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2020-11-13T18:49:00.005+08:00

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600 million new jobs needed in next 10 years: ILO

2012-01-24T23:48:00.000+08:00

File photo of people wait in line to enter a job fair in New York Aug 15, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

GENEVA (AFP) - The International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Tuesday released a pessimistic report for the global jobs market in 2012 saying urgent attention is needed to create 600 million new jobs in the next 10 years.

'Despite strenuous government efforts, the jobs crisis continues unabated, with one in three workers worldwide, or an estimated 1.1 billion people, either unemployed or living in poverty,' said ILO director-general, Juan Somavia, in the Global Employment Trends 2012 report.

'What is needed is that job creation in the real economy must become our number one priority,' he said.

'Whether we recover or not from this crisis will depend on how effective government policies ultimately are.' The report said governments must coordinate and act decisively 'to reduce the fear and uncertainty that is hindering private investment so that the private sector can restart the main engine of global job creation.' ILO senior economist Ekkehard Ernst said at a press conference the recovery started in 2009 was short-lived and there were nearly 29 million fewer people in the labour force now than 'would be expected based on pre-crisis trends'.

Empat calon presiden Republikan berdebat, kritik Obama

2012-01-22T11:22:00.000+08:00

DEBAT TERAKHIR: Mantan speaker Dewan Perwakilan Kongres Amerika, Encik Newt Gingrich, bersama isterinya, Cik Callista Gingrich, menyapa penonton menyusuli perdebatan terakhir di Koliseum North Charleston di South Carolina, kelmarin, sebelum pemilihan primari South Carolina diadakan hari ini. -- Foto AFP

NORTH CHARLESTON (South Carolina): Calon Republikan yang semakin mendapat sambutan, Encik Newt Gingrich, menyelar media Amerika Syarikat kerana mengorek masalah lama perkahwinannya.

Beliau turut menyoal pesaingnya, Encik Mitt Romney, tentang dakwaan bahawa Encik Romney mencipta pekerjaan, dalam satu perdebatan penting kelmarin.

Encik Gingrich, Encik Romney, mantan senator berhaluan Kristian konservatif, Encik Rick Santorum, dan wakil veteran, Encik Ron Paul, saling bertikam lidah dan menyelar Presiden Amerika, Encik Barack Obama, sedang mereka cuba mendapatkan kelebihan dalam pemilihan primari South Carolina, yang akan diadakan hari ini.

Encik Gingrich, mantan speaker Dewan Perwakilan Kongres Amerika, telah mengecam moderator perdebatan, Encik John King, kerana memulakan debat itu dengan menyoal beliau tentang dakwaan bekas isteri keduanya, Cik Marianne Gingrich.

Cik Gingrich mendakwa beliau menolak permintaan Encik Gingrich supaya mereka berada dalam perkahwinan terbuka dan bersabar dengan hubungan sulitnya.

'Saya jenuh dengan (tindakan) media elit melindungi Barack Obama dan menyerang (anggota) Republikan,' katanya, disambut sorakan gemuruh penonton.

Encik Gingrich kemudian menafikan dakwaan bekas isterinya itu dan menyifatkan soalan Encik King sebagai soalan yang boleh dianggap keji.

Ketika Encik King bertanya kepada Encik Santorum, jika isu itu berasas, Encik Santorum meraikan konsep bermaafan dalam agama Kristian, namun berkata bahawa para pengundi perlu menimbangkan isu perwatakan apabila mereka memilih calon Republikan yang akan menentang Encik Obama, calon Parti Demokrat, semasa Pilihan Raya Presiden, November depan.

Encik Romney, mantan Gabenor Massachusetts dan seorang pelabur jutawan, berusaha mengelak serangan daripada Encik Gingrich, yang kini berada tidak jauh daripada Encik Romney dari segi sokongan, bahawa beliau mengumpulkan kekayaan sambil memecat pekerjanya.

Menurut Encik Romney, beliau menjangkakan sendaan sedemikan daripada Encik Obama dan bukan rakan Parti Republikan.

'Saya tahu kita akan dihentam teruk oleh Presiden Obama tapi kita akan memaksa beliau menerima dan tunjukkan kepadanya bahawa kapitalisme dan kebebasan adalah apa yang membuat Amerika kuat,' kata Encik Romney.

Encik Romney masih berkeras bahawa beiaulah calon Republikan yang paling berpeluang dipilih sebagai presiden, walaupun sokongan terhadapnya semakin berkurang sementara sokongan bagi Encik Gingrich bertambah.

Semasa perdebatan itu, beliau terus mengutuk calon Demokratik, Encik Obama, yang beliau harap akan dapat beliau tentang sekiranya beliau dipilih sebagai calon Republikan bagi Pilihan Raya Presiden, November nanti.

'Presiden ini adalah hambatan terbesar kepada pertumbuhan kerja di negara ini. Dan kita harus menggantikan Barack Obama untuk memastikan Amerika dapat bergerak semula,' katanya.

Encik Romney, yang menjadi pilihan utama orang kuat Parti Republikan, berharap kemenangan besar di sini akan membantunya mendapat pencalonan bagi menentang Encik Obama.

Namun, calon yang disebut-sebut akan menang itu menghadapi beberapa halangan, kelmarin, apabila Gabenor Texas, Encik Rick Perry, yang menarik diri daripada pencalonan Republikan, memberikan sokongannya kepada Encik Gingrich.

Ini meningkatkan kemungkinan bahawa golongan konservatif yang berpecah akan bersatu menyokong satu calon alternatif untuk menentang Encik Romney.

Pihak berkuasa Iowa juga telah membatalkan kemenangan lapan undi Encik Romney dalam pemilihan kaukus wilayah itu dan mengisytiharkan Encik Santorum sebagai pemenang.

Encik Romney juga menerima kritikan kerana tidak mahu mendedahkan fail cukainya kepada orang ramai setelah mengatakan yang beliau membayar 15 peratus daripada pendapatannya sebagai cukai dan menerima bayaran AS$375,000 ($478,494) untuk sembilan ucapan adalah jumlah yang tidak terlalu banyak.

Semasa perdebatan itu, Encik Romney, berkata beliau akan mendedahkan fail cukainya pada April setelah selesai memfailkan cukainya untuk tahun ini.

Beliau juga memberikan petanda yang beliau akan mendedahkan fail cukai tahun-tahun lalu.

Ketika perdebatan itu, Encik Santorum menggambarkan Encik Gingrich sebagai pemimpin berbahaya dengan kelakuan tidak menentu dan mengutuk pelan jagaan kesihatan Encik Romney di Massachusetts, yang dibenci golongan Republikan.

Calon-calon yang masih bertanding setelah pemilihan primari South Carolina akan bertarung lagi di Florida, yang akan mengadakan pemilihan primarinya pada 31 Januari depan. -- AFP.

US warns against N. Korea 'provocation'

2012-01-20T11:36:00.000+08:00

Kurt Campbell (above), the top US diplomat on Asia, admitted that little was known about North Korea's young supremo Kim Jong Un and warned that 'provocative steps have the risk of triggering deeply unforeseen consequences. -- PHOTO: AP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Thursday urged China to press North Korea's new leader to exercise restraint, saying that South Korea would face 'enormous pressure' to respond to any provocations.

Kurt Campbell, the top US diplomat on Asia, admitted that little was known about North Korea's young supremo Kim Jong Un and warned that 'provocative steps have the risk of triggering deeply unforeseen consequences.'

'We need to handle the situation with the greatest care and we expect China in their deliberations with North Korea to ensure that that message is deeply understood,' Mr Campbell said at the Stimson Center think-tank, echoing remarks made on a tour of East Asia earlier this month.

North Korea in 2010 shelled an island in the South and was accused of torpedoing a warship, incidents that killed 50 people and which some analysts saw as a way for young heir Kim to prove his mettle.

Malaysia set to be world's No. 1 condom maker

2012-01-14T23:27:00.000+08:00

-- PHOTO: REUTERS l A leading rubber industry agency has predicted Malaysia will emerge as the world's top condom producer this year, dethroning Thailand as the market leader.

The Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council said Malaysia has captured at least one-third of the world's production, surpassing the one billion mark.

'We can be the world's No. 1 this year due to flood woes in Thailand. Our last year's production figures would have easily crossed a billion condoms,' said Mr Low Yoke Kiew, the council's marketing and development director.

In 2010, Malaysia, the world's fourth largest natural rubber producer, shipped out latex-made sheath contraceptives worth nearly RM300 million (S$124 million), almost tripling the export value in 2005.

Obama vows to do 'whatever it takes' to grow economy

2012-01-08T11:19:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama speaks during a news briefing on the defence strategic guidance on Thursday, Jan 5, 2012, at the Pentagon. He promised on Saturday to do 'whatever it takes' to maintain growth in the US economy as he announced a summit with business leaders dedicated to job creation at home. -- PHOTO: AP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - United States (US) President Barack Obama promised on Saturday to do 'whatever it takes' to maintain growth in the US economy as he announced a summit with business leaders dedicated to job creation at home.

'This year, I'm going to keep doing whatever it takes to move this economy forward and to make sure that middle class families regain the security they've lost over the past decade,' Mr Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

'That's my New Year's resolution to all of you,' he added.

The comments came after new government statistics showed US unemployment had fallen for the fourth straight month in December and jobs creation picked up.

70% of women in China require house before marriage

2012-01-08T11:00:00.000+08:00

Almost 70 per cent of women interviewed for a survey regard having an apartment as a prerequisite for men to ask for marriage, Chongqing Morning Post reported on Thursday quoting an survey on the status of marriage and relationships in China.

The survey of 50,383 questionnaires was jointly released on Jan 4 by the Committee of Matchmaking Service Industries of the China Association of Social Workers and baihe.com, a matchmaking service provider.

The survey also shows that 80 per cent of single women believe only men who make more than 4,000 yuan (S$820) a month deserve to have a relationship with a woman, more than 10 percentage points up from 2010. However, only 57 per cent of women accept the claim that working well is inferior to marrying well, down from 71 per cent in 2010.

In the survey, 24.6 per cent of those born after 1990s started their first love while in middle school, and 3.3 per cent in primary schools, while the figure for those born before 1970s is 3.6 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively. - CHINA DAILY

China prostitute earns $6,150 in two weeks

2012-01-06T06:45:00.000+08:00

GEORGE TOWN (ANN) - A Chinese national who made RM15,040 (S$6,151) in just two weeks working as a prostitute was among three women rounded up at a service apartment block in Bukit Dumbar here.

Sources said the woman, in her 20s, had 'serviced' 88 clients since coming to Penang as a tourist.

'Handwritten records showing transactions of RM150 or RM180 between her and the clients were found in the premises following the raid on Tuesday night,' sources said. Also seized during the raid were several types of sex paraphernalia.

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng said two other Chinese nationals aged between 26 and 29 were also arrested in two separate apartment units. 'A client, who was also in one of the units, was brought back to the Patani Road police station, where his particulars were noted down before he was released,' he said.

Singapore open to importing electricity from Malaysia

2012-01-05T20:57:00.000+08:00

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L) and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak shake hands in front of Malaysia's landmark Putra Mosque in Putrajaya on Jan 5, 2012.-- PHOTO: AFP

Singapore is open to buying a share of its electricity from Malaysia if the terms are right.

The Prime Ministers of both countries discussed the possibility as they met in Putrajaya on Thursday. As PM Lee Hsien Loong said, Singapore is working out a framework for importing electricity from its neighbours.

Separately, Mr Lee also proposed that the two countries explore industrial cooperation in the Iskandar Malaysia development region in south Johor.

Both leaders asked for a new work group to be formed under the Joint Ministerial Committee to promote mutually beneficial twinning of economic activities between Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore.

Economy shrank 6% last quarter, experts estimate

2012-01-02T15:41:00.000+08:00

Economists estimate that Singapore's economy may have shrunk about 6 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with the third quarter, as the global slowdown took its toll.

This is based on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's statement on Saturday that full-year growth last year came in at 4.8 per cent, slightly weaker than the expected 5 per cent expansion.

Still, when compared with the same period in 2010, the economy is expected to have expanded in the fourth quarter.

Prior to Mr Lee's statement, economists had believed that a quarter-on-quarter contraction in the October to December period was likely. But the 4.8 per cent full-year figure not only confirms a contraction, but means it was probably more severe than expected.

New UK data 'shows higher risk of breast implant ruptures'

2012-01-01T22:26:00.000+08:00

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's biggest cosmetic surgery chain has revealed that rupture rates on allegedly faulty French-made breast implants are seven times higher than previously thought, a report said on Sunday.

The new data from Transform, reported in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, has prompted Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to order an urgent review into the data used to assess the risks to 42,000 British women given the implants.

The firm's figures suggest one in 14 implants made by French manufacturer Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) had ruptured since 2006 - about seven per cent.

If replicated across the industry, this would represent a far higher risk than is currently estimated by Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which puts the rupture rate at one per cent.

Upacara persemadian Kim Jong-Il bermula

2011-12-29T11:05:00.000+08:00

PENGHORMATAN TERAKHIR: Encik Kim Jong-Un (depan, kanan) mengiringi kenderaan yang membawa keranda bapanya, mendiang Encik Kim Jong-Il, di Pyongyang semalam. -- Foto AP

PYONGYANG: Upacara pengebumian pemimpin Korea Utara, mendiang Kim Jong-Il, bermula di Pyongyang semalam.
Fasa pertama upacara itu bermula 10 pagi waktu tempatan di Istana Peringatan Kumsusan, tempat mayat mendiang diletak dalam keranda kaca.

Ia diteruskan dengan perarakan mayat mendiang melalui jalan raya. Ratusan ribu warga Korea Utara di tepi jalan sepanjang 40 kilometer dilaporkan meraung kesedihan dalam cuaca dingin bagi memberi penghormatan terakhir kepada mendiang, yang kemudian akan disemadi di istana peringatan itu.

Delegasi asing tidak diundang ke upacara tersebut.

Encik Jong-Il meninggal dunia akibat serangan jantung 17 Disember lalu pada usia 69 tahun.

Mendiang diganti oleh anaknya, Encik Kim Jong-Un, yang berusia lewat 20an.

'Rakyat mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepada bapa Jeneral dengan penuh rasa sedih,' kata tajuk berita akhbar parti pemerintah, Rodong Sinmun, semalam.

Menurut laporan itu, berjuta-juta askar dan rakyat 'cekal untuk menjadi senjata dan bom bagi melindungi komrad yang disayangi Kim Jong-Un bagi membolehkan beliau merealisasikan niat dan impiannya'.

Turut mengiringi Encik JongUn di sisi keranda ayahnya ialah bapa saudaranya, Encik Jang Song-Thaek; pegawai kanan parti, Encik Kim Ki-Nam dan Encik Choe Thae-Bok; ketua tentera, Encik Ri Yong-Ho; Menteri Angkatan Tentera, Encik Kim Yong-Chun; dan Encik Kim Jong-Gak, yang bertanggungjawab bagi pentadbiran tentera.

Para pengamat berkata mereka yang mengiringi Encik Jong-Un memberi sekilas gambaran tentang siapa bakal mempunyai pengaruh ke atas pemimpin baru Korea Utara itu.

'Upacara pengebumian ini memberi kita gambaran tentang siapa akan berdiri di sebelah Encik Kim Jong-Un bagi melindunginya,' kata Encik Kim Yong-Hyun, pengamat dari Universiti Dongguk di Seoul.

Menurut beliau, Encik Kim Ki-Nam dan Encik Choe Thae- Bok pemimpin simbolik yang mewakili parti pemerintah.

'Empat individu lain, termasuk Encik Jang, dijangka memainkan peranan penting dalam pemerintah baru di bawah Jong-Un. Mereka memainkan peranan sebagai pelindung dan penaja Jong-Un bagi mengukuhkan lagi rejimnya,' tambah Encik Yong-Hyun.

Tempoh berkabung di Korea Utara akan tamat secara rasmi hari ini dengan satu upacara memperingati mendiang Encik Jung-Il di serata negara.

Kereta api, kapal dan kenderaan lain akan membunyikan semboyan mereka. -- AFP, AP, Reuters.

Apple rumoured to unveil iPad 3 on Feb 24

2011-12-28T15:13:00.000+08:00

Apple Inc may unveil its third-generation iPad on Feb 24, in honour of the birthday of its late founder Steve Jobs, according to a Taiwan-based newspaper. -- PHOTO: AFP

Apple Inc may unveil its third-generation iPad on Feb 24, in honour of the birthday of its late founder Steve Jobs, according to a Taiwan-based newspaper.

The Economic Daily News, citing multiple inside sources, speculate the big date has been set and the first shipment amount of the tablet will be four million units.

Local assemblers including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co, Genius Electronic Optical Co and several others will have shorter Spring Festival holidays, estimated at five days, in order to rush the work, says the newspaper.

Apple unveiled the iPad on Jan 27, 2010 and the iPad2 on March 3, 2011.

Property curbs could hurt economy

2011-12-28T14:10:00.000+08:00

President of the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (Redas) Wong Heang Fine (far left) with Minister of State for Manpower and National Development Tan Chuan-Jin, guest of honour at Redas' 52nd anniversary dinner last night. Mr Wong says one analyst is of the view that the harsh cooling measures could tip the economy into a recession. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

Singapore : The key organisation representing property developers warned on Tuesday night that the new cooling measures that sharply raised stamp duties could hurt the real estate market and the wider economy.

The president of the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (Redas) said developers may face increased land costs. The curbs could also lead to a fall in home values, while possibly damaging the already fragile economy and dampening foreign investment.

Mr Wong Heang Fine highlighted the concerns during his opening address at Redas' 52nd anniversary dinner at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

The Dec 8 measures - dubbed by some experts as the harshest out of the five policy moves since September 2009 - include an additional buyer's stamp duty of 10 per cent on foreigner home purchases.

Obama, dog in tow, goes Christmas shopping

2011-12-22T14:55:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama and his dog Bo visit with a poodle named Cinnamon as they check out at PetSmart, Wednesday, Dec 21, 2011, in Alexandria, Va. -- PHOTO: AP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - United States President Barack Obama did a spot of Christmas shopping on Wednesday, and in the process made a subtle political jab at Republicans over a tax row which has kept him from his family at holiday time.

Mr Obama, who has put off plans to join his wife and daughters for their annual getaway to Hawaii as political gridlock consumes Washington, went shopping in nearby Virginia, which happens to be a key swing state in the 2012 election.

Perhaps seeking to prove the maxim that the only friend a president has in Washington is a mutt, he took his popular Portuguese water dog Bo along, for a trip recorded by the cameras of the White House press pool.

Mr Obama's motorcade rolled up at a pet superstore in Alexandria, Virginia and the president handed over a US$50 (S$85) bill for a haul that included a bone, even as Bo apparently eyed up the nearby attractions of a small brown poodle.

Berlusconi scandal girl has baby with nightclub owner

2011-12-21T17:28:00.000+08:00

The Moroccan teenager at the centre of Silvio Berlusconi's trial for sex with an underage prostitute has had a baby fathered by a nightclub owner more than twice her age, Italian media reported on Tuesday.

Dancer Karima El Mahroug, better known by her stage name "Ruby the Heart-Stealer," was just 17 when the then prime minister allegedly paid to have sex with her last year, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.

If convicted, the 75-year-old Berlusconi also faces up to 12 years in prison for abuse of power after he allegedly put pressure on the police to have El Mahroug, now 19, released from custody in an unrelated case.

Prosecutors allege that Berlusconi paid for sex with El Mahroug several times between February and May 2010. At the trial, which is ongoing, a police officer earlier this month testified that El Mahroug was a prostitute.

Berlusconi has denied all charges and claims he only gave El Mahroug some money to help her out of a tight financial spot and intervened in her arrest because he thought she was the niece of then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

The trial began earlier this year when Berlusconi was still in power but has been delayed for months by a number of motions put forward by his defence lawyers, as well as the slow-moving Italian judicial system.

The reports said baby and mother are fine, and the father, 42-year-old Luca Risso, who owned two discotheques in Genoa in northern Italy where El Mahroug worked, said his "happiness is impossible to describe."

Wanita Main Sabun Berbogel Di Khayalak Ramai

2011-12-21T13:15:00.000+08:00

Malaysian Bloggers l Sebuah syarikat di China baru-baru ini mengupah tiga wanita muda untuk berbogel bagi mempromosikan produk gel mandian berbentuk semburan.

Dengan tuala hanya dibalut di sekeliling kepala mereka, wanita-wanita itu kelihatan tidak malu sama sekali dan melayan pengunjung dengan mesra tanpa merasa janggal.

Mereka juga mempelawa penonton yang kebanyakkannya terdiri daripada kaum lelaki untuk membantu mengenakan produk itu pada badan mereka.

Teknik pegawai pemasaran yang hanya mempelawa pekerja sementara itu datang bekerja dan berbogel hanya berlaku sekali selepas pihak syarikat itu menyedari bahawa ia agak melampau, tidak patut dan tidak sesuai untuk tujuan promosi pada orang ramai.

Lagi kisah panas di sini

Cip elektronik ditanam dalam sabun mandi

2011-12-13T14:16:00.000+08:00

CHENNAI (India): Penduduk Kerala menjadi cemas selepas mendapati cip elektronik ditanam dalam sabun mandi mereka.

Bimbang sekiranya cip itu bom atau bertujuan merakam mereka dalam keadaan bogel, penduduk Beemapalli di pinggir Thiruvananthapuram meminta bantuan polis bagi menyelesaikan misteri itu, menurut laporan media tempatan.

Bagaimanapun, siasatan polis mendapati ia tidak lebih daripada sabun berasaskan penderia gerakan yang diedar oleh firma farmaseutikal asing untuk mengkaji tabiat sanitasi di kalangan pengguna.

'Tiada apa yang mencemaskan dan menimbulkan misteri. Ia sama seperti strategi pemasaran lain oleh MNC (syarikat berbilang negara).

'Cawangan khas polis memutuskan untuk mengumpul dan mengesahkan butirannya daripada agensi penyelidikan itu,' kata pesuruhjaya polis bandar raya, Encik Manoj Abraham, kepada sebuah akhbar tempatan.

Syarikat itu didapati mengagihkan sabun mandi buku yang ditanam cip khas dan penduduk dijanjikan 400 rupee (RM23.83) jika mereka mengembalikan sabun itu selepas beberapa hari.

Menurut polis, para penyelidik akan memuat turun data daripada cip itu menggunakan alat pembaca kad untuk mengkaji pola sanitasi.

Firma dari Britain itu membatalkan penyelidikan tersebut pada Sabtu lalu selepas akhbar berkenaan menyiarkan laporan mengenai kebimbangan penduduk. -- Agensi.

Angelina Jolie hailed for Balkan war film debut

2011-12-12T04:32:00.000+08:00

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie has won praise for her directing debut - a powerful story of love amid the atrocities of the Bosnian war - from both film critics and victims' relatives.

The Hollywood 'A' lister is used to being feted for her performances in films ranging from Girl, Interrupted - which won her the best supporting actress Academy Award in 2000 - to the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movies.

But she has also been an ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees since 2001, and has drawn on that experience in the making of In the Land of Blood and Honey, due out in the United States later this month.

The movie tells the story of a Serb soldier who re-meets a former lover, a Bosnian woman now held captive in the camp he oversees during the dark days of the 1992-95 Bosnian war. 'It's very difficult to make me sit and see this for two hours, it's so hard to watch, so you can imagine living it for years, as many of our cast did,' she told reporters at a press screening in Hollywood on Thursday.

Lindsay Lohan says she has learned from mistakes

2011-12-11T17:26:00.000+08:00

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - Actress Lindsay Lohan, in her first interview since being sent to jail last month for a probation violation, tells Playboy that she has learned to be accountable for her mistakes.

The Mean Girls star told the magazine in an interview accompanying her 10-page nude pictorial that during the past five years she's come to understand 'that ultimately we are responsible for ourselves and our own actions.'

Magazine founder Hugh Hefner has said he advanced the street date of the highly-anticipated issue - in which a blonde Lohan channels her idol Marilyn Monroe's famed 1953 Playboy photo spread - in part because photos were leaked online.

The Lohan issue hit Playboy's website on Saturday and the magazine lands on newsstands Dec 16, one day after Lohan's scheduled interview on Ellen Degeneres' daytime TV talk show.

Ready for the supercomputer that can predict the future (even the next recession) as EU prepares £900m funding

2011-12-05T19:35:00.000+08:00

Plan: The man behind the supercomputer, Professor Dirk Helbing, billed the machine as 'the nervous system for the entire planet'

A £900million scheme to produce a computer system which could predict the next financial crisis has been backed by leading scientists.

The Living Earth Simulator Project (LES) aims to 'simulate everything' on the planet, using anything from tweets to government statistics to map out social trends and predict the next economic crisis.

Using vasts reams of data fed into the internet, trends can be spotted by analysing information with 'the world's most powerful computers'.

The man behind the idea has billed it as a 'nervous system for the planet', while academics have backed it as a replacement for current outdated economic models.

Professor Dirk Helbing, one of the leaders of the project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, told the Sunday Times: 'The idea is to gather live information from a huge range of sources and then analyse it using the world's most powerful computers.

'Many problems we have today - including social and economic instabilities, wars, disease spreading - are related to human behaviour, but there is apparently a serious lack of understanding regarding how society and the economy work.

Professor Helbing said the LES would be able to predict the spread of infectious disease such as Swine Flu, identify methods for tackling climate change and even spot an impending financial crisis.

It would be filled with huge swathes of data, which would be assembled as-yet-unbuilt supercomputer hardware capable of data analysis on a mammoth scale.

Around 30 leading computer science centres worldwide have already pledged their support for the supercomputer, including three in Britain.

Oxford University, University College London (UCL) and Edinburgh University have also formed the FuturICT consortium to help push ahead with plans for the project.

The European Commission has also put the Living Earth Simulator at the top of its shortlist for £900m in funding.

However, the plans to recreate the entire world in a complex computer system have drawn criticism from some science experts who see the project as too ambitious and unrealistic.

Iain Begg, professor of European Studies at the London School of Economics, told the Sunday Times: 'The complexity of the world is simply too great. We cannot even model the weather for more than a few days.

'The social domain, people's behaviour, is even harder to analyse, because social trends are not just complex, they also change with time.

'We have to be sceptical as to whether even the most powerful computers could cope with it.'

The current economic crisis and eurozone meltdown was not foreseen by the financial models which most policy-makers use.

But the Living Earth Simulator Project would pre-empt such a disaster, which is why it has been given support by the European Commission.

Supporters of the supercomputer idea say the need to forecast another worldwide economic crisis is greater than ever.

Steven Bishop, professor of non-linear dynamics at UCL's mathematics department, who is a key figure in the Living Earth Simulator project, said: 'The modern banking system may have more disasters waiting to happen but they are buried in complexity, just as happened with the crisis of sub-prime mortgages.

'We would hope to find the precursors of instability and disasters and maybe do that in time for politicians to stop them happening.'

The only time a similarly ambitious computer scheme has been dreamt up was in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the satirically-created Deep Thought spent 7.5million years pondering the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

Iran says it downed unmanned U.S. spy drone

2011-12-05T09:31:00.000+08:00

TEHRAN — Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said the country’s army downed an unmanned U.S. spy drone along the country’s eastern border Sunday.

The wreckage of what Fars described as a Lockheed-Martin RQ-170 Sentinel stealth dronewas largely intact after it was downed, the news agency said.

“Iran’s army has downed an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran,” Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam state television network quoted an unnamed source as saying. “The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the armed forces.”

Three hours after the incident , major state TV news was showing only stock pictures of the allegedly downed RQ-17O stealth drone; no footage of the actual downed drone was shown.

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said in a statement the aircraft may be an American drone that its operators lost contact with last week while it was flying a mission over neighboring western Afghanistan.

According to an unnamed Iranian military official quoted by state TV, Iran’s cyber warfare unit managed to take over controls of the drone and bring it down. In recent years, Iran has invested in what it calls “asymmetric” warfare, alternative techniques to take on enemies who have greater military power, like the United States.

An unnamed military official also told the Fars news agency that Iran’s response “will not be limited to the country’s borders.”

The incident follows a week of heightened tensions between Iran and the west after young Iranian hard-liners stormed the British Embassy compound and a separate diplomatic residence here Tuesday. Britainpulled its diplomatic staff from the Islamic republic following the attack and ordered Iran’s diplomats to leave London. The Iranian delegation arrived back in Tehranon Saturday.

In July, Iran also claimed to have shot down a U.S. spy drone, which U.S. officials denied. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard later backed away from the claim, saying its air defenses had only hit a test target.

washingtonpost

Umno Will Never Change

2011-12-03T13:17:00.001+08:00

A leopard will not change its spots. Same goes for UMNO. In this case, UMNO leaders at its AGM will not cleanse all their past ‘sins’ to make it a party of choice for the Malays and other races in the coming general election. They use the AGM not to be meditative or introspective of their weaknesses as a political party, but choose to turn it into a political forum to childishly put down the Opposition.

This is a big letdown on their part. They are obviously on a defensive mode –- shielding the many issues affecting their leaders – personal, corruption and incompetency –- thinking that the delegates are ‘village fools’ who have come to listen to their side of the stories. They have under-rated the intelligence of the delegates and the people at large.

One delegate from Johore snapped: “We are talking the same old stories. We want to be defensive on everything even though we have done many wrongs. We are not admitting all our wrongdoings. We just don’t want to admit our mistakes. This is not the way for UMNO to win the Malay hearts. The people are not happy with many things going on in the country.”

The unpopular Youth leader

To most of the delegates, the present UMNO AGM is more of the usual rhetoric – race, religion and the perceived or tenuous ‘threats’ of other races to the Malays and their rights and privileges. They forget that like the Malays, the non-Malays too have their rights and privileges in this country.

The AGM seems to imprudently use the race platform to sock the Opposition on personal issues that their own leaders are worse at. They choose to deny interpolating on their leaders’ wrongdoings but act like spotless saints preaching on the stage to ‘mesmerize’ the delegates into thinking that UMNO is ‘God’ and others are devils. Many in the audience though are not convinced with their daft rhetoric.

The unpopular Youth leader and his team, as customary, had all the uncouth words for the Opposition and the marginalized ‘social groups’ in society. The people just could not understand why they should despise others using lexis like ‘pondan’, ‘anak haram’ and ‘bapok’. What have these ‘socially ostracised’ people done to harm UMNO Youth? Could this be the product of ill breeding on UMNO Youth’s part?

The dim-witted Chief himself is trying hard to impress the top leadership but, unfortunately, in a very rough and ready manner. Little does he realise that his future and his chance of climbing up the political ladder in UMNO is already bleak. A delegate from Kedah had this to say of him: “If he were to contest for the same post again, he would lose.”

They yap on Malay survival thinking that only UMNO could represent the Malays. They fail to realise that PAS has become a more popular party among the young and educated Malays. They woof at the Chinese considering them as a big threat to the Malays when they themselves are working with MCA and Gerakan Chinese parties.

Just because a Chinese from DAP is helming a thriving Penang they try to bilk the delegates into thinking that soon a Chinese will eye for the prime minister’s post. UMNO will never underscore the fact that Penang never had a chief minister other than a Chinese since Merdeka. Thus, all the hue and cry at the AGM is just a hypocrisy.

Helps make the Opposition stronger

The delegates at the AGM will prefer not to touch on money politics, corruption, financial leakages at all levels of governance and management, the poor state of the country’s economy, the feudal mindset of the Malays and the many social problems faced by the Malay race. These, startlingly, are not central to party leaders and delegates. They prefer to adopt to worthless rhetoric tinged with emotions and hatred for others. By bashing the Opposition is not going to drag UMNO out from quicksand. It only helps make the Opposition stronger.

The rhetoric on Chinese threats on Malay power is not going to sell either. Malaysians in general realise that no Chinese or Indian is interested in becoming the prime minister of the country. It is not the solemn ambition of any non-Malay in this country to become the prime Minister. Their heartfelt aspiration is to see a serene Malaysia for all the people to cherish. Let an accomplished and righteous Malay lead them.

A delegate from Melaka had this to say: “ We should have spent more time debating on how to resolve the many social problems facing the Malays rather than condemning the Opposition or the Chinese. By attacking the Opposition we are actually giving credits and more sympathy for them using our platform.”

Only one state headed by Chinese

UMNO AGM is again used to offend the non-Malays. An Indian Muslim Youth leader of UMNO from Penang bleated with hot air, despising the Chief Minister (CM) of Penang with all the disparaging words he has picked up from his parents. He must have forgotten that Penang was also under a Chinese CM since Merdeka and there has not been a slightest whinge on this issue before this. Why the yelping and bellowing now when the majority Muslims in Penang are comfortable with the present State Government?

UMNO is indeed giving the wrong impression to the people that the Chinese will take over the country if UMNO is weak This is a weird and unfounded theory by UMNO rumour mongers and it has offended the Chinese who MCA and Gerakan are trying hard to woo for UMNO.

UMNO is bound to lose more votes in the coming general election for this irrational statement by its nutty leaders. UMNO is ignoring the fact that Malaysia is what it is now in terms of economic development hugely due to the diligent Chinese. The illustrious city landscapes in the country are Chinese contributions to the nation. The economy of the country is flourishing immeasurably due to the assiduous Chinese.

The Chinese do not disguise themselves to become ‘Malays’ or UMNO members to achieve economic progress. This is unlike what the people on the ground observe is happening within UMNO. UMNO is now taken over by pseudo-Malays disguising themselves as the ‘Indigenous’ people. This, supposedly, is more of a threat to the real Malays and the Indigenous than the unpretentious Chinese or Indians.

The next general election will most probably see the Opposition taking over the government with a simple majority. UMNO or the Malays have nothing to fret about. The country will still see only one state headed by a Chinese CM and that is in Penang. Penang has been traditionally headed by a Chinese and the progress of the state goes well without saying. All other Malaysian states – in all probability – will be headed by Malay CMs or Menteri Besar.

So in this circumstances, will there be any difference between Barisan and the Opposition political status quo in the country? The only difference will be that the Opposition would, by all accounts, be more competent, responsible and transparent in governance of the country, as already seen in the present four states controlled by them.

The modern Malays are aware of this. Thus UMNO’s inane rhetoric on the Chinese or DAP threat does not carry weight at all. This publicity stunt by UMNO will make them lose more votes to the Opposition in the next general election. They have failed to grasp the fact that DAP to PAS and PKR is more or less analogous to what MCA and Gerakan are to UMNO; PAS and PKR will be akin to UMNO –- representing the majority Malays. A delegate from Sabah rightly said: “When we are politically wrong we need to have it corrected and diligently find solutions to ensure that the other races are not offended. A two-party system augurs well for the country. This is a wake-up call for all parties. The best party will be the people’s choice.”

No threat to the Malays

What is the difference between UMNO and the Opposition then? The Opposition has to go all out to prove that they can manage the country better than UMNO –- with fairness, competence, transparency and accountability. They have thus far proved this in the four states controlled by them – Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan. They will then make sure that their report books are ad infinitum endorsed as ‘good’ in the annual Auditor’s General’s Reports. What apprehends UMNO presently is that it will soon lose its monopoly on power and thus the gravy train. UMNO is up to monopolistic politics when the present generation of Malaysians feel that it is not right. The people now earnestly wish for a two-party system for the country. The emergence of the Opposition is thus a blessing for the country, as today the people have an option. They will decide which party should lead them best.

UMNO’s rhetoric at the AGM on Chinese threats to the Malays is downright racism. It only depicts how desperate UMNO can be. They have become fidgety seeing the success of Penang under its new stewardship where even the Malays there are in favour of the humble yet effective management shown by the headship. UMNO for that matter is not the only party that represents the Malays. PAS and PKR have a big share of Malay supporters too. Even DAP has today garnered significant Malay votes for its mature politics.

If the Chinese or Indians do not vote for UMNO they could still vote for PAS or PKR. It makes no difference, as all these parties also numerically represent the Malays. What they wish are capable and virtuous Malays to lead the country, not opportunists who get into politics to bamboozle the people and enrich themselves. The Chinese and Indians, as such, are no threat to the Malays as they have lived in this country for many years understanding the sensitivity and social set up of the nation. No Chinese or Indian in this country is keen or ambitious to become the prime minister – they are not interested. They know that the existing social milieu does not favour this in a Malay majority Malaysia and they do not mind it at all. In this context, they are much wiser than UMNO to understand the circumstances.

Game of racial incitement

UMNO leaders have failed to see how leaders are chosen from minority ethnic groups in some countries. Malaysia has yet to mature or evolve into a democracy as found in the US or India. President Barrack Obama of the US and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India represent the minorities by race in their respective countries and yet they are leaders to people of other majority ethnic groups.

The people are willing to accept a leader from even minority groups, as politics is in the main not based on race or religion in these countries. Political parties that bank on religion or race supremacy seldom win elections. They just cannot sell if race or religion is used to confidence trick the people. The people are more mature in this sense.

The Chinese and Indians in Malaysia are not the least worried if the prime minister does not come from their ethnic group. Neither do they have any ambition to create a prime minister from their ethnic group. Being the minority, they only want to see a fair government and they do not mind working under capable and upright Malay leaders.

The Malays today in general do understand this political equation. Let UMNO alone play with this game of racial incitement that the Chinese are ambitious to have a prime minster from their ethic group and that the Constitution has to be amended to prevent this from becoming a reality. UMNO know that they are already in quicksand, so they are trying hard to get hold of any straw they could to save them from becoming a flightless dodo bird.

Alas, in Malaysia it’s always the scare tactic UMNO is using to distance the Malays from other races. UMNO is still focussing on this antiquated brand of politics to survive –- failing to comprehend that this modus operandi is becoming less effectual these days. UMNO leaders may have grown to savour this brand of politics all these days. But the young Malays out there are not keen to adopt this kind of approach to politics and thus they turn to PAS, PKR or DAP for an entirely new political paradigm. As such, today UMNO is loosing support from the young Malays.

We are still divided

UMNO has forgotten the country’s history for their own expediency or perhaps they have a selective memory of history. Most Chinese and Indians of today –- including those people who came from close neighbouring countries before and after Merdeka –- are the second or third generation people of Malaysia. They have naturally evolved into inheriting a Malaysian identity. Born and bred here, they do not show loyalty to the countries their great-grand parents came from. UMNO politicians would prefer to deny this historical fact to gratify their disciples and for their political mileage.

It was in 1957 that we achieved independence. The British agreed to give independence to Malaya with the proviso that the three major races could work out a cordial solution to uphold unity and harmony in the country. The Chinese and the Indians were given the rights to citizenship and the Malays were endowed with their special rights as stipulated in the Constitution. Most of those migrants from China, India, Indonesia and many other regions have sired children in this country and they have all been destined to stay here.

The country has multi-racially evolved since. Politically, UMNO being the spine of Barisan Nasional (BN) has failed to achieve what is ideal for a progressive country after 54 years of independence. We are still divided by the types of school our children attend to, the types of schools meant for people of different ethnic groups and the opportunities given to certain ethnic groups in the country. Many have also abused or misused these privileges. More could be done to the country if the national education policy is genuinely carved to cater for all Malaysians to be racially united. UMNO has failed to address this issue at the AGM.

Political and economic woes

UMNO AGM is again cagey when it comes to addressing the political and economic woes facing the country due to the lack of confident, competent and knowledgeable leaders among them. They vehemently deny that UMNO’s political fallacy has made many Malaysians still economically divisive by race and religion. They should admit that UMNO politicians have failed the country in many ways – social and economic –- with their own para-holistic ways of dealing with many national issues because of their unrelenting race agenda. This fallacy has to be corrected but leaders and delegates at the UMNO AGM were too inhibited to debate on this.

They have failed to note that the electorate today have deemed race-centric political parties as no more the right prescription for resolving the political and economic woes facing the country. The people would want to see a generation that will invariably call themselves as Malaysians – Bangsa Malaysia as defined by Mahathir –- and not Malay, Chinese, Indian or Others. Perhaps, UMNO does not prefer this altruistic notion due to its hidebound approach to racial politics.

Alas, there are still some unfashionable politicians in UMNO who still fish on narrow racial and religious issues to stay in power. This, they can sell no more, as the general perception of Malaysians has changed. The present generation Malaysians abhor racial or religious tones to politics, as they would prefer a new neutral podium to express their grievances and political views.

People of one nation

UMNO AGM has year in, year out spelt that the ‘Malay’ race as the definitive race of this country – despite the fuzziness of this term to anthropologists. This is when the lexis ‘Malay’ is so arbitrarily defined that people are confused who the right ‘Malays’ are and who are making use of the ‘Malay’ status for economic and political benefits.

It is even devious to say that the present generation of ‘non-Malays’ – born and bred in this country –- should be treated as second-class to any other race in the country when they have irrefutably shown their loyalty to this country. These people have learnt the definitive language of the country; they are also relatively immersed culturally and their loyalty to the King and country is unquestionable. Only their religion may differ in most cases. Should religion then be a stumbling block for national integration?

Indeed, Malaysians of all races today have involved into a nation of people who share the same values –- contributing to the social and economic wellbeing of the country. They have shielded the country against undesirable elements and fortified the country from dissident groups to bring peace for all and sundry. Many have even sacrificed their lives for the country. The Malays should be grateful to these people, and vice versa.

All Malaysians born in this country hence should be regarded as people of one nation. This, perhaps, is the Opposition’s stand as opposed to UMNO’s stemmed brand of politics. The Opposition ostensibly sees that the people of this country could politically and economically work together to see that there is no more political beliefs that prop up race and religious extremism. Political chauvinism as promoted by UMNO is actually perceived by the people at large as to benefit a few power hungry politicians. This cannot be tolerated by the present generation Malaysians.

As opposed to UMNO’s brand of politics, Malaysians would want to see all be treated the same irrespective of their race, creed, religion or political affiliation for the country to progress. UMNO AGM, regrettably, is too deep in emotive rhetoric that they have become sightless to reality. They could not see the benefits of having all races living and working together in a nation of people faithful to the country.

UMNO AGM has again failed the people’s expectation

When the people are ready for a two-party system the UMNO AGM is still narrowing its perspective on political monopolism. They have not got off the worn out racial tracks and keeps on referring to people of other races as not the ‘chosen people’. UMNO has failed to recognize that divide and rule –- the colonial way of race containment –- will not work anymore in this country as people have become much wiser now and know better their basic rights as human beings – thanks to the unyielding pressure from human rights groups and also the role of Internet that has made the world we live in ‘free’ and borderless.

Instead of endlessly toying on race and parochialism, and solely defending the Malay rights UMNO AGM should have focussed on how the poor – irrespective of race or religion –- in the country could be given special help in order to uplift their economic well-being. The economic policy today has to be based on needs. The rich among all races do not need the ‘crutch’ but the poor of all races still need it.

UMNO’s temperament is that it does not fancy other races to question the rights of the Indigenous people as stipulated in the Constitution but this should not be taken as a passport by UMNO to deny the other races of their rights and privileges as Malaysians.

A civilised society will not condone the fact that there are a ‘chosen few’ to be crowned as a superior people.

Islam does not condone this doctrine either, as it is against the fundamental rights of the human race.

The UMNO AGM has again failed the people’s expectation of the party to lead a multi-racial Malaysia into the future. It’s a blessing that we now have a two-party system.

Muhyiddin pembohong besar

2011-11-30T18:59:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 NOV – Apabila didesak oleh rakyat supaya membuka ruang demokrasi, kebebasan dan hak asasi serta mereformasikan pentadbiran, apa yang akan dibuat oleh UMNO?

Seperti selalunya, UMNO apabila tergugat, maka tersemburlah dari mulut pimpinan mereka hujah lapuk perkauman melampau yang langsung tidak berasaskan fakta.

Ketua Parlimen DAP Lim Kit Siang berkata, ucapan Timbalan Presiden UMNO Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin semalam adalah “ibu kepada segala fitnah, pembohongan dan perkauman”.

Katanya ucapan Muhyiddin itu sewaktu merasmikan persidangan Pemuda, Wnita dan Puteri UMNO adalah yang paling buruk dan tidak bertanggungjawab yang pernah disampaikan oleh seorang Timbalan Perdana Menteri.

“Tuduhan Muhyiddin kononnya DAP adalah anti-Islam dan anti-Melayu adalah fitnah, tidak berasas dan pembohongan semata-mata.

“DAP adalah sebuah parti Malaysia yang patriotik serta gigih berusaha untuk kebaikan semua kaum, sama ada Melayu, Cina, India, Kadazan atau Iban, dan untuk semua penganut agama, sama ada Islam, Buddhisme, Kristian, Hindu, Sikh atau Taoisme.

Kit Siang yang juga Ahli Parlimen Ipoh Timur berkata Muhyiddin telah bersikap tidak bertanggungjawab dan menyebarkan fitnah apabila membohongi rakyat dengan mendakwa kononnya agenda DAP ialah untuk mewujudkan sebuah republik.

Dalam ucapannya, Muhyiddin berkata:

“Tembelang DAP untuk menubuhkan sebuah negara republik dengan mengetepikan nilai, sejarah dan jati diri Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara bangsa yang berpaksikan kedaulatan Raja-raja Melayu dan Islam sebagai Agama Persekutuan semakin jelas kelihatan.

“Masakan tidak, mereka berani mencadangkan supaya jawatan Perdana Menteri dipilih secara langsung dalam pilihan raya tanpa perlu dilantik oleh Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“Apa maknanya ini? Maknanya, sistem Demokrasi Berparlimen dan Raja Berperlembagaan yang kita amalkan selama ini sudah tidak sesuai lagi dengan tembolok mereka untuk melahap kuasa.”

Kit Siang menjelaskan DAP TIDAK pernah mencadangkan jawatan Perdana Menteri dipilih tanpa perlu perkenaan Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Beliau mahu Muhyiddin membuktikan kata-kata kononnya DAP mahu menubuhkan republic, kerana sejak zaman-berzaman, malah pada 23 Februari 1971, DAP secara terbuka menyatakan sokongan kepada sistem Raja Berperlembagaan.

Katanya, beliau juga menyatakan dalam Parlimen 40 tahun lalu bahawa DAP tidak pernah dan tidak akan mempersoal kedaulatan Raja-Raja.

Menurutnya, walau apa pun rancangan kerajaan Barisan Nasional untuk rakyat Malaysia pelbagai kaum, ia hanya bersikap seperti biawak yang sering kembali kepada bangkainya.

Sementara itu, Setiausaha Politik kepada Setiausaha Agung DAP, Zairil Khir Johari berkata, beberapa pemimpin UMNO masih terawang-awangan di zaman lampau walau pun seluruh rakyat dunia, termasuk di Malaysia, sedang memperjuangkan hak asasi manusia.

“Memang ketinggalan zaman…Tetapi inilah juga tanda penyakit ‘gila kuasa.’

“Mula-mula (mereka) membutakan diri, iaitu kesalahan sendiri tidak nampak, kemudian memekakkan telinga, iaitu suara rakyat tidak didengari, dan akhirnya memabukkan diri sehingga mereka cuma hidup dalam dunia khayalan sendiri.

“Namun begitu, rakyat Malaysia, khususnya orang Melayu, tidak jahil dan tidak akan termakan dengan umpan perkauman,” katanya.

Beliau membidas kenyataan-kenyataan perkauman para pemimpin UMNO sebagai dangkal, bebal dan sama sekali tidak berasaskan fakta, termasuk dakwaan bodoh Ketua Penerangan UMNO Datuk Ahmad Maslan yang menuduh DAP tidak menghormati institusi diraja kerana “mereka tidak pernah terima gelaran diraja meski pun mereka ditawarkan”.

Zairil memberi contoh arwah ayahnya, bekas Menteri Pelajaran Tan Sri Mohd Khir Johari yang juga seorang pemimpin besar UMNO, yang pernah menolak berkali-kali pingat dan darjah kebesaran sepanjang perkhidmatan sebagai wakil rakyat.

“Adakah beliau seorang yang anti-raja juga? Seperti juga Tun Ghafar Baba… Mereka enggan menerima pingat atas dasar prinsip bahawa sesiapa yang sedang berkhidmat untuk awam itu tidak sepatutya menjadi lebih ‘tinggi’ daripada rakyat.

“Inilah prinsip sama dipegang pemimpin-pemimpin DAP,” katanya. – Roketkini.

Sex abuse 'scourge' for all society: Pope

2011-11-27T14:56:00.000+08:00

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI insisted on Saturday that all of society's institutions and not just the Catholic church must be held to 'exacting' standards in their response to sex abuse of children, and defended the church's efforts to confront the problem.

Benedict acknowledged in remarks to visiting US bishops during an audience at the Vatican that paedophilia was a 'scourge' for society, and that decades of scandals over clergy abusing children had left Catholics in the United States bewildered.

'It is my hope that the Church's conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognise the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society,' he said.

'By the same token, just as the church is rightly held to exacting standards in this regard, all other institutions, without exception, should be held to the same standards,' the pope said.

Indonesian men, Indian women have the most sex

2011-11-25T22:44:00.000+08:00

Indonesian men top the list when it comes to frequency of sexual intercourse, according to a survey conducted among sexually-active people in 10 Asian territories.

Conducted by Pfizer, the latest 'Ideal Sex in Asia Survey' found Indonesian men had sex 9.8 times each month on average. Coming in second were Filipino men, who had sex 9.4 times a month, while Indian men averaged 8.8 times each month. As for Thai men, they had sex about 7.7 times in one month.

The findings of the survey were released at a Bangkok hotel Thursday. The survey covered 1,658 men and 1,624 women in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. All respondents were between 31 and 74 years old, and had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months.

As for female respondents, Indian women reported the highest frequency of sexual intercourse at 8.7 times each month on average. Coming in next were Indonesian and Malaysian women, both having sex about 6.8 times in a month. (ANN)

Clinton to visit South Korea, Myanmar next week

2011-11-24T16:52:00.000+08:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to South Korea next week to take part in international talks on aid, before heading for a historic trip to Myanmar, officials said on Wednesday.

Ms Clinton will visit Busan, South Korea on Nov 30 to attend the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which will also include United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon and Jordan's Queen Rania.

Ms Clinton's 'participation reflects the United States' strong political commitment to development as a key pillar of global security, prosperity, and democratic progress,' the State Department said in a statement.

It added the Busan meeting 'represents a landmark opportunity for world leaders to take stock of recent changes in the development landscape and chart a new course for global cooperation.' The top US diplomat will then travel to Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon in Myanmar from Nov 30 to Dec 2 - the first visit to the South-east Asian nation by a US secretary of state for 50 years.

Ex-Philippine leader Arroyo 'will not receive fair trial'

2011-11-20T17:04:00.000+08:00

MANILA (AFP) - Former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo is being 'persecuted' and will not receive a fair trial after she was arrested for allegedly rigging elections, a lawyer for her family said on Sunday.

Mr Ferdinand Topacio dismissed assurances from President Benigno Aquino that the ailing Mrs Arroyo will be treated fairly, saying the government was determined to get the ex-president.

'There is a pall of gloom about her because of what has happened. She is being persecuted and it is taking a toll on (her) health,' Mr Topacio told ABS-CBN television.

Mr Topacio said the case against Mrs Arroyo was 'railroaded' and the former president's rights were being violated.

Galaxy S II picked as top smartphone by Consumer Reports

2011-11-16T13:37:00.000+08:00

-- PHOTO: SAMSUNG

Samsung Electronics Co's Galaxy S II smartphone was named as the best smartphone by a well-known US magazine in its latest handset survey, industry sources said on Monday.

Consumer Reports recommended the Galaxy sequel as the best smartphone pick for subscribers of three major mobile carriers in the United States. The magazine gave the Galaxy S II rolled out by AT&T Inc a score of 80, the highest among smartphones available at the No. 2 mobile operator in the US.

The Galaxy S II models released by T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel Corp also received the highest scores among the operators' smartphones.

For subscribers of Verizon Communications Inc, the only major US mobile carrier that did not release the Galaxy S II smartphone, Consumer Reports recommended the Droid Bionic smartphone, an Android-power handset by Motorola Mobility Holdings Ltd.

Police warn Japan's women: Perverts on the prowl

2011-11-16T11:42:00.000+08:00

Posed picture on supermarket peeping tom who used a mobile phone camera to peep under woman's skirt. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

TOKYO - Japanese police are warning women to be on their guard against a new generation of perverts.

Armed with the latest in photographic and video technology, these male perverts - or chikan in Japanese - take pictures or videos under a woman's skirt that they like to share with others.

The National Police Agency has announced a campaign to alert the public to the growing problem after a nationwide survey showed the number of such cases was up 60 per cent from the figure five years ago. In 2006, police were alerted to 1,087 cases of people taking illicit photos and footage on trains and stations, on escalators and in shops, or in public toilets or communal baths.

That figure jumped to 1,741 cases in the last fiscal year ending April 1, and nearly all the cases - 1,702 - involved images taken up women's skirts.

Women's water polo team take first title for Singapore

2011-11-14T05:09:00.000+08:00

Singapore's women's water polo team beat host nation Indonesia 11-9 this morning at the Lumban Tirta Swimming Stadium to take the first women's water polo title at the biennial event. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

PALEMBANG - Some in the team waited as long as 12 years to play at the SEA Games, but Singapore's women's water polo team have finally tasted gold.

They beat host nation Indonesia 11-9 on Saturday morning at the Lumban Tirta Swimming Stadium to take the first women's water polo title at the biennial event.

The men's event will begin next week.

Singapore is in search of its 24th consecutive gold.

Singapore players in blue caps, from left, Mary Kan, Valerie Loh and Angeline Teo defend. Singapore's women's water polo team beat Malaysia 26-6 in a round-robin match of the 26th SEA Games in Palembang, Indonesia, Nov 11, 2011. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

Thai PM says won't quit over flood crisis

2011-11-11T19:44:00.000+08:00

Embattled Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (right) on Thursday vowed to stay on and fight the country's deadly flood crisis despite criticism of her handling of the disaster. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

BANGKOK (AFP) - Embattled Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday vowed to stay on and fight the country's deadly flood crisis despite criticism of her handling of the disaster.

'People supported and voted for me so I want to continue my work to the best of my ability,' she told reporters when asked whether she was considering resigning.

The floods, triggered by months of unusually heavy rains, have killed 533 people and damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions around the country.

The waters are now slowly closing in on the heart of Bangkok, a city of 12 million people, swamping major roads and threatening the downtown area's luxury hotels, businesses and shopping malls.

Visiting a shelter for flood evacuees in Bangkok's Chatuchak district, Ms Yingluck pleaded for understanding from the public.

'Everybody has worked to their utmost ability. It's a natural disaster which other countries also failed to prevent,' she said.

'I want to ask for sympathy for all the officials who are working to fight the flood waters, and as for me I will do my best and will listen to all suggestions.' Ms Yingluck, a political novice and sister of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who only came to power in August, has been under enormous pressure to tackle the three-month-old crisis.

She has at times shown the strain and opponents have accused her of lacking leadership.

Her administration has also come under fire for its confusing information about the rising waters.

After three months in office, Ms Yingluck's government scored an approval rating of about 48 per cent, according to a nationwide survey of 1,168 people published by Bangkok University on Tuesday.

'So far she has run the country without direction or decisiveness,' said Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, a spokesman for the main opposition Democrat Party, which has stopped short of calling for Ms Yingluck's resignation.

Year's biggest wine auction nets $18.4m in Hong Kong

2011-11-07T15:25:00.000+08:00

A bottle of Maison Louis Jadot Montrachet white wine from 1992 and valued at at 3000 - 4000 USD per dozen is displayed in Hong Kong on Nov 1, 2011. A weekend sale of rare French wine returned 14.5 million USD, making it the year's biggest wine auction and underlining Hong Kong's status as a leading wine market, the auction house said on Nov 7. -- PHOTO: AFP

HONG KONG (AFP) - A weekend sale of rare French wine returned US$14.5 million (S$18.4 million), making it the year's biggest wine auction and underlining Hong Kong's status as a leading wine market, the auction house said on Monday.

The two-day auction by US house Acker Merrall & Condit featured the Don Stott Collection, considered a 'reference library of great Burgundy', the organisers said.

With 98 per cent of the lots sold, the intense interest in the premium French vintages demonstrated the strength of Chinese demand for high-end luxury goods despite the euro zone crisis and rising inflation at home.

'Highly competitive bidding was witnessed throughout this two-day landmark auction, which reflected the escalating demand and passion for fine Burgundy wines in the global market,' Acker Merrall & Condit said in a statement.

80,000 Muslims pray on the street in Moscow

2011-11-07T06:47:00.000+08:00

Tens of thousands of Muslim men have knelt shoulder-to-shoulder in prayer on the freezing streets of Moscow to celebrated the religious holiday of Eid al-Adha. -- PHOTO: AP

MOSCOW (AP) - Tens of thousands of Muslim men have knelt shoulder-to-shoulder in prayer on the freezing streets of Moscow to celebrated the religious holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Estimates of the number of Muslims living or working in the Russian capital run from 2 million to as high as 5 million, but the city has few mosques.

Police said 170,000 people celebrated the holiday in Moscow, including 80,000 who gathered on the street outside what was once the main mosque. The 100-year-old building was torn down in September and a new mosque being built next to it is still under construction.

Many of those who braved the freezing temperatures to pray on Sunday were migrant workers from countries in Central Asia that were once part of the Soviet Union.

Caddie causes stir with racial inference to Woods

2011-11-05T18:55:00.000+08:00

Tiger Woods' former caddie, Steve Williams (left), has caused another sensation, this time by using a racial slur to disparage his old boss during a caddies award roast in Shanghai. -- PHOTO: AP

SHANGHAI (AP) - Tiger Woods' former caddie has caused another sensation, this time by using a racial slur to disparage his old boss during a caddies award roast in Shanghai.

Steve Williams received a mock award on Friday night for 'Celebration of the Year' for his TV interview after Adam Scott won the Bridgestone Invitational.

That was the day Williams said it was 'the best win of his life,' despite being on the bag with Woods for 13 majors.

At an awards party filled with banter, Williams described his former employer in racially insulting terms which drew the biggest reaction from several players, caddies, officials and some media. There was a mixture of laughter and shock, with some players turning to each other with eyes widened and jaws agape.

Prince Charles tours Soweto on South African visit

2011-11-03T20:34:00.000+08:00

Britain's Prince Charles (right) and his wife Camilla (left) toured Johannesburg's historic Soweto township on Thursday on the first full day of a visit to South Africa. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Malaysian Bloggers l SOWETO, South Africa (AFP) - Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla toured Johannesburg's historic Soweto township on Thursday on the first full day of a visit to South Africa.

They were greeted at the Freedom Square Monument by the Soweto Gospel Choir, with 24 singers and a drummer in colourful traditional dress and beads, singing Miriam Makeba's Click Song and other African favourites.

Children from local schools and a creche lined the square for the royal pair's arrival, receiving smiles and waves from the couple.

'It was so cool, I liked that. It's so long I want to see the prince,' said Boniswa Msibi, an 18-year-old Soweto high school pupil who shook hands with the prince. 'We're so happy that they're coming into Soweto to see us and are not afraid of us.' The Duchess of Cornwall, dressed in a cream-coloured butterfly-print dress and a cream jacket with black piping, tried on some colourful hats at a handicraft stall.

Thai PM hopes flood drainage can be sped up

2011-10-31T16:07:00.000+08:00

BANGKOK (AP) - Thailand's prime minister says she hopes the process of draining floodwater through Bangkok can be sped up now that peak high tides have passed.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Monday that 'if there is no more additional water, the current runoff might not cause heavy flooding in Bangkok.'

She said there was still a massive amount of water that needs to pass through the capital's drainage network as it makes its way down from flooded provinces in the north.

Record high tides pushing up the Chao Phraya River from the Gulf of Thailand have made draining the water from Thailand's worst flooding in a half-century more difficult. That has put extreme pressure on Bangkok's flood defences, though they have largely held and most of the city remains dry.

Pictures: X Japan leader likes K-pop

2011-10-28T03:13:00.000+08:00

After X Japan attended the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo a few months ago, Yoshiki (left) said he felt very sorry to miss the chance to see Girls' Generation (right). -- PHOTO: THE KOREAN HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS

(THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Heavy metal band X Japan has gone through many painful experiences including the deaths of two former members but its rock 'n roll spirit will survive, said the group's leader, drummer and pianist Yoshiki Hayashi on Wednesday

Speaking to reporters in Seoul, Yoshiki said he loves K-pop and hear a lot of K-pop songs in Los Angeles which he has been frequenting for more than 15 years.

After X Japan attended the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo a few months ago, Yoshiki said he felt very sorry to miss the chance to see Girls' Generation.

X Japan has been on a world tour in 2011 and the first leg of its Asia tour will be in Seoul on Friday at the Olympic Park Gymnasium.

Singer Amy Winehouse poisoned by alcohol: Inquest

2011-10-26T23:48:00.000+08:00

Singer Amy Winehouse was more than five times over the legal British drink-drive limit when she died, an inquest heard on Wednesday, as a coroner delivered a verdict of death by misadventure. -- PHOTO: AP

LONDON (AFP) - Singer Amy Winehouse was more than five times over the legal British drink-drive limit when she died, an inquest heard on Wednesday, as a coroner delivered a verdict of death by misadventure.

Winehouse, 27, was found dead at her London home on July 23 following years of alcohol and drug addiction.

The inquest, in London, was told she had drunk heavily after abstaining from alcohol for three weeks and was poisoned by alcohol.

The singer had 416mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

'Masses of water' still to come to Bangkok

2011-10-25T11:12:00.000+08:00

Bangkok faces the threat of deluge from two huge masses of water north-east of the city over coming days, a senior Royal Irrigation Department official warned on Monday. -- PHOTO: AFP

While the flood situation in Bangkok remained relatively stable over the weekend, the capital faces the threat of deluge from two huge masses of water north-east of the city over coming days, a senior Royal Irrigation Department official warned on Monday.

'The first mass of water has left Rangsit canal brimming, and spilling over the parallel Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok road (running in an east-west direction) north of Bangkok, which doubles as a flood barrier,' said the official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the news.

The second mass of water, now trapped further north beyond the Klong Luang road in Pathum Thani (which also runs east-west), was also building, and would soon cross the road to add to the first, he explained.

'When these two lots (of water) combine, in the next few days, they will amass and break through barriers along Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok road and head to further inundate Lak Luk Ka district in Pathum Thani, then Don Muang in northern Bangkok,' he said.

Thai PM Yingluck tells Bangkok to move belongings to safety

2011-10-21T15:00:00.000+08:00

BANGKOK (AFP) - Millions of Bangkok residents were warned on Friday to move their belongings higher up after the government admitted it was failing in its battle to hold back massive floods just north of the city.

In a new tactic, the government has said it will open Bangkok's sluice gates to allow the sea of floodwater to drain through canals in the capital, which has an extensive system of waterways and drainage pumps.

The move should ease pressure on vulnerable flood barriers on the northern edge of the city of 12 million people, but increases the threat to Bangkok, which has so far escaped major inundation.

Residents were advised to move their possessions to higher floors or areas as the capital braced for the arrival of the floods from the central plains, which are several metres under water in places.

Pictures: Indonesian princess weds in historical sultanate

2011-10-19T02:06:00.000+08:00

Princess Nurastuti Wijareni, centre, 25, married 29-year-old Achmad Ubaidillah (right) in a traditional Javanese-Muslim ceremony attended by more than 2,000 guests that included the Indonesian president. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Malaysian Bloggers l JAKARTA (AFP) - An Indonesian princess married her prince on Tuesday in the historical sultanate of Yogyakarta.

Princess Nurastuti Wijareni, 25, married 29-year-old Achmad Ubaidillah in a traditional Javanese-Muslim ceremony attended by more than 2,000 guests that included the Indonesian president.

Yogyakarta, around 400km south-east of Jakarta in the centre of Java island, is one of Indonesia's last remaining sultanates, where the sultan acts also as the special region's governor.

The groom, a commoner, works at the office of Indonesia's vice-president.

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Thai PM offers assurances on 'worst floods in history'

2011-10-17T03:23:00.000+08:00

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra assured the public on Saturday that the government was doing its best to tackle the country's 'worst flood disaster in history' and to help people affected.

In her weekly radio programme, Ms Yingluck said that of 56 flood-affected provinces, 10 were hard-hit: Nakhon Sawan, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Lop Buri, Ang Thong, Sing Buri, Chai Nat, Uthai Thani and Chachoengsao.

Officials were trying to drain floodwater into the sea as fast as possible, Ms Yingluck said, adding that she had instructed related agencies to prevent floodwater from getting into strategic and major economic locations such as business districts, industrial estates, airports, flood shelters, major provincial cities and inner Bangkok.

Because the Chao Phraya River is the best channel for draining floodwater, some 800 boats were set to help push water through Khlong Lat Pho to the sea, and 216 water pumps had been installed along the Chao Phraya, she said.

On the eastern side of the capital, three major canals had been dredged, and work was underway on four more.

On the western side, where floodwater is flowing through the Tha Chin River, the river's winding character made it necessary to dig shortcuts to speed up the drainage, while 171 water pumps and 100 water-pushing boats were in place, Ms Yingluck said.

To protect Bangkok, three levees had been reinforced and heightened, she said. An additional 24km-long levee was being constructed between Klong Rapeepat and Pratunam Pra-in and would be completed soon, she said.

Repairs to Pathum Thani's Ban Phrao sluice gate were expected to be finished later on Saturday, Ms Yingluck said, asking residents to cooperate by not dismantling the floodwalls and assuring them the government would do its best to help flood victims.

She said rescue teams would evacuate affected people to shelters, while other teams had been set up to assist people in the shelters. The government was trying to drain floodwater out to sea and would rehabilitate flood-hit areas as soon as possible.

The government's Flood Relief Operations Command had received over 400 million baht (S$16.5 million) in donations, which would be distributed to all flood victims, while foreign countries - such as China, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Israel, Denmark and the United States - had offered assistance, Ms Yingluck said. The US offered to send 26 helicopters in one week to perform evacuations and transport heavy equipment, she said.

Urging the public to have confidence in the government's proposed systematic long-term solutions to flooding, she invited members of the public to join in tackling the problem and help the country overcome the difficulties together.

Ms Yingluck will today preside over a ceremony to launch an effort to have boats on the Chao Phraya push water out to sea, while similar efforts would be launched simultaneously on the Tha Chin and Bang Pakong rivers.

Ms Yingluck chaired a meeting with military and Interior Ministry officials to discuss search and rescue missions for stranded flood victims. She asked that Air Force helicopters be used to search for stranded victims, and that the Interior Ministry use household census data to identify which people were at shelters and which remained in flooded areas.

Ms Yingluck also instructed provincial governors to educate residents about the installation of floodwalls in order to gain their cooperation.

At Don Mueang Airport, Ms Yingluck presided over the launch of a 200-strong health volunteer caravan with relief bags and medical supplies to assist flood victims at shelters in Ayutthaya, Lop Buri, Sing Buri, Pathum Thani and Angthong. The volunteers would also visit people stranded in flooded homes, with green flags being placed at houses with patients in severe need.

And at Don Mueang Military Air Base, US Ambassador to Thailand Kristie Kenney late on Saturday afternoon welcomed the delivery of 18,000 sandbags by a 10-strong team travelling on a C130 plane from a US base off Okinawa in Japan. The team will assess the flood situation in preparation for further assistance from the US.

US ambassador apologises for sex tourism remark: Philippines

2011-10-08T16:44:00.000+08:00

The United States (US) ambassador to the Philippines has apologised for his controversial remark that 40 per cent of male tourists visit the country for sex, the foreign department said on Saturday. -- PHOTO: AFP

MANILA (AFP) - The United States (US) ambassador to the Philippines has apologised for his controversial remark that 40 per cent of male tourists visit the country for sex, the foreign department said on Saturday.

Harry Thomas sent the apology through a cell phone text message to Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Friday, a spokesman said.

In a statement, the US embassy confirmed that Mr Thomas had expressed 'deep regret' for his remark.

Last month, Mr Thomas sparked a furore when he said: 'Forty per cent of foreign men who come to the Philippines, including from the US, come for sex tourism.' Government officials quickly disputed the claim, complaining that the envoy's remark had hurt the Philippines' image.

She wants to watch live sex

2011-10-03T19:40:00.000+08:00

A 60-year-old man in Singapore has been allowed by his wife to take young Vietnamese brides but only on the condition that she gets to watch their 'child-making process', reported China Press. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

A 60-year-old man in Singapore has been allowed by his wife to take young Vietnamese brides but only on the condition that she gets to watch their 'child-making process', reported China Press.

The condition had so far scared off three young Vietnamese women recommended by a bride agency to the couple. The daily quoted the agency's owner, Marco Lim, as saying that in the past several years, he had recommended women to the couple, the latest being a few months ago.

'The childless couple approached my agency and shortlisted the candidates. Each woman tried to live with them but the first two did not even make it past two weeks. 'They left and returned to Vietnam,' he said, adding that the third woman, a 25-year-old, stayed for three months.

Mr Lim said he only found out about the reason behind the failed relationships after he coaxed the women into telling him the truth.

Teacher accused of having sex with 14-year-old student

2011-09-30T17:48:00.000+08:00

Singapore l A FORMER teacher was charged on Friday with 18 counts of having sex with a student on 18 occasions and one of attempted sex.

The 41-year-old allegedly attempted to have sex with the 14-year-old in a room of the secondary school in late 2007.

He is said to have sex with her almost once a month in the same room a dozen times from November/December 2007 to December 2008.

He is accused to have taken the 15-year-old to a carpark of Upper Seletar Reservoir Park on six occasions from January to around mid-June 2009.

80% of young S'poreans have sex with new partner without contraception

2011-09-27T17:27:00.000+08:00

Eight in 10 Singaporeans have sex with a new partner without using contraception. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE

Eight in 10 Singaporeans have sex with a new partner without using contraception.

Another 25 per cent believe in at least one contraception myth - for example, that having a shower after sex can prevent pregnancy.

These findings come from a regional survey of 1,800 young adults across nine countries.

The survey was conducted among young adults aged 20 to 35 years old by Bayer Healthcare earlier in July to mark World Contraception Day on Monday.

Big money offered for human eggs

2011-09-27T00:16:00.000+08:00

Thailand (THE NATION) The ads in a local Englishlanguage newspaper and the Internet are aimed at young women, and say:

You could get Bt1 million (S$42,000) as a reward - if you are Caucasian or Chinese, aged below 30, your height is above 160 centimetres, and you have a high IQ. The words are an invitation to females interested in being paid egg donors.

"Do you have an IQ of over 140?" a woman with a Chinese accent asked in her first question to a potential client before continuing to give details about the human egg donation in a phone interview.

Female donors were required to undergo health checks and send a report to the interviewer for consideration before getting an answer if they were qualified for consideration for the Bt1 million fee, she said.

" We will take care of and send your eggs to an in vitro fertilisation lab in China for a Chinese man who wants kids," the same woman said before finishing the conversation.

The advertisements for female egg donations for money are now being spread across the Internet. Most human eggs are wanted for in vitro fertilisation and surrogate parenthood.

According to the Medical Council of Thailand regulation, female donation for in vitro fertilisation and surrogate parenting is not allowed for commercial purposes.

" The council has allowed doctors to help women donate their eggs to relatives only for medical purposes, not for commercial use," said Dr Somsak Lohlekha, a council committee member.

" A doctor who helps a woman donate her eggs for pay would violate the council's ethical regulations," he added.

To date, there is no penalty for people who conduct the commercial egg donations and the medical council can control only the practice of physicians.

Dr Somboon Kunathikom, head of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said his agency had drafted the law to protect children born from surrogacy.

The law is now waiting for the House of Representative's consideration and endorsement.

Under this new law, people who advertise female egg donations for pay - as well as commercial egg donor agencies - can face criminal and civil punishment.

At present, women are allowed to keep their eggs in the freezer or egg bank only for their own medical treatment and not for commercial purposes.

" Human eggs cannot be sold," Somboon said.

However, human eggs can be used not only for IVF but also for stem cell treatment, Somsak added.

He said some physicians might join eggs with sperm and create embryonic stem cells which could be used for several medical purposes. In Thailand, there is no regulation permitting physicians to use embryonic stem cells for medical treatment. Only adult stem cells from blood are allowed for use in treating patients with blood diseases.

To date, there was no report that physicians had used human eggs to create embryonic stem cells, Somsak said.

Islamic medicine is on the rise in South-east Asia

2011-09-27T00:01:00.000+08:00

A 47-year-old housewife who recently started using Islamic medicine emerged tearfully from an exorcism, speaking of newfound tranquility after a turbulent period. Also, her abdominal pains are finally easing. -- PHOTO: AP

JAKARTA (AP) - A 47-year-old housewife who recently started using Islamic medicine emerged tearfully from an exorcism, speaking of newfound tranquility after a turbulent period. Also, her abdominal pains are finally easing.

Ms Suratmi, who suffers from an ovarian cyst, has been taking a mix of herbal medicine harking back to the dawn of Islam, as well as undergoing exorcisms at a clinic in Jakarta.

She is among a growing number of Muslims in South-east Asia turning away from Western medical care in favour of al-Tibb al-Nawabi, or Medicine of the Prophet, a loosely defined discipline based on the Quran and other Islamic texts and traditional herbal remedies.

'I heard that so many people have been healed, so I hope Allah can help me. I followed His path here,' said Ms Suratmi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Mao Zedong's grandson to teach grandfather's philosophy

2011-09-21T15:20:00.000+08:00

Mao Xinyu is to be a part-time teacher of his grandfather's philosophy, taking on a class of 65 students at Guangzhou University's Songtian Professional College. -- PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING (AFP) - He is a major general in the Chinese army, a political adviser, an author and a blogger, and now the grandson of China's revolutionary leader Mao Zedong has taken up a university teaching post.

Mao Xinyu is to be a part-time teacher of his grandfather's philosophy, taking on a class of 65 students at Guangzhou University's Songtian Professional College, according to a statement on the school's website.

The heavy-set 41-year-old, who bears a resemblance to his grandfather, has acknowledged that his family background has helped his career progress.

He is already a major general and researcher in the People's Liberation Army, and a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a body that in theory advises the main congress on political matters.

Man jailed 3 weeks for secretly filming woman changing

2011-09-20T21:22:00.000+08:00

Singapore : A man who hid in a store's fitting room to film a woman changing in the next cubicle was sentenced to three weeks' jail on Tuesday.

Ong Woon Yong, 23, admitted to insulting the modesty of the 30-year-old woman at Cotton On outlet at Ang Mo Kio Hub on Oct 18, 2010.

A court heard that the supervisor of the outlet became suspicious when Ong stayed in the fitting room for a long period.

She went to the cubicle beside Ong's and peeked from under the partition. She saw him using his mobile phone to film the victim who was in the fitting room on the other side. She detained Ong and called the police.

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Pictures: 'Sexist and humiliating' orientation games make girls cry

2011-09-19T22:35:00.000+08:00

Singapore Institute of Management (SIM)-University of London's orientation games recently came under the spotlight when Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that some girls burst into tears during the session. -- PHOTO: WANBAO READER

Some of the activities included hugging the opposite sex, eating a biscuit from opposite ends and girls lying on their backs with guys leaning over them.

Netizen Zerocool questioned the appropriateness of such games on Stomp, a citizen journalism website: 'Why do they even allow such lewd games? They are sexist, irrelevant and humiliating, especially to the girls.'

A SIM spokesman interviewed by The New Paper has stated that the student councils who organise the orientation programmes are given clear guidelines, and are 'reminded that safety and modesty should be adhered to'.

About 400 students took part in the Singapore Institute of Management-University of London's (SIM-UOL) orientation games, which some have said were inappropriate. Some activities included eating a biscuit from opposite ends and hugging the opposite sex. It was reported that some girls were so affected that they burst into tears later. -- PHOTO: WANBAO READER
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About 400 students took part in the Singapore Institute of Management-University of London's (SIM-UOL) orientation games, which some have said were inappropriate. Some activities included eating a biscuit from opposite ends and hugging the opposite sex. It was reported that some girls were so affected that they burst into tears later. --PHOTO: WANBAO READER

Are you an adult woman with a cup breasts?

2011-09-19T21:52:00.000+08:00

Are you an adult woman in Australia with a cup breasts? According to Australia, you don't exist.

Do you happen to be a man who likes to watch adult films starring small-breasted women? According to the Australian government, you secretly love child pxrn.

If none of this makes sense to you, then you must not work for the Australian Classification Board who has banned multiple adult films from distribution because, in their opinion, the actress' smaller breasts made them appear to be under 18.

While the law doesn't outright ban pxrn featuring small breasts, the ABC has the right to ban all adult films that depict a woman as being under 18.

While this idea sounds fine in theory, the group has actively rejected some films based solely on the breast size of the actresses involved.

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Berlusconi gets slight boost in sxx and abuse of power trial

2011-09-17T19:22:00.000+08:00

ROME (AFP) - Italy's Silvio Berlusconi was given a slight boost on Wednesday in his trial for abuse of power and paying for sxx with a 17-year-old girl, when the Senate voted to move the trial to a special ministers' court.

The Italian prime minister, a defendant in three ongoing trials, has been accused of paying for sxx last year with a Moroccan-born nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug, known as 'Ruby the Heart Stealer', when she was just 17.

Mr Berlusconi is also suspected of abusing his powers by having the girl sprung from police custody when she was arrested in May 2010 for alleged theft - a move prosecutors say was an attempt to hide his sxx crime.

The upper house voted 151 to 129 in favour of a 'conflict of attribution' motion which argues that the abuse of power charge should be considered by a special ministers' court and not the Milan court which brought the charges.

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Pictures: US unites in grief at 9/11 remembrance ceremony

2011-09-12T18:58:00.000+08:00

Americans united in grief on Sunday's 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which killed almost 3,000 people and plunged the country into an era of war and bitter internal division. -- PHOTO: AP

Malaysian Bloggers l NEW YORK (AFP) - Americans united in grief on Sunday's 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which killed almost 3,000 people and plunged the country into an era of war and bitter internal division.

President Barack Obama and his predecessor and political foe George W. Bush stood together at Ground Zero in New York for the main ceremony at the site of the destroyed Twin Towers. Obama was then due to pay homage at 9/11's other crash sites in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.

With federal officials warning of a new terrorism scare, New York was on lockdown and security in other major cities was also tight, with Mr Obama calling for a 'heightened state of vigilance and preparedness'.

The ceremony began in New York with a procession of bagpipers and singing of the national anthem, before pausing for the first of six moments of silence marking the times when the four hijacked airplanes hit their targets and the two towers came down.

The sky over New York was clear, recalling the brilliant backdrop to the horrific surprise attack on the World Trade Center, where 2,753 of the day's 2,977 victims died in the subsequent inferno of collapsing skyscrapers.

As every year since Sept 11, 2001, relatives of the dead took turns reading out the names, a heartbreaking litany accompanied by virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush bow their heads during a moment of silence at the Sept. 11 10th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony at Ground Zero in New York, Sunday, Sept., 11, 2011 in New York. -- PHOTO: AP

Readers fought to keep emotions in check as they pronounced loved ones' names. 'I've stopped crying but I haven't stopped missing my dad. He was awesome,' a young man said.

Reflecting a growing sense that it is time to turn a corner from 9/11, the Ground Zero ritual this time was accompanied by signs of optimism.

Instead of the chaotic-looking construction site and vast pit that scarred lower Manhattan for years, the ceremony now features a gleaming, three-quarter-built One World Trade Center tower and other signs of progress.

Sunday also saw the dedication of a simple, but moving monument consisting of massive fountains sunk into the footprints of the former towers, with the names of the dead written in bronze around the edges.

Even as United States intelligence agencies chased down what officials said was a credible but unconfirmed threat of an Al-Qaeda attack around 9/11, Mr Obama assured terrorism would never win.

'We will protect the country we love and pass it safer, stronger and more prosperous to the next generation,' he said earlier. 'Today, America is strong and Al-Qaeda is on the path to defeat.'

Mr Obama and Mr Bush were attending the ceremony together for the first time, along with victims' family members, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his predecessor Rudolph Giuliani - who led the city 10 years ago.

In addition to the carefully stage-managed Ground Zero ceremony, Mr Obama was to pay respects at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the four hijacked planes fell into a field, apparently after passengers overpowered the assailants.

The 9/11 remembrances unite Americans like almost no other event. According to a poll last week, 97 per cent of people remember where they were when they heard the news, on a par with John F. Kennedy's assassination.

The country was thrilled - with young people spilling onto the streets in Washington and New York - at the news in May that US Navy Seals had flown into Pakistan and shot dead Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

Yet while Al-Qaeda is severely weakened and New York is recovering, the anniversary still finds a nation struggling to overcome the longer-term impacts of the last decade.

In Afghanistan, where US forces will also hold ceremonies on Sunday at the Bagram air base, with a similar event at the US embassy in Kabul, troops are stuck in a seemingly unwinnable war against a Taleban guerrilla movement few Americans understand.

'Some back home ask, why are we here? It has been a long fight and people are tired,' US Ambassador Ryan Crocker said at a ceremony at the US embassy in Kabul. 'The reason is simple: Al-Qaeda is not here in Afghanistan, and that's because we are.'

Early on Sunday, the US Army said 50 American soldiers were among 89 people wounded when a suicide bomber driving a truck attacked an advance Nato combat post in central Afghanistan on Saturday.

Though US troops have a reduced presence in Iraq, their occupation of the country, years of vicious inter-Iraqi violence and a host of torture scandals have bled the US economy and sullied Washington's image abroad.

And as unemployment and next year's presidential election become the focus for most Americans, those already distant wars - launched in the wake of 9/11 - can seem a world away.

In a time of growing political rancor, Sunday was at least a chance for brief reflection, and ceremonies were being held around the world to honour those killed on 9/11.

In the first of the global memorials, the US rugby team attended an emotional service in New Zealand hours ahead of their opening World Cup match against Ireland.

And British Foreign Secretary William Hague declared that Al-Qaeda 'is now weaker than at any time in the decade since 9/11'.

But the Taleban hit back on Saturday saying the post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan by the United States and its allies 'will remain a permanent stigma on the face of Western democracy'.

PHOTO GALLERY

New Zealand naked rugby team exposed by Spanish women

2011-09-10T14:11:00.001+08:00

A Spanish player of Las Conquistadoras (The Conquerors) is tackled by naked rugby players of the Nude Blacks during their match. Image has been censored for graphic content. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's premier naked rugby team has been exposed.

The Dunedin-based Nude Blacks lost for the first time on Saturday, beaten 25-20 by a clothed women's team from Spain.

The Nude Blacks - named for the country's elite All Blacks rugby team - played the exhibition hours ahead of Saturday's World Cup match between Argentina and England at the city's 30,000-seat Otago Stadium.

A more modest crowd of about 1,500 watched the all-male team get outclassed at the less prestigious Kettle Park by the visiting Spanish Conquistadores, who count a pole dancer, a teacher and a student among their number.

Bikini girls a 'distraction'

China national kicked out of home by ex-husband

2011-09-08T11:59:00.001+08:00

PETALING JAYA: A China national ended up with a bruised heart and battered body after confronting her ex-husband who had divorced her secretly.

The 38-year-old, who only wanted to be known as Li, said she met the Malaysian man, who is a feng shui master, in 2005 when he was in China for business.

Li, who is from Fuzhou, said they fell in love and married two years later.

“He suggested we start a trading outlet in Malaysia together. He would handle the sales and I would source for supplies of precious stone carvings from China,” she revealed during a press conference with MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong at Wisma MCA yesterday.

Li did not suspect anything amiss until her then husband told her to extend her business trip to China, which usually takes three months, to 10 months.

“I had not heard from him since November last year, so I flew back on Aug 29 to look for him,” she said.

Li got the shock of her life when her ex- husband told her that she was no longer welcome because he had apparently divorced her in 2009.

“He demanded that I go back to China immediately and threatened to tear up my passport,” she said.

Physical proof: Li pointing to a bruise she sustained during a scuffle with her ex-husband.

After she refused to leave, he brought another woman to the house and tried to chase her out.

“When I refused, they forced me out of the house. I was also kicked repeatedly,” she said.

The following day, she tried to retrieve her belongings including the carvings, some of which she was helping other traders to sell in Malaysia.

“That was when he showed me a divorce certificate which was dated May 21, 2009.”

Li said she did not remember signing any divorce document but her ex-husband had asked her to sign a document once.

“He told me it was a paper to transfer some property to me and I signed it. I trusted him although I did not understand it,” said Li.

She is appealing to her ex-husband to return the goods as she has to answer to her trader friends.

Chong said he had handled 13 such cases this year.

“Malaysian men should be fair to these women. Some of the men are not responding to my calls to settle their affairs. The women just want an explanation,” he said. (thestar).

Thai PM Yingluck to begin tour of Asean nations

2011-09-07T23:50:00.000+08:00

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will make her first trip overseas, beginning with Brunei, this weekend aimed at cementing ties with Asean countries, a government source said on Tuesday. -- PHOTO: AFP

THAILAND (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will make her first trip overseas, beginning with Brunei, this weekend aimed at cementing ties with Asean countries, a government source said on Tuesday.

Ms Yingluck will make a one-day visit to Brunei on Sept 10, to Indonesia on Sept 12 and to Cambodia on Sept 15.

Foreign Ministry officials had recommended that Prime Minister Yingluck and Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul visit Asean members in alphabet order but the schedules of counterparts in foreign countries did not make this possible.

The Asean members in alphabetical order are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Although visiting the countries in alphabetical order was not possible, Ms Yingluck has made Brunei her first foreign destination as PM.

PHOTOS ALBUM OF YINGLUCK SHINAWATRA

Pictures: 'Black Widow' eats 183 chicken wings in US contest

2011-09-05T12:29:00.000+08:00

Sonya Thomas took home first place on Sunday at the 10th annual National Buffalo Wings Festival. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

BUFFALO, New York (AP) - The Black Widow of eating contests has scarfed down 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes to break her own world record set last year in Buffalo, New York.

Sonya Thomas took home first place on Sunday at the 10th annual National Buffalo Wings Festival. She beat eating marvel Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut, who came in second with 174 wings.

The two won titles at the July Fourth hot dog eating contest on Coney Island. The 45kg Ms Thomas of Alexandria, Virginia, is the reigning wing-eating champion. She downed 181 wings to win the 2010 contest. Chestnut of San Jose, California, settled for second with 169 wings.

The winner gets US$1,500 (S$1,808). The runner-up wins US$750, and third place gets US$300. Ms Thomas is called the Black Widow becomes she often beats male competitors in eating contests.

US airport unveils new body scan technology

2011-09-03T17:05:00.000+08:00

Transportation Security Administration officials unveiled the software at the airport on Friday, where more than 8 million passengers boarded planes last year. -- PHOTO: AFP

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) - Newark Liberty International Airport became the first New York-area airport to install body scanning technology that will replace a system that was harshly criticised for invading travellers' privacy by displaying naked images.

Transportation Security Administration officials unveiled the software at the airport on Friday, where more than 8 million passengers boarded planes last year.

The technology was originally tested in February at Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Washington and rolled out in July.

In all, the technology will be installed in 241 security machines at 40 airports around the country over the next few months at a cost of US$2.7 million (S$3.25 million) that includes research and development, according to the TSA. The agency plans to install it in all airports eventually.

Guinness World Records