KUALA LUMPUR - A SENIOR opposition politician withdrew his statement that people with HIV should be banned from marriage, after he was criticised by Aids activists, a report said on Sunday.

Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, of the conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and chief minister of the northern state of Perak, said people with HIV should be allowed to marry and have children.

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA is zooming in on forests with a satellite in order to fight illegal logging which its government says is harming the major timber exporting country, a report said on Sunday.

Mr Darus Ahmad, deputy director-general with the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency, said the 'eye in the sky' programme was put in place in October.

HANOI - BIRD flu has resurfaced in poultry in northern Vietnam after many months without any cases, killing ducks and chickens at two farms, a state-run newspaper reported on Sunday.

Animal health officials confirmed on Saturday the H5N1 virus had killed several birds among a flock of more than 100 ducks in Thai Nguyen city, 80 km north of Hanoi, the Ho Chi Minh City Communist Youth league-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said.