Sabtu, 12 Mac 2011

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(Video) Masalah Sistem Paip Penyebab Loji Nuklear Fukushima Daiichi Meletup

Posted: 12 Mar 2011 05:00 PM PST

An explosion at an earthquake-struck nuclear plant was not caused by damage to the nuclear reactor but by a pumping system that failed as crews tried to bring the reactor's temperature down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Saturday.

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant have begun flooding the reactor containment structure with sea water to bring the reactor's temperature down to safe levels, he said. The effort is expected to take two days.
Radiation levels have fallen since the explosion and there is no immediate danger, Edano said. But authorities were nevertheless expanding the evacuation to include a radius of 20 kilometers (about 12.5 miles) around the plant. The evacuation previously reached out to 10 kilometers.

The government also expanded the evacuation radius for the Fukushima Daini plant to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The evacuation radius had been 3 kilometers. It was not immediately clear what led to the order.

Earlier Saturday, Tokyo Electric Power Company reported that, while cooling systems at three of four reactors had failed after the quake, water levels in the Daini plant's reactors were stable and monitors had not detected elevated radiation levels at the plant's boundaries.

More than 83,000 people live within 10 kilometers of the two plants, according to Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. If the reactors are not kept cool, the fuel rods inside the reactor can melt down, which can cause enormous damage to the reactor or, in a worse case, cause the release of radioactive material into the air or water, raising the threat of cancer and other health problems, experts say.

The government was also preparing to distribute iodine tablets to residents, the IAEA said. Iodine is commonly prescribed as to help prevent the thyroid gland from taking in too much radioactivity, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website.

The explosion about 3:30 p.m. Saturday sent white smoke rising above the plant a day after a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled cooling systems at the plant in northeastern Japan. Four workers were injured in the blast.

The walls of a concrete building surrounding the reactor container collapsed, but the reactor and its containment system were not damaged in the explosion, Edano said. A spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Agency earlier said atomic material had seeped out of one of the five nuclear reactors at the Daiichi plant, located about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north of Tokyo.

Japan's nuclear agency said there was a strong possibility that the radioactive cesium the monitors detected was from the melting of a fuel rod at the plant, adding that engineers were continuing to cool the fuel rods by pumping water around them. Cesium is a byproduct of the nuclear fission process that occurs in nuclear plants.

Before Edano's announcement, Malcolm Grimston, associate fellow for energy, environment and development at London's Chatham House, said the explosion indicated that "it's clearly a serious situation, but that in itself does not necessarily mean major (nuclear) contamination."

"This is a situation that has the potential for a nuclear catastrophe. It's basically a race against time, because what has happened is that plant operators have not been able to cool down the core of at least two reactors," said Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday on its website that the quake and tsunami knocked out a Daiichi reactor's off-site power source, which is used to cool down the radioactive material inside. Then, the tsunami waves disabled the backup source -- diesel generators -- and authorities were working to get these operating.

On Saturday, Japanese nuclear authorities said the cooling system had also failed at three of the four reactors at the Fukushima Daini plant. Authorities also ordered the release of valves at affected reactors at the two plants Saturday -- a move that experts said was likely done to release growing pressure inside as high temperatures caused water to boil and produce excess steam.

James Acton, a physicist who examined the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after a 2007 earthquake, told CNN that releasing the valves at the two power plants might spew a relatively small amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere.

"The big problem is if it can't cool and the (reactors') core starts to melt -- then you have the possibility of a greater release of radioactivity into the environment," Acton said. If that happens, "there's a possibility of cancer in the long term -- that's the main hazard here."

The evacuations notwithstanding, the nuclear safety agency asserted Saturday that the radiation at the plants does not pose an immediate threat to nearby residents' health, the Kyodo News Agency said.Janie Eudy told CNN that her 52-year-old husband, Joe, was working at the Daiichi plant and was injured by falling and shattering glass when the quake struck. As he and others were planning to evacuate, at their managers' orders, the tsunami waves struck and washed buildings from the nearby town past the plant.

"To me, it sounded like hell on earth," she said, adding her husband -- a native of Pineville, Louisiana -ultimately escaped. Utility officials reported Saturday that more than 3 million households were without power, NHK reported, and that power shortages may occur due to damage at the company's facilities."We kindly ask our customers to cooperate with us in reducing usage of power," the company said./CNN

Nah!! Ini Dia Kekayaan Abu Bekir, Anak Taib Mahmud..

Posted: 12 Mar 2011 04:30 AM PST

Abu Bekir, Berapakah Nilai Sebenar Beliau?

Ketika menamatkan zaman bujangnya, Abu Bekir telah memilih gadis sebagai isteri yang berkelulusan MBA dalam bidang kewangan yang boleh kita anggap paling ideal baginya. Keluarga Bekir juga telah meletakkan pengantin perempuan itu untuk menggotai lembaga pengarah syarikat CMS. Namun, ini bermakna Datin Sri Shahnaz Majid, yang kini menyaman Bekir untuk menuntut perceraian, tetap kelihatan layak untuk membuat anggaran ke atas nilai anak Taib Mahmud itu – dan isterinya itu kini menuntut RM400 juta.

Menurut peguam yang pakar dalam kes-kes perceraian sebagai mana yang telah ditanya oleh Sarawak Report, si isteri layak menuntut 30% dari kekayaan sepencarian, yang membuat Abu Bekir yang berusia 48 tahun itu seorang jutawan.! Pendedahan seperti ini tidak seharusnya dilakukan memandangkan keluarga Taib Mahmud baharu saja mewar-warkan berita untuk meletakkan Bekir bertanding di Sadong Jaya, sebuah kerusi DUN yang mereka anggap amat selamat.

Taib dikatakan bercadang untuk meletakkan penggantinya, Bekir di kawasan itu. Malah, Perdana Menteri Najib Razak juga diketahui akan melawat kawasan tersebut pada 19 Mac ini. Namun, kini para pengundi perlu mengetahui dengan lebih lanjut maklumat-maklumat tambahan bakal calon wakil rakyat mereka itu!

Sikap yang buruk?

Shahnaz, saudara kepada penyanyi terkenal jazz Sheila Majid, dan disukai ramai, berkata Abu Bekir telah mendatangkan kecederaan fizikal dan mental terhadapnya. Menurut beberapa laporan, Shahnaz telah mendakwa suaminya itu pernah menumbuk kepala, muka dan matanya; menerajang rusuknya, dan mencekiknya. Dia juga mendakwa dirinya pernah dihamburkan dengan kata-kata kesat dan jijik. Dakwaan ke atas Abu Bekir itu tidak jauh berbeza dengan dakwaan seorang teman wanita Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, adik kepada Abu Bekir, ketika di sebuah bar di KL beberapa ketika dahulu.

Pasangan Bekir dan Shahnaz, berkahwin pada tahun 1992 dan kini mempunyai seorang anak lelaki berusia 17 tahun, telah tidak lagi berhubungan sejak 2001. Shahnaz mendakwa, sejak 1999, suaminya jarang pulang ke rumah dan enggan mendengar nasihatnya, sukar dihubungi dan diketahuinya sering aktif berinteraksi dengan perempuan-perempuan lain. Sebaik saja Bekir berkahwin kali kedua dengan wanita muda berambut perang berketurunan Russia, dia terus mengabaikan Shahnaz dan anak mereka.

Aset-aset

Namun yang menarik perhatian umum adalah aset-aset milik Abu Bekir dan bagai mana dia memperolehi segala kekayaan yang akan melayakkannya untuk mewakili kawasan berkenaan. Shahnaz mengatakan Bekir memilik beberapa buah rumah mewah dan kawasan tanah beribu-ribu hektar, yang tidak sedikitpun menjadi kejutan kepada mana-mana pembaca Sarawak Report. Menurut Shahnaz lagi, Bekir memiliki tujuh buah kereta mewah termasuk yang berjenama Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley dan Mesarati.

Menurut isteri pertamanya itu lagi, harta-harta milik bersama mereka adalah termasuk saham-saham dalam 15 buah syarikat yang berlainan, termasuk Cahaya Mata Sarawak dan Sarawak Cable Bhd dan juga simpanan-simpanan mereka dalam Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (EPF) dan dalam unit-unit Amanah Saham Bumiputera. Sarawak Report telah menjalankan penilaian ke atas harta-harta yang dimaksudkan oleh Shahnaz itu.

CMS

Abu Bekir merupakan Pengarah utama dan juga pemegang utama ke atas saham-saham dalam CMS bersama-sama saudaranya, Sulaiman Taib. CMS seharusnya sebuah syarikat awam yang mempunyai aset-aset yang diperolehi dari bumi Sarawak menerusi keputusan yang dibuat oleh Ketua Menteri. Namun, sebahagian besar saham-saham CMS dipegang oleh ahli-ahli keluarga Taib Mahmud.

Laporan Tahunan 2009 CMS yang merupakan laporan yang terkini yang ada pada kami masih mendaftarkan arwah isteri Ketua Menteri, Laila, sebagai pemegang utama saham-saham di situ (walaupun kini kita percaya bahawa saham-saham arwah telah dibahagikan antara kedua-dua anak lelakinya itu). Bagai mana arwah isteri Taib, yang bukannya dari golongan peniaga dan juga bukan pencari nafkah keluarganya, dapat mengumpulkan harta yang sebegitu banyak dan tidak pula pernah mengisytiharkannya kepada umum ataupun kepada pemegang-pemegang saham yang lain dalam CMS!

Abu Bekir dan saudaranya, Sulaiman, merupakan pemegang utama seterusnya dan kesemua empat orang anak Taib mengawal Majaharta, yang disenaraikan sebagai pemegang saham terbesar! Setiap saham kini bernilai lebih 3 ringgit, dan mana-mana wanita yang berkelulusan MBA dalam bidang kewangan akan dengan mudah membuat perkiraan bahawa jumlah saham-saham adalah secara kasarnya RM150 juta.

Ketua Menteri gemar menyalurkan banyak kontrak awam menerusi CMS, untuk mempastikan saham-saham itu berada pada harga yang memuaskan. Salah sebuah kontrak yang berprofil tinggi dan mewah yang telah diberikannya kepada ahli-ahli keluarganya adalah Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) yang baru siap dibina dan telah dijadikan tempat perhimpunan politik BN pada hujung minggu lalu. Dasar 'kemajuan dan pembangunan' yang telah dicanai oleh Taib telah sebenarnya secara langsung menguntungkan CMS. Projek-projek besar yang lain pula, seperti rancangan SCORE, merupakan 'lembu susu' bagi keluarganya!

Syarikat Titanium Management milik Abu Bekir telah menerima bahagian tanah yang amat luas dari negeri Sarawak beberapa tahun yang lalu, kesemuanya djelaskan kepada kerajaan negeri secara misteri "payment in kind" (i.e. dalam sebarang jumlah, atau bentuk bayaran)!

Pengiraan yang dibuat oleh Sarawak Report ke atas semua tanah yang diterima oleh syarikat Abu Bekir berjumlah sekitar 70,000 hektar, sama dengan keluasan pulau Singapura, terima kasih kepada keputusan ayahanda Taib yang juga seorang menteri yang mengawal sumber-sumber alam negeri ini.

Setelah tercetusnya persengketaan menerusi mahkamah-mahkamah, maka diketahui umum bahawa tanah-tanah yang diterima Bekir adalah tanah hak orang lain! Cubaan Ketua Menteri untuk meminda perundangan mengenai tanah NCR telah diperintahkan oleh mahkamah sebagai tidak berteras dan wajar. Hanya pada minggu lalu syarikat Polar Horizon milik Abu Bekir telah mengeluarkan notis-notis pengusiran ke atas beberapa orang Iban yang pemilik secara sah ke atas tanah NCR, terpaksa berundur setelah peguam PKR See Chee Howe mengheret syarikat tersebut ke mahkamah dan kes itu juga telah disiarkan menerusi Radio Free Sarawak dan juga di mana-mana. Orang-orang Abu Bekir telah secara lisan memberitau orang-orang kampung bahawa pengusiran itu tidak diteruskan, walaupun tiada sebarang arahan secara bertulis telah diterima.

Dengan bertambahnya bilangan persengketaan tanah, mungkin Datin Shahnaz perlu menyelaraskan semula perkiraannya ke atas nilai-nilai tanah-tanah yang dituntutnya dari suaminya itu dalam mahkamah nanti!

Harta-harta di luar negara!

Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib adalah salah seorang ahli lembaga Pengarah dan peneraju syarikat Sakto Corporation di Kanada, yang kini memilik harta bernilai berjuta-juta USD.

Dia telah menubuhkan syarikat tersebut dengan gandingan saudaranya Jamilah Taib dan bapa-saudara mereka, Onn Mahmud, semasa dia masih sebagai penuntut kolej berusia 20 tahun lagi! Pada tahun pertama operasinya, syarikat berkenaan telah melabur sebanyak $7 juta untuk membeli 400 buat unit kediaman di Ottawa, di Kanada. Kini ia memiliki ruang-ruang pejabat, kedai dan kediaman serba moden yang mencecah nilai ratusan ribu dollar. Kemudian, Bekir dilantik sebagai salah seorang Pengarah dan pemegang utama saham dalam syarikat Sakti International yang ditubuhkan di US dalam tahun 1987.

Bekir bertindak selaku presiden dalam syarikat itu sehingga ianya diserahkan kepada adiknya, Sulaiman, yang pada ketika itu sedang menuntut di sebuah universiti di San Francisco. Harta dalam Sakti International dan syarikat-syarikat yang berkaitan di rantau itu bernilai berjuta-juta dollar juga. Seperti yang telah didedahkan oleh Sarawak Report sebelum ini, pegangan secara rahsia ke atas saham-saham itu bermaksud separuh dari saham yang dipegangnya dalam Sakti adalah sebenarnya dipegang bagi pihak bapanya Abdul Taib Mahmud! Abu Bekir telah sebenarnya diletakkan sebagai saudagar utama dan penjana pendapatan sejak dia berusia 20 tahun lagi kerana kononnya bapanya dilarang oleh undang-undang untuk memperoleh kekayaan dalam apa jua cara sekali pun. Kononnya! Namun, Taib belum pernah memberikan penjelasan mengapa saham-saham yang besar yang dipegang oleh anak-anak dan saudara-saudaranyanya bagi pihak dirinya itu boleh mencecah sehingga 50% dari keseluruhannya!

Sarawak Cable

Syarikat ini, yang telah dikorporatkan sekitar 1990an, telah lama tidak aktif sehinggalah pada tahun 2008 apabila ianya dilihat hidup semula dengan penuh tenaga setelah mengambil-alih Universal Cable (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd, yang membuat kabel-kabel elektrik. Di Sarawak Cable Abu Bekir Taib merupakan Pengerusi dan memiliki 36% saham, manakala sepupu bapanya, Hamid Spawi, memiliki 20%. Harga saham yang terkini , yang diniagakan pada bulan November lalu, bernilai RM1.29. Maka kami boleh anggarkan saham 43 juta dalam pegangan Abu Bekir bernilai sekitar RM55 juta.

Apa-apa seharusnya berjalan lancar bagi syarikat itu memandangkan negeri Sarawak kini merupakan pelabur terbesar sebuah projek bersama mereka. Pada bulan November 2010 mereka diberikan projek mengeluarkan kabel elektrik bertransmisi tinggi yang bernilai RM98.68 juta oleh Sarawak Energy Bhd, sebagai usahasama mereka dengan Sinohydro!

Sudah pasti Abu Bekir tidak mempunyai sebarang masalah memujuk para pengundinya bahawa dia adalah seorang yang sangat kaya dan berpengaruh, suatu langkah yang sering digunakan oleh ahli-ahli politik BN untuk meraih sokongan. Bekir mungkin akan mengikut jejak langkah bapanya yang gemar menghulurkan empat-lima ratus ringgit untuk membeli undi mereka. Tetapi para pengundi haruslah berfikir sedalam-dalamnya dari manakah Abu Bekir mendapat wangnya dan sama ada hasil dari tanah-tanah NCR rakyat dan harta-harta negeri. Jika ya, maka para pengundi harus mempertimbangkan sama ada mereka mengundi dengan betul untuk mengembalikan kesemua aset-aset rakyat itu./Sarawak Report

Tsunami Turut Melanda California, Oregon Di AS

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 08:16 PM PST

A boat sinks into the ocean in the aftermath of the surge caused by a tsunami on the harbor in Santa Cruz, California
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. (AP) -- The warnings traveled quickly across the Pacific in the middle of the night: An 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan spawned a deadly tsunami, and it was racing east Friday as fast as a jetliner. Sirens blared in Hawaii. The West Coast pulled back from the shoreline, fearing the worst. People were warned to stay away from the beaches. Fishermen took their boats out to sea and safety.

The alerts moved faster than the waves, giving millions of people across the Pacific Rim hours to prepare. In the end, harbors and marinas in California and Oregon bore the brunt of the damage, estimated by authorities to be in the millions of dollars. Boats crashed into each other, some vessels were pulled out to sea and docks were ripped out. Rescue crews searched for a man who was swept out to sea while taking pictures.
None of the damage - in the U.S., South America or Canada - was anything like the devastation in Japan. The warnings - the second major one for the region in a year - and the response showed how far the earthquake-prone Pacific Rim had come since a deadly tsunami caught much of Asia by surprise in 2004.

"That was a different era," said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. "We got the warning out very quickly. It would not have been possible to do it that fast in 2004."Within 10 minutes after Japan was shaken by its biggest earthquake in recorded history, the center had issued its warning. The offshore quake pushed water onto land, sometimes miles inland, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people. Hundreds are dead.

As the tsunami raced across the Pacific at 500 mph, the first sirens began sounding across Hawaii late Thursday night.Police went through the tourist mecca of Waikiki, warning of an approaching tsunami. Hotels moved tourists from lower floors to upper levels. Some tourists ended up spending the night in their cars.

Across the islands, people stocked up on bottled water, canned foods and toilet paper. Authorities opened buildings to people fleeing low-lying areas. Fishermen took their boats out to sea, away from harbors and marinas where the waves would be most intense.Residents did the same last February, when an 8.8-magnitude quake in Chile prompted tsunami warnings. The waves did little damage then.

Early Friday, the tsunami waves reached Hawaii, tossing boats in Honolulu. The water covered beachfront roads and rushed into hotels on the Big Island. The waves carried a house out to sea. Seven-foot waves flooded low-lying areas in Maui. As the sun rose, people breathed a sigh of relief.

"With everything that could have happened and did happen in Japan, we're just thankful that nothing else happened," said Sabrina Skiles, who along with her husband spent a sleepless night at his office in Maui. Their beachfront house was unscathed.

Many other Pacific islands also evacuated their shorelines for a time. In Guam, the waves broke two U.S. Navy submarines from their moorings, but tug boats brought them back to their pier. In Oregon, the first swells to hit the U.S. mainland were barely noticeable.

Sirens pierced the air in Seaside, a popular tourist town near the Washington state line. Restaurants, gift shops and other beachfront businesses stayed shuttered. Some residents moved to the hills nearby, gathering behind a house.

Albert Wood said he and his wife decided to leave their home late Thursday night after watching news about the Japan quake - the fifth-largest earthquake since 1900. Wood was expecting the waves to get bigger and more intense than what he saw. Still, he shook his head as the cars lining the hills began to drive west, into the lowlands adjacent to the shore.

"Just if you ask me, they're being too bold," Wood said. "It's still early. They're just not being cautious." Erik Bergman was back at the shore by 9:30 in the morning. Roughly 100 feet away was a man playing with his dog. Two small children chased seagulls.

"People aren't too nervous," Bergman said. President Barack Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to come to the aid of any U.S. state or territory that needed help. Coast Guard cutters and aircraft were readied to respond as soon as conditions allowed.

Outside Brookings, Ore., just north of the California border, four people went to a beach to watch the waves and were swept into the sea. Two got out on their own, and the others were rescued, authorities said.

In Crescent City, Calif., miles to the south, the Coast Guard searched for a man who was swept out to sea. He was taking photos near the mouth of the Klamath River. Two people with him jumped in to rescue him. They were able to get back to land, authorities said.

Sheriff's deputies went door to door at dawn to urge residents to seek higher ground. An 8-foot wave rushed into the harbor, destroying about 35 boats and ripping chunks off the wooden docks, as marina workers and fishermen scrambled between surges to secure property. Officials estimated millions of dollars in damage.

When the water returned, someone would yell "Here comes another one!" to clear the area. Ted Scott, a retired mill worker who lived in the city when a 1964 tsunami killed 17 people on the West Coast, including 11 in Crescent City, watched the water pour into the harbor.

"This is just devastating. I never thought I'd see this again," he said. "I watched the docks bust apart. It buckled like a graham cracker." The waves, however, had not made it over a 20-foot break wall protecting the rest of the city. No serious injuries were immediately reported.

On the central coast in Santa Cruz, loose fishing boats crashed into one another and docks broke away from the shore. The water rushed out as quickly as it poured in, leaving the boats tipped over in mud. Some surfers ignored evacuation warnings and took advantage of the waves ahead of the tsunami. "The tides are right, the swell is good, the weather is good, the tsunami is there," said William Hill, an off-duty California trooper. "We're going out."

Scientists warned that the first tsunami waves are not always the strongest. The threat can last for several hours and people should watch out for strong currents. U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Ken Hudnut said residents along the coast should heed any calls for evacuation. "Do the right thing," Hudnut said. "Be safe."/AP
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