We have a National Toilet Cleanliness Committee?

From The Star: Clean toilets will enhance country's image:

JOHOR BARU: The school is the best place to teach toilet cleanliness, National Toilet Cleanliness Committee (NTCC) chairman Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew said.

“Clean toilets are important to uplift the image of the country,” he said, acknowledging Johor Baru City Council’s (MBJB) efforts for organising a Clean Toilet Campaign that involved primary and secondary schools and food premises here.

Well, they're not doing a very good job.

And look, a ghost story. From NST: Bouts of hysteria after 'ghostly sightings':

DUNGUN: Some 200 students of Sekolah Menengah Sains Dungun probably felt they were in a real live ghost story. They are convinced they saw ghosts flying around the school on Sunday -- in the classrooms, the dormitories and the assembly hall.

School administrators and the state Education Department did not want to comment, but one of the parents, Mazlan Ariffin, said his daughter said she had seen ghosts flying around the classroom.

"My daughter kept telling me that she saw the figure of a woman wearing all white flying around her classroom before closing in on her. She said she felt a sudden chill just before the ghostly figure reached her, and she just screamed," he said.

A student named Wati said the incident began just after the weekly school assembly on Sunday morning, when a Form Two girl started screaming uncontrollably, seemingly in fear of something.

"Then other students started to scream and they had to be taken back to their rooms. I felt sick to my stomach and my head hurt so much that I probably passed out. I don't remember much of what happened after that," she said.

I love Malaysian newspapers. Not for real news, mind you. Look! More scandal! From NST: Actress in sex video clip?:

GEORGE TOWN: A video clip featuring a woman who resembles a popular local actress having sex with a man has been circulated widely on the Internet.

The man resembles a popular actor appearing in locally-produced dramas.

The clip which runs for 10 minutes and 20 seconds is believed to have been recorded
using a camera phone.

Seriously. It's like people don't learn.

From BBC: Australia apologizes to Aborigines:

The Australian government has announced it will issue its first formal apology to Aboriginal people when parliament resumes next month.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the apology would be the first item of business when the new legislature convened on 13 February.

It is aimed at the "Stolen Generations" - Aboriginal children taken from their parents to be raised by white families.

It was the "first, necessary step to move forward from the past", she said.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced plans to apologise after his victory in last year's general elections.

The move is a highly symbolic one marking a definitive break from policies of previous administrations, correspondents say.

Finally, a prime minister that isn't close-minded and too proud to admit the mistakes of his predecessors.

It's amazing what a difference volume and preparation makes. From BBC: Rare snowfall blankets Jerusalem:

Jerusalem's iconic Dome of the Rock - normally a resplendent gold - was turned half white on Wednesday morning.

Snowfalls blanketed streets and buildings with an inch-thick of powder.

In a city more used to high temperatures than snow, the wintry weather seemed to be appreciated by those residents braving the cold.

"The snow brings people together," said Oded Goldberger, 19, wearing a hat and gloves. "It's something really special."

In some parts of Jerusalem, people were making snowmen while others were having snowball fights.

"Of course it's cold and wet," said Evyator Rubin, 13, making a snowball. "But because it snows so little here it's great when it does happen."

"I don't need to go to school today and I had a science exam."

All Jerusalem's schools, universities and courthouses were closed for the day. The public transport system is working on a scaled-back timetable.

The Jerusalem municipality made preparations for the snow which had been forecast for days. It had 100 snow-ploughs ready to clear the city's main streets.

A ritual among a small section of the city's ultra-orthodox Jewish community is to purify themselves by rubbing snow on their foreheads.

Whereas in China, from BBC: Misery of China's snowbound millions:

As China continues to endure the worst winter storms in five decades, some roads and airports are beginning to reopen.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has been visiting hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers.

He addressed crowds first at Changsha railway station in Hunan province, then at Guangzhou station in Guangdong.

He promised to get travellers, many of them migrant workers, home for the all-important spring festival holiday.

In Beijing, the Politburo met and ordered provincial officials to make fighting the effects of the terrible weather conditions their number one priority.

Over 300,000 paramilitary police, and almost 200,000 People's Liberation Army troops, have now been deployed in an effort to get the country moving again. But for some, the government is not doing enough.

One comment on the popular website tianya.cn said: "Emergency plan? It's a joke!"

The posting continued: "The snow alone can destroy China. The government won't take care of you even if you are freezing."

See.