HONIARA, Solomon Islands – Landslides and a tsunami destroyed the homes of about one-third of the population on a Solomon Island, but lives were likely spared as residents with memories of previous disasters fled quickly to higher ground, officials said Tuesday.

From the air, extensive damage could be seen on a remote western island after a 7.2-magnitude temblor triggered the landslides in the Pacific Solomon Islands on Monday, said disaster management office director Loti Yates.

No injuries have been reported some 30 hours after the biggest in a series of quakes churned a tsunami wave that was up to 10 feet (3 meters) high as it plowed into the coast, officials said.

However, more than 1,000 people have been affected after some 200 houses were destroyed on Rendova, an island some 190 miles (300 kilometers) from the capital Honiara. Only 3,600 people live on Rendova.

Photographs taken from police helicopters Tuesday showed debris lining the foreshore and damaged houses on the coasts of Rendova and Tetepare, as well as deep scars on hills and cliffs caused by landslides.

Hillsides crashed down and the tsunami inundated homes Monday, but residents’ memories of earlier disasters probably helped prevent any casualties, officials and residents said.

In April 2007, an 8.1 temblor unleashed a tsunami that killed more than 50 people. A quake-churned tsunami that killed more than 200 on nearby Samoa and Tonga in September was another reminder, locals said.

“People are very sensitive, as a quake conjures up memories, and people immediately begin going to higher ground,” police commissioner Peter Marshall told The Associated Press.

“The fact it was daylight, the isolated nature of the wave and that the landslides were in a relatively sparsely populated area” also helped, he said.

The largest quake — magnitude 7.2 — happened about 9:30 a.m. local time Monday and caused the tsunami to hit the coast a short time later. At least nine other quakes greater than magnitude 5.0 have rocked the earthquake-prone region since.

In the provincial capital Gizo, dive shop owner Danny Kennedy said the general rule is that “if there’s anything more than 20 seconds of shaking or any sea water recedes, head for the hills.”

A police boat patrolled Tuesday to check the coastline, where many homes are at sea level, making them vulnerable to tsunamis, National Disaster Management Office spokesman Julian Makaa said. No casualties had been reported so far, he said.

One village, Retavo, home to about 20 people, was reportedly completely inundated by a wall of sea water up to 10 feet (3 meters) high, but Makaa said no deaths or injuries had been reported there.

Emergency food, water and tarpaulins were being shipped in.

The Solomon Islands lie on the “Ring of Fire” — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world’s quakes occur.

Sazzy dan Dira bergaduh

Gara-gara program Sehati Berdansa, Sazzy dan Dira bergaduh! Biar betul ni? Kami percaya ada antara korang yang terkejut dengan berita ni kan. Tapi itulah hakikatnya bilamana Sazzy dan Dira telah meluahkan perasaan kat laman Facebook masing-masing.

Daripada luahan perasaan yang kami baca daripada kedua-dua pihak, nyata ianya berpunca daripada ketidak-puasan hati pihak A (Sazzy) terhadap undian SMS yang diterima oleh pihak B (Dira) dimana pihak A mengatakan bahawa pihak B telah menggunakan duit sendiri untuk membuat undian terhadap diri sendiri bagi menaikkan peratusan undian sehinggakan pihak B rasa terpanggil untuk melakukan self defend.

Mungkin kami takde hak nak ulas lanjut mengenai konflik yang berlaku ni sebab kami tak tahu hujung pangkalnya. Tapi apa kata anda baca luahan perasan dari Sazzy dan Dira kat bawah ni. Mungkin anda boleh membuat ulasan lanjut mengenainya. Huhu..

BINGHAMTON — Marilyn Villante has been personally touched by the H1N1 flu. She has a friend who lost his daughter-in-law in California to the virus.

So, the 69-year-old woman was more than willing to drive 21 miles from Greene to Binghamton on Wednesday for the swine-flu immunization clinic at the Broome County Health Department in Binghamton.

Villante was one of more than 1,000 persons who lined up for the first community clinic offered by the department since Gov. David Paterson announced last week that the state has received enough H1N1 vaccine to make it available to everyone, not just to federally-defined target groups.

By the time the three-hour clinic ended, it had broken a record.

While final totals need to be confirmed, a preliminary count at the door indicates 1,111 people signed up for immunizations Wednesday — the most ever recorded at a clinic for HIN1 or regular seasonal flu, officials said. The previous record was 1,017 persons.

“People are coming out, knowing this can protect them,” said Diane O’Hora, a spokeswoman for the health department,

Many at Wednesday’s clinic, including Villante, would not have been eligible for an immunization prior to Paterson’s directive because they are not in a target group — such as pregnant women, young children, young adults, medical personnel and first responders.

While some children and young adults were present Wednesday, most were middle-aged.

“The average age was middle-aged, or older. There were a lot of seniors waiting to get vaccinated,” said Broome County Health Commissioner Claudia Edwards.

Health department officials were expecting a large crowd. The clinic was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., but the department began about a half-hour early because 528 people were already in line, said Benjamin J. Krakauer, emergency preparedness coordinator for the department.

The line snaked through the health department corridors and, at one point, extended out the front door into the parking lot.

In anticipation of the demand, the department had 25 people on duty to give immunizations. At one point, they were immunizing 100 people every 10 minutes, Edwards said.

CBS Corp.’s Last.fm announced the most listened to artist for 2009 was Lady GaGa with songs from her album, The Fame, scrobbled more than 18 million times among the site’s 35 million strong community

The New York based singer’s phenomenal success in 2009 is underlined by the fact that the second most listened to album, Day & Age by The Killers, trailed by more than six million listens. Other artists in the Top 10 include the likes of Lily Allen, The Prodigy, Franz Ferdinand, Beyoncé and Kanye West.

For the past two weeks the music discovery site has announced its Top 40 artists of 2009 in installments via a dedicated portal on its website: http://www.last.fm/bestof/2009 which also includes a special Michael Jackson tribute, whose songs received over 17 million streams after his death on June 25th.

Last.fm has also created a group allowing its user base to add their own ‘Best Of’ lists, based on what they have been listening to in the past year: http://www.last.fm/group/Best+of+2009

The final installment of the Top 10 artists go live on the website 12/16, revealing that the most listened to albums of 2009 are:

*Last.fm has compiled the list by looking at scrobbles (tracks played) for full length albums released between October 2008 and November 2009.

Digital Sky Technologies (DST) has teamed up with other investors to spend $180m in Zynga, the games group with more than 230 million monthly users on social networks. This shows further support for the social gaming industry, coming shortly after rival Playfish was sold to Electronic Arts, the video game group, for $300m.

DST is the most significant new investor in Zynga but will not hold a seat on the board. The US hedge fund Tiger Global and Andreessen Horowitz were also new investors, while Institutional Venture Partners increased its stake.

DST’s chief executive, Yuri Milner, said the move showed his company believes that Zynga’s strategy of connecting people through gaming would succeed in a “dramatic way”.

“Our earlier investment in Facebook and now in Zynga underscores our premise that social networking and social entertainment will define the next generation of the web,” Mr Milner said. “We invest in sector leaders. We are concerned about how the group is doing in five years rather than one year.”

DST, which is 35 per cent owned by Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire linked to a bid for the football club Arsenal, expects social gaming to “transform in the next few years”.

Zynga was founded two years ago and has grown to become the largest social gaming company in the world. Those on social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and Tagged can play Zynga’s games. They are also available via Yahoo and the iPhone.

The company, whose investors include LinkedIn’s chairman Reid Hoffman, has developed games included Café World, Zynga Poker and Mafia Wars. Its top seller so far has been FarmVille, where players essentially build and maintain a virtual farm.

The games are free to play, but they make money from users buying virtual goods such as tractors for their farms or home decorations. Zynga, which revealed that the recently announced PetVille was its fastest growing online game, said more than a million users bought virtual goods from Zynga games. These account for 90 per cent of the company’s revenue, which is reportedly around $250m. DST expects the use of micropayments to boom in the West where it stands at $1bn and to follow China, where the market was worth about $7bn.

Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive of Zynga, said: “We are excited about our relationship with DST as they are a global player dedicated to creating services that are meaningful to consumers in the long term.” He added: “The investment from DST allows us to continue delivering on the promise of social games for consumers, making fun the biggest way for people to interact.”

DST, which is based in Moscow, took a 2 per cent stake in Facebook in May, and the investment valued it at $10bn. Mr Milner said DST was happy with its investment in the social networking phenomenon. “We had our own projections for the business, and they have outperformed each and every one,” he said.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Tengku Temenggong of Kelantan Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra is challenging the decision of his eldest brother, the Regent of Kelantan, in removing his membership in the Kelantan Council of Succession on Sept 16.

The Council is responsible for confirming the succession to the Throne and Sovereignty of Kelantan and for determining whether there is a vacancy in the throne by reason of the prolonged absence from the state of the reigning Sovereign.

Tengku Muhammad Fakhry, 31, is the third son of the Sultan of Kelantan and another heir to the throne and sovereignty of Kelantan.

He was duly appointed to the Council by his father the Sultan on or about 2001.

on Wednesday, his lead counsel K. Shanmuga submitted that the Regent’s action amounted to a usurpation of the Sultan’s powers in the circumstances of the case.

“With a proper interpretation of the Kelantan State Constitution, it is only the Sultan of Kelantan who can alter the composition of the Council.

“The Regent holds office only for so long as the Sultan is incapacitated,” he submitted in asking the High Court to grant leave for a judicial review application.

In a statement filed for the judicial review application, he stated that Sultan has been critically ill since May and as such the Regent was appointed effective May 25. The Sultan has been in hospital in Singapore since May but now appears to be recovering from his illness.

Shanmuga further said that “the Regent is the first in line to succeed to the Throne of Kelantan but his succession is not automatic — His Royal Highness must first be confirmed as the reigning Sovereign by the Council.

“If he is not confirmed, his younger brother, the Tengku Bendahara as the second heir, is entitled to be confirmed by the Council.

“If that is not done, the applicant, Tengku Temenggong as an other heir is next in line to succeed,” he argued.

The prince had named the Regent Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra, 35, the Kelantan government, the Council’s secretary and five others as respondents in the application filed on Dec 1.

The five were appointed as Council members by the Regent on May 24.

In his statement, the prince claimed that the Regent was appointed by the Council pursuant to Article 22A of the Kelantan Constitution during the time Kelantan Sultan is incapacitated from attending to the state affairs.

In his statement, the prince said he had written a letter dated Oct 25 to the Council secretary asking for the grounds for the revocation of the appointment. He stated that the secretary in a letter dated Oct 26 merely replied that the revocation was by order of the Regent.

Among others, the prince is asking the court to remove the decision by Regent or alternatively to declare that the revocation is inconsistent with Kelantan Constitution.

Shanmuga argued that allowing the Regent to alter the composition of the Council effectively allows the Regent to create a tribunal that is to be his “judge”, as it were, in determing his fitness to succeed to the throne.

He contended that the decision of the Regent is justiciable and that the prince has an arguable case that the Regent was not empowered to make the impugned decision.

Shanmuga submitted that there was an important distinction involved where the Regent is appointed by the Sultan or by the Council, a lesser authority.

He said it is of utmost importance for this court to ensure that constitutional mechanisms designed to protect the dignity of the succession operate in accordance with the law.

In objecting the leave application, Senior Federal Council Datin Azizah Nawawi, who acted for the respondents, argued that the Regent has absolute discretion to revoke the appointment of any Council member.

She submitted that the decision could not be questioned by an ordinary court of law as it was it was a royal prerogative and non-justiciable.

Judge Justice Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof will deliver his decision on the leave application on Dec 31.

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Pelakon Gerak Khas, Mohd Farid Amirul Abdullah, yang terkenal dengan watak Detektif Lim dihukum penjara dua bulan dan didenda RM2,000 oleh Mahkamah Majistret di sini, sebentar tadi.

Tertuduh disabitkan atas kesalahan mencuri dua buku di MPH Midvalley

LUCKNOW: UGC-Academy Staff College, Lucknow University (LU) and UP higher Education Council are organising a short-term training schedule for
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professional development funded by the Uttar Pradesh government between December 16 and 20. The programme is aimed towards training of teachers and academic administrators of various government degree colleges of UP.

The programme aims to bolster the domain of higher education and to dilate the scope of higher education through this pilot project structured by the UGC-Academic Staff College, LU. It will be inaugurated on Wednesday by minister of higher education, UP, Rakesh Dhar Tripathi.

The short-term training for professional development will include a wide array of important topics which will be covered during the five-day course, the first phase of teacher’s training. Prof Nishi Pandey, director, UGC Academic staff college, LU, said that there is a need to have large part of teaching community be benefited through these programmes and to structure and execute training designed to meet the changing trends in higher education.

In all UGC-Academic Staff College, LU has planned 64 courses designed towards training 2,300 trainees. In its first phase of training it will focus on six modules to be held during the five-days course to unveil a more constructive and active participation towards a meaningful contribution to higher education.

The six modules/themes which will be a part of the five-day course are – Innovations in pedagogy for humanities, Project preparation and research methodology, Computer literacy (basic), Team building and conflict resolution, Personality development and communication skills and Gender sensitisation.

The short-term programmes will use training methodology like workshops, panel discussions, experience sharing sessions, case studies, outdoor exercises, lecture and discussions, group work and presentation, role plays, assignments, distance learning including e-learning, instructor led training and hands on computer sessions.

The primary aim is to give the fillip to the planning and management capacities of the higher educational system. To make it more functional and viable to meet the present and future challenges in the social, economic, scientific and technical fields. Besides, to augment the capacities of existing and prospective administrators to enable them to discharge their functions in a more professional manner thereby catering to the urgent need of fundamental changes both at the national level and also addressing to the pressing demands of a wider global community and participation of institutions of higher education.

KUALA LIPIS: Lakonan ‘terlampau’ seorang pelajar berusia 14 tahun melakukan hubungan seks dengan lima lelaki terbongkar apabila ahli keluarganya melihat aksinya yang dirakam dalam telefon bimbit miliknya.

Dalam rakaman itu, gadis terbabit yang bersekolah menengah di sini, dilihat melakukan hubungan seks dengan lima lelaki berusia dalam lingkungan 20-an secara bergilir-gilir.

Perbuatannya diketahui ahli keluarganya selepas seorang daripadanya memeriksa fail gambar dalam telefon bimbit gadis berkenaan.

Ketua Polis Daerah, Superintendan Abdul Razak Hassan, berkata keluarga terbabit sudah membuat laporan polis di Balai Polis Merapoh, dekat sini, semalam.

Katanya, pihaknya akan melakukan penelitian dan memeriksa rakaman itu bagi memastikan kesahihannya.

Berikutan itu, katanya polis menubuhkan pasukan khas untuk mengesan lima lelaki terbabit.

“Polis akan menjalankan siasatan berhubung kejadian itu mengikut Seksyen 376 Kanun Keseksaan,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, berdasarkan laporan yang diterima, bapa gadis itu dimaklumkan mengenai kejadian itu oleh ahli keluarganya yang kemudian memperlihatkan rakaman aksi berkenaan.

Katanya, gadis itu membuat pengakuan terbabit dalam rakaman itu selepas beberapa kali didesak bapanya.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kebakaran membabitkan dua kereta berlaku di Stesen Petronas Bandar Indera Mahkota di Kuantan semalam mengakibatkan kecederaan ringan terhadap pemandu kereta berkenaan.

Kenyataan dari Petronas Dagangan Berhad hari ini menjelaskan bahawa kemalangan jam 9.15 pagi itu berlaku di pam stesen itu dan api segera dipadamkan oleh kakitangannya.

Pemandu kereta pertama cedera ringan dan diberi rawatan pesakit luar di Hospital Besar Tengku Ampuan Afzan sementara penumpang kereta kedua masih di bawah perhatian di hospital itu.

Pihak berkuasa dan wakil Petronas Dagangan ketika itu berada di tempat kejadian untuk membantu dan menjalankan siasatan lanjut tentang sebab kejadian itu.

Stesen itu kini ditutup sementara, kata kenyataan itu.

Dalam pada itu, Petronas Dagangan Berhad menasihatkan pelanggan mematuhi peraturan keselamatan di semua stesennya yang melarang keras penggunaan telefon selular, merokok dan membiarkan enjin hidup semasa mengisi minyak.

“Kami ingin menegaskan bahawa kami menganggap keselamatan pelanggan, pekerja, kontraktor dan orang awam sebagai amat penting di semua kawasan operasi kami,” kata kenyataan itu.