Rosmah, first ladies visit queen

Rosmah, first ladies visit queen

Rosmah, first ladies visit queen

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 06:01 PM PDT

25 April 2014| last updated at 12:04AM

The two-day seminar at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, was officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak

Themed "Autism Is Not A Tragedy, Ignorance Is", the seminar emphasised on the importance of providing high quality intervention programmes to autistic children.

It is organised by  Program Permata in collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and   Autism Speaks.

Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah welcoming the prime minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor (third from left) and (from left) Morocco's Nabila Benkirane, Kyrgyzstan's Dr Raisa Atambaeva, Sri Lanka's Shiranti Wickramasinghe Rajapaksa and Albania's Odeta Nishani at Istana Negara yesterday. Bernama pic


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Obama lookaliketakes it in stride

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 09:03 AM PDT

24 April 2014| last updated at 06:32AM
By SUZANNA PILLAY | suzannapillay@nst.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR:  YOUNG lawyer Iman Ishak always causes people to do a double take when he walks into a room because of his resemblance to  the 44th and current American President Barack  Obama.

Things could get pretty interesting for Iman this weekend when Obama, the first African-American to hold the office, will be in Malaysia as part of a seven-day, four-country Asian tour that include Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Being an Obama lookalike has resulted in some amusing experiences for Iman.

One of them was at Madame Tussauds, London's famous celebrity waxwork attraction last year.

"While I was posing next to Obama's waxwork figure in Madame Tussauds' recreation of the Oval Office complete with the Resolute desk used by presidents since 1880, I was surprised to be the centre of attention.

"Other tourists, who had been waiting in line to have their pictures taken with the waxwork figure, noticed the resemblance, fished out their cameras and started snapping my picture.

"While traveling overseas, tourists also approached me and commented on my looks."

Iman said he did not notice his resemblance to the US president until people around him and family members kept commenting on it.

"My university lecturer was one of the first to point it out. One day, someone brought in a newspaper clipping of Obama when he had just started campaigning for the US presidency in 2008.

"My lecturer looked at the photo and said to me, 'Hey, that looks like you', but I still didn't see it then.

"Only when others started to tell me the same thing did I start to believe there was a similarity. The icing on the cake was when even my parents started calling me Obama."

Iman said he had since grown used to the stares and stage whispers from strangers.

"Asians, unlike foreigners, are too shy to bring it up, but I really don't mind."

To date, nothing extraordinary or life-changing has happened to him as a result of being an Obama doppelgänger.

"So far, I haven't gotten any offers to be an Obama impersonator. "But I must admit, it is a good ice- breaker that gets the conversation going when I meet new people and clients at work.

"Plus, it also helps people to remember me more easily."

Iman Ishak (left) standing beside US president Barack Obama's waxwork figure at Madame Tussauds in London.

Search to go on, says Aussie PM

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 09:01 AM PDT

24 April 2014| last updated at 12:17AM

He said officials planned to soon bring in more powerful sonar equipment that can delve deeper beneath the Indian Ocean.

The search coordination centre said a robotic submarine, the United States Navy's Bluefin-21, had so far covered more than 80 per cent of the 310sq km seabed search zone off the Australian west coast, creating a three-dimensional sonar map of the ocean floor.

Nothing of interest had been found.

The 4.5km deep search area is a circle 20km wide around an area where sonar equipment picked up a signal on April 8 which was consistent with a plane's black boxes.

But the batteries powering those signals are now dead.

Defence Minister David Johnston said Australia was consulting with Malaysia, China and the US on the next phase of the search for the plane that went missing on March 8, which is likely to be announced next week.

He also said cost was not a concern in the search.

"There will be some issues of costs into the future but this is not about costs," Johnston said here.

"We want to find this aircraft. We want to say to our friends in Malaysia and China that this is not about cost. We are concerned to be seen to be helping them in a most tragic circumstance."

Johnston said more powerful towed side-scan commercial sonar equipment would probably be deployed, similar to the remote-controlled subs that found RMS Titanic 3,800m under the Atlantic Ocean in 1985 and the Australian World War 2 wreck HMAS Sydney in the Indian Ocean off the Australian coast, north of the current search area, in 2008.

"The next phase, I think, is that we step up with potentially a more powerful, more capable side-scan sonar to do deeper water," he said.

Meanwhile, the Australian prime minister said the airliner's probable impact zone was a swath of sea floor measuring 700km long and 80km wide.

He said a new search strategy would be adopted if nothing was found in the current seabed search zone.

"If at the end of that period we find nothing, we are not going to abandon the search, we may well rethink the search, but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery.

"We owe it to the families of the 239 people on board.

"We owe it to the hundreds of millions -- indeed, billions -- of people who travel by air, to try to get to the bottom of this.

"The only way we can get to the bottom of this is to keep searching the probable impact zone until we find something or until we have searched it as thoroughly as human ingenuity allows at this time," Abbott said.

The focus of next phase of the seafloor search would be decided on by continuing analysis of information including flight data and sound detection of suspected beacons, Johnston said.

"A lot of this seabed has not even been hydrographically surveyed before.

"Some of it has been, but we're flying blind," he said, adding that the seabed in the vicinity of the search was up to 7km deep.

The search centre said an air search involving 10 planes was suspended for a second day because of heavy seas and poor visibility. AP

 

14 injured after tree falls on stall

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 09:01 AM PDT

24 April 2014| last updated at 11:48PM
By JASPAL SINGH | jaspal@nst.com.my

TAIPING: A TREE fell on a foodstall in a village in Selama near here injuring 14 people, including two seriously.

The 20m-tall horse mango tree, known locally as "Pokok Machang" (Mangifera foetida) broke and fell on the stall which was operating underneath.

The incident happened around 7.30am yesterday in Kampung Tapah, Sungai Bayor, as the victims were having breakfast.

Selama Fire and Rescue station chief Mohd Fadzeli Che Husin said the victims were sent to Selama Hospital for treatment.

He said Hassan Hamid, 71, and Mohamad Hanafi Che Wok, 61, suffered severe body injuries caused by fallen branches and the stall's zinc roof, and were admitted to the Taiping Hospital for treatment.

"Investigation showed the tree was more than 20 years old and was badly rotting."

Patron Hassan Basri Ahmad, 53, said he heard a loud cracking sound while having breakfast with the others after completing their subuh prayers.

"We were trapped when the roof suddenly collapsed on us."

The debris from the machang tree which fell on a food stall and injured 14 patrons in Kampung Tapah, Sungai Bayor, Selama, Perak yesterday.

2 dogs bite off maid's scalp

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 09:01 AM PDT

24 April 2014| last updated at 11:50PM
By ALANG BENDAHARA | alang@nst.com.my

SEREMBAN: AN Indonesian maid lost part of her scalp while two locals, including a policeman were injured in  attacks by two American bulldogs in Kampung Masjid Lenggeng near here yesterday.

The incident occurred at 7.50am when Ruhimah Juandi, 51, had just come back to her employer's house after buying nasi lemak from a stall.

"I bought the nasi lemak for myself and the 80-year-old woman that I take care of as everyone else had gone out," she said at Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital (HTJ) here yesterday.

"When I came back from the stall, which is just 50m away from the house, I took the nasi lemak inside the house and came out to clean the floor.

"Suddenly, two large dogs came straight at me. I tried to ward them off with a water hose but the dogs bit me and I fell.

"I could not get up as the dogs had pinned me down and kept biting me as if I was their meal."

Ruhimah said part of her scalp, along with her hair, was bitten off and her left arm was broken. Her scalp, which was carried off by one of the dogs, was found behind the house.

Nasi lemak seller Hoosni Anuar Hamid, 44, from whom Ruhimah had bought her breakfast, saw the attack. He got into his car and tried to ram the dogs.

He said the dogs ran away and Ruhimah ran into the house.

Hoosni said he drove to the Lenggeng police station to inform policemen of the incident, then drove to the Lenggeng clinic to call for an ambulance, and within 30 minutes returned to check on Ruhimah, who was conscious.

He informed the neighbours of the incident, then went to his stall to sit with his wife and their 4-year-old son.

"I saw the the dogs coming to my stall and went to chase them as I was afraid they might attack my son and wife. But the dogs pounced on me while I tried to fight back," said Hoosni, who was bitten on his mouth, legs and arms.

At that time, Lance Corporal Mohd Naser Sulaiman from Lenggeng station passed by on his motorcycle and warded off the dogs with a stick but was bitten on his ankle.

After the dogs had run off and both victims were taken to HTJ, Naser went to his home to grab his shotgun, went back to the scene and fired four shots, killing the dogs.

He received outpatient treatment at the clinic.

Ruhimah and Hoosni were reported to be in stable condition.

Villagers claimed the dogs were usually kept in chains to guard a chilli farm from drug addicts but the two escaped yesterday.

Nilai police chief Superintendent Abdullah Roning said investigation showed that the farmer, in his 40s, who was not at his farm during the incident, reared 10 dogs without licences, including the two killed.

Ruhimah Juandi, who was attacked by two bulldogs, recovering at the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital in Seremban yesterday.

Little to celebrate for 23 birthday revellers

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 09:01 AM PDT

24 April 2014| last updated at 11:58PM

The group, which included eight women, were charged in three magistrate's courts with consuming various types of drugs at the Northeast district police headquarters' narcotics criminal investigation division between 9am and 11am on April 20.

Eight were charged before magistrate L. Umma Devi while seven others were charged before magistrate Sri Pracha Nanthini Balabedha. All pleaded not guilty.

The other eight were charged before magistrate Dianne Ningrad Nor Azahar. Six pleaded guilty. The rest claimed trial.

Umma Devi and Dianne Ningrad set bail at RM2,000 for each accused and fixed June 24 and June 26, respectively, for mention, pending the chemist report.

Sri Pracha set bail at RM1,500 for each accused and fixed June 19 for mention.

Deputy public prosecutors Noor Azura Zulkiflee, Nur Farhana Hashim and Emma Syafawati Abdul Wahab prosecuted.

Some of the suspects being brought to the magistrate's court in George Town, Penang, yesterday.


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