Sabtu, 13 Julai 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro


Pre-war coffee shop moving out

Posted:


FOR about 75 years, Tong Ah Eating House has stood out in Keong Saik Road for its distinctive red-and-white facade and shape as it sits on a triangular plot of land.

But from tomorrow, this old-school coffee shop will head out to a new shophouse, even if it is just a few doors down the same road.

The move marks the uprooting of a business the great-grandfather of Tang Chew Fue, 50, started at the spot in 1939, a date embossed on a sign proudly displayed at the top of the three-storey building.

Tang blames the upheaval on the sale of the property to a foreign investor, believed to be a hotelier. It is valued at about S$8mil (RM20mil), he said.

The coffee shop's owner is a relative of Tang, who rents the place for S$8,000 (RM20,000) a month. He declined to go into the reasons for the sale and neither the relative nor the new owner could be reached for comment.

Nicknamed Ah Wee, Tang took over the coffee shop from his father in 1999.

Little has changed on the menu as the Foochow family stuck to its winning formula of serving kaya toast in the morning and zi char food at night.

He will keep the menu intact in the new place at 35, Keong Saik Road, but he worries about his profit margin as he now pays 50% more in rent.

"I feel squeezed. Property prices have gone up as many private investors have bought land here," he said.

He also worries that the loss of outdoor seating, for which the coffee shop is known, will hurt his business. 

"The outdoor seating is important to me. In the new location, the interior is large but my customers will have fewer carpark space," he said.

The coffee shop's customers, mainly office workers and residents in the area, were similarly nostalgic.

"Eating on the five-foot walkway is a treat that has been around for a long time. It is a special ambience with an old-world charm," sales executive Lee Siew Song said wistfully.

The 55-year-old works nearby and eats at the coffee shop twice a week.

Tong Ah is the second old-world coffee shop to change hands in just over a month. 

Last month, 70-year-old Hua Bee coffee shop in Moh Guan Terrace in Tiong Bahru was leased to hotelier and restaurateur Loh Lik Peng, 41. 

As a result, one of its two stallholders, coffee-seller Tony Tiang, 58, called it a day. — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

War and the tourist

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A new kind of tourism seems to be emerging in the shadows of a world riven by conflict.

IT was a little over three weeks ago that the early morning silence of a base camp near Nanga Parbat was pierced by gunfire.

A number of men clad in the uniform of the Gilgit Scouts opened fire on the camp of mountain climbers. When they stopped, 10 climbers and their local guide lay dead.

The climbers originated from China, Russia, Nepal and Ukraine. The killers, it is alleged, were locals. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan took responsibility for the attack. The reason for killing the climbers, they said, was in retaliation to the drone strikes inside Pakistan.

The attacks were widely condemned in Pakistan and abroad. Local news media focused on the area where the climbers were killed, pointing out how another part of Pakistan known for its scenic beauty was stained with the blood of innocent people.

In the international media, the deaths of the climbers received some attention, but unsurprisingly not the prolonged coverage that would have been afforded had the climbers been American or British.

On the lopsided scales of international sympathy, the world weeps most for only certain types of victims.

In Pakistan, where the tears have long since dried up, here was yet another example of why the terrain of the country, from the icy beauty of the northern mountains to the beaches of the sandy south, belongs to war and warmongers.

A few people cried at the death of tourism in Pakistan; most, however, were informed of the passing of recreational travel long ago. For years now, Pakistanis, residents of a country in conflict, have not been able to travel with the same freedom as before.

In these dark days of daily catastrophe, many an evocative eulogy has been written in memory of the Swat that was not known for shooting schoolgirls, and now for Nanga Parbat that was known for feats of human endurance and courage.

At the same time, while tourists of a certain sort may be driven away by the spectre of danger and the idea of an excursion being ravaged by militant groups, a new kind of tourism seems to be emerging in the shadows of a world riven by conflict.

In recent years and months, as protests and clashes have broken out in Egypt and Turkey, droves of "revolution watchers" from Western countries are reported to have headed to Tahrir and now Taksim Square, so that they can claim the badge of bravado that allows them to say they were there.

With the tools of social media at their disposal, they have reported effusively the drama of teargas shells being lobbed at crowds, security officials wielding their batons and the infectious fervour of the protesters surrounding them.

Here is a drama that differs from the usual tasks of the tourist: the taking in of the local sentiment of discontent and revolt, instead of appreciating ancient or natural sights.

If the latter pertains to the exotic and different, the tourism of conflict aims at taking in tempestuous, uncertain danger – the ultimate in thrill-seeking.

There are limits, of course, to the extent of danger that war tourists are willing to endure, and Pakistan, which has an excess of danger to offer, is too far off the scale to benefit from this newly developed taste for the perilous.

For the tourists of war and revolution, anger and protests are entertaining, so long as they do not impinge in any real way on the possibility of their return to calmer shores.

Awarded the dubious title of the most dangerous country in the world, perhaps Pakistan needs to start marketing its unrest, its uncertainty, its dark depravity as a way of attracting those bored of the easy, unexciting stability of existence in the rich world.

> The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

Coming to a screen near you

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In China, traditional publishers are taking unusual steps as they seek to make the move into the digital age.

AS China's digital publishing industry continues to grow, publishers are looking for new ways of obtaining and telling stories. Gone are the days when authors simply penned their tales, presented them to the publisher houses and hoped for the best.

In addition, several of China's best-known, long-established publishers are using the digital arena as a shop window for their products in the hope of boosting sales of books in brick and mortar stores.

Last September, one of China's oldest publishing houses, the 101-year-old Zhonghua Book Co, entered the world of multimedia publishing by instigating a poetry contest that targeted mobile phone users.

The format was simple: applicants simply had to compose an ode using the rigid formulas of classical Chinese poetry and send the resulting poem to Zhonghua via a text message.

Over a period of four months, 43 million wannabe poets texted their work, either as original content for the competition or as messages to friends, who in turn forwarded the poem to other recipients. Software containing a template for the poem and the rules of composition was downloaded more than 50,000 times in one month.

By the end of the competition, the number of posts and reposts on mobile devices totalled 129 million, a huge number given that Zhonghua's biggest-selling physical book, Thoughts on the Analects of Confucius, sold 320,000 copies.

"The competition was our attempt to popularise ancient Chinese literature in the modern age and to market the brand of our publishing house, which is famous for classical Chinese texts," said Bao Yan, Zhonghua's president.

It was the first time that Bao and her team had attempted to promote and develop the physical market potential of classical Chinese literature via the digital medium.

Zhonghua estimated the revenue from the competition at nine million yuan (RM4.6mil), although the publisher had to split that sum with the telecom companies and its other partners.

Publicity boost

However, rather than hard cash, the publicity boost for Zhonghua's traditional publications was the most valuable thing to emerge from the competition, according to Bao.

Meanwhile, the lessons learned from cooperating with local governments and technological partners could prove invaluable as the company looks to the future.

Zhonghua is just one of a group of traditional publishers attempting to carve out a niche in the multimedia world, but they are finding the going tough.

In the past three years, the income brought in by digital products has accounted for less than 10% of the annual revenue of the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

That disparity stems from a lack of familiarity with operating methods in the world of digital publishing.

"No one in the publishing world knows how to benefit from it (digital publishing) in terms of finances and branding," said Li Hongfei, the director of the language press' digital department.

"We may have good ideas, but without obvious signs of return publishing houses are reluctant to invest their money in a digital arm. All in all, the major businesses are still focusing on traditional paper productions."

Li's comment echoed a quip made by the language press' deputy president, Xie Wenhui: "Doing nothing in the multimedia world means we are just sitting still and waiting to die, but taking action in the market could mean we die more quickly."

However, Lin Hua, deputy president of Cloudary, the biggest online hub for contemporary Chinese literature, said at the StoryDrive China forum organised by the Frankfurt Academy in May that online content can be a money spinner, especially if marketed correctly across a range of formats.

For example, the novel If You are the One by Fu Rong San Bian, one of Cloudary's biggest sellers, became one of the most successful examples of the transmedia trend when it was later made into a movie by the Chinese director Feng Xiaogang.

No quick returns

The branding effect is already evident; best-selling e-books can have a positive influence on sales of the equivalent paper publication.

"The digital performance of a book often provides clues to potential sales in brick and mortar stores, but it will be a long-term process, even with clear goals and a good plan of action," said Li. "No one should expect a quick financial return."

Wang Hui, chief editor of the Chinese-language version of Psychology magazine, said: "Traditional publishers enjoy the advantages of being well established and enjoy good reputations in the industry, but those factors can also prove to be shortcomings."

Like Zhonghua, Sanlian Publishing House put a new twist on a traditional industry when it opened a workshop for authors, graphic artists and, crucially, readers, in 2009.

Work and story ideas are submitted online and if the readers judge the material to have potential, the authors and artists are invited to attend the workshop and develop their ideas in collaboration with the readers.

Zhang Zhijun, Sanlian's deputy head, sees the workshop as a major influence on the publisher's future development.

Sanlian is no stranger to innovation. In 2003, it was the first publishing house on the Chinese mainland to publish graphic novels, such as those by the popular Taiwan-based cartoonist Jimmy.

"The open nature of the workshop offers more opportunities to get to know authors from all walks of life, people with special ideas they would like to share through our platform, " said Zhang. 

Interactivity

Meanwhile, illustrated and interactive books are now assuming greater importance for publishers and the format of the workshop, equally open to creative types and their audience, means publishing in the digital world can break accepted rules.

For example, some companies have given readers the opportunity to influence the course of stories published in instalments by asking for, and often incorporating, their ideas on story and character development.

"Interactivity in the reading process, no matter at what stage, is winning more readers because people have become accustomed to it through computer games and related activities," said Holger Volland, deputy president of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

"As we all know, in the search for good content, uniqueness and novelty are more important than anything else," said Zhang, who decided to retain full independence of the workshop by declining all offers of financial support and cooperation from other organisations: "We have to maintain our purity; that way we can produce a lasting and sustainable future in the publishing world."

Zhonghua's Bao believes in the merits of classical Chinese literature and regards her company as being in a unique position as it acts as a cheerleader for, and repository of, ancient literature.

To that end, the company is exploring the potential of promoting the classics through "fragmentation", that is by publishing free extracts from classic works in the hope that readers will be enthralled and rush to the stores to buy a copy of the book in question.

For Sanlian, the path seems clear but also hard. Around 99% of the illustrated books it publishes and sells in its own bookstores are written by foreign authors.

"We lack local talent to create good material that will prove competitive," said Zhang. "It's an opportunity as well as a challenge. If we get it right, we will be starting on the road to success." — China Daily/ Asia News Network

Quality is king


"THE big picture revolves around the upstream and downstream ends of the publishing industry, more simply described as content and marketing. When people focus on the format of digital books, the content is subconsciously ignored. The content created and published online should be classified into 'edited' and 'unedited'. This is a big difference.

"The core value of a publishing house, even nowadays, relies heavily on the process of selecting content. High-quality content is the most important thing, regardless of whether a book has been published digitally or in the traditional format. The content provider should be responsible for quality.

"How to protect excellent quality and purify it should be the first priority when digital book editors think about their work. No decent publisher with a good reputation is proud of quantity on its own.

"Also, heavy competition is unavoidable at this stage of development. It is not a good sign for any part in the industry to worry only about the product price at the expense of the service provided and brand value established. No clear rules and regulations have yet been set and the market needs time to mature."

— Pan Kaixiong, vice-president of China

All the free downloads will die out

"The volume of digital reading content on JD.com is still very small. We started our e-book business in February 2012 and it now has more than four million customers. However, 80% of the 140,000 e-book categories comprise digital copies of printed works, the same format as Amazon and is quite distinct from other Chinese publishers. Readers have different preferences; some like e-books, others like traditional books.

"Literature, management and social sciences are the categories with the highest e-book sales online, while education, scientific works and children's books are the most popular among traditional readers.

"Right now in China's publishing industry, self-publishing - original works published and sold online by the authors – has emerged as a major trend. At the same time, a new habit of consuming books online has emerged, as a lot of consumers appear to be willing to pay more for digitalised content and the price of the content has risen as much as threefold. So the number of free downloads will decline gradually and finally disappear.

"The positive landscape of digital publishing encourages publishers and prompts a greater number of people to read e-books. The benefits for the content creator, however, are still blowing in the wind. As to whether they can earn more money than traditional writers, I don't think anyone can guarantee that in the short term."

— Shi Tao, vice-president of JD.com, one of China's largest online business-to-customer retailers

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates


Egypt announces criminal investigation of Mursi

Posted:

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt announced a criminal investigation on Saturday against deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, with prosecutors saying they were examining complaints of spying, inciting violence and ruining the economy.

Egypt's first freely elected leader has been held at an undisclosed location since the army removed him from power on July 3, but has not yet been charged with any crime. In recent days, Washington has called for him to be freed and for the authorities to stop arresting leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood.

The public prosecutor's office said in a statement it had received complaints against Mursi, eight other named Islamist figures including the Brotherhood's leader, Mohamed Badie, and others it did not identify.

The military says it deposed Mursi in a justified response to popular demand after millions of people demonstrated against him. The Brotherhood says it was a coup that reversed democracy.

Turmoil in the most populous Arab state has alarmed the United States and other Western donors. Egypt straddles the Suez Canal and signed a U.S.-brokered peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Complaints such as those against Mursi are a first step in the criminal process, allowing prosecutors to begin an investigation that can lead to charges. Announcing the step was unusual: typically prosecutors wait until charges are filed.

The prosecutors did not say who had made the complaints. Egyptian law allows them to investigate complaints from police or any member of the public.

Badie and several other Brotherhood officials already face charges for inciting violence that were announced earlier this week, but few of them have been arrested.

Asked about the announcement of criminal investigations against Mursi, Badie and others, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, "I can't speak to the specifics of this investigation, but generally speaking, we have made clear the need to follow due process, respect the rule of law, and avoid politicized arrests and investigations."

BROTHERHOOD REJECTS CHARGES

A senior army official told Reuters the authorities were allowing the Brotherhood figures to remain at large in part so that they could monitor their activities and collect evidence against them to ensure that any case was watertight.

"We will leave them to do their talking and protests and we are sure at the end everything will be resolved smoothly and legally," said the official, who asked not to be identified.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the charges were absurd and that it was the authorities themselves who were responsible for inciting violence.

"They execute the crime themselves and then they slap it on their opponents. As long as you have a criminal police force and a complicit judiciary, the evidence will appear and the judge will be satisfied. And the media will sell it to the public."

Mursi's Brotherhood called on Saturday for more mass demonstrations after large protests broke up peacefully before dawn, ending a week in which at least 90 people were killed.

The Brotherhood, which has maintained a vigil near a Cairo mosque since before the army removed Mursi on July 3, has said it will not leave the streets until he is restored to power.

Tens of thousands turned out on Friday for what the Brotherhood called a "day of marching on". Large crowds of supporters dispersed early on Saturday, although a few hundred marched again after nightfall towards the defence ministry.

Mursi's opponents say these demonstrations are still much smaller than the ones that brought him down. However, the Brotherhood has shown its organisational muscle by keeping its vigil running into a third week and bringing in coachloads of supporters from the provinces during the Ramadan fasting month.

Senior Brotherhood figure Essam el-Erian, one of those who faces arrest, called on his Facebook page for more demonstrations on Monday. "Egypt decides through the ballot box, through protests, mass marches and peaceful sit-ins," he said.

BLOODY WEEK

Friday's demonstration passed off peacefully, in contrast to a week earlier when 35 people were killed in battles between pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators.

On Monday, 57 people were killed in clashes between the army and Mursi supporters near a Cairo barracks. The army said it was responding to an attack; the Brotherhood called it a massacre.

Egypt's interim authorities have set out a "road map" to restore full civilian rule, with plans for a new constitution and parliamentary elections in about six months, followed by a presidential vote. A judge has been named interim president and liberal economist Hazem el-Beblawi appointed prime minister.

He is trying to form a Cabinet likely to be made up mainly of technocrats and liberals, without offending a large ultra-orthodox Islamist group that broke with the Brotherhood to accept the military takeover.

By the end of Saturday, candidates for many of the key ministries had been identified, although they had yet to accept them and the decisions were not final.

Two senior interim government sources said Beblawi planned to offer the finance portfolio to Hany Kadri, a Christian who has overseen stalled loan talks with the International Monetary Fund, and the supplies ministry to Godah Abdel Khalik, a leftist politician who held the position briefly in 2011.

Another Christian, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, a liberal who previously served as tourism minister, will be invited to head the investment ministry.

A former ambassador to Washington, Nabil Fahmy, will be offered the foreign ministry, while General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who carried out the overthrow of Mursi, will retain the defence portfolio as expected.

The United States refuses to say whether it considers the army takeover a "coup", which under U.S. law would require it to cut off aid including $1.3 billion a year in military support.

In recent days it has described Mursi's rule as undemocratic because of the vast popular protests against him, but also urged the authorities to release him and stop detaining his followers. Its wavering position has infuriated both sides.

Turmoil since a popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 has wrecked Egypt's economy, scaring away tourists and investors, draining hard currency reserves and making it difficult to import food and fuel, which the government distributes at heavily subsidised prices.

Rich Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, happy at the overthrow of the Brotherhood, have offered Egypt $12 billion in cash, loans and fuel.

State news agency MENA said a shipment of 70,000 tonnes of diesel arrived in Alexandria on Saturday from Turkey and Sweden.

Egypt's crisis has raised fears over security in the lawless Sinai peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, where militants attack security forces checkpoints almost daily.

(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Maggie Fick, Noah Browning, Omar Fahmy, Edmund Blair and Mike Collett-White in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Andrew Roche and Peter Cooney)

Bomb attacks on Sunni mosques in Iraq kill 23

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two bomb attacks near Sunni mosques in the Iraqi capital killed at least 23 people who had gathered to pray after breaking their daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Saturday, police and medics said.

A car packed with explosives went off near the Mulla Hwesh mosque in Baghdad's western district of Jamia, killing at least seven people, and a suicide bomber blew himself up in the southern Doura neighbourhood, leaving 16 dead.

"A bomb exploded while worshippers were leaving the mosque of Khalid Bin al-Waleed. Bodies were thrown back by the power of the explosion," said a policeman at the scene of the blast in Doura.

The violence is part of a sustained campaign of militant attacks since the start of the year that has prompted fears of wider conflict in a country where ethnic Kurds and Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable power-sharing compromise.

It was not clear who was behind Saturday's explosions.

Sunni insurgents, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, have been recruiting from Iraq's Sunni minority, which resents Shi'ite domination since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

So far this month, some 334 people have been killed in militant attacks, according to the monitoring group Iraq Body Count.

Elsewhere on Saturday, four policemen were killed when a car packed with explosives driven by an apparent suicide bomber was fired on by police near Baquba, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Baghdad, and blew up, police and medics said.

Police said the bomber's target was a funeral tent nearby.

A fifth policeman was killed when a bomb exploded near his patrol in Madaen, a town 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Sectarian tensions have been inflamed by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which is fast becoming a region-wide proxy war, drawing in Shi'ite and Sunni fighters from Iraq and beyond to fight on opposite sides of the conflict.

Instability has fuelled concerns of a return to full-blown civil conflict, although the level of violence is still well below the height of sectarian bloodletting in 2006-07, when the monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

The number of people killed in militant attacks in the month of June was 761.

Seven peacekeepers killed in Sudan's Darfur region

Posted:

CAIRO (Reuters) - Seven peacekeepers were killed and 17 wounded when they came under heavy fire from gunmen in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region on Saturday, the peacekeeping force said, the worst toll from a single incident since its deployment in 2008.

Law and order has collapsed in much of Darfur, where mainly African tribes took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, which they accuse of discriminating against them.

Violence has surged since January as government forces, rebels and Arab tribes, armed by Khartoum early in the conflict, fight over resources and land. Peacekeepers often get attacked when they try to find out what is happening on the ground.

A large group of unknown gunmen attacked a patrol in an area in South Darfur where peacekeeping is the responsibility of Tanzanian forces, the African Union/United Nations-led UNAMID force said. Reinforcements managed to rescue the peacekeepers after an "extended firefight".

Two of the 17 wounded soldiers and police officers were female, UNAMID said. It did not give nationalities, but a U.N. source said most casualties were probably Tanzanians.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "outraged" by the attack, his press office said in a statement.

"The Secretary-General condemns this heinous attack on UNAMID, the third in three weeks, and expects that the government of Sudan will take swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice," the statement said.

The site of the attack is close to Nyala, Darfur's biggest city, where competing security forces fought for days last week, looting the main market and offices of aid agencies, witnesses said.

Diplomats say the more than 16,000 peacekeepers are struggling with equipment problems, poor training of some contingents and the reluctance of some governments like Egypt to send their soldiers into dangerous areas.

The force has no joint command, which hampers coordination and rapid deployment to hot spots.

About 300,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Darfur this year by fighting, according to the United Nations.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and some aides on charges of masterminding war crimes in Darfur. They deny the charges and refuse to recognise the court.

Reports from Darfur are hard to verify as Sudan severely restricts travel by journalists, aid workers and diplomats.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at United Nations; Editing by Andrew Roche and Peter Cooney)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business


As earnings take over, fundamentals to be tested

Posted:

NEW YORK: Next week marks the first big week of second-quarter earnings, and it is sure to bring both joy and misery to Wall Street.

Investors will concentrate on market fundamentals after weeks when Federal Reserve policies have dominated the market. If they see companies are still struggling, stocks could take a fall.

Even after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke scared markets in June by telling investors the Fed is likely to reduce monetary stimulus in coming months, stocks have recovered, with both the Dow and S&P 500 climbing to all-time highs. In an appearance earlier this week, the Fed chairman said monetary policy was likely to be accommodative for some time.

"We're in the terminal stages of a Bernanke-driven bubble," said Walter Zimmerman, technical analyst at United-ICAP in Jersey City, New Jersey. "While a lot of damage has been done to the bear case, eventually bad news like weak earnings growth will start to bear fruit."

To be sure, the Fed, which has shown a much friendlier face to investors lately, will not be out of the picture. Bernanke will appear before congressional committees on Wednesday and Thursday to deliver the semiannual testimony about monetary policy. However, few surprises are expected.

The S&P's 17.8 percent advance in 2013 is largely attributable to the central bank's accommodative policies. The major indexes made impressive gains in the week: the Dow .DJI up 2.1 percent, the S&P .SPX 3 percent higher and the Nasdaq .IXIC up 3.5 percent. It was the third straight week of gains for all three, and the best week for the S&P and Nasdaq since early January.

"The Fed has been able to prevent a big selloff so far, but eventually the economy will have to catch up to the market or the market will fall back to match the economy," said Scott Armiger, who helps oversee $5.6 billion as portfolio manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware.

MORE FOCUS ON EARNINGS

That analysts are now turning their focus to earnings, believing the Fed's power to buoy stocks is waning, may not be a positive if the rally is going to continue.

Earnings are seen growing 2.8 percent in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data, a far cry from the 8.4 percent growth forecast by analysts on January 1. Revenue is now seen growing 1.5 percent.

For every company that has said it expects positive earnings, 6.5 have lowered their forecasts, the worst positive-to-negative ratio since the first quarter of 2001.

United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N), the world's largest package delivery company, tumbled on Friday after giving a weak profit outlook, citing economic conditions as one reason.

Companies can appear to look good when they beat a lowered earnings bar, but signs of weakness will hurt a market that is hovering near all-time highs and seeking new catalysts to spur further gains.

POSITIVE RISK/REWARD

"The second quarter wasn't particularly robust, and estimates seem to still be too high," said Barry Knapp, managing director of equity research at Barclays Capital in New York.

"We don't really see any sector where there is a positive risk/reward, just places where there are more likely to be negative surprises."

Next week about 70 S&P 500 companies will report results. If the results indicate that companies' earnings are still weak despite intervention by the world's major central banks, shares could slump.

General Electric (GE.N), Verizon (VZ.N), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and UnitedHealth (UNH.N) are among the biggest names, as are tech giants Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O), Google Inc (GOOG.O) and IBM (IBM.N).

Financial companies may be the most in view as investors look to reports from Bank of America (BAC.N), Citigroup (C.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), among others. The sector is seen posting profit growth of 19.6 percent in the quarter, by far the highest among S&P groups.

"Since they have the highest growth expectations, it will be especially important for the market that they live up to those expectations," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services in New York. "Those results will be pivotal."

Early results from financial companies were mixed. Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) posted profits that beat forecasts, though JPMorgan said it might be forced to accelerate cost-cutting because of difficult market conditions.

Among economic reports, June retail sales will be released on Monday, with consumer prices and housing starts, both for June, will be released later in the week. The July Philadelphia Fed survey of manufacturers is due on Thursday. - Reuters

Bernanke's challenge clear as Fed officials diverge on QE

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JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming: The wide divergence of opinion within the Federal Reserve over when to wind down its unprecedented support for the U.S. economy was on full display on Friday, starkly illustrating Chairman Ben Bernanke's leadership challenge for the rest of this year.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Charles Plosser, his counterpart at the Philadelphia Fed, sat on the same panel at a conference here, but sang quite different tunes on what to do about the U.S. central bank's massive bond-buying program.

While Bullard and other more dovish policymakers want to keep buying assets until inflation rises and unemployment drops, Plosser and the more hawkish of the Fed's 19 policymakers want to reduce the pace sooner than later.

"It is time to exit from the asset purchase program in a gradual and predictable manner," Plosser told the 5th Annual Rocky Mountain Economic Summit.

After delivering his speech and fielding a few questions from bankers and economists, Bullard told reporters: "I'd like some kind of reassurance that inflation was moving back toward target" before reducing the bond buying.

It was yet another clue for investors as they try to predict when the Fed will reduce the $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, a policy meant to encourage investing, hiring and overall U.S. economic growth.

According to minutes of the Fed's June policy meeting, around half of the 19 policymakers gathered there expected to end the quantitative easing program (QE) by late this year, while the other half wanted to keep buying bonds into next year.

That contrasts with the conditional timeline Bernanke articulated in a news conference after the meeting on June 19, when he said the Fed's 12-member policy-setting committee expects to end QE by mid-2014, as long as economic growth continues as expected.

While the official statement from the 12-member Federal Open Market Committee made no mention of that timeline, Bernanke said he was speaking on its behalf. The comments prompted a global market selloff, from bonds to stocks to emerging-market currencies, over the following few days.

Markets have since calmed, and Bernanke on Wednesday reemphasized the Fed's commitment to accommodative policy.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams, speaking in Vancouver, British Columbia, sought to downplay the importance of the range of views.

Only a few months ago, Williams himself had called for a stop to bond-buying by the end of the year.

But inflation has come in lower than he expected, prompting him to make a "small shift" in his own view, so now he fully" supports Bernanke's mid-2014 target.

"We are probably going to need to have more accommodation than I had been thinking a couple months ago because of the inflation data," he said.

But the gap between his current view and his old view, which half the Fed officials share, is not a "substantive difference."

"I don't see these differences as being that big," he said.

Lower-than-expected inflation helped convince him to make that "small shift" in his policy view, Williams said, adding that exactly when the Fed ends the bond buying program is not as important as making sure the high unemployment rate comes down and undesirably low inflation rises back to the Fed's 2 percent target.

The policy-setting FOMC is made up of more dovish officials than the broader group of 19. Yet the fact that half, and possibly more than half, of the broader group expect the accommodation to end at least six months ahead of Bernanke's timeline could sow confusion in financial markets.

"The message continues to breed volatility and eye-rolling criticism of Fed communication efforts," said Eric Green, an interest rate strategist at TD Securities in New York.

"What we do know is that half of the broader FOMC policy universe wants to end all asset purchases this year and it is a bias hard to dismiss, even if many are non-voters this year," he wrote in a client note.

INFLATION A GROWING CONCERN

While Bullard has a vote on policy this year, Plosser regains his vote next year. Bullard dissented at the June meeting due in part to a lack of concern over weak inflation readings.

Inflation as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index is around 1 percent, below the Fed's 2-percent goal, despite the bond-buying and four-and-a-half years of near-zero interest rates.

"If inflation went lower than where it is on a PCE basis then the (FOMC) would have to re-think its strategy," Bullard told reporters.

"The simplest thing to do would be to say that we would stick with the QE program for longer ... until we see inflation coming back to target," he added.

Plosser, an long-time critic of the bond-buying, told reporters: "I don't think it has been very effective, I think we are taking huge risks ... I would just as soon unwind from that."

Since Bernanke articulated the QE timeline on June 19, Wall Street economists have increasingly forecast the Fed will reduce the pace of QE at a meeting scheduled for September. There is also one set for the end of this month.

Also since June 19, longer-term market-based yields have risen sharply before more recently shedding some of those gains. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes slipped on Friday, with the yield rising again to 2.59 percent.

WHEN TO TIGHTEN POLICY

Turning to when the Fed should finally raise interest rates, Plosser argued the central bank should commit to tightening policy when the unemployment rate falls to a 6.5-percent "trigger," instead of just using that level as a rough guidepost for considering a rate rise.

Plosser's proposal, introduced in his speech on Friday, runs against the grain of most other U.S. monetary policy makers, who have increasingly stressed that rates could well stay near zero well after the U.S. jobless rate hits that level.

To clarify its future intentions and to give the economy even more support, the Fed said in December it would keep rates that low until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent, as long as inflation expectations did not rise above 2.5 percent. Unemployment was 7.6 percent last month.

Plosser said these so-called "thresholds," while an improvement, still leave too much room for interpretation. The Fed should "commit to its forward guidance" by treating those levels as "triggers rather than thresholds," he said.

The "FOMC has offered a variety of changing targets or signals about future behavior," he told the conference, which was hosted by the Global Interdependence Center.

"Although the aim was to clarify our policy intentions, I believe the repeated changes have likely caused more confusion than illumination."

The proposal may be a long shot, since influential officials have recently stressed the Fed is in no rush to raise rates.

On Wednesday, Bernanke renewed his message that policy would remain "highly accommodative" and rates could well stay low even after the jobless rate falls below the threshold.

"There will not be an automatic increase in interest rates when unemployment hits 6.5 percent," he said.

On Friday, Bullard said the Fed could even formally lower that threshold, but added that such a move would require more deliberation. - Reuters

Banks face profit lull as mortgage boom fizzles

Posted:

NEW YORK: Unexpectedly large quarterly profits at JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) hide a more worrisome forecast for the rest of the year for many U.S. banks. Things could get worse before they get any better.

Wells Fargo's profit was buoyed in the second quarter by consumers rushing to refinance their mortgages and buy new homes, driven by record low interest rates and a recovering housing market. JPMorgan's mortgage lending helped the bank for much of 2012, and second-quarter results this year were by some measures strong too — it made more loans, even if its pretax profits from lending fell 37 percent.

But mortgage lending is likely to be less of a support for banks going forward, as the U.S. Federal Reserve has started talking about tapering off its massive bond-buying program and borrowing rates for home loans have jumped. Thirty-year mortgage rates rose to 4.58 percent at the end of the second quarter, up 0.82 percentage point from the first quarter.

Executives from both banks, which between them make one in three U.S. home loans, said on Friday that mortgage lending volumes would decline in the coming months and so profits from the business would fall. JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake said rising mortgage rates could slash volume by 30 percent to 40 percent. That would result in a "dramatic reduction in profits" in the business, JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said.

At the same time economic growth has not ramped up enough for the rest of these banks' businesses - such as small business loans and credit cards - to make up for the loss of that income. There may be a lull between the drop-off in mortgage lending and the boost to other forms of revenue from an improving economy and higher long-term interest rates.

"If the economy is getting stronger, it's not manifesting itself in terms of balance sheet growth of the banks," said Christopher Mutascio, a banking analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. "Mortgage headwinds are a bit more instantaneous, and the pick-up in the other business lines may take some time."

A more complete outlook for the banking industry will emerge next week when both Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) report their earnings.

"NO GROWTH" IN THE MORTGAGE BUSINESS

The looming problem is not lost on the banks and could lead to further cost cutting as they try to bridge the gap.

JPMorgan's Lake said depending on market conditions the bank could accelerate its previously announced cost-cutting targets. In February, the largest U.S. bank had said it planned to cut 17,000 jobs by the end of 2014, or roughly 6.6 percent of its workforce. The job cuts were largely targeted at areas such as mortgage banking and retail banking.

To some extent, banks' mortgage businesses have built-in hedges in the form of income from collecting payments on home loans. As rates increase and fewer homeowners refinance their mortgages, banks earn more from collecting payments on existing loans.

But mortgage lending revenues dwarfs servicing revenues at present at many banks. At Wells Fargo, for instance, servicing accounted for just 4 percent of fee income in the second quarter, compared to 22 percent for mortgage lending.

Though servicing income does provide a bit of a natural balance, it should not be viewed "to dollar-for-dollar offset any reduction in revenues from the origination side of the business," Wells Fargo's Chief Financial Officer Tim Sloan said.

Wells Fargo also signaled that its streak of seven consecutive quarters of making more than $100 billion of home loans is likely coming to an end soon.

"We just don't think that we are going to see $100 billion of mortgage volume, given the current rates today, in the third quarter," Sloan said. "We will need to go ahead and make some adjustments."

Across the U.S. market, refinancing activity fell 44 percent in the second quarter, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. At Wells Fargo, refinancing made up 56 percent of all mortgage loans in the second quarter and over 60 percent of mortgage loans for the preceding four quarters. At JPMorgan, refinancing made up around three-fourths of all home loans in the past year.

"There's no growth in their mortgage business, and their mortgage application pipeline is down," said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services, which has $650 million in assets under management.

OTHER LOANS COULD PICK UP THE SLACK, OVER TIME

To be sure, continued economic recovery will contribute to earnings in more immediate ways as well: It will allow banks to set aside less money to cover loan losses, and dip into existing reserves. In the second quarter, JPMorgan released $1.5 billion from its loan loss reserves. Wells Fargo released $500 million and said it expected more in the coming quarters if the economy continues to grow.

For its part, Wells Fargo is confident that its diversified business model will allow it to prosper over time, if not every single quarter.

"The mortgage horse has been a big, strong horse. We've got 89 other horses that are going to be able to grow," Sloan said, referring to Wells Fargo's stagecoach logo.

But growth in other businesses such as commercial and consumer loans that are expected to eventually make up for lost mortgage revenues are yet to materialize.

Total loans at JPMorgan fell by $3 billion to $725 billion in the second quarter, while total loans at Wells Fargo rose only $2 billion to $802 billion - both compared with the first quarter.

Consumer loans were up only $250 million in the second quarter at Wells Fargo, and the bank's commercial clients did not exhibit any increased demand for credit.

"I wish they were, but unfortunately not. When you look at (credit) line usage in the commercial side, it has been pretty stagnant for a bit," Sloan said. "There's no question there's going to be a bit of a lag effect as it relates to stronger commercial loan growth." - Reuters

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Make Islamic studies subject elective, not compulsory, say MCA, DAP

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PETALING JAYA: MCA and DAP have opposed a move to make Islamic and Asian Civilisation Studies (Titas) a compulsory subject for local private tertiary students.

They said the subject should have been introduced as an elective and making it compulsory was not fair to non-Muslims.

MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu.

MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu.

To make study of a single religion or civilisation compulsory for non-followers of that religion is a step backward from national harmony," said MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu.

He said that Titas merited the same level of research and study warranted by other religions and civilisations of the world, but he deemed making it a compulsory subject an unfair practice.

Gan stressed that Malaysians were guaranteed the freedom of religion as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

DAP chief whip Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

DAP chief whip Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

DAP chief whip Anthony Loke Siew Fook (DAP - Seremban) said that Titas studies were to be encouraged but not made compulsory.

"The approach to make it compulsory will give students a negative picture and that they will be forced to sit for the subject," he said.

Loke said that such a subject should be included into secondary school subjects such as History and General Studies.

He also highlighted that DAP was not against Islam even though it opposed making the subject compulsory, adding that the party knows that the position of Islam is protected under the Federal Constitution.

"An understanding towards other cultures and civilisations have to be nurtured from school days and cannot be done forcefully," he said.

Some local educationists have questioned the move, adding that the new compulsory subject would mean extra stress for students, and that it needed review as it would be taught in Bahasa Malaysia.

Others however, said that the move would lead to a harmonisation of higher education here and that Titas was not about studying religion, but rather comparative Asian civilisations and common values.

In a report Friday, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in a parliamentary written reply to Dr Ko Chung Sen (DAP - Kampar) that the move was to standardise requirements between public and private universities.

He said that the move, which would take effect in private tertiary institutions come Sept 1, would also include Ethnic Relations and Malaysian Studies.

Foreign students in these institutions would be required to learn Malaysian Studies and Malay Language Communication courses.

Bersih 2.0 organisers to hold another street protest if redelineation done without clean electoral roll

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: Organisers of Bersih 2.0 will hold another street protest if the Election Commission proceeds with the redelineation process of parliamentary constituencies without cleaning up the electoral roll.

Its co-chairman Datuk S. Ambiga said the coalition would embark on a nationwide campaign to educate and raise awareness of the public regarding the consequences of the redelineation process expected to be conducted by the end of the year.

"If they insist on the process of redelineation, I do not rule out the possibility of holding Bersih 4.0.

"Because if this is the only way they (Government) are going to listen to us, that is what we are going to do," she told reporters at an electoral reform seminar organised by the Bar Council here Saturday.

She said the EC should not rush into the redelineation exercise and must clean up the electoral roll as it would be meaningless to make any real electoral changes without having it fixed.

EC member Datuk Dr P. Manogran, who was also present at the seminar, said the commission would study all the proposals made by the Bersih 2.0 regarding electoral reforms.

Train jumps tracks in Sabah, 80 passengers escape unscathed

Posted:

KOTA KINABALU: Some 80 passengers of a train escaped unscathed when it derailed at Kampung Kawang in Papar about 40kms from here early Saturday morning.

The passengers later continued on their journey to Papar and Beaufort towns by bus.

The train departed from the main Tanjung Aru station at 7.45am and derailed 15 minutes later while it was passing through a "dangerous stretch" in the Kampung Kawang, said Sabah Railway Operation Officer Awang Zainudin Awang Matusin.

He said that the train jumped the track due to technical problems and not because of poor maintenance.

"Train drivers are advised to slow down when they go through that stretch and take extra caution," he said, adding that steps were being taken to correct the situation.

Last month, a train crashed into a car in Kepayan here, killing the car driver and injuring two of his passengers, who were tourists from Hong Kong.

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Running man

Posted:

The courageous story of the "Flying Sikh" – India's most successful ever track athlete, who overcame childhood tragedy to seek Olympic glory – is the latest Bollywood biopic to hit cinemas.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run, Milkha, Run) charts the journey of young Milkha Singh who lost his family during India's tumultuous partition in 1947 and went on to compete at the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games.

His rise to elite athlete made Milkha a national hero. "We all grew up with the folklore of Milkha, he's a larger-than-life figure for us," said the film's director Rakeysh Mehra.

"He's like what Pele meant to football, or what Jesse Owens meant for track and field for the West."

The movie title refers to the poignant last words spoken to Milkha by his father. As he was dying, he told Milkha to flee or he too would be killed in the post-partition riots sweeping the subcontinent – Milkha ran for his life and boarded a train with other refugees.

Mehra was drawn to Milkha's story not just for his sporting achievements but for the impact the athlete had on a newborn nation struggling to assert itself.

"At that time, we were looking for heroes outside politics. Outside Gandhi or Nehru, there were none that the world knew. So he went out there and in a way conquered the world for us," he explained. "This man never ran away from his fears, he ran along with them."

Milkha finished fourth in the 400m at the 1960 Olympics in Rome after a spectacular final that was so close it needed a photo finish to determine fourth place. A devastated Milkha, who won gold at both the Asian and Commonwealth Games, never fulfilled his dream of winning an Olympic medal.

The director says his film is decidedly "un-Bollywood", deviating from the typical plotline that aims to "serve a complete meal" by combining elements of dance, drama, emotion and action into one blockbuster. "Here, drama is the key," Mehra said.

He is the latest Bollywood director to experiment with a biographical story, following a string of true-life movies in recent years that have proven popular with wide audiences.

Among the most successful was The Dirty Picture (2011), starring Vidya Balan and inspired by the life of a South Indian erotic actress in the 1980s. Last year's critically-acclaimed sports biopic Paan Singh Tomar, starring Irrfan Khan, told the story of athlete Tomar who became a notorious bandit.

Farhan Akhtar, who plays Milkha Singh in the new movie, said portraying a living person was a huge responsibility that required months of both physical and mental preparation.

"I wanted them to believe that they've cast an athlete and taught him how to act, as opposed to the other way around. And that comes from the kind of energy you exude when you walk onto a track and it feels like you belong to this space," he said.

The former sprinter, now 77, told Akhtar he hoped the film would encourage future Indian athletes by showing just how close he came to Olympic glory, and perhaps inspiring them "to fulfil that dream for him", the actor said. – AFP

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Experts: Older couples may split after children leave home

Posted:

After years focused on parenting, some couples lose the romance in their marriage.

When their children leave home, they struggle to relate to each other and split up.

Sociologists and experts said this was the key reason why people aged 45 and above accounted for a larger share of marital break-ups last year – despite an overall decline in the number of divorces.

But the statistics also revealed that more people aged 60 and above are getting hitched, and this may be down to people remarrying, said experts.

Figures from the Department of Statistics showed that the number of divorces and annulments fell by 4.8% to 7,241 last year, the first drop in seven years.

But 38.8% of divorced men last year were aged 45 and above, up from 26.3% in 2002.

The figure was 25.3% last year for females in the same age group, compared to 17.3% 10 years before.

National University of Singapore sociologist Paulin Straughan said older couples might split up after their kids leave home, as they did not spend enough time building their relationship as a couple.

Instead, they invested the time in their careers and children.

"Much of the marriage is tied to the couple's roles as parents, rather than their roles as husband and wife.

"So when the children leave, the parents don't know what to do with each other," she said.

Care Corner Counselling Centre centre manager Jonathan Siew said: "The wife may initially choose not to divorce when her children are still young.

"But when the children have grown up and can support themselves, if the marital situation hasn't improved, the wife may opt for divorce."

For marriages to work, Institute of Policy Studies sociologist Mathew Mathews suggested that couples work on developing their relationship from the start.

"People should be more open to marriage preparation and marriage enrichment programmes. When you know that you've been through good times previously, there's something that you can look back to, and you'd feel more committed when going through crises."

The statistics also suggested that more people are rediscovering love later in life.

Some 420 men and 77 women aged 60 and above got married last year, compared to 145 men and 19 women in 2002.

Remarriages also made up 25.1% of total marriages last year. A decade ago, the figure was 18.9%.

Siew drew a link between the two sets of figures, explaining that those getting hitched older may be tying the knot for the second time.

Harry Elias Partnership family lawyer Koh Tien Hua said people, even after a divorce or a spouse's death, were not afraid of recommitting themselves because "marriage is still something that's greatly valued". — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Former DPP found guilty of sex with underage prostitute

Posted:

Lawyer and ex-DPP Spencer Gwee (pic) has been found guilty of paid sex with an underage prostitute.

Judge Toh Yung Cheong said yesterday that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, and found the 61-year-old guilty of one charge of having paid the Vietnamese prostitute S$300 (RM754) for sex at Four Chain View Hotel in Geylang on the evening of July 19, 2011.

In his written grounds, the judge addressed several key areas of Gwee's defence, including his claim that he did not speak Vietnamese and never had a conversation with the girl, even though there were telco records of SMSes exchanged between their phones.

"The communication between (the girl) and the accused was more or less limited to requesting sexual intercourse; (she) was not claiming that the accused recite the Iliad or the Odyssey," said Toh.

"It was not out of the realm of possibility that the accused may have learnt a few Vietnamese phrases from his frequent visits to Four Chain View Hotel, pubs in Geylang, as well as his trips to Vietnam," wrote Toh.

Sentencing for the case will take place next Friday. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

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Experts: Older couples may split after children leave home

Posted:

After years focused on parenting, some couples lose the romance in their marriage.

When their children leave home, they struggle to relate to each other and split up.

Sociologists and experts said this was the key reason why people aged 45 and above accounted for a larger share of marital break-ups last year – despite an overall decline in the number of divorces.

But the statistics also revealed that more people aged 60 and above are getting hitched, and this may be down to people remarrying, said experts.

Figures from the Department of Statistics showed that the number of divorces and annulments fell by 4.8% to 7,241 last year, the first drop in seven years.

But 38.8% of divorced men last year were aged 45 and above, up from 26.3% in 2002.

The figure was 25.3% last year for females in the same age group, compared to 17.3% 10 years before.

National University of Singapore sociologist Paulin Straughan said older couples might split up after their kids leave home, as they did not spend enough time building their relationship as a couple.

Instead, they invested the time in their careers and children.

"Much of the marriage is tied to the couple's roles as parents, rather than their roles as husband and wife.

"So when the children leave, the parents don't know what to do with each other," she said.

Care Corner Counselling Centre centre manager Jonathan Siew said: "The wife may initially choose not to divorce when her children are still young.

"But when the children have grown up and can support themselves, if the marital situation hasn't improved, the wife may opt for divorce."

For marriages to work, Institute of Policy Studies sociologist Mathew Mathews suggested that couples work on developing their relationship from the start.

"People should be more open to marriage preparation and marriage enrichment programmes. When you know that you've been through good times previously, there's something that you can look back to, and you'd feel more committed when going through crises."

The statistics also suggested that more people are rediscovering love later in life.

Some 420 men and 77 women aged 60 and above got married last year, compared to 145 men and 19 women in 2002.

Remarriages also made up 25.1% of total marriages last year. A decade ago, the figure was 18.9%.

Siew drew a link between the two sets of figures, explaining that those getting hitched older may be tying the knot for the second time.

Harry Elias Partnership family lawyer Koh Tien Hua said people, even after a divorce or a spouse's death, were not afraid of recommitting themselves because "marriage is still something that's greatly valued". — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Former DPP found guilty of sex with underage prostitute

Posted:

Lawyer and ex-DPP Spencer Gwee (pic) has been found guilty of paid sex with an underage prostitute.

Judge Toh Yung Cheong said yesterday that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, and found the 61-year-old guilty of one charge of having paid the Vietnamese prostitute S$300 (RM754) for sex at Four Chain View Hotel in Geylang on the evening of July 19, 2011.

In his written grounds, the judge addressed several key areas of Gwee's defence, including his claim that he did not speak Vietnamese and never had a conversation with the girl, even though there were telco records of SMSes exchanged between their phones.

"The communication between (the girl) and the accused was more or less limited to requesting sexual intercourse; (she) was not claiming that the accused recite the Iliad or the Odyssey," said Toh.

"It was not out of the realm of possibility that the accused may have learnt a few Vietnamese phrases from his frequent visits to Four Chain View Hotel, pubs in Geylang, as well as his trips to Vietnam," wrote Toh.

Sentencing for the case will take place next Friday. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

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