Thesun 2009-05-14 Page01 Five Shot Dead After Breakin

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No. 4758 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Thursday May 14, 2009

TELLING IT AS IT IS

In the eye m pg12-13 of the stor

BRUSSELS: The European Commission imposed a record €1.06 billion (RM5.088 billion) fine on chipmaker Intel Corp yesterday and ordered it to halt illegal rebates and other practices to squeeze out rival AMD. “Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years,” European Union competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement. In an immediate response, Intel said it will appeal against the EU ruling. Kroes said Intel paid computer makers to postpone or cancel plans to launch products that used AMD chips, paid illegal, secret rebates so computer makers would use mostly or entirely Intel chips, and paid a major retailer to stock only computers with its chips. The commission ordered Intel to “cease the illegal practices immediately to the extent that they are still ongoing”. Intel may continue to offer rebates, so long as they are legal, it said. The EU antitrust fine is the biggest imposed on an individual company, exceeding an €896 million (RM4.3 billion) penalty last year against glass maker Saint-Gobain for price fixing, and a €497 million (RM2.385 billion) fine in 2004 on Microsoft for abuse of dominance. The commission investigated practices dating back to 2002, and said Europe accounted for 30% of Intel’s current worldwide €22 billion (RM105.6 billion) market. The commission said Intel must pay the fine, which represents 4.15% of the company’s 2008 turnover, within three months of the date of the notification of the decision. Intel, whose microprocessors power eight out of every 10 PCs in the world, posted first quarter sales of US$$7.1 billion (RM24.85 billion). Analysts estimated the company enjoys a sizeable cash balance, generating close to US$10 billion (RM35 billion) in cash last year. – Reuters

» Trekking into new era pg18

Five shot dead after break-in

OHOR BARU: Police shot dead five armed criminals shortly after they had broken into the house of Syahrin Mohd Jamaluddin, the political secretary to Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin early yesterday morning. A police spokesman said Syahrin was in Putrajaya when the incident occurred at about 2am. His wife

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Huzaimah Yahya and three of their children were at home at Kampung Sinaran Baru, Kempas, when the robbers entered the house and tied up the occupants. “Huzaimah and her children were not harmed. The criminals fled with jewellery and cash in a Proton Waja belonging to the victim,” he said.

On receiving information on the incident, police sent a team to the scene and came across the criminals, who were foreigners, at a slip road heading to the Kempas Highway, about two hours after the incident. The criminals, armed with a pistol and parang, tried to attack the policemen but were shot dead, the

BERNAMAPIX

Intel hit with record €1bil EU antitrust fine

» Nizar applies to set aside stay order pg2

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Next stop, Penanti

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lection Commission staff Abu Bakar Shaari prepares posters for the Penanti by-election at the EC office in Komtar, Penang yesterday. The by-election for the state seat is being called following the resignation of the PKR assemblyman, Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, who was the deputy chief minister (1) of Penang. Nomination day is May 23 and, if there is a contest, polling will be held on May 31.

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spokesman said. Syahrin, who is also an Umno Youth exco member, returned to Johor Baru immediately after receiving a call at 3.30am. “My wife and children had been tied up but my wife managed to untie herself and fled to my father’s house. My father informed the police,” he said. At a press conference, Johor police chief Datuk Mokhtar Shariff said the five men were suspected to have committed 22 robberies in Kota Tinggi, Simpang Renggam and Johor Baru since January. He said they not only harmed their victims and tied them up before robbing them, they were also believed to have raped some of their victims. In a follow-up operation, four men and three women, all foreigners, were detained when police raided two houses, in Tampoi and Pasir Gudang, believed to have been the hideouts of the dead men. All the seven, aged between 20 and 48, did not have valid travel documents and were believed to be members of a housebreaking gang known as “Geng Bonding”. Police found a bag containing housebreaking tools in the first house, Bernama reported. In Putrajaya, Husna Yusop reports: Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said it was unfair to comment that Johor is being seen as “a safe haven for terrorists” because of the arrest of fugitive terrorist Mas Selamat recently, and the killing of the criminals after the break-in at Syahrin’s house. Responding to a reporter’s question, he said: “That is full credit to the police. Johor is always painted as though it is not safe. Now you said it is safe haven for terrorists, before it was not even safe for normal people to live there because there were so many criminals. “Today when we take action against the criminals, we are seen to be unsafe again. If that is the situation, then we cannot do anything right. “I think it is full credit to the police as long as they do things within the law and they have done very well in the Mas Selamat case, in the case this morning and in all the other incidents. I hope that is a trend that will carry on so that people can change their perception towards our police.”