The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
- Armed conflicts hindering M’sian aid mission in Somalia
- Bangalore-Malaysia linked credit card gang busted
- Kedah MB says he’s fine, capable of carrying out duties
| Armed conflicts hindering M’sian aid mission in Somalia Posted: 02 Sep 2011 06:13 AM PDT MOGADISHU: Armed conflicts in Somalia not only make life hard for the victims of drought and famine, they also make it extremely difficult to channel international aid. The humanitarian mission to Somalia organised by Putera 1Malaysia Club has to be accompanied by armed personnel whenever they distribute food and supplies. Ever since the mission landed at the Mogadishu International Airport on August 28, they had been closely guarded by government soldiers. Aid distribution is overseen by security forces carrying heavy arms, including rocket launchers. In Somalia, it is common to see citizens carrying weapons such as AK-47s in city streets. Neither soldiers nor police, they are armed for self-protection as violence continues in the aftermath of the long civil war. The war began in 1991 when the Somali Union of Congress appointed Ali Mahdi Muhammad as the new president, against the opposition of the armed wing of the union, led by General Muhamad Farah Aidid. To date, Somalia has failed to form a permanent government. Armed conflicts between tribes continue. The situation has been made even more unstable by the Al-Shabaab anti-government group of Somalis, now controlling certain regions of the country. "They have no identification," said government officer Abdul Razak Duale of the group. "They wear masks. You can't see their faces. You don't know who they are. Maybe it's your son." Within the 55-member Malaysian mission, security measures include confinement to residential grounds between 6 pm and 6 am daily. Mission members engaged in aid distribution are trained to leave an area when a situation becomes out of control. "In view of the grave uncertainty, we are prepared to face any eventuality, and that was our pledge," said mission head Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, Putera 1Malaysia Club chairman. Mission members have distributed 300 tonnes of goods to residents of camps around Mogadishu, including Badbado and Maalin camps last Thursday. The mission has also delivered medicine to the Somali Ministry of Health, and contributed RM30,000 (US$10,000) to the Somali National Eye Centre. So far, no member of the mission has been injured. "We take all precautionary and security Measures," said Abdul Azeez, "and leave the rest to God." - Bernama Related Stories: |
| Bangalore-Malaysia linked credit card gang busted Posted: 02 Sep 2011 03:32 AM PDT NEW DELHI: Indian police cracked a Bangalore-Malaysia linked syndicate that used cloned credit cards to dupe shopping outlets and steal goods worth RM1.3mil in India's IT capital. Bangalore police are now tracking a Malaysian, the alleged mastermind of the group, who is also suspected to have links to members of the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LLTE). "He hacked bank accounts across the globe, including India, through the Internet and collected their unique identity details including the PIN (personal identification numbers)," city-based DNA newspaper quoted Bangalore Police Commissioner B.G Jyothi Prakash Mirji as saying. He said the hacked information was then passed to a contact person in Chennai, who forwarded it to gang members settled in various parts of the country. The major bust came a fortnight after Australian police charged five fraudsters from Malaysia and Sri Lanka in a Sydney court, allegedly for operating an international syndicate that specialised in similar white-collar crime. When police arrested two Indian nationals in Bangalore last Tuesday, they seized electronic products, gym equipment, liquor bottles and about five kg of gold, all bought using fake credit cards, reported the newspaper. According to probes, the Malaysian had supplied his Indian counterpart blank cards at about RM400 each and credit card printing machines and card readers. Police are still tracing six other key gang members in the city. - Bernama |
| Kedah MB says he’s fine, capable of carrying out duties Posted: 02 Sep 2011 03:22 AM PDT ALOR STAR: Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak said Friday he was fine and is perfectly capable of discharging his duties. "Why should there be a need (for an acting mentri besar)? I'm out (of hospital) and in good health," he said when asked to comment on a news report Friday that the PAS leadership was mulling over replacing him due to his health condition after he suffered a heart attack in July. The report said that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang would seek an audience with the Sultan of Kedah pertaining to a leadership change in the state. Azizan said that if PAS wanted to move a leadership change, it should have done so when he was being treated at the National Heart Institute and not now when he had already recovered. Azizan said however that he would abide by any decision by the PAS leadership. "I didn't ask to become a mentri besar; they asked me to...if they want me to quit, I will do so, even tomorrow," he said. - Bernama More in The Star on Saturday Related Stories: |
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