Johor cops seize drugs worth more than RM1mil in series of raids
JOHOR BARU: Some RM1.04mil worth of drugs were seized in a special operation involving seven raids around Johor Baru and Iskandar Puteri here. "We arrested a 30-year-old man and seized some drugs and equipment used to process it during the first raid. Comm Ayob noted that the drugs seized, which included 25.2kg heroin and 14kg of ecstacy powder, could feed the addiction of 172,666 people. "The syndicate rented a house in a gated-and-guarded area to store and process the drugs. "Meanwhile, nine other suspects will have action taken against them under the Dangerous Drugs Act (Special Preventive Measures) 1985," he said.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 06:45 UTC
First Ipoh-Langkawi flight under travel bubble records 80% flight load
IPOH: The first flight to Langkawi from here as part of the travel bubble saw an 80% flight load. A total of 141 passengers comprising 115 adults, 23 children, and three infants boarded AirAsia’s Airbus A320 flight to the island on Friday (Sept 17). Perak Infrastructure and Public Transportation Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Zolkaply Harun said there would be a flight from Ipoh to Langkawi three times a week, every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. “The next scheduled flights are on Sept 19 and 22, where the booking capacity is over 50% respectively for both flights. “We have also been ensuring all SOPs are adhered to, while carrying on several domestic promotion packages,” he added.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 06:33 UTC
Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital acquires tech services group Zemoga
LONDON (Reuters) -Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital has struck a deal to buy Zemoga, a technology services company that provides a new route for the rapidly growing digital advertising group to win work from multinational clients. Sorrell said Zemoga would help S4 take a significant step towards building a third practice area around technology services. A digital transformation group, Zemoga provides product design, engineering and delivery services to clients including Bridgestone, Sony, Roku and Morningstar. Founded in 2002 in Colombia, Zemoga employs technology specialists across the United States to help clients digitise their internal and customer-facing operations. "Entry into the technology services sector through Zemoga gives us the full capability to talk to the Chief Technology or Information Officer, as well as the Chief Marketing and Chief Sales Officer," Sorrell said.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 06:00 UTC
Asian shares steady, but set for weekly losses as global growth fears nag
HONG KONG: Asian shares steadied on Friday after losses earlier in the week, but China jitters and global growth concerns weighed on investors' minds, while the dollar sat near a three-week high. European shares also looked set to rise on opening with pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures up 0.61% and FTSE futures 0.41% higher. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.12% on Friday but was set to finish down 2.7% on the week, which would be its worst week in four. The previously bruised Hang Seng Tech Index rose 2.8%, on track for its best day in three-and-a-half weeks. Also due next week is a policy meeting of Indonesia's central bank, but all 25 analysts surveyed by Reuters expected Bank Indonesia will keep its key interest rate steady.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 06:00 UTC
Top Glove 4Q net profit slips but full year at RM7.87b
KUALA LUMPUR: Top Glove Corporation Bhd posted a historic net profit of RM7.87bil for the financial year ended Aug 31, 2021 but its fourth quarter earnings fell to RM607.94m amid the very challenging operating environment. The world’s largest glove maker announced on Friday, FY21 net profit jumped 350% from RM1.75bil in FY20. However, 4Q net profit fell to RM607.94mil from RM1.17bil a year ago. Elaborating on the results, Top Glove said the group’s commendable yearly financial performance was attributed to strong glove demand coupled with elevated average selling prices (ASPs) driven by the ongoing pandemic. Lee said notwithstanding the accelerating vaccination rate, which has sped up the moderating glove demand and tapering of ASPs, Top Glove remains upbeat about industry prospects.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 05:48 UTC
Ni Hsin to explore partnership in EV bike development
KUALA LUMPUR: Ni Hsin Group Bhd's subsidiary Ni Hsin EV Tech Sdn Bhd has teamed up with Dongguan Tailing Motor Vehicle Co Ltd to explore opportunities in the electric vehicles (EV) space in Malaysia and Asean for commercial purposes.Ni Hsin, formerly known as Ni Hsin Resources Bhd, said in a statement that Dongguan Tailing Motor Vehicle is one of the top three manufacturers of electric two-wheelers in China with a presence in over 75 countries.Its research and development has over 420 patents relating to high-performance EV, extended efficiency and cloud services, it added.Ni Hsin has created its proprietary Mobile Beverage Machine which uses EV bikes to power its operation of coffee machines to serve customers in cities around the country.Its collaboration with Dongguan Tailing Motor Vehicle will develop the EV bikes as the group look towards expanding the business model across Asean.With the transport sector being responsible for 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the challenge of reducing trnasport emissions is becoming increasingly important, said Ni Hsin EV Tech managing director Khoo Chee Kong. "This puts the emphasis on technological and organisational change, steering the world towards electromobility and zero-emission transport with the ultimate effect of reducing emissions in this sector and improving the health of the planet's population," he said.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 05:03 UTC
Spotting your child's learning disability early
Highlight any concerns with your child’s paediatrician to get professional help in confirming if this is the problem, or if it is indeed a learning disability. There are specific types of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia (affects reading/writing), dyspraxia (affects motor skills) and dyscalculia (affects math ability). “Some learning disabilities such as dyslexia may only become apparent from kindergarten onwards. A learning disability (also known as specific learning disability) is a significant and ongoing difficulty with one or more areas of learning. Coping with your child’s learning disability will often comprise several approaches.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 04:52 UTC
FBM KLCI continues slide for 6th straight day
KUALA LUMPUR: The outlook on the domestic market deteriorated over the morning session as the FBM KLCI slipped further amid continued selling pressure.At 12.30pm, the country's key index was down 7.24 points to 1,548.02, en route to a sixth straight day of declines.This comes despite a recent return of foreign investment funds following the easing of the country's restrictions.By weighting on the blue-chip index, Petronas Chemicals was a leading laggard, dropping seven sen to RM7.94 followed by Sime Darby Plantation sliding eight sen to RM3.78 and Tenaga Nasional falling eight sen to RM9.92.Bank stocks were wobbly with Hong Leong Bank down six sen to RM18.72 and Maybank shedding two sen to RM8.27.Healthcare counters bucked the overall trend, rising nine sen to RM6.67, while Top Glove was also up two sen to RMRM3.22Meanwhile, telcos sank with Axiata down three sen to RM3.95, Digi slipping three sen to RM4.47 and Maxis edging one sen to lower to RM4.69.Among top actives on Bursa, KTG was unchanged at 14 sen, Emico surged `13 sen to 65.5 sen and AT Systemization slipped 0.5 sen to six sen.In Asia, major equities markets fared better as prices stabilised following concerns over China's tighter regulations.Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5% while South Korea's Kospi was mostly flat.While Hong Kong's Hang Seng bounced 0.4% after suffering sharp losses on the back of embattled China Evergrande Group, China's main index was down 0.6% amid ongoing concerns over underperforming economic data.Australia's ASX200 was down 1%.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 04:52 UTC
AirAsia X aims for end-Oct creditor meetings as talks progress
KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 17): AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) has made "substantial progress" in months-long talks with creditors, as it aims to convene meetings with them to vote on a restructuring scheme by the end of October, its chief executive said. The airline, an affiliate of AirAsia Group, also hopes to complete talks with potential investors for its recapitalisation by the end of the year. Benyamin said talks with creditors were in the final stages and all had indicated they want to see the airline proceed with its restructuring. "Creditors, including lessors and Airbus, understandably don't want to see the airline fall, as they stand to lose a lot. The decision to work with AirAsia X to restructure is to salvage whatever they can," he said.
Source:The Edge Markets
September 17, 2021 04:41 UTC
Top China forecaster sees GDP growth near zero in 3Q
Barraud was Bloomberg’s top-ranked forecaster for the Chinese economy last year. He is also bearish on China’s growth for 2021 compared to the market’s median estimate of 8.4%. Barraud’s prediction came after monthly data showed China’s economy slowing sharply in August, with a slump in retail sales and property construction. The France-based economist said one of his favorite indicators of Chinese economic activity at the moment is the daily number of domestic flights. In the second quarter, GDP rose 7.9% from the same period in 2020, and 1.3% from the previous quarter.
Source:The Edge Markets
September 17, 2021 04:41 UTC
Update vaccination status of Covid-19 Phase Three clinical trial volunteers in MySejahtera, says Perak MCA
IPOH: The vaccination status of volunteers who are part of the Covid-19 Phase Three clinical trial should be updated in the MySejahtera application to avoid any problems in the future, says the Perak MCA public service and complaints bureau. There will be a number listed on the card for them to call, if any of the volunteers face any problems with the authorities. He had said that as part of the study, volunteers were not informed as to who received the two doses vaccination, and who received the placebos. Thus, volunteers who received vaccinations would get a booster and placebo shot each, while volunteers that received the placebo, would receive two doses of the vaccination. It was reported on Jan 22 that thousands of Malaysian volunteers were screened for the clinical trial, which also involved nine Health Ministry hospitals.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 04:30 UTC
Amazon, Microsoft swoop in on US$24bil India farm-data trove
"India has a very high amount of food wastage because of lack of technology and infrastructure. "Limited availability of technology infrastructure and recurring natural phenomena like floods, droughts have also worked against the deployment of digital solutions,” she said. Amazon, which has already started offering real-time advice and information to farmers through a mobile app, is offering cloud services to solution providers. Representatives at the India offices of Microsoft and Amazon didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. ESRI India is using geographic information system to generate data and create applications, according to Managing Director Agendra Kumar.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 04:07 UTC
With creditor talks progress, AirAsia X eyes end-Oct meets
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) has made "substantial progress" in months-long talks with creditors as it aims to convene meetings with them to vote on a restructuring scheme by the end of October, its chief executive said. The airline, an affiliate of AirAsia Group, has also been talking to potential investors for its recapitalisation, and hopes to complete discussions by the end of the year. Benyamin said talks with creditors are in the final stages and all have indicated they want to see the airline proceed with its restructuring. The main commercial terms are already out of the way," he said, referring to negotiations with lessors. In a court document filed on Monday, AAX said negotiations are still afoot but "various letters of undertaking have been secured" from creditors.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 03:56 UTC
‘Happy’ SpaceX tourist crew spend first day whizzing around Earth
SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 crew spent their first day in orbit conducting scientific research and talking to children at a paediatric cancer hospital, after blasting off on their pioneering mission from Cape Canaveral the night before. Musk himself tweeted that he had personally spoken with the crew and “all is well”. Most humans in spaceThe Inspiration4 mission also brings the total number of humans currently in space to 14 – a new record. “Missions like Inspiration4 help advance spaceflight to enable ultimately anyone to go to orbit & beyond,” added Musk in a tweet. But these flights only offered a few minutes of weightlessness – rather than the three full days of orbit the Inspiration4 crew will experience, before splashing down off the coast of Florida on Saturday.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 03:00 UTC
From Covid to Ida: Louisiana's marginalised 'see no way out'
Darkness set in for Natasha Blunt well before Hurricane Ida knocked out power across Louisiana, the United States. But federal benefits kept food in the fridge for the most part.Then came Hurricane Ida. Ida was the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the US mainland, wiping out Louisiana's power grid before marching up the coast and sparking devastating northeast flooding. I don’t see no way out.” Kemp talking with a housing advocate in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida outside her rental home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Debris is seen in the yard of Kemp's rental home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Source:The Star
September 17, 2021 03:00 UTC