Indonesia to send domestic helpers to four countries only

Good news for Malaysian employers as Malaysia is among the four countries that Indonesian domestic helpers will be allowed to be sent to. The other three countries are Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. More..Indonesia to send domestic helpers to four countries only

Book Fair on board MV Logos Hope at Port Klang

Here is a chance to visit a floating book fair on board a ship.

MV Logos Hope will be docking in Port Klang on Sept 28. Members of the public can go on board and visit the book fair, the international cafe as well as interact with the international crew. It is open from Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10am to 10pm and Sundays from 1pm to 10 pm.

Logos Hope can hold up to 800 visitors at any time, with capacity to host an additional 700 in the Hope Theatre and Logos Lounge. This publicly accessible deck offers visitors an introduction to the vessel and the organization, a book fair featuring around 7,000 different titles, a visual presentation called the Journey of Life and the International Cafe.

MV Logos Hope is operated by the German non-profit organization GBA Ships e.V. All crew members are volunteers.

How to get there? To get there without hassle and not having to drive there yourself, Plusliner Travel & Tours is providing bus services to visit the floating library. There are two departure points, one at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan-Bandar Tasik Selatan (TBS-BTS) and the other Port Klang KTM commuter station.

The service costs between RM8 and RM21. For more information, you can call 1-300-888-KTB (528).

Following is a schedule of upcoming ports MV Logos Hope will be visiting or is now docked at:

* Penang, Malaysia – August 18th, 2011 – September 27th, 2011
* Port Klang, Malaysia – September 28th, 2011 – October 24th, 2011
* Kuching, Malaysia – October 27th, 2011 – November 15th, 2011
* Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - November 17th, 2011 - December 13th, 2011
* Singapore, Singapore - December 16th, 2011 - December 28th, 2011
* Cebu, Philippines - January 13th, 2012 - February 14th, 2012
* Manila, Philippines - February 16th, 2012 - March 14th, 2012
(Source)

Update: Sep 30
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Biggest floating book fair in town - The Star

Ticket cost is only RM1 each and admission is free for children under 12 who are accompanied by an adult.

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How to save on Hair Salon furniture

Starting up a business entails a lot of planning including doing up the business premise and getting the right stock and quantity to get going. With the advent of the Internet, sourcing for services and products has become so much easier. If you are starting up a beauty business or a hair salon, for instance, and are looking for hair salon furniture, Pretty-Salon USA is the place to check out.

Pretty-Salon USA is the online source for the best hair salon furniture and equipment available. They specialize in everything you will need to outfit a spa, salon or barbershop. Not only that, you will be sure of getting the best prices because they are a true manufacturers’ wholesaler, offering their customers the lowest prices on all the products they carry, and their range is extensive.

Whatever you need for your salon, beauty shop or barbershop can be found here. There are nail tables, salon styling chairs, color racks, kids cutting chairs to other essential hairdressing salon furniture items, including skin care facial bed and manicure tables. Even barber poles are available here. Basically, whatever you need for your business, they have it.

Check out their catalog of items. They are all categorized accordingly for your easy navigation. You will be amazed at their wide range of products for whether you are opening a new salon or remodeling an established business. You will find a selection of the most unique pieces of equipment and furniture that will make your salon attractive and welcoming. If you are looking for kids pedicure spa chairs, they have them too. Salon mats, stools, even wall murals and posters are also available, so are towel warmers and sterilizers. Nail art glitters too, as well as LED signs. So, if you are looking for anything hair salon - dryer chairs and the like, you know where to find it. Don't just take my word for it. Check out the Pretty Salon USA website.

We all know that when we buy in bulk the cost comes down, sometimes significantly which can result in substantial savings. Pretty-Salon USA also offers Exclusive Package Deals where certain items are bundled together at a great bargain price.

For even more savings, don't forget to check out the amazing bargains on their Clearance Sale Selection. Here you will find some of the hottest deals on designer salon styling chairs, styling stations and more. At Pretty-Salon USA, they are here to make your hair salon furniture shopping experience exceptional.

Postpone travel to southern Thailand

Malaysians have been advised to postpone non-essential travel to southern Thailand in view of the unrest and bombing incidents that killed four Malaysians and injured 18 others.

The media reported that four Malaysians including a three-year boy were killed in three bombing incidents in Sungai Golok, south Thailand on Friday night.

Out of the 18 Malaysians injured in the incidents, five were still being treated at the Sungai Golok Hospital, and one at the Yala Hospital, while the others had been discharged after receiving outpatient treatment.

Greenhouses big and small

Whether it's a garden greenhouse paradise (like the one in the image) or just a small hobby greenhouse you are looking for, Gothic Arch Greenhouses is the place to start. They have been specializing in horticultural products since the '40s.

Growing from strength to strength, they began experimenting with various styles of greenhouse designs and materials. Over time, they finally settled on the Gothic Arch style because of its strength, good looks and optimum light and heat transmitting properties, and for its ease of construction.

At Gothic Arch Greenhouses there is every type of greenhouse to meet any need. There are Hobby Greenhouses for that personal garden you have been dreaming of, Institutional greenhouses for a school or club gardening or herbal project, Commercial greenhouses for vegetable-growing or even for an indoor enclosure to house a swimming pool for all-year-round swimming. On a larger scale, there are also International Greenhouses. Gothic Arch Greenhouses has them all.

If it's Greenhouse Supplies or Greenhouse Kits you need, they have them too. It doesn’t matter whether you are a backyard gardener or you own a huge commercial nursery, chances are you’re going to need greenhouse supplies. At Gothic Arch Greenhouses, they have a wide range of supplies from pots and containers to hydroponics supplies, from greenhouse benches and carts to greenhouse covering, circulation fans to coolers and cooling system equipment and more. Don't just take my word for it, browse their website and see for yourself the wide selection available. Indeed, they are a one-stop-shop for everything greenhouse!

PM announces repeal of ISA, three Emergency proclamations

Today, Malaysia celebrates Malaysia Day. September 16, 1963 was the day Malaysia came into being. Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya to form the new nation, Malaysia. Singapore later left to form an independent nation on her own.

This year's Malaysia Day is celebrated with a positive difference with the PM's announcement of the repeal of the ISA, three Emergency proclamations.


From The Star:

KUALA LUMPUR: Several draconian laws including the ISA and the three Emergency proclamations are to be repealed under major civil liberty reforms announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Thursday.

The historic changes, he stressed, were to accommodate and realise a mature, modern and functioning democracy; to preserve public order; enhance civil liberty and maintain racial harmony.

The changes, which represent the biggest shake-up of the Malaysian system since independence from Britain in 1957, were announced by the Prime Minister in a prime-time television address on the eve of celebrations marking the anniversary of the foundation of modern Malaysia.

The reforms include:

*Total repeal of the Internal Security Act

The legislation, introduced in 1960 in the wake of an armed insurgency by Communist rebels, gives the police wide-ranging powers to detain suspects indefinitely.

It will be replaced by a new law that incorporates far more judicial oversight and limits the powers of the police to detain suspect for preventive reasons.

37 people are currently being held under the ISA. There will be a six-month transition period while the new laws are introduced, after which their cases will be considered under the new legislation.

*Total repeal of the Emergency Ordinance

Introduced following race riots in 1969, the Emergency Ordinance, which allows suspects to be detained without charge for up to two years if permission is granted by a Minister.

This too will be replaced by a law that will not compromise on national security and terrorism while increasing democratic accountability and judicial oversight.

*Removal of annual renewal of press and publication permits

All licences will now remain valid indefinitely unless they are revoked, in common with broadcasting regulations in many Western nations.

*Government to review Section 27 of the Police Act 1967

The Malaysian constitution guarantees the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. The law requires police permission before gatherings can go ahead, including on private land such as stadiums. This law will now be reviewed to bring Malaysia in line with international standards while ensuring that the police retain the power to prevent violent scenes on the nation's streets.

A host of other laws, including those governing banishment and residence, will also be abolished or reviewed. Any law found to be no longer relevant or justifiable will be repealed.

Full text of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's speech.

Sports League Management softrware from LeagueAthletics.com

Managing sports or a sports team is not an easy task, certainly not without its challenges of a million and one little but necessary chores. If you are already doing something of this nature or are contemplating picking it up fulltime or as an additional activity and wondering where or how best to start, a sports software is what you need for starters.

A sports software like the one from LeagueAthletics will help you manage your sports organization online. To begin with, the program is easy-to-use so you do not need any web designing skills nor html experience. This simple, step-by-step sports league management tool offers easy-to-implement options that guide you to create your own professional looking LeagueAthletics.com sports team or league website from the comfort of your home or office.

The website is customizable and allows you to create contact groups for parents, players, officials, and administrators to target your messaging for more efficient team communication.

Let's look at the features available on this sports league management software. Nowadays, the emphasis for online transactions is security. This sports software provides free, secure online sports registration software with member and sports team management. The Sports schedule generator includes automatic game and practice reminders via email or text message. Your schedules can be imported from a spreadsheet. This software has multi-team scheduling for youth league websites which is helpful for families that have more than one child in a program. It also has capability for you to set up your own online team store to sell club or league merchandise. These are just a few of the many features available on a sports software from LeagueAthletics. Check them out. You'll be surprised at the many useful features available.

If you need help, their technical support ticketing system is open 24/7 and their emergency support staff is online seven days a week. LeagueAthletics.com offers competitive pricing packages and no hidden costs. What you pay for will include tons of standard sports league management features with free online sports registration software. You can request a live demo and a support engineer will show you how they can help your sports organization build a new website, set up online sports registrations, communicate with your members and more. Watch a video for a better understanding of the many advantages of this sports league management tool.

Predator floor grinders from Innovatech

Ever seen how concrete floor polishing is done or a worker in the process of a floor removal job? These are common industrial jobs in buildings and offices requiring regular maintenance or building upgrades. Fortunately for the availability of sophisticated equipment and tools these tedious and massive jobs are able to be undertaken with a lot more speed and efficiency and a lot less fuss.

Innovatech, where they design and build their cutting-edge products in Everett, Washington, has a range of equipment and tools for jobs that involve surface preparation. Their state-of-the-art range of equipment includes floor grinders and polishers, flooring removal machines, floor-polishing machines, carpet remover, tile-scraper, dust collection machine and more.

A little bit about their floor grinders. The Innovatech Predator floor grinder line of machines are unmatched and stand apart from the competition in incredible balance, ease of use, wide range of tooling options, and unmatched production capabilities. The Predator grinders are the right choice for polishing or grinding cement, concrete, natural stone, marble, granite, terrazzo and more. When it comes to quality of Innovatech products, the following says a lot which I borrowed it from their website.

"Our new manufacturing facility is equipped with the latest computer-controlled mills, lathes, welding equipment and assembly tools. But our people are the real source of the quality built into our machines. One fact: In the entire history of our company we have never had a weld failure on any of our Terminator flooring removal machines or Predator grinders. Hundreds of machines in the field. Thousands of hours of operation. The toughest possible jobs. Not one weld failure. Not one."

American aircraft carrier in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" in Port Klang

Update: It will be in Port Klang for 4 days.

Not many of us get to see an aircraft carrier. If you are interested and lucky, you might still get to see the American aircraft carrier, USS John C. Stennis, where it made a schedule port call at Port Klang yesterday with 5,000 sailors and dozens of fighter jets on board. The Star didn't say how long it will be here though.

The ship is better known for its cameo appearance in several movies although it has had served in operations in Afghanistan and other hotspots, and responded to disasters including Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Indonesia.

Besides Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, in which the carrier was seen in the film's final battle in Egypt, the 15-year-old ship had also appeared in the movies Executive Decision and The Sum of All Fears, as well as in an episode of television series NCIS.


Source: The Star

GetAbstract Executive Book Summaries

Every year, thousands of business books go on the shelves. Wouldn't it be great to be able to read all of them? Now, there is a way. Business book summaries make it possible for you to have access to the thousands of business books available in bookstores. Not only that, you can read them all via quality summary reviews by the best book reviewers in the literary industry today.

Since launching their service in 1999, getAbstract has become the world's largest provider of business book summaries and has built up a base of more than four million satisfied customers.

GetAbstract's mission is to provide executives worldwide with the best in business knowledge. This knowledge comes in the form of concise summaries of the latest and most relevant books. These executive book summaries are available in English, German, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.

Many of the world's largest companies offer their employees full access to the getAbstract library. Their corporate clients include some of the most sophisticated and knowledge-driven firms in business today, including Microsoft, Citigroup, Daimler, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Boeing, SAP, UBS, Credit Suisse, Novartis and MasterCard. Check out their website to learn more about their corporate subscription plans.

With getAbstract, you can tap into the world of expert knowledge and have access to thousands of executive book summaries at your fingertips. You can get to the main points of the book fast which saves you countless hours. These short, information-packed but easily digestible book summaries are available in multiple formats 24/7: PDF, Audiom iPhone, Kindle, BlackBerry, and Palm.

Motorcycle batteries at BatteryMart.com

If you are looking to stock up on your battery supply or looking for a couple of motorcycle batteries, Battery Mart is definitely the place to check out. Here is a battery store in the United States that has all kinds of batteries for any gadget and equipment there is that needs a battery.   You will have a selection of 100,000 replacement batteries and accessories to choose from!

Battery Mart is a battery store for top quality discount batteries, alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries and more. Being in the battery business for 27 years, this family business has shipped more than a million batteries to 8,885 cities in the US and Canada.

You can find every type of battery imaginable - batteries for camcorders, digital cameras, cellphones, cordless phones, even golf carts, iPod, GPS, hearing aids, laptops, DVD players, power tools, as well as scooter and motorcycle batteries, and lots more.   If you are looking for motorcycle batteries, you have come to the right place.  BatteryMart.com offers a wide selection of replacement motorcycle batteries for leading motorcycle manufacturers including BMW, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati, Norton and more. 

Whether it's batteries for your motorbike or your children's toys, you will find them all at Battery Mart.  There are batteries from the common AA and AAA to 9V, C and D batteries to Deep Cycle Marine to Gel Cell.   Looking for rechargeable batteries?  They are also available so are Sealed Lead Acid for refill.  Besides batteries, you can also find accessories including battery boxes, charges and testers, booster cables, jump starters and more.  The best brands are found here at BatteryMart.com.  They are an authorized reseller for Odyssey, Deltran, Energizer and Ultra Life to name a few.   Need help?  It's just a phone-call away and it's tollfree -1-800-405-2121 (Monday through Friday, 8AM to 6PM Eastern Time).

Buying gold online is convenient

The economic uncertainty in the world today has made people realize that cash is not the best financial asset to own. To protect wealth and the purchasing power, gold and gold products are becoming the safest assets. Gold does not devalue unlike cash. In fact, gold appreciates in value over the years.

However, you can't just buy gold anywhere you want. Here in Malaysia, gold coins and gold bullion can only be bought in banks and that too not all banks hold them. One can open a gold account in any bank here though.

The advent of technology has enabled gold and gold products to be purchased online. If you are looking to buy gold coin(s) and doing so in the comfort of your home and at the time convenient to you, online shopping such as at Oxbridge House is the best option. The staff at Oxbridge House are experienced and immensely trained and fully equipped to help their clients make the best educated decision regarding their investment portfolio whether it's to buy gold coin or adding to your rare coin collection.

Whether you are buying gold online for investment purposes or whether you are a gold coin collector or even looking to turn your old gold jewelry into cash, Oxbridge House is equipped to assist. Call them to speak to one of their experts. Help is just a phone-call away.

BernamaTV cameraman killed in Somalia

KUALA LUMPUR: BernamaTV cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor (pic), who was in Somalia with the Putera 1Malaysia Club for the humanitarian aid mission in Mogadishu, has been killed by a stray bullet.

Another cameraman, Aji Siregar Mazlan from TV3, suffered light injuries in the incident yesterday which occurred at about 10.30pm Malay-sian time.

Noramfaizul, 41, passed away at 11.07pm while receiving medical attention.
More on The Star..



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Unique and unequalled Vienna Design

When it comes to art and architecture, Europe must be the place to visit either for art appreciation or simply to wallow in all that historical beauty, culture and design.

Take Valencia for instance. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain and boasts a unique heritage that is part Muslim, part Roman and part Catholic. Valencia Art and architecture rule the modern day amidst a historic backdrop of culture. Though the city is most famous for her oranges and paella, the food in Valencia is rich and varied in range, incorporating the freshest of seafood and plentiful local produce that is readily available. Besides the culinary experience, the Valencia Fashion Week attracts fashion-enthusiasts from around the world.

Another European capital to visit for the art enthusiast is Vienna, the capital of Austria. Vienna is a medieval city with modern appeal. The art, music, theater, food and architecture all contribute to Vienna's dynamic culture. Vienna Design and art portray the elegant Viennese style as evidenced in the jewelry and furniture. Though food in Vienna is influenced by the varied culinary traditions of Austria's neighboring countries, Vienna restaurants are world-famous and are distinguished as their own cultural attraction. Vienna is certainly a city not to be missed on a trip to Europe.

Zurich is yet another European city which is a must on the travel itinerary. Zurich is a financial capital of the world and the largest city in Switzerland. She is one of the world's most picturesque destinations of snowcapped mountains and clear blue skies. A premier shopping destination, nightlife and recreation hub, Zürich has truly become a fascinating travel destination. Zurich design and art are avidly watched. Their world-class museum offers a variety of experiences. These are all cool capitals indeed!