xNews® World News: No plan to raise GST above 4%: Awang Adek

No plan to raise GST above 4%: Awang Adek

No plan to raise GST above 4%: Awang Adek
No proof linking Labuan IBFC to illegal deposit taking
PCB to resolve complaints within 5 days
EPF to publish top 30 equity investments online
NGOs support price control on sugar
The cherished three-generation family legacy of scouting
Angry protests against Australia 'super tax'
Dozens hurt in China labour unrest (UPDATED)
China confirms jail term for quake activist: lawyer
Leading Iran journalist gets 30-year writing ban
US warms to Ecuador, possibly distancing Venezuela
Ahmadinejad 'to snub' Shanghai group meeting
Israel set to accept 'quid pro quo' Gaza deal: report
Aquino proclaimed Philippine president
72% HIV sufferers are Muslims: AIDS Council
Malaysia eyes entry into FTSE advanced emerging market segment
China confirms five-year sentence for quake activist: lawyer
Honda says factories in China remain closed
Southeast Asia eyes nuclear energy to meet power demand
Spanish PM meets unions for talks

No plan to raise GST above 4%: Awang Adek

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:14 AM PDT

The government has no plan to raise the goods and services tax rate from four percent to 10 percent over the next 10 years to spare the people the adverse effects, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.

No proof linking Labuan IBFC to illegal deposit taking

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:14 AM PDT

There is no evidence showing Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC) as a hub for receiving illegal deposits in the Asian region, the Dewan Rakyat was informed today.

PCB to resolve complaints within 5 days

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:12 AM PDT

The Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) will resolve complaints received from the public within five working days compared to more than a month previously.

EPF to publish top 30 equity investments online

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:11 AM PDT

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will publish on a quarterly basis its Top 30 equity investments in companies listed on Bursa Malaysia.

NGOs support price control on sugar

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:10 AM PDT

Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have given their full support for price control on sugar by the government to ensure adequate supply for consumers.

The cherished three-generation family legacy of scouting

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 01:00 AM PDT

Scouts generally stick to their motto of conducting at least one good deed in their daily living. However, this particular scout is hooked on the hobby of collecting things in his day-to-day life, a hobby that has been handed down by his family over the decades.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Angry protests against Australia 'super tax'

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:37 AM PDT

SYDNEY, Wednesday 9 June 2010 (AFP) - Thousands of protesters angered by plans to impose a 40 percent tax on mine profits confronted Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Wednesday as he hit the industry's heartland to tout his proposal.

Dozens hurt in China labour unrest (UPDATED)

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:28 AM PDT

BEIJING, Wednesday 9 June 2010 (AFP) - Dozens of striking workers have been hurt in clashes with police in China as a fresh labour stoppage again halted Honda's production Wednesday, in the latest unrest to rock the "workshop of the world".

China confirms jail term for quake activist: lawyer

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 11:47 PM PDT

BEIJING -A Chinese appeal court on Wednesday upheld a five-year jail term handed to an activist who was probing whether shoddy construction caused school collapses in a massive 2008 quake, his lawyer said.

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 11:17 PM PDT

TEHRAN -Iran has sentenced award-winning woman journalist Jila Baniyaghoob to jail for one year and banned her from writing for 30 years over post-election unrest, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 09:37 PM PDT

QUITO -US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held warm talks with Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa, paving the way to drive a wedge between him and Venezuela's anti-American firebrand Hugo Chavez.

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 09:00 PM PDT

MOSCOW -President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to stay away from a meeting of the Shanghai group this week as ties between Moscow and Tehran fray over Iran's nuclear programme, a high-ranking Russian source said.

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 07:48 PM PDT

LONDON -Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease its Gaza blockade in return for the international community agreeing a limited probe into a deadly flotilla raid, it was reported Wednesday.

Aquino proclaimed Philippine president

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:18 AM PDT

MANILA, Wednesday 9 June 2010 (AFP) - Benigno Aquino was Wednesday proclaimed the next Philippine president after securing one of the most emphatic election wins in the impoverished, corruption-prone nation's history last month.

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72% HIV sufferers are Muslims: AIDS Council

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:08 AM PDT

More than 70 percent of the 87,710 HIV/AIDS sufferers in the country are Muslims, Malaysian AIDS Council vice-president Datuk Zaman Khan said today.

Malaysia eyes entry into FTSE advanced emerging market segment

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:07 AM PDT

The Malaysian capital market aspires to be in the 'Advanced Emerging Market' segment on the FTSE Global Equity Index Series this year in order become an efficient, liberal and liquid capital market.

China confirms five-year sentence for quake activist: lawyer

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:07 AM PDT

BEIJING, Wednesday 9 June 2010 (AFP) - A Chinese appeal court on Wednesday upheld a five-year jail term handed to an activist who was probing whether shoddy construction caused school collapses in a massive 2008 quake, his lawyer said.

Honda says factories in China remain closed

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:05 AM PDT

TOKYO, Wednesday 9 June 2010 (AFP) - Japan's Honda Motor said Wednesday two of its assembly plants in China remained closed due to a strike at an exhaust parts maker operated by a subsidiary, contrary to earlier media reports.

Southeast Asia eyes nuclear energy to meet power demand

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 03:27 PM PDT

By Bernice Han

SINGAPORE: Despite safety fears, Southeast Asia's energy-hungry economies are exploring the nuclear option to keep up with escalating power demand in a region of more than half a billion people.

Vietnam plans to make its first nuclear plant operational in 10 years, while Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are all exploring the feasibility of tapping atomic energy.

"Everybody wants aircon, everybody wants the latest appliances, so all these translate into demand for electricity," says Anthony Jude, director for the energy and water division with the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Detractors point to Southeast Asia's lack of experience in nuclear power and express doubts about the safety culture in a region prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The Philippines built a nuclear plant in the 1970s but it was never operated commercially because of safety concerns and alleged corruption in the contract process.

But the concerns are surmountable, experts said.

"You cannot say nuclear power plants in Southeast Asia will necessarily be more dangerous than anywhere else," said Martine Letts, deputy director with the Sydney-based Lowy Institute for International Policy.

She pointed to international institutions such as the World Association of Nuclear Operators to get Southeast Asia up to speed in nuclear power safety.

Renewable sources

Environmental group Greenpeace believes the region would be better off tapping renewable sources such as geothermal and solar power due to its vulnerability to natural disasters.

"What's the reason to have nuclear power plants if we have so much renewable energy potential in this region?" Arif Fiyanto, Greenpeace's Jakarta-based regional climate and energy campaigner, said.

The appetite for power is certainly there, according to Jude, who told a recent seminar in Singapore that energy demand within the broader Asia-Pacific region was projected to grow an annual 2.4% until 2030.

That is faster than the 1.1% annual growth in demand for the rest of the world.

"How are we going to meet it?" the ADB official said.

Jude said any country looking at nuclear power will have to prepare itself for the long haul.

"Basically you have to look at planning, policies, regulations... you have to train a cadet of engineers in nuclear technology, nuclear safety, nuclear policy," he told AFP.

"You got to have a cream of people in that field."

Jude cited Vietnam as an exemplary case -- authorities began the groundwork for nuclear power plants more than a decade ago.

Fossil fuels

Hanoi's communist lawmakers approved last November the construction of the country's first nuclear power stations with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts.

Estimated by experts to cost US$11 billion to US$18 billion (RM37 billion to RM60 billion), the initial plans call for four reactors to be built with at least one expected to be operational from 2020.

Malaysia laid out plans in May to build its first nuclear power plant by 2021 while in Singapore, the government has just started a feasibility study.

Indonesia and Thailand have also considered nuclear power stations but face strong local opposition to the siting of reactors.

A region that is overly reliant on fossil fuels needs to examine every alternative, according to Michael Quah, chief scientist with the Singapore-based Energy Studies Institute.

"My belief is that most of us should develop a more balanced view," he said.

"Just as if you would invest in stocks, you keep a portfolio mix. Similarly in energy, you have to keep a portfolio mix that is appropriate to the resources available in your region."

Net electricity generation in non-industrial countries in Asia -- excluding China and India -- will more than double from 976 billion kilowatt hours in 2007 to 2.06 trillion kilowatt hours in 2030, according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration.

China now has 11 nuclear power reactors in operation and is building about two dozen more. India hopes soon to gain access to US know-how under a historic civil nuclear energy pact.

- AFP