Jumaat, 31 Januari 2014

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

Indian Kashmir shuts down to protest military court verdict
Philippine typhoon survivors brace for new storm
Man washes up in Marshall Islands 'after 16 months adrift'

Indian Kashmir shuts down to protest military court verdict

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 03:25 PM PST

Srinagar (India) (AFP) - Large parts of Indian Kashmir shut down on Friday and protests were held against a military court verdict last week that exonerated five army officers involved in the killing of civilians 14 years ago.

Most shops and businesses were closed and public transport halted in the main city of Srinagar and other areas of the restive region after separatist groups called a strike over the court's decision.

Scores of protestors shouting anti-India slogans pelted stones during clashes with police and paramilitary forces who fired tear smoke canisters to disperse them in the city's old town area.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who also heads a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a grouping of separatist organisations, urged Kashmiris to "raise our voice against the verdict", in a statement this week.

Police detained more than a dozen activists after they tried to stage a protest near a central commercial district in Srinagar, an AFP photographer said.

Hundreds of residents also protested near the graves of the five civilians in the southern village of Brari Angan, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, chanting "we want justice", according to a police officer.

The five victims were killed days after the massacre of 35 Sikhs in the remote village of Chattisinghpora in March 2000.

The army claimed the victims were "foreign militants", accusing them of being responsible for the massacre.

But a subsequent probe by India's top investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, described the killings as "cold blooded murder", paving the way for a trial in a military court held behind closed doors.

The five soldiers were however cleared last Thursday as "the evidence recorded could not establish a prime facie case against any of the accused persons", according to an army statement.

In its verdict, the military court did not dispute the CBI's findings that the victims were civilians but it added that they were killed during an operation "based on specific intelligence".

The decision has been denounced by rights groups and Kashmiri separatists and fuelled anger in the already tense region.

Security forces, particularly paramilitaries and army personnel, in Indian Kashmir are routinely accused by human rights groups of using excessive force and torture.

The local government was preparing a "legal recourse" to try to reopen the case, but it is unclear how this could be achieved since the military court handling the case was outside of civilian jurisdiction and scrutiny.

Kashmir, a picturesque Himalayan region, is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.

About a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for Kashmir's independence or for its merger with Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, dead.

Philippine typhoon survivors brace for new storm

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 03:52 PM PST

Tacloban (Philippines) (AFP) - Hundreds of people who survived Super Typhoon Haiyan are bracing for a new storm that is expected to hit the central Philippines late Friday, officials said.

Tropical storm Kajiki, packing maximum winds of 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour, is expected to hit the central island of Leyte before midnight, cutting through the archipelago as it heads towards the South China Sea, the government weather station said.

Although Kajiki is far weaker than Haiyan -- one of the strongest storms ever to hit land with winds reaching 315 kilometres (195 miles) per hour -- authorities are still warning it could bring new flashfloods and landslides to communities living in already rudimentary shelters.

Leyte suffered the worst casualties when Super Typhoon Haiyan struck in November, flattening whole towns and leaving about 8,000 dead or missing.

In the island's still-ruined capital of Tacloban City, about 150 families living near the coast evacuated ahead of time before the storm hit.

The residents, who are still housed in tents after Haiyan destroyed their homes, fled to higher ground or took refuge with friends or relatives, said city administrator Tecson Lim.

Housewife Bising Alberta 55, said her family had decided to voluntarily flee "even before the government told us to evacuate," as she and her loved ones packed up to find shelter in a crowded boarding house.

During Haiyan's fury, her house was wiped out by large waves and she had to be hospitalised for her subsequent injuries.

"I am a survivor (of Haiyan). I am scared of water now. Even if it is just drizzling, I am already frightened," she said.

Regional civil defence chief Rey Gozon said pre-emptive evacuation had been ordered in all areas expected to be affected by the new storm.

Stockpiles of food have also been prepared in case more people are forced to flee, he added.

The second level of a three-step storm alert has been raised over much of the central and southern Philippine islands with a lower alert hoisted over the surrounding areas.

Man washes up in Marshall Islands 'after 16 months adrift'

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 03:14 PM PST

Majuro (Marshall Islands) (AFP) - An emaciated man whose boat washed up on a remote Pacific atoll this week claims he survived 16 months adrift on the Pacific, floating more than 12,500 kilometres (8,000 miles) from Mexico, a researcher said Friday.

The man, with long hair and beard, was discovered Thursday when his 24-foot fibreglass boat with propellerless engines floated onto the reef at Ebon Atoll and he was spotted by two locals.

"His condition isn't good, but he's getting better," Ola Fjeldstad, a Norwegian anthropology student doing research on Ebon, the southern most outpost of the Marshalls, told AFP by telephone.

Fjeldstad said the man, dressed only in a pair of ragged underpants, claims he left Mexico for El Salvador in September 2012 with a companion who died at sea several months ago.

Details of his survival are sketchy, Fjeldstad added, as the man only speaks Spanish, but he said his name was Jose Ivan.

"The boat is really scratched up and looks like it has been in the water for a long time," said the researcher from Ebon.

Ivan indicated to Fjeldstad that he survived by eating turtles, birds and fish and drinking turtle blood when there was no rain.

No fishing gear was on the boat and Ivan suggested he caught turtles and birds with his bare hands. There was a turtle on the boat when it landed at Ebon.

Stories of survival in the vast Pacific are not uncommon.

In 2006, three Mexicans made international headlines when they were discovered drifting, also in a small fibreglass boat near the Marshall Islands, in the middle of the ocean in their stricken boat, nine months after setting out on a shark-fishing expedition.

They survived on a diet of rainwater, raw fish and seabirds, with their hope kept alive by reading the bible.

And in 1992, two fishermen from Kiribati were at sea for 177 days before coming ashore in Samoa.

According to Fjeldstad, the Marshall Islanders who found Ivan took him to the main island on the atoll, which is so remote there is only one phone line at the local council house and no Internet, to meet Mayor Ione de Brum, who put in a call to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Majuro.

Officials at the Foreign Ministry said Friday they were waiting to get more details and for the man to be brought to Majuro.

The government airline's only plane that can land at Ebon is currently down for maintenance and is not expected to return to service until Tuesday at the earliest, with officials considering sending a boat to pick up the castaway.

"He's staying at the local council house and a family is feeding him," said Fjeldstad, who added that the man had a basic health check and was found to have low blood pressure.

But he did not appear to have any life-threatening illness and was able to walk with the aid of men on the island.

"We've been giving him a lot of water, and he's gaining strength," said the Norwegian.

The Marshall Islands, in the northern Pacific, are home to barely 60,000 people spread over 24 atolls, with most of them standing at an average of just two metres above sea level.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

Thai protesters join final anti-govt march before election
Indian diplomat's claim of immunity challenged by U.S. prosecutors
Kerry asks Russia to pressure Syria on faster chemical arms removal

Thai protesters join final anti-govt march before election

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 07:25 PM PST

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters gathered in Bangkok's busy tourist area of Chinatown for the third and final day of marches in the capital denouncing Thailand's general election on Sunday amid fears of violence erupting during the vote.

The government is pushing ahead with the election, despite protesters' threats to disrupt the vote and stop Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai Party from returning to power.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has called for a peaceful blockade of roads in the city, but in the same breath has vowed not to stop people voting.

Any bloodshed would further undermine the credibility of a vote that is deemed incapable of restoring stability in the polarised country.

"The people will not close the polling booths, but will demonstrate on the roads. They will demonstrate calmly, peacefully, without violence. If anyone comes to try to cause trouble, we absolutely will not argue with them. We won't do anything that will hinder people from going to vote," Suthep said on Friday night.

"In the south, for those who are surrounding the places where ballots are being collected, surround them as usual, but I ask that you sit there peacefully, don't back down, don't run away, and do not fight them, just pray. I believe that this poll will be voided for sure."

The Nation newspaper said protesters were camping at post offices to block the delivery of ballot papers in the south, where support for Suthep is strongest.

Many protesters in Bangkok wore red, the colour of Yingluck's "red shirt" supporters, in Saturday's march, after Suthep said no one had the right to hijack a colour.

"In honour of Chinese New Year, let's wear red on our walk in Yaowaraj (Chinatown)," said Suthep, wearing a festive red Chinese shirt.

The United Nations in Thailand called for a peaceful vote. Ten people have died and at least 577 have been wounded in politically related violence since late November, according to the Erawan Medical Center, which monitors Bangkok hospitals.

The anti-government protesters took to the streets in November in the latest round of an eight-year conflict between Bangkok's middle class, southern Thais and the royalist establishment against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006.

The main opposition Democrat party, which backs the anti-government protests, is boycotting the election, which Yingluck's party is bound to win, though without enough members to achieve a quorum in parliament, guaranteeing further stalemate, at best, even if the election passes off peacefully.

The protesters, camped out at major intersections in the city and blocking key arteries, forced polling stations in 49 of Bangkok's 50 districts to shut last weekend and voting could only go ahead in three of 15 southern provinces. Some voters were physically pulled away from the polling booths.

Suthep wants to rid the country of the Shinawatra family's political influence and accuses Yingluck, who swept to power in the last election in 2011, of being Thaksin's puppet.

The protesters say Thaksin is a corrupt crony capitalist who commandeered Thailand's fragile democracy, using taxpayers' money to buy votes with populist giveaways. Thaksin has chosen to live abroad since 2008 to avoid a jail term for graft.

He or his allies have won every election since 2001. His supporters say he was the first Thai political leader to keep campaign promises to help the poor.

Suthep wants to set up a "people's council" of notable worthies, before another election is held.

The prolonged unrest has hurt tourism and the central bank says the economy may grow only 3 percent this year rather than the 4 percent it had forecast.

Exports have not been hit hard, but the Commerce Ministry said shipments grew by an anaemic 1.9 percent in December from a year before.

(Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Indian diplomat's claim of immunity challenged by U.S. prosecutors

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 07:20 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Indian diplomat whose December arrest led to a major international dispute holds no immunity from U.S. prosecution and should continue to faces charges of visa fraud, Manhattan federal prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday.

Devyani Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on charges that she lied to U.S. authorities about what she paid her housekeeper. She was stripped-searched while detained in Manhattan federal courthouse, which led to a diplomatic firestorm between India and the United States that continued for weeks.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office argues in the court filings that Khobragade is a former diplomat and not immune from prosecution.

Khobragade "currently enjoys no diplomatic status, and at the time of her arrest, the defendant's position as a consular official gave her immunity from prosecution for official acts only," assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristy Greenberg and Amanda Kramer wrote.

As Indian officials demanded her release, Khobragade's New York attorney argued that her status as a consular official granted her immunity.

Khobragade was accredited as a member of India's mission to the United Nations earlier this month, one day before she was indicted and asked to leave the country.

The accreditation was part of a deal to allow her to leave the country.

On January 14, with Khobragade back in India, her New York-based attorney filed a motion asking a U.S. judge to throw out those charges.

In court papers, Khobragade attorney Daniel Arshack said that diplomatic immunity granted to her by the U.S. State Department gave her absolute immunity from U.S. prosecution, even for suspected acts committed earlier.

Kerry asks Russia to pressure Syria on faster chemical arms removal

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 03:35 PM PST

MUNICH (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Russia's foreign minister on Friday to put pressure on the Syrian government to accelerate the removal of chemical weapons, which Kerry said is not happening quickly enough.

Kerry met Russia's Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss what Washington considered to be "unacceptable" progress in moving Syrian chemical weapons, said a senior U.S. State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Secretary Kerry pressed Foreign Minister Lavrov to push the regime for more progress on moving the remaining chemical weapons within Syria to the port in Latakia," the official said.

Reuters reported this week that Syria has given up less than 5 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal of roughly 1,300 tonnes of toxic agents and will miss next week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction.

The State Department confirmed on Thursday that just 4 percent of Syria's deadliest chemical agents had been shipped out of the country for destruction at sea.

Under a deal agreed by Russia and the United States after a sarin gas attack last August which killed hundreds of people, Syria promised to give up its stockpile by mid-2014. The operation, overseen by a joint mission with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations, is six to eight weeks behind schedule.

Failure to eliminate its chemical weapons could expose Syria to sanctions, although these would have to be supported in the U.N. Security Council by Russia and China, which have so far refused to back such measures against President Bashar al-Assad.

Parallel to Kerry's meeting with Lavrov, the White House said it was working with partners to ratchet up pressure on the Assad government on the chemical weapons.

Russia earlier rejected U.S. claims that Syria is dragging its feet on giving up chemical weapons, saying that a June 30 deadline to destroy Assad's arsenal of toxic agents remains viable despite delays.

Syria, where civil war has killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions to flee, blames delays on security obstacles.

Kerry and Lavrov also met in Munich with U.N. chief Ban Ki Moon and U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who later told a panel on Syria at the conference that the first public talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva this week had made "no progress.

"We have failed somewhere. We can say it is an intractable problem, it is difficult. But somewhere there is a failure," he said, adding that he hoped the talks would resume in Geneva on February 10 in a "more constructive" mood.

(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Amanda Kwan)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

A movie that's melting hearts

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

IT HAD been so long since we'd taken the girls to watch a "family movie" that it seemed so novel when no one objected to watching Frozen last week.

That's the Disney animated movie based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Snow Queen. In this version, there are two sisters, one of whom is cursed to turn everything she touches to ice.

Unwittingly, she condemns her kingdom to eternal winter and her sister has to brave all kinds of obstacles to find her and ask her to reverse the spell.

Like all the Disney princess movies we were familiar with, this one has doe-eyed heroines, sickly sweet songs and a message about the power of love.

Unlike those of my memory, however, even the ones with a feisty, mouthy princess, there is no prince who comes to the rescue here. It is all down to girrrl power. And sisterly love. It's actually a really sweet, empowering movie that we all wound up falling in love with.

Like one of my daughter's friends tweeted: "OMG! Frozen changed my life!"

Yes, indeed, the Disney princess has grown up and is now on the same page as our teenage, post-feminist, mortal, girl children.

But it does take Frozen awhile to show its chops.

As we all settled into our seats and the super-cute baby characters broke into the first cute song, I heard my nearly 16-year-old choke.

"What are we doing here?" she giggled, mortified.

I glanced at my husband, who looked back at me out of the corner of his eye and shrugged. We'd wanted to watch Captain Phillips, the kids Anchorman 2, and this was the compromise choice.

We had come a long way from "once upon a time".

Once upon a time, Disney was the north star. I suppose we ought to feel guilty throwing our babies so readily into mass market entertainment but those principles lasted for about 10 seconds. Anything that kept them occupied was A-OK.

Number one child was about three years old when I figured she could sit through a film in the cinema. She nearly did too. It was about four-fifths of the way through 102 Dalmatians that she finally had to announce to the listening audience: "Mummy, I need to go poo-poo."

Notwithstanding, she was a couch potato. There were a few movies she could watch over and over, with a box of Kleenex within easy reach, like Spirit, a stirring tale about a horse that wants to be free, and the Fox And The Hound, an unlikely friendship between traditional enemies.

She was nothing if not a soft touch. When we watched Beauty And The Beast in the Imax theatre at the Science Centre, she burst into tears at the sight of the old father being turned out into the driving snow, and wailed, her decibels rivalling the impressive sound system.

There was the inevitable trip to Disney World, the capital of unbridled commercialism cloaked in a ball gown. But never mind. That first breakfast, when Tigger ambled towards our table - !!! - number two child had such a smile on her face that I would have paid for the trip twice over just to see it again.

The years passed and childish things were put aside, supplanted by movies about superheroes. I'll never forget how we went to see Spider-Man and all three of us walked out with a crush on Andrew Garfield.

And then, these days, hardly even those, since the children have found more enticing company to go to the movies with. I can hardly complain though, since I have reclaimed the husband as a movie date. But then last week, Frozen was such a serendipitous experience, a movie we all thought was a mistake at first and which turned out to be so satisfying.

I don't know if a movie can change your life, but when it hits the right notes, it can sure put you in a good mood. Sometimes, with family, that's enough. — The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

A movie that's melting hearts

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

IT HAD been so long since we'd taken the girls to watch a "family movie" that it seemed so novel when no one objected to watching Frozen last week.

That's the Disney animated movie based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Snow Queen. In this version, there are two sisters, one of whom is cursed to turn everything she touches to ice.

Unwittingly, she condemns her kingdom to eternal winter and her sister has to brave all kinds of obstacles to find her and ask her to reverse the spell.

Like all the Disney princess movies we were familiar with, this one has doe-eyed heroines, sickly sweet songs and a message about the power of love.

Like one of my daughter's friends tweeted: "OMG! Frozen changed my life!"

Yes, indeed, the Disney princess has grown up and is now on the same page as our teenage, post-feminist, mortal, girl children.

But it does take Frozen awhile to show its chops.

As we all settled into our seats and the super-cute baby characters broke into the first cute song, I heard my nearly 16-year-old choke.

"What are we doing here?" she giggled, mortified.

I glanced at my husband, who looked back at me out of the corner of his eye and shrugged. We'd wanted to watch Captain Phillips, the kids Anchorman 2, and this was the compromise choice.

We had come a long way from "once upon a time".

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business

Wall Street week ahead, stocks may face pain, though buyers remain
China's Jan official PMI slips to 50.5, as expected
KLCI futures likely trade lower next week

Wall Street week ahead, stocks may face pain, though buyers remain

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 06:54 PM PST

NEW YORK: Investors may crave a quiet market this coming week to digest the recent volatility in stocks and rehash Sunday's Super Bowl, but the prospect doesn't look likely.

The catalysts that drove the Dow and the S&P 500 to their worst monthly performances since May 2012 have not gone away. The retreat from emerging markets - and stocks in general - appears to have more room to run as the factors that helped propel the market to record highs in mid-January aren't providing enough support.

Calls for a market correction have become louder, with the S&P 500 down 3.6 percent from its all-time closing high and the Federal Reserve's announcement on Wednesday that it will keep trimming its monthly bond buying.

More than 80 S&P 500 components are set to report earnings next week, but the myriad issues surrounding emerging markets remain at the forefront for investors.

"Bad news in any area of the globe is bound to make sentiment less positive in others. This isn't an issue of contagion, but there will be influence," said John Chisholm, chief investment officer of the Boston-based Acadian Asset Management, which has an emerging market equity fund with $1.2 billion in assets. "There's plenty more instability ahead."

While countries such as Turkey and South Africa have taken steps to stabilize their currencies, the trend has remained negative for those assets.

The CBOE Volatility Index <.VIX>, a measure of investor anxiety, rose 34.2 percent during January to end the month at 18.41, after wrapping up 2013 at 13.72. The VIX remains below the long-term average of 20, however, and has not traded above 19 since October.

For the month of January, the Dow fell 5.3 percent and the S&P 500 lost 3.6 percent - marking their worst monthly percentage declines since May 2012. The Nasdaq fell 1.7 percent in January, its worst month since October 2012.

It's tempting to believe that U.S. stocks are a salve for this pain. But the reality is that when emerging markets swoon, U.S. stocks decline as well, just not as much.

Goldman Sachs analysts wrote last week that when MSCI's emerging markets index <.MSCIEF> falls at least 5 percent, the S&P 500 <.SPX> tends to fall by half of that. The MSCI index has dropped 11 percent since an October peak of 1,047.73.

"Our EM strategists believe some EM equity markets have further to fall, and that they require significant current account rebalancing before bottoming," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note about their outlook on emerging markets.

The effect on U.S. companies is harder to discern. Goldman estimated that S&P 500 companies derive 5 percent of their profits from emerging markets, with some sectors more affected than others.

Among the companies with large emerging markets exposure set to report earnings next week are General Motors <GM.N> and Yum Brands Inc <YUM.N>. Yum, in fact, gets more than half of its sales from the "BRIC" nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China. Yum's stock lost 11.2 percent in January, while GM shares dropped 11.7 percent.

Both stocks, along with the shares of other internationally exposed companies, have underperformed the S&P 500 since the Fed first said it would cut back on its stimulus on December 18.

Demand in China has been particularly sluggish, which affected Apple Inc's <AAPL.O> results, as the company's iPhone sales were worse than expected, and Wal-Mart Stores <WMT.N>, which closed some locations in that country, as well as in Brazil.

Some are still looking to buy, though.

"We'd need to see more significant hits from overseas exposure before we start paring away our allocation to those names ... GM is doing well because of its EM exposure," Acadian's Chisholm said.

'BEST HOUSE' IN A POOR NEIGHBORHOOD

With half of the S&P 500 companies having reported earnings so far, almost 70 percent have topped earnings expectations, above the long-term average of 63 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Two-thirds have exceeded estimates on revenue, above the historical average of 61 percent, though companies have generally been meeting or beating lowered expectations.

"While there are equity risks, there's very little risk from a bear market standpoint," said Jim Dunigan, chief investment officer of PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia. "That markets have held on as well as they have shows that equity appetite still exists."

Whether there is conviction behind the buying is debatable. The three busiest days for the market in terms of the S&P's E-mini futures contract, the most heavily traded equity futures contract, were Wednesday, Monday, and last Friday, January 24 - all of which were selloffs.

Still, investors keep pouring money into stock market funds, with $10.24 billion added in the week ended January 29, according to Thomson Reuters' Lipper service. This marked the sixth straight week of net new cash.

The S&P 500 is about 0.5 percent above its 100-day moving average, a level that could provide support against further losses. According to the most recent Reuters poll of analysts, the benchmark index is expected to end the year at 1,925 - about 8 percent away from current levels.

Dunigan, who helps oversee $127 billion in assets, said that stocks remain "the best house in a bad neighborhood," especially with U.S. interest rates low.

"When you look at the alternatives, fixed income continues to look risky, and cash doesn't help you," he said. "Unlike other asset classes, equities will still get boosts from contributions like buybacks, merger activity and capital expenditures."- Reuters

China's Jan official PMI slips to 50.5, as expected

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 06:34 PM PST

BEIJING: Growth in China's factory sector slowed a tick in January, a government survey showed, reinforcing investor views that the Chinese economy started the year on a softer note as activity cooled.

The official Purchasing Managers' Index edged down to 50.5 in January from December's 51, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday, but right in line with market expectations.- Reuters

KLCI futures likely trade lower next week

Posted: 31 Jan 2014 06:30 PM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to trade lower next week, tracking the cash market's weak performance.

Affin Investment Bank Vice-President and Head of Retail Research Dr Nazri Khan said shares on Bursa Malaysia were likely to consolidate further next week driven by emerging market currency volatility, weaker ringgit and holiday profit-taking.

"Broad based Asian sell-off on Federal Reserve tapering, as well as, negative reading of Chinese manufacturing data would also weigh down on shares.

"The recent combination of falling local stock prices, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) down 5.6 per cent, and rising volume of 1.6 billion shares worth RM2 billion, suggests that the local stock market may be in for a deeper correction," he told Bernama.

For the week just-ended, KLCI futures was traded half-a-day on Thursday and was closed on Friday for the Chinese New Year holiday. It would remain close on Monday for the Federal Territory Day holiday and resume trading the next day.

On a Thursday-to-Friday basis, spot month January 2014 shed 11 points to 1,786 points, February 2014 and March 2014 slipped 2.5 points each to 1.793.5 points and 1,793 points,respectively, and June 2014 depreciated 3.0 points to 1,790 points.

Turnover for the week rose significantly to 152,750 lots from 36,616 lots last week while open interest narrowed to 48,659 contracts from 49,522 contracts previously.

For the week just-ended, the underlying FBM KLCI was 14.8 points higher at 1,804.03.
BERNAMA

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Nation

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The Star Online: Nation

PM: Be reasonable, keep the peace
Three die in collision
‘Drug-crazed animal’ caught

PM: Be reasonable, keep the peace

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called on Malaysians to listen to the voice of reason and to each other's views so that everyone can continue to enjoy the racial harmony we have in the country.

The Prime Minister said that in Malaysia's cultural melting pot, one must also act sensibly, respect the rules of law and be sensitive towards other people's beliefs.

"We must uphold the unity and racial harmony that we have enjoyed so far," he said in his Chinese New Year message posted on his blog www.1malaysia.com.my.

"We owe it to the nation to reject any form of threat, violence or any other act of extremism that could strain the harmonious relationship enjoyed by the various races," he said.

Najib also expressed his appreciation to the Chinese community for their contributions towards nation-building since Independence.

He said the transformation programmes, which the Government had put in place, needed support from all walks of life, including the Chinese who were known for their entrepreneurial skills.

Najib said a host of initiatives were being undertaken to improve the people's livelihood, among them BR1M, KR1M and Ops Harga to mitigate the pinch of global inflationary forces.

"There are also ongoing consultative meetings and discussions that focus solely on addressing the issue of easing the rakyat's burden.

"(However), our efforts will go asunder without the people's support.

"Together, we must remain resilient in the face of economic challenges to sustain stability and progress for our future generation," said Najib.

His deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in his Chinese New Year message, also spoke about the need to maintain unity and harmony among multi-racial Malaysians, adding that the key to today's peace was tolerance.

He said that all communities, including the Chinese, would want Malaysia to achieve its aim of becoming a developed and high-income nation by 2020.

"Therefore, it is important for all races to maintain the unity and harmony that we have been enjoying thus far.

"We must all work hard together to build a 1Malaysia based on mutual trust," said Muhyiddin.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the fact that all races were free to embrace their beliefs proved that Malaysians were tolerant of each other.

"Malaysia will remain a peaceful nation if the people continue to be tolerant, understanding and respectful of each other."

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

A movie that's melting hearts

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

IT HAD been so long since we'd taken the girls to watch a "family movie" that it seemed so novel when no one objected to watching Frozen last week.

That's the Disney animated movie based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Snow Queen. In this version, there are two sisters, one of whom is cursed to turn everything she touches to ice.

Unwittingly, she condemns her kingdom to eternal winter and her sister has to brave all kinds of obstacles to find her and ask her to reverse the spell.

Like all the Disney princess movies we were familiar with, this one has doe-eyed heroines, sickly sweet songs and a message about the power of love.

Like one of my daughter's friends tweeted: "OMG! Frozen changed my life!"

Yes, indeed, the Disney princess has grown up and is now on the same page as our teenage, post-feminist, mortal, girl children.

But it does take Frozen awhile to show its chops.

As we all settled into our seats and the super-cute baby characters broke into the first cute song, I heard my nearly 16-year-old choke.

"What are we doing here?" she giggled, mortified.

I glanced at my husband, who looked back at me out of the corner of his eye and shrugged. We'd wanted to watch Captain Phillips, the kids Anchorman 2, and this was the compromise choice.

We had come a long way from "once upon a time".

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Metro: Central

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The Star Online: Metro: Central

Asia rings in Year of the Horse with fireworks, festivities

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 09:00 PM PST

BEIJING, Jan 31, 2014 (AFP) - Fireworks illuminated the skies across Asia and millions of families gathered together Friday to usher in the Year of the Horse, kicking off a week of celebrations that included a performance by Braveheart actress Sophie Marceau on China's annual televised gala.

Residents from China's small towns and villages to its sprawling megacities rang in the Lunar New Year, the country's most important holiday, by indulging in feasts of dumplings and rice cakes and exchanging hongbao, red envelopes stuffed with "lucky money".

Many of them were among the hundreds of millions of people, including 245 million migrant workers, who had crammed planes, trains and buses to return to their hometowns in what is the world's largest annual human migration.

Chinese communities across Asia also came together to celebrate, marking the holiday with flowers and offerings. Hong Kong was due to hold a massive fireworks display over Victoria Harbour on Saturday, the second day of the new year.

The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and through Chinese folklore ascribes 12 animals, one for each year in the rotating cycle. The horse is in the seventh position.

Chinese visitors touch the White Jade Horse statue at the Dongyue Temple in the hope that it brings them prosperity and good fortune for the Year of the Horse in Beijing on January 31, 2014. China welcomed in the Lunar New Year of the Horse which sees about 3.62 billion trips made by Chinese travelers during the 40-day Spring Festival travel period. - AFP

In China, the horse is traditionally associated with loyalty and energy, and is considered the second-most popular animal sign of the zodiac, after the dragon.

The phrase for "at once" in Chinese literally means "on horseback", and some popular New Year cards this year have featured money, houses or cars on horseback, expressing the sender's wish of speedy good fortune for the receiver.

This year, however, is set to be a dramatic one, according to Hong Kong feng-shui masters, as it is the Year of the Wood Horse - incorporating the dramatic element of fire.

Conflicts, disasters, record high temperatures, an economic chill in Asia and more trouble for pop star Justin Bieber all lie in wait this year, celebrity feng-shui master Alion Yeo told AFP earlier this week.

On Thursday, Beijing was a cacophany of light and sound as residents took to the streets to light firecrackers - traditionally believed to scare away evil spirits - into the wee hours of Friday.

But by morning, the capital was mostly quiet, as most of the migrant workers who comprise more than a third of its 20 million population had left the city to celebrate the new year in their ancestral homes.

This frame grab from CCTV taken on January 30, 2014 shows French actress Sophie Marceau (L) in a duet with Chinese pop star Liu Huan on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV's New Year gala, a show watched by hundreds of millions of people.

Beijing saw a slump in fireworks sales this year amid pollution concerns among residents and a move by city officials to cut the number of licensed firework retailers by 12 percent, the state-run China Daily reported.

Levels of the small particulate pollution known as PM2.5 ranged from 140 to 160 micrograms per cubic metre from 6 pm to midnight Thursday - a figure that was still well above the World Health Organisation's recommended level of 25 micrograms, but "much better" than the all-time peak of 1,000 recorded last Lunar New Year's Eve, Beijing's environmental watchdog said Friday.

State broadcaster CCTV aired its annual five-hour gala, a tradition dating back to 1983 and featuring comedians, dancers and singers. The hugely popular programme last year drew 750 million viewers in China alone, according to the broadcaster.

For 24 years it featured Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is a soprano singer with the rank of army general. She retired from the show shortly after her husband joined China's Politburo in 2007.

This year it featured French actress Marceau, who performed Edith Piaf's signature song, "La Vie En Rose", in a duet with Chinese pop star Liu Huan.

But Chinese rocker Cui Jian, who inspired the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement and was in talks to perform on the show, did not feature. The Beijing News daily quoted his manager as saying he had refused to "change the words" of his songs.

In additional to giving traditional hongbao, or red envelopes, some Chinese this year have taken to sending Lunar New Year money by smartphone.

The popular mobile chat app WeChat, which has more than 600 million subscribers, this week introduced a new feature allowing users to send an electronic new year "envelope" of up to 200 yuan ($33), the China Daily reported.

Rough ride home for CNY

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

WUZHOU: The thrum of motorcycles echoes over a Chinese mountain road, where hundreds of thousands are shunning public transport to take the highway home during the world's largest annual human migration.

China's 245 million migrant workers – twice the entire population of Japan – generally have to travel on jam-packed trains or buses to get to their hometown to see their families for the Lunar New Year.

But this year more than 600,000 are expected to ride by motorcycle, according to state-run media, making gruelling journeys of several hundred kilometres for the country's biggest festival, while a hardened few are even cycling.

"I'm excited, I want to get back home as soon as possible," said Mo Renshuang, a shoe factory worker who stopped to stretch his legs at a rest stop several hours into his 700 kilometre trip.

He was heading from Guangdong, one of China's richest provinces, to Guangxi – one of its poorest regions. Mo has not seen his two children for half a year, he said, and had strapped a supermarket trolley to the back of his motorbike containing a suitcase, two toy cars, a toy horse and a pair of blue children's boots.

"Pretty creative, right?" he said.

More than 158,000 bikers have passed the rest stop in the last fortnight, police estimate, as riders sharing the same hometown drive together in convoys and stop for free cups of porridge.

"There are no buses to my village," said Lu Liangquan, 50, one of more than 3,000 to pass by yesterdaymorning, who had balanced a cardboard box of fruit on his bike. "Also, if you ride a motorbike you can carry on using it when you get home."

The two-wheeled journeys reflect huge growth in motorcycle ownership in China, which for years has been both the world's largest producer and consumer of the vehicles.

More than 23 million were sold in 2013 according to industry figures.

They have proved popular with workers migrating from China's poor countryside to its coastal manufacturing heartlands, who have seen wages rise by up to 10% annually in recent years but often still cannot afford a car.

China's rail and bus network is stretched to breaking point over the New Year, which authorities say will see 3.6 billion journeys, leaving many struggling to buy train tickets.

"Travelling by motorbike is quicker than taking the bus," said gardener Huang Zilin, 40, who pulled into the rest stop on a red Yamaha with his wife. "We set off at four in the morning, and my legs and feet ache," he added.

The riders – who travel on small roads to avoid heavy tolls, and wrap their feet in plastic bags to protect against cold and dirt – have been dubbed the "bike army" by the Chinese press.

Their steeds are an array of bargain-priced Chinese-branded vehicles, alongside Japanese Hondas and Suzukis.

But a handful of others were more ambitious and used pedal power alone.

"I have this returning home mood so I can stay awake. It's excitement I suppose," said Wang Zhekun, 30, an office worker for an autoparts company, who said he had cycled through the night on his red "Forever" mountain bike.

"I feel cooler than the motorbike drivers, because my engine is right here," he said, pointing to his wiry body.

Si Lingxiang, 21, wobbled up to the rest-stop on a light-framed blue bike he is riding on his 400 kilometre journey from the southern metropolis of Guangzhou to Pingnan in Guangxi.

"It's my fourth day of cycling, the seat is too small and my bottom aches," said Si, who slept the previous night in an abandoned school guardpost.

The rest stop in the city of Wuzhou has proved a publicity coup for the local Communist party committee, whose red banners jostled with posters promoting energy drinks to help with staying awake.

"Party cadres wish brothers and sisters returning home a safe journey," one read.

Nearby, on a public notice board where travellers inscribed their names with a black marker pen, one had written a short poem.

"My vehicle is cheap, I'm old and I have a lot of luggage, braving these windy roads needs courage," it read, signed "Worker returning home".

"If I'd known before I travelled this far, I'd long ago have bought an expensive car." — AFP

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Metro: South & East

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The Star Online: Metro: South & East

Asia rings in Year of the Horse with fireworks, festivities
Rough ride home for CNY
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