Three Malaysian churches have been targeted with firebombs, leaving one badly damaged, in an escalating dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.
As Muslim groups prepared to hold nationwide protests yesterday, police stepped up security around churches after one in suburban Kuala Lumpur was set ablaze in a midnight attack that gutted its ground floor. Molotov cocktails were thrown into the compounds of two other churches but did not cause serious damage.
Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein appealed for calm amid the conflict over the use of “Allah” as a translation for “God” by Christians, and moved to assure minorities in Malay-dominated Malaysia that “they are safe.”
“I take the events that happened last night very seriously,” he told a press conference. “We want to assure the public that this was not a coordinated and well-planned action.”
“Let’s hope for the best in a few hours’ time,” he said of the protests planned for after Friday prayers, centered on the national mosque in the capital.
Police chief Musa Hassan said officers had been deployed to protect churches around the country and to monitor protests at mosques, following the attacks and phone threats against churches.
Amid conflicting statements from the government and police over whether the protests would be allowed to go ahead, Musa said police would not enter mosque compounds but would advise crowds to disperse.
Pribumi Perkasa, one of the groups organizing the demonstrations, condemned the fire-bombings but warned that Muslim Malays, who dominate the population, were deeply concerned.
“We will continue to voice our feelings in protests today because you cannot stop the outflow of feelings on this issue,” the group’s president, Ibrahim Ali, told reporters. “I think it may have been because of restricting Muslims from voicing their anger and fears that the church attacks took place. You must understand that if Muslims are unhappy, I’m sure there will be no peace in this country.”
The High Court last week ruled in favor of the Catholic Herald newspaper which has used “Allah” as a translation for “God” in its Malay-language section. The government has said the word should be used only by Muslims. The ruling was suspended on Wednesday pending an appeal, after the government argued the decision could cause racial conflict in Malaysia.
The ground floor of the three-story Metro Tabernacle church, part of the Assemblies of God movement, was destroyed in the fire-bombing. Several hours later, the Catholic Church of the Assumption in Kuala Lumpur’s southwest was targeted, parish priest Philip Muthu said.
A Molotov cocktail was also thrown into the front porch of the nearby protestant Life Chapel church.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: The majority of chatbots tested provided guidance on weapons, tactics and target selections, with Perplexity and Meta AI deemed to be the least safe From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the US and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and Meta AI. Eight of the chatbots assisted the make-believe attackers in more than half the responses, providing advice on “locations to target” and “weapons to use” in an attack, the study said. The chatbots had become a “powerful accelerant for
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
RSS