Wales striker Bellamy to quit internationals

Wales striker Craig Bellamy will retire from international football at the end of the World Cup qualifying campaign next week, the 34-year-old said on Tuesday.
Bellamy, who plays for home-town team Cardiff City after spells at a number of Premier League clubs including Liverpool, will step down from the national side after next Tuesday's final qualifying match against Belgium.
He has won 76 caps for Wales and scored 19 goals since making his debut against Jamaica in 1998.
"Players come and go and my career has definitely come and gone," he was reported as saying by the BBC.
"I have to do what's best for the national team and this group of players are the future. The next qualifiers, two-odd years, I'm not going to see it."
Wales, who cannot qualify for the tournament in Brazil, play Macedonia in Cardiff on Friday. If Bellamy picked up a booking he would miss the second match against Belgium through suspension.
The former captain is the third most-capped Welsh player and his country's fifth highest-scorer.
"I'm just grateful for every game I've been lucky enough to play for my country, and I really mean that," he said.
"It's an honour to play for your country at any level at any sport.
"(Playing) 70-odd times, it's been the best. Even the disappointments, even the lows, even the times I didn't want to play again because sometimes defeats can do that to you.
"It will be hard to let go."

Wall Street edges lower as a little progress made in Washington

U.S. stocks dipped slightly on Tuesday despite signs of slight progress to resolve the fiscal standoff in Washington, although no agreement appeared to be likely soon.
With the partial U.S. government shutdown in its second week and only nine days left for Congress to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, President Barack Obama said he would accept a short-term increase to avoid a default.
A Senate aide said Republican Senator Rob Portman, who is influential on budget matters, floated a plan to cut federal spending and reform the U.S. tax code as part of a broader deal to reopen shuttered government agencies and raise the debt ceiling.
"In this type of environment, pre-earnings season where it is headline driven by a market bludgeoned with continued sound bites about the shutdown, it's not a surprise to see markets make these smaller moves," said Sal Arnuk, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
"What is really at stake is a tug-of-war going on because investors don't know if they want to avoid getting caught up in a crisis-driven selloff versus missing a resolution rally."
The shutdown has led to few economic data releases, leaving investors to focus on the earnings-reporting season. However, earnings are more likely to affect individual companies than drive market-wide moves.
After Tuesday's market close, former Dow component Alcoa Inc (AA.N) will report earnings as will KFC parent company Yum! Brands Inc (YUM.N).
The longer the government shutdown continues, the greater the damage to the economy, according to analysts, increasing the probability the Federal Reserve will leave its stimulus measures in place.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 39.96 points or 0.27 percent, to 14,896.28, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 3.68 points or 0.22 percent, to 1,672.44 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 7.077 points or 0.19 percent, to 3,763.3.
McKesson (MCK.N) shares rose 5.7 percent to $136.99 as the best performer on the S&P 500 after Dow Jones Newswires reported the company was in advanced talks to take over Celesio (CLSGn.DE) in a possible 3.74 billion euro ($5.08 billion) deal.
PHH Corp (PHH.N) is exploring splitting up its mortgage and auto fleet leasing businesses and selling each of the units, three people familiar with the situation told Reuters on Monday. Its shares fell 2.5 percent to $25.26.
J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) rose 2.5 percent to $7.90 after the struggling retailer reported a smaller decline in same-store sales for September compared with August and said it was seeing positive signs in many areas of its business.
U.S.-listed shares of Talisman Energy Inc (TLM.N) advanced 2 percent to $13 after activist investor Carl Icahn said he had purchased about 61 million shares of the underperforming Canadian oil producer and may seek a seat on the company's board.

Ghana ask FIFA to move World Cup playoff away from Egypt

Ghana have asked FIFA to move the venue of their World Cup qualifying playoff second leg next month away from Egypt because of "grave" safety concerns.
"Following recent political unrest in the North African country which has claimed innocent lives, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has asked FIFA to take a look at the security situation of that country and re-evaluate the decision to host the game in Cairo," it said in a statement on Tuesday.
In a letter sent to soccer's ruling body on Monday the GFA expressed concern at "the deteriorating security situation in Egypt" and asked that the second leg of the playoff on November 19 be switched "to a safe and secure venue".
"(We are) gravely concerned that for the past two years Egyptian authorities have only allowed football matches to be played without spectators yet Ghana has reportedly been asked to play in Cairo before fans," the letter said.
Egypt have, on occasion, allowed restricted crowds to watch national team games and African club competition matches since heavy restrictions were imposed after 74 people died in last year's Port Said stadium disaster.
"We are seriously concerned about the security and safety of our delegation and spectators ... as events in the country pointedly indicate that our delegation could be exposed to danger as the violence and insecurity in the country continues relentlessly," the letter said.
Since the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi in July, the only football in Egypt has involved the national team and two clubs - Al Ahli and Zamalek - in the group phase of the African Champions League.
However, all home games have been hosted in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna because authorities banned matches from major centres.
The restriction has been lifted for the playoff against Ghana in a compromise by the military government that reflects the desire in Egypt to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1990.

New Zealand fix playoff warm-up with Mexican club side

New Zealand will play a friendly against Mexican first division side Queretaro in preparation for a potential playoff with Mexico for a berth at the 2014 Worlds Cup finals in Brazil.
New Zealand qualified as Oceania winners for the two-leg playoff in November against the team finishing fourth in the CONCACAF region with Mexico in fifth place facing a desperate fight to get to Brazil.
The top three in the six-nation final CONCACAF group go through to the finals with the United States and Costa Rica having already booked their tickets.
Honduras are third, three points ahead of Panama and Mexico, who have an inferior goals record to the fourth-placed Panamanians.
Mexico host Panama at the Azteca in Mexico City on Friday looking for their first win in five home qualifiers before visiting Costa Rica four days later.
Queretaro are in eighth place in Mexico's Apertura championship with four matches to go to the title playoffs for which the top eight qualify.
The match will be played at Queretaro's Corregidora stadium on Saturday.

Pemilihan Umno: 334 calon hilang kelayakan

Seramai 1,703 daripada kira-kira 146,000 perwakilan di seluruh negara diisytihar muflis dan mereka tidak dibenarkan untuk menghadiri mesyuarat dan terlibat dalam pemilihan di peringkat bahagian.

Dalam sidang medianya petang ini, Setiausaha Kerja Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh berkata ia selaras perkara 8.4 peraturan persidangan berhubung hak menghadiri persidangan.

"Bagi mereka yang didapati muflis di bawah peraturan yang diluluskan bawah Pendaftar Pertubuhan, mereka tidak boleh dipilih, memilih atau mengundi selain daripada selain daripada peringkat cawangan," katanya.

Sehubungan itu, Ab Rauf berkata ibu pejabat parti akan mengeluarkan tauliah kepada perwakilan yang disahkan untuk menghadiri persidangan di peringkat bahagian.

"Sekiranya mereka didapati muflis, nama (mereka) akan diberi tanda untuk dirujuk kepada jawatankuasa pemilihan dan salinan surat daripada Jabatan Insolvensi akan disertakan sekali bagi memastikan bahawa semua rujukan telah dibuat dan mendapati perwakilan tidak boleh menghadiri mesyuarat.

"Jadi surat daripada Jabatan Insolvensi akan diberikan kepada jawatankuasa pemilihan yang hadir di peringkat bahagian-bahagian," katanya.

Menurutnya, semua perwakilan yang bankrap akan dimaklumkan sebelum pemilihan berlangsung melalui bahagian Umno masing-masing.

Tarikh mesyuarat perwakilan dan pemilihan bagi tiga sayap parti peringkat bahagian diadakan serentak pada 12 Oktober ini (Sabtu), manakala tarikh mesyuarat perwakilan dan pemilihan di peringkat bahagian diadakan serentak pada 19 Oktober 2013.

Dalam sidang media yang sama juga, Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pemilihan Umno Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali mengumumkan seramai 33,012 calon yang layak bertanding bagi semua jawatan di peringkat bahagian termasuk sayap-sayap parti.

Menurutnya lagi, seramai 334 calon diisytihar muflis, 495 calon telah menarik diri dan 39 dikaitkan dengan masalah disiplin.

10 sekolah memandu saman k'jaan isu BL1M

Sepuluh sekolah memandu memfailkan saman terhadap kerajaan, ketua pengarah Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan dan seorang pengarah biro Pemuda Umno berhubung inisiatif Bantuan Lesen 1Malaysia (BL1M) yang diperkenalkan perdana menteri.

Mereka antaranya memohon mahkamah mengisytiharkan program itu sebagai menyalahi undang-undang.

Dalam saman itu difailkan di Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur, mereka mendakwa terdapat konspirasi yang menjejaskan ekonomi mereka.

Menurut mereka lagi, dalam program BL1M yang diperkenalkan Datuk Seri Najib Razak awal tahun ini, yuran tahunan Yang dikenakan kepada pelajar lesen B2 (motosikal bawah 250cc) berjumlah RM130 atau RM150.

Kata mereka, yuran itu jauh lebih rendah daripada jumlah yang ditetapkan oleh Jawatankuasa Pelesenan Institut Memandu pada 2009, sebanyak RM261 keseluruhannya.

NGO terima kasih atas pengakuan Nora Danish

Kenyataan jelitawan Nora Danish bahawa banglo RM 7.2 juta yang dibeli oleh anak menteri pelancongan bukan untuk dirinya membuka ruang kepada pihak berkuasa untuk menyiasat perkara itu, kata NGO Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM).

SAMM merujuk kepada kenyataan Nora Danish kepada "Zass", sisipan hiburan akhbar Sinar Harian semalam.

Seniwati berstatus ibu tunggal dengan seorang anak itu dipetik sebagai berkata bahawa banglo itu bukan dibeli untuk dirinya sebaliknya untuk ibu kepada Nedim, anak kepada Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

"Dengan pengakuan ini juga, SAMM menggesa pihak SPRM dan Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN) agar bersedia untuk membuka fail siasatan ke atas anak Nazri Aziz," kata Pengarah Propaganda SAMM Edy Noor Reduan.

Menurut Edy, terdapat beberapa persoalan sekitar pembelian banglo itu yang sehingga kini masih belum terjawab.

Antaranya berhubung kemampuan pembelinya membeli rumah dengan harga sedemikian, peratusan wang tunai yang digunakan dalam pembelian itu, serta prosedur kelulusan pembelian banglo tersebut oleh pihak bank.

Menurutnya lagi, SAMM bersedia bekerjasama dan menyerahkan dokumen-dokumen berkaitan pembelian banglo itu kepada LHDN dan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM).

Amrin: Belanja K-Pop dari kantung kerajaan

Di tengah-tengah kontroversi perbelanjaan RM1.6 juta oleh Kementerian Belia dan Sukan untuk konsert K-Pop tahun lepas, Ketua Audit Negara Tan Sri Ambrin Buang tampil menjelaskan perbelanjaan itu sememangnya ditanggung oleh kerajaan.

Tegasnya sewaktu kerja-kerja audit dibuat, Jabatan Audit Negara mendapati sejumlah wang dibelanjakan bagi membiayai beberapa aktiviti berkaitan sambutan Hari Belia Negara 2012 yang dianggap tidak berhemat, termasuklah konsert K-Pop tersebut.

"Perbelanjaan ini dibuat menerusi peruntukan kerajaan yang disalurkan menerusi Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM) dan ia tidak pernah dipertikaikan mana-mana pegawai kementerian atau MBM sewaktu perbincangan dengan mereka ketika audit dijalankan.

"Kerana itulah isu ini dibangkitkan dalam laporan audit," katanya dalam satu maklum balas emel kepada media.

Kenyataan ini bercanggah dengan kenyataan bekas menteri belia dan sukan, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Shabery sebelum ini mendakwa bayaran dibuat menggunakan duit penaja yang dimasukkan ke dalam akaun Majlis Sukan Negara, dan bukannya menggunakan duit pembayar cukai.