STORY TO BE TOLD

Two babies rescued, hospital owner held

Girl, 10, gives birth

CADIZ (Spain): A 10-year-old girl has given birth in southern Spain, regional officials said Tuesday,the youngest woman known to have borne a child in the region of Andalusia , according to Qatar News Agency (QNA), citing the German Press Agency (DPA) report.

The girl gave birth to a baby weighing 2.9kg at a hospital in Jerez de la Frontera a week ago.

Mother and child, who were described as being in perfect health, were released from the hospital over the weekend, DPA reported.

The Romanian girl became pregnant before coming to Spain, according to media reports.

The baby's father is also believed to be a minor. Officials said they are investigating whether the girl's family is able to take care of her and the baby. - Bernama

Floods disrupt bus, train and air services to the north
By REENA NATHAN

Many UUM students unable to make it to Sintok, Kedah, for their convocation

PETALING JAYA: Floods in the northern states have disrupted all bus, train and air services.

Buses scheduled to run from Sungai Petani and Alor Setar to areas in the north such as Changloon, Jitra, Kodiang, Arau, Kuala Perlis and Kangar were cancelled Wednesday.

“We can only go as far as Simpang Empat, Simpang Kuala Perlis, which is four kilometres away from Kangar, and from there on, passengers will have to find their own way,” said Supervisor of Kenderaan Langkasuka Ahmad Rejap, adding that the bus services along these routes have yet to be rescheduled.

Buses have been unable to go into those areas since Monday when waters rose.

“We have had to also cancel services to Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in Sintok, Kedah, and many were unable to make it for the UUM convocation on Tuesday,” said Ahmad.

Transnasional, the leading express bus service in Malaysia, has also cancelled its bus services from Kuala Lumpur to Kangar.

“Passengers will have to get off at Seriap and take alternate means of transport to their final destinations. We are doing all that we can,” said Transnasional Acting Head of Operations Muhammad Saiful, adding that Seriap is about eight to nine kilometres away from Kangar.

Saiful said that, at the moment, there were no passengers stranded in Seriap. He said that the other services from Kuala Lumpur to Alor Setar and Kuala Lumpur to Sungai Petani and back on schedule.

AirAsia also cancelled its Wednesday flights from KL to Alor Setar and back due to the floods.

Flights from Subang to Alor Setar and back via Firefly have also been cancelled.

Passengers could move their flight to another date or request a refund, but it will take up to one month for the money to be refunded, a Firefly spokesman said.

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd(KTMB), had said in a statement on Tuesday that a number of its services to the north have been cancelled.

By Amy Beh

Prawn Fritters

Prep
Less than half hour
Cook
Less than half hour

Ingredients

o 500-600g medium large prawns
o 150g self-raising flour
o 1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
o ½ tsp salt
o ¼ tsp pepper
o 260-300ml water

Method

Shell the prawns, leaving the tails intact. Dab dry and set aside.

Sift self-raising flour and bicarbonate soda together and combine with salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Pour in water gradually and stir and mix until batter is free from lumps. (The consistency of batter should be just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.)

Dip prawns in batches into batter and deep-fry in medium hot oil until lightly golden brown. Remove and drain on absorbent kitchen towels.

More news on: http://thestar.com.my/news/

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Kedah and Perlis scramble to send aid to 19,000 hit by floodwaters

A FAMILY mourns the death of a 13-year-old; a 64-year-old German woman is reported missing and some 19,000 lives are turned upside down as the floods in Kedah and Perlis cause devastation.

With road and rail links cut because of the floods, both states scrambled to send aid to stranded victims. In one instance, six men sought refuge on a tree because of the rising waters.

Rescue teams have been sent to the affected areas and steps taken to make sure victims receive all the help they need.

Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Md Isa Sabu described the floods as “really bad” and its damage worse than the big flood of 2005 when the entire state was flooded.

Desperate for some kind of transportation, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, the Tambun Tulang assemblyman, flagged down tractors, backhoes and lorries to ask for help to ferry the victims out of their houses.

In Kelantan, another RM50,000 worth of basic necessities will be provided to those staying in relief centres after the first RM100,000 worth of items ran out.

Doc would rather be bankrupt than pay alimony

A DOCTOR in Singapore declared himself a bankrupt and went to jail four times to avoid paying alimony to his former wife.

Despite earning S$20,000 (RM48,000) a month, he decided to transfer ownership of his clinic to his girlfriend and pretended to be an employee with a monthly pay of S$3,000 (RM7,200).

According to China Press and Sin Chew Daily, the man divorced his wife in 2004. The court then ordered him to pay a monthly alimony of S$5,000 (RM12,000) and surrender S$184,000 (RM442,000) in matrimonial assets to his ex-wife, who won custody of their children.

The man, however, filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and stopped paying alimony in 2008.

His ex-wife, identified only as Amy, 49, said her former husband was charged with contempt of court and went to jail four times for a total of seven months.

“I have been going in and out of court about 50 times in the past six years. I have also quit my job. He now owes me RM240,000,” she said.

> A video clip that showed a woman being punched and beaten by her nephew became a hot online topic after it was posted on a website, China Press reported.

The daily said the 66-second clip showed the woman’s nose bleeding profusely. She also suffered from other facial injuries.

Comments left on the website indicated that the incident took place last Saturday at a residential area in Yong Peng, Johor. It was reported that the duo fought over money matters.

The daily quoted Batu Pahat OCPD Asst Comm Ibrahim Aris as saying that the case was being investigated under the Penal Code for criminal intimidation and causing grievous hurt.

> Sin Chew Daily reported that a 25-year-old woman in Singapore was not spared from being raped even after she offered to pay the perpetrator to let her go.

Chinese national Dai Yun Fatt, 32, admitted in a Singapore court on Monday to raping the woman between 11pm on Sept 8 last year and 12.30am the following day.

Dai dragged the woman to nearby bushes near the Ayer Rajah Expressway.

The victim pleaded with him to let her go and offered him her mobile phone as well as cash.

Woman run over while trying to save son

SEREMBAN: A woman managed to save her four-year-old son from being knocked down by a speeding Proton Gen 2 – but was herself killed when she failed to get out of the vehicle’s way.

Parvathy Chinnakano, 36, had just crossed the road with her son after throwing rubbish when she saw two Proton Gen 2 cars heading their way in Pajam near here.

She quickly pushed her son to safety but was knocked down by one of the speeding cars. Both drivers sped off.

It in understood that Parvathy lived in a house behind a row of shophouses along the main road.

An eyewitness, Sharizat Mohd Saimi 19, who was in a van parked by the roadside, said he saw her walking along the emergency lane seconds before the accident happened.

“She had just crossed the road when she was hit,” he said. “The two cars looked to be racing with each another,” he said.

The impact caused the victim to be flung against the van, said Sharizat, who was waiting for a friend who had gone to buy groceries at a nearby store.

His friend Imran Shafie, 21, said he rushed out of the store when he heard a thud.

State traffic police chief Asst Supt Halil Hamzah said his men had been alerted to look out for the two vehicles.

No plastic bags from January

GEORGE TOWN: Come Jan 1, plastic bags will be practically banned state-wide.

The move – an extension of the current “No Plastic Bag Day” in shopping centres and hypermarkets on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays – means that no plastic bags can be used every day by almost all business sectors.

The ruling will cover all hypermarkets, supermarkets, departmental stores, pharmacies, fast food restaurants, nasi kandar outlets, convenience stores including petrol kiosks and chain stores.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the move would reduce the state’s carbon footprint.

“Mini markets and sole proprietorship businesses will have to adhere to the ruling on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in order to ensure the renewal of their licences.

“Previously, they only had to adhere to the ruling on Mondays,” he said when tabling the 2011 Budget at the state legislative assembly yesterday.

Lim’s two paragraph announcement on the wide-ranging plastic ban was buried inside his 27-page budget speech, apparently catching many by surprise.

To promote the “No Plastic Bag Day” ruling, the state will distribute 500,000 brochures to create public awareness besides erecting educational billboards.

On July 1, last year, Penang became the first state to implement a “No Plastic Bag Day” ruling in shopping complexes and hypermarkets every Monday, before it was extended to Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well from Jan 2.

From July 1, 2009 to Oct 28, a total of 32.5 million plastic bags were saved under this campaign.

Shoppers who did not bring their own reusable bags were charged 20 sen for each plastic bag when making purchases.

The money collected from the sale of plastic bags went to the “Partners Against Poverty” Special Fund to help the state’s hardcore poor.

More news on: http://thestar.com.my/news/

Credits to and source taken from: http://thestar.com.my/news/