MIRI: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will release another video clip showing certain corporate leaders trying to influence judicial appointments. 

PKR vice-president Azmin Mohd Ali, who disclosed this here yesterday, said the video clip would be released soon. 

“This video clip is going to be even more damaging than the first video clip,” he said. 

“Anwar wants to testify personally in the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry (on the Lingam video tape controversy). If he is not allowed to do so, he will release this video clip most probably in Kuala Lumpur.” 

Azmin also said there were two other material witnesses who had important evidence to provide.  

SIBU: A woman and her six-year-old son were found dead in their double-storey house at Jalan Langsat here.

Police have identified her as Hung Yu Yuin, 34, and her son, David Ting Yu Soon.

Sibu OCPD Asst Comm Shafie Ismail said Hung was found hanging from the ceiling of the sitting room and Ting's body was found on the floor at about 7.50pm on Sunday.

He said the boy was believed to have died of strangulation as a piece of nylon string was found at the scene.

ACP Shafie said police were investigating the motive behind the deaths.

A police party rushed to the house after receiving a telephone call from Hung's neighbours as they heard someone screaming in the house.

Police had to break down the front door as it was locked from the inside.

Sources said Hung had earlier quarrelled with her husband over some matters, and that he was not around when the tragedy happened.

这起摄影记者值勤被殴事件是于今早10时40分左右，在蕉赖啤路的巫统区会大厦外发生，当时各报记者及摄记跟随行动党蕉赖区国会议员陈国伟在该区的一个巴士车站进行采访工作。当采访完毕大家正准备解散时，2名疑是巫统党员的男子突然向前与陈国伟交涉，双方较后发生口角。就在这时，更多男子从巫统大厦走出，并和陈国伟发生肢体冲突。

在场摄记即刻涌上前拍照，在拍完照欲离去时，其中一名拦着某报摄记，并粗声警告他不可拍照，更大声开腔要他离开现场。

有关摄记随即回嘴表示对方无须如此粗声粗气，相信因此引来另一人的不满，对方二话不说便挥拳向他右颈打去。

据了解，该报摄记已如实向蕉赖警方作出投报，而警方也已向他录取口供并表示将会调查此案。

马来西亚华裔摄影协会对中文日报摄影记者遭殴打事件感到遗憾，并严厉谴责暴力行为。

该协会秘书赖成新发表文告指出，中文日报摄影记者许俊诚在蕉赖采访陈国伟有关滥用拨款事件记者会时遭数名人士殴打，令该会深感遗憾，也严厉谴责此种暴力行为。

他说，摄影记者接二连三的在执行采访任务时受到暴力对待，已使摄影记者生命受到极大威胁，文告指出，该会对一小撮人把法律操纵在手，已严重妨碍新闻自由及让摄影记者承受更大的压力。

该协会认为：“我们坚守新闻从业员的职业操守，也维护新闻从业员该有的原则，摄影记者在执行采访任务时应受到更大的法律保护。”该协会也促请执法单位采取行动遏止此类暴力事件再次发生。

PENANG: More than 100 police personnel went flat to flat to look for a Vietnamese man who robbed and raped a 19-year-old Vietnamese woman at a hostel in Relau here. 

The personnel, who were separated into 10 teams, knocked on the doors of about 1,000 units of nine blocks of Majestic Heights flats in Paya Terubong. 

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid said 146 Vietnamese men were documented and later released during the five-hour operation, which started at midnight on Sunday. 

He said seven Vietnamese men, armed with knives, had tied up and robbed seven Vietnamese women of their RM2,000 and handphones earlier at about 8pm. 

“One of them raped one of the woman,” he said. 

ACP Azam said that the group later robbed another seven Vietnamese men of RM3,600, handphones and jewellery at a flat in Jelutong at 11.30pm. 

“In both incidents, the group, which are believed to be remnants of a gang active on the mainland, had approached their victims on the pretext of asking for a glass of water. 

“We managed to obtain photofits of the two robbers in their 20s,” he said. 

KUALA LUMPUR: There is a future in this country for every Malaysian, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. 

The Umno president said the party does not engage in duplicity.  

“We are not makhluk dua alam (amphibian or semi-terrestrial creatures). 

“We do not change our tune to suit the occasion or the audience. 

“We are ready to seek intelligent resolutions and win-win solutions when dealing with sensitive issues relating to race and religion,” he said. 

However, for these issues to be addressed effectively, they should be discussed behind closed doors, Abdullah said in his presidential address at the Umno general assembly on Wednesday.  

The Prime Minister said the harmony among the various communities and religions in the country was not an “optional luxury” but a necessity.  

“We have no other choice. Fifty years ago, our independence movement was successful because of the wisdom of Tunku Abdul Rahman and his colleagues who introduced the concept of power sharing,” he said.  

He added that being independent for 50 years meant that those born and raised in Malaysia, know only Malaysia as their homeland.  

“The time for championing parochial interests is over. Issues must be addressed on the basis of the interests of the nation and the Malaysian people as a whole,” he added.  

Abdullah stressed that basic matters, such as that relating to the sanctity of religion, beliefs and practices, Malay interests and the social contract among the communities are sacred and should not be raised.  

“Similarly, the basic issues that were agreed upon at the time the Federal Constitution was drafted are non-negotiable,” he added.  

Abdullah said that the National Economic Policy (NEP) was never intended for anyone to rob another’s rights.  

“Although it has been 37 years since the introduction of the NEP, we......

PENANG: The police have come up with a photofit of the assailant who stabbed to death well-known civil lawyer Datuk S.P. Annamalai on Tuesday. 

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid said the man is believed to be in his late 20s.  

"We are looking for him. We have also recorded statements from several witnesses,” he told reporters when met in his office on Thursday. 

Forensic pathologist Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, who conducted the post-mortem, said Annamalai was stabbed in the back and waist. 

He said Annamalai, a well-known civil lawyer, died from excessive blood loss from the liver. 

In the 6.35pm incident, a man stabbed Annamalai with a long knife while he was walking to his car with two other lawyers in Green Hall here. 

The assailant fled on a motorcycle with an accomplice, while a lawyer from the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre rushed Annamalai to the Gleneagles Medical Centre, where he died at 7.55pm.

"The harmony between the various communities and religions in Malaysia is not an optional luxury -- it is a necessity. We have no other choice," Abdullah told the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) assembly.

UMNO's annual talks have been dominated by race issues, which flared Tuesday when a party leader raised the Malay dagger, or kris, in a gesture seen by other ethnic groups as aggressive and inflammatory.

"If we want our religion to be respected and understood, let us in UMNO show exemplary behaviour by respecting the followers of other religions and their needs," Abdullah said in a keynote address to more than 2,500 delegates.

Dressed like the other delegates in traditional Malay dress, he said the party would never endorse a "narrow interpretation of Islam" or breach a spirit of coexistence in the multicultural nation.

"Opportunities in Malaysia are available to all. There is a future for every Malaysian in this country," he said.

However, in a nod to the more fiery elements within his party, Abdullah warned: "Other communities must appreciate the sensitivities of the Malays.

"Basic matters relating to the sanctity of religion, beliefs and practices, Malay interests and the social contact between the communities are sacred to us and should be not be raised."

He also defended a system of positive discrimination aimed at boosting Malays, known as the National Economic Policy (NEP), which has alienated minority groups.

"The NEP was never intended to rob anyone's rights. Although it has been 37 years since the introduction of the NEP, we have not made Malays rich by seizing the wealth of the non-Malays," he said.

The parliamentary opposition rejected Abdullah's assertion......

GOMBAK: Police have arrested four foreigners in connection with the brutal murder and rape of nine-year-old Preeshena Varshiny. 

The suspects, all in their 20s and who worked with a provision shop in the gated community of Casa Mila Tower condominium in Bukit Indah, Selayang, were held last Friday. 

Selangor deputy police chief Senior Asst Comm I Mohmad Salleh said the men had been remanded until Nov 9 to assist police in the investigation. 

Last Thursday, Preeshena was found raped, sodomised and murdered. Police believed she had been pushed off from a balcony at the posh condominium. 

A security guard found her found sprawled on the ground clad in a blue T-shirt and shorts. The keys to her condominium unit were found near her body. 

It is learnt police also found a piece of paper with Preeshena’s home telephone number in a vacant unit on the second floor of the same block where she lived. 

She was believed to been was lured out of her home. The girl was said to have put up a struggle before she was pushed off the balcony. 

Initially, police thought Preeshena had slipped and fallen to her death but post mortem revealed the SRK St Mary’s pupil, who suffered a broken right arm and multiple bruises on her chest, back and private parts, was raped and sodomised. 

Police then reclassified the case as murder. 

When the incident took place, Preeshena’s parents were away at work. Her younger brother was attending a boarding school while her youngest sister was at the baby-sitter’s place.

PETALING JAYA: The final 10 teams of The Star Online's Drive for Food contest zoomed off to Penang to capture and edit moments of their trip into a video for the finals. 

Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd chief operating officer and executive director Datin Linda Ngiam flagged off the teams at Menara Star here yesterday. 

SIBU: The Chinese should make more babies to arrest the community's dwindling birth rate. 

State Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Wong Soon Koh said the lower birth rate had resulted in the country's Chinese population plunging from 37% in 1957 to 25% in 2005. 

''This will slip further to 24% by 2010 and to 19% by 2030 or a drop of 1% in every five years,'' he said at the United Chinese Association's 30th anniversary dinner here. 

He also voiced concern on the high migration rate of the Chinese to other countries. 

To arrest the trend, he urged the community to boost the birth rate and to enrol their children for tertiary education in the country instead of sending them abroad. 

''There are good colleges and universities in the country to cater for the local population. There is no need to send our children abroad for further education,'' said Wong. 

Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia president Tan Sri Lim Yuk Tong said a committee has been set up to study the decline in the country's Chinese population. 

He said the committee was headed by the Federation of Sarawak Chinese Associations, which had raised the matter at the federation's recent delegates’ conference. 

Lim urged Chinese organisations to forge greater unity to safeguard and work for the community's interests.

據知，男童經醫生檢驗后，取走他的眼角膜、腎和心臟，惟有關器官將捐給何人，院方沒透露，男童父母也不想知道。

男童的父親韓秋良（36歲，汽車零件商）說：“不管什么種族、什么人，都沒關係，能夠捐給人，救到人就好。”，表現其大愛精神。

捐獻器官的男童韓以樂（4歲）與家人，住在古來公主城，是家中長子，下有一弟（3歲）和一妹（7個月大）。

男童父親韓秋良今日在新山中央醫院太平間受訪時說，兒子以樂偶爾喜歡與父母同睡，上月28日凌晨時分，兒子在他的房裡熟睡時，突從2呎高的床鋪墜下，相信傷到頭部，號啕大哭。

他說，由于事后哄了兒子，兒子看似沒問題，呼呼大睡，他便不以為意；怎知到了早上，兒子突作嘔，精神情況不佳，他抱起兒子時，發現兒子已虛癱。

“我立即抱著兒子到古來醫院求醫，當時兒子已陷入昏迷，古來醫生見情況危殆，將孩子轉送新山中央醫院。”

他說，抵達新山中央醫院后，緊急部門醫生發現孩子后腦有瘀血，便開刀進行手術，但兒子仍一直處于昏迷。

“醫生早有讓我做好心裡準備，說兒子或已腦死，一直到昨天上午11時許，醫生證實兒子腦死不治，我和妻子便決定把孩子的器官捐出。”

他心慰，院方在處理此事時，顯得小心翼翼，直到傍晚時分，除二度確定兒子已回魂乏術，並找來我國和鄰國醫生檢驗器官是否適合使用，才讓他簽署捐獻器官同意書。

KUALA LUMPUR: Commercial Crimes Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Ramli Yusoff has been charged with not disclosing information about two office units belonging to his sisters and on shares which he owned. 

Comm Ramli, 55, in his capacity as a public servant, was also charged with being involved in business as a company director. 

GENTING HIGHLANDS: Genting Group Bhd founder Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, who died last Tuesday, was laid to rest at the Gohtong Memorial Park here yesterday. 

A 10,000-strong crowd accompanied Goh Tong's family members on his final journey from Gohtong Villa, which was a hive of activity from as early as 7am. 

Only invited VIPs and relatives were allowed up to the mansion where the coffin was placed on the porch before the start of the procession down to the burial ground nearby.  

HONG KONG superstar Jackie Chan has set up shop in Kuala Lumpur!  

No, he is not opening a cinema for his famous martial art films. Instead, the popular plucky actor has opened a coffeehouse named after himself called the Jackie Chan’s Cafe. 

The spirited Jackie was in town recently to launch the cafe on the Muse Floor (Level 6) of the Starhill Gallery. 

Hundreds of his fans were at the Starhill Gallery to greet him when he arrived to open his first lifestyle cafe in Malaysia. 

PETALING JAYA: Two policemen were shot dead while two are in critical condition after a shootout at a double-storey terrace house in Kampung Desa Aman here on Thursday night. 

L/Kpl K. Jayabalan from Gombak police headquarters died at the scene while detective M. Alagesan from the city police headquarters died at the Sungai Buloh Hospital. 

The injured policemen are C/Insp Helmi Zakaria from the Gombak Narcotics division and L/Kpl R. Rajakumaran from the Commercial Crime department. Both are at the Sungai Buloh Hospital.  

The shooting Thursday night was the third in the last three days in which policemen were shot while on duty. 

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said the policemen had gone to the house to investigate after receiving a drug-related tip-off.  

When they reached the scene, several men in two cars arrived outside the house and fired at the policemen in the 7pm incident. 

The suspects escaped. The police are now trying to find out the identity of the people staying in the house. 

“They are very dangerous as they are armed,” he said when met at the scene. 

“We have informed the police contingent about the incident and told them the cars used by the suspect,” he said. 

It is also learnt that the house has been use as a drug laboratory by the suspects. 

Meanwhile, a witness to the incident said he saw the policemen reaching the scene in a Honda CR-V. 

He said a few shots rang out shortly after. 

The man said he ran out to help when one of the policemen shouted for help. 

......

The organisers of his two-day stint here on October 30 and 31 said the decision to cancel was made after agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations raided Copperfield's storage warehouse in Los Angeles last week.

"He needs to help in the investigations. Copperfield is not prevented from leaving the United States but he needs time to get to the bottom of things," Arianna Teoh, director of Arianna Event Management, said in The Star newspaper.

FBI agents took away a computer hard drive, digital camera memory chip and seized nearly two million dollars in cash during the raid last Wednesday.

They also visited the MGM-Grand Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip, where Copperfield often performs.

The FBI has not revealed the purpose of the raid and David Chesnoff, lawyer for the 51-year old magician, issued only a brief statement.

"We understand there is an investigation, we are in touch with the investigators, and are respecting the confidentiality of the investigation," Chesnoff said.

Teoh said Copperfield's performance could still take place later.

"The people here and all his fans have been very supportive of him and if he is cleared, then it is possible that he will still continue with the show," she said.

The former Prime Minister walked out of the IJN Sunday accompanied by his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali who had spent the past 50 days by his side since he was admitted on Sept 2 to undergo his second coronary bypass operation two days later.  

He also had an operation for wound infection on Sept 22.  

His children, Datin Paduka Marina, Datuk Mokhzani, Datuk Mukhriz, Melinda and Maizura were among those who were also at IJN.  

Back home near Seri Kembangan, his grandchildren waited to greet Dr Mahathir with balloons and banners welcoming him back.  

Dr Mahathir had undergone his first bypass operation in 1989 at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.  

"We are thrilled and happy. It has been a long road," said Marina to reporters.  

"We are very happy that he is finally out because I remember the times when we did not know if we would get to today." 

Tan Sri Dr Yahya Awang, who led the surgical team said doctors expected Dr Mahathir to do well from now on and would be able to do "all the things he used to do" within the next few weeks.  

The Soyuz was carrying Angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Russians - Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov. 

According to AP, the Soyuz craft veered off its designated course while heading for its landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan. 

Russian search and rescue teams quickly located the craft, which landed just under 340km west of the designated landing site near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, Nasa reported on its website. 

It said all the three crew members were feeling fine. 

The spacecraft's descent deviated from the intended path apparently due to a computer glitch, and the crew were subjected to higher than normal gravity load on their descent, Russia's Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. 

Yurchikhin and Kotov were returning home after a six-month stint at the international space station. While Dr Sheikh Muszaphar had been at the orbital outpost since Oct 12. 

Retired Nasa astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson said although the term “soft landing” was being used, it was not going to be really soft. 

He said a parachute would slow the spacecraft down, and a breaking rocket would fire just before touching the ground, there would still be a jolt when it touched the ground. 

“It is described as a ‘soft landing’, but it’s a fairly hard ‘soft landing’,” he said in an interview. 

The spacecraft would be descending at a speed of over 200m per second and parachutes would slow it down to about 20mps, he said.  

Breaking rockets would slow it down further to 2 to 3mps just before it hits the ground. 

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will be undocking from the International Space Station at 3.15pm Malaysian time. 

At 3.21pm, the Soyuz jets will be fired to begin departure from the ISS, and at about 5.50pm, Soyuz computers will initiate re-entry manoeuvres. 

At 6.20pm, the spacecraft will break into three modules – orbital, instrumentation, and descent. The crew will be in the descent module. 

At 6.23pm, the crew will feel the effects of gravity and parachutes will open.  

They are scheduled to land at 6.30pm in the swampy area of Arkylk in Kazakhstan. Helicopters and amphibious vehicles will pick them up.  

“When Dr Sheikh comes back, he will have had an experience of a lifetime. He’s going to say, ‘I want to go again’.  

“And so we’re going to have to find another trip for him because, believe me, he’s not going to be satisfied with just going just once,” Gibson said. 

This feat, called the squeezebox, sees the magician taking liposuction to a whole new level! It is just one of the many spectacular highlights expected at the conjurer’s World of Wonder tour on Oct 30 and 31. 

Copperfield said: “For magic to be relevant, it has to evolve to keep up with, or even surpass, the best film and theatre. 

“The goal of this tour is to take dreams and turn them into reality using nothing but state of the art wizardry. 

“I want to base my work on what people really dream about.  

“Most of us don’t dream of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But what affects people is realising personal dreams, dreams almost everyone shares and that seem impossible.”  

The illusionist added that World Of Wonder was partly inspired by an unfulfilled wish of his grandfather’s that many share – winning the lottery. 

“We call it an ‘intimate’ evening of grand illusion partly because it’s interactive.  

“In one of the pieces, for example, the audience discovers how to predict lottery numbers that will come up that night. 

“They get to participate in illusions that blur the line between magic and reality,” said the 51-year-old, whose famous feats include making the Statue of Liberty “vanish”, “walking” through the Great Wall of China, “flying” through the air and “floating” over the Grand Canyon.  

The shows will be held at Stadium Negara with two slots each day, at 5pm and 8.30pm. 

For enquiries, call +603-7954 8414.

......

如證實死者是失蹤的鐘榮金，這也意味，“刁曼渡輪失火”事件中的3名失蹤者，已全被尋獲。

在這意外事件中，死亡人數也增至7人，包括事發后的3名失蹤者，即黃雙龍（37歲）、黃漢文（29歲）和鐘榮金（43歲）。

由于搜救隊伍還在進行運載屍體到碼頭的工作，加上尋獲屍體地點與豐盛港碼頭距離甚遠，估計在傍晚5時左右才會上岸。

家人心碎

同時，在家屬還沒認屍情況下，截至目前，仍無法100%確定浮屍就是鐘榮金。

另一方面，關丹海事局執法主任陳國逵證實，搜救隊伍于今日中午12時05分，在距離刁曼島以南11海里處尋獲一具屍體。

這具屍體是由搜救隊伍的飛行組，即一台小型飛機在海面搜尋時發現的。

因在種種因素下，海上大規模的搜尋工作是從事發日算起，僅維持7天，之后則採取監督或放緩方式，留意失蹤者下落。

然而，今日正好是邁入搜尋工作的最后一天，卻意外尋獲疑是最后一名失蹤者的遺體，令失蹤者家人心碎。

之前另兩名失蹤者的遺體也先后被尋獲，如黃雙龍的遺體是在前天（17日）尋獲，而黃漢榮的遺體則在昨天（18日）被尋獲。

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis said the ceremony would be held after Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor returns to the country. 

Dr Jamaluddin hoped that the recognition would stop the debate on the Malaysian space mission. 

“We also plan to send the Dr Faiz to be trained in Nasa for next mission,” Dr Jamaluddin told reporters in a open house held in Dewan Majlis Daerah Rompin. 

He said he would be leaving for the US at end of November to meet Nasa officials to discuss the plan to send Dr Faiz for training for at least a year or six months, depending on the situation. 

Dr Jamaluddin saidDr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is scheduled to return to the earth on Sunday and undergo “quarantine” for at least a week to neutralise himself with the gravity on earth. 

MERSING: It was a heart-wrenching scene when the search-and-rescue team brought Wong Han Wen's body back here, with all the flesh from his head gone. 

Only the skull was left attached to the rest of the body which was still intact. 

His family had to identify him from the grey shirt and blue jeans he had worn. 

Han Wen’s body was spotted floating at 11.15am about seven kilometres from Pulau Jahat by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency yesterday. The location was nine nautical miles from where the ferry tragedy took place last Saturday. 

He was the second of three people listed as missing from the Seagull Express 2 which caught fire while en route to Pulau Tioman. 

On Wednesday, the body of Wong Song Leng, 37, was retrieved from the sea about two nautical miles from Pulau Tokong Bahara. 

This brings the official death count from the ferry tragedy to six.  

Another person, Choong Yoong Kim, 43, is still missing. 

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency’s Kuantan enforcement chief Capt (M) Tan Kok Kwee said its boat Kilat 34 spotted Han Wen’s body. 

“We retrieved it from the sea and sent it here,” he told reporters here yesterday. 

He said the search-and-rescue mission, co-ordinated by the agency, would continue until the last missing person was found. 

“We have deployed at least five big boats, seven small boats and a Cessna plane. More than 120 men are taking part in the mission. 

“The team has stepped up operations to locate the third victim,” he said. 

Han Wen’s sister Yuh Jen, 24, and Yuh Ling, 28, together with an uncle, had joined the search on a marine police vessel but returned an hour later. 

They were then told that Han Wen's body had been recovered. They immediately broke down and Yuh Ling almost fainted.  

Han Wen’s father, Wong Yang Seng, 64, remained calm throughout.  

Meanwhile, Song Leng's body ......

Tee Hui Yi excitedly gushed about how she wanted to meet two of her idols: songbird Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and Akademi Fantasia finalist Lotter from Sabah.  

Lang Kong Akon was bashful when National Heart Institute (IJN) mechanical heart programme director Dr Mohd Ezani Mohd Taib ribbed him about being single and wanting to find a life partner.  

Hui Yi and Lang Kong made their first media appearance in IJN yesterday after their respective transplant operations. 

However, 14-year-old Hui Yi and 39-year-old Lang Kong were grateful to their donors and families for having given them a second shot at life.  

“I want to thank the donor and his parents. They have saved my life,” was Lang Kong’s reply while Hui Yi said: “Thank you very much. I am really better.”  

Hui Yi underwent a second heart transplant on Oct 5 after her body rejected the first heart transplant the previous day. 

Lang Kong received his lungs from the donor whose heart Hui Yi’s body had rejected. 

“I want to go back in time to celebrate Chinese New Year,” Hui Yi told reporters at the physiotherapy department.  

She was also impatient to get back to school, saying she wanted to visit as many places as she could once she was discharged. 

Lang Kong said he could breathe much better after the operation. He was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2003.  

He had been on the waiting list for new lungs for more than a year. Prior to the surgery, the machine operator from Sarawak was treated at the Institute of Respiratory Medicine.  

Dr Ezani said Lang Kong was undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation to strengthen his body, breathing and muscles.  

Lang Kong was able to do “very heavy physical exercises” such as climbing stairs and cycling, he added. 

He is in the normal ward and his body has not shown any signs of organ rejection. ......

Rescue workers retrieved the body about two nautical miles off Pulau Tokong Bahara. 

A Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM) boat brought the body to Tanjung Gemuk jetty in Rompin, about 40km from here, before it was taken to Mersing Hospital here. 

As the body had decomposed, his family identified him from his green T-shirt and shorts. 

Wong was among 106, including crew members, on board the Seagull Express 2 ferry en route to Pulau Tioman when it caught fire and sank on Saturday.  

Four people died in the incident and three went missing. 

Wong’s wife Seng May Ying had earlier said that she hoped her husband could return home as it was his Chinese birthday. 

APMM Kuantan enforcement chief Tan Kok Kwee said a Cessna plane from the police air unit saw a body at 10.30am yesterday and alerted the agency. 

“A tyre was around the victim’s waist when he was found,” he said, adding that the search would continue for the other two missing men.

According to his son Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, his father was impatient to return home because he missed his children, grandchildren and close friends.

“My father’s condition is improving, his appetite is good and he is able to communicate smoothly but his discharge depends on the doctors,” he told reporters at IJN here yesterday.

Dr Mahathir, who is receiving treatment after undergoing a coronary bypass operation on Sept 4 and a second operation on Sept 22, celebrated Hari Raya with his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, children and grandchildren at IJN.

He and his wife, together with family members, held a Hari Raya gathering for IJN staff and other patients on the first day of Aidilfitri.

Although there was no sign of Choong Yoong Kim, Wong Song Leng and Wong Han Wen, their relatives remain hopeful that they could be alive. 

Choong's wife Wong Soo Cheng and their eldest daughter Zi Wei, together with several relatives held a ceremony at the jetty yesterday evening.  

Soo Cheng and Song Leng are siblings. 

They burnt a letter in Chinese that pleaded the Water God to be merciful and to return their loved ones. 

They also called out Choong's and Song Leng's names before throwing watermelons into the sea. 

“If the watermelon sinks, it is bad luck. If it floats, then we can hope for the best,” Choong's brother Danny said. 

They felt a little relieved as both watermelons floated. 

Danny, who had rushed from Kuala Lumpur, said people told him that the strong tide could have washed them to one of the many nearby islands. 

“This gives us renewed hope that they could have survived,” he added.  

The family members had earlier planned to hold the ceremony at the location where the ferry caught fire but bad weather forced them to change their plans. 

Search and rescue operations by 70 uniformed personnel from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Marine Police, Police Air Wing, Fire and Rescue Department and navy divers resumed at dawn yesterday.  

Operations coordinator Captain Tan Kok Kwee said the team found a life jacket which belonged to the vessel at 2.30pm about 8km from the site of the accident. 

There was, however, no sign of any of those missing. 

Johor Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Abdul Hamid S. Abdullah said the canine unit comprising Labradors – Joe, Hardy and Cody – have been brought in to help with the search and rescue.  

He said the dogs had been very......