Kuala Lumpur

Pirates are operating freely in waters off Somalia, an international maritime watchdog warned on Wednesday, calling for immediate assistance from the world’s naval forces. ”We are appealing for urgent intervention by international navies …,” Pottengal Mukundan, the London-based director of the International Maritime Bureau, said.

A court has ordered Malaysia’s national airline to pay a Brahmin Hindu 20 000 ringgit ( 775) to compensate him for mental anguish suffered as a result of being served a chicken meal during a flight, local media reported on Saturday.

Tennis legend Pete Sampras on Wednesday categorically ruled out making a Wimbledon comeback this year, but admitted he was curious about how he would perform if he did stage a return. ”I’m not doing it,” the 36-year-old told reporters in Kuala Lumpur in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

A South African vet will perform in Malaysia what is being described as the world’s first cataract surgery on an orangutan, an official said on Tuesday. Animal ophthalmologist Izak Venter will perform the two-hour surgery early on Wednesday, said an official at the Matang Wildlife Centre in Sarawak state on Borneo island.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter insisted Tuesday that South Africa will definitely host the 2010 World Cup barring a natural disaster. South Africa will be the first African nation to host football’s showpiece event, but reports of delays in stadium construction have raised questions as to whether the tournament would go ahead.

Malaysia’s deputy premier has told the country’s civil servants they need to work harder and spend more time at their desks, according to a report on Tuesday. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told a gathering of civil servants, who are frequently criticised for their seven-hour days, to condition their minds to see work as a virtue, not a punishment.

French "Spiderman" Alain Robert escaped a jail sentence after prosecutors decided not charge the daredevil for scaling Malaysia’s tallest buildings, a senior police official said on Monday. Government lawyers also allowed Robert to leave the country after finding no grounds to charge him in court, the official said.

Malaysia is to introduce college courses in toilet management as part of a battle against the nation’s notoriously filthy public restrooms, a report said on Thursday. Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Robert Lau said similar efforts had yielded clean toilets in Britain and squeaky-clean Singapore.

Malaysia has launched its biggest tourism drive since independence under its famous slogan ”Malaysia: Truly Asia”, but it may as well read ”truly bizarre”. Recent visitors to the South-East Asian nation have read serious newspaper articles about miracle healers and a mysterious giant ape in the country’s southern jungles.

More than 60 000 Malaysians who were forced to evacuate their homes due to massive floods have returned to their wrecked homes after staying at temporary shelters for close to two weeks, officials said on Wednesday. Uncommonly heavy rains in the southern state of Johor and neighbouring states last month forced close to 90 000 people to leave their homes.

Officials from Malaysia’s Environment Ministry have scoffed at the existence of mysterious ”Bigfoot” creatures said to be roaming the jungles of southern Johor state, a report said on Saturday. The ministry’s parliamentary secretary said no firm evidence such as droppings or hair from the creature has ever been found.

A Zambian man was arrested in Malaysia for allegedly smuggling heroin stuffed in 37 small tubes, which he swallowed before arriving in the country, a news report said on Tuesday. The suspect was detained on Friday at the airport in the tourist resort of Penang, where he arrived from Yangon via Kuala Lumpur.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed controversial umpire Darrell Hair to return to international cricket, saying he was one of the best in the business. Hair told Australian media on Wednesday that he would travel to India for the Champions Trophy next month despite many believing his career was over following the fiasco at the Oval Test between England and Pakistan last month.

Michael Hussey has brushed off talk of wanting to succeed Ricky Ponting as Australian captain, saying he is happy just to be playing in the same side. Hussey took charge of his first game as skipper on Monday in the DLF Cup against the West Indies and led from the front, scoring a maiden one-day century only to see his side beaten by three wickets.

Captain Brian Lara made 87 and opener Chris Gayle hit 79 as the West Indies defeated Australia by three wickets on Monday in the fourth one-day international of the DFL Cup one-day series. Chasing Australia’s 272-6 in 50 overs, West Indies made 273-7 in 47.2 overs.

Australia Captain Ricky Ponting has been rapped on the knuckles by Cricket Australia, who said his behaviour was a concern after he was fined for dissent by the International Cricket Council. ”Let’s be clear, Cricket Australia doesn’t condone any actions that go outside the spirit of cricket,” Cricket Australia’s acting chief executive Michael Brown was quoted as saying by Australian media.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting is surprised Andrew Flintoff got the nod to lead England in the Ashes, but sees nothing in their squad to force Australia to alter their preparations. ”It doesn’t really matter whatever squad they have named. It won’t change what we do at all,” he said in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, where Australia are playing a triangular one-day series.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has apologised for a ”serious error of judgement” after confronting umpire Asad Rauf over a wide delivery in their one-day match against the West Indies on Tuesday. Ponting was fined his entire match fee for breaching the International Cricket Council Code of Conduct during his country’s 78-run victory in the first DLF Cup match.

A Chad minister denied on Monday that his country’s expulsion of two foreign energy companies at the weekend was aimed at winning greater control of its oil resources. Chad ordered the Unitd States giant Chevron and Malaysia’s Petronas on Saturday to leave the country for failing to honour tax obligations.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will press for an unconditional ceasefire in Lebanon at an emergency meeting in Malaysia this week, the Malaysian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current chairperson of the OIC, called for the August 3 meeting after weeks of military aggression by Israel against Lebanon.

Asia’s biggest annual security conference issued a toned-down statement on North Korea on Friday, after the communist state threatened to quit the organisation if it condemns the country’s missile launches. The final statement was softer than a draft statement seen by The Associated Press earlier in the day.

Diplomats hailed the "toilet diplomacy" of an impromptu chat in the washroom between the foreign ministers of feuding neighbours China and Japan at security talks in Kuala Lumpur. The two regional powers, whose relations are strained by historical enmities and territorial disputes, have held only a handful of high-level meetings in recent times.

A Malaysian on Monday appealed for help after authorities ruled him dead more than four years ago, saying he was unable to work because of the mistake. According to records, Minggu Mang anak Madang died from head injuries in the town of Bintulu in the eastern state of Sarawak on January 18 2002, and was buried.

Pirates have attacked two United Nations-chartered vessels in the Malacca Strait off the coast of tsunami-hit Aceh province in Indonesia, an international maritime watchdog said on Tuesday. Both ships were ferrying construction materials to Indonesia for the UN’s World Food Programme when pirates boarded the ships under the cover of darkness on Sunday.

A 53-year-old man climbing a fruit tree in a village in northern Malaysia had a narrow escape when he was shot and wounded by a friend who mistook him for a monkey, a report said on Tuesday. The man was putting protective coverings on jackfruits in an orchard owned by his friend.