KUALA LUMPUR (June 11): Barisan Nasional (BN) has yet to receive an official application from Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) although the party was reported to have expressed its intention to join the coalition, according to BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Umno president, said BN is prepared to receive any party which subscribes to its principles. "In the BN constitution, there are three categories of parties or individuals, namely the core party, affiliate parties or friends of BN and, thirdly, direct membership. Ahmad Zahid said any membership application would be decided by the top leadership of BN. On the government’s move to abolish the mandatory death penalty, Ahmad Zahid said this proposal had been discussed by BN when it was in power.

KUCHING (June 11): Two international hotels will be built in Sematan, a town about 107km west of here, through private investments worth RM120 million, said Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg. He said it is in line with the Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy to utilise private investment funds in developing Sarawak. “They (hotel investors) have shown me the design of the hotels, which is similar to the Palm Hotel in Dubai (the United Arab Emirates). "Sematan is going to be like Dubai,” he said at the launch of the Sungai Sematan Waterfront Pontoon and Landscape on Saturday (June 11). The construction of the hotels will be carried out within three years to attract more foreign visitors to the area.

BANGKOK, June 11 (The Nation Thailand/ANN): Thailand's Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has begun giving away free cannabis plants to people who have registered online with the Agriculture Department. The ministry will give away one million marijuana plants to people who want to grow them at home after cannabis was removed from narcotics list on June 9, said Deputy Agriculture Minister Mananya Thaiset on Friday. “Each household will be allowed two free plants, which means at least half a million households in Thailand will be growing marijuana,” Mananya said. Plants offered for free by the government are a Thai strain called Issara 01, developed by the Department of Medical Services and Department of Agriculture. The ministry aims to give away all 1 million plants before year-end, or 100,000 to 200,000 plants per month.

SHAH ALAM: The family of P. Puvaaneshwaran is still coming to terms with the circumstances of his death after he drove against traffic on the New Klang Valley Expressway, causing a fatal crash which also killed three others. His uncle, who only wanted to be known as Nadarajan, 55, said they were notified about his death at around 10am on Saturday (June 11). "We immediately rushed to the Shah Alam Hospital. Three other victims who died in the head-on collision have been identified as Lai Mun Fai, 28, Eng Siew Hooi, 31, and Leong Man Yuen, 27. It's hard to come to terms with his death," he said.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 11): Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade with a downside bias next week, in line with the movement of the global equities market, moving between the 1,480 and 1,490 level, a dealer said. Weekly turnover was lower at 11.03 billion units valued at RM7.49 billion against 14.14 billion units valued at RM13.99 billion last week. The Main Market volume narrowed to 6.42 billion shares worth RM6.28 billion versus 10.53 billion shares worth RM13.14 billion in the previous week. The warrant volume went up to 1.65 billion units valued at RM291.43 million against 1.55 billion units valued at RM288.17 million previously. The ACE Market volume strengthened to 2.94 billion shares worth RM916.51 million from 2.05 billion shares worth RM556.59 million the week before.

According to Bursa’s latest filings on its website on Thursday (June 9) and Friday, the EPF had on Tuesday acquired 31,900 Bursa shares after buying 100,000 shares on June 3. Following the latest transaction, the EPF’s stake in Bursa rose to 9.54% comprising 77.21 million shares from 9.536% on June 3, the bourse regulator said. The EPF bought more Bursa shares at a time when the bourse regulator’s share price had fallen to its lowest in about three months since March. On Friday, Bursa’s share price closed down six sen or 0.91% at RM6.56, the lowest since March 16 when the stock ended at RM6.87 compared with RM6.39 on March 15. Compared to a year earlier, Bursa’s latest share price was down from its closing price of RM8.11 on June 10, 2021.

SYDNEY, June 11, 2022 (AFP): Australia unveiled a massive compensation deal with French submarine maker Naval Group Saturday, ending a contract dispute that soured relations between Canberra and Paris for almost a year. In September 2021, then-Australian prime minister Scott Morrison abruptly ripped up the French contract to build a dozen diesel-powered submarines. The decision drew fury from French President Emmanuel Macron, who publicly accused Morrison of lying and recalled his ambassador from Australia in protest. "We are re-establishing a better relationship between Australia and France," Albanese said, after speaking to Marcon about the settlement. In total the failed French submarine contract will have cost Australian taxpayers US$2.4 billion, Albanese said, with almost nothing to show for it.

KOTA KINABALU (June 10): The Sabah government remains fully committed to pursuing all its constitutional and legislative rights to recover the State Sales Tax (SST) due for the sale of petroleum products from both Repsol Oil and Gas Ltd (REPSOL) and SEA Hibiscus Sdn Bhd (SEAH). Sabah Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the step is in accordance with the State Sales Tax Enactment 1988. “For the record, both REPSOL and SEAH had applied to the (Sabah) Ministry of Finance and were subsequently issued with the requisite licence as a ‘taxable person’ pursuant to the State Sales Tax Regulations 1999. Masidi claimed that there had been discussions between the representatives of the parties in relation to this issue. “The State government of Sabah reserves its rights to take any action deemed necessary within the powers, authority and jurisdiction of the State,” he said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWCity) has decided not to appeal to Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd’s rejection of the company’s relief application but instead will focus on improving its business operations within the 12-month regularisation period. It said this was upon due consideration of the existing facts and the just improving property market conditions which would have timing gaps in recognising the revenue by IWCity and its subsidiaries. IWCity was referring to the announcement made on March 25 in relation to its relief application to Bursa Securities from classifying it as an affected listed issuer pursuant to Paragraph 8.03A(2)(b) of the MMLR and also Bursa Securities’ rejection to the relief on June 3. Hence, IWCity believes it would be able to rectify its Paragraph 8.03A affected listed issuer status within the said regularisation period. The company is required to regularise its condition within 12 months from the date of the announcement, among others, by submitting a regularisation plan to the Securities Commission Malaysia or Bursa Securities.

A VIDEO clip is apparently circulating, showing a woman making payment at the counter of a petrol station when a car suddenly shoots forward and rams into her. VERDICT:TRUEIn the June 5 incident in Tawau, the driver of the car was leaving the station at 9.30am after refuelling when she accidentally stepped on the accelerator, thinking it was the brake. This caused the car to shoot forward and crash into the woman, who fortunately escaped with cuts and scrapes on her legs. According to Tawau police chief Asst Comm Jasmin Hussin, the counter sustained significant damage and checks found that the driver did not possess a licence. In a statement on Friday (June 10), he also urged the public not to speculate on the incident after a video clip was shared on social media.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWCity) has decided not to appeal against the rejection of the relief application by Bursa Securities and said that it is now a Paragraph 8.03A affected listed issuer. The regulator had via its letter dated June 3, rejected IWCity’s relief application. The group stressed that it has unbilled sales of approximately RM65 million, which will be recognised as revenue progressively in the current financial year onwards. In light of the above, IWCity believes the group will be able to rectify its Paragraph 8.03A affected listed issuer status within the said regularisation period. Shares in IWCity closed one sen or 3.08% lower to 32 sen on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM290.16 million.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): MY EG Services Bhd’s unit is partnering with the Philippines’ tourism authority to implement an online payment portal designed to facilitate payment for travel taxes. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the group said its 40%-owned unit I-Pay MYEG Philippines Inc has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement to partner Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) to make payment of travel taxes more effortless. Philippines citizens will have multiple options to pay for travel tax anytime online through this partnership, the group said. “We are committed to support TIEZA in providing the traveling citizens an easier, faster and hassle-free way of paying for their travel taxes,” said I-Pay MYEG Philippines CEO Ann Margaret Saldaña. closed unchanged at 91 sen on Friday (June 10), giving the group a market capitalisation of RM6.74 billion.

As the country rides the most perfect storm in the palm oil industry, discontinuity and anxiety are certainly not welcome. Science and engineering head startOn May 16, I delivered a webinar for the Institution of Chemical Engineers’ Palm Oil Processing Special Interest Group titled “The Sustainability of Science and Engineering in the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry”, where I shared how we have squandered the head start our technologists have given us in the palm oil industry due to the inability of its stakeholders to work well together. After 22 years, it was adopted by the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) and Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia (PORAM) on July 1, 2004. Within MPIC, apart from the agencies MPOB, MPOC (Malaysian Palm Oil Council) and MPOCC, there is the Palm Oil and Sago Industries Division (BISS) and Biofuel Division (BBA). A long-term policy aligned with the national strategy would ensure that the palm oil industry stays on course.

“For those who do, the traffic volume was not that high compared to normal days. “However, during the transition into the endemic phase, the traffic volume was much higher than expected,” he said. But if you look at the video of the incident, it’s a miracle that none of the other road users were seriously injured. I have been toying around with the idea of installing a dashboard camera in my car for some time now. The camera footage can be used by the police and Road Transport Department as traffic evidence, and it certainly can be used against road bullies.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): The number of foreign tourist arrivals to Malaysia is expected to hit 5 million by the end of this year, according to the country's largest association for travel and tour. The easing of restrictions since April 1 and the renewed surge in international travel put the industry in a good position to recover, Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) President Tan Kok Liang told Xinhua in a phone interview. "We have had around 1 million arrivals since the government lifted restrictions on international tourism arrival. Tan, however, said the tourism sector still faces challenges, most notably a shortage in manpower following two years of disruptions and other problems in securing foreign workers. According to data from Tourism Malaysia, an agency under the Ministry, Malaysia recorded 26.1 million arrivals in 2019, contributing RM$86.1 billion (US$19.59 billion), with this figure dropping to 4.33 million arrivals in 2020 as the pandemic took hold and only 130,000 arrivals in 2021.