Kajang (Malaysia), Apr. 22 : The youth wing of the Malaysian Indian Congress party has set up a committee to help foreign workers, who are facing problems with their work permits and documents.

After coming across many reports of migrant workers being duped into coming to Malaysia, MIC Youth decided to set up this committee.

Led by its membership and voters’ registration bureau chief G. Kumaar Aamaan, the committee has so far received three such cases involving 10 workers employed in restaurants and manufacturing sector in Johor and Genting Highlands.

Kuala Lumpur - An international piracy watchdog on Tuesday warned of increasing violent pirate attacks in the troubled Gulf of Aden off Somalia, as worldwide pirate
attacks rose by almost 100 per cent for the first three months of this year compared to 2008.

The London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said 102 pirate attacks were reported from January to March, compared to 53 in the same period last year.

Kuala Lumpur, Apr 21 : Radio Televisyen Malaysia's (RTM) Chinese and Indian viewers of Tamil origin are all riled up over the retiming of the Mandarin and Tamil news slots.

The MCA claimed the change of the Mandarin news time slot from 8 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. on TV2 would not benefit Chinese viewers, while a PPP leader Senator T. Murugiah also cited the same over the rescheduling of Tamil @ 2 news from its original 7.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. beginning on Monday.

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian wildlife officers seized 210 clouded monitor lizards believed to be for sale at a village in the central Pahang state, officials said Monday.

A raid conducted by the wildlife department on Saturday led to the discovery of the protected animals in individual sacks, department director Khairiah Mohamad Shariff said.

The lizards were valued at about 10,500 ringgit (2,837 dollars), she said.

Khairiah said no suspects were detained in the operation.

Kuala Lumpur, Apr 20: The Malaysian Health Ministry has said that the ongoing Medical Council's inquiry on A. Kugan, who died while in police custody, will be carried out in a fair manner.

Health Ministry Director-General Dr Ismail Merican said the inquiry was independent and urged people not to speculate.

"Members of the inquiry are professional," he said yesterday after launching a health science symposium here.

Dr Ismail, who is the council's president, declined to comment on the proceedings, The Star reported.

On Friday, Kugan's parents met a six-man preliminary investigation committee, headed by council member Dr Megat Burhainuddin Megat Abdul Rahman.