Adam Rosendorff has said he resigned from the company in late 2014 because he found Holmes unwilling to address quality-control problems with Theranos machines. “I felt obligated to alert the public,” Rosendorff told jurors. “I was raising the alarm bells,” Rosendorff told jurors. Rosendorff said Holmes told him that tests proving problematic for Theranos machines could be done on conventional machines requiring larger venous draws of blood. Holmes and Balwani are charged with lying about the accuracy of Theranos machines as well as failing to disclose the company’s reliance for many results on standard devices manufactured by other companies.

“I’ve been calling the E&E sector the golden goose of the Malaysian economy for years. Under the 12MP, the E&E industry is targeted to contribute RM120bil to gross domestic product (GDP) and generate RM495bil in export earnings by 2025. E&E industry players will be encouraged to adopt advanced technologies and produce more sophisticated products, resulting in higher productivity and growth. He added that the policies under the 12MP will also support the manufacturing sector to achieve an average growth rate of 5.7% over the period. “We will continue to push forward initiatives to establish a progressive and inclusive digital economy, in line with our vision as well as the goals of the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint.”

CAIRO: Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (pic) launched a 50 billion riyal ($13 billion) strategy on Tuesday to develop the Aseer region on the Red Sea coast into a tourism hub that would attract 10 million visitors by 2030. The aim is to develop tourist attractions in the mountainous area and improve services and infrastructure including healthcare and transport, state news agency SPA said. The Gulf Arab state, which opened its doors in September 2019 to foreign tourists through a new visa regime, wants to diversify its oil-dependent economy, with tourism contributing 10% of gross domestic product by 2030. While the nascent tourism sector was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, local campaigns helped to partially attract millions of dollars Saudis used to spend overseas. In February, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund launched a venture that would invest $3 billion to build 2,700 hotel rooms, 1,300 residential units, and 30 commercial and entertainment attractions in Aseer by 2030.

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) scheme has raised national security concerns due to its poor enforcement of background checks on the programme’s participants. “An audit check on 59 MM2H participants found that their applications were accompanied by a LOGC each. “So, there is no way to verify if the dependents are free of criminal records in their home countries. “The minimum fixed income requirement abroad of RM10,000 per month has never been reviewed since the MM2H programme started in 2002,” said the report. Another identified weakness was the non-compliance with programme rules as participants and their dependents were found to be working in Malaysia.

PUTRAJAYA: The anti-graft agency has assigned its number two in command to lead a task force to investigate the Customs Department’s failed project fiasco. “I have directed the team, led by MACC deputy commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Khusairi Yahya, to work on the case immediately. On whether Customs officials would be called up, Azam said that would be decided after reviewing the Auditor-General report. This, he said, included the Ministry of Finance and Customs Department with regard to the uCustom project. Wong said any investigations by the MACC into the project will not jeopardise the PAC inquiry into the issue later this year.

(Sept 29): Senior members of Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party are concerned that mixed signals from the country’s virus task force are giving the appearance of divisions that could lead to rare infighting, people familiar with the situation said. They said the prime minister or another senior member should take charge and show decisiveness, according to the people. Although the party prolonged its nearly six-decade rule in an election last year, the opposition gained a record number of seats. Wong has generally appeared to favor tighter measures to contain the virus, while Ong is seen as a greater advocate for opening. The disquiet in the party reflects a broader debate within Singapore society about the pace of opening up, even as it boasts one of the world’s highest vaccination rates.

LIMA (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday said that evidence of criminality in the extradition case against former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo is "sufficient," all but clearing the way for his extradition on corruption charges. The U.S. State Department has final say on extradition matters. (Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun and Jonathan Stempel; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no requirement for those 70 years old and above to surrender their driving licences, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. The Transport Minister told the Dewan Rakyat his ministry had never made such a requirement as driving competency is not based on an individual’s age. The minister recently gave the assurance that senior citizens will be issued driving licences if they are able to operate a vehicle. He said this is because the health condition of senior citizens could contribute to road accidents. “There was a case where a senior citizen was caught driving on a motorcycle lane.

LONDON: The world's largest asset manager, BlackRock Inc, has said it is dipping its toes back in to Chinese equity markets following their heavy falls this year, and on bets that Beijing will soon start providing stimulus again. "We are dipping a toe in Chinese equities by moving our tactical view from neutral at midyear to a modest overweight," BlackRock's "Investment Institute" strategists said in a weekly note first published on Monday. However, the more than 30 percentage-point underperformance of Chinese equities versus U.S. stocks this year was "overdone," especially with a six-to-12-month horizon. It also said the amount of Chinese assets held by clients at the moment was effectively too small considering the growing clout around the world held by Chinese financial markets. "Currently very small client allocations to Chinese assets would imply a view that China will become essentially un-investable," BlackRock said, adding it had also gone modestly "overweight" on emerging market local currency debt.- Reuters

PETALING JAYA: As difficult as it might seem, Malaysia will head into tomorrow’s final Group D fixture of the Sudirman Cup against favourites Japan with just one goal – to emerge as group winners. But the stunning upset win by mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See over world No. “On paper, we’re no match for Japan when it comes to the strength of women’s players,” said Choong Hann. A fresh draw will be conducted upon completion of the group stage tomorrow. Choong Hann reckoned that Kisona will eventually come good once she’s able to overcome the issue of a lack of confidence.

One such strategy is the adoption of the tobacco harm reduction (THR) strategy to encourage smokers to switch to less harmful products with the end goal of quitting altogether. The first step to reap the benefits of the THR approach is the acknowledgement of harm-reduced products such as vape products and their role in helping smokers to quit smoking by switching over. (6)The next step is to introduce appropriate and sensible regulations that are differentiated from tobacco products to enable smokers to have access to harm-reduced products to aid their journey to quit smoking. In New Zealand for example, where vape regulations have been introduced, focus is put on ensuring regulations reduce harm, are risk-proportionate, and workable for the people they affect. This can only be done through a multifaceted approach that addresses regulation on product standards that incentivises people to move away from more harmful products.

PARIS (Reuters) - Six years after a group of Islamist bombers and gunmen attacked Paris, gendarmes who were on duty that night told a court on Tuesday that they were still haunted by the sound of explosions, images of human flesh and the smell of blood. "It is not over and I do not know whether it ever will be," he told the court. Questioning of the accused will start in November but they are not set to testify about the night of the attacks until March. Defendant Salah Abdeslam, 31, is believed by prosecutors to be the only surviving member of the Islamic State cell that carried out the attacks. Six more, mostly Islamic State officials, will be judged in abstentia for helping organise the attacks.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti's general election, which had been scheduled for Nov. 7, has been postponed after Prime Minister Ariel Henry dismissed the council that organizes elections, which many in the country had felt was too partisan. Henry promised to appoint a new electoral council (CEP) that he said would be non-partisan and would set a new date for elections. Henry told CNN in an interview broadcast on Tuesday the process to replace the council had begun and elections would take place after a constitutional review in the "first months of the coming year." "We have made the decision today to halt this electoral council and form another one, one that will be more consensual and one that will be accepted by all of society," he added. Moise appointed the electoral council last year to replace one that did not want to go through with his proposed referendum on a new constitution.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Leaders of European Union countries will discuss surging energy prices when they meet next month, as governments scramble to cushion households from the soaring cost of gas and power. Benchmark European gas prices have rocketed by more than 300% this year due to factors including low storage levels, outages and high demand as economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, dragging up wholesale electricity costs. Leaders from the EU's 27 member countries will discuss the surging prices when they next meet on Oct. 21-22, according to a draft agenda for the summit, seen by Reuters. "The European Council will discuss the recent hike in energy prices," the draft said. EU countries are responsible for their national energy policies, and some governments have already intervened.

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 28): A total of 5,947 of travellers arriving from abroad have applied for quarantine at home through the Home Quarantine Application (HQA) portal since it was launched on Sept 20. The Ministry of Health (MOH) had launched the HQA portal as one of the preparations in facing the increasing number of travellers arriving from abroad for various reasons. Through the HQA portal, the individuals need to submit their applications within seven to 10 days before their arrival in Malaysia. However, Dr Noor Hisham said this online application system was still at the transition stage and expected to be fully used from next month. More information on the HQA portal is available at https://hso.moh.gov.my/outbreak-portal-hqa/.