PUTRAJAYA: The 1Malaysia F1 Team, a joint venture between the Government and private sector, will participate in the F1 race beginning next year, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister said the project involved the combined expertise of Proton and Lotus with the support of the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), Motorsports Association of Malaysia, Naza Motor and AirAsia.

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister I, told reporters when making the announcement at the Finance Ministry that leading corporate figures such as Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and S.M. Nasarudin S.M. Nasimuddin were also involved in the initiative.

“This is the Malaysian team. The car was designed at the SIC, manufactured at the SIC, tested at the SIC and the car is Malaysian-made. Even the pit-stop team consists of Malaysians,” he said.

He said the 1Malaysia Team would identify a suitable Malaysian driver, adding that the project could lift the country’s image in the international arena.

Najib said the FIA had received Malaysia’s application to participate in the World F1 Championship next year.

Asked on the budget and the total investment by the Government, Najib said: “The Malaysian government’s investment is through Proton.”

Najib said the project was not a waste because it would provide a strong marketing element to the country when it competed in the F1 championship.

“If we want to export the Proton, we must ensure that the brand is strong. There is a strong element of marketing.






“It is not merely a sporting activity because there is an element of marketing for Proton and Malaysia while at the same time, the AirAsia and Naza brand names can be popularised,” he said.

According to a press release issued by a local public relations company for the 1Malaysia F1 Team, the national team will be based at SIC.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Petronas as well as Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM), a leading local composite manufacturing expert, have already been engaged to participate in the project.

The statement said the national F1 team would integrate the Malaysian technical and pit crew totalling 200 people to be managed by one of Formula One’s most respected technical director, Mike Gascoyne.

He had already recruited a core team of international experts with a proven record in the various engineering, design and manufacturing disciplines needed to ensure that the 1Malaysia F1 team was of international standard, readiness and capable of competing with the world’s greatest drivers.

Currently, six local and international drivers have been shortlisted for evaluation and the team is expected to announce its two drivers by end of next month.

The statement quoted Najib as saying that the country’s participation in Formula One with the national team had far reaching objectives, mainly the advancement of the country’s automotive industry development from the technological aspect including initiatives in green technology.

“By establishing our racing centre within the country, we hope to also attract more foreign investments and the best technical minds which, in turn, will spur the growth of our automotive industry where we hope to see more R&D into lighter, safer and more cost-effective cars,” he said.

“We further anticipate higher commitment by organisations and attendance by individuals during the F1 Petronas Malaysian GP which will be coupled with increased tourism related returns,” Najib said.

He claimed that by creating a national F1 team, the country was taking “its motor sports to its pinnacle, thus ensuring its place in this internationally embraced sports that had scaled the heights of entertainment.”

The 1Malaysia F1 Team takes its name from the “1Malaysia People First, Performance Now” policy mooted by Najib in June this year as the unifying foundation for all Malaysians to come together in celebrating cooperation among its multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious society for the betterment of the nation.

Petronas, the national oil giant, has also made advancement in this arena via its sponsorship of the BMW-Sauber Team for the last four years. -- Bernama (Read more inside ..)

PETALING JAYA: The local stock market’s benchmark index breached the psychologically important 1,200-point level yesterday driven largely by the global liquidity run.
At the close, the FTSE Bursa Malaysa KL Composite Index (FBM KLCI) was up 11.68 points, or 0.98%, to 1,202.07, its highest close since June last year.
“Confidence has returned somewhat,” said Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong.
Investor sentiment in the region has been bolstered this week by a number of factors including the weekend decision by G20 finance ministers to keep economic stimulus efforts in place as well as a slower decline in US job losses. Stocks in emerging markets yesterday reached levels last seen before the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Nevertheless, analysts remain cautious on the local stock market.
“While it seems to be a bull run, the fundamentals that drive a bull market appear absent,” said Pong Teng Siew, head of research at Jupiter Securities.
The index is currently where it was at the beginning of 2007, the year of the bull run, but the current backdrop for the fundamentals that would support current valuations remains very “touchy”, according to Pong.
“In 2007, we had a great commodity market, fantastic exports and robust earnings – where are all of that now?” he asked.
Liquidity, however, may be sufficient to keep the market on an uptrend for a while but it would be difficult to peg the market’s fair value because of this, he said.
“The G20 countries said they would continue to flood the system with liquidity so the economy doesn’t tank, that’s what investors wanted to hear. (Read more inside ..)

NEW YORK: Gold pushed above the US$1,000 mark Tuesday for the first time since February as hopes for an improving economy fed a broader rally in commodities.

It had risen as high as $1,009.70, the first time it topped $1,000 since early this year and the highest level since mid-March last year.

Gold closed under $950 on Aug. 27.

December silver jumped 22.5 cents to $16.510 an ounce and hit a 13-month high of $16.860.

A weaker dollar also drove prices higher, analysts said.

The gains also came after the Group of 20 leading economies pledged at a weekend meeting in London to maintain higher levels of government spending and low interest rates to help the world's economies recover from recession.

Concerns that a recovery could spark inflationary pressures helped lift prices for gold, which investors often use as a hedge against inflation.

Gold for December delivery rose $3.10 to settle $999.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Copper, nickel and zinc also gained.

Benchmark crude rose more than $3 a barrel.

Tom Winmill, portfolio manager of the Midas Fund in New York, contends that the gain in gold is, in part, a show of confidence by investors and not just a guard against the dollar.

He said rising prices for commodities like platinum and oil signal that investors are placing bets on an improvement in the economy.

"Prices are rising for commodities and that's going to carry gold," he said. Winmill said, however, that a weaker dollar eventually could be the biggest force pushing gold higher.

"Ultimately, weakness in the dollar is going to be the thing that is going to underpin a big, big move in gold," he said.

The gains in gold prices follow a rally last week that came as the dollar weakened and as analysts said investors were looking for areas of safety.

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SINGAPORE: Tiny Rwanda made the biggest strides in becoming business-friendly, an annual ranking by the World Bank said Wednesday, while Singapore retained its crown as the easiest country in which to do business for a fourth year.

Rwanda, the first Sub-Sahara African nation to be named the top reformer since the World Bank began its Doing Business report in 2003, jumped 76 spots to 67 by cutting bureaucratic delays to start a business and sell property, making employment laws more flexible and simplifying tax payment.

Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia and Belarus were also singled out by the bank for making positive changes.

The report ranks 183 countries based on ten indicators that measure the time and cost of government requirements in starting, operating and closing a business, trading across borders and paying taxes.

The rankings don't reflect macroeconomic policy, infrastructure, workforce skills or crime rates.

After Singapore, New Zealand ranked second, followed by Hong Kong and the United States.

The top 10 countries were unchanged from the previous report except United Kingdom at five switched places with Denmark at six.

Ireland, Canada, Australia and Norway rounded out the top 10.

The rankings of most large economies were little changed from a year earlier with Japan at 15, Germany at 25, China at 89, and Russia at 120.

Low- and lower-middle-income economies accounted for two-thirds of reforms measured by the report from June 2008 and May 2009.

Colombia was the highest-ranked Latin American country at 37 while Venezuela, at 177, was the lowest and the only country in the bottom 16 not in Africa, the bank said. - AP

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The trademark fight between Mcdonalds and McCurry bagged the headline news in Yahoo!! Malaysia BOLEH.. McCurry  BOLEH

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) -- U.S. fast food giant McDonald's lost an eight-year trademark battle to prevent local restaurant McCurry from using the 'Mc' prefix in a precedent-setting judgment by Malaysia's highest court.

The Federal Court ruled Tuesday that McDonald's cannot appeal against another court's verdict that had allowed McCurry to use 'Mc' in its name. The owner says McCurry, which serves Indian food, is an abbreviation for Malaysian Chicken Curry.

The ruling by a three-member panel of the Federal Court ends all legal avenues for McDonald's to protect its name from what it said was a trademark infringement.

"On the basis of unanimous decision, our view is that" McDonald's plea to carry the case forward has no merit, said chief judge Arifin Zakaria. "It is unfortunate that we have to dismiss the application with costs," he said.

McDonald's will have to pay 10,000 ringgit ($2,900) to McCurry, a popular eatery in Jalan Ipoh on the edge of Kuala Lumpur's downtown. McDonald's lawyers refused to comment, except to say the company will abide by the judgment.

McCurry lawyer Sri Devi Nair said the ruling means McDonald's does not have a monopoly on the prefix 'Mc,' and that other restaurants could also use it as long as they distinguish their food from McDonald's.

"This is a precedent for everyone to follow," he said.

A three-member Appeal Court panel had ruled in favor of McCurry Restaurant in April this year when it overturned a 2006 high court ruling that had upheld McDonald's contention.

Arifin said McDonald's lawyers were unable to point out faults in the Appeal Court judgment, which had said there was no evidence to show that McCurry was passing off McDonald's business as its own. The Appeals Court also said McDonald's cannot claim an exclusive right to the 'Mc' prefix in the country.

McDonald's asked the Federal Court for permission to appeal against that decision but was denied Tuesday.

"We are very much relieved. We hope to expand. This is what we wanted to do from the beginning and we were stalled for eight years," said A.M.S.P. Suppiah, the owner of McCurry.

"I am so happy ... we have nothing in similarity with them at all. That's how we have felt all this while," said his wife, Kanageswary Suppiah.

The Appeal Court said McCurry's signboard has white and gray letters against a red background with a picture of a smiling chicken giving a double thumbs-up, in contrast to McDonald's red and yellow "M" logo. McCurry also serves only Indian food, not competing with McDonald's Western menu, the court said.

McDonald's began operations in Malaysia in 1982 and has 137 outlets in the Southeast Asian country.

On the net:

http://www.mccurryrecipe.com (Read more inside ..)