Wisma Putra in frantic but ‘tactful’ appeal for Singapore to spare Nagaenthran’s life

The Malaysian foreign ministry is doubling diplomatic efforts with Singapore in the hope that the city-state will spare the life of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam whose pending execution has attracted international attention.A diplomatic source said there has been “intense communication” in recent days between officials in Putrajaya and their counterparts in Singapore, on top of a letter from Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah to his Singapore counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan.Wisma Putra has also been briefing senior leaders in both countries as part of efforts to explain its stance on Nagaenthran’s case.“Talks and phone calls have marked the last few days, especially after it became apparent that Nagaenthran was on the path to recovery from Covid-19,” said the source.This is not the first time Wisma Putra has found itself involved in an out-of-court appeal on behalf of citizens facing the death penalty in Singapore, where dozens of Malaysians still on death row are hoping for their sentences to be commuted or for a presidential pardon.Rights groups said many of these convicts are from poor families and were tricked into becoming drug mules with promises of lucrative payments.Nagaenthran’s case was pushed into the international spotlight after details emerged about his mental state.A diagnosis of his mental capability presented during his trial found that Nagaenthran has an IQ of 69 – below the threshold of 70 for declaring a person as intellectually disabled.International treaties, whose signatories include Singapore, prohibit capital punishment for mentally disabled persons.Nagaenthran was nonetheless sentenced to death, with his execution due on Nov 10 after losing several appeals.But in a twist of fate, he tested positive for Covid-19 just as his lawyers were rushing to beat a tight deadline for a stay of execution.A new hearing for what will be his final appeal in Singapore courts has been set on Nov 30.The source said the appeals to Singapore had not been easy, adding that Wisma Putra has had to be “tactful” in conveying its requests to plead for the life of its citizen.“The main objective is to ensure Nagaenthran is spared from the gallows.“So we have to tread carefully around sensitivities involved,” the source said, adding that so far, officials have been careful not to give the impression that Malaysia is questioning or intefering in Singapore’s judiciary.Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob are among those who have personally pleaded for Nagaenthran’s life.Flamboyant British billionaire Richard Branson also penned a personal appeal to Singapore president Halimah Yacob, saying Nagaenthran’s case was just one of many stories of poor people forced to courier drugs while the real culprits got away.“Year after year, people face the gallows, the firing squad, or – in Duterte’s Philippines – unaccountable death squads for alleged drug-related crimes. Yet, the global drug trade continues to grow, and illicit drugs of all types are more readily available around the world than at any other point in history,” wrote Branson.


PKR looking to win 7 seats including Lendu in Melaka polls

PKR is aiming to win seven of the 11 seats it is contesting in the Melaka state election, its Melaka chairman Halim Bachik says.Halim said the party is confident of capturing four more seats to add to the Rembia, Kelebang and Machap Jaya constituencies it won in the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018.“The four additional seats are Paya Rumput, Asahan, Rim and Lendu,” he said at an online press conference today.In GE14, Pakatan Harapan (PH) formed the state government after winning 15 seats, with DAP contributing eight, PKR three, Amanah two, and Bersatu two.In this election on Nov 20, PH is contesting in all 28 seats, with PKR running in 11, Amanah nine and DAP eight.Bersatu is now part of Perikatan Nasional (PN) which, like Barisan Nasional (BN) and PH, is also contesting in all 28 seats.Halim said although Lendu was a BN stronghold represented by incumbent Sulaiman Md Ali, the caretaker chief minister, PKR was confident that its young candidate could win as he could bring change.“Although it is a Malay-majority seat, GE13 and GE14 showed that even former chief ministers failed to successfully defend their seats despite being incumbents,” he added.Lendu will see a three-cornered fight involving Sulaiman, Abdullah Mahadi of PN and Mohamad Asri Ibrahim of PH.In GE14, Sulaiman won the seat by a majority of 627 votes.


Saifuddin slammed after remarks on education, income of PN supporters

Bukit Gantang MP Syed Abu Hussin Syed Abdul Fasal today said he had a message for PKR's Saifuddin Nasution Ismail from the youth in his constituency following the latter's statement on their level of education and income.
Saifuddin, the Pakatan Harapan chief secretary, said yesterday that the youth who voted for Perikatan Nasional (PN) at last year's general election lacked higher education and a steady income.
Syed Abu Hussin said the youth in Bukit Gantang had said in return that Saifuddin was not qualified to be the home minister after losing his seat in the Nov 19, 2022 polls.
""The home minister made light of their education level and level of income," he said.
"They told me to say in Parliament that this minister is also not qualified to be a minister."
Saifuddin made the remarks in a speech at the Perak PH convention for 2023 in Sungai Petani on Feb 25.
Saifuddin was one of several PKR leaders who failed to defend their seats at the last general election.
He was appointed as a senator after losing his Kulim Bandar Baharu seat, as well as home minister under the coalition government led by PH and Barisan Nasional.


I have proof I was in the dark over direct deals, Zuraida says

Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin today said she had letters proving that she was not involved in the projects awarded to her ministry through direct negotiation under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.She said she had compiled these documents and would hand them over to the investigating authorities if necessary.“If the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) or any other authorities want to investigate, I have no problem and am ready,” she told reporters after an event in Kuala Lumpur.On Aug 24, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz told the Dewan Rakyat that the PH government had approved 101 projects and procurements worth RM6.61 billion via direct negotiation during its 22-month tenure.Zuraida, who also held the housing and local government portfolio in the PH Cabinet, said she was not involved in any direct deals and that two such projects under the ministry were awarded without her knowledge.Last Saturday, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng challenged Zuraida to publicly disclose the letters related to one of the two projects approved via direct negotiation under the PH government.Lim claimed that the ministry had applied to the finance ministry for the Taman Beringin solid waste project worth RM170.3 million.


945 youth declared bankrupt from January to July

A total of 945 youth aged 18 to 35 were declared bankrupt between January and July this year, says Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shabudin Yahaya.According to the Malaysian Insolvency Department (Mdl), he said, more than 100 bankruptcy cases were recorded among those aged 31 to 35.“To help reduce cases of bankruptcy, Mdl has implemented various programmes such as community programmes and Mdl Prihatin (Mdl cares) to create public awareness of the bankruptcy issue.“It is to convey information, provide education and create awareness, especially to youths so that the issue can be addressed at an early stage. The talks and briefings involve public and private agencies, as well as students of institutions of higher learning.”Shabudin was replying in the Dewan Negara to Paul Igai, who asked about the number of youths listed as bankrupt which might be due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the government’s efforts to help them.Shabudin said the government had also held awareness programmes through the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency.“These programmes can also help youths to be prudent in their spending and in financial management to avoid bankruptcy due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.


Sorry.


EU squabbles over 10 million doses of Pfizer vaccine

EU nations fell out Thursday over how to divide up 10 million extra doses of coronavirus vaccine with Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic refusing to help five struggling countries.A deal was agreed late in the day to distribute nearly three million doses to “those most in need”, said Portugal, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.But Austria, Slovenia and the Czechs had insisted on receiving their full quota of vaccines under the general shareout system according to population, said a statement from the presidency.A main group of 19 states including Germany, France, Italy and Spain had decided to show solidarity with Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia.The five considered most in need will now get their full quota of 2,854,654 doses.The large group will share out 6.66 million vaccines.Two days of talks between ambassadors had failed to persuade Austria, Slovenia and the Czechs to help out.In the end, Prague lost 143,000 after refusing a compromise, a European diplomat said.Chancellor Sebastian Kurz boasted he had grabbed 199,000 doses for Austria instead of the 139,000 on offer.“Chancellor Kurz has shown a lack of solidarity and abandoned” the five, the diplomat said.“He’s happy to write letters and drop his allies,” he added.Slovenia takes over the EU presidency on July 1 and the behaviour of its prime minister “sends a bad signal”, one ambassador said.The 10 million doses are an advance delivery from BioNTech-Pfizer of an order of 100 million doses scheduled for the third quarter of the year.With a stuttering start to the EU’s vaccination campaign that has seen the bloc lag behind the US, Britain and Israel, the European Commission on Wednesday said the bloc will have received a total of 107 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of this week.The total was revised down dramatically after the Anglo-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca slashed the number it was providing.Deliveries are expected to pick up considerably in the second quarter of the year, with the commission saying it should receive at least 300 million doses by the end of June.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen insists the 27 nations remain on course to meet a target to inoculate 70% of adults “by the end of summer”.Austria, which had led calls for a correction to the shareout mechanism over fears of shortfalls, on Tuesday said it had become the latest EU country to open talks with Russia about securing deliveries of its Sputnik V vaccine.


International legal experts assist Ukraine in sexual violence investigation

An international team of legal advisers has been working with local prosecutors in Ukraine's recaptured city of Kherson in recent days as they began gathering evidence of alleged sexual crimes by Russian forces as part of a full-scale investigation.
The visit by a team from Global Rights Compliance, an international legal practice headquartered in The Hague, has not previously been reported.
Their efforts are part of a broader international effort to support overwhelmed Ukrainian authorities as they seek to hold Russians accountable for crimes they allegedly committed during the conflict, now nearly 10 months old.
Accusations surfaced soon after Russia's Feb 24 invasion of rape and other abuses across the country, according to accounts Reuters gathered and the UN investigative body.
Moscow, which says it is conducting a "special military operation" in Ukraine, has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians, and the Kremlin denies allegations of sexual violence by the Russian military in Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to questions for this article.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Dec 9 that a UN Human Rights report about Russian attacks on civilians was based on "rumours and gossip", and Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of brutal reprisals against civilians who cooperated with Russian forces.
The scale of the Ukrainian prosecution's task is daunting, with the number of alleged international crimes running into tens of thousands and as war in the east and south of the country makes already complex work more difficult and dangerous.
"We've come down here for a three-day mission to support the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG), and specifically the team investigating conflict-related sexual violence," said Julian Elderfield, one of the legal advisers who took part in the Kherson visit that ran from Thursday to Saturday.
"(It's about) asking the right questions, pursuing unique or different lines of investigation that might otherwise not have been pursued by local investigators," he told Reuters in Kherson on Saturday.
Kherson was occupied by Russian forces for months before Ukrainian troops recaptured it in early November, in one of Moscow's biggest military defeats of the war so far.
Some residents who remained during the occupation have described being detained and tortured, repeating allegations made by Ukrainians across territory that has been reclaimed by local forces in recent months.
More than 50,000 alleged incidents of international crimes have been reported by Ukraine's prosecutor general since Russia's full-scale invasion.
They include hundreds of potential cases of alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes of aggression, some of which could be escalated to overseas tribunals like the International Criminal Court (ICC) if they are deemed sufficiently serious.
In June, Ukraine held a preliminary hearing in its first trial of a Russian soldier charged with raping a Ukrainian woman during Russia's invasion. The suspect was not in Ukrainian custody and was tried in absentia.
Collecting clues
Elderfield and Olha Kotlyarska, a legal adviser also working for Global Rights Compliance, together make up the mobile justice team supporting the Ukrainian prosecutors' fact-finding mission in Kherson.
They joined Ukrainian prosecutors visiting hospitals, a local aid distribution centre and other sites to pursue lines of investigation and interview victims of alleged abuses, including sexual violence.
Ukraine's special war crimes unit for conflict-related sexual violence is also collecting video and photographic evidence that could help them identify perpetrators for future prosecutions.
Whether Russian commanding officers are to blame, or subordinates who carry out their orders, is one of many thorny issues to be resolved in the future, local investigators said.
Anna Sosonska, deputy head of Ukraine's eight-member war crimes unit for sexual violence, told Reuters she would supervise the investigation and look into the possible role of Russian political and military leaders in any crimes.
"Everywhere where Russian soldiers were based they committed war crimes, they committed sexual violence and they tortured, they murdered," she said.
"Аccording to the results of this trip, we discovered the facts of conflict-related sexual violence and the information has been entered into the unified register of pre-trial investigations."
Rape can constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions that establish international legal standards for conduct of armed conflicts. Widespread or systematic sexual violence could amount to crimes against humanity, generally seen as more serious, legal specialists said.
Serhii Doroshyn, deputy head of the national police's Investigation Department in Crimea and Sevastopol, told Reuters the unit had questioned about 70 people so far. Many of them said they had been held at up to 10 detention centres in the Kherson region during Russia's occupation.
He added that more than half said they had been subjected to various forms of sexual violence. There are likely to be many more witnesses, he added.
"We find someone, conduct investigative actions, question, find information and then look for other people... We conduct them despite the situation, despite the shelling," he said.
Doroshyn added that Kherson differed from the capital Kyiv, where investigators had been most active until now, because it had been occupied by Russian forces for so long.
"There were well-established temporary detention facilities, the so-called 'torture chambers', where up to 30-40 people could be brought daily," he said.
"That is, massive work was carried out here. Of course, they did not observe any laws, conventions and statutes."
Unique challenges
Elderfield said sexual violence was not always given the prominence it should have in national and international investigations. Social stigma and shame contributed to under-reporting, he added.
"So a specialised team can really help to bring to light the information about these crimes and evidence about these crimes, so they're given the priority that they deserve."
A further challenge lies in the fast-shifting dynamics of the war.
Teams like his are likely to have to move in and out of contested areas quickly, and the sound of distant explosions while Reuters reporters accompanied investigators in Kherson last week were a reminder of the ongoing fighting.
Witnesses have fled the area and need to be found, and people may also be nervous about speaking out when it is unclear whether Ukrainian troops will be able to hold the territory they have recaptured for long.
"The proximity of the ongoing conflict has really impacted the Ukrainian prosecution office's investigation in Kherson," Elderfield said.


6,320 new cases take total past 500,000 mark

Another 6,320 Covid-19 cases were recorded today, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 505,115.Selangor recorded 1,647 cases, Sarawak 749, Kuala Lumpur 654, Kelantan 613, Johor 477, Negeri Sembilan 396, Penang 359, Kedah 301, Perak 276, Pahang 227, Sabah 189, Terengganu 185 and Melaka 175.Labuan recorded 36 cases and Perlis and Putrajaya 18 each.Active cases stand at 53,682 with 652 in the ICU and 370 in need of respiratory assistance.Another 4,694 patients were discharged, bringing total recoveries to 449,234.However, 50 more deaths were reported, pushing the virus toll to 2,199.


Salman Rushdie, novelist who drew death threats, on ventilator after New York stabbing

Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born novelist who spent years in hiding after Iran urged Muslims to kill him because of his writing, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on Friday and airlifted to a hospital, police said.
After hours of surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to speak on Friday evening after an attack condemned by writers and politicians around the world as an assault on the freedom of expression.
"The news is not good," Andrew Wylie, his book agent, wrote in an email. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged."
Rushdie, 75, was being introduced to give a talk to an audience of hundreds on artistic freedom at western New York's Chautauqua Institution when a man rushed to the stage and lunged at the novelist, who has lived with a bounty on his head since the late 1980s.
Stunned attendees helped wrest the man from Rushdie, who had fallen to the floor. A New York state police trooper providing security at the event arrested the attacker. Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, who bought a pass to the event.
"A man jumped up on the stage from I don't know where and started what looked like beating him on the chest, repeated fist strokes into his chest and neck," said Bradley Fisher, who was in the audience. "People were screaming and crying out and gasping."
A doctor in the audience helped tend to Rushdie while emergency services arrived, police said. Henry Reese, the event's moderator, suffered a minor head injury. Police said they were working with federal investigators to determine a motive. They did not describe the weapon used.
Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in Bombay, now Mumbai, before moving to the UK, has long faced death threats for his fourth novel, "The Satanic Verses." Some Muslims said the book contained blasphemous passages. It was banned in many countries with large Muslim populations upon its 1988 publication.
A few months later, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, pronounced a fatwa, or religious edict, calling upon Muslims to kill the novelist and anyone involved in the book's publication for blasphemy.
Rushdie, who called his novel "pretty mild," went into hiding for nearly a decade. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the novel, was murdered in 1991. The Iranian government said in 1998 it would no longer back the fatwa, and Rushdie has lived relatively openly in recent years.
Iranian organizations, some affiliated with the government, have raised a bounty worth millions of dollars for Rushdie's murder. And Khomeini's successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said as recently as 2019 that the fatwa was "irrevocable."
Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency and other news outlets donated money in 2016 to increase the bounty by US$600,000. Fars called Rushdie an apostate who "insulted the prophet" in its report on Friday's attack.
Rushdie published a memoir in 2012 about his cloistered, secretive life under the fatwa called "Joseph Anton," the pseudonym he used while in British police protection. His second novel, "Midnight's Children," won the Booker Prize. His new novel "Victory City" is due to be published in February.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was appalled that Rushdie was "stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend."
Rushdie was at the institution in western New York for a discussion about the US giving asylum to artists in exile and "as a home for freedom of creative expression," according to the institution's website.
There were no obvious security checks at the Chautauqua Institution, a landmark founded in the 19th century in the small lakeside town of the same name; staff simply checked people's passes for admission, attendees said.
"I felt like we needed to have more protection there because Salman Rushdie is not a usual writer," said Anour Rahmani, an Algerian writer and human rights activist who was in the audience. "He's a writer with a fatwa against him."
Michael Hill, the institution's president, said at a news conference they had a practice of working with state and local police to provide event security. He vowed the summer's programme would soon continue.
"Our whole purpose is to help people bridge what has been too divisive of a world," Hill said. "The worst thing Chautauqua could do is back away from its mission in light of this tragedy, and I don't think Rushdie would want that either."
Rushdie became a US citizen in 2016 and lives in New York City.
A self-described lapsed Muslim and "hard-line atheist," he has been a fierce critic of religion across the spectrum and outspoken about oppression in his native India, including under the Hindu-nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PEN America, an advocacy group for freedom of expression of which Rushdie is a former president, said it was "reeling from shock and horror" at what it called an unprecedented attack on a writer in the US.
"Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered," Suzanne Nossel, PEN's chief executive, said in the statement. Earlier in the morning, Rushdie had emailed her to help with relocating Ukrainian writers seeking refuge, she said.


Woman falls from car window on to motorway while videoing

A woman fell out of a moving car on the M25 motorway south of London while attempting to film a Snapchat video in the early hours of Sept 19.Police officers at the scene said the unnamed woman was dangling out of the car window in an attempt to capture a shot.They said the woman, who miraculously avoided serious harm or death, was treated for minor injuries at the scene by paramedics.No arrests were made, according to multiple media sources.“No one expects to be dodging human bodies on a motorway, and an emergency stop may have caused a serious pile-up and loss of life,” a concerned citizen wrote on Twitter.“Absolutely thoughtless. No concern for others or the emergency services,” another posted.Artistic reasons notwithstanding, in the quest for the perfect video shot, it is generally considered safer to stay inside a moving car.It has not been reported if the woman was filming the traffic, the scenery or taking a selfie.CNN reports that some 259 people worldwide died while taking selfies between 2011 and 2017, according to a study published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.Researchers found that the most selfie deaths occurred in India, followed by Russia, the US and Pakistan. Most of the victims were men and under the age of 30.Last year, four members of the same family drowned at a dam in India after slipping into the water while trying to take a selfie.


Indonesian cops step up Easter security at churches after terror attacks

Indonesian police said on Thursday that they will be increasing security at churches across the country ahead of the Easter weekend, after two recent terror attacks, CNA reports.A Catholic church in the city of Makassar, South Sulawesi province, was hit by suicide bombers last Sunday. Twenty people were injured in the blast, four of whom are still hospitalised.Then on Wednesday, a 25-year-old woman exchanged fire with police inside the National Police headquarters in Jakarta. She fired six shots at police officers before being shot dead.President Joko Widodo on Thursday condemned the two acts of terrorism, saying, “I have instructed national police chief, military chief and state intelligence agency chief to increase vigilance. There is no place for terrorism in our motherland.”National police spokesman Rusdi Hartono told reporters police will search churches for bombs and other suspicious items before services.“Police will also be deployed to guard church entrances and check people’s belongings,” he said, adding that police are reviewing their own security procedures after the Jakarta incident.Suspected gunwoman Zaikah Aini, described as “a lone wolf” who believed in Islamic State (IS) ideology, is thought to have entered the police compound through a pedestrian gate, claiming that she was delivering documents. An internal investigation is underway to see if officers manning the gate had searched her properly.Hartono said, “She was able to sneak a gun into the police headquarters, so we are auditing our security procedures. If there are flaws, we will make improvements nationwide.”Although several police outposts and regional offices have been the target of terror attacks, this was the first time the national headquarters has been hit.Police said prior to the attack she posted an image of the IS flag on her Instagram account. She had also messaged her family to say goodbye over WhatsApp.Neighbours described the college dropout, who was reportedly buried in a private funeral on Thursday, as a quiet woman who rarely left her house.“She was very different from her parents who are very friendly and sociable,” a neighbour told Detik news portal.


South Africa’s last apartheid president FW de Klerk dies

South Africa’s last white president FW de Klerk died Thursday at 85, with a legacy of helping steer the nation to democracy while never fully owning up to the horrors of the apartheid past.He died at home early Thursday after a battle with cancer, his foundation said in a statement.De Klerk freed Nelson Mandela from prison, unbanned political parties, and later shared a Nobel Peace Prize with the anti-apartheid icon.Yet he never found a space in the democratic South Africa, and became seen as an apologist for the torture and killings committed by the segregationist regime.His testimony had been demanded in several current cases seeking answers over past atrocities.‘Big but uneven legacy’“De Klerk’s legacy is a big one,” the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a statement. “It is also an uneven one, something South Africans are called to reckon with in this moment.”President Cyril Ramaphosa noted that De Klerk “played a vital role in our transition to democracy in the 1990s, which originated from his first meeting in 1989 with president Nelson Mandela who was a political prisoner at that stage.“He took the courageous decision to unban political parties, release political prisoners and enter into negotiations with the liberation movement amid severe pressure to the contrary from many in his political constituency,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.The office of one of the harshest critics of apartheid, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, said “the former president occupied an historic but difficult space in South Africa.”De Klerk’s appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which uncovered the atrocities of the white-minority regime, met with Tutu’s chagrin.At the time, Tutu expressed “disappointment that the former president had not made a more wholesome apology on behalf of the National Party to the nation for the evils of apartheid,” his foundation said.Dancing emojisJulius Malema, the 40-year-old leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, didn’t hide his feelings. “Thank you God”, he tweeted, followed by five dancing emojis, echoing the sentiments of many younger South Africans on social media.But opposition Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said “rather than dividing our country, may his passing and his memory make us even more determined to work towards a united South Africa.”He said De Klerk’s contribution to South Africa’s transition to democracy “cannot be overstated” while his predecessor Tony Leon likened De Klerk to Mikhail Gorbachev.Had he “not relinquished power in 1994, likely SA would be Syria or Venezuela today,” Leon tweeted.De Klerk sparked fury last year when he denied that apartheid was a crime against humanity, despite the UN declaring it such, in an interview with the national broadcaster SABC.“The idea that apartheid was a crime against humanity was and remains an agitprop project initiated by the Soviets… to stigmatise white South Africans,” he said.Ramaphosa reacted angrily, telling lawmakers: “Apartheid is a crime against humanity. I would even go on to say that to deny this in my view is treasonous.”De Klerk later apologised and retracted the controversial statement.Born in Johannesburg into a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch colonisers, his father was an apartheid senator who served briefly as interim president.After studying law, De Klerk was elected to parliament as a member of the National Party that instituted apartheid.De Klerk held several ministerial positions before he became president in 1989, a position he held until he handed over the reins to Mandela after the first democratic elections in 1994.De Klerk later said freeing Mandela had “prevented a catastrophe”.His funeral dates are yet to be announced.He is survived by his wife Elita, children Jan and Susan, and grandchildren.


Mother and son shot dead by off-duty cop in row over noise in Philippines

The family of a woman and her son shot dead by an off-duty policeman in the Philippines called for justice on Tuesday at their funeral.Video of the incident in Tarlac province, north of Manila, went viral on social media, causing widespread outrage.Sonya Gregorio, 52, and her 25-year-old son Frank Gregorio, were each shot in the head on Sunday after a row over noise, sparking accusations that President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has created a culture of police impunity.In the video, recorded on a family member’s mobile phone, policeman Jonel Nuezca can be seen arguing heatedly with the Gregorios over the use of a homemade cannon. These devices make a loud boom and are used to celebrate New Year.As the row intensified, Sonya wrapped her arms around her son, and Nuezca shot her in the head before doing the same to Frank. Before fleeing, the cop shot them both again.He surrendered to police that night and faces two counts of murder. The government has promised a thorough investigation.“I lost a mother who was the most loving mother to us. I lost a brother who was also a very loving and caring brother. It’s very hard for us,” said Tasha Delos Santos. “I hope our family gets justice.”“They weren’t criminals, they were the nicest family here,” said neighbour Gonyong Liwanag.Critics and rights groups say Duterte’s talk of killing criminals and promises to protect law enforcement have emboldened police to commit and cover up murder. Police deny that.Duterte on Monday condemned the Tarlac shooting and said he only defends police who do their duty, warning “there will be a hell to pay” for rogue officers.Government data show that nearly 6,000 suspected drug dealers have been killed by police since 2016.Rights group say that number is an underestimate and accuse police of summarily executing users and pushers.Police insist all those killed had resisted arrest.


8 dead, dozens hurt as Indonesia quake rattles East Java

A strong earthquake on Indonesia’s main island of Java killed at least eight people, and damaged more than 1,000 buildings, officials said on Sunday.The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.0 temblor struck off the island’s southern coast early Saturday afternoon. It was centered 45km south of Malang District in East Java province, at a depth of 82km.This was the second deadly disaster to hit Indonesia in a week, after Tropical Cyclone Seroja caused a severe downpour that killed at least 174 people and left 48 still missing in East Nusa Tenggara province.Some victims were buried in either mudslides or solidified lava from a volcanic eruption in November, while others were swept away by flash floods. Thousands of homes were damaged.Saturday’s quake caused falling rocks to kill a woman on a motorcycle and badly injured her husband in East Java’s Lumajang district, said Raditya Jati, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.He said about 1,189 homes and 150 public facilities, including schools, hospitals and government offices, were damaged. Rescuers retrieved four bodies from the rubble in Lumajang’s Kali Uling village. Three people were also confirmed killed by the quake in Malang district.Television reports showed people running in panic from malls and buildings in several cities in East Java province.Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 270 million people, is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.In January, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 105 people and injured nearly 6,500, while more than 92,000 were displaced, after striking Mamuju and Majene districts in West Sulawesi province.Meanwhile more people fled their homes on the eastern Caribbean island of St Vincent on Sunday as La Soufriere volcano rumbled loudly for a third day and the heavy weight of its ashfall damaged buildings.Residents reported widespread power failures early in the day, though authorities restored electricity to most of the island by late afternoon. In Barbados the sun was blocked out by ash, causing the day to appear as night.


Biden begins transition as Trump refuses to concede

US president-elect Joe Biden took the first steps Sunday towards moving into the White House 73 days from now, as Donald Trump again refused to admit defeat and tried to sow doubt about the election results.With congratulations pouring in from world leaders and supporters nursing hangovers after a day of celebrations, Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris launched a transition website, BuildBackBetter.com, and a Twitter feed, @Transition46.Meanwhile, Trump played golf at his course near Washington, the same place where he was Saturday when the US television networks delivered the news that Biden had secured enough Electoral College votes for victory.“Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be?” Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.Trump plans to file a string of lawsuits in the coming week, according to his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who said he had “a lot of evidence” of fraud.But former president George W Bush said the “outcome is clear” and added that he had called “president-elect” Biden and Harris to extend his congratulations.Bush said in a statement that “the American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair… We must come together for the sake of our families and neighbours, and for our nation and its future”.Biden’s transition website lists four priorities: Covid-19, economic recovery, racial equity and climate change.“The team being assembled will meet these challenges on Day One,” it said in a reference to Jan 20, 2021, when Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the US.Biden, who turns 78 on Nov 20, is the oldest person ever elected to the White House. Harris, 56, a senator from California, is the first woman, first black person and first South Asian person to be elected vice-president.Biden plans to name a task force on Monday to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, which has left more than 237,000 people dead in the US and is surging across the country.He has also announced plans to rejoin the Paris climate accord and will reportedly issue an executive order on his first day in office reversing Trump’s travel ban on mostly Muslim countries.Biden has vowed to name a cabinet that reflects the diversity of the country, although he may have some trouble gaining approval for more progressive appointees if Republicans retain control of the Senate – an outcome that will depend on two runoff races in Georgia in January.‘Accept the inevitable’Biden, who after John F Kennedy is just the second Catholic to be elected US president, attended church Sunday morning in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. He also visited the graves of his son, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015, and his first wife and daughter, who died in a 1972 car accident.The Trump campaign has mounted legal challenges to the results in several states, but no evidence has emerged so far of any widespread irregularities that would affect the results.Giuliani told the Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures” that Trump’s team would file a lawsuit in Pennsylvania on Monday against officials “for violating civil rights, for conducting an unfair election (and) for violating the law of the state”.“The first lawsuit will be Pennsylvania. The second will either be Michigan or Georgia. And over the course of the week, we should get it all pulled together,” Giuliani said.First Lady Melania Trump also chipped in Sunday, tweeting: “The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal – not illegal – vote should be counted.”Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, senior Biden advisor Symone Sanders dismissed the court challenges as “baseless legal strategies”.Biden received nearly 74.6 million votes to Trump’s 70.4 million nationwide and has a 279-214 lead in the Electoral College that determines the presidency.Biden also leads in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, and Georgia, which has 16. If he wins both, he would finish with 306 electoral votes – the same total won by Trump in 2016 when he upset Hillary Clinton.Only two Republicans senators, Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, have congratulated Biden.Democratic representative James Clyburn of South Carolina said the Republican Party has a “responsibility” to help convince Trump it is time to give up.Romney, who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial, said the president will eventually “accept the inevitable”.The Utah senator added that he “would prefer to see the world watching a more graceful departure, but that’s just not in the nature of the man”.‘Do not concede, Mr President’But Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the 74-year-old president should keep fighting.“We will work with Biden if he wins, but Trump has not lost,” Graham said on Fox News. “Do not concede, Mr President. Fight hard.”In a victory speech on Saturday, Biden promised to unify the bitterly divided nation and reached out to Trump supporters, saying, “They’re not our enemies, they’re Americans.”“Let’s give each other a chance,” he said. “Let this grim era of demonisation in America begin to end, here and now.”The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other European countries have sent congratulations to Biden, along with Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan and South Korea.Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would wait until all legal challenges are resolved, while Trump ally President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil had yet to make any official comment.


Beijing breaches 40 degrees Celsius for first time in 9 years

The temperature in Beijing soared above 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday for the first time since 2014 as the Chinese capital warned of blistering hot weather through the weekend with the return of heatwaves that scorched northern China a week earlier.
A weather station on the southern outskirts of Beijing recorded 40.1C at 1.25pm local time (0525 GMT), according to the municipal weather bureau, marking the first breach of the 40C threshold since May 29, 2014.
Early on Thursday the city of nearly 22 million people raised an orange alert, the second highest weather warning, saying that temperatures could rise as high as 39C in most parts of the city from Thursday to Saturday.
Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong in northern and eastern China were hammered by heatwaves last week, prompting local authorities to step up efforts to safeguard crops, ensure the safety of tourists, and suspend outdoor work during the hottest part of the day.
Last week, the national weather bureau issued an alert for heat stroke, almost a fortnight earlier than in previous years, as new record temperatures for the month of June assailed cities across northern China.
In the port city of Tianjin, increased demand for air-conditioning pushed its power grid load to 14.54 million kilowatts on June 15, up 23% from a year earlier, and spurred its local utility department to dispatch workers to patrol underground tunnels every day to ensure electrical cables are in working order.
The latest round of heatwaves, coinciding with the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend in China, will also hit the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in the far west, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
China has a four-tier, colour-coded weather warning system, with red the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
An orange alert is issued when the maximum temperature exceeds 40C in a single day, or the maximum temperature remains above 37C for two consecutive days.


Govt considering mandatory monthly withdrawals for EPF members after 55

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says the government is open to the proposal by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to make it mandatory for new members to withdraw their savings periodically instead of in a lump sum upon reaching the age of 55.
He said the proposal was currently in the final stage, adding however that it would need to take into account several constraints, including the fact that the savings of some EPF members were too small.
"I have no objection (to the proposal)," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
Yesterday, EPF CEO Amir Hamzah Azizan was reported as saying that the current option of periodic withdrawals on a monthly basis was seen as offering members a better way to manage their retirement funds.
He said making periodic withdrawals would also allow members to continue enjoying annual dividends for their remaining savings in the EPF.


Nike boss assures Chinese consumers his company is ‘of China and for China’

The boss of sneaker manufacturer Nike has made a robust defence of the firm’s business in China after facing a boycott by millions of consumers there.In response to a question about competition from Chinese brands, chief executive John Donahoe insisted, “Nike is a brand that is of China and for China.”He was speaking during a call with Wall Street analysts about Nike’s latest earnings report.His comments came after the sportswear giant was recently hit by a backlash over statements about Xinjiang.Nike’s fourth quarter earnings showed world revenues had doubled to a better-than-expected US$12.3 billion for the three months to the end of March which helped it bounce back to a US$1.5 billion profit, from a US$790 million loss during the depths of the pandemic in 2020.The figures also showed that Nike’s revenue in China rose to more than US$1.9 billion but missed Wall Street expectations of US$2.2 billion.Donahoe said he remained confident that China would continue to be a fast-growing market for Nike due to its many years of investment in the country, saying, “We’ve always taken a long-term view. We’ve been in China for over 40 years.”Nike’s co-founder and former chief executive had seen the potential for growth in the country.“Phil Knight invested significant time and energy in China in the early days and today we’re the largest sports brand there,” Donahoe said.The company’s shares rose by more than 14% during after-hours trade in New York.Several Western brands, including Nike and Swedish fashion retailer H&M, recently faced a backlash from Chinese shoppers after the firms expressed concerns about the alleged use of Uighur forced labour in cotton production in Xinjiang.Xinjiang, China’s biggest region, produces about a fifth of the world’s cotton. An autonomous region in theory, in reality it faces restrictions which have increased in recent years.In December, the BBC published an investigation based on new research showing China was forcing hundreds of thousands of minorities including Uighurs into manual labour in Xinjiang’s cotton fields.In March, a group of Western countries imposed sanctions on officials in China over rights abuses against the Muslim Uighur minority group.The sanctions were introduced as a coordinated effort by the European Union, Britain, the US, and Canada.In recent decades, mass migration of China’s ethnic majority Han Chinese to Xinjiang has fuelled tensions with Uighurs which has at points flared into deadly violence.This has resulted in a massive security crackdown and an extensive state surveillance programme, which critics say violate Uighur human rights. China says such measures are necessary to combat separatism and terrorism.Uighurs have been detained at camps where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged.China has denied these claims saying the camps are “re-education” facilities aimed at lifting Uighurs out of poverty.


MCMC to review self-regulation of apps, social media platforms

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commiassion (MCMC) today said it would review the country's self-regulatory framework, citing an increasing level of content being exploited by criminals and those seeking to threaten public safety and national harmony.
In a statement, it said some over-the-top applications and social media platforms had not been effective in self-regulating the use of their platforms.
"Therefore, stricter regulatory oversight and intervention by regulators is needed to protect public interest and users," MCMC chairman Mohamad Salim Fateh Din added.
"MCMC will not tolerate the continuing and esclating abuse of online platforms and telecommunications, network or online facilities for the purpose of facilitating scams, malicious cyber activities, fraud, phishing, content that threatens racial stability, religious harmony and showing contempt for the rulers.
"We will act against those who violate the laws."
He added that the commission would work with the police, Bank Negara Malaysia and the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre towards this goal.
MCMC said the concerns followed the observation of an increasing number of scams, with 11,858 scam complains received as of April since the inception of the National Scam Response Centre in October 2022.
"Statistics obtained from the commercial crime police for the period between 2021 and April 2023 revealed that losses as a result from scams amounted to RM1.2 billion.
"In the meantime, from 2021 to April 2023, 2,125 fake news had been reported to MCMC. Upon reviewing the number of abuses and harm caused that were left unchecked by the platform providers, MCMC strongly recommends regulatory oversight and intervention to curb this issue," it said.
It said such obligations included imposing and enforcing obligations on those who operate such platforms and those who profit from digitalisation, to take "strong and verifiable measures" to ensure that their platforms or networks are not used as a forum to break the country's laws or threaten public interest.
"MCMC, as the regulator of the converged industry in Malaysia, will also be reviewing the regulatory approach to enable a higher degree of oversight through the current legal instruments.
"This may include a review of the exemptions on certain activities as well as imposing criminal sanctions and punitive orders against entities that wilfully refuse to take immediate steps to ensure that criminal activities occurring on their network or platform are stopped," it said.


Lithium producers warn global supplies may not meet electric vehicle demand

Lithium producers are growing anxious that delays in mine permitting, staffing shortages and inflation may hinder their ability to supply enough of the battery metal to meet the world's aggressive electrification timelines.
Once a niche metal used primarily in ceramics and pharmaceuticals, lithium is now one of the world's most in-demand metals given aggressive EV plans from Stellantis, Ford and other automakers.
At stake is the pace with which electric vehicles could displace internal combustion engines, a key goal of the green energy transition.
"You could end up in a crisis situation where the battery companies don't have the security of (lithium) feedstock," Stu Crow, chairman of Lake Resources, said on the sidelines of this week's Fastmarkets Lithium and Battery Raw Materials conference in Las Vegas.
"There's a disconnect between the panic that we're seeing here, and the frenetic activity of trying to secure supply within the industry."
This week, Lake Resources became the latest lithium company to announce a project delay, pushing back first production from its Kachi lithium project in Argentina by three years. It cited power supply and other logistics concerns.
Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer, is growing rapidly across the Americas, Asia and Australia. Still, it expects global lithium demand to exceed supply by 500,000 metric tons in 2030. Various consultancies and other producers have slightly different projections, but all warn of a looming shortage.
"It's a big challenge," said Eric Norris, head of Albemarle's lithium business.
There were 45 lithium mines operating in the world last year, with 11 expected to open this year and seven next year, according to Fastmarkets. That pace is far below what consultants say is needed to ensure adequate global supply.
Those growth projections assume a best-case scenario, even as mining companies face difficulty hiring technical talent, rising costs and delay times for crucial equipment.
Even if more lithium mines are built, there are not enough facilities to produce specialized types of the metal for batteries. Automakers may be forced to accept lower-quality lithium, which decreases an EV battery's range, executives said.
"There's a big difference between lithium that comes out of the ground and lithium that goes into a battery," said Sarah Maryssael of Livent, which supplies Tesla and is set to combine with rival Allkem later this year.
Attendance
Once a niche event attended by industry die-hards, the Fastmarkets conference has grown rapidly alongside breakneck lithium demand. Roughly 1,100 attended this year, nearly triple 2019 levels and up 68% from last year.
Exxon Mobil sent a contingent as part of its foray into the battery metals sector. So did its fellow oil companies SLB and Equinor.
Banking giants JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and BMO Capital Markets and others also attended, their interest fueled by an expected wave of lithium takeover deals and rising demand for hedging and other financial instruments.
"Our strategic investment and M&A pipeline is extraordinarily strong," said Rahim Bapoo, managing director of BMO's critical minerals practice.
In one example of the rampant hunt for lithium, Mitsui is on the verge of signing a US$65 million (about RM303.8 million) deal with Atlas Lithium to guarantee supply from a Brazilian mine project that Atlas hasn't finished designing.
"Investment has to continue, otherwise there will be more delays to (lithium) timelines that are already massively long," said Tara Berrie of EV maker Rivian.


Kit Siang says ‘Allah’s govt’ statement based on news portal’s interpretation

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang today said he had retracted a recent statement referring to “Allah’s government” which sparked a strong backlash online, adding that he had issued the statement based on a news portal’s interpretation of remarks by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.Lim, who is Iskandar Puteri MP, said he had read a report published on the Free Malaysia Today portal yesterday titled “Covid is a test from God, only Allah’s govt can overcome it, says Hadi” and had issued a statement in response.“I was under the assumption that ‘Allah’s government’ in the report, attributed to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, referred to ‘Kerajaan Islam’, which includes the Perikatan Nasional government.“It is no secret that Perikatan Nasional and PAS had always claimed that the PN government is a ‘Malay-Muslim government’,” he said.He said he issued the statement questioning Hadi’s reported comment with the understanding that the PAS leader was saying only a “Kerajaan Islam” such as the PN government could deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.“I had no intention of questioning any belief, including Islam, only of responding to what Hadi said as reported.”In his statement, Hadi had said that only a kingdom of Allah or God would be able to eradicate the pandemic at any given time.The portal had amended its headline twice as of press time. The initial headline read: “Covid is test from God, only an Islamic govt can overcome it, says Hadi”. This was later amended to the headline referred to by Lim.Lim said he was told after issuing his statement that Hadi had not referred to any earthly government nor to any “Kerajaan Islam”.“With this realisation, I retracted my statement and apologise for the statement which was based on my mistaken understanding of what Hadi said.”


Dream job: the Japanese man who gets paid to do nothing

Shoji Morimoto has what some would see as a dream job: he gets paid to do pretty much nothing.
The 38-year-old Tokyo resident charges 10,000 yen (US$71) per booking to accompany clients and simply exist as a companion.
"Basically, I rent myself out. My job is to be wherever my clients want me to be and to do nothing in particular," Morimoto told Reuters, adding that he had handled some 4,000 sessions in the past four years.
With a lanky build and average looks, Morimoto now boasts nearly a quarter of a million followers on Twitter, where he finds most of his clients. Roughly a quarter of them are repeat customers, including one who has hired him 270 times.
His job has taken him to a park with a person who wanted to play on a see-saw. He has also beamed and waved through a train window at a complete stranger who wanted a send-off.
Doing nothing doesn't mean Morimoto will do anything. He has turned down offers to move a fridge and go to Cambodia, and doesn't take any requests of a sexual nature.
Last week, Morimoto sat opposite Aruna Chida, a 27-year-old data analyst clad in a sari, having a sparse conversation over tea and cakes.
Chida wanted to wear the Indian garment out in public but was worried it might embarrass her friends. So she turned to Morimoto for companionship.
"With my friends I feel I have to entertain them, but with the rental-guy (Morimoto) I don't feel the need to be chatty," she said.
Before Morimoto found his true calling, he worked at a publishing company and was often chided for "doing nothing".
"I started wondering what would happen if I provided my ability to 'do nothing' as a service to clients," he said.
The companionship business is now Morimoto's sole source of income, with which he supports his wife and child. Although he declined to disclose how much he makes, he said he sees about one or two clients a day. Before the pandemic, it was three or four a day.
As he spent a Wednesday doing nothing of note in Tokyo, Morimoto reflected on the bizarre nature of his job and appeared to question a society that values productivity and derides uselessness.
"People tend to think that my 'doing nothing' is valuable because it is useful (for others)... But it's fine to really not do anything. People do not have to be useful in any specific way," he said.


Indonesia imports oxygen as hospitals battered by Covid-19

Indonesia is sourcing emergency oxygen for virus patients from neighbouring Singapore and calling for help from other countries including China with the archipelago slammed by its deadliest Covid-19 wave, the government said Tuesday.Around 10,000 concentrators – devices that generate oxygen – were to be shipped from the city-state with some arriving by a Hercules cargo plane earlier on Tuesday, officials said.“We have communicated with Singapore, China, and other sources” for help, senior minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said.“We will also order (oxygen) from other countries if we still feel that the supplies are insufficient.”Pandjaitan ordered all the nation’s oxygen supplies sent to hospitals overflowing with coronavirus patients on Monday, warning Indonesia could face a “worst-case scenario” where infections skyrocket to 50,000 a day, a crisis driven by the highly infectious Delta variant.The country reported 29,745 new infections and 558 deaths on Monday, both daily records, after the government last week ordered fresh virus curbs in the hard-hit capital Jakarta, across Java, and on holiday island Bali.Indonesia’s overwhelmed healthcare system is reeling as jammed hospitals turn away patients, forcing desperate families to hunt for oxygen tanks to treat the sick and dying at home.More than a dozen hospitals in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya are now full and not taking any more patients, authorities said.“The health system is on the verge of collapse; hospitals are already being overwhelmed, oxygen supplies are running out and health services in Java and Bali are woefully ill-equipped to handle this surge in critically ill patients,” NGO Save the Children said in a statement.The world’s fourth most populous nation has seen its daily caseload more than quadruple in less than a month and its tally stands at 2.3 million cases and 61,140 deaths.That figure is widely believed to be a severe undercount due to low testing and poor tracing measures.Daily Covid-19 burials in the hard-hit capital Jakarta are up 10-fold since May, the government has said.Indonesia is scrambling to ramp up plans to inoculate over 180 million of its nearly 270 million people by early next year.But so far only about 5% of the total population has received two jabs.


US to announce Covid vaccine booster campaign, media reports say

The US government will announce that Americans should get booster shots for coronavirus vaccines eight months after their last shot, part of a campaign that could begin as early as mid-September, according to US media.The move could be announced as early as this week, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources in President Joe Biden’s administration.The campaign is likely to kick off with booster shots for nursing home residents and healthcare workers, followed by the elderly, all of whom were among the first to be eligible to receive their initial vaccinations. The general public would then follow, according to the Times.US officials are considering whether a third dose should be the same type of vaccine – Moderna or Pfizer – as the first two.People who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a minority of the US population, should also receive an additional dose although more data is still necessary, the Times said.Administering booster shots would not begin until approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), The Washington Post reported.Pfizer-BioNTech said Monday it had submitted preliminary clinical data to the FDA in an effort to seek third-dose authorisation.With the US facing a surge in coronavirus infections due to the Delta variant, experts fear that the effectiveness of vaccines may wane over time.An advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the principal US public health agency, is due to meet next week to discuss the matter, paving the way for FDA clearance.The discussion has changed sharply since the beginning of July, when the FDA and CDC issued a joint statement saying vaccinated Americans did not need a booster shot.New daily cases were averaging around 12,000 then but have since soared above 130,000.The US last week authorised an additional dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines for immunocompromised people.Also last week, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said “sooner or later” even healthy Americans would need a booster shot “for durability of protection.”


Company, executives charged with violating customs law in meat cartel case

A frozen food supplier, its director and manager who had been charged with using fake trade descriptions were today charged in the Sessions Court in Johor Bahru with other offences.LY Frozen Food Sdn Bhd, its director Yong Chee Keong, 40, and manager Chong Kim Kuang, 48, were charged with four counts each of abetment and possession of prohibited goods worth RM643,465.39 on Dec 15 last year.Yong claimed trial after the charges against him were read out together with those against the company before judge Wan Mohd Nor Hisham Wan Yaakob.Chong also claimed trial before judge Ahmad Fuad Othman in a separate court.According to the charge sheet, Yong, who also appeared on behalf of the company, along with Tan Siew Huak, 42, who is still at large, were charged with four counts of possessing prohibited goods worth RM643,465.39.Chong faces four charges of colluding with LY Frozen Food, Yong and Tan over possession of the prohibited goods.The offences were allegedly committed at No. 663, Jalan 3/4, Desa Idaman Industrial Estate in Senai, Kulai on Dec 15 last year.The prohibited items included 821 boxes of frozen beef from the Warrnambool brand, 264 boxes of frozen lamb from the Viro Carni brand and 252 boxes of frozen chicken from the Seara brand.They were charged under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967, which provides for a fine of no less than 10 times and no more than 20 times the value of the goods, imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both, upon conviction.The court set bail at RM100,000 for Yong with one surety, along with an additional condition requiring him to report to the nearest police station twice a month.The court also set bail at RM60,000 for Chong with two sureties, with the same additional condition.It set June 3 for mention and submission of documents for the charges.The prosecution was handled by deputy public prosecutors Jasmee Hameeza Jaafar and Nur Suriati Mohamad while the company, Yong and Chong were represented by lawyers Zamri Idrus, Ridzuan Othman and Saifuz Zaman Abd Rahman.In February, the same company and executives were charged at the Sessions Court with 21 counts of possessing and distributing unauthorised frozen products and using false halal logos.


Zenith director says no intention of making up evidence in Guan Eng graft case

Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZCSB) director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli told the Sessions Court yesterday that he was indebted to former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.
Zarul, 62, said he had no intention of fabricating evidence and linking Lim's name in the corruption case on the construction of the main roads and undersea tunnel in Penang.
"I have no intention of making up a story against Lim because I am indebted to him. If possible, I don't want to implicate him in any case," he said at Lim’s case hearing.
He said he instructed CZCSB's former director and former senior vice-president of finance and corporate services, Ibrahim Sahari and Azli Adam, to use forged invoices and payment vouchers to cover the trail of cash payments to Lim.
The 23rd prosecution witness, in his testimony in court, earlier said that Lim had asked for a bribe of 10% of the profits his company would earn in the construction project. Responding to deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin on whether the order to falsify the invoices was made to avoid being investigated and not to defend Lim, Zarul said this was done so that Lim's name would not appear in any CZCSB account.
Zarul said that after being released from the custody of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in early January 2018 in relation to the investigation of the corruption case, he had met with Ibrahim and Azli and told the truth that the invoices and vouchers in question were payments to Lim.
Asked by Wan Shaharuddin about two statements he had issued to the media in July 2018, Zarul said Lim had instructed him to do so, to prevent CZCSB from being further investigated by MACC.
"I received instructions from Lim to release the media statements to make it appear as if I was forced when giving a statement to the MACC regarding the tunnel corruption case," he said.
Lim faces an amended charge of using his position as the Penang chief minister to accept a bribe of RM3.3 million in helping a company owned by Zarul obtain a construction project worth RM6,341,383,702, at the Penang Chief Minister's Office, 28th Floor in Komtar, George Town between January 2011 and August 2017.
In the second amended charge, Lim is accused of asking Zarul for a bribe of 10% of the company's profits, as a form of appreciation for getting the project. He is accused of committing the act near The Garden Hotels, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, in March 2011.
Lim, the former secretary-general of DAP, also faces two charges of causing two land lots worth RM208.8 million belonging to the Penang government to be disposed of to two companies, allegedly related to the undersea tunnel project.
He is alleged to have committed the offence at the Penang Land and Mines Office, Floor 21, Komtar on Feb 17, 2015 and March 22, 2017.
The hearing before judge Azura Alwi continues on Aug 4.


Sorry.


Minister explains RM30 million repair bill for PM’s official residence

Special Functions Minister Abd Latiff Ahmad today said that some RM38.5 million allocated for the restoration of the prime minister’s official residence included the cost of replacing the electrical wiring system and fixing leaks in the roof of the Seri Perdana complex.He said the complex was in need of repairs given that it was 22 years old.“This project was approved on March 19 and work began on March 29. It is expected to be complete by Dec 7.“As of today, the restoration work is 74% complete compared to 71% in the schedule,” he said in a statement today.He was commenting on an oral question raised by Mahfuz Omar (PH-Pokok Sena) in the Dewan Rakyat on Sept 27.He said the written answer was from him as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and not from Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.The issue of repairs to the Seri Perdana complex entered the spotlight after the government revealed that RM30 million had been set aside for this purpose.According to the written response, the repairs were to uphold the country’s image when welcoming foreign guests at official programmes as well as for safety factors.The Seri Perdana complex, construction of which began in 1997, was completed in 1999.In 2006, repair work was done and the security system replaced at a cost of RM20 million.


From Pegasus to Blue Wolf: How Israel’s ‘security’ experiment in Palestine became global

The revelation, a few years ago, that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been conducting mass surveillance on millions of Americans has reignited the conversation on governments’ misconduct and their violation of human rights and privacy laws.Until recently, however, Israel has been spared due criticism, not only for its unlawful spying methods on the Palestinians but also for being the originator of many of the technologies which are now being heavily criticised by human rights groups worldwide.Even at the height of various controversies involving government surveillance in 2013, Israel remained on the margins, despite the fact that Tel Aviv, more than any other government in the world, uses racial profiling, mass surveillance and numerous spying techniques to sustain its military occupation of Palestine.In Gaza, two million Palestinians are living under an Israeli blockade. They are surrounded by walls, electric fences, underground barriers, navy ships and multitudes of snipers. From above, the tannaana, the Arabic slang word Palestinians have for unmanned drone, watches and records everything. At times, these armed drones are used to blow up anything deemed suspicious from an Israeli “security” perspective. Moreover, every Palestinian wishing to leave or return to Gaza—with only a few who are allowed such privilege—is subjected to the most stringent “security” measures, involving various government intelligences and endless military checks. This applies as much to a Palestinian toddler as it does to a terminally-ill woman.In the West Bank, Israel’s security “experiment” takes on many other manifestations. While the Israeli objective is to entrap people in Gaza, its aim is to control the everyday life of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Aside from the 1,660km-long Apartheid Wall in the West Bank, there are many other walls, fences, trenches and various types of barriers that are aimed at fragmenting Palestinian communities in the West Bank. These isolated communities are only connected through an elaborate system of Israeli military checkpoints, many of which are permanent and many more are erected or dismantled depending on the “security” objectives on any given day.Much of the surveillance occurs daily at these Israeli checkpoints. While Israel uses the convenient term “security” to justify its practices against Palestinians, actual security has very little to do with what takes place at these checkpoints. Many Palestinians have died, many mothers have given birth or lost their newborns while waiting for Israeli security clearance. It is a daily torment, and Palestinians are subjected to it because they are the unwitting participants of a very profitable Israeli experiment.Luckily, the news of Israel’s undemocratic practices is becoming increasingly known. On Nov 8, The Washington Post revealed an Israeli mass surveillance operation, which uses “Blue Wolf” technology to create a massive database of all Palestinians.This additional measure gives soldiers the chance to, using their own cameras, take pictures of as many Palestinians as possible and match “them to a database of images so extensive that one former soldier described it as the army’s secret ‘Facebook for Palestinians’.”We know very little about this new “Facebook for Palestinians”, aside from what has been revealed in the news. However, we know that Israeli soldiers compete to take as many photos of Palestinian faces as possible, as those with the highest number of photos could potentially receive certain rewards, the nature of which remains unclear.While the “Blue Wolf” story is receiving some attention in international media, it offers nothing new for Palestinians. To be a Palestinian living under occupation is to carry multiple permits and magnetic cards, to pass various clearances, to have your photo taken regularly, to have your movement monitored, to be ready to answer any question about your friends, your family, co-workers and acquaintances. When that is impractical, because, say, you live under siege in Gaza, then the work is entrusted to unmanned drones scanning sky, earth and sea.The reason that “Blue Wolf” is receiving some traction in the media is that Israel has been recently implicated in one of the world’s greatest espionage operations.Pegasus is a type of malware that spies on iPhones and Android devices, to extract photos, messages, emails and record calls. Tens of thousands of people around the world, many of whom are prominent activists, journalists, officials, business leaders and alike, have fallen victim to this operation. Unsurprisingly, Pegasus is produced by the Israeli technology firm, the NSO Group, whose products are heavily involved in the monitoring of and spying on Palestinians, as confirmed by the Dublin-based Front Line Defenders, and as reported in the New York Times on Nov 8.Sadly, the Israeli unlawful and undemocratic practices became a subject of international condemnation when the victims were high-ranking personalities, the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron and others. When Palestinians were on the other end of Israeli spying, surveillance and racial profiling, the story seemed unworthy of reporting.Worse, for many years, Israel has promoted its sinister “security technology” to the rest of the world as “field-proven”, meaning that they have been used against occupied Palestinians. Not only did such a declaration raise a few eyebrows, the tried and tested brand allowed Israel to become the world’s eighth-largest arms exporter. Israeli security exports are now utilised in many parts of the world. They can be found at North American and European airports, at the Mexico-US border, in the hands of various world’s intelligences, at European Union territorial waters – largely to intercept war refugees and asylum seekers.Covering up Israel’s unlawful and inhuman practices against the Palestinians has proven a liability on the very people who justified Israeli actions in the name of security, including Washington. On Nov 3, the Joe Biden Administration decided to blacklist the Israeli NSO Group for acting “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the US.” This is a proper measure, of course, but it fails to address the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinian people.The truth is, for as long as Israel maintains its military occupation of Palestine, and as long as the Israeli military continues to see Palestinians as subjects in a mass “security experiment”, the Middle East – in fact, the entire world – will continue to pay the price.Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle.The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.


Measles now an imminent global threat due to pandemic, say public health agencies

There is now an imminent threat of measles spreading in various regions globally, as Covid-19 led to a steady decline in vaccination coverage and weakened surveillance of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US public health agency said on Wednesday.
Measles is one of the most contagious human viruses and is almost entirely preventable through vaccination. However, it requires 95% vaccine coverage to prevent outbreaks among populations.
A record high of nearly 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose in 2021 due to hurdles created by the Covid pandemic, the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a joint report.
While measles cases have not yet gone up dramatically compared to previous years, now is the time to act, the WHO's measles lead, Patrick O'Connor, told Reuters.
"We are at a crossroads," he said on Tuesday. "It is going to be a very challenging 12-24 months trying to mitigate this."
A combination of factors like lingering social distancing measures and cyclical nature of measles may explain why there has not yet been an explosion of cases despite the widening immunity gaps, but that could change quickly, said O'Connor, pointing out the highly contagious nature of the disease.
The WHO has already seen an increase of large disruptive outbreaks since the start of 2022, rising from 19 to almost 30 by Sept, O'Connor said, adding that he was particularly worried about parts of sub-Saharan Africa.


US e-cigarette sales up 47% from 2020 to 2022

E-cigarette sales in the US spiked between 2020 and 2022, especially among flavours that appeal to youth users, according to a study from health authorities released Thursday.
Overall e-cigarette monthly unit sales went up nearly 47% from the start of 2020 to the end of 2022, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found.
In January 2020, right before the Covid-19 pandemic reached the US, 15.5 million e-cigarettes were sold, while 22.7 million units were sold in December 2022, the study said.
The hike was especially pronounced among sweet flavours favoured by young users of e-cigarettes, also called vapes.
"After January 2020, sales of mint and other flavoured prefilled cartridges ceased, and disposable e-cigarettes in fruit, sweet, and other flavours increased," the study, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, showed.
"Disposable e-cigarettes in youth-appealing flavours are now more commonly sold than prefilled units," it noted.
E-cigarettes were introduced in the early 2000s as a less harmful replacement for regular cigarettes, which are packed with cancer-causing chemicals.
But an emerging body of research has shown vapes can also be highly addictive, and often result in young users turning to cigarettes as a way to get their nicotine fix.
According to the CDC, youths and young adults tend to use e-cigarettes more than adults overall – more than 14% of US high schoolers said they had vaped in the last month in 2022, while the year before that only 4.5% of all adults said they had.
"The tobacco industry is well aware that flavours appeal to and attract kids, and that young people are uniquely vulnerable to nicotine addiction," anti-smoking non-profit Truth Initiative chief Robin Koval said in a statement released by the CDC in response to Thursday's study.
"We all must work with even greater urgency to protect our nation's youth from all flavoured e-cigarettes, including disposables," she added.
Sales restrictions
The two-year increase has come despite the US Food and Drug Administration's 2020 announcement that it would prioritise enforcing rules against unauthorised flavoured vaping products, given their appeal to teenagers and children.
And though there was an overall jump over the nearly three-year period, sales did decline more than 12% between May and December 2022.
That may be at least partly explained by sales restrictions on flavoured e-cigarettes, in place in seven states and hundreds of local municipalities by the end of last year, the study said.
According to the study, "states such as Massachusetts, which have well-enforced comprehensive flavour restrictions, have experienced large and sustained declines in total e-cigarette sales."
It also found that "use of tobacco products among young persons declined" after flavoured tobacco products were restricted in certain areas.
Earlier this year, e-cigarette company Juul agreed to pay US$462 million (RM2.148 billion) to six states and the District of Columbia to settle charges that it violated numerous laws in marketing tobacco products to youth.
Though e-cigarette use has increased in the United States in recent years, traditional cigarette smoking has reached an all-time low of about 11% among adults in 2022, according to CDC data released in April.


Austrian court rules split classes, masks in schools illegal

Austria’s Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday that two government measures to fight the spread of coronavirus in schools, compulsory mask-wearing and splitting classes into two halves to be taught in alternate shifts, were illegal.The split classes system meant that some pupils had lessons on Mondays and Tuesdays and others on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.At all other times they were to stay at home.“In addition, it was decided that all persons present in school buildings, apart from during teaching time, had to wear a mask over their mouth and nose,” a statement from the court said.“In its decision published today, the Constitutional Court ruled that the measures in question were illegal,” the statement went on.It explained its decision by saying that the “ministry has not made clear why it considered these measures necessary”.Two children and their parents had brought the case before the court, saying the measures violated the principles of equality before the law, the right to a private life and the right to education.Since January Austria has been governed by a coalition of the Green party and the centre-right People’s Party (OeVP) of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.The education ministry, which is held by the OeVP, said in a statement that it had taken note of the court’s judgment and would examine the judges’ reasoning.


Russia calls Ukraine's MH17 accusations at World Court 'fiction'

A lawyer for Russia on Wednesday dismissed Ukraine's account of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in World Court hearings earlier this week as "fiction".
Ukraine accuses Russia before the UN's top court of violating a UN anti-terrorism treaty by equipping and funding pro-Russian forces, including militias who shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, killing all 298 passengers and crew in July 2014.
Last November, a Dutch court found that Russia had "overall control" over the separatist forces and had supplied the BUK missile system which was used by militias to shoot down the plane.
Ukraine repeated the Dutch court findings in its case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but Russia's lawyer Michael Swainston dismissed it as "fiction".
"This did not happen, no BUK Telar came from Russia," he told the court on the final day of hearings.
In its case at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, Kyiv also claims Russia breached a UN anti-discrimination treaty by trying to erase the culture of ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
In its final submissions on Monday, Ukraine asked the ICJ to find Moscow guilty of breaching its treaty obligations and order it to pay reparations.
Russia denies systematic human rights abuses in Ukrainian territory that it occupies. It also says it has met its obligations under the UN treaty against financing terrorism.
It has asked the court to throw out Ukraine's claim which stems from 2017 and was filed well before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The ICJ is expected to rule on the case before the end of this year.


‘No way to help them’: Covid-19 wreaks havoc at brimming Brazil hospitals

The only hospital at Iranduba, an Amazonian town in northwest Brazil, is fast running out of beds and scrambling each day for oxygen as it seeks to accommodate an influx of coronavirus patients who cannot get to the nearest big city.With no dedicated intensive care unit, the Hilda Freire hospital has had to improvise under the onslaught of a second pandemic wave that has battered Brazil’s northern Amazonas state.“It was all very quick. Suddenly everything was full. Our structure cannot handle this,” an administrative employee of the hospital, who asked not to be named, told AFP.Iranduba, a town of 50,000 people some 40km from the Amazonas capital Manaus, registered 15 coronavirus deaths between Monday and Wednesday this week – more than in the last four months put together.Almost all the hospital’s 30 beds are occupied, and it now has just enough oxygen left for one day.“We have had some losses,” said another hospital worker, clad in top-to-bottom, white protective gear. Health personnel say they do not wish to give their names for fear of professional repercussions.“We were very sad. We had no way to help them,” the worker said, describing how several patients left the world gasping for breath without access to oxygen.The hospital has since received several oxygen cannisters from other Brazilian states as well as neighboring Venezuela.But the relief is short-lived.“As soon as they unload the oxygen, we start worrying where the next day’s supply will come from. It is a constant stress,” said one hospital staffer.One hospital for 100,000Iranduba is accessible via a road with many muddy stretches that are hard to navigate in periods of heavy rain, which are frequent.It is this road the more seriously-ill patients must travel to Manaus – the only of Amazonas state’s 63 cities with dedicated intensive care beds.But Manaus, too, is under strain, and has itself received emergency oxygen deliveries.Privately, families in Manaus are scrambling to find oxygen as they set up makeshift intensive care units at home, distrustful of the state’s ability to take care of loved ones.Brazil has had more than 210,000 deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic, second only to the US.Amazonas state has been particularly hard hit among Brazil’s 27 states, with a death rate of 159 per 100,000 inhabitants in an area where rivers and forest terrain make the logistical challenges of confronting a health crisis even more difficult.At the Iranduba hospital, a volunteer drops off an oxygen cylinder for an 86-year-old patient admitted two weeks ago.She works for an NGO that delivers medicines and clothes to indigenous communities.The patient, she told AFP, “spent three or four hours without oxygen, with manual ventilation, and her family asked us for help”.About 85km west of Iranduba along a road that crisscrosses rivers and jungle, is the town of Manacapuru, which counts 223 Covid deaths among its 100,000 population – the highest rate in Amazonas.It has only one hospital, Lazaro Reis, where staff race up and down its dilapidated corridors to try and deal with the influx.‘Another ambulance’A patient lies on a stretcher in the hall, hooked up to an oxygen cylinder.“I cannot tell you how many died, but it has been many,” said a doctor, who also did not want to be named.A siren rings out, drawing closer, prompting someone to exclaim: “Another ambulance.”“No, it’s oxygen,” cries a man from outside, where he was controlling traffic access with orange cones and making way for the convoy of four vans loaded with green cylinders.A dozen men rush in to start unloading the vans.“It gives great joy when they arrive,” said the traffic controller.“You never know if they will come again.”On Tuesday, a delivery delay caused seven deaths in Caori, a settlement west of Manacapuru, according to authorities.One of the men helping load empty cylinders onto a truck pauses, raises his hands to the sky in a praying gesture, and exclaims: “May the oxygen not stop again!”


Probe into SUKE construction site accident to take a month

The investigation into the case of a launching gantry which fell at the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (SUKE) construction site near Puncak Banyan, Persiaran Alam Damai, Cheras, on Monday, is expected to be completed within a month.The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) said the probe involved observation and scrutiny at the scene, taking witness statements and conducting forensic engineering analysis.“Further legal action will be taken based on the results of the detailed investigation,” DOSH said in a statement today.It said actions that can be taken include prosecution under the provisions of Sections 15 and 17 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, which state that it is the employer’s duty to ensure the safety, health and welfare of employees while working, and the safety and health of persons other than employees, affected by work activities.The maximum penalty for an offence under both sections is a maximum fine of RM50,000, two years imprisonment, or both, upon conviction.DOSH said the stop-work notice issued over the incident would only be revoked after the employer takes corrective action and implements comprehensive control measures to prevent accidents.The accident that occurred early Monday resulted in the deaths of three construction project workers, while a Perodua Bezza driver was seriously injured as a result of his car being hit by the structure while passing through the area.DOSH said last year it conducted 14,786 occupational safety and health inspections in the construction sector, and that 5,117 notices, 404 compound actions and 73 prosecutions were undertaken with penalties totalling around RM1.7 million.“DOSH takes every workplace accident seriously, whether it involves employees or the public,” the statement said.DOSH said employers are also responsible for identifying hazards at the workplace, making risk assessments and taking effective risk control measures before employees carry out work activities to ensure employee safety and prevent health risks and occupational accidents or diseases.“DOSH will continue field monitoring, including by using the latest technology applications, and will not hesitate to take stern action against any party, including developers and contractors who are found to be neglecting occupational safety and health aspects,” it added.


Brazil’s Bolsonaro decimating Amazon rainforest for grazing and soya beans

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has reached its highest level since 2008, the country’s space agency (Inpe) reports.Over 11,000 sq km of rainforest were destroyed from August 2019 to July 2020. This is a 9.5% increase from the previous year and represents more than the area of a football pitch being cleared every minute, the BBC reports.This deforestation is done to create fields for cattle grazing and soya cultivation, big earners for Brazil.None of this should be a surprise as President Jair Bolsonaro, was elected on a promise of development and scientists say the rainforest has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since he took office in January 2019.The Amazon is home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people, but, keen to promote mining as well as agriculture, Bolsonaro describes it as “a periodic table” of valuable minerals, and he resents what he sees as outside interference.In addition to encouraging development of the rainforest, Bolsonaro has also cut funding to federal agencies with the power to fine and arrest farmers and loggers breaking environmental law.Bolsonaro has previously clashed with Inpe over its deforestation data. Last year, he accused the agency of smearing Brazil’s reputation.In a statement, Brazilian NGO Climate Observatory said, “The deforestation figures reflect the result of a successful initiative to annihilate the capacity of the Brazilian state and the inspection bodies to take care of our forests and fight crime in the Amazon.”But some government officials maintain that the rate of increase in deforestation is actually lower than that recorded last year and is a sign of progress.“While we are not here to celebrate this, it does signify that the efforts we are making are beginning to bear fruit,” Vice-President Hamilton Mourao told reporters.Climate scientists say the billions of trees in the Amazon are a vast store of carbon and, without them, the rise in global temperatures will accelerate.Brazil this year has seen the largest fires for a decade. Some say this is a direct result of deforestation.


Gainfully employed but still down and out

It’s 4 o’clock in the morning, and the streets of Kuala Lumpur are mostly still. But like any major metropolis around the world, the country’s capital city never truly sleeps.In the distance, along Jalan Tun Abdul Razak and Jalan Belia, a line of people slowly grows.They are the city’s homeless who have come to receive charity care packs ahead of Hari Raya Aidilfitri next week.Among them is Fuad who, at 53, looks like any other person on the street. Like any other person, he also holds down a job.But the monthly salary he gets working as an assistant at a farmers’ market is not enough to keep a roof over his head.Fuad sits at a bus stop in Kuala Lumpur with a little food in a plastic bag on the bench beside him.Each morning, he wakes up and gets dressed in the clothes he spread out to dry on the five-foot way beside him the night before.He warms up the engine of his rickety old motorcycle and then sets off for work.Fuad is one of thousands who live on the streets because they do not earn enough to live anywhere else.He makes about RM900 a month, but in the capital city, this is barely enough to feed him let alone cover the rent for even a small room.For two years, he has gone to work and come back to a piece of cardboard spread on the ground in an alley. As the cost of living increases while his salary remains unchanged, his situation is unlikely to improve.As of 2021, Kuala Lumpur had the highest number of homeless people in the country, followed by Johor and Sarawak.Many of them are doing their best to change their circumstances, but cannot due to economic and financial constraints. Even those who hold down jobs often do not earn enough to escape their life of poverty.Fuad’s monthly income, for example, is far below the RM2,208 poverty line income limit for households, or even the RM1,169 limit for the hardcore poor.The situation was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw the number of homeless in urban areas spike by 20 to 30% compared to 5 to 7% in rural locations.Hisham, another homeless man, collapses on his cardboard bed each night after more than 12 hours of work at a restaurant in the city centre.He used to earn RM2,500 a month at a similar job in Melaka, enough to rent a room in a small flat which he shared with a colleague.A volunteer holds a dress against a woman to measure how well it will fit, as others wait their turn in line.But the onset of the pandemic saw many workers laid off amid conflict at the management level.Eventually, Hisham ended up in Kuala Lumpur where he hoped to find work as a cook. But the best he could find was a job as a kitchen assistant earning RM700 to RM900 a month.Deductions are made each time he is late to work. This happens occasionally as he needs to find a place where he can shower and change his clothes.For the past two years, he has stayed in the Jalan Pudu area. He keeps his few possessions in a bag that he carries with him – one or two sets of clothes, a blanket and a towel.Sometimes, he longs to remember what it feels like to sit in a real room again. Once in a while, he gives in and forks out some of his hard-earned money to rent a budget hotel room for RM70 a night.“The feeling of being able to shower for as long as I want to, to sit and rest – that’s all I want,” he said.‘Swindled’Room rental in the city centre, Pudu and Setapak starts at about RM300 with downpayments of RM1,000 or so.In other areas such as Cheras, Kepong and Ampang, rent is lower – it is possible to share a room for RM150 per person.But not many homeless people have access to the gadgets needed to check and compare prices online.Subletting is also a problem, where landlords who themselves rent the premises from someone else advertise the space for a tidy profit.Eventually, savings are used up for advances and those who can no longer afford the rent are evicted. Left to fend for themselves, many end up involved in crime.Ayie has been homeless since he was 14 years old. Now 29, he has already done time in jail for possession of drugs.After completing his five-year prison sentence, he returned to living on the streets. But this time around, he has a job which pays him RM800 a month.“I can find a room, but if I pay for rent, I can’t afford a motorcycle and it’s hard for me to get to work,” he said.“I think it’s better to just sleep on the streets with my friends and buy a motorcycle so I can move around and do odd jobs like delivering food.”


Police hunt for suspects after blasts at Washington, DC, retail outlets

Police in Washington are offering a reward of up to US$20,000 for information that could lead to the arrest of those involved in three explosions within a 15-minute span at retail outlets in the US capital on Sunday.
No one was killed or injured in the early hour blasts in Washington's Northeast neighbourhood, but all three places were damaged, police said in a statement. In one of the blasts, someone threw "a Molotov cocktail style object" at a Safeway store before fleeing in a vehicle, police said.
The other two explosions took place outside an ATM and in front of a Nike store. All of the establishments were closed at the time.
It was not immediately clear how many suspects police were looking for but officials released an image of one suspect and of a vehicle that could have been used in the attack.
The suspect's back was turned to the surveillance camera in that image and the face was not visible. The suspect seemed to be wearing a white jacket or hoodie. The car was described as a champagne-colored Acura TL with a Maryland license plate.
As with other big US cities, Washington has experienced a spike in crimes in recent years. In an editorial column last year, the Washington Post said that the regularity of violence and crime in Washington was "alarming" and posed a "serious problem."
By the first week of June, more than 100 people were killed in the US capital this year, the fastest it has hit the mark in two decades.
Sunday's explosions appeared to be targeted at commercial establishments and not any members of the public, police said.