Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

December 2, 2008 4:05:06 AM CST

Learn about Newser Points »

Malaysia

Malaysia news stories

12 Stories

(Newser) - Islamic authorities in Malaysia issued a fatwa today against Muslims practicing yoga, BBC reports. The chair of Malaysia's National Fatwa Council said Hindu elements are essential to yoga and could destroy a Muslim's faith. "We are of the view that yoga combines physical exercise, religious elements, chanting and worshipping for the purpose of achieving inner peace and ultimately to be one with god," he said, the AP reports. More »

More about:  Muslim • Malaysia • fatwa • Yoga

OPINION

 Borneo Threatened 
 by Green Gold Rush 

New ideas on conservation needed with island's biodiversity under attack

National Geographic National Geographic Oct 27, 08 1:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - Borneo, the Texas-sized island whose rain forests are astonishingly rich in biodiversity, has been plundered for its other riches—everything from rhino horns to coal to oil—for centuries. Now, with the market for palm oil, dubbed green gold, booming, oil-palm plantations threaten the remaining forest, Mel White writes in National Geographic . "Borneo's future may well be the most critical conservation issue on our planet," he writes. More »

More about:  Indonesia • Malaysia • biodiversity • rainforest • Borneo

US Able to Delay Al Qaeda's Annual 9/11 Tape a Week

Intelligence efforts to infiltrate terror group's networks appears to pay off

ABC News ABC News Sep 19, 08 5:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Al Qaeda’s commemoration of the Sept. 11 terror attacks came a bit later than usual this year, ABC News reports, as US intelligence services were able to block the group's annual propaganda video from making the Internet rounds until today. Sources said Germany and Malaysia helped keep the extremist group from posting its message on Sept. 11 for the first time since the 2001 attacks. More »

More about:  Afghanistan • al-Qaeda • Germany • Osama bin Laden • propaganda • 9/11 attacks • Malaysia • US intelligence

Malaysian Opposition Leader Pleads Not Guilty to Sodomy

Rips charge as 'treacherous' tactic to undermine political comeback

Associated Press Associated Press Aug 7, 08 6:07 AM CDT
(AP) - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim pleaded not guilty today to a charge that he sodomized a male aide, dismissing it as a "treacherous" accusation aimed at undermining democracy, AP reports. Anwar, 60, was charged under massive police security, underscoring the controversy surrounding the case, and was freed on bail to campaign for a key election to Parliament. Anwar served time on a similar charge 10 years ago. Consensual sex between men is a crime in Malaysia More »

More about:  Malaysia • free elections • sodomy • Anwar Ibrahim

Malaysian Opposition Leader Busted for Sodomy

Anwar Ibrahim calls charges political

Associated Press Associated Press Jul 16, 08 9:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Police in Malaysia have arrested the country's opposition leader and are questioning him over accusations of sodomy from a 23-year-old male aide, reports the AP. Anwar Ibrahim, whose party made major inroads against the government in March elections, claims that the charges are baseless. "This is not a criminal case but a political case," a spokesman said. Sodomy, even if consensual, carries a prison sentence of 20 years in Malaysia. More »

More about:  political scandals • Malaysia • sodomy • Anwar Ibrahim

Orangutans
In Trouble as Forests Shrink

Loggers, plantations bring great ape
close to extinction

Daily Telegraph (UK) Daily Telegraph (UK) Jul 5, 08 5:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - Illegal loggers and palm oil plantations may make the orangutan the first great ape to become extinct, scientists warn. In Indonesia, a mere 6,600 of the apes remain, while on Malaysia’s Borneo Island, the population has fallen 10% to 49,600, the Telegraph reports. More »

More about:  environment • endangered species • biofuel • Indonesia • Malaysia • apes • orangutans • palm oil

Malaysian PM Won't Quit After Election Rout

'Political tsunami' the result of govt's inability to quell racial strife

BBC BBC Mar 9, 08 12:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - Yesterday's elections in Malaysia dealt a stunning blow to the coalition that has effectively ruled the country since 1957. Despite the worst-ever showing, the National Front clung to a bare majority in parliament, and the prime minister refused calls for his resignation, BBC reports. Outside observers fear unrest and financial instability in the wake of the upset. More »

More about:  election • Malaysia • racial tension • Islamist

Scientist Makes Wonder Material from Rice Husks

Cheap 'aerogel' would slash electricity needs, bomb-proof buildings

Associated Press Associated Press Feb 29, 08 5:10 PM CST
(Newser) - Rice husks might be the key to lowering electricity use, bomb-proofing buildings and making products—from airplanes to tennis rackets—lighter. A Malaysian scientist says she’s found a cheap way to create aerogel, the world’s lightest solid, from discarded rice husks. The material combines incredible insulating power and strength with near weightlessness, reports AP, but has so far been prohibitively expensive to make. More »

More about:  airplane • electricity • Malaysia • scientific breakthroughs • chemistry

Malaysian Minister Quits Over Sex Tape

Secretly recorded video might be part of power struggle

Bloomberg Bloomberg Jan 2, 08 8:54 AM CST
(Newser) - Malaysia's health minister resigned today after a videotape surfaced of him having sex with a woman 30 years his junior. Chua Soi Lek, married with three children, was filmed without his knowledge in a hotel room by four different cameras, Bloomberg reports. Opposition parties claimed that the sex tape's dissemination is part of a power struggle in the ruling coalition ahead of a possible election, writes Bloomberg. More »

More about:  sex scandal • sex tape • Malaysia

Yellow Card,
Red Card, Warning Shots

Malaysian ref finds gunfire effective way to settle soccer players

Reuters Reuters Dec 26, 07 8:03 PM CST
(Newser) - Faced with an angry mob after he red-carded a soccer player, a Malaysian ref finally found an effective means of crowd control: He whipped out his gun,and fired a few rounds in the air. The part-time ref is also a cop, which might explain why he had a gun handy when several players rushed him, Reuters reports. More »

More about:  soccer • Malaysia • referee • firearms • soccer riots

Hindus Battle Riot Police
in Malaysia

Second street clash
in two weeks erupts
in Kuala Lumpur

Canadian Press Nov 25, 07 8:30 AM CST
(Newser) - For the second time in two weeks Malaysian police have used water cannons and tear gas to break up protests in Kuala Lumpur, reports the Canadian Press . More than 10,000 Hindus, Malaysia’s second-largest minority, took to the street around the Petronas Twin Towers chanting slogans and throwing rocks at police to protest discrimination by Malaysia’s Muslim-dominated government. More »

More about:  protests • Malaysia

7.5 Tremor Hits Indonesia

Sparks new tsunami alert and causes buildings to sway in Singapore

Associated Press Associated Press Sep 12, 07 9:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - A 7.5-magnitude aftershock has rocked Indonesia, sparking a new tsunami alert and making buildings sway in nearby Singapore. This morning's 8.4 quake killed at least 5, injured dozens and sent people fleeing inland for safety. Governments issued alerts as far as Kenya and Tanzania warning people to abandon the beaches, the AP reports. More »

More about:  Kenya • Indonesia • aftershock • Singapore • Tanzania • tsunami • Malaysia

12 Stories

Today's Most Popular

Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser a team of editors and writers culls the most important stories from hundreds of U.S. and international sources and reduces them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. It's the Newser guarantee: we can take any report or column or video and pack what you need to know into 120 words or less. Newser's short-form aggregation, visual format, and unique information tools help you get more of the kind of news you want, in a quicker and more entertaining way. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »