Kuala Lumpur, Mar 7: A 60-year-old man, who was raised as a Christian but has a Muslim father, was declared non-Muslim by the local Sharia court.

Mohammad Shah, who was baptised as Gilbert Freeman, carried a Malay name on his identity card. He had sent a plea to the court to remove the incorrect name.

However, the application was rejected by judge Mohd Nadzri Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, who was satisfied and did not have any doubts that Shah was a non-Muslim before.

"I believe a name does not reveal a person''s religion, although it normally provides a picture of someone''s religion," the NST online quoted Nadzri, as saying.

Kuala Lumpur, Mar 7: Hindu Rights Action Force'' (HINDRAF) chairman P. Waythamoorthy, whose passport has been revoked by the Malaysian Government, has expressed his wish to return back to the country to recuperate after undergoing heart surgery in London.

Waythamoorthy''s twin sister, Waythanayagi, said her brother wanted to be with his family, especially his seven-year-old daughter Vaishnavi.

She said Waythamoorthy''s wife K. Nageswary went to London, earlier this week, to be with her husband.

The Star quoted her as saying that Waythamoorthy is not well and wants his family with him.

Kuala Lumpur  - Malaysian police killed five armed Vietnamese nationals, believed to be robbers, in a Saturday shootout, a news report said.

The five were among eight men suspected of having robbed 11 Vietnamese workers at a hostel in the northern state of Kedah and were making their getaway to the neighbouring state of Penang in two cars.

Acting on a tip-off, police managed to stop one of the cars, resulting in a shootout, Penang police chief Wira Ayub Yaakob said.

Kuala Lumpur - Religious groups in Malaysia on Friday expressed outrage over a government ban on the use of the word "Allah", or God in Arabic, in any non-Muslim publication, saying the move was a violation on the freedom of religion.

In a statement released late Thursday, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism said the government had no legal right to ban the use of a word that predated the Koran and Islam.

Kuala Lumpur, Mar. 6 : Malaysian Police have dismissed allegations of a cover up of criminal culpability of police officers and men allegedly involved in, and leading to the death of suspected car thief A. Kugan.

Criminal Investigations Department director Mohd Bakri Zinin said such allegations were without foundation.

He said that in the past, a number of police officers were charged in court for similar offences.

Kuala Lumpur, March 6: Archaeologists in Malaysia have discovered the main site of an ancient kingdom that predates the Angkor temples of Cambodia and could be the oldest civilization in the region.

According to a report in Taipei Times, archeological team leader professor Mokhtar Saidin said the find, which could lead to a rewriting of history books on the region, was made in two palm oil plantations in northern Kedah State last month.