Egypt turmoil turns tourist hub Luxor into ghost town |
- Egypt turmoil turns tourist hub Luxor into ghost town
- Some current, former smokers should get annual lung scans, says US Panel
- Asian currencies rally before holiday as silver gains after drop
- Blood and gore in ‘Dead Snow’ sequel (VIDEO)
- Samsung Smart TV to control home appliances in 2014
- Call to take action against cop in bribery case
| Egypt turmoil turns tourist hub Luxor into ghost town Posted: 30 Dec 2013 05:14 PM PST
Christmas used to be particularly busy, as tens of thousands of visitors thronged Luxor's famous temples, but fresh unrest that followed the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July has virtually stopped tourist arrivals. Egypt's political unrest first began with the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak and triggered a wave of events that has rocked the tourism industry, which was vital to the country's economy. Salah, 51, earned a living showing tourists around Luxor in his horse carriage, but now the father-of-four, the youngest of whom is just 18 months old, has no customers and his cart has lain idle for months. "Before, I used to earn 2,000 to 3,000 (Egyptian) pounds (RM1,383.69) a month. Today, I am happy if I have 10 pounds in my pocket," Salah said. Luxor, a city of around 500,000 residents on the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt, is one of the country's main tourist hubs that has born the brunt of the upheavals of the past three years. It is an open-air museum of intricate temples, tombs of pharaonic rulers and landmarks such as the Winter Palace hotel where crime novelist Agatha Christie is said to have written "Death on the Nile." Before 2011, it attracted several million tourists annually, drawn by the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, and the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut -- scene of a 1997 massacre that killed dozens of foreign tourists. The 1997 attack by radical Islamist militants dented tourism, but in the years leading up to 2011 the industry was on the rise again and Luxor was once again a popular destination. Most families like Salah's live on earnings from tourism, a sector that makes up over 11 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product and until recently employed more than four million. But the days when about 10,000 tourists arrived daily in Luxor have gone. One could barely walk through the crowded streets three years ago, but now idle guides loiter between the towering columns of historic structures. Vendors dispute recovery Salah lives in a three-room house with a courtyard where his horse is tethered. "I had another horse, but I sold it," he said, dressed in a traditional gallabiya. "The choice was between feeding my children or the two horses," Salah said, adding that among the 340 horse-carriages in Luxor, 20 saw their animals starve to death. He is not the only one facing difficulties in city. The once thriving tourist hub has become into a virtual ghost city. The airport is empty and taxis wait outside of hotels that hardly have any occupants. In one hotel lobby, about six employees light up a tall Christmas tree, but unfortunately the festive period is not promising at all. The bloody government crackdown on Mursi's supporters after his ouster has left more than 1,000 people killed in clashes and derailed any chances of a pick-up in tourist arrivals, with many foreign governments issuing travel warnings for Egypt. Although Luxor has been unaffected by the unrest, local guides and tourist operators accuse Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood of scaring away the tourists. For "stability" to return, Luxor residents want Egypt's interim authorities to quickly carry out the democratic transition they had promised after ousting Mursi. The transition envisages a referendum on a new constitution next month, to be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections in mid-2014. But Luxor governor Tareq Saadeddine is optimistic. "For the past three months the (hotel) occupancy rate was less than one percent. Today, it is 18 percent and continues to grow," he said, adding that 28 of the 255 boats are already operating. But local vendors are less cheery, like Mohamed Hussein, 23, who swears he has not made a single sale in months. Hussein said vendors like him were surviving on savings or by selling their wives' jewelry. He said that for "six months" he had not paid his shop's electricity bills. Another seller said the mantra to survive these days was to sell cheap. "It is so cheap now that you can buy gifts for even those you dislike," he said in fluent French. — AFP  |
| Some current, former smokers should get annual lung scans, says US Panel Posted: 30 Dec 2013 05:08 PM PST
The final recommendations, issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, apply to people aged 55 to 80 whose smoking has put them at high risk of cancer. That includes former heavy smokers who have quit within the past 15 years. Heavy smokers are considered to be those who smoked a pack a day for 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years. According to a comprehensive review of medical evidence since 2004, the panel found the benefits of screening high-risk individuals with low-dose computed tomography, or CT scans, outweigh the potential harms of overdiagnosis and increased exposure to radiation, which also contribute to cancer risk. The panel, which is comprised of independent experts and advises US policymakers, gave the screening a "B" recommendation, meaning it is at least moderately certain that the benefits of the scans outweigh the harms. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services with a grade of "B" or higher. The guidelines are intended to help prevent some of the 160,000 annual lung cancer deaths in the United States, which exceed the total number of deaths from breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. Smoking is the biggest risk factor for developing lung cancer, resulting in about 85 per cent of lung cancers in the United States. The guidelines largely fall in line with recommendations from most major groups of cancer experts, including the American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. When the initial recommendations were published in July, some doctors expressed concern that the guidelines could lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of cancers, in much the same way that widespread screening programs for breast and prostate cancers have done. ― Reuters |
| Asian currencies rally before holiday as silver gains after drop Posted: 30 Dec 2013 04:58 PM PST
Australia's currency, known as the Aussie, added 0.2 per cent versus the dollar by 11:33am in Sydney, while the ringgit gained 0.1 per cent. The yen climbed 0.2 per cent, leaving its 2013 slide at 17 per cent. Silver and gold gained after losing at least 1.4 per cent yesterday. The metals are set for their worst years since 1981. Oil was steady at US$99.36. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures and Asian stocks were little changed after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record. The dollar is poised for its best annual surge versus the yen since 1979 and has gained against 10 of 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg this year as the Federal Reserve said it would pare back record bond purchases and the Bank of Japan pledged to maintain stimulus. While markets from Japan to South Korea and Indonesia are shut today, Australia is scheduled to post private sector credit data and in the US, reports on house prices and consumer confidence are due. "Dollar-yen has probably been one of the most popular leverage trades throughout the year," Robert Rennie, the Sydney-based global head of currency and commodity strategy at Westpac Banking Corp., said by phone. "The BOJ's intention to almost double the size of its balance sheet and more than double its monetary base target over a two-year period was heavily sponsored by the hedge fund community." Yen retreat The yen climbed to 104.96 per dollar today after slipping every day last week in its ninth straight week of depreciation. It is posting the worst yearly performance among 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg after the 19 per cent slump in the South African rand. The yen gained 0.2 per cent versus the euro today, snapping a six-day retreat. The Aussie rallied to 89.18 US cents and is headed for the third-worst performance among the major-currency group, losing 14 per cent versus the dollar for its weakest year since 2008. The ringgit appreciated to 3.2892 a dollar, trimming its 2013 drop to 7 per cent. Ten-year Treasury yields dropped to 2.97 per cent in New York after touching a two-year high above 3 per cent last week. Rates have climbed 1.21 percentage points this year, the first increase since 2009. Similar maturity Australian bonds rose today, with yields falling two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 4.25 per cent. Yields are up 98 basis points in 2013, also the first advance since 2009. Commodity moves Gold rose 0.1 per cent to US$1,197.72 an ounce after sliding 1.4 per cent yesterday. It's on track for a 29 per cent annual decline, the first since 2000 and the steepest drop since 1981 as signs of improvement in the global economy diminish gold's appeal as a protection of wealth. Silver added 0.3 per cent to US$19.63 an ounce after tumbling 2.5 per cent yesterday, the most since Dec. 12. The precious metal is headed for a 35 per cent slump in 2013, also its worst annual retreat since 1981. Palladium gained 0.2 per cent, bringing its 2013 advance to 0.9 per cent, while platinum added 0.2 per cent to cut its annual decline to 13 per cent. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1 per cent after slipping 1 per cent to US$99.29 a barrel yesterday. WTI topped US$100 December 27 for the first time since October. Brent outlook Brent, the benchmark for about 50 per cent of the world's oil, will weaken in 2014 as US output expands and threats to Middle East and North African supply ease, according to the most-accurate forecasters. Brent, which dropped to US$111.20 a barrel yesterday, will average US$105 in 2014, from US$108.71 this year, according to the median estimate of seven analysts who most accurately predicted this year's level in a survey last December. While the Nikkei 225 Stock Average capped its best year since 1972 yesterday, valuations on Asian stocks outside Japan are trailing those for global equities by the most since 2005, data compiled by Bloomberg show. "Investors are finishing the year a lot more confident than they were at the start of it," Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets Plc in Sydney, said by phone today. "There are still quite a large proportion of people who are underweight equities. Given market moves this year we are now vulnerable to deeper corrections." Asian stocks The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index has risen 0.2 per cent in 2013, with member companies trading at a price-to- earnings ratio of 13.3. That compares with an advance of 20 per cent in MSCI's All-Country World Index, which has a earnings multiple of 17.9, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Nikkei 225 jumped 57 per cent in 2013, the biggest gain among 24 major developed markets tracked by Bloomberg, while the S&P 500 is up 29 per cent, set for its best year since 1997. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed today, advancing 15 per cent this year, set for a second year of gains. The NZX 50 Index, which closed early down 0.7 per cent, is up 16 per cent this year in Wellington, led by a surge in accounting software provider Xero Ltd. Australia's stock market closes at 2:10pm local time today. While mainland Chinese markets are open today, Hong Kong is only open for half the day. Both markets are closed tomorrow. Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam are all closed through January 2 and Japanese markets don't resume until January 6. India is open over the New Year period. China PMI South Korean consumer prices rose 1.1 per cent from a year earlier this month, exceeding the median economist estimate of 1 per cent and up from 0.9 per cent in November, data today showed. The nation reports trade data tomorrow. Australian private- sector credit growth probably accelerated to 0.4 per cent month- on-month in November from 0.3 per cent in October, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. China is scheduled to post its manufacturing purchasing managers' index for December tomorrow, with the median of 29 economists' estimates for the gauge to drop to 51.2 from 51.4 in November. Readings above 50 signal expansion. An S&P index of 11 homebuilders rallied for a sixth straight day and reached a six-month high even after data on home sales missed economists' estimates. Contracts to purchase previously owned US homes rose less than forecast in November. A gauge of pending sales increasing 0.2 per cent, the first gain in six months, after a 1.2 per cent drop in October that was larger than initially reported, the National Association of Realtors said. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 1 per cent advance. — Bloomberg |
| Blood and gore in ‘Dead Snow’ sequel (VIDEO) Posted: 30 Dec 2013 04:56 PM PST
Five years after the first episode, the Nazi zombies introduced in "Dead Snow" are returning to the big screen in "Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead." Directed by Tommy Wirkola, like the original, the sequel promises to combine parody and comic relief with unbridled gore and violence. A character who survived at the end of the first film, Martin (Vegar Hoel) must form his own army to battle the Nazi zombies. Between directing "Dead Snow" and its sequel, Tommy Wirkola took a break from zombies to helm "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters." ― AFP-Relaxnews |
| Samsung Smart TV to control home appliances in 2014 Posted: 30 Dec 2013 04:53 PM PST
Smart apps for smart appliances In addition to offering recommendations and responding to gesture commands, Samsung's Smart TV will soon include applications for controlling home appliances. This means users will be able to open and close the blinds, adjust the thermostat or turn on the lights through dedicated apps on their TV, which can be accessed through their remote control. The final version of the SDK allowing for the integration of these apps will be available on January 6, one day before CES 2014 opens in Las Vegas. For its part, LG has said that its next generation of smart home appliances will be compatible with the new HomeChat remote control system, which will allow users to control their appliances through the mobile messaging app Line. The new system will also be presented for the first time at CES 2014. Identical curved UHD TVs? In addition to making similar announcements in the realm of home automation, the two South Korean electronics giants seem to be thinking alike in the TV sector. Both brands have announced that they will unveil a curved, 105-inch ultra-high definition (UHD) TV in Las Vegas this January. Surprising as it may seem, the two TVs announced have exactly the same characteristics, including a 105-inch diagonal, 5120x2160 resolution and a curved, 21/9 format screen. At the previous CES, in January 2013, Samsung and LG both created a splash by presenting their first slightly concave 55-inch OLED screens, both of which were marketed only in the second half of 2013, exclusively in Asia. CES takes place from January 7-10, 2014 in Las Vegas. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Call to take action against cop in bribery case Posted: 30 Dec 2013 04:52 PM PST
The alleged policeman has been transferred to another location until investigations are completed. A video clip on the case of the policeman receiving money from the employer of the illegal immigrant went viral on the internet. According to the posting, a police report had been lodged and the case referred to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for action. The police view such cases seriously and would not compromise against any officers involved in corruption. Anyone with information of such cases are advised to contact the police through the i-SPAAA system at the www.rmp.gov.my website. — Bernama |
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