They are the hottest words in the news today and they have  nothing to do with buying shoes as Christmas present or anything to do with shoe fetishism… The bush that appears in the title has nothing to do with shrub or anything related to low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems or anything similar to that…

We are talking about the President of the United States here. It is about George W. Bush, who is supposed to be or claimed to be the most powerful man (in the absence of Superman, Spiderman, Cicakman and other superheroes) in the world that had recently been given an unofficial flying-shoe-farewell by an Iraqi reporter.

It was not a simple “ceremony” that we can just forget after a few days as we are talking about about an event that includes two throws, two ducks (not the quacking type), two flying size 10 shoes,  a room packed with surprised witnesses and a humiliation on a worldwide scale.

It is something that every blogger must post in his or her blog to mark one of the _________ (fill up the blank with a: greatest  b: funniest   c: worst  d: use your own word) historical moments in 2008! What a perfect timing that was as we are about to leave 2008 behind…

Below is a video that you must watch to see  how Bush were attacked by the the shoes wielding reporter!

This is what his brother said:

Dhirgham al-Zaidi, who sometimes worked as his brother’s cameraman, described the reporter’s hatred for the “material American occupation” and the “moral Iranian occupation.”

Muntadhar al-Zaidi’s feelings were influenced by watching the agony suffered by everyday Iraqis. Most of the reporter’s stories focused on Iraqi widows, orphans, and children, said the brother.

Sometimes the 29-year-old journalist would cry. Moved by the tales he reported of poor families, he sometimes asked his colleagues to give money to them. On most nights, he returned to his home in central Baghdad — one of the country’s most violent slums and the epicenter of several of the war’s pitched battles.

Dhirgham al-Zaidi said he is “proud” of his brother whose act, while rash, was a statement of behalf of “millions” of other Iraqis. Dhirgham said the shoe throwing was “Iraq’s reaction” to the war and years of U.S. sanctions against Iraq before the conflict began. The reporter was not motivated for personal reasons, or because he has “anything against the American people,” he said.

More news can be read at:

Iraqi journalist throws shoes at Bush in Baghdad
Shoe-thrower’s brother: He wanted to humiliate ‘tyrant’
TV station urges release of shoe-throwing journalist

ps:
I have nothing against the American People in general. In fact those Americans that I personally know are decent, friendly and helpful people. Hopefully Obama would bring a new beginning to the U.S especially in the eye of many other countries in the world.

Japanese are well known for being innovative and it is proven by their ability to come up with many things based on what people have invented earlier. Now they have come up with another brand new stuff that has become a hot seller online in Japan. Believe it or not, they have invented bras for men!

These are mainly targeted to the cross dressing-men but since it is sold online, I would not be surprised that even straight men would be buying it. May be for the fun of it or just out of curiosity. The item is being sold online at Rakuten, a major Japanese web shopping mall.

So, if you are interested to buy one, you can go the website but make sure you are able to translate it as the website is in Japanese so that you would not be buying something else… By the way, it is not that expensive to get one. You only need to pay about $30 per pair.

Anyway, here are some quotes from the news:

“I like this tight feeling. It feels good,” Wishroom representative Masayuki Tsuchiya told Reuters as he modeled the bra, which can be worn discreetly under men’s clothing.

“I think more and more men are becoming interested in bras. Since we launched the men’s bra, we’ve been getting feedback from customers saying ‘wow, we’d been waiting for this for such a long time’,” – Wishroom Executive Director Akiko Okunomiya

I wonder what will come up next?

So now who said that bras are only for women? Now husband and wife, and friends can shop for bras together…

Read Bra for the boys an online bestseller in Japan for the full story.

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What a morbid title to start the week. I am sure that most of us do not need to be reminded that death will eventually come and take us away from this world and nobody can escape that no matter how hard you try. Anyway, I am not going to write about how to face and accept death or what is waiting after death as I am not an expert in that subject matter but I just want to highlight three recent news that is related to death.

The news are about three different people, from three different places and with three different intentions and ended up with three different outcomes. In all three incidents, death was present, in one way or another.

You jump, they catch you. The first news was about a 38 year old woman who was looking for death by committing suicide. However, she did not get to meet death as she was rescued in the nick of time by the police from jumping off the ledge of a four-storey, under construction building in Kuala Berang, near the Sekayu Junction, in Trengganu yesterday.

The mother of one had a previous record of being mentally ill and according to the same news shown on the TV last night, she wanted to kill herself because of her husband is having an affair with another woman.

So, in this case, what do you think of that woman? Was she not thinking straight at that moment and forgot that she has a child? What about the husband? Is he the main cause or just an excuse? Nevertheless, it was not her time and death did not come for her.

Read Woman saved in the nick of time for the full news.

Circumcision went wrong. The second news is about a 10 year old boy from Kuala Lumpur who was enrolled by his mother into a mass circumcision program has been admitted to the ICU at University Malaya Medical Center due to some complications suffered during the circumcision ceremony.

According to the parents, their son complained of extreme pain when he wanted to pee and at the same time his testicles have swollen. Apparently, the doctor who performed the circumcision had installed some kind of device on the boy’s penis.

The doctor at the medical center had to perform a surgery to prevent the infections caused by the installed device. At the time the news was published, Farhan is still on the life support system at the medical center.

The doctor who performed the circumcision when contacted blamed the boy and his parents for not attending the briefing and following the right procedures.

So, this is what you get when you want to save cost and send your child for a RM10 circumcision with 300 other children. Now who is to blame? Farhan is now playing hide and seek with death…

Read Masuk ICU lepas khatan for the full story (in Malay).

Do not disturb the wasp hive (Sarang tebuan jangan dijolok). The last news is about a 10 year old boy from Kuala Kangsar, Perak who died after being stung by wasps while he was walking to a nearby sundry shop.

According to the news, a group of 10 youths were pelting the hive with sticks and stones before Year Four student Mohamad Amirul Hafiz was stung in Kampung Padang Asam in Padang Rengas here. According to the great grandmother of the boy, the hive had been there for some time and no one had been attacked before.

Looks like he was at the wrong place at wrong time and death was the result. Do we blame the 10 youths who disturbed the hive or the people who knew about the hive? How about we blame the wasps for attacking the wrong person?

Read ‘Boy would be alive if wasps not disturbed’ for the full story.

There you go. One cheated death, one hanging for dear life and one has left us. May there be a lesson for us to learn from these…

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Most of you, especially the men, and including me, would find that it is really troublesome to carry more that one handphone especially if the handphone that we have is a big as a soap bar. For the ladies that carry handbags to all over the place, this might not be such a big problem.

Anyway, why do I ask? Do you know that having an extra handphone might get you out of some big troubles and might even save your life?

No, I am not going to tell you to keep on those heavy, bulky spare handphone with you so that you can throw at dogs that suddenly find you as attractive as some fresh, raw, juicy steak. But, I am going to tell you about a true story reported in the NST yesterday.

The news is about a woman who was abducted near her home by four men. She was walking home at 9pm and suddenly four men in a Proton Saga bundled her into the car. They then forced her at knife-point to hand over her jeweleries, handphone and wallet.

They even forced her to reveal her ATM number and withdrew some money from her account. When her mother called, they asked her to inform the mother that she was out with some friends. Then she was taken for a joy ride.

She pleaded to the abducters to let her go to the toilet and they let her. Once inside, she took out another handphone (I wonder where she hid this other phone), that the abducters did not know about and called the police.

Police arrived minutes later and the abductors took off upon seeing the approaching police car.

Now, that’s how a second handphone could get you out of trouble. Imagine what would happen to her next if she did not manage to alert the police…

It is not safe anymore out there. Avoid walking or driving alone at night, especially for the ladies and if you can, keep a spare handphone, just in case.

You can read the original news at ‘Hello police, save me, I’m in the toilet’

That would be the name of one of the streets in Kuala Lumpur if I am elected as the new Mayor of the capital city. I would choose a street that I like and change its name to that. How about that?

This is what happened to Jalan Alor that has been changed to Jalan Kejora. Soon, many other street names would be changed as well. Can you imagine those who just bought a map for Kuala Lumpur looking for the famous Jalan Alor? They would get there but they would only find Jalan Kejora! Talk about a major confusion not just for tourists but even for the locals.

Imagine those who have to change their addresses just because some big people feel that Jalan Kejora is more suitable for the Bukit Bintang area. Since “bintang” is the Malay word for stars so the name of the streets should follow all the stars in the universe. I wonder where did these people go to school?

Datuk Bandar Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan said the move, which was planned three years ago, would give the tourist destination of Bukit Bintang a new image.

“Other roads in the area will soon have new names, and they will all be named after the stars to create the new image,” he said yesterday during a visit to a landslide site in Cheras.

New image by changing the street names? What’s the point? if you read in Locals and tourists want Jalan Alor to be maintained, even tourists disagree with the move.

“The new name will definitely confuse some of us when trying to find the place in the future,” Australian tourists Jenny O’Connor and Caitlin Coppock said.

Not to mention that Jalan Alor, for example, returned more than 900,000 results in Yahoo!.

Don’t they have any other better things to do. everyday in the news there are lots of things that need to be fixed in KL and yet they have choosen to change the street names.

I propose Jalan Bukit Bintang be changed to Jalan Shaxx Beruang!

Crimes and more crimes are being committed and nowadays criminals are bolder and more daring and fully equipped with lethal weapons. They are not afraid to kill their victims and would do anything to get what they wanted and cover their tracks.

Victims are no longer just threatened, injured or restrained but killed if necessary. The latest incident in Pasir Putih, Kelantan involving a jeweler and his wife added to the collection of shocking crime news in the country.

They were chased by three masked man and shots were fired at them and one hit the wife on the shoulder causing her death.

Jeweller Mohd Zaidi Che Li, the husband of the dead woman, telling the police investigating team about the car chase that took place when he tried to evade three masked men. — NST picture by Fathil Asri

Three masked men in a silver Proton Waja tried to block the couple’s Proton Waja. The men directed Zaidi, who was driving, to stop but he sped off.
The gunman at the back of the car opened fire twice but the shots did not hit the car.

“They chased the couple’s car and when it made a U-turn they fired another shot, which hit the woman,” Amir Hamzah said at the district police station.

Now, do you think that we are still safe? Read more about it at Jeweller’s wife shot dead during car chase.

In another news, Police in Kuala Lumpur have found five dead bodies in a single day. One of them, believed to be an Indonesian were found with slash wound on the neck, arm and head. Then a Myanmar national was found hanged in his room and police believed that he committed suicide.

At the same time, a decomposed body of an identified man was found near a river at Jalan Ipoh and finally a body of two brothers, one of them beheaded was found is Segambut Dalam. Read Five bodies in one day for details.

What is going on with all these crimes hitting the news on daily basis? Should people be allowed to carry guns for self defense now?

Now let’s talk about some odd and off beat news. The first one was about a freak accident that happened in Parit, Perak. A car driver knocked down two pedestrians and then panicked and drove straight away to the police station.

Upon arrival he was shocked to discover that the body of one of the victims are shucked on the roof of his car. Can you imagine that? Driving three kilometers with someone that he just killed (accidentally) stuck on the roof of his car. I would not be surprised that that guy would stop driving for a long time after this.

Read Shock for driver who hit dad, son for the full story.

The next one is about being stuck as well. A Malaysia that has been stuck in India for the past 31 years. This is the story of C.K. Ravindran and probably due to some red tapes or may be negligence by some party, this guy is stuck there in India as he did not get his passport renewed.

A consultant who was born in Malaysia says he has not been allowed to return to the country because authorities have failed to provide him with a new passport for the past 31 years.

Childhood days: Ravindran (standing right) and his siblings posing outside their house in Bahau Estate in a 1963 picture. Their father, C.K Kumaran, was employed as a manager at the estate. – The Star

I wonder who screwed up this one. Nothing is like home sweet home. Read about this mess at Malaysian in India can’t come home.

Last but not least, the Political stuffs. The battle between Utusan Melayu and Teresa Kok is not over yet as Pakatan Rakyat is now urging the Prime Minister to take action against the news daily. These people sure have nothing better to do and all the people involved should go back to kindergarten and learn how to solve problems amicably. What a waste of time.  Go to Pakatan wants action taken against Utusan if you are still interested.

Secondly and the last news for today, a Perak MCA youth delegate called for Umno Youth Deputy Chief, Khairy to be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA). The funny thing is that from what I read, MCA is against ISA and now they wanted ISA to be used against someone.

This is an example how stupid arguments can make the news when they are politically motivated. These people need to go  back to kindergarten as well and join the above group… Go to ‘Detain Khairy under ISA’ if you have nothing better to read.

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Here are the hot news in Malaysia as of 12:00pm today. One of the hottest news today is about the reduction of the fuel price. The Malaysian government have reduced the fuel price following the trend of the global fuel price. Starting today, the RON 97 has dropped from RM 2.45 to RM 2.30 per liter. RON 92 and Diesel is now RM 2.20 per liter.

Despite the reduced price, many people feel that the it will have little or even no impact to the current situation in the country as the price of good, unfortunately, did not go down along with the fuel. That is the bad part as these people would increase the price of goods when the price of fuel goes up but are very reluctant to drop it once the fuel price has dropped.

Picture from The Star

Is the government going to do anything about this? Read more at Fuel price cut will have ‘little impact’ and FUEL GOOD: Drop in pump prices reflects global reduction.

Crime related news have always been one the favorites among Malaysians. I did not know that Superman was in just released from a jail in Malaysia. However, sadly, he was found dead shortly after his release. To the Americans, do not despair as this Superman was not your superhero but he was a Sabahan better known as Super-man Awang. Go to Superman found dead, hours after leaving jail if you want to know more.

Next in the list is about the murder of a Thai couple in Kuala Krai. That was really cruel as the wife was three months pregnant. The body of the husband was dumped into a drum while the half naked body of the wife was recovered from a pond in the estate. Gruesome and cruel are my words to describe this.

The blue drum where the husband’s body was found
Picture from Harian Metro

More about this murder at Bodies of Thai youth and pregnant wife found in rubber estate.

There are two rape related case today and the first was about a 16-year-old pregnant girl was raped by a man entrusted by her boyfriend to look after her. This is what the Malay proverb “Harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi” or the modernized version, “Harapkan tin, tin makan biskut”. The thing is how in the world she is pregnant at 16 and why in the world her boyfriend left her with a friend that could not be trusted at all? That guy must have a thing about pregnant woman and should be kept in jail for good. Go to Pregnant teenager raped for more details.

The second case involves another irresponsible boyfriend and this guy was even worse than the first one. A 19-year-old girl was raped by a stranger and dumped by the road side. she called her boyfriend for help and instead of taking her to the police station or the hopsital, he took her to an undisclosed location and forced her to perfom oral s-e-x on him before sending her to the police station. I don’t know about you but is that guy sick or what? Read about this at Boyfriend only adds to rape victim’s distres.

Finally, Malaysian news would not be hot without any political stuffs. I would not elaborate to much about them. The hot ones are about Utusan Melayu vs Teresa Kok at Utusan demands apology and retraction from Kok and Pas Leaders vs Cheras Umno at PAS leaders condemn Cheras Umno over libel suit fund. Apart from that, there is a news related to the Dewan Rakyat that starts with Anwar and his famous “I-have-the-numbers” stuffs that you can read at DEWAN DISPATCHES: Anwar Ibrahim eggs on Najib but where is the FT Minister?

That’s all for now! Enjoy reading!

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This is one of the hottest news in Malaysia at the moment. It is about a Bollywood actor that was awarded the title of Datuk by the state of Malacca, which is equivalent to a knighthood in Britain.

Most people in Malaysia based on news and blogs, do not agree with the award and many feel that the award should have been given to Malaysians that are more deserving than him. To make the matter worse, which many feel and I agree, it was an insult to the country when Shah Rukh Khan himself, could not be bothered to turn up and receive the award.

He also named Azean Irdawaty, M. Nasir, Kuswadinata and Ruminah Sidek as artistes deserving to receive the Datukship. He added it was an insult to Malaysians that Shah Rukh Khan did not turn up to accept the award. — Datuk Mustapha Maarof in ‘Malaysians more deserving of Datukship than Shah Rukh Khan’

Even Lim Kit Siang, the opposition leader, could not resist in taking part in condemning the presentation of this award as quoted from Khan award upsets Malaysian locals;

If Shahrukh Khan deserves the award, then other foreign stars including Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones who shot the Hollywood movie “Entrapment” in Kuala Lumpur in 1999 should also be given similar recognition, he said.

I made a search at Negaraku! (at 11:00 am) to see how many bloggers have blogged about this topic and these are what I found:

1. Lagu Inikah yang Membawa Shahrukh Khan Mendapat Gelaran Datuk? by Hasbullah Pit
2. Datuk Shah Rukh Khan kempen untuk Ali Rustam? by Tok Mudin
3. Shah Rukh Khan Terima Anugerah Datuk dari Yang Dipertua Negeri Melaka? by Oh Bulan
4. Datuk Shah Rukh Khan, WTF? by Noktah Hitam
5. Bila Masa Pula PAS Melaka, Selangor, Perak Kurniakan Datuk Pada Shahrukh Khan? by Hasbullah Pit
6. Kecek-kecek tentang Datuk Shah Rukh Khan by Tok Mudin
7. Datuk Shah Rukh Khan, WTF? by Cekik Darah
8. Datuk Shah Rukh Khan.. the most ridiculous thing of 2008 by Kwong Fei

So what is your opinion on this? Any die hard fan out there?

Poem of friendship: It is good to have blogging friends and the great things about this is that I do not know most of my blogging friends in person but that this the beauty of blogging. We can all be friends no matter who and where we are.

Imagine blogging without any friends. We will be reading our own postings and there is not much fun in doing that. In the end we would just give up blogging and thought that it was just a big waste of time.

Today, Kisahberuang.com received a great friendship poem from Bonoriau and here is the poem to share with you!

We need friends for many reasons,all throughout the season.
We need friends to comfort us when we are sad,and to have fun with us when we are glad.
We need friends to give us good advice.
We need someone we can count on,and treat us nice.
We need friends to remember us
one we have passed sharing memories that will always last.

Thanks to Bonoriau for tagging me with this meaningful friendship poem.

Feel free to spread the poem of friendship.

1. Everyday Life 2. Words of Love 3. Sheng’s Simple Thoughts . . . 4. Pinay Mom Blogs 5. REALITIES 6. Glossa~licious 7. A Great Pleasure 8.The Spirit of Blogging 9. Kisahberuang.com 10. YOU

Pak Lah: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would not defend his Umno post and that means the transition of power is taking shape. Infact, he said that he would only stay on as the Prime Minister until March 2009.

So the original plan to hand over the power to Najib by June 2010 is now scrapped and some people can now shut their mouths and stop filling up the daily news about it. Details at PM will not defend Umno post (Update 5).

Here is the press release from Pak Lah:

PRESS RELEASE FROM YAB PERDANA MENTERI

1. I have been in public service for over 45 years. I have served this country as a civil servant, and as an elected representative of the people. I have served as a member of government and feel blessed to serve in the highest office in the land. I have seen this country grow from a small, poor nation into the modern, prosperous Malaysia that we live in today.

2. Despite our successful track record, for the past few years I have firmly believed that our nation is standing at an historic crossroads. We must reform some elements of our nation, we must evolve and mature, or we risk losing all that we have gained in over 50 years. Throughout this time of reform and transformation, we Malaysians need to be united now more than ever before.

3. In all my years of service, I have always been guided by my conscience. I have always placed the interests of the nation above all else. It is with this in mind that I announce I will not stand for the Presidency of UMNO. I do not want a divided party and governing coalition, but one that is united and harmonious. A united Barisan Nasional is vital in order for the country to face the global challenges ahead and for Malaysia to become a fully developed nation, with prosperity and fairness for all.

4. My current term as President of UMNO ends in March next year. There are several initiatives I intend to see through before I leave office. These initiatives are important because they are necessary to move our country forward. These initiatives are needed to regain our country’s competitiveness. They are necessary to enable our nation and our society to face the challenges that the world has in store for us. I ask all Malaysians to unite and join me in working towards making Malaysia a better place.

5. First, our institutions need to be reformed and strengthened.

i) The judiciary needs to enhance its stature and credibility in the eyes of the public. Before I end my term, I will table a Parliamentary Bill to establish a Judicial Appointments Commission. Such a Commission will propose judicial appointments in a transparent and merit-based manner.

ii) We also need a strong and effective anti-corruption body that can combat the cancer of corruption without fear or favour. Before the end of the year, I will table a Parliamentary Bill to establish the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, with greater powers of investigation and enforcement. The Commission’s oversight structure has been modelled after the successful ICAC in Hong Kong.

iii) I also intend to complete the establishment of a Special Complaints Commission to enhance the integrity and effectiveness of enforcement agencies

6. Second, I have long spoken about the need to ensure that the fruits of growth are more equitably distributed. In the recent Budget, I explained the government’s commitment to strengthening and enlarging the Social Safety Net.

We will speed up work on this front to help poor and disadvantaged Malaysians, regardless of background, race or religion.

I will also work to ensure that tangible results can begin to be enjoyed in Iskandar, as well as the development corridor initiatives around the country.

7. Third, I would like to see the Government and Barisan renew their commitment towards building a united and harmonious nation.

Society has seen an alarming decline in inter-racial and inter-religious relations. Various issues have cropped up which threaten to tear the very fabric of Malaysian life.

We need to tackle these issues head-on, through dialogue; deal with the issues constructively and even-handedly; ensure greater clarity and certainty for the people; and focus on the points that unite us, rather than the points that divide us.

For this reason, I will convene a BN Convention early next year. This is a long-term effort that I hope to kick-start and continue to contribute towards.

I fully intend to see through my mission, and I am sure that my successor will carry on this agenda.

I want to hand over to my successor a Malaysia that is capable of weathering the challenges of a dangerous global economy, a Malaysia not of rich and poor, of young and old or of the city or the kampung (village), not of south and north, and not of one religion or another but of unity and harmony.

This is not the time for infighting and narrow politics but for greatness, unity and cooperation.

KLCI: It has gone down again yesterday! What now?

The title sounds like a post about an airplane accident but in this accident there was no airplane involved. As for the down part, you need to read on.

Yesterday at about 6:30pm at the Bukit Jalil LRT station, an LRT train from Sungai Besi decided that it was too tired to continue working and made a sudden stop 200 meters away from the station.

At the same time, another LRT train that was still enjoying the job came by and rammed into the train that stopped. As a result, apart from the usual, loud, crashing sound, 6 passengers were slightly (as claimed by the news) injured. No train driver was injured as this LRT train does not have any driver….

RapidKL, the train operator, said that they will bear all the medical costs (since only slight injuries involved) for the injured and the train resumes the operation today. The cause of the accident is still being investigated. Exhausted train has been ruled out as the possible cause…

Read more at Six injured in LRT accident.

At the same time, as announced yesterday, the fuel price has gone down by 10 sen today. The new price is now RM 2.45 for petrol and RM 2.40 for diesel. ( $1.00 is approximately RM 3.50 ).

Asked whether the Government would implement a free float system for fuel prices, Shahrir said it was too early to think of that although it was one of the matters discussed.

So folks, it is cheaper by 10 sen per liter now for us to drive for balik kampung during the Aidil Fitri Eid holidays. Drive safe and avoid peak hours to save more on fuel.

As adviced by the authorities, plan to travel after dawn but if everybody takes that advice, then there will be congestion after dawn. Then what?

Full news at Fuel price cuts to ease burden.

Correction: September 26, 2008: 11:31am:

The LRT trains in the news were ex-STAR and therefore, they’re driven by human unlike the ex-PUTRA.

*pictures from The Star Online.