KTM Komuter service may be extended to Selayang

KTM Komuter service may be extended to Selayang


KTM Komuter service may be extended to Selayang

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 01:22 AM PDT

The Transport Ministry will study the proposal to extend the new Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM Bhd) Komuter Service between Sentul and Batu Caves, by another 7.5 kilometres to Selayang.

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First lawsuits linked to Gulf spill go to court

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 01:08 AM PDT

WASHINGTON, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - The first lawsuits linked to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill go to court Thursday, as BP prepared -- after months of trying -- to permanently seal its ruptured well.

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Taiwan Semiconductor reports record net profit

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 01:05 AM PDT

TAIPEI, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) said Thursday its net profit in the three months to June hit a record 40.28 billion Taiwan dollars (1.26 billion US).

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RON95 petrol not cause of fire during accidents

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 01:04 AM PDT

Claims that RON95 petrol causes fire during accidents as it is high in benzene is not true, Dewan Negara heard today.

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Simpler procedure for entry permit application

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 01:04 AM PDT

The Home Ministry has simplified the procedure for entry permit applications by foreign nationals by empowering the director-general of immigration to accept or reject applications, Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said today.

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All races must understand, be involved to ensure success of 1Malaysia concept

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 01:03 AM PDT

The Information Communication and Culture ministry wants all races to be involved in every programme carried out to ensure the success of the 1Malaysia concept.

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95,000 families nationwide require proper housing

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:56 AM PDT

More than 95,000 families nationwide are in need of decent homes, especially in Selangor, Pahang, Penang and Kedah, a survey by the housing and local government ministry has revealed.

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Thailand likely to end emergency rule in six areas: minister

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:54 AM PDT

BANGKOK, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - The Thai government is likely to lift emergency rule in six more provinces, but not Bangkok, because of easing concerns about possible political unrest, the defence minister said Thursday.

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Fitch downgrades Vietnam rating to B+

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:53 AM PDT

HANOI, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - Ratings agency Fitch on Thursday downgraded Vietnam's sovereign debt, citing weakness in its external finances and banking system, a highly dollarised economy and inconsistent macroeconomic policy.

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Chinese city denies plan to abolish Cantonese: state media

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:52 AM PDT

BEIJING, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - Authorities in southern China denied rumours they plan to ditch Cantonese to champion the national language Mandarin, state media said Thursday, amid protests that have spilled over into Hong Kong.

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S.Korea prime minister offers resignation

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:51 AM PDT

SEOUL, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-Chan offered to quit Thursday to take responsibility for the government's failure to win parliamentary approval for a key development project.

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Nissan posts 1.22 billion dollar first quarter profit

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:50 AM PDT

TOKYO, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - Japan's number three automaker Nissan Motor on Thursday announced a quarterly net profit of 106.6 billion yen (1.22 billion dollars), after a 16.5 billion yen loss a year earlier.

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N.Korea to hold more talks with US military on ship sinking

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:49 AM PDT

SEOUL, Thursday 29 July 2010 (AFP) - North Korea and the US-led United Nations Command will hold more talks Friday about the sinking of a South Korean warship, two days after the end of a major military exercise denounced by Pyongyang.

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Mum rescues bear cub from fishing net

Posted: 28 Jul 2010 08:55 PM PDT

Amateur video captures footage of a mother bear saving her cub from a fishing net in Anchorage, Alaska.


French couple questioned over deaths of eight babies

Posted: 28 Jul 2010 04:36 PM PDT

By Mikael Holter

VILLERS-AU-TERTRE: French police questioned today the suspected parents of eight newborn babies whose skeletal remains were found in two gardens in a sleepy northern village.

The pair, both about 45, were to appear before prosecutors in Douai later to be charged in what judicial officials said could be the country's biggest infanticide case.

The woman works as a nursing assistant and her husband is a member of the local council in Villers-au-Tertre.

Both are respected members of the 700-strong farming community where police with sniffer dogs searched two addresses after the new owners of a home found the bones of two infants while digging in their garden.

The house previously belonged to the parents of the arrested woman.

Search teams then headed on to the couple's home in another part of the village, where six more sets of remains were found, a local councillor told reporters.

Gendarmes were deployed outside the house where the babies' bodies were found, and sealed off the entrance to the macabre scene with plastic sheeting.

"I'm still in shock," said a former mayor of Villers-au-Tertre, Daniel Collignon, describing the village as a very calm and rural place.

Neighbours also reacted with astonishment. "They are normal people, who even have a role in the community," said one. "It's incredible."

'Attractive, courteous people'

Another neighbour, a man in his 50s, added: "These are attractive, helpful, polite and courteous people, who did nothing to make you think them capable of anything abnormal.

"The husband was even elected to the town council," he added.

As journalists arrived, the man, like several other neighbours who preferred not to be identified, insisted that the couple should be not be judged in advance by the media.

The couple had two grown-up daughters and were grandparents, said another local resident.

Laura and Charlene, two 17-year-olds from the village, said the couple's daughters were nice girls. One described the mother as a simple, quiet woman "who wouldn't harm a fly".

Neighbours said they had lived in the village for at least 15 years.

The incident is just the latest in a string of similar cases in France.

Previous cases over the last three decades have included mothers -- and sometimes their partners -- being convicted for having killed up to seven babies.

The most notorious recent incident was Veronique Courjault, who in June 2009 was jailed for eight years by a court in Tours, central France.

She admitted to having smothered two baby boys born in secret at her expatriate home in South Korea in 2002 and 2003, and a third child born in France in 1999.

She was freed in May 2010, having served four years in jail after the time she spent in remand since her arrest.

- AFP


Chinese journalist becomes public hero

Posted: 28 Jul 2010 04:31 PM PDT

BEIJING: A fugitive Chinese journalist has become a cause celebre after his corporate whistle-blowing reports landed him on a most-wanted list in a case testing the limits of media freedom in China.

Qiu Ziming, a reporter with the Economic Observer, has been on the run for days after appearing on a national wanted list over his reports exposing alleged improprieties by a major battery manufacturer based in eastern China.

The company, Kan Specialties Material Corporation, located in Zhejiang province's Suichang county and listed on the stock exchange of the city of Shenzhen in southern China, has denied the charges and accused Qiu of slander.

But Qiu has continued to defiantly defend his innocence and demand justice in blog entries, earning public support.

"What I reported is the truth," Qiu said in an entry Wednesday on his blog on Sina.com, one of the country's leading portals, adding he had "iron-clad" evidence of the wrongdoings and did not fear police.

"This is not over. I will get an apology from the Suichang police."

Qiu, who is based in the Economic Observer's Shanghai bureau, published reports in June detailing alleged improprieties such as insider trading by the company, media reports said.

China's media is tightly controlled but gradually becoming more aggressive in exposing corporate and official malfeasance. However, particularly bold reporters who offend powerful forces risk being muzzled or even jailed.

Qiu went on the run in recent days after receiving a tip that Suichang police had put him on a national wanted list, the state-run Global Times said.

But in a sign of support among the public, his microblog has quickly gained 8,000 followers and his case has generated sympathetic coverage in some media outlets.

An online poll on leading portal Sina.com that drew more than 33,000 responses found that 86 percent of users viewed the police pursuit of Qiu as "unlawful" and that 98 percent trusted his reports on Kan Specialties.

The Economic Observer -- an independent weekly newspaper considered one of the most respected financial publications in China -- last month put out a particularly bold statement in defence of Qiu.

"We strongly condemn the use of public power to suppress and threaten the personal safety of media professionals," it said.

- AFP


Judge blocks key parts of Arizona immigration law

Posted: 28 Jul 2010 04:29 PM PDT

By David Anderson

PHOENIX: Arizona's bid to curb illegal immigration was going into force today minus its most controversial sections, after a US judge blocked a provision giving police the power to spotcheck the immigration status of suspected lawbreakers.

Just hours before the law was set to take effect at one minute past midnight (0701 GMT), federal court judge Susan Bolton declared that parts of the new state law requiring police to check the immigration status of suspects "would likely burden legal resident aliens".

And she found there was also a "substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens" due to complex deportation laws, which are enforced by federal courts.

Opponents say the law -- challenged by the Obama administration, and by civil rights groups wary of ethnic profiling -- is xenophobic and will lead to people being stopped on the streets simply because of the way they look.

But officials in Arizona, which borders Mexico, have argued the US administration has failed to secure the frontiers, and they are overrun by illegal immigrants.

They maintain that a lucrative people-smuggling trade across the border from Latin America has triggered a spiralling crime rate fed by simultaneous trafficking in drugs and guns.

Governor Jan Brewer, who signed the legislation into law in April, vowed to lodge a swift appeal, saying she would battle as far as the US Supreme Court.

"This fight is far from over. In fact, it is just the beginning, and at the end of what is certain to be a long legal struggle, Arizona will prevail in its right to protect our citizens," Brewer said in a statement.

But civil rights groups welcomed the ruling.

"It is very much a major step that will help protect the residents of Arizona against additional profiling and discrimination," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, director of the Arizona American Civil Liberties Union.

Acts of civil disobedience

Meanwhile, foes of the law said plans for rallies, marches and acts of civil disobedience would proceed later today despite the court order blocking implementation of much of it.

The "day of action" kicks off today at midnight (0700 GMT) with thousands of demonstrators from local and outside groups expected to take part in acts of civil disobedience.

Bolton is currently hearing seven suits against the legislation, which for the first time in the United States -- a nation built on generations of immigrants -- would make illegal immigration a crime.

White House lawyers have argued immigration policy is exclusively the government's responsibility and that state laws cannot trump federal rules or the US Constitution.

President Barack Obama took a strong stand against the law calling it "misguided" and ordered the Department of Justice to examine its legality.

Bolton said the US administration "is likely to succeed" in its argument and issued a preliminary injunction suspending the section of the Arizona law requiring police officers to check the immigrant status of any person they have stopped for a violation.

She also blocked a provision making it a crime to fail to apply for or carry proper papers, and a third section making it a crime for illegal immigrants to apply for or perform any work.

Bolton ruled that she was issuing the injunction because otherwise "the United States is likely to suffer irreparable harm".

If Arizona were to press ahead with the controversial sections of the law it would "interfere with federal policy", she wrote, adding it would also divert federal resources away from the government's priorities.

Lydia Guzman, an activist with Somos America, an immigrant rights group, said she felt validated by the ruling.

"We're going to continue do it, to work hard, until we get immigration reform," she said.

The Department of Homeland Security also welcomed the ruling saying it "affirms the federal government's responsibilities in enforcing our nation's immigration laws".

The row over the Arizona law has thrust the issue of the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants once more into the spotlight, amid a trail of failed attempts to bring them out of the shadows.

Opinion polls have found more than 60% of the US population support the Arizona immigration law.

One in three of the 6.6 million people in Arizona is foreign born and an estimated 460,000 are illegal immigrants, most of whom are Mexican.

- AFP


Afghan president asks why allies won’t hit Pakistan

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:05 AM PDT

KABUL, July 29 — Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today that Western allies had the ability to strike at Taliban bases in Pakistan, but questioned their willingness to do so. "The war against terrorism is not in the villages or houses of Afghanistan ...but in the sanctuaries, sources of funding and training (of terrorism) and they lie outside ...


Hunting season

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 12:12 AM PDT

The mini lobster hunting season runs from 12:01 a.m. Wednesday to 11:59 p.m. Thursday and is followed by the regular commercial hunting season which runs from August 6 to March 31.

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Govt to have five million highly skilled workers in five years - Subramaniam

Posted: 28 Jul 2010 11:54 PM PDT

The government targets to raise to five million over the next five years the number of highly skilled workers now standing at 3.1 million among the 12 million workers in the country, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said today.

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