Born on Penang Bridge Leapling Baby

Leapling baby born on Penang Bridge

By ZALINAH NOORDIN zalinah@thestar.com.my 

GEORGE TOWN: This Leap Year has turned out to be a most special one for a young couple from the mainland.

The wife gave birth to a baby girl in a car while travelling on the Penang Bridge.

The mother was being rushed by the father to the Adventist Hospital here at about 6.30pm when her contractions became stronger and before the couple could react, the baby had popped out.

Earlier, she had labour pains at their home on the mainland.

The couple decided to drive over to the island despite know- ing that they could be heading into the after-office hours jam here.

Grimacing in pain and sensing that the baby was about to be born, the wife pleaded with the husband to step on the pedal, hoping that they could reach the hospital in time.

But, before the couple knew it, the baby had emerged safely into the arms of the excited mother.

The husband then drove straight to the hospital located about 15km away from the bridge

A hospital spokesperson who confirmed the case, said that the baby was rushed to the maternity ward for immediate attention and follow-up care.

It was a triple joy for the couple as the child was born in the Year of the Dragon, on a Leap Day and on the iconic Penang Bridge, the spokesperson said.

It is learnt that the overjoyed husband told the hospital staff that he intended to throw a big birthday party every four years for his daughter, whom he regards as having brought blessings to the family due to the unique circumstances of her birth.
 
GEORGE TOWN: Businessman Yeap Ee Sin stepped on the accelerator, racing to bring his pregnant wife to the Adventist Hospital on the island as her contractions became stronger.

Happy family: Yeap and Wong with their leapling baby and older daughter Ying Swenz.

But his daughter was eager to make her debut on Feb 29, the leap day in the Year of the Dragon, so she “arrived” inside daddy's car right in the middle of Penang Bridge.

The hospital was still another 15km away.

“I really didn't expect it. She was supposed to be due on March 8,” said Yeap, 26.

“While I was speeding through the bridge, I said a  silent prayer for my baby to wait until we got to the hospital.

  “But before we could even reach the island, my wife gave out a loud scream and out came the baby's head. The next thing I knew, she was cradling the baby in her arms.

“I guess she just couldn't wait,” said the proud father.

The newborn, who has yet to be named, weighed 2.9kg.

Yeap sped to reach the hospital as the baby's umbilical cord was still intact.

“I was worried that there would be traffic congestion since it was peak hour (at about 6pm) then but thank God it wasn't that bad as I was going to Penang Island from the mainland.

“Imagine if I was coming from the other way?” he quipped.

Yeap said his wife Wong Sok Sim, 26, had earlier been experiencing heavy contractions and he immediately rushed home from work and took her to the hospital.

“Both mother and daughter are safe,” he said.

An overjoyed Yeap told the hospital staff that he would throw a big birthday party every four years for his daughter, whom he felt was a blessing to the family due to the unique circumstances of her birth.

The couple have an elder daughter aged 16 months.

Washington seeks to extend hegemony to trade

(Global Times)

US President Barack Obama signed an order Tuesday to create an interdepartmental task force to enforce trade agreements. Some commented that it is directly targeting "unfair trade practices" by its major trade partner China. On the same day, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank, issued a report entitled Enough is Enough: Confronting Chinese Innovation Mercantilism. 

It accused Beijing of using various tricks like subsidies or export restrictions to gain an "absolute advantage" for its companies and urged Washington to "build a global free-trade coalition" with allies to push back against China.

The US has not made such endeavors before. China is facing serious trade frictions. The US deemed that their manufacturing industry is most effective, and "unfair trade practices" are an easy target.

US politicians have repeatedly instilled voters with such information: China is challenging the global trade rule with "national capitalism," and the US must strike back.

Actually, the US is challenging and damaging the rule. Perhaps Washington feels the WTO has become less and less helpful and it has to create a new alternative. The US government now integrates resources and attempts to deal a severe blow to "unfair trade practices" at any time.

However, no matter how strong the US is, it cannot expand and impose its will to a world which will not accept a trade power overriding the WTO. If anyone can freely create an enforcement unit to pursue personal interests, where can world trade order be found?

The world's largest importer cannot seek limitless power, especially since China is only years away from becoming the top importer itself.

This year will see presidential elections in the US and politicians are scoring cheap points on the back of foreign countries. The Democratic Party and Republican Party can always find unity against China.

China has to be clear. China's annual exports to the US were $320 billion last year, but US sanctions against Chinese exports were at no more than $10 billion. The US will not risk a major showdown.

Due to strategic mistrust, mutual precautions are increasing and the risks of politicalizing future trade frictions are intensifying.

US politicians like to exaggerate matters. China should ignore this, stick to WTO rules in the trade lawsuit against the US and protect the interests of Chinese companies.

We should not be intimidated by this so-called enforcement office. The US is not in a position to assess China's trade system. Only the WTO is qualified to assess and WTO Director-general Pascal Lamy has given an A+ to China's performance since its accession.

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MAS shocker: RM2.5 billion biggest-ever loss in its history!

By B.K. SIDHU bksidhu@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: National carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) posted a shocking RM2.52bil net loss for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2011 the biggest-ever loss in its corporate history led by higher expenses, despite revenue rising 2% to RM13.9bil.

In comparison, the airline reported a net profit of RM234mil for the whole of 2010 and chalked up sales of RM13.58bil.

The RM2.5bil figure for 2011 includes a RM1.09bil provision, essentially a non-cash item, to reflect the state of health at the airline.

“The company is in crisis. The accounts for 2011 recognises provisions and escalating operational costs which, although painful, gives us a holistic snapshot of the organisation,” group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said at the briefing of its results yesterday.

Ahmad says MAS is in crisis and that the accounts for 2011 recognises provisions and escalating operational costs which gives a holistic snapshot of the organisation. On the right is Rashdan.

 

“With full knowledge of our actual position, we will be better prepared to move forward,'' he said.

The non-cash items include RM179mil of stock obsolescence (mostly spares for the B737 aircraft), RM602mil for re-delivery of aircraft (it will return 52 of its leased aircraft and will incur some cost in making sure they are in pre-delivery condition), and RM314mil impairment of freighter aircraft (adjusting the freighters to current market value).

For the full year, the airline's loss per share was 75.52 sen versus earnings per share of 7.25 sen in 2010.

For the fourth quarter, MAS reported a net loss of RM1.28bil and sales of RM3.67bil. But a year earlier, it had reported a net profit of RM225mil and sales of RM3.66bil.

“If you filter all the accounts off the non-cash items, it is a decent performance by MAS given the challenges it is facing,'' said an analyst with Maybank Investment Bank.

He believes that the numbers are slightly better than analysts' estimates.

By stripping out the RM1.09bil provisioning from the net loss of RM2.52bil, the actual loss incurred by the airline for 2011 is RM1.43bil. For the first three quarters of 2011, the airline incurred a net loss of RM1.24bil and with the stripping out of the RM1.09bil, the actual net loss for the fourth quarter is only RM184mil. However, when added with some additional items it should be a net loss of RM231mil for the quarter.

Ahmad said that group expenditure had gone up by 21% mainly due to higher fuel costs. MAS' fuel bill for 2011 swelled by 33%, or RM1.46bil, to RM5.85bil from RM4.38bil a year earlier. Jet fuel prices have risen from US$95 a barrel at the end of 2010 to US$133 at end-2011. Currently, it is hovering around the US$137US$138 per barrel range.

For 2011, MAS saw a 6% improvement in passenger revenue, while yields were up 4% to 24.7 sen per revenue passenger kilometre. But the improvement, according to Ahmad, was insufficient to offset the rising costs, especially fuel.

Bearing in mind that it only has RM1.1bil in cash reserves, and in view of the big number of aircraft deliveries it has to take, MAS is in dire need of more cash.

Ahmad said the next task was to strengthen the balance sheet or else it would be difficult for the airline to get financing for its new deliveries.

“The bottom-line group losses for 2011 underscore the need for MAS to adopt strong measures to stop the bleeding, and they include staff redeployment, increasing productivity and efficiency, relentless cost control and making further route review,'' he said, adding that thus far the airline had implemented 9% route cuts.

In order to strengthen the balance sheet to boost cash reserves and funding capacity, he needs another 60 days to come up with a plan.

“The plan includes, but not limited to, debt and/equity market options. Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Tune Air, the two largest shareholders, are supportive of these initiatives,'' he said.

His deputy Mohammed Rashdan Yusof did not rule out the possibility of a cash call and the selling of non-core assets to raise cash.

Ahmad also disclosed that talks with Qantas were under way but declined to reveal the scope of the talks. MAS will be joining the oneworld alliance by November this year.

Despite the huge losses and funding requirement, Ahmad remains positive on the outlook for the airline, saying “if we follow our business plan, we should be in the black (this year).''