Two Malaysian companies have secured the contract to supply the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine to this part of the world. Duopharma Biotech Bhd sealed the deal with the Ministry of Health to supply the Sinopharm vaccine in Malaysia. Apex Healthcare Bhd, meanwhile, secured the mandate to supply the Sinopharm vaccine to private clinics and hospitals in Singapore. But the question is, how big a demand is there for the Sinopharm vaccine? Apex Healthcare’s Sinopharm distribution deal is equally challenging.

KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank Islamic Bhd has partnered Cookhouse Malaysia to offer small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the food and beverage business an opportunity to access most comprehensive and best equipped cloud kitchen in Malaysia. This collaboration enables SMEs to rent dedicated commercial-grade kitchen space with state-of-the-art facilities at a cost-effective price, they said in a joint statement. This initiative benefits SMEs operating from their homes, but have plansto scale up their businesses and obtain Halal certification. The collaboration is part of the bank’s on-going efforts to tap on the ever-growing Halal market by enhancing the awareness of the Halal industry and increasing the number of new Halal-certified companies. The partnership with Maybank Islamic will open more doors and allow more Malaysian food businesses to leverage on the growth in Halal marketsworldwide”

SIBU: Due to strong demand from the public for Covid-19 RTK-Antigen self-test kit, most pharmacies here are selling between 150 to 300 units a day. The government has set a ceiling price for all 14 types of such test kits at RM19.90 each but businesses were given a one-week grace period to clear their old stock. Kelyn said so far they had not received any complaints from the public on pharmacies selling the kits above the ceiling price. "The public can lodge a complaint with us if they know of pharmacies selling above the ceiling price and we will take action," he said. Kelyn said action against shops selling above the ceiling price would be taken under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011.

PETALING JAYA: National women's singles shuttler Goh Jin Wei has dropped a bombshell on Monday (Sept 13) by announcing her retirement from badminton. Jin Wei's shocking decision has dealt BAM a massive blow as they were aiming to rebuild a formidable young squad for the Paris Olympics 2024, with Jin Wei is set to play a prominent role in the women's singles event. Jin Wei has been making good headway since joining the seniors in 2017 before the stomach ailment hampered her progress. Due to her inactivity, Jin Wei has slipped from a career-best 24 to 146th in the world rankings. She boasts a successful junior career having won the World Junior Championships twice in 2015 and 2018 and Youth Olympic Games, also in 2018.

"Feminist love stories are our genre,” Cohen says in an interview alongside West. Child wrote a letter in 1982 that was sent to Planned Parenthood donors. But our perspective as documentary filmmakers is that it’s kind of like a gold mine.”It's an ongoing project. Cohen and West are currently editing another documentary about an extraordinary American woman they expect to release next year. And, yes, Cohen promises, this film, too, features what she calls a great feminist love story.

HONG KONG (AFP): Asian markets mostly fell on Monday (Sept 13) following another retreat on Wall Street as a surge in US inflation to a record high ramped up concerns the Federal Reserve will be forced to tighten monetary policy sooner than later. The reading ramped up speculation about the Fed's plans for monetary policy. The release Tuesday of consumer inflation has now taken on more significance. All three US indexes ended in the red on Friday, with reports of Biden's probe adding to the selling pressure. The US military described the move as posting "threats" to the country's neighbours and beyond.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s Covid-19 death toll has reached 20,711 after the Health Ministry reported 292 more coronavirus deaths on Sunday (Sept 12). The government has changed its method of reporting Covid-19 deaths to better reflect the current pandemic situation in the country. Based on the latest graph, the statistics of Covid-19 deaths shows a downward trend. Of the 292 reported deaths on Sunday, there were 106 fatalities classified as “brought-in-dead” (BID) cases. The number of active Covid-19 cases is 237,277, a reduction of 2,074 from the previous day.

Sweden -- with a population of 10.2 million people – now has almost 1,000 listed companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The head of BNP Paribas SA’s Nordic business said in May he was adding staff in the region, while JPMorgan Chase & Co moved its Nordic investment banking team to Stockholm from London. Still, like many smaller markets, Sweden has seen some of its most promising startups look abroad. Music streaming company Spotify Technology SA and oat-milk maker Oatly AB both listed in the United States in recent years. Since then, the large-stock OMX Stockholm 30 Index has surged by 25% and a broader market gauge is up by 28%.

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign buying of Bursa Malaysia equities continued last week, although the net amount was pared to RM433.16mil as compared to RM786.42mil in the previous week.This was a fifth consecutive week that foreign investors were net buyers of local equities, said MIDF Research.In terms of equities performance, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 0.8% over the week on Friday at 1,575.97 points.MIDF said in its weekly fund flow report that the smallest inflow of foreign funds to the market was on Monday with RM72.18mil net of local equities, while the largest inflow was recorded on Wednesday with RM207.19mil net.Foreign funds were net buyers on everyday of the week except for Thursday, which saw RM62.95mil net sales.Local retailers were net buyers over every day of the week with a total of RM278.59mil of equities bought on Bursa.Local institutions went the opposite direction, with net selling on each day of the week for a total of RM711.96mil net sales in equities. "In terms of participation the retail investors,local institutions and the foreign investors recorded a weekly movement of 2.49%, -1.15% and -29.79% respectively in average daily trade value," said MIDF.Despite the recent increase in foreign interest in Bursa Malaysia stocks, year-to-date foreign investors remain net sellers of local equities.Foreign funds have sold RM3.79bil net of local equities over the year so far although MIDF noted that this figure has been reduced from RM6.01bil net sales at its peak earlier this year.Retailers have been the only net buyers of the equity market to the tune of RM9.83bil while local institutions have net sold RM6.04bil of local equities thus far in 2021.Bursa Malaysia counters that saw the highest net money inflows were Maybank, Public Bank and Inari Amertron while the highest fund outlows were seen in Press Metal , Top Glove and Petronas Chemicals.

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit kicked off the week on a weaker note against the US dollar today as profit-taking emerged following last week's strong gains.At 9 am, the ringgit slipped to 4.1405/1450 versus the greenback from 4.1340/1370 at last Friday’s close.According to Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd , the local unit ended last week in the green by appreciating to below the 4.14 level against the US dollar for the first time since June 18, 2021. This followed a rise in the yuan amid US-China optimism after the United States (US) President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke for the first time since February 2021 on Sept 10.Moving forward, the investment bank said despite facing selling pressure due to profit-taking, the ringgit was expected to remain firm on a relatively weak US dollar narrative and bullish market sentiment due to positive progress in US-China relations. "The ringgit’s performance will also track the domestic COVID-19 developments,” it said in a note today.However, Kenanga said the exponential moving average (EMA) indicator signalled a reversal in the US dollar-ringgit trend, with the ringgit expected to depreciate against the greenback by 0.27 per cent to 4.147 this week. "Technical-wise, the US dollar-ringgit pair may move towards the first resistance of 4.149 level and potentially test the second resistance of 4.162, which indicates an upside pattern for the greenback. "Nonetheless, a rally towards the support level of 4.129 will reaffirm the ringgit’s strength,” it said.At the opening, the ringgit was traded mostly firmer against a basket of major currencies, except the yen against which the local unit eased to 3.7651/7692 from 3.0867/0892 last Friday.Vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar, the ringgit advanced to 3.0844/0882 from 3.0867/0892 at last Friday’s close, while against the pound, it strengthened to 5.7280/7342 from 5.7347/7388 previously.The local currency also appreciated against the euro to 4.8879/8932 from 4.8934/8970 previously.

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Planting trees in the house compound is the most effective strategy to reduce the effects of climate change, apart from creating a greener and more beautiful environment, says Dr Azian Mohti of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). The head of the Climate Change Programme at the institute’s Forestry and Environment Division said environmental protection measures, such as planting new trees, needed to be intensified as climate change is an important issue as it is happening fast. "Those who do not have spacious land can also plant trees," she said in a statement Monday (Sept 13). She said FRIM has the expertise to calculate the carbon footprint and welcomes community involvement in tackling climate change and carbon emission reduction. Climate change involves weather patterns that change suddenly and leave long-term effects, such as rising sea levels and the frequency of extreme weather phenomena such as floods and droughts, she added.

PETALING JAYA: A total of 227,476 Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered on Sunday (Sept 12), says the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV). It added that a total of 38,488,051 doses have been administered nationwide since the beginning of the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme. Meanwhile, Johor has the most second doses administered recorded at 31,853 followed by Kuala Lumpur (22,623), Sabah (18,659) and Selangor (17,686). According to the Health Ministry's CovidNow data website, Malaysia is estimated to achieve a target of 80% of its total adult population being fully vaccinated by Sept 22. However, this estimated projection changes depending on the number of vaccine doses administered daily.

A FIELD hospital with 100 beds will be built at Penang Hospital by this week. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the field hospital would be set up by the army and the Health Ministry at the parking lot of the hospital. The decision to build the field hospital was mooted after Penang Hospital reached its critical capacity due to increasing Covid-19 cases. He said the field hospital would be equipped with respiratory facilities, intensive care unit (ICU) equipment and other facilities. On Saturday, ministry officials and army officers visited the site to plot the field hospital layout.

Tan, founder of Poh Sin Studio, recently earned the Best of the Best award (Installation category) at the German Design Council’s 2021 Iconic Awards: Innovative Architecture for her inspiring project named Eden. One such attraction was created through the Eden project, which promised an extraordinary experience. The Eden installation's filigree pattern.Glass spheres are delicately perched on the cusp of the hanging vines, “echoing water droplets balancing on the edge of leaves after rain has subsided”. The Eden installation project inspired judges with its surreal atmosphere and intricate details. Eden and another of Tan’s project, Projection Kite, won the Bronze and Merit awards respectively in the Design for Asia Award 2020 under the category of Environmental Design.

THERE are views now being promoted that any prescriptive regulation or employment requirement for vaccination status on individuals militates against the liberty of a person to choose not to be vaccinated. Article 11(5), however, expressly lays down a qualification that “This Article does not authorise any act contrary to any general law to public order, public health or morality”. The freedom of religion protection offers a good test case on issues surrounding anti-vaxxer rhetoric that mandatory vaccination is contrary to the value of fundamental liberty. Certain religious groups that reject scientific- and clinical- based evidence also reject vaccination on the erroneous grounds that it manipulates the human genome and therefore constitutes “playing God”. Does a religious believer who holds such views – ie that gatherings cannot be proscribed nor vaccination be enjoined by law – be permitted to invoke Article 11?