-hit facility after health ministry tests found vastly elevated levels of iodine and caesium. Japan nuke plant 'was crippled by 14-metre tsunami' The United States restricted dairy and vegetable imports from several prefectures, and France called on the European Union to do the same, while Japan was also testing seawater to measure the impact on marine life. Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered a stop of shipments of untreated milk and vegetables including broccoli, cabbage and parsley from areas near the Pacific coast plant, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Farm produce shipments were halted from Fukushima and three nearby prefectures -- Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma -- while radiation monitoring of farm and seafood products was stepped up in six others, officials said. The new inspection zone extends from Yamagata in the northwest to Saitama and Chiba, which both border Tokyo and are part of the megacity's vast urban sprawl. The health ministry said radioactivity drastically exceeding legal limits had been found in 11 kinds of vegetable grown in Fukushima prefecture. Radioactive caesium at 82,000 becquerels -- 164 times the legal limit -- was detected in one type of leaf vegetable, along with 15,000 becquerels of radioactive iodine, more than seven times the limit. Fukushima: Japan faces a lasting nuclear headache The ministry said that if people eat 100 grams (four ounces) a day of the vegetable for about 10 days, they would ingest half the amount of radiation typically received from the natural environment in a year. "Even if these foods are temporarily eaten, there is no health hazard," said top government spokesman Yukio Edano, following reports that some products may have already entered the market. "But unfortunately, as the situation is expected to last for the long term, we are asking that shipments stop at an early stage, and it is desirable to avoid intake of the foods as much as possible." Even if the short-term risk is limited for now, scientists pointing to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster warn that some radioactive particles concentrate as they travel up the food chain and stay in the environment for decades. The US Food and Drug Administration said it had placed an import alert on all milk, dairy products, fresh vegetables and fruits from four prefectures. "In addition, FDA will continue to flag all entries from Japan in order to determine whether they originated from the affected area," it said. "FDA will test all food and feed shipments from the affected area." France urged the European Commission to impose "systematic controls for all fresh produce reaching Europe's borders" from Japan, while stressing that it was not calling for a total embargo on Japanese food products "at this stage". Around Asia, many Japanese restaurants and shops are reporting a decline in business and governments have stepped up radiation checks on the country's goods. Tainted fava beans from Japan have already cropped up in Taiwan. Radioactive materials in broccoli, milk Japan -- a highly industrialised and mostly mountainous island nation -- is a net food importer. According to the European Commission, the EU imported 9,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables from Japan in 2010. In Japan, any further food shortages threaten to compound the misery for hundreds of thousands made homeless by the 9.0-magnitude quake and the jet-speed tsunami it spawned. The giant wave crashed into the northeast coast and erased entire communities. The confirmed death toll from the disaster rose Wednesday to 9,408, and Japan holds out little hope for 14,716 officially listed as missing. With the bodies piling up and acute fuel shortages preventing the customary cremations, the town of Higashimatsushima in Miyagi prefecture has started burying identified bodies, some wrapped in sheets, in mass graves. As grieving survivors huddled in evacuation shelters amid the rubble of their former lives, their fate was overshadowed by the struggle to avert another massive catastrophe -- a full nuclear meltdown at Fukushima. Fire engines and giant concrete pumps have poured thousands of tonnes of seawater onto its reactors and into spent fuel rod pools, to cool them and stop fuel from being exposed to the air and releasing large-scale radiation. Engineers hope to restart the cooling systems of all six reactors which were knocked out by the 14-metre (46-foot) tsunami, and they have already reconnected the wider facility to the national power grid. Tsunami disruption spreads deep into Japan They partially restored power overnight to the control room of reactor three -- a special focus because it contains volatile uranium-plutonium fuel rods. As the engineers forged on with their dangerous and complex task at the 1970s-era plant, two strong quakes struck nearby, one of them with a magnitude of 6.0 -- just the latest of hundreds of nerve-jarring aftershocks. In Vienna, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency said radiation continues to leak from the site. "The question is, where exactly is it coming from: from the primary containment vessels or from the spent fuel ponds," said James Lyons, IAEA head of nuclear installations safety. "Without the ability to go up there and actually poke around, it's hard to determine."

Tokyo says Radiation in TAP WATER above Limit AP – Wed, Mar 23, 2011 1:46 PM SGT Tokyo Water Bureau officials say levels of radioactive iodine in some city tap water is two times the recommended limit for infants. The officials told reporters Wednesday that a water treatment center in downtown Tokyo that supplies much of the city's tap water found that some water contained 210 becquerels per liter of iodine 131. They said the limit for consumption of iodine 131 for infants is 100 becquerels per liter. They recommended that babies not be given tap water, although they said the water is not an immediate health risk for adults. HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Crows cawed overhead as tsunami survivors in devastated towns along Japan's northeast coast buried their dead in makeshift graves en masse Wednesday as workers at Fukushima's overheated nuclear plant struggled to cool down the crippled facility. With supplies of fuel and ice dwindling, officials have abandoned cremation in favor of quick, simple burials in a show of pragmatism over tradition. Some are buried in bare plywood caskets and others in blue plastic tarps, with no time to build proper coffins. The bodies will be dug up and cremated once crematoriums catch up with the glut, officials assured the families. In Higashimatsushima in Miyagi prefecture, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, soldiers lowered bare plywood coffins into the ground, saluting each casket, as families watched from a distance and helicopters occasionally clattered overhead. Some relatives placed flowers on the graves. Most remained stoic, folding hands in prayer. Two young girls wept inconsolably, hugged tightly by their father. "I hope their spirits will rest in peace here at this temporary place," said Katsuko Oguni, 42, a relative of the dead. In Fukushima, the struggle to stabilize the plant suffered another setback Wednesday after a spike in radiation levels forced officials to pull workers and suspend restoring power to the Unit 2 reactor, a Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official said in Tokyo. The setback showed how tenuous the situation remains nearly two weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out power to the Fukushima complex, allowing radiation leaks that have seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater. Broccoli was added early Wednesday to a list of tainted vegetables that already includes spinach, canola and chrysanthemum greens. The nuclear crisis has complicated the government's response to the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that swallowed up villages along the coast. The number of bodies collected stood at more than 9,400, with more than 14,700 people listed as missing. Those tallies may overlap. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless. Schools, gymnasiums and other community buildings in the northeast are still packed with survivors, many of them elderly suffering after days without heat, medicine and hot meals. In Fukushima, relief after the lights went on late Tuesday in the control room of Unit 3 made way hours later for concern over radiation levels in Unit 2, putting on hold plans to try restarting the plant's crucial cooling system. The sprawling nuclear complex has six units. In the first five days after the disasters struck, the Fukushima complex saw explosions and fires in four of the plant's six reactors, and the leaking of radioactive steam into the air. Since then, progress continued intermittently as efforts to splash seawater on the reactors and rewire the complex were disrupted by rises in radiation, elevated pressure in reactors and overheated storage pools. Missions to dump seawater into one storage pool holding spent nuclear fuel went well, and firefighters continue to spray water on spent fuel pools in two other units, NISA said. Temperature at a seventh, joint spent fuel pool have stabilized, they said Wednesday. Two workers were slightly injured trying to restore electric cables, neither from radiation, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Kaoru Yoshida said Wednesday. Tokyo Electric warned that time is needed to replace damaged equipment and vent any volatile gas to make sure the restored electricity does not spark an explosion. "You're going to get fires now as they energize equipment," said Arnold Gundersen, the chief engineer at the U.S.-based environmental consulting company Fairewinds Associates. "It's going to be a long slog." Radiation continues to leak from the site, though the main barriers appear intact, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. The operator suspects some damage to an inner containment structure at Unit 2 as a result of an earlier explosion there. Also, spent fuel pools in damaged buildings could be releasing some radioactivity into the air. "I think we have enough information to determine that there's not large holes or excessive releases from those containments, but we continue to see radiation coming from the site ... and the question is where exactly is that coming from," nuclear safety expert James Lyons said at a briefing Tuesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Health Ministry ordered officials in the area of the stricken plant to increase monitoring of seawater and seafood after elevated levels of radioactive iodine and cesium were found in ocean water near the complex. Education Ministry official Shigeharu Kato said a research vessel had been dispatched to collect and analyze samples. Doses detected so far are low and not a threat to human health unless the tainted products are consumed in abnormally excessive quantities, government officials and health experts said. Radiation levels in the air in Tokyo have been well below the global average for naturally occurring background radiation. Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Eric Talmadge in Fukushima, and Yuri Kageyama, Jeff Donn, Tomoko Hokasa, Shino Yuasa and Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, also contributed to this report.

Tombstone, Coffin found at Construction Site in Yishun By farism | SingaporeScene – Wed, Mar 23, 2011 12:45 PM SGT The discovery of a tombstone and coffin at a construction site in Yishun on Monday has some residents living in the area spooked. Construction workers were excavating a site at the foot of Block 711, Yishun Avenue 5 when they made the grim findings. The construction works were part of the HDB's lift upgrading programme. The tombstone indicated that the deceased, Madam Sim Seok Inn, died in 1971 at the age of 83. Some clothes were found buried near the coffin. Some residents have expressed their alarm over the discovery of the tomb. While there was nothing to worry about, Zali H M, 57, said he would still try to avoid the area. "I will walk away from the lift. Maybe walk around it," said the retiree. However, the main question going through his mind and some of the other residents is: "Why is there even a coffin here?" According to a spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA), the burial site of the tombstone "may have been where a cemetery was once sited and then exhumed for public housing development by the HDB in the late 70s to the early 80s". "Upon completion of the investigation and the confirmation that the site is indeed within the cemetery, HDB will carry out the necessary exhumation with a permit from NEA," she added. Still, other residents expressed their shock over the finding. Housewife and mother of two children Norasmah, 40, immediately asked, "Why didn't they find it when they built these flats?" Her sister, a 34-year-old housewife who wanted to be known as Anita, felt that checks should be done to ensure that there are no more coffins left underground. She added, "If you find one, there might be others. Something should be done to appease the spirit." Team supervisor of the lift upgrading project, Mohan, 35, said that offerings were made after the discovery with joss sticks and candles seen at the site. Other residents though were unfazed by the incident. One of them was Steven Lim, 48, a swimming instructor who said, "She has been dead for so long, so what is there to be scared about? "If there were to be any hauntings, it would have happened long time ago. Why wait until now?" Wu You Jin, 65, echoed the sentiments above, saying in Mandarin, "As long as your conscience is clear, you have nothing to worry about." A police spokesman confirmed that a call was received around 12:30pm on Monday about a tombstone and some coffin remains being found at a construction site. He added that the matter has since been referred to NEA for action. In March 2007, heavy rain uncovered some 34,000 earthenware urns under a hill near Block 299 at the junction of Yishun Avenue 2 and Yishun Ring Road. A marble memorial tower nearby indicated that it was a burial ground. Most of the urns were then reburied while remains from the broken urns were put in new containers and placed in the hollow space under the plaque in the centre of the memorial tower.

Yes, SEX can kill you, US study shows By Julie Steenhuysen | Reuters – Wed, Mar 23, 2011 4:14 AM SGT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sudden bursts of moderate to intense physical activity -- such as jogging or having sex -- significantly increase the risk of having a heart attack, especially in people who do not get regular exercise, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. Doctors have long known that physical activity can cause serious heart problems, but the new study helps to quantify that risk, Dr. Issa Dahabreh of Tufts Medical Center in Boston, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The team analyzed data from 14 studies looking at the link between exercise, sex and the risk of heart attacks or sudden cardiac death -- a lethal heart rhythm that causes the heart to stop circulating blood. They found people are 3.5 times more likely to get a heart attack or have sudden cardiac death when they are exercising compared to when they are not. And they are 2.7 times more likely to get a heart attack when they are having sex or immediately afterward compared with when they are not. (These findings do not apply to sudden cardiac death because there were no studies looking at the link between sex and cardiac death.) Jessica Paulus, another Tufts researcher who worked on the study, said the risk is fairly high as such studies go. But the period of increased risk is brief. "These elevated risks are only for a short period of time (1 to 2 hours) during and after the physical or sexual activity," Paulus said in a telephone interview. Because of that, the risk to individuals over the course of a year is still quite small, she said. "If you take 1,000 people, each individual session of physical or sexual activity per week can be associated with an increase of 1 to 2 cases of heart attack or sudden cardiac death per year," Paulus said. She said it is important to balance the findings with other studies showing that regular physical activity reduces the risk of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death by 30 percent. "What we really don't want to do is for the public to walk away from this and think exercise is bad," she said. What it does mean is that people who do not exercise regularly need to start any exercise program slowly, gradually increasing the intensity of the workout over time. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

M'sian SEX VIDEO Scandal: Who is Datuk T? By News Desk in Kuala Lumpur/The Star | ANN – Wed, Mar 23, 2011 12:20 PM SGT Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - The mysterious Datuk T has become a top talking point as the controversy over the sex video involving a man who resembles Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim rages on. The Opposition Leader has denied he is the man in the 22-minute video and claimed that it was doctored. He blamed it on the Barisan Nasional government. A day after the video emerged, political sources speculated that it was "an inside job". In his press release, whistle-blower Datuk T had said that after the politician had left the hotel, "he (the politician) realised he had left behind his Omega watch in a room that he had occupied earlier." Datuk T, a Malay man in his 50s, said he was "asked to search for the watch in the room", when he stumbled upon some electrical wiring as well as a video recorder containing the footage of the politician having sex with a woman. However, it is not clear what prompted Datuk T to go public with the video. The popular theory is that he once belonged to the videoed politician's inner circle. "He is obviously someone very trusted by the politician to carry out such a personal task (search for the watch)," one analyst said. The bespectacled Datuk T signed off the press release as "The Insider", which gives further hint that he was, at some point, someone who knew of the politician's movements, habits and activities. Political sources believe Datuk T could have fallen out with the politician, causing the former to turn against him. In the press release, Datuk T said he would make available a copy of the video to the politician and his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also the president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). The whistle-blower has demanded that the duo quit politics within seven days, failing which he would call on several NGOs to set up an independent panel to investigate. Media representatives were allowed to take turns individually to watch the video. They included those from The Star, New Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, China Press, Oriental Daily, Kwong Wah Daily, Bernama and Harakah, the mouthpiece of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). Datuk T, who spoke impeccable English, pointed out the date and time on the footage to the newsmen who watched it closely to ascertain the identity of the man in the video. The soft-spoken mystery man had four bodyguards with him. Two wore dark glasses. They used metal scanners to check reporters, who were then asked to wear robes over their attire before being allowed into the room. The media has been unable to trace the identity of Datuk T or whether the person who spoke to them was in fact Datuk T. Analysts said that, logically, the man in the video would know the identity of Datuk T if it was indeed true that Datuk T had been asked by him to collect the watch left behind in the hotel after having sex with the foreign prostitute. Datuk T also showed a gold Omega watch to the journalists. The watch was carefully wrapped and he made sure that he left no fingerprints on it, telling reporters that "his (the politician's) wife would be able to recognise it." When asked by reporters on Monday, Anwar said at a press conference that his Omega watch was with his wife.

No Mean Feat !!! US SUMO Wrestler becomes Heaviest Person in History to finish Marathon! By ANI | ANI – Tue, Mar 22, 2011 2:33 PM SGT London, March 22 (ANI): A sumo wrestler from the U.S. has broken the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Person to Complete a Marathon. Kelly Gneiting, who calls himself the 'Fat Man', completed all 26 miles in record time. Gneiting, from a Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona, weighed exactly 400lbs when he started the Los Angeles Marathon this weekend, but by the end he weighed just 396.2lbs. The six-foot former sumo champ beat back torrential rain before crossing the finish line in 9 hours, 48 minutes and 42 seconds - beating his 2008 record of 11:52:11when he weighed 275lbs. "I'd like to see the Kenyan improve his marathon time by two hours," the Daily Mail quoted him as telling the Los Angeles Times. "I was really struggling in the last five miles, but I said to myself, 'If I have to crawl, I will," he added. The 40-year-old was always confident about his chances.

ALAMAK !...casting MAGIC SPELLS !!! MUM, DAUGHTERS made Healer's SEX SLAVES in M'sia By News Desk in Kuala Lumpur/The Star | ANN – Wed, Mar 23, 2011 12:20 PM SGT Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - A traditional healer in Pahang, Malaysia, raped three women and their mother under the guise of bringing religious knowledge to them, Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian reported. The suspect first preyed on the mother, leading her to his house where he allegedly cast a spell on the woman in her 50s before sexually assaulting her. He then told her he wanted to go to her house to pass on some religious material to her three daughters, in their 20s and 30s. "The woman, apparently not conscious of what she was doing, followed his every bidding and brought him to her home near Rompin," district police chief Deputy Supt Johari Jahaya said, adding that the women became his sex slaves since January. He said initial investigations showed that one of the daughters had been raped at least seven times by the suspect, who is believed to be practising a deviant religious belief. The case came to light when the husband of one of the victims, who works in Johor Baru, went to look for his wife to find out why she had not returned to their home for several months. On reaching his mother-in-law's house on March 15, the man saw the four women in a state of trance. The suspect, who was at the house at that time, was overpowered in a scuffle that followed between the two men.

Japan QUAKE may hit Singapore’s Investment$$$ By Elena Torrijos | SingaporeScene – Tue, Mar 22, 2011 10:01 AM SGT By Seah Chiang Nee As Singaporeans' concern mount over the safety of millions of Japanese, a small group of state investors are probably burning the midnight oil in Singapore. These people, who manage the two sovereign state funds with assets and investments worth in excess of US$200 billion are likely to be poring over possible future options. They are not only keeping watch on the nuclear drama unfolding in Japan, but also on the spreading violent upheavals in the Middle East, where the republic has high stakes. Recently, Foreign Minister George Yeo told Parliament that Singapore had to "adjust to changes" taking place there. In 1999, the government began a strategy of investing heavily in overseas markets to get a higher return for the state funds. Calling it "a second external pair of wings", the city pushed massive investments abroad. It was a good concept that was soon adopted by other countries. The two sovereign funds are Temasek Holdings, which operates a portfolio of US$142 billion, and GIC, or Government of Singapore Investment Corp, which manages foreign reserves of well over US$100 billion. With the local market too small for such a huge amount of funds, and competition rising from countries like China and India, the leaders turned to the outside world to find new income sources. Besides, the world was in good shape, and emerging Asia was offering terrific new growth opportunities. However, the foreign foray has been pushed back now and then by bad luck and a few bad investment decisions. In the past decade, these investment wings have flapped from one air pocket to another. The latest — a devastated Japan — is probably the worst. Its nuclear crisis is spewing serious fallouts towards Singapore's recovering economy. It had been one crisis after another for Singapore, from the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America in 2001 to the 2007 global financial crisis and recession and now the Middle East upheavals. All these have wreaked various degrees of damage on Singapore's ambitious overseas investments. People are hoping Saudi Arabia — the most important country in the Middle East — remains safe. During the financial crisis, Temasek Holdings reported that its assets had plunged by S$55 billion. Only in July last year had it recovered 40 percent of that. Even discounting a nuclear nightmare, Japan — which is the world's third biggest economy and one of Singapore's top trading partners — faces years of economic struggle. It will have to divert hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuilding shattered infrastructure by using its reserves, selling bonds or by reducing overseas spending. "Knowing their nationalistic fervour, it will not be a surprise if Japanese corporations worldwide start soon to divert funds back home," said a stock researcher. The Japanese will likely buy or invest less in Singapore and the number of tourists will likely drop. Japan ranks as one of the five economic pillars that sustain Singapore's prosperity, next to the United States, Europe, China and South-East Asia. According to statistics, it is the republic's sixth largest trading partner in 2009 with total trade amounting to S$44 billion (RM105 billion), and the third largest investor with S$51 billion. All these crises serve a lesson for Singapore. The sanguine environment which existed before, favouring smooth foreign profits, may no longer be around. Recent history has shown that it now calls for more than just business acumen and investment timing. There must also be the ability to analyse international affairs. From 1999, Singapore's billions of state funds began travelling around the world. It went into buying local companies, which makes the government the biggest single shareholder of a long list of major companies. After the turn of the century, the foreign investments grew in number and size. The buzzword then was "global strategic investments". This involved banks, telcos, airlines and companies that were considered crown jewels by the host countries. Singapore wanted them for long-term global tie-ups. "Big-time investment calls for big bucks and bullet-biting because it can be very risky," an experienced market researcher said. "Even the most experienced would need luck. "People pray that after putting their money in, there will be no sudden political upheaval or natural calamity that could blow away their investments." Other worries include terrorist attacks, currency changes, market turmoil and unpredictable policy changes — any one of which can overturn a billion-dollar investment. The Singapore Government's large-scale investments — and recent losses abroad — have run into public criticism on two grounds. Firstly, many Singaporeans believe that the investment money comes from indirect taxes and a high imposition of fees "squeezed" from the citizenry. All these seem to be rising. Secondly, a persistent economic gap between rich and poor that seems to be widening and fast becoming a source of public unhappiness. It is popularly felt that a portion of the billions should be used to provide a safety net for the poor, the aged and the unemployed. With so many needy people around, it makes no sense losing billions by investing in a risky world that could be put to better use helping the poorer class. Another popular viewpoint is that the sovereign wealth funds may not have the best people to handle so big a task. Their performance has so far not been brilliant. Morgan Stanley said in a report that their investment decisions were poor. "The sheer domination of the government in the external economy means that responsibility for the poor returns must lie with the government to a large degree," it added. A former Reuters correspondent and newspaper editor, the writer is now a freelance columnist writing on general trends in Singapore. This post first appeared on his blog, www.littlespeck.com on 20 March 2011.