Thousands flee on third day of Philippine rebel siege

Thousands of residents fled as fighting between Philippine troops and Muslim rebels intensified Wednesday on the third day of a deadly siege in a key southern city.

At least 13,000 people crammed into Zamboanga city sports stadium seeking safety as soldiers battled gunmen and snipers in nearby deserted neighbourhoods.

People began fleeing Monday when about 180 Moro National Liberation Front guerrillas seeking to derail peace talks poured into six of the port city's coastal neighbourhoods.

In the Santa Catalina neighbourhood Wednesday, Philippine marines traded fire with gunmen who appeared to be using 10 residents on a roadside as human shields, an AFP photographer said.

One of the residents was waving a white cloth tied to a pole.

In the same neighbourhood police arrested two male MNLF suspects, wounding one of them. Officers told AFP the men were carrying bags of rice which they had scattered on the floor to reveal two hidden pistols.

In the nearby community of Santa Barbara two suspected rebel snipers fell from the upper sections of a mosque after taking fire from an armoured troop carrier, another AFP reporter saw.

About three kilometres (two miles) away, an increasing number of people were taking refuge in the city sports stadium.

"We're trying our best to provide decent facilities for them," government social worker Beth Dy told AFP while adding that the venue only had four portable toilets and no bedding.

About 5,000 residents from the six communities under siege arrived overnight and some had no choice but to pitch makeshift tents on the grass, Dy said.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, who arrived in the city Wednesday to run the humanitarian operation, said the numbers at the stadium were growing.

The six communities under siege are home to 160,000 mainly Muslim residents.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said police and the military had the areas surrounded but ruled out a military assault, saying this could lead to heavy civilian casualties.

"We continue to look for ways to solve this problem peacefully," he told a news conference.

"We ask you to extend your patience further."

Officials said their efforts were made more difficult because the rebels were hiding among the civilian residents, and because they had failed so far to reach MNLF founder Nur Misuari.

Misuari had led the MNLF through a 25-year guerrilla war before signing a peace treaty with the government in 1996.

His faction later laid a similar deadly siege on Zamboanga in 2001 that led to his imprisonment until 2008, when all charges against him were dropped.

Misuari opposes a proposed government peace deal with rival rebel faction the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) aimed at ending the Muslim rebellion that had claimed 150,000 lives.

- AFP

New iPhone 5C 'too costly for China' : analysts, users

Apple's lower-cost iPhone 5C will retail for more than $700 in China, putting it out of reach of most consumers and raising questions over the firm's ability to build sales in the world's biggest mobile market.

The iPhone 5C is seen as part of the US tech giant's bid to counter cheaper handsets from rivals, particularly in China where it has only a five percent share of the smartphone market.

But the new phone will retail in China for 4,488 yuan ($733) for the 16GB version, according to Apple's China online store, making it only marginally cheaper than the previous model, the iPhone 5.

It is also well above the $549 that an unlocked iPhone 5C will sell for in the United States.

The top-line iPhone 5S starts at 5,288 yuan ($864) in China, whereas the unlocked US equivalent is $649.

After months of speculation that Apple would release a budget model aimed at attracting customers in emerging markets, Chinese web users were quick to dismiss the iPhone 5C as too expensive.

"I thought the cheap 5C version would be priced at one thousand or two (yuan)... I can't sell my kidney for this much," said one poster on Sina Weibo, China's hugely popular Twitter equivalent, referring to a teenager who sold a kidney to buy an iPhone and iPad last year.

"So this is the so-called cheap version? The 5C starts at 4,488 yuan in China. Haha, they treat the Chinese as peasants," said another.

With a network contract in the US, the iPhone 5C can cost as little as $99.

But unlike in North America or Europe, Chinese networks do not offer contract customers deep discounts on handsets, instead requiring a substantial upfront payment which is then refunded over the course of the agreement.

Analysts said that the launch of the two new models was "disappointing".

"It's not worth the price," said Wang Ying, a Beijing-based analyst with consultant firm iResearch, adding that other smartphone makers including South Korea's Samsung and China's ZTE and Huawei were now well-established as rivals of Apple.

Many domestically made smartphones are priced as low as $100.

"It will be increasingly difficult for Apple to improve its market share or compete with other producers at this stage under the current market environment," said Wang.

Samsung -- which has phones in a wider range of price points than Apple -- is favoured by consumers for its bigger screen, and some buyers say the inclusion of a stylus with certain models makes them more user-friendly for character-based Asian languages.

It is also often comparatively cheaper. The Samsung S4, which is comparable to the iPhone 5, sells at around $670 on Amazon's China site.

Samsung sold 15.3 million smartphones in the country in the second quarter, up from 12.5 million in the January-March period and accounting for 19.4 percent of the market, reports said.

China remains one of Apple's largest markets due to the popularity of its various products, but its total Chinese sales in the most recent quarter slipped 14 percent from a year ago to $4.6 billion.

While iPhones are popular among China's better off, analysts believe current prices would need to drop substantially for Apple to seriously penetrate the middle-income market.

The new iPhones were launched globally at Apple's California headquarters on Tuesday.

Apple also held a media event in Beijing on Wednesday, fuelling speculation that a deal with China Mobile, the country's biggest carrier, was to be revealed.

The iPhone is currently offered in China only by smaller telcos, while according to Barclays Equity Research China Mobile has more than 700 million subscribers.

But there were no major announcements at the event, where a film of the California event was shown with Chinese translation.

Media invitations were limited and dozens of overseas and Chinese reporters were blocked from the venue, at one point surroundeding Apple's press officers to voice a barrage of complaints.

"Apple talks a lot that it highly values the China market, but look at the way they handle the briefing," said one uninvited Chinese journalist, declining to be named.

- AFP

Apple's new iPhones compared with the now-retired iPhone 5

Apple unveiled two new versions of its flagship iPhone on Tuesday, including a lower-cost smartphone aimed at price-conscious customers in fast growing overseas markets.

Six years after it entered the smartphone market, Apple is shifting strategies to appeal to a more fragmented audience and threats from low-cost competitors. With the introduction of the cheaper phone, the iPhone 5C, Apple is targeting a younger, less-affluent audience. It is also offering a traditional upgrade, the high-end iPhone 5S, for its core audience of gadget lovers.

The entire smartphone industry is grasping at ways to lure buyers for their most expensive — and most profitable — models as U.S. and Western European markets become saturated with established smartphone owners.

"It's not a growth market as it was five years ago," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

In key markets, Apple, which traditionally releases one premium smartphone model per year, has been losing market share to low-cost smartphone makers such as ZTE, Lenovo and Xiaomi. Estimates from Gartner showed that, in the most recent quarter, Samsung picked up 31.7 percent of the global market compared with Apple's 14.2 percent.

The iPhone 5C will come in several new colors, including yellow, blue and pink, which should appeal to younger buyers. It will start at $99 on a two-year contract — the same price point that Apple used to offer for its older phones.

But Apple's downmarket strategy comes with risks. By offering a lower-cost version of the iPhone, Apple could cheapen its brand or cannibalize demand for its more expensive model, analysts have said.
In this case, the iPhone 5C may not be cheap enough to attract true bargain hunters. In many overseas markets, wireless providers do not subsidize the cost of the phone, which will retail at $549.

Source: Astro Awani

Cerita wanita Malaysia ke Busan

Ikal Mayang, sebuah antologi filem pendek yang menampilkan kisah wanita Malaysia bakal ditayangkan ke layar antarabangsa di Festival Filem Antarabangsa Busan yang ke-18 (BIFF 2013).

Ikal Mayang merupakan salah satu daripada 56 filem antarabangsa yang terpilih untuk dipersembahkan dalam segmen ‘A Window On Asian Cinema’. Segmen ini memperkenalkan hasil kerja terbaru dan asli oleh pembikin filem dari Asia yang berbakat menerusi pelbagai gaya dan pandangan yang berbeza.

Antologi Ikal Mayang ‘Telling Women Stories’ menampilkan 6 filem pendek yang terpilih untuk mewakili pengarah-pengarah wanita dari Malaysia yang baru pertama kali mengarah seperti JERAT SUAMI oleh Dira Abu Zahar, 1-800-BABY oleh Sofia Jane Hisham, PANTANG oleh Vanidah Imran, ODAH oleh Junaidah M. Nor, BERAT SEBELAH oleh Melissa Saila dan SHE oleh Ida Nerina.

“Marilah kita bersama-sama meningkatkan suara wanita di dunia ini dan memastikan segala impian, suka-duka dan aspirasi mereka didengar dan diketahui umum. Ini perlu bagi mengurangkan, dan sekaligus menghentikan stereotaip wanita di dalam media arus perdana”, ujar Low Ngai Yuen yang merupakan Presiden Pertubuhan Pembangunan Kendiri Wanita dan Gadis atau lebih dikenali sebagai WOMEN:girls.

“Sebagai seorang pembikin filem, ia merupakan suatu pengiktirafan kepada hasil kerja kami apabila terpilih untuk menyertai festival filem ini walaupun kami hanya beraksi disebalik tabir sahaja,” tambah Lee Su May, Penerbit Eksekutif Ikal Mayang dan pengasas Garang Pictures. “Bekerja di bawah jadual yang ketat untuk menghasilkan kesemua filem-filem pendek bersama semua pengarah yang berbakat merupakan suatu pengalaman yang sangat berharga. Saya amat berbangga kerana 6 daripada 15 filem pendek Ikal Mayang akan dikongsikan bersama penonton di Busan nanti.”

Perjalanan IKAL MAYANG bermula apabila seramai 800 orang bersama-sama meraikan Hari Wanita Sedunia 2013 dengan menghadiri tayangan Ikal Mayang – gabungan filem-filem pendek yang mengetengahkan 15 pengarah bukan tradisional wanita di Kuala Lumpur.

“Saya berasa sangat gembira dan teruja kerana kerja keras kami akhirnya membuahkan hasil walaupun barisan pengarah yang terlibat bukanlah terdiri daripada pengarah-pengarah yang sudah dikenali ramai di dalam industri,” kata Ida Nerina, Pengarah Kreatif Ikal Mayang dan pengasas Big EyEs Entertainment.

“Antologi Ikal Mayang bakal menemui ribuan penonton yang datang daripada seluruh pelosok dunia untuk acara yang penuh berprestij ini.  Saya bersama-sama dengan pengarah-pengarah yang lain akan mewakili delegasi dari Malaysia untuk ‘Ikal Mayang’ semasa ketibaan karpet merah di festival filem tersebut. Saya amat bersyukur kerana rahmat yang dikurniakan oleh-NYA dan ingin berterima kasih kepada semua yang terlibat dari WOMEN:girls dan Garang Pictures kerana menjadikan mimpi ini satu realiti.”

Ikal Mayang merupakan sebuah inisiatif WOMEN:girls yang diterbitkan oleh Garang Pictures dan Big  Eyes Entertainment. Dibintangi seramai 105 orang pelakon, penggambaran Ikal Mayang mengambil masa selama 32 hari dengan 40 orang krew di sebalik tabir. Filem-filem pendek ini diarah dan ditulis oleh 15 personaliti wanita terkenal yang terdiri daripada pelbagai generasi berbeza seperti Ida Nerina, Sofia Jane, Nanu Baharudin, Sharifah Amani, Elaine Daly, Fauziah Nawi, Mislina Mustaffa, Vanidah Imran, Aida Fitri, Carmen Soo, Shamaine Othman , Junad Md Nor, Dira Abu Zahar, Melissa Saila dan Susan Lankester. Selain itu, terdapat juga di antara filem-filem pendek ini yang ditulis oleh Fay Khoo, Soefira Jaafar, Nik Jassmin Hew, Christina Orow dan Rachael Malai Ali.

Para penerbit Ikal Mayang memilih untuk menggunakan cara tradisional iaitu melalui penceritaan bagi menyambut Hari Wanita Sedunia pada tahun ini yang bertemakan "Agenda Jantina : Menjana Momentum".

Ikal Mayang merupakan istilah bahasa Malaysia yang digunakan untuk menerangkan rambut wanita Malaysia sejak berkurun lamanya. Istilah ini juga berkait rapat dengan kehidupan wanita di Malaysia yang digambarkan melalui pepatah Melayu, “rambut sama hitam hati lain-lain.”

- Astro Awani 

Tun M: Kerajaan tidak pernah beri IC kepada warga asing di Sabah

Kerajaan tidak pernah mengeluarkan kad pengenalan kepada warga asing di Sabah melalui cara yang tidak sah.

Bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad menjelaskan kepada Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja (RCI) berkaitan pendatang asing tanpa izin di Sabah bahawa hanya mereka yang layak sahaja diberikan taraf kewarganegaraan.

Dalam penjelasannya selama 90 minit, Dr Mahathir yang merupakan saksi ke 209 berkata seseorang warga asing itu perlu memenuhi beberapa kriteria sebelum layak dianugerahkan kewarganegaraan.

Antara kriteria yang perlu dipenuhi ialah seseorang warga asing itu perlu tinggal beberapa tahun di Malaysia, menggunakan bahasa kebangsaan dan menjiwai budaya negara.

Dr mahathir pada masa sama percaya pengeluaran kad pengenalan dibuat secara tidak sah oleh pegawai berpangkat rendah.

- Astro Awani 

Apple tailors two new iPhones for world market

Apple on Tuesday unveiled two new iPhones, fielding a slick new top-end model along with one aimed at budget-conscious smartphone shoppers around the world.

"The business has become so large that this year we are going to replace the iPhone 5 and we are going to replace it with two new designs," Apple chief Tim Cook announced at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters.

Apple will begin taking orders on Friday, and on September 20 the two devices will go on sale in the United States, Australia, Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan and Singapore.

The iPhone 5C is part of Apple's bid to counter the flood of low-cost smartphones from rivals, most of which use the Google Android operating system.

Apple designer Jony Ive said that despite the lower cost, the polycarbonate iPhone 5C with a steel frame "is beautiful."

The iPhone 5C with 16 gigabytes of memory will start at $99 with a two-year US carrier contract and $549 without a contract -- $100 less than previous iPhone base models.

"The 5C is a no-compromise device," Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP after trying out Apple's new phones. "It is just in a plastic case instead of a metal case, and they basically reduce the price by the cost of materials."

But Baker said it was an "open question" whether the price cut for the iPhone 5C would be enough to attract customers in emerging markets.

"Anyone expecting Apple to come truly down-market with the iPhone 5C was fooling themselves," said Ovum analyst Tony Cripps.

"The day that happens is the day the company signals that it has run out of headroom for expansion."

Apple would not name its China telecom launch partners, who might step in with subsidies to help push down iPhone prices there. Apple planned a separate press event in China on Wednesday.

The top-line iPhone 5S, which starts at $199 with a contract for US buyers and $649 without one, "is the most forward thinking phone we have ever created," said Apple vice president Phil Schiller.

"It is the gold standard in smartphones."

Schiller said the 5S model includes a speedier chip which puts computing performance on par with desktop machines.

"It has over a billion transistors in it," he said, adding that the device will be a mobile game lover's delight with blazing smooth, rich graphics.

The 5S will also have some 10 hours of talk time, or 40 hours of music listening, Schiller added.

Apple introduced a fingerprint sensor for the iPhone 5S as a new security measure in place of passwords.

"You can just press the home button to unlock your phone," Schiller said. "You can use it to authenticate iTunes purchases."

Schiller added: "We have so much of our personal data on these devices, and they are with us almost everyplace we go, so we have to protect them."

Reticle Research principle analyst Ross Rubin described Touch ID as a "show stealer" that addresses "a necessary annoyance that many consumers have to deal with many times a day."

Apple also broadened its color palette, announcing the low-cost phone in blue, white, pink, yellow and green, and the top-line model in silver, gold and a new "space gray."

Apple said its iOS 7 software will debut September 18. It includes a free iTunes Radio Service featuring more than 200 stations "and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store."

The two new handsets keep the four-inch screen of current iPhones, despite some speculation Apple would boost the size to compete with larger phones from rivals like Samsung.

The smartphone market is now dominated by Android devices, with roughly three-fourths of all handsets, but a forecast by research firm IDC suggested Apple will increase its share this year to 17.9 percent from 16.9 percent.

- AFP

Dua pemain bola sepak Pahang ditahan berkhalwat

Pegawai penguatkuasa Jabatan Agama Islam Pahang (Jaip) menahan dua pemain bola sepak Pahang kerana disyaki berkhalwat di sebuah hotel di bandar ini, semalam.

Menurut sumber, dua pemain skuad Tok Gajah berusia 20-an itu ditahan bersama pasangan masing-masing di bilik berasingan kira-kira pukul 4.30 pagi.

Serbuan itu dilakukan sepasukan pegawai penguatkuasa Jaip hasil maklumat orang awam yang mengesyaki mereka mendaftar masuk bersama pasangan bukan muhrim.

Hasil pemeriksaan di bilik pertama mendapati seorang pemain Pahang yang dipercayai bermain di posisi tengah pasukan bersama seorang wanita bukan muhrim berada dalam bilik berkenaan, kata sumber itu.

Menurutnya pemeriksaan di sebuah bilik berdekatan pula mendapati rakannya yang dipercayai pemain pertahanan Pahang berada bersama seorang wanita sebelum mereka ditahan kerana disyaki berkhalwat.

Sumber itu berkata sebelum pintu kedua-dua bilik hotel itu dibuka, pegawai penguatkuasa Jaip mengetuk pintu bilik beberapa kali selain memperkenalkan diri sebagai pegawai penguatkuasa.

Menurutnya siasatan awal mendapati kedua-dua pemain yang belum berkahwin itu mengaku berkhalwat bersama pasangan masing-masing yang berusia 20-an.

Kesemua mereka katanya dibawa ke Pejabat Jaip untuk siasatan lanjut mengikut Seksyen 145 Enakmen Pentadbiran Ugama Islam dan Adat Resam Melayu Pahang 1982. -- BERNAMA 

Botol arak isi kicap tiruan logo halal

Perasaan jijik dan kecewa dengan sikap pengusaha, yang tidak bertanggungjawab terhadap sensitiviti pengguna Islam di negara ini, apabila  botol arak yang di import dari Thailand dipekat semula dengan isian kicap tiruan serta dilabelkan logo halal.

Namun hasil asuan orang ramai, kegiatan itu terbongkar selepas Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan Kuala Lumpur menyerbu sebuah kilang haram dan dua stor penyimpanan di Taman Tayton, Cheras semalam (10 Sept 2013).

Hasil serbuan ratusan botol kicap bernilai RM150,000 di rampas, ketika serbuan jam 1 tengahari tadi seorang lelaki dan juga pengusaha kilang manakala lima pekerja asing sempat melarikan diri.

Tinjauan mendapati tempat memproses kicap ini kotor dan tidak mempunyai ciri-ciri keselamatan dan turut ditemui pelbagai adunan perbuatan kicap.

Risikan dipercayai sindiket sudah beroperasi sejak dua tahun dan diedarkan di sekitar Lembah Klang. Menurut Pengarah Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan Kuala Lumpur Abu Samah Shabudin, kicap terbabit dijual dengan harga pasaran iaitu RM7.50 sen.

Jelasnya label dan penutup yang digunakan juga didapati dimansuhkan pemilik sebenar sejak tujuh tahun lepas. Kes di siasat mengikut seksyen 8 Akta Prihal Dagangan 2011, jika disabit kesalahan boleh di denda RM10,000 bagi setiap permit.

- Astro Awani 

Adi Putra tidak mengenali wanita yang didakwa skandal

Pelakon Adi Putra akhirnya membuka mulut bahawa dia tidak mengenali wanita yang dikaitkan mempunyai skandal dengan dirinya.

Aktor itu juga sudah memberi keterangan di balai polis dan menyerahkan telefon bimbitnya bagi  membantu siasatan.

Ikuti laporan video yang disediakan oleh Gala TV yang berada di sidang media khas oleh pelakon itu.

Pemuda dipercayai mati dibunuh kerana cicak tokek

Di Shah Alam, seorang pemuda ditemui mati di dalam sebuah kereta yang separuh tenggelam di sebuah lombong di Jalan Rantau Panjang Bestari Jaya pada 30 Ogos lepas disyaki dibunuh kerana seekor cicak tokek yang dianggarkan bernilai RM1 juta di pasaran gelap.

Berikutan itu, polis menahan secara berperingkat 16 lelaki di sekitar Selangor dan hilir Perak dari 1 September sehingga hari ini dan pemilik cicak tokek iaitu seorang wanita berumur 60 tahun di Kuala Selangor hari ini berhubung kes pembunuhan Syairul Helmi Azhar, 24.

Ketua Polis Selangor Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan dalam sidang media di sini hari ini berkata, suspek itu dipercayai diupah wanita berkenaan untuk mengesan Syairul yang dikatakan menghilangkan diri selepas diamanahkan untuk menjaga dan mencari pembeli berpotensi cicak tokek itu.

Suspek dikatakan berjaya mengesan Syairul lalu berlaku pergaduhan sebelum seorang daripada suspek melepaskan tembakan ke arah mangsa daripada senjata buatan sendiri yang mengenai rusuk kanan simati.

Mohd Shukri berkata polis turut merampas pelbagai barangan termasuk satu batang paip besi menyerupai selaras senjata buatan sendiri yang dipercayai digunakan untuk membunuh mangsa, sebuah beg hitam, kain putih, enam peluru hidup, tiga kelongsong peluru, sembilan telefon bimbit pelbagai jenis, pemutar skru dan playar.

"Kita belum menemui cicak tokek yang dikatakan itu," katanya.

- BERNAMA 

Dua pelajar dakwa dipukul guru hingga cedera

Dua pelajar Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dato' Haji Talib Karim di Alor Gajah mendakwa dipukul seorang guru lelaki di dalam kelas tanpa alasan munasabah sehingga cedera di mata dan kepala.

Pelajar tersebut, Izzul Fahmi Zainal, 15, dipercayai mengalami bengkak di bahagian mata kanan serta penglihatannya kabur manakala Nur Najwa Najihah Mohd Shah, 13, mendakwa mengalami sakit kepala akibat dipukul di kepala.

Zurina Ibrahim, 40, berkata dalam kejadian pada 9.30 pagi Sabtu lepas, guru terbabit bertindak memukul kepala anaknya, Izzul Fahmi menggunakan tangan beberapa kali sebelum sekali lagi kepalanya dipukul menggunakan buku teks.

"Saya tidak dimaklumkan perkara itu oleh anak saya kerana dia terus tidur sebaik pulang dari sekolah ganti namun dimaklumkan mengenai kejadian itu dari ibu seorang lagi pelajar perempuan yang turut dipukul cikgu sama," katanya ketika ditemui di rumahnya di Kampung Jelatang di sini.

Katanya, dia kemudian mengejutkan anak lelakinya dari tidur dan terkejut apabila melihat mata kanan Izzul Fahmi merah dan bengkak sebelum dimaklumkan dipukul guru di dalam kelas.

Sementara itu, Izzul Fahmi berkata sebelum kejadian dia sedang berjalan di luar kelas Nur Najwa Najihah sebelum dipanggil dan dimarahi guru tersebut kerana melihatnya berbaring di atas pentas di Dataran Keris di sini ketika keluar bersiar-siar bersama Nur Najwa Najihah dan dua lagi rakan pada 1 Sept lepas.

Dakwa pelajar tingkatan tiga itu, guru terbabit turut memberi amaran akan memukulnya dan rakan sekiranya melihat mereka di dataran tersebut pada masa hadapan selain tidak gentar sekiranya tindakan itu diadukan kepada keluarga.

Selepas kejadian itu, Nur Najwa Najihah mendakwa dia diarah berdiri dan duduk di kerusi guru berulang kali sebelum kepala dipukul dua kali dengan buku teks selain dihambur kata-kata kesat ketika guru terbabit masuk ke kelasnya.

Ibunya, Norhayati Md Yusof, 44, berkata tindakan guru tersebut menyebabkan anaknya itu trauma dan malu ke sekolah serta sering mengadu sakit kepala.

"Saya tidak kisah sekiranya mereka dipukul kerana melanggar disiplin sekolah tetapi tindakan guru itu hanya kerana dia ternampak Najwa dan kakaknya bersama dua lagi rakan lelaki duduk di pentas di Dataran Keris," katanya.

Beliau turut melahirkan rasa tidak puas hati kerana hukuman tersebut diambil seminggu selepas kejadian menggunakan cara yang tidak beretika.

Ibu bapa kedua-dua pelajar berkenaan kemudian membuat laporan polis di Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Alor Gajah, semalam.

Sementara itu, Ketua Polis Daerah Alor Gajah Supt Umar Ali Saifuddin Shaharudin mengesahkan telah menerima laporan berhubung kejadian itu dan siasatan sedang dijalankan.

Pengarah Pelajaran Melaka Kasim Mohamad pula berkata pihaknya belum menerima laporan lisan mahupun bertulis dari Pengetua sekolah tersebut dan siasatan hanya akan dijalankan selepas menerima laporan berkenaan.

- BERNAMA 

Apple unveils two new iPhones for world market - iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C

Apple on Tuesday unveiled two new iPhones, fielding a slick new top-end model along with one aimed at budget-conscious smartphone shoppers around the world.

"The business has become so large that this year we are going to replace the iPhone 5 and we are going to replace it with two new designs," Apple chief Tim Cook announced at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters.

Apple will begin taking orders on Friday, and on September 20 the two devices will go on sale in the United States, Australia, Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan and Singapore.

The iPhone 5C is part of Apple's bid to counter the flood of low-cost smartphones from rivals, most of which use the Google Android operating system.

Apple designer Jony Ive said that despite the low cost, the polycarbonate iPhone 5C with a steel frame "is beautiful."

"We took the same fanatical care with how the iPhone 5C feels in your hand," Ive said.

The iPhone 5C with 16 gigabytes of memory will sell for as low as $99 with a US carrier contract -- half the cost of earlier iPhone base models.

Analysts were keenly focused on the promise of an iPhone 5C to win over buyers in China and other developing markets.

"The 5C a no-compromise device," Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP after trying out Apple's new phones. "It is just in a plastic case instead of a metal case, and they basically reduce the price by the cost of materials."

Baker estimated the price cut allowed by lower-cost materials at around $100. He noted that the "open question" was whether iPhone 5C would be priced attractively for emerging markets at what could turn out to be a $550 price tag without subsidies from telecom service providers.

The top-line iPhone 5S, which starts at $199 with a contract for US buyers, "is the most forward thinking phone we have ever created," said Apple vice president Phil Schiller.

"It is the gold standard in smartphones."

Schiller said the 5S model includes a speedier chip which brings up the computing power from 32 to 64 bits.

"It has over a billion transistors in it," he said, adding that the device will be "about twice as fast in graphics and computing power and about 40 times faster than the original iPhone."

The 5S will also have improved battery life, with some 10 hours of talk time, or 40 hours of music listening, Schiller added.

Apple introduced a fingerprint sensor for the iPhone 5S, as a new security measure in place of passwords.

"You can just press the home button to unlock your phone," Schiller said. "You can use it to authenticate iTunes purchases."

Schiller added: "We have so much of our personal data on these devices, and they are with us almost everyplace we go, so we have to protect them."

Reticle Research principle analyst Ross Rubin described Touch ID as a "show stealer" that addresses "a necessary annoyance that many consumers have to deal with many times a day."

Apple also broadened its color palette, announcing the low-cost phone in blue, white, pink, yellow and green, and the top-line model in silver, gold and a new "space gray."

Apple said its iOS 7 software will debut September 18. It includes a free iTunes Radio Service featuring more than 200 stations "and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store," Apple announced earlier this year.

The two new handsets keep the four-inch screen of current iPhones, despite some speculation Apple would boost the size to compete with larger phones from rivals like Samsung.

The smartphone market is now dominated by Android devices, with roughly three-fourths of all handsets, but a forecast by research firm IDC suggested Apple will increase its share this year to 17.9 percent from 16.9 percent.

- AFP

'Mandela' filmmakers shoulder heavy burden

Nelson Mandela's is no easy act to follow, the cast and crew of a new biopic on the anti-apartheid icon said Sunday at the film's world premiere.

Actor Idris Elba, who took on the role of South Africa's beloved, ailing former president, recalled that during filming several people "looked me in the eye and said, 'Do you understand the responsibility that you have here, pal?'"

"I wasn't expecting to be completely accepted as Madiba immediately for various reasons," the actor told reporters at the Toronto film festival using a term of endearment for Mandela.

"There was certainly a willingness for us to go for it, but know that you only have one chance, there's no messing about with this character and this story," he said.

"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" -- based on Mandela's autobiography tracing his life from his early years to the epic struggle he led to end South Africa's apartheid -- was 25 years in the making.

Producer Anant Singh said Mandela was still in prison when he first wrote to him, asking to tell his story on the big screen. Mandela sent a note back through a friend expressing surprise at the idea anyone would want to see a movie about his life.

"Here we are 25 years later, there have been several movies about him," Singh noted.

"And finally he chose me and granted me the rights against tough competition to 'Long Walk to Freedom,' his autobiography," the producer said with pride.

"I was very honored, but with that came a lot of responsibility."

Screenwriter William Nicholson said a big part of the story is how Mandela helped bring about a power shift without violence.

"I don't know of a single other example in history where an oppressed group has taken over without a bloodbath," the screenwriter said.

"And it's because Mandela was able to do that, through his power, to alleviate the fear of his enemies that we have a model in Mandela's life... that resonates across the world, that needs to resonate across the world."

Filming brought British director Justin Chadwick ("The First Grader," "The Other Boleyn Girl") and his brilliant cast -- Elba, Naomie Harris, Lindiwe Matshikiza, Riaad Moosa, Terry Pheto and Deon Lotz -- across South Africa.

Idris was even locked up at Robben Island prison for one night, in an effort to help him understand the hardships Mandela faced.

Chadwick said he spent time with Mandela's family, as well as with people on both sides of the conflict, in preparing to make the film.

Locals were used extensively in the production, including to build sets and design costumes, and as extras.

"Those crowds that you see when Idris and Naomie speak or Lindiwe speaks in front of the crowds, some of those people had actually been there at the time, seen the real Mandela, heard him," Chadwick said.

There are moments early in the film that show an unflattering side of the icon -- episodes of womanizing and once beating his wife -- but Mandela himself gave his blessing to portray him truthfully, Singh emphasized.

"We discussed the fact that we wanted to tell it all. He's the first to admit, 'I'm an everyman," with "'strengths and weaknesses,'" the producer said.

Elba said he "didn't want to deface Mr. Mandela in any way, but I also didn't want to portray him in a way that wasn't honest."

His portrayal emphasizes Mandela's personal sacrifices for the greater cause.

"We were able to make the political personal," said Nicholson, noting that Mandela, even at the moment of his greatest triumph, was actually very sad about missing many important moments in the lives of his family.

Late last year, Mandela was shown a few scenes from the film while it was still in production, on Singh's iPad.

"He said, 'Is this me?' and then he started laughing," said Singh. "That was to me that he endorsed Idris." - AFP

Lance Armstrong's lies revealed in new film

A film about Lance Armstrong's cycling comeback, shot in 2009 but shelved when his doping denials began to unravel, had its own revival Monday, offering fresh perspective on his lies.

Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney was granted unprecedented access to Armstrong and his entourage for an entirely different sort of film, prior to the cyclist's fall from grace.

By the time the planned film was finished in 2010 it was "no longer relevant," Gibney said, in a turn of events that may have been fortuitous.

Taking a fresh look at the footage late last year, Gibney and producer Frank Marshall recognized that they had captured the incredible truth that had been "hiding in plain sight," he said.

"We realized that we had all of this stuff that we didn't know was so important then, but was now important," said Marshall.

The film, minus Matt Damon who narrated the original film but was cut in the rejig, premiered at the Toronto film festival.

After years of denials, Armstrong, a cancer survivor who won seven Tour de France titles, finally cracked in January 2013 and admitted to Oprah Winfrey in a television interview that he had used performance-enhancing drugs.

It was a devastating and public mea culpa for his fans and the cycling world, but his confession was also decried by critics for barely scratching the surface of one of the most shocking scandals in sports history.

Gibney's documentary, "The Armstrong Lie," looks to set that right.

"In this film, you see a portrait of an elaborate lie... and you see the mechanism of it, you see the anatomy of a lie," he said.

"Particularly in film, when someone is lying to you... looking at the faces, looking at the way people talk, looking at the way all of this was reckoned with, it has a power... and (this film) goes in after the noise to be able to look at the quieter moments to see what we might have missed.

"One of the interesting things about the 2009 comeback was that Lance's team and his group in all of their arrogance figured that there was nothing to be discovered and so they gave me access to certain people who'd almost not talked to anybody, like the famous Dr. Michele Ferrari who became known as Lance's doping doctor," he added.

In addition to the original footage, Gibney shot and added a bunch of new interviews, including with Armstrong himself, his former cycling teammate Jonathan Vaughters and Betsy Andreu, the wife of another former Armstrong teammate and early outspoken critic of Armstrong.

The film also raises troubling questions about doping regulations and spreads the blame, pointing to many people's "wilful denial" that Armstrong could possibly be doping.

"You have the governing body, as Alex showed, so complicit, telling Lance how to get away with a positive so that it will pass muster, you have the US cycling federation, shame on them, you have the sponsors, you have the doctors, you have the fans, and you have the majority of people in the media which were complicit, they didn't care," said Andreu.

Vaughters added "that without the need for so many people to believe in this superhero, without the complicity of the governing body that oversaw the sport," it might all never have happened.-- AFP