Rapper Kenny Clutch Died In Vegas Shootout

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kenny Cherry was an aspiring rapper who moved from the Bay Area to Las Vegas to pursue his career. His music videos online show him cruising the Strip in his Maserati.

Michael Boldon was a family man and taxi driver who hailed from Michigan and loved fast cars.

The two men's lives — along with that of an unidentified passenger in Boldon's cab — ended in violence normally seen only in movies: gunfire, a fiery crash and an explosion before dawn Thursday on the neon-lit Las Vegas Strip.

As investigators Friday tried to find the gunman in a black Range Rover SUV who triggered the shocking chain of events, families and friends tried to grasp the blink-of-an-eye finality of it all.

"Right now my heart is breaking," said Cherry's great aunt, Patricia Sims, of Oakland, Calif. "This has really been a tragedy. Kenny was just a delightful kid."

Sims, 75, said Cherry moved to Las Vegas from Northern California, though she didn't know her nephew was a rapper using the name Kenny Clutch.

Cherry's parents were traveling to Las Vegas on Friday to claim his body. The 27-year-old, whose full name is Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr., was driving a Maserati that was peppered by gunfire before it sped through a red light and smashed into Boldon's taxi.

The taxi exploded into flames, killing Boldon and a female passenger, as four other vehicles crashed like pinballs at an intersection overlooked by some of Las Vegas' most famous hotel-casinos: Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally's and the Flamingo.

Police think an argument at the valet area of the upscale Aria resort-casino led to the shooting, but they haven't shared details. The shooting happened the same night that Morocco-born rapper French Montana was playing at Aria's signature nightclub, Haze.

"What the original disagreement was is crucial to the ongoing investigation and the identification of the suspects," said Las Vegas police officer Bill Cassell.

He said investigators were examining surveillance video and enlisting help from federal authorities and agencies in neighboring states to look for the distinctive Range Rover. It had blackout windows and custom black rims and was last seen speeding away from the fiery scene around 4:30 a.m. Thursday.

Court records show Cherry had no criminal cases or convictions in Las Vegas, and Cassell said there was no record of arrests.

The police spokesman wouldn't say whether investigators determined if Cherry owned, rented or borrowed the Maserati. Cassell called that information "integral to the investigation."

Meanwhile, Boldon's family struggled to cope with his death.

"It's very devastating for us, for my family," said Tehran Boldon, 50, younger brother of the 62-year-old taxi driver. "Our family has no history of violence or gang membership that would predict losing a family member to such an event."

Solar Storm Possibilities Detected

A colossal sunspot on the surface of the sun is large enough to swallow six Earths whole, and could trigger solar flares this week, NASA scientists say.

The giant sunspot was captured on camera by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory as it swelled to enormous proportions over the 48 hours spanning Tuesday and Wednesday (Feb. 19 and 20). SDO is one of several spacecraft that constantly monitor the sun's space weather environment.

"It has grown to over six Earth diameters across, but its full extent is hard to judge since the spot lies on a sphere, not a flat disk," wrote NASA spokeswoman Karen Fox, of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in an image description.

The sunspot region is actually a collection of dark blemishes on the surface of the sun that evolved rapidly over the last two days. Sunspots form from shifting magnetic fields at the sun's surface, and are actually cooler than their surrounding solar material.

According to Fox, some of the intense magnetic fields in the sunspot region are pointing in opposite directions, making it ripe for solar activity.

"This is a fairly unstable configuration that scientists know can lead to eruptions of radiation on the sun called solar flares," Fox explained.

The sun is currently in the midst of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle and is expected to reach peak activity sometime this year. The current sun weather cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory launched in 2010 and is just one of a fleet of spacecraft keeping close watch on the sun for signs of solar flares, eruptions and other space weather events.

Global Economy Worsening

TOKYO, Feb 19 – The yen resumed falling yesterday after Japan signaled it would push ahead with expansionist monetary policies having escaped criticism from the world’s 20 biggest economies at the weekend.

Industrial metals also dipped and European shares were soft on lingering worries about the economic outlook, especially for the euro zone. While the risk of an inconclusive outcome in Italy’s forthcoming election added to investor concerns.

However, activity was curtailed by the closure of markets in the United States for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

The yen, which has dropped 20 per cent against the dollar since mid-November, fell further after financial leaders from the G20 promised not to devalue their currencies to boost exports and avoided singling out Japan for any direct criticism.

The dollar rose 0.5 per cent to 93.95 yen, near a 33-month peak of 94.47 yen set a week ago. The euro added 0.3 per cent to 125.40 yen, to be midway between Friday’s two-week low of 122.90 and a 34-month high of 127.71 yen hit earlier this month.

Strategists said the yen was likely to stay weak, though its decline could lose momentum until it becomes clear who will be taking the helm at the Bank of Japan when the current governor steps down on March 19.

“The yen probably will weaken a little further in anticipation of more aggressive easing under a new leadership team at the Bank of Japan,” said Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is poised to nominate the new governor in the next few days. Sources have told Reuters that former financial bureaucrat Toshiro Muto, considered likely to be less radical than other candidates, was leading the field.

Meanwhile the euro dipped slightly against the dollar when European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said the currency’s recent gains made any rise in inflation less likely and added that he had yet to see any improvement in the euro zone economy.

Speaking before the European Parliament, Draghi said the euro’s exchange rate was not a policy target but was important for growth and stability, adding that appreciation of the euro “is a risk”.

The comments left the euro down 0.2 per cent at US$1.3334 (RM4.132).

Elsewhere in the currency market, sterling hit a seven-month low against the dollar, after a key policymaker made comments about the need for further weakness and recent poor data which has kept alive worries of another British recession.

Sterling fell 0.25 per cent to US$1.5476 having earlier touched US$1.5438, its lowest since July 13.

DATA LOOMS

A big week for data on the outlook for the world’s economy weighed on other riskier asset markets following the recent dire fourth-quarter growth numbers for the euro zone and Japan, along with Friday’s soft US manufacturing figures.

In European markets, attention is focused on the euro area Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for February and German sentiment indices due later in the week which could affect hopes for a recovery this year.

Analysts expect Thursday’s euro area flash PMI indices, which offer pointers to economic activity around six months out, to show growth stabilizing across the recession-hit region, leaving intact hopes for a recovery in the second half of 2013.

Concerns over an inconclusive outcome in the Italian election on Sunday and yesterday have added to the weaker sentiment as a fragmented parliament could hamper a future government’s efforts to reform the struggling economy.

The worries about the outlook for Italy were encouraging investors back into safe-haven German government bonds yesterday, with 10-year Bund yields easing 3.5 basis points to be around 1.63 per cent.

“Political uncertainty will keep Bunds well bid this week,” ING rate strategist Alessandro Giansanti said, adding that only better than expected economic data could create selling pressure on German debt in the near term.

Italian 10-year yields were 4 basis points higher on the day at 4.41 per cent. 

Intel Israel Business Is Going Good

For those who are anti-Semitics, do you own any Intel based computer? So now do you still wanted to boycott Israel?

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Intel's Israeli subsidiary more than doubled its exports in 2012 to $4.6 billion and is seeking to bring manufacturing of the company's next generation of chips to Israel.

Intel's exports, which rose 109 percent from $2.2 billion in 2011, were boosted by the start of production of chips using 22 nanometer technology at its Kiryat Gat plant in southern Israel, which is now operating at full capacity.

Intel, the world's No. 1 chipmaker, will build chips over the next two to three years with features measuring just 14 nm in Ireland and the United States but the company is already thinking about where it will produce 10 nm chips. The narrower the features, the more transistors can fit on a single chip, improving performance. Intel Israel executives said they would like to see 10 nm production in Israel.

"The average life of a technology is two to six years so we need to be busy to get the next technology, 10 nanometer," Maxine Fassberg, general manager of Intel Israel, told a news conference on Sunday. "We need to get a decision far enough in advance to be able to upgrade the plant. So for 10 nanometer, decisions will need to be made this year."

Fassberg said upgrading the existing Fab 28 plant in Israel would require a lower investment than building a new plant but would still involve several billion dollars.

Intel Israel has in the past received government grants to help with the costs of its investments and Fassberg told Reuters the company was "constantly in talks with the government".

Intel has invested $10.5 billion in Israel in the past decade, including $1.1 billion in 2012, and has received $1.3 billion in government grants. The company accounted for 20 percent of Israel's high-tech exports last year and 10 percent of its industrial exports, excluding diamonds.

"If Intel had not increased its exports, Israel's high-tech exports would have shrunk by 10 percent," Intel Israel President Mooly Eden said.

Most of Intel Israel's exports - $3.5 billion - came from its chip manufacturing activities.

Intel is Israel's largest private employer, with 8,542 workers, up 10 percent from 2011. The company has two plants - in Jerusalem and Kiryat Gat - as well as four research and development centers.

Eden said Intel was also committed to investing in start-ups, having invested in 64 Israeli companies since 1996. In July its global investment arm Intel Capital said it would expand its operations in Israel.

Masked Rider Raided A Gold-Mining Site

ATHENS (Reuters) - About 40 masked attackers raided a disputed gold-mining project in northern Greece early on Sunday, setting fire to machinery and lightly injuring four security guards, police said.

The Skouries project in the Halkidiki peninsula has been the target of several protests by locals and activists who strongly oppose a gold mine being built because they say it would devastate the environment.

Police said the assailants entered the facility around 12.40 a.m. (2240 GMT), causing extensive damage with firebombs and flammable liquid, and that 27 people had been detained.

The Skouries project, an open pit copper-gold mine, is run by Hellas Gold, a subsidiary of Canadian firm Eldorado Gold that runs the Stratoni mixed sulfide project in northern Greece and is developing three gold projects in the region.

Mired in a sixth year of recession, Greece has been scrambling to attract foreign investment that will help kickstart growth in the economy.

Vancouver-based Eldorado employs about 680 people in Greece and expects to invest about $1 billion in the debt-plagued nation over the next five years.

Facebook Got Hacked

Dear All... please beware.. Even Facebook got hits by an attacker.

(Reuters) - Facebook said on Friday that it been the target of a series of attacks by an unidentified hacker group, but it had found no evidence that user data was compromised.

"Last month, Facebook security discovered that our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack," the company said in a blog post. "The attack occurred when a handful of employees visited a mobile developer website that was compromised."

The social network, which says it has more than one billion active users worldwide, added: "Facebook was not alone in this attack. It is clear that others were attacked and infiltrated recently as well."

Facebook's announcement follows recent cyber attacks on other prominent websites. Twitter, the microblogging social network, said this month that it had been hacked, and that approximately 250,000 user accounts were potentially compromised, with attackers gaining access to information including user names and email addresses.

Newspaper websites including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal have also been infiltrated, according to the news organizations. Those attacks were attributed by the news organizations to Chinese hackers targeting their coverage of China.

Syrian peace talk is on the way.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's opposition coalition is ready to negotiate President Bashar al-Assad's exit with any member of his government who has not participated in his military crackdown on the uprising, coalition members said on Friday.

Syrian authorities have given no formal response to several offers of talks in recent weeks. But officials say they cannot accept pre-conditions about Assad's departure and have privately dismissed what they say are no more than media initiatives.

The political chasm between the sides, along with a lack of opposition influence over rebel fighters on the ground and an international diplomatic deadlock preventing effective intervention, has allowed fighting to rage on with almost 70,000 people killed in 22 months of conflict, by a U.N. estimate.

Opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib made an offer of negotiations last month without consulting the coalition's 70-member assembly, prompting criticism from a powerful bloc within the movement dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem is due to visit Moscow, one of Assad's main foreign allies, later this month. Russia also hopes Alkhatib will visit soon in search of a breakthrough to end the bloodiest of the Arab Spring uprisings.

But coalition members say no date has been set for an Alkhatib trip to Moscow and Syria's Foreign Ministry played down suggestions that Moualem and he could meet there, saying any dialogue must take place in Syria.

An overnight meeting of the coalition's 12-member politburo in Cairo endorsed Alkhatib's initiative, although it set guidelines for any peace talks which will be presented for approval by the full assembly next Thursday.

"These guidelines stipulate that Bashar al-Assad and all the security and military leaders that (have) participated in the killing of the Syrian people and whose hands are stained with blood have no place in the Syria of the future," coalition member Abdulbaset Sieda told Reuters in Cairo after the meeting.

"We agreed to reassure the Syrian brothers from the (ruling) Baath Party whose hands are not stained with the blood of the Syrian people that they are partners in the coming political process."

Another opposition member said next week's gathering of the full coalition would try to revive plans for a provisional government, undermined so far by divisions among Assad's foes.

Walid Bunni, one of a handful of liberals in the Islamist-heavy assembly, told Reuters that Assad and his military and intelligence officials could not be part of any negotiations.

"Bashar and his cohorts will not be party to any talks. We will not regard those present from the government's side as his representatives," Bunni said.

He said the meeting addressed how to deal with Iran and Russia, Assad's main supporters, after Alkhatib met the foreign ministers of Russia and Iran in Munich earlier this month.

NO SIGN OF DIALOGUE

Syria's Foreign Ministry complained to the United Nations on Friday over what it said was pressure by Turkey, which backs the rebels, on Syria's opposition to reject any negotiated solution. The ministry said Turkey was "training and arming terrorist groups including al Qaeda" to fight Assad's forces.

Turkey has repeatedly denied arming or training the Syrian insurgents.

Alkhatib has said he is willing to hold talks with Assad's representatives in rebel-held areas of Syria or outside the country to try to end the conflict. Syria's minister for national reconciliation, Ali Haidar, initially gave a positive response, saying he was willing to travel abroad to meet him.

But in an interview on state television this week Haidar reiterated the government's position that any serious dialogue must be on Syrian territory and said the opposition had not formally presented any proposals.

"There is no initiative at the table of the Syrian government," he said. "The government is not a media office to answer ideas through the media."

Haidar has also said the authorities reject any dialogue that aims "to hand power from one side to another".

Alkhatib has headed the Syrian National Coalition since it was founded last December in Qatar with Western and Gulf backing. He has quietly built up a student following and links with civic and religious figures across Syria, although he has no control over armed insurgents seeking Assad's overthrow.

Rebels captured the town of Shaddadeh in the eastern, oil-producing province of Hasakah on Thursday after three days of battles in which activists said 30 members of the al Qaeda-linked, anti-Assad, Nusra Front and 100 soldiers were killed.

The United Nations food agency WFP said on Friday that an estimated 40,000 people had fled Shaddadeh for the provincial capital Hasakah, 45 km (30 miles) to the north.

Gun ban would protect lives

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress' latest crack at a new assault weapons ban would protect more than 2,200 specific firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle that is nearly identical to one of the guns used in the bloodiest shootout in FBI history.

One model of that firearm, the Ruger .223 caliber Mini-14, is on the proposed list to be banned, while a different model of the same gun is on a list of exempted firearms in legislation the Senate is considering. The gun that would be protected from the ban has fixed physical features and can't be folded to be more compact. Yet the two firearms are equally deadly.

"What a joke," said former FBI agent John Hanlon, who survived the 1986 shootout in Miami. He was shot in the head, hand, groin and hip with a Ruger Mini-14 that had a folding stock. Two FBI agents died and five others were wounded.

Hanlon recalled lying on the street as brass bullet casings showered on him. He thought the shooter had an automatic weapon.

Both models of the Ruger Mini-14 specified in the proposed bill can take detachable magazines that hold dozens of rounds of ammunition. "I can't imagine what the difference is," Hanlon said.

President Barack Obama has called for restoring a ban on military-style assault weapons and limiting the size of ammunition magazines.

A bill introduced last month by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. would ban 157 specific firearms designed for military and law enforcement use and exempt others made for hunting purposes. It also would ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Yet there are firearms that would be protected under Feinstein's proposal that can take large capacity magazines like the ones used in mass shootings that enable a gunman to fire dozens of rounds of ammunition without reloading.

Feinstein said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press that the list of more than 2,200 exempted firearms was designed to "make crystal clear" that the bill would not affect hunting and sporting weapons.

The December shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 students and educators dead forced Washington to focus on curbing gun violence, a risky political move not tried in decades. The gun industry, which is fighting any sort of ban, says gun ownership in the U.S. is the highest it's ever been, with more than 100 million firearms owners.

Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden have traveled around the country in an effort to gain support for new laws. Feinstein's proposal is the only sweeping piece of legislation designed to ban assault weapons currently being considered. But some gun experts say the lists of banned and exempted firearms show a lack of understanding and expertise of guns.

"There's no logic to it," said Greg Danas, president of a Massachusetts-based expert witness business and firearms ballistic laboratory. "What kind of effect is it going to have?"

Feinstein's bill defines an assault weapon as a semi-automatic firearm with a detachable magazine that has one of several military characteristics that are specified in her legislation. Examples of those characteristics include a pistol grip, which makes a firearm easier to hold, and a forward grip, which makes the firearm easier to stabilize to improve accuracy. The definition is similar to the one in Congress' original ban on assault weapons, which went into effect in 1994 and was widely criticized for outlawing firearms based on cosmetic features.

Feinstein was behind the 1994 law which, at the time, protected more than 600 firearms. The current bill would exempt by name and model more than 2,200 firearms by name and model. Feinstein said her staff had worked for more than a year to draft updates for the ban that expired in 2004, and it was apparent in the wake of recent mass shootings that now was the time to introduce a new bill. She said her staff consulted with law enforcement agencies and policy experts for months to create the expanded list.

Naming firearms that would remain legal under an assault weapons ban is a politically motivated gesture that was used to help pass the original ban in the early 1990s, people familiar with the process said.

Any firearm that does not fall within the law's definition of an assault weapon would not be banned. As a result, the list gives vulnerable politicians cover from constituents who do not want to give up their firearms.

G20 defuses talk of ‘"currency war"

MOSCOW, Feb 16 — The Group of 20 nations declared on Saturday there would be no 'currency war' and deferred plans to set new debt-cutting targets in an indication of concern about the fragile state of the world economy.

Japan's expansive policies, which have driven down the yen, escaped criticism in a statement agreed in Moscow by financial policymakers from the G20, which groups developed and emerging markets and accounts for 90 percent of the world economy.

After late-night talks, finance ministers and central bankers agreed on wording closer than expected to a joint statement issued last Tuesday by the Group of Seven rich nations backing market-determined exchange rates.

A draft communique seen by delegates on Friday had steered clear of the G7's call for fiscal and monetary policy not to be targeted at exchange rates but the final version included a G20 commitment to refrain from competitive devaluations and stated monetary policy would be directed at price stability and growth.

"The language has been strengthened since our discussions last night," Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters. "It's stronger than it was, but it was quite clear last night that everyone around the table wants to avoid any sort of currency disputes."

The communique, seen by Reuters ahead of publication, did not single out Japan for aggressive monetary and fiscal policies that have seen the yen drop 20 percent.

The statement reflected a substantial, but not complete, endorsement of Tuesday's statement by the G7 nations - the United States, Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

"We all agreed on the fact that we refuse to enter any currency war," French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told reporters.

No fiscal targets

The text also contained a commitment to credible medium-term fiscal strategy, but stopped short of setting specific goals. A debt-cutting pact struck in Toronto in 2010 will expire this year if leaders fail to agree to extend it at a G20 summit of leaders in St Petersburg in September.

"Advanced economies will develop credible medium-term fiscal strategies ... by the St. Petersburg summit," the communique said.

The United States, which has resorted to massive monetary stimulus and higher government borrowing to drive growth and cut jobless queues, blocked a push from Europe to commit to reducing budget deficits.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the G20 had failed to reach agreement on medium-term budget deficit levels.

"We expect by April countries will have made progress on reaching a balanced approach to establishing new budget indicators on both, deficit and the level of government debt," Siluanov said.

Russia, this year's chair of the G20, also expressed concern about ultra-loose policies that it and other big emerging economies say could store up trouble for later.

Siluanov said a rebalancing of global growth required more than an adjustment of exchange rates.

"Structural reforms in all countries, either with a positive or negative balance of payments, should play a bigger role," he said, adding that spillover effects of unconventional monetary policy, conducted by central banks in some countries, should be closely monitored.

The G20 put together a huge financial backstop to halt a market meltdown in 2009 but has failed to reach those heights since. At successive meetings, Germany has pressed the United States and others to do more to tackle their debts. Washington in turn has urged Berlin to do more to increase demand.

On currencies, the G20 text reiterated its commitment last November, to move towards "exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals and avoid persistent exchange rate misalignments".

"The G7 made a very clear statement this week. I think you'll see the G20 echo what was said, and say that currencies should not be used as a tool of competitive devaluation," Britain's finance minister, George Osborne, said in Moscow.

"Countries shouldn't make the mistake of the past of using currencies as a tool of economic warfare." — AFP-Relaxnews

Xenophon Expulsion Is Legal In Malaysia

PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA, Feb 16 — The Election Commission (EC) defended today Australian Senator Nick Xenophon’s deportation from Malaysia, saying that immigration authorities were merely performing their duty.

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar also said that it was unjust to judge the fairness of Election 2013 based on Xenophon’s expulsion.

“I think it’s an insult to the intelligence of Malaysians,” Wan Ahmad told reporters here today.

“They don’t have to rely on the opinion of this one fellow to make a conclusion,” he said.

Xenophon was detained at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang this morning and will be deported later tonight. Xenophon had planned to meet Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz and EC officials next week to discuss the country’s electoral system, according to Anwar’s chief of staff, Ibrahim Yaacob.

Electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has lambasted Xenophon’s deportation as a move that showed the government’s “paranoia” about the coming national polls. Several other Twitter users joined Ambiga in raining scorn on the government’s decision, with the subject spawning a hashtag #xenophon.

But Wan Ahmad stressed that there was nothing to hide as Malaysians were free to observe Election 2013.

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said earlier today that Xenophon was deported because the senator had made statements that allegedly tarnished Malaysia’s image. Alias highlighted Xenophon’s remarks about the Malaysian government being “authoritarian” in handling last April’s Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair elections.

Xenophon, who had observed the mass protest, noted that the police had fired tear gas and chemical-laced water in what had been a largely peaceful protest. Alias added that the Australian senator was barred from entering Malaysia under the Immigration Act 8(3).

Ibrahim said today that other Australian MPs and senators, who were due to arrive here, have cancelled their plans. Wan Ahmad, however, said that the EC was willing to meet foreigners who wished to monitor the coming Election 2013 as long as they contacted the EC directly.

“I’ve never received his (Xenophon’s) call. The EC chairman also did not receive any call,” said Wan Ahmad.

He added that Xenophon had made an appointment with a senior EC official through a third party, but did not specify further. Wan Ahmad also questioned Xenophon’s intention in coming here, saying: “We don’t know what (is) the agenda in his mind.”

He urged foreigners not to disparage Malaysia’s democratic process as it was based on Malaysian law, not Australian or European law.

“I think we have laws in this country. If people don’t respect the laws, I think the majority of the rakyat will not like it,” said Wan Ahmad.

Australia’s Foreign Ministry has expressed its disappointment with Xenophon’s detention. News of Xenophon’s detention has also been picked up by international press.

“I am effectively a prisoner here,” he was quoted as saying in the Australian newspaper The Sunday Mail.

The paper reported the Australian lawmaker managed to slip through a phone call when he was left unattended in the interrogation room.

“I’m being held in an area with all these holding cells which are full of women. They have basically told me I am an enemy of the state. They are trying to get me on the next plane out of here and back home".

“I was even meeting members of the government, I mean, the whole situation is ridiculous, we are meant to be the closest of friends with Malaysia,” he told the paper.

“We are meant to be having a people swap deal on asylum seekers but so far it looks like the only person being swapped is me,” he was quoted as saying.

The paper also reported Xenophon as saying he believed a recent piece he had written for Fairfax newspapers last month, which was critical of human rights here, may be a reason for the authorities to refuse him entry.

We have laws in this country. If people don’t respect the laws, I think the majority of the rakyat will not like it. — Wan Ahmad Wan Omar

Xenophon came to Malaysia last April as an election observer after being invited by Anwar.

The Australian senator was part of a seven-member international team of election observers who later met Nazri. Despite being invited by Anwar, the group insisted they were independent, claiming that their expenses for the fact-finding mission were borne by themselves or their respective governments.

Xenophon had said that fundamental concerns regarding Malaysia’s electoral roll, campaign period, media access and other issues pertaining to electoral reforms were raised with Nazri.

The senator was portrayed by local English daily the News Straits Times (NST) last year as anti-Islam in an article that falsely quoted him as calling Islam a “criminal organisation” during his 2009 speech in Australia’s Parliament. Xenophon later said he would sue the NST after the newspaper admitted its mistake.