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Khamis, 23 Januari 2014

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

Bomb-maker jailed over embassy plot

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

JAKARTA: An Indonesian court jailed an extremist bomb-maker for seven-and-a-half years for his role in a plot to attack the Myanmar embassy to avenge the killing of Rohingya Muslims.

Separiano is the fourth person to be jailed over the failed plot to bomb the mission in Jakarta, which came amid rising anger in Muslim-majority Indonesia at the plight of the Rohingya in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

The 29-year-old was arrested in May the night before the attack was due to take place, carrying a backpack full of pipe-bombs as he rode a motorbike with another alleged plotter in Jakarta.

At a previous hearing the court heard he had plotted with other militants over Facebook and had attended sermons by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of the terror network behind the 2002 Bali bombings. Bashir is now in jail.

The South Jakarta District Court yesterday found Separiano, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, guilty of charges under anti-terror laws.

"The defendant Separiano ... has been proven guilty legally and convincingly of making and transporting the bombs for an act of terrorism," said presiding judge Suwanto.

He handed him a seven-and-a-half year sentence. Separiano, also known by his alias of "Mambo", could have faced the death penalty.

On Tuesday the mastermind of the plot, Sigit Indrajid, was also jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

There have been a string of attacks on minority Muslims in Myanmar since 2012, mostly in the Rohingyas' western home state of Rakhine. Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands made homeless. — AFP

NUS moves to curb grades obsession

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

IN A bold move by the National University of Singapore (NUS) to reduce the obsession with grades, how its freshmen perform in exams may no longer count in their final mark.

The initiative, already in place at its medical school, will be rolled out in phases to other faculties, which could include law and engineering, from as early as this year, revealed NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan.

Details are still being worked out for what NUS has called its "grade-free" system, which will be extended to the whole school over the next few years. But while there will still be tests and exams, first-year students will no longer get A to F grades.

Instead they will just be given a distinction, pass, or fail in their modules – and these will not form part of their Cumulative Average Point, which determines the quality of the degree awarded at the end of their course.

"We think that it is important to reduce some of the over-focus on grades as the most important thing to go for, as opposed to actual learning," Professor Tan said last Friday. "Grading – in terms of Pass or Fail – will still occur. But this is really to help students know where they are in relation to a subject."

NUS, which has the biggest intake of freshmen among universities here, currently has about 6,900 full-time first-year students.

The move to take some pressure off freshmen, who typically take on 10 modules and help them cope with university life, comes amid a broader shift towards an education system less fixated on grades. Top universities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have already gone "gradeless", Prof Tan pointed out.

At the Singapore University of Technology and Design, which partners MIT and took in its first cohort in 2012, Term 1 students get a "pass" or "no record" in each subject and there is no Grade Point Average (GPA) given. In Term 2, students receive A, B, C or "no record", but only passing grades are used to calculate their GPA. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

CNY likely to cause delays at Woodlands and Tuas

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

WITH the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays, heavy traffic is expected to cause delays at the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints, the Immigra­tion and Checkpoints Authority of Sin­g­­apore (ICA) said.

Traffic could build up from Monday and this is expected to continue until Feb 2.

ICA said in a statement that traffic towards Johor at the checkpoints is likely to be heavier from next Tuesday to Thursday, while traffic towards Singapore is expected to be heavier on Feb 1 and Feb 2.

Traffic bound for Singapore at the Woodlands Checkpoint was slow moving yesterday at 2.30pm.

To help ease the congestion at the checkpoints, the ICA advised drivers to keep to their lanes at all times.

Travellers could also consider car-pooling or using public transport.

— The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

The mother of all roles for Allison Miller

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Actress Allison Miller had fun starring in the scary movie Devil's Due.

Allison Miller wasn't doing anything scary when she first read the script for the movie Devil's Due. She was working on an independent film, There's Always Woodstock, that had her writing and performing music and appearing in every scene.

But there was something about the Devil's Due script that stuck her: A young woman in the throes of wedded bliss discovers that with her first pregnancy, she is carrying the spawn of Satan.

"It feels like you know these characters," says Miller, 28.

"They seemed like people who could be my friends, or maybe me. I had just gotten married, and we hadn't been on our honeymoon yet, so reading about that was very fresh to me.

"Then, getting into the pregnancy, I have always had some fears and hesitation about that for my own personal reasons, and when it starts going that bad, it really got to me."

The demonic child begins to take over his mother and their surroundings.

"I was really the scary thing," Miller says. "I'm the one making you jump. When I was doing it, it was very fun. But now, it's like watching a different person."

The experience of seeing a scary movie and being in one is different, Miller says.

"A lot goes into it, and there are all sorts of people standing around to make sure the elements work, so it's never actually scary," Miller says.

"I was never scared making it."

But she does get to have fun hamming it up as her character, Samantha, becomes more demonstrative as the pregnancy progresses.

"Someone was telling me they were watching a documentary about the making of The Shining, and there was this really intense scary scene and they yell cut, and Jack Nicholson just starts giggling," Miller says.

"That's exactly what it feels like: This is so ridiculous. I'm totally believing it and invested in it while it's happening, but then, when it's done, I'm like, 'I just screamed like an eight-year-old kid'."

The film's plot has been widely discussed as being similar to the 1968 horror classic Rosemary's Baby.

"I love Rosemary's Baby," Miller says. "We talked about it a lot during the shooting because there are a lot of components that are very similar. I didn't want to watch it while we were shooting because I didn't want to wind up imitating anything, and I knew I could never live up to Mia Farrow's performance."

Miller says there are stark differences from Rosemary's Baby and says that "it's not a remake, more like an homage."

It is also a different type of project for Miller, whose credits include the 2011 Fox television series Terra Nova, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg but cancelled after one season.

Though she is busy in California, Miller goes back to her hometown in Kentucky to see her family.

She got married in the summer of 2012.

Devil's Due is her debut as a leading actress in a feature film, although she was also the lead in the indie There's Always Woodstock, which has started to be submitted to the festival circuit.

During a Wednesday afternoon interview, Miller says she was scheduled to see the completed Devil's Due that night.

"We'll see," she says, "we'll see if I scare myself." – Lexington Herald-Leader/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

> Devil's Due is currently showing in cinemas nationwide.

Kenneth Branagh strives to be picture perfect

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Kenneth Branagh not only stars in action movies, but is directing them, too.

Some Kenneth Branagh fans are still recovering from the shock of finding out that their beloved Shakespearean actor was responsible for Thor, the 2011 movie based on the hammer-wielding Marvel comics superhero. But those who recognise the 53-year-old Irishman in the new spy thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, where he plays the villain, are in for another surprise when the credits roll: he directed this big action flick, too.

Speaking to reporters at the Montage Hotel in Los Angeles recently, Branagh staunchly defended what has become something of a pet thesis for the actor-director ever since he began doing more mainstream commercial fare, even though he remains best known for his film adaptations of the Bard.

"I haven't really quite accepted that there's any particular divide or barrier between so-called high culture and low culture," he says. "There's only good culture, whatever that is. So whatever the genre is, there are good and bad examples of all kinds."

Thus, he does not distinguish between a film such as Henry V, which he adapted, directed and starred in to a great reception in Hollywood in 1989, and his latest effort, inspired by Tom Clancy's novels about the reluctant spy Jack Ryan. This, despite the fact that his forte has been dialogue-driven dramas in television, theatre and film, the latter including such movies as Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996) and As You Like It (2006).

In fact, Branagh can draw a line directly from Henry V to Jack Ryan, which also stars Chris Pine and Keira Knightley and features numerous and complex action sequences.

"Certainly, trying to explore it cinematically and make it as interesting and original as possible, that was all new. But, at the same time, I feel as if I started as an action director. Because although Henry V was full of dialogue, actually, you end up with the Battle of Agincourt.

"And I remember one autumn day in October 1988 with Vic Armstrong – the legendary second-unit director who worked on Jack Ryan and Henry V. He and I were standing there going, 'How do we make all these guys firing arrows look interesting, how do we do the French outnumbering the English?'

"And 25 years later, we're on a highway in New York saying, 'So, Jack's on a motorcycle, he has to save the world, how do we make that interesting?'

"So in a bizarre way, action's run right through my career, but often mixed up with a lot of words. Which leads me to believe that action and words can co-exist."

For Branagh, more important than a movie's genre or approach is whether it is well-executed.

"If it's a broad comedy, it's either good or it isn't. When the good ones are good, they're fantastic and take your breath away. I also admire artistry, skill and technique. And when things appear to be effortless."

He cites the work ethic of legendary ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov as an example. Baryshnikov has a supporting role in Jack Ryan and two small scenes with Branagh's character, yet wanted to rehearse "more than any actor I've ever come across" in order to make everything look effortless and natural.

And that perfectionism "can apply anywhere – it doesn't matter whether you're making Dumb And Dumber 3 or King Lear. To do something well requires concentration and focus, and it can be valuable and rewarding and entertaining".

"The idea that one dismisses something because it's low brow and common, or high brow and too pretentious, need not be the case."

Branagh was drawn to Jack Ryan because of a childhood fascination with classic political and action thrillers from the 1970s.

"When I started going to the pictures properly, I was watching films such as Three Days Of The Condor, The French Connection, The Parallax View and All The President's Men.

"So the conspiracy, paranoia, thriller element of (Jack Ryan) – the idea of making a film where there's a secret drop in a cinema, where two men meet on a bench at night in Moscow, where there's a threat to the world's security at the end – was all that I was excited to do.

"And I think, sometimes if you're lucky, you often end up working on films that made a profound impression on you as a kid. All the things that stamped themselves in your memory from about seven to 17 are the ones that come back to you, I think." – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

Related story:

The many faces of Jack Ryan

The many faces of Jack Ryan

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Like James Bond and Batman, the character Jack Ryan has been played by more than one actor.

He sprang from the imagination of author Tom Clancy and started on the screen as Alec Baldwin, aged into Harrison Ford and did a Benjamin Button act and peeled away the years with Ben Affleck.

Now, Chris Pine – who knows a little something about two or more performers playing the same signature role thanks to his inheritance of Captain Kirk and Star Trek – is taking over in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

It's an origins story, introducing the character as a student at the London School of Economics who is motivated to join the American military by the 9/11 attacks. He is severely injured in Afghanistan, struggles to regain his health and lands a desk job on Wall Street that's a cover for the CIA.

When sent to Moscow to investigate some suspicious financial data, he faces mortal danger to himself and his fiancee (Keira Knightley) in the film featuring Kevin Costner as Ryan's mentor and director Kenneth Branagh as a Russian villain, complete with accent and a penchant for vodka.

Here's a look at the other Jack Ryans of yore:

The Hunt For Red October (1990)

The story: Moscow, Washington and a low-level CIA analyst named Jack Ryan track a renegade Soviet captain (Sean Connery), commanding the most sophisticated sub on the planet. Is he planning to defect to the United States or obliterate it?

Jack Ryan: Alec Baldwin (pic), 31 years old at the time.

Oscar love: Won for sound effects editing, and also nominated for film editing and sound.

Bonus fact: President Ronald Reagan received this book as a Christmas gift and quipped at a dinner that he was losing sleep because he couldn't put it down, an endorsement that boosted the novel to The New York Times best-seller list.

Patriot Games (1992)

The story: Jack Ryan, now an ex-CIA analyst, finds himself and his family targets of an extremist offshoot of the IRA, seeking vengeance for a thwarted assassination plot in London.

Jack Ryan: Harrison Ford (pic), then age 49.

Oscar love: None.

Bonus fact: When Paramount delayed shooting, Baldwin was forced to choose between this thriller and playing Stanley Kowalski in a Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. He opted for the stage and earned a Tony nomination while Ford scored a deal to play Ryan in three movies but would do only two.

Clear And Present Danger (1994)

The story: CIA agent Jack Ryan investigates the murder of a US president's friend, a businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels.

Jack Ryan: Ford, 52 at time of release.

Oscar love: Nominated for sound and sound effects editing.

Bonus fact: Highest grossing, to date, of the Clancy adaptations and the one that forced peace between the author – who thought Ford too old and also didn't like the way Hollywood tampered with his plots – and Paramount.

The Sum Of All Fears (2002)

The story: A terrorist group tries to ratchet up tensions between America and Russia while it smuggles a nuclear weapon into the US that it plans to detonate at the Super Bowl in Baltimore. Jack Ryan and his CIA colleagues, led by the director (Morgan Freeman), must figure out what's going on and try to stop the unthinkable from happening.

Jack Ryan: Ben Affleck, 29 years old.

Oscar love: None.

Bonus fact: Director Phil Alden Robinson had finished his first cut of the film before Sept 11, 2001, and said he didn't have to make any changes in reaction to the attack. He told the Post Gazette he tried to make "an anti-war, anti-violence movie", one in which the proper response to terrorism is "that you don't rush headlong into violence. You get the facts." — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Related story:

Kenneth Branagh strives to be picture perfect

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

Large blast heard in Cairo, smoke seen rising over city centre

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:55 PM PST

[unable to retrieve full-text content]CAIRO (Reuters) - A large blast was heard in Cairo on Friday and smoke was seen rising over the city centre, a Reuters witness said.

Canada police search for 30 missing elderly in retirement home fire

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:40 PM PST

L'ISLE-VERTE, Quebec (Reuters) - Police were sifting overnight through burned remains of a wooden, three-story old-age home in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec, searching for 30 elderly residents who were still missing after a fire killed at least five people.

Fanned by high winds, the fire early Thursday morning engulfed an older section of the Residence du Havre in the small community of L'Isle-Verte on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, about 230 km (140 miles) northeast of Quebec City.

The building only had a partial sprinkler system, according to a document filed by the residence. Acting Mayor Ginette Caron said many of the residents had used wheel chairs or walkers, while some had Alzheimer's disease.

Firefighters battled for five hours in temperatures as low as minus 22 Celsius (minus 7.6 Fahrenheit) to extinguish the blaze.

"The problem we face now is the weather conditions. To fight the fire, water had to be used, and that water has frozen," Quebec police spokesman Guy Lapointe told a briefing.

Police intend to work carefully, both to stay safe in the extremely difficult conditions and to ensure that the remains of potential victims remain intact, he added.

"In the next few hours, if all goes well, we'll begin to work on scene and, if the lighting we've brought in allows it, the objective is to work through the night," said Lapointe.

Police later raised the death toll to five from an initial three while maintaining the number of missing at 30.

About 20 people were rescued, some of whom were taken to a hospital. Police said not all the missing should be assumed to have died since some could be staying elsewhere or travelling with their families.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight (0500 GMT) and was extinguished about five hours later. More than half the residence was burned to the ground.

Witness Pascal Fillion told public broadcaster RDI that at 1 a.m. a large part of the building was already on fire, caused in part to the high winds.

"There was one person we saw, who they wanted to save, but he was on the top floor, and with the fire and the wind they weren't able to come any closer," Fillion said.

Video footage of the blaze showed huge sheets of flame leaping into the air.

According to a document filed with the Quebec health ministry, the residence was home to 52 people, 37 of whom were 85 or older. It had a maximum capacity of 60 people.

Undamaged parts of the building were covered in icicles and thick sheets of ice as temperatures dropped as low as minus 22 Celsius (minus 7.6 Fahrenheit).

One man described to RDI how his grandmother had called for help from a second-floor balcony and said efforts to reach her by ladder had failed.

"She died on the balcony," he said, his voice breaking.

PARTIAL SPRINKLER SYSTEM

The document filed with the Quebec health ministry said the residence had a partial sprinkler system. The residence's website said it had a sprinkler system, but gave no details.

RDI and the Globe and Mail newspaper said Plomberie St-Pie-X Inc, a plumbing company, had installed sprinklers in the newer part of the building when it was renovated in the early 2000s.

"The section that burned was not protected by a sprinkler system," Plomberie St-Pie-X Inc co-owner Etienne Desjardins told RDI. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Roch Bernier or Irene Plante, listed as the owners of the residence.

Jean-Pierre Ouellet of the FTQ labour union told RDI that regulations for seniors' homes were not strict enough.

Agnes Maltais, labour minister for the Quebec provincial government, said that although those rules were gradually being tightened, privately owned seniors' residences were not currently required to install sprinklers.

That could change depending on the eventual results of a probe into Thursday's fire, she told reporters in Quebec City.

The residence's website says the building was built in 1997 and expanded in 2002, and that it had sections for people who were independent and semi-independent, and for those who needed more assistance.

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois said she was "deeply saddened" by the tragedy and sent several government ministers to the site to offer assistance.

According to Canadian Press, the worst-ever fire in a Canadian nursing home occurred in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec in 1969, when 54 people died.

(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Eric Walsh and Ken Wills)

Thai court set to rule on whether February election goes ahead

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 07:05 PM PST

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Constitutional Court could rule on Friday whether a February 2 election can go ahead, though whatever it decides there is little sign of a quick end to the political crisis dragging down Southeast Asia's second biggest economy.

Anti-government firebrand Suthep Thaugsuban, who has called for a boycott of the election, told his whistle-blowing supporters at a rally on Thursday night to disrupt the vote if it does take place.

"I'm telling you now, you must not get ready to vote. You must not go because we will close every road," Suthep told the rally.

"I want you to know that the (anti-government movement) ... is ready in every province. There is no way this election will take place," he said.

The Constitutional Court deferred a ruling on Thursday whether the February vote can be postponed. The Election Commission says the country is too volatile to hold a general election now and that technicalities mean it is bound to result in a parliament with too few lawmakers to form a quorum.

The government says the decree to hold the election on that date has been signed by the king and cannot be changed.

Even if the main opposition party does compete, political analysts say Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra would almost certainly win the vote, which she called to win a fresh mandate for her government in the face of the protests trying to push her from power.

The protests are the latest eruption of an eight-year-long tussle for power that in broad terms sets Bangkok's middle class and the royalist establishment that Suthep claims to represent against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin fled into exile in 2008 to avoid a jail sentence for abuse of power, after being toppled by the army in 2006.

The protesters accuse him and his sister of corruption and nepotism and want a "people's council" to take over the running of the country to introduce large-scale, but so far vaguely specified, reforms.

The government has imposed a state of emergency that gives it sweeping powers to make arrests, set a curfew and prevent protests.

So far, it has made no moves to implement measures or disperse the thinning numbers of protesters who have blocked off some parts of the capital with their "Shutdown Bangkok" movement, now in its third month.

Most economists have cut growth forecasts Thailand this year and some companies are reviewing investment plans as a result of the political deadlock.

The protests have been mostly quiet this week after an explosion of violence at the weekend in which one man died and dozens of anti-government protesters were wounded. Nine people have died since the protests began in November.

The violence is the worst since 2010 when Suthep, at the time a deputy prime minister, sent in troops to end mass protests by pro-Thaksin supporters.

The army, which has staged or attempted 18 coups in the past 81 years of on-off democracy, has so far kept out of the fray.

The government has gone out of its way to avoid confrontation with the protesters, allowing them to close off a number of government offices. Its "red shirt" supporters have also largely kept away from the capital.

(Additonal reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Alan Raybould and Michael Perry)
Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

The mother of all roles for Allison Miller

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Actress Allison Miller had fun starring in the scary movie Devil's Due.

Allison Miller wasn't doing anything scary when she first read the script for the movie Devil's Due. She was working on an independent film, There's Always Woodstock, that had her writing and performing music and appearing in every scene.

But there was something about the Devil's Due script that stuck her: A young woman in the throes of wedded bliss discovers that with her first pregnancy, she is carrying the spawn of Satan.

"It feels like you know these characters," says Miller, 28.

"They seemed like people who could be my friends, or maybe me. I had just gotten married, and we hadn't been on our honeymoon yet, so reading about that was very fresh to me.

"Then, getting into the pregnancy, I have always had some fears and hesitation about that for my own personal reasons, and when it starts going that bad, it really got to me."

The demonic child begins to take over his mother and their surroundings.

"I was really the scary thing," Miller says. "I'm the one making you jump. When I was doing it, it was very fun. But now, it's like watching a different person."

The experience of seeing a scary movie and being in one is different, Miller says.

"A lot goes into it, and there are all sorts of people standing around to make sure the elements work, so it's never actually scary," Miller says.

"I was never scared making it."

But she does get to have fun hamming it up as her character, Samantha, becomes more demonstrative as the pregnancy progresses.

"Someone was telling me they were watching a documentary about the making of The Shining, and there was this really intense scary scene and they yell cut, and Jack Nicholson just starts giggling," Miller says.

"That's exactly what it feels like: This is so ridiculous. I'm totally believing it and invested in it while it's happening, but then, when it's done, I'm like, 'I just screamed like an eight-year-old kid'."

The film's plot has been widely discussed as being similar to the 1968 horror classic Rosemary's Baby.

"I love Rosemary's Baby," Miller says. "We talked about it a lot during the shooting because there are a lot of components that are very similar. I didn't want to watch it while we were shooting because I didn't want to wind up imitating anything, and I knew I could never live up to Mia Farrow's performance."

Miller says there are stark differences from Rosemary's Baby and says that "it's not a remake, more like an homage."

It is also a different type of project for Miller, whose credits include the 2011 Fox television series Terra Nova, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg but cancelled after one season.

Though she is busy in California, Miller goes back to her hometown in Kentucky to see her family.

She got married in the summer of 2012.

Devil's Due is her debut as a leading actress in a feature film, although she was also the lead in the indie There's Always Woodstock, which has started to be submitted to the festival circuit.

During a Wednesday afternoon interview, Miller says she was scheduled to see the completed Devil's Due that night.

"We'll see," she says, "we'll see if I scare myself." – Lexington Herald-Leader/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

> Devil's Due is currently showing in cinemas nationwide.

Kenneth Branagh strives to be picture perfect

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Kenneth Branagh not only stars in action movies, but is directing them, too.

Some Kenneth Branagh fans are still recovering from the shock of finding out that their beloved Shakespearean actor was responsible for Thor, the 2011 movie based on the hammer-wielding Marvel comics superhero. But those who recognise the 53-year-old Irishman in the new spy thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, where he plays the villain, are in for another surprise when the credits roll: he directed this big action flick, too.

Speaking to reporters at the Montage Hotel in Los Angeles recently, Branagh staunchly defended what has become something of a pet thesis for the actor-director ever since he began doing more mainstream commercial fare, even though he remains best known for his film adaptations of the Bard.

"I haven't really quite accepted that there's any particular divide or barrier between so-called high culture and low culture," he says. "There's only good culture, whatever that is. So whatever the genre is, there are good and bad examples of all kinds."

Thus, he does not distinguish between a film such as Henry V, which he adapted, directed and starred in to a great reception in Hollywood in 1989, and his latest effort, inspired by Tom Clancy's novels about the reluctant spy Jack Ryan. This, despite the fact that his forte has been dialogue-driven dramas in television, theatre and film, the latter including such movies as Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996) and As You Like It (2006).

In fact, Branagh can draw a line directly from Henry V to Jack Ryan, which also stars Chris Pine and Keira Knightley and features numerous and complex action sequences.

"Certainly, trying to explore it cinematically and make it as interesting and original as possible, that was all new. But, at the same time, I feel as if I started as an action director. Because although Henry V was full of dialogue, actually, you end up with the Battle of Agincourt.

"And I remember one autumn day in October 1988 with Vic Armstrong – the legendary second-unit director who worked on Jack Ryan and Henry V. He and I were standing there going, 'How do we make all these guys firing arrows look interesting, how do we do the French outnumbering the English?'

"And 25 years later, we're on a highway in New York saying, 'So, Jack's on a motorcycle, he has to save the world, how do we make that interesting?'

"So in a bizarre way, action's run right through my career, but often mixed up with a lot of words. Which leads me to believe that action and words can co-exist."

For Branagh, more important than a movie's genre or approach is whether it is well-executed.

"If it's a broad comedy, it's either good or it isn't. When the good ones are good, they're fantastic and take your breath away. I also admire artistry, skill and technique. And when things appear to be effortless."

He cites the work ethic of legendary ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov as an example. Baryshnikov has a supporting role in Jack Ryan and two small scenes with Branagh's character, yet wanted to rehearse "more than any actor I've ever come across" in order to make everything look effortless and natural.

And that perfectionism "can apply anywhere – it doesn't matter whether you're making Dumb And Dumber 3 or King Lear. To do something well requires concentration and focus, and it can be valuable and rewarding and entertaining".

"The idea that one dismisses something because it's low brow and common, or high brow and too pretentious, need not be the case."

Branagh was drawn to Jack Ryan because of a childhood fascination with classic political and action thrillers from the 1970s.

"When I started going to the pictures properly, I was watching films such as Three Days Of The Condor, The French Connection, The Parallax View and All The President's Men.

"So the conspiracy, paranoia, thriller element of (Jack Ryan) – the idea of making a film where there's a secret drop in a cinema, where two men meet on a bench at night in Moscow, where there's a threat to the world's security at the end – was all that I was excited to do.

"And I think, sometimes if you're lucky, you often end up working on films that made a profound impression on you as a kid. All the things that stamped themselves in your memory from about seven to 17 are the ones that come back to you, I think." – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

Related story:

The many faces of Jack Ryan

The many faces of Jack Ryan

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Like James Bond and Batman, the character Jack Ryan has been played by more than one actor.

He sprang from the imagination of author Tom Clancy and started on the screen as Alec Baldwin, aged into Harrison Ford and did a Benjamin Button act and peeled away the years with Ben Affleck.

Now, Chris Pine – who knows a little something about two or more performers playing the same signature role thanks to his inheritance of Captain Kirk and Star Trek – is taking over in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

It's an origins story, introducing the character as a student at the London School of Economics who is motivated to join the American military by the 9/11 attacks. He is severely injured in Afghanistan, struggles to regain his health and lands a desk job on Wall Street that's a cover for the CIA.

When sent to Moscow to investigate some suspicious financial data, he faces mortal danger to himself and his fiancee (Keira Knightley) in the film featuring Kevin Costner as Ryan's mentor and director Kenneth Branagh as a Russian villain, complete with accent and a penchant for vodka.

Here's a look at the other Jack Ryans of yore:

The Hunt For Red October (1990)

The story: Moscow, Washington and a low-level CIA analyst named Jack Ryan track a renegade Soviet captain (Sean Connery), commanding the most sophisticated sub on the planet. Is he planning to defect to the United States or obliterate it?

Jack Ryan: Alec Baldwin (pic), 31 years old at the time.

Oscar love: Won for sound effects editing, and also nominated for film editing and sound.

Bonus fact: President Ronald Reagan received this book as a Christmas gift and quipped at a dinner that he was losing sleep because he couldn't put it down, an endorsement that boosted the novel to The New York Times best-seller list.

Patriot Games (1992)

The story: Jack Ryan, now an ex-CIA analyst, finds himself and his family targets of an extremist offshoot of the IRA, seeking vengeance for a thwarted assassination plot in London.

Jack Ryan: Harrison Ford (pic), then age 49.

Oscar love: None.

Bonus fact: When Paramount delayed shooting, Baldwin was forced to choose between this thriller and playing Stanley Kowalski in a Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. He opted for the stage and earned a Tony nomination while Ford scored a deal to play Ryan in three movies but would do only two.

Clear And Present Danger (1994)

The story: CIA agent Jack Ryan investigates the murder of a US president's friend, a businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels.

Jack Ryan: Ford, 52 at time of release.

Oscar love: Nominated for sound and sound effects editing.

Bonus fact: Highest grossing, to date, of the Clancy adaptations and the one that forced peace between the author – who thought Ford too old and also didn't like the way Hollywood tampered with his plots – and Paramount.

The Sum Of All Fears (2002)

The story: A terrorist group tries to ratchet up tensions between America and Russia while it smuggles a nuclear weapon into the US that it plans to detonate at the Super Bowl in Baltimore. Jack Ryan and his CIA colleagues, led by the director (Morgan Freeman), must figure out what's going on and try to stop the unthinkable from happening.

Jack Ryan: Ben Affleck, 29 years old.

Oscar love: None.

Bonus fact: Director Phil Alden Robinson had finished his first cut of the film before Sept 11, 2001, and said he didn't have to make any changes in reaction to the attack. He told the Post Gazette he tried to make "an anti-war, anti-violence movie", one in which the proper response to terrorism is "that you don't rush headlong into violence. You get the facts." — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Related story:

Kenneth Branagh strives to be picture perfect

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The fate of 'Sherlock'

Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:10 PM PST

The TV show's executive producer makes an interesting announcement.

Perhaps Sherlock fans should start hoping that Benedict Cumberbatch experiences a career slide.

Cumberbatch was on hand to discuss the series at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, earlier this week. Among the topics discussed was how long the series – which premiered its third season last weekend in the United States – might last. A straight answer wasn't forthcoming from the panel, but executive producer Steven Moffat suggested that the show will go on, unless its star gets too big for the drama.

"Ben Stephenson, who is the head of drama at the BBC, has commissioned it for 50 years, he said, just to settle this question," Moffat cracked. "Yes, it will continue until Benedict gets too famous," he said.

"He gets precious and just doesn't want to do it," added Sherlock producer, and Moffat's wife, Sue Vertue.

During the panel, Cumberbatch (who juggles his Sherlock duties with big-screen roles in the Hobbit franchise and Star Trek Into Darkness) added that he's not in danger of burning out on the iconic sleuth character like some of his predecessors, noting, "I'm younger than any of them were or are."

Also helping Cumberbatch to not burn out on the role: The fact that he easily sheds the part when it's time to leave it behind. Sort of.

"Yeah. Well, sometimes. No," Cumberbatch hedged, when asked if the role is always with him. The actor did allow, however, that "I felt really sentimental about letting him go this time, which I normally don't because he's very hard. I love him to bits, I love the results, sometimes, but it's hard work. And this time I felt really sentimental about it."

Cumberbatch did, however, admit to inadvertently slipping into Sherlock mode on his off-hours during the show's early days.

"On the first series I was going from London on the train, and I got very interested in smudges on people's lapel," Cumberbatch offered. "I knew ***k-all about it back then ... I thought, 'Oh, here's a clue!'." — Reuters

Stock-dome syndrome 'Under The Dome'

Posted: 21 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Silly bits aside, Under The Dome is intriguing enough for this viewer to give it a shot for one season.

UNDER The Dome ... the title almost makes you want to burst out into an Alan Menken-Howard Ashman song, if you were a talking crab singing to a Disney mermaid, that is.

What's with the cartoon reference? Well, the animation connection is strong with this sci-fi series from the book by Stephen King – after all, it bears more than a passing resemblance to The Simpsons Movie.

Like Springfield was in that side-splittingly funny cartoon feature, so too is Chester's Mill, Maine, sealed off from the outside world by an impenetrable, invisible dome in this TV series.

On paper, UTD seems like a fantasy/SF buff's dream come true: its source novel is by frightmeister Stephen King, and it is adapted for television by veteran comics writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Saga, Ex Machina) – who also served as a writer and story editor on Lost.

In addition, it's got that whole post-apocalyptic vibe to it, although the world hasn't exactly ended; it's just been sealed off.

It happens one sunny morning when the dome descends/appears without warning. Many townspeople are trapped inside; others are away and unable to return to their loved ones; a cow gets bisected by the dome (a gory but eyebrow-raising visual effect); while vehicles crash into it both on the road and in the air.

The gripping pilot episode also set up some intriguing plot threads.

It appears that the town has a dark secret known only to a select few – Jeff Fahey's police chief "Duke" Perkins, Dean Norris' town politician "Big Jim" Rennie and Ned Bellamy's Reverend Lester Coggins. Curiously, it involves large amounts of propane gas.

At the start of the pilot, we see mystery man and army veteran Dale "Barbie" Barbara (Mike Vogel, Cloverfield) burying a body in the woods around the town. After the dome comes down and he's stuck inside, he befriends local reporter Julia Shumway (Rachelle Lefevre) who is investigating the large shipments of propane into the town. She offers him a place to stay. She's also worried about her husband, who is missing.

Back at Julia's house, Barbie sees a photograph of her with her husband, and realises that he's the same man he killed and buried!

The early episodes quickly introduce most of the principal characters: from sheriff's deputy Linda Esquivel (Natalie Martinez) who yearns for the approval of her mentor and father figure Duke, to Joe and Elinore (Colin Ford and Mackenzie Lintz), a couple of kids who have an unusual, unexplained connection with the dome; and to Rennie's psychotic son James "Junior" (Alexander Koch) – yes, they seem to be big on nicknames in Chester's Mill – who kidnaps and imprisons his ex-girlfriend because he thinks she's having an affair. And apparently also to save her from impending cataclysm. See, and you thought this warped notion of protective custody only happens in real life.

Junior's story arc is perhaps the most irritating of the lot. UTD suffers from some terribly uneven acting and writing, and unfortunately, an important character like Junior comes across as a one-dimensional caricature – he rapidly becomes the most annoying teenager this side of Terra Nova. I'm almost wishing they'd suddenly have carnosaurs appear inside the dome, just so one can eat Junior.

'I'll just stroll casually down the street so no one but the audience will ever suspect that I'm actually barking mad.'

'I'll just stroll casually down the street so no one but the audience will ever suspect that I'm actually barking mad.'

His story arc also leads to some unintended guffaws when his victim, Angie (Britt Robertson) actually starts to sympathise with him in a most unbelievable way ... call it Stock-dome Syndrome, if you will.

Three episodes in, and the mystery is only deepening with no sign of any answers on the horizon. The dome has a highly destructive effect on any electronics or electrical device that comes in contact with it, as one unfortunate soul with a pacemaker finds out in the pilot. As a near-future episode will reveal, it is also impervious to even the most frightful of manmade destructive forces.

And then there's the whole issue of the isolated town's diminishing resources and the rapidly fraying nerves of those trapped within, in addition to that big secret that Big Jim is guarding.

While I found some characters (Junior, the overprotective lesbian mums, the psycho deputy, the belligerent locals, the clueless Julia) highly irritating, others like deputy Linda, Joe and Elinore, and even the murderous Big Jim make me want to keep watching to see how their respective stories play out.

And the whole enigma of the dome is intriguing enough to keep me around until at least early next season.

Wait, what?

Yes, next season. Remarkable, isn't it, for something based on a standalone novel to already be heading for a second season? Hold on to your canned provisions: one producer has indicated that five seasons of 13 episodes each is an ideal length for UTD to run. That's actually more spine-chilling than anything the show has served up so far.

Apparently, the producers have "completely re-imagined" (in King's words) the source of the dome; furthermore, their series outline calls for the dome to stay in place for months, series time, instead of one week like in the book.

So is it aliens? Mad scientists? Or worse, clandestine government agency-sponsored scientists? Is it some kind of social engineering experiment, a sadistic superior intelligence at work, or a mass hallucination? If it's really going to last as long as it's been hinted, the answer had better be knock-your-socks-off good,

So ration out those crackers and crisps, people – if you're planning to stay Under The Dome, it's going to be a pretty long visit.

> Under The Dome airs every Wednesday at 9.55pm on RTL CBS Entertainment (HyppTV Ch 616). E-mail feedback to entertainment@thestar.com.my.

Harry Connick Jr ready for jury duty

Posted: 21 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

IN the past two years, Harry Connick Jr went from an American Idol viewer to a mentor and now a judge.

This year, Connick joins Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez on the panel of judges who will help select this year's newest pop star. Randy Jackson, who has passed judgment on singers since the reality competition series started, is shifting his role to mentor.

We talked to Connick about taking on the role of judge for American Idol 13.

What made you feel comfortable enough to agree to be a judge?

My whole life has been a lot of interaction with people who are a lot better than I am, whether it's in a one-on-one teaching situation or a clinic or mentorship or master class. As I got older, I started to be on the giving end of those things. I would spend a lot of time talking to kids in high school, college, even professional people about how they can improve. So I feel very comfortable in that kind of environment.

Is it the same being a judge as being a mentor?

When American Idol called a few years ago to ask me to be a mentor, it felt like a very natural thing to do. And then they called me back last year to do it again and I had a great time. I really, really enjoyed spending time with those talented young performers.

Then they called and asked me if I wanted to be a judge, which is different than being a mentor because you don't really have the intensity of the interaction but you get to share your views with a lot more people and try to help them develop their talent. So it just felt like a natural thing to do.

How are you different than the other two judges?

We're completely different. We're different brains, different personalities, different philosophies. I think what I bring to it is I have a lot of experience as a player, as a singer and as a kind of overall entertainer that's unique to my own life. It's like the movies I've done are different than the ones that Jennifer's done and the concerts I've played are different than Keith's. So just by virtue of our own experience; I think I can bring something a little bit different.

Does the overall male talent look stronger this year?

There's some crazy guy talent. For real. No joke. There are some guys that are really good, some great young women, too. So it's hard to say if it's a 50/50 split. It's impossible to know and we certainly would never try to reach any kind of quota because that would be biased, I think. We just respond to the people that we see. I guess the feeling is that it's about half and half; maybe two more girls than guys, but I think it's about even.

How has adding guitars affected the show?

I think it's a great thing because it's very telling. When people pick up the guitar and they're not good players, it shows immediately that A) They should put the guitar down, and B) A lot of the decisions that they make as singers are not dissimilar to what they're doing on the guitar.

If you're playing some chords that make no sense, that person can't hear. So, when they sing, it's obvious why they're making the choices they're making.

As a mentor, you put a lot of emphasis on the importance of contestants understanding the meaning of the lyrics of the songs. Will that be important to you as a judge?

Yes, that's huge. If they're going to sing a lyric, then you have to really start picking it apart. Sometimes, they'll listen to you when you say understand the words but then they'll over-sing it, or maybe it's kind of one dimensional. There's a lot of little roads you can go down for improvement. These are singers. You need to know how to sing a song. You need to know what you're singing about, and interestingly to me, that is not that important to a lot of singers. They just sing but they're not connected to the lyrics.

What are the chances of finding the next Harry Connick Jr?

Hopefully, there's only one me and you'll never find the next one! — The Fresno Bee/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

> American Idol is on Star World (Astro Ch 711) every Thursday and Friday at 6pm, with repeats.

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CapitaMalls distribution per unit higher at 2.24 sen

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust (CMMT) achieved a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.24 sen for the fourth quarter of financial year 2014 ended Dec 31, 2013, 6.2% higher than the 2.11 sen in the previous corresponding quarter.

It posted net property income of RM54.8mil for the quarter, a 10.8% hike from RM49.5mil recorded in the same quarter in 2012.

It recorded gross revenue of RM78.8mil, up 6.8% year-on-year due to higher rental rates from new and renewed leases.

CapitaMalls Malaysia REIT Management Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Sharon Lim - the manager of CMMT - also attributed the improved performance to the completion of Phase 1 asset enhancement works at East Coast Mall in Kuantan, a two-phase project costing RM60mil, slated to be completed by December.

"We expect at least 8% return on investment from all enhancement works," Lim told StarBiz.

For the financial year 2013, CMMT recorded a DPU of 8.85 sen, 4.9% more than 8.44 sen for FY12.

Lim added that unit holders could expect to receive the total DPU of 4.5 sen from July to December 2013, on March 7, 2014.

She said that the total DPU of 8.85 sen for FY13 would translate into an annualised distribution yield of 6.5% based on CMMT's closing price of RM1.36 per unit on Wednesday.

"Retail sales will grow in tandem with the gross domestic product. Our diversified portfolio will keep our financial results healthy," Lim said. CMMT manages Gurney Plaza in Penang, a majority interest in Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur, The Mines in Selangor and East Coast Mall in Kuantan, Pahang, a portfolio with a total net let table area of over 2.5mil sq ft.

China’s solar industry rebounds, but will boom-bust cycle repeat?

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 07:24 PM PST

HONG KONG: China's solar panel industry is showing signs of booming again after a prolonged downturn - raising fears of another bust when the splurge of public money that is driving a spike in demand dries up.

Lured by generous power tariffs and financing support to promote renewable energy, Chinese firms are racing to develop multi-billion dollar solar generating projects in the Gobi desert and barren hills of China's vast north and northwest.

The sweeteners have not only lured traditional energy investors like China Power Investment Corp, but also a host of solar panel makers and even companies such as toll road operator Huabei Express and Jiangsu Kuangda Auto Textile Group.

Some solar panel manufacturers, encouraged by a recovery in sales in the last two quarters – largely on surging demand from China and Japan – are expanding production capacity, even though the overall sector remains mired in a severe glut.

But industry officials worry fast-growing generation capacity will increase fiscal pressures on China and Japan and force them to cut subsidies which will then hit demand, just as happened with previous big solar users Germany, Spain and Italy.

"The key is whether the Chinese government is determined enough to boost solar generation," Sun Haiyan, senior executive at Trina Solar, said when asked if the current solar expansion in China was sustainable.

China already boasts solar manufacturing capacity of about 45 gigawatts (GW) – enough to meet global demand this year.

Trina Solar, JinkoSolar, Yingli Green Energy and Canadian Solar – among the world's largest solar manufacturers that also include Japan's Sharp Corp and US SunPower Corp – are adding 3GW of capacity, according to industry specialists and Chinese media.

Beijing is trying to consolidate the sector and force out the legion of small "zombie plants" currently sitting idle, but analysts say it faces stiff resistance from indebted regional and city governments that have backed local solar champions.

Michael Barker, analyst at global solar research firm Solarbuzz, said a risk now faced by the solar panel industry was manufacturers may react to improved demand "with somewhat irrational exuberance".

"This could upset the stabilisation process that has occurred during the past year, once again creating an overcapacity situation," he wrote in a note this week.

SUBSIDY BURDEN

Beijing's decision in July to more than quadruple solar generating capacity to 35GW by 2015, and Japan's push to find alternatives to lost nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, have revitalised the moribund Chinese panel industry.

China installed 8GW last year, turning it into the world's largest solar market.

That included 6GW of solar farms – utility-scale, ground-mounted facilities – and 2GW of distributed solar energy such as rooftop installations. This year, it is talking about adding 14GW.

Installing 35GW of solar capacity would cost around US$50bil, plus subsidies granted to solar power producers under long-term purchase agreements.

But it's uncertain how long the current strong Chinese and Japanese demand, expected to account for 40-45% of global installations forecast for this year, will last.

With 100 million people still living in poverty, Beijing is unlikely to keep doling out generous solar subsidies indefinitely. Previous investment in solar plants in China has been hurt by delays in subsidy payments.

Japan has already lowered solar power tariff once in 2013.

Globally, the solar industry has made significant gains in driving down costs over the last few years, but it has yet to be weaned off big subsidies. Critics say the world should hold back from large-scale solar expansion until costs come down further and conversion efficiency of solar panels improves.

SOLAR RUSH

So far solar power only accounts for a small proportion of total installed power capacity in China, the world's largest energy user, which is predominantly fired by coal.

But whilst the potential would seem to be large, a rapid build-up of solar and wind farms in western China has already created a problem.

State Grid Corp of China has been struggling to transmit power from there to population hubs in the south and east due to a lack of a comprehensive high-voltage and smart grid to harness the intermittent renewable power.

Lin Boqiang, director of the China Centre of Energy Economics at Xiamen University and an adviser to China's National Energy Administration, said he has long-term faith in China's solar power development but reckons grid access is a "tremendous challenge".

Yet generous power tariffs and sweet loans granted by China for solar development have triggered what some analysts call "solar rush" for mostly solar farms in remote western China, where sunshine is abundant.

Beijing is buying electricity from solar farm investors at up to 1.0 yuan/kilowatt hour for up to 20 years, attractive terms that offer a relatively predictable annual return of more than 10%.

Separately, US trade officials on Thursday opened investigations into imports of certain solar power products from China and Taiwan, a move that could have a major impact on the nation's fast-growing solar market.

In the last few weeks, Chinese solar panel makers have made a slew of announcements to develop solar farms. They expect it to become a key part of their business, as it would form a stable source of demand for their products.

Trina said on Dec. 30 that it had signed a deal to develop a mega 1-GW solar farm project in the western province of Xinjiang. It also announced a plan to build a panel factory there for the project.

Shunfeng Photovoltaic, which is buying the main unit of bankrupt former top solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings, this month vowed to invest 80 billion yuan (US$13bil) to develop 10-GW projects – nearly 30% of Germany's solar installed capacity – over the next three years.

"We want to develop 3 GWs a year so we need more panel capacity," said Shunfeng chairman Zhang Yi – Reuters.

Microsoft profits beat forecasts, no news on new CEO

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 06:18 PM PST

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, boosted by strong sales of its software and services for businesses, a solid holiday season for its new Xbox game console and Surface tablets, and a slightly lower tax bill.

The company reported a fiscal second-quarter profit of US$6.56bil, or 78 cents per share, compared with US$6.38bil, or 76 cents per share, in the corresponding quarter a year before.

The world's largest software company did not say anything about its five-month search for a new chief executive to replace Steve Ballmer, who said in August he would retire within a year.

The company co-founded by Bill Gates 39 years ago was central to the personal computer revolution, and its Windows and Office products still dominate business desktops, but it lost its way with consumers in the last decade under Ballmer as Apple Inc and Google Inc stormed ahead in mobile computing.

The quarter may well be the last full one for Ballmer, and it at least showed some positive momentum for the Surface tablet, Microsoft's long-delayed attempt to knock Apple's iPad off its perch.

"It's a good print to ride off into the sunset with, for the current CEO," said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial. "There's still the over-arching question for this company: Who's going to be the new CEO, and what direction they take."

Sources have said the search is down to a handful of candidates, including internal and external executives.

XBOX, SURFACE RISE

Microsoft's new Xbox One console, launched in November, helped the top line, contributing more than half to the 7.4 million unit sales in the quarter, up from 5.9 million a year ago.

That said, Sony's cheaper PlayStation 4 appears to be winning the latest video game showdown.

Sales of the second generation of Surface tablets jumped to US$893mil in the key holiday shopping quarter, more than the whole of the previous fiscal year. But making and selling the machines cost US$932mil, meaning Microsoft is not making a profit on them.

At prices ranging from US$450 to US$1,800, the sales figure suggests Microsoft sold no more than 2 million Surface units. By comparison, Apple is expected to announce sales of more than 20 million iPads for the holiday quarter next week.

"Xbox is definitely a feather in Microsoft's cap, they defied the skeptics," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "But Surface continues to be the Mount Everest of uphill battles."

Microsoft did not say much about Windows Phones, its other great push into the mobile computing arena, which will gain force when it completes a $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia's handset business in the next few weeks.

The company said overall phone revenues, which include license fees from Nokia and royalty payments from other handset makers using Google's Android system, jumped 50% to just over US$1bil in the quarter.

However, that increase mostly reflects a low starting base for Windows in the year-ago quarter and runaway sales of Android smartphones.

Worryingly for Microsoft, Nokia earlier in the day announced sales of only 8.2 million Lumia smartphones, which was almost double the same quarter a year ago, but down from the 8.8 million it sold in the previous quarter, suggesting that the new phones lost momentum in the crucial holiday season.

Microsoft's profit of US$6.56bil (78 sen per share) for the quarter easily beat Wall Street's average estimate of 68 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, lifting Microsoft shares 3.4 percent in after hours trading.

Overall revenue rose 14% to US$24.5bill, also beating Wall Street's forecast of US$23.7bil, helped by higher sales of Microsoft's perennially strong business offerings, including server software, the Office suite of applications and quickly growing cloud, or Internet-based, computing services.

Over the last few months analysts slightly raised revenue estimates, but reduced them for net income – Reuters.
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First all-women CNY event for Wanita MCA

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Wanita MCA is hold­ing its first all-women Chinese New Year event here next month.

Movement head Datuk Heng Seai Kie (pic) said the Feb 15 dinner at the Xin Cuisine restaurant in Concorde Hotel will be aimed at enhancing networking and closer ties between the wing and women-based organisations.

They include guilds, clan-based associations, community groups and Barisan Nasional component parties, she told a press conference here yesterday. She said the wing will also organise a dialogue between petty traders and the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry to tackle the problems faced by the traders.

She said the meeting will be held soon. Heng said Wanita MCA will also hold programmes to educate consumers on wise spending and savings. On the 15% electricity tariffs hike, the wing urged Tenaga Nasional Bhd to make it gradual and in stages.

Regarding the flash mob on the kangkung issue by Macang Bubuk assemblyman Lee Khai Loon, she said the PKR representative had shown a bad example to youngsters and had instilled hatred for national leaders by disgracing the Prime Minister.

"We strongly condemn the despicable act and will not support such unhealthy political culture," said Heng, referring to the Jan 15 incident in which Lee and his followers stuffed the vegetable into an effigy of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

More Singaporeans opting for reunion dinners in JB

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

JOHOR BARU: More Singaporeans are taking advantage of the attractive exchange rates and celebrating with their loved ones at Chinese restaurants here this year.

Checks by The Star revealed that an average Chinese New Year eight-course meal for 10 in Singapore was more than twice the price of a similar meal in Johor Baru.

An average eight-course meal for a table of 10 at Chinese restaurants in Singapore costs between S$530 (RM1,380) and S$2,988 (RM7,777) while in Johor Baru it was between RM789 and RM2,088.

M Suite Hotel general manager Dev Singh said the hotel's Ming Court Chinese restaurant was almost fully booked.

"We can see a 15% increase in bookings from Singaporeans this year compared to last year," he said.

Mutiara Hotel's Meisan Szechuan restaurant assistant supervisor Joanne Chan said the restaurant had to split into two sessions to meet demands for Chinese New Year eve. Both sessions were also almost fully booked.

The Wan Li restaurant at Renais­sance Hotel here had also been receiving similar response.

The restaurant's manager Ng Shen-ynn said the restaurant also had to split into two sessions to accommodate the crowd.

Related story:

Rush for restaurant reunions

Assailants hijack lorry and drive off with RM4mil in hard disks

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

PETALING JAYA: A lorry carrying RM4mil worth of hard disks was hijacked by four parang-wielding men en route to the KL International Airport (KLIA).

The incident, which happened near the Kelana Jaya Customs complex along the Damansara–Puchong Expressway on Tuesday night, also left the lorry driver hospitalised when he suffered a heart attack.

Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed said the 44-year-old driver had left the manufacturing plant in Sungai Way at 11.15pm. The lorry carried some 20 tonnes of the electronic devices.

"The lorry was followed by a four-wheel-drive escort. They travelled some 200m before stopping at a traffic light.

"Then three cars, a Hyundai Sonata, a Proton Waja and a BMW, pulled up next to them, blocking the lorry. The driver could not reverse as the escort vehicle was in the way," he said.

Four men armed with parang alighted from the vehicles and smashed the windscreen of the lorry and dragged the driver out.

"He was not hurt but he suffered a heart attack and has been hospitalised. The suspects drove off with the lorry and the BMW, leaving the Sonata and Waja," said ACP Arjunaidi.

He added that there were no CCTVs in the area and police were on the lookout for the assailants who are believed to be in their 20s.
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