> Why ‘reward’ racist teacher?

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has expressed surprise that the teacher who had hurled racist slurs at the Indian community has been transferred to a better school.

“I don’t know whether it is an appreciation to the teacher for the derogatory words,” he said.

The 35-year-old history teacher had admitted to using racial slurs and verbally abusing her students after two students had lodged police reports, sparking protests from parents and community members at the school last week.

She apologised and was transferred to another school, reportedly one closer to her home.

Samy Vellu said that he would be writing to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to point out that people like this were responsible for chasing away many supporters from Barisan Nasional.

“I feel the Education Ministry should be more sensitive to matters like this, where a whole community was insulted by a teacher, who is a government servant,” he said when contacted.

He said the director-general of education must also look into this as such incidents destroy the basic foundation of cooperation in this country.

> Racist teacher to be transfered

> Ohio Burger King worker takes bath in utility sink

Ohio Burger King worker takes bath in utility sink

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

(08-12) 17:08 PDT Xenia, Ohio (AP) –

Burger King Corp. said Tuesday it has parted ways with an employee who was recorded taking a soapy bath in the restaurant’s utility sink. The nearly four-minute video, which was posted Thursday on MySpace.com, shows the unidentified employee taking the bath to celebrate his birthday.

The worker, who refers to himself as “Mr. Unstable,” appears to be naked.

Burger King spokeswoman Denise Wilson said two employees involved in the incident were fired and another quit. She declined to identify the employees or say whether the man who took the bath quit or was fired.

The sink is used to clean large pieces of equipment, said Greene Health Commissioner Mark McDonnell. Bacteria or viruses on the skin could have potentially contaminated equipment, but there have been no reports of any customers becoming ill.

McDonnell said he dispatched an inspector to the restaurant, but at that point the restaurant had sterilized the sink.

Miami-based Burger King, the nation’s No. 2 hamburger chain, said in a statement that it also disposed of all kitchen tools and utensils used in the incident and is retraining the staff in health and sanitation procedures.

Xenia is about 15 miles east of Dayton.

> Olympic child singing star revealed as fake

Olympic child singing star revealed as fake
AFP
By Charles Whelan AFP – Tuesday, August 12 01:30 pm

BEIJING (AFP) – The little girl who starred at the Olympic opening ceremony was miming and only put on stage because the real singer was not considered attractive enough, the show’s musical director has revealed.

Pigtailed Lin Miaoke was selected to appear because of her cute appearance and did not sing a note, Chen Qigang, the general music designer of the ceremony, said in an interview with a state broadcaster aired Tuesday.

Photographs of Lin in a bright red party dress were published in newspapers and websites all over the world and the official China Daily hailed her as a rising star on Tuesday.

But Chen said the girl whose voice was actually heard by the 91,000 capacity crowd at the Olympic stadium during the spectacular ceremony was in fact seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who has a chubby face and uneven teeth.

“The reason why little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation,” Chen said in an interview that appeared briefly on the news website Sina.com before it was apparently wiped from the Internet in China.

Lin was seen to perform the patriotic song “Ode to the Motherland” as China’s national flag was carried into the stadium, a key moment in the three hour ceremony.

“The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression,” said Chen, a renowned contemporary composer and French citizen.

“Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in terms of voice, Yang Peiyi is perfect, each member of our team agreed,” he said.

He said the final decision to stage the event with Lin lip-synching to another girl’s voice was taken after a senior member of China’s ruling Communist Party politburo attended a rehearsal.

“He told us there was a problem that we needed to fix it, so we did,” he said, without disclosing further details of the order.

The Beijing Olympic organising committee confirmed the episode with spokesman Sun Weide saying the decision was taken in the interests of providing the best possible show.

“A number of girls were on the short list for the show and Lin was the best actress while Yang had the best voice,” he said. “So at the end of the day they decided to have both.”

The ceremony directed by China’s Oscar-nominated filmmaker Zhang Yimou and featuring more than 15,000 performers won high praise in China and overseas for its breadth, scope and flawless execution.

However criticism began to build after it emerged that another part of the opening ceremony had been faked.

Supposedly live pictures of fireworks depicting footprints moving from central Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to the Olympic stadium in the north of the capital were actually partly computer-generated or pre-recorded for TV, organisers have admitted.

Wang Wei, vice president of the organising committee, Tuesday insisted the fireworks had actually exploded on the night and that most of the television images used were genuine.

“However, because of the poor visibility of the night some previously recorded foots may have been used,” he said.

Xiao Qiang, the director of the China Internet project at the University of California at Berkeley and former dissident, said the two incidents illustrated the political nature of the Games for China.

“I do not think the Chinese state realises how unethical this is, they don’t understand what kind of values they are reflecting,” he said.

Earlier this year Olympic organisers preoccupied with the right image for the country were criticised for insisting that only tall, slim, young and attractive women could serve as medal award ceremony hostesses.

> Odex Returns 2008 ?

Apparently NOT.

This time round it is Showgate Inc, Japanese anime production and distribution company (copyright owner). They are represented by Rajah & Tann, one of the largest premier law firms in Singapore and Asia,

On June 1 2007, Toshiba Entertainment Inc. was officially renamed as Showgate Incorporated. The company was previously known as Amuse until 2003, making this the second time the company has undergone a name change in the past decade.

Some major titles from Showgate Inc were Project Blue, Black Blood Brothers, Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky, Tokyo Majin, Nanatsuiro Drops, Devil May Cry and Ghost Hound.

Toshiba Entertainment Inc is also a member of AVPAS, Anti-Video Piracy Association Singapore.

In August 2007, Odex is authorised by AVPAS, whose members consist primarily of Japanese companies involved in the anime industry, including major companies to take all steps necessary to protect and enforce the copyrights subsisting in more than 400 anime titles.

Odex’s actions against file-sharing took place between early 2007 and January 2008. Odex alleged that these users infringed on its copyrights by downloading its licensed anime via the BitTorrent network. Between May and August 2007, two of three subpoenas on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to reveal the personal identities of subscribers were ruled in Odex’s favour.

This led to pre-litigation letters being issued from the company to numerous downloaders, the youngest being nine years old. More than a third settled out of court for at least S$3,000 (US$2,000) per person.

On 23 August 2007, Odex lost its suit against Internet Service Provider Pacific Internet (now known as Pacnet) to reveal the identities of 1,000 subscribers.

In Odex’s appeal to the High Court Justice Woo Bih Li ruled on 29 January 2008 that Pacific Internet must release the information directly to Japanese anime studios and the copyright owners. District Judge Lau’s previous ruling, which denied Odex this information, was upheld.

Showgate isn’t the only company that is seeking actions. Apparantly, Geneon Entertainment Inc letters with the same format had also been sent.

It appears both SingNet and StarHub subscribers were recipients of the letter.

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