MALAYSIA:180 CHARGED UNDER ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ACT

PADANG BESAR, Jan 31 (NNN-Bernama): Up to 180 people have been prosecuted so far under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007, Home Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam said here.

He said 10 of them had been convicted while the other cases were ongoing.

The act provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years or a fine of up to RM500,000, or both, upon conviction, he told reporters after delivering a briefing for officers and staff of departments and agencies under the ministry, here on Saturday’s night.

Mahmood said the act would be amended from time to time to plug any loophole.

Asked about the inflow of foreigners who carried the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card, he said the matter would be handled prudently.

He said the Immigration Department and the UNHCR had discussed the question of issuing a special card to those confirmed as refugees.

However, he said, Malaysia only extended sympathy to but did not recognise the estimated 45,000 refugees in the country.

“They cannot take up permanent employment in the country but are allowed to have temporary jobs,” he said.

-NNN-BERNAMA

PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT ASPIRES FOR LEGISLATIVE PREROGATIVE

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 31 (NNN-ENA) — The Pan African Parliament said it is aspiring to transform itself into a legislative body of the African Union (AU) Commission within the coming one year.

Briefing journalists here in Addis Ababa, Pan African Parliament President Dr. Moussa Idriss Ndele said the Pan African Parliament has already submitted a proposal requesting for a legislative role in the African Union (AU) Commission.

The Pan African Parliament, which was established as one of the organs of the AU Commission in March 18, 2004, has been playing an advisory role so far, he said. According to the president, Pan African Parliament envisages assuming legislative prerogative status until Year 2011, he said.

After assuming legislative prerogative status, Pan African Parliament will be endorsing ?Supranational? laws and guidelines in line with the instruments and decisions of the AU Summit of Heads of State and Government.

Every member state of the AU will be represented by five Pan African parliamentarians as per the proposal of the parliament, he said, adding the Pan African Parliament will have a five-year tenure office.

Asked about the position of the Pan African Parliament on unconstitutional change of government in Africa, the president said his organ condemns unconstitutional change of government in the continent as an organ of the AU Commission.

The president called up on the media on the occasion to promote the salient goals and objectives of the pan African Parliament as mission and vision of the Parliament is least understood by most Africans so far. — NNN-ENA

PM: THAILAND WILL HOST WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM EAST ASIA IN 2011

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 31 (NNN-TNA): Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday that Bangkok will host the World Economic Forum (WEF) East Asia in 2011 in part due to the confidence that foreign governments and international business leaders gave him for his performance as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last year.

Abhisit, now attending a three-day 40th WEF 2010 in the Swiss city of Davos which ends later Sunday, said next year?s Bangkok meeting would be significant for Thailand, especially after Thai oil giant PTT Pcl is now a member of WEF, and Krung Thai Bank has just applied for membership and is awaiting confirmation.

Their applications for WEF membership are considered positive signals and the organiser of the meeting gained more confidence seeing Thailand as host of the event next year, said Abhisit.

Participants attending the meeting in Davos have high expectations that the Asian region could help spur global economy, he said, adding that he had held talks with the Swiss President and Economics Minister Doris Leuthard, Belgian prime minister Yves Leterme and had an audience with the Duke of York on ways to widen investment in Thailand.

Abhisit in his weekly television and radio address, broadcast from Bangkok, said Thailand?s economy has been showing signs of stronger recovery during the past several weeks.

He said total investment value seeking promotional privileges from the Board of Investment during 2009 stood as high as Bt700 billion, higher than the target by about 60 per cent. This year?s target is set at approximately Bt500 billion.

The Thai government budget spending for fiscal 2011, starting October 1, will be in deficit, Mr. Abhisit said. It is estimated that the government?s revenue in fiscal 2011 would be around Bt1.65 trillion while the expenditure would be slightly more than Bt2 trillion.

However, investment budget during the year would increase to Bt340 billion, or up nearly 60 per cent due to the economic recovery, he added.

-NNN-TNA

SUDAN: ELECTIONS COMMISSION ACCEPTS NOMINATION OF 10 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

KHARTOUM, Jan 31 (NNN-SUNA) — Sudan National Elections Commission (NEC) has accepted Saturday the nominations of 10 candidates for the post of President and rejected 3 others for not meeting the requirements of the nomination

Member of the National Elections Commission and Chairman of the Committee assigned to receive the nominations for President of the Republic, Gen. Al-Hadi Mohammed Ahmed, announced that the NEC has accepted the candidatures of Omer Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir from the National Congress, Abdullah Deng Nihal from the Popular Congress, Yasir Saeed Arman from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Mubarak Al-Fadil Al-Mahdi from the Ummah Party – Reformation and Renewing, Al-Sddiq Al-Siddiq Al-Mahadi from Ummah National Party, Abdul-Aziz Khalid Osman from the Sudanese National Alliance , Kamil Al-Tayeb Idris Abdul Hafeez – Independent, Hatim Al-Sir – from the Democratic Unionist Party, Mohammed Ibrahim Nugud from the Sudanese Communist party and Mohammed Ahmed Jihaa – Independent.

He added that the Commission has rejected the nominations of three candidates because their candidatures did not meet the requirements. They are Muneer Sheikhaddin Muneer from the New Democratic Party, Fatima Ahmed Abdul-Mahmoud from the Sudanese Democratic Socialist Party and Abdullah Ali Ibrahim – Independent.

Gen. Al-Hadi explained that the NEC has published Saturday all the lists of Candidates for the posts of President of the Republic, President of the Government of South Sudan, Walis (Governors) of States, the National Assembly, the Legislative Assembly of Southern Sudan as well as the Legislative Assembles in the States.

In this connection, Gen. Al-Hadi affirmed that any candidate whose nomination for Presidency is rejected by the NEC has the right to appeal to the National Supreme Court within 7 days.

He added that either the candidate or the political party whose nomination is rejected has the right to appeal to the concerned court within 7 days from the day of publication. — NNN-SUNA

QURESHI UNDERSCORES PAKISTAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO WAR AGAINST EXTREMISTS AND MILITANTS

OXFORD, Jan 31, (NNN-APP): Underscoring Pakistan?s contributions to the war against extremists and militancy, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the country has rendered lot more sacrifices than the international forces in Afghanistan .

He said as such, the West must reciprocate by helping to revitalise its economy and enhancing its capacity to counter terrorism.

He was delivering a talk on ?Situation in Pakistan and its role in the war against terrorism,? at the Oxford University here last evening.

The event was held at Frewin Court and organised jointly by Oxford Pakistan Society and the Oxford Union as part of Pakistan Young Leaders Conference.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who is himself a student at the Oxford University was among a large number of students who had gathered to listen to the speech of the Pakistani Foreign Minister.

A portrait of his late mother hung in the historic hall along with other academic luminaries and politicians who had studied at the prestigious institution.

?Pakistan continues to fight for its own reasons but the international community must assist the country in enhancing our capacity to counter-terrorism and provide economic assistance to stabilise economy because there is a linkage between deprivation and poverty and extremism,? he said.

Qureshi said Pakistan has been supportive of this fight against terrorism from day one and ever since NATO/ISAF troops moved into Afghanistan but the fight lacked political ownership.

?Today, the democratically elected Government has given this fight ownership and that has been the difference.?

He spoke of the successful operations launched in Swat, Malakand and South Waziristan and said an area one third of the size of England was cleansed of the miscreants and over two million internally displaced persons returned home in a matter of 10 weeks and have started rebuilding their lives.

He said the world is beginning to realise Pakistan contributions and the sacrifice of its people have made in human and economic terms.

?All the coalition forces put together in Afghanistan have not had as many casualties as we had. The economic cost of this conflict to Pakistan has been over US $ 35 billion. Thorough our national efforts we are taking on the extremists,? he informed the gathering.

Qureshi pointed out that the London Conference on Afghanistan has realised Pakistan?s point of view that money derived from drugs smuggling and opium cultivation in Afghanistan is fanning and helping terrorism and that not enough attention has been made to choke the flow of illicit weapons.

Pakistan, he said, had called for regional and international efforts to stop this menace but now the international community has realised these shortcomings and the London Conference has agreed to address all the concerns including the issue of capacity building, good governance and elimination of corruption as well as reconciliation and re-integration of the saner elements of Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

On relations with India, he said Pakistan was not begging for peace with its eastern neighbour but peace was important for the region and could best be promoted through trade links.

?We do have outstanding issues with India and wants to resolve them peacefully. Only when threat on the eastern front is diminished than we could concentrate on the western borders. Two fronts situation is not in Pakistan favour.?

He said Pakistan was interested in result-orient talks with India and this he made it clear to his Indian counterpart when they last met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

?We are not interested merely in photo session but want concrete actions on the roadmap we gave to the Indians.?

However, he was hopeful that the fifth round of the composite dialogue which remains suspended following the Mumbai incident in November 2008 would be resumed soon.

On relations with other countries, Qureshi pointed out Pakistan has entered into strategic dialogue with the UK and Germany while a similar framework has been prepared with France. Strategic dialogue with the US is also in offing within next couple of months.

He further said Pakistan has upgraded its relations with the European Union and the second Pakistan-EU summit is due to take place in April this year with Spain being the host.

He said no strategy against terrorism can work without an all encompassing policy and urged the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum to help Pakistan through investments and joint ventures to assist it countering militancy.

Qureshi informed the audience about the state of affairs that prevailed when the current democratically elected government assumed power following the parliamentary elections in 2008.

He said that while the Government has initiated many measures to alleviate the suffering of the poor people with projects such as Benazir Income Support Programme, the country continues to face energy shortage and deficiency in sugar. Nevertheless, he added the Government has taken steps to deal with these problems.

He mentioned about the bill for the protection of women signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari and described it as a ?landmark document? which will encourage more women to play their role in the nation building without the fear of being harassed at work.

Responding to a question, he lauded the role of the intelligence services in eliminating and arrest of key Al-Qaeda leaders and the said the intelligence provided to the allies had been extremely beneficial in the fight against terrorism.

He said operations in North Waziristan would be undertaken only when the situation was favourable.

Regarding the student visas issue, Qureshi said the Government was seized of the matter and the subject has been taken up with the British leadership to ease the difficulties of Pakistani students in obtaining British visa for studies in the UK institutions.

He concluded by saying that despite the challenges, Pakistan is a land full of opportunities with a bright and promising future.

-NNN-APP

One-stop Heritage: Central Market in KL

The colonial-era Central Market is located in Jalan Hang Kasturi, mere minutes away from popular hop Chinatown in Petaling Street. A long way from 1888 when it was built and originally served as a wet market. It has since been classified as a Heritage Site by the Malaysian Heritage Society and is now a landmark .

IRAQ:BOMB ATTACK KILLS SHIITE PILGRIM, INJURES OTHERS

BAGHDAD, Jan 31, (NNN-KUNA): A Shiite pilgrim was killed and another two were injured, while they were on the way to Karbalaa to venerate “Arba’eneyat Al-Hussien”- the 40th anniversary marking the 40 day following the death of imam Hussien), an Iraqi police source said.

An unknown person threw a grenade on the parades of Shiite pilgrims in Sadiya town, southern Iraq, the source said.

Shiites walk from various Iraqi cities to Karbalaa to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Imam Hussien.

-NNN-KUNA

The splendour of Borobudur

Photos: NYL In the heart of Southeast Asia, lies a mythical island where water buffaloes graze in fields of endless green, tall houses squat over paddy fields, whole families squeeze snugly onto a single hardy motorcycle and locals travel on the roof of buses. This is Java, a land of incredible sights but none greater .

IRAN:MILD QUAKE JOLTS SURROUNDING AREAS OF QOM CITY

TEHRAN, Jan 31, (NNN-IRNA): A mild earthquake measuring 3.5 on Richter scale jolted surrounding areas of Qom city on Sunday early morning.

According to the report of seismography center affiliated to Tehran University Geophysics Institute, the tremor occurred at 04:55 hours local time ( 01:25 hours GMT) and its epicenter was at 34.63 degrees latitude and 50.71 degrees longitude.

There is no immediate report on possible damage.

-NNN-IRNA

IRAN:QUAKE SHAKES KOOHBANAN IN KERMAN-YAZD PROVINCES BORDER

TEHRAN, Jan 31, (NNN-IRNA): An earthquake measuring 4.2 on Richter scale jolted surrounding areas of Koohbanan in border area between Kerman and Yazd provinces on Saturday evening.

According to the report of seismography center affiliated to Tehran University Geophysics Institute, the tremor occurred at 22:13 hours local time ( 18:43 hours GMT) and its epicenter was at 31.69 degrees latitude and 56.27 degrees longitude.
There is no immediate report on possible casualties or damage.

-NNN-IRNA