Palestinians: Arafat's body can be exhumed over poison "polonium" claim

By Dan Williams of Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority agreed on Wednesday to the exhumation of Yasser Arafat's body after new allegations that he was poisoned with the radioactive element polonium-210 in 2004.

A Swiss institute that examined clothing provided by Arafat's widow Suha as part of an Al Jazeera expose said it found "surprisingly" high levels of polonium-210, though symptoms described in the president's medical reports were not consistent with the radioactive agent.

Siringan admits what colleague Masidi denied on poverty in Ranau

Jalibin Paidi of STAR

By Jalibin Paidi of State Reform Party
RANAU : When i made a statement early April this year that Ranau could well be the poorest district in Sabah, Keranaan Assemblyman Masidi Manjun denied it bluntly, saying there is no truth to it. But the very recent remarks by Ranau MP Siringan Gubat in Parliament as carried by local newspapers days ago had vindicated me on my contention.

It must be God's way of telling the ruling party Barisan Nasional that Ranau indeed is in poverty and in need of help. And that is a fact actually, when you go to the ground around Ranau town and in remoter kampungs, a fact some ruling leaders like Masidi prefer to deny, and therefore do nothing (because in their take there is no poverty).

‘Whose money is Musa holding?’

Sabah Chief Minister Musa has claimed that a large part of his multi-million fortune held in foreign accounts is not privately owned by him.

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR wants Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to clarify “leaked” investigation papers that a Swiss bank account linked to Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman contains US$100 million belonging to Umno.

Musa allegedly told Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers that the money in question traced to a bank in Zurich, Switzerland and under investigation by banking and criminal investigation agencies overseas was not his but Umno’s, said a senior PKR official.

PKR vice president Tian Chua who is also MP for Batu, said Najib must explain Musa’s alleged statement linking Umno and therefore the government to the hitherto secret party slush fund.

Should we continue paying taxes? — Lucius Goon

JUNE 30 — My wife and I pay our taxes on time and we are assessed at the highest tax bracket. We never avoided or evaded taxes and viewed it as a moral duty.

But let me put in a caveat. I believe the time has come for us taxpayers (and this excludes 90 per cent of civil servants, Umno politicians and their nominees as well as rent-seekers) to consider a campaign of civil disobedience against paying taxes until the government of the day can show that it can utilise this revenue in a responsible way.

Timor-Leste’s parliamentary election July 7, no clean sweep

By Our Special Correspondent in Dili

DILI, Timor Leste : At the crack of dawn brigades of streetsweepers fan out across Timor-Leste’s capital, Dili. In smart blue overalls and armed with brooms, they ensure that Dili’s main streets can vie for cleanliness with Singapore’s or Tokyo’s. It is a project designed to provide jobs for the city’s many unemployed. And it works.

Despite the many burned-out buildings, the town feels less depressing than it did. But just off the main roads, the squalor of extreme poverty still prevails, and large families live in tiny shacks without water or sanitation.

Ancient Mosaic Depicting Fiery Bible Story Discovered

A glittering mosaic of colored stones once decorated an ancient synagogue floor with scenes of the Biblical hero Samson getting revenge on the Philistines.

This newly excavated discovery in the ancient Jewish village of Huqoq not only depicts an unusual scene — Samson tying torches to foxes' tails in order to burn his enemies' crops — it's also remarkably high-quality, said dig archaeologist Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

In a mosaic, "the smaller the cubes, the finer the work," Magness told LiveScience. "Our cubes are very small and fine."

Pope sacks Slovak bishop in rare show of authority

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope fired a 52-year-old Slovak bishop on Monday for apparently mismanaging his diocese in a rare show of papal power over his bishops.

Usually when bishops run into trouble — either for alleged moral lapses or management problems — they are persuaded by the Vatican to resign. But Pope Benedict XVI has become increasingly willing to forcibly remove bishops who refuse to step down, sacking three others in the last year alone.

His willingness to do so raises questions about whether he would take the same measures against bishops who covered up for sexually abusive priests. So far he has not.

The ghost of 1994 haunts Lajim Ukin

Former bellhop is scared of his own shadow

Mention Lajim Ukin and he takes you back to 1994. That was the year when he defected from the opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah which won the Sabah election by a razor-thin two-seat margin but was denied the government. His action opened a floodgate of defections from PBS to the nationally ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. After 18 years, that has remained Lajim’s best achievement in politics. But the ghost of 1994 has never deserted him. Now as he chases shadows, the federal lawmaker of Beaufort is afraid of his own.

Perhaps the 57-year-old Lajim has seen the writing on the wall. So he has made a few pre-emptive moves: he quits as the head of the Kerambai Kebatu branch of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and announces that he would not be defending his Beaufort division chief post and says that he may not even defend his parliamentary seat. He fears that the BN leadership may not allow him to do so.

Revisiting the term "Bumiputera"

By Joe Fernandez

KOTA KINABALU : A case can be made via Adat, legal, constitutional and Administrative Law for qualified  descendants of Pendatang to be accorded Bumiputera (sons of the soil) status in Malaysia.

The recent Supreme Court decision in South Africa recognising the Chinese community in that country as Blacks, refers.

Having said that, a distinction must be made between Orang Asal and Bumiputera.

All Orang Asal are Bumiputera but not all Bumiputera are Orang Asal.

No one can claim to be Native, to use the English term, unless he or she is an Orang Asal.

Proof of 'God particle' found

By JOHN HEILPRIN and SETH BORENSTEIN of Associated Press

 But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, aren't quite ready to say they've "discovered" the particle.

Instead, experts familiar with the research at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border say that the massive data they have obtained will essentially show the footprint of the key particle known as the Higgs boson — all but proving it exists — but doesn't allow them to say it has actually been glimpsed.