The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
- PM: Varsities to alter semester schedules to accommodate Deepavali
- PM announces NKRA to deal with rising cost of living
- Banting murders: Key witness turns hostile
| PM: Varsities to alter semester schedules to accommodate Deepavali Posted: 27 Jul 2011 07:31 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Public universities will make changes to their semester schedules to allow Indian students to return to their hometowns to celebrate Deepavali, beginning this year on Oct 27. The decision was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the launch of the 1Malaysia Indian Student Movement (1MISM) at Universiti Malaya here Wednesday night. He also said vegetarian food would also be made available in all universities, while bus services would be provided for all Hindu university students who wanted to go to temples on Friday evenings. "I have instructed Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khalid Noordin to see to the implementation of these long standing concerns among Indian students," he added. Najib also announced that 1Malaysia Development Berhad would also provide scholarships to poor students with excellent results to pursue their postgraduate studies. He was responding to concerns were raised by 1MISM president Mahaganapathy Dass earlier during the ceremony. 1MISM was established to protect the rights and welfare of Indian university students. It boasts about 7,000 members from higher education institutions around the country. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| PM announces NKRA to deal with rising cost of living Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:22 AM PDT PUTRAJAYA: The cabinet decided Wednesday to add another National Key Result Area (NKRA) to the list of six to make it seven altogether. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the new NKRA dealt with the rising cost of living. The existing NKRAs are reducing crime rate, combating corruption, widening access to affordable and quality education, raising the living standard of the poor, improving infrastructure in rural areas and improving public transport in the medium term. "The six NKRAs were decided nearly two years ago based on studies on what the people wished the government should do. "At that time, there was no global rise in food prices, which is now affecting countries all over the world. "In view of this phenomenon, which has also impacted the lives of Malaysians, the government feels that we should determine the type of response to help ease the people's burden," he told reporters after the first 1Malaysia Online Roundtable with experts in various fields at the Prime Minister's Office, here on Wednesday. Najib said the government would leverage the expertise of Pemandu to assist the relevant ministries and agencies as well as the Cabinet Committee on Supply and Price headed by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. To this end, the prime minister said existing measures such as the price-control mechanism and subsidy for most essential items would continue. "We have other initiatives such as the 1Malaysia Clinic which provides service to the people at the cost of RM1 and the 1Malaysia Shop, which we will expand nationwide," he said. He also said that the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Noh Omar, was negotiating with poultry industry players to find ways to lower the prices of chicken. The seventh NKRA, he said, covered not only food items but also other essentials, which would be given top priority because they had direct bearings to the people's well-being. "We have started to implement it. We are now looking at the supply chain, how we can liberalise it, maybe by allowing imports to increase the supply in the market. "We also want to see if we can utilise idle land for food production and look into the cost of other inputs such as livestock feed...whether we can find a cheaper alternative," he said, adding that all suggestions would be considered for the next budget. He refuted claims that the decision to add the new NKRA was due to the coming general election. "When we started the NKRA, it was not because of any election, it was because of what the rakyat wanted us to do. At that time this (rising cost) was not an issue, otherwise we would have made it as one of the NKRAs," he said. - Bernama Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Banting murders: Key witness turns hostile Posted: 27 Jul 2011 05:47 AM PDT SHAH ALAM: A key witness in the murder trial of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three others has turned hostile and claims he knows nothing about the alleged killings. Farm hand U. Suresh also denied receiving orders from former lawyer N. Pathmanabhan, the first accused, to finish off' four visitors at a farm in Banting. He insisted he did not know of a plan that was made on Aug 29, 2010, by Pathmanabhan, with his four farm hands, to teach a lesson' to the visitors (a woman and three men) who came to the farm the next day in a BMW X5 and a BMW saloon. Suresh is currently serving 20 years jail after pleading guilty in Oct last year to disposing evidence related to the case. When cross-examined by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ishak Mohd Yusoff on Wednesday, Suresh disagreed that Pathmanabhan was his employer and owner of the farm. The cross-examination was allowed after the court found Suresh, 27, to be a hostile witness. Suresh further disagreed that he and the other farm hands had beaten the male visitor - who drove the BMW X5 - on his thighs and hands with wood and a cricket bat to intimidate the woman. This was supposed to have happened because the woman refused to call her family when Pathmanabhan asked her to do so. After a string of denials, Suresh admitted he had bought petrol and diesel in three plastic containers of different sizes on Aug 30, 2010, but disagreed that it was used for burning purposes. Suresh also denied witnessing two other farm hands, T. Thilaiyalagan and R. Matan, collecting ashes and storing it in a blue barrel, before loading the barrel onto an Isuzu Dmax on Aug 31, 2010. He disagreed to the suggestion that Thilaiyalagan and Matan told him the ashes in the barrel belonged to the four visitors, and denied following them and another farm hand R. Kathavarayan to dispose the ashes at Sungai Panchau. Pathmanabhan, Thilayalagan, Matan and Kathavarayan claimed trial to murdering Sosilawati, 47; her driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44, bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, last year. The hearing continues on Friday. Related Stories: |
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