- The construction of 19,500 more classrooms in one-storey story school buildings will be completed a month after the start of classes on Monday, education department’s Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo said in an interview with ANC of ABS CBN.
- “By 2013, we will be able to address shortages in classrooms,” Mateo said, adding that school lobby, library, or offices of the guidance counselor were already assigned as temporary classrooms, including several shifts of classes in several schools to accommodate a growing number of students.
- Overcrowding of school rooms has remained due to the growing number of students beyond the expectation of the education department, Emmalyn Policarpio, secretary general of the Teachers Dignity Coalition, also told ANC.
UN LAUNCHES RECORD APPEAL FOR VICTIMS OF SYRIA WAR
BEIRUT, Lebanon – The United Nations warned yesterday half of all
Syrians would need humanitarian aid by the end of 2013, and launched
what it said was the biggest emergency appeal in history to cope with
the civil war crisis.
“Syria as a civilisation is unravelling,” said the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, announcing the call for
some US$5 billion (RM15.4 billion) before the end of the year.
The joint statement by UN agencies coincided with heavy fighting on
numerous fronts, as rebels attacked an air base in northern Syria while
forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad sought to capitalise on their
own recent gains.
Clashes continued on the Golan Heights, close to the ceasefire line
between Israel and Syria, a day after rebels briefly seized the sole
crossing between the two foes.
- Austria, a major contributor to a UN monitoring mission in the Golan, announced on Thursday it was withdrawing from the area because of the violence, jeopardising an operation that has helped keep the Israeli-Syrian war quiet for four decades.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has backed the Syrian government since the start of the unrest in March 2011, said Moscow was ready to replace the Austrian peacekeepers.
- A UN spokesman said however the four-decade-old agreement on the mission in the Golan did not allow permanent US Security Council members such as Russia to send troops.
- Highlighting the scale of the crisis, UN humanitarian agencies in Geneva said 10.25 million Syrians would need aid by the end of the year at a cost of US$5 billion.
- “The funds we are appealing for are a matter of survival for suffering Syrians and they are existential for the neighbouring countries hosting refugees,” Guterres said.
- The appeal comprises US$2.9 billion for refugees, US$1.4 billion for humanitarian aid and US$830 million for Lebanon and Jordan, the biggest recipients of Syria.
Source: The Malaysian Insider...More...
SECOND PENANG BRIDGE IN MALAYSIA COLLAPSE
GEORGE TOWN: An uncompleted flyover connecting to the
still-under-construction second Penang bridge at Batu Maung collapsed at
around 7pm Thursday, burying at least one car and a motorcycle under
the debris.
Police fear that four people are dead after one car, a white-coloured Perodua Kelisa was found buried under the rubble.
State
Fire and Rescue Department confirmed that one motorcyclist, who was
earlier trapped under the debris, has been pulled out. He suffered
injuries to his head.
Hundreds of firemen, volunteers and medical personnel from throughout the state have been mobilised to the scene.
Firemen
are removing debris to reach the cars and motorcycles under the rubble,
comprising mostly metal scaffolding and steel beams.
Bayan Baru
MP Sim Tze Tzin, who was on the scene, said about a 30m-long span of the
ramp was believed to have collapsed around 7pm, as work to install
concrete boulders to strengthen the structure was ongoing.
He said he was informed a few people may be trapped under the rubble.
State executive councillor Lim Hock Seng said the cause of the collapse had yet to be determined.
"We cannot confirm the cause of the accident," he said, adding that a full investigation would be carried out.
- The 24km-long bridge was set for completion next month.
- The longest bridge in South-East Asia and 20th in the world was supposed to go through road commissioning and testing in August before being officially opened in September.
Source: The Star
EARTHQUAKE SHAKES UP HAWAII
Hawaii earthquake: A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck off the coat of the Big Island, causing no serious damage or injuries.
Tuesday afternoon's earthquake was centered about 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Pahala on the Big Island, at a depth of about 25 miles (40 kilometers). Officials say it did not expected to generate a tsunami.
Source: Agency
MALAYSIA DETAINS MYANMAR MIGRANTS OVER DEATHS
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysian police have detained dozens of people from Myanmar
following four killings in the Malaysian capital in a number of
incidents suspected of being linked to sectarian violence in Myanmar.
About 60 people have been held for questioning in recent days,
according to Amar Singh Ishar Singh, Kuala Lumpur's deputy police chief.
The killing of four Myanmar migrants in a number of separate
incidents in Kuala Lumpur this past week has raised concerns that
tensions between Myanmar's Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya minority are
spilling over to the neighbouring Southeast Asian country, where
hundreds of thousands of Myanmar nationals have come to seek work and
refuge.
The killings include a man fatally slashed while sleeping in a car
wash centre and another attacked by people with sharp objects in a
marketplace, according to media reports.
- Malaysia's Bernama state news agency said the 20-year-old victim was sleeping at the car wash when he was attacked by 10 people.
- It quoted police as saying a man and a woman also suffered injuries in the attack.
- All the victims were Buddhists from Myanmar, said Singh, the city's deputy police chief.
- "We have a feedback that this may be Myanmar Buddhists and Muslims having a spillover here in Kuala Lumpur," he said.
- "In Myanmar, the Muslims are the victims, over here the Buddhists are the victims."
- Singh said the police had set up a special task force to deal with the violence in Kuala Lumpur and had arrested about 60 Myanmar immigrants this week in an attempt to control tensions.
- Anti-Muslim violence in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar erupted in western Rakhine State last year and has spread into the central heartlands and areas near the old capital, Yangon, this year.
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled from the country to escape
the violence and worsening living conditions, many of them making their
way by boat or overland to Muslim-majority Malaysia.Malaysia's has allowed them to stay but without giving them legal status, meaning that most struggle to find work or access to hospitals and schools.
The total number of Myanmar immigrants in Malaysia is estimated at about 400,000.
The UN refugee agency said about 23,000 Rohingyas are registered as refugees in Malaysia, but groups representing them say the real number of Muslim immigrants is much higher and has surged this year because of the violence.
Source: Al Jazeera
PHILIPPINE SCHOOLS START IN CHAOS?
MANILA, Philippines - The start of the school season has
remained chaotic despite efforts by the Philippine government to meet
the challenging demands of giving free education to a growing population
of students in the kindergarten, primary, and secondary levels.
The Philippine government has
already resolved classroom shortage in public schools’ first and
secondary levels from 66,800 in 2010 to 32,900 this year.
Source: Gulfnews...More...
MAN FOUND DEAD IN HOME FULL OF GAINT SNAKES
STRAUBING, Germany - German cops looking for a missing man were shocked to find him dead in his home
surrounded by over FORTY giant snakes.
Many of the reptiles, including a 30ft anaconda and four 35ft pythons, were
slithering free around the decomposing body when police entered snake fan
Heiko Rieder's apartment in Straubing, Germany.
A fire service spokesman said: "At least one was as thick as a human
thigh."
Neighbors said they were surprised his pets had not started to devour their owner.
But experts said his large frame meant his body was too wide to be swallowed whole.
"They like to eat their prey whole and the average European is too long and too wide for that," said Markus Baur, boss of the animals' new reptile home in Munich.
Source: Agency
Neighbors said they were surprised his pets had not started to devour their owner.
But experts said his large frame meant his body was too wide to be swallowed whole.
"They like to eat their prey whole and the average European is too long and too wide for that," said Markus Baur, boss of the animals' new reptile home in Munich.
Source: Agency
NURUL IZZAH TO CHALLENGE SABAH ENTRY BAN IN COURT
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia — Blasting it as undemocratic, PKR
vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said today she will challenge the
Barisan Nasional (BN) state government’s ban on her entry into Sabah in
court.
The second-term Lembah Pantai MP argued that although the state
constitution allows the chief minister to bar anyone from entering the
state, it must do so with a valid justification – of which failing to do
so meant the provision had been clearly abused.
“As a member of the Malaysian Parliament, 
the move to bar my entry is
irrational and without reasonable justification. It is clearly an
extreme abuse of power and very anti-democratic,” she told a press
conference in PKR’s headquarters here.
the move to bar my entry is
irrational and without reasonable justification. It is clearly an
extreme abuse of power and very anti-democratic,” she told a press
conference in PKR’s headquarters here.
“If I am a threat to the people of Sabah, then give me the rationale and explanation to this accusation.”
Nurul Izzah also claimed that more opposition leaders, including his
father, PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and other
activists have also been listed in the banning order which she claimed
came from the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman’s office.
- The 32 year-old PKR leader said the state authorities, however, had rejected her demand to see the list and gave no explanation as to why she had been denied entry.
- “I am currently discussing with YB Darrell Leiking, the MP for Penampang, and other friends in Sabah’s legal fraternity to consider taking legal action against the chief minister that will be filed in Kota Kinabalu soon.”
- Yesterday, Nurul Izzah was denied entry into Sabah upon arriving in Kota Kinabalu. She had intended to attend a party event as well as celebrating Pesta Kaamatan, or the Harvest Festival, on a personal capacity.
Government backbencher and a Member of Parlimen for Kinabatangan in Sabah, Bung Moktar Radin(right photo) said Nurul Izzah’s
ejection from state ‘big mistake’.
“I don’t understand why Nurul was not allowed to enter Sabah. If it’s
true, then this is a mistake and a disaster,” added the Umno supreme
council member.
Meanwhile, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman (second right photo) refused to comment today on
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar’s deportation from the east
Malaysian state yesterday.
Musa rushed to his car instead when approached by reporters at Umno’s headquarters in the Putra World Trade Centre here today.
Source: The Malaysian Insider...More...
HIGH SECURITY AT FRANCE’S FIRST GAY MARRIAGE
Smoke bomb aimed at historic wedding of Vincent Aubin and Bruno Boileau, but ceremony goes ahead relatively peacefully.
Two men have married each other in the southern French city of Montpellier in the first same-sex wedding in a country that has been rocked by protests against, and for, the reform.
Security was on high alert for the union of Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau, who exchanged vows in the city hall on Wednesday before the mayor, relatives and friends, as dozens of riot police stood guard outside to ensure the ceremony was not interrupted by protestors.
Source: Al Jazeera
WOMAN MAULED TO DEATH BY STARVING TIGERS IN ZOO
A woman who was mauled by a tiger was in a staff area of the enclosure that animals should not have had access, it has emerged.
Sarah McClay, 24, died when she was mauled by a Sumatran tiger at South Lakes Wild Animal Park, in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, on Friday afternoon.
Detective Chief Inspector Bob Qazi, of Cumbria Police, said: 'It is vitally important that we discover what exactly happened in 
the big cat enclosure building that led to Sarah coming into contact with the tiger.
the big cat enclosure building that led to Sarah coming into contact with the tiger.
'I want to emphasise there is no suggestion of any foul play or any issue of suicide or self-harm from the enquiries we have made and evidence we have.
'What has become apparent from our enquiries is that Sarah was going about her routine duties and was in the staff section of the enclosure building, which animals are not allowed access to, when a tiger has entered it from an adjacent pen and confronted her.
'The tiger has then attacked Sarah, taking her from the building into the open-air external enclosure area where Sarah was left and later attended by staff and paramedics.
A spokesman for the force added: "The wildlife park has closed early and all visitors have left the park.
"Police and Barrow Borough Council are currently investigating the circumstances that led to this incident."
Source: Mail Online...More..
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