Petrol price down by 15 sen

After much speculation, Malaysia will cut petrol prices from RM2.70 to RM2.55 per litre, a reduction of 5.6%. The new rates will take effect on Aug 23. The last we read was that petrol prices will only be reviewed by September 1st!! Unfortunately, I don't think that with the decrease of 15 sen, it will ease the people's burden and further reduce the inflation rate. I suppose the reduction is another sneaky move for the sake of some upcoming by-election??

This insignificant decrease of fifteen sen compared to the much higher increase in many essential items do not mean much now. It is easy to bring down the fuel price but it is an uphill task to bring down the prices of other goods.

Perhaps, a little is better than none. Of course we hope there'll be more further reduction.

Source: The Star

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

This is the first time Avon Walk will take place in Malaysia. The charity walk, aimed at raising awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection and treatment of the disease, is part of a global effort by Avon to mobilise people all around the world to focus on breast cancer education and raise funds for the cause.

Whether you live in Kuala Lumpur, there’s a walk coming your way. The walk, to take place at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa on Aug 10, is open to the public. Participation is at a minimum RM20 and participants will receive a Reebok T-shirt worth RM90 and an Avon goodie bag worth RM50. All proceeds will be channelled to the PRIDE Foundation (Pink Ribbon Deeds), a charity body that aims to enhance awareness and improve accessibility to treatments and care of breast cancer at all levels of society.

I guess the idea of losing their breasts scares a lot of women. Not an easy proposition for any woman to face. Naturally it could make them feel incomplete. It's rather difficult when someone you love has cancer, not only breast cancer. It changes the whole environment of the family. We must all be well informed to survive this.

Decreased in petrol price

Effective Sept 1 2008, the retail price of petrol will be based on the average monthly market price of world crude oil, more precisely world gasoline prices, with the subsidy rate mantained at 30 sen per litre.

The present government is messing up everything. In the first place, the petrol price shouldn’t have been increased overnight by 42%. This is hasty and poor planning. It has obviously created severe problems of inflation, economy downturn and untold misery for the nation. A lot of retailers have increased the price of their goods and it will certainly not be that easy to ask them to review the prices again. Don’t expect the prices of foodstuff etc to decrease. We have gotten so used to hearing that the prices keep going up.

Let's just hope that the price will continue to slide down, not only for a greater relief to motorists, but also to further slow down the inflation rate and the rise of prices of goods.

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Children died after forgetful fathers left them in cars

This piece of tragic news just makes me so sad. The wrongful death of these toddlers could have been avoided with better attention to the safety of the children. I bet these folks will never forget or forgive themselves. A car can heat up quickly even when it's relatively mild outside. Obviously, the simple act of leaving a child in a hot car can end an innocent life.

My children are the most important things in my life. I feel terrible for those people that forget, but I just can't imagine it. How can they not be aware of a life living and breathing in a car seat behind them? If that ever happened to me, I seriously would kill myself, because I wouldn't be able to live with that. I think this is the first time I've ever said that.

Adults should be considered capable of knowing and remembering basic and important things like these. They should be charged when their children die this way: it's negligence. There's no excuse for that kind of negligence. Any stranger can see a child in the car and find a way to get in that car and drive away with the child.

If you really love your kids and want what's best for them....Bring them in with you or don't bring them at all! I always make it a point to “look before I leave” routine whenever I get out of the car, every time. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR LEAVING A CHILD IN A CAR FOR ANY REASON!

Source: Times Online

Breast Feeding Protest

Breastfeeding seems to be the most natural, beautiful exchange between mother and child I could ever imagine. After all, God created the breasts just for this purpose.

I came across this news article on breast feeding protest that caught my attention. Now, here's my opinion: it depends on the place as well as the person involved. I have no objection to women breast-feeding their babies in a public place, more power to them, not weird at all, but how it's being done is also a factor. The mothers just need to be discreet and not expose their breasts. I breast fed all my three children, my last until she was six months old. There are moments when it can be inconvenient as it is a private intimate thing to do and I don't want it to be done in public unless a last resort.

Sometimes the baby will choke and you have to overcome with that first and not the spray of milk from your exposed breast, I definitely don't want to see that happen .........but don't get me wrong! I am not anti breast feeding! It's a truly beautiful thing symbolizing the perfect bond between mom and child. I'm just pretty shy about exposing myself and I'm not good at nursing in such a way that you couldn't tell what was going on. So it's either in the car or restroom for me and my kiddo. It's just that there is a time and place for everything.

I understand that many people are extremely uncomfortable with women breastfeeding in public as well. Seeing women breast feed their child in public “freaks” out some people.

Maddie Reynolds, with daughter Sophie, was asked to leave for breastfeeding

Mum power: The friends from ante-natal class converge on McDonald's for the feed-in. Maddie Reynolds is fourth from the left

George Town, Malacca has achieved the World Heritage Site Status

George Town and Bandar Melaka are now UNESCO's World Heritage Site. This is simply awesome! Something for Malaysians to be proud of...... Now that George Town and Malacca are listed as World Heritage Sites, the citizens can look forward to seeing more tourists. With the listing, the two cities join other World Heritage Sites in Malaysia that include the Mulu Caves and Kinabalu National Park.

As a Penangite, I’m proud of this new status of my city. Penang has plenty of good things to offer. It is also well known for being the "food paradise of Malaysia." Nevertheless, there are still plenty of work to be done. The inner city needs renewal badly to bring Penang to a greater shine for foreigners. I hope there are enough local experts to lend their expertise. George Town has been recognised for its largest concentration of pre-World War II buildings in South East Asia and multi-ethnic living heritage. There is a large potential market for heritage and cultural tourism.

It’s time for us, or particularly to the government, to have a comprehensive plan on how to fully utilize this competitive advantage to benefit the people. Otherwise, Unesco will strip George town off the heritage city status. Meanwhile, the state would hold a three day celebration from July 25th to celebrate George Town's success in getting the heritage site listing.

Source: The Star & UNESCO

* Top Tourist Sites In Malaysia *

Watermelon Is Nature's Viagra

Water melons may have the solution for those men who fail to rise to the occasion in the bedroom, with scientists discovering that a slice of watermelon has effects similar to the impotence drug Viagra. Very interesting indeed, who needs Viagra if you have a watermelon? Well guys, better stock up on your watermelon if you want to increase libido and continue to satisfy your woman well into your old age.

I expect to see a mad rush coming on watermelons and perhaps a world wide watermelon shortage. Besides, I have a feeling that watermelon sales would see a boost across globe after this revelation. I'm afraid this is NOT a piece of good news for the Viagra company. Their profits may sink and watermelons could soon force Viagra out of the market.

On a healthy note.....take more watermelons ya !! ...It’s a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side effects, not just for the better sex, of course. :)

source

In the meantime, here's wishing Happy 4th July to U.S.A.

eBay $ued over faked goods

eBay, the world's online auctioneer has been ordered to pay a solid 40 million Euro / $63 million for not being able to stop auctions selling counterfeit goods. The lawsuit against eBay was brought on by the LVMH(Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) group, which includes big names like Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Christian Dior, and it saw the website accused of not doing its best to keep people from selling fake designer bags and perfumes. Tiffany & Company in the United States has also sued eBay, but the case is pending.

THANK GOODNESS.. I never buy goods on ebay cause of the fact.. of people being able to sell fake goods. It's not fair.. how some people get screwed. eBay can be a nasty place for the unwary and I don't think it's going to get any better. If it is true that 90% of the Louis Vuitton bags and Dior perfumes on eBay are fakes, shutting down the trade in these items on eBay may be reasonable. Perhaps this is the price eBay has to pay for not taking any real precautions. Let’s hope that eBay learned a lesson from this and will take bigger steps to prevent fakes being sold on the site.

Critics and trademark holders are looking more for a way to guarantee authenticity and possibly including series and/or serial numbers of the items for sale.

Whoa!! Ladies check your bags and now that I’m thinking about it, men check your wallets too…

Full Article

Firefox 3 Download - A Huge Success

I know plenty of people will be rushing to download a copy of the final version of Firefox 3 on Tuesday when it’s released.

The Mozilla servers crashed as most Firefoxers all determined to be one of the first to experience the latest version of their favourite browser. They seem to be back online now after some early hiccups.

Still, Mozilla managed to break the world records for software downloads in 24 hours, and it looks like Firefox 3 is going to be highly popular. It has tons of new features with 15,000 improvements, plus it runs faster and provides a safer browsing environment.

I bet there are a lot of Firefox lovers out there, but I am not one of those, believe me! I see Firefox as a very good browser, but I always encounter problems, so I never fell in love with it. But only time will tell, because changing your primary browser is not something to do over night. It'll be interesting to see how the reception of Firefox 3 grows as more users experience its new features. I'm sure Firefox 3 should really become much better than any browser in the wild!

Well done, Mozilla!

HK Superstars Tony Leung & Carina Lau To Tie the Knot

AFP Photo

The long-anticipated marriage of HK showbiz couple Tony Leung and Carina Lau are finally settling down this year. This is something all their fans are looking forward to, as they are the most compatible couple in the entertainment industry.

Source : TheStar

Updated news: Tony Leung and Carina Lau married in Bhutan

Cost-cutting measures For Menteris- Save RM2Bil

Pak Lah announced some measures to cut down on unneccesary expenditures for all menteris to combat rising costs recently. For these cost cutting measures, government would save up to RM 2 billions per year, so it seems. The 10% entertainment allowances cut for ministers and deputys was not enough to prove that the government understood the difficult times faced by the nation.

Looks like the cash rebates , the RM625 and RM150, are not going to be an annual thing and it's only one time deal. It seems that our Government is trying their best to lighten the burden of the public following the fuel price hike. The soaring prices put great pressure, uneasiness and worry on the livelihood of the nation in general. The rebate idea seems good for the day but in the long run it would eventually suck us dry.

On a personal note, I’ll have to review all my travel trips– like going to work, sending my kids to school, the weekend family outings, the list goes on. Perhaps, I now need to drive less and use the car only when necessary. But going to work is a necessity and there is nothing I can do about that.

And I don’t think I’ll give up driving because public transports are inefficient and unreliable. I want to see the ministers take public transport, so we can follow suit. See if they can get to their offices on time.

The good old days are gone. The days of cheap fuel are unlikely to return.

Well, I’m no politic savvy but this is too much. Ever since Pak lah took over, prices have been climbing up and up and never went down…nothing he did was ever right…Vote for 'B.N.' sum morelah!!! Get ready to embrace more shocks in future.

Petrol Price Increased has triggered a public outcry

The Malaysians must be feeling the pinch about the petrol increased issue. It has been announced that the price of petrol will be increased from RM1.92p/litre to RM 2.70p/litre by midnight. This has triggered a public outcry. Everyone is flocking to the petrol station and has caused a massive traffic jam everywhere. Thousands of people are burning petrol to save petrol. Well what to do, Malaysians are very kiasu in a way.

Ironically, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad announced that Malaysia is planning petrol price hike in August two days ago. In early April, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said there would be no increase in the petrol price as this was the wish of the people. But today, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced an increase of 40.6% in the price of petrol. This is insanity! People now have to pay more for everything following the fuel price hike. Besides, electricity rates will be risen by 18% for homes and 26% for business users in July. Life will be tough for fellow Malaysians.

Harga minyak masak NAIK,
Harga beras NAIK,
harga petrol NAIK,
Batang Hidung Pak Lah pun NAIK!
Cuma gaji kite yang tak naik, naik............GERAM BETUL!!!!!

Looks like I'll barely survive after these soaring prices.

World Environment Day 2008

Every year since 1972 this day is celebrated on June 5 in a different host country featuring a different theme. The World Environment Day slogan for 2008 is Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy with the emphasis on taking action towards reducing greenhouse gases . The main international celebrations of World Environment Day 2008 will be held in New Zealand.

People are being encouraged to be environmentally friendly to live a greener life. We've heard a lot about global warming, recycling, reducing wastes and ways to conserve the environment. Stand up to Climate Change are asking people to select which change to their routine they will be making to help prepare for Climate Change – from saving water to helping prepare against floods.

Let us all do our part to combat global warming. The future of all life on earth depends on us. Each of us can bring an important role in adopting a more responsible and healthy lifestyle by doing basic things such as turning off the lights or appliances when not in use. That's one of the reasonable ways to save our earth, before it is too late.

Remember the three R's - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Check out the World Environment Day website for more details and activities.

Angelina Jolie: On Birth & Guns

Photo by: UPI Photo / Landov

I'm sure you must have heard of Angelina Jolie's giving birth stuff earlier. People has the official word from Angelina's rep that these rumors are false. However, Brad Pitt has now issued a statement confirming that the babies have not yet been born. Jolie has previously stated her twins are due in August. She and Pitt have four other children, Maddox, six, Pax, four, and Zahara, three, all adopted, and two-year-old Shiloh. So, there you have it. The world will have to be patient and wait a bit longer before Angelina’s twins exit the womb in August. In the world of celebrity news, it may be the biggest story of the year.

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview Angelina Jolie has revealed recently that she and Brad Pitt are keeping a gun at home - which she would not be afraid to use to protect her children . ANGELINA Jolie says she will shoot anyone harming her kids – with her own Tomb Raider-style guns. The Kung Fu Panda star who has starred in many action movies including Mr and Mrs Smith is an expertise in using her weapon. The sexy mama has also learned all the punches, head butts and kicks. Apart from that, the superstar couple is in favour of teaching their growing brood self-defence, so they can protect themselves when they're older.

Take notes, wannabe intruders. I've to remind myself to never ever break into the Jolie-Pitt house! That actually kind of really freaks me out!

Jolie-Pitt twins birth story denied - Scotsman.com News

David Cook Dating Kimberley Cardwell

David Cook asks Kim Caldwell out to dinner


Kimberly Caldwell reacts to David Cook asking her out


Is this the new beginning for David Cook? The newly crowned "Idol" winner said Tuesday on "Live With Regis and Kelly" that he recently had a dinner date with former "Idol" contestant Kimberly Caldwell.

Pulau Batu Puteh goes to Singapore

Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh: SINGAPORE (12 votes - 4 Votes)
Middle Rocks/Terumbu Tengah: MALAYSIA (15 votes - 1 vote)
South Ledge/Terumbu Selatan: WILL BE DECIDED SOON… (15 votes - 1 vote)

BERNAMA

The International Court of Justice here today ruled Singapore has sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh while Malaysia owns Middle Rocks, and South Ledge belongs to the state in whose territorial waters it is located.

The judgment brought to a close a 28-year-old territorial dispute between Malaysia and Singapore over the island which Singapore called Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge.
Pulau Batu Puteh is located 7.7 nautical miles off the coast of Johor’s Tanjung Penyusuh. Both countries have pledged to abide by the decision of the ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, whose decision is final and not subject to appeal.

Malaysia and Singapore have also repeatedly emphasised that whatever decision handed down by the ICJ, would not strain ties between the two neighbours.

The judgment was delivered by ICJ Vice-President Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, who was the Acting President in the case, at 10am Netherlands time and ended reading out the verdict five minutes before noon.

Shawkat and 15 other judges had heard oral submissions by both countries from Nov 6-23 last year.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim regarded the judgment as a “win-win” situation and stated that the status quo remained although Singapore had sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh and Malaysia over Middle Rocks.

The delivery of the judgment was televised live by RTM from The Hague, Netherlands, from 10am (4pm in Malaysia).

David Cook wins American Idol Season 7

Photo courtesy of Fox

America has just crowned its 7th Idol. After a dramatic, tension-filed few months, Rocker proves judge Simon Cowell wrong by 12 million votes. This win comes as a surprise since Simon Cowell pretty much declared David Archuleta the winner after last night’s performances. Simon gave all 3 rounds to David A on Tuesday night, it made the David Cook fans even more determined to VOTE VOTE VOTE! I am pleased that Simon apologized to David Cook about his harsh critics last night.

I haven’t ever seen such a fabulous finale so far. Season 7 was the best! Top 12 finalists made one final comeback to the show, with several group, solo and duet performances. Guests included Seal, Donna Summer, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, Graham Nash, The Jonas Brothers and OneRepublic and a grand finale by George Michael, who is making his first comeback tour after 17 years.

Congrats to David Cook on being this seasons American Idol. My Idol! David Archuletta, you are fabulous, and you have a magic career ahead of you.

School uniforms encourage rape, pre-marital sex?

I nearly fell off my chair laughing when I read this piece of crap in today's Star. To say that our school uniforms encourage rape and pre-marital sex is ridiculous. I just can't comprehend what kind of backward thinking this is! This is a humourous remark. Read on.

The school uniforms have been worn for decades. Uniform transparency is not the major reason leading to rapes and pre-marital sex, duh! You have the blue pinafore to cover up the white blouse. Do you think that by 'covering up' can fend of social ills, such as rape, sexual harassment and molest? What about fathers raping daughters, young children getting raped or molested? Those crimes are easily committed anywhere. Why are they always putting the blame of crime on the victim? Women should not be blame if men failed to control their urge. Infact, there are so many other ways to reach out and stop it from happening but this particular proposal is totally out of the question.

I think the whole world must be laughing their heads off while rolling on the floor. Something must be seriously wrong with local men if school uniforms worn by girls turns them on.

If the authorities really review the uniform policy and make changes, will it really helps? Honestly, if they seriously want to proceed with their crazy plan, I think that the baju kurung should be disallowed as it is more transparent than the blue pinafore with the white blouse.

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights : May 15th

All eyes will focus on Bloggers Unite For Human Rights on May 15th. Sponsored by Amnesty International, BlogCatalog, and Copywrite, Inc., the movement encourage all bloggers out there to blog about human rights and draw attention to the challenges and successes of human rights issues.

In order to participate, sign up for Bloggers Unite on their website, add one of their badges to your website’s sidebar and on May 15, share your human rights post with the Bloggers Unite community on Blog Catalog. What those topics may include — the wrongful imprisonment of journalists covering assemblies, governments that ignore the plight of citizens, and censorship of the Internet.

Join the challenge and unite for our right to humanity.

China Earthquake Buries 900 students

Almost 900 students have been buried by collapsed buildings during an earthquake in south-western China, state media reports. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in Sichuan Province on Monday afternoon, raised immediate concerns that the death toll could rapidly rise. The earthquake's toll, in human life and damage to infrastructure, is still largely unknown.

The massive quake was felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand, more than 2,000 miles from its epicenter in the Sichuan Province.

The massive and massively controversial Three Gorges Dam project was apparently not damaged by the quake, according to early government reports. Still unknown is whether the largest water diversion project the world has ever seen helped to trigger the earthquake. Tremors stemming from the project have been one of many long-standing environmental concerns.

The earthquake comes less than three months before the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, when China hopes to use to showcase its rise in the world.

Click for additional earthquake information and shake maps from the USGS

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