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Monday, 31 January 2011
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| Egyptian demonstrators gather |
KUALA LUMPUR: Five hundred Malaysian students were to be evacuated in stages from their respective homes to the Malay House in Abasiah, Cairo.
Malaysian-Egyptian Medical Students Association president Muhammad Husaini Saleh told Bernama that the evacuation was to begin yesterday.
“The order was issued by the Malaysian Embassy in Egypt to prevent us from being victims of demonstrations,” said Muhammad Husaini, who is a medical student at the University of Cairo.
Deputy Foreign Minister A. Kohilan Pillay, who left for Egypt with five officials today, said he had been asked to assess the situation there and ensure that Malaysians were safe and that they received the necessary aid.
He said evacuation could be by land or air, adding that 11,319 students had registered with its embassy so far, while advising all Malaysians in Egypt to register.
Kohilan said communication services in Egypt had been erratic and the embassy had difficulty talking to students and parents trying to reach it from Malaysia.
For information, call 03-888 92746, 03-888 74570 or 019- 2784 566 or the operation room in the embassy in Cairo at 00 202 3760 7375.
However, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin wants evacuation of students to begin immediately.
“We must consider that most students there do not have the financial capability to move if the situation worsened,” Khairy said.
On Twitter, Khairy called Malaysian students in Egypt to e-mail him at khairy@rembau.net for help.
Meanwhile, flight services to and from the ancient city have either been disrupted or cancelled.
An Egypt Air flight MS0970, which was supposed to arrive at KL International Airport (KLIA) at 3.50pm yesterday from Cairo International Airport was cancelled.
This also resulted in flight MS917 from Kuala Lumpur being cancelled, stranding some 120 passengers bound for Cairo.
“We will only know of any further cancellation on day-to-day basis. But we will continue to open our counters to assist passengers,” an Egypt Air spokesman said.
Dewan Negara member Senator Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Noor is among hundreds of Malaysians stranded at the Cairo international airport.
In a text message to Bernama, Mohamad Ezam said the students’ spirit remained high.
He urged the Malaysian government to speed up evacuation, saying countries like the United States had sent in aircraft to fly out their citizens.
Outside the Egyptian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, protesters from various political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had gathered to hand over a memorandum demanding President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation but were ignored by embassy staff.- theStarOnline
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| Segamat town |
JOHOR BARU: Floodwaters have cut off communications in several towns in Johor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Pahang and Sabah while nearly 40,000 people were evacuated to relief centres.
So far three people were killed – two were swept away by strong currents while one fell into a pool. Another person is missing.
Thousands of commuters going back to their hometowns for the Chinese New Year holidays were disrupted by floods on trunk roads and a section of the North-South Expressway.
KTM Berhad was forced to cancel several intercity train services in Negri Sembilan and Johor.
Rohani Ismail, 51, was killed when the car she was driving was swept away by floodwaters from an oil palm plantation in Cha’ah, Johor at about 7pm.
Aw Yoke Lin, 53, from Taman Pelangi was killed when her four-wheel drive vehicle was swept into a river at Kampung Rahmat, Kulaijaya.
Some 1,426 people from 342 families have been evacuated from their homes in Kulai and have taken refuge at 11 relief centres.
“For the time being, there are sufficient supplies of food, medical aid and shelter for affected residents,” said Kulai MP Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting, adding the situation there was under control.
In Malacca, rescuers recovered the body of security guard Yusry Mohd Yusof, 40, after he fell into a water treatment plant pool at 10am in Kampung Chinchin, Jasin.
In Sabah, farmer Meriting Andi, 52, went missing as he waded a swollen Sungai Samparita in Kota Marudu to rescue his stranded children on the other side of the river bank.
The Prime Minister is expected to visit the flood-prone areas in Johor today.
A total of 29,294 people were evacuated in Johor and were housed in 200 relief centres as at 4pm yesterday, in a repeat of major floods which occurred in 2006.
Segamat has become an “island” after it was cut off by floodwaters. Police said no one can get in or out of Segamat as the roads to Muar, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur are under water.
A Ledang flood operations centre spokesman said four roads – Jalan Sialang-Tangkak, Jalan Gementah-Segamat, Jalan Simpang Bekoh and a stretch of the North-South Expressway near Km173 are only accessible to heavy vehicles.
Flash floods were also reported in Lahad Datu, Beluran and certain areas of Pitas, while many rural roads including those in plantations have been cut off by floods, making it difficult for vegetable farmers to send their produce to the main towns.- theStarOnline
Miss Universe is a fan of Salman Khan.
Mexican beauty Jimena Navarrete Rosete, who is on her first trip to India as part of a campaign to celebrate the girl child, seems floored by the actor.
"I haven’t seen too many Hindi films, but the actors are all so handsome, and they can dance, too!" she said, adding that she was thrilled to be meeting the beefy superstar over the next few days.
imena Navarrete Rosete says she would be more than willing to learn how to sing and dance if offered a Bollywood role
"I’ve heard so much about Salman. I really want to see some of his films, too."
Ask her if she’d consider doing a Bollywood film, and she replied: "Why not? I can’t sing or dance as well as Indian actors, but I’d be more than willing to learn. I hope someone makes me an offer."
The industry has launched the film careers of several Indian beauty contest winners, including former Miss Worlds Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra and former Miss Universe winners Sushmita Sen and Lara Dutta.
But Bollywood isn’t the only Indian thing Rosete is going gaga over. "I love spicy food. I think I’ll feel at home here," she said.
Source: emirates247.com
Source: emirates247.com
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| The man had consensual sex with his then 20-year-old daughter. |
A man in Singapore who had consensual sex with his 20-year-old daughter was jailed for three years on Monday.
The 47-year-old freelance plumber admitted to the incest at the master bedroom of his flat in April 2008.
Both cannot be named because of a gag order.
Both cannot be named because of a gag order.
The daughter, now 23, was initially charged in March last year but was later given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
The accused had failed to turn up and the court issued a warrant for his arrest.
The accused had failed to turn up and the court issued a warrant for his arrest.
The court heard that he had been bringing his daughter for drinking sessions with his friends at coffeeshops since 2006.
As they spent more time together, they became emotionally closer, and eventually, this developed into a sexual relationship.
As they spent more time together, they became emotionally closer, and eventually, this developed into a sexual relationship.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Leong Wing Tuck said on one night in April 2008, both returned home after a beer drinking session. The accused's wife was not at home.
While the accused was lying in bed, a small argument broke out between them when she showed little interest in talking to him as she was busy checking her e-mails on the laptop computer at the edge of the bed.
While the accused was lying in bed, a small argument broke out between them when she showed little interest in talking to him as she was busy checking her e-mails on the laptop computer at the edge of the bed.
She apologised, and he asked her for a hug. They began caressing each other.
They then had sex. A week later, they had a heated argument over the issue of her furthering her studies. She then texted a friend to call the police, who arrested him.
Source: Straits Times
They then had sex. A week later, they had a heated argument over the issue of her furthering her studies. She then texted a friend to call the police, who arrested him.
Source: Straits Times
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BANDUNG (Indonesia): Ariel, the vocalist of Indonesian pop Peterpan, was sentenced to 42 months' jail and fined Rp250mil (about RM84,000) in default three months' jail by the provincial court here Monday for making and distributing pornographic videos featuring him and artistes Luna Maya and Cut Tari.
The verdict was read out by the chief judge who presided over the case, Singgih Budi Prakoso, in a courtroom packed with members of the public and the media.
Some of Ariel's female fans wept on hearing the verdict.
The prosecution had called for a jail term of five years.
A panel of three judges was unanimous in ruling that Ariel was guilty under the republic's anti-pornography law.
The distribution of the video last year, which spread like wildfire on the Internet and reached the masses through mobile phones, shocked the nation and stunned the people, with many social media users calling him "Ariel Peterporn".
Ariel and Luna Maya denied their involvement in the act.
Cut Tari, however, owned up to the clip and apologised to the Indonesian people. She also maintained the stand when appearing as a witness in the trial.
Ariel, who smiled upon hearing the verdict, did not offer any statement when the judge asked him whether he would appeal against the verdict.
The singer, who has a week to file his appeal, was then escorted out of the courtroom through the back door.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered out the court, causing traffic congestion.
They comprise two groups one in support of Ariel, calling themselves "Peterpan's Friends" and the other, those who condemned the singer, who expressed dismay at the verdict and were seen hurling stones towards Ariel's supporters.
Police managed to keep order.
Demonstrators had been gathering outside the court complex since the trial started on Nov 22 last year and swelling in number each time the case came up for hearing. - Bernama
Sunday, 30 January 2011
JOHOR BARU: Two people have died and 28,932 were evacuated to 200 centres statewide by 11am Monday as continuous rain in the past few days flooded many parts of Johor.
Segamat, Johor Baru and Kluang were the worst-hit areas and the bad weather was expected to continue on Tuesday, said Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman on Monday.
All of Segamat is cut off by floodwaters. It is an island.
Police said no one can get in or out of the town as the roads to Muar, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur are under water.
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has disconnected electricity supply to Segamat. Its substations have been switched off as a safety precaution.
A TNB spokesman said Monday that it was a common procedure during a flood to prevent electrocution. The supply will be restores once the floodwaters ebb to a 'safe level'.
Roads in Labis town, which was flooded Sunday, are clearing but the outskirts are still submerged.
According to the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DID) online river level data, three in Johor burst their banks Sunday. Sungai Muar, Sungai Benut and Sungai Mengkibol overflowed.
With the downpour continuing, the department is closely watching five more rivers – Sungai Simpang Kiri at Sri Medan, Sungai Bekok, Sungai Johor at Rantau Panjang are at a dangerous level.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that rain-driven floods have disrupted Malaysian oil palm estates from transporting the vegetable oil to refineries and ports in key producing states of Sabah and Johor.
Planters said Monday that as much as 60,000 tonnes of crude palm oil heading to refineries in Sabah on Borneo island have been delayed as floods make it difficult for trucks to get through the estate roads, said two planters from the top producing state.
The transport delay to Malaysia's key palm oil export port of Pasir Gudang in Johor has slowed the transport and loading of cargoes, refiners said, according to Reuters.
Son los coches que se han modificado para requisitos particulares para el funcionamiento, y/o el aspecto.
El término llegó a ser popular durante y después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, particularmente dentro de California, originalmente significando un viejo coche (lo más a menudo posible Ford, tÃpicamente Modelo T, Modele A, o de 1932 a 1934 Ford modelo B o Ford V-8) los cuales habÃan sido modificados reduciendo el peso (que modifica a veces el cuerpo quitando techo, vano motor, topes, parabrisas y/o defensas), bajándolo, modificándose o sustituyendo motor para dar más potencia, y cambiar ruedas y neumáticos para mejorar tracción y dirección.
Tales modificaciones eran consideradas también como mejora del aspecto; al coche también le fue dado a menudo un trabajo distintivo de pintura. El término pudo haberse originado de “roadster caliente": “fue utilizado en los años 50 y los años 60 como término despectivo para cualquier coche que no cupiera en la corriente principal.
Otras fuentes indican que el término fue derivado del reemplazo de bielas en los motores para permitir que se alcanzasen RPMs más altas sin problemas (y el consecuente aumento de temperatura del motor).[citación necesitada] Como hot rodding llegó a ser más popular en los años 50, cuando empezaron tiendas de componentes, revistas y asociaciones que abastecen a “rodders de la calle“.
Hot Rodders incluyendo Wally Parks crearon la asociación nacional de Hot Rod "NHRA" ("National Hot Rod Asociation")para traer la competición de las calles a las pistas. La publicación anual Reunión Hot Rod de California ("California Hot Rod Meeting")y Reunión nacional de Hot Rod ("National Hot Rod Meeting")se mantienen para honrar a pioneros en el deporte. Wally Parks crea el museo "NHRA Motorsports Museum", que contiene las raÃces del Hot Rodding. Popularmente hoy en dÃa quienes poseen Hot Rods los mantienen limpios e intentan hacerlos sensibles. No se llama a los trabajadores según la idea original de barato, rápido y sin ratas sobre los volantes. Hay muchas revistas que ofrecen los auténticos Hot Rods, incluyendo el diario de Rodders. Las publicaciones comerciales incluyen "Hot Rod Magazine", "Rodder Street", y "Popular Hot Rodding". Hay también demostraciones en televisión, por ejemplo "Mi coche clásico", y "HP TV"(Horse Power TV).
Los Hot Rods son parte de la cultura americana, aunque está creciendo con controversia dentro del sector del automóvil, una tendencia en aumento dentro de la adquisición y la modificación irreversible de vehÃculos históricos es el sobrevivir - algo muy raro por norma general - más que el concepto hot rodding tradicional del rescate y de la reconstrucción de piezas estropeadas de segunda mano. tuningpedia.org
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SERDANG: The ceiling of Serdang Hospital's main lobby collapsed early Sunday but no one was injured by the falling debris.
It is learnt that the incident occurred at 12.10am near the hospital's main entrance-cum-waiting area.
A guard, who declined to be named, said it was fortunate the collapse occured well beyond visiting hours when no one was in the area.
"I was shocked when I heard a crashing sound, only to see after the dust had cleared that the ceiling had collapsed.
"Fortunately, no one was there when it happened," he said, adding that the hospital security control room was just metres away from the spot.
It is learnt that the ceiling collapse was the first of its kind since the hospital began operations in December 2005.
Meanwhile, hospital authoroties cordoned off the area after an inspection by the Public Works Department, fearing the structure's stability.
Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching also visited the scene at noon and promised to look into the matter.
Serdang Hospital, which commenced operations on Dec 15, 2005, was built to serve the roughly 570,000 population of Serdang, Putrajaya, Kajang and Bangi.
The hospital cost RM690mil to construct and is one of the e-hospital networks envisioned by the Government.- theStarOnline
LABIS: Continuous rain and rising floodwaters forced 846 people from several villages in Tenang, where a by-election is going on, to be evacuated to relief centres on Sunday.
Among the villages are Kampung Lembah Bakti, Kg Usaha Jaya, Kg Air Panas and Kg Batu Badak, said Tenang by-election police media officer Supt Abdul Aziz Ahmad.
A house in Kampung Plentong Baru, Johor Baru is inundated with about three feet of water after Sungai Plentong overflowed on Sunday.Heavy duty vehicles are ferrying voters through submerged access roads to the polling centres in those areas.
Police are also prepared to deploy boats to ferry voters should the situation worsen. All polling centres remain open and polling is proceeding smoothly.
Two days of non-stop rain in Johor Baru and Kota Tinggi has caused floods in several locations here.
In Kampung Baru Plentong, water levels rose knee-high due to the as the Plentong river rose.
Houses in Taman Kota Puteri, Pasir Gudang were also damaged by flooding.
In Kota Tinggi, four families from Kampung Sg Berangan had to be evacuated as water levels rose to unsafe levels there.
Police and Fire and Rescue Department officials have urged anyone with information on flooding to contact the police hotline at 07-2212999 or the Fire and Rescue department at 07-2247444.-theStarOnline
Saturday, 29 January 2011
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| Bellerbys College |
PETALING JAYA: An 18-year-old Malaysian student in London was allegedly gang-raped by several Russian men, including an intelligence officer who has been charged with the offence.
The Sun tabloid of London (pic), which broke the story on Thursday, reported that the girl had attended a party at the prestigious Bellerbys College in Greenwich, South London, where she is studying.
The report, quoting sources, claimed that the girl was allegedly drugged and then filmed while being assaulted by seven Russian men, including the intelligence officer identified as Oleg Vladimirvich Ivanov, 23.
The attack is said to have happened early last Sunday during the party attended by English language students of the college.
The report stated that police retrieved iPhones with harrowing footage of the victim being gang-raped.
Ivanov was charged with three others identified as Gregory Andreev Melnikov, 22, Norayr Davtyan, 25, and Arnen Simonay, 26, with the offence at the Woolwich Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and Wednesday.
All four claimed trial and have been remanded.
They will appear at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday.
Two other suspects were released on bail while another was released without any charge.
The Sun report stated that the seven men had claimed to be students, but it quoted well-informed sources as saying that Ivanov worked in the Intelligence Section of the Moscow Police.
It stated that Ivanov had only been in Britain for a week before the alleged gang-rape.
The victim was said to have raised the alarm after staggering into a friend’s room.
“She is distraught. She is very young and it is believed she was given a drug before being defiled,” the report quoted a source as saying.
Two students at the college, contacted by The Star last night, were tight-lipped about the incident.
“What we know so far is what everyone has read in the newspaper (The Sun). We refuse to talk about the case as we are not allowed to. Please contact our college officials if you want a comment,’’ said one of them.
The college officials could not be reached for comment. - theStarOnline
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Friday, 28 January 2011
Australian pop idol Guy Sebastian was arrested in Los Angeles earlier this week.
The Klang-born singer, who is currently residing in LA while trying to launch his US music career, was reportedly surrounded by officers at gunpoint and taken in handcuffs to the police station on suspicion of grand theft auto.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Sebastian had reported his car missing two weeks ago but soon realised that it had simply been towed away and later got it back.
A source revealed: "He was saying to the [police], 'Look, this is my car and I have recently reported it stolen'. [However] they still took him to the cop shop."
But he was released, of course, after he proved that it was his car.
Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk
The Klang-born singer, who is currently residing in LA while trying to launch his US music career, was reportedly surrounded by officers at gunpoint and taken in handcuffs to the police station on suspicion of grand theft auto.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Sebastian had reported his car missing two weeks ago but soon realised that it had simply been towed away and later got it back.
A source revealed: "He was saying to the [police], 'Look, this is my car and I have recently reported it stolen'. [However] they still took him to the cop shop."
But he was released, of course, after he proved that it was his car.
Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk
A grandmother was treated ‘like a criminal’ after being fined £50 (RM250) for littering as she bent down to pick up a wrapper she had dropped.
Lesley Apps, 64, was also threatened with legal action if she failed to pay the on-the-spot fine handed out by a council official.
But she has refused to pay as she claims she was actually picking up the rubbish at the time and says she is now living in fear of debt collectors visiting her home.
Apps said she had just stopped at her local newsagent to buy a packet of cigarettes and had accidentally dropped the cellophane wrapper on the floor.
A female council officer approached her as she was bending to pick it up and told her she was littering, she said.
Despite Apps’ insistence that she was picking the wrapper up, the officer issued her with a £50 (RM250) on-the-spot fine which she refused to pay.
The fine comes in the week that the family of a man killed by Cumbrian gunman Derrick Bird say they have been denied compensation because he had a criminal record – for dropping litter.
Relatives of Darren Rewcastle say they have received half as much compensation as other families affected by the shooting as Rewcastle had a criminal record for failing to pay a fine for dropping a cigarette butt.
Yesterday, Apps said she had been made to feel ‘like a criminal’ and had not slept since through fear of debt collectors coming round to collect the fine.
She said: ‘I was doing the right thing but I was still punished. Maybe I would have been better off if I had left it.
Source: The Daily Mail
Lesley Apps, 64, was also threatened with legal action if she failed to pay the on-the-spot fine handed out by a council official.
But she has refused to pay as she claims she was actually picking up the rubbish at the time and says she is now living in fear of debt collectors visiting her home.
Apps said she had just stopped at her local newsagent to buy a packet of cigarettes and had accidentally dropped the cellophane wrapper on the floor.
A female council officer approached her as she was bending to pick it up and told her she was littering, she said.
Despite Apps’ insistence that she was picking the wrapper up, the officer issued her with a £50 (RM250) on-the-spot fine which she refused to pay.
The fine comes in the week that the family of a man killed by Cumbrian gunman Derrick Bird say they have been denied compensation because he had a criminal record – for dropping litter.
Relatives of Darren Rewcastle say they have received half as much compensation as other families affected by the shooting as Rewcastle had a criminal record for failing to pay a fine for dropping a cigarette butt.
Yesterday, Apps said she had been made to feel ‘like a criminal’ and had not slept since through fear of debt collectors coming round to collect the fine.
She said: ‘I was doing the right thing but I was still punished. Maybe I would have been better off if I had left it.
Source: The Daily Mail
TAMPA, Florida (AP): A woman was charged Friday with fatally shooting her "mouthy" teenage son and daughter after police found the mother covered in blood on the back porch of her home in an upscale suburb, police said.
Julie Powers Schenecker admitted to the slayings after police came to the home Friday morning, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
Schenecker's mother had called police from Texas because she was unable to reach the 50-year-old woman, whom she said was depressed and had been complaining about her children.
Schenecker's husband, Parker Schenecker, is an Army colonel serving in Qatar and was notified of his children's deaths later Friday, McElroy said. He was assigned to U.S. Central Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
Schenecker left a note detailing her plans to kill her disrespectful children and then herself, saying "they talked back and were mouthy and that she was going to take care of it," McElroy said. She provided the same motive to police who interviewed her.
"I think we will never understand how or why a mother could take the lives of her children," McElroy said. "That was the only reason she provided to our detectives."
The body of Schenecker's daughter, Calyx Powers Schenecker, 16, was found in an upstairs bedroom, McElroy said. The body of her son, Powers Beau Schenecker, 13, was found in an SUV in the garage. Police believe they were killed Thursday night. Both were shot in the head with a .38-caliber pistol.
There were no signs of a struggle, and McElroy said investigators believe the teens "never saw it coming." Julie Schenecker was jailed and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Wearing a white jumpsuit, she was led into a county jail later Friday visibly shaking and being supported by a sheriff's deputy. The family's home is on a cul-de-sac in a gated country club community in north Tampa.
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A protester looks at a burnt Egyptian Army armoured vehicle in downtown Cairo, January 28, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic |
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused on Saturday to bow demands that he resign, after ordering troops and tanks into cities in an attempt to quell an explosion of street protest against his 30-year rule.
Mubarak dismissed his government and called for national dialogue to avert chaos after a day of battles between police and protesters angry over poverty and autocratic rule. Medical sources said at least 24 people had been killed and over a thousand injured in clashes in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria.
The unprecedented unrest has sent shock waves through the Middle East, where other autocratic rulers may face challenges, and unsettled global financial markets on Friday. U.S. President Barack Obama said he had spoken with Mubarak and urged "concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people".
Demonstrators at first cheered tanks and armoured cars as they filed through Cairo and Suez, but the mood appeared to change. The army, deployed for the first time in four days of protests, cleared Cairo's Tahrir square towards midnight.
Shortly after Mubarak's speech, protesters drifted back in their hundreds, defying a curfew.
"It is not by setting fire and by attacking private and public property that we achieve the aspirations of Egypt and its sons, but they will be achieved through dialogue, awareness and effort," said Mubarak, in his first public appearance, on state television, since unrest broke out four days ago.
Shots were heard in the evening near parliament and the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party was in flames, the blaze lighting up the night sky. Cars were set alight and police posts torched.
Read more at theStarOnline
Toll for the Salak to Taman Connaught stretch of the East-West Link Expressway is set to be abolished by May, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced.
The Prime Minister also announced that the toll rates for the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Expressway and East Coast Expressway Phase One would not be increased for the next five years.
He said the decisions were made following a review of transportation costs, including restructuring the toll charges and to ease the people’s burden.
He also added that no compensation would be paid to the concessionaires of the three highways.
“In line with the 1Malaysia spirit, People First, Performance Now, I have asked toll concessionaires to carry out a review of the respective toll charges to help the Government prosper the country and lessen the burden of the people.
“Taking up the Government’s call, two corporate figures who are also major shareholders of a toll concessionaire, came forward with a toll restructuring proposal through the acquisition of assets, which will benefit the people,” he told a press conference at his office here yesterday.
Also present was Works Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor.
Najib said the Kuala Lumpur-Karak and East Coast Phase One expressways were owned by the two corporate figures, adding that he had also asked for the concession period not to be extended.
“The suggestion to acquire the concessionaire’s assets brought about the termination of the East-West Link Expressway concession ahead of its original 2018 expiry date.
“This means that expressway users will not have to pay toll anymore and its implementation date will begin once the documentation process is completed, expected in May 2011,” he said.
“I am also calling on other toll concessionaires to emulate these initiatives for the benefit of the people,” he said.
The concession of the East-West Link Expressway is held by Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd.
On whether the initiatives would also be extended to other highways, including the major North-South Expressway, he said the matter was under consideration.
“Let’s do it one by one. I have got more good announcements,” he said.
Later, Najib flew to Kota Kinabalu and met Sabah Barisan Nasional leaders for an hour after arriving in the state capital for a two-day visit.
He then launched the 7ha Perdana Park at Tanjung Aru, developed and managed by state water concessionaire Timatch Sdn Bhd.
Najib also witnessed the signing of a master collaboration agreement between Singapore-based Parkway Health and state-affiliated firm Jesselton Wellness Sdn Bhd to set up the Kota Kinabalu Gleneagles Medical Centre costing some RM200mil.
The prime minister then flew to Tawau where he spent the night before his scheduled visit to Sabah’s pristine Maliau Basin today.-theStarOnline
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| Egypt's embattled President Hosni Mubarak fired his Cabinet early Saturday and promised reforms in his first response to protesters who have mounted the biggest challenge ever to his 30-year rule |
CAIRO (Reuters) - President Hosni Mubarak said in a speech to the nation on Saturday dialogue and not violence was the way to solve Egypt's problems that led to days of protests and announced he was sacking the government.
Mubarak was making his first public comments after protesters demanding an end to his 30 years in office clashed with police in several Egyptian cities.
"I have asked the government to present its resignation today," Mubarak said in his televised address, adding that he would move to appoint a new government. |
"It is not by setting fire and by attacking private and public property that we achieve the aspirations of Egypt and its sons, but they will be achieved through dialogue, awareness and effort," he said.
He said he was committed to economic and political reform and was determined to secure the stability of Egypt. He said he understood the demonstrations were against corruption, poverty and unemployment.
"I am fully aware of these legitimate aspirations of the people and I know well the scale of their concerns and suffering.
"Egypt's youth are its most valuable asset and looting of public and private property, destroying what we have built is not the route to follow," he said.
"There will be new steps towards democracy and freedoms and new steps to face unemployment and increase the standard of living and services, and there will be new steps to help the poor and those with limited income," he said.
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| A protester burns a picture of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak during clashes in Cairo January 28, 2011. (REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh) |
(Writing by Edmund Blair)
Copyright © 2011 Reuters
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