Isnin, 23 Disember 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

HK malls’ all-out war over Xmas decorations
Filipinos head to Singapore as tourists to look for jobs
Korean national hero ‘hijacked’ by China provokes fury

HK malls’ all-out war over Xmas decorations

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

HONG KONG: In the race to extract cash from Christmas shoppers, Hong Kong's myriad shopping malls have taken to heart the maxim that you must spend money to make money when it comes to decorations this festive season.

From two-storey-high polar bears to giant Disney characters, the southern Chinese city is awash with increasingly elaborate displays as luxury outlets bid to outdo each other and get wealthy mainlanders through the door.

The competition between shopping malls is "very fierce", said Karen Tam, assistant general manager for marketing at the Harbour City shopping mall located on the bustling Kowloon waterfront.

Harbour City spent more than HK$5mil (RM2mil) this year on a display that includes Disney characters from popular movies such as Toy Story and Lilo and Stitch placed among huge Christmas decorations.

Tam said the mall's budget will only increase in coming years, as it vies with its rivals to boost Christmas footfall and snare as many local and tourist shoppers as possible.

"The budget for Christmas decorations has to go up because it is really serious competition in Hong Kong and China," Tam said. "We have to be creative to attract people."

The IFC Mall, located in the city's Central financial district, has set up decorations inspired by New York City's Central Park, with grassy knolls and stationary bicycles that light up when shoppers climb on and pedal.

APM in east Kowloon has constructed a whacky Christmas town featuring the Bear Dog characters from Japanese designer Shiro Nakano, as well as Warhol-esque soup cans topped with colourful Christmas trees.

Malls have kept their holiday designs – and their budgets – a closely guarded secret until the last possible minute, adding to the pressure on those responsible for the over-the-top displays.

"We had tried to check what the other malls are doing for the season, but everyone keeps it all very confidential," said Rebecca Woo, head of marketing at K11 Art Mall.

K11, which doubles as a shopping mall and an art gallery in the tourist hotspot of Tsim Sha Tsui, had an environmental twist on this year's festive installation which was six months in the planning and costing HK$4mil (RM1.7mil).

The mall opted for a two-storey tall polar bear made of steel pipes, accentuated with multi-coloured lights and fake foam snow, which Woo said was designed to raise awareness of the impact of human activities on the environment.

"We really want to bring something that is memorable for our cusomers," she said, adding that the mall has recorded a more than 10 percent increase in customer visits since it went on display. — AFP

Filipinos head to Singapore as tourists to look for jobs

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

RAMZ came to Singapore in March as a tourist but his itinerary did not include visiting the Merlion, Universal Studios or Orchard Road.

Instead, the 29-year-old Filipino had only one goal: to find a job.

He would spend hours scouring employment websites every day, and often had only one meal a day to save money.

Finally, after about four months, he landed a job as a financial analyst at an offshore bank, drawing a monthly salary of S$2,800 (RM7,280).

Filipino professionals like Ramz, who declined to give his full name, are increasingly taking a route once used mostly by maids to find employment in Singapore: entering the country as tourists. Once they secure jobs, their employers apply for work passes for them so that they can work here legally.

In Singapore, foreign professionals can apply for jobs while visiting. But the authorities "will not grant an extension of visit passes" if the job prospects are unclear, states the Manpower Ministry on its website.

However, Manila frowns on it and has been clamping down on its citizens leaving the country as tourists to prevent human trafficking.

Immigration officials at the airports send people home if they do not have two-way tickets and a sufficient amount of cash to prove that they are genuine tourists.

Daisy Lopez, who owns employment agency WorkHome Personnel in Singapore, said aspiring maids, who are usually from the countryside, have borne the brunt of the tightened rules.

"The immigration officers can tell by one look that they aren't tourists. They don't dress fashionably and cannot answer the questions confidently," she said.

In contrast, professionals, many of whom hail from cities like Manila and Cebu, have a better chance of convincing immigration officers as they dress better and carry themselves well.

Taking the legitimate route has its advantages, said Filipino bank staff and marketing and retail executives.

It ensures that their rights, such as paying no placement fees, are protected under Philippine laws.

But the process takes several months and has no guarantee of success.

This is because they have to rely on recruitment agencies in the Philippines which are inundated by thousands of applications from university graduates who want to head to Singapore because of the good pay.

Graduates earn only about S$510 (RM1,320) a month in the Philippines whereas in Singapore, they can draw over US$2,000 (RM6,580).

So, many prefer the tourist route.

It allows employers to interview them in person, increasing their chances of getting hired.

If they cannot find a job before their tourist visa expires in a month, they apply to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to extend their stay.

In some cases, the extension is rejected.

Filipinos like Ramz then head to Johor Baru for a few days and re-enter Singapore on a new tourist pass.

Headhunters such as Satish Bakhda from Rikvin recruitment consultancy said many foreigners who try the tourist route go home empty-handed as the Manpower Ministry continues to tighten the rules. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Korean national hero ‘hijacked’ by China provokes fury

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

JIAN, China: Centuries ago Kwanggaet'o the Great ruled over a mighty empire stretching from south of Seoul deep into Manchuria in China's northeast, but his Koguryo dynasty is now at the centre of a historical tug-of-war.

He is revered as a Korean national hero on both sides of the divided peninsula, while Chinese attempts to claim Koguryo as its own have provoked fury among its neighbours.

One of Koguryo's capitals, now the modern Chinese city of Jian, stands on the Yalu river on the frontier between China and Kim Jong-Un's North Korea.

It hosts a treasure trove of historical sites and cultural relics, including royal mausoleums designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites and decorated with murals depicting traditional wrestling and tiger-hunting.

A towering stone stele more than six metres (20 feet) tall illustrates the dispute, with Kwanggaet'o's name carved into the granite – in the classical Chinese characters used for writing in northeast Asia at the time.

"Koguryo is in fact part of Korean history, not Chinese history," said Hwang Seon-Goo, a South Korean visitor.

"We think that China insists on having its own way."

Soon afterwards Zhang Ming, who identified himself as a Chinese tourist, expressed keen interest in knowing what the South Korean visitor had said.

In response, he pointed to the language of the inscription as evidence of its Chineseness, asking "how it could be Korean" if it was written in Chinese.

The general Chinese view can be seen in a description in a Jian museum devoted to the dynasty. "Koguryo was engaged in wars with ancient central China and surrounding nations and tribes," reads one label.

"However, they finally accepted the authority of ancient central China dynasties and had a main historical trend of tributary kingdom."

Koreans on both sides of the divided peninsula claim Koguryo as an inherent part of their history, and it is a popular theme in South Korea for novels and television dramas, such as this year's The Blade and Petal, a tale of romance and political infighting toward the dynasty's close.

Koguryo lasted from at least 37 BC until 668 AD, when it was brought down by an alliance between Tang dynasty China and Silla, a rival Korean kingdom.

But the areas governed by the empire lie in what today are four modern sovereign states: the two Koreas, China and Russia.

Tensions heated up about a decade ago when China launched the Northeast Project, a re-examination of the history of the country's border areas in the region.

Reaction was particularly negative in South Korea where the move was seen as an attempt to hijack Korean history, and even a possible prelude to Chinese designs on its ally North Korea were the ruling regime to collapse.

South Korea's foreign ministry devotes a section of its website to the topic, putting it on a par with the row with Japan over a disputed island called Dokdo by Seoul and Takeshima by Tokyo.

"The Korean government considers issues concerning the history of Goguryeo to be a matter of national identity, and thus places such issues among its highest priorities," the website says.

In 2006 South Korea's then president Roh Moo-Hyun reportedly raised the research personally with Wen Jiabao, China's premier at the time.

Tensions may have eased since but South Korea still keeps a close eye on "new cases of historical distortion", according to the foreign ministry. — AFP

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

Mission accomplished, says Snowden - Washington Post
South Sudan rebel leader sets out conditions for talks
At least 11 killed, over 100 wounded in big blast in Egypt's Nile Delta

Mission accomplished, says Snowden - Washington Post

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:50 PM PST

(Reuters) - Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed extensive details of global electronic surveillance by the U.S. spy agency, said in an interview published on Tuesday that he has accomplished what he set out to do.

"For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission's already accomplished," he told the Washington Post. The newspaper said it spoke to Snowden over two days of nearly unbroken conversation in Moscow, "fueled by burgers, pasta, ice cream and Russian pastry."

It was the first extensive face-to-face interview Snowden has granted since arriving in Russia in June and being given temporary asylum there.

"I already won," Snowden said. "As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself."

Last week, a White House-appointed panel proposed curbs on some key NSA surveillance operations, recommending limits on a programme to collect records of billions of telephone calls, and new tests before Washington spies on foreign leaders. The panel's proposals were made in the wake of Snowden's revelations.

President Barack Obama later tried to strike a middle ground, saying some checks were needed on the NSA's surveillance, but "we can't unilaterally disarm.

In the interview, Snowden denied he was trying to bring down the NSA. "I am working to improve the NSA," he said. "I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don't realize it."

Snowden left his post in Hawaii in May and went public with his first revelations about the NSA from Hong Kong a few weeks later. Later in June, he left for Russia and stayed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport until the Kremlin granted him temporary one-year asylum after nearly six weeks.

Called a champion of human rights by his admirers and a traitor by critics, Snowden lives at an undisclosed location in the Russian capital. The Washington Post said he was unaccompanied when he met the reporter for the interview, and did not try to communicate furtively. He said he has had access to the Internet and to lawyers and journalists throughout his stay in Russia.

"INDOOR CAT"

Snowden called himself "an indoor cat", and says he rarely leaves his house. "I just don't have a lot of needs," he said. "Occasionally there's things to go do, things to go see, people to meet, tasks to accomplish.

"But it's really got to be goal-oriented, you know. Otherwise, as long as I can sit down and think and write and talk to somebody, that's more meaningful to me than going out and looking at landmarks."

Snowden said he was an ascetic and lived off ramen noodles and chips. He has visitors and many of them bring books, but they pile up, unread.

He denied he had loyalties to Russia or China.

"I have no relationship with the Russian government," he said. "I have not entered into any agreements with them. If I defected at all, I defected from the government to the public."

(Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

South Sudan rebel leader sets out conditions for talks

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 07:05 PM PST

JUBA/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sought urgently on Monday to nearly double the size of the U.N. peacekeeping force in South Sudan, while rebel leader Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir both indicated they were ready to talk to try to end a deepening conflict that has killed hundreds of people.

A government official, however, said South Sudan would not meet Machar's demand that detained opposition leaders be released.

Ban asked the U.N. Security Council to send 5,500 more peacekeepers to South Sudan as soon as possible to protect civilians from the growing violence in the world's newest country. There are now some 6,700 U.N. troops and 670 police officers making up the U.N. force in South Sudan.

The 15-member council met to discuss the crisis and is due to vote on a resolution approving the increase in peacekeeping troops on Tuesday.

"As long as these two individuals are at loggerheads, refusing to sit down with one another, innocent people are being killed on nothing other than ethnic grounds in South Sudan," said Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

She told reporters that Donald Booth, the U.S. special envoy to South Sudan, had met with the detained South Sudanese opposition leaders whose release Machar was demanding and found them "secure and well and very open to ending the crisis through dialogue and reconciliation."

Ban told reporters earlier that some 45,000 civilians were seeking protection at U.N. bases in South Sudan.

Booth, who met with Kiir in Juba on Monday, said the president had committed to opening talks with Machar but South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei told Reuters there would be no release of detained opposition leaders.

"There is no way we will release anybody who is accused of a coup d'etat," he said.

Makuei also dismissed claims by Machar, who was South Sudan's vice president until Kiir dismissed him in July, that his rebels have taken over all the major oil fields in Unity and Upper Nile states as "wishful thinking."

Hours before meeting Booth, Kiir vowed to attack the town of Bor, the rebel-held capital of Jonglei State, amid deepening fears that the conflict is provoking broader ethnic bloodletting.

"President Kiir committed to me that he was ready to begin talks with Riek Machar to end the crisis without preconditions as soon as his counterpart is willing," Booth told reporters.

"We notice that the African Union has said there is Christmas season upon us, and called for all parties to cease hostilities. We support that call," Booth said.

Western powers and east African states, anxious to prevent the fighting from destabilising a particularly fragile region, have tried to mediate between Machar, who hails from the Nuer tribe, and Kiir, a Dinka.

So far their efforts have been fruitless as clashes which started in Juba on December 15 entered a second week, reaching the country's vital oil fields and destabilising a state that won independence from Sudan only in 2011.

Hundreds of people have been killed, with reports of summary executions and ethnically targeted slayings.

Speaking from "the bush," Machar told Reuters he had spoken to U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice and U.N. envoy Hilde Johnson about trying to end fighting that has killed hundreds of people and driven thousands from their homes.

"My message was let Salva Kiir release my comrades who are under detention and let them be evacuated to Addis Ababa and we can start dialogue straightaway, because these are the people who would (handle) dialogue," he said by telephone.

Among those Machar listed should be released were Pagan Amum, chief negotiator during the recent oil shutdown with Sudan, which hosts the sole oil export pipeline; and Rebecca de Mabior, the widow of former South Sudanese leader John Garang.

"They are criminals who must be brought to the books, so there is no way we can negotiate with (Machar)," Makeui said. "We are only ready to negotiate with him unconditionally."

He dismissed Machar's suggestion that the peace talks be held in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, insisting they take place in Juba.

U.N. "NOT LEAVING"

Joe Contreras, the U.N. spokesman in South Sudan, said the United Nations would not leave the country despite the worsening conflict.

"For those elements who are trying to intimidate us or who have attacked us, the message is loud and clear: we are here to serve the people of South Sudan and we are not leaving the country under any circumstances," Contreras said.

Two Indian peacekeepers and at least 11 Dinka civilians were killed last week in an attack by about 2,000 armed youths from another ethnic group on a U.N. peacekeeping base in Jonglei state.

Both Machar and Kiir have denied opposing claims that they are stoking ethnic tensions in a country boasting many tribes but where the Nuer, and in particular the Dinka, are dominant.

But many of the people seeking shelter inside sprawling U.N. compounds say the conflict is certainly ethnically based.

"We still don't feel secure, but it is definitely safer here," said Deng, a man who saw several dead bodies lying face down as he took his frightened family to a U.N. base in Juba.

The United States said it is repositioning its forces in Africa as the U.S. military prepares for the possibility of further evacuations of Americans and other foreign citizens from South Sudan.

Kiir told parliament that government troops were ready to attack Bor, where about 17,000 people were seeking refuge at a U.N. compound. Makuei said government troops also were looking to take back the Unity State capital, Bentiu.

Toby Lanzer, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, said on a recent visit to Bor that many humanitarian compounds there had been looted. "There was a lot of looting, a lot of gunshots and a lot of dead bodies," he told the BBC.

While Juba remains tense but calm, Contreras said there were reports of fighting between rival Sudan People's Liberation Army factions about 25 km (15 miles) east of the capital.

(Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho in Juba and Edmund Blair in Nairobi; Writing by Drazen Jorgic and Christopher Wilson; Editing by David Evans, David Brunnstrom and Bill Trott)

At least 11 killed, over 100 wounded in big blast in Egypt's Nile Delta

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 07:05 PM PST

CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a massive explosion at a security compound in Egypt's Nile Delta town of Dakahlyia on Tuesday, a month before a vote on a new constitution key to transition from military-backed rule.

Cabinet spokesman Sherief Shawki blamed the blast on the Muslim Brotherhood group of former Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, and said Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi had officially declared the group a terrorist organisation.

A security source said the blast may have been caused by a car bomb, but it was not clear if it was suicide attack or not.

State TV said at least 11 people were killed and more than 100 hurt. It said the attack was the worst in the city's history and two senior security officials were among the wounded.

Another security source it was still unclear what caused the explosion, "but it seems to be a big one that led to the collapse of parts of the security building".

Suicide attacks on soldiers and policemen have sharply risen in Egypt since the army ousted Mursi in July amid mass unrest against his rule.

In overthrowing Mursi, the army set out a political roadmap supposed to start with a mid-January vote on a new constitution and to be followed by presidential and parliamentary votes.

The state-run Middle East News Agency quoted Beblawi as saying that those responsible for blast "will not escape punishment".

Brotherhood officials, most of whom are on the run or out of the country, could not be immediately reached for comment on the government charges.

CHAOS, BURNED CARS

Witnesses in Dakahlyia said many cars inside and outside the security compound were burned out and the entire city was in chaos as people were hurrying to hospitals to check on victims.

Egypt's Nile News TV cut into its late-night programming to urge people to go to hospitals to donate blood to the victims.

Most bomb attacks since Mursi's overthrow have occurred in the Sinai region, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Around 200 soldiers have died in Sinai since July.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived a suicide car bomb attack targeting his convoy near his home in Cairo last September.

Egyptian media and many army and state officials have blamed all the violence on Mursi's Brotherhood, the state's oldest and most organised Islamist group, which has won all five elections since a 2011 uprising that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Mursi's dramatic exit triggered a wave of violence that started with police attacks on his supporters' two main camps in Cairo on August 14 in which hundreds were killed.

That violence prompted a wave of attacks on churches and police stations. Thousands of Islamist activists have been arrested in the unrest and around 100 policemen killed.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Cubans fall in love with K-dramas

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 08:00 PM PST

Soap operas from South Korea have a high demand in Cuba.

For the past three decades, Brazilian telenovelas have helped Cubans forget their litany of woes for an hour a day.

But today, dozens of South Korean soap operas are earning wide audiences.

Following in the footsteps of South Korean films and K-pop, "doramas" – South Korean soaps dubbed into Spanish – first appeared on Cuban televisions earlier this year.

Queen Of Housewives, My Fair Lady, Dream High and, for the past month, Secret Garden, are all winning fans on the Communist-run island.

Dozens of other South Korean shows are being passed around in digital form on USB flash drives, a common way for Cubans to spread information because of the lack of widespread Internet access.

Cubans watching a South Korean soap opera DVD in Havana, Cuba, -- AFP/Yamil Lage

"South Korean shows are selling the best lately. They are easy to follow and very funny," Yosmely Batista, a 21-year-old man who runs a film and TV series stall out of his apartment in Havana's Centro neighbourhood, told AFP.

"Why are they so successful, given all the cultural differences between South Koreans and Cubans? I suppose because it's so foreign – they hardly ever kiss on South Korean shows!" says Batista.

On offer at his home shop – about 60 TV shows, half of them from South America (Brazil, Colombia and Mexico) and the other half from Seoul.

Laura, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, says she has downloaded 24 Korean shows onto her computer, but has only watched nine of them so far.

Boys Over Flowers is the most popular among her classmates, she says. "I just love them, they are short and really different," the teen explains.

South Korean soaps, which echo the melodrama of Latin American telenovelas, have allowed Cubans to see a totally foreign world; officially, Havana only has diplomatic relations with North Korea.

"Koreans and Cubans have a lot in common," South Korean singer Yoon Sang-Hyun, better known in Cuba for his leading role on My Fair Lady" said during a recent trip to Cuba.

"A bit of comedy, a bit of drama, some romance, but never anything very serious," says the singer-actor in explaining South Korean soaps. "Just real-life relationships."

But Brazilian telenovelas have not lost their fan base just yet.

"The Brazilian shows are the best and Brazil Avenue keeps me glued to the screen," admits 64-year-old housewife Susana Suarez, who says she has never missed an episode since Malu and Slave Isaura were first shown in the 1980s.

Four shows are currently vying for the top spot among Cuban viewers: Secret Garden, Brazil Avenue, Argentina's Stolen Lives and Cuba's own Lands Of Fire.

Like many Cubans, Suarez – who lives on a pension of US$8 (RM26) a month – says soap operas are her daily "therapy".

"You can stop worrying about all your problems, you forget everything, at least for a little while," she says.

"Here in Cuba, you're under stress every day," Suarez adds, admitting she spends two hours a day watching her programmes.

"Among neighbours, we'd rather talk about TV shows than talk about real life," said 32-year-old book editor Yaima Rosaen. — AFP Relaxnews

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business

BlackBerry steps back on handset business, shares jump
Japan to auction US$1.49tril JGBs in 2014/14
Japan’s record budget spending highlights balancing act

BlackBerry steps back on handset business, shares jump

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 01:12 AM PST

TORONTO: BlackBerry Ltd said on Friday it was entering a handset production deal that lowers the risk it will have to take more massive writedowns on unsold smartphones, and its shares surged even though it posted dismal quarterly results.

The stock rose as much as 17% after the company announced the five-year partnership with FIH Mobile Ltd.

The Hong Kong-listed unit of Taiwan's Foxconn will initially build low-end devices for sale in Indonesia and other emerging markets. BlackBerry said it hoped to expand the fledgling relationship to its top-of-the-line smartphones.

The deal is unconventional in that BlackBerry will no longer pay upfront for components used in the devices made on its behalf in Foxconn's Indonesian and Mexican factories.

Instead, Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry, will take a share of profit on each device in return for taking on inventory management, which can result in writedowns if smartphones go unsold. Foxconn will also help with developing, designing and distributing the handsets.

Chief Executive John Chen, who took the helm at BlackBerry last month, said he expected the Foxconn deal to help BlackBerry's handset business turn cash-flow positive, and for the company as a whole to post a profit for the fiscal year that begins in early 2015.

"It's almost like BlackBerry is disposing of its consumer handset business without actually disposing of it," said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, who likened the deal to what Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell have done with laptops.

The move, which comes a month after BlackBerry said it was giving up on a plan to sell itself, helped take the sting out of the massive, US$4.4bil loss that it posted for the quarter ended Nov 30, as smartphone sales shrivelled.

A new line of devices running on BlackBerry 10 software has failed to gain traction, forcing the company to write off US$1.6bil of inventory and supply commitments for the quarter. The previous quarter it wrote off US$934mil for unsold phones.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company pioneered the concept of on-the-go email, and for years its pagers and phones were must-have devices for political and business leaders. But in recent years it has lost its once-dominant market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and a slew of smartphones powered by Google Inc's Android operating system.

As of Thursday's close, the stock had fallen 47% this year. It was last trading up 14% on Nasdaq at US$7.13.

"The most immediate challenge for the company is how to transition the devices operations to a more profitable business model," said Chen, who is credited with turning around Sybase, a database and mobile software company, before it was sold to German software company SAP AG in 2010.

Chen has said he is counting on strong growth in BlackBerry's service business, which manages smartphone traffic on the internal networks of corporate and government clients.

"Just jettisoning all the stuff and driving on with the part of the business that makes money makes a heck of a lot of sense to me and that is very clearly where Chen is going," said Ross Healy, a portfolio manager at Macnicol & Associates who owns a small number of BlackBerry shares.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Kantar Comtech, said the deal is a good move for Foxconn, the world's largest electronic parts manufacturer and a major partner of Apple Inc.

"This might be the first step for them to try and diversify, and experiment with putting their brand on the products they make," she said.

DEVICES ARE A CHALLENGE

In his first presentation to analysts after the release of BlackBerry's results, Chen struck an upbeat tone tempered with a heavy dose of realism. The mix may have helped soothe nervous investors who had sharply lowered their expectations for BlackBerry after a string of disappointing news.

"It's clear that he's not the old guard, he's not there trying to do what Lazaridis and Thorsten were up to. He's actually been taking some concrete steps," said Mark McKechnie, an analyst at Evercore Partners, referring to BlackBerry's founder Mike Lazaridis and Thorsten Heins, Chen's predecessor.

Chen moved quickly to stamp his authority on BlackBerry, hiring several former colleagues from his time at Sybase and SAP for senior roles in corporate strategy, marketing, and enterprise strategy, a key unit in the stripped-back company.

BlackBerry sold about 4.3 million handsets in the third quarter, with older BlackBerry 7 models accounting for about 3.2 million of that number.

The company recognized hardware revenue on 1.9 million devices, down from 3.7 million in the previous quarter.

On a brighter note, its cash pile grew to US$3.2bil from US$2.6bil a quarter earlier, but that included US$1bil raised by issuing convertible notes to a group of investors last month after calling off a months-long search for a buyer.

Service revenue slipped 13% as fewer people paid to use BlackBerry's secure network, and the company said that level of decline could be expected to continue.

Along with the writedown on unsold phones, the company also slashed by US$2.7bil the carrying value of some long-lived assets, mostly licensing deals made when it was far larger.

QUARTERLY RESULTS

The company reported a third-quarter net loss of US$4.4bil, or US$8.37 a share, compared with year-earlier net income of US$9mil, or 2 cents a share.

Excluding the inventory writedowns and impairment charges, the loss was US$354mil, or 67 cents a share.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 44 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell to US$1.19bil from US$2.73bil as increased uncertainty about the company's fate led to further sales erosion. Wall Street had forecast US$1.6bil.

Morningstar analyst Brian Colello said BlackBerry's turnaround strategy was more important than its latest operating results.

"I don't think it's a surprise that the revenue, operating margin and the business continues to decline. I think the bigger question is, what is the turnaround story at this point?" he said. "They have a lot of different assets that could point the company in different directions." – Reuters.

Japan to auction US$1.49tril JGBs in 2014/14

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 06:50 PM PST

TOKYO: Japan's government said on Tuesday it plans to issue 155.1 trillion yen (US$1.49tri) in government bonds in the fiscal year that begins next April, the first planned year-on-year reduction in JGB issuance into markets since 2008.

Worried about its snowballing public debt, the Ministry of Finance also aims to extend the average maturity of its debt, by increasing 30-year bond sales by 1.2 trillion yen a year while reducing two-year notes by 2.4 trillion yen.

The announcement is in line with what sources told Reuters on Sunday as well as with market expectations.

The government also said it will increase issuance of inflation-linked bonds to 1.6 trillion yen, an increase of 1 trillion yen, during the 2014/15 fiscal year.

The average maturity of its new debt will rise to eight years and five months in 2014/15 from seven years and 11 months in the current fiscal year – Reuters.

Japan’s record budget spending highlights balancing act

Posted: 23 Dec 2013 06:33 PM PST

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday secured cabinet approval for a draft budget for the next fiscal year that aims to split the benefits of higher tax revenue between trimming fresh borrowing and stimulating the economy with record spending.

The government's second annual budget since Abe's election triumph a year ago marks a balancing act between boosting growth and doing just enough to show it is keen to rein in public debt, which is more than twice the size of the economy.

Of the projected record spending of 95.88 trillion yen (US$921.97bil) in 2014/15, about one-third will be spent on social security while debt servicing costs will account for nearly one-quarter.

"Abe vows to seek both growth and fiscal consolidation, but the focus now needs be on stimulus," said Hidenori Suezawa, analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities. "Hasty fiscal tightening could derail the economy and foil the sales tax plan in 2015."

Spending in the general-account budget for the year starting April 2014 will rise more than 3 trillion yen from this year's initial budget, the Ministry of Finance said, with higher outlays for public works, military and social security.

Ministry officials played down the rise, however, saying it was inflated by technical factors such as the transfer on-budget of outlays from special accounts, and allocations from a planned April sales tax hike to shore up social security funding. Interest payments also rose while welfare costs increased as Japan's population ages.

Tax revenue is estimated at 50 trillion yen, rising 6.9 trillion yen from this year to a seven-year high, reflecting both expected economic growth of 1.4% and an increase in the sales tax to 8% from 5% that kicks in April.

New bond sales will be cut by 1.6 trillion yen from the current fiscal year to 41.25 trillion yen, a second consecutive decrease, but the government still relies on borrowing to cover 43% of its spending, down from 46.3% this year.

A "flexible fiscal policy" combining near-term stimulus with longer-run consolidation is part of Abe's economic recipe that also mixes in hefty monetary easing and pro-growth reforms.

Analysts expect budgets to stay loose for the time being to help the economy manage the planned two-step doubling of the sales tax to 10%, with the first increase due in April.

Earlier this month, the government approved 5.5 trillion yen in extra spending for the current fiscal year to cushion the first increase in the sales tax. The second part of the increase to 10% is pencilled in for October 2015.

Some analysts worried about a lack of measures to help the world's third-largest economy sustain growth.

"We want to see more wise spending in areas with growth potential," said Naoki Iizuka, economist at Citigroup Global Markets Japan. "We cannot rely on public works forever."

The public works budget will rise to 5.96 trillion yen from this year's 5.28 trillion yen, including new bullet train lines, quake-proofing of infrastructure, and projects linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

ELUSIVE BUDGET GOAL

Analysts and ministry officials say the government is making progress towards its goal of halving the primary budget deficit, which excludes new bond sales and debt servicing costs, by fiscal 2015/16.

The government estimates its primary budget deficit at 18 trillion yen in fiscal 2014/15, down 5.2 trillion yen from this year for the second biggest decrease on record.

Still, calculations by both analysts and the government suggest Tokyo would miss its goal of a primary surplus in 2020/21 without further tax increases and spending cuts.

SMBC Nikko's Suezawa said social security spending must be streamlined in order to get runaway debt and spending under control to meet the 2020/21 target.

"The Abe administration, like the previous government, will struggle with cuts to welfare spending that could risk alienating the growing ranks of elderly voters," he said.

Social security outlays to cover healthcare and pensions for the fast-ageing population will top 30 trillion yen for the first time, up 1.4 trillion yen from this year and accounting for roughly a third of the budget.

Debt servicing costs – interest payments and redemptions – are expected to rise to 23.2 trillion yen, up 1 trillion yen from this year and the budget's second-biggest item.

Defence outlays amount to 4.78 trillion yen, up 2.2% on the year and marking the biggest increase in 18 years, amid simmering tensions between Japan and China over tiny islands that both claim in the East China Sea.

The International Monetary Fund estimates Japan's general budget deficit at 9.5% of GDP in calendar 2013, among the worst in the developed world, and narrowing to a still-elevated 6.8% in 2014. Public debt already exceeds 240% of GDP, by far the highest among major economies – Reuters.

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Be aware of negative perception, Ku Li tells Perkasa
MyKuali noodles are hot!
New year and new hairdo for pets, too

Be aware of negative perception, Ku Li tells Perkasa

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Perkasa should take a different approach in defending Malay rights or risk being overtaken by negative perception of its struggle, warned Umno veteran Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Although Perkasa's struggle was in line and embodied within the Federal Constitution, he said certain actions by some members of the group could draw negative perception towards their intention.

"Was this negative perception caused by the propaganda of certain groups? Or could it be due to the actions of some of its own members?" he said in his address at the opening of Perkasa's 4th annual general assembly here yesterday.

The Gua Musang MP said the public had a negative perception of Perkasa especially among those who viewed it as a radical, racist and irresponsible group.

Such a perception was held by certain segments of the non-Malay community, he said, adding that Perkasa was also not respected by the Malays who they claimed to protect.

"Even worse, Perkasa is often seen as a divider of unity between races that had been the reason behind a stable Malaysia," he added.

On a separate matter, Tengku Razaleigh, who is a former finance minister, said the subsidy mentality among the Malays and bumiputra community should be eased off gradually to ensure that they could compete in the globalised world.

He said the Government's move to rationalise subsidies was good but it must not be the big businesses which would benefit from the move.

"It is high time that the Government rationalises subsidies but they must be selective. The subsidies benefitting the industries must first be removed and not burden the consumers," he said.

The Government, he added, had taken many initiatives to help the rakyat cope with the high cost of living but it must also consider controlling trade practices that were too monopolistic.

"It is the monopolistic position that some people hold that are strangling the rakyat. At times, the subsidies could not reach the targeted group," said Tengku Razaleigh.

However, he also expressed concerns that the number of key personnel among Malays and bumiputras in the corporate sector had been reduced significantly.

"Even companies and industries established by the Federal Land Development Authority are not administered by Malays and bumiputras," he said.

MyKuali noodles are hot!

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

GEORGE TOWN: It has been 55 years but Malaysians have not lost that loving feeling for instant noodles.

Much has evolved since the world's first instant noodle product was created in 1958 and these days, Malaysians are going ga-ga over MyKuali Penang White Curry Noodle.

Apparently, it has become an instant hot seller due to its rich curry paste which makes the soup almost similar with the popular Penang hawker curry mee.

People from neighbouring states have been flocking to Penang looking for this relatively new product.

A housewife from Perak, Low Pei Fern, 41, managed to buy a few cartons of the noodles.

"I had to pay more for it. A friend from Penang helped me get it but the price was RM8 for four packets, the retail price is RM6.90," she said.

It is believed that some traders in wet markets here are selling it at prices higher than supermarkets.

Sky Thomas Food Industries Sdn Bhd sales executive Annie Tang said they were increasing production to meet demand.

"We never expected that it would receive such a good response, as we are still new in this field," she said, adding that the product was launched in May.

She said Gama Supermarket & Departmental Store and Sunshine supermarkets in Penang are the only two malls being supplied the products, while in Kuala Lumpur, they are available at Sogo and NSK.

A check at the two malls in Penang showed that the noodles were out of stock.

Sunshine Wholesale Mart Sdn Bhd retail operations director Yee Kam Ming said customers were looking high and low for the noodles.

In Gama, the management had to limit the purchase of the noodles to two bundles (of four packets each) per transaction for each customer.

"I believe the overwhelming response is due to word of mouth," said Gama marketing division manager Alexius Liew.

The popularity of the noodles prompted Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to visit its factory on Dec 20.

Incidentally, a report in Wall Street Journal on Dec 20, quoting the World Instant Noodles Association, noted that demand for instant noodles had surpassed 100 billion bowls last year.

On its website, the association also listed 42 countries which are expanding markets for instant noodles. Topping the list is China/Hong Kong, followed by Indonesia and Japan. Malaysia is placed at No. 13.

New year and new hairdo for pets, too

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

JOHOR BARU: It's a new hairstyle for a new year – even for the pets.

Pet owners are rushing to get their animals groomed for the New Year before the Christmas holiday kicks off.

Global Pets operations and marketing director Leow Kee Wee said the number of their customers had increased by between 20% and 25% as the New Year nears.

"The number of bookings has become so overwhelming that we often have to turn down customers because we are just too full," he said at his store in Johor Jaya here.

Most pet owners, said Leow, were asking for the full grooming session for their pets, including nail clipping and filing, bathing, ear cleaning and shaving.

"We get various breeds of cats and dogs. But we also have the odd hamster and chinchillas," he said.

Chincillas are rodents that are slightly larger and more robust than squirrels, and native to the Andes mountains in South America.

Leow said a groomer usually takes about 90 minutes to finish grooming an animal depending on its size and fur length.

"We also have requests for specialised hairstyles for certain dogs such as poodles, schnauzers and American cocker spaniels," he added.

Pethub Grooming and Accessory owner Melvin Tee said his shop had also seen an increase in the number of customers.

"We are starting to get more orders as the New Year approaches. Most customers make bookings weeks in advance for their pets," he said, adding that owners were also buying "something extra special" like accessories and other decorative items for their pets.

Rott Mastiff pet accessory shop attendant Lim Foo said it had to reject customers.

"The number of our customers always increases at the start of the year-end school holidays until Chinese New Year," he said.

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War, webs, wisecracks

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

Check out some of these new trailers.

BEFORE you can say "Spidey's back", a second trailer has been released for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 1) in the span of two weeks.

Like the earlier trailer, this one is action-packed but it also has loads of humour in it. Besides the friendly neighbourhood guy hurling one-liners at the bad guys, the bits about Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) trying to get out of tough situations with Aunt May (Sally Field) and Gwen (Emma Stone) are worth a chuckle.

This doesn't mean the trailer is devoid of dark mystery – there's plenty of that too.

Speaking of mysteries, Christopher Nolan's next hush-hush project – Interstellar (Nov 6) – just had a teaser trailer released. But really, the teaser doesn't reveal anything (typical Nolan move) except that it has to do with space, which we already got from the title. In this 56s teaser, we hear Matthew McConaughey's character recall Man's greatest achievements especially in space exploration. The film is based on a scientific theory developed by Caltech physicist Kip Thorne. It revolves around a group of explorers travelling through a wormhole and into another dimension.

And the final exciting trailer to come out in recent weeks is Edge Of Tomorrow (May 29), starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Remember these words: Live, Die, Repeat. Cruise and Blunt are soldiers who live the same day again and again – the day they die in a war against an alien race.

From the various bits we see, Cruise's character is a soldier who has just been recruited to be in the battlefield. With zero fighting skills, he is killed soon after ... until he wakes up again.

With the help of another soldier, with similar experience, he trains to be a skilled fighter. If the story sounds interesting, the visuals are even more impressive – especially in the last few seconds which has Cruise attacking the aliens like he is running out of time, which he probably is. Phew.

Is it 2014 already?

Hear the picture, see the sound

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

There's a new immersive cinema sound system in town.

IN 1974, cinemagoers flocked to see the disaster movie Earthquake, not for the astounding special effects of the day, nor for the star appeal of Charlton Heston, but for the literally earth-shattering new sound system called Sensurround.

The system, developed by audio manufacturers Cerwin-Vega, utilised low frequencies to shake audiences in their seats, thus approximating the experience of a real earthquake. It was an instant hit and was also used for the war movie Midway (1976) and another disaster movie, Rollercoaster (1977), as well as two Battlestar Galactica movies.

Over the years, cinema audio systems have seen various improvements. When American digital surround sound specialists DTS introduced digital surround sound with 1993's Jurassic Park, people queued around the block to catch the realistic roar of the Tyrannosaurus rex.

But surround sound only enabled sounds that went around the cinema hall. Now sound specialist Dolby has gone a step further by introducing Dolby Atmos, a system that enables sound to come even from above, thus creating a wholly realistic and immersive aural environment. Now, sounds can be anywhere in the cinema hall, not just at the front or back or left to right and vice-versa. For example, dialogue doesn't have to be just in the centre any more. As was demonstrated by the animated film Brave, with which the Atmos system made its debut last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival, a voice can follow a character in any direction and position.

LEAD PIX ON PAGE 25: Getting kudos: According to Stuart Bowling, feedback on the Dolby Atmos sound system from audiences has been extremely positive.

According to Stuart Bowling, feedback on the Dolby Atmos sound system from audiences has been extremely positive.

GSC One Utama in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, is the first cineplex in Malaysia to install the Dolby Atmos system. It recently held a demonstration for the media that showed off the system's impressive capabilities with the sounds of a jungle, a thunderstorm and pattering rain, and a singer playing an acoustic guitar seemingly walking around the cinema hall. Simply put, it is sound in 3D.

Dolby Atmos can utilise more than 60 speakers (including an array on the ceiling) and up to 128 channels, depending on the size of a cinema hall. The hall in GSC One Utama has 54 speakers and 46 channels. The large set-up ensures that there is no sound deterioration during panning, and the possibilities are endless for a filmmaker.

Notable directors such as Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron and Ang Lee have mixed their films in Atmos. This year alone, 85 films have been mixed in Atmos. To date there are 300 screens worldwide that are equipped with the Atmos system, while 40 studios around the world are equipped to mix in Atmos.

Asked if the added cost of installing the Atmos system was substantial for GSC, Heng Beng Fatt, the exhibitor's deputy general manager, said: "This is a new technology that will bring customers to the cinemas. We look at it as enhancing the cinema experience. More people will come and the occupancy will be higher. We only charge an extra RM1, but we will recover the cost.

"We have been continuously upgrading with digital 3D and so on. We have to keep up with the technology because, otherwise, it would be like the old days when the cinemas faded away."

Stuart Bowling, Dolby Laboratories' market development director, was on hand to answer questions about the system.

How have cinema audiences responded to Atmos?

The feedback that we got from exhibition has been extremely positive. There's an exhibitor in California, whose venue, after putting in Atmos for Man Of Steel, actually outgrew the IMAX cinema near it. We have other examples of exhibitors actually seeing an increase in occupancy rate. Even if you just search on Twitter for Atmos, there's a lot of positive feedback.

Which film do you feel best used Atmos?

It's a bit like asking which child do you like more? (Laughs.) I think Gravity used Atmos incredibly well.

I think part of that was because silence was used very powerfully in that movie. The great thing about Atmos is, can it make an explosion big and life-like? Absolutely. But it can also make you acutely aware of subtlety and detail, which is what happened with Gravity.

Obviously every movie is driven by an artist, and it's how the artist uses the instrument to the best of his ability. It's open to debate and interpretation.

Is there a "sweet spot" in a cinema hall for the best experience?

The system is designed to give a uniform coverage of sound pressure across the seats. Obviously, the way our brains put sound and visuals together means if you're in the middle, then you're basically in the main spot where you're going to be immersed in the picture and audio. But in general, you would get a better experience than you would with 5.1 or 7.1 channel systems.

Because we're now creating a spatial environment, you can get a slightly different experience no matter where you sit. For instance, in (the first instalment of) The Hobbit, Gollum was in a cave, and if you sat in the front of the cinema, then you would hear water drops coming down from the cave ceiling. If you were in the back right-hand corner, you would hear some of the water coming in filling the pool inside the cave.

No matter where you sit, we're giving you a representation of that environment so that if you really were there with the characters, that would be exactly how you would experience the sounds.

How much does an Atmos mix add to a film's budget?

We had a production recently that went through the Atmos mix, and they actually shaved time off the production.

They cut down three physical days of mixing. But there is an additional day in print mastering. But ultimately they saved two days.

Any plans to make Atmos available for home theatre?

If you look at what Dolby's done over its history, then either technology has transitioned into other areas, or parts of the technology have transitioned and provided improvements downstream. Right now Atmos has only been a product for six months, and it's too early to tell yet how Atmos could transition beyond the cinema space.

It's very difficult to replicate what Atmos does. Not many people can put 64 speakers in their house! They probably could, but they'll be single for the rest of their lives! (Laughs.)

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Malaysian writers pen edgy play

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:50 AM PST

Miasma revolves around four stories that share the same pent up emotions.

By QISHIN TARIQ

STEWING is a national past time.

This notion becomes apparent when four Malaysian writers, penning scripts independently of each other, somehow came to a similar theme of pent up passive aggression. The result, Miasma, is being staged at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPac) in Petaling Jaya, Selangor by theatre company Liminal Edge.

Directed by David Lim, the play is adapted from an anthology of original stories by four local talents: Na'a Murad, Maya Tan Abdullah, and new faces Shamaine Othman and Adiwijaya (Iskandar Ismail).

The diverse collection doesn't attempt to be homogenous, instead it celebrates each writer's unique voice. As such, the scripts are multilingual, starting with Shamaine's Noah which is mostly in English, while Adiwijaya's Bapak is performed in northern-accented Malay, Na'a's The Hundred being Manglish to reflect the reality of KL life, and ending with Maya's Dunia Lelaki written entirely in Malay.

"I wanted some Mandarin added to mine too, but we decided not to have too many things going on," says Na'a, during a recent interview. He adds that the play will have surtitles in English and Malay.

Despite having four segments, Miasma, makes use of a relatively compact cast which includes Na'a, Gregory Sze, Iskandar Zulkarnain, Siti Farrah Abdullah, Zukhairi Ahmad, Amelia Chen and Helen Ann Peters.

In the play, Na'a does double duty as both writer and actor, appearing in three of the four segments.

"Rather than put me in drag, the director left Shamaine's piece – which is about two women – in the capable hands of actual actresses," he laughs.

Shamaine reveals that her script Noah tackles the grudging battle between married and unattached people, represented by a pregnant woman arguing with her still-single friend about what to name her soon-to-be-born son. "Having more and more married friends, there's a lot of material to draw from," she admits.

Adiwijaya says his piece Bapak, centres on two siblings and their father who suddenly find themselves in an uncomfortable conversation at an inescapable setting: the family dinner table.

Na'a, who plays the father in Bapak, gleefully adds that the segment's awkwardness would ring uncomfortably close to home for most "typical non-confrontational Asian families."

Maya shares the collection was retroactively titled Miasma after the directors noticed the thread between the stories – all its characters were unable to face issues head on.

Adiwijaya assures that the play is not meant solely to discomfort the audience.

"I like it when a play shows uneasy moments, I believe it gives the audience an idea of how to deal with things in their own life so they don't get stuck in their Miasma," he sums up.

Miasma is on at Black Box, Damansara Performing Arts Centre, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya in Selangor daily till Dec 22. Shows are at 8.30pm, with matinee performances at 3pm on Dec 21 and Dec 22. Tickets: RM38 (adult) and RM28 (student/senior citizen/disabled). Call 03-4065 0001 or 4065 0002 or visit www.dpac.com.my to book tickets.

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Japanese Emperor Akihito turns 80

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 10:42 PM PST

TOKYO (AFP) - Thousands of people thronged Japan's Imperial Palace Monday to celebrate Emperor Akihito's 80th birthday, as he lauded his wife for standing by him in his "lonely" pursuit of leading the world's oldest monarchy.

Empress Michiko, a wealthy flour magnate's daughter, was the first commoner in modern times to marry into Japan's imperial family.

Following their fairy-tale wedding in 1959, Michiko, now 79, also became the first empress to raise her children herself, famously making them "bento" lunch boxes to take to school.

"Being an emperor can be a lonely state," Akihito said in an interview released by the Imperial Household Agency on Monday.

"But... it has given me comfort and joy to have by my side the empress, who has always respected my position and stood by me.

"And I feel most fortunate that I have been able to endeavour to carry out my role as emperor with the empress by my side," said the ageing monarch, who inherited the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1989 upon his father Emperor Hirohito's death.

The soft-spoken monarch greeted well-wishers from a glass-covered balcony at the Imperial Palace overlooking the East Garden, flanked by Empress Michiko and other members of the royal household.

"Thinking about disaster sufferers, I will spend my days wishing all the people happiness," he said, referring to the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami and various other natural disasters that struck Japan in the past year.

The Imperial Palace said around 24,000 attended his birthday address, braving the bitter cold and waving small Japanese flags as crowds shouted "Banzai" (long live).

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe joined other dignitaries for a birthday banquet at the palace.

While Emperor Hirohito was once worshipped as a living demigod, Akihito and Michiko have tried to be seen as an "ordinary couple" and narrowed the distance between the palace and the people.

The Imperial Palace, surrounded by stone walls and mossy moats - is opened to the general public twice a year - on the emperor's birthday and the second day of New Year - for the royal family to greet well-wishers.

The Japanese throne is held in deep respect by much of the public, despite being stripped of much of its mystique and its quasi-divine status in the aftermath of World War II.

Kejriwal hints at forming Delhi govt

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

NEW DELHI: India's anti-graft crusader Arvind Kejriwal has vowed to punish corrupt politicians and clean up "dirty politics" in a fiery speech that hinted his party may lend support to form a coalition government in Delhi.

Kejriwal, a former civil servant turned politician, has been under mounting pressure to form a coalition government since his party's stunning performance at Dec 4 state elections.

Kejriwal is wary of joining forces with the Congress party or the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after voters flocked to his party, disillusioned with mainstream politics and angry over rampant corruption.

"If we form the government, we will pass the anti-corruption law and send corrupt BJP and Congress leaders to jail," Kejriwal told a rally in Delhi of several hundred supporters.

"We are not after political power. We want to change the system and cleanse the dirty politics," Kejriwal said, adding that he expected to make an announcement on forming government today.

Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man's Party) won 28 of the 70 seats at the polls for an assembly, trouncing the ruling Congress which took eight and depriving the biggest winner – the BJP with 31 – of a majority.

AAP's success, only a year after its formation, signalled its emergence as a new political force which poses a threat to India's two main parties at general elections next year.

AAP has until now refused to accept support from either the Congress or the BJP, fuelling criticism that they were running away from the responsibility of forming government.

AAP is seeking opinion on whether to form government in Delhi, holding public meetings and asking supporters to telephone or SMS their thoughts, in a move that taps into its grass roots base.

With yesterday the last day for the unusual consultations, speculation in the Indian press was mounting that Kejriwal would team up with Congress.

The Hindustan Times newspaper and other media reported yesterday that AAP has received an overwhelming response from the public in favour of forming a new government. — AFP

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Japanese Emperor Akihito turns 80
Kejriwal hints at forming Delhi govt
Heirs to fortune from bungalow sale step forward