Malaysian minister tells Rice: Stop meddling in domestic sodomy case

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday urged Malaysia to be transparent and follow the rule of law in dealing with the sodomy accusation against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Hours later, Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim accused Washington of meddling in his country's domestic affairs and told U.S. officials to stop commenting on the Anwar case. The two officials made their comments at separate news conferences in Singapore where they were attending a regional security meeting. The war of words began earlier this month when a U.S. State Department spokesman made similar comments about Anwar, provoking a letter of complaint from Rais to Rice. Anwar has rejected accusations of sodomy made by a male aide, saying they were part of a conspiracy to keep him from seizing power from Malaysia's ruling coalition.... [read full story]