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 News From NST

 1.MOVING IMAGES: A RapidKL bus decorated with Merdeka-themed decals stops in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in Kuala Lumpur, located just in front of Dataran Merdeka. Photographs capturing the spirit of Merdeka have been splashed across three light rail transit trains, LRT stations and 10 buses in the city. The pictures were selected by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd and Big Tree Outdoor Sdn Bhd with the help of the New Straits Times from hundreds of Merdeka images in the NSTP News & Image Bank (www.nib.com.my), taken on the historical day 53 years ago. The project, aimed at instilling a sense of pride and unity in the people, will be on for at least a month and will cover the Malaysia Day celebrations on Sept 16. — NST picture by Abdullah Yusof

 2.SHOWING THEIR PRIDE: Residents of the Kampung Mongkos longhouse in Serian, Sarawak, are proud of their country. So proud, in fact, that they painted a Jalur Gemilang on the 80m-long bamboo ceiling of their longhouse last year. Bidayuh tribal chief Daka Baba (left) and his villagers repainted the ceiling this year, to celebrate the nation’s 53rd Merdeka Day. — NST picture by Nik Hariff Hassan

 3.TOURISTS-HOSTAGE SIEGE ENDS... A paramedic (top) lowers one of the wounded survivor from the hijacked bus in Manila on August 23, 2010. A dramatic hostage siege in the Philippine capital involving a busload of Hong Kong tourists ended after 12 hours with several captives walking free but the fate of 11 others unknown. -- Picture by AFP/ Jay Directo

 4.GUTEN TAG! Davis Alaba, Diego Contento and Franck Ribery (L-R) of Bayern Munich, dressed in traditional Bavarian clothes, arrive for an advertising photo shooting in Munich August 23, 2010. -- Picture by REUTERS/Michael Dalder

 5.PENANGITES CELEBRATE AIDILFITRI WITH THESE TRADITIONAL STAR-LIGHT-STAR-BRIGHT 'LANTERNS'... Khairul Anuar Othman,41, makes multi-coloured stars popular with his customers during the annual Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations. Each star, either lit up with 'fairy lights' or a single light bulb, costs between RM45 to RM280, depending on its size. -- Picture by BERNAMA

 6.NEVERENDING WOES... A Pakistani man walks with a boy as they wade through floodwaters near the village of Basira in Punjab on August 22, 2010. UN agencies stepped up calls for donors to deliver on their pledges for Pakistan to prevent what UN chief Ban Ki-moon called a "slow-motion tsunami" from wreaking further catastrophe. Torrential monsoon rains unleashed the worst floods for 80 years, affecting 20 million people and an area the size of England in Pakistan's worst natural disaster that has already created economic, political and humanitarian chaos. -- Picture by AFP/Pedro Ugarte

 7.EVERY MOTHER'S RELIEF... Four tourists, a woman and three children, step out of a bus containing passengers who have been taken hostage, after they are released near Quirino Grandstand in Manila August 23, 2010. An armed former policeman has taken hostage a bus with foreign tourists in downtown Manila on Monday, demanding his reinstatement to the force. Several tourists, including three children, have been released from the bus, according to officials and media reports. -- Picture by REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

 8.FILIPINO HOSTAGE-TAKING STANDOFF... An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle waves from a tourist bus carrying more than 20 Hong Kong tourists including children in Manila on August 23, 2010. Six hostages, three of them children, were released by the gunman about three hours after the standoff began, with the drama being played out live on national television. -- Picture by AFP/Noel Celis

 9.MUSIC MAKES THE WORLD 'ROUND... Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan (L) and South Korean actor Lee Min-Ho attend an Asia Song Festival press conference in Seoul on August 23, 2010. The an annual pop music festival hosted by South Korea was set for October 23 this year in celebration of the November meeting of leaders from the world's 20 biggest economies in Seoul. -- Picture by AFP/Park Ji-Hwan

 10.VILLAGE ROCKED: A Fire and Rescue Department officer at the scene where a 6-year-old boy was killed and two men injured in an explosion at an abandoned house near Kuala Terengganu yesterday. The house was used to store fireworks and firecrackers. NST picture by Rozainah Zakaria

 11.LANDING TURNED UGLY... In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, rescuers work at the site of a reported plane crash at an airport in northeast China's Heilongjiang province on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010. According to Xinhua, the plane overshot the runway in Yichun city and burst into flames. Photo by AP. Read more

 12.IN SPIRIT OF RAMADAN... Traffic officer Khairul Azhar Sabri spreading some Ramadan cheer yesterday when he went out of his way to lead a blind woman across a busy street in the rain in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. — NST picture by Sairien Nafis.

 13.GRIM TASK... In this handout photograph released by The Nepalese Army, Nepalese soldiers carry the bodies of passengers and crew at the site of a passenger plane crash in which 14 people died in the village of Shikharpur some 27kms south of Kathmandu on August 24, 2010. The Agni Air plane was on its way back to Kathmandu airport after failing to land at Lukla in the Everest region when the accident happened. -- Picture by AFP/HO/NEPALESE ARMY"

 14.DAMAGE CONTROL AFTER THE FIASCO... Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo (R) shakes hands with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao upon his arrival at the airport in Manila August 24, 2010. The Philippines admitted on Tuesday it had bungled a hostage siege in which eight tourists were killed and which piled pressure on President Benigno Aquino to pull the country out of years of poor management and decline. At center is Vice-President Jejomar Binay. -- Picture by REUTERS/Stringer

 15.A JOYLESS HOLIDAY IN THE PHILIPPINES... Two Hong Kong tourists (L and C) who survived the siege on a Manila bus walk inside the departure area of the international airport in Manila August 24, 2010. The Philippines admitted on Tuesday it had bungled a hostage siege in which eight tourists were killed and which piled pressure on President Benigno Aquino to pull the country out of years of poor management and decline. -- Picture by REUTERS/Stringer

 16.A VERY BIG BUNDLE OF JOY... A 10-month-old baby boy, whose name was not given, sits on a cot at a children hospital in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha on August 11, 2010. Doctors in central China are puzzling over the 10-month-old baby boy who weighs 20 kilos (44 lbs) -- about as much as a normal child of six years -- but is otherwise healthy, state media reported. -- Picture by AFP

 17.UNACCEPTABLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE... A Philippine policeman helps Hong Kong tourist identified as Mrs. Leung out of a tourist bus that was taken over by a former police officer in Manila August 23, 2010. Mrs. Leung, whose husband and two daughters were among eight tourists killed in the bus hostage siege in Manila, blamed Philippine authorities for the tragedy. "My husband is dead and my only son is in the ICU. I thought that by trying to stay alive I can take care of my kids. But then two are dead. Why didn't you help us earlier? No, I'm not blaming the Chinese government but the Philippine government. I really can't accept how they could do such a thing," she sobbed while speaking to Hong Kong media on Tuesday. The Philippines defended its handling of a bloody hostage siege that has added to pressure on President Benigno Aquino to show he can pull the country out of years of poor management and decline. Picture taken August 23, 2010. -- Picture by REUTERS/Erik de Castro

 18.UNACCEPTABLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE... A demonstrator holding a bouquet of flowers becomes emotional as people gather to protest at the entrance to the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong on August 24, 2010 a day after eight Hong Kong tourists were killed by a gunman in a dramatic bus hijacking in Manila. The Philippines faced fury in Hong Kong on August 24 as the territory plunged into mourning for the eight tourists mown down in Manila, with flags at half-mast and share traders holding a minute's silence. -- Picture by AFP/ Mike Clarke

 19.TOGETHER NO MORE... U.S. team member Tiger Woods departs closing ceremonies with his wife Elin Nordegren at the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Harding Park golf course in San Francisco, California, in this October 7, 2009 file photo. Woods and Nordegren have divorced following the sex scandal that embroiled Woods late last year, a statement from their lawyers said on August 23, 2010. -- Picture by REUTERS/Shaun Best/Files

 20.FOR THE LOST SOULS: A person is silhouetted against a fire in which paper statues and money as well as food items are burnt in conjunction with the Hungry Ghosts Festival in Shah Alam last night. Taoists all over the world celebrate the festival on the seventh month of the lunar calendar (Aug 10 to Sept 7), during which the items are burnt as offerings to lost souls. This practice of making offerings to the dead on the streets is also believed to ward off bad luck. — NST picture by Supian Ahmad

 21.HISTORY ON TRACK: History and reality ride together as photographs capturing the spirit of Merdeka are pasted on a new four coach light rail transit train plying the Kelana Jaya line in Kuala Lumpur. The project, aimed at instilling a sense of pride and unity in the people, will go on for a month until Malaysia Day on Sept 16. The photographs on the train were selected by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd and Big Tree Outdoor Sdn Bhd, with the help of the New Straits Times from hundreds of Merdeka images in the New Straits Times Press News & Image Bank, taken more than 50 years ago. — NST picture by Abdullah Yusof

 22.THE SCENT OF LOSS: A grieving mother, Nik Suzila Nik Hashim, 32, was yesterday left ‘clinging’ to her most enduring memory of her son — his shirt’s surviving sweet smell. Three-year-old son Mohammad Adam Muszahffar was slit in the throat by a mentally-ill relative at his house in Kampung Sungai Keladi, Kota Baru, on Tuesday. Read more... — NST picture by Syamsi Suhaimi. 

 23.A SHOT OF COLOUR... A hot-air balloon flies over the Masaai Mara game reserve, 270 km (165 miles) southwest of capital Nairobi, August 25, 2010. -- Picture by REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

 24.NEWSMAKER... Axiata President and Group Chief Executive Officer Jamaludin Ibrahim speaks during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur August 25, 2010. Axiata Group Bhd on Wednesday posted a 9.5 percent increase in second quarter profits driven by improved contributions from its regional operations and said it plans to start dividend payments in 2011. -- Picture by REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad

 25.OUR WINNING BOYS... World seeded number 1 Malaysian players Tan Boon Heong (R) and Koo Kien Keat (L) pose after winning their Badminton World Championships men's double match against Czech players Ondrej Kopriva and Tomas Kopriva on August 24, 2010, at the Pierre de Coubertin stadium in Paris. -- Picture by AFP/ Miguel Medina

 26.TEEN PATRIOT... M. Selvakumar 15, from Sentul wears his new haircut proudly in conjunction with the nation's upcoming 53rd Merdeka celebrations. This is his expression of the 1Malaysia spirit. -- Picture by NST/ K. Narayanan

 27.WAY OVERLOADED... Flood victims drive with their belongings on a road in Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district of Punjab province August 24, 2010. Pakistan could take years to recover from the floods disaster, its president said, as crisis talks began with the IMF which predicted the catastrophe would have a "major and lasting" economic impact. Photo by Reuters.

 28.THE MAN BEHIND THE NAME... Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Japan's auto maker Suzuki Motor, delivers a speech during a press conference to introduce its new 'Swift' in Tokyo on August 26, 2010. Suzuki will put the flagship compact car with 1.2-litre engine on the market on September 18. -- Picture by AFP/ Toru Yamanaka

 29.REGAL IN RED... Queen Sofia of Spain arrives at Agios Nikolaos church for the wedding ceremony of Prince Nikolaos, son of deposed King Constantine, and Tatiana Blatnik on the Greek island of Spetses August 25, 2010. -- Picture by REUTERS/John Kolesidis

30.SO TIRED... Pakistani displaced flood-affected survivors stand in a queue for relief food at a distribution point on the outskirts of Sukkur on August 24, 2010. Pakistan faces a critical risk of yet more flooding in the next three days in its fertile southern plains, officials warned on Tuesday, as a major river threatened to burst its banks. The worst natural disaster in the country's history has already affected 20 million people in nearly a month of flooding triggered by heavy monsoon rain, and left 1,500 dead by official count. Photo by AFP.
Aug 25, 2010 12:08 pm

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