Sarah Palin in the Rap on NBC Show

Sarah Palin, the US Republican's vice-president candidate, was in an NBC show on Saturday night, 18 October. It was really interesting that Sarah Palin has became a celebrity overnight after her nomination by John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate.

But she is rather funny and perhaps "react appropriately" so far in her TV appearance to enjoy her continual popularity. Check out on Sarah Palin in the NBC rap on Sarah Palin!

Jenna Bush Wedding Photos

US President George Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush, held her wedding at Bush family’s Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas on Saturday. She is married to Henry Hager and Jenna’s twin sister, Barbara, stood as Maid of Honor


Bush described the outdoor sunset wedding as “spectacular,” referred to his daughter as “our little girl Jenna” and called his new son-in-law a “really good guy.”
Jenna Bush was reportedly the last to know about the marriage as Henry Hager, her then boyfriend had told her twin sister, Barbara and seeked her parents approval before prosposing to her.

Nicolas Sarkozy's Senior Aide Published "Paris Sex Guide" Book

A senior aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and speech-writer for France's foreign minister, has produced a controversial guide to Paris last month which appears to detail where to pick-up women for sex.

Pierre-Louis Colin, the 34-year-old author lists numerous areas of Paris or "quartiers" as they are known locally, notes the best observation posts, bars, supermarkets, parks, museums, metro trains and the best times of day the types of women ogling men can expect to find.

For example, Menilmontant is full of "perfectly shameless cleavages - radiant breasts often uncluttered by a bra".

While residents of Madeleine, a more upmarket area where France's First Lady Carl Bruni-Sarkozy (below pic) has a home, are noted for their "sublime legs".

He also gives many tips such as where to position oneself so as to get an "unbeatable view" up women's skirts as they climb a spiral staircase -- singling out the Café Louis-Philippe in the fourth arrondissement, or district.

He could find no guidebooks to the human wonders of Paris so he decided to produce his own. Colin insisted that the book, titled "Guide to the Pretty Women of Paris" or "Guide des jolies femmes de Paris", is "in the best possible taste".

Related posts:
Carla Bruni Nude Photo Sold for $91K in Auction
Madame Sarkozy, Carla Bruni steals limelight in UK State Visit
Nude portrait photo of Sarkozy's wife, France first lady, for auction

Prince William Lands Helicopter in Kate Middleton's House

Prince William was under fire after he had landed his £10million army helicopter in girlfriend, Kate Middleton's back garden during an official military exercise.

Kate Middleton and her parents are said to have watched in delight as the second in line to the British throne practised a series of take-offs and landings in the paddock of their sprawling detached home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, earlier this month.
Reports said that Prince William, 25, came up with the idea of taking the helicopter to Berkshire, claiming there was a shortage of landing spots in Hampshire where he was based for part of his attachment.

After the plan was approved by his instructors, the prince flew the 16 miles to Kate Middleton's family home where he completed one circuit of the field at the back of her parents' million-pound house and practised landing and taking off in their paddock.

He then piloted the helicopter back to Hampshire for further tuition. The entire operation is estimated to have cost around £30,000.

Details of the two-hour stunt emerged just days after the prince was heavily criticised for using another Chinook to fly himself and his brother Harry to a stag weekend on the Isle of Wight.

The revelations have raised questions about the way in which the prince was allowed to fit his "intensive" four-month training course around his social life. Prince William had apparently taken time off to go on a boozy boys-only surfing weekend in Cornwall and a week's holiday ski-ing in the Swiss alps with his girlfriend.

Related posts:
Prince William and Kate Middleton's Striptease
Prince William and Kate Middleton on Ski Vacation

Angry Chinese burn French flag outside Carrefour

Dozens of young Chinese, angry at disruption of the Olympic torch relay in Paris, protested outside a Carrefour branch in east China on Friday, setting fire to a French flag, waving banners and shouting slogans.

There have been small protests at the French retail giant's stores in several Chinese cities, including Beijing, in the past week, but the latest outburst in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao came after state media moved to cool down the nationalistic fervor.

Chinese Internet users are calling on consumers to boycott Carrefour, which they accuse of supporting pro-Tibetan independence groups seeking to disrupt this year's Beijing Olympics.

The journey of the Olympic torch around the world has been dogged by protests, largely over Chinese rule in Tibet, where a wave of anti-government unrest erupted in March. In Paris, numerous protests and attempts by activists to snatch the torch prompted Chinese security officials to extinguish the torch several times and put in on a bus.

Local media photos showed the protesters holding up banners that read "Boycott France, Support the Olympics" and "Oppose Tibet independence, Love the motherland". They waved red Chinese flags and shouted slogans, attracting a big crowd of onlookers. A photo showed a man burning a French flag.

France has tried to play down calls for a boycott of French goods, saying they were being made by a "very small minority" and Carrefour, which has more than 100 hypermarkets in China, has restated its support for Beijing's hosting of the Olympics.

Some Chinese newspapers have also run commentaries against the boycott, saying in the era of globalization it would only hurt Chinese employees and suppliers.

Still, an opinion poll in 10 Chinese cities found 66 percent of respondents supported the Carrefour boycott, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Only 7 percent said outright that they would not. (News from Reuters)

Related posts:
China and Netizens Demand Apology from CNN
Chinese bloggers call for boycott of French goods
Olympic Torch Protests - Actions Politicised the Olympics Games

Vladimir Putin denied marrying Olympic gymnast

Russian President Vladimir Putin denied media reports today he was about to marry Russian Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva (see pic below), who is also a member of Russian Parliament. News media and Internet sites had been abuzz with rumours that Mr. Putin had secretly divorced his wife, Lyudmila, and planned to marry the 24-year-old Olympic gymnast.

"In what you said, there is not one word of truth," Mr. Putin said when asked about the reports by a journalist at a news briefing with Italy's Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi.

"Personally, I think Russian women are the most beautiful and the most talented and the Italians are the only ones who can match them," Putin added to applause from journalists present.

Putin said society had a right to known about the lifestyle of public figures, but warned, "There are limits."

"There is a private life in which no one should interfere -- I've always had a low opinion of those with snotty noses and erotic fantasies who delve into the lives of others."

A Russian newspaper, "The Moskovski Korresondent", set the rumours ablaze by quoting a wedding party planner in St. Petersburg who claimed to be bidding to organize the couple's lavish wedding reception.

It also reported that the couple planned to marry in mid-June, a month after he steps down as Russian president. Mr. Putin has not officially announced any separation from his 50-year-old wife. Some reports say that the Russian president, known for keeping his private life out of the spotlight, is separated from his wife two months ago.

Read more about Alina Kabayeva

China and Netizens Demand Apology from CNN

China rejected on Thursday CNN's response to its demand for an apology over remarks made by commentator Jack Cafferty after the Foreign Ministry summoned the network's bureau chief in Beijing the night before.

During the broadcast of CNN's "The Situation Room" on April 9, when asked to comment on the U.S. relationship with China as the Olympic torch relay was underway in San Francisco, CNN news commentator Jack Cafferty said: "I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been in the past 50 years."

He also said that the United States continues to import Chinese-made "junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food..."

In the wake of the March 14, Lhasa riots, CNN posted a picture on its website showing people running in front of a military truck. The original picture uploaded by Chinese netizens, however, also shows mobsters throwing stones at the truck. The latter had been cropped out of the photo by CNN. (See first pic below)

Chinese Americans and Chinese have since launched an online campaign, demanding an apology from CNN and its "The Situation Room" program for insulting the Chinese. "We are truly stunned and shocked by a recent racist and hateful remark on the Chinese people by your news commentator JackCafferty," said a petition which has gathered 69,355 signatures since being posted online.

Biased coverage of the Lhasa riots and the Olympic torch relay by the U.S.-based Cable News Network (CNN) has also given rise to a whole new usage of the network's name - "Don't be too CNN".

CNN said Wednesday that commentator Jack Cafferty was referring to China's leaders—not the Chinese people—when he described them as a "bunch of goons and thugs," and apologized to anyone who thought otherwise.

However, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao rejected the apology and demanded CNN and Cafferty retract the remarks and "sincerely apologize to the entire Chinese people," according to a statement on the ministry's Web site. CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz said he met with Liu Wednesday night but gave no details.

Jack Cafferty, who was born in 1942, had joined CNN's "The Situation Room" program in the summer of 2005. According to a New York Times report, Cafferty was convicted of reckless driving, assault and harassment in 2003 for hitting a bicyclist in New York with his Cadillac and leaving the scene. He was then fined US$250 and sentenced to 70 hours of community service.

Cafferty's remarks have been uploaded on YouTube and the click rate is approaching 27,000.

Related posts:
Chinese bloggers call for boycott of French goods
Olympic Torch Protests - Actions Politicised the Olympics Games

Chinese bloggers call for boycott of French goods

Chinese internet blogs and chat-rooms are full of calls for a boycott of French goods and contracts since the raucous protests which forced the Olympic torch off the streets of Paris last Monday.

French businessmen in China say that they are worried by apparently spontaneous signs of anti-French feeling but say that there is no sign, so far, of any official willingness to "punish" Paris.

Some of the incidents in the French capital – especially an attempt by a demonstrator to seize the flame from a Chinese woman in a wheelchair – have been shown repeatedly on Chinese TV.(See pic below)

"France didn't protect the sacred flame," protested the Global Times, a tabloid newspaper. "The world has seen the irrational extremism of some in the West, and also seen the incompetence of the Paris police."

Chatrooms on the internet have been choked with appeals to boycott French luxury goods, such as cognac, wine and perfumes, whose sales are booming in China. There have also been calls for a scrapping of multi-billion euro contracts recently signed during a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

French businessmen in Beijing told Le Monde that there was no sign the online protests would be followed up officially.

Previous popular appeals for the boycott of goods of nations who have offended popular nationalist feeling in China – including Japan and South Korea – have had little impact, the businessmen said.

Related post:
Olympic Torch Protests - Actions Politicised the Olympics Games

Olympic Torch Protests - Actions Politicised the Olympics Games

China's hopes of winning international prestige by sending the Olympic torch through 135 cities on five continents ahead of the August 8 opening of the Olympic Games had been damaged by bout of protests in her human rights record.

The early stages in London and Paris were overshadowed by demonstrations against Beijing's repression of protests in Tibet, and the third stage in San Francisco was also drastically curtailed and seen by relatively few people.

However, the most recent relays in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam passed off with little incident. The Olympic torch is expected to get a rare protest-free outing Monday in a parade through the capital of the Sultanate of Oman on the Middle Eastern leg of its journey to Beijing.

Many world leaders like British prime minister, Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN chief Ban Ki-moon and French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, would boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

IOC President Jacques Rogge said a boycott of the opening ceremony, where every competing country marches into the main Olympic stadium behind their national flag, would perhaps hurt athletes but nobody else.

How could the Olympics, a beautiful game promoting friendship and sports around the world be use in such extent to propagate somebody's political agenda? China human rights record had been in doubts much before the coming Beijing Olympics, why did protests on Tibet only surface recently? Would China's human rights records be changed overnight or drastically just by protesting the passing of the Olympics torch?

Carla Bruni Nude Photo Sold for $91K in Auction

A nude photo of French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, standing in a pigeon-toed pose and covering her modesty with her hands, was sold on Thursday in New York for $91,000, more than 20 times its expected price.

A buyer for a Chinese art collector bought the black-and-white image, taken by photographer Michel Comte in 1993 during her modeling days, Christie's auction house said.

The sale of the photo has attracted attention since Bruni married French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February.

The photo had been expected to fetch between $3,000 and $4,000. It was auctioned as part of a sale of 140 photos from German collector Gert Elfering, which also features work by Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Peter Beard.

The proceeds will go to Sodis, a Swiss charity that promotes clean water in the developing world.

Related posts:
Madame Sarkozy, Carla Bruni steals limelight in UK State Visit
Nude portrait photo of Sarkozy's wife, France first lady, for auction

Pregnant Angelina Jolie looking Radiant and Bustling with Activities

Angelina Jolie is a pregnant Mom full of zest and bust as she attended a Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards gala on Monday night at Washington, where she presented her reporter friend, Mariane Pearl with an award (see pic below). And on Tuesday, she was headed for the Council on Foreign Relations to discuss a new worldwide education initiative.

Among busy schedules, Angelina Jolie manage to take her boys, Maddox and Pax for some high-flying fun together on Monday at Washington, D.C.'s Air and Space Museum. (See pic below)

During the meeting yesterday at the Foreign Relations Council, Angelina Jolie urged the international community to make educating Iraqi children a greater priority. "The best way to heal children of conflict from trauma is to have them focus on their future," Jolie told the Council on Foreign Relations.

Angelina Jolie has visited more than 20 humanitarian hot spots, including Iraq and Sudan's Darfur region, since becoming a good will U.N. ambassador in 2001.

Related posts:
Are Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt married?
Brad Pitt: Angelina Jolie expecting twins!
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie Gave US$8M to Charity

Madame Sarkozy, Carla Bruni steals limelight in UK State Visit

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, flanked by his model wife Carla Bruni, was greeted with pomp by Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday for the first French state visit in more than a decade.Prince Charles and Princess Camilia had greeted and welcomed the French glamorous first couple at the airport (see pic below), whose visit comes weeks after they married following a high-profile, whirlwind romance.
Dressed in a demure gray coat and wearing a small, stylish hat, Carla Bruni smiled politely and curtsied as she shook hands with the Queen and then chatted animatedly with the monarch's 86-year-old husband, Prince Philip. (see pic below)
Thousands of people gathered on the streets of Windsor said they had come to see not only the Queen but also Carla Bruni, a former fashion model born in Italy who has also enjoyed a successful career as a singer and songwriter. (see pic below)As a band played and flags were waved, the French couple and the Queen and Prince Philip were taken into the grounds of Windsor Castle in horse-drawn carriages, where they inspected a parade of marching royal guardsmen. Bystanders were thrilled at the spectacle.

The couple will spend the night at the castle, just outside of London. (see pic below)
The Queen, who speaks fluent French, and Sarkozy, who speaks little English, chatted politely as they walked in the courtyard of Windsor Castle, while multi-lingual Carla Bruni and Prince Philip were more animated in their discussions (see pic below).
As they stood in a line, Carla Bruni, who is 5 foot 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall, towered over her husband, who at around 5 foot 5 inches is much closer in height to the Queen.Some British newspapers had greeted the arrival of France's head of state by publishing pictures of his wife, Carla posing naked for a fashion shoot more than 15 years ago.

And most eyes and cameras were on Carla Bruni, who Sarkozy married just four months after he divorced his second wife Cecilia.

After months of often damaging headlines at home, Sarkozy may be hoping that images of him in royal surroundings, will stand him in better stead.

Related post:
Sarkozy's Ex-Cecilia Pre-Wedding Celebration

.

Nude portrait photo of Sarkozy's wife, France first lady, for auction

WARNING : Only persons comfortable with what the French consider nudity should read more below where there are uncensored photos.

A nude portrait of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni will go under the hammer in New York next month, according to auctioneers Christie's. The 13 x 10 1/8 inch gelatin silver black and white photograph was taken in 1993, when Bruni was one of the world's top fashion models, and is being sold by art collector Gert Elfering.

It is expected to fetch $3,000 to $4,000 when it is sold in New York on April 10, according to the Christie's web site.

Sarkozy married Bruni, 40, in February after a whirlwind romance that began shortly after his divorce from his second wife Cecilia. Their relationship has coincided with a sharp fall in Sarkozy's approval ratings which have tumbled as voters judged that the president's glitzy lifestyle jarred with his responsibilities and status as head of state.

Sarkozy and his new wife are due to pay a state visit to Britain this week during which they will be hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. Word had that Carla Bruni is horrified.
But the auction house has defended its upcoming sale by saying that the photos are works of art and that Carla is one of the most beautiful women in the world.

Bruni's black-and-white photo shows the model standing topless in a studio covering her privates with cupped hands (see auction photo below).

Other photos included in the nude model auction: Giselle Bundchen and Kate Moss.

Related post:
Sarkozy's Ex-Cecilia Pre-Wedding Celebration

Prince William and Kate Middleton on Ski Vacation

Prince William, 25, and girlfriend, Kate Middleton, 26, hit the slopes last week in the Swiss resort of Klosters – a favorite of the British royals and the place where the couple were first revealed to be seriously dating four years ago.
This year, Middleton looked more comfortable than ever in the royal fold as William's father, Prince Charles, arrived at the resort on Thursday night and joined the pair skiing on Friday and Saturday. Middleton's inclusion in family events adds fuel to speculation that William – second in line for the throne after his father – could one day make her his princess bride.

The night before Prince Charles arrived in town, the couple got some partying out of their system as they hit the resort's pricey disco, Casa Antica, with friends.

Throughout the week, onlookers watched as the young couple flirted, giggled and touched affectionately. They rode ski lifts together, stuck by each other's side as they swooshed down the mountain.
"They were out on there [on the slopes] together. They looked like they were having a nice time," one onlooker tells PEOPLE. "At one point they had a little cuddle."

Their routine never wavered even as blinding snow, strong winds and icy temperatures hovering around zero made ski conditions difficult. They would ski all morning and have lunch at one of the many restaurants dotted around the mountain resort – including a pizzeria one day.

Sarkozy's Ex-Cecilia Pre-Wedding Celebration

The French are certainly quick to find partners after their divorce.

France's former first lady, Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, 50, and Attias (see pic below), a 48-year-old Moroccan-born public relations executive, plan to tie the knot Sunday in a civil ceremony before 148 guests, with a reception at Rockefeller Center to follow.


Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, along with fiance Richard Attias and two bus loads of family and friends, attended Saturday night's performance of Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway – as a pre-wedding celebration

During the Broadway show, the couple sat in the center of the theater three rows from the back in the orchestra section. At intermission, they mingled with guests. The soon-to-be newlyweds even got a shout-out at the end of the show from cast member Andy Kelso, who said, "And congratulations to Cecilia and Richard!"

Ciganer-Albeniz divorced current French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Oct. 18 after 11 years of marriage. Sarkozy wed former model Carla Bruni (See pic below) on Feb. 2.

Spitzer call girl Dupre in Nude Video

Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the call girl at the center of the Elliot Spitzer sex scandal, watched the potential earnings from her new-found fame drop by $1 million on Tuesday as old nude videos of her emerged.

Adult DVD distributor "Girls Gone Wild" discovered videos of a semi-nude Dupre, now 22, in its archives and plans to sell them on its Web site, a company spokesman said. "Girls Gone Wild" had offered to pay Dupre $1 million to pose nude in a magazine it plans to launch but, after discovering the old footage, the company withdrew its offer.

Last week, Spitzer resigned as governor of New York after news surfaced he had paid for a sexual encounter in Washington, D.C. The New York Times revealed that Dupre was the prostitute he had hired.

A "Girls Gone Wild" video crew met Dupre in Miami in 2003 and she stayed with them for a week shooting videos, the spokesman said.

Spitzer's call girl could parlay infamy into payday

The $1,000-an-hour prostitute reportedly hired by New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer may soon make much more than that, turning her 15 minutes of infamy into a tidy sum of money.

Since 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre was identified by The New York Times late on Wednesday as the governor's paramour, the prostitute and aspiring singer's songs have become the most popular downloads on a music-sharing Web site and at least one magazine is prepared to pay her for a nude photo spread. Hustler publisher Larry Flynt told the Access Hollywood television program on Friday that he plans to offer Dupre $1 million to pose nude in his magazine.

Earlier this week, the woman told the Times she was worried about paying her rent this month after the escort service she worked for was shut down by federal officials. The newspaper reported Spitzer (Identified by the escort service as client No.9) was heard on a federal wiretap last month arranging a tryst with a prostitute called "Kristen," whom the paper identified as Dupre. Spitzer resigned on Wednesday and apologized for his "private failings," but did not refer specifically to the report.

According to Dupre's MySpace page, she left home at 17 and moved to New York, where she is trying to pursue a music career. Her R&B- and pop-tinged songs "What We Want" and "Move Ya Body" are ranked as the two best-selling songs on the AimeStreet.com music sharing Web site. A spokesman for Aime Street, which uses a demand-price model where users pay more for popular songs, would not confirm how many times Dupre's songs had been downloaded. But he said "Move ya Body," which was uploaded to the site around 2 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Thursday, rose to the highest download price (98 cents) faster than any other song in the site's history.
Dupre's page on the site has been viewed more than 300,000 times and artists get a 70 percent cut of sales. If 1 million copies were sold, as some media outlets have estimated, then she's already made more than $680,000 from her notoriety.
New York radio stations, including the top-rated Z100, have been playing her music on the airwaves. Her profile on the social networking Web site MySpace has had over 7 million page views. Penthouse Magazine Group president and publisher Diane Silberstein has said the men's magazine would consider offering Dupre a nude cover shot.

On Friday, The New York Post ran five pages of revealing pictures of Dupre from a 2007 photo shoot purportedly to promote her music career

Jackie Chan Honours Parents in Australia

Hong Kong-born action film star Jackie Chan paid tribute to his late parents and his Australian roots on Sunday by funding a new science education centre at the country's top cancer research institution.

Chan and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened the Jackie Chan Science Centre, at the Australian National University, paid for by Chan's donations to cancer research in honor of his parents, who were long-time residents in Canberra.


Chan made an initial donation to cancer research in Australia in 2002 after the death of his mother, Lee Lee Chan, and was back in Canberra for Saturday's funeral for his father Charlie, who died on February 26, aged 93. "My father passed away last week. So it is about time I did something for Canberra to remember my parents. I really thank you Australia and Canberra for taking care of my parents for 46 years," Chan told reporters.

Neither Chan nor the Australian National University would comment on how much Chan had donated to cancer research, although the university said the donations were "substantial."
Chan's parents settled in Canberra in the early 1970s, where his father took a job as the head chef at the United States Embassy before becoming a successful local restaurant owner. Before his career in film, a young Chan lived in Canberra for a couple of years, attending college and working as builder's laborer, where he was given his now famous name Jackie as a nickname by fellow workers, who struggled with his Chinese name.

Rudd, who was elected to power in Australia last November, hosted a dinner at his official residence on Saturday for Chan and his family, as well as diplomats from China and the United States. Rudd, who speaks fluent Mandarin, discussed ways Chan could help Australia strengthen its ties with China, which is now Australia's biggest trading partner.

Chan, who is an ambassador for the Beijing Olympics, invited Rudd to attend the Olympics later this year, and said he would be available to help Rudd at any time, but he refused to say how.
"There' some secret, I cannot say it," Chan said. "I've known Kevin for a few years. Whenever he calls, I'll be there."

Malaysia PM won't resign despite Election poll debacle

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's premier said on Sunday he has no plan to step down after leading his ruling coalition to its worst election result in decades, despite calls by his influential predecessor for him to quit.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's multi-racial National Front (Barisan Nasional) coalition won just a simple majority in parliament, and his future as leader is in doubt after he watched a record majority collapse as the opposition Islamists and reformists won control of five of the nation's 13 states.

Barisan has effectively ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957. The coalition ended up with 62 percent of federal seats, down from 90 percent previously and without a two-thirds parliamentary majority, Barisan can no longer change the constitution or make some key appointments.

Abdullah had no plan to quit, his spokesman said on Sunday, despite urging by predecessor Mahathir Mohamad.
"There are no plans to resign," Abdullah's spokesman, Kamal Khalid said. "He still has plans to proceed to the palace tomorrow morning to take the oath of office."

The streets were unusually quiet on Sunday, with many older Malaysians fearful of trouble. The last time the coalition suffered a heavy setback, in 1969, race riots erupted. Malaysia's share market is expected to slide on Monday, as political uncertainty takes hold after the massive protest vote.

In a recorded speech to be aired later on Sunday, Abdullah thanked voters for support that enabled his coalition to form the government, and promised to implement its manifesto.
"I'd like to emphasize that Barisan and other component parties accept the people's wishes in the election that was conducted smoothly, based on a democratic process that is fair and transparent," he said."God willing there will be no disturbance, there will be no chaos."

Malaysia is largely a mix of ethnic Malays, who make up about 55 percent of the population, and ethnic Chinese and Indians, who account for about a third. A protest vote from Chinese and Indians, upset over what they saw as racial inequality in terms of business, job and education opportunities, had been expected.

But Malays, who are all Muslims and traditionally support Barisan, completed a perfect storm for the government, giving the opposition Islamists a record vote to protest rising prices.

WHAT NOW?
Former premier Mahathir bluntly said Abdullah should quit."He should accept responsibility," said Mahathir, who now says he made a mistake in picking Abdullah as his successor and the current deputy premier, Najib Razak, should have taken over.

"The political stability has finally been challenged," said Pankaj Kumar, chief investment officer at Kurnia Insurance, who helps manage 1.6 billion ringgit ($506 million) in assets.

"The question is, how does Malaysia move forward from here in restoring confidence?"
A sales broker said he expected the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index to fall 50 to 100 points, or about 8 percent, on Monday as investors try to answer that query. "This is probably not good news for the equity market or the ringgit," said Tim Condon, Singapore-based head of Asia research for investment bank ING.

Abdullah, who just four years ago led the coalition to a record election victory now faces a difficult period, although several party leaders are to meet with him to pledge their support, a source close to the party leadership said. Abdullah's humbling performance nationally was compounded when his own home state, the industrial heartland of Penang, fell to the opposition.
The leftist Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party (DAP) won Penang, the hub of Malaysia's electronics industry, which accounts for about half of exports. As for the opposition Islamist party, PAS, it scored shock victories in the northern states of Kedah and Perak and held northeastern Kelantan.

DAP and PAS also joined the People's Justice Party, or Parti Keadilan, to wrest control of the industrial state of Selangor and almost all the seats in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Now the disparate opposition parties must work together.

"I am playing the role of coordinating the opposition outside parliament, that is the major thing for now," said opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim, de facto leader of Keadilan, which emerged as the biggest opposition party in federal parliament with 31 seats. "I am optimistic that we can have a more coherent force."

Results from the election commission at 1130 GMT showed the National Front with 140 seats in the 222-seat parliament versus 82 for the opposition.

Malaysia PM's coalition loses crucial 2/3 majority

The Malaysian premier's multi-racial coalition lost its crucial two-thirds majority in parliament in general elections on Saturday, the Election Commission said on Sunday.

The coalition also lost control of three states -- Kedah, Penang and Kelantan, the election body said with results still being tallied.

Barisan held a 90 percent majority in the last parliament and is set for a historic setback at these elections. The opposition is claiming victory in five state assemblies, including Selangor and Perak, while also capturing at least one-third of the seats in federal parliament.

A two-thirds majority is needed to amend the constitution. The last time it lost that majority was in the 1969 election.