KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S biggest government party is to hold its first contested election for the post of deputy leader in more than 20 years after three candidates won sufficient nominations on Sunday to stand in the race.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak will not have to risk a vote in the polls due in March after the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) nominated him unopposed to succeed Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as its president and as the country's premier.

BEIJING/SAO PAULO - CHINA approved a massive stimulus plan on Sunday worth nearly $600 billion (S$897.6 billion) through 2010 to boost domestic demand as part of a global push for measures to soften an expected recession in many countries.

In Brazil, finance ministers, senior officials and leading central bank governors representing 90 per cent of the world's economy tried to find ways to shield their economies from the backlash of the credit crisis.

TENGGULUN (East Java) - HUNDREDS of Muslim hardliners clashed with police on Sunday ahead of the funerals of three militants executed for the 2002 Bali bombing, hailing the men as 'holy warriors and martyrs'.

But their praise of the terrorists, who were buried on Sunday afternoon, was quickly denounced by the country's highest Islamic authority - the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI) - which declared that the men had been executed for committing murders in a country at peace.

BUSINESSES and households affected by the economic downturn have been promised special attention from the Government in next year's Budget to help them get through tough times.

Companies will get help with their costs and cashflow so that they can stay 'strong and competitive', Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Sunday.