Argentine president diagnosed with thyroid cancer

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery next month, her government said on Tuesday, adding that the cancerous cells had not spread.

Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner gestures during a ceremony outside the Casa Rosada Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires December 10, 2011. REUTERS/Enrique Garcia Medina

Fernandez, 58, was easily elected to a second four-year term in October, vowing to deepen her unorthodox policies despite complaints from business leaders who say her heavy-handed management of the economy is stifling investment.
Fernandez was diagnosed with a papillary carcinoma that has not metastasized, said her spokesman, Alfredo Scoccimarro. The operation is scheduled to take place on January 4 and she is expected to take a leave of absence until January 24.
"The thyroid gland will have to be removed," said Buenos Aires-based cancer specialist Julio Moreno. "The prognosis is very good. The chances of being cured are 90 to 98 percent."
The cancer was detected last week during a routine check. Papillary carcinoma is the most common type of thyroid cancer and normally affects people under the age of 40, especially women.
A skilled orator fond of glamorous clothes, high heels and make-up, Fernandez still wears black as she mourns her husband and closest advisor, former President Nestor Kirchner, who died late last year.
When Kirchner died, many thought it spelled the end of the couple's idiosyncratic blend of state intervention, nationalist rhetoric and the championing of human rights in grains exporting powerhouse Argentina, the world's No. 3 soybean supplier.
But Fernandez pulled off a remarkable comeback on the back of a brisk economic expansion and an outpouring of public sympathy. She was re-elected with 54 percent of the vote, promising to stay true to her policies despite objections from Wall Street and international investors.
Latin America's No. 3 economy is growing at nearly 9 percent a year. But a worsening global economic outlook combined with entrenched high inflation at home are seen reining in Argentina's growth to about 4 percent next year.
Fernandez is one of several Latin American leaders to have cancer. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez underwent chemotherapy earlier this year while Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo's lymphatic cancer is in remission.
And former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is being successfully treated for a cancerous tumour on his Larynx, according to his doctors.
(Additional reporting by Walter Bianchi; Editing by Helen Popper and Todd Eastham)

Acid attack girl doing well

GEORGE TOWN: Acid attack victim Tan Hui Linn, who underwent plastic surgery last week, is recovering well and is ready for the second treatment on her eyebrow.
The 19-year-old, who underwent the eight-hour operation on her eye frame and skin grafting on several parts of her face on Dec 19, said she was excited with the outcome of the operation despite the pain.

Happy girl: Hui Linn celebrating Christmas a few days after her surgery in Seoul.

“I can't wait to take a walk outside as I've been confined to my room since the operation,” she said in a telephone interview from Seoul yesterday.
Hui Linn, who celebrated Christmas with Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi, who helped coordinate her trip, her uncle and aunt, Kwong Wah Yit Poh's reporter and photographer along with several South Korean friends at the medical hotel in Seoul, was treated to a cake and pizza.
Yesterday was the first time her bandages and stitches were fully removed.
“The pain was unbearable after the operation but the support from doctors, friends and family helped me through. I'm really grateful for the help,” she said.
Ooi said doctors from JK Plastic Surgery Centre, which is sponsoring the plastic surgeries, had tested the cosmetic contact lens on Hui Linn's right eye which was completely blind as a result of acid burn.
“Her tear gland had been affected by the acid attack, so we will have to monitor whether the lens can hold well.
“Doctors will also have to order a custom-made lens for her,” he said.
“We are now planning on conducting eyebrow embroidery for her right eye to lay the groundwork for eyebrow transplant using her own hair tissue next week,” he said.
Ooi added that Hui Linn would be able to venture outdoor in a few days.
“Her next trip here in May will be for corrective surgeries on her nostrils and if her contact lens does not fit, doctors will consider an artificial eyeball,” he said.
Hui Linn is scheduled to return to Malaysia in mid-January for the new college semester.

Nigerian with student visa held with 15kg of ganja

KUALA LUMPUR: A Nigerian who posed as a student at a private college here and his friend have been arrested for having almost 15kg of drugs.

City police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohmad Salleh said the two, aged 27 and 29, were arrested on Dec 22 at 10.30pm.

“One is a student at a college in Cheras. His travel documents shows he entered the country in 2008 using a student visa and again this year to attend a course at the same college,” he said at a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters here yesterday.

He said no information is available on the other suspect as no identification was found on him.
DCP Mohmad Salleh (second from right) and other police officers with the seized ganja Tuesday.

In the incident, city narcotics department officers inspected the suspect’s car and discovered 15 tightly packed packages of ganja in it.

The officers then went to a condominium unit where the suspects were staying in Taman Connaught, Cheras, and found another 1.1kg of ganja.

The total value of the drugs is around RM40,000.

DCP Mohmad Salleh expressed worry that increasingly foreign students here were found to be involved in drug and vice activities.

“Not only Nigerian (students are involved in the trade) but also others including Iranians,” he said.

He said the college had been notified of their student being arrested.

He did not rule out the possibility of probing the college.

The two have been remanded until Thursday.

It was reported that there are 110,000 foreign students in Malaysia and 32,000 of them were on short-term courses of less than six months.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah was reported as saying in October that an institution’s licence could be revoked if “a substantial number” of their foreign students were found to be involved in criminal activities.

“All institutions of higher learning should carry out background checks on their foreign students,” he was quoted saying.

Sabah, Malaysia best in the world

Sipadan is one of the most beautiful scuba diving spots in the world. Sipadan is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, the huge pillar that forms the atoll functions as a shelter for many sea animals and fish. Furthermore there are only a few places in the world that have such a concentration of sea turtles. Sipadan is not easy to visit; you can only stay at the surrounding islands Mabul and Kapalai. The permits these days make it even harder to dive at Sipadan; because only a handful of people per day may dive at the small island (regulations permit 120 dives per day). Accommodation at Mabul or Kapalai is not that cheap. Budget travelers that find Mabul or Kapalai too expensive (or when the facilities are fully booked) could opt to stay at the village of Semporna. This fishing village mainly serves as a gateway to Sipadan and other great scuba diving spots as Mabul, Kapalai and Mataking. The several fish restaurants in Semporna offer great food, though the village itself is often described as a bit dull.










"I have seen other places like Sipadan 45 years ago. Now we have found again an untouched piece of art". Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Borneo: The Ghost of the Sea Turtle (1989).

Minister to look into gay 'marriage'

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said an investigation would be made over the claim of a same-sex marriage abroad allegedly involving a Malay man.

"We will have to investigate because anyone can wear a tengkolok (headgear). Let's see," he said after attending a convocation at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia here.

A newspaper yesterday reported that a website had published a report of the same-sex marriage of a man pictured in Malay attire, complete with headgear, to a Caucasian, in a church abroad.

The local cyber community has also been abuzz since Friday night with reports of a former University College Dublin (UCD) student's purported marriage to a man.

Pictures of his "wedding" to an Irish man have spread like wild fire on blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

This came to light after his family's plight was highlighted recently. Petronas had issued a summons to his family demanding repayment of the student's education loan amounting to RM890,000.

The 28-year-old began studying medicine at UCD in 2003, but extended his studies for a few more semesters in 2008.

He was suspended for failing to pay his academic fees that year when Petronas refused to sponsor the additional expenses of over RM160,000 a year.

The student's father had advised his son to continue his studies in Malaysia, but the latter refused and returned to Dublin, cutting off all contact.

The father, a retiree, has been looking for his son since and had made eight trips to Dublin in addition to lodging missing person's reports with the police, Wisma Putra and the Irish and Malaysian embassies.

On Wednesday, Malaysian Ambassador to Ireland Datuk Ramli Naam confirmed that the student was in Dublin. But, Ramli said that the embassy and Wisma Putra would not disclose any further details out of respect for the Dublin Personal Data Protection Act.

Read more: Minister to look into gay 'marriage' - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/local/general/minister-to-look-into-gay-marriage-1.20820#ixzz1h50rKLGl

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