Selasa, 15 Oktober 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro


Singapore-based super model murdered in Pakistan

Posted:

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani super model Fehmina Chaudhry, who recently came from Singapore, has been found dead in a ditch from Bara Kahu area Islamabad on Monday.

The 27-year-old model and beauty queen went missing last Thursday while visiting Islamabad to buy property, police said.

ASP Yasir Afridi said the dead body of a woman has been identified as Fehmina Chaudhry, who was also a mother of two and was a successful model in Singapore with numerous awards on her credit.

Fehmina, a Singapore-based model originally from the Pakistani port city of Karachi, was settled in Singapore and wanted to open a fashion school in Pakistan.
The real estate broker named Muaz Waqar lured her and brought her to Pakistan, she went missing on October 12 and the accused had demanded Rs2 crore against her release.

Police officials told that the accused Muaz Waqar was traced out with the help of the phone record and during investigation he confessed told that he had murdered the model and dumped her body in a stream at the outskirts of the city.

After the confession by the accused, police took him to the crime scene and discovered the dead body of Fehmina Chaudhry.

Her promoter in Pakistan, Asif Hashmi confirmed Chaudhry's death, and said she was married with a son and a daughter.

"She was a dedicated philanthropist and she was planning to set up a fashion school in Pakistan," Hashmi said, adding that she had won several beauty contests.

The officer leading the investigation, Yasir Afridi, said Chaudhry's mother had contacted her for the last time on the evening of October 10, after which she received a text message saying her daughter had been kidnapped.

"She used to visit Pakistan often to see her mother and was staying at a private hotel in Islamabad where she came to buy real estate for her mother," Yasir said. - AFP 

Death of puppy draws online flak

Posted:

"JUSTICE for Tammy" is what a group of indignant animal lovers in Singa­pore is calling for.

As a show of support for the seven-month-old mongrel which was put down for aggression, there was a flurry of activity on social media platform Facebook on Sunday night, when supporters updated their profile pictures with Tammy's photo and the slogan.

Netizens were reacting to news that the dog had been put to sleep by its adopter of four months, Alison McElwee, on Oct 7.

McElwee had said the animal was aggressive and had bitten her and her two children. Tammy was put down at a veterinary clinic in Sunset Way.

The Animal Clinic's managing director Lennie Lee said that "the dog exhibited escalating aggression" during four visits made to the vet from June 6 for routine vaccinations and treatments for skin problems, and that "professional judgment" was used when the vet "agreed with the owner's request to put the dog to sleep". — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Search for Philippine quake survivors as death toll hits 107 (Updated)

Posted:

Loon (Philippines) (AFP) - Rescue workers raced Wednesday to reach isolated communities on a popular Philippine tourist island that was devastated by a huge earthquake, as aftershocks tormented survivors and the death toll climbed to 107.

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake smashed the central island of Bohol on Tuesday morning, triggering landslides that engulfed entridges and tearing down centuries-old churcheire homes, ripping apart bs.

The national disaster agency said the number of people confirmed killed on Bohol and neighbouring islands had climbed from 93 to 107, and more bad news was expected as rescue workers were yet to reach some villages and towns.

"Our efforts today are focused on reaching isolated areas. We suspect individuals are trapped out there and we have to conduct search and rescue," National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesman Reynaldo Balido told AFP.

With destroyed bridges, ripped-open roads and power outages fragmenting the island of about one million people, Balido said authorities were struggling to reach isolated communities and had no idea how bad the damage was in some areas.

"We don't even have an estimate... we are just assuming that since there were collapsed buildings, we must search for them," Balido said, when asked how many people remained missing.

At Loon, a small coastal town of about 40,000 people just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the epicentre of the earthquake, shocked survivors wandered around the rubble of collapsed buildings looking for relatives.

Farmer Serafin Megallen said he dug with his hands, brick-by-brick, to retrieve his mother-in-law and cousin from the rubble of their home on Tuesday.

"They were alive but they died of their injuries three hours later. There was no rescue that came, we had to rely on neighbours for help," he told AFP.

Megallen said a neighbour with a truck tried to drive the bodies to Loon's funeral parlour, only to find out the bridge across a river on the way was destroyed.

The bodies were then taken across the river aboard a boat.

"But no one will give them last rites because the church was also destroyed," he said.

Ten churches, many of them dating back centuries to Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines, were destroyed or badly damaged on Bohol and the neighbouring island of Cebu.

Loon's limestone Our Lady of Light church was reduced to mounds of crushed rocks.

'Nothing much we can do'

In front of the rubble an improvised altar had been erected with a lone statue of the Virgin Mary, where teary residents stopped by to make the sign of the cross.

"We're trying our best to keep hopes up, but in this desperate situation there is nothing much we can do beyond giving comforting words," local priest Father Tomas Balakayo told AFP.

"I try to be strong but this is terrible, what have these people done to deserve this?"

Meanwhile, the only people involved in the search and rescue efforts on Wednesday morning at Loon were residents and local police, who themselves had lost their homes or relatives.

They struggled as aftershocks continued to rattle the area. More than 800 aftershocks had been recorded, including one on Wednesday morning with a magnitude of 5.1, according to national disaster authorities.

Most of the confirmed deaths were on Bohol, which is one of the most popular tourist islands in the Philippines because of its beautiful beaches, rolling "Chocolate Hills" and tiny "tarsier" primates.

Nine people died on neighbouring Cebu island, home to the Philippines' second-biggest city of the same name.

No foreign tourists were reported killed.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates.

Earlier reports:

Philippine quake death toll reaches 99

MANILA, Oct 16, 2013 (AFP) - The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck the central Philippines rose to 99 on Wednesday and would likely climb further as rescuers reached isolated areas, authorities said.

A 7.1-magnitude quake struck the island of Bohol on Tuesday morning, destroying centuries-old churches and triggering landslides that engulfed homes alongside coastal highways.

The confirmed death toll rose from 93 on Tuesday night to 99 as authorities gained a clearer picture of the destruction, the civil defence chief for the central islands, Minda Morante, told AFP.

"We expect the number to increase considering there are still areas that need search and rescue (personnel) and there are areas where they need more aid," she said.

Bohol and the neighbouring island of Cebu, which are both popular tourist attractions because of their pristine beaches and historic churches, bore the brunt of the quake. Most of the confirmed casualties were on Bohol.

Earlier report:

93 dead as quake hits Philippines

CEBU: A powerful earthquake killed at least 93 people in the Philippines as it generated landslides that buried homes, triggered terrified stampedes and destroyed historic churches.

Fifteen of the confirmed fatalities were in Cebu, the country's second most important city and a gateway to some of its most beautiful beaches, the national disaster agency reported.

The 7.1-magnitude quake killed another 77 people in the neighbouring island of Bohol, famed for its rolling "Chocolate Hills", while one other person died on nearby Siquijor, which attracts tourists with its pristine white sands.

"I was thrown to the ground by the strength of the quake. Broken glass rained on me," Elmo Alinsunorin, who was on duty as a guard for a government tax office in Cebu, said.

"I thought I was going to die."

Authorities said the death toll could still climb, with officials struggling to assess the extent of the damage in the worst-hit areas of Bohol where roads remained impassable and power was cut at nightfall.

Bohol police chief Senior Superin­tendent Dennis Agustin said one of the worst affected areas was the coastal town of Loon, where at least 18 people were killed by landslides that buried houses along large stretches of highway.

Loon is about 20km from where the epicentre of the quake struck at just after 8am. It faces a narrow strait of water, with Cebu about 25km away on the other side.

Cebu, with a population of 2.5 million people, is the political, economic, educational and cultural centre of the central Philippines.

It hosts the country's busiest port and the largest airport outside of the capital of Manila, which is about 600 kilometres to the north.

A university, a school, shopping malls, public markets and many small buildings in Cebu sustained damage in the quake.

Three of the people who died in Cebu were crushed to death in a stampede at a sports complex, according to the provincial disaster council chief, Neil Sanchez.

"There was panic when the quake happened and there was a rush toward the exit," said Sanchez.

He said two other people were killed when part of a school collapsed on a car they had parked in, while four others died at a fish market that crumbled.

Ten churches, some of which have crucial links to the earliest moments of Spanish colonial and Catholic conquest in the 1500s, were also badly damaged on Cebu and Bohol.

The limestone bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church, Cebu's Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, was in ruins.

Other limestone churches that were built in the 1700s and 1800s on Bohol had crumbled completely, prompting grieving for the loss of some of the Philippines' most important cultural treasures.

"It is like part of the body of our country has been destroyed," said Michael Charleston "Xiao" Chua, a history lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila.

Aside from its beaches, Bohol is famous for its more than 1,000 small limestone "Chocolate Hills" that turn brown during the dry season.

There were no reports of foreign tourists being killed anywhere in the disaster zone.

Yesterday's quake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, at least four aftershocks of which measured more than 5.0 in magnitude. — AFP

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio


Mary Lynn Rajskub's internal conflict

Posted:

Though she calls herself an 'antisocial', 24 star Mary Lynn Rajskub loves to make people laugh.

WHEN actress-comedian Mary Lynn Rajskub played Chloe O'Brian, the neurotic computer analyst and closest confidant to Kiefer Sutherland's special agent Jack Bauer on the action-packed drama 24, her character used her wits to defuse any number of tense and sometimes life-threatening situations.

When Rajskub (pronounced RICE-cub) takes the stand-up stage, she has to defuse a tense situation that occurs in her head.

"My inclination is much more toward (being) antisocial," she said. "But I still have this compulsion to perform."

The 42-year-old says she started having this internal conflict in the early 1990s, when she majored in painting while attending arts colleges including the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and the San Francisco Art Institute.

"I started doing performance art for my art classes, and people kind of laughed at that a little bit," she said. "I figured I'd go in the direction of the laugh and try to get some laughs on purpose."

Making laughter her preferred destination led her to landing a few roles on TV early on, and playing numerous characters on the sketch comedy programme Mr. Show and bumbling talent booker Mary Lou Collins on The Larry Sanders Show, both on HBO.

Since then, she's made TV and film appearances as characters who were all over the map, usually getting laughs by presenting a signature awkwardness that also comes across in her stand-up comedy.

Her focus on stand-up has occurred mainly during the past few years and followed the 2010 debut of her one-woman stage show, Mary Lynn Spreads Her Legs, which centred on Rajskub's surprise pregnancy and her personal struggles with becoming a mother.

"That was kind of the first time I committed to being a bit more theatrical," said Rajskub, whose son is now five. "After that story, I really wanted to be light and funny about it."

Rajskub said the experience she's had being a mother and wife finds its way into the material on her current stand-up tour.

The tour is certainly well-timed: Rajskub will be reprising her role as Chloe in the revived limited series 24: Live Another Day in 2014. She said fans of her most synonymous character might leave comedy clubs feeling disappointed that she is, in fact, not someone with crazy computer skills (she claimed her words-per-minute count might be worse now due to all the fake typing she did on the set of 24) but that audiences will get to know her better – at least by the end.

The first part of her stand-up, well, that's an entirely different story.

"Maybe you would question ... not my sanity, but 'what is wrong with this girl?'" she said. – Lexington Herald-Leader/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates


U.S. Senate leaders still in talks as debt limit imminent

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the United States just a day away from exhausting its ability to borrow money, U.S. Senate leaders were still discussing a deal late on Tuesday aimed at raising the debt limit and reopening federal agencies that have been closed for two weeks.

Senate aides said a deal was close but details remained to be worked out, and earlier hopes that a deal could be announced late on Tuesday were not met.

The U.S. Treasury says the government will bump up against its $16.7 trillion borrowing limit on Thursday, leaving little room for error and raising the risk the government will fail to pay its bills and creditors.

Even once a deal is reached, it must clear the full Senate and possible procedural snags in that chamber on Wednesday before moving to the fractious House of Representatives that was unable to produce its own deal on Tuesday.

Amid the chaos, Fitch Ratings warned it could cut the sovereign credit rating of the United States from AAA, citing the political brinkmanship over raising the federal debt ceiling.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Senator Mitch McConnell were discussing ways of avoiding procedural hurdles that could slow down the measure, Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp told CNN late Wednesday.

"This is now back on track," she said, its fate dependent on "whether the House and Senate play well together."

As previously outlined, the Senate deal under discussion would extend U.S. borrowing authority until February 7, although the Treasury Department would have tools to temporarily extend its borrowing capacity beyond that date if Congress failed to act early next year.

The bill also would fund government agencies until January 15, ending a partial government shutdown that began with the new fiscal year on October 1.

It was another roller-coaster day of fiscal negotiations in Congress that saw two separate legislative efforts by the House die before they could even be debated by the full chamber. The measures were buried after it became apparent that too many Republicans were rebelling against their leaders' bills.

PASSAGE SCENARIOS

Aides said Reid and McConnell were looking at two possible ways of speeding the legislation through the Senate, which often can get bogged down for several days with procedural hurdles.

If such delays were allowed, they could throw the U.S. into default by making passage of a bill impossible by Thursday.

Under one scenario, all 100 senators would agree to let Democrats schedule quick votes to pass the bill. That would mean that Tea Party faction firebrands, such as Republican Senator Ted Cruz, would give up their rights to delay a vote.

Cruz has not publicly announced his intentions but some Senate aides think that the Texas freshman with presidential aspirations has been sending positive signals in recent days.

Cruz and fellow Tea Party activists late last month delayed passage of a government funding bill as they demanded major changes to Obama's landmark healthcare law.

The deadlock led to federal agency shutdowns as Obama and his fellow Democrats stood firm against changing the law.

The other scenario would have the House send a formal "message" to the Senate to pave the way for quick Senate action, according to a Senate aide who asked not to be identified.

Again, it was not clear whether House Republicans would go along with that option.

BOEHNER'S TOUGH DECISION

Either way, House Speaker John Boehner will have to decide whether to allow passage of a bill that many of his fellow Republicans might oppose, a decision that could impact the top Republican's political future.

House Republicans twice tried to come up with a new compromise but failed to satisfy Obama, Senate Democrats or Tea Party conservatives.

The first House Republican attempt was shot down in a closed-door meeting that had begun with members singing the hymn "Amazing Grace."

The second plan was scuttled hours before it was expected to hit the House floor for a vote after the influential Heritage Action for America, a conservative group, urged a "no" vote because it did not do enough to stop Obama's healthcare law.

If Congress fails to reach a deal by Thursday, checks would likely go out on time for a short while for everyone from bondholders to workers who are owed unemployment benefits. But analysts warn that a default on government obligations could quickly follow, potentially causing the U.S. financial sector to freeze up and threatening the global economy.

The U.S. Treasury Department seized on Fitch's downgrade threat to press Congress. "The announcement reflects the urgency with which Congress should act to remove the threat of default hanging over the economy," a Treasury spokesperson said.

Numerous polls show Republicans have taken a hit in opinion polls since the standoff began and the government shutdown. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released on Monday found that 74 percent of Americans disapprove of the way congressional Republicans have handled the standoff, compared with a 53 percent disapproval rating for Obama.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro, David Lawder, Mark Felsenthal, Steve Holland and Susan Heavey; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Karey Van Hall, Grant McCool and Tim Dobbyn)

At least 8 killed as typhoon sideswipes Tokyo, moves up Japan coast

Posted:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Eight people were killed and over 30 missing, with nearly 20,000 people ordered to evacuate and hundreds of flights cancelled as Typhoon Wipha pummelled the Tokyo region on Wednesday, leaving piles of wreckage on one small island but largely sparing the capital.

Operators of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant north of Tokyo pumped rainwater out of protective containers at the base of some 1,000 tanks storing radioactive water, and were taking other precautions, as the typhoon brushed past Tokyo and moved up Japan's Pacific coastline.

Seven people were found dead on Izu Oshima island, about 120 km (75 miles) south of Tokyo, after rivers overflowed and the storm set off mudslides along a 2 km (1.2 mile) swathe of mountains. Television footage showed roads clogged with heaps of wreckage and houses with gaping holes.

One woman was swept away by a swollen river in western Tokyo and 37 people were missing, the Japanese government said, including two schoolboys engulfed by mammoth waves on a beach. About 20 people suffered minor injuries from falls and being struck by flying objects such as roof tiles.

"I heard a crackling sound and then the trees on the hillside all fell over," a woman on Oshima told NHK national television. "Then mud slid as far as the house."

The storm brought hurricane-force winds and drenching rain to the metropolis of 30 million people at the peak of the morning rush hour, halting some train services.

Other trains operated at partial capacity.

The storm, which was picking up speed as it moved north, was 170 km (105 miles) south of the city of Miyako and moving north northeast at 75 kph (47 mph) at 11 a.m. (0200 GMT), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency's website.

It carried sustained winds at its centre of 126 kph (78 mph) and gusts up to 180 kph (112 mph) and was expected to weaken into a tropical depression later on Wednesday.

Over 500 flights at Tokyo's Haneda and Narita airports were cancelled, and several subway lines in the city stopped running due to the high winds. Thousands of schools closed as a precaution.

The typhoon passed close to the crippled Fukushima plant, 220 km (130 miles) north of Tokyo, shortly before noon.

The operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Corp, which has been struggling to contain radioactive leaks, said it would cancel all offshore work and would decide whether to continue work onshore after assessing the weather.

It was pumping out rainwater at the tanks storing radioactive water, a by-product of a jerry-rigged cooling system designed to control reactors wrecked in a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The rainwater will be pumped into an empty tank, checked for radioactivity and, if uncontaminated, released into the sea, the company said.

Nissan Motor Co cancelled the Wednesday morning shift at its Oppama and Yokohama plants south of Tokyo and said it was waiting to decide what to do about later shifts. Oppama makes the all-electric Leaf and other models.

Typhoon Wipha is the strongest storm to approach eastern Japan since October 2004. The cyclone that year triggered floods and landslides that killed almost 100 people, forced thousands from their homes and caused billions of dollars in damage.

(Additional reporting by Chris Meyers, Billy Mallard and Antoni Slodkowski; editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Death toll from Philippines quake nears 100, more people missing

Posted:

LOON, Philippines (Reuters) - The death toll from a strong earthquake in the central Philippines has risen to almost 100, officials said on Wednesday, and rescuers were digging through the rubble of a church and a hospital in search of more victims.

At least 10 people were missing under the collapsed public hospital, church and a home in the town of Loon on Bohol island, 630 km (390 miles) south of Manila, which bore the brunt of the 7.2 quake on Tuesday.

The quake caused landslides and widespread damage to infrastructure in Bohol and nearby Cebu, with close to three million people affected. The number of people injured in the quake climbed towards 280.

At least 90 of those killed were in Bohol, the national disaster agency said. Officials feared the toll would rise further as communications with damaged villages were re-established.

"I think this is a growing number, yesterday we had a partial communications block-out," Loon mayor Lloyd Lopez told Philippine radio.

At least a third of the deaths on Bohol island were in Loon, a town of about 43,000 people. One of those was the body of a schoolgirl found late on Tuesday under the rubble of a collapsed high school in Maribojoc town, adjacent to Loon.

"We have not reached all barangays (villages), many are cut off, the roads are blocked by big boulders," Lopez said.

Another eight people were killed on Cebu and one on Siquijor island, the disaster agency said.

Many of the millions affected by the quake spent the night outdoors, including patients at some hospitals in Cebu, because of aftershocks. More than 800 aftershocks have been recorded, the disaster agency said.

"There are so many aftershocks, we are afraid," Elena Manuel, a 64-year-old grandmother, told Reuters after her family and neighbours spent the night in the grounds of the centuries-old church that collapsed in Loon.

"We don't have any more food and water because stores are closed, and the bridge ... is damaged. After the quake, water and mud came out of cracks on the ground in our backyard."

Ferry and airline services have resumed despite damage to ports and airport structures in Bohol and Cebu.

The air force was carrying 11 tonnes (25,000 lbs) of relief supplies to affected residents in Bohol province, a military spokesman said. President Benigno Aquino was expected to visit evacuees in Tagbilaran City in Bohol on Wednesday.

The last time a quake of similar magnitude hit Bohol province was in 1602, said Trixie Angeles, a legal consultant who works at the National Commission on Culture and the Arts.

(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in MANILA; Editing by Paul Tait)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business


Banking career losing lustre with students: Deloitte

Posted:

LONDON: The popularity of a banking career among business students has fallen since the 2008 financial crisis, and banks face a wake-up call to change to attract the best graduates, a survey for accountancy firm Deloitte showed on Wednesday.

The popularity of working in the average bank fell five places to 35th out of 100 employers in the five years to 2013, according to the Deloitte Talent in Banking Survey 2013.

Though banking was more resilient than manufacturing and engineering, which saw popularity fall by twice as much, industries such as software and computer services have become more popular. Accounting also fell, by six places, but remained the most popular career among business students.

The research, a survey of almost 108,000 business students from 1,350 universities in Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, also found students interested in banking ranked professional training and development as the top job attribute, ahead of high future earnings.

"This survey is a wake-up call for banks," Deloitte said, emphasising changing attitudes towards them following the crisis, rate-rigging and mis-selling scandals and regulatory pressure to overhaul their corporate culture.

"Banks must respond decisively if they are to continue to attract the best graduates and it is in their interests to recognise these changing attitudes and highlight attractions other than pay," said Kevin O'Reilly, a partner at Deloitte.

The students considering a banking career did not think banks could provide their ultimate career goals of achieving a work-life balance and job security. More than half expect to move on from their first employer within three years.

"Many students appear to be planning a multi-stage career. Applicants want to work for banks because they are seen as a good place to lay the groundwork for a future career... It may be necessary to transform the career paths they (banks) offer graduates," O'Reilly said.

Deloitte said that old perceptions of sexism and discrimination also lingered on and that banks must cast their recruiting net wider – Reuters.

Bright Packaging jumps on rights issue, warrants

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: Bright Packaging Industry Bhd's share price jumped early Wednesday after it proposed a corporate exercise including a rights issue with free warrants.

At 9.12am, it was up 18 sen to RM1.43. There were 124,200 shares traded.

The FBM KLCI rose 4.39 points to 1,789.15. Turnover was 93.97 million shares valued at RM76.28mil. There were 125 gainers, 77 losers and 147 counters unchanged.

On Monday, Bright Packaging proposed renounceable rights issue of 86.56 million new shares and 57.71 million free warrants.

The rights issue would be on the basis of two rights shares for every one existing share held, together with 57.71 warrants on the basis of two warrants for every three rights shares subscribed.

Bright Packaging said for illustrative purposes, the indicative issue price of the rights shares would be 55 sen per rights share. The exercise price of the warrants wouldl be determined and fixed by the board at a later date

Assuming the exercise price of the warrants was 71.78 sen, the proposed rights issue of shares with warrants was expected to raise RM47.61mil based on the indicative issue price of 55 sen per rights share.

Of the RM47.61mil, it said RM37.4mil would be used as capital expenditure and RM9.11mil as working capital.

Malaysia’s KLCI opens higher, Tenaga up

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's FBM KLCI opened higher on Wednesday amid a cautious market sentiment after the overnight fall on Wall Street, but gains in power giant Tenaga Nasional helped shore up the index.

At 9am, the KLCI was up 2.59 points to 1,787.35. Turnover was 29.41 million shares valued at RM18.90mil. There were 61 gainers, 54 losers and 99 counters unchanged.

Reuters reported Asian stocks and US stock futures clambered back into positive territory on Wednesday as hopes grew that frantic talks in Washington to avert a U.S. debt default could lead to a deal just before the Oct 17 deadline to lift the borrowing limit.

Tenaga rose five sen to RM9.15 with 107,300 shares done. Petronas Dagangan added 60 sen to RM29.80. PPB Group advanced 16 sen to RM14.42 and KL Kepong 10 sen to RM22.90 while SOP rose six sen to RM5.77.

UMW fell the most, down 12 sen to RFM12.14 while TM shed three sen to RM5.13.

Glove makers Top Glove lost five sen to RM5.90 and Supermax three sen to RM2.50. 

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Nation

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The Star Online: Nation


RM20 becomes RM12,000 loss

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: For 10 years, Wong Choong Leong has been donating to charities whenever members of his family celebrate their birthdays.

However, the 46-year-old father of three is thinking of stopping the tradition after a RM20 cheque turned into a RM12,000 loss.

On Sept 3, he mailed three cheques for RM20 to three different charity bodies, with only one cheque reaching its intended recipient.

Wong received a call from his bank on Sept 19 asking for confirmation for a cheque payment of RM8,264 to a personal account.

"I did not recognise the payee and I told my bank to stop payment," he said at a press conference held by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department at Wisma MCA here yesterday.

However, he failed to stop payment for the other cheque as he was not informed by the bank.

"On Sept 26, I noticed that my bank balance was unusually low. I was shocked to find RM12,000 was missing from my account."

Wong requested images of the cheques from the bank and discovered that all the payment details had been altered, except for his signature.

He lodged a report at the Brickfields police station the same day.

That was not the end of his troubles.

The police issued him a letter the following day saying there was no element of commercial crime in the case. The police asked him to refer to his bank instead.

"I was shocked. I wonder if there was any investigation done before the letter was issued," Wong added.

Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said Wong's case was the second one he received this year related to cheque fraud.

"Since 2010, I have received seven cases totalling RM61,916.20.

"I am sure there are more out there," he said, adding that authorities should find a solution to such cases.

Police let Surendran tag along on raids against gun-toting criminals

Posted:

SEPANG: It is all systems go for PKR vice-president N. Surendran to follow the police on their operations to nab culprits involved in gun-related crimes.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar commended Surendran for taking up the offer to have a first hand look at the difficulties police face in dealing with dangerous criminals.

"He and his lawyer have already spoken to Federal CID director Comm Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah regarding the indemnity documents he needs to sign.

"The reason for this is so that we are not held responsible should anything happen during a raid," he told reporters yesterday.

Last Friday, Khalid tweeted that the police force was offering Suren­dran a chance to have a taste of what it would feel like to be confronted by armed criminals.

The offer came about as the Padang Serai MP had been a vocal critic against alleged use of excessive force and unlawful shootings by the police.

Yesterday, Khalid said he was not worried about leaks on operation details as Surendran would only be informed at the last moment before the raid was carried out.

"He had better be ready to receive calls in the wee hours of the morning to follow us.

"This invitation is strictly only for Surendran.

"We will not allow any other ministers or YBs to tag along, now or in future," he said.

When contacted, Surendran said he was not dismissing the fact that the police were at risk during their course of duty.

"But the point I'm trying to make is they can't use excessive force and shoot unlawfully," he said, adding that he believed there were rogue officers.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi lauded the arrangement between the two parties and said he hoped Surendran would be able to "see for himself" following accusations that the police were trigger-happy.

Related Story:

MIC lauds IGP over action against racist police officers

Cops held over fatal shooting of debt collector

Posted:

GEORGE TOWN: Two policemen have been detained in connection with the shooting of a 38-year-old debt collector at an entertainment outlet in Auto City, Bukit Mertajam.

Penang police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said a lance corporal in his early 30s and a 55-year-old sergeant were detained following a tip-off.

"We confiscated the corporal's pistol at a house in Kulim.

"We also picked up a 34-year old woman who was with him at the entertainment outlet to assist in our investigations.

"A 9mm Luger bullet casing and a live bullet of the same kind were recovered from the scene," SDCP Abdul Rahim said.

He said the 55-year-old sergeant, who was attached to the Johor police contingent, was here for the Hari Raya Haji holiday.

The three suspects will be produced at the Bukit Mertajam court for a remand order today.

Police have also obtained CCTV footages of the incident.

It is understood that the victim was shot in the abdomen following a misunderstanding with a policeman at the outlet at around 2.30am yesterday.

He succumbed to his injuries at the Seberang Jaya Hospital here later.

SDCP Abdul Rahim said police were still ascertaining the motive of the attack.

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The Star Online: Metro: Central

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Couple fined for staining neighbour’s car

Posted:

A COUPLE poured soya sauce, chilli sauce and dumped rubbish on a neighbour's car in an attempt to force him to change his parking space.

Lau Kin Kee and husband Ng Choon Meng, both 40, were caught in the act by surveillance video. Both pleaded guilty to committing mischief.

She was fined S$2,000 (RM5,017), while her husband was fined S$1,000 (RM2,509) yesterday.

They told the district court that the car's headlights would shine into their flat whenever the neighbour, a drug enforcement officer, parked his Honda Jazz in that particular parking space at night.

They admitted that it was not prolonged but it bothered them and they poured chilli sauce on the car on March 27.

At about 12.15am on March 31, the couple threw tissue paper soaked with dark soya sauce and a white plastic bag containing rubbish onto the car at the multi-storey car park in Punggol Central. Four days later, she poured soya sauce on the car.

Ng, a factory worker, pleaded for leniency saying that they were expecting their first child in December. His wife is unemployed.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Carene Poh said that offences were "very anti-social and unneighbourly". — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

HDB moves to curb properties speculation

Posted:

THE Housing Board (HDB) has moved to curb speculation in its commercial and industrial properties, in a bid to prevent the costs from being passed on to customers.

Starting tomorrow, all new tenants will need to tender for premises direct from HDB. This is a switch up from current practices, where an outgoing tenant can transfer the property to an incoming tenant, for a fee or cash premium that is negotiated between the two.

Business owners "assign" their properties to others typically because they are either not doing well and need to recoup losses, or a place has become so popular that a profit could be made from transferring.

According to HDB, the average assignment fee and rental has seen an upward trend.

"High assignment fees and tendered rents contribute to higher operating costs, which may be passed on to residents and consumers. Assignment may also encourage unhealthy speculation," it said in a statement yesterday.

To help existing tenants adjust however, HDB said it will allow these businesses to transfer their property once within a three year window which ends on Oct 15 in 2016.

Meanwhile, HDB also announced the construction of four new neighbourhood centres in Punggol, Hougang and Sembawang.

Details will be announced at a later date, HDB said. — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

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Malaysia's new gallery of portraits

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The newly opened National Portrait Gallery mirrors the nation's identity.

THE late Datuk Mohd Hoessein Enas's portrait of a sanguine Malay maiden Minah puts across a bittersweet longing of a rustic Malaya past.

Drawn by local art pioneer Hoessein in 1958, the oil on canvas piece Minah, seems to invite visitors as they wander through the doors at the newly opened National Portrait Gallery (Galeri Potret Negara), situated in an adjoining wing of the National Visual Arts Gallery (Balai Seni Visual Negara) in Kuala Lumpur.

In many ways, Minah, regarded as the National Portrait Gallery's "unofficial poster girl", is a fitting reflection of the gallery's mission statement: to tell the story of Malaysia through individuals – common and prominent – who have shaped the nation's heritage, history and culture.

"If you are looking for Malaysian social history, this is a good place to start," said Amerrudin Ahmad, the National Visual Arts Gallery's main curator behind this portrait gallery project.

"As a country, we have a rich history when it comes to portraiture ... and the National Visual Arts Gallery also has a sizeable inventory of portraits from several generations of local artists. With the arrival of the National Portrait Gallery, the public now has a space dedicated to the exhibition and study of portraits," he added.

The National Visual Arts Gallery is the custodian of over 500 portraiture works in its permanent collection.

A team of curators was assembled last year to make this portrait-based annexe a reality, with funding approved by the National Visual Arts Development Board Act 2011.

The National Portrait Gallery – launched on Wednesday – isn't just an exhibition space caught in a time warp.

"We wanted to introduce something of a guide to the culture of portraiture – to bring to light the early pioneers, a sampling of the pioneering styles as well as to have a platform to exhibit new and diverse directions in portrait work. At present, we have historic pieces from the (British) colonial times, pre-WWII portraits, pre-Merdeka work and significant paintings from the 1960s/70s sitting alongside some 30 pieces of recently commissioned portraits at the gallery now," said Amerrudin.

At a glance, the visual database at the National Portrait Gallery offer a broad range – from oil on canvas, photography, mixed media, sculpture, resin and water colours.

Anthonie Chong Kah Leong's 'Head Study In Thick Paint (1995).

Anthonie Chong Kah Leong's Head Study In Thick Paint (1995).

The oldest portrait on display is Lukisan Che Ali, from 1885, which is a watercolour/sketch piece by British artist George Giles, while O. Don Peris' Portrait Of My Wife In Her Wedding Dress (1933), Yong Mun Sen's Portrait Of Artist Wife (1943) and Katherine Sim's Salmah (1949) give colour and everyday context to the early story of the nation.

Newer work celebrating the inner life of prominent Malaysians – past and present – have also given the exhibition a sense of approachability. Kow Leong Kiang's Hijjas Kasturi, a vibrant piece on famed architect, Amron Omar's Tun Salleh Ismael, a personable tribute to the legendary Malaysian IGP, and Amri Ginang's striking photography work Prof Ungku Aziz, are just some of the eye-catching highlights.

Amri Ginang's B&W photograph of Prof Ungku Aziz (2012) is one of the illuminating highlights at the National Potrait Gallery.

Amri Ginang's Prof Ungku Aziz (2012), a black and white photograph on canvas, is one of the illuminating highlights at the National Portrait Gallery.

According to Bakhtiar Naim Jaafar, an assistant curator at the National Visual Arts Gallery, the influence of Hoessein Enas and Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (APS, the Peninsular Artists Force) in the development of portraiture in the country cannot be discounted.

"To the common person, portrait work might just be something associated with (commercial) artists at Central Market (in Kuala Lumpur). But this art form had a starting point and thrived with the pioneers who made it such an important part of Malaysian art history. If you want to dig deeper and find out how portrait styles came into prominence, just have a look at Hoessein Enas' work in the gallery. Then move on to the other pioneers. Each generation has its own narrative ... with a Malaysian story to tell," said Bakhtiar.

National Portrait Gallery (Galeri Potret Negara), at the National Visual Arts Gallery, 2, Jalan Temerloh, off Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, is open daily (10am-6pm). Admission is free. More info at www.artgallery.gov.my.

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The Star Online: Metro: South & East

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Couple fined for staining neighbour’s car

Posted:

A COUPLE poured soya sauce, chilli sauce and dumped rubbish on a neighbour's car in an attempt to force him to change his parking space.

Lau Kin Kee and husband Ng Choon Meng, both 40, were caught in the act by surveillance video. Both pleaded guilty to committing mischief.

She was fined S$2,000 (RM5,017), while her husband was fined S$1,000 (RM2,509) yesterday.

They told the district court that the car's headlights would shine into their flat whenever the neighbour, a drug enforcement officer, parked his Honda Jazz in that particular parking space at night.

They admitted that it was not prolonged but it bothered them and they poured chilli sauce on the car on March 27.

At about 12.15am on March 31, the couple threw tissue paper soaked with dark soya sauce and a white plastic bag containing rubbish onto the car at the multi-storey car park in Punggol Central. Four days later, she poured soya sauce on the car.

Ng, a factory worker, pleaded for leniency saying that they were expecting their first child in December. His wife is unemployed.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Carene Poh said that offences were "very anti-social and unneighbourly". — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

HDB moves to curb properties speculation

Posted:

THE Housing Board (HDB) has moved to curb speculation in its commercial and industrial properties, in a bid to prevent the costs from being passed on to customers.

Starting tomorrow, all new tenants will need to tender for premises direct from HDB. This is a switch up from current practices, where an outgoing tenant can transfer the property to an incoming tenant, for a fee or cash premium that is negotiated between the two.

Business owners "assign" their properties to others typically because they are either not doing well and need to recoup losses, or a place has become so popular that a profit could be made from transferring.

According to HDB, the average assignment fee and rental has seen an upward trend.

"High assignment fees and tendered rents contribute to higher operating costs, which may be passed on to residents and consumers. Assignment may also encourage unhealthy speculation," it said in a statement yesterday.

To help existing tenants adjust however, HDB said it will allow these businesses to transfer their property once within a three year window which ends on Oct 15 in 2016.

Meanwhile, HDB also announced the construction of four new neighbourhood centres in Punggol, Hougang and Sembawang.

Details will be announced at a later date, HDB said. — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

More parents pay private eyes to spy on kids

Posted:

A GROWING number of parents are sending private investigators to check whether their children have gone astray, sometimes even overseas.

Eight out of 10 private eye agencies said they have seen a rise in such cases.

David Ng, 37, director of private investigation firm DP Quest, said his company has seen a 20% year-on-year increase in such requests.

"Parents get worried when they see changes in their children's behaviour – for example, if they get a tattoo, or start staying out late," he said, explaining the reasons his clients usually cite.

The children are usually in their teens or polytechnic.

Private eyes usually follow their subjects for up to five days and parents' suspicions are often proven right.

Their children have been discovered to be involved in illegal activities like drugs or gambling.

Video or photographic evidence is then presented to the parents, who decide what to do next.

Such services do not come cheap. Three days of tracking, which is usually sufficient, may cost about S$3,000 (RM7,525).

Private investigators said they start tailing the children as early as when they go to school in the morning.

Joe Koh, 41, from Justice Investi­gations, a private investigator for 13 years, and sees one or two such cases a month, said that usually both parents are working and too busy to monitor their children.

He encountered a case where a Secondary 1 student would bring friends home in the day to sniff glue, then leave to hang out with friends till late at night. — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Music

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Miley Cyrus grabs top slot in UK single and album charts

Posted:

AMERICAN singer and actress Miley Cyrus became the first person to simultaneously notch up a number one single and a number one album in the British music chart this year, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday.

Her latest track, Wrecking Ball, went straight into the top slot in the single charts, while her fourth album, Bangerz, did the same in the albums chart. The result was the best yet in Britain for the 20-year-old singer, the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, who scored her first number one hit in the British singles chart in August with We Can't Stop.

Her success pushed last week's number one single, Counting Stars, by US rock band OneRepublic, into third place, while American rapper Eminem secured the second slot with his new single Berzerk.

In the albums charts, last week's number one album, Days Are Gone, from Californian sister-act Haim, fell to fifth place, while Brand New Machine, an album by Chase & Status, went straight in at number two. – Reuters

Thai sex show owner arrested after Rihanna visit

Posted:

THAI authorities said Monday they had arrested the owner of a sex show visited by pop icon Rihanna (pic) – the latest crackdown inadvertently triggered by the singer's tweets.

The bar owner on the island of Phuket has been charged in connection with the lewd performance, local district chief Veera Kerdsirimongkol told AFP.

"It was the result of the visit by Rihanna. The authorities will be more strict towards inappropriate shows or wildlife attractions," he said.

Thai tourist officials were left red-faced after Rihanna's tweets underscored the kingdom's seedier side.

"Either I was ***** wasted lastnight, or I saw a Thai woman pull a live bird,2 turtles,razors,shoot darts and ping pong, all out of her *****," she wrote in a message on September 20 to her more than 32 million followers on Twitter.

Last month two men were arrested for possessing a protected slow loris after Rihanna posted a picture of herself with the primate on a night out in Phuket during her Diamonds world tour.

Use of the slow loris and other protected species for tourist snaps – while common in Thai tourist resorts – is officially illegal.

According to wildlife protection campaigners, mother lorises are often killed while the young are stolen. The primates' teeth are also removed due to their toxic bite.

Foreign diplomats have urged Thailand to crack down on scams and crimes against tourists in Phuket.

Local tourist police volunteers warn against venturing into strip clubs offering "ping-pong shows" due to the risk of overpriced drinks and threats of violence against people who refuse to pay. – AFP

The heat is on for Bring Me The Horizon

Posted:

Bring Me The Horizon has been described as the 'new Metallica'. But after years of making enemies of just about everyone, the band is playing the cautious card.

OLI Sykes, at 26 years old, is so slender his shoulders seem to collapse in on his chest. His legs are like drinking straws, his arms so tattooed I can't see where his T-shirt ends and his skin begins. As stage time approaches he is sitting in a tent on a farm in the suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa, writing a comic book series on his MacBook.

In a few minutes, after a couple of vocal exercises, he will walk the 30 yards from the tent, climb some widely spaced steps to the stage of RAMfest, and find himself the focus of several thousand young South Africans' attention.

He will spend the next 50 minutes in perpetual motion, demonstrating why the people at the Sony imprint RCA keep describing his band Bring Me The Horizon as their "new Metallica".

Sykes takes his performance seriously – in fact, he seems extraordinarily driven in all areas of his life (he also has a successful clothing company). He whips the crowd into walls of death and circle pits, bellowing encouragement. He dares them to try to reach the stage. He throws himself around the stage, jumps into the photographers' pit, climbs the monitors, all the time keeping up his barbaric yawl. Later, the band's recently added keyboard player, Jordan Fish, will say that after every show he wonders where Sykes – so quietly spoken – finds the energy.

Outside metal circles, Bring Me The Horizon means little.

Inside, though, they're a big noise, a band getting bigger and bigger, dividing opinions as they go. In the seven years since the release of their debut album, they've shifted styles from metalcore — a genre that matches the speed of hardcore with the pummelling aggression of metal — to the sound of their fourth album Sempiternal, on which the tempos are slower and the vocals carry melodies and washes of electronic bathe the guitar riffs.

It sounds not unlike Linkin Park, though it's highly possible students of metal will dismiss that as wildly inaccurate.

"It's important not to overhype — that's crucial," says RCA's MD, Colin Barlow, shortly after saying that the signing "is a landmark deal — it's as important as when Sony signed AC/DC or when Metallica was signed to a major", and that the band will be headlining the Download festival within two years.

The band, though, is being more cautious than the label — even to the label's faces. So when the name Metallica was invoked as the deal was signed, Sykes had his reply ready.

"I said: 'You're gonna be disappointed, mate'."

"We're never gonna sell out arenas. If you get that in your hopes, you're only gonna be let down," adds guitarist Lee Malia.

The band formed at college in Sheffield, north England, in 2004, just kids who wanted to make noise. In their early days, Bring Me The Horizon embraced the rock'n'roll lifestyle to a fault.

"We were just kids," says Sykes, "and all of a sudden people were putting booze down and giving us buyouts. We went mental. We played every night out-of-our-minds drunk. But soon we realised you can't trust everyone. We quickly found out you've got to watch what you say and watch what you do, and we found out the hard way."

What does he mean? "Well, you know I got arrested, right?"

In April 2007, Sykes was arrested after a female fan complained he had urinated on her after she refused his advances on a tour bus. It was then alleged that an unidentified member of the band's party threw a bottle at her, hitting her in the face. The case was dropped, but the band became despised.

"When we started the band, I didn't imagine so many people could hate us, or that we could be a band that would make so many people angry," says Sykes.

"At first it upset us, but we've come to realise it's how the world works."

It changed their relationship with fans, too, making them wary of interaction. And that has created its own problems with people filling the void on social media and impersonating them.

Malia had a strange meeting with a teenage girl who insisted he had been corresponding with her on a social network and had demanded she turn up to meet him. Sykes had to talk another fan out of killing himself, after it turned out a gay man who had agreed to marry the fan was not in fact Sykes. And in Oct 2011, a 20-year-old man called David Russell was jailed for 17-and-a-half years for kidnap and attempted murder after pretending to be Sykes on Facebook, then luring an American fan over to Britain, where he repeatedly stabbed her, hit her in the face with a log and headbutted her.

Sykes is horrified someone would do that. He's also disturbed the fan was willing to fly over in the first place.

"Even if you were talking to someone who wasn't famous, you wouldn't buy a ticket to a different country across the ocean to meet someone you haven't even seen or spoken to over the phone. If you think you're talking to a famous person, and you have no hard proof that you are — you're not. "

After the show at RAMfest, the band is back in their bus within half an hour, back at the hotel another half hour later. There is no sign of debauchery — everyone drifts off to their rooms, and the next morning band and crew kill time beside the pool. All except Sykes, who never stops working. At 1.30am, a little over three hours after coming off stage, he's e-mailing the other band members proposed designs for merchandise.

The next day he spends in his room, cracking on with the graphic novel. That Metallica comparison? Not so far-fetched, perhaps. — Guardian News & Media

Bring Me The Horizon alongside British post hardcore band Enter Shikari, Japanese metalcore outfit Crossfaith and Malaysia's very own Massacre Conspiracy play the Rockaway Showcase at KL Live on Oct 17. Tickets are available at www.airasiaredtix.com. For more info, go to www.rockawayfest.com.

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The Star eCentral: TV Tracks

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Mary Lynn Rajskub's internal conflict

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Though she calls herself an 'antisocial', '24' star Mary Lynn Rajskub loves to make people laugh.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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