Wan Zack Haikal chooses Kelantan

WAN Zack Haikal Wan Noor chose Kelantan over two other Super League teams before mutually terminating his two-year contract with Japan Football League (Division Three) outfit FC Ryukyu.
Yesterday, the winger along with Australia-born Brendan Gan, who was granted a Malaysian passport recently, and Fitri Omar were unveiled as Kelantan's latest signings for the ongoing season.
The trio signed three-year contracts with the reigning FA Cup champions.
Although agreeing that he may never get another opportunity to play abroad again, Wan Zack Haikal believes Kelantan will turn him into a better winger.
"I left Ryukyu because I could not cope with injuries. I played only two games before I got injured last October," said Wan Zack Haikal in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
"Critics are upset but I was frustrated dealing with the injuries. It is seen as a step backward but for me, I believe I've made the right decision."
Wan Zack Haikal, who underwent multiple knee surgeries, will only complete rehab in August, in time for the Malaysia Cup.
"I consulted interim national coach Ong Kim Swee before making this decision. Although the coach was slightly upset, he was open to my decision," Wan Zack Haikal added.
Kelantan FA (Kafa) advisor Tan Sri Annuar Musa said those concerned should not criticise Wan Zack Haikal for joining his team.
"We are not a 'kampung' team....we are one of the best teams in the M-League.
"Critics tend to look down on a player when he returns from a failed stint abroad.
"Wan Zack Haikal did well for Ryukyu but I believe he will become a better winger with us," said Annuar.
In a statement, FC Ryukyu said the move to release Wan Zack Haikal for an undisclosed fee was difficult.
"We did not release the player because of money. We felt it was better for him to be in a comfortable environment at this stage of his career."




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Gunung Jerai hit by bush fires

GURUN: The dry spell has triggered a series of bush fires near the peak of Gunung Jerai in the past week.
The latest blaze occurred yesterday morning and affected some 15ha near the mountain peak.
Guar Chempedak Fire and Rescue Department chief Abdul Muin Ayob said a team of firemen was dispatched to the scene after being alerted at 8.30am.
"Seven firemen took more than seven hours to control the fire," he said yesterday.
Abdul Muin said firefighters had to use the fire beater technique to put out the fire as water supply could not reach the spot.
He said firemen were in the midst of containing the fire and preventing it from spreading to other areas.
In Perak, the surrounding areas of Gua Tempurung in Gopeng was given a good clean-up by local celebrities in conjunction with "Perak Hijau dan Bersih Bersama Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian (ABPBH) 2013" programme yesterday.
The presence of 14 celebrities and finalists of ABPBH 2013 added a star- studded feel to the programme which was part of Berita Harian's corporate social responsibility programme.


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Four teams share top spot

SUPER LEAGUE: Terengganu, Pahang, Kelantan, Selangor lead the pack with 13 points
THIS year's Super League is leading up to one of the most exciting conclusions as four teams  -- Terengganu, Pahang, Kelantan and Selangor -- share the lead with 13 points each after yesterday's proceedings.
Ten-man Sime Darby recorded the biggest upset of the day by overcoming Terengganu 3-2 at Selayang Stadium but the defeat did not affect the east coast standing as league leaders.
Nazrul Kamaruzaman (sixth minute), Fazrul Hazli Kadri (45th) and Farid Ramli (49th) netted for Sime Darby while Ismail Faruqi (23rd) and Norfarhan Mohammed (71st) replied for Terengganu.
The referee awarded Terengganu a penalty in the 67th minute after sending off Sime Darby's William Mensah for a foul inside his box but Mamadou Barry failed to convert.
At Darulmakmur Stadium, Pahang defeated a resilient Sarawak side 3-1 for their fourth win of the season.
Sarawak defender Ronny Harun gifted Pahang a goal by turning the ball into his own net in the 31st.
Damion Stewart added a second for the homesters in the 60th minute before Hafiz Kamal completed the rout in the 72nd minute. Rashid Aya replied for Sarawak in stoppage time.
Selangor celebrated their return to the Shah Alam Stadium by edging Kelantan 1-0 for their first win in more than a month.
Paulo Rangel scored his eighth league goal of the season from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute.
Two minutes earlier, Kelantan's Forkey Doe had his penalty saved by Selangor goalkeeper Farizal Marlias.
LionsXII bounced back from one-goal down to edge PKNS 2-1 at Jalan Besar Stadium.
Nazmi Faiz Mansor exchanged passes with teammate Karlo Primorac before scoring from a grounder for PKNS in the 31st minute.
However, Lions replied through Zulfahmi Ariffin's free kick in the 44th minute before Faris Ramli added a second in the 60th minute.
Darul Ta'zim needed Safee Sali's last minute strike to earn a 1-1 draw with Armed Forces at Larkin Stadium.
Forces made it difficult for Darul Ta'zim by defending in numbers after Riduwan Maon had put them in the lead in the 40th minute.
At the Sultan Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, T-Team came from behind to record a 1-1 draw with Perak.
G. Mugenthirran scored for Perak in the 79th minute before the homesters replied through Ramzul Zahini Adenan two minutes later.


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US student 'produced ricin in dorm'

A university student in the United States has been charged with possessing a potentially lethal amount of the powerful toxin ricin, court documents showed.
Daniel Harry Milzman, from Georgetown University in Washington, told the  FBI earlier this week that he produced the ricin himself in his dormitory room  about a month ago, having bought the precursor materials in local stores.

He wore goggles and a dust mask when he was extracting the ricin, according  to the court documents, which said he had produced 123 milligrams and stored  the material in a plastic bag secured with hockey tape.

The concentration of the ricin was such that it could have been deadly if  inhaled, the documents said, adding that Milzman had told his residential  adviser on Monday that he had created the poison and showed the adviser the  plastic bag.

He was interviewed by FBI agents the next day.

It was not immediately clear what the student intended to do with the  substance.

But FBI Washington Field Office spokeswoman Jacqueline Maguire told AFP  that “based on investigation, we do not believe there is any connection to  terrorism.”


Read more: US student 'produced ricin in dorm' - General - New Straits Times 

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MISSING MH370: Largest 'object' sighted is 24 metres

CANBERRA: The largest object sighted in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is 24 metres (79 feet), with a second, smaller object also spotted, Australian authorities said.
“The objects are relatively indistinct. The indication to me is of objects  that are of a reasonable size and probably awash with water and bobbing up and  down over the surface,” said Australian Maritime Safety Authority official John  Young.
“The largest ... was assessed as being 24 metres. There is another one that  is smaller than that.”--AFP

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) general manager John Young speaks during a press conference on the search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Canberra, Australia, 20 March 2014. Australian planes have been diverted to the area where 'possibly related' objects have been seen from satellite imagery on 20 March 2014. An Australian Orion maritime surveillance aircraft had been dispatched and was expected to arrive on the site within hours. 'HMAS Success is on the way and equipped to retrieve any object from MH330', Young told reporters in Canberra. Australia has sent HMAS Success to examine and possibly retrieve debris found 2,500 km south-west of Perth, Australia, in the southern search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. EPA/DANIEL MUNOZ


Source : NewsStraitTimes

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Tomb of Alexander the Great

The tomb of Alexander the Great and, particularly, its exact present location has been a recurring conundrum. Shortly after Alexander's death in Babylon the possession of his body became a subject of negotiations between Perdiccas, Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator. According to Nicholas J. Saunders, while Babylon was the "obvious site" for Alexander's resting place, some favored to inter Alexander in the Argead burial at Aegae, modern Vergina. Aegae was one of the two originally proposed resting places, according to Saunders, the other being Siwa Oasis and in 321 BC Perdiccas presumably chose Aegae.The body, however, was hijacked en route by Ptolemy I Soter. According to Pausanias and the contemporary Parian Chronicle records for the years 321–320 BC, Ptolemy initially buried Alexander in Memphis. In the late 4th or early 3rd century BC Alexander's body was transferred from Memphis to Alexandria, where it was reburied.The so-called Alexander Sarcophagus, unrelated to Alexander's body and once thought to be the sarcophagus of Abdalonymus, is now believed to be that of Mazacus, a Persian governor of Babylon.

According to Quintus Curtius Rufus and Justin, Alexander asked shortly before his death to be interred in the temple of Zeus Ammon at Siwah Oasis. Alexander, who requested to be referred to and perceived as the son of Zeus Ammon, did not wish be buried alongside his actual father at Aegae. Alexander's body was placed in a coffin of "hammered gold", according to Diodorus, which was "fitted to the body". The coffin is also mentioned by Strabo and Curtius Rufus (subsequently, in 89–90 BC the golden coffin was melted down and replaced with that of glass or crystal).Alexander's wish to be interred in Siwa was not honored. In 321 BC, on its way back to Macedonia, the funerary cart with Alexander's body was hijacked in Syria by one of Alexander's generals, Ptolemy I Soter. In late in 322 or early 321 BC Ptolemy diverted the body to Egypt where it was interred in Memphis, the center of Alexander's government in Egypt. While Ptolemy was in possession of Alexander's body, Perdiccas and Eumenes had Alexander's armor, diadem and royal scepter.According to Plutarch, who visited Alexandria, Python of Catana and Seleucus were sent to a serapeum to ask the oracle whether Alexander's body should be sent to Alexandria and the oracle answered positively. In the late 4th or early 3rd century BC Alexander's body was transferred from the Memphis tomb to Alexandria for reburial (by Ptolemy Philadelphus in c. 280 BC, according to Pausanias). Later Ptolemy Philopator placed Alexander's body in Alexandria's communal mausoleum. The mausoleum was called the Soma or Sema, meaning "body" in Greek. By 274 BC Alexander was already entombed in Alexandria.

In 48 BC Alexander's tomb was visited by Caesar.Shortly after the death of Cleopatra, Alexander's resting place was visited by Augustus, who is said to have placed flowers on the tomb and a golden diadem upon Alexander's head. According to Suetonius, Alexander's tomb was then partially looted by Caligula, who reportedly removed his breastplate. In 199 Alexander's tomb was sealed up by Septimius Severus during his visit to Alexandria.Later, in 215 some items from Alexander's tomb were relocated by Caracalla. According to chronicler John of Antioch, Caracalla removed Alexander's tunic, his ring, his belt with some other precious items and deposited them on the coffin.

Later authors, such as Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, Al-Masudi and Leo the African, report having seen Alexander's tomb. Leo the African, who visited Alexandria in 1491, wrote: "In the midst of the ruins of Alexandria, there still remains a small edifice, built like a chapel, worthy of notice on account of a remarkable tomb held in high honor by the Mahometans; in which sepulchre, they assert, is preserved the body of Alexander the Great... An immense crowd of strangers come thither, even from distant countries, for the sake of worshipping and doing homage to the tomb, on which they likewise frequently bestow considerable donations".George Sandys, who visited Alexandria in 1611, was reportedly shown a sepulchre there, venerated as the resting place of Alexander.

The Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities has officially recognized over 140 search attempts for Alexander's tomb.Mahmoud el-Falaki, who compiled the map of ancient Alexandria, believed Alexander's tomb is in the center of Alexandria, at the intersection of the Via Canopica (modern Horreya Avenue) and the ancient street labeled R5. Since then several other scholars such as Tasos Neroutsos, Heinrich Kiepert and Ernst von Sieglin placed the tomb in the same area.In 1850 Ambroise Schilizzi announced the discovery of alleged Alexander's mummy and tomb inside the Nabi Daniel Mosque in Alexandria.Later, in 1879 a stone worker accidentally broke through the vaulted chamber inside the basement of that mosque. Some granite monuments with an angular summit were discerned there, but the entrance was then walled up and the stone worker was asked not to disclose the incident (the image on a Roman lamp in the National Museum of Poznań and others at the British Museum and the Hermitage Museum are interpreted by some scholars as showing Alexandria with the Soma Mausoleum pictured as a building with a pyramidal roof).In 1888 an attempt to locate Alexander's tomb within the Nabi Daniel Mosque was made by Heinrich Schliemann, but he was denied permission to excavate.

In 1995 Greek archaeologist Liana Souvaltzi announced she identified one alleged tomb in Siwah with that of Alexander. The claim was put in doubt by the then-general secretary of the Greek Ministry of Culture, George Thomas, who said that it was unclear if the excavated structure is even a tomb.Thomas and members of his team said that the style of the excavated object was not, as Souvaltzi contended, Macedonian, and that the fragments of tablets they were shown did not support any of the translations provided by Souvaltzi as proof of her finding.

According to one legend, the body lies in a crypt beneath an early Christian church.

In 2011, in a TV series named Mystery Files, episode "Alexander the Great" aired on National Geographic Channel in the UK, 21st century experts believe that Alexander's tomb disappearance is related to the rise of Christianity in the pagan Roman Empire including Alexandria, Egypt. The theory suggests that Alexander's body was unintentionally stolen from Alexandria by a pair of Venetian merchants, taken to Venice, mistakenly renamed and venerated as St. Mark the Evangelist in Basilica di San Marco (Venice, Italy).

Source : Wikipedia

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Could vital info be Down Under?

A CRUCIAL piece of the puzzle in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 mystery could lie somewhere in the barren Australian heartland.
As recovery efforts for MH370 continue into the 12th day, the one element that could swing the odds in favour of search-and-rescue (SAR) teams -- a super-secret installation just outside Alice Springs -- remains cloaked in secrecy.
Aviation Week news portal has accused Canberra of being unwilling to disclose whe-ther its Jindalee Over-The-Horizon Radar (OTHR) system had tracked the flight.
While it said the super radar had an official range of 3,000km, the Royal Australian Air Force system is reportedly able to reach further into the South China Sea.
It claimed that the facility could even pick out the type of aircraft taking off from Changi International Airport in Singapore.
Bloomberg, in a recent report, had asked whether Australia had picked up any signals consistent with MH370 on its Jindalee Operational Radar Network.
An Australian Defence Department spokesman said it "won't be providing comment" on the military surveillance system.
Conventional radars are limited by range and the earth's curvature. The OTHR solves this problem by shooting a radio frequency up into the atmosphere. The radio frequency bounces off the ionosphere and returns to earth, where it interprets the radar picture.
Another installation that may provide a clearer picture of where MH370 is would be Australia's Pine Gap satellite tracking facility, 18km southwest of Alice Springs.
News.com.au said Pine Gap was operated by Australia and the United States. Officially, the facility is called the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap and is partly run by the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.
It added that Pine Gap's primary function was to control US spy satellites, as they passed over one-third of the globe.
It is believed that these include China, parts of Russia and the Middle East oil fields.
The facility is dotted with between 14 and 18 radomes protecting sensitive antennae. These act as a ground control and processing station for satellites in geosynchronous orbit engaged in signals intelligence.
Among the data processed are telemetry from advanced weapons development for arms control verification, signals from anti-missile and anti-aircraft radars, and transmissions for communications satellites.
However, it is believed that of particular interest in the search for MH370 is Pine Gap's ability to track microwave emissions, such as long-distance calls.
Kuala Lumpur has sent diplomatic notes to 11 countries that lie within the northern and southern corridors, where MH370 is believed to be.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had, for two straight days since the notes were sent out, said the international investigating team was banking on crucial radar and satellite readings from key countries.
Yesterday, he was specific in saying Malaysia would appreciate it if the US could provide investigators with data from its facilities in Australia.
Although he did not mention the two facilities by name, the New Straits Times believes that he was alluding to the Pine Gap and Jindalee facilities.
Hishammuddin, who is also defence minister, said in the same breath that Malaysia was aware that each country's radar and satellite data were privileged information, but was hopeful that nations would come forth.
He reiterated yesterday that Malaysia had put aside its national security by disclosing raw military data, which had allowed SAR forces to narrow down the search area to the northern and southern air corridors. The search area now covers 2.24 million sq nautical miles.
The Department of Civil Aviation told the NST that at the material time of MH370's disappearance, commercial radars of countries that the aircraft could have passed over revealed that "there were no stragglers".
It would not comment on the theory that the aircraft, which was carrying 239 people, could have shadowed another Boeing 777 jetliner to escape radar detection. Additional reporting by Tasnim Lokman and Aliza Shah

Source : News StraitTimes

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