World's tallest tower hits 828m, renamed Burj Khalifa

SUPER SHOW: The Burj Khalifa is lit by thousands of fireworks. (ITP Images)

The $1.5bn Burj Dubai was dramatically renamed Burj Khalifa on Monday night during a spectacular ceremony to open the world's tallest tower.

The announcement was made in front of the thousands of people who had squeezed into the Downtown area to witness one of the world's biggest firework displays.

Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum renamed the tower after the president of the UAE and the ruler of the neighbouring emirate of Abu Dhabi.

After years of mystery, the final height of the tower was revealed to be 828 metres, some 10 metres higher than the estimates of most industry experts and pundits.

The opening coincided with the fourth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Mohammed to power in the emirate of Dubai.

Earlier, Emaar Properties said on Monday the final cost of the world's tallest tower stood at $1.5 billion, with 90 percent of the building already sold, and that it would benefit 2010 results.

Chairman Mohamed Alabbar said the Burj Dubai opening would have a positive impact on the first three quarters of 2010.

Started at the height of the economic boom and built by some 12,000 labourers, the world's tallest building opens on Monday in Dubai as the once-booming emirate seeks to revive optimism during its financial crisis.

Emaar Properties also said it will focus on international projects where it was already present, adding that the emirate's property prices have stabilised.

Tahukah Anda : Banjaran Andes

Banjaran Andes membentuk jajaran pergunungan terbuka yang terpanjangg di dunia. Pergunungan ini terbentang sebagaai satu rangkaian tanah tinggi yang berterusan sepanjang pantai barat Amerika Selatan. Ia berukuran melebihi 7,000 km panjang, 500 km lebar di beberapa tempat dan purata 4,000 m tinggi.

Rangkaian pergunungan ini dipecahkan menjadi pulau-pulau kecil di permukaannya. Selepas itu, ia membentuk sempadan bahagian barat lembah besar Chile. Ke utara, jajaran pinggir laut ini bersambung membentuk beberapa permatang kecil atau bukut-bukau yang terpencil sepanjang Lautan Pasifik sehingga sejauh Venezuela. Pergunungan ini melalui sejumlah tujuh buah Negara iaitu Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru dan Venezuela. Sebahagian daripada Negara-negara ini turut digelar sebagai Negara Andes

Banjaran ini diukur sebagai rangkaian pergunungan tertinggi di luar benua Asia. Puncak paling tinggi, iaitu Aconcagua berdiri setinggi 6,9962 m di atas paras laut. Sementara itu, puncak Gunung Chimborazo di Ecuador pula ialah kedudukan di muka bumi yang paling jauh dari pusatnya yang terbentuk akibat bonjol khatulistiwa.

Tahukah Anda : Penyakit Asma

Penyakit asma atau lelah adalah penyakit immunologi yang menyebabkan kesukaran bernafas. Ini kerana ketika pesakit diserang asma, keradangaan dan spasma pada selaput dinging laluan udara menyebabkan bronkiol dalam paru-paru menjadi sempit.

Pesakit asma mungkin mengalami pernafasan bersiul (wheezing), sesak nafas, dan sukar untuk bersenam. Ketika otot mengejang, saluran udara mengecil dan menghalang pernafasan. Apabila ini terjadi, paru-paru akan berkurangan udara. Akibatnya, pesakit boleh pengsan.

ASMA DALAM KALANGAN KANAK-KANAK

Menurut kajian, jumlah kanak-kanak diserang asma adalah 10 hingga 20 peratus. Selalunya penyakit ini tidak boleh diubati. Tapi biasanya kanak-kanak akan sembuh apabila usia meningkat. Bagi kanak-kanak yang menghadapi asma sederhana, serangan ini akan hilang apabila mencapai usia lingkungan 12 hingga 13 tahun. Manakala 50 hingga 60 peratus akan sembuh apabila dewasa.

Disebalik Jenama : Haagen-Daz

Haagen-Daz ‘air-tangan’ dua pendatang Poland.

HAAGEN-DAZs adalah jenama terkemuka produk aiskrim. Ia diperkenalkan dua pendatang warga Poland bernama Reugen dan Rose di Bronx, New York pada 1961.

Pada mulanya ia mempunyai tiga perasa iaitu vanilla, coklat dan kopi. Reuben dan Rose memulakan perniagaan secara runcit pertama di Bronkly, New York pada 1976. Kemudian dua usahawan ini meluaskan perniagaan ke seluruh Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan ke 54 negara lain di seluruh dunia secara francais.

Kini Haagen-Dazs mempelbagaikan produk aiskrimnya dengan menawarkannya dalam bentuk lebih menarik seperti bar aiskrim, kek aiskrim dan yogurt beku. Syarikat yang mengendalikan penjualan produk Haagen-Dazs di AS berpusat di Oakland, California.

Rose Mattus atau nama asalnya Rose Vasel dilahirkan pada 23 November 1916 dalam keluarga yang menjalankan perniagaan menjahit kostum untuk pelakon teater di Manchester. Ibu bapanya berasal dari Poland dan berpindah ke New York pada 1912 ketika Rose berusia 5 tahun. Reuben Mattus dilahirkan di Poland pada 1912. Dia berpindah ke New York bersama ibunya, Lea lebih kurang sama waktu dengan perpindahan Rose. Mereka berkahwin pada 1936. Semenjak itu, Rose mula menganggotai perniagaan keluarga Reuben iaitu menjual aiskrim menggunakan kereta tarik kuda di Bronx.

Perniagaan itu berkembang selepas 40 tahun. Pada 1959, Reuben memutuskan membuka syarikat aiskrim. Dia mendaftar perniagaannya menggunakan nama ‘Haagen-Dazs’. Nama Haagen-Dazs digunakan untuk membangkitkan suatu perasan tenang melihat padang rumput indah di Denmark. Dia juga meletak peta Denmark pada pembalut aiskrim keluaran syarikatnya.

Aiskrim Haagen-Dazs diperbuat menggunakan susu lemak dan bahan perasa semula jadi. Pada 1961 Haagen-Dazs dilancarkan secara rasmi. Kemunculannya menggunakan strategi perniagaan yang berlainan dengan beberapa jenama pesaing yang ada ketika itu.

Satu daripada strategi perniagaan Rose bagi memasarkan aiskrim Haagen-Dazs dengan memperkenalkan Haagen-Dazs kepada pelajar.

Historic Jaguar C-Type to Fetch $3.7 Million in London

A rare 1950s Jaguar C-Type has been added to the lineup at RM Auctions' Automobiles of London event on October 27, where it joins the famed 1964 Aston Martin DB5 driven by Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger and Thunderball as we reported in June. The 1952 C-Type (above), which was taken to victory at the Golden Gate Nationals, San Francisco , by well-known driver of the period, Masten Gregory, boasts successful racing history and an unbroken chain of ownership.



Eligible for the world's most prestigious events, it is expected to fetch up to $3.7 million. "Specifically designed to win the Le Mans 24 hour race, the legendary C-Type Jaguar is one of the most desirable sports racing cars ever built," notes Max Girardo, Managing Director of RM Europe. "Powered by a 210bhp, 3,442 cc six-cylinder engine, Jaguar C-Types have an enviable racing heritage from the glory days of 1950s motorsport. The example on offer, XKC-015 is a wonderful illustration and an exciting addition to our London sale."

Rare Penny Sells For $1.7 Million

When is a penny worth $1.7 million? The cent shown at right is no average coin, it's a one-of-a-kind Lincoln cent, mistakenly struck in 1943 at the Denver Mint in bronze rather than the zinc-coated steel used that year to conserve copper for World War II. It has been sold by Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey for $1.7 million to an unnamed Southwestern business executive. The coin's anonymous former owner made arrangements for the entire sale proceeds to go to a charitable organization.

"This is the world's most valuable penny. It's the only known example of a 1943-dated Lincoln cent incorrectly struck in a copper alloy at the Denver Mint. Zinc-coated steel was being used for pennies in 1943 to conserve copper for other uses during World War II, and this one was mistakenly struck on a bronze coin disc left over from 1942. It took four years of aggressive negotiations with the coin's owner until he agreed to sell it," said rare coin dealer Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey who obtained the unique penny for the unnamed collector.

The new owner has been a coin collector since he was a teenager. When he was a kid he thought he had found a 1943 copper penny in circulation but it was not authentic. He is "the only person to ever assemble a complete set of genuine 1943 bronze cents, one each from the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints, and he plans to display them," said Sperber.


Most 1943 pennies are steel-gray in color and not worth much more than face value but less than 20 pennies were accidentally struck in bronze that year at the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints, and this is the only known example from the Denver Mint according to Don Willis, President of Profesional Coin Grading Services of Santa Ana, California, the rare coin certification company whose experts authenticated the unique 1943 Denver bronze cent.

The anonymous penny-mad collector also paid $250,000 for a 1944-dated Philadelphia Mint cent mistakenly struck on a zinc-coated steel coin blank intended only for 1943 pennies, and paid $50,000 for an experimental 1942 cent composed mostly of tin. The collector's coins will be publicly displayed at a major rare coin convention in Tampa, Florida, January 6 - 8, 2011.

Injap jantung tiruan untuk pesakit warga emas

Dr. Martin Leon menunjukan model injap jantung tiruan yang dikeluarkan oleh Edwards Lifesciences di Washington, kelmarin. - AP

WASHINGTON 23 Sept. - Ribuan warga emas Amerika Syarikat (AS) memerlukan injap jantung baru, tetapi mempunyai peluang terlalu tipis untuk bertahan bagi menjalani pembedahan bagi menukarnya, kini mempunyai harapan untuk meneruskan hidup menggunakan injap tiruan aortik tanpa perlu menebuk dada mereka.

Injap aorta merupakan pintu utama jantung dan kajian terbaru AS mendapati saluran baru dalam arteri kemungkinan boleh meningkatkan peluang bagi mana-mana pesakit jantung yang tidak mempunyai peluang rawatan untuk memanjangkan hayat sekurang-kurangnya setahun lagi.

Tidak dapat dipastikan apakah injap implan itu dapat berfungsi ke atas pesakit yang tidak begitu teruk yang mahu mencuba mengguna teknologi baru itu bagi mengelakkan menjalani pembedahan untuk menggantikannya dengan jantung baru yang boleh bertahan selama 20 tahun.

Perkara itu masih dikaji, namun dua jenis injap tiruan aortik telahpun dijual di Eropah dan pembuatnya, Edwards Lifesciences Corp. berharap untuk mendapat kelulusan daripada Pentadbiran Makanan dan Dadah Amerika Syarikat untuk menjual versi itu kepada pesakit dalam tempoh setahun.

"Ia membuka peluang bagi satu lagi rawatan perubatan baru," kata ketua penyelidik Dr. Martin Leon dari Pusat Perubatan Universiti Colombia dan Hospital Presbyterian New York.

Beliau mengumumkan kejayaan itu semalam dalam New England Journal of Medicine dan juga semasa persidangan tahunan Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics.

Namun, injap tiruan itu tidak dijamin boleh menyembuhkan penyakit jantung sepenuhnya kerana ia turut membawa risiko pesakit mungkin diserang strok, dan tidak ada sesiapa boleh memberi jaminan berapa lama mereka boleh hidup. - AP

Bill Gates Tops Forbes 400 Rich List For17th Straight Year

BOSTON, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates has retained his position as the richest man in the United States with a net worth of US$54 billion, topping Forbes '400 Richest Americans List' for the 17th year in a row, according to Press Trust of India on Thursday.

Industrialist Warren Buffett, Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has bagged the second place this year with fortunes worth US$45 billion.

While worth US$ 27 billion dollars, software company Oracle's co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison is the third richest American.

Among others in the list, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg ranks 35th with a net worth of US$6.9 billion.

Zuckerberg is richer than Apple's boss Steve Jobs and media mogul Oprah Winfrey. Jobs comes 42nd on the list with a net worth of US$6.1 billion while Winfrey is on the 130th position with total valuation of US$2.7 billion.

The list also names four Indian Americans - Syntel's Bharat Desai (rank 252), venture capitalist Kavitark Ram Shriram (288), software mogul Romesh Wadhwani (290) and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla (308) - among the 400 richest people in the US.

Commenting on Gates, who has topped Forbes 400 list for the 17th consecutive year, the publication said Gates "is not (just) the world's richest man... he is the most generous person on the planet."

Till date, the "software king" has cut cheques totalling US$28 billion.

Most of his donations have passed through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which now has a US$33 billion endowment, including contributions from his "buddy and bridge partner Warren Buffett". Gates' stake in the company, he co-founded, is now worth US$16 billion.

"Gates regularly sells shares in the software giant, pouring proceeds into investment outfit Cascade, which accounts for 70 per cent of his wealth."

Other investments include trash-collector Republic Services, investment firm Gamco, AutoNation and an inflation-hedging fund, Forbes said.

Gates and Buffett are coaxing America's richest to pledge half their fortunes to charity.

"You keep making the list, I'll keep milking it," Forbes quoted Buffett as saying.

Buffett plans to give away 99 per cent of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his children, and it all has to be spent 10 years after he's gone, Forbes added.

Forbes said the net worth of its rich list climbed 8 per cent this year to US$1.4 trillion compared to US$1.27 trillion last year. Wealth rose for 217 members in the list, while 85 saw a decline.

The publication said, 16 new members joined the list this year, thanks to "inheritance, appreciation and big buyouts" while 34 people fell off the list, including Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund, who is facing 185 years in prison.

Despite recession, finance and investment industries dominated the list with 55 members hailing from the finance industry and 54 from the investments sector.

The top 10 on the list gained US$24.9 billion. The price of admission to the list is back to US$1 billion this year, up from 2009 when US$950 million was enough to make the top 400.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was ranked 10th with a net worth of US$18 billion. Bloomberg, 68, is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Computer-maker Dell's Chief Executive Michael Dell ranked 15th with US$14 billion, followed by Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, who ranked 16th with US$13.1 billion of net worth.

News Corp's Rupert Mudroch is 38th on the rich list with US$6.2 billion.

Others making it to the list include Google's CEO Eric Schmidt (rank 48) with a net worth of US$ 5.45 billion, film maker Steven Spielberg (rank 110) with a US$3e billion net worth and business tycoon Donald Trump (rank 153) worth of US$2.4 billion.

Among the Indian Americans making it to the list include outsourcing and IT company Syntel's Founder and Chairman Bharat Desai. Desai and family ranks 252 on the list with a net worth of US$1.6 billion.

The 57-year old IIT Bombay alumnus, Desai, founded Syntel in 1980 with wife, Neerja Sethi. He, who stepped down as Syntel's Chief Executive last year but remains Chairman, says his biggest failure has been "not being able to play cricket for India."

On the 288th position is venture capitalist and one of the founding board members of Google, Kavitark Ram Shriram with a US$ 1.45 billion net worth.

"Shriram was one of the first people to write a cheque to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. Today he is still a board member and large shareholder of the search giant," Forbes said.

On the 290th spot is Romesh T Wadhwani with a net worth of US$1.4 billion. He is the founder, Chairman & CEO of Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm investing in software and software services companies.

An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Wadhwani re-branded his main company Information Resources Inc as SymphonyIRI Group. He earned his PhD in electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon.

Later he founded Aspect, a firm that made software that allowed clients to track internal spending, inventory, buying behaviour.

Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla ranks 308th on the rich list with a US$1.3 billion net worth.

His firm raised US$1.1 billion in the summer of 2009, the most by a venture firm in three years. The India-born engineer came to the US to attend grad school at Carnegie Mellon and "made his early fortune as a cofounder of Sun Microsystems."

He started Khosla Ventures in 2004.

His Three Dog Vineyards, named after his dogs, produces a thousand bottles of cabernet sauvignon a year, the publication said.

TAHUKAH ANDA : Seni Silat Lincah

Silat lincah adalah satu aliran perguruan seni silat tempur di Malaysia dengan nama Pertubuhan Seni Silat Lincah Malaysia (PSSLM)

Pertubuhan yang dipimpin oleh Datuk Omardin Mauja ini yang bergerak aktif sejak dari 1963 dengan lima penintut (didaftarkan pada tahun 1969), bukan sahaja dikenali di Malaysia sebaliknya Berjaya mengembangkan sayap ke beberapaa Negara luar termasuk Englang, Belgium, New Zealan, Holland, Perancis, Madaagascar dan yang terbaru di Korea Selatan. Sehingga kini ia mencapai 30,000 keahlian di luar Negara.

Dengan keunggulan kepimpinan Omardin, kini PSSLM sudah pun mempunyai keaanggotaannya seramai lebih kurang dari 1,000,000 ahli di seleuruh dunia dan tercataat dalaam buku Malaysia Book Of Record terbitan 1998 yang dilancarkan Perdana Menteri ketika itu, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad pada Disember 1998 sebagai sebuah pertubuhan ilmu mempertahankan diri yang mempunyai keanggotaan terbayk dan terunggul.

Untuk mencipta sejarah kegemilangan silat lincah ini bukannya satu usaha yang mudah.

TAHUKAH ANDA : Astronomi

Astronomi dari segi bahasa membawa maksud peraturan bintang – ‘law of the stars’. Ia juga dikenali sebagai Ilmu Falak iaitu ilmu kaji bintang.

Ilmu Falak atau Astronomi adalah cabang sains yang merangkumi pemerhatian, pencerapan dan penjelasan mengenai perkara yang berlaku di luar bumi dan atmosfera bumi. Astronomi juga sering dikaitkan dengan astrofizik.

Astronomi adalah beberapa cabang sains di mana amatur masih memainkan peranan penting, khususnya dalam menjumpai dan mencerap fenomena perantaraan.

Ini berbeza dengan astrologi, pseudosains yang cuba untuk meramal takdir seseorang dengan mengikut pergerakan planet dan bintang.

Walaupun kedua bidang mempunyai asal yang sama, mereka adalah berbeza dari segi astronomi menggunakan kaedah saintifik, sementara astrologi tidak mempunyai asas sains.