TOKYO: It was meant to “signal a new era of virtual football”, but Konami’s eFootball 2022 appears to have missed the goal, with players mocking its graphics and gameplay. The much-anticipated eFootball 2022 came out Thursday on PlayStation, Xbox and PC in an attempt to reach a broad sweep of fans. But so far, the revamped eFootball 2022 is failing fans’ expectations and racking up negative reviews, with only 8% of the more than 10,400 ratings so far on gaming platform Steam positive as of Friday. Serkan Toto, an analyst at Kantan Games in Tokyo, was scathing in his assessment of eFootball 2022. In promotional material, Konami had touted its new game’s “overhauled graphics, animations and gameplay” which “signal a new era of virtual football”.

MUMBAI: Tata Sons Pvt. A top bureaucrat in the ministry for Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the approval of Air India’s sale was incorrect. A civil aviation ministry spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Tata Sons declined to comment. Once it turned commercial and was government owned in the 1940s, Air India quickly became popular with those who could afford to take to the skies.

PETALING JAYA: The reopening of all the social and economic sectors in the country must be done in a careful and safe manner, says Khairy Jamaluddin. The Health Minister said that was the reason why the government announced that only those who were fully vaccinated would be allowed to use facilities in the social and economic sectors. He said based on the latest developments of phases in the National Recovery Plan (NRP) and taking into account the dominance of the Delta variant, the Cabinet agreed that only fully vaccinated individuals would be allowed access to facilities regardless of the NRP phase. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer, Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccines, or 28 days after the single-dose CanSino or Janssen vaccines. We are not safe until everyone is safe,” he said in a statement on Friday (Oct 1).

PETALING JAYA: There will be a scheduled water disruption affecting 998 areas in seven districts in Selangor starting at 9am on Wednesday (Oct 13). Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) said that works are expected to be completed at 9pm on Oct 16. "The works had been delayed from the original schedule in 2019 and 2020 due to the raw water source pollution incident that caused large-scale water disruption in Klang Valley," Air Selangor said in a statement on Friday (Oct 1). Water supply will be channelled to users in stages from 5pm on Oct 14 after maintenance and upgrading works are done and water supply distribution system have been stabilised. Air Selangor will also prepare 18 public water taps for affected residents.

While these news reports show the vulnerability of seniors to financial scams they only present a glimpse of a growing problem – the financial abuse of senior citizens, say experts. However, there is also the ever-increasing threat of online scams by strangers such as in the cases reported above. First, elder abuse cases in general – and financial abuse specifically – are overwhelmingly under-reported. So, if 1% of elder financial abuse is reported, imagine the actual number of seniors who are experiencing financial abuse. There are various types of scams, she says citing examples of government impostor scams, medical/ health insurance scams, investment scams, lottery scams, romance scams, charity scams and others.

Imagine a land that’s full of happiness and kindness, where everyone is loving and caring and we all live in peace and harmony. This will allow everyone to travel and visit each other.”Sophie Yap Jyn Qing, 8Younger sibling Claire Yap Jyn Wei, six, says: “My Shangri-La is near my sister’s Hogwarts School. I can also fly in the sky with my broom.”Claire Yap Jyn Wei, 6Three-year-old Asher Wang Qi Chuen dreams of a kingdom where humans and animals will live peacefully together. I would love to be friends with dinosaurs.”Asher Wang Qi Chuen, 3Older sister Bethany Wang Qi Syuen, six, thinks Shangri-La is a place of joy and peace. Your contributions must carry your full name, age (open to children aged 12 and below only), gender, phone contact, and address.

Singapore has largely kept the virus at bay since last year with masks, contact tracing and a closed border. Singapore relaxed restrictions in August, after 18 months of largely successful mitigation efforts, with a plan for more easing after reaching the 80% vaccination target in early September. "We are not going back to a scenario of low daily cases anymore," Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said recently. Numerous anxious people, most with asymptomatic or mild cases, have been turning up at hospitals and phoning up help lines confused as to just what exactly they are meant to do. With 95 COVID-19 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic, Singapore has the world's lowest case fatality rate.

PETALING JAYA: The stricter Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) requirements may not necessarily attract "better quality" participants but could instead result in the country losing competitiveness, says MCA. MCA spokesman Mike Chong said that the new requirements could result in people opting for other countries such as Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and Canada. Chong said they agreed that there was a need to review the MM2H requirements, but said this could result in current participants leaving the country as well. The MM2H programme started in 2002 and currently there are 57,478 holders of MM2H passes, including dependents. According to reports, MM2H participants have invested RM12bil in the country.

BENGALURU (Reuters) -SoftBank-backed Indian hotel aggregator Oyo Hotels is seeking a valuation of $10 billion to $12 billion, a source close to the matter told Reuters, as it filed for a local listing that could be the first for a hospitality firm since 2019. The aggregator, which Japanese conglomerate SoftBank counts among its biggest bets, had hinted at an initial public offering (IPO) in 2019 shortly before the pandemic battered the travel industry. The IPO comes as travel restrictions are being eased worldwide and the tourism sector sees a rebound, with stuck-at-home people heading out on vacations. The offering will consist of a fresh issue of shares of up to 70 billion rupees ($942.8 million) and an offer for sale of as much as 14.30 billion rupees, according to a copy of its draft red herring prospectus dated Sept. 30. The company's net losses, however, narrowed to 33.82 billion rupees for the year ended March 2021, from 105.86 billion rupees in 2020.

PETALING JAYA: Only fully-vaccinated individuals are allowed to dine in and enter all facilities, regardless of which phase of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) a particular state is in, says Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. The Senior Minister (Security) said that the National Security Council (NSC) had been told to update all the regulations and standard operating procedures (SOP) to be adhered to in the fight against Covid-19. He was replying to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who had earlier said that only fully-vaccinated individuals were allowed to dine in at restaurants. The Health Minister said that the SOP released by the National Security Council (NSC) had not been updated. The NSC had released the SOP stating that all individuals in phase 3 of the National Recovery Phase (NRP) could dine in, regardless of their vaccination status.

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 1): Former Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam was charged in the Sessions Court here on Friday with spreading Covid-19 fake news through audiovisual recordings in April and May this year. Lokman, 48, however, pleaded not guilty after the two charges were read out to him before Judge MM Edwin Paramjothy. Earlier, Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory prosecution director Datin Kalmizah Salleh offered bail of RM30,000 for each charge with one surety with the additional condition that the accused surrendered his passport to the court. “The prosecution urges that the accused’s passport be surrendered as the Klang Valley area will enter Phase 3 of the National Recovery Plan and possibly the national borders will be opened soon," she said. The court allowed Lokman bail of RM10,000 with one surety for each charge and set Nov 25 for re-mention of the case.

In order to express the generic notion we seek, something like “polity building” or “country building” or — to be more specific to our discussion — “Malaysia building” is more appropriate and promising. What do we mean when we say “our nation-building — or state-building or national economy building — is succeeding”? In many ways, therefore, the state-building aspect of Malaysia building is back at square one. We should take pause here to recognise the strong linkages in East and Southeast Asia between state-building and national economy building, best expressed within by the concept of “political economy”. But in general, for national economy building to succeed, integration of the citizenry through effective universal education and meaningful participation in a growing economy are the measures of success.

PETALING JAYA: Chandeliers, among other items, were removed from Seri Perdana, the official prime minister's residence, claims Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. The former prime minister said he did not live in Seri Perdana during his time as premier to allow renovation and repair works to be done. "The chandelier and other furniture there were said to be owned by the sixth prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak). On Facebook, Najib said he was not given much time to leave Seri Perdana. Najib said the items were checked and approved by PM's Dept, noting that on Nov 18, PM's Dept sent him another letter to retrieve the items based on a finalised list.

KoePETALING JAYA (Oct 1): S P Setia’s new president and chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Choong Kai Wai takes over from Datuk Khor Chap Jen from Friday. Also starting from Friday is Datuk Seri Koe Peng Kang as the group’s new deputy president and chief operating officer (COO), taking over from Datuk Wong Tuck Wai. “Choong has over 30 years of experience in the property and construction industry, which includes both domestic and international markets. “He has been with S P Setia since 1997 and directly involved in landmark developments, specifically the group’s award-winning Eco series,” the group said. “On behalf of the board, I would also like to record my appreciation and thanks to both Datuk Khor Chap Jen and Datuk Wong Tuck Wai for repositioning S P Setia to a market leadership position successfully in these past six years.

CANBERRA (Oct 1): Australia's Minister for Trade Dan Tehan said on Friday talks with the European Union over a trade deal have been postponed, as a row over Canberra's decision to cancel a $40 billion deal with France escalates. Australia last month cancelled a deal with France's Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines and will instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology after striking a trilateral security partnership with those two countries. The cancellation has angered France, which accused both Australia and the United States of stabbing it in the back. In solidarity with France, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has questioned whether the bloc could strike a trade deal with Australia. Tehan on Friday declined to comment on the role the submarine deal had played in delaying negotiations but confirmed the 12th round of talks scheduled for Oct 12 had been postponed by a month.