Monday, August 17th, 2009 06:42:00

WITH reference to the letter ‘Banks won't help victims of fraud' published on July 16, Bank  Negara Malaysia (BNM) would like to clarify the following facts which could give rise to misunderstanding among the members of the public on the role of the central bank and the banking sector in addressing the issue of illegal credit card transactions.

? Credit cards are only for the purchase of legal products and services. Under the Credit Card Guidelines issued by Bank Negara Malaysia, cardholders are responsible for ensuring that their credit cards are only used for the purchase of legal products and services, and credit cards are not to be used for any unlawful activities.

By Bryan Walsh Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009

Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he'll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That's the state of your bacon — circa 2009.
(See pictures of what the world eats.)