Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts

Six people die as blizzards hit northern Japan






TOKYO: At least six people died in a spate of snow-related incidents as blizzards swept across the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido over the weekend, police and news reports said Sunday.

A 40-year-old woman and her three teenage children were found dead late Saturday in a car buried under snow in the town of Nakashibetsu, eastern Hokkaido, a local police spokesman said.

They are believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning as the car's exhaust pipe was blocked by snow and the windows were up, Kyodo News said, adding that snowfalls of more than two metres were recorded in the area.

A 23-year-old woman who went missing in the same town was found dead on Sunday in snow some 300 metres away from her car, Jiji Press news agency said.

In Yubetsu, northwest of Nakashibetsu, a 53-year-old man was found dead on Sunday after he and his nine-year-old daughter became buried in snow on farmland, Jiji reported.

The two went missing after leaving their home Saturday in a truck. They were found outside in the snow and it appeared the father had placed his body over his daughter's, Jiji reported.

He was pronounced dead in hospital, while the girl was found to have no life-threatening injuries.

Japan's meteorological agency issued a warning of strong winds and heavy snow in northern Japan, with gusts of up to 135 kilometres per hour recorded in Erimo cape, southern Hokkaido, on Saturday.

- AFP/ir



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Sydney set to sparkle for gay pride parade






SYDNEY: Up to 300,000 spectators were Saturday expected to brave the rain to watch Sydney's annual Mardi Gras gay pride parade, with an emphasis on the political as the nation prepares for elections.

The event, which bills itself as the world's biggest night parade, is celebrating the theme "Generations of Love", focused on its origins in 1978 as a gay rights protest march that ended with violence and arrests.

"Generations of Love is really about embracing love across the ages, how far we've come, celebrating what we have achieved and imagining and forging a brighter future," said the event's CEO Michael Rolik.

Some of the original activists, known as the "78ers", will take pride of place at the beginning of the parade, behind the traditional "Dykes on Bikes" motorcade which officially kicks off the colourful, often irreverent march.

Some 10,000 revellers on 115 individual floats will make the journey down Oxford Street, hub of Sydney's gay and lesbian nightlife, in a vibrant show featuring drag queens, political parodies and plenty of sparkle.

There will be an Aboriginal float, surf lifesavers will dance in their trademark briefs and yellow and red caps, and supporters of WikiLeaks will march in solidarity with whistleblower Bradley Manning, a gay US soldier.

Members of Australia's military will be allowed to march in uniform for the first time, and the leader of the nation's left-leaning Greens party, Christine Milne, will take part in the parade alongside her gay son.

"It's really important that opinion leaders stand up and say I'm here, I'm really proud of my son and proud to be walking with him," said Milne.

The Greens are key allies in Prime Minister Julia Gillard's minority coalition government, which has come under increasing pressure to legalise gay marriage.

The issue is likely to rear its head again in the lead-up to national elections, scheduled for September 14, and there are several floats dedicated to the cause.

Mardi Gras co-chair Siri Kommedahl said the parade -- Sydney's largest event behind the New Year's Eve fireworks, and a huge international tourist drawcard that brings A$30 million ($30 million) into the economy -- was as relevant as ever.

"We've come a long way since 1978, when the pioneers of our community took to the streets wearing costumes and carrying placards calling for rights and acceptance," said Kommedahl.

"So now, 35 years on, it's time to remember where we have been, look where we are going and take pride in how far we have come."

- AFP/ck



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Higher fines, longer jail term for animal abusers proposed






SINGAPORE: The Animal Welfare Legislative Review Committee is calling for heavier penalties for animal abuse and abandonment.

After a year-long review, the committee has submitted its recommendations to the National Development Ministry for consideration.

The current penalty for animal abuse is a fine of up to S$10,000, one year in jail, or both.

The Committee calls for a more detailed penalty structure that differentiates the intent and severity of the offence, with the maximum penalty for repeat and malicious cases going up to S$50,000, three years jail and a one-year ban on keeping animals.

At the same time, the proposal calls for higher penalties for businesses - between S$20,000 and S$100,000, and a ban on animal-related business for up to a year.

The Animal Welfare Legislative Review Committee said the objective is to send a strong message to deter wrongdoers.

Another key proposal is to legally require all staff in all pet businesses to be appropriately trained in animal care and handling.

The Committee is recommending regulation for all commercial pet breeding activities, and for all pet boarding facilities to be licensed.

It also wants to see pet shops screen potential buyers to ensure pets are sold to responsible and committed owners.

On the Committee, Mr Chua Ming Kok represents the Pet Enterprises and Traders Association of Singapore, said: "There will definitely be some resistance from the smaller players. But we'll have in place schemes to train them, to try to help them come onboard this scheme. The major players in the industry have already given their consensus to be on this scheme."

Committee Chairman Mr Yeo Guat Kwang said their job is far from over.

"It's not a job that's been done. We definitely need to do more. But let's take one step at a time, and with this big step forward, I'm confident many other suggestions which are practical and reasonable will definitely also be taken into consideration in future," he said.

The Committee's report details 24 recommendations in total, including a call to set a minimum age of 16 years old for buying a pet.

- CNA/ck



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Basketball: Knicks withstand Curry's 54 points to beat Warriors






NEW YORK: The New York Knicks withstood a dazzling 54-point display from Golden State's Stephen Curry on Wednesday to post a 109-105 NBA victory over the Warriors at Madison Square Garden.

Curry's points total was the highest in the league this season, surpassing the 52 of Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant against Dallas last month.

But his individual effort was not enough against a Knicks team that received 35 points from Carmelo Anthony and 26 off the bench from JR Smith.

Tyson Chandler contributed 16 points for New York and grabbed a career-best 28 rebounds.

Curry and the Warriors nearly claimed the victory despite the absence of David Lee, serving a one-game suspension for his role in an altercation with the Pacers' Roy Hibbert at Indiana on Tuesday that included several players and saw the shoving match spill into the spectator area behind the basket.

Curry made 11 of his 13 attempts from three-point range, one short of the league single-game record. He added seven assists and six rebounds.

Carl Landry scored 15 points and Jarrett Jack chipped in 14 for the Warriors.

Curry became the first player to score at least 50 points at Madison Square Garden since LeBron James did it with the Cavaliers in 2009.

He scored or assisted on Golden State's last 20 points. By then the New York crowd was cheering him, but the Knicks held the Warriors scoreless for the last two minutes of the contest.

After Raymond Felton denied Curry's jump shot with 1:28 remaining and the score knotted at 105-105, New York's Smith made a jump shot that gave the Knicks the lead for good.

"We closed out," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "We made the defensive stops we had to make coming down the stretch.

"We made plays, but boy, you've got to tip your hat to Curry. He played great."

- AFP/fa



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Ferrari goes up in flames at Teban Gardens






SINGAPORE: A red Ferrari went up in flames near Teban Gardens Road on Wednesday.

A Channel NewsAsia viewer was having his lunch at a coffee shop in the vicinity when he heard an explosion.

According to the viewer, the red Ferrari had stopped in front of block 54 Teban Gardens Road, along Penjuru Road.

The Chinese male driver had gotten out of the car before the explosion.

The driver did not appear to have been injured.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived five minutes later and put out the fire.

SCDF confirmed that there were no reported injuries and that no other vehicle was involved in the incident.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

- CNA/ck



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SDP to address Budget 2013 "shortcomings" in its own "Shadow Budget"






SINGAPORE: The opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said it'll address the "shortcomings" of the government's Budget 2013 and propose a more efficient way of prioritising Singapore's expenditure estimates in its own "Shadow Budget".

The party said on Tuesday that the measures in Budget 2013 have failed to address Singapore's long-term needs.

It said while the Budget attempts to address systemic problems, it still falls short of addressing what Singapore really needs.

The SDP welcomes Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's effort to tackle the problem of income disparity through the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS).

However, it felt that the WCS will not be an effective remedy if the root cause of the income gap is not addressed.

The root cause, the SDP said,, is the continued downward pressure on wages brought about by the importation of lower-wage foreign labour.

The SDP welcomed the move to raise the foreign worker levy for 2014 and 2015 but urged the government to rethink its policy of importing more foreign workers and to introduce minimum wage.

Turning to healthcare, the SDP said it's heartening to note that the Budget will increase funding of Eldercare, a programme which it supports.

However, it wants the 3M-system of Medisave, Medishield and Medifund replaced by a single-payer system, as well as government healthcare expenditure raised from the current 30 per cent to the international norm of about 70 per cent.

- CNA/ck



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Putin signs law banning smoking in public places

 





MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning smoking in public places in Russia from June, a cornerstone of the government's bid to improve public health, the Kremlin said Monday.

The law, called "On protecting the health of citizens from the danger of passive smoking and the consequences of the use of tabacco," makes smoking illegal in restaurants, cafes, hotels, trains and a host of other places.

-AFP/sb




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Apple, Samsung face onslaught at mobile fair






BARCELONA - Chinese handset makers will lead an onslaught on smartphone titans Samsung and Apple when the world's biggest mobile fair opens on Monday in Barcelona, Spain.

Offering big-screen, slick, slim smartphones at lower prices, Chinese manufacturers Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo will leverage the Mobile World Congress to chip away at the mighty duopoly, analysts say.

The handset battle is part of a broader revolt against a handful of companies with a stranglehold on the booming industry's handsets, operating systems and microchips, they say.

Apple, as usual, is steering clear of the February 25-28 congress that draws 1,500 exhibitors to this Mediterranean city in northeastern Spain, and Samsung is not expected to launch its next big offer, the Galaxy S4, until some time after the show.

That may leave the field clear for rivals to tout their ambitions for a slice of the smartphone market, which is set to grow to a record one billion handset shipments in 2013, according to a forecast by global consultancy Deloitte.

"I think we will see challengers trying to make noise at the Mobile World Congress this year," said Ian Fogg, London-based senior mobile analyst at research house IHS.

New players face a daunting task, though.

Samsung and Apple accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales in the final quarter of 2012 -- 29.0 percent for Samsung and 22.1 percent for Apple -- according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Behind Samsung and Apple, however, Chinese firms held the third, fourth and fifth spots -- with 5.3 percent for Huawei, 4.7 percent for ZTE and 4.4 percent for Lenovo.

Demand for smartphones in developing countries could give Chinese firms a bigger opening, said Magnus Rehle, senior partner at telecommunications management consultancy group Greenwich Consulting.

"Hundreds of millions of Africans and Indians and Asians want to have a smartphone and so far the blocking point has been the price," said Rehle, speaking from Ghana.

Now the Chinese firms were offering attractive smartphones at lower prices, he said.

"I think they will be quite successful in grabbing the new market outside of Europe and the US, and that is where the growth is," Rehle said.

An even mightier duopoly holds sway over the operating system software that makes the smartphones work.

Google's Android ran 69 percent of all handsets sold last year and Apple's iOS 22 percent, said a study by independent analytical house Canalys.

Yet they face challengers, too, including Mozilla's new open-sourced Firefox OS, backed by an array of mobile phone operators.

Microsoft's new Windows Mobile operating system is struggling, however.

"The number of apps that is available is one thing that is blocking Windows from being successful," Rehle said.

"They have had problems and everybody is hoping this will change because the duopoly is maybe not good for the market."

Firefox could face similar difficulties, he predicted.

A battle has broken out, too, over the processor chips that run the smartphones.

Santa Clara, California-based Intel is offering new high-performance chips to break its way into smartphones, of which almost all now use chip technology licensed by ARM, based in Cambridge, England.

Chinese group Lenovo, for example, is launching a new handset, the IdeaPhone K900, just 6.9mm thick with a 5.5-inch high definition screen, which contains an Intel Clover Trail processor.

The potential rewards for Intel could be rich: the market in processor chips for smartphone applications was worth nearly seven billion euros (US$9 billion) last year, said Francis Sideco, communications technology analyst at IHS.

Despite robust growth in smartphones and tablet sales, however, the mobile industry still faces a major challenge moving customers over to new ultrafast fourth generation, or 4G, networks, which can offer speeds similar to a fixed fibre-optic connection.

"There are 3G networks in many parts of the world like in Sweden that have been overcrowded and then you have parallel 4G networks that are almost empty," said Greenwich Consulting's Rehle.

Network operators need to convince their customers to pay a little more for the faster speeds, he said, pointing to videos as the "killer application" to lure people to the system over the longer term.

If the operators succeed, they can make more money and invest in greater capacity, the analyst said.

"Otherwise, they will have problems."

- AFP/ir



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Tennis: Nishikori beats Cilic to reach Memphis semis






MEMPHIS, Tennessee - Fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan cruised past top-seeded Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-2 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the US National Indoor Tennis Championships.

Croatia's Cilic had saved three match points in his previous match against Igor Sijsling, but could not find the answer against Nishikori, who had just four aces compared to a dozen for Cilic but won 69 percent of points on his serve.

"I was dominating with my serve," said the 23-year-old Nishikori, who also reached the semi-finals in Brisbane in January but retired from that match against Andy Murray with a knee injury.

Since then, he has reached the fourth round of the Australian Open.

"It's getting better every match... little by little," Nishikori said of his game.

He next faces Australian Marinko Matosevic, a 6-7 (6/8), 6-2, 6-4 winner over seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.

Nishikori won their only prior meeting at Brisbane earlier this year.

The other men's semi-final in this combined ATP and WTA event will pit Spain's Feliciano Lopez against Uzbekistan's Denis Istoman.

Lopez defeated US wildcard Jack Sock 6-4, 6-3, and Istoman was a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) winner over Michael Russell of the United States.

In women's action, big-hitting Sabine Lisicki of Germany set up a title showdown with Marina Erakovic.

Lisicki, the third seed, fell behind in each set but dug deep for a 7-5, 7-5 semi-final win over seventh-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova. She will be vying for a fourth career WTA title.

New Zealand's Erakovic defeated Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 to earn a shot at a first WTA title. She has two runner-up finishes on her resume, including in Memphis last year.

- AFP/ir



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Wilmar International's Q4 net profit falls 4.7%






SINGAPORE: Wilmar International's net profit in the fourth quarter fell 4.7 per cent, weighed mainly by lower palm oil prices.

Fourth-quarter net profit was US$476.8 million (S$590 million), down from US$500 million recorded in the same period in 2011.

A decline in crude palm oil prices hit profits in the firm's plantations segment, which were down 23 per cent compared to the previous year.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 0.9 per cent on year to US$11.6 billion (S$14.4 billion).

Wilmar International's chairman and CEO Kuok Khoon Hong said the Group remains positive on its long term prospects due to "good economic growth" in its main markets of China, India and Indonesia and robust business model.

Separately, Wilmar International and Noble Group also announced a joint venture to develop palm projects in Papua, Indonesia.

In a statement, the companies said Wilmar's subsidiary Newbloom will hold a 53.74 per cent equity stake in the venture while Noble unit Noble Plantations will own a 46.27 per cent stake.

The joint venture owns a majority interest in PT Henrison Inti Persada, which owns 22,953 hectares of land in Papua.

- CNA/ck



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Officer in Pistorius case facing 7 attempted murder charges: police






JOHANNESBURG: The lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case is himself facing seven attempted murder charges for shooting at a taxi in 2009 to try to stop it, police said Thursday.

"We were only informed yesterday that attempted murders charges against Hilton Botha have been reinstated," said police spokesman Neville Malila.

Malila said the charges were initially brought against investigating officer Botha in 2009, but later withdrawn.

It is not clear whether he will continue working on the case.

On Wednesday, Botha's evidence came under scrutiny from Pistorius' defence team, forcing him to admit to multiple errors in the case, including not wearing protective clothing when attending to the athlete's house, where the shooting happened.

Under cross-examination, Botha was forced to admit that Pistorius's version of the early morning shooting last Thursday fitted the crime scene, weakening the state's claim that the killing was premeditated.

- AFP/ck



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Football: FIFA calls for strict match-fixing laws






KUALA LUMPUR: Football authorities vowed to excise the "cancer" of match-fixing, but said Wednesday tougher laws were needed worldwide to protect the bruised integrity of the world's most popular sport.

FIFA director of security Ralk Mutschke told a two-day gathering with Interpol that the world governing body's "zero tolerance" for match-fixing needs to be helped by "the right policies for law enforcement and the football community".

The meeting comes following revelations a fortnight ago that almost 700 matches worldwide, including Champions League ties and World Cup qualifiers, were targeted by gambling gangs.

"We are banning players and referees for life but criminals are out there free -- they get no sentence. That's wrong," he told reporters when asked to comment on Singapore's refusal to arrest a key suspect wanted in Italy suspected of rigging games.

"We have to bring in governments to change legislation and laws. Many countries do not have laws to fight match manipulation," Mutschke said.

He pointed to the November acquittal of three players in Switzerland accused of committing fraud by throwing games, where a judge said there was no obvious victim.

Mutschke said FIFA was cooperating with the Council of Europe to draft legislation to fight match-fixing, with hopes it would be implemented across the continent.

FIFA's legal team will also press the case at a May meeting of national sports ministers in Berlin where match-fixing is due to be discussed, he added.

About 150 delegates from Asian football associations, player and referee representatives, as well as government agencies, are meeting in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, home to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

"We are ready to eradicate this cancer from the game. AFC will not rest until this plague is completely stopped in Asia," the AFC's acting president Zhang Jilong said in a speech.

But he later admitted to AFP that eradication "could be difficult, especially in Asia", where gambling is widespread and flourishing.

According to Europol, 380 suspicious match results have been identified in Europe, among nearly 700 worldwide, with the problem tied to a criminal syndicate based in Singapore.

Police in Singapore are calling for hard evidence before acting against Dan Tan Seet Eng, a Singaporean citizen whose name has cropped up in probes across several countries.

-AFP/gn



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Cricket: Injured Jayawardene out of Bangladesh series






COLOMBO: Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has been ruled out of the forthcoming home series against Bangladesh because of a finger injury.

Jayawardene, 35, who is Sri Lanka's highest run-getter in Tests, dislocated a finger in his left hand while fielding during a domestic first-class match in Colombo on Sunday.

Scans of the injury have been sent to Australia for further analysis, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement, adding that the batsman could be out of action for four to six weeks.

Bangladesh are due to play two Tests, three one-dayers and one Twenty20 international during their month-long tour of Sri Lanka in March.

Jayawardene, who resigned as captain after the recent Australian tour, has scored 10,806 runs in 138 Tests at an average of 49.56 with 31 centuries.

He also has 10,892 one-day runs from 391 matches with 15 hundreds, and 1,293 runs in 46 Twenty20 internationals.

All-rounder Angelo Mathews replaced Jayawardene as Test and one-day captain, while Dinesh Chandimal will lead in Twenty20 matches.

- AFP/de



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Assange sees freedom in Australia senate seat






SYDNEY: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange believes winning a seat in Australia's upper house would extricate him from his prolonged asylum inside Ecuador's London embassy, a report said Monday.

In an interview published on Australian website The Conversation, Assange outlined a scenario that would set him free to return to home.

If he takes a senate seat in the September 14 elections, "the US Department of Justice won't want to spark an international diplomatic row", The Conversation paraphrased Assange as saying.

"It will drop its grand jury espionage investigation. The Cameron government will follow suit," it added.

If Britain failed to back off "the political costs of the current standoff will be higher still", Assange said.

He added that sex crime allegations against him in Sweden were "falling apart".

A new WikiLeaks Party is to be launched soon with a 10-member national council and field candidates for the senate. Queensland-born Assange is expected to stand in Victoria state.

He has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since June, after claiming asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden. Britain has refused to grant him safe passage out of the country.

The former computer hacker fears Sweden will allow him to be extradited to the United States to be questioned over the WikiLeaks release of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Despite the swirl of allegations against him, Assange is a popular figure in Australia.

WikiLeaks angered the United States in 2010 by publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a huge cache of US diplomatic cables that embarrassed governments worldwide.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa called on Europe on Sunday to find a snap diplomatic solution for Assange.

"It's a diplomatic situation for which a solution must be found... as quickly as possible," Correa said shortly after declaring victory in presidential elections.

"There can't be a problem due to asylum, it's neocolonialism," he said, reiterating Quito's demands -- safe passage or questioning of Assange by a Swedish judicial official in London.

-AFP/gn



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Briton survived Outback by drinking contact lens fluid






SYDNEY: A British backpacker who endured three days missing in Australia's punishing Outback survived by drinking his contact lens fluid and urine, his mother said Sunday.

Samuel Woodhead, 18, was found Friday on the sprawling remote property Upshot Station, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the far-flung central Queensland town of Longreach, from where he had set off on Tuesday.

He became lost in extremely harsh terrain and mother Claire Derry credited his training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for his survival in the remote and unforgiving Outback with little more than sunburn and dehydration.

"He tried drinking his own urine and he wasn't able to cope much with that, so he drank tiny sips of the contact lens fluid," Derry told the Sun-Herald newspaper.

He lost 15 kilograms over three days and nights and Derry said she and her son were both incredulous that he'd been found alive.

"Sam is incredibly fit, that was something I clung on to," she said, adding that her son wanted to go into the Royal Marines or the army.

"He'd not long ago been on an appropriateness course for Sandhurst... so I knew he had a lot of knowledge to draw on."

Australian authorities had held grave fears for the man's survival in a region where heat, a lack of water, venomous snakes and the possibility of injury could prove deadly.

Planes, motorbikes, and four-wheel drives were being used in the search, with neighbours also combing the area on foot and horseback and an emergency services helicopter dispatched with medical staff.

When he was found Derry said her son told her his rescuers said "they normally find people out here with their eyes pecked out.

"All he could say was 'Mum, just thank these wonderful people. I've loved Australia from the minute I arrived here. These people are extraordinary'."

Derry was on board a flight from Britain to Australia and had been fearing the worst when she learned that her son had been found alive. She celebrated by embracing the flight crew and popping some champagne.

"One of the airline staff came up to me and he was smiling. He handed me this piece of paper saying Sam was found alive and well," she said.

- AFP/ir



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Earthquake strikes off New Zealand's North Island






WELLINGTON: A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the North Island of New Zealand on Saturday, the US Geological Survey reported, but there were no reports of any damage.

The quake at 6:16pm (0516 GMT) was centred 204 kilometres (126 miles) deep and about 300 kilometres northeast of Auckland.

The tremor was not widely felt on the mainland and police said there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.

A shallow 6.3-magnitude quake devastated New Zealand's second largest city of Christchurch in February last year, leaving 185 people dead.

The sparsely populated country sits on the so-called "Ring of Fire", the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year.

- AFP/ck



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2 chefs fined for receiving bribes from seafood supplier






SINGAPORE: Two chefs from two Chinese restaurants have been fined for receiving bribes from a seafood supplier.

Chung Yiu Ming, 54, was fined S$17,000 and made to pay a penalty of about S$21,900 for receiving bribes from Tay Ee Tiong.

Between July 2007 and July 2009, the former executive chef at Sheraton Towers Singapore pocketed close to S$21,900 from Tay, who owns Wealthy Seafood Product and Enterprise.

Chung would ensure that the restaurant Li Bai bought seafood from Tay.

He has surrendered S$21,700 to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

The court ordered him to pay the balance amount of about S$200.

Chung pleaded guilty to 11 counts of corruption and prosecution proceeded on three of them.

The other chef, Tan Ah Teng, 46, received gratification amounting to more than S$193,000 from Tay over a three-year period, from March 2006.

Tan, who was master chef at Min Jiang restaurant in Goodwood Park Hotel, was sentenced to four months' imprisonment.

He was also made to pay the penalty that was equivalent to the amount of bribes he received.

Tan was convicted of 20 counts of corruption and prosecution proceeded on seven charges.

- CNA/ck



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Ex-CNB chief Ng Boon Gay back in court for verdict






SINGAPORE: Former anti-drugs chief Ng Boon Gay is in court for the verdict of his sex-for-contracts corruption case.

Ng, 46, was accompanied by his wife Ms Yap Yen Yen.

District Judge Siva Shanmugam started the court session on Thursday afternoon by explaining the grounds for his decision.

Ng was charged in June last year with four counts of obtaining sexual favours from 36-year-old Ms Cecilia Sue, who was a sales manager for two IT vendors.

Ng allegedly breached the Prevention of Corruption Act by engaging in sexual acts with Ms Sue on four occasions, between June and December in 2011.

Ms Sue was the sales manager of Hitachi Data Systems from June to November 2011.

She joined Oracle Corporation Singapore in December in 2011 as its senior sales manager.

In exchange, Ng is accused of furthering the business interests of the two IT companies in their dealings with the Central Narcotics Bureau.

After a closely-watched 14-day trial, both the prosecution and defence made their closing arguments late on 28 January 2013.

In rounding up, lead prosecutor Tan Ken Hwee said as a civil servant and one who had the authority to make decisions, the burden of proving he had received gratification legitimately, was on Ng.

He said under the provisions of the law, as long as Ng had grounds to suspect that a reason Ms Sue performed the sexual favours was to induce him to show her employers favour, then it would be sufficient to prove he was corrupt.

But the defence, led by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng urged the court not to convict an innocent man just to bring home the message that corruption is wrong.

Mr Tan said the defence's case is that despite an ongoing relationship with Ms Sue, there was no conflict of interest.

If convicted, Ng can be jailed up to five years and fined a maximum of $100,000 for each count.

- CNA/ck



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Boxing: Botha claims offered US$155,000 to throw Williams bout






SYDNEY: Veteran South African boxer Francois Botha on Wednesday claimed he was offered A$150,000 (US$155,000) to throw his fight against Sonny Bill Williams, sparking an angry denial from the New Zealander's manager.

Williams, a former World Cup-winning All Blacks rugby star, won the controversial heavyweight bout on points in Brisbane last Friday, which was marred by unsubstantiated reports that Botha failed a drugs test.

Botha, 44, alleges Williams' manager Khoder Nasser offered him the money in a Brisbane park three days before the World Boxing Association fight, claiming he received a phone call asking to pick him up alone.

"I wasn't told where I was going. As we stopped at a park, my cellphone was confiscated and was given to a guy in the car," Botha told New Zealand's Radio LiveSport from Durban.

"Then I was being walked (by Nasser), and during this walk, I was offered A$150,000 to throw the fight.

"I just said 'no, I can't do it'."

There is no suggestion that Williams was aware of the alleged offer.

Nasser slammed Botha as a bad loser after a fight that ended in 10 rounds, despite earlier promotions saying it was a 12-round contest.

"I think he (Botha) is still in a daze," Nasser told Fairfax Media of a man who has fought Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko and Evander Holyfield in a 23-year career.

"This is the same bloke who said he didn't know about the fight being 10 rounds, and then his promoter and he himself came out later and said it was 10 rounds.

"Then he said he wasn't drugs tested and then he said he was tested. Then he said he was tested by my brother, and now he has come up with this one. What is next?

"He has got to come to terms with the reality that he got his ass whipped by a guy who had had only five fights.

"It is all well and good to come out with all these allegations after, but where's his manhood? It's absolute madness.

"If it happened like he said, why didn't he come out and report it then -- or does it suit him now?"

While Williams won the fight, he was on the receiving end of some heavy blows from Botha in the 10th round with the South African saying another two rounds would have been enough to secure him victory.

Bookmakers refunded bets on Williams's win due to the controversy over how long the fight was supposed to be.

Doubts have also been raised about whether the WBA actually sanctioned the bout, and if Williams' claim on the title is legitimate.

There was no WBA official present in Brisbane for the fight.

- AFP/al



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China support for N. Korea to survive nuke test: analysts






BEIJING: China is unlikely to punish troublesome ally North Korea harshly for Tuesday's nuclear test, analysts say, even though Chinese state media had warned the North of a "heavy price" if it went ahead.

There was no immediate official reaction to the test in Beijing -- China is in the middle of its biggest annual holiday, the Lunar New Year.

But after the North's rocket launch in December, China expressed "regret", while repeating calls for calm.

In recent weeks the state-run Global Times has issued strongly-worded editorials urging Beijing to take a tougher line on Pyongyang, saying it would have to pay dearly for another atomic test.

But China has long supported its unpredictable neighbour for fear that instability could bring refugees flooding across the border, a US-led military escalation in the region or even ultimately a unified Korea with a US military presence next door.

"I think that China is very angry about this test," said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, Northeast Asia director of the International Crisis Group think tank.

She said she expected "stronger reactions" from the Communist Party's new leader Xi Jinping than his predecessors.

But she added: "We won't necessarily know about any punitive measures implemented by China, and they will not necessarily deter North Korea because China is only willing to go so far. Their main concern is stability in North Korea."

Chinese trade and aid allows the regime in Pyongyang to survive and pursue its nuclear programme.

At once important yet uncontrollable, North Korea poses a similar quandary for China as small-nation allies did for the US during the Cold War, said Wang Dong, a Northeast Asia expert at Peking University.

"You have small allies which are behaving in a very dangerous, aggressive and provocative way, potentially with the danger of driving the US into a conflict that it did not want to get into," he said.

"China is put in a very similar dilemma."

Beijing will probably respond with limited measures coordinated with other nations, perhaps to cut off financial access, Wang said. It would keep any unilateral measures under wraps to avoid antagonising Pyongyang.

In 2006 Beijing quietly reduced the oil supply upon which Pyongyang depends, two months after the regime fired a ballistic missile and one month before it tested its first nuclear bomb.

The move only emerged later when trade data revealed it -- and Beijing subsequently stopped publicising the figures.

"Of course it will not acknowledge that because they do not want to publicly humiliate North Korea," said Wang. "Face is something very much taken into consideration in international relations in East Asia."

Ahead of the blast, US envoy Glyn Davies said the US and China had "achieved a very strong degree of consensus" on North Korea while the head of the UN Security Council said its 15 members were "unified" on the matter.

But China has previously worked to soften international measures. It only agreed to a UN resolution condemning December's long-range rocket launch by Pyongyang after lengthy negotiations in which it opposed stronger sanctions.

It also diluted the UN response to North Korea's second nuclear test in 2009 and was not known to have taken any unilateral measures.

Even decisively punitive measures might fail to dissuade North Korea, which has persisted with its nuclear programme despite years of international isolation.

Pyongyang sees atomic arms as vital to its legitimacy and security, a view that may have been reinforced after the longstanding Kadhafi regime in Libya, which surrendered its nuclear weapons, fell to Western-backed rebels in 2011.

"They've drawn the conclusion that countries that give up their nukes get slammed," said Kleine-Ahlbrandt.

Given Pyongyang's doggedness, she said, Beijing's unwavering support for the regime has generated fierce debate among Chinese policy analysts, with some arguing that the relationship brings more liabilities than benefits.

But China's overriding strategic interest in avoiding instability means its support is likely to endure, said Sarah McDowall, a senior Asia analyst with the consultancy IHS Global Insight.

"Its overarching objective really is to ensure stability in the Korean peninsula," she said.

"The relationship is going to remain strong, and China will continue to take political and economic measures aimed at propping up and supporting the North Korean regime."

- AFP/ck



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