IN MALAYSIA

Celebrations to go all out?

DESPITE a looming economic slump, shopping malls and popular entertainment haunts in the Kuala Lumpur city centre and around Petaling Jaya are going full swing with organising parties to usher in the New Year.StarMetro contacted several such organisers and learned that they have prepared in advance for the New Year’s Eve celebrations and that the impending gloomy downturn will have little effect on their planned programme.Sungei Wang Plaza Kuala Lumpur’s Sungei Wang Plaza had over the last five years hosted the New Year countdown celebrations for more than 100,000 revellers. And nothing is going to slow down tonight’s New Year’s Eve celebration at the popular shopping centre. KLCC Park A Petronas spokesman said that there would be no concert at the KLCC Park this year, but the public could enjoy a dazzling display of fireworks and a fantastic synchronisation of lights, water and music at the musical fountain. KL Tower The KL Tower, however, is offering revellers a view of the city skyline through a special promotion at its revolving restaurant. City folk who have booked tables can watch the fireworks from there. Dataran Merdeka KL mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail, meanwhile, said that the New Year’s Eve celebrations would not be affected although the city budget had been slashed down as the Ambang 2009 Kuala Lumpur at the Dataran Merdeka was financed by a corporate sponsor. “The bulk of the celebration cost of RM1mil is being sponsored by Ambank. The DBKL is only offering its facilities and personnel to help in the organising of the event,” he said.

At work: Workers busy preparing for the 2009 New Year Countdown Carnival at Central Park Avenue, 1 Utama.

1 Utama Choong said that the shopping centre had more performances this time, compared to the previous year. “As a shopping centre, the company is known for being a trend setter, with its creative events. Life must go on. The economic downturn does not mean that we have to scale down. Plus it is a celebration to mark the coming of a new year,” she said. The Curve The Curve at Mutiara Damansara is also throwing a New Year’s Eve party for its customers. Live performances by local artistes, dancers and a guest DJs are among the line-up at the party. There will also be a fireworks display at the shopping centre.

All set: Sunway Lagoon staff preparing the fireworks for Sunway Lagoon’s New Year’s Eve Countdown Party 2009.

Sunway Lagoon At the Sunway Lagoon, the celebrations are expected to go full swing as in previous years, with lots of fun and plenty of food. There will be music, songs and dances. Subang Parade At the Subang Parade, there will be daytime performances today. It will be a quiet celebration tonight. Genting Highlands Two locations at Genting have been set for colourful fireworks display — the London Square at the outdoor theme park and the open car park area in front of Maxims Genting Hotel. Mines Shopping Fair She said that the mall was concentrating and consolidating its effort to promote its Chinese New Year celebration programme. Mega sex party??? The proposed New Year's Eve sex party will only bring shame to the country, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman.

IN GAZA

Israel and Hamas to go all out?

Smoke rises after an Israel air strike in Gaza December 30, 2008. (REUTERS/Suhaib Sal

Israeli warplanes destroyed Hamas targets for a fourth day, including five ministerial buildings and a structure belonging to the Islamic University in Gaza City. Medical officials put Palestinian casualties since the aerial onslaught began on Saturday at 384 dead and more than 800 wounded. A U.N. agency said at least 62 of the dead were civilians. Four Israelis have been killed. Israeli media quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying the Gaza offensive, launched by his centrist government six weeks before an election that opinion polls predict the opposition right-wing Likud party will win, was in "the first of several stages". FOOD AND POWER LOW In Gaza, basic food supplies were running low and power cuts were affecting much of the territory. Hospitals lacked at least 80 essential medicines as well as scores of instruments, Health Ministry official Muawiyah Hassanein said. About 1.5 million Palestinians live in Gaza, which has one of the highest population densities and growth rates in the world. Most Gazans live on less than $2 a day and up to 80 percent are dependent on food aid, according to aid groups. Hamas seized Gaza from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction in fighting in June 2007. The Islamists have rejected international demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace deals. "VICTIM AND JAILER" Hamas was cool to the idea of a truce. It said the onus was on Israel to stop firing and lift the blockade of Gaza. "You can't equate the victim and the jailer," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told reporters. "What is required at this time is an Arab and international effort to stop the (Israeli) aggression and open the (border) crossings." According to internal Israeli assessments, the air offensive has destroyed a third of the Hamas rocket arsenal but the faction's guerrilla army remains largely intact, Israel's Channel 10 television reported. "None of us can say how long it will take," Israeli President Shimon Peres said after being briefed at the Defence Ministry about Israel's deadliest Gaza campaign since the 1967 Middle East war, when the territory was captured from Egypt. Barak said he would seek Israeli cabinet approval for the mobilisation of 2,500 army reservists, compounding an earlier call-up of 6,500 reservists for the garrison on the Gaza border. In northern Gaza, two Palestinian sisters were killed in an air raid near their home, medical workers said. The area has been a launching ground for cross-border rocket attacks. "We are living in horror, we and our children. The situation is not just bad, it is tragic," said Gazan Abu Fares, standing outside his home near the rubble of a building bombed overnight.

Palestinians walk in front of tyres set ablaze by Palestinian stone-throwers, protesting Israel's offensive in Gaza, in al-Ram in the West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem December 30, 2008. (REUTERS/Eric Gaillard)

OBAMA SILENCE ON GAZA CONFIRMS LOW ARAB EXPECTATIONS Arab expectations that foreign policy changes will come small and slow when Barack Obama moves into the White House next month have been confirmed by his silence over Israel's attacks in Gaza. Israeli officials warned that the onslaught which has killed at least 373 Palestinians in its first four days could continue for weeks, while Hamas militants fired more deadly rockets and threatened to step up their attacks on Israel. "We tell the leaders of the enemy -- if you continue with your assault, we will hit with our rockets further than the cities we have hit so far," a masked spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas armed wing, said in televised comments. Israeli officials insisted the armed forces would press on with the offensive, which has sparked Muslim outrage and protests worldwide. "What we want is not a ceasefire but a stop to terrorism," said President Shimon Peres. Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer warned a ceasefire would allow Hamas "to regain strength, recover from the shock and prepare an even stronger attack against Israel." "There is no reason that we would accept a ceasefire at this stage," he told AFP. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel tolak gencatan senjata

SEORANG lelaki Palestin memeriksa keadaan sekitar bangunan yang rosak teruk di Bandar Raya Gaza.

Menteri akui serangan terhadap Gaza sudah lama dirancang, tolak gencatan GAZA: Israel semalam menolak sebarang perjanjian gencatan senjata dengan pergerakan Hamas di Gaza selagi serangan roket ke kawasan mereka tidak dihentikan malah mengakui serangan udara mereka yang paling hebat sejak berdekad lalu akan berterusan selama berminggu-minggu lagi. Tentera darat Israel memenuhi kawasan sempadan bagi menghadapi sebarang kemungkinan pencerobohan masuk pejuang Palestin untuk menyerang manakala pesawat Israel melakukan serangan pada hari keempat sehingga menyebabkan 12 lagi penduduk Palestin terbunuh termasuk dua kanak-kanak perempuan yang juga adik beradik berusia 10 dan 12 tahun. Pegawai perubatan menyatakan jumlah penduduk Palestin terbunuh sejak Israel mula melancarkan serangannya Sabtu lalu adalah 360 mangsa manakala penduduk cedera pula seramai 1,690 orang. Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) berkata lebih 62 yang terbunuh adalah orang awam. Tiga penduduk dan seorang askar Israel turut terbunuh dalam serangan balas pejuang Palestin menggunakan pelancar roket. Dalam tragedi terbaru, pesawat Israel melakukan lebih 40 serangan awal semalam termasuk mensasarkan bangunan Hamas sehingga menyebabkan 10 penduduk terbunuh, kata saksi dan petugas perubatan.

SEORANG wanita memegang gambar bayi cedera ketika menyertai bantahan di Berlin.

Serangan selama empat hari yang sudah mengorbankan beberapa pemimpin kanan Hamas itu bagaimanapun gagal menghentikan serangan roket pergerakan berkenaan. Serangan Israel dilakukan beberapa jam selepas serangan roket oleh pejuang Palestin membunuh seorang askar Israel berhampiran sempadan Gaza dan seorang penduduk Israel di bandar Ashdod. Media Israel memetik Perdana Menteri, Ehud Olmert, memaklumkan kepada Presiden, Shimon Peres bahawa operasi di Gaza itu adalah langkah pertama daripada beberapa tahap. Dengan tinggal enam minggu lagi sebelum pilihan raya Israel diadakan dan parti berhaluan kiri Parti Likud dijangka menang, kerajaan Israel berkata serangan itu bertujuan menghentikan serangan roket pejuang Palestin.

REMAJA Palestin mengumpul harta benda selepas kediaman mereka musnah dibedil.

PBB menggesa perjanjian damai segera dicapai tetapi Menteri Dalam Negeri Israel, Meir Sheetrit, berkata 'tiada ruang untuk melakukan gencatan senjata' dengan Hamas sehinggalah ancaman serangan roket dihentikan. "Tentera Israel mesti meneruskan operasi sehinggalah hasrat Palestin atau Hamas untuk terus menyerang Israel dihentikan," katanya kepada radio Israel. Timbalan Menteri Pertahanan, Matan Vilnai, berkata tentera Israel sudah melakukan persediaan serangan beberapa minggu sebelum serangan dilancarkan. Jurucakap Hamas, Fawzi Barhoum, berkata, kumpulan Palestin sepatutnya bertindak balas menggunakan apa cara untuk menentang Israel termasuk 'operasi syahid'. Hamas menguasai Semenanjung Gaza daripada Presiden Palestin Mahmoud Abbas dari pergerakan Fatah dalam pertempuran pada Jun 2007. Mereka menolak permintaan antarabangsa untuk mengiktiraf kewujudan negara Israel kerana Yahudi itu menceroboh wilayah mereka. � Reuters

HASSAN Nasrallah berucap dalam perhimpunan pergerakannya mengutuk serangan Israel di Gaza, kelmarin.

"I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing." -Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot

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Apa yang mampu kita lakukan? What can we do?

Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda yang maksudnya::” Janganlah salah seorang daripada kamu berpeluk tubuh dalam keadaan seseorang itu dibelasah secara zalim, kerana laknat akan turun ke atas orang yang menyaksikan ketika mereka tidak mempertahankannya.”

Riwayat at-Tabrani

PROTES?

WARGA Malaysia memprotes kekejaman Israel di depan kedutaan Amerika Syarikat di Kuala Lumpur, semalam.

DONATION

Peace Malaysia will be initiating the Gaza Humanitarian Fund and it is hoped that Malaysians will contribute much needed funds that will be used for the purchase of foods and medicines. Peace Malaysia will also provide medical services using its doctors for Palestinians who continue to cross over the Rafah border. PEACE Malaysia requests cash donations from the public. Please send your cheques toB-13-D2, Plaza Mont Kiara, No 2, Jalan Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur or bank it in to Peace Malaysia-CIMB-14200 007389058.

BOYCOTT YAHUDI PRODUC?

Mengikut maklumat produk-produk ini adalah milik/penyokong Yahudi