Kuala Lumpur  - Malaysian police found 84 kilograms of cannabis, worth more than 345,600 ringgit (101,647 dollars), while investigating complaints related to an abandoned vehicle, a news report said Sunday.

The cannabis was recovered early Saturday from the boot of an old car that was believed to have been abandoned for more than a year in a car park in central Petaling Jaya city.

Petaling Jaya, Feb. 14 : Internal Security Act detainee M. Manoharan was allowed to visit his 11-year-old daughter Shivaranjini for just an hour, who was hospitalized due to breathing difficulties.

"I was informed about my daughter's condition after my wife contacted the authorities at the Kamunting detention centre at about 10.30 pm on Thursday," he said when met at the paediatric ward on Friday.

The child was sent to University Malaya Medical Centre on Thursday noon. She was gasping for breath after learning that her father would not be released from detention due to the denial of his habeas corpus appeal, The Star reports.

Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 14 : Malaysia's Human Resources Minister Dr. S. Subramaniam has indicated a major breakthrough in request by the Malaysian Indian Congress to increase non-Malay recruitments in the civil service.

Subramaniam said the matter was decided in a meeting attended by the Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Sidek Hassan, Public Services Commission (PSC) chairman Jamaluddin Ahmad Damanhuri and Public Services Department Director General Ismail Adam in Putrajaya on Friday.

Kuala Lumpur  - A maritime watchdog on Friday issued a warning to international seafarers of an increasing number of pirate attacks this week in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Somalia.

Kuala Lumpur - Thick smoke blanketed several states in Malaysia Thursday after winds brought in choking haze caused by forest fires on Indonesia's neighbouring Sumatra island.

In the southern state of Malacca, visibility was 6 kilometres while visibility at the international airport in the northern state of Penang was recorded at 8 kilometres by midafternoon, with an air-pollutant index of less than 100, which qualifies for moderate air quality, the Meteorological Department said on its website.

A department spokesman said the haze was expected to continue until the end of the week, adding that residents were encouraged not to carry out open burning to help improve air quality.

Putrajaya, Feb 12 : Five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders will remain under Internal Security Act (ISA) detention as the Federal Court has dismissed a motion to review an earlier apex court decision denying their release under a habeas corpus application.

The five Hindraf leaders are M. Manoharan, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kengadharan and K. Vasantha Kumar.

A three-man panel led by Federal Court judge Justice Nik Hashim Nik Ab. Rahman ruled the case was not fit for a review.

On May 14, 2008, the apex court had held that the detention of the five Hindraf leaders was lawful.