Rabu, 29 Januari 2014

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

Divided Thailand set for chaotic election
Driverless car to ply NUS campus
Scaffolding collapse leaves 11 hurt

Divided Thailand set for chaotic election

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 05:58 PM PST

BANGKOK, Jan 30, 2014 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of police will be deployed across Thailand on Sunday for an election seen as a crucial test of the kingdom's fragile democracy, with opposition protesters threatening to lay siege to polling stations.

Experts warn the vote is unlikely to end a long-running cycle of political violence or mollify opponents of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra who fear the polls will only prolong her billionaire family's hold on power.

At least 10 people have been killed and hundreds injured in clashes, grenade attacks and drive-by shootings since mass opposition rallies against her government began three months ago.

"Thailand seems to be in a perpetual state of conflict right now and I don't see any end in sight," said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The elite-backed opposition Democrat Party - which has not won an elected majority in around two decades - is boycotting the vote, tilting the odds toward another victory by Yingluck's party but reinforcing questions about whether the new parliament will have enough members to sit.

Protesters, who have occupied key intersections of Bangkok, are demanding Yingluck's elected government step down to make way for an unelected "people's council" that would oversee loosely defined reforms to tackle corruption and alleged vote-buying.

Yingluck's opponents say she is a puppet for her elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a controversial former prime minister who was ousted by the military in 2006 and lives in Dubai to avoid a prison term for graft.

The protests were initially triggered by a failed amnesty bill that could have allowed Thaksin to return without going to jail.

'Political limbo' looms

Fifty-three parties are taking part in Sunday's election, hoping to fill the void left by the Democrats, although there has been little sign of campaigning in the capital apart from a few defaced election posters.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, an opposition heavyweight, has urged supporters to do their utmost to prevent the polls taking place, raising fears of further violence.

His bold threat comes despite a 60-day state of emergency imposed in the capital and surrounding areas that gives authorities extra security powers.

Even if voters manage to cast their ballots, election officials warn that the poll result may not be known for months because of problems caused by the protests.

Disruption by demonstrators to candidate registrations means that if Yingluck wins she will remain in a caretaker role with limited power over government policy until by-elections are held to ensure there are enough MPs to convene parliament.

Thailand faces a "legal and political limbo that never happened before", warned Sunai.

"It's no longer necessary to have tanks on the street to remove one side of the political divide from the scene," he said. "Without a parliament there can be no elected government."

Advance voting in parts of the country, including Bangkok, on January 26 was marred by blockades by opposition protesters who stopped hundreds of thousands of people from casting ballots.

On Sunday 129,000 police will be deployed to protect ballot boxes and guard more than 93,500 polling stations, said deputy national police spokesman Anucha Romyanan.

'Elite clash of interests'

The backdrop to the protests is a years-long political struggle pitting the kingdom's royalist establishment - backed by the courts and the military - against Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon-turned-politician.

The dispute comes at a time of national anxiety about the health of 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and about who will be running the country when the revered but ailing monarch's more than six-decade reign comes to an end.

"You have in Thailand an elite clash of interests," said Paul Chambers, director of research at the Institute of Southeast Asian Affairs at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand.

Thaksin and his allies rely on support among the rural poor to win elections, he said.

"On the other hand the royalists have the military and the judiciary. It's a never-ending struggle," Chambers said.

Pro-Thaksin parties have won every election since 2001, most recently with a landslide victory under Yingluck two years ago.

In addition to the 2006 coup, two pro-Thaksin premiers were forced from office in 2008 by the courts, angering the ousted leader's "Red Shirt" supporters who have vowed to rise up if another elected government is removed by the army or the judiciary.

When the Red Shirts took to the streets in 2010 demanding new elections, more than 90 people died and nearly 1,900 people were wounded in street clashes and a military crackdown under the previous government.

Driverless car to ply NUS campus

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

A new driverless car will start tooling around the National University of Singapore (NUS) campus in tests that may one day see such vehicles shuttling people from their homes to destinations like MRT stations.

The Singapore-made car, called the Shared Computer Operated Transport, or Scot, was launched on Tuesday by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Techno-logy (Smart) and NUS.

Starting with a Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, the researchers retrofitted it at a cost of S$30,000 (RM78,490) so it would drive programmed routes.

The car, which seats four and has a top speed of 130kph, uses laser sensors with a 30m range to detect and avoid obstacles in its path.

It also uses remote sensing technology that allows it to function without relying on the Global Positioning System.

The researchers also wrote the maps used by the Scot to get from place to place.

They intend it to be deployed on demand in future, shared by residents like taxis. It could help solve cities' "first- and last-mile problems" – the initial and final legs of journeys between home and transportation hubs that often cause congestion and air pollution.

Such vehicles could be especially relevant to Singapore given its ageing population, which means an increasing number of people with mobility issues, said Smart lead investigator Emilio Frazzoli.

"We are looking at this to provide wider access to mobility for the elderly population in Singa-pore," he said.

It would also make car-sharing more effective, he added. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Scaffolding collapse leaves 11 hurt

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

A scaffolding at a construction site on Sentosa collapsed, injuring 11 Indian workers.

The collapse occurred at about 3.15pm yesterday at a worksite near Palawan Beach, where the new Family Entertainment Centre is currently being built. The building is due to be completed by the end of this year.

The injured workers were taken to Singapore General Hospital. The Straits Times understands that there are no fatalities. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

Arrest of billionaire highlights political divisions in Iran
Thai army to deploy more troops in capital ahead of vote
Russia to await new Ukraine government before fully implementing rescue -Putin

Arrest of billionaire highlights political divisions in Iran

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:31 PM PST

BEIRUT (Reuters) - While international sanctions have made life a struggle for many Iranians, they were a big break for businessman Babak Zanjani, who made a fortune helping the government evade the restrictions on oil sales. He also made enemies.

A $40,000 watch on his wrist and a Tehran football club for a plaything, Zanjani shuttled to meetings on private jets, arranging billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies that stretched from Turkey to Malaysia, Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates, he said last autumn.

"This is my work - sanctions-busting operations," he told Iranian current affairs magazine Aseman.

Under the conservative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the 39-year-old Zanjani was good enough at his work to amass a fortune of $10 billion - along with debts of a similar scale, he told Aseman - until he was arrested late last month.

He is being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, accused of owing the government, under moderate new President Hassan Rouhani since August, more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry.

Rouhani's government, which has struck a preliminary deal with the West to ease some sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear activities, has not said what specific charges are being investigated. But two days before Zanjani's arrest, Rouhani had written to his first deputy demanding action against sanctions profiteers.

When announcing the arrest, a judicial spokesman said "he received funds from certain bodies ... and received oil and other shipments and now has not returned the funds" and that any violations would be addressed after the investigation.

Zanjani has always denied any wrongdoing and says he only tried to do a service for the country. His office did not immediately return requests for comment.

Analysts say Zanjani's connections with senior officials in Ahmadinejad's administration and in the Revolutionary Guards - a powerful branch of Iran's military with extensive business interests - have made him a political target.

"The arrival of the new government played a big role in the downfall of Zanjani," said Fereydoun Khavand, an Iran expert and economist at the Paris Descartes University.

"The issue of Zanjani and the broader issue of corruption has become a factional war between the reformists on one side and the conservatives on the other side."

RAGS TO RICHES

Zanjani's rise from market trader to billionaire middleman has become for many ordinary Iranians not a rags-to-riches inspiration but evidence of cronyism.

"This is not about an individual. This is a collective where Babak Zanjani is the facade," said a factory owner in Tehran, to explain what he called the businessman's "unnatural growth".

The collective that gave Zanjani his big opportunity was the Revolutionary Guards, which expanded its social, political and economic influence under Ahmadinejad, playing a major role during the 2009 presidential election and the suppression of protests after two defeated moderate candidates claimed the vote was rigged. The two have been under house arrest since 2011.

In 2010, Zanjani began helping Khatam al Anbia, one of the largest companies controlled by the Guards, to evade financial sanctions. Zanjani says that the following year, when Rostam Qassemi, a former senior commander in the Guards, became oil minister, he asked Zanjani to sell oil and transfer money back to Iran.

"Zanjani solved the problems of the Revolutionary Guards and Khatam al Anbia to a degree," said Esmail Gerami-Moghaddam, a reformist former member of parliament.

If his proximity to the Guards discomfited the moderates, a political tussle in February last year made outright enemies of some of them when Ahmadinejad accused the brother of the Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, a long-time rival, of offering political favours in exchange for an introduction to Zanjani for business ventures.

The brother denied the charges, and Ahmadinejad's rivals accused Zanjani of complicity in trying to smear Larijani and his family.

In late December, with Ahmadinejad out of office, a dozen parliamentarians, most of them critics of the previous government, wrote a letter to Rouhani, Larijani and the head of the judiciary, accusing Zanjani of initiating an illegal $5.4 billion business deal, hanging on to money from oil sales to the oil ministry and demanding that corruption charges be pursued against him.

Zanjani was arrested days later, and within a week a senior aide was also arrested.

"Zanjani's arrest will probably be used as a vehicle by the faction supporting the Rouhani government to expose files against their opponents," Khavand said.

That could explain why Zanjani's erstwhile supporters have kept their heads down since his arrest.

"The hardline politicians and those affiliated with the former government who supported him behind the scenes cut their support," said Gerami-Moghaddam.

If Zanjani has become a political target, he is also now a lightning rod for anger at the perceived corruption and economic mismanagement of the previous administration.

But Zanjani is a symptom of a wider, systemic problem, said Khavand.

"That we want to summarise the issue of corruption in the Islamic Republic to Zanjani or people like Zanjani is wrong," Khavand said. "The economic structure of Iran, along with its political structure and the lack of a free press, have allowed for the roots of extensive corruption to spread."

Thai army to deploy more troops in capital ahead of vote

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:30 PM PST

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's army will increase the number of troops in the capital ahead of Sunday's election, which anti-government protesters say they will disrupt as part of their campaign to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The government's decision to press ahead with the February 2 election has inflamed tensions in the capital, Bangkok, where the protesters have blockaded main intersections and forced many ministries to close their doors this month.

"In addition to the 5,000 soldiers we have already deployed in and around Bangkok to help monitor security, we will be increasing troops around protest sites as there are people trying to instigate violence," army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told Reuters.

Around 10,000 police would be responsible for security in Bangkok on polling day and the soldiers would be on standby, he added.

Demonstrators took to the streets in November in the latest chapter of an eight-year political conflict that pits Bangkok's middle class and southern Thais against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the army in 2006.

The government imposed a state of emergency in the capital from January 22 to help maintain order. A protest leader sought a court ruling on the legality of the emergency and a civil court agreed on Thursday to hear the case.

Ten people have died and at least 577 have been injured in politically related violence since November 30 according to the Erawan Medical Center, which monitors Bangkok hospitals.

A protest leader was killed and around a dozen people were injured in a clash near a polling station during advance voting on Sunday in Bangkok. The protesters prevented early voting in many parts of Bangkok and the south.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban led a march in the capital on Thursday, the start of a three-day push to demonstrate opposition to the vote and rustle up support for its cause.

He wants political reforms before an election is held, with the aim of eradicating the influence of Thaksin and his family. They have not said how they would do this.

Yingluck's Puea Thai Party is expected to win the election comfortably. The main opposition Democrat Party is boycotting the vote.

However, not enough candidates have been able to register to provide a quorum for parliament to elect a new government after the election. By-elections will have to be held to fill the vacant seats, which could leave the country without a properly functioning government for months.

(Editing by Alan Raybould)

Russia to await new Ukraine government before fully implementing rescue -Putin

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 06:20 PM PST

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine on Wednesday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $15 billion bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs.

Putin repeated a promise to honour the lifeline agreement with Ukraine in full, but left open the timing of the next aid instalment as Kiev struggles to calm more than two months of turmoil since President Victor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union.

A day after Prime Minister Myeloma Azarov resigned on Tuesday, hoping to appease the opposition and street protesters, Russia tightened border checks on imports from Ukraine in what looked like a reminder to Yanukovich not to install a government that tilts policy back towards the West.

Ukraine's new interim prime minister promised to try to limit the economic damage inflicted by the sometimes violent street protests, and said he expected Russia to disburse a further $2 billion aid instalment "very soon".

Putin had less of a sense of urgency. "I would ask the (Russian) government to fulfil all our financial agreements in full," he said, repeating a promise made on Tuesday after the government resigned in Kiev.

However, he signalled that the latest instalment was on hold in remarks he made during a meeting with senior government officials, extracts of which were broadcast later on Russian TV.

"Let's wait for the formation of a Ukrainian government," he said, before telling the meeting, "But I ask you, even in the current situation, not to lose contact with our (Ukrainian) colleagues," adding that discussions should continue before a new government is formed.

Putin agreed to the aid package with Ukraine in December, throwing the ex-Soviet state a lifeline in what the opposition and the West regard as a reward for scrapping plans to sign political and trade deals with the EU and promising to improve ties with Russia.

WESTERN ALARM

Alarm about Ukraine is growing in the West. German Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoned Putin and Yanukovich on Wednesday, urging a constructive dialogue between the government and opposition in Kiev. "The situation must not be allowed to spiral again into violence," a German government spokesman quoted her as saying.

NATO Secretary General Andres Fog Rasmussen was more forthright, blaming Russia for Kiev's failure to sign the EU deals. "An association pact with Ukraine would have been a major boost to Euro-Atlantic security, I truly regret that it could not be done," he told the French newspaper le Figaro. "The reason is well-known: pressure that Russia exerts on Kiev.

U.S. congressional aides said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama's administration was preparing financial sanctions that could be imposed on Ukrainian officials and protest leaders if violence escalates in the political crisis gripping the country.

Obama referred to Ukraine in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, voicing support for the principle that all people have the right to free expression

Lawmakers loyal to Yanukovich offered an amnesty to people detained in anti-government protests - but only if activists first vacate occupied public buildings in Kiev and elsewhere, a condition they previously rejected.

Ukraine badly needs the Russian money. Figures compiled by UniCredit bank before the bailout put its gross external financing requirements at $3.8 billion in the first three months of this year alone, including $2.29 billion for gas that is covered by the deal with Moscow.

That rises to $5.5 billion in April-June, including repaying a $1 billion bond that matures then. Altogether, the government would need $17.44 billion this year to pay its foreign bills, including for Russian gas.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, called for sincere discussion during Ukraine's crisis. "The dialogue which has happened from time to time needs to become a real dialogue. We hope to see real progress in these coming days. Time is really of the essence," she said after meeting Yanukovich.

RUSSIAN CHECKS

In an apparent sign of further pressure from Moscow, the Ukrainian association of producers said Russia had started extra border checks, backed by demands for increased duties, on cargoes of food and machinery being shipped into the country by road and rail.

Russia took similar action in August in what was seen as part of Moscow's campaign to dissuade its neighbour from signing the association and trade agreements with the EU.

Ukraine has been gripped by mass unrest since Yanukovich walked away from the EU deals last November.

Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of independent Ukraine, stressed the depth of the crisis on Wednesday.

"The state is on the brink of civil war. We must call what is happening by its proper name. What is happening is revolution because we are talking about an attempt to bring about a change of power," he told parliament.

With Yanukovich and loyalist deputies in parliament now making concessions to defuse the crisis and with Azarov, a Russian-born hardliner, gone there had been speculation that Moscow might slow or even halt the stream of aid.

But acting Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov appeared to have been cheered by Putin's promise on Tuesday to extend the $15 billion in credits and cheaper gas.

"We have already received the first tranche of $3 billion and expect to receive the second tranche of $2 billion very soon," he said, chairing his first Cabinet meeting. Russia is offering the funds by buying Ukrainian government bonds.

BACK-ROOM TALKS

In Kiev, opposition deputies and Yanukovich loyalists were in back-room talks on Wednesday over the wording of a draft law under which protesters detained by police would get amnesties.

In an unusual move, Yanukovich himself went to parliament to intervene in the debate. There was no immediate response from protesters to the late-night passing of a law that would amnesty detainees if occupied buildings were first cleared. The opposition in parliament had abstained on the vote.

Although the unrest began because of Yanukovich's U-turn on policy towards Europe, it has since turned into a mass demonstration, punctuated by violent clashes between radical protesters and police, against perceived misrule and corruption under Yanukovich's leadership.

Several hundred people camp round-the-clock on Kiev's Independence Square and along an adjoining thoroughfare, while more radical activists confront police lines at Dynamo football stadium a few hundred metres away.

Anti-Yanukovich activists have also stormed into municipal buildings in many other cities across the sprawling country of 46 million. Hundreds of protesters in Kiev have occupied City Hall and the main agriculture ministry building.

Opposition leaders, including world champion boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, have resisted demands by Yanukovich's Regions Party for barricades to be removed from roads and for protesters to leave occupied buildings as a pre-condition for an amnesty for detained activists.

Klitschko, in a comment that also highlighted the tenuous control the opposition leaders have over sections of the protest movement, said, "For us to simply say to people 'You have done your job, now go home' is now not possible."

In a big concession to the opposition and the protest movement, pro-Yanukovich deputies voted on Tuesday to repeal a series of sweeping anti-protest laws they brought in hastily on January 16 in response to increasingly violent clashes.

But opposition leaders, who also include former Economy Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok, have won a mandate from protesters on the streets to continue to press for further gains from Yanukovich.

The opposition also wants a return to the previous constitution, which would represent another significant concession since it would reduce Yanukovich's powers.

Speculation that Russia might cut the financial lifeline it has offered prompted the Standard & Poors agency to cut Ukraine's credit rating to CCC+ on Tuesday.

Arbuzov said the central bank was ensuring stability on the financial markets and he made no mention of any changes to his predecessor's policy of keeping the hryvnia currency pegged close to the dollar and maintaining subsidies for domestic gas - both criticised by the International Monetary Fund.

(Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Thomas Grove in Moscow, Nicholas Vinocur in Paris, and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Richard Balmforth and Jack Stubbs; Editing by David Stamp, Alastair Macdonald and Peter Cooney)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

Airwave assassins
Festive feast
Upping the ante on epics

Airwave assassins

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Star RFM 988 DJs KK Wong and Cheryl Lee play a pair of lovestruck assassins in Bullets Over Petaling Street.

AS THEY are best known for their on-air chemistry and trademark fun banter, it was no surprise that Star RFM 988 DJs KK Wong and Cheryl Lee (who goes by Xin Yi on air) were roped into the cast of locally-produced Chinese action comedy movie Bullets Over Petaling Street.

The film, jointly made with Juita Viden and Golden Screen Cinemas, sees the DJ duo taking on the role of assassins – with Wong as Lee's mentor, who develops feelings for her after taking her under his wing.

"I think (our inclusion in the movie is because) the director felt that we can bring some humour to the film," said Lee during an interview with the two deejays in Petaling Jaya recently.

Although she enjoyed the filming process immensely, she also lamented that it could get rather difficult and challenging.

Star RFM 988 DJs KK Wong (right) and Cheryl Lee (Xin Yi) play assassins hired to kill Debbie Goh's triad boss lady, in Bullets Over Petaling Street.

Wong (right) as Lee's mentor, develops feelings for her after taking her under his wing.

"On the first day of filming itself, I was atop a moving vehicle, holding a gun while shooting at a certain angle. Even though the gun was only a replica, the weight and features of it were designed like the real weapon, so I really got a lot of bruises on my arm that day! I had no training beforehand, but thankfully I still exercise regularly to maintain my fitness," she explained.

Wong agreed that Lee's role was a lot more gruelling than his own, as he didn't have many action scenes. In fact, for the first half of the show, he is disguised as a photographer, with his secret identity as a killer only revealed later.

Just as the lead character Angel (played by actress Debbie Goh) undergoes a dozen different costume changes for each scene, Lee said she also has at least 10 different hairstyles for her part, which proved to be quite time-consuming. All the same, the vivacious 29-year-old, who previously played more genteel and girl-next-door roles, was also glad to be tackling the more aggressive personality of a hired assassin.

Meanwhile, Wong thinks that the movie turned out to be quite a breakthrough.

"Personally, I didn't harbour too high expectations of this film, but I've heard lots of compliments from those who have watched it. That is such a big relief," he said.

Both of them harbour hopes of becoming the main actor or actress one day in future films.

"Actually, I'm very versatile, and don't just play comedy-related roles. This is something I hope directors can see. In fact, I'm quite good at shedding tears, and being a crybaby!" Wong quipped playfully.

Known for their on-air banter, Wong (left) and Lee were the perfect choice to bring a little humour to the movie.

Wong also claimed that he was approached by a real triad boss while shooting a scene in Petaling Street, though he had no inkling who the well-dressed man was at the time.

"He happened to recognise me, so he called my name and asked why we never informed him that we were coming here to film. I was a little surprised, because I didn't know who he was. I thought he was just a fan! It was only later that I found out (who he was), when other crew members asked how I came to know a triad boss!" he recalled with a mock shudder.

Unlike previous years where the Kuala Lumpur native would usually spend the festive period travelling, Wong is staying put in the city this year, and will even be on duty on the first day of Chinese New Year.

Lee, who was born in Malacca but spent most of her formative years in Pahang, said her family is now living in Johor, but will be coming to visit her in KL so there are preparations to make at home.

Bullets Over Petaling Street opens in cinemas nationwide on Feb 13.

Festive feast

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

From beings of legend to figures of Lego, here's what to expect at the cinemas this season.

Ah Beng: Mission Impossible (now showing)

Director: Silver

Cast: Jack Lim, Jeff Chin, Gan Mei Yan

Distributor: Ram Entertainment

Just as everyone is preparing for the festive season, security guard Ah Beng (Lim) receives a call from his company. He is asked to cancel his Lunar New Year holiday for a "simple" mission, which infuriates him. However, Ah Beng immediately changes his mind when he discovers that the mission promises a handsome reward of one million ringgit!

Opening today:

The Monkey King

Cast: Donnie Yen, Chow Yun-Fat, Aaron Kwok

Director: Cheang Pou-Soi

Distributor: GSC Movies

Martial arts superstar Donnie Yen plays the titular Monkey King Sun Wukong, a monkey born from a heavenly stone who acquires supernatural powers. This first instalment in a trilogy of live-action 3D movies is actually a prequel to the classic Chinese literary work Journey To The West, telling the origin of Sun Wukong and ending with his imprisonment for his crimes under the Five-Peaked Mountain.

The Journey

Director: Chiu Keng Guan

Cast: Ben Andrew Pfeiffer, Lee Sai Peng, Joanne Yew Hong Im

Distributor: Mm2 Entertainment Sdn Bhd

Uncle Chuan (Lee) is an old-fashioned and conservative man staying alone in Cameron Highlands, leading a lonely retired life. When his only daughter Ah Bee (Yew) returns home from studying overseas and announces that she is marrying her foreign boyfriend Benji (Pfeiffer), Chuan reluctantly agrees under one condition – that Benji accompanies him on a journey all over Malaysia to deliver the wedding invitations to his 11 ex-primary schoolmates in person.

Chow Yun-Fat stars as a master gambler in From Vegas To Macau.

From Vegas to Macau

Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Nicholas Tse, Chapman To, Tian Jing

Director: Wong Jing

Distributor: GSC Movies

Chow Yun-Fat returns to the poker table in a role that brings to mind his iconic God Of Gamblers movies. Chow plays Hendrick, a renowned gambler who has left behind his troubled past to work as a security consultant for a casino. When super hacker "Show Hand" (Tse) unwittingly gets Hendrick's daughter Charlie involved with a mafia boss named Ko, the two generations of swindlers must work together to bring down the bad guy and save Charlie.

Hello Babies

Cast: Raymond Wong, Eric Tsang, Sandra Ng, Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Raymond Lam Fung, Karena Lam

Director: Vincent Kok

Distributor: Lotus Five Star

A film about two married couples of different ages and backgrounds, and how they deal with issues related to procreation. One couple decides not to have children in order to maintain their peaceful lifestyle, while the other is still trying for a baby after many years of marriage. Their lives changed forever when a wealthy uncle is diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's disease, and they find out that they would only inherit his vast fortune under one condition – that they have a baby.

Golden Chicken$$$

Director: Matt Chow

Cast: Sandra Ng, with cameos by Ivana Wong, Nick Cheung, Louis Koo, Ronald Cheng, Anthony Wong etc.

Distributor: GSC Movies

In this follow-up to 2002's Golden Chicken and 2003's Golden Chicken 2, Ng reprises her role as Ah Kam, a "mamasan" who manages a stable of high-end prostitutes. On the surface, she embraces the prosperity of the "New Hong Kong", but like many middle-class HK citizens, she laments the loss of the old Hong Kong that once belonged to the people. When her old flame, over-the-hill mob boss Gordon (Anthony Wong), is unable to cope with the new Hong Kong, the kind-hearted Kam takes it upon herself to help him rebuild his life.

Robocop (Joel Kinnaman) is unstoppable when it comes to catching the criminals in Robocop.

Robocop

Director: José Padilha

Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Williams, Jennifer Ehle, Jay Baruchel

Distributor: Sony Pictures

A remake of the cult 1987 hit, this updated version features a star-studded cast, and revolves around good cop and family man Alex Murphy (Kinnaman) being turned into a part-man, part-robot police officer by money-grubbing multinational conglomerate OmniCorp.

Huat Ah! Huat Ah! Huat! (Opens Feb 6)

Cast: Aniu, Joyce Cheng, KK Wong, Marcus Chin

Director: Tan Boon Huat

Distributor: GSC Movies

An inspirational comedy about a village lad with autism named Ah Huat (Aniu), who is inept at expressing himself. A typical down-to-earth lad trying to earn an honest living through hard work, Ah Huat lives by the motto of staying true to himself, and goes through a rite of passage in order to achieve success and find happiness.

'Ooh, look at that cute little fella. Well, hello, kitty – whoops, can I say that without infringing something?'

The Lego Movies (opens Feb 6)

Director: Phil Lord

Voice cast: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman Emmet is an ordinary, happy little mini-figure who is mistaken for the Special, a Master Builder who can save the Lego universe from the evil Lord Business (Ferrel), who wants to superglue all the Lego pieces together. Helping Emmet on his quest to stop Lord Business is Vitruvius the wizard (Freeman), a girl with a wild style named, well, Wildstyle (Banks) and Batman (Arnett). Based on the trailer, our money is on this being the funniest movie featuring Batman ever.

Bullets Over Petaling Street (opens Feb 13)

Cast: Debbie Goh, Chen Han Wei, Irene Ang, Jeffrey Cheng, Steve Yap

Directors: Sampson Yuen, Ho Shih Phin

Distributor: GSC Movies

An action comedy about a movie star named Angel (Goh) who unwittingly becomes the leader of a triad in Petaling Street and becomes involved in an intense election war with three other gangs.

Dodging assassins and facing up to dangerous gangsters, Angel has to adapt to her new role while trying to rekindle her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Xie Da Xiang (Chen).

Upping the ante on epics

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

A big risk from Marvel, risky pics for two big-name stars, and the return of a beloved big lizard – it's all big in 2014!

HERE are some blockbusters likely to pull in the crowds in 2014. Surprise, surprise – there's a heck of a lot of CGI in them. Can two Biblical epics out-muscle superheroes, mutants and living robots at the box office?

> Noah: Darren Aronofsky's US$130m (RM428mil) Biblical epic arrives buffeted by Hurricane Sandy (which gatecrashed the production) and lashed by controversy (the director and studio have reportedly squabbled over the final cut). The omens are explosive and the anticipation is building. Russell Crowe looks on stentorian form as the pre-flood patriarch, reeling from portents of the apocalypse and determined to protect his wife (Jennifer Connelly), his adopted daughter (Emma Watson) and the animals of the world. But trouble is brewing; he's going to need a bigger boat.

> Godzilla: British director Gareth Edwards scored a low-budget breakthrough with 2010's Monsters. Now he's surging up through the gears to tackle arguably the biggest beast of them all. His remastered Godzilla finds the behemoth battling manmade goliaths while Aaron Taylor-Johnson strives (one assumes in vain) to maintain order. The eclectic supporting cast finds room for Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins and Juliette Binoche.

> Exodus: Bible study, book two. Ridley Scott leads Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul and Sigourney Weaver through the wilderness with his story of Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Bale plays Moses, Edgerton is Ramses, while Almeria in Spain offers up the path to Mount Sanai. Likely epic, almost certainly bombastic. And – given it's a Scott film – bloody as hell.

> Pompeii: Remake of the cheeky British TV sitcom that saw the Carry On lot romp – oh hold on, that's not right, let's try again: Huge CGI-riddled take on the destruction of the Roman city by the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Kit Harington of Game Of Thrones plays Milo, a slave turned gladiator who must beat the arena and best mother nature to save his love, Cassia (Emily Browning). Plenty of bare flesh, loads of shonky special effects and a starring role for Kiefer Sutherland as an evil senator. Perhaps this is borrowing Up Pompeii!'s enjoyable trashiness after all?

> Captain America: Winter Soldier: America's old-school superhero continues his reinvention from Second World War propaganda tool to righteous modern age ass-kicker. Likeable lunk Chris Evans is back in the red, white and blue corner as Steve Rogers/Captain America, still struggling to adapt to the modern world after his abrupt resurrection at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger. Over on the dark side is the Winter Soldier, a former pal of his who has been turned into a brainwashed assassin. Superhero stories are still huge business (Iron Man 3 was 2013's highest-grossing film). No wonder Marvel keeps on churning them out. It'll be only a matter of seconds before another ... Oh! Look! ...

> Guardians Of The Galaxy: The 10th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Chris Pratt leads a rag-tag band of superheroes that include a talking raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a sentient tree (Vin Diesel). John C. Reilly and Glenn Close are among the top brass of Nova Corps, the intergalatic police force that guides the Guardians through their very odd adventure. Less sleek than the X-Men, more risque than the Avengers. This promises to be Marvel's weirdest, riskiest manoeuvre yet.

> Transformers: Age Of Extinction: The Transformers franchise folds itself into a new shape with a fourth instalment featuring an honest-to-goodness star name – Mark Wahlberg – in the lead role. Age Of Extinction has Wahlberg playing an inventor and single dad powering down the Decepticons with the help of Optimus Prime and company. Nicola Peltz gets to play the woman who screams and runs away a lot, while Michael Bay returns to the director's chair. All together now: Boom Crunch! Arrrgh!

> The Amazing Spider-Man 2: The high school hero returns to take on Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Electro (Jamie Foxx), the latest villains associated with shady tech company OsCorp. Andrew Garfield dons the costume for his second swing as Marvel's friendly neighbourhood cash cow. Emma Stone is back as Gwen Stacy, while Dane DeHaan steps aboard the franchise merry-go-round as Harry Osborn, pal of Peter, eventual arch-enemy of the webslinger. Bleat on, those of you still miffed at this reboot, which arrives a mere 10 years after Sam Raimi's original. Spidey's moving too fast to hear you.

> X-Men: Days of Future Past: The clue's in the baffling title. Fresh from their adventure with Matthew Vaughn in X-Men: First Class, the students of Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters team up (kind of) with their future selves to battle an evil force. Magneto and his mutant brotherhood are around too. It's an excuse to watch Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender scamper around in spandex again basically. Why should cinema aim any higher than that? – Guardian News & Media

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

Airwave assassins
Festive feast
Upping the ante on epics

Airwave assassins

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Star RFM 988 DJs KK Wong and Cheryl Lee play a pair of lovestruck assassins in Bullets Over Petaling Street.

"I think (our inclusion in the movie is because) the director felt that we can bring some humour to the film," said Lee during an interview with the two deejays in Petaling Jaya recently.

Although she enjoyed the filming process immensely, she also lamented that it could get rather difficult and challenging.

Wong (right) as Lee's mentor, develops feelings for her after taking her under his wing.

Meanwhile, Wong thinks that the movie turned out to be quite a breakthrough.

"Personally, I didn't harbour too high expectations of this film, but I've heard lots of compliments from those who have watched it. That is such a big relief," he said.

Both of them harbour hopes of becoming the main actor or actress one day in future films.

Known for their on-air banter, Wong (left) and Lee were the perfect choice to bring a little humour to the movie.

Wong also claimed that he was approached by a real triad boss while shooting a scene in Petaling Street, though he had no inkling who the well-dressed man was at the time.

Lee, who was born in Malacca but spent most of her formative years in Pahang, said her family is now living in Johor, but will be coming to visit her in KL so there are preparations to make at home.

Bullets Over Petaling Street opens in cinemas nationwide on Feb 13.

Festive feast

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

From beings of legend to figures of Lego, here's what to expect at the cinemas this season.

Ah Beng: Mission Impossible (now showing)

Director: Silver

Cast: Jack Lim, Jeff Chin, Gan Mei Yan

Upping the ante on epics

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

A big risk from Marvel, risky pics for two big-name stars, and the return of a beloved big lizard – it's all big in 2014!

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Fargo adaptation coming soon
True Detective creator extends HBO deal
When the groaning gets tough

Fargo adaptation coming soon

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

The upcoming TV series will look different but sound the same as the film.

Fargo is coming back as a TV series, but viewers shouldn't confuse the FX series with the Oscar-winning 1996 film from Ethan and Joel Coen.

The upcoming programme will be a limited drama series, inspired by the film, that will feature a true crime story with new characters established in the trademark humour, dialect, murder and "Minnesota nice" of the original film. The 10-part series will debut April 15, the network announced recently during the winter TV press tour in California.

The character of Marge Gunderson, the pregnant law enforcement officer played by Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning performance, will not be a part of the new series.

Key to the new Fargo will be the feel of the Minnesota region, where people "have an inability to communicate," said Noah Hawley, executive producer and writer of all the episodes. "It's a stoic culture where people don't talk about feelings. It's broken the way people communicate."

The project stars Billy Bob Thornton as Lorne Malvo, a drifter who meets and forever changes the life of small town insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman).

Duluth Police Deputy Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) is a single father who must choose between his own personal safety and his duty as a policeman in investigating the case. Allison Tolman also stars as Molly Stevenson, an ambitious deputy.

The Coen brothers are listed as executive producers, along with former NBC entertainment head Warren Littlefield. But the filmmakers are not directly involved with the production, which was filmed in Calgary, Canada.

"TV is not their medium," Hawley said. When Ethan Coen read Hawley's pilot script, he responded, "Yeah, good," and gave the project his blessing, Hawley said.

"When Ethan said, 'Yeah, good,' that means he's over the moon," said Thornton, who appeared in the brothers' 2001 The Man Who Wasn't There.

In other news, Zach Galifianakis and Michael Cera will star in upcoming pilots for FX. Galifianakis, the star of several hit movie comedies including The Hangover franchise," is creating and will star in a pilot that he will co-write with Louis C.K. The network also announced Louie will return for a fourth season in May.

Cera (Juno) and John Hawkes (Winter's Bone) will star in How And Why, a pilot from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich). The show revolves around a man who can explain how a nuclear reactor works but is clueless about life. Kaufman will write and direct the pilot and serve as executive producer. — Los Angeles Times/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

True Detective creator extends HBO deal

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

WRITER and producer Nic Pizzolatto has extended his partnership with HBO by signing a new two-year deal, a network representative told TheWrap.

The agreement arrives on the heels of True Detective's successful run on the premium cable channel. On top of being critically acclaimed, the crime drama's Jan 12 debut was HBO's highest rated series premiere since 2010.

The new agreement suggests HBO's Season Two renewal for the series is forthcoming, plus it will get the first look at any new projects from Pizzolatto.

In April 2012, HBO picked up True Detective with an eight-episode order. Pizzolatto wrote all the episodes, with Cary Joji Fukunaga directing each as well as serving as an executive producer. Pizzolatto is also the showrunner.

Season One stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as homicide detectives hunting for a serial killer across 17 years.

It also stars Michelle Monaghan, Michael Potts, and Tory Kittles.

Before signing on with HBO two years ago, Pizzolatto was a staff writer for AMC's The Killing. The author of two books, he taught fiction and literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Chicago, and DePauw University. – Reuters

When the groaning gets tough

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Life's not always hunky-dory in TV Land, nuh-uh. In fact, some people have it so bad, we think they deserve an award.

IF there were awards for TV characters with the worst luck ever, who would you pick? Here's our creme de la creme. When this lot are given lemons, they make the worst lemonade ever, which allows all of us couch potatoes to revel in its bittersweet beauty. Here's to the hard-luck cases on TV!

In third place, we have ... (wait for it) country singers! Seriously.

Country music is full of stories of broken hearts and missed opportunities and we think that's why the folks on Nashville seem to be belting out gems every week. Seriously, we love the music from the series. But boy, is the show ever replete with sad stories.

We can't really decide if Deacon Claybourne (Chip Esten) or Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) has the saddest tale, really. Deacon has been pining for his one true love Rayne James (Connie Britton ) for more than 20 years. They were dating and then he went into rehab for alcohol addiction and she stood by him for a while.

But when he didn't seem to want to get his act together, she left him and got married. He eventually got better but a little too late. Still, he stood by her and pined for her through his beautiful songs ... songs which they wrote and performed together. Oh boy.

And then he finds out that they actually have a daughter together? What? Seriously? He goes back to the bottle and meets with an accident. They don't talk anymore and he may not be able to play guitar ever again.

Oh. And Juliette? She's sexy and sassy but underneath it all lies a broken girl who grew up without a father and with a drug addict for a mother. She has no real friends mainly because she's afraid to allow people into her life – God knows she's been disappointed enough.

She's a talented singer but she also has the talent of falling for the wrong guys; one tried to swindle her of her money and destroy her already strained relationship with her mother. And when she finds the right guy … well, she messes things up because she's just too scared to commit. Will she ever find love? Will Deacon?

And in second spot, a guy who really lost track of time.

TV characters who have been dealt a bad hand? Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) of Sleepy Hollow makes the list for sure, and is up there with the sorriest of the lot. Although some may argue that waking up in the future – 250 years in the future to be precise – is not altogether a "bad" thing, we argue that if your soul has been somehow meshed with that of one of the four horseman whose sole purpose it is to bring about the Apocalypse, then, well ... your life is no bed of roses.

Sleepy Hollow is a modern-day retelling of the 1820 short story The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. It has some cool supernatural, horror, comedy and police drama elements, which make it a really watchable television programme.

Imagine fighting one minute in the Continental Army for George Washington in 1781 and then somehow waking up today. Oh, did we forget to mention that just before dying in 1781, Ichbabod decapitates a Hessian soldier (Irving's Headless Horseman no less) and by some freakish love spell their fates are intertwined as a result of their blood mixing shortly before both men expire.

If that is not bad enough, when he wakes up in the future, Ichabod has so much to catch up on (Starbucks, plastic, polygraph tests, etc). He also has to earn the friendship and trust of policewoman Leftenant (ahem) Abbie Mills (played by Nicole Beharie, who initially arrests him but then becomes his new partner in saving the world from impending doom) and come to terms with the fact that his wife Katrina is a witch (Katia Winter) who is stuck in purgatory and can only communicate with him at the most inopportune moments, like when he is near death.

A regular day for Ichabod? Killing sprees, warring occult groups, sin eaters and evil manifesting in various forms and shapes. And through it all, does he even get a change of clothes? Nope, we're halfway through Season One, and he's still stuck in his 18th-century get-up.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Crane's wardrobe is referred to as a "big stinking security blanket" (LOL) and Mison is quoted as saying: "He's a long way from home – 250 years away – so anything that he can hold on to from his time, I think he certainly will." Poor Ichabod.

Ladies and gents, the one you've all been waiting for. The worst-life-on-TV-drama crown goes to ... (drum roll, violins, thrown in a pipe organ for good measure) one of those upstairs folk on Downton Abbey ...

Lady Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael)! The quintessential middle child, Lady Edith's life is really unfortunate. Apart from being the least attractive of the three sisters (hey, we're being honest), she is also the least interesting. She has an incredible blandness about her, you have to admit! No wonder she is often dubbed "the forgotten one".

She doesn't have the strength or beauty of Lady Mary (even though her voice modulates quite nicely and doesn't drone on like her older sister) nor does she have the passion of Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay). And her tragedy never seems to end.

Initially, she loves her cousin Patrick (who may or may not be lost at sea) but Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) decides to pursue him and Edith is once again forgotten.

She then finds love in the rather elderly Sir Anthony Strallan (Robert Bathurst) but Mary's interference once again costs her dearly. Sigh. In Season Two she begins a relationship with a married farmer but when his wife finds out, that romance kind of ends too.

In the third season Sir Anthony comes back and proposes to her but he then ditches her at the altar. And then she falls for newspaper editor Michael Gregson (Charles Edwards) who is married but whose wife is in a mental asylum. He can't divorce her legally as his wife is insane, but Edith decides to continue the relationship anyway.

There seems to be a glimmer of hope when Michael discovers a way out of his predicament but just as things begin to look up, he vanishes. Seriously?

Oh, and she finds out she is pregnant. Oh Lord. Give the girl the award for most tragic character, please. We don't think she can take any more.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business

MRCB to sell Platinum Sentral office building for RM750mil
Final China HSBC PMI dips to 6-month low in January
Westports trading at IPO price of RM2.50

MRCB to sell Platinum Sentral office building for RM750mil

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) has inked an RM750mil deal to sell its Platinum Sentral office building in KL Sentral to Quill Capita Trust Bhd.

Yesterday's announcement confirms a report by StarBiz earlier this week.

The transaction, said to be the first of its kind in the country, sets up construction-cum-property developer MRCB to be the single largest shareholder of Quill Capita Trust, as well as the owner of its management vehicle.

The heads of agreement (HOA) was signed yesterday. Quill Capita Trust, an office-based real estate investment trust (REIT), will pay for the building with RM486mil in cash and RM264mil in new Quill Capita Trust units at RM1.32 apiece, both companies said in filings to the stock exchange.

Quill Capita Trust intends to fund the purchase using borrowings and the issuance of new units.

Platinum Sentral consists of five blocks with four-to-seven stories of commercial buildings housing office-cum-retail space, a multi-purpose hall and two levels of car parks.

Its office space, with a net lettable area of 450,000 sq ft, is 100% occupied, although its 79,000-sq-ft retail portion is only 20% occupied, according to HwangDBS Vickers Research.

MRCB has also agreed to acquire 41% in Quill Capita Management Sdn Bhd (QCM), the vehicle that manages the REIT, from CapitaLand RECM Pte Ltd and Coast Capital Sdn Bhd, both at a multiple of 10 times the profit after tax of QCM for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2012.

Meanwhile, Quill Resources Holding Sdn Bhd, one of QCM's existing shareholders, will take up an additional 9% stake from Coast Capital, also at 10 times price-to-earnings.

If the deal goes through, then CapitaLand RECM and Coast Capital stand to gain RM5.74mil and RM1.43mil for their equity in QCM, respectively.

All parties have 30 working days to sign the definitive sale and purchase agreement.

CapitaLand RECM is related to Quill Capita Trust's Singaporean shareholder CapitaCommercial Trust, which currently holds a 30% interest in the REIT, while Coast Capital is a bumiputra party. Quill Resources Holding, meanwhile, is a unit of the Quill group.

In a statement, MRCB group managing director Datuk Mohamad Salim Fateh Din said the HOA would help generate dual income streams via dividends from Quill Capita Trust and the management fees from its stake in QCM.

The move is in keeping with the strategy to establish a listed platform that would enable MRCB to monetise its future investment properties in exchange for tradable and liquid securities.

MRCB is expected to emerge as a 30% shareholder in Quill Capita Trust once the exercise is complete. The REIT will also see its asset base balloon to RM1.5bil.

HwangDBS Vickers noted in a report released before the announcement of the exercises that depending on the terms, the injection of Platinum Sentral into Quill Capita Trust could be earnings accretive for the latter.

Final China HSBC PMI dips to 6-month low in January

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 05:57 PM PST

BEIJING: Business conditions for China's manufacturers worsened in January as output and new order growth weakened, a private survey showed on Thursday, pointing to a weak start for the economy in 2014.

The Markit/HSBC final manufacturing PMI for January dipped to 49.5 from December's 50.5, the first deterioration in six months. The figure was in line with the 49.6 reported in the preliminary version of the PMI released a week earlier.

A reading below 50 indicates a contraction while one above shows expansion.

The survey, an early indication of sentiment in the 56.9 trillion yuan ($9.4 trillion) economy, found growth rates in output and new business weakening, while companies cut jobs at the fastest rate since March 2009.

"A soft start to China's manufacturing sectors in 2014, partly due to weaker new export orders and slower domestic business activities during January," said Hongbin Qu, chief economist for China at HSBC, in a statement.

"Policymakers should pay attention to downside risks and pre-emptively fine-tune policy to steady the pace of growth if needed."

Last week's flash PMI reading, which coincided with renewed signs of tightening in China's financial markets, had contributed to a fall in global markets as investors fretted over the impact worldwide of a China slowdown.

However, many economists and experts say that Beijing will act if the economy loses traction too quickly even as it pushes towards more balanced and sustained economic growth.

China's leaders have pledged to push reforms to unleash new growth drivers as the world's second-largest economy loses steam, burdened by industrial overcapacity, piles of debt and soaring house prices.

That means reducing government intervention to allow market forces to have a bigger say in allocating resources, and promoting domestic consumption at the expense of investment and exports.

China's annual economic growth slowed to 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from 7.8 percent in the previous quarter, putting full-year growth at 7.7 percent, sightly ahead of the government's target of 7.5 percent.

While the economy narrowly missed expectations for full-year growth to fall to a 14-year low in 2013, some economists say a further cooldown will be inevitable this year as officials hunker down for difficult reforms.

Still, the majority view of China economists polled by Reuters remains that Beijing will manage to sustain economic growth broadly in line with both last year's 7.5 percent growth target and the International Monetary Fund's predictions.

Sources with top think-tanks have said the government likely will stick with the 7.5 percent target this year.

The PMI showed a reduced amount of export orders in January, indicating weak demand overseas, and an increase in inventories. - Reuters

Westports trading at IPO price of RM2.50

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 05:33 PM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Westports Holdings Bhd which was listed on Oct 19, 2013, is currently trading at its initial public offer price of RM2.50 in early Thursday trade on lack of interest from investors due to the current volatile market environment.

At 9.23am, it was unchanged at RM2.50. There were 1,000 shares done at prices ranging from RM2.50 to RM2.51.

The FBM KLCI fell 5.64 points to 1,783.59. Turnover was 126.51 million shares valued at RM92.28mil. There were 66 gainers, 220 losers and 126 counters unchanged.

When it made it debut, it was the country's biggest listing year-to-date and climbed to an intra-day high of RM2.71.

Westports' IPO involved an offer for sale by existing shareholders of their combined stake of 23.84%, or 813.19 million shares, at a retail price of RM2.50 apiece.

However, the wind was taken out of its sail when several days later on news that its biggest customer, CMA-CGM is looking to move its transhipment hub from Westports to Port of Tanjung Pelepas, which is owned by MMC.

In late December, the government and Port Klang Authority (PKA) extended Westports concession period for a period of 30 years. Kenanga Research says the announcement is not a surprise given Westports's operational excellence better than average cargo handling efficiency in the past 10 years.

In January 2014, MIDF Equities Research revised upwards its target price for Westports from RM2.56 to RM2.65 on news the port operator plans to submit an application for container tariff hike to PKA.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 29 Januari 2014