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MCIS Zurich Insurance Bhd's major shareholders have denied that there is any rift between them and say they remain keen to build the business together.

They also denied that Switzerland's largest insurer, Zurich Financial Services Ltd (Zurich FS), might sell its shares in MCIS Zurich.

The main shareholders of MCIS Zurich are Koperasi MCIS Bhd (43.69 per cent) and Zurich FS (40 per cent).

"The marriage is sound," Zurich FS global corporate business head Geoff Riddell told Business Times during a meeting called by the insurer in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.

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The meeting, in which Riddell was the spokes-man, was also attended by other Zurich FS bigwigs, namely chief executive officer (CEO) for Greater China and Southeast Asia, Johnny Chen, and chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific, Dirk de Nil.

Koperasi MCIS chairman Mustapha Md Nasir and board member Arokiasamy Savarimuthu were also present, but sat on the sidelines. They did not participate in the briefing.

MCIS Zurich CEO Md Adnan Md Zain was absent.

However, Riddell admitted that the Business Times report on tension between the major shareholders was not entirely wrong.

"I do not deny that the broad details in the report were discussed," he said.

"This story ... had some fairly accurate substance in it, but not the conclusion," he said.

He said the article had "some facts which were correct", namely MCIS Zurich's plans to have a bancassurance partner and to enter the lucrative takaful market.

Riddell, who is also the CEO for Asia-Pacific and Middle links of london charms East operations, declined to elaborate on the plans.

Business Times had reported that Zurich FS might quit MCIS Zurich after the proposed sale of a 30 per cent stake in MCIS Zurich to EON Bank Group was blocked by the cooperative.

It also mentioned that Zurich FS' exit could be inferred when it decided not to support Koperasi MCIS' plans to apply for one of two new takaful licences available before the October 31 2009 deadline.

Koperasi MCIS had partnered Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd and made a bid for a takaful licence last year.

Asked why the EON Bank proposal had fallen through, Riddell said: "There were various reasons why it didn't happen. We could not find a way to make it work for all parties involved."

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Still, MCIS Zurich is keen on the takaful business.

"We are still looking at how we can do takaful. I don't consider takaful (proposal) is dead," he said.

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2nd Ld-Writethru-China Focus: Real-name train ticket system launched in China, crackdown on scalpers

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- A pilot scheme to sell railway tickets based on proven IDs began Thursday in south China in a bid to prevent ticket hoarding by scalpers during the upcoming Chinese New Year travel peak.

The first real-name ticket was booked at 7:03 a.m. by phone, confirmed sources with the ticket booking system of Guangzhou Railway Group (GRG), operator of Guangdong Province's railways.

The ticket, priced at 423 yuan (61.96 U.S. dollars), was for a hard berth on a train coded K446 scheduled for Jan. 30, from Guangdong's Shenzhen City to northwestern Xi'an City.

The real-name system was initially adopted on trains between Guangdong and inland provinces of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou and Chongqing Municipality, home to millions of migrant workers in Guangdong who will rush back for the Spring Festival holiday.

The Ministry of Railways estimated it would serve 210 million passengers, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier, in the 40-day festival rush period from Jan. 30. This year's Chinese Lunar New Year falls on Feb. 14.

The supply of railway tickets in China often replica hublot watches fails to meet demand. Every year during the Spring Festival exodus, many people cannot obtain tickets from authorized outlets and are forced to buy from scalpers.

The new system is aimed at making ticket purchase more convenient and fairer without price hike, as travellers can book 10 days in advance by phone and get tickets from booths in railway stations or ticket agencies.

GRG is expected to transport 24.9 million travellers during the 40-day Spring Festival peak, or 623,000 passengers a day, up 6.8 percent year on year, said Cao Jianguo, GRG's deputy manager.

GRG has increased the hotline capacity of simultaneous bookings from 8,000 to 15,000.

Passengers only need to follow automated voice instructions and dial in necessary information. After the booking is accepted and processed in a computerized database, the automated voice system will issue a booking code. With the code and ID card, passengers can get their tickets in railway stations or ticket agencies.

"This procedure is expected to prevent long queues at railway stations because most of the communication is by phone," said Huang Xin, head of GRG's passenger transport section.

EFFECTS OF THE SYSTEM

Hundreds of people were receiving tickets at Guangzhou Railway Station. Among them was Liu Chao, who recalled queuing in the chilly winter dawn and failing to get a ticket.

Chang Xiaodan, a native of central China's Henan Province working in Guangdong, was carefully checking the ID card number printed on his ticket.

"Although the process has got a bit more complicated, the joy of actually getting the ticket at a fair price is overwhelming," Chang said.

"The whole booking process took me only three minutes. It was very convenient," said Li Jiangang, a migrant worker from Sichuan. Statistics from GRG showed more than 40,000 tickets were booked just between 7 a.m. and 8:16 a.m..

"Buying a train ticket to get home for the Spring Festival had always been a mission. In the past, after days of fruitless efforts, I almost inevitably ended up buying from scalpers," said Meng, who had been doing construction work in Shenzhen for about se
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2nd Ld-Writethru-China Focus: China sees fastest housing price rise in 18 months last December

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's property prices rose at the fastest pace in 18 months in December, ending the year with rising fears of bubbles in the property market.

Housing prices in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 7.8 percent in December 2009 from a year earlier, and were up 1.5 percent compared to the previous month, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.

The property price increase stood at 5.7 percent in November year- on-year, accelerating from the 3.9 percent in October.

"The growth is within expectation due to the low base of the property prices in December of 2008 amid the ongoing global economic downturn", said Hao Daming, an economist with the China Galaxy Securities.

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The country's property market was depressed by the global economic downturn at the end of 2008, with property prices in the 70 major cities down 0.4 percent year on year in December and down 0.5 percent from the previous month.

The hike was also a result purchase rush in the fourth quarter on expectations of tightening policies, he said.

Prices of second-hand homes rose 6.8 percent in December from a year earlier and 1.0 percent from a year ago, according to the NBS. Prices of new houses in December rose 9.1 percent from the same month last year, and were up 1.9 percent from November.

The climbing property prices, driven up by record high bank lending, favorable policies and speculation, has become a headache for Chinese residents and also stirred up concerns of a property bubble.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in December that housing prices in some cities were rising too fast, which drew "great attention" of the central government. Wen pledged to cool property prices with tools of taxes, interest rates and land policies.

Since December the government has made a series of moves to cool the market, including reimposing a sales tax on homes sold within five years of their purchase from this year and increasing the down payment requirement for land purchases to at least 50 percent of the total price.

The latest one came from the State Council which issued guidelines over the weekend that strictly required the down payment at no less than 40 percent for those applying to buy a second or more houses backed with loans.

The government also renewed its pledge on Wednesday to stabilize home prices by providing more affordable housing and cracking down on speculation.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced on Tuesday to raise the deposit reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points from Jan. 18 this year, aiming at pace lending.

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"This move would not have a major impact on the property market as property developers have already earned enough money from their surging sales this year", Hao said.

China Vanke, the country's largest real estate developer by market value, said earlier this month that its sales jumped 32.5 percent to 63.42 billion yuan (9.29 billion U.S. dollars) in 2009.

"Given the demand-supply gap is still evident, the growing trend in prices would likely continue in the first half of this year," he added.

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a
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2nd Ld-Writethru-China focus: China says Google case should not be linked to ties with U.S.

BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- China said Thursday that its issues with Google should not be "over interpreted" or linked to Sino-U.S. relations.

"The Google case should not be linked with relations between the two governments and countries; otherwise, it's an over- Clip on charms interpretation," said Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei at a press conference.

If foreign companies, including Google, encountered difficulties in China, they should seek resolutions in accordance with Chinese law. The government was willing to help them solve relevant problems, he said.

His remarks came just nine days after Google said it might quit China.

Google's corporate development and chief legal officer, David Drummond, posted a statement on Jan. 12 on the company's official blog, saying it was "reviewing the feasibility of our business operations in China."

According to the statement, the disputes with the Chinese government on Internet regulation and major cyber attacks on the company allegedly originating from China had forced Google to consider exiting.

Google's statement sparked a worldwide focus on ties replica tag heruer watches between China and the United States. Discussions included China's Internet environment, the China-U.S. trade relationship.

But China dismissed the links of Google case with the bilateral relationship.

"I think that should not be interpreted too much, and come up as something concerning the Chinese and U.S. governments," said He.

"When there is content concerning national security and unhealthiness, Internet supervision is normal," said He. "No matter what country, there is always supervision, and China is no exception.

"If foreign companies have different viewpoints with this regard, they should also seek solutions according to the law," said He.

China encouraged Internet enterprises to develop business in China, but "their development must follow Chinese law."

China has said that it firmly opposed and prohibited hacker attacks as China itself was the victim country of cyber attacks.

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"China's Internet is seriously threatened by cyber attacks like other countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Tuesday.

According to the Internet Society of China, the number of cyber attacks from abroad saw a year-on-year increase of 148 percent in 2008. The website of China's largest search engine, Baidu.com, was temporarily paralyzed on Jan. 12 in the worst attack since it was established.

Also on Tuesday, Google China posted an entry on its own Chinese- language blog, , saying that Google China employees were working "as usual" in their Beijing offices.

Although the Internet giant had announced that it would negotiate certain issues with the Chinese government, Google China's employees were still trying to provide the best products and services for their clients, it said.

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Last week at this time, the University of Maine men's hockey team was enjoying the afterglow of a two-game sweep of archrival New Hampshire.

Now, they are licking their wounds after the defending national champion Boston University Terriers, desperate for wins to get in the NCAA tourney, swept them convincingly.

Welcome to Hockey East, circa 2009-1010.

It is Parity Central.

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Boston College is the only team ranked in the top 12 in the USCHO poll.

The Eagles are the highest-ranked team in the Pairwise Rankings that mimic the NCAA Tournament selection criteria as they are tied for fourth. New Hampshire and Vermont are tied for ninth, UMass is 15th, Maine 17th, BU tied for 18th and UMass Lowell 25th.

New Hampshire leads the conference standings with 29 points, but just nine points separate second-place BC from ninth-place Merrimack.

BC has 26 points, Maine 24, BU and UMass tied with 22, Northeastern 21, UML 20, Vermont 19 and Merrimack 17.

The Black Bears control their own destiny.

Four of their final six games are at Alfond Arena where they have won their last six games.

Maine will sandwich visits from UMass Lowell and UMass around a pair of games at Merrimack.

UMass Lowell and UMass are enigmatic but dangerous.

The River Hawks will come to Alfond Arena just 3-6 in their last nine games but five of the losses were by one goal, including a heart-breaking 2-1 loss at Boston College Saturday in which the game- winner came with just 14 seconds left.

UMass has lost five of its last six after winning four in a row.

UMass Lowell and UMass haven't found Alfond Arena much to their liking. The River Hawks were winless in 15 (0-14-1) at Alfond until winning 3-2 last season. UMass is 0-6-1 in Clip on charms its last seven visits to Orono.

However, UMass Lowell and UMass have talent and are certainly capable of winning in Orono.

Merrimack is 10-2 at its cozy Lawler Arena, but the Bears may be catching a break.

After playing a home-and-home set with UMass this weekend, the Warriors have a midweek game against BC before hosting Maine twice.

If Maine wins four of its last six, it will probably finish in the top four and host a Hockey East quarterfinal series.

Maine has to play better team defense. The Black Bears are 0-10- 2 when they surrender more than three goals. They gave up 12 goals in the two losses at BU.

The Maine players felt they were outworked by BU, but I thought it was more a case of the Terriers simply capitalizing on their superior talent. They have six players who were selected in the top three rounds of the NHL draft. Maine has one.

The Bears must put that series behind them and not let it snowball. Use it as a learning experience....

Speaking of hockey, the third Fill the Alfond game in Orono last Thursday night between Bangor and Brewer High School was a rousing success.

There was an exceptional turnout in excess of 2,000, the crowd was energetic and it made for a memorable evening for the players.

"It was pretty awesome," said Brewer junior right wing Lucas Lamond
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BUNDABERG MP Jack Dempsey will swap the air-conditioned halls of parliament house for the scorching bitumen of the Bruce Highway to raise money for cancer.

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He will trade his suit and polished leather shoes for a high- visibility purple shirt and runners for an epic six-day 450km run from Brisbane to Bundaberg in April.

Mr Dempsey will be joined by his brother Mick, Bundaberg Relay For Life chairman Vince Habermann and Keith Anderson.

A self-confessed big man and fitness-shirker, the member said what he lacked in athletic prowess he made up in enthusiasm and passion.

"We're all pretty large fellas and are probably one of the bigger teams to enter, but we'll be running with heart," he said.

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Mr Dempsey, his brother and Mr Anderson will run an average of 15km a day, while Mr Habermann will take the lion's share of hard yards, running 200km over the course of the journey.

The runners will set out from Queensland Cancer Council headquarters in Brisbane, wending their way through the back roads to Maryborough and completing the home stretch to Bundaberg on the Bruce Highway and Childers Road.

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The team will lace up their runners on Sunday, April 4, and are aiming to arrive in Bundaberg for the Relay For Life opening ceremony on April 10 at 2.30pm.

Mr Dempsey hopes passing motorists greet his team with a honk of the horn and shouts of encouragement.

"We're certainly not going to be setting any time records and I've got a feeling we're going to need all the encouragement we can get," he said.

Donations can be made to sponsor Mr Dempsey and his team in person at his office, on the corner of Quay and Barolin streets and online at >

Donations can be made to sponsor Mr Dempsey and his team in person at his office, on the corner of Quay and Barolin streets and online at >

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The town has been buzzing all week, but it grew louder this morning with the United States and Canada getting ready to play today in men's hockey. It's the premier event today certainly and might be the biggest competition thus far in the Clip on charms 2010 Winter Olympics.

The matchup today is the kind of game that doesn't come around often. Both teams are undefeated and the winner automatically advances into the medal round. Both teams stunk up Italy. The U.S. and Canada played for the gold in 2002, with the Canadians winning on U.S. soil.

Can the Yanks return the favor? It's seems more possible now than it did last week when they arrived for the tournament. The Canadians have had their problems already, perhaps from playing under so much pressure in Vancouver. The United States has less pressure on them and will ride Sabres goalie Ryan Miller for as long as they can.

It will be a good test for Miller, who has played in big games earlier in his Thomas sabo charms career. My guess is he would think Game Seven against Carolina in the conference finals was a bigger game than a tournament game in the Olympics. But the Hurricanes didn't have nearly the talent as the stacked Canadians do.

The game today would seem to be the biggest of South Buffalo native Patrick Kane's career. The 21-year-old has played well and the Americans will need him today, especially on the power play.

Tickets, by the way, were being sold for more than $5,500 apiece yesterday. So says the ticket broker who was staying replica hublot watches in my hotel. It could reach $6,000 or $7,000 as they get closer to faceoff.

the way, were being sold for more than $5,500 apiece yesterday. So says the ticket broker who was staying in my hotel. It could reach $6,000 or $7,000 as they get closer to faceoff.

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