Olympic Games Beijing 2008 started!

Colourful and cheerful of Opening ceremony Olympic Beijing 2008

Malaysia Contigent in the ceremony

Yesterday, the 29th Olympic Games that are now officially began in Beijing, China on 8.8.08. I could not watched the opening ceremony as we don't have any ariel tv in the house so, today I just watched via youtube though it was not in full version (what I'd read in the news that the ceremony took about 1hour with the colourful firework and impressive performance..I like the big air balloon part). So overall, I can conclude the opening ceremony was so "chinese" and lovely..It makes the world watching to know more about China and the people with their great performance playing the drumbeat.

Not to forgot about our contigent that was lead by Cyclist Mohd Azizul Hasni Awang into the "Bird's Nest" Stadium during the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics yesterday. This time Malaysia sent 33 athletes to the Olympic 29th that led by Chef-de-mission and two-time Olympian Datuk Ho Koh Chye, clad in orange and gold coloured Malay traditional outfits, out of the dug-out. And the spotlight was also on track cyclist and double Asian champion Azizul Hasni Awang, who carried the Jalur Gemilang proudly into the stadium.

The rest of the Malaysian athletes who trooped out along with the officials were swimmers Leung Chii Lin and Siow Yi Ting, divers Leong Mun Yee, Elizabeth Jimie, Pandelela Rinong and Bryan Nickson, cyclists Josiah Ng, Mohd Edrus Yunus and Rizal Tisin.

Malaysian sailor Kevin Lim, who is competing in his fourth Olympics, also took part in the opening ceremony. Kevin came all the way from the sailing host city of Qingdao, nearly 800km away from Beijing, along with his coach, Vedat Alpagut.

Malaysia BOLEH!

What do I dislike most about myself when I'm in airplane

Debris is seen at the scene where a British Airways plane landed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport in London January 17, 2008. The British Airways plane on a flight from China crash-landed short of the runway at London's Heathrow Airport on Thursday. Four people were slightly injured. Fire engines smothered the Boeing 777 in foam after it landed with its wings extensively damaged and its undercarriage wrecked.

REUTERS/Stephen Hird (BRITAIN)11:40 a.m. ET, 1/17/08

The wheels (R) from a British Airways jet on a flight from Beijing (L) lie on the grass at London's Heathrow airport 17 January 2008, after it landed short of the runway, sparking an emergency operation by British emergency services. The incident, which left three people injured, happened shortly before Prime Minister Gordon Brown was due to take off from Heathrow for China on an official visit.

Whoa..another news just came in msnbc, its about a jet crash,Boeing 777 (British Airways) at Heathrow Airport, London after it landed early this afternoon, 17 January 2008. Luckily, no one died, and about 8 people had minor injury. What I've read is that, the plane wheels appeared to collapse and the aircraft landed on its belly..its awfull and you never knows how the passengers felt. But, the structure of the landing gear, or wheels is designed to break off or pull off when there is skidding when landing. So, the aircraft will landing on its belly and depend on how the pilot deal to land it..This is the most thing I afraid of if I'm going vacation with airplane..The most critical and dangerous event in flight is that, when aircraft is in take-off or landing. Again, taken from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22706026/

Passenger jet crash lands at Heathrow
Witness: 'Debris was flying everywhere;' eight treated for minor injuries

updated 12:47 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2008

LONDON - A British Airways jet carrying 152 people crash landed Thursday at Heathrow airport, tearing its underbelly, damaging its wings and skidding to a halt before emergency chutes deployed. All aboard escaped safely, but eight people were hurt.

Fire trucks surrounded the Boeing 777, which had taken off from Beijing, after it landed early in the afternoon, spraying fire retardant foam around the aircraft.

The plane’s wheels appeared to collapse as it came down in the grass in front of the airport’s southern runway, witness John Rowland told the British Broadcasting Corp.

“It crashed into the runway, debris was flying everywhere, there was an enormous bang and it skidded sideways,” he said.

London Ambulance Service said eight people had been taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
The accident at one of Heathrow’s two runways occurred just before a plane carrying British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a delegation of business leaders, including Virgin Chairman Richard Branson, was about to depart for China. The prime minister’s plane was about half a mile away.

The crash forced Europe’s busiest airport to temporarily halt departures and arrivals while emergency crews worked at the scene. Planes were still taking off and landing on Heathrow’s northern runway, air traffic control company Nats said. Some other flights were diverted to other airports, Heathrow said on its Web site.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch was investigating, British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh told reporters, adding the airline didn’t want to speculate on the cause.
The passengers had been taken to a center, where airline staff were looking after them, Walsh said.

“The customers on board the aircraft are generally in good spirits, I know they are anxious to get back to their friends,” Walsh said. “They are being interviewed by the police until all the relevant details have been taken.”

First 777 accident

It was the first accident involving the Boeing 777 since the plane entered service in 1995, said Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier in Seattle.

The Boeing 777, one of 42 in the BA fleet, was relatively new at 6-years-old, Walsh said.
“The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years,” he said.

Emergency workers surrounded the plane and firefighters sprayed fire retardant foam as a precaution as the 16-member crew evacuated passengers on inflatable chutes.
Passenger Jerome Ensinck told the BBC that he at first thought the plane had made a hard landing.

“There was no indication that we were going to have a bad landing,” he said. “When we hit the ground it was extremely rough.”

“Then the emergency exits were opened and we were all told we should go through as quickly as possible, and the moment I was away from the plane I started to realize that the undercarriage was away, and we had missed the runway, Ensinck said.
“Now I realize I’ve had a close call,” he said.

Wind shear to blame?

Robert Cullemore of Aviation Economics, a London-based aviation consultancy, said a pilot from a competing airline told him officials believed the cause of the accident was wind shear, a sudden gust of wind.

“It can happen anytime anywhere and if it happens you just hope there is no airplane nearby,” Cullemore said.

He said the pilot kept the plane in the air long enough to prevent a disastrous outcome.

“If it had landed 200 meters (yards) shorter than it did, it may have hit perimeter fence and obviously some other buildings and the car park, clearly we would be dealing with fatalities and obvious damage,” Cullemore said.

Prince William's flying lessons

Ok, the most charming prince for all single and young ladies all over the world maybe get lucky if one of them get chances to be in the plane if the pilot is off course, Prince William..



U.K.’s Prince William flies solo for first time
‘Please don't mess this up,’ heir to throne tells self during Air Force training

updated 11:52 a.m. ET Jan. 17, 2008

LONDON - Prince William was surprised, a bit nervous and finally elated by his first solo flight.
William, 25, the elder son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, is having flight training with the Royal Air Force. He flew alone for the first time Wednesday.

“God knows how somebody trusted me with an aircraft and my own life,” he said of his flight in a propeller-driven trainer.

“I was doing a few circuits going round and round then Roger (Bousfield), my instructor, basically turned round and said, ‘Right, I’m going to jump out now’ and I said, ‘What, where are you going?”’

“He said, ‘You’re going on your own ...”’

No problem
Once airborne, the prince said, “it was fine.”

“You just remember your checks and do all the things you’ve got to do and fly the circuit,” he said.

“Then I was watching the runway getting closer and closer and thinking, please, please don’t mess this up,” William said Thursday.

taken from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22708571/

Muslim clothing disqualifies track star

I read this news when I opened the Yahoo website..I do love sport,even though I've been active in sport for few years ago in my secondary school and college. I don't think clothing is a big deal in sport unless he or she is comfortable. The news just spread this evening. Article taken from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22688690/

Track star banned over Muslim clothing
Officials disqualify girl from meet, saying her uniform violates rules
updated 10:04 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2008

WASHINGTON - A high school track star has been disqualified from a meet because officials said the custom-made outfit she wears to conform to her Muslim faith violated competition rules.

Juashaunna Kelly, a senior at the District of Columbia’s Theodore Roosevelt High School, has the fastest mile and 2-mile times of any girl runner in the city this winter. She was disqualified from Saturday’s Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet.

Kelly was wearing the same uniform she has worn for three seasons while running for Theodore Roosevelt’s cross-country and track teams. The custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard covers her head, arms, torso and legs. Over the unitard, she wears the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates.

The outfit allows her to compete while adhering to her Muslim faith, which forbids displaying any skin other than her face and hands.

“It’s not special,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t make me perform better.”

But meet director Tom Rogers said Kelly’s uniform violated rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations, which sanctioned the event. Uniforms are required to be “a single-solid color and unadorned, except for a single school name or insignia no more than 2 1/4 inches,” he said.

Montgomery County Public Schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison said the decision about the uniform was not made by Rogers, but by referees who were part of an independent organization.

The organization told the school system that the decision was based solely on the multicolored top, she said.

Rogers said that he knew Kelly was wearing the uniform for religious reasons and that he offered her several options to conform to the rules while still respecting her faith, including placing a plain T-shirt over her unitard and then wearing her team uniform over it.
Kelly’s mother, Sarah, and Roosevelt Coach Tony Bowden disputed that account. They said officials made several demands of her daughter before officials made the decision.

“First, they said she had to take her hood off,” Sarah Kelly said. “Then, they said she can’t have anything with logos displayed. Then, they said she had to turn it inside out. When I told them that there weren’t any logos on it, they said she had to put a plain white T-shirt on over it.”
Juashaunna Kelly has worn the same uniform for three years without any problems, including at last year’s Montgomery Invitational. Rogers said officials must have missed the uniform last year.

“It wasn’t a problem last year, and it’s a problem this year? Make me understand why,” Bowden said.

Kelly, whose 1,600-meter time of 5 minutes 17.49 seconds and 3,200-meter time of 12:00.81 are the fastest of any D.C. girl, was hoping to run fast enough at the Montgomery Invitational to qualify for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York on Feb. 8-9.

Bowden said the team has no other meets scheduled that would allow her to qualify for the event, which attracts dozens of college recruiters.

Ok, now I know what is the problem..either the outfit or the religion? Most important that, I love sport especially, hockey..I hate being hit by the stick or the ball..its awfull..mind you?

Women to join Muslim board

Not much comment to say..Have to refer to higher educated personnel about this.But I do proud when women start to proved they can be the part of the board.

From The Star online today;

Women to join Muslim board

FOR the first time, three women have been appointed to serve on a board that hears appeals of the Syariah Court and Registrar of Muslim Marriages.

In the nearly 40 years since the board was set up, only men have ever been invited to be on it.

The trio bucking this trend are Faridah Eryani Pairin, 39, a lawyer with the Housing Board; Harinah Abdul Latiff, 43, a teacher at the Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah; and Hamidah Ibrahim, 53, a district judge.

They now form part of a 20-member panel.

From time to time, three people will be chosen from this panel to sit on an ad hoc appeal board to hear an appeal.

The issues that the board will deal with include those relating to the custody of children and the division of property in a divorce or death.

The board functions like a Court of Appeal and has the power to confirm or reverse the Syariah Court’s decision.

The 20 are appointed to the panel by President S.R. Nathan, on the advice of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.

Their tenure runs for two years till Dec 31 next year.

Harinah said she was honoured to be appointed and that she aimed to “bring a woman's point of view” to the board.

Faridah, who has been a lawyer for 15 years, agreed and added: “I hope to be able to contribute with the background and expertise that I have.”

Faridah also saw the appointment of the three women as an acknowledgment that women deserve a bigger role in the community.

“You already see a lot of women taking on bigger roles and it’s an opportunity for women to show what we can do for the community,” she said. – The Straits Times / Asia News Network

A limit to buy cooking oil?

Ok. I really couldn't believe this..I do not understand about this either..our country is the major export of palm oil. hmm..this is article from The Star online today..Let we think about it..what is wrong here.

5kg buying limit on cooking oil

By MAZWIN NIK ANIS, SYLVIA LOOI, SIRA HABIBU, CAROLYN OOI and STEVEN DANIEL

PUTRAJAYA: Five kilograms – that is the maximum amount of cooking oil that each consumer can buy when a move to solve the shortage of the essential item is enforced next week.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal however did not specify when the move would be implemented to increase stocks of cooking oil, especially in areas like Kelantan, Pahang, Malacca, Kedah and some parts of the Klang Valley where the shelves are getting bare.


Shafie said that while manufacturers have been instructed to increase production from 48,000 tonnes to 53,886 tonnes a month, the restriction in purchase was necessary to ensure there would be no hoarding or panic buying.

He said the ruling would not only apply to those buying cooking oil in hypermarkets or supermarkets but also in smaller retail outlets and grocery stores.

One reason for the shortage was industrial users buying cooking oil in small packets, which is subsidised by the Government, instead of buying it in larger quantities, he said.


He added that smuggling also contributed to the shortage and that the ministry had alerted enforcement agencies at the country’s borders to conduct strict surveillance to prevent cooking oil from being taken out of the country.

“The shortage has also occurred because of the rising population. There are also more businesses such as food production factories and restaurants being opened that use a lot of cooking oil.

“With the restriction in place and the increase in production, we hope to be able to solve the shortage within a week or two.

“At the same time, the ministry will study other measures, including stopping leakages in the distribution system to prevent the problem from recurring,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Asked if the increase in production was permanent or whether the ministry would order an increase again should the problem persist, Shafie said he would have to gauge the results before making decisions.

Last year, the ministry directed 23 cooking oil manufacturers to increase output to 48,000 tonnes a month, an increase of an additional 3,000 tonnes a month.

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