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Ancient city in colours

Ancient city in colours
Sarawak state election: Too crowded for comfort?
We're against football betting: Umno Youth
The politics of cats and dogs
Australia's no-guts, no-glory Gillard makes history
French unions pension reform protests tests government
Australia gets first woman PM, reviews mine tax
Licence abolition allows consumers to control price
Emergency rule set to be lifted in much of Thailand: PM
Flood-hit south China braces for more rains
MACC still investigating Selangor sand-mining scandal: Nazri
Sportsmanship deserves respect
Toyota's top test driver killed in German road crash
Frozen tiger, suspected panther seized in Vietnam
Hong Kong lawmakers set to adopt political reforms
Noordin's father-in-law on trial over Jakarta bombings
Witness in Philippine massacre trial killed: prosecutor
China says Xinjiang terror cell busted
Obama to launch Asian diplomacy push
12 killed as train hits revelers in Spain

Posted: 24 Jun 2010 12:32 AM PDT

45-year-old Pan Chun Yong has an extraordinary Chinese surname and he comes from Bentong, Pahang. He joked to the reporter of Sin Chew Daily that he came from the mountains and this "mountain man" graduated from the Kuala Lumpur College of Art (KLCA).

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Sarawak state election: Too crowded for comfort?

Posted: 24 Jun 2010 12:23 AM PDT

If daily press reports are anything to go by, Sarawakians will be tempted to think that the coming state election is going to be a crowded one.

We're against football betting: Umno Youth

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:56 PM PDT

The Umno Youth movement is against the government's proposal to issue licence for football betting, its chief, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

The politics of cats and dogs

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:55 PM PDT

It surely is a nice story for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to raise a kitten, but the matter has turned ridiculous as the people here lack a real sense of humour.

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Australia's no-guts, no-glory Gillard makes history

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 04:07 PM PDT

By Sid Astbury

SYDNEY: Julia Gillard, at her first press conference as Australia's new Prime Minister today, did not demure at admitting her guilt in the political assassination of predecessor Kevin Rudd.

Weakened by appalling poll ratings and pilloried for policy retreats, Rudd had become a liability ahead of a parliamentary election expected later this year.

"It was necessary for me to take this step, to take control and to ensure that the government got back on track," Gillard told reporters after Rudd had just become the first Australian leader denied a chance to complete his first term in office.

Those who have followed the relentless advance of the 48-year-old British-born former union lawyer through the Labor Party never doubted she had the spunk to step over a corpse.

She said so herself. "I had to fight hard to get pre-selected," she said in 2006. "I had to play a factional game to do that. I had to count numbers. I had to make deals. And I'd do all of that again tomorrow if I needed to."

That was the year Rudd became party leader and a deal was done to secure her the post of deputy prime minister if he won the 2007 parliamentary election.

But as Rudd's problems mounted, Gillard initially resisted making her move. She feared Australians would not reward overt ruthlessness in a woman -- and an unmarried and childless woman at that.

Many Australians are not as enlightened as they like to think. It is instructive that the lawmaker who once chided Gillard for being "deliberately barren" still sits in Parliament.

Cautiousness is a hallmark, along with never losing her temper and never being flustered. Everything is hidden behind a smile.

"She's always aspired to the leadership," said Patricia Karvelas, political writer with The Australian newspaper. "She's always understood that she could take it. It's just about choosing that right moment for her."

Tough competitor

The flip side of ambition is sacrifice. She has a partner, but it is plain to all that politics is what really matters to her.

"I'm kind of full of admiration for women who can mix it together, working and having kids, but I'm not sure I could have," she once said. "There's something in me that's focused and single-minded, and if I was going to do that, I'm not sure I could have done this."

Rubbing out Rudd means facing opposition Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott at the polls later this year. "Julia's a very tough competitor," Abbott conceded.

Rudd was not liked in his party and unloved in the land. Gillard was unlikely to lose much skin over hastening his departure.

What looks to be more difficult to deal with is the accusation that she was complicit in Rudd's bad policy choices as a member of the inner Cabinet of four people that took all the big decisions.

"She's committed to the same policies, the same dud policies, that Rudd has been committed to," Abbott said. "They've changed the salesman, but they haven't changed the product."

Gillard is hoping that delight at Australia's first female premier would cloud memories of how close she was to Rudd.

She is conscious of being a role model. She said as much when she first stood in for Rudd when he went on an overseas trip.

"I think it's probably a moment that many Australian women will probably stop and reflect on," she said.

In other ways, Gillard is one of the boys, a quintessential Labor Party insider.

Rudd won office by appealing directly to the people. When he was cut down, he made a point of saying that he was elected by the people, not by party powerbrokers.

Gillard is old-school Labor, even a proud Labor leftie who makes the most of her working-class origins.

- dpa

Also read:

Gillard becomes Australia's first female PM

French unions pension reform protests tests government

Posted: 24 Jun 2010 12:06 AM PDT

PARIS, June 24 — France faced travel disruption today as unions staged a nationwide strike against government plans to reform the pensions system and lift the retirement age. Thousands of rail and transport workers walked off the job, hitting train, plane, metro and bus services early today, while teachers and public administration staff were also ...

Australia gets first woman PM, reviews mine tax

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:58 PM PDT

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia on Thursday appointed its first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, who vowed to end division over a controversial mining tax, resurrect a carbon trade scheme and call elections within months.

Licence abolition allows consumers to control price

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:49 PM PDT

The abolition of retail licence for chicken, steel bars and cement, effective July 15, will give consumers control on the price of the affected goods, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Deputy Minister Datuk Tan Lian Hoe said today.

Emergency rule set to be lifted in much of Thailand: PM

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:48 PM PDT

BANGKOK, Thursday 24 June 2010 (AFP) - Thailand's premier said Thursday that emergency rule, imposed during mass opposition protests in the capital, was likely to be lifted in many provinces next month.

Flood-hit south China braces for more rains

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:47 PM PDT

BEIJING, Thursday 24 June 2010 (AFP) - China braced for more downpours Thursday as the government set up emergency reponse headquarters to combat floods and landslides that have killed over 200 people and forced more than two million from their homes.

MACC still investigating Selangor sand-mining scandal: Nazri

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:43 PM PDT

The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) will continue investigations into the alleged graft in the Selangor sand-mining scandal against state sand-mining concession Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Sportsmanship deserves respect

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 11:18 PM PDT

Weep no more, Chinese football fans. Your national team, which broke your heart for failing to make it to South Africa, is actually not much lousier than many that did.

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Toyota's top test driver killed in German road crash

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 10:49 PM PDT

TOKYO, Thursday 24 June 2010 (AFP) - The chief test driver for Japanese auto giant Toyota was killed in a head-on road crash in Germany while driving a prototype supercar, the carmaker said Thursday.

Frozen tiger, suspected panther seized in Vietnam

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 10:48 PM PDT

HANOI, Thursday 24 June 2010 (AFP) - Environmental police in Vietnam have seized a frozen tiger and the remains of another big cat, believed to be a panther, and arrested two people in the latest case of its kind.

Hong Kong lawmakers set to adopt political reforms

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 10:47 PM PDT

HONG KONG, Thursday 24 June 2010 (AFP) - Hong Kong lawmakers were set Thursday to adopt a political reform plan that will give voters a greater say in the Chinese financial hub's running but stops well short of full democracy.

Noordin's father-in-law on trial over Jakarta bombings

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 10:46 PM PDT

JAKARTA, Thursday 24 June 2010 (AFP) - The father-in-law of slain Malaysian terror leader Noordin Mohammed Top went on trial in Indonesia on Thursday, facing up to 15 years in prison for helping the fugitive evade capture.

Witness in Philippine massacre trial killed: prosecutor

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 10:45 PM PDT

MANILA, Thursday 24 June 2010 (AFP) - A key witness in the trial of a powerful Muslim clan accused of orchestrating the worst political massacre in the Philippines has been shot dead, a prosecutor said Thursday.