Tradisional Sabah Borneo

Manhattan billionaire Donald Trump and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton won the New York primary, galvanizing their bids to win the Republican and Democratic nominations for the White House.

US networks called the race for the Republican frontrunner seconds after the polls closed in the country's fourth most populous state, signaling a crushing victory over his rivals.

"I have to say to the people that know me the best -- the people of New York -- when they give us this kind of a vote it's just incredible," the 69-year-old businessman told a victory party at Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Trump, whose campaign has appalled the Republican establishment, led on 65.1 percent to 13.7 percent for his evangelical rival Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich on 21.2 percent, with nine percent of the vote counted CNN said.

He told supporters his campaign was going to "get a lot more delegates than anyone projected even in their wildest imagination."Clinton was declared the winner over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders around 40 minutes after the polls closed.

The former first lady and New York senator had 60.5 percent of the vote, against 39.5 percent for Sanders, CNN said based on nearly half of precincts reporting.

Clinton had banked on victory in her adopted home state to stall the momentum generated by her self-styled democratic socialist rival and get a needed shot in the arm after losing seven out of the eight previous nominating contests.

It was New York's most decisive primary in decades and Trump's victory in the state, which has 95 Republican delegates in play, will bolster his quest to sew up the nomination before party grandees can swing behind another candidate at the convention in July.

While New York City is largely Democrat, Republicans in rural areas and fallen manufacturing cities upstate warmed to Trump's populist message, despite his insults towards women, Mexicans and Muslims.

- 'A great time' -

A relaxed and confident-looking Clinton, 68, dressed in a colorful tunic, voted earlier on Tuesday with husband, former president Bill Clinton, in the leafy Chappaqua suburb they call home."I had a great time going around the city in the last couple of days just seeing a lot of old friends, meeting new people," she said.

The three main candidates also claimed New York as home: Trump, who has never lived anywhere else; Clinton, who was twice elected the state's US senator; and Sanders, who was raised in Brooklyn.

The 74-year-old Sanders -- who has galvanized a youth movement with his call for health care as a right, free college education and campaign finance reform -- was hoping for a win or a close margin to keep alive his White House dreams.

Clinton currently leads with 1,791 compared to 1,115 for Sanders, according to a CNN tally -- putting her on course to clinch the 2,383 delegates needed to secure the party's presidential nomination.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 247 Democratic delegates and 44 superdelegates up for grabs in New York will be accorded to Clinton.

There had been deep frustrations over New York's strict rules governing the vote, particularly among independent voters not allowed to participate and who could have been expected to favor Sanders.Only New York's 5.8 million Democrats and 2.7 million Republicans who registered by last October -- four months before the nation's first caucus election in Iowa -- are eligible to vote.

Voters and rights monitors reported numerous errors on voting lists in Brooklyn, including the purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the electoral roll.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has endorsed Clinton, called on the board of election to rectify the lists.

"The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed," he said.

Turnout was brisk at polling stations visited by AFP in Manhattan and Brooklyn, where a string of Democrats said they had voted for Clinton, who would make history if elected as America's first woman president.

"I think she's got the record across all of the issues that matter to me," said Rachel Karpf, 30, an arts producer who works in theater and lives in Brooklyn.

"I thought about Bernie Sanders quite a bit but I felt more comfortable voting for someone who has already a track record," she said. AFP

PETALING JAYA, April 19 ― The Save Malaysia movement downplayed today the rift between former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and incarcerated former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Former Umno leader Datuk Khairuddin Abu Hassan, who is part of the bipartisan group, warned the PKR-linked Otai Reformasi group not to “babble” against Dr Mahathir for saying that former deputy prime minister Anwar, aged 68, is too old to become prime minister.

“I would like to advise the group not to babble (melatah) as Tun Mahathir's statements have been spinned (sic) by the mainstream media.

“If Tun Mahathir continued to attack Anwar Ibrahim, of course he would not be collaborating with the opposition,” he told reporters here today.

Otai Reformasi, an Anwar sympathiser group, is scheduled to hold a media conference today to condemn Dr Mahathir for his statement against Anwar last week in an interview with Australian media.

Khairuddin said this was being done to split the Save Malaysia movement, saying this was pointless as Dr Mahathir appeared on a Pakatan Harapan platform last month.

PKR vice president Chua Tian Chang, while not disassociating the Save Malaysia movement from Otai Reformasi, said that it was their own prerogative to protest against Dr Mahathir.

“We cannot say we have no link because we have members who are in Otai. It is not fair to say there is no link, but everybody has the right to pass their own judgement on Mahathir, Musa Hitam, Tengku Razaleigh whatever. They have the rights to judge even on Anwar,” he told reporters today, referring to former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam and Umno veteran Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

The Batu MP said that “people must remember the history of Reformasi...it has no party linkage. People rise out in defending Anwar because he was a victim of political persecution”.

Bersih 2.0 chair Maria Chin Abdullah said the Save Malaysia movement was not split over deciding the next leader and is currently focused on its main goal of removing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from office.

The Save Malaysia movement, which is pushing for Najib's ouster over allegations of financial impropriety, is led by Dr Mahathir and comprises politicians from both sides of the divide and civil society.

The group, however, has had troubles recently over picking a suitable candidate to replace Najib if he is removed.Some activists were opposed to former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin endorsing current deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Najib’s successor.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 ― Several opposition members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  accused its chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin today of editing the panel’s report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) without the knowledge of other members.

DAP lawmaker Tony Pua claimed that Hasan had deleted a sentence that states that Good Star Limited ― which had received US$700 million (RM2.7 billion) in its RBS Coutts Bank Ltd account, part of the US$1 billion that 1MDB had invested in a joint venture with Saudi Arabian oil company PetroSaudi International Ltd, according to the PAC report ― is a company owned by a person not linked to the PetroSaudi Group.

“The PAC report on page 25 says that ‘Based on the documents provided by Datuk Shahrol Azral on June 5 2015 and his testimony during the PAC meeting on November 25 2015, the account is owned by Good Star Limited which is a subsidiary of the PetroSaudi Group, since September 1 2009.’

“However, the PAC chairman had cut off a subsequent sentence which was agreed upon in the meeting, that is ― ‘Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) was voluntarily informed by the country's authorities that Good Star Limited is a company owned by an individual with no links to the PetroSaudi Group’,” Pua told reporters in the Parliament lobby here.Pua said that Hasan's alleged action to leave out what is deemed to be a crucial sentence in the PAC report is an outright violation of the PAC's Meeting Orders and has now provoked suspicion on whether the parliamentary panel head intends to close the 1MDB case.

“Datuk Hasan Arifin has never discussed the matter with us, officially or otherwise,” Pua said, demanding that Hasan correct the report immediately via a correction paper to Parliament.

Also present at the press conference were Kepong MP and PAC deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Teluk Kemang MP Datuk Kamarul Baharin and Selayang MP William Leong. All three echoed Pua's sentiments.

“We found that the PAC chairman had made serious editing on the report, which was approved in the PAC meeting on April 4 2016.

“With the latest news yesterday that International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) had cancelled its debt-asset swap with 1MBD, we ask that Datuk Hasan Arifin call a PAC meeting soonest to discuss this matter,” they said in a statement which was also undersigned by Kota Baru MP Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan who was absent from the news conference.The members said they were very concerned, especially after the Finance Ministry (MOF) issued a statement yesterday saying it will bear all of 1MDB's unsettled payment obligations following a dispute with Abu Dhabi state firm International Petroleum Investment Company.  MALAY  MAIL  ONLINE

Utah became the first US state to formally declare pornography a public health crisis, in a move backed by Republicans, seeking to shield its citizens from an "epidemic" of addictive sexual content.

A major adult entertainment trade group dismissed the move as "noxious" and an "old-fashioned morals bill," but experts say it could open the door to other US states to follow suit.

"Pornography is a public health crisis. The problem is rampant, yet it thrives in secrecy and silence," said Gary Herbert, the Republican governor of predominantly Mormon Utah, after signing the resolution, which cites what it says are numerous detrimental effects of porn.

"Today's bills will start an open discussion, bringing its very real dangers to light," he said in a statement.

The state legislature approved the text earlier this year, calling for "the need for education, prevention, research and policy change at the community and societal level in order to address the pornography epidemic that is harming the citizens of Utah and the nation."

"We realize this is a bold assertion and there are some out there who will disagree with us. We're here to say it is, in fact, the full-fledged truth," Herbert said during a signing ceremony.

"We also want our young people to know that there's a particularly psychological and physiological detriment that comes from addiction to pornography."

Republican state senator Todd Weiler, who sponsored the bill, also defended the measure, saying "we're not spending money and we're not banning anything."

Instead, the resolution calls for people in Utah to cooperate in curtailing the consumption of pornographic material, in moves backed by several local groups including the Utah Coalition Against Pornography.

The Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry, lashed out at the move.

"The claims and the implied proscriptions harken to the dark days before adult film was legal, and when sex and sexuality were only discussed behind closed doors, if at all," it said.

Harvard Business School professor Benjamin Edelman released a study in 2009 that identified Utah as the US state with the highest rate of people with online adult entertainment subscriptions, angering some in the state.

Weiler said there was a grave danger of a generation of children growing up with despicable" pornographic images on their screens.

"I think most people today know that if they start using something like heroin or meth, they know that they have a risk of becoming addicted to it, but some people don't know that about pornography," he told ABC News.

The governor also enacted a law requiring computer technicians to report to law enforcement any child pornography found while working on a machine. AFP

A Swedish cabinet minister of Turkish origin who compared Israel to Nazi Germany and was photographed with Turkish ultranationalists resigned on Monday, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced.

"Mehmet Kaplan has submitted his resignation and I have accepted it," Lofven told reporters, nonetheless praising the outgoing housing minister's "humanistic and democratic values."

Kaplan, a member of the junior coalition partner Green Party, told reporters he was opposed to "all forms of extremism" and stressed his dedication to "human rights, democracy and dialogue."

The 44-year-old had been in hot water since the weekend when media published old video footage of him making controversial remarks about Israel's politics towards Palestinians.

During a March 2009 debate on Islamophobia organised by a Somali organisation, Kaplan, who was a member of parliament at the time, said there were "similarities" between the persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany during the 1930s and the everyday lives of Palestinians.Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Isaac Bachman, branded the remarks as "deeply anti-Semitic."

"I have on several occasions criticised the actions of the state of Israel severely, but I am clearly not anti-Semitic... My criticism of Israel does not make me less critical of the anti-Semitism that exists in Sweden," Kaplan wrote in a comment published on the website of daily Expressen after his resignation was announced.

Last week, media had published photos of Kaplan attending a July 2015 dinner in Sweden with Turkish ultranationalists, which sparked strong reactions from the opposition, media, and the public.

Among those attending the dinner was Ilhan Senturk, the Swedish head of the ultranational "Grey Wolves" organisation known for political violence in the 1970s and 1980s.

Also present was Barbaros Leyani, the former vice-president of the Turkish National Association of Sweden who was forced to resign after calling for the murder of "Armenian dogs" during a demonstration in Stockholm in April.Kaplan, who was born in Turkey and moved to Sweden when he was eight, also came under fire from media and political opponents for his ties to Islamic organisations, especially Milli Gorus which is suspected of promoting religious fundamentalism.

He acknowledged those ties, but "that doesn't mean I agree with them on everything," he told Swedish television.

Opposition leader Anna Kinberg Batra of the conservative Moderates criticised Prime Minister Lofven, a Social Democrat, for "being passive and slow" to react to the controversy. AFP

Beijing landed a military plane on a disputed South China Sea reef it has built up into an artificial island, state media said Monday, in the first official confirmation of such a flight.

An air force plane landed on Fiery Cross reef in the Spratlys archipelago on Sunday to evacuate sick workers, the official People's Liberation Army Daily said.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters close to its Southeast Asian neighbours, and has created artificial islands in an effort to assert its claims.

It has significantly expanded Fiery Cross, which is also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines, drawing international criticism.

In 2014, China began work on a 3,000-metre (9,840 feet) runway on the reef, which is around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from its island province of Hainan.

Beijing in January carried out several of what it called civilian flights to Fiery Cross, enraging Hanoi.

This weekend's flight came just days after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited a warship close to flashpoint waters, after announcing joint naval patrols with the Philippines.On the day of Carter's trip, Beijing said that one of its top military officials had visited a South China Sea island.

Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, observed building work, the defence ministry said, without giving a precise date or location for the visit.

Washington regularly accuses Beijing of militarising the South China Sea, saying it has built runways and deployed weapons to the islands.

Beijing denies the accusations and says US patrols have ramped up tensions.

As well as China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the sea, which are home to some of the world's most important shipping lanes and believed to sit atop vast oil reserves. AP

PUTRAJAYA, April 18 — Sacked Umno leader Anina Saadudin is now seeking the Court of Appeal’s permission to challenge the constitutionality of Section 18C of the Societies Act in her civil suit against party leaders.

Anina's lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla sought leave today to amend her statement of claim to include the constitutional challenge, if the appeal is allowed.

"The High Court should have adjourned and allow us to file an amended statement of claim to challenge 18C," Haniff told reporters after today's hearing.

"They have applied the wrong law," he added, referring to the previous High Court ruling against Anina.

The appellate court will decide on Thursday whether or not to allow the appeal, following the decision by the High Court last December to strike out Anina's wrongful termination suit against Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and executive secretary Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh.

The decision by Judicial Commissioner S Nantha Balan at the High Court previously stated that the court has no jurisdiction to decide on the suit as Section 18C of the Societies Act states that a decision made within a political party cannot be challenged, including in courts.

However, Tengku Adnan and Rauf's lawyer Datuk Hafarizam Harun argued that Anina should apply for a constitutional challenge directly with the Federal Court instead of seeking to amend the statement of claim at the Court of Appeal.

Anina, a former Langkawi Umno Wanita division chief, previously sued Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Ab Rauf for RM2.6 billion over political donations received from a Middle Eastern donor.

That suit however was also struck out by the High Court on the basis that Anina did not have legal standing that file the suit against the party president.