THE Regent of Pahang is supportive of the state government’s stern efforts in conducting environmental enforcement. Citing an example, Tengku Mahkota Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah said the Operasi Lestari in Cameron Highlands had shown tremendous results. “Likewise, it was the same with several other enforcement operations to eradicate illegal land encroachment in this state. “To the departments and agencies involved in enforcement, carry out well the duties entrusted to you. Tengku Hassanal also reminded all parties to practise environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.

The number of people living with high blood pressure more than doubled since 1990, according to a major study published on Aug 25 (2021) in The Lancet medical journal. They used modelling to estimate high blood pressure rates across populations, as well as the number of people taking medication for the condition. This represented roughly double the estimated 331 million women and 317 million men with the condition in 1990. In the analysis, Canada and Peru had the lowest proportion of high blood pressure among adults in 2019, with around one in four people living with the condition. The researchers said it showed an urgent need to boost high blood pressure diagnosis and access to treatment.

BUTTERWORTH: A 40-year-old woman was killed, raped and sodomised by a 29-year-old man high on syabu at her house here in Taman Seruling Emas, Sungai Jawi. According to police, the man also robbed the woman of her cash, jewellery and other valuables in the incident which occurred around 3am on Saturday. “The suspect rode the motorcycle to the backlane of the victim’s house and climbed in through a window. “The victim fought back and tried to scream, but the suspect muffled her mouth with her undergarment and his hand. Supt Lee said after the suspect realised the victim was dead, he hid the body under the bed.

PETALING JAYA: Primary Immunodeficiency (PI), a life-threatening condition that weakens the immune system, is not as rare as many assume, say immunologists. “Till this point of time, those diagnosed with PI is less than 2%. This means that only an estimated one out of 50 Malaysians who have PI are well aware of their condition. Dr Amir Hamzah said that PI causes the person to have infections that come back frequently or are unusually hard to cure. Consultant paediatric immunologist Dr Adli Ali said that the symptoms of PI may appear just to be that of an infection.

Central bankers carry the aura of cardinals since they manage money mysteriously through creation of central bank reserves. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is champion central bank at 132% of GDP, with People’s Bank of China at 33.9% and European Central Bank (ECB), 60.6%. These four central banks alone accounted for US$30.1 trillion (RM126.12 trillion) in asset size or 35.5% of world GDP (yardeni.com). Here’s why we cannot disentangle monetary policy from climate change, low productivity and social inequality. Central banks in the smaller markets already recognise the threat and South Korea is the first to signal the increase in interest rates.

PETALING JAYA: To combat the proliferation of fake news, companies across the globe are resorting to artificial intelligence (AI) programs which are able to analyse and flag disinformation. Firms like AlphaVu and Logically use these virtual sleuths to mine social media networks – where fake news thrives – and other platforms to detect trending news that may be false. These companies, which sell their services to governments, also work with authorities and trusted experts to ensure the information that has been flagged as fake news is indeed untrue. Locally, there are multiple efforts by the authorities to debunk fake news and uncover scams. The portal also lists viral news, categorising them as true or false, and encourages the public to report fake news.

Its residents association (RA) chairman Mohamed Nawaz Koya said he has received more than 100 complaints from residents regarding water leaks at their units that go back two years. Supervision of repair workThe 1,600-unit PPR Seri Aman is a project under the Ministry, and was built at a cost of RM215mil. Mould has been growing on an exterior wall of PPR Seri Aman in Kepong because water leaks in the building have not been addressed. “The unit in PPR Seri Aman is uninhabitable. “Leaks involving water pipes in the interior of the residential units are the responsibility of the occupants.

PETALING JAYA: Home quarantine eligibility for fully vaccinated travellers, including Malaysians returning from abroad, is subject to the discretion of the Health Ministry, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. To be eligible for home quarantine, he said a risk assessment would be done first. The woman said their 14-day hotel quarantine would not be cheap, estimating that she would have to spend RM2,800 for it. She also said that her entire family had been fully vaccinated and that all their Covid-19 tests were negative. Also, they must have a suitable place of residence to undergo quarantine.

TOKYO: Shabash! kept reverberating at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium Stadium as Bhavinaben Patel rallied for each point against Ying Zhou of China in the women’s table tennis singles class 4 gold medal match. The phones immediately started ringing non-stop for the Paralympic Committee of India officials, who were seen trying to outwit each other to grab a piece of Patel for media sound bites. For a woman coming from a small sleepy village in Gujarat, this success is a fairy tale laced with nothing but hardwork and the will to excel. I got a bit nervous,” said Bhavinaben, who also lost to the same opponent in the league fixture.

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 14,487,972 individuals or 61.9% of the adult population in Malaysia have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of Saturday, said the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV). JKJAV, in a Twitter post, said 19,241,946 individuals or 82.2% had received their first dose, bringing the cumulative figure for vaccines administered under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) to 33,724,744 doses as of Saturday. It said 58.9% of the country’s overall population had received the first jab of the vaccine while 44.4% had completed both doses. On the daily vaccination rate, it said 336,642 doses were administered on Saturday, with 190,010 for second-dose recipients and 146,632 for first-dose jabs. PICK was launched on Feb 24.

He stressed that the central bank could start slowing its debt purchases in 2021, though it won’t rush to begin raising rates thereafter. He also expressed caution about the surging Delta variant, leaving traders to focus on August jobs data to gauge at which of the three remaining 2021 policy meetings the Fed might be confident enough to unveil its tapering plans. The yield curve, as measured by the gap between five- to 30-year yields, is around 111 basis points (bps). The flattening of recent months came as traders started to anticipate Fed liftoff from near-zero interest rates within the next couple of years. “The bond market is going to recalibrate, and we’ll start seeing a treasury market selloff.” ― Bloomberg

PETALING JAYA: Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (pic) is hitting the ground running to continue the work and making improvements on his plans at the Finance Ministry after his reappointment as minister. Ahead of his swearing-in today as minister with the rest of the new Cabinet members, Tengku Zafrul said he was deeply honoured by the trust shown to him by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in appointing him to the post. “This is a huge responsibility for me, and I look forward to working with #TeamMoF and the MOF (Ministry of Finance) agencies again. We are committed to deliver our best for the well-being of the people, business continuity and the nation’s economic recovery,” he said yesterday. Tengku Zafrul said that each ministry will need to present their achievements scorecard within the first 100 days as outlined by the Prime Minister earlier.

PETALING JAYA: All media must work together to unite the nation as the country walks the last mile to exit the pandemic, says the new Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa (pic). In an exclusive interview with The Star, Annuar said KKMM will set out to narrow the gap between the government media and the private media, and at the same time arrest the hatred and hostility prevalent in new and digital media. KKMM, said Annuar, was once the main go-to media for all Malaysians. “It has now been relegated to being the ministry’s channels and deemed not as appealing or attractive as compared to the new media. “As the Prime Minister rightly pointed out, we are a Malaysian family.

TOKYO: Afghanistan’s two athletes made an “extremely emotional” arrival at the Athletes Village after a top-secret flight from Paris following their evacuation from Kabul. Khudadadi and Rasouli were welcomed to the Village on Saturday night by IPC chief Andrew Parsons and IPC Athletes’ Council chairperson Chelsey Gotell, as well as the Afghan team’s chef de mission Arian Sadiqi. Sprinter Rasouli was scheduled to compete in the men’s T47 100m but arrived too late for Saturday’s heats. Spence said the athletes’ mental health and well-being was the IPC’s “top priority”. At Tuesday’s opening ceremony, the Afghan flag featured in a symbolic fashion, carried by a volunteer.

KEPALA BATAS: The Merdeka Bridge across Muda River launched in 1957 – the same year the country achieved independence – continues to keep Penang and Kedah connected and safe. It had replaced another bridge, Titi Sungai Muda, which was demolished in 1942 by the British army during the Japanese occupation in the Second World War. Due to growing traffic, another bridge of similar design was built in 2008 east of the first bridge. Although they look similar, the first bridge still retains the steel structure above the pillars where the bridge surface sits. Besides Merdeka Bridge, there are six other bridges built across Muda River, four of them passable by cars, a narrow wooden bridge and a railway track.