Lenovo unveils 'game-changing' tablet in LA

Chinese computer maker Lenovo presented a new tablet device including a hinge-cum-handle allowing it to tilt and stand, a feature it billed as a "game-changing" innovation.

Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher unveiled the Yoga Tablet at a Los Angeles event which had been shrouded in mystery, with teaser videos and social media hints tagged #betterway.

The device, which has 18 hours on a single battery charge and goes on sale Wednesday, has three modes: hold, tilt and stand. A cylindrical hinge on one side can either be held, or opened to produce a stand, similar to the kick-stand on Microsoft's Surface tablet.

"Watching and discovering that people frequently use tablets in three main ways allowed us to break the mold on the current 'sea of sameness' designs," said Lenovo senior vice president Liu Jun, calling it "game-changing."

Teaser videos ahead of the event had included some suggesting that it could somehow be attached to furniture or household appliances. But the product appeared less radical.

"For this me is a risk," Kutcher said in a livestreamed event from Los Angeles, praising Lenovo for realising that "the risk is to be taken now because this is happening in the world now.

"They understand that they have to take risks and lead," added the "Two and a Half Men" actor, who is known as a tech investor, and who donned a "Lenovo product engineer" badge for the presentation.

The device comes in 8 and 10 inch models, priced at $249 and $299 respectively. An optional bluetooth keyboard is available for the larger model, which serves as a cover.

It enters a hugely crowded tablet market still dominated by Apples iPad, but with rivals including notably South Korea's Samsung vying to attract customers in the run-up the all important US holiday gift-buying season.

The design looks like a wireless Apple keyboard, and observers noted that the extra space in the hinge/handle allows Lenovo to boost the battery charge to last longer than that of many competing tablets.

The devices run on Google's Android operating system, and have relatively low-resolution 1280 x 800 screens.

Tech website the Verge said the 8 inch version seems targeted directly at Google's $229 Nexus 7, while the 10-inch tablet undercuts the price of Amazon's 8.9 inch Kindle Fire HDX.

Tech review site CNET said the Yoga tablets were reminiscent of the Sony Tablet S and Xperia Tablet S, with their cylindrical edge offering a solid handle.

AFP

Kegiatan curi pasir oleh warga asing

KUALA LUMPUR - Kegiatan licik empat warga asing yang cuba mengaut keuntungan mudah dengan menjual pasir secara haram akhirnya terbongkar dengan penemuan 4,000 tan pasir di kawasan ladang kelapa sawit berdekatan Taman Perindustrian Sri Haneco, Semenyih, dekat sini.

Serbuan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) ke lokasi itu hari ini mendedahkan pasir itu dikorek empat pekerja warga Indonesia, dipercayai untuk dijual dan digunakan bagi projek perumahan di sekitar kawasan perumahan berdekatan.

Ketua Penolong Kanan Penguasa SPRM Putrajaya Mohd Yussof Zakaria berkata kegiatan haram itu dibongkar susulan risikan di kawasan berkenaan sejak enam bulan lepas selepas mendapat aduan ketua kampung.

"Menerusi serbuan yang dilakukan kira-kira pukul 12.30 tengah hari ini kita menemui sebanyak 4,000 tan pasir yang dipercayai belum sempat dijual.

"Mengikut harga pasaran, satu tan pasir halus bernilai RM38 dan satu tan pasir kasar bernilai RM30," katanya kepada pemberita ketika ditemui di lokasi operasi.

Katanya kes akan disiasat mengikut Seksyen 426(1)(a) Akta Kanun Tanah Negara kerana mengeluarkan bahan batuan tanpa permit, yang membawa hukuman maksimum penjara lima tahun atau denda RM50,000 atau kedua-duanya sekali, jika sabit kesalahan.

Mohd Yussof berkata selain menemukan pasir itu pihaknya turut menyita sebuah mesin pengorek dan sebuah mesin genset.

Dalam pada itu, Timbalan Penolong Pengarah Jabatan Imigresen Selangor Aided Sani berkata kesemua suspek yang ditahan berumur antara 22 hingga 35 tahun.

Dua daripadanya ditahan mengikut Seksyen 63(a) Akta Imigresen kerana tidak memiliki dokumen, seorang ditahan di bawah Seksyen 15(4) Akta Imigresen kerana tinggal lebih masa manakala seorang lagi ditahan mengikut Seksyen 39(b) Akta Imigresen kerana menyalahguna pas lawatan, katanya.

Operasi selama empat jam itu turut disertai Jabatan Kerja Raya, Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) dan Pejabat Tanah dan Galian Selangor.

BERNAMA

Lelaki kudung kedua-dua kaki berbasikal sejauh 1,300km

Gutierrez yang berbasikal menggunakan kaki palsu cekal menghadapi pelbagai cabaran sejak 28 Oktober lalu.

EL PASO - MEXICO . Seorang lelaki yang kudung kedua-dua kakinya akibat perbuatan tidak berperikemanusiaan samseng sanggup berbasikal sejauh 1,300 kilometer bagi menuntut hak pelarian yang menjadi mangsa kekejaman di Mexico.

Warga Mexico, Carlos Gutierrez, 35, tetap cekal berhadapan pelbagai cabaran sepanjang 13 hari perjalanan beliau dari El Paso ke Texas Tengah.

"Undang-undang Pelarian Amerika Syarikat (AS) perlu dikaji semula bagi membolehkan mangsa keganasan seperti saya mendapatkan perlindungan di negara ini," katanya.

Menurutnya lagi dalam laporan AP, beliau juga terpaksa menunggu lama untuk mendapatkan kebenaran tinggal di AS walaupun sudah membuat permohonan pada 2011.

Sumber

Masyarakat masih tidak sedar bahaya wabak denggi

KUALA LUMPUR:  Sebanyak 29,754 kes demam denggi dilaporkan di seluruh negara bagi tempoh Januari hingga 2 November, dengan peningkatan lebih 11,000 kes berbanding tahun 2012 yang mencatatkan 18,268 kes.

Perkembangan ini adalah sesuatu yang membimbangkan, kerana denggi bukanlah satu wabak yang boleh dianggap enteng kerana mampu meragut nyawa.

Jumlah kumulatif kes kematian akibat demam denggi setakat ini meningkat 61 berbanding 32 kematian pada 2012.

409 lokaliti aktif wabak denggi dipantau di seluruh negara dan jumlah itu merupakan yang tertinggi pernah dilaporkan setakat ini. Daripada jumlah itu, 72 lokaliti berisiko dicatat di Selangor dan Pulau Pinang.

Menurut Menteri Kesihatan, Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam, peningkatan kes demam denggi sukar dibendung kerana kurangnya kerjasama daripada masyarakat.

"Masalah di malaysia pengetahuan tentang cara jangkitan denggi dan cara macam mana penyakit ini merebak luas tidak dititik beratkan oleh rakyat.

"Kalau tiap-tiap rakyat malaysia boleh mengubah sikap, mengurangkan tempat pembiakan nyamuk aedes. kita boleh berjaya di dalam usaha ini," kata Subramaniam.

Masyarakat seharusnya perlu sedar bahawa kawalan terhadap wabak maut ini bukan hanya terletak di bahu pihak berkuasa tempatan saja.

Mengulas lanjut mengenai wabak denggi ini, Ketua Jabatan Kesihatan dan Alam Sekitar DBKL, Dr Hayati Abdullah menjelaskan bahawa bukan hanya kebersihan didalam dan diluar  rumah perlu dititik beratkan sebaliknya kebersihan di tapak-tapak pembinaan juga perlu diambil berat.

"Di kawasan tapak pembinaan tidak kira yang masih aktif atau tidak aktif mungkin terdapat air bertakung yang boleh membiak nyamuk aedes," kata Dr Hayati ketika menjadi tetamu Awani 745 yang membincangkan tentang wabak denggi.

Astro Awani

Lima finalis mara ke Konsert Akhir AF 2013

KUALA LUMPUR:  Bukan drama, bukan kejutan apabila peserta duo Azhael tersingkir di Konsert Separuh Akhir Akademi Fantasia 2013 malam tadi.

Pengumuman penyingkiran Azhael yang hanya menerima 15 peratus undian dibuat oleh inspirer Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza.

Penyingkiran terakhir itu membolehkan lima finalis mara ke Konsert Akhir AF 2013, Amira, Nabila, Indah, Aishah dan finalis tunggal lelaki Faizul.

Konsert Akhir Akademi Fantasia 2013 bakal berlangsung di Stadium Negara pada 17 November depan.

ASTRO Awani 

Schools ban Malala Yousafzai's 'anti-Pakistan' book

Schools ban Malala Yousafzai's book

ISLAMABAD:  Pakistani private schools have been barred from buying a book written by global education icon Malala Yousafzai due to its "anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam content", a top official said Sunday.

"Yes we have banned Malala's book ('I am Malala') because it carries the content which is against our country's ideology and Islamic values," Kashif Mirza, chief of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, told AFP.

"We are not against Malala. She is our daughter and she is herself confused about her book and her father has asked the publisher to remove the paragraphs about Salman Rushdie and write Peace Be Upon Him after the name of our Holy Prophet (Mohammad)," Mirza said.

British novelist Rushdie became the target of an Iranian fatwa, or religious edict, calling for his murder for allegedly blaspheming Islam and the Prophet Mohammed in his book "The Satanic Verses".

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan also, where it carries the death penalty.

Mirza said that that some 152,000 private schools across Pakistan stood in solidarity with Malala after she was shot by the Taliban in northwestern Swat valley last year, but the views she had expressed in her autobiography were not "acceptable".

"No school will buy 'I am Malala' for its library or any other co-curricular activity on the campus," Mirza said.

He denied any threat or pressure by any militant group on his federation to ban the book. Taliban militants had threatened to attack Pakistani book shops selling Malala's book.

Co-written with British journalist Christina Lamb, "I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban" tells of the 16-year-old's terror as two gunmen boarded her school bus on October 9, 2012 and shot her in the head.

The book describes Malala's life under the Taliban's brutal rule in northwest Pakistan's Swat valley in the mid-2000s, hints at her ambition to enter Pakistani politics, and even describes her father's brief flirtation with Islamic fundamentalism as a youngster.

The book describes public floggings by the Taliban, their ban on television, dancing and music, and the family's decision to flee Swat along with nearly one million others in 2009 amid heavy fighting between the militants and Pakistani troops.

Yousafzai last month hit back at claims that she has become a figure of the West, insisting she was proud to be a Pakistani.

AFP

Rumah kosong dijadikan lokasi persembunyian suspek tembak pegawai bank

Gambar fail suspek diiringi polis selepas ditangkap pada Ahad. -- Gambar: Twitter

KUALA LUMPUR:  Suspek kes bunuh dan rompak pegawai AmBank di Subang Jaya menjadikan bangunan serta rumah kosong sebagai lokasi persembunyian selama 19 hari ketika dalam buruan polis.

Mengesahkan perkara itu, Ketua Polis Selangor Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan berkata, suspek bersembunyi di beberapa buah rumah serta bangunan kosong sekitar Lembah Klang dan Johor.

"Bagaimanapun, suspek dipercayai melarikan diri menggunakan pengangkutan awam seperti bas dan teksi untuk keluar dari Lembah Klang menuju ke Johor sejurus selepas kejadian pada 23 Okt lepas.

"Ketika berada di sana (Johor), suspek juga cuba mendapatkan bantuan sindiket pemalsuan dokumen pasport bagi melarikan diri ke negara jiran," katanya ketika dihubungi Bernama hari Ahad.

Suspek ditahan di Kampung Belungkor, Kota Tinggi, Johor pada kira-kira 7 pagi Ahad.

Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, dalam Twitter beliau Ahad, memaklumkan bahawa suspek ditahan di Johor serta mengucapkan terima kasih kepada rakyat Malaysia yang membantu polis.

Dalam kejadian 23 Okt lepas, pegawai AmBank Subang Jaya Norazita Abu Talib, 37, maut ditembak suspek ketika membuka peti besi dalam bilik kebal bank berkenaan.

Mangsa, yang berkhidmat selama 16 tahun dengan bank itu, meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian akibat kecederaan parah di kepala setelah ditembak dengan 'pump gun' oleh suspek.

Suspek turut melarikan diri dengan hasil rompakan wang tunai RM450,000.

Penduduk terkejut suspek di Kampung Tanjung Belungkor

Penahanan seorang lelaki di Kampung Tanjung Belungkor hari Ahad, yang dipercayai suspek kes rompakan dan bunuh pegawai AmBank Subang Jaya pada 23 Okt lepas, mengejutkan penduduk kampung berkenaan.

Pemilik kedai makan Sayda, Saari Ahmad, 47, berkata beliau tidak menyangka suspek akan ditahan di kampung itu lebih-lebih lagi kawasan berkenaan bukan 'laluan tikus' untuk mana-mana individu keluar atau masuk ke negara ini.

"Saya hanya mengetahui kejayaan penahanan itu kira-kira pukul 10 pagi tadi daripada rakan dan pemberita. Tentulah saya terkejut kerana saya tidak dengar sebarang cakap-cakap mengenai penahanan itu sehinggalah dimaklumkan pihak media," katanya.

Saari, yang tinggal dan berniaga berhampiran jeti nelayan sejak 20 tahun lepas, berkata beliau tidak melihat pergerakan keluar masuk polis ke kampung itu semalam mahupun pergerakan mana-mana individu yang mencurigakan sebelum ini.

Katanya, terdapat kira-kira 20 rumah di situ dan kampung berkenaan juga mempunyai Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung bagi mengawasi keselamatan penduduk.

Seorang lagi peniaga kedai makan, Norlela Mohd Shah, 40, berkata beliau juga tidak menyedari penahanan itu mungkin kerana disebabkan hari hujan.

"Pagi tadi hujan lebat sejak pukul 6.30 pagi sebelum berhenti pada kira-kira pukul 8 pagi. Saya juga tidak menyedari kehadiran polis ataupun orang luar yang mencurigakan kerana ramai orang luar, terutama pemancing, kerap mengunjungi kampung ini," katanya semalam.

Seorang nelayan, Wira Yahya, 47, berkata ada kemungkinan suspek cuba meloloskan diri menggunakan jeti nelayan di kampung itu untuk ke negara jiran memandangkan kedudukan kampung yang berhampiran dengan Pulau Batam, Indonesia.

"Setakat ini, tiada mana-mana orang atau pendatang asing dilihat menggunakan laluan di kampung ini untuk menyeludup keluar kerana kawasan kampung ini kerap dironda pihak berkuasa seperti polis marin dan kastam.

"Bagaimanapun, saya tidak menolak kemungkinan untuk mereka menyelinap keluar dengan bot kecil kerana ada beberapa nelayan dan saya sendiri pernah kehilangan dua bot kecil beberapa tahun lepas, yang dipercayai dicuri mereka," katanya yang menetap di kampung itu sejak 30 tahun lepas.

BERNAMA

More than 10,000 feared dead in typhoon-ravaged Philippines

An aerial shot shows devastation in the aftermath of Supper Typhoon Haiyan. -- AFP photo

TACLOBAN:  Survivors of a super typhoon that may have killed more than 10,000 people in the Philippines were growing increasingly desperate for aid Monday, as authorities struggled to cope with potentially the country's worst recorded natural disaster.

Rescue workers appeared overwhelmed in their efforts to help countless survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which sent tsunami-like waves and merciless winds rampaging across a huge chunk of the archipelago on Friday.

Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed to contain looters in Tacloban, the devastated provincial capital of Leyte, while the United States announced it had responded to a Philippine government appeal and was sending military help.

"Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families," high school teacher Andrew Pomeda, 36, told AFP on Sunday, warning of the increasing desperation of survivors.

"People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk.... I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger."

President Benigno Aquino said while visiting Tacloban on Sunday that looting had become a major concern, after only 20 officers out of the city's 390-strong police force turned up for work.

"So we will send about 300 police and soldiers to take their place and bring back peace and order," he said.

Haiyan, which moved out of the Philippines and into the South China Sea on Saturday, was bearing down on Vietnam early Monday, authorities said.

Although the storm had weakened at sea, more than 600,000 people were evacuated in Vietnam ahead of its expected landfall, which NASA predicted at around midnight GMT Monday.

Forecasters said the typhoon will likely strike Vietnam as the equivalent of a category-one hurricane -- the weakest on the one-to-five wind-speed scale -- or even a tropical storm.

The Vietnamese government website said Sunday that five people had died while preparing for the storm.

Farther north, six members of a cargo boat were also missing off the Chinese province of Hainan, state media in China reported.

'Reaching them is difficult'

In the Philippines, up to four million children could be affected by the disaster, the United Nations Children's Fund warned Sunday.

"We are rushing to get critical supplies to children who are bearing the brunt of this crisis," said UNICEF Philippines representative Tomoo Hozumi.

"Reaching the worst-affected areas is very difficult," he said. "But we are working around the clock."

Authorities were struggling to understand the sheer magnitude of the disaster, let alone react to it, with the regional police chief for Leyte saying initial government estimates showed 10,000 people were believed to have died in that province alone.

Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria told reporters in Tacloban that the typhoon destroyed up to 80 percent of the structures in its path.

On the neighbouring island of Samar, a local disaster chief said 300 people were killed in the small town of Basey.

He added another 2,000 were missing there and elsewhere on Samar, which was one of the first areas hit when Haiyan swept in from the Pacific Ocean as a category-five storm with maximum sustained winds of 315 kilometres (195 miles) an hour.

Dozens more people were confirmed killed in other flattened towns and cities across a 600-kilometre stretch of islands through the central Philippines.

As the scale of the disaster began to emerge, an international aid effort ratcheted up.

In Washington, the Pentagon announced that US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel had responded to a request from the Philippines for military aid and directed the US Pacific Command to deploy resources.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon also promised that humanitarian agencies would "respond rapidly to help people in need", while the European Commission said it would give three million euros ($4 million) to help relief efforts.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called Aquino to extend his sympathy, and offered an emergency support package worth six million pounds ($9.6 million).

International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde also offered sympathy on behalf of the organisation to survivors of the "terrible tragedy".

Deadliest natural disaster

The Philippines endures a seemingly never-ending pattern of deadly typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and other natural disasters.

It is located along a typhoon belt and the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific region where many of Earth's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

But if the death toll of more than 10,000 is correct, Haiyan would be the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded in the country, worse than the 1976 Moro Gulf tsunami that killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people.

Haiyan's maximum sustained wind speeds made it the strongest typhoon in the world this year, and one of the most powerful ever recorded.

Witnesses in Tacloban recalled waves up to five metres (16 feet) high surging inland. Aerial photos showed entire neighbourhoods destroyed, with trees and buildings flattened by storm surge.

The Philippines country director of the World Food Programme, Praveen Agrawal, who visited Tacloban, said the devastation resembled that of a tsunami.

"All the trees are bent over, the bark has been stripped off, the houses have been damaged. In many cases they have collapsed," he told AFP.

"The huge waves came again and again, flushing us out on the street and washing away our homes," Mirasol Saoyi, 27, told AFP near Tacloban's seaside sports stadium, where thousands of people gathered.

"My husband tied us together, but still we got separated among the debris. I saw many people drowning, screaming and going under.... I haven't found my husband."

Source: AFP

Tanah runtuh di Cameron Highlands, seorang cedera

Gambar fail banjir kilat yang melanda Lembah Bertam, Cameron Highlands bulan lepas. -- Gambar: Astro AWANI


IPOH:  Dua lelaki, seorang daripadanya cedera setelah terperangkap dalam sebuah bengkel kenderaan akibat tanah runtuh di Jalan Sultan Abu Bakar Brinchang dekat Cameron Highlands di sini hari Ahad.

Idris Munir, 43, cedera di kaki dan kini dirawat di Hospital Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom, Tanah Rata, manakala rakannya Mohd Norsofwa Abdul Wahab, 42, tidak cedera. Seorang daripada mereka adalah pemilik bengkel itu.

Ketua Polis Daerah Cameron Highlands Wan Zahari Wan Busu berkata, ketika kejadian pada pukul 6.35 petang, kedua-dua lelaki berkenaan sedang berbual bersama tiga lagi rakan mereka di hadapan bengkel itu.

"Hujan lebat menyebabkan bukit berhampiran bengkel itu runtuh dan menghempap kedai. Tiga lelaki yang berada di hadapan bengkel sempat melarikan diri namun dua daripada mereka terperangkap dalam bengkel," katanya ketika dihubungi Bernama.

Beliau berkata, kejadian itu juga menyebabkan beberapa kereta di dalam bengkel itu rosak.

Wan Zahari berkata, anggota bomba dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat Cameron Highlands dengan bantuan anggota polis mengambil masa kira-kira satu jam untuk mengeluarkan mangsa.

"Kerja-kerja membersihkan kawasan bengkel itu sedang dijalankan bagi membolehkan kenderaan melalui kawasan itu," katanya.

BERNAMA

Jurugambar sambilan NSTP dirompak RM8,000

KOTA KINABALU:  Jurugambar sambilan The News Straits Times Press (M) Bhd Sabah kerugian RM8,000 dan hampir dicederakan apabila sekumpulan perompak melarikan begnya di Jalan Bukit Bendera berhampiran Menara Jam Atkinson di sini hari Sabtu.

Dalam kejadian pada 3.20 petang itu, Mohd Adam Eussoffefuddin Arinin, 25, yang memberhentikan kereta Kancilnya di tepi jalan untuk menjawab telefon, dihampiri sebuah kereta Perodua Myvi berwarna kuning sebelum sebuah motosikal berhenti di hadapan keretanya.

Ketika kejadian, jurugambar itu dalam perjalanan pulang daripada tugasan di Likas.

Menceritakan kejadian itu, Mohd Adam Eussoffefuddin berkata, beliau cuba mengundurkan keretanya tetapi pembonceng motosikal itu mengacukan pisau ke arahnya sebelum merampas begnya yang terletak di bahagian tempat duduk hadapan.

Beliau berkata, beg itu mempunyai wang tunai RM8,000, satu pemacu pena dan pakaiannya.

Seorang tukang kebun menemui semula beg galas itu kira-kira 15 minit kemudian tetapi kesemua barangan di dalam beg itu hilang, katanya yang membuat laporan polis di Balai Polis Kota Kinabalu.

Sementara itu, Pemangku Ketua Polis Bandaraya DSP A. Sahak Rahmat ketika dihubungi mengesahkan menerima laporan mengenai kes itu dan meminta orang ramai yang mempunyai maklumat berkaitan kejadian itu supaya menghubungi balai polis berhampiran untuk membantu siasatan.

BERNAMA

Bekas pembantu rumah antara ditahan bantu kes melarikan Freddie

KUALA LUMPUR:  Polis menahan bekas pembantu rumah kepada wanita warga Britain, Sarah Joseph bagi membantu siasatan kes melarikan kanak-kanak lelaki, Freddie Joseph di Bangsar pada Jumaat lalu.

Wanita warga Filipina yang berumur 39 tahun itu ditahan bersama-sama teman lelakinya, seorang warga tempatan berumur 53 tahun dalam satu serbuan polis di sebuah rumah pangsa di Taman Desa, di sini jam 11 pagi tadi.

Ketua Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Ku Chin Wah berkata kedua-dua suspek tersebut ditahan bagi membantu siasatan berhubung kes tersebut.

“Pembantu rumah tersebut berada di Malaysia sejak tahun 2004 dan pernah bekerja dengan mangsa (Sarah) sekitar tahun lalu. Suspek bagaimanapun telah ditamatkan perkhidmatan dengan mangsa sejak enam bulan lepas dan kini berkhidmat dengan sebuah rumah di Damansara,” kata Ku kepada pemberita di Balai Polis Pantai tadi.

Ku bagaimanapun tidak dapat mendedahkan sebab-sebab mengapa pembantu rumah tersebut ditamatkan perkhidmatannya.

“Suspek kedua itu merupakan teman lelaki kepada pembantu rumah ini. Dia bekerja sebagai tukang pembaiki paip dan elektrik dan mereka berdua tinggal bersama-sama di unit rumah pangsa tersebut,” katanya lagi.

Suspek lelaki tersebut bagaimanapun tidak menyamai deskripsi lakaran wajah yang didedahkan oleh beliau semalam.

Penahanan tersebut dilakukan kerana terdapat kemungkinan bahawa kedua-dua suspek tersebut dapat membantu siasatan polis samada secara langsung atau tidak langsung.

Ku turut mengesahkan polis juga ada membuat rampasan ketika serbuan tersebut namun enggan mendedahkan barangan yang dirampas itu kerana ianya masih lagi dalam siasatan.

Motif penculikan masih disiasat namun polis sudah pun menolak kemungkinan bahawa penculikan tersebut berkaitan dengan permintaan wang tebusan.

“Kemungkinan tersebut sememangnya tipis namun kita masih menyiasat samada ianya berkait dengan masalah peribadi atau sebab-sebab yang lain dan kita harap dengan penahanan ini dapat merungkaikan lagi siasatan yang dilakukan,” katanya lagi.

Kedua-dua suspek dijangka akan direman esok.

Freddie, yang diculik dari rumah ibunya di Bangsar pada Jumaat petangdijumpai beberapa orang awam di Taman Tasik Titiwangsa kira-kira 12.20 tengah hari semalam.

Dalam kejadian pukul 6.10 petang itu, kanak-kanak berkenaan dilapor diculik ketika bersama ibunya minum petang di halaman rumah mereka di Jalan Terasik 7, Bangsar.

Kira-kira 18 jam selepas Freddie dilapor hilang, dia ditemui semula di Taman Tasik Titiwangsa dan ketika ditemui, kanak-kanak itu yang memakai baju berwarna hijau dan seluar putih berada dalam keletihan dan kelaparan.

Sejurus itu, Freddie dimasukkan ke sebuah pusat perubatan untuk menjalani pemeriksaan kesihatan dan telah diletakkan di bawah pemerhatian selama 24 jam.

Astro Awani

Kematian ketua penguatkuasa JAIP bermotifkan bunuh

KUANTAN:  Polis mengesahkan kematian Ketua Penguat Kuasa Jabatan Agama Islam Pahang (JAIP) Mohd Raffli Ab Malik, yang ditembak di rumahnya tengah hari tadi, bermotifkan bunuh.

Ketua Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Pahang SAC Zakaria Ahmad berkata, semasa kejadian pada 1.55 tengah hari itu, mangsa yang berumur 49 tahun sedang berehat bersama isteri dan seorang anaknya di ruang tamu.

Beliau berkata sebelum itu, seorang lelaki berusia dalam lingkungan 50an yang berjubah hitam dan berkopiah putih, yang tiba di rumah Mohd Raffli dengan sebuah kereta Proton Wira Aeroback berwarna putih, telah memanggil mangsa keluar dari rumahnya.

"Semasa keluar dari rumahnya, seorang lagi suspek berumur dalam lingkungan 30an meluru dari tempat duduk belakang kereta dan melepaskan tiga das tembakan ke arahnya," kata beliau kepada pemberita di rumah mangsa di Indera Mahkota di sini, hari Ahad.

Zakaria berkata, dua daripada tiga das tembakan itu mengenai dada Mohd Raffli manakala satu lagi tembakan tersasar menyebabkan mangsa mati di tempat kejadian.

"Polis percaya suspek yang menaiki kereta itu telah berlegar-legar di kawasan rumah mangsa berdasarkan faktor suspek hanya mengambil masa seminit untuk membunuh mangsa," katanya.

Zakaria berkata polis menyiasat kes itu dari pelbagai sudut termasuk motif lain.

BERNAMA

Haiyan typhoon: 600,000 evacuated as it nears Vietnam

More than 600,000 people were evacuated as super typhoon Haiyan veered towards Vietnam, authorities said Sunday, after the storm smashed through the Philippines killing thousands and causing widespread devastation.

"We have evacuated more than 174,000 households, which is equivalent to more than 600,000 people," an official report by Vietnam's flood and storm control department said Sunday.

The storm is expected to strike on Monday morning after changing course prompting mass evacuations in northern Nghe An province around 230 kilometres (145 miles) from the captial Hanoi, the update said.

However, many of the estimated 200,000 evacuated in four central provinces on Saturday have been allowed to return to their homes.

Haiyan "is quickly moving north and northwest, travelling at a speed of up to 35 kilometres per hour", the country's weather bureau added in a statement.

The weather system -- one of the most intense typhoons on record when it tore into the Philippines -- has weakened over the South China Sea and is expected to hit as a weaker category 1 storm, meteorologists added.

The typhoon's epicentre is expected to make landfall around 7:00am Monday (1200 GMT), with winds of around 74 kilometres (45 miles an hour) per hour.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines said it had cancelled some 62 flights to and from the country's central provinces due to bad weather.

At least four people were reportedly killed while preparing to escape the typhoon, disaster officials said, without giving further details.

Haiyan struck the Philippines Friday with sustained winds of around 315 kilometres (195 miles) an hour, causing massive storm surges and cutting through entire towns.

The monster typhoon is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people in the Philippines and devastated vast areas of Tacloban, the capital of Leyte province, authorities there said.

It has also claimed the lives of 300 people and almost 2,000 other missing on the island of Samar.

Central Vietnam has recently been hit by two other typhoons -- Wutip and Nari, both category one storms -- which flooded roads, damaged sea dykes and tore the roofs off hundreds of thousands of houses.

AFP

Jaip enforcement head shot dead

Mohd Raffli Ab Malik was shot dead at his house in Indera Mahkota 2.

KUANTAN:  The head of the enforcement division of the Pahang Islamic Religious Department (Jaip) was shot dead at his house in Indera Mahkota 2 near here Sunday.

According to a police source, Mohd Raffli Ab Malik was shot at thrice and died instantly after two bullets hit him in the chest in the 2pm incident.

"Three suspects are believed to be involved in the shooting," the source told Bernama.

He said the trio made their getaway in a white Proton Wira Aeroback car.

"The suspects were all wearing black coloured clothes and donned "kopiahs" (skullcaps)," he said.

Later, speaking to reporters at the victim's house, Pahang CID chief SAC Mohd Zakaria Ahmad said in the incident, Mohd Raffli, 49, was resting in the living room with his family when the car with the three suspects, all dressed as described by the source, pulled up at the house.2

He said then one of the suspects, believed to be in his 50s, got out of the car and asked Mohd Raffli to come out of the house.

"As he was coming out, another of the suspects, in his 30s, rushed out from the back seat of the car and fired three shots at him," he said, adding that two of the shots hit him in the chest while the other went astray.

"Police believe the suspects had staked out the place as it took them just a minute to murder the victim," he added.

Zakaria said police were investigating the case from all angles to establish the motive for the pre-meditated murder.

BERNAMA

Indonesia evacuates bodies after deadly helicopter crash

TARAKAN:  Indonesian rescuers on Sunday flew to the jungles of Borneo island to bring back the bodies of 13 people killed when an army helicopter crashed and burst into flames a day earlier.

Six people were also injured when the aircraft, carrying construction workers to build a military outpost, smashed into a cliff as it tried to land at the remote site near the Malaysian border.

The start of the mission to retrieve the bodies was delayed for several hours Sunday by bad weather but clouds cleared later, allowing a helicopter to fly to the remote area.

It was carrying mountaineering equipment so that rescuers -- mainly military and search and rescue agency personnel -- could reach the wreckage on a cliffside in Malinau district in North Kalimantan province.

Rescuers quickly found 11 of the 13 bodies in the helicopter, which had been reduced to a charred wreck, and put them in body bags, military spokesman Legowo Jatmiko told AFP.

"It's bright and sunny now and rescuers said they did not face much of a problem. We believe we will be able to evacuate all the bodies today and airlift them" to Tarakan, a town in northern Borneo, he added.

Three other aircraft were on standby to help if needed.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his "deep sorrow" at the deaths.

"Hopefully the families of the soldiers and other victims will find fortitude in the face of this tragedy," he said in a tweet.

Jatmiko said rescuers must also retrieve the black box flight data recorders from the Russian-made Mi-17 aircraft, which was completely burnt out following the accident.

Once the bodies have been evacuated, an investigation into the cause of the crash will begin.

Military officials said they suspect it was caused both by bad weather and a problem with the back rotor blades, which appeared to spin out of control just before the helicopter hit the cliff.

Eight of those killed were civilian construction workers and five were crew members, who were military personnel. The six survivors were still in hospital receiving treatment for burns.

Borneo is a vast island shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, covered in lush jungle and home to rare animals such as orangutans.

There have been numerous fatal air crashes over the years in Indonesia and some have involved military aircraft.

- AFP