As expected, Zahid axes critics for GE15 race

Several prominent Umno leaders not aligned with their party boss Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have been dropped as candidates, putting the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition at risk of a major rupture as it heads to the general election for the first time since losing power four years ago.
As expected, incumbent MPs Shahidan Kassim, Annuar Musa and Zahidi Zainul Abidin, all of whom have been vocal against the so-called court cluster group of party leaders, were dropped.
Khairy Jamaluddin was retained, but sent to contest in Sungai Buloh, which is not among the seats considered safe for BN.
In Perak, Zahid loyalist Ashraf Wajdi Dusuki was relocated to Umno's fort of Gerik, while religious teacher Kazim Elias will contest in Larut, where he is expected to clash with Bersatu's Hamzah Zainudin.
In Tambun, Aminuddin Md Hanafiah will be pitted against Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim and incumbent Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu.
In Selangor, controversial Umno man Jamal Yunos will contest in Sungai Besar and ex-banker-turned finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz will be fielded in Kuala Selangor. Noh Omar, the incumbent for  Tanjung Karang, has been dropped.
In Kuala Lumpur, Umno's Johari Abdul Ghani is expected to take on Amanah's Khalid Samad in Titiwangsa, while Ramlan Askolani will take on Fahmi Fadzil in Lembah Pantai.
In Johor, Umno's Razali Ibrahim is expected to take on Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin, while Mohd Helmi Abd Latif will be fielded in Muar, where Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman is expected to contest.
The BN candidates for Tanjung Karang, Jempol, Kuala Pilah and Bandar Tun Razak are still under consideration.
The list of BN candidates for parliamentary seats released tonight is as follows:
1. Zahida Zarik Khan (Padang Besar)2. Fathul Bari Mat Jahya (Kangar)3. Rozabil Abd Rahman (Arau)4. Armishah Siraj (Langkawi)5. Othman Aziz (Jerlun)6. Hasmuni Hassan (Kubang Pasu)7. Mahdzir Khalid (Padang Terap)8. Noran Zamini Jamaluddin (Pokok Sena)9. Tan Chee Hiong (Alor Setar)10. Mashitah Ibrahim (Kuala Kedah) 11. Suraya Yaacob (Pendang)12. Jamil Khir Baharom (Jerai)13. Maizatulakmam Othman @ Ibrahim (Sik)14. Shaiful Hazizy Zainol Abidin (Merbok)15. Shahanim Mohamad Yusoff (Sungai Petani)16. Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (Baling)17. Sivaraj Chandran (Padang Serai)18. Muhar Hussain (Kulim Bandar Baharu)19. Mohd Hafiezulniezam Mohd Hasdin (Pengkalan Chepa)20. Rosmadi ismail (Kota Bharu)21. Ab Ghani Harun (Pasir Mas)22. Zulkarnain Yusoff (Rantau Panjang)23. Nurul Amal Mohd Fauzi (Kubang Kerian)24. Mohd Zain Yasim (Bachok)25. Marzuani Ardila Ariffin (Ketereh)26. Bakri @ Mohd Bakri Mustapha (Tanah Merah)27. Zawawi Othman (Pasir Puteh)28. Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (Machang)29. Norwahida Patuan (Jeli)30. Mohamed Zulkepli Omar (Kuala Krai)31. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Gua Musang)32. Nawi Mohamad (Besut)33. Abdul Rahman Mat Yasin (Setiu)34. Mohd Zubir Embong (Kuala Terengganu)35. Jasmira Othman (Marang)36. Rozi Mamat (Hulu Terengganu)37. Nurhisam Johari (Dungun)38. Ahmad Said (Kemaman)39. Reezal Merican Naina Merican (Kepala Batas)40. Muhamad Yusoff Mohd Noor (Tasek Gelugor)41. Tan Chuan Hong (Bagan)42. Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said (Permatang Pauh)43. Tan Yang Pang (Bukit Mertajam)44. Tan Lee Huat (Batu Kawan)45. Thanenthiran Ramankutty (Nibong Tebal)46. Razalif Mohamad Zain (Bukit Bendera)47. Tan Kim Nee (Tanjong)48. Loganathan Thoraisamy (Jelutong)49. Wong Chin Chong (Bukit Gelugor)50. Saw Yee Fung (Bayan Baru)51. Shah Headan Ayoob Hussain Shah (Balik Pulau)52. Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki (Gerik)53. Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (Lenggong)54. Mohammad Kazim Elias (Larut)55. Imran Mohd Yusof (Parit Buntar)56. Zul Helmi Ghazali (Bagan Serai)57. Mohammad Sollehin Mohamad Tajie (Bukit Gantang)58. Neow Choo Seong (Taiping)59. Mohd Arrif Abdul Majid (Padang Rengas)60. S Vigneswaran M Sanasee (Sungai Siput)61. Aminuddin Md Hanafiah (Tambun)62. Ng Kai Cheong (Ipoh Timur)63. Low Guo Nan (Ipoh Barat)64. Teoh Chin Chong (Batu Gajah)65. Maslin Sham Razman (Kuala Kangsar)66. Ding Siew Chee (Beruas)67. Mohd Nizar Zakaria (Parit)68. Lee Chee Leong (Kampar)69. Ting Zhao Song (Gopeng)70. M Saravanan (Tapah)71. Khairul Azwan Harun (Pasir Salak)72. Zambry Abd Kadir (Lumut)73. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datuk)74. T Murugiah (Teluk Intan)75. Mah Hang Soon (Tanjong Malim)76. Ramli Mohd Nor (Cameron Highlands)77. Abdul Rahman Mohamad (Lipis)78. Chong Sin Woon (Raub)79. Mohd Zukarmi Abu Bakar (Jerantut)80. Quek Tai Seong (Indera Mahkota)81. Ab Hamid Mohd Nazahar (Kuantan)82. Mohd Shahar Abdullah (Paya Besar)83. Sh Mohmed Puzi Sh Ali (Pekan)84. Shahaniza Shamsuddin (Maran)85. Ismail Mohamed Said (Kuala Krau)86. Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin (Temerloh)87. Liow Tiong Lai (Bentong)88. Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Bera)89. Hasan Arifin (Rompin)90. Abd Rahman Bakri (Sabak Bernam)91. Jamal Md Yunos (Sungai Besar)92. Y Mohan (Hulu Selangor)93. Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (Kuala Selangor)94. Chan Wun Hoong (Selayang)95. Megat Zulkarnain Omardin (Gombak)96. Ivone Low Yi Wen (Ampang)97. Leong Kok Wee (Pandan)98. Johan Abd Aziz (Hulu Langat)99. Hoh Hee Lee (Bangi)100. Syed Ibrahim Kader (Puchong)101. Kow Cheong Wei (Subang)102. Chew Hian Tat (Petaling Jaya)103. Tan Gim Tuan (Damansara)104. Khairy Jamaluddin (Sungai Buloh)105. Hizatul Isham Abdul Jalil (Shah Alam)106. Muhammad Noor Azman @ Noor Hizam (Kapar)107. Tee Hooi Ling (Klang)108. D Kajendran (Kota Raja)109. Mohana Muniandy Raman (Kuala Langat)110. Anuar Basiran (Sepang)111. A Kohilan Pillay (Batu)112. Mohd Shafei Abdullah (Wangsa Maju)113. Daniel Ling Sia Chin (Segambut)114. Izudin Ishak (Setiawangsa)115. Johari Abdul Ghani (Titiwangsa)116. Tan Teik Peng (Bukit Bintang)117. Ramlan Shaheah @ Askolani (Lembah Pantai)118. Lee Kah Hing (Seputeh)119. Chong Yew Chuan (Cheras)120. Chew Yin Keen (Bandar Tun Razak)121. Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (Putrajaya)122. Bashir Alias (Labuan)123. Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu)124. Wong Yin Ting (Seremban)125. Ng Kian Nam (Rasah)126. Mohamad Hasan (Rembau)127. P Kamalanathan (Port Dickson)128. Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (Tampin)129. Abdul Hakim Abdul Wahid (Masjid Tanah)130. Shahril Sufian Hamdan (Alor Gajah)131. Lim Ban Hong (Tangga Batu)132. Mohd Ridhwan Mohd Ali (Hang Tuah Jaya)133. Kon Qi Yao (Kota Melaka)134. Roslan Ahmad (Jasin)135. M Ramasamy (Segamat)136. Md Salleheen Mohamad (Sekijang)137. Chua Tee Yong (Labis)138. Razali Ibrahim (Pagoh)139. Hamim Samuri (Ledang)140. Lee Ching Yong (Bakri)141. Mohd Helmy Abd Latif (Muar)142. Noraini Ahmad (Parit Sulong)143. Wee Ka Siong (Ayer Hitam)144. Mohd Lassim Burhan (Sri Gading)145. Ishak @ Mohd Farid Siraj (Batu Pahat)146. Hasni Mohammad (Simpang Renggam)147. Gan Ping Shou @ Gan Ping Sieu (Kluang)148. Hishammuddin Hussein (Sembrong)149. Abd Latif Bandi @ Nor Sebandi (Mersing)150. Manndzri Nasib (Tenggara)151. Mohamed Khaled Nordin (Kota Tinggi)152. Azalina Othman Said (Pengerang)153. Wong Siaw Ting (Temrau)154. Noor Azleen Ambros (Pasir Gudang)155. Johan Arifin Mohd Ropi (Johor Bahru)156. Nur Jazlan Mohamed (Pulai)157. Teoh Sew Hock (Iskandar Puteri)158. Chua Jian Boon (Kulai)159. Ahmad Maslan (Pontian)160. Wee Jeck Seng (Tanjong Piai)


Libya court sentences 23 to death for IS campaign

A Libyan court sentenced 23 people to death and another 14 to life in prison on Monday for their role in a deadly Islamic State militant campaign that included beheading a group of Egyptian Christians and seizing the city of Sirte in 2015.
The Attorney General's office said in a statement that one other person was sentenced to 12 years in prison, six to 10 years, one to five years and six to three years while five were acquitted and three others died before their case came to trial.
Islamic State's Libyan branch was one of the militant group's strongest outside its original territory in Iraq and Syria, taking advantage of the chaos and warfare that followed a 2011 Nato-backed uprising.
In 2015 it launched an attack on the luxury Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, killing nine people, before abducting and beheading dozens of Egyptian Christians whose deaths it featured in grisly propaganda films.
After gaining territory in Benghazi, Derna and Ajdabiya in eastern Libya, the group seized the central coastal city of Sirte, holding it until late 2016 as it enforced a harsh regime of public morality backed up by brutal punishments.
Mustafa Salem Trabulsi, head of an organisation for bereaved families of people killed or disappeared by the group said he had hoped that all the suspects would face the death penalty but he accepted the outcome.
"My son is missing and my relative, my brother-in-law, was murdered in Sirte Square," he said.
Speaking in court on Monday, Fawzia Arhuma said she welcomed the death sentences after her son was killed by the group at a power station near Sirte.
"Today my son raised my head. Today I buried my son," she said.


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Rosmah’s graft trial postponed again over MySejahtera status

Rosmah Mansor’s corruption trial in connection with the solar energy project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak was postponed again today as her MySejahtera status still shows that she has had close contact with a Covid-19 case.High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan vacated today’s hearing after Rosmah’s counsel Jagjit Singh informed the court that his client’s MySejahtera status was still orange.“For your Lordship’s information, my client is present today at the court’s compound. She is in the car now. Her MySejahtera status was verified by the court’s registrar,” the lawyer said.In response to this, senior deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram suggested that Zaini conduct a hybrid trial proceeding, where Rosmah could continue to give evidence from her home or lawyer’s office.“I believe we can continue this proceeding via Zoom and we (the prosecution) will have supervising DPPs present and they (the defence) can have the solicitors present,” said Sri Ram.However, Zaini said he would like to be more cautious at this stage of the trial.“I have thought about that and I have gone through the relevant statutes. There does not seem to be any provision and I’d like to be more cautious.“We do not want to derail the whole trial just because we think it (hybrid trial) is okay at this stage,” said the judge.The court then fixed three additional dates, this Dec 13, 23, 24, and six more days, Jan 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 as well as Feb 4 next year, for the trial.On Dec 8, Zaini vacated Rosmah’s trial, saying that the court’s SOPs only allow people with a blue MySejahtera status to enter the building and will not allow those with close or casual contact with Covid-19 cases into the premises.Rosmah, who is celebrating her 70th birthday today, is facing a charge of soliciting RM187.5 million and two charges of receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin through her former assistant Rizal Mansor as a reward for assisting Jepak Holdings secure the RM1.25 billion project to equip 369 schools in rural Sarawak with solar hybrid power.


Africa’s Covid-19 numbers hit new highs as Delta variant runs riot

Warnings are mounting about a new wave of Covid-19 infections gathering speed across the African continent amid a dire shortage of vaccines.Africa is staring into the face of a Covid third wave, says the World Health Organization (WHO).More than a dozen countries have reported their worst figures since the start of the pandemic, with more than 650,000 new cases recorded on the continent between May 3, when the so-called third wave began, and June 27, reports Al Jazeera.At a press briefing on Thursday, WHO’s Africa director Dr Matshidiso Moeti warned that “the speed and scale of Africa’s third wave is like nothing we’ve seen before.”She added, “Covid-19 cases are doubling every three weeks, compared to every four weeks at the start of the second wave. Almost 202,000 cases were reported in the past week and the continent is on the verge of exceeding its worst week ever in this pandemic.”Moeti said that among the 14 African countries now in resurgence, 12 have detected coronavirus variants of concern, including nine with the highly contagious Delta variant.“With the rampant spread of more contagious variants, the threat to Africa rises to a whole new level.”A recent report published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security stated that Africa “has exhibited a substantial increase in daily incidence since mid-May”, with daily case numbers rising threefold.The report cites “weak adherence to public health measures, including an increase in social gatherings and movement” as contributing to the recent spike in infections.First identified in India, Delta – said to be up to 60% more transmissible than other variants – has been detected in 16 African countries, according to the WHO.These include South Africa, where President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a return to strict  measures on Monday as the country recorded nearly 160,000 active cases.Uganda has been under a strict 42-day lockdown since June 18 in response to a resurgence in infections with the Delta variant predominating. 45% of Uganda’s 75,000 total reported cases have occurred in just the past two months.There is a lag in vaccination figures across Africa as health officials appeal for more doses.Just over 1% of the African population has been fully vaccinated, according to the WHO.In world terms, Africa has administered just 1.5% of the 2.7 billion doses administered globally.The WHO has warned that nearly 90% of African countries are expected to miss a target of vaccinating 10% of their population by September. For them to do so would require a further 225 million doses.Some countries initially experienced high levels of vaccine hesitancy amid concerns surrounding reports of rare blood clots in recipients of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab in Europe.But since early June, queues at vaccination sites across Africa have lengthened significantly as the toll of the virus becomes more visible. However many sites have only a few jabs to administer.The head of WHO said, “There is no vaccine, so why do we talk about vaccine hesitancy? The problem is vaccine supply.”Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union special envoy leading efforts to obtain vaccines, sharply criticised Europe, saying “Not one dose, not one vial, has left a European factory for Africa”.Masiyiwa further said Covax had pledged to deliver 700 million vaccine doses to the continent by December, but by June, Africa has received just 65 million doses overall, with fewer than 50 million doses arriving via Covax.“Pay up your money,” he told donor countries. “We will no longer measure pledges, we will measure vaccines arriving at our airports.”


97% of army veterans who receive BSH aid are non-pensionable, says defence minister

Some 97% or 8,730, of the 9,000 Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) veterans who receive the monthly Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) aid of RM300 are without pension, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Defence Minister Mohamad Hasan said efforts to trace those involved were being carried out by the Department of Veteran Affairs (JHEV) of the ATM, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, to ensure that their welfare is taken care of.
"The problem is that they did not register with JHEV, that’s why we encourage them to do so and have also asked that ATM veteran associations locate and register those who have not yet registered for us to help.
"So far, more than 200,000 ATM veterans have registered. Most of those who have yet to register are in Sabah and Sarawak," he said during the questions for oral answer session.
He was responding to a question from Muhammad Islahuddin Abas (PN-Mersing) on the implementation of the BSH scheme for non-pensionable ATM veterans, especially those in the B40 category. Mohamad said discussions would be held with stakeholders, including ATM veteran associations, to find a win-win formula for the adjustment of their pensions.
In the meantime, he said the majority of ATM veterans without pensions, especially the young, preferred to find a job with a fixed income rather than venture into business or entrepreneurship.
He said while ATM had provided a digital business platform called MyVeteranMall in addition to courses to prepare those who are interested in venturing into the field, it had not received an encouraging response.
"We identified that capital was one of the constraints, despite the fact that it is actually provided by several government agencies such as Tekun Nasional. If they register, we can find an agency that can provide start-up funding and increase business capital.
"So far, only 512 veterans have registered with the application," he said in response to a supplementary question from Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (BN-Tampin) on why the MyVeteranMall application was not well received by ATM veterans.


Home ministry to check authenticity of leaked phone call clip

The home ministry will look into the authenticity of the audio recording and details of an alleged conversation between Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim that was recently leaked.Its minister Hamzah Zainudin said the ministry will investigate all reports it has received.“Of course we (the ministry) will investigate all reports handed to us. Firstly we will look into its authenticity and what was said.“If there was no conversation, then it means the story that was spun is slander,” he said at a media conference yesterday.Hamzah also said he had heard the audio recording of the conversation and what had been discussed.“There are two things here: firstly, the conversation and is it real, and secondly what was said in the conversation. Am I right?” he said.On Wednesday, Zahid denied the conversation with Anwar as contained in the leaked audio recording and said his officer would lodge a police report immediately to enable an investigation to identify the culprit behind the recording.


Govt announces ceiling price for RON95, diesel under new initiative

Putrajaya today announced ceiling prices for RON95 petrol and diesel of RM2.05 and RM2.15 per litre, as part of a series in a fresh five-pronged initiative worth RM20 billion.In a special live address to detail Pemerkasa, the Malay acronym for the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and the Economy, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the decision was made in view of the rising trend in global oil prices.“The government currently bears a subsidy at a rate of almost 30 sen per litre.“This means that the government is bearing a total subsidy worth RM3 billion based on current prices,” he said.Fuel prices in Malaysia fluctuate weekly based on the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) formula introduced in 2017.Currently, the retail price for RON95 is RM2.05. Diesel is priced at RM2.15 while the more premium RON97 petrol is at RM2.47, up seven sen from last week.Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said the government subsidises almost half the price of cooking gas.He said the actual price of a 14kg cylinder of cooking gas is RM50 although these are currently retailed at RM26.60.“The government will continue to provide the subsidy so that the prices of daily necessities remain affordable,” he said.The main focus of Pemerkasa is on containing the Covid-19 pandemic, accelerating the restoration of the economy, strengthening the country’s competitiveness and ensuring inclusivity in the distribution of government aid.Among others, Muhyiddin announced an additional RM2 billion for the Covid-19 vaccination programme, bringing the total allocation to RM5 billion.He said the move was to ensure the acceleration of the campaign in order to achieve herd immunity by December this year, earlier than the original target of the first quarter of 2022.He said some 15,000 officers would be sent to 950 vaccination centres nationwide.He also announced that the special monthly cash assistance of RM200 will be extended to all government officers involved in the immunisation campaign.The prime minister likewise announced a series of incentives including tax exemptions for employers participating in the government’s [email protected] programme to encourage better living amenities for workers.Meanwhile, a total RM1.2 billion in cash will be distributed to 2.4 million recipients, including a one-off payment of RM500 to those in the B40 economic category who have lost their jobs.Recipients of the Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat earning less than RM1,000 will also get an additional RM500.“Both these categories involve recipients aged 21 to 60 years and do not have to involve any application registration process,” Muhyiddin said, adding that verification of their job status will be made through the Inland Revenue Department, Employees Provident Fund and Socso.


Canadian Muslim family killed in hit & run truck attack

Five members of the same Muslim family, ranging in age from nine to 74 years old, were out walking on Sunday evening when a pickup truck leapt a kerb and ran them down in what police are calling a premeditated attack.The incident took place in the city of London, Ontario, the Globe and Mail is reporting.The victims were two women, a man, and a 15-year-old girl. A boy aged nine, the family’s only survivor, is in hospital with serious injuries. They have not been named, in accordance with the wishes of the family.Nathaniel Veltman, 20, of London, Ontario, was arrested late on Sunday in a shopping mall parking lot a short distance from the scene of the incident. He was charged on Monday with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.“It is believed that these victims were targeted because they were Muslim,” Detective Superintendent Paul Waight told a news conference on Monday.Police are weighing possible terrorism charges, he said, adding that it is believed to be a hate crime.“There is no known previous connection between the suspect and the victims,” Waight said, adding that the suspect was wearing a vest that appeared to be “like body armour”.Officials added that the weather was fine and high visibility conditions when the black truck was seen mounting the kerb on Hyde Park Road on Sunday evening.A 2016 census found that London – a city about 200km southwest of Toronto – is growing increasingly diverse. One in five people was born outside of Canada, with Arabs being the area’s largest minority group, and South Asians coming in a close second.Ontario Premier Doug Ford was among those who paid tribute to the victims, tweeting: “Hate and Islamophobia have NO place in Ontario.”“This was an act of mass murder, perpetrated against Muslims, against Londoners, and rooted in unspeakable hatred,” said London Mayor Ed Holder.The National Council of Canadian Muslims said in a statement that the attacker should face terrorism charges.“A man allegedly got in his car, saw a Muslim family walking down the street, and made the decision that they do not deserve to live,” said the organisation’s CEO Mustafa Farooq. “He did not know them. This is a terrorist attack on Canadian soil, and should be treated as such.”Nawaz Tahir, a representative of the London Muslim community said, “These were innocent human beings who were killed simply because they were Muslim.”The attack was the worst against Canadian Muslims since six people were killed in a Quebec city mosque in 2017.Last September, a caretaker at a Toronto mosque was killed in a knife attack that led police to charge a man with first-degree murder. Members of the city’s Muslim community immediately called for tougher hate crimes laws.


New infections below 1,900 as death toll up by 6

Another 1,866 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 4,998,830.
There were 2,814 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,939,021.
There are now 23,099 active cases, of which 21,422 or 92.7% are undergoing home quarantine.
Meanwhile, 0 (0%) are at quarantine centres while 1,575 (6.8%) have been hospitalised.
A total of 102 are in ICU with 69 in need of respiratory assistance.
Another six deaths were reported, including one who was brought in dead. Total deaths now stand at 36,710.


China’s Xi points finger at US in speech to world’s political parties

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged political parties worldwide to oppose any country that engages in “technology blockades”, an allusion to the US protecting IT developments which Beijing wants access to, reports Reuters.In the same way as US President Joe Biden’s administration has sought support from like-minded democracies including the EU and Japan to coordinate a tougher stance against China, Beijing is seeking support from friendly nations such as North Korea and Serbia.“Together, we must oppose all acts of unilateralism in the name of multilateralism, hegemony and power politics,” Xi told a virtual gathering of representatives of 500 parties from 160 countries including Russia, Zimbabwe, Cuba and Burkina Faso.“Looking from the angle of ‘My Country First’, the world is narrow and crowded, and often full of fierce competition,” Xi said in apparent reference to former US president Donald Trump’s “America First” policy.Chinese diplomats have often criticised the US for trying to hamper China’s development by cutting off its access to US technology.Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China, made the remarks at the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, one of many events held by Beijing to commemorate the centenary of the ruling party.The virtual gathering was designed to help the world “adjust more quickly to the rise of China” and for Beijing to gain more “understanding, support and companionship”, said Guo Yezhou, vice-minister of the International Department, which organised the event.China is increasingly nervous about its international image, which still suffers from worldwide anger against it for Beijing’s initial handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.Other international PR problems include its maritime and territorial assertiveness towards neighbours in the South China Sea, its clampdown in Hong Kong and its treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, and its “wolf-warrior” diplomats who engage in a war of words with critics.A survey of 17 advanced economies released last Wednesday by the US-based Pew Research Center showed that views about China have remained broadly negative and confidence in Xi near historic lows


GPS to take PH vow on Sabah, Sarawak with a pinch of salt

A Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leader has expressed scepticism over Pakatan Harapan's (PH) pledge to empower Sabah and Sarawak as part of its manifesto for the 15th general election (GE15).
Speaking to MalaysiaNow, Fadillah Yusof, the senior vice-president of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), said he would take the vow with a pinch of salt.
"Can it be trusted?" he said. "It's not a holy book, they have promised many times without fulfilling what they say."
Fadillah, the Petra Jaya incumbent, was referring to similar vows made by PH at the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018, and the words of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad during the coalition's 22 months in power.
PH was heavily criticised for what was seen as its failure to make good on some of the promises in its manifesto.
Its manifesto this time around, Tawaran Harapan, was launched on Nov 2, ahead of GE15 on Nov 19.
It encompassed 10 priorities including the cost of living, the fight against corruption and empowering Sabah and Sarawak, to be realised immediately if PH received the mandate of the people to form the government.
Barisan Nasional (BN), too, had attempted to win over voters and political groups in Sabah and Sarawak by offering the position of deputy prime minister, one from each of the Bornean states.
BN's efforts followed the achievements by Muhyiddin Yassin during his time as prime minister, including the uplifting of Sabah and Sarawak to provinces, as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
He also formed a new Cabinet portfolio for Sabah and Sarawak affairs under the  jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department.
Political pacts in the peninsula have been seen as working towards establishing cooperation with GPS and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah in order to form the next government.
Analysts have agreed that no one coalition is likely to be able to occupy Putrajaya under its own steam.
GPS, a splinter party from Sarawak BN, comprises PBB, Parti Rakyat Sarawak, Parti Demokratik Progresif and Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak.
When asked why GPS would find it difficult to believe PH's most recent pledge, Fadillah replied: "The proof is in those 22 months."
Fadillah's colleague in GPS, Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, previously said the coalition had not forgotten what he described as DAP's treatment of Sarawak during PH's time in power.
Karim had been responding to PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli's comments that PH would need to work with GPS and GRS in order to form the federal government.
GPS is expected to win big at the coming election, and could play the role of kingmaker in deciding which coalition takes top office in Putrajaya.
When contacted, leaders of GRS and Sabah-based Warisan declined to comment on PH's election pledge.


Pakistan suicide blast targeting police kills 3, wounds 28

A suicide bomb blast in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta targeted a police patrol on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding 28, police said.
The explosion, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban militant group, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in a text message to Reuters, came after the group ended a ceasefire with the government this week.
"A bomb blast that targeted a police patrol wounded more than 30 people, including 15 police," a police official, Abdul Haq, told Reuters. "Out of them, a policeman, a woman and a child died."
The patrol had been guarding a polio vaccination team at the time of the suicide blast, he added.
Islamist militants in Pakistan often target polio vaccination teams, in the belief that the immunisation effort is a Western tool to spy on them.
Quetta is the capital of Pakistan's province of Balochistan bordering Afghanistan and Iran, where both Islamist and separatist insurgents operate.


UN 'alarmed' at West Bank violence day after Israeli raid

The UN Middle East peace envoy urged Israel and the Palestinians Wednesday to calm surging violence in the occupied West Bank, a day after the latest Israeli raid killed six people.
"We are in the midst of a cycle of violence that must be stopped immediately," Tor Wennesland said in a statement.
"The security council has spoken with one voice, calling on the parties to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric."
The call came a day after intense fighting during an Israeli raid in the flashpoint northern West Bank city of Jenin, in which the soldiers killed six Palestinians, including a member of Hamas accused of killing two Israeli settlers last month.
Wennesland said he was "alarmed" at the violence, which the army said included soldiers launching shoulder-fired rockets amid ferocious gunfire.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, called the use of rockets in Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday an act of "all-out war", Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The Jenin raid was the latest in a string of deadly military operations in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.
Among the six killed was Abdel Fatah Hussein Khroushah, 49. The Israeli army said he was a "terrorist operative" suspected of killing two Israeli settlers in the Palestinian town of Huwara on Feb 26.
The killing of the two settlers, which came just hours after Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged in Jordan to "prevent further violence", sparked fury among Israeli settlers, with hundreds later torching Palestinian homes and cars in the West Bank town.
"I am deeply disturbed by the continuing violence," Wennesland said, condemning both Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
"Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure that the civilian population is protected and perpetrators are held to account," he said.
Overnight, a rocket was fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip but fell short and exploded inside the coastal enclave, the Israeli military said.
Commitments made by the two sides in Jordan last month, when they agreed to "commit to de-escalation", must be implemented if "we are to find a way forward", Wennesland said.
"The parties must refrain from further steps that would lead us to more violence," he added.


Daily caseload passes 2,000 as another 3 deaths logged

Another 2,090 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 4,861,226.
There were 1,428 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,802,012.
There are now 22,804 active cases, of which 21,855 or 95.8% are undergoing home quarantine.
Meanwhile, 0 (0.0%) are at quarantine centres while 916 (4%) have been hospitalised.
A total of 33 are in ICU with 16 in need of respiratory assistance.
Three more deaths were reported, taking total deaths to 36,410.


Tokyo winds up Olympics with fireworks and subdued closing ceremony

Tokyo doused its Olympic flame on Sunday in a closing ceremony without spectators, bringing to a subdued end a Games transformed by the global pandemic, and yet which managed to produce some dazzling sport.After postponing the Tokyo 2020 Games for a year, organisers said the event would serve as a symbol of world triumph over the pandemic.But with strict pandemic countermeasures and as Covid-19 variants have surged around the world, the Olympics fell short of the triumph and financial windfall Japan had wanted, Al Jazeera reports.Japan is now burdened with a US$15 billion bill, double what it initially expected, and with no tourist boom.The closing ceremony, saw the stadium transformed into a park with grass, buskers and BMX riders, to enable visiting athletes to “experience Tokyo”, organisers said, in a poignant reminder of the many restrictions visitors underwent at the games.The president of the International Olympic Committee thanked the Japanese people.“For the first time since the pandemic began, the entire world came together,” Thomas Bach said. “Nobody has ever organised a postponed games before.”Public anger over the pandemic response and a slow-to-start vaccine rollout have badly damaged Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s standing. Public opinion polls showed most Japanese opposed holding the games during the pandemic.Contrary to public pessimism, organisers appear to have prevented the Games from descending into a Covid-19 super-spreader event, a notable achievement given that some 50,000 people came together amid the pandemic.While the isolation bubble – the set of venues and hotels to which Olympic visitors were largely confined – appeared to hold, elsewhere Covid-19 remained on the rampage.Fuelled by the Delta variant, daily infections spiked to more than 5,000 for the first time in Tokyo, threatening to overwhelm its hospitals.Japan’s record medal haul also helped to take out some of the sting for the public. The US finished top of the tally with 39 gold medals, one more than rivals China at 38 and Japan at 27.After five years of intense preparations for the athletes, some of them stretched out on the grass in the stadium. Many just relaxed as they watched fireworks light up the Tokyo sky.Paris is the venue for the next Olympics and French President Emmanuel Macron was filmed on the top floor of the Eiffel Tower reciting the newly updated Olympic slogan “higher, faster, stronger, together”.The evening concluded at the stadium in Tokyo with a final flurry of fireworks and the word “Arigato” – the Japanese word for thank you – lighting up the night sky.


Daily caseload tops 3,600

Another 3,684 Covid-19 cases were recorded today, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 2,798,917.Another 3,292 patients recovered, bringing total recoveries to 2,726,891.Meanwhile 192 are in the ICU, including 178 confirmed Covid-19 patients.A total of 91 are in need of respiratory assistance including 70 confirmed Covid-19 cases.Of the 3,684 cases reported today, 34 (0.9%) are in Category Three and above. The remaining 3,650 (99.1%) are in Category One and Two.


Facebook moves to block Taliban’s WhatsApp accounts

Facebook said Tuesday it was blocking WhatsApp accounts linked to the Taliban after the radical Islamic group seized control of Afghanistan and sought to use the messaging service to help it govern.“The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organisation under US law and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organization policies,” a Facebook spokesman told AFP.The Facebook move shut down a WhatsApp hotline the Taliban had set up to receive complaints about violence and looting, according to the Financial Times.A WhatsApp spokesman said in an email to AFP that the company is required to follow US sanctions.“This includes banning accounts that appear to represent themselves as official accounts of the Taliban. We’re seeking more information from relevant US authorities given the evolving situation in Afghanistan,” the company said.“This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them.”The news comes with social media platforms facing pressure to block accounts used by the Taliban since the offensive which led to the takeover of the war-ravaged country.Facebook said it was using “a dedicated team of Afghanistan experts, who are native Dari and Pashto speakers and have knowledge of local context,” to help guide policy.“Our teams are closely monitoring this situation as it evolves. Facebook does not make decisions about the recognised government in any particular country but instead respects the authority of the international community in making these determinations,” Facebook said.A Taliban spokesman meanwhile criticised Facebook for blocking “freedom of speech” in the country as a result of the crackdown by the US firm.At a news conference streamed online, the Taliban official responded to a question about freedom of expression by saying, “The question should be asked to those people who are claiming to be promoters of freedom of speech who do not allow publication of all information… the Facebook company, this question should be asked to them.”


Budget 2021, a good start but more can be done

In Perikatan Nasional’s inaugural budget, which is also the largest budget in Malaysian history with an allocation of RM322.5 billion (2020: RM314.7 billion) delivered in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, the government took into consideration the views of various stakeholders with not only sympathy but also empathy, to save lives and livelihoods by formulating the budget based on three main goals: the people’s well-being, the continuity of business, and economic resilience.Initiatives to address unemployment and underemploymentWith unemployment and underemployment becoming more evident among graduates, supported by our focus group discussion (FGD) findings, we proposed an extension of the hiring and training incentives announced in Penjana in order to correct the mismatch between supply and demand of talents.It is good to know that hiring incentives (PenjanaKerjaya) have been enhanced and that various more initiatives have been announced.Firstly, workers earning at least RM1,500 a month will have incentives raised from RM800 a month to 40% of their monthly salary up to RM4,000. An additional incentive of 20%, equivalent to 20% of workers’ monthly income, is also provided to employers to hire the disabled, long-term unemployed and retrenched workers, as well as an increased subsidy for training costs from RM4,000 to RM7,000.Starting next year, the government will also launch Skim Penjanaan Pekerjaan (JanaKerja) worth RM3.7 billion which will provide 500,000 new employment opportunities through various upskilling and reskilling programmes.An allocation of RM1 billion has also been provided for upskilling and reskilling programmes in year 2021 involving various government agencies.The introduction of Short-Term Employment Programme (MySTEP) in the public sector and GLCs beginning January 2021 is also a positive move to provide employment opportunities albeit on contractual basis.Lastly, specifically for youth who are part of the vulnerable groups, a higher incentive of RM1,000 will be given to private employers for apprenticeships for 50,000 new graduates.Increase social protection for vulnerable groupsSince the pandemic, evidence has shown that the incomes of B40 households have been below pre-pandemic levels due to retrenchments, pay cuts, and difficulties in resuming businesses. Their social protection status is also worrying as many have low knowledge about it or are affected by employers’ low concern about employee welfare.EMIR Research had proposed that the government increase the quantum of cash assistance given to households via BPN or Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH), and realise the suggestion of increasing the Social Welfare Department’s (JKM) monthly assistance for vulnerable groups to RM1,000.The coverage of cash transfers (Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat or BPR), ranging from RM350 and RM1,200 has also been expanded to some M40 households, as well as to singles aged below 21.We likewise welcome the government’s assistance to increase JKM’s monthly aid for vulnerable groups: non-working OKUs (from RM250 to RM300), the elderly, carers of OKUs, and chronic patients (from RM350 to RM500), disabled workers (from RM400 to RM450), B40 children aged seven to 18 (from RM100 to RM150 each, up to RM450 per family), and for B40 children aged six and below (RM200 each, up to RM1,000 per family).Perhaps what needs to be done alongside these incentives is to monitor the sufficiency of welfare aid on an annual basis to ensure that they are in line with the rising living costs that need to be borne by vulnerable households.Targeted EPF Account 1 withdrawalDue to the people’s concerns about low savings and emergency funds amid the economic crisis that has yet to subside, many have requested for withdrawals from EPF Account 1.Hence, EMIR Research proposed a temporary permission with a limit according to age group – a staggered withdrawal over six months for members aged 40 and above with total withdrawal not exceeding 20% of total savings, and a higher cap for those below 40 of 30% of total savings.It was delightful to see in the budget the government attempting to address the people’s financial anxiety by allowing those who have lost their jobs to withdraw RM500 a month for up to 12 months beginning next January.This initiative will be alongside existing initiatives such as i-Lestari and the reduction in monthly EPF contributions from 11% to 9%.Nonetheless, some proposals by EMIR Research were not fulfilled in the hoped-for manner and require enhancements for the sake of the people’s well-being.Extending blanket loan moratorium until end-2020EMIR Research proposed a three-month extension of the blanket loan moratorium until end-2020, given the prolonged economic uncertainty and mounting financial anxiety since the pandemic and the end of the first phase of the moratorium.But instead of a blanket moratorium, banks decided to enhance the targeted loan repayment assistance in order to assist borrowers in the B40 group who are BSH, now known as BPR, recipients, and micro entrepreneurs with loans of up to RM150,000, as well as M40 borrowers.Given that many people are still suffering from the heavy blow caused by the pandemic and the continuation of movement restrictions particularly evident for the hardest-hit sectors such as tourism, manufacturing and retail, financial fears remain.In our FGD findings for 3Q20, a consistent narrative was displayed about those in the B40 exhibiting signs of the most severe financial distress. The urban poor also require more assistance, as revealed in our poll findings.Fears are increasing that once the moratorium is lifted, it will lead to increased lay-offs, hence making it crucial for the blanket moratorium to be realised.Cash assistance for unprivileged university studentsLastly, not much assistance was announced for unprivileged university students. Prior to budget day, EMIR Research proposed that the government extend the coverage of BPN or BSH to include students during the movement control order period, perhaps with a particular focus on underprivileged households such as the B40 and part of the M40 groups.However, only a small share of students in B40 households are provided with monthly welfare assistance according to their age group – seven to 18 years old (from RM100 to RM150 each, up to RM450 per family).Based on our FGD findings, students find it extremely difficult to cover their living expenses due to the rising cost of living. This forces some of them to take on part-time jobs to survive while studying. Many of them are compelled to stay on campus away from their families because they find it hard to commit to online learning due to poor internet connectivity or a non-conducive environment at home.Therefore, a larger coverage of cash aid is needed to support students who have to experience this unfortunate situation, perhaps up to the age of 21.Margarita Peredaryenko and Sofea Azahar are part of the research team of independent think tank EMIR Research.The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.


Consumers body raps ‘toothless’ Mavcom over AirAsia ticket refunds

The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has been urged to take a firm stand regarding refunds for flight tickets cancelled since early 2020 due to movement restrictions and border closures brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) said the issue had dragged on for two years now with many customers still waiting for the low-cost airline to return their money.Fomca CEO Saravanan Thambirajah also described Mavcom as “toothless” for failing to act against AirAsia and instead allowing the company to ignore the rights of consumers.“This is wrong,” he said. “AirAsia should return its passengers’ money.”Speaking to MalaysiaNow, he said the problem was not with the existing laws and policies which he added were enough to protect the well-being of consumers.Rather, he said, the issue lay in the lack of enforcement on the part of Mavcom, the country’s regulator for economic and commercial matters related to civil aviation.He said many were unaware about consumer rights and depended on Mavcom to protect their rights in relation to flight matters.“The consumer code is very clear: in the event of a cancellation, the company has 30 days to return the customer’s money,” he said.“But Mavcom is not very strict about this, and many end up just waiting.”AirAsia shut down its flight operations during the movement control order implemented by the government as part of efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in mid-March of 2020.Many passengers had requested refunds for their tickets but two years later, a large number of them are still waiting.Those who spoke to MalaysiaNow told of their efforts to recover their money and their disappointment with Mavcom which they said had failed to protect their rights.On Nov 12 last year, AirAsia said in a statement that its RM33.65 billion debt settlement scheme for AirAsia X had been approved by 99% of its creditors through a vote at a meeting held that day.It said the proposed debt restructuring approved by the High Court would likely be completed in the first quarter of 2022.Upon agreeing to the proposal, it said, consumers would receive 0.5% of the total ticket price paid, as well as some of the profit earned from the financial years of 2023 to 2026.Creditors were also guaranteed to receive travel credit that could be used for flight tickets or goods and services provided by AirAsia X in the future, after the international borders reopened.But Saravanan said this was unfair as customers had made payments in full for tickets with some amounts reaching thousands of ringgit.He said AirAsia should return its customers’ money before getting court approval for its debt restructuring measures.“We understand that the company is facing financial pressure, but only returning 0.5% of the ticket price is extremely unfair,” he added.“If Mavcom is firm with AirAsia, customers might be able to get their money back before AirAsia X gets approval from the court.”When contacted by MalaysiaNow about the matter, Mavcom acknowledged communicating with a complainant – Shahril Amir Muhamad, whose story MalaysiaNow previously reported.However, it said since his repayment claim was part of AirAsia’s debt restructuring, it would continue to monitor the matter as it needed to comply with the legal process.“Mavcom remains committed to protecting the rights of consumers, and will continue discussions with AirAsia X regarding the matter until a refund is made,” it said.


Relaxed SOPs for the fully vaccinated to be announced after Eid

An announcement will be made after Hari Raya Aidiladha on the relaxation of SOPs for those who have completed both doses of Covid-19 vaccine, Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.He said the technical committee is still looking into the matter to determine the type of flexibility to be given to these people.“We are also studying which business sectors can be given relaxed restrictions. A detailed study is in progress,” he said at a press conference after the launch of Mindef Prihatin at Wisma Pertahanan.When asked about those who cannot be vaccinated due to health factors, Ismail said the matter would be referred to the health ministry.On proposals to raise the fine for factories found flouting the SOPs, Ismail said the rate is subject to amendments to the emergency ordinance.He said under the emergency ordinance, the government had earlier increased the RM1,000 compound under Act 342 to RM50,000.“The emergency will end on Aug 1 and we will reinstate the RM1,000 penalty,” he said.


Hundreds of homes damaged by freak storm in Ipoh

Hundreds of homes were damaged during a tornado-like freak storm in Kampung Tawas and Taman Tasek Damai in Ipoh yesterday evening.This has left most of the Chinese residents in Kampung Tawas in despair as they are due to celebrate Chinese New Year in just a day’s time.Teoh Boh Chee, who is in her 60s, said she was shocked when she suddenly heard the sound of strong winds blowing at about 6pm.“I was cooking at that time and saw with my own eyes the roof of my house being torn off and blown away by the wind.“I really don’t know what to do because Chinese New Year is only two days away… how are we going to celebrate it now?” she said when met by reporters last night.Trader Yong Chee Fong, 35, said he was thankful that the 10 customers and several workers who were in his eatery managed to escape when the roof collapsed during the storm.“I have been selling food here for the past 10 years but this is the first time such a bad storm has occurred, damaging all the equipment in my shop,” he said.Mita Devi, 36, said she saw the “tornado”, which lasted for about 20 minutes, and witnessed roofs being blown away.“I could only pray asking that our family be spared and I am thankful that our house is not too badly damaged,” she said.Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran, who visited the site, urged the victims involved to lodge a police report to facilitate his office and the state government in providing financial aid.A Perak fire and rescue department spokesman said they received a report on the incident at 6.40pm and quickly mobilised officers and firemen from the Ipoh station to the affected locations.He said while several trees were uprooted and houses damaged, no injury or deaths have been reported so far.


State of emergency proclaimed in Sarawak until February 2022

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has proclaimed a six-month emergency in Sarawak from Aug 2 to Feb 2, 2022, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, suspending any state election for that period.A government gazette dated July 30 said Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah decreed that the emergency was to suspend the state election in order to prevent any further increase in the spread of Covid-19 if polls are heldThe king also decreed that a grave emergency exists whereby the security, economic life and public order in the country are under threat by the pandemic.The gazette said that in accordance with Article 21(3) of the Sarawak constitution, the state legislative assembly should have been dissolved on June 7.As the ongoing nationwide emergency, proclaimed on Jan 11, will end on Aug 2, the Sarawak state election would have to be held within 60 days from Aug 2 in accordance with Article 21(4) of the Sarawak state constitution, it said.“Therefore, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, in an exercise of the powers conferred as aforesaid, proclaims that a grave state of emergency exists and that this proclamation shall extend throughout the state of Sarawak from Aug 2, 2021 to Feb 2, 2022,” the king said.The proclamation of emergency was issued at Istana Abdulaziz in Indera Mahkota, Kuantan, on July 29.The gazette said the proclamation of emergency will be laid before Parliament pursuant to Article 150(3) of the Federal Constitution.


Mosque in Pahang slapped with RM10,000 compound for breaching SOPs

A mosque in Pekan near Kuantan in Pahang was yesterday slapped with a RM10,000 compound for failing to comply with Covid-19 SOPs.State health director Bahari Che Awang Ngah said officers from the Pekan district health office issued the compound after finding that the mosque management had not registered the names of congregants as required.“The compound was issued so that other mosques can learn from it. Payment has been made by the mosque with a 50% discount given,” he said in a brief message to the media on WhatsApp today.Today, news went viral on social media that the chairman of the Sri Maulana Mosque Committee in Pekan was issued a compound fine of RM10,000 for allegedly failing to provide the MySejahtera QR Code and congregation registration book when health officers made an inspection of the mosque at 11am yesterday.The fine was to be settled within 14 days.


Israel minister walks back call for Palestinian town to be 'wiped out'

Israel's finance minister said Saturday he had chosen his words poorly when he called for a Palestinian town to be "wiped out" after two Israeli settlers were killed there.
The two young settlers were shot dead on Feb 26 in their car in Huwara, a northern town in the West Bank, sparking attacks by Israeli settlers on the Palestinian town.
"I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out," Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionism party and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, had said on Wednesday.
"It is possible that the word was wrong," Smotrich told local television on Saturday.
"I did not mean harm to innocents when I said that Huwara should be wiped out," he tweeted Saturday.
Smotrich's comments had drawn international condemnation, with the UN human rights chief Volker Turk denouncing them as "an unfathomable statement of incitement to violence and hostility".
Washington, a staunch ally of Israel, was even more blunt in its response to Smotrich's comments.
"They were irresponsible, they were repugnant, they were disgusting," US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Representatives from 19 countries – including France, Germany, Japan and the UK – visited Huwara on Saturday.
They "condemn in the strongest terms the heinous and violent acts committed by settlers," a joint statement said.
The fatal shooting came days after Israeli forces launched their deadliest West Bank raid in nearly 20 years, which left 11 Palestinians dead in the northern city of Nablus.


Rare monkeypox outbreaks detected in North America, Europe

Health authorities in North America and Europe have detected dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox since early May, sparking concern the disease endemic in parts of Africa is spreading.Canada was the latest country to report it was investigating more than a dozen suspected cases of monkeypox, after Spain and Portugal detected more than 40 possible and verified cases.Britain has confirmed nine cases since May 6, and the US verified its first on Wednesday, saying a man in the eastern state of Massachusetts had tested positive for the virus after visiting Canada.The illness, from which most people recover within several weeks and has only been fatal in rare cases, has infected thousands of people in parts of Central and Western Africa in recent years but is rare in Europe and North Africa.The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it was coordinating with UK and European health officials over the new outbreaks.“We really need to better understand the extent of monkeypox in endemic countries… to really understand how much is circulating and the risk that it poses for people who are living there, as well as the risk of exportation,” infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said at a WHO press conference on Tuesday on global health issues.The first case in Britain was someone who had travelled from Nigeria, though later cases were possibly through community transmission, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in a statement.“These latest cases, together with reports of cases in countries across Europe, confirms our initial concerns that there could be spread of monkeypox within our communities,” said UKHSA chief medical adviser Susan Hopkins.WHO said it was also investigating that many cases reported were people identifying as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.“We are seeing transmission among men having sex with men,” said WHO assistant director-general Soce Fall at the press conference.“This is new information we need to investigate properly to understand better the dynamic of local transmission in the UK and some other countries.”‘No risk to the public’The UKHSA noted that monkeypox has not previously been characterized as a sexually transmitted disease, underscoring that “it can be passed on by direct contact during sex.”“Anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can spread monkeypox through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, or shared items (such as clothing and bedding) that have been contaminated with fluids or sores of a person with monkeypox,” a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statement said Wednesday, adding that household disinfectants can kill the virus on surfaces.The illness often starts with flu-like symptoms such as fever, muscle ache and swollen lymph nodes before causing a chickenpox-like rash on the face and body, the US agency explained.The Massachusetts Department of Health, said that the case there – the first confirmed this year in the US – occurred in a patient who had recently travelled to Canada and “poses no risk to the public, and the individual is hospitalized and in good condition.”Health authorities in Canada’s Quebec province announced they were investigating at least 13 suspected cases of monkeypox, the public broadcaster CBC reported Wednesday.The cases were flagged to Montreal authorities after diagnoses were made in several clinics specializing in sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections.The Public Health Agency of Canada told CBC it had called on “public health authorities and laboratory partners across Canada to be alert for and investigate any potential cases.”According to the CDC, there were no reported cases of monkeypox for 40 years before it re-emerged in Nigeria in 2017.


China's deadly weather from heat to hailstorms take its toll

Torrential rain triggered flash floods in northern China killing one person and sweeping away two, state media reported on Monday, the latest victims of weeks of extreme weather that has brought misery to many and shows no sign of ending.
The heavy rain, heat and recent hail have been damaging infrastructure, crops and endangering livestock across the country. It has also been testing the patience of many of China's 1.4 billion people and raising fears of climate change.
Rain in the Inner Mongolia region caused flash floods on Sunday killing one person and leaving two missing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Since Friday, rescue workers in various parts of southern China, including the southwestern province of Guizhou, have been moving people and livestock to safety from floods and landslides, the CGTN state media outlet reported.
Intense rain lashed parts of Yunnan province over the weekend, sweeping cars down streets that looked like rivers, media reported. Mudslides in Sichuan province, also in the southwest, killed several people last week.
The rain-soaked Xiangxi area of southern Hunan province had suffered economic losses of about US$79 million (about RM369.2 million), with 95,399 people and 6,648.34 hectares of crops affected, its emergency bureau said in a statement.
Meanwhile, northern China remains in the grip of unusually hot weather that set in earlier than normal and over larger areas, state media reported, citing the National Climate Center.
The hot weather is expected to last for another 10 days, state media said, as exasperated people posted their frustration on social media.
"I'm sick of seeing the term hot temperature," one person posted.
"I can't even cry as my tears evaporate," said another.
For weeks, weather forecasters have also warned of strong convective weather, which often brings thunderstorms.
Hailstorms on Saturday in Heilongjiang province in the northeast shattered windows, according to videos posted on social media.
The extreme weather comes as John Kerry, the US climate envoy, is expected in China soon for talks.


Foreign workers looking for jobs end up trapped in middlemen debt instead

For 13 years now, Kadeer has worked on a vegetable farm in Cameron Highlands, Pahang.
Early this year, his oldest son Kazi followed in his footsteps and made the journey to Malaysia to work as well.
For father and son, the dream is simple: to help their family in Bangladesh live a better life and, hopefully, attain more education as well.
But their efforts to send money back home are hampered by the debts they owe to the middlemen who arranged their affairs in Malaysia.
Every month, Kadeer subtracts some RM200 from his salary to help his son pay off his debt of RM15,000.
The amount that workers like Kadeer and Kazi owe to middlemen depends on the package they choose.
"A more expensive package would land me a good job like a waiter at a restaurant in a shopping centre, or a cashier," Kazi told MalaysiaNow.
"A lower package on the other hand would involve heavy work as a labourer."
Kazi paid for the expensive package but, upon his arrival in Malaysia, was told that there were no "good" jobs available.
He was later assured that he would be sent to the capital city where he could begin working.
But after more than two months of waiting in a shared house in Puchong, Selangor, he decided to take matters into his own hands and leave.
"I told them I wanted to go work with my father, and they said I would cause losses for them as an agreement had already been made with an employer.
"But they didn't tell me who the employer was or when I could start work."
As a result, Kazi was told to pay the middlemen extra "damage" charges of RM5,000 which he would have to cough up in less than three years' time.
When contacted by MalaysiaNow, Kazi and Kadeer's employer said he had been disappointed to learn that three of his four workers were trapped in debt due to irresponsible parties.
"I don't even know if those middlemen are really agents or if they are only scammers," added the employer who introduced himself as Hock.
"All of my workers transfer money every month to a bank account in the name of a person, not a company.
"Only Kadeer was not swindled, but he has been here for a long time now," Hock said.
Most of the work on Hock's farm is managed by locals, with the fruits and vegetables sold at the nearby night market.
The foreign workers, meanwhile, are tasked with caring for the plants as well as the harvest work, for which they are paid on an hourly and daily basis.
"I have tried to find out who these middlemen are through my business contacts, but there are too many of them," Hock said.
"They are very hard to track down."
Hock's advice is for employers to conduct thorough background checks on prospective workers before taking them on, to make sure that they have not been cheated by middlemen.
"But even this is out of our control," he added. "Payments to such agents are made in Bangladesh, before the workers even come to Malaysia."
MalaysiaNow understands that Bangladeshi men recruited to work in the construction sector typically incur a debt equal to their annual income, inclusive of maximum overtime.
It usually takes these workers some 18 months to pay off their debt.
The amount does not include recruitment fees, which are an additional burden on foreign workers who often leave home in order to support their families.
Adrian Pereira, the executive director of the North-South Initiative, said according to the International Organization of Labor or ILO, workers should not pay money to agents. Instead, he said, payments should be made by employers looking for workers.
But due to policy weaknesses and a lack of monitoring by the authorities, many foreign workers become tied to debt for a period of years.
"So it's nothing out of the ordinary for foreign workers to be badly beaten and cheated and yet refuse to return to their home countries," Pereira said.
"They are tied to their debt. They cannot go back."
And eventually, they lose their documentation because they have overstayed.
Human Resources Minister M Saravanan previously reminded employers looking to employ foreign workers not to make payments through middlemen or third parties, to avoid being cheated.
Employers who use the services of private employment agencies must also ensure that the agency is registered and has a licence certified by the Department of Labour under the Private Employment Agencies Act 1981.


Beating misinformation in Bangladesh sex worker vaccine drive

Meherun Nisa walks along the narrow lanes of Bangladesh’s largest brothel every day, knocking on the doors of small shacks where sex workers live to persuade them to get vaccinated for Covid-19.Nisa feels protective of the 1,900 current and former sex workers – most aged between 15 to 40 – in the town of Daulatdia where she has lived for most of her life.The 50-year-old, a semi-retired sex worker, takes time to talk to each woman she meets, and then accompanies them to a nearby hospital where they receive their jabs.At least 38 whom Nisa spoke with have been inoculated since she joined the charity she volunteers at in February.“Most are scared of needles. Fake news spread about deaths after inoculation has created fear,” Nisa told AFP as she sat on her bed in a small, windowless room.“Sometimes I feel tired as many girls simply ignore me, believing instead the internet videos they watched… I tell them the vaccine is the best way to protect themselves and they are slowly responding.”The South Asian nation has opened up vaccinations for people aged 40 and above. But officials removed the age restrictions for Daulatdia recently.Officials say they plan to vaccinate everyone living in the brothel town.Asif Mahmud, the doctor leading the vaccination drive at Daulatdia, said nearly 150 sex workers have received their first shot of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.“People from every corner of the country come here,” Mahmud said of the town located near a busy ferry terminal and railway station in the west of the country.“If the sex workers here are not inoculated properly, Daulatdia could be a potential hub for the coronavirus.”‘Fewer clients, less money’Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim nations where prostitution is legal for women aged over 18, and at least 11 brothels – including Daulatdia – operate in the country of 168 million.Sex workers suffered in particular during last year’s months-long coronavirus lockdown.While local officials and police gave them rice and lentils, their inability to earn money meant they could not buy medicine or send cash to villages where their families live.The restrictions eased after five months but men are continuing to stay away from Daulatdia.Only a few clients, mostly lorry drivers using the ferry terminal, are turning up with many saying they can not pay as much as they used to.Jhumur Begum, who leads a sex worker association in Daulatdia, said the girls and women also had to grapple with clients preferring that they not wear masks.“When the girls from the brothel go out of this neighbourhood, they use masks,” she told AFP during a door-knocking session with Nisa.“But if they keep using masks inside the brothel then it will hamper their business.”Like many of the workers who live in Daulatdia, Nisa was a victim of sex trafficking.She first came to live in the town aged 13 and was sold to a madam, she said, after running away from an arranged marriage.Although human trafficking is illegal in Bangladesh, commercial sexual exploitation of children in the impoverished nation still takes place, including at Daulatdia.Volunteering for the charity gives Nisa a chance to give back to the girls and women living in the town who have supported her over many years.“I must do whatever I can for all my sisters and daughters,” she said.“Social distancing isn’t an option for us. Only vaccination can help us get back on our feet. If we take the vaccines, the clients won’t be scared.”


Sorry.


'You won't understand any of this', peeved Rafizi reacts to press questions on Invoke, 'millionaire' status

A visibly annoyed Rafizi Ramli today took aim at MalaysiaNow while lashing out at critics who posed questions about the PKR-linked Invoke Solutions, as the party deputy president was again grilled for details surrounding his asset declaration which saw him claiming a jump of RM17 million in personal wealth.
Rafizi, who had earlier said he was a self-made millionaire by the age of 30, was asked why, in 2017, he had appealed for public donations to defend himself in a defamation suit by the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC).
Rafizi then accused MalaysiaNow of being a mouthpiece for his critics, including his predecessor Mohamed Azmin Ali who defeated him in the contest for the deputy president's post in the 2018 PKR party polls.
"Oh no wonder, it's Azmin Ali's mouthpiece. Sorry, I'm not going to entertain. It's OK, whatever I have to address, I will address on (my) blog and so on, you can Google and take it from there," he said.
Rafizi, who called the press conference over what he said were instances of abuse in the award of a RM2 billion contract by the government, also accused MalaysiaNow of being "a mouthpiece for Latiff Ahmad", a reference to Bersatu's Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad who had been criticising the PKR leader over his latest asset declaration.
He then repeatedly mocked the reporter, suggesting that he was not well-versed in finance.
"That's why I said go back and try to understand finance, because I just explained it just now about share capital. You don't get it, do you? I have already answered your third question. Did you get it?
"Whatever cash I had has already been put into funding the general election in share capital," he said, in an apparent reference to his injection into Invoke, a data analytics company he set up to help PKR gauge public support in the run-up to the 2018 election.
Rafizi came under scrutiny following his declaration of assets in which he listed RM16.7 million in shares from Invoke as part of a total of RM19.67 million in assets owned.
Latiff, alongside former PKR MP Rashid Hasnon, took Rafizi to task for listing the RM16.7 million worth of shares as his own, and reminded him that none of the staff at Invoke had been allocated shares despite a promise he made five years ago.
Latiff had also questioned the worth of Invoke's shares when the company recorded losses with net assets at minus RM4.7 million as of December last year.
"However, in Rafizi's declaration as of Oct 31, 2022, this value had jumped to RM17 million," he added.
When asked for a response today, Rafizi lashed out at Latiff as "stupid", and repeated his accusation that the former deputy minister had created a shell company to receive RM200 million in government contracts.
"He made a company for RM2, RM10, RM100, that's all the money he put in, then he used his connections to get a project, so it's all easy money."
Rafizi also said he did not want to "waste time" responding to Latiff's incessant statements over his Invoke shares.
"If he continues to do this, he will actually look even more stupid," he added.
Rafizi said he had been injecting capital into Invoke.
"You cannot take it back. You start a company, you put your money. I put progressively over the years, by the time, I think 2017, I had put around RM1 million. This becomes share capital.
"Profit or loss is the result of the operating activities of the company. The two are different things."
Meanwhile, Rafizi also dismissed a question on why Invoke did not allocate shares to its employees whom he once said had "built the company", with a business tycoon and a fellow PKR MP instead made the biggest shareholders alongside him.
"It is amazing how people take interest in petty matters such as this. But I think the whole country is entertained. I'm fine, you know. It is good publicity for Invoke and this is also an opportunity to educate the public out there on how to run a company and raise investments."
Explaining further, he claimed that Invoke had received up to RM12 million in capital within a span of two years, resulting in his own share decreasing to 73%.
"So the discussion then, and the staff were fully aware (of) the discussion, was that if we were to issue shares for free to the staff, it would take a hit to profit and loss."
After a lengthy explanation on the method of raising investments and allocating shares, Rafizi concluded that most people present would "not understand any of these things".
"I don't think most of you guys understand any of it, either. So what I suggest, if you want to understand how stock options work and so on, is go back and read about restricted stock units (RSU), about share options, about how when you issue an RSU it will affect the profit and loss, and if it affects profit and loss, how that will affect valuation and how when you go to listing, how it will affect everything," he said.


Pope to brave rockets, Covid-19 in upcoming trip to cheer Iraq’s Christians

The war may be officially over, but violence still regularly echoes through the towns and cities of Iraq.Last Monday, rockets hit Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, which hosts government buildings and foreign embassies.However, barring last-minute changes, Pope Francis will embark on a whirlwind four-day trip to Iraq, starting on Friday, to show solidarity with the country’s devastated Christian community, Reuters is reporting.“He is itching to get back out on the road after such a long period,” Vatican sources said.  “He really feels the need to reach out to people on their home ground.”The March 5-8 trip will be his first outside Italy since November 2019, when he visited Thailand and Japan. Four trips planned for 2020 were cancelled because of the pandemic.Vatican officials and local church leaders say they are satisfied that Iraqi forces will be able to provide adequate security for the pope and his entourage.“The pope is deliberately coming to an area marked by war and violence to bring a message of peace,” the archbishop of Erbil told reporters on a recent conference call. “The authorities are taking the pope’s security very seriously, with 10,000 security personnel deployed for the purpose.”Another shadow hanging over the trip is the coronavirus pandemic, which, along with the heavy security measures, will drastically limit the number of people who will be able to see the pope in person.Officials banned most travel within provinces after more than 4,000 new Covid-19 cases were detected on Thursday, making a total of more than 600,000 cases so far.Francis, 84, has said it is important to make the trip even if most Iraqi Christians will see him only on television.“They will see the pope is there in their country,” he told Catholic News Service. “I am the pastor of people who are suffering.”Vatican and Iraqi church officials say they are doing everything possible to ensure that papal appearances do not turn out to be virus super-spreader events.The pope and his entourage have been vaccinated but most people who will attend papal events have not. The first batch of 50,000 vaccine doses is due to arrive in Iraq from China on Monday.A Vatican source said that for security reasons and so as not to draw crowds, the pope will use a closed car and not a popemobile on the streets.


Bulk of 3.1 million workers in 3 sectors can go to office ahead of WFH rule

Some 2.4 million workers in three key sectors in the five states where the conditional movement control order has been imposed will still be able to travel to work, the international trade and industry ministry (Miti) said, clarifying a statement on a new work-from-home (WFH) directive effective tomorrow.The ministry said there are a total of 3.1 million workers involved in the manufacturing, services and construction in Sabah, Labuan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya.Its data shows that 776,135 of them hold management and supervisory positions, roles which can be performed from home.But while this group must work from home beginning tomorrow in line with the decision by the National Security Council, it said 10% of them are allowed to come to office for a limited number of hours and days per week.The 10% allowed to come to work are those with managerial and supervisory roles, such as in accounting, finance, administration, legislation, planning and information technology.The ministry said they would be allowed to be present at their workplace for four hours, for three days a week to fulfil administrative requirements.Meanwhile, the bulk of the employees, some 2.4 million, will be allowed to go to office as usual.When contacted, a spokesman at the ministry gave MalaysiaNow an example of how the rule would work.He said if a company has 1,000 employees with 100 in managerial positions, only 90 employees will be under the compulsory WFH order.“But it all depends on the company to decide who will be allowed to work in the office,” he said.


Southeast Asia’s tech giants could ‘gobble up’ start-ups after going public

Southeast Asia’s tech giants could buy up start-ups using funds they gain when they go public, according to a managing partner of an early-stage venture capital firm.“They’re basically going to gobble up a number of start-ups,” Vinnie Lauria of Golden Gate Ventures told CNBC.He said likely buyers would include Grab, Sea as well as GoTo, the combined company if Indonesian behemoths Gojek and Tokopedia successfully merge.Tokopedia is an Indonesian technology company and unicorn (a privately held start-up company valued at over US$1 billion) along with ride-hailing company Gojek, travel service firm Traveloka, e-commerce company Bukalapak and fintech company OVO, all of whom would likely go on a buying spree.“Being listed on an exchange will give them the capital to grow, give them the valuation to do these sort of acquisitions – a mix of cash and equity,” he said.Lauria noted that is “exactly what played out in China 10 to 15 years ago,” with Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent buying up smaller companies.SoftBank-backed Grab announced earlier this month that it is set to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with Altimeter Group in a US$39.6 billion deal, the largest such merger to date.SPACs are shell companies that raise capital and merge with or acquire private firms. These deals provide companies an alternative route for going public, one that bypasses the traditional initial public offering process.Sea, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, held its IPO in 2017. GoTo’s merger has not been finalized, and both Gojek and Tokopedia are still private companies.Lauria said his firm estimates that by 2025 there will be “a few hundred acquisitions being led primarily by these decacorns”. The term “decacorn” refers to a start-up valued at more than US$10 billion.Lauria said Southeast Asia’s start-up ecosystem may also be reaching a stage where some investors want to cash out.″They won’t necessarily be pushing for the company to sell itself, but they’re gonna be looking for secondary buyers. They’re going to be very interested in a merger, M&A sort of deal,” he said.“The secondary markets – which have been very low in Southeast Asia – we expect very large pickup there,” he added.As for sectors with growth potential in Southeast Asia, Lauria said he still thinks fintech is “very undervalued”.“There’s huge opportunity ahead because Visa and MasterCard don’t have the same penetration in Southeast Asia, so alternative payments is going to be huge,” he explained.“Anything related to health tech will be big,” he said, and investors should “definitely” be looking at education tech.“In Southeast Asia it’s going to evolve very differently than the Western world, and we’re going to see some really interesting innovations here,” he said.


Anwar directs minor projects under JKR to be transferred to other departments

Minor infrastructure projects such as repairs of dilapidated schools currently under the Public Works Department's (JKR) supervision will be transferred to other departments or the district office, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
"I have discussed with Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi, that projects on repairs to dilapidated schools, clinics and toilets should no longer burden JKR, which has a huge responsibility.
"Transfer these jobs to other departments or the district office," he said in his speech at the June assembly for staff of the Prime Minister's Department in Putrajaya today.
JKR is responsible for implementing development projects and maintaining infrastructure, such as roads, buildings, airports, ports and jetties, for various ministries, departments, statutory bodies and state governments.
JKR is also tasked with supervising minor infrastructure and public amenity projects involving cleaning of drains, tarring of roads and repairs of federal projects.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said although major infrastructure projects involving highways and flood mitigation are important, the people also expect issues concerning school toilets, drains outside their houses and mosque fencing to be resolved.
"This includes extending assistance like STR (Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah), E-Kasih and the like; that is why I have directed that it be speeded up," he said, adding that he plans to meet with district officers next week regarding the implementation of minor infrastructure projects.
Anwar also wants all projects for the people which have been decided and announced to be implemented fast.
He said he had conveyed this matter to the Cabinet, the finance ministry and the chief secretary to the government.
The prime minister also reminded all heads of department to monitor the progress of projects announced by the government.
"My request is that this week all departments look at what has been approved, what has been implemented or not implemented, whether allocations have reached them and what has been assigned to other ministries," he added.


Make sure that balconies of high-rise buildings are safe for children

There is a video going around on social media showing a girl who appears to be seven to eight years old, who has climbed over the balcony railing onto the ledge of a high-rise building (presumably a flat) and proceeds to walk back and forth on the ledge. The girl is doing this on what seems to be the tenth or eleventh floor of the building. A short while later, she seems to hear a sound and hurries, with some difficulty, to climb over the railing to get back onto the balcony.This video is showing something that is very real and horrifying. One wrong move and the child could have plummeted to her death. What is worrying is that this probably happens more often than we realise.We need to accept the reality that there will always be families with small children living in high-rise buildings such as flats, because of financial constraints. We also need to understand that parents cannot be watching their children 24/7 and that children, being always curious about things, will not always listen and obey their parents about the things they have been told not to do.All a parent needs to do is to go to another room (not even leave the house) and their child could get into things that have been explicitly forbidden. For instance, we do not know the whole situation with the girl in the video, but the way she hurries to get over the railing and back onto the balcony indicates that she probably has been told to not climb the railing and knows she is doing something she is not supposed to do.So what is the solution then? In October 2018, then housing and local government minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said that the ministry would look into implementing new safety measures at high-rise buildings after several fatal tragedies involving children falling from the upper floors of buildings.According to Zuraida (as stated in news articles) the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 (UBBL 1984) has set that balcony railings (of tall buildings) cannot be less than one metre high. She also stated that she does not want houses to feel like prison (by making the railings too high) but that the ministry would relook the structure to see whether specifications need to be changed.The Consumers’ Association of Penang asks what the ministry has done about this since this statement was made in late 2018. We believe that to prevent any tragedies involving children and balconies from happening, safety measures must be integrated into the structure of the building itself. As we can see from the video, the girl can climb over the railing onto the balcony ledge, meaning the balconies of that building are not safe. The ministry needs to investigate this immediately and implement effective safety measures to protect the children living in high-rise buildings.Mohideen Abdul Kader is president of the Consumers Association of Penang.The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.


Israel re-opens restaurants, bars with 40% of country fully vaccinated

Israel took another step towards post-pandemic normalcy on Sunday, opening restaurants, bars and cafes to vaccinated “green pass” holders, with about 40% of the population fully inoculated against the coronavirus.“We are coming back to life,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, as he cut into a pastry at a Jerusalem cafe, in a video posted on Facebook.Israel, which launched its vaccination campaign in December, has given the recommended two jabs of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to more than 3.7 million of its roughly nine million people.Nearly five million have received one shot.The country launched its green pass programme last month, allowing controlled numbers of people with proof of full vaccination – or those who have recovered from Covid-19 – to enter gyms, pools and other facilities.But Sunday’s slate of re-openings has been highly anticipated, as it marks the restoration of services that touch the daily lives of many Israelis.Restaurants are now permitted to resume indoor dining at up to 75% capacity, with a cap of 100 people and with tables two metres apart.Green pass holders can also now have a drink at a bar – but cannot yet strike up a chat with a stranger sitting on the stool beside them, with rules requiring an empty seat between patrons, unless they live together.Eating and drinking on terraces does not require a green pass.‘Show solidarity’Large numbers of students, many of whom have been out of classrooms for months, will also start returning to school this week, while hotel event halls, sport venues and places of worship are re-opening to green pass holders, with capacity limits in place.Israelis stranded abroad amid a weeks-long airport closure will also be allowed to return home in increasing numbers this week, beginning with 1,000 arrivals permitted on Sunday.Shimon Chasin, who was dining with his wife and friends at the Jerusalem restaurant Azura, said the re-opening felt as good as the arrival of the warmer weather.“We hope this momentum will continue, we feel quite safe and comfortable to go out and start celebrating spring,” he said.To him, eating out was also a way of supporting the battered restaurant industry.“I think it’s right to come and show solidarity, now that we are allowed to go out of our homes and be freer,” he said.‘We’ll be done’Netanyahu, who faces a tough re-election battle in just over two weeks, has put Israel’s robust vaccination drive at the centre of his campaign.While many countries have struggled to secure vaccine supply, Netanyahu’s government has remained well-stocked thanks largely to an arrangement with Pfizer to share medical data on the product’s impact.The prime minister, in power since 2009, has said he wants Israel’s entire over-16 population vaccinated by the end of this month, hoping the economy will be almost fully re-opened in time for the Passover holiday, which begins on March 27.“Just have to get a few hundred thousand more people… especially the over 50s, and we’ll be done,” Netanyahu said at the Jerusalem cafe, gesturing as if he were jabbing his arm with a shot.While happy to finally re-open, some restaurateurs expressed fear that euphoria stemming from the vaccinations would lead to a new outbreak of the virus.“Our main worry is – without getting into politics – that there will be a fourth and a fifth lockdown, which will be very, very difficult for us to recover from,” said Asaf Serri, chef and co-owner of the Tzemah restaurant.“If we close the restaurant again, we will probably not be able to re-open,” he said.


Respect democratic process, transition of leadership, top cop says

All parties have been urged to respect the democratic process involving the transition of government leadership without creating public disharmony.
In a statement following the appointment of the new prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said strict action would be taken against irresponsible parties who create provocation or incite racial and religious issues.
"The public is also requested not to hold any political-related gatherings in the open in the near future for the sake of public safety and order," he said.
He also advised users and owners of social media accounts to maintain good manners and behaviour and refrain from uploading content that could cause anxiety in the community.
Acryl Sani also assured of the police's commitment to preserving the level of security and public order under the administration of the Pakatan Harapan chairman. "The police will remain committed to shouldering the responsibility of maintaining national security and upholding the rule of law for the well-being of the people and the country," he said.
Acryl Sani also congratulated the Tambun MP for his appointment as the 10th prime minister after the consent of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.


Organisers of RTM buka puasa event deny breaching SOPs

The organisers of a buka puasa event for Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) have denied breaching Covid-19 SOPs after pictures of workers failing to observe physical distancing and not wearing face masks while preparing for the function were circulated on social media.Md Shahri Saripan, deputy director of RTM’s Berita TV, also denied that they had brought in RTM staff from Johor to help prepare for the programme held at Angkasapuri in Kuala Lumpur today.“We wore face masks and frequently sanitised our hands,” he told MalaysiaNow.“We cooked only for our own staff, to prepare for the breaking of fast for those who work here.”MalaysiaNow’s efforts to reach broadcasting director-general Ruzain Idris for comment have so far been unsuccessful.Yesterday, a Facebook user had said in a post that RTM staff in Johor were brought to Kuala Lumpur to help with the programme today.The post was accompanied by a picture of RTM staff gathering closer than the recommended distance of one metre and not wearing their face masks correctly.Shahri said the programme involved fewer than 40 staff and was held to distribute bubur lambuk to those working until the time to break fast.


US sets new record again with nearly 290,000 Covid cases in 24 hours

The US hit a new record for coronavirus cases Friday, notching nearly 290,000 in a span of 24 hours, according to a real-time tally by Johns Hopkins University.The country, the hardest-hit in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, also recorded 3,676 virus deaths in the same day, the Baltimore-based university said.The day before, the US had recorded a record of nearly 4,000 deaths in 24 hours.Some 131,000 people are currently hospitalised in the US for Covid-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project.The world’s largest economy has recorded 21.8 million coronavirus cases and more than 368,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.The country, where health restrictions vary drastically between localities, is ultimately counting on a massive vaccination campaign begun in mid-December to bring the health crisis to an end.But the effort is running behind, with just under six million people having received the first of two injections in the country of 330 million.


India rescuers hunt for survivors as monsoon toll hits 76

Rescuers in India combed through mud and debris Saturday in a desperate search for survivors as the death toll from heavy monsoon rains climbed to 76, with nearly 90,000 others evacuated.Torrential downpours have lashed India’s western coast in recent days, leaving dozens missing near the commercial capital Mumbai and precipitating the worst floods in decades in the resort state of Goa.“Rainfall in various parts of the state often coinciding with high tides and also discharge from dams led to various regions… getting inundated,” the Maharashtra state government said in a press release.More than half of the deaths occurred in hard-hit Raigad, south of Mumbai, where landslides buried dozens of houses, killing 47 and with another 53 feared trapped under layers of mud.The downpour caused the Savitri river to burst its banks, leaving the town of Mahad completely inaccessible by road, and prompting terrified residents to climb onto rooftops and upper floors to escape swelling waters.National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams could not land their choppers in the area due to bad weather on Friday but were eventually able to rescue locals as waters began to recede.Goa suffered its worst floods in decades, according to the state’s chief minister Pramod Sawant, who said the monsoons had caused “widespread damage” in the region but no casualties.Rescue teams and military units worked to evacuate people stranded by flooding but their operations were hampered by landslides blocking roads, including the main highway between Mumbai and Goa.Water levels rose to nearly 6m on Thursday in areas of Chiplun, 250km south of Mumbai, after 24 hours of uninterrupted rain submerged roads and homes.“Contact from the town was completely cut off due to land routes being inundated,” the Maharashtra government said.Seven naval rescue teams equipped with rubber boats, life jackets and lifebuoys were sent to the affected areas, along with specialist divers and a helicopter to airlift marooned residents.Nearly 90,000 people have been evacuated in Maharashtra so far.Red alertsIndia’s weather bureau has issued red alerts for several regions in the state and forecasts heavy rainfall to continue for the next few days.Flooding and landslides are common during India’s treacherous monsoon season, which also often sees poorly constructed buildings and walls buckling after days of non-stop rain.Four people died before dawn on Friday when a building collapsed in a Mumbai slum, authorities said.The incident came less than a week after at least 34 people lost their lives when several homes were crushed by a collapsed wall and a landslide in the city.Rainwater also inundated a water purification complex in Mumbai last weekend, disrupting supply “in most of the parts” of the megacity of 20 million people, civic authorities said.Climate change is making India’s monsoons stronger, according to a Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research report published in April.It warned of potentially severe consequences for food, farming and the economy affecting nearly a fifth of the world’s population.


5.5% of children fully jabbed, 38.6% given first dose

A total of 195,865 children or 5.5% of those aged five to 11 had completed their vaccination under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) as of yesterday.According to the CovidNow website, a total of 1,371,120 children or 38.6% have received at least one dose of vaccine.For adolescents aged 12 to 17, a total of 2,863,771 or 92% have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 while 2,965,625 or 95.3% have received at least one dose of vaccine.As for the adult population, a total of 15,942,215 individuals or 67.8% have received a Covid-19 booster dose while 22,958,810 or 97.6% have been fully vaccinated.A total of 23,235,580 or 98.8% have received at least one dose of vaccine.A total of 45,550 vaccine doses were administered yesterday, with 32,773 as second doses, 8,283 as booster shots and 4,494 first jabs.This brings the cumulative number of vaccine shots given under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) to 69,320,354.