It Figures

For those of you who don't usually click on the MSN Today links, there was an interesting one today (link: here) that involved a Malaysian given a 15-figure phone bill by Telekom Malaysia. More than 806 billion billion ringgit. Or 218 trillion USD. It was reported by AP, which is fairly credible, and it was surprising that it didn't appear in today's Star, nor in Malaysiakini - though the report did say that the person in question reported to the New Straits Times (link: here), which really does seem more up to par in the English dailies today.

Out of curiosity on the international coverage of Malaysia, I Googled "Malaysia" to see what I'd get... a couple of observations:
1. Malaysiakini is the first news source listed, followed by the Star and Utusan.
2. One of the first few links is a CIA website listing facts about Malaysia. What's even more surprising is that there's a CIA Homepage for Kids.
Personally, I'd prefer that our international coverage stays with Nicol David, but then better a gigantic phone bill than more terrorists in event organization.