Friday, December 30, 2016
Jagat’s journey Into Malaysian Cinematic History - When Jagat premiered on the same day as Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December 2015, it looked like Shanjhey Kumar Perumal’s directorial feature debut was destined to be overshadowed at the cinemas. But Jagat, just like its poster boy Appoi (played by Harvind Raj) in the film, did not go down without a fight.
The film, about a poor young boy falling into gangsterism, clawed its way out of the Hollywood blockbuster frenzy with a relentless social media campaign.
With positive reviews and word of mouth recommendation (and endorsements from celebrities like Sharifah Amani, Dain Said, Jo Kukathas, Gaz Abu bakar and Ida Nerina), Jagat became the longest-running local Tamil film in cinemas – a record eight weeks of screening at GSC Nu Sentral in Kuala Lumpur.
Months after its release, Jagat became the talk of the industry again in 2016 when the 28th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM) nominations were announced.
Initially, the film was excluded from the Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay categories as it did not meet a ruling that all local film entries must be in 70% Bahasa Malaysia to qualify.
Instead, it had to compete in separate non-Bahasa Malaysia categories. Shanjhey expressed his frustration over the divide.
He explained how Jagat was categorised as a Malaysian film when it was screened at the New York Asian Film Festival. The film was also labelled as “Malaysian” when Shanjhey sent it for the Digital Cinema Process in India.
“But in our homeland, our films are categorised according to languages so I think this is not necessary and I think it is something that is immature,” he said in a televised interview.
Shanjhey also issued a press statement seeking clarification from the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) and FFM judging committee over the 70% Bahasa Malaysia ruling as it was not stated anywhere in the 1981 Finas Act.
Ronaldo Rejects 300 Million Euro Move To China - Agent - World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo has turned down the chance to leave Real Madrid for an unnamed Chinese club for a transfer fee of 300 million euros (257 million pounds), his agent said on Thursday.
Speaking to Sky Italia at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, Jorge Mendes said the deal would have been worth 100 million euros a year to the Portugal striker.
"From China they've offered 300 million euros to Real Madrid and more than 100 million per year to the player," Mendes was quoted as saying.
"But money is not everything. Real Madrid is his life. Cristiano is happy at Real Madrid and it is impossible to go to China.
"The Chinese market is a new market. They can buy a lot of players but then again it is impossible to go for Ronaldo."
News of the offer made to European champions Real came on the same day Argentine striker Carlos Tevez joined the Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua from Boca Juniors.
No financial details were disclosed but media reports said Shenhua had paid 84 million euros for former Manchester City and Manchester United forward Tevez.
Last week Brazil midfielder Oscar joined local rivals Shanghai SIPG from Chelsea for a fee that media reports put at 60 million euros.
($1 = 0.9517 euros)
Watch Sydney’s New Year’s Eve Fireworks Live-Streamed On Facebook - Sydney’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks, which traditionally kick off the world’s major celebrations, are set to be streamed live on Facebook for the first time, officials said.
The visual extravaganza in Australia’s biggest city is already watched by more than a million people at Sydney Harbour and a further one billion via a television audience.
Organisers hope the live stream will be viewed by more than 10 million Facebook users around the world.
The announcement marks the latest push by the US social media giant to tap into live video as it competes with similar offerings from Twitter and Tumblr.
“By making the most of digital technology only available this year, we can put Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show in the palm of people’s hands around the world – right as it happens,” Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said in a statement.
Some 90% of visitors to Sydney during New Year’s Eve say they travel to the harbour city specifically for the fireworks, according to a survey by research analyst group StollzNow.
Live video streaming has become a popular tool on social media in recent months, with the launch of Twitter’s Periscope last year and Facebook Live, which opened to all users earlier this year.
Tumblr, the Yahoo-owned blogging platform, in June also unveiled its own live video feature.
Mothers Who Eat A Western Diet May Have Obese Children - A mother’s diet around the time of pregnancy and conception could influence whether or not her children become obese, according to new research from the United States.
Carried out by a team from The Scripps Research Institute, the researchers looked at two groups of rats – one selectively bred to be obesity-resistant to a high-fat diet and one bred to be unusually vulnerable.
Rats from each group were then fed either a diet that contained the same overall fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate and protein levels as a typical Western diet, or a non-Western, lower-fat, higher-grain control diet.
The team found that the female rats who were given a Western diet in the weeks leading up to pregnancy, during pregnancy and during nursing, had offspring more prone to obesity at birth, during early adolescence, and even months later during adulthood.
The results were the same even if the mothers didn’t overeat and maintained a healthy weight, body fat and insulin status.
Lead author Associate Professor Dr Eric Zorrilla expressed his surprise at the findings, as previous research has shown that it is mothers who are overweight themselves who are more likely to have overweight children.
However, the results of this new study suggests that regardless of the mother’s weight, diet can make a difference.
The mother’s diet also seemed to have a lifelong effect on offspring by setting in place a metabolic “programme” that lasted throughout the rat’s life.
Although these rats did lose weight during puberty and early adulthood, they still showed a lower basal metabolic rate (less energy expended while at rest) and higher food intake during this period, which meant they became obese again in mid-adulthood.
In addition, the researchers also found that the Western diet affected the obesity-vulnerable and obesity-resistant rats differently, by impairing the reproduction of the obesity-vulnerable lines.
Significantly fewer of the obesity-vulnerable females were able to reproduce, and those that could had fewer offspring.
“This wasn’t the focus of the study, but it supports the idea that a Western diet promotes infertility in mothers vulnerable to diet-induced obesity,” said Assoc Prof Zorrilla.
He now believes that the results of the study should raise awareness of the importance of both a healthy pre- and post-natal diet, and not just for women who are already overweight.
Cubans Surf The Web At Home In Havana Pilot Project - Downtown Havana resident Margarita Marquez says she received a special Christmas gift this year: web access at home, a rarity in a country with one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world.
Marquez, a 67-year-old retired university professor, was among those selected by the government two weeks ago to participate in a pilot project bringing the web into the homes of 2,000 inhabitants of the historic centre of the island's capital.
Most of Communist-ruled Cuba's 11.2 million inhabitants only have access to internet at Wi-Fi hotspots, and only then if they can afford the $1.50 hourly tariff that represents around 5 percent of the average monthly state salary.
Only 5 percent of Cubans are estimated to enjoy internet at home, which requires government permission. This is usually granted mainly to academics, doctors and intellectuals.
"It's like a dream come true," said Marquez, who lives with her sister in a second-story flat in a colonial-era building. "To be in touch with the outside world is important."
Her 80-year-old sister, Leonor Franco, said the news they had been selected came as a surprise and she was excited to be surfing the web for the first time.
"I had never had any experience of internet," she said, seated in front of a laptop she has owned for two years without web access, searching for videos of her favourite singers on YouTube.
She said she wanted to learn how to surf the web properly so she could make the most of the experiment, and for as long as the government provided free internet access.
"From March we will have to start paying and we don't know if we will be able to continue. So at least we are going to enjoy January and February," she said.
While the cost of internet has dropped in recent years, it is still prohibitive for most Cubans.
Cuba says it has been slow to develop network infrastructure because of high costs in part due to the U.S. trade embargo. Critics say the real reason is fear of losing control.
Before Wi-Fi signals became available last year, broadband internet access had been limited largely to desktops at state internet parlours and pricy hotels.
However, the government has said it wants to ensure everyone has access and has installed 237 Wi-Fi hotspots so far. In September, it announced it would install Wi-Fi along Havana’s picturesque seafront boulevard, the Malecon.
"There are many places now where you can go and sit and connect along the Malecon," said Eliecer Samada as he sat on the stone wall lining the boulevard, checking social media on his phone. "We're happy with this."
“This year’s fireworks will have a very (Walt) Disney feel to it. I mean, it’s New Year’s eve and everyone is in a celebratory mood, hoping for a better year in 2017.
“And everyone really looks forward to the fireworks show and the countdown that rings in the new year. So this year, we want it to be magical, to give people hope for the coming year,” he explains, while holding the actual details of the fireworks display closely guarded so as not to ruin the “surprise”.
The musical fireworks show will run for eight minutes, right up to the countdown into 2017. Although details of the show are kept under wraps, Ghazzal describes it as an “orchestra in the skies” as the blasts and starbursts will be accompanied by a musical score that was composed specifically for the event.
With Ghazzal and his event management company Global 2000 helming the show, you can expect the Dec 31 show to be nothing short of spectacular.
Ghazzal has been producing and choreographing fireworks shows for well over a decade – he organised the International Fireworks Competition in Putrajaya in 2007 and 2008 and brought the concept of musical fireworks here.
“Fireworks are so different now. We have the software and hardware to create so much. We compose the music and then design the show to synchronise with the music. On that day, all we do is press a button … everything is pre-programmed and computerised,” he explains.
For the past eight years, he has been producing the Da Nang International Fireworks Competition in Vietnam, a friendly competition which attracts some of the best fireworks experts from all over the world. Last year, the team from the United States walked away with the top prize.
Ghazzal makes it sound like such a cinch but that’s only because putting together fireworks spectacles has become second nature to him.
The amount of effort that goes into an eight-minute show, however, is huge and often unseen.
“It has taken us about two months to put together this new year’s eve show. It’s only eight minutes but it takes a lot of effort.
“First, we come up with the music we want to use. Then we choreograph the fireworks to go with the music and finally make sure that the fireworks are completely in synch with the music. Everything has to be precise when we programme it so that when we press the button, it goes off without a hitch,” says Ghazzal who works closely with Ray Rahman, who is the audio visual director at Global 2000.
Apart from the actual fireworks show, there will be a musical and variety show beginning at 9pm featuring some of the country’s up and coming talents.
The show NYC@KLCC will be hosted by Adibah Noor and will feature performances by Azharina Azhar, the winner of Gegar Vaganza 2016, Harris Baba as well as a cappella group Colour of Voices. There will also be a fashion show by young designers from Moda to lead up to the countdown.
Global 2000’s director Nadia Wong Abdullah explains the intricacies in putting up their new year’s eve extravaganza, particularly the fireworks display.
“It’s a big deal because, you know, we are dealing with explosives, safety is our utmost concern. A lot of planning goes into a show like this, there are a lot of logistics to be sorted out, rules and regulations to be adhered to and of course, coming up with a programme that reflects our diversity and the golden moments of 2016.
“Most critical of all is the safety and security of the public. Nothing can be compromised where this is concerned,” she says.
The theme for this year’s show is Our Story, Our Journey, It’s Magical to celebrate the many achievements of Malaysians throughout the year.
Work on the show started about two months ago and the set-up for the actual event began last week, involving some 60 crew who have to work quickly and quietly at night.
“We have to work at night so that we don’t disrupt the traffic around the area. And even at night, we have to be careful not to be too disruptive to those who live around the area,” says Nadia.
Though they’ve produced bigger shows on international platforms, the New Year’s eve show at the Twin Towers bears special significance for the trio.
“We are a bit sentimental when it comes to producing this show, it’s going to be special,” says Nadia, trailing off.
“A brilliantly coordinated fireworks display can hush the most boisterous crowds into a state of awe. It’s a personal experience, yet shared collectively with thousands,” muses Nadia.
She advises those who want to catch the show to head to the esplanade at KLCC early – as early as 6pm – to book their space for the spectacle.
Living In Fear Over RM1mil Insurance - With 11 insurance policies worth RM1mil in his name – a former Royal Malaysian Air Force sergeant says he is living in fear for his life.
The 42-year-old said the policies were bought without his knowledge by his wife, and there has already been one attempt on his life.
The man, who has been a construction safety officer since retiring in 2011, said two men posing as civil engineering students attempted to strangle him inside a car on Sept 10.
He said one of the assailants had called him two days earlier under the guise of doing research on construction sites and requested to interview him at his workplace in Serdang.
He said that on the day of the interview, they picked him up at his home in Puchong in an old Kancil and went to his office, where they took some pictures of him at work.
He said that on the way home, while he was seated on the front passenger seat, a rope was put around his neck.
“I could feel the rope bite into my neck, and I thought my end had come,” said the father of four during a press conference organised by the Gerakan public complaints bureau.
Having served in the military for 18 years, he managed to turn and punch his assailant.
He then kicked the driver in the ribs before escaping from the car which had stopped in a secluded area.
A passer-by helped him call his supervisor, who took him back to the construction site.
Despite his ordeal, he said his wife was indifferent when he related his experience to her.
He became suspicious a week later when his wife received a phone call from an unknown number, which she dismissed as a wrong number.
He claimed that his wife became aggressive when he took the phone from her and called the number.
The caller’s WeChat profile picture, he said, matched one of his assailants.
“I was shocked and confronted my wife but she said that she didn’t know anything,” he added.
A month later, taking along their eldest son, she sought shelter with a women’s organisation and lodged a police report against him for abuse.
He said she had since been kicked out of the shelter and is now staying with her mother.
Ever since leaving home, she has spent RM60,000, which he discovered after receiving credit card bills and letters in the mail.
He feared another attempt on his life and claimed his signature was forged to buy the life and personal accident insurance.
He said the policies were found hidden in several places in his house.
His wife is the sole beneficiary on the policies, which was shown to the press along with seven police reports he lodged over four months.
“I have also lodged reports at Bank Negara and at the insurance companies involved in the forgery and they’ve taken action,” he said.
He feared his three youngest children, who are under his care, would be abandoned if something happened to him.
“I’m not looking for revenge. I want to live my life free from this cloud of fear hanging over me,” he added.
Gerakan public complaints chairman Datuk Wilson Lau Hoi Keong promised to follow up on the case with the police.
Serdang OCPD Asst Comm Megat Mohd Aminuddin Megat Alias said investigation into the assault case was underway.
He added that the investigative officers were waiting for instructions from the deputy public prosecutor.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Let’s get things straight – The Great Wall, purportedly China’s most expensive film to date that was shot entirely in the country and featuring one of the world’s most iconic landmarks, is not a Chinese movie.
Well, not initially anyway.
The basic idea of The Great Wall was concocted by Thomas Tull, the CEO of Hollywood film production company Legendary, who then developed the story with Max Brooks, the writer of Brad Pitt’s zombie film World War Z. From there, a screenplay was written by writing duo Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro, as well as Tony Gilroy.
It took seven years for the project to really take off, though, after China’s most revered filmmaker Zhang Yimou came on board to direct it.
Enter the Chinese connection.
It is also important to note that Legendary Entertainment was bought over by one of China’s biggest companies – Dalian Wanda Group – in January 2016, thus making the film a Chinese production. But Zhang would prefer to think of it as a Hollywood film with a Zhang Yimou touch.
“The American team (producers and scriptwriters) was worried about showing me the story at first because they thought it would be too much of a ‘Hollywood monster-type’ story for me. But then I saw that there were Chinese elements in the plotline and that the story was meaningful and original.
“I discussed with the American team and said, let’s do this. Let’s make this a Hollywood blockbuster plus a Zhang Yimou movie,” said the director in an interview in Beijing, China, recently.
The Great Wall tells the tale of a mercenary named William Garin and his companion Pero Tovar, who get caught in a war between a team of China’s elite military warriors called The Nameless Order and monsters.
Yes, monsters.
These monsters, called “taotie”, are mythical creatures that attack the Wall and its people every 60 years for eight terrifying days in a row. In Chinese mythology, the taotie are greedy beasts who would eat anything they come across, even to the point of eating their own bodies! They are then used as a symbol of greed and gluttony.
In the film, the taotie attack the Wall as punishment for the humans who have become too greedy with power, money and everything else.
The Nameless Order is made up of warriors who have been trained for years to fight the taotie and protect the country and its Emperor. While preparing for an imminent attack, warriors capture Garin and Tovar, who were trying to infiltrate the Wall to search for (and steal) a rumoured new deadly weapon.
From there, things get sticky for the duo as they are forced to participate in the war.
The Great Wall stars Oscar winner Matt Damon as Garin, with Narcos star Pedro Pascal as his sidekick Tovar. Willem Dafoe is the other Hollywood guy featured in the movie, playing a dodgy character who’s always in the shadows.
Hong Kong star Andy Lau plays a respected scientist and scholar named Wang who believes that Garin might hold the key to defeat the taotie, while Chinese actress Jing Tian portrays the strong-willed and skillful commander Lin Mae.
Both these characters are able to speak English, becoming the communicator for the two captured foreigners.
“I really wish people would watch the film first before forming an opinion of it,” Damon, 46, told Star2.com exclusively.
The actor was replying to accusations of “Hollywood whitewashing” occuring in the film, in which a Westerner is portrayed as being the saviour of a place, a country or people.
He thinks the allegations are baseless. “Yes, there are foreigners in the movie who seem to save the day for China, but there is a lot more to the story and character than that. Besides, it is a very common plotline,” Damon said, citing James Cameron’s Avatar as an example of a “foreigner” who helps out folks on a different land.
Damon goes on to say that the whitewashing accusations mostly come from Western viewers and critics.
“Nobody has seen the film (at the time of this interview), yet everyone already has a million things to say about it.
“Poor Zhang Yimou didn’t even know what all the fiasco was about, and even after explaining it to him he still didn’t get it. He just cannot grasp the idea of people getting angry about foreigners being in a Chinese movie featuring the Great Wall,” shared Damon.
Before embarking on the project, Zhang, 65, told the American team that in order for The Great Wall to be better than other Chinese-Hollywood movies, some changes needed to be made.
“I made them agree to a big budget (reportedly US$150mil/RM660mil) and pushed the filming start date one year later as I needed to make amendments to the Chinese fiction,” revealed Zhang.
If the movie was going to have Chinese mythological creatures, Zhang wanted to make sure that the story was as accurate as he could make it.Unfortunately, he did not realise how incredibly difficult that was going to be.
“Almost every day I would think about the script and throw in little details, bonding both the Eastern and Western cultures. It was a very difficult thing to do but you must make a product that is accurate, otherwise it would not be good,” he said.
Zhang’s attention to detail and ability to turn even the most mundane activity into a visual feast on screen were what made Damon, Dafoe, Pascal and Lau sign on to The Great Wall.
“I think all of us have seen his films and fallen in love with at least one of them,” said Dafoe, 61.
The 41-year-old Pascal added that working in China on a set with mostly Chinese folks was a challenging yet fun experience.
“We couldn’t really hang out with everyone after shoots because of the language barrier, but the work itself was great! We had translators but if we weren’t giving Zhang exactly what he wanted he would find ways to get it out of us,” shared Pascal.
Zhang thinks of himself as a strict director, and while the actors do agree that his work ethics is impeccable, he is still “nice”.
“Zhang is just a really nice guy and the way his mind works is amazing. Everyone on the set was kind, which made us feel not too much like outsiders even though we totally were,” Dafoe added.
For Lau, who previously worked with Zhang on House Of Flying Daggers, the decision to team up again was an easy one to make. “I trust him, he’s my friend. I trust his work and I know how he works. Plus, this character, a scholar, is something that I like to play nowadays because he doesn’t have to do much fighting. I don’t like doing fight scenes, not anymore!” revealed Lau, 55, who – in person – looks 10 years younger than his age.
Speaking of fight scenes, there are plenty offered in The Great Wall, but seeing as it is a Zhang Yimou film, you can bet that they would be more visually captivating than gory.
Like in many of his previous work, Zhang injects bright, vivid colours into the film by way of The Nameless Order. Each colour represents a specific troop; blue, for example, is worn by the army’s all-female Crane Corps or aerial warriors who bungee jump from atop the Wall’s towers to spear incoming monsters.
“I love using colours in my films. I think it is because when I was growing up, they left impressions on me so I am always trying to use them in different ways in my work. Also, I believe colours create a larger effect for the film,” Zhang explained.
The Great Wall was released in China on Dec 15 and will open today in other parts of Asia. In the US, the film only opens on Feb 17. Zhang said that he is not too worried about box-office takings. He does, however, think that it could have been a better film.
“From my first movie, I am never completely satisfied with my work. In whatever I do, if you asked me if I was happy with my work, I will always say that it can be better, that I can do better.
“Maybe it is because of this attitude that I am able to stay in this field for so long; I am forever seeking to make that perfect movie. Still, I think, till the day I pass away this might never come,” Zhang concluded.
Archer Fatin Can’t Wait To Compete Again - Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh just can’t wait to get her competitive juices flowing again.
The 25-year-old compound archer has not competed in any meets since the Asia Cup Stage 2 in Taiwan in September. Then, she teamed up with Saritha Cham Nong and Nurul Syazhera Mohd Asmi to win the women’s team gold. The trio were also victorious in the Asia Cup Stage 1 in Bangkok in March.
Four months on, Fatin will finally make her long-awaited return to competition when she kicks off her season at the South-East Asian Archery Championships in Yangon, Myanmar, from Jan 19-24.
“We are itching for real action. It has been training and more training in the past few months,” said Fatin. “We ended the season in Taiwan on a winning note, so it would be nice if we can pick up where we left off.
“We’re glad to get into competitive mood as early as January. Usually we don’t hit the ground running until the Asia Cup in March.”
Fatin said the Yangon meet would serve as an ideal first step to the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August.
“It’s also a chance to gauge our rivals’ strengths before the Games,” added Fatin, a three-gold medallist at the Singapore Games last year.
She was successful in the individual, team (with Saritha Cham Nong and Nor Rizah Ishak) and mixed team (Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki). The trio of Juwaidi, Zulfadhli Ruslan and Lee Kin Lip delivered another gold in the men’s compound team.
Following their success in Singapore, Malaysia are now tipped to dominate in Yangon.
Said Fatin: “We won’t put too much pressure on ourselves since it’s just the first event of the year. We’re going through a transition period and the team is still a work in progress. It’s all about gaining the momentum at the moment.”
Two archers have since left the team. The men’s side lost Muhd Zaki Mahazan to retirement while Nurhayati Al-Madihah Hashim opted out of the sport to pursue her master’s degree.
Besides Fatin, the other women in the competition are Saritha, Nurul, Nor Rizah and Sazatul Nadhirah Zakaria.
The men’s team consist of Zulfadli, Juwaidi, Kin Lip, M. Khambeswaran and Alang Ariff Aqil Muhammad.
After the South-East Asian Championships, the archers will take part in the Asia Cup Stage 2 in Bangkok (March 19-26) and World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai (May 16-21).
Take A Look At Where A Monster Lived And Died - From Nov 1, 2016, the new “Führerbunker” (Hitler’s bunker) exhibition in Berlin will offer guided tours around a replica of the study in which Hitler committed suicide in 1945.
Today, the original site of the bunker in which Adolf Hitler spent his final days is covered by a car park and a simple, discreet plaque. The Führerbunker exhibition, curated by the private Berlin Story Museum, reproduces the bunker in a former air-raid shelter on the Wilhelmstraße in central-west Berlin, just 2km from the original site. The controversial exhibition has been accused of sensationalising the war crimes committed under Hitler’s leadership.
A selection of replica rooms includes the office in which Hitler shot himself on April 30, 1945. The tour – the only way to visit the bunker’s rooms – begins in a former World War II shelter, originally built to house 3,500 people but which, by the end of the war, gave refuge to 12,000 citizens.
In an interview with The Local, Wieland Giebel from the Historiale organisation (which runs the Berlin Story Museum) explained that the choice of an air raid bunker was important for the exhibit’s relationship with the shelter’s history: “We did not want to separate one from the other.” While the exhibition provides a replica of Hitler’s office and a scale model of the entire underground complex, the Berlin Story museum documents 800 years of Berlin’s history, including Nazism.
The museum’s exhibition, however, has come in for heavy criticism, and been accused of poor taste and sensationalism. The city of Berlin has many artefacts documenting the Nazi regime, but most are presented through sober, discreet exhibitions, and some – such as the original site of the Führerbunker – are barely acknowledged, for fear of attracting Neo-Nazi sympathisers or site vandalism.
Play Badminton, Tennis Or Squash If You Want A Long Life - You probably know that exercise is good for you, but do you know whether you’re better off riding a bike or swimming laps in the pool?
Actually, if you want to get the biggest bang for your exercise buck, you should pick up a racket, new research reveals.
An analysis of more than 80,000 adults who were tracked for nearly a decade finds that those who played tennis, badminton or squash had the lowest risk of dying during the course of the study.
Compared with people who didn’t play racket sports, those who did were 47% less likely to die and 56% less likely to die as a result of cardiovascular disease.
If these kinds of sports aren’t your racket, you could don a swimsuit and goggles.
In the study, swimmers were 28% less likely to die for any reason and 41% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease, than were people who stayed out of the water.
Another good alternative is to join an aerobics, Zumba or other type of active fitness class. Those who did were 27% less likely to die and 36% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease during the study period than those who didn’t.
The results, published recently in the British Journal Of Sports Medicine, are based on data from 43,705 women and 36,601 men who participated in the Health Survey for England or the Scottish Health Survey.
These volunteers, whose ave-rage age was 52, told interviewers how often they exercised, what type of exercise they did and how intense their workouts were.
Swimming was the most popular type of exercise, claimed by 13.4% of study volunteers.
Cycling was second, with 9.9% of volunteers saying they rode a bike either outside or in an indoor exercise class.
Aerobics-type classes were third (6.4% of people took them), followed by running or jogging (5%), racket sports (3.6%) and football or rubgy (3.1%).
Overall, 44.3% of people met minimum recommendations for some kind of physical activity.
The study authors checked to see how many of the volunteers died in subsequent years, tracking them for an average of 9.2 years.
Overall, 8,790 of the study participants died, including 1,909 who succumbed to cardiovascular disease. The risk of death was not spread equally, the researchers found.
Compared with people who didn’t get enough exercise, those who met the minimum standards were 27% less likely to die and 28% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease during the course of the study.
Cyclists had a 15% lower risk of death from any cause than non-cyclists, but cycling didn’t have a significant effect on the risk of cardiovascular death.
Runners and joggers were no less likely than their counterparts to die of cardiovascular disease or anything else during the study period. Ditto for those who played football or rugby.
All of the calculations were adjusted to account for each person’s age, level of education, body mass index, underlying physical and psychological health, smoking status and drinking habits.
For all six types of exercise, the median age of death from any cause was “considerably lower” for participants than for non-participants. (The age gap ranged from 3.6 years for aerobics to 23 years for football and rugby.)
The study authors said this pattern was due to the fact that for every sport, the median age of participants was lower than the median age for non-participants. It should not be taken as a sign that exercise “leads to earlier death,” they wrote. – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
Limbless Nigerian Teen Who Lived In A Plastic Bowl Dies - A Nigerian girl with no limbs who lived her life in a plastic bowl has died.
Rahma Haruna, 19, became well known when photos of her appeared online earlier this year. She suffered from a mysterious condition that stopped her arms and legs developing properly and was in constant pain.
She died on Dec 25.
News of her death was shared by local journalist Sani Maikatanga, whose photos were responsible for the wider world becoming aware of Rahma's plight, said a report in Britain's Telegraph.
Maikatanga said in a social media post: "Rahma Haruna a 19 years old girl has pass away on Sunday 25th of December 2016... may Almighty grant her Jannatul Firdausi (paradise)."
Rahma, whose arms and legs stopped developing when she was six months old, lived with her family in the village of Lahadin Makole, close to Kano in Nigeria, the Telegraph reported.
Practically immobile and in chronic pain, for many years she spent most of her waking hours in a plastic bowl, which her family transported her around in.
Her younger brother Fahad would take her into Kano each day to beg for handouts.
However, last year a journalist, Ibrahim Jirgi, gave the family a wheelchair.
Earlier this year, Rahma's mother Fadi told reporters: “From six months when she learnt how to sit that was when it began. She didn’t learn how to crawl.
“She started with a fever and that was it. Then stomach pains. Then her body parts like hands and legs. She cannot use any if the ache strikes.”
Fahad revealed he dedicated much of his life to helping his sister: “I help her in many ways," he said.
"Bathing her is another thing I do, and taking her out every day.
"I feel happy whenever I see people helping her. I like taking to our relatives. She feels happy when we visit them.”
The Haruna family experienced an upturn in their fortunes when Maikatanga's images of Rahma went viral on social media, prompting an inundation of requests from strangers who wanted to help in any way they could, the Telegraph said.
Despite her severe disability, Rahma held entrepreneurial ambitions, telling journalists she dreamt of starting a business.
“A grocery store and anything people buy, that is what I want,” she said. The Straits Times/Asia News Network
‘Dad’s Dead And Mum Left Us’ - Abandoned by their mother, two sisters from Jasin found themselves moving from one house to another until they were finally left in an orphanage in Semabok near here.
There, they watched as many other younger children were adopted by people. The two sisters remained ignored.
Now, five years later, they have resigned themselves to a life at the orpanage. And they have no complaints about their lives there.
Munisha, 15, and Logadarshini, 12, said their mother had abandoned them just a few months after the death of their father in a road accident five years ago.
“We were still young and my mother gave us away to her own sister. Our aunty was not keen in being our guardian as, in her eyes, we were already big children, then.
“The two of us were sent from one relative’s house to another and all of them were not keen to have us,” said Munisha, adding that even her father’s friends were reluctant to adopt them due to their age at the time their mother left them.
“Our father’s friend – who was also a neighbour – died around the same time as our father and his children were also orphaned. But one was just a baby and the other was one and a half years old. Both have since been adopted,” she said.
“As the older child, I can only console my sister whenever she feels sad about not being accepted for adoption.”
She said one of their relatives decided to send them to the home where they have been living since 2011.
“Father loved us a lot when he was alive but things changed once he left us. We were neglected, hated and disowned. No one wanted to adopt us,” she said.
In some cases, she said, they were also abused.
Logadarshini said she was only six years old when her mother abandoned her but many were still not keen to adopt her.
“Most of my relatives felt I was a big girl and refused to accept me as part of their family.
“But I do not worry about that now, I am happy at this home with others who share the same fate as me – as orphans,” she said.
Both sisters said they had learned to accept their status as orphans.
The years have healed the pain of being disowned.
“Now, I am a teenager and my sister is 12. In a few years, we will be able to stand on our own feet,” said Munisha while holding the hand of her sister when met at the home yesterday.
Apart from the sisters, the home cares for young children who are not favoured for adoption once they pass the age of six.
Most of the children were brought there by their mothers who left them behind.
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