Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

---

KL shares open higher but eases thereafter Posted: 31 Jul 2013 06:52 PM PDT Shares on Bursa Malaysia opened higher but eased thereafter on lack of buying interest, said dealers. At 9.11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.94 points lower at 1,768.68 after opening 2.38 points higher at 1,775.71. HwangDBS Vickers Research said while the selling pressure on Malaysian equities could persist, bargain-hunting might step in as the local bourse slides further. Technically speaking, the benchmark FBM KLCI, after falling 37.4-point or 2.1 per cent in five straight days, will probably find key support at the 1,750 level, it said. Elsewhere, regional markets may show a mild rebound today following the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting outcome last night. "Essentially, policymakers reiterated that they would continue the asset purchases programme and are prepared to increase or reduce the pace of the purchases depending on incoming data. "And given their mention of the economic risks posed by a below average inflation, the jury is still out on whether the tapering process would begin as early as September this year," said HwangDBS. On the scoreboard, the Finance index fell 65.67 points to 16,682.91, the Plantation Index eased 30.79 points to 8,287.53 and the Industrial index shed 11.90 points to 3,012.86. The FBM Emas Index trimmed 15.01 points to 12,316.37, the FBM100 Index erased 15.31 points to 12,176.26, the FBM ACE Index inched down 0.25 of a point to 4,998.71 but the FBM 70 Index increased 29.35 points to 14,186.35. Gainers outpaced losers by 96 to 90, with 156 counters unchanged, 1,235 untraded and 18 others were suspended. Turnover amounted to 60.559 million shares worth RM52.519 million. Among actives, Cybertowers added half-a-sen to 15.5 sen while TH Heavy Engineering and Malaysia Airlines were both flat at 81.5 sen and 30.5 sen, respectively. Sona Petroleum inched down half-a-sen to 41.5 sen and Zelan fell 3.5 sen to 24.5 sen. Of heavyweights, Axiata added three sen to RM6.82, TNB rose 12 sen to RM9.01 but Maybank eased four sen to RM10.22, CIMB shed three sen to RM7.84 and Sime Darby slipped two sen to RM9.46.-- Bernama

Ringgit opens slightly higher versus US dollar Posted: 31 Jul 2013 06:54 PM PDT The ringgit opened slightly higher versus the US dollar today on mild buying interest, dealers said. At 9.03am today, the Malaysian ringgit was quoted at 3.2415/2435 to a US dollar from 3.2425/2455 registered at 5pm on Wednesday. Against the Singapore dollar, the domestic currency was little changed at 2.5494/5525 from 2.5495/5529 yesterday but rose to 3.3100/3127 from 3.3185/3229 versus the yen on Wednesday. Against the British pound, the local note improved to 4.9199/9240 from 4.9322/9377 yesterday but was traded lower versus the euro at 4.3122/3152 from 4.3080/3126 previously.-- Bernama

You are subscribed to email updates from Business Times : latest To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

---

Public gets first look at once-secret court order on NSA surveillance - Los Angeles Times Posted: 31 Jul 2013 08:57 AM PDT WASHINGTON -- The public got its first look at the secret court order that authorized the government's vast collection of records of domestic telephone calls as the Obama administration moved Wednesday to try to boost public confidence in the National Security Agency's program. The order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court lays out the rules under which the program operates, mirroring the descriptions that U.S. officials have given in the weeks since the program was disclosed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The order stipulates that a small number of analysts and supervisors are authorized to access the records for the limited purpose of matching them against phone numbers linked to terrorism. Also disclosed were two letters to Congress, in 2009 and 2011, explaining that the government was using the Patriot Act and other provisions to justify bulk collection of U.S. phone records and, until 2011, email "to and from" information. PHOTOS: 2013's memorable political moments But while the safeguards contained in the order may address some public concerns about the program's costs, U.S. intelligence officials continued to have difficulty convincing members of Congress about its benefits. Under questioning at the Senate Judiciary Committee, officials remained unable to come up with more than one relatively minor terrorism-financing case in which the phone records had proved instrumental. The committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said the Obama administration had failed to convince lawmakers or the public that the collection of U.S. phone records is a crucial tool. "It's been far too difficult to get a straight answer about the effectiveness" of the program, Leahy said. "I think the patience of the American people is beginning to wear thin, but what has to be of more concern in a democracy is the trust of the American people is wearing thin." Asked how many terrorism cases were cracked using U.S. phone records, John "Chris" Inglis, NSA's deputy director, answered that a dozen domestic terrorism investigations had made use of the records. But Inglis could cite only one in which the records were instrumental: a group of men from San Diego who sent $8,500 to Al Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia. PHOTOS: Team Obama, where are they now? One of the defendants in that case was discovered when a known terrorist phone number in Somalia was compared against the database, Inglis said. Leahy questioned whether that record met the balancing test between privacy and security. "We could have more security if we strip-searched everybody that came into every building in America," he said. "We're not going to do that. We have more security if we close our borders completely to everybody; we're not going to do that. If we put a wiretap on everybody's cellphone in America, if we search everybody's home. But there are certain areas of our own privacy that we Americans expect, and at some point, you have to know where the balance is." Follow Politics Now on Twitter and Facebook ken.dilanian@latimes.com Twitter: @KenDilanianLAT

Egypt's government tells police to break up pro-Morsi protests - Washington Post Posted: 31 Jul 2013 09:05 AM PDT CAIRO — Egypt's military-backed government on Wednesday ordered the police to break up demonstrations in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, saying the protests pose an "unacceptable threat" to national security, the Associated Press reported. Morsi backers have camped out in two locations in Cairo — outside a mosque and a university campus — ever since the July 3 coup. Egypt's interim leaders appear increasingly determined to clear the pro-Morsi demonstrators away – a process that would likely be tremendously violent. Dozens of protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces in recent weeks. In a televised statement, Information Minister Dorreya Sharaf el-Din said police are to end the demonstrations "within the law and the constitution," AP reported. Late Tuesday, Morsi was visited by a group of African Union officials, the second time in recent days he has been allowed to meet with a foreign delegation after being held incommunicado for four weeks. News of the meeting came as Morsi's former prime minister was ordered to prison for a year. The ruling by a Cairo misdemeanor court against former Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, who was not a member of the Morsi-affiliated Muslim Brotherhood but was seen as sympathetic to Islamists, further broadens the wide-scale crackdown on Morsi allies, with an increasing number of Islamist politicians and leaders being arrested and thrown in jail. But Egypt's government also has allowed more access to Morsi since Monday, raising the possibility of some sort of negotiation between the president who was deposed on July 3 and his successors. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met with Morsi late Monday. Neither she nor the African Union group disclosed where Morsi is being held or the substance of their conversations, although both delegations said that Morsi appeared to be doing well. The African Union delegation met with him for an hour late Tuesday, a member said at a Wednesday news conference. Qandil, a technocratic prime minister who served during Morsi's year in office, was ordered to a year in prison by Judge Mohamed el-Sawy after losing an appeal of a court ruling decided April 9. The case stemmed from a 2005 decision to privatize a state-owned company, seven years before Qandil took office. An administrative court ordered that Qandil's cabinet undo the privatization; it did not, and Qandil was held liable for the failure to uphold the order. Egypt's judiciary, comprised largely of appointees from the time of former President Hosni Mubarak, tangled frequently with Morsi and his associates, and the April 9 ruling was one of those instances. Ashton's Monday meeting with Morsi was the first contact he with an independent official since he was taken into military custody almost a month ago. By allowing the meeting, Egypt's military signaled that it may be willing to work with Morsi toward a political solution to the country's ongoing crisis, which has spawned repeated violence between security forces and the ousted president's supporters.

You are subscribed to email updates from Top Stories - Google News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

---

Ringgit rebound seen Posted: 30 Jul 2013 07:18 PM PDT Malaysia's ringgit is poised to rebound from a three-year low as the economy's resilience damps concern rising US Treasury yields will prompt overseas investors to dump the nation's bonds, trading patterns show. The currency has dropped two per cent since June 30 to 3.2255 per dollar, a loss second only to Indonesia's rupiah among 23 emerging-market currencies. The decline pushed the ringgit beyond the limits of the Bollinger band, signaling a reversal may be imminent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That's the biggest deviation in developing markets. Stochastic oscillators also showed the ringgit is oversold. Morgan Stanley predicts Malaysia's economic growth and current-account surplus, which is more than twice China's relative to gross domestic product, will help the ringgit catch up with regional peers. The central bank can use its US$138 billion of foreign-exchange reserves to support the currency, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. GDP is forecast to grow five per cent this year, after a 5.6 per cent gain in 2012, the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 21 analysts shows. "We might be coming close to the end of the weakness cycle in the ringgit," Rahul Bajoria, a Singapore-based economist at Barclays Plc, said in a July 30 interview. "The current-account surplus still remains quite large, even though it has come off" and domestic demand is driving growth, helping shield the economy from external shocks, he said. The ringgit's 5.2 per cent loss this year would be its worst annual performance since a 35 per cent plunge in 1997, during the Asian financial crisis. It reached 3.2379 per dollar yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, the weakest level since July 2010. Fitch Ratings lowered its outlook for Malaysia's A- credit rating to negative from stable yesterday, citing worsening prospects for reducing government debt levels. The currency slid this month on concern global investors, who owned 33 per cent of Malaysian government bonds in May, the highest proportion in Southeast Asia, will pull funds out as the US outlines plans to rein in monetary stimulus. The Federal Reserve will conclude a two-day policy meeting today in Washington that may shed light on the timing of such a move. The 10-year Treasury yields climbed 97 basis points, or 0.97 percentage point, to 2.59 per cent since reaching this year's low on May 1. Malaysia's 10-year bond yield rose 70 basis points to 4.06 per cent in that time. Technical indicators suggest the ringgit's decline may have reached the extreme. At yesterday's close in Kuala Lumpur, the ringgit was 0.1 per cent weaker than the upper limit of the Bollinger Band. The currency breached its normal trading range this week for the first time in a month. Bollinger Bands, developed by John Bollinger in the 1980s, are used by technical analysts to identify the turning point in an asset's trajectory. The limits represent two standard deviations from the 20-day moving average, implying that the likelihood of a currency moving outside the band is rare. The "k-line" of stochastics, which measures current price relative to highs and lows, has increased to 83.6, above the 80 threshold deemed as oversold for the ringgit. A dollar-sell signal is confirmed as the k-line crosses below its own moving average, or "d-line," which was at 83.9. The currency will strengthen 1.8 per cent to 3.17 per dollar by the end of December, according to the median of 27 forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. BNP Paribas SA predicts rising debt levels will trigger a bond and currency selloff as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak presses ahead with a 10-year US$444 billion spending programme aimed at lifting the nation to developed status by 2020. The slowdown in China, Malaysia's second-biggest export market, is also weighing on the country's assets, according to the Paris-based lender. Malaysia's debt-to-GDP ratio of 53.5 per cent is higher than the 25 per cent in Indonesia, 51 per cent in the Philippines and 43 per cent in Thailand, data compiled by Bloomberg show. It's also approaching the government's 55 per cent limit. "With China slowing and Fed tapering expected to impact inflows negatively, this will amplify worries over debt sustainability," Singapore-based BNP analysts Yii Hui Wong and Mirza Baig wrote in a July 29 research note. They cut their year-end forecast for the ringgit to 3.25 per dollar from 3.15. While Malaysia's current-account surplus will narrow to six per cent of GDP this year, from 6.1 per cent in 2012 and 12 per cent in 2011, it's higher than the average 2.8 per cent in Asian countries and 2.4 per cent for China, Bloomberg surveys show. Malaysia's "fundamentals of a current-account surplus and sustained growth should warrant a correction in the recent weakness in the ringgit," according to a July 25 report from Morgan Stanley analysts led by Hans Redeker, the head of global foreign-exchange strategy in London. Bank of America strategists including Christy Tan recommended their clients use options to buy the ringgit, saying the central bank will sell foreign reserves to shore up the currency should the decline deepen. "We believe that Bank Negara Malaysia is well prepared to defend against a ringgit selloff event," Tan wrote in a note to clients on July 22. "In the event of a return in appetite for regional bonds, the ringgit is well positioned to outperform in the region."-- Bloomberg

KL shares open lower in early trade Posted: 30 Jul 2013 06:56 PM PDT Shares on Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday's losses to open lower, in early trade, on Wednesday on lack of buying interest in selected heavyweights, dealers said. At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,781.90, down 13.18 points. Losses were mostly seen in key heavyweights like Maybank and Axiata. Maybank lost 20 sen to RM10.36 while Axiata shed 12 sen to RM6.71, with both counters dragging down the composite index by 4.989 points. HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local bourse could remain under selling pressure for the time being following its weak underlying performance yesterday. It said the benchmark FBM KLCI might pull back a bit more from the psychological mark of 1,800 points, possibly retreating towards the immediate support level of 1,785 points ahead. "This comes as investors will likely play the wait-and-see game pending the outcome of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting later tonight," said HwangDBS. On the scoreboard, the Finance index dropped 169.59 points to 16,965.84, the Plantation Index eased 19.88 points to 8,358.92 and the Industrial index fell 10.27 points to 3,036.51. The FBM Emas Index erased 72.75 points to 12,430.96, the FBM100 Index trimmed 74 points to 12,176.26, the FBM 70 Index decreased 21.51 points to 14,379.17 but the FBM ACE Index rose 11.52 points to 5,058.77. Gainers outpaced losers 110 to 59, with 120 counters unchanged, 1,310 untraded and 43 others were suspended. Turnover amounted to 70.939 million shares worth RM38.328 million. Among actives, Lion Diversified added one sen to 28 sen, Pesona Metro eased two sen to 33 sen while Luster Industries and Tanco Holdings were both flat at 10 sen and 19 sen, respectively. Sona Petroleum shares and warrants both slipped half-a-sen to 44 sen and 25.5 sen, respectively. Among heavyweights, Sime Darby added one sen to RM9.50 while CIMB eased seven sen to RM8.08, Petronas Chemicals shed seven sen to RM6.58 and Maxis slipped two sen to RM7.07.-- Bernama

You are subscribed to email updates from Business Times : latest To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

---

Whistle-blower or traitor? Bradley Manning to learn fate - CNN Posted: 30 Jul 2013 08:55 AM PDT STORY HIGHLIGHTS WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange calls Bradley Manning a hero If found guilty of aiding the enemy, Manning could be sentenced to life in prison He is accused of releasing 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos (CNN) -- After spending three years in custody, the man accused of the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history will learn Tuesday whether he has been found guilty of aiding the enemy. A verdict from the judge in the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning will be announced at 1 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman for the military district of Washington. If found guilty on the aiding the enemy charge, Manning could be sentenced to life in prison. He has pleaded guilty to nearly a dozen lesser charges that carry a sentence of up to 20 years behind bars. Whether Manning is a whistle-blower or a traitor who betrayed his country has been hotly debated. Read more: What do Manning's actions mean? Depends who is talking Some did it for the money, some did it for idealism, others didn't do it at all. The U.S. has seen a number of high profile leak scandals including the Pentagon Papers during the administration of President Richard Nixon. Click through to see more high-profile intelligence leaking cases. Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks HIDE CAPTION << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 > >> Former intelligence worker Edward Snowden, 29, revealed himself as the source of documents outlining a massive effort by the NSA to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. He says he just wanted the public to know what the government was doing. "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded," he said. While he has not been charged, the FBI is conducting an investigation into the leaks. Notable leakers and whistle-blowers HIDE CAPTION << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 > >> Authorities have accused Manning of delivering three quarters of a million pages of classified documents and videos to the secret-sharing site WikiLeaks, which has never confirmed the soldier was the source of its information. The material covered numerous aspects of U.S. military strategy in Iraq, gave what some called a ground view of events in the Afghanistan war and revealed the inner workings of U.S. State Department diplomacy in leaked cables. When he entered his guilty pleas on the lesser charges earlier this year, Manning spent more than an hour in court reading a statement about why he leaked the information. He said the information he passed on "upset" or "disturbed" him, but there was nothing he thought would harm the United States if it became public. Manning said he thought the documents were old and the situations they referred to had changed or ended. Whistle-blower or traitor? "I believed if the public was aware of the data, it would start a public debate of the wars," he said during his court-martial. He said he was "depressed about the situation there," meaning Iraq, where he was stationed as an intelligence analyst. He first tried to give the information to The Washington Post, but a reporter there didn't seem like she took him seriously, he said. He left a voice mail for the New York Times and sent an e-mail to the newspaper but, he claims, he didn't hear back. So he decided to give the information to WikiLeaks. After WikiLeaks published a trove of documents related to the Afghanistan war in 2010, the site became an international sensation, as did its chief, Julian Assange. "We call those types of people that are willing to risk ... being a martyr for all the rest of us, we call those people heroes," Assange told CNN's Jake Tapper. "Bradley Manning is a hero." Assange described the case against Manning, specifically the aiding the enemy charge, as a serious attack against investigative journalism. "It will be the end, essentially, of national security journalism in the United States," he said on the eve of the verdict. Assange spoke from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. He sought refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sex crimes. Assange has said he thinks the claims against him are Washington's way of getting him arrested so that he can be extradited to the United States to face charges. CNN's Larry Shaughnessy and Dana Ford contributed to this report. 0 Comments » SHARE THIS Print Email More sharing

Obama wants to link corporate tax reform, jobs spending - Washington Post Posted: 30 Jul 2013 08:09 AM PDT President Obama on Tuesday will propose linking an overhaul of business taxes and new spending on jobs in what aides say is his latest effort to break the an impasse in Congress — but House Republicans immediately shot down the idea. Obama will unveil his proposal in Chattanooga, Tenn., as part of his summer campaign to highlight his economic message and frame the fall debate over the federal budget. The president is searching for ways to ease Republican opposition to his economic priorities, such as boosting hiring through spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure. The proposal attempts to capitalize on Republicans' long-held desire to reduce corporate tax rates, which they say put U.S. companies in an uncompetitive position globally. Obama says he wants to overhaul the tax code and use some of the new federal revenue generated — likely by taxing foreign profits of U.S. corporations — to pay for domestic initiatives. Obama has proposed spending $50 billion on infrastructure in the next year. "The president will call on Washington to work on a grand bargain focused on middle-class jobs by pairing reform of the business tax code with a significant investment in middle-class jobs," said Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser. In principle, an overhaul of the corporate tax code could offer room for compromise. The White House and Republicans agree that corporate tax breaks should be reduced and that the resulting tax revenues should be used to lower corporate tax rates. The administration and key congressional Republicans, such as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (Mich.), also agree that U.S. companies that have amassed profits overseas should pay a tax or fee to repatriate those funds. But that is where agreement has largely ended — and, on its face, Obama's proposal would not change that dynamic. In the past, the two sides have disagreed on what the new corporate tax rate should be, as well as on how to tax foreign profits in the future. And Republicans have rejected the idea of using new revenue for spending of the sort Obama wants. House Republicans, who said they learned of the offer through news reports Tuesday morning, rejected the proposal and dismissed the notion that it represented a new concession. "The president has always supported corporate tax reform. Republicans want to help families and small businesses, too," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio). "This proposal allows President Obama to support President Obama's position on taxes and President Obama's position on spending, while leaving small businesses and American families behind."

You are subscribed to email updates from Top Stories - Google News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

---

KL shares open lower Posted: 29 Jul 2013 06:52 PM PDT Bursa Malaysia opened lower in early trading today on lack of buying momentum, dealers said. Five minutes into trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,798.51, down 0.28 of a point. HwangDBS Vickers Research said the benchmark FBM KLCI might attempt to stage a recovery and climb above the psychological mark of 1,800 ahead after slipping 8.8 points to settle at 1,799 yesterday. "It is going to be a test of resilience for our Malaysian bourse today," it said in a note today. Wall Street posted a weak overnight performance with key US stock indices down between 0.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent at the closing bell mainly dragged by a drop in pending home sales. On the scoreboard, the Plantation Index eased 8.06 points to 8,394.70, the Industrial Index fell 21.41 points to 3,071.41, and the Finance Index dropped 28.36 points to 17,230.23. The FBM Emas Index went down 9.10 points to 12,537.10, the FBM100 Index eased 6.6 points to 12,278.66, the FBM 70 Index decreased 42.83 points to 14,454.78 and the FBM ACE Index was down 3.3 points to 5,080.53. Gainers outpaced losers by 114 to 42, with 913 counters unchanged, 557 untraded and 72 others suspended. Turnover amounted to 50.402 million shares worth RM34.098 million. Among actives, Tanco Holdings and Asia Media Group were up by half-a-sen to 19 sen and 15.5 sen respectively while Flonic Hi-Tec, Dialog Group and Ariantec Global were flat at 13 sen, RM3.02 and eight sen respectively. Mewly-listed Sona Petroleum opened at 41 sen, a discount from its offer price of 50 sen with 16.786 million shares changing hands. Among heavyweights, Axiata, Maxis and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM6.82, RM7.09 and RM6.60 respectively while Maybank and CIMB fell six sen and 11 sen to RM10.64 and RM8.20 respectively.-- Bernama

Ringgit opens lower against US dollar Posted: 29 Jul 2013 06:54 PM PDT The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today on lack of buying demand, a dealer said. At 9.10am today, the local unit was quoted at 3.2330/2360 to a US dollar from 3.2240/2280 at Monday's close. He said investors were cautious ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting scheduled tomorrow. "The meeting will unveil policy decisions on the tapering of the stimulus," he said. Meanwhile, the Malaysian ringgit was mostly lower against other major currencies. It depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 2.5493/5537 from 2.5466/5508 at yesterday's close and fell against the yen to 3.2973/3010 from 3.2905/2949 previously. However, the domestic currency improved versus the British pound to 4.9588/9647 from 4.9643/9718 on Monday but was traded lower against the euro at 4.2870/2916 from 4.2821/2887.-- Bernama

You are subscribed to email updates from Business Times : latest To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

---

Pope Francis says gays should not be judged - Los Angeles Times Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:12 AM PDT RIO DE JANEIRO — His first overseas trip behind him, Pope Francis has made conciliatory remarks about the roles of gays and women in the Roman Catholic Church and allowed that the troubled Vatican bank may have to be shut down altogether. In comments to reporters aboard the flight that on Monday returned him to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, the pope said that he opposed any type of lobby that might try to influence his decisions. He was responding to a question about the so-called gay lobby inside the Vatican that some officials have alleged exists as a cabal of gay priests who run the Holy See. He said it was important to distinguish between a lobby, which he did not approve of, and priests or other Catholics who might be gay. PHOTOS: Pope Francis visits Brazil "If a person is gay, seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis said. "They should not be marginalized." The church has traditionally labeled homosexuality a "disorder," and under Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in February, men with "deep-seated tendencies" towards homosexuality were to be barred from the priesthood. Francis' comments seemed to back away from an absolute ban. On women, he repeated the church position that they cannot be priests. "The door is closed" on that issue, he said. However, he added women should not be "limited to being altar girls" and should be given expanded administrative roles in the church. The pope spoke for nearly an hour and a half with the journalists, the first free-wheeling press conference of his papacy. On the scandal-plagued Vatican bank, suspected of being used to launder millions of dollars, Francis said he would heed the advice of a five-member special oversight committee. But he said he did not know whether the bank could be saved or must be closed. "Whatever the solution, it must have transparency and honesty," Francis said. Journalists onboard the flight described the pope as witty, comfortable and surprisingly frank. Earlier, in an interview with the O Globo broadcasting network in Rio, he again voiced support for young demonstrators who have been protesting excessive government spending and the lack of education and health services. "A young person who does not protest, I do not like," the pope said. ALSO: Wave of car bombs in Iraq kills dozens Russia: President Vladimir Putin catches a really big fish Israel, Palestinians to meet in U.S. after vote to free prisoners

Scores arrested in child prostitution crackdown - CNN Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:46 AM PDT STORY HIGHLIGHTS An FBI operation rescues 105 children across the country The ages of the children involved range from 13 to 17 Washington (CNN) -- In a major crackdown on child prostitution, the FBI announced Monday that 150 arrests have been made in Operation Cross Country, and 105 children have been rescued nationwide. The ages of the children involved ranged from 13 to 17, CNN's Joe Johns reported. Authorities said the operation, which took investigators to race tracks and truck stops, also targeted the use of social media sites for child prostitution activity. Overall, the roundup took place in 76 cities and involved 230 law enforcement units, according to authorities. 0 Comments » SHARE THIS Print Email More sharing

You are subscribed to email updates from Top Stories - Google News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

---

Obama to visit Malaysia in October Posted: 28 Jul 2013 06:42 PM PDT US President Barack Obama will travel to Malaysia for an October summit, said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. Obama will attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Rhodes said today in a message on the social networking site Twitter. The two-day summit is scheduled for October 11-12.-- Bloomberg

KL bourse rises in early trade Posted: 28 Jul 2013 06:36 PM PDT Malaysia's benchmark stock index rose in early trade, driven by gains in lender Hong Leong Bank Bhd and petrol stations operator Petronas Dagangan Bhd. The index, which was up 0.03 per cent at 1,808.18 at 9.13am in Kuala Lumpur, underperformed MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan that rose 0.22 per cent, while it outperformed Tokyo's Nikkei share average that fell 1.69 per cent. Shares of Hong Leong Bank rose 1.12 per cent, while Petronas Dagangan climbed 1.04 per cent. "As investors wait for fresh market leads to emerge, our Malaysian bourse will likely range-bound for the time being," HwangDBS Vickers Research said in a research note to clients on Monday. "Its benchmark index may continue to tread above the psychological support line of 1,800 ahead," it added. HwangDBS also said investors will watch Coastal Contracts Bhd after the marine services firm announced it secured contracts for the sale of vessels for the oil & gas industry with a combined value of RM425 million. Coastal Contracts' shares were up 2.46 per cent at RM2.91 at 9.14am.-- Reuters

You are subscribed to email updates from Business Times : latest To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

---

Anthony Weiner vows to stay in NYC mayor's race - USA TODAY Posted: 28 Jul 2013 09:24 AM PDT Anthony Weiner vowed Sunday to stay in the New York City mayor's race, even as his top rival said he was not qualified to lead the nation's most populous city. Weiner, campaigning in Brooklyn, confirmed that campaign manager Danny Kedem quit after new revelations that Weiner continued to send salacious messages online to women, even after resigning from Congress in 2011. "We knew this would be a tough campaign," Weiner said. "We have an amazing staff, but this isn't about the people working on the campaign. It's about the people we're campaigning for." The tumult in Weiner's staff was first reported by The New York Times. Hours later, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn repeated criticism on NBC's Meet the Press that Weiner has displayed "reckless behavior" and "immaturity." Quinn, who has a 9-point lead over Weiner, went beyond those comments when pressed if Weiner had disqualified himself by admitting he continued to send lewd messages to women after he resigned from Congress in 2011. As she noted her accomplishments on the City Council, Quinn pointed out that Weiner only managed to get one bill passed during his 12 years in Congress. "Has he disqualified himself? Yes, he disqualified himself but not just because of these scandals," Quinn said. "He didn't have the qualifications when he was in Congress." Weiner revealed Thursday he sent explicit texts to as many as 10 women, including three after he left Congress. They apparently include Sydney Leathers, 23, of Princeton, Ind., who revealed that Weiner had sent nude photographs to her -- and that they engaged in phone sex -- months after his resignation. Weiner has steadfastly rebuffed calls that he quit the mayor's race, which have come from rivals such as Bill de Blasio and top Democratic leaders such as national party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Kedem was hired earlier this summer, just a few weeks ahead of Weiner's surprise announcement that he would attempt a political comeback after his sexting scandal. The news rocked the mayor's race and Weiner immediately soared to the top of public opinion polls, either coming ahead of Quinn or finishing a close second to her in the field of seven Democrats. Kedem was a field organizer for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential camapign and managed Democrat Mark Murphy's unsuccessful congressional bid last year against GOP Rep. Michael Grimm on Staten Island. While Quinn repeated Sunday that it is ultimately up to New York City voters to decide Weiner's fate, there appears to be a division among those who would weigh in on the Democratic primary. Forty-three percent of Democratic primary voters say Weiner should quit the race, while 47% say he should continue running for mayor, according to the survey released Thursday by NBC 4 New York, The Wall Street Journal and the Marist Instiitute for Public Opinion. Party primaries are Sept. 10. If no candidate gets more than 40% of the vote, a runoff will be held Oct. 1. Contributing: Associated Press

Israel Agrees to Prisoner Release, Clearing Way for Talks - New York Times Posted: 28 Jul 2013 09:17 AM PDT By ISABEL KERSHNER Published: July 28, 2013 JERUSALEM — The Israeli cabinet cleared the last obstacle to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians by voting on Sunday to approve the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners. The prisoner release is an unpopular move with many Israelis, but one that the Palestinian leadership has insisted upon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked over the weekend to persuade Israelis that a resumption of the peace process was a vital Israeli interest. After hours of deliberations on Sunday, 13 ministers voted in favor, 7 opposed the release and 2 abstained. The prisoners, most of whom have served at least 20 years for deadly attacks on Israelis, are to be released in batches depending on progress in the talks. "This moment is not easy for me," Mr. Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office. "It is not easy for the ministers. It is not easy especially for the families, the bereaved families, whose heart I understand. But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the country, and this is one of those moments." Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, described the decision in a statement as "an overdue step toward the implementation of the Sharm el-Sheik agreement of 1999." "We welcome this decision, 14 years later," he said. As the cabinet meeting got under way, scores of Israeli protesters gathered outside the prime minister's office, including people whose relatives were killed in terrorist acts. The protesters carried signs bearing the names and portraits of some of the victims. "It rips our heart out that they are aiding and abetting the terrorists," said Yehudit Tayar, one of the protesters. Mr. Netanyahu will lead a team of five ministers who will oversee the release of Palestinian prisoners during the negotiations, which are expected to get underway in Washington on Tuesday. But he deferred any public decision on whether those to be released would include Arab citizens of Israel, a long-standing point of dispute, saying that any such release would be brought to another cabinet vote. On Saturday evening, Mr. Netanyahu took the unusual step of issuing what he called "an open letter to the citizens of Israel" to explain the contentious move. The letter gave no details about who would be released or when. Mr. Netanyahu began his letter, which was posted on the prime minister's Web site and disseminated through the Israeli news media, with an acknowledgment of the unpopularity of the gesture, which many Israelis view as a painful concession with nothing guaranteed in return. The letter noted that the decision "is painful for the bereaved families, it is painful for the entire nation, and it is also very painful for me — it collides with the incomparably important value of justice." On Friday, Yediot Aharonot, an Israeli newspaper, published an impassioned open letter to Mr. Netanyahu from Abie Moses, whose pregnant wife and 5-year-old son, Tal, were fatally burned in a firebomb attack on their car in April 1987. Mr. Moses said that faced with the likely release of their killer, Mohammad Adel Hassin Daoud, "the wounds have reopened; the memories, which we live with on a daily basis, turn into physical pain, in addition to the emotional pain of coping daily with the nightmare." Mr. Moses added, "In our opinion, if his release will lead to attaining of peace, let him be released outside the boundaries of Palestine, exiled and never allowed to see his family members again, just as we cannot see ours." Over the years, thousands of Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged for Israeli soldiers who had been taken captive, or for the bodies of abducted soldiers. During his previous term in office, Mr. Netanyahu reached an agreement with Hamas, the Islamist militant group that governs Gaza, and exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who had been held captive in Gaza for five years. An Israeli government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said many of those who remained in Israeli jails, like the 104 now chosen for early release, had been involved in particularly gruesome acts. "The goal here is to augment the political dialogue with confidence-building measures," the official said. The prisoner issue is the one that has inflamed passions on both sides. Palestinians view these long-serving prisoners, convicted before the signing of the Oslo peace accords in 1993, as political prisoners and freedom fighters whose release is long overdue. A Palestinian official involved in the negotiations process, who could speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate diplomacy under way, said the Palestinian side had given a list of all 104 pre-Oslo prisoners to Mr. Kerry, who conveyed it to the Israelis. "This is the biggest achievement we will have had this year," the Palestinian official said. He said the first group was expected to be released in August, and the rest within six months. Alyza Sebenius contributed reporting.

You are subscribed to email updates from Top Stories - Google News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.nst.com.my