The Malaysian Insider :: Features

Moral courage is needed, says Irshad Manji

Tue, 22 May 2012 01:41:51 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — Irshad Manji is a familiar name only to Malaysian intellectuals, curious readers of theology and debate, and religious authorities. Young adult Malaysians who studied in the US and Canada may be somewhat familiar with her name too. Still, Manji and her work are very new entities to the public. And yet, in recent weeks, ...

Avoid eating after dark to lose weight, says study

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:36:27 GMT

NEW YORK, May 22 — Make your final meal of the day one that sets with the sun in order to lose weight. That’s the overriding conclusion of a recently published study which found that eating after dark could be a contributing factor to obesity. It’s a theory that correlates the metabolic cycles of different organs to eating schedules, researchers ...

Coffee lovers may live longer, study shows

Mon, 21 May 2012 15:01:45 GMT

PARIS, May 21 —If you love your morning coffee, a new study finds that your daily habit could protect your health. In a study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute in the US, older adults who drank coffee — caffeinated or decaffeinated — had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee. The java drinkers — ...

Fending off fitness fatigue

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:50:05 GMT

NEW YORK, May 21 — Runners stumble, yogis yawn, and even the bulkiest body builders get bored. But fitness experts say there are specific tricks to help people get and stay motivated. Connecticut-based exercise physiologist Tom Holland, who has coached clients on everything from losing weight to climbing mountains to running marathons, said set a ...

Dale Chihuly’s ‘Glass House’ shines in Seattle

Mon, 21 May 2012 04:52:55 GMT

LOS ANGELES, May 21 — Pioneering glass artist Dale Chihuly, whose work has been shown in over 200 museums worldwide, will be honoured in his home city Seattle when “Chihuly Garden and Glass” opens today, offering the most comprehensive collection of his work ever. Spanning one and a half acres in the shadow of the Space Needle, the show includes ...

Wanted: A dog to marry Lucky and help others in need

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:56:02 GMT

NEW YORK, May 21 — In a midtown Manhattan hotel, a very special bride-to-be named Lucky, decked out in a frilly pink dress, recently celebrated her impending nuptials with friends over champagne, sandwiches, cupcakes and tea. Like many brides, Lucky is in a rush to walk down the aisle, but she is no ordinary spouse-in-waiting, and her shower was ...

Medical tourism sets pulses racing

Sun, 20 May 2012 07:29:36 GMT

BERLIN, May 20 — From liposuction in Athens to an eye operation in Dubai, the lucrative market in medical tourism is on the up, tempting ever more countries to look for ways to profit from foreign patient care. “Everyone wants their share of the pie,” Sanjiv Malik, director of DM Healthcare, a Dubai-based network of hospitals, said at a recent ...

Fitness can fight high blood pressure genes

Sun, 20 May 2012 03:33:32 GMT

SOUTH CAROLINA, May 20 — If high blood pressure runs in your family, a new study suggests you can turn your odds around by keeping physically fit. A new study published last week shows that physically fit people with a family history of high blood pressure were up to 34 per cent less likely to develop high blood pressure than people who rarely ...

Meat-eating males considered more masculine, study shows

Sun, 20 May 2012 01:27:51 GMT

LOS ANGELES, May 20 — Are vegetarian men pansies? And meat-eating men more masculine? Those are the suggestions of a new study which found a clear association between the way people view rib-and-steak kind of men, versus vegetarian, soy milk kind of guys. In a study published this week in the Journal of Consumer Research, a team of US researchers ...

Common antibiotic boosts death risk: Study

Sat, 19 May 2012 09:21:56 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 19 – A popular antibiotic used for treating bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections and sexually transmitted diseases may boost the risk of death, a US study said on Wednesday. Azithromycin has been on the worldwide market since the 1980s, but the study in the New England Journal of Medicine is the first to document serious heart ...

Living in fear

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:43:45 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — There’s an important element to remember when talking about refugees: they live in a world of fear. Of course, it is not the first time they get to taste this bitter feeling, as they are forced to seek refuge in a new, unfamiliar place. War, poverty, insurgency may have left them traumatised and forced to flee their country. ...

Study unpicks gene changes behind breast cancer

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:48:00 GMT

LONDON, May 18 — Scientists have mapped the complete genetic codes of 21 breast cancers and created a catalogue of the mutations that accumulate in breast cells, raising hopes that the disease may be able to be spotted earlier and treated more effectively in future. The research, the first of its kind, untangles the genetic history of how cancer ...

‘Good’ cholesterol doctrine may be flawed, says study

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:31:25 GMT

PARIS, May 18 — Researchers yesterday challenged a tenet of modern medicine that higher levels of “good” cholesterol automatically boost cardiovascular health. In a study published in The Lancet, investigators said they found no evidence to back the belief that higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol routinely reduce the risk ...

Feeling tired? You may be socially jetlagged, study suggests

Thu, 17 May 2012 15:33:25 GMT

MUNICH, May 17 — Hectic schedules, strict work demands, and a busy social life can clash with your biological rhythms, resulting in what researchers are now calling social jetlag. A new study published last week from LMU University in Munich, Germany, suggests that ignoring the 24-hour circadian clock — in which sunlight helps regulate your body's ...

South Korean ‘goose fathers’ so lonely they keep flies

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:28:25 GMT

SEOUL, May 17 — Unlike his colleagues at a Korean city office, Choi Chang-young dreads the end of each workday, when he is forced to return to his empty, echoing house. "I feel a deep sense of loneliness since neither my wife nor my kids are waiting for me," the 45-year-old administrator said of his home in the city of Cheongju, 120 km (75 miles) ...

India’s shunned transgenders struggle to survive

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:53:34 GMT

NEW DELHI, May 17 — Seema, a husband and father of two, gets ready for another night of work on the streets of the Indian capital, placing two halves of a yellow sponge ball into empty bra cups. The 33-year-old then plucks out the stubble on his chin, applies foundation from a pink heart-shaped make-up box and combs his chin-length black hair in ...

‘Blind’ eatery in Nepal lights way for visually impaired

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:12:27 GMT

KATHMANDU, May 17 — A line of diners, holding on to the shoulders of the person in front of them, enters the pitch dark hall at Nepal’s first blind restaurant, which treats guests to food they can smell, touch and taste but not see. The 16-seat dining room has been heavily curtained from ceiling to floor in black, and the guests grope their way to ...

Historic diamond sells for RM29.1m

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:51:50 GMT

GENEVA, May 17 — A centuries-old diamond passed down through generations of European royalty fetched nine million Swiss francs (RM29.1 million) at auction in Geneva on Tuesday. The 35-carat “Beau Sancy” diamond was worn by Marie de Medici, Queen consort of Henry IV, at her coronation in 1610. Five bidders spanning three continents competed for ...

English the preferred language for world business

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:10:34 GMT

NEW YORK, May 16 – Workers whose jobs require them to interact with people in foreign countries say that English is the dominant language of business, according to a new poll. More than one quarter of employees in 26 countries around the world told an Ipsos poll that their jobs involve dealing with people in other countries. And of those, ...

WHO warns of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:22:08 GMT

LONDON, May 16 – Health data released today provided the clearest evidence to date of the spread of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease from developed nations to poorer regions such as Africa, as lifestyles and diets there change. The United Nations data showed one in three adults worldwide has raised blood pressure – the cause of ...

Wall Street intrigue at Robin Hood charity gala

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:07:28 GMT

NEW YORK, May 16 — For the first time in months, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was off the hotseat. As Wall Street’s biggest hedge fund managers and top bankers flocked to a charity gala in New York on Monday night, the buzz was all about the disastrous trading losses at JPMorgan Chase & Co and the pressure on CEO Jamie Dimon. “He screwed up,” ...

Internet photo project to capture ‘day in life’ of world

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:27:54 GMT

STOCKHOLM, May 16 — Pictures of a house in India, a food cupboard in New Zealand and someone eating breakfast in Sweden were among the first of thousands of photographs sent to an Internet project to capture a day in the life of people all over the world yesterday. The Swedish-based project, www.aday.org , has got backing from figures in ...

Afghan woman pushes for rights from behind the wheel

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:58:29 GMT

KABUL, May 16 — The morning after the Taliban fell Shakila Naderi shed her head-to-toe burqa, sat behind the wheel of a car for the first time and asked her husband to teach her how to drive.Now Kabul's only female driving instructor, she teaches women a rare skill that confronts harsh opposition in ultra-conservative, Muslim Afghanistan."It ...

Insecticide resistance threatens malaria fight

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:27:02 GMT

LONDON, May 15 – Malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Africa and India are becoming resistant to insecticides, putting millions of lives at greater risk and threatening eradication efforts, health experts said today. While existing prevention measures such as mosquito nets treated with insecticide and indoor spraying are still effective, experts said ...

Economic growth sows unhappiness in China, says study

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:32:34 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 15 — China's economic growth of the last 20 years has generally been met with declining happiness, especially among the poorest members of society, according to a US analysis published on Monday. The study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is based on six different surveys on self-reported ...

Scotland sets minimum alcohol price

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:44:28 GMT

LONDON, May 15 — The Scottish government set out a minimum price for alcohol Monday, saying too many Scots were "drinking themselves to death" and it was time to tackle the country's relationship with booze. Alcohol should be sold at a minimum price of 50 pence (RM2.48) per unit, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced. The proposal is expected ...

Avoid chewing gum to maintain short-term memory, says study

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:19:05 GMT

LONDON, May 14 — Need to keep mentally alert for the next few minutes? Spit out that piece of chewing gum. That’s the conclusion of a British study which found that chewing gum can impair short-term memory, reported trade publication NutraIngredients.com. The latest study, published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, challenges ...

Japan creates world’s first blue lily

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:30:15 GMT

TOKYO, May 14 — Japanese scientists have made a horticultural breakthrough that will put the world’s first blue lilies in florists’ windows. Researchers in Niigata Prefecture have been working on creating a blue lily since 1998, and teamed up with scientists from drinks giant Suntory Holdings in 2006. As well as being one of Japan’s biggest beer ...

Leica camera auctioned in Austria for record US$2.8m

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:55:31 GMT

VIENNA, May 14 — A rare 1923 Leica went for €2.16 million euros (RM8.6 million) at an auction in Vienna at the weekend, making it the most expensive camera ever sold, the auctioneer said. An anonymous buyer won the bidding battle for the German camera, which still works and is one of around 25 test versions of Leica 0-Series cameras produced in ...

Artist Kapoor finds beauty in London’s Olympic orbit

Sun, 13 May 2012 07:50:52 GMT

LONDON, May 13 — Turner prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor said on Friday that Britons would grow to love his spiralling red tower on London’s Olympic Park, just as people had come to appreciate other structures initially loathed, including the Eiffel Tower. The 115-metre tall structure, higher than London’s Big Ben and New York’s Statue of Liberty ...

Hong Kong positions itself at the centre of Asian art scene

Sun, 13 May 2012 05:08:56 GMT

HONG KONG, May 13 — A collection of the world’s leading galleries are converging on Hong Kong over the next few days in preparation for its largest annual art fair but the smarter ones have already set up outlets here as they look to tap into a city that has set itself up as Asia’s arts hub. Art HK 12 will fill up the Hong Kong Convention and ...

Nepal’s kung fu nuns practise karma with a kick

Sun, 13 May 2012 04:21:19 GMT

KATHMANDU, May 13 — It is a hot, cloudless morning on a hillside on the outskirts of Kathmandu and dozens of nuns arrange themselves into lines around a golden Buddhist shrine. In unison, each slams a clenched fist into their opposite palm, breathes deeply and waits, motionless in the rising heat. But these devotees are not here to pray or to ...

Jeff Koons seeks to wring emotion from ‘empty’ art

Sun, 13 May 2012 01:42:23 GMT

BASEL (Switzerland), May 13 — US pop artist Jeff Koons is seeking to fire up your emotions at a retrospective show of his work in Switzerland. Although some critics regard his work as empty kitsch, Koons has put 30 years of sculpture — including his famous Balloon Dog — into his first museum show in Switzerland along with the admission that his ...

Black pepper found to act as fat-buster, study shows

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:34:08 GMT

SEOUL, May 12 — The following news item may put pepper grinders in restaurants and kitchens into overdrive. A team of researchers from South Korea say they’ve found that the pungent compound found in black pepper could block the formation of new fat cells. Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the study found that piperine ...

Don’t lose sleep over weight, scientists say

Sat, 12 May 2012 07:23:43 GMT

PARIS, May 12 — A lack of sleep could make you fat, scientists said on Thursday. This, in turn, could increase the sensation of hunger by 25 per cent. "If this translates to a proportional increase in calories, then a person with reduced sleep could eat 350 to 500 calories more per day," said a statement on the research led by Karine Spiegel from ...

Politics, the ongoing campaign

Sat, 12 May 2012 04:48:22 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Politics. That has been the one running theme in the country since Election 2008 and with election fever in the air, it seeps into everything we do. Last night's Umno 66th anniversary celebrations is just the latest event to push the political temperature up ahead of the looming polls.I.The two recent The Malaysian Insider ...

What mothers really want

Sat, 12 May 2012 01:43:48 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — It's common to find articles about places to eat for Mothers' Day or presents for your mother on that special celebration but have you ever wondered what mothers really want? From past experiences, my mom was always appreciative of my gifts but she will say, "Aiyah, girl. Don't waste money on gifts. As long as my children ...

America’s hatred of fat hurts obesity fight

Fri, 11 May 2012 23:50:42 GMT

NEW YORK, May 12 — One night when Lynn McAfee was 5 years old, her psychologically troubled mother left her at the side of a road as punishment for a now forgotten infraction. In the minutes before her mother's car returned, the terrified girl looked toward the nearby houses on the suburban Philadelphia street and wondered if she should walk over ...

An Olympics love story that sparked a fashion empire

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:36:27 GMT

SUMIRAGO (Italy), May 11 — Mention the name Missoni, and most think of a fashion empire that revolutionized textile patterns, spawned the no-bra look on the catwalks, and is now a global brand that designs everything from sweaters to sheets to hotels. But none of it would have happened had it not been for the 1948 London Olympics, where one kind ...

Small step in high heels, a giant leap for prosthetics?

Fri, 11 May 2012 02:49:38 GMT

PARIS, May 11 — Women in stilettos and ostriches have unwittingly contributed to scientific advancement by showing researchers how to design a prosthetic leg better adapted for walking, said a study published recently. The best prosthesis for above-knee amputees, and for humanoid robots, would work nothing like the human leg, scientists found, but ...

Maya lunar calendar notes discovered in Guatemala

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:20 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 11 — On the wall of a tiny structure buried under forest debris in Guatemala, archaeologists have discovered a scribe’s notes about the Maya lunar calendar, which they say could be the first known records by an official chronicler of this ancient civilisation. These notes pertain to the same Maya calendar that is sometimes ...

Divorce courts mirror society as more women pay alimony

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:11:16 GMT

NEW YORK, May 10 – Tables have turned in US divorce courts with more women paying their former husbands alimony and child support than ever before, according to US lawyers. As women climb higher up the career ladder and outpace their exes in salary, when love goes wrong and marriages break up they are being compelled to contribute to the ...

Because the guys are worth it, too

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:40 GMT

PARIS, May 10 – “Asian men are just crazy about this,” purred the saleswoman, cradling one of her most popular products in her palm. It’s a Primrose Facial Cleansing Masque she sells in the Aesop beauty shop on Paris’s Rue Saint Honoré, costing €36 (RM142.82) for 120 millilitres, enough to buy dozens of bars of soap. It “works wonders” for men in ...

Experts unconvinced by changes to psychiatric guide

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:33:32 GMT

LONDON, May 10 – Many psychiatrists believe a new edition of a manual designed to help diagnose mental illness should be shelved for at least a year for further revisions, despite some modifications which eliminated two controversial diagnoses. The new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5) is due out this ...

Coffee shown to prevent brain damage in diabetics

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:26:21 GMT

LONDON, May 10 — Researchers in Portugal have found that the consumption of caffeine could protect against memory loss associated with advanced diabetes. It’s an area of study that’s not well developed, say scientists from the University of Coimbra: how badly managed type 2 diabetes — which accounts for 90 per cent of all diabetic cases in the ...

Canada researchers find clues to a universal flu vaccine

Thu, 10 May 2012 02:31:43 GMT

MONTREAL, May 10 — Canadian researchers have found more clues that may help lead to the creation of a universal vaccine against the seasonal flu, according to a study published recently. Researchers discovered that the vaccine given against “swine flu,” or the 2009 H1N1 variety, triggered a series of antibodies that protect against many other ...

London show celebrates modern age design innovation

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:50:41 GMT

LONDON, May 10 — The Jaguar E-type, an LED dress and Concorde lead visitors through the last 60 years of British design in this summer’s flagship exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Delving deep into its collection, the museum has put on display examples of British innovation, some of which have never been shown before. Everything from ...

European start-ups court crowds for cash

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:12:53 GMT

PARIS, May 9 – When Vincent and Heloise opened a mash eatery in Strasbourg, they had a feeling their unusual concept could thrive elsewhere in France. But one thing was painfully missing: cash. Like more and more budding entrepreneurs in Europe, the pair of trained engineers turned to individuals, not banks, to help their business sprout and one ...

Major overhaul of US life urged to cure obesity: experts

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:42:03 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 9 — Two-thirds of American adults are too fat, and a major overhaul of US policies — from schools to restaurants to urban planning — is needed to stem the epidemic, medical experts said Tuesday. In a hefty, 400-plus page report, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) called for urgent action to reverse national obesity trends that are ...

New cure for cellulite creates bikini season buzz

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:52:59 GMT

NEW YORK, May 8 — Attempting to banish cellulite has often been a frustrating and pricy dilemma for women, with everything from caffeinated creams to vibrating massages promising to smooth dimples. Now, women are shelling out up to US$11,000 (RM33,000) for a controversial new laser treatment called Cellulaze — all in the quest to rid their bodies ...