PETALING JAYA: Heavy penalties alone are not enough to change littering habits; highly visible and uncompromising enforcement of the anti-littering law is also crucial, say experts. The implementation of the amended law must come as a “shock” to the community, said sustainable development lawyer Kiu Jia Yaw. However, he said there was also a need for better planning, including increasing the number of waste disposal sites during public events or fairs. “If Malaysians see offenders fined and doing community service, the law will gain credibility and attitudes can change,” she said. “We never grew up thinking of the consequences.”He added that Malaysians used to laugh at Singapore’s strictness, but not any more.

(Feb 26): President Christine Lagarde repeated that the European Central Bank (ECB) has succeeded in taming consumer prices, while cautioning that policymakers must keep an eye on elevated perceptions of inflation. “Our efforts to bring inflation down have been effective,” Lagarde said. They forecast inflation to stabilise at the 2% target over the medium term and growth to pick up. However, perceived inflation is higher than actual readings, according to the latest Consumer Expectation Survey. “The ECB pays close attention to households’ inflation perceptions — not only because these have an impact on economic activity and expectations, but also to ensure that we continue to earn the trust of the people we serve,” Lagarde said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia has suspended intraday short selling (IDSS) on MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd for the rest of the trading day after the stock breached the exchange’s price limit threshold. The suspension was triggered after MSM’s last done price fell more than 15% or 15 sen from its reference price. Shares of the sugar refiner dropped 15.71%, or 16 sen, to 88 sen at 3.16 pm. Over the past five trading days, the stock has declined more than 18.3%. For the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2025 (4Q25), MSM recorded a net loss of RM366.63mil versus a net profit of RM71.70mil in 4Q25, while revenue slipped to RM783.08mil from RM943.60mil previously.

Revenue rose 6.1 per cent to RM1.79 billion in FY2025 compared to RM1.69 billion recorded in the previous year, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today. Time also declared an interim tax-exempt (single-tier) dividend of 17.32 sen and a special interim taxexempt (single-tier) dividend of 9.73 sen per share, respectively. For the fourth quarter, net profit decreased to RM104.38 million from RM114.40 million previously, while revenue rose to RM464.79 million from RM430.59 million. Moving forward, the group said it remains focused on driving long-term sustainable growth as the telecommunications landscape continues to evolve. "Time will continue to invest in network expansion, digital transformation and enhanced customer solutions to maintain its competitive edge,” it said.

SCAMMERS have found a shockingly creative way to lighten your wallet while pretending to lower your electricity bill. Verdict:TRUETNB has warned the public about scammers impersonating the national utility provider to swindle customers out of their money. They offered fake discounts on electricity bill payments, demanded payment to avoid electricity supply cuts, offered illegal services such as meter tampering, and sold unverified energy-saving devices claimed to reduce electricity bills. The public was also encouraged to contact TNB CareLine to verify the legitimacy of any offer or promotion linked to TNB. TNB CareLine can be reached at 1-300-88-5454, via Facebook at TNB CareLine, or on X at @Tenaga_Nasional.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): TIME dotCom Bhd (KL:TIMECOM) on Thursday said it is upgrading its dividend policy as earnings at the internet service provider surged more than 30% in 2025. The company plans to pay out 50% to 75% of its net profit after adjusting for extraordinary items as dividends to shareholders, according to an exchange filing. The previous dividend policy called for distribution of up to half of its annual earnings. An interim dividend of 17.32 sen per share and a special dividend of 9.73 sen per share were also declared, both payable on March 25. The change in policy comes after TIME reported a jump in net profit to RM428.16 million in 2025 from RM328.16 million a year earlier, thanks to lower impairment of submarine cable and reduced net foreign exchange loss.

PUTRAJAYA (Feb 26): The Migrant Repatriation Programme 2.0 (PRM 2.0), a voluntary amnesty initiative that allows undocumented migrants to return to their home countries without facing prosecution, has generated over RM88 million in revenue as of Feb 23, according to Immigration Director-General Datuk Zakaria Shaaban. Launched on May 19, 2025, and running until April 30, PRM 2.0 has recorded 177,000 registrations, with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants repatriated to their countries of origin. No decision has been made so far,” he told reporters at the Immigration Department’s Semarak Ramadan programme on Thursday. Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail previously announced that the government had approved the extension of PRM 2.0 from May 19, 2025, to April 30, 2026, covering Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan. PRM 2.0 is a voluntary amnesty scheme offering illegal immigrants exemption from prosecution while allowing them to regularise their status through the payment of compounds for certain offences.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The progress of Google’s US$2 billion (RM7.77 billion) investment in Malaysia is advancing strongly and exceeding initial expectations, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said. “I assured them that the government remains consistent in facilitating and supporting announced investments by the multinational technology corporation,” he said. He added that the discussion focused on the progress of Google’s US$2 billion investment in Malaysia, announced in May 2024. “This investment covers the development and operation of Google’s first data centre and cloud services infrastructure in Malaysia. Once operational, it is expected to generate an economic impact of US$3.2 billion and create 26,500 jobs by 2030,” he said.

BENGALURU (Feb 26): India's markets regulator on Thursday rolled out tougher mutual fund rules, tightening category definitions and capping portfolio overlap to ensure schemes stay "true-to-label" and curb duplication. SEBI has also set strict limits on portfolio overlap, particularly for sectoral and thematic funds, as well as value and contra funds. For thematic equity schemes, SEBI requires that no more than 50% of a scheme's portfolio overlaps with other thematic schemes and other equity categories, except large-cap schemes. It will now be calculated on quarterly basis, using the average of daily portfolio overlap values over the period. Asset managers must also publish monthly category-wise overlap disclosures on their websites — equity vs equity, debt vs debt, and hybrid vs hybrid.

AS of Epidemiological Week Six of 2026, Malaysia has recorded 3,161 cumulative tuberculosis (TB) cases, with 596 new infections reported in the most recent week. These arrangements show that anchoring TB management in primary care strengthens surveillance and reduces treatment interruption without overburdening hospitals. When primary care functions effectively, pressure on inpatient facilities decreases and resources are used more efficiently. The question is whether primary care structures are sufficiently integrated to deploy those tools at the earliest opportunity. In that configuration, hospitals serve their proper purpose as the last line of defence, supported by a vigilant and well-organised primary care front line.

PETALING JAYA (Feb 26): Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd (Kenanga Group) partnered with Stellar Development Foundation to launch the first tokenised money market funds in Malaysia. According to press release, the Stellar blockchain also hosts Franklin Templeton’s Benji token, a tokenised US Treasury money market fund primarily used by institutional users for on-chain settlement and peer-to-peer transfers. The inaugural deployment on the Myrra platform is the tokenisation of the Kenanga Money Market Fund and Kenanga Islamic Money Market Fund managed by Kenanga Investors Bhd (KIB). The two funds represent the first tokenised unit trust funds to go live within the Malaysian market. By tokenising its Malaysian ringgit money market funds, Kenanga Group is bringing money market products directly to a broader segment of Malaysian investors, enabling the purchase or selling of tokens directly on Myrra’s web portal.

The country's largest refined sugar producer posted a net loss of RM397.25 million for FY2025 compared to a net profit of RM31.25 million in FY2024. A global oversupply of refined sugar has led to a domestic surplus, eroding MSM’s market share. It posted a net loss of RM4.6 million in 3QFY2025 and RM29.74 million in 2QFY2025. MSM has an annual production capacity of up to 2.05 million tonnes of refined sugar. In 2024, it produced 1.1 million tonnes, of which 258,932 tonnes were exported.

(Feb 26): Gold prices edged higher on Thursday, boosted by a softer dollar and safe-haven demand amid uncertainty over US tariff policy and US-Iran talks. Spot gold was up 0.4% at US$5,192.28 per ounce, as of 0500 GMT. "Price action reflects a re-pricing of fresh policy (tariff) uncertainty, geopolitical concerns, and a subdued dollar," said Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC. "Two-way consolidation is still likely in the interim as markets digest geopolitical (news), dollar moves, tariff surprises, and Fed policy uncertainty." A softer greenback makes dollar-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.

(Feb 26): The US vowed to maintain high tariffs on China hours after Beijing warned against any future hikes, as Donald Trump’s sweeping levies return to the spotlight before his meeting with Xi Jinping. Beijing reiterated it wants to use the existing consultation mechanism to build consensus. The Supreme Court ruling eliminated Trump’s second-term levies on China and left Beijing facing the same 15% global fee applied to many US allies. The US is currently undertaking an investigation into the trade deal from Trump’s first term, which saw China promise to buy hundreds of billions of dollars more in US exports. “If the US insists on pushing forward with relevant investigations — or even uses the investigation as a pretext to introduce restrictive measures such as tariffs — China will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its legitimate rights,” the ministry said.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The opposition bloc on Thursday confirmed that Larut Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin remains as the opposition leader despite his sacking from Bersatu. “So far his position (as the opposition leader) remains…so there are no changes. We only have two days left of this (Dewan Rakyat) sitting. Hamzah’s status as the opposition leader had come into question following his dismissal from Bersatu amid an internal party conflict. On Tuesday, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said any decision regarding Hamzah’s role and position could only be made after receiving written confirmation from the opposition.