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Media banned from publishing photos of former Kelantan Sultan
New flood prediction system in a year
Mirzan Mahathir named in Indian port probe

Media banned from publishing photos of former Kelantan Sultan

Posted: 19 Nov 2011 03:43 AM PST

Published: Saturday November 19, 2011 MYT 7:43:00 PM

KOTA BARU: All media are prohibited from publishing any photograph of the ailing former Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Ismail Petra, with immediate effect, it was announced here Saturday.

The prohibition was put in place by the Monitoring, Privileges and Security Committee, said Kelantan State Secretary Datuk Dr Zainuddin Ibrahim who chairs the committee.

He said the committee felt that it was inappropriate at this time for the media, including television, newspapers and other publications, and the virtual media, to publish any image of the former sultan.

"The directive has been consented to by the Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad V," he told a news conference also attended by Kelantan police chief Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital director Datuk Dr Ghazali Hasni Md Hassan, Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) Kubang Kerian Hospital specialist Datuk Prof Dr Wan Mohamad Wan Bebakar and Kelantan palace comptroller Datuk Ahmad Mahmood.

Dr Zainuddin said the prohibition did not cover news on the former sultan that is assumed to have a positive impact and does not violate the ethics of journalism. Bernama learnt that several newspapers had published photographs of the ailing Sultan Ismail Petra attending a banquet held in conjunction with the birthday of the Sultan of Kelantan here on Nov 11.

Dr Zainuddin said the committee was informed that the former sultan was still receiving treatment and there had been some improvement in his health.

The committee, which was set up several years ago, also comprises Kelantan Health Director Datuk Dr Nordianah Hassan, Kelantan Police deputy chief Datuk Mazlan Lazim and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Kubang Kerian Health Campus Director Prof Datuk Dr Mafauzy Mohamed. - Bernama

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New flood prediction system in a year

Posted: 19 Nov 2011 03:10 AM PST

KUCHING: The country is currently implementing a new system to predict the occurrence of flood.

Called the atmospheric flood warning system, it will enable the authority to predict flood in advance.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said the system was being installed in four states, including Sarawak, Johor and Pahang.

"This is a new technology yet to be tested, but from the system we hope to know if floods will occur at least one or two days in advance," he said.

Uggah, who earlier handed over the prizes to the winners of the Commonwealth Journalist Association (CJA) photography contest, said the system was expected to be ready in a year.

He said these projects were implemented mainly at major river basins.

"As for Sarawak, we are implementing it at the Sarawak River basin first.

He said currently flood prediction was made based on the water level, adding that only after the level had increased will the system tell whether there would be floods or not.

"With the new system, we can calculate based on the atmospheric conditions, which means we will consider the cloud content and air direction.

"We will use the system to predict where the rain will fall and the amount of rain that can fall.

"From there we hope to know whether the area will be flooded or not," he said.

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Mirzan Mahathir named in Indian port probe

Posted: 19 Nov 2011 02:21 AM PST

NEW DELHI: Malaysian businessman Mirzan Mahathir has been named in an Indian court affidavit related to investigations into the Kakinada Port development in Andhra Pradesh.

Mirzan, 51, had secured the project during the tenure of the state's former chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu.

The 2,424-paged document revealed that a Mirzan-led international shipping consortium won the deep-water seaport expansion venture in 1999.

The affidavit was filed by the late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy's (YSR) wife, Y. S. Vijayalakshmi last month in the state's High Court.

YSR, an influential politician, was killed in a helicopter crash in 2009.

The petition revealed that the project was awarded on Develop-Operate-Transfer basis and the consortium was given 18 months to build two more berths in Kakinada Port, the second largest port in Andhra Pradesh.

"But the consortium failed to fulfill its commitment and the construction work of another berth only started five years later in 2004," said the affidavit.

Due to the delay, the state exchequer was alleged to have lost about RM33mil between 1999 and 2007.

Based on the court documents filed, the High Court has now directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe all allegations against Naidu and his associates.

Naidu, president of the Telugu Desam Party, was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1994 to 2004.

He wrested the party from his late father-in-law, N. T. Rama Rao, once an iconic Telugu film actor.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Sabtu, 19 November 2011