Obama Twice Uses MSNBC Slogan ‘Lean Forward’ While Addressing Disaster Relief

President Obama on Tuesday twice used MSNBC’s slogan “lean forward” while addressing Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C., about relief for Sandy victims.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We are going to continue to push as hard as we can to make sure that power is up throughout the region and obviously this is mostly a local responsibility and the private utilities are going to have to lean forward. But we are doing everything we can to provide them additional resources so that we can expedite getting power up and running in many of these communities. There are places like Newark, New Jersey, for example, where you have 80 percent, 90 percent of the people without power.

Later in his remarks he said this:

OBAMA: We can't have a situation where that lasts for days on end. And so my instructions to the federal agency has been do not figure out why we can't do something. I want you to figure out how we do something. I want you to cut through red tape, cut through bureaucracy. There is no excuse for inaction at this point. I want every agency to lean forward and to make sure we are getting the resources where they need -- where they're need as quickly as possible. I want to repeat, my message to the federal government, no bureaucracy, no red tape, get resources where they're needed as fast as possible, as hard as possible.

What does “private utilities are going to have to lean forward” even mean? Or “I want every agency to lean forward?”
Is that opposed to leaning backwards or not leaning at all?
In the case of MSNBC, we know what “lean forward” means? As was announced in October 2010 when it unveiled its new slogan, “Cable news network MSNBC said Tuesday it is launching a two-year, multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, embracing its politically progressive identity with the new tagline ‘Lean Forward.’”
Was Obama asking private utilities and every agency to embrace their politically progressive identities?
Or was the president reciprocating love for the so-called “news network” that adores him. After all, Chris Matthews practically demanded the president start watching MSNBC moments after Romney shellacked him in the first debate earlier this month.
Maybe Obama took Matthews’ suggestion and now can’t get “lean forward” off his mind.
On the flipside, I have received comments from FoxNews.com readers that "lean forward" is a military term.
One interested party wrote, "It is derived from the saying 'leaning forward in the saddle' to describe taking aggressive or proactive action." Another said it referred to "leaning forward in the foxhole."
As Obama was never in the military and doesn't appear to be all that enthralled with it, this connection seems like a stretch.
On the other hand, with only six days before the elections, and the President wanting to look like a strong leader in response to Sandy, it's possible one of his writers put these words in to appeal to members of the military that would get the reference.
White House press secretary Jay Carney used this phrase Saturday in a statement about the approaching storm.
What that in mind, I'm sure Obama's friends at MSNBC appreciate the plugs even if they aren't intentional.

CNN: 'Anti-Obama' Mailer 'Cherry-picks' Obama Speech; Yet CNN Article Itself Misrepresents General Thrust of Mailer

An election season mailer linked to Focus on the Family and sent out to evangelical Christian voters in Iowa unfairly quoted President Obama out of context, CNN's Political Tracker blog complained this morning.
Yet in staffer glossed over the fact that the other charges waged in the mailer are spot-on about areas in which the president is sharply to the left of religious conservatives on abortion, same-sex marriage, and a religious exemption for the contraception mandate
The political arm of Focus on the Family, the Colorado-based social conservative organization founded by evangelical author and radio host James Dobson, is targeting Iowa voters with a mailing that quotes President Barack Obama as saying “we are no longer a Christian nation.”
The fold-out brochure, which landed in Iowa mailboxes last week and was provided to CNN by a Des Moines-area voter, draws a series of contrasts between Obama and Mitt Romney on the issues of abortion, same-sex marriage and insurance coverage for contraception.
The mailer - paid for by CitizenLink, a political affiliate of Focus on the Family - also includes a striking admission from the president.
“Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation,” Obama is quoted as saying.
The mailer does not explicitly endorse Romney, but the quote is clearly aimed at arousing the suspicions of Iowa’s vibrant Christian conservative community, a key voting bloc in the state and one that the Republican nominee will need behind him next Tuesday.
The quote, though, is cherry-picked from a speech Obama delivered in 2006, more than two years before he became president, at the Call to Renewal conference in Washington.
In 2008, during Obama’s first national campaign, the same out-of-context remark was circulated online as sinister evidence that the Democrat intended to curtail religious freedom in America. At the time, the spurious Internet chatter was debunked



To his credit, Hamby links to photos of the mailer, which readers can peruse at their leisure. That being said, if you failed to check out the photos, you'd have the impression that the greatest charge of the mailer if that President Obama doesn't believe America is a Christian nation, when the factually-accurate charges about his stands on other social issues are the more damning charges.
The "Christian nation" charge by CitizenLink -- whether or not you think it's a fair one -- is more icing on the cake, not the cake itself, but it's precisely this sort of story which you can bet others in the media will run with as a cudgel to bludgeon conservatives, saying it's part and parcel of a campaign to castigate Obama as "the other."
It's just a matter of time before Chris Matthews, for example, cites this as a dog-whistle by conservatives to suggest that Obama is not a practicing Christian.

Hafizh pulang ke Sepanyol

 
 Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah


Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah terbang ke Sepanyol untuk melengkapkan penyertaannya dalam Kejohanan  Motosikal Sepanyol CEV Buckler.
Setelah hampir empat hari selepas pelumbaan yang mengagumkan negara dan dunia dengan pencapaian meraih tempat keempat dari petak ke-27 dalam perlumbaan Moto2,Grand Prix Motosikal Malaysia, pelumba muda ‘luar biasa’ Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah terbang semula ke Sepanyol untuk melengkapkan penyertaannya dalam Kejohanan  Motosikal Sepanyol CEV Buckler.
Dengan perlumbaan terakhir kurang daripada tiga minggu lagi pada 18 November, pelumba PETRONAS Raceline Malaysia berusia 18 tahun ini akan meneruskan latihannya dalam persediaan untuk acara kemuncak Valencia di mana dia akan cuba mengakhiri saingan tahun ini dengan memecah ke dalam kelompok lima pelumba teratas kelas Moto2 sekaligus mempertahankan Piala Persendirian yang kini dalam genggamannya.
Selepas enam perlumbaan, Hafizh yang berkedudukan keenam keseluruhan, hanya 10 mata yang membezakannya dari tempat kelima keseluruhan. Pencabar di hadapannya adalah pelumba Sepanyol Daniel Rivas yang mengumpul 65 mata berbanding Hafizh 55 mata. Pada masa yang sama, Hafizh turut memiliki kelebihan 10 mata dalam Piala Persendirian CEV Buckler.
"Hanya dua pesaing lain berpotensi menghalang rancangan Hafizh untuk memenangi piala tersebut dan mereka adalah Santiago Hernandez dari Colombia dan pelumba Afrika Selatan, Steven Odendaal.
“Saya terlepas peluang meraih podium CEV Buckler sepanjang musim ini dan saya benar-benar berharap untuk mencapainya dalam pusingan akhir," kata Hafizh. "Selepas perlumbaan, saya akan terus berada di Barcelona untuk latihan luar musim dan ujian dengan pasukan."

KAFA enggan lepas Mat Yo

 
 Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (tengah) ketika beraksi menentang ATM.

KAFA belum bersedia melepaskan penyerang berbisa mereka, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha mewakili pasukan lain musim depan, termasuk Johor yang dikatakan berminat mendapatkan khidmat pemain berkenaan.
Setiausaha Kehormat Persatuan Bolasepak Kelantan (Kafa) Azman Ibrahim berkata berdasarkan kontrak yang ditandatangani, pemain berusia 26 tahun itu masih mempunyai baki setahun bersama Kelantan.
"Kelmarin, Setiausaha Kehormat PBNJ (Persatuan Bolasepak Negeri Johor, Suhairi Hashim) menghubungi saya memaklumkan bahawa beliau akan menghantar surat buat kali kedua untuk menawarkan pampasan bagi melepaskan Norshahrul.
"Kami akan membincangkan status Norshahrul dalam mesyuarat jawatankuasa pasukan yang akan diadakan tidak lama lagi," katanya ketika ditemui pemberita selepas majlis Anugerah Bolasepak Kebangsaan 100PLUS-Astro Arena-FAM.
Media sebelum ini, melaporkan bahawa PBNJ berminat mendapatkan khidmat penyerang itu berikutan prestasi cemerlangnya bersama Kelantan musim ini termasuk menyumbat dua gol ketika perlawanan akhir menentang Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM), sekali gus membantu The Red Warriors muncul juara Piala Malaysia buat kali kedua.
Norshahrul yang dikenali dengan panggilan 'Mat Yo' dalam kalangan rakan sepasukan dikatakan menghantar surat kepada Kafa baru-baru ini, untuk membolehkan beliau berhijrah ke pasukan lain namun jawatankuasa pasukan menolaknya dengan alasan pemain itu masih mempunyai kontrak setahun lagi.
Sementara itu, Norshahrul yang ditemui pemberita pada majlis itu berkata beliau masih berminat mewakili pasukan Johor kerana ingin mencari angin baru.
"Saya difahamkan PBNJ masih menaruh minat untuk mendapatkan khidmat saya namun semuanya terserah kepada pengurusan pasukan (Kelantan) untuk menentukan masa depan saya," katanya yang dipilih sebagai penyerang terbaik kebangsaan untuk kali ketiga berturut-turut pada majlis itu.
Beliau berkata fokusnya kini ialah persiapan bersama skuad kebangsaan untuk mempertahankan kejuaraan Piala AFF, yang dijadual bermula 23 Nov ini.

Sterling jadi sensasi

 
 Raheem Sterling


Steven Gerrard percaya bintang muda Liverpool, Raheem Sterling telah menjadi sensasi sejak beraksi dalam kesebelasan utama di Anfield.
Sterling, 17, telah mendapat kepercayaan sepenuhnya daripada bos baru Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers apabila pemain itu diletakkan secara tetap dalam kesebelasan utama.
Pada perlawanan terbaru menentang Reading (1-0), Sterling menjaringkan gol sulungnya untuk Liverpool sekaligus menjadikannya penjaring kedua termuda Reds selepas Michael Owen. Jaringan tersebut turut memberikan Liverpool kemenangan sulung di gelanggang sendiri pada musim ini.
Gerrard mengakui Sterling cepat menyesuaikan diri dalam dunia Liga Perdana Inggeris selepas mempamerkan prestasi yang memberangsangkan.
“Saya rasa Sterling telah mengejutkan semua pihak," kata kapten Liverpool itu.
“Beliau sudah mempamerkan aksi hebat dalam tahap ini (EPL). Beliau membuktikan kemampuannya untuk beraksi dalam kesebelasan utama, walaupun ramai pihak yang tidak menjangkakan dia boleh melakukannya.
“Beliau kini menjadi sensasi" tambanya.

Chelsea buat bantahan

 



Chelsea menamatkan rekod bersihnya musim ini selepas tewas kepada Manchester United 3-2.
Dalam perlawanan tersebut, ia dicemari dengan sikap dan keputusan pengadil perlawanan Mark Clattenburg yang menimbulkan kemarahan banyak pihak terutamanya penyokong The Blues.
Berikutan rasa kecewa, Chelsea telah membuat bantahan terhadap Clattenburg yang didakwa menggunakan "bahasa tidak sesuai".
Clattenburg melayangkan kad merah kepada pemain Chelsea, Branislav Ivanovic dan Fernando Torres di separuh masa kedua selepas mereka bertarung untuk bangkit daripada ketinggalan 0-2 di Stamford Bridge. Gol kemenangan United oleh Javier Hernandez juga dalam keadaan offside.
"Kami akan membuat bantahan kepada Liga Perdana kerana kecewa dengan bahasa tidak sesuai digunakan pengadil dan membuang padang dua pemain kami dalam dua insiden berlainan," kata jurucakap kelab itu..
"Bantahan berhubung perlawanan itu akan diserahkan kepada Persatuan Bola Sepak (FA) Inggeris," tambahnya.

Nazri: Kita tak lindungi 'peniup trompet'

Akta Perlindungan Pemberi Maklumat untuk melindungi pembocor maklumat dalam isu rasuah tidak terpakai dalam kes berkaitan National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), kata Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

Beliau mempersoalkan perlindungan terhadap pihak terbabit kerana dalam kes NFC, perkara itu dihebohkan kepada semua orang sehingga seluruh dunia tahu mengenainya.

Bercakap dalam Dewan Rakyat semasa sesi soal jawab, menteri undang-undang itu berkata, akta itu hanya melindungi pembocor maklumat dan bukannya pihak yang melanggar undang-undang, seperti Akta Perbankan dan Institusi Kewangan (Bafia).

"Dalam kes NFC, dia bukan whistle-blower (pembocor maklumat), dia trumpet blower (peniup trompet). Kita tak lindungi trumpet blower," katanya separuh berseloroh.

"Asalnya ialah (isu) kerahsian, iaitu elemen yang penting. Kalau dia tiup terompet seluruh dunia, orang dah kenal, orang dah tahu dia, nak lindungi apa lagi?

"Yang kedua, kita mesti faham, Akta Perlindungan Pemberi Maklumat tak boleh lindungi orang yang buat kesalahan. Ia untuk lindungi whistle-blower (pemberi maklumat). Kalau dia langgar Bafia, kita tak boleh lindungi dia kerana dia adalah pesalah."

Beliau mengulas perkara itu ketika menjawab soalan tambahan daripada Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak) yang mahu tahu kenapa pihak yang mendedahkan salah laku dalam projek lembu itu tidak diberi perlindungan undang-undang.  Sebagai rakyat Malaysia apa pandangan anda dengan kenyataan ini.

Aset-aset komersil PKNS akan dipindah milik

Aset-aset komersil Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS), akan dipindah milik kepada anak syarikat milik penuhnya, Private Real Estate Company (PREC), bagi meningkatkan lagi tahap kecekapan pengurusan aset supaya lebih berkesan.

PKNS dalam satu kenyataan hari ini menyatakan aset-aset komersil itu ialah Kompleks PKNS, Shah Alam; Kompleks PKNS, Bangi; SACC Mall, Shah Alam; Wisma Yakin, Kuala Lumpur dan Menara PKNS, Petaling Jaya.

"Salah satu inisiatif korporat yang dilaksanakan oleh PKNS ialah menerusi pelaburan dan pengurusan hartanah secara lebih efektif dan efisyen.

"Sejak tahun 2008, sebanyak 82 peratus daripada para peniaga yang menyewa ruang niaga di aset-aset milik PKNS terdiri daripada usahawan Melayu dan Bumiputera," kata PKNS.

Ia berkata kerja-kerja penambahbaikan kemudahan di dalam bangunan seperti tandas, eskalator, lif, papan tanda, tempat letak kereta dan lain-lain yang telah dijalankan sejak Oktober 2011, dijangka siap pada Mac 2013.

PREC akan menaik taraf bangunan secara berterusan bagi meningkatkan nilai aset-aset tersebut.

Kiosk-kiosk perniagaan baharu juga akan turut diwujudkan untuk disewakan kepada peniaga Melayu dan Bumiputera, khususnya.

PREC dengan kerjasama Bahagian Pembangunan Usahawan PKNS juga akan menambah ruang-ruang tapak niaga di aset-aset ini bagi usahawan Melayu dan Bumiputera menjual produk keluaran masing-masing.

Sejak tahun 2008, lebih daripada 6,000 usahawan Bumiputera memperoleh manfaat menerusi program pembangunan usahawan PKNS.

'Banyak MP Pakatan cuma tunjuk muka dalam parlimen'

Sekalipun Pakatan Rakyat menambah suara Melayu dalam parlimen, tidak semua mereka yang mampu berhujah dalam perbahasan dalam Dewan Rakyat, kata Pengerusi Perhubungan Umno Kelantan Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamed.

"Memang banyak orang Melayu dalam Pakatan ini berbanding kami (Umno) tetapi kebanyakannya mereka ini, hanya tunjuk muka.

"Mereka diakui mempunyai banyak pemimpin Melayu, namun banyak sahaja pun tidak guna kalau tidak bersuara," katanya..

Beliau yang juga ahli majlis tertinggi Umno turut menafikan kekurangan ahli parlimen dari parti itu selepas pilihan raya umum ke-12 tidak menunjukkan parti itu kurang lantang dalam menyuarakan hak orang Melayu di Parlimen.

Menurutnya yang juga menteri perdagangan antarabangsa dan industri, Umno adalah parti utama yang sering membela nasib orang Melayu sejak dahulu lagi.

Mustapha yang juga ahli parlimen Jeli mengulas dakwaan Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu bahawa kemenangan Pakatan pada pilihan raya umum lalu adalah bukti kemampuan menambah suara orang Melayu dalam Parlimen berbanding BN.

Akhbar itu turut melaporkan pakar Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Dr Azmi Hassan sebagai berkata kemenangan calon Melayu dalam Pakatan tidak boleh dinilai daripada aspek kualiti kerana kebanyakan calon pembangkang didakwa hanya "bidan terjun".

"Bagi saya ini hanya permainan statistik, bukan keupayaan sebenar calon Pakatan... Saya melihat, pemilihan calon Melayu dalam Pakatan juga agak tempang hingga menyebabkan kredibiliti Pakatan terjejas.

"Kualiti ahli parlimen Melayu dalam Pakatan amat rendah kerana mereka tidak boleh memimpin, apa lagi untuk memperjuangkan hak-hak orang Melayu," katany.

G.O.P. Turns Fire on Obama Pillar, the Auto Bailout

 
TOLEDO, Ohio — The ad from Mitt Romney showed up on televisions here early Saturday morning without the usual public announcement that both campaigns typically use to herald their latest commercials:  Chrysler a bailout recipient, is going to begin producing Jeeps in China, an announcer says, leaving the misleading impression that the move would come at the expense of jobs here.

A one-stop destination for the latest political news — from The Times and other top sources. Plus opinion, polls, campaign data and video.

And so began the latest, and perhaps most important, attempt by Mitt Romney to wrest Ohio into his column. His effort to do so is now intently focused, at times including statements that stretch or ignore the facts, on knocking down what is perhaps the most important component of President Obama`s appeal to blue-collar voters in Ohio and across the industrial Midwest: the success of the president’s 2009 auto bailout.  

Mr. Obama’s relatively strong standing in most polls in Ohio so far has been attributed by members of both parties to the recovery of the auto industry, which has helped the economy here outperform the national economy. At the same time, the industry’s performance and the president’s claim to credit for it appear to have helped Mr. Obama among the white working-class voters Mr. Romney needs.

With the race under most expected circumstances coming down to Ohio, and Ohio potentially coming down to perceptions of how the candidates view the auto industry, Mr. Romney has spent the last few days aggressively trying to undercut Mr. Obama’s auto bailout narrative.

In the past few days his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, has accused Mr. Obama of allowing the bailout to bypass nonunion workers at Delphi, a big auto parts maker with operations in Ohio; Mr. Romney has characterized Mr. Obama’s bailout plan as based on his approach; and Mr. Romney incorrectly told a rally in Defiance, Ohio, late last week outright that Jeep was considering moving its production to China. (Jeep is discussing increasing production in China for sales within China; it is not moving jobs out of Ohio or the United States, or building cars in China for export to the United States.)

It is a high-risk strategy: Jeep’s corporate parent, Chrysler, had already released a scathing statement calling suggestions that Jeep was moving American jobs to China “fantasies” and “extravagant”; news media outlets here and nationally have called the Romney campaign’s statements — initially based on a poorly worded quotation from Chrysler in a news article that was misinterpreted by blogs — misleading.

Mr. Obama’s campaign, seeking to maintain what it sees as its advantage in Ohio, responded on Monday by releasing a commercial calling Mr. Romney’s ad false and reiterating that Mr. Romney had opposed the bailout on the terms supported by Mr. Obama. And on Sunday it dispatched the investment banker who helped develop the bailout, Steven Rattner, here to discuss Jeep’s plans and the auto rescue with local news organizations.

Democrats are hoping that Mr. Romney’s latest move will draw a backlash in a city so dependent on Jeep, which has announced plans to add 1,100 jobs to an assembly plant here that is currently being refitted for the next iteration of what is now called the Jeep Liberty.

Bruce Baumhower, the president of the United Auto Workers local that oversees the major Jeep plant here, said Mr. Romney’s initial comments on moving production to China drew a rash of calls from members concerned about their jobs. When he informed them Chrysler was, in fact, is expanding its Jeep operation here, he said in an interview, “The response has been, ‘That’s pretty pitiful.’ ”

The fight over the auto bailout shows the enduring power of the issue but also its complexities in a campaign that is about both the strength of the economy and the size and role of government.

The auto bailout was one of the first major moves of Mr. Obama’s presidency, and gave Mr. Romney an early chance in opposing it to prove his conservative credentials.

Mr. Romney has portrayed himself as an automobile maven. As he frequently says in his stump speeches, his father was credited with keeping American Motors in business during the 1950s and early 1960s. (The company, it happens, owned Jeep from 1970 to 1987.)

Just as the incoming Obama administration was beginning to contemplate a bailout, Mr. Romney wrote an Op-Ed article in the The New York Times — given the title by the newspaper “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.’’ In the piece Mr. Romney wrote that in the event of a bailout, “You can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.”

The plan the administration settled on first helped Fiat buy Chrysler and then put both Chrysler and General Motors into managed bankruptcies as part of a program that brought total government assistance for Detroit to almost $80 billion between the Obama and Bush administrations. Coming as the Tea Party  was beginning to form, it seemed like risky politics for Democrats being accused of taking big government to an extreme.

At the third and last debate last week in Boca Raton, Fla., Mr. Romney emphasized his position that “these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy, and in that process they can get government help and government guarantees.”

Mr. Romney has stepped up his offense on the issue since.

So it was that he told those at the exuberant rally on Thursday in Defiance, “I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China.”

Mr. Romney was apparently referring to a Bloomberg News article that said Jeep would return to manufacturing in China that had been misinterpreted by several conservative blogs to mean Jeep was shifting its production to China; the company made clear in a statement that Chrysler was only resuming production in China for Chinese consumers, which it had done for years before halting in 2009 before its sale to Fiat.

Mr. Romney’s ad treads carefully, with an announcer saying Mr. Obama “sold Jeep to the Italians, who are going to build Jeeps in China” and the screen flashing, “Plans to return Jeep output to China.”

Calling it “blatant attempt to create a false impression,” former Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, a Democrat, demanded Mr. Romney take it down on Monday. Stuart Stevens, a senior Romney adviser, disputed that the ad is misleading.

“Right now every Jeep built is built in America by an American and sold to the world,” he said. “Now instead of adding jobs in Toledo, they will be making Jeeps in China by the Chinese and selling them in China.”

Jeep began a joint manufacturing venture in China in 1984 and today makes some vehicles in Egypt and Venezuela. While it does produce cars for Chinese export here now, it has discussed returning some production to China since last year.

Data Show Weakening in Euro Zone Economy

Sovereing debt cricis and unrelenting pressure for government austerity.

Multimedia

The data comes in a week when euro zone finance ministers are due to confer by telephone about further aid to the faltering Greek economy, and heads of the major global economic agencies are holding meetings with the leaders of France and Germany.

Spain’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.3 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter, the National Statistics Institute reported from Madrid.

The Spanish economy has now contracted for four consecutive quarters. A collapse real estate prices after the 2008 financial crisis and austerity measures to balance the public sector budget have inflicted severe pain on the country, driving unemployment to 25 percent.

In Nuremberg, the Federal Labor Agency said the number of Germans without jobs rose in 20,000 after seasonal adjustment, leaving the unemployment rate at 6.9 percent, unchanged from September.

“The weaker economic development is making itself noticeable in the labor market,” Frank-Jürgen Weise, director of the German Federal Employment Agency, told a press conference in Nuremberg. But he added that “overall, the labor market is showing itself to be robust and in fine condition.”

Eckart Tuchtfeld, an economist with Commerzbank in Frankfurt, noted that, perhaps more worryingly, the number of employed fell in September for the first time since early 2010.

“The ‘labor market miracle’ many observers had proclaimed is likely to continue taking a breather for now, in view of the poor economy,” Mr. Tuchtfeld wrote. “Only in the second half of 2013 do we expect the trend to point up again.”

The Spanish and German gloom were underscored by a repor from the European Commission which said in Brussels that its index of business and consumer sentiment fell 0.7 point to 84.5 this month from a revised 85.2 points in September.

An index value below 100 shows more respondents are pessimistic than optimistic.

“Marked decreases” in sentiment in the euro zone’s industrial and construction sectors outweighed improvement in retail, though service sector and consumer confidence were stable, the commission, said, though it noted a hopeful sign in that the rate of decline in the indexes was slowing.

Sentiment in the 27-nation European Union was “broadly stable,” the commission said.

The decline in sentiment shows the 17-nation euro zone began the fourth quarter “on a very weak note,” Jennifer McKeown, an economist in London with Capital Economics, wrote in a note. She said the sentiment data were “consistent with annual contractions in euro-zone G.D.P. of around 2.5 percent. That implies very steep quarterly falls in G.D.P. in the next few quarters.”

She also predicted the euro zone economy would shrink by about 2.5 percent next year.

More than three years after Greece’s disclosure that it had been fudging its government finance statistics, touching off a run on the sovereign debt of several euro zone governments, the region’s crisis has become a grinding, chronic affair.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks in Berlin on Tuesday with the leaders of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the International Labor Organization.

The leaders were arriving in Berlin from Paris, where they held talks with the French president, François Hollande.

The meeting comes ahead of the latest report on Greece’s financial situation by the so-called troika of international lenders: the I.M.F., the European Central Bank and the European Commission. Germany has made the troika report a precondition for making any decisions on further assistance to Athens.

Nevertheless, discussion over how Germany might best help Greece to cover its growing financing gap has gathered speed in recent days. While the idea that Greece might need more time to pay back its debts remains open for debate among German lawmakers, both the chancellor and her finance minister have rejected the idea of a taking a loss on official loans to Greece.

Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters on Monday that a write-off of Greece’s public sector debts was “out of the question.” He cited German law as stipulating that loans can only be granted to countries that are not considered in threat of default, meaning that such a write-down “would certainly not be in Greece’s interests.”

Bank of Japan Announces Fresh Economic Stimulus

TOKYO — The Japanese central bank announced fresh measures on Tuesday to ease monetary policy, stepping up its bid to fend off recession in the world’s third-largest economy after the United States and China.

The Bank of Japan, under pressure from the government to act more decisively to halt the economy’s slide, said in a statement that it would add ¥11 trillion, or $138.5 billion, to an asset-buying program that has become its main monetary policy tool.

The bank will also set up a new loan program to supply banks with cheap long-term funds, a bid to pump more money into the Japanese economy to encourage growth. As expected, the bank decided to keep its benchmark interest rate at a range of 0 percent to 0.1 percent.

The Bank of Japan’s governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, said that the easing measures would stay in place until Japan achieved an inflation level of at least 1 percent.

The measures come as Japan confronts economic data that suggest its fragile recovery is threatened. The economy grew at a healthy clip earlier this year, helped by the huge reconstruction effort that followed the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. But a slowdown in exports and industrial output, brought about by the global slowdown and a continued territorial spat with China, a major trading partner, is threatening to hobble that growth.

The dispute, which intensified in September, has led to boycotts of Japanese brands among Chinese consumers, forcing Japanese exporters to scale back their sales forecasts in an important market.

Meanwhile, Japanese industrial output fell by 4.1 percent in September from August, and by 8.1 percent from a year earlier, data released Tuesday showed. Exports have also shown signs of a slowdown, and price data show the economy remains mired in deflation, a damaging drop in prices, wages and profit that hampers economic activity.

Reflecting those risks, the central bank cut its own economic and price forecasts, saying it was unlikely to meet a goal of reaching 1 percent inflation by the fiscal year ending March 2014. That probably will not happen until the following year, the bank said.

“Japan’s economy is expected to level off more or less for the time being. Thereafter, however, as domestic demand remains resilient on the whole and overseas economies gradually emerge from the deceleration phase, the economy is expected to return to a moderate recovery path,” the bank said in its semiannual economic outlook, also released Tuesday.

And in a rare joint statement, the government and the Bank of Japan said they shared the goal of beating deflation. The central bank will “regularly” report its outlook on prices to the cabinet, while the government will introduce its own measures to fight deflation, the statement said.

Mr. Shirakawa said that for now, he saw increased risks for a marked slowdown in the global economy. The biggest change since the bank’s policy meeting in September, he said, was that “overseas economies seemed to be slowing down further.” That was “a big starting point” of the bank’s policy discussions, he said.

It is still unclear how far the bank will go to reverse Japan’s decade-long deflationary malaise, made worse by the country’s shrinking population. Central bankers have said that monetary policy is not enough to ease the economic problems and that the government needs to do more to facilitate growth.

Even as the central bank has flooded the economy with money, bank lending has hardly risen because companies do not feel confident enough in the weak economy to fund big investments.

The government has also thrown money at the economy, approving ¥422.6 billion in emergency spending just last week. But its ability to spend its way to economic growth is limited by a public debt burden already twice the size of its economy. Gridlock in Parliament is also blocking a bill that would allow the government to fund an almost ¥40 trillion deficit, threatening public services.

Markets were unimpressed with the central bank’s moves Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225-share index in Tokyo closing down nearly 1 percent shortly after the bank’s announcement, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong off 0.4 percent. The yen strengthened, hitting a one-week high of 79.25 to the dollar, bringing more pain to Japanese exporters.

“Monetary fireworks displays are not in Bank of Japan governor Shirakawa’s nature,” Nicholas Smith, Japan strategist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, said in a note to clients after the bank’s decision. The bank will continue to face pressure from the government to step up its actions, and Mr. Shirakawa may be replaced when his current term ends in April, Mr. Smith said. “And if there is one thing that all major political parties can agree on, it is that the monetary future must be expansionary,” he said.

La Liga: Real Madrid benam Mallorca 5-0

 

REAL Madrid pula meraihkan pesta gol apabila membenam Mallorca 5-0 dalam saingan La Liga, perlawanan kesembilan, yang berlangsung di Stadium Iberostar Estadi, Palma de Mallorca.

Stadium yang dibanjiri kira-kira 17,500 penonton sememangnya mendapat sorakkan meriah, namun ternyata penonton tuan rumah hampa setelah Mallorca tewas di tempat sendiri.

Gol pertama Madrid seawal minit kelapan disumbangkan oleh Gonzalo Gerardo, disusuli gol kedua minit-22 oleh Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pada separuh masa kedua, Madrid menambah tiga gol iaitu minit ke-70, 73 dan masa kecederaan.

Berikut keputusan saingan La Liga yang berlangsung awal pagi tadi (waktu Malaysia).

Real Zaragoza (2) mln Sevilla (1)

Levante (3) mln Granada (1)

Athletic club (1) mln Getafe (2)

Atletico Madrid (3) mln Osasuna (1)

Mallorca (0) mln Real Madrid (5)


Jadual La Liga
Selasa 30 Oktober

Real Valladolid mln Real Sociedad
4.30 pagi

MU menang 3-2, rapatkan jurang mata

 





 

MANCHESTER United (MU) merapatkan jurang mata saingan mengejar takhta Liga Perdana Inggeris (EPL) apabila berjaya menewaskan pendahulu liga Chelsea 3-2 di Stamford Bridge semalam.
Selepas menyempurnakan sembilan perlawanan, Chelsea masih di depan dengan 22 mata manakala MU menambah mata kepada 21. Manchester City, juara musim lalu, yang tewas kelmarin juga mengumpulkan 21 mata.
MU mendahului Chelsea, yang bermain dengan sembilan pemain selepas dua dibuang padang, ekoran gol sendiri daripada David Luiz pada minit keempat. Gol tambahan MU disumbangkan oleh Robin van Persie pada minit 12.
Ketinggalan dua gol itu tidak mematahkan semangat Chelsea yang memperoleh jaringan pada minit ke-44 dan 53 menerusi Juan Mata dan Ramires.
Javier Hernandez menghasilkan mata penuh kepada MU pada minit ke-75.
Keputusan perlawanan semalam:
Everton 2 - 2 Liverpool
Newcastle 2 - 1 West Brom
Southampton 1 - 2 Tottenham
Chelsea 2 - 3 Man Utd

Perlumbaan bas jadi kegilaan penonton hujung minggu

 
 
 


PERLUMBAAN bas. Mungkin kedengaran pelik, tetapi itu antara satu acara sukan yang menjadi kegilaan sebahagian peminat sukan pemotoran yang tinggal di bahagian timur Amerika Syarikat (AS).

Kebiasaannya pelumba menjadikan bas sekolah yang telah diubahsuai sebagai jentera perlumbaan.
Uniknya, litar perlumbaan mereka tidaklah litar tetap atau seperti yang anda bayangkan. Dan yang pasti bukan seperti Litar Antarabangsa Sepang.

Tetapi litar perlumbaan bas lebih menarik, bukan sahaja berlumba dalam litar bulatan tetapi ada juga yang diadakan di litar berbentuk angka lapan.

Sukan ini sangat terkenal di AS bahkan, setiap kali ia diadakan, sudah pasti kehadiran penyokong tidak pernah mengecewakan.

Sentiasa ada pengikut yang setia dan tidak pernah melepaskan peluang menyaksikan kehebatan pemandu yang lagaknya tidak ubah seperti Michael Schumacher.

 Aspek keselamatan tetap diutamakan

SEPERTI sukan permotoran lain, perlumbaan bas tidak terkecuali daripada peraturan ketat terutama melibatkan soal keselamatan pelumba.

Mereka wajib mengenakan topi keledar, pakaian yang sesuai, tali keselamatan pula tidak boleh dibuka, sekiranya tidak lengkap, pelumba boleh disingkir dan penyertaan secara automatik terbatal.

Bahkan jika perlu, mereka akan digantung terus daripada menyertainya pada masa akan datang. Kerana itu juga, had kelajuan sebuah bas ditetapkan tidak melebihi 60 kilometer sejam.

Walaupun dengan kelajuan seperti itu, kemalangan pasti sukar dielak. Tetapi itu satu kelebihan untuk mereka yang mencari kejuaraan.

Dalam erti kata lain, kemalangan yang berlaku akan mengurangkan jumlah kenderaan di atas litar dan akhirnya siapa yang tinggal, maka pelumba dialah yang akan dinobatkan juara.

Namun, perlu diingat, hanya mereka yang benar-benar berpengalaman dan mengetahui selok-belok perlumbaan sahaja dibenarkan beraksi.

Adakah akan ada di tempat kita sukan jenis ini.

Ferguson praise for fast-starting Manchester United

Scot praises speed with which United took lead at Chelsea and gives credit to nine-man Blues

Javier Hernandez wheels away after scoring Manchester United's winner against Chelsea

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted Manchester United enjoyed a slice of good fortune in beating Chelsea but hailed his side's second-half display as they recovered from squandering a two-goal lead to achieve a long-awaited win at Stamford Bridge.

"I couldn't wait for half-time, then they got the second goal and, from that moment, we had to start performing properly and we did that"
Sir Alex Ferguson

The visitors were pegged back by Chelsea when Juan Mata and Ramires cancelled out David Luiz's own goal and Robin van Persie's seventh Barclays Premier League goal of the season.
But United rallied, after the dismissals of Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres, to seal their first League win at Chelsea since 2002 thanks to Javier Hernandez's 75th-minute effort.
"It's 10 years since we won here [in the League]," said Ferguson. "It's very difficult to come here and get all the decisions as it's a very difficult place. The crowd played a part, they were terrific and right behind their team, and we buckled in the minutes before and after half-time.
"We gathered ourselves well and got back into the game. We started the game so well. We were absolutely brilliant but then, 10 minutes from half-time, we lost our way a bit.
"I couldn't wait for half-time, to be honest, then they got the second goal and, from that moment, we had to start performing properly and we did that."
"You have to give credit to Chelsea. They never gave in and you saw David Luiz running around like a whirling dervish, that's his desire to get back into the game.
"They gambled - it failed obviously - but they showed great desire to try and win the game."

Di Matteo lauds Chelsea character

Despite Chelsea conceding two goals after just 12 minutes, manager Roberto Di Matteo rued the early stages of the match, after his side fell was full of praise for the "character" they showed to bounce back and restore parity before ultimately coming up short.

"We've got that kind of personality in our dressing room, that we never give up"
Roberto Di Matteo

"Today was a poor start," he said. "We were slow but the first goal was lucky. We had a tough week with three intense games and a long trip to Ukraine. After those first 20 minutes we got into our rhythm and started to play the way we can and the way we want to play.
"We showed great character and responded well to get back into the game and equalise, then had a good number of chances as well. I was confident we could go on and win the game."
Di Matteo added that it was Chelsea's tenacity that got them back in the match and praised United goalkeeper David De Gea for making two crucial saves in an open match.
"We've got that kind of personality in our dressing room, that we never give up," he said. "There were two good teams on the pitch and we looked very strong and caused them a lot of problems. De Gea made a couple of fantastic saves and I was confident we could win the game, they looked vulnerable.”
Chelsea have to face United again on Wednesday in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup, but with Arsenal bound for Old Trafford on Saturday, the Italian admitted that squad rotation might have to be employed in midweek.
"We have to regroup first of all," he said. "We will have a few players missing after we played with nine men and in a week when we had a long trip to Ukraine. I have to see how the players are tomorrow and think about what kind of team I put out on Wednesday.
“We know we have a good and strong team. We just have to ride this moment where we miss a few players, play in three days and get our energy back.
"Today we looked like a team that wanted to win and were very strong out on the pitch. I am sure in the long run this is a team with a lot of qualities.
"Even though we might find moments and situations like this we can come out of it once we get everybody back. We're a good team."
REPORT: Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United

'Pengkhianat Umno biasanya pegang jawatan penting'

 

Pemimpin akar umbi Umno hari ini menggesa jawatankuasa khas parti Melayu itu bertindak tegas, termasuk menyingkirkan segera ahli yang khianat, tidak seperti sebelum ini yang mengambil masa terlalu lama.

Ketua Umno Cheras Datuk Syed Ali Alhabshee berkata, sebelum ini hukuman untuk kes pelanggaran etika atau khianat mengambil masa sehingga menimbulkan kecewa di kalangan rakyat.

"Saya berharap jawatankuasa berkenaan akan lebih tegas mengambil tindakan terhadap mana-mana pihak yang berlaku khianat dan mensabotaj calon-calon BN pada pilihan raya umum ke-13 akan datang," tegasnya seperti dilaporkan dalam blog Umno Cheras.

Syed Ali juga berkata, mana-mana ahli Umno yang mengkhianati dasar perjuangan parti sememangnya wajar disingkirkan tidak kira di peringkat mana.

Beliau bagaimanapun tidak menafikan kebanyakan yang "bertukar menjadi pengkhianat" terdiri daripada pemegang jawatan penting dalam parti.

"Lazimnya yang mensabotaj parti dan pengkhianat adalah mereka yang memegang jawatan penting dalam Umno, kerana kecewa tidak dapat sesuatu yang dihajati mereka mula memburuk-burukkan parti dan pemimpin tertinggi," tegasnya.

'Dirasuk kepentingan peribadi'

Tambah Syed Ali lagi, jarang berlaku ahli-ahli parti di peringkat akar umbi yang khianat, sebaliknya membabitkan pemimpin termasuk yang pernah berada dalam kabinet.

"Saya percaya ahli-ahli Umno peringkat akar umbi tetap setia kepada parti, mereka ikhlas berjuang untuk parti," tegasnya sambil menyifatkan keadaan itu seperti "dirasuk kepentingan peribadi".

Syed Ali juga melihat penubuhan jawatankuasa khas bagi mengambil tindakan ahli ahli yang khianat mampu mengukuhkan keyakinan rakyat terhadap masa depan Umno.

Presiden Umno Datuk Seri Najib Razak mengumumkan penubuhan jawatankuasa itu setelah dipersetujui Majlis Tertinggi (MT) di PWTC baru-baru ini.

Ia akan diketuai oleh Pengerusi Lembaga Disiplin Umno Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Tengku Ismail dan beberapa wakli MT yang tiada berkepentingan.

Bolasepak Malaysia. Khabar angin?

Bintang skuad Piala Dunia Jepun, Marcus Tulio Tanaka dikatakan hampir pasti menyertai pasukan liga M musim depan.

Robbie Fowler khabarnya semakin hampir menyertai T-Team..

Kehadiran 2 nama besar ini meningkatkan lagi populariti Liga M di Asia.

FAM sedang berusaha bersama AFC untuk membentuk badan bebas agar memantapkan Liga Malaysia dan perubahan liga akan disaksikan dalam saingan Liga Malaysia 2015 atau 2016..

FAM juga dalam perancangan untuk naikkan gred liga dari D ke B atau A menjelang 2015.

Mahali muka baharu Selangor musim depan

 

Terdahulu, beberapa pemain dilapor bakal menyarung jersi Selangor, antaranya pemain sayap N.Sembilan, S. Kunanlan dan kapten skuad Harimau Muda A, Mahali Jasuli yg sah menyertai Gergasi Merah musim depan.

Selain itu, penjaga gol T'ganu Mohd.Sharbinee dan pertahanan Terengganu Shukor Jusoh juga dilapor telah bersetuju menyertai Selangor..

Selangor juga bakal menyenaraikan penyerang import baru slepas pemain Croatia, Bosko Balaban memilih utk tidak menyambung kontrak bersama FAS.

Mahali berkata, dia memilih utk menyertai Gergasi Merah musim depan kerana pernah mewakili skuad Bawah 19 tahun Selangor.

Bolasepak Malaysia

Harga tiket Piala AFF
 
Malaysia vs Singapore (RM30)
Malaysia vs Laos (RM30)
Malaysia vs Indonesia (RM30)
Separuh Akhir (jika Malaysia layak) = RM40

Final (jika Malaysia layak) = RM50
Total (jika Malaysia ke final) = RM180.00

Persoalannya tindakan FAM bijak ataupun tidak harga tiket untuk final jika malaysia layak?