Putrajaya (Malaysia), Nov. 22: Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council has declared that yoga practices which involve physical movements, worshipping and chantings are haram (prohibited) in Islam.

The Star reported that the announcement was made on Saturday.

Recently, Professor Zakaria Stapa, a lecturer of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Islamic Studies Centre, advised Muslims who had taken up yoga to stop practicing it for fear that they could deviate from the teachings of Islam.

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's Islamic regulating council on Saturday issued an edict banning Muslims from practicing yoga.

The National Fatwa Council issued the ban Saturday, saying the practice of yoga involved physical movements, worshipping and chantings which were prohibited in Islam.

Yoga, which originated in India but is widely practiced around the world, is popular among Malaysia's multiracial population.

Muslims make up two-thirds of the country's 27 million population.

India,

Kuala Lumpur, Nov 21 : The Malaysian Indian Congress has urged the Government to set up a committee to co-ordinate the rebuilding and refurbishing of Tamil schools using a 50million ringgit allocation under the stimulus package.

MIC president S. Samy Vellu said the proposal would be tabled by party’s secretary-general S. Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resources Minister at the next Cabinet meeting.

“We want 60 percent of the Tamil schools to be rebuilt or refurbished before 2011,” The Star quoted him, as saying.

Kuala Lumpur, Nov 20: Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan won’t be able to fly down to Malaysia to receive his Datukship on November 29 owning to his tight schedule.

According to sources, state officials are trying to arrange for an alternative date so that the actor is able to receive the prestigious title conferred on him by the state of Malacca.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said he had got wind of it but made no comments.

Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 20 : The new School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews in Scotland has been named the B. C. Sekhar School of Medicine, reports the New Strait Times.