M’sians not allowing MCO 3.0 to dim their excitement as they settle for a quiet affair
KUALA LUMPUR: Despite MCO 3.0, there was a festive mood at many of the malls in the Klang Valley as Muslims went about with their last-minute Hari Raya shopping. At the malls, security guards have started checking the MySejahtera status of customers before allowing them into the premises to weed out any high-risk individuals from slipping in. Shop owner Ahmad Jomaa showing a Turkish carpet to customers at 1Utama Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya. For event executives Ain Fatiha Abdul Karim, 31, and Atikah Ridzuan, 30, who were looking for shoes to match their Hari Raya outfits, they are not going to let MCO 3.0 dim their excitement for Hari Raya. “We have been spending Hari Raya in Kuala Lumpur for a few years now so we are used to seeing our relatives here.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 22:30 UTC
Retail industry cries out for fairness
I WORK in the retail industry where I manage both the operations of a mall and its tenants. When it was announced, MCO3.0 did sound like another “death sentence” to many of us in the retail industry, which has been my family’s livelihood for more than 10 years. Since the first MCO, tenants have been struggling to make ends meet because of low footfall in malls. After the announcement of MCO 3.0, I received over 30 enquiries via phone calls and text messages from tenants and their staff. People in the retail industry have diligently done their part in curbing this pandemic by working together with the government.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 22:18 UTC
Bill to ban TikTok on U.S. government devices passes committee
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill that would ban U.S. federal workers from downloading the popular app TikTok onto U.S. government devices, Senator Josh Hawley, a bill sponsor, said in a press statement on Wednesday. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a similar measure in August 2020. Representative Ken Buck has introduced a similar bill in the House. The app, which is popular with teens eager to show off dance moves, has come under fire in the United States because of concerns over its Chinese owner, ByteDance. TikTok has sought to distance itself from Beijing with mixed success.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 17:48 UTC
Sport-McGregor tops Forbes' highest-paid athletes list
(Reuters) - Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor was the world's highest-paid athlete over the last year ahead of soccer players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to the annual Forbes http://www.forbes.com list released on Wednesday. During the 12-month period ending May 1, 2021 McGregor earned $180 million, a figure which includes $158 million from endorsements and the recent sale of the majority stake of his whiskey brand, Forbes said. Barcelona and Argentina forward Messi was second on the list and set a record as the highest-earning soccer player after bringing home $130 million while Portugal and Juventus forward Ronaldo earned $120 million to sit third among the top 10 highest-paid athletes. NFL quarterback Dak Prescott ($107.5 million) of the Dallas Cowboys and four-times NBA champion LeBron James ($96.5 million) rounded out the top five. Forbes said its on-the-field earnings figures include all prize money, salaries and bonuses earned during the 12-month period while off-the-field earnings are an estimate of sponsorship deals, appearance fees and licensing income.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 16:32 UTC
Indonesia sends oxygen concentrators to India to help in Covid-19 relief efforts
JAKARTA (The Straits Times/ANN): Indonesia has sent 200 oxygen concentrators to India, which is grappling with a devastating second wave of Covid-19 infections. She noted that throughout the pandemic, India had facilitated the delivery of much-needed medical supplies to Indonesia and supported the procurement of vaccines under the multilateral Covax facility. Under Covax, Indonesia has received 6.41 million doses of the ready-to-use vaccines made by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca in its India-based production facility. "Indonesia will stand with India in this difficult time, and we are committed to sharing the burden with the Indian people. On Monday, the Indonesian business community, along with Indian companies operating in Indonesia, sent 1,400 oxygen cylinders to India.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 11:00 UTC
Olympics-Travel restrictions hurt India thrower Chopra's Tokyo preparation
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Neeraj Chopra has been training hard for this year's Olympic Games but India's top javelin thrower fears not being able to compete internationally might compromise his bid for a medal in Tokyo. "Competition is as important as training and I badly need opportunities to compete abroad," Chopra told a virtual news conference organised by the Sports Authority of India on Wednesday. "When you train abroad, you don't have any distractions, and you have a competition almost every second week. "In some countries, you have to quarantine for 21 days, which is simply not an option so close to the Games," said Chopra. Instead, the Asian and Commonwealth gold medallist will continue to train in the north Indian city of Patiala where the temperature is rising.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 09:45 UTC
Postponed toll hike offers a breather during pandemic
Take the government’s recent decision to freeze the toll hike for several highways this year. But I remember when the government allowed Besraya to hike the toll for its highway from RM1.30 to RM2 in 2015. And Besraya was just one of the highway concessionaires given the nod to hike toll rates at that time. Several other highway operators also raised toll prices at the same time, pushing up transportation costs. After the experience, I have since been very mindful of toll hike announcements like the one made by Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof on April 30.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 06:49 UTC
Finding our humanity when a parent is found to be negligent
But the arch of the law stands alone, administering its weight when tragedy strikes. Tragedy struck when a headmistress in Sungai Petani lost her three-year-old student Muhammad Harraz Aryan in a freak mishap. “How can you leave a child in the car and forget about it ? With his investigation papers in my hand, the weight of my duty as an officer of the law demanded a balancing act. Only then can we move closer to embracing our humanity.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 06:45 UTC
Creador's Multiply, Bursa to help investors grasp fundamentals
KUALA LUMPUR: Creador Foundation’s financial literacy project, Multiply, is collaborating with Bursa Malaysia Bhd to help Malaysians understand the fundamentals of stock market investing.Multiply is an initiative aimed at providing Malaysians with free and trusted personal financial education.In a statement today, the non-profit foundation said as part of the collaboration, it has launched a contest to promote the My Market feature on the Bursa Marketplace.My Market is a virtual trading feature to put theory into practice before trading in real-time.Aptly called My Market Contest, the competition is open until July 4, 2021.Creador Foundation senior programme manager Dr Shobana Sivanendran said its recent survey showed that 25 per cent of over 1,000 respondents said their top financial goal for 2021 is to invest and grow their money.Another 25 per cent said the main worry for the year is where to invest given the current low interest rates. "We’re working with Bursa Malaysia to run fun and interactive activities that help Malaysians understand how stock investing works. "This enables them to make sensible investment decisions so that they can build their confidence to invest in stocks," she said.Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia securities market director Azhar Zabidi said the activities in the contest would provide tools and the necessary foundation to enable individuals to make informed decisions when they invest. "This will ensure a sustainable market in the long term," he said.The My Market Contest is made up of four quests. The first 42 participants to complete the quests will stand a chance to win 500GB hard drives and Samsung Galaxy tablets.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 05:03 UTC
Umno's Lokman arrested again under Emergency Ordinance
PETALING JAYA: Former Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam (pic) has been arrested by the police under the Emergency Ordinance. The politician confirmed this in a Facebook post, saying that he was arrested on Tuesday (May 11) under the Emergency Ordinance and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act. “There is a big chance tonight of my continued detention here & will be an application for remand at IPD Dang Wangi,” he said in the post on Wednesday (May 12). Last month, Lokman was detained by police under the same ordinance over a statement made in relation to the death of ACP Shariman Saidin in Pahang, who died from a heart attack and not from Covid-19 vaccine complications. The politician was also detained in November under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 04:41 UTC
Penang physiologist makes ends meet as Foodpanda cyclist
GEORGE TOWN: By day, Thor Al Wayne, 26, puts on his white coat and serves as a physiologist in a private hospital. This has been Thor’s daily routine since the second Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) was implemented in Penang in January this year. He said that the MCO 2.0 has severely affected his business in a swimming school and lost 75% of his income from there. Meanwhile, Thor said some of the main challenges he faced as a Foodpanda cyclist include rainy weather and the security of the mountain bike when making deliveries in flats. I remember one time I had to climb more than 10 floors with the bike just to make the delivery,” he said.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 04:07 UTC
Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot confirms director Joss Whedon threatened her
Gal Gadot revealed that director Joss Whedon indeed threatened her by saying he would make her career “miserable,” during reshoots for the 2017 film Justice League. Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman in Justice League, was said to be bothered by the changes that Whedon wanted for her character. She reportedly questioned her “more aggressive” lines in the film, but Whedon was dismissive of her concerns. Fischer’s earlier accusations about Whedon stated that the film’s producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg “enabled” abusive behaviour on-set. She also said that working with Whedon left her “traumatised.” – Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 04:00 UTC
Ain: 'I'm just an ordinary girl speaking up for what I know is right'
Even though she’s likely been the most talked about 17-year-old in the past few weeks, Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam insists that she’s “just an ordinary girl” who likes reading comics, art and K-Pop. I don’t feel safe enough to go to school yet because most of my schoolmates have turned against me, ” she shares in an interview. “We are very proud of Ain and her courage to speak up and I will stand by her. “But Ain is still a young girl and as her father, I feel sad that she’s had to face such a situation in the first place. I trust Ain and I’m proud of her, ” says Saiful who has been by Ain’s side throughout this period.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 03:12 UTC
Local teachers using popularity of social media to prop up PdPR
Saliza Ibrahim, 34, who teaches Bahasa Melayu at Math Clinic tuition centre here, uses Instagram and Twitter during her PdPR sessions. That was when I came up with the idea of sharing tips on learning Bahasa Melayu through social media platforms. Interactive elementsNg said while learning to make videos from AYU, she was required to produce her own PdPR videos within a certain time frame. "I faced time constraints as I had to conduct my PdPR sessions. Ng also said that the inclusion of YouTube videos in PdPR enables students facing Internet connectivity problems to watch them later on.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 00:56 UTC
Proficiency of staff wins the day
Initially, I was rather nervous about getting the jab, but it turned out to be a pleasant experience. Friendly staff were also on hand to direct them to the appropriate queues and what to do next, such as scanning their MySejahtera app. My friends who have been vaccinated also commended the doctors as well as other staff members for their patience and kindness. We were then left in an observation area for about 30 minutes to monitor for any signs of adverse side effects. Of course, the reassuring presence of the staff at the centre, especially the doctors, did wonders.
Source:The Star
May 12, 2021 00:13 UTC