Kuala Lumpur, May 16: Anwar Ibrahim, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister jailed for sodomy, was released on Wednesday after newly elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad helped arrange a full pardon for him.

Anwar, 70, headed for the royal palace to meet the King after the pardon came through, Xinhua news agency reported.

He emerged from Cheras rehabilitation hospital here where he was serving his sentence after an operation on his shoulder.

Once seen as a potential future leader, he had been jailed on charges of sodomy and corruption after falling out with the government.

Mahathir has promised to step aside for Anwar to become Prime Minister within two years.

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Santiago (Chile), Nov 8: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck off the coast of southern Chile Friday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no warnings of a tsunami.

The quake's epicentre was 278 kilometres west-northwest of Cochrane, Chile, according to the US Geological Survey. Cochrane is a sparsely populated area in the Patagonia region.

The USGS said that the quake, at 6.37 am Chilean time, had a depth of 10 kilometres.

Chile's national disaster agency deemed the earthquake as one of “lower intensity,” but it said it will keep evaluating for any potential damage.

Chile is located in the so-called “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific that is uniquely vulnerable to earthquakes. Chileans still have painful memories of a magnitude 8.8 earthquake in 2010 that spawned a tsunami and killed 526 people.