MALAYSIA IS AMONGST WORLD CHAMPION IN CORRUPTION?
Despite Malaysia's high-profile anti-corruption crusade, half of the
corporate executives surveyed by a global corruption watchdog believe
that competitors have obtained business in the country through bribery.
Transparency International said Malaysia scored worst in the 2012
Bribe Payers Survey.
It asked nearly 3,000 executives from 30 countries whether they had
lost a contract in the past year because competitors paid a bribe, and
in Malaysia, 50% of them said 'yes'.
lost a contract in the past year because competitors paid a bribe, and
in Malaysia, 50% of them said 'yes'.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Japan was ranked as the world's
least-corrupt place to do business, with just 2% of respondents saying
they had lost out due to bribery.
Even Indonesia, with a long-standing reputation for corruption, fared better than more-developed Malaysia.
By comparison, 27% of respondents in China said they thought bribes had cost them business, the report said.
"It shows the attitude of private companies in Malaysia, indicating
that bribery in the public sector could be systemic and in a sense
institutionalized," Paul Low, president of the Malaysian chapter of
Transparency International, said.
source: Hindustan Times
27 KILLED IN A SHOOTING AT CONNECTICUT SCHOOL ,U.S.A.
NEWTOWN,Conn. U.S.A. - A heavily armed gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children from 5 to 10
years old, in a rampage at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday, one of
the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
The gunman - who according to a media report
carried four weapons and wore a bulletproof vest - was dead inside Sandy Hook
Elementary 
School in Newtown, Connecticut, state police Lieutenant Paul Vance
told a news conference.
School in Newtown, Connecticut, state police Lieutenant Paul Vance
told a news conference.
Vance said authorities found 18 children and
seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were
pronounced dead later after being take to a hospital. Another adult was found
dead at a related crime scene in Newtown, he said, bringing the toll to 28.
"Our hearts are broken today,"
President Barack Obama said in an emotional televised address to the nation.
"Evil visited this community
today," Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy told reporters.
Two law enforcement sources briefed on the
investigation confirmed to Reuters the shooter had been identified as Adam
Lanza, 20. Adam's brother Ryan Lanza was "either in custody or being
questioned" at this hour, one of the sources said.
Lanza, 20. Adam's brother Ryan Lanza was "either in custody or being
questioned" at this hour, one of the sources said.
The New York Times reported that the gunman
walked into a classroom where his mother was a teacher, shot his mother and
then 20 students, most in the same classroom, before shooting five other adults
and killing himself. One other person was shot at the school and survived, the
Times said.
source: Reuters...More...
USE A SMARTPHONE TO HAIL A CAB IN NEW YORK CITY?
NEW YORK, U.S.A. - Waving a hand to hail a cab in New York City could soon become passe. New Yorkers will be able to arrange taxi rides using smartphones after a
city agency approved the use of “e-hailing” on Thursday.
The Taxi & Limousine Commission voted to allow passengers to hail
and pay for yellow cab rides with smartphones as part of a one-year
trial programme beginning in about mid-February.
trial programme beginning in about mid-February.
The rule change could mean that petty annoyances such as getting soaked
while hailing a cab in the rain and having cabs grabbed by more
aggressive passengers could be things of the past.
Currently, yellow cabs can pick up only riders who flag them down on
the street. New York does not 
allow its fleet of some 13,000 yellow cabs
to arrange pickups with passengers, although livery cabs and car and
limousine services can do so.
allow its fleet of some 13,000 yellow cabs
to arrange pickups with passengers, although livery cabs and car and
limousine services can do so.
Many details of how e-hailing will work in New York will be left up to developers of applications for smartphones.
Under the change, riders will be able to connect with taxis within a
half-mile radius in Manhattan south of Central Park and within a
1.5-mile radius elsewhere in the city.
PRESSURE ON AFGHAN GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT WOMEN
KABUL, Afghanistan - The United Nations joined mounting criticism of Afghan President
Hamid Karzai’s government on Tuesday over women’s rights, urging it to
enforce a law designed to prevent violence against women.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a
report that the country still had a long way to go in implementing the
Law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW).
The legislation made child marriage, forced marriage, forced
self-immolation and other violent acts, including rape, a criminal
offence.
The legislation made child marriage, forced marriage, forced
self-immolation and other violent acts, including rape, a criminal
offence.
The 2009 law came law came after years of lobbying by Afghans and Westerners alike, and was held up as a beacon of progress.
Afghan women are increasingly concerned for their future as the deadline looms for most Nato-led combat troops to leave by the end of 2014.
Afghan women are increasingly concerned for their future as the deadline looms for most Nato-led combat troops to leave by the end of 2014.
- They have won back basic rights in voting, education and work since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
- But some female lawmakers and rights groups say abuse against women is on the rise because Karzai’s government is losing interest as it tries to advance the reconciliation process with the Taliban, an allegation it denies.
- On Monday, unknown gunmen shot dead Nadia Sediqqi, acting head of the women’s affairs department in eastern Laghman province, as she was going to work, in an attack widely condemned by the international community.
- She had replaced Hanifa Safi, who was killed in a bomb attack five months earlier. Afghan women’s groups had expressed concern that without international backing, it would be difficult to press for their rights.
iPHONE LEADS AUSSIE USERS TO DESERT AND SNAKES?
Australian
police have warned travellers off using Apple's troubled iPhone mapping
software after several motorists became stuck in a snake-infested,
desert corner of the country while using their phone for directions.
Police
in southeast Victoria state said they had been forced to rescue a
number of motorists who had become stuck for up to 24 hours "without
food or water" after being directed to the arid Murray Sunset National
Park, instead of the tourist town of Mildura, 70km away.
"We
had a fellow trapped in there just on Friday night after his car became
bogged. He saw a snake, a goat and a fox, and he was too scared to get
out of the car," Mildura police Inspector Simon Clemence told Reuters on Tuesday.
The
Murray-Sunset National Park is in Victoria's far northwest, a
relatively untouched semi-arid region accessible only by
four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Clemence
said at least six vehicles had become stuck on the desert park's sandy
tracks after being directed by the iOS mapping system to turn off a long
and infrequently sign-posted stretch of highway between South
Australia state and Victoria.
Clemence
said at least six vehicles had become stuck on the desert park's sandy
tracks after being directed by the iOS mapping system to turn off a long
and infrequently sign-posted stretch of highway between South
Australia state and Victoria.
"These
people have still been rescuable. But we've just had a 46C day. If they
were out there in that temperature and out of phone range, they would
have been in serious trouble," he said.
Clemence
said police had contacted Apple over the issue. But while the world's
most valuable company had now rectified Mildura's location for people
travelling from South Australia, motorists seeking directions
from Melbourne city were still being directed off course by iOS.
Source: The Daily Chilli
BROKERS CHARGED CHINESE MINERS FOR WORKING IN CANADIAN
Labour brokers may be charging Chinese miners up to $16,000 for the chance
to work in Canadian mines as temporary foreign workers, a CBC investigation has
found.
The National visited a prominent recruitment agency in Beijing carrying hidden cameras. Investigators posing as miners learned that workers
with minimal mining experience are being offered positions in Canadian gold,
copper and potash mines.
Recruiters said that, once working in Canada, miners would be paid no less
than $10 per hour. Permanent workers in Canada’s underground and surface mines
are paid on average $25 to $30 per hour.
Investigators also learned that workers are asked to pay a deposit of
several thousand dollars to secure a spot in a Canadian mine. The agency said
that the remainder of the $16,000 fee is taken directly from the miner’s
paycheque until paid in full.
The recruiters claim that the deduction occurs with the knowledge of the
employer, although the agency provided no proof that it was acting on behalf of
a specific company or business.
In Canada, it is illegal for employers to charge recruitment fees to
temporary foreign workers.
Source: CBC
HAITI QUAKE SURVIVORS HAVE NOWHERE TO GO
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti - Almost three years after a powerful earthquake devastated Haiti, a third of a million population became homeless. Thousands of displaced people living in temporary tent
houses now face eviction.
At least 360,000 people still live in camps all around the capital
city Port-au-Prince, but many of them were put up on private land and
now some owners want the people gone.
At least 60,000 people have already been evicted since July 2010, and
the British charity Oxfam has said evictions are on the rise and those
displaced have nowhere else to go.
Source: Al Jazeera
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