US$10,000!! – That’s Latest Offer Price From This Airline For Your Seat

US$10,000!! – That’s Latest Offer Price From This Airline For Your Seat

United Airlines is still facing its biggest nightmare after the violent dragging of 69-year-old Dr. David Dao from United Express Flight 3411. After suffering multiple injuries – including a concussion – as he was forcefully removed from plane, Mr. David has become a “poster child” for passenger mistreatment. His lawyer said he will need reconstructive surgery.

David lost two teeth on top of a broken nose. His lawyer said his client will be suing United Airlines and the city of Chicago, which employs the officers who were seen on video pulling Dao out of his seat and dragging him off a Louisville-bound flight. The airline is being accused by people around the world of racially profiling David Dao while the police is slapped with abuse of force accusation.

United Airlines - David Dao Violently Dragged and Bloodied

Due to the impact of the screw-up, the fiasco has become a scandal. There’s little doubt United is the guilty party and chances are they would unleash whatever weapons they have in their arsenal to try to get David Dao to accept compensation – and hope the case will go away. United will try not to drag the case to court – for obvious reason.

United’s misfortune and mistreatment has raised tons of eyebrows in the airline industry. They’ve learned valuable lessons from United’s scandal. As a start, airlines learn that while they can deny boarding to passengers if the flight is oversold, they must do so “before” passengers are allowed to board a flight, not “after”, as in the case of David Dao.

Overbooking – Deny Boarding At Gate, Not After Boarded Plane

In the case of Mr. Dao, he wasn’t denied boarding – he had already boarded the plane. After a passenger boarded a flight, he or she has the right to remain seated no matter what, or he or she can do a David Dao stunt and sue the airlines. Secondly, the airline industry learns that it always pays to be honest lest they prefer risking a public relations nightmare at a later stage.

United had lied about Flight 3411 being overbooked – it flip-flopped later admitting there “wasn’t any overbooking” in the first place, providing another reason for lawsuits. United’s biggest mistake was it had chosen to not only violently dragged David Dao off the plane, it did so (bumping four passengers) in order to make room for their own crew.

United Airlines Flight 3411 - Chinese Man David Dao Dragged and Bloodied

In short, if an airline wants to bump you from the aircraft, it must deny you boarding. If you’re allowed to board and if you’re injured, or dragged off the airplane, or falsely arrested, you can sue. Three officers from the Chicago Department of Aviation have been put on leave pending an investigation of the incident, making David Dao’s lawsuits even stronger.

Learning its bitter and expensive lessons, United Airlines on Friday changed its policy to require travelling employees to book a flight at least 60 minutes before departure. Had the rule been in place, United Express Flight 3411 still would have been overbooked by four seats, but at least United employees could have dealt with the situation in the gate area instead of on the plane.

United Airlines - Boycott

Besides being a racist, the way United Airlines handled David Dao also exposed its corporate culture whereby the airline has long “bullied” passengers. Not only United Airlines (and perhaps other airlines too) adopts a racist and bully culture, the airline is also quite cheapskate. The situation could have been avoided if United had simply upped their offer to volunteers.

United initially offered US$400, and increased to US$800 travel vouchers and a hotel stay, for volunteers to give up their seats to four United employees who needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight. When David Dao refused the offer, there would surely be other takers if United had simply upped their offer to perhaps US$1,600, or even US$3,200 for that matter.

US Dollar 10000

Now, taking the cue from United Airlines’ screw-up, Delta Air Lines is rubbing salt into the wound when it announced on Friday that its employees are given the power to offer customers almost US$10,000 (£7,973; €9,414; RM44,032) in compensation to give up seats on overbooked flights. In a way, Delta is taking advantage of the crisis to say they’re better, more caring and more proactive.

In an internal memo, Delta said gate agents can now offer up to US$2,000 (up from a previous maximum of US$800) and supervisors can offer up to US$9,950 (up from US$1,350). Last year Delta successfully bumped more passengers than any other U.S. airline, partly because it was generous enough to pay more than most of the other airlines.

Delta Air Lines Airlines

Delta said to staff – “To reinforce our commitment to our agents and their ability to care for our customers, we will be increasing the maximum allowable compensations limit for voluntary denied boardings (VDBs) systemwide.” However, Delta said its best practices included that staff “start at a lower compensation and increase, if necessary.”

If Delta paid US$9,950 to every person it bumped involuntarily last year, that would total US$12 million. Still, the money was like loose change considering Delta earned nearly US$4.4 billion in net profit last year. American Airlines, on the other hand, updated its rules to say that no passenger who has boarded the plane will be removed to give the seat to someone else.

Delta Air Lines Airlines - Tag

Government data shows that in 2015 and 2016, Delta paid an average of US$1,118 in compensation for every passenger that it denied a seat. Southwest Airlines paid US$758, United US$565, and American Airlines US$554. Ross Aimer, a retired United pilot said – “If you offer enough money, even the guy going to a funeral will sell his seat.”

When asked, United Airlines said they’re still reviewing its compensation policies, despite David Dao’s case, suggesting that the airline doesn’t care about customers at all. Even if United adopts Delta’s generous compensation plan – paying US$9,950 to every person it bumped involuntarily – the airline would still have lots of money left considering the airline earned US$2.3 billion in 2016.

China and Russia dispatch ships to shadow Donald Trump’s 'armada' as it approaches North Korean waters - Japanese media report

Read about USS Carl Vinson here 

Read more here about this article

BJP aims at Delhi elections as Hinduization spreads

BJP aims at Delhi elections as Hinduization spreads

India contemplates a decade of gradual Hindu nationalist dominance


Municipal elections in Delhi later this month have become politically significant for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party at a time when its political opponents and critics are gradually resigning themselves to maybe as much as a decade of increasing Hindu nationalism in India’s social and political life.

The BJP is launching an intense vote-winning campaign to ensure it defeats the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that embarrassed it by winning a crushing victory in Delhi state polls just after the BJP had won the 2014 zeral election.

Following the BJP’s landslide state assembly win in Uttar Pradesh (UP) last month, this is the next step for Modi and his strong Hindu nationalist henchman, Amit Shah, in their drive gradually to dominate the Indian political scene by the 2019 general election.

As has been seen since the UP victory, Hinduization can involve varying degrees of surges in extreme nationalist authoritarian policies. So far, these have included bans on sacred cow slaughter and police crackdowns both on slaughterhouses (mostly run by Muslims), and on the freedom for young men and women to socialize in public – backed sometimes by genuine Hindu nationalist hardliners, but also by vigilante enforcement gangs that cause communal unrest and extort bribes from those they attack.

  



The flip side is that UP at last seems to have a government, albeit with a firebrand Hindu priest, Yogi Adityanath (above), as chief minister, that is determined to restore law and order to a seriously lawless state, and also to push ahead with development. That is in stark contrast to the last 15 years of rule by two state-level regional parties.

More widely, these developments stem from the legacy of the fading Gandhi dynasty-dominated Congress Party that in 2014 bequeathed, after 10 years in power, a country urgently needing clean, efficient and development-oriented government.

As the Modi years unfold – he is now into the second half of his five-year term in office – it is clear that the price that India will have to pay for stronger government is growing and often intolerant Hindu nationalism, which horrifies India’s liberals and strikes fear among Muslims and some other minorities, notably Christians.

Delhi election

The five-yearly elections to the notoriously corrupt Delhi Municipal Corporation are rarely significant beyond the city. The BJP is currently in power, so it is not chasing a new victory, but it is determined to defeat its main competitor, the AAP led by Arvind Kejriwal, who is Delhi’s chief minister and whose small party grew out of an earlier anti-corruption movement.

  

Modi’s government has hounded the Kejriwal state administration since 2014, frequently undermining and disrupting its limited constitutional authority in Delhi’s multi-tiered government structure. The municipal election on April 23 will be a test of Modi’s and Shah’s ability to use the BJP’s organizational and financial clout to swing poor voters back from the AAP that they supported in 2014.

The BJP’s triumphant and unexpected appointment on March 19 of Adityanath, a long-standing MP and Hindu monk who always dresses in saffron priest’s robes, as the UP’s chief minister indicated that Modi is apparently content to give way sometimes to Hindu hardliners providing the development of a strong India remains his government’s top priority.

That balance seemed to have been upset in Adityanath’s early days, when enforcement of an existing law (which varies in different states) banning cow slaughter led to raids on slaughterhouses and also on sales of buffalo beef that is legitimately and widely eaten and exported. Gangs of gau rakshaks (cow protectors) became vigilante enforcers, backed by frequently vicious policing. There were indiscriminate raids and attacks on shops selling lamb and on kebab restaurants – at least one Kentucky Fried Chicken shop had to close in Delhi’s UP satellite city of Noida.

The chief minister of Gujarat on Twitter

At the same time, the government clamped down on hordes of young men who had been pestering women on the streets to such an extent that many young women did not dare go out in the evenings. This action was necessary and had not been carried out by the previous state government but, again, it was done to excess by “anti-Romeo” squads with police harassing couples and even arresting single men who were doing no harm.

Slowly, the situation calmed down. Adityanath warned that excesses would not be allowed and that “only those who do not believe in the law ought to be worried.” Harsh and sometimes violent threats and action have spread

Kim's Special Forces: North Korean despot unveils elite grenade launcher-wielding troops trained to defend him if Trump tries to 'remove' him from power

Kim's Special Forces: North Korean despot unveils elite grenade launcher-wielding troops trained to defend him if Trump tries to 'remove' him from power 

Read More here

North Korea's 'highly trained' Special Forces troops carried rifles fitted with grenade launchers through the streets of the Pyongyang during a military parade in Pyongyang on Saturday. The crack team, said to be the best equipped in the Korean People's Army, had night vision goggles affixed to their helmets and handguns strapped to their chest. Its presence at this weekend's Day Of The Sun celebrations comes amid rising tensions with the United States and President Trump, who has refused to rule out a pre-emptive strike if Kim reaches for the nuclear button. North Korea's Special Forces unit is on standby to defend the country from elite US soldiers who are practicing to 'remove' Kim Jong-un from power should war arise, an analyst with South Korea's Yonhap news agency claimed.

 

Dramatic moment a crocodile clamps its jaws around an elephant's trunk after leaping out of a watering hole to begin life-or-death fight for survival

Dramatic moment a crocodile clamps its jaws around an elephant's trunk after leaping out of a watering hole to begin life-or-death fight for survival 

The elephant was drinking from a lake in Liwonde National Park in Malawi when the beast leapt out of the water. At first the rest of the herd backed off as the elephant shook its trunk back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the reptile. But then another member of the herd came to its companion's aid, charging down the crocodile and knocking it back onto the ground.

NASA just snapped the first photos of a mysterious crack in one of Greenland’s largest glaciers

NASA just snapped the first photos of a mysterious crack in one of Greenland’s largest glaciers

Preliminary DMS image of the new rift in Greenland’s Petermann Glacier, directly beneath the NASA Operation IceBridge aircraft. (Gary Hoffmann/NASA).

This story has been updated. 

The first photographs of a new and ominous crack in Greenland’s enormous Petermann Glacier were captured by a NASA airborne mission Friday.

NASA’s Operation IceBridge, which has been flying over northwest Greenland for the past several days, took the photos after being provided coordinates by Stef Lhermitte, a professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, who had spotted the oddly located chasm by examining satellite images.

[In Greenland, a once doubtful scientist witnesses climate change’s troubling toll]

The NASA pictures make clear that a significant new rift has opened near the center of the glacier’s floating ice shelf — an unusual location that raises questions about how it formed. Moreover, this crack is not so distant from another much wider and longer crack that has been slowly extending toward the shelf’s center from its eastern side wall. The two cracks are clearly visible in this image taken from the aircraft:

Aerial photos of Petermann Glacier reveal new, dangerous cracks in the ice. The Post's Chris Mooney explains what that means for the glacier's future. (The Washington Post)

Still, there’s good precedent for worrying about what could happen at Petermann. When two prior ice islands broke off the glacier in 2010 and 2012 — the 2010 island in particular was extremely large — the events drew major media attention and were even discussed in a hearing before Congress. 

“Last week, an ice sheet covering 100 square miles broke off Greenland,” then-Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said at the opening of the hearing in summer 2010. “This giant ice island is more than four times the size of Manhattan. It is the largest piece of Arctic ice to break free in nearly half a century.”

Those past breaks also caused the glacier’s floating ice shelf to become much smaller than it had been before. Here’s a figure, courtesy of Jason Box of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, capturing the glacier’s shrinkage:

Petermann Glacier has grown back somewhat since those breaks because of its steady flow outward (at a rate that appears to be accelerating somewhat). But if the next piece breaks off, the red line in the graph above would plunge once again. Box estimated the resulting ice island would be some 50 to 70 square miles in size, or more than twice the size of Manhattan.

NASA’s Operation IceBridge is a research mission in which instrumented aircraft are flown over ice at both poles — both Greenland and Antarctica — to collect data about the state of polar ice and how it is changing. IceBridge operates over Greenland at this time of year and snapped the photos on what appeared to be a crystal-clear day at the glacier.

It has also taken recent photos of other nearby glaciers, such as Heilprin and Upernavik, and the state of floating sea ice in the channel between northwestern Greenland and northeastern Canada, in addition to its extensive data-gathering work.

After seeing the new NASA images, Lhermitte responded that it was “amazing to see the rift from nearby after studying it from space for several days.” But, he added, “From these images alone, it is difficult to already say anything about what exactly caused the crack on this unusual spot.”

The crack appeared in the middle of the floating shelf, rather than on one of its sides, as is typical of this glacier — leading Lhermitte to wonder whether it could have been caused by the ocean waters below the shelf.

You can bet that scientists will be conducting a great deal more research on this crack, what caused it and whether it might precipitate bigger changes to Petermann Glacier.

“Negative mass” created at Washington State University

Washington State University physicists have created a fluid with negative mass, which is exactly what it sounds like. Push it, and unlike every physical object in the world we know, it doesn’t accelerate in the direction it was pushed. It accelerates backwards.

Negative mass, or more specifically negative energy, is needed to shape the geometry of spacetime in the unique ways needed for engineered wormholes and warp drives. While the standard model of particle physics says that the bare mass of the electron is an infinite negative mass, we only see such consequences in things like dark energy, where the infinite negative energy of the Dirac sea or some kind of Casimir-like force may be driving the accelerating expansion of space.

The new research is exciting because it demonstrates how effective negative masses can be obtained via hydrodynamics. If we think of spacetime as a kind of superfluid, then we can imagine how engineering the spacetime metric following fluid dynamic principles may produce apparent negative energy effects, which would in theory enable things like the Alcubierre superluminal warp drive and opening wormholes.

This remarkable new finding will provide a significant analogous Earth-based system to study astrophysical phenomena, ranging from the fluid dynamics of space that generate dark energy effects, to the event horizons of black holes. This will help us to better understand the event horizon, black hole dynamics, and how it interacts with and couples to the quantum vacuum.

Article: https://news.wsu.edu/2017/04/10/negative-mass-created-at-wsu/

ATSB threatens staff with jail if MH370 details leaked

FMT Reporters | April 17, 2017

Australian Transport Safety Bureau gives warning following latest rejection of request for documents pertaining to the search for missing aircraft in 2014.

MH370-ATSBPETALING JAYA: Investigators in Australia are coming down hard against any possible leak of information pertaining to its search for missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 by threatening to jail staff members, The Australian reported.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) gave this warning after having refused to release material pertaining to the search efforts, as requested by families of the Chinese passengers of the ill-fated flight.

Invoking an article of law that was rarely used under the Transport Safety Investigation Act, ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said the request was denied because the release of the ­information could “cause damage to the international relations of the commonwealth”.

“The activities of the ATSB with respect to assisting the Malaysian investigation are covered by the TSI Act,” Hood said in supporting a decision that was made in February by the ATSB general manager for strategic capability Colin McNamara when the latter denied a Freedom of Information request which was first made by The Australian.

According to the daily, the law also carries with it a penalty of two years in jail, should any ATSB employee leak the requested information.

“The act allows for a serving or former ATSB staffer or consultant who discloses information to any person or to a court; and the information is ­restricted, to be considered as having breached the act, and be subject to a penalty of two years in prison,” Hood was quoted as saying.
Following the decision, the families of the Chinese passengers accused Australia of being complicit in a cover-up by the Malaysian government.

“Is avoiding offending the ­Malaysian authorities more important than discovering the truth?” the families said in a statement after the first request was refused in February.
The particular information requested was said to be documents that the ATSB had claimed supported its “ghost flight” and “death dive” scenario, which holds the Boeing 777 went down in an unpiloted crash.

However, according to The Australian, some ATSB officers are having second thoughts about the agency’s official line that MH370’s ­pilots were unconscious or dead at the end of the flight. Hence, the fear that some of the documents may be leaked.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board, most of them Chinese, en route to Beijing from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Its whereabouts have become one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The disappearance of MH370 sparked the largest and most expensive search operation in aviation history.

However, Australia, China and Malaysia, which jointly coordinated and funded the search operation led by ATSB, announced in January the suspension of the search for MH370.

Compare: What you can buy with RM50 and S$50 at a supermarket -

Compare: What you can buy with RM50 and S$50 at a supermarket -

A shopper chooses fresh vegetables from the fresh produce section in Tesco. — Picture by Choo Choy MaySINGAPORE, April 17 — With the Singapore dollar continuing to notch new record highs against the Malaysian ringgit, TODAY made two grocery runs at Giant supermarkets in Singapore and Johor Baru to see what this means for the average consumer (at an exchange rate of S$1 = RM3.17)

What we bought with the equivalent of S$50 in Johor Baru:

1.8kg whole chicken (RM14.49)

3-litre bottle of Naturel canola and sunflower cooking oil (RM21.99)

500g box of Kellogg’s cornflakes (RM9.99)

505g can of condensed milk (RM3.06)

500g block of Buttercup butter spread (RM10.77)

600g jumbo loaf of original classic Gardenia bread (RM3.40)

2-litre bottle of floor cleaning agent (RM5.99)

Bunch of round spinach (RM1.99)

100g pack of chilli (RM1.69)

340g bottle of chilli sauce (RM1.99)

Five-pack Maggi instant noodles (RM4.79)

1kg pack of brown sugar (RM5.20)

2 cartons of 1-litre Marigold HL milk (RM11.99)

2kg pack of Fab anti-bacterial washing powder (RM14.39)

5kg pack of Thai fragrant rice (RM21.69)

Tray of 30 fresh chicken eggs (RM8.09)

1kg pack of Milo mix (RM16.99)

What we bought with S$50 in Singapore:

1kg whole chicken (S$6.60)

2-litre bottle of Naturel canola and sunflower cooking oil (S$8.70)

275g box of Kellogg’s cornflakes (S$3.65)

600g jumbo loaf of super soft & fine Gardenia bread (S$3.30)

3-litre bottle of floor cleaning agent (S$4.45)

Pack of Sio Peck Chye vegetables (S$0.75)

5kg pack of Thai fragrant rice (S$9.30)

Five-pack Maggi instant noodles (S$2.20)

800g pack of brown sugar (S$3.50)

Tray of 30 fresh chicken eggs (S$3.85)

400g pack of Milo mix (S$3.95)

What we bought with RM50 in Johor Baru:

505g can of condensed milk (RM3.06)

600g jumbo loaf of original classic Gardenia bread (RM3.40)

2-litre bottle of floor cleaning agent (RM5.99)

A handful of chilli (RM0.50)

340g bottle of chilli sauce (RM1.99)

Five-pack Maggi instant noodles (RM4.79)

1kg pack of brown sugar (RM5.20)

Tray of 30 fresh chicken eggs (RM8.09)

1kg pack of Milo mix (RM16.99)

What we bought with the equivalent of RM50 in Singapore:

2-litre bottle of Naturel canola and sunflower cooking oil (S$8.70)

600g jumbo loaf of super soft & fine Gardenia bread (S$3.30)

Tray of 30 fresh chicken eggs (S$3.85) — TODAY

IMPROPER MASTURBATION CAN LEAD TO PREMATURE ORGASMS, SEXUAL PROBLEMS: MALAYSIAN EXPERT

IMPROPER MASTURBATION CAN LEAD TO PREMATURE ORGASMS, SEXUAL PROBLEMS: MALAYSIAN EXPERT

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia head of urology and consultant urologist Professor Datuk Dr Zulkifli Md Zainuddin said this was because the individual was getting his body used to climaxing in a non-ideal environment.

   

“In dry masturbation, an individual does not use any from of lubrication as aid to climax.

“He may use a pillow or rub it against his bed, causing severe friction on the sensitive skin of his genital,” Dr Zulkifli said when met after a talk titled “What The Fact of Sexual Habits” recently.

He explained that after “years” of doing this, when the penis is in a vagina that is “moist and ideal”, it leads to a faster reaction.

“It leads to reaching orgasm even faster than the individual would like to,” he said.

He added that water-based lubricants such as KY Jelly are best while petroleum jelly is not as good or healthy.

On whether improper masturbation could affect women, he said: “No, it does not affect women as they have natural lubricants.”

Dr Zulkifli also said rushed masturbation was not ideal.

“When a man is in his teens, he does it under the blanket or in his room.

“Sometimes, if too long is spent in the bathroom, his mother may knock on the door, asking what is taking so long. So most of the time, teenagers are just rushing it.

“When you are always rushing to do it discretely, you are just teaching your body to climax faster and that can also contribute to premature ejaculation,” he said.

He also pointed out that premature ejaculation is the second highest sexual diagnosis that men are treated for in Malaysia.

On whether excessive masturbation led to problems like premature ejaculation or erectile dysfunction, Dr Zulkifli said it was a myth.

“Even claims that excessive masturbation is bad for the knees and affects sports activities, are all not true.

“There have been no studies on this and there is no way to prove it,” he said.

On whether any of the present sexual education modules contained such information, he said they did not.

“We have a prepared module, but we face so much resistance from the Education Ministry.

“Teachers themselves are reserved about teaching such topics. They think giving sexual education is teaching children to have sex, like promoting sex, and that makes it very difficult for us to educate the younger generation.

“We know it is so important to teach the younger ones because we can avoid social ills, but not everyone understands that,” he said.

Dr Zulkifli added that parents and teachers should learn to accept that children as young as 10 begin to explore their bodies.

He said it was better for them to do it while being aware of what was happening.

ANN

Saudi Debt Binge Amid Oil Gains Eases Bank Liquidity Drought

by  Bloomberg|Arif Sharif|Thursday, April 13, 2017


 
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s repeat visits to international bond markets and a partial recovery in the price of oil, its biggest export, is easing a liquidity squeeze that was hampering its financial system.

As the country finalized its first issue of dollar-denominated Islamic notes, six months after selling the biggest ever bond by an emerging market country, an interest rate used by Saudi banks to price loans stood at its lowest level in almost 14 months. That rate, known as Saibor, will probably fall further after the latest sukuk issue, according to Anita Yadav, head of fixed-income research at Emirates NBD PJSC, Dubai’s biggest bank.

Saibor has been falling since reaching a seven-year peak of 2.386 percent on October 17, immediately before the country’s debut dollar-bond sale, as oil export revenue dwindled, sending the state budget into deficit. Cost cutting by a government usually associated with vast reserves of petrodollars, and a drawing down of its bank deposits to prop up spending, prompted a cash squeeze in the economy, helping drive Saibor higher.

“Saudi Arabia is doing these jumbo bond deals, like the sukuk yesterday, that will bring money into the country and ease bank liquidity further,” Yadav said.

The Saudi financial system is also benefiting from a doubling in oil prices since they hit a 12-year low in January 2016. Saudi banks’ combined loans-to-deposit ratio, a key measure of liquidity, improved to 88.1 percent in February from 90.8 percent in August, according to central bank data. Bank lending grew 2.8 percent in 2016, the slowest pace since 2009, according to central bank data.

In the Red
Still, the Saudi budget remains in the red and the deficit will probably be 7.6 percent of output this year, according to the median estimate of 11 analysts polled by Bloomberg.

That means government spending cuts may continue, hurting growth and reducing demand for investment funds. Loan demand in Saudi Arabia will be "subdued" this year, Moody’s Investors Service said last month, while economic growth is likely to slow to 0.4 percent in 2017, the weakest in nine years, the International Monetary Fund forecast.

But with oil firmly above $50 a barrel and the Saudi government proving it can tap international investors for enough liquidity to pay its bills, the economy has some breathing space. Brent crude was 0.1 percent higher at $55.9 a barrel at 2:13 p.m. in Dubai on Thursday.

There has been a "significant improvement in liquidity in the kingdom over the past three or four months," James Reeve, the London-based senior economist at Samba Financial Group said in an email. This has been due to "waning demand for private credit and the fulfillment of outstanding invoices by the government."

To contact the reporter on this story: Arif Sharif in Dubai at asharif2@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Barwell at tbarwell@bloomberg.net Chris Vellacott, Dana El Baltaji

Copyright 2017 Bloomberg News.

For North Korea, Cutting Off Oil Supplies Would Be Devastating by Reuters|Jane Chung & Tony Munroe|Thursday, April 13, 2017

For North Korea, Cutting Off Oil Supplies Would Be Devastating

Isolated North Korea doesn't consume much oil but curbing or cutting off its supplies in retaliation would be painful and potentially destabilizing to the regime of Kim Jong Un.

BEIJING/SEOUL, April 13 (Reuters) - Isolated North Korea doesn't consume much oil, but curbing or cutting off its supplies in retaliation for further nuclear or long-range missile tests would be painful and potentially destabilising to the regime of Kim Jong Un.

U.S. officials have told Reuters that an oil embargo is among tougher sanctions Washington could pursue to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile programs

Separately, the Global Times, an influential Chinese tabloid whose stance does not necessarily reflect official policy, said in an editorial on Wednesday that "Chinese society" would approve of "severe restrictive measures that have never been seen before, such as restricting oil imports to the North," if Pyongyang engages in further provocative activity.

China, which supplies most of North Korea's crude, no longer reports its oil shipments to the country, but according to South Korean data supplies it with roughly 500,000 tonnes of crude oil annually. It also exports over 200,000 tonnes of oil products, according to U.N. data.

Analysts said the impact of a full oil embargo on Pyongyang would be so damaging that China, which opposes any measures that could fuel instability in North Korea, would be unlikely to take that step or agree to such a measure in the United Nations Security Council, where it has a veto as a permanent member.

"If China cuts off oil supply, North Korea would not survive on its own for three months and everything in North Korea would be paralysed," said Cho Bong-hyun, who heads research on North Korea's economy at IBK Bank in Seoul.

"This could increase the possibility of North Korea's collapse and have an adverse impact on China as well. China would rather consider reducing crude oil supply," he said.

North Korea has virtually no domestic oil production, and has traditionally imported the little demand it has for fuel at its refineries from China and, to a lesser extent, Russia.

North Korea has two refineries: the Ponghwa Chemical Factory sits on the river border with Dandong in China, while the Sungri refinery is located on the Tumen River bordering Russia.

Much of North Korea's energy is supplied by abundant domestic coal, but oil is used by the military as well as in transport and agriculture.

"Cutting off all oil for an extended period of time, perhaps indefinitely, is probably the toughest economic punishment that China could impose on North Korea. It is highly unlikely that China would take such a step," said Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"It is possible that it might reduce the flow, stop oil deliveries for a week or two, but not cut it off entirely."

In 2003, China's oil pipeline to North Korea shut down for three days after a missile launch, adding to pressure on Pyongyang to draw back from nuclear brinkmanship. Chinese officials said then it was a mechanical breakdown, but some experts said it was deliberate.

Credible Signal

Data from Seoul's Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) shows North Korea imported 525,000 tonnes of crude oil from China in 2015, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

United Nations data shows China also exported 218,087 tonnes of refined oil products to North Korea in 2015, about six times what Russia sent.

"The objective of a statement like this is not to follow through; the objective is to send a credible signal that would make the North Korean leadership think twice," Stephan Haggard, an expert on the North Korean economy at the University of California, San Diego, said of the Global Times editorial.

"It is all about shifting North Korea into a mode where negotiations would resume," he said.

(Additional reporting by Ju-Min Park in SEOUL and John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

NO WONDER NON-MUSLIMS FEAR HUDUD: WHY MUST ALL SHOPS BE CLOSED FOR MAGHRIB PRAYERS – HUSAM SLAMS KELANTAN

Parti Amanah Negara’s Salor assemblyperson Husam Musa has questioned why the Kelantan state government is ordering all businesses to close shop for the maghrib (after sunset) prayers.

Husam said the order should only be limited to Muslim proprietors, as non-Muslims don’t need to perform maghrib prayers.

  

 

 “In this case, non-Muslims don’t need to pray (during maghrib). So why is this ruling being expanded to non-Muslims? It is enough to enforce it on Muslims only,” Husam said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Free Malaysia Today reported Kelantan state executive councillor Abdul Fattah Mahmood as saying that all businesses, including non-Muslim ones, must close shop during maghrib prayers to allow consumers and business owners to pray.

A warning whistle will reportedly be blown 15 minutes before the azan (call to prayer), and once more 10 minutes before.

The Kota Bharu Municipal Council had reportedly implemented the system a year ago.

Fattah said errant traders would be given a warning first, and repeat offenders would face temporary barring of their businesses.

 

MKINI

A TALE OF 2 CURRENCIES – RINGGIT & SING DOLLAR: HOW CONTRASTING FORTUNES OF 2 FAMILIES REFLECT THE ECONOMIC MORES OF 2 NATIONS

JOHOR BARU — As the Malaysian ringgit continues to notch new lows against the Singapore dollar, TODAY looks at how the fortunes of two families have changed.

 

  

 

 

Vasanthan Balachandran and his family used to have to think hard about stretching their RM400 budget when shopping at the SongMart supermarket in the outskirts of Johor Baru.

Not anymore. These days, they just buy whatever they feel like, largely thanks to the Malaysian currency’s unprecedented slump against the Singapore dollar.

“We can just take a basket and drop everything we want. Life is sweet. Life is bling bling,” said the Malaysian, who earns about S$2,000 (RM6,312) as a pre-boarding screening officer at Changi Airport.

The Singapore dollar continued its climb against the ringgit last week, hitting a new all-time high of 3.1786 on Thursday (April 13). The outlook for the ringgit – which has been on a downward spiral since mid-2014 due to the global oil price slump, a corruption scandal at state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad and rising US interest rates – remains wobbly, especially with the continued outflow of capital from Malaysia since Donald Trump’s election victory last November.

On the ground, the impact of these currency movements can be dramatic. For instance, Vasanthan’s salary, once overtime pay and incentives are included, can now match that of a professor in Johor Baru.

It is a welcome change for the 31-year-old, who began working at the age of 18 transporting gas cylinders from house to house.

Financial pressures on Vasanthan grew in 2008 after his father died of diabetes, and left him as the head of the household. Earning RM1,400 at most as a warehouse assistant, he struggled for a few years to keep his younger brother in school and the household afloat.

Three years ago, Vasanthan began applying for accounting jobs in Singapore after hearing multiple accounts about the greener pastures across the Causeway. The diploma holder was repeatedly rejected by employers in Singapore.

While walking past the Certis Cisco building at Paya Lebar one day, however, he decided to walk in and ask if they were hiring. He was offered an airport security job with a basic pay of S$750 (worth RM1,900 then) on the spot.

He has been with the company since. His spending power began to grow significantly, thanks to a heady combination of a rise in his Singdollar-based salary and the ringgit’s slump against the Singapore currency.

In 2015, for instance, he and his 25-year-old brother, who also works in Singapore, felt financially secure enough to fork out S$1,250 a month to rent a three-room Housing and Development Board flat just so they could get more sleep and avoid the Causeway commute.

This is on top of the S$650 that they give their 62-year-old mother, who lives with them in Marsiling.

At the same time, they kept their flat in Pulai Jaya, a 30-minute drive from the Causeway, which they visit once every two weeks and pay RM400 a month for cable television subscription, phone and utilities.

Vasanthan is even on track to upgrade his RM8,600 Yamaha FZ 150cc to his dream bike, a RM26,000 Kawasaki Ninja 250R, by the end of the year. All he needs is to make a down payment of RM5,000, followed by monthly RM400 instalments.

With the weakening ringgit, his family can stretch their dollar even further when they spend across the Causeway.

Vasanthan rides his motorbike to Johor Baru once every four days to get fuel. For RM20, he can get a full tank, which would cost about three times as much in Singapore.

His mother, Vanaja Ramanathan, would save another S$10 by picking up groceries such as condensed milk, Lipton tea, bottles of kaya, soya, chili and tomato sauce, which cost no more than RM60.

Word about Vasanthan’s new found spending power has gotten around. For one, he no longer gets a discount from his long-time mechanic.

The mechanic would in fact ask him: “You now work in Singapore right? Can tip?”

His Malaysian neighbours and acquaintances also eagerly ask him about job opportunities in Singapore. “Those working in JB, they treat like a normal person, those working in Singapore, they look to you like some big shot,” Vasanthan said with a wry smile.

But he says he is fine with that, as long as he does not have to scrimp anymore.

“I am feeling more settled, confident and relieved… Whatever we want to buy, we can now buy. We are steady,” he added.

The Anuars were caught on the wrong side of the unprecedented currency movements. — TODAY picThe Anuars were caught on the wrong side of the unprecedented currency movements. — TODAY picThe Anuar family

Snowed in by the ringgit’s slump

Five years ago, the Anuars sold their three-room flat in Marsiling and relocated to Pulai Jaya in the outskirts of Johor Baru. They were next-door neighbours with the Balachandrans at one point.

But unlike Vasanthan Balachandran who saw his spending power soar as the ringgit declined against the Singdollar, the Anuars were caught on the wrong side of the unprecedented currency movements.

Earning in ringgit while having to spend in Singapore, the family of five — four Singaporeans and a Malaysian — soon discovered how tough life could get as their spending power fell dramatically.

Samsul Anuar, a bailiff at the Johor High Court, and Zainon Saini, a Singaporean, married in 1995. They had to live apart for many years because the Malaysian civil servant could not get a social visit pass to stay in Singapore for more than 30 days at a stretch, despite five applications and appeals to their constituency’s Member of Parliament.

The couple coped as best as they could, but financial pressures on the family came to a head in 2012: It had simply become too expensive for them to live in Singapore on Anuar’s RM3,000 salary.

It was also getting too costly for him to fork out S$20 (RM36 in 1995, RM50 by 2012) every week for the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) to enter Singapore to see his family.

Adding to the family’s financial stress, Zainon had to quit her S$1,200 a month (about RM2,900 then) security officer job in 2011 to tend to their sick daughter.

Zainon said she felt the pinch even back then, when the exchange rate was about one Singdollar to RM2.40. “I shivered whenever it was time for me to open my letterbox. The bills could go up to S$170 a month (RM408 by 2011 rates),” she told TODAY.

Living in Johor Baru, they had to tighten their belts even though living expenses were more manageable.

Given just RM1,000 to manage the family’s expenditures, Zainon shied away from buying even cheap shoes, handbags or clothing.

Their weekly visits to McDonald’s and KFC had to be reduced to two or three times a month, said the housewife. Shopping became a “just to see only” exercise for the children to eye what they like, so they can save up for it.

What became most unbearable, however, were the trips to visit friends and relatives in Singapore. With her husband’s salary shrinking in value from S$1,200 to S$950 due to the currency fluctuations, Zainon and her children could no longer afford to spend a day in their home country without missing a meal.

“RM50 (S$15.80) is gone after you top up your EZ-link card and eat a meal. So sometimes, in Singapore, I say that I’ve already eaten when I haven’t. I eat when I return to Johor at night,” the 54-year-old said.

She supplements the family’s income by selling home-baked pineapple tarts and marble cakes. A bottle of 80 tarts retail for RM30 in Johor Baru. But in Singapore, she can sell them for S$30.

Raw ingredients also cost less in Malaysia. For example, a 500g block of butter cost RM10.77 (S$3.41) in Johor Baru’s Giant supermarket, compared to S$4.60 (RM14.50) in Singapore’s Giant.

She is eyeing another silver lining next year, when she turns 55. That is when she will start receiving payouts from her Central Provident Fund savings amassed from working in Singapore for more than two decades.

The payouts will go a long way for her family as they are denominated in Singdollars.

She and her husband, however, are pinning the family’s long term hopes on the prospects of their 21-year-old son securing a well-paying job in Singapore.

“My children still see a better future in Singapore,” said Zainon.

— TODAY