Police have detained four Westerners accused of posing naked to take photos on a Malaysian mountain — an act that has been blamed for causing the earthquake that killed 18 climbers last week.

Boulders “the size of cars” roared down the crowded slopes of Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu after its earthquake, a witness said, as authorities yesterday raised the death toll in the disaster to 16.

A Swiss hostage has escaped from Abu Sayyaf extremists after more than two years of jungle captivity in the southern Philippines, officials have said.

ESB International has announced that it has won four new contracts in Asia worth up to €1.5m.

Armed gunmen fatally shot a Malaysian policeman and kidnapped another during a shoot-out at a resort on Borneo island.

Our pick on what to look out for on the box tonight.

Malaysian police say they have shot dead 31 Filipino intruders who sparked a security crisis in Borneo.

An Italian magazine is set to follow a French publication in printing topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, it was reported today.

A furious Duke and Duchess of Cambridge launched legal action against a French magazine tonight after it published topless pictures of Kate Middleton taken while the couple were on holiday.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be “saddened” by claims made by a French magazine that it will publish topless photographs of Kate today.

A luxury cruise ship stranded at sea for 24 hours because of a fire has safely reached a Malaysian port.

Its capital, Kuala Lumpur, may feel like the set of Bladerunner, but Malaysia has a rich cultural and culinary mix, great beaches and amazing sights, including orang-utans, writes Pól Ó Conghaile

A Malaysian state plans to ban shark fishing in a bid to bolster tourism and conserve a species hunted mainly for fins which are used to create a culinary delicacy, an official said today.

I MET a Wild Man of Borneo last week.

The World Wildlife Fund said it has evidence that the rare Sumatran rhinoceros is breeding on Borneo island.

IT looks like the kind of thing that should be kept at arm’s length.

MORE than 110,000 Malaysians have been forced to flee their homes as floods worsen in the south and on Borneo island, officials said, as relief workers struggled to feed and shelter victims.

MIDLETON-based Discover Travel has launched its largest brochure for south-east Asia, updated to include Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Malaysian police have arrested 12 men belonging to a new radical Indonesian group suspected of planning attacks on several neighbouring countries, it was reported today.

A Malaysian court in Kuala Lumpur has quashed a London casino’s bid to recover a gambling debt of more than 7 million ringgit (€1.47m) racked up by a senior politician in the country’s ruling party.

The Turkish government was under fire today for ignoring warnings about a new express train that derailed in northwestern Turkey killing 36 people and injuring 81 in one of the country’s worst train disasters.

NINE-TENTHS of the orangutan population has been lost from Borneo and Sumatra over the past 100 years, wildlife campaigners warned yesterday.