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Malaysia denied Tuesday any role in the illegal export of nuclear weapons to Iran but confirmed the involvement of a national in the export of potential military and explosive components. Deputy foreign minister A. Kohilan Pillay told AFP Malaysia was not a centre for nuclear weapons shipments to Iran. "Our country is not a centre for nuclear components or weapons or other weapons trans-shipments to Iran or anywhere else. We do not condone such activities," he said. Kohilan however confirmed Malaysian Brian Kaam and Iranian Majid Seif, who lives in Malaysia, along with two local companies, were among eight people...

THE INTERNET IS NOT A VIRTUAL SAFE HAVEN... ...but Malaysia is. Witness, for example, the current set of Taliban sites operating in Malaysia:

Malaysia Withholds 'Allah Bibles' By Robert Pigott BBC News, Religious affairs correspondent About two-thirds of Malaysia's population is Muslim The Malaysian government has refused to release 10,000 Bibles which it seized because they contained the word Allah to refer to God. The government, which is dominated by Muslim Malays, claims that the word Allah is Islamic and that its use in Bibles could upset Muslims. The Roman Catholic Church is challenging the ban in court. Religion has become highly sensitive in Malaysia, where about two-thirds of the population is Muslim. Religious minorities have accused the government of undermining their rights....

Malaysia admitted that it is getting rid of its MiG-29 fighters because the aircraft are too expensive to maintain. It costs about $5 million a year, per aircraft, to keep them in flying condition. Three years ago, Malaysia bought two more MiG-29s, in addition to the 18 it got in the 1990s. Two of those were lost due to accidents. Malaysia has since ordered 18 Su-30 fighters, and will apparently order more to replace the MiG-29s. Malaysia also bought eight F-18Ds in the 1990s, and is getting rid of those as well. Russia has offered better prices on maintenance contracts...

During the recent UN General Assembly meetings in New York, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman painted a picture of Malaysia that many like to see - a multiethnic mosaic of religions, races and beliefs. "The Malaysian government has introduced the One Malaysia concept," Aman said. "It aims at fostering appreciation and respect for all races, seeing diversity as a source of strength. It envisages unity that arises from true acceptance instead of mere tolerance." Yet the same day that Aman extolled the virtues of one Malaysia for all, a judge's ruling back home conveyed an image of the Southeast Asian nation...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – R&B star Beyonce Knowles has postponed a planned concert in Malaysia, the event's organizer said Monday, following accusations by Islamic conservatives that the show would be immoral. Knowles, known for her provocative clothes and choreography, had been scheduled to perform at a Kuala Lumpur stadium Oct. 25. The show "has been postponed to a future date to be announced shortly," .. "The postponement is solely (the) decision of the artist and has nothing to do with other external reasons," the statement said. A Marctensia representative declined to say whether the decision was prompted by criticism from...

Oct 3, 2009 JAKARTA - A CLOSE aide of slain Malaysian terror leader Noordin Mohammed Top has handed himself in to Indonesian authorities, police said Saturday. National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna said in a text message Aris Ma'ruf, 23, surrendered to police in the Central Java district of Temanggung late Friday after months on the run. 'After interrogation, he was brought to the Central Java police headquarters to be handed over to the Central Java head of Special Detachment 88,' he said, referring to Indonesia's crack US and Australia-backed anti-terror squad.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AP) - A judge in Malaysia has upheld a court verdict to cane a Muslim woman for drinking beer, news reports said Monday, re-igniting a controversy over Islamic justice in this moderate Muslim-majority country. The Star newspaper's Web site and national news agency Bernama said the chief Shariah judge of Pahang state ruled that a Shariah High Court's verdict against Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, was correct and should stay. If the punishment is carried out, Kartika would become the first Muslim woman to be caned in Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the 28 million people...

link only http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aK4daf8MD.Bw

A day ahead of Malaysia's 52nd independence day, authorities were busy Sunday tackling tension over the display of a severed cow head at the head of a procession to protest the relocation of a Hindu shrine. The incident occurred Saturday in Shah Alam, capital of Selangor state, prompting Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to direct Police Inspector General Musa Hasan to investigate the matter. The Selangor government Sunday condemned and expressed regret over the 'provocative, offensive and deliberate use' of the severed head of a cow by a group of people to stage a protest against the proposed relocation of...

SUNGAI SIPUT, Malaysia (Reuters) – Religious authorities in Malaysia postponed on Monday the caning of a Muslim woman convicted of drinking alcohol until after the holy month of Ramadan. The planned caning of 32-year-old mother of two Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno has drawn criticism from rights groups concerned by the rise of Islamic laws in this traditionally moderate country, even though Kartika had accepted the punishment. Earlier on Monday it appeared she might have been freed when a court order that would have transferred her to a prison where she was to have been caned was ruled invalid by an...

Malaysia beer woman spared caning Kartika's case has raised questions about Malaysia's modernity Islamic officials in Malaysia have unexpectedly freed Kartika Sari Dewa Shukarno, who was due to be caned six times this week for drinking beer. She pleaded guilty to the offence under Islamic law committed in 2007 and has not appealed against her sentence. She would have been the first woman in Malaysia to be punished in such a way. The case has provoked controversy in a nation where Malays are subject to Islamic law, while the large Chinese and Indian minorities are not. A van had taken...

Some time in the next few days, a Malaysian Muslim woman named Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno will be caned under Islamic laws for drinking glasses of beer in a hotel bar, and a number of political analysts say the country's increasingly fractious politics are partly to blame. The ruling National Front and the Islamist component of an opposition alliance are competing to place themselves as the guardians of a faith that has taken an increasingly political face in Malaysia over the last 20 years. The National Front accuses the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, of giving up some of its...

(CNN) -- A Malaysian model, who is set to become the first woman in the Southeast Asian country to be caned for drinking alcohol in public, wants her punishment carried out in public. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno said Thursday that if the intent of the Islamic, or Shariah, court that sentenced her was to set an example for other Muslims, then the flogging should take place in the open. "Let's be transparent about it," she said. "We want to challenge them," added Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib. "The law is a little bit wrong. They say they are gentlemen who...

Whip me in public, says Malaysian ex-model IANS 21 August 2009, 10:29am IST KUALA LUMPUR: A distraught and repentant former Malaysian model, who was convicted for drinking beer at a nightclub, wants to be publicly whipped with her family members watching. Set to be the first woman to be punished for violating the country's law that forbids liquor consumption in public, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor is also hoping for media coverage, Harian Metro newspaper reported Friday. A court last month ordered that she be whipped six times for consuming alcohol.

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian riot police fired tear gas and water cannons in clashes with several thousand antigovernment demonstrators who gathered in Kuala Lumpur Saturday to protest a long-standing law allowing detention without trial, raising the stakes in a long-running struggle for political power in the resource-rich but divided country. The law, known as the Internal Security Act, enables Malaysian authorities to detain indefinitely persons they consider to be security risks. In the past, al Qaeda-linked terrorists have been held under the provision. But opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and human rights activists say the law is also being used to...

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AP) - An Islamic court in Malaysia has sentenced a Muslim woman to be flogged with a rattan cane for having a beer in a nightclub, a court official said Tuesday. It is rare for a woman in Malaysia to be sentenced to caning -- a punishment usually reserved for men in various crimes ranging from rape to bribery. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced Monday to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) for consuming alcohol, said a Shariah High Court official who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to make...

As the West desperately waits for some form of "moderate" Islam to surface and come to the rescue, the persecution of non-Muslims continues Malaysia arrests 9 Christians on conversion claim

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's health authorities have seized over 20,000 dollars worth of coffee mixed with sildenafil, the main ingredient in erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, a report said Sunday. "The coffee mixture had been distributed in sachets nationwide," an official was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times newspaper. "Officers found 900 boxes containing more than 9,000 sachets of the coffee mixture which retailed for more than 80 ringgit (23 dollars) per box," the officer added without naming the coffee brand in question. Enforcement officials said the coffee was mixed with sildenafil to "perk up" drinkers beyond the usual...

N. Korea using Malaysian bank to deal weapons with Myanmar: source By Sam Kim SEOUL, July 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea sought payment through a bank in Malaysia for its suspected shipment of weapons to Myanmar that is being carried on a freighter tracked by the U.S. Navy, a source said Saturday. The visit by a U.S. envoy to Malaysia this weekend will focus on ways to cut off the payment transaction for the cargo from the bank in Malaysia to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the source said. "Kim will have a hard time collecting his money," the high-level...

Malaysia’s monarchy system is one of the few true elective monarchies compared to the hereditary system practised by many other countries in the world. In a hereditary monarchy, the office of sovereign, who is of royal lineage, is passed from family member to another upon the death or abdication of the incumbent. However, in Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong can come from any one of the nine hereditary rulers from the Malay States. The next King is determined by the Conference of Rulers through a rotation system originally based on seniority, and varied by the Conference, whose decision is made...

Malaysia to phase out troublesome MiG-29 fighters By Siva Govindasamy Malaysia has announced plans to phase out its RSK MiG-29N fighters over the next few years, with the fleet having been plagued by problems since it bought the type in the early 1990s. "I have decided that from next month, the aircraft will be phased out and we should find a way to sell them to certain companies or countries approved by the United Nations," Malaysia's new defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the official Bernama news agency. The minister did not say what would replace the MiG-29s, which are...

It is very sad to hear but the statement "Indians are latest Global 'HATE' Targets" is 100% true.. In Australia, we face racism.. In USA, sort of it too.. In Srilanka, 'Tamils will be looking forward for a day'.. In Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanisthan, Talibans and most of the Pakis have venemous feleings about us. Recent Mumbai attacks is a clear example and apart from that the attack on Parliament, Bombings in the major cities like Hyderabad, etc., etc., China, is never a friend of India.. Palestines, Of course they will hate us too because of our diplomatic relations with...

Calling one's wife ugly may soon be considered an offence under a Malaysian law that seeks to protect a woman both physically and emotionally. One of the clauses proposed to be amended in the Domestic Violence Act 1994 pertains to emotional violence against women who are currently only protected against physical abuse, the Star newspaper said on Thursday. Women's Development Department director-general Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur said emotional violence was a form of abuse that scars women deeply and lowers their self-esteem, dignity and self-confidence. "It could be a case when a husband tells his wife she is ugly or...

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, May 13, 2009 – With piracy generating big news in the Gulf of Aden, a far-less-recognized multilateral partnership has brought pirates’ swashbuckling days to a virtual halt in the strategic Strait of Malacca. Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, praised a partnership among Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and, increasingly, Thailand and the Philippines, that has boosted maritime security dramatically. An estimated 40 percent of the world’s trade -- about 50,000 vessels each year -- transit the narrow passageway that links the Indian and Pacific oceans. Until three years ago, pirates trolling the strait...

Thousands of Malaysian Hindus are seeking blessings from a group of wild boars believed to possess magical powers, shrugging off concerns about a global outbreak of "swine flu," a local newspaper reported Monday. The Sun reported a Hindu temple in the northwestern Malaysian state of Perak has been drawing a steady stream of thousands of visitors daily, eager to feed and touch dozens of wild boars. The boars, which started to appear near the temple about a year ago, are believed by devotees to possess magical powers and can bring good luck. Among the busloads of devotees and visitors from...

A 28-YEAR-OLD mother allegedly pressed a hot iron against her daughter’s body after she suspected the 12-year-old had told her husband about her extra-marital affair, reported Harian Metro. The victim, who studied in a religious school in Klang, was also beaten repeatedly on her leg with a broomstick. According to a police source, an ustazah from the school sensed something wrong after noticing serious injuries on the girl. “The victim also had burn marks at the back of her neck and bruises on her thigh which were believed to have been inflicted with a hard object,” the source said. Investigations...

'Leccy Tech The Detroit Electric Car Company has announced that it is to develop a range of electric vehicles by grafting its own 'leccy car drive trains onto existing models from Malaysian manufacturer Proton. The plan is to develop two models, one called the e46 that will have a range of 180km (111 miles) for city and suburban use, and another called the e63 that will be available in two versions: one with the same range as the e46 and another that will have a range for 325km (200 miles) for extra-urban use. The two models appear to be based...

March 24, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-nsd-264.html Irish Trading Firm and Its Officers Charged in Scheme to Supply Iran with Sensitive U.S. Technology WASHINGTON – An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear...

A group of archaeologists has unearthed two prehistoric buildings from the third century AD in the Bujang Valley recently... found a building and a smelting factory, following an excavation project in Sungai Batu, Semeling... "This latest finding at Sungai Batu I were of bricks believed to be from a house or office, and another at Sungai Batu II which functioned as a smelting factory," he said... Dr Mokhtar said coal samples found at the foundry were sent for Radiocarbon Dating tests at the Beta Analytic Inc, Florida, US, which confirmed that it dated back to the third or fourth century...

Universiti Sains Malaysia's (USM) Centre for Archaeological Research Malaysia has found evidence of early human existence in the country dating back 1.83 million years... The evidence was obtained from the discovery of artefacts in Bukit Bunuh, Lenggong, Perak... included stone-made tools such as axes and chopping tools. The artefacts were found embedded in suevite rock, formed as a result of the impact of meteorite crashing down at Bukit Bunuh. The suevite rock, reputedly the first found in Southeast Asia, was sent to the Geochronology Japan Laboratory three months ago and carbon dated using the fission track dating method... Based on...

... Americans tend to view Muslims as a monolith, our views having been burned into our perceptions by Sept. 11, the Iraq war, and ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Yet in countries like Malaysia--one of the largest Muslim countries in the world, perched in a corner of Southeast Asia--a more hopeful future is discernible... ... But contrary to the stereotype about Muslim countries, Malaysia is for the most part a tolerantly religious nation. Indeed, religious toleration is enshrined in the nation's constitution. Other religions thrive here... ... Sociologist Amitai Etzioni has argued that moderate Muslims, whether in Malaysia, Indonesia,...

THIS week Australia assumed responsibility for a new state: the poor, unstable and violent nation of East Timor. Our 1300-strong troop intervention has been triggered by the failure of East Timor's political system, a crisis within its armed forces, an internal ethnic rift between east and west regions and the combination of an inept Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, and an immobilised President, Xanana Gusmao, who cannot work together but who have made a joint appeal for Australian help. This is Australia's largest ground force intervention since the 1999 Interfet operation, the international force authorised by the UN Security Council that...

(AP) -- He probably hasn't dated in two decades, but the survival of a species may depend on whether Tam can get lucky soon.

The Islamic authorities have issued a ruling, known as a fatwa, instructing the country's Muslims to avoid yoga because of its Hindu roots. To most people yoga is simply a sport - a stress-busting start to the day. Malaysia's National Fatwa Council said it goes further than that and that elements of the Indian religion are inherent in yoga. Announcing the decision, the council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin said practices like chanting and what he called worshipping were inappropriate and they could "destroy the faith of a Muslim". The ruling is not legally binding but many of Malaysia's Muslims abide...

Jaishree Balasubramanian Kuala Lumpur, Nov 22 (PTI) A top Islamic body in Malaysia today barred Muslims from practicing Yoga, saying the ancient physical exercise was "haram" and prohibited in Islam. Apprehensive that Muslims could be swayed by Yoga's elements of Hinduism, National Fatwa Council (NFC) issued a religious decree telling the community, who comprise two-thirds of Malaysia's 27 million population, that practising Yoga was "haram" and prohibited in the religion. Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the government-backed NFC, opined that practicing Yoga will erode the faith of Muslims in Islam and does not conform with the religion. "Yoga will erode...

BANGKOK, Nov 7 (IPS) - In Indonesia, many know him as ‘’Barry’’. To others U.S. president-elect Barack Obama is the ‘’Menteng Kid’’ for the primary school he attended while living in South-east Asia’s largest country. Indonesia had a little more to celebrate than its neighbours when Obama was declared elected on Tuesday. Among those who rejoiced was Israella Dharmawan, Obama’s teacher during his childhood in central Jakarta. ‘’I remember he once wrote two stories titled ‘My mother, my idol’ and ‘I want to be a president’,’’ she said in a story appearing in Thursday’s ‘Jakarta Post’ newspaper. Obama was six...

Man attacks wife for not getting him new spouse  29 Oct 2008, 1314 hrs IST, AFP KUALA LUMPUR: A 57-year-old Malaysian Muslim man assaulted his wife and threatened to shoot her after she failed to secure him a young second wife,   news reports said on Wednesday. Mohamad Haris Daud, a local police chief in Kuantan in central Pahang state, said the man forced his 60-year-old wife to seek the consent of a woman in her 30s to be his second wife. The frightened wife then went to the woman's house but found out that she was already married, he...

In a bizarre style of settling scores with his neighbour, a man allegedly put some "dangerous weapons" — centipedes on his neighbour's bed. A local court charged 21-year-old R Prabhakaran for allegedly placing centipedes on his neighbour K Rajama’s bed. Prabakaran is accused of putting four centipedes and bugs on the bed of his neighbour last Friday. He is said to have had a misunderstanding with Rajama. Prabhakaran has been charged under the offence of the Penal Code for attempting to cause hurt with a "dangerous weapon" and carries a jail term of up to three years or a fine...

ANOTHER 20 products have been found to be contaminated with melamine, including well-known products such as Lotte Koala biscuits and Julie crackers. Three of them are from China while 17 others are from Malaysia. This marks the first time that non-China products available here have been found contaminated with melamine. The latest detection brings the total number of melamine-tainted products here to 33, said the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore in an update on Friday. The tainted China-made products are Lotte Koala's March Cocoa Chocolate Biscuit, Hello Kitty Strawberry Cream Filled Biscuit and unbranded non-dairy creamer in industrial pack....

An influential council of Malaysia's state rulers has warned people not to question the supremacy of Islam or the special privileges enjoyed by the country's ethnic Malay majority. The warning underscores the social tensions in Malaysia, where Muslim Malays are about 60% of the nation's 27 million people. Chinese and Indians, who are mostly non-Muslims, comprise a third of the population and friction among the three ethnic groups is always below the surface.

The FBI has blocked two of its veteran counterterrorism agents from going public with accusations that the CIA deliberately withheld crucial intelligence before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. FBI Special Agents Mark Rossini and Douglas Miller have asked for permission to appear in an upcoming public television documentary, scheduled to air in January, on pre-9/11 rivalries between the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency. The program is a spin-off from The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, by acclaimed investigative reporter James Bamford, due out in a matter of days. The FBI denied Rossini...

KUALA LUMPUR: The demolition of Hindu temples built illegally on government or forest land continues in Malaysia although the ethnic Indian community voted overwhelmingly for the opposition to protest against the destruction of their shrines. However, the evident boycott of the ruling coalition by the ethnic Indians has not resulted in a change in the government's policies. On the other hand, the trend has continued even in states where the opposition alliance is in power. Temple demolition was one of the issues for which the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) staged a protest rally last November after which the government...

KAJANG, MALAYSIA - Two men hijacked a security van carrying RM4.5mil ($1.87mil) cash in 15 bags but their getaway car was too small for the bags and they had to leave behind RM2.7mil in nine bags. The incident occurred at 11.25am yesterday after the van stopped to fill up an ATM in the Tesco hypermarket in Saujana Impian here. Ill-equipped heist: The security van at Bukit Duyong rest and recreational area after hijackers robbed the vehicle at gunpoint. Three guards, one of them armed with a pump gun, had gone to the first floor of the building, leaving behind...

September 16 had come and gone. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim failed to unseat Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as the Prime Minister. As a Muslim, Anwar should accept that he can plan, but God decides. From the very beginning what he did was morally wrong, although politics by a Machiavelian standard is apolitical. It may be the accepted norms in other developing countries, but Malaysia has come of age and our politicians should show maturity and dignity when clamouring for political power. Anwar should have the patience to wait for the next general election and let the people decide. He...

Archaeologists have found two groups of complete Neolithic human remains in peninsular Malaysia and on Borneo island that may better explain prehistoric human life, reports said Friday... the remains are more than 3,000 years old and were found within two months of each other, in prehistoric burial grounds surrounded by ceremonial beads, pottery, shells and animal bones... The first set of remains found in a mangrove swamp on the island of Pulau Kalumpang off northern Perak state consists of three Mongoloid males aged between 15 and 35 years old... The second set were of seven males and a female found...

"But even in the blue state of New York where Obama fans are aplenty, Palin’s family problems merely made her more human to them. To them, it does not speak lesser of her as a mother or an individual."

Malaysia deploys navy to Somalia Malaysia is sending three navy ships to the coast of Somalia to protect merchant vessels from piracy.The ships, carrying troops and helicopters, are expected to begin patrolling in the Gulf of Aden in the next few days. Two Malaysian tankers from the shipping line MISC Berhad were seized last month by Somali pirates. The seas off Somalia, close to busy shipping routes, have some of the highest rates of piracy in the world. The country has been without a functioning central government for 17 years and has suffered from continual civil strife. Malaysian Deputy Prime...

Malaysian man gets nut stuck around penis: report Sun Aug 31, 2:25 AM ET KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A Malaysian welder had to have a nut removed from around his penis after an attempt to lengthen it before he gets engaged next week went embarrassingly wrong, a news report said Sunday. The nut got stuck on his penis following an erection, the Star newspaper said, forcing him to seek help at a hospital in southern Johor state. Staff from the Sultanah Aminah hospital had to drain some blood from the penis and cut away a top layer of skin before...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's Islamic opposition party has urged the government to cancel a concert by Avril Lavigne, saying the Canadian singer's on-stage moves are "too sexy," an official said Monday. Lavigne, a Grammy-nominated rock singer who burst to fame with her 2002 debut album "Let's Go," plans to start her monthlong Asia tour with a performance in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 29. The youth wing of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party said Lavigne's concert would promote wrong values ahead of Malaysia's Aug. 31 independence day. "It is considered too sexy for us. ... It's not good for viewers in...