Malaysian women's rights groups are calling on authorities to raise the legal marriage age to 18, to protect young girls. The issue of child marriage is again a focus in Malaysia after a court sentenced a man to 12 years' jail for raping a 12-year-old girl and then marrying her. The district court in the eastern state of Sabah ruled that while the marriage was valid, the man had committed rape. Suri Kempe f ...

KARO, NORTH SUMATRA, Jan 2: Fourteen people, including four schoolchildren, were killed on Saturday after they were engulfed in scorching ash clouds spat out by Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung in its biggest eruption in recent days, officials said. Dark, searing clouds rolling down the mountain left apocalyptic scenes of ash-covered bodies scattered by a roadside in Sukameriah village, just 2.7 kilometers from t ...

KUANTAN, Feb 3: Police yesterday said they will look into the controversial video clip in which Seputeh member of parliament Teresa Kok is said to have insulted the prime minister, the nation's security forces and the Malay community. Federal Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Seri Salleh Mat Rashid said yesterday those who triggered controversy by touching on elements that could stir racial ...

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 30: The Government is open to talking to all parties on issues effecting national unity, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. The Parliament, said the Prime Minister, could also be used where a bi-partisan committee could be set-up to discuss the issues. As for the national reconciliation plan, he said it would be based on four key thrusts namely social, political, government and international re ...

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 28: Malaysia and Brunei have agreed to boost cooperation in cooperative movement encompassing trading, halal food, school cooperatives, tourism in Borneo, franchise industry and cuts credit facility. The collaboration was concluded by Malaysia's Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry and Brunei's Industry and Primary Resources Ministry at the first Malaysia-Brunei Joint Working ...

Jan 29: The Inspector-General of Police today denied they were setting up a shariah police unit, adding that previous statements on the issue were a "misunderstanding". The statement on the shariah police unit was first raised by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and was later was confirmed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. "There seems to have been a misunderstanding of ...

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29: Malaysia has denied foreign reports that China had encroached into Sarawak waters and was flexing its muscle in the country's maritime borders as a show of power. Royal Malaysian Navy chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar who rubbished them as inaccurate reporting, said China was actually holding a high-level maritime exercise with its navy and airforce, away from the country's exclu ...

HONG KONG, Jan 29: Hong Kong culled around 20,000 chickens on Tuesday after finding the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus in poultry imported from mainland China, days before the Lunar New Year. Fears over avian flu have grown following the deaths of two men from the H7N9 strain in Hong Kong since December. Both had recently returned from mainland China. The number of human cases in China this month is 102 with 22 ...

PETALING JAYA, Jan 26: The proposed formation of a Syariah police unit has come under question in the legal circle with queries on its constitutionality and enforcement role. Constitutional expert Syahredzan Johan said if the rationale offered for its formation was taken in context, it would mean the unit may possibly be used on religious minorities and voices critical of Islam. "The announcement comes with ...

PETALING JAYA, Jan 24: Are the poor going to be defined only by the cars they drive? Do they, in future, have to bring their payslips along to petrol stations? These were among the questions netizens asked of a government proposal to limit subsidised RON95 petrol only to the poor. Many were critical of this proposal, saying that is was impractical and not feasible. Top of netizens concerns was how were "the ...