Thai hospital ordered to stop selling Covid-19 vaccinations in advance

A Thai private hospital was ordered on Sunday to stop advertising Covid-19 vaccinations for sale in advance.Vibhavadi Hospital in Bangkok, told Reuters its online offer for 1,000 initial reservations for the two-dose Moderna vaccine had been the result of a misunderstanding.The 350-bed hospital had advertised reservations for vaccinations later in 2021. The total cost of getting vaccinated was shown as 10,000 baht (RM1,350).The health ministry said in a statement that no Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for use in Thailand yet and that advertising one violated hospital regulations.Following the ministry’s statement, Chaisit Kupwiwat, a director at the hospital, told Reuters, “There was a misunderstanding. We planned to order the vaccines, but now we’ve stopped.”As the first governments begin vaccine rollouts around the world, people are asking how the limited supplies are being prioritised and whether people will be able to pay to jump the queue.Thailand has signed an advance deal for AstraZeneca’s potential vaccine, but has not yet set rollout plans for any brand.Moderna’s vaccine this month became the second to get emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration, following the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.Moderna has said it will deliver approximately 20 million doses to the US government this year and is expected to have between 100 million and 125 million delivered globally in the first quarter of 2021.In August, Moderna said it was pricing its vaccine at US$32 (RM130) to US$37 (RM150) per dose for smaller deals.Thailand is a major medical tourism destination, drawing patients from around the world.On Sunday, Thailand recorded 121 new cases of Covid-19 infection, according to the Centre for the Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).The new cases included 94 local infections, 18 Myanmar migrant workers in Samut Sakhon, a province near Bangkok where a cluster was discovered last week, and nine imported cases, CCSA’s spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin said.


PM announces RM500 Hari Raya aid for civil servants

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob today announced special Hari Raya assistance of RM500 for all civil servants in Grade 56 and below, and RM250 for government pensioners.In a statement, he said the aid would be given alongside their salaries for the month on April 25.The payments, which will amount to some RM923 million, are expected to benefit more than two million civil servants and pensioners, he added.Ismail said the aid was being announced earlier in order to allow civil servants time to prepare for Hari Raya celebrations.“This is also to show appreciation for their service and sacrifices in serving the Malaysian Family,” he added.“The government hopes that this special aid will help alleviate the financial burden of civil servants and pensioners and encourage them to continue serving with full dedication.”


Follow Sarawak in giving stateless children temporary papers, Suhakam body tells Putrajaya

The children’s commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) today welcomed the announcement that stateless children in Sarawak would be issued temporary documentation to allow them access to public schools and medical services at the same fee rate as citizens.Noor Aziah Mohd Awal said the move, announced by state women, childhood and community well-being development minister Fatimah Abdullah, marked a major administrative shift in favour of stateless children.She also urged Putrajaya to adopt the same measure for implementation across the country.“Since its inception, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) has received numerous complaints related to statelessness, including delays in school admissions, denied admission, steep education and medical costs.“These are contrary to Malaysia’s international obligations as a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to ensure that all institutions make the best interest of children a primary consideration in all actions,” she said.In a statement, she noted the stand of former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin that education should be made available to all children.She said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had also stated in his speech on World Children’s Day last year that every child has the right to proper education and a conducive environment to achieve their full potential.“The CC implores the federal government to cooperate with the Sarawak government in their progressive efforts by ensuring that education and health authorities recognise the temporary documentation,” she said.“In addition to violations of their right to nationality, stateless persons are often subject to many other human rights violations and thus, the CC appeals to the federal government to adopt the same measure to be implemented in all states.”


Cops step up watch over interstate travel amid spike in Covid cases

Interstate travel for work, medical and educational purposes are only allowed from Monday to Thursday, says Deputy Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani.With the exception of emergency cases, deaths and travel for long-distance married couples, no interstate travel is allowed from Friday to Sunday, he said.“The police view seriously the increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases over the past four days and have beefed up efforts to curb the spread of the pandemic,” he said in a statement.He also said interstate travel applications will only be approved for emergency cases and deaths involving immediate family members, that is parents, children and siblings.He added that interstate travel to attend social events such as weddings and other gatherings is strictly prohibited.“Interstate travel for social events remains prohibited until after the Aidilfitri festive season,” he said.On the non-compliance with SOPs at Ramadan bazaars, Acryl Sani said teams would be deployed to all locations to conduct monitoring.“If the SOPs are not complied with, the police will recommend to the local authorities to stop all business activities,” he said.


South Korea's Yoon tells unification ministry to be less soft on North

Having appointed a new unification minister days earlier, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Sunday that the ministry had focused too much on providing aid for North Korea in the past and needed to change.
The new minister Kim Yung-ho is a conservative scholar and outspoken critic human rights abuses in North Korea, which Yoon has sought to spotlight amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
"The Unification Ministry has been acting like the ministry of North Korea aid and it is wrong," Yoon was quoted as telling staff in a statement issued by his press secretary. "It's time for the unification ministry to change."
Yoon also urged the ministry to stand up for liberal democratic values and said unification should bring a "better and more human life" to people in the South and North.
In 2019, Kim wrote in an online column that the path to unification would open once North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's "regime is overthrown and North Korea is liberated."


PN wouldn't have gotten Malay votes without being racist, says DAP's Ramasamy

DAP leader P Ramasamy has accused Bersatu and PAS of racism, saying this was why they had the support of the Malays at last year's general election.
"In the last GE15, I don’t think that PN would have got more than 50% of Malay votes without engaging in the worst forms of racism and religious extremism," Ramasamy, who is the Penang deputy chief minister, said in a statement.
He also denied that Pakatan Harapan (PH) was guilty of racism, in an apparent response to Bersatu's Wan Saiful Wan Jan who accused the ruling coalition of playing up racial issues.
Ramasamy conceded that the Malays had voted overwhelmingly for Bersatu and PAS under Perikatan Nasional (PN), adding however that the two parties reinforced "the two forms of extremism".
"Yes, the non-Malays overwhelmingly voted for PH, is it a secret? The coalition got less Malay votes than PN. Is this a secret?" he asked.
PN, led by Muhyiddin Yassin, won a big chunk of the Malay votes at the last election, even ejecting Umno from its traditional strongholds.


Over 28.3 million vaccine jabs given, nearly 34% of population fully vaccinated

A total of 28,312,631 doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been administered under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme as of yesterday, according to the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply.A total of 17,252,314 individuals have received a first dose of vaccine while 11,060,317 people have been given a second dose.In terms of percentage, 52.8% of the population have received a first dose while 33.9% have completed both doses.In terms of the daily vaccination rate, a total of 501,776 doses were administered yesterday with 175,874 as first doses and 325,902 as second.


PKR MPs wait to exit party after leader’s palace debacle

PKR may be heading for a second wave of resignations from among its MPs following what an analyst describes as a damning statement from Istana Negara rejecting a claim by Anwar Ibrahim following his royal audience with the Agong yesterday, MalaysiaNow has learnt.At least four MPs may quit the party, with two of them indicating to MalaysiaNow that they were embarrassed by the “stunt” outside the palace which became the focus of the media in anticipation of Anwar’s highly publicised meeting with Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.“Some of us have come under heavy pressure to quit the party, and the statement by the palace just minutes after Anwar’s press conference yesterday appeared to be the last straw,” said a federal elected representative from PKR.Yesterday, the palace issued a statement which appeared to contradict Anwar’s claim that he had submitted “authentic documents” to the Agong to show he had secured support from the majority of MPs to topple the Muhyiddin Yassin government.Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, Comptroller of the Royal Family and Household, said Anwar had only stated the total number of MPs he claimed were backing him to take over Putrajaya.“However, he did not present the list of the MPs to strengthen the claim,” he said.MalaysiaNow has learnt that there could be a “second smaller wave” of MPs leaving PKR this time, after about a dozen of them quit the party during the February political crisis.At that time, then-PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali led a group of MPs to declare themselves as independent, with most eventually joining Bersatu to boost Muhyiddin’s parliamentary numbers.“This time, it could be a quartet, with two of them unable to take the heat after this afternoon’s debacle,” a close aide to a senior PKR leader told MalaysiaNow last night.The MP, representing a key constituency in the Klang Valley, said Anwar had given colleagues a “super confident” picture of his plan last Friday during a series of meetings with PKR elected representatives.Pressure has been building in the shape of wide discontent among grassroots.“We were even told to dress our best when the plan went into motion,” the MP said.While MalaysiaNow has been unable to independently verify the number of MPs who will quit the party, any possibility of this could further reduce PKR’s already thinned share of seats in the Parliament.The party currently has 38 MPs, but MalaysiaNow has learnt that a group of them had stayed put at the last minute despite indicating to Azmin in February that they would follow his exit.This time, pressure has been building in the shape of wide discontent among grassroots, after what is being seen as Anwar’s failure to provide proof of his claim that he has a “formidable” majority to bring down the government.“It is already an episode more embarrassing than the Sep 16 stunt 12 years ago,” a PKR division chairman in northern Perak told MalaysiaNow, referring to Anwar’s failed attempt to dislodge the Abdullah Badawi government through defections in the Dewan Rakyat in 2008.At the heart of the discontent is the perception that the party’s image has been battered by the statement from Istana Negara.One political observer said the statement could be interpreted as the palace’s “clear indictment” of the PKR leader.Shamsul Amri Baharuddin of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Ethnic Studies said Anwar had been “schooled” by the palace, and spoke of a perception that he had no regard for legal process.“So the palace schooled Anwar, telling him to follow and respect the legal process as provided by the Federal Constitution,” he added.Anwar on Sept 23 claimed he had the numbers – a “strong and formidable majority” – to form the federal government, thus fulfilling his decades-old quest for the seat of prime minister.He claimed he had secured the support of enough MPs to jump to his side while assuring that his future administration would be predominantly Malay.Fazreen Kamal contributed to this report.


No demotion for headmasters, education minister assures

Headmasters who hold Grade DG52 as administrators will not return to serve as regular teachers in primary schools as earlier claimed, Education Minister Radzi Jidin says.
He said the matter was decided in discussions at the education ministry level with the Public Service Department and the finance ministry.
"The headmasters involved who have already attained the grade need not worry. Such teachers will remain as headmasters for the total duration and the details will be announced soon," he said at a press conference in Tanjung Malim today.
On Sept 8, Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat was reported as requesting Radzi to look into allegations that headmasters as administrators holding Grade DG52 would return to work as ordinary teachers at primary schools.
Before this, the media reported that about 200 headmasters in Peninsular Malaysia who would be promoted to DG52 within a two-year period were worried about their fate as they might be demoted to serve as ordinary teachers at primary schools.
Asked about the total number of teachers involved, Radzi said the data was being reviewed.
He said he was confident however that it would not affect the promotion of other teachers.
"In this context, since they are school administrators, it doesn't matter because some administrators will retire and some new ones are appointed.
"The matter will continue at the headmaster level and we will see later, that there will be no problems in the matter," he said.


Thai-made AstraZeneca vaccines causing delays across Southeast Asia

AstraZeneca says it is working closely with Southeast Asia governments to ensure its Covid-19 vaccine is supplied “as quickly as possible”.The reassurance comes after reported delays in deliveries of orders from a Thai plant that is making vaccines for the first time.Malaysia and Taiwan this week became the latest in the region to warn they expected delays in deliveries of AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in Thailand.“Distribution to other Southeast Asian countries will commence in the coming weeks,” the company said in an email to Reuters. “We are working closely with each of the relevant governments to supply our vaccine as quickly as possible.”AstraZeneca’s vaccine distribution commitments in Southeast Asia depend on 200 million doses made by Siam Bioscience.Siam Bioscience in January said it had an estimated production capacity of 200 million doses per year, an average of 15-20 million doses per month.Neither the Thai company nor AstraZeneca has revealed total production goals or commented on whether the plant has missed its targets.Questions about Siam Bioscience meeting production targets are sensitive because King Maha Vajiralongkorn is its sole owner.The first delivery to the Philippines, which was promised 17 million doses, was reduced, and postponed by several weeks, a Philippine presidential adviser said last week.AstraZeneca has previously run into production and delivery problems in other parts of the world.A deal to set up production in Taiwan did not materialise, and it is also facing a legal challenge by the European Union over a supply contract.Thailand, which is experiencing its third and deadliest wave of Covid-19 outbreaks, anticipated receiving six million doses for June. Last week it received 1.8 million locally produced doses and 200,000 imported from South Korea.The AP has reported that Thailand’s much-anticipated Covid mass-vaccination campaign launched on Monday.The Thai government’s vaccination efforts have come under strong criticism, particularly because of its reliance on vaccines produced by Siam BioScience.Monitoring the company too closely is fraught with difficulty because of Thailand’s lese-majeste law, which forbids insulting the monarchy


Wake up from your self-induced nightmare, speaker slams Anwar’s latest claim

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun has urged Anwar Ibrahim and other politicians to stop politicising the issues surrounding the re-convening of Parliament proceedings, after the opposition chief claimed that the speaker’s office was being used by the government to delay the reopening of Parliament.In a strongly worded response, Azhar described Anwar’s claim as baseless, adding that the Port Dickson MP as a veteran politician and former deputy prime minister should be aware of the provisions of the Federal Constitution as well as the Standing Orders on the matter.“Anwar should wake up from his self-induced nightmare that the whole world is conspiring against him and his interests,” Azhar said in a statement to MalaysiaNow, adding that the recent initiative by he and his counterpart in the Dewan Negara, Rais Yatim, to have hybrid parliament proceedings should not be politicised.Anwar today claimed there were attempts to delay the reopening of Parliament, a day after Attorney-General Idrus Harun issued a statement to explain the powers of the Agong in calling for Parliament to reconvene.Idrus had said that the Agong was still bound by the advice of the Cabinet in discharging his official duties, echoing similar views given in recent days by prominent members of the judiciary.Anwar said any move to delay the Agong’s call to reconvene the Dewan Rakyat was tantamount to disobeying the palace.He also spoke of attempts by the Perikatan Nasional government to use the speaker’s office to delay the reopening of Parliament.“I categorically deny Anwar’s baseless allegation that the government had in any way used Parliament or my office to delay the reconvening of Parliament,” Azhar said in response to Anwar’s latest statement.“I would like to state again that the constitutional framework does not empower me to reconvene Parliament.”He also said he was ready to discharge his duties as speaker as soon as the Agong summons Parliament based on the provisions in the Federal Constitution.“I am ready to hold the meeting, even if it is tonight,” he added.Azhar said Anwar and other MPs were free to reject the recent proposal for a hybrid sitting.“We are just trying to offer this facility in order to lower the risk of contracting Covid-19 and dying from it for MPs and other officers and civil servants who would come to Parliament, as well as their families.“If Anwar and other MPs feel otherwise, I am completely okay with it.”‘Attempt to create conflict with palace’Meanwhile, Azhar said he was saddened by a claim by DAP’s Nga Kor Ming accusing him of defying the Agong’s decree, saying it was a clear attempt at creating a wedge between his office and Istana Negara.“I have never at any time defied or attempted to defy Tuanku Agong’s wishes. Never at any time did I say that Parliament should not convene as soon as possible, and I don’t know how or why Nga arrived at that conclusion,” Azhar said.Nga, the Teluk Intan MP who served as a deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat during Pakatan Harapan’s rule, said the proposal by Azhar and Rais that Parliament could reopen after several legal and technical issues were ironed out had publicly undermined the role of Parliament as a check and balance for the government.“Instead of respecting the Agong, it was shocking to see the Senate president and speaker of the Dewan Rakyat issuing a joint statement yesterday stating that they need time to study the mechanism of how to reconvene Parliament sittings,” Nga said.Azhar said on the contrary, he had fought for Nga and other opposition MPs to be part of the working committee to discuss the terms of the hybrid parliamentary proceedings.“It is obvious that my efforts count for nothing,” he added.


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Beijing urges Chinese banks to offer more real estate loans

Chinese financial authorities on Wednesday urged the country's banks to facilitate more lending to the real estate sector, in a new attempt at stemming a housing market crisis.
The move represents a relative reversal for Beijing, which since 2020 has sought to curb debt in the sector by tightening credit – a strategy that has financially crippled Chinese real estate firms.
In a joint statement Wednesday, China's central bank and the CBIRC national banking and insurance regulator called for lenders to "maintain reasonable and appropriate financing of the real estate sector".
The statement also calls for a "stabilisation of lending" to developers, many of whom are highly leveraged, provided they have "excellent governance" and "focus on their core business."
Though Chinese banks tend to mainly lend to large state-owned development groups, the statement also urged "equal treatment" of public and private companies.
Banks were also urged to "provide necessary credit support" to construction companies, the statement said.
Potential homebuyers have been reluctant to ink new deals in recent months because of uncertainty generated by China's various anti-Covid measures, leading to a sharp decrease in home prices.
Official figures for October released last week showed that new home prices fell 1.6% year over year, the largest decline in seven years.
The large deposit required for Chinese property purchases, 30% or more, has also exacerbated the issue.
Hoping to stimulate sales, financial authorities said in their statement Wednesday that they supported a "reasonable definition, at the local level, of a floor percentage for down payments and interest rates of housing loans".
Property and construction account for around a quarter of China's gross domestic product, but crippling debts have forced a series of developers to default on loans while others have struggled to raise cash.
Analysts have raised fears that the crisis could yet spread to the financial sector at a time when Beijing's hardline zero-Covid policy has also put a lid on growth.
The central bank and the CBIRC announced initial support measures a little over a week ago, including extending deadlines for developers.


Covid jabs to be made mandatory for all retail workers

The domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry is in the final phase of making vaccination for all employees in the retail sector one of the pre-conditions for approval for companies to resume operations during the National Recovery Plan (NRP) period.Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said this was especially for economic activities that involve face-to-face contact and interaction.“Retail, distribution and services are among the important economic sectors for the development of the country.“They are also sectors which have been adversely affected by the implementation of the movement control order where almost the entire retail sector is not allowed to operate except those in essential services.“Therefore, the ministry hopes that the vaccination of workers in the retail sector can be expedited to enable businesses to reopen and operate fully earlier under the NRP,” he said in a statement today.He said the ministry was also looking into expanding the industrial vaccination centres (PPVINs) for the retail industry vaccination programme (RiVAC) outside the Klang Valley, especially in Johor and Penang, in the near future.“Additional PPVINs will accelerate the achievement of the Operation Surge Capacity objective which targets 100% of the Klang Valley population receiving at least a first dose of vaccine by Aug 1.”He said there were currently five RiVAC PPVINs in the Klang Valley which began operations this week and one RiVAC PPVIN in Melaka which would start operating in early August.He said so far, a total of 226,353 employees in the retail and distribution industry nationwide had registered through 4,033 companies with RiVAC.“As of yesterday, a total of 2,348 people had received a first dose of vaccine at the RiVAC PPVIN at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, 1,206 people at the RiVAC PPVIN at IOI City Mall and 779 people at the RiVAC PPVIN Petaling Jaya Performing Arts Centre, in Bandar Utama,” he said.Registration can be made through the ministry’s portal at rov.kpdnhep.gov.my/rov, where further information is also available.Interested parties can also contact the Trade Distribution and Services Industry Secretariat at 03-8882 5881/ 5905 or through email to [email protected]


Party big guns submit nomination papers for Sarawak polls

Leading party figures contesting in the 12th Sarawak state election submitted their nomination papers during the period for submission of the documents which closed at 10am today.Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu president and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chairman Abang Johari Openg, who had held the Satok seat since 1981 before deciding to switch to Gedong in this election, submitted his nomination papers at the Gedong community hall.His two deputy chief ministers, Douglas Uggah Embas and Awang Tengah Ali Hasan meanwhile submitted their nomination papers for the Bukit Saban and Bukit Sari seats respectively.Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Dr Sim Kui Hian filed his nomination papers for Batu Kawah at the Padawan Municipal Council building at the Mile 10 Bazaar, while Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Tiong King Sing submitted his at the Sibu Jaya public library for the Dudong seat.Both SUPP and PDP are GPS component parties.Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen filed his nomination papers at the Kuching South City Council auditorium for the Padungan constituency while Parti Sarawak Bersatu president Wong Soon Koh submitted his for the Bawang Assan seat at the Sibu Civic Centre.


Campaigning in Bagan Datuk, Anwar steers clear of criticising Zahid

PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim had hard words for each of his political foes while campaigning in Bagan Datuk today, from Muhyiddin Yassin to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, although one name appeared absent from the list: the constituency's incumbent, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Speaking at a ceramah in the Umno president's stronghold, Anwar focused on criticising Muhyiddin's administration during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, never once mentioning the corruption charges brought against Zahid.
Instead, he sought to play down speculation of a secret pact between him and Zahid.
"We have sent our commander to fight Zahid," he said, referring to Pakatan Harapan's candidate for the seat, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.
"People say that Anwar has held talks with his student," he added. "I am a friend to all, I have no personal enemies.
"Najib Razak put me in jail, but I didn't raise the matter. It's just that his luck wasn't good enough and he was sent to jail. Karma."
Zahid was recently acquitted of a number of corruption charges linked to the foreign visa system. However, he still faces 47 others involving the misappropriation of funds from charity outfit Yayasan Akalbudi.
Anwar also hit out at Perak PAS commissioner Razman Zakaria, repeatedly calling him "stupid".
Razman had previously claimed that Anwar would legalise same-sex marriage and that DAP would carry a communist agenda if PH won GE15.
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was not spared either, with Anwar saying that his one-time ally was "riding on religion".
"I campaigned with Nik Omar," he said. "He said his father (Nik Aziz) never stopped praying that I would become prime minister.
"Yusuf Qardhawi, the world's number leading religious scholar and Hadi's boss, also supported me as prime minister."
Anwar, who is contesting the parliamentary seat of Tambun in GE15, said Mahathir was not to be trusted either, following the former prime minister's statement that he was willing to work together with other opposition parties.
"Enough, Mahathir. The people are not stupid. He was given a chance (but he) did it again."


Ban on full facial coverings to be put to vote in Switzerland

Switzerland votes Sunday on whether to ban full facial coverings in public places, despite women in Islamic full-face veils being an exceptionally rare sight in Swiss streets.Polls indicate a slim majority support the move, in a vote that comes after years of debate following similar bans in other European countries – and in some Muslim-majority states.The Swiss are voting on the publicly triggered proposal “Yes to a ban on full facial coverings”.It does not mention the burqa or the niqab – which leaves the eyes uncovered – but there is no doubt what the debate is about.Campaign posters reading “Stop radical Islam!” and “Stop extremism!”, featuring a woman in a black niqab, have been plastered around Swiss cities.Rival posters read: “No to an absurd, useless and Islamophobic ‘anti-burqa’ law”.The ban would mean that nobody could cover their face completely in public – whether in shops or the open countryside.There would be exceptions, including for places of worship.“It’s a question of civilisation. Free men and women present themselves with uncovered faces,” said Yes campaign spokesman Jean-Luc Addor, of the populist right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP).“It is an extreme form of Islam,” he told AFP.“Fortunately, there are not many” burqa-wearing women in Switzerland, he acknowledged, stressing though that “when a problem exists, we deal with it before it gets out of control”.‘Mostly tourists’The Yes camp remains ahead in the polls, but its comfortable lead in January shrank back in February surveys.The government and parliament oppose a nationwide ban.Their counter-proposal – automatically triggered if the initiative is rejected – would require people to show their faces to the authorities if necessary for identification, for example at borders.Fines of up to US$10,900 could be imposed on anyone who refused.Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter has stressed that most women seen wearing full face veils are tourists.Under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, referenda and popular votes occur every few months at the national, regional and local levels.Any topic can be put to a national vote as long as it gathers 100,000 signatures in the wealthy nation of 8.6 million people.The Egerkingen committee which brought forward the initiative is heavily backed by the SVP, but some liberal and left-leaning politicians have joined the Yes campaign in the name of protecting women’s rights.‘Useless, racist, sexist’However, many feminist organisations oppose the ban.“Besides being useless, this text is racist and sexist,” said Ines El-Shikh, spokesman for the Purple Headscarves feminist Muslim women’s group.“In 2021, it is unacceptable for the Swiss constitution to have an article proscribing or prohibiting women from wearing whatever they want,” she told AFP.“A burqa ban is not done for women, but against them.“Whether we’re in a mini-skirt, a burqa or topless, what we want is to be able to choose for ourselves.”El-Shikh said the proposed law created the impression of a problem, but “there are only 30 women in burqas in Switzerland”.A 2019 Federal Statistical Office survey found that 5.5% of the Swiss population were Muslims, mainly with roots in the former Yugoslavia.Switzerland has a history of voting against visible signs of its growing Islamic community.A 2009 vote banned the construction of minaret towers on mosques, sparking anger abroad.Two Swiss cantons already have full facial covering bans.‘Soldiers of extreme Islam’Yes spokesman Addor said the initiative was not about Muslims, but about women, “often against their will”, being transformed “into soldiers of extreme political Islam”.“We can’t talk about equality and then tolerate an ostentatious sign of the submission and alienation of women,” he said.Human Rights Watch chief Ken Roth said that while some Muslim women felt societal pressure to cover up, a ban would violate freedoms.“How one dresses poses no threat to anybody else,” he said.The Swiss Council of Religions thinks the ban would be a disproportionate restriction on religious freedom.The vote comes at a time when face masks are mandatory in shops and on public transport due to the coronavirus pandemic.The Swiss will also vote on two other national issues Sunday: a plan to introduce a federally recognised electronic identity; and a trade agreement with Indonesia.


How Malaysia ranks globally as WHO warns of worldwide spike in Covid cases

Malaysia sits somewhere in the middle of a list of Asian countries ranked according to the number of deaths proportionate to their populations despite the recent surge in casualties from Covid-19 which has taken more than 6,000 lives in the country so far.Data compiled by Worldometer, a globally trusted source of statistics referred to by governments and international media organisations, placed Malaysia at 26th position out of 49 countries, measuring death rates per million population.The list also shows that Malaysia’s death toll so far is still lower than that of countries with far smaller populations such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Azerbaijan, or those with populations more or less the same size of Malaysia’s such as Saudi Arabia and Nepal.However, the recent spike in deaths from the pandemic could see Malaysia pushed further up the list.On the global level, Malaysia is also ranked somewhere in the middle, at 119th spot out of 222 countries in terms of Covid-19 deaths per million, a list topped by Peru, Hungary and Bosnia & Herzegovina.Peru, whose population is 32.5 million, has recorded more than 194,000 deaths, followed by Hungary where some 30,000 people out of a population of 10 million have died.Canada, another country with a population more or less the size of Malaysia’s, has recorded more than 26,000 deaths since the pandemic began, four times more than Malaysia’s total death toll.“But with almost half of the people in Canada having been vaccinated, the number of deaths there has been drastically reduced to less than 10,” a health ministry official who declined to be named told MalaysiaNow.“The hope is still in achieving herd immunity, where data worldwide has shown a sharp drop in daily casualties in countries where vaccination has been successful.“As such, while our situation from a statistical point of view is still not as bad as other countries before the vaccination programme, we cannot be complacent. Much has to do with individual cautions,” the official added.Daily cases and deaths from Covid-19 in the country have continued to spike even after weeks of various stages of lockdown under the movement control order, with some Malaysians taking to social media to express fears that the country is fighting a losing battle against the pandemic.Yesterday, another record high of 9,353 new cases was reported, with 87 deaths taking the death toll so far to 6,067.The bulk of the cases have been recorded in the Klang Valley, with Selangor frequently accounting for about half of the total cases nationwide, in what health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has attributed to mass screenings.“The hope is still in achieving herd immunity, where data worldwide has shown a sharp drop in daily casualties in countries where vaccination has been successful.”But the World Health Organization (WHO) said the increase in cases is a global trend.“We’re tracking this virus circulation all over the world and we are seeing sharp increases in far too many countries right now,” said WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove earlier this week.Despite leading the global immunisation drive, Europe saw a 33% increase in new cases last week.The UK, where more than half of the population has been fully vaccinated, reported 32,367 new cases yesterday and 34 deaths, the most since January.Meanwhile, there has been a 8.6% increase in Southeast Asia, where Indonesia is currently seeing daily deaths of about 1,000 based on officially available data.Van Kerkhove said among factors behind the global spike was increased social mobility, as well as the unfair distribution of vaccines.“We know that the social mixing, the social mobility of people is increasing around the world. These events around the world drive transmission because you bring people together if the right interventions are not in place.”WHO has also warned that high vaccination rates could give a false sense of safety against the pandemic which has so far killed over four million people and ravaged economies worldwide due to frequent restrictions on daily lives.It also cautioned countries with high vaccination rates which are thinking of reopening, saying the recent spikes caused by the Delta variant are a cause for concern.“This is not a flat curve, this is an increasing curve. Making assumptions that transmission will not increase because we’re opening up, because of vaccines, is a false assumption. Transmission will increase when you open up,” Dr Mike Ryan, who heads WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said recently.Noor Hisham meanwhile remained optimistic of better days ahead in Malaysia, saying cases will stabilise and decline in the next one to two weeks, while pinning hope on the vaccination programme.“I am confident that with better movement control methods, we will see a more stable total number of cases as well as a drop within a week or two. At the same time, the vaccination process must be expedited,” he told Bernama last night.Some 11 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine so far under Malaysia’s Covid-19 immunisation drive, with the goal of achieving herd immunity by December well on target.


North Korean satellite plunges into sea after rocket failure

A North Korean satellite launch on Wednesday ended in failure after the rocket's second stage malfunctioned, sending the booster and payload plunging into the sea, North Korean state media said.
The new "Chollima-1" satellite launch rocket failed because of instability in the engine and fuel system, state news agency KCNA reported.
The flight was the nuclear-armed state's sixth satellite launch attempt, and the first since 2016. It was supposed to put North Korea's first spy satellite in orbit.
It prompted emergency alerts and brief evacuation warnings in parts of South Korea and Japan. The notices were withdrawn with no danger or damage reported.
North Korea had said it would launch its first military reconnaissance satellite between May 31 and June 11 to boost monitoring of US military activities.
South Korea last week placed satellites in orbit with a domestically designed and produced rocket for the first time, and China sent three astronauts to its space station as part of crew rotation on Tuesday.
Warnings issued
In data provided to international authorities, North Korea said the launch would carry the rocket south, with stages and other debris expected to fall over the Yellow Sea and into the Pacific Ocean.
Air raid sirens wailed across the South Korean capital of Seoul about 6.32am (2132 GMT Tuesday) as the city warned citizens to prepare for a potential evacuation. Later alerts said the city warning had been a mistake.
The Japanese government issued an emergency warning over its J-Alert broadcasting system for residents of the southern prefecture of Okinawa to take cover indoors early on Wednesday morning.
It later said the rocket would not fly into Japanese territory and lifted the warnings.
Missile technology
On Tuesday, Ri Pyong Chol, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, said ongoing joint military exercises by the US and South Korea required Pyongyang to have the "means capable of gathering information about the military acts of the enemy in real time."
Before Wednesday's launch, the US State Department said any North Korean launch that used ballistic missile technology would violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.
"Space launch vehicles incorporate technologies that are identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles," a State Department spokesman said.
North Korea has attempted five other satellite launches, with two placed in orbit, including during its last such launch in 2016. Its capacity for constructing working satellites remains unproven, however, analysts say.
"To the best of our knowledge, North Korea has a very limited capacity to build satellites," said Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation, a US-based space policy and security organisation.
"They have launched a couple of satellites before, but all of them failed immediately after launch or shortly thereafter and none of them appeared to have any significant capability."


Umno rebellion grows as another Youth chief calls for Zahid to step down

Dissatisfaction among Umno grassroots leaders against party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi appears to be slowly emerging, with two Youth leaders from Johor and Negeri Sembilan calling for his resignation.Seremban Umno Youth chief Zool Amali Hussin today said he supported the views of his counterpart from Pontian urging Zahid to step down from the top party post.But he said critics of the president were not airing their views out of anger for Zahid.“This is not a movement to topple the president but a voice of dissatisfaction out of love for Umno,” Zool Amali told MalaysiaNow, a day after Pontian Umno Youth chief Helmi Buang called for Zahid’s resignation.He said he would not be surprised if more leaders including from the central Youth leadership speak up against the top Umno leader.Zool Amali HussinZool Amali also said talk of making Umno more appealing to the younger generation was only rhetoric.He slammed some Umno leaders as power hungry, adding that they had distanced themselves from the youth’s aspirations.“That is a sign that at the 15th general election, the 18-year-old voters will not choose Umno.”Earlier in a Facebook video, he appeared to take a potshot at Zahid’s support for PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim’s plan to topple Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government last October.“When the youth voice out, the veterans cannot accept it although we are speaking up for truth. We speak up but we have never sat together with the opposition leader,” he had said, as quoted by Utusan Malaysia.In October, MalaysiaNow revealed the contents of a letter to the palace jointly written by Zahid and former party chief Najib Razak, expressing support for Anwar’s bid to become the prime minister through the defection of MPs.This is not the first time Zahid is facing rebellion from the party’s Youth and state leaders.In 2018, Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki urged Zahid to take leave from his post, following multiple corruption charges against the former deputy prime minister.December 2018 meanwhile saw an exodus of Umno leaders in Sabah which the state youth wing blamed on Zahid.That same month, Zahid announced that he was temporarily handing over his duties as president to his deputy Mohamad Hasan. He returned to the post some six months later.Fazreen Kamal contributed to this report.


China's jobless turn to car boot sales as Covid-hit economy stalls

When the Covid-19 pandemic forced Wang Wei to shut his tourism company, the Tianjin native poured his life-savings of US$11,785 into selling coffee from the back of his green Suzuki micro van in the Chinese capital Beijing.
Since June, Wang has driven his mobile coffee booth from car boot fair to car boot fair, offering hand-brewed coffee steeped in an assortment of liqueurs.
Once considered too low-status for many, peddling wares on the street has made a comeback as people who lost their jobs or closed down their businesses seek new ways to make a living and work around China's relentless anti-Covid policies.
Hospitality, tourism and after-school tutoring have been particularly hard hit.
Wang, 40, gave up a bricks-and-mortar coffee shop in Tianjin in 2020 when the pandemic first hit. Overseas group tours he used to organise also took a blow that year, with a lucrative trip to see the aurora borealis cancelled, costing him hundreds of thousands of yuan in lost earnings.
This year, the spread of the Omicron variant across China was the final nail in the coffin, making his group tours to the Chinese backcountry impossible.
Wang started running his mobile coffee booth this summer, after car boot fairs emerged in big southern cities like Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou.
Under a canopy extending from Wang's van, customers relax in camping chairs, with soft lights in the evening completing the glamping experience.
"The rising popularity of this car boot sale market has helped me tide over the most difficult of times," said Wang, who reckons he earns about 1,000 yuan a day.
Jobless youth
China's economy barely grew in April-June. Youth unemployment has remained high, reaching a record 19.9% in July, the fourth month in which the rate had broken records.
Pan, 25, closed his bar in Shenzhen after a COVID outbreak in March, saddling him with over 100,000 yuan in debts.
"I was pretty down, and one night, my fiancée Annie, wanting to cheer me up, took me to a watering hole in a quiet area with warm, faint lights and soft music," he said.
That was when he saw a couple selling liquor at an outdoor stall, inspiring him to do the same - but from his Tesla.
"My best friend lent me 3,000 yuan, which became the initial investment for our pop-up liquor shop," Pan said.
Pan and Annie ran out of money in their first week, but their determination paid off, with daily revenues since climbing as high as 7,800 yuan.
"In the future, we plan to travel the country with our Tesla and sell liquor from the boot of our car in cities we enjoy the most," said Pan.
'Penniless'
Policymakers, in tacit admittance jobs are harder to come by, have encouraged "flexible" employment in the informal economy.
Even Beijing, which has long regarded makeshift market-places as beneath the capital, is closing an eye to car boot sales.
Liu, 30, used to make a living teaching Beijing kids how to solve the Rubik's Cube, but after in person learning was shuttered due to Covid, she became "penniless".
She now sells coffee from the back of her small van and hopes her small business will pull her out of her financial straits.
"We are still losing money at this stage, I get less than 100 yuan a day most of the time - not enough for meals and transportation," she said. "But I'm happy just being occupied."


DAP spends big on FB ads as online campaign heats up for Melaka

DAP has emerged as the biggest spender for advertisements on Facebook ahead of the Melaka state election, according to a group which has been observing and collecting data on the current campaign.Kuasa said data from Facebook Ads for Nov 9 to 15 showed that a total of RM150,000 had been spent on ads, of which over RM60,000 was by DAP through its two Facebook accounts – Democratic Action Party and DAP Malaysia.RM37,851 was spent on the former while RM23,896 was spent on DAP’s Mandarin-language “Rocket” account.“It’s easy to know that this is DAP’s as they spend in a central manner, concluding their Facebook advertising expenditure as a whole,” Kuasa president Praba Ganesan told MalaysiaNow.When asked about the expenditure of other parties for this purpose, Praba said this is difficult to determine as many of them campaign using their individual Facebook accounts.“For example, Amanah uses Adly Zahari’s Facebook account, spending RM23,312, while Perikatan Nasional Melaka is registered under Nur Hayati Hassan, with an expenditure of RM5,562,” he said.“Nevertheless, the added amount is still less than what DAP spent.”He added that spending on Facebook advertising is expected to increase over the remainder of the campaign period.He said the sudden increase in advertising fees for Facebook ads in Melaka further confirmed that the expenses are in conjunction with the Melaka state election.“Facebook ads in Melaka recorded a collection of RM150,000 – a big increase compared to other states,” he said.“In second place is Selangor, with just RM12,000.”A total of 112 candidates are contesting the Melaka election, which was sparked by the dissolution of the state legislative assembly after Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali of Umno lost his majority support.Face-to-face campaigning has been banned under Covid-19 health SOPs, with parties encouraged to campaign online instead.Praba said it might be difficult for Barisan Nasional to win the election despite its strong support base in the state.“For example, the Tanjung Bidara seat in the Masjid Tanah parliamentary constituency is seen as an Umno stronghold, but Mas Ermieyati Shamsuddin will definitely put up a strong fight there,” he said.“Mas Ermieyati is an MP and a Bersatu division chief in addition to being a former Puteri Umno chief. She can be expected to have strong influence in the area, and it’s possible that she will defeat Umno’s candidate, Ab Rauf Yusoh.”Praba said the instability in Umno itself, led by its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and those who are unsatisfied with Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) achievements, would also give PN the edge in Melaka.“Both the PH and Umno administrations collapsed within three years. Voters might decide to give Bersatu a chance instead,” he said.


'Suitcase killer' pleads guilty in US to role in mum's murder

A US woman known as the "suitcase killer" pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to murder her mother, whose body was hidden in a piece of luggage after she was slain in Bali in 2014, the Department of Justice said.
Heather Mack, 27, was arrested in 2021 upon her return to the US after spending seven years in prison in Indonesia for the killing.
She faces an additional 28 years in prison in the US when she is sentenced in December.
In 2015, then-teenager Mack and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer were convicted in Indonesia of hatching a plan to kill her mother, Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese Mack, who had been vacationing at a hotel on the island of Bali.
Schaefer beat the 62-year-old victim to death with a fruit bowl during a heated argument at the five-star St Regis resort, before the couple abandoned the suitcase containing the battered body in a taxi and fled.
Mack, who was pregnant at the time of the crime, was found guilty on a lesser charge of assisting in the murder and sentenced to 10 years, while Schaefer got 18 years.
Schaefer confessed during his trial but claimed he was defending himself during an argument with von Wiese Mack, who was unhappy that her daughter was pregnant.
Prosecutors alleged that Schaefer, who is black, "blindly hit" von Wiese Mack with the fruit bowl in a fit of rage after she hurled a racial slur at him.
The couple then stuffed the body into the suitcase together, the trial was told.
Schaefer remains incarcerated in Indonesia, while Mack, who gave birth to a girl at the start of her sentence, was released in 2021 for good behaviour.
US charges against Schaefer are pending, the Justice Department said Friday.
In 2017, Schaefer's cousin Robert Ryan Bibbs was also convicted in the case, accused of advising the couple with their plan. He was sentenced to nine years.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that the constitution's injunction against "double jeopardy" doesn't apply in cases where someone is tried in one country and then pursued in another with its own distinct laws proscribing a distinct offence.
The US indictment accused Mack of conspiracy and other conduct not charged in the Indonesian case.


China’s Sinopharm says vaccine ‘79% effective’

Phase 3 trials of a Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine found it was 79% effective, the Chinese pharma giant said Wednesday, lower than rival jabs developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna but a potential breakthrough in the battle to stem the pandemic in Asia.China has been racing against the West to develop its own Covid-19 vaccines, with five already in large-scale Phase 3 clinical trials.But Wednesday’s announced was the first data released regarding the efficacy of a Chinese vaccine candidate.“The protective effect of the (Sinopharm CNBG Beijing) vaccine against Covid-19 is 79.34%,” said the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a Sinopharm subsidiary.Sinopharm has applied to China’s drug regulator for approval of the inactivated coronavirus vaccine, the statement said, a type of inoculation using particles of the pathogen.But China has struggled to gain international trust for its vaccine candidates, hindered by a lack of transparency on test results.It has also been slow to complete Phase 3 trials, which had to be conducted abroad due to China’s success at curbing the spread of Covid-19 within its own borders.Chinese officials have repeatedly assured the public of the vaccines’ safety, claiming that there have been no serious adverse reactions.More than one million people have already been vaccinated with unapproved vaccines in China under its emergency use programme, including frontline health workers, state-owned enterprise employees and workers planning to travel abroad.The United Arab Emirates approved a Sinopharm vaccine earlier this month, becoming the first foreign country to approve a China-developed Covid-19 vaccine. It said the vaccine was 86% effective, according to interim results of a Phase 3 trial.Beijing has pledged to share the vaccine at a fair cost – a potential boost for poorer Asian countries who are otherwise reliant on limited distribution offered by the Covax scheme.“China has made the firm commitment that after China’s new coronavirus vaccines are completed and put into use, they will serve as a global public product and be supplied to the world at a fair and reasonable price,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Friday.“We will also give priority to developing countries for vaccines. This will be made through a variety of ways, including through donations and aid.”


Zahid should resign, says Umno Supreme Council man

A member of Umno’s highest decision-making body has urged Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to step down as president, saying this is to ensure that the party does not suffer defeat in the 15th general election (GE15).In a report by Utusan Malaysia, Umno Supreme Council man Zahidi Zainul Abidin cited Zahid’s multiple corruption charges, saying it would be difficult for the party to gain the support of the people in GE15.“If he is a gentleman, with the spirit and a big heart, then he should resign,” Zahidi was quoted as saying.“This would be better for Umno,” the deputy communications and multimedia minister added.“In the present situation, many are confident in Umno which has become the people’s hope. But with the president embroiled in a court case, can Umno get the support of the people?”Zahidi, the Padang Besar MP, said Zahid should follow the example of previous party leaders like Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, Muhammad Muhd Taib and Khir Toyo who had stepped down from their positions after being charged in court.The Umno Supreme Council will hold a meeting tonight to decide whether or not to withdraw from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.Yesterday, Utusan Malaysia reported that Zahid had admitted to his party leaders that it was his voice in a recording of a phone conversation that exposed his cooperation with PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim.It also said that Zahid had admitted to signing a statutory declaration in support of Anwar as prime minister.When it was first reported by MalaysiaNow in April, Zahid had denied that it was him in the recording, saying that he would lodge a police report on the matter.Anwar meanwhile described the audio recording as part of “sophisticated attempts” to defame him, and said he would let the police investigate.Zahidi said he and a group of Umno MPs believed that the PN government would not collapse even if the Malay party withdraws its support.“If we retract our support for PN, we will lose our positions and allocations as well as the states that are administered by Barisan Nasional,” he said in the report.


I have full trust in my officers, says AG Idrus to ‘insults’ from Thomas

Attorney-General Idrus Harun has spoken in strong defence of his staff in the wake of suggestions by his predecessor that the Attorney-General’s Chambers lacks competent legal officers which forced several high-profile cases to be delegated to lawyers from the private sector.“I would like to emphasise and give my assurance that I will not be influenced by the contents of the book that clearly show narrow thinking from the brief experience of a man who has no understanding of the public service institution, especially the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the very functions of the AG,” said Idrus, referring to the book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness”, an autobiography of former AG Tommy Thomas.He said the comments by Thomas amounted to a “blatant insult to our legal institutions that we have come to respect and cherish”.Idrus, a former Court of Appeal judge with more than three decades of experience in the judicial service, said he had full confidence in his officers, adding that they had shown the “ability, expertise, commitment and dedication” to carry out their responsibilities without fear or favour.“Indeed, I am proud that since the publication of the book, the officers have managed to get judgments favouring the government in high-profile cases,” Idrus said, in a possible reference to yesterday’s verdict by the High Court which sentenced former Felda chairman Isa Samad to jail after he was convicted of corruption.“This clearly shows the ability of legal officers to handle court cases at the same, if not better, level as private lawyers,” he said.Idrus added that officers at the AGC are diligent and have sacrificed their time outside of working hours in performing their duties.Thomas in his book had suggested that the AGC was more relaxed than it was during his time as a private lawyer.He said when he first started work during the fasting month, it was “rather quiet and slow in the AGC, particularly compared to the hurly-burly of private practice, and the incessant demands of clients”.Thomas also claimed that he was informed by Manoj Kurup, a senior prosecutor at the AGC, that no one in his team had expertise in cross-examining witnesses for the impending SRC International case against former prime minister Najib Razak.“I replied that this would not pose a problem, because I enjoyed cross-examination, and would be happy to undertake it in the SRC case,” Thomas wrote.Thomas further said he had personally checked the draft of charges against Najib as the case would attract global press coverage.He said he wanted to expect the prosecution to deliver a “professional presentation” that was free from mistakes and errors.“In short, I could not find an AGC officer of sufficient experience, expertise, with the ability to work independently and to lead the preparation in my absence,” Thomas wrote in his book.He said he then turned to “experienced criminal lawyers in the Bar with whom I could work”.He said he selected Sulaiman Abdullah and Gopal Sri Ram, describing the latter, a former Federal Court judge, as someone “keen” to take on the case.


BN gears up for another big election win after low voter turnout

Barisan Nasional (BN) is gearing up for yet another election win following a low voter turnout in Johor today, with unofficial results placing it in the lead in 42 out of 56 seats as of 8.40pm, according to the coalition.As of 4pm, only 50% of voters had turned out to cast their ballots – a scenario which analysts had said would work in BN’s favour.Polling began at 8am and closed at 6pm at just over 1,000 voting centres across the state.A total of 2.5 million regular voters had been eligible to cast their ballots.Some 87% of early voters comprising members of the security forces and their spouses turned out to vote on March 8.The Johor election sees 239 candidates from 15 parties contesting for the 56 seats in the state legislative assembly.At the 14th general election, Pakatan Harapan took Johor, claiming victory in 36 of the state seats. DAP won 14, Amanah nine, PKR five and Bersatu, which was with the coalition at the time, eight.BN won 19 seats while PAS won one.The PH government in Johor collapsed after Bersatu exited PH at the federal level in February 2020.Bersatu later teamed up with BN and PAS to form the government in Johor with 29 seats.


Air quality plummets in Indian capital as temperature falls

Air pollution worsened in New Delhi on Monday to the "very poor" category after a few days of clear skies, as lower temperatures and calmer winds trapped pollutants.
The Indian capital's pollution causes illnesses such as asthma and other respiratory problems every winter as the heavy air does not let vehicular emissions, construction dust and farm-fire residues disperse easily.
The air quality in the city of 20 million was "very poor" overall and sank to "severe" in some areas, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board. The air quality index hit 457 in the Anand Vihar locality - nine times the "good" level.
The government's System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research blamed the foul air on a drop in temperatures and reduced wind speeds.
Delhi's temperature has been hovering around a low of 6 degrees Celsius (42.8 Fahrenheit) for the past few days, lower than the normal minimum of 8 degrees Celsius for this time of year.
Measures such as occasional suspension of construction activities, sprinkling water on roads, and enforcing restrictions on diesel vehicles have only partly helped address Delhi's pollution problem.
Pollution from the burning of crop residues in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, however, has come down this year.


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Govt to stop using new cases for transition to next phase

The number of new Covid-19 cases with serious symptoms will be used as a new indicator for transition into Phases Three and Four of the National Recovery Plan (NRP), its coordinating minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said today.He said this would replace the new cases indicator, using as proxy new hospital admission cases for Covid-19 adapted for Categories Three, Four and Five.Having reached a vaccination rate of 40% among the adult population, he said the number of new Covid-19 cases had become less relevant as most cases were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic (Categories One and Two), effectively reducing the burden on the public health infrastructure.“However, the vaccination rate, as well as the ICU utilisation rate indicators will still be maintained,” he said in the 64th Report of the National Economic Implementation and Strategic Coordination Agency (Laksana).Zafrul, who is also finance minister, said based on researched data and science, a high vaccination rate within the population helps reduce the number of serious symptomatic cases.He said this trend was not only observed overseas, but in Sarawak and Labuan as well.In line with the change in the key indicator for transition into Phases Two and Three, he said Perlis, Sarawak and Labuan had met the set threshold value, and successfully moved to Phase Three of the NRP.“Perlis has already met all the previous threshold values to move to Phase Three, while Sarawak has achieved a vaccination rate of 63.7% of the adult population, surpassing the threshold value for Phase Four for the indicator, which is 60%.“Although the number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak is more than 300 a day, the number of cases per day identified in Categories Three, Four and Five is less than 10 cases, or 2% of the cases reported,” he said.He said the situation in Labuan was recognised as a resounding success, as not long ago Labuan had experienced a dire situation with uncontrolled transmission rates.With rapid and widespread vaccination efforts, however, new Covid-19 cases as well as ICU admissions had dropped significantly, he said.


Bonus for Sarawak civil servants only at year-end, says premier

The Sarawak government’s financial aid or bonus payments for civil servants will only be disbursed at the end of the year, Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg says.
He said the financial aid would not be given according to festive seasons, including the upcoming Aidilfitri.
"Sarawak is a state that celebrates many festivals such as Chinese New Year, Gawai and Aidilfitri, and we have to be fair to all.
"So we will disburse the (financial aid and bonus) payments at the end of the year so as to help parents make the necessary preparations for the new school session.
"That is more important, that’s why I give the bonus at the end of the year," he said after an event in Gedong today.
When tabling the state’s budget for 2023 at the state assembly sitting on Dec 1 last year, Abang Johari announced a special incentive of 1.5-month's salary or a minimum of RM2,000 for the state’s civil servants.
He also announced a special incentive of RM500 for approximately 137,000 federal civil servants in the state. The payments of all the incentives were disbursed before the end of last year.


Pandemic hardship creating malnourished school dropouts

The lure of earning a quick RM200 dealing drugs on the street is always tempting to poor teenage boys who are already not interested in school.Now, in the pandemic, criminal networks are recruiting boys who drop out early, meaning there is little hope of them ever returning to school, Universiti Malaya professor Shanthi Thambiah tells MalaysiaNow.Since schools reopened in June, the number of upper secondary school dropouts from poor families has been rising. Many parents in urban poor households report that their children have lost interest in school, leading to nearly 10% of boys aged 15 to 17 dropping out, and 7% of girls.One contributing factor is poor diet worsened by the pandemic, according to a new report.When it comes to feeding their families at a time when jobs are disappearing rapidly, mothers with little cash have to make hard choices. They are forced to buy less fresh meat, vegetables and fruit, and instead put on the dinner table cheaper highly processed packaged food that is less nutritious but keeps hunger at bay.The result is children in urban low-income families experiencing slower cognitive development due to poor nutrition.This comes on the heels of warnings by a senior dietician from the health ministry that the closure of schools across the country could cut off much needed nutritious meals provided by the government for children from the lower income bracket.“We must tackle these pandemic-specific issues of under-nourished children and school dropouts,” says Shanthi. “It’s very important we do not further disadvantage the already-disadvantaged as the negative impacts will be felt long after the pandemic has ended.”Many parents in urban poor households report that their children have lost interest in school, leading to nearly 10% of boys aged 15 to 17 dropping out, and 7% of girls.She says long-term economic and social instability will arise from the effects of these two Covid-related disadvantages affecting the urban poor.“Even before the MCO, the number of boys dropping out of upper secondary was worrying. Many of them felt obliged to provide for their family if one or both parents was unable to provide two square meals a day,” she says, adding that now, with so many parents out of work, the situation is much worse.But the pandemic school dropout numbers for boys is also worrying for other reasons.“Unlike better-off families, low-income households often cannot afford a laptop for each child. During the MCO, these children often use their parents’ smartphones, not a computer, to do online learning,” says Shanthi, who is not surprised such factors contribute to a deepening disinterest in learning.Although returning to school presents other financial hurdles for poor parents, such as being unable to buy enough face masks for their children, Shanthi says, “I am strongly advocating that children from B40 families get out of the house and back into the classroom because being stuck in the house is not conducive to their growth and development.”She was commenting on data from a report released last week, “Families on the Edge, Part 2” which surveyed low-income households in Kuala Lumpur, and describes issues beyond the temporary hardships that may result from loss of income during the pandemic.“The Malaysian economy is digitising rapidly and is going to need highly-skilled people,” she says. “And such disruptions to effective learning will result in many of this generation of Malaysian kids being ill-equipped to be part of it.”This is not good for the country as disadvantaged youngsters being deprived of upward social mobility opportunities and being stuck in an intergenerational cycle of poverty will mean fewer consumers with any real purchasing power in the future, she tells MalaysiaNow.“The benefits of the progress we have made as a country in establishing access to highly-subsidised education and universal healthcare will regress if we do not tackle these pandemic-specific issues of school dropouts and under-nourished children.”


‘Quiet Place’ makes box office noise as movies start comeback

Horror film “A Quiet Place: Part II” opened in North America this weekend to considerable fanfare and with numbers unlike any seen since the pandemic began, as Covid curbs began falling and theatres began filling up again.After Hollywood’s brutal year of dark screens and empty seats, final box office figures for the long weekend out Tuesday showed that movies are starting to come back.“The symbolic importance of this Memorial Day Weekend to the movie theater industry cannot be overstated,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore. The numbers, he said, “tell an indisputable story about the resilience and continued relevance of the big screen experience”.The latest “Quiet Place” – a John Krasinski-directed sequel to the popular 2018 film about a young family trying to outwit horrific blind monsters with frighteningly keen hearing – took in US$57.1 million for the four-day Memorial Day weekend, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Tuesday.That pushed the combined gross for the weekend’s top 12 films to US$97.5 million, up from $18.8 million the previous weekend and from a flat-lining zero in the corresponding 2020 weekend.“This bodes well for the future of the theatrical exhibition and is thus a huge relief for the movie industry at large,” Dergarabedian said.In second place for the weekend was Disney’s live-action “Cruella” at US$26.5 million. The movie, with a snarling Emma Stone as the title baddie and Emma Thompson in a supporting role, has a ways to go to attain the box-office status of its 1961 precursor “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”, but its opening weekend was seen as “promising”, Variety said, given conditions.“Cruella” can also be streamed on the Disney+ channel.There was a steep drop off to third spot, which went to Disney’s animated fantasy “Raya and the Last Dragon”, at US$2.8 million. Its mainly Asian-American cast includes the voices of Kelly Marie Tran as Raya, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan and Sandra Oh.In fourth, at US$2.7 million, was “Wrath of Man” from United Artists. The action thriller, directed by Guy Ritchie, stars Jason Statham as an armored truck driver who thwarts a robbery but then faces unwanted attention due to his troubled past.Fifth was Lionsgate’s horror film “Spiral” at US$2.69 million. The latest addition to the “Saw” franchise stars Chris Rock, Max Minghella and Samuel L Jackson.Rounding out the top films were:“Demons Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” (US$1.8 million)“Godzilla vs. Kong” (US$1 million)“Dream Horse” (US$817,000)“Those Who Wish Me Dead” (US$720,000)“World War Z (Re-issue) (US$448,000)“Mortal Kombat” (US$332,000)


One man's experience of Merdeka then and now

Ho Yoke Ming was just seven years old when Malaysia achieved independence from British rule.
He grew up in Pahang, the third generation of his family to live in what was then known as Malaya. His ancestors had made the journey from China in the 1920s, and his father was born in 1925.
The fourth generation came with the birth of his own children, and the fifth with the arrival of his grandchildren.
Looking back on the country and how things have changed since he was a child, Ho is struck by what he describes as a change in ambience.
"The happiness used to come from the heart," he said. "But I don't see that today."
Today, he said, Merdeka celebrations come across as "planned" and "instructed".
Speaking in an interview with MalaysiaNow, Ho recalled how, as a boy in primary school, he would help his father hang the Malaysian flag along with the Pahang flag at their home in Triang, a small town in the district of Bera.
Throughout the town, the blue, red, yellow and white of the Jalur Gemilang would mingle with the black and white of the Pahang flag.
For several years, the townsfolk faithfully flew the two flags at their homes, schools and shops. But at that point, Triang was still under curfew from 6pm until 6am the following day, due to the communist threat which continued even after Merdeka.
Ho remembers the explosion of joy that greeted the news in 1960 that the sultan of Pahang had lifted the curfew completely.
That year's Merdeka celebration was more meaningful, he said – it meant that they were free.
When Ho was in secondary school, he and his schoolmates would travel from Triang to Kuantan just to join in the Merdeka celebration there.
They had to leave their homes early in the morning and pay RM2.50 for their travel fees, inclusive of food and transport.
"Many of us went," he said. "There were two to three buses. We would leave at 5am and reach Kuantan at roughly 7am, just in time for the parade."
Aside from the parade, there were also gymnastic performances and musical presentations.
"You could see happiness on everyone's face. We got together so well," Ho added.
The excitement of Merdeka would last all the way until the next day, when he and his friends would sit and recap what they had seen and heard.
Back then, Ho said, no one made any distinguishments between the different races. His own children, he sent to Chinese primary schools. But once they finished primary school, he sent them to government secondary schools.
His goal was to help his children better understand the country and its culture, and to break through the language barrier.
Last year, he brought home a flag and taught his grandchildren how to recognise it, and to sing the national anthem.
While he believes that patriotism should be cultivated from a young age, he also maintains that it is rooted in respect, not political games about racial and religious issues.
He himself was brought up in this regard. Recalling the riots of May 13, 1969, he said his parents had taught him not to lay blame on either side.
As for the New Economic Policy introduced in the aftermath of the riots, he said the programmes had benefited the other races as well.
Felda, for example, brought profit to the Malay community and helped drive the economy, he said.
His father's business in turn thrived, and he was able to afford Ho's education in the UK.
Now a happy grandfather, Ho has just one wish for the country: to see it led by a good government that takes care of the people – "and no corruption!"


Dreams out of reach for stateless girl in Sarawak

Sitting on a wooden plank outside her house in a small coastal village in Sarawak, 14-year-old Kuntum (not her real name) pretends to be a teacher, talking to a family of cats about what they would like to be when they grow up.For as long as she can remember, she has wanted to be a teacher. But as one of tens of thousands of stateless children in the country, the odds of this happening are slim.Kuntum, whose father is a Malaysian, lives with her grandparents in a tiny wooden house in Maludam. For many years, they have tried to apply for citizenship for her, to no avail. Attempt after attempt has been rejected despite repeated inquiries.The reason for rejection is always the same: a lack of proper documentation.“There are many forms to fill, many steps to prove that she was born here and has been with us since she was small,” Kuntum’s grandmother, Juani, told MalaysiaNow.Kuntum plays with her cats, the only students she may ever have if she remains stateless and cut off from the facilities available to the rest of her friends.“Her father, my son, is Malaysian and her mother is an Indonesian citizen. Kuntum is their child but they were not married. That is why she can’t get citizenship.”Without citizenship, Kuntum cannot attend public schools or access basic facilities like healthcare and government assistance.The many years of trying and failing have left their mark on the young girl, who dropped out of school three years ago to help her grandparents earn a living after watching them struggle to put food on the table each day.She now works eight hours a day at a grocery store in a nearby village, cleaning and keeping the shelves organised. Sometimes she works for 10 hours, wearing only slippers on her feet and carrying loads far too heavy for a child of her age.She earns anywhere from RM12 to RM24 per day, depending on how much work she can get done. Each day, she adds her meagre wages to those of her grandfather, who makes RM500 a month as a mechanic.Unless she can become a legally documented citizen, this will likely be Kuntum’s life for years to come.Her mother returned to Indonesia long ago and her father refuses to take responsibility for her.“He does not even understand the role of father,” Juani said.“He has rarely reached out to us. He now lives with his new wife and children in Simunjan.”Aware of her age, Juani’s main concern is what will happen to her granddaughter once she and her husband are no longer around.“Kuntum is very kind and hardworking. But what will happen to her if we are not here one day? I’m so worried about her future,” she said.Kuntum plays a card game with her cousin on the living room floor.Kuntum herself knows that without citizenship, there is nothing she can do to improve her situation.Speaking to MalaysiaNow, she said she must learn to accept her fate as a stateless person.“Sometimes my friends ask me, ‘Why did you drop out? Why are you not at school?’“Because I don’t have an IC. If you want me to go to school, help me get an IC and then I can go.”But behind the defiant words is a palpable fear of what lies ahead. As she describes her frustrations, tears begin rolling down her cheeks.Wiping her eyes, she speaks of one simple hope: “I dream that one day I can go back to school.”


When the urban poor renovate their homes on the sly

Pakcik Zamani (not his real name) and his wife moved into their home in a low-cost apartment block in Petaling Jaya, Selangor in late 1999.There, they raised their four children, two of whom eventually moved out.But the other two are still living with them, together with a son-in-law and two young grandchildren.Seven people packed into the tiny unit left them scarcely any room to breathe, and eventually, Zamani decided to do something about it.He renovated his small home on the sly, hoping to create more space for his family.Extensions to low-cost flats in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya in Selangor, believed to have been made without a permit from the local authorities.But his activities drew more attention that he would have liked, with videos and photos spread far and wide on social media.For the most part, internet users denounced his illegal home improvement efforts as selfish and even immoral.Speaking to MalaysiaNow, Zamani acknowledged the general unhappiness about his move but said he had been driven to it.Since he and his wife moved in, he said, his family had been trapped in the tiny space, searching for a way to make their home more liveable.Six years ago, he sent his youngest son to a tahfiz school in Terengganu – a decision he still regrets today.But he said he had no choice. His son was 15 at the time, and his three daughters needed the privacy of their own room. With no other space available in the small flat, his son was forced to sleep in the living room.This became a problem, especially on weekends and holidays when his son fell into the habit of staying out, sometimes until late morning.“He didn’t want to stay at home,” Zamani said. “We were forced to send him to a tahfiz school, otherwise he would never stay put or sleep in a bed.”Zamani’s decision to illegally renovate his home sparked a flood of angry comments from social media users, some of whom asked why he did not buy a terraced house if he had the money to overhaul his unit.But with just RM30,000 in the bank, Zamani said, there was no way that he could afford a house.“Adding on to our home here and there is all we can do,” he said.And with even people who lived in mid-range terraced houses revamping their homes to turn them into three-storey bungalows, Zamani said it was no wonder that residents in his low-cost housing area had been emboldened to do their own renovations.Mid-range terraced houses, too, are renovated and turned into two- or three-storey homes.“No action is taken against them,” he added. “Why is it that people are only angry when we do it to our flats?”B40 mentality?Illegal renovations aside, those in the urban low-income bracket are often associated with other social ills such as tussles over parking space, dilapidated facilities, and a general disregard for hygiene.A visit to several low-cost apartment blocks in the city appeared to bear out these beliefs.The buildings and units were thick with grime, public facilities like playgrounds were filthy and in disrepair, and garbage lay everywhere.A resident at the Lembah Subang People’s Housing Project (PPR) who identified himself as Khai said the people who lived there were not well looked after.Garbage lies on the floor in a corridor of a low-cost flat, also known as a People’s Housing Project.Khai, a 23-year-old anthropology and socialogy graduate from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, has lived at the low-cost flats with his parents since he was nine months old.He said very few appeared to care about the troubles of “PPR kids”, and that no attention was paid to the occupants’ hardships.“The lifts are broken, and the playgrounds are cramped and do not follow the area specifications that they should,” he said.“But who is brave enough to take responsibility? The water supply is never dependable, and old people have to carry buckets up to the 11th floor.“They are given the keys to their units, and then left to fend for themselves. So they throw the rules out of the window because they think no one will care.”Khai said this was very different from the low-cost government housing just over the border in Singapore.“There, they have balconies and a 24-hour security system, and everything is well maintained,” he said.“Here, the minute anything goes missing, everyone blames the PPR kids, accusing them of sniffing glue and stealing.”


Health ministry using new drug to prevent deterioration of Covid patients

The health ministry is using baricitinib, a new drug combination, to prevent Covid-19 patients from transitioning to a more severe category, says Health Minister Dr Adham Baba.He said the new combination is administered to Covid-19 patients at a rate of between two and four milligrammes to prevent the risk of developing pneumonia.He added that the ministry will continue to monitor patient information through the MySejahtera application as information on the improvement or transition of patients from Category One to more severe health conditions in Categories Three to Five is dynamic.Speaking at a press conference yesterday after the handing over of the final batch of Sinovac vaccines by Pharmaniaga Bhd Group managing director Zulkarnain Md Eusope to the ministry, he also urged patients to continue making self-assessment through the mobile application, especially those who are undergoing home quarantine.On vaccination for adolescents in the country, he said the government would wait for further clinical data from Pfizer International on the matter.Currently, he said, it will focus on completing the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for the adult population first.Adham said the ministry is also considering giving vaccines to support groups at schools including bus drivers, school security guards and food suppliers as part of efforts to protect students from Covid-19 infection.


Putrajaya releases list of 150 premises considered as Covid-19 hotspots

Putrajaya has published a list of some 150 premises which could be potential Covid-19 hotspots ahead of the Hari Raya festivities, as part of the early warning system under Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) to contain the pandemic.Dominating the list are malls and department stores, including major shopping centres in the Klang Valley, alongside other locations such as markets, hotels, retail shops and mosques.In a statement, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the publication of the list would help business and premise owners step up preventive measures in order to avoid becoming a flashpoint for the spread of Covid-19.He said the list would also help authorities take pre-emptive intervention measures to prevent any new clusters.“The public is advised to postpone visits to the listed locations or premises. If you still need to visit the location or premises, follow the guidelines that have been set and adopt the new norms,” Khairy said.The premises are identified through HIDE’s analysis based on monitoring and forecast of the health ministry’s Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre.Khairy said the list was critical in the fight to contain the pandemic as the country is facing a fierce rebound of daily cases, including more than 23,000 in the last one week, as well as a 21% increase in admissions to ICUs.The following are the premises identified as hotspots, as released by the health ministry:KUALA LUMPURMont Kiara Shopping Mall99 Speedmart, 1371 Jln Bangsar99 Speedmart, 1605 Tmn Sri Bintang99 Speedmart, Taman Wangsa UkayAeon Alpha Angle Shopping CentreAeon Big Danau KotaAeon Big KepongAeon Big Wangsa MajuAeon Mall Cheras SelatanAeon Maxvalu Prime Sunway VelocityAeon Maxvalu Prime The Sphere, Bangsar SouthAeon Mid ValleyBangsar Shopping CentreBangsar Village 2Bangunan Cahaya SuriaBazar Aidilfitri Lorong Tuanku Abdul RahmanBazaria Wangsa MajuBens Independent Grocer, PublikaEndah Parade Shopping ComplexFahrenheit88 MallFood Republic Pavilion KLGuardian KLCCHong Leong Bank Berhad HQIntermark MallJakel Mall Kuala LumpurStesen KTMB KL SentralKL East MallKL Eco City MallKNL Market Sdn Bhd 1st Floor, Podium Block (Faber Towers)Kompleks Perniagaan & Komuniti Bandar Baru SentulLotus’s CherasLotus’s KepongLRT KLCCLRT Masjid JamekMasjid Jamek Kampong BaruMasjid Saidina Abu Bakar As-Siddiq BangsarMaybank – Mid Valley City BranchMelawati MallMenara Bumiputra CommerceMid Valley MegamallMytown Shopping CentreBrem MallNSK Trade City, Peel RoadNu Sentral Shopping CentreParkson Elite Pavilion Level 3Pasar Borong Kuala LumpurPavilion Elite MallPavilion Kuala LumpurPasar Pagi Jinjang UtaraPlaza Low YatPublika Shopping GallerySelayang MallSetapak CentralKompleks SogoStesen Sentral Kuala LumpurSungei Wang PlazaSunway Velocity MallSuper Seven Trade CenterSuria KLCCTaman Metropolitan KepongTapak Penjaja Pasar PuduUnited Point CommercialViva VentureVG Desa Park ArkadiaWisma CoswayZon 2 SuakasihSELANGOR1 Utama Shopping Centre99 Speedmart, 2460 Tmn Sri Mewah99 Speedmart, 2447 Sunsuria Forum99 Speedmart, 1672 Tmn Bintang Mas99 Speedmart, 1248 Tmn Desa BaktiAeon Bandar UtamaAeon Big KlangAeon Big Tun Hussein OnnAeon Mall RawangAeon Mall Taman EquineBazaar Ramadan Taman Pelangi, SemenyihBillion Shopping Centre, Bandar Baru BangiCentral I-City MallCheckers HypermarketCrewroom Sri RampaiThe Starling, Damansara UptownDataran Puchong Permai, PuchongGiant Hypermarket Bandar KinraraGiant Hypermarket BantingGiant Hypermarket KlangGM Klang Wholesale CityKolej Matrikulasi SelangorLaman Niaga Komuniti Bandar Baru BangiLotus’s Bandar Bukit PuchongLotus’s KlangLotus’s Kuala SelangorLotus’s MutiaraLotus’s PuchongLotus’s Puncak AlamLotus’s SelayangLotus’s SemenyihLotus’s Setia AlamMaha UsahaMain Place MallKipmall Kota WarisanMatahari MallMydin Mart Seksyen 18 Shah AlamNSK Trade City SelayangP Pengilang Rawang Corporate Industrial ParkPadini Concept Store Sunway PyramidPanasonic Manufacturing (Shah Alam II Plant)Paradigm Mall Petaling JayaParkson Elite 1 UtamaPasar Moden MBSJ SS15 Pasar PagiPasar Ramadan Taman Putra PerdanaProton Centre of Excellence, Subang JayaPlaza Shah AlamRestoran Jejantas Sg Buloh Arah SelatanSubang ParadeSunway PyramidThe CurveThe Mines Shopping MallJaya Grocer Bukit JelutongTropicana Gardens MallPUTRAJAYAIOI City MallLotus’s IOI CityBazar Ramadan Putrajaya Presint 3JOHORAeon Mall Bukit IndahEconsave Yong PengGiant Hypermarket PlentonGiant Hypermarket TampoiJohor Bahru City Square MallJohor Premium OutletsKSL CityPasaraya PandanThe Mall Mid Valley SouthkeyMELAKAAeon Mall Bandaraya MelakaNEGERI SEMBILANGiant Superstore NilaiSABAHEntre Point Shopping MallSuria Shopping MallKompleks KaramunsingSARAWAKPlaza Merdeka Shopping CentreThe Spring BintuluThe Summer Shopping MallVivacity Megamall KuchingPENANGQueensbay MallGurney Paragon MallLotus’s PenangAeon QueensbayToshiba Tec Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn BhdPERAKA&W Ipoh ParadeDewan Serbaguna Kampung Balun, Slim RiverMydin Parit BuntarKELANTANKB MallLotus’s Kota Bharu


ICC expected to launch war crimes cases against Russians over Ukraine war

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is planning to seek the arrest of Russian officials for forcibly deporting children from Ukraine and targeting civilian infrastructure, a source said on Monday, in what would be the first international war crimes cases arising from Moscow's invasion.
The source said the arrest warrants could include the crime of genocide, and were expected to arrive in the "short term" if the court prosecutor's request was approved by a pre-trial judge at the Hague-based court.
The office of the prosecutor at the ICC declined to comment.
Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Moscow would be certain to reject any arrest warrants against any of its officials. But an international war crimes prosecution could deepen Moscow's diplomatic isolation and make it difficult for those accused to travel abroad.
Russia denies deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, saying its attacks are all intended to reduce Kyiv's ability to fight. It has not concealed a programme under which it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.
Kyiv says thousands of deported Ukrainian children are being adopted into Russian families, housed in Russian camps and orphanages, given Russian passports and brought up to reject Ukrainian nationality and consider themselves Russians.
The U.N. genocide convention defines "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" as one of five acts that can be prosecuted as genocide. Asked if the ICC charges against the Russian officials could include genocide, the source said: "It looks that way."
Kyiv has conducted several war crimes prosecutions of Russian soldiers for individual incidents such as killings or rapes in occupied territory. The charges discussed by the ICC prosecutors could go higher, targeting officials responsible for policies rather than just perpetrators of acts on the ground.
'There is a lot of artillery'
On the ground, both sides described relentless fighting in and around Bakhmut, a small ruined city in eastern Ukraine that has become the main focus of a Russian winter campaign.
Near Kreminna, north of Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers said they were repelling intensified attacks by increasingly professional soldiers, while heavy equipment was being brought closer to the frontline by the Russians.
In a forest some 8km (5 miles) from the front, cannons boomed, targeting enemy positions to the northeast. Distant explosions rumbled constantly in the distance, a sign of heavy fighting.
Reuters reporters saw a soldier being brought from the front with a badly wounded leg. He was stabilised in a van with a splint and painkillers before being taken to a medical centre further from the front to be treated.
"Two or three weeks ago the fighting was at it's peak but it has calmed down a bit," said Mykhailo Anest, a 35-year-old medic before treating the wounded soldier. "There is a lot of artillery and mortar fire."
On a bad day he would see 20 wounded troops in a single day from his battalion, he told Reuters.
The months-long fight for Bakhmut has become Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World War Two.
Russian forces led by the Wagner private army have captured the city's eastern part but so far failed to encircle it.
"All enemy attempts to capture the town are repelled by artillery, tanks, and other firepower," Ukraine's Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of ground forces who has vowed not to withdraw, was quoted as saying by Ukraine's Media Military Centre.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Sunday the situation was "tough, very tough".
Moscow says taking it would be a major success, opening a path to capture the rest of the surrounding Donetsk region, a central war aim.
Kyiv says it has decided not to pull out because it is inflicting huge losses on the Russian assault force which will make it easier to stage a counterattack later this year.
Xi visit
As the fighting ground on in eastern Ukraine, Moscow appeared on the cusp of one long-sought diplomatic breakthrough: several sources told Reuters that China's President Xi Jinping could visit Russia as soon as next week, an earlier-than-expected response to a long-standing invitation.
President Vladimir Putin has touted such a visit as a show of support, but it could be overshadowed by plans for Xi to speak by video link to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the invasion.
The plans for talks between Zelensky and Xi were reported by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters could not immediately confirm them.
The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Kremlin said it had nothing to announce yet. Ukraine's president's office did not immediately respond.
"As a rule, announcements of official foreign visits are coordinated synchronously by mutual agreement of the parties," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "When there is such readiness, we will let you know."
A visit by Xi to Russia would be a major event for Putin, who portrays the war in Ukraine as a conflict with the combined might of the West. Russia relies on China to buy oil and gas it can no longer sell in Europe.
But a video meeting with Zelenskiy could be an even bigger coup for the Ukrainians, who want Beijing to remain neutral rather than firm up support for Moscow. Zelensky has called on Xi to speak to him.
China has declined to ascribe blame for the war while opposing Western sanctions against Russia. It unveiled a proposal in February for a peace plan, met with scepticism in the West but praised in Moscow and cautiously welcomed by Zelensky.
China and Russia struck a "no limits" partnership in February of 2022, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, and the two sides have reaffirmed the strength of their ties in public.


Hong Kong media mogul arrested for fraud

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy supporter Jimmy Lai has been charged with fraud over the alleged illegal use of his company’s premises.On Thursday, he was denied bail and detained until a court hearing in April next year, the BBC reports.This comes a day after three prominent pro-democracy activists were jailed.The cases are raising fears of a renewed crackdown on Hong Kong’s activists and media figures, instigated by a controversial new security law.China has said the new law will return stability to the territory after a year of unrest, but critics say it is silencing dissent.Lai is estimated to be worth more than US$1 billion and is one of the city’s most prominent supporters of the pro-democracy movement.He made his fortune in the clothing industry and then moved into media when he founded Next Digital.Hong Kong media outlets are growing more fearful of China’s strengthening grip, and Lai is a persistent thorn in Beijing’s side through his publications which openly criticise the Chinese leadership.To many Hong Kong residents he is regarded as a hero but on the mainland he is viewed as a traitor who threatens Chinese national security.Interviewed by the BBC before the latest arrest, he said he would not give in to intimidation.“If they can induce fear in you, that’s the cheapest way to control you and the most effective way, and they know it,” he said. “The only way to defeat their intimidation is to face up to fear and don’t let it frighten you.”