Malaysian Smart Tunnel doesn't look too smart now ...

I think DBKL must commissioned engineers to look into the root cause of this problem. If it aspires to be a world class city, this is the kind of problem that must be eliminated.

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KL hit by flash floods

Heavy rain caused flooding on several stretches of roads after Sungai Gombak and Sungai Bonus overflowed. Many vehicles were trapped when their paths were blocked by flood waters which rose as high as 0.7m.

A Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) operations room spokesman said the flooded areas included Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Gurney and Jalan Gurney Kiri, Jalan Ampang in front of the Risda Building and Jalan Semarak.

He also said five cars were reported to be submerged in flood waters in Jalan Gurney Kiri.

The Smart Tunnel was closed at 4.20pm to drain the flood waters. “The tunnel from Seremban to Kuala Lumpur was still closed while the tunnel from Kuala Lumpur to Seremban is back to normal,” a Smart Expressways spokesman said last night.

At a kindergarten nearby, 16 children aged between 16 months and four years were surrounded by flood waters. All were taken to safety by firemen from Jelatek, Chow Kit and Jinjang fire stations.

Isa said about 50 cars parked at the building were submerged in water. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Pity the plus sized woman, even in death she suffers

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Coffin too big, so woman cannot be cremated

A plus-sized woman who died on Tuesday afternoon could not be cremated as her body could not fit into the furnace, which could only handle coffins with a width of up to 71cm, the mainstream Chinese papers reported.

The custom-made casket of the Malaysian, who died at Singapore’s Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, was 92cm wide, which was almost double the size of a normal 50cm-wide coffin, said the reports in Sin Chew Daily, China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau.

The dailies reported that Annie Tan, 43, had been suffering hormonal disorder for the past six months and her weight increased from 160kg to 230kg by the time she passed away. Read more at thestar.com.my

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People used to steal hotel towels, but now they've moved up ...

Ah, the burden of technology. This is funny.

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TV and water heater ‘souvenirs’ from hotel

A COUPLE were caught trying to steal a 32-inch LCD television set from their hotel room as a “souvenir”, Harian Metro reported.

A police source said the couple were seen leaving the hotel lobby in Jalan Bukit Bintang in a hurry on Tues­day.

The room’s water heater which cost RM500 was also missing.

The source said the couple finally confessed to the theft of the water heater and the attempt to steal the television set. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Halliburton's foray in Malaysia

Isn't this the same Halliburton in Michael Moore's movie? I think they are profit motivated. I'm all for business; but, this company sounds fishy to me. And I'm betting some people with the right connections will be rich, very stinking filthy rich by 2020.

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Halliburton to help Malaysia become hub for oilfield services

LABUAN: Halliburton Energy Services (M) Sdn Bhd, the local unit of the world's second largest provider of products and services to the oil and gas industry, wants to help Malaysia become the top Asian hub for oilfield services, says its area vice-president, Rao Abdullah.

In this regard, Halliburton hopes to assist Malaysia to attract more world-class corporations to partner and strengthen domestic fabricators to win major contracts and establish a strong presence in oilfield installations, including oil well construction, Rao added.

He said Halliburton's long-term goal was also to help Malaysia become the hub for human capital in the oil and gas industry, especially against the backdrop of the company being selected as one of seven world leaders in Human Capital Development, Standards for Suppliers, Corporate Governance, and Customer Relationship Management.

The oil, gas and energy sector has been a mainstay of Malaysia's growth and contributes approximately 20 percent of national GDP.

The Oil, Gas and Energy NKEA (National Key Economic Area) is targeted to raise its total Gross National Income (GNI) contribution to RM241bil by 2020 from RM110bil in 2009. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Another example of M'sian hospital being overburdened?

I think the authority should not hide their heads in the sand any more. They should be honest enough to admit if there's a real problem of staff shortage or overburdened with work. Then, a system must be sought to resolve this kind of issue.

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Family spared double tragedy

SEREMBAN: The family of an accident victim who died on Tuesday morning was spared a double tragedy when his widow was rushed to the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital here in time after she swallowed 20 sleeping pills.

Lee Kah Mun, 25, swallowed the pills after returning home from her husband Chin Hee Soon’s funeral at 11am yesterday.

In a press conference on Wed­nesday, Chin’s family told reporters they were upset about having to learn of his death from a funeral parlour operator despite the fact that the 26-year-old accident victim had been warded for almost a day.

He was taken to the hospital but the family said they were not notified of the accident.

Hospital director Dr Jaafar Che Mat claimed that it was not hospital procedure to divulge a victim’s information to a third party (funeral parlour operator).

He said the hospital would contact the family first and if that was not possible, the police would be informed. Read more at thestar.com.my

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AirAsia's soaring high

AirAsia should be emulated by companies in Malaysia. It never stops findings ways to increase revenue from any possible means. These numbers should be good for its shareholders. Most importantly, it has help bring more tourists to Malaysia.

Bravo Fernandes! I think it won't be long before he's conferred the 'Tan Sri' title.

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AirAsia revenue breaches RM1bil mark

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd's net profit jumped more than eight-fold to RM316.5mil in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 against RM33.9mil previously while its full-year earnings hit the RM1bil mark driven by higher passenger numbers and stronger yields.

Revenue for the quarter rose 33% to RM1.18bil from RM894mil a year ago while earnings per share jumped to 11.50 sen versus 1.50 previously.

The budget carrier's core operating profit for the period was RM332.8mil, a 147% increase over RM134.7mil posted a year ago.

Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin improved to 49.3% from 43.3% previously.

He said AirAsia would continue its focus on lowering costs, improving returns and expanding its network.

The revenue growth was supported by 13% growth in passenger volumes and average fare that was 5% higher at RM177 as compared to RM168 achieved in 2009. Meanwhile, its seat load factor was three percentage points higher at 78% compared to 75% in 2009.

He said the increased contribution from ancillary income to the company's bottom line matched its passenger growth. “Ancillary has been a tremendous revenue stream for us. It's up in all three of our operations: Malaysia RM49 per pax; Thai AirAsia at 369 bahts per pax and Indonesian AirAsia at 155,089 rupiah per pax.”

He said every RM1 per pax spent provides about US$1 per barrel of buffer.

Meanwhile, AirAsia is also planning initial public offerings (IPOs) for its Indonesian and Thai affiliates in both countries. Read more at biz.thestar.com.my

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Bad publicity for Malaysia

Even if this is just pure bad luck, Tourism Ministry should look into her complaints about safety precautions taken by the operators. This is serious. Somebody could get killed by this kind of accidents.

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Zhu Li vows never to come back here

GEORGE TOWN: Chinese tourist Zhu Li, who broke her legs when two Myanmar nationals riding a water scooter rammed into her, has vowed not to visit Malaysia again.

“When my daughter and I came here to visit my husband, her laptop was stolen while we were waiting for a bus at the KL International Airport.

“Bad luck struck twice when I was injured while taking a stroll along the beach.

“I never expected this trip to become my worst nightmare,” she said upon being discharged from Penang Hospital yesterday. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Another NS trainee casualty

Government should view this seriously as it will affect parent's view about the program. Safety and health should be of utmost importance.

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NS trainee dies after zohor prayers

“Medical record checks revealed that Syed Abdul Rahman did not have any medical problems,” the NS training department said in a statement yesterday.

Based on the department’s records, the teenager was only treated once for cough. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Battle between conservation and economics

The farm operators must be given alternative source of income or be provided with incentives to convert these heritage building as part of tourism industry business.

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Unesco warns Penang on swiftlet breeding shophouses

Centre director Francesco Ban­darin said, in a letter dated Jan 14, the re­­ports stated that there were 200 to 300 swiftlet farms in George Town.

These shophouses were sealed and continuously moistened to provide a conducive environment for the swiftlets, to the possible detriment of the building fabric.

Chow said the Penang Munici­pal Council had identified swiftlet farms run by 121 operators in 128 heritage buildings. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Another book on Mahathir

Controversial figures always attracts writers and researchers. I believe when Dr M dies there'll even more books on him ...

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Book an appreciation of Dr M, says writer

PUTRAJAYA: American journalist Tom Plate said his book on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is “neither a whitewash nor a grand jury indictment but an appreciation” of the former prime minister.

In the book Conversations with Mahathir Mohamad – Dr M: Operation Malaysia, the country’s fourth prime minister gives his views on the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Jews, among others.

The book is part of his Giants of Asia series, which also included a book on Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew.

“Dr Mahathir was not afraid of failure and did not want to be timid,” said Plate, who is also an internationally syndicated columnist and university professor. Read more at thestar.com.my

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PAS bans Shisha in Kota Bharu

The fact of the matter is this stuffs is more hazardous than smoking. And I've seen so many youths smoking shisha in these restaurants before. Not only they are smoking cigarettes, they'll be doubly at risk with shisha. So why does these politicians trying to portray this ban as another political ploy? Sheesh ...

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Kota Baru bans shisha

MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker said the ban was yet another show of PAS’ way of doing things.

He said PAS had always acted according to its whims and fancy.

Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang said the move to ban shisha smoking was “narrow minded”.

Reports have indicated that shisha smoking was even more hazardous to health than cigarette smoking.

The World Health Organisation announced in 2007 that one session of smoking shisha would yield a nicotine intake equivalent to more than one pack of cigarettes.

KOTA BARU: The Kota Baru Municipal Council has banned all food outlets here from allowing shisha smoking at their premises with immediate effect. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Guess who has the biggest 'harem'?

and I thought people with four wives have it all ... And he's still only 66. Imagine how many more wives he can have after this?

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Man with the largest family in the world

AN Indian man from Mizoram in Kolkata, northern India has the largest family in the world with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren, according to Malaysia Nanban.

Ziona Chana, 66, and his family live in a 100-room, four-storey house set amidst the hills of Baktwang village in Mizoram. Read more at thestar.com.my

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Pakistani girl revenge ...

Ugh. This is so gruesome. It could make for a movie in Hollywood or Bollywood for that matter.

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Pakistani teen takes pictures of lover being killed

Police said Maira Maryam, 17, had claimed that her lover, Kamran, 20, had offered her to his friends once he had satisfied his lust. She then decided to kill him.

Police said pictures of Kamran’s dismembered body were found on her mobile phone and the laptop of Umair Ali Khan, one of the suspects. Read more at thestar.com.my

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