Malaysian security officials said yesterday they have received no fresh information of any terrorist threat from US intelligence services following a travel alert issued by Washington days ago.
Security forces worldwide are on guard against a resurgence of activity by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network after a series of attacks on Western targets in Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Morocco in the last week.
Shortly after the bombings in Riyadh on Wednesday, the US Department of State updated advisories to US citizens to exercise caution travelling in East Africa and Malaysia.
But Malaysian security officials said Washington had not given fresh information to suggest any heightened risk specific to Malaysia, and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has mocked the US for becoming afraid of its own shadow.
"No new intelligence has been passed onto us from anyone," a senior Malaysian security official said yesterday.
His comments tallied with those from US officials who said the advisory was an update of one issued after bomb attacks last October which killed more than 200, mostly Westerners, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
The US sources said that advisory had been due to expire, and the renewal was not based on any new information, whereas in the case of Kenya, Washington has warned of "a credible threat."
The US advisory told its citizens to be aware that militant organizations with links to al-Qaeda were operating in Southeast Asia and warned them to particularly exercise "extreme caution" visiting Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.
In the last two years, largely Muslim Malaysia has arrested over 90 suspected militants, mostly members of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian organization led by Indonesians, which has been blamed for the Bali bombings. Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines have also arrested Jemaah Islamiah members.
The greater threat in eastern coastal areas of Sabah, on the northern tip of Borneo island, came from the Abu Sayyaf, a militant-cum-bandit outfit, based in islands off the southern Philippines, just across the Sulu Sea.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
RSS