Kuala Lumpur - Global seafarers faced an alarming rise in pirate attacks last year, with an unprecedented 49 ships beings seized and 889 crew members held for ransom, a maritime watchdog said Friday.

A total of 293 attacks were recorded in 2008, from 263 recorded in the previous year, the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in its yearly report from its reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

It also noted a surge in the number of violent attacks last year.

A total 46 vessels were fired upon, 32 crew members injured, 11 killed, 21 missing and presumed dead, the report said. The number of incidents in which guns were used nearly doubled from 72 in 2007 to 139 last year.

Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 16: Bangladesh's High Commissioner to Malaysia M. Khairuzzaman is following orders from Dhaka to return to headquarters, but is not certain whether he will be returning home soon in the wake of reports that he may be prosecuted for the 1975 assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

"I''m definitely winding up here, but I don''t know what I''m going to do. The last time I was recalled in 1996 and went back, I was arrested," he said, adding that he was innocent as he was in India at the time of the incident, undergoing training on Mujib's written orders.

Khairuzzaman claimed the new regime was doing this for political mileage, adding that he was innocent.

Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 15 : The Commonwealth International Peace Tribunal has urged Malaysia to pardon illegal Indian nationals.

The Star and the Malaysia Nanban quoted its president Selvam Parimanan, who is visiting Malaysia, as saying that he would send a memorandum on the matter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and meet political leaders to discuss the problem.

Parimanan, who is Commonwealth Indian Lawyers Council president, said he was told that more than 80,000 Indian nationals were working in Malaysia in various sectors, and of them, about 30 percent were working illegally.

Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 15 : Bangladesh''s High Commissioner to Malaysia M. Khairuzzaman has been ordered to return home to face charges over the 1975 assassination of the country''s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The New Strait Times quoted Bangladesh's Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud as saying that: "A faxed copy is being sent to Khairuzzaman as we speak."

The trial, Hasan told the New Straits Times, would start "very soon". He said Foreign Minister Dipu Moni signed the recall order.

When contacted, Khairuzzaman, 57, declared the case as "political victimisation".

"I''m very anxious, these are baseless allegations," he said.

Kuala Lumpur  - Dog owners in a central Malaysian district must now obtain a written permission from their neighbours in order to keep their pets, a newspaper report said Thursday.

The ruling by the city council in the central state of Negeri Sembilan was aimed at ensuring that pet dogs were not a nuisance to neighbours, said council president Abdul Halim Abdul Latif.

"The pets cannot be allowed to roam freely outside their compound," he was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 14 : The Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS) has compiled a book to serve as a guideline in delivering sermons in temples all over the nation, with emphasis on national unity.

Titled 52 Velli Sinthanai Manikal (Virtuous Thoughts for 52 Fridays), the book is to be utilized by temples delivering sermons on Friday evenings, reports The Star.

The book was compiled in line with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's call for all religious institutions to play a proactive role in strengthening national unity.

MHS chairman Datuk A. Vaithilingam said the book has already been distributed to all temples.

The book can also be obtained from MHS at 63 Jalan Yusof Shahbudin 16, Taman Sentosa, 41200 Klang, Selangor.