Daily caseload at 259 as death toll up by one

Another 259 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 5,039,326.
There were 390 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,992,776.
There are now 9,599 active cases, of which 9,268 or 96.6% are undergoing home quarantine.
Meanwhile, 0 (0%) are at quarantine centres while 320 (3.3%) have been hospitalised.
A total of 11 are in ICU with four in need of respiratory assistance.
One more death was reported, taking total deaths to 36,951.


Budget gives more cash for hardest hit but what happens after it’s gone?

One of the key aims of Malaysia’s Budget 2021 was to ensure the financial welfare of the people hardest hit by the pandemic.To do this, proposed provisions include increased allowances for medical frontliners and reduced income tax rates for 1.4 million taxpayers.There is also loan repayment assistance for borrowers in the B40 group, continuing on from the blanket loan moratorium that ran from April to October. In this second phase, banks are expected to offer loan moratorium extensions as well as flexible options for loan repayments to those with reduced incomes or job loss.Also, cash handouts for households in the lower income bands now include the lowest band of the M40 group.Such measures are designed to increase cash in hand and boost spending in these times of unprecedented economic crisis, but problems remain.Research analyst Zulaikha Azmi of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs praises the reduction in income tax rates.“It’s a good step at this point as the country needs an expansionary fiscal policy,” she tells MalaysiaNow. “It’s also good that the government is continuing and broadening financial assistance according to the number of children each family has.”The budget proposal is for families in the B40 group to receive cash assistance ranging from RM500 to RM1,800 under the Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat programme. The more children in a household, the more cash will be provided.“This will really help families heavily affected by the MCO (movement control order),” says Zulaikha. “However, financial assistance is only for the short term, and the government needs to address the mid to long-term solutions needed to replace this financial assistance.”Finance professor Izlin Ismail says, “The strategy of putting cash into more than eight million pockets instead of tax rebates and exemptions is designed to boost consumption in the hope of stimulating the economy. This has a faster impact than quantitative easing where money is injected into the economy through the financial system.”She also questions the lack of clarity regarding the provision for eligible households where there are no children.“Financial assistance is only for the short term.”Zulaikha says, “Most lower income households consume basic needs only so the cash assistance will be spent mainly on food, shelter and prepaid mobile. They will probably spend more on a greater variety of food and household items, and perhaps on private tuition, which will support the local economy.”However, while economic activities continue under the conditional MCO, children will be confined to home as schools stay shut until January. This means working parents whose jobs do not allow them to work from home will need childcare services for their young children.Single working mothers or female-headed households in the B40 group may not find one-off cash aid a long-term solution to the rising cost of home childcare or sending the child to a childcare centre, once other options such as friends or relatives helping out are exhausted.“The cash assistance is most likely not enough for childcare, though the government recognises this issue and has allocated RM30 million for childcare services for frontliners and the public sector, and RM20 million to encourage the private sector to provide childcare facilities on their premises,” says Zulaikha.“However, there is a buffer time before this will be implemented.”By the time such childcare provisions are passed and executed, the temporary benefit of one-off cash assistance will have been exhausted, putting families back at square one in planning how to ensure children are supervised at home while parents go out to work.


Registration for Covid vaccine jabs to open soon for Malaysians

Registration for the Covid-19 inoculation drive will open soon, ahead of the arrival of the first vaccines in Malaysia next month.Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said the government is targeting 70% herd immunity involving 23 million Malaysians.Malaysia has ordered 25 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which is currently the only vaccine that has received approval from the the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).Half of that amount will be arriving in late February.The government is hoping to inoculate 40% of the population with Pfizer.Putrajaya has also inked deals with other pharmaceutical companies to secure Covid-19 vaccines, including AstraZeneca, Sinovac as well as the multinational Covax Facility.In an interview with state broadcaster RTM yesterday, Adham said medical frontliners will be the first to receive the vaccine, followed by the high-risk group such as those aged 60 and above and with chronic illnesses.The third phase will cover all members of the public aged 18 and above.Adham said Malaysia’s Covid-19 immunisation drive is aimed at protecting frontliners, bringing down casulties, achieving herd immunity and breaking the infection chain.He said a poll by his ministry revealed that 67% of some 212,000 Malaysians agree to be vaccinated against Covid-19, believing in its effectiveness.He said 17% are unsure, while another 16% would refuse to take the vaccine.“As of Jan 13, about 32 milliion people worldwide have been injected with the Covid-19 vaccine. This shows the international community’s acceptance.“But vaccine is not the solution. After getting injected, we must still practise the new norms,” Adham added.


Chief justice condemns attempts to undermine judicial independence

Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat today said it was mischievous for anyone to try to tarnish the image of the courts and bring it into disrepute through unfair, biased and often unenlightened criticism simply because they happen to dislike particular decisions.
She added that constructive criticism is always welcome, but not attempts to undermine the judiciary’s independence.
"Last year, attempts to intimidate or otherwise exert improper pressure on judges presiding over public interest cases became more obvious. These attempts are a direct affront to the rule of law and judicial independence.
"They certainly deserve condemnation and indeed many have spoken out against them in strong terms. Last year, the judiciary was the target of scurrilous attacks during the hearing of certain high-profile cases," she said in her speech at the opening of the Legal Year 2023 in Putrajaya today.
On the criminal justice system, Tengku Maimun said that criminal liability will continue to be determined in accordance with the applicable law and the strength of the evidence presented before the court.
"Those who are proven guilty will be convicted and those not so proven will be acquitted. Convicted accused persons will be meted with punishments that their crimes deserve, no more and no less.
"This is our job as judges, and we are determined to discharge our duty without regard to any threats that are made to deter us from it.
"The point I am trying to make here, as I have on many occasions before, is that judicial independence will not be compromised so long as cases are decided without fear or favour, without ill-will or motive, without any external or internal pressure and without regard to personalities," she said.
Tengku Maimun said as long as every judge remained committed to these principles, and united in applying these maxims, she was confident that judicial independence would be upheld.
The chief justice also reiterated that judges should make decisions and write judgments premised on the law and not in order to seek popularity.
"We write to keep the public abreast of the judicial function and not to seek validation from the public or from any other quarters.
"If a judge decides a case premised on anything other than the law or facts, then he makes a decision that is not sound in law. And in which case, the judge fails to uphold judicial independence and the rule of law," she said.
Tengku Maimun also urged members of the public to read judgments in their entirety before forming an opinion and subjecting the judiciary to any form of vilification.
On the composition of the members of the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009, she said it was crucial to judicial independence that the process of judicial appointments remains apolitical and free from any form of interference and influence.


HSBC forecasts brighter outlook as Asian profits surge

HSBC has reported stronger than expected profits and says the economic outlook is looking brighter.Europe’s biggest bank reported income of US$5.8 billion for the January-to-March period, up from US$3.2 billion a year earlier.The bank says it is on track with its restructuring plan, including cutting 35,000 jobs and focusing on earning more client fees in Asia.The jump in profits marks a turnaround for HSBC, which reported a 34% drop in profits for 2020, partly due to the impact from the coronavirus pandemic.Noel Quinn, HSBC’s chief executive, said the bulk of the bank’s profits came from Asia, where HSBC made US$3.8 billion, but he said it was profitable in all regions, with its UK business reporting profits of US$1 billion.Although HSBC said it expected better economic conditions in 2021, it predicted continued uncertainty as countries emerge from the pandemic at different speeds and as governments reduce support measures.“There doesn’t look like there is an immediate cure for the bank’s underlying ailment, the ultra-low rates plaguing the banking sector,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investments analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.“HSBC is not alone in feeling the squeeze of net interest margins, which tightened again slightly over the quarter,” she said. “The outlook remains highly uncertain. HSBC’s resilience could be tested as governments remove the arms of support that have been wrapped around their economies to help them limp through the crisis.”In mid-April, Quinn abolished the executive floor at HSBC’s London HQ meaning that top managers have lost their offices and will have to hot-desk on an open-plan floor.“My leadership team and I have moved to a fully open-plan floor with no designated desks,” he said, adding that he would no longer come in five days a week.HSBC plans to shrink its office space by 40% in a post-pandemic shake-up which includes embracing “hybrid working”.Up to now, senior managers have been based on the 42nd floor of the building in east London in their own private offices but from now on they will be jostling for workspaces two floors down, while their old offices have been transformed into client meeting rooms.Quinn told the FT that the old arrangement had been “a waste of real estate”, adding: “Our offices were empty half the time because we were travelling around the world.”He added that most staff at the bank would be able to work part-time from home in future.Other firms in the finance sector have announced plans to embrace hybrid working as employees signal their desire to commute less.One big UK employer, the Nationwide building society, has indicated that it does not intend to force its 18,000 employees to return to the office if they have been successfully able to work from home during the pandemic.It said about two-thirds of its staff had been working from home for the past year.


'Hardcore' or bust: Musk gives ultimatum to Twitter staff

Twitter's new boss Elon Musk has asked staff to choose by Thursday between being "extremely hardcore" and working intense, long hours, or losing their jobs, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.
The Tesla tycoon has come under fire for radical changes at the social media company, which he bought for US$44 billion (RM199.9 billion) late last month.
He has fired half of the company's 7,500 staff, scrapped a work-from-home policy, and imposed long hours, all while his attempts to overhaul Twitter have faced chaos and delays.
"Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore," Musk wrote in the internal memo.
"This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade," he added.
Staff have been asked to follow a link to affirm their commitment to "the new Twitter" by 5pm New York time (2200 GMT) on Thursday.
If they do not do so, they will lose their jobs, receiving three months of severance pay.
Twitter did not respond to AFP requests for comment on the new measure.
Since Musk took over Twitter, his stumbling attempts to revamp user verification with a controversial subscription service have led to a slew of fake accounts and pranks, and prompted major advertisers to step away from the platform.
On Tuesday, Musk postponed the relaunch of Twitter's paid subscription service, Blue Verified.
Musk wants users to pay US$8 for the coveted blue tick, which has until now been granted free to verified accounts, lending authority to public figures and media using Twitter.
However, the system was suspended as accounts impersonating others – including Musk – proliferated.
The relaunch is now set for Nov 29.
'Somebody else'
Musk on Wednesday said his overhaul of the company's "organisation structure" would be done this week.
After "an initial burst of activity" to reorganise the company, "I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time," he said.
Musk was speaking in a court hearing linked to his US$50 billion pay package at Tesla, the electric car giant.
A shareholder has accused the South African multi-billionaire of being a part-time CEO for Tesla, saying that the board of directors did not sufficiently scrutinise the compensation.
Musk has warned Twitter's employees that the company risks bankruptcy if it is not quickly fixed.
In recent days, Musk has carried out more firings, sacking one engineer in a tweet after he openly criticised decisions under the new leadership.
"I would like to apologize for firing these geniuses. Their immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere," Musk tweeted.


Aussie troops to be sent to Sydney to enforce lockdown compliance

Australia will be sending hundreds of soldiers on to the streets of Sydney to help enforce the city’s extended Covid lockdown.A stubborn Delta outbreak which began in June has produced nearly 3,000 infections and led to nine deaths, the BBC reports.Despite five weeks of lockdown, infections in the nation’s largest city continue to spread. Officials recorded 170 new cases on Friday.Australian Defence Force personnel will begin training over the weekend, with operations starting on Monday under the direction of New South Wales Police.The lockdown – in place until at least Aug 28 – bars people from leaving their home except for essential exercise, shopping, caregiving and other reasons. Information provided by health officials indicates the virus is mainly spreading through permitted movement.ADF soldiers will join police in virus hotspots to ensure people are following the rules, which include a 10km travel limit.New South Wales State Police Minister David Elliott said the deployment would help because a small minority of Sydneysiders think “the rules don’t apply to them”.Many have questioned whether the military intervention is necessary, calling it heavy-handed.The Australian Lawyers Alliance, a civil rights group, called the deployment a “concerning use” of armed forces in a liberal democracy.The outbreak has largely affected critical workers and large family groups in the city’s poorer and ethnically diverse suburbs.Critics say those areas have already faced “targeted” policing measures. They point out restrictions there are harsher than for the rest of Sydney.“Our people are one of the poorest demographics, and as it is, they already feel picked on and marginalised,” said Steve Christou, one local mayor.“They can’t afford to pay the mortgage, the rent, or food. Now to throw the army to enforce lockdown on the streets is going to be a huge issue to these people,” he told local media.Others have called for the government to increase its vaccine drive and support services for affected communities.ABC News is reporting that local community leaders and politicians have not been consulted and there are fears sending in the army sends the wrong message.Labor MP for Canterbury in the NSW Parliament, Sophie Cotsis said the community needs help testing and vaccinating people, not more policing.“Many people in my community are very concerned. We’ve got good relations with our police locally, but it’s taken many years of building that community outreach.“With respect to the ADF, I haven’t been briefed, there’s very vague information.”Australia’s rate of vaccination – 17% of the adult population – remains one of the lowest among wealthy nations.


Senior citizens to be given AstraZeneca jab, says health minister

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba today said the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective and will be administered to those aged 60 and above.Speaking at a press conference in Putrajaya, he said the decision followed a thorough assessment of the vaccine which found that its benefits outweigh any disadvantages.“The AstraZeneca vaccine will be used for those aged 60 and above,” he added.Khairy Jamaluddin, the minister in charge of the vaccination programme, said earlier this month that a decision would be made on whether to continue with the AstraZeneca jab.He said the government had noted a report from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which confirmed for the first time a link between the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine and cases of blood clots.The EMA’s safety committee concluded on April 7 that unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine.On April 12, Khairy said senior citizens would be given the Sinovac vaccine from China. He said the Sinovac vaccine is accepted as safe, effective and stable to be given to the elderly aged 60 and above.Institute of Clinical Research director Dr Kalaiarasu Periasamy, who spoke at the press conference with Adham, said cases of blood clots were very rare.Adding that several countries had halted use of the AstraZeneca jab in their vaccination programmes for further study, he said the vaccine was safe for use on all adults.He said the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee chaired by Adham and Khairy had gathered feedback from a 22-man panel of medical experts led by health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on whether the AstraZeneca jabs reduce hospital admissions, ICU cases and the risk of dying from Covid-19.“If we compare the risks and advantages, the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks,” he said.He added that they would continue to study data from other countries that are using the AstraZeneca vaccine on their adult population.


Sorry.


No discussions on line-up for Umno election, says Annuar

Ketereh Umno division chief Annuar Musa says there have been no discussions about a certain group of leaders in the party supporting vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob to contest the post of Umno president.“We never discussed this. I know that some people are spreading (news on) the line-up, but we never sat down and discussed the line-up and the contest.“… we have very limited time and there is so much work to do,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday when asked about rumours on a flyer listing the new Umno leadership being shared on social media.The poster, among others, listed Ismail as president, Annuar as deputy president, and Hishammuddin Hussein, Mahdzir Khalid and Khairy Jamaluddin as vice-presidents.When asked about Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin’s request for the deputy prime minister and other Cabinet posts at his meeting with the prime minister, Annuar said it was not wrong to ask.However, the communications and multimedia minister said it was up to the prime minister to decide.“I don’t think it’s wrong to request… but the appointment of the deputy prime minister and ministers is the prerogative of the prime minister,” he said.


No fixed period for flood victims to replace personal documents

There is no set time period for flood victims to replace their personal documents, National Registration Department (JPN) director-general Ruslin Jusoh says.
He said there was no need for flood victims to rush to replace their documents, such as identity cards and birth certificates, if they had more urgent matters to attend to.
However, should they need to settle their children’s schooling matters or banking issues which require such documents, they are advised to replace them immediately to prevent problems at a later point.
"Even if there is no deadline given, we hope they will not wait too long because schools are reopening… and the documents will be needed by then," he told reporters in Kuala Nerus yesterday.
Ruslin also said the department had mobilised its personnel at the affected areas to help victims apply for the free replacement of lost or damaged personal documents. He said they are not required to submit supporting documents such as police reports in their application.
"When the documents are ready after three to five days, we will deliver the documents to them," he said.
He said so far this year, 6,853 identity cards have been replaced and issued by JPN for various reasons.
He said that the number is expected to increase since the floods in Terengganu and Kelantan have just ended.


Daily caseload at 204 as no new deaths reported

Another 204 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 5,043,456.
There were 213 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,997,244.
There are now 9,247 active cases, of which 8,909 or 96.3% are undergoing home quarantine.
Meanwhile, 0 (0%) are at quarantine centres while 332 (3.6%) have been hospitalised.
A total of six are in ICU with one in need of respiratory assistance.
No new deaths were reported, leaving total deaths unchanged at 36,965.


Lawyers group warns of ‘political hara-kiri’ if anti-hopping bill passed

Lawyers group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) today cautioned against a bill to prevent MPs from switching camps, saying the proposed constitutional amendment lacks any concrete definition and opens the door to abuse which would critically undermine parliamentary democracy.In a statement, it added that tabling and passing the bill in Parliament would be an “unprecedented act of political hara-kiri” by MPs. Acknowledging the many calls for an anti-party hopping law since the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in 2020, LFL said the bill for the proposed amendment for a new provision under Article 10 of the constitution to allow the enactment of such a law does not specifically address party hopping.Instead, it said, it makes wide references to the party membership of MPs and state assemblymen.“If the bill is passed, any government of the day could by simple majority enact laws that disqualify MPs on any technicality or grounds which would be particularly harmful to the opposition who would then be at the mercy of the majority,” it added.On April 7, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who is the co-chair of a steering committee on the government’s MoU with PH, said plans for the anti-hopping law were still on, with an early draft of the act to be distributed before the April 11 parliamentary sitting.He said amendments would also be tabled to introduce an enabling clause under Article 10 of the constitution, for a new act that would bar MPs from switching camps. The amendments, however, would need a two-thirds majority support from MPs.MalaysiaNow previously reported that the bill could benefit the Umno court cluster which has been pressuring Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to call for an early election.The bill, aside from causing elected representatives to lose their seats if they switch party loyalties after being elected, could see those sacked from their parties losing their seats as well, even if the sackings were wrongful, unfair or done under controversial circumstances.This is because a separate law gives political parties a blanket right when it comes to the expulsion of members.“If this anti-hopping bill becomes a law and is gazetted, Zahid and Najib could kill two birds with one stone: first, cleansing the party of these anti-court cluster MPs and ministers, and as a result of that, causing Ismail’s government to fall due to these MPs losing their status,” said a source close to Johor Umno, referring to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former prime minister Najib Razak who lead the court cluster.LFL said while stability in government was needed, it was also crucial to safeguard the independence of elected representatives. “Anti-hopping laws would inevitably cause MPs to vote on party lines, despite their principles or the wants of their constituents for fear of repercussions to themselves,” it said.“It is naive to imagine that MPs are not driven by a need to further their careers or be eligible for re-election.” It also criticised political leaders who had called for the bill to be passed quickly and fine-tuned later. “To tinker with the constitution or with freedom of association in that cavalier manner is irresponsible and a recipe for catastrophe,” it said. Urging the government to retract the bill, it said the people should be the sole arbiter of the actions of their elected representatives at the poll box. “Clearly, enacting anti-hopping law is not the panacea that people expect it to be. This dangerous proposed bill by the government should finally wake everyone up,” it said.“We must not forsake democratic principles simply for the sake of chasing an elusive stability.”


India temporarily halts Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine exports

India has placed a temporary hold on all exports of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, foreign ministry sources have told the BBC.They said rising cases meant domestic demand was expected to pick up in the coming weeks, and so the doses were needed for India’s own rollout.The move – described as a “temporary squeeze” by officials – is expected to affect supplies until the end of April.Many countries hoping for vaccines under the Covax scheme are likely to be affected.The scheme, which is led by the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to ensure vaccines are shared fairly among all nations.India’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (SII), has delayed shipments of the AstraZeneca jab to several countries in recent days, including the UK and Brazil.India has exported more than 60 million vaccine doses to 76 countries so far, with the majority of these being the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.The decision comes as India faces a surge in coronavirus cases. On Wednesday it recorded its sharpest daily rise this year, with more than 47,000 new cases and 275 deaths.It is opening up vaccinations for those over the age of 45 from April 1, and officials expect demand for vaccinations to increase.“Domestic demand will have to take precedence,” one foreign ministry source told the BBC.“Everything else has taken a backseat, for the time being at least,” one source at the ministry told Reuters news agency. “No exports, nothing until the India situation stabilises.”The authorities are hoping to administer 600 million doses within seven months – about 85 million doses a month.Meanwhile, a new “double mutant” variant of the coronavirus has been detected from samples collected in India.Officials are checking if the variant, where two mutations come together in the same virus, may be more infectious or less affected by vaccines than other known versions.


CEO of world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer says threats made him flee India

Adar Poonawalla, 40, the leader of the Serum Institute (SI), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by doses produced, has said intimidation has forced him to flee India.He told the Times of London he fled to England to escape threats from people claiming he’s holding up vaccine production.The SI, founded in 1966 by his father, Cyrus Poonawalla, produces more than 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccine every month but it’s not enough now.The Covid-19 situation in India is so dire that Poonawalla said people have been hurling aggressive threats at him, accusing him of delaying vaccines on purpose.“It’s overwhelming. Everyone feels they should get the vaccine. They can’t understand why anyone else should get it before them,” he said. “They are saying if you don’t give us the vaccine it’s not going to be good for you.”At the time of his interview, Poonawalla said he’d stay in England for “an extended time, because I don’t want to go back to that situation”.However, hours after the interview was published, Poonawalla backtracked and tweeted that he’d return to India “in a few days”.The news of his departure from India comes as the country experiences deep surges in positive Covid-19 cases.The situation is now so bad that people have surrounded his company multiple times and called him a “profiteer” of the Covid-19 vaccines.“I don’t think even God could have forecast it was going to get this bad,” Poonawalla told the Times.He said he did not boost vaccine production because he did not think they would need to make over a billion doses a year.He told The Indian Financial Times that his company has been maligned by politicians and critics over shortages of vaccines. He said that the government, not the Serum Institute, was responsible for policy decisions.When new coronavirus cases were declining, the authorities did not expect they would have to face further waves of the pandemic, he maintained. “Everybody really felt that India had started to turn the tide on the pandemic.”Analysts believe that India should have invested in boosting manufacturing capacity earlier and so secured enough vaccine shots.“It is absolutely essential that you need to have something to deliver, it is common sense,” Chandrakant Lahariya, a New Delhi-based public health expert, told The Financial Times. She added that the government has not been transparent on its vaccine policy.The Serum Institute has just converted a production line to make more vaccines.“We have just done this right now to address the ridiculous shortage that the nation, and obviously now the world even, has,” said Poonawalla.But he indicated that India’s and the world’s Covid-19 vaccine shortage would continue through July at least.


10 rich countries hogging 75% of available Covid-19 jabs, says UN

Ten rich countries have cornered 75% of all shots already manufactured, stored in their freezers or already administered to their people, the UN says.This leaves 130 poorer countries without even their first doses, according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.It’s unfair, Guterres said, that so few countries should control the bulk of the world’s vaccine supplies.To address that inequity, he proposed that the members of G20 create an emergency task force to promote global vaccine access, CNN is reporting.“At this critical moment, vaccine equity is the biggest moral test before the global community,” he said in a virtual meeting on Wednesday with the UN Security Council.Around 188 million vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, according to the digital database Our World in Data. Tens of millions of those doses have gone to the US, China, the UK and Israel.Guterres didn’t name the 10 countries that have administered three-quarters of all Covid-19 vaccines but the US is certainly among them – more than 72.4 million vaccines have been distributed there, and more than 56 million of them have been administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The proposed task force would include members of the Group of 20, made up of countries with the world’s largest economies, which would provide the money and scientific expertise to make vaccines more accessible for countries in the “Global South,” which includes countries in Africa, Latin America and South America.The task force would perform similar functions as Covax, an initiative from the Vaccine Alliance known as Gavi and the World Health Organization. That initiative was created to buy vaccines in bulk and send them to poorer nations that can’t compete with wealthy countries in securing contracts with the major drug companies.Covax is working toward delivering two billion vaccine doses to countries in the Global South.


20 years after 9/11, is Malaysia ready for a similar attack?

Twenty years after the events of Sept 11, 2001 where nearly 3,000 died in a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, an expert does not rule out the possibility of Malaysia too facing similar threats, given past experiences and similarities in architectural structures.Mohd Mizan Mohammad Aslam, an anti-terrorist expert from Universiti Malaysia Perlis, said attacks by extremist groups on a smaller scale had been reported in the country.He cited the bombing of the Carlsberg factory in Petaling Jaya and the arson attack on a temple in Batu Caves.“When we look at the pattern of attack, small-scale attacks can happen so it is not impossible for a large-scale attack to happen as well,” he told MalaysiaNow.Mizan, who has authored several books as well as other publications, said such attacks might target the Petronas Twin Towers or KLCC in the heart of the capital city, noting similarities between the iconic Malaysian structures and those in the US.Malaysia shares many similarities with the US in terms of architectural structure, seen in its famous Twin Towers and KLCC buildings.“It is seen as a possibility,” he added.In the events of Sept 11, 2001 which have come to be known simply as 9/11, 19 individuals linked to Al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners, two of which were crashed into the World Trade Center.A third flight crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, killing 184, while the fourth crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, causing the death of 40.More prepared after 20 yearsMizan said the event had had a significant impact on Malaysia, opening the eyes of the government and security forces to the importance of preparing for similar threats.In the 20 years since 9/11, he said, there had been great improvement in terms of size and manpower in the country’s security forces especially the Anti-Terrorism Division or E8 under the Special Branch.“Before 9/11, terrorist threats were seen on a small and more localised scale,” he said.“So the size of the E8 unit then was very different from what it is now.”He said the two decades had seen a paradigm shift for Malaysia’s security forces in terms of logistics, manpower and expertise.He said the security forces would have taken into consideration the possibility of threats from that angle and conducted a variety of exercises to keep them on their toes.“I believe we are ready to face threats of any sort,” he said, adding that these could not be completely avoided.“We may be prepared for an inflow of firearms or explosives.”Mizan said the most difficulty would likely involve so-called lone wolf attacks, especially those which utilise non-traditional weapons such as driving vehicles into crowded areas and colliding with large numbers of people.He referred to the police whom he said have been especially firm in addressing the possibility of such threats by arresting individuals suspected of having links with terrorist groups.“This shows that the police are taking the threat of a terrorist attack seriously. Even though the link might be small, they immediately arrest those involved and deradicalise them.”


Dyson dumps Malaysian supplier ATA over labour concerns

High-tech home appliance maker Dyson Ltd told Reuters it had cut ties with supplier ATA IMS Bhd following an audit of the company’s labour practices and allegations by a whistleblower, sending ATA shares plunging.ATA, which is already being investigated by the US over forced labour allegations, confirmed Dyson has terminated its contracts and that it has been in talks with its customer over the audit findings.Shares in ATA, which makes parts for Dyson’s vacuum cleaners and air purifiers, tumbled 30% to their lowest since April 2020 after the Reuters report. According to ATA, Dyson accounts for almost 80% of its revenue.The termination is also a significant blow for Malaysia, a major electronics manufacturing hub that has faced scrutiny this year over claims migrant workers are being subjected to abusive working and living conditions.Dyson, privately owned by British billionaire James Dyson, said it received the results of an audit of working conditions at ATA in early October. It said it had learned in September about allegations from a whistleblower at an ATA factory and had commissioned a law firm to investigate those claims.“Despite intense engagement over the past six weeks, we have not seen sufficient progress and have already removed some production lines,” Singapore-headquartered Dyson said in response to questions from Reuters.“We have now terminated our relationship with six months’ of contractual notice. We hope this gives ATA the impetus to improve, and enables an orderly withdrawal in the interests of the workers that they employ.”ATA had in May denied allegations of forced labour at its factories after a prominent rights activist said US authorities were going to scrutinise the company’s work practices.The activist, Andy Hall, shared a letter the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had sent him informing him it had agreed to investigate an ATA unit after he flagged complaints received from workers.The CBP has banned six Malaysian firms in the last two years from selling their products to the United States after finding evidence of forced labour.In July, the US State Department put Malaysia on a list with more than a dozen countries including China and North Korea, saying it had not made progress in eliminating trafficking of workers.Migrant workersForeigners form a significant part of Malaysia’s workforce. Most migrant workers in Malaysia come from Bangladesh and Nepal, and are employed in factories, plantations and construction sites.Over half of ATA’s 8,032 employees are foreigners, according to the firm’s latest annual report.ATA posted record revenue and profit for fiscal year ended March 2021 as Covid-19 induced lockdowns boosted demand for home appliances such as Dyson’s stick vacuum cleaner.Dyson rejected allegations earlier this year regarding excessive hours and cramped living conditions for ATA workers, citing multiple prior audits it said had not found any issues involved in its supply chain.Activist Hall said Dyson’s decision to terminate the relationship would have huge implications for the thousands of workers employed at ATA and Dyson should remediate ATA workers.The government must also bear some responsibility, Hall added, saying he had made multiple complaints in the past year to the government about ATA.The labour department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Social audits – the main form of due diligence conducted by the world’s biggest brands – are meant to monitor labour and other ethical standards in the supply chain. However, critics say some companies have turned into a perfunctory tick-boxing exercise.Dyson said the recent audit findings it received in October were from a “comprehensive” audit that interviewed over 2,000 members of ATA staff.It did not disclose the findings of the audit.


Indonesia announces lockdown in Java and Bali as cases surge

Indonesia has announced a lockdown for two weeks on its main island Java, as well as the tourist destination of Bali.The announcement by President Joko Widodo comes as the country battles multiple outbreaks and aims to reduce the number of cases from 20,000 a day to below 10,000.Indonesia recently recorded two million Covid cases, attributed to increased holiday travel and the Delta variant. However, experts are warning that the case numbers are potentially much higher, because of severely inadequate testing outside Jakarta.Under the new rules, all staff working for non-essential businesses will have to work from home, and distance learning will be implemented for all school students.Malls, places of worship and public leisure facilities like parks will also be shut, with dining-in banned at all restaurants.Businesses in the health, security and energy industries have been deemed critical and will be allowed to run at 100% capacity which means all employees can go to work.Others like financial services have been deemed essential and can run at only 50% capacity.Indonesia has had the worst outbreak in South East Asia, with just over two million positive cases and 57,000 deaths so far.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Tuesday that the country was “teetering on the edge of a Covid-19 catastrophe”.Sudirman Said, secretary-general of the Indonesian Red Cross said “hospitals were full to the brim and oxygen supplies critically low”.Last month, authorities banned domestic travel across the sprawling archipelago at the end of Ramadan, in an attempt to curb what is known as “mudik” – the practice of migrant workers travelling back to their hometowns to celebrate Eid with their families. But many flouted the rules.There have also been rising concerns that the spike in cases is due to the more transmissible Delta variant, first detected in Java in late May.The Indonesian Medical Association has said that so far 949 health workers have died from Covid-19.Local authorities said this month that more than 350 health workers who were already vaccinated had caught Covid. Data checks by BBC Indonesian service found that of these deaths, at least 20 doctors and 10 nurses had been fully vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine, CoronaVac.Indonesia has mainly relied on the Chinese vaccine in its inoculation drive, which is ramping up this week. Only about 13 million people out of its 270 million population have been fully vaccinated so far.The outbreaks have concerned many citizens, such as 40-year-old Malika who lives in the capital Jakarta. She told BBC Indonesia she no longer permits her child to leave the house.“I’m very worried, especially now. I heard that there are so many children infected by Covid-19 in Jakarta,” she said.“In the past I didn’t give it too much thought but now I couldn’t say such a thing.”


Shahidan to defend Arau seat anyway after dropped by BN

Arau incumbent Shahidan Kassim has vowed to defend his seat at the 15th general election (GE15) despite being dropped as a candidate by Barisan Nasional (BN).
Speaking to reporters last night, he said he would choose a party that moved "towards the direction of Muafakat Nasional".
"I am a candidate who can win, I will contest," he said as quoted by Utusan Malaysia.
"I will ask the branches first which ticket I should contest on. There have been no discussions as of yet, but they have been informed of what happened to me."
Shahidan, a four-term MP for Arau, defended his seat at the previous general election with a majority of 4,856, defeating Abd Rahman Daud of PKR and Hashim Jasin from PAS.
However, he was dropped from BN's line-up at the coalition's announcement of candidates last night, and replaced by Rozabil Abd Rahman.
Shahidan is one of a number of Umno leaders vocal against their president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who were dropped as candidates for the Nov 19 polls.
Others include Annuar Musa, Zahidi Zainul Abidin, Halimah Sadique and Mastura Mohd Yazid – all ministers and deputy ministers in Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's government.
Speaking last night, he said this was an act of "political discord" that should not have happened.
"He (Zahid) should step down as president as he is causing divisions among the ummah."


58,780 children fully jabbed, 67.6% of adults boosted

A total of 58,780 children aged five to 11 had completed their Covid-19 vaccination under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) as of yesterday.According to the CovidNow website, a total of 1,354,514 children or 38.2% have received at least one dose of vaccine.For adolescents aged 12 to 17, a total of 2,856,360 or 91.8% have completed their vaccination while 2,956,063 or 95% have received a first dose.As for the adult population, a total of 15,899,713 individuals or 67.6% have received a booster dose.A total of 22,955,772 or 97.6% have completed both doses of vaccine and 23,232,836 or 98.8% have received at least one jab.A total of 29,734 vaccine doses were given yesterday, comprising 15,374 second doses, 10,639 booster jabs and 3,721 first shots.This brings the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) to 69,101,615.


The Africans fighting on Russia's front line in Ukraine

In the roll call of the thousands of Russian Wagner fighters killed in the ferocious battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut there is an unexpected name.
Nemes Tarimo, from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, died on Oct 24 last year when his unit in the Wagner private army came under artillery fire in the village of Odradivka, just south of Bakhmut. The stocky, round-faced 32-year-old was "a courageous and able fighter," his commanding officer wrote in a report on Tarimo's death.
Four years earlier, Tarimo had arrived in Moscow to further his education, filled with ambition, his family said. He enrolled in a Russian language course at Moscow's Pushkin Institute then transferred to a postgraduate program in IT at the city's Russian Technological University. "Nemes had big dreams," said his cousin, Rehema Kigobe, in an interview at the house where Tarimo grew up.
In journeying to Russia, Tarimo was following the route of many young Africans, including future heads of state, since the 1960s. Starting in Soviet times, Moscow had opened its arms to African students as a way of courting influence in countries that were just shaking themselves free of Western European colonial rule. Today, some 35,000 African students are enrolled in Russian universities and colleges, the country's education minister said earlier this year.
Tarimo also ended up treading the path of a handful of other Africans who took up arms for Wagner in Ukraine. Reuters has traced the stories of three of these men – Tarimo, a young Zambian man called Lemekani Nyirenda and Komenan Aboya from Ivory Coast. The reporting shows they came to Russia in hope of advancement, fell into crime and were jailed on drug convictions.
The three African inmates Reuters followed were among the tens of thousands of Russian convicts who took up Wagner's offer of a pardon in return for six months service in Ukraine. In the mercenary army's ranks these men would serve alongside fighters mainly from Russia and former Soviet states, but also small numbers of Afghans and Arabs, some of whom may have been recruited on Wagner's previous foreign campaigns.
The three men's stories tell of soaring ambitions and broken dreams. They also show the strength of the bond some young Africans feel for Russia, which is untarnished by an imperial past in a continent where it had no lasting colonies. Claire Amuhaya, a Kenyan lecturer at Moscow's People's Friendship University, which draws many of its students from Africa, said this bond was forged during the Cold War when the Soviet Union backed African independence movements and supported the armed wing of South Africa's African National Congress in its fight against white minority rule.
The connection remains to this day, even though many African countries hold far more significant trade balances with the European Union and United States, and have adopted a largely neutral stance on the war in Ukraine. In March last year, 17 African countries, including South Africa, abstained as the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to reprimand Russia for invading Ukraine. The presidents of South Africa and Zambia are now among a group of African leaders seeking to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.
The Wagner Group as well has cemented strong ties with several African governments over the past decade with operations in at least eight African nations, according to leaked US documents, including Mali, Libya and Central African Republic.
Officials in the three men's homelands - Tanzania, Zambia and Ivory Coast - didn't respond to Reuters questions for this article about the individual cases and about Wagner's recruitment of foreign nationals.
Big dreams
Nemes Tarimo was born into a middle class family but orphaned at an early age. His extended family raised him in Mbezi kwa Msuguri, a suburb on the western fringes of Dar es Salaam where Tarimo inherited a house tucked alongside the main highway out of the city. His social media profiles show that before leaving for Russia he worked as an accountant for a logistics firm.
"Nemes was ambitious," said his cousin, Rehema Kigobe. She described him as a quiet, non-confrontational person who loved computers and reading. He dreamed of moving abroad then launching a business or political career in his homeland. "He wanted to be a big person," she said.
In Russia, Tarimo chronicled his new life on social media, posting photographs from the seaside resort of Sochi, the skyscrapers of Moscow's financial district, and from a cultural festival at his language institute. In December 2018, he attended an international youth conference in Moscow addressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and appeared in a promotional video for the event. Tarimo was also pictured at several events hosted by the Tanzanian embassy, sometimes with the ambassador. Tanzanian embassy officials didn't respond to requests for comment for this article.
In 2020, Tarimo briefly returned from Russia. He tried to become a parliamentary candidate for Tanzania's main centre-right opposition party Chadema, narrowly missing out on selection, party documents show. He did not stay in Tanzania long, telling relatives that his fiancee was pregnant and he wanted to return to Moscow for the birth. Reuters was unable to identify Tarimo's fiancee or child.
Family members said more recently Tarimo became harder to contact and that he would change phone numbers often, calling relatives using the numbers of friends in Moscow. Somewhere along the line he slipped into crime.
He was arrested in January 2021 in a residential district in south Moscow. According to court papers, police officers reported seeing Tarimo hiding items in the snow. They said he appeared nervous, his eyes darting from side to side. The court documents said he was carrying 8.33g of mephedrone, divided up into small bundles, ready for distribution.
The court handed down a sentence of seven years in a "strict regime" prison, where conditions are tougher, with fewer rights to receive visitors, correspondence and spending money. A person who was in the courtroom said Tarimo appeared to understand little during his trial and was in a state of shock when his sentence was announced. Tarimo's state-appointed lawyer Alexander Shilkin told Reuters that the term was light for a drug dealing charge and that prosecutors had accepted a plea for a relatively lenient sentence. "I hadn't heard that he died," said Shilkin. "That is very sad. He seemed to me to be a good person who committed his crime due to his difficult circumstances."
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russia Behind Bars prisoners' rights watchdog said Tarimo was incarcerated at Yaroslavl region's Penal Colony No. 2 in the city of Rybinsk, 267km north of Moscow. Russian prison authorities didn't comment.
Reuters spoke to five foreign students who knew Tarimo during his time in Russia. Some of the students said they worked part-time off-the-books jobs on building sites or in restaurants in order to help fund their studies. All said they were shocked that Tarimo, who they described as reserved and respectful, had become involved in drugs. Kristian Malundama, who lived in the same student hostel as Tarimo, said he first learnt of the Tanzanian's arrest from the building's superintendent, after Tarimo vanished suddenly in January 2021. "I had trouble believing it," said Malundama, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. "He was such a calm and serious boy."
Tarimo's relatives told Tanzanian media that he first informed them that he had been jailed in June 2022, almost eighteen months after his arrest.
The death report filed by Tarimo's commanding officer said the Tanzanian joined Wagner on Aug 24, 2022. Almost 400 convicts departed with the mercenary group's recruiters from prisons in the Yaroslavl region that day, according to Russian independent news site MediaZona.
On March 27, in response to questions from Reuters, Prigozhin said he personally recruited Tarimo from prison. He quoted Tarimo as having compared the position of residents of Ukraine's mostly-Russian speaking Donbas region, which Russia has cast as central to its war in Ukraine, to that of Africans, who he said were treated as "animals" by white people. Reuters couldn't verify Prigozhin's account.
Tarimo last contacted his relatives in October, according to several media reports in Tanzania. He said he was going deep into the mountains to serve food to soldiers, and that he would be unreachable for some time. He promised to come back to Tanzania in January 2023, "if God wished it."
"Hello, I have bad news for you"
Life was also filled with promise for Lemekani Nyirenda when, aged 19, he left his home in Zambia to continue his education in Russia. It was 2019. The outstanding student and devout Christian had won a Zambian government scholarship to study nuclear engineering in Moscow.
But Nyirenda didn't complete his studies. In November last year, his family learned he too had died in Ukraine fighting for Wagner. The news came in a text message from an unknown number: "Hello, I have bad news for you. Your son took part in a military operation in Ukraine. Unfortunately (he) tragically died. Will you be able to arrive in Russia? Lemekani left a will and personal belongings for you. I am very sorry… with all my heart." The message said nothing more about the circumstances of his death.
Nyirenda was born into a devout Baptist family in the Zambian capital Lusaka's Northmead neighbourhood, an upper-middle class district of large houses and tarmacked streets. His father is an engineering professor, educated in the United States and South Africa. Nyirenda attended a succession of private schools.
The family's pastor Ronald Kalifungwa told Reuters that Nyirenda drifted away from his parents' faith as a teenager but returned to Christianity in 2018 when he was "born again." Nyirenda's social media posts, showing a young man with a toothy grin and dreadlocked hair, testify to an intense interest in the politics of his homeland, and a renewed, deep Christian faith.
"Thank you Lord for seasons, thank you Lord for summer," he wrote on Instagram in June 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, accompanied by photographs of himself and an unidentified friend in Moscow, posing for the camera dressed in their summer clothes and smiling widely. "Took a walk with the guys today. It was therapeutic on so many levels. Number one recommend y'all to make time for walks in the evening."
Relatives described Nyirenda as "a family-oriented person" with a sense of fun – invariably introducing his mother to friends as "Queen Mother." He excelled academically. In 2019, after a year at a Christian college in Zambia, he and his twin brother Zikonde won government scholarships to study abroad – Zikonde in China and Lemekani in Russia.
Enrolling at Moscow's National Research Nuclear University in September 2019, Nyirenda launched a YouTube account, where he uploaded whimsical videos about his life in Russia, his homesickness, and telling Bible stories, often from the modest student dormitory bedroom that he shared with two others. Several people who knew Nyirenda said that he missed his hometown Baptist church, and had difficulty finding a congregation to join in Russia.
In the months that followed, Nyirenda too became involved in the drug trade. In a May 2020 YouTube video, he said that his financial situation had improved, and that he was learning to manage his money better. "I'm not a broke, struggling student any more. I'm just a broke student," he said. He was arrested in August that year.
According to court documents reviewed by Reuters, Nyirenda told investigators that he had posted an advert online looking for work and received a call offering him a gig transporting small bundles around Moscow. He was to hide the bundles at set locations. In return, he received US$2.40 (about RM11) per bundle, according to the court papers.
A person who was present at Nyirenda's trial said that the Zambian took his nine-and-a-half year prison sentence stoically and was "generally positive." The person said that Nyirenda's Russian was good, and that he needed little help understanding the proceedings. Reuters was able to establish, via an online system for contacting Russian prisoners, that Nyirenda served his sentence in Tver region's "strict regime" Penal Colony No. 1, 180km northwest of Moscow. Prison authorities didn't comment.
Nyirenda's family and friends said that he was a model prisoner during his spell behind bars. Family friend Christopher Kangwa told Reuters that after his arrest, Nyirenda asked the Zambian embassy in Moscow to forward him his Bible and toiletries bag. In a eulogy at her brother's funeral, Nyirenda's older sister Tionge said during his two years as an inmate, he read all the books in the prison library, learnt fluent Russian and taught himself to sew. She said he had proudly showed her his hand-stitched prison uniform during a video call, a rare privilege for Russian prisoners, which she said prison authorities allowed him as a reward for his good behaviour.
During her eulogy, which was streamed online, Tionge also said that her brother had told her during their last video call that incarceration had revealed a hitherto unknown inner strength. "He told me and my husband how he didn't know that he was so strong," said Tionge, dressed in mourning black from head to toe. "The whole imprisonment experience had shown him how strong he was."
Nyirenda last spoke to his family on Aug 31, 2022, according to the pastor, Kalifungwa. Kangwa, the family friend, said that he sounded "in a hurry and under pressure." He said he hoped that they would soon be reunited, and implied that he had been released from jail. He said he could not say where he was, and asked his father for details to designate him as his next of kin. His last word to his family was "musalebwino", meaning "farewell" in the Nyanja language, spoken in the family's ancestral homeland in eastern Zambia. "We believe that this was the time Wagner had taken him and commissioned him in the war," Kangwa said.
Reuters was unable to confirm when Wagner recruiters visited Tver's Penal Colony No. 1, but Prigozhin was visiting nearby prisons throughout the summer of 2022. Prigozhin said in a Nov 29 statement via his press service that he personally recruited Nyirenda. He said that, like Tarimo, Nyirenda cast his desire to join Wagner as repayment for Soviet and Russian support of African anti-colonial movements. According to Prigozhin, Nyirenda told him that joining up was "the least I can do to pay (these) debts" to Russia and that he had heard that Wagner had saved "thousands of Africans." Reuters couldn't verify Prigozhin's account of the conversation.
"My second motherland"
On New Year's Day 2023, Russia's state-owned RIA news agency published a video from the outskirts of Bakhmut, showing Prigozhin laughing and joking with an African fighter he identified as an Ivorian national. In the clip, the fighter says, in heavily-accented but fluent Russian, that he joined up "to defend my second Motherland." The Wagner boss said he had told the fighter that he would hire him as a French interpreter, if he survived his six months at the front.
In a Jan 4 comment via his press service, Prigozhin identified the fighter as Komenan Aboya, a convicted drug dealer. In a separate statement, emailed directly to Reuters, he said he recruited Aboya from jail in Mordovia, a Volga river region, known for its large prison population.
Aboya's friends in Ivory Coast described to Reuters an entrepreneurial man, now aged about 40, who yearned to be financially independent. He grew up in Yopougon, a poor and overcrowded neighbourhood in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's largest city. There, on streets teeming with bars he opened a small video club, where he would show action movies, said a one-time regular called Fabrice. Each morning, Aboya would rise early, and get in line to secure a seat in one of the hundreds of crammed Gbakas, local minibuses which line Yopougon's dusty thoroughfares, in order to reach the plush suburb of Cocody, where he spent his days working as a bus driver.
Former colleagues said that in 2015 or 2016, Aboya took out a bank loan and moved to Russia, where he began driving taxis. One colleague said he decided to leave for Russia to give his two children a better life than his own. A person who knew Aboya in Moscow said the Ivorian and other African residents of the city would often gamble when they met up, placing small bets on games of chance.
According to court papers, in July 2018 he was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for drug dealing. A video published online the previous August by Moscow police shows the arrest of an unnamed West African man. Facial recognition technology indicates that the man in the video is Aboya. Russian media reported the suspect was carrying around 100g of cannabis. In the video, he tells officers, in broken Russian, that the drugs are not his and that he is waiting for a friend.
Sole survivor
Of the three African men who risked everything to walk free from prison ahead of time, only one survived to claim his reward.
Nyirenda was killed on Sept 22, 2022, while storming a Ukrainian trench, barely three weeks after he last spoke to his family. "He died a hero," said Prigozhin. He was 22. A month later, Tarimo too was dead.
In a brief statement to Reuters on April 5, Prigozhin confirmed that Aboya was alive, had completed his six months service in Ukraine, and that his conviction for drug dealing had been expunged.
"Yes, Komenan Aboya fought in the ranks" of Wagner, he said. "He was pardoned at the end of March, and is currently undergoing a rehabilitation course. He fought bravely." Prigozhin provided no more information and declined further comment. Reuters couldn't reach Aboya.


‘Cooped up’ Indians throng malls and markets weeks after Covid surge

A few weeks ago, New Delhi’s crematoriums were operating around the clock dealing with Covid-19 victims. Now the Indian capital’s shopping malls and markets are buzzing again.But doctors are worried that India is letting its guard down again, just like in January and February before a devastating coronavirus surge that led to a near-collapse of the healthcare system.Clutching a bag of clothes as she shopped with her new husband at Delhi’s busy Select City Walk mall, Surili Gupta said she was “fed up being cooped up inside”.“I needed this break, for how long you can remain locked up?” the 26-year-old sales executive told AFP as she waited for a table at the mall’s packed food hall.“The coronavirus is not going any time soon, so one has to learn to live with it. I am sure with the vaccinations and all, we will be fine.”Behind her, a big weekend crowd chatted and laughed over Indian dosas and Chinese noodles, paying scant regard to public announcements reminding them about social distancing and wearing masks.A couple queueing at a popular burger joint squabbled, masks hanging from their faces.Mall staff performed perfunctory temperature checks and reminded people to sanitise their hands.Not far away, shoppers thronged the open-air warren of shops and stalls at Lajpat Nagar market, bargaining for scarves, bangles and cheap cosmetics.There was lively trade for food vendors, who sold kulchey-chholey – flatbread served with spicy chickpeas – and other favourites to punters, masks dangling as they ate.“I would not have come today but it was very urgent,” Prerna Jain, 21, a college student who had come with her mother, told AFP.“My cousin is getting married and I needed to buy some stuff. I know it’s not yet safe but what can I do? This (event) is equally important.”Funeral pyresDelhi, a megacity of 20 million people, saw horrendous scenes in April and May when coronavirus cases went through the roof, as they did across the country.Crematoriums ran out of space, burning bodies day and night, as gasping patients died outside hospitals, unable to get beds, oxygen and drugs.India’s death toll more than doubled to more than 330,000, according to official figures. Many experts suspect the true toll is over a million.The surge was blamed on new virus variants but also on the government having allowed massive religious festivals, state elections and crowds at cricket matches.Now, the surge is over and Indian authorities are loosening lockdowns, letting people work and shop again.‘Explosion’On some days in Delhi now, there are no funerals for Covid-19 victims, down from 700 a day during the recent peak.Sandeep Budhiraja, medical director at Max Healthcare in the capital, said he was surprised at people’s short memories.“People are just behaving as if nothing happened just about two, three weeks back. And this is… amazing,” Budhiraja told AFP.But while this will likely lead to a sharp rise in cases, for a new “explosion” a new virus variant would have to take hold, he said.A new variant, “Delta-plus”, has been identified, which appears more transmissible and more resistant to treatment, he added.One reason for hope, however, is that unlike in January and February, the authorities are preparing the healthcare system for another wave, Budhiraja said.But vaccinations remain slow. Barely 5% of Indians have had two shots.“Until the country is vaccinated, with over a billion people getting vaccinated, there is no way we can ever think of the pandemic coming to an end,” Budhiraja said.


People dying in wait outside Kabul airport, report says

The bodies of at least three people were seen in the sweltering crush outside Kabul airport, television news footage showed on Saturday, as thousands try desperately to flee Taliban rule in a chaotic evacuation.The footage from Britain’s Sky News showed soldiers covering three bodies in white tarpaulins. It was not clear how they died.Sky reporter Stuart Ramsay, who was at the airport, said that people at the front of the crowd were being “crushed” and that medics were rushing from casualty to casualty. The footage also showed multiple wounded people.Ramsay said people were “dehydrated and terrified” and he filmed soldiers aiming a hose into the crowd, saying they were using “anything to cool them down”.Given the prevailing chaos, he said the deaths seemed “inevitable”.The airport has been the site of desperate scenes since the Taliban took control of Kabul on Aug 15, with tens of thousands of Afghans waiting in the heat for hours or even days in a bid to get on an evacuation flight.Families hoping for a miracle escape have crowded between the barbed-wire boundaries of an unofficial no-man’s-land separating Taliban fighters from US troops and remnants of an Afghan special forces brigade helping them.Roads leading to the airport have been choked with traffic, and there have been reports of the Taliban or other militants stopping and beating or harassing Afghans trying to flee.The US, which has taken control of the airport, has repeatedly warned people to stay away unless they are on evacuation lists.On Saturday it repeated that warning, citing “potential security threats” near the airport gates.While the Taliban have long been responsible for attacks in Kabul, the Islamic State group is also present in the capital and has carried out devastating attacks.US President Joe Biden has called the airlift “one of the largest, most difficult” in history.


Anwar confirms Lynas given 6-month extension

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim confirmed yesterday that the government has provided Lynas Malaysia with a six-month extension to fulfil the conditions of its operating licence in the country.
"I think that Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang will give a detailed explanation but from our understanding, the extension is contingent upon conditions and will strictly observed," he said in a brief statement.
A news outlet had reported on Lynas’ extension, which was based on an appeal submitted by the company over four conditions imposed by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board.
The appeal was a last-ditch effort to ensure that the rare earth producer could continue operations in Gebeng, Kuantan, after July 1.
The company had repeatedly defended itself, claiming that its operations were safe and saying that the implementation of such licensing conditions would result in a loss of jobs in Malaysia.


Sorry.


Durian trade battered as lockdown bites

Durians falling from trees are collected in nets on a farm in Malaysia, where a long lockdown has slowed domestic demand and left traders more reliant on China’s appetite for the world’s smelliest fruit.Grown across Southeast Asia, fans love the “king of fruits” for its bittersweet flavours and creamy texture although critics compare its odour to rotting garbage, and it is banned from many hotels and on public transport.A first lockdown in the country did not do too much damage to demand but a serious Covid-19 resurgence has prompted authorities to re-impose curbs for a longer period, hitting the economy again and hammering the durian industry.With the roadside stalls where people usually eat the fruits largely empty of customers, sales have plummeted.“Compared to last year, the local sales are not as good,” Eric Chan, a trader and managing director of Dulai Fruits Enterprise, told AFP.On the farm in Raub, outside Kuala Lumpur, some of the precious fruits are caught in nets stretched out under trees to ensure they don’t suffer any damage.Many are destined for China, where the virus emerged but which has largely tamed its outbreak and is once again recording economic growth.“If there are no exports, or when there is no stock for the export, I think (such a scenario) will collapse the whole industry,” said Top Fruits managing director Tan Sue Sian.The trade in durians has exploded over the past decade, largely driven by China’s growing appetite, with prices of the once cheap fruit selling for RM60 or more a kilo.The fruit was once exported to China only as pulp and paste but in 2019 officials there allowed the shipment of frozen whole fruits, in a further boost to the industry.Durians can be found in Malaysia at all times of the year, though the fruit has bumper harvests at certain times.


High Court awards mother, child over RM8 million in medical negligence case

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has awarded more than RM8 million to a woman and her four-year-old daughter who suffered severe and irreversible brain damage due to medical negligence during the child’s birth at a government hospital.
In the grounds of judgement issued on April 17, judicial commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain made the decision after the government confirmed the admission of liability for the plaintiff's claims with damages and costs.
In November 2020, the woman, who had a high-risk obstetric history, and her daughter, as the plaintiffs, filed a suit against the government and eight individuals, comprising medical officers and staff, as the defendants for medical negligence.
However, on Jan 28, 2022, the High Court recorded a consent judgement confirming the admission of liability by the government, and the plaintiffs withdrew the suit against the other defendants with no order as to costs.
Roz Mawar awarded both plaintiffs RM209,172 for special damages, general damages of RM500,000 to the child and RM114,000 to the mother.
"Both the plaintiffs are awarded aggravated damages in the sum of RM350,000. For future general damages, the first plaintiff is awarded a total of RM6,954,156 for 40 years.
"This court finds that a reasonable amount because, on average, her care amounts to RM173,853.90 per year. The court also orders RM215,177.25 in costs," she said.
In her judgement, Roz Mawar said it was an expensive lesson for the defendant, but that the amount could repair the damage done to the first plaintiff.
"She will never have a taste of any decent normal living. The pain and suffering also extends to the second plaintiff and the rest of her family. The amount of damages awarded may, at first instance, look like a fortune, but when employed according to this court's order, it will only ensure some convenience for her survival," she said.
Roz Mawar said it was a tragic case where the first plaintiff suffered severe and irreversible brain damage at birth on March 17, 2019 at the government hospital, and the second plaintiff, who had a high-risk obstetric history, had initially planned to undergo an emergency lower segment caesarean section on March 18, 2019.
"By 8pm on March 17, 2019, the first plaintiff in utero showed signs and symptoms of bradycardia. Despite detecting that, a delayed decision was made at 9.20pm for the second plaintiff to undergo an emergency caesarean.
"Nonetheless, further delay followed before the first plaintiff was delivered at 10.14pm. It was noted at birth that the first plaintiff suffered hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and its sequelae, including severe brain damage. The second plaintiff suffered an exacerbation of her major depressive disorder.
"Her child suffers from spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy secondary to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with a developmental milestone of less than three months old as a result of negligence due to delay instead of acting promptly and accordingly to the accepted procedures at the hospital," she said.
In deciding the quantum of the award, Roz Mawar said both the second plaintiff and her husband were the main carers for the first plaintiff.
"In addition to caring for the first plaintiff, the second plaintiff and her husband also care for his nine-year-old son and their seven-year-old daughter, who was born with a congenital condition of lung fibrosis. The husband is a technician who has been out of work as a result of his slipped disc.
"The first plaintiff, who is now four years old, has not grown normally and will not be normal. She needs around-the-clock care as she is unable to attend to her bodily functions herself. She requires help and care with feedings, bathing, cleaning up after herself, and wiping her saliva. Her oral hygiene needs to be taken care of to avoid infection.
"The first plaintiff has weak muscles; she is unable to sit or stand on her own. She is unable to communicate and does not show any comprehension of her surroundings. According to the second plaintiff, the first plaintiff also does not cry. The first plaintiff needs to be fed through a tube every three hours," she said in her 29-page judgement.
The duo’s counsel, Karthi Kanthabalan, when contacted, confirmed the decision and said that the government had filed an appeal on the decision.


Malaysia down in daily gold-medal haul at SEA Games

It was a disappointing sixth day of the 2023 SEA Games for the national contingent, winning only three gold medals.
The day's tally sees the national camp remain in seventh place, with six days remaining.
The national team recorded its best haul of six gold medals on the fifth day.
After yesterday's events, Malaysia have collected a total of 24 gold, 31 silver and 49 bronze medals.
The diving camp lived up to expectations, contributing the contingent's first gold medal of the day through Enrique Maccartney Harold in the men's 10m platform event, which saw Malaysia sweep all four gold medals offered in the event. The other two gold medals were contributed by the athletics squad, with the national discus throw ace Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin defending the country's title in the event, while triple jumper Andre Anura Anuar repeated his feat from the previous edition in Hanoi.
However, there were disappointments in other events expected to fetch the gold.
The women's table tennis squad, which made a surprise run to the final after 30 years, failed to make history by winning the first gold medal in the team event at the biennial games when they lost to 0-3 Thailand.
The badminton camp also suffered the same fate as they lost 1-3 to traditional rivals Indonesia in the men's team final.
Vietnam remain top of the table after winning 57 gold, 56 silver and 70 bronze, followed by hosts Cambodia (56-44-55) while Thailand sit in third place with a collection (54-39-58).


Indonesia's new laws a threat to privacy, press and human rights, says UN

The United Nations has expressed concern over threats to civil liberties posed by Indonesia's new criminal code, warning the revised laws could result in the erosion of press freedom, privacy and human rights in the world's third-largest democracy.
Indonesia's parliament approved the legislative overhaul on Tuesday, part of a decades long process to replace its colonial-era penal code.
The criminal code includes laws that make it an offence to insult the president, the national flag and state institutions.
The laws also require people to get a permit to hold a protest and bans spreading fake news and views counter to state ideology.
Other articles which officials say aim to uphold "Indonesian values" in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation criminalise sex outside of marriage, cohabitation between unmarried couples, the promotion of contraception to minors and abortion for non-rape victims.
"The UN is concerned that several articles in the revised Criminal Code contravene Indonesia's international legal obligations with respect to human rights," the UN's local office said in a statement released on Thursday.
"Some articles have the potential to criminalise journalistic work… Others would discriminate against, or have a discriminatory impact on, women, girls, boys and sexual minorities," it said.
The code could also affect reproductive and privacy rights and exacerbate gender-based violence based on sexual orientation and identity, the statement said.
Civil society groups have slammed the new laws saying the changes constitute a huge democratic setback, and pose a particular risk to LGBT people, who could be disproportionately impacted by the so-called morality clauses.
"Same-sex couples cannot marry in Indonesia, so this clause also effectively renders all same-sex conduct illegal," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Responding to criticism of the criminal code, Indonesia's justice ministry noted the morality laws, which will not come into effect for another three years, can only be reported by limited parties, such as a spouse, parent or child.
"Investors and foreign tourists don't have to worry about investing and travelling in Indonesia, because people's privacy is still guaranteed by law," the ministry said in a statement.


No more approvals for procurements without tender, says Anwar

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has stressed that approvals for government procurements under his leadership can no longer be conducted without tender.
Speaking at a gathering with the staff of the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya today, Anwar said the government under his leadership could not continue to allow leakage and corruption.
"There can no longer be procurement approvals without tender.
"Therefore, I would like to call on all of you to work together as a team. Let’s be committed to saving our country," he said.
He said when he was in charge of the finance ministry, he had given instructions not to allow his family members or close friends to have interests in government-related projects.
Anwar, who was sworn in as prime minister on Nov 24, said he was not interested in "digging" up the problems of the previous government, but would instead focus on working to improve the people’s lives.
"The people’s lives, in general, are not as bad as in some countries, but they are in a rather difficult situation.
"I’m not interested in digging up old stories... what’s important is the future, what we can and should do in preparing ourselves for the future," he said.
Also present at the gathering were Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali and Attorney-General Idrus Harun.


SEA Games results, next course of action in focus at Dewan Rakyat

The Dewan Rakyat sitting today will discuss, among other things, the next course of action by the government following the Malaysian contingent's performance at the recently concluded 2023 Cambodia SEA Games.
According to the order paper on the Parliament's official website, Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PN-Pasir Mas) will raise the question to the youth and sports minister during the Minister's Question Time as soon as the sitting begins at 10am.
Also listed is a question from Lo Su Fui (GRS-Tawau) to the prime minister regarding the federal government’s commitment to helping resolve the water supply issues in Sabah, as announced in the recent unity government national convention.
This includes the approach of taking over water management in Sabah, as reported by certain media, and the functions of the Sabah and Sarawak affairs division at the Prime Minister’s Department in ensuring this commitment is fulfilled.
During the oral question-and-answer session, Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (PN-Sik) will ask the prime minister about efforts to empower the administration of shariah courts, including in terms of the punishment of shariah criminal offences and the appointment of judges.
After the session, the Dewan Rakyat sitting will continue with the second reading of the Renewable Energy (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2023.
This Dewan Rakyat sitting will last for 11 days, from May 22 to 25 and from June 6 to 15.


China's southwest battles forest fires as end of heatwave approaches

The southwestern Chinese regions of Chonqging and Sichuan were battling fires on Tuesday as they awaited a long-anticipated decline from extremely high temperatures and a period of rainfall set to begin over the next week.
State forecasters said China's heatwave, which has lasted more than two months, was about to hit a "turning point", with a cold front looming from the west and a typhoon approaching in the southeast.
Though China remains on a heat "red alert" for a 12th day, temperatures are expected to fall in parts of central China by Wednesday, and in Sichuan and Chongqing from Aug 29, the National Meteorological Center said on its official Weibo channel.
Authorities also raised a fire "red alert" late on Tuesday, warning that the situation was "extremely dangerous" in the forest areas of central and southern Chongqing and eastern Sichuan, the official China News Service reported.
Chongqing and Sichuan, where rainfall has been 80% less than during normal years, have had to deal with as many as 19 wildfires since Aug 14, according to financial news service Caixin, though no casualties have been reported so far.
The provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou are also on high alert for forest and grassland fires, China's Ministry of Emergency Management warned late on Tuesday.
The ministry said it had dispatched more than 2,800 state-level firefighters to Chongqing and Sichuan to help contain the situation.
Farmers in Chongqing have also been installing makeshift irrigation systems to help their crops and working at night to avoid the extreme heat, according to images posted on social media.
The impact of the long drought is expected to last into next month, with autumn harvests at risk, government officials have said.


Daily caseload falls below 2,200 as death toll up by 2

Another 2,191 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 4,776,194.
There were 3,796 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,707,095.
There are now 32,901 active cases, of which 31,527 or 95.8% are undergoing home quarantine.
Meanwhile, 19 (0.1%) are at quarantine centres while 1,282 (3.9%) have been hospitalised.
A total of 73 are in ICU with 48 in need of respiratory assistance. ICU utilisation throughout the country stands at 64.4%, with Covid ICU utilisation at 19.6%.
Two more deaths were reported, taking total deaths to 36,198.


Most Covid clusters in Selangor linked to manufacturing sector, says state health director

The manufacturing sector was the biggest contributor of Covid-19 clusters in Selangor from July 1 to 31, says Selangor Health Department director Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman.He said the sector recorded 96 clusters or 54% of the overall total during that period, followed by the service sector with 22 clusters (12%) and the construction site sector with 18 clusters (10%).“There were nine community clusters reported (5%). But all of the clusters were recorded before the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebration on July 20,” he told a press conference on the development of Covid-19 today.Asked about infections in the manufacturing sector which had triggered community transmissions, Sha’ari said this was irrelevant as the transmissions occurred in workers’ hostels and quarters.“Checks on factories found that the SOP compliance level is very good. But workers should also abide by the SOPs after work to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission,” he said.On the situation in Selangor, Sha’ari said 65% of the cases were asymptomatic while between 30% and 35% were symptomatic, with most of them in Category Three.Category Three refers to cases with pneumonia but which do not require oxygen.He said close contacts were the biggest contributors to the current situation in Selangor, at 40%, followed by symptomatic cases (22%), workers (20%) and non-workers (14%).He added that the surge in cases in Selangor before the start of the Hari Raya Aidiladha on July 20 was in line with the increased number of Covid-19 screening tests conducted in the state.“The increase in screenings was due to the widespread awareness among the people in Selangor to immediately undergo tests, with 85% of the tests conducted at private facilities,” he said.


Singapore tightens face mask rule

You can no longer use your favourite bandana, scarf or cushion cover as your own personal fashion statement mask in SingaporeThe republic’s health ministry now defines an acceptable mask as “any paper or textile covering designed or made to be worn over the nose and mouth to provide the wearer protection against infections or air pollution but excludes a face shield”.Which means your mask must be an actual mask, not scraps of cloth or old shorts found under the bed.The previous legislation merely stated that a mask needed to touch the wearer’s nose and cheeks. A mask is now also required to touch not only the wearer’s nose and cheeks but the chin as well.And it should be nice and tight.“A mask should be worn such that it closely and completely covers the wearer’s nose and mouth, without leaving a gap between the mask and the face,” the ministry stated.A study published in the US in August examined 15 types of masks and found that wearing a single layer neck gaiter made of 92% polyester and 8% spandex is actually worse than not wearing a mask at all.So, while your neck gaiter may look cool, don’t expect it to save your life.The revised regulations are currently being enforced and were in response to an incident where a bus driver refused to allow a man wearing a neck gaiter to board.Anyone caught not wearing an approved mask can be fined S$300.


6 more deaths but new infections appear on the decline

A total of 354 new cases were recorded today, taking cumulative cases to 14,722.Of these, 352 were local transmissions.The bulk of new infections were reported in Sabah (274), followed by Selangor (24), Kedah (10), Sarawak (10), Kuala Lumpur (10), Penang (eight), Johor (five), Terengganu (five), Negeri Sembilan (four), Putrajaya (two), Perak (one) and Labuan (one).Both imported cases were reported in Kuala Lumpur.Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham said 188 patients were also discharged, taking total recoveries to 10,707.However, six new deaths were also reported, all in Sabah, pushing the virus toll to 152 or 1.03% of total cases.Active cases now stand at 3,863 with 68 in the ICU and 25 in need of respiratory assistance.


Spain to list and share names of vaccine refusers

Spain has said it is setting up a registry of people who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and will share it with other EU countries, reports the BBC. The list will not be available to the public or to employers.Health minister Salvador Illa said “The way to defeat the virus is to vaccinate all of us – the more the better.”Spain has been one of the European countries worst affected by the virus and is currently rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, approved for EU member states last week.Illa told La Sexta television on Monday that vaccination would not be mandatory. “People who are offered a therapy that they refuse for any reason, it will be noted in the register so that there is no error in the system, not to have given this person the possibility of being vaccinated.”According to a recent poll, the number of Spanish citizens who have said they will not take the vaccine has fallen to 28% from 47% in November.Illa said people would be contacted by regional authorities when it was their turn to be inoculated.“People who decide not to get vaccinated, which we think is a mistake, are within their rights,” he told reporters. “We are going to try to solve doubts. Getting vaccinated saves lives; it is the way out of this pandemic.”The number of people who have died from Covid-19 in Spain rose to above 50,000 on Monday. The country has registered more than 1.8 million infections during the pandemic.Spain is currently under a nationwide curfew, between 11pm and 6am, until early May. People are only allowed out in that period to go to work, buy medicine, or to care for elderly people or children.


Oil tops US$110, equities sink on rising Ukraine war fears

Crude surged past US$110 a barrel Wednesday and equities sank with investors growing increasingly fearful about the Ukraine war’s impact on global energy supplies and the economic recovery.Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his neighbour has sent world markets into a spiral over the past week, further fraying nerves on trading floors caused by runaway inflation and tighter central bank monetary policies.The crisis has seen numerous countries hammer Moscow with a series of wide-ranging sanctions that have isolated Russia and threaten to crash its economy.The measures have injected a huge amount of uncertainty into markets with supplies of crucial commodities including metals and grains soaring. The price of global staple wheat is sitting at a 14-year high – having risen 30% in the past month.But the main source of unease on trading floors is crude, which has rocketed since Russia began preparing to invade. On Wednesday Brent topped US$110 for the first time since 2014, while WTI moved closer to that figure.Incoming sanctions have fuelled worries that exports will be cut off from Russia, the world’s third-biggest producer of the commodity.The conflict in eastern Europe comes with prices already elevated owing to tight supplies and a strong recovery in global demand as economies reopen from pandemic-induced lockdowns.Traders will be keeping a close eye on a meeting of Opec and other major producers, including Russia, later in the day where they will discuss whether to ramp up output to temper the price rises, which are helping fan inflation.In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said the US would join a 30-country deal to release 60 million barrels to help temper the surge in prices, though analysts have warned such moves would likely only have a limited impact.The oil price surge has compounded fears about inflation as it sits at a 40-year high in the United States and hurts Americans in the pocket even as the economy rebounds from the pandemic shock.However, the Ukraine crisis has given the Fed another headache as it is forced to rethink its plans to hike interest rates to get consumer prices under control.It had been widely expected to lift this month and then up to seven times more before the end of the year, but commentators say it will likely tone down its hawkishness for fear of damaging the recovery.“The supply chain issues and inflationary pressures will be top of mind for many investors globally,” Andy McCormick at T Rowe Price said.“These things will almost certainly complicate the already difficult task that central banks were facing trying to battle inflation.”And Uma Pattarkine, of CenterSquare Investment Management, told Bloomberg Television: “The market was looking at anywhere up to seven rate hikes this year – I think it will be closer to maybe the three or four we were anticipating at the very beginning of this conversation.”Fed boss Jerome Powell’s two days of congressional testimony will be closely watched this week for an idea about the bank’s thinking.Wall Street and European markets tumbled Tuesday and the losses largely flowed through to Asia, which had enjoyed two days of relative calm though the selling was not as severe.Tokyo led losses, falling 1.9%, while Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Manila and Wellington also dropped. However, Sydney, Seoul, Jakarta and Bangkok eked out marginal gains.


Measures to protect pensioners to be announced soon, says Anwar

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the government will come up with measures to protect pensioners, following the Federal Court's decision which invalidated amendments to the pension law.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the government is working on the details of the mechanism and will make an announcement soon.
"We'll deal with it. We have to respect the decision of the Federal Court.
We are having a mechanism to protect pensioners and will announce it soon," he told reporters after launching the International Social Wellbeing Conference 2023 in Kuala Lumpur today.
On June 27, the Federal Court ruled that legal amendments made in 2013, which introduced a new pension scheme that adjusts pension payments every year by a 2% increment, were less favourable to pensioners and unconstitutional.
The decision meant that the older version of the law containing the old pension adjustment scheme would be restored.
Meanwhile, Anwar said the government was open to a suggestion by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to make it mandatory for new EPF members in the future to withdraw their savings periodically instead of a lump sum on reaching 55 years old.
"I'm open to it," Anwar said.
However, the prime minister said certain constraints had to be taken into consideration, including the fact that the savings of some EPF members were too small.
Yesterday, EPF chief executive officer Amir Hamzah Azizan was reported as saying that the existing option of periodic withdrawals on a monthly basis was seen as offering members a better way to manage their retirement funds.
He said making periodic withdrawals would also allow members to continue enjoying annual dividends for their remaining savings in EPF.


India opposition leader Rahul Gandhi takes a dig at Modi over China in US visit

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of relations with China, saying Beijing was "occupying our territory," while also taking a dig at the Hindu nationalist leader over the country's religious polarization.
"The fact of the matter is China is occupying our territory. It's an accepted fact," Gandhi, who belongs to the opposition Congress party, said in remarks at The National Press Club in a visit to Washington.
"It's absolutely unacceptable. Prime Minister seems to believe otherwise."
India's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gandhi's trip comes weeks ahead of Modi's scheduled US visit later this month.
China and India have been uneasy neighbors for decades following a war on their disputed Himalayan frontier in the early 1960s.
After deadly border clashes in 2020 that killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops, China this year ramped up tension by renaming 11 locations in India's eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls southern Tibet and claims as its territory. India has rejected and denied those claims.
Separately, Gandhi blamed Modi for India's religious polarization, saying Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not inclusive.
"They sort of generate a certain amount of hatred in society, they polarize society and they are not inclusive. They don't embrace everybody, and they divide society," Gandhi said.
The BJP denies the allegations and says its policies are aimed at the welfare and development of all Indians.
Gandhi also accused the BJP of "capture of institutions" and "capture of the press" in India. Since Modi came to power in 2014, India has slid from 140th in World Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking by non-profit Reporters Without Borders, to 161st this year, its lowest ever.
The BJP denies institutional compromise and says its governance abides by the rule of law.