Uganda to deport Briton charged over gay sex

Bernard Randall's lawyers say prosecutors are using expired visa as excuse to deport him after case is dropped.

A Ugandan court has ordered the deportation of a British man facing criminal charges related to images of him having sex with another man. A lawyer for Bernard Randall said on Wednesday that prosecutors were using the excuse of an expired visa to seek Randall's deportation after failing to find evidence against him in the criminal case. Lawyer Francis Onyango said his client traveled to Uganda on a tourist visa that expired after his passport was stolen. Jane Kajuga, a spokeswoman for Uganda's directorate of prosecutions, said prosecutors dropped the case but did not explain why. Randall, 65, will likely be flown out of the country on Thursday after a magistrate ordered his immediate deportation, police commander Edgar Nyabongo told the Associated Press news agency. The Briton was charged last year with trafficking in obscene material. His laptop computer was stolen from his home and photos on the computer showing him have sex with another man were sent to a Ugandan newspaper that published them. That led to the charges.  Randall will be the second foreigner deported from the East African country over alleged homosexual offenses. Last year the British producer of a gay-themed play was deported after being jailed for staging the play without official authorisation. Such authorisation is not usually required to stage a play. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, where lawmakers last month passed a new bill that prescribes life imprisonment for "aggravated'' homosexual acts. The bill, which appears to have wide support among Ugandans, has been opposed by the president, who says it is too harsh and has yet to sign it into law. Rights groups have condemned it as draconian.

Source: AP

Silkair Marks Silver Jubilee With Delivery Of New Boeing 737-800 Aircraft

SINGAPORE, Jan 9 - With 25 years in the air under its wing, SilkAir, the regional arm of Singapore Airlines, will be celebrating its Silver anniversary this year.

To mark the jubilee celebrations, the airline will be taking delivery of the first aircraft in its new fleet of 54 Boeing 737s in early February 2014.

A total of eight planes are expected this year, with the remaining aircraft to be delivered by the end of this decade.

With the new aircraft, several enhancements will be offered to improve the in-flight experience for travellers including upgraded cabin interiors with more spacious overhead luggage compartments and lighting systems.

In addition to the milestone aircraft delivery, SilkAir will roll out a host of surprises and celebrations for their avid Asian traveller target.

At a press briefing here Thursday, SilkAir chief executive, Leslie Thng, said: "Our new Boeing fleet will enable us to put the passengers at the centre of our focus, with the objective of delivering a higher level of quality and experience.

"Despite aggressive competition, we have maintained a strong foothold in the market as a full-service regional carrier and become known for offering access to unique destinations, with genuine and thoughtful service that exemplifies true Asian hospitality," he said.

Moving forward, Thng said the airline would continue to improve and adapt, catering to the evolving needs of travellers in Asia.

"We will focus on expanding our network to unique destinations especially in key markets such as China, India and Indonesia and continue to build on the last 25 years, and soar to new heights of air travel excellence."

To rally consumers and involve them in SilkAir's historic Boeing delivery, the airline will bring aviation buffs together to virtually deliver the new aircraft to Singapore.

Tracking the actual delivery route, from the Boeing Renton factory in Seattle to Singapore's Changi Airport, the "Bringing Boeing Home with SilAir" programme is Asia's first 25-hour flight simulator event that will allow up to 150 selected members of the public to fly a simulator SilkAir Boeing 737-800 plane into Singapore.

The event will take place overnight from Feb 7-8 at Flight Experience Singapore, located at the Singapore Flyer.

SilkAir travellers will also be rewarded through special promotional deals where 250,000 tickets will be made available at special rates for consumers in Singapore and across the region.

The first aircraft is planned to enter service from Feb 20, 2014, flying to destinations including Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Phuket and Medan while the arrival of the second plane will allow the addition of other routes including Siem Reap, Danang, Davao, Cebu and Kochi from March 17.

BERNAMA

Angolan Capital To Host Summit Of Leaders Of Africa's Great Lakes Region

LUANDA, Jan 9 - The Angolan capital will play host from Friday until Jan 15 to the 5th Ordinary Summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR ) to discuss peace, stability and development in the 12-nation grouping stretching across central Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans.

A source at the Foreign Ministry here told ANGOP Wednesday that members of some delegations were already in Luanda to attend Friday's meetings of the grouping's Heads of Army General Staff and of the Chiefs of Intelligence Services.

On Saturday, ICGLR defence ministers will hold their meeting and this will be followed by a meeting of the National Co-ordinators on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday will see the meeting of the Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee.

The leaders of the region are expected in the country on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning will gather at the Talatona Centre, south of Luanda, for their summit to discuss the peace and security situation in the region. Angola will assume the chair of the ICGLR at the summit.

The ICGLR was created after the political conflicts that marked the Great Lakes region in 1994, whose result marked the recognition of their size and the need for a concerted effort aimed at promoting peace and development in the region.

The ICGLR executive secretariat is based since May 2007, in Bujumbura, Burundi, and has the function of co-ordinating, facilitating and ensuring the implementation of the pact to create the conditions of peace, security, political stability and development in the Great Lakes region.

The current executive secretary is from th Democratic Republic of Congo, elected in December 2011, and the chairmanship of the ICGLR is with Uganda since 2011.

The ICGLR members are Angola , Burundi , Central African Republic (CAR ), Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ), Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

BERNAMA-NNN-ANGOP

Father of Nigella Lawson aides nabbed for extortion

ROME  - The mobster father of British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson's two assistants, who were acquitted at a high-profile fraud trial in London last month, has been arrested for allegedly extorting nightclubs in Milan.

Michele Grillo, 66, previously served 15 years in prison for a kidnapping in the 1980s by the 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate but claimed he had changed his ways and was now working honestly as a truck driver.

Prosecutors who ordered his arrest on Wednesday said he is in fact the right-hand man of Agostino Catanzariti, who was also detained and is alleged to be the ring-leader of the group taking protection money from some of Milan's top clubs.

"In this particular case the link between business owners and 'Ndrangheta goes back a decade with a sort of 'insurance' that was periodically renewed," Paolo Storari, a prosecutor in charge of the investigation, was quoted as saying.

AFP

France to cut troop numbers in Mali

French president says "mission accomplished" in Mali and announces troop reductions starting February.

France will cut its troops in Mali to 1,600 by the middle of February from the current level of 2,500, President Francois Hollande has said. Speaking at an airbase in Creil in northern France on Wednesday, Hollande said the "situation is well under control" in Mali, where the "key objectives of the mission have been accomplished". "The troop size will be reduced from about 2,500 at present to 1,600 and then to 1,000, which is the number necessary to fight any threat that might resurface as these terrorist groups are still present in northern Mali," the president said. He also announced that France plans to use two unarmed Reaper drones to survey the region. France launched Operation Serval in its former colony in January 11 last year to repel the advance of al-Qaeda linked armed groups following a coup. At the height of the operation, 5,000 troops were deployed. A UN mission also deployed more than 12,000 troops. The French intervention sought to stop armed groups and Tuareg rebels from advancing on the capital, Bamako. The armed groups that once controlled northern Mali are believe to have been killed, or dispersed elsewhere in the Sahel region, notably to southern Libya.

Source: Agencies

1,000 ill as Japan tainted food scam widens

TOKYO

MORE than 1,000 people have fallen ill after eating pesticide-contaminated frozen food as a scandal widens across Japan, Jiji Press reported yesterday.

People have reported vomiting, diarrhoea and other symptoms of food poisoning after eating products including pizza and lasagne made by a subsidiary of Maruha Nichiro Holdings, the nation’s largest seafood firm.

The number of people affected by the tainted food has now risen to over 1,000, with more than 200 taken ill in the northern main island of Hokkaido alone, Jiji said.

In western Osaka prefecture, a nine-month-old baby was hospitalised with vomiting on Monday after eating a product called creamy corn croquettes, the report said. Police began investigating the company last month after it revealed some of its frozen food had been tainted with malathion, an agricultural chemical often used to kill aphids in corn and rice fields.

Detectives are looking at the possibility that the pesticide was deliberately added to the food at some stage of production at a factory in Gunma, north of Tokyo, Jiji said. As of Wednesday, Maruha Nichiro has received about 630,000 phone calls from consumers in connection with the incident, including complaints from customers who had eaten tainted products and some reporting unusual odours, a company spokeswoman said. The food maker has recalled 6.4 million potentially tainted products, with 1.49 million packages recovered so far, she said.

AFP

Bangkok Shutdown To Cause Billions Of Baht Losses To Thailand's Ailing Economy

BANGKOK, Jan 9 - Thailand's economy is to incur about 40 billion baht losses following the political turmoil in the country linked to the planned Bangkok shutdown action on Monday.

The figure is based on the losses of between 700 million and 1 billion per day due to the shutdown for two weeks (from Jan 13 until the general election on Feb 2), estimated Thanavath Phonvichai, Director of the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Spending in Bangkok and nearby provinces would drop by 5-10 per cent a day from the day of the shutdown, while spending in other provinces could drop by 1-5 per cent due to weak consumer sentiments, he told reporters Thursday.

Thanavath said weak sentiments would result in reduced consumer spending by about 500 million baht per day while income from the tourism sector would drop by between 200 million to 500 million baht a day.

As a result, the Thailand economy could only grow by 3-4 per cent this year, slower than in the previous forecast of 4-5 per cent as Thailand's economy was now quite fragile and sensitive to the political situation, he said.

According to the poll by the UTCC from 2,242 respondents between Jan 2 and Jan 7, the Consumer Confidence Index slipped for the ninth straight month from 75 points in November to 73.4 points in December.

Confidence in future employment opportunities dipped from 68.2 points in November to 66.7 points last month, while confidence in future incomes also slid from 91.8 points to 90.3 points.

Wachira Kuntaweethep, the centre's assistant director, said consumers have stocked up more goods and most enterprises expect that their sales and profit would drop sharply due to the shutdown.

Enterprises said they would not lay off employees but their business expansion plans could be delayed as a result of the political turbulence, Wachira added.

BERNAMA

Black Middle Class Will Stick With ANC, Says Ramaphosa

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 9 - African National Congress (ANC) Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected predictions that the black middle class will abandon their support for the ruling party in South Africa's forthcoming elections.

Political analysts have cited corruption, inflation, youth unemployment and imposition of tolls on some highways as factors which may alienate the black middle class from the ruling party but Ramaphosa says he is convinced that the party will triumph in urban areas.

Ramaphosa said Wednesday that the ANC was "not worried." He added: "Our support is solid and membership is growing. Even in the urban areas, people still love the ANC and we are not concerned about all the talk that we are going to be declining in urban areas."

According to Ramaphosa, people have a deep love affair with the ANC. He said that for 20 years since the end of apartheid, the party had been learning, had stumbled but kept going.

President Jacob Zuma, who is also the ANC president, has meanwhile vowed that the ANC will rule South Africa forever.

Speaking during a door-to-door campaign in Nelspruit, in Mpumalanga Province, where the party will on Friday launch its election manifesto, Zuma scoffed at suggestions that support for the ANC was waning, saying the party will hammer the opposition.

Earlier, residents of Kanyamazane township, outside Nelspruit, told President Zuma that they would work with the ANC in their community to improve their living conditions. The president was in the area as part of the ruling party's mobilisation campaign to mark its 102 years of existence.

Zuma inter-acted with people at a local shopping complex and conducted a door-to-door campaign. Addressing ANC supporters in the area, the President predicted a decisive victory for the ANC in forthcoming general elections.

BERNAMA-NNN-SABC

Germany says will destroy Syria chemical weapon remnants

BERLIN  - Germany said on Thursday it had accepted a UN request to destroy remnants of Syria's chemical weapons on its own soil as part of a bid to eliminate the arsenal by June 30.

"The government decided following a request by the UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that Germany is prepared to make a substantial contribution to the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons," the foreign and defence ministries said in a joint statement.

"The government is willing and able to destroy in Germany remnants created in the course of irreversibly neutralising chemical weapons from Syria and which resemble industrial waste."

AFP

Libya tells oil tankers to avoid seized ports

PM's strong warning follows invitation by pro-autonomy groups to international firms to lift crude from their terminals.

Libya's prime minister has warned oil tankers to stay away from ports captured by armed protesters or else be sunk by the navy. Ali Zeidan's warning comes as pro-autonomy rebels who have disrupted the OPEC member-nation's crude production continue to challenge Tripoli's government. Zeidan made the statement on Wednesday after the Libyan navy fired warning shots to ward off a tanker that the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said tried to load crude at a terminal held by protesters, who say they opened ports under their control for business. "Any country or company or gang trying to send tankers to take oil from the seized ports without coordinating with the NOC, we will deal with them, even if we are forced to destroy or sink them," Zeidan said. "We warn all countries there will be no leniency." Zeidan is facing mounting pressures and a potential parliamentary bid to withdraw confidence from his government. Libya is reeling under mounting disorder as pro-autonomy groups and armed rebels who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi from power are now demanding more political independency and a bigger share in the country’s vast oil wealth. These groups, which claimed control of eastern oil terminals six months ago, have invited international companies to buy oil from their ports in defiance of the central government. Earlier on Wednesday, Zeidan said he would reshuffle his cabinet this week or next to dodge a parliamentary no-confidence vote against him. "The cabinet will be appointed, not based on parties and political groups, but will be formed with technocrats and independent experts," Zeidan said, flanked by his cabinet members who were giving accounts of their respective ministry's performances.

Source: Agencies

India gets tough with US

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON

INDIA ordered the United States yesterday to close down an embassy club for expatriate Americans in New Delhi, escalating a diplomatic row between the two nations that has brought faultlines in their ties out in the open.

Furious at the arrest, handcuffing and strip search of its deputy consul in New York last month, India initially reacted by curtailing privileges offered to US diplomats. The officer, Devyani Khobragade, was accused by prosecutors of underpaying her nanny and lying on a visa application,

Still festering nearly a month on, the row has started to affect the wider relationship between the world’s two largest democracies, with one high-level visit by a senior US official already postponed and a visit scheduled for next week by US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz looking doubtful.

Both sides have said the relationship is important and will not be allowed to deteriorate — Washington needs New Delhi on its side as US troops pull out of Afghanistan and it engages with China. Millions of Indians have made the United States their home and bilateral trade is worth about US$100 billion a year.

But the row over Khobragade, which should not have been more than an easily resolved irritant, is just not going away and has plunged the two countries into a crisis described by Indian media as the worst since New Delhi tested a nuclear device in 1998.

“I’m a little worried it may spin out of control,” said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the United States who has also served as India’s top diplomat and is now retired.

India stepped up the pressure on Wednesday ahead of a Jan 13 court appearance where Khobragade could be indicted, ordering the US embassy in Delhi to stop receiving non-diplomats at an embassy club popular with expatriate Americans for its swimming pool, restaurant and bar.

Americans working in the Indian capital have been frequenting the club for decades.

The embassy said it had no comment to make on the move.

Despite an overall improvement in ties since the end of the Cold War, the dispute has brought into the open the lingering wariness between the two countries. Over the past year, there has been increasing friction over trade, intellectual property rights and visas for Indian IT workers.

There is also a legacy of mistrust between the both sides, with some Indian officials whose professional life began when India was a close partner of the Soviet Union still not convinced Washington is a reliable ally.

Despite close security and economic cooperation now, many officials recall US support of Pakistan, India’s old enemy, and some quietly believe the United States sees a strong India as a threat. “For 50 years we were led to believe that the United States was an adversary. For the last 10 years we have been experimenting with a strategic partnership. It is not a done deal.” said Mansingh.

Among some US diplomats there is a perception that while India insists on respect and friendship from Washington, it fails to deliver either in support on issues such as Iran or Afghanistan, or by giving enough commercial access to US businesses.

To defuse the spat, India wants the US State Department to approve Khobragade’s transfer to its UN mission in New York, a move it believes would give her immunity from prosecution. If that doesn’t happen before the US government commences a preliminary hearing or files an indictment, India could unleash more retaliation measures, a government source with knowledge of the affair told Reuters.

Reuters

Ministry Creates Think Tank To Boost Effectiveness

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 - The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) has created a think tank to boost its effectiveness.

Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek said the nine-member group, which includes Malaysian Institute of Economic Research Chairman Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob and former Johor Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim, has the autonomy to hold discussions from time to time without being tied down to regulations and schedules.

On the ministry's new responsibility of promoting the development of petty traders, Hasan said the ministry needs to quickly identify effective measures to help the still weak sector.

Speaking at a dinner with the group last night, he said the major challenge facing the ministry over the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) next year is ensuring businesses do not take advantage by raising their prices indiscriminately.

Issues being discussed at the ministry include the criteria used to define profiteering, he said.

"The issue of prices of goods is not just a question of demand, it is a complex issue as in an open market economy, the government cannot control the prices of all goods," he said, adding in an inefficient market, prices will fluctuate due to a volatile demand and supply situation.


BERNAMA

Stanchart: Inflation Rate May Rise To 3.4 Per Cent In First 9 Months 0f 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 - Malaysia's inflation rate is expected to edge up to 3.4 per cent for the first nine months of this year from 2.1 per cent in the same period in 2013 driven by slower consumption as prices of consumer products have increased.

Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) South East Asia Global Research Regional Head of Research Edward Lee Wee Kok said the slower consumption was because goods have become more expensive due to further subsidy rationalisation.

"You have less income to buy the goods. This would possibly lower the private consumption for the economy," he told reporters after a briefing session on "Rising East, Emerging West" Thursday.

Lee noted that the inflation projected for Malaysia this year was the highest among its regional peers.

Domestic demand had been the main contributor to economic growth in the past few years and this would continue to remain resilient despite the subsidy rationalisation, he said.

The bank is bullish on external oriented sectors such as logistics and manufacturing, which are more cyclical and could benefit from the recovery in Western countries.

Lee said the full-year global economic growth was projected to reach 3.5 per cent in 2014 compared with 2.7 per cent in 2013.

Standard Chartered has forecast a gross domestic product growth of 5.3 per cent for Malaysia this year from a projection of 4.7 per cent in 2013.

He added that the ringgit is expected to continue a depreciating trend against the US dollar following the US Federal Reserve's plan to scale back its bond-buying programme.

BERNAMA

61 Vietnamese Nabbed For Poaching In Riau Islands Waters

BATAM (Riau Islands) Jan 9 - Indonesian water patrol police have nabbed 61 Vietnamese crew for poaching using trawlers in Riau Islands waters, Indonesia's news agency ANTARA reported.

Commander of Water Patrol Boat Bisma 8001 Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sigit N Hidayat said Thursday the crew members were detained on Jan 4 along with four boats and three tonnes of fish at two separate locations around 15 miles off Jemaja Isle, Anambas District.

"The loss from fish that has been caught amounts to hundreds of millions, but the environmental damage caused by the trawlers is even worse," Sigit said.

The Vietnamese crew had earlier applied for permits to fish in the Riau Islands waters at the Batam maritime affairs and fisheries office but their request was turned down.

The group went ahead to poach fish in Riau Islands on their way back to Vietnam.

The Vietnamese boats were reportedly spotted poaching regularly in Indonesian waters since last September.

In July last year, four Thai fishing boats were caught fishing illegally in the seas off eastern Aceh by Indonesian maritime authorities.

A total of 36 crew including 8 Thai and 28 Myanmar nationals were detained.

BERNAMA

Southern Russia security forces on alert after five bodies found with explosive

MOSCOW  - Russia has put security forces on combat alert in the southern Stavropol region after the discovery of five bodies with gunshot wounds and an explosive device, a regional security spokesman said.

Russia has already tightened security before next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi, on which President Vladimir Putin has staked a lot of political and personal prestige, and is on high alert after suicide bombers killed at least 34 people in separate attacks in the southern city of Volgograd last month.

The five corpses were discovered on Wednesday in four cars in two separate districts outside the regional capital Stavropol, a gateway to the North Caucasus, where Russia faces an insurgency by Islamist militants who have threatened to try to prevent the Olympics going ahead.

An unidentified explosive device was also found near one of the vehicles, said a spokesman for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in Stavropol. No other details were immediately available.

Reuters

Somalia's Puntland appoints new president

Legislators pick Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, a former Somali prime minister, to lead the semi-autonomous region.

Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland has chosen Abdiweli Mohamed Ali as president in a vote held in Garowe the regions capital, amid tight security.

Abdiweli unseated the incumbent President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole in a tightly contest run-off poll. Ali is a former prime minister of Somalia under Sheikh Sharif. Ali garnered 33 votes as opposed to Farole's 32.

No candidates secured the required two-thirds majority in the first  and second round of voting. Farole won the first two rounds of voting with comfortable margins.

Eight candidates were eliminated in the first round voting. The whole voting processes was broadcast live on local TVs and radio stations.

Puntland declared itself to be semi-autonomous from Somalia in 1998 as fighting raged through most of the country. Since then the region of about 2.5 million people has had four presidents, all selected by MPs who were in turn selected by clan elders.

Polls were originally set for July last year but were postponed after government said the risk of violence was too great for voting to be held.

Farole accepted the results and thanked "those who worked with him".

Source:

Al Jazeera

Death row Vietnam executive in ‘shock’ graft trial claim

HANOI

THE former boss of a scandal-mired Vietnamese state shipping firm alleged he paid bribes to senior communist party officials to try to evade arrest, state media said Wednesday.

Vinalines chairman Duong Tri Dung, who is under sentence of death, was giving incendiary testimony at the trial of his brother, a former policeman.

Dung, who briefly fled Vietnam as scandal engulfed his debt-ridden firm in May 2012, gave a “shocking” account of paying large sums to a senior Communist Party figure to try to avoid prosecution, according to the state-run Tuoi Tre news website.

They come amid a series of prosecutions aimed at cooling public anger over graft and fears over the economic impact of corruption at state firms.

Dung made the allegations in a Hanoi court during the trial of his brother Duong Tu Trong, 52, a former senior police official in the northern port of Hai Phong, who was on Wednesday sentenced to 18 years in prison for aiding his escape.

Dung, who was last month sentenced to death for embezzlement, fled the country after the near-collapse of Vinalines under some US$3 billion of debt but was apprehended in September 2012 in Cambodia.

He told the court that he was warned of his impending arrest by Deputy Minister of Public Security Pham Quy Ngo – who is a member of the party’s Central Committee, a top decision-making body.

Ngo allegedly told him to “hide for a while”, Tuoi Tre said in an online report.

It said Dung then claimed to have paid US$500,000 to Ngo and additional substantial bribes to other top officials at the Ministry of Public Security in a bid to avoid prosecution.

Ngo has denied the allegations, according to the VNExpress online newspaper, one of several state-controlled outlets to give the case wide coverage.

The Hanoi court ordered an investigation into Dung’s claims, Tuoi Tre reported, which would be classified as “deliberate revealing of state secrets” – punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Five other defendants were given sentences of between five and eight years for their role in assisting Dung’s flight from Vietnam, reports said.

AFP

IOI Properties Targets RM2.5-RM3.0 Billion Sales From New Projects

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 8 - IOI Properties Group Bhd is targeting sales of between RM2.5 billion and RM3 billion from new projects to be launched this year.

Its Chief Executive Officer Lee Yeow Seng said the demand is expected to boost further, particularly in the affordable housing segment, despite the new rule regarding property ownership introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia recently.

"The new rule was introduced to curb property buying speculation so that there are only genuine buyers who will invest in our property market," he told a media briefing here Wednesday.

Currently, IOI Properties' land bank stands at more than 4,046 hectares in Malaysia, Singapore and China.

For the next three years, he said, the company has set up an estimated investment of RM10 billion for development in Malaysia, S$3 billion in Singapore and RMB5 billion in China.

"The total capital expenditure (capex) for the domestic market this year stands at RM800 million, to be used for the development of IOI City, while for Singapore, it is estimated at S$1.8 billion.

"Meanwhile, for China, the capex for this year is estimated at RMB500 million, for the second phase of our IOI Park Bay, Xiamen, which will be internally generated via the full take-up of the shoplots there," he said.

BERNAMA

South China's Guangdong Province Reports 10th Human H7N9 Case

GUANGZHOU, Jan 8  - Guangdong Province's southern Foshan city reported a new human H7N9 case on Wednesday, bringing to ten the number of cases in the province since August.

The provincial health and family planning commission said a 51-year-old female patient was admitted to hospital on Jan 1 and remains in critical condition, Xinhua news agency reported.

The patient was believed to have bought a live chicken at a market and slaughtered it at home.

No abnormal conditions have been found in 21 people who were in close contact with the woman.

Guangdong confirmed its first human case of H7N9 on Aug 10 with two cases reported in Shenzhen, two in Foshan, one in Huizhou, two in Dongguan and three in Yangjiang.

A patient in Dongguan City succumbed to multiple organ failure on Monday after being treated in a local hospital for about three weeks.


BERNAMA

US airlines restore flights as cold snap eases

A Delta jetliner (bottom) is de-iced while a US Airways jet takes off at Reagan National Airport in Washington on Jan 3, 2014. Air travel conditions improved in the United States (US) on Wednesday with carriers cancelling fewer flights as wide sections of the country were forecast to warm up after a major cold snap. -- FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

Air travel conditions improved in the United States (US) on Wednesday with carriers cancelling fewer flights as wide sections of the country were forecast to warm up after a major cold snap.

Carriers cancelled more than 1,100 flights on Wednesday, according to FlightAware.com, down from 3,200 on Tuesday. Since Jan 1, carriers have cancelled more than 19,300 flights, FlightAware showed.

Among major carriers, Delta Air Lines had cancelled four flights and Southwest Airlines had halted 45 by mid-afternoon on Wednesday, the data showed.

"The regional carriers are still the last to catch up today," said Mr Daniel Baker, chief executive of FlightAware.com."I think things will be back to normal late today and by tomorrow."

REUTERS

Zambia arrests politician over potato jibe

Opposition politician Frank Bwalya arrested and charged with defamation after he compared the president to a potato.

Zambian police have arrested and charged an opposition leader with defamation, after he compared the president to a potato. Frank Bwalya, head of the Alliance for a Better Zambia, allegedly referred to president Michael Sata as "Chumbu Mushololwa" during a live radio broadcast on Monday. The Bemba term refers to a sweet potato that breaks when it is bent and is used to describe someone who does not heed advice. "The police decided to arrest and charge him with defamation of the president," Eric Chanda, the secretary general of Alliance told AFP news agency. If convicted, Bwalya faces a maximum jail term of five years. Bwalya, a former Catholic priest and supporter of Sata when in opposition, is just the latest opposition leader to run afoul of Zambia's leader. In September, Nevers Sekwila Mumba of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy was questioned by police after calling Sata a liar. "President Sata is the same old man who was on all radio stations defaming former presidents Banda and Mwanawasa and nobody arrested him," said Chanda. Bwalya has pleaded not guilty to the defamtion charges and has been released on bail. He is to return to court on January 21. Bwalya denied insulting the president and said his comments were taken out of context and exergarated. "On that radio program, I strongly criticized the bad leadership of the president. I called him a crooked sweet potato that cannot be straightened. It is a commonly used phrase which is not insulting. It is to explain the attitude of a person who doesn’t want to be advised who doesn’t want to be counseled,”  Bwalya told VOA.

Source: AFP

9 killed in Indian train blaze

Indian officers inspect the damage inside a passenger train that caught fire early yesterday near Gholvad town, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Fire and smoke engulfed three cars of an Indian passenger train early, killing at least nine people in the latest tragedy to hit the country’s vast railway network, officials said. AP

Average Household Can Cope With Higher Living Cost With GST, Says Economist

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 - Employers, especially in the private sector, have been giving an average increment of between five and six per cent to their employees for the last several years, said RAM Holdings Bhd.

Its Group Chief Economist, Dr Yeah Kim Leng, said the increment that employers would normally give their staff depended on their performances as well as the company's profitability, but so far the range had been between five and six per cent.

"Following the GST implementation, the average household would be able to cope as long as the income increases above the average consumer price index or the rise in the cost of living," he told Bernama.

Yeah was commenting on a news report which stated that KPMG Malaysia had made a suggestion for both the public and private sectors to gradually increase the employees' salaries in view of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will be implemented in April 2015.

The audit, tax and advisory firm has proposed a six per cent increment in employees' salaries per year as this would help tide over the rising cost of living in Malaysia.

However, Yeah said the bottom 20 per cent of the Malaysian working population earning a minimum monthly wage of RM900 might face some difficulties.

"Perhaps the government, through the employers, could introduce other innovative incentives such as public transport allowances and food coupons to help the employees adjust to the new environment," he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress of Unions in Government-Linked Companies has proposed the establishment of a special task force comprising representatives from the government, private sector and workers union.

Its President Mohd Shafie Mammal said the task force was aimed at discussing and studying the impact of the GST implementation on the rakyat.

"The discussions must be transparent to ensure its effectiveness," said Mohd Shafie, who is also President of the Union Network International-Malaysian Liaison Council.

BERNAMA

Myanmar, India Seek Amicable Resolution To Land Demarcation Issue

YANGON, Jan 8 - Myanmar and India said they will sort out their differences amicably over a border area in Bamaw valley, Xinhua news agency reports local media as saying Wednesday.

Myanmar has objected to India's construction of an integrated check post (ICP) in Bamaw valley near the border pillar-78, leading to suspension of work by India on Jan 2.

Myanmar Foreign Ministry was quoted by the New Light of Myanmar as saying teams from both countries carried out a land survey in the area on Monday.

India and Myanmar signed a demarcation agreement in March 1967.

However, several border marks have not been established due to differences over the location of border pillars in the valley.

BERNAMA

South Sudan government says poised to retake key town

JUBA  - South Sudan's government said it was poised to recapture a key town from rebel forces, as peace talks being held in neighbouring Ethiopia appeared to be making slow progress.

The claim came amid renewed warnings of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation, with aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warning that people displaced by the conflict were at risk of epidemics.

The United Nations said thousands of people are fleeing the conflict in South Sudan each day, with whole villages looted and burned.

"It's a matter of hours that the SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) will announce the capture of Bor," a government official told AFP, with reports that government reinforcements were being poured into the battle near the state capital, 200 kilometres north of Juba.

AFP

UN warns CAR on brink of catastrophe

About 2.2 million people in Central African Republic need assistance according to UN political chief.

UN officials are warning the Security Council that Central African Republic is on the brink of a catastrophe, with half the population made homeless since ethnic warfare broke out.

UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman told the council on Monday that about 2.2 million people throughout the country need assistance, about half the total population.

About half the people of Bangui have been driven from their homes, a total of about 513,000, he said. An estimated 100,000 people are seeking shelter at a makeshift camp at the airport near the capital.

The Central African Republic has been plunged into chaos as the country's Christian majority seeks revenge against the Muslim rebels, who seized power in a coup in March. Fighting between Christian and Muslim militias intensified in December.

An attack on Bangui by the Christian militia calling itself the anti-Balaka on December 5 triggered heavy unrest in the capitol, Feltman said.

A report in late December by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported 600 deaths in Bangui in those attacks, and Feltman put the current total at "750 casualties'' in the capital.

"The death toll outside Bangui is likely to be substantial,'' he said. "Killings in Bangui and the rest of the country continue every day, and the population remains divided along religious affiliation,'' Feltman said.

The UN Children's Fund warned at the end of December, that children are being recruited into the militias, and verified the killings of at least 16 children since December 5, two of whom were beheaded.

In December the Security Council authorised a multinational African peacekeeping force, which is expected to increase its troop strength from about 2,500 to 3,500, to keep a lid on the violence. France sent in about 1,600 troops on December 9 to back them up.

Source:

AP