JAKARTA 25 Okt. - Percaya atau tidak, gaji serta elaun yang diterima oleh seorang profesor penyelidikan di Indonesia setiap bulan jauh lebih rendah jika dibandingkan dengan gaji yang diterima oleh seorang guru sekolah rendah di Jakarta.
Gaji pokok seorang profesor penyelidikan kategori IV (E) di Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) misalnya hanyalah sebanyak Rupiah 3.6 juta (RM1,288) dan elaun-elaun sampingan sebanyak Rupiah 1.6 juta (RM565) sebulan.
"Jumlah gaji yang saya terima sebulan ialah sebanyak Rupiah 5.2 juta (RM1,837) sebulan," kata Profesor Dr. Ir Jan Sophaeluwakan, seorang pakar geologi mendedahkan gaji yang diterimanya biarpun sudah 30 tahun berkhidmat di LIPI, lapor akhbar Kompas hari ini.
Bagaimanapun, pendapatan yang diterima seorang profesor penyelidikan yang menduduki jabatan struktur adalah sedikit tinggi kerana mereka menerima elaun jabatan sebanyak Rupiah 3.2 juta (RM1,132) setiap bulan.
"Gaji pokoknya masih sama iaitu Rupiah 3.6 juta setiap bulan dan tidak akan naik lagi kerana tangga gaji tersebut sudah sampai ke kedudukan pangkat tertinggi IV (E)," ujar Prof. Dr. Ir Bambang Subiyanto, pakar biomateria yang juga Ketua Pusat Inovasi LIPI.
Biarpun menerima elaun sampingan, namun gaji profesor penyelidikan yang juga pemegang ijazah sarjana dan doktor falsafah dari luar negara masih belum boleh menandingi pendapatan guru di sekolah rendah.
Gaji seorang guru sekolah rendah di daerah Serang, Wilayah Banten misalnya, boleh membawa pulang gaji sebesar Rupiah 6.5 juta (RM2,300).
Pendapatan sebanyak itu merupakan jumlah gaji pokok sebanyak Rupiah 2.3 juta (RM813) serta elaun sampingan sebanyak Rupiah 3.87 juta (RM1,370).
"Tidak ketinggalan pemerintah daerah Serang juga memberikan elaun sebanyak Rupiah 440,000 setiap bulan kepada kami," kata Turman, guru sekolah rendah di Serang yang sudah 29 tahun bergelar pendidik.
Pendapatan seorang guru sekolah rendah di Jakarta dilaporkan jauh lebih tinggi kerana selain menerima gaji pokok Rupiah 2.3 juta serta elaun-elaun lain juga sebanyak itu, guru-guru juga berpeluang mendapat elaun kerja daerah sebanyak Rupiah 4 juta RM1,414) daripada pemerintah Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta.
"Lumayan setiap bulan boleh memperoleh pendapatan sebanyak Rupiah 8.6 juta (RM3,040) setiap bulan," komen guru besar Sekolah Rendah Negeri Duri Pulo 1, Jakarta yang berpengalaman selama 26 tahun sebagai guru sekolah.
Menurut Bambang, kurangnya perhatian pemerintah terhadap kerjaya seorang profesor bukan hanya pada pendapatan yang rendah ditawarkan.
Sebaliknya, kemudahan untuk melakukan penyelidikan juga amat terbatas sehingga memaksa golongan cendekiawan tempatan mengadakan kerja-kerja kajian akademik secara kerjasama dengan institusi pengajian tinggi sama ada di dalam atau luar negara.
Jan pula berpendapat, ekoran tidak mendapat perhatian daripada pemerintah, ahli-ahli akademik Indonesia ada masanya melakukan kajian dan penyelidikan yang tidak relevan dengan bidang dan kepakaran mereka.
Berdasarkan laporan berkenaan, gaji yang diterima profesor penyelidikan di negara jiran Indonesia mencecah angka Rupiah 90 juta (RM31,000) sebulan sementara di Jepun dianggarkan antara Rupiah 600 juta hingga Rupiah 900 juta (RM212,000) hingga (RM318,000).
Sumber: SAHARUDIN MUSTHAFA (saharudin.musthafa@utusan.com.my)
Showing posts with label Luar Negara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luar Negara. Show all posts
World’s 10 Biggest Employers
We've put together a list of the world's 10 largest employers among publicly listed companies based on figures from Reuters, global stock indexes, company websites, annual reports and other publicly available information. We've used full-time employees, except in a few cases where the business depends largely on part-time workers. In such cases, we have clearly indicated that the number includes part-time workers.
The world's largest employers come from a variety of industries such as retail, telecom, energy and banking. We looked at how efficient these companies were with their labor. We calculated the companies' revenue per employee and profit per employee figures based on their 2010 annual earnings. Some of these organizations might surprise you, while others are famous for their size and global reach.
10. IBM
Employees: 426,750
Revenue per employee: $234,000
Profit per employee: $34,750
IBM is the world's third biggest technology company by market cap, behind Apple and Microsoft. It is also one of only two tech giants to make the list of the 10 biggest employers.
9. Compass Group
Employees: 428,000*
Revenue per employee: $53,000
Profit per employee: $2,500
Compass Group is the world's largest contract food service company with operations in over 50 countries. It serves 4 billion meals a year.
8. Agricultural Bank of China
Employees: 444,440
Revenue per employee: $85,470
Profit per employee: $33,500
Agricultural Bank of China, also known as AgBank, is the world's biggest bank by the number of customers, branches and employees.
7. Deutsche Post DHL
Employees: 467,000
Revenue per employee: $148,000
Profit per employee: $8,350
Deutsche Post DHL is Europe's largest mail and express delivery company and one of the world's biggest logistics firms.
6. Carrefour
Employees: 471,750
Revenue per employee: $256,000
Profit per employee: $3,920
France's Carrefour is Europe's largest retailer, and the world's second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart. Founded in 1958 by the Fournier and Defforey families in southeastern France, the company now has hypermarkets and supermarkets in 32 countries, with over 57 percent of its revenue coming from international operations.
5. Tesco
Employees: 492,700
Revenue per employee: $194,000
Profit per employee: $9,000
Tesco is the world's third biggest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The U.K. grocery giant, founded by Jack Cohen, opened its first supermarket in 1929, and now retails everything from books, clothing, and electronics to financial services.
4. PetroChina
Employees: 592,700
Revenue per employee: $390,000
Profit per employee: $37,250
PetroChina is China's largest oil and gas company with a market cap of $274.3 billion. It is also the world's second-most valuable energy firm after Exxon Mobil.
3. Hon Hai Precision Industry | Foxconn
Employees: 836,000
Revenue per employee: $117,700
Profit per employee: $3,000
Hon Hai Precision is the parent company of Foxconn Technology, the world's largest electronics manufacturer by revenue. Foxconn is also the largest exporter in the Greater China region.
2. McDonald's
Employees: 1.7 million*
Revenue per employee: $14,200
Profit per employee: $2,930
McDonald's is one of the world's most valuable brands and one of only three American companies to make the list of the 10 biggest employers.
1. Walmart
Employees: 2.1 million*
Revenue per employee: $199,500
Profit per employee: $7,100
Walmart is the world's largest retailer with over 9,600 stores in 28 countries.
Source: CNBC
The world's largest employers come from a variety of industries such as retail, telecom, energy and banking. We looked at how efficient these companies were with their labor. We calculated the companies' revenue per employee and profit per employee figures based on their 2010 annual earnings. Some of these organizations might surprise you, while others are famous for their size and global reach.
10. IBM
Employees: 426,750
Revenue per employee: $234,000
Profit per employee: $34,750
IBM is the world's third biggest technology company by market cap, behind Apple and Microsoft. It is also one of only two tech giants to make the list of the 10 biggest employers.
9. Compass Group
Employees: 428,000*
Revenue per employee: $53,000
Profit per employee: $2,500
Compass Group is the world's largest contract food service company with operations in over 50 countries. It serves 4 billion meals a year.
8. Agricultural Bank of China
Employees: 444,440
Revenue per employee: $85,470
Profit per employee: $33,500
Agricultural Bank of China, also known as AgBank, is the world's biggest bank by the number of customers, branches and employees.
7. Deutsche Post DHL
Employees: 467,000
Revenue per employee: $148,000
Profit per employee: $8,350
Deutsche Post DHL is Europe's largest mail and express delivery company and one of the world's biggest logistics firms.
6. Carrefour
Employees: 471,750
Revenue per employee: $256,000
Profit per employee: $3,920
France's Carrefour is Europe's largest retailer, and the world's second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart. Founded in 1958 by the Fournier and Defforey families in southeastern France, the company now has hypermarkets and supermarkets in 32 countries, with over 57 percent of its revenue coming from international operations.
5. Tesco
Employees: 492,700
Revenue per employee: $194,000
Profit per employee: $9,000
Tesco is the world's third biggest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The U.K. grocery giant, founded by Jack Cohen, opened its first supermarket in 1929, and now retails everything from books, clothing, and electronics to financial services.
4. PetroChina
Employees: 592,700
Revenue per employee: $390,000
Profit per employee: $37,250
PetroChina is China's largest oil and gas company with a market cap of $274.3 billion. It is also the world's second-most valuable energy firm after Exxon Mobil.
3. Hon Hai Precision Industry | Foxconn
Employees: 836,000
Revenue per employee: $117,700
Profit per employee: $3,000
Hon Hai Precision is the parent company of Foxconn Technology, the world's largest electronics manufacturer by revenue. Foxconn is also the largest exporter in the Greater China region.
2. McDonald's
Employees: 1.7 million*
Revenue per employee: $14,200
Profit per employee: $2,930
McDonald's is one of the world's most valuable brands and one of only three American companies to make the list of the 10 biggest employers.
1. Walmart
Employees: 2.1 million*
Revenue per employee: $199,500
Profit per employee: $7,100
Walmart is the world's largest retailer with over 9,600 stores in 28 countries.
Source: CNBC
Sandblasting threatened Bangladesh Workers
Sandblasting jeans comes under fire in Bangladesh for posing health risks to garment workers.
SUMAN Howlader was thrilled to land a job in a Bangladeshi factory sandblasting new jeans to make them look old, but he now believes the diktats of fashion have exacted a heavy toll on his health.
After working for three years, he started vomiting blood, coughing badly and struggling to breathe before being admitted to a specialist respiratory hospital in Dhaka.
Workers’ groups say Howlader and many others like him have been misdiagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis because of ignorance about silicosis – an incurable disease caused by inhalation of silica particles.
The minute, fast-moving particles are released during sandblasting, a process used to give new jeans the “worn” look that has been popular for many years around the world.
Sandblasting has long been banned in Europe and the United States, but Bangladesh’s cheap labour garment factories still use it to condition jeans for top Western brands.
Gucci, Levi’s, H&M and Gap have all vowed to stop selling sandblasted products, while Dolce & Gabbana has been targeted in an Internet campaign to take a similar stance.
“One day, when I was working, blood started gushing out of my mouth and nose,” said Howlader from his hospital bed.
“They told me the work was safe. But the constant sandblasting made the room fill up with dust and sand. You end up swallowing and inhaling a lot of it.”
Howlader fired high-pressure sand at denim jeans with just a cloth mask for protection, treating 200 to 300 pairs in a 10-hour day.
“Sandblasting is booming here,” said Kalpana Akhter, general secretary of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity, which records many silicosis-like symptoms among workers in the sector.
“Doctors are not looking out for silicosis, so cases get diagnosed as tuberculosis instead,” she said.
As most Bangladeshi companies have no health insurance, many of those who become sick simply quit their jobs and return to their villages in dreadful health, she added.
Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi workers are involved, and at least 500 factories use sandblasting, said Khorshed Alam, who runs a labour rights group.
“Workers hardly have any protective gear to prevent (silica) dust from entering their system,” he said.
According to Alam, many large factories are aware of the health risks of sandblasting and, to avoid potential liability, they often subcontract out the work to small, standalone factories.
“We used home-made compressors and sand-guns, which are 20 times cheaper than the ones used by big jeans plants,” said Delwar Hossain, supervisor at the small Meridian unit in Dhaka.
Because of the high pay – 7,500 taka (RM300) a month, or double the minimum wage – they have no shortage of workers like Mohammad Ilias.
With only a thin cloth wrapped around his face, the 21-year-old from a village in the country’s remote north was blasting sand with a homemade pressure-gun onto a pair of new jeans.
“In some factories, they use masks and other gear to keep sand off. But here we use cloth ... there is no escape from sand. But we’ve got used to it,” he said.
“I swallow so much sand doing this work but enough water and a banana a day sort out the health problems. I don’t mind inhaling sand as long as the wages are good,” he said.
The labour rights group, Clean Clothes Campaign, has run a successful campaign to shame famous brand names into using other, safer, techniques but, in Bangladesh, it remains profitable and, therefore, common.
Gap said that it halted all sandblasting at its Bangladeshi suppliers in August following a review last year, though for many local factory owners there is an acceptance that the needs of fashion overrule health concerns.
“We are still a LDC (‘least developed country’). Please don’t think that we are Switzerland,” said Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturer and Exporters Association, explaining that a national ban was unlikely.
Such attitudes mean that a full-scale tragedy among Bangladeshi sandblasters may be going undetected, believes Ineke Zeldenrust, a spokeswoman for the Clean Clothes Campaign.
“We worry that we will see a similar scenario in Bangladesh as in Turkey,” she said, where dozens of workers – some teenagers – developed acute silicosis and died, prompting public outcry before a ban was enacted in 2009.
But workers such as Asma, who is also being treated in the Dhaka chest hospital, say they have no choice but to continue sandblasting.
“The disease has eaten all my savings. If I don’t work, I can’t eat,” said a gaunt and skinny Asma, 25, before discharging herself from hospital and going back to work. – AFP
Source: By SHAFIQ ALAM
SUMAN Howlader was thrilled to land a job in a Bangladeshi factory sandblasting new jeans to make them look old, but he now believes the diktats of fashion have exacted a heavy toll on his health.
After working for three years, he started vomiting blood, coughing badly and struggling to breathe before being admitted to a specialist respiratory hospital in Dhaka.
Workers’ groups say Howlader and many others like him have been misdiagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis because of ignorance about silicosis – an incurable disease caused by inhalation of silica particles.
The minute, fast-moving particles are released during sandblasting, a process used to give new jeans the “worn” look that has been popular for many years around the world.
Sandblasting has long been banned in Europe and the United States, but Bangladesh’s cheap labour garment factories still use it to condition jeans for top Western brands.
Gucci, Levi’s, H&M and Gap have all vowed to stop selling sandblasted products, while Dolce & Gabbana has been targeted in an Internet campaign to take a similar stance.
“One day, when I was working, blood started gushing out of my mouth and nose,” said Howlader from his hospital bed.
“They told me the work was safe. But the constant sandblasting made the room fill up with dust and sand. You end up swallowing and inhaling a lot of it.”
Howlader fired high-pressure sand at denim jeans with just a cloth mask for protection, treating 200 to 300 pairs in a 10-hour day.
“Sandblasting is booming here,” said Kalpana Akhter, general secretary of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity, which records many silicosis-like symptoms among workers in the sector.
“Doctors are not looking out for silicosis, so cases get diagnosed as tuberculosis instead,” she said.
As most Bangladeshi companies have no health insurance, many of those who become sick simply quit their jobs and return to their villages in dreadful health, she added.
Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi workers are involved, and at least 500 factories use sandblasting, said Khorshed Alam, who runs a labour rights group.
“Workers hardly have any protective gear to prevent (silica) dust from entering their system,” he said.
According to Alam, many large factories are aware of the health risks of sandblasting and, to avoid potential liability, they often subcontract out the work to small, standalone factories.
“We used home-made compressors and sand-guns, which are 20 times cheaper than the ones used by big jeans plants,” said Delwar Hossain, supervisor at the small Meridian unit in Dhaka.
Because of the high pay – 7,500 taka (RM300) a month, or double the minimum wage – they have no shortage of workers like Mohammad Ilias.
With only a thin cloth wrapped around his face, the 21-year-old from a village in the country’s remote north was blasting sand with a homemade pressure-gun onto a pair of new jeans.
“In some factories, they use masks and other gear to keep sand off. But here we use cloth ... there is no escape from sand. But we’ve got used to it,” he said.
“I swallow so much sand doing this work but enough water and a banana a day sort out the health problems. I don’t mind inhaling sand as long as the wages are good,” he said.
The labour rights group, Clean Clothes Campaign, has run a successful campaign to shame famous brand names into using other, safer, techniques but, in Bangladesh, it remains profitable and, therefore, common.
Gap said that it halted all sandblasting at its Bangladeshi suppliers in August following a review last year, though for many local factory owners there is an acceptance that the needs of fashion overrule health concerns.
“We are still a LDC (‘least developed country’). Please don’t think that we are Switzerland,” said Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturer and Exporters Association, explaining that a national ban was unlikely.
Such attitudes mean that a full-scale tragedy among Bangladeshi sandblasters may be going undetected, believes Ineke Zeldenrust, a spokeswoman for the Clean Clothes Campaign.
“We worry that we will see a similar scenario in Bangladesh as in Turkey,” she said, where dozens of workers – some teenagers – developed acute silicosis and died, prompting public outcry before a ban was enacted in 2009.
But workers such as Asma, who is also being treated in the Dhaka chest hospital, say they have no choice but to continue sandblasting.
“The disease has eaten all my savings. If I don’t work, I can’t eat,” said a gaunt and skinny Asma, 25, before discharging herself from hospital and going back to work. – AFP
Source: By SHAFIQ ALAM
Weather stops oil recovery - New Zealand
WELLINGTON, Oct 18 — Rough weather today forced salvage teams to halt pumping oil from a stricken container ship off the New Zealand coast in what has turned into the country’s worst environmental disaster in decades.
The Liberian-flagged Rena has been stuck for 13 days on a reef 22km off Tauranga on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It has already spilled about 350 tonnes of thick, toxic fuel and some of its hundreds of containers into the sea.
Winds gusting up to 65kph and sea swells cresting as high as four metres forced the evacuation of teams from the 236-metre ship.
“The forecast seems to suggest that the winds will kick around to the west which should make things slightly calmer, so fingers crossed they should be back on the job in the near future,” Matthew Watson a spokesman for Svitzer Salvage said on Radio NZ.
So far around 90 tonnes of the estimated 1,300 tonnes of the oil on board have been pumped on to a barge.
Authorities have been concerned that bad weather could possibly send the stern section, which contains more than 1,000 tonnes of oil, tumbling into 60m of water.
“The ship is stable and remains in the same condition as it was yesterday — with cracks down each side but is still together in one piece,” said Andrew Berry of Maritime NZ, the government agency which supervises the shipping industry.
It said a small amount of oil escaped from the ship overnight during the rougher weather, but winds were blowing it away from the shore and dispersing it.
Beaches, fouled with dinner-tray sized lumps of oil, have been largely cleaned up after thousands of volunteers joined soldiers and specialists.
Oil has washed up along about 60km of the coast, which is popular with surfers and fishermen. Nearly 1,300 birds have died in the spill, which is seen as New Zealand’s worst environmental disaster in decades.
The ship’s captain and second officer, both from the Philippines, are due to reappear in court tomorrow on charges of operating the 47,320 tonne ship in a dangerous manner. — Reuters
Source: The Malaysian Insider
The Liberian-flagged Rena has been stuck for 13 days on a reef 22km off Tauranga on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It has already spilled about 350 tonnes of thick, toxic fuel and some of its hundreds of containers into the sea.
Winds gusting up to 65kph and sea swells cresting as high as four metres forced the evacuation of teams from the 236-metre ship.
“The forecast seems to suggest that the winds will kick around to the west which should make things slightly calmer, so fingers crossed they should be back on the job in the near future,” Matthew Watson a spokesman for Svitzer Salvage said on Radio NZ.
So far around 90 tonnes of the estimated 1,300 tonnes of the oil on board have been pumped on to a barge.
Authorities have been concerned that bad weather could possibly send the stern section, which contains more than 1,000 tonnes of oil, tumbling into 60m of water.
“The ship is stable and remains in the same condition as it was yesterday — with cracks down each side but is still together in one piece,” said Andrew Berry of Maritime NZ, the government agency which supervises the shipping industry.
It said a small amount of oil escaped from the ship overnight during the rougher weather, but winds were blowing it away from the shore and dispersing it.
Beaches, fouled with dinner-tray sized lumps of oil, have been largely cleaned up after thousands of volunteers joined soldiers and specialists.
Oil has washed up along about 60km of the coast, which is popular with surfers and fishermen. Nearly 1,300 birds have died in the spill, which is seen as New Zealand’s worst environmental disaster in decades.
The ship’s captain and second officer, both from the Philippines, are due to reappear in court tomorrow on charges of operating the 47,320 tonne ship in a dangerous manner. — Reuters
Source: The Malaysian Insider
Small electric car batteries better than large ones?
PITTSBURGH: A new study has suggested that drivers looking to go green could be better off buying an electric vehicle with a small battery pack.
The Carnegie Mellon research, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that conventional wisdom - a long electric range is better for the environment - might not be correct if it involves a large, heavy battery pack.
Instead, vehicles with smaller battery packs provide more emissions benefits and oil displacement benefits per dollar spent, said the scientists, led by Jeremy J. Michalek.
"While larger battery packs allow plug-in vehicles to drive longer distances on electric power instead of gasoline, they are also expensive and heavy, they are underutilized when the battery capacity is larger than needed for a typical trip, they require more charging infrastructure and they produce more emissions during manufacturing," explained Michalek.
The research hints that US government policy - which provides larger subsidies for vehicles with larger battery packs - could be a red herring, proving more expensive because of the large batteries and therefore wasting money that could be spent on vehicles with a more tangible benefit.
According to an in-depth analysis of the report by Auto Observer, the scientists concluded that plug-in vehicles could produce more damage than hybrid vehicles, because of the average emissions from US power plants.
They also calculated that the lifetime ownership cost for the average American will be higher, adding "it is clear that the high costs of vehicles with larger battery packs are not balanced by fuel cost savings or emissions damage and oil premium reduction." – Relaxnews (The Star)
The Carnegie Mellon research, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that conventional wisdom - a long electric range is better for the environment - might not be correct if it involves a large, heavy battery pack.
Instead, vehicles with smaller battery packs provide more emissions benefits and oil displacement benefits per dollar spent, said the scientists, led by Jeremy J. Michalek.
"While larger battery packs allow plug-in vehicles to drive longer distances on electric power instead of gasoline, they are also expensive and heavy, they are underutilized when the battery capacity is larger than needed for a typical trip, they require more charging infrastructure and they produce more emissions during manufacturing," explained Michalek.
The research hints that US government policy - which provides larger subsidies for vehicles with larger battery packs - could be a red herring, proving more expensive because of the large batteries and therefore wasting money that could be spent on vehicles with a more tangible benefit.
According to an in-depth analysis of the report by Auto Observer, the scientists concluded that plug-in vehicles could produce more damage than hybrid vehicles, because of the average emissions from US power plants.
They also calculated that the lifetime ownership cost for the average American will be higher, adding "it is clear that the high costs of vehicles with larger battery packs are not balanced by fuel cost savings or emissions damage and oil premium reduction." – Relaxnews (The Star)
Indonesia's Bali rattled by large quake
BALI, Indonesia (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia's popular resort island of Bali on Thursday, sending people fleeing from their homes and hotels in panic. No tsunami alert was issued, and there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Some roofs collapsed, and witnesses told local radio and television stations they saw cracks in the walls of buildings.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 was centered 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of the island. It struck 36 miles (60 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor.
"It knocked me off my motorcycle," said one resident, Miftahul Chusna.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
By FIRDIA LISNAWATI - Associated Press | AP
Some roofs collapsed, and witnesses told local radio and television stations they saw cracks in the walls of buildings.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 was centered 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of the island. It struck 36 miles (60 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor.
"It knocked me off my motorcycle," said one resident, Miftahul Chusna.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
By FIRDIA LISNAWATI - Associated Press | AP
Toilets on Everest?
An environmental group is asking the Nepal government to consider installing portable toilets on Mount Everest for climbers caught short at the roof of the world.
Eco Himal says the thousands of trekkers who set off from the South Base Camp in Nepal each year would do a better job of keeping the place clean if they and their porters had somewhere civilised to go when nature called.
"Human waste is a problem, of course," said the group's director, Phinjo Sherpa. "I am merely suggesting that if we have public toilets they can be used."
Many groups bring expedition toilet cans, but Phinjo Sherpa said porters were often left with little choice but the nearest snowdrift.
Environmental activists say Everest is littered with the detritus of past expeditions, including human waste and mountaineers' corpses, which can take decades to decompose because of the extreme cold.
Phinjo Sherpa said installing the toilets would be discussed as part of a wider waste management plan being prepared by the government that would encompass popular peaks throughout the Everest region.
"If there could be two or three toilets that would be good but this is just at the planning phase. We will have to decide what is a good idea and what isn't," he said.
However, the idea has been rejected by some of Eco Himal's partners within the Nepal-based climbing community.
"The ice moves around a lot during the year. If you built toilets at the base camp, the ice would shift and the structures would fall down," said Wangchhu Sherpa, president of the Everest Summiteers Association.
Climbers spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to reach the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) summit of Everest, but campaigners say few pay much attention to the rubbish they leave behind.
There is no official figure on how much trash has been left on the mountain, but the debris of 50 years of climbing has given Everest the name of the world's highest dumpster.
The privately-funded Eco Everest Expedition, a Nepal-based coalition of environmentalists campaigning to keep the mountain clean, has collected more than 13 tonnes of garbage, 400 kilos of human waste and four bodies since 2008.
Government officials say Everest trekkers are expected to bring down all their rubbish themselves.
Expeditions currently have to fork out a 4,000-dollar deposit, which is refundable once they show they have brought back everything they took onto the mountain. But the rules are impossible to enforce, say campaigners.
Wangchhu Sherpa said at least 10 tonnes of rubbish remained on the mountain. He is calling for the government to blacklist tour groups who cannot account for all their equipment and belongings when they return from Everest.
Nepal's Sherpa people, who are Buddhists and believed to be of Tibetan origin, make up most of the population in the Everest region and have long revered the world's highest peak as sacred.
Almost 4,000 people have attempted to climb Mount Everest since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to conquer the world's highest peak in 1953.
Source: By Frankie Taggart | AFP News
Eco Himal says the thousands of trekkers who set off from the South Base Camp in Nepal each year would do a better job of keeping the place clean if they and their porters had somewhere civilised to go when nature called.
"Human waste is a problem, of course," said the group's director, Phinjo Sherpa. "I am merely suggesting that if we have public toilets they can be used."
Many groups bring expedition toilet cans, but Phinjo Sherpa said porters were often left with little choice but the nearest snowdrift.
Environmental activists say Everest is littered with the detritus of past expeditions, including human waste and mountaineers' corpses, which can take decades to decompose because of the extreme cold.
Phinjo Sherpa said installing the toilets would be discussed as part of a wider waste management plan being prepared by the government that would encompass popular peaks throughout the Everest region.
"If there could be two or three toilets that would be good but this is just at the planning phase. We will have to decide what is a good idea and what isn't," he said.
However, the idea has been rejected by some of Eco Himal's partners within the Nepal-based climbing community.
"The ice moves around a lot during the year. If you built toilets at the base camp, the ice would shift and the structures would fall down," said Wangchhu Sherpa, president of the Everest Summiteers Association.
Climbers spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to reach the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) summit of Everest, but campaigners say few pay much attention to the rubbish they leave behind.
There is no official figure on how much trash has been left on the mountain, but the debris of 50 years of climbing has given Everest the name of the world's highest dumpster.
The privately-funded Eco Everest Expedition, a Nepal-based coalition of environmentalists campaigning to keep the mountain clean, has collected more than 13 tonnes of garbage, 400 kilos of human waste and four bodies since 2008.
Government officials say Everest trekkers are expected to bring down all their rubbish themselves.
Expeditions currently have to fork out a 4,000-dollar deposit, which is refundable once they show they have brought back everything they took onto the mountain. But the rules are impossible to enforce, say campaigners.
Wangchhu Sherpa said at least 10 tonnes of rubbish remained on the mountain. He is calling for the government to blacklist tour groups who cannot account for all their equipment and belongings when they return from Everest.
Nepal's Sherpa people, who are Buddhists and believed to be of Tibetan origin, make up most of the population in the Everest region and have long revered the world's highest peak as sacred.
Almost 4,000 people have attempted to climb Mount Everest since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to conquer the world's highest peak in 1953.
Source: By Frankie Taggart | AFP News
Chocolate lovers have fewer strokes?
NEW YORK - A sweet tooth isn't necessarily bad for your health-- at least not when it comes to chocolate, hints a new study.
Researchers studying more than 33,000 Swedish women found that the more chocolate women said they ate, the lower their risk of stroke.
The results add to a growing body of evidence linking cocoa consumption to heart health, but they aren't a free pass to gorge on chocolate.
"Given the observational design of the study, findings from this study cannot prove that it's chocolate that lowers the risk of stroke," Susanna Larsson from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm told Reuters Health in an email.
While she believes chocolate has health benefits, she also warned that eating too much of it could be counterproductive.
"Chocolate should be consumed in moderation as it is high in calories, fat, and sugar," she said. "As dark chocolate contains more cocoa and less sugar than milk chocolate, consumption of dark chocolate would be more beneficial."
Larsson and her colleagues, whose findings appear in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, tapped into data from a mammography study that included self-reports of how much chocolate women ate in 1997. The women ranged in age from 49 to 83 years.
Over the next decade, there were 1,549 strokes, and the more chocolate women ate, the lower their risk.
Among those with the highest weekly chocolate intake -- more than 45 grams -- there were 2.5 strokes per 1,000 women per year. That figure was 7.8 per 1,000 among women who ate the least (less than 8.9 grams per week).
Scientists speculate that substances known as flavonoids, in particular so-called flavanols, may be responsible for chocolate's apparent effects on health.
According to Larsson, flavonoids have been shown to cut high blood pressure, a risk factor for stroke, and improve other blood factors linked to heart health. Whether that theoretical benefit translates into real-life benefits remains to be proven by rigorous studies, however.
Nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year, with about a sixth of them dying of it and many more left disabled. For those at high risk, doctors recommend blood pressure medicine, quitting smoking, exercising more and eating a healthier diet -- but so far chocolate isn't on the list.
By Frederik Joelving | Reuters
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, October 10, 2011.
Researchers studying more than 33,000 Swedish women found that the more chocolate women said they ate, the lower their risk of stroke.
The results add to a growing body of evidence linking cocoa consumption to heart health, but they aren't a free pass to gorge on chocolate.
"Given the observational design of the study, findings from this study cannot prove that it's chocolate that lowers the risk of stroke," Susanna Larsson from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm told Reuters Health in an email.
While she believes chocolate has health benefits, she also warned that eating too much of it could be counterproductive.
"Chocolate should be consumed in moderation as it is high in calories, fat, and sugar," she said. "As dark chocolate contains more cocoa and less sugar than milk chocolate, consumption of dark chocolate would be more beneficial."
Larsson and her colleagues, whose findings appear in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, tapped into data from a mammography study that included self-reports of how much chocolate women ate in 1997. The women ranged in age from 49 to 83 years.
Over the next decade, there were 1,549 strokes, and the more chocolate women ate, the lower their risk.
Among those with the highest weekly chocolate intake -- more than 45 grams -- there were 2.5 strokes per 1,000 women per year. That figure was 7.8 per 1,000 among women who ate the least (less than 8.9 grams per week).
Scientists speculate that substances known as flavonoids, in particular so-called flavanols, may be responsible for chocolate's apparent effects on health.
According to Larsson, flavonoids have been shown to cut high blood pressure, a risk factor for stroke, and improve other blood factors linked to heart health. Whether that theoretical benefit translates into real-life benefits remains to be proven by rigorous studies, however.
Nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year, with about a sixth of them dying of it and many more left disabled. For those at high risk, doctors recommend blood pressure medicine, quitting smoking, exercising more and eating a healthier diet -- but so far chocolate isn't on the list.
By Frederik Joelving | Reuters
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, October 10, 2011.
Listeria korban 18 nyawa
KOTA BHARU - Kementerian Kesihatan menasihatkan orang ramai agar tidak terlalu bimbang dengan penularan jangkitan bakteria Listeria monocytogenes yang dilaporkan sudah mengorbankan 18 nyawa di Amerika Syarikat.
Ketua Pengarahnya, Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman berkata, setakat ini Malaysia tidak terlibat dengan jangkitan berkenaan walaupun turut mengimport buah-buahan dan sayur- sayuran dari negara itu.
“Walaupun kini wabak berkenaan hanya menyerang beberapa lokasi di Amerika, namun langkah berjaga- jaga yang disebut langkah empat sudah dilakukan di mana buah- buahan dan sayuran- sayuran yang akan dibawa masuk ke negara ini akan diambil contohnya terlebih dahulu sebelum di pasarkan,” katanya ketika mengadakan lawatan kerja ke Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab (HPRZ) II, di sini semalam.
Hadir sama, Pengarah Kesihatan Kelantan, DrMohd. Kamil Hasan dan Pengarah Bahagian Perkembangan Perubatan Kementerian Kesihatan, Datuk Dr Azmi Shafie. Hasan berkata, tiada sekatan dilakukan, sebaliknya barang makanan tersebut hanya perlu melalui skrin bagi memastikan ia bebas dari bakteria berkenaan.
Menurutnya, kawalan di beberapa pintu masuk utama ke negara ini juga dilakukan sebaik mendapat peringatan daripada Amerika minggu lalu.
“Pemantauan kini dilakukan di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa, Kuala Lumpur, Pulau Pinang, dan Kota Kinabalu, Sabah kerana buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran dari Amerika Syarikat dibawa masuk menggunakan pengangkutan udara,” katanya,
Beliau berkata, sekiranya orang ramai merasa ragu dengan tahap kebersihan dan kualiti makanan import, mereka boleh memilih untuk mendapatkan pelbagai lagi bahan makanan tempatan yang ditawarkan negara ini.
“Jika ada yang termakan sayuran atau buah- buahan yang diimport dari Amerika dan mengalami simptom keracunan makanan, mereka dinasihatkan agar segera mendapatkan rawatan, kerana antara tanda awal jangkitan wabak ini ialah sakit perut seperti terkena keracunan makanan,” katanya.
Sumber: Sinarharian
Ketua Pengarahnya, Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman berkata, setakat ini Malaysia tidak terlibat dengan jangkitan berkenaan walaupun turut mengimport buah-buahan dan sayur- sayuran dari negara itu.
“Walaupun kini wabak berkenaan hanya menyerang beberapa lokasi di Amerika, namun langkah berjaga- jaga yang disebut langkah empat sudah dilakukan di mana buah- buahan dan sayuran- sayuran yang akan dibawa masuk ke negara ini akan diambil contohnya terlebih dahulu sebelum di pasarkan,” katanya ketika mengadakan lawatan kerja ke Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab (HPRZ) II, di sini semalam.
Hadir sama, Pengarah Kesihatan Kelantan, DrMohd. Kamil Hasan dan Pengarah Bahagian Perkembangan Perubatan Kementerian Kesihatan, Datuk Dr Azmi Shafie. Hasan berkata, tiada sekatan dilakukan, sebaliknya barang makanan tersebut hanya perlu melalui skrin bagi memastikan ia bebas dari bakteria berkenaan.
Menurutnya, kawalan di beberapa pintu masuk utama ke negara ini juga dilakukan sebaik mendapat peringatan daripada Amerika minggu lalu.
“Pemantauan kini dilakukan di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa, Kuala Lumpur, Pulau Pinang, dan Kota Kinabalu, Sabah kerana buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran dari Amerika Syarikat dibawa masuk menggunakan pengangkutan udara,” katanya,
Beliau berkata, sekiranya orang ramai merasa ragu dengan tahap kebersihan dan kualiti makanan import, mereka boleh memilih untuk mendapatkan pelbagai lagi bahan makanan tempatan yang ditawarkan negara ini.
“Jika ada yang termakan sayuran atau buah- buahan yang diimport dari Amerika dan mengalami simptom keracunan makanan, mereka dinasihatkan agar segera mendapatkan rawatan, kerana antara tanda awal jangkitan wabak ini ialah sakit perut seperti terkena keracunan makanan,” katanya.
Sumber: Sinarharian
'Minor' radioactive leak at Dounreay nuclear plant¬Scotland
Radioactive material has leaked at the site of the former Dounreay nuclear power station in Caithness, it has been confirmed.
Radioactive liquid effluent is understood to have leaked inside a treatment facility. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the leak was minor and did not get outside the plant. Sepa has launched an investigation. Dounreay is currently undergoing a £2.6bn decommissioning process.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said that nobody was put at risk by the incident. The local SNP MSP praised the staff dealing with the leak, but repeated his opposition to nuclear power.
Rob Gibson, who represents Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said: "Thankfully, no staff from Dounreay have been harmed in this incident and I trust that the investigation will assure the public that the surrounding area will not be affected.
"These events underline both the complexity of the decommissioning processes and the possibility that errors may still be made.
"Nuclear energy has no place in a safe Scotland."
Waste liquid
Dounreay was constructed in the 1950s as an experimental nuclear power complex, but has not generated electricity since 1994.
Radioactive liquid effluent occurs when a reactor and its equipment are cleaned.
The treatment plant at Dounreay removes some radioactivity from the waste liquid as part of the process.
A section of the treatment plant has been shut down for investigations.
DSRL is in the process of dealing with 100 tonnes of breeder reactor material.
The fuel is being stored securely while the dismantling of the site continues.
Source: BBC
Radioactive liquid effluent is understood to have leaked inside a treatment facility. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the leak was minor and did not get outside the plant. Sepa has launched an investigation. Dounreay is currently undergoing a £2.6bn decommissioning process.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said that nobody was put at risk by the incident. The local SNP MSP praised the staff dealing with the leak, but repeated his opposition to nuclear power.
Rob Gibson, who represents Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said: "Thankfully, no staff from Dounreay have been harmed in this incident and I trust that the investigation will assure the public that the surrounding area will not be affected.
"These events underline both the complexity of the decommissioning processes and the possibility that errors may still be made.
"Nuclear energy has no place in a safe Scotland."
Waste liquid
Dounreay was constructed in the 1950s as an experimental nuclear power complex, but has not generated electricity since 1994.
Radioactive liquid effluent occurs when a reactor and its equipment are cleaned.
The treatment plant at Dounreay removes some radioactivity from the waste liquid as part of the process.
A section of the treatment plant has been shut down for investigations.
DSRL is in the process of dealing with 100 tonnes of breeder reactor material.
The fuel is being stored securely while the dismantling of the site continues.
Source: BBC
Apple 'genius' Steve Jobs dies from cancer
Apple's Steve Jobs has died from cancer at the age of 56, a premature end for a visionary who revolutionized modern culture and changed forever the world's relationship to technology through inventions such as the iPad and iPhone.
"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," the California-based gadget-maker's board of directors said in a statement released after his death on Wednesday, surrounded by his family.
"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."
Tributes flowed in from around the world for Jobs, while Apple fans flooded social networking sites to voice their sorrow at the passing of the man who helped put mini computers in the shape of phones in millions of pockets.
Ordinary people, many of whom learned of his death on their iPhones and iPads, swamped Twitter using the trending hashtag #thankyousteve to pay tribute to Jobs "for all you have done for this generation," as one person tweeted.
Jobs was just 21 when he founded Apple Computer in 1976 with his 26-year-old friend Steve Wozniak in his family garage.
From such humble beginnings the company, with its ubiquitous trademark of an apple with a bite taken out of it, grew to eventually become one of the world's most valuable firms.
In July, Apple's second quarter profit hit $7.31 billion on revenue of $28.57 billion.
"He transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world," Obama said in a statement.
Wozniak told CNN he was "dumfounded" by news of the death of his former partner, comparing it to the untimely and traumatic loss of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King in the 1960s, and saying it had left "a big hole."
"I'm a little bit, like, awestruck, just dumbfounded, and I can't put my mind into gear, I can't do things," a distressed Wozniak, now 61, said.
"Here is a guy that created tools that everyone in the world -- billions of people -- just love, and feel happy and good about."
Microsoft boss Bill Gates along with other titans of the high-tech industry agreed, with some people hailing Jobs as a modern-day Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb.
"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," Gates said in a statement.
The two men were rivals in the race to dominate the market at the start of the personal computer era.
But while personal computers powered by Microsoft software ruled work places, Jobs envisioned people-friendly machines with mouse controllers and icons to click on to activate programs or open files.
Born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco to a single mother and adopted by a couple in nearby Mountain View at barely a week old, Jobs grew up among the orchards that would one day become the technology hub known as Silicon Valley.
Under Jobs, Apple introduced its first computers and then the Macintosh, which became wildly popular in the 1980s.
By Glenn Chapman | AFP News
"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," the California-based gadget-maker's board of directors said in a statement released after his death on Wednesday, surrounded by his family.
"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."
Tributes flowed in from around the world for Jobs, while Apple fans flooded social networking sites to voice their sorrow at the passing of the man who helped put mini computers in the shape of phones in millions of pockets.
Ordinary people, many of whom learned of his death on their iPhones and iPads, swamped Twitter using the trending hashtag #thankyousteve to pay tribute to Jobs "for all you have done for this generation," as one person tweeted.
Jobs was just 21 when he founded Apple Computer in 1976 with his 26-year-old friend Steve Wozniak in his family garage.
From such humble beginnings the company, with its ubiquitous trademark of an apple with a bite taken out of it, grew to eventually become one of the world's most valuable firms.
In July, Apple's second quarter profit hit $7.31 billion on revenue of $28.57 billion.
"He transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world," Obama said in a statement.
Wozniak told CNN he was "dumfounded" by news of the death of his former partner, comparing it to the untimely and traumatic loss of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King in the 1960s, and saying it had left "a big hole."
"I'm a little bit, like, awestruck, just dumbfounded, and I can't put my mind into gear, I can't do things," a distressed Wozniak, now 61, said.
"Here is a guy that created tools that everyone in the world -- billions of people -- just love, and feel happy and good about."
Microsoft boss Bill Gates along with other titans of the high-tech industry agreed, with some people hailing Jobs as a modern-day Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb.
"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," Gates said in a statement.
The two men were rivals in the race to dominate the market at the start of the personal computer era.
But while personal computers powered by Microsoft software ruled work places, Jobs envisioned people-friendly machines with mouse controllers and icons to click on to activate programs or open files.
Born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco to a single mother and adopted by a couple in nearby Mountain View at barely a week old, Jobs grew up among the orchards that would one day become the technology hub known as Silicon Valley.
Under Jobs, Apple introduced its first computers and then the Macintosh, which became wildly popular in the 1980s.
By Glenn Chapman | AFP News
Dia dibayar gaji untuk TIDUR
Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - He has the best excuse to sleep on the job.
Lee Jia, 27, earns 10,000 yuan (US$1,600) a month just to test the comfort level at hotel rooms.
Besides sleeping, he checks out the scent of the rooms, the cleanliness, the brand of toiletries and the type of TV programmes available.
Sin Chew Daily quoted Lee, a Chinese national, as saying that his job was more than just sleeping in hotel rooms and that it could get stressful at times.
His job, he said, required him to observe well his surroundings.
Lee, who loves travelling, said he would then write a review of the hotel and its facilities on his blog.
"You need to be highly focused and articulate to observe every detail in order to produce a comprehensive report," he said.