Money Maker Guy

MELBOURNE: Spain’s Rafael Nadal extended his mastery over Roger Federer on Thursday when he came from a set down to win a gripping Australian Open semi-final.

In a rematch of the 2009 final, Federer opened like a train but he was gradually reeled in by the tenacious Nadal to suffer his fifth straight grand slam defeat to his great rival, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

“For me it’s a dream to be back in the final,” said a smiling Nadal.

“It’s a real honour to play against Roger, it was a fantastic match. It’s fantastic to have one player in front of you who doesn’t make mistakes, having a totally complete game.”

Nadal will now face either defending champion Novak Djokovic or fourth seed Andy Murray, who play on Friday, as he looks for his second Australian Open crown and his 11th grand slam title.

The 25-year-old strengthened his spell-binding hold on the otherwise masterful Swiss, who has won only two of their 10 grand slam meetings, both at Wimbledon, and none since 2007.

Three years ago, Federer wept openly when Nadal won their epic, five-set Melbourne final. And on a chilly Melbourne night there was no revenge for the 16-time slam winner, who now extends a two-year major drought.

Federer produced flawless tennis at the start of the match but his game unravelled when put under pressure by Nadal and he finished with 63 unforced errors.

The Swiss broke immediately with a flashing backhand winner but he was broken back before edging the first-set tiebreak.

Nadal won the key break in the second set and levelled the match after a 10-minute break for Australia Day fireworks shot Federer’s concentration to bits.

The Spaniard needed six set points to take a two-sets-to-one lead in the third-set tiebreak and he broke in game nine of the fourth before finally serving out the win.

Earlier, former champion Maria Sharapova and Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka set up a fight for both the Australian Open title and the number one ranking after winning nerve-wracking semi-finals.

Russia’s Sharapova gained sweet revenge for her Wimbledon final defeat to Petra Kvitova, after Azarenka survived a second-set collapse against defending champion Kim Clijsters to reach her first major title match.

“I felt like my hand is about 200 kilograms and my body is about 1,000 kilograms,” Azarenka said, wiping away tears. “Everything is shaking.”

Both semi-finals went to three tense sets with Sharapova winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 and Azarenka beating Clijsters 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

The Australian Open has heralded a shake-up in women’s tennis with Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki set to drop from world number one to four, and with Clijsters now following long-dominant Serena Williams out of the tournament.

Azarenka can now claim Belarus’s first ever grand slam title in Saturday’s final, while resurgent Sharapova gets another shot at breaking a four-year major drought since her previous Melbourne win in 2008.

Third seed Azarenka, 22, wept on court after she upset four-time slam champion Clijsters to go one step better than her previous grand slam best of reaching the semi-finals at last year’s Wimbledon.

She has often faltered on the big stage, most noticeably at the 2010 Australian Open when she led eventual champion Williams before imploding. But she stood firm Thursday to hold off Clijsters’ strong revival.

“Before, I think you all thought I was a mental case but I was just young and emotional,” she said. “But I’m really glad the way I fought. That’s the thing I’m most proud of, I fought for every ball.”

In the second semi-final, a re-run of last year’s Wimbledon decider, Kvitova and Sharapova threw everything at each other for almost two-and-a-quarter hours on Rod Laver Arena.

Sharapova dominated the first set and Kvitova the second, with the pair evenly matched in the third until Kvitova faltered at 4-5 to lose her serve and send Sharapova through to the final.

Channel News Asia

DAVOS, Switzerland – The West has a skewed view of China which Beijing has to fix if it wants a better reception when it goes shopping abroad, business and political leaders said at the Davos forum Thursday.

“The problem in non-Chinese public opinion is that there’s a Chinese official behind every Chinese business person,” said World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy.

“That’s the perception — that China is grabbing resources, that’s what they are trying to do in new colonial something, that they’re after technology, stealing.

“All these extremely negative views which overall translates into: this is a country that doesn’t play by the rules,” he added.

In addition, China is sending images of its rockets, brand-new high speed trains and its well-oiled organisation of the Olympic games to the world, giving the impression that it was fast becoming, if it is not already, as advanced as any other developed nation.

As a result, the country is getting a cool reception when it attempts to spend some of massive savings abroad on companies as local populations find it hard to believe that job losses at home are not somewhat linked to the Chinese raiders.

Chinese moves to acquire overseas assets have not always been welcomed. US automaker General Motors blocked the sale of Saab to two Chinese firms, leading to the Swedish marque’s demise.

But the reality of China is far from its commonly held image, panelists at the Davos forum said.

John Zhao, chief executive officer of the private equity firm Hony Capital, noted that vast swathes of China still live below the poverty line.

In addition, Beijing is “not an active investor for the purpose of grabbing resources.”

“They’re simply saying ‘let’s make sure that those hard-earned monies don’t depreciate,” he said.

If Chinese companies are buying up their foreign counterparts, it is to produce goods to satisfy domestic demand that could help in rebalancing the country’s current export-led economy, he said.

Zhao also pointed out that many Chinese companies were learning the rules as they go along, as “many are coming abroad for the first time to do business.”

“There is a large percentage of Chinese companies, with their best efforts they just don’t produce the best reports because they are still learning the rules,” he said.

Robert Greifeld, Nasdaq chief executive officer, also noted that contrary to the United States, where the introduction of Sarbannes and Oxley rules were “met with general derision by the corporate class… in China, they seem to have an insatiable appetite to learn good governance standard.”

However, “when you have 9 percent unemployment in the US and the goods are coming in ‘made in China,’ there’s a common reaction we have to deal with,” he said.

China needs to improve its communications with the rest of the world urgently as its ventures abroad will only grow in coming years, said Lamy.

“What remains true is that the flow of Chinese money to the rest of the world will increase whether it’s private or public money or semi-public money.

“This will happen with the sort of political turbulences it will create.

“I anticipate this problem, in my view it’s going to come and it’s still time to try and frame in such a way that it does not degenerate,” he said.

At the same time, China is not the only one with a communication problem.

“For the rest of the world, political leaders have to stop ceding to these denigrating stereotypes that are antagonising people, instead showing benefits of cooperation, this is all the more necessary in the times of tough, hard economic crisis,” Lamy said.

- AFP/ir

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: A beach holiday near Desaru, Johor for two Singaporeans and a Malaysian turned into a dramatic rescue mission, when they helped save three people from drowning without thinking much of their own safety.

A beach holiday ended in tragedy for 17-year-old Richard Rajagopal, after he drowned near a beach at Tanjung Balau, near Desaru.

His six companions, family friends of his father’s, survived thanks to the help of Mohd Syafiq Arsyad Zainul Abidin, Rita Zuhaida Mohd Nazeer, and Siti Aqilah.

Though the three of them are not trained in rescue techniques, they managed to save three out of the six survivors.

Other beach-goers and lifeguards saved the other three.

Rita Zuhaida said: “During the episode itself, we didn’t think of consequences. Our priority was just to save as many lives as possible.

“But on hindsight, we were informed that the nine deaths so far (at that beach), most of the deaths were by the rescuers themselves… And we had the images replaying again and again, when I was being submerged underwater several times. It’s quite traumatic for all of us.”

The first to jump to the rescue was 15-year-old Malaysian national Mohd Syafiq. He is Rita Zuhaida’s nephew, and also the group’s strongest swimmer.

Even though there were many people at the scene, few had enough courage to help because they could see the whirlpool that had formed in the sea.

Mohd Syafiq said: “It’s people’s lives we’re talking about. I cannot forgive myself for just watching people dying in front of me.”

Though the trio is still upset that they didn’t manage to save all seven people, they are glad they made the decision to help.

Mohd Syafiq added: “We managed to save three instead of letting four go away. I’m quite relieved that the other three were saved.”

While the group said they will not stop visiting beaches, they are determined to learn some lifeguarding techniques in case they need to help others again in the future.

-CNA/ac

Channel News Asia

WASHINGTON: Symantec is recommending that users of its pcAnywhere software disable the product following the theft of source code from the US computer security firm.

“At this time, Symantec recommends disabling the product until Symantec releases a final set of software updates that resolve currently known vulnerability risks,” the Mountain View, California-based company said.

Symantec, in a technical white paper posted on the firm’s website, said the vulnerability to pcAnywhere, which allows for remote PC to PC connections, is the result of a 2006 theft of source code by hackers.

“We believe that source code for the 2006-era versions of the following products was exposed: Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition; Norton Internet Security; Norton SystemWorks (Norton Utilities and Norton GoBack); and pcAnywhere,” Symantec said.

The only identified threat, however, is to pcAnywhere and not any of the Norton products.

“With this incident pcAnywhere customers have increased risk,” Symantec said. “Malicious users with access to the source code have an increased ability to identify vulnerabilities and build new exploits.”

Symantec’s recommendation follows a threat this month by hackers in India to publish the stolen source code.

- AFP/de

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: A 30-year-old man has been charged with murdering his mother.

Mohamed Redha Abdul Mutalib wore a stoic look as he stood in the dock on Friday as the charge was read out.

His 55-year-old mother, Madam Asnah Aziz, was found dead on Thursday afternoon in a flat at Block 20, Eunos Crescent.

She had multiple injuries on her body.

Mohamed Redha allegedly committed the crime between 11.00 am and 1.30 pm.

He’ll be remanded for psychiatric assessment.

His case will be heard again on February 17.

- CNA/cc

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: Fewer flats changed hands last year. Latest data from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) showed a sharp fall in the number of resale transactions – at 24,633, down 24 per cent from 2010.

PropNex CEO Mohd Ismail said the various cooling measures introduced by the government have dampened demand and supply.

He said the lowering of the Loan-To-Value (LTV) ratio to 60 per cent for a second loan means fewer people would buy a second home and release their HDB flat onto the market.

“The 24,633 is in fact an all-time low. We have not seen such figures in the last 10 years or so. This is attributed to a little more stringent cooling measures. The increase in MOP, a minimum occupation period of five years even for resale flats… such measures have deterred people who have the intention of selling or buying, upgrading or downgrading,” he said.

Resale transactions rose slightly by 0.3 per cent in the last three months of 2011, compared with the third quarter.

Property watchers said the median cash-over-valuation (COV) continued to fall in the fourth quarter.

PropNex’s Mr Ismail said his firm’s transactions registered an 8 to 15 per cent drop in COV across the various housing types.

He said COV continues to drop another 5 per cent in January.

HDB’s data also showed that subletting of HDB flats fell by 8 per cent to 6,039 cases in Q4.

Overall, there were some 26,000 subletting transactions in 2011, down 5 per cent from 2010.

HDB said it’ll offer more than 4,000 new flats for sale in March under the Build-To-Order scheme.

The flats will be located in Bedok, Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Clementi, Geylang and Toa Payoh.

- CNA/cc

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: There are going to be a lot of celebrity ‘Dragon Babies” this year, in the Chinese Year of the Dragon.

Hong Kong singer-actor Andy Lau is going to have a ‘Little Dragon Girl’, and so is Taiwan talk show host Dee Hsu, while Hong Kong singer Miriam Yeung prepares for a baby boy this year.

But Singapore actress Kym Ng, is in no hurry to follow suit, despite spending months shooting with an adorable baby boy, Nigel Yeo, for the Lunar New Year comedy “Dance Dance Dragon”, a film about how a mysterious baby brings both joy and chaos to a Chinese household.

Ng, who got hitched to her boyfriend of 15 years in October 2009, repeatedly gushed about how cute Yeo was during a recent interview with channelnewsasia.com, and admitted that she really likes children.

“I love children!

“If I do have kids, I’ll have many, many kids, because I have a lot of siblings in my family and we are very close.”

“It’ll be very fun. Then we can take care of each other and love each other,” said Ng.

However, the bubbly actress she wasn’t quite sure she is ready for the responsibility that came with parenthood yet.

“I think about it a lot and I consider it is a huge responsibility, it is a choice you have to live with for a lifetime. It’s too exhausting.

“I may have children one day, but I’ll let nature take its course,” said Ng.

In the meantime, Ng is happy just playing with other peoples’ children.

“I’m the sort of person who would play with other people’s children during Chinese New Year, but return them to their parents when they start crying.”

“When I get tired of playing with them, I’d go ‘Hey, I’ll let your mum carry you now!’”

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: The Home Affairs Ministry has clarified that there was no delay in the release of information on the probe into former Singapore Civil Defence Force commissioner Peter Lim and former Central Narcotics Bureau director Ng Boon Gay.

In a statement, MHA said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) started interviewing Mr Ng on December 19 last year, while Mr Lim was interviewed on January 4 with regard to investigations against them.

At that point in time, both officers were placed on leave when the investigations began.

MHA said it was premature to make any announcement as CPIB investigations had just started and the outcome was not known.

A public announcement at that point could also compromise CPIB’s investigations.

Last Friday, CPIB informed MHA that although their criminal investigations have not been completed, there was sufficient basis for the Ministry to consider civil service disciplinary action against the duo for misconduct.

MHA said it took action to interdict the two officers from their duties with effect from Wednesday and commenced civil service disciplinary proceedings.

It also took action to appoint replacements for Mr Ng and Mr Lim to ensure leadership continuity in both agencies.

MHA said it had planned to make these announcements on Wednesday, but as news of the investigations had already appeared in the media, it decided to release the information one day in advance, on Tuesday.

MHA added that due process has to be followed to facilitate investigations, to be fair to officers accused, and to avoid prejudicing any legal or disciplinary proceedings.

It said these two cases demonstrate that any allegations of misconduct against public officers will be investigated fully and thoroughly, regardless of their position or seniority, to uphold the highest standards of integrity and conduct in the public service.

- CNA/cc

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: The deputy chairman of the GPC for Law and Home Affairs, Edwin Tong, has said he is likely to raise in Parliament the issue of the ongoing CPIB probe into two former senior public servants.

Parliament will sit on 14 February, ahead of Budget Day which falls on 17 February.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement on Wednesday that it arrested the then CNB director, Ng Boon Gay, on 19 December last year.

And on 4 January this year, the then SCDF commissioner, Peter Lim Sin Pang was taken in.

Both were nabbed under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

Both men are now out on bail and helping the CPIB in separate investigations.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that both Mr Ng and Mr Lim are helping with investigations by the CPIB on allegations of “serious personal misconduct”.

Mr Tong told Channel NewsAsia that he would ask the MHA why it felt it was inappropriate to disclose the arrests and investigations earlier.

Mr Tong also wants to know if the MHA is satisfied that its systems and processes are sufficiently rigorous, given that the persons who are the subject of these investigations occupied very senior positions.

Mr Lim and Mr Ng are said to have been in a close working relationship with a female executive at a company that supplied IT-related products and services to several government agencies.

Their cases are believed to be linked to tenders awarded to the company.

One media report said on Thursday an executive from ST Electronics – an arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering – is assisting with investigations.

The major IT provider had clinched a S$34 million contract from SCDF in 2009 to build a command and control system.

But ST Electronics has denied the allegations, saying that “none of (its) executives has been called up by the CPIB to assist with investigations.”

When asked about its tender process, the Ministry of Home Affairs said tenders above S$1 million are evaluated by a committee, which then submits its recommendation to a board for approval.

But corporate governance expert Mak Yuen Teen, who also chairs the tender committee of the National Kidney Foundation, said there are ways to get around the procedures, such as splitting purchases to avoid certain approval limits or writing tender specifications to give certain suppliers an edge.

In an email to Channel NewsAsia, Professor Mak said he understands that following the Singapore Land Authority’s S$12 million fraud case in 2010, “there’s been heightened awareness and audits by government departments, ministries and statutory boards”.

He said “it’s perhaps partly because of this that we are seeing the fraud and corruption being uncovered.”

He stressed the need for government agencies to undertake a proper review to manage their risk.

- CNA/ir

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: A 54-year-old Malay woman was found dead on Thursday afternoon in a flat at Block 20 Eunos Crescent.

The deceased, who was found lying motionless in the kitchen, had multiple injuries to her body when police arrived at the scene.

Police were alerted at about 2.30pm.

She was pronounced dead some ten minutes later by paramedics.

A 30-year-old male suspect, who is believed to be the son of the deceased, has since been arrested.

Police have classified the case as murder and investigations are ongoing.

- CNA/al

Channel News Asia