TGIF! Here's today's scoop to end your week with:
- Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says a special unit has been set up to monitor Internet postings that can ignite racial tension and cause disunity. [The Star]
- PM Najib Razak wants you to trust the mainstream media as it's "its facts cannot be questioned". Alternative media, on the other hand, publishes reports based on opinions which are “half truths and not accurate”. [The Malaysian Insider]
- 16-year-old Nabil Jeffri made motor sport history yesterday by becoming the youngest person to drive a Formula One car in an official test. [Times of India]
- Former member of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) Malaysia Shamsuddin Sulaiman has been released after spending eight years under ISA. [Bernama]
- A tourist bus from Genting Highland skidded and turned turtle during heavy downpour at KM35.1 of the Karak Highway, leaving 18 injured. [AsiaOne]
- US soldiers are now allowed to get high on ecstasy, all in the name of finding a way to cope with post traumatic stress disorder. Two researchers will test their theory in therapy sessions. [Wired]
- Catherine Zeta Jones has lashed out at doctors for failing to spot husband Michael Douglas's throat cancer sooner. [BBC News]
- Several on-going experiments have shown that McDonald's food stubbornly refuse to rot. While many think its the chemicals and preservatives that are keeping McDonald's food immortal, fat is actually the real culprit. [Newser]
(Photo from Getty Images) Read more
Everyone's getting into the business of making a more interactive, immersive videogame console controller. Sony's latest offering, the cool PlayStation Move, is set to hit Malaysian stores on 15 September. But will it usher in the promised new age of gaming? Read more
It's Thursday already - ain't that lovely? Time to exercise your reading muscle with our Daily Digest!
- Tan Sri Omar will take over as the new Inspector-General of Police from 13 September. The current IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan will retire after having his tenure extended twice. [The Star]
- Surgeons must obtain their female patients' consent before taking photos of their intimate parts, according to Penang High Court. This comes after a woman had filed the suit against general and colo-rectal surgeon Dr Lim Teik Mau saying she felt violated after he took photographs of her private parts during a haemorrhoids surgery. [Straits Times]
- A Malay Mail editor, Irwan Abdul Rahman, accused of publishing the article “TNB to sue WWF over earth hour” earlier this year, has pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Communications and Multimedia Act. [Free Malaysia Today]
- Apple announced new technological wonders, including a new iPod Touch, Apple TV, an Apple music social network called Ping and an updated iTunes 10. [USA Today]
- A gunman was shot dead after taking three people hostage in the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in the US. The man had been arrested before for protesting against Discovery Channel over environmental issues. [msnbc.com]
- Ferrari is recalling more than 400 luxury Italia cars after reports that a design fault could cause them to catch fire. [AFP]
- Scandinavian airline SAS plans to host the first-ever in-flight gay wedding in December. The airline is currently searching for a suitable couple to walk down the airplane aisle. [Telegraph]
(Photo from Stuff.co.uk) Read more
Celcom users, listen up: You've heard the boy, you've sang along to his songs, and his hairstyle has been copied by many. Justin Bieber is no stranger to the music scene, and here's a chance for you to win an all-expense paid trip to Tokyo to meet him in the flesh and watch his live acoustic performance. Read more
In our travels across cultural time and space, we happened upon this nifty film project called Hujan Panas: a 20-minute short about a Malaysian dude who heads to New York in pursuit of his dream. Love, business courses and identity crises ensue. We talk to filmmaker Nadiah Hamzah about living in NY, why she loves movies, and the Malaysian Brain Drain! Read more
Is it September already? Time sure flies! How was Merdeka for you? Anyway, here's what's in the news today:
- Songwriter, film-maker and rapper Namewee has given his statement to the police over his latest controversial video clip 'Nah'. Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin says the time has come for stern action and a lesson for all. [The Edge]
- Namewee's comment on the issue: “It doesn’t mean that If I see something wrong in my country, I will remain quiet because I am Malaysian. I am anti-racism and support 1 Malaysia.” [The Malaysian Insider]
- BBC has denied that it was pressured to axe Raja Petra Kamarudin from its Hardtalk programme this week. [Free Malaysia Today]
- Football team Chelsea has confirmed Malaysia as their pre-season training hub next summer 2011. [The Sun]
- A Sri Lankan tourist died while trying to flee kidnappers, while a friend escaped and another was rescued. The trio had just arrived on holiday and to sell gemstones worth RM4,0000 when they were abducted by a group of men in a van in KLIA. [Sydney Morning Herald]
- President Obama formally brought an end to US combat operations in Iraq last night, seven years after the invasion began, and declared it was time for America "to turn the page". [The Guardian]
- Gmail has unveiled Priority Inbox, which automatically filters the most important messages from spam. [Daily Mail]
(Photo courtesy of Namewee) Read more
Selamat Hari Merdeka, Malaysia! It's been 53 years since we learned to run our own show, but surely there's room for better programming. Nevertheless, here are 13 videos to keep you in a patriotic mood all year round! (Or at least until Malaysia Day). Read more
This year's modest display of official Merdeka joy offers us a lot of crunchy rumination. Information, Communications and Culture MinisterRais Yatim assures us that the Bukit Jalil bash will be "longer, conveys more message, the contents are also more apt". What content? It will feature the army and cops, but "there will be no cultural performance". In honour of our independence celebrations, we look at other awesome National Day parades from around the world!
(Photo from Flickr) Read more
The Body Shop has recently launched its eco-conscious hair care line that's sure to appeal to all you environmentalists out there! Called 'Rainforest', it respects the ecosystem as it is biodegradable and its packaging is made from 100% recycled plastic. Without any silicones, sulphates, parabens or colourants, its perfect for your health, too. Read more
It's a Monday between holidays! Here's the news for you poor sods who didn't take leave today. Oh, you did, did you? Good for you.
- Oh god: bombs in KL? A woman dies after a home-made explosive blows up in front of a Cheras apartment. [The Star]
- Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim warns of stern action against people who produce videos with racist slurs, in response to Namewee's latest video. What about that racist headmistress in Johor, then? [Malaysiakini]
- The BBC drops Raja Petra Kamarudin from its Hardtalk programme, after the network's lawyers advised that having the fugitive blogger as a guest "would expose BBC to legal action and upset the Malaysian government". [The Malaysian Insider]
- An interview with Alec Tok: filmmaker -- and politician in Singapore's opposition. Interesting detail: Alec considers New York to be his home. [CNN Go]
- The inexact, politically-charged art of estimating crowds at rallies: how many people attended crazy conservative Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington DC? [Newser]
- Oh, Paris! She was arrested for cocaine possession. We'd rather you just stick to partying with Jho Low. [TMZ]
- Awesome: guy pepper-sprays homophobic Westboro Baptist Church protesters. [CNN]
- This just in: witchcraft is still alive in parts of the world. An albino girl in Swaziland was beheaded by "black magic practitioners". [NineMSN]
- The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, summed up. [The Daily What]
- Icons of the Web: security firm Nmap took the icons of the Internet's top 288,945 websites and put it together in one big infographic image! [Nmap]
- Almost every action adventure movie had it, once; now you never see it. What happened to quicksand in popular culture? [Slate]
- "I remember when this volcano was dormant. This volcano used to have integrity." Hipster dinosaurs! [Imgur]
(Photo from Nmap)
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