Timor-Leste’s parliamentary election July 7, no clean sweep

By Our Special Correspondent in Dili

DILI, Timor Leste : At the crack of dawn brigades of streetsweepers fan out across Timor-Leste’s capital, Dili. In smart blue overalls and armed with brooms, they ensure that Dili’s main streets can vie for cleanliness with Singapore’s or Tokyo’s. It is a project designed to provide jobs for the city’s many unemployed. And it works.

Despite the many burned-out buildings, the town feels less depressing than it did. But just off the main roads, the squalor of extreme poverty still prevails, and large families live in tiny shacks without water or sanitation.

Ancient Mosaic Depicting Fiery Bible Story Discovered

A glittering mosaic of colored stones once decorated an ancient synagogue floor with scenes of the Biblical hero Samson getting revenge on the Philistines.

This newly excavated discovery in the ancient Jewish village of Huqoq not only depicts an unusual scene — Samson tying torches to foxes' tails in order to burn his enemies' crops — it's also remarkably high-quality, said dig archaeologist Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

In a mosaic, "the smaller the cubes, the finer the work," Magness told LiveScience. "Our cubes are very small and fine."

Pope sacks Slovak bishop in rare show of authority

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope fired a 52-year-old Slovak bishop on Monday for apparently mismanaging his diocese in a rare show of papal power over his bishops.

Usually when bishops run into trouble — either for alleged moral lapses or management problems — they are persuaded by the Vatican to resign. But Pope Benedict XVI has become increasingly willing to forcibly remove bishops who refuse to step down, sacking three others in the last year alone.

His willingness to do so raises questions about whether he would take the same measures against bishops who covered up for sexually abusive priests. So far he has not.

The ghost of 1994 haunts Lajim Ukin

Former bellhop is scared of his own shadow

Mention Lajim Ukin and he takes you back to 1994. That was the year when he defected from the opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah which won the Sabah election by a razor-thin two-seat margin but was denied the government. His action opened a floodgate of defections from PBS to the nationally ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. After 18 years, that has remained Lajim’s best achievement in politics. But the ghost of 1994 has never deserted him. Now as he chases shadows, the federal lawmaker of Beaufort is afraid of his own.

Perhaps the 57-year-old Lajim has seen the writing on the wall. So he has made a few pre-emptive moves: he quits as the head of the Kerambai Kebatu branch of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and announces that he would not be defending his Beaufort division chief post and says that he may not even defend his parliamentary seat. He fears that the BN leadership may not allow him to do so.

Revisiting the term "Bumiputera"

By Joe Fernandez

KOTA KINABALU : A case can be made via Adat, legal, constitutional and Administrative Law for qualified  descendants of Pendatang to be accorded Bumiputera (sons of the soil) status in Malaysia.

The recent Supreme Court decision in South Africa recognising the Chinese community in that country as Blacks, refers.

Having said that, a distinction must be made between Orang Asal and Bumiputera.

All Orang Asal are Bumiputera but not all Bumiputera are Orang Asal.

No one can claim to be Native, to use the English term, unless he or she is an Orang Asal.

Proof of 'God particle' found

By JOHN HEILPRIN and SETH BORENSTEIN of Associated Press

 But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, aren't quite ready to say they've "discovered" the particle.

Instead, experts familiar with the research at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border say that the massive data they have obtained will essentially show the footprint of the key particle known as the Higgs boson — all but proving it exists — but doesn't allow them to say it has actually been glimpsed.

300 natives in north Sabah stage angry protest on land-grabs

PITAS, Sabah : More than 300 angry natives in the northern parts of Sabah particularly from Pitas and Kota Marudu staged a peaceful but powerful rally protest against the prevalent land-grabs in the northern area of Sabah - Kudat, Pitas, Kota Marudu and parts of Beluran, last saturday.

They claimed the land-grabs, some were backed by politicians from the ruling party, had resulted in bitter experience for thousands of them, many are now displaced and squatting in nearby villages as well as awaiting court orders begotten by big company with links.

Hosting the rally at Torong Soko in Pitas seaside overlooking the Marudu Bay was the surging State Reform Party (Star) who successfully applied and granted a police permit under the recently passed Peaceful Rally Act.

Bingkor Boys Grab OKK Sedomon Cup For BYPL

BYPL 2012 Football Tournament Champions With Organisers

Keningau, Sabah—The Borneo Youth Premier League (BYPL) 2012 Football Tournament ended their 2 month game Saturday with a 4:3 win for Bingkor’s Belia Borneo Komiti FC against Keningau’s Lingkudau FC.

The champion team wins the OKK Sedomon Cup, named in honour of the great native leader of the interior, after a hard fought battle on the pitch that saw tensions and stress levels rise leading them into a final penalty shoot-out.

Hindraf's Civil Action against the UK Government on behalf of the Indian marginalized in the UK courts today the 2nd of July 2012

On the 2^nd of July 2012, Hindraf files a civil action on behalf of the marginalized Indian community in Malaysia against the UK Government in the High Court of Wales and England calling into account the British Government for their role in the antecedents leading up to the severe marginalization of the Indian poor in Malaysia today.

The key questions that Hindraf seeks answers for in this civil action are:

1) If the British are solely responsible for the presence of most of the Indian poor in Malaysia today, do they also not share responsibility for what is happening to the Indian poor in Malaysia today? After all the Indians were brought into the country by them under their watch for over 150 years. It is now just over 50 years since they left.

EPF in big trouble

1st Case
EPF IN BIG TROUBLE
SEE FOR YOURSELVES AND LET ALL EPF CONTRIBUTORS KNOW.
Is the EPF being looted?
 

Will you get back your EPF money?

• One of the largest funds in the world (C RM 440.52 billion
• Represents the life savings of 12 million Malaysians
• BN govt already spent 60% of the people's savings

23 June 2011, EPF said that 60% of its funds have been borrowed by the Malaysian govt.

Dec 2010, the govt still owes EPF about RM 240 billion.

This means the BN govt has already spent 60% of all your savings