KUALA LUMPUR: Three of the injured victims from the explosion at HELP University are still being treated at the hospital, say police. In a statement on Tuesday (Jan 13), Kuala Lumpur police chief Comm Datuk Fadil Marsus said that the three victims are a 54-year-old contractor supervisor, a 19-year-old student and a 22-year-old Indonesian worker. The student, he added, was still unconscious and suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage. “Six victims were discharged from the hospital on Tuesday,” he said. On Monday (Jan 12), it was reported that the explosion killed one person and injured nine others.

Scott Adams, the US cartoonist famous for his "Dilbert" comic strip whose career was later soured by a racism row, has died at age 68, his ex-wife said on Tuesday. Ex-wife Shelly Miles announced his passing in an emotional, live-streamed message on Adams's YouTube channel, "Real Coffee with Scott Adams." US President Donald Trump paid tribute to Adams as a "great influencer" in a post on his Truth Social platform. But many publications including the Washington Post dropped the comic after Adams posted a video in 2023 calling Black people a "hate group." Adams later defended his comments and said that he had been using hyperbole.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 14): Malaysian utilities are expected to see a modest earnings recovery in 2026 after a difficult 2025, according to Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB). Major operational and regulatory overhangs are easing although upside remains capped by regulatory constraints and already-stretched valuations, the research house said. Earnings growth in 2026 is expected to be driven by Tenaga’s contingent capex deployment, Malakoff’s Tanjung Bin recovery and Ranhill Utilities Bhd’s (KL:RANHILL) full-year benefit from Johor’s 2025 water tariff hike. Meanwhile, domestic gas prices are expected to trend lower year-on-year in 2026, which could pressure Gas Malaysia’s retail margins. Given that sector valuations are already around or above their five-year averages, Maybank IB "does not expect significant share price appreciation for most stocks in 2026 arising from further expansion of multiples".

KUALA LUMPUR: A senior Armed Forces officer has been detained by graft busters in connection with an ongoing investigation involving the military. Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the officer was detained at about 11am on Wednesday (Jan 14). "We will provide further details during a press conference tomorrow (Thursday, Jan 15)," he said when contacted. Meanwhile, Azam said former Army chief Jeneral Tan Sri Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan has been freed from remand. It was previously reported that MACC recorded the statement of a senior military officer on Sunday (Jan 11) and Monday.

(Jan 14): Cocoa processing remains under pressure around the world, highlighting continued demand destruction and struggles for the chocolate industry in the wake of record prices a year ago. That would be the lowest for a fourth quarter in 11 years. The price shock prompted consumers to cut back on chocolate and candy makers changed recipes to use cheaper substitutes and include more fillers like nuts. Producers and analysts expect cheaper cocoa to only start feeding through to supermarkets in the second half of this year. European cocoa processing margins fell below break-even levels in August and then reached the lowest on record in December, according to data from KnowledgeCharts, a unit of Commodity Risk Analysis.

ALOR SETAR: It is misleading for a group of lawyers to claim that the National Registration Department (NRD) was delaying the issuance of a MyKad to a 17-year-old male student, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (pic). “The parents themselves admitted that the birth certificate was obtained illegally when the child was a baby. Claims that the NRD is complicating the procedure or requiring the support of elected representatives are untrue,” Saifuddin Nasution was quoted as saying by Bernama. Meanwhile, Saifuddin Nasution said the number of outstanding citizenship applications has been significantly reduced, from about 50,000 to fewer than 4,000 over the past three years. In a separate development, Lawyers for Liberty reportedly said it would not proceed with contempt of court proceedings against Saifuddin Nasution and the NRD as the department had accepted the teenager’s MyKad application.

(Jan 14): Bitcoin reached a two-month high, continuing a cautious climb higher in January as geopolitical uncertainty enhances its appeal. Another factor is “a sharp short squeeze” in bitcoin derivatives markets, said Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at Kronos Research. Some US$270 million of bitcoin short positions have been liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. Across all cryptocurrencies, about US$600 million of short positions were wiped out. Broadly, traders view the current macro backdrop as positive for bitcoin, said Joshua Lim, global co-head of markets at FalconX.

BANGKOK (Jan 14): A train travelling from Thailand's capital to the country's northeast was derailed on Wednesday after a construction crane fell on top of one of its carriages, killing at least 12 people and injuring at least 30, police said. The accident took place on Wednesday morning in the Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, 230km (143 miles) northeast of Bangkok, on a train bound for Ubon Ratchathani province. Local police told Reuters by phone that a crane working on a high-speed rail project collapsed and hit the passing train, causing it to derail and briefly catch fire. The fire has been extinguished and rescue work in now underway, police said.

NEW YORK: Iran's government on Tuesday accused the United States of seeking to manufacture a pretext for military intervention, after US President Donald Trump threatened "strong action" over the deadly crackdown on mass protests. "US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention," Iran's UN mission posted on X, vowing that Washington's "playbook" would "fail again."

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 14): Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) will be operating more than 2,400 flights during the upcoming Chinese New Year (CNY) travel period, including up to 198 additional services operated by Malaysia Airlines and Firefly. “During this period, Malaysia Airlines will operate up to 1,498 flights, with an additional 130 services to support heightened festive travel demand. The expanded operations will support key domestic homecoming routes between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, including Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, and Sandakan. During the CNY peak period from Feb 13 to 16, both Malaysia Airlines and Firefly will also offer all-in, one-way subsidised fares from Kuala Lumpur to selected East Malaysia destinations. Meanwhile, Firefly will offer subsidised fares of up to RM548 all-in, one-way flights from Kuala Lumpur to selected destinations in East Malaysia, including Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Kuching, and Sibu.

Gen AI start-ups are natural candidates for co-creationTurning Gen AI applications in enterprise into sustainable businesses is uniquely suited to co-creation. Gen AI is different. Third, trust and visibility are critical precursors for enterprise-scale Gen AI adoption. Equally necessary is governability, which is the confidence that Gen AI behaviour is subject to monitoring, constraints and overriding when needed. Gen AI products are not developed in abstraction, but alongside domain owners who bring data, constraints and accountability into the development process.

The package includes A$15 million to set up recovery information hubs in bushfire-hit communities and A$12 million for local councils to rebuild public spaces. Households hit by extended power disruptions because of the fires can apply for A$16 million worth of power outage payments. The package is being jointly funded by the federal and state government of Victoria. The bushfires, which started last week during a summer heatwave, have torn through more than 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres) of land in Victoria. Eleven fires are still active across the state, with authorities warning that firefighters will need weeks to bring them under control.

SINGAPORE: A man forced his friend to drink urine as punishment because he thought the friend had pocketed money from a bank account which had been given to someone else to control and whose funds were subsequently frozen. On April 16, 2022, A1 lodged a police report saying that he had opened the OCBC bank account and relinquished it. The bank account, which contained more than $25,000, was frozen. Investigations revealed that more than S$147,000 (US$114,060) had been received and transferred out of the OCBC bank account. She described the act of making A1 drink urine and pouring it over his head as “unnatural and deeply humiliating”.

KULAI: A retiree with Singapore Permanent Resident status has been fined RM9,000 by a Magistrate's Court for tampering with his car registration plate in a bid to buy subsidised RON95 petrol. When the court interpreter read out the facts of the case, Long tried to intervene by questioning the details. "The court should also consider the accused’s intention in changing his car registration number to enjoy the rights and privileges meant for locals and Malaysian-registered vehicles. "This should serve as a lesson to all, and a reminder not to tamper with their car registration number as they please for personal gain," she said. The court ordered Long to pay a fine of RM9,000 in default nine months’ jail.

(Jan 14): Indonesia’s central bank said it is intervening in the foreign-exchange markets as the rupiah moves closer to a historic low on persistent fiscal concerns. “Bank Indonesia will continue to be present in the market to ensure that the rupiah exchange rate moves in line with fundamental values and healthy market mechanisms,” executive director Erwin Hutapea said in a mobile-phone message on Wednesday. The rupiah is about 0.5% away from a record low it last hit in April, as worries over the nation’s fiscal health resurfaced. “Bank Indonesia will continue to optimise pro-market monetary policy instruments to strengthen the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission and maintain adequate liquidity,” Hutapea said. Escalating geopolitical tensions, concerns over the independence of central banks in a number of developed countries and uncertainty over the future direction of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy exerted pressures on the rupiah, according to Bank Indonesia (BI).