Selasa, 12 November 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

Govt to relook taxi fare structure
Charged with hacking
Online scam alert after woman almost falls prey

Govt to relook taxi fare structure

Posted:

THE Government will relook the taxi fare structure to make it simpler and easier to compare across cab operators, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo.

Admitting that today's taxi fare structure is "complex and confusing for commuters", Teo said yesterday that the Land Transport Authority will work with the Public Transport Council and cab companies to look into retooling the fare structure.

This will take into account "the impact on taxi drivers, ultimately to have a taxi fare structure that best serves commuters' interests", Teo told Parliament.

Responding to Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC), Teo said taxi fares were deregulated in Sept 1998 to allow cab operators to set their own fares to be "more responsive to market conditions".

On whether fare structures now ensure enough taxis ply the roads, Teo said the different surcharges have been imposed to better match taxi supply with demand by giving incentives to cabbies to serve locations and time periods where the demand is high.

Taxi companies are required to publicise fare revisions at least one week in advance in the media and on their websites. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Charged with hacking

Posted:

Alleged hacker James Raj Arokia-samy will be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric evaluation, the court ruled.

This means the 35-year-old, who is charged with hacking the Ang Mo Kio Town Council website on Oct 28, will not be allowed access to any third parties except for medical personnel until the evaluation is complete.

District Judge Kessler Soh allowed the application despite protestations from Raj, who told the court that he had suffered a concussion and assaulted when arrested on Nov 4. The alleged hacker also claimed to have been denied contact with his mother and deprived of medical attention for long periods. He insisted that he had been taken out of context when he said in court yesterday morning that he suffered from Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder (ADHD).

His lawyer M. Ravi said the man's demeanour in court showed he did not suffer from any mental condition and therefore should not be remanded.

But Deputy Public Prosecutor Tang Shangjun said Raj was merely "changing his tune", and argued that no prejudice would be caused by remanding him at IMH. The next mention for the case has been fixed for Nov 26. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Online scam alert after woman almost falls prey

Posted:

Police have issued a public alert after a woman almost fell prey to an online scam over the weekend.

The woman met the suspect through a social networking website in September and they communicated through that site as well as on instant messaging platforms. They even exchanged compromising photographs of each other, said the police in a press statement on Monday night.

Earlier this month, the suspect, a Caucasian male, told the woman that he would be coming to Singapore and wanted to meet her. But he requested money from her before the trip, saying it was for "clearance and administrative fees". The money was to be transferred to his overseas bank account.

The woman, sensing that something was amiss, made a police report instead. Members of the public are advised to be aware of such scams, said the police.

For instance, be wary of messages from strangers who want to be friends and do not transfer money overseas to anyone claiming to be in trouble over the Internet. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Travel Channel greenlights new Adam Richman series

Posted:

Four other shows also get okay.

ADAM Richman and the Travel Channel are breaking bread together again. Man v. Food host Richman will host another series for the network, as part of a quintet of greenlit series that Travel Channel announced on Nov 11.

Richman's show, which bears the working title Eat Secrets, will feature Richman uncovering "the most unique, surprising and delicious hidden food treasures in every town", according to Travel Channel.

"He searches for the dishes you would never find anywhere else on the planet, at the places you would never expect," Travel Channel said of the 13-episode series.

"Whether it's an off-the-menu item only locals know, or an amazing eatery inside a bowling alley, Adam's the go-to-guy for America's most mouth-watering meals."

Also on the slate of Travel Channel's upcoming offerings: Resort Recon, in which hospitality consultant Shane Green exposes unrecognised problems that various resorts have, using multiple camera feeds to expose poor customer service, dysfunctional employee-owner relationships other issues.

Travel Channel has also added three new series under its "Secrets & Legends" banner: Castle Secrets & Legends, which will bring viewers to "stunning castles, amazing manor houses and magnificent mansions"; Hotel Secrets & Legends" and National Park Secrets & Legends. – Reuters

Get set for the greatest show on Earth

Posted:

GET your 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil fix with Stadium Astro. The upcoming tournament will take place from June 12 to July 13 next year and Astro, the official broadcaster for Malaysia, will have full coverage of all 64 matches live in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD).

Astro Sports Pack customers will get to enjoy the World Cup on 10 dedicated channels.

For the first time, viewers can also catch all the action on mobile devices through Astro On-The-Go. This feature is exclusive to Astro Sports Pack customers. Selected matches will also be available with Bahasa Malaysia commentary on Astro Arena (Astro Ch 801/SD or Ch 831/HD). From April 1, non-Sports Pack subscribers and NJOI customers may purchase a special pass that allows them to view all 64 matches live.

Stadium Astro also has a number of other sporting events lined up for viewing next year such as the Thomas Cup, UEFA Champions League, 17th Asian Games and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. For more information, log on to www.astro.com.my.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

Jackie Chan alive and kicking

Posted:

Action hero Jackie Chan debunks rumours of his demise ... again!

JACKIE Chan is not dead. And he's not retiring.

"There are so many different rumours, I am getting used to it," the 59-year-old actor-director says of online reports of his demise. "Don't worry, before I die, I'll let you know."

Chan may be looking to slow down on the action, but after more than 50 years and 100-plus movies, he seems unstoppable.

His 2012 film, CZ12 aka Chinese Zodiac (which was released in the US late last month), still features him leaping from buildings, fighting in the air and rolling down a mountain in a full-body rollerskate suit.

The movie, about a quest to recover pillaged relics, is one of China's highest-grossing home-grown films ever, despite mixed reviews. Up next: another Police Story instalment and the action-comedy Skiptrace.

What was the most difficult part about the stunts in Chinese Zodiac?

The age. I'm not like I used to be – young – anymore. But I still do my own things. It used to be Jackie Chan action is like Hollywood action. But now the whole Hollywood action ... they combine with special effects, computer graphics. We cannot do that because the audience, they don't like to see Jackie Chan flying around like a Superman, like a Batman. They want Jackie Chan to do the real thing. That's the most difficult part.

How long do you think you can keep doing stunts like this?

I don't know. When I was 40, I said: "Another five years, I'm going to retire." Then at 45: "Another five years, I'm going to retire." Then at 50 I said, "Another five years, I retire." I'll do it until I cannot do it (anymore).

Would you ever consider being in a superhero movie like Iron Man or Avengers?

I want to. Please, all the directors, James Cameron: hire me. ... I love to do this kind of movie. Blue background with all the wire, flying around, that's more easy. But all the directors, they think about me: OK, Rush Hour 4 and Shanghai Noon. You have to do your own stunts, Jackie. (I'd) rather do a drama, comedy drama, a love story, sing a song on the beach, running around, slow motion, with a girl, kissing. But nobody buys a ticket to see Jackie Chan in a theatre kissing. No.

You're one of the few actors in the Chinese film industry who's been successful in Hollywood. Why is it so hard to go between the two?

I think I chose the right way. My movies, even without dialogue you understand what's going on – lots of action, but no violence and no dirty jokes, no F-word. My movie is not only for the Hong Kong market or Chinese market (but) for the whole world. All those years, Jackie Chan is like a bank. I collect fans, and when they come to the Jackie Chan bank, they never go away.

Are you going to do Rush Hour 4?

I don't know! Yesterday, I met with Chris Tucker. We sat down: "Jackie, let's do something. Rush Hour 4." Will we do something? Yeah, if we find a good script.

You've already made more than 100 films. What's your favourite?

Maybe with Rush Hour, many people liked watching it, I made a lot of money, but it isn't the kind of movie I like to make. The movie I want to make, I still haven't found.

In the US, they always (say) action movie, action movie. When I'm filming in China, I can make Rob-B-Hood and I can make Shinjuku Incident. Drama, very dark. I'm tired of doing action thing, so this is why I choose Karate Kid and Tuxedo. I try to let the audience know I'm not only an action star, I'm an actor. Because action star, the life is very short.

You mentioned one time you want to be the Asian Robert De Niro.

Look at Robert De Niro or Dustin Hoffman, they can do all kinds of things. That's what I want to do. – Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Game on for Harrison Ford

Posted:

More than 30 years after Star Wars, Harrison Ford has returned to inter-stellar space battles in big-budget sci-fi spectacular Ender's Game.

But the 71-year-old insists it's the human relations rather than hi-tech wizardry that drew him to the project, developed from a novel by Orson Scott Card and directed by South African X-Men director Gavin Hood.

"It doesn't matter to me whether I go back into outer space or not," he told reporters in Beverly Hills.

"The job is the same and I don't have any sort of genre preferences.

"I'm just looking for a good story, a good character, whether Earth-bound or not."

In a film which will resonate with Star Wars fans recalling the young Luke Skywalker and the crusty Han Solo, Ford plays Colonel Graff, training a group of children and teenagers how to protect the Earth from an alien invasion.

The best bet to save the world is Ender, played by Britain's Asa Butterfield, who starred in Martin Scorsese's 2011 drama Hugo.

Timid, but with an exceptional gift for military strategy and tactics, he becomes the hero of a film in which inter-galactic battles are played out in space and in a simulated game world.

It is almost Ford's first sci-fi film since the last Star Wars movie, apart from a role in 2011's Cowboys And Aliens.

And science fiction has changed quite a bit since director George Lucas released the initial trilogy of the cult movie franchise in 1977 – as Ford explained as he presented his latest movie.

"When we were making Star Wars, they were putting together space ships out of plastic model kits of cars, boats and trains, and gluing them all together, and then putting them on a stick and flying them past the camera.

"And it worked. It was fine. Add a little music and you believed that big spaceship coming over your head," he said.

Dismisses the label "icon"

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) can achieve incredible effects, but the veteran Hollywood actor warns they should not be abused.

"Often in those cases I feel you lose touch with the human characters and what it is that they would feel and how they might feel, and that's still the most important part.

Into his seventh decade, the actor is in fact busier than ever, with three other films released this year: 42, Paranoia and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

But the legendary Indiana Jones actor, while one of the most famous actors in the world, dismisses the label of "icon".

"An icon means nothing to me. I don't understand what it means to anybody, actually. It seems like a word of convenience.

"It seems to attend to the huge success of certain kinds of movies that I did, but ... I don't know what an icon does, except stand in a corner quietly accepting everyone's attention," he joked. — AFP Relaxnews

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

Al Qaeda in Yemen vows revenge for Shi'ite rebel attack on Salafis
Philippine president says typhoon death toll overstated
Hawaii legislature gives final nod to legalizing gay marriage

Al Qaeda in Yemen vows revenge for Shi'ite rebel attack on Salafis

Posted:

RIYADH (Reuters) - Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has pledged revenge against Shi'ite Houthi rebels in northern Yemen for their assault on a Salafi school in Dammaj, Site Monitoring Service reported late on Tuesday, citing a statement from the group.

Fighting between Houthis and Salafis in the traditional Dammaj school, in the heart of Shi'ite territory, caused more than 100 deaths over the past two weeks and threatens to cause more sectarian tensions in Yemen.

The impoverished Arabian Peninsula state faces a host of political troubles, including the Houthi rebellion, an al Qaeda uprising, splits in the military and a southern separatist movement.

Western countries fear further turmoil could create more space to operate for AQAP, already seen as one of the most dangerous al Qaeda branches after it plotted attacks on international airliners, in a country that sits alongside big oil shipping routes.

AQAP's warning it would seek revenge was contained in the transcript of a video recording by Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari, a religious official in the militant group, and posted by Yemeni journalist Abdul Razza al-Jamal on his Facebook page, Site reported.

"We declare our total solidarity with our Sunni brothers in the centre in Dammaj, and in other Sunni areas that the Houthi group had attacked," said Harithi's statement.

"Your crimes against the Sunni people will not pass without punishment or disciplinary action," it added.

The statement also attempted to place the fighting in northern Yemen in the context of a wider Middle East sectarian struggle, comparing it to the war in Syria where Sunni rebels are fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, who belongs to the Alawi sect, a Shi'ite offshoot.

"It is a siege no different than that imposed upon Gaza or Homs or the Damascus countryside," Harithi said.

Salafis in Dar al-Hadith, the Dammaj school, have previously distanced themselves from al Qaeda and criticised Osama bin Laden, but the seminary has also educated Muslims who later became prominent militants.

The Houthi rebel movement emerged in the early 2000s, claiming it would fight against what it saw as the marginalisation of Shi'ites of the Zaydi sect, which prevails in the Yemeni highlands. One of its grievances was the incroachment of Salafi doctrine in Zaydi areas.

(Reporting By Angus McDowall)

Philippine president says typhoon death toll overstated

Posted:

TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino said local officials had overstated the death toll from Typhoon Haiyan, saying it was closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated, comments that drew scepticism from some aid workers.

The government has been overwhelmed by the typhoon, which flattened Tacloban, coastal capital of Leyte province where several local officials have said they feared 10,000 people died, many drowning in a tsunami-like surge of seawater.

Rescue workers have yet to reach scores of other towns and villages in the path of one of the strongest storms on record, five days after it smashed into the central Philippines.

Aquino, who has been on the defensive over his handling of the disaster, said the government was still gathering information from various storm-struck areas and the death toll may rise. "Ten thousand, I think, is too much," Aquino told CNN in an interview. "There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate.

"We're hoping to be able to contact something like 29 municipalities left wherein we still have to establish their numbers, especially for the missing, but so far 2,000, about 2,500, is the number we are working on as far as deaths are concerned," he said.

A presidential spokesman said Aquino referred to estimated deaths. Official confirmed deaths stood at 1,774 on Tuesday, with only 84 missing, a figure aid workers consider widely inaccurate.

Some aid workers also expressed scepticism at Aquino's dramatically lower death toll.

"Probably it will be higher because numbers are just coming in. Many of the areas we cannot access," Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, told Reuters.

The preliminary number of missing, according to the Red Cross, is 22,000. Pang cautioned that figure could include people who have since been located. "They report their relatives missing but they don't alert us when they are found," she said.

UNPRECEDENTED DISASTER FOR THE PHILIPPINES

More the 670,000 people have been displaced by the storm and many have no access to food, water or medicine, the United Nations said.

With international aid efforts picking up, relief supplies have begun pouring into Tacloban along roads flanked with corpses and canyons of debris.

Natasha Reyes, emergency coordinator in the Philippines at Médecins Sans Frontières, described the devastation as unprecedented for the disaster-prone archipelago.

"There are hundreds of other towns and villages stretched over thousands of kilometres that were in the path of the typhoon and with which all communication has been cut," Reyes said.

U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos, who is in the Philippines, called the scale of destruction "shocking".

Aquino has declared a state of national calamity and deployed hundreds of soldiers to control looting in Tacloban, a once-vibrant port city of 220,000 that is now a wasteland.

The local government was wiped out by the storm, said Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas. Officials were dead, missing or too overcome with grief to work. Of the city's 293 police officers, only 20 had shown up for duty, he said.

Medical workers are treating the injured at evacuation centres for lacerations and other wounds. But many complain of a lack of food and poor hygiene.

One woman sat on a bench in a hospital in the city, her decomposing 5-month-old baby in her arms, wrapped in a black jacket. The infant was sick before the typhoon. After the storm, she sought medicine in the hospital. There was none. Her baby, she said, convulsed and died.

"It feels like I'm going crazy since I keep thinking how we can solve our problems. We want to go back home, but we can't even if my baby's starting to smell. We just want to go back," she said on ABS-CBN television.

FOREIGN MEDICAL TEAMS ARRIVE

U.N. officials said getting food, medicine and clean water to the disaster zone were the priorities, along with sanitation and shelter.

The World Health Organisation said teams from Belgium, Japan, Israel and Norway had arrived in the Philippines to set up field hospitals. It said other countries were expected to provide medical teams.

More than 250 U.S. forces were on the ground too, and a senior Marine official told Pentagon reporters he expected that number to grow every day.

"Our priority for supplying aid is potable water, food, shelter, hygiene products, and medical supplies," said Pentagon spokesman George Little.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington will arrive later this week, carrying about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft. It has been joined by four other U.S. Navy ships.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the development lender was considering boosting its conditional cash transfer program for the Philippines.

Rescuers have reached some remote parts of the coast that were previously cut off, such as Guiuan, a city of 40,000 people that suffered massive destruction from high winds but was spared the storm surge that washed over Tacloban. Local officials say 85 people were killed in Guiuan, with 24 missing.

The typhoon also levelled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km (6 miles) across a bay from Tacloban. Local officials say 80 people were killed in Basey.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the economic damage in the coconut- and rice-growing region would likely shave 1 percentage point off of economic growth in 2014.

The overall financial cost of the destruction was harder to assess. Initial estimates varied widely, with a report from German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis putting the total at $8 billion to $19 billion.

(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in Manila, and Phil Stewart and Susan Heavey in Washington. Writing by Dean Yates. Editing by Jason Szep)

Hawaii legislature gives final nod to legalizing gay marriage

Posted:

HONOLULU (Reuters) - The Hawaii Senate gave final legislative approval on Tuesday to a bill extending marriage rights to same-sex couples in a state popular as a wedding and honeymoon destination and regarded as a pioneer in advancing the cause of gay matrimony.

The measure cleared the Democratic-controlled state Senate on a 19-4 vote to cheers and applause from hundreds of supporters in flowered garland leis who filled the visitor galleries and the Capitol rotunda.

Hundreds more danced for joy on the sidewalks in front of the Capitol building.

Governor Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat who called a special session to consider the bill, is expected to sign it into law on Wednesday, an aide to the governor said. That would make Hawaii the 15th U.S. state to legalize gay marriage.

The measure, set to take effect on December 2, rolls back a 1994 statute defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, hailed passage of the bill in a statement.

"Whenever freedom and equality are affirmed, our country becomes stronger," said Obama, the first U.S. president to support gay marriage. "By giving loving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry if they choose, Hawaii exemplifies the values we hold dear as a nation."

Amended in the state House of Representatives last week to strengthen exemptions for clergy and religious groups, the measure easily cleared the Senate with the body's lone Republican joining three Democrats in opposing it. Two other Democrats were absent.

The path to legal gay marriage in Hawaii has been long and bumpy. The state's Supreme Court ruled two decades ago that barring same-sex nuptials was discriminatory in a landmark opinion that propelled the gay rights movement nationwide.

That ruling also sparked a backlash that has until now kept marriage limited to heterosexual couples in Hawaii.

The reversal by Hawaii lawmakers comes at a time of increasing momentum for gay marriage in the courts, at the ballot box and in statehouses across the United States.

The trend has gained steam since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that married same-sex couples are eligible for federal benefits, striking down a key part of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. In a separate ruling the same day, the high court paved the way for lifting a ban on gay marriage in California.

The justices stopped short in both 5-4 decisions of declaring a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Proponents and opponents of gay marriage have vowed to continue their battle state by state.

SPEAKING OF FAITH

A state court judge last week refused a request from opponents for a temporary restraining order to block action on the legislation but said he would examine the constitutionality of the bill once it was enacted.

Allowing gays to marry has been vehemently opposed in Hawaii by religious conservatives, as elsewhere in the country.

"You can try to force people to do something they don't believe in, but you can't make it so," Republican state Senator Sam Slom said before the vote.

Supporters say the Hawaii bill was crafted to address concerns that legalizing same-sex marriage would infringe on religious freedoms. The bill explicitly exempts clergy from having to perform gay weddings if doing so would conflict with their religious beliefs.

It also grants immunity from administrative, civil and legal liability to religious organizations and officials for refusing to provide goods and services, or their facilities or grounds, for same-sex weddings and related events.

"This is about government recognizing two individuals - government, not churches," said Democratic state Senator Will Espero during the debate.

In 2003, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to permit gay marriage. A year ago, only six states and the District of Columbia recognized gay marriage. That number has since more than doubled, due in most cases to litigation over the issue.

Three states - Maine, Maryland and Washington - became the first to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples by popular vote with passage of ballot initiatives last November.

Last month, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie dropped his legal opposition to gay marriage, making his state the 14th to legalize same-sex weddings.

Illinois lawmakers gave final approval to a same-sex marriage bill on November 5, and Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign that measure into law this month.

The debate has long divided Hawaii. In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled it was discriminatory to deny marriage rights to same-sex couples.

But the legislature voted the following year to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples, passing a law at odds with the courts. And in 1998, Hawaii voters took the courts out of the equation by approving a constitutional amendment giving the legislature power to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Abercrombie, who served more than two decades in the U.S. Congress before running for governor in 2010, signed a same-sex civil unions bill into law two years ago. His predecessor, Republican Linda Lingle, vetoed a civil unions bill in 2010.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Christopher Wilson)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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