KSTan

This would be an inspiration for our Merdeka Celebration on 31st Aug.

The Travel Blog Magazine (online) has voted our KTM Central Railway station as one of the World’s Top 10 most impressive railway station in the world.

However,  my favourite is still the greenest railway station in the world. Check it out.

YB Nurul Izzah, the Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai, has come to the rescue of residents of Kg Manggis from being evicted from their homes. Many of the residents have lived there for the past 50 years.

Citizen Journalist: Rajeswari Raman
Camera & Editing: KSTan

Read Rajes full report here

OLD KLANG ROAD – Kampung Manggis residents should be compensated fairly before their homes being demolished by the developer who acquired the land, said Pantai MP, Nurul Izzah.

She made the call in a press conference highlighting the plight of the Kampung Manggis residents yesterday at the soon to be demolished settlement.

“They have paid the land taxes, cleared all the related bills, and they are not squatters, they have an agreement with the land owners,” said Nurul Izzah.

She claimed that similar cases have happened before in Lembah Pantai. Affected individuals have been awarded with compensation packages as opposed to Kampung Manggis residents whom, yet to receive anything.

According to Nurul Izzah, the DBKL’s Economic Planning and Development Coordination Department whom responsible for solving problems such as this, is aware of the situation in Kampung Manggis. However they only responded recently, even though I had met them with the resident’s representative two months ago.

“DBKL must be fair to everyone”, said Nurul Izzah whom promised to meet the Mayor as soon as possible to solve this issue.

Meanwhile, lawyer Latheefa Koya, said the residents do not have to fear demolition until a court order is shown to them, ordering them to leave the premise.

“Until then no excavators or bulldozers can come into the village”, said Latheefa.

Nurul Izzah is now pushing for an immediate appointment with the mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Ahmad Fuad Ismail, to resolve this issue.

50,000 evacuated in northeast after Yalu River breaks its banks

Homes and roads in Dandong city have been submerged under the water after the Yalu River, which runs between China and North Korea, broke its banks, Xinhua reported.Floods and landslides across China in recent months have left hundreds dead and washed away settlements in some parts of the country. The storms have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage.

Pierre de Coubertin, Founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), initially intended the Modern Olympics to feature both athletic competitions and artistic achievements. Since the Modern Olympics has evolved into a celebration of sport, it is in the opening ceremonies that we see the most of Coubertin’s artistic ideals. The ceremonies typically start with the raising of the host country’s flag and a performance of its national anthem. The host nation then presents elements of its culture by performing artistic displays of music, song and dance.

The traditional part of the ceremonies starts with a “Parade of Nations”, during which participating athletes would march into the stadium, country by country. Each country’s delegation is led by a sign with the name of their country and their national flag. Traditionally, Greece enters the stadium first, due to its historical status as the progenitor of the Olympics, while the host nation marches last. All other participating teams march in alphabetical order according to the dominant language of the host country.

By Rajeswary Raman

Around 378 residents of Kg. Manggis in Jalan Klang Lama are facing the possibility of being homeless as the deadline to vcate their houses looms closer.

The village has existed for more than 45 years but now the residents are asked to vacate to make way for development projects by Sentrilands Sdn Bhd.

“We did not know that the land was sold off to a developer until we received this notice,” claimed the residents’ representative Chong Kim Lien.

This village was under the ownership of four people, namely Kwa Pak Weng, Saiful Bahri bin Abdul Hadi, Mohd Arif bin Mohd Shah and Hor Kout Hon, all of whom sold the land to the private developer.

According to the residents’ chairman Low Kim Heng, they have attempted to meet Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Raja Nong Chik bin Datuk Raja Zainal Abidin three times so far, but to no avail.

Yew Foong, 47, a committee member in the residents’ organization alleges that during a trip to the Bangsar UMNO office regarding this issue, an officer advised that this is a political matter and the residents should not say anything.

The village consists of residents from the low income group, with many of them could barely make ends meet as it is.

Yee Ah Soon, 86, who has lived in this village for 31 years states that she will have to ‘sleep under a bridge’ if she was asked to vacate her current home.

The deadline for vacating for Fasa B is August 23 and for Fasa A is August 28. Demolition work was already done on several vacant houses.

12 years ago, workers from 4 estates in Putrajaya were evicted from their homes and were housed in 5 blocks of apartment in Taman Permata in Pekan Dengkil.

However, things did not work out well for the residents and they are feeling short changed by the Federal and State governments.

Today, they staged a 24 hour protest in Pekan Dengkil to appeal to the government of the day to take action to resolve their woes.

Wildfires have been raging through Central Russia for the past few months. Heatwave together with drought conditions have seen fires on the rise. At one stage there were some 800 to 900 fire spots.

Even the Prime Minister, Putin has personally come down to the ground to help fight the fires.

Elsewhere, firefighters near Moscow have begun to flood peat bogs burning outside the city. Thick smoke and choking pollution from the bogs has blanketed the capital for days, making it dangerous to go outdoors.

Officials during the Soviet days drained the bogs to harvest the peat for fuel. What remains is highly combustible. Russian environmentalists and local residents have criticized the government for what they say is its failure to properly monitor the drained bogs for fires and manage forests.

The official death toll from the Russian wildfires is at 52 as on 11th Aug 2010. But Moscow health chief said Monday the city’s daily mortality rate has jumped from 350 to around 700.

Watch following video from Russia Today on Moscow Smog

1100 dogs at Taman Ekspo made their way into the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest dog gathering ever in Malaysia.

Dogathon™ was initiated as a charity drive, organised by the third year veterinary students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UPM.

Dogathon™ is held annually to raise funds in aid of “Stray Dogs Awareness” programs and to assist the annual PRO-KASIH program. Even with its serious mission, it is still a fun-filled event, giving exposure to all types of dogs and dog owners to indulge in something out of the ordinary.

Pro-Kasih emphasizes on public education and stray animal enumeration projects. Talks and seminars are held in schools to enable younger generation within local community understand what it takes to be a good pet owner.

ProKasih is concerned about the degree of achievement of its previous projects. Hence, intensive stray animal enumerations are done in colleges within UPM to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of previous neutering programs.

Indigenous groups in Malaysia are accusing the government of using religion as a condition for development aid.The ethnic tribes say infrastructure is offered to them if they abandon their animistic ways and embrace Islam – a claim the government rejects.

Video from Al Aljazeera