Archive - 19 January 2003

It's a fire, a firestorm and an emergency of a sort not seen in 100 years in Canberra. The day of enormous sadness for the capital city claimed three lives, left 150 injured and 400 homes destroyed.

Five people will stand trial for the murder of 26-year-old Hasleza Ishak, the second wife of the Raja di Hilir of Perak. The trial will begin in the Taiping High Court on Tuesday. Hasleza was abducted and killed in October last year.

A Kelantan Umno leader claims that the new party leadership line-up in the state has shaken PAS, so much so that PAS leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat has to lie to the people about its strength.

Financial constraint has led the management of two Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) in Perlis to offer the government to take over the schools. They made the decision after considering the well being of students and teachers.

More than 220 kilogrammes of meat of protected animals worth about RM20,000 have been seized from a restaurant in Malaysia. According to a report,the Federal Wildlife and National Parks Department arrested the restaurant owner.

DAP questions Gerakan's sincerity in wanting a clean electoral roll as it claims that the latter owes its victory in the 1999 general election to phantom voters. Instead, Lim Kit Siang calls for an automatic registration for those who turn 21.

Unstable and irregular electricity supply will damage the costly LCD projectors the reason given by the Education Ministry to replace the equipment with 34-inch television sets in smaller schools. However, NUTP rejects this argument.

A crisis in the ranks of the parliamentary opposition, the Democrat Party in particular, is viewed as a gift for Thaksin Shinawatra as he completes two years as Thai premier.