Some Interesting Reads

A few interesting news items from here and there, look out for the spins ::

• Tok Guru Resigning? :: Has the PAS spiritual leader and Kelantan MB finally thrown in the towel after decades of battling the Barisan Nasional? Rumours are rife that he has but party leaders deny this.
  
• Anwar Ibrahim, a fellowship at Oxford :: Now, two months after being freed by an appeals court, Malaysia's most famous dissident is preparing for another turn on the international stage, this time as a broker of sorts between US neoconservatives and the Muslim world. He has accepted a fellowship next year at Oxford University and plans to spend much of his time rekindling old relationships. His admirers
  
• No More Smoking in Work Places :: The Human Resources Ministry is studying the impact of making smoking in workplaces an occupational safety and health issue and not treat it as a mere health problem.
  
• Queens' speech: The politics of fear :: TERROR Proposal: Draft Bill in the New Year will propose juryless anti-terror trials, use of wiretap evidence in courts and civil orders for people suspected of "acts preparatory to terrorism" such as raising cash.
  
• Six Family Doctors ignored 'Alarm bells' :: The six GPs, from Hyde in Greater Manchester, signed 214 cremation forms for the serial killer's patients over 18 years, but 124 of the patients were later ruled to have been unlawfully killed.
  
• Family Claimed Polis Ignored Reports of Abuse :: The family of a woman whose three children were allegedly strangled by her husband has accused the police of failing to act on more than a dozen reports made against him for abusive behaviour.
  
• UN DR Congo sex abuses 'on film' :: The United Nations is investigating some 150 allegations of sexual abuse by UN civilian staff and soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  Accusations include paedophilia, rape and prostitution of refugees in UN camps, says UN official Jane Holl Lute.