Bangladesh Sentences British Muslim Leader, US Citizen To Hang.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel stand guard in front of the high court in Dhaka on August 1, 2013,

 after a verdict was delivered in which Bangladesh's main Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami was banned 

DHAKA: A Bangladesh war crimes court sentenced a British-based Muslim leader and a US citizen to death in absentia for murder today, in the latest ruling over atrocities committed during the war of independence.
Britain’s Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, from the United States, were found guilty by the much-criticised International Crimes Tribunal of 11 charges relating to the slaughter of 18 intellectuals during the 1971 conflict. “Justice will not be done if they are not awarded capital punishment,” senior judge Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in Dhaka.
Another judge, Mujibur Rahman Mia, told the court: “They encouraged, they gave moral support to and participated in the killing of 18 intellectuals.” During their trail, prosecutors sought the death penalty for the pair, who fled Bangladesh after it gained independence from Pakistan, saying they were “high command” members of the notorious Al Badr militia that supported Pakistani forces.
“They killed top professors, journalists and doctors to make the nation devoid of any talent,” senior prosecutor M.K. Rahman told reporters outside the court after the ruling. The tribunal in Dhaka has now convicted 10 people, mostly leaders of the country’s largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes, with seven of them sentenced to death by hanging.
At least another eight are on trial. The trials have sparked deadly protests throughout the Muslim-majority country, leaving at least 150 people dead since January when the court started handing down its verdicts. Jamaat claim the trials are politically motivated, accusing the country’s secular government of trying to execute its entire leadership.
But the government maintains the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict. The latest sentences are unlikely to trigger a backlash in the volatile country since both men, aged in their 60s, left the country years ago and have started new lives in their adopted homelands. During the final days of the war, when it became clear Pakistan was losing, intellectuals were rounded up and murdered in what was the most brutal chapter of the nine-month struggle.
The pro-Pakistani militias, wanting to deprive the new Bangladeshi state of an intellectual elite, captured writers, university professors and others, many of whose bodies were later found dumped in marshes and flood plains outside the capital with their hands tied. Mueen-Uddin has held positions in a host of top Islamic organisations in his adopted homeland of Britain and was involved in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain - the largest umbrella group in the UK representing Muslims.
The London-based Mueen-Uddin was a newspaper reporter in the impoverished South Asian country when the war broke out. In a statement posted on his website before today’s sentence, Mueen-Uddin said although he opposed Bangladesh’s independence at the time, he was not involved in any crimes. He said that he had “no confidence that I will receive a fair hearing in a tribunal already accused of judicial and procedural misconduct”.
There was no immediate reaction from Mueen-Uddin in Britain, which historically has refused extradition requests if the conviction carries a death sentence. Khan, a US citizen, was a Dhaka University student leader during the war and is now believed to be living in New York. Prosecutors described him as the “chief executor” for the Al Badr militia. He has yet to make any public statement on the allegations.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government established the court in 2010 to try the collaborators, but it has been hit by a series of controversies. Human Rights Watch has said the tribunal’s procedures fall short of international standards. The government says up to three million people were killed in the war. But independent researchers put the number between 300,000 and 500,000.

Bojan- Dollah Punya Rahsia Tersendiri.

DEBARAN pentas akhir bukan sahaja dirasai pemain dan penyokong malah jurulatih tidak ketinggalan.

Perlu bijak merangka strategi bertahan serta menyerang semua ini perlu ada pada Bojan Hodak dan Dollah Salleh dalam pertembungan pentas akhir malam ini.

Memberi arahan dari luar padang, sebarang kesilapan percaturan pastinya membawa padah kepada pasukan. Hodak dan Dollah mereka sememangnya telah membuktikan kewibawaan dalam saingan Piala Malaysia kali ini.

Membawa pasukan ke pentas akhir sesuatu yang perlu dibanggakan malah lebih manis jika dapat menjulang piala tersebut.


Dollah Salleh memegang rekod cemerlang sebagai jurulatih dan pemain, ini terbukti dengan pencapaian diraih.

Sebagai bekas pemain Pahang dan membarisi skuad kegemilangan,1992, Dollah semestinya mempunyai misi tersendiri untuk membantu dan memastikan gelaran juara Piala Malaysia musim ini menjadi milik Pahang.


Curah Ilmu

Pernah membantu MPPJ muncul juara Piala Malaysia 2003 dan Selangor (2005) sentuhan dan pengalaman jurulatih berasal dari Melaka itu memberikan kelebihan buat Pahang khususnya dalam saingan musim ini.

Pengalaman Dollah beraksi di final Piala Malaysia semestinya dapat diturunkan kepada anak-anak buahnya dan kejayaan Dollah selaku jurulatih serta pemain pastinya ingin dicontohi anak didiknya.


Pasang Strategi

Kelebihan Dollah dapat menghidu kemampuan anak-anak buahnya dan ini terbukti apabila meletakkan Amirulhadi di bahagian tengah dan menyerlahkan kembali potensi membuatkan pemain itu juga dilihat bangkit pada musim ini selepas dilihat sedikit tenggelam.

Dollah yang juga sering kali menggunakan formasi 4-4-2 sememangnya menyedari penyerangnya, Matis Conti tidak boleh dibiarkan berseorangan dan digandingkan bersama Alex bagi memantapkan lagi jentera serangan pasukan itu.


PROFIL

Nama: Dollah Salleh
Tarikh Lahir: 23 Oktober 1963 (50 tahun)
Asal: Melaka
Karier sebagai pemain-Posisi : Penyerang
1985-86 (Johor)
1987-90(Selangor)
1991-96 (Pahang)
1997-(Melaka)
1998-(Negeri Sembilan)
Karier sebagai jurulatih -2003-2004-(Selangor MPPJ)
2005-2008 (Selangor)
2009-(Shahzan Muda)
Mei 2009- kini (Pahang)
Pencapaian:

Sebagai pemain, pernah membantu Pahang menjuarai piala liga pada 1992

Meraih pingat emas dalam temasya Sukan Asia Tenggara 1989 di Kuala Lumpur dan Pesta Bola Merdeka pada 1993 dan penampilan dalam edisi pertama Kejohanan Bola Sepak Asean 1996.

Sebagai jurulatih, membawa MPPJ muncul juara Piala Malaysia pada 2003 dan membawa MPPJ ke Liga Super selepas pasukan itu mengungguli Liga Perdana pada 2004.

Pada 2005, membantu Selangor menjulang tiga piala, Liga Perdana, Piala FA dan dan Piala Malaysia.


Bojan Hodak adalah satu nama yang dilihat menjadi penyebab turun dan naik prestasi The Red Warriors musim ini namun beliau akan tetap dikenang selaku jurulatih pertama yang membawa pasukan itu merangkul kejuaraan tiga piala musim lalu.

Tentunya, penampilan pada musim ini cukup perbezaan dan jika Kelantan mampu mengekalkan kejuaraan Piala Malaysia malam ini, ia menjadi ukuran kepada kemampuan Hodak secara keseluruhan, sekali gus penutup gemilang kepada jurulatih yang akan berhijrah meninggalkan Kelantan selepas pertandingan piala paling berprestij itu.


Sering Waspada

Pengendali kelahiran Croatia itu merupakan seorang yang sangat berhati-hati dalam menjana taktikal pasukan, mempunyai kepakaran dalam mengekalkan kecergasan pemain semasa latihan dan perlawanan sebenar namun dilanda badai pertengahan musim angkara meredah jadual perlawanan yang padat dalam empat siri kejuaraan.

Mengharungi musim 2013, Hodak berdepan kekurangan rencah selepas pemergian Norshahrul Idlan Talaha dan Mohd Nurul Azwan Roya malah kemasukan Zairo Anuar Zalani dan Mohd Faiz Subri juga dikatakan tidak berjaya menutup kepincangan pasukannya.


Tidak Panik

Kehilangan Mohamed Ghaddar juga dilihat sebagai punca kegagalan untuk membentuk serangan yang lebih tajam apabila lebih suku musim dihabiskan dengan menajamkan semula Keita Mandjou, menyebabkan pasukannya‘lambat panas’ beraksi dalam liga domestik.


Sudah terbukti

Hodak dilihat seorang jurulatih yang sangat statik, susah untuk menekan butang panik apabila berdepan situasi sukar dan sangat berdisiplin dan mempercayai pemain sedia ada.

Apa pun, Hodak tetap dianggap jurulatih paling berjaya pernah membimbing Kelantan sejak berdekad-dekad lalu. Bukan mudah merangkul kejuaraan tiga piala dalam satu musim, tetapi beliau berjaya membuktikannya dalam tempoh kurang 10 bulan sejak menerajui Kelantan, 28 Februari tahun lalu.


PROFIL

Nama: Bojan Hodak
Tarikh lahir : 4 Mei 1971
Umur: 42 tahun
Asal: Belgrade, Croatia
Status: Berkahwin
Nama Isteri: Junie Hodak Nee Tan
Anak: Seorang (Luka)

KARIER SELAKU PEMAIN
1987 – 1990 – NK Trnje
1990 – 1994 – NK Vrapce
1995 – NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac
1996 – NK Ponikve
1997 – Balestier Central FC
1998 – 1999 – Jurong FC
1999 – Hong Kong Rangers FC
2000 – 2001 – Jurong FC
2002 – NK Trnje

KELAYAKAN SELAKU JURULATIH
2004 – Lesen Kejurulatihan Bola Sepak Kelas A (UEFA)

KARIER SELAKU JURULATIH
2006 – 2009 – Ketua Jurulatih Perak UPB-MyTeam FC
2010 – 2011 – Ketua Jurulatih Phnom Penh Crown FC (Kemboja) (enam bulan)
2011 – 2012 – Penolong Jurulatih Shandong Luneng Taishan FC (China)
2012 – sekarang – Ketua Jurulatih Kelantan

PENCAPAIAN SELAKU JURULATIH
2007 – Naib Juara Liga Perdana Malaysia
2010 – 2011 – Naib Juara Piala Presiden AFC
2011 – 2012 – Juara Liga Simpanan CSL
                   – Naib Juara Piala FA China
                   – Kelima keseluruhan Liga Super China
2012 – Juara Liga Super Malaysia
        – Juara Piala FA
        – Juara Piala Malaysia
2013 – Juara Piala FA

Kongsi Ilmu Guna Senjata Api.

CHUKAI: Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Kemaman memberi peluang kepada masyarakat untuk mempelajari cara menggunakan senjata api menerusi program ‘Ride to Shoot’. Ketua Polis Daerah, Superintendan Che Suza Che Hitam berkata, selain aktiviti berbasikal bersama anggota dan pegawai polis, peserta berpeluang melakukan aktiviti menembak bersama.

Katanya, menerusi ‘Ride to Shoot’ orang awam juga dapat berkongsi ilmu bersama anggota polis yang telah terlatih menggunakan senjata api. “IPD Kemaman berusaha mengadakan program yang lain dari lain dalam usaha kita merapatkan lagi hubungan dengan masyarakat pelbagai lapisan. “Program ini juga platform kepada IPD Kemaman untuk menyampaikan mesej kepada masyarakat agar sentiasa berwaspada dengan jenayah selain menggalakkan masyarakat menjadi mata dan telinga pihak berkuasa,” katanya pada program ‘Ride to Shoot’ yang pelepasannya diadakan di Padang Astaka, dekat sini.

Seramai 150 peserta menyertai acara itu yang terdiri daripada ketua pelbagai jabatan kerajaan, ahli kelab berbasikal seluruh Kemaman, pegawai serta anggota IPD Kemaman dan penunggang basikal daripada Unit PGA, IPD Kuantan. Kesemua penunggang berkayuh sejauh 30 kilometer melalui Kampung Gong Limau ke Kampung Mak Chili, Ibok, Payoh dan berakhir di Lapang Sasar, Kampung Bukit Teruna, Kemaman. Ketika tiba di lapang sasar berkenaan, penunggang juga diberi peluang untuk menyertai acara menembak dengan menggunakan dua jenis senjata api iaitu M-16 dan pistol.

Zain Saidin Tolak Gosip Pilih Tarikh 11.12.13, Tarikh Nikah?

Gambar majlis merisik Zain dan Rozita yang diadakan di Carcosa Seri Negara pada 29 September lalu. 

PETALING JAYA: Pelakon Zain Saidin menolak desas-desus kononnya dia dan aktres Rozita Che Wan bakal bernikah pada 11 Disember depan mengambil angka 11.12.13. Zain, 29, berkata, dia dan Rozita akan mengadakan sebuah sidang media khas bagi mengumumkan tarikh pernikahan mereka pada pertengahan bulan hadapan selepas dia kembali dari Amerika Syarikat kerana menjalani penggambaran.

"Saya tidak pernah memberitahu kepada sesiapa untuk bernikah pada tarikh tersebut dan itu hanyalah andaian daripada pihak lain dan bukannya datang dari mulut saya atau pun Rozita. "Bagaimanapun persoalan itu akan terjawab pada satu sidang media khas untuk mengumumkan perkara itu sekembalinya saya daripada Amerika Syarikat pada pertengahan bulan hadapan," katanya ketika dihubungi mStar Online di sini pada Khamis.Akhbar melaporkan pasangan itu dipercayai memilih tarikh tersebut kerana ia mempunyai turutan angka yang menarik dan sumber turut mengesahkan mengenai perkara berkenaan.

Dalam pada itu, Zain tidak menafikan tarikh berkenaan istimewa dan menjadi pilihan banyak pasangan pengantin untuk melangsungkan perkahwinan. "Ia adalah tarikh popular dan saya agak bimbang sekiranya kami memilih tarikh itu ia akan bertembung dengan banyak majlis lain yang mungkin akan menimbulkan masalah. "Apa-apa pun masih belum ada keputusan muktamad mengenai tarikh kahwin kami dan ia akan dijelaskan pada sidang media itu nanti," ujarnya.

Pada 29 September lalu, keluarga Zain merisik Rozita dalam satu majlis tertutup di Carcosa Seri Negara di Kuala Lumpur. Sementara itu, mengulas mengenai kekasihnya mengadakan sesi bergambar pra-perkahwinan di London baru-baru ini, Zain berkata, dia tidak dapat menyertai Rozita kerana sedang menjalani penggambaran Fear Factor di Cape Town, Afrika Selatan. "Rozita ke sana bersama ahli keluarga yang lain dan dia ke sana bukan semata-mata untuk mengambil gambar pra-perkahwinan tetapi menguruskan beberapa perkara lain," katanya.

Dalam perkembangan lain, Zain berkata, dia bakal berangkat ke Amerika pada Jumaat (esok) untuk menjalani penggambaran telefilem Oh! My English.

Gripes over Tokyo stadium overshadow 2020 Olympic Games euphoria

Just weeks after they rode the wave of euphoria to Olympic victory when Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Games, organisers are being brought back to Earth with a bump. The eye-catching architectural centrepiece -- a futuristic, bike-helmet-shaped stadium -- is too big say detractors.

What's more, others add, it's too expensive. "A huge building is not always loved by people... and after the Olympics are over, many people will be forced to see it," said Fumihiko Maki, an award-winning Japanese architect responsible for one of the new towers for the World Trade Center complex in New York.

The proposed stadium, designed by London-based Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, is intended to occupy the spot in west Tokyo of the present national stadium, an area with numerous parks and a large Shinto shrine.

Rising to about 70 metres (230 feet), the 80,000-seat facility would tower over most of the structures around it in a part of the densely-packed city that has historically restricted the height of buildings to 15 metres or less.

That would make it visible from all over the west of Tokyo, including from the immaculately-kept National Shinjuku Gyoen Park, a green lung tucked underneath the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. "It's important that people don't have to see it if they don't want to," said Maki. "If there is no event going on inside the stadium, it is just an enormous object." The 85-year-old has pedigree in Olympic projects; he was one of the architects in the run-up to the 1964 Games, Japan's coming out party as a modern, industrial nation.

"When we built the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (in 1954) just next to the planned new stadium, there were strict regulations to protect the landscape there," said Maki, referring to the building for which he won the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

The comments by Maki came after Japan's minister in charge of the Olympics said last month the estimated cost for the construction of the stadium is now about 300 billion yen ($3 billion), more than double the 130 billion yen that was originally stipulated in the design competition.
Hakubun Shimomura told parliament: "We need to look at how we might shrink the plan because the budget is too big." Tokyo governor Naoki Inose has said the metropolitan government has no intention of riding to the rescue for a stadium that can be built for a maximum 150 billion yen. Maki said Friday he plans to submit a petition to the education and sports ministry demanding complete transparency on the project.
"We don't oppose hosting the Olympics per se... I only hope the plan will get cut down to make it a smaller structure," he said. "Unlike fireworks festivals and costume parties, an architectural building remains there for 50 years, 100 years, regardless of your likes and dislikes. The financial burden might fall on us citizens," he said.

Fellow architectural heavyweight Kengo Kuma said he shared Maki's concerns but was sympathetic to Hadid. Kuma said Tokyo had to meet certain conditions set down by the International Olympic Committee in order to win the 2020 Games.

One of those was that the stadium had to be able to hold 80,000 spectators. "The size of the stadium ...is not so fitting" in a limited area surrounded by green parks, he told a news conference. "But this is not her fault," he said. The placing of Hadid's stadium reflects the lessons Tokyo learned from its unsuccessful bid to host the 2016 Games, said Kuma, a Tokyo University professor.

Then, the plan had been to site the centrepiece facility in Tokyo's bay area, which has more room for a large structure. But that "was criticised by the IOC (International Olympic Committee)... because it was separated from central Tokyo," he said. "But central Tokyo has only space in this zone, so that's why they put it there. The design brief "had very high hurdles. And I think Zaha Hadid's idea, the design itself, is not so bad. She tried to solve the conditions in a smart way."

Kuma warned that the time for chopping and changing was rapidly running out. "We need to think about what we can do, because we only have seven years left, which is not a lot of time for construction on a big project like this."

East Japan Railway to build train system in Bangkok

A Japanese consortium will build an urban transit system in Bangkok, as part of Japan's drive to expand exports of railway infrastructure to the rest of Asia, a report said Sunday. East Japan Railway, trading house Marubeni and electronics giant Toshiba have landed the deal, at an estimated price of around 40 billion yen ($405 million), the business daily Nikkei reported.

Under the deal, ordered by Bangkok Metro Public Co., the consortium will construct a new 23-kilometre (14-mile) rail line in the Thai capital, the daily said, adding the rail operation is set to start in 2016. The Japanese group will supply 63 train cars and build the power grid, signals and rail yards as well as 16 stations for the project. It will also provide maintenance services under a 10-year contract and about 20 technicians with operational expertise will be stationed in Bangkok, the report said.

Japanese railway operators are expected to broaden their reach overseas by joining forces with heavy-industry manufacturers and trading houses to promote comprehensive services, Nikkei said. East Japan Railway will aim now to win a contract to build a high-speed train line between Malaysia and Singapore, the report said.

Another Japanese train operator, Central Japan Railway, has already provided technology for renovating the automatic train control system of Taiwan's super-express train service, Nikkei said. Meanwhile, Tokyo Metro, which runs an intricate subway network in the Japanese capital, has been cooperating in an urban train project in Hanoi, the daily said.

Twitter set to make a splash on Wall Street

Wall Street is aflutter over Twitter, set to make the most anticipated stock market debut since Facebook in a huge test for social media and the technology sector. No official date has been set, but Twitter appears on a fast track which could see its initial public offering priced as early as Wednesday for trading on Thursday, according to some reports.

The company will trade under the "TWTR" symbol on the New York Stock Exchange, breaking from the Nasdaq market used by a large number of tech companies. There is considerable excitement about the IPO because Twitter is "a unique product that no one can replicate," said Michael Pachter, head of equity research at Wedbush Securities. Pachter and his colleagues said in a research report that they expect high demand.

"

We believe that the market is likely to generate appetite for more than $1 billion in stock," they said. "The simple rules of supply and demand suggest that by limiting the supply of shares offered to the public in its IPO, Twitter will be unable to satisfy demand."

And Twitter appears to have learned a lesson from Facebook's debacle in May 2012, marked by trading glitches, accusations about secret information and a plunge in the share value for months after the IPO. "The Facebook situation last year was a perfect storm of an overheated private market, a fully priced offering, a massive amount of shares brought to market, all compounded by an historical technical glitch," said Lou Kerner, founder of the Social Internet Fund.

"That confluence of events is not likely to occur again." As of its latest update, Twitter will seek to raise up to $1.6 billion -- one tenth the value of the Facebook IPO -- by offering 70 million shares in a range of $17 to $20.

That is a relatively small chunk of Twitter's capital, and implies a market value between $9.3 billion and $11.1 billion -- a conservative figure compared with some of the private market trades in Twitter so far. Analysts say Twitter, unlike Facebook, will not flood the market, and that with demand exceeding supply the price will rise.
The early Twitter investors may not get maximum value right away, but could benefit over time from a rise in the share price. Twitter does have a star quality that is likely to fuel interest, because it is a key platform for celebrities, politicians and journalists.
In its investor presentation, the company used President Barack Obama's widely retweeted message of "four more years" after his 2012 re-election, and noted how activist investor Carl Icahn's single tweet about buying Apple shares moved the stock market.


A crucial question for Twitter, as for Facebook, is how deftly the company is able to monetize its platform. Twitter has some 232 million active users around the world, but has lost money steadily since 2010, according to IPO documents.
The losses amounted to $133 million on $422 million in revenues in the first nine months of the year. Twitter makes most of its money from advertising, chiefly in the form of "promoted tweets." A recent revamping of its display opens the door to bigger display-type ads. The investment firm Sterne Agee notes that "Twitter's scale and deeply engaged user base create valuable opportunities for advertisers to leverage the platform." Analysts point out that Twitter can allow companies to advertise for free, or pay for promoted tweets and benefit from analytics that target people based on their interests and profiles.
"Twitter is a niche business that will not likely be used by 'everybody' vs. Facebook, which essentially is," said a report from Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser. "However, at the same time we expect that advertisers will continue to value Twitter for its unique attributes and should conceivably allocate budgets from sources intended towards digital goals." But the report goes on to say that Twitter faces big risks including "a relatively unproven advertiser proposition, the prospects of wild swings in investor sentiment, difficulty scaling the business profitability, rush sellings at a time when early investor lock-ups expire (and) government regulations primarily related to privacy." Still, Pivotal sets a target price of $29 a share, or 46 percent above the high end of the offering price range.
Others note that it is hard to evaluate Twitter's financial potential because three-quarters of its users are outside the United States where digital advertising is just taking hold. "Many international ad markets are years behind the US in terms of the maturity of the digital ad market," noted Hillside Partners, an investment firm specializing in technology companies.

SE Asia's top textile market seeks to clean up its act.

After years of being overrun by a racketeering mafia, drug addicts and prostitutes, Southeast Asia's biggest textile market is cleaning up its act in an effort to win back droves of shoppers. Spread across several blocks in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Tanah Abang market is a colourful whirl of activity that has attracted shoppers from across the region for centuries.

While glittering skyscrapers have shot up around the city centre trading hub, the market itself, which was founded in 1735 by a Dutch businessman, is a series of modest buildings in an area of traditional, red-tiled houses. Traders looking for wholesale bargains and shoppers looking for smaller items haggle at myriad stalls on several floors in the market buildings, looking for everything from raw cloth to branded goods. "There is so much variety under one roof and 20 to 30 percent cheaper than in Kuala Lumpur. 

nd fashionable too," said Malaysian shopper Mariam Ahmad, who makes an annual trip to the market to buy clothing ahead of the Muslim Eid holiday. But the market's increasingly seedy atmosphere and traffic gridlock in the area caused by illegal street stalls were putting shoppers off. Vendors estimated customer numbers had fallen around 10 percent in recent years.

Bag seller Desmawita, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said that crime had been "getting out of hand". "Two prostitutes pounced on one of my customers from Brunei while he was praying and he had to give them money before they let him go.
He bought 29,000 bags from me but cancelled a five-year business deal." Jeha, who sells traditional patterned "batik" shirts and goes by one name, added: "Even for us locals, Tanah Abang was scary. "It was normal to see hundreds of needles used by drug addicts strewn along the back alleys. Gangsters would demand money and beat us up if we refused." Popular Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, who took power around a year ago, decided to tackle the issue.
In August, he pushed through a plan to relocate around 1,000 vendors who had been illegally hawking goods on the streets and were blamed for many of the market's problems. They were moved to a refurbished building in the area, joining another 15,000 vendors working legally inside the market's original blocks.


The number of public order officers, who help police in keeping the peace but come under the authority of the local government, has also been dramatically increased. With the vendors off the streets, the mafia-like gangs that demanded cash payments to rent out illegal lots have largely gone.
And the increased security has succeeded in frightening off many of the sex workers and drug addicts, vendors say. "A Philippine customer was shocked when she came yesterday to see how orderly everything was. She said she would definitely return -- that's good news for me," headscarf seller Rinaldi said. However the change has not been without problems. Some vendors say that business has been hurt by the move from the street, where they could catch casual shoppers as they walked past.
Rahmat Hidayat, who sells dresses, said he had not made a single sale since moving indoors but previously he could make $50 to $80 a day. "I make money from impulse buyers because I'm not selling household staples like rice. Nobody will climb three flights of stairs just to come to my shop," he said. And while it is striving to change without losing its authenticity, some complain that the clean-up has wiped away the market's old character.
Gone are the noisy, streetside market stalls that used to spill across the main roads and fill up narrow alleyways. "Please bring back the old Tanah Abang," said headscarf seller Andalusia, complaining there were fewer customers since the market had been spruced up.

KONSERT AF2013: TIADA PENYINGKIRAN, AMIRA TERSELAMAT

Tiada penyingkiran pada konsert Akademi Fantasia 2013 (AF2013) yang berlangsung malam tadi meskipun nama Amira pada mulanya diumumkan sebagai bintang yang tersingkir. Itulah drama yang berlaku dalam konsert minggu kelapan AF2013 yang menyaksikan kesemua enam bintang yang tinggal dapat meneruskan perjuangan ke konsert separuh akhir minggu hadapan. Nama Amira pada mulanya diumumkan oleh Inspirer AF2013, Dato` Siti Nurhaliza sebagai bintang yang tersingkir namun ketika Amira mengusung beg untuk keluar dari akademi, hos AF2013 Zizan Razak mengumumkan yang pihak akademi akan mengekalkan Amira sehingga minggu hadapan, justeru tiada penyingkiran pada minggu ini. Amira pada malam tadi telah menyampaikan lagu Awan Yang Terpilu nyanyian asal Ning Baizura sebelum bersaing dengan Aisyah dalam lagu Elegi Sepi nyanyian asal Azharina sewaktu pusingan kedua. Konsert kelapan AF2013 berlangsung dengan meriah pada malam tadi dengan setiap bintang harus membuat dua persembahan. Persembahan pertama adalah secara individu sepertimana tugasan sebelum ini manakala persembahan kedua adalah dalam bentuk Battle di mana mereka dipasangkan secara berdua untuk membuat persembahan. Selain Amira dan Aisyah yang berpasangan, Nabila telah dipasangkan dengan Indah untuk mempersembahkan lagu Sangkar Cinta dari Ziana Zain. Pasangan duo Azhael pula digandingkan dengan Faizul untuk lagu Nakal dari kumpulan Gigi. Sementara itu, ketiadaan pengkritik tetap Sharifah Amani telah diceriakan dengan kehadiran Fauziah Ahmad Daud pada minggu ini selain pengkritik tetap sedia ada, Edry Abd Halim dan Roslan Aziz. Kesemua enam bintang yang tinggal akan terus bersaing dalam konsert separuh akhir minggu hadapan yang akan berlangsung dari Planet Gempak di Bukit Jalil. Konsert kelapan AF2013 telah berlangsung di Auditorium Cempaka Sari, Presint 3, Putrajaya dan disiarkan secara langsung di Astro Ria (104) dan Astro Maya HD (135). Anda juga boleh mengikuti perkembangan AF2013 serta barisan bintang-bintangnya menerusi AF Buzz yang akan ke udara setiap Isnin jam 9 malam, Diari AF bermula Selasa hingga Khamis, jam 9 malam serta Terus Gempak... Inilah AF2013 (TGI AF2013) pada hari Jumaat jam 9 malam di Astro Ria (saluran 104) dan dalam bentuk HD di Maya HD (saluran 135).