41.   Meanwhile, the chief minister of a Malaysian state has warned civil servants against watching live telecasts of World Cup soccer matches during office hours.

42.   Meanwhile the chief minister of a Malaysian state has warned civil servants against watching live telecasts of World Cup soccer matches during office hours.

43.   Most of the snakes had been caught in Thailand which borders the remote Malaysian state of Perlis from where the snake smugglers were arrested on Monday.

44.   Police Chief Mamat Talib said five people were arrested and interrogated in Sabah, a Malaysian state on northern Borneo, in connection with the abductions.

45.   Sabah is the Malaysian state closest to the Philippines.

46.   Relations reached a new low earlier this year when former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew commented on extensive crime in Johore, the nearest Malaysian state.

47.   Sabah lies near the mostly Muslim southern Philippines, and separatists battling Philippine troops have fled to the Malaysian state in the past.

48.   Sabah is the Malaysian state closest to the southern Philippines.

49.   Taiwanese police say Chin used his status as commercial representative on Taiwan for the Malaysian state of Sabah to help gangsters smuggle guns onto the island.

50.   Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai blamed the recent bombings on separatists operating out of Kalatan, the Malaysian state across the border.