Malaysian authorities have put out most of the fires on a tanker carrying 58,000 tonnes of naphtha after it was involved in a collision with a cargo vessel in the Strait of Malacca, a Malaysian official said on Thursday.

A Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) official said there were still no signs of a spill of naphtha, and that search efforts were continuing for nine of the tanker's 25-member crew.

The rest were rescued by a passing vessel soon after the collision on Tuesday.

"Reports from firefighers on site as of 5.30 a.m. (2130 GMT) said most of the fires are out, so the focus now is ensuring the cargo doesn't leak," the official told Reuters.

The official added that the ship, though listing, was not in any immediate danger of sinking.

We're told it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile – and that smiling releases endorphins, which make us feel happier and healthier. In Thailand, there is more to a smile than the feel-good-factor.

With 90 percent of inhabitants Buddhists, Thais regard their religion as a way of life. It explains a purpose to life, details injustice around the universe and provides a code of practice that leads to happiness.

In a society in which politeness and a 'Mai Pen Rai' (never mind) attitude play such important roles, a smile is never far from a Thai's lips. Smiling is a form of subtle interpersonal-messaging.

A genuine smile is a staple of Thai life that you can find anywhere in the Thai Kingdom. Thai people are renowned for showing their friendliness and happiness wherever they are, and whatever they are doing. You can expect to be greeted with a smile on numerous occasions everyday.

Our visit to Laos this time we planned the route from the capital Vientiane traveling northeast to Luang Prabang, the old capital of Laos that was registered as world heritage in December 1995. It was praised as the best conserved world heritage place in the northeastern hemisphere of South East Asia. It is renowned for its numerous century old temples and for its location that situates where the river Khong and Kan converge amidst beautiful scenery. Besides the Luang Prabang town people are naturally friendly a great quality asset of the cultural heritage town.

Vientiane

We started our trip in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Many features in Vientiane are similar to Nongkhai town on the Thai side. The Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge over the Khong River links and brings the two cities closer via this more convenient way to cross over to one another. Vientiane has several places of interest that we went around for the first half morning.

That Luang is the most important stupa where a Buddha bone relic is in place for worship. This could be called the sacred center of worship by all Lao people. That Luang was build in 16th century the same period as the establishment of Vientiane.

The friendly match with China did exactly what it was supposed to... Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic believes that the friendly with China in midweek is perfect preparation for the Lions’ 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers against Thailand in November.

The team drew 1-1 on Wednesday with China, a team that Avramovic compared to Thailand.

“The way China played today is very similar to the way Thailand plays,” said the Serbian.

“The two countries have very similar types of players and formations, using two wide players who come inside to create extra players in the attacking area. This is the way most top teams in the world try to play now, 4-3-3 with a triangle in the middle.

“Whoever has the better quality players in this triangle will be more successful. We tried this with Hariss (Harun), Rosman and John (Wilkinson) today, but we struggled in the first half and so went back to 4-4-2, which is our old way.

Seabed movements believed caused by Typhoon Morakat damaged seven undersea cables linking Asian nations, disrupting Internet and telephone services, a Taiwanese telephone company said Friday.

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom, which jointly operates four cables in the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, said service has been slow since the typhoon pummeled Taiwan last weekend. Voice calls and Internet data traffic will be fully restored later Friday, it said.

Meanwhile, two of the Philippines' largest telecommunications providers said their international call and broadband services have suffered partial disruptions since Wednesday because of damaged undersea cables connecting China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Chen Hui-yen, an official at Chungwa, said the disruption to communications had been contained as Internet traffic and voice calls were rerouted to other cable networks.

Islamic terror outfit Hizbut Towhid (HuT), which was established in Bangladesh’s Tangail district under the leadership of Mr. Bayeejid Khan Ponni aka Selim Ponni has secretly established its branch in a number of countries in recent years with the aim of establishing branches of this ultra religious terrorist group in those countries.

HuT head office is located in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka at At House No. 4, road no. 18, sector no. 7, Uttara. Kingpin of this notorious group Mohammad Bayezid Khan Ponni aka Selim Ponni, claims himself to be 'imam-uz-zaman', by placing him just behind the. Bayezid Ponni although operates HuT from his Uttara residence, there are now a number of branches of this notorious militancy group in a number of places in the Capital as well as other parts of the country. At Dhaka's New Eskaton Road area, Selim Clinic, which is located at the ground floor of a 4-storied building. Meanwhile, this group has extended its activities within Barisal, Feni, Kushtia, Madaripur, Tangail, Gazipur, Meherpur, Jhenidah, Noakhali, Khulna, Chittagong and Narshingdi districts under the patronization of its active members and donors. Funds of this group is collected in the name of 'Zakat' (Islamic donation).

Six German states have told retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola energy drinks after a test found a trace amount of cocaine.

The bans started Friday after a sample test conducted by authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state found 0.4 micrograms per liter in the drink.

Five other states also banned it from shops amid concerns over possible narcotics law violations.

Asia will require “more concerted efforts” to prevent its economies from deteriorating further, finance ministers from 13 nations said in a draft statement.

An outbreak of the swine flu virus adds to “downside” risks posed to Asia by the financial crisis and prospects of increasing protectionism, according to the draft of a statement due to be released later today and seen by news agencies. Finance ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, along with their counterparts from Japan, China and South Korea are meeting today in Bali.

Economists are raising their estimates for the region’s growth this year amid expectations of a recovery in China and as indicators show production declines may have bottomed. The region’s governments have pledged to pump more than $950 billion into their economies through increased investment, tax cuts and cash handouts to boost consumer and business spending.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday he is not surprised that the United States has maintained Thailand on its Priority Watch List (PWL) following Thailand's failure to significantly make significant improvement on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, Thai media reported.

"It's within our earlier expectations," Thai News Agency quoted Abhisit as saying, adding that Washington has concern for Thailand's intellectual property violation, while U.S made the assessment over a relatively short period of time.

This remark came after a U.S. decision on Thursday, which kept Thailand on its special watch list of nations that fail to crack down on copyright and patent violations.

Because of the time constraints, Abhisit said, the U.S. opted to maintain Thailand's trade status as it was. Consequently the Thai government must work harder to persuade Washington to upgrade its status.

Chittagong is the initial port of call for my first trip to Bangladesh. Thanks to the tales I had heard from my acquaintances, I was well prepared for the adventure. Chittagong is Bangladesh's second largest city after Dhaka, the country's capital. The name Chittagong refers to a small town 264 kilometers southeast of Dhaka, which serves as the country's most important industrial port and home to Bangladesh's only refinery. The country is flanked by the Karnaphuli River and the Bay of Bengal and borders with India to the north and west and Myanmar to the east.

One is greeted with curious stares from the big crowds that always take a special interest in foreigners. The streets are crammed with pedestrians and vehicles such as tricycles, baby-taxis (similar to our tuk-tuk's), buses, trucks, and other vehicles I not even start to describe what it would be... The deafening noise of car horns fills the air wherever you are. Reckless driving seems to be the norm for this city.