From The Star: Dr M takes the stand:
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's much awaited testimony before the V.K. Lingam video clip inquiry yesterday failed to shed much light.
He repeatedly replied “No” or “I do not remember” to various questions posed by leading officer DPP Datuk Nordin Hassan.
For those of you not in the know, the biggest change in Formula 1 as of this year is the banning of traction control (that thing that makes you not skid) and engine braking (slowing your car by changing gears). What this effectively does is makes the car more of a beast, bringing it back to the days when the sound of the engine is guttural and there's nothing holding it back from jumping off the track. This, in effect, separates the men from the boys. As we are starting to see already.
From BBC Sport: Coulthard fears for driver safety:
David Coulthard fears new Formula One rule changes could affect driver safety and lead to a serious incident.
Under regulations for 2008, traction control, which prevents wheelspin, and engine braking are banned.
"The big issue is when we have standing water on the track without traction control," said Coulthard, speaking at the launch of the new RB4 in Spain.
Coulthard's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber agreed with the Scot's sentiments and said he had safety concerns from what he had seen during testing.
"No question about it, there will be more crashes," said the Australian.
"We've already seen it in testing. There are more guys going off, there are more red flags, and that is going to happen in races - that is a 100% certainty."
The removal of traction control has split opinion amongst the drivers with BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld unconcerned about the change.
"Formula One does not need traction control," said the German. "I enjoy it more as a driver, especially in the rain.
"For me, it doesn't cross the line of being too dangerous. If you want you can just sit on the outside, and then it's safe."
From BBC Sport: Hamilton upbeat despite setbacks:
Ooh... I can feel the tension already. Will we see Hamilton losing his cool in 2008 without traction control and engine braking? Probably not, since he started off in a go-kart, but it's still a whole new ballgame. And then we've got Heidfeld saying things like that. I smell a throwdown coming on. I can't wait.Lewis Hamilton insists he is still happy with the pace of his McLaren despite coming off twice during the third day of testing in Jerez.
The 23-year-old blamed the lack of engine braking and traction control, now banned under new regulations, as he twice beached the car in gravel.
"Without these controls helping you on the entry to corners there is more locking of the rear wheels," he said.
But Hamilton added: "I think we've got off to a really good start."
From BBC: US approves animal clones as food:
On the one hand: Ew. On the other hand: The answer to world hunger. Such moral dilemmas we face.The US government has given the green light to the production and marketing of
foods derived from cloned animals.After six years of study, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle and goats and their offspring is safe.
Lack of data meant the agency could not reach a decision on sheep products.
The FDA does not expect to see a lot of products from cloned animals being sold now, because of cost. It expects clones would first be used for breeding.
From BBC: 'Spare part heart' beats in lab:
The stripped-out shell of a heart has been made to work again - using brand new cells planted inside it.
Scientists removed all the muscle cells in a rat heart, leaving just a "scaffold" of other tissues such as blood vessels and valves.
When the University of Minnesota team added heart cells, they quickly grew and produced a pumping action.
In just four days, the cells had multiplied and spread to such an extent that the researchers could see contractions in the new muscle tissue.
By the eight day, the home-grown hearts were capable of pumping, albeit at only 2% of the power of a normal rat heart
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have shown that a person's enjoyment of wine can be heightened if they are simply told that it is an expensive one.
Wine expert Jancis Robinson says she was not surprised to see that the research was carried out in California.
She argues that American attitudes to wine can be very different to those of the British wine-buying public.
"At least seven years ago, I was told by a sommelier at a top restaurant in California that he couldn't sell wine that was priced at under $100 at bottle," she says. "He was able to sell the same wine when he raised the price to more than $100."
Appreciation
She says that while the Americans love to spend and expensive wine is seen as a regular "reward" purchase, the British are always looking for a bargain.
"We have an innate fear of being fleeced," she says.
A police report has been lodged against Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) legal adviser P Uthayakumar by the movement’s secretary T Vasanthakumar over allegations of misuse of funds.
Certain individuals have been collecting money in the name of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) – but not channelling it back to Hindraf.
In a statement, Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy (currently in London) said unauthorised persons were collecting funds meant to aid the five leaders of Hindraf who were arrested under the Internal Security Act last month.
The victims:
Will they make it? Who will falter? Who will carry the team? Stay tuned to find out.
