MINI CROSSES OVER TO SUV

Mini crosses over to SUV

MINI plans to extend its range with a compact SUV study featuring four doors, four-wheel drive and four single seats. The concept car (pix) was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show which opened on Oct 4 until Oct 19.

Planned for production in 2010, the BMW subsidiary’s model features two conventional doors positioned on the passenger side with a third for the driver. The fourth door, for the rear passenger on the driver’s side, slides back along the outside of the car for convenient access and loading.

The rear door has a frameless, retractable window and when open, swivels to one side to facilitate the loading of long items, such as skis, snowboards and surfboards. Capacity can be increased by folding the roof cover which extends across the whole length of the roof.

The four single seats can be adjusted forwards and backwards by up to 13cm in the rear – allowing more legroom for the rear passengers.

The front and rear seats are linked visually by a matt-polished aluminium fastening rail which extends from the dashboard through the middle of the car, to the rear.

In the dashboard, there is a a new display and control console which hosts all major entertainment, telecommunication and navigation functions. This three-dimensional globe can be personalised independently by both the driver and passenger as the display is shown in two hemispheres – allowing the passenger to surf the Internet while the driver follows the navigation.

Operated by a touch-sensitive surface, the Mini Centre Globe can also be programmed by a trackball on the steering wheel, buttons or slide controls in the lower section of the globe or even by a keyboard which extends out from the dashboard on the passenger’s side.

The Mini Centre Globe also hosts the stop/start function, whereby the driver inserts a Keyball into the upper edge to start and switch off the engine. – dpa

source:   the sun online

MELAMINE-LACED MILK

MELAMINE-LACED MILK:

53 China-made food items sent for testing 

By : Regina Lee 

Datuk Liow Tiong Lai showing one of the food items to be tested.

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has sealed 53 milk-related products produced in China for testing.

Samples of the items, including chocolate, candy, yogurt and biscuits, have been sent to the Chemistry Department for tests on suspicion that they may contain milk tainted by the banned substance, melamine.

Household names, including distributors of M&M's chocolates, Snickers chocolate bars and the White Rabbit creamy candy, will know their fate when the tests results are released today.

The ministry will also start seizing products off shelves if the test results show that they contain dangerous amounts of the substance.

"But, this is no cause for alarm at the moment. We are doing our best to check everything and we hope to get cooperation from the manufacturers, importers and retailers," Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said yesterday.
He also said other food products imported from China and suspected of containing melamine had been placed on Level 5 of the six-level Food Safety Information System of Malaysia, which requires that products be detained pending results of sample analysis.

Milk-related products from China have been placed at the Level 6 alert since Sept 13, which means an automatic rejection.

Liow confirmed that there were no dairy products (milk or milk powder) from China sold in Malaysia since last year.

"To sell milk here, you would need a special licence from the Veterinary Services Department. The department has said that none had been given to Chinese companies since last year." 

Liow said it was normal for food items to contain a small amount of melamine as a result of using plastic wrappers. A directive from the European Commission said up to 30 parts per million (ppm) of the substance was still safe.

Powdered milk produced by China's largest dairy producer, Sanlu Group, was found to have a melamine content of up to 2,563ppm.

Liow urged doctors who come across kidney disorders suspected to be caused by tainted milk products to report the cases to the ministry.

SOURCE:  http://www.nst.com.my

CHECKS TO ENSURE CLEAN FOOD

Checks to ensure clean food

KUALA TERENGGANU: The cleanliness, quality and handling of food at Ramadan bazaars throughout the state will be monitored during the fasting month to prevent food poisoning.

State Health, Unity and Consumer Affairs committee chairman Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar said similar checks conducted last year and in 2006 by the Health Department showed that food contamination at the stalls was high.


Kerabu, a mixed salad, was the most contaminated dish, followed by noodles and drinks.

The most commonly contaminated foods were those that were made by hand, half-cooked food, dishes that use coconut milk, sugar cane juice, rojak and cakes.


"From my own experience, I have treated a lot of people with food poisoning during the fasting month.
"We hope to reduce the number by monitoring the bazaars," he said after visiting the Ramadan bazaar in Marang on Wednesday.


Those found guilty of violating the Food Act 1983 and the Food Regulations 1985, under which the checks would be carried out, would be fined and their goods could be confiscated, he said.

Last year, action was taken against 31 stalls throughout the state, while 1,594 items worth RM24,709 were seized.

A total of 1,114 notices were also issued.


Dr A. Rahman also said he had not received any reports about food shortages for the upcoming Raya holiday or complaints of unreasonable price hikes.


SOURCE: http://www.nst.com.my

ANWAR TO BE CHARGED

Thursday August 7, 2008

Anwar to be charged with sodomy

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be charged today with sodomy and the legal battle will have serious implications on his comeback bid in the Permatang Pauh by-election, which he engineered by getting his wife to resign the seat.

Nomination Day is set for Aug 16 and polling day 10 days after that, but the question now is whether the PKR adviser will be on hand to personally campaign or will he be locked up as a sodomy is a non-bailable offence.

Reacting to the Election Commission announcements on the date and the authorities’ decision to charge him, Anwar accused the Government of conspiracy to fix him to prevent him from making a political comeback.

He even held Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi personally responsible. Anwar cited the timing of the EC’s announcement and when the police served him with the notice that he is to be charged for sexually assaulting his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari.

Brickfields CID chief Asst Supt Jude Pereira was at the PKR de facto leader's house in Bukit Segambut at about 12.15pm, five minutes after the EC issued its statement.

However, Abdullah denied Anwar’s claims, and stressed that he had reminded police not to charge Anwar if they did not have enough evidence.

ARTICLES SOURCE: http://thestar.com.my

ACTRESS APPEALS TO HUSBAND

Wednesday August 6, 2008

Actress appeals to husband to settle debts with loan sharks

KUALA LUMPUR: Actress Wan Nor Azlin Wan Mohd Husain, who has been targeted by loan sharks after her husband allegedly failed to repay a loan, is appealing for him to return and be responsible for his actions.

“Only my husband knows who he borrowed the money from. I want him to come back and face his problems and not run away from it,” she said yesterday at a press conference organised by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department.

She also feared for her family’s safety and asked her husband to cooperate with the police to settle the matter.

“I fear for the safety of my children. They are very young. It is not fair for you to just leave me to take care of them,” she said in her plea for her husband to return.

Wan Nor Azlin also apologised to the moneylenders for not being able to repay the loans.

The 40-year old won the Seri Angkasa Award for best drama actress for her role in Takbir Untuk Abdah in 2001 and had starred in more than 200 drama and theatre productions.

She also appealed to them to stop harassing her family because she did not have details of her husband’s debts.

Wan Nor Azlin added moneylenders had continuously harassed her famiy since her husband went missing on July 10.

This included having offensive posters pasted on the gates of her house with the most recent being paint poured on her car and house on July 30.

“My husband did not answer my calls that night but he sent me an SMS to just text him if anything happened,” she said.

She believes her husband has gone into hiding because of the threats and has been unable to contact him since.

“Don’t threaten him. Give him a chance to go to work and earn the money to settle the debts,” she said. “My family is effected too as I am not working right now and I depend on my husband’s income.”

Department head Datuk Michael Chong said it is believed the husband had borrowed some RM200,000 from about 30 Ah Long since last year.

“But no one knows the exact amount that he owes and who he owes it to,” he said.

Malaysian Artistes Association Freddie Fernandez was also present and said the association would help Wan Nor Azlin find employment.

ARTICLES SOURCE: http://thestar.com.my

LOWER FUEL PRICES

Thursday July 31, 2008 MYT 8:28:26 PM


PM: Govt may lower fuel prices



PUTRAJAYA:

The Government is considering lowering retail fuel prices, in line with falling global crude oil prices, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

He said the Cabinet discussed the possibility on Wednesday, a day after crude oil slipped to US$122.19 (RM402) a barrel.
Petrol prices were raised by 41% and diesel by 63% in early June to curb a runaway subsidy bill when crude prices were hovering around US$140 (RM460.60) a barrel.


“We are looking at it very, very carefully. Of course I would be so happy if we can reduce it,'' the Prime Minister told AP in an interview here Thursday.


But he said the Government was wary of lowering prices at the pump just to have to hike them when oil markets rose again, Abdullah said.
Crude has fallen over the last three weeks from a record high of US$147.27 per barrel on July 11, in part, on expectations that the spike in prices over the last year has begun to dampen demand by the United States for petrol.


But the slide has since halted and sweet crude for September delivery was holding steady at US$126.81 (RM417.20) per barrel Thursday in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Abdullah said the Government was conducting a study to find out if retail fuel prices can be brought down and would announce a decision “at an appropriate time.''


He acknowledged that rising inflation was weighing heavily on the Government by handing the Opposition a way to criticise its economic policies.
“This has been regarded as a weakness of the Government today for allowing prices to go up. I am upset also myself. We are paying more than before. It is a burden to us,'' he said, adding that the Government was taking steps to reduce inflation.


Abdullah said the Government was making efforts to boost income levels of the poor as well as improve transport services and seek cheaper sources of power.


Bank Negara has raised projections for average inflation for this year to between 5.5% and 6% from 4.2%.
Also, the Government announced last week that consumer prices spiked by 7.7% in June compared with the same month last year. It was the steepest climb in 27 years, spurred by higher gasoline prices.


ARTICLES SOURCE: http://thestar.com.my/

MORE CONFUSION

'Missing' doc's report sparks more confusion

By Yushaimi Yahaya, Frankie D'Cruz. Badrolhisham Bidin, Teoh El-Sen and Najiha Najib

Doc in the Anwar mix

DOCTOR Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid, the newest player in the second Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sodomy scandal, has triggered a sequel that has sparked off another round of confusion.

A medical report attributed to the doctor of Hospital Pusrawi that claims that Anwar's accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, was not sodomised and, now, his sudden 'disappearance' are taking centrestage this time around.

At Press time, the whereabouts of Dr Mohamed Osman, a Myanmar Muslim, was not known. His employer, Hospital Pusrawi (Pusat Rawatan Islam), said he was on leave. His 'disappearance' is being likened to that of private investigator P. Balasubramaniam, who was hired by one of the accused in the murder trial of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribu.

P.I. Bala disappeared after making two conflicting statutory declarations that fuelled speculation, leaving a trail of accusations and denials.

Barely 24 hours after making public the first statutory declaration in which he alleged that police had omitted vital information in the Altantuya case, P.I.Bala made an about-turn and withdrew parts of it.

Police had said there were three likely possibilities for Bala's disappearance: he could be hiding out of fear; he does not want to co-operate in investigations; or he has been 'forced' to go into hiding by certain parties.

Transparency International Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said that in the wake of the latest developments the police should expedite investigations into Dr Mohamed Osman's "revelations" to clear the air.

"The matter is getting out of hand as there are so many conflicting reports.

The authorities must come clean on this," he said.

Institute of Public Relations Malaysia president Datuk Hamdan Adnan said police should either drop the case against Anwar or charge the so-called victim if there was truth in the doctor's report.

"There are too many question marks in the case," he said, adding the authorities should resolve the matter soon.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar told Malay Mail that contrary to speculation, Dr Mohamed Osman was never "arrested" but was only interviewed for a short while.

He said that police recorded his statement but that it was untrue that they had detained him for three days.

"Many things have been said and reported that are not true," he said, adding that "police have been very transparent and professional in handling this case".

Asked why Anwar was arrested even after a statement from Dr Mohamed Osman had already been taken, Ismail declined comment, saying investigations are ongoing.

Ismail was reported as saying police were considering investigating a "news website and a blog over their reports".

Online news portal Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today had reported that there was no evidence that Saiful was sodomised, according to Dr Mohamed Osman who examined him for four hours before he lodged a police report alleging he was sexually assaulted by Anwar, the de facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader.

Saiful, Anwar's former aide, is said to have gone to two different hospitals on June 28, the day he lodged the police report claiming that he was sodomised by his ex-boss.

He first went to Hospital Pusrawi at Jalan Tun Razak about 2pm, complaining of 'tenesmus', a medical term for difficulty and pain in passing motion. He had alleged he was assaulted by the intrusion of a piece of "plastic" in the anus. He was examined by Dr Mohamed Osman, the medical officer on duty.

It was reported that Dr Mohamed Osman, in his medical report which was recorded at 2.14pm, found "zero active bleeding", "zero ulcer or pus", "zero tear and scar" in Saiful's anus.

In his report's concluding remarks, he advised Saiful to go to a government hospital so as "to rule out" assault and sodomy.

At 6pm that day, Saiful went to Hospital Kuala Lumpur for his second medical examination. He subsequently lodged a report against Anwar at the hospital police beat base.

Malaysiakini reported that the police had recorded statements from Dr Mohamed Osman after Saiful lodged the report against Anwar.

The doctor was said to be under tremendous stress as a result of the police interrogation over a number of days and was advised by the hospital to take leave.

ARTICLES SOURCE: http://www.mmail.com.my