http://ift.tt/IrnvO1 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 22:54:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://ift.tt/2zuOlnd http://ift.tt/IrnvO1 125 40 http://ift.tt/28TnS0F http://ift.tt/2ysOrLZ Fri, 03 Nov 2017 22:54:59 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 22:54:59 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zwp2kE 
The deal has sparked regulatory concerns that it may lead to price rises or mean retailers are forced to buy both lens and eyewear from the merged company.
The European Commission, which opened a full-scale investigation into the case on Sept. 26, said it stopped the clock on Oct. 25.
“This procedure in merger investigations is activated if the parties fail to provide, in a timely fashion, an important piece of information that the Commission has requested from them,” the EU competition authority said in an email.
“Once the missing information is supplied by the parties, the clock is re-started and the deadline for the Commission’s decision is then adjusted accordingly.”
Sources close to the two companies told Reuters Essilor and Luxottica were working to resolve the situation in the short term.
The sources added they were confident that the temporary suspension would not have a material impact on the timing of the whole regulatory process.
Australia’s competition agency cleared the deal last month, saying it did not see any issues. U.S. regulators are also examining the merger.
Luxottica’s brands include Ray Ban and Persol, and licensed names such as Chanel and Armani.
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Wells Fargo & Co is facing litigation over previously disclosed sales problems related to its auto lending and mortgage businesses, the bank disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday.
The lawsuits include two class action cases alleging violations of federal and state consumer fraud laws, as well as claims brought by former employees who said they were fired for raising concerns over problematic sales practices.
Wells Fargo disclosed the litigation in its third-quarter financial filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The disclosures included in our filing today reflect the company’s continued commitment to transparency.
Our top priority is to rebuild trust, and we remain focused on making things right for our customers, team members, community partners and shareholders,” a company spokesman wrote via email.
The third-largest U.S. lender has spent more than a year trying to rebuild its reputation following a sales scandal that led to the departure of its CEO and a companywide overhaul of its business practices.
The company says it is continuing to review all its businesses to root out bad practices.
Wells Fargo’s problems came to light several years ago, but did not receive widespread attention until Sept. 9, 2016, when it reached a settlement with three regulators over creating as many as 2.1 million fake accounts as branch employees scrambled to hit sales goals.
The bank later said that number could be as high as 3.5 million, and it has also been turning up other problems, including selling unneeded auto insurance to customers and concerns over fees it charged mortgage customers for locking in interest rates.
One lawsuit filed in August over the interest rate lock issue said Wells Fargo managers pressured employees to blame homeowners for delays that resulted in improper charges, sometimes by falsely stating that paperwork was missing.
Wells Fargo shares were down 0.3 percent at $56.29 on Friday afternoon.
Its shares are up just over 2 percent year to date, compared with a rise of more than 25 percent for Bank of America Corp shares and a gain of more than 17 percent for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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HAMBURG: Emirates [EMIRA.UL] hopes to order more Airbus A380 super jumbos at the Dubai airshow this month, the airline’s chairman said on Friday.
“I hope we will be able to do it,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said at a ceremony to receive the airline’s 100th A380, saying that negotiating teams were working on it.
Emirates is the world’s biggest customer of the A380, having ordered 142 of the planes and Sheikh Ahmed said he wanted to see the plane continuing.
Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders said he hoped Airbus would deliver “at least” the remaining 42 to Emirates.
Despite sluggish sales calling the future of the A380 into question, Enders said he believed Airbus would be producing the jumbo jets 10 years from now and was working on sales campaigns.
“I‘m not sure I will let John Leahy retire without at least one more significant A380 order,” Enders said, in reference to the departing sales chief of Airbus.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Airbus has embarked on a fresh search for a sales chief to take over from Leahy as the aerospace group seeks a clean break from turmoil over investigations into the use of middlemen.
Enders dismissed recent reports that the French government wants more political influence over Airbus management.
“There is nobody who is seriously considering reintroducing government controls in Airbus,” he said.
Like rival Etihad, Emirates is currently facing a tough business environment, with overcapacity, an oil-price related drop in business travel and temporary restrictions on travel to the United States.
Emirates is working more closely with budget airline flydubai, on matters such as network planning, schedules and frequent flyer programmes.
Al-Maktoum said the partnership so far had been excellent, with a good number of passengers moving between the two.
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BERLIN/PARIS: Germany sought to dispel speculation about the future of Airbus (AIR.PA) and its chief executive Tom Enders on Friday, after media reports of a French campaign to oust him and restore greater political influence, four years after its management won independence from government interference.
The intervention was the first official attempt to steady the boat as the company faces accusations of an internal witch hunt following Enders’ decision to report past irregularities in the use of commercial sales agents to the UK authorities, sparking a corruption probe.
French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine said on Wednesday that French President Emmanuel Macron hoped to find a French replacement for Enders, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s support, amid growing turmoil at the company.
The report rekindled memories of governments intervening directly in one of Europe’s flagship companies after it was brought under French and German industrial leadership in 2000.
France on Thursday called for more transparency from the group as it weathers a growing crisis over the investigation into past sales practices.
Germany took a stand against sweeping changes on Friday.
“There is no need to discuss who will succeed Enders, whose contract expires in 2019,” a German government spokesman said.
“We have a shareholder structure for Airbus that works and there is at the moment no reason from the perspective of the federal government as a shareholder to work on a change of either the stakes or the rules,” spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular government news conference.
French officials and Airbus declined to comment.
Pressure on CEO
Enders has come under increasing pressure over the conduct of an internal investigation that is being conducted in parallel with the external probes into sales practices launched by the UK and France.
Sources close to the company say repeated grillings have angered staff and alarmed French networks of influence abroad.
Supporters of Enders say there is no choice but to adapt to modern-day regulations and see the process through.
Two people close to the matter dismissed the idea of a politically motivated bid to wrest back control or sack the chief executive and denied this would appeal to Macron, who agreed as a presidential adviser in 2012 to the governments giving Airbus management free rein.
“Macron knows the agreements by heart; he signed them,” a person involved in the corporate reforms said.
Another, however, said the media reports were being read as a warning to the board not to let the crisis get out of control or damage French interests.
Despite easing speculation over his future, Berlin’s support is unlikely to sit well with Enders, a person close to him said.
He has often clashed with his own government and initially opposed moves for it to become a shareholder in 2013 – part of a complex deal to allow German and French industrial shareholders in Airbus to sell out while actually limiting the governments’ influence to that of normal shareholders.
Opening the door to political debate over Airbus would be fought by Enders, but sources close to the company say his future is now effectively tied to his handling of the probes.
A senior industry source warned that any prolonged turmoil could hamper management efforts to execute strategy, including completing a deal to take over the CSeries jet project from Canada’s Bombardier(BBDb.TO).
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RIO DE JANEIRO: China Telecom Corp (0728.HK) may invest up to 20 billion reais ($6 billion) to acquire a majority stake in Brazilian carrier Oi SA (OIBR4.SA), a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.
A potential deal would only happen after the debt-laden company, which filed for Latin America’s largest bankruptcy proceeding 17 months ago, resolves its disputes with creditors, the source added.
The person asked for anonymity because is not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly.
The future of the company hinges on a creditors assembly on Nov. 10, which will decide on a restructuring plan for 65 billion reais ($20 billion) in debts.
Oi did not immediately comment and China Telecom did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
($1 = 3.2985 reais)
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VANCOUVER: Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said on Friday that it will a open second corporate office in Vancouver, doubling its staff in the western Canadian city by early 2020 as it looks to tap into a burgeoning local tech workforce.
The Seattle-based company said the Vancouver expansion has been in the works for some time and is not related to the hotly contested race by cities across North America to land the e-commerce company’s $5 billion HQ2.
“These will be largely software engineering, tech and non-tech jobs, and they’ll be contributing to products that are used globally,” Jesse Dougherty, general manager for the Vancouver office, told reporters.
The Vancouver expansion comes as companies in the United States have struggled to secure visas in a timely fashion to import foreign workers to fill highly skilled and technical jobs.
President Donald Trump’s administration has made it tougher for skilled foreigners to work in the United States, challenging visa applications more regularly than at nearly any point under former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Tech companies have come to rely on such visas to fill many highly specialized jobs.
Amazon officials did not answer questions on whether the new office was in response to difficulties bringing foreign talent to its U.S. offices.
“Amazon likes to hire the smartest people we can find, and so Vancouver certainly is a place where we like to get that growth,” said Dougherty.
Canada launched a fast-track visa program for highly skilled workers in June, as it seeks to take advantage of a tougher immigration environment in the United States.
The expansion will see Amazon double its workforce in Vancouver to 2,000 by early 2020. The company currently employees about 4,400 people full time in Canada. Amazon employs more than 380,000 globally, with around 150,000 working outside of the United States.
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND: Istanbul and Lisbon are competing to host the 2020 Champions League final, European football’s governing body UEFA said on Monday.
Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, the scene of a memorable final in 2005 that Liverpool won on penalties after trailing AC Milan 3-0 at half-time, is bidding to host for the second time.
Benfica’s Estadio da Luz, home of Portuguese club Benfica, is also bidding for a second Champions League final. Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid there in 2014.
This season’s final will be held at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium and the 2019 showpiece at Atletico’s new Wanda Metropolitiano venue.
UEFA also said the Arena Gdansk in Poland and the Estadio do Dragao, in Porto, Portugal are bidding for the 2020 Europa League final, while the Austria Vienna, Standard Liege and Dinamo Moscow are competing to host the 2020 Women’s Champions League final.
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Manchester City’s five-point lead over neighbours Manchester United counts for little at this stage and they cannot become complacent in their pursuit of the Premier League title, manager Pep Guardiola has said ahead of Sunday’s game against Arsenal.
Guardiola’s side are the only unbeaten team after 10 league games this season and their attacking style has been compared to Arsenal’s 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’. However, Guardiola was not interested in suggestions that City too could end the season unbeaten.
“We are five points in front of Manchester United… (with) 84 points to play for. It’s nothing,” the Spaniard told a news conference on Friday.
”If we play until May the way we have the last two months, I think ‘wow we have a good chance to win the Premier League’.
“Who will assure me that is going to happen? Who will assure me we won’t have injured players? Who’s going to assure me we won’t have bad moments… It is impossible to maintain what we have done in the past two months.”
Guardiola, who guided City to a 4-2 win at Napoli in the Champions League in midweek, acknowledged the threat that Arsene Wenger’s men posed to his team as they look to go into next week’s international break with a win.
“Arsenal are one of the best opponents for my team. They have won a lot of games. Against Arsenal it is always complicated,” Guardiola said.
“It is the last game before the international break and hopefully we can recover well from Napoli and put on a good performance in front of our fans and win the game.”
Arsenal, who are fifth in the league with 19 points, have lost only once to City in their last nine meetings in all competitions winning four and drawing four.
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LIMA: FIFA has suspended Peruvian striker Paolo Guerrero for 30 days because of an adverse result in a recent anti-doping test, the Peruvian Football Federation said on Friday – a blow to Peru’s bid to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
Guerrero, the team’s captain, had helped Peru finish fifth in the South American qualifying group to win a playoff place against the All Whites.
The first game will take place in Wellington on Nov. 11 with the return leg four days later in Lima.
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PARIS: Patrice Evra has been suspended by Olympique de Marseille following a scuffle with a supporter before Thursday’s Europa League game at Vitoria Guimaraes, the Ligue 1 club said on Friday.
OM said in a statement that the France international had been summoned to an interview that will lead to disciplinary action.
Video footage showed a Marseille player aiming a kick at a group of fans during a scuffle behind one of the goals but the club did not mention the kick.
France fullback Evra has been regularly targeted by Marseille fans since joining from Juventus during the close season and his poor performances have led coach Rudi Garcia to drop him from the starting line-up.
“As a professional and experienced player, Patrice Evra could not react in such an inappropriate manner,” the statement said after acknowledging that Evra has been provoked by OM fans who insulted him.
“Pat has experience and he must not react. It’s obvious,” Garcia said.
“Patrice is more than experienced and we can’t respond, obviously, to insults as low as they might be and as incredible as they might be because they come from one of our supporters.”
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Newcastle United midfielder Mikel Merino will miss Saturday’s Premier League game against Bournemouth with a lower back strain but the team have enough depth to cope with the Spaniard’s absence, manager Rafa Benitez has said.
Merino, who joined Newcastle on loan from Borussia Dortmund before recently making his move permanent by signing a five-year deal, picked up the injury against Liverpool last month and missed last week’s 1-0 loss at Burnley.
The 21-year-old scored in the 1-0 win over basement side Crystal Palace in Newcastle’s last home game but Benitez said his compatriot faces a spell on the sidelines after aggravating the injury.
“Merino will be out for at least a couple of weeks. We will see how he is doing,” Benitez told a news conference on Friday, before adding Merino would miss Spain’s Under-21 2019 European Championship qualifiers against Iceland and Slovakia this month.
“He will not go away with the national team and he will not be available for this game. We will have to wait and see how his lower back is.”
“He was feeling the pain the other day. We know he is not available so we have to concentrate on the other players, and I think it is fine.”
Benitez said he had at least four options to replace Merino and could also play Congo defender Chancel Mbemba as a makeshift midfielder against Eddie Howe’s 19th-placed side.
“We have four or five midfielders. We have (Mohamed) Diame, (Henri) Saivet, (Isaac) Hayden and (Jonjo) Shelvey, and if we need… we can bring Mbemba in as a midfielder – he played there in the Africa Cup of Nations. I think we have enough bodies.”
Newcastle, who have 14 points from 10 games and sit ninth in the table, have not been beaten in nine of their last 10 league games at St James’ Park.
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Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho will miss their Premier League trip to West Ham United on Saturday, but forward Sadio Mane could make a return at the London Stadium, according to manager Juergen Klopp.
Coutinho is set to miss his third consecutive match with a thigh problem, while Mane trained with the first-team squad on Thursday for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury on international duty last month.
“Phil is not available,” Klopp told a news conference on Friday. “With the rest, it will be close.”
“Sadio trained for the first time with the team (on Thursday) and looked really, really good.”
“He looks like he’s ready for 20-25 minutes but we have to wait and see how his body reacts from Thursday’s session.”
“It was pretty intense for him as it was his first football session for a long time but he did really well.”
Despite his injury, Mane was included in Senegal manager Aliou Cisse’s 25-man squad for their final round of World Cup qualifiers against South Africa on Nov. 10 and Nov. 14.
Klopp said he has no problem with the call-up but he would like Mane to be rested for the second match if the African nation secure their place at Russia 2018.
“We cannot sit here, ignore the situation of Senegal and say, ‘we don’t care if they play at the World Cup’. That’s not nice and it’s not right,” he added.
“We are trying to get in contact with the Senegal FA. If he has a few days training with them and they get the points they need (to qualify), then maybe we can talk to them and ask if it is necessary to play the second game.”
Klopp also confirmed midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum (ankle) and defender Dejan Lovren (thigh) will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s kickoff.
The Merseyside club are sixth in the league with four wins, four draws and two defeats this season.
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The space is one of four cavities, along with the king and queen’s chambers and “Grand Gallery”, now known to exist inside the giant monument constructed under pharaoh Khufu of ancient Egypt.
“It is big,” said co-discoverer Mehdi Tayoubi of the ScanPyramids project, which has been exploring Khufu’s pyramid since October 2015 with non-invasive technology using subatomic particle scans.
“It’s the size of a 200-seater airplane, in the heart of the pyramid,” Tayoubi told AFP of the discovery, published in science journal Nature.
Towering over the Giza complex on Cairo’s outskirts alongside smaller pyramids for kings Menkaure and Khafre and the Great Sphinx, the Khufu’s pyramid is the oldest and only surviving construction among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and one of the largest buildings ever erected on Earth.
The cavity is the first major structure found inside the Great Pyramid since the 19th century, the research team said.
“There have been many theories about the existence of secret chambers inside the pyramid,” said Tayoubi. “But none have predicted anything this big.”
The exact shape and size of the void is fuzzy — its purpose and possible contents a mystery.
But it is thought to be at least 30 metres (98 feet) long, and located above the “Grand Gallery” — a sloped corridor almost 50 m long and 9 m high which links Khufu’s burial chamber at the pyramid’s centre to a tunnel leading outside.
Untouched for 4,500 years
The monument — 139 metres high today, and 230 metres wide — was erected as a tomb for Khufu, also known as Cheops. To this day, nobody knows quite how it was built.
The void, said co-author Kunihiro Morishima from the Nagoya University in Japan, “was not known by anyone until now, from when the pyramid was built 4,500 years ago”.
“The big void is completely closed,” he added, which means anything inside it would not have been “touched by anyone after the pyramid (was) built”.
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt built these monumental tombs for themselves, complete with sarcophagus to hold their embalmed mummies, and stocked with everything they could require for the afterlife — food, clothing and jewellery.
Khufu’s pyramid was plundered long before it was visited by modern archaeologists, and no relics remain from any of the known chambers.
For this reason, the new cavity may be “very exciting,” said Morishima, though it is not known if it contains anything at all.
The team used a technique called “cosmic-ray muon radiography”, which allowed them to visualise “known and potentially unknown” voids in the pyramid without having to touch a single stone.
Muons are charged, heavy particles formed from the interactions of cosmic rays with atoms in the upper atmosphere.
Similar to X-rays which can penetrate the human body and allow bone imaging, these particles can follow a mostly straight line through several hundreds of metres of stone before decaying or being absorbed, the team said.
By recording the position and direction of each muon as it travels through the pyramid, muon detectors can distinguish cavities from stone.
High confidence
“We will continue to conduct muon imaging for revealing the detail” of the void, said Morishima — including its dimensions and inclination, and whether it consists of a single, large cavity or a complex of several.
“Our muon imaging technology can’t confirm (whether) there are some artifacts or not,” he added. Anything inside would be “too small for muon imaging.”
The team is already turning its attention to new technology for the next step — possibly a miniature robot that can travel through tiny holes to examine the inside of the void without disturbing anything.
The discovery, named simply “Big Void”, has been confirmed using three different muon technologies and three independent analyses, verifying its existence with “high confidence,” the authors said.
“While there is currently no information about the role of this void, these findings show how modern particle physics can shed new light on the world’s archaeological heritage,” the authors wrote in Nature.
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“Call It What You Want” is the fourth Taylor Swift song from her highly anticipated album “Reputation.” It seems to be a return to the joyous pop she used to be known for.
Last week, the “Shake It Off” singer unveiled the video for “…Ready For It?,” which had a more somber, cyborg-inspired theme. Before that, fans were treated to “Gorgeous,” and the video for “Look What You Made Me Do” was premiered during the MTV VMAs ceremony.
The new track is available now to stream or download.
Take a look at the “Call It What You Want” lyric video:
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San Antonio is the second city in the US to be bestowed with the designation, which recognizes the city’s rich culinary heritage and dynamic dining scene.
Tucson, Arizona was given the title in 2015 for boasting the longest agricultural history of any city in the US, with a 300-year tradition of vineyards, orchards and livestock ranching.
In addition to a long history of Native American traditions — be it foraging for roots, pecans and game hunting — San Antonio boasts a rich heritage of Mexican and European culinary influences, from the Spanish colonists and Canary Islanders who arrived in the 1700s, to the German, French, Asian and African settlers who introduced new spices, cooking styles and ingredients to the region in the 1800s and onwards.
And while the flavors of Tex-Mex have long defined San Antonio’s dining scene, today’s corps of young, innovative chefs are pushing the flavor envelope to create a new culinary movement dubbed “Tex-Next,” where the familiar takes on uncharted flavor territory.
“This designation is a great honor for San Antonio,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg in a statement.
“As a Creative City of Gastronomy, we will seek to strengthen and expand international connections, share our culinary arts and heritage globally and introduce San Antonio as an international culinary destination.”
Along with its newest UNESCO title, the Lone Star city boasts bragging rights to opening the first Mexican restaurant in the US.
San Antonio is one of 64 cities from 44 countries to be added to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network across categories like gastronomy, music, film, design, literature, crafts and folk art.
Other creative gastronomy cities include Panama City, Panama; Alba, Italy; Buenaventura, Colombia; and Macao, among others.
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For this year’s edition, editors were asked to consider 12 criteria: product rating, safety rating, passenger reviews, fleet age, operating profit, premium economy class, flat beds in business class, investment grade rating, environmental report, industrial issues, serious incidents and innovation.
No other carrier was able to break Air New Zealand’s five-year streak, which editors credit to a record-breaking financial performance, in-flight innovations, environmental record, young fleet and motivated staff.
Readers of Conde Nast Traveler also named Air New Zealand the world’s best airline last month.
One of the carrier’s most popular features is their economy class Skycouch, which can convert a three-seater into a larger lie-flat space for sleeping or relaxing, thanks to an additional fold-out footrest.
The top 10 list, meanwhile, is dominated by carriers in Oceania, Asia and the Middle East, with Qantas and Singapore Airlines rounding out the podium.
Here are some of the winners:
- Air New Zealand
- Qantas
- Singapore Airlines
- Virgin Australia
- Virgin Atlantic
- Etihad Airways
- All Nippon Airways
- Korean Air
- Cathay Pacific
- Japan Airlines
- Best Domestic Airline Service, Best Catering and Best Lounges: Qantas
- Best First Class and Best Cabin Crew: Singapore Airlines
- Best Economy: Korean Air
- Best Business Class: Virgin Australia
- Best In-Flight Entertainment: Emirates
- Best Ultra Low-Cost airline: VietJetAir
Excellence in Long Haul travel
- Air Canada (Americas)
- Virgin Atlantic (Europe)
- Etihad Airways (Middle-East/Africa
- Korean Air (Asia/Pacific).
Best Low-Cost Airline
- Westjet (Americas)
- Norwegian (Europe)
- Scoot (Asia/Pacific)
While it doesn’t stand out in terms of its technical specs or its edge-to-edge screen (a first for the brand, but now standard at the top end of the market), it is an elegant phone with a translucent glass back.
The HTC U11+ has a 6-inch Quad HD+ 18:9 display (2880 x 1440 pixels), versus a 5.5-inch display for the U11, which hit the market in June. Like most of its rival Android phones, the U11+ is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, and it will be available in a 128GB version, offering up to 2TB with a microSD card. It packs a 12 MP primary camera and a BoomSound speaker which the manufacturer says is an improvement on previous models.
Dust-resistant and waterproof up to depths of one meter, the HTC U11+ runs Android 8.0 Oreo and its HTC Sense software suite. As with the U11, this smartphone is equipped with HTC Edge Sense technology, enabling users to squeeze the sides of the device to take photos, open an email, or automatically launch an app or game. The HTC U11+ will be available for preorder from November 20 and is expected to be priced at 799 euros.
HTC is simultaneously launching another more affordable phone – the HTC U11 Life – as part of the Android One program, which offers phones with a stripped-down operating system and no add-ons such as the apps and skins often built into phones by manufacturers. There is no edge-to-edge screen, or any of the latest top-end components, but it is an attractive 5.2-inch 1080p HD smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor and 3GB of RAM, which nevertheless runs Android 8.0 Oreo. With these features, the HTC U11 Life is likely to cost less than 400 euros.
HTC celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2017, having seen part of its mobile division acquired by Google. The firm hit a very difficult patch after its glory days in the early 2010s, but it can now take pride in a comprehensive, high-quality mobile offering.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhLhtq http://ift.tt/2lKpAgF Fri, 03 Nov 2017 22:01:56 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 22:01:56 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zw80mK
Automotive historians will argue that the Pontiac GTO was the vehicle that ushered in the age of the muscle car. And while technically speaking the GTO did arrive first, the Ford Mustang is the vehicle that defined the automotive genre and has always been the car to keep up with since its unveiling in April 1964.
And to ensure that the Mustang maintains its lead in what is fast becoming a second golden age of the muscle car — one littered with Camaros setting Nurburgring lap records and drag strip racing yet road-legal Dodge Challengers — Ford has partnered with racing and modification experts Roush on a new aftermarket supercharger.
When fitted, a current model-year Ford Mustang V8 GT’s power rockets up to 700hp — that’s just 7hp shy of the ferocious Dodge Hellcat — as long as the car is running on 93 octane fuel. The blower also ups torque significantly to 610 lb.-ft. Better still, this package has been designed specifically to work with the V8 Mustang and the V8-engined F-150 Ford pickup, regardless of whether the vehicle in question has an automatic or manual transmission.
“Ford and Roush have teamed up on performance for years on and off the track,” said Doug White, Global Ford Performance Parts Manager. “This new supercharger is another great example of our innovation in performance, greatly improving horsepower and torque so people can enjoy two of our most iconic vehicles even more.”
The supercharging kit, if installed by a Ford or Roush dealer, is also covered under a three-year warranty like an official Ford part — that’s how robust and reliable the supercharger is.
“Our teams collaborated to create the most highly engineered, tested and performing supercharger kit on the market,” said Roush company chairman, Jack Roush. “The combination of the 2018 5.0-liter engine and our all-new, fully integrated 2650 supercharger system yields simply incredible, no-compromise performance.”
The kit will go on sale officially at the beginning of 2018 and hopefully then the companies will also reveal its other vital performance statistics, such as how much acceleration is improved or if the system boosts top speed without the need for external aerodynamic alterations.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhLi0s http://ift.tt/2iqIPXK Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:06:39 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:06:39 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvJh1J
GENEVA: The United Nations human rights office called on Australia on Friday to restore food, water and health services to about 600 interned refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea, which Canberra cut off three days ago.
The detainees in the Manus Island Centre have defied attempts by the governments of both Australia and PNG to close the camp, saying they fear violent reprisals from the local community if they are moved to other “transit centers”.
“We call on the Australian government … who interned the men in the first place to immediately provide protection, food, water and other basic services,” U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing.
Australia has an obligation to do so under international human rights law and the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, he said.
There was no immediate comment from Australia or its representatives in Geneva. Its government has said the camp had been ruled illegal by PNG authorities and it had committed to supply other sites for 12 months.
Colville joined the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in warning of an “unfolding humanitarian emergency” in the center where asylum seekers began digging wells on Thursday to try to find water as their food supplies dwindled.
The remote Manus Island center has been a key part of Australia’s disputed immigration policy under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, detaining them instead in PNG and Naura in the South Pacific.
“We repeat our overall concerns about Australian offshore processing centers which are unsustainable, inhumane and contradictory to its human rights obligations,” Colville said.
Around 500 of the men have still not had their asylum claims processed, he said.
“And obviously the sooner the better, some of them have been there I think for four years,” Colville said. “So that’s a very long time to sit in effectively a detention center disguised as a regional processing center without your case being processed.”
The alternative accommodation being proposed is not finished or adequate to meet their needs, including security, he said.
“We have conveyed to the Australian government and to the local government of Papua New Guinea as well that until the time the accommodation is ready, refugees should not be moved there,” UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said.
“But also we have urged Australia and PNG to de-escalate the situation, resume basic services – water, electricity, medical services as well,” he said.
The last food distribution was on Sunday, he said.
“Australia’s policy of deterrence by rescuing people at sea, mistreating them and abandoning them has become a notion of cruelty,” Baloch said.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhLj4w http://ift.tt/2h0qyA1 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:05:21 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:05:21 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvBWPY
BANGKOK: People in Thailand celebrated the Loy Krathong or “floating basket” festival on Friday, following a year of mourning for late King Bhumibol Adulyadej that saw many celebrations muted or canceled.
The mourning ended on Monday after a five-day funeral last week, and many citizens have returned to wearing colored garments after having stuck to black for a year.
Participants in the festival pay respects to the water spirits, floating small, traditionally-hand crafted rafts carrying flowers, bamboo and candles on waterways in an ancient ritual.
The rafts are also thought to carry away bad luck and usher in good fortune during the festival, which is celebrated all over Thailand, but is particularly spectacular in the north.
Festivities will stay in a low key this year, out of respect for the late monarch, however, authorities in the capital said.
“We will not have excessive celebrations but will focus more on showcasing Thai culture,” Chalermpon Chotinuchit, of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), told Reuters.
The BMA urged celebrants to use rafts made from natural materials this year, after environment groups flagged concerns about non-biodegradable components clogging rivers and drains.
Festival participants also struck a somber note.
“It will be a sadder period this Loy Krathong because everyone loves the late King Rama IX,” said 23-year-old Nanthicha Sorndee.
Safety concerns have prompted national carrier Thai Airways International to cancel some roundtrip flights between Bangkok and Chiang Mai on Friday and Saturday, it said in a statement, without elaborating.
The northern Thai city celebrates Loy Krathong alongside Yi Peng, a festival in which brightly lit lanterns are wafted into the sky.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zgvknA http://ift.tt/2irQNQm Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:04:50 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:04:50 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zuU9wV
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday he would spend an extra day in the Philippines during his trip to Asia, which the White House confirmed would be to attend the East Asia Summit taking place there.
“We’re actually staying an extra day in the Philippines. We have a big conference, the second conference, and I think we’re going to have great success,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for his trip.
]]> http://ift.tt/2ziWtGn http://ift.tt/2h0qvUR Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:03:37 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:03:37 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zw9vkU
LONDON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday he hoped a U.S. peace initiative would work and praised President Donald Trump for taking a fresh approach to bringing the Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations.
For at least two decades, the goal of U.S.-led diplomacy has been a ‘two-state solution’, meaning an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side and at peace with Israel.
But neither Trump nor his aides have publicly recommitted to a two-state solution, instead saying it is up to the two parties to work out in peace talks.
Asked during a visit to London to commemorate the 1917 British declaration of support for a Jewish homeland if he felt now was the moment for peace in the region, noting Trump’s involvement in peace efforts, he said: “Hope so.”
“What’s being discussed now is an American initiative. Obviously we make our interests and our concerns known to Mr Trump. He’s coming with a sort of refreshing ‘can-do’ thing… they’re trying to think out of the box,” Netanyahu said at London’s Chatham House think-tank.
Netanyahu has previously expressed doubts about the Trump initiative, telling France’s President Emmanuel Macron in July that it would be difficult to move forward quickly because he felt Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may not be able to deliver on commitments he had made.
But he said that more countries in the region were now beginning to engage constructively with Israel.
“The reason I draw hope from the moment is because of the larger shift in Arab-Israeli relations with the countries of the region. I cannot emphasize how dramatic that is,” he said.
The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the Israeli occupied West Bank, territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Most Israelis want all of Jerusalem as their capital and reject a full return to 1967 borderlines as a threat to their security.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhLjBy http://ift.tt/2zhCQOP Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:02:07 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:02:07 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zw9vBq
SEOUL/WASHINGTON: Two U.S. strategic bombers conducted drills over South Korea, the U.S. Air Force said, raising tensions with North Korea just days before President Donald Trump visits the region seeking to shut down Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
News of the Thursday’s drills was first reported by North Korean state news agency KCNA on Friday, which said the exercises involving South Korean and Japanese fighter jets were a “surprise nuclear strike drill”.
“The reality clearly shows that the gangster-like U.S. imperialists are the very one who is aggravating the situation of the Korean peninsula and seeking to ignite a nuclear war,” KCNA said.
Trump arrives in Asia on Sunday, beginning his first trip to the region as president in Japan before heading to South Korea and China, then Vietnam and the Philippines.
A series of missile tests by North Korea and its sixth and largest nuclear test, defying U.N. Security Council resolutions, have fueled the most critical international challenge of Trump’s presidency.
China, under U.S. pressure to do more to rein in its ally, on Friday stressed that it had been enforcing U.N. resolutions and reiterated its opposition to the use of force.
“Over the long term, China has made unremitting efforts to appropriately resolve the peninsula nuclear issue and promote dialogue and negotiation between all parties,” Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang told reporters at a briefing in Beijing.
“You can say we’ve made our greatest effort.”
The goal of Trump’s visit will be to increase international support for efforts to deprive North Korea of resources as leverage to coerce it to give up nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said.
“The president recognizes that we’re running out of time (to deal with North Korea) and will ask all nations to do more,” White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters at a briefing in Washington.
McMaster said Trump, who has approved a variety of sanctions against North Korea while pressing China to do more, was at the beginning of his drive for Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons. Trump has warned he would “totally destroy” North Korea if it threatened the United States.
“I think we have to be a little patient here for at least a few months to see what more we and others can do, including China,” said McMaster. “I don’t think we need to reassess our strategy now. I think we have to give it a couple of months, a few months, and then see what adjustments we might need to make.”
Show of force
While North Korea has not launched any missiles since Sept. 15, the longest such lull this year, a flurry of activity has been detected at its missile research facilities in Pyongyang, pointing to another possible launch, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday.
Seoul held a National Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss possible unilateral sanctions against Pyongyang, and may announce the measures ahead of Trump’s arrival in South Korea, a presidential official said.
“The United States has wanted the South Korean government to take further steps to sanction the North. Unilateral sanctions by South Korea wouldn’t have much practical impact but have a symbolic importance,” the official said.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to Asia, the drills involving the U.S. bombers marked the latest show of force by the United States and its allies.
The planes flew over the Pilsung Range training area in central South Korea, Air Force spokeswoman Captain Victoria Hight said.
Japanese and South Korean fighter jets carried out sequenced missions with the U.S. bombers but no ordnance was dropped, the Air Force said.
The drill was staged at a time when three U.S. aircraft carrier groups are in the Asia-Pacific, the first time such a potent projection of force has been together in the region in a decade.
U.S. officials said earlier this week a decision may be made for the three carriers to carry out a joint exercise to coincide with Trump’s trip.
KCNA said the combination of the bomber drills with the presence of the carrier groups underscored the gravity of the situation.
“The U.S. imperialists are making last-ditch efforts to check the dynamic advance of the DPRK by deploying their nuclear strategic assets in succession, but its army and people are never frightened at such moves,” KCNA reported, referring to North Korea by the initials for its official name.
“The U.S. imperialist warmongers should not act rashly.”
]]> http://ift.tt/2zjDQlP http://ift.tt/2isozFh Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:01:01 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 16:01:01 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zwlleN
NEW YORK: Islamic State has claimed responsibility, without providing proof, for a truck attack earlier this week that killed eight people in the deadliest assault on New York City since Sept. 11, 2001.
The militant group on Thursday described accused attacker Sayfullo Saipov, 29, as “one of the caliphate soldiers” in a weekly issue of its Al-Naba newspaper.
The Uzbek immigrant was charged in federal court on Wednesday with acting in support of Islamic State by plowing a rented pickup truck down a popular riverside bike trail, crushing pedestrians and cyclists and injuring a dozen people in addition to those killed.
According to the criminal complaint against him, Saipov told investigators he was inspired by watching Islamic State propaganda videos on his cellphone, felt good about what he had done, and asked for permission to display the group’s flag in his room at Bellevue Hospital.
Saipov was taken to Bellevue after being shot in the abdomen by a police officer before his arrest.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called for Saipov to receive the death penalty, said in a Twitter post on Friday that Islamic State had claimed as their soldier the “Degenerate Animal” who killed and wounded “the wonderful people on the West Side” of Lower Manhattan.
“Based on that, the Military has hit ISIS ”much harder“ over the last two days. They will pay a big price for every attack on us!” Trump tweeted.
Earlier this week, Trump suggested sending Saipov to the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba, where terrorism suspects apprehended overseas are incarcerated. But on Thursday, he said doing so would be too complicated.
The U.S. president has also urged Congress to end the Diversity Immigrant Visa program under which Saipov entered the United States in 2010.
The diversity program, signed into law in 1990 by Republican President George H.W. Bush, was designed to provide more permanent resident visas to people from countries with low U.S. immigration rates.
Five Argentine tourists, a Belgian woman, a New Yorker and a New Jersey man were killed in Tuesday afternoon’s attack.
The attack unfolded just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, where some 2,600 people were killed when suicide hijackers crashed two jetliners into the Twin Towers 16 years ago.
One of the two criminal counts Saipov faces, violence and destruction of motor vehicles causing the deaths of eight people, carries the death penalty if the government chooses to seek it, prosecutors said.
Saipov waived his right to remain silent or have an attorney present when he agreed to speak to investigators from his hospital bed, the criminal complaint said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it has located another Uzbek man, Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, 32, who it said was wanted for questioning as a person of interest in the attack.
Citing an unnamed law enforcement official, ABC News reported on Friday that Saipov placed a telephone call to Kadirov immediately before he carried out the attack. ABC News said the significance of the call was not known.
]]> http://ift.tt/2ziNuoL http://ift.tt/2A3K864 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:30:02 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:30:02 +0000 http://ift.tt/2ztRofa
TOKYO: Malaysian film director Edmund Yeo has been named Best Director at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) 2017 held from Oct 24 to Nov 3 for his film “Aqerat”.
Yeo was also selected as a finalist with 14 other films from all over the world to vie for the Grand Prix (Best Film) award. His film was chosen from among 1,538 participants representing 88 countries.
This is the second achievement for Yeo, 33, after his first film “River of Exploding Durians” also competed for the main prize in the 2014 edition.
His documentary on Malaysia’s film maestro, the late Yasmin Ahmad, entitled “Yasmin-san” was also selected by the festival organisers for special premiere under the “Çross Cut Asia” segment.
When met by Bernama at the film festival here recently, Yeo expressed satisfaction at his film “Aqerat” which competed at the TIFF 2017 while his documentary Yasmin-san was shown in the segment Cross Cut Asia What’s Next from Southeast Asia #04.
He had expected stiff competition from famous and experienced directors from Russia, Turkey and China.
According to Yeo, his experience in filming “Aqerat” in Kelantan during the monsoon season was his biggest challenge.
The talented director is now in the process of filming a new movie “Malu” in which half will be shot in Malaysia and the other half, in Japan.
Yeo, who lived in Japan for four years and directed several Japanese films, will start filming in Japan after the film festival.
He said the inspiration behind the film “Aqerat” was the plight of the Rohingya refugees and the discovery of refugee graves in jungles along the Malaysia-Thailand border not long ago.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zg304B http://ift.tt/2yqRft4 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:12:14 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:12:14 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zuU8Jn
SHAH ALAM: A Barisan Nasional (BN) state assemblyman has slammed the Selangor government’s budget for 2018, saying it is nothing but a “cosmetic budget” with no new initiatives, designed only for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) to face the 14th general election (GE14).
Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan, the Umno rep for Batang Kali, said the annual financial plan was like a poor attempt at a university dissertation as it repeated old, worn-out achievements and highlighted measures already undertaken by the PKR-led state government.
“There are no new initiatives, except for continuing to do what has been done before,” he told reporters at the state assembly here today.
Earlier, Menteri Besar Azmin Ali tabled the budget with a total allocation of RM3.12 billion, which he said was geared towards driving the economy and providing development for the well-being of the people.
Nadzari, who is Selangor Umno deputy chairman, claimed the budget contained features that had been merely padded up from initiatives undertaken by the federal government.
He added that he was still unclear about the state government’s efforts to boost Selangor’s gross domestic product (GDP).
He said there were no new economic development areas, aside from those in Sepang, Serendah and Subang which were the result of efforts by the former BN state administration.
He said a proper proposal to boost economic development in the “west coast ring area” in northern Selangor, stretching from Sabak Bernam to Hulu Selangor, was also lacking.
On the projected revenue of RM2.25 billion for next year, Nadzari questioned if the government was going to increase the land tax or land premium to achieve its objective. Azmin had said among the contributors to the revenue collection would be land premium (48.3%), land tax revenue (23.3%) and land-related deals (5.9%).
Nadzari also said the state’s three-month bonus in 2018 for civil servants was not new as the budget had included what had been paid to civil servants in June, with the remaining payment to be issued in December.
“And many incentives which were mentioned are still being discussed. There is nothing concrete yet,” he added.
Azmin, who is Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman, had said of the RM3.12 billion in the budget, 46.8% or RM1.46 billion was for management purposes, and 53.2% or RM1.66 billion was for developmental purposes.
He also announced a deficit of RM870 million in the state budget.
3-month bonus for Selangor civil servants
]]> http://ift.tt/2zjq7LJ http://ift.tt/2zdsfVI Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:54:05 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:54:05 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zu6pgZSelangor announces RM870 million deficit budget for 2018
SHAH ALAM: Barisan Nasional (BN) Selangor menyifatkan Belanjawan Selangor 2018 yang dibentang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali hari ini sebagai belanjawan yang dibuat secara mudah dan tergesa-gesa.
Adun Batang Kali Datuk Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan berkata belanjawan pentadbiran Azmin Ali tidak banyak memperkenalkan inisiatif baharu kecuali meneruskan usaha lama dan mengabaikan banyak kawasan di Selangor.
“Paling teruk dia menambah-nambah beberapa inisiatif kerajaan Pusat macam ada strategi ‘potong corner’,” kata penyelaras BN Selangor itu kepada pemberita di Dewan Negeri Selangor hari ini selepas pembentangan belanjawan.
“Saya masih samar dalam daya usaha kerajaan mahu melonjak KDNK negeri. Tiada kawasan pembangunan ekonomi baharu kecuali yang sedia ada di Sepang, Serendah dan Subang yang kita ketahui daya usaha lama oleh BN.
“Kawasan lingkaran pantai barat atau Selangor utara, terutama di sebelah Sungai Besar hingga Sabak Bernam dan sempadan Hulu Selangor-Perak, masih tiada cadangan galakan pembangunan ekonomi yang baik.”
Beliau turut khuatir melihat kerajaan negeri terlalu bergantung kepada cukai tanah dan premium sebagai punca utama hasil negeri bagi tahun 2018.
“Hasil tahun depan adalah dari cukai tanah dan premium tanah dan dianya melonjak hampir 10%. Adakah kerajaan akan naikkan lagi cukai tanah atau premium? Ini menakutkan,” katanya.
Wakil rakyat PAS bagaimanapun mempertahankan belanjawan Azmin itu, dan meminta orang ramai untuk tidak membandingkan Belanjawan Selangor 2018 dengan Bajet 2018 yang dibentangkan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak minggu lalu.
Exco Pembangunan Desa dan Kampung Tradisi Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi berkata apa yang penting untuk rakyat Selangor tahu ialah pentadbiran Azmin memperuntukkan perbelanjaan pembangunan yang besar.
“Di samping program pembangunan, peruntukan bajet pembangunan sedia ada dengan Inisiatif Peduli Rakyat (IPR), di mana 47 program IPR jumlahnya lebih RM2.8 bilion dari 2008 hingga kini. Ini satu jumlah besar terutama untuk bangunkan rakyat Selangor.
“Saya tak nak sentuh soal program yang ada di Selangor, dalam belanjawan pusat baru-baru ini ada beberapa inisiatif yang seolah-olah dicontohi, tapi saya melihat kepada penambahan program yang meletakkan rakyat pada martabatnya,” katanya.
Exco Infrastruktur dan Kemudahan Tetap Zaidy Abdul Talib berkata 75% daripada perbelanjaan pembangunan, yang mewakili 53% daripada keseluruhan perbelanjaan 2018, diperuntukkan untuk pembangunan prasarana.
“Ini bermaksud walaupun dalam keadaan kelembapan ekonomi, kerajaan negeri masih meneruskan projek-projek pembangunan, infrastruktur yang banyak.
“Apa yang telah kita sarankan telah dimasukkan dalam bajet,” katanya.
Terdahulu, Azmin membentangkan belanjawan negeri berjumlah RM3.12 bilion pada tahun 2018 berbanding RM3.45 bilion pada tahun sebelumnya, atau penurunan sebanyak RM330 juta.
Ia juga merupakan defisit belanjawan keempat berturut-turut dibentangkan Azmin apabila kerajaan negeri dijangka mencatatkan defisit RM870 juta pada tahun depan.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhA8ZZ http://ift.tt/2yrCTIG Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:49:07 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:49:07 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zw9uxm
GENEVA: Life-threatening levels of malnutrition have risen dramatically among Rohingya refugee children who have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, the United Nations warned Friday.
The UN children’s agency said preliminary data indicated a full 7.5% of the children crammed into one of the camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district were at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition.
More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state since late August during military operations that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing and the world’s most acute refugee crisis.
Around half of them are children.
“It’s very worrying to see the condition of children who keep arriving,” UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told reporters in Geneva after a recent trip to the camps.
The agency and its partners are already treating more than 2,000 acutely malnourished children at 15 treatment centres, and are in the process of setting up six additional centres.
AFP correspondents on the ground also witnessed scores of obviously malnourished children near treatment centres in several refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
“He cannot eat enough food as he suffers from pneumonia, fever and diarrhoea,” Rohingya woman Fahima Bibi told AFP as she emerged from one centre with her two-year-old grandson Mohammad Jabed, who is suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
UNICEF said its preliminary findings were based on a nutrition assessment conducted last week of children under the age of five in 405 households in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar.
‘Catastrophe’
“The Rohingya children in the camp, who have survived horrors in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State and a dangerous journey here, are already caught up in a catastrophe,” UNICEF Bangladesh Representative Edouard Beigbeder said in a statement.
“Those with severe malnutrition are now at risk of dying from an entirely preventable and treatable cause,” he warned.
Malnutrition rates among children in northern Rakhine were already above emergency thresholds before the latest crisis erupted.
“The condition of these children has further deteriorated due to the long journey across the border and the conditions in the camps,” the UNICEF statement said.
The journey by boat is particularly treacherous, with the International Organization for Migration on Friday putting the number of drownings since August at around 250.
Some 26,000 people now live in the Kutupalong camp, where they are faced with an acute shortage of food and water, unsanitary conditions and high rates of diarrhoea and respiratory infections, the agency said.
UNICEF said it was planning two additional assessments in other sites in Cox’s Bazar this month to help determine if the numbers found in Kutupalong might apply to the entire area.
Boulierac however told AFP the agency was concerned by the preliminary findings, since the Kutupalong camp has existed for a long time and the services there are believed to be better than in the many new, makeshift camps.
The overall rate of life-threatening malnutrition could therefore turn out to be even higher than what was found in Kutupalong, he said.
The influx of refugees is continuing, with the UN refugee agency estimating that some 3,000 people crossed through a single border crossing at Anjuman Para between Wednesday and Thursday alone.
“We need far more attention to the crisis, and far more resources for the response,” Beigbeder said, stressing that “these children need help right now.”
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhgkFX http://ift.tt/2h9tNco Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:40:00 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:40:00 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvFH7E
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE: President Donald Trump departed Washington for an almost two week trip to Asia Friday, leaving in his wake a trail of scandal and invective that risks overshadowing efforts at top-level diplomacy.
Trump left Joint Base Andrews, just outside Washington, bound for Hawaii. From there he will travel on to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
But before he jumped on Air Force One, Trump unleashed a Twitter barrage, pillorying his own Justice Department and calling for his former political opponents to be prosecuted.
“A lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me,” Trump later said, complaining they were not adequately investigating his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
His comments dealt a new blow to the traditional barriers between the executive and the judicial system, breaking the taboo over presidential interference with investigations.
Trump leaves for the Asia-Pacific region with his standing at home dramatically weakened by series of indictments against former campaign aides.
The week started with special counsel Robert Mueller — who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election — indicting Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on money laundering charges.
Mueller also revealed that a Trump campaign aide had lied to the FBI about his contacts with Kremlin-connected officials, but then turned informant.
Trump may be leaving Washington, but news from the US capital is likely to trail him. New indictments are rumored to be on the way, perhaps within days.
While he is away, Republican lawmakers will be working furiously to pass tax cuts that are make-or-break for his legislative agenda.
Trump’s trip itself had already promised to be anything but easy.
It is the longest presidential tour of Asia since George H.W. Bush visited in late 1991 and early 1992.
That culminated in the 41st president fainting and vomiting at a banquet in Japan.
Trump used his departure to announce that the already marathon trip will be extended to include an East Asia Summit in the Philippines, which he had been slated to miss.
The main foreign policy item on the agenda will be efforts to contain or roll back North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear missile programs.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhSfyK http://ift.tt/2xW6HJh Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:33:35 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:33:35 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvBX6u
PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has claimed that many people would be happy to see him dressed in the orange-coloured lockup uniform, often worn by those arrested for alleged graft in the country.
“This is where it looks like it’s headed. If the police conduct an investigation, I might have to wear that orange attire and then many people will be satisfied,” the PPBM chairman said in a video released by the party today.
The 92-year-old was referring to allegations against him following a remark he made in referring to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Bugis roots at the Pakatan Harapan (PH) “Love Malaysia, End Kleptocracy” rally here on Oct 14.
Mahathir, who is also PH chairman, said the desire among many of his detractors to have him investigated appeared to be ultimately about wanting to see him get arrested.
“Since I have been active in fighting against Najib, many people have been eager to see me in orange garb with the word ‘lockup’,” he said.
Meanwhile, his lawyer Hanif Khatri Abdulla said Mahathir would give his full cooperation to the police.
He said Mahathir had been questioned by the police four times in the past year and had assisted investigators as required by the law.
“He is ready to be questioned by investigators without compromising his right to clarify the matter to the court if charged,” Hanif told FMT today.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zgDhco http://ift.tt/2iYxGRE Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:04:49 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:04:49 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvOpTF
KUALA LUMPUR: Police have confirmed that the viral photos of a pile of cash allegedly seized in Port Klang was just fake money used in the locally-produced movie, “Abang Long Fadil 2”, released in August.
“The police have contacted Skop Productions (the company which co-produced the movie) and its representative said the photos were among the scenes in “Abang Long Fadil 2”.
“Klang policemen were also involved in the film,” said Klang Selatan police chief ACP Shamsul Amar Ramli in a statement here today.
The two photos circulating on social media since yesterday, show a pile of cash stuffed in a container and placed on a trolley.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zjDRWV http://ift.tt/2A5cVHg Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:57:17 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:57:17 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zwfUMP
KUALA LUMPUR: Just freed after posting bail on charges of assaulting three People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) members, a businessman with the “Datuk Seri” title was re-arrested in connection with a drug case.
Liow Soon Hee, 29, was re-arrested by an anti-narcotics team from the Dang Wangi police station outside the Ampang Jaya Sessions Court as soon as he posted bail totalling RM17,000 for the four charges he faced in connection with the alleged assault.
The Rela members Liow allegedly assaulted are Lee Weng Poh, 27; Melvin Cheong Mun Khai, 21; and Leong Jun Jie, 21. They were assaulted at the compound of the Kou Ong Yah Temple, Jalan Merdeka, Kampung Baru Ampang here at 6.30am on Oct 27.
Lee, Cheong and Leong, suffered injuries to the head, eye and abdomen after being allegedly beaten and kicked by the suspect.
The victims claimed that the incident occurred after they had asked the “Datuk Seri” to move his Toyota Vellfire MPV parked on the side of the main road, as it was obstructing traffic.
Selangor CID chief SAC Fadzil Ahmad, when contacted, confirmed the re-arrest and said Liow was brought from the court complex to the Dang Wangi police station at 5pm.
“He (Liow) is the individual police were looking for in relation to a past drug case,” he said.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zivGtF http://ift.tt/2zaax2I Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:47:43 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:47:43 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvF2TS
KUALA LUMPUR: Residents of the Loke Yew People’s Housing Scheme here are living in fear of a possible rat infestation.
Several dwellers of the 19-storey building claimed to have encountered the pests even on the higher floors and are worried the rats might contaminate the water storage tanks with their urine.
“If the rats get into the water storage tanks, it will be very dangerous for us as their urine may contaminate the water,” said resident Aina Mohamad, 45.
She said the residents had carried out “gotong royong” clean-ups but could not get rid of the rats.
Aina said she hoped Kuala Lumpur City Hall would be able to help the over 4,000 residents there eradicate the pests for good.
Another resident, Zurnita Tahir, 40, who lives on the 17th floor, said the grandchild of a neighbour stepped on rat urine and suffered a swollen leg soon after.
“I am worried that my young children may be similarly affected because we have seen rats running around. In the beginning, they were only seen up to the seventh floor but now they are everywhere,” she said.
Meanwhile, Jeff Chu Jun Mun, chairman of the Cheras Parliamentary Constituency Sub Zone 1 Residents’ Representative Council, did not rule out the possibility that dirty surroundings provided a conducive environment for the rats to breed.
“As of now, I have yet to receive any complaint from the residents. Nevertheless, I will meet them and convey the problem to City Hall. The matter should be taken seriously as it can be life-threatening,” he said.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zi99xo http://ift.tt/2lLC0Vw Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:35:56 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:35:56 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvUU8L
NEW DELHI: Four Indian police officers were suspended on Friday after it emerged they had refused to help a woman who had just been gang raped, mocked her and accused her of inventing her story.
The 19-year-old student, who cannot be named, went to police after she was repeatedly raped by four men outside a railway station in the central Indian city of Bhopal on Tuesday.
Her family later alleged police had “mocked” them and repeatedly turned them away when they tried to lodge a complaint, according to Santosh Kumar Singh, deputy inspector general of police in Bhopal.
He said the officers had accused the woman of telling a “filmi” story, using an Indian English word derived from the movie industry to imply that she was exaggerating.
“Three inspector rank officers have been suspended and one superintendent of police has been removed from his posting for dereliction of duty and misbehaviour,” Singh told AFP by phone.
India has a grim record of sexual violence.
Government data for 2015 shows 34,651 rapes were recorded, but campaigners say the true figure is likely to be much higher given the social stigma that still surrounds such cases.
India strengthened its laws on sexual violence after the fatal gang-rape of a Delhi student five years ago caused global outrage, but attacks remain widespread and enforcement is patchy.
Police have launched investigations into the officers’ behaviour, and into the family’s claim they went to three different police stations before they were finally able to file a complaint.
Singh said the woman’s parents had themselves apprehended two of the suspects and taken them to police.
A third was arrested on Thursday and a fourth is still at large.
Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, which registered nearly 4,500 rape cases in 2015 — the highest of any Indian state.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhX4Ij http://ift.tt/2zvcMB1 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:16:29 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:16:29 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zuQzCP
KUALA LUMPUR: Jabatan Meteorologi Malaysia menafikan mesej tular berhubung suhu terendah dialami negara yang disebarkan menerusi media sosial.
Jabatan itu dalam kenyataan hari ini berkata mesej tular itu, yang menasihatkan orang ramai tidak berada di luar rumah selepas 11.00 malam, adalah tidak benar.
Menurut jabatan itu, suhu minimum yang direkodkan adalah normal iaitu sekitar 23 darjah Celsius yang lazimnya berlaku pada waktu subuh.
Maklumat sahih berkaitan cuaca boleh diperoleh menerusi laman sesawang jabatan berkenaan di www.met.gov.my atau aplikasi mobil (myCuaca), menerusi media sosial di facebook: malaysiamet, twitter @malaysianmet atau talian 1 300 22 1MET (1638).
]]> http://ift.tt/2ziuzdK http://ift.tt/2zbg3oc Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:59:20 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:59:20 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvFIbI
KUALA LUMPUR: An accounts supervisor being investigated by the police in relation to alleged online banking fraud is claiming that her bank account was hacked to cheat several individuals.
The woman, who wanted to be identified only as Miss Hee, said she discovered that her account had been misused after she received a letter from the Port Dickson police headquarters on Aug 21 notifying her of an investigation on the matter.
She claimed she had received an email from CIMB informing her that her Internet banking registration (on the bank’s official portal “CIMB Clicks”) had been approved although she had never applied for it.
She also said the phone number listed as belonging to her in the email was not hers.
“I was surprised and I felt sceptical because I have never registered for CIMB Clicks,” she said.
“I had never even made an application or received any SMS from CIMB,” she told a press conference at the Segambut DAP service centre here today. Also present was Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng.
Miss Hee said she had opened the account with a deposit of RM1,200 with the intention of keeping the amount there as savings.
However, some RM155,000 was later transacted into and out of the account by another individual, she alleged.
The police have since frozen the account for investigations.
She also said that she once received a phone call at night from an unknown number.
The caller, who identified himself as Shahrizal bin Abdul Wahid, claimed he was an assistant customer service manager of CIMB, she said.
She said he offered to reopen the bank account and give her back her deposit, but she refused to accept it.
“I did not want to accept the offer because no customer service officer would call at night, and my account is frozen and being investigated by the police,” she said.
She also said she has had to endure much stress since the incident.
“I can’t sleep. I’m constantly thinking about this problem and I’m worried about my safety,” she said.
]]> http://ift.tt/2ziTrSj http://ift.tt/2z98caV Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:49:14 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:49:14 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zwp2RGIs it really good to be a cashless society?
KLANG: A businessman, who calls himself “Datuk Kabi”, was once again charged in the Sessions Court here today on 27 counts of cheating several individuals for allegedly offering discounts on Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) bill payments involving losses amounting to almost RM2 million last year.
C Kamaleshwaran, 38, who had previously been brought to court for similar offences, however, pleaded not guilty after all the charges were read out to him before judge Emilia Kaswati Mohamad Khalid.
The accused was charged with deceiving individuals by offering a 20% discount on electricity bill arrears from TNB and inducing them to hand over the money to him.
Kamaleshwaran was charged with committing the offences at several locations here between September and November last year.
If convicted, he can be punished under Section 420 of the Penal Code which provides for minimum imprisonment of one year and a maximum of 10 years, whipping, and a possible fine.
In the same court, Kamaleshwaran’s wife, N Bavani, 31, also pleaded not guilty to 23 charges of abetting her husband.
The woman was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code read together with Section 109 of the same Act.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Siti Fatimah Yahya did not offer any bail. However, she said if the court wished to do so, a RM25,000 bail should be imposed on each of the accused for each charge.
Lawyer P Visnuvarman, who represented the couple, however, requested the court to set a reasonable bail amount as his clients could not afford to pay RM25,000 for each charge.
Judge Emilia Kaswati then allowed Kamaleshwaran to be released on bail of RM270,000 and Bavani on RM115,000 and set Dec 14 for mention.
The court also ordered the two to hand over their passports, and report to the nearest police station on the first Saturday of each month until the case was over.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zgQ8LH http://ift.tt/2lKTv8v Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:44:42 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:44:42 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zw7Zzc
SHAH ALAM: Menteri Besar Selangor Datuk Seri Azmin Ali hari ini mengumumkan pemberian bonus 3 bulan kepada kakitangan perkhidmatan awam negeri itu, di mana bonus 1 bulan akan diberikan pada Disember dan bonus 2 bulan sudah diberikan Jun lepas.
Azmin berkata cadangan tambahan bantuan khas kewangan itu bagi membantu ibu bapa membuat persediaan persekolahan anak-anak tahun depan.
Ketiga-tiga bayaran itu memberi implikasi kewangan sebanyak RM94.65 juta. “Sayugia diingat, pembayaran ini menggunakan peruntukan tahun ini, dan dibayar tahun ini.”
“Pembayaran sebanyak dua bulan telah pun dilakukan pada pertengahan Jun 2017 menjelang sambutan Eidul Fitr. Untuk melengkapi bantuan khas kewangan tersebut, satu bulan gaji akan dibayar pada 21 Disember 2017 untuk membantu penjawat awam membuat persediaan persekolahan anak-anak,” katanya
Selain itu, bantuan jug akan diberikan kepada 6,725 guru-guru KAFA dan 371 Ketua-Ketua Kampung Tradisi, 78 Ketua Kampung Baru Cina dan Kampung Bagan serta 48 Ketua Komuniti India.
Wayang Azmin
Bagaimanapun, Barisan Nasional (BN) Selangor menyifatkan pengumuman itu sebagai wayang kerana pemberian bonus itu menggunakan peruntukan belanjawan 2017 dan 2 bulan sudah dibayar Jun lepas.
“Jadi tahun depan pakai belanjawan yang mana? Ini belanjawan 2018.Apa akan jadi pada tahun hadapan? Apakah belanjawan ini akan dirombak?” kata penyelaras BN Selangor Datuk Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan.
Beliau juga berkata pemberian tu tidak adil kerana ia tidak mengambil kira 50,000 kakitangan kerajaan pusat di negeri itu yang menyokong pembangunan di Selangor.
“Mereka tak ambil kira polis, kakitangan hospital, klinik, guru-guru dan pelbagai lagi jabatan kerajaan. Ini menyebabkan mereka hanya melihat apa yang diperolehi orang lain,” katanya.
Nadzari juga memaklumkan kakitangan Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri dan Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT) turut menerima nasib sama.
Terdahulu, Azmin membentangkan belanjawan negeri berjumlah RM3.12 bilion pada tahun 2018 berbanding RM3.45 bilion pada tahun sebelumnya, atau penurunan sebanyak RM33 juta.
Ia juga merupakan defisit belanjawan keempat berturut-turut dibentangkan Azmin apabila kerajaan negeri dijangka mencatatkan defisit RM870 juta pada tahun depan.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhLlJG http://ift.tt/2zhn46A Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:34:04 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:34:04 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zwlkaJ
SHAH ALAM: Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali today announced a three-month bonus for civil servants in the state.
The Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman, in tabling the state’s budget today, said he agreed to give special financial aid that was unmatched anywhere, “even in Putrajaya”.
“Selangor civil servants will face more challenging responsibilities in 2018.
“As a form of encouragement, Selangor civil servants will have their bonuses increased from two months’ salary to three months’ salary,” he said at the state assembly today.
The move is expected to have financial implications of RM94.65 million.
Azmin also said the bonus would be enjoyed by 6,725 religious teachers (kelas fardhu ain), 371 traditional village chiefs, 78 Chinese new village and Kampung Bagan chiefs, as well as 48 Indian community leaders.
Last week, Prime Minister Najib Razak, when tabling Budget 2018, announced a special one-off payment of RM1,500 for over 1.6 million civil servants in the country.
Similarly, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced during the tabling of the state’s budget that the state government would give out RM2,000 bonus to all “well-performing, disciplined” civil servants next month, while others would be assured a minimum payout of RM1,000.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zgE0Ku http://ift.tt/2iZsKvX Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:29:51 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:29:51 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zwp4cg
MANILA: More than a week after the Philippines declared victory over pro-Islamic State militants in Marawi, security officials on Friday expressed concern over lone wolf attacks, with Australia issuing a “high threat” alert about travel to Manila.
Skirmishes continued between soldiers and holdouts from the Islamist militant group that seized a lakeside town on the southern island of Mindanao. More than 1,100 people, including 165 troops, were killed in the five-month conflict.
“One concern after Marawi is the possibility of threats from lone wolves,” defence department spokesman Arsenio Andolong told reporters, two days after an Uzbek plowed into New York pedestrians and bikers in what US officials called a terrorist act.
The army remained on high alert after President Rodrigo Duterte said five cities in Mindanao were potential targets of Islamist militants after their defeat in Marawi, he added.
On Friday, the Australian embassy issued a travel advisory, warning of “a high threat of terrorist attack” in the Philippines, including Manila, the capital.
“Be alert to possible threats around locations that have a low level of protective security and places known to be possible terrorist targets,” it said.
It told Australians to reconsider travel plans to eastern Mindanao and avoid its central and western regions.
The advisory was similar to one issued early this year, said military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla.
“It was only a reiteration, there is no credible threat,” he added.
Two days ago, army soldiers killed the righthand man of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the emir of pro-Islamic State militants in Southeast Asia, who was gunned down last month. His death hastened the collapse of the Marawi-based militant group, leading to its defeat.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhgjSp http://ift.tt/2zaOSHX Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:28:23 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:28:23 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zuQyyL ]]> http://ift.tt/2zivGKb http://ift.tt/2iYiyDQ Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:22:02 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:22:02 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvCp4p
MUMBAI/SINGAPORE: Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp messenger suffered a temporary outage in India and many other countries, according to reports from multiple users on Facebook and Twitter on Friday.
Users in countries ranging from Brazil and Russia to Vietnam and Myanmar reported on social media that WhatsApp was down in their countries. The extent of the outage and the reasons for it were not immediately known.
‘Whatsappdown’ was the top trending item on Twitter in India, which is WhatsApp’s biggest market with about 200 million of its billion-plus users. It was also a top trending item on Twitter in Pakistan, Britain, Germany and many other countries.
Users reported WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging service, had begun to gradually function again about 30 minutes after initial complaints of an outage appeared on social media.
Users in Malaysia and Singapore also complained of WhatsApp being down in those countries.
A spokeswoman for Facebook in Singapore said the company was still investigating the matter.
Independent websites monitoring outages of popular social media services via online conversations and Twitter messages report regular outages for WhatsApp, often one every few weeks, but these are typically brief and confined to certain geographies.
WhatsApp has faced similar widespread outages this year, including for several hours in May.
WhatsApp is used by more than 1.2 billion people around the world and is a key tool for communications and commerce in many countries. The service was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for US$19 billion.
]]> http://ift.tt/2ziWvht http://ift.tt/2zinvxL Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:21:02 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:21:02 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zuSyXQ
PETALING JAYA: Members of the public inquiry panel on missing pastor Raymond Koh today visited the site in Kelana Jaya where he was allegedly abducted, to ascertain the angles at which potential witnesses could have seen the incident that took place on Feb 13.
They were accompanied by an entourage which included investigating officer ASP Supari Muhammad, lawyers for Koh’s family, police and other observers, as well as media representatives who surveyed the location at Jalan SS4B/10.
The visiting panel included its chairman Mah Weng Kwai, who is Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner and a former Court of Appeals judge, and fellow commissioners Aishah Bidin and Nik Salida.
The 20-minute visit began with a discussion with Koh’s family members about which houses they had approached in the vicinity of the alleged abduction, to get CCTV footage.
Mah later questioned Supari about where the vehicles involved in the alleged abduction had stopped on the road and where the broken glass believed to be from the side-window of the victim’s car had fallen.
The panel also observed the angles and spots from which any witnesses would have seen what had happened.
They walked over to look at houses on both sides of the road and see the viewpoints from which the CCTV shots were captured.
The group left shortly after that, concluding the fifth day of the inquiry which is scheduled to resume on Nov 13.
The inquiry will consider, among other things, whether the cases of Koh, activist Amri Che Mat, and Pastor Joshua Hilmy and wife Ruth, were cases of enforced or involuntary disappearance as defined under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Amri, 44, who co-founded charity organisation Perlis Hope, has been missing since Nov 24 last year.
His wife, Norhayati Ariffin, said witnesses saw five vehicles blocking the path of Amri’s car before he was whisked away, just 550 metres from their home in Bukit Chabang, Perlis.
Joshua and Ruth, meanwhile, were last seen on Nov 30 last year. A police report was lodged in Klang but the case was referred to Petaling Jaya police as the complainant said the missing persons lived in Kampung Tunku.
Police officer refuses to produce camera footage at Pastor Koh inquiry
ASP tells Pastor Koh inquiry he did not order questions on proselytisation
]]> http://ift.tt/2zh7ec6 http://ift.tt/2zcnlWC Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:13:00 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:13:00 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvF2mQPastor Koh’s family refused to cooperate with me, IO tells inquiry
SHAH ALAM: Barisan Nasional (BN) Selangor mempersoalkan tindakan kerajaan negeri pentadbiran Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmi Ali membina hanya 135 unit rumah buat generasi kedua Felda di negeri itu.
Adun Hulu Bernam Datuk Rosni Sohar berkata jumlah 136 unit rumah yang ditawarkan kerajaan negeri untuk generasi peneroka langsung tidak memadai memandangkan hampir 500 peneroka generasi kedua memerlukan rumah.
“Tapi kalau setakat bina 136 rumah apa sangat, tanah luas, sedangkang hampir 500 generasi kedua yang memerlukan rumah di Selangor,” katanya
Terdahulu Azmin menerusi pembentangan Belanjawan Selangor 2018 mengumumkan bahawa kerajaan negeri akan membangunkan 136 unit perumahan untuk generasi kedua Felda bagi membolehkan golongan itu memiliki rumah idaman pada harga mampu milik.
“Kerajaan Negeri tampil untuk membantu generasi kedua Felda memiliki rumah yg selesa dan affordable (berkemampuan) berhampiran dengan keluarga mereka.
“PKNS akan membangunkan 136 unit rumah berkembar setingkat berhampiran Felda Sungai Tengi Selatan dengan harga RM 97,000 seunit,” katanya.
Mengulas lanjut, Rosni menyifatkan pengumuman Azmin lebih kepada gula-gula kerajaan Selangor untuk menarik undi golongan peneroka pada pilihan raya umum tahun hadapan.
“Ini bajet gula-gula Azmin, kerana apa saya kata bajet gula-gula, sebab kita telah mohon selepas perdana menteri umum rumah generasi kedua pada tahun 2010 dan Felda juga mohon untuk bina tetapi Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri menolak pada tahun 2011 kerana mereka kata tidak boleh kerana tanah tidak dapat diluluskan.
“Jadi tiba-tiba hari ini boleh pula, ini betul-betul bajet gula-gula kerajaan Selangor kepada peneroka sebab mereka nak ambil kesempatan sempena pilihanraya. Bagi saya kalau nak bina, bina betul-betul,” katanya.
Terdahulu, Azmin membentangkan belanjawan negeri berjumlah RM3.12 bilion pada tahun 2018 berbanding RM3.45 bilion pada tahun sebelumnya, atau penurunan sebanyak RM33 juta.
Ia juga merupakan defisit belanjawan keempat berturut-turut dibentangkan Azmin apabila kerajaan negeri dijangka mencatatkan defisit RM870 juta pada tahun depan.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zgQ7r7 http://ift.tt/2z9xpSp Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:12:48 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:12:48 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zvUUph
GEORGE TOWN: The Catholic institution that founded two historic convent schools in Penang that were recently reported to have halted enrolment says it has no plans to sell the land the schools sit on or redevelop them.
The Sisters of Infant Jesus (IJS), which has established over 50 schools across Malaysia since 1852, however, remained coy over what would happen to Convent Light Street (CLS) and Convent Pulau Tikus (CPT).
The IJS is the trustee landowner of the two schools which have provided primary and secondary schooling for girls.
IJS provincial leader Celina Wong said they wanted to return to the original roots of the mission schools’ establishment, which was to provide “wholesome education”.
“It is about bringing back our ethos, the special character and traditions of what a mission school is. The IJ Sisters will never forget our mission in education,” she said in a statement today.
“A mission school is one that promotes the overall formation of an individual child irrespective of race, religion or social standing.
“We hold a very long history here in Malaysia and preserving our history, be it the thrust of educating young people and/or the conservation of the heritage buildings, is dear to us,” she added.
Earlier today, the Malay Mail Online reported that CLS and CPT would cease enrolment and likely be closed in four years.
It is understood that CPT’s primary school is not affected as the land it sits on was sold to the government years ago.
The Penang Education Department had told The Star Online that an application by the IJS to take back both parcels of lands had been received by the education ministry but was not yet approved.
“Rumours are rife that the schools will be developed into private international schools,” the daily said.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today said if the IJS intended to sell the land to developers, the state would strongly object to it and not approve any building plans there.
The IJS was founded by Catholic priest Nicolas Barre in France for the education of poor and abandoned children.
The sisters came to British Malaya in 1852, in response to an invitation by another French priest to start mission schools in the country.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zgDhsU http://ift.tt/2hAx814 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:47:32 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:47:32 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zwfWnVGuan Eng upset over convent schools closure
KUALA LUMPUR: A businessman who holds the “Datuk Seri” title was slapped with four charges in the Ampang Sessions Court here today in relation to the case where three People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) were allegedly assaulted while carrying out their duties at a temple in Kampung Baru Ampang last week.
Liow Soon Hee, 29, pleaded not guilty to all the charges before judge Azrul Darus.
On the first charge, Liow was accused of voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Lee Weng Poh, 27, at the compound of the Kou Ong Yah Temple, Jalan Merdeka, Kampung Baru Ampang here at 6.30am on Oct 27.
For this, he was charged under Section 325 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term up to seven years and a fine, if convicted.
As for the second, he was charged with intentionally assaulting a public servant, Melvin Cheong Mun Khai, 21, who was discharging his duties as a Rela member at the same place, date and time.
The charge under Section 353 of the same code can earn the accused up to two years’ jail or fine, or both, if convicted.
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhX6jp http://ift.tt/2hBIQsd Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:40:36 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:40:36 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zv86uJ
KOTA KINABALU: Just five months after joining DAP, Sabah youth activist Jufazli Shi Ahmad has declared that he will take time off from all party matters to pursue his PhD in political science in Kuala Lumpur.
In a posting on his Facebook account, Jufazli said he personally appreciated all political offers in Sabah, especially the political positions, salaries and offers to contest in the coming general election.
But after considering his options, he has decided to concentrate on his education first after receiving a scholarship offer.
Jufazli said he believed a person would remain relevant in his struggle to change the fate of his people if equipped with the right knowledge and he asked his followers to pray for him as he worked towards his doctorate.
He thanked all his supporters in the Gerakan Anak Muda Selamatkan Sabah, an NGO which he founded.
He said their triumph in going against BN Sabah was a record which he would document in his PhD dissertation.
Jufazli, who is also the political secretary to DAP’s Kota Kinabalu MP Jimmy Wong, is a vocal critic, especially over the recent alleged corruption case involving the state’s water department.
A former director of the department and two others have been charged with money laundering involving a total of RM61.48 million.
Jufazli, who joined DAP on June 5, had also announced his intention to contest the Sungai Sibuga state seat held by chief minister Musa Aman in the 14th general election (GE14).
He had said he was giving up his job as a lecturer at a private university to concentrate on fighting for a better Sabah, and that he would be based in Sandakan, where the constituency is located, until the election.
He was arrested three times, on Nov 9 last year, June 7 this year and the latest on Sept 10. All the arrests were in connection to his various statements which were deemed slanderous and misleading.
FMT tried to contact Jufazli and Wong, but both could not be reached.
Meanwhile, Sabah DAP chairman Stephen Wong told FMT that he regretted the decision taken by Jufazli, although he admitted he had not got the chance to talk to Jufazli yet.
“I am quite surprised actually because he has been so courageous and outspoken. I realised he had been lying low since his latest arrest but I cannot comment more because I have not spoken to him yet.
“Maybe he has a personal reason for this, but whatever it is, I hope he is well,” he said.
According to Stephen, Jufazli is currently not in Sabah and has been staying in Kuala Lumpur for a while now, which explains why his activities seem to have slowed down recently.
Jufazli released on police bail, remand denied
]]> http://ift.tt/2zhgkWh http://ift.tt/2yqmFj5 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:26:57 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:26:57 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zuOo2nActivist Jufazli joins DAP to ‘save Sabah’
SHAH ALAM: Kerajaan Selangor akan teruskan pemberian air percuma kepada seluruh rakyat di negeri itu pada 2018, kata Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Pengumuman itu dibuat menerusi pembentangan belanjawan negeri 2018, memperuntukkan RM185.26 juta untuk pemberian air percuma iaitu peningkatan sebanyak RM1.96 juta berbanding peruntukan sebelum ini.
“Air percuma kepada seluruh rakyat diperuntukkan sebanyak RM185.27 juta dan disediakan untuk tahun 2018,” katan Azmin di sidang Dewan Negeri Selangor hari ini.
Dalam perkembangan sama, Azmin turut menasihatkan pengguna supaya mengamalkan penjimatan air bagi mengelakkan pembaziran sumber bernilai itu.
“Kerajaan negeri nasihatkan pengguna supaya amalkan konservasi (penjimatan) di rumah, pejabat dan industri memandangkan air sumber bernilai,” katanya.
Tahun lalu, kerajaan negeri mengumumkan peruntukan sebanyak RM183.2 juta untuk program berkenaan bagi tahun 2017.
Malah, kerajaan negeri meletakkan sasaran mengurangkan kadar air tidak berhasil (NRW) daripada 35% kepada 29% pada 2019.
Hari ini, Azmin membentangkan belanjawan negeri berjumlah RM3.12 bilion pada tahun 2018 berbanding RM3.45 bilion pada tahun sebelumnya, atau penurunan sebanyak RM330 juta.
Ia juga merupakan belanjawan defisit berturut-turut ke-4 dibentangkan Azmin di mana kerajaan negeri dijangka mencatat defisit RM870 juta tahun depan.
]]> http://ift.tt/2ziJ3dm http://ift.tt/2lMxAxs Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:26:56 +0000 Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:26:56 +0000 http://ift.tt/2zuUa3Xlagi info di : Gosip Artis Terkini