Operasi mencari dan menyelamat diteruskan pagi ini

Operasi mencari dan menyelamat diteruskan pagi ini
Seven arrests in Greece over baby trafficking
S.African hostage still alive in Yemen: charity
Support charitable bodies if you can, people urged
We are becoming a nation of fatsoes
The correlation between crime and drugs

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 05:13 PM PST

DARO: Operasi mencari dan menyelamat lapan mangsa yang dikhuatiri hilang bot terbalik dan karam di muara Batang Lassa di sini semalam diteruskan pagi ini.

Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Semop Abdullah Saidol berkata satu bilik operasi diwujudkan di Kampung Saai bagi menggerakkan usaha itu.

"Kali ini operasi akan dibantu dengan bantuan dua helikopter dari pasukan bomba dan polis," katanya.

Senarai mangsa yang masih hilang:

1. Borhan Burdai ( 65 tahun )

2. Riji Dalol ( 60 tahun )

3. Mahdani Akim ( 55 tahun )

4. Naibi Saibi ( 60 tahun )

5. Kalsum Mat ( 50 tahun )

6. Iboong Rais ( 60 tahun )

7. Nur Abdullah ( 40 tahun)

8. Abu Bakar Malik ( 62 tahun )

16 orang mangsa selamat, tiga terkorban.

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Seven arrests in Greece over baby trafficking

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 04:20 PM PST

GREECE: Police in central Greece on Saturday said they had arrested seven people including five Bulgarians for attempted baby trafficking.

"A police operation prevented the illegal adoption of a ten-day-old baby for the sum of 5,000 euros ($6,800)," police in the central city of Larissa said in a statement.

The authorities said a 62-year-old Greek had attempted to arrange an illegal adoption with the aid of a lawyer in the central city of Volos.

A pregnant woman was found in neighbouring Bulgaria and persuaded to give birth in a Volos hospital on January 5, the police said.

After arresting the lawyer and his Bulgarian associates, police said they had found documents on four other illegal adoptions carried out last year.

The case recalled another that made headlines in October, when a blonde girl named Maria was found living in a Roma camp near Larissa with a couple who did not resemble her.

After a media storm, Maria's real parents — other Roma who had given her up — were tracked down in Bulgaria.

Illegal adoption, in some cases involving trafficked children, has flourished in Greece, where birth rates are low and official adoption procedures gruelling.

There are dozens of pending cases on the trading of minors and illegal adoptions in Greece, some of them implicating doctors and private clinics, according to the justice ministry. -AFP

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S.African hostage still alive in Yemen: charity

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 03:02 PM PST

SOUTH AFRICA: A South African teacher being held hostage in Yemen and whose kidnappers had threatened to kill him is still alive but in poor health, an organisation working to free him said on Saturday.

English teacher Pierre Korkie, 56, was abducted along with his wife last May in the Yemeni city of Taiz by members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who asked for a ransom of $3 million (2.2 million euros) and had threatened to kill him if not paid by Friday.

"They said he's still alive, and we will stop the execution," said Imtiaz Sooliman, president of the Gift of the Givers charity.

"Then, on their own, they said, but Pierre is not in very good health."

Sooliman said the kidnappers had agreed to extend their deadline by three weeks.

Korkie's wife Yolande was released on January 10 and has since returned to South Africa to fight for his release. The couple had lived and worked in Yemen for four years.

The South African government sent its deputy foreign minister to Yemen on Friday to try to secure Korkie's release.

Hundreds of people have been abducted in Yemen in the past 15 years, nearly all of whom have been freed unharmed. The hostages are used as bargaining chips in disputes with the central government. -AFP

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Support charitable bodies if you can, people urged

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 11:46 AM PST

by Irene C, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 19, 2014, Sunday

KUCHING: Those who can afford to support charitable bodies should do so as it fosters the spirit of caring and sharing in our society.

In saying this, Kuching South City Council (MBKS) Mayor Dato James Chan added in fact, some charities in the world are supported by foundations or trusts that run businesses.

"One great way for a successful company to contribute back to the society is by 'adopting' a charitable home or institution. The company can budget a regular sum for the adopted home or institution," Chan pointed out at Sports Toto Chinese New Year 'ang pow' donation campaign held at Che Hia Khor Moral Uplifting Society yesterday.

He said that it was essential for the captains of the industry to reach out to the less fortunate through the act of giving and supplementing grants normally given out by the government.

This in turn will create a compassionate society with has a great sense of community spirit.

The company's charity campaign which began on Jan 16 until Jan 23 is currently being held in 41 locations throughout the country.

Marking the 26th year of the significant charitable cause, about 17,000 needy old folks aged 60 and above from all races benefit from this year's campaign. Every recipient received an 'ang pow', a mini hamper and Mandarin oranges.

The company spent RM900,000 on the campaign.

Among those present were Kuching area sales executive Helen Tan and assistant administrative manager Tee Kim Liang.

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We are becoming a nation of fatsoes

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 11:43 AM PST

WE are the fattest country in Southeast Asia, easily outweighing our Asean neighbours and ranked sixth in the Asia-Pacific region – only behind some Middle Eastern countries.

This bloated state of affair is certainly cause for worry from the health point of view.

National health statistics show 15.1 per cent of Malaysians, aged 18 and above, were suffering from obesity as of 2011 – up from 14 per cent of the same demographic in 2006.

And according to current figures, every one in three Malaysians is overweight – a clear reflection that more and more adults in the country are starting to look like blimps — due to over-eating.

Unflatteringly, three million Malaysians are obese — and counting. Fat children in the country are also increasing. More than 477,000 below-18s are roly-polies and will end up obese if they do not watch their diet.

The "fatty"problem can be put down to our obsession with food of which there is plenty and within very easy reach at the myriad food outlets across the country.

Foods like char kuey teow, mee goreng, roti canai, nasi lemak, ice cream and sweet drinks are favourites because they yummily palatable but the downside is that they are calorie-intensive and frequently exceed the overall recommended daily calorie-intake of 2,400 units for men and 1,700 for women.

Though they taste good, many of the energy-dense local foods have low nutrient contents, mostly containing plenty of sugar, salt and carbohydrates.

Medical authorities say long-term consumption of such foods, coupled with a physically inactive lifestyle, precurse the onset of serious health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes, the top three obesity-related illnesses in the country.

Dieticians can help plan meals and offer counselling to those with compulsive eating tendencies. But for local fatsoes, turning to dieticans per se in checking the growing incidence of obseity is neither practical nor possible because there are now relatively few dieticians here – just over 20 after two decades.

These dieticians are not only serving in the cities but also smaller towns and their low number means their expertise cannot be fully utilised to benefit the whole state. There is, obviously, a need to train or recruit more dieticians to promote healthy eating habits amidst greater public affluence – often the cause for splurging on food.

The National Health and Morbidity Survey recently came up with some worrying data to show the serious impact obseity has on the general population with 5.8 million overweight Malaysians suffering from hypertension, 6.2 million from high cholesterol level and 2.6 million from diabetes.

These adverse health conditions are risk factors for heart failure, the leading cause of death in the country.

What is worse is that once you are obese, it is a lifelong problem. The reduction in subsidies for items such as sugar could turn out to be a blessing in disguise – despite the brouhaha and argy bargy surrounding the reduction when it was first announced – as it will compel Malaysians to stay away from unhealthful food ingredients.

The basic determinant of excess weight is a simple imbalance between calories consumed and calories burnt. Understanding of this straightforward equation will ensure that as a nation, we are not collectively burdened by obesity but are instead, mindful of the life-threatening effects obseity can wrought so that we can at least take steps to control, if not totally eliminate this sapping health condition altogether.

The insatiable appetite for food of most people could be fuelled by the endless TV shows on gluttony disguised as cooking lessons and contests.

One noted columnist says such shows "elevate chefs to god status and cooking to an art form based on the ability to tolerate celebrity chefs leering in your face while you simmer bat's legs in soy source."

Without mincing words, she asked: "Wouldn't it be brilliant if – just once – a contestant told these so-called celebrity chefs to piss off?"

Indeed, there is a new enemy — the looming story called food.

As the columnist notes: "Dieticians fear that flab portends imminient end of civilisation. Medical experts have cast a cold eye over the world and found it full of obsesity. The problem is poor people who once had elegant bodies due to near starvation, now eat more of the yummy, fatty foods rich people do. Meanwhile, a billion people in the developing world are gutsing themselves into chubbiness."

This certainly is food for thought for fatties and those predisposed to overeating, especially with the coming Chinese New Year where there will be plenty to eat and drink.

Yes, celebrate, but no, don't over-indulge.

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The correlation between crime and drugs

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 11:43 AM PST

by The Tired Eye. Posted on January 19, 2014, Sunday

OVER the past week, the Eye watched videos of crimes taking place and street justice in action.

The first was of the much talked about armed thieves who attempted to steal a pick-up truck in the Satok area, which involved what is believed to be a stolen handgun and some bullets.

In this incident, two youngsters on a motorbike attempted to break into a four-wheel drive vehicle but were interrupted when two policemen on patrol spotted them and gave chase.

They panicked, crashed their motorbike, dropped some bullets and while one managed to escape and steal another motorcycle, the other was apprehended.

A CCTV recording taken from a building nearby quickly went viral over social networks.

The guy who escaped apparently still has the gun and at the time that this was written was still at large. The gun is believed to have been stolen by the guys several days before from a cop, who incidentally was sleeping in his car in a drunken stupor. But that is another issue which we shall discuss at another time.

The guy who was apprehended has had his photographs plastered all over social media by bystanders present during the incident for all to see. He looked glassy-eyed and zoned out.

Another incident, which actually got the Eye frothing at the mouth, took place in Tabuan Jaya. Two mindless monsters attempted to rob in broad daylight two school children.

School children! Can you imagine that? The two pint-sized siblings were taking a stroll to the shops near their home when they were approached by the snatch thieves — one of whom pulled a knife out on the petite girl and attempted to snatch her bag.

Street justice prevailed as residents came to the children's aid, and while one escaped, a video of the one apprehended showed him also glassy-eyed, zoned out and unwashed – typical of a meth-head.

For those who have long worked with people that have drug addictions, it was clear to see that both robbers apprehended last week were users. As a matter of fact, the issue of drugs being the root of most crimes committed has been brought up many times before.

Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye has long been advocating the fight to get to the root causes of crime and addressing them.

He and the foundation have long viewed drug addiction as the major cause of crimes such as snatch thefts, robbery, stealing and housebreakings.

These are typical crimes that drug addicts resort to in order to fund their addiction. This is especially prevalent in heroin, cocaine and meth addicts.

The view is not solely Lee's or the MCPF's, and not without proof. Studies in developed countries have long shown that drugs are related to crime because of the effects they have on the user's behaviour and on causing violence in a person.

Studies by the US Department of Health and Human Services have shown that illicit drug users are 16 times more likely than non-users to be arrested for theft and nine times more likely to be arrested for assault.

According to Lee, unless there is success in addressing the issue of drug abuse and other social ills, many drug-related crimes will continue to occur.

How right he is. The public has come to recognise the severity of the drug menace in Kuching these days and how it has affected the local community, both directly and indirectly.

Directly, because someone they know has fallen into the drug trap, indirectly because they or people they know have experienced being robbed, or had their homes broken into.

Recently a group of concerned residents living in Kuching North set up a Facebook Page called the Kuching Anti-Meth League, where members of the public can upload photos of suspected drug dealings in order to bring them to light. It is a known fact that the drug menace is a serious problem affecting youths – both male and female — in the Petra Jaya area.

Some have also made the effort to report them to the authorities in the hope of having dealers arrested and addicts sent to rehab.

Yet, more needs to be done, especially on the part of the authorities paying more attention to the problem and actually taking action in clamping down on drug dealing and eventually reducing crime in the city.

Comments can reach the writer via columnists@theborneopost.com.

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