Swine Flew Tee

M'sia to have 'Arab cities'

KUALA LUMPUR - ARAB investors will spend US$303 million (S$452 million) on building two 'Arab Cities' to lure Middle Eastern tourists to the historic Malaysian town of Malacca, a report said on Wednesday.

The 1.1 billion ringgit project includes an Arabian bazaar, Middle Eastern restaurants, shopping complex, five-star hotel, water theme park, and a unisex Arabic health and beauty spa, the Star daily said on Wednesday.

One of the 'Arab Cities' will be built on a small island lying south of Malacca town, while the other will be located at a beachside resort just west of the historic port, it said.

Malacca chief minister Mohamad Ali Rustam reportedly said the project, due for completion by 2012, will attract more Middle Eastern tourists and give locals a chance to experience Arabic culture.

Malaysia's tourism industry has seen a sharp rise in the number of big-spending tourists from the Middle East in recent years, attracted by the tropical country's Islamic image.

Some 264,338 visitors from the region made their way to Malaysia last year, almost double the figure recorded in 2005.

The capital Kuala Lumpur has already seen the introduction of an 'Arab Street' to make tourists from the Middle East feel at home, while hotel and restaurants serve West Asian food and bring Arab cooks to work in the country.

Tourism was Malaysia's second highest foreign exchange earner in 2007, raking in US$14 billion in revenue from 21 million tourists arrivals.

The government however expects tourist numbers to fall 9.3 per cent to 20 million this year as the global economic slowdown hits. -- AFP

Singapore climbs the Best quality of living city chart !

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Vienna has beaten Zurich to be crowned the place with the best quality of living in an annual survey in which European cities dominated the top 10.

Management consultancy Mercer said Vienna scored the highest for overall quality of living in the 215-city survey after improvements in Austria's political and social environment, knocking the Swiss city of Zurich into second position.

Third in the list came another Swiss city, Geneva, followed by Vancouver, Canada, and Auckland, New Zealand, in shared fourth place.

Baghdad, Iraq, came last despite slight improvements in its infrastructure and moves to encourage investment.

Three German cities made the top 10 -- Dusseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt -- with the list rounded out by Bern in Switzerland and Sydney, Australia.

The highest U.S. ranking in the 2009 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey was Honolulu which came 29th while Washington and New York remained in positions 44 and 49 respectively.

London came 38th in the list which is designed to help governments and companies formulate international packages for their employees.

"As a result of the current financial crisis, multinationals are looking to review their international assignment policies with a view to cutting costs," said Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, in a statement.

"Many companies plan to reduce the number of medium to long-term international assignments and localize their expatriate compensation packages where possible though the hardship allowance, based on quality of living criteria, will remain an essential component of the package."

Singapore was the top-scoring Asian city, coming in 26th which was up six places from a year ago due to its growing importance as a financial center and its wide range of international and private schools.

Beijing moved up three places to 113, boosted by improvements in public transport facilities from the Olympics last August.

Singapore also came first in a separate ranking based on city infrastructure, which examined standards of electricity, water, telephone, mail, public transport, traffic congestion and the range of international flights from local airports.

Singapore was followed in the infrastructure rankings by Munich, Copenhagen, and Tsukuba in Japan. Again, Baghdad came last.

The rankings, based on a point-scoring index in which New York is the base city with 100, are based on 39 quality-of-life determinants such as political stability, schooling, recreation, housing and natural environment.

In Central and South America, San Juan in Puerto Rico retained the highest ranking at 72 followed by Montevideo at 79.

"Political and security issues, and the incidence of natural disasters, continue to hinder the improvement of quality of living in the region. Shortages of consumer goods have also contributed to a decline in quality of living in some cities," said Parakatil.

(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)

I wish Alex Del Piero could understand...

LONDON: Manchester United great Ryan Giggs was named here on Sunday as the English Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year for the first time in spite of starting just 12 league games this season.

The 35-year-old Welsh midfielder, who has enjoyed nearly two decades of success at Old Traford in a career featuring two Champions League final triumphs, had twice won the Young Player of the Year award but can now add the ultimate mark of esteem from his fellow professionals to his list of prizes.

PFA Premier League team of the year: Edwin van der Sar (Man Utd); Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd), Patrice Evra (Man Utd); Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ryan Giggs (Man Utd), Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd); Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

Here it is: Windows 7 RC (build 7100) !!!

Microsoft has just finished compiled the official Windows 7 RC, which has the build version of 7100, and the DVD ISO image for the final copy of Windows 7 RC has leaked and emerged on BitTorrent network. Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) is said to have the build version of 7100.0.winmain_win7rc.090421-1700.

Download 32-bit (x86) Windows 7 RC Build 7100 ISO Disc Image

File name: 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRC1CULFRER_EN_DVD.iso
Size 2.35 GB

Torrent: Windows_7_Ultimate_x86_RC_Build_7100.torrent (ThePirateBay download link)

The leak has been thought as real (not fake) in My Digital Life forum. To activate Windows 7 Beta, use the Windows 7 Beta product key, or wait for official public release to get new one.

The leak of Official Windows 7 RC is way ahead of scheduled early May release for general public, and even faster than release for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. 64-bit (x64) version of Windows 7 RC1 is expected to be released or leaked soon

Liverpool coming to Singapore !!!

LIVERPOOL, England - Liverpool will play pre-season friendlies in Thailand and Singapore in July, the club announced on Wednesday.

Rafael Benitez's side will face Thailand in Bangkok on July 22 before flying to Singapore to take on the national team on July 26.

It will be the first time the Reds have visited Thailand since 2003, while they have not played in Singapore for eight years.

"We have a fantastic group of fans in both Thailand and Singapore and it will be great to take the lads out there again," Reds boss Rafael Benitez said.

Ian Ayre, Liverpool's commercial director, added: "South East Asia is clearly a key region for Liverpool.

"As we continue to develop our international plans, being able to allow fans all over the world to see the team live is paramount."

Dato Worawi Makudi, president of the Thai Football Association, said they were eagerly anticipating the match.

"Liverpool's return to the kingdom is long overdue," he said.

"The experience that our players will receive from this game will help in the development of Thai football."

Winston Lee, general secretary of the Football Association of Singapore, was also pleased to welcome back the Reds.

He said: "Inviting teams such as Liverpool, as well as Brazil and Australia last year, is part of our continued efforts to bring top-class football action to our shores.

"It will not only be a great experience for our fans but our players will get exposure to world-class teams and players."

- AFP/ir

Storm in Singapore

A FREAKISH storm with strong winds uprooted trees, damaged cars and left a trail of destruction on Wednesday night, all within about 15 minutes.

There were numerous reports of fallen trees island-wide, with at least one car damaged by the falling branches in an open carpark. At a housing estate in Dover Road, a large tree almost snapped in half and lay fallen on its side, with other branches strewn across the grassy area.

Eyewitnesses also reported that large plastic barricades used in roadworks were blown across a road by the strong winds, causing traffic obstruction. Pham Tan Hung found a large tree fallen outside Hong Leong Gardens in Clementi while on his way to work on Thursday morning. 'It's a shocking scene to me. It covered the whole walking path to the bus stop, around 6 to 8 metres,' he wrote to straitstimes.com

Weather maps from the National Environmental Agency (NEA)'s website showed that a rain storm blew over Singapore shortly after 11pm on Wednesday.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter were also abuzz with postings about the freak storm. Bloggers in Singapore also recounted personal stories, with many saying they were awoken by the violent rattling and slamming of doors caused by the winds. Others reported car alarms going off.

'We had to duck from the many things that were blowing out of control. There was a road block signage that blew across a major road. heavy duty dustbins dropped like bowling pins. We had to take refuge on the outside of a building' wrote mistipurple on her blog.

'I don't know how widely the winds could have travelled, but tonight for about five minutes, I experienced one of the strongest winds since returning to Singapore,' wrote blogger mis-erialc.

'In fact, I don't remember a time that we've ever experienced winds so strong. As the wind repeatedly assaulted my blinds, I couldn't help but look outside at the environmental commotion it was causing - the bending of trees, the picking up and tossing around of random objects outside.'

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