Flood situation improves in 4 states but more evacuated in Johor

The flood situation in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Perak had improved as of 8am with more evacuees allowed to return home.However, the number of evacuees rose in Johor due to continuous rain since last night.In Kelantan, a total of 1,702 evacuees remained at 16 relief centres compared to 2,118 yesterday evening.According to the Welfare Department’s Disaster Info application, Pasir Mas still has the highest number of residents affected by the floods with 1,206 housed at 10 relief centres, followed by Kuala Krai with 496 accommodated at six relief centres.In Terengganu, head of the state disaster management committee secretariat, Lt Col (PA) Che Adam A Rahman, said the number of evacuees dropped to 3,956 compared to 6,981 as of 3pm yesterday.“All of them are housed at 17 relief centres with a total of 3,564 victims in Kemaman and 392 in Dungun,” he told reporters today.In Pahang, flood evacuees dropped to 23,944 housed at 242 relief centres.Temerloh remained the worst-affected district with 11,210 evacuees followed by Maran (3,143), Pekan (2,652), Lipis (2,028) Bera (1,583), Raub (1,466) and Jerantut (1,098) as of 8am.Meanwhile, in Perak, only one relief centre is still operational: the Teluk Intan Municipal Council Hall which is sheltering 44 flood victims in the Hilir Perak district.Johor saw the number of flood evacuees rise to 3,145 in five districts as of 8am.State health and environment committee chairman R Vidyananthan said in a statement today that Kota Tinggi had the highest number of victims at 1,848, followed by Johor Bahru (1,057), Kulai and Segamat (94 each) and Mersing (52), housed at 38 relief centres.He said Jalan Felda Semenchu (Semenchu junction) (FT1406) is closed to all vehicles while Jalan Kota Tinggi-Mersing (LGM) (FT003), Jalan Kota Tinggi-Kluang (Batu 25)(FT091) and Kampung Lukut Cina-Kampung Batu 4 (Taman Aman) (J175) are closed to all light vehicles.Jalan Tai Hong (Taman Scientex) (J053), Jalan Tai Hong (Orkid) (J053), Jalan Sungai Telor (J090) and Mawai Lama (J172) are also closed to light vehicles.


4 in critical condition after Paris building blast

An explosion potentially caused by a gas leak ripped through a building in central Paris on Wednesday, leaving four people fighting for their lives and causing a wave of destruction, officials said.
Rescue workers were in the evening still searching the rubble for two missing individuals who had not been accounted for, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
He told reporters at the scene that four seriously injured victims were in a life-threatening condition, while 33 others had sustained lesser injuries.
The blast was followed by a major fire which caused the building, housing a fashion school, to collapse in a historic district of the French capital.
Images showed wreckage littering the area around the building, as the flames smouldered.
Some 70 fire trucks and 270 firefighters battled the blaze. Nine doctors were also at the scene.
The fire service had said there had been "an explosion" which had "caused the collapse of two buildings", but police later said only one building had collapsed.
Several witnesses told AFP at the scene they had heard "a giant explosion".
Windows as far as 400 metres away were shattered, AFP reporters said.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo assembled a crisis unit and wrote on Twitter: "My thoughts go first and foremost to the victims and their loved ones."
The "violent" fire which broke out after the explosion has now been "contained", Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding that "work is still taking place under the rubble" to find any more possible victims.
The firefighters "prevented the spread of the fire to two adjoining buildings which were seriously destabilised by the explosion" and "were evacuated", Nunez added.
The blast was caused by a "gas explosion", the district's mayor said on Twitter, although this was not confirmed by other officials.
Florence Berthout, mayor of the 5th district in central Paris, said the main building affected is a private fashion school – called Paris American Academy – adjoining the former Val-de-Grace military hospital.
According to the mayor, the noise of the "quite enormous" explosion spread "in part of the district".
An investigation into the causes of the blast was launched immediately, prosecutors said.
'Like in the movies'
AFP pictures taken at the site showed tall flames and smoke billowing from the building, situated at Place Alphonse-Laveran, close to the Luxembourg Gardens.
The area is at the edge of the Latin Quarter, a top tourism area.
"It was like in the movies," said Anthony Halbert, who runs a butcher's shop in the same street as the destroyed building.
"We heard a second explosion, less than two minutes after the first, and we watched the front of the building crumble," he said.
Alexis, a 23-year-old student living across from the building, said he heard "a huge bang", and then his windows were blown out.
"It was super scary, there was smoke, and debris, and leaves flying," he said. "We didn't know if it was a terrorist attack."
Sarah Taheraly, who works at the nearby Institut Curie, a medical research centre, said she felt her building tremble. "It was like a muffled sound," she said.
Another witness, working at the nearby Catholic education secretariat SGEC, said: "There was a big noise. I fell off my chair during a meeting, and so did others."
One of his colleagues had noticed a strong smell of gas in the street just before the explosion, said the man who declined to give his name.
However, officials said they did not have enough evidence to determine the cause of the blast with certainty.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told reporters that "we are obviously counting on the lightly injured people to provide the investigation with input so we can understand what happened".
There have been several incidents of gas-related blasts in the French capital.
The explosion recalled a massive blast that rocked Paris in January 2019, when a suspected leak in a buried gas pipe destroyed a building on the Rue de Trevise in the ninth district, killing four people including two firefighters.
The shockwave blew out scores of nearby windows, and dozens of families were forced to evacuate their homes for months. Much of the street still remains off limits four years after the disaster.
Paris city hall has been charged with involuntary manslaughter over that blast, and legal wrangling over the exact cause continues.


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Aidilfitri bazaars allowed to open until 2am

Aidilfitri bazaars nationwide are allowed to operate until 2am beginning Saturday, Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.He said the extension of operating hours was allowed after listening to the appeals from bazaar traders.“We were informed that visitors will only go out after isyak and tarawih prayers, and when we allow them (traders) to operate until midnight, their business hours are too short,” he said in a news conference.On SOPs for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration, Ismail said these are being studied and will be announced next week after a presentation by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia or Jakim.Meanwhile, he said any decision relating to the closure of schools due to Covid-19 cases should go through the education and health ministries.He said the education ministry would decide whether to close or reopen schools based on risk assessments by the health ministry.“I hope state governments do not make decisions on their own because this is under the jurisdiction of the education ministry,” he added.


New infections top 2,300 as another 5 deaths logged

Another 2,320 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 4,532,632.There were 1,390 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,473,021.There are now 23,886 active cases, of which 22,840 or 95.6% are undergoing home quarantine.Meanwhile, 18 (0.1%) are at quarantine centres while 990 (4.1%) have been hospitalised.A total of 38 are in ICU with 22 in need of respiratory assistance. ICU utilisation throughout the country stands at 62.2%, with Covid ICU utilisation at 8.7%.Another five deaths were reported, including one who was brought in dead. Total deaths now stand at 35,725.


82 new cases, 60 from Sabah

The number of new Covid-19 cases in the country remained at two digits today, with 82 cases reported, 60 of which were recorded in Sabah.Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 72 cases were local transmissions while the remaining 10 were imported.This brings the cumulative total to 10,358 cases.“The local transmissions involved 60 Malaysians and 12 foreigners.“As for the 60 cases detected in Sabah, 41 were from the Benteng LD cluster; six each from the Pulau and Selamat clusters; five from the Bangau-Bangau cluster (new cluster); as well as one each from the community screening and referral screening case at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” he said in a press conference in Putrajaya today.He said this also took the overall tally of infectivity cases to 665.As for the remaining 12 local transmissions, Noor Hisham said 10 cases were reported in Kedah, with nine linked to the Sungai cluster and one screening case in the administrative enhanced movement control order area in Kota Setar.Another was detected through pre-procedure screening at a medical centre in Selangor and the other from symptomatic screening at the Sarawak General Hospital.Of the 10 imported cases, nine involved individuals returning from India and one from Indonesia.Noor Hisham also said 168 recoveries were recorded today, raising the cumulative number of recoveries to 9,563 cases or 92.3% of total cases.No new deaths were reported, leaving the toll at 130.Nine patients are receiving treatment in the intensive care unit with two in need of respiratory assistance.


BN Padang Serai candidate to be considered for role in govt, says Saifuddin

C Sivaraj, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Padang Serai parliamentary constituency, will be considered for a suitable role in the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Pakatan Harapan (PH) secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says.
Saifuddin said Sivaraj had agreed to give way and unconditionally support the PH candidate to win in the election on Dec 7.
"Sivaraj’s withdrawal was made unconditionally. But I’m convinced that as a young leader, Sivaraj deserves a spot.
"In a new government like ours, surely there are places that these young leaders deserve and we will consider it," he told reporters after attending a PH political talk in Kulim last night, along with Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, Sivaraj and PH candidate Mohamad Sofee Razak.
Saifuddin said Sivaraj’s withdrawal from the election was done following discussions between PH, MIC president SA Vigneswaran and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. He said one of the reasons posed by PH to justify BN’s withdrawal was PH’s agreement to give way to BN’s candidate in the Tioman state election in Pahang.
"So in the spirit of the existing coalition government consisting of both these blocs in Tioman, PH withdrew, while in Padang Serai, Sivaraj gave way and I have stressed repeatedly he did so unconditionally, just like the withdrawal in Tioman was done without any conditions," he added.
On Anwar’s self-appointment as finance minister, Saifuddin who is also home minister said the names proposed and presented to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had been done according to due process and after taking all matters into consideration.
"One decision, of course, has its pros and cons, and we went along with it as we are confident that with his experience, he is able to lead this important ministry," he said.


Netanyahu involvement in judicial overhaul illegal, says Israel AG

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated the law by saying he would get personally involved in a judicial overhaul plan, the attorney-general said on Friday.
In the face of intensifying protests against the proposed changes, Netanyahu said on Thursday he was putting aside all other considerations and would do "anything it takes" to reach a solution.
Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges which he denies, said his hands had been tied but a law amended on Thursday to limit the circumstances in which a prime minister can be removed gave him more space for maneuver.
However, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, in a letter addressed to Netanyahu, disagreed.
"The legal situation is clear: you must refrain from any involvement in initiatives to change the judiciary, including the makeup of the committee for judicial appointments, as such activity is a conflict of interest."
"Your statement last night and any action you take in violation of this matter is illegal," Baharav-Miara said.
The letter followed Baharav-Miara's earlier warnings that Netanyahu must stay out of his coalition's push for a judicial overhaul because of what she deemed a conflict of interest arising from his trials.
In a message distributed by the ruling Likud party, an unnamed source close to Netanyahu denied the prime minister violated any laws or conflict of interest agreements in his statement and said it had no repercussions on his trial.
The source said it was incumbent on the premier to try and reach a wide consensus during a time of national crisis that carried implications on the country both domestically and abroad.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accused the attorney-general, appointed by the former centre-right government, of acting as de facto head of the opposition.
"If Ms Baharav-Miara wants to make decisions on behalf of elected officials, she is welcome to form a party and run for parliament," he wrote on Twitter.
Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition has been pursuing changes to the judiciary that would give the government sway in choosing judges and limit the Supreme Court's power to strike down laws.
Proponents say the plan would rein in Supreme Court overreach and restore balance between the branches of government. Critics say it would weaken the courts, endanger civil liberties and harm the economy.
The proposed plan has sparked weeks of nationwide protests and drew concern among the country's Western allies.


Rina Harun calls for strict action against culprits in abuse of autistic child

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun today called for strict and appropriate action against those involved in the case of an autistic child said to have been abused at an intervention centre in Bandar Baru Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.She said the case should be promptly investigated to prevent any recurrence and as a deterrent to other childcare and intervention centres.Rina said she had instructed the Social Welfare Department (JKM) to take suitable action under the Care Centres Act 1993 (Act 506).“The operator of the centre can also be prosecuted and compounded as provided for in Section 21 and 21A of the same act.“Intervention actions from the psychosocial aspect and counselling will be provided to the parents and the child by a registered counsellor to protect their physical and emotional well-being,” she said in a statement today in response to a video clip of an autistic boy allegedly being abused by a woman at an autism intervention centre which went viral on social media yesterday.Rina said her ministry would not compromise with any quarters involved in the abuse or mistreatment of children and would stay committed to enhancing public awareness to protect them.She also advised parents to send their children only to childcare centres or nurseries registered with JKM to ensure their safety.She said information on registered centres and nurseries can be obtained at www.jkm.gov.my or http://ezi2care.jkm.gov.my.She also urged members of the public with information on cases involving child abuse to continue acting as the eyes and ears of the government by channelling information to the police, Kasih hotline at 15999 or through WhatsApp to 019-261 5999, or to any of the 108 JKM offices nationwide.


Najib told to file defence in US$1.18 billion suit by SRC

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ordered former prime minister Najib Razak to file his statement of defence in the US$1.18 billion suit filed by SRC International.Lawyer Lisa Yong, representing SRC International, said the order was made by judge Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin during online case management.She said Najib was ordered to file the statement of defence in English today, with the defence statement in Malay to be filed on April 4.“The court also ordered the plaintiff (SRC International) to file the reply to the defence statement on May 13,” she said when contacted after the case management.She said the court set May 18 for further case management.On May 7 last year, SRC International under its new management filed legal action against Najib and its former directors – Suboh Md Yassin, Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar, Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Ismee Ismail – but later removed the six names from the suit, retaining Najib as the sole defendant.SRC International as the plaintiff, in the writ of summons, alleged that Najib had abused his power and obtained personal benefits from SRC International funds in addition to misappropriating the funds.Najib was SRC International’s emeritus adviser from May 1, 2012, until March 4, 2019.SRC International, which is now wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc), is seeking general damages, exemplary, additional and interest, costs and other appropriate reliefs deemed fit by the court.


Russia pushes law to force taxi apps to share data with spy agency

Russia’s government has put forward a law to force ride-hailing apps to give the FSB intelligence agency real-time access to their data.The Russian authorities have been ramping up restrictions on public freedoms since the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine on Feb 24.“The document prescribes the obligation of the taxi ordering service to provide the FSB with automated remote access to the information systems and databases used to receive, store, process and transmit taxi orders,” a statement published Wednesday by the lower house State Duma said.Lawmaker Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a member of parliament’s security committee, told state news agency RIA Novosti that “this is a very difficult measure to implement, but that doesn’t mean it’s not necessary”.Until now, the FSB could obtain this information if it filed a formal request with the taxi services, who had the right to respond within 30 days, according to the chairman of the national taxi development council, Irina Zaripova.“Many are afraid that the FSB could receive information about passengers at any time in real time,” she told Russian radio station Kommersant FM in late March, when the idea was first mooted by the Russian transport ministry.“But when it comes to national security, very often there are situations where something has happened and FSB agents need to have this data practically within an hour to solve a crime or prevent it,” she explained.She insisted that “no one is going to be monitoring this data from morning to night”.Yasha Aliev, a 24-year-old economy student, said the measure was a violation of privacy.“When you are being followed without your knowledge, without your permission – I think that’s not right,” he said.Kristina Kosheleva, a 23-year-old customer service employee, said she would not stop using taxi apps because of the new legislation.“I believe that everything is on the surface anyway, and we won’t be able to hide from anyone,” she said.After the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, the country has strengthened its legislative arsenal, which allows for heavy fines or prison sentences for anyone found guilty of “discrediting” the military or publishing “false information” about its operation.Authorities have blocked access to the popular social networks Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and taken legal action against tech giant Meta, accusing it of spreading “calls to kill” Russians.


Bizarre suicide note from Bangladeshi brothers in US who slaughtered their family

The two brothers accused of slaughtering four family members before killing themselves said they easily got weapons because Texas gun control is “a joke” the New York Post reports.They also said they were sent off the rails partly from watching TV’s “The Office.”In a rambling 12-page Instagram suicide note, Farhan Towhid, 19, said that he and his 21-year-old brother, Tanvir, easily bought guns.“All my brother had to do was go to the gunshop, say something about wanting a gun for home defence, sign some forms, and that was it. There was a question asking if he had any mental illnesses, but he lied and said no.”Police believe the Bangladeshi brothers on Saturday shot dead their father, Towhidul Islam, 54, mother, Iren Islam, 56, and 77-year-old grandmother Altafun Nessa, who was visiting from Bangladesh.They also killed Farhan’s 19-year-old twin sister, Farbin before turning the guns on themselves at the family’s home in Allen, a northern suburb of Dallas, Texas.All six victims were discovered by police dead with gunshot wounds during a wellness check after midnight.Farhan’s suicide note, opened by saying, “Hey everyone, I killed myself and my family.”He continued, “The plan was simple. We get two guns. I take one and shoot my sister and grandma, while my brother kills our parents with the other. Then we take ourselves out.”The bloodbath was the result of both brothers battling depression, he wrote.Farhan detailed how his depression eventually forced him to drop out of University of Texas at Austin, where he had been a computer science student. After that, he spent his days watching TV with his older brother and becoming obsessed with the show “The Office”.“We kept watching until Feb 21, 2021. That’s the day my older brother came into my room with a proposition: if we can’t fix everything in a year, we’ll kill ourselves and our family,” he wrote.They soon brought that forward to just a month, with Farhan saying, “We eventually realised we were just biding our time. I love my family. And that’s exactly why I decided to kill them,” he said. “If I killed myself, they would be miserable. They would spend the rest of their lives feeling guilt and despair.“Instead of having to deal with the aftermath of my suicide, I could just do them a favour and take them with me. None of us would ever have to feel sad ever again,” he wrote. “However, if I’m going to die, I might as well get some attention.”The New York Post spoke to ex-neighbour Yuen Sang on Tuesday after she learned what had happened to the Bangladeshi family who lived at her New York apartment building 15 years ago.She told the Post that the parents and sister were “such nice people”.As for the brothers, she said, “One of the boy has problems, he go to the special school. Talk slow. He needed special teachers.”Allen, Texas police told CBS that they had no prior interaction with the family that would give any indication such a tragedy could be about to happen.


Indonesia fans vexed after Messi pulls out of friendly

Indonesian fans of Lionel Messi expressed dismay Friday after the star pulled out of a friendly in Jakarta, including one making a 12-hour boat and plane journey to the game who accused organisers of false advertising.
People have rushed to snap up more than 60,000 tickets for the sell-out Monday clash between Indonesia and World Cup winners Argentina after Messi's face was plastered across advertising for the event.
But following days of speculation, fans in the football-mad country received bad news on Thursday that their hero would not play.
"I'm feeling sad and disappointed, mixed emotions," 31-year-old shop owner Surya Wijaya Ang told AFP from the remote island of Banda Neira in the eastern province of Maluku.
"This was the biggest chance for me to see Messi play in person."
On Thursday the Argentina side beat Australia in another friendly in the Chinese capital Beijing, with head coach Lionel Scaloni confirming that Messi would not make the Indonesian leg of their Asian tour.
Having become a major fan of Messi during the star's time at Barcelona, Ang has amassed a collection of around 200 jerseys adorned with his name.
He is planning to take a boat to the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon before catching a four-hour flight to Jakarta to attend the match.
Ang sold seven shirts from his wider jersey collection to pay for the 1.2 million rupiah (RM370) match ticket, a steep price in the lower-middle-income country.
'Marketing strategy'
The Messi fanatic is aggrieved and said organisers had seemingly promised an appearance by the superstar.
"Messi is an icon and you can say that 90 percent of the tickets were sold because of Messi," he said.
"This was a marketing strategy for them."
Other Indonesians took to social media to convey disappointment, with one offering to sell two tickets "because Messi is not coming".
A video posted on Twitter showed a fan singing a guitar ballad with the lyrics: "Why don't you come to Indonesia? Why you don't come, oh Mr Messi?"
Another wrote: "This is the end of my idolising him... we won't beg him to come."
Indonesian football has been enduring a year of crises with a deadly stadium crush and losing the rights to host the Fifa Under-20 World Cup.
Despite having his Messi hopes dashed, Ang said he would travel to the capital for the game anyway.
"I've come this far, so I will still be going," he said.
"Maybe I will see Lionel Scaloni," he added, laughing.


Umno sets 3 conditions for talks with PAS

Umno will only return to the negotiation table with PAS if the Islamist party meets three conditions, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says. The Umno president said these conditions were conveyed to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang at their recent meeting. However, when asked what they were, Zahid said: "I have conveyed (to PAS), it is better that I do not mention them.
"They (PAS) are aware of the conditions, and only when they fulfil those terms, can negotiations proceed," he said in Alor Gajah yesterday.
Zahid, who is also Barisan Nasional chairman, said cooperation between Umno and PAS in the 15th general election would remain at status quo if PAS made no official decision on the matter.
"As long as PAS does not make an official decision, we will not be able to resolve the issues and differences between the two parties," he said.


Duo says ready to help PM rebuild economy after quitting PKR

The two PKR MPs who quit their party today to declare themselves as government-friendly independents said the decision was made in the interest of their constituents, adding that there has been too much political instability at a time when the country needs rebuilding.Julau MP Larry Sng, the former Sarawak PKR chairman, praised Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for helping Malaysians during a difficult time, while Tebrau MP Steven Choong said he was ready to contribute his expertise by acting as a bridge between the goverment and businesses.“I believe that I too should play a role to support him. Too much time has already been wasted, politicking and bickering while the people suffer,” Sng said, hours after meeting Muhyiddin and several senior ruling politicians to state his support for the government.Choong meanwhile said he hoped his move today would facilitate access to government agencies and ministers in finding solutions to several major issues affecting the people.He cited the problem of floods, illegal garbage disposal, low-cost housing, river pollution as well as the difficulties faced by small businesses as among issues that can be better solved through closer ties with the government.“I hope with my 40 years of experience as accountant, auditor, tax agent and business consultant, I can work with all ministers and government agencies to find solutions to these issues.“I am prepared to help the government in my area of expertise,” he said, adding that he has ideas for a tax system that could increase revenue without burdening the business community.Meanwhile, Sng, who won Julau as an independent in the 2018 general election, is confident that his move would be to the benefit of the people in Julau.“I have been unable to serve Julau effectively through the lack of much needed development funds.“With this move today, I am confident that I will be able to deliver my election promises to my electorate,” he added.


Prosecution closes Zahid graft case on foreign visa system

The prosecution in the corruption trial of former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who faces 40 charges in connection with the foreign visa system (VLN), closed its case today after calling 18 witnesses.
Deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran, who led the prosecution team, told High Court judge Mohd Yazid Mustafa that the prosecution closed its case after the 18th witness, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer V Mahendran, 38, finished testifying.
Yazid then ordered the defence to file its written submissions on Aug 29 and the prosecution on Sept 5.
The judge also set Sept 1 and 2, and 5 to 8 to hear their oral submissions before deciding whether to acquit Zahid or order him to enter his defence for the 40 charges.
Raja Rozela told the court that the prosecution had offered 27 witnesses to the defence, including former deputy secretary-general (control and enforcement) of the home ministry Wahab Mohd Yasin, deputy director-general (development II) of the Public Private Partnership Unit Raja Muhammad Azhan Shah Raja Muhammad and MACC officer S Vijaya Kumar, who is also the complainant in the case.
Earlier, Mahendran told the court that he did not record the testimony of Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein because there were no witness statements or information in the UKSB ledger regarding payments to the politician.
He said this when cross-examined by lawyer Ahmad Zaidi Zainal on why he had not recorded Hishammuddin's testimony even though the defence minister's name was on the MACC complaint form. Zaidi: Yesterday, you (Mahendran) told the court that the investigation focused only on Zahid.
Mahendran: Disagree, the focus was on the VLN and OSC (one-stop centre) contracts involving home ministry officials and ministers.
He said the ministers he was referring to were Hishammuddin and Zahid.
He also disagreed with the lawyer's suggestion that Zahid only received RM100,000 twice from UKSB and that the testimony by the main witnesses in the case could not be trusted.
The witnesses referred to were former UKSB administrative manager David Tan Siong Sun and former UKSB directors Harry Lee Vui Khiun and Wan Quoris Shah Wan Abdul Ghani. In the trial, which started on May 24, 2021, the prosecution was also represented by Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Abdul Malik Ayob, Zander Lim Wai Keong and B Thavani while the lawyers appearing for Zahid included Hisyam Teh Poh Teik and Hamidi Mohd Noh.
Zahid, 69, faces 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to S$13.56 million from UKSB for himself as home minister to extend the contract of the company as the operator of the OSC service in China and the VLN system, as well as to maintain the contract agreement to supply the VLN integrated system to the same company by the home ministry.
On another seven counts, he is charged with obtaining for himself S$1,150,000, RM3 million, 15,000 euros and US$15,000 from the same company which had official links with his official duty.
He was charged with committing the offences at Seri Satria, Precinct 16, Putrajaya, and Country Heights Kajang between October 2014 and March 2018.


Has Delta killed the herd immunity dream?

As the Delta variant continues its global surge, experts are questioning whether the long-held goal of achieving herd immunity from Covid-19 through vaccination is still viable.Herd immunity is achieved when a certain threshold of the global population has either been inoculated against a pathogen or has recovered from infection.But whether or not it is achievable with Covid-19, with the regular emergence of more infectious strains, is up for debate.“If the question is ‘will vaccination alone allow us to dampen and control the pandemic?’ the answer is: no,” epidemiologist Mircea Sofonea told AFP.He said herd immunity hinged on two basic factors.“That’s the intrinsic infectiousness of the virus and the efficacy of vaccines to protect against infection. And at the moment, that efficacy isn’t there.”Delta has shown to be roughly 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and up to twice as infectious as the original strain that emerged in late 2019.The more effective the virus becomes at infecting people, the higher the herd immunity threshold becomes.“Theoretically, it’s a very simple calculation to make,” said epidemiologist Antoine Flahault.For the original virus, which had a reproduction rate between zero and three – meaning each infected person infects up to three others – herd immunity could have been achieved with around 66% of people immunised, Flahault told AFP.“But if the reproduction rate is eight, as with Delta, that puts us closer to 90%,” he said.Were vaccines 100% effective at stopping Delta infections, that 90% could conceivably be possible. Unfortunately, they aren’t.Waning immunity?According to data published this week by US authorities, the efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines at preventing infection has fallen from 91% to 66% since Delta became the dominant variant.And studies have shown that the vaccine efficacy against infection with Delta falls over time – one of the reasons why several countries are now readying for an autumn third shot, or “booster”, vaccination campaign.With all this taken into account, absent other health measures such as mask-wearing or social distancing, Sofonea said it would take more than 100% of people to be vaccinated in order to guarantee transmissions end – an obvious impossibility.“The Delta variant will still infect people who have been vaccinated and that does mean that anyone who’s still unvaccinated, at some point, will meet the virus,” Andrew Pollard, director of Britain’s Oxford Vaccine Group, told lawmakers this month.‘Mythical’But even if, as Pollard termed it, the “mythical” aim of herd immunity is no longer in play, experts stressed that getting vaccinated remained paramount.As with vaccines against other, now-endemic diseases such as measles and influenza, the Covid vaccines offer excellent protection against severe illness.“What scientists are recommending is to get the maximum number of people protected” through vaccination, said Flahault.Eventually, of course, all pandemics end.Sofonea said it would still be possible that Covid would become another endemic disease over time, “just not with vaccines alone”.He envisioned a near future where “masks and social distancing continue in certain regions” in order to limit transmission and, ultimately, severe illness.“During the AIDS pandemic, when scientists said we needed to wear condoms, lots of people said: ‘OK, we’ll do it for a while’,” said Flahault.“And in the end they kept on using them. It could well be that we will continue using masks in enclosed spaces and on transport for quite some time.”


Laos locks down capital, borders over Covid outbreak tied to Thailand

Laos locked down its capital and closed its international borders to most traffic on Thursday after identifying a Covid-19 cluster connected to its bigger neighbour Thailand.Residents of the capital Vientiane are now barred from leaving the city and outsiders must get permission to enter.The country’s international borders are closed except to trucks carrying goods and in cases specifically permitted by the nation’s Covid-19 taskforce, state news agency KPL is reporting.KPL said the lockdown order signed by Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh also prohibits all Vientiane residents from leaving their homes except for essential food shopping, hospital visits and other authorised tasks.The restrictions will last until May 5.The report said they were ordered after 28 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the country’s total to 88 out of a total population of about 7.5 million, including about 700,000 in Vientiane.The government-owned Vientiane Times reported on its website that 26 of the 28 new cases are residents of the capital who had contact with a student at the National University of Laos who caught the virus from a Thai man.The other two were workers who had returned from Thailand to the southern province of Champassak.Neighbouring Thailand is fighting its worst wave of the illness but has not imposed a national lockdown this year so far, though many provinces have ordered quarantines for visitors, especially from places with active outbreaks.Thai officials reported 1,470 new cases on Thursday, pushing the total past 48,000. It also reported seven deaths, its highest for a single day, bringing total fatalities to 117.Vientiane was locked down April 1-19 last year after the country’s first nine Covid-19 cases were reported.Under the new restrictions, all gatherings of more than 20 people, including wedding parties, cultural festivals and religious activities are prohibited, and entertainment venues, bars, massage parlours and gyms are closed.Enterprises deemed essential and allowed to keep operating include hospitals, banks, supermarkets, restaurants and public utilities.KPL reported that the foreign ministry will help facilitate the exit of foreigners who wish to return to their home countries.


No go for KL-Singapore rail project as deadline passes

Malaysia and Singapore have cancelled the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project after failing to agree on changes proposed by Putrajaya due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Malaysian economy.In a joint statement, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong said both governments had held several discussions but were unable to reach an agreement.“Both countries will abide by their respective obligations, and will now proceed with the necessary actions resulting from the termination of the HSR agreement,” they said.They also assured of their continued commitment to maintaining good bilateral relations and cooperation, including in strengthening connectivity between the two countries.The two-year suspension period of the HSR project expired on Dec 31.The project, which was to take off in 2026, was first postponed four months after the fall of the Barisan Nasional government in 2018, as the incoming Pakatan Harapan government undertook a review of several large-scale projects over financial concerns.It is understood that the two-year suspension of the project would mean Malaysia paying millions in compensation to Singapore.MalaysiaNow previously reported a source as saying that Malaysia has its own plan for the HSR, one that would benefit the country more in the long run “even if we have to pay compensation”.


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Protesters prepare last-ditch bid to stop French pension overhaul

French unions are staging on Tuesday a 14th day of protests against government plans to raise the retirement age to 64, in what could be a final attempt to pressure lawmakers into scrapping a law that is already on the statute books.
President Emmanuel Macron's decision to force the reform through with special constitutional powers prompted angry protests this spring, but the issue has slowly moved down the media agenda, making it harder for unions to mobilise.
"Protests have been going on for six months, it's unprecedented," Sophie Binet, the new leader of the hardline CGT union said on BFM TV. "There's a lot of anger but also fatigue," she said, adding that strikers were feeling the pinch on paychecks.
Binet nevertheless banked on an "extremely high" level of mobilisation on Tuesday and said the CGT union was prepared to keep up the fight against the reform in the coming weeks.
Macron is now enjoying a timid rebound in opinion polls, having launched a PR blitz after the reform passed that saw him criss-cross the country to confront public anger but also to announce big investments in new technologies.
Between 400,000 and 600,000 people are expected to turn out at protests across France, authorities said, which would be down from more than a million who took part in marches at the height of the pension protests earlier this year.
Inter-city trains are likely to be only "slightly disrupted", the SNCF railway company said, while the metro network in Paris will run a normal service. One-third of flights out of Paris-Orly airport have been cancelled, however.
"This is likely to be one of the last days of protests againt the reform," Laurent Berger, the leader of the more moderate CFDT union told Europe 1 radio.
The CFDT must now turn anger against the reform into a "show of strength" in future talks with the government on issues such as improving work conditions to purchasing power, he said.
The unions, which have kept a rare united front during the whole pension episode, are holding the nationwide strike just two days before an opposition-sponsored bill aimed at cancelling the minimum pension age increase is reviewed by parliament.
The provision is expected to be rejected by the lower house's speaker, a member of Macron's party, because under the French constitution, lawmakers can’t pass legislation that weighs on public finances without measures to offset those costs.
But unions hope a big protest turnout could pressure lawmakers into reviewing the bill anyway and holding a vote. Opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, say the bill being rejected would revive public anger, branding any such move "antidemocratic".
Macron, who says the reform is essential to plug a massive deficit, will be hoping that the approaching summer holidays and improving inflation numbers will help the public move on.
The president's popularity has gained four points in a monthly Elabe poll in June and eight points in a YouGov poll, although it is still languishing around 30%.


Analysts tell why common goals won’t see Bersatu and Pejuang joining hands in Johor

While parties such as Bersatu and Pejuang possess similar goals including blocking the return to power of the Umno court cluster in facing the upcoming Johor election, analysts say any cooperation between them is unlikely, even to face down common enemies like Najib Razak.Najib, who fell from power at the last general election in 2018 and was convicted of criminal charges in 2020, has been the target of attacks by both Bersatu chief Muhyiddin Yassin and Pejuang chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.Yet without an understanding between the two parties, it will be difficult for them to topple Barisan Nasional (BN) as their separate efforts will only result in split votes.Kamarul Zaman Yusoff of Universiti Utara Malaysia said part of the problem in coming to any sort of agreement was the attitude of the Pejuang leaders.He said many of them were still lulled by the past glories of Mahathir’s era despite the clear drop in the scope of influence wielded by the veteran politician.Citing the by-election for Slim in August 2020, he said Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi, the independent candidate fielded by Pejuang, only succeeded in gaining 2,115 votes whereas BN’s Mohd Zaidi Aziz garnered 13,060.Now, with the Johor polls around the corner, Kamarul said it would come as no surprise to him if the majority of Pejuang’s candidates ended up losing their deposits due to what he described as the irrationality of the party leaders in trying to manipulate the country’s politics.Bersatu, under Perikatan Nasional (PN), is contesting 56 seats in the March 12 Johor election. Pejuang meanwhile is running solo in 42.Kamarul said if Pejuang’s leaders were thinking in a rational manner, they would have understood the need to work with other like-minded parties, especially Bersatu, which shares many similarities.“But due to their self-esteem and their grudge against Muhyiddin for not also refusing to work with Umno in February 2020, they have closed off any room for cooperation,” he said.Muhyiddin and Mahathir formed Bersatu together on Sept 6, 2016 at the height of the 1MDB scandal during Najib’s administration.But they fell out after the so-called Sheraton Move, which saw the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration after 22 months in Putrajaya.Mahathir and a handful of other MPs were sacked from Bersatu, following which they set up Pejuang which is contesting an election for the first time in Johor.Kamarul, who expects Pejuang to suffer heavy defeats in Johor, said this would spur its leaders to look for “friends” with whom to work.Analyst Shamsul Amri Baharuddin meanwhile said that “cooperation” would be an inaccurate term to use.For Shamsul, who is attached to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, both parties “cooperate” to resist what they feel is untrue and should not take place.But he said the form of cooperation envisioned by some would not be achieved, taking into consideration the loyalty of party members from either side towards their leaders.“Some love Mahathir and some love Muhyiddin,” he told MalaysiaNow.In addition, he said, the interests and stands of party leaders diverge despite the similarities in narrative such as protecting the interests of the Malays, equal rights for all races, and strengthening the economy.He said history had shown that political cooperation can occur but only for the short term due to such differences between parties.He referred to the formation of Umno in 1946 which was seen as having created a platform to unite the interests of several parties.These included the fight against the Malayan Union, the protection of the elite such as the Malay royals, and the continued interest of the lower classes such as the Malays in the rural areas.It was at that point that these interests were united, he said.Describing this as a platform of integration, he said this was what had allowed them to unite, at least for a while.“Why do I say temporary? Because within this group were personalities who had different interests and positions,” he said, adding that the personal interests of such people in Umno began to increase after the departure of its founder, Onn Jaafar.“Tunku Abdul Rahman fought with Onn,” he said. “Onn wanted the party to be open to non-Malays. So the party’s real struggle is one of ideology or the stand of individual leaders.”


Application process for citizenship under federal govt, not state, Sarawak minister says

The Sarawak government today said it could not determine the pace at which applications for citizenship for stateless children in Sarawak are processed as the matter lies under the purview of the federal government.Sarawak Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Minister Fatimah Abdullah said while it was her ministry’s wish to see the process hastened, it was conducted by the home ministry.She added that it had not been discussed under the present devolution of power exercise.“The issue of citizenship, even with reference to the Inter-Governmental Committee Report, MA63 (Malaysia Agreement 1963) as well as the Federal Constitution, has been agreed to be a federal matter,” she said when replying to Ding Kuong Hiing (GPS-Meradong) at the state assembly sitting today.Ding had wanted to know whether the state government planned to speed up the process of tackling stateless children issues apart from issuing them temporary documents following the re-establishment of the special committee on citizenship status.According to Fatimah, the special committee was formed in 2016 to facilitate the consideration of citizenship applications received in Sarawak.


Ex-AG against ex-AG as Apandi urges police probe on Thomas

Former attorney-general during the Barisan Nasional era Mohamed Apandi Ali has lodged a police report over claims made by his successor Tommy Thomas in the latter’s recently published autobiography.Apandi, the AG who announced that no charges would be moved against former prime minister Najib Razak at the height of revelations on the 1MDB scandal, also said that Thomas had breached the Official Secrets Act by divulging confidential details in his book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness”.“I have studied the book’s contents and I have found that the book in general contains baseless accusations,” Apandi said in his report filed at the Sentul police station today.Thomas in his book suggested that Apandi was not qualified when he was promoted to the bench, saying he was also appointed by Najib to the AG’s post in order to clear the leader of wrongdoing.“Najib appointed Appandi Ali [sic] as the new attorney-general, with a single remit. Appandi was to clear Najib of all wrongdoings associated with 1MDB. His only client was the prime minister; the new attorney-general did not have to concern himself with acting for the federal government or the Cabinet,” Thomas wrote.He said Apandi had “moved effortlessly to the bench, where he advanced, again effortlessly, to the Federal Court”.Apandi’s police report is the latest in a series lodged against Thomas over several remarks made in his book, giving his version of what transpired behind the scenes under the 22-month Pakatan Harapan government.Several other reports were also lodged including by former solicitor-general Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, over comments by Thomas suggesting he was not qualified to lead the prosecution team in Najib’s SRC International trial.Yesterday, Dr Mahathir Mohamad also rubbished Thomas’ view that the former prime minister’s resignation in February last year did not mean the collapse of the PH government.Thomas had claimed that Mahathir blocked his then-deputy Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail from being named as interim prime minister following his resignation.“Tommy knew nothing about my resignation. According to Tommy, I told him that the Agong had wanted to appoint Wan Azizah as interim prime minister. This is nonsense,” Mahathir wrote in his blog.


Forced labour and the systematic oppression of Uighurs

The systematic oppression and repression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province – which is in defiance of the constitution, laws and policies of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) itself – has become more alarming and gotten worse. In 2018, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated that the Uighurs are now “treated as enemies of the state based on nothing more than their ethno-religious identity”. It’s as if – and this is said not as a matter of fact but only rhetorical – the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is hell-bent on eradicating the Uighur people from the face of the earth. No wonder Western democracies, especially, view the situation in Xinjiang as nothing short of a form of “genocide”.In addition to well-documented and confirmed cases of extra-judicial disappearances and torture, forced separation and the compulsory sterilisation of Uighur women, one of the developments that have emerged more fully is the highly organised and extensive use of forced labour.Axios China which provides up-to-date news and reports on developments in the PRC has reported that forced labour of the Uighurs is much bigger than previously thought. Inside the so-called re-education and vocational centres which are actually extra-judicial mass internment or concentration camps, factories have been built on a rapid scale to accommodate the production of cotton, among others. Cotton plantation and production are highly integrated into global supply chains and represent highly lucrative earnings for the CCP government.As reported in The Guardian (July 23, 2020), many of the world’s biggest fashion brands and retailers are complicit in the forced labour of the Uighurs. In a press release by 180 rights groups (both Uighur and non-Uighur), it’s roughly estimated that one in five cotton garments sold globally contains cotton and/or yarn from Xinjiang where it’s virtually certain that forced labour has been employed.So, instead of just being sent to the concentration camps for some kind of re-education as a euphemism for forced indoctrination and brainwashing on a massive scale – to remould the Uighurs in the image of the CCP, in effect social re-engineering via indirect forced assimilation so that they’re completely secularised (according to the CCP ideology in the belief that this will entrench loyalty to the party) – they’re being exploited as cheap or even slave labour to increase China’s corporate profits at a time when labour costs are rising.According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi), forced labour doesn’t only take place within Xinjiang, i.e. inside the confines of the “re-education and vocational centres”, but also in various parts of the country and beyond just the cotton industry. To quote the Aspi: “Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uighurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, (footwear), and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen”. All in all, Aspi has identified 83 foreign and local Chinese companies as “allegedly directly or indirectly benefiting from the use of Uighur workers outside Xinjiang through potentially abusive labour transfer programmes”.Apart from systematic persecution and corporate interests, is the CCP using the Uighurs as expendable “cannon fodders” as part of some stealth campaign to undermine global capitalism? Why “infiltrate” global capitalism with forced labour in the full knowledge that it’s completely unacceptable by global standards and laws – especially in view of the fact that Western democracies have enacted modern anti-slavery laws in recent years such as the UK (Modern Slavery Act, 2015) and Australia (Modern Slavery Act, 2018). And the US has recently passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (2020). In terms of state legislation, California, for example, passed its Transparency in Supply Chains Act in 2010.Not least, it’s galling that a party and country founded on upholding the rights and interests of the “proletariat” isn’t a signatory to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention on Forced Labour, 1930 (No. 29) and Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention.Or is it really foolhardiness by rogue elements within the CCP who are confident enough of China’s place in the world now – to be able to create a “parallel” geo-economic system and global supply chain that can finally de-couple from the existing one that’s seen to be under US dominance, not least to the role played by the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency?Does it ominously portend and a harbinger of a future world under the hegemonic rule of the CCP where there’s a hierarchy of people according to ethnicity, region, and other types of ideological classifications?The use of the Uighurs as forced labour is indeed reminiscence of Nazi Germany’s exploitation of “non-Aryans” such as Jews, gypsies, prisoners of war from the Soviet Union, Czechs, Poles, etc to work in armament factories during the Second World War.And as the power struggle intensifies to push out Xi Jinping, can we expect to see the persecution and oppression of the Uighurs to become even worse and more horrific? It seems there’s now a behind-the-scenes campaign to purge Xi himself of his paramount leadership role, especially in the wake of his mishandling of the Covid-19 epidemic that ravaged the country for a while. The tide may be finally turning against Xi albeit not yet reaching the point where his detractors have the upper hand. Though details are sketchy, it can be confirmed that there are factions within the CCP who are increasingly unhappy with Xi’s hardline approach to domestic and foreign affairs. As former CCP insider Cai Xia who was expelled from the party for her criticism of Xi said: “There is a very strong challenge to Xi within the CCP, he knows that and if the US continues to give pressure on the Chinese economy, the CCP central committee might consider to replace him”.Finally, it cannot be strongly enough emphasised and reiterated that forced labour in the context of Xinjing province involves the Uighurs as an ethno-religious minority. To quote from the report entitled “Connecting the Dots in Xinjiang: Forced Labor, Forced Assimilation, and Western Supply Chains” by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): “While forced labour is always abhorrent, the use of compelled labour as part of a concerted effort to eliminate a culture and religion sets the situation in Xinjiang apart.” That is, even if genocide doesn’t take place by way of war and armed conflict, the Uighurs are seeing the slow death and ultimate destruction of their identity and cultural heritage under the pretext of the fight against Islamic terrorism, separatism/secessionism and extremism.One of the key steps to fighting back against the ongoing systematic oppression and repression of the Uighurs is to end this practice of forced labour. The US has shown the way by its Department of Homeland Security’s US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Trade issuing a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on Dec 2, 2020, directing personnel at all US ports of entry to detain all shipments containing cotton and cotton products originating from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC). Beyond that, there needs to be a broad and grand alliance and coalition of countries, i.e. state actors and NGOs as non-state actors to put pressure on the global supply chains to stop sourcing from Xinjiang province and other parts of China where forced labour is involved.Jason Loh Seong Wei is head of social, law and human rights at independent think tank Emir Research.The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.


NFCorp, chairman Salleh lose appeal in defamation suit against Nurul Izzah, PKR

The Federal Court has dismissed an appeal by National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp) and its executive chairman Mohamad Salleh Ismail over their defamation suit against Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and PKR.A three-member bench comprising Federal Court judges Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal upheld the decisions of the High Court and Court of Appeal in dismissing the defamation suit of NFCorp and Salleh.Justice Harmindar, who delivered the court’s decision, said Nurul Izzah and Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who was sued in his capacity as PKR secretary-general, had made out the defence of justification and could not be liable for damages for defamation.He also said that the High Court had held that Nurul Izzah’s statement read in its entirety was not defamatory.The court ordered NFCorp and Salleh to pay RM50,000 in costs.NFCorp and Salleh filed the suit on Dec 4, 2013 against Nurul Izzah, who was then Lembah Pantai MP, and Saifuddin in relation to their statements over allegations concerning the purchase of eight units of property at KL Eco City.They claimed that Nurul Izzah had made a slanderous statement on Malaysiakini TV on March 7, 2012.The High Court on March 4, 2016, dismissed the lawsuit by NFCorp and Salleh. They also lost their appeal in the Court of Appeal which was dismissed on July 10, 2017.In the unanimous decision, Harmindar said the Court of Appeal had agreed with the findings of the High Court that there was substantial truth in the statement at the press conference which was on the conflict of interest surrounding Salleh’s wife, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, when she was the MP for Lembah Pantai.Harmindar said the focus of Nurul Izzah’s press statement was on the perceived injustice done to squatters who had to make way with scant compensation.He said the focus was also on whether there was any conflict of interest by Salleh’s wife when eight condominium units were purchased by her family including Salleh.Harmindar said it was the court’s view that the real question for determination was related to the impression created in the mind of the ordinary and reasonable viewer after viewing the whole press statement.“In our assessment, such a person will not pay any attention to the alleged defamatory matter complained about, which was in effect one sentence in a very long press statement and instead be focused only on the major part of the press statement concerning the wife of the first plaintiff (Salleh),” he said.The judge said that one sentence was meant to be an introduction to the main sting in that it was a revelation by former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli on the misuse of funds.He said no action had since been filed by Shahrizat in respect of those allegations although a suit was filed against Rafizi for the statements which he had made.On the defence of justification, Harmindar said Salleh had failed to disclose his sources of income to finance the purchase of the condominium units apart from making a bare assertion as noted by the High Court judge.He said it would not be far-fetched to deduce from the entirety of the evidence at the trial that there had been misuse of public funds for personal gain.Lawyers Razlan Hadri Zulkifli and Joshua Kevin represented Nurul Izzah while lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah appeared for Salleh and NFCorp.


14 flood deaths nationwide

Eight bodies have been found in Selangor while in Pahang, the number of casualties so far is six with another four still missing in the Bentong floods.This brings the tally of people who died in the floods which struck eight states to 14.Another 66,939 victims had to be relocated to 466 flood relief centres (PPS) in Selangor, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.Three more bodies were found in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam, the worst affected area in Selangor, and four more victims of the mudflow in Telemong, Bentong, Pahang.Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said besides the four deaths in Shah Alam, two more deaths were recorded in Kajang and one each in Sungai Buloh and Sepang.The body of a man in his 30s, believed to be the first drowning victim, was found at the main entrance to the Alam Idaman Apartment in Section 22 in Shah Alam at 7.50pm on Sunday.Police also confirmed the discovery of three more drowning victims in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam.Shah Alam police chief Baharudin Mat Taib said all victims were male. Two of them were found at 1am while another body was found at 5am by the public and the Fire and Rescue Department as they were doing rescue work. The bodies were taken to Hospital Shah Alam for further action.Meanwhile, Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Norazam Khamis said two male victims were found in Dengkil and the body of a man was found in Sepang on Monday while the body of another man was found in Desa Coalfields, Kuala Selangor.Several break-ins at convenience stores were also reported in the Taman Sri Muda area.The break-ins were reported to have occurred at around 1pm to 2pm, Baarudin confirmed to Bernama.In Pahang, factory operator M Gunalan, 38, was the first casualty after his body was found at 2.22pm on Friday, about 100m away from the location at which he was reported to have fallen while trying to ride his motorcycle in the flood near a Chinese cemetery in Gambang.The second victim recorded in the state was a man who was reported missing at 1am on Sunday. He had become stranded after trying to drive his Proton Exora car in the flood waters near Kampung Cempaka with a friend.Meanwhile, the bodies of three women and one man in Telemong, believed to be from a group of five individuals, were found by a search and rescue team yesterday.The operations started at 9am in the area where they were reported missing.The body of the male victim was found at 1pm yesterday while the bodies of the three women were found at 1.20pm and 4.23pm about 2km to 5km from where they were swept away by flood waters near a river in the village.In Perak, although the weather is forecast to be good in most places, the authorities will continue to monitor the situation in high-risk areas to prevent any untoward incidents from occurring.In Terengganu, the water levels of main rivers are back to normal except at the Sungai Kemaman reading station at the Paya Pama pump house which recorded a level of 4.45m, over the danger level of 4m.In Kuala Lumpur, a total of 371 flood victims are still at three PPS although the good weather saw 10 roads reopened.In Kelantan, the four major rivers are still at danger level. Sungai Lebir in Tualang, Kuala Krai recorded a reading of 36.67m followed by Sungai Kelantan in Tangga Krai (25.10m), Sungai Kelantan at the Guillemard bridge (16.29m) and Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang, Pasir Mas (10.19m).In Negeri Sembilan, Malaysian Civil Defence Force director Mohd Syukri Madnor said the number of flood victims still being housed at PPS had gone down following good weather conditions.


Bakke Salleh made new Petronas chairman

Telekom Malaysia chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh has been appointed as chairman of national oil firm Petronas, replacing Ahmad Nizam Salleh who has been appointed as chairman of Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd.Both appointments will be effective from Aug 1.“The prime minister extends his gratitude for Nizam’s leadership and contributions to Petronas for the past three years,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.Bakke had been chairman of Telekom since May 11 last year. He resigned today and will step down from the role effective July 31.Nizam meanwhile will remain as chairman of the KLCC Group.


Daily caseload drops to 2,300

Another 2,342 Covid-19 cases were recorded today, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 2,810,689.Meanwhile 184 are in the ICU, including 132 confirmed Covid-19 patients.A total of 87 are in need of respiratory assistance including 52 confirmed Covid-19 cases.Of the 2,342 cases reported today, 34 (1.5%) are in Category Three and above. The remaining 2,308 (98.5%) are in Category One and Two.


New cases at 5,800 mark for third day

Another 5,803 Covid-19 cases were recorded today, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 728,462.Selangor recorded 2,108 cases, Negeri Sembilan 741, Kuala Lumpur 628, Sarawak 491, Melaka 355, Johor 329, Pahang 220, Sabah 189, Kedah 186, Penang 160, Perak 137 and Kelantan 103.Labuan recorded 99 cases, Terengganu 29, Putrajaya 24 and Perlis four.Active cases stand at 60,646 with 866 in the ICU and 435 in need of respiratory assistance.Another 5,193 patients were discharged, bringing total recoveries to 662,932.However, 81 more deaths were reported, pushing the virus toll to 4,884.


Vietnam discovers new hybrid virus variant

Vietnam has discovered a new Covid-19 variant which spreads quickly by air and is a combination of the Indian and British strains, state media reported Saturday.The country is struggling to deal with fresh outbreaks across more than half of its territory including industrial zones and big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.More than 6,700 cases including 47 deaths have been reported in Vietnam – the lion’s share have occurred since April.“We have discovered a new hybrid variant from the Indian and the UK strains,” Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long was quoted telling a national meeting on the pandemic Saturday.“The characteristic of this strain is that it spreads quickly in the air. The concentration of virus in the throat fluid increases rapidly and spreads very strongly to the surrounding environment.”He did not specify the number of cases recorded with this new variant but said Vietnam will soon announce the discovery in the world’s map of genetic strains.There were seven known coronavirus variants in Vietnam before Long’s announcement, according to the health ministry.The communist country has previously received widespread applause for its aggressive pandemic response, with mass quarantines and strict contact tracing helping keep infection rates relatively low.The new round of infections has made the public and government fearful and authorities quickly moved to place strict limits on movement and business activity.Cafes, restaurants, hair salons and massage parlours as well as tourism and religious spots have been ordered to close in various areas of the country.Vietnam – a country of 97 million people – has vaccinated a little over a million citizens.It is now ramping up its jab rollout and hopes to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year, according to the minister for health.Authorities have called on people and businesses to donate money to help procure vaccines, while embassies and international organisations have been contacted for assistance, state media reported.The country presently has close to two million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine remaining, but said it is buying more than 30 million doses of the Pfizer shot.It is also in talks with Russia to produce Sputnik V, according to state media, and is working on a home-grown vaccine.


Apples and oranges, analysts say on comparing Khairy with PMs sacked from Umno

Political analysts have cautioned against comparing Khairy Jamaluddin with other former Umno leaders who went on to become prime minister after being sacked from the party, following a wave of support for the former Rembau MP and his ambition of one day leading the country.
Speaking to MalaysiaNow, veteran political observer Zin Mahmud said it would be inaccurate to make such a comparison.
"The only thing you can say is that the history of Umno shows that those who are sacked still stand a chance of becoming the prime minister," he said.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, for example, was sacked from Umno in September 1969 after writing an open letter criticising the administration of Tunku Abdul Rahman.
He returned to Umno during the government of Malaysia's second prime minister, Abdul Razak Hussein, becoming prime minister himself for the first time in 1981.
He left Umno 22 years later, during the administration of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, returning once more after Abdullah stepped down.
His third and final exit came in 2016, following his dissatisfaction with the government of Najib Razak.
That same year, Muhyiddin Yassin was sacked from the party as well, on grounds of disciplinary offences after speaking up about the 1MDB scandal.
He and Mahathir joined hands to form Bersatu, linking up with Pakatan Harapan (PH) and riding the wave of victory at the 14th general election in 2018.
Mahathir was subsequently appointed as prime minister for a second time, holding the post for 22 months until the collapse of the PH government.
He was succeeded by Muhyiddin, who in turn resigned after losing the support of the majority in August 2021.
Anwar Ibrahim, the 10th and current prime minister, was likewise sacked from Umno in 1998 during Mahathir's first tenure in power.
More than two decades later, he succeeded in taking the top office with the support of Barisan Nasional, Gabungan Parti Sarawak and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah.
But Zin said that Khairy could not be compared to these three as his situation was very different.
For one, he said, Khairy lacked the connections and networks possessed by Anwar and the other leaders, including in the context of the local media.
"Khairy's relationship with the media is not as good as that of Anwar, Muhyiddin and Mahathir," he said.
"Some local reporters have complained that Khairy entertains the international media more than them."
Shamsul Amri Baharuddin of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia agreed, saying that Khairy could only be compared to the other leaders in the sense that he had been sacked from Umno.
Shamsul also said that Khairy had been sacked at a time when Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was dominant in the party.
"Without Zahid, Anwar would not have become the prime minister," he added.
He also said that Khairy would have to plan out his strategy for his political future.
"Right now, he has to overcome the influence of Zahid, even though he is no longer in Umno," he said.


Dr M tells how he ‘put a stop’ to Guan Eng’s trusted adviser

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has singled out a senior DAP man described as a trusted adviser to former finance minister Lim Guan Eng over his unauthorised involvement in government business, saying it showed how some actions had only provided bullets for Umno to exploit racial issues against the Chinese-dominated party.Writing in his soon-to-be-launched memoir that promises to be a “tell all” about events covering his 15-year retirement before his return to the top office in 2018, Mahathir said the DAP man was “delegated a lot” by Lim, but had come to think that he could wield power over civil servants.He said the individual also took part in business negotiations involving the government despite not being empowered to do so, and had resorted to threats.“It’s not the way a government works, and I put a stop to all instances of it that I was aware of, but it was this kind of behaviour that allowed the Umno cybertroopers to play up ethnic insecurities,” Mahathir wrote in the 304-page “Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues for a New Malaysia”, his second memoir after his biographical “A Doctor in the House”.The book will be available at major bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore later this month at RM100 per copy.While Mahathir did not name the individual, it is well known that a senior DAP leader who is also an elected representative in the Klang Valley had been Lim’s close confidante at the finance ministry during the PH administration.Relating one incident involving the adviser, Mahathir said he threatened a property developer who had faced financial problems in a joint venture project with the government to develop a multi-billion ringgit complex in Kuala Lumpur.In the agreement which was made during Najib Razak’s administration, the government agreed to provide a loan to the developer with certain conditions, which included the entire project being handed over to the government if it fell behind schedule.“Now, this particular DAP adviser did in fact make this threat despite the fact that billions had already been spent, and he did so without reference to or indeed getting any authorisation from the government.“There were also occasions when this adviser spoke publicly on behalf of the government despite having no standing to do so,” Mahathir wrote.Mahathir said this was one of many problems he had dealt with during the 22 months that he helmed the PH government.He said any proposal by a minister would have to be agreed on collectively in the Cabinet and not by him alone.“For the most part, Guan Eng always referred to me and sought my approval on almost all his initiatives. In fact, even in Cabinet meetings, every time he proposed something, he would end it by saying ‘if the prime minister agrees’,” wrote Mahathir, who resigned in February 2020 after the PH coalition collapsed following disagreements between component party leaders on the back of pressure from PKR supporters to replace Mahathir with their party chief Anwar Ibrahim.


India hits 5 million infections

Confirmed coronavirus infections in India have gone beyond five million, officials say, the second-highest in the world after the US.The virus appears to be spreading much faster in India than any other country, with daily cases crossing 90,000 for the five days up until Tuesday, the BBC says.More than 80,000 people have died but the death rate is lower than in many countries.The increase in infections comes as the government continues to lift restrictions to try to boost the economy.Most workplaces and markets are back to normal, and many cities are permitting restaurants and bars to resume serving alcohol, which is likely to increase crowds and reduce social distancing compliance.Gyms are the latest to reopen, but schools, colleges and cinemas stay shut.India’s caseload now stands at 5,020,359 after it added over 90,000 cases in the last 24 hours.The virus has spread to every corner of the country, including the remote tribe in India’s Andaman islands, the bulk of the caseload is coming from five states.


Muhyiddin denies receiving RM1.3 million from UKSB, says was undergoing cancer treatment

Former home minister Muhyiddin Yassin today denied the testimony of a witness in Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s graft trial that he had been the recipient of RM1.3 million from Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) four years ago, saying he is ready to be investigated by anti-graft authorities over the matter.In a statement, he said he had never received any money from David Tan Siong Sun, whether directly or indirectly, UKSB’s directors or its shareholders.Tan, UKSB’s former administrative manager, told the Shah Alam High Court today that Muhyiddin was given the money in three cash transactions, on June 4, July 4 and Aug 23, 2018.He said RM300,000 was given on June 4, RM500,000 on July 4 and RM500,000 on Aug 23.Muhyiddin said Tan’s testimony gave the impression that he, too, had accepted bribes.“This statement is false,” he added. “I strongly deny it.”He said on the dates mentioned by Tan, he had in fact been undergoing treatment for cancer at a hospital in another country.“At the time, I had undergone surgery for cancer and took leave for several months for follow-up treatment,” he said.“My duties as home minister were assumed by the prime minister at the time, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. On the dates given by the witness, I was actually undergoing treatment at a hospital abroad. It would have been impossible for me to accept any cash bribes from anyone in that situation.”Adding that he had never been questioned or investigated by the authorities, he urged the prosecution to explain the matter to prevent any slander against him.“I am also ready to be investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission about this,” he said.


BN sends letter of demand to Muhyiddin, Azmin over 'mastermind' claim

Barisan Nasional (BN) today sent a letter of demand to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and his Supreme Council member Mohamed Azmin Ali over a claim that recent charges against his party leaders were masterminded by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
In a statement, BN hit out at Muhyiddin's remarks, made on Feb 21 following the arrest of Bersatu's Wan Saiful Wan Jan, describing them as extreme and reckless slander.
"They were made intentionally, in order to cover up the damage ongoing in Perikatan Nasional (PN) itself," it added.
"Through this series of claims, it is clear that both of these main figures in PN have created all manner of excuses to hide the problems of corruption and bribery existing within the coalition.
"The act of pointing fingers appears to be their usual move to cover up their weaknesses and make themselves the victims of political prosecution even as the people see for themselves that the accused is from within their party leadership."
Wan Saiful, who was arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on Deb 20, was charged in court the next day with bribery amounting to RM6.9 million related to a JanaWibawa project.
He later resigned as Bersatu information chief pending the outcome of his case.
Muhyiddin said the charges against Wan Saiful had been masterminded by Zahid in order to weaken PN ahead of the elections to be held in six states this year.
He said Zahid had previously issued statements that appeared to be attempts to paint Bersatu as a faction of the so-called court cluster.
"After this, there will be a new court cluster," the PN chairman added.
"This is something already attempted from early on. So what has happened, I think was already planned ahead of time."
BN said both Muhyiddin and Azmin had been told to retract their statements, issue a public apology, and pay compensation for what it described as defamation.
It also denied that Zahid had misused his position to prosecute leaders from PN.
"The deputy prime minister's focus is on managing national affairs, especially improving the welfare and economic life of the rural communities."


Pakistan floods add to pain for struggling small businesses

Dipping a roller into a tray of blue paint, Mohammad Rashid counts his losses after record monsoon rains forced him to hang up his overalls for weeks on end, adding to his money worries as an economic crisis grips Pakistan.
Millions of low-income small business owners and self-employed workers like Rashid are struggling to repair damage and recover lost earnings due to the heavy rains and devastating floods that have killed more than 1,000 people since June.
In Rashid's home city of Karachi, the country's largest, weeks of rain left the streets knee deep in water and sludge and meant he could only work five days in July - Pakistan's wettest for three decades.
"I earned not more than 10,000 rupees (US$46)," Rashid, 43, said, comparing that to his usual monthly earnings of up to 100,000 rupees.
Facing a balance of payments crunch, Pakistan is finding it difficult to fund reconstruction efforts after the floods due to spending curbs as it awaits bailout money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The government has announced cash support to families, but almost nothing has been offered to small businesses for damaged property and goods, and many traders say they feel abandoned.
"(The government) is killing us slowly," said Mohammad Hamid, 27, at his shop where he sells and repairs printers.
He said he suffered losses due to getting stuck daily for hours on Karachi's flooded roads. But his biggest problem is soaring prices that are hiking the cost of doing business - and undoing his gradual recovery from the impact of Covid-19.
Annual consumer price inflation reached nearly 25% in July, the highest in 14 years.
"The powder used in the ink cartridges of printers has become expensive, but customers refuse to pay me if I increase my charges proportionately," said Hamid, who has been dipping into his savings to provide for his family-of-seven.
Monsoon destruction
While the monsoon brings a wave of destruction almost every year, successive governments have failed to adequately warn and prepare for its impact, say climate experts, warning that climate change is fuelling extreme weather.
"What you see today is just a trailer of what's in store for us with poverty, hunger, malnutrition and disease if we don't pay heed to climate change," said climate change and development expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2021, an annual ranking from research group Germanwatch, ranks Pakistan eighth among countries most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change.
From tailors and cobblers to repairmen, traders worry that without any concrete policies to cut climate change-related risks - especially at a time when financial pressures keep piling - their businesses could go under.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a task force to mitigate the effects of climate change during an intense heatwave in May, and last week chaired a cabinet meeting to discuss the quick implementation of climate adaptation policies.
"Gone are the days when climate change was the subject of drawing room discussions. It is affecting our everyday life. Food and water security is directly linked to climate hazards," he posted on Twitter after the meeting.
But for Talat Shaheen, a mother-of-six who intermittently lives and works at small home-based garment factories, the government needs to do more.
"Rains may be one factor, but factories are not getting work as the purchasing power of people has diminished since the pandemic," said Shaheen, whose husband has been unemployed for two years.
On a good day she earns up to 1,000 rupees, but such days are "getting scarcer".
"No work means sharing a 50 rupee-plate of cooked lentils and rice between the eight of us," she said, adding that they were forced to starve with prices of basic items such as cooking oil and flour having nearly trebled.
"What can the poor eat?"


Seeking a pill to cure Covid: drugmakers eye alternative to vaccines

Prevention is better than cure – but when it comes to Covid, what happens when people can’t get the vaccine, don’t want it, or they’re immune suppressed and it fails to stop infection?The hunt is on for a coronavirus treatment that can be taken as a pill soon after a confirmed positive, halting the disease in its tracks so that cases that might have been severe end up being nothing more than a bad cold.Several companies are working on so-called oral antivirals, which would mimic what the drug Tamiflu does for influenza.“It’s great that we have vaccine rollout that has been significant, but it certainly will not be taken by everybody in our population, and not everybody who takes the vaccine will have a full response to it,” David Hirschwerk, an infectious diseases physician at Northwell Health in New York, told AFP.An easily storable and transportable pill would also offer practical advantages over existing treatments such as monoclonal antibodies, which are mainly injected by drips at hospital infusion centers.Promising results One of the frontrunners in these efforts is a twice-a-day drug called Molnupiravir, which is being developed by Merck in partnership with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.Early results from a Phase 2 trial showed that, among dozens of volunteers who tested positive at the start, none of those who received the drug had any detectable virus by day five; while a quarter of those who received a placebo did.The numbers are promising but too small to draw firm conclusions from, and the company is now enrolling for a Phase 3 trial involving 1,850 people with results expected by fall.“Viruses are basically little machines and they need certain components to replicate themselves,” Merck’s chief scientific officer Daria Hazuda told AFP. Antivirals are designed to interfere with that process.Molnupiravir belongs to a class of antiviral called “polymerase inhibitors”, which work by targeting an enzyme that viruses need to copy their genetic material, and introducing mutations that leave them unable to replicate.Because antibodies target a surface protein of the coronavirus that is continually evolving, antivirals are expected to be more variant-proof.Early useCurrently, there’s just one antiviral approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat Covid, which is Remdesivir by Gilead Sciences.Like Molnupiravir, it is a polymerase inhibitor, though their precise actions differ.Remdesivir’s biggest disadvantage is that it was developed as an intravenous drug and targeted at hospitalized Covid patients, among whom it was shown to modestly reduce recovery time.But by the time Covid has progressed to severe, much of the harm to patients’ health comes from their own immune systems going into overdrive and damaging their organs, rather than viral replication.That’s why the focus now is on oral formulations that can be taken within days of infection, and apart from Merck, there are a few other notable entrants.Roche and Atea have begun a 1,400 patient trial to study their own oral polymerase inhibitor, AT-527.“This drug has so far been shown to be very potent in vitro,” Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, founder and CEO of Atea told AFP.“I think that after the pandemic, you’re going to have a phase which is going to be endemic,” he predicted, with the company hoping to file for authorization by the end of the year and launch the drug by 2022.Curing the cold?Pfizer, which has developed one of pandemic’s foremost vaccines, is also attracting significant attention for its oral drug PF-07321332, which has begun Phase 1 human trials in healthy patients.Its timeline is a little behind the others, because the medicine, which belongs to a class called “protease inhibitors”, was designed specifically against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with work beginning in March 2020.Protease enzymes act as molecular scissors that cut long protein chains into smaller pieces, that are then re-assembled as part of viral replication.“Our investigational orally-administered protease inhibitor was designed to ‘fit into’ the protease (ie stick into the scissors) and ‘block it’ (i.e. keep the scissors from working),” Charlotte Allerton, head of medicine design for Pfizer, told AFP.The company is hoping to expand to late stage studies by the middle of this year, she added.All the drugmakers also plan to study their medicines for preventative use among close contacts of infected people.The antivirals under development have demonstrated effectiveness in lab studies against other types of coronaviruses – some of which cause serious diseases like SARS and MERs, while others cause the cold.“If it is proven to be very safe and proven to be effective, then it can be used broadly, irrespective of the diagnosis, to treat and prevent multiple respiratory infections,” said Hazuda of Merck’s product.


Israel drops ‘green passes’ as Omicron infections wane

Israel on Thursday dropped a “green pass” policy requiring proof of vaccination, recovery from Covid-19 or a negative test to enter some public venues, further rolling back restrictions as a wave of infections recedes.The highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus peaked in Israel towards the end of January with daily cases reaching record highs of some 85,000, but numbers have steadily declined since to around 21,000 by Wednesday.“The wave has broken,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the start of a discussion with health officials on the state of the pandemic where he said green passes were being completely scrapped.The green pass rules had already been cut back on Feb 4. Since then, the digital document had to be shown to gain entry to venues like nightclubs and celebration halls.During its previous coronavirus wave, Israel adopted a “Living with Covid” policy. This has kept the economy and schools largely open, though some sectors suffered and classes were heavily disrupted by employees, customers pupils and teachers falling ill or isolating.Bennett said parents would still be obliged to test their children for the virus twice a week with negative tests still required to visit care homes for the elderly.Though Omicron has caused proportionally fewer severe infections and deaths than previous strains of the virus, the sheer magnitude of the surge put Israel’s healthcare system under strain, impacting quality of care.Some scientists have criticised the government for easing restrictions over the past month rather than taking more measures to slow Omicron.Israel, with a population of 9.4 million, has logged around 3.5 million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and more than 9,700 deaths. Some experts estimate that up to half the population may have been infected by Omicron.


QatarEnergy boss says World Cup tension will not impact German business

QatarEnergy chief Saad al-Kaabi said on Monday that business with German firms would not be impacted by political tensions over criticism of Qatar's hosting of the World Cup, which has raised the ire of officials in the Gulf Arab gas exporter.
Kaabi told Reuters he was shocked by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck's widely reported remarks last week, which were confirmed on Monday by his ministry, that awarding Doha the tournament was a "stupid idea and can't really be explained otherwise than by corruption".
Doha has faced mounting criticism, mostly from Europe, over its treatment of foreign workers and LGBT rights ahead of the World Cup that began on Sunday. It has denied discrimination and pointed to labour reforms, while organisers previously denied allegations of bribery to win hosting rights.
"The comments that Mr Habeck again, has come out with, are not helpful for the relationship, but our business will move on," said Kaabi, who is also minister of state for energy.
Qatar's foreign minister accused Berlin of "double standards" in a newspaper interview earlier this month. In October his office summoned the German ambassador to object over critical comments by Germany's interior minister.
The ruling emir of one of the world's top gas exporters, which Europe has looked to help tackle an energy supply crunch, has also publicly lashed out at mounting international criticism of Qatar, calling it "ferocious slander".
QatarEnergy and German utility firms have been thrashing out long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) deals for much of this year as Berlin looks for alternatives to Russia, which is Germany's biggest gas supplier.
"The companies in Germany have excellent leadership and then we have a great relationship," Kaabi said, adding it was his job to insulate QatarEnergy from politics and that its talks were with companies and not the government.
"You see commercial deals like the one we signed today with China are 27-year deals. They outlast CEOs like me, they outlast ministers like me and they also outlast governments," he said, referring to a supply deal with Sinopec announced on Monday.
The QatarEnergy boss said Habeck had never voiced such criticism of Qatar to him directly.
The German minister, who is responsible for Berlin's energy portfolio, was in Doha in March and had said that long-term energy partnerships were being negotiated.
Sources had told Reuters that talks between Germany and Qatar had been fraught with differences over key conditions such as contract length and pricing.
Kaabi, in the interview with Reuters, dismissed such talk and said he would announce the details of each deal once signed.
"Whether it's in Germany or Europe or wherever we sign, we're going to sign deals. We are working very closely on deals in Europe and Asia and so on. And this rhetoric about people talking about things is just rhetoric," he said.


India calls out Canada’s PM over remarks on demo police actions

India has denounced Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “ill-informed” remarks regarding an ongoing farmers’ protest in India’s capital.Trudeau and Conservative opposition leader Erin O’Toole both made comments this week expressing concern over India’s response to the demonstrations.“Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest,” Trudeau said after Indian police used anti-riot methods on the farmers.Thousands of farmers have been camping outside New Delhi for a week now, protesting against controversial agricultural reforms.The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended the laws and accused opposition parties of misleading the farmers, who have dubbed the bills “anti-farmer”. His government says the new laws will bring much-needed private investment to the crisis-hit agricultural sector.Protesters were met last week with barricades and clashes erupted between farmers and police. Photos and video of the encounters show authorities using tear gas and water cannons to stop the farmers from entering the city.Farmers are now being escorted by police to a protest site where they are expected to continue demonstrating against the reforms.Speaking on Monday at a celebration of the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism, Trudeau mentioned the protests.Canada is home to a large Indian population, mostly from Punjab state where many of the protesting farmers live. The 2016 census reported close to two million South Asian Canadians.“We’re all very worried about family and friends,” he said during the virtual celebration. “We believe in the importance of dialogue and that’s why we’ve reached out to the Indian authorities to highlight our concerns.”His remarks were echoed by Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole, who called the right to peacefully protest “fundamental” to democracy.On Tuesday, India’s foreign ministry spokesman responded to the “ill-informed comments by Canadian leaders”.Anurag Srivastava said, “Such comments are unwarranted, especially when pertaining to the internal affairs of a democratic country.”Politicians from the UK, US and Australia have expressed their solidarity with the Indian farmers over the past few days and criticised the Modi government’s handling of the biggest protests in years.


Dr M: HSR cannot be justified

Dr Mahathir Mohamad today appeared to agree with the Perikatan Nasional government’s decision to cancel a joint agreement on the construction of a high-speed rail link between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.Mahathir, whose administration had requested to suspend the agreement pending a review of mega projects started by the previous Barisan Nasional government, said the rail link was not economically viable.“I do not consider this a critical project. We could wait another 10 to 20 years,” he told reporters at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya today.He said the distance of 350km between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore would mean little savings compared to the current journey, and that the spiralling cost of the project was also a concern.“The cost of building this HSR has gone up to RM80 billion. We will never get back our money,” Mahathir added.The HSR project, which was launched in 2016 under then-prime minister Najib Razak, was terminated after Malaysia allowed the bilateral agreement to lapse on Dec 31, 2020.Malaysia will pay an undisclosed amount of compensation to Singapore.