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My heart goes out to the family who was robbed, not just of their belongings, but of their mother. I was watching the evening news yesterday when I saw the heinous crime reported.
The family was held hostage at home but the father and children managed to escape from the house. One daughter broke her hip during the escape. Although the police broke into the house and rescued the lady, she died in the hospital just before the evening news. Apparently, she had been slashed by the robbers when they didn’t get the getaway car which they had demanded for.
Yesterday, it rained so heavily in the evening that it flooded in the city. The train that takes me home is elevated so I had no problem. My friends who had to take the underground train from Masjid Jamek had to walk all the way to KL Sentral to board. It was because the stations were closed due to the floodwaters.
I reached home at the usual time but the colleague who sits next to me only reached his doorstep at 9.30 p.m.
Today the carpark at my usual home station was full, and I had to drive to the next station to park. I think everyone’s afraid to drive to town.
The picture above was taken by The Star newspaper reporters near the Chan Sow Lin LRT station.
Today is one of those rare Malaysian days where there is so much news to read in the papers.
- Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi passed his first test of confidence in Parliament. 129 Barisan National candidates supported the motion tabled by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs to support the Malaysian government in view of the recent price hikes. The most significant one being the rise of petrol price per litre from RM 1.92 to RM 2.70 on June 5. The motion is said to contain anti-inflation action plans.
- THE country’s poverty rate will increase from 3.7 per cent to 24.3 per cent if the poverty line is raised from the current RM800 to RM1,500 per household.
- The next time you intend to fill up, your credit card may not be accepted at your local petrol station. Petroleum Dealers Association has issued notices to 3,500 members to accept cash only from today. Petroleum companies are looking for ways to reduce operating cost due to charges imposed for credit card services. PDA is also fighting for shorter operating hours ie 6 am to 11 pm daily.
- Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder trial has come to a close after 124 days and 4,000 type written pages. The verdict awaits as the judge handling the case has a tight schedule. Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin will hear the submissions on July 23.
- Kota Bahru, Kelantan has banned bright lipstick and high-heel shoes which make a tapping sound when one walks. This is only applicable to Muslim women employees and those who break the law will be fined RM 500.
- Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye has headed the National Service for the past 5 years since its inception in 2003. He now makes way for new leadership.
I was reading the news online about our first Malaysian cosmonaut who made it to space! Congratulations Malaysia… and what a joy it was when I discovered that Marina Mahathir blogs too, and with photos of her beloved father (our beloved ex-PM) and mother enjoying the live telecast of the space launch. May God speed your recovery, Tun Dr Mahathir!
Her blog may be found at the following URL:
http://www.rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/
News excerpt from The Star Online:
Thursday October 11, 2007
First Malaysian into space
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BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan): At exactly 9.22pm (Malaysian time), the Soyuz -FG rocket launcher blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The rocket launcher, carrying the Soyuz TMA-II spacecraft with Malaysian cosmonaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and crew members on board, lit up the clear night sky.
Also on the spacecraft were Nasa’s commander Peggy Whitson – the first female International Space Station (ISS) commander – and Russian Yuri Malechencko.
After the blast-off, the cosmonauts experienced a gravity pull of 4G. The rocket shot up at a speed of 4,000km per hour to reach orbit in two minutes.
Two minutes into launch, the four lateral boosters were jettisoned, and the gravity pull was reduced to 1.5G. When the core stage engine fired at full thrust, gravity force climbed to 3G.
Third-stage separation occurred at 8.48 seconds into launch, when the space capsule was fully separated.
It took about nine minutes for Soyuz to enter zero gravity, after which it will orbit the Earth for two days before docking with the ISS, a process that will take two to three hours. Prior to docking, the cosmonauts will be strapped to their seats during the docking procedure.
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Dr Sheikh Muszaphar smiling from inside the spacecraft minutes after the launch on Wednesday.
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Once in orbit, the mission was taken over by the Mission Control Centre in Moscow.
Viewers who were 7km away from the launch pad felt the ground vibrate from the enormous thrust of the launcher.
VIPs and guests who witnessed the launch included Dr Sheikh Muszaphar’s parents Datuk Sheikh Mustapha Shukor and Datin Zuraida Sheikh Ahmad.
Some two hours before the launch, all communication systems (telephone lines, mobile telephone lines and TV) were cut off in the launch pad area to block the airwaves and ensure contact with the crew was not disrupted in any way. Blackout was also experienced as the power supply was drained by the launch.
During the launch, road and rail traffic were also halted as a safety measure.
The crew’s big day began when they walked out of the Cosmonaut Hotel, which is not a guest hotel but actually part of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre where they were quarantined, and boarded a bus that took them to the launch pad, seven hours prior to the launch.
On the bus, they watched a 10-minute video of their friends and families wishing them bon voyage.
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The Soyuz-FG rocket launcher blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
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The bus stopped midway for a ritual that has been performed by cosmonauts since the time of Yuri Gagarin – the men urinated on the bus tyres.
At the launch pad, they made their “last walk”, which was the last chance for family members and people to see them from a distance.
The three put on their custom-made Sukol space suit before they went through a formal military ceremony and shook hands with important guests, including the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Russian Federal Space Agency chief Perminov Anatoli Nikolaevich, Kazakh Space Agency chief Musabaev Talgat Amangeldievish and Malaysian Ambassador to Russia Datuk Mohamad Khalis Ali Hassan.
About four hours to the launch, the crew were hoisted to the capsule via an elevator. They were strapped to their seats and went through system checks.
Forty-five minutes to the launch, the rocket’s service gantry was removed, the flight programme loaded and the crew’s space suits were checked for air tightness.
Unlike a shuttle launch, the Soyuz rocket launch has no countdown – blastoff occurs when everything is in place and set to go.
The rocket’s four lateral boosters were started 29 seconds to launch.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will return on Oct 21.
News from Courier Mail
ABOUT 10,000 homes across south-east Queensland are without power after a storm surge this morning.
It is the fourth day that wild weather has hit south-east Queensland homes.
A spokesman for energy provider Energex said storms set in after 8am.
Worst affected areas were Caboolture and Redcliffe north of Brisbane, Logan in Brisbane’s south-east, the Gold Coast hinterland and the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane.
He said crews were working hard to restore power to affected areas.
Up to 25,000 homes were affected last night but power was restored to most by midnight.
“It was the third night in a row our crews have backed up so they’ve certainly done well,” the spokesman said.
“The storm season technically doesn’t start until October 1 so we’re having a good burst early on.”
Despite the wild weather over the past four days, Brisbane has received less than 15mm of rain this month.
There is some hope for more substantial falls tonight and early tomorrow, according to weather bureau senior forecaster Ben Annells.
More storms
“We will see storm activity to the north and west of Brisbane today, spreading to rain overnight and early tomorrow,” he said.
“Generally the rain so far has been quite patchy. Some areas have had 40 to 50mm, mostly in the southern border ranges,” said Mr Annells.
He said the storms were producing rain, but because they were so fast-moving, no significant totals were being recorded in one spot.
“We’ve had fairly strong winds in the upper atmosphere, that are really pushing the storms along.”
Storms have not been the reason for a power outage on Brisbane’s northside this morning.
2154 households in the Keperra and Mitchelton areas were blacked out at about 5:50am, after a crow flew into overhead powerlines and caused an explosion.
Energex said crews were currently re-routing power and expected to have it restored by 7am.
Homes damaged
Last night, hail and fallen trees damaged homes and powerlines, and even fires were caused by the storm.
Nearly 7000 Energex customers were without power at 6.10pm with Brisbane’s northern suburbs, Caboolture and Redcliffe, the worst affected areas.
Traffic was also affected yesterday afternoon, with the wet weather and a number of traffic incidents slowing down peak-hour trips.
Police said several serious traffic accidents created major traffic snarls.
Eleven crashes occurred during the afternoon peak hour, with a number of roads – including the Pacific Motorway and Bruce Highway – affected.
Emergency crews attended fires caused by lightning strikes and power poles catching alight from exploding transformers.
10,000 lightning strikes
More than 10,000 lightning strikes were recorded in the region last night.
An SES spokesman said the worst hit areas were Deception Bay, Caboolture, Kallangur, Beaudesert, Mt Tamborine and the Gold Coast.
Deception Bay suffered severe storm damage with hail the size of golf balls and exploding transformers leading to power poles catching fire.
The spokesman said it had been a “very hectic”, for SES crews.
Beaudesert police Senior-Sergeant Mark Simpson said a “ripper” storm cell smashed the town for about 15 minutes.
“It was really ferocious. There was a lot of hail. The ground was nearly white,” Snr-Sgt Simpson said.
Huge hailstones
He said golf ball-sized hail dented cars and power lines were toppled. There was a serious car accident at Anzac Ave, Kallangur, near the intersection with Allison Drive and flooding on Anzac Avenue near Petrie Railway Station which created a major gridlock.
The Gold Coast was also badly hit by the storm.
“It was like a bloody bomb going off,” was how Gold Coast resident Catherine Price described the shock of hearing a bolt of lightning obliterate a neighbour’s giant gum tree.
The lightning struck the 30m tree in Alder Court, Currumbin Waters, about 6pm at the height of Monday night’s fierce electrical storm. The strike blasted the tree to bits.
One branch speared through the tiled roof of a house two doors away while larger logs smashed into the house on the property.
“I didn’t know what had happened. I got such a fright I dropped a cup of tea and ran and crouched behind the lounge chair just shaking like a scared rabbit,” Mrs Price said.
“It was one horrific bang.”
Safety tips
An average lightning bolt carries a electrical current of 10,000 to 30,000 amps.
And contrary to the popular belief, lightning can and often does strike more than once in the same place.
If your clothes are wet, you are less likely to be seriously injured if struck. Most of the charge will conduct through wet clothes rather than a body.
According to the bureau only a few people struck by lightning are killed.
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