By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer
CLARENCE, N.Y. – A commuter plane that smashed into a house was pointed away from the airport it was trying to reach, investigators said Saturday, noting that it apparently fell flat.
Flight data showed the plane's safety systems warned the pilot that the aircraft was perilously close to losing lift and plummeting from the sky. The ensuing crash killed 49 people on the plane and one in the house.
Continental Connection Flight 3407 didn't nose-dive into the house, as initially reported by some witnesses, said Steve Chealander, a National Transportation Safety Board member.
The Newark, N.J.,-to-Buffalo flight was cleared to land on a runway pointing to the southwest, but it crashed with its nose pointed northeast, Chealander said. It will take as many as four days to remove human remains from the site, which he called an "excavation."
"Keep in mind, there's an airplane that fell on top of a house, and they're now intermingled," he said.
The plane — on its descent to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in a light snow and mist — plunged suddenly about six miles shy of the runway and exploded.
A "stick shaker" and "stick pusher" mechanism had activated to warn Capt. Marvin Renslow that the plane was about to lose aerodynamic lift, a condition called a stall that means there's not enough air under the wings to keep the plane elevated.
When the "stick pusher" engaged, it would have pointed the nose of the plane toward the ground to try to keep air under the wings, the last moments before it stalled and plunged to the ground.
Crash investigators picked through incinerated wreckage Saturday, gathering evidence to determine what brought down the plane. Icing on the aircraft is suspected to have played a role, but officials have stopped short of calling that the cause.
Experts were analyzing data from the black boxes, including statements by crew members about a buildup of ice on the wings and windshield of the plane, Chealander said.
Other aircraft in the area Thursday night told air traffic controllers they also experienced icing around the time that the plane went down.
Icing is one of several elements being examined by investigators, Chealander said, adding that a full report will probably take a year.
DNA and dental records will be used to identify the bodies, he said.
One aspect of the investigation will focus on the crew, how they were trained and whether they had enough time to rest between flights. Other investigators focused on the weather, the mechanics of the plane and whether the engine, wings and various mechanics of the plane operated as they were designed to.
Initial visual inspection of the engines indicates they were working properly, Chealander said.
____
Associated Press writers Carolyn Thompson, William Kates and Larry Neumeister contributed to this report.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Suspected US missile strike kills 27 in Pakistan
By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD – Dozens of followers of Pakistan's top Taliban commander were in a compound when a suspected U.S. missile attack hit Saturday, killing 27 militants in an al-Qaida stronghold near the Afghan border, officials said.
The strike appeared to be the deadliest yet by the American drone aircraft that prowl the frontier, and defied Pakistani warnings that the tactic is fueling extremism in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation.
In an interview unrelated to the attack, President Asif Ali Zardari said the Taliban had expanded their presence to a "huge amount" of Pakistan and were even eyeing a takeover of the state.
"We're fighting for the survival of Pakistan. We're not fighting for the survival of anybody else," Zardari said, according to a transcript of his remarks that CBS television said it would air Sunday.
Many Pakistanis believe the country is fighting Islamist militants, who have enjoyed state support in the past, only at Washington's behest.
Remotely piloted U.S. aircraft are believed to have launched more than 30 attacks over the past year, and American officials say al-Qaida's leadership and ability to support the insurgency in Afghanistan has been significantly weakened. But Pakistani officials say the vast majority of the victims are civilians.
After Saturday's strike, Taliban fighters surrounded the flattened compound in the village of Shrawangai Nazarkhel and carried away the dead and wounded in several vehicles. The village is in South Waziristan, part of the tribally governed area along the Afghan frontier considered the likely redoubt of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
The victims included about 15 ethnic Uzbek militants and several Afghans, said Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The seniority of the militants was unclear.
Two of the officials said dozens of followers of Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, were staying in the housing compound when it was hit. There was no indication that Mehsud was present.
Pakistan's former government and the CIA have named Mehsud as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to al-Qaida, and of training suicide bombers.
The accounts of Saturday's strike could not be verified independently. The tribally governed region is unsafe for reporters. The U.S. Embassy had no comment, while Pakistan's army spokesman was unavailable.
The new U.S. administration has brushed off Pakistani criticism that the missile strikes fuel extremist and anti-American sentiment and undercuts the government's own counterinsurgency strategy.
"The government is doing everything possible to stop it and I hope that America listens to the voice of the people of Pakistan," Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said Saturday.
Yet many analysts suspect Pakistan has quietly agreed to the attacks in order not to endanger billions of dollars in American and Western support for its powerful military and its ailing economy.
The pro-Western government in Islamabad, led by Bhutto widower Zardari, has signed peace deals with tribal leaders in the northwest while launching a series of military operations against hard-liners.
However, government forces are bogged down on several fronts in the northwest, and Taliban militants have sustained a campaign that has included a string of abductions and other attacks on foreigners.
On Friday, the kidnappers of an American employee of the United Nations threatened to kill him within 72 hours and issued a grainy 20-second video of the blindfolded John Solecki saying he was "sick and in trouble."
Gunmen seized Solecki on Feb. 2 after shooting his driver to death as they drove to work in Quetta, a southwestern city near the Afghan border.
The kidnappers identified themselves as the previously unknown Baluchistan Liberation United Front, indicating a link to local separatists rather than to Islamist militants.
Fears for Solecki's safety are intense after Taliban militants apparently beheaded an abducted Polish geologist in early February. A U.N. statement said it was aware of the kidnappers' demand for the release of 141 women allegedly held in Pakistan and was seeking "urgent contact to discuss ways of securing his safe release."
Malik said the international community should know that the demands were "highly unrealistic."
"I have shared that list of 141 women with authorities and all intelligence agencies. It does not have any reality," he told reporters in Quetta.
Malik said authorities trying to free Solecki were following strong leads and he was hopeful they would succeed.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke Saturday with Zardari about the kidnapping, and "they agreed on the need to secure the safe and immediate release of John Solecki," Ban's office said in a statement.
ISLAMABAD – Dozens of followers of Pakistan's top Taliban commander were in a compound when a suspected U.S. missile attack hit Saturday, killing 27 militants in an al-Qaida stronghold near the Afghan border, officials said.
The strike appeared to be the deadliest yet by the American drone aircraft that prowl the frontier, and defied Pakistani warnings that the tactic is fueling extremism in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation.
In an interview unrelated to the attack, President Asif Ali Zardari said the Taliban had expanded their presence to a "huge amount" of Pakistan and were even eyeing a takeover of the state.
"We're fighting for the survival of Pakistan. We're not fighting for the survival of anybody else," Zardari said, according to a transcript of his remarks that CBS television said it would air Sunday.
Many Pakistanis believe the country is fighting Islamist militants, who have enjoyed state support in the past, only at Washington's behest.
Remotely piloted U.S. aircraft are believed to have launched more than 30 attacks over the past year, and American officials say al-Qaida's leadership and ability to support the insurgency in Afghanistan has been significantly weakened. But Pakistani officials say the vast majority of the victims are civilians.
After Saturday's strike, Taliban fighters surrounded the flattened compound in the village of Shrawangai Nazarkhel and carried away the dead and wounded in several vehicles. The village is in South Waziristan, part of the tribally governed area along the Afghan frontier considered the likely redoubt of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
The victims included about 15 ethnic Uzbek militants and several Afghans, said Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The seniority of the militants was unclear.
Two of the officials said dozens of followers of Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, were staying in the housing compound when it was hit. There was no indication that Mehsud was present.
Pakistan's former government and the CIA have named Mehsud as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to al-Qaida, and of training suicide bombers.
The accounts of Saturday's strike could not be verified independently. The tribally governed region is unsafe for reporters. The U.S. Embassy had no comment, while Pakistan's army spokesman was unavailable.
The new U.S. administration has brushed off Pakistani criticism that the missile strikes fuel extremist and anti-American sentiment and undercuts the government's own counterinsurgency strategy.
"The government is doing everything possible to stop it and I hope that America listens to the voice of the people of Pakistan," Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said Saturday.
Yet many analysts suspect Pakistan has quietly agreed to the attacks in order not to endanger billions of dollars in American and Western support for its powerful military and its ailing economy.
The pro-Western government in Islamabad, led by Bhutto widower Zardari, has signed peace deals with tribal leaders in the northwest while launching a series of military operations against hard-liners.
However, government forces are bogged down on several fronts in the northwest, and Taliban militants have sustained a campaign that has included a string of abductions and other attacks on foreigners.
On Friday, the kidnappers of an American employee of the United Nations threatened to kill him within 72 hours and issued a grainy 20-second video of the blindfolded John Solecki saying he was "sick and in trouble."
Gunmen seized Solecki on Feb. 2 after shooting his driver to death as they drove to work in Quetta, a southwestern city near the Afghan border.
The kidnappers identified themselves as the previously unknown Baluchistan Liberation United Front, indicating a link to local separatists rather than to Islamist militants.
Fears for Solecki's safety are intense after Taliban militants apparently beheaded an abducted Polish geologist in early February. A U.N. statement said it was aware of the kidnappers' demand for the release of 141 women allegedly held in Pakistan and was seeking "urgent contact to discuss ways of securing his safe release."
Malik said the international community should know that the demands were "highly unrealistic."
"I have shared that list of 141 women with authorities and all intelligence agencies. It does not have any reality," he told reporters in Quetta.
Malik said authorities trying to free Solecki were following strong leads and he was hopeful they would succeed.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke Saturday with Zardari about the kidnapping, and "they agreed on the need to secure the safe and immediate release of John Solecki," Ban's office said in a statement.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Obama honors Lincoln's vision of strong union
By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Summoning the pride of a nation, President Barack Obama paid fond tribute Thursday to Abraham Lincoln by challenging people to embrace his vision of a collective union and reject a "knee-jerk disdain for government."
"He recognized that while each of us must do our part, work as hard as we can and be as responsible as we can — in the end, there are certain things we cannot do on our own," Obama said of Lincoln at a celebration of the revered president's 200th birthday.
"There are certain things we can only do together," Obama said. "There are certain things only a union can do."
Here in the place that Lincoln called home, and from where Obama launched his presidential bid, the new president's speech capped his third event honoring Lincoln's bicentennial.
It was a whirlwind day for Obama. He squeezed in economic comments in East Peoria, Ill., and coped with the abrupt withdrawal of another commerce secretary nominee.
The stories of Obama and Lincoln have become entwined by history, geography and symbolism. Their paths are viewed as not just their own, but the country's as well — a lineage from the man who freed the slaves to the first black president in U.S. history.
Obama said Lincoln understood that self-reliance was at the core of American life. But Obama said individual liberty is "served, not negated, by a recognition of the common good."
The pendulum, Obama said, has swung too far toward a philosophy that says government is the problem — a notion that it should be dismantled, with tax breaks for the wealthy that might eventually help out everyone.
"Such knee-jerk disdain for government — this constant rejection of any common endeavor — cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges," Obama said. His list of collective examples went on: better schools, modern health care, an economy built on clean energy.
"Only a nation can do these things," Obama said. "Only by coming together, all of us, and expressing that sense of shared sacrifice and responsibility ... can we do the work that must be done in this country. That is the very definition of being American."
Earlier Thursday, back in Washington, Obama celebrated Lincoln's resolve at a ceremony in the stately Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. And he spent Wednesday evening at a performance at the newly renovated Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
Like Lincoln, Obama is a skinny lawyer who rose from obscurity and served briefly in the Illinois legislature before leaping to national office at a time of burgeoning crisis.
Still, the White House is mindful to limit the comparison, whatever the parallels.
Lincoln is a monumental figure who fought to preserve the union, presided over the enormously costly Civil War and signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Obama has been president for less than a month.
"This president isn't seeking to compare himself with I think what many believe is one of the two or three greatest presidents that this country's ever had," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
That Obama often operates in Lincoln's shadow is largely a matter of choice. He admires the 16th president, reads his language, quotes his speeches and draws on him for inspiration.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Summoning the pride of a nation, President Barack Obama paid fond tribute Thursday to Abraham Lincoln by challenging people to embrace his vision of a collective union and reject a "knee-jerk disdain for government."
"He recognized that while each of us must do our part, work as hard as we can and be as responsible as we can — in the end, there are certain things we cannot do on our own," Obama said of Lincoln at a celebration of the revered president's 200th birthday.
"There are certain things we can only do together," Obama said. "There are certain things only a union can do."
Here in the place that Lincoln called home, and from where Obama launched his presidential bid, the new president's speech capped his third event honoring Lincoln's bicentennial.
It was a whirlwind day for Obama. He squeezed in economic comments in East Peoria, Ill., and coped with the abrupt withdrawal of another commerce secretary nominee.
The stories of Obama and Lincoln have become entwined by history, geography and symbolism. Their paths are viewed as not just their own, but the country's as well — a lineage from the man who freed the slaves to the first black president in U.S. history.
Obama said Lincoln understood that self-reliance was at the core of American life. But Obama said individual liberty is "served, not negated, by a recognition of the common good."
The pendulum, Obama said, has swung too far toward a philosophy that says government is the problem — a notion that it should be dismantled, with tax breaks for the wealthy that might eventually help out everyone.
"Such knee-jerk disdain for government — this constant rejection of any common endeavor — cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges," Obama said. His list of collective examples went on: better schools, modern health care, an economy built on clean energy.
"Only a nation can do these things," Obama said. "Only by coming together, all of us, and expressing that sense of shared sacrifice and responsibility ... can we do the work that must be done in this country. That is the very definition of being American."
Earlier Thursday, back in Washington, Obama celebrated Lincoln's resolve at a ceremony in the stately Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. And he spent Wednesday evening at a performance at the newly renovated Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
Like Lincoln, Obama is a skinny lawyer who rose from obscurity and served briefly in the Illinois legislature before leaping to national office at a time of burgeoning crisis.
Still, the White House is mindful to limit the comparison, whatever the parallels.
Lincoln is a monumental figure who fought to preserve the union, presided over the enormously costly Civil War and signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Obama has been president for less than a month.
"This president isn't seeking to compare himself with I think what many believe is one of the two or three greatest presidents that this country's ever had," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
That Obama often operates in Lincoln's shadow is largely a matter of choice. He admires the 16th president, reads his language, quotes his speeches and draws on him for inspiration.
Lawmakers say all issues settled in stimulus bill
By DAVID ESPO and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON – Reluctant to call it quits, key lawmakers bargained into overtime Thursday on the $790 billion economic stimulus legislation before reaching final agreement more than 24 hours after first announcing a deal. Lingering controversy over school-modernization money and a scaled-back tax break for businesses forced a delay in final votes on the legislation. But by nightfall, with Democratic leaders eager for final passage by the weekend, all issues were reported settled.
House leaders announced a vote for Friday, with the Senate to follow later in the day or over the weekend.
Republicans, lined up to vote against the bill, piled on the scorn. "This is not the smart approach," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. "The taxpayers of today and tomorrow will be left to clean up the mess."
President Barack Obama delivered what has become a daily call for congressional action, this time from the industrial heartland. With approval of the bill, he said in Peoria, Ill., companies "may be able to start growing again. Rather than cutting jobs, they may be able to create them again."
He spoke at Caterpillar Inc., the heavy machinery giant that has announced 22,000 layoffs. The president has said in recent days the company has promised to rescind some of them once the stimulus passes, but Chief Executive Jim Owens said there probably would be more layoffs before that can occur.
At the Capitol and in an atmosphere of uncertainty, provisions were coming to light that had not been included in the original bills that passed the House or Senate — or that differed markedly from earlier versions, or that appeared to brush up against claims of the bill's supporters that no pet projects known as "earmarks" were included.
One last-minute addition was a $3.2 billion tax break for General Motors Corp. that would allow the ailing auto giant to use current losses to claim refunds for taxes paid when times were good. GM got a $13.4 billion federal bailout late last year — and is expected to receive more in 2009 — and argued that without the provision, its government-financed turnaround plan could force the company to pay higher taxes.
The legislation does not mention GM specifically, but the company has been lobbying hard for the provision for months, with help from Michigan's representatives in Congress. "We wanted to make sure that the restructuring wasn't counteracted," said Rep. Sander M. Levin, D-Mich., a supporter of the provision.
It was not immediately clear why the provision had not been included in the bill that cleared the House several weeks ago.
Negotiators sweetened another tax break at the last minute, doubling to $1.6 billion a provision that would benefit businesses that buy their own debt at a discount. It was a major priority of business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which argued it would help firms and banks clear debt from their balance sheets and begin to hire workers and lend money to customers. The business group announced its support of the bill, despite the heavy opposition from its customary Republican allies in Congress.
Another late addition was a quadrupling to $8 billion, at the behest of Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., of money to construct high-speed rail lines. Reid's office issued a statement noting that a proposed Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas rail could get a big chunk of the money.
While heavily lobbied, such provisions were largely around the edges of a bill that supporters said would save or create 3.5 million jobs and that Obama has made a centerpiece of his economic recovery plan.
The bill includes billions of dollars for victims of the recession in the form of increased unemployment benefits and food stamps, subsidies to defray the cost of laid-off workers who want to continue their private health insurance and expanded government-financed coverage for the poor.
Billions more would head off deep cuts in services by the states, many of which face deficits of their own because of the recession.
The bill also included Obama's signature tax cut, although on a slightly reduced scale. It will mean a $400 break for most individual workers and $800 for couples, including those who do not earn enough to pay income taxes.
Democratic leaders had originally hoped to vote on the bill on Thursday, then announced it would be Friday. There was no schedule for the Senate vote.
There was no evidence that the bill's passage was in jeopardy, although Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, whose vote is critical to Senate approval, issued a statement at midday that said she was "continuing to press for changes" that would broaden a tax break that was drafted to apply only to certain small businesses. The provision allows firms operating at a loss to claim refunds for taxes paid when times were profitable, and negotiators agreed during the day to let more companies qualify.
Snowe's office released the statement at about the same time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told a reporter that bargaining was finished.
Pelosi herself was involved in a continuing disagreement over the use of federal funds for school modernization — the issue that caused her to withhold support from the compromise on Wednesday for more than two hours after key senators had announced it.
Due to the insistence of Senate Republican moderates, an attempt to create a new federal program for school construction was scrapped in final negotiations. As a compromise, money from a $40 billion fund for local schools could be used for school repairs.
But Democrats wanted assurances that the states would allocate the money according to need, rather than at a governor's sole discretion, leading to renewed negotiations.
WASHINGTON – Reluctant to call it quits, key lawmakers bargained into overtime Thursday on the $790 billion economic stimulus legislation before reaching final agreement more than 24 hours after first announcing a deal. Lingering controversy over school-modernization money and a scaled-back tax break for businesses forced a delay in final votes on the legislation. But by nightfall, with Democratic leaders eager for final passage by the weekend, all issues were reported settled.
House leaders announced a vote for Friday, with the Senate to follow later in the day or over the weekend.
Republicans, lined up to vote against the bill, piled on the scorn. "This is not the smart approach," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. "The taxpayers of today and tomorrow will be left to clean up the mess."
President Barack Obama delivered what has become a daily call for congressional action, this time from the industrial heartland. With approval of the bill, he said in Peoria, Ill., companies "may be able to start growing again. Rather than cutting jobs, they may be able to create them again."
He spoke at Caterpillar Inc., the heavy machinery giant that has announced 22,000 layoffs. The president has said in recent days the company has promised to rescind some of them once the stimulus passes, but Chief Executive Jim Owens said there probably would be more layoffs before that can occur.
At the Capitol and in an atmosphere of uncertainty, provisions were coming to light that had not been included in the original bills that passed the House or Senate — or that differed markedly from earlier versions, or that appeared to brush up against claims of the bill's supporters that no pet projects known as "earmarks" were included.
One last-minute addition was a $3.2 billion tax break for General Motors Corp. that would allow the ailing auto giant to use current losses to claim refunds for taxes paid when times were good. GM got a $13.4 billion federal bailout late last year — and is expected to receive more in 2009 — and argued that without the provision, its government-financed turnaround plan could force the company to pay higher taxes.
The legislation does not mention GM specifically, but the company has been lobbying hard for the provision for months, with help from Michigan's representatives in Congress. "We wanted to make sure that the restructuring wasn't counteracted," said Rep. Sander M. Levin, D-Mich., a supporter of the provision.
It was not immediately clear why the provision had not been included in the bill that cleared the House several weeks ago.
Negotiators sweetened another tax break at the last minute, doubling to $1.6 billion a provision that would benefit businesses that buy their own debt at a discount. It was a major priority of business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which argued it would help firms and banks clear debt from their balance sheets and begin to hire workers and lend money to customers. The business group announced its support of the bill, despite the heavy opposition from its customary Republican allies in Congress.
Another late addition was a quadrupling to $8 billion, at the behest of Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., of money to construct high-speed rail lines. Reid's office issued a statement noting that a proposed Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas rail could get a big chunk of the money.
While heavily lobbied, such provisions were largely around the edges of a bill that supporters said would save or create 3.5 million jobs and that Obama has made a centerpiece of his economic recovery plan.
The bill includes billions of dollars for victims of the recession in the form of increased unemployment benefits and food stamps, subsidies to defray the cost of laid-off workers who want to continue their private health insurance and expanded government-financed coverage for the poor.
Billions more would head off deep cuts in services by the states, many of which face deficits of their own because of the recession.
The bill also included Obama's signature tax cut, although on a slightly reduced scale. It will mean a $400 break for most individual workers and $800 for couples, including those who do not earn enough to pay income taxes.
Democratic leaders had originally hoped to vote on the bill on Thursday, then announced it would be Friday. There was no schedule for the Senate vote.
There was no evidence that the bill's passage was in jeopardy, although Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, whose vote is critical to Senate approval, issued a statement at midday that said she was "continuing to press for changes" that would broaden a tax break that was drafted to apply only to certain small businesses. The provision allows firms operating at a loss to claim refunds for taxes paid when times were profitable, and negotiators agreed during the day to let more companies qualify.
Snowe's office released the statement at about the same time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told a reporter that bargaining was finished.
Pelosi herself was involved in a continuing disagreement over the use of federal funds for school modernization — the issue that caused her to withhold support from the compromise on Wednesday for more than two hours after key senators had announced it.
Due to the insistence of Senate Republican moderates, an attempt to create a new federal program for school construction was scrapped in final negotiations. As a compromise, money from a $40 billion fund for local schools could be used for school repairs.
But Democrats wanted assurances that the states would allocate the money according to need, rather than at a governor's sole discretion, leading to renewed negotiations.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Mini-Budget set for March 10
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — Parliament starts next week with the second stimulus plan or a mini-Budget, said to be in excess of RM10 billion, to be tabled on March 10 while a Bill for a special complaints commission is also expected to be debated.
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will table the mini-Budget aimed at breathing life into a stuttering economy. It will contain fiscal, monetary and structural reform measures, officials said.
The Parliament sitting will start with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's royal address on Feb 16 and will also see newly-elected Kuala Terengganu MP Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut taking his oath of office, but keeping Pakatan Rakyat's benches at 81 as its Bukit Gantang MP Roslan Shaharum died earlier this week.
Officials said the Special Complaints Commission Bill, the third piece of legislation in outgoing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's reform package, will be tabled and debated at the Parliament meeting. The Bill originated from the proposed Independent Police Complaint and Misconduct Commission bill which never saw light of day much to the criticism of the opposition and civil groups.
Other Bills listed in the order paper for this meeting include the Witness Protection Bill and Judges' Ethics Committee Bill, which was first read last December.
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will table the mini-Budget aimed at breathing life into a stuttering economy. It will contain fiscal, monetary and structural reform measures, officials said.
The Parliament sitting will start with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's royal address on Feb 16 and will also see newly-elected Kuala Terengganu MP Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut taking his oath of office, but keeping Pakatan Rakyat's benches at 81 as its Bukit Gantang MP Roslan Shaharum died earlier this week.
Officials said the Special Complaints Commission Bill, the third piece of legislation in outgoing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's reform package, will be tabled and debated at the Parliament meeting. The Bill originated from the proposed Independent Police Complaint and Misconduct Commission bill which never saw light of day much to the criticism of the opposition and civil groups.
Other Bills listed in the order paper for this meeting include the Witness Protection Bill and Judges' Ethics Committee Bill, which was first read last December.
Dr M: Country needs to increase people’s income to boost economy
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — Be like Singapore and find your niche.
That is what former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants Malaysia to do.
He cited Singapore as a country that not only found its niche in financial services, but had managed to increase both its gross domestic product and the income of its people to reach a developed nation status.
“Since their separation from Malaysia, every year they (Singaporeans) increased their wages but remained prosperous, although not so now,” he told Malaysia's Business Times in a recent interview.
He said that Malaysia too needs to increase income so that the economy will benefit.
“The main thing is to increase the income of our people so that the economy will rise through higher consumption of local products,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also said this cannot happen overnight.
He said Malaysia first needs to find out what kind of business or industry it can excel in and work on increasing efficiency through more automation and innovation, “so we can have less labour cost but higher wages”.
Dr Mahathir also gave his take on how the government should tackle the current economic crisis.
In response to people saying that the government was too slow to act, he said it needs to plan carefully before it can act.
He said that before dispensing money, the government has to carefully study the multiplier effect the money would bring to the economy.
“It is not just giving money here and there... giving it to this school or to this area, that area... that is not the way. We have to structure the whole economy and structure which part needs support.”
He said that during the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis, when he was the prime minister, daily meetings to discuss economic data from all sectors took place.
“Every day we would sit down, from morning to 1pm, to study the economy. We had all the data, all types of consumption data from electricity to restaurants... so that we know what the economy is like. We must have all the data regarding this crisis, the causes, then only can we plan on how to use the money.
“Just because it is called pump-priming, so we just give money?” he asked.
“The leadership must be knowledgeable and understand what really needs to be done and can't simply expect civil servants to help overcome this problem. The leadership has to tell them and unless things change, you will lose the next election.”
Last week he told the Star newspaper that the government is capable of allocating RM35 billion for the second stimulus package if it wants to.
“(It) is 5 per cent of gross domestic product,” he said.
The Employees Provident Fund alone has funds worth some RM250 billion, he told reporters at a forum on the global financial crisis.
Corporate leaders from various industries had said that the first stimulus package worth RM7b was not big and effective enough.
Dr Mahathir also advised corporate leaders to be very careful in exercising cost-cutting measures, especially in cutting wages.
“When people have less purchasing power, people will buy less and this would have an effect on the economy on the macro scale,” he said. — The New Paper
That is what former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants Malaysia to do.
He cited Singapore as a country that not only found its niche in financial services, but had managed to increase both its gross domestic product and the income of its people to reach a developed nation status.
“Since their separation from Malaysia, every year they (Singaporeans) increased their wages but remained prosperous, although not so now,” he told Malaysia's Business Times in a recent interview.
He said that Malaysia too needs to increase income so that the economy will benefit.
“The main thing is to increase the income of our people so that the economy will rise through higher consumption of local products,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also said this cannot happen overnight.
He said Malaysia first needs to find out what kind of business or industry it can excel in and work on increasing efficiency through more automation and innovation, “so we can have less labour cost but higher wages”.
Dr Mahathir also gave his take on how the government should tackle the current economic crisis.
In response to people saying that the government was too slow to act, he said it needs to plan carefully before it can act.
He said that before dispensing money, the government has to carefully study the multiplier effect the money would bring to the economy.
“It is not just giving money here and there... giving it to this school or to this area, that area... that is not the way. We have to structure the whole economy and structure which part needs support.”
He said that during the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis, when he was the prime minister, daily meetings to discuss economic data from all sectors took place.
“Every day we would sit down, from morning to 1pm, to study the economy. We had all the data, all types of consumption data from electricity to restaurants... so that we know what the economy is like. We must have all the data regarding this crisis, the causes, then only can we plan on how to use the money.
“Just because it is called pump-priming, so we just give money?” he asked.
“The leadership must be knowledgeable and understand what really needs to be done and can't simply expect civil servants to help overcome this problem. The leadership has to tell them and unless things change, you will lose the next election.”
Last week he told the Star newspaper that the government is capable of allocating RM35 billion for the second stimulus package if it wants to.
“(It) is 5 per cent of gross domestic product,” he said.
The Employees Provident Fund alone has funds worth some RM250 billion, he told reporters at a forum on the global financial crisis.
Corporate leaders from various industries had said that the first stimulus package worth RM7b was not big and effective enough.
Dr Mahathir also advised corporate leaders to be very careful in exercising cost-cutting measures, especially in cutting wages.
“When people have less purchasing power, people will buy less and this would have an effect on the economy on the macro scale,” he said. — The New Paper
Crisis means more child soldiers in Colombia: U.N.
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Global financial turmoil could drive more children to become fighters for Colombia's rebel groups as the country's poorest people suffer the fallout of the economic slowdown, a U.N. agency said on Wednesday.
Colombia's Marxist guerrillas and paramilitary gangs often recruit children as fighters and spies and the government estimated last year that as many as 8,000 children were still caught up in the four-decade-old conflict. They entice child soldiers by offering money.
"The armed groups aren't going to suffer the recession like the country's poor," Paul Martin, a United Nations Children's Fund representative in Colombia, told reporters.
"They're going to keep offering a million pesos to children who live and struggle more each day from the crisis and each day are more likely to accept those offers," he said.
Violence from the Andean country's conflict has eased since President Alvaro Uribe sent U.S.-backed troops to retake areas once under the control of illegal groups. FARC rebels have been driven back into the remote jungles and mountains.
Investment has soared as bombings and murders fall, but Colombia recently cut its growth outlook for this year and next as it absorbs the impact of the financial crisis rattling markets and economies across the world.
Aid agencies say the FARC guerrilla force is stepping up forced recruitment of children to fill ranks sapped by a string of military defeats and scores of desertions.
Children as young as 10 are used as informants or to transport arms and are later trained as fighters.
In 2006, a rights group reported as many as 11,000 children and teenagers may have belonged to Colombia's armed groups. But the Defense Ministry estimated last year that figure was closer to 8,000.
($1 = 2,533 Colombian pesos)
(Reporting by Patrick Markey; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Colombia's Marxist guerrillas and paramilitary gangs often recruit children as fighters and spies and the government estimated last year that as many as 8,000 children were still caught up in the four-decade-old conflict. They entice child soldiers by offering money.
"The armed groups aren't going to suffer the recession like the country's poor," Paul Martin, a United Nations Children's Fund representative in Colombia, told reporters.
"They're going to keep offering a million pesos to children who live and struggle more each day from the crisis and each day are more likely to accept those offers," he said.
Violence from the Andean country's conflict has eased since President Alvaro Uribe sent U.S.-backed troops to retake areas once under the control of illegal groups. FARC rebels have been driven back into the remote jungles and mountains.
Investment has soared as bombings and murders fall, but Colombia recently cut its growth outlook for this year and next as it absorbs the impact of the financial crisis rattling markets and economies across the world.
Aid agencies say the FARC guerrilla force is stepping up forced recruitment of children to fill ranks sapped by a string of military defeats and scores of desertions.
Children as young as 10 are used as informants or to transport arms and are later trained as fighters.
In 2006, a rights group reported as many as 11,000 children and teenagers may have belonged to Colombia's armed groups. But the Defense Ministry estimated last year that figure was closer to 8,000.
($1 = 2,533 Colombian pesos)
(Reporting by Patrick Markey; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Taxpayers may have to cover octuplet mom's costs
By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES – A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman's 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California's taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red.
Even before the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother gave birth to octuplets last month, she had been caring for her six other children with the help of $490 a month in food stamps, plus Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters. The public aid will almost certainly be increased with the new additions to her family.
Also, the hospital where the octuplets are expected to spend seven to 12 weeks has requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, for care of the premature babies, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cost has not been disclosed.
Word of the public assistance has stoked the furor over Suleman's decision to have so many children by having embryos implanted in her womb.
"It appears that, in the case of the Suleman family, raising 14 children takes not simply a village but the combined resources of the county, state and federal governments," Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote in Wednesday's paper. He called Suleman's story "grotesque."
On the Internet, bloggers rained insults on Suleman, calling her an "idiot," criticizing her decision to have more children when she couldn't afford the ones she had and suggesting she be sterilized.
"It's my opinion that a woman's right to reproduce should be limited to a number which the parents can pay for," Charles Murray wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Daily News. "Why should my wife and I, as taxpayers, pay child support for 14 Suleman kids?"
She was also berated on talk radio, where listeners accused her of manipulating the system and being an irresponsible mother.
"From the outside you can tell that this woman was playing the system," host Bryan Suits said on the "Kennedy and Suits" show on KFI-AM. "You're damn right the state should step in and seize the kids and adopt them out."
Suleman's spokesman, Mike Furtney, urged understanding.
"I would just ask people to consider her situation and she has been under a tremendous amount of pressure that no one could be prepared for," Furtney said.
Furtney said he, Suleman and her family had received death threats and had been getting messages that were "disgusting things that would never be proper to put in any story."
In her only media interviews, Suleman told NBC's "Today" she doesn't consider the public assistance she receives to be welfare and doesn't intend to remain on it for long.
Also, a Nadya Suleman Family Web Site has been set up to collect donations for the children. It features pictures of the mother and each octuplet and has instructions for making donations by check or credit card.
Suleman, whose six older children range in age from 2 to 7, said three of them receive disability payments. She told NBC one is autistic, another has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD, and a third experienced a mild speech delay with "tiny characteristics of autism." She refused to say how much they get in payments.
In California, a low-income family can receive Social Security payments of up to $793 a month for each disabled child. Three children would amount to $2,379.
The Suleman octuplets' medical costs have not been disclosed, but in 2006, the average cost for a premature baby's hospital stay in California was $164,273, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Eight times that equals $1.3 million.
For a single mother, the cost of raising 14 children through age 17 ranges from $1.3 million to $2.7 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is struggling to close a $42 billion budget gap by cutting services, declined through a spokesman to comment on the taxpayer costs associated with the octuplets' delivery and care.
State Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, an oral surgeon who sits on the Health Committee, said that once a state Medical Board investigation is complete, lawmakers could review issues from government oversight to standards in fertility treatment.
Suleman received disability payments for an on-the-job back injury during a riot at a state mental hospital, collecting more than $165,000 over nearly a decade before the benefits were discontinued last year.
Some of the disability money was spent on in vitro fertilizations, which was used for all 14 of her children, Suleman said. She said she also worked double shifts at the mental hospital and saved up for the treatments. She estimated that all her treatments cost $100,000.
Fourteen states, including California, require insurance companies to offer or provide coverage for infertility treatment, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But California has a law specifically excluding in vitro coverage. It's not clear what type of coverage Suleman has.
In the NBC interview, Suleman said she will go back to California State University, Fullerton in the fall to complete her master's degree in counseling, and will use student loans to support her children. She already owes $50,000 in student loans, she told NBC. She said she will rely on the school's daycare center and volunteers.
LOS ANGELES – A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman's 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California's taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red.
Even before the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother gave birth to octuplets last month, she had been caring for her six other children with the help of $490 a month in food stamps, plus Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters. The public aid will almost certainly be increased with the new additions to her family.
Also, the hospital where the octuplets are expected to spend seven to 12 weeks has requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, for care of the premature babies, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cost has not been disclosed.
Word of the public assistance has stoked the furor over Suleman's decision to have so many children by having embryos implanted in her womb.
"It appears that, in the case of the Suleman family, raising 14 children takes not simply a village but the combined resources of the county, state and federal governments," Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote in Wednesday's paper. He called Suleman's story "grotesque."
On the Internet, bloggers rained insults on Suleman, calling her an "idiot," criticizing her decision to have more children when she couldn't afford the ones she had and suggesting she be sterilized.
"It's my opinion that a woman's right to reproduce should be limited to a number which the parents can pay for," Charles Murray wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Daily News. "Why should my wife and I, as taxpayers, pay child support for 14 Suleman kids?"
She was also berated on talk radio, where listeners accused her of manipulating the system and being an irresponsible mother.
"From the outside you can tell that this woman was playing the system," host Bryan Suits said on the "Kennedy and Suits" show on KFI-AM. "You're damn right the state should step in and seize the kids and adopt them out."
Suleman's spokesman, Mike Furtney, urged understanding.
"I would just ask people to consider her situation and she has been under a tremendous amount of pressure that no one could be prepared for," Furtney said.
Furtney said he, Suleman and her family had received death threats and had been getting messages that were "disgusting things that would never be proper to put in any story."
In her only media interviews, Suleman told NBC's "Today" she doesn't consider the public assistance she receives to be welfare and doesn't intend to remain on it for long.
Also, a Nadya Suleman Family Web Site has been set up to collect donations for the children. It features pictures of the mother and each octuplet and has instructions for making donations by check or credit card.
Suleman, whose six older children range in age from 2 to 7, said three of them receive disability payments. She told NBC one is autistic, another has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD, and a third experienced a mild speech delay with "tiny characteristics of autism." She refused to say how much they get in payments.
In California, a low-income family can receive Social Security payments of up to $793 a month for each disabled child. Three children would amount to $2,379.
The Suleman octuplets' medical costs have not been disclosed, but in 2006, the average cost for a premature baby's hospital stay in California was $164,273, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Eight times that equals $1.3 million.
For a single mother, the cost of raising 14 children through age 17 ranges from $1.3 million to $2.7 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is struggling to close a $42 billion budget gap by cutting services, declined through a spokesman to comment on the taxpayer costs associated with the octuplets' delivery and care.
State Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, an oral surgeon who sits on the Health Committee, said that once a state Medical Board investigation is complete, lawmakers could review issues from government oversight to standards in fertility treatment.
Suleman received disability payments for an on-the-job back injury during a riot at a state mental hospital, collecting more than $165,000 over nearly a decade before the benefits were discontinued last year.
Some of the disability money was spent on in vitro fertilizations, which was used for all 14 of her children, Suleman said. She said she also worked double shifts at the mental hospital and saved up for the treatments. She estimated that all her treatments cost $100,000.
Fourteen states, including California, require insurance companies to offer or provide coverage for infertility treatment, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But California has a law specifically excluding in vitro coverage. It's not clear what type of coverage Suleman has.
In the NBC interview, Suleman said she will go back to California State University, Fullerton in the fall to complete her master's degree in counseling, and will use student loans to support her children. She already owes $50,000 in student loans, she told NBC. She said she will rely on the school's daycare center and volunteers.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tornado damages homes, down power lines in Okla.
By JEFF LATZKE, Associated Press Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY – A tornado damaged homes and businesses in the Oklahoma City area Tuesday afternoon, carving a path of destruction several miles long. No serious injuries were reported. Six homes were damaged or destroyed near Edmond, a suburb north of Oklahoma City. Several businesses reported damage in both cities.
"We are trying to dodge our storms and keep responders safe, so it is taking some time to get confirmation of damages," said Claudia Deakins, city spokeswoman in Edmond.
The tornado damaged an Edmond business park, turning a body shop and the vehicles inside into a twisted ball of metal.
Shop manager Michael Jerry said he went home to eat and watch the weather reports as the storm moved into the area.
"It's just surreal," Jerry said. "You just don't believe it. Especially knowing you were just there minutes before. The steel girders are in a ball."
In northwest Oklahoma City, one wall of a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant collapsed and windows were blown out, Fire Chief Brian Stanaland said. Signs were stripped and cars were damaged in the parking lot.
A large section of roof was blown off an apartment building and part of a wall was blown off another. Cars were shifted by the wind and smashed into each other. Power lines littered an intersection where motorists were told to stay in their cars until crews could clear the lines.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric spokesman Brian Alford said about 26,000 customers lost power.
Lara O'Leary, a spokeswoman for Emergency Management Services Authority, said three minor injuries were reported.
"We're very hopeful residents were in their safe spots when this moved through," she said.
National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith said one tornado touched down in the city about 3 p.m., moved toward Edmond and north into a rural area. The path covered several miles.
Tornadoes are most numerous in Oklahoma in the spring, but can occur at any time, Smith said.
Winds of more than 60 mph caused dust storms in western Texas that reduced visibility so much some roads have been closed, the National Weather Service said.
Cody Lindsey, a meteorologist in Midland, said the winds were expected to last through early evening.
OKLAHOMA CITY – A tornado damaged homes and businesses in the Oklahoma City area Tuesday afternoon, carving a path of destruction several miles long. No serious injuries were reported. Six homes were damaged or destroyed near Edmond, a suburb north of Oklahoma City. Several businesses reported damage in both cities.
"We are trying to dodge our storms and keep responders safe, so it is taking some time to get confirmation of damages," said Claudia Deakins, city spokeswoman in Edmond.
The tornado damaged an Edmond business park, turning a body shop and the vehicles inside into a twisted ball of metal.
Shop manager Michael Jerry said he went home to eat and watch the weather reports as the storm moved into the area.
"It's just surreal," Jerry said. "You just don't believe it. Especially knowing you were just there minutes before. The steel girders are in a ball."
In northwest Oklahoma City, one wall of a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant collapsed and windows were blown out, Fire Chief Brian Stanaland said. Signs were stripped and cars were damaged in the parking lot.
A large section of roof was blown off an apartment building and part of a wall was blown off another. Cars were shifted by the wind and smashed into each other. Power lines littered an intersection where motorists were told to stay in their cars until crews could clear the lines.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric spokesman Brian Alford said about 26,000 customers lost power.
Lara O'Leary, a spokeswoman for Emergency Management Services Authority, said three minor injuries were reported.
"We're very hopeful residents were in their safe spots when this moved through," she said.
National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith said one tornado touched down in the city about 3 p.m., moved toward Edmond and north into a rural area. The path covered several miles.
Tornadoes are most numerous in Oklahoma in the spring, but can occur at any time, Smith said.
Winds of more than 60 mph caused dust storms in western Texas that reduced visibility so much some roads have been closed, the National Weather Service said.
Cody Lindsey, a meteorologist in Midland, said the winds were expected to last through early evening.
Clinton hopes North Korea moves will not threaten Asia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday she was traveling to Asia to reassure allies of the U.S. commitment to them and was hopeful North Korean saber rattling would not destabilize the region.
North Korea has said recently that it was terminating all agreements with South Korea and that the peninsula was on the brink of war, statements that are not unusual from Pyongyang but that Clinton said were unacceptable to its neighbors.
Speaking ahead of her February 15-22 trip to Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul and Beijing, her first trip abroad as secretary of state, Clinton said the United States was committed to the six-party talks under which North Korea in 2005 agreed to abandon all its nuclear programs.
The talks include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
However, Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in 2006, has been slow to carry out agreements on disabling its plutonium program and has refused to commit to a verification regime, leaving the multilateral process stalled.
Asked what the United States could do to prevent the harsh rhetoric from leading to conflict between the two Koreas, Clinton told reporters: "I am going to Asia to reassert our commitment to our allies and partners.
"We are hopeful that some of the behavior that we have seen coming from North Korea in the last few weeks is not a precursor of any action that would up the ante or threaten the stability and peace and security of the neighbors in the region," she said during a press conference with the Czech foreign minister.
"North Korea has to understand that all of the countries in East Asia have made it clear that its behavior is viewed as unacceptable and there are opportunities for the government and people of North Korea were they to begin once again to engage in the six-party talks and other bilateral and multilateral forums," she added. "We are hopeful that we will see that in the weeks and months ahead.
"I know of the continuing concern on the part of the other members of the six-party talks with respect to North Korea's attitude in the last weeks," she said. "I will be talking to our counterparts to determine the most effective way forward."
Wendy Sherman, a former State Department official who worked on North Korea under former President Bill Clinton, said Clinton was going in part to gauge how U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea wanted to deal with North Korea.
"(It is) obviously crucial, given that we are allies of Japan and South Korea, to get their sense of where things are, how far they are willing to go" to press North Korea to get back on the disarmament track, Sherman said.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Paul Eckert; Editing by Xavier Briand)
North Korea has said recently that it was terminating all agreements with South Korea and that the peninsula was on the brink of war, statements that are not unusual from Pyongyang but that Clinton said were unacceptable to its neighbors.
Speaking ahead of her February 15-22 trip to Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul and Beijing, her first trip abroad as secretary of state, Clinton said the United States was committed to the six-party talks under which North Korea in 2005 agreed to abandon all its nuclear programs.
The talks include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
However, Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in 2006, has been slow to carry out agreements on disabling its plutonium program and has refused to commit to a verification regime, leaving the multilateral process stalled.
Asked what the United States could do to prevent the harsh rhetoric from leading to conflict between the two Koreas, Clinton told reporters: "I am going to Asia to reassert our commitment to our allies and partners.
"We are hopeful that some of the behavior that we have seen coming from North Korea in the last few weeks is not a precursor of any action that would up the ante or threaten the stability and peace and security of the neighbors in the region," she said during a press conference with the Czech foreign minister.
"North Korea has to understand that all of the countries in East Asia have made it clear that its behavior is viewed as unacceptable and there are opportunities for the government and people of North Korea were they to begin once again to engage in the six-party talks and other bilateral and multilateral forums," she added. "We are hopeful that we will see that in the weeks and months ahead.
"I know of the continuing concern on the part of the other members of the six-party talks with respect to North Korea's attitude in the last weeks," she said. "I will be talking to our counterparts to determine the most effective way forward."
Wendy Sherman, a former State Department official who worked on North Korea under former President Bill Clinton, said Clinton was going in part to gauge how U.S. allies like Japan and South Korea wanted to deal with North Korea.
"(It is) obviously crucial, given that we are allies of Japan and South Korea, to get their sense of where things are, how far they are willing to go" to press North Korea to get back on the disarmament track, Sherman said.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Paul Eckert; Editing by Xavier Briand)
Mini-Budget more than RM10b as recession looms
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — The mini-Budget believed to be in excess of RM10 billion will be the government’s last throw of the dice to keep the economy in positive territory in 2009.
But economists and fund managers believe that the despite these best efforts, Malaysia will experience between one to three quarters of negative growth this year, courtesy of slumping world trade and the catastrophic situation in the United States.
The Malaysian Insider has learnt that after crunching the latest economic data including export figures, officials from Bank Negara and the Ministry of Finance now believe that growth this year will be below one per cent, some way off the original estimate of 3.5 per cent.
Some banks and research houses are even more pessimistic saying that Malaysia will slip into a recession this year, a position even usually hawkish government officials are willing to consider as a possibility.
Most troubling to government officials in the last eight weeks has been the sharp plunge in exports and its drag on the important manufacturing sector.
Over 30 per cent of Malaysia’s trade is with Singapore, the US and Japan, three economies in a tailspin and most severely affected by the global economic turmoil.
As a result of limp worldwide demand for goods, the contraction of the manufacturing sector in December was in double figures.
The Malaysian Insider has learnt that given the worsening economic picture, government ministers were forced to face up to the fact that another piecemeal stimulus package may not have packed sufficient firepower to keep public consumption up and businesses chugging along.
That was why Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced last week that the government was going to unveil a mini-Budget during this Parliament session. The House meets from Feb 16 but it is likely that the mini-Budget will be introduced later this month or in early March.
A slew of measures are being considered, from allowing employers to suspend certain contributions made on behalf of employees for a one-year period to having a more liberal environment for foreign investment, including overhauling the role of the Foreign Investment Committee.
A senior government official told The Malaysian Insider: “Nearly everything is on the table. The mini-Budget will be a stimulus package but will also involve some major structural and policies issues. We have received wish lists from industry and their needs will be considered seriously. Our goals are to save jobs and ensure that the economy is competitive and attractive enough to ride the upswing when it happens.’’
Sources said that at the moment the mini-Budget will cost the government in excess of RM10 billion but noted that the final figure will only be known after the Treasury have sifted through all the proposals and ideas currently on the table.
But economists and fund managers believe that the despite these best efforts, Malaysia will experience between one to three quarters of negative growth this year, courtesy of slumping world trade and the catastrophic situation in the United States.
The Malaysian Insider has learnt that after crunching the latest economic data including export figures, officials from Bank Negara and the Ministry of Finance now believe that growth this year will be below one per cent, some way off the original estimate of 3.5 per cent.
Some banks and research houses are even more pessimistic saying that Malaysia will slip into a recession this year, a position even usually hawkish government officials are willing to consider as a possibility.
Most troubling to government officials in the last eight weeks has been the sharp plunge in exports and its drag on the important manufacturing sector.
Over 30 per cent of Malaysia’s trade is with Singapore, the US and Japan, three economies in a tailspin and most severely affected by the global economic turmoil.
As a result of limp worldwide demand for goods, the contraction of the manufacturing sector in December was in double figures.
The Malaysian Insider has learnt that given the worsening economic picture, government ministers were forced to face up to the fact that another piecemeal stimulus package may not have packed sufficient firepower to keep public consumption up and businesses chugging along.
That was why Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced last week that the government was going to unveil a mini-Budget during this Parliament session. The House meets from Feb 16 but it is likely that the mini-Budget will be introduced later this month or in early March.
A slew of measures are being considered, from allowing employers to suspend certain contributions made on behalf of employees for a one-year period to having a more liberal environment for foreign investment, including overhauling the role of the Foreign Investment Committee.
A senior government official told The Malaysian Insider: “Nearly everything is on the table. The mini-Budget will be a stimulus package but will also involve some major structural and policies issues. We have received wish lists from industry and their needs will be considered seriously. Our goals are to save jobs and ensure that the economy is competitive and attractive enough to ride the upswing when it happens.’’
Sources said that at the moment the mini-Budget will cost the government in excess of RM10 billion but noted that the final figure will only be known after the Treasury have sifted through all the proposals and ideas currently on the table.
Malaysia braces for sharp investment fall
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — A significant drop in investments is on the card for Malaysia this year after the country attracted a record RM63 billion in manufacturing investments last year, almost 75 per cent of which came from foreigners.
Last year was the fifth consecutive year of growth in foreign direct investment and indicates that Malaysia remained competitive in manufacturing, International Trade Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday in an annual review of the manufacturing and services sectors.
His ministry approved 12 investments of RM1 billion and above totalling RM38 billion or 61 per cent of all investments approved.
These investments were mainly in capital-intensive projects in metal products, electrical and electronics (E&Es), petrochemicals and transport equipment.
But Muhyiddin acknowledged that the investment outlook this year is challenging because of the global downturn, which will likely worsen before it improves.
The World Bank reckons FDI flows into developing countries are expected to plunge almost a third to US$400 billion (RM1,440 billion) this year, from an estimated US$580 billion in 2008.
But even domestic investors are holding back, spooked by sharp falls in global and local demand and tightening credit.
Heavily reliant on earnings from petroleum products, palm oil and E&Es, Malaysia has been hit by the collapse in commodity prices and shrinking demand for E&E products.
And its textile, plastic, car parts and other manufacturers have been hurt by the crisis of confidence, with orders shrinking by half in some sectors.
With exports continuing to tank, manufacturers have appealed to the government to help them cut costs.
And the government has made several concessions, including a promised reduction of 7-10 per cent in power prices from March.
Malaysia is banking on services to pick up some of the slack and has indicated that it will allow the gradual liberalisation of some non-financial services.
But it has been slow to give any details because of sensitivities over the New Economic Policy — an affirmative action pro-Malay policy.
Muhyiddin said some service sectors will be liberalised “sooner than later” but added: “We will slowly liberalise (the NEP), wherever possible and when we are ready.”
Although FDI accounted for the bulk of investments in manufacturing, it comprised a mere RM5.5 billion or 11.5 per cent of almost RM48 billion of investments approved in the services sector.
Total approvals in this sector last year were considerably lower than the RM66.4 billion approved in 2007.
Australia emerged as the largest source of foreign investment last year. Rio Tinto's proposed RM12.5 billion aluminium smelter, in a joint venture with local conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, accounted for the bulk of the RM13 billion approved.
The proposed smelter is in Sarawak — to tap hydro-electric power from the Bakun dam — so the state topped the investment list, receiving a total of RM16 billion.
It was followed by the more developed states of Selangor, Johor and Penang, with investments approved of around RM11-13 billion.
It is uncertain whether any of the approved projects will be put on hold should the global economy deteriorate further. — Business Times Singapore
Last year was the fifth consecutive year of growth in foreign direct investment and indicates that Malaysia remained competitive in manufacturing, International Trade Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday in an annual review of the manufacturing and services sectors.
His ministry approved 12 investments of RM1 billion and above totalling RM38 billion or 61 per cent of all investments approved.
These investments were mainly in capital-intensive projects in metal products, electrical and electronics (E&Es), petrochemicals and transport equipment.
But Muhyiddin acknowledged that the investment outlook this year is challenging because of the global downturn, which will likely worsen before it improves.
The World Bank reckons FDI flows into developing countries are expected to plunge almost a third to US$400 billion (RM1,440 billion) this year, from an estimated US$580 billion in 2008.
But even domestic investors are holding back, spooked by sharp falls in global and local demand and tightening credit.
Heavily reliant on earnings from petroleum products, palm oil and E&Es, Malaysia has been hit by the collapse in commodity prices and shrinking demand for E&E products.
And its textile, plastic, car parts and other manufacturers have been hurt by the crisis of confidence, with orders shrinking by half in some sectors.
With exports continuing to tank, manufacturers have appealed to the government to help them cut costs.
And the government has made several concessions, including a promised reduction of 7-10 per cent in power prices from March.
Malaysia is banking on services to pick up some of the slack and has indicated that it will allow the gradual liberalisation of some non-financial services.
But it has been slow to give any details because of sensitivities over the New Economic Policy — an affirmative action pro-Malay policy.
Muhyiddin said some service sectors will be liberalised “sooner than later” but added: “We will slowly liberalise (the NEP), wherever possible and when we are ready.”
Although FDI accounted for the bulk of investments in manufacturing, it comprised a mere RM5.5 billion or 11.5 per cent of almost RM48 billion of investments approved in the services sector.
Total approvals in this sector last year were considerably lower than the RM66.4 billion approved in 2007.
Australia emerged as the largest source of foreign investment last year. Rio Tinto's proposed RM12.5 billion aluminium smelter, in a joint venture with local conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, accounted for the bulk of the RM13 billion approved.
The proposed smelter is in Sarawak — to tap hydro-electric power from the Bakun dam — so the state topped the investment list, receiving a total of RM16 billion.
It was followed by the more developed states of Selangor, Johor and Penang, with investments approved of around RM11-13 billion.
It is uncertain whether any of the approved projects will be put on hold should the global economy deteriorate further. — Business Times Singapore
Muhyiddin: Government will review the implementation of the NEP
By Neville Spykerman
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb10 — Malaysia will review the implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and liberalise certain sectors to provide new avenues for foreign and domestic investment in Malaysia.
The government is looking at liberalising various sectors amid a gloomy outlook this year for manufacturing and services.
Minister of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the liberalisation of some of the sectors will take place “sooner than later”.
“We will slowly liberalise (the NEP), wherever possible and when we are ready.”
Muhyiddin, who was speaking during the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) annual press conference, today, was responding to calls from CIMB Bank Chief Executive Officer Datuk Seri Nazir Abdul Razak, for the NEP to be reviewed.
Nazir, who spoke last Tuesday, said the policy, was putting a strain on the Malaysian economy and society.
However Muhyiddin said the NEP, in its original form, was perfect and good but acknowledged weaknesses during implementation.
He disagreed that the policy in itself had to reviewed.
Meanwhile he said the outlook for the manufacturing and services sectors this year was “not too good” as developments in the global economy continue to influence investment inflows, into Malaysia.
He said Malaysia was anticipating a slow down but would concentrate on attracting investment from surplus capital regions, such as the Middle East.
MIDA is set to organise 25 specialised project mission targeted at attracting specific industries and sectors to Malaysia.
Muhyiddin said Malaysia was not very bullish about the situation but there were glimmers of hope and opportunities for the country.
He said some companies in Japan are considering relocating some of their motorcycle and vehicles assemblies to Malaysia, because of the exorbitant cost of manufacturing there.
“It’s these types of companies which are interested in seeing what Malaysia has to offer and are being targeted by MIDA.”
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb10 — Malaysia will review the implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and liberalise certain sectors to provide new avenues for foreign and domestic investment in Malaysia.
The government is looking at liberalising various sectors amid a gloomy outlook this year for manufacturing and services.
Minister of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the liberalisation of some of the sectors will take place “sooner than later”.
“We will slowly liberalise (the NEP), wherever possible and when we are ready.”
Muhyiddin, who was speaking during the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) annual press conference, today, was responding to calls from CIMB Bank Chief Executive Officer Datuk Seri Nazir Abdul Razak, for the NEP to be reviewed.
Nazir, who spoke last Tuesday, said the policy, was putting a strain on the Malaysian economy and society.
However Muhyiddin said the NEP, in its original form, was perfect and good but acknowledged weaknesses during implementation.
He disagreed that the policy in itself had to reviewed.
Meanwhile he said the outlook for the manufacturing and services sectors this year was “not too good” as developments in the global economy continue to influence investment inflows, into Malaysia.
He said Malaysia was anticipating a slow down but would concentrate on attracting investment from surplus capital regions, such as the Middle East.
MIDA is set to organise 25 specialised project mission targeted at attracting specific industries and sectors to Malaysia.
Muhyiddin said Malaysia was not very bullish about the situation but there were glimmers of hope and opportunities for the country.
He said some companies in Japan are considering relocating some of their motorcycle and vehicles assemblies to Malaysia, because of the exorbitant cost of manufacturing there.
“It’s these types of companies which are interested in seeing what Malaysia has to offer and are being targeted by MIDA.”
Guan Eng: We’ve always opposed hopping
PENANG, Feb 10 — The DAP today made its stand clear that it was against party-hopping by elected representatives.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the party had never ceased asking for an ‘anti-hopping’ law — even when Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the supposed crossover of Barisan Nasional (BN) members of parliaments on Sept 16 last year.
“This is the DAP policy...I have tried to be like a brother’s keeper but sometimes, we cannot be the keeper all the time.
“We are not denying that DAP and PKR might have differing views but we deal with it. We do not sweep everything under the carpet,” he told reporters after a ground-breaking ceremony to build a perimeter wall and gate at the Silver Jubilee Home in Sungai Nibong here today.
However, Lim, who is also chief minister, said Pas had also stated its stand against the hopping of elected representatives.
He said DAP was willing to support BN if they were to table the ‘anti-hopping’ law and assured that its 28 MPs would give their support. On a report in Chinese dailies that the MCA and Gerakan were against money politics and corruption, he said they should support the formation of an ‘anti-hopping’ law. — Bernama
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the party had never ceased asking for an ‘anti-hopping’ law — even when Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the supposed crossover of Barisan Nasional (BN) members of parliaments on Sept 16 last year.
“This is the DAP policy...I have tried to be like a brother’s keeper but sometimes, we cannot be the keeper all the time.
“We are not denying that DAP and PKR might have differing views but we deal with it. We do not sweep everything under the carpet,” he told reporters after a ground-breaking ceremony to build a perimeter wall and gate at the Silver Jubilee Home in Sungai Nibong here today.
However, Lim, who is also chief minister, said Pas had also stated its stand against the hopping of elected representatives.
He said DAP was willing to support BN if they were to table the ‘anti-hopping’ law and assured that its 28 MPs would give their support. On a report in Chinese dailies that the MCA and Gerakan were against money politics and corruption, he said they should support the formation of an ‘anti-hopping’ law. — Bernama
Iranian president says talks with US possible
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's president said Tuesday the world was "entering an era of dialogue" and that his country would welcome talks with its longtime adversary, the United States, if they are based on mutual respect.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement comes a day after President Barack Obama said his administration was looking for opportunities to engage Iran and pledged to rethink United States' relationship with Tehran.
"The Iranian nation is ready for talks (with the U.S.) but in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect," Ahmadinejad told hundreds of thousands of Iranians during a celebration marking the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah and brought hard-line clerics to power.
The hard-line Iranian leader said terrorism, the elimination of nuclear weapons, restructuring the U.N. Security Council and fighting drug trafficking could be topics for the two sides to talk about.
"If you really want to fight terrorism, come and cooperate with the Iranian nation, which is the biggest victim of terrorism so that terrorism is eliminated. ... If you want to confront nuclear weapons ... you need to stand beside Iran so it can introduce a correct path to you," he said.
Ahmadinejad said the world was at a "crossroads" because it had been proven that military power has not been successful — a reference to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But now, he said, "the world is entering an era of dialogue and intellect."
"The new U.S. government has announced that it wants to bring changes and follow the path of dialogue. It is very clear that changes have to be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear that the Iranian nation welcomes true changes," Ahmadinejad told the crowds at the rally in Freedom Square.
Tehran and Washington severed relations nearly three decades ago after the 1979 Iranian revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by hard-line Iranian students.
But relations deteriorated even further after the Sept. 11 attacks when former President George W. Bush declared Iran belonged to an "axis of evil." Ahmadinejad widened that gap after he was elected in 2005 and defied the U.S. and its allies by pursuing Iran's controversial nuclear program.
The U.S. believes Iran is secretly trying to pursue nuclear weapons, but Iran has denied this accusation, saying its program is solely for peaceful purposes such as electricity.
Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that the "world does not want to see the dark age of Bush repeated."
"The fate that befell Bush — and it was a very bad fate — can be viewed as a lesson for most of the people that ... want to impose their will on the world," he said.
Since his campaign for president, Obama has signaled a willingness for a dialogue with Iran. At his inauguration last month, Obama said his administration would reach out to Muslims, saying "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
On Monday, Obama said his national security team was reviewing its existing Iran policy and "looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue." He said he expected that his administration would be looking for "openings" where Washington and Tehran can sit face-to-face.
Iranian leaders have struck a moderate — but cautious — tone about Obama since his election in November. Ahmadinejad sent Obama a message of congratulations after he was elected — the first time an Iranian leader offered such wishes to the winner of a U.S. presidential race since the two countries broke off relations.
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's president said Tuesday the world was "entering an era of dialogue" and that his country would welcome talks with its longtime adversary, the United States, if they are based on mutual respect.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement comes a day after President Barack Obama said his administration was looking for opportunities to engage Iran and pledged to rethink United States' relationship with Tehran.
"The Iranian nation is ready for talks (with the U.S.) but in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect," Ahmadinejad told hundreds of thousands of Iranians during a celebration marking the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah and brought hard-line clerics to power.
The hard-line Iranian leader said terrorism, the elimination of nuclear weapons, restructuring the U.N. Security Council and fighting drug trafficking could be topics for the two sides to talk about.
"If you really want to fight terrorism, come and cooperate with the Iranian nation, which is the biggest victim of terrorism so that terrorism is eliminated. ... If you want to confront nuclear weapons ... you need to stand beside Iran so it can introduce a correct path to you," he said.
Ahmadinejad said the world was at a "crossroads" because it had been proven that military power has not been successful — a reference to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But now, he said, "the world is entering an era of dialogue and intellect."
"The new U.S. government has announced that it wants to bring changes and follow the path of dialogue. It is very clear that changes have to be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear that the Iranian nation welcomes true changes," Ahmadinejad told the crowds at the rally in Freedom Square.
Tehran and Washington severed relations nearly three decades ago after the 1979 Iranian revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by hard-line Iranian students.
But relations deteriorated even further after the Sept. 11 attacks when former President George W. Bush declared Iran belonged to an "axis of evil." Ahmadinejad widened that gap after he was elected in 2005 and defied the U.S. and its allies by pursuing Iran's controversial nuclear program.
The U.S. believes Iran is secretly trying to pursue nuclear weapons, but Iran has denied this accusation, saying its program is solely for peaceful purposes such as electricity.
Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that the "world does not want to see the dark age of Bush repeated."
"The fate that befell Bush — and it was a very bad fate — can be viewed as a lesson for most of the people that ... want to impose their will on the world," he said.
Since his campaign for president, Obama has signaled a willingness for a dialogue with Iran. At his inauguration last month, Obama said his administration would reach out to Muslims, saying "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
On Monday, Obama said his national security team was reviewing its existing Iran policy and "looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue." He said he expected that his administration would be looking for "openings" where Washington and Tehran can sit face-to-face.
Iranian leaders have struck a moderate — but cautious — tone about Obama since his election in November. Ahmadinejad sent Obama a message of congratulations after he was elected — the first time an Iranian leader offered such wishes to the winner of a U.S. presidential race since the two countries broke off relations.
State TV company apologizes for Beijing fire
By CHI-CHI ZHANG, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING – China's state-run television broadcaster apologized Tuesday for an unlicensed fireworks display that sparked a blaze that destroyed a luxury hotel in the network's headquarters complex in downtown Beijing.
The fire, which sent off huge plumes of black smoke and showered the ground with embers, left one firefighter dead and a handful of others injured, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The blaze was put out early Tuesday after burning for more than five hours at the unfinished Mandarin Oriental hotel.
Xinhua quoted Luo Yuan, a spokesman for the Beijing fire department, as saying that fireworks set off to celebrate the Lunar New Year were to blame for the fire that destroyed the nearly finished Mandarin Oriental hotel.
He was quoted as saying CCTV had hired a fireworks company to ignite several hundred large fireworks in an open area by the hotel. Video footage posted on Youtube showed spectacular bursts of fireworks above the top of the building in downtown Beijing.
"According to the Beijing fire department, this fire occurred because the person in charge of the construction of the new building project of CCTV, without permission, hired staff to set off fireworks that violated regulations," China Central Television said in a statement on its Web site.
CCTV said it was deeply grieved "for the severe damage the fire caused to the country's property."
The 159-metre (520-foot) Mandarin Oriental, designed by Netherlands architects Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, was part of a stunning CCTV complex that helped transform the capital's skyline for last year's Olympics.
The dynamic Z-shaped CCTV tower next to the hotel quickly became a symbol of a modernizing and powerful China. The whole complex cost 5 billion yuan ($731 million), according to Xinhua.
Luo told a news conference the people from a company in Hunan province hired to set off the fireworks were being questioned.
Luo said the fireworks were similar to those used during the Beijing Olympics. Xinhua quoted him as saying because the fireworks were much more powerful than what was available at roadside stalls during the Lunar New Year holiday, approval was needed from the city government before they could be set off in downtown areas.
"The owners of the property ignored police warnings that such fireworks were not allowed," said Luo.
Beijing usually tightly restricts the use of fireworks downtown, but waives the rules each year during the Lunar New Year holiday. Monday was the final day for the firework exception, marking the first full moon since the Lunar New Year, and massive barrages exploded in open spaces throughout the city.
A 30-year-old firefighter died after suffering respiratory tract injuries fighting the blaze, Xinhua said.
BEIJING – China's state-run television broadcaster apologized Tuesday for an unlicensed fireworks display that sparked a blaze that destroyed a luxury hotel in the network's headquarters complex in downtown Beijing.
The fire, which sent off huge plumes of black smoke and showered the ground with embers, left one firefighter dead and a handful of others injured, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The blaze was put out early Tuesday after burning for more than five hours at the unfinished Mandarin Oriental hotel.
Xinhua quoted Luo Yuan, a spokesman for the Beijing fire department, as saying that fireworks set off to celebrate the Lunar New Year were to blame for the fire that destroyed the nearly finished Mandarin Oriental hotel.
He was quoted as saying CCTV had hired a fireworks company to ignite several hundred large fireworks in an open area by the hotel. Video footage posted on Youtube showed spectacular bursts of fireworks above the top of the building in downtown Beijing.
"According to the Beijing fire department, this fire occurred because the person in charge of the construction of the new building project of CCTV, without permission, hired staff to set off fireworks that violated regulations," China Central Television said in a statement on its Web site.
CCTV said it was deeply grieved "for the severe damage the fire caused to the country's property."
The 159-metre (520-foot) Mandarin Oriental, designed by Netherlands architects Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, was part of a stunning CCTV complex that helped transform the capital's skyline for last year's Olympics.
The dynamic Z-shaped CCTV tower next to the hotel quickly became a symbol of a modernizing and powerful China. The whole complex cost 5 billion yuan ($731 million), according to Xinhua.
Luo told a news conference the people from a company in Hunan province hired to set off the fireworks were being questioned.
Luo said the fireworks were similar to those used during the Beijing Olympics. Xinhua quoted him as saying because the fireworks were much more powerful than what was available at roadside stalls during the Lunar New Year holiday, approval was needed from the city government before they could be set off in downtown areas.
"The owners of the property ignored police warnings that such fireworks were not allowed," said Luo.
Beijing usually tightly restricts the use of fireworks downtown, but waives the rules each year during the Lunar New Year holiday. Monday was the final day for the firework exception, marking the first full moon since the Lunar New Year, and massive barrages exploded in open spaces throughout the city.
A 30-year-old firefighter died after suffering respiratory tract injuries fighting the blaze, Xinhua said.
Hacked password list offers security insights
Recently a niche programming-oriented website called phpbb.com had its user database hacked into and the passwords for 20,000 members stolen. The hacker who broke in then posted the account info and passwords online for the world to see. And while this is really bad news for those 20,000 unlucky souls, it offers an instructive lesson on password security for the rest of us.
InformationWeek analyzed the hacked password list and found a number of interesting trends in the data, primarily revolving around the fact that most people do exactly what they've been told not to do since passwords were first invented.
Author/analyst Robert Graham has tons of analysis on offer. I'm ordering my favorite/most enlightening data points from the piece here, starting with the most interesting. On thing to remember: These passwords are from a group of people interested in computer programming, so if anyone should know better, it's these guys.
> The most popular password (3.03% of the 20,000) was "123456." It's also generally considered the most common password used today.
> 4 percent used some variant of the word "password." Seriously, people, there's no excuse for this one. "password" was the 2nd most popular password used, also in keeping with historical trends.
> 16 percent of passwords were a person's first name. No word on if it was their first name, but someone's. Joshua is the most commonly used first-name password, a likely reference to the movie WarGames.
> Patterns abound. In addition to "123456," other pattens like "12345, "qwerty," and "abc123" were common, comprising 14 percent of the passwords used.
> 35 percent of passwords were six characters long. 0.34 percent were only one character long.
> For reasons no one can explain, "dragon," "master," and "killer" all crack the top 20 passwords. (On the top 500 password list linked above, "dragon" is #7.)
> One thing Graham doesn't discuss is that phpbb.com is really just a message board, and many users may simply have not cared about the security of their passwords here (unlike, say, with a bank account). In other words, they may very well have intentionally chosen something simplistic here to avoid re-using a password they save for an important login, just in case this site got hacked. Which, it turns out, it did.
I could go on, but Graham's post has way more detail than I can digest here and it's easy-reading too. Worth a close look for any citizen of the web.
InformationWeek analyzed the hacked password list and found a number of interesting trends in the data, primarily revolving around the fact that most people do exactly what they've been told not to do since passwords were first invented.
Author/analyst Robert Graham has tons of analysis on offer. I'm ordering my favorite/most enlightening data points from the piece here, starting with the most interesting. On thing to remember: These passwords are from a group of people interested in computer programming, so if anyone should know better, it's these guys.
> The most popular password (3.03% of the 20,000) was "123456." It's also generally considered the most common password used today.
> 4 percent used some variant of the word "password." Seriously, people, there's no excuse for this one. "password" was the 2nd most popular password used, also in keeping with historical trends.
> 16 percent of passwords were a person's first name. No word on if it was their first name, but someone's. Joshua is the most commonly used first-name password, a likely reference to the movie WarGames.
> Patterns abound. In addition to "123456," other pattens like "12345, "qwerty," and "abc123" were common, comprising 14 percent of the passwords used.
> 35 percent of passwords were six characters long. 0.34 percent were only one character long.
> For reasons no one can explain, "dragon," "master," and "killer" all crack the top 20 passwords. (On the top 500 password list linked above, "dragon" is #7.)
> One thing Graham doesn't discuss is that phpbb.com is really just a message board, and many users may simply have not cared about the security of their passwords here (unlike, say, with a bank account). In other words, they may very well have intentionally chosen something simplistic here to avoid re-using a password they save for an important login, just in case this site got hacked. Which, it turns out, it did.
I could go on, but Graham's post has way more detail than I can digest here and it's easy-reading too. Worth a close look for any citizen of the web.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Suit against BN government postponed over concerns of bias
By Shannon Teoh
IPOH, Feb 9 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) concerns over the impartiality of judges in Ipoh has delayed the filing of its suit to declare the Barisan Nasional (BN) Perak government illegal.
Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin was due to file the suit against his dismissal as mentri besar tomorrow but Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham today told a party EGM that it would only be filed on Wednesday or Thursday.
“Some members of the legal team have doubts over whether judges in Ipoh can be impartial as this involves the Sultan and they might be under pressure from other known personalities,” he said.
He added that while the suit should be filed in the Ipoh High Court as the events transpired here, there was a possibility of filing it in Kuala Lumpur instead.
“But will it just be transferred back to Ipoh? We want the fastest solution,” Ngeh, who is also the PR administration’s senior state exco member.
With the BN executive council lineup due to be sworn-in soon, Ngeh said that the suit may also name them as defendants.
This has not been the first time that the proposed suit has been a source of differing opinions.
There has also been debate over whether the Sultan should be named as a defendant as proposed by DAP chairman Karpal Singh.
The proposal was a non-starter as other PR leaders are wary of being labelled anti-Sultan but it also contributed to Karpal’s outburst yesterday where he called for Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to step down as head of PR.
IPOH, Feb 9 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) concerns over the impartiality of judges in Ipoh has delayed the filing of its suit to declare the Barisan Nasional (BN) Perak government illegal.
Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin was due to file the suit against his dismissal as mentri besar tomorrow but Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham today told a party EGM that it would only be filed on Wednesday or Thursday.
“Some members of the legal team have doubts over whether judges in Ipoh can be impartial as this involves the Sultan and they might be under pressure from other known personalities,” he said.
He added that while the suit should be filed in the Ipoh High Court as the events transpired here, there was a possibility of filing it in Kuala Lumpur instead.
“But will it just be transferred back to Ipoh? We want the fastest solution,” Ngeh, who is also the PR administration’s senior state exco member.
With the BN executive council lineup due to be sworn-in soon, Ngeh said that the suit may also name them as defendants.
This has not been the first time that the proposed suit has been a source of differing opinions.
There has also been debate over whether the Sultan should be named as a defendant as proposed by DAP chairman Karpal Singh.
The proposal was a non-starter as other PR leaders are wary of being labelled anti-Sultan but it also contributed to Karpal’s outburst yesterday where he called for Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to step down as head of PR.
Pas MP dies, Arumugam quits
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 — The Pakatan Rakyat, which lost three Perak lawmakers last week, today lost its Bukit Gantang MP who died suddenly while Bukit Selambau assemblyman V Arumugam tonight quit both his Kedah executive council post and state seat. Kedah's Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak confirmed the resignation of Arumugam.
The death and resignation will add to the fledgling electoral pact’s woes as it continues to dispute losing the Perak government to Barisan Nasional in a controversial decision by the state ruler.
By-elections for both seats will be called within 60 days according to law.
Earlier today, Pas MP for Bukit Gantang Roslan Shaharum died suddenly of a suspected heart attack while cycling to a pharmacy, paving the way for at least one by-election in the state mired in a constitutional crisis and saddled with two menteri besars from rival coalitions.
Police said passers-by found the 50-year-old's body by a slip-road at 11.15 am. His family said he will be buried at 6pm at his village in Changkat Lallang.
The Bukit Gantang by-election will be seen as a referendum for Barisan Nasional's action to regain the state and Sultan Azlan Shah’s decision not to dissolve the 59-seat assembly after the Pakatan Rakyat led by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin lost its slim majority through defections last week.
Incidentally, one of the defectors, Osman Jailu, represents the Changkat Jering state seat within the Bukit Gantang constituency.
Roslan, who was appointed chairman of the Perak Foundation last year, leaves behind a wife and 11 children. He was the human resource director for the Perak Economic Development Corporation before he quit to stand for elections last year.
In Election 2008, Roslan took the Bukit Gantang seat by beating Umno treasurer Datuk Abdul Azim Zabidi and Independent candidate Mohganan P. Manikam with a 1,566 majority. Roslan won 20,015 votes against Azim’s 18,449 while the indepedendent lost his deposit with just 872 votes.
His death brings back Pakatan Rakyat to just 81 seats in the 222-seat parliament after it gained an extra seat when Pas’s Abdul Wahid Endut convincingly won the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat last month following the death of BN’s Datuk Razali Ismail.
BN has yet to win in any by-elections since Election 2008 and the Bukit Gantang seat will prove no different due to the prevailing hostile mood against the ruling federal coalition after it took back the Perak government last week.
The by-election will test Barisan Nasional particularly Umno which is also going to party polls in March. The Election Commission has up to 60 days to hold by-elections upon a vacancy.
In Alor Star, Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak confirmed Arumugam has resigned from the executive council and state seat as he battles allegations of adultery. He had earlier complained about threats to his life, his family and aides including an attempted kidnap attempt.
Bernama reported Azizan as saying that the 55-year-old Arumugam had sent the resignation letter to the Kedah Sultan, adding that the Menteri Besar has been informed of the quit decision by Arumugam's aide.
"Arumugam told him that he was relinquishing the post due to personal reasons and that it has nothing to do with the Pas leadership," said Azizan, who is also Kedah Pas commissioner.
He later confirmed that the first-term assemblyman had quit the state seat.
Sources said Arumugam apparently took a second wife through a Hindu customary marriage leading his wife to accuse him of bigamy. It was learnt that he complained that government machinery was being used against him.
He won in Election 2008 as an independent candidate and only joined the Pas-lead Kedah government after being assured of an executive council post. He was in charge of domestic trade, Siamese and Indian affairs in the Pakatan Rakyat goverment, which has 22 seats in the 36-seat assembly.
Arumugam resigned as a trainer at the RMAF college in Alor Star to contest in the elections, getting 13,225 votes against MIC’s S. Krishnan’s 10,863 votes. Apart from Bukit Selambau, PKR also controls the Lunas, Bakar Arang, Sidam and Kulim state seats in Kedah.
Meanwhile, Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof said today the commission will meet to discuss the Bukit Gantang by-election once it recies official notice of Roslan’s death from Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia. Parliament is due to convene on Feb 16.
This would be the third by-election since the 12th general election with the first in Permatang Pauh when PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail quit to make way for her husband, Anwar, to make his political comeback after his sacking in 1998 and subsequent convictions.
Anwar won the seat, his political stronghold since entering politics in 1982, with a bigger majority to return to turn to parliament after a decade. The other by-election was in Kuala Terengganu.
The death and resignation will add to the fledgling electoral pact’s woes as it continues to dispute losing the Perak government to Barisan Nasional in a controversial decision by the state ruler.
By-elections for both seats will be called within 60 days according to law.
Earlier today, Pas MP for Bukit Gantang Roslan Shaharum died suddenly of a suspected heart attack while cycling to a pharmacy, paving the way for at least one by-election in the state mired in a constitutional crisis and saddled with two menteri besars from rival coalitions.
Police said passers-by found the 50-year-old's body by a slip-road at 11.15 am. His family said he will be buried at 6pm at his village in Changkat Lallang.
The Bukit Gantang by-election will be seen as a referendum for Barisan Nasional's action to regain the state and Sultan Azlan Shah’s decision not to dissolve the 59-seat assembly after the Pakatan Rakyat led by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin lost its slim majority through defections last week.
Incidentally, one of the defectors, Osman Jailu, represents the Changkat Jering state seat within the Bukit Gantang constituency.
Roslan, who was appointed chairman of the Perak Foundation last year, leaves behind a wife and 11 children. He was the human resource director for the Perak Economic Development Corporation before he quit to stand for elections last year.
In Election 2008, Roslan took the Bukit Gantang seat by beating Umno treasurer Datuk Abdul Azim Zabidi and Independent candidate Mohganan P. Manikam with a 1,566 majority. Roslan won 20,015 votes against Azim’s 18,449 while the indepedendent lost his deposit with just 872 votes.
His death brings back Pakatan Rakyat to just 81 seats in the 222-seat parliament after it gained an extra seat when Pas’s Abdul Wahid Endut convincingly won the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat last month following the death of BN’s Datuk Razali Ismail.
BN has yet to win in any by-elections since Election 2008 and the Bukit Gantang seat will prove no different due to the prevailing hostile mood against the ruling federal coalition after it took back the Perak government last week.
The by-election will test Barisan Nasional particularly Umno which is also going to party polls in March. The Election Commission has up to 60 days to hold by-elections upon a vacancy.
In Alor Star, Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak confirmed Arumugam has resigned from the executive council and state seat as he battles allegations of adultery. He had earlier complained about threats to his life, his family and aides including an attempted kidnap attempt.
Bernama reported Azizan as saying that the 55-year-old Arumugam had sent the resignation letter to the Kedah Sultan, adding that the Menteri Besar has been informed of the quit decision by Arumugam's aide.
"Arumugam told him that he was relinquishing the post due to personal reasons and that it has nothing to do with the Pas leadership," said Azizan, who is also Kedah Pas commissioner.
He later confirmed that the first-term assemblyman had quit the state seat.
Sources said Arumugam apparently took a second wife through a Hindu customary marriage leading his wife to accuse him of bigamy. It was learnt that he complained that government machinery was being used against him.
He won in Election 2008 as an independent candidate and only joined the Pas-lead Kedah government after being assured of an executive council post. He was in charge of domestic trade, Siamese and Indian affairs in the Pakatan Rakyat goverment, which has 22 seats in the 36-seat assembly.
Arumugam resigned as a trainer at the RMAF college in Alor Star to contest in the elections, getting 13,225 votes against MIC’s S. Krishnan’s 10,863 votes. Apart from Bukit Selambau, PKR also controls the Lunas, Bakar Arang, Sidam and Kulim state seats in Kedah.
Meanwhile, Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof said today the commission will meet to discuss the Bukit Gantang by-election once it recies official notice of Roslan’s death from Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia. Parliament is due to convene on Feb 16.
This would be the third by-election since the 12th general election with the first in Permatang Pauh when PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail quit to make way for her husband, Anwar, to make his political comeback after his sacking in 1998 and subsequent convictions.
Anwar won the seat, his political stronghold since entering politics in 1982, with a bigger majority to return to turn to parliament after a decade. The other by-election was in Kuala Terengganu.
Working moms look to Michelle Obama for change
By Andrea Hopkins
CINCINNATI (Reuters) – Maternity leave. Affordable child-care. Flexible work arrangements. When first lady Michelle Obama said she wanted to help working women balance career and family, American moms applauded -- and immediately came up with a wish-list of policy changes.
"I'm so psyched she is bringing this issue to the forefront," said Geniene Pernotto, 43, a marketing director and single mother of one in Youngstown, Ohio.
Pernotto quit her demanding corporate job in New York City in exchange for a pay cut and shorter hours at a nonprofit in northeastern Ohio. But she laments that she had to choose.
"When working for a corporation, if you're happy to stay at your current level for a few years you get tagged as unambitious or a bad worker," she said of her choice.
It's a story Obama can relate to. A corporate lawyer and mother of two girls, she abandoned her career to support her husband during his two-year campaign for the presidency and has since said caring for Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, will be her top priority while her husband is in the White House.
In the earliest days of the campaign, Obama began meeting with small groups of working mothers to hear their concerns and share tit-for-tat stories about the joy of raising children, the thrill of a great career -- and the frustration of feeling you're not quite doing either as well as you'd like.
"She wanted to have discussions with women as extensions of the conversations she was having with her own girlfriends," said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Obama's spokeswoman. "She's saying: 'I'm here and I get it and let's do something about it,' ... because she was living it."
OVERDUE
The list of demands from working parents in the United States is long, in part because family policies lag far behind most industrialized nations.
There is no paid maternity leave mandated in the United States, a situation shared by only three other countries: Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Liberia, according to a 2007 study by Harvard and McGill universities.
Cincinnati pharmaceutical researcher Kathy Fleming, 37, remembers how hard it was to go back to work 12 weeks after her daughter Molly was born. But she's not convinced corporate America is ready to change.
"I've heard mothers in some European countries get paid to stay home," said Fleming, somewhat incredulously. "I don't see that happening, companies (here) don't value it as much."
Instead she just wants more affordable child-care.
"I work, my husband works, and child-care is like $1,500 a month for an infant. That's crazy. You can hardly afford to work and pay the bill," Fleming said.
Beth Myers Graham, a 36-year-old mother of two and full-time environmental consultant, said the government's current $5,000 a year tax credit for child-care should be increased to reflect the real cost of care.
"Anyone who has one child knows that doesn't even cover that child's care, let alone additional children," she said.
POLICIES 'STUCK IN THE 1950S'
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and co-founder of MomsRising, a lobby group for families, said she is not surprised Obama's embrace of working parents has hit a nerve.
"Our family economic security policies are stuck in the 1950s but we have a modern workforce ... 72 percent of moms are now in the labor force," Rowe-Finkbeiner said.
"But because we don't have any paid leave and 80 percent of low-wage workers don't have paid sick days, people often end up having to quit jobs when they have babies, and of course then they lose their health care (insurance coverage)," she said.
Obama has not yet indicated whether she will try to rewrite family and workplace policies directly, as former First Lady Hillary Clinton tried and failed to do with healthcare, or simply use her profile to bring a spotlight to issues as a way of persuading lawmakers in Congress to act.
POTENTIAL FOR INFLUENCE
"No matter how she goes about it, she will have enormous influence -- just the bully pulpit that she has will have an extraordinary influence on the debate," said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, a Washington lobby group.
Ness also thinks the U.S. recession should help efforts to reform family policy.
"The same vested interests that oppose any improvements in workplace standards, who argue it will hurt business, diminish jobs, diminish wages (will oppose changes)," Ness said.
"But sometimes out of crisis comes the greatest opportunity and we seem to be at a unique time in history with a great hunger and expectation of change."
Pittsburgh mother Colleen Kimberlin, an account manager, is convinced Michelle Obama will be just the catalyst needed.
"I am thrilled Mrs. Obama is talking about these issues. It is way overdue," said Kimberlin, who has a small daughter.
(Reporting by Andrea Hopkins, Editing by Frances Kerry)
CINCINNATI (Reuters) – Maternity leave. Affordable child-care. Flexible work arrangements. When first lady Michelle Obama said she wanted to help working women balance career and family, American moms applauded -- and immediately came up with a wish-list of policy changes.
"I'm so psyched she is bringing this issue to the forefront," said Geniene Pernotto, 43, a marketing director and single mother of one in Youngstown, Ohio.
Pernotto quit her demanding corporate job in New York City in exchange for a pay cut and shorter hours at a nonprofit in northeastern Ohio. But she laments that she had to choose.
"When working for a corporation, if you're happy to stay at your current level for a few years you get tagged as unambitious or a bad worker," she said of her choice.
It's a story Obama can relate to. A corporate lawyer and mother of two girls, she abandoned her career to support her husband during his two-year campaign for the presidency and has since said caring for Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, will be her top priority while her husband is in the White House.
In the earliest days of the campaign, Obama began meeting with small groups of working mothers to hear their concerns and share tit-for-tat stories about the joy of raising children, the thrill of a great career -- and the frustration of feeling you're not quite doing either as well as you'd like.
"She wanted to have discussions with women as extensions of the conversations she was having with her own girlfriends," said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Obama's spokeswoman. "She's saying: 'I'm here and I get it and let's do something about it,' ... because she was living it."
OVERDUE
The list of demands from working parents in the United States is long, in part because family policies lag far behind most industrialized nations.
There is no paid maternity leave mandated in the United States, a situation shared by only three other countries: Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Liberia, according to a 2007 study by Harvard and McGill universities.
Cincinnati pharmaceutical researcher Kathy Fleming, 37, remembers how hard it was to go back to work 12 weeks after her daughter Molly was born. But she's not convinced corporate America is ready to change.
"I've heard mothers in some European countries get paid to stay home," said Fleming, somewhat incredulously. "I don't see that happening, companies (here) don't value it as much."
Instead she just wants more affordable child-care.
"I work, my husband works, and child-care is like $1,500 a month for an infant. That's crazy. You can hardly afford to work and pay the bill," Fleming said.
Beth Myers Graham, a 36-year-old mother of two and full-time environmental consultant, said the government's current $5,000 a year tax credit for child-care should be increased to reflect the real cost of care.
"Anyone who has one child knows that doesn't even cover that child's care, let alone additional children," she said.
POLICIES 'STUCK IN THE 1950S'
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and co-founder of MomsRising, a lobby group for families, said she is not surprised Obama's embrace of working parents has hit a nerve.
"Our family economic security policies are stuck in the 1950s but we have a modern workforce ... 72 percent of moms are now in the labor force," Rowe-Finkbeiner said.
"But because we don't have any paid leave and 80 percent of low-wage workers don't have paid sick days, people often end up having to quit jobs when they have babies, and of course then they lose their health care (insurance coverage)," she said.
Obama has not yet indicated whether she will try to rewrite family and workplace policies directly, as former First Lady Hillary Clinton tried and failed to do with healthcare, or simply use her profile to bring a spotlight to issues as a way of persuading lawmakers in Congress to act.
POTENTIAL FOR INFLUENCE
"No matter how she goes about it, she will have enormous influence -- just the bully pulpit that she has will have an extraordinary influence on the debate," said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, a Washington lobby group.
Ness also thinks the U.S. recession should help efforts to reform family policy.
"The same vested interests that oppose any improvements in workplace standards, who argue it will hurt business, diminish jobs, diminish wages (will oppose changes)," Ness said.
"But sometimes out of crisis comes the greatest opportunity and we seem to be at a unique time in history with a great hunger and expectation of change."
Pittsburgh mother Colleen Kimberlin, an account manager, is convinced Michelle Obama will be just the catalyst needed.
"I am thrilled Mrs. Obama is talking about these issues. It is way overdue," said Kimberlin, who has a small daughter.
(Reporting by Andrea Hopkins, Editing by Frances Kerry)
Nissan to slash 20,000 jobs and sees annual loss
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
TOKYO – Nissan is slashing 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, to cope with what Japan's third-largest automaker expects will be its first annual loss in nine years.
"The global auto industry is in turmoil, and Nissan is no exception," Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters Monday in Tokyo.
Nissan Motor Co. now expects a 265 billion yen ($2.9 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March — joining a raft of other Japanese corporate giants, including Toyota, Toshiba and Sony, in slashing jobs and projecting annual losses.
The last time Nissan racked up an annual net loss was for the fiscal year ended March 2000, at the start of its alliance with Renault SA of France, which sent in Ghosn to rescue Nissan from the brink of collapse. Then, a bloated Nissan had lost money in seven of the previous eight years.
Ghosn, now also chief executive at Renault, said the troubles back then had been limited to Nissan but no automaker has been spared from the global economic slump.
"In 1999, we were alone. In 2009, everybody is suffering," he said.
The maker of the Z sports car and the March compact sank to a loss of 83.2 billion yen for the October-December period from a 132.2 billion yen profit a year earlier. That was its first quarterly net loss since it began reporting quarterly earnings in 2003.
Like other Japanese automakers, Nissan has been battered by the global slump, which has undermined sales in its vital North American market. A strong yen also ate into profits by eroding overseas earnings when converted back to yen.
As a key step in weathering the downturn, Ghosn said Nissan's global work force will be reduced by 20,000 through March 2010, to 215,000. Of the job cuts, 12,000 will be in Japan, including group companies, and the rest will be overseas, it said. The company did not give a further regional breakdown.
Mamoru Katou, analyst with Tokai Tokyo Research, remained pessimistic about Nissan's recovery prospects.
Nissan's job cuts in Japan — more aggressive than its domestic rivals — show its strategy to take production overseas and take advantage of the soaring yen but that would make the Nissan brand less popular in its home market, Katou said.
"The job cuts will hurt Japanese parts-makers, too, and in the long run diminish the Nissan brand value in Japan," he said.
Toyota and Honda, which both have gas-electric hybrids going on sale this year, are also better positioned to boost sales when the recovery kicks in, he said. Nissan does not have a comparable hybrid model.
Ghosn said hiring will become minimal, contracts for temporary workers will be ended and the company is offering early retirement packages.
Tokyo-based Nissan has already reduced its temporary plant workers in Japan by about 2,000, slashed its British work force by 1,200 at its plant in Sunderland, northern England, where it had employed about 5,000 people. It has offered early retirement to 1,200 workers in the U.S., but that number will likely increase, according to Nissan. It also has work stoppages in Spain.
Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp., which is projecting a 350 billion yen ($3.85 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March, its first such loss since 1950, is reducing contract workers in Japan from 8,800 in June last year to 3,000 in March.
Honda Motor Co., Japan's No. 2 automaker, is faring relatively better and is expecting to stay in the black, with a 80 billion yen ($879 million) profit. But it will cut the number of temporary workers at its Japan plants from 3,100 to zero by the end of April.
Nissan's directors on the board will forgo bonus pay for the year ending March. Their salaries, as well as the salaries of corporate officers, will be reduced by 10 percent, while managers' salaries will be reduced by 5 percent.
Nissan will also negotiate a "work-sharing" scheme with the unions, Ghosn said.
In work-sharing, an employee's work load gets doled out to two or more employees, but they also must take a pay cut. The effort allows troubled companies to avoid layoffs while adjusting to plunging production. The benefits are that skilled staff aren't lost and the arrangement can be quickly dropped, allowing production to be ramped up without delay, once the industry recovers.
"You'd be ready to restart immediately when the crisis is over," said Ghosn.
He said he was interested in changing to a four-day week from a five-day week, while reducing compensation per worker, and that was better than cutting jobs.
Among other measures, production will be reduced and inventory will be controlled, according to Nissan.
Shift elimination, work stoppages and shorter hours will help reduce global production by 20 percent, or 787,000 vehicles, from the initial plan, by the end of this fiscal year, it said.
Inventory is being reduced by 20 percent to 480,000 vehicles from 630,000 in March 2008, Nissan said.
Nissan sold 731,000 vehicles worldwide in the quarter ended Dec. 31, down 18.6 percent from a year earlier. Nissan's vehicle sales suffered especially in the U.S., where they dropped 29.7 percent in January.
Nissan remains committed to developing electric vehicles and other zero-emission technology, Ghosn said.
"We don't think this crisis is going to last forever," he said.
Nissan shares slid 5.8 percent to 261 yen. Earnings were announced after trading ended in Tokyo.
TOKYO – Nissan is slashing 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, to cope with what Japan's third-largest automaker expects will be its first annual loss in nine years.
"The global auto industry is in turmoil, and Nissan is no exception," Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters Monday in Tokyo.
Nissan Motor Co. now expects a 265 billion yen ($2.9 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March — joining a raft of other Japanese corporate giants, including Toyota, Toshiba and Sony, in slashing jobs and projecting annual losses.
The last time Nissan racked up an annual net loss was for the fiscal year ended March 2000, at the start of its alliance with Renault SA of France, which sent in Ghosn to rescue Nissan from the brink of collapse. Then, a bloated Nissan had lost money in seven of the previous eight years.
Ghosn, now also chief executive at Renault, said the troubles back then had been limited to Nissan but no automaker has been spared from the global economic slump.
"In 1999, we were alone. In 2009, everybody is suffering," he said.
The maker of the Z sports car and the March compact sank to a loss of 83.2 billion yen for the October-December period from a 132.2 billion yen profit a year earlier. That was its first quarterly net loss since it began reporting quarterly earnings in 2003.
Like other Japanese automakers, Nissan has been battered by the global slump, which has undermined sales in its vital North American market. A strong yen also ate into profits by eroding overseas earnings when converted back to yen.
As a key step in weathering the downturn, Ghosn said Nissan's global work force will be reduced by 20,000 through March 2010, to 215,000. Of the job cuts, 12,000 will be in Japan, including group companies, and the rest will be overseas, it said. The company did not give a further regional breakdown.
Mamoru Katou, analyst with Tokai Tokyo Research, remained pessimistic about Nissan's recovery prospects.
Nissan's job cuts in Japan — more aggressive than its domestic rivals — show its strategy to take production overseas and take advantage of the soaring yen but that would make the Nissan brand less popular in its home market, Katou said.
"The job cuts will hurt Japanese parts-makers, too, and in the long run diminish the Nissan brand value in Japan," he said.
Toyota and Honda, which both have gas-electric hybrids going on sale this year, are also better positioned to boost sales when the recovery kicks in, he said. Nissan does not have a comparable hybrid model.
Ghosn said hiring will become minimal, contracts for temporary workers will be ended and the company is offering early retirement packages.
Tokyo-based Nissan has already reduced its temporary plant workers in Japan by about 2,000, slashed its British work force by 1,200 at its plant in Sunderland, northern England, where it had employed about 5,000 people. It has offered early retirement to 1,200 workers in the U.S., but that number will likely increase, according to Nissan. It also has work stoppages in Spain.
Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp., which is projecting a 350 billion yen ($3.85 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March, its first such loss since 1950, is reducing contract workers in Japan from 8,800 in June last year to 3,000 in March.
Honda Motor Co., Japan's No. 2 automaker, is faring relatively better and is expecting to stay in the black, with a 80 billion yen ($879 million) profit. But it will cut the number of temporary workers at its Japan plants from 3,100 to zero by the end of April.
Nissan's directors on the board will forgo bonus pay for the year ending March. Their salaries, as well as the salaries of corporate officers, will be reduced by 10 percent, while managers' salaries will be reduced by 5 percent.
Nissan will also negotiate a "work-sharing" scheme with the unions, Ghosn said.
In work-sharing, an employee's work load gets doled out to two or more employees, but they also must take a pay cut. The effort allows troubled companies to avoid layoffs while adjusting to plunging production. The benefits are that skilled staff aren't lost and the arrangement can be quickly dropped, allowing production to be ramped up without delay, once the industry recovers.
"You'd be ready to restart immediately when the crisis is over," said Ghosn.
He said he was interested in changing to a four-day week from a five-day week, while reducing compensation per worker, and that was better than cutting jobs.
Among other measures, production will be reduced and inventory will be controlled, according to Nissan.
Shift elimination, work stoppages and shorter hours will help reduce global production by 20 percent, or 787,000 vehicles, from the initial plan, by the end of this fiscal year, it said.
Inventory is being reduced by 20 percent to 480,000 vehicles from 630,000 in March 2008, Nissan said.
Nissan sold 731,000 vehicles worldwide in the quarter ended Dec. 31, down 18.6 percent from a year earlier. Nissan's vehicle sales suffered especially in the U.S., where they dropped 29.7 percent in January.
Nissan remains committed to developing electric vehicles and other zero-emission technology, Ghosn said.
"We don't think this crisis is going to last forever," he said.
Nissan shares slid 5.8 percent to 261 yen. Earnings were announced after trading ended in Tokyo.
Obama Campaigns Outside Washington to Win Insiders on Stimulus
Julianna Goldman and Catherine Dodge
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- While lawmakers in Washington debate some of the most costly spending plans in history today, President Barack Obama is leaving town.
His calculation: The best way to win support for his economic stimulus and bank-rescue programs is to return to a campaign-style format to draw the connection between the votes in the capital and the depressed precincts of Elkhart, Indiana, and Fort Myers, Florida.
With this swing, Obama is seeking to dial up pressure on Congress to keep the stimulus package from losing elements he views as crucial for getting the economy back on track.
Elkhart County, where Obama travels today, has seen its jobless rate more than triple, to 15.3 percent, in just a year as its recreational vehicle industry has been slammed by the recession and high gas prices. In Fort Myers, where he goes Feb. 10, the unemployment rate has risen to 10 percent from six percent in a year because of soaring foreclosures and sinking tourism.
Tonight, in another effort to speak directly to the public, the president will hold his first prime-time news conference at 8 p.m. EST.
Just as Ronald Reagan went straight to the public to win support for tax cuts, Obama is trying to generate backing for his program by rallying Americans.
Stirring Up Constituents
“Obama is hoping similarly to move inside-Beltway opinion by arousing constituents outside,” said Rogan Kersh, associate dean of New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.
“Photos of huge, cheering crowds will remind fence-sitting legislators how Obama got to the White House in the first place,” said Kersh.
Both Indiana and Florida helped propel Obama to the White House, and he is returning there to try to generate support for his financial-rescue plans as the Senate prepares to vote Feb. 10 on its version of a spending plan that could top $800 billion. The U.S. House has passed an $819 billion stimulus plan and the differences between the chambers must be reconciled before any legislation would land on the president̢۪s desk.
“Americans need jobs, and the best way to get this economy kick-started again is through a recovery and reinvestment plan that will save or create millions of them,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in an interview yesterday.
Republican Arguments
While the president’s approval ratings are close to 70 percent, much of the public has been persuaded by arguments from congressional Republicans that the stimulus package is loaded with projects that won’t spur economic growth, according to Charles Jones, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
So Obama is trying to command attention. In both the town hall and news conference, he will highlight the depths of the economic distress many Americans are feeling, difficulties that he will argue the stimulus package would ease.
The jobless picture across the nation reflects the strain of the recession. On Feb. 6, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent in January from 7.2 percent in December. Payrolls fell by 598,000.
Elkhart is a place in need of help. Elkhart County’s 15.3 percent unemployment rate is up from 4.7 in the last year. The city of Elkhart is even higher, at 18 percent, according to Mayor Dick Moore.
Shovel-Ready Projects
“Everyone knows that with an 18 percent unemployment rate in the city of Elkhart, we need this stimulus package,” Moore said in a telephone interview. “There’s no pork in this proposal. We’ve got 17 projects that are shovel-ready. What a great idea it is to be able to jump-start these programs and at the same time create jobs.”
The city of 52,000 people in northwest Indiana, located 109 miles from Chicago, has prepared its own wish list of projects should it receive money from the stimulus plan. Though Obama won Indiana, Elkhart County voted for Republican John McCain, 55 percent to 43 percent.
Just three weeks into his presidency, Obama is facing partisan strains.
“The most damaging thing that has come out of the White House was basically a line of argument that says, ‘We want bipartisanship and the reason the Republicans should vote for us is because we won the election,’” said Vin Weber, a Washington lobbyist and former Republican member of Congress from Minnesota.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat, said that Republicans were voting against the plan as a strategy rather than on the merits. “I question whether or not with some of these folks there is good-faith intent,” he said in an interview. “Because I think he has made a Herculean effort to be bipartisan.”
E-Mail Campaign
Obama is also using his public approval to communicate directly to Americans and not in the frame of a public debate with Republicans. In addition to the town-hall and news conference, he is employing a new political group, Organizing for America, to generate support by leveraging the group’s 13-million person e-mail list to promote Obama’s policies.
Last weekend, the group facilitated 3,000 house gatherings to get people engaged in discussions about the stimulus plan, and he sent his radio address via e-mail to his mailing list.
“One power that the president traditionally has in moments like these is to go into the states and legislative districts and light a fire under constituents to make sure their congressmen and congresswomen support the White House,” said Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University in New Jersey.
“He clearly lost some momentum,” Zelizer said. “Conservatives did a better job than expected in depicting this as a huge piece of pork-barrel spending that will do little for the economy.”
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- While lawmakers in Washington debate some of the most costly spending plans in history today, President Barack Obama is leaving town.
His calculation: The best way to win support for his economic stimulus and bank-rescue programs is to return to a campaign-style format to draw the connection between the votes in the capital and the depressed precincts of Elkhart, Indiana, and Fort Myers, Florida.
With this swing, Obama is seeking to dial up pressure on Congress to keep the stimulus package from losing elements he views as crucial for getting the economy back on track.
Elkhart County, where Obama travels today, has seen its jobless rate more than triple, to 15.3 percent, in just a year as its recreational vehicle industry has been slammed by the recession and high gas prices. In Fort Myers, where he goes Feb. 10, the unemployment rate has risen to 10 percent from six percent in a year because of soaring foreclosures and sinking tourism.
Tonight, in another effort to speak directly to the public, the president will hold his first prime-time news conference at 8 p.m. EST.
Just as Ronald Reagan went straight to the public to win support for tax cuts, Obama is trying to generate backing for his program by rallying Americans.
Stirring Up Constituents
“Obama is hoping similarly to move inside-Beltway opinion by arousing constituents outside,” said Rogan Kersh, associate dean of New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.
“Photos of huge, cheering crowds will remind fence-sitting legislators how Obama got to the White House in the first place,” said Kersh.
Both Indiana and Florida helped propel Obama to the White House, and he is returning there to try to generate support for his financial-rescue plans as the Senate prepares to vote Feb. 10 on its version of a spending plan that could top $800 billion. The U.S. House has passed an $819 billion stimulus plan and the differences between the chambers must be reconciled before any legislation would land on the president̢۪s desk.
“Americans need jobs, and the best way to get this economy kick-started again is through a recovery and reinvestment plan that will save or create millions of them,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in an interview yesterday.
Republican Arguments
While the president’s approval ratings are close to 70 percent, much of the public has been persuaded by arguments from congressional Republicans that the stimulus package is loaded with projects that won’t spur economic growth, according to Charles Jones, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
So Obama is trying to command attention. In both the town hall and news conference, he will highlight the depths of the economic distress many Americans are feeling, difficulties that he will argue the stimulus package would ease.
The jobless picture across the nation reflects the strain of the recession. On Feb. 6, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent in January from 7.2 percent in December. Payrolls fell by 598,000.
Elkhart is a place in need of help. Elkhart County’s 15.3 percent unemployment rate is up from 4.7 in the last year. The city of Elkhart is even higher, at 18 percent, according to Mayor Dick Moore.
Shovel-Ready Projects
“Everyone knows that with an 18 percent unemployment rate in the city of Elkhart, we need this stimulus package,” Moore said in a telephone interview. “There’s no pork in this proposal. We’ve got 17 projects that are shovel-ready. What a great idea it is to be able to jump-start these programs and at the same time create jobs.”
The city of 52,000 people in northwest Indiana, located 109 miles from Chicago, has prepared its own wish list of projects should it receive money from the stimulus plan. Though Obama won Indiana, Elkhart County voted for Republican John McCain, 55 percent to 43 percent.
Just three weeks into his presidency, Obama is facing partisan strains.
“The most damaging thing that has come out of the White House was basically a line of argument that says, ‘We want bipartisanship and the reason the Republicans should vote for us is because we won the election,’” said Vin Weber, a Washington lobbyist and former Republican member of Congress from Minnesota.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat, said that Republicans were voting against the plan as a strategy rather than on the merits. “I question whether or not with some of these folks there is good-faith intent,” he said in an interview. “Because I think he has made a Herculean effort to be bipartisan.”
E-Mail Campaign
Obama is also using his public approval to communicate directly to Americans and not in the frame of a public debate with Republicans. In addition to the town-hall and news conference, he is employing a new political group, Organizing for America, to generate support by leveraging the group’s 13-million person e-mail list to promote Obama’s policies.
Last weekend, the group facilitated 3,000 house gatherings to get people engaged in discussions about the stimulus plan, and he sent his radio address via e-mail to his mailing list.
“One power that the president traditionally has in moments like these is to go into the states and legislative districts and light a fire under constituents to make sure their congressmen and congresswomen support the White House,” said Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University in New Jersey.
“He clearly lost some momentum,” Zelizer said. “Conservatives did a better job than expected in depicting this as a huge piece of pork-barrel spending that will do little for the economy.”
Sunday, February 8, 2009
GOP seeking to end ban on some donation limits
WASHINGTON – Republicans are making another run at overturning a ban on unlimited "soft money" contributions. Their Democratic rivals say it is an attempt to bring big money back to politics because the GOP can't keep up with President Barack Obama's fundraising machine.
The Republican National Committee is suing to overturn part of a ban on unlimited contributions passed by Congress in 2002 and upheld by the Supreme Court a year later.
The suit is against the Federal Elections Commission, which enforces the law, but the Democratic National Committee and House Democrats campaign chief Rep. Chris Van Hollen have asked the court to let them defend the law as well. The GOP is fighting to keep the Democrats out of the courtroom dispute.
The party positions are ironic, given how the law got its start. The law, known as McCain-Feingold after the senators who sponsored it, restricts donations by individuals to $28,500 per year to the political parties and prohibits the parties from accepting any corporate or labor union contributions.
Before the law was enacted, the two parties were raising hundreds of millions in soft money, with rich individuals, businesses and unions giving a million or more. Experts originally thought that Democrats had the most to lose under the ban since the Democrats relied more heavily on those contributions.
The Republican National Committee is suing to overturn part of a ban on unlimited contributions passed by Congress in 2002 and upheld by the Supreme Court a year later.
The suit is against the Federal Elections Commission, which enforces the law, but the Democratic National Committee and House Democrats campaign chief Rep. Chris Van Hollen have asked the court to let them defend the law as well. The GOP is fighting to keep the Democrats out of the courtroom dispute.
The party positions are ironic, given how the law got its start. The law, known as McCain-Feingold after the senators who sponsored it, restricts donations by individuals to $28,500 per year to the political parties and prohibits the parties from accepting any corporate or labor union contributions.
Before the law was enacted, the two parties were raising hundreds of millions in soft money, with rich individuals, businesses and unions giving a million or more. Experts originally thought that Democrats had the most to lose under the ban since the Democrats relied more heavily on those contributions.
Pakatan will not sue Sultan as Nizar prepares to take his message to the people
By Shannon Teoh
IPOH, Feb 9 - Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin will travel the length and breadth of Perak to hold a series of ceramah to convince the people he is still the legitimate menteri besar.
The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance has also decided against naming Sultan Azlan Shah in a legal suit it is planning, as it attempts to deflect attacks from Barisan Nasional (BN) over the question of loyalty to the state’s ruler.
The plan was announced before 8,000 Pakatan Rakyat (PR) supporters at the official MB’s residence late Sunday night, where it is making its last stand against BN’s claim to power in the state.
While PR delays what must certainly be the inevitable handover of government to BN, the two coalitions are fighting a larger battle for the hearts and minds of the public.
BN has tried to assert that PR are committing treason by refusing to comply with Sultan Azlan Shah’s wishes.
But with its continued insistence that the mainstream media is under the control of BN, the series of public speeches by Nizar will see PR trying to make added gains in the court of public opinion which already appears to be leaning heavily in its favour.
If the night’s speeches by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, DAP vice president Tan Seng Giaw and Nizar are anything to go by, the roadshow will likely centre around the legitimacy of Nizar’s claim and the assertion that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had robbed the rights of the people by masterminding a “coup d’etat.”
Speaking to the multiracial, but largely Pas-supporting crowd, Nizar said the undemocratic manner in which Najib had forced the overthrow of his administration had turned Malaysia into a laughing stock.
“We will take back the right stolen by Najib Altantuya,” Nizar said of a snap poll which PR is pushing for, referring to Najib’s continued links to the murder of the Mongolian model Altantuya Shariibuu.
Cries of “Allahuakbar” and “Reformasi” went up on numerous occasions as the speakers stood on a balcony with a banner hung below them.
“Daulat Tuanku, Rakyat Pohon Tuanku Bubarkan Dun Perak,” it said, reflecting the wishes of those gathered to have the state assembly dissolved.
The Perak Sultan has refused this request by Nizar and instead declared BN the government, sparking a constitutional crisis with many quarters insisting that the choice of government should be returned to the voting public.
But as usual, Anwar stole the show.
This was not, however, due to a typically inspired speech but a statement earlier today by DAP chairman Karpal Singh that Anwar was no longer fit to be opposition leader.
Anwar told reporters, however, that it was not a concern for PR and it in fact, did not discuss the issue at a meeting just prior to the night’s ceramah.
“I spoke to Kit Siang and he assured me it was Karpal’s personal opinion,” he said referring to DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.
Anwar further explained that Karpal’s outburst was due to two points of disagreement, the first being the Bukit Gelugor MP’s wish to take legal action against the Sultan and the other being the morality of defections.
“I did not bribe or threaten people to join us. We do not want to create the impression that we are against the institution of the Sultan,” said Anwar in addressing these two issues.
He played down the differences of opinion within PR and said that despite this, there was good cooperation.
“It is not a problem to meet with Karpal if there is an opportunity,” the de facto PKR leader added.
Earlier, he had sought to banish the perception that the Perak PR government was selling out to the Chinese and not protecting the Malays.
Calling it a ruse by Umno, he said that there was nothing wrong with issuing land titles to poor Chinese.
“But who was given Genting Highlands? Lim Goh Tong. How about Pangkor? When BN gives land to Chinese taukehs it is fine but when we give a bit of land to poor Chinese, they turn it into a racial issue,” he said.
Anwar also assured the crowd that should it win snap polls in Perak, Nizar would definitely be returned as mentri besar.
IPOH, Feb 9 - Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin will travel the length and breadth of Perak to hold a series of ceramah to convince the people he is still the legitimate menteri besar.
The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance has also decided against naming Sultan Azlan Shah in a legal suit it is planning, as it attempts to deflect attacks from Barisan Nasional (BN) over the question of loyalty to the state’s ruler.
The plan was announced before 8,000 Pakatan Rakyat (PR) supporters at the official MB’s residence late Sunday night, where it is making its last stand against BN’s claim to power in the state.
While PR delays what must certainly be the inevitable handover of government to BN, the two coalitions are fighting a larger battle for the hearts and minds of the public.
BN has tried to assert that PR are committing treason by refusing to comply with Sultan Azlan Shah’s wishes.
But with its continued insistence that the mainstream media is under the control of BN, the series of public speeches by Nizar will see PR trying to make added gains in the court of public opinion which already appears to be leaning heavily in its favour.
If the night’s speeches by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, DAP vice president Tan Seng Giaw and Nizar are anything to go by, the roadshow will likely centre around the legitimacy of Nizar’s claim and the assertion that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had robbed the rights of the people by masterminding a “coup d’etat.”
Speaking to the multiracial, but largely Pas-supporting crowd, Nizar said the undemocratic manner in which Najib had forced the overthrow of his administration had turned Malaysia into a laughing stock.
“We will take back the right stolen by Najib Altantuya,” Nizar said of a snap poll which PR is pushing for, referring to Najib’s continued links to the murder of the Mongolian model Altantuya Shariibuu.
Cries of “Allahuakbar” and “Reformasi” went up on numerous occasions as the speakers stood on a balcony with a banner hung below them.
“Daulat Tuanku, Rakyat Pohon Tuanku Bubarkan Dun Perak,” it said, reflecting the wishes of those gathered to have the state assembly dissolved.
The Perak Sultan has refused this request by Nizar and instead declared BN the government, sparking a constitutional crisis with many quarters insisting that the choice of government should be returned to the voting public.
But as usual, Anwar stole the show.
This was not, however, due to a typically inspired speech but a statement earlier today by DAP chairman Karpal Singh that Anwar was no longer fit to be opposition leader.
Anwar told reporters, however, that it was not a concern for PR and it in fact, did not discuss the issue at a meeting just prior to the night’s ceramah.
“I spoke to Kit Siang and he assured me it was Karpal’s personal opinion,” he said referring to DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.
Anwar further explained that Karpal’s outburst was due to two points of disagreement, the first being the Bukit Gelugor MP’s wish to take legal action against the Sultan and the other being the morality of defections.
“I did not bribe or threaten people to join us. We do not want to create the impression that we are against the institution of the Sultan,” said Anwar in addressing these two issues.
He played down the differences of opinion within PR and said that despite this, there was good cooperation.
“It is not a problem to meet with Karpal if there is an opportunity,” the de facto PKR leader added.
Earlier, he had sought to banish the perception that the Perak PR government was selling out to the Chinese and not protecting the Malays.
Calling it a ruse by Umno, he said that there was nothing wrong with issuing land titles to poor Chinese.
“But who was given Genting Highlands? Lim Goh Tong. How about Pangkor? When BN gives land to Chinese taukehs it is fine but when we give a bit of land to poor Chinese, they turn it into a racial issue,” he said.
Anwar also assured the crowd that should it win snap polls in Perak, Nizar would definitely be returned as mentri besar.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Analysis: Obama may learn from slips on stimulus
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – On his first big test, Barack Obama made some rookie mistakes and strategic missteps. But he still appears headed for a win on the centerpiece of his agenda, a huge economic recovery program, with the fresh striking of a bipartisan deal in the Senate.
Legislative leaders, including some fellow Democrats who support him, chalked up his problems to inexperience and some initial miscalculations over the lack of GOP support, and they suggest he'll learn from the rocky start.
Americans have learned, too, a little about how their new president works.
He's swung from being conciliatory to badgering Congress to act, from courting the opposition to taking partisan swipes. He's had to fight to keep from losing control of the message. And all this is playing out against a background of Cabinet problems, economic distress and global distractions.
Some veteran Democrats say Obama could have made it easier for himself.
"I think it is important that he reached out. But lesson learned: It would have been better for him to send up his idea of a bill," instead of having House Democratic leaders initiate the process, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Leaders of both parties agree the nation's slumping economy requires strong stimulus, an argument reinforced by a government report showing soaring new job losses. Obama will likely get most of what he wants. On the job under three weeks, he still has a large reservoir of good will on Capitol Hill.
But things haven't gone quite the way the new Obama team expected. It's been a rough two weeks of on-the-job training on the legislative process from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue for the former one-term Illinois senator.
"You know, it's referred to as sausage-making and probably for good reason," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Still, Obama aides claimed they were satisfied with the results, given the enormity of the challenge. "In a matter of weeks, we moved through both houses of Congress a very complex piece of legislation," Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said Saturday in an interview. "I don't know if there is a parallel in history."
While Obama reached out energetically to members of both parties, he didn't win a single Republican vote in the House. In the Senate, Democrats late Friday reached a deal with a small band of GOP moderates that set the stage for expected approval within the next few days.
The recovery package was put together by congressional Democrats in partnership with Obama, a process begun during Obama's transition. The administration decided against starting off the process by submitting its own detailed legislative package.
Even though Obama and top aides stayed close to the process, the result was an $819 billion package packed with spending projects, some of which struck even some fiscally conservative Democrats as not particularly stimulative. In the Senate, an even larger package was considered, although the deal struck Friday night pared it back some.
The size and composition of the plan gave Republicans an opening to assert that Obama had given too much leeway to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank. And they also could argue that, while Obama had offered to consider GOP suggestions for the package, none wound up in the legislation.
In not sending his own legislation to Congress, Obama did the exact opposite of what President Bill Clinton did in 1993 when he tried to get Congress to swallow whole a detailed health care overhaul plan put together by a task force headed by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. That take-it-or-leave it approach alienated Congress.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has actively championed the stimulus bill, said Obama stumbled at first by ceding the debate to Capitol Hill and not stepping out more forcefully to explain the bill to the public.
"A small percentage of this bill, the unnecessary spending, allowed Republicans — who have played politics on this from the beginning — to discredit it so public opinion is against it," Rendell, the chairman of the National Governors Association, said in an interview Friday. "We need a massive stimulus bill with spending. Every economist says that. And yet the American people are against it now because we let the Republicans spin."
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said Republican critics were able to define the legislation as a bloated spending measure being rushed through Congress. "We can't just sit back and let them define us," he said. He said he was pleased that Obama had shifted gears and was "going on the offensive."
After his original outreach to Republicans, Obama late last week changed his tone and derided Republican ideas for putting more tax cuts in the stimulus package. Such ideas "have been tested and they have failed," he said in a speech at the Energy Department. Later, he told a gathering of congressional Democrats in Williamsburg, Va., that "the scale and scope of this plan is right."
He'll continue trying to regain momentum on economic policy. He plans his first prime-time news conference on Monday after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlines details for a new financial-sector rescue plan. Then he'll participate in town hall-style meetings in towns suffering particularly hard times — Elkhart, Ind., on Monday and Fort Myers, Fla., on Tuesday.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Obama's courtship of Republicans only to be rebuffed by them should serve as "an early lesson for President Obama and his team."
But James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, said Obama set a particularly high bar for himself by "promising to change the way Washington works."
"He promised to make it a less partisan, post-partisan place. And so he has to do this. The question is whether he can hit the sweet spot on the stimulus package with enough tax breaks and enough non-controversial spending to get the votes. I think he can," Thurber said.
Democrats praise Obama's close work with them on the stimulus legislation.
"I don't think there's any doubt that the president has been active ... he's been making phone calls, visiting members in the Senate and the House personally," said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. But Becerra said the jury's still out on the effectiveness of his approach because the bill still isn't done. Once the measure passes the Senate, differences with the House-passed bill will have to be reconciled.
"It's a work in progress," said Becerra. "It's still cooking."
___
Associated Press reporters Jennifer Loven, Liz Sidoti and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report
WASHINGTON – On his first big test, Barack Obama made some rookie mistakes and strategic missteps. But he still appears headed for a win on the centerpiece of his agenda, a huge economic recovery program, with the fresh striking of a bipartisan deal in the Senate.
Legislative leaders, including some fellow Democrats who support him, chalked up his problems to inexperience and some initial miscalculations over the lack of GOP support, and they suggest he'll learn from the rocky start.
Americans have learned, too, a little about how their new president works.
He's swung from being conciliatory to badgering Congress to act, from courting the opposition to taking partisan swipes. He's had to fight to keep from losing control of the message. And all this is playing out against a background of Cabinet problems, economic distress and global distractions.
Some veteran Democrats say Obama could have made it easier for himself.
"I think it is important that he reached out. But lesson learned: It would have been better for him to send up his idea of a bill," instead of having House Democratic leaders initiate the process, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Leaders of both parties agree the nation's slumping economy requires strong stimulus, an argument reinforced by a government report showing soaring new job losses. Obama will likely get most of what he wants. On the job under three weeks, he still has a large reservoir of good will on Capitol Hill.
But things haven't gone quite the way the new Obama team expected. It's been a rough two weeks of on-the-job training on the legislative process from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue for the former one-term Illinois senator.
"You know, it's referred to as sausage-making and probably for good reason," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Still, Obama aides claimed they were satisfied with the results, given the enormity of the challenge. "In a matter of weeks, we moved through both houses of Congress a very complex piece of legislation," Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said Saturday in an interview. "I don't know if there is a parallel in history."
While Obama reached out energetically to members of both parties, he didn't win a single Republican vote in the House. In the Senate, Democrats late Friday reached a deal with a small band of GOP moderates that set the stage for expected approval within the next few days.
The recovery package was put together by congressional Democrats in partnership with Obama, a process begun during Obama's transition. The administration decided against starting off the process by submitting its own detailed legislative package.
Even though Obama and top aides stayed close to the process, the result was an $819 billion package packed with spending projects, some of which struck even some fiscally conservative Democrats as not particularly stimulative. In the Senate, an even larger package was considered, although the deal struck Friday night pared it back some.
The size and composition of the plan gave Republicans an opening to assert that Obama had given too much leeway to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank. And they also could argue that, while Obama had offered to consider GOP suggestions for the package, none wound up in the legislation.
In not sending his own legislation to Congress, Obama did the exact opposite of what President Bill Clinton did in 1993 when he tried to get Congress to swallow whole a detailed health care overhaul plan put together by a task force headed by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. That take-it-or-leave it approach alienated Congress.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has actively championed the stimulus bill, said Obama stumbled at first by ceding the debate to Capitol Hill and not stepping out more forcefully to explain the bill to the public.
"A small percentage of this bill, the unnecessary spending, allowed Republicans — who have played politics on this from the beginning — to discredit it so public opinion is against it," Rendell, the chairman of the National Governors Association, said in an interview Friday. "We need a massive stimulus bill with spending. Every economist says that. And yet the American people are against it now because we let the Republicans spin."
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said Republican critics were able to define the legislation as a bloated spending measure being rushed through Congress. "We can't just sit back and let them define us," he said. He said he was pleased that Obama had shifted gears and was "going on the offensive."
After his original outreach to Republicans, Obama late last week changed his tone and derided Republican ideas for putting more tax cuts in the stimulus package. Such ideas "have been tested and they have failed," he said in a speech at the Energy Department. Later, he told a gathering of congressional Democrats in Williamsburg, Va., that "the scale and scope of this plan is right."
He'll continue trying to regain momentum on economic policy. He plans his first prime-time news conference on Monday after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlines details for a new financial-sector rescue plan. Then he'll participate in town hall-style meetings in towns suffering particularly hard times — Elkhart, Ind., on Monday and Fort Myers, Fla., on Tuesday.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Obama's courtship of Republicans only to be rebuffed by them should serve as "an early lesson for President Obama and his team."
But James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, said Obama set a particularly high bar for himself by "promising to change the way Washington works."
"He promised to make it a less partisan, post-partisan place. And so he has to do this. The question is whether he can hit the sweet spot on the stimulus package with enough tax breaks and enough non-controversial spending to get the votes. I think he can," Thurber said.
Democrats praise Obama's close work with them on the stimulus legislation.
"I don't think there's any doubt that the president has been active ... he's been making phone calls, visiting members in the Senate and the House personally," said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. But Becerra said the jury's still out on the effectiveness of his approach because the bill still isn't done. Once the measure passes the Senate, differences with the House-passed bill will have to be reconciled.
"It's a work in progress," said Becerra. "It's still cooking."
___
Associated Press reporters Jennifer Loven, Liz Sidoti and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report
Obama and Senate Republicans bicker over stimulus
By ANDREW TAYLOR and PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writers Andrew Taylor And Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writers –
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans bickered Saturday over his historically huge economic recovery plan after states and schools lost tens of billions of dollars in a late-night bargain to save it.
The $827 billion measure is on track to pass the Senate on Tuesday despite stiff opposition from the GOP and disappointment among Democrats, including the new president who labeled it imperfect. Next up: Difficult negotiations between the House and Senate, which are divided over spending for tax cuts, education and aid for local governments.
"We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, sounding a note of pragmatism that liberal followers rarely heard on the campaign trail.
Still, the popular president — six in 10 voters approve of his performance so far — scolded Republicans with a pointed reminder that Democrats, not Republicans, were victorious in November.
Hours later, the Senate convened a rare Saturday session to debate a compromise forged between GOP moderates and the White House on Friday, a rare burst of comity aimed at securing passage of the bill with a few Republican votes joining the Democratic majority.
The compromise reached between a handful of GOP moderates led Susan Collins of Maine, the White House and its Senate allies stripped $108 billion in spending from Obama's plan, including cutbacks in projects that likely would give the economy a quick lift, like $40 billion in aid to state governments for education and other programs.
Yet it retained items that also probably won't help the economy much, such as $650 million to help people without cable receive digital signals through their old-fashioned televisions or $1 billion to fix problems with the 2010 Census.
Among the most difficult cuts for the White House and its liberal allies to accept was the elimination of $40 billion in aid to states, money that economists say is a relatively efficient way to pump up the economy by preventing layoffs, cuts in services or tax increases.
"It reduces a number of highly stimulative items like state fiscal relief ... and largely substitute for it some large tax cuts that are highly ineffective as stimulus," said Bob Greenstein, founder of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "So your net result is a bill that gets significantly less bang for the buck."
For all the talk of cuts, the bill retains the core of Obama's plan, designed to ease the worst economic recession in generations by combining hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to boost consumption by the public sector with tax cuts designed to increase consumer spending.
Negotiators left in the package $70 billion to address the alternative minimum tax to make sure families wouldn't be socked with unexpected tax increases averaging $2,300 or so. The problem was going to be fixed later in the year anyway, and congressional economists say fixing the AMT problem helps the economy by surprisingly little.
While publicly supportive of the bill, White House officials and top Democrats said they were disappointed that so much money was cut, including almost $20 billion for construction and repair of schools and university facilities. Those funds would have supported many construction jobs.
The $827 billion package debated in the Senate on Saturday — down from a $937 billion or so version debated during the week — included Obama's signature tax cut of up to $1,000 for working couples. Also included is a tax credit of up to $15,000 for homebuyers and smaller breaks for people buying new cars.
Much of the new spending would be for victims of the recession, in the form of extending unemployment insurance through the end of the year and increasing benefits by $25 a week, free or subsidized health care, and increased food stamp payments.
Obama himself acknowledged that the bill was far from perfect but said it would be too dangerous to leave it lifeless on the table.
"In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face," Obama said in the address, released before he made his first trip to Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.
"That was, after all, what last November's election was all about," he said.
Obama made an aggressive push for House and Senate lawmakers to work quickly to resolve their differences. The White House plans a major public relations blitz: A prime-time news conference Monday, several trips outside Washington next week and an address to a joint session of Congress later this month.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also planned to announce the details of a separate financial stability package on Tuesday, structuring how the administration would use another $350 billion in emergency relief approved last year to prop up the nation's banks on the brink of failure, a senior administration official said Saturday evening.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private administration planning. The announcement had been pushed back from Monday, when Obama plans to pitch his economic plan.
Lawmakers were already looking ahead to House and Senate talks where a handful of GOP moderates such as Collins and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania — whose votes are crucial to pass the bill — seemed to have the upper hand against House Democrats unhappy with changes such as curbing increases for early childhood education and subsidies to bring the Internet to rural areas.
___
AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
Obama: http://www.whitehouse.gov
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans bickered Saturday over his historically huge economic recovery plan after states and schools lost tens of billions of dollars in a late-night bargain to save it.
The $827 billion measure is on track to pass the Senate on Tuesday despite stiff opposition from the GOP and disappointment among Democrats, including the new president who labeled it imperfect. Next up: Difficult negotiations between the House and Senate, which are divided over spending for tax cuts, education and aid for local governments.
"We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, sounding a note of pragmatism that liberal followers rarely heard on the campaign trail.
Still, the popular president — six in 10 voters approve of his performance so far — scolded Republicans with a pointed reminder that Democrats, not Republicans, were victorious in November.
Hours later, the Senate convened a rare Saturday session to debate a compromise forged between GOP moderates and the White House on Friday, a rare burst of comity aimed at securing passage of the bill with a few Republican votes joining the Democratic majority.
The compromise reached between a handful of GOP moderates led Susan Collins of Maine, the White House and its Senate allies stripped $108 billion in spending from Obama's plan, including cutbacks in projects that likely would give the economy a quick lift, like $40 billion in aid to state governments for education and other programs.
Yet it retained items that also probably won't help the economy much, such as $650 million to help people without cable receive digital signals through their old-fashioned televisions or $1 billion to fix problems with the 2010 Census.
Among the most difficult cuts for the White House and its liberal allies to accept was the elimination of $40 billion in aid to states, money that economists say is a relatively efficient way to pump up the economy by preventing layoffs, cuts in services or tax increases.
"It reduces a number of highly stimulative items like state fiscal relief ... and largely substitute for it some large tax cuts that are highly ineffective as stimulus," said Bob Greenstein, founder of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "So your net result is a bill that gets significantly less bang for the buck."
For all the talk of cuts, the bill retains the core of Obama's plan, designed to ease the worst economic recession in generations by combining hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to boost consumption by the public sector with tax cuts designed to increase consumer spending.
Negotiators left in the package $70 billion to address the alternative minimum tax to make sure families wouldn't be socked with unexpected tax increases averaging $2,300 or so. The problem was going to be fixed later in the year anyway, and congressional economists say fixing the AMT problem helps the economy by surprisingly little.
While publicly supportive of the bill, White House officials and top Democrats said they were disappointed that so much money was cut, including almost $20 billion for construction and repair of schools and university facilities. Those funds would have supported many construction jobs.
The $827 billion package debated in the Senate on Saturday — down from a $937 billion or so version debated during the week — included Obama's signature tax cut of up to $1,000 for working couples. Also included is a tax credit of up to $15,000 for homebuyers and smaller breaks for people buying new cars.
Much of the new spending would be for victims of the recession, in the form of extending unemployment insurance through the end of the year and increasing benefits by $25 a week, free or subsidized health care, and increased food stamp payments.
Obama himself acknowledged that the bill was far from perfect but said it would be too dangerous to leave it lifeless on the table.
"In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face," Obama said in the address, released before he made his first trip to Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.
"That was, after all, what last November's election was all about," he said.
Obama made an aggressive push for House and Senate lawmakers to work quickly to resolve their differences. The White House plans a major public relations blitz: A prime-time news conference Monday, several trips outside Washington next week and an address to a joint session of Congress later this month.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also planned to announce the details of a separate financial stability package on Tuesday, structuring how the administration would use another $350 billion in emergency relief approved last year to prop up the nation's banks on the brink of failure, a senior administration official said Saturday evening.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private administration planning. The announcement had been pushed back from Monday, when Obama plans to pitch his economic plan.
Lawmakers were already looking ahead to House and Senate talks where a handful of GOP moderates such as Collins and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania — whose votes are crucial to pass the bill — seemed to have the upper hand against House Democrats unhappy with changes such as curbing increases for early childhood education and subsidies to bring the Internet to rural areas.
___
AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
Obama: http://www.whitehouse.gov
MCA hopes stimulus package will strengthen economy
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 – MCA hopes the second economic stimulus package, which is being fine tuned by the government, will be able to strengthen the national economy for the benefit of the people and the business fraternity.
“If we are able the stimulate the economy, we certainly can preserve existing jobs and create new job opportunities,” MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat told reporters yesterday after attending a Chinese New year gathering organised by the Selangor Buddhist Association here.
According to reports, the second stimulus package will be announced this month or at the latest by March. The first stimulus package of RM7 billion was announced last November.
Ong, who is also Transport Minister, said a stable economy would also bring about stability in national politics. – Bernama
“If we are able the stimulate the economy, we certainly can preserve existing jobs and create new job opportunities,” MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat told reporters yesterday after attending a Chinese New year gathering organised by the Selangor Buddhist Association here.
According to reports, the second stimulus package will be announced this month or at the latest by March. The first stimulus package of RM7 billion was announced last November.
Ong, who is also Transport Minister, said a stable economy would also bring about stability in national politics. – Bernama
Police warn against demonstrating in Perak
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 – The police issued a stern warning yesterday against demonstrators or those who organise illegal gatherings in connection with the political situation in Perak.
Deputy Federal Police Chief Tan Sri Ismail Omar said police had received information that some irresponsible people were spreading rumours through Short Messaging Services (SMS), urging people to gather or demonstrate.
“Police will not allow any form of activities that do not conform to the country's law," said Ismail in a statement.
He added that action would be taken against those who are directly or indirectly involved in activities that can endanger public safety.
Police also assured that the situation in Perak was under control and that police were continuously monitoring the situation. – Bernama
Deputy Federal Police Chief Tan Sri Ismail Omar said police had received information that some irresponsible people were spreading rumours through Short Messaging Services (SMS), urging people to gather or demonstrate.
“Police will not allow any form of activities that do not conform to the country's law," said Ismail in a statement.
He added that action would be taken against those who are directly or indirectly involved in activities that can endanger public safety.
Police also assured that the situation in Perak was under control and that police were continuously monitoring the situation. – Bernama
PM: Put aside political differences, focus on economy
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has urged the people to forget all political differences and instead concentrate efforts towards strengthening the economy.
With the world economy in a crisis now, all Malaysians must work together to ensure the country’s economy remains on track, he said on Saturday.
He said the government was committed and doing all it could to improve the economy so as to ensure the people were not badly affected by the current economic situation.
“Forget any political difference ... our focus now is to together overcome the economic situation. The government is prepared to spend, introduce economic stimulus packages, undertake various campaigns to encourage people to support local products. This the path we must take,” he said at the national-level Chinese New Year open house here on Saturday.
Also present were his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, MCA president and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, Gerakan president Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, MIC deputy president Datuk S.Subramaniam and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili.
At the same time, the Prime Minister also said the government would do its best to prevent job losses and introduce economic action plans for the benefit of the people.
However, he said, the people should have confidence and cooperate with the government in facing the current economic challenges just as they did before, when the nation was faced with various political and economic crises.
The government, he said, had the experience to weather similar challenges and the people should keep faith with it to bring the nation out of the current economic gloom.
Some 5,000 guests attended the celebration which also featured cultural performances of the various races in the country.
At the function, the Prime Minister also presented aid to 10 selected welfare and charity homes. – Bernama
With the world economy in a crisis now, all Malaysians must work together to ensure the country’s economy remains on track, he said on Saturday.
He said the government was committed and doing all it could to improve the economy so as to ensure the people were not badly affected by the current economic situation.
“Forget any political difference ... our focus now is to together overcome the economic situation. The government is prepared to spend, introduce economic stimulus packages, undertake various campaigns to encourage people to support local products. This the path we must take,” he said at the national-level Chinese New Year open house here on Saturday.
Also present were his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, MCA president and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, Gerakan president Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, MIC deputy president Datuk S.Subramaniam and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili.
At the same time, the Prime Minister also said the government would do its best to prevent job losses and introduce economic action plans for the benefit of the people.
However, he said, the people should have confidence and cooperate with the government in facing the current economic challenges just as they did before, when the nation was faced with various political and economic crises.
The government, he said, had the experience to weather similar challenges and the people should keep faith with it to bring the nation out of the current economic gloom.
Some 5,000 guests attended the celebration which also featured cultural performances of the various races in the country.
At the function, the Prime Minister also presented aid to 10 selected welfare and charity homes. – Bernama
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