Duo feared kidnapped

Duo feared kidnapped
Increase in cancer unlikely following Fukushima exposure: UN report
Tsunami waves hit Japan’s iwate prefecture after chile quake
Boeing to sack up to 300 jobs in Melbourne
Four reported killed in Fort Hood military base shooting
Najib, abbott visit pearce airbase

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:25 PM PDT

Update at 10:42am

KOTA KINABALU: A Chinese tourist and a Filipino resort worker have been abducted by a group of men from Pulau Singahmata near Pulau Bum-Bum in Semporna near here, according to the Eastern Sabah Security Command (EssCom).

EssCom director-general Datuk Mohammad Mentek confirmed in a statement today that the abduction took place at about 10.30pm yesterday.

"We leave it to the police to conduct further investigation and provide a full report," he said in the statement. – Bernama

Earlier:

KOTA KINABALU: Two tourists – one China national, one Filippino – were suspected to be kidnapped by six armed men at Pulau Singgahmata, Semporna around 10 pm last night.

More details to follow.

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Increase in cancer unlikely following Fukushima exposure: UN report

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:18 PM PDT

VIENNA: Cancer levels are likely to remain stable in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power accident, China's Xinhua news agency reports the United Nations (UN) saying in a report.

The report, released by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, finds no discernible changes in future cancer rates and hereditary diseases are expected due to exposure to radiation as a result of the accident.

Nevertheless, it notes a theoretical possibility that the risk of thyroid cancer among the group of children most exposed to radiation could increase.

The report concludes the situation needs to be followed closely and further assessed in the future. –BERNAMA

Tsunami waves hit Japan’s iwate prefecture after chile quake

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:12 PM PDT

TOKYO: A tsunami of up to 40 centimetres was observed early Thursday morning at a port of Iwate Prefecture on the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan after a powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake in Chile, China's Xinhua news agency reported citing local media.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a tsunami alert for Pacific coastal areas of Hokkaido and the Tohoku region, some parts of the Kanto region and the Izu and Ogasawara islands.

Iwate's Kuji port also observed a tidal wave of about 20cm at 6:52 am local time and bigger tsunamis were monitored later, Japan's Kyodo News said.

An 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Chile late Tuesday and triggered small landslides, cut power and caused a tsunami that left six people dead. –BERNAMA

Boeing to sack up to 300 jobs in Melbourne

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:10 PM PDT

by Neville D''Cruz. Posted on April 3, 2014, Thursday

MELBOURNE: Aeroplane manufacturer, Boeing, will cut up to 300 jobs from its Port Melbourne plant here by the end of the year.

The company says it has reached full production rates and no longer needs all of its staff.

"This was always our intention when the company's aircraft programmes stabilised at full production rates," Boeing spokesman Chaz Bickers said in a statement.

"Reducing employment on these programmes is a natural part of the manufacturing cycle.

"However, we will work to minimise the overall number [of redundancies] through natural attrition and by not filling open positions.

"We will continue to hire for the critical skills to meet our delivery commitments, and are taking steps to make existing contractors full-time employees where possible."

The Australian Associated Press reported that the Port Melbourne plant employed 1,300 people.

The Manufacturing Workers Union's Craig Kelly says the cuts are not a sign the business was on the decline.

"I believe it's a cyclic part of their operations where they have been setting up their manufacturing plant in Port Melbourne," he said.

"So it doesn't appear to be any sort of decline, it doesn't appear to have an effect on the operations at the Port Melbourne site."

The announcement comes after oil giant BP yesterday said it would shut its Bulwer Island refinery in Brisbane and cut more than 300 staff by 2015.

Another 180 workers from tobacco company Philip Morris also found out they would lose their jobs yesterday, after the company announced it would move production to Korea. — BERNAMA

Four reported killed in Fort Hood military base shooting

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:08 PM PDT

At least one person was killed and 14 wounded Wednesday in a shooting at Fort Hood, the US military base devastated by a deadly 2009 rampage, officials say. A US lawmaker said four people were killed, but neither the military nor law enforcement officials could confirm this.

LOS ANGELES: At least one person was killed and 14 wounded Wednesday in a shooting at Fort Hood, the US military base devastated by a deadly 2009 rampage, officials say.

A US lawmaker said four people were killed, but neither the military nor law enforcement officials could confirm this. The Texas base said it could not confirm media reports that the shooter had taken his own life.

President Barack Obama said he was "heartbroken something like this might have happened again," after a shooting at the base which killed 13 people five years ago.

A US official said there was one fatality and 14 people hurt in the latest shooting, although the casualty figures were not finalised. "I can't confirm (the) status of the shooter," said the official.

Texas congressman Michael McCaul told CNN that four people had been killed. This could not be confirmed, but officials at Fort Hood were set to hold a press conference Wednesday evening.

The sprawling military site remained on lockdown a couple of hours after staff were ordered to shelter in place, after emergency crews rushed to the scene.

A soldier told CNN he heard gun shots "and assumed they were blank rounds… We then heard a burst, another burst and it was clear they weren't blank rounds. They were live rounds."

The TV cable network reported that a shooter — there were reports of possibly a second gunman — had been shot, possibly by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In an update, the base said: "Fort Hood's Directorate of Emergency Services has an initial report that a shooter is dead but this is unconfirmed."

Obama, who was in Chicago, said investigators would "get to the bottom of what happened."

"Obviously, this reopened the pain of what happened at Fort Hood five years ago," Obama said. "Many of the people there have been on multiple tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, they served with valor, they served with distinction. At their home base they need to feel safe."

CBS News, citing unnamed sources, identified the shooter as a 34-year-old soldier.

The shooting reportedly stemmed from a disagreement between soldiers, the network said.

On November 5, 2009, Major Nidal Hasan opened fire at a medical facility in the sprawling base that serves as a staging point for soldiers to deploy to combat zones.

Twelve of the 13 dead and 30 of the wounded were soldiers. Hasan was himself shot by a civilian police officer who responded to the attack and Hasan is now partially paralysed.

A military jury last August sentenced Hasan to death.

The Pentagon said Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel would be kept up to date "as events unfold" at Fort Hood, said a spokesman.

Fort Hood is spread out over almost 900 square kilometres, and is the largest US military base with a population of 70,000 including 42,000 military personnel.

The rest are family and civilian staff. The biggest unit stationed there is the 1st Cavalry Division with 17,000. One of its brigades is slated to be deployed in Europe this year on a rotating basis with European partner countries.

In September last year civilian contractor Aaron Alexis killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard with a sawed-off shotgun.

Just last month a 35-year-old gunman shot and killed a sailor on board the USS Mahan, a guided-missile destroyer, at Naval Station Norfolk, America's largest naval base in Virginia.- AFP/xq

Najib, abbott visit pearce airbase

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 06:31 PM PDT

by Mohd Razman Abdullah. Posted on April 3, 2014, Thursday

KUALA LUMPUR/ PERTH: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak visited the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Pearce base, here today, to get a firsthand look at the search operation for the missing Malaysian airliner.

He arrived at 7.30 am and was welcomed by his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott at the airbase.

Accompanying Najib are Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, Advisor in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis, Malaysia High Commissioner to Australia Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad, Department of Civil Aviation Director-General Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman and Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Chief Tan Sri Rodzali Daud.

Yesterday Zainal Abidin, in a press conference with the Malaysian media, said that Najib and Abbott would have a 40-minute briefing of the search mission at the airbase.

Later both of them are scheduled to have breakfast with the air search personnel, including the Malaysian search team.

Zainal Abidin said Najib and Abbot would then go to the Commonwealth Centre, the Australian Prime Minister's Office, to have a meeting on the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 and also discuss the strengthening of bilateral relations.

Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, left the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.

A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then after it was learned that the plane had veered off course, along two corridors – the northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.

Najib then announced on March 24, seventeen days after the disappearance of Boeing 777-200 aircraft, that Flight MH370 "ended in the southern Indian Ocean".–BERNAMA