Guess who's back

First day back from our break and going through a 1000 emails and alerts is never fun – but at least it gives A+M the chance to recap some of the unusual and interesting news bites from the last two weeks.

Making headlines over the last few days was the High Court’s decision to allow Catholic weekly, Herald to use the word “Allah” in its publication. Today, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak called for calm over the ruling.

The Star said the PM and the government was “quite aware about the feelings of Muslims in the country and would deal with the matter as soon as possible.”

Those opposing the High Court’s decision to allow Herald to use the word “Allah” believe it could lead to confusion among Muslims – and the word could be exploited.

On a lighter note, the Daily Telegraph reported the story of how a Malaysian teenager’s name and an Icelandic TVC had turned her into a Facebook sensation in Iceland.

Why all the fuss?

The 19-year-old girl from Port Klang is named Essasa Sue which sounds very similar to “Essassu” (Icelandic) or “Is that you?” (English) and was the catchphrase used in a popular Vodafone commercial.



Also, if you've seen our report on the Malaysian backed Lotus F1 Racing there was less positive news on the team from The Malaysian Insider. The Petronas move to sponsor the Mercedes Formula One team next season is seen as a blow to govt supported Lotus F1 racing team - it could also have political consequences for its chief executive.

"While Petronas's decision may have been the right one commercially — Mercedes's superior brand name and its experience in F1 racing — it could have political consequences for Tan Sri Hassan Merican, the oil firm's chief executive whose contract expires in February.

Tan Sri Hassan does not have a great relationship with Datuk Seri Najib, his immediate boss, especially after the oil firm's board rejected the premier's request to appoint one of his candidates to the board."

It certainly was a big decision for the state's oil and gas company to make. It cost RM1 billion a year to sponsor a Formula One team, luckily for retail giant Parkson it will cost them considerably less to go ahead with its sponsorship marketing idea.

Parkson has inked a one year deal with the winners of the Ford Supermodel of the World Malaysia 2009 competition to be brand ambassadors.

Ok, so that's the quick recap done. A+M year two can officially get going now.