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...polished Malaysian think-tank director named Abdul Razak Baginda met the comely Shaariibuu at a party in Hong Kong. A married father, Abdul Razak, now 47, had been educated in Britain, had written several books on Malaysia's political economy, and was known to be close to Deputy PM Najib. Abdul Razak and Shaariibuu began a romantic relationship, meeting up for secret liaisons across Asia. Eight months later, Abdul Razak broke off the affair, according to the prosecution and a court affidavit filed by him. Abdul Razak alleges that Shaariibuu then began blackmailing him, presumably threatening to make their relationship...
...Just how the case will affect the Deputy Prime Minister is not yet clear. Najib, the heir apparent to PM Abdullah, has denied any involvement, stating that he never even met Shaariibuu. But on June 29 a court witness claimed she had seen a photo of Abdul Razak, Shaariibuu and a man she named as "Najib Razak" dining at a Paris restaurant. Najib has refused to comment on this specific testimony. "The longer he tries to avoid the issue, the more wild the rumors will be," says Lim Guan Eng, secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Action Party. "The government...
...household name when his novel Life of Pi won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2002, announced that he intended to send the Prime Minister a book every two weeks. Martel has already sent Harper two, accompanied by letters about each book's literary merits and meanings, but the PM has yet to thank...
...power: stony silence. While his staff have countered with a list of new arts funding, including an extra C$50 million for the Canada Council for the Arts, Harper himself has not responded directly to Martel or commented in the media. A Harper spokesperson did say that the PM "reads a variety of books when he has some spare time." Martel concedes that the Prime Minister has a lot of demands on his time, but he is not willing to excuse Harper from his homework assignments entirely and notes that the two books he has sent so far are relatively...
...Harper is also a charisma-challenged politician who wants a majority government in the next election but has not been able to dispel perceptions that he is cold and remote. (Shortly after winning office in January 2006, newspapers showed a stiff new PM shaking hands with his young son while dropping him off at school. Now photos on the Prime Minister's website show Harper holding homeless kittens.) Canadians might sympathize with a leader who ruefully said he was too busy worrying about running the country to read many novels, but giving a popular author the cold shoulder looks, well...